EU Expands Digital Crackdown on Toxic Content, Dodgy Goods To All Online Platforms (apnews.com) 53
The European Union is expanding its strict digital rulebook on Saturday to almost all online platforms in the bloc, in the next phase of its crackdown on toxic social media content and dodgy ecommerce products that began last year by targeting the most popular services. From a report: The EU's trailblazing Digital Services Act has already kicked in for nearly two dozen of the biggest online platforms, including Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, Amazon and Wikipedia. The DSA imposes a set of strict requirements designed to keep internet users safe online, including making it easier to report counterfeit or unsafe goods or flag harmful or illegal content like hate speech as well as a ban on ads targeted at children.
Now the rules will apply to nearly all online platforms, marketplaces and "intermediaries" with users in the 27-nation bloc. Only the smallest businesses, with fewer than 50 employees and annual revenue of less than 10 million euros ($11 million), are exempt. That means thousands more websites could potentially be covered by the regulations. It includes popular ones such as eBay and OnlyFans that escaped being classed as the biggest online platforms requiring extra scrutiny.
Now the rules will apply to nearly all online platforms, marketplaces and "intermediaries" with users in the 27-nation bloc. Only the smallest businesses, with fewer than 50 employees and annual revenue of less than 10 million euros ($11 million), are exempt. That means thousands more websites could potentially be covered by the regulations. It includes popular ones such as eBay and OnlyFans that escaped being classed as the biggest online platforms requiring extra scrutiny.
Anything else to do? (Score:1, Troll)
Does the EU really have nothing else to do but harass IT companies?
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Not actually. The EU has a lot more safeguards against that in place than the US. It also has a lot more experiences with totalitarianism than the US. Well, maybe a "Great Dictator Trump" can rectify that historical oversight.
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Does the EU really have nothing else to do but harass IT companies?
The hell do you mean harass? I thought with all the "dodgy" headlines they were helping create and organize the Olympic Dodgeball league. Are they not doing that? They better be, I was looking forward to watching that!
(Headline writers..just use known vernacular already. In a world still struggling to re-define what a "woman" is, the need for simple clarity is quite obvious.)
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So, you're selling crap, and posting Nazi memes, and they make you unhappy that you'll have to stop?
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...nobody has the right to regulate who can host, either. We must make the internet indelible and bulletproof, and more accessible to everybody
Not that I disagree with you, but can you name another product offered to the planet that even comes close to what you're asking from "the internet"?
Just wondering how your demands align with reality and human history. For your sanity.
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Re:Anything else to do? (Score:4, Insightful)
Nothing has changed here in terms of what is actually illegal. Governments have always been able to regulate that content too.
The new part is that tech companies are now obliged to act quickly on reports of it. They can still refuse bogus reports, just like they always could. It really is just about setting a reasonable timeframe that prevents much of the harm.
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I do neither, but I also see no reason for a govt to stop people from doing either.
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yes.
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What's wrong with Nazi memes ?
All the Hitler learns PS5 won't get Halo memes were too much for your sensitivities ?
Don't like it, don't watch it.
Those items do not equate (Score:2)
So, you're selling crap, and posting Nazi memes, and they make you unhappy that you'll have to stop?
There's a direct relation from selling crap to personal harm, I can see how getting crap can harm someone; at the very least it deducts money from the person and gives no value. That's the best case scenario, it can also cause more severe harms. A good example would be those 512GB memory sticks that are the cheap much-smaller-sized sticks with a tricked-out partition table that makes it seem like 512GB, but once you fill up the much-smaller-size it starts to overwrite the beginning of the volume.
There's als
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Or make a sarcastic post about Godwin's law. Nope, the AI has automatically decided you committed a hate crime. Your account has been suspended, you have no recourse and no appeal, and you must wait at your current location for the police to arrest you for your "crime".
This is already the case in the UK...
And before y'all butthurt chavs start downvoting, have a look at this very comprehensive list of people arrested for what everywhere else in the world would constitute free speech:
In October 2011, 28-year old Stephen Birrell was sentenced to eight months in jail for engaging in Scottish sectarianism. He made posts to a Facebook page called "Neil Lennon should be banned" which insulted Catholics and the Pope. Sheriff Bill Totten stated "the right-thinking people of
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Well said.
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"The DSA imposes a set of strict requirements designed to keep internet users safe online, including making it easier to report counterfeit or unsafe goods or flag harmful or illegal content like hate speech..."
The whole thrust is to censor speech that is not appreciated by the rich and powerful. Need I remind everyone that freedom of speech is indivisible, and that without freedom of speech there can be no freedom at all?
The concept of "hate speech" is utterly absurd. "Sticks and stones may break my bones,
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> Need I remind everyone that freedom of speech is indivisible, and that without freedom of speech there can be no freedom at all?
Makes me wonder about things like an individual's or corporation's right to have their content broadcast, hosted, connected to or transported by others.
It doesn't seem clear to me that in all circumstances, and no matter how much one is willing to pay, one should be allowed to force others to do that.
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Reporting dodgy goods would go a long way to making Amazon less shitty.
As for censoring speech, you have fallen for the rich and powerful's trick. While you are worried about the right to be an awful human being on Twitter, they control much of the media and the political narrative. Fringe idiots who post their videos on YouTube aren't the ones deciding elections, and while you are outraged that Google banned them, Murdoch and co are picking the next winner.
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Probably. I cannot really judge that though. I have gotten "dodgy goods" from AliExpress exactly twice (and both times I was expecting that and just wanted to have a better look) and from Amazon exactly never. Maybe I just know too much engineering and technology, but at least to me, spotting these does not seem to be hard. On the other hand, these things continue getting offered. So, yes, some accountability for the platform if a power supply burns down your house or the like would be a good idea.
