[LINK] AT: 'EU ... demands interoperability between platforms'

Roger Clarke Roger.Clarke at xamax.com.au
Sun Mar 27 22:03:36 AEDT 2022


[ Sheesh, it takes a long time for basic concepts to get through to the
drones who populate the political sphere.

[ I followed into this space a decade ago (creation-date 13 Apr 12),
writing things like this, as almost-asides, and citing people who'd
argued the case - and coded reference implementations - 5 years earlier:
http://www.rogerclarke.com/II/COSM-1402.html#CI
http://www.rogerclarke.com/II/COSM-1402.html#COSME


EU announces Big Tech crackdown, demands interoperability between platforms
Lawmakers agree on Digital Markets Act to regulate Big Tech; final votes
still pending.
JON BRODKIN
Ars Technica
26 March 2022
https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2022/03/eu-to-regulate-gatekeepers-in-crackdown-on-google-apple-amazon-facebook/

"The Digital Markets Act puts an end to the ever-increasing dominance of
Big Tech companies. From now on, they must show that they also allow for
fair competition on the Internet," said Andreas Schwab, a member of the
European Parliament from Germany and rapporteur for Parliament's
Internal Market and Consumer Protection Committee.

EU lawmakers agreed that big messaging services such as Whatsapp,
Facebook Messenger, and Apple's iMessage "will have to open up and
interoperate with smaller messaging platforms, if they so request.
Users of small or big platforms would then be able to exchange messages,
send files, or make video calls across messaging apps, thus giving them
more choice," the European Parliament's announcement said.

The wording makes it unclear whether the biggest messaging apps would
have to work with each other or just with smaller competitors.

Legislators agreed that specific interoperability requirements for
social networks "will be assessed in the future."

...


-- 
Roger Clarke                            mailto:Roger.Clarke at xamax.com.au
T: +61 2 6288 6916   http://www.xamax.com.au  http://www.rogerclarke.com

Xamax Consultancy Pty Ltd      78 Sidaway St, Chapman ACT 2611 AUSTRALIA

Visiting Professor in the Faculty of Law            University of N.S.W.
Visiting Professor in Computer Science    Australian National University


More information about the Link mailing list