[sunshine-o]

> The current policy trend in the EU is definitely not based on the principle of each user evaluating their own risk.

Yes and if you look back this is not new. Just look at the extraordinary restrictions that apply to:

- What houses you can build,

- What vehicle you can drive,

- What food you can grow and sell.

The result is real estate has become unaffordable for younger people, our car industry is being annihilated, and the agriculture sector hold by a string.

The digital realm enjoyed an unusual level freedom until now because the silent and boomer generations in charge in the EU understood nothing about it.

Now that the EU is getting involved in "computers" we are starting to understand why peasants have been protesting in Brussels and calling those people insane for decades.

[rcbdev]

I really have to wonder where in the EU you live. In Vienna, I got to buy an apartment in my mid-twenties by just saving up, which was easy, as many apartments are rent-capped and there's lots of cheap social housing. I got to enjoy free university, allowing me to get a high paying job. I get to use very cheap all electric state-subsidized rental car offerings if I need them, which is rare since we have federally good rail and bus coverage. And I enjoy affordable meat, dairy and vegetables all sourced from inside my country.

Austria's courts also ruled ages ago that rooting your own device cannot be a legal reason for OEMs like Samsung to refuse warranty coverage, since you can run whatever software you want on hardware you bought.

Maybe your country sucks? Don't blame it on the EU.

[Ray20]

> apartments are rent-capped > cheap social housing > free university > high paying job > very cheap all electric state-subsidized rental car offerings > affordable meat, dairy and vegetables

And here we can simply examine the tax structure and conclude that the problem isn't whether the country sucks, but whether the side you're on sucks.

After all, how can housing be affordable for ordinary workers if they have to subsidize from their own pocket free university, cheap housing, electric cars, high wages, and everything else for the privileged class?

> Maybe your country sucks?

And maybe your country sucks too. It is just North Korea is also the best country to live in (if you're Kim Jong Un).

[rcbdev]

I earn good money, but I pay 50% taxes on my income and another 20% VAT on almost anything I buy.

I'm okay with this, but don't try to tell me that I'm not paying for the privileges we all get to enjoy here.

High income earners are the net payers here who disproportionally pour taxes into the system, so everyone can take part in these subsidized schemes. How this basic concept eludes you is beyond me.

[sunshine-o]

Yes congratulation, you get to benefit from a lot of regulated and subsidized things: housing, education and transportation.

While enjoying a high paying job in probably a still very unregulated domain (computers/internet related).

This is not about one country vs another.

The problem is you cannot have a society with everybody winning on both fronts unfortunately. You also need people making, cleaning stuff, growing food, cooking, etc. Not everybody can live in the capital with "very cheap all electric state-subsidized rental car" and Vienna is probably not food self sufficient...

[rcbdev]

> Vienna is probably not food self sufficient

No, but Austria is. And our farmers enjoy much support through subsidies - from the EU and our own budget - and social protections, often having better and cheaper health care than most other Austrians, since they are insured under their very own social insurance law (BSVG), contrary to other employees (ASVG) and self-employed (GSVG).

Farmers also enjoy very high levels of respect and appreciation here, even in Vienna.

> While enjoying a high paying job in probably a still very unregulated domain (computers/internet related).

Calling Information Technology an 'unregulated domain' in the EU when we're all busy implementing NIS2 regulation and preparing for the Cyber Resilience Act entering into force soon seems disingenuous.

[sunshine-o]

> And our farmers enjoy very high levels of subsidies

Yes, thanks. This was my original point "the agriculture sector hold by a string". It is by design unsustainable and if you cut those "high levels of subsidies" it collapses.

> Calling Information Technology an 'unregulated domain' in the EU when we're all busy implementing NIS2 regulation and preparing for the Cyber Resilience Act entering into force soon seems disingenuous.

Yes this is why I said "still"

[rcbdev]

I do not understand what you're trying to communicate with "hold by a string" - we subsidize our farmers because we do not want to completely wreck our local agricultural supply chains just because food from, say Brazil, would be theoretically cheaper today. Another factor is that we actually have the ability to properly enforce quality standards if the food is produced within our jurisdiction.

This is no different to subsidizing public transport, because having this infrastructure local and autonomous is just strategically important enough for the tax payer to finance it. Would you say that public transport in EU capitals is "holding on by a string"?

[krater23]

Yes, blame Germany.