The EU enacted the GDPR laws and that had a worldwide positive effect. Yes, GDPR is of course not perfect, but it is much better than the previous status quo.
So yes, even though the EU is ridiculed in this joke it actually makes important contributions. Perhaps the only issue is that well-designed regulation is usually so subtle that people don't even recognize the benefits, or take it for granted...
Some stuff the EU does is fantastic and benefits EU citizens as well as the rest of the world, like enforcing a standard charger on phones.
Some stuff is asinine in how ineffective and pointless it was, like enforcing Windows have a browser select screen, or these stupid cookie banners (which yes, are 100% the EUs fault). Or claiming the GDPR has extra-territorial jurisdiction.
Like most governments it's a mix, but they seem better than most.
The EU is doing absolutely amazing work. It's so nice to see that a government is capable of passing a law and ensuring companies don't practically ignore it while technically complying, like they did with GDPR. Gives me hope.
GDPR is a fantastic piece of legislation, and I agree the EU is doing more good than harm - start with just on a financial level:
The old joke was, that if you set off from the UK with £200 and visited every European country, by the time you got to Istanbul you would have £0, only by exchanging your remaining currency at each border.
Ahhhh, good times doing expenses in those days :-)
I'd say when it comes to privacy laws, the EU is actually doing better than almost any other countries. Yes, they could be faster, but the GDPR is still a big win for users everywhere. And a pita for Facebook / Google, which is intentional.
Every now and then, on HN people complain about how the EU is boring with its stupid regulations (GDPR, mainly). But see, this is exactly the kind of things GDPR is made to prevent, and without it that's what you end up with.
Interestingly, some of those moves by the EU (like the GDPR) are widely popular with citizens around the world, to the point where some US jurisdictions have been working on their own copies.
So perhaps there is worthwhile innovation happening in the EU after all?
As a EU citizen; The intentions are good, some of GDPR is great, and some of the huge fines have been welcome in a world where corporations usually gets tiny fines.
That said, as with most heavy bureaucracies there's just not enough internal organisational tech education so lobbying and misunderstandings end up diluting the process.
Example is the cookie banners leading people away from smaller competitors strengthening monopolies, and teaching people to click at 100 banners a day because no one has time to read so much.
Another is GDPR policies which are great but a huge hassle for smaller orgs and companies, and not really targeted them in the first place.
Everything always ends up a win for the largest players, while the smaller ones struggle to maintain legality.
That has been my experience with a few GDPR processes.
Another annoying thing is the forced Public Procurements of software solutions if you're more than 50% publicly funded in EU.
Again good intentions but it just makes the big players hire huge amounts of lawyers and sales people to game the process to win then create bad software.
That's the problem with regulation. The free market is definitely not free after consolidation and monopolisation but if you're going to regulate you need the absolute best consultants to guide the process and somehow that step always gets bungled.
There is only so much that can happen with legislation. GDPR has been wonderful, but as far as public opinion goes it has backfired somewhat. I have heard too many people complaining that it’s „pointless because they know everything anyways”. That it’s „Brussels just telling us how to live”.
It’s an extremely delicate task for the EU, easy to sabotage.
Almost all law coming out of the EU is really beneficial for the people, in my experience. Making a law like the GDPR and implementing it is hard work that doesn't grab headlines and first gives us a few years of annoying popups, but in the end it will actually improve privacy for EU citizens.
And national politicians can't do this anymore, because they have to be in the news each day and be in constant campaign mode because the next election may come sooner than expected. They need big words and shiny results.
If we make the EU more democratic, will it become less effective too?
No Thanks. Can you tell me how GDPR has made EU life better than US? It's a hot mess. Criminals of EU can now easily hide from the internet, while the innocent click through hundreds of cookie popups
So yes, even though the EU is ridiculed in this joke it actually makes important contributions. Perhaps the only issue is that well-designed regulation is usually so subtle that people don't even recognize the benefits, or take it for granted...
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