3 ms·

Dunno what else is in the document, but the thing I'm looking forward to is the single digital market. I'm frankly pissed that a ton of services are unavailab

by baxuz 9y ago

Dunno what else is in the document, but the thing I'm looking forward to is the single digital market. I'm frankly pissed that a ton of services are unavailable outside the few European posterboy countries.

Matt3o12_ 9y ago
Could you electorate what services are missing? The only thing I noticed is that the catalogue of streaming services is smaller in some European countries but I don’t think a "single digital market" would help much. The single digital market is oriented towards lowering trade barriers and having unified regulations instead of splitting local monopolies such as media companies and phone companies (which would help Netflix and amazon)
- vanderZwan 9y ago
  I haven't looked at the idea for the single digital market, but I can share some context about how the EU has traditionally worked regarding trade regulations. In simplified terms, all member countries agree on a set a set of shared requirements for a type of product, and any product meeting those requirements is allowed to be sold in all EU countries. So where you earlier had to meet certifications in each EU country, you now have only one standard to meet with your product. That's a big reduction in red tape, saving a lot of time and money for everyone! (contrary to popular opinion, the EU has reduced bureaucracy more than it increased it) Individual countries can deviate by have more lax requirements (which is why you can still buy cazu marzu in Sardinia, despite it not meeting EU regulations), but not stronger. Remember, all EU countries have to agree to sign up, and this is also why it can take many years and tweaks to come to such an agreement. And the rabbit hole is deeper than you think. It isn't just fire safety regulations for flags, making idiots look like idiots[0], it goes all the way down to agreeing what kind of cardboard is acceptable for sending your mail (IIRC, there were different standards in what chemicals were considered toxic or not). The thing is, I can't really imagine how one would apply the same kind of principles to the Internet. What is there to unify? The internet doesn't really have borders, does it? I mean I guess the underlying infrastructure could be unified, but that's not really the "market" part, is it? [0] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=px_M6weS8gY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=px_M6weS8gY
k-mcgrady 9y ago
I don't know if it will work they way you want. I thought instead of making a service available to everyone in the EU it ensured that if you sign up in one EU country you get the same access in all others. So - if I sign up for Netflix in the UK I can still access the same library in Poland. However this does not mean someone that signs up in Poland gets access to the same catalogue as me. It just means that if they come to the UK with their Polish account they can still access the Polish library (not the stuff only available in the UK one). I could be wrong about this, I'm recalling something I read quite a while ago but I'm pretty sure people were disappointed because how I've stated is how it works and not how most people assume. So while you may get a service some of the other countries have that you don't, you may not get the exact same service.

by baxuz 9y ago

Matt3o12_ 9y ago

Could you electorate what services are missing? The only thing I noticed is that the catalogue of streaming services is smaller in some European countries but I don’t think a "single digital market" would help much. The single digital market is oriented towards lowering trade barriers and having unified regulations instead of splitting local monopolies such as media companies and phone companies (which would help Netflix and amazon)

vanderZwan 9y ago
I haven't looked at the idea for the single digital market, but I can share some context about how the EU has traditionally worked regarding trade regulations. In simplified terms, all member countries agree on a set a set of shared requirements for a type of product, and any product meeting those requirements is allowed to be sold in all EU countries. So where you earlier had to meet certifications in each EU country, you now have only one standard to meet with your product. That's a big reduction in red tape, saving a lot of time and money for everyone! (contrary to popular opinion, the EU has reduced bureaucracy more than it increased it) Individual countries can deviate by have more lax requirements (which is why you can still buy cazu marzu in Sardinia, despite it not meeting EU regulations), but not stronger. Remember, all EU countries have to agree to sign up, and this is also why it can take many years and tweaks to come to such an agreement. And the rabbit hole is deeper than you think. It isn't just fire safety regulations for flags, making idiots look like idiots[0], it goes all the way down to agreeing what kind of cardboard is acceptable for sending your mail (IIRC, there were different standards in what chemicals were considered toxic or not). The thing is, I can't really imagine how one would apply the same kind of principles to the Internet. What is there to unify? The internet doesn't really have borders, does it? I mean I guess the underlying infrastructure could be unified, but that's not really the "market" part, is it? [0] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=px_M6weS8gY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=px_M6weS8gY

k-mcgrady 9y ago

I don't know if it will work they way you want. I thought instead of making a service available to everyone in the EU it ensured that if you sign up in one EU country you get the same access in all others. So - if I sign up for Netflix in the UK I can still access the same library in Poland. However this does not mean someone that signs up in Poland gets access to the same catalogue as me. It just means that if they come to the UK with their Polish account they can still access the Polish library (not the stuff only available in the UK one). I could be wrong about this, I'm recalling something I read quite a while ago but I'm pretty sure people were disappointed because how I've stated is how it works and not how most people assume. So while you may get a service some of the other countries have that you don't, you may not get the exact same service.