How EU digital identity rules and Google’s restrictive policies threaten the future of privacy-focused Android operating systems like GrapheneOS.
Archived version: https://archive.is/20250810234024/https://www.forbes.com/sites/federicoguerrini/2025/08/10/whos-afraid-of-privacy-focused-smartphones/
I’ve been saying for YEARS that the EU has been overstepping their bounds by forcing companies to do things that they should have no right to force them to do, and that the EU is becoming a threat. I was downvoted every time and called a “bootlicker” because people loved the EU dictating terms to the “big bad american corporations”.
Well now the EU have gone full nanny surveilance state, and people like those who argued against me have no one to blame but themselves. Congratulations.
Yeah, I totally agree. Lots of people don’t seem to understand centralized authoritarian control is the big evil, even if it reinforces your personal politics (for now).
The EU must be less of a state and more like EFTA
It’s still amused by the whole USB-C push to “Reduce eWaste”.
By legislating that everyone should use USB-C, they generated a lot of eWaste in the form of legacy USB-A, B, micro, lightning, etc, as well as requiring more cables in the form of USB-C to USB-A, B, micro, lightning, etc. cables in the transition phase.
The various different types of USB-C cables (power only, data only, Thunderbolt 4, etc) as well as the glut of different incompatible USB-C interfaces has made things much worse.
It reminds me of the XKCD comic about introducing new standards to reduce the number of standards.