Companies should only be allowed to use cookies if their users have given their consent, says Germany Social Democratic Party (SPD). The party's parliamentary fraction has drafted an amendment to the German Telemedia Act (Telemediengesetz, TMG). It follows an EU guideline on privacy in electronic communications passed in 2008.

Viviane Reding, European Commissioner for Justice, Fundamental Rights and Citizenship, introduced her plan for an overhauled, EU-wide regulation on privacy and data protection. The plans aim to unify regulation within the European Union. Reding’s proposed regulation includes the ‘Right to be Forgotten’, under which individuals would be able to delete personal data if there are no legitimate grounds for retaining them.

A comment on the anti-piracy laws currently discussed in the US, by Oliver Süme, eco Chairman for law and regulation. ‘Piracy must be fought, but not at the sacrifice of freedom of speech, nor market economy. One has to emphasise again and again: blocking the Internet is not the last resort of Internet politics–this would be trivialising the matter.’

Applications are now being accepted for the new Top Level Domains (TLD) such as .yourbrand, or .yourcompany. Not all companies want to apply for ‘their’ TLD, but might still be worried that somebody else could claim it instead. eco advises all companies to take measures to protect their brand.

The European Commission introduced an action plan to stimulate E-Commerce in Europe. The goal is to double its volume by 2015. The Commission estimates that E-Commerce in the EU adds up to ‘EUR 11.7 billion, equivalent to 0.12 % of European GDP.’