Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Zuckerberg didn’t make any friends in Europe today

techcrunch.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

211–220 of 326 posts

Re: Zuckerberg didn’t make any friends in Europe today

#211

Post by KozmoNau7 »

sparkling wrote: post #205
kuschku wrote: post #202

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And do you know why that happened? Ever considered the reason? Just like cameras had a megapixel war, vacuums had a power war. In reading electricity consumption without increasing actual air throughput. At its height there were 3500W vacuums with less than 10% effectivity. Billions of euros every year were wasted on electricity for this. Just like the laws encouraging LEDs, the vacuum laws had a major effect, manufa…

Its funny that you mention the light bulbs. Actually, the EU did NOT encourage LED light bulbs for the longest time. You may recall that they banned some conventional wolfram based light bulbs and instead tried to force compact fluorescent lamps (CFL) to the consumer, not LEDs. This has actually lead to a huge recycling problem. The CFLs contain mercury, the plastic parts are hard to recycle and the glass can not be…

What actually happened was that they set a minimum efficiency for lightbulbs, which tungsten bulbs didn't meet, but CFLs (and some halogens) did. LED bulbs weren't quite ready for prime time at that point.

They actually did the most sensible thing possible. They set a target efficiency, and let the manufacturers figure out which technology to use in order to meet those requirements. The alternative would have been to make a specific energy-efficient technology mandatory, which would have unfairly benefited manufacturers focusing on that specific technology, and would have made the law outdated when a better technology inevitably comes along.

Nobody forced CFLs on people. They were simply the best option at that time, until LED bulbs improved.

Re: Zuckerberg didn’t make any friends in Europe today

#212

Post by philliphaydon »

gerhams wrote: post #156
sparkling wrote: post #137

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So you are saying the EU is doing "better than ever" but yet, in every recent national election in the EU we have seen massive wins for anti-EU parties and movements? Just to name a few: Czech Republic, Italy, Poland, Hungary, France. Add to that a failing currency, massive debt in the southern EU member states, the next banking crisis ready to come. Do you believe that it is a sustainable model to have Germany guara…

You sound like you don't own a passport and just repeat fearmongering you hear on the news Please get a passport, visit Europe, and then have an informed opinion. I can't speak personally for the eastern or southern states but here in central europe things are quite peachy. The central/west/northern parts of Europe are the most stable in the world, I doubt that will change soon, regardless of what happens elsewhere.…

So you like your free travel and ability to work anywhere in the EU??? But beyond that what does the EU offer other than a lot of regulations that seem to be hurting a lot of smaller countries?

Re: Zuckerberg didn’t make any friends in Europe today

#213

Post by patio11 »

saiya-jin wrote: post #138
patio11 wrote: post #112

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Presumably Zuckerberg has learned the lesson of Bill Gates: Europe periodically discovers a reason to fine American tech companies large-but-relatively-immaterial amounts of money. Then you eventually graduate to being Old Money, and Europe reminisces fondly about you.

you mean that we treat people like human beings with their own rights, and not some spreadsheet item of potential revenue that have these dumb but exploitable thing called emotions and desires?

Human rights, emotions, and desires are relatively distant to why Europe fined Microsoft about a billion dollars. The thing which got them very vexed was, per the extensive written record of administrative actions, bundling Windows Media Player.

Re: Zuckerberg didn’t make any friends in Europe today

#214

Post by zerostar07 »

rndgermandude wrote: post #104
phicoh wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Just my impression: if this was Google, then yes. It is very hard to replace Google at this point in time. Facebook is on its way out. Due to the network effect, Facebook will stay relevant for a long time. But if Facebook would leave the EU then it wouldn't take long for other social networks to take its place. Facebook is relevant because everybody is on Facebook. Not because it is such a great service. Personally,…

Let's pretend facebook leaves and a EU competitor who follows the GDPR comes alive and Europeans start using it... And the other people outside the EU start using it to stay connected with their EU friends and family... and companies all around the world start using it to stay connected with their EU clientèle... and some major "celebs" start using it either as a political statement or because they don't like that fa…

Unfortunately it is the nature of the internet social network sector to be monopolistic. Few (if any?) local social networks have survived because people typically - especially europeans - have friends outside EU. VK is a notable exception and i wonder how they made it - possibly anti-americanism played a role.

In a way, facebook should wish they have some competition, so they can avoid all the nosy anti-trust questions, but they don't.

Re: Zuckerberg didn’t make any friends in Europe today

#215

Post by musage »

mpfundstein wrote: post #149
sparkling wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Destroying democracies"? Oh please. Im pretty sure the fall of the EU has little to do with Facebook. Maybe these EU officials should look at their own parlament for blame for once. Perhaps stop robbing your people by artificially devaluing your currency, stop the influx of illegal refugees into the welfare states, stop passing silly laws regulating the form of cucumbers etc. - i could go on and on.

