Tag Archives: EU

Earlier this week we got news that the European Commission was in the final stages of its Android antitrust investigation, taking on formal complaints from companies that feel that Google has abused its market position with the Android OS. The process went quicker than expected as the commission has notified …

Over the years, plenty of sites that simply link to pirated content have been slammed with legal action despite not actively hosting. However, that could change over here in the EU as a court adviser has spoken out to say that simply linking to copyright infringing content publicly available on …

Right now, the European Commission is going through an antitrust inquiry, which has revealed a few interesting tidbits about the state of geographical content blocks throughout Europe, with apparently 74 percent of fiction TV licensing deals demanding that blocks be placed to restrict content to specific countries inside of the …

Back in 2014, the EU ordered Google to implement what is now known as the ‘right to be forgotten' allowing people to protect their privacy by having specifically about them to be hidden from EU-based Google search. Since its initial implementation, results were only hidden on Google's EU-based domains but …

Following its ending of the EU-U.S. Safe Harbour data exchange scheme last year, the European Union is demanding tighter controls and protections on how America requests information from EU companies. If those assurances aren't received soon, it may start taking enforcement actions against various firms. Safe Harbour previously gave U.S. companies the …

Being connected as a teen is pretty important. As much as older generations may have adopted social networking, children of today have grown up with it – it's in their blood. But it may not be for much longer, as a new change to EU data protection laws could make …

Last year, Google was ordered to comply with what the EU calls ‘the right to be forgotten'. This means that anybody who wants a link pertaining to them to disappear from Google search within the EU, can send a request through to Google and it turns out, a lot of …

Despite the United States continued stance that Edward Snowden needs to come home from Russia and face the music of his document stealing actions, the European Parliament has further solidified his position as a whistleblower by voting – by a slim margin – for EU nations to pardon him for …

David Cameron was said to have “spluttered over his cornflakes” when the ruling came in from the EU on net-neutrality, that said all data should be treated equally and therefore filters, like the ones put in place by ISPs to block pornography, would no longer be allowed under EU law. …

The European Parliament has passed a law today that will put a stop to mobile roaming data fees by June 2017. This law was passed as part of a larger legislation, which also wanted to strengthen Net Neutrality laws but unfortunately was left with some major problems that could allow …

Earlier this month, Blizzard officially announced that it would be launching the Overwatch beta, with a release date set for the 27th of October. At the time of the announcement, the beta was only scheduled to launch over in the US, cutting out the rest of the world. However, tomorrow's …

Black Desert, the hugely popular Korean MMO is finally making its way over to the west. Over in the US and EU, the game will be known as Black Desert Online, with closed alpha testing set to begin pretty soon. There is also a new trailer for the game to …

EU citizens' data cannot be so easily sent to the U.S. any more thanks to a ruling on Tuesday which saw a European court shoot down the “Safe Harbour” system, which allows companies to self-certify whether they have enough data protection measures in place when sending customer information overseas. Moving …

We have been reporting on the European Commission's grievances with Google for some time now. Earlier this year, the EU officially accused Google of abusing its online position to give its own products and services an edge over the competition. At the time, Google had ten weeks to respond with a defence, …

Earlier this year, ahead of Apple Music's initial announcement, the European Commission launched an investigation in to Apple's business practises leading up to the streaming service's launch. At the time, the EU suspected that Apple may be resorting to anti-competitive tactics in order to get an edge over competing companies. …

Since the Edward Snowden revelations about the NSA, GCHQ and international data gathering and sharing came out in 2013, the world has been trying to figure out the right balance between privacy and security. To that end, the European Commission has been in talks with U.S. representatives to renegotiate “safe …

The European Union has finally reached an agreement that will result in the end of roaming charges for those travelling within the 28 member countries of Europe, though this new plan doesn't start until June 2017. The new agreement was made after several months of planning, the deal also means …

The Trans Pacific Partnership, or TPP, is a trade deal that affects almost half of the world's economy and will bring a number of sweeping changes to the world of trade, law and copyright if enacted. Many organisations have railed against it and governments have defended it, but even now, …

Google is facing more anti-trust complaints regarding Android. The European Commission is already investigating Google over its mobile operating system due to concerns that it promotes its own apps over its competitors and now, complaints have arisen suggesting that Google is abusing its dominance in the market. This particular complaint …

Although the Microsoft owned VOIP service might have been happy enough for the NSA to read and listen to just about everything it's members do on the service, Skype isn't quite so forthcoming in other countries. Over in Europe, the American company is being asked to appear in a court …

Blizzard is giving European Hearthstone players two free card packs as an apology for connection issues that users faced last week. If you made your Hearthstone account before the third of May this year, you will be greeted with two classic card packs when you next log in. The Battle.net …

Have you ever confused Sky TV with Microsoft's Skype messenger service? Well a European court thinks that you probably will and has ruled that the name ‘Skype' is too similar to ‘Sky'. This prevents Microsoft from registering the Skype trademark in Europe. Here is how the European Union explained its …

The European Commission has been critical of Google and its business practices for some time now but today, it finally launched its official investigation in to the company on anti-trust grounds, accusing Google of abusing its online dominance to unfairly promote its own products and services. In a statement of …

With the general election just over a month away, politicians and their parties have spun up the rhetoric machines and begun knocking on doors around the country, hoping to win over their constituents. But while the likes of Ed Miliband and David Cameron slug it out in the press and …

The European Union's regulatory body for international competitiveness is set to perform a thorough investigation into eCommerce within the EU, amid reports that some companies and nations may be deliberately blocking online trade, in order to further their own aims. It hopes that as part of the study it will …

Solar eclipses are probably not something that most of us humans have been scared of in a very long time, thanks to science and reasoning, but soon there may actually be a reason to be at least a little nervous. With our increasing dependence on energy drawn from the Sun …

Apple has announced that it plans to spend €1.7 Billion constructing two new data centers in Europe, which will run entirely on renewable energy and provide key online services such as iMessage, Siri and iTunes. One of the two centers will be located in Ireland while the other will be …

Since Google changed its privacy policy back in 2012, it has been under investigation in no less than 28 countries. It has been fined by both Spain and France for the vagueness of the policy, which does not clearly state how it will store and collect personal data. The Information Commissioner’s Office …

One of the more exciting developments in copyright law history has been taking place over the past six months. While many governments around the world champion stricter copyright controls thanks to lobbying from select groups of media conglomerates, the European Union is considering reshaping copyright law to make it more …

Apple has had to go ahead and raise the minimum price of paid for apps available on the UK iOS App Store. From this morning onward, apps that used to cost 69p will now cost 79p instead in order to bring prices in line with VAT and exchange rates. The company …