GDPR privacy laws!

[Azareal]

https://www.howtogeek.com/338209/you-should-turn-off-autofill-in-your-password-manager/
It's thanks to ad networks like this that we have the GDPR in the first place.

 

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https://www.howtogeek.com/338209/you-should-turn-off-autofill-in-your-password-manager/
It's thanks to ad networks like this that we have the GDPR in the first place.

I still blame EU

 

[Azareal]

I still blame EU

The EU is foolish, to be sure. But, the circumstances did push them.
It's just a shame the GDPR is such a mess, especially with all the nonsense it does.

 

[simonweb]

GDPR isn't bad.

But article 13 that might be added to the EU's upcoming Copyright Reform is bad, really bad. It could literally kill smaller, independent online communities - like this site.

 

[Azareal]

GDPR isn't bad.

But article 13 that might be added to the EU's upcoming Copyright Reform is bad, really bad. It could literally kill smaller, independent online communities - like this site.

Every law that comes out of the EU is bad lol
And practically every regulation will kill countless small sites.

The GDPR is already expensive to implement for many small sites, especially if they have to hire a team of programmers to become compliant, hire a lawyer, etc.

 

[Jax]

Owners or no community owners, Who is ready for the new privacy laws?

GDPR ( General Data Protection Regulation ) In details for those that don't understand this term, it's a regulation in EU law on data protection and privacy for all individuals within the European Union. It addresses the export of personal data outside the EU. Rules go into effect in 18 days from now. They seem to be very loose and general with huge fines for sites that violate the privacy laws.

My site is hosted on a USA based server and also forum, Yet even if you don't have any European traffic it's still very important to obey this new law. Even if you had 1% visitor come from Europe you liable to get your butt in the deep water. About 20% of my visitors come from Europe ( I'm one of them). We do sell products, like gaming keys, also run adsense and third party websites.

You can have endless policies that relate to your site so as long as you cover your back in case anything goes wrong because most site are public and anything public can be manipulated even with all this compensation things going round these days

Should I be worried? What steps are you guys and gals taking to get your forums in compliance?

So in simple terms, going off what @Empire is saying here.

Fine Points

• If you have a domain that is EU (And UK) based but has no EU citizens, GDPR applies to you!
• Fines, if you have an annual turn over of £10 Million then your fine could be either £20 million or 4% annual revenue (whichever is higher)
• GDPR applies to those that hold and store EU data, you must say where you keep it and how you manage it.
• If an EU citizen wants to know what information you hold you have 1 month to release it.
• You cannot keep EU data forever there must be a justification as to why you hold it. i.e. user logins.
• GDPR applies to digital and non digital data.
• If there is a breach (hack) you have 72 hours to alert authorities.
• You must be 13 or older to have an account in some countries that is 16.

You can test yourself here:

https://www.ogury-gdpr.com/

Article 13, applies to the sharing of content. which is enforced would mean any site that has images, or articles without the creator's permission will be subject to fines. For a forum that could mean stricter rules, and the banning of users that do not apply. this is to stop the spread of fake news which is rediculous

 

[Azareal]

The best part about the GDPR is that certain countries like Russia, China, etc. probably won't respect it, so people will likely be able to hide their servers there and snipe your users with less of an overhead.

Also, it will be hell to prove that someone actually holds data on someone in the E.U. without getting a court to compel the release of data in the first place. The whole thing is stupid.

 

[Jax]

The best part about the GDPR is that certain countries like Russia, China, etc. probably won't respect it, so people will likely be able to hide their servers there and snipe your users with less of an overhead.

Also, it will be hell to prove that someone actually holds data on someone in the E.U. without getting a court to compel the release of data in the first place. The whole thing is stupid.

that is true!

 

[simonweb]

Good news! 😀

The European Union has rejected controversial legislation intended to reform online copyright. 318 MEPs voted against the draft law, compared to 278 in favor. The legislation now returns to the drawing board, before being sent for a second vote in September.

The draft law, known as the Copyright Directive, was intended as a simple update to copyright for the internet age. But it attracted substantial criticism for the inclusion of two key provisions: Articles 11 and 13. The first, Article 11, was a “link tax” that would force online platforms like Facebook and Google to pay news organizations before linking to their stories; while the second, Article 13, proposed an “upload filter” that would have required all content uploaded online to be checked for copyright infringement.

https://www.theverge.com/2018/7/5/17535874/eu-copyright-law-article-11-13-rejected-first-vote

 

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https://www.theverge.com/2018/7/5/17535874/eu-copyright-law-article-11-13-rejected-first-vote

Good news but still,

 

[Azareal]

What's worse than the GDPR is actually the paranoia around it.

NodeBB seems to be hashing all the IPs for guests now or something and they're screaming about how they're doing everything they can to protect their admins from the GDPR.

It's like a nightmare which just never ends.
(No, you don't need to do that.)

 

[Carlos X]

What's worse than the GDPR is actually the paranoia around it.

NodeBB seems to be hashing all the IPs for guests now or something and they're screaming about how they're doing everything they can to protect their admins from the GDPR.

It's like a nightmare which just never ends.
(No, you don't need to do that.)

Yeah, that's going too far... NodeBB seems to think this is about them, but it's really about what companies like Facebook is/was doing. Here's a video that explains what the problem is (I disagree that it goes that far, but listen to the whole video, so you understand what's really going on..)

