I just have a hard time accepting that the people who made every website implement a cookie warning that is equivalent to the “don’t use in bathtub” stickers all over appliances know enough about to write airtight laws that would actually solve any of this.

The cookie warning as irritatingly implemented is a bit of false-flagging by people who make their money from adtech surveillance. They intentionally make the experience suck as much as possible, then point at the law and say "talk to the government, they're making us do this" when challenged.

The GDPR is an excellent law and has nothing to do with the cookie warnings you see. I’m speaking as someone who read it carefully for implementing compliance in a small business.

GDPR applies to european companies too.

And only competitive advantage it really gives is that data must remain inside EU. Which seem pretty reasonable ask. And not too big hurdle for any company with enough power to enter the market.

I think parent was commenting on the "China bans US tech, we should ban TikTok", which is just reflexive poop throwing between two countries. GDPR is totally different: it's a level headed statement of principles for how ALL tech companies should treat user data.