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I enjoy Ben's articles, but this one has way too many opinions, and I'm not convinced his stance of Europe is fair. For the Privacy Shield matter - "The Court

I enjoy Ben's articles, but this one has way too many opinions, and I'm not convinced his stance of Europe is fair. For the Privacy Shield matter - "The Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) basically ruled that US law is too weak to protect EU citizens' data to the extent EU law demands." We know this - Mr. Zuckerberg asked for more regulation if anything. Regulation from Europe is protection for the consumer. It is not a barrier to "experimentation". We can't release medicine without proper FDA approval. Approval sucks, but your data going forward will become just as important as your health. "Endless dialogs" are the ugly way our service providers choose to overcome these regulations. It just goes to show, that the tech we're building today isn't transparent. That's a failure of private business, not increasing regulations. As per Jio, India might be headed towards a future similar to China than the USA. Jio is highly state-centric and if anything, it parallels WeChat in a more free economy. It will likely eat SV internet companies, by letting them in, recreating their services, and using state-sponsored leverage to overcome barriers (not to mention talent). If anything, Europe is creating a more sustainable framework for private companies and government intervention. Cross the moat, and you don't have to worry about castles. Just build a good product. That's what I'm reading. Meanwhile, there are families in the USA who still don't have access to the internet. And no it's not Google's job to get us there. It's the government's. But our government doesn't intervene enough to support the necessary changes. BTW a quick search of "Europe Internet Vision" - and I came across: > Gigabit connectivity for all of the main socio-economic drivers > uninterrupted 5G coverage for all urban areas and major terrestrial transport paths > access to connectivity offering at least 100 Mbps for all European households.

draw_down 6y ago
> I enjoy Ben's articles, but this one has way too many opinions Oh, I had to laugh at that. He's a commentator! Good grief.
azinman2 6y ago
> If anything, Europe is creating a more sustainable framework for private companies and government intervention. Cross the moat, and you don't have to worry about castles. Just build a good product. That's what I'm reading. So it's just a market with restrictions for outside companies? I think the point of the article was the absence vision for Europe to generate its own compelling products and companies that spread throughout itself and the rest of the world.
- catchmeifyoucan 6y ago
  At the end of the day, Europe is a country, not a company. It isn't about maximizing profits. It's about maximizing the equity among citizens. I'd argue that the majority of consumers will take anything for free and not think about the consequences. Very much like an innocent child getting free food samples. Private businesses have no incentive to correct themselves. At the end of the day, if I was Europe, as a government, I care less that my citizens can easily start a businesses of their own. Taxes are great and all, but it matters more to me that whatever option our citizens do go with (even if overseas) is in their best interest. It's not about becoming a super power and spreading across the world. It's ensuring that your citizens are safe, protected and well-looked after even at the expense of increased starting costs. It's a better long-term win for the consumer.
  - throwaway744678 6y ago
    > At the end of the day, Europe is a country... Europe is definitely not a country!
    - catchmeifyoucan 6y ago
      Eeek! I screwed up here. But referring to more of it as institution.
    - esperent 6y ago
      Also, I'm pretty sure people are talking about the EU here, not Europe.
      - nopzor 6y ago
        still not a country! :)
    - codeisawesome 6y ago
      Functionally...? Especially in the context here of tech policy.
  - 6y ago
KaiserPro 6y ago
The author confuses ISPs and business The state of ISPs in the US is dire. There is almost no free market. The EU has a much better market for ISPs. but thats nothing really to do with GDPR, its more to do with competition rules in the late 90s early 2000s. The roll out of 4g is a prime example. In the EU, countries rolled out actual 4g. In the US they were renaming LTE as 4g, instead of rolling out actual 4G. As for business, yes EU companies appear to need to go to the states to get funding, thats primarily because the bar for funding is much lower in the states than it is in the EU.

draw_down 6y ago

> I enjoy Ben's articles, but this one has way too many opinions Oh, I had to laugh at that. He's a commentator! Good grief.

azinman2 6y ago

> If anything, Europe is creating a more sustainable framework for private companies and government intervention. Cross the moat, and you don't have to worry about castles. Just build a good product. That's what I'm reading. So it's just a market with restrictions for outside companies? I think the point of the article was the absence vision for Europe to generate its own compelling products and companies that spread throughout itself and the rest of the world.

catchmeifyoucan 6y ago
At the end of the day, Europe is a country, not a company. It isn't about maximizing profits. It's about maximizing the equity among citizens. I'd argue that the majority of consumers will take anything for free and not think about the consequences. Very much like an innocent child getting free food samples. Private businesses have no incentive to correct themselves. At the end of the day, if I was Europe, as a government, I care less that my citizens can easily start a businesses of their own. Taxes are great and all, but it matters more to me that whatever option our citizens do go with (even if overseas) is in their best interest. It's not about becoming a super power and spreading across the world. It's ensuring that your citizens are safe, protected and well-looked after even at the expense of increased starting costs. It's a better long-term win for the consumer.
- throwaway744678 6y ago
  > At the end of the day, Europe is a country... Europe is definitely not a country!
  - catchmeifyoucan 6y ago
    Eeek! I screwed up here. But referring to more of it as institution.
  - esperent 6y ago
    Also, I'm pretty sure people are talking about the EU here, not Europe.
    - nopzor 6y ago
      still not a country! :)
  - codeisawesome 6y ago
    Functionally...? Especially in the context here of tech policy.
- 6y ago

KaiserPro 6y ago

The author confuses ISPs and business The state of ISPs in the US is dire. There is almost no free market. The EU has a much better market for ISPs. but thats nothing really to do with GDPR, its more to do with competition rules in the late 90s early 2000s. The roll out of 4g is a prime example. In the EU, countries rolled out actual 4g. In the US they were renaming LTE as 4g, instead of rolling out actual 4G. As for business, yes EU companies appear to need to go to the states to get funding, thats primarily because the bar for funding is much lower in the states than it is in the EU.