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It's constantly frustrating to read about European users getting cool new features to help manage their digital life that the rest of the world doesn't get. The
by AlexandrB 3y ago
It's constantly frustrating to read about European users getting cool new features to help manage their digital life that the rest of the world doesn't get. The expected cost in lost ad revenue per user must be pretty significant to justify the complexity of keeping this stuff limited to Europe.
- wizzwizz4 3y agoIt's just politics. Ask your legislators to give you the cool stuff as well.
- Hamuko 3y agoEh, can't be that excited about anything involving the data hole that is Meta Platforms products, even if they make some EU concessions. Maybe when we get that EU-only iOS sideloading support I can finally be more smug about it.
- cnity 3y agoFWIW, we also get non-stop cookie permission banners and often just straight-up denied access to certain services that don't want to have to jump through the hoops.
- zht 3y agothat's propagated to the rest of the world lol
- patrickmcnamara 3y agoThe only things I've been denied as an EU citizen on the web so far have been US local news websites. And tbh I assume that is just one company that has a blanken policy of sorts. So I don't think "often" is accurate here.
- whatshisface 3y agoThat's just the secret program to get Europeans to stop making fun of us.
- blackbeans 3y agoIf you don't want to deal with cookie banners, there are browser extensions you can install to automatically accept them. However, although the cookie banners are sometimes a nuisance, it is still a good thing that people are informed and given the option to accept it or not.
- switch007 3y agoThose extensions are far from perfect in my experience (ditto the lists in uBlock Origin) Often leave you wondering why you can’t click anything on the page
- stavros 3y agoI agree in general, but when I see a dialog box titled "We respect your privacy" and a choice between "allow all" or "see more", I donate 0.10 € to NOYB.
- vdaea 3y agoIf anything, every time I have to click through one of those banners I wish that activist organisations/politicians had to pay me for having to go through it.
- stavros 3y agoYou can get an extension that will automatically click "allow all" and everything will be exactly as it was before this directive.
- vdaea 3y agoI wish that was true, but those extensions are far from flawless. Still, they are a massive improvement over having to click away all banners, especially for those of us who have our browsers set to clear cookies when quitting the browser.
- Filligree 3y agoI want one that automatically rejects all.
- coldpie 3y agoWe could have these regulations in the US, too, if we voted for them.
- JumpCrisscross 3y agoOr just called our electeds about it. I’ve worked on privacy issues. Past tense, because after a massive effort like two people call and the bill is dropped. (Except in Oregon. Oregonians apparently call and write about privacy.)
- segasaturn 3y agoBoth parties in the US are in the tank with big tech (see: NY Dems killing right to repair)
- Levitz 3y agoMy experience is that stuff like this gets framed as "pro consumer" in Europe and "anti corporation" in the US. The difference runs deep.
- BobaFloutist 3y agoOk, how about this: "It's a bummer that the rest of the voting population doesn't agree with my priorities enough to enact similar privacy regulation to Europe."
- carlosjobim 3y agoEuropean citizens didn't vote for those regulations.
- miohtama 3y agoThere are also downside for European regulations. There is no free lunch and some toll needs to be paid. Some examples include - Banning encrypted messaging (almost passed) - Cookie pop ups - Various regulations harming open source (discussed before on HN) Also due to how Europe is wired up, the cost of doing startup business is higher, why there are fewer and fewer successful European software growth companies.
- flohofwoe 3y agoThe cookie banner isn't required if the web page isn't doing shady things with cookies though.
- poszlem 3y ago"shady things"
- airstrike 3y agoCookie popups are a net positive because users are given a choice. Besides, in the US we often still get the popups but they're just useless, with the only option being "accept"
- alwayslikethis 3y agoUnpopular opinion: the proper place to controll cookies is from the browser, not from the website. Browsers should show a prominent way to disable or otherwise restrict persistent storage to websites to inhibit tracking.
- xigoi 3y agoThe problem is that you can’t tell if the site actually needs the cookies to work properly. And it does not help against other kinds of tracking.
- _v7gu 3y agoDNT exists, and the cookie banners did not need to be regulated into existence if the websites did not strategically ignore the DNT header.
- greggsy 3y agoI wonder if I could just change my location in settings?
- ProAm 3y agoMost apps like this us GPS to verify as well. A lot of gambling apps require that permission so you can't just VPN to legality.
- sofixa 3y agoThanks to the Brussels effect[1] some of it can trickle down. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brussels_effect https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brussels_effect
- makeitdouble 3y agoA part of this is the products being fitted to US market and only after they get traction do they hit the other countries. That means any of the wider digital management, privacy etc. are literally after thoughts, and the business model also doesn't properly fit. With that approach I think we'll always get products that are optimized for free + ads first and foremost, as the US public reacts better to those, and once it's setup it's just so hard to pivot to paying models.
- ProAm 3y agoIf you are in the US write your local congressman. Its the only way things like this change with companies that are too big and powerful. Takes a long time to turn a big ship.