europeancommission
Latest
EU passes net neutrality laws that leave 'fast lane' loopholes
Legislation designed to protect net neutrality and abolish mobile phone roaming fees has been passed today by the European Parliament. These new rules -- hotly debated for two years by EU representatives -- are now finalised and will soon cover the entire region, including the UK. While the end of expensive holiday phone bills won't take place until 2017, the updated internet protections should come into effect fairly quickly. Such a moment ought to be cause for celebration, however many in the technology industry are now concerned about loopholes that could enable internet "fast lanes." Today's vote included amendments that would've sealed up those weaknesses -- but it seems the Parliament was happy enough with the wording and pushed ahead regardless.
Google: EU is 'wrong as a matter of fact, law, and economics'
Google officially responded to charges levelled by the European Commission that it unfairly favored its own products over its competition and abused its market dominance to crowd out potential rivals. The EC began poking around back in 2010 so this isn't the first time that Google has had to publicly defended its position. "Economic data spanning more than a decade, an array of documents and statements from complainants all confirm that product search is robustly competitive," Kent Walker, Google's general counsel, wrote in the Google Europe blog.
EU finds that Apple and labels didn't conspire to end free music
Apple Music is facing its fair share of scrutiny over concerns of possible anti-competitive behavior, but it's not going to get that much flak from Europe. According to both Mlex and Recode's sources, the European Commission has found no evidence that Apple or major music labels conspired to stifle free music services like Spotify. While the regulator is going to keep its eye on the music market as Spotify renews its label deals, it's now doubtful that you'll see a repeat of the EU's crackdown on e-book pricing.
Sky UK and major US movie studios hit by EU antitrust probe
There's nothing the European Commission likes more than a good ol' antitrust case, and today it's set its sights on Sky UK and six of the broadcaster's US film studio partners: Disney, NBCUniversal, Paramount Pictures, Sony, 20th Century Fox and Warner Bros. In a "Statement of Objections" sent to the parties, the commission has formally accused Sky and the studios of engaging in anti-competitive behavior, by drawing up contracts that prevent Europeans from accessing Sky's pay-TV services outside of the UK and Ireland. While it's implied Sky is partly to blame, the commission's main issue with the agreements is they stop Sky from coming to its own decision on whether to offer pay-TV access in other EU countries.
Europe to scrap roaming charges, protect net neutrality
It's been a long time coming, but we finally know when roaming charges will be scrapped in Europe: June 15th, 2017. The European Commission had been pushing for an earlier implementation, but ultimately relented in order to win support from the European Parliament and Council. Under the new rules, Europeans will pay the same prices as they do at home, regardless of where they travel in the EU. However, such a move could be open to abuse -- after all, anyone could buy a cheaper SIM from a neighboring country and use it at home -- so there will be a fair use limit when roaming, after which networks can charge you a basic fee. While we wait for 2017 to roll around, Europe is prepping a stop-gap measure for next year. From April 2016, operators will be limited to the following maximum roaming charges: €0.20 per MB, €0.06 per SMS and €0.05 per minute -- the same rates that former EU Commission VP Neelie Kroes wanted to enforce last year.
Europe probing Amazon's potentially shady e-book contracts
The European Commission has opened yet another antitrust investigation into a US tech giant. This time, its crosshairs are aimed at Amazon, which it's formally investigating for potentially anti-competitive behavior in the e-book market. In particular, the probe will focus on Amazon's contracts with publishers, which it wants to make sure don't "make it more difficult for other e-book distributors to compete."
EU aims to remove regional restrictions on digital goods by 2017
Being an EU citizen means you can grab your passport, head to the airport and travel freely among the 28 EU member states. When you arrive at your final destination, however, and fire up Netflix in your hotel room, you'll find a local content catalog that may not include your favorite show. The same level of localization is true for many digital goods and services, which is why the European Commission wants to create a "Digital Single Market" to rid the EU of geo-blocking and encourage a more connected Europe online. The Commission gave a vague outline of its Digital Single Market strategy back in March, but today its released a detailed proposal of what it intends to do by the end of next year to make it happen.
