Microsoft Urges Government Regulation for Facial-Recognition Software

Microsoft is calling for government regulation on facial-recognition software, one of its key technologies, saying such artificial intelligence is too important and potentially dangerous for tech giants to police themselves. Company president Brad Smith urged lawmakers in a blog post to form a bipartisan and expert commission that could set standards and ward against abuses of face recognition, in which software can be used to identify a person from afar without their consent.

House Judiciary Committee to Hear from Facebook, YouTube, Twitter

The U.S. House Judiciary Committee will hold a hearing to take testimony from Facebook Inc., Alphabet Inc.’s YouTube unit and Twitter Inc. on whether social media companies are filtering content for political reasons, the committee chairman said. Conservative Republicans in Congress have criticized social media companies for what they claim are politically motivated practices in removing some content, a charge the companies have rejected.

Twitter Suspends Two Accounts Linked to Russian Intelligence Officers

Twitter has suspended two accounts allegedly used by Russian intelligence officers to spread information hacked from Democrats computers and email accounts during the 2016 US presidential election. The move comes a day after the Justice Department announced the indictment of 12 Russian intelligence officers, accusing them of a "sustained effort" to penetrate the computers and email accounts of Democrats and the staged releases of documents to impact the election.

  • Read the article: CNN

EU Digital Chief Urges Lawmakers to Limit Copyright Reforms

EU digital chief Andrus Ansip called EU lawmakers to tone down their tough line on copyright reforms as Europe races to agree rules which will force tech giants to share revenues with publishers, broadcasters and artists. Ansip, who put forward the European Commission’s proposal two years ago, said the overhaul was necessary to protect Europe’s cultural heritage and create a level playing field between big online platforms.

U.S. Charges 12 Russian Officers with Hacking DNC, Clinton Campaign

Special counsel Robert Mueller has obtained a new indictment charging 12 Russian intelligence officers with hacking Democrats to intefere with the 2016 presidential election, and with stealing information of about 500,000 American voters, the Justice Department announced. The indictment lodged by a federal grand jury in Washington, D.C., accuses the Russian spies of hacking into the Democratic National Committee and the presidential campaign of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and of releasing emails obtained from that cybersnooping with a goal of influencing the election.

  • Read the article: CNBC

Russian Operatives Built Local News Websites to Create Trust

Russia's information attack against the United States during the 2016 election cycle sought to take advantage of the greater trust that Americans tend to place in local news. The information operatives who worked out of the Internet Research Agency in St. Petersburg did not stop at posing as American social media users or spreading false information from purported news sources, according to new details.

  • Read the article: NPR

SEC Probing Whether Facebook Warned Investors About Data Sharing

Securities regulators are investigating whether Facebook Inc. adequately warned investors that developers and other third parties may have obtained users’ data without their permission or in violation of Facebook policies, people familiar with the matter said. The Securities and Exchange Commission’s probe of the social-media company, first reported in early July, follows revelations that Cambridge Analytica, a data-analytics firm that had ties to President Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign, got access to information on millions of Facebook users.

U.S. Government Won't Block 3D Models of Gun Parts Online

A multi-year legal battle over the ability to distribute computer models of gun parts and replicate them in 3D printers has ended in defeat for government authorities who sought to prevent the practice. Cody Wilson, the gunmaker and free speech advocate behind the lawsuit, now intends to expand his operations, providing printable gun blueprints to all who desire them.

FCC Chairman Wants to 'Rebuild' Electronic Comment System

The chairman of the Federal Communications Commission proposed an overhaul of the agency’s online comment system after millions of fake comments were posted about a recent FCC rule change. The FCC’s Ajit Pai said in a letter to two senators that he was proposing “to rebuild and re-engineer” the commission’s electronic comment system “to institute appropriate safeguards against abusive conduct.”

