News for hackers. Stuff that matters.

A comment on Warming up your car before driving in cold weather can damage the engine. Parent comment

Re:Warming up your car before driving in cold weather can da... by rahimnathwani on Sunday December 25, 2022 @01:44PM (#34129852)
The site is free to access. There's no paywall.

I was able to reproduce the error you got by accessing it through a browser in the UK.

I guess the site blocks access from countries that require compliance with GDPR.

I don't think people should be required to test that the site is available in every country, before posting or upvoting.

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Warming up your car before driving in cold weather can da... by michaelteter on Sunday December 25, 2022 @02:00PM (#34130007)
No, it's not a paywall. But yes, it is still "closed". Blocking EU visitors using GDPR as an excuse is a cop-out. All they have to do is _not collect data_ on visitors. Then there is no worry. And realistically, they don't need to worry anyway. They could simply add a statement at the footer saying EU visitors do so in agreement of US-based rules regarding data collection.

I do agree that submitters should not be required to test the site from origins they do not live in. But once it is known that the content is region limited, we should be able to mark it as such so HN can indicate that.

If we take this to the logical conclusion, the current state left unmanaged will become a HackerNews which most of us abandon like we abandoned Digg and Slashdot because of their missteps in the past. Of course, HN doesn't derive any revenue (as far as I know?), so maybe they do not care if their readership drops way off.

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Warming up your car before driving in cold weather can da... by rahimnathwani on Sunday December 25, 2022 @02:20PM (#34130236)
"They could simply add a statement at the footer saying EU visitors do so in agreement of US-based rules regarding data collection."

They could, but are you 100% sure this would comply with the law and eliminate the risk of penalties?

I don't know which entity runs the site, whether it has assets or operations in EU countries etc.

I'm also not a lawyer.

I can't say for sure what is the right business decision for them.

I'm curious (as I'm not in the EU and don't notice) roughly what proportion of HN front page stories are unavailable in the EU?

[ Parent | on HN ]