Medical and Hospital News  
INTERNET SPACE
Big Tech now regulated like banks, says EU antitrust chief
by AFP Staff Writers
Brussels (AFP) March 25, 2022

Big Tech companies will be regulated like banks, a top EU official said on Friday, as a new landmark digital law was hailed as Europe's long overdue counterweight to Google, Meta and Amazon.

"For companies that play a role as gatekeepers, the Digital Markets Act (DMA) will (now) set the rules of the game," the EU's competition chief Margrethe Vestager told reporters hours after the law was approved.

This was "done a long time ago in sectors such as banking, telecoms, energy, transport" and at "long last, we establish the same reality here," she added.

France's representative to the EU Commission, Thierry Breton, said the law marked "a very important moment for Europe" in which public authorities have "reclaimed power".

"Everyone is welcome, but we have rules and they have to be respected," added Breton, who is commissioner for industrial policy.

Praise and some criticism poured in after negotiators from the European Parliament and EU member states agreed late Thursday on the law that will curb the market dominance of tech giants such as Google, Facebook owner Meta, Amazon and Apple.

The European Consumer Organisation hailed a "big moment for consumers and businesses who have suffered from Big Tech's harmful practices," deputy head Ursula Pachl said.

The DMA will "put an end to many of the worst practices that Big Tech has engaged in over the years".

- 'Great significance' -

The lobby for Big Tech said the DMA was of "great significance", while warning against putting "one-size-fits-all" solutions on companies that are vastly different, according to statement from the Computer & Communications Industry Association.

As the final details are worked out, "we hope sufficient resources are allocated and that impacted companies will be given a fair chance to comply," CCIA added.

Apple said Thursday night that it was "concerned" about certain "privacy and security" risks for users of its products, while Google warned of "potential risks" to innovation and the variety of choices available to Europeans.

The DMA features a long list of dos and don'ts for the Big Tech companies that would face massive fines if they failed to comply.

Vestager said that the law should be published in the EU's Official Journal around October, after being formally approved by the bloc's member states and MEPs.

The Commission will then have six months to designate the companies concerned, thought to be only the US tech giants and perhaps a handful of other players such as Booking.com or TikTok.

The first possible fines for non-compliance are not expected before the first quarter of 2024.

New EU law leaves Big Tech facing major rethink
Paris (AFP) March 25, 2022 - From Amazon shoppers to iPhone owners, the world faces a rethink in the way it interacts with Big Tech, thanks to a new law agreed by the European Union on Thursday.

The Digital Markets Act tries to ensure smaller players will be able to enter the market without Silicon Valley behemoths stomping on them before they get off the ground.

It fights their ability to "lock consumers into their ecosystem" by sheer force of market share, says Pierre-Jean Benghozi of French research institute CNRS.

That ethos is at the heart of one of the most eye-catching proposals -- to ensure "interoperability" between messaging apps.

Essentially, this means WhatsApp users, for example, could ditch the app, but continue conversations with friends later by using iMessenger, Signal or another app.

WhatsApp, in the stable of Facebook owner Meta, has maintained a stranglehold on the market at least partially because so many people already use it.

If it no longer has that appeal, it is not hard to see users moving away to other apps.

- 'Landmark law' -

Sonia Cisse, a specialist lawyer from the Linklaters firm, highlights provisions in the act that would stop large platforms from promoting their own services ahead of those of their rivals.

"This is an issue for Google," she says. "If you type 'travel' into your search bar, for example, you will no longer come across the trips offered by Google."

Amazon has also long been accused of promoting its own products.

Those practices will be illegal if the DMA passes in its current form.

Apple, too, faces some of its domination being squashed.

It will no longer be able to force customers to buy and sell apps using its in-house payment system, and users will be able to delete the Safari browser that comes as standard on its iPhones.

Maya Noel, of the Digital France group that lobbies for startups, says these kinds of rules could change the landscape entirely for smaller developers.

App stores "will no longer be able to force them to go through their identification system, their payment system, or prevent them from advertising directly", she explains.

Ursula Pachl of the European Consumer Organisation called it a "landmark law for the EU's digital transformation".

"But Member States must now also provide the Commission with the necessary enforcement resources to step in the moment there is foul play," she said.

- 'One size fits all' -

In the past, big EU legislation has suffered from patchy enforcement.

The huge data privacy regulation (GDPR) came into force in 2018 and empowered regulators across the bloc to issue huge fines.

But activists have long lamented the slow pace of action, with cases taking years to grind through the system.

Maya Noel hopes the DMA will be different.

She says an app developer, for example, should be able to get a very quick response to a report of non-compliance.

