EU

Facebook fans flames with privacy policy tweaks

Privacy advocates in the U.S. and the European Union are on edge over changes Facebook is enacting in its language governing its terms of service.

Their upset comes as Facebook is proposing modifications to its Statement of Rights and Responsibilities (PDF) that, at least on the surface, seem fairly minor and don't indicate any radical shift in thinking or practice in terms of privacy.

Specifically, the revised document says that the "Privacy Policy" is now called "Data Use Policy," wording that was changed in the company's actual privacy guidelines more than a year … Read more

EU court: Social networks can't be forced to monitor users

The European Union's highest court says social networks cannot be forced to monitor users just to stop piracy.

The European Court of Justice ruled today that forcing social networks to install monitoring systems just to see if people are illegally downloading copyrighted material creates a "complicated" and "costly" burden on the sites for little or no upside. The court was also concerned about the privacy of user data.

The court made a similar ruling in November, protecting the rights of Internet dervice providers, who argued that they shouldn't be forced to filter Web content … Read more

U.K. signs anti-counterfeiting treaty as digital activists protest

The U.K. and 21 other European Union member states have signed the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement, better known as ACTA.

The countries signed the treaty, which aims to harmonize copyright enforcement across much of the world, in Tokyo today. However, the signatures of the EU member states and the EU itself will count for nothing unless the European Parliament gives its approval to ACTA in June, and digital activists have urged citizens to lobby their members of the European Parliament against voting yes.

Poland, which was one of the signatories, saw thousands demonstrate in the streets yesterday, protesting against the … Read more

EU overhauling data-privacy policies to protect consumers

Privacy advocates are one step closer to winning a big one in the European Union.

The European Commission, the EU's executive arm, today unveiled a set of proposals aimed at improving the privacy of personal data, like e-mails, Facebook posts, and Web activities, across the European Union's 27 countries. The EC, which claims 70 percent of Europeans are concerned that their private data is being misused, says the time has come for the continent to overhaul the 1995 data protection rules that currently govern privacy across the zone.

"Seventeen years ago, less than 1 percent of Europeans … Read more

New EU data protection rules due this week

Companies will be required to disclose security breaches within 24 hours of their occurrence under European Union proposals being made this week to strengthen data protection rules.

New rules are needed to protect consumers and reduce bureaucracy, EU Justice Commissioner Viviane Reding said in a speech at a conference today in Munich.

"Companies that suffer a data leak must inform the data protection authorities and the individuals concerned, and they must do so without undue delay," Bloomberg quoted Reding as saying at the DLD conference. "European data protection rules will become a trademark people recognize and trust … Read more

EU sets February deadline to decide Google's bid for Motorola

European regulators said Thursday that they have set a new deadline of February 13 to decide the fate of Google's acquisition of Motorola Mobility, Reuters reported.

Regulators for the European Union originally said they'd make a decision on the merger by January 10. But in December, the EU Commission delayed the deadline stating that it wanted to review additional documents that Google had submitted to support its case.

Google announced its plans to buy Motorola in August for $12.5 billion. Google, which makes the mobile operating system, Android, said it plans to run Motorola as a separate … Read more

Verizon adds twin 'global-ready' jetpacks to its 4G LTE hot-spot portfolio

LAS VEGAS--I wish I had one of these while covering this show.

Verizon announced today at CES 2012 not one, but two, new 4G mobile hot spots: the Jetpack EuFi890 and the Jetpack MiFi 4620L. The carrier said both offer 4G cellular speed up to 12Mbps down and 5Mbps up, and are global-ready, which allows customers to use wireless data services in more than 205 countries (more than 125 with 3G speeds).

Other than that, the common features of the two also include:

Supports up to 10 Wi-Fi-enabled devices Supports virtually all Wi-Fi clients regardless of their platform.Backward-compatible with … Read more

Telefonica criticizes latest EU roaming proposals

It would be counter-productive to make voice, text, and data roaming too cheap, Telefonica has argued in response to strict new proposals by a member of the European Parliament.

Excessively low retail caps would make it too unprofitable for new investors to enter the European mobile market, and stymie the Commission's goal of increasing competition, Telefonica regulatory chief Robert Mourik told a European Parliament debate on Tuesday.

"Don't prescribe a structural solution if you don't think it will work in the first place," Mourik said, referring to less stringent proposals put forward by the European Commission. &… Read more

HP recruiting EU in its Itanium fight against Oracle

Hewlett-Packard is calling in reinforcements from Europe to help it in its latest battle against Oracle.

The PC maker has asked European Union antitrust officials to investigate whether Oracle acted improperly by ending support for Intel's Itanium microprocessor, according to Reuters.

In June, HP launched a lawsuit against Oracle, alleging that the database giant's decision to stop making software for Itanium was simply an attempt to drive business away from HP and toward Oracle. Oracle had announced in March that it would no longer develop software for the chip. But HP has been heavily invested in using Itanium … Read more

EC opens Samsung patent investigation

European regulators have begun scrutinizing whether Samsung was fair in matters concerning the overlap of standards and patents, the latest development in a global legal battle with Apple over smartphone technology.

Lawsuit watcher Florian Mueller of FOSS Patents spotted the move in an Apple court filing. The Apple filing said, "Samsung's litigation campaign and other conduct related to its declared-essential patents is so egregious that the European Commission recently has opened an investigation to determine whether Samsung's behavior violates EU competition laws."

And the EC confirmed the move in a statement to CNET: "The Commission … Read more