Comment by cuuupid | Hacker News Reader

Comment by cuuupid | Hacker News Reader

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The fine is already kinda big for GDPR (4% global rev for big companies) but Google has gotten away with way worse on way more regulated fronts i.e. their antitrust case which slapped them on the wrist.

If GDPR wants to be effective they need a ridiculous company-breaking fine for big abusers like COPPA and the like. Something like a per-user fine for violations that means they either can't do business in the EU or they have to become compliant otherwise risk being basically destroyed (for reference, violating child protection laws in the US can break and have broken companies before).

EDIT: also as for the tracking growth comment -- I agree on this, but the effects of GDPR on growth tools reach far beyond this. Even basic metrics are hard to get without a bunch of hoops. Even if you store no data you have to have a bunch of checkboxes and banners everywhere. Just for using Google Analytics that just relies on what they know about your computer (fingerprinting), and uses no PII at all, you need a banner and privacy policy. The laws are making it hard to use even basic analytics without fearing a misstep.

>Google has gotten away with way worse on way more regulated fronts i.e. their antitrust case which slapped them on the wrist.

Although I feel that Google has won its position in search, etc by offering a legitimately better product, we need to punish companies that continue to break the law. Success does not put you above the law. If you use your massive profits to absorb fines for breaking the law repeatedly, you should lose your ability to operate as a corporation and be dissolved. We need to reform antitrust laws. It's not just being able to control an entire market anymore, it's about being able to ignore international law because you have so much money.

I agree!

IMO, punishing data abusers can't be solved with data privacy laws. It's a regulation with very little ability to be enforced.

In the first place to abuse data you need a lot of it, so really we're looking mostly at big companies with big pockets. The easiest way to attack here is to punish unfair markets and to have stronger antitrust laws.

Let's look at the textbook case for privacy with Facebook. Facebook would be the prime candidate for antitrust no matter how you look at it: there are basically no competitors to it in the US social media market. They own everything except Snapchat, which is dying off and failing to turn a profit. Facebook accounts for so much presence in the US that they have login buttons you can integrate on different sites (Google does too because of how crazy cemented they are). Yet somehow besides being so obviously monopolistic and out of control they're hit with no antitrust. Bell was split up for doing much less.

Antitrust is just a joke right now. We have to get better enforcement first before looking to create regulations to be enforced.

Antitrust was neutered in the US by the Chicago School of Economics and the legal theories of Robert Bork (he of the Saturday Night Massacre and failed Supreme Court nomination).

Let's hope Lina Khan and the seeming bipartisan consensus that Big Tech needs taming are the beginning of an antitrust renaissance.

These are valid points but I still think it's reasonable trade off. Yes, I believe the popups banners etc might be annoying, but all companies share this problem. And I find it hard to believe it really hurts a business with a valid product.

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