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If anyone could provide a summary, seems GDPR has really made it hard for some outlets to render text (editors note: this was meant as a light-hearted joke, not

If anyone could provide a summary, seems GDPR has really made it hard for some outlets to render text (editors note: this was meant as a light-hearted joke, not ignorance) Unfortunately, our website is currently unavailable in most European countries. We are engaged on the issue and committed to looking at options that support our full range of digital offerings to the EU market. We continue to identify technical compliance solutions that will provide all readers with our award-winning journalism.

oh_sigh 8y ago
Or they didn't think it worth it to rewrite their app to selectively allow enabling or disabling of features based on geographic region
- eerikkivistik 8y ago
  Yeah, I said it in jest, have rewritten software myself for the same reason, it is an undertaking.
- briandear 8y ago
  Are people in those other regions providing revenue? If not, then why should they make their content available in those places?
  - genericid 8y ago
    So their content is available in those places.
gk1 8y ago
GDPR;DR - The Baltimore Police Department has been using Lotus Notes for internal communication and data storage since 1996. It's also been contracting the same IT consulting company since 1996. Some say the system is obsolete and question the decision to renew the support contract, but the IT consultant insists it's working beautifully. The BPD says they will move to a new system, and will roll out a plan in December, but in the meantime they have to maintain what's in place.
- eerikkivistik 8y ago
  Thank you. This was all I was looking for.
briandear 8y ago
That’s not it. GDPR has made it hard for some outlets to make money in order to pay for the content you wish to read. However, admittedly I run a variety of ad-blockers because newspapers have long abused my bandwidth with grossly inefficient advertising. But the penalties for violating GDPR are so great that it isn’t worth the risk (even if you are doing everything correctly, you still have potential international litigation expenses just to defend.) Just curious, who should pay for the stories you read on newspaper websites?
- eerikkivistik 8y ago
  Answered another comment with the same, but just in case: I didn't make it clear enough I was poorly executing a joke.
- Ninn 8y ago
  GDPR doesn't mean that you cannot show advertisement. Just means you have to actually be responsible and not abusive as many content providers with ads are.
  - yspeak 8y ago
    Whatever. You obviously have never read a regulation and tried to comply without a team of lawyers. Or never run a small business. Or have a team of lawyers (which the nyt does but still can't get it right). Or are in violation and don't know it. Way to kill the internet. Thank you EU.
    - sctb 8y ago
      Please start posting civilly and substantively. We ban accounts that don't. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
kodablah 8y ago
> If anyone could provide a summary, seems GDPR has really made it hard for some outlets to render text. If you put it that way and see it that way, it will be impossible for you to understand what businesses like these do beyond just text rendering.
bunderbunder 8y ago
Baltimore Police use a case management system based on Lotus Notes, which isn't particularly well-supported or maintained anymore. They just agreed to a 2-year, $176,800 deal to get support from a consulting firm. This is a price that we are being asked to be upset about. No, don't take the time to estimate what it would ultimately cost to replace it. Just see $LARGE_NUMBER and be upset.
- rhizome 8y ago
  which isn't particularly well-supported or maintained anymore What does this mean? Notes appears to have fairly regular updates every 3-6 months.
  - vajrabum 8y ago
    I think reading between the lines of the article that they aren't paying IBM for software support.
    - rhizome 8y ago
      They don't need to, they're paying a third-party for support. I wouldn't be surprised if the contractor has an IBM support account.
      - megaman22 8y ago
        IBM really, really does not want anything to do with further developing or supporting Lotus software products. I believe that they gave that whole business over to HCL not long ago.
        bunderbunder 8y ago
        Rumor has it they've largely stopped using it internally, too.
        rhizome 8y ago
        OK, HCL, but by that token Thinkpads and Deskstars are still being made.
yspeak 8y ago
How ironic for nyt for blocking eu. Maybe eu should get real about onerous and unrealistic regs and stop trying to regulate the world. got to love the dumb cookie notice reg let's go back to using static html and no user interaction
- acdha 8y ago
  https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html, especially the “Eschew flamebait. Don't introduce flamewar topics unless you have something genuinely new to say. Avoid unrelated controversies and generic tangents. ” part. If you want to be corrected about what the GDPR does you could find a thread on that topic.
genericid 8y ago
Of course. It's called the Great Despicable Prohibition of Rendering for a reason. It also applies to absolutely everyone, especially local Baltimore newspapers. The EU cares about local newspapers of foreign cities. It hates them. If you don't obey, the penalties start at 20 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 €, 400% of your income and your firstborn. They will be evil, disproportionate and diabolical. The supervisory authority will not take into account silly things like "the nature, gravity and duration of the infringement" or "the intentional or negligent character of the infringement". That wouldn't be fun. In particular, there is no chance that you will be issued a reprimand instead of a fine. The authority would do that if its mission were to protect citizens' privacy instead of destroying your business and helping big friendly companies like Facebook and Google, which the EU is well-known to love. Do not leave your house before you have read every single EU law. If you don't the EU will find a reason to destroy your life. Especially if you live in a weak and unimportant country that is easy to bully around like the United States of America.
paulie_a 8y ago
It's odd the Baltimore sun even bothers paying attention to GDPR.
- strictnein 8y ago
  Yeah. Are they owned by some company with European operations? If not, they've gotten some really bad advice.

