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posted by mrpg on Friday August 10 2018, @04:15AM   Printer-friendly
from the ain't-gonna-happen dept.

Many US news sites have yet to comply with the EU's General Data Protection Regulation after more than two months, leaving European visitors blocked.

Digital outlets run by Tronc, Lee Enterprises and GateHouse Media are among the hundreds of US news websites that remain unavailable within the EU, according to NiemanLab.

The General Data Protection Regulation, also known as GDPR, is designed to give the EU's 500 million citizens greater control over how their information is used online. Adopted in April 2016, its provisions became directly applicable in EU member states after a two-year transitional period.


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  • (Score: 5, Insightful) by canopic jug on Friday August 10 2018, @04:20AM (18 children)

    by canopic jug (3949) Subscriber Badge on Friday August 10 2018, @04:20AM (#719783) Journal

    A better title might have been, "Hundreds of US News Sites Operating Illegally Via the US Two Months After GDPR". The sites where shown where they were breaking the law and how to come into compliance. They had several years to comply but chose not to. This is not about sites being blocked but of continued illegal operation in regards to abuse of data concerning EU citizens. So they are going out of their way to break the law and if they wanted to reach a wider audience, it would actually be less work to not harvest and sell data illegally.

    --
    Money is not free speech. Elections should not be auctions.
    • (Score: 1) by Ethanol-fueled on Friday August 10 2018, @04:25AM (1 child)

      by Ethanol-fueled (2792) on Friday August 10 2018, @04:25AM (#719788) Homepage

      Why are they so afraid?

      • (Score: 3, Interesting) by canopic jug on Friday August 10 2018, @04:30AM

        by canopic jug (3949) Subscriber Badge on Friday August 10 2018, @04:30AM (#719792) Journal

        If they start offering a better class of service to European visitors, then they'd lose reputation and support from US visitors which would affect their bottom line even more. They're already taking a small hit by cutting out some of their market, those in the EU. However, mostly it comes down to MBAs being MBAs and trying to double down on stupitidy and their everything-must-be-made-tos-suck idelology.

        --
        Money is not free speech. Elections should not be auctions.
    • (Score: 2, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 10 2018, @04:28AM (2 children)

      by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 10 2018, @04:28AM (#719790)

      If sites like Facebook, which are privacy nightmares even for users and non-users alike, are still allowed to exist as they are, then even the GDPR doesn't go far enough. I wish the US could do something similar to Europe, but as we all know, it's a fundamental right to violate others' privacy on a massive scale.

      • (Score: 2) by ikanreed on Friday August 10 2018, @01:34PM (1 child)

        by ikanreed (3164) Subscriber Badge on Friday August 10 2018, @01:34PM (#719896) Journal

        The thing is, the new law should allow you to force Facebook to delete every detail they have on you.

        Right to be forgotten may primarily have been used by unscrupulous people trying to cover up their past misdeeds, but it's supposed to let you escape the claws of facebook should you decide to do so.

        • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 10 2018, @10:32PM

          by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 10 2018, @10:32PM (#720100)

          Right to be forgotten may primarily have been used by unscrupulous people trying to cover up their past misdeeds (...)

          I think that is an artefact of the reporting, people that don't abuse the law aren't going to make the headlines.

    • (Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 10 2018, @04:43AM (8 children)

      by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 10 2018, @04:43AM (#719795)

      Are you claiming that the sites that block access from the EU are violating the GDPR? Their lawyers seem to disagree.

      Let's not forget the laws of the United States, of China, of Saudi Arabia, etc. Some European websites, I'm sure, are "still operating illegally" according to those laws and your apparent criterion.

      • (Score: 5, Informative) by janrinok on Friday August 10 2018, @08:54AM (7 children)

        by janrinok (52) Subscriber Badge on Friday August 10 2018, @08:54AM (#719841) Journal

        No, I read it as US news sites are exploiting the data of anyone who accesses their site. However, as they cannot do that with the data of EU citizens, they simply don't give them access.

