EU unveils ‘revolutionary’ laws to curb big tech firms’ power - The Guardian

ijeff@lemdro.id to Technology@beehaw.org – 84 points –
EU unveils ‘revolutionary’ laws to curb big tech firms’ power
theguardian.com

cross-posted from !android@lemdro.id

  • New regulations will target six major tech companies to improve consumer experience and data privacy. These include Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, ByteDance, Meta, and Microsoft.
  • Pre-installed apps like weather and email that are difficult to delete will be disallowed, aiming to promote interoperability and reduce "gatekeeping" activities.
  • Companies will be prohibited from monetizing user data collected from phone apps for advertising purposes.
  • The regulations will encourage competition by allowing alternative payment systems, benefiting startups and consumers.
  • The European Commission aims to empower consumers and ensure tech giants adhere to European rules, providing immediate accountability for any issues.
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Buuuut aren't they still kind of pushing the chat control proposal? Feels they're going both forward and backward

The various European countries and the EU in general appears to be against encryption, looking to implemented some pretty heavy censorship, and getting pretty heavy handed in enforcing said laws (e.g. getting raided because you said the politician who broke the law was a dick).

As an American if EU laws can result in replaceable batteries and an unlockable bootloader that's great, but the EU is definitely not friends of a free and open web.

It's a duality...

  • In Europe, you can get a hefty fine if you are a public figure and slander someone else without evidence, see the two examples below on the same politician, a MEP (former):

https://www.reuters.com/article/uk-angola-dossantos-portugal-idINKBN1ZG29K

https://www.portugalresident.com/former-mep-tv-commentator-ana-gomes-condemned-over-crook-tweet/

So it's not like in US where the "first amendment" allows you to derail everyone and everything without consequences...

At the same time, EU wants to fight criminality, e.g. drug cartels, money laundering, terrorism, human trafficking, etc... by removing encryption that makes investigation "more" difficult...

And if you think about it, most people use encryption and other security measures not because they are criminals, but because they are essentially "owned and spied" by big tech...

As some douchbag once said, the government doesn't care which porn sites you visit or with who you go to bed with...