Mastodawn

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

https://linux.community/post/85159

EU unveils ‘revolutionary’ laws to curb big tech firms’ power - Linux.Community

Haven’t seen any posts about this and it’s pretty big thing. For DMA website: Examples of the “do’s”: gatekeepers will for example have to: * allow third parties to inter-operate with the gatekeeper’s own services in certain specific situations; * provide companies advertising on their platform with the tools and information necessary for advertisers and publishers to carry out their own independent verification of their advertisements hosted by the gatekeeper; * allow their business users to promote their offer and conclude contracts with their customers outside the gatekeeper’s platform. Example of the “don’ts”: gatekeepers will for example no longer: * treat services and products offered by the gatekeeper itself more favourably in ranking than similar services or products offered by third parties on the gatekeeper’s platform; * prevent users from un-installing any pre-installed software or app if they wish so; * track end users outside of the gatekeepers’ core platform service for the purpose of targeted advertising, without effective consent having been granted. We’ll see how this plays out but this is first move in a very long time that could open up platform like WhatsApp to 3rd party clients and force Google and Apple to open their mobile OSes to other apps. Maybe we’ll see stock Android without play services? One can dream…

AutoTL;DR Sep 7, 2023

This is the best summary I could come up with:

The package of laws will also pave the way for more competition in some of the areas most guarded by the tech firms, including Apple Wallet and Google Pay.

The Digital Markets Act (DMA) is the second big package of EU laws to hit tech firms in two months and defines a series of obligations that gatekeepers need to comply with, including not participating in anti-competitive practices.

The DMA aims to undo the gatekeeper or controlling position that large tech companies have commanded in the last 10 years and gives the European Commission the power to conduct market investigations and design remedies if the firms fall out of line.

Brussels intends the laws to open the door to more competition, allowing startups to compete with the giants on a level playing field for the first time.

The tech companies – including Apple, Google and Amazon – have six months to comply with a full list of dos and don’ts under the new laws, after which they could be fined up to 10% of their turnover.

The laws will initially apply to six companies: Alphabet (which owns Google), Amazon, Apple, ByteDance (the owner of TikTok), Meta (Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp) and Microsoft.

The original article contains 575 words, the summary contains 201 words. Saved 65%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!

GitHub - RikudouSage/LemmyAutoTldrBot

Contribute to RikudouSage/LemmyAutoTldrBot development by creating an account on GitHub.

GitHub

Kidplayer_666 Sep 7, 2023

Side loading AND USBC on the iPhone? Almost makes it a good phone

bingbong Sep 7, 2023

I mean what’s left compared to the average android phone?

Scary le Poo Sep 7, 2023

A LOT, but side loading is definitely a good start.

NocturnalMorning Sep 7, 2023

Sounds too good to be true. Why is the EU so concerned about privacy when most individual countries dont care.

CAPSLOCKFTW Sep 7, 2023

Indivifual countries do care. Germany is prerty comprehensive privacy laws already. And it is not only about privacy, it is also about power and regulation.

PinkPanther Sep 8, 2023

Dashcams are illegal in Germany (no idea how Teslas are allowed, though), and so is Google Street View! Don’t fuck with the German government when it comes to privacy.

Psychadelligoat Sep 7, 2023

Because they can use the EU to set these standards more broadly?

Why write laws for your country specifically when the governing body a step higher is known to already be working on something very similar?

war Sep 7, 2023

I don't understand this question. The EU is not an entity separate from the countries that make up the EU. The EU is an entity made up of countries who have voluntarily chosen to be part of the EU, and who invest their resources in the EU in order to be able, through the organs of the EU, to do things that benefit themselves, i.e. the countries that make up the EU. The EU is not a foreign power from the point of view of any EU member state.

NocturnalMorning Sep 7, 2023

Not really a question, more of a statement. The U.S., China, even UK, and probably more have incredibly poor privacy laws, and keep aiming to strip even more privacy away. I’m just curious whats different about the EU that makes them do something actually good for people.

Dr Pen Sep 7, 2023

@NocturnalMorning @war it's likely that the EU have enough power, acting for in excess of 500m ppl, to stand up to big tech. The UK also have subscribed to data privacy and rights as part of their adoption of GDPR principles, though prob with some caveats. Creating territorial legislation will shake up how big tech works in the globally. I think this is why Meta have stated their intention of being decentralised. They have to, if they want to continue to operate within EU/UK territories.

QuazarOmega Sep 7, 2023

Sometimes things are done out of the goodness of people’s hearts, which makes sense when policies are brought up by some individuals, but also opposed by others. Ultimately they usually land, maybe for the lesser power the big tech corporations hold over the EU, but also for a egoistical desire to safeguard one’s own privacy that everyone has to some extent, especially people in power

war Sep 7, 2023

Ah, I misunderstood what you meant by "individual countries"; I thought you meant the individual countries that make up the EU as if these were somehow in opposition to the EU. That's a common misconception even within the EU itself; just look at the Brexit people. But yeah, I see what you mean. I think it's a cultural thing. We like regulating potentially powerful things to prevent them from getting out of hand. We have something of a history of powerful things getting out of hand.

abrasiveteapot Sep 8, 2023

As no seems to have answered this, the EU’s political structure is more resistant to the anti-consumer desires of large corporates, particularly as the ones impacted aren’t European.

