Von der Leyen warns technological Google tax Europe 2021 if there is no agreement in the OECD - The president of the European Commission was very clear on Wednesday when referring to the controversial imposed on digital platforms. "We will spare No effort to reach an agreement within the framework of the OECD or the G20. But let all doubt arise: if the agreement does not achieve a fair tax system that allows for sustainable long-term revenues, Europe will present its own proposal early next year."

Ursula von der Leyen has spoken these words in her first speech at a state of the Union debate, where the president of the commission has also warned that "it is not yet time" to withdraw the fiscal stimulus implemented because of the coronavirus pandemic.

"As long as the virus remains present, so will uncertainty, both in Europe and in the world. So it is definitely not the time to withdraw support, " he stressed, in a few words that also collected the news agency Europa Press.

On digital taxes, the European Union thus marks its objective of creating a tax rate for large technology companies. The intention is supported by countries such as France and Spain, which already have adopted new tax rules in their respective parliaments in this regard. Brussels already issued another similar warning at the end of August.

It was then the vice-chairman of the committee on Economic Affairs, the Latvian Valdis Dombrovskis, who reiterated this request from the European Union. "We need to address digital taxation, and we should preferably do it at the international level, especially since the digital economy is quite globalized," he detailed in a statement at the time by Reuters.

This Wednesday, in his speech to MEPs in the European Parliament, Von der Leyen recalled that the Commission continues to believe in "open and fair" trade, "not as an end in itself" but as a "means" to redistribute wealth.

Brussels, as well as several European countries —including Spain— are looking for a new tax regime for large technology companies that also operate outside their home country-mostly the United States. The negotiations were tense this summer, when US President Donald Trump got up from the table and canceled the negotiations.

Von der Leyen warns technological Google tax Europe 2021

This was then announced by the Secretary of the Treasury of the US administration, Steve Mnuchin, who in a letter to the Ministers of Economy or finance of his interlocutors claimed that the talks had reached "a stalemate". "As we have repeatedly said, if countries agree to adopt these taxes, the United States will respond with appropriate measures."

The European safeguard has been known since January this year, when the Union itself warned that it would react if negotiations in the OECD failed.

Following the closure of the Trump administration, Pedro Sanchez's government confirmed that it would continue with the processing of the Spanish Google tax, which has already passed its first steps by overcoming vetoes and being approved in Congress. It is now expected that a vote will be taken in the Upper House, the Senate.

This tax, whose official name in Spain is the tax on certain digital services (IDSD), taxes with 3% the income of technological products resulting from very specific activities —advertising services or online intermediation or sale of data generated from the information provided by internet users—. It will affect companies that generate more than 750 million euros globally, and more than 3 million in Spain in a single year.

Although initially the Executive expected to raise more than 1 billion euros annually with it, expectations were lowered shortly after the slowdown in the economy.

While it is being processed —it is expected to enter into force from 2021—, the executive of Pedro Sanchez continues to hope that a global agreement on it will be reached. France also has its GAFA rate-Google, Apple, Facebook, Amazon - which has not yet entered into force effectively under pressure from the Trump administration, which forced French President Emmanuel Macron to sign a sort of truce with his American counterpart.

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Users of Google's Advanced Protection Program will be able to send suspicious files to a new scanner to check for 'malware'

From now on, users of Google's Advanced Protection Program will be able to send files suspected of containing malware to a scanner, to check whether their suspicions are well founded or not.

Google's Advanced Protection Program is a service with which the tech giant better secures the user accounts of public figures or internet users in danger. From celebrities to journalists or activists, any user can register for this program, which consists of a series of measures to avoid unpleasantness on the devices.

Google has been working for months on this program, which in the most critical months of the coronavirus pandemic has been reinforced. Last March, Google announced that users with this program enabled could not install third-party applications without using Google Play, the company's official App Store for the Android operating system.

In addition, Google would force users of this service to have Play Protect, another Google security system, always activated.

Now, the novelty is that users with Google's Advanced Protection Program will have a scanner in which they will be able to check whether the files they access over the internet contain malicious code or computer viruses.

As The Verge notes, until now, users of this Advanced Protection Program received a warning from Google in case they were about to download a file that, in the opinion of the technologist, was suspected of having malicious code.

The system, in addition to warning users, went as far as to block these downloads to prevent further scares.

The media details how from this week, some users of the Advanced Protection Program can go one step further and request the scanning of files that they want to download to their terminals to check if they actually have malware.

The same medium details that, once users authorize the scan, Google's technology will review the suspicious file by checking its metadata or hashes —the cryptography with which the files are protected and hide some viruses— to determine whether suspicions that the file is potentially harmful are founded or not.

Depending on the verdict taken by this scanner, users will be able to download the file in question or not.

Google's Advanced Protection Program is designed for public figures or agents who are critical or likely to be cyberattacked. In addition to strengthening the security of devices linked to these accounts, Google creates a series of physical keys —one normal and one as a backup - and adds new steps in case you lose access to an account.