Today there was an important ruling from the European Court of Justice (kind of like the European Union’s version of the U.S. Supreme Court). In essence, it says that I as the admin of the Carpe Ludum Facebook fanpage and the Carpe Ludum Twitter presence (which are Facebook and Twitter community extensions to this actual, independent website) am co-responsible for ensuring it’s users’ data privacy – YOUR data privacy – according to European data privacy laws. Sadly, I cannot fulfil this responsibility because the Facebook and Twitter platforms do not give me the tools for this. Facebook fanpage and Twitter account administration tools are not supporting GDPR demands yet. Therefore, until the time this changes and Facebook and Twitter become fully compliant with GDPR also for fanpages / fan presences, I see full responsibility of ensuring Carpe Ludum Facebook fanpage and Carpe Ludum Twitter presence user’s data privacy – YOUR data privacy – with Facebook and Twitter.
Everyone who does not feel well with this statement has two options:
- Unlike/unsubscribe the Carpe Ludum Facebook fanpage or unfollow the Carpe Ludum Twitter presence immediately and subscribe to Carpe Ludum’s RSS newsfeed instead to keep up to date.
- Understand and accept how Facebook and Twitter manage their users’ data privacy by reading Facebook’s and Twitter’s terms and conditions.
That being said, I strongly believe that it is not the intention of European data privacy laws to shut down hobbyist retrogaming projects like Carpe Ludum. Just an unwanted side effect on the way to strengthen data privacy where it really matters. Unlike many other hobbyist Facebook fanpage and Twitter presence administrators, I explicitly choose NOT to shut down the Carpe Ludum Facebook fanpage or Carpe Ludum Twitter presence. Instead I leave it up and explain the difficult matter to it’s users. This is meant to be a tiny contribution to make things (improved data privacy) better for all of us. This is optimistic, maybe even naive. In case I get sued for it, I’ll let you all know…
The initially mentioned European Court ruling is only a step in a process. Further rulings on the matter are expected. I will monitor the evolution closely. At the current point in time, I see no reason to panic (i.e. shut down this page, presence, or even website) from my hobbyist, non-profit point of view. It may be that further rulings create a situation requiring me to shut down. But I am optimistic that this is just a worst case scenario.
