EU

Top UK 40: Was It Worth It?

September 13, 2015 — Leave a comment

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It seems that the UK is going to become the toughest country for cyber pirates. The latest news has it that one “pirate” was arrested for uploading the UK 40 songs on the Pirate Bay and Kickass Torrent pirate websites. What is this supposed to mean for the pirate content industry?

Well, the first invaluable lesson is that the larger the data package is, you are uploading online, the greater the chances are, you will be eventually caught. In other words, if the “hero” of our story could have been satisfied with only a couple of songs, then he had not had some time to spend in the police station.

Europe has obviously become tremendously intolerant, when it comes to cyber piracy and copyright violations. We cannot tell for sure, who or what is more responsible for this new anti-piracy-tide in Europe, the Hollywood itself or the new approach of the EU Commission?

Either way, the busy little bees in the Pirate Bay again have quite a challenge to deal with. So far, their abilities to adapt and strike back with a vengeance have been quite remarkable. Let us see, how they will respond to the serious of damaging legal blows sent with love from both Hollywood and EU Commission.

Facebook vs EU

May 30, 2015 — Leave a comment

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First Google, and now Facebook has some tough times in Europe. Why? What you can do to the USers, you obviously cannot even think of repeating to the EUsers. The Belgian authorities are protecting their citizens, who have been followed without their knowledge nor approval.

On the other side, Facebook claims that its HQ in Ireland entitles it to a special position in relation to the EU regulations. Seriously? What is that supposed to mean? The last time we checked, Ireland was still an island much closer to Europe than the North American continent. Right?

Outside the US homefield there are not too many rain-me-money markets for the IT giants. We are talking about Europe and China. The catch is that if you want to make money there, you have to play by the rules, whether you like them or not. As simple and as complicated as that.

So, what is going to be the most probable outcome of this cyber-quarrel? Well, you do not have to be a rocket scientist, nor an EU-law-guru, to figure that one yourself, do you? Facebook is going to cry, but eventually it will have to comply. Europe is a too important market to play stubborn games. 

The French Cyber-Kiss

April 10, 2015 — Leave a comment

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One of the latest online surveys in France shed a surprising light on the behavior of the Internet users. It turns out that one in two French web users pays a visit to some of the financial websites, such as banks or insurance companies, at least once in a month. So, what is the big deal about it, you may ask?

Well, for what is worth, you should bear in mind that there are more than 50 million Internet users in France on a daily basis. That gives us more than twenty million visitors of the finance related websites. Or, to be even more precise, more than five million French cyber users hit a bank’s site each day.

The average time they spent on these websites is around seven minutes. If our math is correct that gives more than thirty million minutes for hackers to try something each day. We sure hope that someone has at least five minutes to spend for the potential cyber hazards. Too much to ask. Right?

That was France. What about Germany? We can expect the similar numbers, more or less. Can you imagine all of those millions and millions of unprotected cyber minutes? Oh dear, that is too much to handle. On the other hand, plenty of job opportunities for the busy European cyber security bees.

You Have An Additional Right To Be Forgotten

December 3, 2014 — Leave a comment

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Great news for all of you privacy addicts. Yahoo and Bing have decided to process your right to forget requests. Unfortunately, we are still and only in Europe. That means the European Internet users have an additional option to protect their privacy. So far, only Google has accepted to play the oblivion game.

From now on, you can address Yahoo and Microsoft’s Bing with the same privacy related concerns. It is worth mentioning that the whole thing does not work simply and flawlessly. One may say, it is so cool, I can address all major search engines and my troubles will be over. As always, there is a catch.

The website Forget.me, which specializes in these specific issues and requests, has noticed something that limits our efforts. If your cyber oblivion request has something to do with the social networks, then you can kiss the closed door, which is very likely. It seems that this is more complex than it looks.

The right to forget is very close to your right to regret. We are so far away from the truly functional and fair solution. You cannot stop or delete the entire Internet, just because you feel hurt. On the other hand, our dearest search engines should do us a favor every once in a while. Isn’t that right?

EASA Easy

November 20, 2014 — Leave a comment

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The European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) has turned an important new page. From now on, your shiny gadgets can be used during the entire flight period with no rigorous limitations, we all know very well. So, what exactly youncan or cannot do with your devices, once you set a foot in an airplane?

Well, you can use a smartphone or tablet freely during a flight. This also includes all available 3G or 4G networks. On the other hand, you still cannot use the Internet on your laptop. This is something that will be strongly appreciated by all passengers. Yet, we have some security questions we need to ask.

Have you heard something about hacking the airplanes, recently? Not so long ago the flight agenda of the Japanese PM circulated for a while on the Internet. The airline company’s IT infrastructure was hacked. Now, do you dare to think what could have happened, if the airport or airplane itself was to be hacked instead?

With this most recent change of regulations, we will allow hackers to freely surf while in a plane. Maybe, this was not such a good idea. We sure hope this was not a result of some profit related idea. Like, we are having some bad times in the airline business, let us do something about it. We really hope that was not the case.

The Shadow IT

October 7, 2014 — Leave a comment

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The big bad and ugly wolf is coming. It is called the EU General Data Protection Regulation. Actually, it is supposed to protect us and save us from the three little pigs, who have mastered some hacking in the meantime. Then, how come the worrying majority of the employees in the EU is not willing to cooperate? Fully.

Nowadays, the IT guys in your company can forget the good old days when they were the Alphas and Omegas in your office. The cloud technology and the absolute abundance of available mobile devices were the fruitful ground for the new phenomena called the “shadow IT”. What in the world is that?

Well, this is a nice way for you to avoid the situation with the EU General Data Protection Regulation way, or the highway. You can still do your thing without worrying about those boring new regulations, including your paranoid IT colleagues. What is so difficult and problematic about the new IT security measures?

It is the similar, if not absolutely the same, situation with the traffic safety regulations. They are supposed to protect you. You can ignore them or even work against them, but at your own risk. The same goes for the IT security measures, rules and policies. Instead of keep asking why, just comply.