The European Commission has slammed tech companies for not responding to hate speech on their platforms, threatening to pass legislation to fix the problem.

Facebook, Twitter, Google, YouTube and Microsoft signed an agreement back in May, which included stipulations forcing them to remove or disable hateful content within 24 hours of detecting it.

However, according to a new report by the EU Justice Commissioner Vera Jourova, tech firms are failing to meet these standards. "In practice, the companies take longer and do not yet achieve this goal," an official told Reuters, saying "they only reviewed 40 percent of the recorded cases in less than 24 hours".

"After 48 hours the figure is more than 80 percent. This shows that the target can realistically be achieved, but this will need much stronger efforts by the IT companies."

The report found that Twitter, which has been plagued with abuse and harassment and frequently criticised for its response to it, was the worst at responding to hate speech, while YouTube was the fastest to address it.

Jourova has threatened that if tech companies do not take action to rectify this, the Commission will have to force their hand with special legislation. "If Facebook, YouTube, Twitter and Microsoft want to convince me and the ministers that the non-legislative approach can work, they will have to act quickly and make a strong effort in the coming months," she told the Financial Times.

Tech and social media companies have been under substantial fire in recent months, after claims that fake news helped to sway the US election in favour of Donald Trump.

The report will be further discussed by EU justice ministers when they meet in Brussels on Thursday.

01/06/2016:Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Microsoft fight hate speech

A group of tech companies including Facebook, Microsoft, Twitter and YouTube have vowed to fight online bullying and terrorism by creating a code of conduct with the help of the European Commission.

The five companies accept that they have a collective responsibility to promote freedom of speech, while also ensuring illegal online hate speech does not infiltrate their respective platforms and services.

The Council Framework Decision to beat racism and xenophobia is a value that resonates with all Member States of the European Commission both online and offline and as such, the tech organisations will work with the Commission to develop a framework that impresses criminal sanctions against those who become involved with hate speech online.

"Hateful conduct has no place on Twitter and we will continue to tackle this issue head on alongside our partners in industry and civil society," said Karen White, Twitter's head of public policy for Europe.

"We remain committed to letting the Tweets flow. However, there is a clear distinction between freedom of expression and conduct that incites violence and hate. In tandem with actioning hateful conduct that breaches Twitter's Rules, we also leverage the platform's incredible capabilities to empower positive voices, to challenge prejudice and to tackle the deeper root causes of intolerance."

The agreement states that if any social network or technology company identifies content that is hateful, it will be removed or disabled within 24 hours, while also ensuring freedom of speech is respected. They will also work with other organisations that will flag up content suspected to be hateful.

"With a global community of 1.6 billion people we work hard to balance giving people the power to express themselves whilst ensuring we provide a respectful environment," added Monika Bickert, head of global policy management at Facebook.

"As we make clear in our Community Standards, there's no place for hate speech on Facebook. We urge people to use our reporting tools if they find content that they believe violates our standards so we can investigate. Our teams around the world review these reports around the clock and take swift action."

The European Commission has put forward proposals in its new Digital Single Market strategy that could end digital copyright restrictions across Europe, allowing users to access services regardless of their location within the EU.

The changes could allow Britons to watch BBC iPlayer or Sky Go without needing to be in the UK. At present, access to such services as these, as well as Netflix, are disrupted because of different EU states having different copyright laws.

The EC said it would introduce regulations that allow "portability" of online content services throughout the EU, harmonising the laws of 28 member states.

Andrus Ansip, Vice-President for the Digital Single Market, said: "We want to ensure the portability of content across borders. People who legally buy content films, books, football matches, TV series must be able to carry it with them anywhere they go in Europe. This is a real change, similar to what we did to end roaming charges. Today, we also set out our vision for a modern copyright regime in the EU and the gradual steps to achieve it."

He added that the EC wanted to widen access to cultural content online and "strengthen European R&D, using technologies like text and data mining."

The Digital Single Market is the blueprint for Europe claiming its place in the digital era, today we start making it a reality," said Ansip.

This comes as the Commission plans a new EU-wide copyright framework next year that better mirrors and enables people's use of digital content within the EU.

The four main aims of the framework are, first, to widen access to content within the EU and second to codify copyright exceptions. Third, the EC aims to create a fairer marketplace and fourth, fight piracy.

"We want a copyright environment that is stimulating, fair, rewards investment in creativity and makes it easier for Europeans to access and use content legally. Our ongoing work on the role of platforms and online intermediaries will also help to translate our plan into concrete proposals," said Gnther Oettinger, Commissioner for the Digital Economy and Society.

In response to the new proposals, Charlotte Holloway, Head of Policy at techUK said that the Commission's thinking on the proposals will have a direct impact for UK companies operating here in the country and also exporting across Europe.

"In the push for a more harmonised single market, it is vital that we harmonise in a direction that supports innovation and doesn't seek to roll back the clock on Europe's digital transformation. UK firms, together with UK Government, will need to remain fully engaged on getting the detail right on what could be important pro-growth pro-innovation policies," she said.

She added that the Commission "must listen to companies to gain a clear understanding of the technical viability of what is being proposed".

"Creative media companies will be looking to further detail on proposals cross-border access that maintain the existing value facilitated by territorial copyright."

Apple's tax arrangements are to be investigated by European regulators, following allegations the consumer electronics giant has received preferential treatment from the Irish government.

The European Commission has confirmed that a formal investigation into the iPad maker's Irish tax arrangements is being launched, as part of a wider, Europe-wide clampdown on tax evasion.

Ireland has come under fire for a series of tax loopholes that permit large companies to take advantage of lower corporation tax rates.

The standard rate of corporation tax in Ireland is 12.5 per cent, which is considered to be one of the lowest in the world.

However, according to claims made by the US Senate last year, Apple had been granted permission by the Irish government to pay a corporate tax rate of two per cent or less.

This was disputed at the time by the government, who denied claims that "special deals" were being struck with multinationals that would give them access to preferential tax rates.

This was reportedly made possible by Apple's decision to establish its international headquarters in Ireland, but the firm did not declare a tax residency.

The Irish government has taken steps to outlaw this practice by ruling that all companies incorporated in Ireland must register a tax residency in another jurisdiction or face having to cough up for the full corporation tax rate by 2015.

Speaking at a press conference earlier today, Joaqun Almunia, the European commissioner for competition, said exploiting tax loopholes gives companies an unfair advantage.

"In the current context of tight public budgets, it is particularly important that large multinationals pay their fair share of taxes," he said.

"Under the EU's state aid rules, national authorities cannot take measures allowing certain companies to pay less tax than they should if the tax rules of the member state were applied in a fair and non-discriminatory way."

Starbucks and car manufacturer Fiat are also among the companies having their tax arrangements probed, with Almunia adding that its investigations could be extended to further countries and companies over time.

"It is well known we contacted Belgium and the UK, in particular the UK in the case of Gibraltar, and maybe we will open a new investigation," he added.

The European Parliament has given the strongest indication yet that its want mobile manufacturers to include a universal charging port in devices after amending a directive.

The Universal Charging Solution (UCS) started in 2009 as a memorandum of understanding between the European Commission and 14 mobile phone companies which sealed a commitment to common standards for smartphones.

