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How do I permanently delete my account?

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Re: How do I permanently delete my account?

#111

Post by kbart »

tscs37 wrote: post #103
e12e wrote: post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Does anyone know if GDPR (or similar law in the future) will actually force HN and other sites that don't have this feature, to remove accounts, at least EU ones, upon request? As far as I know, the GDPR is more of a clarification (along with some explicit guidelines for fines), than it is new legislation - so hn and similar sites would already be in breach, if they didn't allow the deletion of all profile data. I'…

>But afaik hn does no business in the EU - so it's not clear what sanctions would be applicable. Since EU citizens are registered users, it applies.

No. EU laws/regulations dont't apply outside its jurisdiction. GPDR will affect Facebook, Google etc. just because they are operating in EU market[0]:

"This won't apply to every U.S. business — just the ones that are knowingly, and actively, conducting business in the EU. In this vein, EU courts have the discretionary ability to determine if a U.S. company was purposely collecting EU resident data and subverting GDPR compliance."

0. https://community.spiceworks.com/topic/2007530-how-the-eu-ca...

Re: How do I permanently delete my account?

#112

Post by notimetorelax »

Buge wrote: post #56
imustbeevil wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, they can show you ads that don't use your data. You'd have to allow them to use your data to give you better ads, but you'd just get worse ads in the meantime.

So I need to explicitly accept targeted ads from every company that shows targeted ads? Does this mean every website that shows targeted ads, or can a blanket large provider (e.g. Google) get a single consent and apply it to all websites hosting Google ads? This seems like it would give a market advantage to Google, because they have products that people want and can likely get a fair number of people to consent if t…

As far as I know, GDPR disallows “bundled” consent. Google will be obligated to provide all the same services even if it cannot use the data for targeted ads.

Re: How do I permanently delete my account?

#113

Post by m6g6a »

whyagaindavid wrote: post #91

Sad that Apple does not allow you to delete your account. Even Facebook does? PS; if you think I am wrong post a direct link how to delete within Apple's domain. Trust me it does not exist.

Actually there’s some security reasons why. An iCloud id have muliple purposes in the Apple ecosystem. You can use it like an e-mail address or caller/messaging contact id. Now imagine if they will free up your username and later someone else will register it. Or worst, you used that e-mail address to register in some other services.

Re: How do I permanently delete my account?

#114

Post by hnlmorg »

vidyesh wrote: post #77
a254613e wrote: post #73

It's kinda ironic that all the people here are complaining that facebook might not actually really delete literally every single bit of information that you have, while hacker news doesn't allow you to edit your comments, delete them, or delete your profile. This sort of functionality should exist on every platform that even has accounts. Does anyone know if GDPR (or similar law in the future) will actually force HN…

I understand your sentiment but I don't think deleting comments would make sites like these (community driven) appealing. Missing comments creates a big hole to a comment train, look at reddit. Missing/Deleted comments make the whole comment tree below it quite meaningless. HN would invite a lot of trolls with this an would make it really difficult to create a submission archive that makes sense. Now I don't know how…

Deleted accounts could retain the comments but anonymise the accounts.

Also I don't think having the ability to delete your profile invites trolls. Usually one deletes their account because they post something wrong but which they genuinely believe is true then get downvoted and / or trolled into oblivion. These people we should probably be working to retain because while they might have been wrong, their contribution did improve the content on the site due to the corrections that followed. However sometimes the negative rep and / or harshness of the replies can make the corrections a bitter pill to swallow. So I think there should be a downvote cap for incorrect posts (or even disallowing downvoting for all but rudeness and spam) and working harder on improving forum etiquette.

Re: How do I permanently delete my account?

#115

Post by zuppy »

ninkendo wrote: post #59

I “deleted” my account years ago using this link (back in 2014), came back last year and found that it was never really deleted. I happened to click “login” when I realized my password manager was still filling in my password (to be expected), and it logged me in just fine, same profile page... it was as if I never clicked delete. I deleted it again, and it finally “took” this time, but I have no idea what happened b…

There are 2 different actions: one that deactivates your account and one that actually deletes it. You've probably used the deactivate functionality, because the other one needs more digging in order to find it.

