Meta says it won’t sign Europe AI agreement, calling it an overreach

Maybe the others have put in a little more effort to understand the regulation before blindly criticising it? Similar to the GDPR, a lot of it is just common sense—if you don’t think that "the market" as represented by global mega-corps will just sort it out, that is.

Our friends in the EU have a long history of well-intentioned but misguided policy and regulations, which has led to stunted growth in their tech sector.

Maybe some think that is a good thing - and perhaps it may be - but I feel it's more likely any regulation regarding AI at this point in time is premature, doomed for failure and unintended consequences.

Yet at the same time, they also have a long history of very successful policy, such as the USB-C issue, but also the GDPR, which has raised the issue of our right to privacy all over the world.

How long can we let AI go without regulation? Just yesterday, there was a report here on Delta using AI to squeeze higher ticket prices from customers. Next up is insurance companies. How long do you want to watch? Until all accountability is gone for good?

> GDPR

You mean that thing (or is that another law?) that forces me to find that "I really don't care in the slightest" button about cookies on every single page?

No, the laws that ensures that private individuals have the power to know what is stored about them, change incorrect data, and have it deleted unless legally necessary to hold it - all in a timely manner and financially penalize companies that do not.

That's not the GDPR.

I'm specifically referring to several comments that say they have not read the regulation at all, but think it must be good if Meta opposes it.

I mean, getting USB-C to be usable on everything is like a nice-to-have, I wouldn't call it "very successful policy".

It’s just an example. The EU has often, and often successfully, pushed for standardisation to the benefit of end users.

Which... has the consequences of stifling innovation. Regulations/policy is two-way street.

Who's to say USB-C is the end-all-be-all connector? We're happy with it today, but Apple's Lightning connector had merit. What if two new, competing connectors come out in a few year's time?

The EU regulation, as-is, simply will not allow a new technically superior connector to enter the market. Fast forward a decade when USB-C is dead, EU will keep it limping along - stifling more innovation along the way.

Standardization like this is difficult to achieve via consensus - but via policy/regulation? These are the same governing bodies that hardly understand technology/internet. Normally standardization is achieved via two (or more) competing standards where one eventually "wins" via adoption.

Well intentioned, but with negative side-effects.

That is malicious compliance with the law, and more or less indicative of a failure of enforcement against offenders.

Hard disagree on both GDPR and USBC.

If I had to pick a connector that the world was forced to use forever due to some European technocrat, I would not have picked usb-c.

Hell, the ports on my MacBook are nearly shot just a few years in.

Plus GDPR has created more value for lawyers and consultants than it has for EU citizens.

The USB-C charging ports on my phones have always collected lint to the point they totally stop working and have to be cleaned out vigorously.

I don't know how this problem is so much worse with USB-C or the physics behind it, but it's a very common issue.

This port could be improved for sure.

> Plus GDPR has created more value for lawyers and consultants than it has for EU citizens.

Monetary value, certainly, but that’s considering money as the only desirable value to measure against.

Who said money. Time and human effort are the most valuable commodities.

That time and effort wasted on consultants and lawyers could have been spent on more important problems or used to more efficiently solve the current one.

No, GDPR is the law that allowed me to successfully request the deletion of everything companies like Meta have ever harvested on me without my consent and for them to permanently delete it.

Fun fact, GitHub doesn't have cookie banners. It's almost like it's possible to run a huge site without being a parasite and harvesting every iota of data of your site's visitors!

If the industry comes out with a new, better connector, they can use it, as long as they also provide USB-C ports. If enough of them collectively decide the new one is superior, then they can start using that port in favor of USB-C altogether.

The EU says nothing about USB-C being the bestest and greatest, they only say that companies have to come to a consensus and have to have 1 port that is shared between all devices for the sake of consumers.

I personally much prefer USB-C over the horrid clusterfuck of proprietary cables that weren't compatible with one another, that's for sure.

As someone with both a usb-c and micro-usb phone, I can assure you that other connectors are not free of that problem. The micro-usb one definitely feels worse. Not sure about the old proprietary crap that used to be forced down our throats so we buy Apple AND Nokia chargers, and a new one for each model, too.

> The EU regulation, as-is, simply will not allow a new technically superior connector to enter the market.

As in: the EU regulation literally addresses this. You'd know it if you didn't blindly repeat uneducated talking points by others who are as clueless as you are.

> Standardization like this is difficult to achieve via consensus - but via policy/regulation?

In the ancient times of 15 or so years ago every manufacturer had their own connector incompatible with each other. There would often be connectors incompatible with each other within a single manufacturer's product range.

The EU said: settle on a single connector voluntarily, or else. At the time the industry settled on micro-USB and started working on USB-C. Hell, even Power Delivery wasn't standardized until USB-C.

Consensus doesn't always work. Often you do need government intervention.

> and have it deleted unless legally necessary to hold it

Tell that to X which disables your ability to delete your account if it gets suspended.