Consumers in the U.K. are spending at least twice as much time online as they were 10 years ago, fueled by increasing use of tablets and smartphones, U.K. regulator Ofcom said Monday in its annual report on media use and attitudes. Ofcom researchers canvassed 1,890 consumers 16 and older and found they claimed to spend on average more than 20 hours and 30 minutes online in a given week last year, it said. That’s more than double the nine hours and 54 minutes of average weekly time online in 2005, it said. The biggest increase in online use came among those 16-24 years old, almost tripling from 10 hours and 24 minutes per week in 2005 to 27 hours and 36 minutes by the end of 2014, it said. “Increasing take-up of tablets and smartphones is boosting time spent online.” Though 5 percent of adults reported using a tablet to go online in 2010, that increased to 39 percent in 2014, Ofcom said. Using a smartphone also has more than doubled in five years, from 30 percent of adults in 2010 to 66 percent in 2014, it said. “Overall, the proportion of adults using the internet has risen by half” in the past decade, from six in every 10 in 2005 to almost nine in 10 today, it said.

The Information Technology Industry Council (ITI) renewed its “call for Congress to increase funding for the Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty (MLAT) process,” following a multi-association letter sent to congressional leaders last week, an ITI news release said Monday. Nations use MLATs “to request data for criminal investigation,” ITI said. “As the backlog in requests go unanswered, foreign governments are attempting to circumvent the MLAT process and seek data directly from U.S. technology companies, placing companies in a difficult posture, as the law requires these requests to go through the MLAT process.” With some 11,000 MLAT requests waiting to be processed, ITI said it and a coalition of tech sector trade groups have “pressed Congress to fully fund the MLAT process.”

Microsoft will mount a full-fledged exhibit at the IFA European CE trade show to promote the release of Windows 10, organizers said in Malta Saturday. IFA opens Sept. 4 at the Messe Berlin fairgrounds for a six-day run. Though Microsoft participated as an IFA exhibitor last year, that presence was limited to the Microsoft Devices Group, which included the newly acquired Nokia phones business. Bryan Biniak, Microsoft general manager-developer experiences, who joined from Nokia a year ago, used his session to trumpet Microsoft as a company that’s now seen as “cool” and “focusing on the consumer.” Biniak painted a rosy picture of the future based on Windows 10, due for launch “this summer,” he said. “There will be “one OS, one platform and one store,” he predicted. Windows 10, he said, will be used across all devices. “Microsoft is now a very different place” from the company that introduced Windows 8 to mixed reviews, Biniak said. “People in the company are listening and acknowledging the success, actually lack of success, of Windows 8. It’s a top priority to make Windows 10 successful.”

Sixty-six nongovernmental organizations from around the globe sent a joint letter to European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker asking for confirmation that the EU’s reformed Data Protection framework will maintain the data privacy protections afforded to EU citizens, a European Digital Rights (EDRi) news release said Tuesday. In 2012, the European Commission proposed to modernize and reform European privacy legislation, and the European Commission promised individuals’ data protections wouldn't fall below existing levels, the release said. “Leaks show that this promise is not being kept,” it said. "Without leadership from President Juncker, the right to privacy, not just in Europe but around the globe will be undermined," said EDRi Executive Director Joe McNamee. "We hope and expect that the Commission President will uphold the integrity and independence of his institution,” and issue a “short, rapid response to our question," he said. “Faced with profiling, digitisation of health data and online tracking, every corner of our lives is increasingly being invaded by ‘big data’,” the release said. “Due to the amount of data being collected, businesses and governments increasingly know more about us than we know about ourselves -- about our preferences, our health, our relationships and our politics,” it said. “Without credible regulation citizens lose, businesses lose, society loses.”

Public Knowledge and 27 other groups and legal scholars sent a letter to the International Trade Commission Friday “opposing a recent decision that the Commission has authority to block internet data transmissions,” a Public Knowledge news release said. The decision giving ITC the authority to “block the importation of copyright- and patent-infringing products extends to an ability to block Internet data transmissions into the United States,” the release said. “By declaring that all digital data transfers are subject to the ITC’s purview, the Commission forces every business, small and large, who exchanges data over the Internet to contemplate the possibility of being brought before the ITC,” said Public Knowledge Director-Patent Reform Project Charles Duan. “Our concern was starkly heightened when we learned last December that the MPAA intends to use this ruling to force Internet Service Providers to perform website blocking,” Duan said. The letter “asks the ITC to rethink its position on blocking Internet content,” Duan said. ITC had no immediate comment.

