They probably used yaml for their config...

For people who are not aware, if you write the value no in YAML, it parses it as the boolean false which is then usually converted back to the string "false". The solution is to write "no" and not no, but Norway is the only country code requiring this so a lot of people forget about it.

For example I noticed this week that an environment variable in a few of my Norwegian company's deployments was "false" and not "no".

Syntax highlighting to the rescue! I’ve almost been bitten by that “feature” before, but the VS Code extension for YAML caught it.

That's how I noticed the issue this week. The no value was green, which was a bit suspicious.

This actually sounds extremely plausible.

Agree, but they probably aren't off the hook just because of that.

I think user data is "fissile material" and the "fallout" from a high profile "meltdown" at certain places can easily destroy more lives than the Chernobyl actully ended up destroying.

Given this yaml and a number of other known problematic technologies probably shouldn't be used anywhere near the "reactors".

Certainly, but I can sympathize more with a mistake than with a deliberate tracking attempt.

It's EU regulation and Norway is part of EEA which adapted these GDPR regulations. Feels like some risk and compliance officer at Disqus has been sleeping