        The fact that Americans are happy for this state of affairs to exist is not a problem for Europeans.

        • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 10 2018, @04:40PM (2 children)

          by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 10 2018, @04:40PM (#719966)

          The OP makes the unsupported claim that the sites are "operating illegally." I want
                to know exactly what they're doing that's supposedly illegal. Your response doesn't
                answer that, unless you're implying that for a U.S. website to gather data on non-EU
                people violates the GDPR. If that's what you mean, just say it.

          • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 10 2018, @05:40PM (1 child)

            by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 10 2018, @05:40PM (#719997)

            OP is claiming the sites are operating illegally with regards to GDPR - if Europeans can access the sites. From a US standpoint, there is nothing illegal with gathering and selling any and all information about US site visitors. In the US we are simply cattle with valuable data.

            • (Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 10 2018, @06:25PM

              by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 10 2018, @06:25PM (#720015)

              First sentence of the summary says that European visitors are blocked. The website operators are doing the blocking. That's the gist of the story. We all know that blocks can be circumvented. That doesn't mean the site operators aren't making a good-faith effort. Where's the evidence that they're not acting in good faith, that Europeans can readily access their sites?

        • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 10 2018, @04:54PM (3 children)

          by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 10 2018, @04:54PM (#719967)

          The key claim the OP is making is that the sites are "operating
          illegally." The OP offered no support for the claim. I asked for at
          least a clarification of it. Exactly what are these websites doing
          that's supposedly illegal? The site owners, presumably, think that
          blocking access from Europe puts them in compliance with the GDPR. The
          OP seems to think they're violating it, or some other unspecified law.
          Your response doesn't address that, unless you're implying that for
          a U.S. website to gather data on non-EU people somehow violates the
          GDPR. If that's what you mean, just say it.

          >The fact that Americans are happy for this state of affairs to exist
          is not a problem for Europeans.

          For hundreds of U.S. news sites to be unavailable to Europeans isn't a
          problem for Europeans? Then why submit the story?

          • (Score: 4, Interesting) by janrinok on Friday August 10 2018, @05:33PM (2 children)

            by janrinok (52) Subscriber Badge on Friday August 10 2018, @05:33PM (#719990) Journal

            The law was announced and came into effect in 2016. However, the EU announced that they would give those holding data on EU citizens would be given time to sort themselves out. Nevertheless, even as the cut off date for the full compliance with the law was reached earlier this year many US companies had taken no action to reach any compliance. During all of that time they were technically 'breaking the law' although they probably knew that no formal legal action would be taken. The reason that they have prevented access to their sites is because they are still abusing personal data, or at least not protecting it, to an extent that is now be illegal under the GDPR if it was done to Europeans.

            For hundreds of U.S. news sites to be unavailable to Europeans isn't a problem for Europeans? Then why submit the story?

            Because it seems quite strange to us in the rest of the world that US citizens view the abuse of their personal data as something that they have to accept and is entirely normal. Perhaps you have missed the concern in the US of the abuse of data by, say, social media? The 'loss' of US news sites probably hasn't been noticed by most Europeans. US news is viewed here as often being very US centric to the extent that it seems to ignore other important events happening elsewhere in the world - but that is not for us to address.

            • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 10 2018, @06:53PM

              by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 10 2018, @06:53PM (#720024)

              "Because it seems quite strange to us in the rest of the world that US citizens view the abuse of their personal data as something that they have to accept and is entirely normal. "

              europeans: the original patronizing yankees. yes, we have a certain unfortunate percentage of ignorant bleeting sheople in this country, but i fail to see how EU chattle are any better. the vast majority of your people are run by scum just like the US. just b/c your rulers sit in brussels and act like legitimately elected representatives of the people is irrelevant.

            • (Score: 2) by legont on Saturday August 11 2018, @04:20AM

              by legont (4179) on Saturday August 11 2018, @04:20AM (#720207)

              The logic probably goes like this. If a US website implements the European law and makes a mistake, it may be costly. The implementation is also costly. European visitors don't bring enough money and don't fit the model. The best course of action - forget Europe even exists and block it forever.