Europe is making in-car emergency calling standard by 2018
More than 25,700 people died driving on european highways last year. In an effort to reduce these incidents, the European Parliament has voted to outfit every new passenger car and light truck in the EU with an auto-dialing system that rings 112 (Europe's 911) in the event of a major accident. Known as eCall, it will be "a public service, free of charge for all citizens, irrespective of the type of vehicle or its purchase price," MEP Olga Sehnalova explained in a statement. They'll also be standard options for all new vehicles sold after March 31st, 2018.
Europe accuses Google of abusing its monopoly in mobile and search
It's been coming for what seems like an eternity, but today's the day that Europe finally hits Google with an official investigation into its business practices. The European Commission has announced that it'll open an antitrust probe into Android, and has laid out its objections following a similar probe into Google Shopping. In essence, regulators believe that the search giant has "abused its dominant position," or playing favorites with its own products and crowding competitor's products out of the market.
WSJ: EU is gearing up to file antitrust lawsuit against Google
Google might have avoided going to court over antitrust charges in the US, but it could still face a lawsuit in Europe. According to the Wall Street Journal, the European Commission has started asking companies that filed complaints against Google's practices for permission to publish the details in those documents. A Brussels lawyer representing one of Mountain View's competitors said: "The fact that the commission has been seeking fuller [information] from complainants, against short deadlines [of] a couple of days, shows it is in the final stages of getting a statement of objections together. It's part of the choreography you always see."
Why Final Fantasy XV's main playable characters are all men
Final Fantasy XV's playable demo confirmed suspicions that the long-awaited game's core playable characters are all, well, men. For those wondering, even just a bit, why the creators came to that decision when previous main titles featured mixed-gender teams, well here's your explanation. FFXV director Hajime Tabata sat down for an interview with GameSpot, where he revealed his reasons and shed light on the issue. Apparently, he wanted characters whose actions make you think "boys will be boys." He also believes that "an all-male party feels almost more approachable for players," and that even "one female in the group will change their [the four best bros'] behavior."
The EU wants to remove regional limits on digital goods
Think regional locks on movie streaming and other digital goods are silly? So does the European Commission. It's outlining a new strategy (the Digital Single Market) that would prevent companies from geo-blocking online services when it's not truly necessary. This kind of arbitrary limit "cannot exist" in a single European Union-wide digital marketplace, officials argue. It's not clear what rules will be involved (you'll likely hear more about that when the full strategy is due in May), but the implication is that you wouldn't be forced to download or stream from a country-specific service. If you wanted to watch French Netflix from Germany, for example, you could.
Researchers link carrier-focused malware to US and UK spy agencies
Symantec said that the recently detailed Regin spyware looked like it was created for government surveillance, and there's now some strong support for that claim. Both Kaspersky Lab and Wired understand that the super-sophisticated malware was used to infiltrate both Belgian carrier Belgacom and cryptographer Jean-Jacques Quisquater. Given that the NSA and Britain's GCHQ have been linked to these malware attacks, it's easy to connect the dots -- from all indications, one or both spy agencies used Regin to snoop on these targets. There are also hints that it may have been used to hack into the European Commission back in 2011. The Commission's director of security couldn't tell Wired if the malware in that incident was the same, but the code involved was built from a "series of elements" that worked together, like Regin does.
Ireland will eliminate Apple's sweet tax deal within four years
Apple and other tech giants had better not lean too heavily on Ireland's super-favorable tax environment; at least one big perk is going away. Finance minister Michael Noonan has detailed a new budget that, among other things, will phase out the "double Irish" system that let companies operating in Ireland (including Apple) move their revenue to an Ireland-registered offshore tax haven. As of 2015, companies incorporated in the country will have four years to make sure that they're also tax resident -- that is, they'll pay the same as any other corporation operating on the Emerald Isle.
