Forget all the stuff out there that says the GDPR protects EU citizens. This is a question of jurisdiction and enforcement. Say I run a blog under a business registered in the US funded by advertisers in the US. A EU citizen that comments on posts issues a GDPR request that I ignore. Their government fines me. I tell them to get bent, I am out of their jurisdiction. What can they do at that point?
redacted
Incorrect.
The current data agreement between the US and EU is neither a law nor a treaty. It is an executive order, which means it did not pass through Congress and simply reflects the policy of the current administration. Like any other executive order, it could be ignored or overturned by a subsequent administration.
Furthermore, it does not mean “GDPR is actually the law in the US”. It means that the current US administration will cooperate in enforcing certain privacy rights against US law enforcement and the intelligence community. It does not give EU citizens the same rights they have in the EU under the GDPR. For example, it does not allow private individuals to sue US companies for damages in US courts.
I am a US citizen, I know how our laws are made, and find the explanation a little condescending, but this is the best answer so far that there is a treaty about it. I couldn’t find that anywhere. Thanks.
redacted
“You read that condescension into it by yourself. You are asking a question and that is the answer I have no idea about your context.” That is fair. I hadn’t had my coffee and have been dealing with an unusually high amount of unpleasant individuals lately, hence the short fuse.
No he didn’t. The context was “as a US citizen” per the post. You gave him a 6th grade civics lesson about how bills turn into laws a-la school house rock before even sort of addressing the question. The next step would’ve been explaining what laws even are.
That’s a little condescending, assuming a citizen of a nation doesn’t know how their own laws are created. It isn’t a LOT condescending but it is a little.
And you are what… The random condescending inspector or what? Nowhere in the OP’s message did they convey they were familiar with the law making process. I found that particular answer the easiest to read. So there’s that. Even the OP agreed that they shouldn’t have reacted like that.
Removed by mod
Please see rule 7 and keep in mind that harrassing another individual member will not be taken lightly. Please do not repeat this kind of language. Thank you.
Dudes handle is literally neanderthal. To my knowledge the last neanderthals died out a long time ago and there are no direct descendants but go a head and warn me for ‘vocally harassing’ someone.
Removed by mod
Then they block your site and prevent you ever doing business in one of the world’s largest markets. I’m not sure how liability works but the CEO may also be unable to travel to the EU also
Your advertisers who most likely sell stuff to EU people will become party to your noncompliance, and will be unable to use the data you sell them, and may cut ties for liability reasons.
Also some jurisdictions in the EU reserve the right to submit incassos directly to the SWIFT system, but that’s mostly used for eg. speeding tickets.
For example if you come here to my country from the US with your car and get a speeding ticket that you refuse to pay, my government will just take it out of your US bank account unilaterally. GDPR fines are criminal fines just as speeding tickets are.
Realistically though, if you don’t have massive wealth to bribe people in the US, the US authority will just enforce the fine on you.
Maybe you’d care to read this https://allaboutcookies.org/how-to-avoid-gdpr-fines
This is why a lot of US sites block EU residents , it’s easier than being compliant and if you’re a US focused site it makes sense.
That’s why I use a VPN when using links from Reddit as many news sites are blocked .
I’ve read that, it just says more fines. Say I ignore them, now what?
Probably nothing.
You would need an international law expert to be sure of the exact consequences, but if you have failed to pay a court ordered file then you would probably be unable to travel to an EU country or a country with an extradition treaty. You would certainly face issues if you ever wanted to expand your business overseas.
This was the answer I was looking for. Thanks!
This might help:
Pretty much nothing if it’s digital services with no goods or payments in the EU.(unless the eu puts pressure on the 3rd countries government)
Yeah I’m that case nothing can be done but say your site had a European operation that would be be covered under GDPR and the US parent would likely pay the fine to continue their operations on the continent
This is a good article on whether non-EU websites have to obey the GDPR. It boils down to two criteria:
If your business is offering goods or services, irrespective of whether a payment of the data subject is required, to such data subjects in the EU
or
If your business monitors the behavior of EU citizens and their behavior takes place within the union.
The latter includes use of advertising cookies, location tracking, etc.
If neither of those apply, you can probably ignore the GDPR.
Based on your replies to other comments, it seems you don’t see how the GDPR, or GDPR fines, could have any effect on US companies.
https://www.enforcementtracker.com/
Sort the list by fines, and you find US companies paying whopping amounts. Many affect their EU presence (such as Meta Platforms Ireland Limited), but others don’t (such as Meta Platforms, Inc.).
Ask yourself if these giants were just too nice to give in, or if they were too poor to hire a lawyer.
If you think both options are unrealistic, maybe the GDPR does have an effect even on US companies.
I think the largest assumption you are making is that the OP does business with the EU. If they do not, they are truly out of the jurisdiction of GDPR and wouldn’t be finding themselves on that list. Those fines you are referring to a multinational corps that definitely do a lot of business within the EU.
the largest assumption you are making is that the OP does business with the EU. If they do not, they are truly out of the jurisdiction of GDPR
GDPR applies to American enterprises if they process personal data of EU citizens.
If you serve a website which is accessible to EU citizens, and that site collects personal data or allows users to enter personal data, GDPR most probably applies to you. IANAL.
True, but it’s important to note that personal data means identifiers such as name, date of birth, location, etc. Comments on a blog, by themselves, are not personal data.
