ACTA, the anticounterfeiting trade agreement that has ignited debate over its provisions for clamping down on copyright abuse on the Internet, was made public Wednesday, but the fears it sparked while it was being negotiated secretly will not go away any time soon, according to people in the IT industry, telecom industry and civil liberties groups.
European IT and telecom ministers called for the introduction of open standards and interoperability in government procurement of IT on Monday, sparking applause from the industry.
A controversial plan to crack down on online piracy and counterfeiting will be opened up to public scrutiny for the first time next week, when the negotiating text of a secret international copyright treaty will be made public, the European Commission said Friday.
Software developer and political lobbyist Florian Mueller weighed in on the European Commission's investigation of monopoly abuse claims against IBM, accusing the computing giant of deserting the interests of the open-source software community.
The European Commission will next week propose a directive designed to fight the sexual exploitation of children, but a clause obliging member states to block pedophile websites has sparked widespread criticism from civil liberties advocates, a German government minister and from within the Commission itself.
The European Commission has promised to propose a motion calling for the opening up of the secretive anticounterfeiting trade agreement (ACTA) at the next meeting mid-April in New Zealand, an official said during a conference Monday.
The third antitrust complaint against IBM's mainframe business was filed with the European Commission Tuesday, compounding the firm's regulatory problems in Europe.
Should teenagers who illegally download music, films and the like in their bedrooms be treated like criminal gangs counterfeiting everything from life-saving drugs to Gucci handbags?
European Parliamentarians are set to debate whether to formally oppose an anticounterfeiting trade agreement (ACTA) being negotiated in secret by the European Commission with trading partners including the U.S., Canada and Japan.
The anti-counterfeiting trade agreement (ACTA) being negotiated in secret by the U.S., E.U. and others potentially runs roughshod over European data protection requirements, European data protection supervisor (EDPS) Peter Hustinx said Monday.
The US, Europe and other countries including New Zealand are secretly drawing up rules designed to crack down on copyright abuse on the internet, in part by making ISPs liable for illegal content, according to a copy of part of the confidential draft agreement that was seen by the IDG News Service.
The US Department of Justice and the European Commission on Thursday both unconditionally approved Microsoft and Yahoo's plan to work together in the field of internet search.
The European Commission has approved Hewlett-Packard's US$2.7 billion takeover of 3Com without attaching conditions, the Commission announced on Friday.
The European Parliament on Thursday voted to block an agreement reached by the 27 EU national governments and the US last month to allow European citizens' personal financial data to be analysed by American authorities investigating the financing of terrorism.
Secretive international talks about how to curb counterfeiting and Internet piracy are under way in Mexico this week. But instead of focusing on the subject at hand, negotiators will spend much of their time discussing transparency, or rather the lack of it in the whole process.