So as of the first of the year, I started receiving continuous nagging notifications in my pfSense router running PfBlocker NG that states:
pfBlockerNG MaxMind - MaxMind now requires a License Key! Review the General tab: MaxMind settings for more information. @ 2020-01-04 22:02:09
Doing a search I found this bit on their site explaining the change:
https://blog.maxmind.com/2019/12/18/significant-changes-to-accessing-and-using-geolite2-databases/
MaxMind has always been committed to an individual’s right to privacy on the internet. We welcome the burgeoning privacy regulations, such as GDPR and CCPA, for the benefit they can provide to internet citizens. However, these new legislative measures place restrictions that impact our ability to continue distributing our GeoLite2 databases on a public page under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
And further down the primary reason is stated:
The [California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA)](https://oag.ca.gov/privacy/ccpa) mandates that businesses honor valid “Do Not Sell” requests from California residents. In this context, complying with a valid request involves MaxMind removing IP addresses from the GeoLite2 data and communicating to GeoLite2 users that the IP addresses in question should (immediately) not be utilized for uses covered under the CCPA.
So… if I understand correctly, in order to “improve customer privacy”, CCPA requires the end to previous “anonymous” downloads of a database to be replaced with a privacy ending requirement to sign up for an account to use said database? Does that strike as odd to anyone else?
I wonder if this sort of thing will start impacting other free database services such as DNSBL lists for blacklisting bad actors and AddBlock lists?