German

Germany's cartel office is looking into Apple's rules on tracking for third-party apps to see whether they give the U.S. tech giant preferential treatment or hinder other companies, it said on Tuesday. "We welcome data-friendly business models that give users choices about how their data is used," said cartel office president Andreas Mundt. "However, a company like Apple, which can unilaterally set the rules in its ecosystem and especially in the App Store, should make them in line with competition." In question is…

Porsche’s electric bike shopping spree isn’t over. The German automaker announced Thursday that it would be acquiring Fazua, an e-bike drivetrain manufacturer that specializes in lightweight motors. After buying a 20 percent stake in the company earlier this year, Porsche said it would acquire all of Fazua’s shares, making it the latest e-bike company to come under the automaker’s control. Porsche acquired a majority stake in Croatian e-bike company Greyp (pronounced like the fruit) late last year. Fazua is an…

Cars with combustion engines are stored at a container terminal at the harbor in Hamburg, Germany, Monday, March 18, 2022. Germany's transport minister said Thursday that he opposes plans to ban the sale of new cars with combustion engines across the European Union in 2035, arguing this would discriminate against vehicles powered with synthetic fuels. EU lawmakers voted Wednesday to back the measure that requires automakers to cut carbon-dioxide…

A view of the eROSITA X-ray telescope prior to final packing in its carbon fiber structure. Photo: MPERussia’s space agency has announced its intention to unilaterally seize control of a German telescope mounted to a Russian-built spacecraft. It’s a terrible, irresponsible idea, as even Russian scientists will admit. The German developer of the eROSITA telescope, the Max Planck Institute, put the instrument into sleep mode this past February in protest of Russia’s unwarranted and ongoing invasion of Ukraine. The X-ray…

According to AndroidPolice (via Der Spiegel), Telegram had received requests from the German police to expose some users’ data related to criminal cases.Telegram has always claimed that it respects the privacy of its users and does not share their data with third-party centers. But it seems that the pressure of the German government has caused Telegram to hand over some users’ data.As per the report, these users were related to terrorism and child abuse cases. Also, the Germany’s Federal Criminal Police Office has asked…

Tesla Model X. Image used for representation. (Photo: Tesla)Tesla already has 300 hectares of land for its auto factory and battery plant under constructionReuters Last Updated:May 30, 2022, 08:00 ISTFOLLOW US ON:Tesla has submitted an application to build on a further 100 hectares east of its plant in Germany, expanding the site’s area by a third, local newspaper rbb reported, citing the local mayor. The electric carmaker, which already has 300 hectares of land for its auto factory and battery plant under construction,…

Meta Platforms, owner of Facebook, on Tuesday criticised a landmark German antitrust order to curb its data collection as 'clearly flawed' and which undermines EU data protection rules.Meta's criticism of the German antitrust watchdog came after the latter in 2019 said the world's largest social network had abused its market power by collecting users' data without their consent and ordered it to stop.The competition enforcer said the data harvest included users' browsing habits when they visited a website with a Facebook…

Germany's cartel office said that Meta Platforms Inc, the owner of Facebook, has "paramout significant for competition across markets", a classification which gives the regulator more leeway to curb digital companies' market power.Under legislation introduced by German lawmakers in early 2021, the cartel office can ban what it deems to be anti-competitive activities.Meta, which also owns Instagram and WhatsApp, operates a strong, ad-supported social media ecosystem that continues to expand and is used by a large portion…

Germany's financial regulator BaFin warned Tuesday of the "very big" risk of cyberattacks targeting the financial sector, a threat it said had become "more likely" since Russia's war on Ukraine."The risk that companies in the financial sector will fall victim to cyberattacks or that internal IT security incidents will occur is very big and very present," BaFin president Mark Branson told a press conference.In extreme cases, "such incidents could damage the stability of the financial system", he said."Are we prepared for a…