Hacker News new | ask | show | jobs
by nulldev 3275 days ago
> Do you think Facebook has no servers in Germany?

They might have some leased servers, but afaik none of their custom built data centers are located there. Compared to abandoning a bespoke facility, packing up and moving out of a server farm is little more than a hassle.

http://www.datacenterknowledge.com/the-facebook-data-center-...
1 comments
kuschku 3275 days ago
Facebook has custom-built servers in Sweden and Ireland, both of which could be easily seized via an EU-wide court warrant (which is actually possible to get).

And just seizing and selling their IP would be enough to encourage facebook not to violate the law.

Everyone would love buying their software and trained models.

link
nulldev 3274 days ago
Fair point, which I suspect will eventually lead to all major tech companies radically scaling back their investment in Europe. The cost of doing business was already high, now it's prohibitive and tyrannical.
link
kuschku 3274 days ago
The cost of doing business just with US companies is the same. The US will seize your assets, no matter where you are, if you as much as ever violate any of their laws.

Kim Dotcom is a good example.

Companies having to follow the law of where they provide their services is a far deal less prohibitive.

And, frankly said, I'd love it if Google, Facebook etc would leave the European market — as local competitors would appear very quickly, and, due to the huge size of the European market — would actually become viable competitors to the American companies even in the international market.

link