We really, really need to enshrine in law the idea that fines be proportional to the size of the entity being fined. Stop fining near-trillion-dollar companies in the millions and start fining them in percentages of their market cap. Fifty million dollars is shake out the couch money to these guys. Two percent of market cap and you're goddamn right they'll pay attention.
@mhoye that would go against the entire point of having a fine that looks huge to common folks but is nothing to the offender. It's a fee not a fine.
@mhoye I think the EU now has some fines that are based on a percentage of a company’s gross worldwide revenue. Market cap might be tricky because it varies

@EricFielding @mhoye Maybe base it on maximum market cap in the past three decades, adjusted for inflation.

And none of the 2% stuff. Try more like 90%, payable from actual individual people, not corporate coffers. The punishment needs to affect individual human beings, to be a threat to the actual human beings who make the decisions.

@mhoye That would certainly help to rein in any inflated market caps.
@mhoye maybe money are not even the right tool, maybe you want punchholes on the license of sort, and maybe holes should go on each executive's and directors' board member's personal license as well as impersonal corporate one

@mhoye Sliding scale fines but for corporations

Then maybe we can talk about the death penalty for corporations

@mhoye Always been a fan of parking and other traffic (esp. speeding) tickets being a percentage of the arsehole's annual income.

@mhoye It's an incredibly basic point to make, but if a company made more money with a crime than they have to pay in fines, then that crime is worth it.

It's just a tax on crime, but not in any way an incentive to stop doing crimes. It makes business-sense to keep doing the crime.

@mhoye
EU-GDPR allows for the following, however as most big-tech is based in Ireland, which is plagued by biased/susceptible officials, no serious fines have yet come to fruitition > https://www.heise.de/en/news/Ireland-Former-meta-lobbyist-becomes-data-protection-officer-10661910.html

Tier 1:

Up to €10 million OR 2% of total worldwide annual turnover from the preceding financial year, whichever is higher

Tier 2:

Up to €20 million OR 4% of total worldwide annual turnover from the preceding financial year, whichever is higher

Ireland: Former meta-lobbyist becomes data protection officer

The appointment of former lobbyist Niamh Sweeney as data protection commissioner has caused irritation, particularly outside Ireland.

heise online

@mhoye

Tier 1 (Less Serious Violations):

Applies to violations such as: record-keeping failures, inadequate security measures, insufficient data protection impact assessments, and certain processor obligations

Tier 2 (More Serious Violations):

Applies to violations such as: violations of core data processing principles (lawfulness, fairness, transparency), unlawful data transfers, infringement of data subject rights, and non-compliance with orders from supervisory authorities

@mhoye and the fine needs to be *after* they forfeit all revenue they made by violating whatever the fine was for in the first place. Otherwise it can still be worth it.

And of course, all the execs who directed the organization to break the law need to be criminally prosecuted too.

@mhoye also: start locking up executives. in proper prisons, not Club Fed. make them break rocks for a few years.
@mhoye And freeze stock trading at the moment the fine is announced so shareholders pay.
@mhoye Fines are meaningless when these corporations have so much money. Jail the perpetrators and the management that tolerated it. And not in a relaxed open prison. Put them somewhere that will ensure they remember their punishment.
@mhoye Percentage of market cap is good, cos it forces shareholders/investors to take responsibility for what they are enabling with their money.

@mhoye

Another minimum value: the fine should be a multiplier on the maximum estimate of money saved/gained by breaking the law.