Comment by sltkr
2 months ago
Where's your evidence for that claim?
Personally I worked for a FAANG company that took data protection quite seriously. I would love to say that it was because they cared so much about their customer's privacy (which was of course the official position) but I think the reality was at least partially that the people in charge knew that if data was leaked and it could be pinned on lax internal policies, the company would be liable for millions if not billions in damages.
From that I conclude that the legal framework does provide a certain degree of protection to customer data. Nothing is perfect, of course, but that's true for every law: a red traffic light doesn't force drivers to stop, and in fact people run red lights every day. But the threat of getting fined for running a red light is pretty effective at forcing most people to stop for a red light most of the time, which is not nothing.
Also consider the logical conclusion of your cynical argument. If the laws and regulations that require companies to guard their customers privacy are almost entirely ineffective, as you claim, then shouldn't we abolish them? After all, they impose a burden on companies, which makes goods and services more expensive for consumers, without providing any non-material benefits in return.
> Personally I worked for a FAANG company that took data protection quite seriously
Me too, and it’s still funny how often user data gets leaked even with world class engineers and incentives. Moving beyond FANG, look at how absurdly common it is for user data to get leaked - financial institutions, romance services, transportation services, everyone.
You claimed:
> laws and “audits” do little more than nothing to meaningfully protect data
I asked you for evidence for this claim and you provided none.
Please either put up or shut up. I'm not going to keep engaging with you while you spout incendiary catch phrases while doing absolutely nothing to support your claims with evidence.
Case in point:
> look at how absurdly common it is for user data to get leaked - financial institutions, romance services, transportation services, everyone.
I disagree that this is common. Personally I haven't had any of my personal data leaked by any of these types of institutions. If you want to claim it's common that banks leak their customer's data, then you need to provide the evidence that supports that claim. It's how the burden of proof works.
> I asked you for evidence for this claim and you provided none.
My evidence is experience in the field and a knowledge of the many many publicly acknowledged data leaks that have happened in recent years. I’m not sure why you’re taking such a hostile tone; these things are well established.
I’m not particularly looking to have a formal debate where I dig up sources and you refute them; I’m only saying what is quite clearly true.