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Will the GDPR eventually make bitcoin or other immutable public distributed databases illegal in the EU? Do you have default judgements on thousands john doe n

Will the GDPR eventually make bitcoin or other immutable public distributed databases illegal in the EU? Do you have default judgements on thousands john doe node operators around the world? Will EU ISPs be required to censor any kind of blockchain node eventually when someone has a GDPR complaint for that network? Will we arrest teenagers for running ethereum miners on their gaming computers after all of this?

wglb 9y ago
Will any information that enables identification of the individual (or the other ancillary information spelled out in the article and regulations) be in the blockchain? If not, doesn't sound like it. Here is one way to think of this. Any EU citizen has a "right to be forgotten". If there is nothing in your records to identify that person, the you don't need to provide that ability.
- ebcode 9y ago
  OK, but what the parent is suggesting is that someone might store someone's personally identifiable information on "the blockchain", thus making the entire bitcoin network in violation of GDPR. It's a fairly on-point criticism, IMO.
  - chii 9y ago
    it's not Bitcoin network that's in violation, but the company that owns the transaction in which the data is in. let's say I'm a shop and i allow btc payments, but I include the customers info in the transaction or something to such an effect. then I'm in violation, and must pay a fine (since I can never delete that info). The network has nothing to do with this, and nobody else on the network is party to the violation.
    - emilfihlman 9y ago
      So just paying a fine is enough to make the issue go away and the users privacy is bought out legally? Now we have a way to estimate the cost and we can just put that on top of the cost of using the service. Boom, privacy bought. You don't realise how absurd GDPR is?
- piffey 9y ago
  There are already people using blockchain for proof of identity, proof of ownership, etc.
- woolvalley 9y ago
  You can insert random text into bitcoin, which can include private info: https://www.reddit.com/r/btc/comments/49pp3n/eli5_how_to_embed_text_into_a_bitcoin_transaction/ https://www.reddit.com/r/btc/comments/49pp3n/eli5_how_to_emb... There are also blockchain style social networks such as steem that create things that are like reddit: https://steem.io https://steem.io / https://steemit.com https://steemit.com . Again, freeform public text blobs that can have private info. If you create any censorship resistant publishing software, lets say to report on human rights violations in some sort of dictatorship, you also create something that can be used to violate the GDPR.
- grier 9y ago
  The requirements that GDPR imposes on development and data handling are much more broad than the right to be forgotten. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Data_Protection_Regulation#Right_to_erasure https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Data_Protection_Regula...
- shkkmo 9y ago
  Isn't a public key a potentially identifiable piece of info that becomes personal information if anyone (like an exchange) stores it in conjunction with other personal information? I don't see how it is any different than an IP address.
ebcode 9y ago
You've raised a really good point with this. Honestly, the whole "right to be forgotten" thing is utter BS. Might as well call it "the memory hole act". Or better yet, "the right to silence the opposition".
avar 9y ago
The GDPR gives you this out for that[1]: "the personal data are no longer necessary in relation to the purposes for which they were collected or otherwise processed" The data you submitted to a blockchain database is inherently needed forever for it to function, so I think there's zero chance that this will be interpreted as to make Blockchains illegal. What might happen is that this in combination with the "Conditions for consent"[1] will force people who ship blockchain software to have prominent warnings saying that you're about to ship data that'll be public forever. 1. https://gdpr-info.eu/art-17-gdpr/ https://gdpr-info.eu/art-17-gdpr/ 2. https://gdpr-info.eu/art-7-gdpr/ https://gdpr-info.eu/art-7-gdpr/

wglb 9y ago

Will any information that enables identification of the individual (or the other ancillary information spelled out in the article and regulations) be in the blockchain? If not, doesn't sound like it. Here is one way to think of this. Any EU citizen has a "right to be forgotten". If there is nothing in your records to identify that person, the you don't need to provide that ability.

ebcode 9y ago
OK, but what the parent is suggesting is that someone might store someone's personally identifiable information on "the blockchain", thus making the entire bitcoin network in violation of GDPR. It's a fairly on-point criticism, IMO.
- chii 9y ago
  it's not Bitcoin network that's in violation, but the company that owns the transaction in which the data is in. let's say I'm a shop and i allow btc payments, but I include the customers info in the transaction or something to such an effect. then I'm in violation, and must pay a fine (since I can never delete that info). The network has nothing to do with this, and nobody else on the network is party to the violation.
  - emilfihlman 9y ago
    So just paying a fine is enough to make the issue go away and the users privacy is bought out legally? Now we have a way to estimate the cost and we can just put that on top of the cost of using the service. Boom, privacy bought. You don't realise how absurd GDPR is?
piffey 9y ago
There are already people using blockchain for proof of identity, proof of ownership, etc.
woolvalley 9y ago
You can insert random text into bitcoin, which can include private info: https://www.reddit.com/r/btc/comments/49pp3n/eli5_how_to_embed_text_into_a_bitcoin_transaction/ https://www.reddit.com/r/btc/comments/49pp3n/eli5_how_to_emb... There are also blockchain style social networks such as steem that create things that are like reddit: https://steem.io https://steem.io / https://steemit.com https://steemit.com . Again, freeform public text blobs that can have private info. If you create any censorship resistant publishing software, lets say to report on human rights violations in some sort of dictatorship, you also create something that can be used to violate the GDPR.
grier 9y ago
The requirements that GDPR imposes on development and data handling are much more broad than the right to be forgotten. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Data_Protection_Regulation#Right_to_erasure https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Data_Protection_Regula...
shkkmo 9y ago
Isn't a public key a potentially identifiable piece of info that becomes personal information if anyone (like an exchange) stores it in conjunction with other personal information? I don't see how it is any different than an IP address.

ebcode 9y ago

You've raised a really good point with this. Honestly, the whole "right to be forgotten" thing is utter BS. Might as well call it "the memory hole act". Or better yet, "the right to silence the opposition".

avar 9y ago

The GDPR gives you this out for that[1]: "the personal data are no longer necessary in relation to the purposes for which they were collected or otherwise processed" The data you submitted to a blockchain database is inherently needed forever for it to function, so I think there's zero chance that this will be interpreted as to make Blockchains illegal. What might happen is that this in combination with the "Conditions for consent"[1] will force people who ship blockchain software to have prominent warnings saying that you're about to ship data that'll be public forever. 1. https://gdpr-info.eu/art-17-gdpr/ https://gdpr-info.eu/art-17-gdpr/ 2. https://gdpr-info.eu/art-7-gdpr/ https://gdpr-info.eu/art-7-gdpr/