oh_sigh 8y ago

Or they didn't think it worth it to rewrite their app to selectively allow enabling or disabling of features based on geographic region

eerikkivistik 8y ago
Yeah, I said it in jest, have rewritten software myself for the same reason, it is an undertaking.
briandear 8y ago
Are people in those other regions providing revenue? If not, then why should they make their content available in those places?
- genericid 8y ago
  So their content is available in those places.

gk1 8y ago

GDPR;DR - The Baltimore Police Department has been using Lotus Notes for internal communication and data storage since 1996. It's also been contracting the same IT consulting company since 1996. Some say the system is obsolete and question the decision to renew the support contract, but the IT consultant insists it's working beautifully. The BPD says they will move to a new system, and will roll out a plan in December, but in the meantime they have to maintain what's in place.

eerikkivistik 8y ago
Thank you. This was all I was looking for.

briandear 8y ago

That’s not it. GDPR has made it hard for some outlets to make money in order to pay for the content you wish to read. However, admittedly I run a variety of ad-blockers because newspapers have long abused my bandwidth with grossly inefficient advertising. But the penalties for violating GDPR are so great that it isn’t worth the risk (even if you are doing everything correctly, you still have potential international litigation expenses just to defend.) Just curious, who should pay for the stories you read on newspaper websites?

eerikkivistik 8y ago
Answered another comment with the same, but just in case: I didn't make it clear enough I was poorly executing a joke.
Ninn 8y ago
GDPR doesn't mean that you cannot show advertisement. Just means you have to actually be responsible and not abusive as many content providers with ads are.
- yspeak 8y ago
  Whatever. You obviously have never read a regulation and tried to comply without a team of lawyers. Or never run a small business. Or have a team of lawyers (which the nyt does but still can't get it right). Or are in violation and don't know it. Way to kill the internet. Thank you EU.
  - sctb 8y ago
    Please start posting civilly and substantively. We ban accounts that don't. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

kodablah 8y ago

> If anyone could provide a summary, seems GDPR has really made it hard for some outlets to render text. If you put it that way and see it that way, it will be impossible for you to understand what businesses like these do beyond just text rendering.

bunderbunder 8y ago

Baltimore Police use a case management system based on Lotus Notes, which isn't particularly well-supported or maintained anymore. They just agreed to a 2-year, $176,800 deal to get support from a consulting firm. This is a price that we are being asked to be upset about. No, don't take the time to estimate what it would ultimately cost to replace it. Just see $LARGE_NUMBER and be upset.

rhizome 8y ago
which isn't particularly well-supported or maintained anymore What does this mean? Notes appears to have fairly regular updates every 3-6 months.
- vajrabum 8y ago
  I think reading between the lines of the article that they aren't paying IBM for software support.
  - rhizome 8y ago
    They don't need to, they're paying a third-party for support. I wouldn't be surprised if the contractor has an IBM support account.
    - megaman22 8y ago
      IBM really, really does not want anything to do with further developing or supporting Lotus software products. I believe that they gave that whole business over to HCL not long ago.
      - bunderbunder 8y ago
        Rumor has it they've largely stopped using it internally, too.
      - rhizome 8y ago
        OK, HCL, but by that token Thinkpads and Deskstars are still being made.

yspeak 8y ago

How ironic for nyt for blocking eu. Maybe eu should get real about onerous and unrealistic regs and stop trying to regulate the world. got to love the dumb cookie notice reg let's go back to using static html and no user interaction

acdha 8y ago
https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html, especially the “Eschew flamebait. Don't introduce flamewar topics unless you have something genuinely new to say. Avoid unrelated controversies and generic tangents. ” part. If you want to be corrected about what the GDPR does you could find a thread on that topic.

genericid 8y ago

Of course. It's called the Great Despicable Prohibition of Rendering for a reason. It also applies to absolutely everyone, especially local Baltimore newspapers. The EU cares about local newspapers of foreign cities. It hates them. If you don't obey, the penalties start at 20 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 €, 400% of your income and your firstborn. They will be evil, disproportionate and diabolical. The supervisory authority will not take into account silly things like "the nature, gravity and duration of the infringement" or "the intentional or negligent character of the infringement". That wouldn't be fun. In particular, there is no chance that you will be issued a reprimand instead of a fine. The authority would do that if its mission were to protect citizens' privacy instead of destroying your business and helping big friendly companies like Facebook and Google, which the EU is well-known to love. Do not leave your house before you have read every single EU law. If you don't the EU will find a reason to destroy your life. Especially if you live in a weak and unimportant country that is easy to bully around like the United States of America.

paulie_a 8y ago

It's odd the Baltimore sun even bothers paying attention to GDPR.

strictnein 8y ago
Yeah. Are they owned by some company with European operations? If not, they've gotten some really bad advice.