But now, MEPs have made an amendment to the radio equipment directive that will require all equipment to comply with the UCS. UCS is embodied in the International Telecommunication Union's Recommendation ITU-T L.1000. This recommendation has already been widely adopted by many device manufacturers and supported by service providers around the world.

The move should reduce the number of chargers that land up in rubbish tips and should also cut costs for manufacturers as they will no longer need to put a charger in with every device they sell.

Studies have shown that consumers are warming to the concept of a universal charger and, in a recent market trial, UK operator O2 found that, given a choice, 82 per cent of customers purchased a phone without a charger. The resulting savings in e-waste are potentially enormous, with some estimating that consumers around the world throw away 82,000 tons of redundant chargers each year.

"With ITU's UCS we have a common-sense remedy to the very challenging problem of e-waste that can be applied to the widest possible range of mobile devices," said Dr Hamadoun Tour, secretary general of the ITU.

"I urge the European Parliament to include specific reference to ITU's globally agreed standard in the future directive. This will allow manufacturers to profit from lowering unit costs of production through economies of scale while also limiting device duplication, reducing the strain on raw materials and enabling significant reductions in e-waste."

The ITU has also published a universal charging solution for ICT devices such as modems, set-top boxes, home networking equipment and fixed telephones.

Recommendation ITU-T L.1001 "External universal power adapter solutions for stationary ICT devices" should "further reduce the number of chargers manufactured by widening the range of compatible devices, facilitating adapter reuse and recycling, and increasing build-quality and resilience to over-voltages," according to an ITU statement.

The European Commission has awarded 1 billion to researchers to help develop commercial applications for graphene.

It is hoped the grant will allow Europe to take on Asia and the US in further developing the so-called wonder material.

The grant was awarded under the EU's Future and Emerging Technology' research programmes. The Graphene Flagship will coordinate 126 academic and industrial research groups in 17 European countries with an initial 30-month budget of 54 million.

Researchers Andre Geim and Konstantin Novoselov at the University of Manchester first created the substance. At the time of the breakthrough, it was heralded as a potential material for the development of faster processors.

Key applications for graphene include fast and flexible electronics, optical devices and functional lightweight components and advanced batteries.

In addition to boosting existing products and components, graphene could help create new breeds of products too including consumer electronics such as e-paper and bendable personal communication devices as well as lighter and more energy-efficient airplanes.

In the longer term, graphene is expected to give rise to new computational models and medical applications such as artificial retinas.

The research project will be coordinated by Sweden's Chalmers University of Technology with Professor Jari Kinaret leading research activities.

"Although the flagship is extremely extensive, it cannot cover all areas. For example, we don't intend to compete with Korea on graphene screens," said Kinaret. "Graphene production, however, is obviously central to our project."

During the 30-month ramp-up phase, the Graphene Flagship will focus on communications, ICT and the transport sector. It will also look at supporting applications in the areas of energy technology and sensors.

The details of flagship implementation after the ramp-up phase are still open and form a part of the discussions of the EU's Horizon 2020 research programme.

This initiative is not the only one focused on graphene development of late. Just last week, it was revealed that a Government and Cambridge University-backed graphene research centre would be opening its doors later this year, with work starting as early as next month.

"Our first aim is to look at ways of making graphene that ensure it is still useful at the end of the progrogress,"said Professor Bill Milne, a member of the centre's management team.

"We have to find modes of production that are consistently effective, and there is still a lot of work to be done in this respect."

The European Commission (EC) is calling on various private sector organisations and the CIO community to help bridge the gap between digital skills and available jobs in Europe by year 2020.

ICT has become an instrumental part of the developing European economy. While the demand for ICT practitioners is growing by about three per cent a year, the number of graduates specialising in such areas is declining. This could result in an estimated 700,000 unfilled vacancies by 2015, according to the EC.

The Grand Coalition for Digital Skills and Jobs is a multi-stakeholder partnership the EU has created to help combat the digital skills and jobs gap by promoting greater education, training and employment. It will be officially launched with a pledging conference on 4 March where stakeholders will present their commitments and ideas for upholding to the main initiatives of the Grand Coalition.

The coalition's core aims include:

*Training and matching skills to jobs;

*Mobilising ICT practitioners from member states;

*Stimulating a single European certification scheme for digital skills;

*Attracting young people to a career in ICT by raising awareness and improving education and training;

*Attracting people in general to the ICT industry through innovative learning and teaching.

A number of companies have already confirmed they will support the coalition's aims. These include Alcatel-Lucant, ARM, CEPIS, Digital Europe, ENI, HP, Nokia, Telefonica, Telenor Group, Randsta and SAP.

IT skills body, the Corporate IT Forum, has also pledged its support. One of the forum's key focus areas moving forward will be to help implement some of the initiatives outlined by the Grand Coalition, according to executive director David Roberts.

"We live and do business in an increasingly digital world and businesses will struggle to flourish and compete in a global market if the education system cannot produce people with business-ready ICT skills," Roberts said.

"The root of the problem appears to lie in an ineffective education and careers system and this will be a major focus for the Education & Skills Commission in 2013."

Government and industry action us needed to prevent a lost generation and an uncompetitive European economy, EC vice president Neelie Kroes has warned.

"The commission will do its bit but we can't do it alone," she said. "Companies, social partners and education players including at national and regional level - have to stand with us, "Kroes concluded.

The European Commission (EC) has launched an initiative to help companies take a larger share of the global robotics market.

The commission has joined forces with European robotics manufacturers and research institutes to launch a Public Private Partnership (PPP).

The partnership is set to launch in 2013 and is the latest part of the EC's continuing Digital Agenda.

A strong robotics industry is key to Europe's future competitiveness.

The EC has already funded more than 120 robotics research projects worth around 600 million (482 million) in the last five years.

EC vice president Neelie Kroes signed a Memorandum of Understanding to help strengthen the EU robotics sector.

The commission said that robotics is an important driver in the European economy, with the sector accounting for about a quarter of the worldwide production in industrial robotics.

The domestic and professional service robot markets are expected to grow by 40 per cent in the coming years, with the strongest growth in rescue, security and professional cleaning applications, the EC claims.

By 2020, the commission said service robotics could reach a market volume of more than 100 billion per year.

The PPP will be responsible for improving the industrial competitiveness of Europe through innovative robotic technologies, as well as providing robotic products and services as key enablers to help solve Europes societal challenges.

It also plans to strengthen the networking activities of the European robotics community and reach out to existing and new users.

"A strong robotics industry is key to Europe's future competitiveness. Growing our robotics industry means new jobs and a strong European manufacturing sector," said Kroes.

The EC did not divulge which academic institutions and companies will be part of the PPP, but said that partners would prepare a proposal that the Commission would examine and endorse.

The European Commission has implemented new mobile roaming regulations that will mean cheaper calls within Europe from 1 July.

The European Parliament provisionally agreed the regulations in March, which mean tablet and smartphones users should avoid extortionate bills when they use their devices abroad this summer.

The new regulations will be published at the end of June. The regulations will be enforced for 10 years. From July, making a call will cost no more than 0.29 (24p) per minute while taking a call will cost no more than 0.08 (6p).

