This Research Report reviews the legal and policy frameworks that govern the use of information and communications technology by European Union institutions and agencies in terms of the extent to which they account for information security and data privacy. The Report thus informs evolving debates about the complex range of information security and data protection obligations to which the EU institutions and agencies are increasingly subject.The authors would like to thank the reviewers Dr Matt Bassford (RAND Europe) and Hans Graux (time.lex) for their useful feedback and constructive support with regard to prepare this Research Report. The authors would also like to thank Alex Hull for his support in preparing this document for publication.Last but not least, we gratefully acknowledged the financial support we received from Microsoft Europe to conduct the study presented in this document. RAND Europe is an independent not-for-profit policy research organisation that aims to improve policy and decision making in the public interest, through research and analysis. RAND Europe's clients include European governments, institutions, NGOs and firms with a need for rigorous, independent, multidisciplinary analysis.

PrefaceRAND Europe was commissioned by Ofcom, the UK communications regulator, to investigate and prepare an independent expert report on the growth of the connected living room and the implications of this growth for UK citizens and consumers. As the living room becomes an Internet connected space, this shift offers opportunities to consumers and industry while also raising potential privacy and security concerns. Although currently a nascent market, the uptake of living room connected devices is expected to grow significantly in the coming years. However, it appears that there is a low awareness of how the capabilities of living room connected devices might be used, either legitimately by industry or illegitimately by criminal actors. This report addresses the security and privacy implications of the Internet connected living room for both industry and consumers, discussing potential benefits and emerging threats associated with living room connected devices and their technical capabilities.Ofcom has a principal duty to further the interests of citizens and consumers in relation to communication matters. It is also guided by a regulatory principle to research markets constantly. Ofcom aims to remain at the forefront of technological developments and it is on this basis that this report was commissioned.RAND Europe is an independent not-for-profit policy research organisation that aims to improve policymaking and decisionmaking in the public interest through research and analysis. RAND Europe's clients include European governments, institutions, NGOs and firms with a need for rigorous, independent, multidisciplinary analysis.

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that the case for intervention -and, more importantly, rule-change -has seemed mortally wounded. Brooks and Wohlforth revive it in support of a less militaristic but no less ambitious programme: nothing less than the reshaping of the international institutional system to secure American interests.The authors make a lucid, compelling argument, without really addressing the question of the end of anarchy, or at least of its institutionalised, Westphalian form. Such a shift has profound implications not just for US policy, but for the political and social world. It may be that any revolution not directed from the top is doomed to failure, as the authors argue. This means that, from below, there can now only be incremental development of the existing international institutional architecture. The Roman Empire was still alive more than a millennium after Caesar crossed the Rubicon. Inferring the end of anarchy reminds us, however, that we live in changeable times, as always, and that even the international system's most basic foundations may yet be subject to redundancy, or to revolution from above.

London: Sage Publications, 2007, ISBN 9781412908757); xvi + 596pp., £85.00 hb.This volume is a most valuable contribution to the ever expanding list of textbooks on the politics of the European Union. The handbook is an enormously impressive and highly authoritative work in all aspects. It clearly distinguishes itself from competing books by the range of coverage and the clarity of analysis of the state of theory and research on EU institutions, politics and policies.The extensive and inclusive structure of the handbook is organized into four broad chapters: theorizing European integration; the EU as a polity; politics and policy-making in the EU; and the EU and the international system. It includes 28 essays, carefully chosen and meticulously researched by some of the foremost experts in the field. The book opens with a full section on theory, providing broader social scientific context of EU studies, supplemented by chapters on disciplinary history and the academic discourses on EU politics of other disciplines. The second part offers insights into the variety of approaches to the EU as a polity, ranging from traditional categories of empirical political analysis to some fundamental questions of normative political theory. The next section deals with the varied interpretations of the overall character of EU politics, providing a comprehensive picture of how the segmented policy processes in the EU have developed over time, and analyses the complex interaction between the supranational and domestic levels in contemporary European politics. The remaining chapter looks at the questions of the EU's interaction with world politics, dealing more specifically with issues such as development policy, trade policy and comparative regionalism in the context of globalization.Overall, the Handbook of European Union Politics is a most useful book that can be highly recommended. A strong analytical framework coupled with unparalleled coverage of the major issues of the political science research of the EU makes this volume a formidable tool for teaching and a significant input to new scholarly research. It is both relatively sophisticated and very accessible to graduate students and advanced researchers. The clear writing style and the richness of information presented will certainly make this book interesting for non-academic readers.