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I don't get it. Isn't SMS the cross platform open standard to send text messages? Why force a proprietary product to open up? Feels like a big overreach of gove

I don't get it. Isn't SMS the cross platform open standard to send text messages? Why force a proprietary product to open up? Feels like a big overreach of governmental powers.

gpvos 4y ago
SMS is currenty being undermined by Google's RCS on Android.[0] Some SMSes sent by Google Messages already don't arrive at non-RCS clients. So that also should be forced to open up. In fact, this is a large part of why Signal is dropping SMS support.[1] [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rich_Communication_Services https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rich_Communication_Services [1] https://signal.org/blog/sms-removal-android/ https://signal.org/blog/sms-removal-android/
- rootusrootus 4y ago
  > Some SMSes sent by Google Messages already don't arrive at non-RCS clients That's a problem worth solving. Apple Messages falls back from iMessage to SMS transparently; Google RCS should do the same.
adam_arthur 4y ago
Wouldn't the world be a better place with interoperable messaging standards and needing only a single messaging app for global communication? Yes. Is this happening organically via market forces? No. That's why. If there were a common standard that was widely supported and cross-app compatible, these regulations wouldn't have happened. Email doesn't cut it for real time messaging. Governments will pursue no brainer policy like this if the private sector doesn't reach the conclusion on their own.
- irusensei 4y ago
  > Wouldn't the world be a better place with interoperable messaging standards and needing only a single messaging app for global communication? No. I prefer diversity and the advantages it brings. For example, not being tied to a certain type of account, address or the phone number.
  - adam_arthur 4y ago
    A common protocol doesn't prevent progress or evolution. Look how far browsers have come over the past 20 years, all while working off common HTML, CSS, and JS specs. Would the world be a better place if there were the Apple internet, and the Google internet, instead of a common one? If there's a vested interest in making something better, it gets better. Walled gardens for basic messaging communication has 0 societal benefit, and there's effectively no downside to adopting a common protocol. Societies are now demanding that obvious problems with easy solutions be solved, and thus the various governments will. Perhaps some think that the internet would've been better as a series of distributed walled gardens under various single private entities... I can't contend with people who hold that belief. Having easy and common ways to interact with the rest of humanity that anybody can participate in freely seems a far better outcome. Unfortunately far too many Apple zombies out there that will contort obvious logic to defend them at every opportunity. The distortion field is really something to behold

I don't get it. Isn't SMS the cross platform open standard to send text messages? Why force a proprietary product to open up? Feels like a big overreach of governmental powers.

gpvos 4y ago

SMS is currenty being undermined by Google's RCS on Android.[0] Some SMSes sent by Google Messages already don't arrive at non-RCS clients. So that also should be forced to open up. In fact, this is a large part of why Signal is dropping SMS support.[1] [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rich_Communication_Services https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rich_Communication_Services [1] https://signal.org/blog/sms-removal-android/ https://signal.org/blog/sms-removal-android/

rootusrootus 4y ago
> Some SMSes sent by Google Messages already don't arrive at non-RCS clients That's a problem worth solving. Apple Messages falls back from iMessage to SMS transparently; Google RCS should do the same.

adam_arthur 4y ago

Wouldn't the world be a better place with interoperable messaging standards and needing only a single messaging app for global communication? Yes. Is this happening organically via market forces? No. That's why. If there were a common standard that was widely supported and cross-app compatible, these regulations wouldn't have happened. Email doesn't cut it for real time messaging. Governments will pursue no brainer policy like this if the private sector doesn't reach the conclusion on their own.

irusensei 4y ago
> Wouldn't the world be a better place with interoperable messaging standards and needing only a single messaging app for global communication? No. I prefer diversity and the advantages it brings. For example, not being tied to a certain type of account, address or the phone number.
- adam_arthur 4y ago
  A common protocol doesn't prevent progress or evolution. Look how far browsers have come over the past 20 years, all while working off common HTML, CSS, and JS specs. Would the world be a better place if there were the Apple internet, and the Google internet, instead of a common one? If there's a vested interest in making something better, it gets better. Walled gardens for basic messaging communication has 0 societal benefit, and there's effectively no downside to adopting a common protocol. Societies are now demanding that obvious problems with easy solutions be solved, and thus the various governments will. Perhaps some think that the internet would've been better as a series of distributed walled gardens under various single private entities... I can't contend with people who hold that belief. Having easy and common ways to interact with the rest of humanity that anybody can participate in freely seems a far better outcome. Unfortunately far too many Apple zombies out there that will contort obvious logic to defend them at every opportunity. The distortion field is really something to behold