5 ms·

I don't know why all these websites are shutting down due to GDPR when all you have to do is hire a competent law firm with GDPR compliance expertise to review

by drcode 8y ago

I don't know why all these websites are shutting down due to GDPR when all you have to do is hire a competent law firm with GDPR compliance expertise to review your software and help you determine if any parts need to change to become compliant and also help you address any GDPR requests. </sarcasm>

hartator 8y ago
True. You can also just make a budget for the fines, block days per month for compliance, and remove all contents that displease EU residents. Easy. /s
infinitismal8 8y ago
Everyone was saying that you don't need to worry about GDPR unless you are a scumbag that is selling user information. This open source project owner must have been doing something unethical if they are shutting down their forum due to GDPR. </s>
- Ygg2 8y ago
  Well, he is most likely a dirty hippie communist. Unlike true champions of privacy - Facebook, Google, NSA and Mossad.
  - lajhsdfkl 8y ago
    Good try buddy
DoreenMichele 8y ago
In its majestic equality, the law forbids rich and poor alike to sleep under bridges, beg in the streets and steal loaves of bread or violate the GDPR. -- Anatole France (I might have edited that quote slightly)
- etatoby 8y ago
  OMG this is perfect! I'm so stealing this quote. It applies to so much it's scary.
  - lovemenot 8y ago
    But in this context it really doesn't work well as an analogy. Few rich people have any inclination to sleep rough, whereas many wealthy tech companies have been happily selling their users' data as the law allowed it.
    - deleted 8y ago
      [deleted]
    - drcode 8y ago
      The idea is large companies can afford the compliance costs.
      - DoreenMichele 8y ago
        The idea is large companies can steal many loaves of bread and get away with it on a technicality because they have the resources to comply with the letter of the law while pissing on its spirit. Only little people would steal a crust of bread for their supper. The rich generally commit bigger crimes.
  - DoreenMichele 8y ago
    You could change "I might have edited this quote slightly" to "DoreenMichele might have edited this quote slightly." Then it is totally not stealing because it cites your source. Bonus: When people get too up in arms, you have someone else to blame. ;)
- glogla 8y ago
  I have seen many people complain about how it is unfair that small companies also have to do due diligence with people's data, not just he big ones. It seems really mind-boggling to me. Is it also unfair that both small and large companies aren't allowed to pour acid into rivers? Should they get an exception? Should only large restaurants be forbidden from serving rotten food? Should small car makers have exceptions to car safety and emission standards?
blub 8y ago
They're shutting down because they're privacy-ignorant and that doesn't fly in the EU any more. People apparently have a hard enough time understanding invisible things such as privacy, but this goes double for those whose income depends on violating the privacy of everyone.
- bigbugbag 8y ago
  Can you provide examples of websites shutting down due to GDPR ?
  - blub 8y ago
    I only know about some US newspaper closing EU access and this guy's forum. I'm sure we'll get a separate thread for each site that's closing, to emphasize how the (advertising) world is ending, one just needs to wait.
    - jtbayly 8y ago
      There's no advertising on the forum under discussion.
  - blackbrokkoli 8y ago
    Well, drone.io?
    - icebraining 8y ago
      I think it's just discourse.drone.io, the rest of the site will stay.
  - lajhsdfkl 8y ago
    This is at least the 5th instance I've seen of a website announcing their closure due to GDPR on Hacker News. Most websites probably wouldn't announce it and given that a post about simply blocking all EU users got upvoted to the front page less than a week ago I doubt the idea of blocking all EU users isn't more prevalent. https://www.polygon.com/2018/4/28/17295498/super-monday-night-combat-shutting-down-gdpr https://www.polygon.com/2018/4/28/17295498/super-monday-nigh... https://digiday.com/media/gdpr-mayhem-programmatic-ad-buying-plummets-europe/ https://digiday.com/media/gdpr-mayhem-programmatic-ad-buying... http://money.cnn.com/2018/05/25/media/gdpr-news-websites-la-times-tronc/index.html http://money.cnn.com/2018/05/25/media/gdpr-news-websites-la-... https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2018/may/24/sites-block-eu-users-before-gdpr-takes-effect https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2018/may/24/sites-blo... Try doing some basic research before asking leading questions that you don't expect responses to.
bigbugbag 8y ago
What websites are shutting down ? I have not heard of anything like this yet.
- greenleafjacob 8y ago
  http://gdprcasualties.com http://gdprcasualties.com
codedokode 8y ago
Even before GDPR, one could receive a DMCA request, an US court order, a letter from FBI, a letter from NSA. It didn't prevent people from creating websites though. GDPR requests are definitely less scary than a letter from NSA or an US court order: nobody will put you into jail for non-compliance, kidnap you or send a drone to you.
- lucb1e 8y ago
  > Even before GDPR, one could receive a DMCA request, an US court order, a letter from FBI, a letter from NSA. And a data access request. This has always existed, but it was a directive which was implemented in each local law, and local legislators could give (more mild) fines but almost never did. GDPR is not new. And I'm not talking about 2016, I'm talking about the previous law from 1995 which is 95% the same for 99% of the companies.
  - closeparen 8y ago
    None of those laws were extraterritorial.
    - lucb1e 8y ago
      Again, nothing changed on that front. There are two answers to your comment: - Yes they were. If you violated the law, even if your servers are outside, the country would claim the violation happened in their territory because the subject was in their country so the law was violated there, and they can sue you. - Neither is GDPR. If you are outside the EU, they can't force you to pay a fine like your own government can. Without enforcement, the law doesn't really apply. (See GDPR from 2016 until now.) Which one applies depends on a bunch of things, such as whether there's an extradition treaty and whether you have offices in the EU, etc. I've never gotten a straight answer on which law rules in such cases, but that's probably because there is no single ruling case. Both are sovereign states, who supercedes is not codified in any law because there is no higher instance to appeal to. I mean, if a small island state makes a law that if one of their citizens visits another country, that country should pay tribute for the honor of being visited by one of theirs, how in the world is that going to be enforced? Same with GDPR: the EU claims it applies worldwide, but the only reason that holds any truth is because you probably want to do business with EU citizens. Banning your company is the only thing they can truly do to you, and that has always been the case.

