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Big tech face EU blow in national data watchdogs ruling

reuters.com

131–140 of 157 posts

Re: Big tech face EU blow in national data watchdogs ruling

#131

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thats quite harsh though, lots of people rely on Facebook for their business/pages/groups etc. Whats more the U.S can retaliate back since it can be seen as protectionism...

I don’t deny that lots of people rely on Facebook. However what the GDPR demands seems absolutely reasonable. All it requires is that the company must be transparent with what data it collects, how it uses it and gives each individual control of whether they want to allow Facebook to collect and use their data for specific purposes. If Facebook can’t sustain itself without stalking everyone, it’s a problem with Faceb…

Well since it's gonna destroy Europe not just for Facebook but probably all big U.S tech I don't see why the U.S won't reciprocate with nice tariffs on EU auto industry for instance. It seems quite draconian actually since almost no one complies with GDPR to that extent.

Re: Big tech face EU blow in national data watchdogs ruling

#132
post #20
post #16

The world's countries at a party, tech edition: US: We'll bring the software! China: We'll bring the hardware! EU: We'll bring the regulation!

Ah yes, the country of the European Union

One of the resolutions that I frequently make competitive high school debaters debate about is a proposal for the EU to federalize and form the united states of Europe. Honestly, the EU really should try this. African leaders are also trying to form a United States of Africa, and I wouldn't be surprised if something like it happens by the 2030s or 2040s...

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_of_Europe

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_of_Africa

Re: Big tech face EU blow in national data watchdogs ruling

#133
post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>How about actually supporting the European Tech industry instead of just adding endless bureaucracy? Why do you make it sound like they don't? The EU invests massive amounts in technology (in regards to its paltry investment budget, but that's another debate). One does not prevent the other. And calling regulations against clear abuse "endless bureaucracy" is insidious at best.

I believe the EU would be better off if it just deleted its technology funding apparatus and tried to rebuild something like DARPA, while focusing on procurement like the poster suggested. There is a huge amount of money available, but it's locked behind layers and layers of bureaucracy. It is a huge waste of time on both sides, for some anecdotal I'm procrastinating from an application as I type. I should be coding…

> The situation has devolved to where startups treat public funding as though it were revenue and have dedicated teams to chase it.

This is how it works in America, too. Professional grant writers who know how to get funding are basically the rainmakers for research teams.

Re: Big tech face EU blow in national data watchdogs ruling

#134
post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I believe the EU would be better off if it just deleted its technology funding apparatus and tried to rebuild something like DARPA, while focusing on procurement like the poster suggested. There is a huge amount of money available, but it's locked behind layers and layers of bureaucracy. It is a huge waste of time on both sides, for some anecdotal I'm procrastinating from an application as I type. I should be coding…

There no massive capital flow like in the US because nobody's putting their entire life savings and pensions on the markets.

Interesting, where do retirement savings go? I don't know much about the European context beyond the S = I identity from my intro macro courses back in the day.

Re: Big tech face EU blow in national data watchdogs ruling

#135
post #123
post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As someone running s small business in the EU: how am I taxed to death? The only taxes a startup really needs to care about are taxes on salary but since competent employees are a fraction of the cost here compared to SF it does not matter that taxes are higher. There is also VAT which can affect some businesses but in general is not too big of a deal. No, I can't see how taxes are to blame. Taxes are not signficant…

it could be the fact that EU employees are randomly out of office(vacation) for months at a time. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

This is a hilarious view on European work culture, and this is coming from a guy that is randomly out of the office (vacation) for months at a time.

Re: Big tech face EU blow in national data watchdogs ruling

#136
post #19
post #6

How about actually supporting the European Tech industry instead of just adding endless bureaucracy? Ban Oracle and Microsoft from public procurement and start supporting the European equivalent of Baidu or Yandex. With ARM (prior to the acquisition), Linux, MariaDB, etc. - Europe was in a great position to do this. We need to stop this digital colonialism where massive, monopolistic US corporations pay no taxes in E…

>How about actually supporting the European Tech industry instead of just adding endless bureaucracy? Why do you make it sound like they don't? The EU invests massive amounts in technology (in regards to its paltry investment budget, but that's another debate). One does not prevent the other. And calling regulations against clear abuse "endless bureaucracy" is insidious at best.

Instead of funding they should just get out of the way

Re: Big tech face EU blow in national data watchdogs ruling

#137
post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ah yes, the country of the European Union

Frankly, given the primacy of EU law it's strange to me that EU members feel like they really are countries anymore.

There are still so many cultural and legislative differences between countries that people don't feel Europeans, they identify with the individual country.

The UK was definitely the country which stood out the most in EU, so after Brexit, the EU lost one furthest away country in its block, in terms of diversity.

EU law cover stuff you hardly run into. Sure, you have euros everywhere but they don't regulate how much taxes you pay or how your national health care is managed.

All is fine until they start regulating on things that matter. Immigration is definitely one of the first sector where people started noticing they're in the EU, because they're unhappy with the results.

Re: Big tech face EU blow in national data watchdogs ruling

#138
post #16

The world's countries at a party, tech edition: US: We'll bring the software! China: We'll bring the hardware! EU: We'll bring the regulation!

US bureaucracy is not any better than EU. Have you dealt with the FDA, FAA or SEC? The difference is that the EU tries to protect people in different aspects like social rights or privacy. The US does not offer similar protection, so in some sectors you don't hit the bureaucracy.

The US started as a fresh new country with minimal state and unbridled capitalism and became the largest state in the world. There are still a few remnants of the old days (like all that capital $$$) but it basically become an Europe with expensive healthcare, expensive universities and tons of social issues.

Re: Big tech face EU blow in national data watchdogs ruling

#139

They keep doing these things that are ostensibly aimed at hurting Google, Facebook, Microsoft, etc. But the effect of their actions just entrenches those big players, who have the money and the legal teams and the resources, such that the added regulatory burden widens their moats and suppresses upstart competition.

Perhaps it slows down bigger tech companies ability to innovate. My tech co has spent a significant amount of energy complying with GDPR and CCPA the last couple years while the products have received less and less feature improvements. A brand new entrant would likely bolt on compliance to their innovative product once it reached critical mass, not before.

The real result is preventing smaller players from emerging.

Big tech can easily deal with regulations, they have money. A new social network? It doesn't stand a chance, especially if they raised money in Europe.

I wonder if Big Tech will bail out the EU once they collapse on their debts.

Re: Big tech face EU blow in national data watchdogs ruling

#140
post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>How about actually supporting the European Tech industry instead of just adding endless bureaucracy? Why do you make it sound like they don't? The EU invests massive amounts in technology (in regards to its paltry investment budget, but that's another debate). One does not prevent the other. And calling regulations against clear abuse "endless bureaucracy" is insidious at best.

I believe the EU would be better off if it just deleted its technology funding apparatus and tried to rebuild something like DARPA, while focusing on procurement like the poster suggested. There is a huge amount of money available, but it's locked behind layers and layers of bureaucracy. It is a huge waste of time on both sides, for some anecdotal I'm procrastinating from an application as I type. I should be coding…

There are companies and people specialized to get grants and funding from the eu. They will take 15-20% . Most of the time the money goes to incompetent companies, but with good connections. Normally you’d call this corruption, but of course that doesn’t happen here.
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