Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

An unwanted update to your Google Account

roboleary.net

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

131–140 of 201 posts

Re: An unwanted update to your Google Account

#131

Post by 3np »

ajross wrote: post #30

Well... is the author actually in Maylasia or Germany? I mean, that matters. You don't get to personally choose whose laws you're subject to, nor does Google. Having your Google settings set to Germany does nothing to protect you from Maylay law, nor Google for that matter. If you don't want to be subject to the laws of the country you're in[1] you have to move . Google can't help you. [1] Edit: I guess in this circu…

Specifically GDPR should hold if you’re a resident regardless of where you’re physically located at an instance in time.

Re: An unwanted update to your Google Account

#132

Post by jmholla »

compiler-guy wrote: post #121
developer93 wrote: post #116

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But if a company has you down as being in country x, how do they know to apply the laws from country y? This is a practical rather than legal point

If the company has you down in country A, then they apply the rules for country A. But there are many signs they use to determine what country you are actually in. Apparently there were enough signs in this case to conclude he had been in Malaysia long enough to trigger the rule.

There were also enough signs for them to identify Dan Schroeder being from Thailand despite the fact he hasn't been there or out of his country of residence for two years.

Re: An unwanted update to your Google Account

#133

Post by compiler-guy »

jmholla wrote: post #132
compiler-guy wrote: post #121

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If the company has you down in country A, then they apply the rules for country A. But there are many signs they use to determine what country you are actually in. Apparently there were enough signs in this case to conclude he had been in Malaysia long enough to trigger the rule.

There were also enough signs for them to identify Dan Schroeder being from Thailand despite the fact he hasn't been there or out of his country of residence for two years.

The argument isn't that the system is perfect. It likely just needs to be good enough. A false positive in attempting to comply with the law really isn't a reason to not try at all.

Re: An unwanted update to your Google Account

#135

Post by germanier »

stavros wrote: post #110
croes wrote: post #105

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not so simple. A German citizen in the US is protected by the GDPR if he uses a EU company's service, even a US citizen in the US is then protected by GDPR. Here it is the same, if he uses EU Google he is protected, because of the switch to Google Malaysia he isn't anymore.

I disagree, even EU companies don't have to adhere to the GDPR if they don't target EU countries. Google doesn't have to adhere to the GDPR for people in the US, whether they're EU citizens or not.

Companies have to, see Article 3. GDPR triggers whenever the processing is done by a company located in the EU or targeting users located in the EU.

Google probably does not as they surely don't do processing of non-EU user's data within their EU subsidiaries.

Re: An unwanted update to your Google Account

#136

Post by 988747 »

Jaygles wrote: post #2

I understand the author's frustration. But until someone finds out how a company that operates globally can satisfy the laws of the countries their customers are located in without associating the accounts with a country, I'm not sure what we can do. > What I find curious is that it says the services are essentially the same between different countries. So, there is no advantage to me as a consumer for anything to ch…

I live in Europe, but past few years I've been working for US-based company, using their VPN a lot. Google wants to associate me with USA instead of my home country, and when I tried to fill support request to correct them their answer was basically "shut up, we know better".

I created another mailbox and am slowly migrating to it. Fuck you Google.

Re: An unwanted update to your Google Account

#137

Post by cptskippy »

croes wrote: post #108
monkeybutton wrote: post #95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Doesn't the law block PayPal from being involved in such a transaction?

Not the EU branch. Global boycott laws, like US ones, are forbidden.

PayPal LU, the bank that makes PayPal EU possible is a Subsidiary of PayPal Holdings Incorporated in the US.

> All US persons, including US-incorporated entities, their foreign branches (including non-US entities owned or controlled by a US person that are also subject to US sanctions with respect to certain sanctions programs, such as the US's Iran, Cuba, and North Korea sanctions programs) and employees, are prohibited from transacting with sanctioned parties.

- https://insightplus.bakermckenzie.com/bm/compliance-investig...

I am pretty sure the EU and US have treaties requiring them to respect one another's sanctions.

Re: An unwanted update to your Google Account

#138

Post by bartvk »

988747 wrote: post #136
Jaygles wrote: post #2

I understand the author's frustration. But until someone finds out how a company that operates globally can satisfy the laws of the countries their customers are located in without associating the accounts with a country, I'm not sure what we can do. > What I find curious is that it says the services are essentially the same between different countries. So, there is no advantage to me as a consumer for anything to ch…

I live in Europe, but past few years I've been working for US-based company, using their VPN a lot. Google wants to associate me with USA instead of my home country, and when I tried to fill support request to correct them their answer was basically "shut up, we know better". I created another mailbox and am slowly migrating to it. Fuck you Google.

If you are migrating anyway, think about getting your own domain and migrate to that.

Re: An unwanted update to your Google Account

#139

Post by mavhc »

anoncake wrote: post #113
Semaphor wrote: post #103

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What would be appropriate? Firefox has it under "Choose your preferred language for displaying pages" which seems appropriate to me.

Somewhere more prominent, in the main UI. The user may want to see different pages in different languages (e.g. to avoid garbage translations). Or perhaps explicitly ask the user.

Again, 99% of people want the default language, annoying them isn't helpful, nor is adding 100 more menu options

Re: An unwanted update to your Google Account

#140

Post by Guidii »

Havoc wrote: post #134

Anybody know where to see this setting. Been clicking around my account for a while and can't see it (Not under personal info or data & personalisation)

Another thread mentioned: https://policies.google.com/terms?authuser=

This gave me the TOS matched to the country that Google thinks I'm in. (They're correct, in my case)

Post reply on HN