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Europe is scaling back GDPR and relaxing AI laws

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Re: Europe is scaling back GDPR and relaxing AI laws

#411

Post by s1mplicissimus »

shoddydoordesk wrote: post #311
rckt wrote: post #270

I get that too many regulations is a bad thing. But when we talk privacy and personal data there should be no gray zone. It has to be black and white. When I see a stupid cookie banner I search for "Reject all". There's no some data that companies can collect and process without my consent, they just shouldn't be able to collect anything without me actively opting in. Business never respects anything, but profits. Se…

Who is the audience your comment is trying to reach? Who are these mysterious "companies"? It's important to realize companies are made of people. Someone had to explicitly code the dark pattern in the GDPR cookie dialog. Ever notice the button for "Accept All" is big and shiny, while refusing all is more often than not a cumbersome, multi-click process? That's not an accident. That was coded by people. People around…

Having coded multiple such buttons in the past, I'd like to ask to consider that the person doing the coding is barely the person making the decision. It's hard to reject such a request when your lifelihood depends on the job

Re: Europe is scaling back GDPR and relaxing AI laws

#412

Post by gessha »

l5870uoo9y wrote: post #319
energy123 wrote: post #304

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've stopped thinking of regulations as a single dial, where more regulations is bad or less regulations is bad. It entirely depends on what is being regulated and how. Some areas need more regulations, some areas need less. Some areas need altered regulation. Some areas have just the right regulations. Most regulations can be improved, some more than others.

I disagree with this otherwise seemingly reasonable position. Draghi's latest report pointed out that overregulation is a major problem in the EU and costs EU companies the equivalent of a 50% tariff (if I remember correctly). Of course, Draghi's report has led to nothing more than a few headlines.

I’m not saying the following regarding Draghi’s report or particular regulation in mind:

If an unethical business gets started due to underregulation and it generates revenue and contributes to GDP, is that a good thing?

Re: Europe is scaling back GDPR and relaxing AI laws

#413

Post by pembrook »

troupo wrote: post #355
pembrook wrote: post #296

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ughhh here we go again. Every time GDPR is brought up on HN, the same "it's super simple to comply, just read it yourself!" religious incantation gets repeated ad-nauseam. I think it's because people love the idea of what they think GDPR actually represents (the fuzzy abstract idea of "privacy"), without ever diving into any of the implementation details. Almost nobody on this forum has ever talked to a lawyer about…

> but will continue to go back and forth if GDPR remains as-is. Yes, it should remain as is and enforced . Yes, storing your users' data in the US is extremely problematic because the US really couldn't give two shits about privacy, or user data.

I get it, it's fun to take wildly impractical ideological stances on things and ignore reality.

However, this generation is beginning to learn the lesson every generation learns: one has to deal with the world as it is, not as one wishes it were. Scarcity exists.

Unfortunately, in globalized economic reality, you will have to transfer data to other countries to conduct business.

Unfortunately, in fossil fuel driven reality, you can't just go off fossil fuels by switching to paper straws, you have to actually build viable alternatives first.

Unfortunately, in non-world-peace reality, you can't just stop having a military and become pacifist. Turns out you still need missiles and tanks.

Unfortunately, in low-birth and low-economic-growth reality, you cannot let people retire at 62 and draw inflation-pegged pensions until death.

Unfortunately, in non-0 interest rate reality, governments can't keep deficit spending to prop up a broken socialist economic model.

Etc. Etc.

Re: Europe is scaling back GDPR and relaxing AI laws

#414

Post by lo_zamoyski »

AceJohnny2 wrote: post #409
samdoesnothing wrote: post #399

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In general you want as few as possible of both.

that's right. This is the reason all my code looks like an entry to PerlGolf. /s The world's complicated. "Every complex problem has a solution which is simple, direct, and wrong" Simplicity is a laudable goal, but it's not always the one thing to optimize for.

Ah, but "simplicity" is not necessarily "fewest lines of code".

Code is first and foremost for human consumption. The compiler's job is to worry about appeasing the machine.

(Of course, that's the normative ideal. In practice, the limits of compilers sometimes requires us to appease the architectural peculiarities of the machine, but this should be seen as an unfortunate deviation and should be documented for human readers when it occurs.)

