MENAFN: Google’s Belgian unit in tax probe: report . “Google’s Belgian unit faces a tax probe, a report said Wednesday, after the US internet giant had to cough up hundreds of millions of euros in back taxes in Britain and Italy.”
Europe
Science Business: New project to map Europe’s scientific research infrastructures
This is from June, but I just saw it. From Science Business: New project to map Europe’s scientific research infrastructures. “A European Commission project ‘Mapping of the European Research Infrastructure Landscape’ is underway, with a new portal being previewed this week at an event in Rome. The MERIL-2 project builds on the previous phases of MERIL initiated in 2010. Now, with renewed funding from Horizon 2020 and an expanded team, the new three-year MERIL-2 project will provide the means for making informed assessments and decisions about the research infrastructure landscape in Europe, and to encourage accessibility, new partnerships and collaborations within the scientific community. A research infrastructure is defined as a facility or digital platform that provides the scientific community with resources and services to conduct top-level research in their respective fields.”
Economic Times (India): European Union battles Google News over ‘Snippet Tax’ proposal
Economic Times (India): European Union battles Google News over ‘Snippet Tax’ proposal . “A major battle is brewing in Brussels over an EU reform plan that would force internet aggregators such as Google News to pay newspapers for displaying snippets of their articles online. Google is furious at the reform idea, but powerful publishers, including Axel Springer in Germany or Rupert Murdoch’s Newscorp in the UK, affirm that a tax is the only hope to save a news industry starving for revenue.” How many times are they going to bring this idea back from the dead?
Reuters: EU increases pressure on Facebook, Google and Twitter over user terms
Reuters: EU increases pressure on Facebook, Google and Twitter over user terms. “European Union authorities have increased pressure on Facebook, Google and Twitter to amend their user terms to bring them in line with EU law after proposals submitted by the tech giants were considered insufficient.”
Phys.org: Google Street View finally captures missing Austria
Phys.org: Google Street View finally captures missing Austria. “In 2010, Google had begun to roll out its service in Austria and neighbouring Germany but was ordered to halt operations over alleged privacy breaches. The company admitted that vehicles had accidentally recorded personal data from wireless networks. Although Austria lifted its temporary ban a year later, Street View decided not return to the alpine nation—until now.”
CNET: Google ‘right to be forgotten’ case referred to top EU court
CNET: Google ‘right to be forgotten’ case referred to top EU court. “The European Union’s top court will decide whether or not Google is required to remove certain results from its iconic search engine. The crux of the matter is the so-called ‘right to be forgotten,’ a policy in Europe that lets people ask search engines to remove some results from queries of their own names. What’s in question isn’t the policy itself — Google already complies with it — but how far-reaching those de-listings should be.”
Google taps top law firms to fight EU regulatory battles: sources (Reuters)
Reuters: Google taps top law firms to fight EU regulatory battles: sources . “Google has ramped up its legal firepower as it prepares to do battle with EU antitrust regulators after a landmark 2.4-billion-euro ($2.7 billion) fine and the possibility of a second record sanction before the end of the year.”
