Whois vs GDPR, latest news

Mon May 28 17:20:00 UTC 2018

> On May 27, 2018, at 3:19 AM, Michel 'ic' Luczak <lists at benappy.com> wrote:
> 
> Still on ec.europa.eu <http://ec.europa.eu/> they seem to try to reassure SMEs that the penalties will be “proportionate” both to the nature of the infringement and to the size to the company. It also seem to largely be related to whether you infringed the regulation in good faith or not. At least in France where I live the climate is pro-SMEs so I guess small mistakes will be forgiven. The head of our DPA also gave an interview recently saying that there will be no sanctions in the coming months and that they’re available to answer questions when in doubt about what to do.

Here's the thing...unless the EU is vastly different from the US in terms of legislative construction, what any third-party says - even those involved in developing the law - is almost (not completely, but almost) immaterial to how the law will be applied.  The law *is the law*, and nothing anybody says about it will have much impact on how it will be construed by a court of law.  Which is why:

> Lastly, our law firm told us that basically we have to wait until the first settlements to see what will be done…

..exactly.  The law will have to be construed and refined by lawsuits (unless a newer law clarifies or supersedes it).

And this is why we take a strict, conservative view of what one has to do to get into compliance.  Because our job is to keep the entities with whom we consult on GDPR from becoming those test cases.

Anne

Anne P. Mitchell, 
Attorney at Law
GDPR Compliance Consultant
Author: Section 6 of the CAN-SPAM Act of 2003 (the Federal anti-spam law)
Legislative Consultant
CEO/President, Institute for Social Internet Public Policy
Legal Counsel: The CyberGreen Institute
Legal Counsel: The Earth Law Center
Member, California Bar Association
Member, Cal. Bar Cyberspace Law Committee
Member, Colorado Cyber Committee
Member, Board of Directors, Asilomar Microcomputer Workshop
Ret. Professor of Law, Lincoln Law School of San Jose
Ret. Chair, Asilomar Microcomputer Workshop