... the deal would lock Europe into a single connective technology and has fewer benefits for the industry that will have to execute the strategy - the house builders.

Wall Street Journal blogger Anna Leach reports that the proposals draw on good practice from all over Europe, though the only country with mandatory broadband in new builds is Spain.

The new regulations will initially be submitted to the European Parliament, then to the twenty-seven individual member states — a process that normally takes around two years.

Telcos are predictably enthusiatic about the proposals. Says Tom Ruhan, chairman of the European Competitive Telecommunications Association: “The proposals to reduce the costs of deployment of fibre networks are very welcome.”

While a Vodafone spokesman said: “We welcome the Commission’s proposals which are pragmatic and urgently needed.”

The benefit to telcos is estimated by the EC to be €40-60 billion – the amount the Commission expects them to save as the new regulation reduces their civil engineering costs by 30%.

As a secondary benefit, European telcos will also efforlessly acquire hundreds of thousands of new customers.

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... EU citizens' data stored on US servers is not protected from access by a third party.

According to a report commissioned by the EU and carried out by the Centre for European Policy Studies, America's so-called Patriot Act gives US authorities the legal right to access foreign citizens' data stored within US borders.

Commenting on the report, European Parliament member Jan Philipp Albrecht insists that "this study is absolutely not about generating panic." 

According to Mr Albrecht, most users don't even know where their data is stored. 

"It's a simple fact that the US data protection law only applies to US citizens." "But there are special laws that target the surveillance of non-US citizens", he added.

"This happens when sensitive data from big companies, like Microsoft, Amazon, Twitter and Facebook, are made available to US authorities for investigations." 

Thilo Weichert, data protection commissioner for the northern German state of Schleswig-Holstein is also concerned at the power wielded by the US over EU citizens' data.

Mr Weichert has been following the implications of this development closely for more than two years, while pushing Facebook to allow its users to remain anonymous.

"The long arm of US law stretches as far as Europe," he said.

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... how much, if any, of their data is sold to advertisers.

The legislation, if implemented, could have serious financial repercussions for the web's two social network titans, FaceBook and Google+. Both are expected to vigorously resist any such limitations on their monetisation models. 

Reuters claims to have seen a report produced by Mr Albrecht which adds even sharper teeth to a proposal for more rigorous data protection, as announced by the European Commission in January 2012.

Albrecht and other EU lawmakers want to limit companies' ability to use and sell data, such as internet browsing habits, to advertising companies, especially when people are unaware their data is being used in such a way.

Facebook and Google, who were among the first to profit from users' data, have been lobbying against the curbs. Other data-reliant sectors such as health services, rail and smart-meter makers have also voiced concerns.

The European Parliament, the Commission and the bloc's twenty-seven member nations will seek an agreement on the new rules in coming months.

Says Erika Mann, Facebook's head of EU policy: "We are concerned that some aspects of the report do not support a flourishing European digital single market and the reality of innovation on the internet. The digital market is inescapably global in nature, and includes important partners in the United States."

Ms Mann did not elaborate on the precise implications of her statement.

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... the nation's banks be allowed to fail in an orderly way. 

This should be done without taxpayer support, he said. Such a strategy would also make it easier for new, smaller entrants to the banking sector and encourage competition in a UK market dominated by a handful of massive institutions.

According to Mr Tucker - a candidate for the BoE governorship - the most important issue ahead is to ensure that banks are allowed to fail in an orderly way. He also cautioned that the "worst may still be ahead" for the banking system.

Still in downbeat mode, the deputy-governor warned that the reserves held by banks are still not calibrated for the "end-of-the-world risks" that remain a possibility.

Another eminent speaker, Paul Volcker, a former chairman of the US Federal Reserve and author of banking reforms in the US, voiced scepticism about plans in the UK to ring-fence banks' retail operations from their investment banking operations.

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... extensive, boosting emphasis on safety and technology factors in the marketing of new auto models.

Calls to the new service could be triggered by on-board sensors such as those in the airbag detecting a crash, or by any car occupant pushing a button.

The eCall system will also use satellites and mobile telephony caller location to determine the location of the crashed car. Based on the location, eCall will contact the nearest emergency centre, also transmitting a minimum dataset that includes time, the direction in which the vehicle was travelling, vehicle identification, an indication if eCall was automatically or manually triggered and information about a possible service provider.

Sending the extra data is likely to reduce misunderstanding and stress and helps to eliminate language barriers between the vehicle occupants and the operator, said a Parliament news release.

And in a reassuring nod to data protection actives, Parliament has also decreed that the system must not be used to monitor a person's movements or determine his or her location unless that person has been involved in an accident.

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... "the reform of EU data protection rules will include easier access to one’s own data, and better data portability so that it is simple for users to transfer their data between providers.

"I also want to establish the famous right to be forgotten, which will build on existing rules to better cope with privacy risks online. I believe this right is very important in a world of increasing connectivity and unlimited search and storage.

"If users no longer want their data to be stored, and if there is no good reason to keep it online anymore, the data should be removed."

Ms Reding's words were not exactly music to the ears of the direct marketing industry which is concerned at the ambiguity of the term "the right to be forgotten" and what exactly it involves?

