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There are some that claim that the distributed PGP keyserver system is intrinsically illegal under the GDPR because there is no way for a user to remove the per

There are some that claim that the distributed PGP keyserver system is intrinsically illegal under the GDPR because there is no way for a user to remove the personal information they might upload there. The system is distributed and is append only. You would have to get every single server operator to agree to update the data at the same instant which obviously is impractical. People have actually taken down servers based on this idea. Blockchains would be just as illegal. So if you are in the EU you could try requesting that Ethereum be taken down under your right to remove your personal data from a database.

faeyanpiraat 5y ago
How would anyone just “take down” ethereum?
- Duralias 5y ago
  If the EU actually wanted to "take down" ethereum then they have a few avenues they could take. I think it is technically already illegal for EU citizens's data to exist on non-EU blockchains, so a legal cryptocurrency could only exist within the EU or any country with a data-sharing agreement (which I do not think currently includes the US right now). So just listing things they could do: Make it illegal to host the data/be a validator would relegate crypto to something that is only used for illegal purposes. Write into law that GDPR still applies to blockchains, the validators cannot stay anonymous so they either remove the data from the blockchain or get police knocking on their door. Any other use that this would be illegal so could never be used for anything legal inside the EU, lowering it down to a similar priority as piracy, being effectively neutralized, aka not affecting the majority of EU citizen.
  - kyruzic 5y ago
    You can make up all the laws you want, you aren't blocking access to eth.
    - Duralias 5y ago
      Not many ways you can convert crypto into money if the banks aren't in on it, or allowed to be in on it. But for every other use of ethereum it is definitely harder to block, not that there are very many other uses right now. And EU could just block those NFT trading websites, making it all annoying enough to use that most non-super enthusiasts wouldn't bother, because while you cannot completely block something, you have effectively succeeded if the vast majority of your population cannot be bothered.
spelunker 5y ago
I actually ran into this issue when designing an "audit" store service recently. Basically, we had a need to store when certain transactions happened by users on a platform, so that they could later be audited if necessary. My first reaction was to use a blockchain-like append-only database. Perfect, until we realized we _also_ had to honor GDPR requests of users, and therefore had to be able to remove data...
- adhesive_wombat 5y ago
  I wonder how the saving of user names and email addresses into Git repos (which is a similar hash chain) interacts with things like the GDPR. It's impossible to remove a person's personal identifying information from a Git repo without completely rewriting it. I imagine it's covered by some kind of legitimate interest clause, but I have no actual idea.

faeyanpiraat 5y ago

How would anyone just “take down” ethereum?

Duralias 5y ago
If the EU actually wanted to "take down" ethereum then they have a few avenues they could take. I think it is technically already illegal for EU citizens's data to exist on non-EU blockchains, so a legal cryptocurrency could only exist within the EU or any country with a data-sharing agreement (which I do not think currently includes the US right now). So just listing things they could do: Make it illegal to host the data/be a validator would relegate crypto to something that is only used for illegal purposes. Write into law that GDPR still applies to blockchains, the validators cannot stay anonymous so they either remove the data from the blockchain or get police knocking on their door. Any other use that this would be illegal so could never be used for anything legal inside the EU, lowering it down to a similar priority as piracy, being effectively neutralized, aka not affecting the majority of EU citizen.
- kyruzic 5y ago
  You can make up all the laws you want, you aren't blocking access to eth.
  - Duralias 5y ago
    Not many ways you can convert crypto into money if the banks aren't in on it, or allowed to be in on it. But for every other use of ethereum it is definitely harder to block, not that there are very many other uses right now. And EU could just block those NFT trading websites, making it all annoying enough to use that most non-super enthusiasts wouldn't bother, because while you cannot completely block something, you have effectively succeeded if the vast majority of your population cannot be bothered.

spelunker 5y ago

I actually ran into this issue when designing an "audit" store service recently. Basically, we had a need to store when certain transactions happened by users on a platform, so that they could later be audited if necessary. My first reaction was to use a blockchain-like append-only database. Perfect, until we realized we _also_ had to honor GDPR requests of users, and therefore had to be able to remove data...

adhesive_wombat 5y ago
I wonder how the saving of user names and email addresses into Git repos (which is a similar hash chain) interacts with things like the GDPR. It's impossible to remove a person's personal identifying information from a Git repo without completely rewriting it. I imagine it's covered by some kind of legitimate interest clause, but I have no actual idea.