The European Commission is proposing to bring in new rules next year for copyright on the Internet.

This new copyright proposal  forms part of the European Commission's general overhaul - officially a  relaunch -  of the Single European Market. The announcement was made at a press conference in Brussels today, and encompasses 50 proposals to be put in place by 2012. 

 The Commission's big new idea is to acknowledge that citizens, as well as business, have a stake in the Single Market. The relaunch was therefore held jointly by Michel Barnier, Commissioner for the Internal Market, and Viviane Reding, Commissioner for Fundamental Rights. 

The  single market rules are intended to facilitate the free movement of goods and services. One obvious problem in the EU is the matter of copyright, which remains constrained by national boundaries. Copyright law therefore works

The   European Commission's Digital Agenda, revealed  on Wednesday by the Commissioner  Neelie Kroes, has all the hallmarks of a cat on a hot tin roof.  She is in the uncomfortable position of having to  play off the aggressive bullying of the copyright industries against the arrogant mendacity of the telcos.    

The willowy Mrs Kroes and  her dysfunctional DG, have chosen to prioritise the explosive  issue of copyright.  At the same time, she  fails to grasp Internet users rights, and net neutrality has been dropped from the list of  formal action points.

The Digital Agenda is set out as a Communication to the Council and the Parliament. This is a policy document which explains forthcoming policy initiatives planned by the Commission. It includes new Directives, as well as reviews of existing policies.

Mrs Kroes'  flagship legislative proposal within the Digital Agenda is a Framework directive on collective rights management (pan-European copyright), and a directive on

The proposed new European Commissioners will be questioned  by the European Parliament this week. Amazingly, there are four who will have some form of responsibility for policy related to copyright and the Internet. What should the Parliament be asking about? Let's meet them...

***Watch Viviane Reding being questioned live! ***

Equipment manufacturers like Ericsson, Cisco and Nokia are trying to convince the network operators that a ‘hollow' network is a good idea. But is it? What are the political implications of ‘hollow-ness'?

The telecoms equipment manufacturers want to take over the management of the networks, and they are wrapping it up in a snazzy-sounding marketing concept called the ‘hollow' network. It means that companies which have hitherto only operated in the background of the telecoms business - manufacturers such as Ericsson, Nokia, Siemens, Alcatel-Lucent and Cisco - will become more involved in the day-to-day running of the networks.

Beneath the marketing razzamattaz there hide some  serious issues. At a time when  the European Commissioner for Information Society, Viviane Reding,   believes that the telcos will power Europe out of recession, is this really the right move? Moreover,    if the network operators are

The European Commission has quietly released the Final Report on the Content Online Platform. Does it serve the interests of serious policy-making for online film and music?

Full of grammatical errors and lacking in substantial understanding of the issues, the Final Report on the Content Online Platform  poses a challenge to anyone seeking a serious policy proposition.

The report purports to present the findings of a 'stakeholder discussion'  in relation to policy for creative content on the internet.  It is presented on the DG Information Society website as an EU  policy document.  The policy issues are framed as  online piracy,  new