Discontent on Continent Highlights Battle Over Economics, Culture, Internet Control BRUSSELS—From Berlin to Madrid, from London to Paris, U.S. technology companies are in a pitched battle with Europe’s sovereign states. It is a clash that pits governments against the new tech titans, established industries against upstart challengers, and freewheeling American business culture against a more regulated European framework. And it poses one of the greatest threats to U.S. technology giants since their emergence from garages and college campuses over the past four decades. First and foremost, the battle is about…
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European Regulators Publish Right To Be Forgotten Guidelines
Europe’s Article 29 Working Party, the body comprised of data protection representatives from individual Member States of the European Union, has now published guidelines on the implementation of the so-called right to be forgotten ruling, which was handed down by Europe’s top court back in May. The European Court of Justice Right To Be Forgotten ruling gives private individuals in Europe the right to request that search engines de-index specific URLs attached to search results for their name — if the information being associated with their name is inaccurate, outdated or irrelevant. The ruling…
Read MoreBlack Friday – consumers warned to be vigilant
On the eve of the much-anticipated retail focused sale and discount event, Black Friday, consumers in key regions across Africa, such as Kenya, are warned by network security experts to be vigilant. Black Friday and Cyber Monday are acknowledged as two of the busiest shopping days of the year, involving contribution by social networks and ecommerce websites. Global network security company Fortinet, and its research division FortiGuard Labs, are warning shoppers to be wary. The Company has issued important tips than can keep consumers safe, both when shopping online or…
Read MoreAfrica’s mobile money platform Mpesa expands to Europe
Editor’s note: Tomorrow Transformed explores innovative approaches and opportunities available in business and society through technology. (CNN) — Snapchat may be the latest application with a new mobilepayment feature launched this week, but the idea that made Snapcash possible was spawned more than seven years ago in Africa. When M-Pesa came on the scene in 2007 — a money transfer system devised by Vodafone and Kenya-based Safaricom – it sparked a mini-revolution. With the touch of a button, relatives in Nairobi could transfer cash instantly to their remote up-country families…
Read MoreWashingtonPost: Why Obama’s plan to save the Internet could actually ruin it
On Monday, President Obama joined the chorus of those urging FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler to inject federal and state regulators directly into the heart of the Internet, “reclassifying” wired and mobile broadband ISPs as public utilities under a 1934 law written to control the former Bell telephone monopoly. While Obama has long supported the notoriously slippery idea of “net neutrality,” this is the first time the White House has explicitly asked the FCC to take specific action, let alone to embrace the most radical and legally uncertain approach being considered…
Read More“Rock Star Woman! Sophia Bekele” hailed New York YALS on her KeyNote – Standing on the Shoulder of Giants
Summary: “From the African Giants we celebrate, we learn resilience, patience, persistence. Despite the meager resources they were able to rally support; and with their charismatic confidence they were able to move mountains. I call this the ‘staying power’. “ The delegates, students and organizers of the 2014 CUNY Young African Leadership Symposium (YALS) were treated to a moving and influential keynote address by Founder of DotConnectAfrica Trust and Yes2DotAfrica Campaign, hailing her “Rock Star Woman! Sophia Bekele”. This year’s event was themed “Standing on the Shoulder of Giants: Our…
Read MoreAmazon to Build Data Centres in ‘Every Large Country’ in Cloud Push
Amazon.com Inc plans to build data centers in every large country over time as part of a broader investment push that will eventually make the Internet retailer’s cloud computing arm the largest part of its business. In a roundtable with reporters on Wednesday, Amazon Web Services chief Andy Jassy did not provide a timetable for these investments in the AWS unit, which provides Internet-based computing and data management to corporate clients. Jassy added that the Internet retailer intends to continue investing in AWS, despite investors’ concerns it was spending too…
Read MoreWhitehouse pushes FCC for strong net neutrality laws, Senator Ted Cruz calls it ‘Obamacare’ for the Internet!
(Reuters) – U.S. President Barack Obama on Monday said Internet service providers should be regulated more like public utilities to make sure they grant equal access to all content providers, touching off intense protests from cable and telecoms companies and Republican lawmakers. Obama’s detailed statement on the issue of “net neutrality,” a platform in his 2008 presidential campaign, was a rare intervention by the White House into the policy setting of an independent agency. Shares of major Internet service providers Comcast Corp (CMCSA.O) and Time Warner Cable Inc (TWC.N) fell…
Read MoreNETmundial Initiative to use crowd-sourcing as way to fix Internet problems
NETmundial Initiative consists of Brazil’s Internet Steering Committee (CGI.br), Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) and the World Economic Forum (WEF) (Reuters) – Responding to a dizzying array of issues that threaten to break the Internet, from privacy to tax dodging to cybercrime, a group of the world’s leading governance organizations say greater user involvement, not top-down control, is needed. Three organizations — Brazil’s Internet Steering Committee (CGI.br), Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) and the World Economic Forum (WEF) — said on Thursday they were…
Read MoreApple users raise privacy concerns after hard-drive files uploaded to iCloud
Line between devices and cloud services fades as online storage allows users to switch without losing data by Craig Timberg for the Washington Post
After security researcher Jeffrey Paul upgraded the operating system on his MacBook Pro last week, he discovered that several of his personal files had found a new home – on the cloud. The computer had saved the files