Don’t use tariffs. Legalize jailbreaking and adversarial interop instead. Disregard American DRM.
EU considers tariffs on digital services Big Tech
Submitted 5 weeks ago by Alphane_Moon@lemmy.world to technology@lemmy.world
https://www.techzine.eu/news/applications/130228/eu-considers-tariffs-on-digital-services-big-tech/
Comments
kibiz0r@midwest.social 5 weeks ago
surewhynotlem@lemmy.world 5 weeks ago
The real money is in AWS, azure,GCP. No one cares about your iPad. Tariff the big 3 hosting providers and see how quickly shit hits the fan.
yggstyle@lemmy.world 5 weeks ago
Would probably end the Internet faster than China can cut intercontinental cables. I’m here for it but the fallout would be positively insane.
j0ester@lemmy.world 5 weeks ago
Put a tariff on the companies that was pro-Trump, and who was at his inauguration.
Treczoks@lemmy.world 5 weeks ago
Bonus: It might make some companies move to non-US hosters, making their data way safer.
Petter1@lemm.ee 5 weeks ago
Don’t just legalise jailbreak (which was never illegal anyway 😂), but force device manufacturers to unlock root as soon as they end support for the device.
raspberriesareyummy@lemmy.world 5 weeks ago
Why not force them to unlock root from the start?
echodot@feddit.uk 5 weeks ago
You know jailbreaking isn’t illegal right? It’s the same is removing one of those void if removed stickers, you won’t get tech support anymore but who cares about Apple tech support?
CarbonatedPastaSauce@lemmy.world 5 weeks ago
Those stickers have no legal weight anyway, at least in the United States. The manufacturer has to prove that you damaged the device, whether the sticker is there or not.
0xD@infosec.pub 5 weeks ago
It’s not illegal but manufacturers are making it harder to impossible. That must be illegal.
ripcord@lemmy.world 5 weeks ago
Isn’t it sometimes? Like if involved breaking something encrypted, I thought it was. And possibly other cases as well. At least in the US thanks to the DMCA and others.
devedeset@lemm.ee 5 weeks ago
There’s also patent invalidation on pharmaceuticals
Scrollone@feddit.it 5 weeks ago
And legalize privacy of US-created media content such as movies and TV series.
syklemil@discuss.tchncs.de 5 weeks ago
Yeah, let’s have a go with the ACI (anti-coercion instrument) and see if we can’t make their patents free game. Playing to Trump’s tune is unlikely to work out well
wax@feddit.nu 5 weeks ago
Maybe fix the ireland tax loophole first?
WhiskyTangoFoxtrot@lemmy.world 5 weeks ago
Exactly. Never do anything until you can do anything all at once. If you can’t wave a magic wand and solve all problems everywhere, it’s best to just keep the status quo.
futatorius@lemm.ee 5 weeks ago
Or, you know, do two things at once. It’s not uneard of for a huge governmental entity to be able to do that.
klu9@lemmy.ca 5 weeks ago
ThePancake@lemmy.world 5 weeks ago
A slap on the wrist for two of the tech giants is great progress. I would consider this a start, but not done yet.
The linked article supports this as well:
Tove Maria Ryding from the European Network on Debt and Development, an association of trade unions and non-governmental organisations, welcomed the ECJ’s decision but stressed “our tax problem is more than just one rotten apple”.
She said the case addressed tax matters dating back over 20 years and was “a perfect illustration of the chaotic corporate tax system we have”.
“What we urgently need is a fundamental reform that can give us a tax system that is fair, effective, transparent and predictable," she said.
givesomefucks@lemmy.world 5 weeks ago
Do it, fuck up Twitter, Amazon, meta, and everyone else that shared a stage with trump.
The only language they know is $, if trump is bad for their money, they’ll go against trump.
These are people obsessed with wealth over every thing else, it’s not hard to manipulate them, but when rational adults regain power, we need to tax the ever loving shit out of them because no matter what happens, they’ll always choose “more money”.
Alphane_Moon@lemmy.world 5 weeks ago
I wouldn’t go as far as saying it’s very easy to manipulate American oligarchs. However, they are relatively provincial and lack the capabilities to deal with truly complex challenges.
They operate in an environment with no real risk. They’ve never dealt with any real challenges. The US judicial system is a joke (even in China, Alibaba’s Jack Ma immediately regretted going on a public chimp out). US society is either openly supportive of corruption and criminality or lacks the capability (true desire and risk tolerance) to address corruption.
