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

foreignpolicy.com

111–120 of 761 posts

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

#111

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…

lol. You don’t think Meta would outright lie about this stuff? They have been for years and years. Why is this different?

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

#113

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.

the agriculture market relies heavily on goverment intervention to even exist.

The EU and its member states give out huge subsidies to keep food production local in the EU without being completely destroyed by cheaper crops from third world countries.

The US does the same, and it is for good reason, to actually make sure a steady food supply exists inside the country/union.

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

#114
The efficacy of bureaucratic destruction is explicit in warfare guidance [0]. We pretend peacetime is different. It’s not.

So among non-EU-dwellers, let’s raise a glass to our fallen competitors and erstwhile comrades. Better than Nordstreaming them, or at least more subtle. Onward, toward a new vassal-state future!

edit: It appears that EU subjects are distraught, or the topic is too raw. Let me know!

[0] https://www.hsdl.org/c/abstract/?docid=750070

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

#115

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…

>In a very real sense, the EU has ruled that Meta’s core business model is illegal.

Is this actually bad?

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

#116

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…

Do companies need onerous regulations that increase costs for consumers or do they need the incentive in form of not having their corporate charter cancelled and corporate officers banned from doing business as a threat to maintain a fair market?

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

#117
post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Fair enough. Unless I misunderstood your point it sounds like, what you guys have right now is good for people and their lives. Isn't that the entire point of life? I can see why general population might support it, while us techies would be pushing for deregulation and less of work-life balance. So my understanding of these articles is "it might be bad in a long term!", but Europe is still big enough market for all…

> what you guys have right now is good for people and their lives Let's see how long it lasts, Europe's economy is terrible and their people are significantly poorer. I don't think their current welfare state is sustainable without tax revenue from large businesses. Eventually every European citizen will be a waiter, hotel staff, or a tour guide.

how is europe's economy terrible? by what metric? considering that the EU still has a very large part of the global economy, especially compared to its population and size.

Also, the tech industry is not the only part of the economy. large parts of the EU are absolutely massive in terms of industrial machinery and scientific companies.

People on HN always seem to forget that a lot of money can be made by making something very high end which solves a specific problem, no matter if it is sexy or not.

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

#118

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.

When it comes to commodity staple foods there's just no way that small farms can survive. It isn't realistic given advances in technology and economies of scale. This isn't a problem, it's just inevitable. Small farms that want to remain independent will have to switch from commodities to specialty foods that command higher profit margins.

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

#119
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’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.…

Wait, these are problems? Other than #4 they all sound like good things.

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

#120

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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…

> In a very real sense, the EU has ruled that Meta’s core business model is illegal. Is this actually bad?

You're free to not be a user, but millions of other people want it.
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