Today I got something in the mail from the state where I live, which has listed my BBS web site (www.digitaldistortionbbs.com), and apparently they think I'm running a business. They say I must comply with labor laws by purchasing labor law notices to hang around my "business". In all the time I've had my BBS web site available, this is the first time I've gotten such a notice. I'm wondering why they think I'm running a business.. Has this happened to any other sysops?

Nightfox
--- SBBSecho 3.12-Win32
* Origin: Digital Distortion: digdist.synchro.net (21:1/137)

Re: BBS web site seen as business site?
By: Nightfox to All on Tue Feb 09 2021 09:41 pm

Today I got something in the mail from the state where I live, which has listed my BBS web site (www.digitaldistortionbbs.com), and apparently they think I'm running a business. They say I must comply with labor laws by purchasing labor law notices to hang around my "business". In all the time I've had my BBS web site available, this is the first time I've gotten such a notice. I'm wondering why they think I'm running a business.. Has this happened to any other sysops?

I've not heard of that before. You may need to write them a letter and explain that you will comply with all laws, if I ever put a business together.

Ttyl :-),
Al

... I used to think I was indecisive, but now I'm not so sure.
--- SBBSecho 3.12-Linux
* Origin: The Rusty MailBox - Penticton, BC Canada (21:4/106.1)

On 09 Feb 2021 at 09:41p, Nightfox pondered and said...

listed my BBS web site (www.digitaldistortionbbs.com), and apparently
they think I'm running a business. They say I must comply with labor
laws by purchasing labor law notices to hang around my "business". In

Sounds dodge to me... if they are a bone-fide outfit then you should be able
to contact them and seek clarity as to why they think you are running a business etc.. how you hang notices around it etc... it smells fishy to me.

--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A46 2020/08/26 (Windows/32)
* Origin: Agency BBS | Dunedin, New Zealand | agency.bbs.nz (21:1/101)

Today I got something in the mail from the state where I live, which has listed my BBS web site (www.digitaldistortionbbs.com), and apparently they think I'm running a business.

https://sos.oregon.gov/business/Pages/business-consumer-complaints.aspx

- Andre
--- SBBSecho 3.12-Linux
* Origin: Radio Mentor BBS - bbs.radiomentor.org (21:3/117)

Today I got something in the mail from the state where I live, which
has listed my BBS web site (www.digitaldistortionbbs.com), and
apparently they think I'm running a business. They say I must comply
with labor laws by purchasing labor law notices to hang around my "business". In all the time I've had my BBS web site available, this
is the first time I've gotten such a notice. I'm wondering why they
think I'm running a business.. Has this happened to any other sysops?

When I had my product design business, I used to get these kinds of
"shakedown" notices all the time. I usually just threw them in the trash.
Many had fake official seals of California or the City of San Francisco
on them. Often they'd just be scam-related. Not sure if that's the case
here...



|03[] |12Alpha
|02TheDrunkenGamer.com|06:|108888
|08A Talisman BBS


--- Talisman v0.10-dev (Linux/x86_64)
* Origin: The Drunken Gamer BBS (21:4/158)

Hello Nightfox!

** On Tuesday 09.02.21 - 21:41, Nightfox wrote to All:

Today I got something in the mail from the state where I live, which has listed my BBS web site (www.digitaldistortionbbs.com), and apparently they think I'm running a business. They say I must comply with labor laws by purchasing labor law notices to hang around my "business". In all the
time I've had my BBS web site available, this is the first time I've
gotten such a notice. I'm wondering why they think I'm running a business.. Has this happened to any other sysops?

Maybe they are just gathering all the .COM listings that meet
the criteria for your location and automatically assume a biz
because .com = commercial?

I would just ignore the notice.


--- OpenXP 5.0.48
* Origin: (} Pointy McPointFace (21:4/106.21)

Re: BBS web site seen as business site?
By: Ogg to Nightfox on Wed Feb 10 2021 10:10 pm

Maybe they are just gathering all the .COM listings that meet
the criteria for your location and automatically assume a biz
because .com = commercial?

I would just ignore the notice.

Could be.

Nightfox
--- SBBSecho 3.12-Win32
* Origin: Digital Distortion: digdist.synchro.net (21:1/137)

Re: BBS web site seen as business site?
By: Ogg to Nightfox on Wed Feb 10 2021 10:10 pm

Hello Nightfox!

** On Tuesday 09.02.21 - 21:41, Nightfox wrote to All:

Today I got something in the mail from the state where I live, which has listed my BBS web site
(www.digitaldistortionbbs.com), and apparently they think I'm running a business. They say I must comply with labor law
by purchasing labor law notices to hang around my "business". In all the
time I've had my BBS web site available, this is the first time I've gotten such a notice. I'm wondering why they think I'm running a business.. Has this happened to any other sysops?

Maybe they are just gathering all the .COM listings that meet
the criteria for your location and automatically assume a biz
because .com = commercial?

I would just ignore the notice.