The rates will be reduced even further in July 2013. By 2014 the maximum price of a call will decrease to 0.19 (16p) and 0.05 (4p) to receive.

In two years time, users will be able to select an alternative operator for roaming, which should see more competition in the market. Consumer protection will also be enhanced when leaving Europe as operators will have to give users a warning when the bill for internet use nears 50.

The new rules are seen as a crucial victory for the 'Europeans for Fair Roaming' campaign. The movement has been calling for further decreases in roaming charges for the last two years.

"This means that the new EU roaming rules will now come in force on 1 July, just in time for the summer holidays," the co-ordinator of the FairRoaming.org campaign, Bengt Beier, explained.

"We are glad the governments accepted the new regulations just as the Parliament did on 10 May. The new rules are a step forward for consumer protection. But it will take another two years until we will know for sure whether prices will really drop," he added.

"The EU should now look towards two other nuisances for mobile users: the high prices for worldwide roaming and international calls from home to other European states, because those things are not covered by the roaming regulation," Beier said.

On January 26th 2012, 22 member states of the European Union put pen to paper on the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA). In the words of the European Commission, it's an agreement that "ensures people everywhere can continue to share non-pirated material and information on the web," whilst offering the reassurance that it "does not restrict freedom of the internet. ACTA will not censor or shut down websites."

The creation of ACTA has been beset with controversy. There's been a real sense of cloak and daggers about it.

It adds that "ACTA ensures the EU's already high standard of protection for intellectual property goes global - protecting jobs in Europe. Because Europe is losing 8 billion annually through counterfeit goods flooding our market."

Inevitably, though, the soothing words of the official EC language haven't offered too much comfort for those protesting what's proven to be a massively contentious agreement. Already, in the aftermath of ACTA being signed, one senior European Parliament official Kader Arif - has tendered his resignation, complaining that there was "no association of civil society, lack of transparency from the beginning and successive postponements of the signing of the text without any explanation".

So, what's been going on?

In the beginning

The story of ACTA began way back in 2006, as an attempt to bring together a unified response to the piracy of copyrighted work, and the global trade in counterfeit goods. In both instances, the internet, generally governed by local rather than international laws, had facilitated a massive surge in activity, and the idea with ACTA was to put together some tools to combat it.

Given the contentious nature of anything that in any way battles any degree of web freedom, the creation of ACTA has been beset with controversy. There's been a real sense of cloak and daggers about it.

The fact that, nearly four years later, an agreement is being signed tells its own story.

For and against

Sparing the bulk of what went on between 2008 and 2012, the arguments over ACTA have divided, inevitably, into two sides.

There are widespread fears that ACTA is a very blunt tool to deal with internet copyright issues.

The case for ACTA is that it enables, in theory, more effective combating of copyright breaches, counterfeit goods, and less than scrupulous pharmaceutical products. It does it with the aid of a body that sits outside of existing international organisations, and effectively puts in place standards for the enforcement of intellectual property that don't fall apart when they reach a particular country's border.

Those against ACTA suggest that it's become far more than originally outlined. Many perceive it, because of its name, to be about physical goods and their counterfeiting, but the breadth of the agreement's content means that internet distribution is firmly on its radar. Not without some substance do opponents argue that it's bringing in civil liberties concerns with regards the internet, and there are widespread fears that ACTA is a very blunt tool to deal with internet copyright issues.

The European Commission insists this isn't the case. In particular, it argues that "ACTA is not about how we use the internet in our everyday lives".

It is worth noting that one of the earlier drafts of the agreement included the ability to cut people off from the internet. Even in existing drafts, the onus seems to be on the internet service provider (ISP), with regards copyright matters, to take responsibility. In theory, we're back at ISPs taking on the role of the internet's police force. Were that to go ahead, the very least an end consumer could expect would be a bigger broadband bill.

It's not just the content of ACTA that's caused concern, though. The manner in which it has been put together has resulted in loud complaints. Most of the negotiations, for example, have been done behind closed doors, and to this stage, the citizens of the 22 countries that have signed up to date have not been able to scrutinise it and register any form of protest.

For businesses, many would hope that their copyrighted work would be afforded an extra level of protection, although whether that proves to be the case is debatable.

As Kader Arif said when he quit his post: "I have faced never-before-seen manoeuvres from the right wing of this Parliament to impose a rushed calendar before public opinion could be alerted, thus depriving the Parliament of its right to expression and of the tools at its disposal to convey citizens' legitimate demands".

Whilst the public at large hasn't been consulted, though, a 2009 freedom of information request revealed that Time Warner, eBay, Google, Dell and Sony Pictures were amongst those who had been sent a draft of the agreement. Furthermore, a year before that, a discussion paper had been sent to Wikileaks, which published it. An official draft was eventually published in 2010.

Impact?

So how will it affect users, and how will it affect business? Both good questions, but both without a definitive answer. Right now, ACTA moves onto the next stage in its life, where the European Parliament has to ratify it.

Assuming that it leaves the text pretty much in tact, and that individual nations adopt the agreement (which in itself it no given), then its overall impact is still variable. For businesses, many would hope that their copyrighted work would be afforded an extra level of protection, although whether that proves to be the case is debatable. However, for those whose businesses have been damaged by piracy to some degree, the thinking is that there is at least some recourse here.

The ACTA timeline

2006 - Preliminary talks begin, with a handful of countries involved (including Japan and the US, with the member states of the European Union following).

2008 - Official negotiations get underway, with more nations, including Australia and Singapore, joining talks.

May 2008 - The first public sign that ACTA was being considered, as a discussion document finds its way onto Wikileaks. More document leaks follow over the months ahead.

April 2010- The leaks keep getting bigger and bigger, and so in April, the first official draft text is officially released.

April 2011 - The finalised agreement text is published.

October 2011 - The first countries formally sign up to the agreement, with the US, Australia and Japan amongst the signatories. Many others, including EU countries, decline to sign at this stage, but promise to do so in the future.

January 2012 - 22 member states of the EU sign ACTA.

June 2012 - Ratification expected by European Parliament.

The future

There's still some way to go. As ACTA moves from closed meeting rooms to the public limelight, you can, at the very least, expect to be hearing much more about it in the months ahead.

Whether that changes what state it finally makes it onto the statute books isn't clear, but the path to it doing so still features some pretty hefty obstacles.

It's easy to picture it as a scene out of Yes Minister, but with Continental accents. "Director, we need to do something about these interwebs, they are getting out of control." "Yes, Commissioner".

The last set of EU rules date back to 1995, when web browsing was a distinctly niche activity, and Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg was still at primary school.

Of course, EU justice commissioner Viviane Reding is no newcomer when it comes to technology; her previous post was as Commissioner for the Information Society. And the extensive proposals to reform the EU's data protection regime seem largely sensible.

Typical Brussels wording, such as "a general EU framework for data protection", mask the true content of what could turn out to be very extensive set of changes. The proposed regulations are, in many ways, more of an update than a reform. The last set of EU rules date back to 1995, when web browsing was a distinctly niche activity, and Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg was still at primary school.

Rules, such as the "right to be forgotten", will affect sites such as Facebook and Google, but also businesses operating forums and blogs, and possibly even product knowledge bases where members of the public can contribute material.