Caroline Roberts, director of legal and public affairs at the DMA (UK), which has been engaged in the consultation process for the proposed revisions to the directive, is not enthused at the Commissioner's statement.

"While consumers need to be protected by the right to not be contacted for marketing purposes by companies, eradicating their entire data is completely impractical because it prevents companies from meeting their legal obligations to suppress their data if they [the data subjects] choose to opt out."

The Information Commissioner’s Office, the UK data protection watchdog, believes the proposed EU framework "should not introduce a standalone right to be forgotten, which could mislead individuals and falsely raise their expectations, and be impossible to implement and enforce in practice".

The European Commission’s proposals for the new legislation are due to be published at the end of January although - given the bloc's labyrinthine decision-making process - observers believe enactment of the process may take considerably longer.

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... attempt to sell additional pre-selected services. When buying a plane ticket for example, consumers are frequently presented with pre-ticked boxes offering add-on services such as travel insurance or car rental. Currently the onus to untick the box lies with the consumer. Come 2013, however, it will be mandatory for websites to present only unticked choice boxes.

Following the new legislation, online customers can refuse to pay if they were not adequately informed prior to the purchase.

Additionally the new laws will reqire a website to make clear any "[information] about its compatibility with hardware and software and the application of any technical protection measures.

For example, "limiting the right for the consumers to make copies of the content," and that "consumers will have a right to withdraw from purchases of digital content, such as music or video downloads, but only up until the moment the actual downloading process begins."

European consumer groups and digital rights groups have hailed the new legislation.

Says Joe McNamee, head of Brussells-based online advocacy group European Digital Rights: "I think that it is probably a helpful small step in the right direction.

"Even certain otherwise reputable companies use some quite underhand tactics through 'imaginative' use of default checks in checkboxes on their websites (such as changing back to the default 'opt-in' if the user has to go back and change anything on a form).

"These companies, at least, will be forced to adopt more transparent policies by the legislation."

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... with residents of three of the UK's biggest UK cities – Bradford, Leicester and Coventry – excluded from local TV coverage.

Likewise other sizeable towns including Hull, Wolverhampton and Portsmouth will lose out. Smaller towns including Derby, Peterborough, Canterbury, Worcester, Durham, Chester and Exeter will also be ineligible.

Jeremy Hunt, secretary at the  the government's risibly titled Department for Culture, Media and Sport, has published a map of the sixty-five provisionally selected locations and has invited each to make a case as to why their town or city should be one of the first to bid for a local TV licences.

Hunt intends to hold meetings to discuss the issues and benefits of local TV in six cities.

"These new, local TV services will be a fundamental change in how people get information about their own communities, and how they hold their representatives to account," said the DMS secretary. "There's a huge appetite for local news and information in communities the length and breadth of the country. We need to decide which areas are best placed to pioneer the new service."

Others, however, see the move as a further nail in the coffin of local newspapers and a threat to the viability of local commercial radio.

Up to £25m in local TV infrastructure costs will be met from the BBC licence fee, with a further £5m of licence fee money spent annually for three years on local content. None of the published statements to date make reference to advertising and whether or not it will be permitted.

Electronic programme guide providers such as Freeview, BSkyB and Virgin Media will be required to give "appropriate prominence" to licensed local digital TV services, enforced through Ofcom statutory code -- a measure that will require secondary legislation.
 

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... react sufficiently swiftly to counter new threats.

TalkTalk's HomeSafe runs on the company's central computer system and sits between the web and individual home connections. Its anti-malware defences work by scanning a site to check if it harbours malicious programs. Those found to be 'clean' will be put on a "white list" for 24 hours.

A spokesman for TalkTalk said that the system is discriminating enough to block individual adverts on web pages that are booby-trapped with malware but would still let a user interact with the rest of that page.

To ensure system functionality, TalkTalk has to scan all websites that its users visit. However the company said that it does not record details that could identify individual customers, such as their IP address.

TalkTalk claims its service is able to differentiate between sites that are wholly about a subject and those that merely mention that subject, citing as an example parents who block sites that promote self harm -- but who might be happy for their children to visit sites that educate about the issue.

According to a TalkTalk spokesman, the filters are not intended intended as a cure-all. "This is the most robust system that's available but what it's not is a substitute for good parenting."

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... with restrictions on the types of products that can be placed; limitations on the types of programmes in which products can be placed; and limits on the way in which products can be seen and referred to in programmes.

Major no-go areas for placements include children's and news programmes; also all UK-produced current affairs, consumer affairs and religious programmes.

Broadcasters will be required to display an onscreen product-placement logo in all programmes in which placements occur. It must appear for a minimum of three seconds at the start and end of shows, enabling viewers to identify which UK-produced programs feature 'placed' products. The logo must also appear after each ad break.

Commercial TV stations intending to feature product placements will launch an audience awareness campaign in the New Year. Overseen by Ofcom, the campaign will include short information slots within the advertisement breaks of popular programs.

Whilst PP will be hailed with glee by commercial broadcasters, it may get a chillier reception in other quarters - for example commercial production houses and creative studios - which could experience a significant falloff in revenues.

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