Thread

1. jasonkester · 1789886970 · focus · HN ↗

   Anybody who has ever run a website with customer data can instantly understand why they do it this way. I don't see any malice.

   It's simple, really. You have a website where people can upload their cat photos. There's a delete button. People click the delete button, read the "This will really Delete your Thing. It's Permanent. You CAN'T GET IT BACK!" warning, and click the confirm button.

   Then you get an angry email (and twitter post, and blog entry, and Reddit mob) saying "I can't believe you deleted my photo without asking. That was my favorite cat photo it was my only copy I'LL SUE YOU!@!!"

   So you go into your console and flip the .isActive bit back to 1 on that photo, send off your stock apology, and get on with your day.

   To run your business any other way is madness. You're not training or selling or otherwise misusing that cat photo. You just don't want to deal with that hassle every day. So you "delete" things by moving them someplace where they're not public anymore.

   It's just what you do...

   1. Bitu79 · 1789887273 · focus · HN ↗

      This cannot be an excuse. The data is clearly used for AI training. If that were actually the case, they would state the truth on the UI buttons instead of lying, and they wouldn't have banned me from VRP either. They lie constantly and they do not comply with the law. I have been writing to them for almost a year, and not a single human has ever replied to me—even their DPO is just an automated script!

Unofficial Hacker News client; not affiliated with Y Combinator.