EC

Google proposes fix for Europe's search competition concern

Google has submitted its ideas for how to address complaints in Europe that it uses its search power to benefit its other online properties.

Antoine Colombani, the European Commission's spokesman on competition policy, told Reuters that the move took place after the EC finished its years-long assessment of Google's search dominance and its effects:

In the last few weeks, the Commission completed its preliminary assessment formally setting out its concerns. On this basis, Google then made a formal submission of commitments to the Commission.

We are now preparing the launch of a market test to seek feedback from … Read more

Watchdog seeks FTC staff opinion on Google antitrust case

Consumer Watchdog, a group that's accused Google of antitrust misconduct, is trying to find out why the FTC's investigation into the subject resulted in only mild punishment.

The group requested the Federal Trade Commission release its staff's report to detail the situation, according to a letter Consumer Watchdog sent to the commissioners (PDF). The agency's staff prepare such reports then forward them to the five commissioners who vote on what course of action to take.

"I call on you to release the FTC staff report to help make clear what was behind the commission's … Read more

What inspires EC's Neelie Kroes? Angry Birds

PARIS -- It began with a meeting this week between two Finns from Angry Birds maker Rovio Mobile and Neelie Kroes, the vice president of the European Commission's digital agenda. It ended with a jumble of politicians trying to learn what they could do to make Europe more economically vital in the digital age.

"Please skip the next appointment. I need more time with these guys," Kroes told her staff, then called vice ministers and other officials into the meeting. "In three hours we had a list to do for ourselves, and also for getting inspiration. … Read more

Google may dodge FTC's antitrust bullet, report says

The Federal Trade Commission may not have enough evidence of harm to consumers to proceed with an antitrust claim against the heart of Google's business, search, Bloomberg reported.

Google faces antitrust investigations from the U.S. FTC and from the European Commission, both going on for many months and both carrying the potential to wreak havoc with Google's search business. At the heart of the issue is whether Google gives unfair prominence to its own properties -- YouTube, Google Flight Search, Google Images, Google Shopping, Google Maps, and more -- at the expense of other businesses.

Regulators aren'… Read more

Google after antitrust: The good, the bad, and the ugly

Tim Carter was blindsided when his home-improvement site AsktheBuilder.com fell out of favor with Google's search algorithm about 21 months ago. His daily ad revenue from Google AdSense crashed from $1,400 to $70.

"I have learned my lesson," Carter said. "Anybody who builds a business based on the whims of a search engine's algorithms -- that's a foolish thing to do."

This recrimination, mind you, is coming from a former Google advocate. In 2009, Google published an AdSense case study about his success, and Carter even testified before the U.S. Congress … Read more

Two trustbusters who could decide Google's future

Think of them as the good cop and the bad cop.

Two individuals hold central positions in Google's antitrust challenges from the U.S. Federal Trade Commission and the EU's European Commission. As the European commissioner for competition, Joaquin Almunia has tremendous influence over what happens to Google. And in the United States, George Mason University professor Joshua Wright is expected to get some influence soon as an incoming FTC commissioner.

They contrast sharply. Almunia has been highly critical of Google and how it's done business since becoming dominant in search. Wright, though, not only advocates minimal … Read more

Motorola targeted by European regulators over patent issues

The European Commission today opened two formal antitrust investigations against Motorola Mobilty to determine if the company has breached its promise to offer fair patent licensing.

The Commission is specifically aiming to see if Motorola used its patents to hurt competition in violation of European Union antitrust laws.

The investigation is based largely on complaints from Apple and Microsoft, which have alleged that Motorola's licensing arrangements are not in accordance with FRAND, or "fair, reasonable, and nondiscriminatory," terms. Motorola had previously pledged to the EU that it would honor such terms.

The EC's probe will also … Read more

EU overhauling data-privacy policies to protect consumers

Privacy advocates are one step closer to winning a big one in the European Union.

The European Commission, the EU's executive arm, today unveiled a set of proposals aimed at improving the privacy of personal data, like e-mails, Facebook posts, and Web activities, across the European Union's 27 countries. The EC, which claims 70 percent of Europeans are concerned that their private data is being misused, says the time has come for the continent to overhaul the 1995 data protection rules that currently govern privacy across the zone.

"Seventeen years ago, less than 1 percent of Europeans … Read more

Free Windows servers float onto Amazon's cloud

Anyone can download Linux for free, so it was no surprise that Amazon offered the open-source operating system on the free tier of Amazon Web Services.

But now the company has added a free version of Windows Server to the Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2) service, too.

"We are excited to announce that starting today, the AWS Free Usage Tier will now include Amazon EC2 instances running Microsoft Windows Server," Amazon told EC2 customers today. "Customers eligible for the AWS Free Usage tier can now use up to 750 hours per month of t1.micro instances running Microsoft … Read more