Threads is the most fun, most interesting new product of the year, and no one in the E.U. can use it, or will be able to use it anytime soon, because their own elected officials passed a law that effectively bans it.
Nice job. Have fun over here in the library.
@party @stroughtonsmith @gruber I highly doubt the cookie acceptance requirement is what’s preventing Threads from launching in the EU. The cookie banners may be an unhelpful outcome of GDPR, but the fact that GDPR is preventing a Meta product from rolling out in my mind is proof that GDPR actually is protecting people.
I’d happily take useless acceptance banners if they came along with useful regulations and restrictions about what companies can do with data about me. #privacy
@emc Cookie banners are separate from GDPR. What GDPR asks for is a legal basis for processing user data in general.
Cookie banners are necessary only for privacy-invasive shit, not for functionality the visitor expects (e.g., sessions, shopping carts). Ditto, GDPR consent is only necessary if it's not required by the functionality the users/clients ask for, most commonly privacy-invasive shit.
People complaining of banners miss the forest from the trees.
@emc case in point: open any #Mastodon instance. Witness no cookie banners and no GDPR consent form. Also, notice no trackers blocked by uBlock Origin 😉
Back in the day, hackers seemed to care more about freedom and privacy. That spirit seems to be dying, replaced by the normalization of US-flavored spying on a massive scale.
I still remember Snowden's revelations or the Obama administration claiming non-citizens have no rights. Well, the EU reacted.
John Gruber
Steve Troughton-Smith
Michael
Erik
Alex Nedelcu