Key Points:
…after spending the last few months periodically poking around the trees inhabited by little birdies, I do have good news for fans of coercive government regulation,” Gruber says. “Apple’s hand was effectively forced. But by China, not the EU.”
“Coercive government regulation” lmao.
Gruber points to a new law in the works in China that will require that 5G devices support RCS in order to receive certification in the country.
Chinese carriers have been proponents of RCS for years, and last year, the Chinese government began the process of codifying into law that to achieve certification, new 5G devices will be required to support RCS. Shockingly, the Chinese government seemingly isn’t concerned that the RCS standard has no provisions for encryption. The little birdies I’ve spoken to all said the same thing: iOS support for RCS is all about China.
“Shockingly”.
Apple would prefer simply to continue ignoring RCS, on the grounds that they want to support neither any new non-E2EE protocols, nor any new carrier-controlled protocols (whether encrypted or not). But when the CCP says device makers must jump to sell their products in China, Apple asks “How high?”
The sheer Sinophobia omg.
One narrative in the months since Apple’s RCS announcement in November has been that the move was driven by the Digital Markets Act in the European Union. The DMA, however, makes no mention of RCS specifically – and now have official confirmation that iMessage is not big enough in the EU to fall under the purview of the DMA.
There goes EU, the saviour of digital rights.
Anyways, what an article.
Well that’s the inherent problem. It shouldn’t rely upon vendor implementation to add basic functionality - this should be part of the spec. The RCS ecosystem is fragmented before it’s even got off the ground because vendors will take the path of least effort to be compliant.
We’ve had over thirty years to get this right and this is the best they could do.
I mean, that's completely Apple's fault for refusing to work with other companies. Genuinely, the level of greed and disregard for the good of the consumer by Apple necessitates seizure of the company since they are so popular and important to national security.
Apple isn't doing this because they think it's right. They're doing it to maximize their market share, and their customer base will dwindle if they lose their air of superiority. If they could strap you to a chair and beat you until you give them your banking info, they would.
No I’m referring to the failure of the GSMA to define encryption as part of the RCS Universal Profile - nothing to do with Apple or Google, but the carriers themselves.
Apple is doing the bare minimum because they’re implementing what’s there to the letter - and what’s there has no provisions for encryption.
Just because regulation is necessary, it doesn't absolve Apple of intentionally being lazy removed. We don't absolve factory owners in the 1800s, or today even. It's disingenuous to claim that this isn't Apple's fault. Nothing stops them from using good business practices.
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