Lucius Fox

March 10th 2012

No drama, but a whole heap of uncertainty

PRAISE heaven for a boring European summit. “This is my first summit without talk of default, break-up or catastrophe,” said Enda Kenny, Ireland’s taoiseach (prime minister). “We had a normal, constructive discussion.” The French president, Nicolas Sarkozy, went even further: “We are not out of the economic crisis, but we are turning the page on the financial crisis.”

A new treaty [PDF] to impose greater fiscal discipline on euro-zone members and eight others (but not Britain or the Czech Republic) was signed today after being negotiated in record time. The fall in the spreads on bond yields of France and others showed the situation was stabilising, said Mr Sarkozy: “It is a great relief.” The European Union is now trying to turn its attention to promoting longer-term growth [PDF].

Posted at 4:49pm and tagged with: Europe, Politics, European Union, EU, European Summit,.

March 2nd 2012

All Mobile Traffic Isn't Equal

One of Europe’s biggest wireless companies recently started offering a new plan in France: For less than $14 a month, customers could get unlimited Web browsing on their phones.

The catch—the Internet was limited to Twitter and Facebook. Every 20 minutes spent on any other website cost nearly 70 cents.

France Telecom SA’s Orange Group is one of several wireless carriers around the world experimenting with slicing up the Web into limited offerings and exclusive deals they hope will bring marketing advantages or higher profits.

Posted at 11:05am and tagged with: Mobile, Carriers, Data, Telecomm, Bandwidth, Net Neutrality, Europe, EU, European Union, France Telecom SA, Orange Group,.

February 28th 2012

No punches thrown in aviation's emissions battle

THE EU’s transport and climate-action bigwigs will not, I suspect, have been too concerned by the outcome of the meeting that finished in Moscow yesterday of 26 countries disaffected by the inclusion of aviation in the EU Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS).

Eight potential retaliatory measures were outlined, including objecting (formally, you understand) to the UN, imposing levies on European airlines, ending talks with the EU on new routes and forbidding non-EU airlines to participate in the ETS, as China has already done. But it seems that the countries have not united behind a particular course. “Every state will choose the most effective and reliable measures which will help to cancel or postpone the implementation of the EU ETS,” Valery Okulov, Russia’s deputy transport minister Valery Okulo, was reported saying.

Posted at 3:54pm and tagged with: Aviation, Europe, Environment, Airlines, Emissions, Sustainability, Travel, Technology, European Union, EU, ETS, Emissions Trading Scheme,.

February 28th 2012

Vodafone lashes out as EU votes to cut roaming charges

For the last few years European regulators have been pushing mobile companies to slash the roaming charges they slap on customers who cross the continent’s borders. Although operators have grumbled and griped about lost profits, for the most part they have taken the hits. Apparently, though, the gloves are now off.

At a press briefing held at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Vodafone boss Vittoria Colao said that it was time for the cuts to stop. According to The Guardian, Colao told reporters that the more the regulation stops mobile companies charging users what they like, the less investment mobile companies will make in their networks.

Posted at 3:47pm and tagged with: Vodafone, European Union, EU, Carriers, Telecom, Europe, Mobile World Congress,.

February 24th 2012

Motorola forces Germany to ban iOS push mail

If you’ve emailed an iOS user in Germany during the last couple of days and they haven’t gotten back to you instantly, don’t be too hard on them – Apple has been forced to disable push mail for iCloud and MobileMe there.

Posted at 1:36pm and tagged with: Motorola, Mobile, Devices, iOS, Internet, Data, Germany, EU, Europe, European Union, Apple, iCloud, MobileMe, Law, MSI, Business,.

January 26th 2012

EU proposes 'right to be forgotten' by internet firms

A new law promising internet users the “right to be forgotten” will be proposed by the European Commission on Wednesday.

Posted at 10:44am and tagged with: Europe, EMEA, European Union, EU, Internet, Privacy, Security, EC, European Commission,.

January 24th 2012

Europe Weighs Tough Law on Online Privacy

Europe is considering a sweeping new law that would force Internet companies like Amazon.com and Facebook to obtain explicit consent from consumers about the use of their personal data, delete that data forever at the consumer’s request and face fines for failing to comply.

The proposed data protection regulation from the European Commission, a copy of which was obtained by The New York Times, could have significant consequences for all Internet companies that trade in personal data, whether it is pictures that people post on social networks or what they buy on retail sites or look for on a search engine.

Posted at 11:37am and tagged with: Europe, European Union, EU, Privacy, Internet, Technology, Law, EC, European Commission, Data, Security, User Data, Online Privacy,.

January 19th 2012

Diplomacy's next frontier – space

16 notes

With fears of a catastrophic galactic collision mounting, the United States will join a transnational consortium aimed at making outer space a more navigable enterprise.

“Unless the international community addresses these challenges, the environment around our planet will become increasingly hazardous to human spaceflight and satellite systems, which would create damaging consequences for all of us,” Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said in a written statement Tuesday.

The United States will join the European Union and other nations to develop an International Code of Conduct for Outer Space Activities. When implemented, the code would establish an international framework for the responsible use of space.

Posted at 10:12am and tagged with: Space, Technology, Policy, Politics, Diplomacy, United States, European Union, EU, US, International Code of Conduct for Outer Space Activities,.