I told them forced consent was unlawful. 5 years later it cost Elkjop €1.8M • Hacker News Board

Re: I told them forced consent was unlawful. 5 years later it cost Elkjop €1.8M

#81

Post by jmholla » Fri, Jun 19, 2026, 12:40 AM UTC

Retric wrote: post #14

anakaine wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because if, as the regulator, you fail to benchmark what they gained then your laws can be ignored and your fines paid as simply a cost of doing business. Its why you find the Australian regulator for consumer affairs handing out $200m+ fines to telecommunications companies, for example.

By that logic regulators should lower fines if the action wasn’t profitable. Which creates an expensive legal fight around the net profits of some action were after guilt is determined. Instead, it’s much better to scale fines based on the scale of the entity involved, which also results in huge fines, but it’s easier to measure revenue. Thus the fines are more broadly effective, and you can still escalate if they do…

I don't think that logic works. In your vein, if I say " If it gets hotter, I'll want it to be colder" that would imply that if it gets colder I'll want it to be hotter. That doesn't necessarily have to be the case thought.

If they made a profit and I want them to pay more than the base fine doesn't mean if they made a loss I want them to pay less than the base fine.

I think the rest of your come t stands though. There is difficulty I proving profit and Hollywood accounting can probably change those numbers.

Re: I told them forced consent was unlawful. 5 years later it cost Elkjop €1.8M

#82

Post by fc417fc802 » Fri, Jun 19, 2026, 12:44 AM UTC

anakaine wrote: post #13

aucisson_masque wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You don't know how much it did cost them. Why would you care about how much they gained ? You can't compare something when you have neither value.

Because if, as the regulator, you fail to benchmark what they gained then your laws can be ignored and your fines paid as simply a cost of doing business. Its why you find the Australian regulator for consumer affairs handing out $200m+ fines to telecommunications companies, for example.

This entire issue is sidestepped by having graduated fines (which GDPR has). If they keep doing it the amount keeps going up until eventually they go out of business. It really limits the ability to take advantage of the system which hopefully makes it not worthwhile to bother doing.

Re: I told them forced consent was unlawful. 5 years later it cost Elkjop €1.8M

#83

Post by fc417fc802 » Fri, Jun 19, 2026, 12:47 AM UTC

jmholla wrote: post #81

Retric wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

By that logic regulators should lower fines if the action wasn’t profitable. Which creates an expensive legal fight around the net profits of some action were after guilt is determined. Instead, it’s much better to scale fines based on the scale of the entity involved, which also results in huge fines, but it’s easier to measure revenue. Thus the fines are more broadly effective, and you can still escalate if they do…

I don't think that logic works. In your vein, if I say " If it gets hotter, I'll want it to be colder" that would imply that if it gets colder I'll want it to be hotter. That doesn't necessarily have to be the case thought. If they made a profit and I want them to pay more than the base fine doesn't mean if they made a loss I want them to pay less than the base fine. I think the rest of your come t stands though. The…

It's not about what you want nor is it about exacting revenge. The end goal is simply a marketplace where a given behavior isn't happening. Appropriately structured fines should accomplish that.

Re: I told them forced consent was unlawful. 5 years later it cost Elkjop €1.8M

#84

Post by anitil » Fri, Jun 19, 2026, 12:54 AM UTC

uproarchat wrote: post #52

engeljohnb wrote: post #17

I'm glad it all worked out for this individual. I hope more people live their lives like this as the dystopia progresses. Unfortunately, especially in the US, exercising your rights, or even just reading every paper you're expected to put your name to, not only constantly pisses people off for some reason, but also puts you at a significant disadvantage compared to the people that never push back in the interest of n…

I am that person that reads every line of the contracts I sign, including ToS and PP. I appreciate that I can tell who it rubs the wrong way, because it tells me who will shake my hand without intending to honor their word. It changed the way I write these documents as well, the last ToS and PP I wrote can each be read in a single breath.

How do you manage the situation socially? I had a very important document with a very expensive professional booked for about 10 minutes. No way I could actually read it in that time - what would you do?