U.K. Watchdogs Issue Maximum Fine for Facebook Over Cambridge Analytica

Facebook is staring down its first fine for allowing Cambridge Analytica to improperly access data about millions of people, potentially opening the door for governments around the world to slap the social media giant with other tougher penalties and stricter regulation. U.K. watchdogs announced a $664,000 preliminary fine -- the maximum amount allowed -- after finding Facebook lacked strong privacy protections and overlooked critical warning signs that might have prevented Cambridge Analytica from trying to manipulate public opinion on behalf of clients around the world, including those who sought to withdraw Britain from the European Union in 2016.

Ex-Apple Engineer Charged with Trade Secret Theft for Chinese Startup

An engineer who worked for Apple Inc. on a top-secret autonomous vehicle project was charged with stealing trade secrets for a Chinese startup.Xiaolang Zhang was accused by U.S. prosecutors of downloading files containing proprietary information as he prepared to leave the iPhone maker in April and start work for XMotors in its Mountain View, California, office, according to a criminal complaint filed Monday in federal court in San Jose.

AT&T Buys Company to Expand Cybersecurity Offerings for Businesses

AT&T Inc. said that it has agreed to buy privately held Silicon Valley-based startup AlienVault, allowing the telecommunications giant to expand its line of cybersecurity products targeted at small and medium businesses. AT&T is buying AlienVault as large telecommunications and technology companies including Cisco Systems Inc, International Business Machines Corp and Verizon Communications Inc expand sales of cybersecurity products, among the fastest growing segments of the technology industry.

Researchers Find Way to Evade Apple's iPhone Restricted Mode

Apple released iOS 11.4.1, and with it came a new software mechanism that blocks passcode cracking tools favored by law enforcement. However, researchers at cybersecurity firm ElcomSoft have found a loophole that resets the one-hour counter so long as you plug a USB accessory into the iPhone’s Lightning port, regardless of whether the phone has ever connected to that accessory in the past.

Google Expected to Receive Record Fine from European Regulators

Google could face a record penalty this month from European regulators for forcing its search and Web-browsing tools on the makers of Android-equipped smartphones and other devices, potentially resulting in major changes to the world’s most widely deployed mobile operating system. The punishment from Margrethe Vestager, the European Union’s competition chief, is expected to include a fine ranging into the billions of dollars, according to people familiar with her thinking, marking the second time in as many years that the region’s antitrust authorities have found that Google threatens corporate rivals and consumers.

House Lawmakers Question Alphabet, Apple About Handling User Data

House lawmakers are demanding information from Alphabet Inc. and Apple Inc. about how the companies handle users’ personal information, including spoken words, email content and location data. In letters to the companies’ CEOs, leaders of the powerful House Energy and Commerce Committee said recent media reports and related information obtained by the panel have raised questions about how the companies gather and use consumers’ information.

Apple's 'USB Restricted Mode' Thwarts Law Enforcement iPhone Access

Apple released iOS 11.4.1, and while most of us are already looking ahead to all the new stuff coming in iOS 12, this small update contains an important new security feature: USB Restricted Mode. Apple has added protections against the USB devices being used by law enforcement and private companies that connect over Lightning to crack an iPhone’s passcode and evade Apple’s usual encryption safeguards.

Watchdog Groups Say Amazon Sold Items with Neo-Nazi Symbols

Amazon has a stated ban against the sale of racially hateful products, but the online retailer as recently as last month offered dozens of products with hate symbols including kids' backpacks emblazoned with neo-Nazi symbols, a Swastika necklace, and baby onesies displaying a burning cross, according to a report out from two watchdog groups. Also available: more than 200 Kindle ebooks from publishers identified as hate organizations by the Southern Poverty Law Center, found the report, entitled "Delivering Hate," from The Action Center on Race & the Economy and the Partnership for Working Families.

The GigaLaw Firm helps companies of all sizes protect their brands online, using domain name dispute policies – such as the Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy (UDRP) – and other legal tools available to copyright and trademark owners on the Internet.