I get that Meta blocking access in the EU frustrates some people. But the takes from primarily US-based people are quite something. The EU prioritises guardrails and safety. Yes, that can sometimes lower agility. But it does mean eg food quality and safety tend to be higher. And it also means tech companies have less opportunity to ride roughshod over its population.
@craiggrannell while the referred post/person oft makes comments in poor taste. The EU with regards to tech is a masterclass at setting dates in the future to shoot themselves in the foot from now.
Consistently proving an utter lack of foresight and understanding and being shocked at how it all plays out.
@craiggrannell I use a VPN based in a European country solely for this specific reason. At the very least I hope it frustrates some of the tracking algorithms and the like even if they do bypass such laws. But most just assume based on my IP address. This way I get some privacy rights even if only by accident.
If a site blocks me due to being unwilling to comply with what should basic human rights to privacy, that says to me it's a site I should not use.
@craiggrannell US superiority complex always. When I came back from my exchange student year in Germany in the late Eighties, the reverse culture shock revealed to me how hollow this country really is, and I've been struggling to find my comfortable place here ever since.
@craiggrannell
I am a United States American citizen, and I have some opinions on this. My opinion is eternal gratitude toward the EU.
Please, push back on US imperial & tech bro overreach. Don’t let up. These tech bros metaphorically rape & pillage the commons. They have no morals, no ethics. They have fired hundreds of thousands of workers here. Their justifications are lies. They are capitalists, and they will exploit. These monsters are the scorpion. Don’t be a naïve frog.
@craiggrannell Funny they are pissed the EU won’t let Meta do a Twitter landgrab with an extra helping of privacy invasion, whilst still wanting to ban TikTok because it lets the Chinese gather data on their citizens 🤨
@craiggrannell fully agree, we all have our biases - lord knows I do - and I disagree with a fair few EU decisions, but if you’re siding with Facebook of all people, chances are you’re on the wrong side
@cynion Yes. God forbid Apple be pushed into moving away from sodding Lightning and to USB-C. Much better to faff about for years with this. I love how, eg, the new iPad is USB-C, but the Apple Pencil gen-1 is not. And that iPhones and keyboards are Lightning but Macs and iPads are USB-C. It’s so much fun.
@craiggrannell@cynion I’m pretty sure Apple would have moved to USB-c regardless. Apple is in the usb consortium and actually designed the usb-c connector and donated it to the consortium. They just design their products so many years in advance (due to massive scale and quality demands) that it takes a while to turn that ship.
@craiggrannell (some) Americans have this weird obsession with freedom, that extends to the government, particularly the federal government. I think it’s less so at the state level, but there’s this deep rooted distrust of central government telling states what to do.
And it’s that which the brexiters tried to foment in the UK, imho
@witewulf Yep. And they don’t realise – same with Brexiters – that letting the markets do what they want to doesn’t mean markets will do the right thing. Mostly, they won’t. Hence why the UK now has the worst water quality in decades etc.
Presumably a complete lack of freedom for all citizens could imply a much-reduced risk of danger or harm to all citizens.
Most people have used consumer technology, both in Europe and in the States. Rigorously comparing those populations, what's the difference in assessed risk of severe casualty?
@Starfia I think it goes beyond this. You have to explore differences from a wider cultural standpoint. The EU is cautious. The USA (and increasingly the UK) far less so. In food, we definitely see a big difference between USA/EU. In tech, things are much less clear cut. But even so, I’d say there have been clear successes, such as specific expectations on data usage and access. (Elsewhere, less so. Current discussions around E2E are inane. But the EU is not alone in that.)
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