European children often follow their parents’ example when illegally downloading songs and videos from the Internet

Reuters reports that, according to a major European Commission survey, “[c]hildren in Europe are aware of the risks of illegal downloading, but often rationalize their act by saying that everyone — including their parents — is doing it.  […]  Other excuses included: the download is for personal and private purposes; the Web sites presumably remunerate the artists; claims of harm inflicted on artists lack credibility; and DVDs and CDs are simply too expensive.”

According to the New York Times, “[a]fter its success cutting mobile phone roaming fees, the European Commission is weighing a plan that could force some former phone monopolies in Europe to open their networks to greater competition.  According to a person in Brussels who has direct knowledge of the plan, the European commissioner for telecommunications, Viviane Reding, wants to create a European Union agency called the European Telecom Market Authority, with power to override national regulators and pry open domestic markets.”

NetworkWorld has an interesting article today in which it criticizes the FCC for “[ignogring] the lesson of Wi-Fi’s history.”   

The Guardian points out that “[e]xperts are warning internet users to be more careful with their private information after secret code from the popular social-networking site Facebook was published on the internet.”

In a different article, the Guardian reports that “Google’s decision to dispatch vans across major US cities to take street-level photographs for its mapping service has opened up fresh controversy about the limits of privacy in the digital age.”