4 ms·

I wonder if Discord will ever do something like this. We're coming up on them storing messages from 10 years ago, and they're all still accessible and searchabl

by judge2020 2y ago

I wonder if Discord will ever do something like this. We're coming up on them storing messages from 10 years ago, and they're all still accessible and searchable(!) including attachments.

paxys 2y ago
Discord is still private, unprofitable and running on VC funds, so the answer to that question is undoubtedly yes.
- martin-adams 2y ago
  Or they will change their policy that allows conversations to be used for training AI.
  - judge2020 2y ago
    https://discord.com/privacy https://discord.com/privacy > To improve our services. We use your information to help us understand how users interact with our services, what features or products users may want, to develop features that make Discord safer and better to use, or to otherwise understand and improve our services. > you can limit certain types of processing of your information: > Limit our ability to use your data to improve our services. We offer certain settings that allow you to limit the information we collect to help us understand how users use our services, what features or products they may want, or to otherwise help us improve our business. If you turn off these settings, we will stop collecting and using certain event and log information as described in these settings.
  - simonw 2y ago
    See comment here: I don't think there's nearly as much value in this stuff as AI training data as people often assume. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40788323#40789753 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40788323#40789753
- jezzamon 2y ago
  Until then, you can use it as an unlimited cloud storage! https://github.com/DisboxApp/web?tab=readme-ov-file https://github.com/DisboxApp/web?tab=readme-ov-file
zeroCalories 2y ago
It has never made sense to me that we want an infinite log of chats. The content is unorganized, and low quality. If something is so important you should put it in an email, wiki, PDF, etc, where the information is a lot more dense and easy to sort through. I look at stuff like imageboards, which aggressively delete old content, and can't help but feel that stuff like discord is over-engineered. If content older than 30 days was pruned or only the last 1000 were kept I think 99% of users would not care. It also majorly creeps me out that everything I've said in what's supposed to be a casual conversation is searchable forever. Not that deleting old messages would necessarily change anything, but I don't see keeping them as a good feature.
aboringusername 2y ago
Discord is one of those places that makes me realise the failings of the GDPR. For all the talk about fines of '4% global turnover' for non-compliance Discord seems to get away with not having to delete data? I mean, I thought after 2 years you're supposed to delete the data, assuming the account is inactive. Google started doing that and I imagine if your old long-forgotten account got hacked and there was messages/attachments from 2+ years ago they would be fully liable as data is not supposed to be held for longer than reasonable. 10 years can be considered unreasonable in most circumstances. But I cannot fathom why they want to pay for this, it's basically an unlimited storage file hosting platform they must be hosting TB's of probably useless data.
- shagie 2y ago
  > Discord is one of those places that makes me realise the failings of the GDPR. For all the talk about fines of '4% global turnover' for non-compliance Discord seems to get away with not having to delete data? What data are you expecting Discord to delete? Not everything is PII. ‘Personal data’ means any information relating to an identified or identifiable natural person (‘data subject’); an identifiable natural person is one who can be identified, directly or indirectly, in particular by reference to an identifier such as a name, an identification number, location data, an online identifier or to one or more factors specific to the physical, physiological, genetic, mental, economic, cultural or social identity of that natural person. That said, Discord has been fined. https://www.edpb.europa.eu/news/national-news/2023/french-sa-fines-discord-eur-800000_en https://www.edpb.europa.eu/news/national-news/2023/french-sa... https://support.discord.com/hc/en-us/articles/360003858092-Privacy-Policy-Update-and-GDPR-FAQ https://support.discord.com/hc/en-us/articles/360003858092-P...
  - aboringusername 2y ago
    I assume if I can log into my account and read old messages they are stored in a way that can be considered 'personal data'. For example, if they store my username and IP address with the messages then that is PII. Or even if they store a hash, if that can be traced back to 'me' then that would be PII. As for messages, how can one know if each and every message may or may not contain PII? Or an attachment? You can't, which is why the best approach is a cautious one: Delete all data from inactive accounts after 2 years, or even earlier to limit liability. The GDPR dictates you only store which is strictly required, messages from 10+ years ago from accounts that have not logged in for years have no right or nesscessity in being there

