• jarfil@beehaw.org
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    8 months ago

    As long as the link between data and user is severed, they are compliant with GDPR. […] As long as it’s not personally identifiable, it’s OK.

    Wrong.

    In the US, data protection refers to “personally identifiable” data, so severing the link is enough. Under the GDPR, all “personal” data is protected, doesn’t matter if it has a link or not to identify the person.

    The test under the GDPR, will be whether a comment has any personal data in it. If it’s a generic “LMAO”, then leaving it anonymous might be enough; if it is a “look at me [photo attached]” or an “AITA [personal story]”, then the person can ask for it to be removed, not just anonymized.

    • LWD@lemm.ee
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      8 months ago

      That sounds like it places an undue burden onto the user to determine and explain why data might be personal. Is a particular writing style personal? Something that identifies their IP address, or time zone, or three separate messages that can be used to pinpoint someone’s identity or narrow it down significantly?

      To build on the Matrix example I mentioned, they give you the ability to “redact” messages but it’s your job to hunt them down across their entire platform, and obviously you can’t look at any messages in any rooms you’ve been kicked out of (and I’m pretty sure an API call to redact them, even if you correctly guessed the ID, would be rejected).

      • jarfil@beehaw.org
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        8 months ago

        places an undue burden onto the user to determine and explain why data might be personal

        The other way around: all data originating from a person, is by default “personal data”, and the burden of explaining which one is not, lies with whoever is keeping it.

        you can’t look at any messages in any rooms you’ve been kicked out of

        If they’re keeping them, then you can request a GDPR export of ALL your data. Doesn’t matter whether some interface or application allows you access to the data or not, or even if you’ve been banned from the whole platform; as long as they keep the data, they have an obligation to honor your rights of:

        • Access
        • Correction/Modification
        • Removal

        Even during obligatory data retention periods, when they can’t remove the data and only make it inaccessible, you still have the right to get a copy of your own personal data.

        • LWD@lemm.ee
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          8 months ago

          I really hope I’m wrong and you’re right here! I agree with you entirely in terms of what should be allowed, if it isn’t already allowed. And I definitely hope you’re correct. I haven’t recently requested a data export from my languishing Matrix account, but I might give it another go to see what kind of data is stored on my home server.

          • jarfil@beehaw.org
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            8 months ago

            I’ve had to deal with this on the data collection end, and it’s a PITA to build in the mechanisms to fully follow the law. If you’re an EU resident, and especially if the server is in the EU or has to follow EU agreements, then they’d risk some quite high penalties if they didn’t follow it.