Stories by Paul Meller

Counterfeiting treaty, now public, confirms critics' fears

ACTA, the anticounterfeiting trade agreement that has ignited debate over its provisions for clamping down on copyright abuse on the Internet, was made public Wednesday, but the fears it sparked while it was being negotiated secretly will not go away any time soon, according to people in the IT industry, telecom industry and civil liberties groups.

EU IT ministers endorse open standards in tech procurements

European IT and telecom ministers called for the introduction of open standards and interoperability in government procurement of IT on Monday, sparking applause from the industry.

Open-source advocate enters IBM antitrust fray

Software developer and political lobbyist Florian Mueller weighed in on the European Commission's investigation of monopoly abuse claims against IBM, accusing the computing giant of deserting the interests of the open-source software community.

IBM slapped with 3rd mainframe antitrust complaint in Europe

The third antitrust complaint against IBM's mainframe business was filed with the European Commission Tuesday, compounding the firm's regulatory problems in Europe.

Parliament report stirs lobbying drive on Internet piracy

Should teenagers who illegally download music, films and the like in their bedrooms be treated like criminal gangs counterfeiting everything from life-saving drugs to Gucci handbags?

European Parliament demands transparency in ACTA talks

The European Parliament demanded Wednesday that the European Commission open up secret negotiations about an anticounterfeiting trade agreement (ACTA) to the public.

Leaked ACTA draft treaty reveals plans for Net clampdown

The U.S., Europe and other countries are secretly drawing up rules designed to crack down on copyright abuse on the Internet, in part by making ISPs liable for illegal content, according to a copy of part of the confidential draft agreement that was seen by the IDG News Service.

US DOJ, EC clear Microsoft-Yahoo search deal

The U.S. Department of Justice and the European Commission on Thursday both unconditionally approved Microsoft and Yahoo's plan to work together in the field of Internet search.

EU approves HP's 3Com acquisition

The European Commission has approved Hewlett-Packard's US$2.7 billion takeover of 3Com without attaching conditions, the Commission announced on Friday.

European Union clears Oracle's purchase of Sun

The European Commission granted Oracle an unconditional approval to take over Sun Microsystems on Thursday, following a controversial and drawn out examination of the deal.The deal still awaits approval in other jurisdictions, including Russia and China, but approval in the European Union is a big step forward for a deal hailed by some as transformational for the entire software industry, and by others as the killer of one of the most successful open source programs in the world, the MySQL database.

Google to call for creation of EU privacy, security panel

Google is pushing for the creation of an E.U. group to look at security and privacy policy, the company's top privacy lawyer, Peter Fleischer, said Tuesday.

Microsoft cuts time Bing stores some user data to six months

Microsoft announced plans to cut the length of time it stores IP addresses of Web searchers using its Bing search engine from 18 months to six in a bid to improve its privacy track record.

Oracle-Sun merger foes head East

With the European Commission seen as virtually certain to approve Oracle's acquisition of Sun Microsystems in just a week, those campaigning to prevent the deal encompassing Sun's MySQL database unit have shifted their efforts to regulators in Russia and China.

EC, Microsoft settlement broadly welcomed

Microsoft's successful settlement of its antitrust issues with the European Commission was welcomed by the software company's foes and friends alike Wednesday, with many hailing the moment as a turning point for the computer industry.

Oracle's pledges on MySQL are 'purely cosmetic', say critics

Oracle's latest commitments designed to address the European Commission's concerns regarding its acquisition of Sun Microsystems and the MySQL database are paper thin, and even if they were confirmed they wouldn't safeguard MySQL's future, said Florian Mueller, an outspoken critic of the deal, on Monday.