Authors, Publishers Ask Justice Dep't to Investigate Amazon

The Authors Guild, the American Booksellers Association, the Association of Authors’ Representatives and Authors United said in letters and statements being sent to the Justice Department that “Amazon has used its dominance in ways that we believe harm the interests of America’s readers, impoverish the book industry as a whole, damage the careers of (and generate fear among) many authors, and impede the free flow of ideas in our society.” The requests for an investigation arise out of last year’s bruising battle between Amazon and the publisher Hachette.

Hacking Team Suspects Government Behind Attack

Italian cyber-security firm Hacking Team said a government might have been behind a massive hack of its systems and warned that the subsequent leaking of its computer codes could prove a field day for criminals. Unknown hackers downloaded 400GB of data from the firm, which makes surveillance software that allows law enforcement and intelligence agencies to tap into the phones and computers of suspects.

U.S. Personnel Director Resigns Amid Hack Attacks

Katherine Archuleta, the embattled director of the Office of Personnel Management, resigned in the wake of two massive hack attacks against her agency that compromised the data of more than 21 million Americans. White House spokesman Josh Earnest said Archuleta resigned "of her own volition." He said Archuleta realized that the technology challenges now facing OPM "require a manager with a special set of skills."

Pirate Bay Founders Acquitted in Belgian Court

The founders of The Pirate Bay, arguably the world’s most visible torrenting site, were acquitted by a Belgian court of charges alleging criminal copyright infringement and abuse of electronic communications. “The Pirate Bay Four,” consisting of Gottfrid Svartholm, Fredrik Neij, Peter Sunde and Carl Lundström, have faced an almost comical amount of legal action related to their involvement with the torrenting site, which has proven to be an elusive haven for illegal copyrighted content online.

U.S. Considers Antitrust Issues in Apple's New Music Service

U.S. government antitrust regulators are looking into claims about whether Apple's treatment of rival streaming music apps is illegal under antitrust law, according to three industry sources. Apple recently launched a new music streaming service, Apple Music. It also provides the App Store platform for competing streaming services including Jango, Spotify, Rhapsody and others.

Chinese Cybersecurity Proposal Increases Control

China's parliament has published a draft cybersecurity law that consolidates Beijing's control over data, with potentially significant consequences for internet service providers and multinational firms doing business in the country. The document strengthens user privacy protection from hackers and data resellers but elevates the government's powers obtain records on and block dissemination of private information deemed illegal under Chinese law.

Federal Circuit Upholds Cancellation of Versata Software Patent

A U.S. appeals court upheld the cancellation of a software patent owned by Versata Inc. that previously led to a $345 million jury verdict against its German rival SAP SE. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, the top patent court in the United States, agreed with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office that the Versata patent was too basic to deserve legal protection.

Hackers Targeting Intellectual Property, Report Says

A group of financially motivated hackers has been infiltrating major corporations and stealing valuable intellectual property, a sign that the motives and techniques of different types of online criminals are starting to blur, researchers at a computer security company planned to announce in a report. Typically, criminal hackers steal passwords and personal data from companies with poor security so that they can break into more valuable sites, or simply sell those passwords and Social Security numbers on the black market. But the report, by Symantec, the computer security company, suggests that a group it calls Morpho is after intellectual property, possibly to sell it to competitors or nation states.

White House Says 21 Million Social Security Numbers Disclosed

The spoils of hacking the U.S. government became clearer: more than 21 million Social Security numbers, 1.1 million fingerprint records, and 19.7 million forms with data like someone’s mental-health history, the White House said. The U.S. Office of Personnel Management in early June disclosed that it had lost 4.2 million personnel records as part of at least two cyberattacks in 2014.

U.S. May Delay Date for Relinquishing ICANN Role

The United States will likely need to retain its historical oversight authority over the Internet's naming and addressing system for a little longer, a delay that will keep the U.S. government from moving ahead with a plan to give up some of its legacy powers over the Web. The extension could last through next July or even longer, said Larry Strickling, head of the Commerce Department's National Telecommunications and Information Administration, before a congressional panel.

Cyber Attack on Power Grid Could Cost $243B, Study Says

Lloyd’s, a specialist insurance market, partnered with the Centre for Risk Studies at the University of Cambridge to calculate the potential economic damage of cyber crime that targets the national power grid. Under one scenario, an attack -- orchestrated, the report suggests, by terrorists, “hacktivists” (like, say, Anonymous) or maybe “disgruntled insiders” -- that knocks out 50 of the almost 700 generators serving the northeastern U.S. and causes a blackout of around four days would lead to $243 billion in immediate and tangential economic loss.

Hillary Clinton Calls Cybersecurity Legislation Insufficient

Hillary Clinton said pending cybersecurity legislation in Congress does not go far enough to increase coordination between the government and the private sector. Clinton -- the frontrunner for the Democratic presidential nomination -- called recent online hacks of private business and the U.S. government's Office of Personnel Management "a serious threat."

Consumer Watchdog Wants FTC to Adopt 'Right to be Forgotten'

Internet users in Europe have something Internet users in the U.S. don't have: a right to be forgotten online. But now, one consumer group is asking the Federal Trade Commission to make Google bring that privacy protection to Americans. In a formal complaint to be sent to the agency Tuesday, Consumer Watchdog argues that withholding that ability from U.S. Internet users is unfair and deceptive -- two types of business practices the FTC is charged with protecting consumers against. The letter urges the FTC to "investigate and act" on the situation.

Security Experts Say Encryption Demands Jeopardize Security

An elite group of security technologists has concluded that the American and British governments cannot demand special access to encrypted communications without putting the world’s most confidential data and critical infrastructure in danger. A new paper from the group, made up of 14 of the world’s pre-eminent cryptographers and computer scientists, is a formidable salvo in a skirmish between intelligence and law enforcement leaders, and technologists and privacy advocates.

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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.