As to Twi
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I'm not convinced at all that this is the case with this EU law. Now you can call me naive, but I really don't see a strong case for that. It comes across to me like all the comments about COVID-19 lockdowns and masks: "They're taking our rights! It's a test! They'll never give those back." And now see where we are, no masks, no quarantine, no forced isolation, no travel restrictions. Yes, some politicians really want to
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It doesn't matter if it's some dodgy backstreet gang or a major global internet corporation; illegal & unsafe, scams, & hate speech are equally reprehensible regardless of who profits from them. Let's not turn this shit into a legitimate profit centre.
Re: Anything else to do? (Score:3)
Are you willing to die for the right of corporations to profit from selling illegal & unsafe goods, scamming consumers, & spreading hate speech?
Stop pretending there's some sort of dichotomy between doing all of that or none of that, Winnie. If I make fun of you and your leader for being fat diabetic bears, and I want it to be legal to do so, that doesn't mean I also have to support fraud.
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Always funny when somebody claims there is not a lot of innovation in the EU. When, for example, all the advanced chip-making equipment comes from the EU and Asia is only slowly catching up (the US is not even in the picture). And quite a few other areas.
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They are not "harassing" anyone. They just make sure the laws are followed. You are in favor of the rule of law, are you? Or are you an anarchist?
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The laws are not made with my approval, nor for my benefit. So...yeah, fuck the law. It's certainly fucking you!
Good luck, The West will miss you EU (Score:1)
Queue mass IP range blocking in 3....2....1.... (Score:1)
Some Euro IP ranges:
138.199.64.0/20
139.191.0.0/16
144.44.0.0/16
145.218.0.0/16
148.185.0.0/16
151.175.0.0/16
158.67.0.0/16
192.84.203.0/24
192.108.27.0/24
192.108.28.0/23
192.108.30.0/24
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You have it backwards.
I (and my business) am not an EU citizen, I am not subject to its laws. I am under no obligation to meet EU standards. I am under no obligation to block EU citizens from doing business with me.
The EU is within its authority to block its subjects from doing business with me. The onus is on them to follow EU laws.
My business is in California, USA. I operate under California and USA laws. If you connect to my website, you and I are doing business under California and USA laws. You m
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I (and my business) am not an EU citizen, I am not subject to its laws. I am under no obligation to meet EU standards. I am under no obligation to block EU citizens from doing business with me.
That may be the case for you. But there's plenty of others out there who might have some portion of their operations in the EU, which could be used as leverage by EU governments.
There's also the cases of some other less reputable countries mandating businesses have a physical presence there and taking hostages.
There's also the possibility that you might find yourself in the EU's jurisdiction one day if you decide to travel outside the US, and they'd be able to arrest you then.
Jurisdiction is not contagious.
True. If not caring works
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Well, like a typical US citizen, you have no clue how international law works.
So your claim is only true if
1. you store and process absolutely no EU citizen personal data. If you do, they can get at you via the US legal system and
2. you have no representation in the EU and
3. you never travel to the EU.
And some other conditions.
Face it, you cannot get away from these requirements unless you reliably exclude all EU citizens. Oh, and geo-blocking will not work. Oh, and most of these regulations cannot be negat
Totalitarians win again! (Score:1)
We need a new internet, safe from trackers and censors
The old ways, are the best ways. (Score:2)
We need a new internet, safe from trackers and censors
I wasn't aware that USENET started allowing trackers or censorship.
Sometimes the old ways, are the best ways.
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We need a new internet safe from the EU.
The problem is not... (Score:2)
...counterfeit or unsafe goods, it's scams
I frequently see ads where the scammer has scraped the video of a $10K tool from the legitimate site and offers it for $39.95
Pretty much the majority of ads I see on facebook are this kind of scam
Amazon is also an offender, selling fake SSDs and other totally useless scam products
Counterfeit products may be of acceptable quality, and usually only hurt the seller of excessively priced "luxury" goods
"Unsafe" depends on the user and how something is used. A so-called "
Non-EU Sites (Score:2)
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The law exempts small sites (less than 10 million euros revenue). Most companies that are not trivially small are part of a larger group with some business activities in EU or perspective to enter such business in the future. Being unwilling to cooperate would result in being denied access to the EU market. A "No business with EU" tribunal sentence to a non-compliant company means the Google European subsidiary can be notified they cannot sell ad services to them. Companies themselves will prefer to geobloc
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Being unwilling to cooperate would result in being denied access to the EU market.
Again though, how can they possibly enforce that? If your website is selling things online outside the EU and EU customers connect to it and buy things what is going to stop them? As long as they follow their local laws the EU can't touch them. Also having a system where 30% of people are flouting your laws is terrible for society - all it will do is make the 70% of companies who are following the new rules wonder why they are bothering and encourage them to question the need to follow other laws. That's n
Re: Non-EU Sites (Score:2)
Basically what happens is this: Some police officer in some EU country sends you an email saying "(some page) has speech that is illegal in my country and I demand you remove it under (some stupid local law) at once!"
Yeah, this actually happens. And yeah, from actual EU countries, where they claim they actually have free speech, but not really. You can either just ignore them, or reply with something to the effect of "I'm not in your jurisdiction, go fuck yourself" followed by some kind of slur that's expli
Oh no! There's that "hate speech" again.. (Score:1)
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So who's going to police the corp content mods? (Score:2)
toxic (Score:2)
What the hell is "toxic content"? Has toxic content sent someone to the hospital to get their brain pumped?