At the other end of the spectrum, rules such as the requirement for firms with more than 250 employees to appoint a data protection officer, and a legal obligation for companies that suffer a data breach to notify their regulator the ICO in the case of the UK within 24 hours might smack of bureaucracy.

But most of what the EU has proposed is simply good practice.

Companies should not, for example, hold on to data where a customer or citizen does not want them to; having someone tasked with data protection in a firm is one way to ensure management takes the issue seriously.

An obligation to notify the "supervising authority" of a data breach is a far milder requirement than, for example, California's California Security Breach Information Act (or SB-1386for short). That obliges companies to inform their customers, not merely their regulator. The maximum euro1m fine for data breaches, again, will force those organisations that have dragged their heels on data protection and privacy to raise their game.

The question for businesses now, though, is how the new rules will be implemented.

Implementation and enforcement of EU regulations is largely a matter for national governments. The UK's track record here is more mixed. In some cases, the UK has dragged its heels over implementing EU rules; in others authorities have stood accused of "gold plating" legislation, going beyond the basic requirements set out by the EU and placing more onerous compliance requirements on UK businesses than those demanded by other EU states.

So there is an opportunity for businesses, and the technology sector, to examine the rules and to make a well thought out case for sensible implementation in the UK. And there is also plenty that companies can do to prepare themselves too; Google's new privacy policy is one example.

But ignoring it and hoping it will go away, Jim Hacker style, is not an option.

Stephen Pritchard is a contributing editor at IT Pro

The European Commission has proposed widespread changes to data protection rules governing Europe, including the addition of significant fines for breaching the laws.

The EC wants to replace the current directive, issued in 1995 when the internet had little traction across Europe, with legislation that applies to all member states.

As part of its changes, companies who breach the rules could be told to pay out as much as 1 million (831,000).

I would have thought all the data protection regulators are going to be made up it's like Christmas for them.

The EC has proposed both a regulation, setting out "a general EU framework for data protection" and a directive which sets out rules on the protection "of personal data processed for the purposes of prevention, detection, investigation or prosecution of criminal offences and related judicial activities."

Despite concerns, the EC believes that stricter rules will hinder economic growth across Europe, businesses will actually be saved around 2.3 billion a year thanks to the streamlined processes being proposed.

In particular, the regulation will get rid of separate laws governing different nations, thereby easing administrative burdens, the EC said.

"With this reform the European Union will create a real single digital market, accessible both for companies and consumers. It will make the European Union an international standard setter in terms of modern data protection rules," said EU justice commissioner Viviane Reding, the EC's vice president.

"[Businesses are] confronted with a real load of notification requirements a patchwork of laws, a load of reporting requirements this leads to legal uncertainty, to legal fragmentation.

"Reform will eliminate the unnecessary administrative burden as well as the many costs linked to different reporting requirements existing throughout the EU. It will do so with one main text. "

According to Reding, 72 per cent of EU citizens are concerned businesses will misuse their data.

The legislation will take effect two years after it is officially adopted.

24-hour rule

One of the more controversial aspects of the regulation is its request that companies inform both affected parties and data protection authorities when a breach occurs within 24 hours.

"Where this cannot achieved within 24 hours, an explanation of the reasons for the delay should accompany the notification. The individuals whose personal data could be adversely affected by the breach should be notified without undue delay in order to allow them to take the necessary precautions."

For those of us who are familiar with dealing with a difficult security breach, having to contact a regulator in that massively important, golden 24 hours would be an unnecessary and unwarranted distraction.

Even though companies such as Sony and RSA have recently been lambasted for not reporting breaches soon enough, many have suggested the rule is too strict and could result in poor reporting of incidents.

"It's not helpful to specify a strict time in the way they've done," Stewart Room, partner in Field Fisher Waterhouse's technology law group, told IT Pro. "The regime that we have for telcos and ISPs, of reporting without undue delay, would be the right regime.

"For those of us who are familiar with dealing with a difficult security breach, having to contact a regulator in that massively important, golden 24 hours would be an unnecessary and unwarranted distraction. What may happen, rather than focusing totally on remedial action, the unfortunate organisation that suffers a breach is going to be focusing more on regulatory action."

Containment, mitigation and recovery should be on companies' minds after a breach occurs, Room added.

Others have suggested the 24-hour rule will lead to inaccurate reporting of data breaches, leading either to over or understated reactions.

ICO boost?

The new EU rules could favour the UK's data protection watchdog, the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO), which has been asking for greater enforcement powers, even after it was given the ability to fine companies up to 500,000.

The EC wants to "further enhance the independence and powers of national data protection authorities (DPAs) to enable them to carry out investigations, take binding decisions and impose effective and dissuasive sanctions, and oblige Member States to provide them with sufficient resources to do so."

It would like to see DPAs allowed to fine companies as much as 1 million or up to two per cent of the global annual turnover of a company.

"I would have thought all the data protection regulators are going to be made up it's like Christmas for them," Room said.

"It's very clear who the winners are - data protection regulators, data protection lawyers, data protection consultants and data protection officers. What's less clear is how do data subjects, controllers and processors win."

We welcome the move towards more harmonisation of data protection laws in the EU which will help create legal certainty and confidence for companies to operate.

"The revision of Europe's Data Protection framework is an important opportunity to develop regulation that both protects privacy and supports the creation and growth of modern services over the global internet," a spokesperson said.

"We welcome the move towards more harmonisation of data protection laws in the EU which will help create legal certainty and confidence for companies to operate."

The ICO has welcomed the proposals too, but commissioner Christopher Graham said in a number of areas they were "unnecessarily and unhelpfully over prescriptive."

"This poses challenges for its practical application and risks developing a 'tick box' approach to data protection compliance," the ICO said in an official statement.

"The proposal also fails to properly recognise the reality of international transfers of personal data in today's globalised world and misses the opportunity to adjust the European regulatory approach accordingly.

Amongst other qualms, Graham said there was no clear indication of how the regulation's requirements could be readily enforced outside the EU.

More red tape? More bureaucracy?

Yet for all the good will of the proposals, the additional requirements lumped on companies have already upset some.

On top of the 24-hour rule, the EC wants companies with more than 250 employees to appoint a designated data protection officer.

Companies will also have to gain consent from citizens if they wish to use their data.

"In order for processing to be lawful, personal data should be processed on the basis of the consent of the person concerned or some other legitimate basis, laid down by law is based either on a statement or on a clear affirmative action by the person concerned and is freely given," the EC stated.

Furthermore, citizens will be able to ask for data on them to be deleted by companies that hold it otherwise known as their "right to be forgotten."

"Any person should have the right to have personal data concerning them rectified and a 'right to be forgotten' where the retention of such data is not in compliance with this regulation," the EC said.

In addition, all data handlers would be asked to introduce the "privacy by design" principle to ensure "data protection safeguards are taken into account at the planning stage of procedures and systems."

"One of the unintended consequences might be that regulation becomes more and more about box ticking, rather than the substance of privacy," Room added.

"If an organisation is going to be judged on the accountability principle by reference to its documented policies for compliance, does having a good set of papers provide a regulatory get-out that disguises what might be poor operations?"