I upvoted you because I think you are addressing the root problem. I'd suggest that in future discussions, you back your claims with sources. Then people would not simply downvote you for expressing a 'populist' opinion.

How about you back up any of that? "Influx of illegal refugees", for starters; there's refugees, there's illegal immigrants, but the phrase "illegal refugees" is really just some spittle on someone's chin. Speaking of that:

Nevermind that sort of mind destroying "language" and how citizens employing it would relate to even the most humble notions of democracy. And never ever you mind the selling of arms, nevermind being accomplice or directly involved in all sorts of things that that makes a big part of these refugees flee in the first place. Fuck Brexit; why isn't Tony Blair in jail? Why is Saudi-Arabia an important ally? Why is Turkey in the NATO?

If you're going to talk values or autonomy, maybe don't start with the people who have it worst, start at the top. That's what a lot of "average people" really want when the dust settles, and what you call populism is just controlled opposition and distraction to avoid it, to keep the dust from ever settling. Fuck that. It's murder, and it's outright despicable when you have food and books at your disposal.

Re: Zuckerberg didn’t make any friends in Europe today

#216

Post by kuschku »

KozmoNau7 wrote: post #211
sparkling wrote: post #205

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Its funny that you mention the light bulbs. Actually, the EU did NOT encourage LED light bulbs for the longest time. You may recall that they banned some conventional wolfram based light bulbs and instead tried to force compact fluorescent lamps (CFL) to the consumer, not LEDs. This has actually lead to a huge recycling problem. The CFLs contain mercury, the plastic parts are hard to recycle and the glass can not be…

What actually happened was that they set a minimum efficiency for lightbulbs, which tungsten bulbs didn't meet, but CFLs (and some halogens) did. LED bulbs weren't quite ready for prime time at that point. They actually did the most sensible thing possible. They set a target efficiency, and let the manufacturers figure out which technology to use in order to meet those requirements. The alternative would have been to…

And in my family we didn't buy CFLs as response to the law, instead we bought LEDs from day one. At first they were quite bad and expensive, but due to the demand, over time, they significantly improved.

It was absolutely possible.

Re: Zuckerberg didn’t make any friends in Europe today

#217

Post by kodablah »

ZuckBot? "attention-sapping, app gobbling elephant"? What kind of poor excuse for journalism is this? Or is it an op-ed that's just not clearly labeled.

Normally I would be disappointed such a terrible article would be so regarded by the community, but no longer. The pitchforks are out, and the more anti-FB you can be in your reporting, the larger the audience. Critical thought had ceased and it's one sided now. What a sham these politicians are in their grandstanding and IMO along with mass media outlets have grossly over exaggerated the harms.

Re: Zuckerberg didn’t make any friends in Europe today

#218

Post by zerostar07 »

veddox wrote: post #181
phicoh wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Just my impression: if this was Google, then yes. It is very hard to replace Google at this point in time. Facebook is on its way out. Due to the network effect, Facebook will stay relevant for a long time. But if Facebook would leave the EU then it wouldn't take long for other social networks to take its place. Facebook is relevant because everybody is on Facebook. Not because it is such a great service. Personally,…

I agree with that analysis. The main reason why Facebook is relevant in Europe is because everybody is still on it - but actual usage is steadily decreasing, especially in the younger generation. Most communications nowadays is done via WhatsApp, but that is trivial to replace. (Telegram is already quite popular, and then there is Signal, Threema, etc.) Of course, it would be a blow for individuals if all their uploa…

> least in Germany

Germany is draconian about privacy , but a lot of the rest of the EU is really not. I would even expect a backlash to GDPR from businesses or politicians or people who lose access to audiences.

Re: Zuckerberg didn’t make any friends in Europe today

#219

Post by musage »

sparkling wrote: post #185
ricardobeat wrote: post #105

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As an EU resident I am so, so glad immigration and terrorism are not priorities. There are more important things to worry about (such as privacy, housing, equality, welfare).

You realize that massive refugee influx directly affects topics such as housing, equality, welfare - right?

You're realize you're just squaring those who have it bad against each other, instead of all them against those who are are actively making those issues worse not because they are desperate to survive, but out of sheer greed --- right?

Re: Zuckerberg didn’t make any friends in Europe today

#220

Post by csomar »

Facebook should be moving to a decentralized, blockchain powered solution as fast as possible.

Ethics aside, the regulators are looking to regulate and looks like ready to hammer facebook. I’m pretty sure they’re interested in the data and surveillance Facebook can provide for them.

A blockchain solution can give Facebook some time. They have the userbase and the money.

Post reply on HN