One way Greece hopes to extricate itself from its economic crisis? Tax its news websites. In pension reform law due to be voted upon by parliament next Thursday, the government has proposed raising a 21.5 percent levy on news portals’ online advertising income. The money would go in to an…

So, what did the private WiFi data that Google disclosed last month it had been mistakenly collecting consist of? French data protection officials say there was “data that are normally covered by ... banking and medical privacy rules”—and “passwords for e-mail services and chunks of text from messages” (via BBC).…

Google (NSDQ: GOOG) says that contrary to its prior statements it has in fact been collecting private information sent over Wi-Fi networks, while collecting data for its various location-based products. The company says in a just-posted blog post that in the process of collecting general Wi-Fi data, like the numbers…

Poor Facebook. It’s in the midst of a very loud uprising by the tech elite over its latest batch of privacy changes—and it’s still being criticized for the changes it made way back in December. Those changes meant that users could no longer restrict access to some basic information—like what…

By Mark Sweney: The European Court of Justice (ECJ) today ruled in favour of Google (NSDQ: GOOG) in a long-running court battle with Louis Vuitton over the use of the luxury goods company’s trademarked brand names in search advertising. However, the ECJ added the caveat that companies that use trademarked…

Google (NSDQ: GOOG) has loudly suggested that Microsoft (NSDQ: MSFT) is behind the European Commission’s preliminary antitrust inquiry into Google’s practices. Microsoft’s response: So what? “Complaints in competition law cases usually come from competitors,” writes Microsoft Deputy General Counsel Dave Heiner in a blog post. “This is the way that…

It certainly has not been the best week for Google (NSDQ: GOOG) in Europe: The EC opened a preliminary antitrust inquiry against the company, three of the company’s executives were sentenced to jail terms in Italy—and now the Article 29 Working Party—which represents data protection officials from EU members countries—has…

Google (NSDQ: GOOG), which has faced three antitrust inquiries in the U.S. over the last year, is now facing its first in Europe. The WSJ says that the European Commission has opened a “preliminary probe” into Google at the behest of three European competitors, including Microsoft (NSDQ: MSFT) subsidiary Ciao,…

Windows 95’s big OS-browser integration is now but a memory - from March 1, and likely through gritted teeth, Microsoft (NSDQ: MSFT) will start offering European Windows users a choice of web browsers. This is in compliance with a December European Commission antitrust agreement that stops it from pushing its…

Four of Germany’s largest media groups are set to form a shared web advertising network, after winning clearance from the European Commission’s competition department. The commision said there was no anticompetitive effect from a “proposed joint venture would develop and sell a new product to allow advertisers to reach better…

Under pressure from European regulators, Microsoft’s Bing is finally cutting the amount of time it stores some user search data. The company says it will now store user IP addresses for six months, instead of 18. Microsoft (NSDQ: MSFT) had initially said more than a year ago that it would…

The battle of the browser is over, at least for a while… The European Commission’s anti-trust department said on Wednesday that it has accepted Microsoft’s commitment to allow Windows users in 30 European countries to choose which web browser to use on new PCs via a “choice screen”, in a…

It appears increasingly likely that Microsoft (NSDQ: MSFT) will finally settle its long-standing litigation with the European Commission. The EC has agreed to “market test” a Microsoft offer to include a ballot screen on new PCs so that users can easily choose to install a browser other than Internet Explorer…

Google (NSDQ: GOOG) will ask European book publishers’ permission before making their works available to U.S. users, in a bid to stay on the right side of EU states’ copyright law. Google confirmed to paidContent:UK in a statement that it will digitize either the full text or excerpts from “commercially…

Given all the controversy, legal action and anti-trust scrutiny surrounding Google’s plans to digitise millions of books, the search giant has been given some welcome backing from European Commissioner Viviane Redding. The outspoken French Luxembourger politician and former journalist, responsible for Europe’s digital media policies, said in a Q&A document…

Microsoft’s latest offer to the European Commission, which is threatening the company with a big fine for bundling Internet Explorer and Windows together: It’s willing to include a ‘ballot screen’ on all new PCs with Internet Explorer pre-installed so that users can easily choose to install competing browsers on their…

Newspaper publishers are petitioning Europe’s media commissioner against free use of their material by aggregators, in what looks like their latest effort to declare Google (NSDQ: GOOG) a bogeyman. According to the “Hamburg Declaration on Intellectual Property Rights”, signed by 169 publishing execs: “Numerous providers are using the work of…

European media commissioner Viviane Reding has set out her vision for a “Digital Europe”, with four key points including a plea to resolve the legislative impasse caused by opposition to “three strikes” plans… —Digital dividend must be quicker: “The United States as a whole switched to digital TV last month.…

Despite the rhetoric, Microsoft (NSDQ: MSFT) and the European Commission may actually be on speaking terms. The two parties are in early talks to settle both the Commission’s investigation into whether the company has stifled competition by bundling Internet Explorer and Windows together, as well as a second investigation looking…