<story><title>Google Bard blocks all European Union countries</title><url>https://9to5google.com/2023/05/11/google-bard-european-union/</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>sclarisse</author><text>Look, you can have the laws protecting your citizens from the horrors of everyday web-cookies and the privacy nightmares of the surveillance industry all you like. You can make them as heavy handed as you want, threaten massive fines on worldwide revenue, go mad.&lt;p&gt;You just can’t have them and also simultaneously expect everyone is going to find it worthwhile to deal with you under such laws, such that you’re outraged when they don’t. Or, well, you can, but it’s either quite foolish of you, or it’s imperialistic.</text></item><item><author>gcatalfamo</author><text>Honestly, announcing public release in 180+ countries, and omitting that you are leaving out half of western civilization, it&amp;#x27;s outright malignant.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>bertil</author><text>EU privacy rules are not about the horrors of web-cookies. They require asking for informed consent when you do things that are invading privacies.&lt;p&gt;All the annoying cookie pop-ups are not mandated by the EU; they are a consequence of website operators choosing to use traffic data in a way that some users might disagree with. You can easily do without. You can, and many do, make them clear and informative.&lt;p&gt;Those laws would be imperialistic if a majority of citizens around the world, including a vast majority of American citizens, would not gladly demand the same protection when shown what websites do with their information.&lt;p&gt;This is not just about a frustrating cookie pop-up; this is about having legal options to prevent spammy telemarketers from scamming your elderly relatives. This is about mandating a way to tell ad platforms not to sell you prams after the death of your infant, or show gambling and alcohol ads to addicts.</text></comment>
<story><title>Google Bard blocks all European Union countries</title><url>https://9to5google.com/2023/05/11/google-bard-european-union/</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>sclarisse</author><text>Look, you can have the laws protecting your citizens from the horrors of everyday web-cookies and the privacy nightmares of the surveillance industry all you like. You can make them as heavy handed as you want, threaten massive fines on worldwide revenue, go mad.&lt;p&gt;You just can’t have them and also simultaneously expect everyone is going to find it worthwhile to deal with you under such laws, such that you’re outraged when they don’t. Or, well, you can, but it’s either quite foolish of you, or it’s imperialistic.</text></item><item><author>gcatalfamo</author><text>Honestly, announcing public release in 180+ countries, and omitting that you are leaving out half of western civilization, it&amp;#x27;s outright malignant.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>ghaff</author><text>There&amp;#x27;s this implicit embedded assumption that because it&amp;#x27;s the EU we&amp;#x27;re talking about and not some small developing nation &lt;i&gt;of course&lt;/i&gt; you can&amp;#x27;t just take your ball and decide not to play with them. But of course if you can make the finances work you can do just that.</text></comment>