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Google plans to move UK users' accounts outside EU jurisdiction

reuters.com

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Re: Google plans to move UK users' accounts outside EU jurisdiction

#71

Post by kick »

dilutedh2o wrote: post #45
rconti wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Pro-Brexiteers have often cited stronger bilateral ties, such as those with the US, as an advantage of Brexit. And of course, post-Brexit, Britain will be ever more reliant on the willingness of countries such as the US to cut deals with them. As an independent negotiator in these new deals, Britain will have less power to push back over silly things like data privacy; and as a member of Five Eyes anyway, they're all…

That sounds really interesting. Would you mind sharing a resource to learn more about how the UK spies on US citizens?

Optic Nerve was one of these things. Basically, GCHQ or NSA hacked Yahoo!, GCHQ used that to collect stills for every single webcam feed on the platform (this! was! back! when! Yahoo! was! still! relevant!), including a lot of intimate photos, so on. Lots of fun stuff there!

But that's a modern example. There are some pretty interesting ones. Here's a fun list of some celebrities that were the targets of a Five Eyes country and were spied on by multiple agencies as a result:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_people_under_Five_Eyes...

Re: Google plans to move UK users' accounts outside EU jurisdiction

#72

Post by throwaheyy »

rwmj wrote: post #7

It is real. I just got an email about this from Google about my gmail account: - Your service provider and data controller is now Google LLC: Because the UK is leaving the EU, we’ve updated our Terms so that a United States-based company, Google LLC, is now your service provider instead of Google Ireland Limited. Google LLC will also become the data controller responsible for your information and complying with appli…

I wonder if that means that since they're moving their customers therefore revenue to the US, they will pay taxes there too, instead of Ireland.

Probably not though. Flags of convenience is the Google way.

Re: Google plans to move UK users' accounts outside EU jurisdiction

#73

Post by seanmcdirmid »

antonyh wrote: post #70
SahAssar wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's not a FAANG though.

FAANG is just a buzzword acronym, a hook to pull in investors. LinkedIn is Microsoft, which should also be included given it's scale. It should be FAMANG.

But then does Microsoft implement GDPR globally, not just its LinkedIn subsidiary?

Re: Google plans to move UK users' accounts outside EU jurisdiction

#74

Post by NotSammyHagar »

ckastner wrote: post #20

The optics of this might look bad, but I cannot really fault Google for this move (and I frequently fault Google). They're facing a dilemma of regulatory uncertainty, and this move resolves this dilemma for them (at least, they seem to believe that). Anyone who has ever dealt with powerful regulatory agencies will probably agree that this resolution is the right move for the company, a move important enough that eati…

It's not good for the users. Having less control over your privacy and your data is extremely unlikely to be better for the users. Probably less control and regulation is going to be better for Google.

Re: Google plans to move UK users' accounts outside EU jurisdiction

#75

Post by duxut_staglatz »

nightcracker wrote: post #17
rwmj wrote: post #7

It is real. I just got an email about this from Google about my gmail account: - Your service provider and data controller is now Google LLC: Because the UK is leaving the EU, we’ve updated our Terms so that a United States-based company, Google LLC, is now your service provider instead of Google Ireland Limited. Google LLC will also become the data controller responsible for your information and complying with appli…

> These changes to our Terms and privacy policy don’t affect your privacy settings or the way that we treat your information. This is such a blatant lie what the hell. The only reason for this move is specifically to treat your information in ways that are not legal now.

This is not a lie if these changes do not do anything but later ones will.

Re: Google plans to move UK users' accounts outside EU jurisdiction

#76

Post by vechagup »

ollie87 wrote: post #16
rcMgD2BwE72F wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

GDPR only applies to EU residents, doesn't it?

UK citzens are still EU residents for now, the UK hasn't actually left yet.

The EU disagrees: https://europa.eu/european-union/about-eu/countries_en#28mem....

The UK may still be following some of the EU's rules, but they have officially left the union.

Re: Google plans to move UK users' accounts outside EU jurisdiction

#77

Post by dijit »

mlaretallack wrote: post #62
johannes1234321 wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In what way is it early? UK left the European Union late last year. Since then there only is a temporary agreement in place, with a deadline later this year. Given the seemingly strength of the Prime Minister (see recent cabinet reshuffling) and his unwillingness to extend companies doing business in Britain have to prepare.

February 1st was officially the "first day" out.

It's a bit of a red-herring because the only thing that changed on Febuary 1st was that we're no longer having representation in the EU parliament, until the end of the year we're still following all the same laws and regulations.

And that assumes that the transition period is not extended. (Which it doesn't seem likely to be, frankly).

Re: Google plans to move UK users' accounts outside EU jurisdiction

#78

Post by dang »

bananamerica wrote: post #53
three_seagrass wrote: post #30

Duplicate: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22370405

I’m sorry, am I on Stack Exchange?

On Hacker News, the issue is that frontpage space is the scarcest resource that HN has (only 30 slots at a time). Since the site exists for intellectual curiosity, and curiosity withers under repetition, it's important not to have those slots taken up by stories that have had a significant recent discussion. (For example, the OP had a major thread yesterday.)

Reposts are allowed in the other cases. That is, if a story hasn't had significant attention yet, we don't treat a repost as a dupe. Similarly, if it has had a significant discussion but not recently, it's ok to resubmit it. That's because once enough time has gone by, the topic can gratify curiosity again. The cutoff is a year or so. This is in the FAQ: https://news.ycombinator.com/newsfaq.html.

Re: Google plans to move UK users' accounts outside EU jurisdiction

#80

Post by Zenst »

unbeli wrote: post #67
Zenst wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Might be down to costs. How much does hosting per account in Ireland compare to USA hosting? Even if a few pennies/cents, at google's scale - that makes business sense and if they can, they will.

This has nothing to do with the actual location of the servers holding the data. Which would not be a single location anyway.

Actually it does play a factor, GDPR had it so the data on EU citizens had to be located within the EU. Now they have alternative options for the UK - then that aspect does as I initially outlined becomes key.

Hence the question of actual costs to Google in hosting in say Ireland (staffing, taxes, rates, utility costs, cooling....) compared with another location outside the EU that may very well have cheaper running costs due to many factors.

I hope that clears up why location is a factor now as it related to running costs and if they can save some money, well, they will.

More so if they suddenly free up capacity in a datacenter which has higher costs than some other locations outside the EU. All these details do very much, however small, stack up at the scale of users Google operates with and for the UK, several million is a large chunk of potential savings.

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