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Big Tech to EU: "Drop Dead"

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Re: Big Tech to EU: "Drop Dead"

#41

Post by nroets »

Caligatio wrote: post #28

I always scratch my head about articles that lump Meta, Apple, and Google together when it comes to regulations. They all have different problems that require different solutions. Apple - consumers give the company for hardware which is locked into a closed ecosystem. Apple extracts extra revenue by enforcing this closed ecosystem. There can be no competition other than not purchasing their hardware in the first plac…

I, on the other hand, have a lot more sympathy for Apple: Many highly successful people and many businesses have never owned any of there products. They are not a monopoly. Why can't market forces just regulate them ??

Re: Big Tech to EU: "Drop Dead"

#42

Post by jauntywundrkind »

What's kind of weirdly ironic about this is it's governments upkeeping a Declaration of Independence of Cyberspace. It's governments keeping vaster colossuses still from gobbling up our most personal devices & connectivities & keeping them bound forever. Apple has made itself sovereign king over a wide sector of cyberspace, and the governments have to play the part of tyrant smasher.

This is not how the DIS told it's story, but mercy heavens be do we need someone to prevent our closest tools from being bound forever against us. If that's governments so be it.

Re: Big Tech to EU: "Drop Dead"

#43

Post by riffraff »

kernal wrote: post #13
bee_rider wrote: post #8

The EU will win this if they want. Their trump card is that, actually, making the EU not a viable market for the most annoying US tech companies would be a huge win for many of their constituents.

Apple should play their Trump card and threaten to pull out of the EU. The EU would blink first because the public backlash would be career ending.

The EU commission and EU parliament are somewhat removed from public backlash, it's one of the reasons people complain about the EU being "undemocratic".

So the commission or random EU MEP would be affected after 5 years or so.

Tim Cook would get backlash from stockholders the moment he announced he wanted to stop getting EU revenue rather than comply with regulations.

Re: Big Tech to EU: "Drop Dead"

#44

Post by dachworker »

bee_rider wrote: post #8

The EU will win this if they want. Their trump card is that, actually, making the EU not a viable market for the most annoying US tech companies would be a huge win for many of their constituents.

The cynical part of me says they are just complaining that they are not being offered juicy enough bribes compared to their American counterparts.

Re: Big Tech to EU: "Drop Dead"

#45

Post by yard2010 »

yxhuvud wrote: post #25
kernal wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Apple should play their Trump card and threaten to pull out of the EU. The EU would blink first because the public backlash would be career ending.

What? No, that is laughable. What would be career ending would be the massive reduction of income within Apple. That would end careers, and quickly change enough minds that they would change policies.

Excuse me for my nativity but can't they just buy back a trillion more stocks or something, keeping the stock price where it is no matter what?

I don't think something can really hurt your income when you have that much money.

Re: Big Tech to EU: "Drop Dead"

#46

Post by riffraff »

_the_inflator wrote: post #3

Very valid points. In my view they miss the mark however. Blaming Apple for optimizing their platform model isn’t the problem, it became a problem. Imagine 2007 and the following years already with the EU act in full effect. AppStore would be dead on arrival. In my view Apple’s AppStore went from feature some people have when they buy a smartphone to necessity. 2007 and even 2016 was a perfect time to opt for a live…

> Imagine 2007 and the following years already with the EU act in full effect. AppStore would be dead on arrival.

App stores on platforms where competition is allowed still thrive, I'm sure you heard of Steam?

Re: Big Tech to EU: "Drop Dead"

#47

Post by yard2010 »

viraptor wrote: post #24
kernal wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Apple should play their Trump card and threaten to pull out of the EU. The EU would blink first because the public backlash would be career ending.

Right, get rid of their 2nd largest market, at size ~⅔ of the US one. Yes, that will definitely show the EU who's the boss. /s

But what if they will though? Won't china happily replace the EU market? It's much bigger too and Winnie the Pooh doesn't care about ppl privacy that much

Re: Big Tech to EU: "Drop Dead"

#48

Post by dmoo »

fwlr wrote: post #38
MrDresden wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You are taking the side of a 3 trillion dollor consumer goods company's bottom line, rather than 500 million people's right to choice and privacy. You do realise that, don't you?

It's governments vs corporations; the 500 million people aren't actually being represented in either camp. Being a subject is little better than being a consumer, and in some ways much worse.

Most are citizens rather than subjects and EU elections are at the start of June.

Re: Big Tech to EU: "Drop Dead"

#49

Post by mackwic »

aborsy wrote: post #26

Pay or Okay is reasonable to some extent (depending on the amount). Do European countries hold themselves and the local companies to the same standards, respect their citizens and their privacy rights? I remember a French institution could not buy our product, because they had a contract with a local manufacturer. They explained to us that they are obliged to buy from this company, or otherwise go through a complicat…

Just so you know, it's a common practice in the US. As europeans, we are almost required to open LLCs in your states, do a joint venture with a local US company, and hire US persons to sell to US people.

It's a matter of fact that the EU is still more open to commerce from US, than the US is with the EU.

Re: Big Tech to EU: "Drop Dead"

#50

Post by pheggs »

aebtebeten wrote: post #40
pheggs wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I feel the same. The GDPR appears super difficult to comply with, even impossible in some cases, and very restricting. I just hope negative effects of (in my opinion) overregulation wont hurt the EUs economy too badly, but that wont be visible for another couple of decades

The GDPR is trivial to comply with: don't track (let alone process) personal data.

Yes I agree its a good idea to not track personal data, but thats by far not the only rule in GDPR
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