"letting Google and Facebook eat the European web without giving anything back. Pick your poison. "
Democracy means power of the people.
That is more than just voting.
If most of the people decide to use google and facebook although hating it, than maybe they deserve what they get.
I don't like Facebook, I don't use it.
I like google less every year, I use it less.
But I don't cry and whine for my politicians to tell those evil corporations to do what I want. They are free to offer me what they want. And I am free to decline and use something else.
And this may be smug, but if more people would act like that, there would be more real alternatives.
Except it's not as easy as that. Almost half the web is reporting your every click to Google, through Analytics, and plenty are also reporting to Facebook and others. If you use a Mastercard, Google is getting info on your purchases. If you email a Gmail user, they're getting it too. Your friends (maybe not yours, but many's) are backing up photos of you to Google Photos and sharing them on Facebook, Instagram and more. Your Wifi router is tracked and your house is photographed.
But I am free to use and support the other half of the internet.
And I am free to use adblockers.
And my home is free to be photographed from the outside from anyone. I do not loose anything because of that. Neither do I loose, if friends upload pictures they made. If I do not want to be on a picture I tell them the moment they make it. Or we consent on private use only. And if people make pictures without consent they are not my friends and there are laws for that. (but I actually do not care about that so much)
What I care about it is my communication. I want to be able to communicate with friends all over the world, without a company being able to control and influence that communication. Which is why I do not use Facebook at all.
And I am able to do that, with all the people important to me. The people who insist on facebook ... I can miss out.
And again: yes the situation IS shitty, but I don't see any improvement from regulations at all. Quite the contrary: we just got the annoying "We use Cookies" banners. But the tracking goes on as ever.
Democracy means power of the people. That is more than just voting.
If most of the people decide to use google and facebook although hating it, than maybe they deserve what they get. I don't like Facebook, I don't use it. I like google less every year, I use it less.
But I don't cry and whine for my politicians to tell those evil corporations to do what I want. They are free to offer me what they want. And I am free to decline and use something else.
And this may be smug, but if more people would act like that, there would be more real alternatives.