It sounds like it to me.

Scam at a scale. They only need one of two people to fall for it to make it profitable.

They run lots of those things everywhere. Like GDPR adaptations and the like. Geez.

--
gopher://gopher.richardfalken.com/1/richardfalken
--- SBBSecho 3.12-Linux
* Origin: Palantir * palantirbbs.ddns.net * Pensacola, FL * (21:2/138)

Arelor wrote (2021-02-11):

They run lots of those things everywhere. Like GDPR adaptations and the like. Geez.

I hope your BBS is unavailable to users from the EU, otherwise the GDPR would apply.

---
* Origin: . (21:3/102)

Re: BBS web site seen as business site?
By: Oli to Arelor on Fri Feb 12 2021 11:58 am

Arelor wrote (2021-02-11):

They run lots of those things everywhere. Like GDPR adaptations and the like. Geez.

I hope your BBS is unavailable to users from the EU, otherwise the GDPR would apply.

I have no BBS. I am a leecher and useone somebody else set.

I think that with so many BBS and so few users, it does not make much sense to boot your own, unless you do it for the sheer
fun of it.

--
gopher://gopher.richardfalken.com/1/richardfalken
--- SBBSecho 3.12-Linux
* Origin: Palantir * palantirbbs.ddns.net * Pensacola, FL * (21:2/138)

Arelor wrote (2021-02-11):

They run lots of those things everywhere. Like GDPR adaptations and the like. Geez.

I hope your BBS is unavailable to users from the EU, otherwise the GDPR would apply.

---
* Origin: . (21:3/102)

--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A47 2021/01/26 (Raspberry Pi/32)
* Origin: 2o fOr beeRS bbs>>>20ForBeers.com:1337 (21:3/102)

I hope your BBS is unavailable to users from the EU, otherwise the GDPR would apply.

Possibly not.... look at FB, despite being based in Ireland, they refuse GDPR for anyone based outside the EU. Ergo if you're outside the EU although you might be breaking an EU law it may not fly....

Spec


*** THE READER V4.50 [freeware]
--- SuperBBS v1.17-3 (Eval)
* Origin: Scrawled in haste at The Lower Planes (21:3/101)

Re: BBS web site seen as business site?
By: Spectre to Oli on Sat Feb 13 2021 05:55 am

I hope your BBS is unavailable to users from the EU, otherwise the GDPR would apply.

Possibly not.... look at FB, despite being based in Ireland, they refuse GDPR for anyone based outside the EU. Ergo if you'r
outside the EU although you might be breaking an EU law it may not fly....

Spec

*** THE READER V4.50 [freeware]

European administrastors make it an infringement to operate a business out of the EU and not follow GDPR practices when serving
EU customers.

Which is prety much moronic and unforceable.

--
gopher://gopher.richardfalken.com/1/richardfalken
--- SBBSecho 3.12-Linux
* Origin: Palantir * palantirbbs.ddns.net * Pensacola, FL * (21:2/138)

Arelor wrote (2021-02-15):

European administrastors make it an infringement to operate a business
out of the EU and not follow GDPR practices when serving EU customers.

Which is prety much moronic and unforceable.

and works very effectively for regulating Google, Facebook and other big companies.

---
* Origin: . (21:3/102)

Re: BBS web site seen as business site?
By: Oli to Arelor on Mon Feb 15 2021 03:31 pm

Arelor wrote (2021-02-15):

European administrastors make it an infringement to operate a business out of the EU and not follow GDPR practices when serving EU customers.

Which is prety much moronic and unforceable.

and works very effectively for regulating Google, Facebook and other big companies.

Only because they are operating in the EU too.

I'd argue Google, Facebook and other big companies act as shitty as ever under GDPR. It only costs them a bit more money to operate :-)

--
gopher://gopher.richardfalken.com/1/richardfalken
--- SBBSecho 3.12-Linux
* Origin: Palantir * palantirbbs.ddns.net * Pensacola, FL * (21:2/138)

Arelor wrote (2021-02-15):

European administrastors make it an infringement to operate a
business out of the EU and not follow GDPR practices when serving
EU customers.

Which is prety much moronic and unforceable.

and works very effectively for regulating Google, Facebook and other
big companies.

Only because they are operating in the EU too.

Even if they had no office and no servers in the EU, they couldn't get around the GDPR. If it were not possible to sue them, they would still lose users and businesses.

I'd argue Google, Facebook and other big companies act as shitty as ever under GDPR. It only costs them a bit more money to operate :-)

before they were 96% shitty, now it's only 93% ;)

And we have more and bigger cookie popups on the websites, yeah!

---
* Origin: . (21:3/102)

Re: BBS web site seen as business site?
By: Oli to Arelor on Tue Feb 16 2021 08:53 am

I'd argue Google, Facebook and other big companies act as shitty as ever under GDPR. It only costs them a bit more money
operate :-)

before they were 96% shitty, now it's only 93% ;)

And we have more and bigger cookie popups on the websites, yeah!