              While I actually on your side, you got to realize that the US is an island and does not give a flying shit about anybody else. Before WWII the US did not give a shit and did not participate; after the WWII the US dictates but still does not give a shit. BTW, the chances are the US will go back to the before WWII state pretty soon.

              --
              "Wealth is the relentless enemy of understanding" - John Kenneth Galbraith.
    • (Score: 3, Interesting) by epitaxial on Friday August 10 2018, @07:55PM (3 children)

      by epitaxial (3165) on Friday August 10 2018, @07:55PM (#720048)

      How does a US based site operate illegally in another country?

      • (Score: 3, Insightful) by jmorris on Friday August 10 2018, @09:22PM (2 children)

        by jmorris (4844) on Friday August 10 2018, @09:22PM (#720075)

        Some have operations in many countries even if their primary point of presence is in the U.S. Which means transnationals now operate under an increasing disadvantage of having to obey the union set of every insane law in every jurisdiction they have a presence in. Great for giving a boost to smaller companies with presence in only one jurisdiction. For example, Gab.ai is entirely based in the U.S. so they simply announced they would be entirely ignoring the GDPR and the E.U. could pound sand. The E.U. could probably force the banks to reveal their Subjects who do business with Gab and punish them but it would quickly become a PR disaster. They could also implement a Great Firewall and block access, again a PR disaster. If you do not open an office inside the E.U. there really isn't much they can do other than bluster.

        But the only way to parse the original poster is to translate it to English as "The U.S. is illegal and illegitimate, so are all other puny countries, even those in Europe. Only (((globalist))) transnational entities like the E.U. and the U.N. have legitimacy. Their superior laws should be enforced worldwide." A U.S. company obeying U.S. laws can't, by definition, be illegal so the only way to parse xir's comment is to presume them/they believes EU law is legitimate and should control worldwide while U.S. law is inferior and illegitimate.

        • (Score: 2) by legont on Saturday August 11 2018, @04:31AM (1 child)

          by legont (4179) on Saturday August 11 2018, @04:31AM (#720212)

          Well, lets look at another example. Aviation laws and regulations down to how an airplane is supposed to be maintained and pilots trained are pretty much the same everywhere. Why? Because FAA does not allow any company to fly to the US if they are not compliant with the US laws even when they fly abroad. The US is a big market, the rules are reasonable, so everybody complies.

          Now Europe decided to similarly push Internet laws (perhaps good - does not matter). The US companies current reply - screw you - you are not significant. It would be interesting to see how it all evolves. I am waiting for China to start enforcing certain rules on everybody...

          --
          "Wealth is the relentless enemy of understanding" - John Kenneth Galbraith.
          • (Score: 2) by jmorris on Saturday August 11 2018, @04:51AM

            by jmorris (4844) on Saturday August 11 2018, @04:51AM (#720223)

            Exactly why ICANN should have never been turned over to the UN. And why the EU should be told to pound sand. When the U.S. regulates something, after some period of being stupid, it usually gets it mostly right, especially technical standards. Everybody figures the FAA's rules might not be 100% what they would have written but everybody can live with it. Nobody builds out a B brand airline that only operates outside the U.S. And when ICANN ran the Internet a few people bitched but everybody was content enough they wanted in on the thing. The Internet is, after all, one of the three Wonder of the 20th Century along with The Bomb and the Moon Landing and it got that way while ICANN was being managed by the USG.

            Now every tinpot dictator is angling to impose their vision on the Internet, starting with the ones in Brussels. Just wait until the real shitholes start regulating. Do you wanna live with the regs the Organization of the Islamic Conference push through some UN Committee?

