After it emerged that the U.S. National Security Agency is apparently tapping into the Google and Facebook communications of people around the world, EU data protection officials and activists have started asking questions. Read more »
The Financial Times says it has seen a questionnaire the European Commission is sending to carriers, asking them to clarify Apple’s channel terms. Authorities are also said to be looking into 4G restrictions on the iPhone 5. Read more »
A new industrial strategy for the continent aims to unlock €100 billion in private-sector funding through the use of targeted public-sector funding for R&D in the fields of nanoelectronics and microelectronics. Read more »
The European Commission-funded project wants data center designers and operators to test prototypes of tools that should, from 2014, make it easier to build data centers that are as energy-efficient as possible. Read more »
Many long-standing legal rules of engagement between publishers and consumers tilted the playing field in unexpected ways in the first quarter. The period also saw a major expansion in the amount and quality of original productions for web-based video platforms and a major move by chipmaker Intel to stake a claim in the digital living room. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Not satisfied with targeting Google over its search practices, Microsoft and its allies have complained to EU competition authorities over the way Google services are bundled with Android. Read more »
The European Union approved the merger of Random House and Penguin without conditions on Friday, saying it doesn’t pose a threat to competition. The U.S. approved the merger in February. Read more at paidContent »
Europe needs to do more to reduce wasteful energy consumption, and its policy makers are looking at how to green its data centers to help them achieve a 2020 energy efficiency goal. Read more »
Penguin, which is merging with Random House, has settled with the Department of Justice in the ebook pricing lawsuit, which alleges that Apple and publishers conspired to set ebook prices. Penguin had planned to fight the case in court, but the pending merger has changed that. Read more at paidContent »
The European Commission has green-lit a vast chunk of UK state aid for a rural deployment of superfast connectivity. Most of it will probably go to one company – BT – but at least the countryside is finally set to get decent broadband. Read more »
A report by Europe’s cybersecurity agency points out several flaws with the proposed ‘right to be forgotten’. A big one has to do with the challenges presented by the increasing use of aggregated data. Read more »
It’s one thing to try crowdsourced legislation in relatively small, cohesive societies such as those in Finland and Iceland, but a whole different ballgame when you try it on a population of half a billion people. Read more »
EU competition commissioner Joaquin Almunia has indicated that formal antitrust proceedings are almost certain in the case of Microsoft, and pretty likely with Google too. In both cases, fines could run into the billions. Read more »
The EC’s long-anticipated plan to push cloud computing region-wide is out. It pledges — generally — to pursue a single set of data protection laws across the region but it will likely be very slow going to get all the parties on board. Read more »
Bad economy aside, European government agencies and private businesses will be strongly encouraged to beef up their cloud infrastructure in a forthcoming report by the EC-sanctioned European Cloud Partnership. A leaked report said companies/agencies should invest €45 billion in cloud computing by 2020. Read more »
Last December, the European Commission began investigating Apple and five book publishers for allegedly conspiring to set ebook prices. Now the EC, Apple and four of the publishers have reached a preliminary agreement that largely mirrors the terms of the ebook settlement in the U.S. Read more at paidContent »
Moves to allow the digitization of ‘orphan works’ and free up the metadata around 20 million cultural objects will benefit the public and could inspire a new wave of apps and web services. But the underlying motivation is fundamentally political. Read more »
A long-running dance between the European Commission and Google over antitrust allegations is finally coming to an end amidst reports that the two sides have reached an “understanding.” Read more »
Facing a fresh investigation from EU regulators over its failure to promote a choice of browsers to Windows 7 users, Microsoft has swiftly blamed a ‘technical error’. But will that be enough to save it from a gigantic fine? Read more »
The European Commission proposed a law on Wednesday to pave the way for easier digital distribution. Prominent musicians, however, immediately slammed the proposal, saying it fails to fix problems of inefficiency and embezzlement. Read more at paidContent »
When is a book not a book? When it comes to European tax law. The continent is acting against two countries that reduced e-book tax to physical rates, in a sorry and technocratic action. Read more at paidContent »
