How can an instance comply with GDPR if they're federated? (lemmy.world)

submitted 1 year ago by firipu@lemmy.world to c/asklemmy@lemmy.ml

51 comments fedilink hide all child comments

So if I understand GDPR correctly: If I want a service/business to remove all my personal data, they have to comply with it in a certain timespan or get in trouble with the law.

If I understand federation correctly: All posts get replicated on federated instances all over the fediverse.

My question: If I e.g. want lemmy.world to remove my data, all my posts etc are still up on lemmy.ml right? As they just have a copy of these posts?

Would I as a customer have to contact every single instance to get my data removed? Or how does GDPR compliance work with lemmy?

Or am I completely misunderstanding how GDPR works?

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments

[-] rarely@sh.itjust.works -2 points 1 year ago

Lemmy was created before GDPR.

Volunteers probably have not implemented GDPR and may not, or might.

[-] newIdentity@sh.itjust.works 1 points 1 year ago

GDPR was made in 2016. Lemmy is 4 years old

[-] rarely@sh.itjust.works 1 points 1 year ago

And you know the first thing devs do when they start writing code? They look up laws drafted by non technical people to ensure they are fully in compliance. The priority of lemmy all this time has been GDPR compliance, the fact that the app looks and functions similar to reddit is an afterthought.

[-] newIdentity@sh.itjust.works 0 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

It's not like the devs care about laws since one of the main motivations of creating Lemmy was to create a space where pirated media could be shared. That's why !piracy@lemmy.ml exists

Dessaline said that multiple times in the past before Lemmy gained such traction. He's also the dev of TorrentCSV

[-] rarely@sh.itjust.works -1 points 1 year ago

1 contributor’s opinion and the existence of one community does not an argument make.

the devs don’t care about laws, if you want to put it so broadly, because the devs aren’t the ones who would get in trouble here, anyway. instance owners would likely catch the most trouble, especially because you can also add your own gdpr compliance if you want to.

also most devs aren’t facebook. most devs don’t really care too much about tracking users. the commercial sector on the other hand…

[-] newIdentity@sh.itjust.works 0 points 1 year ago

But the devs are also instance owners.

[-] rarely@sh.itjust.works -1 points 1 year ago

Not all of them are! I could contribute to the code base right now and I don’t have an instance.

[-] newIdentity@sh.itjust.works 0 points 1 year ago

Lemmy.ml is and Lemmygrad.ml was

[-] rarely@sh.itjust.works -1 points 1 year ago

My point still stands.

this post was submitted on 06 Jul 2023

57 points (98.3% liked)

Asklemmy

44002 readers

1025 users here now

A loosely moderated place to ask open-ended questions

Search asklemmy 🔍

If your post meets the following criteria, it's welcome here!

Open-ended question
Not offensive: at this point, we do not have the bandwidth to moderate overtly political discussions. Assume best intent and be excellent to each other.
Not regarding using or support for Lemmy: context, see the list of support communities and tools for finding communities below
Not ad nauseam inducing: please make sure it is a question that would be new to most members
An actual topic of discussion

Looking for support?

Looking for a community?

Lemmyverse: community search
sub.rehab: maps old subreddits to fediverse options, marks official as such
!lemmy411@lemmy.ca: a community for finding communities

~Icon~ ~by~ ~@Double_A@discuss.tchncs.de~

founded 5 years ago

MODERATORS