The complainant will no longer need to prove that the big firm is abusing its dominant position.

Instead, it will be enough to show that one of the mandatory rules of the DMA has been violated.

The industry, of course, is far from happy.

"The DMA borrows remedies from ongoing competition enforcement cases, but applies them inflexibly and on a one-size-fits-all basis to all platform services of companies designated as 'gatekeepers'," said the CCIA, an industry lobby group.

Lawyer Sonia Cisse also wonders whether the law has gone too far.

"It's a bit like the GDPR," she says. "It's designed for the very big players, but other smaller ones get caught in the net."


Related Links
Satellite-based Internet technologies


Thanks for being here;
We need your help. The SpaceDaily news network continues to grow but revenues have never been harder to maintain.

With the rise of Ad Blockers, and Facebook - our traditional revenue sources via quality network advertising continues to decline. And unlike so many other news sites, we don't have a paywall - with those annoying usernames and passwords.

Our news coverage takes time and effort to publish 365 days a year.

If you find our news sites informative and useful then please consider becoming a regular supporter or for now make a one off contribution.
SpaceDaily Contributor
$5 Billed Once


credit card or paypal
SpaceDaily Monthly Supporter
$5 Billed Monthly


paypal only


INTERNET SPACE
YouTube offers thousands of free TV episodes -- with ads
San Francisco (AFP) March 23, 2022
YouTube on Wednesday began streaming some 4,000 television episodes from shows like "Hell's Kitchen" and "Heartland" to US viewers as the site tries to capture viewers in a fiercely competitive market. The Google-owned video platform said that popular television shows along with films from major studios will be available, with ads, on YouTube using smart televisions, mobile devices or web browsers. YouTube was a pioneer in the trend to accessing video on-demand using the internet, starting with ... read more

Comment using your Disqus, Facebook, Google or Twitter login.



Share this article via these popular social media networks
del.icio.usdel.icio.us DiggDigg RedditReddit GoogleGoogle

INTERNET SPACE
Russia occupies Chernobyl staff town, Kyiv says

Kyiv says using AI, social media to identify slain Russians

Final victim found, Peru landslide toll hits eight

Ukraine finally rotates workers at Chernobyl: IAEA

INTERNET SPACE
Identifying RF and GPS interferences for military applications with satellite data

Ukraine war disrupts GPS in Finland, Mediterranean

China's BeiDou enters new phase of stable services, rapid development

Galileo 2nd generation satellites ready to navigate into the future

INTERNET SPACE
New predictive model helps in identify ancient hunter-gatherer sites

Ancient campfires reveal a 50,000 year old grocer and pharmacy

Grains hints at origin of 7,000-year-old Swiss pile dwellings

Early humans kept old stone tools to preserve memory of their ancestors

INTERNET SPACE
'Rhino bond' charges onto markets to save S. African animals

Europe raptor numbers down 55,000 due to gun-lead poison: study

Once-starving lions roar back to life in Sudan sanctuary

UN launches biodiversity talks on deal to protect nature

INTERNET SPACE
Shanghai warns against 'panic' as Covid cases mount

Hong Kong's top scientsts urge shift from Beijing's zero-Covid strategy

China reports two Covid-19 deaths, first in more than a year

Unitaid to finance HIV shots in Brazil, South Africa

INTERNET SPACE
Hong Kong martial arts teacher charged over sedition, weapons

Unwed and unwanted, Chinese single mothers fight for rights

Hong Kong leader defends mainland medics; Shenzhen eases lockdown

Shanghai tailors keep qipao dress tradition alive

INTERNET SPACE
Iran, Russia, China start war games to counter 'maritime piracy'

Denmark shelves prosecution of Africa piracy suspects

INTERNET SPACE








The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2024 - Space Media Network. All websites are published in Australia and are solely subject to Australian law and governed by Fair Use principals for news reporting and research purposes. AFP, UPI and IANS news wire stories are copyright Agence France-Presse, United Press International and Indo-Asia News Service. ESA news reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. All articles labeled "by Staff Writers" include reports supplied to Space Media Network by industry news wires, PR agencies, corporate press officers and the like. Such articles are individually curated and edited by Space Media Network staff on the basis of the report's information value to our industry and professional readership. Advertising does not imply endorsement, agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by Space Media Network on any Web page published or hosted by Space Media Network. General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) Statement Our advertisers use various cookies and the like to deliver the best ad banner available at one time. All network advertising suppliers have GDPR policies (Legitimate Interest) that conform with EU regulations for data collection. By using our websites you consent to cookie based advertising. If you do not agree with this then you must stop using the websites from May 25, 2018. Privacy Statement. Additional information can be found here at About Us.