IBM has come to an arrangement with the European Commission (EC) to ensure it doesn't gain a monopolistic hold on the mainframe market.

I am pleased that we could find a swift solution with IBM to our competition concerns. Timely interventions are crucial in fast moving technology markets.

Big Blue put forward suggestions as to how to ensure fair competition specifically in the mainframe maintenance market and the EC has now made these legally binding.

As part of the deal, IBM will make spare parts and technical data available quickly to independent mainframe maintenance companies, with no prejudice as to commercial terms.

"I am pleased that we could find a swift solution with IBM to our competition concerns. Timely interventions are crucial in fast moving technology markets," said Joaqun Almunia, commissioner vice president in charge of competition policy.

The agreement concludes an antitrust investigation launched back in July 2010. Should IBM fall back on its promises, the EC can fine to the tune of up to 10 per cent of its annual turnover.

IBM seemed content the matter was now resolved.

"IBM welcomes this final resolution of the inquiry into certain IBM mainframe maintenance practices and is pleased that the Commission's investigation of the IBM mainframe is now concluded," it said in a statement obtained by Reuters.

The European Commission yesterday unveiled legislation designed to open up access to public sector data, in a move that could prove valuable to developers of smartphone applications such as maps or restaurant finders.

We are sending a strong signal to administrations today. Your data is worth more if you give it away. So start releasing it now...

If approved, the law could generate an additional 40 billion in economic activity in the EU each year, according to the commission, which claims public administrators across Europe are sitting on a 'goldmine of unrealised economic potential." For example, transport and construction companies may benefit from easier access to weather information and geographical data could be tailored for smartphones.

"We are sending a strong signal to administrations today. Your data is worth more if you give it away. So start releasing it now: use this framework to join the other smart leaders who are already gaining from embracing open data," said Neelie Kroes, the EU commissioner for digital technology policy.

"Taxpayers have already paid for this information, the least we can do is give it back to those who want to use it in new ways that help people and create jobs and growth."

The draft law states that the price of access to public information should be no more than the cost of releasing and reproducing that data. It aims to standardize rules governing access to public data by individuals and companies across the 27-nation bloc and may be in place by 2013.

France and Britain have policies on access to public information that could be used as a model, the Commission said.

The new law - an update to the 2003 Directive relating to the re-use of public sector information - won't change legal protection on personal and intellectual property rights data. However, in addition to other key changes, it will also bring about the creation of a new data portal that will make the commission's own information - spanning EU institutions, bodies agencies and national authorities - publicly available.

This new portal is currently being developed and tested and is expected to launch in the spring of 2012.

(Additional reporting by IT Pro)

Nelie Kroes set the proverbial cat among the copyright pigeons this weekend with a controversial speech about the limitations of current copyright systems, laws and technologies.

Kroes addressed an event in France hosted by the Forum D'Avignon think tank on Saturday, speaking about copyright issues as part of her role as European Commission vice president for the Digital Agenda.

Her speech questioned whether the current copyright system was the right and only tool to achieve the Commission's objectives of facilitating the consumption of creative content.

"We need flexibility in the system, not the straitjacket of a single model," Kroes said.

"In particular, we should make it as easy as possible to license, not obstruct that process, while making sure that the system efficiently secures the interests of artists themselves."

She referenced the commission's ongoing work towards its legislative proposal on collective rights management in response, and suggested that related directives, including that which levies VAT inconsistently between e-books and their physical equivalents, should be overhauled.

"The platforms, channels and business models by which content is produced, distributed and used can be as varied and innovative as the content itself," Kroes added, calling on the IT industry to play its role.

The EU's digital champion said technology providers should help make the purchase, delivery and consumption of content easier for EU citizens.

"Citizens increasingly hear the word copyright and hate what is behind it. Sadly, many see the current system as a tool to punish and withhold, not a tool to recognise and reward," she said.

Kroes suggested technology had a central role to play in helping artists connect directly and cheaply with audiences and by supporting systems of recognition and reward. She suggested a Global Repertoire database could be used to reference copyright, while tracking technologies could trace access to content and distribute revenues accordingly.

And she cited cloud computing for its disruptive potential for licensing content access on multiple devices.

"I see how some European stakeholders see with horror the arrival of Netflix, or the expansion of iTunes. We need to react, not to be paralysed by fear," she said.

To answer the need for more adaptable copyright models and technologies, Kroes said the current law needed to be re-examined and replace with a framework that was more flexible, echoing the sentiment behind the publication of the UK's Hargreaves report earlier this year.

EU regulators have given the green light to Microsoft's $8.5 billion acquisition of VoIP firm Skype.

The European Commission said that its investigation of the takeover showed that the firms' activities mainly overlapped for video communications, where Microsoft is active through its Windows Live Messenger.

"However, the Commission considers that there are no competition concerns in this growing market where numerous players, including Google, are present," it said in a statement.

"For enterprise communications, the investigation confirmed that Skype has a limited market presence for these products and does not compete directly with Microsoft's enterprise communication product Lync, which is used mostly by large enterprises."

The deal is expected to lead to new customers for Microsoft's Windows and Office software.

The US Federal Trade Commission cleared the deal in June.

Software giant Microsoft announced plans to acquire Skype back in May last year.

"Together we will create the future of real-time communications so people can easily stay connected to family, friends, clients and colleagues anywhere in the world," said Steve Ballmer, Microsoft's chief executive (CEO).

Tony Bates, Skype's CEO, is to look after the Skype division within Microsoft. He will report directly to Ballmer.

"Microsoft and Skype share the vision of bringing software innovation and products to our customers," he said.

"Together, we will be able to accelerate Skype's plans to extend our global community and introduce new ways for everyone to communicate and collaborate."

The European Commission (EC) has launched a consultation on whether electronic signatures and electronic identification (eID) and authentication could help boost e-commerce across the continent.

According to the body, problems with identifying people and their signatures are stunting the growth of the EU's online economy.

Citizens and interested parties are to be asked for their opinions on electronic signatures, identification and authentication.

The ICT sector will be targeted as well, as the EC seeks to gain the industry's thoughts on how eSignatures could be introduced effectively and securely, as well as what expectations companies have when it comes to standardisation.

"I welcome everybody's views on how we can best verify people's identities and signatures when we buy, sell or undertake administrative procedures online that need to be highly secure," said Neelie Kroes, European Commission Vice President for the Digital Agenda.

"I want to help all Europeans get online without feeling that they will fall victim to data frauds or scams."

The EC said it was also looking to the future of authentication technologies, inviting thoughts on alternatives to Public Key Infrastructure, which is widely used for managing electronic signatures.

The consultation will aid the commission's wider review of how the EU should move forward in the internet age, known as the Digital Agenda for Europe, which was launched last May.

The European Commission (EC) has been told to pay over 12 million (10.2 million) to software provider Systran for breaching copyright laws.

Systran provided the EC with UNIX-based translation software between 1997 and 2002. The European body brought about legal action by Systran after it launched a tender for maintenance in 2003, asking other companies to upgrade the translation systems.

The software provider claimed the EC had impinged on the company's intellectual property rights by allowing other firms to work on its translation software.

