Shutting Down Forum (GDPR) • Hacker News Board

Re: Shutting Down Forum (GDPR)

#51

Post by bo1024 » Fri, Jun 01, 2018, 7:36 PM UTC

xori wrote: post #17

hjek wrote: post #6

Well, if the owner of the forum is receiving request e.g. to delete accounts or to disclose what data is recorded about someone, why not just comply with the request? What's the big deal?

If I ran a forum for a number of years, and a person decided to close their account, that'd be fine. But if they then said that I need to remove _all of their posts_, that's really shitty. It would destroy the usefulness of a forum.

Yeah that's an interesting question about the line for GDPR and the right to be forgotten. If a user themself posts text onto a forum, I wouldn't consider that private information. If it's not private info, I wouldn't think they should be able to legally request it be deleted. That would be almost like an editor of a wikipedia article asking that it be removed. I wonder how GDPR applies.

Re: Shutting Down Forum (GDPR)

#52

Post by TACIXAT » Fri, Jun 01, 2018, 7:36 PM UTC

duxup wrote: post #37

It's really hard to know what exactly was asked of him by the letter and by whom. I get the nightmare letter scenario but is that the exact request he got? Can he not extract all that user's data and delete if that is what is being requested?

This was linked to in the post: https://jacquesmattheij.com/so-your-start-up-receive-the-nig...

It is a request for a lot of information.

Re: Shutting Down Forum (GDPR)

#53

Post by DanBC » Fri, Jun 01, 2018, 7:36 PM UTC

danShumway wrote: post #29

scaryclam wrote: post #4

I'm a little confused. Who is sending compliance requests? If it's not the ico, there's rely no problem. If it is the ico, ask what needs to change. No lawyers required.

> No lawyers required. Phrases like this just sound weird to me. If there's a risk that someone could sue you over something, from a business perspective I have always been taught that you avoid it, period, until you get a lawyer. I wonder if this is a cultural difference between the US and EU? Might explain some of the different reactions people have had to the legislation.

> If there's a risk that someone could sue you over something,

Which bit of GDPR introduces that risk?

Re: Shutting Down Forum (GDPR)

#54

Post by foepys » Fri, Jun 01, 2018, 7:36 PM UTC

mmanfrin wrote: post #34

jimnotgym wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think you are right about one thing, the misreading of European law that comes from living in a litigious society. Just act in good faith and GDPR will not bite.

Just act in good faith and GDPR will not bite. Do you have $20million to make that gamble?

Nobody will fine an open-source project that amount of money. The goal of GDPR is not to bankrupt anybody but to nudge them into compliance. If you aren't maliciously handling user data, you are not a target of high fines.

Re: Shutting Down Forum (GDPR)

#55

Post by rndgermandude » Fri, Jun 01, 2018, 7:36 PM UTC

hartator wrote: post #39

jimnotgym wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Legislation is usually applied by unellected people. Judicial independence is usually seen as a good thing. Perhaps you mean that the law was enacted by unellected people, which is also incorrect of course? So now I don't see your point at all?

The law has been proposed by the European Commission who is just nominated not elected.

The European Commission's members are sent there by the national governments. Elect another parliament/government if you don't like who yours did sent.

Re: Shutting Down Forum (GDPR)

#56

Post by beberlei » Fri, Jun 01, 2018, 7:36 PM UTC

mmanfrin wrote: post #34

jimnotgym wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think you are right about one thing, the misreading of European law that comes from living in a litigious society. Just act in good faith and GDPR will not bite.

Just act in good faith and GDPR will not bite. Do you have $20million to make that gamble?

20 million is the max penalty for repeat offenders. See article 83 about fines being proportinate to the offense: https://gdpr-info.eu/art-83-gdpr/

This is a european thing, if any law says $x is the max fine or alike, then for a first time offense you usually get much less.

Re: Shutting Down Forum (GDPR)

#57

Post by na85 » Fri, Jun 01, 2018, 7:36 PM UTC

Kiro wrote: post #10

tobyhinloopen wrote: post #7

I've been sending all kinds of companies a request of my data. Everyone that keeps sending me mails without me knowing why, I just sent them a nice request to give me a copy of my data. After that, I request them to delete it all :)

You're the reason we can't have nice things. I hope you are proud of yourself. GDPR is great but will be ruined by people like you.

Why are you against fighting spam?

Re: Shutting Down Forum (GDPR)

#58

Post by duxup » Fri, Jun 01, 2018, 7:37 PM UTC

zerostar07 wrote: post #28

He's still obliged to respond to that letter. Can't hide like this. (guys, I'm being sarcastic)

Do you think if the complaint went to a government official in the EU they would throw down the hammer on a site that was up for all of a couple days in GDPR time?

I have my doubts.

I've got a handful of sites (ultimately for portfolio / coding practice type stuff) out there. Honestly it wouldn't take me too much to respond to someone's letter considering the simplicity of the site(s), not that anyone uses them.

I also really wouldn't expect any EU official to throw down the hammer on me. Personally I wouldn't panic, and I'd at least wait for the EU official to weigh in before panicking.

Re: Shutting Down Forum (GDPR)

#59

Post by hartator » Fri, Jun 01, 2018, 7:37 PM UTC

drcode wrote: post #33

I don't know why all these websites are shutting down due to GDPR when all you have to do is hire a competent law firm with GDPR compliance expertise to review your software and help you determine if any parts need to change to become compliant and also help you address any GDPR requests.

True. You can also just make a budget for the fines, block days per month for compliance, and remove all contents that displease EU residents. Easy. /s

Re: Shutting Down Forum (GDPR)

#60

Post by minikites » Fri, Jun 01, 2018, 7:37 PM UTC

DoreenMichele wrote: post #46

I"m not really a fan of the GDPR. I don't think it really protects privacy. I think it just uses the power of the EU, a fairly big and strong organization, to intimidate the rest of the world to comply with laws that it really shouldn't have legal jurisdiction to enforce globally. I think this is a scary precedent to set that the biggest bully on the block can de facto enforce such standards because the rest of the w…

>If you want none of your personal info on the web, I have a suggestion: Don't participate in forums, social media, etc.

Facebook and other data aggregators build profiles of you even if you don't participate directly in those services. The web is different now than it was in 1996.