  • (Score: 3, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 10 2018, @04:45AM (1 child)

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 10 2018, @04:45AM (#719796)

    They are self blocking, probably trying to put pressure (haha, motherfuckers, you visit Brussels for that, and suck some cocks/cunts, or you thought DC was enough? And bad news, you many need to visit Beijing later). Or to avoid other people to demand similar treatment (the horror, USA caring about privacy... no, no, companies can stalk all they want, it's the market).

    Visitors can use proxies and extensions to make their "preciousssssssss" cookies useless and see the sites "anonymously". Based in how they whine about blockers and other things, it must be working to some level.

    Others sites just updated, or did like NPR and gave you an alternate version with a message like:

    Data Protection Choices

    By choosing “I agree” below, you agree that NPR’s sites use cookies, similar tracking and storage technologies, and information about the device you use to access our sites to enhance your viewing, listening and user experience, personalize content, personalize messages from NPR’s sponsors, provide social media features, and analyze NPR’s traffic. This information is shared with social media services, sponsorship, analytics and other third-party service providers. See details.
    Agreen and Continue | Decline and Visit Plain Text Site

    NPR’s Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.

    You can try with https://choice.npr.org/index.html?origin=https://www.npr.org/ [npr.org]

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 10 2018, @04:55AM

      by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 10 2018, @04:55AM (#719797)

      The NPR page is non-functional for me. With JavaScript, perhaps it would work.

  • (Score: 3, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 10 2018, @05:04AM (14 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 10 2018, @05:04AM (#719800)

    Here is what you missed in US media: "Trump! Trump! Wildfires in California. Is this because of climate change? Trump! doesn't believe in climate change. People sneaking into the country are really asylum seekers, and Trump! is cruelly arresting them. And if they bring children along, the Trump! government is putting them in holding facilities. Trump! is jailing children! Could Manafort finally be the key to a Trump! impeachment? Today a bank loan officer testified that Manafort said he would use his house as a residence, but he was actually trying to rent it out. Trump?"

    • (Score: 2) by MichaelDavidCrawford on Friday August 10 2018, @05:59AM (5 children)

      by MichaelDavidCrawford (2339) Subscriber Badge <mdcrawford@gmail.com> on Friday August 10 2018, @05:59AM (#719815) Homepage Journal

      For reasons that must make sense to the management, NedSpace has a HUGE projection TV in a lounge that I would otherwise avail myself of.

      No one ever watches it.

      Well someone does from time to time, because once a week or so it will have a different channel.

      But no one ever turns the damn thing off.

      Lately it's been left tuned to MSNBC. I pass through the lounge when I go to or from the can. MSNBC is running two or three different Trump stories, Manafort and that Congresscritter who just got busted for giving his son an illegal stock tip.

      Over And Over And Over Again.

      Those are the ONLY stories that MSNBC has been running this week. Surely _something_ else has happened? Somewhere? Please for the love of God let something _else_ be newsworthy!@

      --
      Yes I Have No Bananas. [gofundme.com]
      • (Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 10 2018, @10:28AM

        by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 10 2018, @10:28AM (#719856)

        MSNBC has turned into the anti-trump channel ... which may explain why its rating are up the last two years.

      • (Score: 3, Insightful) by pvanhoof on Friday August 10 2018, @12:18PM (1 child)

        by pvanhoof (4638) on Friday August 10 2018, @12:18PM (#719877) Homepage

        They are bombing kids in Yemen with US made and supplied bombs. For example. But no news for American consumption.

        • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 10 2018, @06:56PM

          by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 10 2018, @06:56PM (#720025)

          we can't have bad coverage of the greater israel project, courtesy of the war on terror and 9/11.

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 10 2018, @06:51PM (1 child)

        by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 10 2018, @06:51PM (#720023)

        Did MSNBC report that? It's in the record too; the judge pointed it out. The dude was seriously crying because his case against Manafort is a failing mess.

        Here it is, highlighted:
        https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1026675176807821313.html [threadreaderapp.com]

        (search for one of: tears, watery, cry... and the rest of the stuff is great reading as well)

        MSNBC would have you believe that there is some major Trump-related issue that will ultimately lead to impeachment over Russian stuff. Really, it's a collapsing case over old stuff that long predates working for Trump. Manafort might be sleazy, and probably violated the law (far less than democrats did), but at this point it is clear that he is facing malicious prosecution.

