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Apple Under Pressure to Remove Geo-Blocking Restrictions in the EU
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The EU is a banner example of why centralized bureaucratic command structures should not exist.
This is fair I feel. Imagine an app being available in Arizona but not California, or requiring a billing address in Nevada even though you now live in Utah because you made your account when you were living with your parents in Reno.
It sounds ridiculous because it is.
It sounds ridiculous because it is.
This seems to be saying that Apple needs to treat all EU countries the same. Nothing about EU countries vs Non-EU countries.
When Apple is spending a small fortune and weeks having to constantly work on catering to the EU they are not working on things that benefit everyone else.
This dismal year in new features and hardware is an example. They are just quickly releasing items with Type C with zero enhancements.
Just because you don’t know what ended up on the chopping block because they are dedicating tons of resources to not getting fined doesn’t mean you’re not losing out.
I understand that some Americans here only read about the EU on this site and think we spend all of our time suing Apple, our arch enemy, because we hate freedom, but...
...you know there are more sites than MacRumors and the EU does other things, right?
...you know there are more sites than MacRumors and the EU does other things, right?
Oh jeez, this is taking fanboy to another level.
That makes a bit more sense and I understand now (wow I am slow this late morning) . The regulation relates to singling out specific EU member nations, not the entire EU.
That said, there are plenty of examples in the US where some products or services are illegal across state lines. California is the best example of this, but other states like Vermont, and a smattering of others ban specific products, services or ETC due to regulatory reasons of their own.
I'm not an expert at all in the geo-blocking regulation, but from a quick skim it certainly does not look like it is absolute. I would therefore expect that if certain products or services are illegal in a Member State no one would be expected to have to sell them under these rules.
Conversely, you have zero evidence that we lost out on anything meaningful because Apple had to dedicate resources to comply with the law (the horror). Some might even argue that the things they were forced to do may have been a better use of resources than coming up with the Genmoji (though I will absolutely have fun with that one a few times per year).
I normally don't agree with the EU's constant attacks on Apple, but this one seems to make sense. Why not just have an EU App Store with choice of language and geo-blocking based on the EU's boundaries?
The fanboying is getting ridiculous. People defending the anti-consumer geoblocking just because Apple is doing it.
thanks to the UE we all have usb c, otherwise we would have to wait another 10 years.. or more
It’s clear you completely missed the point. That being said this has nothing to do with Apple ‘intelligence’ (which is by the way the worst generative AI in existence, Apple is lagging years behind the competition in this topic).
So, what about all of the legalities that DO allow the EU to sue people in other countries, especially America since that is where I am?
Once again, I'll bring up things like GDPR and so on and on.
If I have a site hosted in the USA and it happens to collect the simple IP address of a fellow EU visitor - even if I didn't invite you to my site, the EU CAN sue even that private individual that isn't even doing business in the EU or USA.
So far, that hasn't happened to an individual (that I know of). However it is 100% possible and legal (under EU laws) for that to happen, so it will only be a matter of time.
They just haven't bothered so far due to an individual being a "single" person and not worth their efforts.
But how wrong is that - that it is even a possibility??
And no, I'm not saying that a US business can do whatever they want. Obviously there are limits, which include if actual business in the EU is done. But, once again I will just restate how far out of bounds the EU is getting.
This is what I'm hoping that the USA government will start sticking up for more in the upcoming years and protect both individuals and companies when needed. New USA legislation is needed.
No it does not apply to Netflix etc as video streaming and films are not included in the geoblocking ban.
No issues with what the EU is doing here from me. Which may surprise some of my frequent EU sparring partners
Video streaming, TV and Movies are exempt from the geo-blocking ban, as of 2023. It's still illegal to geo-block anything else, like music, music-streaming, websites, web services, games, music, software, apps, app markets/stores, etc.
The BBC is British, which isn't under the EU.
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More BS. And Apple will keep taking it, like a bunch of idiots.
Geoblocking is awful and benefits absolutely nobody defending it
Quite right. Imagine the outrage there would be if Apply played funny games when people move to a different state in the USA.
US is well known to force company to comply with its law and regulation. I don’t see why Euro or any sovereign nation can’t do the same.
Honestly, this is a thing I agree with the EU on, I think region locking content is rather passé. That said, it's generally the media IP holder that region locks content, not the stores. I'm not sure why companies still do that, outside of things like local laws regarding obscenity, LGBT+, etc content. At least, as far as I can tell games are for the most part region locked, yet Blu-ray, streaming services, and even YouTube still do, as well as record labels with downloadable music.
So, I hope the EU does something about that as well, because trying to play Region B (Europe) Blu-rays in the US (Region A) is kind of a pain.
So, I hope the EU does something about that as well, because trying to play Region B (Europe) Blu-rays in the US (Region A) is kind of a pain.