tech Giants Weaponize Legal Battles, Stalling Regulation & Degrading User Experience, Warns Cory doctorow
Brussels – Apple‘s threat to engage in a decade-long legal fight following a European Commission order to open its iPhone ecosystem to option payment systems and app stores exemplifies a troubling trend: tech giants are leveraging vast financial resources to obstruct regulation, leading to a demonstrable decline in platform quality and a potential threat to democratic principles, according to author and activist Cory Doctorow. This tactic, Doctorow argues, effectively neuters well-intentioned laws, delaying meaningful change indefinitely.
Teh escalating conflict highlights a fundamental power imbalance. While regulators aim to foster competition and protect consumers, companies like Apple can afford to mire them in protracted and expensive litigation. “Por muy bien intencionada que sea, la ley podría tardar mucho tiempo en surtir efecto, si es que alguna vez lo hace,” Doctorow observes, pointing to the years of legal maneuvering that can render regulations toothless by the time they are resolved. This dynamic isn’t limited to Apple; it reflects a broader strategy employed by “Big Tech” to maintain dominance and control over digital spaces.
Doctorow proposes a more assertive countermeasure: a re-evaluation of international intellectual property law, specifically the restrictions imposed by the United states on its trade partners prohibiting reverse engineering. He contends that allowing the deconstruction and modification of technologies – like the algorithms powering platforms such as Instagram and TikTok – could unlock the creation of healthier, more democratic alternatives. “Europa podría crear sus propias herramientas y exportarlas a consumidores de todo el mundo que deseen escapar de la ‘Big Tech’,” he suggests, envisioning a future where Europe leads in developing ethical and user-centric technologies.
The urgency of this shift, Doctorow stresses, is amplified by a shifting geopolitical landscape. He cites former President Trump’s explicitly competitive stance towards other nations, warning that the US could weaponize its tech companies to undermine countries that don’t align with its interests. “Trump ha dejado muy claro que todos los países del mundo son rivales y competidores de EEUU y que,si no hacen lo que él les dice,ordenará a las empresas tecnológicas que los destruyan.” this potential for economic coercion underscores the need for independent technological sovereignty and a proactive approach to regulating the power of global tech corporations.
