Live data from Hacker News

Google hit with €1.5B fine from EU over advertising

bbc.com

141–150 of 414 posts

Re: Google hit with €1.5B fine from EU over advertising

#141
post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's a very small cost that all companies should already be able to handle if they're to be trusted with personal data.

It's absolutely not a small cost. It cost the last startup I worked for around two weeks of development time, plus in many cases it prevents us (or adds massive restrictions) on collecting contact information from leads. It has certainly affected the bottom line of companies like Facebook and Google, but they can afford to take the hit, not all startups can. I'm not really disagree that companies "should" do it. But…

This is exactly what I love so much about the GDPR.

It hurts and sets up barriers when you want to collect data which is not needed for fulfilling the purposes of "doing your business".

Nobody keeps you from saving contact information and communicating it in that way. But collecting all kinds of data to build profiles and get on my nerves, because I wanted to test your software is getting more and more complicated. And that's good for (end) users privacy.

Re: Google hit with €1.5B fine from EU over advertising

#142
post #30
post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

more like a part of the wrist itself. They are racking up $7B in fines at the moment

Yet my takeaway is it pays not to follow regulations.

I'd love to know how you got to that conclusion. Do you have internal reports from Google detailing the extra income brought by these behaviors?

Re: Google hit with €1.5B fine from EU over advertising

#143
post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's a very small cost that all companies should already be able to handle if they're to be trusted with personal data.

It's absolutely not a small cost. It cost the last startup I worked for around two weeks of development time, plus in many cases it prevents us (or adds massive restrictions) on collecting contact information from leads. It has certainly affected the bottom line of companies like Facebook and Google, but they can afford to take the hit, not all startups can. I'm not really disagree that companies "should" do it. But…

So your old company didn't properly care about how they handled my private data and the law made them care? Should we cry at how the evil EU made them actually have to properly handle my private data? That line alone is a good showcase of why GDPR is great.

Re: Google hit with €1.5B fine from EU over advertising

#144

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That $100/person isn’t spending by individual users. They are spent by companies advertising and paying for clicks. Guess how many times an average person clicks on an ad knowingly/unknowingly.

So: who is giving the money to the companies that they use for advertising?

other companies ?

Re: Google hit with €1.5B fine from EU over advertising

#145
post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It seems like EU's policy of retribution on Big Tech for US fining European banks. https://www.fnlondon.com/articles/european-banks-face-dispro...

A good faith interpretation would be that the US has the most advanced system for financial regulation, while the EU is better (or emphasises) antitrust and privacy regulation. Both seem to perfectly consistent with New York being the world's premier financial center and Europe being somewhat renown for stronger consumer protection. (which leaves Volkswagen as a terribly embarrassing example of regulatory capture in…

To be fair, roundup has a magical characteristic in only starting to cause cancer once Monsanto was no longer a US company.

Some German states own parts of VW and clearly would prefer to believe it to be honest mistake VW has learned from. No one should be surprised that the Deutsche Bank are criminals either. I dont think those cases are anything more then corruption preventing proper prosecution. Big corporations simply get away with a lot of stuff if its politically inconvenient. I mean the HSBC laundered billions for drug cartels. Heckler and Koch breached weapon embargos. Non of that is in any way a grey area but plain and simply criminal conspiracy.

Re: Google hit with €1.5B fine from EU over advertising

#147
post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's a very small cost that all companies should already be able to handle if they're to be trusted with personal data.

That's the crux of it. It's not asking companies to do anything they shouldn't have already been doing if they were conscious about security. The problem is it's been blown completely out of proportion to a point where by son's child minder sent out letters asking for our permission to contact us if our child is unwell (Of course she should - that isn't unsolicited contact. She was already covered!).

> The problem is it's been blown completely out of proportion [...]

Yeah, but blame that on the lawyers who wanted to cash in on this new regulation. I think only _very few_ people/business owners actually took the time to read the GDPR and think about whether all of that even applies to them.

Most just became a victim of the fearmongering around all of that.

Re: Google hit with €1.5B fine from EU over advertising

#148
post #8

"We love competition; here's what we're doing to show you how much we love it!" - Google hours before being fined in anti-trust case.

They are being fined for behavior that stopped in 2016. I wouldn't bet on Google's current intentions, but being fined now doesn't mean anything.

Re: Google hit with €1.5B fine from EU over advertising

#149
post #59
post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

more like a part of the wrist itself. They are racking up $7B in fines at the moment

- "Let's make rules that cripple our competitors and see how long we can get away with it." - "What can we earn?" - "Billions." - "What's it going to cost?" - "Less than what we're going to make." - "Let's do it!"

Should be noted that besides the fine they have to change how they operate in regards to the subject matter (which they always have, as described in the article).

Re: Google hit with €1.5B fine from EU over advertising

#150
post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It seems like EU's policy of retribution on Big Tech for US fining European banks. https://www.fnlondon.com/articles/european-banks-face-dispro...

A good faith interpretation would be that the US has the most advanced system for financial regulation, while the EU is better (or emphasises) antitrust and privacy regulation. Both seem to perfectly consistent with New York being the world's premier financial center and Europe being somewhat renown for stronger consumer protection. (which leaves Volkswagen as a terribly embarrassing example of regulatory capture in…

> A good faith interpretation would be that the US has the most advanced system for financial regulation

One only has to take a peek at the HSBC cartel scandals to know that's patently bullshit.

Post reply on HN