> Apple is too big for that. Hard regulation is the only way out

Apple is not 'too big' for savvy customers to choose differently but all the Mag 7 tech companies are too big for regulation to be a 'way out'. They now all have 'Regulatory Compliance' divisions which are about compliance as much as the 'Ministry of Truth' is about truth. Instead they are filled with highly-paid former regulators, lobbyists and lawyers who use their inside knowledge to avoid, skirt or nullify regulatory impact.

Company strategies are now purposely designed at conception to be almost impossibly difficult to prosecute or enforce. It's been working so well over the last decade that when the size of the prize is big enough, mega-tech corps are increasingly willing to just overtly violate regulations knowing they can fight in court for years until the govt settles for a reduced fine that's less than the profit already made.

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red_candle_wax 4 hours ago | parent | next [-]

> Apple is not 'too big' for savvy customers to choose differently

Except that won't matter. The "savvy" user is such a tiny minority and only an even tinier minority will be willing to coordinate a boycott. Its a drop in the bucket even if you do get a boycott going.

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hungryhobbit an hour ago | parent | next [-]

There are other words for "savvy user":

- early adopter

- trend setter

- tastemaker

- that one family member who understands tech so everyone else in the family goes to them for tech advice

In other words, yes "savvy" users are a minority ... but they influence many more users.

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mrandish 2 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

I agree boycotting Apple will never matter. My main point was that calling for "regulation" is a cop-out because it no longer stops Mag7 mega-corp abusers.

I also pushed back on claiming Apple is "too big" because it's another cop-out those neck-deep in the Apple plantation parrot as if it somehow makes it slightly more okay they're enabling the worst of the Mag7 rapacious abusers. Buy Apple if you want, it won't matter. Just own your choices and spare us the fig-leaf rationalizations.

	▲	pessimizer an hour ago \| parent [-]
		No, it is an acknowledgement of reality, and a plea not to pretend to be doing something when you're not. Apple is horrible, but are no worse than Google. Better in my opinion, because they never pretended to value freedom, and have a sense of ownership over their customers that is sometimes protective. Also, the phones are simply useful longer. > My main point was that regulation is no longer a reliable check on Mag7 mega-corp abuses. It is a bad point that was not made at all. The fact that corporations are effectively, and often literally currently unregulated is not proof that regulation is not "a reliable check on" abuses any more than my not wearing an oven mitt and constantly being burned is proof that wearing an oven mitt is not reliable protection against being burned. Apple is too big to choose differently. There are two choices. Both are horrible. Eventually you will need to make a choice between one or the other to participate in banking, paying your utilities, buying things in stores, logging onto any internet site, maybe paying tolls, maybe even driving (your license might be issued to your phone.) To some extent, some of these things are true now. Why would anybody owe you a "fig-leaf" excuse? Nobody is trying to placate you. They're just telling you what they think and why they are doing what they're doing, you should be grateful. I'm speaking as someone who uses Debian on everything, who went from N900 to Firefox's phone to a $20 Android stuck on 8 that I've never hooked to the Google Play store because I don't have (and have never had) a "Google Account," only F-Droid - a phone that I refuse to browse the internet on or connect to my email (I don't have any social media except HN.) It is nothing to brag about, it is stubbornness. It does not move the needle in any way, and I would not have to make an excuse for not doing it, especially to you. Anyway, I don't use coreboot, don't have a Linux phone anymore, and accept binary blobs in some of my packages, so am I really doing anything? There's nothing more annoying than this purist faux-radical attitude I hear from people so much dirtier than I am. Are you sure you're not using Apple just so you can lecture people who do? Is that the real sin that Android is committing by closing up and becoming indistinguishable from Apple on policy? Nobody will cry for a second about you not using Apple or Android except for you. The only way to stop this is through regulation.

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fsflover 3 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

It will matter for yourself and for the companies that support user freedom. Sent from my Librem 5.

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slowin an hour ago | parent | next [-]

Right up until you send someone with an iPhone a text message or email someone with a Gmail account...

	▲	jamesnorden 5 minutes ago \| parent [-]
		What happens then?

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kulahan 3 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

It doesn’t actually matter, because your phone is only working as a coincidence. Every website and app is tested for Google phones and iPhones. If you lose the ability to do something one day, the chances of you getting that functionality back without major effort from your phone manufacturer or the kindness of bored people working for free, is essentially zero.

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fsflover 2 hours ago | parent [-]

My phone runs a desktop GNU/Linux OS with desktop Firefox (or Chromium if installed). If Firefox on desktop stops showing websites correctly, we will have a larger problem than an unsupported niche phone.

	▲	kulahan an hour ago \| parent [-]
		Then you’re not using a phone. You’re using a computer which happens to have phone capabilities. Surely you can see how this isn’t particularly useful for most people?

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lazide 4 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

Yes they are because the alternatives are worse.