Here's a statement of the obvious: The opinions expressed here are those of the participants, not those of the Mutual Fund Observer. We cannot vouch for the accuracy or appropriateness of any of it, though we do encourage civility and good humor.
Support MFO
Donate through PayPal
Google WILL steal the eyes out of your head if you let them. EU antitrust thing
'... hostility to Europe is a central theme of the Trump administration’s recently released National Security Strategy. The main driver of that hostility appears to be MAGA fury at the nations of Europe for being excessively protective of civil liberties and insufficiently racist. 'A secondary source of anti-Europe sentiment, however, is the tech broligarchy’s fury at the European Union’s Digital Services Act. The Act obliges large platforms to self-police a variety of potential injurious effects ranging from “dissemination of illegal content” to “negative consequences” for “physical and mental well-being.”'
...
'Under the auspices of its Digital Services Act, the European Commission imposed its first fine last week — 120 million euros, basically a tiny slap on the wrist — on Musk’s X. The Commission’s case is straightforward: '· X’s “Blue checks” are a fraud. X claims that a blue check means that the poster’s identity has been verified. But in fact X sells them without making any effort to verify that posters are who they say they are. '· X does not provide enough information on advertisements for outsiders to determine whether or not they are scams '· X refuses to make its public data available to researchers 'These are clear violations of European law, and the fine, as I said, was little more than a slap on the wrist. Yet Musk went berserk, declaring that the EU should be abolished and threatening personal retribution against the “woke Stasi commissars” responsible for the fine. 'I’m not an expert on European law, but isn’t threatening to take personal revenge against government officials whose decisions you don’t like itself likely illegal? 'What makes this episode especially disturbing is that the U.S. government appears to be using its power to support the broligarchy’s fight against European regulation. Howard Lutnick, the commerce secretary, has explicitly linked U.S. tariffs on European steel to demands that Europe weakens its digital regulations.'
"Google WILL steal the eyes out of your head if you let them"
Information is money. And Google gathers huge swaths of information through any means.
Google is damned "sticky". I'll get pop-up offers to "sign in to your Google account" when using Brave or Firefox. I do have Chrome installed but use it very rarely, stay signed-out and always close it & clear the data when not using. One thought is that I have a Google "gmail" account and my Apple devices are kept signed in. So those unwanted irritating invitations to "sign-in" may be related to my use of gmail.
I also subscribe to UTube TV, which has a lot to offer content / value wise. Switched over from Sling and then later Disney. So there's another door left partially open for them to exploit when you wish they weren't around.
@hank - I don't use gmail and I still get those sign in offers, Also they always request to use my location which I deny. No sense asking for more trouble. Annoying but I haven't figured out how to stop it yet.
@hank- If you do, please let me know too. Many years ago I used Google for searches, but I've never used gmail, and I still get pop-ups from many sources asking me to "sign in to your Google account". Like you I use Firefox, but I don't know if that has anything to do with Google. There are no Google cookies in my Firefox browser, but I get the feeling that Google has managed to put some damned "tracer thing" on my computers- somehow/somewhere.
@hank- If you do, please let me know too. Many years ago I used Google for searches, but I've never used gmail, and I still get pop-ups from many sources asking me to "sign in to your Google account". Like you I use Firefox, but I don't know if that has anything to do with Google. There are no Google cookies in my Firefox browser, but I get the feeling that Google has managed to put some damned "tracer thing" on my computers- somehow/somewhere.
It's about the site you're visiting staying on the right side of google. I get the same message at reddit, but continue to login with my reddit account. In my experience, it's always optional, like storing your credit card info on some random vendor's site. You don't have to.
'... hostility to Europe is a central theme of the Trump administration’s recently released National Security Strategy. The main driver of that hostility appears to be MAGA fury at the nations of Europe for being excessively protective of civil liberties and insufficiently racist. 'A secondary source of anti-Europe sentiment, however, is the tech broligarchy’s fury at the European Union’s Digital Services Act. The Act obliges large platforms to self-police a variety of potential injurious effects ranging from “dissemination of illegal content” to “negative consequences” for “physical and mental well-being.”'
Yes. So true. We never had an account with X and never will. Eventually we may get an EV but it will not be Tesla.
Comments
'... hostility to Europe is a central theme of the Trump administration’s recently released National Security Strategy. The main driver of that hostility appears to be MAGA fury at the nations of Europe for being excessively protective of civil liberties and insufficiently racist.
'A secondary source of anti-Europe sentiment, however, is the tech broligarchy’s fury at the European Union’s Digital Services Act. The Act obliges large platforms to self-police a variety of potential injurious effects ranging from “dissemination of illegal content” to “negative consequences” for “physical and mental well-being.”'
...
'Under the auspices of its Digital Services Act, the European Commission imposed its first fine last week — 120 million euros, basically a tiny slap on the wrist — on Musk’s X. The Commission’s case is straightforward:
'· X’s “Blue checks” are a fraud. X claims that a blue check means that the poster’s identity has been verified. But in fact X sells them without making any effort to verify that posters are who they say they are.
'· X does not provide enough information on advertisements for outsiders to determine whether or not they are scams
'· X refuses to make its public data available to researchers
'These are clear violations of European law, and the fine, as I said, was little more than a slap on the wrist. Yet Musk went berserk, declaring that the EU should be abolished and threatening personal retribution against the “woke Stasi commissars” responsible for the fine.
'I’m not an expert on European law, but isn’t threatening to take personal revenge against government officials whose decisions you don’t like itself likely illegal?
'What makes this episode especially disturbing is that the U.S. government appears to be using its power to support the broligarchy’s fight against European regulation. Howard Lutnick, the commerce secretary, has explicitly linked U.S. tariffs on European steel to demands that Europe weakens its digital regulations.'
Information is money. And Google gathers huge swaths of information through any means.
Google is damned "sticky". I'll get pop-up offers to "sign in to your Google account" when using Brave or Firefox. I do have Chrome installed but use it very rarely, stay signed-out and always close it & clear the data when not using. One thought is that I have a Google "gmail" account and my Apple devices are kept signed in. So those unwanted irritating invitations to "sign-in" may be related to my use of gmail.
I also subscribe to UTube TV, which has a lot to offer content / value wise. Switched over from Sling and then later Disney. So there's another door left partially open for them to exploit when you wish they weren't around.
'... hostility to Europe is a central theme of the Trump administration’s recently released National Security Strategy. The main driver of that hostility appears to be MAGA fury at the nations of Europe for being excessively protective of civil liberties and insufficiently racist.
'A secondary source of anti-Europe sentiment, however, is the tech broligarchy’s fury at the European Union’s Digital Services Act. The Act obliges large platforms to self-police a variety of potential injurious effects ranging from “dissemination of illegal content” to “negative consequences” for “physical and mental well-being.”'
Yes. So true. We never had an account with X and never will. Eventually we may get an EV but it will not be Tesla.