NOYB is perfectly fine with companies making money by placing ads (as long as they preserve your privacy).
All I want is for the true costs of using a product to be understood. Businesses can and should make money! But it’s wrong to present a product as “free” when it is not. It’s no different than having a fine print click license granting Facebook permission to come take stuff from your garage.
Yes, businesses cost money to run. No, that does not mean that all business models must be permitted regardless of consumer and social harm.
There is no fundamental right to a profitable businesses; if a business cannot be profitable within the bounds we choose to set, oh well.
(And I say this as a huge EU policy skeptic that thinks they are way over-regulating)
They should charge a fair price for their product and deliver something good to customers.
No one is forcing Facebook to not charge for their service. They just can’t do it without slurping your data. If they can’t have a business without invading people’s privacy, they shouldn’t have a business. It is baffling that people still shill these practices from big corporations. It’s like saying “I can’t make money without robbing you, so it should be legal for me to rob you”.
> the only result that will satisfy organisations like noyb is that companies like Facebook disappear from the EU.
This is absolutely not true and frankly reads like an argument in bad faith. noyb’s position is clear: don’t invade people’s privacy.
> This is illegal, as the GDPR clearly states that withdrawing your consent must be “as easy as” giving it.
The whole point of the article and this discussion is precisely that you can’t make privacy protections a separate “feature”.
Edit: You can still charge for your services. Literally nothing in the EU prevents you from charging for your services.