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GDPR for lazy people: Block all European users with Cloudflare Workers

apility.io

21–30 of 1001 posts

Re: GDPR for lazy people: Block all European users with Cloudflare Workers

#21
I'm the author of the post. My most stupid post is in HN! crazy! I just wanted to be sarcastic and make some laughs about people blocking all traffic from Europe, which is crazy!

It's a Friday afternoon blog post to show how cool my product is with Cloudflare Workers and having fun at the same time!

Re: GDPR for lazy people: Block all European users with Cloudflare Workers

#22

How does CloudFlare know if someone is a citizen of the EU and traveling abroad? In haproxy, I redirect a few accept-language headers, but even this has its faults.

Also, GDPR applies to more than just citizens of the EU. The language doesn't even say citizens. Data subject could be someone in the EU on vacation for two week. Even me a heathen US citizen! O_o

Re: GDPR for lazy people: Block all European users with Cloudflare Workers

#23
post #7

Considered this before, but it doesnt work. IIRC, the law applies to euro citizens both living in country and abroad. As such, geoip blocking is not a working strategy. (a french citizen who lives in japan still had GDPR rights) A better one would likely be a clickwrap agreement for all users stating "European citizens are not allowed on this service" which they have to click a "I am not european" tickbox to.

> Considered this before, but it doesnt work. IIRC, the law applies to euro citizens both living in country and abroad.

No. The law applies to people physically in the EU, not blanket to EU citizens. An American in Paris is protected by GDPR laws - a German living in NYC is not.

Re: GDPR for lazy people: Block all European users with Cloudflare Workers

#25
post #7

Considered this before, but it doesnt work. IIRC, the law applies to euro citizens both living in country and abroad. As such, geoip blocking is not a working strategy. (a french citizen who lives in japan still had GDPR rights) A better one would likely be a clickwrap agreement for all users stating "European citizens are not allowed on this service" which they have to click a "I am not european" tickbox to.

> IIRC, the law applies to euro citizens both living in country and abroad.

GDPR doesn't mention citizenship, it applies to any Data Subject who is a 'natural person'. The scope is stated as 'whatever their nationality or place of residence' which is universal.

So just blocking EU residents is not enough, one would have to also ensure that no other data is processed (1) within any country implementing GDPR or (2) anywhere in the world if you have a controller in the EU, his role being a sort of GDPR proxy.

Even saying 'within EU' is actually inadequate; the Isle of Man has implemented GDPR but isn't in the EU and there are probably other examples.

Re: GDPR for lazy people: Block all European users with Cloudflare Workers

#26

How this checks if a user is European when using US VPN or being on holidays outside EU?

I suppose you have to use your TOS for that. (In fact, a banner that tells European users that they aren't allowed to use your site is probably the easiest way to insulate yourself -- if you collect their data because they used your service illegally, I'm not sure you can be blamed.)

Re: GDPR for lazy people: Block all European users with Cloudflare Workers

#27

I'm the author of the post. My most stupid post is in HN! crazy! I just wanted to be sarcastic and make some laughs about people blocking all traffic from Europe, which is crazy! It's a Friday afternoon blog post to show how cool my product is with Cloudflare Workers and having fun at the same time!

Well, it is well written and informational.

Re: GDPR for lazy people: Block all European users with Cloudflare Workers

#28

I'm the author of the post. My most stupid post is in HN! crazy! I just wanted to be sarcastic and make some laughs about people blocking all traffic from Europe, which is crazy! It's a Friday afternoon blog post to show how cool my product is with Cloudflare Workers and having fun at the same time!

It's no laughing matter for some companies. EU citizens have turned into pests overnight. There are businesses who don't make much money from the EU to justify compliance with the regulations.

Re: GDPR for lazy people: Block all European users with Cloudflare Workers

#30

I'm the author of the post. My most stupid post is in HN! crazy! I just wanted to be sarcastic and make some laughs about people blocking all traffic from Europe, which is crazy! It's a Friday afternoon blog post to show how cool my product is with Cloudflare Workers and having fun at the same time!

It's no laughing matter for some companies. EU citizens have turned into pests overnight. There are businesses who don't make much money from the EU to justify compliance with the regulations.

> EU citizens have turned into pests overnight.

That's an excellent attitude to take towards your users.

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