Reports that Eric Schmidt has offered to settle an antitrust investigation by the European Commission are everywhere. But the reality is that the details of Google’s proposals — and the regulator’s response — remain shrouded in mystery. Read more »
Microsoft’s lost its attempt to get an €899m European antitrust fine overturned — an apparent victory for local regulators. But the reality is that while this fine might be vast by European standards, it’s barely a scratch on the surface for Redmond. Read more »
Google has filed an antitrust complaint with the European Commission against Microsoft and Nokia and is also tattling on the companies with U.S. regulators, accusing them patent-troll-like behavior. The good thing about filing a complaint with the EC is Google doesn’t have to do the legwork. Read more »
Whether they’re outraged, scrabbling in terror, or simply hoping it goes away, it’s the privacy rule that European startups can’t ignore. But what exactly is the European cookie directive? As the rules come into force in the U.K., we take a look at the details. Read more »
With Google and European officials clashing again, this time over the company’s new, simplified privacy policy, is it simply a one-off moment of friction — or part of an inevitable slide towards all-out conflict? Read more »
Apple has failed to secure a preliminary injunction against the Galaxy Tab 10.1N tablet and Galaxy Nexus smartphone in Germany, thanks to a ruling by the Munich Regional Court Wednesday. That should help take the sting out of the appeal it lost on Tuesday. Read more »
Apple won a small victory in Germany on Tuesday as the Düsseldorf Higher Regional Court upheld its injunction against Samsung’s Galaxy Tab 10.1. In the meantime, the European Union is putting Samsung’s recent patent claims under a regulatory microscope with a full-scale investigation. Read more »
Apple will be able to continue selling the iPhone 4S in France unimpeded, according to a court decision on Thursday. The Tribunal de Grande Instance de Paris has denied a request by Samsung to secure a preliminary injunction against the sale of the 4S. Read more »
European antitrust regulators have announced the launch of a formal investigation into the relationship between Apple and five of the world’s largest publishers, in a move that could reshape the digital book market. Read more »
Reports this weekend suggest that Facebook is about to face a new crackdown from European authorities over the way it collects data on users — but closer inspection suggests that it is just the latest episode in an ongoing struggle between EU officials and technology companies. Read more »
A move made recently by Samsung to counter Apple’s ongoing legal assault on its allegedly patent-infringing products could come back to bite the Korean electronics manufacturer. The European Commission is looking into whether or not Samsung’s claims might constitute an an abuse of FRAND patents. Read more »
Europe’s long-awaited position on net neutrality is finally here — and it looks like business as usual, with telecom companies retaining the right to block or throttle traffic in return for making the life of consumers a little bit easier. Read more »
Nine months after reports first surfaced that the European Commission was investigating Google over its search tactics, the commission is now confirming it’s indeed opening up a formal antitrust investigation looking at how Google uses its dominant position in the online search market. Read more »
AnyClip CEO Aaron Cohen has left the company and has been replaced by former Fandango CEO Art Levitt. The move comes as AnyClip has so far failed to line up the content partnerships it needs to make clips from films available through the service. Read more »
Just a few hours after Oracle’s $7.4 billion acquisition of Sun Microsystems was approved, Sun CEO Jonathan Schwartz sent out an internal memo to employees discussing the impact the change in control would have. Go Oracle! he told Sun employees. There’s more to the story, though. Read more »
The European Commission has finally officially approved Oracle’s proposed $7.4 billion acquisition of Sun Microsystems. Sun’s time in no-man’s-land saw it lose many customers and raised questions about key products and divisions that it has. The question now is, what has this cost the company? Read more »
The European Commission is dropping its long-standing antitrust case against Microsoft involving browsers after the company agreed to offer users easy alternative choices to Internet Explorer, even as its market share continues to dip. The announcement was delivered in Brussels by Europe’s competition commissioner, Neelie Kroes. Read more »
Recently, Simon reported on a couple of interesting studies looking at the use of collaboration technologies in the workplace, Forrester’s “The State Of Workforce Technology Adoption: US Benchmark 2009” and Frost & Sullivan’s “Meetings Around the World II: Charting the Course of Advanced Collaboration.” Both reports […] Read more »
Microsoft is closing in on sealing a far-reaching agreement with the European Commission that would end an antitrust battle that’s been simmering for more than 10 years. “We believe this is an answer,” European Union Competition Commissioner Neelie Kroes, who has taken a hard line with […] Read more »
