eu

It took Mozilla more than five years of concerted effort and a lucrative partnership with Google to dent Internet Explorer's dominance. But maybe it doesn't have to be so hard.

Courtesy of an antitrust case against Microsoft in the European Union, several small-fry browsers are getting a helping hand that could boost their efforts to attain relevance. At least as long as Europeans notice a particular scroll bar.

"The ballot represents an enormous opportunity for Maxthon," said Ron White, a spokesman for one of those relatively obscure browsers that will be brought to the attention of … Read more

The European Commission has pledged to make sure a global treaty known as the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement will not force countries to disconnect people for unlawfully downloading copyrighted music, movies, and other material.

The statement from the office of trade commissioner Karel de Gucht is the strongest comment on the treaty since the reorganized European Commission emerged in February.

"We are not supporting and will not accept that an eventual...agreement creates an obligation to disconnect people from the Internet because of illegal downloads," John Clancy, de Gucht's spokesman, told ZDNet UK on Thursday.

Read more of &… Read more

Google is in hot water in Europe once again over Street View map photos.

In a letter sent to the search giant this week, the European Union's privacy watchdog told Google that it should warn towns and cities before it snaps photos for its online Street View maps. The EU also told the company that it should cut the time it keeps the original photos online from a year to six months.

In response, Google said it already posts updates on its Web site about the itinerary of its Street View cameras. The company also addressed privacy concerns, noting … Read more

Talk about a sentence custom-designed to send a chat room off the rails. But the actual topic of discussion was the massive insecurity of the global GPS network, which is totally susceptible to sat-nav jamming. Also, Apple continues to suffer under its terrible, self-imposed burden of censorship, and we are ALL GOING TO DIE FROM THE INTERNET! --Molly

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Google under investigation for alleged breach of EU competitionrules http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/google/7301299/Google-under-investigation-for-alleged-breach-of-EU-competition-rules.html

Google bosses convicted … Read more

So the European Union and Microsoft have finally settled their differences and will begin the browser ballot with no less than 12 browsers to choose from. Is this a good thing? Also, Intel is now under the gun from the U.S. Federal Trade Commission. What did it do this time? Listen to find out. And Cherrypal is selling a $99 laptop it bills as slow and sufficient. Nice.

FTC formally charges Intel with anti-competitive behavior http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704541004574599791659334798.html?mod=googlenews_wsj … Read more

Perhaps the next time Brad Smith heads to Brussels, it will be for a vacation.

After years of wrangling with Microsoft, the European Commission announced an accord with the software giant Wednesday on several fronts that seems poised to put an end to its antitrust concerns with Redmond.

In the wake of the announcement, I spoke to Smith, Microsoft's general counsel, about the decision, what it means for the future of Windows, and whether the company sees its spot on the antitrust hot seat now being taken up by other companies, including Google.

Here's an edited transcript of … Read more

A single Europe-wide patent plan is a step nearer, after EU member states agreed the main elements, including a unified European patent court.

Intellectual property (IP) experts praised the agreement, announced on Friday by the Swedish presidency of the EU, but warned that the biggest obstacle to the scheme--who will pay for patent translation--remains unresolved.

"I am very pleased that we have finally seen a political breakthrough in these difficult negotiations that have gone on for so long," Swedish trade minister Ewa Bjorling said in a statement.

According to the EU, getting patent protection in 13 EU states … Read more

Competition commissioner Neelie Kroes and telecommunications commissioner Viviane Reding will take on new duties under a European Commission lineup announced Friday.

Kroes is designated as the digital agenda commissioner, with oversight of the European Network and Information Security Agency (Enisa) and the Information Society Directorate General, which supports IT activities. As such, she is responsible for increasing online access to content and for the digital economy. She has also been named a vice president of the European College, the group of all the commissioners.

At the start of her five years as competition commissioner, Kroes handled the EU's antitrust … Read more

Come early December, Oracle will meet with European Commission regulators to urge their approval of its merger with Sun Microsystems. "Two people with knowledge of the matter" tell Reuters that "Oracle has asked for a hearing which has been fixed for December 10."

Should make for an interesting meeting given Oracle's refusal to take the EC's concerns about the future of Sun's MySQL database seriously. Certainly, it's difficult to imagine Oracle caving to the Commission's demands when it has criticized the group's findings as a "profound misunderstanding" of … Read more