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EU data regulators call for facial recognition ban in public spaces
They also said it should be illegal to use AI for social credit scoring.
Google will let rivals appear as default search engine options on Android for free
The EU pressured the company to ditch the pay-to-play format in Europe.
EU approves rules for rapid takedown of online terrorist content
Platforms will have an hour to remove such material or face possible fines.
The EU wants an investigation of the Switch's Joy-Con 'drift' issues
The European Consumer Organisation received more than 25,000 complaints over the problem.
The EU could break up big tech companies that violate stricter rules
The UK is also planning to clamp down on harmful content on social media.
Tech giants call for more content liability protection in the EU
Safeguards would give them more leeway to tackle hate speech, a lobby argued.
The EU is testing cross-border COVID-19 contact tracing
Six countries are trialing the system, which should go live next month.
EU antitrust regulators are investigating Google's Fitbit purchase
They said Google's plan to 'silo' the wearable company's fitness data was 'insufficient.'
Facebook tries to block EU access to ‘highly sensitive’ employee data
Facebook has temporarily blocked the European Commission from accessing data that it believes would include “irrelevant documents” and “highly sensitive personal information” about its employees. The EU’s executive branch had requested the information to support a preliminary probe into whether the social media giant was engaging in anticompetitive practices. Tim Lamb, Facebook’s Director and Associate General Counsel for Competition, said the company was “cooperating” with the investigation and understood it would need to hand over hundreds of thousands of documents.
Social media companies are better managing hate speech, EU says
An average of 90 percent of flagged content is now assessed within 24 hours, compared to just 40 percent in 2016.
Developers are divided on the EU’s App Store investigation
Apple disagrees with Spotify and the European Commission’s concerns. The Commission was investigating “baseless complaints,” Apple argued, by companies that want special treatment in the App Store. Is the App Store fair to developers?
EU sets framework for contact tracing apps that work across borders
The Commission has agreed on a set of technical specifications that will allow info to be exchanged between national contract tracing apps.
EU will reportedly file antitrust charges against Amazon over seller data abuse
The Wall Street Journal reports the European Commission will announce formal antitrust charges against Amazon within the next two weeks.
Tile files EU complaint against Apple's alleged anticompetitive behavior
In a letter to the EU, Tile claims Apple is making it more difficult for competitors to survive.
European mobile carriers will share location data to track COVID-19 spread
More governments are relying on phone location tracking in a bid to track and contain the spread of COVID-19. Eight European carriers, including Deutsche Telekom (T-Mobile), Orange and Vodafone, have agreed to share phone location data with the European Commission to help measure the coronavirus' reach. That immediately raises privacy issues, but an official talking to Reuters stressed that the EC would protect users.
EU plans to introduce sweeping 'right to repair' legislation for electronics
As part of its newly announced Circular Economy Action Plan, the European Commission, the body that drafts the EU's laws, says it will introduce right to repair legislation that will push electronics manufacturers to create products that last longer, include as many recycled materials as possible and are easier to reuse, repair and recycle.
The EU outlines its plan to compete with big tech
The European Union has outlined the start of its vision to boost its opportunities in our rapidly digitizing future. As part of a push to make the Union ready for the digital age, it has published a white paper and begun consulting about how it can best control its own destiny. After all, the EU may be a bigger market than the US, but it has struggled to produce homegrown alternatives to Facebook, Google and Microsoft.
EU backs away from proposed five-year facial recognition ban
The European Union won't issue a ban on facial recognition tech, as it once proposed, the Financial Times reports. In a previous draft of a paper on artificial intelligence, the European Commission suggested a five-year moratorium on facial recognition, so that the technology's impact could be studied, noting that it can be inaccurate, used to breach privacy laws and facilitate identity fraud. In a new draft, seen by the Financial Times, that moratorium has been removed.
EU investigates Qualcomm for alleged anti-competitive tactics
Qualcomm is facing yet another European Union antitrust case. The wireless hardware giant has revealed in an SEC filing that the European Commission is investigating the company for possible anti-competitive tactics in the radio frequency chip space. Officials want to know if Qualcomm abused its influence in 5G baseband processors to push companies into using its radio frequency front end chips instead of third-party options like Broadcom or Skyworks.
EU votes in favor of choosing a common charging cable standard
European Union lawmakers have voted overwhelmingly to legislate manufacturers to adopt a shared charging cable standard. In a 582 to 40 vote, the European Parliament said it wants the European Commission, the body that drafts the EU's laws, to ensure consumers don't have to buy a new charger each time they upgrade their phone. The Commission has a relatively short deadline to put something together, with lawmakers saying they want the body to table legislation by July at the latest.