Hey 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...
Instapaper is temporarily shutting off access for European users due to GDPR
301–310 of 388 posts
Re: Instapaper is temporarily shutting off access for European users due to GDPR
#302> But because the fines are so steep — violating GDPR will cost a company 4 percent of its global turnover or $20 million, whichever is larger — no one really wants to be caught non-compliant. Can everyone just stop repeating this, pretty please? That is the maximum penalty. You'd have to try really, really hard to get that kind of penalty. For minor transgressions, you're likely to get away with a reprimand.
Why would a government impose anything other than the maximum?
Re: Instapaper is temporarily shutting off access for European users due to GDPR
#303Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Um, those three words "effective, proportionate and dissuasive" together mean "as high as possible". No they absolutely do not.
Really? "effective" = large amount, so company won't do it again, "proportionate" = relative to revenue, "dissuasive" = make them an example so no one else will dare. I bet you are going to tell me proportionate somehow makes it all better, but for companies that make money this way, the amount of money they make this way in proportion to their income is basically all of it. So you can bet regulators will go for the…
Proportionate means „proportionate to the infraction“. That is simply not up for debate or „internet troll‘s opinion“, that‘s established law.
Re: Instapaper is temporarily shutting off access for European users due to GDPR
#304Earlier quoted context omitted.
'European' - e.g., EU - culture is still quite new in this regard, and plenty of companies have gotten very large fines for gross non compliance of other regulations/directives. Since GDPR compliance is enforced by EU members, many small companies are exposed to (have customers in) most or all EU jurisdictions, and the EU is very heterogeneous when it comes to regulatory enforcement by member states, I think that the…
> plenty of companies have gotten very large fines for gross non compliance of other regulations/directives Gross, wilful, intentional, deceptive non-compliance. To be honest you have to put quite a lot of effort into managing to get fined for non-compliance with EU regs/dirs.
EU directives are transposed to member states, who are the ones who enforce EU policy. If you're talking about EU members getting hit for non compliance with directive implementation - sure. If you're talking about private sector non compliance with transposed EU directives, that's largely up to how individual member states enforce EU requirements, since EU directives effectively become separate laws once they're transposed by each EU member.
As far as I'm aware, there's little aggregated data on how individual member states enforce (as in, number of cases and total amount of fines per year) EU directives. The EU takes in ~4-5 billion Euros per year in assessed fines, but the total amount should be significantly higher once you account for all of the cases/fines that are assessed on private companies, by individual member states, for non compliance with individual state laws implemented to enforce EU directives.
Re: Instapaper is temporarily shutting off access for European users due to GDPR
#305Re: Instapaper is temporarily shutting off access for European users due to GDPR
#306Earlier quoted context omitted.
Most other companies haven't made the same decision, what's different about Instapaper? Do they share reading habits with multiple third parties perhaps?
GDPR has basically turned the lights on all of the companies doing questionable things with user data. Shutting down or turning off the EU is a huge red flag.
So, unless you’re saying that “Pinterest’s site reliability team can’t answer question 192 about how user data is deleted from the incident management system logs when an event is traced” is a “huge red flag” then you are exaggerating the issue.
Re: Instapaper is temporarily shutting off access for European users due to GDPR
#307Earlier quoted context omitted.
Probably worth reading this. https://jacquesmattheij.com/gdpr-hysteria EU agencies would prefer compliance over fines and would work with businesses to help them. As the article suggests, prosecution/fines will come when all other avenues are exhausted not the starting point.
Says some random dude on the Internet that seems to be a tremendous fan of GDPR. I prefer to base my understanding of laws on the text of the law. This one says that no warnings are required and that fines can be up to 20M EUR.
Re: Instapaper is temporarily shutting off access for European users due to GDPR
#308Earlier quoted context omitted.
- IPs are personal private infromation - You need opt-in consent for all (ad) cookies, including non-tracking ones. Basically,advertising is optional in EU sites as of today. - I could argue the right to download your data is superfluous, mostly because it creates potential holes for data leaks/phishing etc. The law is confusing "privacy" with "invisibility".
"- IPs are personal private infromation" IPs combined with other user data could be PII. "- You need opt-in consent for all (ad) cookies, including non-tracking ones. Basically, advertising is optional in EU sites as of today." Wrong. You need opt-in consent for non personalized ads, but this can be the "soft consent" type where you only present the "Accept" button. Advertising is no more optional tomorrow than it wa…
1) Bob signs up for a service and is logged
2) Bob than asks for his account to be deleted. Account details are deleted, but the ip logs are retained.
3) Bob signs back up for a new account allowing the data processor to make the link from his new account to his ip old logs with the first account.
This seems like a likely violation, if so you would have to treat ip address like personal information.
Re: Instapaper is temporarily shutting off access for European users due to GDPR
#309Earlier quoted context omitted.
The scope of work for GDPR was underestimated by me, we were not able to complete that work for the deadline on Friday, and this was the required alternative. We are working very hard to minimize the service interruption.
Have you received genuine legal advice that recommended that you shut down business instead of continuing to work towards compliance? The agencies that can enforce the GPDR want you to be compliant, not to fine you... If you're actually working towards compliance past evidence shows they won't fine you.
Re: Instapaper is temporarily shutting off access for European users due to GDPR
#310Earlier quoted context omitted.
> it is the company that is violating the law, not the lower profile group. I work in a company that was acquired and we're still our own legal entity. Would our owner be affected if we violate GDPR?
No, in that case the owner is just a shareholder. But if the original legal entity no longer exists (which I believe is the case with Instapaper) then it doesn't matter that you've been acquired, you are now part of the mothership.
Unlikely. "Instapaper Holdings, Inc." is right in their footer.