WASHINGTON, DC – DECEMBER 20: Rep. Kat Cammak (R-FL) (L) talks to reporters as she heads for a House Republican caucus meeting in the basement of the U.S. Capitol on December 20, 2024 in Washington, DC. Following the two-hour meeting, Speaker of the House Mike Johnson announced an agreement on a continuing budget resolution, saying, “We will not have a government shutdown.” (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
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While Republicans used to champion individual achievement over race, gender or country origin, some in the Party are taking a European turn whereby “success” is decreed by lawmakers. For evidence, see GOP Rep. Kathryn “Kat” Cammack’s App Store Freedom Act. If readers feel transported to Europe and the EU’s Digital Markets Act (DMA), they’re on track.
The ill-conceived DMA demands that the U.S.’s world-leading technology firms allow interoperability for European businesses eager to free ride on American achievement, and Cammack’s bill does much the same. While technology giants with names like Apple and Google achieved their domestic and global stature the hard way (think merit), Cammack wants to legislate a way for unvetted third-party apps and payment systems in the U.S. to piggy back on the painstakingly won success of both.
Thought of in a big box retail store sense, there’s not a food, technology, or clothing company on earth that wouldn’t give anything (including razor-thin margins) to be offered space on Costco’s shelves. Placement there ensures national and international exposure to consumers with a clear intent to buy as evidenced by their arrival at Costco. Except that the Issaquah, WA-based retailer is widely revered precisely because it’s so choosy, expert, and quantitative about the products that it features on its shelves.
What’s true about Costo is true about Apple, Google, and any other technology company with existing or wished-for desires of the mass appeal variety. Absent an ability to substantially vet and curate apps and other would-be service providers on their platforms, the best of the best U.S. technology companies would no longer be that. The latter would reveal itself not just to the detriment of the companies that Cammack’s legislation aims to coerce, but of much greater detriment to the users of Google and Apple products, along with the app and payments businesses that made their way into the products of both through actual merit.
Considering Apple and Google customers, it’s easy to forget that they rely on both to look out for them, and to ensure that those they interact with are trusted in a product, safety and privacy sense. Think Costco, or some other big box retailer once again. The number of businesses that want to place their products on Costco’s shelves well exceeds those fortunate enough to be chosen for just that. It’s all about customers who are precious, and hard won. Which means that Google and Apple must be very careful as a protective measure for their users.
From there, contemplate the proliferation of online scams and stolen identities through the very same internet that, while transformative, has enabled new ways for the criminal element to relieve individuals of money, and much more. For that alone, Cammack’s legislation is not just dangerous, but also irresponsible.
As for the apps and payment systems that have passed Apple and Google’s laudable stringencies, Cammack’s legislation is similarly dangerous, and by extension, irresponsible. Not only would the meritorious have to share precious shelf space with all comers in Cammack’s “Doo Dah Parade” (look it up) style legislation, they would also have to suffer reduced customer trust in both Google and Apple rooted in increased scams, hacking, and fraud associated with free-for-all over substantial curation of the Tournament of Roses variety.
Cammack’s legislation is about lots of things, none of them merit or freedom. In truth, the App Store Freedom Bill is about the taking of freedom through the elevation of those who want things not because they’re good, but because they’re not.