yeah i get what you mean, its been something ive been thinking about. the title itself is already deliberate, because the legal problem already exists: while it is uncertain what the Russmedia ruling does for federation and social platforms regarding GDPR, that uncertainty itself already does pose a major problem.

in the article itself i have an entire section on the uncertainty, and what might limit Russmedia’s reach. A lot actually hinges on what the outcome of the Kunast case will be.

thats why i published it now, and with this title. Because right now federation does have a legal problem, with the problem being the uncertainty itself. After Kunast there might either be a much bigger problem (Russmedia confirmed to generalise to social platforms) or a much smaller problem

yes this. The current problem right now is that it is very unclear what the status of federation for GDPR compliance is, this ruling strongly suggests that it is not compliant. But this is a single ruling, that technically only right now affects a single Romanian marketplace. So a lot depends on how other courts will respond to this ruling, which parts they pick up on, and if this type of argument will become more broadly used beyond this single Romanian site. But that the german courts specifically paused a major cause about Meta to wait for this ruling, and that they have said that they will read it broadly, and that a prominent German legal scholar predicts that they this ruling will apply straightforwardly to Meta, are not encouraging signs. But yeah, thats future predictions, and that is still highly uncertain.

thanks! all the cover photos are made by my dad, and i usually pick the ones i like, often nature or buildings. I had this one lying around for a long while that i never used, because as you say, it does look disgusting and creepy, and that described my feelings pretty well with the topic of the article