The case has come to a close after almost four years of legal wrangling and Systran claimed the EU General Court's decision was an historic one.

"Following ten years of fighting and a court proceeding lasting nearly four years, the General Court of the European Union has recognised Systran's intellectual property rights," Systran said in a statement.

"For the first time, a European institution has been condemned in such a manner and to such a degree."

The court also warned if Systran's IP rights are not better protected in future, the software firm could sue the commission yet again.

"It is for the Commission to draw all appropriate conclusions in order to ensure that Systran's rights in the Systran Unix version are taken into account as concerns the work relating to the EC-Systran Unix version," the court said.

"If they are not taken into account, given that the damage for which compensation is awarded in this case holds only for the period from 2004 to the date of delivery of this judgment, Systran would be entitled to bring before the General Court a fresh action seeking damages in respect of the further damage it might suffer."

In the UK, a debate surrounding IP laws is rumbling on. Last week, a call for evidence was launched in order to assess whether legislation in the country has hindered businesses in the digital age.

The European Commission has expressed its concern over very low adoption of e-commerce in the European Union.

After a 10-year campaign, the EC claimed that less than two per cent of the European retail trade has adopted e-commerce practices.

In announcing the public consultation, the EC has put out a plea to retailers, government bodies, internet service providers and the public at large to share their views.

A measure of the EC's frustration is hinted at in a final clause, which states: "However, comments from all other interested parties not-cited above are welcome and are encouraged by the Commission."

The hope is that the questionnaire will shed some light on why there appears to be such strong resistance. The consultancy will be receptive to reports until 15 October.

An E-commerce Directive was issued in 2000 to set up a framework for e-commerce across the EU. Its aim was to establish harmonised rules on issues such as the transparency and information requirements for online service providers, commercial communications, electronic contracts and limitations of liability of intermediary service providers.

The internal market created would be controlled by local laws of the member state where the service was based and other member states would not be allowed to restrict incoming services.

Alarm bells started ringing last year and the EC launched a guide to shore up consumer confidence in e-commerce At that time, the EC valued the market as being worth $106 billion.

Mobile heavyweights Orange and T-Mobile have been cleared by European regulators to go ahead with their proposed merger - one that will result in a combined UK customer base of just short of 30 million users.

The two companies will start integration efforts with immediate effect, with the merger expected to be completed by the Spring.

"We are delighted to receive the EU clearance on our project to create a joint venture with Deutsche Telekom in the United Kingdom," said Gervais Pellissier, deputy chief executive and chief financial offers of Orange's parent company France Telecom, in a statement.

"This clearance will allow us to create a strong operator and to offer high-quality network and services to our customers. By drawing on the resources of Deutsche Telekom and France Telecom, and on an experienced management and staff in the United Kingdom, we are confident that we will leverage on identified synergies and generate significant value for our shareholders."

Such synergies include savings of some 3.5 billion, according to the two companies, who have also committed to leaving the Orange and T-Mobile brands to co-exist for at least 18 months.

"This is excellent news, for our customers, for our highly committed teams in the UK and for our shareholders. Now the way is clear for pooling our resources to create an outstanding high-speed mobile broadband network in one of the most competitive markets in Europe," said Tim Httges, Deutsche Telekom's chief financial officer, who will lead the board as a non-executive chairman for the first two years of following the new company's birth. After that time, Pellissier will take the helm for two years.

Httges added: "This joint venture company is based on a significant potential of synergies which create substantial value for the two shareholders and translate directly into customer benefits. Our teams in the UK will be rolling up their sleeves to roll out these benefits."

Orange UK chief executive Tom Alexander will head up the new company, assisted by current T-Mobile chief executive Richard Moat, who will serve as the company's chief operating officer.

The European Commission will be monitoring Virgin Media's use of a network traffic monitoring system, after a complaint from Privacy International.

Virgin is planning to use Detica's CView to figure out how much piracy happens across its network, by scanning 40 per cent of traffic.

A spokesperson for the EC told ZDNet: "The Commission's services will closely monitor this case."

Privacy International complained about the service to the EC last year, noting that the UK Government is in the middle of infringement proceedings over BT's trial of deep packet tech from Phorm for behavioural advertising.

A Virgin Media spokesperson said the firm was already in talks with the EC to make sure everything was in line with laws. "We've engaged with all the relevant bodies, including Ofcom, the ICO and the EC, to ensure they have the information they need to make an informed judgement about our planned trial," they said in a statement.

"CView works at a core-network level, and simply analyses anonymously the percentage of data that flows across the network that is copyrighted and being shared unlawfully," the spokesperson added.

"We continue to communicate our intentions openly and transparently and it's important for us to reassure our customers that CView does not identify or store individual customers' data and does not identify individual use or behaviour."

The European Commission wants to impose compulsory volume restrictions to MP3 players sold in Europe over concerns that listening to music too loudly could cause hearing damage.

A report in October last year claimed that as many as 10 million European consumers face permanent damage to their hearing from listening to music at high volumes for prolonged periods of time. At the time, there were widespread calls for a volume restriction to be put in place, and the European Commission now plans to begin a consultation in the new year to make those calls a reality.

The commission wants a default maximum of 80-85 decibels put in place, with a manual override unlocking a true maximum of 100 decibels, which would still be significantly down on the volume output some players offer today.

Speaking to the BBC's Politics Show, Stephen Russell of the European consumer lobby ANEC said: "There are up to 10 million Europeans, mainly young people, at risk of losing their hearing permanently in the next five years due to their personal listening habits."

He added: "Some of the units on the market at the moment are capable of generating a volume of beyond 115 decibels. If we compare that with health and safety legislation, workers are not allowed to be exposed to that levels of volume for more than 30 seconds."

The two-month consultation will canvass the views of all EU standardisation bodies, with a final decision expected to come in the spring.

The European Union has moved closer to taking the UK to court for failing to protect data privacy by not stopping Phorm from running secret trials.

Three years ago, BT let behavioural advertising firm Phorm run secret trials on its networks. In April, the EU charged the UK with breaking European data privacy laws by not protecting citizens against such an intrusion.

Now, the infringement proceeding has moved to the second phase. The UK has two months to reply, after which the case could go to the European Court of Justice.

"People's privacy and the integrity of their personal data in the digital world is not only an important matter, it is a fundamental right, protected by European law," said EU Telecoms Commissioner Viviane Reding in a statement.

"Ensuring digital privacy is a key for building trust in the internet," she added. "I therefore call on the UK authorities to change their national laws to ensure that British citizens fully benefit from the safeguards set out in EU law concerning confidentiality of electronic communications."

It also lambasted the UK for not having a watchdog to keep an eye on communications interceptions, and slammed the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act (RIPA) for allowing authorities to look at data without consent and making no guarantees against unintentional interceptions.

The Home Office said in a statement that it is "firmly committed" to protecting users' privacy, and was considering the commission's letter in order to respond.

Click here for our short history of Phorm.

European cyber security agency ENISA has appointed a new executive director.

Dr Udo Helmbrecht, the former president of the German IT security agency, replaces the outgoing Andrea Pirotti as from today.

The new appointment comes as ENISA celebrates its fifth birthday this year, and as it works for a permanent mandate with the EU beyond its 2012 cut-off.

