It is a courtesy that citizens from free countries pay US tech companies a middleman fee over various ways. What US tech workers fail to realize is that
- nobody needs Facebook to chat with their family
- nobody needs Visa, Paypal or Mastercard to pay in a local shop
- nobody needs Netflix subscription to watch a movie created by a non-US entity
- nobody needs to pay 50€ per month for privilege of Microsoft spying on your PC
- nobody needs their emails/pictures held hostage by Apple or Google
- nobody needs Uber in order to order a Taxi
So many of these things were done due to convenience and convention, making US tech workers richer and richer. I feel people are realizing what kind of pricks not only the management of US tech companies but also the US tech workers themselves are. Especially on HN these affluent workers from US tech companies run around and parrot the most stupid talking points while thinking their wealth comes from some sort of special skill.We made them rich. They looted our data and poisoned our societies with fake news. They show no respect towards our systems or culture.
You were pretty pissed when the Chinese made a better social media app.
Maybe is because of your deep love of democracy and freedom, but it more likely that you can’t countenance not being in charge.
What our government is concerned about is that China does not allow big social media tech companies access to their markets, so allowing Chinese social media companies access to US markets is unfair, and a legitimate social influence concern. Of course you already know this if you are from Europe, given the myriad of restriction you guys have on tiktok.
But you are right, we do walk around wringing our fists that Spotify is dominating music streaming, going goddamnit we don't even like music but something should be done.
Not to mention that Facebook and Google unknowingly ingested phone contact lists from smartphones of their users on a massive scale. So their "advantage" was extremely unethical behavior, which today would be considered an illegal crime.
So yes, it is literally Apple and Google stopping my European company to do the same, because they make it really hard to leech user data from their platforms.
> nobody is forcing you to use them
Do you remember internet.org? There's an interesting section in "careless people" about how Zuckerberg was working on bundling Facebook with smartphone contracts so people can use it for free. One country rolled out Facebook for free and it resulted in the Rohingyan Genocidg because Facebook enabled unchecked fake news along religious divides, while over years ignoring all warnings about the problem.
> Apple and Google stopping my European company to do the same, because they make it really hard to leech user data from their platforms.
I cant tell if you are for or against collecting user data.
If it's any consolation US startups have to compete with existing US companies too. Also it doesn't hurt to work with them instead of against them. Some European companies are getting quite rich from such relationships. Arm is making a killing off Apple. Ayden gets paid every time you order an Uber. Google licenses Nokia and Ericsson technologies. I'm sure there are many other examples.
The problem is that the digital world creates real-world harm to people, and US tech companies are very far from acting responsibly with the power they have. Even more so - they actively support and empower toxic behavior.
- It is convenient to use Facebook to chat with family
- It is convenient to use credit cards to pay the local shop
- It is convenient to use Netflix to watch movies
- It is convenient to pay a (lower) monthly fee than a (higher) purchase price for MS products
- It is convenient to have Apple / Google take care of email
- It is convenient to use Uber instead of a taxi
The golden cage of convenience is why nothing will change in the US -- we prize convenience above all else.It is inconvenient to buy a Tesla to help save the planet and then see emerald nepo baby Elon Musk doing hitler salutes, and US citizens downplaying it due to their special understanding of freedom of speech.
Or a sweaty Peter Thiel morphing from startup evangelist to religious nut babbling about the antichrist.
Or a Jeff Bezos who ships stuff from china to europe being so unhappy with his life that he needs to marry the wife of his neighbor.
On top of this there's this still unresolved child sexual abuse scandal that basically implicates all of US upper class including senior leadership of US tech companies, who suddenly come out of retirement like Sergey Brin because they keep being mentioned in the Epstein files.
For more and more non-US people the inconvenience of seeing all this outweighs the benefit of being able to use some sort of web application. We have survived before on Nokia phones and TomTom navigation systems, and we'll be able to do so again.
US tech companies had US government support and helpful non-US regulatory environment to capture value from our countries. In their core, they are rent-seeking middlemen, parasitic to our economies.
The parasite needs a host, but the host can always find a new parasite.
Netflix is a good example: the functionality isn't difficult to reproduce, and the only thing that restricts its library is copyright, which the EU could just stop enforcing for American companies.
Which, itself, is downstream of the US signing onto the Berne convention. American copyright actually used to be reasonable and (western) Europe was the insane one with life terms. All that is ugly about the US was buried so deeply in Europe that it is outside, here, with us.
Then America had the extremely short-sighted idea to assign copyright to software, and then use software to enforce copyright, and then make it independently illegal to tell anyone how to bypass that enforcement software. This was all then foisted back onto Europe, whose creative industries begged them for it, not knowing that it basically meant surrendering to the US before the war had even started.
Seizing American copyright would be a good start, but what you really want is to drop anti-circumvention law. Because that's the first domino[0] in the chain. Europe is chock full of businesses that would absolutely fall in line around a tyrant king just like American businesses have, and laws like that enable such businesses to exist.
[0] https://pooper.fantranslation.org/@kmeisthax/110771126221131...
Your overconfidence might set you up for disappointment, just like those US states who are begging Canadians to buy their booze. I understand that you're emotional, and it's fine - no need to call anyone a prick.
> We didn't loot your data. You gave it freely in exchange for the extremely convenient services that are built on it.
That's incorrect. Both Facebook and Google uploaded smartphone contact books of their users to their servers when it still was possible. There was no user consent to provide list of all contacts plus phone numbers. Now both have walled gardens and fight against other companies scraping their data.
> You can buy a map book and put it in your car and navigate the old way.
There are many other options.
And yet everyone and their dog in Europe has an iPhone.
Other US companies like Tesla massively lost market share already, whole US states are begging for Canadians to buy booze.
In light of current crises created by the US, why do you think it goes any different for the rest of the US tech companies? The goodwill is used up.
One simply needs to start using them. Investment can be focused on integration work and bug fixing.
I can see ways that could be really effective, though trying to get a sane word out to these bureaucrats nowadays seems impossible.
This is obvious in the recent AI race. EU-headquartered companies remain rare compared to their US/Chinese counterparts.
Some stuff just went goes to the USA, because it always went to the USA - even though the original advantages are long gone.
Screw with it enough and the users (the world) just route around the damage.
As the UK can attest after Brexit.
The other things you list are weak arguments:
- With mature capital markets you mean they plan to dismantle the Fed autonomy? Did you see the powell video?
- Concerning "elite research universities": are you aware that they significantly cut research funding for US universities, prompting many researchers to move outside the country?
- With talent pipeline do you mean top graduates from EU and other non-US regions who bring innovation to US tech companies?
I think the delusion among US tech workers is immense. The moat is not that big.
If other countries stop sharing your idea of copyright and software patents there is not much you can do.I know our military is full of ego and testosterone and they’ll fight anyone.
He should give into his vices, embrace his inner-Putin and demand a “land-bridge” from Washington State to Alaska.
For national security reasons, of course.