The not allowing uninstallable apps part is interesting. Looking through their FAQ, they don't really seem to define what a "app" is. Could this not mean the entire OS should be replaceable with one that wasn't made by a "gatekeeper"? Because if say, Apple, allows you to remove Messages.app but keeps the Messages API private or locked behind an Apple-only entitlement, that isn't very useful, and the user should be able to load another OS at their discretion that lets them run whatever SMS client they want. Unless they want to require that all of the system services be able to be accessed by whatever app the user installs, which seems like a bigger kettle of fish.
EU reveals plan to regulate Big Tech
51–60 of 332 posts
Re: EU reveals plan to regulate Big Tech
#52Earlier quoted context omitted.
> must prioritise complaints raised by "trusted flaggers" That's the real concern here. Speech must be handled very carefully, but now we're elevating some specific people to be 'more equal' than others? Who are these people, and why do they get more say? I can see that opening a can of worms. I don't live in the EU, but just like that well intentioned but shortsighted cookie law, the rest of us will have to deal wit…
> That's the real concern here. Speech must be handled very carefully, but now we're elevating some specific people to be 'more equal' than others? Who are these people, and why do they get more say? I can see that opening a can of worms. Well, who are the people that censor all other kinds of media? As far as I know movies are censored (Motion Picture Production Code, Motion Picture Association film rating system),…
To be clear, movie and music ratings aren't censorship. Moreover, only broadcast television and radio are censored (perhaps because radio waves are a public platform?). I'm not going to argue that censoring broadcast is ideal or valid, but I'm certainly less sympathetic to the plight of massive media companies than I am to millions of private citizens.
Re: EU reveals plan to regulate Big Tech
#53Sometimes I think GDPR was secretly pushed by Big Tech to make it harder for smaller business's to compete.
It was basically useless.
I wouldn't even be surprised if Google or Facebook helped write the legislation.
Whatever noise EU is making now I have very little hope for.
If the US government was so fearful that a fun video app made in China had the power of compromising National Security, stealing and spying on citizen's data, and even radicalizing people through their mobile Skinner Boxes and algo-driven Ludovico Technique pleasure therapy apps -------- you would think they would be doing WAY more, WAY faster.
Re: EU reveals plan to regulate Big Tech
#54A interesting point missing from the BBC article is that they have different levels of expectations between small to medium businesses and large ones, to avoid regulatory capture ? : > Platforms that reach more than 10% of the EU's population (45 million users) are considered systemic in nature, and are subject not only to specific obligations to control their own risks, but also to a new oversight structure. Another…
Isn't 10% too low a number to consider a platform systemic?
Maybe. I could see sites removing access to less profitable users, probably in lower income countries to stay below the 45 million threshold. Or perhaps boot low-engagement users in order to keep user-counts below the threshold. When regulation exists with a threshold, enterprises will strive to stay below it. Hence why there's such a huge drop-off in businesses with 50 or more employees in France [1] [2].
1. https://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/24/business/international/th...
Re: EU reveals plan to regulate Big Tech
#55Earlier quoted context omitted.
> That's the real concern here. Speech must be handled very carefully, but now we're elevating some specific people to be 'more equal' than others? Who are these people, and why do they get more say? I can see that opening a can of worms. Well, who are the people that censor all other kinds of media? As far as I know movies are censored (Motion Picture Production Code, Motion Picture Association film rating system),…
To be clear, movie and music ratings aren't censorship. Moreover, only broadcast television and radio are censored (perhaps because radio waves are a public platform?). I'm not going to argue that censoring broadcast is ideal or valid, but I'm certainly less sympathetic to the plight of massive media companies than I am to millions of private citizens.
> To be clear, movie and music ratings aren't censorship.
True, calling them censorship is kind of stretching the definition.
But there's still a small group of people that decide those ratings and the commercial impact of those ratings, as far as I know, is massive.
So it's not direct censorship, but it still has a "chilling effect".
Re: EU reveals plan to regulate Big Tech
#56> The operators of online platforms - such as social media apps and video-sharing sites of any size - must prioritise complaints raised by "trusted flaggers", who have a track record of highlighting valid problems. Who determines which problems are valid? Unless I overlooked something, this article seems really vague. > Likewise, all online stores must be able to trace traders selling goods via their platforms, in ca…
> must prioritise complaints raised by "trusted flaggers" That's the real concern here. Speech must be handled very carefully, but now we're elevating some specific people to be 'more equal' than others? Who are these people, and why do they get more say? I can see that opening a can of worms. I don't live in the EU, but just like that well intentioned but shortsighted cookie law, the rest of us will have to deal wit…
Trusted flaggers sounds to me like crazy people who spend all day reporting content because they are obsessed or have absolutely nothing to do. Having a system like this in place would lead to bad outcomes.
Re: EU reveals plan to regulate Big Tech
#57> let users uninstall pre-installed apps on their platform and use different software Assuming it passes, I wonder what this means for Apple's Siri.
That users should be able to uninstall it. People like Siri, so I don't really anticipate a precipitatious drop-off -- the people who will be uninstalling Siri are the people who currently don't use it, so I'd expect a drop in install base without any drop in MUA.
Re: EU reveals plan to regulate Big Tech
#58Earlier quoted context omitted.
The EU is its citizens. So in a sense the EU did create its citizens.
I'm actually an EU citizen, who has never lived there, and never even visited. I did not create the EU; did the EU create me?
If your parent are EU citizens, and the EU 'is it's citizens' (which is controversial but defensible) then yes, the EU did create you.
Re: EU reveals plan to regulate Big Tech
#59Earlier quoted context omitted.
> That's the real concern here. Speech must be handled very carefully, but now we're elevating some specific people to be 'more equal' than others? Who are these people, and why do they get more say? I can see that opening a can of worms. Well, who are the people that censor all other kinds of media? As far as I know movies are censored (Motion Picture Production Code, Motion Picture Association film rating system),…
To be clear, movie and music ratings aren't censorship. Moreover, only broadcast television and radio are censored (perhaps because radio waves are a public platform?). I'm not going to argue that censoring broadcast is ideal or valid, but I'm certainly less sympathetic to the plight of massive media companies than I am to millions of private citizens.
> To be clear, movie and music ratings aren't censorship.
To the extent they are incorporated with schemes that limit access to the rated content imposed by powerful entities outside of the transaction, they are part of schemes of censorship. (Public censorship schemes that incorporate movie ratings, and thus delegate to movie raters the role of public censor, are common.)
> I'm not going to argue that censoring broadcast is ideal or valid, but I'm certainly less sympathetic to the plight of massive media companies than I am to millions of private citizens.
Censorship by a third party equally impacts the rights of the parties on both sides of a potential transaction; broadcast media censorship restricts the freedom of both massive media companies and millions of private citizens.
Re: EU reveals plan to regulate Big Tech
#60Earlier quoted context omitted.
Moreover, you're cutting your throat by introducing yet more regulation that only established players can afford to comply with. All of the previous steps in this direction have been massive boons to Facebook, Google, Amazon, Apple, etc.
Exactly! But all that compliance busy-work is generally done in the country that enacts these regulations. So you just created a bunch of non-technical jobs at tech companies. Meanwhile, engineering is still done in California.
Are you both done jerking each other off yet?