4 ms·

>If some guy has to effectively stop hosting a forum because of GDPR GDPR does not prevent people from hosting forums

by tpxl 8y ago

VBprogrammer 8y ago
The new Copyright Directive may have that effect though.
- tomcooks 8y ago
  ? How would that have that effect?
  - yurishimo 8y ago
    I'm no expert, but from what I've heard, site owners can be held liable for hosting copyrighted material now. If you're running a site with lots of user generated content, it could be difficult to distinguish what is 100% user made vs copied from somewhere else. Someone correct me if I'm wrong.
    - sjapkee 8y ago
      It's time to start copyright check startup.
    - r3bl 8y ago
      You are absolutely correct. This law could have such effect. More realistically, this is a problem that has no easy technical solution that originates from a law that still isn't adopted. If I were an owner of such platform, I wouldn't worry too much about it now. In a year... maybe.
      - MaxBarraclough 8y ago
        Even more realistically: is there any reason to assume any of this stuff will ever be enforced, let alone enforced against obscure forums? Here in the UK, these sorts of laws have had, as far as I know, zero enforcement. http://nocookielaw.com/ http://nocookielaw.com/ https://silktide.com/the-stupid-cookie-law-is-dead-at-last/ https://silktide.com/the-stupid-cookie-law-is-dead-at-last/ https://silktide.com/dear-ico-this-is-why-web-developers-hate-you/ https://silktide.com/dear-ico-this-is-why-web-developers-hat...
- s17n 8y ago
  GDPR is worse, actually. Both laws are making site owners liable for hosting certain types of content (personal information and copyrighted materials, respectively). However automatically detecting copyrighted materials is relatively straightforward compared but automatically detecting personal information is probably impossible.
  - nybble41 8y ago
    > However automatically detecting copyrighted materials is relatively straightforward Sure, that's easy: everything is copyrighted. The difficult part is determining whether the uploader can legally share the copyrighted material, which is just as likely to prove impossible to automate with accuracy and precision as the detection of personal information.
arcbyte 8y ago
Explicitly no. Though practically that seems to be the effect.
- tpxl 8y ago
  How so? All you have to do is not collect personal data, which is easy.
  - rikkus 8y ago
    I don’t run any forums at the moment, but when I did, the software I used gave users massive opportunity to provide information about themselves. Some users loved this and filled in every field, perhaps because they enjoyed that it made socialising easier. The problem for anyone wanting to host a forum is that using off-the-shelf software is a sensible route, but the available software might still be leaning towards offering to collect data like this, might not yet have support for GDPR disclaimers, checkboxes, etc. What I’m saying is let’s assume neither malice nor incompetence and instead that those wishing to host forums may be hamstrung by the available software.

>If some guy has to effectively stop hosting a forum because of GDPR GDPR does not prevent people from hosting forums

by tpxl 8y ago

>If some guy has to effectively stop hosting a forum because of GDPR GDPR does not prevent people from hosting forums

VBprogrammer 8y ago

The new Copyright Directive may have that effect though.

tomcooks 8y ago
? How would that have that effect?
- yurishimo 8y ago
  I'm no expert, but from what I've heard, site owners can be held liable for hosting copyrighted material now. If you're running a site with lots of user generated content, it could be difficult to distinguish what is 100% user made vs copied from somewhere else. Someone correct me if I'm wrong.
  - sjapkee 8y ago
    It's time to start copyright check startup.
  - r3bl 8y ago
    You are absolutely correct. This law could have such effect. More realistically, this is a problem that has no easy technical solution that originates from a law that still isn't adopted. If I were an owner of such platform, I wouldn't worry too much about it now. In a year... maybe.
    - MaxBarraclough 8y ago
      Even more realistically: is there any reason to assume any of this stuff will ever be enforced, let alone enforced against obscure forums? Here in the UK, these sorts of laws have had, as far as I know, zero enforcement. http://nocookielaw.com/ http://nocookielaw.com/ https://silktide.com/the-stupid-cookie-law-is-dead-at-last/ https://silktide.com/the-stupid-cookie-law-is-dead-at-last/ https://silktide.com/dear-ico-this-is-why-web-developers-hate-you/ https://silktide.com/dear-ico-this-is-why-web-developers-hat...
s17n 8y ago
GDPR is worse, actually. Both laws are making site owners liable for hosting certain types of content (personal information and copyrighted materials, respectively). However automatically detecting copyrighted materials is relatively straightforward compared but automatically detecting personal information is probably impossible.
- nybble41 8y ago
  > However automatically detecting copyrighted materials is relatively straightforward Sure, that's easy: everything is copyrighted. The difficult part is determining whether the uploader can legally share the copyrighted material, which is just as likely to prove impossible to automate with accuracy and precision as the detection of personal information.

arcbyte 8y ago

Explicitly no. Though practically that seems to be the effect.

tpxl 8y ago
How so? All you have to do is not collect personal data, which is easy.
- rikkus 8y ago
  I don’t run any forums at the moment, but when I did, the software I used gave users massive opportunity to provide information about themselves. Some users loved this and filled in every field, perhaps because they enjoyed that it made socialising easier. The problem for anyone wanting to host a forum is that using off-the-shelf software is a sensible route, but the available software might still be leaning towards offering to collect data like this, might not yet have support for GDPR disclaimers, checkboxes, etc. What I’m saying is let’s assume neither malice nor incompetence and instead that those wishing to host forums may be hamstrung by the available software.