Digital Archives

Tens of thousands of airline passengers in the UK have been left stranded after a suspicious sighting of two drones circling the vicinity of Gatwick airport, prompting security authorities to halt flights late on Wednesday (20 December) evening.

Spanish producers are increasingly taking advantage of the booming Internet and digital commerce in order to shorten the supply chain and therefore improve their profitability.

The European Commission's high-level group on Artificial Intelligence (AI) published their highly anticipated report on Artificial Intelligence and Ethics on Tuesday (18 December), drawing attention to issues related to areas such as identification, citizen scoring, and killer robots. 

The European Commission has put pressure on US authorities to nominate a permanent ombudsperson for its data protection agreement with the US, with Justice Commissioner Věra Jourová saying that her "patience is coming to an end" on the issue.

A trove of hacked EU diplomatic cables made available to the New York Times revealed no major secrets, but displayed the remarkably poor protection of routine exchanges among EU officials.

Russian interference in the 2016 US presidential election on social media was more widespread than previously thought and included attempts to divide Americans by race and extreme ideology, said reports by private experts released on Monday (17 December) by US senators from both parties.

Last spring marked 40 years since Czechoslovakian astronaut Vladimir Remek's flight to space and this year marks another anniversary. In November, the Czech Republic celebrated ten years since joining the European Space Agency (ESA). EURACTIV Czech Republic's media partner Aktuálně.cz reports.

Twitter shares fell almost 7 percent on Monday after the company said it was investigating unusual traffic that might be from state-sponsored hackers and, in what appeared to be an unrelated issue, a security firm said hackers used the platform to try to steal user data.

France is to join a growing list of member states setting out their own plans for a digital tax, after the country's Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire announced on Monday (17 December) that new French laws for the taxation of digital giants would come into effect from 1 January 2019.

As big data, digital content, and e-commerce continue to drive explosive growth in power demand for data centres, it is crucial to understand the reliability and sustainability of power supplied to these facilities, writes Pritil Gunjan.

Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker condemned Hungary's leader Viktor Orbán on Friday (14 December), accusing him of spreading fake news in relation to the UK's decision to withdraw from the EU. The comments came as EU leaders banded together to combat the spread of disinformation in the run up to the 2019 European elections.

MEPs in the European Parliament have signalled their support in clear and uncertain terms for the taxation of digital services, during a vote in Thursday's plenary session (13 December) in Strasbourg.

Huawei’s relations with British authorities hit a low last month when a top official walked out of a meeting with the Chinese company over its perceived failure to fix security holes in its products, sources familiar with the talks told Reuters.

The centre-right EPP have made a last-ditch attempt to narrow the scope of the EU’s proposed Digital Services Tax, in a move that would see streaming services such as Netflix excluded from the proposals.

Shadow rapporteurs on the controversial copyright directive are frustrated that the European Parliament does not have a unified position on disputed Articles 11 and 13, with one MEP telling EURACTIV that Parliament has been conducting institutional negotiations without a text fully agreed on by shadows.

A specific article in the controversial copyright directive may result in Google withdrawing their news aggregator service from the EU, EURACTIV has learnt. EU ministers are set to discuss the issue and reach an agreement on the file later this week.

Representatives from the European Commission, Council and Parliament on Monday (10 December) evening banded together to strengthen the bloc's Cybersecurity efforts, reaching agreement on the EU's cybersecurity act.

As it enters its fourth week of protest, France’s ‘yellow vest’ movement continues to be active on Facebook. While the social network has allowed the movement to grow, Facebook is struggling to create a structure for the movement. EURACTIV France reports.

The EU Copyright Directive, which is currently being finalised by the Council and the European Parliament, must include a principle of fair and proportionate remuneration to be fit for the 21st century film and TV industry, writes Cécile Despringre.

Ministers from across the EU backed plans on Friday (7 December) that will allow law enforcement authorities to bypass EU member states when making judicial orders for electronic evidence in criminal matters abroad. Germany, the Netherlands, Hungary, Sweden, Finland, Greece, Latvia, and the Czech Republic all voted down the plans. 

The #SaveYourInternet campaign is mobilising YouTubers against the European directive. But by defending a free Internet, the campaigners are, above all, protecting the platform’s profitability. EURACTIV France reports.

Europe should be “worried” about Huawei and other Chinese companies, given the mandatory cooperation they have to maintain with Chinese intelligence services, European Commission Vice-President for Digital Single Market Andrus Ansip said on Friday (7 December).

Ministers sitting on the EU Home Affairs Council adopted their negotiating position on the European Commission's proposed regulation against the spread of online terrorist content on Thursday (6 December), as those in the industry reacted with frustration to the plans.

MEPs backed rules to force online platforms to be more transparent and fair to business clients on Thursday (6 December), with some members voicing frustration at the fact that operating systems are to be included in the scope of the regulation.