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Cloudflare CEO on the Italy fines

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Re: Cloudflare CEO on the Italy fines

#721

Post by pelorat »

OkayPhysicist wrote: post #354
tyre wrote: post #281

Earlier quoted context omitted.

1. Vance built a lot of support in Silicon Valley. 2. Tech donated to Vance (and Trump) under the understanding that they would be a protected class. 3. By tagging Vance publicly and directly, he’s calling a favor. 4. If Vance doesn’t take action, it’s a signal that he’s not worth investing in.

> Vance built a lot of support in Silicon Valley. That's a polite way of saying Thiel successfully installed a puppet as the heir apparent to the most powerful position in the world.

The USA was always on the path on becoming a corpocracy, not a democracy. Musk/Thiel and their puppet JD Vance has cemented it.

Re: Cloudflare CEO on the Italy fines

#722

Post by tick_tock_tick »

Hamuko wrote: post #677
xdennis wrote: post #607

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why do people go out of their way to criticize Trump like this? Attacking other countries without declaring war is a staple of pretty much every US president since WW2, republican or democrat. Carter is the only one who stands out (ironically, despite the fact that he had a good cause to invade Iran).

Sorry, which presidents did Obama and Biden kidnap again?

I mean they bombed Libya enough to get Muammar Gaddafi killed is that close enough?

Re: Cloudflare CEO on the Italy fines

#723

Post by kubb »

sumedh wrote: post #690
yibg wrote: post #570

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Style aside, what do you think he should do? Faced with a law that not only imposes disproportionate fines (more than revenue from the country), but on the surface also requires blocking globally, there are really only a few things to do: 1. Challenge the law in court 3. Influence the law via political means 3. Try to sway public opinion so 2. may be easier 4. Give in and play ball 5. Exit the country entirely

> Challenge the law in court Do the courts in Italy work or do they do what the govt wants them to do.

Yes, the judiciary is an independent branch in Italy, alongside the executive and the legislative.

Re: Cloudflare CEO on the Italy fines

#724

Post by pelorat »

swlkr wrote: post #141
danielspace23 wrote: post #125

I'm Italian, and as much as I think Piracy Shield shouldn't exist, I find hard to empathize with Cloudflare, especially after this tweet. First off, the immediate appeal to Vance and Musk is embarrassing. I believe he knows he's technically in the wrong for not abiding to the law, so gathering the sympathy of the "freedom fighters" of the web is all he can do. But the funniest part about this tweet are the "threats"…

My conspiracy theory is that the EU is actively trying to create their own cloud through regulation after seeing the economic success from china's internet companies after the great firewall.

We have plenty of cloud providers, most are on national levels, not international levels.

Re: Cloudflare CEO on the Italy fines

#725

Post by defrost »

tick_tock_tick wrote: post #719
Hamuko wrote: post #418

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Isn't this the same government that started a secret war against Venezuela without any authorization?

Secret? You can say a lot about the USA in Venezuela but secret isn't it and of course it was authorized congress explicitly granted the president the powers to do it.

Hardly "authorized" when the required consultation was sidestepped:

Trump’s attack on Venezuela without alerting Congress tests limits of executive power - https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/jan/04/trump-congre...

Now that they're aware, they're belatedly and ineffectively attempting to reign him in:

Senate votes to limit Trump on Venezuela - https://www.politico.com/news/2026/01/08/senate-votes-to-res...

Re: Cloudflare CEO on the Italy fines

#726

Post by flumpcakes »

nhinck3 wrote: post #618
aforwardslash wrote: post #361

Regardless of whether the law is absurd or not (I honestly have no idea, but we've seen some crazy stuff lately in the EU), its kinda precious that a CEO only complains about it when his company is fined. I'm certain it is also quite reassuring for any paying Cloudflare customer that the company strategy is driven by the CEO Twitter rants; That if by some reason doesn't want to play ball with local laws (as draconian…

Crying free speech and attempting to rile up the tech bros is just what companies do these days. It doesn't matter if, like this issue, it has absolutely nothing to do with free speech; if you position yourself as a defender of the "open internet", "open source", "free thinking" or "innovation" you get every dingleberry that hangs off Musk to come and defend you.

American free speech as of 2026 includes openly threatening to invade European territory unless it is given away.

It's funny how America can force it's own crappy content protection laws to the entire globe, but another country can't have their own.

The current administration is burning good will to America with it's allies at an alarming rate. This isn't good for stability or world order. I think this year is could be a contender to be the worst one yet of this millennium as we find other despots empowered by America's actions.

Re: Cloudflare CEO on the Italy fines

#727

Post by rotarycellphone »

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…

[flagged]

Re: Cloudflare CEO on the Italy fines

#728

Post by flumpcakes »

adastra22 wrote: post #556
oytis wrote: post #492

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Executive branch is supposed to deal with other countries' laws and courts? Does it also hold for European executive branches and American laws? I don't want to even imagine a world that works like this.

It’s called diplomacy.

"I don't like your laws, and we're bigger!"

Re: Cloudflare CEO on the Italy fines

#729

Post by dependsontheq »

rotarycellphone wrote: post #727
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…

[flagged]

an account created 5 minutes ago

Re: Cloudflare CEO on the Italy fines

#730

Post by OGEnthusiast »

flumpcakes wrote: post #713

I'm not sure I have ever seen such an unprofessional communication from the CEO of Cloudflare, irrespective of a poorly written Italian law. The fine was also peanuts for a company the size of Cloudflare. Given the current political climate I think the tone he is using will turn a lot of Europeans off: Open threats against citizens of an EU country (turning off free cyber protections) and general 'American Exceptiona…

> Perhaps this is a knee-jerk reaction, but I was not expecting this from Cloudflare.

You’re surprised that an American CEO is speaking out against a large fine many believe is bogus, instead of not saying anything to avoid offending…Europe? I don’t think anyone in the world right now is intimidated by the EU, from China to the US to Russia.

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