I wonder if Discord will ever do something like this. We're coming up on them storing messages from 10 years ago, and they're all still accessible and searchable(!) including attachments.

paxys 2y ago

Discord is still private, unprofitable and running on VC funds, so the answer to that question is undoubtedly yes.

martin-adams 2y ago
Or they will change their policy that allows conversations to be used for training AI.
- judge2020 2y ago
  https://discord.com/privacy https://discord.com/privacy > To improve our services. We use your information to help us understand how users interact with our services, what features or products users may want, to develop features that make Discord safer and better to use, or to otherwise understand and improve our services. > you can limit certain types of processing of your information: > Limit our ability to use your data to improve our services. We offer certain settings that allow you to limit the information we collect to help us understand how users use our services, what features or products they may want, or to otherwise help us improve our business. If you turn off these settings, we will stop collecting and using certain event and log information as described in these settings.
- simonw 2y ago
  See comment here: I don't think there's nearly as much value in this stuff as AI training data as people often assume. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40788323#40789753 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40788323#40789753
jezzamon 2y ago
Until then, you can use it as an unlimited cloud storage! https://github.com/DisboxApp/web?tab=readme-ov-file https://github.com/DisboxApp/web?tab=readme-ov-file

zeroCalories 2y ago

It has never made sense to me that we want an infinite log of chats. The content is unorganized, and low quality. If something is so important you should put it in an email, wiki, PDF, etc, where the information is a lot more dense and easy to sort through. I look at stuff like imageboards, which aggressively delete old content, and can't help but feel that stuff like discord is over-engineered. If content older than 30 days was pruned or only the last 1000 were kept I think 99% of users would not care. It also majorly creeps me out that everything I've said in what's supposed to be a casual conversation is searchable forever. Not that deleting old messages would necessarily change anything, but I don't see keeping them as a good feature.

aboringusername 2y ago

Discord is one of those places that makes me realise the failings of the GDPR. For all the talk about fines of '4% global turnover' for non-compliance Discord seems to get away with not having to delete data? I mean, I thought after 2 years you're supposed to delete the data, assuming the account is inactive. Google started doing that and I imagine if your old long-forgotten account got hacked and there was messages/attachments from 2+ years ago they would be fully liable as data is not supposed to be held for longer than reasonable. 10 years can be considered unreasonable in most circumstances. But I cannot fathom why they want to pay for this, it's basically an unlimited storage file hosting platform they must be hosting TB's of probably useless data.

shagie 2y ago
> Discord is one of those places that makes me realise the failings of the GDPR. For all the talk about fines of '4% global turnover' for non-compliance Discord seems to get away with not having to delete data? What data are you expecting Discord to delete? Not everything is PII. ‘Personal data’ means any information relating to an identified or identifiable natural person (‘data subject’); an identifiable natural person is one who can be identified, directly or indirectly, in particular by reference to an identifier such as a name, an identification number, location data, an online identifier or to one or more factors specific to the physical, physiological, genetic, mental, economic, cultural or social identity of that natural person. That said, Discord has been fined. https://www.edpb.europa.eu/news/national-news/2023/french-sa-fines-discord-eur-800000_en https://www.edpb.europa.eu/news/national-news/2023/french-sa... https://support.discord.com/hc/en-us/articles/360003858092-Privacy-Policy-Update-and-GDPR-FAQ https://support.discord.com/hc/en-us/articles/360003858092-P...
- aboringusername 2y ago
  I assume if I can log into my account and read old messages they are stored in a way that can be considered 'personal data'. For example, if they store my username and IP address with the messages then that is PII. Or even if they store a hash, if that can be traced back to 'me' then that would be PII. As for messages, how can one know if each and every message may or may not contain PII? Or an attachment? You can't, which is why the best approach is a cautious one: Delete all data from inactive accounts after 2 years, or even earlier to limit liability. The GDPR dictates you only store which is strictly required, messages from 10+ years ago from accounts that have not logged in for years have no right or nesscessity in being there