EoW November 2007

But he had another purpose, going forward: telling Congress it must confer retroactive legal immunity on the telecoms that assisted in the programme. Without it, he said, lawsuits over their participation could bankrupt these companies. “Under the president’s programme, the terrorist surveillance programme, the private sector had assisted us,”Mr McConnell said. “Because if you’re going to get access, you’ve got to have a partner.” The apparently casual reference to the threat that frightens voters and cows lawmakers is standard practice for a Bush Administration spokesman. What was new from Mr McConnell was his acknowledgment of another threat, this time to the nation’s largest telecoms. Several major carriers are being sued over their heretofore unconfirmed role in the surveillance programme, which permitted eavesdropping without warrants on the international communications of Americans who had come under suspicion. Like some congressional legislators, these telecoms may be about to repent at leisure their haste to give the executive branch of government whatever it demanded in the wake of 9/11. Meantime, Mr McConnell’s pre-emptive strike in their behalf has produced some unintended consequences. The Electronic Frontier Foundation, the leader in a lawsuit against AT&T, said it might ask the court to consider Mr McConnell’s comments in deciding whether to throw out the government’s state-secrets argument. Cindy Cohn, the group’s legal director, said: “They’ve really Finland’s Nokia, the world’s biggest mobile-phone maker, on 17 th August filed a complaint with the US International Trade Commission against Qualcomm Inc (San Diego, California), the latest in a running battle between the two companies over royalties for chips that run cellphones. According to the commission’s website, the complaint relates to patents for ‘wireless communication chips and chip sets.’ Nokia and Qualcomm, – the world’s second-biggest maker of the chips for mobile phones – have been haggling over a new agreement since the old licence expired on 9 th April. Nokia claims Qualcomm is demanding too much in royalties for third-generationphones, whichprovide faster Internet access. A Qualcomm complaint against Nokia already before the trade agency was scheduled for trial in September. In brief . . . The planned $2.7 billion acquisition of Tele Atlas (Lebanon, New Hampshire) by Tom Tom, based in the Netherlands, would position the Dutch company to gain market share in the small but growing American market for car navigation devices. Tom Tom hopes to build its US presence on the strength of a constantly updating digital map, a motorist’s aid dependent in part on information supplied by users. The acquisition of Tele Atlas, which uses more than 50,000 sources including satellite and local photographs, will enhance Tom Tom’s digital map database. Until recently, Global Positioning System (GPS) equipage was confined almost exclusively to high-end cars, but prices are dropping quickly. According to Tele Atlas, 15% of cars in Europe and about 8% in North America have GPS devices. ❈ ❈ undermined their own case.” Elsewhere in telecom . . .

Canadian auto parts giant Magna International Inc, on 30 th August, won approval from the European Union for its plan to sell a large stake in the company to Russian national Oleg Deripaska for $1.54 billion. Under the deal, Mr Deripaska, who is said to be close to Russian President Vladimir Putin, will take an estimated 18% stake in the company, giving him the power to nominate six members of its 14-member board of directors. Like Magna, the firm headed by Mr Deripaska – Russian Machines – sells interior mirrors for light commercial vehicles in Europe, and the European Commission regulators concluded that the combination would not significantly reduce competition. Magna (Aurora, Ontario) was expected to seek immediate final court approval for the agreement, which it said it hoped would close by the end of September.

❈

Economics

Expectations for growth in the US economy are scaled back

Most US economists still look for growth overall, into 2008. But the summer’s financial crisis, deriving from a cascade of sub-prime mortgage defaults, has taken its toll of optimism.

37

EuroWire – November 2007