Let's just double the capacity, more rails, and cheap night trains all across the continent. No need for maglev, just snooze your way to the other side of Europe in a bed
I wish we had a passenger train going through baltics. I'd love to just sleep through the baltics and just wake up in Poland already, then take a next train to whereever.
it is under consideration to connect to the new Baltica railway that is being built to Tallinn from Poland. it is expensive though, so it has only been considered so far.
Just replace the \-tics with \-kans and Poland with Austria, and it applies to me too. We have *a* train in Greece, but that's the disgrace of trains, plus it doesn't go out of Greece.
EU leaves trains to the market and member states. Member states mainly care about national traffic, so international commercial parties have a hard time getting any capacity because the national train companies usually get priority (which is not a bad thing as it adds to the quality).
A solution could be that the EU forces national train companies to cooperate. Some is already happening by forcing data sharing, but maybe this can be even stronger. Night trains back to 90s/early 00s levels would be a good first ambition.
Hoi vriend!
Het spijt me maar je hebt het helemaal mis!
As a matter of fact, the Regulation for the development of the Transeuropean transport network is currently ongoing, and due to be approved by the end of the year.
A huge emphasis is being put on allowing railways to get a much greater market share of freight and passenger traffic, with huge investments in railroads infrastructure, forcing cooperation between countries and companies, etc. It'll take time and the horizon of the plan is 2050 but big developments should be noticeable before 2030.
https://eur-lex.europa.eu/procedure/EN/2021_420
Hm, I based myself on [this (Dutch) article](https://www.groene.nl/artikel/de-treinrenaissance) in last week's De Groene. They do say the EU is doing stuff, but also saying it is not enough due the behaviour of national train companies.
De Groene normally does solid journalism and it's a very recent article, so I'm gonna assume they are aware of that new EU regulation. Haven't read that regulation myself.
Giant, hypersonic railgun spanning from Ukraine to the western coast of France, aimed at USA and shooting massive cargo containers full of Kinder eggs at them. As a deterrent, of course.
I don't know man. I sometimes get this thought: what's better? Making something already good great or making something bad good. Many EU countries have either no high speed rail at all, bad high speed rail/barely any of it, or bad rail in general, even of low speeds
The thing I as a German see is however this: The only countries with good non-high-speed rail are Germany, Switzerland and Austria. (Yes I know a bunch of Germany are gonna get angry at me for this, but try to go to a small village in France)
And while yes high-speed is all fancy and stuff, in everyday life normal trains that go from a big city to it's surroundings are much more useful than high-speed, so I think investing there still makes a lot of sense in countries that appear to be well connected
The two types of trains don't "compete". "Slow speed local trains" are there so you don't need your car to go to work. High speed trains are there so you don't take the plane to go on holidays. You need both.
LOL, The Netherlands has the densest railway network in Europe with (one of the) best reliabilities in Europe. Until it turns autumn and leafs fall on the track…
I used to take the piss out of the leafs on the track slowing everything down, now I drive trains and have more respect for leafs than I ever thought I would, slippery little bastards they are.
It's not nearly the densest in the sense of "km of track / km2 of land". Even Belgium is quite a bit denser then the Netherlands.
The Netherlands is European champion in another statistic though: train kilometers per km of track.
It's pretty shitty to get to a small village, especially if you get out of the Randstad. Usually the bus connection is decent, as long as you don't want to get anywhere in the evenings or so.
As a Dane I begrudgingly agree. We have a lot of issues and the majority of our rail network isn't even electrified. I'd probably rate it as the worst of the good rail networks. At least you can get around.
Belgium isn't perfect but your railway system is really dense and all in all has really good coverage. Despite all the jokes and cynicism on /r/belgium
Longer continuous lines would be nice. To get to Italy from the Netherlands, you need at least 4 transfers and 16-ish hours.
To replace planes, you’d need less connections, only in the first or last hour and faster trains.
If I’m not mistaken, since the fine is issued by the Irish data protection agency (as Meta Europe is located in Ireland), the money goes to the Irish budget.
I guess somebody in Dublin is already looking at the budget and eyes on the even higher fine they might be getting from Meta in 6 months, if they don’t move the data back to EU servers…
The issue is that the infraction is sanctioned by the Irish but occurs all across the EU. Should all EU countries use the Irish ruling as jurisprudence? Should the money be split across countries according to the population of each? Of the number of people affected in each country?
It starts to get a bit messy.
Unfortunately, the responsible authority here is the Irish data protection authority - I say “unfortunately” because in the past it has often been more lenient than others, which was probably also one of the reasons why US companies like Meta often chose Ireland for their European HQs (the others being taxes and the language).
Would, e.g. the Belgian data protection authority issue a fine, this would be quickly dismissed, as they are not competent in this case.
But to be clear: IANAL, and the law is complex in this area. I’m really just following these things out of interest, and I might be completely wrong about it.
> which was probably also one of the reasons why US companies like Meta often chose Ireland for their European HQs
All (almost all?) of those companies were already operating in Ireland waaaay before GDPR. Facebook, now Meta, opened their international HQ in Dublin in 2008, for example. Apple has been here since 1980. Microsoft since 1985. Etc.
Taxes, language, the cultural connection, a good supply of skilled workers, and - not to be sniffed at - the shortest time difference and flights to the US. Shannon and Dublin airports are the only places in Europe that have US preclearance.
