Tag archive: eu

The European Commission has outlined a proposal for reforming data protection laws in the European Union, touting the move as a way to both protect consumers' and individuals' privacy as well as save businesses billions every year by reducing the overhead needed to comply with current regulations. As outlined by EU Justice Commissioner Viviane Reding, the proposed laws would make data protection requirements uniform across the… Read More

A new study put out about internet usage in the European Union points to a large increase in access and broadband connection in households since 2006. However, almost a quarter of EU citizens still haven't ever used the internet. The data was published by the European Eunion's statistical office, Eurostat. The study concerns individuals aged 16-74, and usage during the first quarter of 2011. It can be surreal to imagine for some of… Read More

Hot on the heels of the European Commission launching a formal inquiry into whether five publishers colluded to raise prices on ebooks—possibly with the assistance of Apple—the U.S. Justice Department has confirmed that it is also looking into the ebook industry, as are states attorneys general. Speaking at a House Judiciary Committee hearing on oversight of antitrust enforcement agencies, the Justice Department's acting antitrust chief… Read More

The European Union announced this week that it will ban the use of X-ray body scanners in airports across the EU due to “health and safety” concerns. The same security scanners, which are used to find firearms and explosives hidden on passengers' bodies, will still be used at airports in the US. A ProPublica/PBS NewsHour report from earlier this month exposed the health risks associated with the use of these types of security… Read More

The fur has been flying thick as Apple and Samsung argue over patents and prior art before a court in the Hague, but Apple scored another victory today as the court granted a temporary injunction barring the imports of Samsung's Galaxy S, SII, and Ace smartphones for violating an Apple photo management patent. If the injunction stands, the ban will go into effect on October 15, and would effectively bar the smartphones from the European… Read More

A German court has partially lifted the preliminary injunction against Samsung that prevented the South Korea-based company from legally distributing its Galaxy Tab 10.1 throughout all European Union countries, except Germany. The ban on the Galaxy Tab was first put in place earlier this month after Apple filed an lawsuit against Samsung. The move was part of the ongoing battle between the two companies over whether Samsung unlawfully copied… Read More

A German court has barred Samsung from selling its Galaxy Tab 10.1 device in all European countries except the Netherlands. A separate lawsuit is underway there. A Reuters report said that a district court in Dusseldorf granted the preliminary injunction on Tuesday. The ruling, which agrees with Apple’s claim that Samsung has replicated elements of the iPad’s design, will come as a bitter blow to the Korean company. It comes just over a week… Read More

Facebook raised some eyebrows when it took its facial recognition and tagging feature global earlier this year, automatically scanning images uploaded to Facebook and tagging them with users' presumed identities unless users specifically navigate through the site's myriad private settings and opt out. Now, German says that's not good enough: Hamburg's data protection authority Johannes Caspar has issued a warning to… Read More

Earlier this month, social networking giant Facebook announced plans to extend automatic facial recognition to international markets, re-igniting concerns about how the company utilizes personal information and (now) biometric data to identify users and associate them with groups, individuals, activities, and interests—information that's a goldmine to advertisers, but also a potential nightmare should it be abused or fall into the… Read More

Speaking at the World Copyright Summit, European Commission Vice President and Commissioner for the Digital Agenda Neelie Kreos said that Europe's strict copyright laws are inhibiting the development of Netflix-like services on the continent—and, as a result, Europe is falling behind the United States and other nations in terms of providing digital content to consumers. “While US companies compete to provide attractive… Read More

A new report (PDF) from the EU Kids Online at the London School of Economics finds that age restrictions designed to keep young children off social networking sites are not particularly effective. The survey polled some 25,000 young people across Europe and found that, on average, 38 percent of respondents aged 9 through 12 use social networking sites, and one in five has a profile on Facebook. In some countries, the proportions are higher:… Read More

Once the anticompetitive super-villain of the technology industry, Microsoft now finds itself on the other side of the battle after the company filed an antitrust lawsuit against Google on Thursday that accuses the search giant of taking measures to push out Microsoft and other competitors in the European market. Microsoft first announced its plans to file the suit with the European Commission on Wednesday in a blog post by Microsoft senior vice… Read More

On May 25, a new European Union law will require all websites to get the “explicit consent” of viewers any time information is stored on their computers using text files called “cookies,” which are often used to track web usage, and deliver relevant advertising, reports the BBC. The law is designed to inform web users that they are being tracked, and to give them more control over who can or cannot access their browsing… Read More

First Street View and now this. Europe does not want to leave Google alone. European Union antitrust regulators are investigating the search company on complaints that it has abused its dominant position by giving its own services preferential placement in search results, demoting competing websites and services, and stopping some websites from accepting rival ads. Microsoft's Ciao service from Bing, French legal search engine… Read More

In these days when it seems people live their entire lives in full view of the global Internet via services like Facebook and Twitter, the European Union is working on a framework to strengthen protections for personal data—including a “right to be forgotten,” meaning that individuals' data should be removed when no longer needed and that individual would have a right to demand their data be deleted. “The… Read More