KTR

davidw said:

>The European Union has agreed on rules that would make it easier for people to move their data between services, including iCloud.

The Data Act involves data portability

The European Commission proposed the Data Act in 2022, intending to oversee the data produced by smart devices, machinery, and consumer goods. This initiative forms part of a wider legislative endeavor to limit the influence of major technology companies in the US.

The agreement was reached after seven hours of talks, according to a report from Reuters.

"Tonight's agreement on the Data Act is a milestone in reshaping the digital space," EU industry chief Thierry Breton said in a tweet. "We are on the way of a thriving EU data economy that is innovative and open -- on our conditions."<

Cloud services not being interoperable is not the problem. The fact that it is already practically seamless to move data from any one of the "gatekeepers" cloud service, (be it Apple, Google, Amazon or Microsoft), to another "gatekeeper" cloud service, is the problem for the EU. This means that most of the revenue generated from consumers paying for cloud storage, will still end up in the US. No matter how the pie is sliced. The EU wants a bigger piece of that pie. But they are not willing to pay for any of the ingredients, supply any of the labor or provide any of the energy, to bake that pie. But they sure as Hell wants to dictate how to bake it.

The EU wants to ensure that it will be just as easy to move data from any of the "gatekeepers" cloud services, to any EU cloud services that wants to compete on smart devices, as it is now to move data between any of the cloud services of the "gatekeepers". But it will be up to the "gatekeepers" to make it seamless. And once this is done, the EU will enforce that "gatekeepers" can not promote their own cloud services, on their own devices.  Like how there are a selection of browsers to choose from, users will be able to easily choose what cloud service they want to use on their device. And "gatekeepers" will no longer be allowed to offer free cloud storage space. This would be anti-competitive as the user would most likely keep the same service, some when they need to pay for more storage. The smaller EU cloud services would not be able to compete with such an unfair advantage.    

avon b7 said:

I haven't read the text but being able to seamlessly move from one cloud service provider to another is absolutely essential (as is being able to use the 'services' of providers on any device).

Just like when carriers were obliged to allow customers to take their phone numbers with them when they moved to a different carrier.

Anything that amounts to lock in must be made illegal.