Yeah,we get a (yet to be confirmed) 3% reduction in shittiness in Big Tech, and an increase of bandwidth ussage due to lame
cookie warnings and ToS nobody ever reads.

Then your average small business has to hire a Data Protection Delegate for doing what they always did: store the personal
information in a box and never taking out office. Except now there is a document that says that you cannot take the documents
out of office, which turns things magically safe \o/ \o/

Sorry I am so cheerful. It is just that these sort of regulations are the sort of thing you can expect from management in a
firm. You have a workflow set up and management comes down with a Quality Control document you are supposed to read and
implement, but thew document is obviously written by people who either does not know the field or doesn't give a damn if he
increases your workload by 25% for no gain. So you tell management you are very happy with the doc and are implementing it
asap, put it in a closet, and never look at it again.

--
gopher://gopher.richardfalken.com/1/richardfalken
--- SBBSecho 3.12-Linux
* Origin: Palantir * palantirbbs.ddns.net * Pensacola, FL * (21:2/138)

I agree with the previous poster ... it is likely they are monitoring domain registrations.

In the UK some banks have been known in the past to monitor new domain registrations and then send junk mail to the registered address of the
domain.

--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A46 2020/08/26 (Raspberry Pi/32)
* Origin: Tribe BBS (21:1/177)

I think that with so many BBS and so few users, it does not make much sense to boot your own, unless you do it for the sheer
fun of it.

I kind of like the serendipity of my own BBS.

I restarted it because I missed playing with BBS stuff. But eventually it morphed into an art project.

At first I wanted users, now it's basically irrelevant to me. I'd do some things differently if I had five or six daily callers, but instead it's just working on my daily ANSIs (232 ANSIs in, probably about 146 more for the
first complete version.), and using the BBS as my FSXnet message reader.

Not what I envisioned, but a neat outcome nonetheless. The calendar project will probably get extended in other ways, too.

--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A46 2020/08/26 (Linux/64)
* Origin: Storm BBS (21:2/108)

I'd argue Google, Facebook and other big companies act as shitty as ever under GDPR. It only costs them a bit more money to operate :-)

Most of the sites I go to give me the option of setting which cookies I'd accept. So I tend to go with "functional only" and "basic ads" if the latter
is an option.

But Facebook-owned things... Somehow they have a different take on the law,
as there appears to be no way to use Facebook/Instagram/etc. without agreeing to _everything_.

I tend to assume it means some fine will be coming down the pipe for
Facebook, but haven't paid enough attention to know, as I don't care enough.

--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A46 2020/08/26 (Linux/64)
* Origin: Storm BBS (21:2/108)

Re: Re: BBS web site seen as business site?
By: Adept to Arelor on Sun Feb 21 2021 12:42 pm

I'd argue Google, Facebook and other big companies act as shitty as eve under GDPR. It only costs them a bit more money to operate :-)

Most of the sites I go to give me the option of setting which cookies I'd accept. So I tend to go with "functional only" and "basic ads" if the latter is an option.

But Facebook-owned things... Somehow they have a different take on the law, as there appears to be no way to use Facebook/Instagram/etc. without agreein to _everything_.

I tend to assume it means some fine will be coming down the pipe for Facebook, but haven't paid enough attention to know, as I don't care enough.

Well, even non accepting a certain set of cookies is trackable behaviour. Also, cookies are only a small slice of the tracking pie.

Most people just hits "Accept all" in cookie configuration windows. The sort of people who cares to remove cookies from it is the sort of people who, for the most part, has custom privacy filters (adblockers, configurable cookie jars). At least that is my hunch.

Big firms can afford proper risk assesments. Jack and Jane's Furniture Web Store can't calculate the costs of not implementing GDPR vs the costs of implementing it vs the costs of partially implementing it and praying they are not caught. Facebook can.

Facebook can calculate that it is more profitable to skip the parts of the GDPR they dislike because additional revenue is just higher than the potential fine x the chance of getting caught. Big firms do this all the time.

In my opinion, GDPR is like trying to fix slavery. It is like trying to regulate that you cannot flail your slaves more than once per day. It is better than letting people flail slaves at will, and a lot of slave owners will just ignore the law, but in the end of the day you are not going to solve the core issue with such law because it is the base practice that is problematic.


--
gopher://gopher.richardfalken.com/1/richardfalken
--- SBBSecho 3.12-Linux
* Origin: Palantir * palantirbbs.ddns.net * Pensacola, FL * (21:2/138)

On 12 Feb 2021, Shitty said the following...

I thought you were Captain Obvious - sysop of Shadowscope? That's a different person?

Nope. That's me.

-=>Richard Miles<=-
-=>Captain Obvious<=-
-=>bbs.shadowscope.com<=-

... Blessed are the censors; they shall inhibit the earth.

--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A47 2021/08/19 (Windows/32)
* Origin: * Shadowscope BBS * (21:1/157)