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Reposted by Kay Jebelli

Meredith Whittaker @meredithmeredith.bsky.social · 2d

📣 Germany's close to reversing its opposition to mass surveillance & private message scanning, & backing the Chat Control bill. This could end private comms-& Signal-in the EU.

Time's short and they're counting on obscurity: please let German politicians know how horrifying their reversal would be.

Signal @signal.org · 5d

We are alarmed by reports that Germany is on the verge of a catastrophic about-face, reversing its longstanding and principled opposition to the EU’s Chat Control proposal which, if passed, could spell the end of the right to privacy in Europe. signal.org/blog/pdfs/ge...

signal.org

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Reposted by Kay Jebelli

Jay 🦋 @jay.bsky.team · 6d

“It actually doesn’t take much to be considered a difficult woman. That’s why there are so many of us.”
― Jane Goodall

💙 RIP to a real one. My childhood hero

Jane Goodall with monarch butterfly scarf

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Kay Jebelli @kayjebelli.bsky.social · 8d

And now matter how good it is for "contestability" and "fairness" to force gatekeepers to build public infrastructure for their European tech rivals, I don't think it's something that the US Government will look kindly upon.

Kay Jebelli @kayjebelli.bsky.social · 8d

Though, I think once Puzder looks into it, he'll see the same problem that I do, that the EU is trying to instrumentalise big tech to make them build public infrastructure for their rivals, and offer it for free.

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Kay Jebelli @kayjebelli.bsky.social · 8d

But the new US Ambassador Puzder seems to want to mediate the conflict. He told the FT that he wants to understand where the main differences of interpretation lie, to ensure "a good relationship going forward" www.ft.com/content/b6d...

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Kay Jebelli @kayjebelli.bsky.social · 8d

Several European competition enforcers have come to the EC's defense

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Kay Jebelli @kayjebelli.bsky.social · 8d

That said, such public criticism is very unusual in Brussels, and it can be very difficult to hear if you're used to everyone always welcoming every proposal (subject to a few small suggested tweaks).

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Kay Jebelli @kayjebelli.bsky.social · 8d

That's all the more disappointing given the examples that Google gives about their compliance efforts, the meetings, and the presentation of the tradeoffs. The EC knows the tradeoffs, but it's not acting to reduce consumer harm (instead blaming Gatekeepers)

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Kay Jebelli @kayjebelli.bsky.social · 8d

I've mentioned before how the Commission faces dual pitfalls: ignoring either the harm or its own responsibility for proportionality, will be a disaster for the DMA. Unfortunately it looks like we're in the "ignoring responsibility" world bsky.app/profile/kay...

Kay Jebelli (@kayjebelli.bsky.social)

It raises again the big dilemma the EC faces. Do they leave things as they are (bad for consumers and businesses), blame the gatekeeper (making things worse), or try to find a solution that preserves European's access to helpful technology?

bsky.app

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Kay Jebelli @kayjebelli.bsky.social · 8d

These criticisms though, seem to be getting under the skin of the EC. Here one of the HoUs equates the criticisms of those having their property commandeered for the sake of rivals (and at the expense of the quality of their services), and the rivals demanding more property

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Kay Jebelli @kayjebelli.bsky.social · 8d

There's also this bit detailing just how much Google has been engaged with the EC to try and satisfy the enforcer's demands. It's a dizzying amount of work for what was supposed to be "simple do's and don'ts", and they later calls it an "unprecedented demand" and "unsustainable"

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Kay Jebelli @kayjebelli.bsky.social · 8d

The blogpost also links to Google's full submission, which is a bit of a mind-blowing read. It talks about how the EC fails to protect Gatekeepers' rights of defense (access to file), and discriminates between gatekeepers. storage.googleapis.com/gweb-uniblo...

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Kay Jebelli @kayjebelli.bsky.social · 8d

Like Apple, Google also criticises how the DMA is harming European users, pointing out the handful of very loud complainants that are benefiting at the users' expense

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Kay Jebelli @kayjebelli.bsky.social · 8d

Google has entered the debate now as well, going public with its criticism and while not asking for a complete repeal, calling for a reset on DMA enforcement blog.google/around-the-...

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Kay Jebelli @kayjebelli.bsky.social · 8d

Note, most journalists' descriptions of the DMA are rather more limited, but if you dig into the decisions and how it's being enforced, you can see how broadly it's being interpreted, and what's at stake. There are no limiting principles. www.bbc.com/news/articl...

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Kay Jebelli @kayjebelli.bsky.social · 8d

The theory is that this will make a million flowers bloom in Europe because everyone will now have Apple hardware and software to build on top of, and within, and will be able to access all the innovation that Apple will ever build forever more.

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Kay Jebelli @kayjebelli.bsky.social · 8d

The logic of the DMA is that Apple is so large that it should effectively be a public utility, and start investing in public technological infrastructure, open APIs, open systems, open access to all its innovations, and to do this for zero compensation, everything for free

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Kay Jebelli @kayjebelli.bsky.social · 8d

As a company known for making things user-friendly, Apple is struggling with EC mandates that force it to design things in a way that are hostile to users, but beneficial to rivals and others doing business in Apple's ecosystem www.zeit.de/digital/dat...

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Kay Jebelli @kayjebelli.bsky.social · 8d

First, a quick recap, Apple's blogpost and surrounding reporting showed Apple's concerns with the DMA's enforcement process, shifting goalposts, moving targets, lack of clarity, and a regulator beholden to complainants and access-seekers bsky.app/profile/kay...

Kay Jebelli (@kayjebelli.bsky.social)

💥Apple is going public on the EU's Digital Markets Act💥 After years of trying to resolve compliance differences behind closed doors, Apple is spilling all the gory details of how the Commission's sausage is being made, and why European users are getting hurt in the process.

bsky.app

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Kay Jebelli @kayjebelli.bsky.social · 8d

The war of words over the DMA has escalated over the last few days.

I already wrote about Apple's recent blogpost suggesting the DMA should be repealed, but there's been a few more developments over the weekend, with Google and the US Government entering the fray

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Kay Jebelli @kayjebelli.bsky.social · 12d

We'll see if the results of the consultation change anything, but I dare say we'll see the DMA going even further in the coming years.

Regardless of the cost to European users.

Kay Jebelli @kayjebelli.bsky.social · 12d

And in the end it's because the EC is more focused on "winning the fight" than on doing right be European users of Apple's services. That's a shame and I wish it were different.

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Kay Jebelli @kayjebelli.bsky.social · 12d

I think that notion of sovereignty goes a bit too far.

But while we wait and see just how far the EC can take it, it will be European users of Apple services who suffer in the meantime.

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Kay Jebelli @kayjebelli.bsky.social · 12d

Can a country force a company from another country to offer their services and technology to rivals for free?

That's not a free market economy, and it goes every international trade principle.

But somehow the EU things it's just "European sovereignty"

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Kay Jebelli @kayjebelli.bsky.social · 12d

... It could also go against the law of the EU (we'll have to see how those appeals work out)

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