Tired of seeing that your data is “trapped” in iCloud? The European Commission is working on a piece of legislation that could force Apple to facilitate the switch from iCloud to a competing cloud storage service.
Switch without any particular constraint from iCloud to Google Drive, OneDrive or other cloud storage services competing with that of Apple. In any case, this is what the European Commission would like to allow. Accustomed to attacking GAFAM in the name of free competition and consumer rights, the European body is working on a text of law which could, if it were to be adopted, force Apple to show more flexibility. with respect to the data stored by its users on iCloud.
A newer bill…
This bill is none other than the “Data Act” proposed by the European Commission in 2022. Still in the making, this text is only now being talked about again, but is based on an agreement reached after 7 hours of negotiations, underlines Wccftechwhich also recalls that it follows EU concerns related to Edward Snowden’s revelations about data transfers and mass surveillance in 2013.
Broadly speaking, the idea here is to give businesses and individuals more control over their data and how they want to transfer it between different platforms, if they don’t want to limit it to iCloud only, for example. At the same time, this bill also includes measures aimed this time at preventing the illegal transfer of data by cloud companies, while seeking to better develop interoperability between the various cloud services, we read.
The EU still in touch with GAFAM
Still, this “Data Act” is causing some teeth to cringe, particularly on the side of the lobbying group The Information Technology Industry Council, which denounces a “ ambiguous approach to data sharing “. The group believes in particular that this text could, if it were to be adopted, hamper the protection of trade secrets since it would then become possible to juggle between several cloud services much more easily.
As a reminder, this is not the first time that the European Commission thinks big when it comes to shaking up GAFAM and their practices. Recently, for example, it forced the systematic adoption of USB-C chargers for small electronic devices (forcing Apple to review the design of several of its products, including its future iPhone 15). In the same way, the EU also wants to impose the use of easily replaceable batteries in our smartphones. Two projects aiming, in particular, to reduce the quantity of electronic waste produced in Europe.
Source : Wccftech
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