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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

#101
post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

I'm asking for counterexamples which are healthy. What is the leading example in your mind?

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

#102

A company that provides a phone service (mobile or other) has to conform to a large amount of regulatory red tape. Why? because either a company before tried to monopolise the entire country, or they killed someone. Now, large tech companies haven't wholesale killed people (unlike say tobacco, or talc powder, 3M and half of their solvents, weed killer, most car makers, etc etc) but they have been trying desperately t…

> but they have been trying desperately to stop all competition.

Every large company in every industry wants to do this.

> They've also been trying to extract as much personal info as possible for profit.

Why would you expect a company not to pursue profits?

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

#103
post #68

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.

No need to "hear." This is easily Googled.

Americans have the highest level of disposable income in the world, and it's not even close. Even Europe's mega-rich tax havens like Luxembourg have a lower disposable income than Americans.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disposable_household_and_per_c...

Yea I know the rebuttal--"but I also heard they all have $100,000 hospital bills every year!!" The disposable per capita income numbers already account for healthcare expenditures.

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

#104
post #10

I might be talking out of my depth, as I don’t live in Europe, but I’ve heard the same paraphrased headlines like these since at least 2016. Has status quo been swayed one way or another since then? Theoretically speaking, wouldn’t legislating away the top US players open the market to the local companies a la Naver in SK, WeChat in China or Line in Japan? I understand I’m dumbing it down, but assuming such legislati…

I don't get this article. Title is "Europe Is in Danger of Regulating Its Tech Market Out of Existence". But then the subtitle says "Poorly designed laws are forcing *global firms* to leave." (emphasis mine) Then you see a picture of an Apple Vision Pro. I've only skimmed through the article and there are 11 mentions of Apple and 12 mentions of Meta, then some mentions of X and such. These aren't even "global" firms,…

A more practical example is that Facebook cannot promote its marketplace anymore. In Europe there are local alternatives for market places that get disadvantaged.

Spotify, an EU company, has to compete with Apple Music and YouTube Music. Both of which have their own mobile operating systems and markets.

Now we get a lot of backlash from these big tech firms as for years they have been integrating services into their walled gardens. Which now is hard to decouple from their platform.

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

#105

A company that provides a phone service (mobile or other) has to conform to a large amount of regulatory red tape. Why? because either a company before tried to monopolise the entire country, or they killed someone. Now, large tech companies haven't wholesale killed people (unlike say tobacco, or talc powder, 3M and half of their solvents, weed killer, most car makers, etc etc) but they have been trying desperately t…

> They've also been trying to extract as much personal info as possible for profit. Because regulators in the USA are hamstrung, they are used to being able to basically doing stuff that would be illegal if it were in physical stores/pre-existing industries.

Did you actually read the article? I don't know how you square this kobayashi maru situation, unless you think Meta is outright lying about it:

> Europe recently charged Meta with breaching EU regulations over its “pay or consent” plan. Meta’s business is built around personalized ads, which are worth far more than non-personalized ads. EU regulators required that Meta provide an option that did not involve tracking user data, so Meta created a paid model that would allow users to pay a fee for an ad-free service. This was already a significant concession—personalized ads are so valuable that one analyst estimated paid users would bring in 60 percent less revenue. But EU regulators are now insisting this model also breaches the rules, saying that Meta fails to provide a less personalized but equivalent version of Meta’s social networks. They’re demanding that Meta provide free full services without personalized ads or a monthly fee for users. In a very real sense, the EU has ruled that Meta’s core business model is illegal. Non-personalized ads cannot economically sustain Meta’s services, but it’s the only solution EU regulators want to accept.

Also, what about the CUDA situation? I don't see how any consumer is harmed by this, which is quite different from a social media company doing its thing.

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

#108
post #92

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.

[deleted]

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

#109
post #40

I think it already did. I am an avid reader of Show HNs. And I remember many that became successful businesses. But not a single European one. All the "startups" that I see here in Europe are very classical businesses. They build software tools for local enterprises. It seems nobody in Europe is building something for the open web. Maybe because nobody here understands all the regulations that come with it. The GDPR…

I wish there was more to the US tech industry than social networks and ads.

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

#110
post #92

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.

No one is forcing you to use these services. I care very much about my privacy and only use a handful of services that respect that privacy. Stop giving your money to companies you disagree with and stop forcing your morality on others. Because all that does is set the precedent for someone to force their morality on you even if you disagree with it. That's how we get anti gay, xenophobic, extremists forcing their moral views on others.

Let people decide what is right for them.

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