Ex-Chinese Commander Criticizes U.S. Internet Policy

Just days after China and the United States hailed a high-level agreement limiting cyberattacks, a former commander of one of the Chinese military’s top hacking units lashed out at American Internet policy, in a sign of how far apart Beijing and Washington remain on technology issues. In prepared remarks, Hao Yeli, the former deputy head of the Fourth Department of the People’s Liberation Army General Staff Department — which is responsible for the Chinese military’s offensive electronic warfare — said the United States had double standards with online surveillance and that the uncertainty behind the origin of digital attacks makes it difficult to apply traditional rules of engagement to the Internet.

U.S. Officials Say Military Needs to Improve Cyber Intelligence

The U.S. military needs to improve its ability to deter attacks on its computer networks, and is working to make them more costly for U.S. adversaries, top U.S. military and intelligence officials told a Senate hearing. James Clapper, director of national intelligence, told the committee that cyber threats to the U.S. national and economic security were increasing in frequency, scale, sophistication and severity of impact, both by countries such as Russia, China, Iran and North Korea, as well as non-state actors.

FTC Sues Company for Stifling Online Criticism

If you've ever left a negative review of a company online, you might be pleased to hear that federal regulators have your back. In a lawsuit, the Federal Trade Commission accused a Florida-based firm not only of selling weight-loss supplements that didn't work as advertised, but also of improperly going after customers who complained about the faulty products online.

Merkel Confronts Zuckerberg Over Racist Facebook Posts

German Chancellor Angela Merkel confronted Facebook Inc. Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg on how his company is progressing in efforts to curtail racist posts, after her government complained the social network wasn’t doing enough to crack down on recent xenophobic outbursts. Attending a luncheon on the sidelines of a United Nations development summit in New York, Merkel and Zuckerberg were overheard on a live transmission broadcast on the UN website as participants took their seats.

U.S. Criticizes EU Opinion on Data Privacy System

The United States criticized an EU judicial opinion that called into question the Safe Harbour transatlantic data privacy system and Washington urged European judges to reach a different conclusion. The U.S. mission to the European Union said an opinion by an adviser to the EU's top court, backing an Austrian who alleged Facebook passed private data to U.S. security services, "rests on numerous inaccurate assertions about intelligence practices of the United States."

Hilton Probes Claims of Hacking at Gift Shops, Restaurants

Hilton Worldwide Holdings said it was investigating claims that hackers had compromised registers in gift shops and restaurants at a large number of Hilton Hotel and franchise properties across the United States. Cyber-security blogger Brian Krebs said in a post that Visa Inc. had sent confidential alerts to financial organizations warning of a breach at a business between April 21 and July 27.

U.S., China Reach Agreement Against Online Espionage

President Barack Obama said that the United States and China had agreed not to conduct cybertheft of trade secrets and intellectual property against one another for commercial gain. The administration has steadily put pressure on the Chinese government over the last several years to repudiate the use of cybertheft of trade secrets -- something the U.S. business community and administration has accused Beijing of engaging in on an industrial scale.

  • Read the article: CNN

India Drops Proposal Against Social Media Data Encryption

Responding to a chorus of criticism, Indian officials hastily withdrew a draft policy on encryption that would have required users of social media and messaging applications to save plain-text versions of their messages for 90 days so that they could be shared with the police. The proposal, which many condemned as both draconian and impractical, came as an embarrassment days before Prime Minister Narendra Modi travels to Silicon Valley to try to attract investment and promote India as an emerging market for digital technology.

Judge Says Employees Need Not Disclose Phone Passwords

A federal judge in Pennsylvania ruled that the Securities and Exchange Commission can’t force two former credit-card company employees accused of insider trading to give up the personal passcodes for their old work-issued smartphones. The case highlights the thorny legal questions raised by a common corporate practice: Many American workers have one password-protected phone that they use for work and personal activities.

FTC Plans Antitrust Probe of Google Over Android

Google Inc. is back under U.S. antitrust scrutiny as officials ask whether the tech giant stifled competitors’ access to its Android mobile-operating system, said two people familiar with the matter. The Federal Trade Commission reached an agreement with the Justice Department to spearhead an investigation of Google’s Android business, the people said.

White House Group Considered Anti-Encryption Solutions

An Obama administration working group has explored four possible approaches tech companies might use that would allow law enforcement to unlock encrypted communications -- access that some tech firms say their systems are not set up to provide. The group concluded that the solutions were “technically feasible,” but all had drawbacks as well.

Hacking, Malware Linked to Only 25% of Data Breaches

In Trend Micro's new report, dubbed "Understanding Data Breaches," the security firm explores who is most often targeted in data breaches, how they take place, and what happens to data once it leaves corporate networks. Using the Privacy Rights Clearinghouse (PRC)'s Data Breaches database, Trend Micro found that hacking or malware was behind only 25 percent of data breach incidents from 2005 to April this year.

  • Read the article: ZDNet

Bitcoin Swap Trading Platform Sanctioned by Regulators

A New Jersey-based bitcoin swap trading platform was sanctioned by U.S. derivatives regulators after it allegedly facilitated illegal wash trades and then misled U.S. regulators both through press releases and at a government-sponsored public meeting. The Commodity Futures Trading Commission said TerraExchange LLC pre-arranged the sale of a swap that derived its value from bitcoins for trading last October, in an effort to test its systems.

Europe Opens Study of Whether to Regulate Internet

The European Commission launched an inquiry into the behavior of online companies such as Google, Facebook and Amazon to try to gauge whether there is a need to regulate the web. The public consultation seeks answers on a broad range of issues, from the contractual restrictions online groups may impose on other businesses, for example, companies seeking to display ads, to how proactive they should be in removing illegal content online.

European Court's Counsel Says Data Pact May Be Illegal

A 15-year-old pact that allows the transfer of data between the United States and European Union may be illegal, according to an opinion from the European Court of Justice's top legal counsel . The decision could have far-reaching consequences for Facebook, Google, Twitter and thousands of other U.S. companies. Countries should be able to prevent data about their citizens from being sent to the U.S. if that data will be used in ways that violate citizens' rights, Advocate General Yves Bot said in his recommendation to the ECJ.

Chinese President Vows to Work with U.S. on Cybercrime

President Xi Jinping pledged in a speech in Seattle to work with the United States on fighting cybercrime, saying that the Chinese government was a staunch defender of cybersecurity. “The Chinese government will not in whatever form engage in commercial theft, and hacking against government networks are crimes that must be punished in accordance with the law and relevant international treaties,” Mr. Xi said in an address to American business executives.

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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.