Asked a lawyer: If Instapaper doesn't delete the data from its EU users tomorrow, all the rules of the GDPR might still fall on their head. Most likely, they are then storing EU user data without given consent and have to follow all the requests about data storage, use, deletion and so on. Denying service without data deletion is not an option.
Instapaper is temporarily shutting off access for European users due to GDPR
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Re: Instapaper is temporarily shutting off access for European users due to GDPR
#32This is a terrible move. They had effectively years to prepare for the GDPR and they already have some sort of rudimentary export and delete options. This step removes all the trust in Instapaper that I had in the past: They either are mismanaged or are not willing to tell the users what data they are collecting and how they use and monetize this data. And it should worry all users, not only users from the EU.
> They either are mismanaged or are not willing to tell the users what data they are collecting and how they use and monetize this data. And it should worry all users, not only users from the EU. I don't know a ton about GDPR, but the article makes it look like it has less to do with Instapaper (aside from risk tolerance) and more to do with the ambiguity of the law. Some relevant quotes: > it’s more than likely to b…
> it’s not entirely clear right now what information residents will request,
If they ask for something specific in an informal way, that can be provided
But from the GDPRs data portability point of view, it's everything that's linked to the account. Export your Facebook data for a good example of this.
HN example: it would be the information in your profile, the links/text you submitted (but not the content of the link itself), the comments (the comment IDs) you upvoted, stories flagged/upvoted (for the lenght of time this is kept, for example, if after a while user ids that upvoted a comment are erased and only the score is kept, that's fine) and maybe some other background information (for example: password hashes/access logs/etc)
> what format that information needs to be in,
Machine readable format. HTML/XML/JSON is fine.
> how to locate it and package it, and whether new infrastructure needs to be created to manage this request pipeline.
Well that's not the problem of the law, is it?
You know your data scheme. You know whether you can run this in your existing infrastructure or not.
for TABLE in YOUR_TABLES
SELECT * from TABLE where UserID == $user_id;
end forRe: Instapaper is temporarily shutting off access for European users due to GDPR
#33Earlier quoted context omitted.
> They either are mismanaged or are not willing to tell the users what data they are collecting and how they use and monetize this data. And it should worry all users, not only users from the EU. I don't know a ton about GDPR, but the article makes it look like it has less to do with Instapaper (aside from risk tolerance) and more to do with the ambiguity of the law. Some relevant quotes: > it’s more than likely to b…
An email-address to send requests to and someone setting up a process for those requests along with a definition of which data to be returned to the user, all that isn't hard to implement. GDPR has caused some panic that's unnecessary. The violations won't be fined with 4%/€20m (€ not $) right away, there's more steps before that, starting with "a warning in writing in cases of first and non-intentional noncompliance…
> GDPR has caused some panic that's unnecessary.
Maybe some companies have overreacted, but dismissing them feels a bit like blaming the user for bad UX.
Couldn't you argue that a law that causes a panicked overreaction was a poorly written law in at least one respect, given that laws have a communicative function?
Especially if all these complaints were raised well in advance of the passage of the law, so that the drafters had plenty of warning that several groups were struggling to understand the text?
Re: Instapaper is temporarily shutting off access for European users due to GDPR
#34How does shutting down fix GDPR issues? Does all user data magically disappear by shutting down?
It doesn't. But if you notice you might be doing something illegal, it's a great first step towards compliance to stop doing _more_ of it.
Here, Instapaper is likely not misusing user data, but has to catch up on compliance documentation and small details (e.g. signing data processing agreements with services they use, raising the age limit from 13 to 16, …)
Re: Instapaper is temporarily shutting off access for European users due to GDPR
#35Asked a lawyer: If Instapaper doesn't delete the data from its EU users tomorrow, all the rules of the GDPR might still fall on their head. Most likely, they are then storing EU user data without given consent and have to follow all the requests about data storage, use, deletion and so on. Denying service without data deletion is not an option.
Also: how they are going to decide who is EU user. GDPR apply to all EU citizens living abroad.
Re: Instapaper is temporarily shutting off access for European users due to GDPR
#36My impression is that Instapaper team is terribly understaffed and probably lost control over it's code base. They had changed hands twice over the years (Betaworks (Digg) 2013 and Pinterest 2016) with practically zero changes in code or the app. Zero progress, zero updates. That says something. And the instapaper.com when downloading is sharing data with third parties like there is no tomorrow. Simply it is download…
Hey – Brian from Instapaper here. I've been at Instapaper since the betaworks acquisition in 2013, so I have a lot of context here.
We've made tons of progress since I joined, redesigning the apps, websites, launching highlights, rebooting our business model, text-to-speech, speed reading, re-writing our parser, re-building our full-text search engine. The list goes on.
We currently don't have an image proxy for Instapaper, so yes when you visit the site we load the original images. We have discussed adding an image proxy but felt it would be a lot of overhead in server costs and maintenance for minimal value.
Additionally, I'm not sure it's fair to represent that fetching images from the original sources that a user saved is tantamount to sharing data with third parties, which has a different set of implications.
Re: Instapaper is temporarily shutting off access for European users due to GDPR
#37Asked a lawyer: If Instapaper doesn't delete the data from its EU users tomorrow, all the rules of the GDPR might still fall on their head. Most likely, they are then storing EU user data without given consent and have to follow all the requests about data storage, use, deletion and so on. Denying service without data deletion is not an option.
Also: how they are going to decide who is EU user. GDPR apply to all EU citizens living abroad.
The ban that goes into effect tomorrow will be IP-based for IPs in EU countries.
Re: Instapaper is temporarily shutting off access for European users due to GDPR
#38Hey all – Brian from Instapaper here. We worked really hard to try to avoid a service interruption in the EU, but unfortunately we were unable to. We continue to work hard to ensure that the service interruption is as brief as possible. Let me know if you have any questions...
Are you hard-banning or is it possible to use it over VPN or in some other way? Asking for a friend!
The ban will be an IP-based ban for IPs from countries in the EU.
Re: Instapaper is temporarily shutting off access for European users due to GDPR
#39What are good alternatives to Instapaper? There is Pocket, any other recomendation?
Maybe it is also time for somebody to create new app as tiny side apps owned by corporations seems to be sunseted sooner or later.
Re: Instapaper is temporarily shutting off access for European users due to GDPR
#40Earlier quoted context omitted.
The email we sent to EU users (quoted in linked article) has the important details regarding the service interruption in the EU. Additionally, I can say that our privacy policy is concise, clear, and accurate with respect to the types of information we collect and how the data is used: https://www.instapaper.com/privacy If you have other specific questions, I will do my best to answer them.
Weirdly enough I am an European citizen, haven't received the mail and the service is working. Not complaining, I prefer it this way. Hope you will sort the issues quickly.
The ban will be IP-based for IPs in EU countries, and it goes into effect at approximately 2PM Pacific Time.