Ask HN: GDPR and the Civil Rights Act 1964

1 pointnocha2 comments

With the wave of sites blocking users based in the EU as they don't want to comply with the GDPR, has anybody looked into the legality of these blocks? Specifically, how do they tie in with the Civil Rights act 1964 which prohibits discrimination based on national origin...

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Discrimination based on national origin in the Civil Rights Act pertains to US citizens and legal immigrants who are subject to the purview of US courts, not to foreign nationals living on foreign soil. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 pertains to employer and employee rights and obligations. It does not have anything to do with international trade and business relations.

US based businesses are free to discontinue services to foreign countries due to onerous legislation.

I'm not a lawyer, but sure it'd be trivial to argue that blocking based on national origin (eg the country a user was born in) is not the same as blocking based on geography (eg the country they're in right now).

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