The Netherlands: Dutch police are being infiltrated by criminal gangs, report says

Dutch police unions have called for extra training in resisting approaches from criminal gangs after a report concluded that the recent firing of dozens of officers for corruption and security breaches could prove “the tip of the iceberg”.

The Algemeen Dagblad (AD) newspaper said the confidential police report confirmed suspicions that forces around the country were being infiltrated by organised crime, with 19 officers from the mid-Netherlands force alone found to have underworld connections.

Netherlands becoming a narco-state, warn Dutch police

The paper said dozens of officers had been suspended or dismissed in recent weeks over offences and allegations of corruption in office, fraud, professional misconduct, breach of official secrecy, dereliction of duty and misuse of police computers.

Note EU-Digest: Even though the article attached is three years old, problems remain as do cost overruns in the Dutch government's efforts to re9rganize the Dutch police force

Read more at: Dutch police are being infiltrated by criminal gangs, report says | Netherlands | The Guardian

USA: Ted Cruz under scrutiny: Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez goes in hard on Ted Cruz and GOP: ‘you almost had me murdered’ - by Walter Einenke

On Thursday, responding the the stock trading mobile app Robinhood blocking retail investors from buying surging stocks like GameStop, AMC, Bed Bath & Beyond, BlackBerry, and Nokia, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez called for an investigation into the transparent manipulation of the stock market by hedge funds. On Twitter she wrote, “This is unacceptable. We now need to know more about @RobinhoodApp’s decision to block retail investors from purchasing stock while hedge funds are freely able to trade the stock as they see fit. As a member of the Financial Services Cmte [sic], I’d support a hearing if necessary.”

The always craven and opportunistic political Renfield Sen. Ted Cruz decided to retweet Ocasio-Cortez’s statement and add “Fully agree.” Blech! Rep. Ocasio-Cortez isn’t going to allow this disingenuous piece of human detritus play pretend Mother Theresa, so she replied: “I am happy to work with Republicans on this issue where there’s common ground, but you almost had me murdered 3 weeks ago so you can sit this one out. Happy to work w/ almost any other GOP that aren’t trying to get me killed. In the meantime if you want to help, you can resign.” Boom.

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez goes in hard on Ted Cruz and GOP: ‘you almost had me murdered’

Big Tech Under Scrutiny: Big Tech painted as the railroad barons of the digital age in antitrust hearing - by Therese Poletti

Jeff Bezos

For the most part — if you could tune out the political grandstanding that had nothing to do with antitrust — Wednesday’s congressional hearing on Big Tech gave many pointed examples of how four of the biggest tech companies in the U.S. abuse their dominant power and thwart competition.

What happens next will be in the hands of  US Goverment agencies. And while after Wednesday’s hearing it seems Alphabet may be most in jeopardy, the other companies should not relax. None of Big Tech made a very good showing Wednesday.

Read more at: 
Big Tech painted as the railroad barons of the digital age in antitrust hearing - MarketWatch

Austria - Far-right parties under scrutiny in Austria and Britain

The Europe Report: Far-right parties under scrutiny in Austria, UK A political earthquake has shaken Austria, just one week before the EU elections. We update you on the resignation of Vice-Chancellor Heinz-Christian Strache, the now ex-leader of the far-right Freedom Party. Strache quit after a secretly-filmed videotape emerged showing him proposing various illicit deals in return for shady investments by a woman posing as a Russian oligarch's niece.

Read more at:

http://www.france24.com/en/20190520-europe-report-european-elections-eu-austria-far-right-sting-scandal-poland-abortion-cookies

EU versus Facebook: Will Weber take a hammer to Facebook’s social media monopoly? – by Samuel Stolton

 Dumb fucks.” That’s how Mark Zuckerberg described users of Facebook for trusting him with their personal data back in 2004. If the last week is anything to go by, he was right.

Manfred Weber, the head of the EPP group in the European Parliament and lead candidate for Jean-Claude Juncker’s job as the next European Commission president, threw down the gauntlet on Friday (28 September), suggesting that he may support a breakup of Facebook and Whatsapp.

“I consider it necessary to ask the monopoly question,” Weber told the German newspaper Spiegel. Weber announced his candidacy for the top EU job in early September and has also received backing from German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

“The European Commission should consider whether, for example, after the acquisition of Whatsapp and Instagram, Facebook has a dominant position. In extreme cases, a breakup should also be conceivable,” he said.

Weber also noted that Facebook will continue to be under close scrutiny from the European Parliament, and called on the internet giant to be more transparent in its advertising activities.

The EU’s Justice Commissioner Věra Jourová has put pressure on Facebook to disclose further details of the massive security breach that impacted around fifty million users last week.

In a statement on Sunday (30 September), Jourová urged Facebook to comply fully with the body in charge of investigating the breach, Ireland’s Data Protection Commission, and disclose whether EU users were affected by the breach and how their personal data was impacted.

At least 50mln #Facebook users were compromised in the huge security breach. I urge Facebook to fully cooperate with @DPCIreland. We need to know if EU users were affected and what had happened to their data. Here a reminder about the obligations of biz https://t.co/1bZ6IJdJ4B

Ireland’s Data Protection Commission struck a similar tone on Sunday when they announced that they are still waiting for “further urgent details” of the security breach…[to]…properly assess the nature of the breach and risk to users.”

Facebook said on Friday (28 September) that hackers had discovered a security flaw allowing them to capture data belonging to up to 50 million Facebook users.

According to the New York Times, Facebook’s VP for product management, Guy Rosen, has refused to rule out the possibility that the attack may have been coordinated by a nation-state.

Rosen has stated that the hackers were targeting people’s private information, including name, gender and location.

Due to the lack of disclosure given on the specifics of the hack thus far by Facebook, it currently remains unclear as to whether more sensitive information has been accessed.

Read more: Will Weber take a hammer to Facebook’s social media monopoly? – EURACTIV.com