09/08/2021 8:01 AM
Clarín.com
Technology
Updated 09/08/2021 8:01 AM
The industry behind smartphones sees their business model in Europe threatened.
Germany promotes a law with which it seeks that Google, Apple and Cía.
offer at least 7 years of updates and the possibility of obtaining spare parts more quickly
to extend the useful life of the equipment.
As revealed by the German media Heise Online, the Federal Government of Germany is putting pressure on the European Commission to force mobile manufacturers to
extend the maintenance of cell phones in the old continent
.
Manufacturers, meanwhile, have agreed to oppose the measure.
Currently, the most common thing in the world of smartphones, at least with regard to those with Android, is that it
offers between two and three years of security updates
and that Google, the system manager, offers at least two great versions of Android.
At Apple, on the other hand, the deadlines are different.
However, these terms grew over time for certain manufacturers and for their higher-end phones.
For example, the Chinese technology
OnePlus
is characterized by ensuring security updates for four years, or the five years that
Samsung
promises for some of its devices.
Germany stands up to the cell phone industry
Chancellor
Angela Merkel's administration
took the lead in demanding that tech giants increase long-term support for their devices and is trying, before the European Commission, to have both Android phones and iPhones
extend it. up to no less than 7 years
.
This movement would in turn serve to
support the Commission itself
, since the old continent is trying on its own to increase the maintenance period to 5 years.
Huawei, Samsung, Apple and more tech companies reject the German proposal.
Photo: AP.
The DigitalEuope association, which represents industry figures such as
Samsung, Huawei or Apple
, took a position against the German proposal.
This conglomerate
proposes that the current standard remains unchanged
and that manufacturers have an obligation only to provide two years of updates for the operating system and three years for security.
On the other hand, Germany's proposal on the European Commission also focuses on
cell phone repair times
.
Android 11, the latest version of Google's operating system.
The German Federal Government estimates that
five days for the supply of spare parts
is more than enough and wants to force manufacturers to ensure these deadlines to "increase the reliability and repairability of the devices," said a German source.
Snowden issued a warning about iPhones
The former analyst of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and the National Security Agency (NSA) of the United States
Edward Snowden
, recently warned about the
bad precedent
that can be set by the new tool that Apple develops to
track illegal content on iPhones
.
"There is a big difference between what the company Apple does now, which aims to track our iPhones, and what was done before," Snowden, a refugee in Russia since 2013, told the school forum "New Knowledge."
Edward Snowden, the CIA "mole" who has lived as a refugee in Russia since 2013. (AP)
The intention of the American computer giant to
Searching for
material related to child abuse
in the data stored by users in its services has raised concern these days among experts, who fear the violation of the privacy of Apple customers.
Snowden recalled that many large technology companies previously carried out these activities, which were limited, however, to clouds and data storage servers.
"Now the Apple company is developing something completely new, something that we have not seen before," he explained, while insisting that
The Californian company seeks to track "everyone's phone"
before the information on the device even reaches its servers.
So if they find "child pornography, they will mark it as illegal," but then "there will be new categories" of traceable content.
"Apple is crossing a line, between what everyone has on their phone and what is stored on their servers," Snowden said.
Apple plans to track illegal content on iPhones, a feature that would set a negative precedent for Edward Snowden.
Photo: EFE.
At the same time, he stressed that once Apple creates a precedent, the rest will no longer depend solely on that company.
"That will not depend on Apple, it will depend on the governments (...) Can you say no to the US, Russia, China, Germany, France or the United Kingdom? Of course, no. If they want to continue selling their products in those countries, "he concluded.
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