Whois vs GDPR, latest news

Wed May 23 15:59:57 UTC 2018

> On May 23, 2018, at 08:53, John Levine <johnl at iecc.com> wrote:
> 
> In article <CAE-M_OBdDv1+DFto=h1O-ghLbs2TQ_x_P9kuw4LS24mSBaw9Ww at mail.gmail.com> you write:
>> I asked one of the EU regulators at RSA how they intended to enforce GDPR
>> violations on businesses that don't operate in their jurisdiction and
>> without hesitation he told me they'd use civil courts to sue the offending
>> companies.
> 
> He probably thought you meant if he's in France and the business is in
> Ireland, since they're both in the EU.  Outside the EU, on the other
> hand, ...
> 
> If they try to sue in, say, US courts, the US court will ask them to
> explain why a US court should try a suit under foreign law.  There is
> a very short list of reasons to do that, and this isn't on it.

Actually, due to treaty, it is. At least according to some lawyers that have been advising ICANN stakeholder group(s). 

> 
> I'm not saying that one should gratuitously poke EU regulators in the
> eye but it's pretty silly to imagine that they will waste time
> harassing people over whom they have no jurisdiction and against whom
> they have no recourse.

True. But unfortunately, companies in the US (and many other places with treaties with the EU, including Mauritius, for example) don’t fit that description. 

Owen