GDPR: US news sites unavailable to EU users over data protection rules

Post by gcthomas » Fri, May 25, 2018, 3:27 PM UTC

adventured wrote: post #159

Yabood wrote: post #134

There are so many wrong things with this approach. First, what do you do when you have existing users, delete them? Second, I believe the law protects EU citizens regardless of where they are. If you're an EU citizen and register for a service somewhere in the US using VPN or while physically being outside the EU, that service/company will still need to comply. The safest approach is to comply. We're a tiny startup,…

> Second, I believe the law protects EU citizens regardless of where they are. That's incorrect. That is the attempted naive reach of the EU in action. The correct formulation is: the EU would like for GDPR to apply to all EU citizen data globally. US sites/services with no business reach into the EU, do not need to comply with EU privacy laws. 99% of businesses around the world (most small businesses), those outside…

Post by mrmekon » Fri, May 25, 2018, 3:27 PM UTC

ryanwaggoner wrote: post #150

mrmekon wrote: post #136

I'm in the EU, and a couple of the corporate VPNs I have used here have had their exit IP in the U.S. or Canada. Which means that when I'm at work, I appear to be in Seattle, and these sites are not blocked. Based just on that, I'd argue that "Blocking 500M Users Easier Than Complying with GDPR" is probably not even a true statement. I doubt EU regulators will go after these sites because they really aren't that cons…

What exactly do you want here? Do you want every site to have you upload your passport? Or are you just saying that any jurisdiction in the world should be able to effectively force every company globally to comply with their laws, and that they can’t pull out of those markets if they find the law too onerous? Forget about the intent of the GDPR, what about the broader principle when applied to laws you don’t like? W…

Post by mrtksn » Fri, May 25, 2018, 3:30 PM UTC

ryanwaggoner wrote: post #185

mrtksn wrote: post #135

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As an EU citizen, I don't think the law is bad but you are free to be upset about it, of course. Please respect our laws and privacy or don't do business with us. We will be very sorry if your product is irreplaceable or we will use a competing product that complies with GDPR.

Please respect our laws and privacy or don't do business with us. Stop sending us your data and money? I don’t leave the US to deal with EU customers. You send requests to my server in the US. If you’re unhappy with me, stop doing that. And it’s pretty rich to complain about companies not complying and leaving the market, while also using VPNs to use their service anyway. Apparently protecting your data isn’t as impo…

Post by ryanwaggoner » Fri, May 25, 2018, 3:30 PM UTC

dmitriid wrote: post #186

ryanwaggoner wrote: post #172

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because bitter HN users will call you shady if you don’t fully comply with their pet law, no matter how ambiguous or onerous :)

This "pet law" is the law of 500 million people, has been in effect for two years (two years was a grace period to comply with it), and exists exactly because shady businesses didn't even comply with existing data protection laws. It's not "bitter HN users". It's bitter European citizens. No wonder that it's mostly American companies who have the most trouble complying with it.

Post by ryanwaggoner » Fri, May 25, 2018, 3:32 PM UTC

khamoud wrote: post #164

ryanwaggoner wrote: post #156

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ha. You’re insane if you think that the US Congress is going to start letting 28 agencies in the EU start fining small businesses that have no EU presence whatsoever. The political ads write themselves.

I guess the question is what does the EU value more, privacy or their relationship with the US? I don't have an answer but I suppose we'll find out soon enough.