Paul Meller

A European proposal to introduce mandatory blocking of child abuse websites poses a threat to the openness of the Internet, according to Ed Black, president of the Computer & Communications Industry Association (CCIA).

Black is so far the only person from the IT industry willing to speak out on the issue. Companies including Google, Microsoft, Yahoo and the Spanish telecommunications operator Telefónica, as well as other trade groups representing the interests of the IT industry, either declined to comment, failed to respond to questions or said they are still analyzing the draft law.

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.

Leaks of the negotiating text that appeared in recent months drew attention to plans to make Internet service providers liable for the content being disseminated on their networks. They also revealed that the ACTA would encourage countries that sign it to impose a graduated response to illegal file-sharing of content such as music and movies.

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.

The ministers' statement, part of a broader declaration concerning Europe's digital agenda, comes as the European Commission tries to draw up a framework for how governments should in the future procure software that runs their online public services.

A controversial plan to crack down on online piracy and counterfeiting will be opened up to public scrutiny for the first time next week, when the negotiating text of a secret international copyright treaty will be made public, the European Commission said Friday.

Negotiations over the past two years have been conducted in secret. Leaks of the draft text have sparked a public outcry, mainly because of how the text deals with online copyright infringement.

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.

He urged the Commission, Europe's top antitrust regulator, to take action. "Regulatory intervention against IBM is needed," he said in a blog post on Tuesday.

The European Commission will next week propose a directive designed to fight the sexual exploitation of children, but a clause obliging member states to block pedophile Web sites has sparked widespread criticism from civil liberties advocates, a German government minister and from within the Commission itself.

The critics argue that blocking Web sites fails to eliminate the material that appears on the Internet, and that by focusing on blocking instead of devoting efforts to the much tougher task of eliminating the odious material, the law will fail to have much impact on the world of online child abuse.

The European Commission began work on a new set of negotiations with the U.S. on the transfer of E.U. citizens' bank data for counterterrorism purposes Wednesday, after a previous agreement was vetoed by the European Parliament last month.

The agreement is needed because while European data protection laws prohibit the passing of personal data to the U.S., American authorities say the data has been a valuable tool with which to track the funding of terrorist acts.

The European Commission has promised to propose a motion calling for the opening up of the secretive anticounterfeiting trade agreement (ACTA) at the next meeting mid-April in New Zealand, an official said during a conference Monday.

Eva Lichtenberger, a Green Party member of the European Parliament who attended the conference, said that if the effort to open up the ACTA process to public scrutiny fails, then Europe should walk out.

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

Recently created TurboHercules, a French firm active in the market for open-source mainframe computer software, said in a statement that IBM ties its operating system software to purchases of its mainframe hardware, thus freezing out smaller competitors.

The European Court of Justice ruled in favor of Google on Tuesday in a case concerning the use of trademarks in online advertising.

French luxury goods maker LVMH took Google to court for using its brand names as keywords to trigger ads.

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?

Yes, according to some members of Parliament and lobby groups for the content industry who are amplifying their message now in the hope of influencing an important report being discussed in the European Parliament this week.

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

In a near unanimous vote, 633 members of Parliament (MEPs) backed the resolution, which says that the lack of transparency surrounding the negotiations is unacceptable. Only 13 MEPs opposed the resolution and 16 abstained.