[_hilro]

Quite funny you should say that as I had just written this comment on the other related thread:

> I've been leaning more and more away from a global internet and back to regional EU only internet. EU & US & every other region in the world are different.

> As it stands, the global internet is dominated by US cultures & laws.

> I think the internet as it stands inhibits Europeans forging their own path.

So for me personally, my then youthful naivety of supporting connecting the globe and freedom etc. has now shifted over the past 10 years to leaning towards an EU only internet.

> The Internet is being torn apart by governments.

The internet shouldn't be the international waters of the world and it shouldn't be the United States internet.

[plandis]

I really hope such anti-free speech is not an opinion shared among the majority of Europeans. The world will be much worse off when the free flow of ideas is restricted.

[selfhoster11]

Why shouldn't the internet be the international waters of the world? Surely, the entire point of the network is to be international in every sense? (Including negative ones, I guess)

[rmdashrfstar]

> The global internet is dominated by US cultures & laws.

How so?

> The internet shouldn't be the international waters of the world…

Why?

[guitarbill]

Not OP, but the major websites and services are all US based. That means US copyright laws and takedowns, US data protection (or lack thereof, which the GDPR tried to solve), arbitration, mile-long EULAs, etc

[inter_netuser]

Just make your own major websites and services?

Every other country has their own ecosystem, EU seems to be capable enough.

[selfhoster11]

Easy to say, harder to execute. Network effects keep American companies as the main way people communicate, whether it's WhatsApp, Instagram, Facebook (or Facebook Messenger), or something else.

[inter_netuser]

why can Russia and China do it, but EU cannot?

Seems strange. EU is capable in everything but silly chat apps and more complex, search engines?

[selfhoster11]

Russia and China have nation-wide firewalls. I know that at minimum, China blocks most or all of Western social media sites. I don't want to live in a bloc of countries that blocks parts of the web "for my protection".

[1_player]

It's easier for politicians to write laws forbidding stuff and pat themselves in the back than radically changing the economy to foster innovation and investments for EU-based tech companies.