BLUSERs

Hoddie

Really enjoying BL members getting their knickers in a twist because inactive user accounts have been anonymised, as required under EU law (and which now applies given that BL is part of TLG. Well, it always applied but that's a whole other argument...). The EU may have been front and centre with such privacy laws, but other jurisdictions are catching up quickly.

Anyways, I'm genuinely happy that BL is stepping out of the lawless void that is online commerce and into the real world. We have TLG to thank for this and it bodes well for eventually helping to get rid of the dodgy sellers who openly flout the law on a daily basis.

I'm not currently on BL but I see evidence of them starting to comply with relevant legislation as a good thing. We need a healthy aftermarket where buyers aren't scared off by sellers enforcing draconian terms, charging illegal fees and then using feedback extortion/NPB against buyers because they had the temerity to assert their legal rights of redress when things went wrong.

Calibrick

Well said, @hoddie! I share your opinion, this is a great thing for the the aftermarket! :-)

bricksinbins

I'm not up to speed on this stuff so out of curiosity, what does anonymising inactive accounts mean? And I assume this is different then from active accounts. Why?

leopard37

It was users who had not logged into their account for over 6 months. I believe it had something to do with new acceptance of storing account information or privacy laws.

Hoddie

In the EU, it's been the case for a while now that companies should not digitally store personally identifiable information (name, address, email, etc.) longer than was absolutely necessary. In 2018 the EU clarified and strengthened the position with the general data protection regulations (GDPR).

For example, if a customer's last interaction with a company was 10 years ago, there's no legal reason for that company to retain the customer's personal information. They can retain all non-identifiable information - such as is the case with BL and user submissions - but must anonymise any personal details. If Joe Bloggs submits an inventory but then doesn't log in for a couple of years, BL must change the log to say 'inventory provided by BLUSER_120278' instead of 'inventory provided by Joe Bloggs'.

GDPR also requires companies to restrict access to personally identifiable data to those who strictly need it, even internally (in other words, those in the warehouse packing orders should not be shown sales history of the customer, or their email address or a photo, etc.). And it's not permitted for a company to request that a user authorises the sharing of their data with 'everyone and anyone' - there has to be a legitimate reason relevant to the relationship between the user and the company.

Those companies dealing with EU-based consumers are bound by the regulations. Often, those companies outside the EU completely ignore their responsibilities because enforcement is difficult (though not impossible), but BL suddenly have GDPR on their radar no doubt due to the purchase by TLG. They have updated their terms and begun to restrict access to customer details.

bricksinbins

Ok, makes sense. Thanks for the explanation and that explains the BLUSER stuff I saw on BL.

Graham

Ahh we have privacy... Makes you feel kinda warm and fuzzy.
Thank you government!
Oh wait that doesn’t include government. Strange how they always exempt themselves from the laws they pass...

Calibrick

I know, right, @graham? :-(

Hoddie

In the EU at least, government departments and agencies aren't supposed to share information between themselves or third parties without a court order or the individual's permission - or in cases where it's necessary and is brought to the user's attention - for some reason UK driving licence application forms are processed in the USA, and the form tells you this up front.

I used to work at HMRC (the UK's tax office) and often received calls from council departments trying to illegally share info on debtors, so I know that it goes on. But, in theory at least...