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Europe is in danger of regulating its tech market out of existence

foreignpolicy.com

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Re: Europe is in danger of regulating its tech market out of existence

#91

Post by cheptsov »

kranke155 wrote: post #72
cheptsov wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’m living in Europe, I'm deeply disappointed by the current situation. The problems run much deeper than just regulations; they extend far beyond politics. 1. VCs outright avoid investing in deep tech, with only rare exceptions. 2. Founders overwhelmingly choose to build small, sustainable companies, steering clear of big tech. 3. Employees consistently prefer consulting jobs and value vacation days over equity. 4.…

The real fundamental issue is VCs, which as you pointed out, are far more adventurous in America.

Unfortunately true, but one can also think that it’s a consequence and not the root cause. Why VC should invest if the environment isn’t supportive? A vicious circle :)

Re: Europe is in danger of regulating its tech market out of existence

#92

Post by Sakos »

multimoon wrote: post #87
Sakos wrote: post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Companies circumvent real choice all the time. Regulations prevent them from doing so. There's no equivalency here. EU has repeatedly made legislation that does something or anything to counteract the power these tech companies have over the lives of billions. The EU has an interest in serving the needs of EU citizens. Tech companies do not. Tech companies only care about their bottom line, regardless of the human or…

Then it sounds like what you’re saying is there’s a financial market for users like you and I who would rather pay a subscription fee than our data be sold? Or an ad supported tier? The problem with your argument is you’re removing any revenue source the company has. If you won’t pay a subscription, and you block all the ads, and they can’t sell data, how do they make money? Money is required to run the service, whet…

> Then it sounds like what you’re saying is there’s a financial market for users like you and I who would rather pay a subscription fee than our data be sold? Or an ad supported tier?

And the vast majority of users don't deserve privacy? Nah, that's a ridiculous argument to make and I'm not going to waste my time with this line of discussion. You're not making a good faith argument. I'm not playing your stupid games.

Re: Europe is in danger of regulating its tech market out of existence

#93

Post by FredPret »

thrance wrote: post #68
FredPret wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are you under the impression that people in the US don't have purchasing power? Also, Europe is a power house right now, but won't be a generation from now if trends continue. All forms of power are built on economic power or are a means to get economic power.

As an European, I heard that 60% of Americans live paycheck to paycheck. I don't think our laws should focus on tech companies' freedom since it doesn't seem to improve the people's lives.

Not sure where that stat comes from - median wealth in the USA compares extremely favourably with the rest of the world, while the average blows everyone except Switzerland out of the water.

Also, living paycheck to paycheck != being poor. There are many people with high incomes but poor budgeting who live paycheck to paycheck, but will realistically be just fine if they have to tighten their braces.

Re: Europe is in danger of regulating its tech market out of existence

#95

Post by threatofrain »

Sakos wrote: post #92
multimoon wrote: post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Then it sounds like what you’re saying is there’s a financial market for users like you and I who would rather pay a subscription fee than our data be sold? Or an ad supported tier? The problem with your argument is you’re removing any revenue source the company has. If you won’t pay a subscription, and you block all the ads, and they can’t sell data, how do they make money? Money is required to run the service, whet…

> Then it sounds like what you’re saying is there’s a financial market for users like you and I who would rather pay a subscription fee than our data be sold? Or an ad supported tier? And the vast majority of users don't deserve privacy? Nah, that's a ridiculous argument to make and I'm not going to waste my time with this line of discussion. You're not making a good faith argument. I'm not playing your stupid games.

There's plenty of interpretative room to view the above comment as honest discussion as opposed to dishonesty ("bad faith"). But now you've burned the bridge so hard why do you even bother making an argument? Just to get the last word?

One cannot unring a bell.

Re: Europe is in danger of regulating its tech market out of existence

#96

Post by silverquiet »

threatofrain wrote: post #89
TheChaplain wrote: post #74

Not only the tech market, they're on a pace in destroying the agricultural market as well. Small, medium size farmers are disappearing fast, they quit or at best being absorbed by large farmcorps.

For agriculture at large I wonder if that's not going to be the final economic state everywhere in the world, regardless of government. That's just more efficient. Is there anywhere in the world where this trend is reversing and looking healthy?

It's literal Econ 101 that economies of scale push towards monopolization. It's why we used to have anti-trust laws in the US.

Re: Europe is in danger of regulating its tech market out of existence

#98

Post by multimoon »

Sakos wrote: post #92
multimoon wrote: post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Then it sounds like what you’re saying is there’s a financial market for users like you and I who would rather pay a subscription fee than our data be sold? Or an ad supported tier? The problem with your argument is you’re removing any revenue source the company has. If you won’t pay a subscription, and you block all the ads, and they can’t sell data, how do they make money? Money is required to run the service, whet…

> Then it sounds like what you’re saying is there’s a financial market for users like you and I who would rather pay a subscription fee than our data be sold? Or an ad supported tier? And the vast majority of users don't deserve privacy? Nah, that's a ridiculous argument to make and I'm not going to waste my time with this line of discussion. You're not making a good faith argument. I'm not playing your stupid games.

I don’t think there’s need for anger, I’m not “playing games”. All I’m doing is pointing out that there has to be a source of revenue to run any given service - and if you remove all the sources of revenue then the service ceases to exist. Right now the only viable sources of revenue at that kind of online service scale is subscriptions, ads, or data collection and sale.

If there’s a method I’m not thinking of I’m genuinely curious what the financial model would look like.

Re: Europe is in danger of regulating its tech market out of existence

#99

Post by stfp »

threatofrain wrote: post #89
TheChaplain wrote: post #74

Not only the tech market, they're on a pace in destroying the agricultural market as well. Small, medium size farmers are disappearing fast, they quit or at best being absorbed by large farmcorps.

For agriculture at large I wonder if that's not going to be the final economic state everywhere in the world, regardless of government. That's just more efficient. Is there anywhere in the world where this trend is reversing and looking healthy?

Unless you only look at the financial side of things, and only from the perspective of the larger corps benefiting from this trend, it's not healthy at all.

Re: Europe is in danger of regulating its tech market out of existence

#100

Post by stvltvs »

TheChaplain wrote: post #74

Not only the tech market, they're on a pace in destroying the agricultural market as well. Small, medium size farmers are disappearing fast, they quit or at best being absorbed by large farmcorps.

American agriculture already went down that path. This might be a global pattern following the adoption of improved technology. Is there a reason to believe otherwise in the case of Europe? Or maybe it's a multifaceted phenomenon.
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