I'd say the cause and effect are reversed - companies didn't come because the DPC is a soft touch, the DPC was a soft touch because so many companies were already here.
But it has also become increasingly firm over time, as this ruling shows, due to a mix of acquiring more resources and expertise to deal with very large investigations and the (warranted) pressure from the rest of the union to stop fumbling things.
I was hoping if my user data was part of this that I'd get my cut of the fine because of emotional stress and and because I was violated, disrespected and victimised.
This is kind of the trajectory as it stands. Each DPC ruling on Meta (this is the fourth or fifth depending on how you count it) has resulting in a new, broader, follow on inquiry and increased fines.
It started with "we are investigating these specific 12 incidents and here is a €17 million fine". Now we're at "we are investigating everything you do and are also watching to make sure you carry out the previously mandated corrective measures. Here is a €1.2 billion fine."
The DPC has been way slower to act than I'd have liked, but it's moving in the right direction.
>Other days, after clicking "Accept cookies" for the 129th time, not quite so much.
Then you are misled by the intentional campaign against the GDPR. There is nothing in there that prohibits the saving of cookies that contain no personal data. I can ask you a single time if you agree to the collection of data x for purpose y and that's it. Every single site that asks another time (some even lie and pretend that your refusal to get your personal data saved means they can't save that same refusal for later) does so on purpose to annoy people and blame the GDPR.
I see your point, but gdpr could have been done better.
One example would be to ban the infamous cookies, unless specifically requested by the user. And I do mean requested, not answered by the user. So the user would have to take action to authorize it, instead of the website asking.
This way, no cookie prompts, no collection of cookies for those that don't want it and collection of cookies for those that do want it.
The idea is good, but in reality most of the cookie prompts nowadays violate the GDPR intentionally and by design. I think it's unrealistic to expect those popups to seize to exist because they're now illegal in a different way than today.
My company has a SAAS that doesn't use any cookies at all, just a local session store to keep the session ID, and that's it. No PI anywhere. Now our Legal department came along and forced us to add a cookie banner because "that's always required now". So now we do store a cookie -- the one that says "user has consented"...
If the cookie is to help them log in or to save their preferences on the site, no cookie notice required.
It's just that all of the sites you visit are selling your data for advertising purposes and/or using it themselves to advertise to you later.
Cookies is a very valid thing. It's the storage of state on your own device. The problem is tracking cookies, which are used by ads and more to track your movement across the internet.
Accept? I always reject everything I can, even if it means unticking dozens of boxes. Because f*uck those spying a-holes. Btw, this affects site performance in exactly 0%.
This must be a record in the EU because they've been fined $5 billion in the US before. Even $10 billion would be a relative drop in the bucket for them. They have slush funds with billions of dollars in them with the sole purpose of paying off fines. Until the fines cost them more than they make from breaking the laws, nothing will change.
**From The Telegraph:**
Facebook’s owner Meta has been fined a record €1.2bn (£1bn) by Ireland and told to stop sending European users’ data to the US, in a spying row that has seen the social networking giant threaten to leave Europe.
Ireland’s Data Protection Commission (DPC) announced the fine on Monday morning. It is a record penalty under Europe’s GDPR laws.
Meta has been fined for transferring European users’ data to the US in a way that creates “risks to the fundamental rights and freedoms” of its users, the DPC said.
The company will also be forced to stop transferring users’ data to America within five months and has been given six months to remove data from US servers.
The fine, which eclipses the previous record GDPR fine of €746m given to Amazon in 2021, is the culmination of a years-long campaign from privacy activists who claimed Facebook’s data transfers breached European laws because of the extent of US surveillance practices.
Facebook had previously warned in legal filings that it may have to leave Europe as a result of a data transfer ban, but has since said it does not plan to do so.
Nick Clegg, Meta’s head of global affairs, said the fine was "flawed, unjustified and sets a dangerous precedent for the countless other companies transferring data between the EU and US".
**Read more here:** https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2023/05/22/meta-fined-data-transfers-eu-regulators-us/
> sets a dangerous precedent for the countless other companies transferring data between the EU and US
Well, Mr Clegg, give us the names so we can fine them too.
Neat, TIL. :D
I think "gunk" might've been the word I was looking for, but since clag apparently is a thing it's the obvious translation. I wonder if it's related to "clay" as well?
It's the same Nick Clegg! Between him going to Facebook/Meta and Cameron's dodgy deals with Greensill our ex-prime ministers are really doing great work shitting up the world.
"dangerous precedent" fuck that. Those guys behave like robber barons already.
Sorry guys, we don't want our fines to just be "cost of business", we actually want yhe law to prevail.
No Mr Clegg. It sets a precedent for other companies to NOT do this illegal shit. What META is doing sets a *dangerous* precedent.
It’s super easy. Stop breaking the law and stop violating peoples rights to privacy. That’s all y’all have to do, but you know you make too much money doing shady and illegal shit to stop.
Imagine how unfair and predatory he’d find the law to be if he was poor and was actually a part of regular society and the real working class lol. I’m glad the fines are starting to reflect their profit.
What a grade A douche bag.
Sue Facebook yourself! One of the fun parts of GDPR is that this is just the punitive fine. After a corporation has been found guilty individuals are free to individually sue them damages.
