On: GDPR for lazy people: Block all European users wit...

[codexon]

"you could easily not switch to a CASCADE, but instead set delete=1 and mark every sensitive field with a special value"

[dbpatterson → codexon]

you ignored "and mark every sensitive field with a special value", which is the key part. As long as all sensitive data has been essentially zero'd out (for some value of zero), all is fine.

[codexon → dbpatterson]

Marking a field sounds to me like labeling and not zeroing it out.

[jachee → codexon]

What if "a special value" == NULL?

[namibj → jachee]

If you choose that value, and it's the only, or one of the few values that break your software, then it's your fault.