EU lawmakers and governments agreed Thursday on proposed new telecommunication rules that better protect European mobile phone and Internet users from arbitrary service cutoffs.

EU Telecoms Commissioner Viviane Reding said a deal was reached after EU governments agreed to EU parliament demands to balance a crackdown on illegal downloaders with a broader set of rights for telecom users. The reforms were two years in the making.

To read this AP report in full, see:
www.nytimes.com/aponline/2009/11/05/technology/AP-EU-EU-Internet-Rights.html
www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2009/11/05/international/i033331S09.DTL
seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/businesstechnology/2010205740_apeueuinternetrights.html