Europe is in danger of regulating its tech market out of existence • Hacker News Board

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

#151

Post by nradov » Fri, Jul 26, 2024, 10:02 PM UTC

LorenPechtel wrote: post #43

They have some valid gripes but then they get to: Or consider the recent charges the EU levied against X. Under Elon Musk’s ownership, anyone can now purchase a blue check with a paid subscription, whereas blue checks were previously reserved for notable figures. EU regulators singled out the new system for blue checks as a deceptive business practice that violates the bloc’s Digital Services Act. What are they think…

Don't be naive. It was never a symbol of trust. At most it was a symbol of prominence or notability as decided by a biased, unaccountable group of Twitter employees. Many of the old blue check mark accounts routinely posted inaccurate information or outright lies.

The new X Community Notes system is far superior for establishing trust.

https://www.hindustantimes.com/world-news/us-news/biden-clai...

https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2024-05-22/elon-m...

Fundamentally just because a software feature worked a certain way at one time doesn't create an obligation for tech companies to keep it working the same way. Whether you consider that acceptable is entirely irrelevant.

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

#152

Post by ktosobcy » Fri, Jul 26, 2024, 10:02 PM UTC

onlyrealcuzzo wrote: post #102

KaiserPro wrote: post #88

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?

> Every large company in every industry wants to do this.

And the point of regulation is to stop it and bring balance. Or are you happy with mono-/oligopolies?

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

#153

Post by Avamander » Fri, Jul 26, 2024, 10:02 PM UTC

jjtheblunt wrote: post #3

meiraleal wrote: post #2

Regulating the tech Market is great for local tech só what happens is pretty the opposite. No country will lose GDP if meta or google leave

how much of gdp is facilitated through the search abilities of meta and google, though?

Search abilities increasingly loathed for poor quality, blocked by providers, made useless by AI slop and superseded by the likes of even TikTok?

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

#154

Post by throwawaysleep » Fri, Jul 26, 2024, 10:02 PM UTC

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.

That’s not destroying it, that’s saving it from the doldrums of inefficiency and requiring masses of people focused on food production.

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

#155

Post by baq » Fri, Jul 26, 2024, 10:03 PM UTC

georgeburdell wrote: post #136

thrance wrote: post #77

I wish targeted advertising was made completely illegal here, I am sure our society would greatly benefit from that.

Do you actually get relevant online ads? I usually get ads about the thing I just bought

I thought it’s idiotic until the first time I sent something back for a refund.

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

#156

Post by Avamander » Fri, Jul 26, 2024, 10:03 PM UTC

lolinder wrote: post #45

golergka wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you think it was deliberate or just a general reaction to an uncaught exception somewhere in the ad part of the app?

This is the code that does it: // The tinypass.min.js script was blocked due to a browser content filter console.log('Piano Script was blocked'); // Show error modal to user FP.Utils.Piano.showBrowserCompatibilityErrorModal(); Looks like the code comes from their analytics provider: https://piano.io/ Link to the source: https://foreignpolicy.com/_static/??-eJy1lNtuwjAMhl9oIYCQGBf...

Piano really needs to be blocked harder by adblockers, they're currently underblocked by most public lists. Disgusting surveillance machine.

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

#157

Post by ktosobcy » Fri, Jul 26, 2024, 10:04 PM UTC

throwawayq3423 wrote: post #133

AnarchismIsCool wrote: post #106

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'd just say all advertising. It's effectively money time and effort we just light on fire.

Why not make Sales illegal too.

Happily. I'm not very fond of dumb calls from "sales" starting with "Let me introduce you to our new shiny product"...

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

#158

Post by Avamander » Fri, Jul 26, 2024, 10:04 PM UTC

preya2k wrote: post #14

Oh the irony of this article being covered by a consent screen that starts with: „We & our 735 technology partners ask you to consent to the use of cookies to store and access personal data on your device.“

This is the "innovation" the article is also talking about though, so it's great they give an example.

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

#159

Post by pelorat » Fri, Jul 26, 2024, 10:04 PM UTC

skywhopper wrote: post #122

brigadier132 wrote: post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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.

You have a weird definition of “terrible”. How much EU taxes are being paid by Apple, Meta, Google, etc?

We pay more than enough taxes in Europe.

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

#160

Post by lolinder » Fri, Jul 26, 2024, 10:04 PM UTC

fl0id wrote: post #140

lolinder wrote: post #132

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> You'll struggle to find people who are against the Digital Markets Act for this reason. It literally only targets the potential monopolists. I'm against the way it's being applied to Apple. I don't think that the government should dictate that consumers aren't allowed to choose a platform that's a locked down walled garden if that's what they want. We have platforms that aren't walled gardens (Android) that many of…

this argument doesn't work, because you could always argue that the consumer chose this product, and thus its features and practices should be allowed. Apple had it coming for a long time already, one way or another. And Microsoft also will again the way they are going.

Yeah, sure, you could always argue that about anything, but that's not a refutation of this particular argument in this particular situation. Apple's walled garden produces a lot of real benefits for its customers that are part of what make it successful, and dismantling their walled garden is going to harm consumers.

I would never pick an Apple device for myself. I would also never recommend an Android phone to my mother-in-law. I, myself, know to avoid the many Android security holes that exist because it's a relaxed platform. But for my non-technical loved ones, Apple provides a much better experience in large part because it's a walled garden that makes it very difficult to install garbage.