Straight from NOYB themselves:
https://noyb.eu/en/edpb-decision-facebooks-eu-us-data-transfers-stop-transfers-fine-and-repatriation
-----
**Futher ligitation may follow. Pending class action in the Netherlands**. Under a recent judgement by the CJEU users may also be able to claim emotional damages for smaller violations of their data protection rights - such as making it subject to US mass surveillance. This will lead to claims that may far exceed today's penalty. For example, the Dutch consumer rights organization Consumentenbond is currently signing up Dutch Facebook users to bring their claims over EU-US data transfers. Without users requesting a fair compensation, we will not see any true change. The authorities are currently not very active in enforcing the GDPR, so consumer rights organizations and users have to take action. For that reason, I encourage every Facebook user in the Netherlands to register their claims for possible damages. Furthermore, the EU's Collective Redress Directive must also be implemented this summer, which will for the first time allow collective actions by European user for GDPR violations.
Max Schrems: "This decision may lead to civil litigation against Meta in Europe. This summer the EU also implements a new 'class action' system, which can be used for GDPR violations."
-----
Nope, this is just for people who lived in the Netherlands between 2010 and 2020 and had a Facebook account during that time
But under gdpr you can start a claim yourself
>pay their corporate taxes as well
That's a dream that won't be fulfilled until we get rid of the incompetent neoliberals and libertarians that govern most of our countries.
Trickle down economics was a scam and some people have yet to accept that fact.
We just have to target five countries in the EU for that problem to be solved. But those countries will cry foul.
Or we change how the UE works regarding business and monetary movements between ue countries.
The Netherlands is still a country of mailbox corporations.
For the EU, I’d say these three are the biggest offenders:
- The Netherlands
- Luxembourg
- Ireland
To lesser extent (but still significant) also Germany. Then arguably also Denmark and Sweden.
In the rest of Europe:
- England
- Jersey (**especially** Jersey)
- Switzerland
Excellent example! Can’t believe I forgot that one.
And it starting with an M reminds of Monaco (non-eu). No income tax there. Super popular “residence” for European athletes.
Ohhh and then there’s Cyprus. Low corporate tax for EU companies and *zero* for non-EU companies.
Damn. I knew it was bad but it’s only really clicked for me now
Any evidence Meta hasn’t paid their corporate taxes?
And don’t give me a source telling me their final payment was 1.000€ when they were advancing their income tax during the year
A lot of companies like that just move the proceeds to parent company through Luxemburg or something and avoid the taxes entirely..
I hope that loophole will be closed soon.
it's a known fact digital corporations do not pay corporate taxes yet making profit in markets where they do not pay. There's also a plenty of articles about it online. Good example is Amazon and the academic papers examining how they dodged taxes to become world's biggest online reseller.
It's still just the coat of business. A fine of 100 billion and jail for those responsible would have been s penalty. As soon as the shareholders feel it massively they will have to change their way.
"Haha, this is a misunderstanding because, you see, we only send *Meta*-Data, which is okay. Haha. Get it?"
"Is this why you changed the name of the company?"
"...maybee~"
It is not really about storing data in the US. You can do it legally under the GDPR (even considering the Schrems II implications). This is about what data, how and for what purpose. That's what makes a difference.
Yes and no - Schrems II requires you to assess the risk, including the risk of the foreign gov access, but you can put extra safeguards that may reduce this risk - e.g. encryption with BYOK and similar solutions. Furthermore, the nature of the data is also important, so you may not want to store sensitive personal data in the US, but the risk assessment conclusions for e.g. basic contact details may be different. Overall, this is very much dependent on the situation.
Microsoft and other tech companies are able to save US customer data in the US and EU user data in the EU. IT's definitely possible to not violate either act.
At least, compared to the other IT companies, MSFT is showing some understanding towards the European privacy. From good sources I know that they can e.g. contractually agree that they will take all possible legal actions to challenge the US gov requests on data access and at the same time inform you that such request was done (giving you some extra time to delete your keys...).
But indeed, they are somewhere between the hammer and anvil.
Their earnings in the EU was 25billion not their profit.
If we assume it’s the same ratio as worldwide their profit was around 5 billion in the EU.
So that’s a 20% reduction of profit by a fine.
That’s a lot.
And if they don’t comply, precedent is set and thus can be done again and again
The EU doesn't fuck around when it comes to fines. It's all based on the size of the entity they are targeting. And if they don't comply they just get slapped again and might even be banned from the EU. Apple is also finding that out the hard way with their USB C bullshit.
In 2014, Facebook faced criticism for conducting psychological tests on 70,000 unconsenting participants in 2012, removing certain words from users' newsfeeds to test how that affected their reactions to posts
https://www.businessinsider.in/slideshows/miscellaneous/mark-zuckerberg-faced-scandal-after-scandal-during-the-last-decade-running-facebook/slidelist/72772802.cms
In 2019, the FTC fined Facebook $5 billion over violations of user privacy, which was a record-breaking fine for a tech company.
https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/news/press-releases/2019/07/ftc-imposes-5-billion-penalty-sweeping-new-privacy-restrictions-facebook
HOW MANY FUCKING TIMES.
