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Yes, it applies to everyone who does business with European customers. I think that's fair – actually, it's the only way to do things on the interwebz because otherwise it would be trivial to bypass.

This is why a number of US sites have decided to just not do business in Europe and just outright block it, which I think is an entirely fair decision.

The thinkpenguin people seem to want to eat their cake and have it too.

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I do agree that thinkpenguin seems to want to have their cake and eat it too.

However, I think the claim that they can go after a website even if that website does not do business in Europe is entirely unreasonable.

If a European visits your website you do have a business-customer relationship though, of sorts.

I get what you mean, but how else would you frame it? How would you prevent e.g. Google from setting up all their servers in the US and simply saying "nope, we don't do business in the EU"?

What avenue does the EU actually have to enforce it outside their territory if the business doesn't actually operate in the EU?

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