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Comment by creesch | Hacker News Reader

Silly question, the EU simply has stricter privacy and data protection laws. As these came into effect relatively recently, a lot of these companies are trying to see what they can get away with. Or at the very least taking a calculated risk that the regulation authorities are not going after them.

So the only way to actually get them to respect these laws is by attaching actual tangible consequences to breaking them.

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I know EU has stronger data privacy laws. I just wonder if they're really all that upset about American companies breaking them. They get to use the new tech and fine the companies that bring that tech to them. It's a win-win.

Yes we are upset about American companies breaking the law and using unfair market advantage to get ahead. It's certainly not a win-win. The fines are a drop in the bucket.

Here you are on the internet which America invented, on an American website, complaining about how America is unfair, while they pay you billons of dollars in fines.

> Here you are on the internet which America invented

Oef, another poorly researched, oversimplified take on things. I'll throw you a bit of a bone, the prototype internet or the precursor to it is indeed mostly a US invention. The modern day internet has been shaped by many international contributions from a variety of sources. Tim Berners-Lee is an English computer scientist to give an obvious example. Not to mention that it is very likely you are viewing this on a wifi connected device, which is a Dutch invention.

I didn't say that America "shaped" the internet, I said that America invented it, which is a fact that you've admitted.

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That certainly is.... a take. Still a silly one if you ask me. If that were true they wouldn't fine EU companies either. Yet, that is also happening.

It's kind of like an ambulance-chasing lawyer. Yeah the driver at fault did real harm and owes money to the victim. But the lawyer is not a selfless justice crusader - he's looking for a payday. That's how I see the EU in these cases.

Sorry, you are not really making a better case for your argument. The budget of the EU largely comes from other places. Fines like these don't even register on there meaningfully. That alone should tell you enough.

The fact that a 290 million euro fine isn't considered meaningful does tell me a lot.

You aren't even trying, are you? It is not that meaningfull within the overall annual budget of the EU. If your take that they are just doing it for the extra cash was even remotely true they'd need to fine a whole lot more companies than they are doing now.

At this point I am sure that you are either:

- Trolling. In that case, good on you I guess.

- Really are not trying and not willing to try either. Which is a shame, mostly for you though.

Either way, it is not worth it to further respond to you. As in both scenarios you will just respond with another half backed goalpost moving response.

The EU is the largest economical block in the world. 290 isn't that much for them.

What does "upset" mean here? How does this human emotion "upset" apply to the European Union? Is Uber "upset"?

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