This is not to underestimate American oligarchs. They are extremely sophisticated and absolutely committed to their “number go up” fetish, but you also have to be real about what they are.
gravitas_deficiency@sh.itjust.works 5 weeks ago
lol holy shit do it. DO IT. This will utterly FUCK the profit model of more things than I can quickly explain
Alphane_Moon@lemmy.world 5 weeks ago
Let’s just hope they move fast and aren’t afraid to break things.
professionalbalkan@lemm.ee 5 weeks ago
This in combination with deregulating the single market and allowing EU tech startup to thrive would finally give birth to real competitors on our content.
GoEU
Nalivai@lemmy.world 5 weeks ago
deregulating
Nope. Nope-nopety-nope, leave this american bullshit where it belongs.
phar@lemmy.ml 5 weeks ago
Pardon my ignorance but what does deregulating the single Market mean?
kjetil@lemmy.world 5 weeks ago
There is a big push from EU at the moment to reduce “red tape” to make it easier for business, see for example mastodon post from EC a few hours ago: ec.social-network.europa.eu/…/114280068967975617
SinningStromgald@lemmy.world 5 weeks ago
Good on you EU! I think a majority of the world would like to see Big Tech brought down a couple hundred pegs.
someguy3@lemmy.world 5 weeks ago
All it takes is a critical mass of users to make their own Facebook. A continental divide seems like a good place.
TheBat@lemmy.world 5 weeks ago
When America sends their users, they’re not sending their best. They’re sending trolls, shitposters, influencers. They’re bringing Ben Shapiro and Alex Jones. And some, I assume, are good users.
Ronno@feddit.nl 5 weeks ago
This isn’t as much about the social media platforms, competing with those is relatively feasible. This is more about the professional infrastructure market. Microsoft Azure, AWS and Google Cloud. There isn’t really a European competitor there, the US dominates this market. We have a huge trade deficit on these services, which Trump “conveniently” didn’t include in his trade war analysis.
RymrgandsDaughter@lemmy.world 5 weeks ago
Yeah and make it 200%
arc@lemm.ee 5 weeks ago
Should be two pronged - tariffs on cloud and other services while fostering competitive local alternatives. While it’s possible knock up a cloud out of anything there is nothing in Europe as coherent as the offerings by Amazon, Google or Microsoft. And there should be.
Lanske@lemmy.world 5 weeks ago
Sounds like a good idea, hit them where it hurts! I left Big Tech a while ago, but if the EU can hit them with tariffs and hurt people like Zuck and (F)Elon, awesome!
friendlyghost@lemm.ee 5 weeks ago
For now it’s a lot of mights and very few dids. Just make companies that are that huge to pay higher taxes to operate in the EU. It’s not a tariff is contributing their fair share to the social network of the EU. And ffs, reign in any country allowing these companies to operate in tax havens in the EU
Boppel@feddit.org 5 weeks ago
hell, it’s about time
Albbi@lemmy.ca 5 weeks ago
Break up Ticketmaster!
ininewcrow@lemmy.ca 5 weeks ago
Newspapers, magazines, TV, film, movies, broadcasts are all regulated nationally and internationally
The same should be done for corporate social media companies who basically deliver all or most news content and information to people everywhere today.
The current state of the world is like being in the 1900s and only having six major newspapers in the world owned by big corporations and none of the content they publish or share is regulated or controlled.
Scrollone@feddit.it 5 weeks ago
Why not legalising piracy for media made in the US? Imagine if all movies and TV series were suddenly public domain in Europe…
L3s@lemmy.world 5 weeks ago
!lemmysilver
LemmySilverBot@lemmy.world [bot] 5 weeks ago
Thank you for voting. You can vote again in 24 hours. leaderboard
Gammelfisch@lemmy.world 5 weeks ago
Do it, the USA lost their industrial base to the shareholders and services is all they have. Let it rip!
TheProtagonist@lemmy.world 5 weeks ago
Okay, Orangeman! Now it’s getting personal…
meliante@lemm.ee 5 weeks ago
I was afraid of this… I support it but don’t need it. Oh well… Fuck the USA anyway!
_cryptagion@lemmy.dbzer0.com 5 weeks ago
FUCKING DO IT
sixty@sh.itjust.works 5 weeks ago
Yes PLEASE
Oisteink@feddit.nl 5 weeks ago
How would this affect the big players? Like MS -you buy from the European branch and they use buy from US. So hitting them with tariffs would hurt MS more than their customers?
