A Tesla Valve - <AUTHOR> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tesla_valve <comment><USER2> I'm assuming this is being posted due to this recent popular video, which I think is a very well made demonstration of how the valve works:

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tcV1EYSUQME](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tcV1EYSUQME)

<comment><USER3> While this is a very cool video, I don't think it demonstrates a Tesla valve that well. In this example, the flame moving isn't really the same thing as a fluid moving with the exception of the gas expansion within the tube that he mentions.

Instead, the flame basically does a BFS (to put it in programmer terms) of the tube instead of actually moving the fluid through the tube. It just also works out that the gas expanding pushes it in the right direction due to the design of the valve.

<comment><USER4> I agree and I don't see why he couldn't have just used a smoke bomb. I don't see the big difficulty of demonstrating this valve like he mentions at the beginning.

<comment><USER5> It would work with fluids also, wouldn't it? It would be cool to watch it submerged in a clear fluid, with a colored fluid forced through in one end.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> This is really clever, but I bet there's all sorts of wacky ways that a 3d version of this could be optimized.

It would be really interesting to throw this design into a learning algorithm with an attached fluid simulation to estimate effectiveness. I wonder if anyone's done this. What learning algorithm would be most effective? And I'd love to see what a learning algorithm would come up with. I suspect an optimized version of this would be really organic looking and have lots of weird spirals and things in non-obvious ways.

<comment><USER7> Akin to this: [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evolved_antenna](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evolved_antenna)

<comment><USER8> And that in turn reminds me of the obscure zig-zaggy convoluted shapes in molecular biology: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B_zD3NxSsD8](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B_zD3NxSsD8)

These are also born out of an evolutionary optimisation process, and probably has a form that is intrinsically linked to its function - we just haven't remotely uncovered yet.

Continuing this line of thought and i am reminded of steganography, hiding complexity in simplicity or objects with several functions. Also encoding by moving things in relation to each other and the mysterious field of emergence. Especially in biology where complexity or patterns can emerge seemingly from nowhere and hide properties that has to do with relations between points instead of the points themselves.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><AUTHOR> Notable Quotes:

Let the future tell the truth and evaluate each one according to his work and accomplishments. The present is theirs; the future, for which I really worked, is mine.

Money does not represent such a value as men have placed upon it. All my money has been invested into experiments with which I have made new discoveries enabling mankind to have a little easier life.

[https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Nikola_Tesla](https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Nikola_Tesla)

</comment><comment><USER9> First time I discovered Tesla's Valve through this post back in 2013 [0]. Author did some extensive testing on its functionality and made some interesting comments/observations about old patents. Highly recommended.

[0] [https://fluidpowerjournal.com/teslas- conduit/](https://fluidpowerjournal.com/teslas-conduit/)

</comment><comment><USER10> This 2000 PhD thesis: [http://www.microplumbers.com/pubs/BardellRL- PhDDissertation....](http://www.microplumbers.com/pubs/BardellRL- PhDDissertation.pdf)

gets into the details (including the math). It also thoroughly defines 'diodicity' (not in wiki or some online dictionaries). I'm wondering if Tesla thought of this while thinking about the operation of diode tubes, and perhaps the idea of electricity as a fluid.

Diode: Fleming valve, 1904. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fleming_valve](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fleming_valve)

</comment><comment><USER11> Here's a video showing a microfluidic version of the valve made using shrinky dinks: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eNBg_1GPuH0&t=9m15s](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eNBg_1GPuH0&t=9m15s)

</comment><comment><USER12> So I have one of these in my office. I 3d printed it and tested it. It doesn't really work, but it does give you an interesting flow curve.

<comment><USER13> IANAFDE (I am not a fluid dynamics engineer).

My gut tells me that for this to work as designed, you would need to ensure the fluid moves exactly as intended, primarily smoothly and evenly. I know nothing about your 3D printer, but if the output is like most I have seen (even high-end ones), I wonder if the surface aberrations in most 3D-printed objects would be enough to impact the fluid flow such that it would be turbulent enough to overcome the intended friction of the channels?

If I had the time, I'd make up a 3D model of this that I could cut on my CNC machine out of a block of aluminum or hard plastic to test.

<comment><USER14> from playing with 3d printed tesla valves , I think that you're right that surface distortions hinder correct flow.

The way that I created a 3d printed tesla valve _that worked_ was by messing with overall scale. Bigger works better, until suddenly it doesn't work at all.

The idea I had previously about why scale may help was the idea that the scale is gradually turning down the amount that the flow error affects the entire system until eventually the mass of the fluid induces more 'error' into the system until the whole thing destabilizes.

In other words : with 3d printed tesla valves it's vital to find the sweet scale spot between surface-level distortion causing chaos when the valve itself is too small and liquid mass causing chaos when the valve is too big.

