Earlier quoted context omitted.
GDPR enforcement is completely arbitrary (in both senses of the word). People might cheer for the downfall of the tech giants but it's really just a way for the EU to control US companies, extending their power beyond their jurisdiction.
Or just a way to keep peoples’ data inside EU and not allowing it to leak for-profit companies.
GDPR enforcer rules that IAB Europe’s consent popups are unlawful
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Re: GDPR enforcer rules that IAB Europe’s consent popups are unlawful
#342Here is what I don't understand. They clearly mean to ban online tracking. They make the laws. But instead of making a law that makes tracking illegal, they make a law that says you must consent, and leave blank what consent means. Then they make rulings about what consent means that amount to "it is illegal to collect data for tracking." Why not just ban tracking and be done with it?
There's your error. GDPR is not about online advertising.
Things regulated by GDPR:
* CCTV in public spaces.
* Medical records.
* Employment records that businesses keep about their employees.
* Credit reports.
* Government records like voter databases and housing information.
* Trawling public business filings to send direct-mail spam.
* The loyalty card issued by your grocery store which tracks your purchases.
* The CRM database used by the sales guys in your SaaS company to keep track of hot leads.
GDPR regulates a wide array of data collection, and outright banning is not the correct solution for most of them. So it's about what obligations are attached to data collection and processing. Online advertising is only a small part of what's being regulated.
Even online, there are modes of data collection which are permissible. E.g. collecting anonymous site statistics for your own internal use. The obligations get harder and harder to satisfy when your business practice is to spread data hither and yon to whomever will pay a nickel for it.
Re: GDPR enforcer rules that IAB Europe’s consent popups are unlawful
#343To be frank, the practical result of GDPR is that it made my browsing experience worse. Nearly every website opens with an annoying cookie popup, often blocking the content (or reducing it to a fraction of my screen on mobile). I've never once clicked "Yes, track everything", except by accident when tricked into it by deceptive UI (eg. a button designed to look more inviting than its less invasive counterpart). I get…
Re: GDPR enforcer rules that IAB Europe’s consent popups are unlawful
#344Earlier quoted context omitted.
GDPR enforcement is completely arbitrary (in both senses of the word). People might cheer for the downfall of the tech giants but it's really just a way for the EU to control US companies, extending their power beyond their jurisdiction.
If those companies extend their business beyond the US' jurisdiction, why do you feel they shouldn't be subject to some form of control where they operate? I'm legitimately asking. This is about something that was done within the EU to EU citizens. Why shouldn't the EU have a say?
There are laws and then are how laws are enacted. Hint: pay attention to how homegrown EU companies are treated.
EDIT: https://www.enforcementtracker.com/ Look here specifically. Sort by fine amount. Look at the companies that are being fined the hardest. It's not just the US that is being targeted. There's this island nation that recently decided they didn't want to be part of the EU...
Re: GDPR enforcer rules that IAB Europe’s consent popups are unlawful
#345My favorite part is: > All data collected through the TCF must now be deleted by the more than 1,000 companies that pay IAB Europe to use the TCF. This includes Google’s, Amazon’s and Microsoft’s online advertising businesses. It's not just that they need to find new ways to screw users. It's that since they screwed users, they also must lose their ill-gained data. Which will probably be a nice deterrent against them…
I don't think it's much of a deterrent, because there's no clawback of the ill gotten gains from the use of that data. That's something done routinely in, say, fraud cases.
This ruling should make it a lot harder for advertisers to hide behind the IAB though. One would hope that opens members up to more substantial fines in the future.
Re: GDPR enforcer rules that IAB Europe’s consent popups are unlawful
#346Earlier quoted context omitted.
I think the point is that megacorps' business structure is way too complex for anyone to actually understand. Why is Gmail free? It makes money for Google, that part is clear, but I have no idea how exactly. I'm not even sure they can measure it exactly. Those companies have transformed the internet, and its users, by offering services for free, in exchange for user data. We have raised an entire generation (two, may…
> Of course, we cannot simply ban all advertising and start charging for everything. But I'm of the firm opinion that, in order to go forward, we have to leave this business model behind, as humanity. The only way to achieve this is by making it unattractive via legislation. What exactly are you proposing? Anyone who wants to pay for email can do so already. It's very trivial to not use any of Google's services or be…
Your argument is "People have free choice, so anything that they do is legal."
The excuse of the perpetrators is "I'm not the one (directly) responsible for your poor economic situation, or your lack of education, so it's fair and moral for me to offer you a terrible proposition that you absolutely would not make if you were in a better economic situation." This is just where extreme capitalism gets you.
The list of examples is endless. Scrip. Children working in mines or cleaning chimneys. Click-through TOS. "Free" email. Indentured servitude.
At the end of the day it's no different than "You need to get on this boat to america, or this gentleman here is going to cut your wife's throat. Hey, it's not me doing the cutting. I'm the good guy. I'm trying to keep you safe. But its your choice."
It really depends on what we mean by "choice".
Re: GDPR enforcer rules that IAB Europe’s consent popups are unlawful
#347Re: GDPR enforcer rules that IAB Europe’s consent popups are unlawful
#348Earlier quoted context omitted.
I'd argue that the data has already been integrated into ML models or mixed in such a way that there's no way to even tell where the data originated from. While the logical conclusion would be to just delete any data they can't prove a legitimate origin for, I very much doubt this is going to happen. Most importantly, tens of billions have already been made using this ill-gotten data.
The GDPR doesn't apply to data that can't be related to a natural person. Those models would therefore no longer be under the scope. Another example: You get consent from me, count your distinct visitors for January and I revoke my consent tomorrow. You do not have to change your visitor count retroactively.
An analog example would be stealing paint and painting your car with it. Should the paint be stripped off the car and given back? I don't know, but the victims are entitled to compensation, which isn't happening in the Google/Amazon case.
Re: GDPR enforcer rules that IAB Europe’s consent popups are unlawful
#349Earlier quoted context omitted.
How do you prove there is no PII in the ML model? It has been proven countless times that it's possible to extract learning data from models. I can't see how you can prove the opposite, except, maybe, with federated learning (but even then, you need to good "ratio" of noise)
> How do you prove there is no PII in the ML model? Is "innocent until proven guilty" not a maxim in European justice?
Re: GDPR enforcer rules that IAB Europe’s consent popups are unlawful
#350My favorite part is: > All data collected through the TCF must now be deleted by the more than 1,000 companies that pay IAB Europe to use the TCF. This includes Google’s, Amazon’s and Microsoft’s online advertising businesses. It's not just that they need to find new ways to screw users. It's that since they screwed users, they also must lose their ill-gained data. Which will probably be a nice deterrent against them…
In the end it should be mandated that all user data is stored locally and cannot be processed outside of its local jurisdiction. The U.S. is never going to accede that its intelligence agencies cannot access data gathered by its Tech Giants. All claims and soothing words to the contrary are a false belief.