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Posts: 1,455 | Thanked: 3,309 times | Joined on Dec 2009 @ Rochester, NY
#9
Originally Posted by arne.anka View Post
common opinion in this part of the world is, that privacy laws in the US are not much to write home about
I believe that's the issue. Transferring user information to/from parties (eg from Reggie to Board) can be a royal nightmare because of the privacy laws in the EU.

In some cases/countries the laws have special requirements when moving from one service provider to another, even if the data in question is overseen by the same legal entity. So changing from one host service to another could trigger this all over again if we need to hop severs 6, 12, or 18 months down the road. The fact that the US lacks such rigid laws in this case would be a plus, because it allows for easier transfer from one host/operator to another in the event it needs to happen again.

The worry isn't that the laws will allow the spread of user information; the general morality and make-up of the Board, Council, and community volunteers should prevent that. The issue is when countries have such strict laws "for the user's safety", it can become a challenge to move or continue a service without making it a huge hassle for everyone involved (as the "Block Buster" example above shows).

As it stands, after the move right now there's a good chance that lots of personal information will be purged from the database because of current laws. We'll likely have account names, and their current hashed passwords. That means people will need to go back in and re-enter their e-mail address, avatar/icons, and the like after logging in on the new server. Forgot your password and want to use e-mail to validate? To bad, that's gone... Forgot to reset that after the change & need it 2 months later? Oops... We need to move the server again in 6 months because of budget concerns? Let's do all that over again!
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