Psamathos
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Apple Intelligence & iPhone mirroring aren't coming to EU because of the DMA
This seems like a whole load of posturing and blackmail to me. Basically they are saying "we can't enable screen sharing to apps that Apple hasn't authorised because they might allow data to go somewhere that violates the users' privacy". Well, you know, you could always ask the user, couldn't you? Maybe a dialogue box the first time you connect to an app that's not signed by Apple isn't the absolutely perfect user experience, but it's an awful lot better than killing the feature all together. Given that Apple's own app store doesn't have a perfect record on vetting applications, that same pop-up-on-first-connect would probably be useful for Apple App Store apps too.
So no, this isn't EU regulation causing problems. This is Apple causing problems and attempting to blame the EU, because it doesn't want to loose its insanely lucrative monopoly by which is takes 30% of the entire value of the App Store for its own profit.
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Klobuchar defends bill that would bar Big Tech from preferring their own services
I'm curious as to how many of the commenters above have actually read the text of the bill? No, @rob53, there is nothing whatsoever that would require Apple to push other people's apps over theirs. No, @baconstang, it's fine to pre-install your app if it will "maintain or enhance the core functionality of the covered platform", since that is explicitly allowed, so your well-integrated apps will be just fine, as long as other App vendors have the option to integrate their apps too. No, @leehericks, there is no obligation to cripple the platform; there is only an obligation to not unfairly promote your applications over third party applications, and this would indeed apply just as well to Nintendo as to Apple. @thrang, no Nodrstrom would not be required to promote Macy's, but Amazon, who operate as both a marketplace and a product vendor, would not be allowed to preferentially promote their own products over better-matching third party products in search results.It's not good for innovation, or for the user, for App vendors to be required to use OS vendors' payment platforms if they don't want to (users can decide for themselves). It doesn't help the consumer if there is no way to change the defaults so that they can choose to use a different browser if they prefer (and no, the legislation says nothing about mandating that the defaults themselves be changed). It doesn't support competition if companies like Amazon that are both marketplaces and product vendors place their own products ahead of all others in their search results.Big Tech companies have a profit motive to control everything and to lock everyone else out, and that is NOT good for consumers. Before your criticise the legislation it would be a good idea to at least read it:
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UK government lauds Apple's CSAM plans as it seeks to skirt end-to-end encryption
Not only will Apple not be able to resist pressure from governments about scope creep, they won't even be able to tell when they are complicit with it. The way that the system is constructed means that Apple does not see them images in the database against which they are matching; they only see the neural hashes of the images. If the Chinese "abuse" image hash set includes hashes of images of people standing in front of tanks in Tiananmen Square, or pictures of Pooh Bear, then Apple can't tell that those images are in the hash set until they have unlocked matching images.Once you build a technology that will grant access to a "competent legal authority", you have to resign yourself to granting access to every Chinese appointed judge in Hong Kong, every oligarch appointed judge in Russia and every Taliban appointed judge in Afghanistan, as well as whomever Priti Patel appoints. Whatever you think of the UK's current Home Secretary, she's only the thin end of the wedge.
