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Omg.lol: An Oasis on the Internet

blakewatson.com

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Re: Omg.lol: An Oasis on the Internet

#281

Post by [deleted] »

anjel wrote: post #77
PenguinRevolver wrote: post #34

It's nice, the only problem I got with omg.lol is that Wayback Machine archives are unavailable for all domains. I'm concerned that this part of the internet won't be saved for others to see in the future.

Works with archive.today: https://archive.is/zAbYO Also works with Ghost Archive: https://ghostarchive.org/archive/ValSP Wayback Machine is arguably a more durable archive site than these other two archives, but the fact that it can be archived elsewhere would indicate that the problem is likely to be on archive.org's end of things rather than omg.lol

[deleted]

Re: Omg.lol: An Oasis on the Internet

#282

Post by cianmm »

tw04 wrote: post #12
lannisterstark wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I skimmed OPs post, and then read yours, and I'm still a bit confused as to how it's different than just hosting a mishmash of different but related services yourself. If you could not, yes that's fine. But if you could, what really are the advantages?

Presumably the mastadon integration. Think twitter with your profile directly tied to your personal site - except not twitter.

I actually don't really use the social stuff all that much. I already have a mastodon account on a country-specific server, and I'm not much of an IRC/Discord user

Re: Omg.lol: An Oasis on the Internet

#284

Post by 8372049 »

rtpg wrote: post #165
lacrimacida wrote: post #120

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It’s just hard to find. Google returns trash

It's wild to think about how anybody found info back in the day. Forums were probably the big one I guess? There was always something magical about being linked to forum and finding a wealth of info there, and entire domains of knowledge. FWIW stuff linked from HN & friends is not always the best, but I am pretty agressive about sticking RSS feeds from blogs that get linked here. That gives an inflow of interesting s…

Back in the day you got actually useful results from search engines.

Re: Omg.lol: An Oasis on the Internet

#285

Post by 8372049 »

moralestapia wrote: post #110
chongli wrote: post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Discoverability and smallness are at odds. This problem isn’t specific to the internet. That quaint, beautiful postcard town does not remain so once it’s been discovered. Eternal September happens everywhere.

Nah, you just need a (not ad oriented) search engine. Things could continue to be small and niche, we just a way to find them.

You mean kagi.com?

Re: Omg.lol: An Oasis on the Internet

#286

Post by hnbad »

CaptArmchair wrote: post #255
rusk wrote: post #246

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Also not legal in Europe where you absolutely are responsible for the actions of your processors

> Section 8.6 GDPR > Part b. omg.lol does not believe its processing of limited personal data of those outside the United States (if any) brings it within the jurisdiction of these laws. That's a hard disclaimer if there's any. I read that as: if you're a European user, we do not believe you can legally enforce us to honor your rights, even though we operate within the EEA.

That's also a sovereign citizen level of legalese. It doesn't matter what omg.lol states it believes. If anything, this demonstrates clear intent to violate users' privacy and be non-compliant with international data protection laws.

This is largely a moot point as long as omg.lol remains some guy's side project but given that the ToS explicitly mentions the possibility of a merger or buyout, this feels like it's poisoning the well a bit. If there's any upside to this, it's that this makes a buyout far less likely because he's essentially saying "yeah, we collect a ton of personal information but we don't have the legal consent for any of it and explicitly told users we're not complying with their regional data protection laws when it comes to gathering, processing or storing their personal information". Fair enough for the MySpace era of Web 2.0 privacy abuse but no longer workable in a world with the GDPR and its many regional equivalents.

Re: Omg.lol: An Oasis on the Internet

#287

Post by hnbad »

amne wrote: post #268
cderpz wrote: post #257

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>omg.lol does not believe its processing of limited personal data of those outside the United States (if any) brings it within the jurisdiction of these laws. Oh dear. That is definitely not correct. The only way for omg.lol to not fall under the jurisdiction of the GDPR is to not offer their services to people living where it applies.

And how would the owner go about that? Implement expensive geo-fences and KYC processes for a market they are not interested in? If they (EU people) want to use it .. they should be able to without expecting the same protections as if the business operates in EEA. How did we get here? To where If I spin up a webserver and charge for access now I'm suddenly forced to lick your middle finger because you have laws in yo…

Simple: explicitly state what regions you provide your service to, optionally use cheap/free IP geolocation to block users from regions you don't wish to provide your service in and wherever you have to record a user's region anyway limit the options to regions you support or display a warning about your terms of service prohibiting use from other regions.

There are plenty of sites that only cater to US users and have signup forms requiring data like postal addresses or payment methods that contain regional information. Heck, some US sites even exclude users from certain states for various reasons. This service costs money so they need the user's billing address anyway. Just restrict access there and then like the rest.

The guy who created omg.lol did not "spin up a webserver and charge for access", they run a company that collects, stores and processes their users' behavioral data and personally identifiable information. It's more like a hosting company except it's apparently cobbled together from various third parties without any due diligence about how they operate. And it even uses the phrase "privacy-focused" in various parts of its claims. Yeah, I'd say it's reasonable to expect a company like that to provide basic information like what data it collects, how it ensures that data is protected and how a data subject can get that data deleted or corrected.

We have laws preventing corporations from selling products that are unfit for purpose or food that is blatantly toxic and we have laws preventing corporations from offering you contracts that demand personal harm or indentured servitude. In places like the EU we also have laws that prevent companies from using your data without consent and making sure you follow the best current practices when handling that data. And yeah, if you want to make a service that collects all data and monetizes the ever living fuck out of it you can still do that, you just need to ask your users for consent and allow them to opt-out if it isn't essential to doing what the users would want to use the service for (i.e. no bait and switch).

I don't know why some people find it so hard to understand the idea of informed and non-coerced consent.

Re: Omg.lol: An Oasis on the Internet

#288

Post by CaptArmchair »

jacquesm wrote: post #278
ykonstant wrote: post #261

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is very disappointing, and automatically dismisses omg.lol as an option for me as a researcher and educator.

And is illegal to boot. If that's their attitude they should not allow Europeans to register in the first place because all it will do is set them up for a confrontation with the various Data Privacy Offices. And such wilful language rules out any apologies.

More to the point, the GDPR is quite explicit on here as well:

> Article 3.2 goes even further and applies the law to organizations that are not in the EU if two conditions are met: the organization offers goods or services to people in the EU, or the organization monitors their online behavior. (Article 3.3 refers to more unusual scenarios, such as in EU embassies.)

https://gdpr.eu/companies-outside-of-europe/

Which is pretty much what happens given that they allow EU citizens to buy a 20 USD subscription.

Re: Omg.lol: An Oasis on the Internet

#289

Post by jayveeone »

AlexAffe wrote: post #103
jayveeone wrote: post #102

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nah, he's just a deeply unlikeable jerk

To you. That's your opinion. Maybe it's mine. But I will never go as far as to state something like my opinion as universially true. You do that. What makes you do that?

Hey man are you okay?

Re: Omg.lol: An Oasis on the Internet

#290

Post by BirAdam »

Aeolun wrote: post #109
rd wrote: post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’ve had this exact thought a million times. The first time I tripped acid - I remember writing a page of notes on how sad I felt that I would never get to experience the exact way a memory occurred to me in the past. What’s even more saddening is that with tech like Rewind, and what’ll be the future of Rewind in 10-20 years, by 2040, I fully expect all memories/events ever produced to be logged in an almost endless…

In one way it’s sad, but if we archive everything from 2040 onward I guarantee that any pre 2040 years will always seem like a better time.

Kind of insane to think about. Part of me is horrified to think that this time could be seen as “better” but another part says that past was never what you remember it as…
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