this post was submitted on 06 Mar 2024
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Fediverse

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Highlighting the recent report of users and admins being unable to delete images, and how Trust & Safety tooling is currently lacking.

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[–] maynarkh@feddit.nl 0 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) (1 children)

Usernames at the very least, as online identifiers.

Art. 4 GDPR Definitions

For the purposes of this Regulation:

‘personal data’ means any information relating to an identified or identifiable natural person (‘data subject’); an identifiable natural person is one who can be identified, directly or indirectly, in particular by reference to an identifier such as a name, an identification number, location data, an online identifier or to one or more factors specific to the physical, physiological, genetic, mental, economic, cultural or social identity of that natural person;

And they don't need to be sold, just retained. GDPR applies even if there is no payment anywhere, even to non-commercial entities.

[–] SupraMario@lemmy.world 1 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Usernames are not PII...the GDPR only applies if someone is making money from the service. It does not mean just because your site is free but hosts ads or sells user data it's exempt. Lemmy instances do none of this.

[–] maynarkh@feddit.nl 0 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Usernames are not PII

What do you think an online identifier is then? And why would the GDPR only apply if there is money made? It specifically says in multiple places free services also count.

[–] SupraMario@lemmy.world 1 points 8 months ago (1 children)

https://www.ibm.com/topics/pii#:~:text=Personally%20identifiable%20information%20(PII)%20is,email%20address%20or%20phone%20number.

Usernames are not and never have been considered pii

The GDPR states it clearly that the company/entity has to be collecting pii or selling something to the person. Lemmy does neither of these.

[–] maynarkh@feddit.nl 0 points 8 months ago (1 children)

How is IBM authoritative on this subject? And even so, this article doesn't say that usernames are not PII, it even indirectly says it is indirect PII.

Here's another random company's page saying usernames are PII: https://www.keepersecurity.com/blog/2023/06/14/what-is-personally-identifiable-information-pii/

The GDPR says it clearly and explicitly that:

  • online identifiers such as usernames are PII
  • selling data or money transactions of any kind is not a requirement for the GDPR rules to apply
[–] SupraMario@lemmy.world 1 points 8 months ago

Usernames that are used in an internal network are, because they're linked to pii, a public username is not pii.