Cloudflare CEO on the Italy fines • Hacker News Board

Re: Cloudflare CEO on the Italy fines

#871

Post by 1vuio0pswjnm7 » Sat, Jan 10, 2026, 2:33 PM UTC

1vuio0pswjnm7 wrote: post #663

1vuio0pswjnm7 wrote: post #194

Cloudflare CEO threatens to pull out of Italy and to stop offering free "cybersecurity" to its residents Would this mean Italian websites would be free from Cloudflare "bot protection" or whatever marketing name is used for those annoying "Checking your internet connection..." interstitials

HN does not use a "Just one moment..." Cloudlfare interstitial It seems to do just fine without it HN does not require Javascript or use of a particular client to request and read its HTML. I use an HTML reader (offline) with no suupport for auto-loading resources, images, JS, CSS or DNS "prefetch" nonsense The Cloudflare "protection" against so-called "abuse" forces www users to enable Javascript and use a client th…

Perhaps it can tell the difference betweeen (a) and (b). But it treats them the same

Re: Cloudflare CEO on the Italy fines

#872

Post by croes » Sat, Jan 10, 2026, 2:36 PM UTC

Pedro_Ribeiro wrote: post #462

Alupis wrote: post #452

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You do when the fine is more than double your annual revenue in the foreign nation, has international and geopolitical implications, impacts many other US businesses, could harm foreign relations, and will harm regular US citizens. That's exactly the type of thing the Executive Branch is supposed to deal with.

Do people not understand that companies on this scale are geopolitically important?

Geopolitical important companies are a bad thing. Imagine the company being an Iranian or North Korean company.

That's one countries leverage against another countries laws.

Re: Cloudflare CEO on the Italy fines

#873

Post by cenamus » Sat, Jan 10, 2026, 2:36 PM UTC

cm2012 wrote: post #635

tuwtuwtuwtuw wrote: post #381

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What is an example of a crazy law from EU?

Effective ban of GMOs across EU, ban on paternity tests in France without a court order are the two that come to mind for me.

What does the French law have to do with the EU?

Re: Cloudflare CEO on the Italy fines

#874

Post by vouwfietsman » Sat, Jan 10, 2026, 2:38 PM UTC

CrzyLngPwd wrote: post #742

dependsontheq wrote: post #706

Let's be a bit more honest here, I think the Italian law is badly defined, but I also think the american perspective is wrong. We (all tech people everywhere me included) argued for a lot of time for free speech on the internet, but the result currently is that we built a system that is free speech for Russian and Chinese bots and actors. In Europe we are under daily attack from Russian accounts that spread massive a…

Well, we cry "freedom of speech" when Russia/China/adversary shuts our propaganda-pushing media or tools out. Freedom of speech for me, not for thee, eh? I don't want my politicians deciding what is good or bad on the internet. I'm an adult, and I can decide for myself.

> I'm an adult, and I can decide for myself.

No you can't, all of this stuff is designed to influence you without you knowing it, or you would not be influenced. This is like thinking advertisements have no effect on you.

People pay good money because they know it is effective, it is influencing you, you cannot decide for yourself.

Re: Cloudflare CEO on the Italy fines

#875

Post by rayiner » Sat, Jan 10, 2026, 2:38 PM UTC

dependsontheq wrote: post #706

Let's be a bit more honest here, I think the Italian law is badly defined, but I also think the american perspective is wrong. We (all tech people everywhere me included) argued for a lot of time for free speech on the internet, but the result currently is that we built a system that is free speech for Russian and Chinese bots and actors. In Europe we are under daily attack from Russian accounts that spread massive a…

Europeans have compromised “democracy” in an effort to protect “liberal.” And that will unravel the whole thing.

Re: Cloudflare CEO on the Italy fines

#876

Post by QuantumNoodle » Sat, Jan 10, 2026, 2:44 PM UTC

h33t-l4x0r wrote: post #672

rediguanayum wrote: post #602

Earlier quoted context omitted.

He's giving Italy and Italians fair warning that he will abandon the Italian market to avoid being subject to their laws, and I think it will go that way. I guess it's up to the Italians to find a replacement.

Find a replacement global edge network and get the rest of the world to use it?

Can't have a global edge network without also being a big player - something Cloudflare is disliked for. You're suggesting everyone move to a new provider, so we can dislike the new vendor instead?

Re: Cloudflare CEO on the Italy fines

#877

Post by burkaman » Sat, Jan 10, 2026, 2:49 PM UTC

DangitBobby wrote: post #630

burkaman wrote: post #233

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is the Stephen Miller caveman view of the world, but it obviously doesn't make sense if you think about it for more than five seconds. It's a very straightforward consequence of refusing to ever admit you are wrong. "If I did it, then I must have had the right to do it." It's just a refusal to accept the philosophical concept of rights. The right to vote doesn't exist because you didn't have to defeat the entire…

Refusing to accept the philosophical concept of rights is just correct. You are born with fuck all unless people have decided you are entitled to something by existing. Plenty of people were born without anything remotely resembling rights. If rights were inherent and not simple enforced by people, that wouldn't be the case, would it? Life isn't a fairy tail.

Yes, and people have decided I'm entitled to something by existing. That's what human society and civilization is built on. It's been true for the entire history of our species.

Re: Cloudflare CEO on the Italy fines

#878

Post by tigerBL00D » Sat, Jan 10, 2026, 2:51 PM UTC

They should fight it. But why does he have to suck up to JD Vance and Musk I the same post? I kind of lost empathy at that point.

Re: Cloudflare CEO on the Italy fines

#879

Post by azangru » Sat, Jan 10, 2026, 3:00 PM UTC

Nux wrote: post #667

Started reading the post on Cloudflare's side, but halfway through I ended up against it. It's a little bit scary that guy is the CEO, his post sounds crazy and unprofessional. The fact he's posting on X to begin with is a warning in itself.

> The fact he's posting on X to begin with is a warning in itself.

Why so? The counter at the bottom of the post claims that it has been viewed 7.5 million times. I don't know how this translates into individual people; but still, probably a decent reach?

Re: Cloudflare CEO on the Italy fines

#880

Post by [deleted] » Sat, Jan 10, 2026, 3:01 PM UTC

vouwfietsman wrote: post #874

CrzyLngPwd wrote: post #742

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, we cry "freedom of speech" when Russia/China/adversary shuts our propaganda-pushing media or tools out. Freedom of speech for me, not for thee, eh? I don't want my politicians deciding what is good or bad on the internet. I'm an adult, and I can decide for myself.

> I'm an adult, and I can decide for myself. No you can't, all of this stuff is designed to influence you without you knowing it, or you would not be influenced. This is like thinking advertisements have no effect on you. People pay good money because they know it is effective, it is influencing you, you cannot decide for yourself.

[deleted]