5 ms·

It's a tad more complex now for sure: https://www.ycombinator.com/legal/#tou https://www.ycombinator.com/legal/#tou

dt3ft 6y ago
Good old times, eh?
hnick 6y ago
> violate any applicable local, state, national or international law, or any regulations having the force of law; Does this mean the national laws of every country on earth? That's a long list! I'll be sure to only post nice things about the King of Thailand ;)
- Cthulhu_ 6y ago
  It's a cover-your-ass statement; HN and the people running it CAN be held accountable if it's available in Thailand and content that isn't acceptable over there is posted. Although in practice I think countries will opt to block the whole site instead. Anyway, I do think foreign justice departments can in theory subpoena HN for data if their laws have been violated.
  - hnick 6y ago
    I was being cheeky, however, since it's in the ToU then potentially we can and should be censured for such things on this site. Thailand believes such laws are applicable to everyone around the world so my place of residence doesn't really seem to matter regarding "applicable". Just another way that the internet and reality don't get along I suppose.
bosswipe 6y ago
What?! By using this site I've agreed to be bound by an arbitration agreement, is that right? There's no way that should hold up legally. Clicking around the web shouldn't be equivalent to signing a bunch of legal contracts.
- Semaphor 6y ago
  > There's no way that should hold up legally. I guess it depends on your jurisdiction? It’s (actually that whole document) meaningless in the EU. Disclaimer: IANAL and that’s just my layperson’s understanding of the law regulating contracts here.
- codesections 6y ago
  > By using the site I've agreed to be bound by arbitration agreement, is that right? There's no way that should hold up legally. You're right, it wouldn't. (In general, under US law. I am a lawyer but this post isn't legal advice). The term for that sort contract is "browsewrap" and US courts have consistently declined to enforce them.
  - rbecker 6y ago
    Lawyers that knowingly write such unenforceable legal intimidation should face some consequences.
bnmertens 6y ago
Wow, if things are that formal now, perhaps European users should send GDPR requests. How about full-screen cookie acceptance prompts?
- ffpip 6y ago
  I don't think there is any third party tracking on HN
- m11a 6y ago
  The cookie accept prompts are a misunderstanding of EU law anyway. Supervisory authorities vary in their interpretation, and some take a relaxed view towards it and see the issues in that crap from a UX perspective (they say so on their sites). I've no idea why sites choose to add them in anyway, seems lazy and unambitious.
  - smichel17 6y ago
    Seconded. Ycombinator is fine here, in my not-lawyer opinion -- as far as I've noticed (as someone who blocks first party cookies by default with uMatrix), they set only a single cookie, when you log in. I checked just now and it has only two pieces of data: your username, and what looks like a signature for validating it.
joosters 6y ago
Is hacker news actually covered by those ToU? It talks about subdomains, but news.ycombinator.com is not a subdomain of www.ycombinator.com so how could those rules apply?
- swebs 6y ago
  com is the top level domain ycombinator is the domain news and www are both subdomains of ycombinator

Good old times, eh?

> violate any applicable local, state, national or international law, or any regulations having the force of law; Does this mean the national laws of every country on earth? That's a long list! I'll be sure to only post nice things about the King of Thailand ;)

Cthulhu_ 6y ago
It's a cover-your-ass statement; HN and the people running it CAN be held accountable if it's available in Thailand and content that isn't acceptable over there is posted. Although in practice I think countries will opt to block the whole site instead. Anyway, I do think foreign justice departments can in theory subpoena HN for data if their laws have been violated.
- hnick 6y ago
  I was being cheeky, however, since it's in the ToU then potentially we can and should be censured for such things on this site. Thailand believes such laws are applicable to everyone around the world so my place of residence doesn't really seem to matter regarding "applicable". Just another way that the internet and reality don't get along I suppose.

bosswipe 6y ago

What?! By using this site I've agreed to be bound by an arbitration agreement, is that right? There's no way that should hold up legally. Clicking around the web shouldn't be equivalent to signing a bunch of legal contracts.

Semaphor 6y ago
> There's no way that should hold up legally. I guess it depends on your jurisdiction? It’s (actually that whole document) meaningless in the EU. Disclaimer: IANAL and that’s just my layperson’s understanding of the law regulating contracts here.
codesections 6y ago
> By using the site I've agreed to be bound by arbitration agreement, is that right? There's no way that should hold up legally. You're right, it wouldn't. (In general, under US law. I am a lawyer but this post isn't legal advice). The term for that sort contract is "browsewrap" and US courts have consistently declined to enforce them.
- rbecker 6y ago
  Lawyers that knowingly write such unenforceable legal intimidation should face some consequences.

bnmertens 6y ago

Wow, if things are that formal now, perhaps European users should send GDPR requests. How about full-screen cookie acceptance prompts?

ffpip 6y ago
I don't think there is any third party tracking on HN
m11a 6y ago
The cookie accept prompts are a misunderstanding of EU law anyway. Supervisory authorities vary in their interpretation, and some take a relaxed view towards it and see the issues in that crap from a UX perspective (they say so on their sites). I've no idea why sites choose to add them in anyway, seems lazy and unambitious.
- smichel17 6y ago
  Seconded. Ycombinator is fine here, in my not-lawyer opinion -- as far as I've noticed (as someone who blocks first party cookies by default with uMatrix), they set only a single cookie, when you log in. I checked just now and it has only two pieces of data: your username, and what looks like a signature for validating it.

joosters 6y ago

Is hacker news actually covered by those ToU? It talks about subdomains, but news.ycombinator.com is not a subdomain of www.ycombinator.com so how could those rules apply?

swebs 6y ago
com is the top level domain ycombinator is the domain news and www are both subdomains of ycombinator