EURActiv Info Society

A new EU-US anti-terror agreement still infringes the European Union's laws on data protection and civil liberties, say MEPs who, following talks with the European Commission today (10 June), plan to vote against the accord. 

National governments and the European Commission should do more to protect media pluralism and press freedom in Europe, argued a cross-party group of MEPs yesterday (8 June), calling for financial support to help the European media sector survive the crisis. 

Telecoms giants suffered defeat yesterday (8 June) after the European Court of Justice (ECJ) ruled that the European Commission was right to set price caps on mobile roaming charges. 

The European Commission is studying new measures to bring down the price of cross-border calls, including the possibility of introducing ceilings on data roaming, EurActiv has learned.

Neelie Kroes, the Dutch commissioner in charge of the EU's Digital Agenda, said she has no specific plans to support the so-called 'Internet of Things', which aims to connect everyday objects such as books, fridges or cars to the information superhighway via tiny microchips.

After seizing the control of the Italian satellite pay-TV market, Australian tycoon Rupert Murdoch is eyeing a new digital terrestrial platform in Italy. But Silvio Berlusconi's government opposes the move, which is seen as contrary to the interests of most operators, including Berlusconi's TV giant Mediaset. The European Commission is expected to give its decisive response to the case "in a few weeks". 

A vote today (1 June) in the European Parliament has given a boost to a report by a French centre-right MEP seen as a hardline anti-piracy advocate and whose opponents claim will pave the way for draconian policies to stop people from downloading content illegally. 

EU telecoms ministers came to an agreement yesterday (31 May) to boost Europe's digital competitiveness and prevent start-ups from migrating to the US to reap the benefits of a market that is easier to navigate.

The Brussels rumour mill reports that Commissioner Neelie Kroes is close to quitting the EU to become the new Dutch prime minister after a general election on 9 June. But political observers in The Hague say that even if Kroes wanted the job, her appointment would be "a small and technical possibility".

Bulgarian consumers, the poorest in the EU, often carry several mobile phones with subscriptions to different providers because their country has the highest interconnection fees in Europe for making calls from one network operator to another, a European Commission paper reveals.

A code of rights will be discussed at the next EU Telecoms Council scheduled for Monday (31 May), as ministers will consider introducing pan-European rules to protect users of electronic communications from expensive bills. But no formal debate will take place on the thorny issue of funding and regulating investment in super-fast Internet.

EU regulators have reprimanded major search engines Google, Yahoo! and Microsoft's Bing for storing data search queries for too long and by so doing overlooking the bloc's Data Protection Directive. 

The EU's digital agenda commissioner has heaped criticism on Europe's fragmented telecoms market, accusing firms of failing to meet EU rules aimed at lowering call rates. 

The European Commission yesterday (20 May) presented its annual 'RegioStars' awards for the most innovative EU-funded projects. Commission officials told EurActiv that the awards' growing popularity could serve to improve information sharing across the EU-27.

Google is starting to feel the heat in Europe as several countries launch probes and demand more details about the companies' street-mapping technology, after it emerged that the application had inadvertently collected people's private information. 

A Russia-based online pharmacy has been using the logo of a high-profile European pharmacists' lobby group to claim their products are endorsed by the Brussels-based organisation, EurActiv has learned.

European Commission Vice-President Neelie Kroes today (19 May) unveiled her strategy to create a "virtuous and self-replicating digital economy". The five-year plan concentrates on infrastructure for high-speed Internet and fostering a borderless market for online music and film.  

EU privacy regulators have joined a growing chorus of watchdogs that are worried by changes to the privacy settings of popular social networking site Facebook.

After the British press misquoted European Commission Vice-President Antonio Tajani and the mistake was recorded on Wikipedia, the EU executive, faced with growing and permanent misinformation issues, is not ruling out addressing the issue of ethics in digital communications in its present mandate.

Countries in the EU will have to adopt certain technical standards to allow more devices to carry wireless services without causing crackling interference on other services, according to a decision taken at the European Commission yesterday (6 May).