Many months post the European Commission filed formal antitrust actions against Google, the American tech-giant issued its response to the Commission last week. Google, which has always denied the European Union’s antitrust charges, this time decided to formalise its response and speak wide open. In short, the high interests and the enormous weight the case has in antitrust […]Oh, well, you are wrong, Google responds to the European Commission
September 1, 2015 by Leave a Comment
Many months post the European Commission filed formal antitrust actions against Google, the American tech-giant issued its response to the Commission last week. Google, which has always denied the European Union’s antitrust charges, this time decided to formalise its response and speak wide open. In short, the high interests and the enormous weight the case has in antitrust […]EU and US close to an agreement on data sharing amid European citizens’ concerns
August 12, 2015 by Leave a Comment
The European Union and the United States are close to sealing a deal on data sharing, which will affect the way banks and other businesses store data. As reported by Reuters last week, the European Commission is working with US authorities on the final details of the same commercial data-sharing deal that was frozen two years […]EU finally agreed to cut roaming charges in 2017 but criticism is always there
July 7, 2015 by Leave a Comment
The European Union finally reached an agreement last week to end roaming charges for people travelling within its 28 member countries as of June 2017. After 12 hours of negotiation the Latvian presidency reached a provisional deal last Tuesday with the European Parliament on new rules to end mobile phone roaming fees and safeguard open […]Changing the EU copyright law won’t bring us much closer to Digital Single Market
June 10, 2015 by Leave a Comment
It was last Monday in Cannes when Andrus Ansip, Vice President of the European Commission (EC) for Digital Single Market (DSM), was interviewed in the context of the music industry’s annual Midem event. Supporting the Commission’s view and strategy for a Digital Single Market in the EU Mr Ansip mainly focused on the part of eliminating […]Google’s bare truth: Europe’s Chief denies EU accusations but admits they “don’t always get it right”
June 9, 2015 by Leave a Comment
When back in April the European Commission formally filed a complaint against Google it was clear that the action could have turned the page of the whole “EU vs Google” case. But after the tech giant responded and set out the initial arguments against the Commission’s findings, almost immediately, no further discussion about the thorny […]“The winner is who can accelerate the transition to a new digital era”. The Sting reports live from EBS 2015: a Digital Europe 4.0
May 12, 2015 by Leave a Comment
The Digital Economy touches every aspect of our society, from the job market and the economy to our social life. The world is changing and who wants to be competitive must adapt quickly. This was the message reinforced at the EBS 2015 Session on Europe and the digital era last week, which was moderated by Bruno […]A Sting Exclusive: “The Digital Economy and Industry are no longer opposing terms”, Commissioner Oettinger underlines live from European Business Summit 2015
May 6, 2015 by Leave a Comment
Written by Günther Oettinger, Commissioner for Digital Economy and Society There are few business sectors emerging as fast as the digital economy. Just a year ago almost no one has ever heard of the taxi company Uber or the hotel substitute service Air B’n’B but now almost everyone knows about these two online services. Greater efficiency, the […]MasterCard at European Business Summit 2015: A focus on innovation will drive inclusive economic growth for Europe
May 6, 2015 by Leave a Comment
Written by Ann Cairns, President of MasterCard, International Markets This year’s European Business Summit’s entitled “Europe 4.0 – Delivering a vision for the future of Europe” falls on the same day as the general elections in the UK which could prove crucial for the future of both, the UK and Europe. At a time when […]A Sting Exclusive: “The competitiveness of Europe depends on a digital single market”, EPP President Joseph Daul highlights live from European Business Summit 2015
May 6, 2015 by Leave a Comment
Written by Joseph Daul, the President of European People’s Party (EPP) Our lives are digital. This has changed the way we interact, work, produce, consume and live. We must embrace this digital revolution, as it can lead to sustainable growth and jobs for European entrepreneurs, employees and citizens. Our American friends are using new digital services […]A Sting Exclusive: “The challenge of Society’s digital transformation”, Spanish Minister of Spain for Industry, Energy and Tourism José Manuel Soria live from European Business Summit 2015
May 6, 2015 by Leave a Comment
Written by Jose Manuel Soria, Minister of Spain for Industry, Energy and Tourism The digital revolution that has accompanied the new millennium is a challenge of major social and economic dimensions. Digital infrastructures and services allow the development of a modern, innovative economic system. This transformational force affects all sectors and industries, and Europe should […]“Decisions taken in the coming weeks will shape Europe’s experience of the internet”, Joe Mcnamee from EDRi says live from European Business Summit 2015
