
Internet Privacy: Federal Authority Could Enhance Consumer Protection [pdf] - jdmark
https://www.gao.gov/assets/700/696437.pdf
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roblabla
Awesome, maybe now all those news website blocking European IPs will instead
fix their stupid tracking. I can't wait to see how many dark patterns they
will use to force the user to "consent".

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Mirioron
Why would it change anything? Unless it's close to 100% compatible with GDPR
it won't help. The reason sites are blocking Europe is that serving content to
European users is too great of a liability compared to the amount of money
they make. Unless the US one has basically the same terms, that liability is
still going to be there.

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bdibs
This doesn't look like legislation, it's just a report to tell congress that
they should consider developing legislation.

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jsilence
Yes, exactly as the title indicated with the phrase "proposed to lawmakers".
Whats your point?

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omeid2
It is possible to read the title as to mean that the link will contain the
actual "proposed legislation" rather than the "recommendation" for such
legislation.

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Hamuko
But apparently GDPR ruined the Internet, so surely the US would never do
something like that.

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stephenson
There are positive and negative impacts of GDPR. Yes, poorly implemented
consent is annoying, but forcing companies to use time and energy on privacy
is super positive.

I have spent the last nine months in a few different co-working spaces here in
Denmark, and all startups there have informed and essential conversations
about handling users data. Just a few years ago that would never have been a
topic. For me that's a very positive change.

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Mirioron
> _but forcing companies to use time and energy on privacy is super positive._

Until you find out that for some reason your country/region has far fewer
strong internet companies than other regions of the world. Then you realize
that you effectively shot your own economy in the foot.

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stephenson
Can you elaborate?

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Mirioron
Europe is large and educated. The EU has 50% more population than the US and
the EU is just as highly educated and almost as rich. Yet how much everyday
software do you use that's from the EU compared to the US?

Something has kept EU companies down. I assume that it's the combination of
the various regulations we have in the EU that make it less welcoming of an
environment to run an online business. GDPR is just one additional brick in
that wall.

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jbottoms
Once again the U.S. has been caught on the back foot. We are late in
responding to GDPR and by now the scope has changed. The real issue is that
there is no regulatory body for the protocols of the 4th Industrial
Revolution. Market driven responses develop slowly, and in the meantime the
various competitive solutions will turn the marketplace into a spaghetti
junction. We still don't have an eCoin, no direction on the potential issues
with Blockchain, the web is, and continues to be leaky and DARPA is dragging
their heels in spite of being offered solutions. Currently the Web has over
3000 specifications, and the corporations behind the W3c want to maintain
control rather than working toward solutions. Meantime, our friends toward the
far East are better organized, and are working toward control. This is path-
dependent work and whoever controls next-gen ecommerce will maintain command
of commerce for a long time. We're in trouble, and the Academy appears to be
incapable of finding a solution. Treating GDPR is working on the symptoms
rather than addressing the root causes. It's time to wake the f*ck up! --John
Bottoms, inventor of the browser