Helmbrecht said he would help the agency work more closely with European institutions, member states and promote cooperation with business and government.

"Europe and its institutions need an independent body to give expert in security matters," he said.

He continued: "The agency must become a stronger and more respected actor, working as a political advisory body and pacemaker, with the European Commission and the European Parliament."

"As such, the agency's advice should have a lasting impact on the laws and regulation of the Commission and the Member States," he added.

This week in the world of IT, an American informant and two unknown Russian men were indicted for one of the largest hacks to ever be tried in a US court, while BT announced itself the king of the Wi-Fi suppliers, and the European Commission promised to invest billions into research for 4G mobile networks.

10 - UK teens spend an average of a 10 hours a day staring at some sort of screen, according to a survey conducted by npower.

600 - According to security researcher PandaLabs, the number of computers infected by malware has risen by a staggering 600 per cent since 2008.

500,000 - BT announced this week that it has some 500,000 Wi-Fi hotspots throughout the UK.

15.6 million - The European Commission this week confirmed that it will invest 15.6 million into research that will investigate the possibilities and benefits of high speed 4G networks for mobile internet.

130 million - US authorities indicted three men this week in one of the largest hacking and ID theft cases to ever be tried in a US court. The three men, one American informant and two Russians, stole 130 million credit and debit card numbers.

Europe has some way to go before we all become "digitally savvy" enough to compete globally with the world, as a third of EU citizens have never used the internet.

However, the European Commission still claims that Europe's digital sector has made strong progress since 2005, with more than half (56 per cent) of Europeans now regularly using the internet, a jump of a third since 2004.

More than 80 per cent of businesses and half of households now have a broadband connection. But along with the third of Europeans who have never used the internet, only seven per cent of consumers had shopped online in another member state.

Europe was also still behind the US and Japan when it came to ICT research and development, as well as high-speed broadband communications.

The EC claimed that building on the potential of the digital economy was essential to see a recovery from the economic crisis.

That said, a new generation of Europeans who have mastered the web called "digital natives" were about to begin their professional lives, and would dominate market trends, the EC said.

"We should seize the opportunity of a new generation of Europeans who will soon be calling the shots in the European market place," said Viviane Reding, EU commissioner for information society and media, in a statement.

"These young people are intensive users and are also highly demanding consumers. To release the economic potential of these digital natives', we must make access to digital content an easy and fair game," she said.

EU Telecoms commissioner Viviane Reding has commended Digital Britain's broadband proposals, but warns that Europe as a whole must have a unified broadband strategy for economic recovery.

In the Digital Britain report released last week, Lord Carter confirmed that he was looking for all UK households to be connected with a speed of at least 2Mbs, as well as a broadband tax to make sure that Britain got next-generation broadband networks.

Reding said that other countries like France and Germany had similar proposals, but European member states needed to make sure that they made the most of the EU single market. They also needed to ensure that various national initiatives didn't "cause disharmony" with each other.

She said that a challenge set by the European Council for the European Commission to come up with a unifying broadband strategy by the end of the year was an "important challenge", but also a great opportunity".

Reding said: "Not only do we need a European Broadband Strategy to prompt a speedy recovery from the economic crisis, we also need a broadband strategy at European level to extract the synergies from national strategies."

Reding, who was speaking at the European Competitive Telecommunications Association (ECTA) conference in Brussels, also said that next-generation networks wasn't just about short-term recovery, but also long-term technological progress.

She said: "I would suggest that just as important for Europe's recovery are the long-term economic benefits of high-speed broadband."

"That is the gains stemming from more productive businesses and organisations on the one hand, and from product innovation and more choice for consumers on the other."

Microsoft has called off its antitrust hearing before the European Commission (EC), claiming it's being denied the right to a fair hearing.

Microsoft was slated to appear before the EC on 3 June to present its defence against allegations that bundling Internet Explorer with Windows harms competition.

However, in a post on the company blog, Microsoft blamed the EC for its decision to withdraw, claiming that as a number of key decision makers would not be present, there was no point attending.

"The dates the commission selected for our hearing, June 3-5, coincide with the most important worldwide intergovernmental competition law meeting, the International Competition Network (ICN) meeting, which will take place this year in Zurich, Switzerland," said Dave Heiner, deputy counsel for Microsoft.

"As a result, it appears that many of the most influential commission and national competition officials with the greatest interest in our case will be in Zurich and so unable to attend our hearing in Brussels."

"We believe that holding the hearing at a time when key officials are out of the country would deny Microsoft our effective right to be heard and hence deny our rights of defence under European law."

Heiner claimed Microsoft tried to renegotiate a different hearing date with the Commission, but was denied. The EU will now make a summary judgement.

Broadband looks set to be a main beneficiary of new European Parliament funding proposals designed to guide member states through recession.

This week, ministers announced a recession fund of 4.4 billion, of which the UK stands to benefit to the tune of 265 million. The money,

which apparently has been left unspent in the EC's budget plans so far, will be used to benefit all member states.

In the UK, the money will be used to fund investment in energy projects and to provide broadband infrastructure in rural areas.

"Energy and broadband networks are both crucial to the future of the EU economy," ministers said in a statement.

"This allows us to get moving immediately on projects that will provide a welcome boost to the European economy and make a real contribution to giving Europe more energy security in the future," added Commission President Jos Manuel Barroso who announced the cash injection.

He added: "We need to learn the lessons of the recent gas crisis and invest heavily in energy. We also need to stimulate the European economy by providing information highways in rural communities. The Commission is committed to working together with Member States, all of whom will benefit from our proposed measures, in revitalising the EU economy through investment in these key areas."

In order to extend the coverage of high speed internet connections, the money will be used to target those areas of Europe that do not have access to broadband - so far. These rural communities are set to benefit to the tune of 1 billion.

"This money will be targeted via the existing EU's Rural Development Fund to cover the "white spots" on Europe's broadband map," explained ministers.

A total of 3.5 billion will be used for investment in carbon capture and storage, offshore wind projects, in addition to gas and electricity interconnection projects.

Google has offered to help the European Commission as it pursues its anti-trust case against Microsoft.

The EC has concerns that bundling Internet Explorer with Windows is anti-competitive and may affect the browser market as a whole. Last month it set out these concerns in a statement of intent.

It said that Microsoft was potentially 'sheilding' IE from competition by providing it within a bundle of other applications and began investigating whether this was the case.

Mozilla has already offered its support and been accepted as a third party advisor, and now Google, which itself recently launched the Chrome browser has also stepped forward, offering its services at an expert in the area.

"We believe that we can contribute to this debate. We learned a lot from launching our own Google Chrome browser last year and are hoping that Google's perspective will be useful as the European Commission evaluates remedies to improve the user experience and offer consumers real choices," said Sundar Pichai, Google's vice president of product management, in a blog post.

"Of course, creating a remedy that helps solve one problem without creating other unintended consequences isn't easy - but the more voices there are in the conversation the greater the chances of success. We are confident that more competition in this space will mean greater innovation on the web and a better user experience for people everywhere."

Opera Software, the Norwegian browser developer, filed the original complaint with the commission in late 2007.

