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Hey zulrah, we are working on GDPR and plan to have the service available in the EU as soon as possible. Hope to have you back on Instapaper when we become avai

Hey zulrah, we are working on GDPR and plan to have the service available in the EU as soon as possible. Hope to have you back on Instapaper when we become available in the EU again. Really sorry for the inconvenience.

TillE 8y ago
Isn't that exactly what you said a couple months ago? At this point it's pretty concerning that you still have nothing to say publicly except "we're working on it", no detail, no schedule, no nothing.
- kevingadd 8y ago
  Well, considering there are apparently only two people working on Instapaper, it's not hard to come up with reasons why it might take more than two months or why they might not be conducting a detailed PR campaign about it
  - corobo 8y ago
    Short of selling everyone's reading habits to the lowest bidder.. what on earth needs changing? Edit: To clarify I'm not saying they do that, I just can't see what part of GDPR they're having trouble with
    - oh_sigh 8y ago
      Perhaps that's because you are not a part of the corporation. Why would you expect to have insight into their operations?
      - corobo 8y ago
        I don’t expect that, I’m wondering out loud in the hopes someone may be able to shine a light on something I’ve not considered From my point of view they store a list of URLs and provide a way to nicely view the content of those URLs. What in that could be causing 2 months of downtime to fix?
  - hk__2 8y ago
    Well, considering that GDPR has been voted two years ago and is based on 20-years-old EU privacy laws, even if it took 6 months or 2 years it still wouldn’t be a valid excuse. Also, giving a bit of detail or a minimal schedule is easier than a PR campaign. It’s called transparency, and it works even if you’re alone on a project.
    - briandear 8y ago
      Except "20-years-old EU privacy laws" didn't risk 4% of global revenue. It also didn't risk activist lawsuits. https://www.theverge.com/2018/5/25/17393766/facebook-google-gdpr-lawsuit-max-schrems-europe https://www.theverge.com/2018/5/25/17393766/facebook-google-... Funny thing how DailyMotion isn't getting sued, but YouTube's parent company is.
      - icebraining 8y ago
        There's nothing funny; nobody uses or cares about DailyMotion. Also, nobody got sued, ignorant reporters notwithstanding. Schrems only filed complaints with the regulators.
      - hk__2 8y ago
        > Except "20-years-old EU privacy laws" didn't risk 4% of global revenue. It also didn't risk activist lawsuits. That’s the point. When there’s no risk, nobody cares about their users’ privacy. That’s not an excuse for shutting down now that it’s legally risky to disrespect your users.
- Kiro 8y ago
  And you have no understanding to the current situation? You know, the very reason this thread is here to begin with.
coldtea 8y ago
I don't think you can piss on customers for 2 months and then drop a "sorry for the inconvenience". And for no good reason. Just assume the improbable cost of some litigation as a company, like tens of thousands of others (including much bigger and much smaller than yours) did, put up a message to European customers and have them click and proceed as usual to the service. Or, you know, use the headstart of more than a year before the law was put into practice to get the service in order...
- bartread 8y ago
  I'm not sure why the above is getting downvoted. Sure, it's a bit salty, but if I were paying for instapaper (which I realise is cheap as chips, but the principle still stands) I don't think I'd be very impressed with being locked out for two months. Genuine question: as an EU citizen, without the use of a VPN or proxy is it still possible to at least log on to the service to cancel your account?
  - s17n 8y ago
    I never understand why people assume that services that charge money will be more responsive to users' concerns than free services. You are worth the revenue that you generate, whether that money comes from you paying or indirect means like advertising doesn't matter to the company at all.
  - hermitdev 8y ago
    Not an EU citizen, but I'd think it'd be pretty shady if they cut you off and didn't automatically suspend any subscription charges until they can properly serve you again.
    - tedmiston 8y ago
      > and didn't automatically suspend any subscription charges Instapaper is not a subscription-based service. The product is completely free on all platforms today. I think the app was a one-time purchase at launch but it has been free for many years. All of the Premium features were also made free when Premium was discontinued in 2016 shortly after the Pinterest acquisition.
tobylane 8y ago
When did you start on the GDPR-related work?
jonathankoren 8y ago
To be honest, nothing about GDPR compliance was a surprise. The law was passed in 2016. That's plenty of time get your house in order, and yet here you are over a month past due, with an oops, sorry. What gives?

