Following Apple And Starbucks, Amazon Now Faces European Commission Tax Probe

Amazon is now, following in the footsteps of Apple and Starbucks facing a probe into its tax arrangements from the European Commission. Now that we’re seeing the details of these cases, of what the allegations are, it’s possible to offer a preliminary opinion as to what is actually going on here. Which is that this is all a great deal of fuss over not very much. This is a result of political pressure, nothing more, and it’s not going to change, except in the most trivial manners, the way that these companies operate in Europe.

read full article at Forbes

The Extraterritorial Scope of the “Right to Be Forgotten” and how this Affects Obligations of Search Engine Operators Located Outside the EU

Spiros Tassis and Margarita Peristeraki
European Networks Law & Regulation Quarterly 3/2014: pp. 244-252 [Case Note]

Annotation on the Judgment of the Court of Justice of 13 May 2014, in Case C-131/12 Google Spain SL, Google Inc. v Agencia Española de Protección de Datos (AEPD) and Mario Costeja González Electronic networks’ governance is becoming increasingly complex and constitutes a field of conflict between several jurisdictions, particularly the US and the EU. The information transferred through these networks is vast,mostly unfiltered and flows in an intangible area defined as “cyberspace”. The Courts’ recent judgment in the Google case aims at setting the boundaries to what search engine operators can and cannot do in the EU when their activities have implications to data protection rules, by determining (i) the territorial scope of such rules, (ii) the characterization of the activity of an internet search engine operator and (iii) the relevance of the “right to be forgotten” in this context. In a nutshell, the Court found that when it comes to non-EU based search engine operators, the mere existence of an affiliated company in the EU that sells ads associated with the search engine giant creates a presence in this territory and a data processor within the scope of the relevant EU Directive.

full annotation at ENLR

Slowly but surely, standards on the way for Internet of Things (a battle between telecoms and tech companies?)

It looks like a battle is shaping up between the telecoms and the tech companies as to what kinds of standards to apply to the emerging Internet of Things.

As observed in a report by Daniel Thomas in The Financial Times, "an intense battle is developing between technology and telecoms groups" for market domination of the Internet of Things. Companies from across the spectrum, including Vodafone, Google and Arm, are vying for leading roles in the IoT market, which Gartner says will be worth $300 billion in the next six years. 

So, with all these vendors jumping into what looks like a lucrative space, will standards evolve to make it all work? Or will we finally get everyone on the same page, as we did with the Internet of Words and Pictures?

read full article at ZDnet

Telefónica to trial AT&T’s smart home Internet of Things platform

Telefónica has announced plans to bring a trial of US carrier AT&T’s connected home platform, “Digital Life”, to Europe. Digital Life allows customers to monitor domestic smart and connected devices such as intruder alarms, thermostats and ovens, and control them through mobile applications and other web based user interfaces.

AT&T will provide Telefónica with the necessary technical resources and software to enable Telefonica to operate the Internet of Things service in its domestic markets. The Digital Life platform will also be customised to show Telefonica branding, as well as handing over management and hosting of the service to the Spanish telco.

The President of AT&T’s Digital Life business, Kevin Peterson, believes that global distribution of the service will widen new market opportunities for industry OEMs.

read full article at BCN

EU's super-commish for tech: Geo-blocks on cat vids, music – NOT FAIR

Andrus Ansip, the new EU super-commissioner for all things digital, says he will work to completely abolish geo-blocking of media in Europe – and urged telcos to get on with pushing out high-speed mobile broadband.

What started out as a relatively boring and predictable hearing before the European Parliament on Monday took a turn for the interesting in the final minutes: the rather wooden Ansip took issue with incumbent telecoms companies for sitting back and not rolling out 4G.

“In some countries almost 90 per cent of the territory is covered by 4G LTE, in some other countries it is zero! They haven’t even started allocating that spectrum. Once again I think we have to talk about vested interests,” he said.

read full article at The Register

We Want Privacy, but Can’t Stop Sharing

"IMAGINE a world suddenly devoid of doors. None in your home, on dressing rooms, on the entrance to the local pub or even on restroom stalls at concert halls. The controlling authorities say if you aren’t doing anything wrong, then you shouldn’t mind.

