UK and EU to expand Bitcoin regulation to combat money laundering and tax evasion
Following concerns that Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies are being used for not only tax evasion but also money laundering, governments in the UK and across Europe are planning to introduce new regulatory measures.
One of the key proposals will bring to an end the anonymity Bitcoin users have enjoyed thus far. In an attempt to bring the digital currency with real-world currencies, the UK Treasury wants to force all traders to reveal their identities.
Privacy: UK government to tweak Snooper's Charter after conceding it is illegal in its current form
The highly controversial Snooper's Charter -- also known as the Investigatory Powers Act -- is, the government has been forced to admit, illegal under European law in its current form.
The Brexit process may well be underway, but at the moment, the UK is still subject to EU law. As such, the government is making changes to the law. While the tweaks will not change the level of surveillance people are subjected to, they will restrict who has automatic access to that information.
70 percent of European IT decision makers see Brexit as a business opportunity
Britain's decision to leave the European Union has sparked mixed emotions in the business world, but a new survey of over 800 IT decision-makers across Europe reveals that most see Brexit as an opportunity.
In the survey of over 800 European IT decision-makers by cloud and network provider Interoute, 70 percent overall believe that Britain leaving the EU is an opportunity for their company. Business confidence surrounding Britain leaving the EU was highest in France (83 percent) and Belgium (78 percent) but lowest in Sweden (49 percent).
Facebook asked to investigate Russian influence on EU referendum
It is now widely accepted that Russia -- at least to some degree -- tried to influence the outcome of the US presidential election through the use of ads placed on Facebook.
Attention now turns to Europe, where the UK's digital, culture, media and sport committee is asking Mark Zuckerberg to investigate potential interference in the UK general election, as well as the EU referendum that led to Brexit.
Many businesses remain unprepared for GDPR
A shockingly large proportion of businesses have no idea how to behave when GDPR comes into play, a new report by the DMA has claimed.
More than half of marketers surveyed (56 percent) believe they’re on the right track, with four percent actually saying they’re ahead in their plans of being compliant by May 2018.
Windows 10 telemetry violates privacy laws
The data collecting activities of Windows 10 has landed Microsoft in trouble again. Investigating the telemetry built into the operating system, the Dutch Data Protection Authority (DPA) has said that Microsoft's spying is a violation of local privacy laws.
Of particular concern to the authority is the fact that users are not clearly told that data will be collected in both Windows itself and Microsoft Edge. With Microsoft's web browser gathering data about every URL that's visited by users who have not opted out of telemetry, and Windows 10 itself sucking up detailed information about app usage, the DPA is concerned that users are not adequately informed or protected.
Europe demands €250m in tax from Amazon, sues Ireland for Apple's €13bn tax bill
The European Union has ordered Amazon to repay €250m ($294m) after it ruled that the retailer was granted illegal state aid by Luxembourg. The tax advantage dates back to 2003, but Amazon says that it is considering making an appeal.
At the same time, the European Commission has announced that it is going to sue the Irish government for failing to collect €13bn ($15.3bn) in tax from Apple. The Irish government will need to defend itself in the European Court of Justice for failing to gather money from the iPhone-maker following a 2016 ruling by the commission.
Ransomware is reaching 'epidemic levels'
Ransomware has been named as one of the most pressing threats to society by officers at Europol.
The force has released a new report which claims that ransomware is reaching "epidemic" levels, eclipsing other areas of cybercrime such as data breaches, pornography and card fraud.
Germany is the biggest source of botnets in Europe
Just a year after the Mirai malware infected connected devices to create the first IoT botnet, new research from Norton shows that global botnets have continued to grow and spread as a result of unaware users inadvertently infecting others.
According to Norton, the top three countries responsible for hosting the highest number of bots in Europe are Germany at just over eight percent, Italy at 10 percent and Russia at almost 14 percent.
It will be easy for businesses to comply with GDPR, UK's digital minister says
UK's new Data Protection Bill, aimed to "encourage innovation while protecting privacy," was published this week. Digital minister Matthew Hancock took the opportunity to call all businesses to become compliant with GDPR before the deadline of May 25, 2018.
In an opinion piece published on City AM, Hancock said the new laws are built on the existing ones and it shouldn’t be too hard for businesses to get used to them.
Oracle plans massive job cuts in Europe
Oracle is reportedly planning major job cuts across Europe as it readies for a company-wide reorganization.
According to The Register, Oracle is looking to shift its hardware support division into Romania. Confirmed by 'multiple insiders' the report states the process has already begun, although the deadline for migration differs from country to country.
Google plans to appeal €2.42bn EU antitrust fine
Google will appeal the EU fine of €2.42 billion for abusing its dominant position in the market, reports have claimed.
The US giant was fined earlier this year for abusing its monopoly in search engine and shopping comparison services. Google said it respected the EU Commission's ruling, but that it disagrees.
Europe wants tech giants to pay higher taxes
Tech giants like Google or Amazon might end up paying a lot more tax in Europe, if a new EU initiative goes through.
A debate concerning whether tech giants should pay taxes wherever they produce value has been scheduled for September 15.
Facebook hit with €1.2 million fine for Spanish privacy violations
That Facebook is causing ripples when it comes to privacy will come as little surprise to anyone. Like Google, the social network and its users have an interesting relationship with privacy. Facebook is facing a particular problem in Europe, and the latest installment of the saga sees the company being fined €1.2 million ($1.44 million) by the Spanish data regulator AEPD.
After an investigation into Facebook, the regulator found that the company had gathered sensitive personal data without consent, and this constituted a very serious infringement of data protection laws. The investigation also identified two "serious" violations, including tracking users through the use of Like buttons embedded in non-Facebook pages.
Many UK businesses don't know if they are GDPR compliant
Every fifth business in the UK has "no idea" if their corporate policies are enough to comply with the upcoming General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). This is according to a new report by Citrix, which investigates the obstacles companies in the UK are still facing when it comes to complying with GDPR.
The report says there are three major roadblocks --data sprawl, a huge influx of personal customer information and uncertainty around data ownership.
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