European Data Protection Supervisor says EU-US Privacy Shield needs 'significant improvements'
The proposed data transfer deal between Europe and the US, destined to replace Safe Harbour, has been dismissed as "not robust enough". The European Data Protection Supervisor (EDPS) says that the pact is in need of "significant improvements" if it is to be of any value in protecting European data stored in the US.
Safe Harbour has already been ruled invalid, and it had been hoped that the EU-US Privacy Shield would be finalized by June. While today's criticism does not mean the new pact is dead in the water, it does represent a serious stumbling block.
Mozilla welcomes privacy-boosting GDPR data protection law updates
In a world more concerned than ever with privacy and data security, law makers are scrambling to keep up to date. With the growth of the internet, many old and inappropriate laws have been bent to fit a purpose they were not designed for. A case in point are European data protection directives which date back more than two decades.
In April this year a new law was adopted -- the General Data Protection Regulation, or GDPR. With compliance with the law required of the 28 EU member states by 25 May 2018, a two-year countdown is now underway. GDPR is welcomed by Mozilla who is using the 24-month compliance deadline to draw attention to some of the regulation's highlights.
Mobile security is not a concern for European workers
Businesses in the UK, as well as elsewhere in Europe, are not really worried about security, as their employees increasingly use company mobile devices, new research has shown.
Secure identity solutions firm HID has revealed that 77 percent of employees in the UK aren’t concerned about mobile security, highlighting a pretty high level of confidence in they have in mobile security. Looking at Germany, the percentage stands at 82. Overall, 74 percent of European workers are confident about using corporate mobile devices.
European IT departments want to invest in cloud and security
Another confirmation of the heading IT departments are taking this year comes to us from tech giants Toshiba. After an extensive research into business practices in IT departments across Europe, it was found that cloud-based solutions (56 percent) and data security (50 percent) remain the biggest areas of investment for IT departments in the country this year.
The research shows results of a poll of 400 senior IT decision makers in the UK, France and Germany.
European workers still find fax machines 'essential'
Europe is considered an old continent by many standards, but when it comes to what workers there find essential, that’s where the oldness really kicks in.
Apparently, workers in the EU still find fax machines "essential" to office life. As a matter of fact, they find it more important than tablets, or smartwatches. Those are the results of a survey done by business communications technology provider Fuze. It asked 5,000 employees about the technologies still used in the office.
Microsoft opposes Brexit
Here at BetaNews, we try to avoid political topics; unless it is somehow technology related, of course. Obviously, one reason for this is that politics is not the focus of our site. Another reason that I personally avoid it, is that the subject of politics is very polarizing and can potentially lead to non-productive name-calling in the comments.
With all of that said, Microsoft has pulled me into the "Brexit" discussion, otherwise known as the EU referendum. Don't know what that is? Well, in very basic terms, the UK has to make a decision on whether or not to leave the European Union. As an American, I will keep my opinion on the matter to myself. Michel Van der Bel, Microsoft UK CEO, however, has decided to share the company's Brexit stance -- opposition to leaving the EU -- in a letter aimed at its UK employees. You can read the full letter below.
Google faces €3 billion antitrust fine in Europe
Google may soon face a record €3 billion fine from the European antitrust authorities over how it abused its control of the online search market in the EU.
This will be the highest fine the European Commission has ever issued as an antitrust punishment. In addition to the fine, Google will be banned from manipulating its search results to favor itself over its rivals.
No UK tech unicorn is publicly in favor of a Brexit
This morning I wrote a report on how just a third of UK’s companies actually have a plan in place in case the country leaves the European Union, following the Brexit referendum in some six weeks’ time.
At the same time, Guardian reached out to UK’s unicorn companies -- those valued at more than a billion dollars -- about their opinion on the Brexit, and those that were willing to speak were firmly against the UK leaving the European Union.
Lenovo will make enterprise harware in Europe for EMEA customers
Chinese tech maker Lenovo has announced that it will start building enterprise hardware for its EMEA (Europe, Middle East, Africa) customers in Europe.
That way, customers can expect lower prices (sort of) and faster delivery times.
Commercial notebook shipments return to growth
Commercial notebook shipments have returned to growth in the first quarter of 2016, new figures by market analysts IDC say. New form factors, guided by the ever increasing desire for mobility, aided by the new Windows 10 operating system and the Skylake processors were key drivers for this growth.
HP was the biggest winner of the new change, with Dell also outperforming the market average, IDC’s report says. Asus, Apple and Fujitsu posted some strong results, as well.
Nearly half of EU businesses don't know where their data's located
According to a survey by the cloud hosting firm UKFast, nearly half of businesses are clueless as to where their data is located.
To come to its findings, the company surveyed over 300 IT decision makers in EU businesses, with 47 percent of them unaware of where their personal and company data was hosted.
ITIF says Europe is 'misguided' in bringing antitrust allegations against Google
The EU may be bringing an antitrust case against Google in relation to its Android operating system, but the ITIF (Information Technology & Innovation Foundation) thinks that this is 'misguided'. Rather than Google harming customer choice, the institute says that it is the case against Google that should be in the spotlight.
Google has made much of the fact that Android is open source, and the ITIF says that "holding 'open' operating systems to higher standard only hurts consumer choice". Vice President Daniel Castro says that the Android ecosystem reduces costs for consumers, increases choice, and complains that the European Commission has failed to give details of precisely how consumers are being harmed by Google.
European Parliament approves new general data protection regulations
After a whole lot of discussion and debate, new general data protection regulations have been approved by the European Parliament.
In what has been described as a watershed moment for enterprise IT, the unification of Europe’s multiple data protection regulations into one common law signals a new beginning for businesses and consumers alike.
Box customers can now choose where to store their data
Online file sharing company Box today announced a new service, allowing businesses to store their cloud data across Europe and Asia.
The service, announced at the Box World Tour Europe, is called Box Zones, and it will allow Box customers to choose whether they want to store their data in Germany, Ireland, Singapore or Japan.
The implications of remote working for GDPR compliance
Every day across the UK, around 1.5 million professionals work from home; and are more productive, happier in their role, and measurably less stressed, perhaps. At the same time, however, they may be increasing the risk to your sensitive business data.
Since the government has recently given all employees the right to request flexible working, the number of home-workers, and the associated information risk, looks set to increase -- just when the stricter EU General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR) are set to come into force.
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