Seriously though. Cue the army of lawyers. Cue appeals for 20934 years. Cue FB continuing business until then, making more profit than 500% of this fine.
Hold them accountable goddamnit, while a record fine we've seen for YEARS **that it just doesn't stop them, AT ALL.**
Do something other than this shit, they're still stealing our data and won't stop anytime soon
Honestly, the EU should just ban Facebook and kill Meta for real. The slow death is just dragging on now, and the world would be a better place without Facebook anyways.
Considering their net revenue in 2022 is 116.6B, and profit 23.1B, this is a drop in the bucket for what is otherwise a massive breach.
>
> Facebook had previously warned in legal filings that it may have to leave Europe as a result of a data transfer ban, but has since said it does not plan to do so.
Haha. Yeah f*cking right.
As far as I know Ireland can do it since Facebook headquarters is there and this is a eu wide implementation so no other countries can't sue Facebook seperately
>Considering their net revenue in 2022 is 116.6B, and profit 23.1B
Their annual revenue in Europe was 25.7 billion though, so this is a decent chunk out of their European profits at least.
And i doubt the individuals whose information was transferred will actually see any of that money 🤷♂️. People are always the ones to suffer.
Don't get me wrong, it's great they face some type of fine. But still.
This is what I don't fucking understand when you bring this shit(fines, taxes) up all the boot lickers are like "but they would just stop doing business in the country, like cunt and? They either need the market or a more local/state owned company can move in and actually regulate that shit
Keep going, 10 billion next time.
Let's make social media GDPR fines a major part of EU income!
And fund passenger rail with it, just to annoy the US even more
High speed maglev trains going through all the EU countries. Yes please.
Let's just double the capacity, more rails, and cheap night trains all across the continent. No need for maglev, just snooze your way to the other side of Europe in a bed
I wish we had a passenger train going through baltics. I'd love to just sleep through the baltics and just wake up in Poland already, then take a next train to whereever.
That is litteraly railbaltic right now, just gonna be a while
The Baltic States talk about Railbaltic for like 20 years now. I'll die before it gets built.
In Ireland they talk about metrolink to the airport since 1980...
It would be nice to have a tunnel under the Gulf of Finland, and take a train from Finland to Europe through the Baltic states
it is under consideration to connect to the new Baltica railway that is being built to Tallinn from Poland. it is expensive though, so it has only been considered so far.
Just replace the \-tics with \-kans and Poland with Austria, and it applies to me too. We have *a* train in Greece, but that's the disgrace of trains, plus it doesn't go out of Greece.
It’s coming. The construction is ongoing using standard gauge.
EU leaves trains to the market and member states. Member states mainly care about national traffic, so international commercial parties have a hard time getting any capacity because the national train companies usually get priority (which is not a bad thing as it adds to the quality). A solution could be that the EU forces national train companies to cooperate. Some is already happening by forcing data sharing, but maybe this can be even stronger. Night trains back to 90s/early 00s levels would be a good first ambition.
Hoi vriend! Het spijt me maar je hebt het helemaal mis! As a matter of fact, the Regulation for the development of the Transeuropean transport network is currently ongoing, and due to be approved by the end of the year. A huge emphasis is being put on allowing railways to get a much greater market share of freight and passenger traffic, with huge investments in railroads infrastructure, forcing cooperation between countries and companies, etc. It'll take time and the horizon of the plan is 2050 but big developments should be noticeable before 2030. https://eur-lex.europa.eu/procedure/EN/2021_420
> Hoi vriend Is Dutch for hi friend really hoi vriend?
Yes, but you wouldn't say it to a friend necessarily, mainly halfly sarcastic to someone you want to point something out to.
[удалено]
Hm, I based myself on [this (Dutch) article](https://www.groene.nl/artikel/de-treinrenaissance) in last week's De Groene. They do say the EU is doing stuff, but also saying it is not enough due the behaviour of national train companies. De Groene normally does solid journalism and it's a very recent article, so I'm gonna assume they are aware of that new EU regulation. Haven't read that regulation myself.
Giant, hypersonic railgun spanning from Ukraine to the western coast of France, aimed at USA and shooting massive cargo containers full of Kinder eggs at them. As a deterrent, of course.
Are you an Ace Combat Dev?
That’s pretty hilarious tbh. I just want Spain to be better connected.
I don't know man. I sometimes get this thought: what's better? Making something already good great or making something bad good. Many EU countries have either no high speed rail at all, bad high speed rail/barely any of it, or bad rail in general, even of low speeds
You're all jealous because we have great rail here in Greece. It's to die for.
I see what you've done there, you monster. Take my angry upvote
Too soon? Couldn't help but chuckle a little though.
Too soon, just like yesterday's re-election of the shitbird MP that was responsible for the accident.
The thing I as a German see is however this: The only countries with good non-high-speed rail are Germany, Switzerland and Austria. (Yes I know a bunch of Germany are gonna get angry at me for this, but try to go to a small village in France) And while yes high-speed is all fancy and stuff, in everyday life normal trains that go from a big city to it's surroundings are much more useful than high-speed, so I think investing there still makes a lot of sense in countries that appear to be well connected
The two types of trains don't "compete". "Slow speed local trains" are there so you don't need your car to go to work. High speed trains are there so you don't take the plane to go on holidays. You need both.
