The European Union’s executive is planning a possible law to deal with complaints about unfair trading practices by leading online players such as Apple (AAPL.O) and Google (GOOGL.O).The European Commission said on Wednesday in a mid-term review of its digital strategy that it would prepare an initiative by the end of the year to address unfair contractual clauses and trading practices in relations between platforms and businesses, prompting strong criticism from the tech industry.This follows on from EU proposals to remove barriers in online services to improve European companies’ chances of competing against U.S. tech giants like Google, Apple and Facebook (FB.O).European companies such as Spotify, Rocket Internet (RKET.DE) and Deezer (DZR.PA) have complained that online platforms – such as search engines and app stores – abuse their position as gateways to customers to promote their own services or impose imbalanced terms and conditions.

A few weeks ago, I bought a new television. When the whole process was over, I realized something incredible: To navigate all of the niggling details surrounding this one commercial transaction — figuring out what to buy, whoch accessories I needed, how and where to install it, and whom to hire to do so — I had dealt with only a single ubiquitous corporation: Amazon.It wasn’t just the TV. As I began combing through other recent household decisions, I found that in 2016, nearly 10 percent of my household’s commercial transactions flowed through the Seattle retailer, more by far than any other company my family dealt with. What’s more, with its Echos, Fire TV devices, audiobooks, movies and TV shows, Amazon has become, for my family, more than a mere store. It is my confessor, my keeper of lists, a provider of food and culture, an entertainer and educator and handmaiden to my children.

The Thunderbird e-mail client still has its supporters, but for the past couple of years, Mozilla has been making moves to distance itself from the project. In late 2015, Mozilla announced that it would be looking for a new home for Thunderbird, calling its continued maintenance ”a tax” on Firefox development.FURTHER READINGThunderbird “a tax” on Firefox development, and Mozilla wants to drop itYesterday, Mozilla Senior Add-ons Technical Editor Philipp Kewisch announced Mozilla’s future plans for Thunderbird—the Mozilla Foundation will ”continue as Thunderbird’s legal, fiscal, and cultural home,” but on the condition that the Thunderbird Council maintains a good working relationship with Mozilla leadership and that Thunderbird works to reduce its ”operational and technical” reliance on Mozilla.As a first step toward operational independence, the Thunderbird Council has been soliciting donations from users, whoch Kewisch says has become ”a strong revenue stream” that is helping to pay for servers and staff.