May 6, 2015 by Leave a Comment
Written by Joe Mcnamee, Executive Director of EDRi The European Union has a strong record in regulating the telecommunications market in a way which supports competition and innovation, increasing choice while bringing down prices. Virtually every European citizen and business reaps the benefits every day. Now, we are faced with a new choice, do we […]It’s EU vs. Google for real: the time is now, the case is open
April 21, 2015 by Leave a Comment
As anticipated by the European Sting in a latest Sting of the day last week on Google’s antitrust case in Europe, the European Commission did take finally formal actions and filed a complaint against the Northern American tech giant, alleging the company’s search results unfairly favoured its own shopping services over third-party sites. The antitrust charge followed a five-year […]Yesterday’s “jokes” and sarcasm by Digital Single Market’s Vice President Ansip on EU member states’ right to protect their telco markets
March 25, 2015 by Leave a Comment
The distance between an actual speech and a press release is abyssal. A good example of that came out of Mr Ansip’s introductory speech at an event in Brussels yesterday evening about the EU Digital Single Market. The Vice President of the European Commission for the Digital Single Market (DSM) touched there briefly all current hot topics of the […]A Sting Exclusive: “Digital and mobile technologies are helping to achieve an economic success in Spain”, the Spanish Secretary of State for Telecommunications and Information Society Víctor Calvo-Sotelo reveals to the Sting at Mobile World Congress 2015
March 18, 2015 by Leave a Comment
Exclusively written for the European Sting by Mr Víctor Calvo-Sotelo, Secretary of State for Telecommunication and Society Information in Spain, Spanish Ministry of Industry. The Mobile World Congress constitutes the most important international event on mobile technologies, gathering renowned speakers such as chairs of major telecommunications operators, equipment suppliers and leading software development companies. Today the […]EU to Telcos: Stop Mergers and Acquisitions but please help me urgently with 5G development
March 11, 2015 by Leave a Comment
Last week in the Mobile World Congress 2015 you had the distinct feeling being in an immense supermarket, strolling from isle to isle in order to find the product that you desire. For a deep pocket investor #MWC15 could be an excellent market place where she would be able to put in her “shopping basket” […]EU seeks foreign support on 5G from Mobile World Congress 2015 as the “digital gold rush” begins
March 10, 2015 by Leave a Comment
“The digital economy is simply becoming the economy. And the future network infrastructure, 5G, will become the infrastructure”. These words came from Günther Oettinger, the European Union Commissioner for Digital Economy and Society, and they were spelled in Barcelona, during Mobile World Congress, 2015 last week. Those words stood for Mr. Oettinger’s introduction for the […]Mobile World Congress 2015 first to debate EU’s new stance on Net Neutrality and Roaming Charges
March 7, 2015 by Leave a Comment
Did you really think that Christmas 2015 would be the perfect chance to travel abroad in Europe, do your shopping in London or Paris and call your folks back home for wishes at zero roaming cost? More so, did you really think that Christmas 2015 would be the perfect chance for you to Skype with your pal without […]“Be aware where you put your I Agree signature on and something else”; now Facebook by default opts you in an unseen private data bazar
February 6, 2015 by 2 Comments
When was the last time you installed an application or software in your mobile, tablet or computer? I bet it was quite recently; yesterday or even a couple of hours ago. Do you remember the smooth popup text box that appears in your screen before the installation of your new widget begins? You know, it’s […]“As German Chancellor I want to be able to cope with the merger of the real and digital economy”, Angela Merkel from Switzerland; the Sting reports live from World Economic Forum 2015 in Davos
January 30, 2015 by Leave a Comment
At the second day of the World Economic Forum 2015 in Davos the world was expecting the German Chancellor, Mrs Angela Merkel, in one of the most awaited sessions, titled “Global responsibilities in a digital age”. Mrs Merkel’s speech was warm and stimulating covering the hot issues of the European political agenda. To a disappointment […]New VAT rules in the EU: how a digital sea could have become an ocean
January 13, 2015 by Leave a Comment
From 1 January 2015, a major change to the European Union VAT rules occurred affecting the digital world, which is destined to be discussed widely for a long time. A new regulation has come into place where VAT on digital products sold in the EU will be chargeable in the place of purchase rather than […]“Hasta la vista” Google says to Spain and now Europe is next?