That margin between chaos and stability may be made wider by using a finer manufacturing technique, like milling or even SLA/SLS versus FDM. I bet that'd give a wider range of usable sizes.

all that said : even professionally made tesla valves must be made with certain scale constraints in mind. I believe those constraints are first-and- foremost a property of the liquid that's going to be transported.

<comment><USER15> I'm pretty impressed what you figured out by just experimenting.

What you are describing is the transition between laminar flow and turbulent flow. The point where this transition occurs is governed by the "Reynolds Number". As you correctly discovered, the Reynolds number is influenced by scale and fluid properties (viscosity and density).

The final missing piece is the speed of the fluid, which explains your observation: "Bigger works better, until suddenly it doesn't work at all."

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER16> Another useful device in that class is the static mixer. A static mixer splits up a fluid flow into several parts and reassembles them in a different arrangement. Multiple stages mix fluids, using less energy than stirring, especially for high-viscosity materials.

<comment><USER17> Like the nozzles that attach to those 2-part epoxy syringes? With the "stair steps" inside forcing the A and B components to mix?

</comment></comment><comment><USER18> Would it be possible to create a pump by just having two of these (or even just one!) and a moving membrane? That would have some interesting applications.

<comment><USER19> Yes, typical piston pumps have two check valves.

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Check_valve#Pumps](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Check_valve#Pumps)

<comment><USER20> I can do you one better. [https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tesla_turbine](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tesla_turbine)

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER21> I have often wondered if a jet engine can be made with a fixed cavity of some sort and no moving parts. One problem seemed to be combustion pushing gasses equally to the exit and inlet. This may be the piece I have been looking for to make it possible.

<comment><USER22> Plusejet? [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pulsejet](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pulsejet)

And if you haven't come across Colin Furze yet, you're in for a treat! [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zsXWspo5hrc](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zsXWspo5hrc)

<comment><USER23> Interestingly enough a video was just uploaded today on a printed Tesla pulsejet engine that incorporates a Tesla valve.

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=28XbT11lL24](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=28XbT11lL24)

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER24> This device will operate very differently depending on flow rate, therefore the quote "the device acts as a slightly leaking valve" is probably a bit misleading. The Reynolds number determines if the fluid operates in a turbulent or laminar way. The slower the fluid, the lower the Reynolds number and the more laminar it becomes and thus the less effective the valve is.

I can't really see many uses beyond microfluidic applications.

<comment><AUTHOR> Check out the original patent here [https://patentimages.storage.googleapis.com/26/65/c7/c647a84...](https://patentimages.storage.googleapis.com/26/65/c7/c647a84af1f78f/US1329559.pdf)

</comment></comment><comment><USER25> What are the practical applications of this? (my imagination is having a failure)

Are there any devices in the wild that use it currently?

</comment><comment><USER26> The shape reminded me of schematic drawings of veins showing how they have valves to constrain flow towards the heart. Arteries don't need that.

</comment><comment><USER27> I wanted a diagram or GIF. I get the idea, but boy, it would have helped if wiki had some media.

<comment><USER28> [https://www.youtube.com/watch?reload=9&v=tcV1EYSUQME](https://www.youtube.com/watch?reload=9&v=tcV1EYSUQME)

<comment><USER29> Beat me to it, i thought this was a cool demonstration. I wonder if blowing some fine combustible material, like corn starch, would give embers that we could see to help visualize the flows more precisely.

Also i wonder if these could be used as a suppressor.

<comment><USER28> I think this is a cool but really not proper way of showing airflows. Better just add sparkling dust or use Schlieren imaging.</comment></comment></comment></comment>


Naming Things with Hashes - <AUTHOR> http://tools.ietf.org/html/draft-farrell-decade-ni <comment><USER2> And if you want it to be pronounceable, why not use Oren Tirosh's Mnemonic Encoder?

About 10 years ago, Oren Tirosh published "mnemonicode", which was a selection of 1600 words which were optimized to be (i) internationally recognizable, and (ii) have distinctive pronunciation that would survive a low-quality phone medium and/or a non-native speaker.

I can only find a copy in the wayback machine now:

[http://web.archive.org/web/20051109230247/http://www.tothink...](http://web.archive.org/web/20051109230247/http://www.tothink.com/mnemonic/)

[http://web.archive.org/web/20051109233255/http://www.tothink...](http://web.archive.org/web/20051109233255/http://www.tothink.com/mnemonic/wordlist.html)

But if we're adding a way to "name things", I think over-the-phone naming should also be considered.