The European Commission has said the internet's dramatic growth is making it more important for governments and businesses to adopt IPv6 as the current Internet Protocol runs out of addresses.

EC advisor Detlef Eckert said that EU governments had a crucial role when it came to IPv6 migration because industry players had a "wait and see" attitude. The public sector had a key role in taking a long-term view, and intervene by leading IPv6 implementation, he said.

The EC has already called for a quarter of European businesses, government offices and homes to switch to IPv6 by 2010, but the matter is getting more urgent, with internet innovator Vint Cerf claiming that the world could run out of IP addresses by this year.

The continued global growth of the internet was further highlighted by Verisign, which said it had added 24 million new domain names in 2008, a 16 per cent increase over the previous year.

But the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), admitted it was having problems with a new plan to launch generic top-level domains, which would allow users to create any domain they wish within 64 characters.

According to sister title PC Pro, ICANN said it was investigating a number of technical and economic issues, such whether the Domain Name Servers had enough space, the cost of registration, and the potential market impact.

The inevitability of IPv6 means that businesses should switch now and avoid the costs and complexities of a last-minute migration, the EC has said.

Detlef Eckert, director general for information and society at the European Commission, was speaking about the challenges and opportunities that IPv6 held at the ISSE conference in Madrid.

In a call that echoed an EC statement from May, Eckert said that if businesses leave it late to implement IPv6 then they won't have an opportunity to iron out technical issues and security vulnerabilities. It will also cost companies more money if they switch late.

The current IPv4 system for IP addresses is rapidly hitting capacity thanks to the growth of internet-connected mobile devices, home broadband adoption, online home media servers and the growth of portable computer use. IPv6 can deliver more than ten billion billion billion times as many addresses as IPv4.

However, he said that in the end IPv6 offered a much better security infrastructure for today's business networks. One of the reasons for this was flexibility IPv6 offers as many addresses as needed for a multitude of network interfaces. He also said it had the potential to offer a much better experience for the user.

Asking for a poll of hands in the conference venue, only one to two per cent indicated that they were currently working on IPv6 deployment right now.

Nonetheless, the spectre of running out of internet addresses is getting closer and closer.

"Despite being available for ten years with a lot of talk and a lot of money spent, nobody is doing anything," he said.

"Because our engineers have done such a good job to bring features designed for IPv6 to IPv4, the incentive to employ IPv6 is not immediately visible."

Sir Mick Jagger joined consumer and IT industry experts earlier this week in Brussels to draw up a report on e-commerce trade barriers for the European Commission (EC).

The trained accountant and Rolling Stone frontman had been invited to an online commerce roundtable' by European Union (EU) competition commissioner Neelie Kroes to give his views on the copyright issues faced by the music industry in relation to CD sales and illegal downloads.

The EU announcement on the roundtable and report pointed to commission competition cases, including last year's iTunes case, where users in one country were buying music from comparatively cheaper sites in other countries.

It said: "[Such cases] have cast doubt on whether the opportunities provided by the internet are being fulfilled or are hindered by barriers created in the offline world without consideration of their online effects."

Kroes added: "The people of Europe were promised a union, a place without borders: but on the internet they have not yet got it. Progress has been made; sometimes impressive, but it is not enough. As Competition Commissioner, I want to know why. If this is because the competition rules are not clear enough, I will clarify them. If it is because the competition rules are not up to date, I will update them."

The report will deliver recommendations to eliminate frustrations when buying online, including consumer guarantees, as well as delivery and after-sales fulfilment and encourage the growth of cross-border trade.

The rock star joined eight fellow roundtable members, including Apple boss Steve Jobs, head of EMI Roger Faxon and Fiat chief executive John Elkann for the first in a series of debates.

The commission said the group's findings would be published in a short report before the end of this year. Then "interested parties" will be invited to submit their responses by mid-October of next year before any regulatory proposals are drawn up.

Gartner has published the results of written responses from the European Commission (EC) that reveal plans to introduce more green IT' policies and regulation.

Viviane Reding and Stavros Dimas, European Commissioners for Information Society and Media and the Environment respectively, revealed EC plans to influence the development and buying of more energy efficient IT in correspondence with Andrea Di Maio, research vice-president and distinguished analyst at Gartner.

Di Maio told IT PRO: "Future initiatives can be expected in areas such as public procurement as well as research and development funding."

The European Union (EU) executive response said it was in the process of finalising its definition of energy efficient or green' IT before introducing new regulations around the governance of public sector IT contract procurements.

Any new regulations would affect the likes of the Treasury's Office of Government Commerce (OGC), which is responsible for overseeing the procurement of large, UK public sector IT, according to best practice principles and published in the tenders listing of the Official Journal of the European Communities (OJEC).

But Di Maio added that a requirement to meet green IT standards could squeeze the smaller, specialist independent software vendor (ISV) or systems integrator (SI). "Larger vendors and Sis are already looking at this area, but smaller tier two and three public sector suppliers may find it hard to compete," he said.

The EC responses said research and development (R&D) spending into green IT would be outlined in the EU's seventh Framework Programme for Research and Technological Development. But again, Di Maio said: "I can't see any differences between the current, sixth framework and the one being drafted.

"It is less likely that any major change in Eco-labelling and pan-European business regulation to use green IT products and practices will come from Brussels," he added.

But the EU commissioners' response also suggested the likes of its year-old waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) or restricted use of hazardous substances (RoHS) directives would remain its main means if influencing greener business IT practices.

Di Maio said the EC's scope was limited to initiatives around more energy efficient lighting, building management and teleworking not developing more energy efficient data centres and PCs. "Most EU activities that relate to green' and IT' focus on how IT can be used to have a positive impact in the environment as opposed to greening' IT," he said.

The European Commission (EC) has awarded Symantec a grant to create a framework for sharing information on security at a national and European level.

The funding will go towards defining an Information Assurance Messaging Standard', which will allow European critical infrastructures, national authorities and the EC to exchange secure messages about security threats and good practice.

Andrea Rigono, the head of Symantec's EU and European critical infrastructure protection consulting, said that despite the EC and European Union addressing the protection of critical infrastructure as far back in 2004, there is no universally-accepted standard.

"Currently there are only informal or mutual agreements between authorities and member states. Symantec had the idea to define a standard to allow national authorities and member states to exchange messages on vulnerabilities, threats and good practices."

The EC has established a European Programme for Critical Infrastructure Protection (EPCIP) as part of its "Fight against Crime and Terrorism" campaign. Every year, the Commission provides grants to fund pilot projects to enhance cooperation among the European critical infrastructures and raise the awareness on vulnerabilities, risks and countermeasures.

This new project with Symantec will see the direct involvement of many member states and National Computer Emergency Response and Readiness Teams (CERTs).

The project is expected to be rolled out in three phases. First, Symantec will make an analysis of existing standards and interviews with a select number of CERTs and national authorities. It will then aim to create a definition of the standard.

Once this has been completed, Symantec will curate two European conferences in Italy and Brussels where the results of their findings will be present to the EC, National CERTS, as well as delegates of the member states and to national security authorities.

The project - which will be 70 per cent funded by the EC and 30 per cent by Symantec - has a market value of 791,000, but is expected to cost more over the cost of the project, which will be completed in early 2009.