Liberty Lives in the EU!

Here are excerpts from two reports in today's EU Observer, with links for the full stories:
Internet providers don't have to name downloaders, says EU court
Telcos do not have to disclose the personal data of internet subscribers in civil cases (Photo: Johannes Jansson//norden.org)
29.01.2008 - 17:42 CET By Leigh Phillips
EU member states are not required to force internet service providers to hand over the names of file-sharers who distribute copyright material, Europe's top court ruled today (29 January).[…] "Community law does not require the member states, in order to ensure the effective protection of copyright, to lay down an obligation to disclose personal data in the context of civil proceedings," read the ruling.
http://euobserver.com/9/25559/?rk=1
EU to look into consumers' happiness
30.01.2008 - 08:52 CET By Elitsa Vucheva
EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS – The European Commission is to present proposals on Thursday (31 January) aimed at evaluating how satisfied consumers are with the bloc's single market.
EU consumer protection commissioner Meglena Kuneva will unveil plans for a "Consumer Market Watch", consisting of two steps – monitoring of the market and analysis of the collected data.
The goal is to evaluate how effective the market is for the consumers, detect possible market failures and take corrective action if necessary, according to Ms Kuneva.
[…] On Thursday, Ms Kuneva will also present the first "scoreboard" gathering consumer data from the different member states and using five indicators to measure consumers' happiness: prices, complaints, switching rates (between different service providers), satisfaction and safety.
The commission scoreboard - seen by EUobserver - shows that the prices of some goods and services vary strongly in across member states.
Danish, Finnish, Swedish and Irish citizens pay the highest prices for food, while Bulgarians, Slovaks, Latvians and Romanians pay the lowest.
In addition, Bulgarians pay around €7/100 Kwh for electricity, while Italians pay around €17/100 Kwh. The price index does not take into account the differences of wages and living standards, however. [...]
http://euobserver.com/9/25561/?rk=1