> The issue is that when people use iMessage and see a blue bubble, they also know something about how the encryption keys are handled & who does the handling, etc.
Realistically, the average person doesn't even know what an encryption key is and the average tech enthusiast doesn't know anything beyond "Apple handles everything".
> So presumably the blue bubbles have to go. This means that when chatting in Messages now, one will not be able to know whether it's Apple alone protecting the privacy of the conversation
Why can't iMessage to iMessage be blue bubbles with iMessage to anything else being green bubbles? Do you think the average iPhone user understands that green bubbles mean insecure rather than thinking they're "Android bubbles"?
Why are so many people convinced that consumer choice and security are mutually exclusive?
The new law removes that person's ability to even discern this much.
> Why can't iMessage to iMessage be blue bubbles with iMessage to anything else being green bubbles?
This would pretty clearly be Apple preferring its own service over other services, and is prohibited under the new law.
I should be clear here: I think this law is clumsy and will have to be fixed or loosely enforced. But even if one is in favor of these changes, it's fair to acknowledge the reality that the law basically mandates a major change in the security posture of a billion deployed devices. One may still be in favor, but it's important not to lose sight of the fact that there are in fact compromises being made.
> Why are so many people convinced that consumer choice and security are mutually exclusive?
I am 100% not convinced this is true; security and choice can coexist. But this EU law does not aim at the goal of preserving security while increasing consumer choice. Which is strange, given how a consequence of a prior EU Act was the pollution of the Web with cookie banners. (I am aware these banners are not specifically required for many use cases, which is why I said this is a consequence of their Act and not something ordered by their Act.)
> This would pretty clearly be Apple preferring its own service over other services, and is prohibited under the new law.
I don't agree. Green bubbles indicate that messages travelled 100% within Apple's ecosystem. Indicating interoperability with a 3rd party by using blue bubbles doesn't do anything to prevent those 3rd parties from having their own green bubbles within their own ecosystem.
> Indicating interoperability with a 3rd party by using blue bubbles doesn't do anything to prevent those 3rd parties from having their own green bubbles within their own ecosystem.
The entire point of the law is Apple/Google don't get to manage their own ecosystems anymore; EU regulators do that. One read of the intent of the Act is that platforms should not be able to preference their own services over those of third parties. My skim of the Act indicates that it would be in bounds for a regulator to decide that this means no blue/green message distinction, and a direct consequence of that is that anyone in a group chat could be using Facebook Messenger as a client and allowing Facebook to log all the messages.
Engineering decisions henceforth need to weigh what a specific regulator believes the law says, since the law is not very specific about many details. This is not good, especially coming from the people who caused the global cookie disclaimer deluge.
> This would pretty clearly be Apple preferring its own service over other services, and is prohibited under the new law.
Does it really, though? Is it something that that was explicitly brought up in the drafting of this law? Or is this a doomsday scenario that chooses to interpret the law in its most extreme form?
The legislation has been approved. Let us see how regulators actually enforce it. Until the EU bans green vs. blue bubbles, this is nothing more than FUD.
Realistically, the average person doesn't even know what an encryption key is and the average tech enthusiast doesn't know anything beyond "Apple handles everything".
> So presumably the blue bubbles have to go. This means that when chatting in Messages now, one will not be able to know whether it's Apple alone protecting the privacy of the conversation
Why can't iMessage to iMessage be blue bubbles with iMessage to anything else being green bubbles? Do you think the average iPhone user understands that green bubbles mean insecure rather than thinking they're "Android bubbles"?
Why are so many people convinced that consumer choice and security are mutually exclusive?