there is a whole campaign online about hating on the EU & its regulations.
Like in Switzerland it's okay to charge double for the car insurance simply because you carry "unlucky" citizenship.
Or EU law about mandatory 14-day return policy for internet order. Ordered recently something in Switzerland and turns out it was a special sale where standard rules does not apply and items could not be returned.
Or mandatory USB-C charge socket. God bless EU regulations!
The GDPR is strictly about data privacy, and it deserves defense on its real merits: it made data collection illegal by default without an explicit legal basis, banned deceptive tracking patterns, and introduced turnover-based fines large enough that tech companies actually had to re-engineer their systems around privacy by design. EU consumer protection directives are great, but it's worth crediting the right ones.
I very much support their ideals and their people-centered mindset.
But in execution it’s that meme: US rocket lands in slow motion on reusable pad, Chinese rocket lands in slow motion on reusable pad, European hand in slow motion closes a water bottle cap that is permanently attached to the bottle and always hits you in the nose.
Billions of people are getting access to information through it.
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digi_Communications
On the other hand, SpaceX did receive a lot of money from the state.
You mean millions. As in 12 million subscribers.
Which includes people who have it as a backup.
Thats a lot of taxes for a few cities worth of people. Especially since Americans already paid for fibre to be laid to everyone in to US' home until the fund was embezzled.
Not much tax money was spent on it either.
And then all the government contracts.
Their entire business plan is based off taxes.
He is the biggest leach on state benefits.
> Not much tax money was spent on it either.
A lot of tax money has been given to him.
If you agree with that meme, you’ve fallen for the manipulative narrative of lobbyists¹. Bottle caps are a massive problem (as is plastic in general) on the environment (you know, the thing we all live in) and the regulation is already having an impact. There will be more regulating the uses of plastic. If you don’t know why the bottle caps are so problematic, you live a privileged life and are being shielded from the reality your fellow human beings have to endure (but will eventually feel the effects just the same).
We don’t fucking need rockets right now, what we need is to stop poisoning ourselves. True progress is not inventing new technology, it’s understanding how to properly use what we have and reject what is harmful.
¹ Which is not a dig on you; we’re all susceptible to be tricked by these massive corporations whose only goal is to extract value from us. I’m on your side.
Yes: I have the privilege of living in a developed 21st century world where I don't need to deal with stuff like this. Proud of it.
I'm well past being told to eat my vegetables because children in Africa are starving.
The solution is to expand the pie for everybody, not to throw our arms up and return to living in caves in harmony with "nature". Technology and progress solve this.
The solution to children in Africa suffering isn’t me living worse or even me beating myself up for “my privilege”.
It may very much be, to be honest. The causalities aren't that mysterious.
Are you unfamiliar with the concept of rotating an object?
If I made millions, sure, pay someone to figure it out.
But I was not going to waste design time early on.
I can't imagine how much this affects small business in Europe.
Also, their other posts suggest they are in the US: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49477186
In fact,eu commission and parliament are Meta's biggest political spenders in most EU countries.
https://www.facebook.com/ads/library/report/?source=onboardi...
Personally i find this type of knee-jerk reaction to any discussion about the EU suspicious