-------------------------
Notice for transparency.
-------------------------
SMF update 2.0.16 released 27 Dec 2019 made significant changes to support GDPR compliance within the SMF Core.
Notable changes in 2.0.16
Support for privacy policy in addition to registration agreement
GDPR Compliance toggle in Core Features
Enabling this configures multiple settings and new features to comply with the GDPR, including:
Requiring members to accept the current privacy policy in order to use the forum
Asking during registration whether the new member wants to receive announcements via email
Enabling token-based unsubscribe links in emails so members can unsubscribe without logging in
Allowing members to download a copy of their profile information
Adjusting the behaviour of a number of other features in minor ways as necessary
PHP 7.2 support
Improved security hashes for the image proxy
Improved security for the login cookie
Assorted other security improvements
Various improvements for both the installer and upgrader
These changes made little GDPR differences to forums (such as kitz.co.uk) who have been GDPR compliant pre May 2018 content wise, but it did mean we had some problems being able to update because of the mod.
Someone kindly wrote a quick mod hack for SMF forums which enables admins to force users to accept the updated policy changes after I bought the topic up on SMF about GDPR.
In order to update to 2.0.17 I had to remove the
GDPR helper modification. Because I was one of those still having problems updating, I made some manual adjustments which mean GDPR helper data collected by the mod was also removed.
Now that the latest version of SMF is GDPR compliant without this mod, I have no intention of re-installing GDPR helper, as it would force all users to re-read & agree to the privacy policy and registration form that have had no change to content.
The only change for our members is that the forum privacy policy can now be viewed
here.
I only noticed the url change yesterday and will update the relevant post above with the new url - which is why Im making this post now.
The new merged page is (and has been) linked in the footer the bottom of each page under
Terms and Policies since the update(s).
TLDR version;
- SMF 2.0.16/2.0.17 updated Dec 2019
- GDPR compliance included in the SMF Core code.
- GDPR Helper modification uninstalled.
- Forum Registration Agreement & Forum Privacy Policy merged into the one page - presumably to make it easier for new registrations.
- Neither of these had content changed since May 2018.
