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Why are the permits even an option in the first place?
Corporate penalties need to be recurring (eg daily) and a % of annual revenue, not just fixed numbers.
And it needs to be hitting the Board of Directors personally.
I've said this for going on 2 decades now.
Having these fines from the 1930s arent hurting companies today, they are just a minor inconvenience.
Now, make the fines start at 40% of last years gross revenue (before they can do any tricky accounting to avoid shit by making their net income artificially lower, and also while accounting for any parent company/subsidiary bullshit), and it will cease to be an evil tax and start to be an actual fucking threat to the company.
and if the company fails and falls because of it, well, thats their fault. No one forced them to be evil and vile.
Plus a fine issued directly to the C suite, calculated the same way. Calculated on total pretax package and stock values. Make the decision makers fine payers and their "fiscal conservatism" might come in to play.
In a successful society these people would be prosecuted and jailed for crimes against humanity, failing that I wouldn't mind seeing a few dozen billionaires and millionaires wind up in debtors prison.
Calculated on total pretax package and stock values.
And make sure the stock value is BEFORE the penalties are announced publicly. Little reverse-insider-trading damage.
That's how GDPR works. It's a percent of revenue or millions of Euros, whichever is higher.
It works great to actually regulate tech companies when they break laws.
It's supposed to be back up power I'm guessing
45 of the generators were active.
Because they lie
DataOne got hit with the fine after an investigation by The Guardian and Floodlight News in August shared thermal drone footage showing that 45 of the 62 gas generators were operating.
Woah, wtf. They didn't just build them. They were already in operation!?!
Why the fuck are journalists capturing this after the fact? Why aren't there government inspectors visiting the site to approve it before they're allowed to start operation?
Corruption?
That's like the cost of maybe two of the generators at the going prices now. Cost of doing business for them. Make it a million a day until they remove them.
Are you sure the fine isn't recurring?
Edit: seems like they'll be fined again in 45 days if they don't get a permit or stop them running
DataOne was given 45 days to apply for the permits or else cease operations, but they can continue operating the gas engines while seeking permits.
Will the fine increase every 45 days? Cause if not its just cost vs illegal argument.
The residents know the data center is powering Microsoft’s AI tools like Copilot and worry DataOne will do whatever it takes to keep that deal in place.
Sounds like they should fine Microsoft too, then.
That's like the clothing company Gap selling sweat shop clothing (made by slaves) and then fining the factory but not Gap.
That'll show 'em not to make tens of millions of dollars by breaking the law!
I know, right? I would have shut them off first and asked questions later.
Imagine you robed a bank and the cops told you to just pay it back in 45 days lol
oh wow a whole 1million dollars.
I'm sure that'll show them, and totally isnt just a rounding error in their budget.
The puppy-mincer shall remain operational for as long as it is profitable.
You know an actual solution? They get bulldozed by the city.
To bad that drone didn't also have grenades.
They should ask Ukraine for their drones
this post was submitted on 25 Sep 2026
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