By Zoya Sheftalovich | @zoyashef | send tips to zsheftalovich@politico.eu | subscribe for this daily column: http://politico.eu/registration/ | if you prefer to read this on your desktop click here
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Welcome to Morning Tech, your lucky penny in the mean streets of EU tech politics and policy.
— WHAT’S HAPPENING
BRITS REVIEW NET NEUTRALITY: The U.K. advisory body Broadband Stakeholder Group last week launched a review into the country’s open Internet code of practice. It will evaluate the efficacy of the current regime, assess its compatibility with the EU’s new net neutrality proposals [hammered out in June], and identify potential improvements. http://bit.ly/1MCRAHq
EUROPEAN VC FUNDING: Lakestar, a venture capital firm run by Klaus Hommels, will announce today a new fund worth €350 million, marking one of the largest European fund-raisings so far this year. Hommels told The New York Times he plans to spend most of the the money on European startups. He was an early backer of Skype and King.com. In the second quarter of this year, European VC firms raised a total of €2 billion, and increase of 63 percent over the same period last year. http://nyti.ms/1EdbVBT
INTEL FUNDS OPENSTACK: Speaking of VC funding, Intel is expected to announce today its lead role in a $100 million infusion into Mirantis, which sells a subscription version of the open-source software OpenStack, The Wall Street Journal reported. OpenStack is available in free and commercial versions in an arrangement that helps customers avoid being locked into one vendor. Customers include Ericsson and PayPal. http://on.wsj.com/1V3A1Do
GOOGLE QUESTIONNAIRES: One of the focuses of the EC’s investigation into Google is whether the search giant abuses its dominance in advertising contracts with website operators and copies content from rival sites, according to WSJ. The EC has sent questionnaires to companies to gather information about “exclusivity obligations,” or whether Google prevents or obstructs website operators from placing ads on their websites that compete with Google’s advertising business. A separate questionnaire is looking into allegations that Google scrapes content from rival sites, such as images, and uses it in its own online services. The company declined to comment. http://on.wsj.com/1EPX2QL
HACKTIVIST TOOLKIT: Figuring out whether your public representatives in the EU are worth the big bucks has never been easier with a range of tools designed to keep the politicians on their toes. Laurens Cerulus looks at sites like EU Integrity Watch, VoteWatch and Parltrack to give you the scoop on how to keep tabs on your favorite MEP. http://politi.co/1PD6Eov
GOOGLE TOLD TO FORGET ABOUT IT: Press and Internet freedom advocates are concerned about an order from the U.K. Information Commissioner that demands Google remove links to nine media reports in a “right to be forgotten” ruling. EU citizens can request that search engines stop linking to results about themselves that are no longer relevant. In this case, Google removed links to a website that contained old reports about a criminal act committed by a particular person, but refused to take down links to media about the removal itself. The Commissioner sided with the complainant, which has writers’ association English PEN worried: “It’s a concern in terms of press freedom and freedom of expression more broadly,” said Director Jo Glanville. “This leads to all sorts of future problems. The question is to what extent Google is prepared to fight it further.” http://politi.co/1Ka8RHJ
And in (mildly) related news, Google says there’s been a spike in Brits researching online safety, particularly after major hacks of affair site Ashley Madison and mommy-blogging site Mumsnet. http://bit.ly/1MCV4JW
SPOTIFY PRIVACY POLICY HASH: Changes to Spotify’s privacy policy have some users concerned about the amount of information the app can now access from mobile devices. It will now use information from motion sensors, GPS trackers, photos and contacts, and can share it with the company’s partners, Forbes reports: http://bit.ly/1TXXhFN. The company’s new terms also explicitly ban “payola,” where music labels and performers pay influential playlist makers to include their songs in popular playlists. http://on.ft.com/1PpIoWf
