this post was submitted on 06 Mar 2024
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Lemmy's Image Problem (Updated 02-06-2024) (wedistribute.org)
submitted 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) by deadsuperhero to c/fediverse
202 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

Highlighting the recent report of users and admins being unable to delete images, and how Trust & Safety tooling is currently lacking.

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[–] [email protected] 2 points 8 months ago (1 children)

No it does not, the instances are free, no one is making money off user data or selling anything to the user. It does not apply period.

As per official EU communication:

The GDPR applies to:

  • a company or entity which processes personal data as part of the activities of one of its branches established in the EU, regardless of where the data is processed; or
  • a company established outside the EU and is offering goods/services (paid or for free) or is monitoring the behaviour of individuals in the EU.

Lemmy instances are entities that offer free services and are arguably monitoring the behaviour of individuals in the EU through federation. From the perspective of the GDPR, there is no difference between Facebook and a Lemmy instance regarding what they can or cannot do, or whether they get fined for something.

You need to read up on the GDPR yourself.

[–] SupraMario 1 points 8 months ago (1 children)

What personal data is being processed by a Lemmy instance, what are they processing that's being sold in the EU? The GDPR does not apply here, stop trying to wiggle it into something it's not.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) (1 children)

Usernames at the very least, as online identifiers.

Art. 4 GDPR Definitions

For the purposes of this Regulation:

‘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;

And they don't need to be sold, just retained. GDPR applies even if there is no payment anywhere, even to non-commercial entities.

[–] SupraMario 1 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Usernames are not PII...the GDPR only applies if someone is making money from the service. It does not mean just because your site is free but hosts ads or sells user data it's exempt. Lemmy instances do none of this.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Usernames are not PII

What do you think an online identifier is then? And why would the GDPR only apply if there is money made? It specifically says in multiple places free services also count.

[–] SupraMario 2 points 8 months ago (1 children)

https://www.ibm.com/topics/pii#:~:text=Personally%20identifiable%20information%20(PII)%20is,email%20address%20or%20phone%20number.

Usernames are not and never have been considered pii

The GDPR states it clearly that the company/entity has to be collecting pii or selling something to the person. Lemmy does neither of these.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 8 months ago (1 children)

How is IBM authoritative on this subject? And even so, this article doesn't say that usernames are not PII, it even indirectly says it is indirect PII.

Here's another random company's page saying usernames are PII: https://www.keepersecurity.com/blog/2023/06/14/what-is-personally-identifiable-information-pii/

The GDPR says it clearly and explicitly that:

  • online identifiers such as usernames are PII
  • selling data or money transactions of any kind is not a requirement for the GDPR rules to apply
[–] SupraMario 0 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Usernames that are used in an internal network are, because they're linked to pii, a public username is not pii.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 8 months ago

And where did you read that? If anything, public usernames are easier to correlate to form identities.