EU says Apple's Irish tax deal is illegal
An EU commission has accused Ireland of granting "state aid" tax breaks to Apple that may break market rules. That was the result of an investigation by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) over Irish deals brokered in 1991 and 2007. It has now asked Ireland to provide more information about its tax arrangements with Apple and other companies, including Fiat and Starbucks. The OECD also looking into Luxembourg and the Netherlands as part of a larger probe to find out if certain EU nations help multinational companies swerve taxes. At 12.5 percent, Ireland has a lower tax rate than any other EU country, and Cupertino's complex tax deals there have been questioned before. As the US Senate saw recently, shuffling money around countries helps Apple avoid nearly $20 million a day in taxes -- and the EU seems to have a dimmer view of its strategy than the SEC did. [Image credit: pieceoplastic/Flickr]
Europe approves Apple's $3 billion takeover of Beats
Apple is officially a step closer to owning Beats, as the $3 billion merger has just been cleared in Europe. The EU commission ruled that the merger "did not raise concerns because the combined (headphone) market share of Apple and Beats Electronics is low." That might sound like an odd thing to say about Apple, but the EU pointed out that after buying Beats, it would still have Bose, Sennheiser, Sony and other competitors in the sector. As a result, Apple/Beats would be far from a headphone monopoly, which was the EU's main concern. The purchase still has to be cleared in the US, but most pundits think regulators there will toe a similar line. Apple has a new headache, though: one of those competitors, Bose, has just sued it over its noise-cancelling patents.
Google won't call games with in-app purchases free anymore (updated)
The European Commission has said that while Google addressed its concerns around games with in-app purchasing, Apple has yet to offer a strategy. Following hordes of complaints by outraged parents, the EU asked both companies to implement changes to the way they sell such apps in their stores. Those include not misleading consumers about supposedly "free" games, not "directly exhorting" children to buy in-game items, thoroughly informing customers about payment arrangements and forcing game-makers to provide contact information.
EU asks rival companies to weigh in on the Facebook-WhatsApp deal
Facebook is prepared to drop a cool $19 billion in cash and stock to buy Whatsapp, but it won't actually get to until both companies gone through a regulatory rigmarole. Part of that process involves getting the blessing of Europe's antitrust crusaders and according to the Wall Street Journal, the European Commission wants to know just what sort of impact the merger will have on the companies' competitors. Its plan to find out? Sending them, erm, questionnaires. The list of rivals that have been asked for input hasn't been disclosed, but c'mon -- does anyone expect them to say "Oh yeah, the merger's cool, we'll be totally fine"?
EU prevents Motorola and Samsung from suing over standards-based patents
The patent wars are about to cool down in Europe... a little bit, anyway. The European Commission has revealed measures that prevent both Motorola and Samsung from using lawsuits over standards-based patents as offensive weapons against competitors, rather than last-ditch options when negotiations fail. To start, the regulator has ordered Motorola to cut out any "anticompetitive" terms in patent licensing deals with Apple and other companies. Motorola is allegedly abusing its control of cellular patents by forbidding companies from contesting those patents' validity; companies and their customers shouldn't be forced to pay for licenses that might not hold up in court, the Commission says. Motorola won't pay a fine for the claimed violation since there's no precedent, but the phone maker now can't threaten a lawsuit simply because Apple wants to challenge the patents it's licensing.
Europe pushes for a less US-dominated internet
The European Union is more than a little jittery about a US-centric internet after learning the extent of the country's mass surveillance. Accordingly, the European Commission has proposed a whole host of measures that would shift control to the international community. It wants a firm schedule for globalizing internet infrastructure, more power for the Internet Governance Forum, fewer conflicts between countries' internet laws and a venue for improving transparency policies. The regulator doesn't want to give too much clout to any one group, though -- Commission VP Neelie Kroes prefers a "multi-stakeholder" approach that lets innovators move at their own pace. The proposal still needs support from both the Council of the EU and the European Parliament before it can take effect, but it could give Europe a united front when it's pushing for changes in internet policy. [Image credit: The Council of the European Union]