<comment><USER3> PGP had a nice wordlist for verifying key fingprints:

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PGP_word_list>

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> For human-friendly URIs, I would've liked to see Doug Crockford's Base32 encoding (<http://www.crockford.com/wrmg/base32.html>) instead of hexadecimal. Case-insensitive, but still more compact than hex.

<comment><USER5> Another handy trick is to drop vowels, which only costs 6 characters (with y), and greatly reduces the chance that your url will include a noticeable profanity or other undesirable word.

</comment></comment><comment><USER6> I don't understand the need for "//" in the URI. The thing that follows it is usually an authority (hostname), not a name for an algorithm.

This would still be a valid URI without the unnecessary characters and without the confusion:

        ni:sha-256;UyaQV-Ev4rdLoHyJJWCi11OHfrYv9E1aGQAlMO2X_-Q

See: <https://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc2396.txt>

Also: "nih" sounds like a pun :-)

<comment><USER7> "Authority The optional authority component may assist applications in accessing the object named by an ni URI." They give this example:

ni://example.com/sha-256;f4OxZX_x_FO5LcGBSKHWXfwtSx-j1ncoSt3SABJtkGk

( [https://tools.ietf.org/html/draft-farrell-decade- ni-10#secti...](https://tools.ietf.org/html/draft-farrell-decade- ni-10#section-8.1) )

</comment></comment><comment> a-priori I'm seeing the beginnings of a replacement for HTTP based on a distributed hash table.

<comment><USER8> You may be interested in this Google Tech Talk from 2006 - <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oCZMoY3q2uM> . I found it interesting at the time it came out.

<comment><USER9> That's Van Jacobsen introducing CCNx Content Centric Networking. One way I would summarise it is as a stripped down HTTP at Layer 3. Just think about all the client devices out there that don't actually need IP addresses or the management overhead going with them. After watching this I concluded that IPv6 is an IETF solution to The Wrong Problem (more! faster!). I can't understand why Google would prioritise SPDY over this, they could make Chrome do CCNx over IP to their DCs instead.

It's an outstanding talk, I've watched it 3 times now since I found it [0] on HN a few months ago. VJ is a visionary and a gentleman.

The FISS09 workshop presentation [1] is about 3 hours, well worth it for a deeper dive. His tour of the history of how packet switching emerged in a telephony circuit dominated industry is a fascinating case study on introducing fundamental change to a legacy incumbent system, as well as the early history of data networking.

0\. <http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3847968> 1\. <https://www.ccnx.org/wiki/CCNx/CCNxPresentations>

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER10> Correct me if i'm wrong, but don't UUIDs already provide all this (except for the human-friendly aspect)? Expanding past 128 bits should probably be included in the next version.

<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Universally_unique_identifier> <https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc4122>

<comment><USER11> You're wrong. UUIDs don't provide any guarantees about the target of the reference.

ie. Given a UUID, and a service endpoint which returns some data for a given UUID, the client has no way of ensuring that the data returned from the service is in fact what they asked for. A similar service operating on hash values would have the property that clients can run the same hash algorithm locally to ensure that the server isn't lying to them.

<comment><USER10> How is that different from UUID version 3 and 5, which both use hash values?

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Universally_unique_identifier#...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Universally_unique_identifier#Version_5_.28SHA-1_hash.29)

<comment><USER11> My apologies. You're correct: I mistakenly equated UUID with UUID v4.

That said, the difference with this new proposal appear to include at least the following:

1) Support for untruncated hashes

2) More secure hash algorithms

3) Extensibility to new hash algorithms

4) URI compatibility

<comment><USER12> Also by my reading the UUID conventions are hashes of _other names_ to make them fit the UUID format... not hashes of specific content.

<comment><USER10> Names of a namespace, yes, but standards were meant to be broken. It doesn't _really_ matter what you based the hash on, it's up to the application(s), much like the type of UUID you choose.

The reason I like UUID better is (once you pick a version) it's simple. It already looks pretty readable and it's a well known widely-used standard. It would have been nice if the authors of this RFC had just expanded on UUID. People are also way too URI-obsessed; when are you going to pass this hashed URI to an application? IMHO an object reference should be just that and not involve application interfaces.

In terms of the hashing algorithms, (IIRC) unless you're using HMAC you're opening yourself to an (eventual) brute force and key reuse issue, or at the very least the potential for an implementer to ignore the need for a random salt and get either easy collisions or predictable table insertion. I would feel pretty nervous if the hashing algorithm was my SPF.

<comment><USER12> But unless you rigorously enforce the hash=name convention, you can't get its benefits. (Benefits like stability and implicit verification.) And shoehorning the hash into the constrained UUID format hides/confuses the conventions you're committing to.

