FTC Investgating Venmo for Possible Unfair Practices

Venmo, the hugely popular peer-to-peer payments service owned by PayPal, is under investigation by the Federal Trade Commission. Its parent company acknowledged the situation in an SEC filing. "On March 28th, 2016, we received a Civil Investigative Demand (CID) from the Federal Trade Commission as part of its investigation to determine whether we, through our Venmo service, have been or are engaged in deceptive or unfair practices in violation of the Federal Trade Commission Act," the filing reads.

U.S. Steel Says Chinese Gov't Hackers Stole Plans

U.S. Steel Corp. is alleging that Chinese government hackers stole proprietary methods for making lightweight steel on behalf of Chinese steel producers seeking to supply a bigger share of the U.S. auto-making market. Pittsburgh-based U.S. Steel, in a complaint filed with the International Trade Commission, said a computer belonging to a Pittsburgh researcher was hacked in 2011, and that plans for developing new steel technology were stolen.

Supreme Court Approves Rule Change for Computer Search Warrants

The Supreme Court approved a rule change that would let U.S. judges issue search warrants for access to computers located in any jurisdiction despite opposition from civil liberties groups who say it will greatly expand the FBI's hacking authority. U.S. Chief Justice John Roberts transmitted the rules to Congress, which will have until Dec. 1 to reject or modify the changes to the federal rules of criminal procedure.

FTC Extends Probe Into Google's Android Abuses

Federal Trade Commission staffers have met with companies in recent months to examine industry concerns that Alphabet Inc.’s Google abuses the dominance of its Android smartphone software, extending a probe that began last year, according to people familiar with the matter. The FTC is examining issues similar to European regulators, who last week charged Google with improperly using Android’s status as the world’s most popular smartphone operating system to force device makers and wireless carriers to favor Google’s search engine and other services.

FBI Informs Apple of iPhone, Mac Vulnerability

The FBI informed Apple of a vulnerability in its iPhone and Mac software on April 14, the first time it had told the company about a flaw in Apple products under a controversial White House process for sharing such information, the company told Reuters. The FBI told the company that the disclosure resulted from the so-called Vulnerability Equities Process for deciding what to do with information about security holes, Apple said.

Judge Holds Amazon Liable for Kids' Unauthorized In-App Purchases

A federal court found Amazon liable for charging parents for unauthorized in-app purchases made by kids, siding with the Federal Trade Commission in a case that stretched back to 2014. The key question in the legal battle was whether Amazon's app store made it too easy for children to buy virtual goods with real money inside games labeled as "free" without parental permission.

FBI Won't Share iPhone Hacking Info with Apple

The Federal Bureau of Investigation plans to tell the White House it knows so little about the hacking tool that was used to open a terrorist’s iPhone that it doesn’t make sense to launch an internal government review about whether to share the hacking method with Apple Inc. The decision, and the technical and bureaucratic justification behind it, would likely keep Apple in the dark about whatever security gap exists on certain models of the company’s phones, according to people familiar with the discussions.

SWIFT Warns Banks About Multiple 'Cyber Incidents'

SWIFT, the global financial network that banks use to transfer billions of dollars every day, warned its customers that it was aware of "a number of recent cyber incidents" where attackers had sent fraudulent messages over its system. The disclosure came as law enforcement authorities in Bangladesh and elsewhere investigated the February cyber theft of $81 million from the Bangladesh central bank account at the New York Federal Reserve Bank.

Justice Roberts Says Patent Challenge Process 'Bizarre'

U.S. Chief Justice John Roberts described as bizarre the legal process used by companies to challenge competitors' patents as the Supreme Court heard a case involving a vehicle speedometer that alerts drivers if they are driving too quickly. Companies that are frequent targets of patent suits, including Apple Inc and Google Inc, have turned to the patent office procedure, known as "inter partes review,", to try to fight off patent challenges.

  • Read the article: Reuters

Personal Data from BeautifulPeople.com Dating Site Leaked

Much of the supposedly private information from the controversial dating site BeautifulPeople.com is now public, thanks to the leak of a database containing sensitive data of 1.1 million BeautifulPeople.com users. The leak, according to one researcher, also included 15 million private messages between users. Another said the data is now being sold by traders lurking in the murky corners of the web.

Bangladesh Bank Hackers Got Access to SWIFT Software

The attackers who stole $81 million from the Bangladesh central bank probably hacked into software from the SWIFT financial platform that is at the heart of the global financial system, said security researchers at British defense contractor BAE Systems. SWIFT, a cooperative owned by 3,000 financial institutions, confirmed to Reuters that it was aware of malware targeting its client software.

Florida School System Renews Social Media Monitoring Program

Schools in Florida are renewing a program that monitors their students' social media activity for criminal or threatening behavior, although it has caused some controversy since its adoption last year. The school system in Orange County, where Orlando is located, recently told the Orlando Sentinel that the program, which partners the school system with local police departments, has been successful in protecting students' safety, saying that it led to 12 police investigations in the past year.

Uber Settles with Drivers in California, Massachusetts

Uber reached a settlement in a pair of class-action lawsuits in California and Massachusetts that will let it continue to categorize drivers in those states as independent contractors -- a landmark agreement that could have lasting implications for the long-term viability of the ride-hailing service. Under the settlement, filed in the United States District Court in the Northern District of California, Uber will pay as much as $100 million to the roughly 385,000 drivers represented in the cases.

U.S. Drops Pursuit of Apple in Unlocking N.Y. iPhone

The U.S. government said it no longer needs Apple Inc.’s assistance to get into an iPhone used by a New York drug dealer, ending a second courtroom battle over whether the company can be forced to help unlock its devices. The Justice Department’s action follows its decision in March ending efforts to compel Apple to help unlock an iPhone used by Syed Farook, the gunman who, along with his wife, killed 14 people in a December terrorist attack in San Bernardino, California.

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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.