Donald Trump threatens retaliatory tariffs if Europe enforces its own rules. He brands the taxation of US tech giants on par with European firms, the user rights enshrined in the Digital Services Act, and the competition sanctions under the Digital Markets Act as discrimination against US companies—essentially demanding that Europe renounce its own democratic rules in the digital realm.
We all know this, but it bears repeating.
I hope both EU politicians and the EU countries’ politicians will recognize the full extent to which the USA is not our ally or even willing partner anymore. (Slow) efforts towards digital sovereignty have been there for a while, but the urgency has increased by orders of magnitude, yet many still follow the old playbook where the USA is our “friend”.
That’s the same manipulative bullshit that was sold by the Brexiteers. Keeping rules aligned is in everyone’s interest to make trade easy. The US wants to make it easy for its tech companies. Europe wants to make it easy for eg its car manufacturers. If you’re aware of Dieselgate, then you know that Europe can’t claim the moral high ground.
Of course, the internet is trickier in that regard in that we all share it, in a sense. You can see the problem in the current exchange between 4chan and the UK. The UK demands that the Americans at 4chan follow its own democratic rules, which is not what I’d call democratic. The UK will have to create a national firewall to police communications.
Stole “Hadrian’s Firewall” off another lemmy comment. Perfect, ain’t it?
Brilliant.
What about the EU counterpart? How about “Atlantik Feuerwall”? The British tabloids would love it.
E.U. ≠ Germany
Really? That’s what you find inappropriate?
Yes? There’s a lot of other stuff I find inappropriate, but I guess the list would be way too long for one comment. Also I don’t disagree with the other things mentioned in this comment chain, if that makes you happy ❤️
The Atlantikwall was Nazi fortifications meant to repel the D-Day landings. I thought I would get some crap over that, but I do love dark humor. Your comment is just not what I expected, at all.
Hmm. Reference not clear enough. I wouldn’t have got it without the link. But I do like the idea of calling it the Maginot line of the internet.
Fire limes has a nice ring to it.
Now, more than ever, its time for european digital autonomy.
lol yeah, let’s see you get that done.
Can’t do much on US servers at the moment…
Which shows that the EU isn’t worried by what is happening in the US. That could worry us.
Places in Germany and Denmark are moving not only away from US servers but US software.
The reason is “digital sovereignty”
So they’re investing in open source solutions. If it works there will be a reason and options to move for political reasons.
If it works and saves money expect a bigger shift.
I’m not sure I get what you’re saying.
That the EU is not worried about the status quo? That’s false.
What makes you think so? They invest something like €3 billion in AI. For hyperscalers I am not aware of anything. IT is investor driven and within the EU there is not enough capital to compete. So the EU must have accepted to be dependend on US services.
I read numerous times about concerns of digital sovereignity, efforts, projects, etc. Press reports about some recent movements and efforts to open source, away from US Corp.
You read from concerned citizens or from the EU?
Thanks. That’s better than I expected.
These people are completely divorced from reality. I think they don’t even know what the laws they negotiate mean.
