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Comment by Sargos | Hacker News Reader

These drug markets are open to the entire internet and the customers and suppliers are global. The fact that US officials consider this their jurisdiction is troubling to say the least. All of this, in my opinion, unsafe propagation of misinformation is harmful to all users of the service and not just those based in the US.

Would we be okay if Russia decided that Facebook breaks its laws and then went and created fake profiles to cause enough disturbances to make people quit using the service? I would think not.

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Not that I agree with what the US is doing, but there is kind of an international law against narcotics, the UN Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs [1], so I can see how how US officials consider it their jurisdiction. It's the same sort of thing with child pornography and slavery.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Single_Convention_on_Narcotic_...

You make a good point about extraterritoriality in general, but in the case of the most recent busts the lead org was actually the Germans. Really when you see the domains seized there's always about half a dozen European/anglosphere police logos claiming credit.

The persecution/prosecution of drug users is a multilateral agreement not US big stick diplo.

> These drug markets are open to the entire internet and the customers and suppliers are global. The fact that US officials consider this their jurisdiction is troubling to say the least.

If you're marketing securities to US citizens, that part of your operations is under the jurisdiction of the SEC.

If you're selling food to US citizens, that part of your operations is under the jurisdiction of the FDA.

If you're selling drugs to US citizens, that part of your operations is under the jurisdiction of the DEA.

I don't understand what's troubling about it. Don't want to be under the jurisdiction of US agencies? Don't do business in the US.

> Don't want to be under the jurisdiction of US agencies? Don't do business in the US.

The Internet is not "business in the US," hence GP's comment. Am I "doing business in the US" by posting this comment? This is really just digital hegemony from the USA.

> The Internet is not "business in the US,"

then why does GDPR affect US companies as well?

Because of the same misguided sense of hegemony the parent references.

GDPR does not affect US companies that do not collect EU citizens information.

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