Popular read-it-later service Instapaper has temporarily suspended user access across Europe as it comes to terms with the EU's impending General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) laws.
In a message sent to users yesterday – subsequently shared via Twitter courtesy of tech reporter Owen Williams - the bookmarking service said it needs extra time to make necessary changes to comply with GDPR before the deadline on Friday, May 25.
Starting tomorrow May 24, 2018, access to the Instapaper service will be temporarily unavailable for residents in Europe as we continue to make changes in light of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which goes into effect May 25, 2018. We apologize for any inconvenience, and we intend to restore access as soon as possible.
If you have any questions about your account, would like us to generate an export of your saves, or want to check in on our progress, please let us know at support@help.instapaper.com. We look forward to having the same Instapaper service you know and love accessible in Europe in the very near future. Thanks for your patience.
Instapaper gave no indication how long the service would be suspended, and offered no further details on why it has waited until now to take action, almost two years after companies were informed of the GDPR timeline.
Created by Marco Arment in 2008, Instapaper was one of the first apps that implemented read-it-later functionality, and it was certainly one of the most widely used and well-known apps in the genre. The service was acquired by Pinterest in 2016, which may have complicated efforts for GDPR compliance given the potential for data sharing between the parent company and its subsidiary.
Businesses that interact with users in the EU must comply with the GDPR law, which sets out requirements on the collection, storage, and handling of personal data. Companies who fail to do so by the deadline risk heavy fines.
On Wednesday, Apple launched a new Data & Privacy website, which provides customers in the European Union, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, and Switzerland with the ability to download all the personal information tied to their Apple ID account.
(Via The Verge.)
Top Rated Comments
If anything I'd expect they'd be more prepared for GDPR if owned by a larger site such as Pinterest. Were Pinterest asleep for the past few years?
Of note, and I hadn't thought about it until today, MacRumors is one of the few businesses/sites that hasn't notified me about GDPR yet, and I'm in a European country so covered by the regulations. I presume MacRumors is going to be complying with the regulations?
GDPR was passed 2 years ago. Plenty of time. Little interest which is surprising anyways, as the fines are not a joke.
[doublepost=1527186065][/doublepost]The government doesn't have to e-mail anyone about laws. There are official places to check for laws that everyone has to abide. And much less labor required. If you want to operate with EU data, you must comply with EU law, as simple as that. Thank you GDPR for imposing, for the first time ever, a proper data protection law that affects the whole planet.
[doublepost=1527186241][/doublepost]You should consider reading GDPR again... is more than just unification and generalization of privacy and data protection legislations of EU members.
Some EU countries had harsh ones already (Spain for example), and some others not so harsh (Sweden for example). GDPR sides with the individual and the control that the individual can do over his data. No more companies will be collecting all data from a user just because hard disk or data processing is cheap, they will have to show clearly they need that data for the business. Companies will have to give that data to the user and guarantee the user has the right to delete such data.