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by ben_w 1061 days ago
Sole trader, not Ltd (or whatever the equivalent term is in Australia)?

I did that ages ago, before everyone was storing user data; these days I'd definitely suggest incorporating and getting public liability insurance, just in case a GDPR accident happens.

Best of luck, I hope you're more successful with this than I was with my adventure. :)
1 comments
AlchemistCamp 1061 days ago
This is how you kill entrepreneurship. Tell everyone to incorporate and get liability insurance before they even get started... due to fears around a law from a foreign government that has no jurisdiction where the founder lives.

Obviously, if this gets traction, it will be worth incorporating, getting insurance, accounting and legal services, etc, but if you do all of that before putting anything on the market, you're not going to get anywhere unless you're already wealthier than most people.

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ben_w 1061 days ago
Incorporation, specifically limited liability, is specifically there to make it easier and less risky to be an entrepreneur — no matter how hard a company gets sued, the owner can't (normally) be bankrupted.

Likewise insurance.

Also, quick Google immediately found that Australia has an equivalent to GDPR in the form of the Privacy Act (1988).

And GDPR has, by design, extra-territorial effect: https://gdpr.eu/companies-outside-of-europe/

(Extra-territorial rules may seem unreasonable, but they are the flip-side to the internet not recognising national borders: everywhere gets to say you're operating in their jurisdiction).

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AlchemistCamp 1061 days ago
> And GDPR has, by design, extra-territorial effect: https://gdpr.eu/companies-outside-of-europe/

Yeah, but they have no jurisdiction.

Millions of EU citizens use WeChat, which is obligated by Chinese law to collect information not allowed by the GDPR, and the EU have not and will not be able to enforce an "extra-territorial effect" against Tencent.

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