I want to have the podunk builder build my house however I want. What is with all those pesky building codes!
Because they (the government) think it is the minimum required for a dignified, safe society. And they are placed in a position of power and must make those judgment calls, because that is their job.
Why would people want that? Because they understand, in general, that government is important and don't want an unhinged libertarian abandonment of mutual assistance in society. And in specific, because many of them value privacy enough to put up with this type of restriction. But of course there will always be people who find this or that law too intrusive, and in the EU that means they are free to organize, protest, be activists, vote, run for office, etc.
> Because they (the government) think it is the minimum required for a dignified, safe society. And they are placed in a position of power and must make those judgment calls, because that is their job.
Ha, this is a naïve view of it. In the US, this is only kinda-sorta true. Building permits can often be a lucrative source of income for the city and sleazy inspectors who often come out without the faintest idea of what they are looking at.
It often turns into holding previously-recognized rights captive and selling them back for cash. People get angry real quick.
(My father owns a small business in fireplaces. The inspectors often are idiots, and the city charges hundreds of dollars, sometimes more. Total grift we have to suck up. So much so they sometimes ask us what to look for. I doubt the inspectors have stopped any residential fires, ever, in some of these cities.)
Has your father taken this to his city councillor? If nobody reports the problem the city will think things are fine and nothing will change.
Regardless I’m quite happy with my safe home. I know that it’s not going to kill me. In some regulations have we gone too far? Yes. Have we gone too far protecting our data? We barely have anything in place, so I applaud the EU on forging ahead.
I know several people who help write building codes in the US in various fields, and none of them are incompetent or write code other than to deal with known concerns based on past building performance and materials testing, etc. That there might be a problem with enforcement is more a byproduct of municipal professionalism in general than a problem with building codes. I have never seen hundreds of dollars in my (high cost of living) area for a fireplace inspection, but I guess it might exist as an outlier somewhere. Permits cost more, but that is because we have very low property taxes in California, and they recoup through the permits because they need funding from somewhere.
But the building code reference was just to provide an introductory analogy. The sentence you quoted was part of my direct answer to OP's question, which was why the GDPR, and why would people want it.
Because they (the government) think it is the minimum required for a dignified, safe society. And they are placed in a position of power and must make those judgment calls, because that is their job.
Why would people want that? Because they understand, in general, that government is important and don't want an unhinged libertarian abandonment of mutual assistance in society. And in specific, because many of them value privacy enough to put up with this type of restriction. But of course there will always be people who find this or that law too intrusive, and in the EU that means they are free to organize, protest, be activists, vote, run for office, etc.