May 03 13:55 2018, Robert Bashe wrote to Markus Reschke:
RB> If mail movers are no longer allowed to "move mail" for fear that the RB> origin and destination are known (how would you avoid that?), that RB> would be the end of fido. Do you see any alternative?
The GDPR doesn't apply to moving mails directly. That's covered by other laws for telecommunication. The GDPR is about personal data collected, processed and stored by organizations. Moving mail will create personal data in log files for example. But this is no problem since that data is required to make Fidonet work. It's similar to CDRs (Call Data Records) of a telco.
RB> However, I think it will be quite a few years before the RB> powers-that-be realize that fido even exists, much less try to RB> regulate it. Most outsiders probably don't even know what's involved. RB> So I, for one, am not worried too much about the future. The present RB> is worrying enough.
Of course we could simply "fly below the radar". But one single incident would cause havoc since there wouldn't be any of the required documentation and we couldn't process any GDPR requests. We can't ignore the GDPR! Either we have to comply or we have to switch off our nodes, unless we get an official statement from an office for privacy protection that the GDPR doesn't apply to Fidonet. Based on what the guides of two offices state there's no exemption for Fidonet. It's sad, but this is the currect situation.
