So, I’m kinda new to this Lemmy thingy and the fediverse. I like the fediverse from a technological standpoint. However, I think that, if we gain more and more traction, Lemmy (and by extend the entire fediverse) is a GDPR clusterfuck waiting to happen. With big and expensive repercussions…

Why? Well, according to GDPR, all personal data from EU users must remain in the EU. And personal data goes really far. Even an IP-address is personal data. An e-mail address is personal data. I don’t think there is jurisprudence regarding usernames, so that might be up for discussion.

Since the entire goal of the fediverse is “transporting” all data to all servers inside the ActivityPub/fediverse world, the data of a EU member will be transported all over the place. Resulting in a giant GDPR breach. And I have no idea who will be held responsible… The people hosting an instance? The developers of Lemmy? The developers of ActivityPub?

Large corporations are getting hefty fines for GDPR breaches. And since Lemmy is growing, Lemmy might be “in the spotlights” in the upcoming years.

I don’t like GDPR, and I’m all for the technological setup of the fediverse. However, I definitely can see a “competitor” (that is currently very large but loosing ground quickly) having a clear eye out to eliminate the competition…

What do y’all thing about this?

  • Ulu-Mulu-no-dieEnglish
    26•2 years ago

    all personal data from EU users must remain in the EU

    Create your account on a EU server, problem solved.

    Lemmy (fediverse in general) doesn’t send account data away, and posts don’t qualify as personal data, when you publish something to the internet, it’s public by definition.

    • @FantasticFoxEnglish
      4•2 years ago

      I’m not sure this is true. Like imagine someone posts their address in a Lemmy post - I’m pretty sure that counts as PII and they have the right to request its deletion.

      • Ulu-Mulu-no-dieEnglish
        8•2 years ago

        Like imagine someone posts their address in a Lemmy post

        As you write it you can also delete it.

        It’s still you willingly doing it, not the server spreading your data without your consent, this last case is where GDPR applies.

        But it’s a very stupid thing to do, never post your personal data in comments.

        • @FantasticFoxEnglish
          2•2 years ago

          If you delete your account are your comments deleted? That’s really where the potential problem lies.

          • Ulu-Mulu-no-dieEnglish
            1•2 years ago

            Edit: sorry misposted this here thinking it was about reddit.

      • @nivenkosEnglish
        1•2 years ago

        HackerNews doesn’t do this though.

        • @FantasticFoxEnglish
          1•2 years ago

          Even if you send a GDPR request? They might not delete your comments by default, but that doesn’t mean they won’t do it when faced with a legal request.

    • @randomaccount43543English
      1•1 year ago

      GDPR Art 4.(1) ‘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;

      Every post and comment in Lemmy qualifies as personal data because they contain the ideas and opinions of an identifiable natural person (by their user handle). Therefore the Lemmy instances are handling personal data and must comply with the GDPR.