Twitter Removes Privacy Option, and Shows Why We Need Strong Privacy Laws | Hacker News Reader

Twitter Removes Privacy Option, and Shows Why We Need Strong Privacy Laws

eff.org

35 pointspanarky4 comments

As someone who was very skeptical of GDPR (particularly the affect it can have on startups and whether an early business is viable with minimal staff), I think this article makes a great point. My opinion on GDPR has improved a lot after seeing the effects myself. I still don't think it's perfect by any stretch, and I'd love to see improvements, but it does seem important and I'm glad we started somewhere.

I'm not overly optimistic about this, but I do hope we can look at this and GDPR as something with pros and cons, rather than entirely perfect or entirely evil. The real world is rarely black and white, and I think this article demonstrates that nicely.

Link to the EFF's recommendations for privacy laws (which I think is worthwhile reading): https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2019/06/effs-recommendations-c...

As a practical argument I would say that GDPR has been largely a failure.

Pick 100 websites and you will get 100 different implementations.

Pick 100 users / organizations and they will have 100 different demands and expectations.

Beside a couple or so high profile cases of American companies, regular SMEs are hardly ever persecuted, even after reports.

If we don't start writing data privacy and security related laws like specifications, we will never reach a point where the industry has safe practices.

The only cons are for the activists, it takes an extreme level of privilege to see all the free stuff that people are getting showered in and think "someone should stop this". GDPR is just another reason that the EU will continue to lag behind SEA and the US in software, the exceptions are the cases extending from external markets where the product is primarily data financed by other groups. GDPR is just Europe demanding a free ride because why innovate when you can legislate.

This is not an issue for GDPR-compliant regions.

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