Nightmare on Lemmy Street (A Fediverse GDPR Horror Story) - Michael Altfield's Tech Blog (tech.michaelaltfield.net)

submitted 8 months ago by Lanky_Pomegranate530@midwest.social to c/fediverse@lemmy.world

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[-] kernelle@lemmy.world 5 points 8 months ago

"your point" was that the EU can force a fine on any foreign company operating outside the EU for not following local laws, which is ridiculous. But I agree with the rest.

[-] Maalus@lemmy.world -1 points 8 months ago

It's not ridiculous if you actually read up what GDPR is. They can place a fine on any foreign company. It probably won't be enforced in China, Russia, Iran, etc. But GDPR isn't a "local law". Most countries comply with it, hence cookie notices and all that jazz

[-] kernelle@lemmy.world 1 points 8 months ago

You might be missing the point. Again, the EU will send them a bill and a firm letter, but they don't have any authority to actually demand payment. That fact has nothing to do with GDPR but with the fact that it's an entirely different sovereignty.

The EU could sue them, they could impose sanctions on other companies for dealing with said company. They have an enormous amount of power to make sure said company can never deal with anything EU related. They have tried to sue companies in the US for not complying but no outcome for that is known.

That is why you see the cookie notices and general compliance, but also if you're a relatively small company it's actually not that hard to comply. It gets exponentially more difficult the larger you get but if you're that large than you'll definitely be dealing with world economics, including the EU which gives a lot of incentive to comply.