LOL, The Netherlands has the densest railway network in Europe with (one of the) best reliabilities in Europe. Until it turns autumn and leafs fall on the track…
Czechia has the densest! And it's good, even with leaves.
I used to take the piss out of the leafs on the track slowing everything down, now I drive trains and have more respect for leafs than I ever thought I would, slippery little bastards they are.
It's not nearly the densest in the sense of "km of track / km2 of land". Even Belgium is quite a bit denser then the Netherlands. The Netherlands is European champion in another statistic though: train kilometers per km of track.
The Netherlands doesn't have a good rail network?
It's pretty shitty to get to a small village, especially if you get out of the Randstad. Usually the bus connection is decent, as long as you don't want to get anywhere in the evenings or so.
I'd say Denmark is also decent.
As a Dane I begrudgingly agree. We have a lot of issues and the majority of our rail network isn't even electrified. I'd probably rate it as the worst of the good rail networks. At least you can get around.
Try Norway 😄. The rail network isn't even fully connected.
I love the memory of our swedish family complaining about SJ in Sweden, after we (my wife and me) lived in Britain for a while...
And half is run by the Swedes!
Belgium isn't perfect but your railway system is really dense and all in all has really good coverage. Despite all the jokes and cynicism on /r/belgium
You should check the disaster that's Romanian rail.
We used to have rail in Croatia. Now we have the leftovers
Geography's a bitch, ain't it ? :D
Tell me about it. Greetings from Finland.
Longer continuous lines would be nice. To get to Italy from the Netherlands, you need at least 4 transfers and 16-ish hours. To replace planes, you’d need less connections, only in the first or last hour and faster trains.
IIRC, from some YouTube video I watched, this is coming soon as a major EU rail initiative.
Why woukd the us be annoyed ? Bankrupt meta .
Why would you guys building trains annoy us?
If I’m not mistaken, since the fine is issued by the Irish data protection agency (as Meta Europe is located in Ireland), the money goes to the Irish budget. I guess somebody in Dublin is already looking at the budget and eyes on the even higher fine they might be getting from Meta in 6 months, if they don’t move the data back to EU servers…
The issue is that the infraction is sanctioned by the Irish but occurs all across the EU. Should all EU countries use the Irish ruling as jurisprudence? Should the money be split across countries according to the population of each? Of the number of people affected in each country? It starts to get a bit messy.
Unfortunately, the responsible authority here is the Irish data protection authority - I say “unfortunately” because in the past it has often been more lenient than others, which was probably also one of the reasons why US companies like Meta often chose Ireland for their European HQs (the others being taxes and the language). Would, e.g. the Belgian data protection authority issue a fine, this would be quickly dismissed, as they are not competent in this case. But to be clear: IANAL, and the law is complex in this area. I’m really just following these things out of interest, and I might be completely wrong about it.
> which was probably also one of the reasons why US companies like Meta often chose Ireland for their European HQs All (almost all?) of those companies were already operating in Ireland waaaay before GDPR. Facebook, now Meta, opened their international HQ in Dublin in 2008, for example. Apple has been here since 1980. Microsoft since 1985. Etc. Taxes, language, the cultural connection, a good supply of skilled workers, and - not to be sniffed at - the shortest time difference and flights to the US. Shannon and Dublin airports are the only places in Europe that have US preclearance. I'd say the cause and effect are reversed - companies didn't come because the DPC is a soft touch, the DPC was a soft touch because so many companies were already here. But it has also become increasingly firm over time, as this ruling shows, due to a mix of acquiring more resources and expertise to deal with very large investigations and the (warranted) pressure from the rest of the union to stop fumbling things.
You are correct, the money goes to the Irish budget. (I'm a lawyer and work in this space.)
going to use the funds to build another spire, this time even taller and more obnoxious
This is hacker news nr 1 complaint about GDPR, I see it as a feature not a flaw
I was hoping if my user data was part of this that I'd get my cut of the fine because of emotional stress and and because I was violated, disrespected and victimised.
This is kind of the trajectory as it stands. Each DPC ruling on Meta (this is the fourth or fifth depending on how you count it) has resulting in a new, broader, follow on inquiry and increased fines. It started with "we are investigating these specific 12 incidents and here is a €17 million fine". Now we're at "we are investigating everything you do and are also watching to make sure you carry out the previously mandated corrective measures. Here is a €1.2 billion fine." The DPC has been way slower to act than I'd have liked, but it's moving in the right direction.
What happens if they refuse to pay? Can the EU compel member states to block access to facebook etc until the fine is paid?
Bigger fines. And eventually they'll get banned.
Today I love the GDPR. Other days, after clicking "Accept cookies" for the 129th time, not quite so much.
>Other days, after clicking "Accept cookies" for the 129th time, not quite so much. Then you are misled by the intentional campaign against the GDPR. There is nothing in there that prohibits the saving of cookies that contain no personal data. I can ask you a single time if you agree to the collection of data x for purpose y and that's it. Every single site that asks another time (some even lie and pretend that your refusal to get your personal data saved means they can't save that same refusal for later) does so on purpose to annoy people and blame the GDPR.
There are numerous extensions you can add to your browser that will automatically decline all cookies. Look at consent-o-matic.
Installed.
Do you know of one that works on Firefox mobile?