    • (Score: 2) by realDonaldTrump on Friday August 10 2018, @06:30AM (1 child)

      by realDonaldTrump (6614) on Friday August 10 2018, @06:30AM (#719821) Homepage Journal

      Very biased, the Fake News MSM doesn't report the great economic news. 157,000 new jobs in July, prices VERY STABLE, millions dropping Food Stamps. Much better reporting from Fox News, Sinclair & OANN!!!

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 10 2018, @07:43PM

        by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 10 2018, @07:43PM (#720043)

        UID 6614! UID 6614! UID 6614!

    • (Score: 2) by pvanhoof on Friday August 10 2018, @08:35AM (5 children)

      by pvanhoof (4638) on Friday August 10 2018, @08:35AM (#719839) Homepage

      Haven't you guys kicked that guy out yet?!??? I sure hope you have a POTUS candidate that isn't just stupid for next time. Damn. Right, yes. We Europeans have moved on already since a few months. This circus show in the US was just too stupid. That BTW doesn't mean you need to start organizing witch hunts and spraying stupid propaganda about Russia. Germany is going to buy their gas and not your LNG. Get over it already and stop waging proxy wars all over the place. We're done with it.

      Fix your country already.

      Oh and if you want to sell LNG, start investing in LNG terminals in Rotterdam and Antwerp. We are not going to pay them for your industries.

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 10 2018, @02:18PM (4 children)

        by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 10 2018, @02:18PM (#719919)

        Why would we kick the guy out? He was elected and his current term goes to 2021.

        • (Score: 2) by pvanhoof on Friday August 10 2018, @03:03PM

          by pvanhoof (4638) on Friday August 10 2018, @03:03PM (#719935) Homepage

          I guess you're right. Just don't do anything really stupid.

        • (Score: 5, Insightful) by HiThere on Friday August 10 2018, @05:59PM (2 children)

          by HiThere (866) Subscriber Badge on Friday August 10 2018, @05:59PM (#720007) Journal

          What's worse, if we kick him out, is replacement is even worse. Trump is just a stupid, greedy, bigoted traitor. Pence is additionally a religious maniac.

          --
          Javascript is what you use to allow unknown third parties to run software you have no idea about on your computer.
          • (Score: 2) by jmorris on Saturday August 11 2018, @05:14AM (1 child)

            by jmorris (4844) on Saturday August 11 2018, @05:14AM (#720229)

            Trump is just a stupid, greedy, bigoted traitor.

            Lets unpack that.

            Stupid. He beat Hillary Clinton, supposedly the smartest person to deign to serve... after you said the same of Obama of the sealed academic records of course. He beat her with the Full panoply of power set against him, the Democratic Party machinery is a given but he had pretty much all of the News and Entertainment industry calling him Hitler reborn and a good part of the Republican Party agreeing with the Democrats and the Media including the Party Chair, the Speaker of the House and the premiere publications on the Right (National Review, Weekly Standard, WSJ Editorial Page) denouncing him as a menace to the Republic unprecedented in our history. Many Republican "Thought Leaders" outright endorsed Mrs. Clinton. And even with the October Surprise of the Access Hollywood tape he still won. Since then he has gone on winning. And you either still think he is stupid or think you can convince one of his supporters of it.

            Greedy. He pledged his Life, his Fortune and his Sacred Honor on his mission to Make America Great Again. The net worth of Obama, Bill Clinton and most of their minions increased enormously while in government service. Somehow. Meanwhile most estimates are that the Trump Organization has suffered from the retaliation from the Left upon the President's business and his net worth has actually declined. And if he fails in his mission to drain the swamp it is very likely it will imprison Mr. Trump and probably his children and utterly ruin his business empire. Assuming he doesn't suffer the fate of the last POTUS to tangle with the CIA, President Kennedy. Anyway, interesting definition of greed you have there. Isn't exactly projection since YOU aren't the one who fed at the trough for decades, you just blindly support her and project HER corruption onto Mr. Trump.

