4 ms·

> "We're unable to serve this website without compromising your privacy... " More accurately, "we do not have the staff or funds to figure out what every sing

by troad 6mo ago

> "We're unable to serve this website without compromising your privacy... " More accurately, "we do not have the staff or funds to figure out what every single random law around the globe requires of us, and since foreign countries are not a realistic advertising market for a local Michigan newspaper, there's really no reason for us to try."

embedding-shape 6mo ago
Well, you don't have to do any of that stuff if you either are upfront about selling user data and ask if it's OK, or if you just don't do that stuff at all.
- troad 6mo ago
  European law imposes a great deal more obligations on a business than that. This claim is simplistic to the point of disingenuousness.
  - embedding-shape 6mo ago
    Since obviously there is no "European law" in the first place, I think it's pretty safe to assume you have no idea what you're talking about.
    - Ylpertnodi 6mo ago
      Interpol would like a word.
      - embedding-shape 6mo ago
        > Interpol would like a word. Also not a "European law" by any measure or understanding, that's a international organization that does police cooperation across the continent (and further), it isn't even a law enforcement agency... Not exactly sure how you could confuse that with laws, but here we are.
    - throwaway920102 6mo ago
      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_Markets_Act https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_Markets_Act https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_Services_Act https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_Services_Act https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Data_Protection_Regulation https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Data_Protection_Regula... Here are three.
    - troad 6mo ago
      That would be rather surprising to the large number of law schools that teach European Law as a core subject, such as the Panthéon-Sorbonne (Droit européen), Bologna U (Diritto Europeo), and Humboldt U (Europarecht). Equally surprised would be the authors of very many legal books and journals, e.g. https://www.cambridge.org/core/browse-subjects/law/european-law https://www.cambridge.org/core/browse-subjects/law/european-...
- master-lincoln 6mo ago
  But to know that you would have to study the laws of other countries or in this case EU which costs money and in this case is not an obviously beneficial investment.
  - soopypoos 6mo ago
    they blocked a continent without seeking any advice?
    - forgotaccount3 6mo ago
      Why not? That continent is not their target audience. It probably wasn't worth the effort to block foreign countries just from random unnecessary compute cost to serve a site to them, but when those countries start being serious about penalties you could face for serving their residents? Now it's justifiable to block non-US countries.
      - soopypoos 6mo ago
        the thing is "We don't want to get legal advice" is a ridiculous justification for acting on legal advice
        bombcar 6mo ago
        I'm sure they (or whoever sells the product they use to publish) did get legal advice, of the "what is the cheapest way to ensure this isn't an issue for us" and the response was "block 'em all, let God VPN them out." After all, using a VPN doesn't absolve companies of the GDPR.
        soopypoos 6mo ago
        Yes so the informed choice they made was "block gdpr countries" vs "be transparent about our use of personal data". Every site that gdpr-blocks itself is saying that they intend to extract value from your data and they don't want to tell you how.
- tzs 6mo ago
  If your site is covered by GDPR and you do not have a physical presence in the EU you have to appoint someone in the EU to receive mail on your behalf, so people who want to make GDPR requests by mail can write to them. See Article 27. There are services that will do this for you. Last I checked they were typically in the neighborhood of a couple hundred Euros a year. Whether or not GDPR applies to a site not in the EU is somewhat subjective. It comes down to whether you envisaged serving people in the EU. If your site does not need EU visitors it can make some sense to block them. That provides evidence that you did not envisage serving people in the EU, and then you don't have to figure out if you need to be hiring a service in the EU to receive GDPR mail.
charcircuit 6mo ago
>since foreign countries are not a realistic advertising market for a local Michigan newspaper This may be true for in house ads, but there are ad networks that already are able to personalize ads and have ad inventory for such foreign countries.

by troad 6mo ago

embedding-shape 6mo ago

Well, you don't have to do any of that stuff if you either are upfront about selling user data and ask if it's OK, or if you just don't do that stuff at all.

troad 6mo ago
European law imposes a great deal more obligations on a business than that. This claim is simplistic to the point of disingenuousness.
- embedding-shape 6mo ago
  Since obviously there is no "European law" in the first place, I think it's pretty safe to assume you have no idea what you're talking about.
  - Ylpertnodi 6mo ago
    Interpol would like a word.
    - embedding-shape 6mo ago
      > Interpol would like a word. Also not a "European law" by any measure or understanding, that's a international organization that does police cooperation across the continent (and further), it isn't even a law enforcement agency... Not exactly sure how you could confuse that with laws, but here we are.
  - throwaway920102 6mo ago
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_Markets_Act https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_Markets_Act https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_Services_Act https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_Services_Act https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Data_Protection_Regulation https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Data_Protection_Regula... Here are three.
  - troad 6mo ago
    That would be rather surprising to the large number of law schools that teach European Law as a core subject, such as the Panthéon-Sorbonne (Droit européen), Bologna U (Diritto Europeo), and Humboldt U (Europarecht). Equally surprised would be the authors of very many legal books and journals, e.g. https://www.cambridge.org/core/browse-subjects/law/european-law https://www.cambridge.org/core/browse-subjects/law/european-...
master-lincoln 6mo ago
But to know that you would have to study the laws of other countries or in this case EU which costs money and in this case is not an obviously beneficial investment.
- soopypoos 6mo ago
  they blocked a continent without seeking any advice?
  - forgotaccount3 6mo ago
    Why not? That continent is not their target audience. It probably wasn't worth the effort to block foreign countries just from random unnecessary compute cost to serve a site to them, but when those countries start being serious about penalties you could face for serving their residents? Now it's justifiable to block non-US countries.
    - soopypoos 6mo ago
      the thing is "We don't want to get legal advice" is a ridiculous justification for acting on legal advice
      - bombcar 6mo ago
        I'm sure they (or whoever sells the product they use to publish) did get legal advice, of the "what is the cheapest way to ensure this isn't an issue for us" and the response was "block 'em all, let God VPN them out." After all, using a VPN doesn't absolve companies of the GDPR.
        soopypoos 6mo ago
        Yes so the informed choice they made was "block gdpr countries" vs "be transparent about our use of personal data". Every site that gdpr-blocks itself is saying that they intend to extract value from your data and they don't want to tell you how.
tzs 6mo ago
If your site is covered by GDPR and you do not have a physical presence in the EU you have to appoint someone in the EU to receive mail on your behalf, so people who want to make GDPR requests by mail can write to them. See Article 27. There are services that will do this for you. Last I checked they were typically in the neighborhood of a couple hundred Euros a year. Whether or not GDPR applies to a site not in the EU is somewhat subjective. It comes down to whether you envisaged serving people in the EU. If your site does not need EU visitors it can make some sense to block them. That provides evidence that you did not envisage serving people in the EU, and then you don't have to figure out if you need to be hiring a service in the EU to receive GDPR mail.

charcircuit 6mo ago

>since foreign countries are not a realistic advertising market for a local Michigan newspaper This may be true for in house ads, but there are ad networks that already are able to personalize ads and have ad inventory for such foreign countries.