December 17, 2014 by Leave a Comment
“But sadly, as a result of a new Spanish law, we’ll shortly have to close Google News in Spain. Let me explain why. This new legislation requires every Spanish publication to charge services like Google News for showing even the smallest snippet from their publications, whether they want to or not. As Google News itself makes […]EU to Google: How to dismantle European search engines in 13 steps
December 3, 2014 by Leave a Comment
It seems that the search engine thriller that we are watching with horror in the Old Continent goes on. Last week the Sting reported on how parliamentarians were planning to “break up with reality in the Google antitrust case”. This week we are counting the votes and the list of “guidelines” to Google and all […]Parlamentarians to “break up” with reality in the Google antitrust case
November 26, 2014 by Leave a Comment
How many years can an antitrust case endure in the EU? It certainly depends on many factors but in the case of Google 4 is the minimum. This is because the topic of a ‘digital monopoly’ of a search engine is so refined and sophisticated that for the majority of EU stakeholders it is “terra incognita”. Also […]Search Engine neutrality in Europe in danger: Are 160.000 Google filtering requests good enough?
November 5, 2014 by Leave a Comment
The long awaited last public discussion about “the right to be forgotten” took place in Brussels yesterday. This was the last of the seven miracles or otherwise open forums in different European cities that the Californian giant has been organising since last May. The reason for these costly events was to engage civic society in […]It’s Time to Disrupt Europe, Digital First
October 29, 2014 by Leave a Comment
Written by Kumardev Chatterjee, Founder & President of European Young Innovators Forum Over the last 30 years, the European Union has failed in innovation capacity and the main reason is its mindset: in on the one hand, societally, europeans have grown increasingly risk-averse in the last 30 years while on the other, structurally, it has […]Digital business is Europe’s best hope to get back to growth
October 17, 2014 by Leave a Comment
Digital market has received a lot of interest lately in Europe. Not only by the market players that have always lobbied more favourable or less regulation in general, but most importantly by the EU leadership. New Commissioner, new priorities Jean Claude Juncker, new President of the European Commission, seems to have ‘bet all his money’ […]Facebook wins EU approval for WhatsApp acquisition; just a sign of the times
October 1, 2014 by Leave a Comment
After a few months of sleepless nights, Facebook founder and young billionaire Mark Zuckerberg can finally relax a bit. The world’s largest social network will likely receive approval by the European Union for its $19 billion purchase of mobile messaging startup WhatsApp, reports said. Citing two people “familiar with the matter” Reuters revealed on Thursday […]
Look Mom, even the House of Lords says the #righttobeforgotten is not right
July 31, 2014 by Leave a Comment
The relation between the UK and the EU is like that passionate thing usually developped between a cat and a dog. Historically since the very beginning of this love and hate affair in 1973, when London realized that the European project is a ‘good’ one, the UK always seeked to receive special attention, reminding to […]Cancer research put at risk by General Data Protection Regulation? The possible dangers of a data privacy EU mania
July 30, 2014 by Leave a Comment
One of the most important debate topics of the last months in the EU has been data privacy and data protection regulation. Whether it was for a major trade agreement proposal or for the biggest search engine of the world, it makes no difference since all data privacy stakeholders have been always kept busy. Having remained basically static for […]I’m not feeling lucky: The “Right to Be Forgotten” ruling puts Google inside a box
July 16, 2014 by Leave a Comment
“How should one person’s right to be forgotten be balanced with the public’s right to know?” This is the question that Google is asking to its users with an open form which allows the general public to offer its advice. This happens in a moment that the first effects of the decision of the European Court […]Zuckerberg, a paella, and the mighty EU questionnaires that would stop Whatsapp acquisition by Facebook?
July 11, 2014 by Leave a Comment
It was the end of February and we were walking around the Ramblas in Barcelona, at the eve of Mobile World Congress 2014, where the Sting was the only Brussels media that made it to Catalunya. Seduced by the smell of paella and cinnamon, there was one major thing that all the people wearing the magic MWC badge were whispering […]The European Commission cuts roaming charges. But “it’s not enough”…
July 2, 2014 by 1 Comment
With an official communication the European Union has finally announced it: starting from yesterday, 1st of July, using our mobile overseas will be cheaper. The press release stated with an unusually lively spirit, full of exclamation marks and fresh words, that the EU has finally cut the price caps for data downloads by more than half: […]“None of our member states has the dimension to compete with China and the US, not even Germany!”, Head of EUREKA Pedro Nunes on another Sting Exclusive
June 16, 2014 by Leave a Comment
This revealing exclusive interview with Pedro Nunes, Head of EUREKA, was conducted by Carlo Motta at the European Sting’s pavilion during European Business Summit 2014. In the following interview Carlo Motta will be signalled as C.M and Mr Nune as P.N. C.M.: I am very please to welcome to our booth Mr Pedro Nunes, Head of EUREKA. So […]
