EU can suspend new data transfer pact with U.S. if worried about privacy: Official

By Julia Fioretti BRUSSELS (Reuters) – A new data transfer pact between the European Union and Washington will give the EU the right to pull the plug on the deal if it fears the United States is not safeguarding privacy enough, the EU Justice Commissioner said on Thursday. A previous transatlantic data transfer framework, Safe Harbour, was struck down on Oct. 6 by the European Union's top court because of worries about mass U.S.

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EU member states agree higher fines for firms for privacy violations

By Julia Fioretti BRUSSELS (Reuters) – Businesses operating in the European Union could be fined up to 4 percent of their annual global turnover for breaching data protection rules under a proposal agreed on Wednesday. The EU is negotiating a data protection law to replace a patchwork of national laws dating back to 1995, aiming to set clearer limits on how companies can use EU citizens’ private data and beef up regulators’ enforcement powers. Under the current system, not all national regulators have the power to levy fines, and when they do the amounts are often paltry compared with the revenues of some of the companies affected, particularly big U.S.

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Hacking of U.S. government was criminal, not state-sponsored: China

China's official Xinhua news agency said on Wednesday that an investigation into a massive U.S. computer breach last year that affected more than 22 million federal workers found the hacking attack was criminal, not state-sponsored. In an article about a meeting between top U.S.

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Facebook’s CEO and wife to give 99 percent of shares to their new foundation

By Yasmeen Abutaleb SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – Mark Zuckerberg will put 99 percent of his Facebook Inc shares, currently worth about $45 billion, into a new philanthropy project focusing on human potential and equality, he and his wife said Tuesday in a letter to their newborn daughter. The plan, which was posted on the Facebook founder and chief executive officer's page, attracted more than 570,000 “likes,” including from singer Shakira, former California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and Melinda Gates, wife of Microsoft founder Bill Gates

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EU launches inquiry into web companies’ online behavior

By Julia Fioretti BRUSSELS (Reuters) – The European Commission on Thursday launched an inquiry into the behavior of online companies such as Google, Facebook and Amazon to try to gauge whether there is a need to regulate the web. It is not clear whether the inquiry will lead to any regulation of the Internet in the European Union, but it provides more evidence that mainly U.S

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EU strikes data-sharing deal with U.S. for security, terrorism cases

The European Union has struck a deal with the United States on protecting personal data shared for law enforcement purposes in criminal and terrorism investigations, the bloc's justice chief said on Tuesday. The so-called “umbrella agreement”, following four years of talks between both sides, would protect personal data exchanged between police and judicial authorities and also between companies and law enforcement authorities. European Justice Commissioner Vera Jourova said the data sharing agreement was a key step to strengthening Europeans' right to privacy.

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Google has until August 31 to reply to EU antitrust charges

Google Inc , the world's most popular Internet search engine, has been given an extra two weeks to counter European Union charges of abusing its market power in a dozen EU countries and stave off a possible billion-euro fine. The European Commission has extended the deadline for replying to the charges to Aug. 31 from July 17, a Google spokesman said on Thursday

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U.S. firms lead EU lobbying league

By Alastair Macdonald BRUSSELS (Reuters) – U.S. companies, including tech rivals Microsoft and Google , were among leading spenders on corporate lobbying in Brussels last year, a Reuters review of new data showed (table below)

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EU Google probe encourages investors in Russia competitor Yandex

By Ryan Vlastelica NEW YORK (Reuters) – The European Union's antitrust probe into Google sparked a big rally in Russian search engine Yandex NV last week, even though the “Russian Google” still faces significant challenges, competitive and otherwise. Yandex has amassed a $6.54 billion market capitalization, mainly by selling advertising against the web browser used on 64 percent of Russian desktop computers. With Russian stocks recovering and the EU looking into whether Google has an unfair competitive advantage, some investors hope Yandex can win more screen space and advertising revenue

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