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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.
EU won't unilaterally ban Huawei gear from 5G networks
The UK isn't the only one pushing back against US attempts to demand blanket bans on Huawei 5G gear. The European Commission has set guidelines that let EU countries make their own judgments on whether to limit or exclude "high risk" wireless suppliers. The EU wanted countries to analyze the potential risks, rely on a mix of suppliers and keep questionable providers out of "critical and sensitive" parts of their networks, but stopped short of demanding outright bans on accused companies like Huawei.
Apple says EU push for universal phone charger would 'stifle innovation'
The European Parliament has renewed its push for a phone charger standard through an amended draft law, and it won't surprise you to hear that Apple has raised objections. The iPhone maker has issued a statement arguing that rules dictating a common connector in phones "stifles innovation" and would hurt the public more than it helped. To support its claims, the company commissioned a study from Copenhagen Economics claiming that a common charger move would cost €1.5 billion (about $1.7 billion), more than negating the €13 million ($14.4 million) in potential environmental benefits. It even suggested the EU might create an environmental problem by "disrupting" hundreds of millions of people who use Apple devices with Lightning ports.
Facebook is facing an EU investigation over data collection
Google isn't the only tech giant facing an investigation from European Union antitrust regulators over data collection and monetization. The European Commission has Facebook in its sights too.
EU investigates Google data collection practices
No, European antitrust regulators still aren't done looking into Google's practices. The European Commission told Reuters in a statement that it's conducting a "preliminary investigation" into Google's data collection. While it didn't go into detail, a leaked document indicated that the focuses were on local search, ads (including ad targeting), sign-in services and web browsers, among "others." It's covering the core of Google's businesses, to put it another way.
The EU just approved a vaccine to prevent Ebola
Today, the European Union granted an Ebola vaccine "conditional marketing authorization." The vaccine, developed by the pharmaceutical giant Merck, is known as Ervebo. It's the first human Ebola vaccine to be approved by the EU.
EU grills Facebook over Libra's financial and privacy risks
It's not just central banks interrogating Facebook over its Libra cryptocurrency as of late. The Financial Times has learned that the European Commission has asked Facebook to answer a range of questions about Libra, including the risks to financial stability and data privacy as well as the company's ability to comply with counter-terrorist financing and money laundering rules. Officials also want to know how Libra would handle its reserves.

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