If you name is a hash, and really needs to be a hash, that should be evident, not squeezed into the bitfields of a 'UUID'.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER13> What is the practical application of this? As opposed to a generic link shortener? I mean how is a 32-bit hash better than just using bit.ly/Nx7ax1?

<comment><USER14> No third party required.

Avoid things like "Dearest Receiver, please view the transfer and customs documents at scam.ly/DEADBEEF to assist in transferring 3 gold bars from my late cousin's vault."

</comment></comment><comment><USER14> This seems like it could lead to (among other things) a non-third party scheme for link shortening.

<comment><USER15> The limiting factor there is primarily the domain name length, rather than the specific content reference, or at least the thing least easily changeable.</comment></comment>


A Gift from Congress, to Congress - <AUTHOR> http://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/05/opinion/a-gift-from-congress-to-congress.html <comment><AUTHOR> Congressmen are basically helping themselves.God Bless United States of America</comment>


Mark Cuban: Google is Learning the Reality of Free? - <AUTHOR> http://blogmaverick.com/2009/07/07/google-is-learning-the-reality-of-free/

<comment><USER2> I suspect this is more of a case of Google gaining mindshare with Apps before charging for the service than it is an example of Google making any sort of shift in strategy.

<comment><USER3> This was a total accident, where they were testing some new stylesheets and the free one got dropped by accident. It's back now.

<comment><USER4> I think it was more of a 'test' than an 'accident'. About a month ago I couldn't find the free version, and it took a ton of hunting around to get to it. I suspect they were measuring the drop in app sign-ups, or if people just would pay.

I'd be surprised if this type of accident would survive a month at google.</comment></comment></comment>


PHP Creator Rasmus Lerdorf Shares Lessons Learned from the Last 25 Years - <AUTHOR> https://thenewstack.io/php-creator-rasmus-lerdorf-shares-lessons-learned-from-the-last-25-years/ <comment><USER2> I love PHP! Very easy to learn, universally used, tons of code written for pretty much anything you can think of.</comment>


Suit alleges Google does not do enough to differentiate organic search results from sponsored links - <AUTHOR> http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,22393389-29277,00.html

<comment><USER2> My only question about google's sponsored links is whether people who are colorblind or have low contrast on their monitors can tell the difference.

For someone with normal vision on a normal monitor, I think the colored "sponsored links" box is plenty.

</comment><comment><USER3> Kudos to the poster for their accuracy. If you read this in Slashdot, at first you'd be led to believe that the suit was about Google selling (regular) search results without disclosure.</comment>


Enterprises, DevOps and Economies of Scale - <AUTHOR> http://devops.com/blogs/enterprises-devops-economies-of-scale/

<comment><USER2> I thought Lori Macvittie hits this one right on the head</comment>


Learn to code for free - <AUTHOR> http://manojmunna.blogspot.in/2012/04/learn-how-to-code-for-free.html

<comment><AUTHOR> awesome stuff</comment>


Google buys Widevine to Beef Up DRM Offering - <AUTHOR> http://tech.fortune.cnn.com/2010/12/06/google-buys-widevine-to-beef-up-drm-offering/

<comment><USER2> From someone who doesn't know, how are Android apps currently DRMed?</comment>


Show HN: A Simple Search Engine - <AUTHOR> https://kuurio.com <comment><USER2> You have a bug somewhere. Need to convert to lowercase for index and searches.

For instance:

\- searching "houston" gives me a page full of results;

\- searching "Houston" gives me zero results;

\- searching "HOUSTON" give me zero results.

Also, just a recommendation - if you are going to do a "Show HN", then you should have a good writeup about the tech used somewhere. We a re a curious bunch, and love to not only see what others are doing, but learn a bit about it.

Finally, your results are fast, so that's a good start.

<comment><AUTHOR> Well. Forgetting lowercase but doing the rest of the search parsing was a bit of a mistake. That should now be fixed, though it might take a little while to propagate through the caches.

\---

There's really, really, not much to the tech behind it. Nothing surprising, and nothing really special.

The website itself is 446 lines of a Python bottle app, behind an aggressive nginx cache.

For example, the homepage is:

        @bottle.route("/")
        @bottle.view('home')
        def home():
            # Get some random articles
            random_articles = []
            for url in list(set(get_recent_urls(N=9))):
                random_articles.append(record(url))

            random.shuffle(random_articles)
            random_articles = random_articles[:3]

            # Get the top tags
            tags = top_keywords(N=10)

            count = url_count()
            update = datetime.now()

            return {"articles": random_articles, "tags": tags, "count": count, "update": update, "tag_kind": 'Trending'}

There's no... "magic" there.

The link-fetcher is slightly larger at around 700 lines of Python, but most of it is taking edge-cases into account. Like finding where the timedata is hidden on a BBC page (comes as an epoch), or on CNN's lite site where it doesn't have a tag (and has to be manually parsed), etc.

