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by yifanlu 1639 days ago
I have a blog hosted on GH Pages generated with Jekyll. I got this email from the researcher:

> To Whom It May Concern:

>

> My name is Tom Harris, and I am a resident of Sacramento, California. I have a few questions about your process for responding to General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) data access requests:

>

> Would you process a GDPR data access request from me even though I am not a resident of the European Union?

> Do you process GDPR data access requests via email, a website, or telephone? If via a website, what is the URL I should go to?

> What personal information do I have to submit for you to verify and process a GDPR data access request?

> What information do you provide in response to a GDPR data access request?

> To be clear, I am not submitting a data access request at this time. My questions are about your process for when I do submit a request.

>

> Thank you in advance for your answers to these questions. If there is a better contact for processing GDPR requests regarding yifan.lu, I kindly ask that you forward my request to them.

>

> I look forward to your reply without undue delay and at most within one month of this email, as required by Article 12 of GDPR.

>

> Sincerely,

>

> Tom Harris

I honestly thought it was one of those legal trolls who sent the same email to everyone hoping to find someone to sue but I responded anyways explaining how statically generated sites worked and that I’m willing to provide the information, being that the information is that I have none…

The last paragraph in particular made it sound like a veiled legal threat (or that they’re hinting that they’re willing to go down that road). I felt that I had to respond just to establish some record.

2 comments

It was specifically crafted to sound like there will be legal consequence - this internet tough-guy goes into the same bucket as deceptive 'microsoft technicians' asking you to buy gift cards - not as scammy or nefarious, but in a similar vein nevertheless.
That’s similar to what I got, and I had the same thoughts about it. I responded more publicly though: https://blog.freeradical.zone/post/ccpa-scam-2021-12/ .