Re: I told them forced consent was unlawful. 5 years later it cost Elkjop €1.8M

#85

Post by ambicapter » Fri, Jun 19, 2026, 1:07 AM UTC

I understand where he's coming from, but it is still hilarious that he sued the legal entity that won the case for him, after they found the case in his favor.

Re: I told them forced consent was unlawful. 5 years later it cost Elkjop €1.8M

#86

Post by ambicapter » Fri, Jun 19, 2026, 1:08 AM UTC

anitil wrote: post #84

uproarchat wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am that person that reads every line of the contracts I sign, including ToS and PP. I appreciate that I can tell who it rubs the wrong way, because it tells me who will shake my hand without intending to honor their word. It changed the way I write these documents as well, the last ToS and PP I wrote can each be read in a single breath.

How do you manage the situation socially? I had a very important document with a very expensive professional booked for about 10 minutes. No way I could actually read it in that time - what would you do?

Not GP, but probably ask them to send me the contract ahead of time, and explain that you need time to read it.

Re: I told them forced consent was unlawful. 5 years later it cost Elkjop €1.8M

#87

Post by computerdork » Fri, Jun 19, 2026, 1:14 AM UTC

bigiain wrote: post #56

monkpit wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It doesn’t mean _inside_ the apartment. It means if they decide to film a commercial and you’re walking your dog in the background, they don’t have to ask you.

That sounds a lot like a rationalization desperately grasping at "surely it's not as insane as it sounds, what it _must_ mean is ... " I would want to read and perhaps get legal advice before relying on that interpretation - and before finding I signed over rights to my landlord to make candid porn of me and all his other tenants.

Am pretty sure he's right. I rent out my house, and it is very illegal for the landlord to record video inside the house (or even of the driveway). You are infringing the privacy of your tenants and is a huge no-no.

Yeah, if you accidentally recorded families walking through their homes unclothed, this could land a landlord in jail.

Re: I told them forced consent was unlawful. 5 years later it cost Elkjop €1.8M

#88

Post by uproarchat » Fri, Jun 19, 2026, 1:14 AM UTC

anitil wrote: post #84

uproarchat wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am that person that reads every line of the contracts I sign, including ToS and PP. I appreciate that I can tell who it rubs the wrong way, because it tells me who will shake my hand without intending to honor their word. It changed the way I write these documents as well, the last ToS and PP I wrote can each be read in a single breath.

How do you manage the situation socially? I had a very important document with a very expensive professional booked for about 10 minutes. No way I could actually read it in that time - what would you do?

"I appreciate the opportunity to work on this with you, I need to give this the time that it deserves to make sure I can honor the commitments in the contract."

Always maintain your integrity, a big part of that is honoring your word. Integrity is the only thing you're born with in this life, and if you're lucky you take it with you on the way out. Any person worth getting into contracts with will appreciate the value in that.

Re: I told them forced consent was unlawful. 5 years later it cost Elkjop €1.8M

#89

Post by RobRivera » Fri, Jun 19, 2026, 1:22 AM UTC

iliveinberlin wrote: post #58

RobRivera wrote: post #31

Lol. Brookfield Place wifi had an OPT IN for their wifi to receive marketing. If you unclicked it, the 'connect to wifi' button greyed out and a notification appears saying that Opt In is required for wifi.

Type the email address of somebody you dislike

THATS EXACTLY WHAT I DID mwahahaha

Re: I told them forced consent was unlawful. 5 years later it cost Elkjop €1.8M

#90

Post by DarkUranium » Fri, Jun 19, 2026, 1:26 AM UTC

throw9394494 wrote: post #26

I wonder if anyone who are cheering this fine, actually read and tried to implement GDPR. It is a nightmare to be fully compliant for small companies. It is mostly just a theater (like endless cookie consent dialogs in anonymous browsing), to employ more experts and bureaucrats. EU is now pushing privacy laws that severely undermine privacy.

The cookie consent dialogs were never required in this form.

That was literally just malicious compliance in order to get people mad at the law instead of the companies (at least at first, there's also a huge amount of cargo-culting nowadays). Congrats, you've been psy-opped.