The vast majority, about half of the fetcher, is a series of fallbacks to keep trying until it finds something, before it finally gives up.

<comment><USER2> Thanks for sharing!

How do you retrieve paywalled links (or do you skip those)?

<comment><AUTHOR> I've tried to somewhat curate where the links are retrieved from, but the fetcher isn't javascript aware.

In cases such as paywalls or heavy JS usage, you'll probably see an empty summary.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER3> The cool: Super lightweight website, and the world certainly needs alternative search engines that aren't owned by ad companies, so kudos.

The critical: It'll be very interesting to see this website when there are far more than 3K urls in the index.

btw, it's working just fine for me on firefox.

Wishing you the very best!

<comment><AUTHOR> The index will be interesting as it gets bigger.

I've put a preference on timedata. So any three sites with a recent article can hit the frontpage. Because I want hackaday appearing as much as I want the BBC, etc.

Sites that I can't grab the publishing time for will still appear, but they get ranked down and you'll need to find them by searching.

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> Like everyone already said not usable in firefox. When testing a chromium based browser I get no results. Tried test, foo, image, covid19 and pulse.

So I think it's probably broken...

<comment><AUTHOR> You won't see a difference in results between browsers. There's 0 Javascript on the site.

If you're seeing something funky with the CSS in Firefox... Then you probably have a dark mode addon. And the addons and Chrome disagree with how dark mode should work. Try disabling it.

I'm seeing 40+ responses for each of those words when searching, across Firefox, Chrome, Firefox Android, Chrome Android, and even Lynx.

<comment><USER5> The problem in firefox is from this bit of code:

        /*
            Darkmode
        */
        @media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
            html {
              background-color: white;
              filter: invert(100%);
            }

            input {
              filter: invert(20%);
            }
        }

It seems in firefox the invert doesn't apply to the background color of the html element so you end up with yellow on white.

<comment><AUTHOR> Yep. However Chrome doesn't invert the background unless I specify it.

And as far as I'm aware, Firefox doesn't actually have a dark mode preference outside of Preview as of yet. There are plenty of addons - but they all have wildly varying behaviour.

<comment><USER6> Firefox has had support for it for several versions.

<comment><AUTHOR> You're right. My bad. Tripped up by privacy.resistFingerprinting forcing it to `light`.

Edit: And I believe dark mode should now be working across all the major browsers.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER7> Simple search (non-cached) like "hello world" or "i love you" throw a bad gateway. It took 10+ seconds for "hello world" when it worked.

For my name "sandeep" it threw 0 results, however a fine line says 2870 URLs in Index. I assume 2870 is not the entire corpus of the index - if yes, then search is extremely slow.

<comment><AUTHOR> That is the entire current corpus.

It sounds like you were hitting the site whilst it was under a bit of heavy load. From my logs, about the time you posted here on HN, someone was tossing `siege` at the site, and it is not a heavyweight server.

Running certain searches do seem to be able to trigger a pathological response, however, so I'll need to look into that a bit more. Likely to do with some of the nltk stuff it uses when it tries to handle searching summaries.

<comment><USER7> Will try it again tomorrow. I could not find any information on site as to what will make this search engine different from what we already have?

Also, the corpus is now 3162, roughly 250 links in last 2 hours - which is way too slow for a real world scenario. I though like the page for its simplicity and the experiment.

<comment><AUTHOR> I don't imagine that I, as a lone person, can actually build an engine to ever compete with Google or Bing, etc.

It is not link crawling the entire web. Instead it is trying to find information that is current. You'll find relevant and current information from the BBC, CNN, and NPR for example. As well as stuff from places like LowTech magazine, the CCC, and FSF, etc.

I haven't really put any information on the page at all about it. But mostly it scratches my own itch. But I wouldn't see it becoming a competitor if you're looking for "anything & everything", ever.

(Though that 2 hours is actually you watching the nginx cache expire. The database updates hourly.)

<comment><USER7> Got it. So it sources data from a whitelisted set of sites and updates every hour. If the curated list can scratch my itch, I would love to come back.

You mention you used some sort of NLP (mention of nltk before) - is it for summaries or reducing noise, or for bringing context to search terms.

<comment><AUTHOR> Yeah, pretty much.

I'm using nltk for - generating most (not all) of the summaries, and for building most of the tags that get attached to each article. It's also being used when searching the text of a summary.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER8> Page doesn't appear to be usable for me. I get a white screen with yellow text and lines in Firefox.

<comment><AUTHOR> I only use Firefox. So it's probably not just that in itself.

