Government & Policy
14 May 2013
Award-winning EU project redefines the Internet strengthening users' online safety while boosting broadband speeds Europa
An EU funded project that paves the way to an innovative Internet architecture meeting current traffic and growing security demands has just been awarded a prize at the Future Internet Assembly (FIA) in Dublin. The PURSUIT project received the Future Internet Award for its outstanding contribution to redefining the existing Internet design in order to ensure users' stronger control over their data while enhancing broadband connections.
13 May 2013
Editorial: Google's Offer to Europe New York Times
Google's competitors, like Microsoft, Expedia and Yelp, have long complained that the company uses its dominant search engine -- it has more than 90 percent market share in Europe and about 70 percent in the United States -- to promote its own services, like YouTube, Google Maps and others, at the expense of rivals.
09 May 2013
Queen's speech revives UK 'snooper's charter' legislation The Guardian
The government appears to have left open the door to the resurrection of the controversial "snooper's charter" bill to track everyone's email, internet and mobile text use.
08 May 2013
French, German politicians to pressure Google on tax Reuters
Politicians in Germany and France say they will press for Google Inc to be quizzed on corporate income tax after a Reuters report highlighted how the company employs sales staff in the UK while telling the tax authorities that sales are made from Ireland.
U.S. Is Weighing Wide Overhaul of Wiretap Laws New York Times
The Obama administration, resolving years of internal debate, is on the verge of backing a Federal Bureau of Investigation plan for a sweeping overhaul of surveillance laws that would make it easier to wiretap people who communicate using the Internet rather than by traditional phone services, according to officials familiar with the deliberations.
07 May 2013
E.U. Rules Against Patent Move by Google's Motorola Unit New York Times
The European Commission on Monday made a preliminary antitrust finding against Google's mobile communications unit, Motorola Mobility, for seeking and enforcing an injunction against Apple in Germany over patents essential to smartphones and tablets.
US Senate passes bill letting states tax Internet purchases, siding with traditional retailers Washington Post
The Senate sided with traditional retailers and financially strapped state and local governments Monday by passing a bill that would widely subject online shopping -- for many a largely tax-free frontier -- to state sales taxes.
Israel says Google 'Palestine' page damages prospects for peace The Guardian
Israeli officials have reacted sternly to Google's decision last week to change the label on its home page in the occupied territories from "Palestinian territories" to "Palestine".
06 May 2013
Queen's speech: UK consumer bill of rights to cover faulty apps or downloads The Guardian
Consumer rights covering products such as cars and white goods are to be extended to apps and music downloads in a consumer bill of rights to be unveiled in the Queen's speech on Wednesday.
05 May 2013
Tax in cyberspace: Online retailers may soon have to collect sales tax. Amazon, oddly, is gloating The Economist
Amazon, which became America's biggest internet retailer by selling things more cheaply than anyone else, used to go to great lengths to avoid collecting sales tax from its customers. It issued a map showing employees which states to avoid lest they give the authorities a target for enforcement (some of the biggest states were coded red). In 2011 it shut down a warehouse in Texas after the state's government demanded $270m in back taxes.
02 May 2013
Americans don't want more government monitoring of cellphones and email to fight terror, survey says ABA Journal
After the 1995 bombing of a federal building in Oklahoma City and the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, more than half of the Americans responding to polls were willing to give up some civil liberties in exchange for greater security.
01 May 2013
Google ordered back to parliament to answer tax questions The Guardian
Google and its auditor Ernst & Young will be recalled to parliament to restate their evidence on the internet search giant's tax position following an investigation into Google's advertising sales practices.
What Is TPP? Biggest Global Threat to the Internet Since ACTA Electronic Frontier Foundation
The United States and ten governments from around the Pacific are meeting yet again to hash out the secret Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement (TPP) on May 15-24 in Lima, Peru. The TPP is one of the worst global threats to the Internet since ACTA. Since the negotiations have been secretive from the beginning, we mainly know what's in the current version of this trade agreement because of a leaked draft [PDF] from February 2011. Based upon that text, some other leaked notes, and the undemocratic nature of the entire process, we have every reason to be alarmed about the copyright enforcement provisions contained in this multinational trade deal.
