Several high-profile US news sites blocked access to European users Friday as the EU's new rules about data protection came into effect.
The LA Times and the Chicago Tribune web are among the high profile sites to assure EU visitors they were looking for ways to make themselves available in those regions. "We are engaged on the issue and committed to looking at options that support our full range of digital offerings to the EU market," the newspapers told visitors to its sites.
Sites that fall under the umbrellas of media publishing groups such as Tronc ( which owns the LA Times, New York Daily News, Chicago Tribune, Baltimore Sun and others) and Lee Enterprises (which owns 46 locally focused daily newspapers in 21 states) are blocked for now, according to the New York Times.
Other US outlets' sites remain available, but ask EU visitors for consent to use their data. Time, Huffpost and the Washington Post are among the sites taking this approach.
USA Today, which is run by Gannett Company, is offering a "European Union Experience," it said in a notification to readers. This means it won't collect European users' data.