It sounds like you're using something that adds enables a dark mode preference to Firefox - and currently some of the Firefox addons and Chrome disagree about some of the finer details of how that should process.

Try it without asking for dark mode.

<comment><AUTHOR> I think this should now be resolved.</comment></comment></comment>


Ask HN: How can I comply with GDPR as a solo founder? - <AUTHOR> I am based in the USA, and am hard at work on building services for my company. My goal is to launch and have customers by the end of the year.
While I 100% support GDPR, I do not know anyone within the EU who could act as a Data Protection Officer or EU representative for privacy concerns. I am funding myself at this point, and don't really want to shell out hundreds of dollars to some law firm just because they have an address within the EU. Outside the EU, I plan to handle support concerns on my own (for the time being).
What are my options here? My initial thought is that I will just have to prevent those living in the EU from using my service, which is unfortunate. <comment><USER2> You most likely don't need a DPO: [https://ec.europa.eu/info/law/law- topic/data-protection/refo...](https://ec.europa.eu/info/law/law-topic/data- protection/reform/rules-business-and-organisations/application-regulation/do- rules-apply-smes_en)

Check out the rest of the website, it is pretty helpful.

Don't worry too much, GDPR is both common sense and designed do go after the big companies. Some rules are intentionally vague in order to be hard to circumvent using armies of lawyers and/or technical 'innovations' in exploiting personal data.

<comment><USER3> > Some rules are intentionally vague in order to be hard to circumvent using > armies of lawyers

Because lawyers have never been able to turn vague rules and regulations to their advantage.

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> The Data Protection Officer doesn't need to be located in the EU. You may also not even need to appoint one, depending on what exactly your company does.

You should read through the following sections of the GDPR carefully, especially Article 37 to determine if it seems to apply to you (the requirements are vague, but you should at least be able to get a general idea of whether it seems to apply to you or not):

Article 37 - Designation of the data protection officer - [https://gdpr- info.eu/art-37-gdpr/](https://gdpr-info.eu/art-37-gdpr/)

Article 38 - Position of the data protection officer - [https://gdpr- info.eu/art-38-gdpr/](https://gdpr-info.eu/art-38-gdpr/)

Article 39 - Tasks of the data protection officer - [https://gdpr- info.eu/art-39-gdpr/](https://gdpr-info.eu/art-39-gdpr/)

Recital 97 - Data Protection Officer - [https://gdpr- info.eu/recitals/no-97/](https://gdpr-info.eu/recitals/no-97/)

<comment><AUTHOR> Thank you for those links! I was more concerned with Article 27 but that website also helped mediate my concerns with that. Much appreciated.

</comment></comment><comment><USER5> It's a great question and one of the common complaints to the wave of privacy regulations. I believe that it's not a ton of work, but may be a bit of legalese to wade through and should be basic due diligence for collecting personal information.

There is a lot in GDPR, but here's a list of possibilities that will honor the spirit of the law and be huge steps forward:

\- Privacy policy: Write a human-readable privacy policy and publish it. It should declare what you collected, for what purposes, how long it's retained and how to contact the privacy office for data subject requests.

\- Conduct an internal Privacy Impact Assessment: an inventory of personal data collected, for what purpose, what is it's risk/danger level, what lawful reason is it collected/processed, where is it stored and what is the retention policy.

\- Lawful processing: For each of the types of data collected, determine the lawful umbrella for collecting and processing it; GDPR defines a bunch but most people use only "legitimate interest" or "explicit consent". If you need to use consent, find a vendor to help you manage it.

\- Honor data subject requests for access/portability/erasure. Doesn't have to be fancy, can even be just a mail to privacy@yourdomain. Don't forget to authenticate/vet the requestor to avoid leaking data.

\- Vendors/3rd party companies you use: Inventory them and record what data is going to them. Will likely have in contracts their obligations under GDPR, and will define their role ('processor' or 'controller').

<comment><USER6> This is a good start. I wouldn't worry too much about GDPR compliance starting out. Follow this advice and when customers start asking questions about your compliance, you can invest in a more robust ISMS.

</comment></comment><comment><USER7> [https://ico.org.uk/for-organisations/guide-to-data- protectio...](https://ico.org.uk/for-organisations/guide-to-data- protection/guide-to-the-general-data-protection-regulation- gdpr/accountability-and-governance/data-protection-officers/) says you only need a data protection officer in some circumstances. You don't say what your startup does, but unless you are processing a lot of data or sensitive data you probably don't need one.

I'm also not sure that your DPO needs to be European or based in Europe

</comment><comment><USER8> One option is to just do nothing about it.

<comment><AUTHOR> I want to be able to tell customers that my service is GDPR-compliant. (Plus I'd rather not pay fines!)

