LinkedIn’s revenue beat fails to connect with investors

LinkedIn's shares were down 3.9 percent in after-hours trading, however, as investors focused on the company's widening losses and an underwhelming full-year revenue forecast. LinkedIn has been spending heavily to acquire businesses and build up its sales and development teams in an effort to leverage off its 380 million members.

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EU, U.S. close to data sharing deal for security cases: sources

By Julia Fioretti BRUSSELS (Reuters) – The European Union and the United States are close to completing negotiations on a deal protecting personal data shared for law enforcement purposes such as terrorism investigations, three people familiar with the matter said. The two sides have been negotiating since 2011 over the so-called “umbrella agreement” that would protect personal data exchanged between police and judicial authorities in the course of investigations, as well as between companies and law enforcement authorities. The protection of personal data in the United States has been a sore point in the EU since former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden revealed mass U.S.

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EU to investigate transparency of Internet search results: document

By Julia Fioretti BRUSSELS (Reuters) – Internet platforms such as Google, Microsoft and Yahoo! will be the subject of a widespread inquiry by European regulators to determine whether they are transparent enough in how they display search results. In a draft of the Commission's strategy for creating a digital single market, seen by Reuters, it says it will “carry out a comprehensive investigation and consultation on the role of platforms, including the growth of the sharing economy.” The investigation, expected to be carried out next year, will look into the transparency of search results – involving paid for links and advertisements – and how platforms use the information they acquire

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Factbox: EU charges Google in Internet search antitrust case – what next?

By Julia Fioretti BRUSSELS (Reuters) – The European Commission charged Google Inc on Wednesday with cheating competitors by distorting Internet search results to favor its own shopping service, and opened a separate investigation into its Android mobile operating system. When the investigation was opened in November 2010, then Competition Commissioner Joaquin Almunia set out four concerns. The first, to which Wednesday’s statement of objections relates, concerns the way in which Google allegedly positions its Google Shopping service above rivals’ services, irrespective of its merits

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Google panel backs firm on EU limit to ‘right to be forgotten’

By Julia Fioretti BRUSSELS (Reuters) – A panel of experts appointed by Google to advise it on how to implement an EU ruling ordering it to remove links to some personal information from search results has backed the company's view that links be removed only from websites in Europe. Google set up its eight-member panel last year to draw up a report, published on Friday, on how to implement the surprise “right to be forgotten” ruling from the European Court of Justice (ECJ) in May

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EU mulls conferring binding powers on body of data privacy regulators

By Julia Fioretti BRUSSELS (Reuters) – A new body of European data protection authorities could have the power to adopt legally binding decisions in cross-border disputes over a company’s misuse of personal data, according to a draft document seen by Reuters. Under a mechanism originally proposed in reforms of Europe’s data protection laws, businesses operating across the 28-nation European Union would have to deal only with the data protection authority in the country where they are headquartered – even if alleged mishandling of data affects citizens in another country.

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EU official criticizes Google meetings on right to be forgotten ruling

By Julia Fioretti BRUSSELS (Reuters) – A senior EU official criticized a series of public meetings held in Europe by Google on a landmark court ruling on the “right to be forgotten”, saying the meetings were part of lobbying efforts against EU data protection rules. Paul Nemitz, a director in the European Commission’s justice department, made his comments at Google’s Brussels meeting, the last in the series of meetings aimed at helping the world’s most popular Internet search engine implement the judgment

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