On: MTA Open Data Challenge

[deathanatos]

"Doctor it hurts…", IANAL.

I mean … as I understand the Europeans' law, only if you're doing dumb things to begin with, like giving users' data away to random 3rd parties hellbent on shoving "ads" down one's throat. If you had just made this site a simple HTML page that just had the information the MTA wanted to convey on it, AIUI the EU doesn't have a problem.

Which … the MTA does appear to be, sending requests to Google, LinkedIn, and some other CDNs.

I also don't think the MTA has any EU presence, so what are they going to do?

[JumpCrisscross → deathanatos]

> as I understand the Europeans' law, only if you're doing dumb things to begin with, like giving users' data away to random 3rd parties hellbent on shoving "ads" down one's throat

There is a massive difference between complying with the law and proving you comply. (Think: IRS audit.)

> don't think the MTA has any EU presence, so what are they going to do?

Send letters. The MTA would be obligated to respond to them, which means legal bills.

[deathanatos → JumpCrisscross]

> There is a massive difference between complying with the law and proving you comply. (Think: IRS audit.)

> The MTA would be obligated to respond to them, which means legal bills.

…why would the MTA be obligated to respond to them? They've no jurisdiction/sovereignty over an American transit agency.

Why would they audit themselves against laws that don't apply to them? (Again, jurisdiction?) I've never worked for a company that audited itself against every law from every nation on Earth; we complied with the laws where we had a presence and did business.

[returningfory2 → deathanatos]

> ...AIUI the EU doesn't have a problem

We're talking about a US transit agency. Even thinking about whether the EU has a problem with the agency's website is sort of absurd to begin with.

[warkdarrior → returningfory2]

Did this US transit agency, MTA, obtain permission from all EU citizens who traveled on the MTA to share their data with the whole world?

[JumpCrisscross → warkdarrior]

> Did this US transit agency, MTA, obtain permission from all EU citizens who traveled on the MTA

Not how jurisdiction works.

[returningfory2 → warkdarrior]

Eh this conversation has nothing to do with people traveling on MTA services. We’re talking about people accessing the MTA website. Two different things.