Judge Postpones Hearing as FBI Seeks New Path to Unlock iPhone

The Justice Department said that it might no longer need Apple’s assistance to help open an iPhone used by a gunman in last year’s San Bernardino, Calif., mass shooting, leading to a postponement of a key hearing over the issue and potentially sidestepping what has become a bitter clash with the world’s most valuable company. The turn of events came after the Justice Department said in a new court filing that as of Sunday, an outside party had demonstrated a way for the FBI to possibly unlock the phone used by Syed Rizwan Farook, one of the San Bernardino attackers.

U.S. Government Sees 10% Spike in 'Cyber Incidents'

The U.S. government was hit by more than 77,000 "cyber incidents" like data thefts or other security breaches in fiscal year 2015, a 10 percent increase over the previous year, according to a White House audit. Part of the uptick stems from federal agencies improving their ability to identify and detect incidents, the annual performance review from the Office and Management and Budget said.

Senators Review Bill Giving Judges Encryption Authority

A bipartisan group of U.S. senators has begun circulating long-awaited draft legislation that would give federal judges clear authority to order technology companies like Apple to help law enforcement officials access encrypted data, according to sources familiar with the discussions. The proposal from Senators Richard Burr and Dianne Feinstein, the top Republican and Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, does not spell out how companies must provide access or the circumstances under which they could be ordered to help.

Researchers Find Flaw in Apple's iPhone Encryption

A group of Johns Hopkins University researchers has found a bug in Apple's vaunted encryption, one that would enable a skilled attacker to decrypt photos and videos sent as secure instant messages. This specific flaw in Apple’s iMessage platform probably would not have helped the FBI pull data from an iPhone recovered in December’s San Bernardino, Calif., terrorist attack, but it shatters the notion that strong commercial encryption has left no opening for law enforcement and hackers, said Matthew D. Green, a computer science professor at Johns Hopkins University who led the research team.

Supreme Court Agrees to Hear Apple-Samsung Patent Case

The U.S. Supreme Court stepped into the high-profile patent fight between the world's two fiercest smartphone rivals, Apple and Samsung, agreeing to hear Samsung's appeal of what it contends were excessive penalties for copying the patented designs of the iPhone. Samsung Electronics paid Apple more than $548 million in December related to a jury verdict from 2012.

European Commission Examines Geo-Blocking Contracts

Contracts between suppliers and distributors that actively prevent consumers from buying goods and digital content online across the European Union’s borders could face closer antitrust inspection, the bloc’s competition watchdog said. The European Commission, the bloc’s antitrust authority, released the first findings of its probe into the e-commerce sector with a paper that focused on geo-blocking, a practice to discriminate via price or the range of goods a company offers based on a customer’s location.

SWIFT to Ask Banks to Review Security After Cyber Attack

The SWIFT messaging system plans to ask banks to make sure they are following recommended security practices following an unprecedented cyber attack on Bangladesh's central bank that yielded $81 million, a spokeswoman for the group told Reuters. Brussels-based SWIFT, a cooperative owned by some 3,000 global financial institutions, will issue a written advisory asking banks to review internal security, the spokeswoman said.

FBI Warns Drivers About Risks from Automobile Hacking

In a public service announcement issued together with the Department of Transportation and the National Highway Traffic and Safety Administration, the FBI released a warning to drivers about the threat of over-the-Internet attacks on cars and trucks. The announcement cites all of last year’s car hacking research to offer a list of tips about how to keep vehicles secure from hackers and recommendations about what to do if you believe your car has been hacked -- including a request to notify the FBI.

  • Read the article: Wired

Jury Awards Hulk Hogan $115M for Sex Video Published Online

The retired wrestler Hulk Hogan was awarded $115 million in damages by a Florida jury in an invasion of privacy case against Gawker.com over its publication of a sex tape — an astounding figure that tops the $100 million he had asked for, that will probably grow before the trial concludes, and that could send a cautionary signal to online publishers despite the likelihood of an appeal by Gawker. The wrestler’s team said the verdict represented “a statement as to the public’s disgust with the invasion of privacy disguised as journalism,” adding: “The verdict says, ‘No more.’ ”

Spotify Agrees to $21M Settlement Over Unpaid Royalties

Spotify has reached an agreement with the National Music Publisher's Association (NMPA) over unpaid royalties. The streaming service will pay out around $21 million to publishers and songwriters in the deal, according to sources, with roughly $16 million set aside for royalty payments and a $5 million bonus fund for publishers and songwriters who opt in to the deal.

Senate Votes to Hold Classified Ads Site in Contempt

The Senate voted overwhelmingly to hold classified ads site Backpage.com and its chief executive in contempt for refusing to cooperate with an investigation into sex trafficking. The upper chamber voted, 96-0, to approve a resolution championed by Sens. Rob Portman (R-Ohio) and Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) that holds the website and CEO Carl Ferrer in civil contempt.

Apple Engineers Consider Refusing to Help FBI if Ordered

If the FBI wins its court fight to force Apple’s help in unlocking an iPhone, the agency may run into yet another roadblock: Apple’s engineers. Apple employees are already discussing what they will do if ordered to help law enforcement authorities. Some say they may balk at the work, while others may even quit their high-paying jobs rather than undermine the security of the software they have already created, according to more than a half-dozen current and former Apple employees.

Germany Drops Hate Speech Investigation Against Facebook

German prosecutors​​ dropped an investigation of Facebook Inc.​ ​managers on allegations ​the social network failed to remove hate speech from its platform, a spokeswoman for the prosecutors’ office in Hamburg said. Prosecutors had been investigating whether Facebook managers may have infringed criminal law after users posted hateful comments against specific groups or people on the social network, an increasing concern amid an influx of refugees into Germany.

FCC Approval of Charter-Time Warner Could Boost Online Video

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Tom Wheeler is likely to circulate a draft order approving Charter Communications Inc.’s $55 billion deal to buy Time Warner Cable Inc. with certain conditions, according to people familiar with the matter. The order would impose a number of conditions on the transaction, many of them aimed at boosting online video as a competitor to cable.

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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.