Startup people, how do you feel about GDPR?

I wish there was some kind of compliance fast track.

Like a starter kit for startups that aren't really interested in doing anything with people's personal data, but where it's just an accidental complexity of doing business with people. Maybe a pre-written terms of service, a code of conduct and a checklist for features your product needs to have for people to correct or delete their data themselves, which you don't want to waste time doing manually anyway.

At a certain point most companies are going to want to do some more advanced analytics on the personal data, but by then they have probably already grown to a scale where it doesn't hurt as much to hire a legal counsel to write a new ToS for their specific use case.

It might make sense for VCs to chip in and hire a law firm to make such a starter kit, to be distributed under a Creative Commons or similar license. Just like creative commons itself is a legal starter kit for creators who don't need a bespoke solution to ease up on a little on their copyrights.

It was confusing because of the lack of clarity. However the demands are reasonable, and the benefits to consumers are incredible. We just need better guidelines and better enforcement.

In my opinion, the creation of such regulations primarily serves as a barrier to entry for large corporations, much like many EU regulations.

Smaller companies often lack the resources to employ costly lawyers to guide them through the complex regulatory landscape, which ultimately allows only big companies to thrive. This gives big corporations a distinct advantage within the system.

While I don't oppose the GDPR itself, as an independent developer, it deters me from a lot of ideas, even though I have no intention of engaging in questionable activities. The fear of inadvertently making an error and being hit with a massive fine is quite daunting. So in the end I just don't do it.

It's a massive headache.

The law is complex and I feel the EU is massively putting small companies at a disadvantage. Big companies can easily afford to hire experts that will guide them through all this, but small companies can barely afford to keep afloat.

It would be different if the EU at least had some sort of free legal help for small and medium enterprises. They already have funds to helo EU companies getting a trademark, why not GDPR?

https://euipo.europa.eu/ohimportal/en/online-services/sme-fu...

I had a couple of personal projects with a few hundred users. Both could have become startups, but I shut them both down because of GDPR. The definition of the law is complex. I wasn’t doing anything underhand, but I don’t have the legal expertise to ensure I am 100% compliant with all parts of the law, and I don’t have the resources to hire lawyers. I cannot afford the punitive fines, and I have to consider the financial safety of my family. GDPR presents an unacceptable risk to me.

I’d love to see a crowd-sourced site where small companies submit data about the impact of GDPR. Ie fines, any interaction with legal authorities, data requests which had a big impact, even including bankrupting the company, to get a good idea of the real world impact of GDPR on small businesses.

gdpr.fyi if it wasn’t already taken/expensive ;-)