European Union Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager “appears” to want to fine Google for alleged antitrust activities, said a foreign diplomat Thursday, responding to media reports that the EU could be closing in on an antitrust action against the search giant. Accidentally leaked FTC documents, which showed FTC commissioners turning down an antitrust suit against Google as recommended by staff (see 1503260030), have made it “basically impossible” for the EU to arrive at a similar outcome, he said. “This commission wants to demonstrate that it can take tough and decisive action,” the diplomat said. “Then again, this is a very political decision.” “The recently disclosed FTC report suggests that the US and the EU [were] sharing information throughout this period,” said attorney Chris Castle, who represents artists and musicians and has worked with digital music services. “Google was afforded every opportunity to make a deal that made sense to not only the governments concerned but also the stakeholders,” he emailed. “That was a deal that was Google’s to lose and they did.” Google didn’t comment.

The British Court of Appeal ruled Friday against Google’s attempt to block British consumers from suing the search giant (see 1502270036). The British High Court in 2013 ruled in favor of three members of the Google Governance Campaign (GGC) on allegations that Google violated their privacy. “These claims raise serious issues which merit a trial,” the court said. “They concern what is alleged to have been the secret and blanket tracking and collation of information, often of an extremely private nature … about and associated with the claimants' internet use, and the subsequent use of that information for about nine months,” it said. “The decision opens the door to litigation by millions of Britons who used Apple computers, iPhones and iPads during the relevant period of Summer 2011 and Spring 2012,” said the Google Action Group in a release. The group was founded by the GGC, which seeks "better" corporate behavior from Google in the U.K. "We’re disappointed with the Court’s decision, and are considering our options,” said a Google spokeswoman. Apple didn’t comment.

The UN Human Rights Council Thursday adopted a resolution on the right to privacy in the digital age that “addresses the need for better procedural safeguards and effective domestic oversight, as well as remedies for government surveillance that infringes upon an individual’s privacy rights,” said a Center for Democracy & Technology (CDT) news release. The resolution “clearly states that metadata can reveal deeply personal information and that extraterritorial surveillance is a threat to the right to privacy,” the CDT said. The resolution also establishes a dedicated special rapporteur on the right to privacy for a three-year period, who will be “tasked with monitoring, investigating, and reporting on the state of privacy in UN Member States around the world -- including where secret surveillance is concerned,” the CDT said. In a news release, the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights urged all countries to support the new mandate by “providing all necessary information" requested by the special rapporteur and to "consider implementing the recommendations made in his or her reports.” The resolution allows the council to “establish a forum to provide a platform for identifying best practices, challenges and opportunities to secure respect for human rights, democracy and the rule of law,” the UN news release said. Thirty-five nations, including the U.S., voted in favor of the resolution, 12 nations abstained. The UN Human Rights Council “strongly reaffirmed that privacy is a core part of human freedom,” said CDT Human Rights and Surveillance Legal Fellow Sarah St. Vincent. “A Special Rapporteur on privacy is a monumental step in ensuring that the world remains focused on reining in invasive government surveillance practices that have a chilling effect not only on our right to privacy, but also on our right to free expression.”

Supply chain services supplier Ingram Micro continued its acquisitions binge, saying Wednesday it completed the buy of the Peruvian and Chilean businesses of Tech Data, the Florida-based wholesale distributor of technology products. Terms weren’t disclosed. Ingram said acquiring those businesses from Tech Data would add more than $270 million annually to its revenue line and that the acquisition “complements” its existing holdings in Peru and Chile. The deal also “immediately delivers increased reach and scale in the region, which has consistently been a top performer for the company,” Ingram said. Earlier this month, Ingram announced the introduction of Anovo, a Europe-based provider of repair services for smartphones and set-top boxes across Europe and Latin America (see 1503030020).

To enhance information sharing and enforcement cooperation on privacy-related matters, the FTC said Monday it signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the Dutch Data Protection Authority (DPA). The FTC said its Chairwoman Edith Ramirez and Dutch DPA Chairman Jacob Kohnstamm signed the MOU after the commission voted unanimously in favor of the agreement, which is similar to agreements the FTC currently has with data protection authorities in Ireland and the U.K. “In our interconnected world, cross-border cooperation is increasingly important,” Ramirez said in a news release. “This arrangement with our Dutch counterpart will strengthen FTC efforts to protect the privacy of consumers on both sides of the Atlantic,” she said. “Signing of this MOU between the Dutch DPA and the FTC is a great step,” Kohnstamm said, and “marks the good relationship between our offices.”