The law does require them to review each file before release, and redact identifying information about any of the victims (and only the victims)
It also specifies that reputational damage is not a valid reason for redacting information
Somehow I suspect the Trump admin is using a very broad definition of “victim” though
Afaik Solvinity, the company that takes care of he infrastructure behind DigiD and MijnOverheid, is on the verge of being bought by the US company Kyndryl. But it hasn’t been sold yet.
Hypothetically the government could still stop it on the grounds of national interest. Though you can see how well that went with Nexperia…
With the government being “demissionair” however, idk if they will.
It would certainly draw the attention of America is we did.
Because people expect their app to be on the app store, and the app store is still available?
Sideloading is more of a pain for the average user compared to just downloading it from the app store, and as long as it isn’t necessary there is not much reason for banks to accomodate it. However, that doesn’t mean that once it becomes a necessity, it’s impossible to set up methods involving sideloading to get around restrictions from Google.
Edit: As an example, the Chinese have Android phones, but the Google Play Store is not available in China. They have different app stores to “sideload” applications onto their phones. In theory they could also install APKs, if that is how apps would be provided to them.
Sideloading is simply a matter of installing an APK file onto your phone. Where that APK file comes from does not matter.
If Google bans the banking apps I cannot imagine that the banks will just accept and tolerate that without a fight. They would be the ones likely distributing their own app
“Go to Rabobank.nl, and download our Rabobank app”
That depends entirely on how Wero works (with which I have no experience yet because I do not have access to Wero until my bank rolls it out next year) for in-store payments
If Wero works by simply scanning a QR code, and not through NFC (Apple or Google Pay), there is no dependency. It’s just data being transferred through a visual code, with which you can independently communicate with your bank’s servers.
That is how it used to work with iDeal for online purchases anyway… So I don’t see why you cannot use the same method for in-store payments.
Edit: I think I misunderstood what you were referring to. You are referring to the apps being installed on phones running Android or iOS. Not using Google Pay or Apple Pay to verify the payments.
That is a different problem that probably needs to be tackled separately. There are de-Googled versions of Android that could hypothetically gain traction, but even if that happens it would take years for people to swap out their phones as they become old.
Sideloading is also a way in which you could hypothetically get existing phones back up and running after apps get removed (for Android anyway, not so much for iOS)
The Dutch tax agency did the same, mostly because there are supposedly no sufficiently capable European alternatives.
(Worth specifying that it’s specifically about the Office 365 suite, and not the software for handling tax returns)
With 27 member states and only 6 bank notes, you cannot represent every country no matter how many culturally significant people each country has. It forces you to pick at most six, and the rest is simply not represented. That is why the original notes represented the general idea of architectural styles and not specific real-world examples of those architectural styles.
The proposal for landscapes, rivers and birds seems like a much better one, in my opinion.
I’m not sure if I like the idea of putting the faces of specific people on the banknotes. Wasn’t the whole reason of the fake architectural styles and bridges on the notes, to not give preferential treatment to any one country?
Now they are proposing specific people from specific countries:
So what about representation for the other countries?
I’m getting some strong AI generated vibes from this image.
One of the hooves is a different colour, and seemingly random letters are rainbow-coloured
Clearly there is places where pump theft is not that common or tackled in some other way, because there are countries where post-pay is still the default.
I do know that at some post-pay pumps the cashier has the ability to lock and unlock the pumps from inside
Unmanned stations have existed for quite some time here, they are just not the only way to fuel up.
Manned stations are still very common, if not the default, and if a station is manned it is usually not prepaid.
In the Netherlands it’s a mix of both these days.
During the daytime you pump, and then walk inside to pay afterwards. At night, when the building itself is closed, you pay using the terminal and only then are you allowed to start fueling up
There is also unmanned stations without a shop. They are pre-paid all day by default.
Having cycled in that pedestrian zone several months ago when I was in Brussels, I can certainly see why they would want to ban cycling in the area.
I got the impression that it was too busy with pedestrians to meaningfully cycle there. It would be better if cyclists dismount and walk if they need to be there, and otherwise cycle around the area.
The alternative suggestion in the article to clearly mark a bike lane with paint, would only work if the pedestrians also honour the paint by not walking in the bikelane. Somehow I doubt that that will happen.
Sometimes cycling and walking are incompatible, especially if there is large masses of people. If you can’t have both keeping the space as pedestrian-only seems like the preferable outcome.
Missouri filed a lawsuit against China for hoarding personal protective equipment in the early months of the pandemic
Didn’t the exact opposite happen? A bunch of countries, including mine, did not have sufficient stockpiles of PPE such as facemasks and China sent them some of their stock in the early pandemic
I may or may not be misremembering things
From top left to bottom right, horizontal first:
The only ones that are a bit ambiguous are the Password Manager and the VPN logos imo
Car companies (According to the article Volkswagen AG (Volkswagen, Audi, Porsche), Stellantis (Peugeot, Citroën, Fiat, Opel), BMW, Renault) want to keep selling petrol vehicles, because they have a smaller profit margin on EVs than they do on petrol vehicles.
The smaller profit margins also spook legislators in certain countries (particularly those with a large car manufacturing industry) because the car companies employ a lot of people there. Lawmakers from countries like Germany and Italy (Volkswagen, Audi, Porsche, BMW, Opel, Fiat, etc) were never fully on board with the 2035 combustion engine ban, and they are now trying to push the EU to reconsider it.
France and Spain (Peugeot, Citroën, Renault, Seat, etc.) are in favour of the combustion engine ban staying in place, but they would like to see some flexibility on the specifics.
Meanwhile critics argue that scrapping, delaying, or watering down the combusion engine ban means that European car industry will have less of a drive to innovate on EVs, which in turn would cause the gap between them and the Chinese car industry to widen.
EVs are the future and we need to be competitive on that front.
Edit: It’s all a bit disappointing, because many of these car companies do actually have very compelling and competitive EVs on the market at the moment. It’d be a shame to not keep that momentum going.
Yeah there is some slight variation between countries. I took the German price listed on EV Database
We are talking about new cars here. This is just what new cars cost. The alternative would be going second hand.
I would argue €25k for an EV is very affordable when compared to an equivalent €20k petrol car, because you make up for the difference by saving on the cost of petrol. Assuming you drive a modest 15.000 km per year, and you can only charge at public chargers (which is not the most cost effective way of charging an EV) you still save a small 600 euros per year in petrol costs.
If you want cheap and new, there is always the Citroen Ami too. That car may be speed limited, but it only costs €8.5k
Edit: Added a quick cost comparison between petrol and electric. Assumed prices:
The censoring is most likely about the Digital Services Act, which among other things requires social media platforms to adequately moderate their platform. America has called that “censorship” multiple times over the past year
According to Trump and co, Europe does not have the right to regulate American tech companies, even within Europe.