            Bigoted. I suppose if we are using the modern definition of anyone who disagrees with a Democrat I have to award this one to ya. But he is a most curious bigot in that until he ran for public office every civil rights organization in NYC seemed to prefer handing him awards for his service to their causes.

            Traitor. Come again? You can't be pissed off at his America First policies, MAGA slogan and lack of concern for how the feelings of the rest of the world AND think he is a traitor. Isn't your real complaint that he isn't displaying the proper loyalty to (((globalist))) ideals and policies? Isn't your actual problem that he IS a "traitor" to the U.N. but more loyal to the United States of America and Americans than any President since Ronald Reagan? Nobody actually believes that Russia! Russia! Russia! garbage. Please don't tell us YOU fell for it, it was just a reason to get a special inquisitor installed to harass and obstruct for eight years. Most important of all to prevent revealing the corruption and treason within the Intelligence Community, Justice Department and FBI.

            So every word of that was either bullshit, utterly wrong or a knowing falsehood. And you guys still expect to see a Blue Wave in November because you are smarter and more moral than us mouth breathing retards on the Trump Train. Good luck with that.

            • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 11 2018, @06:22AM

              by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 11 2018, @06:22AM (#720242)

              I like how you see someone attack Trump and then just instantly assume that they're a hardcore democrat. I despite Trump, Republicans, and Democrats. I'm not a partisan retard like you are, so stop assuming everyone else is as partisan as you.

  • (Score: 3, Funny) by Snotnose on Friday August 10 2018, @05:08AM (1 child)

    by Snotnose (1623) on Friday August 10 2018, @05:08AM (#719802)

    I live in Trump country. Be nice to have a plugin that, when I tried to access a site, told me "GDPR Failure". It would have to have a "sigh. show it to me anyway" button, but it would be nice to know.

    --
    When the dust settled America realized it was saved by a porn star.
    • (Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 10 2018, @05:20AM

      by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 10 2018, @05:20AM (#719807)

      https://www.torproject.org/ [torproject.org] The Tor Browser is designed to give you anonymity from your ISP, from websites, and from everyone in between. It happens that often, Tor exit nodes are in the EU.

  • (Score: 2) by MichaelDavidCrawford on Friday August 10 2018, @05:56AM (4 children)

    by MichaelDavidCrawford (2339) Subscriber Badge <mdcrawford@gmail.com> on Friday August 10 2018, @05:56AM (#719813) Homepage Journal

    yet they never make any mention whatsoever about their tracking pixels?

    Protect Your Family And Yourself From Web Analytics:

    127.0.0.1 www.google-analytics.com
    127.0.0.1 ssl.google-analytics.com

    --
    Yes I Have No Bananas. [gofundme.com]
    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 10 2018, @06:20AM (2 children)

      by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 10 2018, @06:20AM (#719820)

      That works until google starts to use foo12345.1e100.net

      • (Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 10 2018, @06:37AM (1 child)

        by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 10 2018, @06:37AM (#719822)

        If they do that then we won. The Google Analytics hostnames are hard-coded on tens of millions of websites.

        • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 10 2018, @02:21PM

          by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 10 2018, @02:21PM (#719921)

          No reason they should be static on most websites. Nor that Google Analytics has to be served from Google.

    • (Score: 2) by dry on Saturday August 11 2018, @04:20AM

      by dry (223) on Saturday August 11 2018, @04:20AM (#720206) Journal

      Don't use 127.0.0.1 as it takes time to time out, use 0.0.0.0.

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 10 2018, @06:15AM (2 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 10 2018, @06:15AM (#719819)

    You are not missing anything.

    • (Score: 5, Touché) by MostCynical on Friday August 10 2018, @08:02AM (1 child)

      by MostCynical (2589) on Friday August 10 2018, @08:02AM (#719834) Journal

      We know.
      Thank you.

