Amazon Drops Disk Encryption from Fire Tablets

Amazon.com has quietly dropped support for disk encryption on its Fire tablets, saying the feature that secures devices by scrambling data was not popular with customers. Privacy advocates and some users criticized the move, which came to light even as Applewas waging an unprecedented legal battle over U.S. government demands that the iPhone maker help unlock an encrypted phone used by San Bernardino shooter Rizwan Farook.

Samsung Unsure About Supporting Apple in Court in FBI Case

Samsung Electronics Co. called customer privacy “extremely important” and said any requirement to build backdoors into its devices would undermine trust, as it weighs in on Apple Inc.’s escalating battle against the U.S. government. The world’s largest smartphone vendor echoed many of its arch-rival’s arguments but said it hadn’t decided if it will file a friend-of-the-court brief in support of the iPhone maker.

German Court Allows Facebook to Enforce Real-Name Policy

Facebook may prevent its users from using fake names, a German court said, overturning a previous order from the Hamburg data protection authority. The ruling is a coup for the social network firm which has long argued its real-name policy ensures people know who they are sharing and connecting with and protects them from the abuse of the wide-open Internet.

Apple-FBI Fight Raises Questions About Chinese Government

Apple’s refusal of the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s request to help unlock a shooter’s iPhone has been a hot topic not only in its home country but in its biggest foreign market: China. Some Chinese have questioned whether the move is a marketing stunt, but others have supported Apple for standing up to the government -- something unimaginable for Chinese companies. Some also have asked: What if the Chinese government asked Apple to do the same thing? Could Apple say no?

Fake New York Times Article on Sanders Endorsement Taken Down

A webpage that masqueraded as a New York Times article and claimed that Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts had endorsed Bernie Sanders for president circulated widely on social media. The fake news article, which mimicked The Times’s typefaces and design and included the bylines of two of the newspaper’s political reporters, appeared with the headline “Warren Endorses Sanders, Breaking With Colleagues.”

Apple, FBI Argue Against Each Other at House Hearing

The fight on encryption between Apple and the FBI moved to Capitol Hill for a hearing before the House Judiciary Committee, with each side showing no sign of compromise.  Bruce Sewell, Apple’s general counsel, said that the FBI’s demand for the company to break into an iPhone that belonged to one of the shooters in the San Bernardino, Calif., attacks that left 14 people dead “would set a dangerous precedent for government intrusion on the privacy and safety of its citizens.” The FBI director, James B. Comey, emphasized the importance of law enforcement’s ability to get access to data for criminal investigations.

FCC Investigating Cable Firms, Internet Television

The Federal Communications Commission is probing whether big cable firms use special contract provisions to discourage media companies -- from Walt Disney Co. to smaller firms -- from running programming on the Internet. It is part of a broader attempt by the FCC to address one of the big conundrums of the telecom age: Why has television been so slow to come to the Internet, despite technical breakthroughs that made it possible long ago?

Republican Report Says FCC Followed Obama on Net Neutrality

Tom Wheeler, chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, buckled to White House pressure in deciding to regulate broadband Internet service as a public utility in last year’s “net neutrality” rules, a new report from Republicans on a key Senate panel asserts. The report concludes the FCC’s actions were largely driven by a Nov. 10, 2014, public statement from President Barack Obama urging the agency to reclassify broadband as a common carrier and implement the strongest possible net neutrality rules -- the principle that Internet service providers treat all content equally.

Judge Rules for Apple in Government's iPhone Data Request

A federal judge in New York ruled in favor of Apple, saying that an obscure colonial-era law did not authorize him to force the firm to lift data from an iPhone at the government’s request. The ruling is not binding in any other court, but it takes on an outsize importance as the U.S. government battles Apple in a separate case in California over whether the tech firm should help unlock a phone used by one of the shooters in the San Bernardino terrorist attack in December.

Microsoft Launches New Cyber Defense Operations Center

With a touch of a button on the wall outside Microsoft Corp.’s Cyber Defense Operations Center, opaque windows turn clear, offering visitors a glimpse of the high-tech bunker where the software giant’s security engineers work to thwart hackers. The new facility is at the heart of Microsoft’s campaign to rebuild its reputation for security at a time when the number of potential targets for cyberattacks -- from smartphones to corporate servers and Web services -- has exploded.

German Court Fines Facebook $109,000 Over Data Protection

A German court has fined Facebook 100,000 euros ($109,000) for refusing to follow an order to adequately inform users about how it was using their intellectual property, a consumer group said. News of the ruling followed a visit by Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg in which he mounted a charm offensive in the face of increasing antipathy in Germany toward the world's biggest social media network prompted by fears for data protection.

Chinese Internet Regulator Closes Accounts of President's Critic

China’s top Internet regulator closed the social media accounts of an influential, retired property developer who criticized President Xi Jinping’s campaign to tighten control over state-run media. Sites including Sina Corp.’s Weibo and Tencent Holdings Ltd.’s QQ were told to shut down accounts held by Ren Zhiqiang for spreading “illegal information,” a spokesman for the Cyberspace Administration of China said in a statement.

YouTube 'Listening' to Feedback About Complaint System

YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki tweeted out a message of thanks to the YouTube community at large, vowing that the company is "listening" to recent feedback from creators, who've taken issue with the site's complaint system. A growing number of popular YouTubers have criticized the company's way of handling copyright violations and, in turn, the appeals process about those notices.

Saudi Court Gives Man 10 Years for Twitter Posts on Atheism

A court in Saudi Arabia has sentenced a man to 10 years in prison and 2,000 lashes for expressing his atheism in hundreds of Twitter posts. Al-Watan online daily said that religious police in charge of monitoring social networks found more than 600 tweets denying the existence of God, ridiculing Quranic verses, accusing all prophets of lies and saying their teachings fueled hostilities.

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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.