U.S. Offers $3 Million Reward for Arrest of Russian Hacker

The U.S. State Department and FBI announced a $3 million reward for information leading to the arrest or conviction of Russian national Evgeniy Bogachev, the highest bounty U.S. authorities have ever offered in a cyber case. The Federal Bureau of Investigation also issued a "Wanted" poster for Bogachev, who is charged in the United States with running a computer attack network called GameOver Zeus that allegedly stole more than $100 million from online bank accounts.

FTC Settles with Developers of Melanoma Apps

The Federal Trade Commission announced two enforcement actions against the makers of two smartphone apps -- "Mole Detective" and "MelApp" -- that claim to be able to detect the symptoms of melanoma simply by snapping a picture of a mole with a smartphone. The apps were downloaded by thousands of people and claimed to be able to calculate melanoma risk as high, medium or low by analyzing the pictures.

Google's Schmidt Plans Meeting with EU Antitrust Chief

Google executive chairman Eric Schmidt will meet Europe's antitrust chief next week, two sources with knowledge of the matter said, a move likely to help regulators decide the next step in a four year-old investigation into the Internet company. European Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager has met more than a dozen Google complainants, including executives from Microsoft and German publisher Axel Springer, in the last few weeks to get feedback.

EU Digital Czar Warns U.S. Tech Firms on Privacy

Europe’s digital czar Günther Oettinger fired off a broadside at Google Inc. and Facebook Inc., warning that the U.S. technology giants are exploiting legal loopholes in Europe to vacuum up and sell individuals’ personal data. In an unusually hard-hitting speech, Mr. Oettinger, Germany’s powerful representative to the European Commission, the European Union’s Brussels-based executive arm, said Europe should counter the dominance of U.S. Internet giants by creating a single set of EU-wide rules governing issues such as data protection and copyright.

Republicans Want FCC to Delay Net Neutrality Vote

Republicans are increasing the pressure on the Federal Communications Commission to delay vote on high-profile rules governing the treatment of Internet traffic, saying the public needs time to see and review the plan. Two Republicans on the five-member FCC urged the agency to delay the vote, calling on Chairman Tom Wheeler to make his proposal public and subject to a 30-day review period before the proposal is completed.

LinkedIn Settles Class-Action Password Lawsuit

LinkedIn, the largest business-oriented social network, has agreed to compensate up to 800,000 people who paid for its premium services to settle a class-action lawsuit alleging that it falsely assured them it was using strong security measures to protect their personal information. In June 2012, a file containing 6.5 million encoded LinkedIn user passwords was posted on a Russian hacker site.

Google's Website in Vietnam Apparently Hijacked

Access to Google Inc.’s Vietnam website was disrupted briefly, the company said, with some users redirected to a website appearing to sell a service used for cyberattacks. In an apparent hijacking of domain name system servers, which act as virtual address books and help direct Internet traffic, users who tried to visit Google’s Vietnam site were sent to the website, which showed a man facing a mirror taking a photo of himself with an iPhone.

NSA Chief Refuses Comment on Spyware Allegations

The head of the National Security Agency refused to comment on reports that the U.S. government implants spyware on computer hard drives for surveillance purposes, saying "we fully comply with the law." U.S. Navy Admiral Michael Rogers was responding to reports that the NSA had embedded spyware in computers on a vast scale and that along with its British counterpart, had hacked into the world's biggest manufacturer of cellphone SIM cards.

Facebook Violates EU Consumer Law, Report Says

A report commissioned by the Belgian privacy commission has found that Facebook is acting in violation of European law, despite updating its privacy policy. Conducted by the Centre of Interdisciplinary Law and ICT at the University of Leuven in Belgium, the report claimed that Facebook’s privacy policy update in January had only expanded older policy and practices, and found that it still violates European consumer protection law.

Security Firm Thwarted Syrian-Related Attack Against Wix

Hackers sympathizing with the embattled government of Syrian president Bashar al-Assad attempted but failed to carry out what might have been a significant attack against the Web hosting company Wix.com in recent weeks, the security firm that helped thwart it said. According to a forthcoming report from the security firm Adallom, shared with Re/code, the attack was likely carried out by the Syrian Electronic Army, a group that has a history of hijacking the websites and social media accounts belonging to media organizations in the U.S. and the U.K.

Google Settles with Italy, Agrees to Privacy Checks

Google’s latest agreement with a European privacy regulator includes spot checks at its U.S. headquarters to monitor how the Internet giant is complying with an order to improve its privacy policy, add new opt-outs for targeted advertising, and disclose how long it keeps users’ data. The Italian data-privacy authority outlined a process for Google to comply with the country’s privacy laws and an order imposed on the company in July.

FCC's Net Neutrality Language Called Vague

As the U.S. Federal Communications Commission prepares to vote on new rules for high-speed Internet service, one aspect of the rules is drawing criticism from both opponents and proponents of tighter regulation. The FCC, which is set to vote to regulate Internet service providers more like traditional telephone companies, has introduced a so-called "general conduct" provision in the latest version of the rules that aim to ensure net neutrality, the principle that all web traffic should be treated equally.

Judge Dismisses Suit Against Google Over Android Apps

Google Inc. won dismissal of claims it abused its market power by forcing hand-held device makers that use its Android operating system to also provide the search engine company’s applications. Google was accused in a consumer lawsuit of requiring manufacturers make its search engine the default option on Android-powered devices and forcing handset makers such as Samsung Electronics Co. to offer less popular Android applications in order to pre-load, for free, favorites such as YouTube.