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Reddit makes it impossible to delete PII, refuses to do it itself violating GDPR

Reddit violates CCPA

https://youtu.be/1B0GGsDdyHI

This video shows that Reddit refused to delete all comments and posts of its users when they close their account via a CCPA / GDPR request. Posts and comment...

cross-posted from: https://programming.dev/post/251752

It is important to note that although this may be a result of Reddit's UI not displaying the content users posted to now-private subreddits, it remains a problem. Additionally, I agree with the author's comments in the video description, as it appears strategically unrealistic for Reddit to ask that users manually delete the content themselves.

This is particularly true when considering that many automated methods to accomplish this task will be hindered by Reddit's upcoming API pricing changes. Furthermore, Reddit has demonstrated a recurring pattern of rolling back databases using historical backups, thereby disregarding user deletion requests that were submitted prior to the database rollback.

See similar discussion of this video on Hacker News:

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36482168

39 comments

r0bbbo

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I overwrote then deleted all of my comments a few weeks ago—they were all back in their original form last week. I’ve since run the process again and already old comments are starting to reappear

TemporaryBoyfriend

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The best part about this is that the more they do this, the more it costs them. Every action, especially disk transactions, cost them money. Just log in every day, run your deletion utility, and cost them a couple bucks more for being pricks about it.

agressivelyPassive

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That's peanuts for them.

If you want to hurt them, make the platform unusable. Post real looking, but garbage comments in a semi automated way (random comments every few seconds, while you're scrolling through. Vote randomly, downvote everything on /new...

Auzy

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Exactly this. Post blank photos, etc. Doing things like posting pictures of John Oliver just changes the conversation but still generates the traffic.

Be boring. Up vote garbage, and force them to pay mods like other platforms do.

I'm actually surprised digg didn't try to get back into it again

clearedtoland

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All the little cracks that an angry and motivated audience can discover. It’s like pissing off a sibling…

BobQuasit

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I don't know about deletions, but I requested my data for takeout more than two weeks ago and I still haven't received it.

dannoffs

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Same. I'm in California so I did a CCPA request, according to what I read they have 45 days to comply, which can be extended to 90 with notice. I definitely plan on filing a complaint if they don't comply.

Dusty

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Thank you for the link, I did the same on all of my accounts. I'll be filing a complaint for each one if when they don't comply.

HughJanus

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Same

flux

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I also requested perhaps a bit more than two weeks ago and got it a couple days ago.

Used https://github.com/xavdid/reddit-user-to-sqlite/ to put it into a more structured form. I guess I should give Datasetts a try to easily browse it, the project's README links to it.

thepaperpilot

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ooh, that looks like a handy thing I'd like to store! I'm a bit worried I'll have lost some of my saved links because I think I heard they only keep the most recent ~1000 or so.

thebardingreen

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Same.

s0phia

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Reddit is on a streak of bad decisions!

ruffsl

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Found the full transcription for the video from OP author:

https://lemmy.world/post/647059

Note to self: use youtube.com instead of youtu.be
for better cross post detection and lemmy integration

SSUPII

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Do you know how well youtube-nocookie federates? Its an official Youtube service if you didn't know.

https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/1B0GGsDdyHI

Your video, but on nocookie.

ruffsl

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That looks neet. Although I suspect this would succumb to the same cross post discoverability issues where URLs pointing to the same video would not match string for string. A better approach might be to facilitate inline embedding of HTML video players into Lemmy using browser extensions, where user scripts could be used to preview youtube links or re-write them to nocookie, allowing the Lemmy web UI to still avoid the use of cross-origin scripts by default.

https://programming.dev/post/135777

storksforlegs

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Does changing your comments to or replacing them with garbled text work if reddit wont delete?

Lazycog

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Seems like it worked for me. Last I checked my deleted account's comments are still up and display replaced text.

I overwrote my comments with a message that clearly states why I overwrote my comments and deleted my account.

Kir

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This is great. If we coul do it somehow automatically, it would greatly damage the platform.

