from Hacker News

Deletion of user account

by fossislife on 5/3/24, 10:40 AM with 115 comments

• by grilledchickenw on 5/3/24, 11:24 AM

  The wayback machine will always remember: https://web.archive.org/web/20240503105207/https://www.soflo...

• by derelicta on 5/3/24, 12:06 PM

  Considering its a company established in Switzerland, and that by Swiss law you have the right to informational self determination, as in you have the right to correct/delete data about you (to some extend ofc), I'd say its grossely illegal

• by dumbfounder on 5/3/24, 11:50 AM

  Nice, if you register you can get 10% off your deletion: https://paste.pics/59a50e49166a7c584f7e656391346329

• by ben_w on 5/3/24, 11:26 AM

  First time I opened the page, it redirected me away. Second time, it stayed on the product page. Third time, it redirected me away but the back button could return me to the subject of this thread. Subsequent attempts didn't even give me that.

  Is this a real product, or a test item?

• by sebtron on 5/3/24, 11:30 AM

  It could be worse, at least it is not 19.90€ per month

• by rob137 on 5/3/24, 11:25 AM

  Still seeing it here: https://www.soflow.com/en/product/deletion-of-user-account/

• by globalise83 on 5/3/24, 11:31 AM

  To be honest this looks like a mock product that someone thought might be funny and seems to have backfired.

• by TickleSteve on 5/3/24, 11:48 AM

  If you're buying it... could you return it? If so, how would they refund you without an account?

• by b3lvedere on 5/3/24, 11:38 AM

  When ordering two of those items (which is kinda weird) i noticed the following:

  “ Your personal data will be used to process your order, support your experience throughout this website, and for other purposes described in our privacy policy.”

  Does this mean while processing my order, the account removal, they update or recreate the account? :)

• by bbx on 5/3/24, 11:27 AM

  Interesting how it's 19,90€ in the EU but £29,90 in the UK.

• by morsch on 5/3/24, 11:43 AM

  The account thing seems to be an issue for people who buy e-scooters on the secondary market (i.o.w. used). Often, the scooter is still tied to the previous owner's app.

  I've found forum posts of people resorting to using the email/password from the previous owner, or sending a registered letter to SoFlow asserting the new ownership.

  So, and now I'm speculating, it's possible that this is less about deleting the account than it is about unlinking a scooter from your account, and it is a way for SoFlow to dip into the secondary market -- each transfer nets them another 20 EUR.

  It's also possible that this is a way for the new owner to unlink their scooter from the previous owner, with an associated service charge -- the checkout page requires proof of ownership. In that case, it might be a way to prevent fraud, i.e. people stealing scooters and resetting them; thieves are unlikely to pay 20 EUR for that, nor are they keen on tying their real identity to the stolen scooter.

  Like I said, this is speculation and I'm not saying this is a good way to do it, and it's not at all explained on the website, I'm just thinking aloud here. It just seems unlikely that anybody would attempt to charge 20 EUR for a simple account deletion.

• by sztanko on 5/3/24, 11:26 AM

  This is weird. Their privacy policy enforcing them to delete your account. I guess it is just a catch for those who don't know what GDPR us.

  4. Right to deletion

  a) Obligation to delete

  You may request the controller to delete the personal data concerning you without undue delay, and the controller is obliged to delete such data without undue delay, if one of the following reasons applies:

  - The personal data concerning you are no longer necessary for the purposes for which they were collected or otherwise processed.

  - You withdraw your consent on which the processing was based and there is no other legal basis for the processing. You object to the processing and there are no overriding legitimate grounds for the processing, or you object to the processing.

  - The personal data concerning you have been processed unlawfully.

  The deletion of the personal data concerning you is necessary for compliance with a legal obligation under Union or Member State law to which the controller is subject.

  The personal data concerning you was collected in relation to information society services offered pursuant to Art. 8 (1) DSGVO.

• by psnehanshu on 5/3/24, 11:23 AM

  Am I getting it correct? They are selling you the right to delete your account with them.

• by siva7 on 5/3/24, 11:36 AM

  This is almost certainly a joke which they should quickly remove to not get hefty fines from european authorities.

• by DeathArrow on 5/3/24, 12:02 PM

  Can I delete any user account?

• by sebastianconcpt on 5/3/24, 11:59 AM

  Monetization of churn? Nice try marketeers, you gave me the fatal argument I needed to never sign up. Just because you revealed your values with that proposal, I know I never want any relationship with that.

• by ethanholt1 on 5/3/24, 3:23 PM

  This has to be illegal, right? There’s no way this is allowed. It can’t be legally or morally correct to hold someone’s data, and when asked to remove that data from your servers via account deletion, ask for 20 dollars. Adobe does this too, and I feel that subscription based models and hypermonetization is going to become more and more common in the next 10 year.

• by yreg on 5/3/24, 12:47 PM

  BTW there are European banks that have fees for account closure (and for cancelling credit/debit cards; and for stopping standing payment orders; and maybe for cancelling SEPA mandates).

• by gtirloni on 5/3/24, 12:14 PM

  I thought this had to be an April Fools' Day joke but upon checking the source, it shows the page was last modified on 2023-11-14. It's even more hilarious (in a sad way).

• by davidgerard on 5/3/24, 12:51 PM

  https://archive.is/AMSfW

  Deletion of user account

  Purchase the required SoFlow account deletion from the official SoFlow online shop.

  € 19,90

• by victorbjorklund on 5/3/24, 4:41 PM

  Must be some kind of weird technical reason (easier to create a "product" to execute an account deletion etc). I dont think they actually charge for that.

• by vincnetas on 5/3/24, 11:27 AM

  And theres a cookie popup with "we value your privacy"

  Well, looks like they took this too literally and put actual price on "your privacy".

    That would be 19.90€ please.

• by martinbaun on 5/3/24, 12:23 PM

  Wow, this is just next level. Paying for deletion of your account? Okay I'd cancel my credit card before I'd pay a euro for that.

• by rcarmo on 5/3/24, 12:51 PM

  I've been playing with this and have a few of them in my cart:

  Total € 183.545.103.533.410.025.472,00

  They apparently don't do live stock availability checks :)

• by nerder92 on 5/3/24, 12:41 PM

  I love the fact that they made the price a catchy 19,90 instead of 20 as if it was a product they'd like for people to buy.

• by RandomRandy on 5/3/24, 11:23 AM

  Wouldn't a GDPR request regarding the right to erasure have the same effect and be free (if the company respects the GDPR)?

• by planede on 5/3/24, 12:36 PM

  Technically still better than not offering deletion at all, but of course in reality it's in many ways worse.

• by xg15 on 5/3/24, 12:41 PM

  Reminder that HN does not have any method to delete an account at all.

• by littlestymaar on 5/3/24, 11:47 AM

  Oh, yet another violation of GDPR…