
Facebook and Google hit with $8.8B in lawsuits on day one of GDPR - freedomben
https://www.theverge.com/platform/amp/2018/5/25/17393766/facebook-google-gdpr-lawsuit-max-schrems-europe
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tomatotomato37
So for all those comments on how violations would slowly escalate based on
complaints, only turning into huge fees when you blatently ignore all the
warnings, in practice we learn that those tiers of escalation only apply to
companies the EU likes, is that correct?

Because last time I checked, both companies at least made _some_ effort, and
as thus should get a last warning calling their bullshit before going full
throttle into billion dollar fine territory, especially when the regulation
has been in effect for less than one day. Otherwise I don't know why I should
trust the bureaucracy not to max out a $20 million fine on my business when
its discovered that I'm not in compliance on some edge case in this 80 page
bill

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Pulcinella
This isn’t an EU regulator going after violators. This is a private citizen. I
believe the fine has to do with state regulators enforcing GDPR.

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amarkov
I don't understand what Schrems is alleging here. "They totally know that it’s
going to be a violation", and they're not bothering to do anything about that
fact, because... why?

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craftyguy
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17154175](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17154175)

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alternate24
So it seems like we will find out if GDPR means European users have a 'right'
to use your service for free with this case.

If the EU rules against Google and Facebook here I suspect the EU will become
a digital wasteland. Companies like Google and Facebook wont leave but you
will probably be charged for usage.

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Pulcinella
???

GDPR doesn’t require that EU users get to use your service for free. If you
want to do business in the EU, you have to comply with EU law. If you don’t
want to do that, then don’t do business in the EU.

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alternate24
Look at what this case is about, Facebook and Google are saying if you want to
use our service you need to enable tracking otherwise don't use our service.

This lawsuit states that Facebook and Google are not legally allowed to deny
service.

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Pulcinella
I am not a lawyer, but it seems that the plaintiff is basically arguing that,
according to GDPR, if you want to offer a service in the EU then you can’t
just have users waive their rights under the GDPR. You could not offer a
service in the EU, but if you do then you can’t just tell your users “if you
want to use our service, then you agree that GDPR does not apply to us.”