by drcode 8y ago

hartator 8y ago

True. You can also just make a budget for the fines, block days per month for compliance, and remove all contents that displease EU residents. Easy. /s

infinitismal8 8y ago

Everyone was saying that you don't need to worry about GDPR unless you are a scumbag that is selling user information. This open source project owner must have been doing something unethical if they are shutting down their forum due to GDPR. </s>

Ygg2 8y ago
Well, he is most likely a dirty hippie communist. Unlike true champions of privacy - Facebook, Google, NSA and Mossad.
- lajhsdfkl 8y ago
  Good try buddy

DoreenMichele 8y ago

In its majestic equality, the law forbids rich and poor alike to sleep under bridges, beg in the streets and steal loaves of bread or violate the GDPR. -- Anatole France (I might have edited that quote slightly)

etatoby 8y ago
OMG this is perfect! I'm so stealing this quote. It applies to so much it's scary.
- lovemenot 8y ago
  But in this context it really doesn't work well as an analogy. Few rich people have any inclination to sleep rough, whereas many wealthy tech companies have been happily selling their users' data as the law allowed it.
  - deleted 8y ago
    [deleted]
  - drcode 8y ago
    The idea is large companies can afford the compliance costs.
    - DoreenMichele 8y ago
      The idea is large companies can steal many loaves of bread and get away with it on a technicality because they have the resources to comply with the letter of the law while pissing on its spirit. Only little people would steal a crust of bread for their supper. The rich generally commit bigger crimes.
- DoreenMichele 8y ago
  You could change "I might have edited this quote slightly" to "DoreenMichele might have edited this quote slightly." Then it is totally not stealing because it cites your source. Bonus: When people get too up in arms, you have someone else to blame. ;)
glogla 8y ago
I have seen many people complain about how it is unfair that small companies also have to do due diligence with people's data, not just he big ones. It seems really mind-boggling to me. Is it also unfair that both small and large companies aren't allowed to pour acid into rivers? Should they get an exception? Should only large restaurants be forbidden from serving rotten food? Should small car makers have exceptions to car safety and emission standards?

