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Facebook to move UK users to California terms, avoiding EU privacy rules

reuters.com

171–180 of 506 posts

Re: Facebook to move UK users to California terms, avoiding EU privacy rules

#171
post #41
post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wouldn't really call it balkanization. Most services still operate across borders. Thanks to the internet I have contact to peers from all over the world. Some aspects of the internet will become more localized in the future, but generally inter border communication is still growing I think. And in fact on an EU level, rules are unified instead of balkanized. The digital single market project brought things like th…

EU is still pretty balkanized when it comes to rules and is a headache for businesses especially when compared to the US.

That is not true. Each state has different regulations, that's why the article says "moved to California" and not just "moved to the USA". It's possible that UK law is incompatible with other states. The USA has as many or more different regulations than the EU, as lobbying is very strong in America.

Re: Facebook to move UK users to California terms, avoiding EU privacy rules

#172

Free exchange among peoples is alive and well. It is easier today to make a website and share anything than it has ever been in the history of civilization. All this is is the reining in of a few greedy corporations that offer information-sharing platforms in exchange for exploitation. New communities will pop up, and old ones resurface.

That’s the political pitch. It’s really just the EU trying to challenge the economic dominance of US tech companies. Tariffs and trade barriers are unpopular, and people who implement them are supposedly very bad. But privacy regulation and huge fines for big tech are very popular, and the people who implement them are supposedly very good. When people see the fines given out I think they presume the regulations are…

Requirements that data must be handled in a certain way is akin to requirements that electronics have no lead in them and that cars emit only a certain amount of toxic fumes and that cattle aren't addled with too much HGH. If you see no value in the regulations then you might see it as you have. But in reality the regulations are valuable and that is why you see the different reactions.

Re: Facebook to move UK users to California terms, avoiding EU privacy rules

#174

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In this specific case, my data is being moved to California. Placing it in direct reach of the US government, which has not been historically shy about abusing that kind of reach. I would quite like my data to stay in the UK, where national governments I don't elect or pay taxes to, can't touch it.

Except the UK and US security agencies share data freely through the Five Eyes alliance. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Five_Eyes

Yes, and as UK citizen I can hold my government to account through the democratic process if they start freely sharing data on UK citizens to others in the Five Eyes alliance. Notably the Five Eyes alliance used this exact setup to avoid local laws and democratic accountability, I don't want it to be easier for it to continue.

I sure as shit can't hold the US government to account.

Re: Facebook to move UK users to California terms, avoiding EU privacy rules

#175
post #26

So where will they be paying tax now if not Ireland?

If you need a quick run-down:

* The UK is the "United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland". Great Britain is the largest island in its archipelago (the British Isles); Northern Ireland is a region situated on the island of Ireland (another island in that archipelago).

* Another region of the island of Ireland is (the bulk of) the sovereign state the Republic of Ireland, a country which is part of the EU. The Republic of Ireland is the country where many companies headquarter in the EU for tax efficiency.

* Alongside Northern Ireland, the other three countries which make up the UK are England, Wales, and Scotland. Those three countries are all primarily located on Great Britain. Some other islands in the archipelago are not part of the UK at all (e.g. the Isle of Man); some other islands in the archipelago are part of one of England, Wales, Scotland, or Northern Ireland.

To confuse the island of Ireland with the United Kingdom, or to identify the Republic of Ireland as part of the UK, is deeply offensive to some (many?) Irish people. It is also a sore point to certain people across the island of Ireland that Northern Ireland is part of the UK, and that the island of Ireland is not a unified state.

Confusingly enough, citizens of the UK are almost always referred to as "British citizens" whatever their relation to the island of Great Britain; this is a strange piece of terminology because if "British" here means "Great British" then it appears to exclude Northern Ireland, while if it means "of the British archipelago" then it appears to include (for example) the Republic of Ireland.

Re: Facebook to move UK users to California terms, avoiding EU privacy rules

#176

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In this specific case, my data is being moved to California. Placing it in direct reach of the US government, which has not been historically shy about abusing that kind of reach. I would quite like my data to stay in the UK, where national governments I don't elect or pay taxes to, can't touch it.

To be honest, your data was first moved into the hands of an American company by you . You still have 15 days to force them to delete everything under threat of GDPR.

I don't have an issue giving my data to an American company. I just don't want them to store it in the US without my explicit consent.

Equally if you buy a product from a Chinese company in the US, you would expect that product to meet US standards, not Chinese standards.

Re: Facebook to move UK users to California terms, avoiding EU privacy rules

#177

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ah, apologies, you're right to pick that up, it's not quite what I meant. Maybe "where the data originates" is better? Since the data originates where you are, the data has crossed a border to get to Texas and is therefore subject to GDPR (extra-territorially), I agree. If you were in Texas when that data was collected from you, and you returned to the EU, I doubt that GDPR would apply to that data.

gpdr on the other hand is tough to enforce on companies who wholly are in the US. from a sovereign perspective the EU can pound sand when telling Americans how to treat people in their own land. The only reason the EU is able to get away with this to a degree is the american governments wish cooperation to a point and our treaties. However, I suspect america will only tolerate so much push from the EU.

> gpdr on the other hand is tough to enforce on companies who wholly are in the US.

If you do actual business in the EU they can block financial transactions, and if you don't do business in the EU, there isn't really any incentive to (ab)use the data GDPR covers?

Re: Facebook to move UK users to California terms, avoiding EU privacy rules

#178
post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We are people foremost, not consumers, especially in the context of privacy. Please do not use their terminology, it empowers them by framing everything in the eyes of corporate interests.

When you enter a shop you become a customer, not a human being with feelings. Same goes for those platforms. You enter it and you become a consumer. If you're like it or not.

That makes little sense when you think about that. The constitution of your country does not stop at the door of a business. All your constitutional rights as a citizen enter the store with you. You have also human rights granted by international treaties. Nothing stops applying because you enter a shop.

Re: Facebook to move UK users to California terms, avoiding EU privacy rules

#179

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In this specific case, my data is being moved to California. Placing it in direct reach of the US government, which has not been historically shy about abusing that kind of reach. I would quite like my data to stay in the UK, where national governments I don't elect or pay taxes to, can't touch it.

To be honest, your data was first moved into the hands of an American company by you . You still have 15 days to force them to delete everything under threat of GDPR.

Theres no guarantee that it was done by you.

It could be done by a company you did business with, or through some tracking pixel

Re: Facebook to move UK users to California terms, avoiding EU privacy rules

#180

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How are people being exploited? Where is the harm?

It’s you vs a team of 200 PhDs who’s entire job is to make you spend more time on the platform and make more clicks. It’s invasive marketing on a level that has never occurred in human history, and also happens to have the effect of amplifying the craziest voices. It’s hijacking people’s psychology, creating fights when peace would be better, because fights are less boring. And you pay for it, just with the dissoluti…

> It’s you vs a team of 200 PhDs

So Facebook apparently laid off 800 or so PhD‘s?

I kid.

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