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Ask HN: Any way to deactivate your Hacker News account?

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Re: Ask HN: Any way to deactivate your Hacker News account?

#11
post #10

We try not to delete entire account histories because that would gut the threads the account had participated in. However, we care about protecting individual users and take care of privacy requests every day, so if we can help, please email hn@ycombinator.com. We don't want anyone to get in trouble from anything they posted to HN. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsfaq.html

If an HN user is a citizen of an EU country, then it's my understanding that the GDPR requires you to comply with their request for account deletion.

This makes me wonder, does archive.org comply with GDPR?

Re: Ask HN: Any way to deactivate your Hacker News account?

#12
post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If an HN user is a citizen of an EU country, then it's my understanding that the GDPR requires you to comply with their request for account deletion.

This makes me wonder, does archive.org comply with GDPR?

Taken form the UKs ICO

https://ico.org.uk/for-organisations/guide-to-data-protectio...

> When does the right to erasure not apply?

> The right to erasure does not apply if processing is necessary for one of the following reasons:

> …

> for archiving purposes in the public interest, scientific research, historical research or statistical purposes where erasure is likely to render impossible or seriously impair the achievement of that processing

So Internet Archive is prob covered under archiving in the public interest. But don’t IA remove pages upon request?

Re: Ask HN: Any way to deactivate your Hacker News account?

#13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is that something people should or shouldn't be Bing-ing?

It's not NSFW (as far as I know). It's far worse. It seems to be a web forum that's into harassing minorities, sometimes to the point of suicide. Worse, it may be harassment with the intent of causing suicide. It's appalling.

[deleted]

Re: Ask HN: Any way to deactivate your Hacker News account?

#15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This makes me wonder, does archive.org comply with GDPR?

Taken form the UKs ICO https://ico.org.uk/for-organisations/guide-to-data-protectio... > When does the right to erasure not apply? > The right to erasure does not apply if processing is necessary for one of the following reasons: > … > for archiving purposes in the public interest, scientific research, historical research or statistical purposes where erasure is likely to render impossible or seriously impair the ach…

Do they delete old records of a website if the site owner simply asks for it, or do they need any substantial reasons to do so?

Re: Ask HN: Any way to deactivate your Hacker News account?

#16
post #10

We try not to delete entire account histories because that would gut the threads the account had participated in. However, we care about protecting individual users and take care of privacy requests every day, so if we can help, please email hn@ycombinator.com. We don't want anyone to get in trouble from anything they posted to HN. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsfaq.html

If an HN user is a citizen of an EU country, then it's my understanding that the GDPR requires you to comply with their request for account deletion.

That's why he said he will delete if you request, GDPR or not. They've helped me delete a previous account, change usernames, and delete comments- they are nice people and aren't trying to make anything difficult. They just don't want deleting to be as instant as reddit with a delete button which can easily disrupt archives- such as when you go into old threads on reddit on google, you see like half the comments deleted and that makes for a poor reader experience.

Re: Ask HN: Any way to deactivate your Hacker News account?

#19
post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If an HN user is a citizen of an EU country, then it's my understanding that the GDPR requires you to comply with their request for account deletion.

This makes me wonder, does archive.org comply with GDPR?

At least, for domains that you own, yes they do. I have asked them once to remove some links from the archive because of accidental private data being exposed. The process was fast and straightforward:

1- Add a page or DNS record proving that you own the domain

2- Email receipts showing that you owned the domain for the requested range

3- Wait 24 hours

Re: Ask HN: Any way to deactivate your Hacker News account?

#20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Taken form the UKs ICO https://ico.org.uk/for-organisations/guide-to-data-protectio... > When does the right to erasure not apply? > The right to erasure does not apply if processing is necessary for one of the following reasons: > … > for archiving purposes in the public interest, scientific research, historical research or statistical purposes where erasure is likely to render impossible or seriously impair the ach…

Do they delete old records of a website if the site owner simply asks for it, or do they need any substantial reasons to do so?

You just need to ask and they will remove it.

https://help.archive.org/help/how-do-i-request-to-remove-som...

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