EU will require Apple to open up iMessage (2022) • Hacker News Board

Re: EU will require Apple to open up iMessage (2022)

#171

Post by chimeracoder » Thu, Mar 02, 2023, 2:58 PM UTC

> You don't care about any features, apart from the features you care about. Just like everyone else.

That's a pretty uncharitable way to interpret the statement, when the three features OP mentioned are a part of literally every modern messaging platform that people use. Not just iMessage and RCS (the open protocol which is the best analog to iMessage), but WhatsApp, Signal, Telegram, Discord, Messenger, Instagram, Slack... It's actually hard to think of one that doesn't. I guess IRC, if you consider that in any way comparable to the others, but it really isn't at this point, being a now fairly obscure protocol reserved mostly for tech-savvy people and niche cases.

Re: EU will require Apple to open up iMessage (2022)

#172

Post by pbhjpbhj » Thu, Mar 02, 2023, 2:58 PM UTC

What sort of features would prevent a client from receiving a text-based message? XMPP used to work across platforms but commercial interests killed it. Surely, messaging clients can publish a protocol and provide a reference library for others to use to directly contact users on their platforms?

Re: EU will require Apple to open up iMessage (2022)

#173

Post by lentil_soup » Thu, Mar 02, 2023, 2:59 PM UTC

I imagine they'd setup a basic protocol for interoperability of simple messages and then each client can build anything they want on top? Similar to other protocols. At least that's what I am hoping for

Re: EU will require Apple to open up iMessage (2022)

#174

Post by dijit » Thu, Mar 02, 2023, 3:00 PM UTC

> [...] without actually realising that it is actually going to make things worse, that's what regulation does in most cases.

Feels like a uniquely american take. Companies that are maliciously compliant are not the norm.

Leaving behind that most is an ambiguous enough term that means you could basically discredit anything I come up with, how do you feel about regulations that limit the use of harmful or toxic chemicals?

What about regulations that disallow predatory gambling, or the sale of products that do not meet their claims?

Regulations are the only tool that society has to prevent companies acting against the social good.

If you think the regulations are bad then you should genuinely consider sending updated versions to your representatives.

Re: EU will require Apple to open up iMessage (2022)

#175

Post by MikeKusold » Thu, Mar 02, 2023, 3:00 PM UTC

iMessage already has that, by falling back to SMS.

Re: EU will require Apple to open up iMessage (2022)

#176

Post by theloco » Thu, Mar 02, 2023, 3:01 PM UTC

>I don't get why you would regulate such a thing

The job of most government officials is to find plausible solutions to real problems, get a mob engaged and mobilized to solve it, then get the money voted into play so they can extract it via kickbacks and other indirect payments from the contractors.

They're gonna be trying to regulate anything they think is capable of justifying the racket.

Example: Youtube.com 17million dollars running for 18 months, healthcare.gov, 2 billion dollars failed on launch and not used at all.

Re: EU will require Apple to open up iMessage (2022)

#177

Post by ericmay » Thu, Mar 02, 2023, 3:02 PM UTC

Overall the experience will be worse. No doubt about that. Features like the Privacy Nutrition Scorecard (I can't remember what it's actually called) won't be nearly as powerful, for example, because other giant multi-national corporations will just create their own app stores to avoid playing by Apple's rules and "paying the Apple tax", which is something that they have to pay and end consumers don't. I.e. it's just a payment negotiation between big corporations.

It'll also lead to fragmentation and you'll have to manage 5-10 different "app stores" in order to use apps that you use day-to-day right now.

Overall it's just going to be a mess and really suck. Fortunately I don't use many apps so I don't see this affecting me personally other than occasional annoyance when I can't find something I may need in the future or having to help family members fix their phones now. For many though their experience using the iPhone will be degraded, particularly when it comes to software.

Re: EU will require Apple to open up iMessage (2022)

#178

Post by faitswulff » Thu, Mar 02, 2023, 3:02 PM UTC

[flagged]

Re: EU will require Apple to open up iMessage (2022)

#179

Post by jjulius » Thu, Mar 02, 2023, 3:03 PM UTC

>Isn't this going to kill features that only some apps have or offer? What if one day Signal, Telegram or WhatsApp...

Okay, this is where I think we need to make clear who this requirement applies to. If we click through the first link, found in the first sentence in the article, to the actual source text[0] and run it through Google Translate, we can find that this requirement only applies to companies...

>... whose market capitalization reaches at least 75 billion euros or whose annual turnover exceeds 7.5 billion euros. To qualify as gatekeepers, these companies must also provide certain services such as browsers, messaging or social media which have at least 45 million end users per month in the EU and 10,000 business users per year.

[0]https://www.europarl.europa.eu/news/fr/press-room/20220315IP...

Re: EU will require Apple to open up iMessage (2022)

#180

Post by pbhjpbhj » Thu, Mar 02, 2023, 3:04 PM UTC

Users just want simple direct communications to work (yes, with more features than that, E2EE, image sending, and such; but those features are not the focus).

Companies want to get users into a walled-garden where they can target them for financial and political gains.

Democracy trying to push things away from the latter seems good. Do you agree?