For Google, regulatory clouds largely clear Washington Post
Google once appeared headed for major clashes with regulators -- in the United States or Europe, or both -- as government officials sought to curb alleged abuses by one of the world's most powerful and profitable technology companies. But the clouds over Google's Silicon Valley headquarters have largely cleared over the past several months.
30 April 2013
Australia closing the tax net on online giants Sydney Morning Herald
The federal government is on the verge of releasing a controversial scoping study into complex tax minimisation structures being used by e-commerce and tech companies such as Google, Amazon and Apple.
29 April 2013
US panel seeks to fine tech companies for noncompliance with wiretap orders Washington Post
A government task force is preparing legislation that would pressure companies such as Facebook and Google to enable law enforcement officials to intercept online communications as they occur, according to current and former U.S. officials familiar with the effort.
28 April 2013
US Internet Sales Tax Coming Too Late for Some Stores New York Times
Anita Demetropoulos, a Maine shopkeeper, figured she would never see the day when her most relentless competitor, Amazon, would be forced to collect sales tax.
26 April 2013
Google's rivals likely to reject offer of label in listings The Guardian
Google's rivals have indicated they will reject its offer to label its services in search listings, as it tries to settle a long-running antitrust investigation by the European Commission over its market dominance.
2 Googles: 1 for Europe and 1 for everyone else Washington Post
There soon could be two Googles: One built for Europeans, with links to rival search engines and labels alerting users whenever Google is featuring its own products. And another version for everyone else, with none of those consumer-friendly features.
Could US Privacy Protection Bills Hinder Law Enforcement? CIO
The Electronic Communications Privacy Act reform bill advances to the Senate floor to better protect email privacy. Meanwhile a House subcommittee considers privacy protections for location data, data which some in law enforcement say is necessary to solve crimes.
Deutsche Telekom Plan to Limit DSL Worries Berlin Der Spiegel
German telecommunications giant Deutsche Telekom sparked controversy this week with plans to curtail flat-rate DSL speeds once certain data thresholds are reached. Customers, Internet advocates and the German government are all concerned.
25 April 2013
US DHS use of deep packet inspection technology in new net security system raises serious privacy questions Computerworld
To protect the federal civilian agencies against cyberthreats, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is preparing to deploy a more powerful version of its EINSTEIN intrusion-detection system thats supposed to detect attacks and malware, especially associated with e-mail. But since this version of EINSTEIN is acknowledged by DHS to be able to read electronic content, its raising privacy concerns.
Updating a US Email Law From the Last Century New York Times
Steven Warshak, a Cincinnati businessman who built an empire selling male sexual enhancement drugs, was convicted of wire fraud several years ago, based in large part on his e-mail correspondence, which authorities had extracted via a subpoena under a 1986 law governing electronic privacy.
Internet on TV, TV on Internet: European Commission seeks views on rapidly converging audiovisual world Europa
Millions of Europeans catch up with their favourite TV series on a smartphone on the way to work, watch online content on their living room TV, or put their own user-generated content online. There are more than 40.4 million "connected TVs" in Europe, and they could be in the majority of EU households by 2016. These changes are sweeping away traditional boundaries between consumers, broadcast media and the internet. The Commission wants to explore what this convergence of technology and content could mean for Europe's economic growth and innovation, cultural diversity, and consumers (especially those that may need protection, such as children.)
24 April 2013
UK Home Office fears Clegg will veto 'snooper's charter' The Guardian
Home Office ministers fear that the Liberal Democrats may veto the latest version of the so-called "snooper's charter" and are privately warning that Nick Clegg will be taking a major risk at a time of terrorist attacks in the US, and instability in the middle east.