TillE 8y ago

Isn't that exactly what you said a couple months ago? At this point it's pretty concerning that you still have nothing to say publicly except "we're working on it", no detail, no schedule, no nothing.

kevingadd 8y ago
Well, considering there are apparently only two people working on Instapaper, it's not hard to come up with reasons why it might take more than two months or why they might not be conducting a detailed PR campaign about it
- corobo 8y ago
  Short of selling everyone's reading habits to the lowest bidder.. what on earth needs changing? Edit: To clarify I'm not saying they do that, I just can't see what part of GDPR they're having trouble with
  - oh_sigh 8y ago
    Perhaps that's because you are not a part of the corporation. Why would you expect to have insight into their operations?
    - corobo 8y ago
      I don’t expect that, I’m wondering out loud in the hopes someone may be able to shine a light on something I’ve not considered From my point of view they store a list of URLs and provide a way to nicely view the content of those URLs. What in that could be causing 2 months of downtime to fix?
- hk__2 8y ago
  Well, considering that GDPR has been voted two years ago and is based on 20-years-old EU privacy laws, even if it took 6 months or 2 years it still wouldn’t be a valid excuse. Also, giving a bit of detail or a minimal schedule is easier than a PR campaign. It’s called transparency, and it works even if you’re alone on a project.
  - briandear 8y ago
    Except "20-years-old EU privacy laws" didn't risk 4% of global revenue. It also didn't risk activist lawsuits. https://www.theverge.com/2018/5/25/17393766/facebook-google-gdpr-lawsuit-max-schrems-europe https://www.theverge.com/2018/5/25/17393766/facebook-google-... Funny thing how DailyMotion isn't getting sued, but YouTube's parent company is.
    - icebraining 8y ago
      There's nothing funny; nobody uses or cares about DailyMotion. Also, nobody got sued, ignorant reporters notwithstanding. Schrems only filed complaints with the regulators.
    - hk__2 8y ago
      > Except "20-years-old EU privacy laws" didn't risk 4% of global revenue. It also didn't risk activist lawsuits. That’s the point. When there’s no risk, nobody cares about their users’ privacy. That’s not an excuse for shutting down now that it’s legally risky to disrespect your users.
Kiro 8y ago
And you have no understanding to the current situation? You know, the very reason this thread is here to begin with.

coldtea 8y ago

I don't think you can piss on customers for 2 months and then drop a "sorry for the inconvenience". And for no good reason. Just assume the improbable cost of some litigation as a company, like tens of thousands of others (including much bigger and much smaller than yours) did, put up a message to European customers and have them click and proceed as usual to the service. Or, you know, use the headstart of more than a year before the law was put into practice to get the service in order...

bartread 8y ago
I'm not sure why the above is getting downvoted. Sure, it's a bit salty, but if I were paying for instapaper (which I realise is cheap as chips, but the principle still stands) I don't think I'd be very impressed with being locked out for two months. Genuine question: as an EU citizen, without the use of a VPN or proxy is it still possible to at least log on to the service to cancel your account?
- s17n 8y ago
  I never understand why people assume that services that charge money will be more responsive to users' concerns than free services. You are worth the revenue that you generate, whether that money comes from you paying or indirect means like advertising doesn't matter to the company at all.
- hermitdev 8y ago
  Not an EU citizen, but I'd think it'd be pretty shady if they cut you off and didn't automatically suspend any subscription charges until they can properly serve you again.
  - tedmiston 8y ago
    > and didn't automatically suspend any subscription charges Instapaper is not a subscription-based service. The product is completely free on all platforms today. I think the app was a one-time purchase at launch but it has been free for many years. All of the Premium features were also made free when Premium was discontinued in 2016 shortly after the Pinterest acquisition.

tobylane 8y ago

When did you start on the GDPR-related work?

jonathankoren 8y ago

To be honest, nothing about GDPR compliance was a surprise. The law was passed in 2016. That's plenty of time get your house in order, and yet here you are over a month past due, with an oops, sorry. What gives?