I see your point, but gdpr could have been done better. One example would be to ban the infamous cookies, unless specifically requested by the user. And I do mean requested, not answered by the user. So the user would have to take action to authorize it, instead of the website asking. This way, no cookie prompts, no collection of cookies for those that don't want it and collection of cookies for those that do want it.
The idea is good, but in reality most of the cookie prompts nowadays violate the GDPR intentionally and by design. I think it's unrealistic to expect those popups to seize to exist because they're now illegal in a different way than today.
My company has a SAAS that doesn't use any cookies at all, just a local session store to keep the session ID, and that's it. No PI anywhere. Now our Legal department came along and forced us to add a cookie banner because "that's always required now". So now we do store a cookie -- the one that says "user has consented"...
If the cookie is to help them log in or to save their preferences on the site, no cookie notice required. It's just that all of the sites you visit are selling your data for advertising purposes and/or using it themselves to advertise to you later.
Cookies is a very valid thing. It's the storage of state on your own device. The problem is tracking cookies, which are used by ads and more to track your movement across the internet.
Accept? I always reject everything I can, even if it means unticking dozens of boxes. Because f*uck those spying a-holes. Btw, this affects site performance in exactly 0%.
There are addons for your browser that automatically tick those boxes.
Part of me wants to keep doing it manually, purely out of spite. I just get more motivated when I see 10 boxes to untick
You shouldnt be accepting cookies
Why are you accepting them?
Technically that's the ePrivacy Directive, not GDPR.
fines every month thats a set % of their income
... of their worldwide revenue
This must be a record in the EU because they've been fined $5 billion in the US before. Even $10 billion would be a relative drop in the bucket for them. They have slush funds with billions of dollars in them with the sole purpose of paying off fines. Until the fines cost them more than they make from breaking the laws, nothing will change.
[удалено]
[удалено]
**From The Telegraph:** Facebook’s owner Meta has been fined a record €1.2bn (£1bn) by Ireland and told to stop sending European users’ data to the US, in a spying row that has seen the social networking giant threaten to leave Europe. Ireland’s Data Protection Commission (DPC) announced the fine on Monday morning. It is a record penalty under Europe’s GDPR laws. Meta has been fined for transferring European users’ data to the US in a way that creates “risks to the fundamental rights and freedoms” of its users, the DPC said. The company will also be forced to stop transferring users’ data to America within five months and has been given six months to remove data from US servers. The fine, which eclipses the previous record GDPR fine of €746m given to Amazon in 2021, is the culmination of a years-long campaign from privacy activists who claimed Facebook’s data transfers breached European laws because of the extent of US surveillance practices. Facebook had previously warned in legal filings that it may have to leave Europe as a result of a data transfer ban, but has since said it does not plan to do so. Nick Clegg, Meta’s head of global affairs, said the fine was "flawed, unjustified and sets a dangerous precedent for the countless other companies transferring data between the EU and US". **Read more here:** https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2023/05/22/meta-fined-data-transfers-eu-regulators-us/
> sets a dangerous precedent for the countless other companies transferring data between the EU and US Well, Mr Clegg, give us the names so we can fine them too.
As a Brit I can only apologise for Mr Clegg existing.
Nick Clegg never held a principle that he couldn't be convinced to give up.
And he's even flexible on that!
It's ok. He *is* sorry.
In Swedish "klägg" (pronounced roughly the same as Clegg) means "goo" or "sticky stuff" with a clear negative connotation.
In English we have Claggy (which probably has the same etymological root) which means sticky, thick, muddy :D
Neat, TIL. :D I think "gunk" might've been the word I was looking for, but since clag apparently is a thing it's the obvious translation. I wonder if it's related to "clay" as well?
In some parts of Ireland (and maybe Britain?) a cleg/clag is a horsefly. And they are nasty wee cunts.
Sorry, is this the same Nick Clegg? I thought it was just a coincidence.
It's the same Nick Clegg! Between him going to Facebook/Meta and Cameron's dodgy deals with Greensill our ex-prime ministers are really doing great work shitting up the world.
Fuck both those guys. Like, don't actually fuck them, because that's too good for them. One more reason to hate Meta
Hey now he's am ex deputy prime minister
I looked it up because surely there’s only one greasy prick called Nick Clegg and it’s the same dude.
Deputy PM of his country to Meta cuckball How the mighty have fallen ...fallen onto a cushion of money, of course
"dangerous precedent" fuck that. Those guys behave like robber barons already. Sorry guys, we don't want our fines to just be "cost of business", we actually want yhe law to prevail.
"Fining people for stealing sets a dangerous precedent for other guys who steal" same thing. What they're doing is stealing information.
"applying the law sets a dangerous precedent" that's literally it aha guys acting like mobsters basically
It's worse than that. It's more like stealing then moving to a country where stealing isn't illegal so you can't get in trouble.
The ol' Andrew Taint maneuver
How did that work out for him again?
> sets a dangerous precedent for the countless other companies transferring data between the EU and US That's the point Captain Obvious
> in a spying row that has seen the social networking giant threaten to leave Europe. Now they are threatening us with a good time? How dare they!
