Pretty sure the EU has done more for USA privacy on accident than our own government has done in general.
For a lot of rights, looking at the right to repair too. Keep it up over there!
What about the whole usbc apple thing? dont forget about that one
The EU has right to repair?
It’s actually better than that.
“Obligation to repair goods to which reparability requirements under Union legal acts apply. The producers will be obliged to repair outside the legal guarantee. They can repair for a price or for free as part of a commercial guarantee. Examples of product groups currently covered: household washing machines, household dishwashers, refrigerating appliances and vacuum cleaners. More products will be added in the coming years, starting with smartphones and tablets.”
They passed some regulation setting the time replacement parts have to be available for devices. 10 years I think. And replacement batteries are mandatory. Both are big wins for repairability.
*BY ACCIDENT
https://www.inst.at/trans/16Nr/01_4/barratt16.htm
both are correct, #dealwithit
Good Guy EU
Just wait for some corporate white knight to come here and explain how EU is stopping innovation. Love these guys, I always have a bag of popcorn at the ready.
REEEEEE MUH LIGHTNING PORT REEEEE IT WAS SUCH INNOVATION REEEEEEEE USBC KILLED MUH 11 YEAR OLD USB2.0 SPEED CONNECTOR
i swear i argued with someone that said killing lightning would create so much ewaste, and that still sounds like a stupid arguement to me…
Google may be forced by the EU to give you the freedom to choose which services are linked*
The Digital Markets Act (DMA) is an EU law that takes effect on March 6, 2024. As a result of the DMA, in the EU, Google offers you the choice to keep certain Google services linked.
Gotta love the weaselly language.
I’m wondering if they try to slither out of actually complying with the law.
- They say they will unlink whatever “Ad Services” is and everything else. IMO they should unlink customer ad profiles from other service accounts, which I don’t expect them to do.
- The whole point of the DMA is not just to have Google unlink your Youtube account from your Gmail account, but that they provide the same level of service and integration to outside services as with their own, without prioritizing their own. That means that I should be able to use Google Chrome and Search together to the same degree as Firefox and Search. Execs at Google are on record saying the only point of them developing Chrome is to do stuff that is now against the law in Europe. I wonder if they find a new business model or keep the current, illegal one.
I’m sure they’ll do it in a way that’s convenient and doesn’t require 14 clicks through obnoxiously designed popups every single time you use a Google service. Yep, certainly no way this could go wrong.
They just need to put it in the regular account settings and not a single person on the planet will figure out how to get to them and change them.
Law says that they can’t favour their own service over that of their competitors. I guess they’ll break it though.
and when they’re caught, they’ll dispute the claims with regulators, like every company does all the time.
i remember digging a bit into the french data protection office v. discord a while back, when they got hit with sanctions for not respecting gdpr, and they disputed every single claim, sometimes arguing in real bad faith, like them claiming they handle very little private user data, so they don’t need to do data protection analysies like the law says.
considering google’s sheer empire on data, i imagine they play the same tricks, but like 1000× worse
The EU seems like the only major entity actually trying at this point. They deserve a huge thanks in my book.
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Sometimes the EU kicks ass. Other times, it’s the opposite. See EU browser root certs.
Well, EU at least isn’t compromised like US governments, and still have some sense and its bureaucracy have some senses to prevent Big Tech taking over them, but because of the same bureaucracy and lack of and unwilling to look at opinions from the tech experts, many of their decisions are well, facepalm-worthy such as their upcoming root certs (like you said above) and CRA.
Cool. When can I have another location or backup provider on my Android phone?
You can already use any backup apps. ADB-based, root-based or simply copying the APKs.
Can’t back up app data without rooting my phone, and I can’t root my phone until a third party gets the make files for me to use with magisk, and Motorola is not forced to provide them.
you can definitely back up apps and most files using adb and a computer, and probably even your phone itself by doing adb over the network back to your phone
also, i think there’s a way of setting up a different location provider in the developper setings on android!
Our EU saviors. Its so disappointing that we need to rely on the EU to force companies to make changes rather than our own governments…
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“Google to kill its own browser monopoly and encourage competition instead by leaving a market bigger than the US open”
Next update after that: “Competing browser taking 100% of Chrome’s market share”
They would dare, I think, maybe even the reverse: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brussels_effect
“Microsoft to stop offering Windows in the EU”
OEMs will start selling Linux-preinstalled laptops at lower price.
I wonder why not that many people do this. And those that do usually only give you Ubuntu and nothing else.
I mean, there’s the Slimbook and all, but shipping to my country is more expensive than a US cable subscription for one month.
Because do they sell Linux laptops, Microsoft can simply charge them more for Windows liscences
So I guess the Linux options that aren’t Ubuntu simply get thrown out the windows because of this (pun massively intended)?
Why “that aren’t Ubuntu”? They all get thrown out the window
I simply don’t ever recall seeing a different Linux distribution on laptops sold by da big bois. It’s usually the smaller companies like Slimbook and Kubuntu Focus. Why? Idk, I’m probably just misinformed. If that’s the case, there’s this arrow pointing down button. Go ahead, press it.
Why do I keep asking for downvotes?
Nah, they already announced they will let EU users uninstall Edge. But only EU users because consumer choice bad.
This is why I’m so jealous.
Stop, stop, I can only get so erect
Couldn’t you always unlink Google services by using different accounts for them?
you could, but they definitely pushed you to use a single account everywhere, even logging you in automatically to your google account in chrome if you use it on google search or vice-versa
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