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by forgotaccount3 68 days ago
Why not? That continent is not their target audience.

It probably wasn't worth the effort to block foreign countries just from random unnecessary compute cost to serve a site to them, but when those countries start being serious about penalties you could face for serving their residents? Now it's justifiable to block non-US countries.
1 comments
soopypoos 68 days ago
the thing is "We don't want to get legal advice" is a ridiculous justification for acting on legal advice
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bombcar 68 days ago
I'm sure they (or whoever sells the product they use to publish) did get legal advice, of the "what is the cheapest way to ensure this isn't an issue for us" and the response was "block 'em all, let God VPN them out."

After all, using a VPN doesn't absolve companies of the GDPR.

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soopypoos 68 days ago
Yes so the informed choice they made was "block gdpr countries" vs "be transparent about our use of personal data".

Every site that gdpr-blocks itself is saying that they intend to extract value from your data and they don't want to tell you how.

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throwaway920102 68 days ago
No, it can also be saying "I simply have too many other things to do than worry about what the correct data retention or ban appeal or DSA statement of reasons requirement or DSA statement of reasons transparency DB API or UK Ofcom age verification requirements or..."

Sometimes if you're just one person and the EU isn't a core market and you are a small business or non-profit, it's easier to just say, ok you know what, no thanks to all this for now.

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soopypoos 68 days ago
The signal remains the same:

"Will you sell my data?"

"This interview is over. (I'm very busy.)"

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troad 67 days ago
That's absurd. Are you, right now, compliant with all relevant laws and regulations in Turkmenistan? Do you have legal advice to back that up? Why not? Is it because you're a criminal?

No! Of course not! It's because you don't care about Turkmenistan, to the extent you've never even bothered to look up what is and is not legal there, let alone get legal advice about it. That's a perfectly fine answer. This random Michigan newspaper doesn't care about the EU. That's a perfectly fine answer too.

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