Given that YC supports startups operating globally, GDPR compliance seems like a basic expectation. Is there a particular reason for the lack of compliance? Could someone from YC clarify their stance on this?
About the youtube thing. Does anyone here know? If you have an iframe and that iframe sets analytics cookies on it's own domain, do you have to have cookie banner?
If a YC-funded startup wants to operate in Europe, presumably they'd have to follow those laws. But YC itself? Are they under any obligation?
What "targets" means exactly in this case I'm not sure, but given that YC actively markets to EU based companies too, I would think that GDPR applies to them as well.
Here's a link with more info: https://gdpr.eu/compliance-checklist-us-companies/
> Why US companies must comply with the GDPR
> The GDPR applies to companies outside the EU because it is extra-territorial in scope. Specifically, the law is designed not so much to regulate businesses as it is to protect the data subjects’ rights. A “data subject” is any person in the EU, including citizens, residents, and even, perhaps, visitors.
> What this means in practice is that if you collect any personal data of people in the EU, you are required to comply with the GDPR. The data could be in the form of email addresses in a marketing list or the IP addresses of those who visit your website. (See our article explaining what is considered personal data under the GDPR.)
> You may be wondering how the European Union will enforce a law in territory it does not control. The fact is, foreign governments help other countries enforce their laws through mutual assistance treaties and other mechanisms all the time. GDPR Article 50 addresses this question directly. So far, the EU’s reach has not been tested, but no doubt data protection authorities are exploring their options on a case-by-case basis.
There’s no law (of this level) that could force someone around the globe to do something for someone else. You can only make a public contract like “you do X here or we block you in here and that’s all we can do unless you come here”. It doesn’t work like “all of you over there must do X now”.
> You may be wondering how the European Union will enforce a law in territory it does not control. The fact is, foreign governments help other countries enforce their laws through mutual assistance treaties and other mechanisms all the time. GDPR Article 50 addresses this question directly. So far, the EU’s reach has not been tested, but no doubt data protection authorities are exploring their options on a case-by-case basis.
It sounds like a fancy way to say "Yeah, we can't do anything to you NOW, but we're hoping that other countries will listen and help us enforce this via treaty in the future..."
Otherwise, you have about as much to fear from Europe as you have from the Chinese for hosting pictures of Winnie the Pooh.
That's not quite correct. If you aren't in the union, whether it applies or not is covered by Article 3(2). That gives two situations where it applies. It applies if you are handling the data of people in the Union if the processing activities are related to:
(a) "the offering of goods or services, irrespective of whether a payment of the data subject is required, to such data subjects in the Union"
or
(b) "the monitoring of their behaviour as far as their behaviour takes place within the Union"
There's a recital (number 23) that provides more detail for (a). It says "In order to determine whether such a controller or processor is offering goods or services to data subjects who are in the Union, it should be ascertained whether it is apparent that the controller or processor envisages offering services to data subjects in one or more Member States in the Union. Whereas 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".
So for example if you ran a forum for fans of your local community theater group in some small US city, and some Europeans found it and joined, that probably wouldn't require you to comply with GDPR unless you were doing behavioral monitoring that fell under 3(2)(b).