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European Commission plans “digital omnibus” package to simplify its tech laws

politico.eu

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Re: European Commission plans “digital omnibus” package to simplify its tech laws

#41

Post by logifail »

flir wrote: post #18
logifail wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I don't want EU to fall behind further in the AI race Unless something changes, that's going to continue :( According to Jensen Huang, "the AI race" will be determined primarily by the price of electricity.[0] Until very recently the EU stated that being carbon neutral by 2050 was of overriding importance[1]. Which is it? [0] https://www.tomshardware.com/tech-industry/artificial-intell... [1] https://climate.ec.eur…

China's target is 2060.

> China's target is 2060

"China plans to keep building coal-fired power plants through 2027 in regions where they are needed to meet peak power demand or stabilise the grid, according to government guidelines"

https://www.reuters.com/sustainability/climate-energy/china-...

Re: European Commission plans “digital omnibus” package to simplify its tech laws

#42

Post by DocTomoe »

jnurmine wrote: post #14

"Draft changes would create new exceptions for AI companies that would allow them to legally process special categories of data (like a person’s religious or political beliefs, ethnicity or health data) to train and operate their tech." Fully anonymized health data I can somehow understand, but what kind of AI needs to be trained with "a person's religious or political beliefs [or] ethnicity", anonymized or not?

Ethnicity can correlate with certain genetic or health predispositions - for instance, the U.S. has long recognized that some conditions (like sickle-cell anemia or hypertension) appear more frequently in Black populations. If AI systems were forbidden from even considering such demographic factors, diagnostic accuracy could suffer.

Re: European Commission plans “digital omnibus” package to simplify its tech laws

#43

Post by andrepd »

whimsicalism wrote: post #39
1718627440 wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And as an EU citizen I like that they do. After all this is what they are for.

interesting. sounds like the EU is getting the growth trajectory its voters desire, then - best of luck!

Oh no, I live more years, work less hours, and breathe cleaner air, but unfortunately line goes up slightly less than in the US of A.

Re: European Commission plans “digital omnibus” package to simplify its tech laws

#44

Post by DocTomoe »

rapsey wrote: post #32
paganel wrote: post #24

[flagged]

Unfortunately the downfall of the EU will not be easy or quick.

Germany's right-wing AfD is on a trajectory to become the largest party. One of their goals: a Dexit.

An EU without the main net payer will disintegrate within months.

Re: European Commission plans “digital omnibus” package to simplify its tech laws

#45

Post by andrepd »

thewebguyd wrote: post #9
Yaina wrote: post #6

I like the EU, but what's annoying about things like this, or the Chat Control law that keeps getting pushed, is that civil society and privacy advocacy groups always need to stay vigilant and keep mobilizing people. It's an attrition game. I wonder what harm companies are even claiming. But honestly makes perfect sense that Germany's current conservative government is in favor of it. Giant GDP boosts are always just…

> civil society and privacy advocacy groups always need to stay vigilant and keep mobilizing people. It's an attrition game. In a game of cat and mouse, the cat only has to win once.

Literally so, because the European """Parliament""" is the only institution with this name that I'm aware of that does not have the power to introduce laws. Which means it doesn't have the power to repeal them.

In other words, the Commission can propose laws as many times as they want, and if they pass even once, the Parliament has no power to repeal it.

Re: European Commission plans “digital omnibus” package to simplify its tech laws

#46

Post by mentalgear »

mrtksn wrote: post #35
Insanity wrote: post #5

It's a tricky balance to strike. I don't want EU to fall behind further in the AI race, and I do want them to be more competitive in the tech landscape. At the moment, EU really isn't competitive in tech (and neither in tech salaries) and it leads to a certain amount of 'brain drain' as people move abroad. So while I do understand the need for regulations, they shouldn't regulate themselves into irrelevance. I don't…

I don't think its about regulation, its the mindset. Since some time there's this trend of indie European developers with some who managed to make themselves a name like Peter Levels and be hosted on big podcasters and these people keep calling their projects "startups" and making about as much as a high street kebab shop(in this community they like to boost about their revenues). Levels is famous enough to be interv…

Levels is all hype, no depth. It’s absurd that he frames himself as somehow “disadvantaged” by the EU’s HPC access rules, when those systems are explicitly reserved for scientific research, not for cranking out AI avatars or the latest “AI-generated game” cash-grab. Complaining that you can’t use taxpayer-funded supercomputers for your next hype cycle isn’t a sign of innovation - it’s Levels' so often displayed self-entitlement and pseudo-intellectualism.

Re: European Commission plans “digital omnibus” package to simplify its tech laws

#47

Post by immibis »

whimsicalism wrote: post #19
mjburgess wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But what is 'tech'? When we say the EU isn't competitive in 'tech', what technology capacity do they lack? I think 'tech' as a category doesnt make much sense any more. It's like saying 'road-based business'. Most companies are 'tech' companies. Ignoring the technical element, what are US megacorps that account for all the GDP growth of the last while? Mostly ad market monopolies, then mostly massive-scale IP theft,…

> Mostly ad market monopolies, then mostly massive-scale IP theft, etc. Good point. I think that the EU has an opportunity to really grow here by focusing on intellectual property enforcement, patents, copyright, and generally more strict enforcement on making sure returns for ideas go to the first person to think of them. The EU already has a pretty strong governance lead and should double down on where its strength…

Definitely! Preventing as much innovation as possible is always good for an economy.

Re: European Commission plans “digital omnibus” package to simplify its tech laws

#48

Post by cbg0 »

DocTomoe wrote: post #44
rapsey wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Unfortunately the downfall of the EU will not be easy or quick.

Germany's right-wing AfD is on a trajectory to become the largest party. One of their goals: a Dexit. An EU without the main net payer will disintegrate within months.

Brexit worked out so well that it basically quelled any dreams of other EU countries exiting after seeing it just creates a lot of headaches and almost no benefit to then just go back to having trade agreements with the EU while not being part of it.

Re: European Commission plans “digital omnibus” package to simplify its tech laws

#49

Post by basisword »

logifail wrote: post #17
Insanity wrote: post #5

It's a tricky balance to strike. I don't want EU to fall behind further in the AI race, and I do want them to be more competitive in the tech landscape. At the moment, EU really isn't competitive in tech (and neither in tech salaries) and it leads to a certain amount of 'brain drain' as people move abroad. So while I do understand the need for regulations, they shouldn't regulate themselves into irrelevance. I don't…

> I don't want EU to fall behind further in the AI race Unless something changes, that's going to continue :( According to Jensen Huang, "the AI race" will be determined primarily by the price of electricity.[0] Until very recently the EU stated that being carbon neutral by 2050 was of overriding importance[1]. Which is it? [0] https://www.tomshardware.com/tech-industry/artificial-intell... [1] https://climate.ec.eur…

>> Until very recently the EU stated that being carbon neutral by 2050 was of overriding importance[1].

I'm ok with that. Not every continent/country/economic bloc has to have the same goals. Competing with the US or China in the 'AI race' is a race you're probably going to lose anyway. And it's going to make fuck all difference to the vast majority of the population anyway. Healthcare, education, life/work balance. All much more important and don't require competing in the 'AI race'. The EU has made some missteps with its tech regs but it's worth it to be able to download or delete my data from any service and that's something Americans are also benefiting from as most companies didn't bother geo-locking it.

You could argue economic success has a knock on effect on everything else in a country and it does to some extent. But, while many European countries have their problems socially and politically over the last decade none of them have come anywhere close to the train wreck that is US.

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