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Comment by iooi | Hacker News Reader

Hopefully the EFF is getting a big surge in donations from this latest outcry over privacy.

You can donate here: https://supporters.eff.org/donate

I wish the EFF offered guidelines and a certification for companies to show they are following best practices for user data. I guess GDPR is the same thing but it’d be nice if some bucks went into the EFF’s pocket to fund lobbying on our behalf.

I have a data intensive startup and I would love to show we comply.

GDPR only applies in the EU.

Facebook already declared that they won't extend their GDPR compliance globally. So if you're in the US, you're not protected by it.

But it also applies to EU citizens living outside the EU. So the use cases get complicated.

I don't think this is true. It's not totally clear but GDPR seems to require people to be in the union. I believe that residency is the main requirement, not citizenship (a German person living in the US dealing with a US-only company is not covered).

Seriously? I did not know that. How would that work?

Edit: Just read Wikipedia and another source and both define it for people within the EU. They do mention whether the company is outside the EU and how they would need to handle the data for people within the EU.

Just got my hoodie.

That being said, I do not think giving money to eff is enough to get the changes necessary to be implemented. I am at a loss for what could be done you actually make change happen and am open if anyone has suggestions or other links to take a look at.

I don't think there's a better group to fund than the EFF. They're just about the only reliable lobbying group out there advocating for users, and considering how small they are, they're doing a hell of a lot of it.

You can call your representative or vote/elect/run for a position.

I admire the libertarian sentiment on HN but I think it would be greatly beneficial to everyone to have more thoughtful, smart and balanced people running our Governments.

Here's my bazillion-dollar question: How do you practically motivate those people to enter and stay in government? The insanity of the system is maddening, and even hard-fought positive progress is glacial compared to the private sector. I know smart, thoughtful people who considered government and finally decided they'd be far happier in the private sector.

Maciej (Pinboard / HN user 'idlewords') has been doing great work finding such people who are running and supporting them to get elected.

The progress is glacial because the private sector wants it to be and can afford to make it that way.

“Smart, thoughtful” people who are happier in the private sector is exactly who currently runs our governments. So your plan is already in action.

Start a local Electronic Frontier Alliance group and work in your local community to build additional support for issues you care about.

https://www.eff.org/fight

Large-scale change is hard, and I don't have good ideas for how to force it -- I'm just some random internet schmuck, not a clairvoyant genius. At a small scale, delete your FB account and install a tracking blocker. Going slightly larger, help your non-nerd friends to do the same. Network effects work both ways.

If you have time and money left over after that, the EFF isn't the worst place to spend them.

Worth noting that some payroll systems allow you to set up automatic donations to charities like the EFF. I know Gusto did.

edit: looks like some payroll systems may take a cut. Be wary, or set up recurring donation directly.

I wanted to do this, but 7.5% is taken out before the money gets to the charity. That is more than credit card processing fees! I no longer use that option and donate directly. Doing that does increase the amount of work to do your taxes if you itemize deductions though.

This is not going to gusto, but it taken out as part of the services provided by FirstGiving their partner to handle the donations: https://support.gusto.com/hc/en-us/articles/220929687-Charit....

Oh, I had no idea. In that case no I wouldn't use that, I'd set up a recurring donation directly. (I recently changed payroll processing and haven't transferred the donations yet).

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