Menomuumintaaling; digging deeper

{With apologies to Moomin, the ever curious critter... who ventures forth regardless with Love in heart and mind open, fearless and forthright.}

Yes, I know, it's tedious for some, but the YAMster is a muumin - the hyooman version of the sweet little troll; just can't stop seeking and determined to know. Thus, you are faced with another post on matters etherwobbly. The thing is if one is to continue being a part of the interwebs, it is necessary to understand as much as possible about them. Well... I say that, but just as in flesh-life, we can go along with only local knowledge and not be any worse off, I suppose. Not everyone is a globalist like myself. Bear with me, dear readers. You may find something useful but if not, thanks for stopping by anyway.

GDPR continues to cause disgruntlement. Complaints against the big players continue to be placed, but with very little happening in response. For most of the world, it is all a mystery - but the thing is it ought to put control of personal data firmly back in the hands of the users. That's you and me kids. If you are outside the EU, you will not see the notice which ought to be showing on ALL websites. Regardless of geography, unless you key your servers to ignore requests from any EU addresses, this must show. A large focus has been placed upon the cookies notifications. Google's for our blogs does not comply, as it simply asks the user to 'learn more' or to say 'I agree'. On the right is an example of a fully compliant notice...

Cookies are only a part of the picture, though. Any and all information gathered, both sensitive and non-specific, is supposed to be clearly acknowledged and advised in the updated privacy policies. Google, has forgotten to attend to their Chrome policy, not yet updated. (...Did you even know/remember that Chrome has a p.p. of its own???) Over the past couple of weeks, I have read maybe eighty-seven policies and some of them have definitely missed the mark, some are okay, but still very basic and a few have met the new standard very well indeed. Won't bore you with links; you are encouraged to read the policies of the sites you visit and determine for yourself whether you thought you clearly understood and were happy with how your data is being collected and handled. Those of us under the EU umbrella ought also the be seeing similar requests for data usage on things like email newsletter links and comments...

Definitely not happening on Google at the moment. They are, as mentioned previously, hoping that folk are going to understand that they have a one-size-fits-all policy and it is one of the reasons they are now enforcing Google profile access to comments. If you are part of Google you are deemed to have already given permission. 

Just on the matter of comments and that broken email notification, it may take a while for that to be sorted. If ever. Now that Google profile has been enforced, I am pondering changing to use of the open Google comments which can link to G+ if folk want it to... it enables direct response without the requirement of email knowledge by the blogger, in a similar fashion to that of WordPress. I may experiment with the other blogs where comments are minimal. The thing about changing to that option is that, while all current comment history will be carried into it, if one chooses to return to embedded blogger comments, all history of comments will be lost and that would be a shame as there have been some wonderful discussions here.

Regarding WordPress; I did open a profile there as it was getting more and more difficult to comment on some of my pals' blogs - as they may find in return now. During April, I also opened a site there, to echo the posts for A-Z. I am keeping it 'live' for now, but have no share options, no comments and no contact form - anyone visiting will only be dealing with the cookies thing. I was muumin to know, though, what they were doing that Google wasn't in regard to their individual bloggers' responsibilities on GDPR. 

Clicking the p.p. link in that profile page took me HERE... okay, here's something you may or may not have been aware of. There are two WordPresses. The 'dot org' version, which is simply a software facility from which you can choose any host you wish, and any page generated within the 'dot org' is entirely independent and must fully comply with GDPR. Then there is the 'dot com' version, which does the hosting for you. The way WP works with plugins and such like, however, means again that onus is back on the blogger to ensure they have some form of p.p. posted (unless like myself you keep it entirely basic). [For interested parties, this is a very good article explaining the differences] ... so, the p.p. from the profile takes one to the Automattic p.p. Bloggers are encouraged there to use that policy and adapt it to their individual circumstances (Marvelous Marv has done his). What was slightly annoying, was that I could not find a WP specific p.p. (much as there is no Blogger-specific one for us here)... it took a lot of digging, but eventually reached this page. At least it is there, but it is not front and forward, it does prevaricate and without actually saying so, indicates that WP is a little uncertain of things still, plus it points to the Automattic page.

I was curious about this Automattic... here's what it covers...

They will all be covered by that open-source p.p. This is another thing to be aware of - the bundling of applications. Last week I mentioned Tumblr. That, it is not as independent as many might think. It comes under the umbrella of OATH, which is a marketing company dedicated to gathering your info!!!

...It's a bit like going out in the city, knowing you are at risk of being fleeced or pick-pocketed, but you go anyway because you have to see the sites, enjoy the atmosphere... live life.

The purpose of GDPR is akin to the sorts of preps one might make for that sojourn outside your front door. You can choose just how much interaction or exchange takes place in whichever suburb you travel. For the user, it is a very positive thing. At the moment, though, it's a complete and total schemozzle. 

That's you're lot from me on this subject for the time being. You're either aware or not, care or don't... I've had my say.