WebProNews

ICANN Becomes More Independent

The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), the body responsible for managing Internet domain names, has announced it will no longer be controlled by the U.S. government. ICANN and the U.S. Department of Commerce signed an agreement today supporting the model of international multi-stakeholder governance of the global Internet addressing system. ICANN was created in 1998 to manage the Internet's addressing system such as top-level domain-names and IP address space. The group has been criticized for being too influenced by the U.S. government.

EU Plans To Limit MP3 Player Volume

The European Commission said today it wants to implement new rules for the makers of MP3 players that would require them to follow new volume standards. The Commission pointed to a study that found listening to personal music players at a high volume over a long period can lead to permanent hearing damage and 5 to 10 percent of listeners risk permanent hearing loss. It's estimated that up to 10 million people in the EU may be at risk.

Google Gets Good News From EU Court Advisor

An advisor to the European Court of Justice said Tuesday that Google does not violate luxury goods makers' trademarks by allowing advertisers to buy keywords related to brand names. In his opinion, Advocate General Poiares Maduro suggests "Google has not committed a trade mark infringement by allowing advertisers to select, in AdWords, keywords corresponding to trademarks."

Sun Losing $100 Million a Month as Oracle Waits

Sun Microsystems is losing about $100 million a month according to Larry Ellison, CEO of Oracle, the company that's set to acquire Sun. Oracle is waiting to get clearance from European regulators before the deal can go through and Oracle can step in and try to put an end to this loss.

eBay Petitions EU Over Brand Rules

eBay called on the European Union today to amend an EU competition law to stop brands from restricting the sale of their products on the Internet. The company has given a petition to the European Parliament, signed by 750,000 Europeans' calling for reform.

EU Cracks Down On Misleading Electronics Websites

More than half of European websites selling consumer electronic goods were found to be misleading online shoppers, according to an investigation by the EU Consumer watchdog. The investigation covered 369 websites selling six of the most popular electronics goods to consumers in the EU, including digital cameras, mobile phones, personal music players and game consoles.

EU Investing $25 Million In High-Speed Mobile Internet

The European Union said Tuesday it will invest $25 million into research that will underpin the next generation of 4G mobile networks. The EU says the funding will go towards research on Long Term Evolution (LTE) Advanced technology, that will offer mobile Internet speeds up to a hundred times faster than current 3G networks. The funding will be released on January 1, 2010.

EU Frees New Spectrum For Faster Mobile Services

European lawmakers agreed today to allocate more radio spectrum to the mobile Internet to provide faster service and boost the roll out of wireless broadband.

EU Calls On US To End Online Gambling Ban

The European Commission has released a report that finds U.S. laws on Internet gambling are not legally justified and discriminate against foreign Internet gambling operators.

Intel Says It Has Plenty Of Cash Flow

Intel said today that the record $1.45 billion fine imposed on it by the European Commission for violating antitrust rules, will not force it to reduce investment or cut its dividend. "There's still plenty of cash flow from operations to invest in our business, pay the fine and pay the dividend," Chief Financial Officer Stacy Smith said at an analyst event in London on Wednesday. "As we've said in the Q1 earnings call, we are not having any conversations about cutting the dividend."