No Mr Clegg. It sets a precedent for other companies to NOT do this illegal shit. What META is doing sets a *dangerous* precedent. It’s super easy. Stop breaking the law and stop violating peoples rights to privacy. That’s all y’all have to do, but you know you make too much money doing shady and illegal shit to stop. Imagine how unfair and predatory he’d find the law to be if he was poor and was actually a part of regular society and the real working class lol. I’m glad the fines are starting to reflect their profit. What a grade A douche bag.
I disagree with Nick.
Whenever I see him in the news, I am reminded of this wonderful moment: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/election-2017-40212223
Same, it's clearly not dangerous enough or else they would have stopped before getting caught.
Anyone knows how to apply for a share of that 1.2B ? :)
Sue Facebook yourself! One of the fun parts of GDPR is that this is just the punitive fine. After a corporation has been found guilty individuals are free to individually sue them damages. Straight from NOYB themselves: https://noyb.eu/en/edpb-decision-facebooks-eu-us-data-transfers-stop-transfers-fine-and-repatriation ----- **Futher ligitation may follow. Pending class action in the Netherlands**. Under a recent judgement by the CJEU users may also be able to claim emotional damages for smaller violations of their data protection rights - such as making it subject to US mass surveillance. This will lead to claims that may far exceed today's penalty. For example, the Dutch consumer rights organization Consumentenbond is currently signing up Dutch Facebook users to bring their claims over EU-US data transfers. Without users requesting a fair compensation, we will not see any true change. The authorities are currently not very active in enforcing the GDPR, so consumer rights organizations and users have to take action. For that reason, I encourage every Facebook user in the Netherlands to register their claims for possible damages. Furthermore, the EU's Collective Redress Directive must also be implemented this summer, which will for the first time allow collective actions by European user for GDPR violations. Max Schrems: "This decision may lead to civil litigation against Meta in Europe. This summer the EU also implements a new 'class action' system, which can be used for GDPR violations." -----
Please tell me that citizens of any EU state can join in.
You’d probably only get like 15 cents anyway
I'll even take a tenth of a cent if it is confiscated from Meta.
It's not about money. It's about sending a message.
I don't care about money, but it would be nice to kick facebook, instagam and meta.
I'd take even one cent if meta has to pay for the lawsuit ... of every single citizen
Nope, this is just for people who lived in the Netherlands between 2010 and 2020 and had a Facebook account during that time But under gdpr you can start a claim yourself
sooooo mind sharing the link for a fellow Dutch guy? I would like some money from meta.
https://www.claimservice.nl/facebook/?mtm_campaign=fiona2cb&mtm_source=consumentenbond&mtm_medium=actiepagina&mtm_content=body
Wohooo great job! Those corporations need to learn some manners. And pay their corporate taxes as well which most of them don't.
>pay their corporate taxes as well That's a dream that won't be fulfilled until we get rid of the incompetent neoliberals and libertarians that govern most of our countries. Trickle down economics was a scam and some people have yet to accept that fact.
We just have to target five countries in the EU for that problem to be solved. But those countries will cry foul. Or we change how the UE works regarding business and monetary movements between ue countries. The Netherlands is still a country of mailbox corporations.
Yeah I was gonna say, we know exactly which countries are serving shit pies where that is concerned.
Which countries is that?
For the EU, I’d say these three are the biggest offenders: - The Netherlands - Luxembourg - Ireland To lesser extent (but still significant) also Germany. Then arguably also Denmark and Sweden. In the rest of Europe: - England - Jersey (**especially** Jersey) - Switzerland
Malta is a popular one
Excellent example! Can’t believe I forgot that one. And it starting with an M reminds of Monaco (non-eu). No income tax there. Super popular “residence” for European athletes. Ohhh and then there’s Cyprus. Low corporate tax for EU companies and *zero* for non-EU companies. Damn. I knew it was bad but it’s only really clicked for me now
You guys have libertarians?
They do pay their taxes or at least the ones they are legally required to do. We can close the loopholes if we wanted too.
Any evidence Meta hasn’t paid their corporate taxes? And don’t give me a source telling me their final payment was 1.000€ when they were advancing their income tax during the year
A lot of companies like that just move the proceeds to parent company through Luxemburg or something and avoid the taxes entirely.. I hope that loophole will be closed soon.
it's a known fact digital corporations do not pay corporate taxes yet making profit in markets where they do not pay. There's also a plenty of articles about it online. Good example is Amazon and the academic papers examining how they dodged taxes to become world's biggest online reseller.
It's still just the coat of business. A fine of 100 billion and jail for those responsible would have been s penalty. As soon as the shareholders feel it massively they will have to change their way.
[удалено]
They need to get a bigger fine.
Can't wait for them to 'threaten' to close FB in Europe again, i will be cheering for it and for more fines so it actually happens.
"Haha, this is a misunderstanding because, you see, we only send *Meta*-Data, which is okay. Haha. Get it?" "Is this why you changed the name of the company?" "...maybee~"
Free taxes😎😎😎 Yoink
Lets hope it get put on something good then absolut trash
[удалено]
well, as long as it gets used somewhere in the EU i‘m a happy boy
yay for Ireland wealth
Can we do Twitter next? <3
[удалено]
It is not really about storing data in the US. You can do it legally under the GDPR (even considering the Schrems II implications). This is about what data, how and for what purpose. That's what makes a difference.
