[peppermint_tea]

I disagree but only in part.

> I agree with you that having a service 100% free with 0 compromise is not possible, well, it is possible but someone is paying somewhere (see below)

> I disagree that the European union is throwing rules that makes no sense. Privacy should be the default, and if your business is not viable without tracking, perhaps it should not exist.

here is 2 examples of free services I am using daily :

signal : https://moneymodels.org/business-models/how-does-signal-make... (I donated)

mastodon : backed by https://sdf.org/ (I have not donated but wish to do so)

I believe that a more "socialist" approach is possible (pay if you can model so everyone can use the service regardless of their income) It will not scale to the size of facebook, but irc, mastodon and matrix.org already shows that federation works (not without pain).

The startup ecosystem based on advertising money may suffer, but I think this just lead to a better internet in the long run.