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Comment by argvargc | Hacker News Reader

IANAL, but can't they just word a disclaimer and checkbox? Something like:

"Our European visitors are important to us... but the cost of GDPR-compliance for a US-focused site is high. For your own GDPR protection, we advise you not to access our site. However, if you choose to do so, you agree to waive any and all rights granted to you under the GDPR. [ ] Agree"

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Which is like saying “this building doesn’t follow engineering best practices, it may fall on your head at any moment” and expect to get away with that.

Isn't it more like a website in one country rightly stating it's not bound by the laws in another country?

You asked:

> IANAL, but can't they just word a disclaimer and checkbox?

The answer is no, as far as GDPR is concerned, if they want to process and/or sell data of EU citizens or residents they have to follow some rules. I’ve no idea how the EU plans to enforce this regulation outside of the EEA, but it’s beside the point (as in it’s not what you asked)

Would this mean all a non-EU website needs to do to safely serve GDPR-bound persons is trash any data collected from them?

Or not collect it in the first place. For those newspaper blocking traffic from the EU, it may be enough to remove all trackers

Correct, you're not a lawyer. IANAL either but I know enough to know people can't generally waive their rights. If they could then every website would just say "you are waiving your GDPR rights if you continue using this site" and be done with it.

I simply thought jurisdiction would be relevant here. The EU can make whatever rules it wants to cover its own citizens, and beyond that - they can't enforce them.

Apologies by the way, re-reading my post it comes across overly dismissive. I didn't intend it that way.

Thank you. This made my day. I didn't feel put-out (well, no more than I'm used to!), but it's refreshing and affirming to see empathy and self-accountability here on HN.

I will try to do better myself. I'm sure I am sometimes guilty of same.

> IANAL

Maybe you are not a lawyer; but perhaps you should actually read the GDPR before suggesting that it's possible to waive all one's rights under the GDPR.

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