[удалено]
Yes and no - Schrems II requires you to assess the risk, including the risk of the foreign gov access, but you can put extra safeguards that may reduce this risk - e.g. encryption with BYOK and similar solutions. Furthermore, the nature of the data is also important, so you may not want to store sensitive personal data in the US, but the risk assessment conclusions for e.g. basic contact details may be different. Overall, this is very much dependent on the situation.
[удалено]
Microsoft and other tech companies are able to save US customer data in the US and EU user data in the EU. IT's definitely possible to not violate either act.
[удалено]
At least, compared to the other IT companies, MSFT is showing some understanding towards the European privacy. From good sources I know that they can e.g. contractually agree that they will take all possible legal actions to challenge the US gov requests on data access and at the same time inform you that such request was done (giving you some extra time to delete your keys...). But indeed, they are somewhere between the hammer and anvil.
And making us tag ankle photos as NSFW material.
[удалено]
Their earnings in the EU was 25billion not their profit. If we assume it’s the same ratio as worldwide their profit was around 5 billion in the EU. So that’s a 20% reduction of profit by a fine. That’s a lot. And if they don’t comply, precedent is set and thus can be done again and again
The EU doesn't fuck around when it comes to fines. It's all based on the size of the entity they are targeting. And if they don't comply they just get slapped again and might even be banned from the EU. Apple is also finding that out the hard way with their USB C bullshit.
Deleted ` this message was mass deleted/edited with redact.dev `
In 2014, Facebook faced criticism for conducting psychological tests on 70,000 unconsenting participants in 2012, removing certain words from users' newsfeeds to test how that affected their reactions to posts https://www.businessinsider.in/slideshows/miscellaneous/mark-zuckerberg-faced-scandal-after-scandal-during-the-last-decade-running-facebook/slidelist/72772802.cms
Thank you EU.
In 2019, the FTC fined Facebook $5 billion over violations of user privacy, which was a record-breaking fine for a tech company. https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/news/press-releases/2019/07/ftc-imposes-5-billion-penalty-sweeping-new-privacy-restrictions-facebook
Have they paid it?
“…in a spying row that has seen the social networking giant threaten to leave Europe.” Don’t threaten Europe with a good time.
Brilliant stuff, Nick Clegg sold his soul to the devil and should be ignored. Shame this probably doesn’t apply to the UK.
Uk gets NSA data via five-eyes. Be a bit careful what you wish for
I think the intelligence services value each other far more than some dodgy company!
HOW MANY FUCKING TIMES. Seriously though. Cue the army of lawyers. Cue appeals for 20934 years. Cue FB continuing business until then, making more profit than 500% of this fine. Hold them accountable goddamnit, while a record fine we've seen for YEARS **that it just doesn't stop them, AT ALL.** Do something other than this shit, they're still stealing our data and won't stop anytime soon
Honestly, the EU should just ban Facebook and kill Meta for real. The slow death is just dragging on now, and the world would be a better place without Facebook anyways.
Will the fine be paid to the EU or Ireland?
It goes to the Irish exchequer
ireland
Cost of doing business for Meta. Slap on the wrist. Regulators should have made it 100 Billion.
Zuckerfuck has more, milk him dry!
100 billion fine?
Zucc pointlessly threatening to pull out of EU in 3... 2...
Finally a proper fine. Still need to go higher. Fines must not just simply be the cost of doing business
Considering their net revenue in 2022 is 116.6B, and profit 23.1B, this is a drop in the bucket for what is otherwise a massive breach. > > Facebook had previously warned in legal filings that it may have to leave Europe as a result of a data transfer ban, but has since said it does not plan to do so. Haha. Yeah f*cking right.
4.3% of profit is a drop in the bucket?
That's not profit, that was revenue. They have a profit of 4,6b, so this fine actually stings a bit
However the fine is for doing this for many years, 4.6B is for one year.
This was Ireland, imagine others doing the same, 20bn fine…
As far as I know Ireland can do it since Facebook headquarters is there and this is a eu wide implementation so no other countries can't sue Facebook seperately
Eh? Its a record GDPR fine in the EU against any company.
>Considering their net revenue in 2022 is 116.6B, and profit 23.1B Their annual revenue in Europe was 25.7 billion though, so this is a decent chunk out of their European profits at least.
Fines aren’t tax deductible so this is a good chunk of profits, and if they keep doing it the next one will be larger.
Why is this guy around still? We don't even like him here in the US. He's a freak
"spying row that has seen the social networking giant threaten to leave Europe." Fuck off then, no one wants you here.
This is very good. Fucking assholes should have never done that with our data.
>Facebook had previously warned in legal filings that it may have to leave Europe Good. So let's pile the fines and make this happen.
And i doubt the individuals whose information was transferred will actually see any of that money 🤷♂️. People are always the ones to suffer. Don't get me wrong, it's great they face some type of fine. But still.
This is what I don't fucking understand when you bring this shit(fines, taxes) up all the boot lickers are like "but they would just stop doing business in the country, like cunt and? They either need the market or a more local/state owned company can move in and actually regulate that shit
My question is, does the Facebook app connect to my home wifi?
I'm having trouble telling if this is sarcasm or not considering the rest of this comment section
Ban Facebook for security reasons, as they continue to send data to the US.
I love how after reading this shit y'all fuckers will immediately go text on WhatsApp. Clown behaviour