Re: Europe is scaling back GDPR and relaxing AI laws

#415

Post by antoniojtorres »

radicalbyte wrote: post #35
bitpush wrote: post #16

Incredible to see the 180 both from EU and also from the HN sentiment. HN was cheering on as EU went after Big Tech companies, especially Meta. Meta is no perfect company, but the amount of 'please stick it to them' was strong (I reckon that is still a bridge too far for a lot of folks here). Even extreme proponents of big tech villanery in the US (Lina Khan's FTC) is also facing losses (They just lost their monument…

There has been a change in the community here over the last decade, we've lost a lot of the hacker spirit and have a larger proportion of "chancers", people who are only in tech to "get rich quick". The legacy of ZIRP combined with The Social Network marketing.

True that. I went to a building in SF that dedicated floor space to every adjacent field like robotics, AI, crypto, etc. Zero hacking or even cyber related space.

It made me feel kinda sad for a few days.

Re: Europe is scaling back GDPR and relaxing AI laws

#416

Post by radicalbyte »

pipes wrote: post #132
radicalbyte wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There has been a change in the community here over the last decade, we've lost a lot of the hacker spirit and have a larger proportion of "chancers", people who are only in tech to "get rich quick". The legacy of ZIRP combined with The Social Network marketing.

In the last few years I think sentiment on hacker news has shifted from libertarian leaning to much mored left leaning. The same happened on Reddit a few years before. Anyway, just my gut feeling, nothing scientific.

I find it really hard to classify myself. I've always called myself a "libertarian" - I believe the best strategy to Civilization is to maximise freedom for anyone. As freedom enables enlightenment an enlightenment drives progress. To actually achieve that, in the real world, means that you have to distribute and limit power. That means limiting not only government power but also corporate power. That means regulation, strong regulators (breaking monopolies), policies to keep prices down (including rent/housing!) and to enable free market competition and innovation. And provide an economic system where risks can be taken, enabled by a social let (and social healthcare).

I felt that that was more common here 15 years ago before Big Tech pivoted into the cynical extractive and, in the case of the socials, net economic drag industry that it is now.

The really weird thing is that my views are considered both very right-wing (free markets, globalisation are great, maximal freedom, maximal responsibility, freedom of religion) and very left wing (strong regulation, policy to minimise rent/house prices, strong social net, progressive taxation and wealth limits, freedom to be LGBTQ+ etc).

Re: Europe is scaling back GDPR and relaxing AI laws

#417

Post by phendrenad2 »

watermelon0 wrote: post #320
hdgvhicv wrote: post #216

Earlier quoted context omitted.

By not setting a cookie until the user does something active when I then tell them (say on “log in” or “add to basket”.

You don't need a cookie banner for authentication/shopping basket cookies, since these are essential. However, you are still required to provide a list of essential cookies and their usage somewhere on the website.

This. I don't know why there's a heavy overlap between the "GDPR didn't go far enough" people and not actually reading the GRPR. I'd think they would overlap a lot with people who actually read it.

Re: Europe is scaling back GDPR and relaxing AI laws

#418

Post by thfuran »

renegade-otter wrote: post #389
rckt wrote: post #270

I get that too many regulations is a bad thing. But when we talk privacy and personal data there should be no gray zone. It has to be black and white. When I see a stupid cookie banner I search for "Reject all". There's no some data that companies can collect and process without my consent, they just shouldn't be able to collect anything without me actively opting in. Business never respects anything, but profits. Se…

Europe has much more fatal startup-killing regulation problems than cookies, however. Who cares about cookies? I am on your site, you are going to plant/collect cookies. These goddamned banners are a solution in search of a problem, and it's yet another hurdle a company of, say, 3 has to go through, for very little reason.

The banner isn't required. They could just not do the things the banner would ask consent for.

Re: Europe is scaling back GDPR and relaxing AI laws

#419

Post by [deleted] »

user34283 wrote: post #390
eitau_1 wrote: post #335

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Most baffling thing is that sometimes you can't opt-out from "always active" stuff that still involve hundreds of "partners"; see: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45844691

Users can opt-out by not using the service or buying an ad-free version if available. One would think that developers should not be forced to offer for free a version monetized with 60% less effective ads. And I understand currently this is indeed not the case for small developers, they can offer paid ad-free or free but with personalized ads. Large platforms apparently cannot.

[deleted]

Re: Europe is scaling back GDPR and relaxing AI laws

#420

Post by phendrenad2 »

stavros wrote: post #138
weberer wrote: post #136

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Instead of what? Instead of a different cookie pop-up on every single site you visit >Instead of the central browser controls? This is the central browser control. The header is how the browser communicates it to the websites.

This very article is about how we're getting a central browser control, and your comment was "can we finally get a central browser control instead?".

Well, it's a minor details hidden in the middle of the article, I also missed it.
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