EU's Tusk warns of risks in rise of U.S. tech giants • Hacker News Board

Re: EU's Tusk warns of risks in rise of U.S. tech giants

#41

Post by Shivetya » Sat, May 04, 2019, 12:40 AM UTC

andreilys wrote: post #34

markdown wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> A similar case can be made for Chinese companies, many of whom are actively complicit in human rights violations Snowden showed us that US companies routinely do this, with FISA forcing them to participate just like the Chinese Govt does to Chinese companies. Also, US law only protects the human rights of US citizens, while non-citizens get their privacy invaded routinely (in contravention of Article 12 of the Univ…

US tech companies routinely aid the government in systematic ethnic cleansing [1]? Also last time I remember there being a showdown on privacy between Apple and the FBI, Apple refused their request to side-load software that would allow them to crack a terrorists phone. I can't imagine Huawei being able to refuse such a request from the Communist party. [1] https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/global-opinions/ethn…

well many of them have no problem using China for a manufacturing base and frankly how is that different from companies based there? I scoff at companies like Apple touting their concern for rights when they effectively turn a blind eye to China's behavior because the market is too valuable

Re: EU's Tusk warns of risks in rise of U.S. tech giants

#42

Post by belltaco » Sat, May 04, 2019, 12:49 AM UTC

adventured wrote: post #14

ajuc wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In which way does regulation create the business environment that the article laments? EU was always behind in internet stuff, even when there was no regulation.

Indeed, Europe has been behind the US in tech since WW2. The lead the US acquired in the following ~20 years has proven impossible to overcome. It spawned so many various advantages that compound and build on each other (to say nothing of the single market of enormous size). If they knew what they were doing, they'd start by massively increasing the pay for software developers across Western Europe. Software is why t…

>If they knew what they were doing, they'd start by massively increasing the pay for software developers across Western Europe.

So the governments of Western Europe should just increase the pay for software developers?

Re: EU's Tusk warns of risks in rise of U.S. tech giants

#43

Post by arkades » Sat, May 04, 2019, 1:06 AM UTC

JeremyBanks wrote: post #25

askafriend wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm sorry but Taxis were a criminally poor, inefficient, and dangerous product before Uber came along. I'd like to see you argue in favor of Taxis, because there really aren't many good arguments or excuses for how they operated and really just squandered their own opportunity. Uber is better on literally every single dimension. Stripe is an international company that's facilitated by the internet.

Yes, America's existing taxi system was also awful. The fact that the only way to improve upon the situation required a series of criminal conspiracies and attempts to obstruct justice that were never properly punished reflects very poorly on the country.

NYC taxis are incomparably better to most European city taxis. It’s not in NYC that I came to appreciate Uber.

Re: EU's Tusk warns of risks in rise of U.S. tech giants

#44

Post by viraptor » Sat, May 04, 2019, 1:11 AM UTC

Mirioron wrote: post #4

Maybe the EU and European countries could've fostered an environment where tech companies could've been successful as well?

What specifically do you have in mind? I mean, it's easy to ask this in general, but what do you think needs changing?

Re: EU's Tusk warns of risks in rise of U.S. tech giants

#45

Post by plandis » Sat, May 04, 2019, 1:34 AM UTC

Of course he is, US is in a much stronger position than the EU in the technology sector. You think he'd be saying the same thing if Google, Amazon, Facebook, Microsoft, etc... acted the exact same but were EU companies? I doubt it.

Re: EU's Tusk warns of risks in rise of U.S. tech giants

#46

Post by vfclists » Sat, May 04, 2019, 1:55 AM UTC

andreilys wrote: post #29

A similar case can be made for Chinese tech companies, many of whom are actively complicit in human rights violations [1] [2]. Yet EU countries like Italy have no qualms about supporting the geopolitical aims of China, inevitably strengthening the position of the Chinese tech companies. Which should come to no surprise given their close ties to the communist party [3] [4]. [1] https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/…

I guess unlike the EU China displays no interest in "flooding "Europe with illegal immigrants of incompatible cultures from third world countries.

Re: EU's Tusk warns of risks in rise of U.S. tech giants

#47

Post by vfclists » Sat, May 04, 2019, 1:59 AM UTC

Is that measly article worthy of posting to HN, or was it crafted especially for HN?

Re: EU's Tusk warns of risks in rise of U.S. tech giants

#48

Post by katanaman » Sat, May 04, 2019, 2:08 AM UTC

wazoox wrote: post #19

EU officials don't understand the current trade war. The US keeps coercing EU companies, buying them out by force (Alstom), pushing them out of markets (Iran), using extortion against EU banks, generally pressuring the EU in the position of an obedient vassal; but the EU doesn't get it, at all. That's a tragedy (for us Europeans). Eu officials are completely bought into the free market ideology and "gentle commerce".…

Had the chance to live a few years in western Europe and I was shocked at the servility of the European institutions to the American interests.

In Europe nobody dares to criticize clearly and openly the ways of the US, not even the communists. No wonder Obama was a huge hit in Europe. Perhaps this explains why most Americans think of Europeans as a spineless and weak

I'm not leftist at all but I have to admit that Chavez had more balls than the whole western Europe

Re: EU's Tusk warns of risks in rise of U.S. tech giants

#49

Post by whynotminot » Sat, May 04, 2019, 2:18 AM UTC

markdown wrote: post #30

andreilys wrote: post #29

A similar case can be made for Chinese tech companies, many of whom are actively complicit in human rights violations [1] [2]. Yet EU countries like Italy have no qualms about supporting the geopolitical aims of China, inevitably strengthening the position of the Chinese tech companies. Which should come to no surprise given their close ties to the communist party [3] [4]. [1] https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/…

> A similar case can be made for Chinese companies, many of whom are actively complicit in human rights violations Snowden showed us that US companies routinely do this, with FISA forcing them to participate just like the Chinese Govt does to Chinese companies. Also, US law only protects the human rights of US citizens, while non-citizens get their privacy invaded routinely (in contravention of Article 12 of the Univ…

This false equivalence is incredibly, incredibly dangerous.

Re: EU's Tusk warns of risks in rise of U.S. tech giants

#50

Post by zamalek » Sat, May 04, 2019, 5:03 AM UTC

viraptor wrote: post #44

Mirioron wrote: post #4

Maybe the EU and European countries could've fostered an environment where tech companies could've been successful as well?

What specifically do you have in mind? I mean, it's easy to ask this in general, but what do you think needs changing?

If they want EU citizens to enjoy the fantastic EU privacy protections via EU tech giants, they need to have a beneficial legislative ecosystem. GDPR needs work (as only the giants can afford more than zero breaches, which are an unfortunate reality for every company at some point) and their shiny new copyright law is outright fatal to startups.

EU legislation has a very clear message: start your tech company elsewhere.