Culturally the EU is diverse but broadly there is a lot more interest in / support for nurturing the common good (as opposed to beggar thy neighbour policies of the GOP). In particular pro-consumer policies are popular and get politicians re-elected, which segues to the next difference

The EU is less influenced (not zero, less) by political donations from large corporates than the US. Very little of the priorities of the average person makes it into law in the US, a slightly larger sliver gets through in the EU.

ExLisper Sep 7, 2023

Because all those Tech Giants are American or Chinese. EU is lagging behind US on innovation so now they want to make Tech Giants jobs more difficult in hopes that this will create some openings for EU tech firms. They don’t really care about you’re privacy that much, they just want it make more difficult for Google and Facebook to siphon money out of EU. It’s still great for us, don’t get me wrong.

war Sep 7, 2023

This is an insane take on the matter. QAnon-level insane.

duxbellorum Sep 7, 2023

Spoke to some EU lawyers recently at a policy meetup and this is pretty consistent with their prevailing sensibilities: target and dilute power that is being held over consumers.

Transient Punk Sep 7, 2023

I need to move to the EU…

BarrelAgedBoredom Sep 7, 2023

Take me with you? I’m not much for looks but I cook well

Transient Punk Sep 8, 2023

Same… same.

Gush Sep 7, 2023

Shit’s great here

library_napper Sep 8, 2023

Well I took like a 60% pay cut after moving to Germany. Fascism is spreading. There’s a big with a nuclear armed power within blast/wind radius. Health insurance isn’t cheap.

But there’s definitely some good things like being able to click “no” just as easily as clicking “yes” to cookie bamners

👁️👄👁️Sep 7, 2023

Hopefully it works out better then the GDPR, which was good in theory, but created a whole set of new issues in practice.

Dr Pen Sep 7, 2023

@mojo @ExLisper that's interesting. What new issues did it create?

gealb Sep 7, 2023

GDPR is fantastic and a big win for the consumer. It was so successful in fact, that it started to spread and other countries created similar laws.

The Hobbyist Sep 7, 2023

It’s good, but that cookie banner is just bad… Though it’s not clear to me if it’s bad and not following the regulation or bad and following the regulation. It’s definitely not following the spirit as so many of those cookie banners are deep messes of hierarchical settings which any sane person would not waste time on…

Knusper Sep 7, 2023

Legal cookie banners need to make consent as easy as nonconsent.

So, if “Accept All” is a button, “Deny All” also needs to be a button.
Also, you cannot refuse service to someone who refuses Cookies, unless they’re necessary to the functioning of the service.

Without these principles, it wouldn’t be consent. You can’t force someone to give consent.

You also do not need a Cookie banner, if:

you don’t track personal data. (GDPR literally does not apply.)
you only track personal data obviously required for the provided service, like a login cookie or a shopping cart cookie. (Implied consent)

library_napper Sep 8, 2023

Google got the shit fined out of them for not doing this

no surprises Sep 7, 2023

It’s good, but that cookie banner is just bad…

GDPR is much more than the cookie banner.

The Hobbyist Sep 7, 2023

I know.

HidingCat Sep 7, 2023

I hope it spreads and influences other countries. Despite what people think about EU's regulations, I do think they care more for their citizens than many governments.

Disgusted_Tadpole Sep 7, 2023

Not the first time I see it on Lemmy but I’m really glad it’s getting traction. I expect a lot from the DMA

yesStehen Sep 7, 2023

Great! Does that mean that we will be able to message people via WhatsApp without needing to have it installed? (Via some kind of api)

ExLisper Sep 7, 2023

I think this is a possibility.

Samsy Sep 8, 2023

Just theoretical, maybe one of the gatekeepers do their calc and decide: okay we are out of Europe because our greedy business model doesn’t work without a gate.

NotSpez Sep 8, 2023

Europe would be better for it, right? And a competitor can release a product that does follow regulations

library_napper Sep 8, 2023

Yeah we already see this with alternatives to security tools like cloudflare and akamai. EU companies don’t trust US companies due to NSL laws in the US, so there’s alternatives inthre EU.

snaptastic Sep 8, 2023

Oh no!

library_napper Sep 8, 2023

The tech companies – including Apple, Google and Amazon – have six months to comply with a full list of dos and don’ts under the new laws, after which they could be fined up to 10% of their turnover. In Meta’s case, this would be 10% of $120bn (£95bn).

6 months from what day?

ExLisper Sep 8, 2023

From yesterday I believe.

library_napper Sep 8, 2023

Big tech companies will be barred from monetising information about phone users, prohibiting them from using the data they collect from apps on a phone to build up a detailed picture of individual consumer behaviours for advertisers.

Does anyone know if this also applies to banks that monetize from your purchase and transaction history and sell your profile to advertisers?

Or do banks have the EU by the balls in a way that tech companies don’t?

ExLisper Sep 8, 2023

So much confusion about this… But I understand, it is confusion.

GDPR was about privacy and does apply to banks. Banks can gather or process personal data without consent: americandeposits.com/gdpr-affect-bank/

This new regulation is specifically about Big Tech. It regulates companies that control significant parts of market and block smaller companies from entering it. This has nothing to do with banks.

How Will the GDPR Affect Your Bank?

Europe’s new data privacy law, commonly known as the GDPR will have an effect on US banks. Here’s what you need to know.

ADM