Facebook To Put 1.5 Billion Users Out of Reach of New EU Privacy Law (reuters.com)

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Facebook: If a new European law restricting what companies can do with people's online data went into effect tomorrow, almost 1.9 billion Facebook users around the world would be protected by it. The online social network is making changes that ensure the number will be much smaller. Facebook members outside the United States and Canada, whether they know it or not, are currently governed by terms of service agreed with the company's international headquarters in Ireland. Next month, Facebook is planning to make that the case for only European users, meaning 1.5 billion members in Africa, Asia, Australia and Latin America will not fall under the European Union's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which takes effect on May 25. That removes a huge potential liability for Facebook, as the new EU law allows for fines of up to 4 percent of global annual revenue for infractions, which in Facebook's case could mean billions of dollars.

Comments

Zuck's apology tour is over, back to business

[sinij]

Zuckerberg's apology tour was short-lived, back to usual business.

Re:Zuck's apology tour is over, back to business

[Z00L00K]

Most likely, but it may also lead to more serious implications here where Facebook can be blocked from the EU unless they conform to the EU regulations for EU citizens.

Re:Zuck's apology tour is over, back to business

[Computershack]

Most likely, but it may also lead to more serious implications here where Facebook can be blocked from the EU unless they conform to the EU regulations for EU citizens.

I think I'd call that a win for the EU if Facebook ended up being blocked.

Re: Zuck's apology tour is over, back to business

[nnull]

Big difference in cultures that value privacy.

EU Type protection for all users

[williamyf]

Facebook already stated that they will afford the same EU type level of protection for ALL the user base.

This change just aford them two things:
1.) Protection if by mistake they screw up and end up in a non-compliance event with EU directives (say, human error, security breach, inside attack). So, instead of all of the users suing, unly those in the EU suing.

2.) In case they have a change of heart and decide to not afford those protections any more, Is easier if the non-EU users are also outside EU jusrisdiction.

 

Re:EU Type protection for all users

[Joce640k]

Their problem with selective enforcement will be knowing that I'm not a European living somewhere else. One slip-up and... lawsuit!

Hopefully the USA and other countries will soon have similar laws, making this moot.

Facebook, et. al. are scum. The world needs this law. Are 'targeted ads' really enough of an excuse for what they do, ie. Are they really that much more valuable? I doubt it. Advertiser will still pay for ads.

Re:EU Type protection for all users

[Z00L00K]

Targeted ads are useless anyway. People encountering them gets the ads after they already have bought an item of that type.

Re:EU Type protection for all users

[Opportunist]

Targeted ads CAN be sensible if they're for the general type of item. When I buy a new CPU, showing me ads for graphic cards rather than running shoes is sensible.

Ok, that I have adblockers and keep tuning them to the point where no ads get shown render both moot but ... shhhh, keep the ad industry thinking it is relevant, so it keeps funding the pages we like!

Re:EU Type protection for all users

[AmiMoJo]

When I buy a new CPU, showing me ads for graphic cards rather than running shoes is sensible.

Remember the 90s when "targeted" meant that they displayed graphic card ads on sites related to computer stuff? And running shoes on Yahoo! Sports?

I'm fine if the targeting is not at individuals but at the topic of the site they are browsing.

Re: EU Type protection for all users

[Richard_at_work]

Nope, its got utterly nothing to do with "being an EU citizen".

Article 3, Section 2 of the GDPR, entitled 'Territorial Scope' explicitly states:

This Regulation applies to the processing of personal data of data subjects who are in the Union...

Nothing about citizenship, everything about the physical location of the data subject. If you are an EU citizen residing in the US, you fall outside the scope of the GDPR.

"could mean billions of dollars"

[ebonum]

"fines of up to 4 percent of global annual revenue for infractions"
Revenue = 12.97B
4% = 518 million

https://www.google.com/search?...

Re:"could mean billions of dollars"

[trowell]

"a fine up to €20 million or up to 4% of the annual worldwide turnover of the preceding financial year in case of an enterprise, whichever is greater"

I'm an American

[rsilvergun]

so they get to pay Irish tax rates, I ought to get Irish privacy. I ought to, but looks like I don't.

I do like how the EU does fines. A percentage of gross revenue. Here in the states we do dollar amounts, which tends to make them less than the profit from the crime.

Re:What's there to apologize for?

[VeryFluffyBunny]

Whistle-blowers are afforded protection under the law (at least in theory) as an exception. The idea is that a whistle-blower has the public interest at heart and is acting, not out of self-interest, but for the common good.

Furthermore, doxing private citizens isn't whistle-blowing and neither is collecting surveillance profiles on 1.9 billion people. J Edgar Hoover collected surveillance profiles on his friends (if you can call them that) and adversaries alike. I think you'll have a pretty hard time convincing anyone that Hoover was acting in the public's best interests.