<comment><USER9> This makes me wonder if we should also be proactive with following Korean, Singaporean, and may even Chinese laws?

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER10> On a technical level: have a process for gathering and sending responses to requests from EU users for their data. Have a process for being able to hard delete that data, and a user's account. Dont store anything you dont need, not even in logs (IP addresses), and dont send that data to third party providers. Don't use third party monitoring, and analytics services that aren't GDPR compliant. Keep a constantly up to date document of cookies your site uses, and whether they're essential or non-essential for your product/service to operate. Lastly, learn exactly what is considered PII and not. This is a non- exhaustive list of things you should start with, and then go with common sense, and legal counsel as you can begin to afford it.

Edit: Following up, I say on a technical level, because much of this you can do yourself via having some scripts and report generation in place.

</comment><comment><USER11> As I know GDPR is for startups and companies with more than 50 or 200? employees.

It means that the majority of startups and small companies don't need it, until becoming a firm that can afford the costs of GDPR consultants

There are a lot of websites that generate GDPR templates free of charge for startups and small companies and those templates are enough

<comment><USER12> That's incorrect. The GDPR applies to every company (it has to, as otherwise, shady companies would create small sister companies for doing the work they aren't allowed to do because they're too big). [https://gdpr.eu/faq/](https://gdpr.eu/faq/):

 _"Who must comply with the GDPR?

Any organization that processes the personal data of people in the EU must comply with the GDPR. "Processing" is a broad term that covers just about anything you can do with data: collection, storage, transmission, analysis, etc. "Personal data" is any information that relates to a person, such as names, email addresses, IP addresses, eye color, political affiliation, and so on. Even if an organization is not connected to the EU itself, if it processes the personal data of people in the EU (via tracking on its website, for instance), it must comply. The GDPR is also not limited to for-profit companies."_

<comment><USER11> "Those companies with fewer than 250 employees are required to hold internal records of processing activities if the processing of data could risk an individual's rights or freedoms, or if it pertains to criminal activity.

For those with more than 250 employees, more detailed records need to be kept. These include the name and details of your organisation, the name of your assigned data protection officer, the reasons for processing the data, a description of the categories of data being processed, details on the recipients of the data, how long it will be retained, details on transfers outside of the EU, and an overview of the security measures your organisation has put in place." \- [1]

[1] [https://www.itpro.co.uk/data-protection/29123/gdpr-for- small...](https://www.itpro.co.uk/data-protection/29123/gdpr-for-small- businesses-what-it-means-for-you)

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER13> Think about what you're doing that has GDPR implications. If you're not doing anything creepy then the GDPR is as easy as providing/deleting subjects' own data upon their request.

<comment><USER14> "but your honor, this doesn't fit the legal definition of 'creepy'!"

</comment></comment><comment><USER15> As a solo founder, don't worry about it.

> shell out hundreds of dollars to some law firm

hundreds? LOL! $10,000 to get a DIY kit.

From one of your replies:

> I want to be able to tell customers that my service is GDPR-compliant.

This isn't possible with a one-man company. Rather, it's possible to tell them you are (there is no certification body) but it's not possible to be compliant if you don't already have expertise.

> DPO

I don't know why others are mentioning a DPO. You won't need a DPO.

The easiest route to compliance is to not collect Personal Data.

<comment><AUTHOR> > I don't know why others are mentioning a DPO. You won't need a DPO.

After reviewing those parts of GDPR a bit more, I agree. I was thinking of the EU rep for businesses outside the USA.

> The easiest route to compliance is to not collect Personal Data.

The product I am working on has a social aspect. That said, nothing - particularly the data the GDPR defines as sensitive - would be collected without explicit consent from the users. Actually, nothing is really collected without their opt-in.

> As a solo founder, don't worry about it.

Thanks for chiming in! It is good to hear from someone in a similar situation.

<comment><USER15> > nothing is really collected without their opt-in.

opt-in is the least thorny aspect of GDPR.

but honestly, you don't have to worry about it.

There are 6 bases for collecting Personal Data. You should review them and see if something besides explicit consent (opt-in) is more suited. Opt-in is a trigger for other things. Avoid it if you can.</comment></comment></comment>


Driver dies after Tesla Model X catches fire in California - <AUTHOR> http://www.theweek.co.uk/electric-cars/92530/driver-dies-after-tesla-model-x-catches-fire-in-california <comment><USER2> This is a misleading title. The driver died due to injuries sustained by crashing into a barrier then getting run into multiple times, not because of the fire.

<comment><USER3> Sure, but it promotes the "Silicon Valley car tech is killing people" narrative. How many times would you ever see the headline, "Old woman crushed by a Buick?" Probably never. But if it were a Tesla -- then the headline would be "Elon Musk kills old woman with a Tesla" \-- or something equally ridiculous.