      Yours,

      Europe

      --
      "I guess once you start doubting, there's no end to it." -Batou, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex
      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 10 2018, @10:32AM

        by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 10 2018, @10:32AM (#719858)

        Dear Europe,

        We miss you(r data). Come back soon.

        Sincerely,
        Unscrupulous Data Whores

  • (Score: 4, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 10 2018, @11:11AM (4 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 10 2018, @11:11AM (#719866)

    So here are changes I found on the European sites after GDPR:
      - Large sites still operate and violate privacy. Their opt-out is hidden in a link with password derived from 120-page agreement, in which you have to manually untick >100 checkboxes and fill captcha for each. No, this is not exaggerated!
      - USA "data sucking" sites like social networks seem not to be much harmed. They introduced a few contradictory statements in their ToS, which can be summed up like "go f.. yourself". Generally everything needed is there, but it's just practically impossible to use it.
      - Small sites, usually led by hobbyists for hobbyists, went down or static so much that they even turned comments off.
      - One of the largest hosting provider in EU country decided to increase costs of e-shop hosting and wants more money for some unknown "auditing" which cannot be precised because intellectual property. People are migrating, more sites are down.
      - My friend who has a small website (what's more interesting - a purely static one written in one of these open source generators) shown me his domain-related mailbox with 50-100 messages with blackmail in the first month after GDPR. Typical blackmail from law offices, like "your terms of service does not comply GDPR, let us write it or someone will sue you!". Generally it's a spam, but has some effect on non-technical people.

    So the results are:
      - Large information/disinformation sites went through it with no effect,
      - More large sites felt legit to collect even more data, using even more conditions hidden in ToS,
      - Smaller websites disappeared even more,
      - Most people became convinced that to maintain a hobby website you need not only a tech and editor, but also a lawyer.
    And it looks like this is the main goal of these regulations.

    • (Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 10 2018, @02:31PM (2 children)

      by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 10 2018, @02:31PM (#719924)

      Most people became convinced that to maintain a hobby website you need not only a tech and editor, but also a lawyer.

      That was always the safe bet in Germany, with its armies of freebooting consent decree lawyers. Because of that, and the strong free speech protections in the US, I would only choose US based hosting for a hobbyist web site.

      • (Score: 2) by dry on Saturday August 11 2018, @04:22AM (1 child)

        by dry (223) on Saturday August 11 2018, @04:22AM (#720208) Journal

        Better not be a hobby that involves anyones IP.

        • (Score: 2) by canopic jug on Saturday August 11 2018, @05:42AM

          by canopic jug (3949) Subscriber Badge on Saturday August 11 2018, @05:42AM (#720236) Journal

          Better not be a hobby that involves anyones IP.

          IPv4 or IPv6?

          --
          Money is not free speech. Elections should not be auctions.
    • (Score: 4, Interesting) by theluggage on Friday August 10 2018, @02:56PM

      by theluggage (1797) on Friday August 10 2018, @02:56PM (#719931)

      Large information/disinformation sites went through it with no effect,

      Google and Facebook accused of breaking GDPR laws [bbc.co.uk] - the complaints are in, the wheels are grinding slowly and the EU isn't above holding large multinationals to account in other fields.

      - Most people became convinced that to maintain a hobby website you need not only a tech and editor, but also a lawyer.

      The GDPR trolls will need to form an orderly queue behind the copyright/DMCA trolls, patent trolls and hate-speech censorship trolls then. GDPR is way, way down the list of possible reasons why you might not want to run a n hobby website in the modern world. If its collecting users' personal data beyond the minimum needed for (say) accepting comments then its not a hobby website. Frankly, I wouldn't want to run any site with a public forum as a private individual, GDPR or none.

