John GruberJul 6, 2023

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.

Show threadSteve Troughton-SmithJul 6, 2023
@gruber ah yes, damn those EU lawmakers for… *checks notes* …creating laws around privacy. How dare they 🙄 Next you'll tell us they trying to protect human rights or something, the fools!
Show threadToon Van de Putte 🍉Jul 8, 2023
@stroughtonsmith @gruber Sounds suspiciously like that 'pesky legislation' standing the way of submarine 'innovation'.
Show threadJohn Gruber
@toon @stroughtonsmith I don’t think that Ana old holds water. Submarines: lives at stake. Threads: not. Also, at a technical level, Meta’s engineering and backend scale are best of breed.
Jul 9, 2023 at 3:44pmIvory for iOS
Show threadToon Van de Putte 🍉Jul 9, 2023
@gruber @stroughtonsmith legislation and regulation are not only useful and worth upholding when lives are directly at stake. Laws to regulate banking, vehicle emissions, and, yes, the use of sensitive personal information, all have a place in creating a fair society. Many companies seem perfectly able to abide by those laws, too. Not sure what the technical acumen of Meta has to do with this. It doesn't grant them a free pass, in any case.
Show threadSteven Op de beeckJul 9, 2023
@gruber @toon @stroughtonsmith Meta has destroyed and cost orders of magnitudes more lives than all submarines combined.
Show threadToon Van de Putte 🍉Jul 9, 2023
@stevenodb @gruber @stroughtonsmith not directly, though, and even then, I don't think that 'people are getting killed' should be the determining factor to decide whether a law/regulation is beneficial.
Show threadSteven Op de beeckJul 10, 2023

@toon @gruber @stroughtonsmith Sorry for taking us further off topic.

What’s interesting to me is that John seems to have a bigger problem with the EU than Meta. A company that has shown repeatedly it cares more about profits than the privacy and wellbeing of its customers.

I sincerely wish Threads never arrives in the EU. Some may be excited by this new toy, you know who’s excited most? Zuck. That should give anyone pause.

Show threadBertJul 10, 2023

@gruber @stroughtonsmith
Standing with @toon and @stevenodb here : https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/16/podcasts/the-daily/facebook-sri-lanka-violence.html

True, engineering and backend scale can be state-of-the-art - yet typical ethics behaviour is to stop marvelling at those once you see it used for malpractice.

Privacy in the EU is a feature, not a bug.
Could be a cultural thing - but therefore not to be thought lesser of. I'm sure we can delve up topics to reciprocate !

Listen to ‘The Daily’: When Facebook Rumors Incite Real Violence

A wave of violence largely directed at Muslims in Sri Lanka, fueled by inflammatory Facebook posts, provides a stark view of social media’s real-world consequences.

The New York Times
Show threadToon Van de Putte 🍉Jul 10, 2023
@aertsbe @gruber @stroughtonsmith @stevenodb Yeah, the 'oh you silly backward Europeans' attitude is a bad look.
Show threadSteven Op de beeckJul 11, 2023
@gruber I've been following your work since 2007, love the site and the podcast. I really don't mean this in a dickish manner: how do you reconcile Facebook “A criminal enterprise” and Threads?
I guess you can find the EU's too anal about privacy AND find that Facebook's criminal. But why make that point on the back of the Threads launch. Facebook will fuck its users. It's in their DNA. https://daringfireball.net/linked/2020/04/04/facebook-nso-group @toon @aertsbe @stroughtonsmith
Facebook Wanted NSO Spyware to Monitor iOS Users

Link to: https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/pke9k9/facebook-wanted-nso-spyware-to-monitor-users

Daring Fireball
Show threadSteven Op de beeckJul 11, 2023
@gruber This post was re-shared today, I thought it was a recent event. But the question stands. @toon @aertsbe @stroughtonsmith