Technology

Everyone here sucks, or whatever the term is in the "Am I the asshole?" threads when everyone is in the wrong.

Apple knows what the EU regulations are and as a company that wants to do business in the bloc, they have to abide by their rules. Also, China and the Middle East are stricter and Apple happily kowtows to them. And of course Apple bends over for the US regime as well. So what's different about doing it for the EU?

On the other hand, there's a reason there are no major companies operating out of the EU. The EU is where innovation goes to die. Like the US, it's tech rules made by people who neither understand nor love tech. EU does fight for their citizens, but the fact remains that the EU is also hurting its citizens here. Apple doesn't have to play ball, they can take their ball and go home, and still sell a lesser product to the EU for the same money. Apple is not going to take a loss here. Only people losing will be those living in the EU.

Apple says the EU wanted too much of your personal data. The EU didn't respond to that. All they really said was "Apple wanted a blanket exception and that is not an option." Apple still gets to wear its privacy hat, and the EU look like arseholes.

Also, I didn't read Apple's message as "blaming the EU." It was more that they just said due to the way things are over there, Siri AI will not be available there. Sure, they chose their words carefully, but my read on it was "it is what it is," not "it's all their fault." More of an "agree to disagree" kind of thing. Like "they want X, we want Z, we tried Y for a while but they won't budge and honestly we don't want to either, so this is what happens next." Now the citizens of the EU can just roll over and take it, or they can contact the EU leadership and whatnot and tell them they want less regulation. Who knows.