      AFAIK you can't privately sue people for GDPR breaches, anyway - its enforced by the EU agencies and the first recourse for anybody finding a breach is to report it to the appropriate ICO. If your national laws allow legal extortion via meritless claims by people who have no standing then that's not the EU's problem (...and, ultimately, if a US site wants to geoblock Europe then that's their prerogative).

      The main problem with the way GDPR was introduced is that the official information is very, very corporate-centric and doesn't really offer any helpful advice to small fry (but that's typical of government). From their point of view you're either an individual complaining about a GDPR breach or an organisation needing to comply. Meanwhile there was an awful lot of FUD by consultancy firms who want people to pay them for compliance products/services.

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 10 2018, @02:22PM (1 child)

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 10 2018, @02:22PM (#719922)

    Why would anyone expect any other reaction from U.S. companies. A government forcing them to do something that is complicated, expensive and unprofitable. It's a very simple cost-benefit analysis.

    What is the cost of ignoring GDRP? (fines) call this A.

    What is the cost of implementing what they want? (more staff, more hardware, loss of revenue from selling collected data) Call this B.

    For some B > A. The answer is to block Europe to avoid the fines. Play coy about when you are going to have a solution and hope it becomes old news before you have to explain yourself.

    For some A > B. Work on a solution. Until it is implemented you need to do another cost benefit analysis to decide if it is cheaper to block until you are ready or risk the fines.

    Give the high-profile news about GDRP obvious failures are very likely to result in fines as there is a clear implication that the E.U. is trying hard to prove this regulation works. So, they are most likely looking for a high-profile target to fine and brag about in the news.

    Those who don't actually do the cost-benefit analysis are probably doing it out of spite. But this is a simple business decision. What is more profitable (or less costly if no profit is to be made).

    • (Score: 2) by dwilson on Saturday August 11 2018, @03:19AM

      by dwilson (2599) Subscriber Badge on Saturday August 11 2018, @03:19AM (#720182) Journal

      Why would anyone expect any other reaction from U.S. companies. A government forcing them to do something that is complicated, expensive and unprofitable. It's a very simple cost-benefit analysis.

      More than that, even. A FOREIGN government forcing them? A US website, hosted in the US on hardware in the US, with owners who live in the US... so the EU passes the GDRP law and demands you comply. ...so what?

      Unless you expect to visit the EU at some point in your life (and lets be honest, the vast majority of americans won't), you tell them to Get Fucked and get on with life. What can they do to you, realistically? Block your site at their ISP's level? Whoopity-do.

      --
      - D
  • (Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 10 2018, @05:19PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 10 2018, @05:19PM (#719982)

    In case anyone else cares for an actual list of the blocked "news" sites, the source seems to be: https://data.verifiedjoseph.com/dataset/websites-not-available-eu-gdpr [verifiedjoseph.com] which is some self proclaimed "activist" in the UK who compiled himself a list. And if my lazy-ass counting is right, contains 1073 sites.

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 10 2018, @07:25PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 10 2018, @07:25PM (#720033)

    i go out of my way to protect privacy in my applications. they only require data that is needed for basic functionality or any opt-in functionality. like email and username required for ;login and password reset, plus any data needed if you choose to use optional features. from my reading of the GDPR, i'm supposed to treat data that is provided to the app as *the user's data*, in perpetuity, and magically delete just their data from previous automated backups if they should ever determine that they should be forgotten, likely amoungst other vaguely worded BS. if an app has conversations between people am i supposed to break the conversation for everyone (rewrite history) because you left? uuhhh screw you? when you provide the data to my application that data becomes mine, assuming i'm using it in accordance with my TOS or PP that you accepted by using my site. that's the whole point of the word "give" or "provide".

    what kind of slave needs the government to try and tell sites what to do to protect them from fake news, bad privacy policies, etc. are you too damn stupid to make your own choices? what happens when we start letting leeches in capitals around the world micromanage every aspect of running a private business? I guess EU slaves think that's just great. if you listen to the hearings in the US congress that's exactly what those authoritarian pieces of shit are talking about. anyone begging for it should be shot into the sun.

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