> engineering time cheaper than legal counsel time

For a Silicon Valley based company hiring EU lawyers, no. Engineers are more expensive. Also, for a Silicon Valley company with limited or no EU presence, the time value of money may make incurring that deferred cost worth the saves near-term engineering time.

Laws should be followed. But laws must be enforced. OP’s point is valid. The EU passed a law and delegated enforcement to its various members, each of whom have varying levels (and interpretations) of enforcement around different parts of the text.

Until that changes, GDPR compliance will remain a courtesy. Not a right.

Good points, appreciate the reply.

Is any legal counsel time actually being spent on this? It seems like all the disability legislation. In theory it applies to websites. In practice, few give it a 2nd thought.

I have yet to hear of a company significantly harmed by failing to consider accessibility.

Yes unless you already have lawers on staff.