Well, that’s essentially the state of affairs on the Internet. There is no privacy. If those creepy targeted ads on Google hadn’t tipped you off, then surely Edward J. Snowden’s revelations, or, more recently, Jennifer Lawrence’s nude selfies, made your vulnerability to cybersnooping abundantly clear.

You need only read George Orwell’s “1984” or watch the film “Minority Report” to understand how surveillance is incompatible with a free society. And increasingly, people are coming to understand how their online data might be used against them. You might not get a job, a loan or a date because of an indiscreet tweet or if your address on Google Street View shows your brother-in-law’s clunker in the driveway. But less obvious is the psychic toll of the current data free-for-all..."

read full article at NYTimes

Privacy issues raised over Singapore’s plan to use ‘smart’ road toll technology

Singapore’s Land Transport Authority (LTA) has shortlisted three consortia to tender for the development of the country’s next generation electronic road pricing system to be used on congested roads, based on global navigation satellite system (GNSS) technology. 

The LTA said an 18-month system evaluation test that ended in December 2012 showed “it is technologically feasible to develop a GNSS-based road pricing system... (to) overcome the constraints of physical gantries, which are costly and take up land space”.

However, concerns have been raised about how the technology might impact on privacy. In a statement issued in December 2013, the opposition Singapore Political Party expressed concern the satellite system would be used to track vehicles for "unwarranted surveillance".

read full article at Outlaw

"Feds only have themselves to blame for Apple and Google's smartphone encryption efforts"

For the past two weeks, federal agencies and the executive branch have launched a cacophony of critique of Apple and Google for bolstering the encryption on their users' smartphones.

Secret loopholes drive NSA's 'unrestrained surveillance' on Americans

Thanks to a three-decade-old secret executive order, Fourth Amendment protections against warrantless domestic surveillance is not as strong as first thought.
 

That, the opposition camp says, will result in drug dealers, pedophiles, identity thieves, and other violent criminals evading capture, leading to an uptick in crime. That will affect millions of Americans who each year are classified as victims of theft and robbery, violence, and sexual crimes.

Made up of the FBI and the NSA, the outgoing Attorney General Eric Holder, and members of Congress, they are calling for laws to be changed, and Apple and Google to face sanctions for their privacy protections.


read full article at ZDnet

Big Tech pledges student privacy; critics scoff... (the right to be ... corrected)

Companies signing the pledge — including Microsoft, Amplify, Edmodo, Knewton and Houghton Mifflin Harcourt — will commit to clearly disclose what type of personal information they collect about students, and for what purpose. They will promise not to sell the information or use it to target advertising at students. They’ll pledge to let parents see their children’s records and correct any errors. 

read full article at Politico

Attorney General: Device Backdoors Should Be Left Open for the Police

The Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. spoke out yesterday about backdoors in consumer technology, claiming that they should be left open by technology firms so that law enforcement officials are never locked out during important investigations.

Speaking about new forms of encryption that could theoretically prevent police officers and other government officials from accessing personal data, he claimed that they could harm investigations of kidnappers and sexual predators, and in turn put children at increased risk.

read full article at Gizmodo

We are back!

Dear readers of this blog, 

After a long period of inactivity caused by summer laziness and vacations, some serious legal projects and the relocation of our law office to new premises, we are happy to announce that it's official... WE ARE BACK!

S.T. 

Microsoft's Bing follows Google in offering Europeans the 'right to be forgotten'

Microsoft has started accepting requests from users in Europe who want to remove search links from Bing under a recent “right-to-be-forgotten” ruling by Europe’s top court.

The company has asked European residents, who want Microsoft to block search results that show on Bing in response to searches of their names, to fill up a four-part online form.

Besides the name and country of residence of the person and the details of the pages to be blocked, the form also asks if the person is a public figure or has or expects a role that involves trust, leadership or safety.

Microsoft does not guarantee removal of links after they are submitted for removal through the form. It will also consider other sources of information to verify or supplement what is provided in the form.

The information provided will help the company “consider the balance” between the applicant’s individual privacy interest and the public interest in protecting free expression and the free availability of information, in line with European law, Microsoft said.

The Court of Justice of the European Union ruled in May that people who want search engines to remove search results referring to their names can file a request directly with the search engine operator, which must evaluate the request. A refusal by the operator can be appealed in a court.



read full article at PC World