Tzeentch

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There is a way, the Power Delete Suite script can overwrite all your comments with any message you give it, and then follow it up with mass deletion if you wish, only catch is that the original doesn't account for reddits current rate limiting and so misses stuff , but this fork of it seemed to do the trick for me

https://github.com/pkolyvas/PowerDeleteSuite

Lazycog

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There are programs for that! Even an app AFAIK, but sadly I don't remember the good ones right now. Maybe someone could pitch in and suggest?

agressivelyPassive

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That's probably how they detect it in the first place. A "normale" user won't delete hundreds of comments in a row.

thebardingreen

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I was thinking of editing mine to be links to information about Lemmy.

GiantBasil

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I deleted some, but not all of my reddit posts and they're not back yet and some people had their garbled posts restored. So to m the trick might be doing it in batches at different times, delete some, garble some, maybe change some to lorem ipsum.

Generator

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On r/ModCoord https://old.reddit.com/r/ModCoord/comments/14k0ffm/re_alleged_ccpagdpr_violations_and_reddit/

knaugh

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as much as I'm sick of reddit, posts and comments are not PII

philpo

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*Sights. Every time we discuss this. Every fucking time. * Under the GDPR are they are. See §4 part 1.

knaugh

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Ok? I haven't discussed this before.

Dohnakun

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Now you did.

variaatio

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It can be, depending on whether PII was involved. Just being publicly published doesn't make it not be PII. It can be or not be. GDPR counts PII widely, since it also includes stuff that can be combined with other information to make for identifying the person.

Frankly this is one of those cases, where we need a court ruling to set precedent on what is counted in and what is counted out.

knaugh

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I find it hard to believe a court would decide that a post someone intentionally made to a public forum could be considered private information after the fact. But I suppose I'm not vary familiar with the wording of GDPR. It feels a bit like someone giving away business cards with a phone number, and being upset that people don't return them when you ask months later. Obviously it is scummy for reddit to not delete content when requested, but that doesn't seem to be the sort of thing the law is targeted towards

variaatio

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intentionally made to a public forum could be considered private information after the fact

Well that's the thing. The criterion is Personally identifying information. Not private information.

Remember GDPR includes right to be forgotten. Person is allowed to change their mind. At one point they might have wanted and agreed for that information being readily publicly available. Then they have right to change their mind "Nope, don't want the information out still".

As I said. Just because it has been publicly published, doesn't remove the protection categorization GDPR offers.

It is just then PII you at the moment want to be publicly available. Ofcourse deleting anything completely of the net later is not possible, but the point is when informed of deletion order, that organization is not supposed to be part of the "this persons information is published, when they don't want it" problem anymore. Company can't control all of Internet, but they can control their own conduct and within that limit they must comply to privacy order. Even if it doesn't perfectly swipe the information from all of internet.

It is utterly different mentality and regime from "private/secret" or "public/its gone now" system. In this other system privacy is on going process and scale. It can move two ways instead of just unidirectionally. Person has right to ask and demand for what has been public to be made more private. As they also can choose to make private more public.

EU and its citizens have right to choose what principles they base their privacy laws on and they chose this different kind of regime. Other regions and countries are free to choose otherwise in their own jurisdiction (though EU does this super claim of "EU data subject involved, we claim jurisdiction")

knaugh

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Thank you for the more thorough explanation, I'm from the US and not used to these kind of sweeping consumer protection laws lol. Does that mean Lemmy is also in violation? Does deleting a post on my home instance notify federated instances to delete it as well?

blindsight

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Not in general, maybe, but if someone posts their first name in one place, post about their neighborhood in another place, and mention their job in a third place that's enough to uniquely identify them. Or who's to say there isn't a comment with someone's full name and address?

Unless they manually scan all comments for PII, there might be PII in any comment. Even something innocuous like a picture of a sign can doxx someone, so it's not obvious, either.

anon_cloud

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Keep inviting people to Fediverse as a positive reaction to this.