Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Cloudflare CEO on the Italy fines

twitter.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

631–640 of 1001 posts

Re: Cloudflare CEO on the Italy fines

#631

Post by gpm »

DangitBobby wrote: post #623
gpm wrote: post #596

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have to say I'm curious over whether that's actually leverage or a massively miscalculated threat that is just going to push the Italian population and politicians firmly against cloudflare. I'm pretty sure if you tried that here (Canada) it would do the latter.

Would a regulating body in Canada do this, though? And if so, hopefully Cloudflare would say fuck you just the same as they did Italy. It's nice to see someone actually taking a principled stand for once.

If our politicians were stupid enough to pass a law telling them to - I sure hope so - we live in a place with the rule of law not the rule of whatever Joe at the CRTC thinks should happen. Regulators exist to enforce the will of parliament...

Would our politicians pass a law this unfortunate... I hope not... but I don't really have that much faith in them. The current government probably wouldn't, but governments change.

Referencing the Trump administration - the people going around threatening, deporting, arresting, taking money from, etc people as a consequence for speech they don't like - as the standard for free speech makes this far from a principled stand by cloudflare. They took their moral high ground and sunk it. This isn't about speech for them, just money.

Re: Cloudflare CEO on the Italy fines

#632

Post by DangitBobby »

dragonwriter wrote: post #286
NamlchakKhandro wrote: post #180

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But might does make rights. Because all it takes is men with guns to change what rights you think you have. If you can't defend yourself against that then you have no rights.

Might can defend, or violate, rights, but it does not make them.

What does make them? Children apparently don't have them, and many races in many countries didn't have them for a long time either. How do you account for that? Are we now distinguishing between "having" rights and uh... being allow to use them?

Re: Cloudflare CEO on the Italy fines

#633

Post by Wyverald »

UqWBcuFx6NV4r wrote: post #326
ancorevard wrote: post #226

[flagged]

You know in your heart of hearts that this is a blatantly intellectually dishonest comparison. Nobody’s buying it, not even yourself.

FWIW, this is the least effective way to disagree with someone on the internet. Everyone knows it, even yourself.

(snark aside -- either say _why_ you disagree, or just don't engage at all if you think it's a troll.)

Re: Cloudflare CEO on the Italy fines

#635

Post by cm2012 »

tuwtuwtuwtuw wrote: post #381
aforwardslash wrote: post #361

Regardless of whether the law is absurd or not (I honestly have no idea, but we've seen some crazy stuff lately in the EU), its kinda precious that a CEO only complains about it when his company is fined. I'm certain it is also quite reassuring for any paying Cloudflare customer that the company strategy is driven by the CEO Twitter rants; That if by some reason doesn't want to play ball with local laws (as draconian…

What is an example of a crazy law from EU?

Effective ban of GMOs across EU, ban on paternity tests in France without a court order are the two that come to mind for me.

Re: Cloudflare CEO on the Italy fines

#636

Post by msh »

isodev wrote: post #612
ta9000 wrote: post #580

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The NUCLEAR threat regarding the 2026 Winter Olympics (Milano-Cortina) is the real leverage here. He’s bypassing the regulator and putting a gun to the government’s head regarding national prestige and infrastructure security. Kind of wild that a private company has that kind of power, both in terms of being one of the few that can offer this service and they can make threats at this level.

> Kind of wild that a private company has that kind of power Also kind of wild that it’s a private US company pushing their current political views on another sovereign state. Cloudflare as a political tool of leverage is a level of dystopia we really should try not to unlock.

i think it’s quite normal and always have been normal for companies to leave countries when the regulative environment goes against them.

Re: Cloudflare CEO on the Italy fines

#637

Post by DangitBobby »

nkmnz wrote: post #334
jacquesm wrote: post #304

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And you are falling into the trap of thinking that if a person is busy deconstructing what used to be one of the larger democracies in the world that their other words are going to be taken at face value, which obviously is not going to happen. We're not discussing Pol Pot's views on cooking either, even though he might have had some valuable insight. Bringing up Vance and Musk in polite conversation to bolster your…

To be fair, he's not bringing them up as intellectual support for his argumentative base – he's bringing them up as support for acts of retaliation. This is mostly about power and we've lost 30% in power vs. the US in just ~12 years because we've fucked up our economy.

Most of our power loss is from electing a belligerent dumb fuck twice and allowing him to sabotage our international relationships and destroying our remaining credibility.

Re: Cloudflare CEO on the Italy fines

#638

Post by jiveturkey »

> quasi-judicial

the tweet starts off pretty strong, which I didn't care for but I understand. this phrase however feels wrong. i guess i don't understand Italy, but isn't this like saying the SEC or FCC is quasi-judicial?

> In other words, Italy insists a shadowy, European media cabal should be able to dictate what is and is not allowed online.

ah, unlike when CF themselves decides unilaterally, not even as part of a cabal, what should and should not be allowed online. got it.

Re: Cloudflare CEO on the Italy fines

#639

Post by DangitBobby »

troyvit wrote: post #448
Illniyar wrote: post #388

Earlier quoted context omitted.

He did mention that they were fighting the law before they were fined and they plan to challenge the fine in court. He has also been vocal about other similar legislation before they were enacted or the company got fined (not sure about this specific one though). So I don't think it's fair to characterize it as he "only complains about it when his company is fined".

He also said this: > In the meantime, we remain happy to discuss this with Italian government officials who, so far, have been unwilling to engage beyond issuing fines. which, although his rant really pisses me off, further proves your point.

Why does his rant piss you off?

Re: Cloudflare CEO on the Italy fines

#640

Post by DangitBobby »

oaiey wrote: post #522
csallen wrote: post #423

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> financing a company that thinks it is above the law I've never liked arguments like this, because laws are often complex, unreasonable, and unjust, and all of us (both individuals and companies) routinely use our best judgment to decide which laws to flout and which to follow, and when, where, and why to do so.

I share that perspective. Being an international company is a challenging thing regards law. You have to operate in best intent, and judges respect that. And sure, some laws and most likely this one, are stupid. I always take GDPR as an example. Annoying as fuck, but a good regulation. Well written, well executed and hits its goal. However, disrespecting and being tone deaf in communication is wrong, ignoring the int…

It feels good to see someone give a giant middle finger to corruption.
Post reply on HN