FCC Wants to Increase Broadband Availability

A new report from the Federal Communications Commission finds that while providers have done a decent job building out high-speed Internet, as many as 10 percent of Americans — roughly 34 million people — lack access to what the government considers broadband. As a result, the FCC has concluded that the expansion of broadband isn't happening in a "reasonable and timely" fashion, and the agency says the law calls on the FCC to "take immediate action" to speed things up.

White House Changes Approach to Fight ISIS Online

The Obama administration announced an overhaul of its efforts to respond to online propaganda from the Islamic State after months of acknowledgments that it had largely failed in its attempts to counter extremist recruitment and exhortations to violence on social media. The administration has emphasized that it needs the assistance of some of the nation’s biggest technology companies, and a group of top White House and national security officials flew to California on Friday to plead their case with executives.

U.S. Tech Firms Criticize U.K. Spying Legislation

Leading U.S. technology companies, including Apple Inc., Google Inc. and Facebook Inc., roundly criticized proposed U.K. legislation that would expand the British government’s spying powers, according to responses to lawmakers. The tech companies’ strong push back underscores the challenges the British government will have to overcome to make the proposed laws work in practice, even as police and prosecutors welcome the changes.

White House Officials Meeting with Tech Leaders on Terrorism

Senior Obama administration officials will hold high-level discussions with Silicon Valley CEOs to talk about whether social-media firms can do more to prevent terrorists from using their services to recruit and incite violence, according to people familiar with the planned summit. Some of the most important officials in the U.S. government, including Attorney General Loretta Lynch, Federal Bureau of Investigation Director James Comey, White House chief of staff Denis McDonough and Director of National Intelligence James Clapper plan to take part in the meeting, though it wasn’t immediately clear how many of those people will fly out to northern California to meet the CEOs in person, or how many will join instead by teleconference, according to people familiar with the planning.

Twitter Files Suit in Turkey Over Fines for 'Propaganda'

Micro-blogging site Twitter filed a lawsuit in an Ankara court, seeking to annul a fine by the Turkish authorities for not removing content Turkey says is "terrorist propaganda", a source familiar with the case told Reuters. A Turkish official said much of the material in question was related to the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) which Ankara deems as a terrorist organization.

Internet Devices Create Privacy Concerns, FTC Chair Warns

Amid the euphoria over connected devices at CES in Las Vegas, Federal Trade Commission Chairwoman Edith Ramirez injected a note of caution. Ramirez said the proliferation of Internet-connected gadgets — from home thermostats to fitness bands to scores of other products on display — raises concerns about the personal information that is being collected, how it’s being used and whether it is adequately secured.

FTC Chair 'Optimistic' About New Data Agreement with EU

The chairwoman of the Federal Trade Commission said that negotiators were “well on our way” to reaching a new agreement governing how American companies can store data belonging to Europeans. “In my mind, I’m optimistic that we’re going to be able to find a solution to this, I’m hoping by the end of this month,” she said while appearing at the trade show CES. “But we’re well on our way I think to doing that.”

Lawsuit Focuses on 'Horrible Things' Happening on Yik Yak

Despite pressure to reform what has been variously described as its misogynist, racist and bullying nature — Yik Yak, the anonymous, localized free messaging app, remains the rage on college campuses across the country. But one lawyer, Debra S. Katz, and others who abhor what Yik Yak permits are hopeful that Ms. Katz’s formal complaint last May to the Department of Education against the University of Mary Washington over a Yik Yak-related episode — and a pending investigation by the department’s Office of Civil Rights — might signal the beginning of the end for the social media upstart that has outraged feminists, racial justice advocates and others in its relatively brief existence.

Microsoft Faces New Antitrust Probe in China

A Chinese regulator said that it would open a new antitrust investigation of Microsoft, related to electronic data that the government collected in an earlier inquiry. Despite Microsoft’s recent steps to improve relations with the Chinese government, the announcement is a reminder of the regulatory challenges that multinational companies face in the country, one of the world’s largest technology and consumer markets.

Judge Allows Class-Action Against Yahoo Over Text Messages

Yahoo Inc. was ordered by a Chicago federal judge to face a class action lawsuit accusing the Internet company of sending unsolicited text messages to Sprint Corp cellphone users in violation of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act. U.S. District Judge Manish Shah said the users could sue as a group over messages sent in March 2013 because their claims had enough in common.

Authors Guild Asks Supreme Court to Hear Google Case

The Authors Guild has officially asked the Supreme Court to hear its case against Google — a long-running dispute over whether copyright law allows for Google to scan and post excerpts from books for its Google Books service. Google's free service allows users to search for particular lines or quotes in books through the company's main search engine, and also displays parts of scanned pages of books.

Five Years Later, U.S. Returns Music Site After Shut Down

The blog OnSmash was among music sites shut down in 2010, accused of copyright infringement and selling counterfeit goods. But a few weeks ago, after lobbying the government for its return and paying a $7 fee, Kevin Hofman — a rank-and-file record label employee who ran OnSmash, first as a hobby and later as a full-time job — finally got it back, with little explanation and without ever being formally charged with any wrongdoing.

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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.