With the Uber self driving car story in Arizona, a human driver wouldn't have been able to avoid hitting that person -- the victim essentially committed suicide by traffic, but the "angle" of the story has continued to be some variation of "self driving cars are killers."

It's the media generating click-bait by playing to ignorance or Luddite fears.

For many years, you'd see headlines like "SUV crashes into a house and kills a small child." As if the fact that the vehicle was an SUV was material, when the actual cause was a driver who fell asleep at the wheel. But that sort of title played into the big SUV backlash that happened in the early 2000s. I never saw, "Convertible kills small child," or "Hatchback plows through a wedding, killing the groom." It was always, "SUV this" and now it's "Tesla that" or "Self-driving car this.."

Now, we see the same thing: anything "self driving," anything "Tesla" or "Uber" or anything related to those "evil" Silicon Valley people gets top billing and clicked. A local taxi driver assaulting a drunk girl wouldn't make the local news. An Uber driver being slightly rude to a pet cat would make international headlines.

"Man dies in auto accident doesn't get the emotions working like "Man murdered by an Uber driven by killer robot."

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> Yesterday's discussion (over 90 comments): [https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16694365](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16694365)</comment>


Startups: How to Communicate Traction to Investors - <AUTHOR> http://www.quora.com/Brendan-Baker/Startups-How-to-Communicate-Traction-to-Investors

<comment><USER2> Brendan knows what he's talking about. Met him on his recent trip to Vancouver and he definitely know what can get an investors attention.

Well written post, with tactical notes. Will definitely be using his advice.</comment>


Newton kills the 'Sent' folder to make email as easy as instant messaging - <AUTHOR> https://www.cultofmac.com/545317/newton-kills-the-sent-folder-to-make-email-as-easy-as-instant-messaging/ <comment><USER2> Did Apple let the Newton trademark lapse? I clicked on this totally expecting it to be some before-its-time innovation from 1993.

</comment><comment><USER3> Delta Chat, which is free and open source (available in Android's F-Droid repos) does conversational email better than anyone.

Most of my emails are responded to because I don't send a wall of text and the subject line is automatically formatted on their end to contain the beginning of your first sentence.

I've completely done away with "Dear," and "Kindly, Tao" because obviously the email is from me and dear is an artifact. Everyone I write to this way responds in kind. I like to think I'm training them out of bad email habits.

I've reduced all my chat apps down to just Delta Chat for acquaintances and Telegram for inner circle who I feel comfortable asking to install yet another app for (this is also a great litmus test to find out who your true friends are by the way).

<comment><USER4> I keep an informal address to a lot of my emails because they are CCd and forwarded constantly so it isn't easy to tell at a glance to whom I'm sending them. Usually something simple like "Hi John!"</comment></comment>


The Ocean Cleanup unveils plan to address pollution in rivers - <AUTHOR> https://theoceancleanup.com/updates/the-ocean-cleanup-unveils-plan-to-address-the-main-source-of-ocean-plastic-pollution-rivers/ <comment><AUTHOR> Interesting to see that they're no longer only looking at oceans (which is a good thing I think - rivers seem much easier to clean up). Also a pretty elegant design. Looks very similar to Mr. Trash Wheel [0] though, I wonder to what extent this is really TOC's invention.

[0] [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mr._Trash_Wheel](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mr._Trash_Wheel)</comment>


Announcing RuDy: write Ruby native extensions in the D programming language - <AUTHOR> http://app.euruko2009.org/talks/21-announcing-rudy-write-ruby-native-extensions-in-d-programming-language

<comment><USER2> I'm pretty sure they did this just for the sake of the name.

</comment><comment><USER3> What I'm more interested in is standardizing libffi as a way to talk to ruby extensions. This way they would work across all implementations, be it jruby, mri or whatever.</comment>


Greg Wilson - What We Actually Know About Software Development - <AUTHOR> http://vimeo.com/9270320

<comment><USER2> Here at hacker news there seems to exist an obsession on how to hire the 10x programmers and how to build great teams.

I'm submitting this link because I'm really tired to read blog posts filled with anecdotes and making claims because some "scrum master" or whatever said so and so.</comment>


Sell HN: Do you have a side project you want to sell? - andreas-schrade In a previous HN thread about selling side projects, someone floated the idea of trying out a "Sell HN" thread - so here it is. If you have any side projects that you've built and that you no longer have time for, list them here and let's see if others want to buy it from you. <comment><AUTHOR> Sendnda.online - e signature site built using WordPress. Uses stripe for payments. Built using mostly plugins. Tried to minimize customization for ease of maintenance. Looking for $1500. Contact me Alistproducer2 at Gmail</comment>