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I disagree that facebook is evil about what they do with the information they "collect." However, the analytics company and similar companies do. I believe that. I agree that Facebook collects information about you, but only basic stuff (which he lays out later in the video). And the only use it for brands' UI-facing controls. I think all this paranoia is all unfounded. But just listen to what he says first, so you understand what other people are complaining about...

 

[Azareal]

Perhaps the only good thing that's come of the GDPR is that every-time I see a forum software developer who doesn't care about security, I can just say it's a violation of the GDPR and they'll run to clean-up their act.

People seem to be really scared of the thing.

I disagree that facebook is evil about what they do with the information they "collect." However, the analytics company and similar companies do. I believe that. I agree that Facebook collects information about you, but only basic stuff (which he lays out later in the video). And the only use it for brands' UI-facing controls. I think all this paranoia is all unfounded. But just listen to what he says first, so you understand what other people are complaining about...

I haven't really been keeping up with that scandal, but it did seem a little fuzzy and some of Facebook's decisions like recommending certain accounts when providing certain phone numbers was asininely stupid and they should have been intelligent enough to know it would be abused.

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2014/jun/29/facebook-users-emotions-news-feeds
But they are pretty shady.

 

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Perhaps the only good thing that's come of the GDPR is that every-time I see a forum software developer who doesn't care about security, I can just say it's a violation of the GDPR and they'll run to clean-up their act.

Yes! it makes them to think more and they have no choice but to implant it into there system so that hey are obeying. Unless they block the EU out!

 

[Shannon Apple]

If your forum isn't using targetted ads and not collecting user data except for the sign up info, then there's nothing to worry about really. They just have to know what you're doing with their information. The panic over this is so stupid.

If a user comes to you and says that they want to be forgotten, you have to comply with that. Removing all of their personally identifying information would include all of their profile information and any personal threads about their personal life or buisness that can identify them. Go into admin panel then remove their email address from ACP, change the account name and then ban it.

You've complied. They only have the right to personally identifying information being removed. They can't actually ask you to remove all 5,000 of their posts. Just the ones that identify them.

Also...
Facebook deserves everything they get. They've been caught out already and they are the ones who caused GDPR to begin with.

https://www.theverge.com/2018/7/5/17535874/eu-copyright-law-article-11-13-rejected-first-vote

Good news but still,

That's waaaay worse than GDPR.

 

[Azareal]

You've complied. They only have the right to personally identifying information being removed. They can't actually ask you to remove all 5,000 of their posts. Just the ones that identify them.

And how do you know that one of these 5,000 posts doesn't have identifying information?

 

[Shannon Apple]

Generally, people don't post personally identifying information and I'd encourage them NOT to. Sometimes though, they might make a thread talking about their personal life (something that happened), OR like here, maybe they've made a thread about their website. They might have added their photo to a "post real pics" thread. Beyond that, most people won't be leaving much info about themselves behind. That's why they use a pseudonym afterall.

Webmaster forums are different. You might have to actually block their website or something to ensure that there are no links/mentions of it anywhere.

Let's face it, if your 5,000 post boy/girl has started a lot of generic discussion threads that anyone could have started, you're talking about possibly deleting 1,000s of posts by other members. How is that fair? Those threads are not in any way personally identifying. Anyone could have started them.

 

[Azareal]

How is that fair?

None of these laws are supposed to be fair, they're just there to make it look like the EU cares about privacy.

That's why you never want a government getting involved in anything to do with the internet, they just care about appearances, like those clowns in the U.K. who want to ban encryption (add a backdoor to the algorithms, to be accurate).

Why? To stop the paedophiles and terrorists, even if it means destroying any semblance of security for everyone else. We don't need people inventing new ways to make things even less secure than they already are.

And they probably already have all that data thanks to all the viruses they keep creating with their friends at the NSA. They love the phrases, think of the children, and if you have nothing to hide, then you have nothing to fear.

 

[Azareal]

Facebook deserves everything they get. They've been caught out already and they are the ones who caused GDPR to begin with.

Some think that Google and Facebook will benefit from the GDPR as it will effectively destroy a huge portion of their competitors.

 

[Carlos X]

Generally, people don't post personally identifying information and I'd encourage them NOT to. Sometimes though, they might make a thread talking about their personal life (something that happened), OR like here, maybe they've made a thread about their website. They might have added their photo to a "post real pics" thread. Beyond that, most people won't be leaving much info about themselves behind. That's why they use a pseudonym afterall.

Webmaster forums are different. You might have to actually block their website or something to ensure that there are no links/mentions of it anywhere.

Let's face it, if your 5,000 post boy/girl has started a lot of generic discussion threads that anyone could have started, you're talking about possibly deleting 1,000s of posts by other members. How is that fair? Those threads are not in any way personally identifying. Anyone could have started them.

To me, those (bolded) are not "identifying information" about a person. And I agree with colored.

None of these laws are supposed to be fair, they're just there to make it look like the EU cares about privacy.

Well, that's stupid.

That's why you never want a government getting involved in anything to do with the internet, they just care about appearances, like those clowns in the U.K. who want to ban encryption (add a backdoor to the algorithms, to be accurate).

Why? To stop the paedophiles and terrorists, even if it means destroying any semblance of security for everyone else. We don't need people inventing new ways to make things even less secure than they already are.

Exactly. And, I agree.