Online service providers and platforms are focuses of proposed rules outlined Wednesday by the European Commission. In reform packages for telecom and copyright, part of the digital single market strategy, the EC said it wants service providers to monitor content uploaded by subscribers to ensure it's not copyright-protected, and proposed extending rules now applied only to traditional operators to internet companies offering equivalent services. The commission wants to grant "neighboring rights" to news publishers to help them monitor the use of and seek remuneration for works posted by aggregators and search engines. The measures aren't aimed solely at American companies, and will offer legal clarity to all internet players, said EC Digital Single Market Vice-President Andrus Ansip in a webcast media briefing.
Dugie Standeford
Dugie Standeford, European Correspondent, Communications Daily and Privacy Daily, is a former lawyer. She joined Warren Communications News in 2000 to report on internet policy and regulation. In 2003 she moved to the U.K. and since then has covered European telecommunications issues. She previously covered the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration and intellectual property law matters. She has a degree in psychology from Duke University and a law degree from the University of Tulsa College of Law.
Final net neutrality guidelines issued Tuesday by EU telecom regulators haven't changed significantly from the draft version published in June (see 1606060005), the Body of European Regulators for Electronic Communications said at a Tuesday media briefing. BEREC received an unprecedented more than 408,000 comments, said Chairman Wilhelm Eschweiler. Around one quarter of the paragraphs in the draft were modified, but changes to controversial provisions on zero rating (ZR), traffic management and specialized services were clarifications rather than major shifts in approach, he said. There were competing arguments, with some wanting the guidelines to be stronger and others pushing for them to be weaker, which indicates BEREC struck the appropriate balance in many aspects, said Frode Sørensen, Norwegian Post and Telecommunication Authority senior adviser.
Regulators readying guidelines for enforcing net neutrality provisions in the EU telecom single market regulation are facing not only criticism of their proposals but also hostility from some quarters over their competence and independence. A Body of European Regulators for Electronic Communications (BEREC) consultation on the draft document (see 1606060005) closed July 18, but responses haven't been made public. Various players, however, including telcos, digital rights groups and consultants, made their comments available to us, and many said the guidelines need more work.
Google's advertising practices may breach EU antitrust law, the European Commission said Thursday. It said it sent the search engine two statements of objections (SOs), one that supplements its earlier finding that Google abuses its dominant position by favoring its comparison shopping services in search results (see 1504150002), and a new SO claiming Google also is preventing third-party websites from displaying search ads from its rivals. The new objections show the determination of Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager "to pursue the matter vigorously and to follow the investigation wherever it leads," said Europe Counsel Thomas Vinje of FairSearch, which is made up of Google rivals. Google didn't comment.
Privacy Shield, the new arrangement for trans-Atlantic personal data flows, is now in effect, EU and U.S. officials said Tuesday, as expected (see 1607080001). Companies will be able to start certifying their programs with the Department of Commerce beginning Aug. 1, and the European Commission will publish a guide explaining the available remedies for Europeans who believe their data has been used in violation of data protection rules. Finalization hasn't quelled continuing concerns from consumer groups, some EU lawmakers and Max Schrems, who successfully challenged safe harbor, about U.S. mass surveillance and other issues, they said. The EC "adequacy" decision and related documents are here.
EU governments backed Privacy Shield, the trans-Atlantic data transfer arrangement intended to replace safe harbor, as the Article 31 Committee of representatives from the 28 member countries approved the final version of the agreement Friday, the European Commission said. The "strong support ... paves the way for the formal adoption of the legal texts and for getting the EU-U.S. Privacy Shield up and running," said EC Vice President-Digital Single Market Andrus Ansip and Justice Commissioner Vera Jourová in a statement. The EC will approve the agreement July 12, a spokeswoman said. Jourová will brief the European Parliament Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs Committee Monday on the state of play, the EC said.
Britain's decision to leave the EU will mean renegotiating trans-Atlantic data flows and information technology trading agreements, among other things, and could jeopardize U.S. investment in the country, commentators here in the U.K. and abroad said Friday. Trading in European telco and cable companies could be uneven, said one market analyst, and the stock of the company he wrote about, Liberty Global, fell, as did the shares of many other companies. But Brexit could bring the two countries closer in digital trade, a paper for the American Enterprise Institute said. Industry officials had worried about the effect of any Brexit on European telecoms (see 1606220001).
The potential impact on the telecom sector of a U.K. vote to leave the EU is uncertain and subject to widely varying views, attorneys and consultants told us. The EU referendum takes place Thursday, and the outcome is reportedly too close to call. Brexit (British exit from EU) might -- or might not -- adversely affect the U.K. and/or EU telecom sector, or, conversely, could allow Britain to become a vital player on the world stage, they said.
Trust and access are the "existential issues" for the internet, Internet Society President Kathy Brown said Thursday at a webcast European Dialogue on Internet Governance event in Brussels. ISOC is focused on access and security this year, which must be tackled through a multistakeholder approach, she said. Governments generally have bought into the idea of a multistakeholder rather than a top-down process to address online issues, but not in the area of security, she said. Brown urged "collaborative security," where internet problems are fixed at the smallest place where the centralized community is connected.
Guidelines to help national regulators enforce the net neutrality provisions in the EU telecom single market regulation are "balanced and pragmatic" despite tackling several complex issues, said the chairman of the Body of European Regulators for Electronic Communications (BEREC) at a Monday media briefing. Those issues include zero rating, traffic management and specialized services, all of which continue to rankle various stakeholders, those at the briefing and others interviewed later said. Comments on the draft guidelines are due July 18.