Technology

The EU is now doing the good work that the US is no longer politically willing to.

These laws and the ability to remove currently hard-coded apps is a good first step. What citizens the world over should be demanding of their respective law makers is forcing apps to disclose EXACTLY what they do and what they collect and EXACTLY who that gets shared with. For example, there's many apps that don't need access to your contacts, location or camera to operate sufficiently, but do that anyway. App creators should be forced to explain WHY their app is accessing that data or utility. Data harvesting is the most lucrative business right now. The underhanded deceitful ways that corporations steal people's data needs to be made transparent in plain language. The practice of hiding inferred consent to all manner of abuse in legalaleze has to stop. PLAIN FUCKING LANGUAGE! Fail to disclose - You get fined.

Apologies for TLDR. The latest posts about [auto manufacturers harvesting mountains of personal data without proper consent[(https://foundation.mozilla.org/en/privacynotincluded/articles/its-official-cars-are-the-worst-product-category-we-have-ever-reviewed-for-privacy/) just broke me. ALL 26 major car manufacturers failing to meet most basic privacy standard. Despite being part of groups that declare they do, they've been found to do the exact opposite and in abundance. Together with Google's contemptuously deceitful WEI, I feel broken, used and pessimistic about any hope of having rights or freedom. We NEED this disclosure and education about apps and data harvesting.

1. Explain explicitly the app's required privileges and whether it needs that to function.

2. Any administrative privilege needs to be explained further, especially if the app doesn't need more than user status to do it's expected function.

3. Exactly what data, files and utilities this app accesses. I mean exactly in detailed plain language, not ambiguous broad sweeping possibilities. And WHY and HOW OFTEN. People might be less inclined to install that stupid little game or social media app if they knew it sends a pulse of data back to the makers every four minutes, even while running in the background.

4. Exactly what methods of personal tracking is utilized. Exactly what technology is being used and explain it in plain language.

For example, most people were, and still are, completely ignorant of the fact most Covid apps were just a quick UI tweak of NSO's citizen tracking software utilizing bluetooth. It connects to ANY discoverable device and logs it's identity. Then creates a digital mesh that can be used to track any single one of those devices as it moves among all other devices with the app. To spell it out, you can be tracked even if you don't have that app. People should be told in plain language that their government app makes them part of a surveillance network. Did you honestly think your government could whip up a quality app with such sophistication that worked on nearly all device brands and models in such a short time? THIS IS JUST ONE EXAMPLE - There's many.

5. The app should supply a list of EXACTLY who receives the disclosed data the app sends. If some entity other than the ones listed is found to be getting it the app makers are fined.

6. The app should supply a list of exactly WHO the data is shared with or sold to AFTER it has been received by the nominated recipients. The makers need to list if it's their intention to sell your data to data brokers, law enforcement or any other entity. If found selling data to any entity not on the list the app maker gets fined.

You may not install that pregnancy app if you knew they sell the data to law enforcement, or a data broker who has no hesitation doing so. If your data is found to have been sold to anyone not on the list the app maker gets fined.

7. App makers need to be transparent about data breaches. It needs to be prominent in the app. They need to include both the details and what they've done to rectify the breach. Failure to comply - You get fined.

The data harvesting and brokering industry is abusive and deceptive. Forcing app developers to disclose everything the app does in detail could help people make informed decisions instead of having their right to privacy prison-raped. It would lead to better software, and, it would force these corporate entities to implement better security practices and security on their networks and servers. The current amount and frequency of data breaches is astounding. These incompetent corporate assholes want to make money off your data and do almost nothing to ensure it's safety.

I'm not saying developers, governments and corporations can't have or sell data. Or create a profile on you for marketing purposes. They would just have to be completely transparent, up front and honest about it, or get fined. Imagine this world.

So many companies now collect our data, and sell it to advertisers, then want us to also pay for them to do this.

Fuck that, if you're selling my information, then I'm already paying for your product.

We should be demanding royalty payments.

This is the best summary I could come up with:

The package of laws will also pave the way for more competition in some of the areas most closely guarded by the tech firms, including Apple Wallet and Google Pay.

The Digital Markets Act (DMA), the second big package of EU laws to hit tech firms in two months, defines a series of obligations that gatekeepers need to comply with, including not engaging in anti-competitive practices.

The DMA aims to undo the gatekeeper or controlling position that large tech companies have commanded in the last 10 years and gives the European Commission the power to conduct market investigations and design remedies if the firms fall out of line.

The tech companies – including Apple, Google and Amazon – have six months to comply with a full list of dos and don’ts under the new laws, after which they could be fined up to 10% of their turnover.

The laws will initially apply to six companies: Alphabet (which owns Google), Amazon, Apple, ByteDance (the owner of TikTok), Meta (Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp) and Microsoft.

He described the DMA as an “important milestone” that would put consumers and concerned parents back in the driving seat, guarding against abuse and endless hours of content aimed at children on the likes of TikTok.

The original article contains 692 words, the summary contains 209 words. Saved 70%. I'm a bot and I'm open source!

Can't wait to see US media machine ramp up the 'weird and nasty Europe' propaganda again.

Oh wait....kekekekekeke

Is Bytedance really in the same league as Microsoft, Apple, Google, and Meta? I know TikTok is big, but didn’t know it was that big.