Re: How do I permanently delete my account?

#116

Post by the_mitsuhiko »

a254613e wrote: post #73

It's kinda ironic that all the people here are complaining that facebook might not actually really delete literally every single bit of information that you have, while hacker news doesn't allow you to edit your comments, delete them, or delete your profile. This sort of functionality should exist on every platform that even has accounts. Does anyone know if GDPR (or similar law in the future) will actually force HN…

> Does anyone know if GDPR (or similar law in the future) will actually force HN and other sites that don't have this feature, to remove accounts, at least EU ones, upon request?

GDPR only covers personal information. So it only covers the IP and username in case of hackernews (unless someone adds their name into some sort of signature)

Re: How do I permanently delete my account?

#117

Post by onion2k »

bogomipz wrote: post #107
a254613e wrote: post #73

It's kinda ironic that all the people here are complaining that facebook might not actually really delete literally every single bit of information that you have, while hacker news doesn't allow you to edit your comments, delete them, or delete your profile. This sort of functionality should exist on every platform that even has accounts. Does anyone know if GDPR (or similar law in the future) will actually force HN…

Why is it ironic, you are user "a254613e" that's literally all anybody on NF knows about you. That's pretty anonymous no? HN has no real name policy or even requirement of a verified email to participate.

That's great if you sign up with the intention of posting anonymously, but if you post here for years using your name or your chosen alias (eg I'm onion2k on everything; it's trivial to find out who I am), and then decide you don't want to be associated with your HN history it's not so helpful. Also forensic tools are clever enough to take someone's comment history and use the little information in there to work out who you are. We leak information all over the place. A user name isn't the only way to find someone.

It's fair for people to change their mind and ask for functionality to delete data that's associated with them. I don't think the internet would be nearly as useful as it is now if everyone had to be anonymous from the start in case they want to stop other people seeing the content they created later.

However, that said, it's also reasonable to suggest people shouldn't be able to say appalling things and just delete their account later with impunity. There's a strong argument that someone's internet history should be available as a record.

This is not a straightforward problem.

Re: How do I permanently delete my account?

#118

Post by unixhero »

a254613e wrote: post #73

It's kinda ironic that all the people here are complaining that facebook might not actually really delete literally every single bit of information that you have, while hacker news doesn't allow you to edit your comments, delete them, or delete your profile. This sort of functionality should exist on every platform that even has accounts. Does anyone know if GDPR (or similar law in the future) will actually force HN…

Not really. It enforces a quality and rigor when entering comments. I have been to forums where people were altering their posts long after the discussion continues. That makes the threads loose meaning.

Re: How do I permanently delete my account?

#119

Post by untog »

unixhero wrote: post #118
a254613e wrote: post #73

It's kinda ironic that all the people here are complaining that facebook might not actually really delete literally every single bit of information that you have, while hacker news doesn't allow you to edit your comments, delete them, or delete your profile. This sort of functionality should exist on every platform that even has accounts. Does anyone know if GDPR (or similar law in the future) will actually force HN…

Not really. It enforces a quality and rigor when entering comments. I have been to forums where people were altering their posts long after the discussion continues. That makes the threads loose meaning.

> That makes the threads loose meaning.

Some alterations, though...

Re: How do I permanently delete my account?

#120

Post by hjnilsson »

dnt404-1 wrote: post #108
e12e wrote: post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> And how does this apply to logs? It's common for web servers by default to record urls visited and IP addresses. Would that be legal without explicit consent? I'm not certain on the details, but in eg Norway that is already much in line with the GDPR ip addresses are considered personal data , and as such regulated. However, there are provisions for storing such information for auditing purposes (both security, tec…

Can one collect data without "personal data" by anonymizing those specific attributes (ip, phone number)? Also, say, I want to collect data about the performance of the web application. Can that be collected, or does it require explicit consent as well?

Yes. If the data cannot be tracked to one person, it is not regulated. So anonymous tracking cookies are still OK, but attaching it to an IP/name/phone number etc. is not.
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