where can I download my HN's data?
However, they do respond to privacy requests, see:
easy would be a button on the profile page for example.
Compare that to Coinbase, which has forms, buttons and seems it's mostly an automated process instead of manual email, but I've tried getting Coinbase to delete my account + data for over 6 months now to no avail, multiple emails back and forward where they confirm the deletion, say it's in progress, I email back after a month and they ask me to confirm the deletion again.
So even with a button, doesn't mean the process is easy, and there is also a lot more to consider than just how you initially the request.
There's https://gdpr.eu/companies-outside-of-europe/ :
> Article 3.2 goes even further and applies the law to organizations that are not in the EU if two conditions are met: the organization offers goods or services to people in the EU, or the organization monitors their online behavior.
Recital 23 clarifies what is meant by the organization offers goods or services to people in the EU: https://gdpr.eu/Recital-23-Applicable-to-processors-not-esta...
> In order to determine whether such a controller or processor is offering goods or services to data subjects who are in the Union, [..] the mere accessibility of the controller’s, processor’s or an intermediary’s website in the Union, of an email address or of other contact details, or the use of a language generally used in the third country where the controller is established, is insufficient to ascertain such intention, factors such as the use of a language or a currency generally used in one or more Member States with the possibility of ordering goods and services in that other language, or the mentioning of customers or users who are in the Union, may make it apparent that the controller envisages offering goods or services to data subjects in the Union.
Profiling is clarified in recital 24: https://gdpr.eu/Recital-24-Applicable-to-processors-not-esta...
> it should be ascertained whether natural persons are tracked on the internet including potential subsequent use of personal data processing techniques which consist of profiling a natural person, particularly in order to take decisions concerning her or him or for analysing or predicting her or his personal preferences, behaviours and attitudes.
So, I'd say no. The mere fact that HN is accessible to people in the EU does not show intent. HN is an English forum, which is the native language of the country where it is established, and does not offer its services in additional European languages, and does not advertise products in the Euro currency. I'm unable to know for sure, but I don't believe HN is using my posts here to predict or analyse my personal preferences either.
https://github.com/HackerNews/API
Does it count like ability to download your data?
GDPR is an EU law that applies to sites that market directly to EU citizens. How and whether it applies to sites outside the EU has been debated. GDPR can prevent a site from operating in the EU. But GDPR does not apply to a US citizen using a US-run web site.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Data_Protection_Regula...
https://gdpr-info.eu/art-3-gdpr/
Edit: speaking of personally identifiable information, GDPR defines the information that is subject to download as “personal” information, only when it can be identified. Do you have data on HN servers that is subject to GDPR even if you live in the EU? (I don’t think I do.)
See 4.1: https://gdpr-info.eu/art-4-gdpr/
That should be read in light of the recitals, for instance recital 26:
"The principles of data protection should apply to any information concerning an identified or identifiable natural person. Personal data which have undergone pseudonymisation, which could be attributed to a natural person by the use of additional information should be considered to be information on an identifiable natural person. To determine whether a natural person is identifiable, account should be taken of all the means reasonably likely to be used, such as singling out, either by the controller or by another person to identify the natural person directly or indirectly. To ascertain whether means are reasonably likely to be used to identify the natural person, account should be taken of all objective factors, such as the costs of and the amount of time required for identification, taking into consideration the available technology at the time of the processing and technological developments. The principles of data protection should therefore not apply to anonymous information, namely information which does not relate to an identified or identifiable natural person or to personal data rendered anonymous in such a manner that the data subject is not or no longer identifiable. This Regulation does not therefore concern the processing of such anonymous information, including for statistical or research purposes."
From these I think it should be obvious that forum comments may be (and even probably are) considered to be personal data under the GDPR.
Note that it also includes indirect identification, which means that if combined with other data it would identify you. Recital 30 might be of use here too;
>Natural persons may be associated with online identifiers provided by their devices, applications, tools and protocols, such as internet protocol addresses, cookie identifiers or other identifiers such as radio frequency identification tags. This may leave traces which, in particular when combined with unique identifiers and other information received by the servers, may be used to create profiles of the natural persons and identify them.
Whether HN has a log of it is an assumption I don’t have a way to verify. Lots of privacy-conscious sites purge connection logs often and/or refuse to keep them for this very reason.
The GDPR refers to "personal data". Everything you say above about PII is true of personal data under GDPR.
That is wrong. The GDPR does not make reference to citizenship.
It explicitly notes that it applies when either when the data subject is physically in the EU/EEA, or when the data controller/processor is based in the EU/EEA.