MacVoices #26003: Live! - Drone Bans, An Italian Fine, and Retaliation

The MacVoices Live! panel discusses reports of U.S. restrictions affecting foreign-made drones and the impact on DJI users, an Italian fine against Apple tied to app tracking prompts and privacy expectations, and talk of possible U.S. retaliation over EU tech enforcement. Along the way, the group vents Festivus-style grievances and debates privacy, evidence, and motive. Participants include Chuck Joiner, David Ginsburg, Brian Flanigan-Arthurs, Eric Bolden, Marty Jencius, Mark Fuccio, Web Bixby, and Jim Rea.

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Show Notes:

Chapters:

00:00 Opening: drones, Italian fine, retaliation
00:50 Festive panel intros and holiday banter
07:12 Drone news: U.S. restrictions and DJI concerns
10:44 FCC approvals vs existing drones; supply/import issues discussed
20:40 Italy fines Apple over app privacy/tracking prompts
23:05 Interpreting the case: reporting gaps and EU regulatory culture
28:41 U.S. retaliation threats over EU DMA/DSA enforcement
35:07 Chat room question: privacy preferences and tracking tolerance
36:35 Wrap-up and credits

Links:

US bans new foreign drone models in a blow to Chinese giant DJI
https://www.cnn.com/2025/12/23/business/us-ban-foreign-drones-dji-intl-hnk

Apple fined $116 million over app privacy prompts
https://www.theverge.com/news/849528/apple-italy-antitrust-fine-att-app-privacy

Economic forecast for Italy
https://economy-finance.ec.europa.eu/economic-surveillance-eu-member-states/country-pages/italy/economic-forecast-italy_en

Trump Administration Threatens Retaliation Over EU's DMA and DSA Enforcement Against U.S. Tech
https://www.macrumors.com/2025/12/16/trump-admin-eu-dma-retaliation/

Guests:

Web Bixby has been in the insurance business for 40 years and has been an Apple user for longer than that.You can catch up with him on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn, but prefers Bluesky.

Brian Flanigan-Arthurs is an educator with a passion for providing results-driven, innovative learning strategies for all students, but particularly those who are at-risk. He is also a tech enthusiast who has a particular affinity for Apple since he first used the Apple IIGS as a student. You can contact Brian on twitter as @brian8944. He also recently opened a Mastodon account at @brian8944@mastodon.cloud.

Mark Fuccio is actively involved in high tech startup companies, both as a principle at piqsure.com, or as a marketing advisor through his consulting practice Tactics Sells High Tech, Inc. Mark was a proud investor in Microsoft from the mid-1990's selling in mid 2000, and hopes one day that MSFT will be again an attractive investment. You can contact Mark through Twitter, LinkedIn, or on Mastodon.

David Ginsburg is the host of the weekly podcast In Touch With iOS where he discusses all things iOS, iPhone, iPad, Apple TV, Apple Watch, and related technologies. He is an IT professional supporting Mac, iOS and Windows users. Visit his YouTube channel at https://youtube.com/daveg65 and find and follow him on Twitter @daveg65 and on Mastodon at @daveg65@mastodon.cloud.

Dr. Marty Jencius has been an Associate Professor of Counseling at Kent State University since 2000. He has over 120 publications in books, chapters, journal articles, and others, along with 200 podcasts related to counseling, counselor education, and faculty life. His technology interest led him to develop the counseling profession 'firsts,' including listservs, a web-based peer-reviewed journal, The Journal of Technology in Counseling, teaching and conferencing in virtual worlds as the founder of Counselor Education in Second Life, and podcast founder/producer of CounselorAudioSource.net and ThePodTalk.net. Currently, he produces a podcast about counseling and life questions, the Circular Firing Squad, and digital video interviews with legacies capturing the history of the counseling field. This is also co-host of The Vision ProFiles podcast. Generally, Marty is chasing the newest tech trends, which explains his interest in A.I. for teaching, research, and productivity. Marty is an active presenter and past president of the NorthEast Ohio Apple Corp (NEOAC).

Jim Rea built his own computer from scratch in 1975, started programming in 1977, and has been an independent Mac developer continuously since 1984. He is the founder of ProVUE Development, and the author of Panorama X, ProVUE's ultra fast RAM based database software for the macOS platform. He's been a speaker at MacTech, MacWorld Expo and other industry conferences. Follow Jim at provue.com and via @provuejim@techhub.social on Mastodon.

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Connect:

Web:
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Twitter:
http://www.twitter.com/chuckjoiner
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Mastodon:
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