blub 8y ago

They're shutting down because they're privacy-ignorant and that doesn't fly in the EU any more. People apparently have a hard enough time understanding invisible things such as privacy, but this goes double for those whose income depends on violating the privacy of everyone.

bigbugbag 8y ago
Can you provide examples of websites shutting down due to GDPR ?
- blub 8y ago
  I only know about some US newspaper closing EU access and this guy's forum. I'm sure we'll get a separate thread for each site that's closing, to emphasize how the (advertising) world is ending, one just needs to wait.
  - jtbayly 8y ago
    There's no advertising on the forum under discussion.
- blackbrokkoli 8y ago
  Well, drone.io?
  - icebraining 8y ago
    I think it's just discourse.drone.io, the rest of the site will stay.
- lajhsdfkl 8y ago
  This is at least the 5th instance I've seen of a website announcing their closure due to GDPR on Hacker News. Most websites probably wouldn't announce it and given that a post about simply blocking all EU users got upvoted to the front page less than a week ago I doubt the idea of blocking all EU users isn't more prevalent. https://www.polygon.com/2018/4/28/17295498/super-monday-night-combat-shutting-down-gdpr https://www.polygon.com/2018/4/28/17295498/super-monday-nigh... https://digiday.com/media/gdpr-mayhem-programmatic-ad-buying-plummets-europe/ https://digiday.com/media/gdpr-mayhem-programmatic-ad-buying... http://money.cnn.com/2018/05/25/media/gdpr-news-websites-la-times-tronc/index.html http://money.cnn.com/2018/05/25/media/gdpr-news-websites-la-... https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2018/may/24/sites-block-eu-users-before-gdpr-takes-effect https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2018/may/24/sites-blo... Try doing some basic research before asking leading questions that you don't expect responses to.

bigbugbag 8y ago

What websites are shutting down ? I have not heard of anything like this yet.

greenleafjacob 8y ago
http://gdprcasualties.com http://gdprcasualties.com

codedokode 8y ago

Even before GDPR, one could receive a DMCA request, an US court order, a letter from FBI, a letter from NSA. It didn't prevent people from creating websites though. GDPR requests are definitely less scary than a letter from NSA or an US court order: nobody will put you into jail for non-compliance, kidnap you or send a drone to you.

lucb1e 8y ago
> Even before GDPR, one could receive a DMCA request, an US court order, a letter from FBI, a letter from NSA. And a data access request. This has always existed, but it was a directive which was implemented in each local law, and local legislators could give (more mild) fines but almost never did. GDPR is not new. And I'm not talking about 2016, I'm talking about the previous law from 1995 which is 95% the same for 99% of the companies.
- closeparen 8y ago
  None of those laws were extraterritorial.
  - lucb1e 8y ago
    Again, nothing changed on that front. There are two answers to your comment: - Yes they were. If you violated the law, even if your servers are outside, the country would claim the violation happened in their territory because the subject was in their country so the law was violated there, and they can sue you. - Neither is GDPR. If you are outside the EU, they can't force you to pay a fine like your own government can. Without enforcement, the law doesn't really apply. (See GDPR from 2016 until now.) Which one applies depends on a bunch of things, such as whether there's an extradition treaty and whether you have offices in the EU, etc. I've never gotten a straight answer on which law rules in such cases, but that's probably because there is no single ruling case. Both are sovereign states, who supercedes is not codified in any law because there is no higher instance to appeal to. I mean, if a small island state makes a law that if one of their citizens visits another country, that country should pay tribute for the honor of being visited by one of theirs, how in the world is that going to be enforced? Same with GDPR: the EU claims it applies worldwide, but the only reason that holds any truth is because you probably want to do business with EU citizens. Banning your company is the only thing they can truly do to you, and that has always been the case.