TRENDY FACEBOOK: Facebook lists a number of trending topics on the right hand side of users’ news feeds, but how does it decide what is hot and what is not, asks Re/code. While the answer is simple on the one hand (algorithms), it’s also much more complicated than that. http://on.recode.net/1fuIOOB
CHEAP MOBILES IN GERMANY: Cheap mobile network re-sellers are tempting more Germans away from large telecoms, writes Die Welt, and the competition is leading to all-round lower prices for consumers. In German: http://bit.ly/1Lp6nqB
MICROSOFT’S FINNISH CUTS: Microsoft has confirmed that it will close Nokia Oyj’s former handset product development unit in Salo, Finland, leading to 2,300 job losses there. Two other sites in Finland, in Espoo and Tampere, will remain open. http://reut.rs/1KzUWGG
HACK ATTACK: Hacking Team, the Italian spyware company that made news this month after being hacked itself, had particularly worrisome Android malware at its disposal. It was designed to be installed on a phone and never be discovered. “It provides whoever installs it with complete, near-invisible control of the Android phone. Unlike other malware for PCs or Android, this particular malware is optimized to be a true spying tool,” writes Trend Micro: http://bit.ly/1UWg6WN
MOZILLA MOVEMENTS: Mozilla announced changes on Friday to its Firefox browser add-ons. The changes are intended to protect the browser’s users from spyware and adware, Mozilla said, and are going to take advantage of new technology such as Electrolysis and Servo. Firefox will also soon be able to run Chrome extensions. Some of the changes will come into effect immediately, others will take some time. On the blog: http://mzl.la/1E8k4HK
UBER RICH: Reuters has taken a peek at a recent investor presentation from Uber and the numbers are looking good. The company’s global bookings are projected to nearly triple to $10.84 billion (€9.52 billion) this year and more than double again to $26.12 billion (€23 billion) the next. The presentation also hinted at a potential initial public offering in the next 18 to 24 months. http://reut.rs/1Jaij9C
DESIGNING BABIES: New technology that makes it possible to erase genetic defects in DNA is likely to take the world by storm in the next years or decades. But what are the ethical considerations we need to take into account before we start designing babies, asks the Economist. http://econ.st/1NqksnZ
ANDROID CHOICES: Google has change the rules for its Android hardware partners, meaning if you want Google+, Play Games, Books or Newsstand on your new phone, you may have to download them yourself. Which is bad news if you’re lazy, but great news if you like a streamlined Android experience: http://zd.net/1HZGExb
PUTTING THE L INTO ALPHABET: Speaking of the company now known as Alphabet, Google Life’s Sciences team will now operate as a standalone subsidiary of the parent company. http://bit.ly/1J9C1m6
CHINA HACKS OFF INDIA: Chinese hackers are targeting organizations in India to gain strategic and commercially sensitive material, according to cyber security specialist FireEye. The U.S. network security company released information showing that an unnamed group “almost certainly” based in China attacked more than 70 institutions in India in recent years. http://on.ft.com/1NzKrIF
LUCK OF THE IRISH: Google is building a €150 million data center in Dublin. The center is going to be one of the most energy efficient in the world, with an advanced air-cooling system that will take advantage of Ireland’s cool climate to keep systems running smoothly. http://bit.ly/1Loj3xN
SAMSUNG TASTE TEST: Samsung wants a piece of Apple’s iPhone customers and they’re not afraid to put their money where their mouth is. The company will offer U.S.-based iPhone users a $1.30-day trial of its new Galaxy Note 5 and Galaxy S6 Edge+. Story here http://engt.co/1PpzjN4 and press release with more details from Samsung here: http://bit.ly/1MI171B
— WHAT’S COMING
MICROSOFT LAUNCH: Microsoft is going to unveil a slew of new hardware at a launch event in October, and the Verge has the scoop on what you can expect: http://bit.ly/1MFF4sq
SUPERGLAZE: That’s all folks. Tomorrow, David Meyer AKA Superglaze is back from his break. We now return you to your regular programming.