The UK’s competition watchdog has cleared Facebook’s acquisition of Kustomer, a maker of CRM tools. The purchase was announced last November — with a price-tag we reported as $1BN — but is pending closing after facing regulatory scrutiny. The UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) opened an inquiry on the proposed merger this summer, at […]
European Union announces plans to require all mobile devices to use USB-C
Devices using only wireless charging would be exempt from the mandate.
Apple opposes EU plans to make common charger port for all devices
Proposals to make USB-C port mandatory could reduce electronic waste and save EU consumers moneyThe European Commission has set out plans for a common charger port for all mobile phones, tablets and headphones, in the face of resistance from US tech gi…
Slow but steady has seen the EU win out in the vaccine race
Ursula von der Leyen says the union’s vaccination programme is now a success after its stumbling startWe did it,” said Ursula von der Leyen in her annual state of the union address last week. With more than 70% of its adult population now fully vaccina…
EU commissioner calls for urgent action against Pegasus spyware
Didier Reynders condemns hacking of political opponents and journalists and says bloc closely watching Hungary investigationThe EU must swiftly legislate to further protect the rights of activists, journalists and politicians following the Pegasus spyw…
UK government threatens to suspend Northern Ireland protocol
Brexit minister Lord Frost tells House of Lords that the European Commission must take renegotiation proposals seriouslyThe row over Brexit and Northern Ireland has escalated after the UK government issued a new warning to the EU that it will not shy a…
UK negligent in failure to stop customs fraud, says senior EU lawyer
Non-binding opinion says UK allowed criminal gangs to flood Europe with cheap Chinese-made clothesA senior EU lawyer has concluded that the British government was negligent in its failure to tackle customs fraud that allowed criminal gangs to flood Eur…
Stop using Zoom, Hamburg’s DPA warns state government
Hamburg’s state government has been formally warned against using Zoom over data protection concerns. The German state’s data protection agency (DPA) took the step of issuing a public warning yesterday, writing in a press release that the Senate Chancellory’s use of the popular videoconferencing tool violates the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) since […]
Six EU states overtake UK Covid vaccination rates as Britain’s rollout slows
Malta, Belgium, Spain, Portugal, Denmark and Ireland overtake UK in fully jabbed percentagesCoronavirus – latest updatesSee all our coronavirus coverageSix EU states have now fully inoculated a larger share of their total populations with a coronaviru…
EU hits Amazon with record-breaking $887M GDPR fine over data misuse
Luxembourg’s National Commission for Data Protection (CNPD) has hit Amazon with a record-breaking €746 million ($887m) GDPR fine over the way it uses customer data for targeted advertising purposes. Amazon disclosed the ruling in an SEC filing on Friday in which it slammed the decision as baseless and added that it intended to defend itself […]