I understand they will raise prices, but its not like with physical goods where the same item is resold. They use other ways to transfer money because tax
Telorand@reddthat.com 5 weeks ago
The purpose of tariffs (in a normal world) is to make it harder for domestic entities to buy international goods. Typically, this will spur growth of a particular sector of industry within a country over time.
The way Trump is using them as a battering ram in an attempt to punish other countries, rather than incentivize steady growth, is why the US market is tanking and likely headed to another recession (or worse).
By retaliating in kind, the EU will be incentivizing their citizens and companies not to buy from the US. This will hurt companies that are based in the US, like Google, Microsoft, Meta, etc., further sending the US economy into freefall and bolstering the European economy, since they aren’t trying to punish every single trade partner in existence.
There may be other ways they try to move money around to avoid the tariffs, but governments are aware of how big businesses operate and often try to close those kinds of loopholes. Since this has become a global political issue, I would imagine they’ll be keeping a more watchful eye than normal on things.
TenderHombre@lemm.ee 5 weeks ago
It becomes very hard to tariff intangible services like those provided by tech, or financial securities.
If the datacenter is in the EU and that EU data center is servicing EU does it get tariffed? I think they should just do shit like requiring certain infrastructure and job investments in the EU or pay higher tax rates on revenue.
Current US tax policy, GILTI and FDII already kinda incentivize offshoring for multinational companies based in the US. Companies that deal largely in intangible good are already outsourcing jobs. EU forcing them to speed up this process puts both Trump and the multinational companies in a double bind.
Neither can really make a move in their best interest without pissing the other off.
nuko147@lemm.ee 5 weeks ago
Amen!!!
biofaust@lemmy.world 5 weeks ago
Show this to Varoufakis.
Darkcoffee@sh.itjust.works 5 weeks ago
Yes. Tech billionaires are the ones who stood behind Trump proudly on inauguration day, so let’s start using Canadian/European options. Plenty of them match what those tech companies offer anyway.
skozzii@lemmy.ca 5 weeks ago
I believe this is how we can cripple the US.
I just switched my services over and there are some great alternatives, we have just been pre-programmed to use the American default brands.
Adobe, Microsoft, Apple, Google, all easy to replace.
The only challenging one so far is YouTube, content is just lacking elsewhere, but atleast with adblockers YouTube isn’t getting my money.
Telorand@reddthat.com 5 weeks ago
As an American, I’m already subscribed to !buycanadian@lemmy.ca and !buyeuropean@feddit.uk.
I’ll eat those tariffs to ensure the companies that stood at Trump’s side feel it in their stock portfolios.
CarbonatedPastaSauce@lemmy.world 5 weeks ago
As an American I’m here for it and encourage it. These greedy evil fuckers need to be brought down and if we have to burn it all down so be it, so we can rebuild better. What we have now is clearly not functioning for anyone but the 1%.
Engywuck@lemm.ee 5 weeks ago
TBF, just leaving YouTube would be better. There’s plenty of information out there which don’t need some glorified video hosting platform (books, blogs, wikis and so oh). I really struggle trying to understand people’s addiction to YT…
Arkouda@lemmy.ca 5 weeks ago
Any recommendations? It seems a lot of my alternatives are turning heel and I would like more options. Preferably ones not likely to turn heel.
redsand@lemmy.dbzer0.com 5 weeks ago
Anyone who can should backup their favorite channels with yt-dlp while you can. Don’t forget to embed the subtitles and metadata. I intend to put up torrents soon and others should as well. If you wish to support the original channel put document with links to patreon or whatever that creator uses.
ISOmorph@feddit.org 5 weeks ago
I agree with your point but you mentioned the services that are literally the hardest to find alternatives for. Need to use photoshop professionally, good luck getting around adobe. Sys admin only allows microsoft because he doesn’t want to manage a bazillion different setups, get used to windows buddy.
andallthat@lemmy.world 5 weeks ago
yes, there are clearly unfair trade practices here. EU has been making money for Google and Amazon, but the US are not using our services. I hear the best solution to this are tariffs: EU users have to pay to use gmail until enough US users start using EU email providers and we rebalance the services trade!
Mandrilleren@lemmy.world 5 weeks ago
Depending on what content you watch, Nebula might be a good choice.
Squizzy@lemmy.world 5 weeks ago
Deleted meta acccount with a note referencing trump and zuck. Not much but its what I had to do