And this is literally what GDPR was created for. Hoping you've blocked access to the EU so I don't happen across it :)
Obviously it's "safer" to let others make rules and force us inside the fence to keep us sheep away from the dangerous wolves out there. I do understand that perspective to some extent. However I would never trade my freedom for security. The former is not easy to regain.
Your example where you "want to give your data away to a sketchy website" is not in any way representative of reality when a) the website is as ubiquitous as for instance FB, and thus in no way perceived as sketchy, and b) the user makes no conscious decision to consent (let alone "wants it").
> Hoping you've blocked access to the EU so I don't happen across it :)
Being glad that he doesn't have the freedom to use the site, thanks to a government law (whether a side-effect of the law or a direct effect is irrelevant, because the law brought it out just the same).
That is, if you're offering such a service that exploits users for their data, then I would never want to use it, so it might as well be blocked, for all I care.
Maybe even desirable if it was, so you don't come across it by mistake and sign up without doing proper diligence.
Freedom of choice is nice, but there's an argument that putting rat-poison in food products isn't ok, even if you label it on the package.
thinking it’s a good idea to give your personal data to FB is not FBs fault, it’s yours.
So we should stop government from enforcing food safety and accept poisonings as fact of life...
Counterpoint: Cigarette companies poison you, and they found it's an amazing way to gain repeat customers.
like do they MAKE you smoke? cos government MAKES me pay taxes Marlboro does not MAKE me smoke...
* XIX century wants it's snake oil back * Didn't hear about China and melamine milk scandal? * Would you buy food from Amazon if it was co-mingled in current way? * VW emission scandal
It is easy to be freetard when you do not get diarrhea every so often due to food that was "optimized" (like in XIX century ;)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Jungle
Consider how many modern food standards regulations came about, and what abuses they were addressing.
The milk scandal is interesting tho. I don't disagree that there are people/companies out there that are horrible human beings (or run by horrible human beings), but these are exceptions. There is also a market-based recourse for consumers. Lawsuits and liability is a big deterrent for example. It's also illegal to harm someone (as it should be) so jail time for the offenders is quite possible without having enormous and onerous regulations. And haven't you noticed that it's the giant companies that often push regulation? Because it raises barriers to entry for competitors. Big companies have the resources they need. Using the government to hurt your competitors is one of the oldest traditions in countries with governments big enough and powerful enough to do so.
[1] https://www.history.com/news/7-things-you-may-not-know-about...
[2] https://www.libertariannews.org/2012/11/15/meat-packing-lies...
[3] https://www.zeroaggressionproject.org/uncategorized/upton-si...
The government isn't the only source of power and coercion; private companies are too. A lot of these regulations are the one countering the other.