The European Union versus the Internet

Post by [deleted] » Wed, Sep 19, 2018, 5:18 AM UTC

d1zzy wrote: post #130

ktosobcy wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My perception and view of the US and it's culture also slightly shifted after GDPR came into spotlight (same conclusions as yours). Just the other day I ended up in a discussion with a US citizen (it started completely harmless and away from culture/politics) and ended up in the same corner: "EU is bad because it limits your freedom, US is great because it gives you freedom". The problem is - the argument (my underst…

I agree with those points and I'd like to add that both approaches (US and EU) have their drawbacks (and advantages). In limiting businesses more in the EU I found out that it generally means less competition and fewer companies (per capita) than the US, in my limited experience of having lived in the EU most of my life before moving to the US and still visiting Europe every year. One of the most common shocks of mov…

Post by [deleted] » Wed, Sep 19, 2018, 6:14 AM UTC

Nursie wrote: post #72

deltron3030 wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>GDPR is not a law about "The Internet", it is a law about company records. It applies to Google, but it also applies to the Pakistani food stand on the corner. It affects Google a lot more, sure. It's about full stack owners vs. people who depend on modules to operate, not size of the company. And controlling or maintaining consistentcy across all those modules might be difficult when it comes to GDPR. Just think ab…

If you're using that many modules that you don't understand what's happening with your customer's data and can't easily control where it goes or what it's used for, I'm sorry, but I don't want to do business with you.

Post by Nursie » Wed, Sep 19, 2018, 7:02 AM UTC

plandis wrote: post #30

tw1010 wrote: post #16

It's super interesting to watch the reaction of the US blogosphere to EU laws. I feel like I'm learning a lot about US culture just by observing the general attitude that seems to be coalescing against things like GDPR. I used to think that I'd been pretty well indoctrinated into the US value system, despite being born in the EU, just by virtue of having most of my influences (movies, the internet) having come from t…

In my mind the difference is that: * In the US: Don’t use social media if you don’t want to be tracked, it’s your choice. * In the EU: We cannot compete against big US companies so we will pass laws that are popular with entitled people to weaken them in the name of social benefits. Win-win for politicians.

Post by Semaphor » Wed, Sep 19, 2018, 7:18 AM UTC

panzagl wrote: post #153

Semaphor wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The EU also seems to assume that if someone is making money, someone else is being damaged How did you reach that conclusion?

Maybe I should be more specific to making money online- but nobody collects data that I didn't give them. The tone of EU laws is that instead they 'took' that data from me.

Post by panzagl » Wed, Sep 19, 2018, 2:06 PM UTC

Semaphor wrote: post #207

panzagl wrote: post #153

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maybe I should be more specific to making money online- but nobody collects data that I didn't give them. The tone of EU laws is that instead they 'took' that data from me.

This assumes that people understand what data is gathered. Which is the whole informed consent that is required by the GDPR. You can still say "I want you to take my data and I'm fine with it" as long as the site made a good effort of explaining what and how they are using it. Just an anecdote, but people always reacted with shock when I tell them what information is gathered.