Fed Branch Originally Blocked Fraudulent Bank Transfers

Hours before the Federal Reserve Bank of New York approved four fraudulent requests to send $81 million from a Bangladesh Bank account to cyber thieves, the Fed branch blocked those same requests because they lacked information required to transfer money, according to two people with direct knowledge of the matter. On the day of the theft in February, the New York Fed initially rejected 35 requests to transfer funds to various overseas accounts, a New York Fed official and a senior Bangladesh Bank official told Reuters.

Supreme Court Refuses to Hear Google AdWords Case

The U.S. Supreme Court rejected Google Inc's bid to throw out a class action lawsuit involving claims that the company deceived California advertisers about the placement of Internet ads through its Adwords service. The court's decision not to hear the case leaves in place a September 2015 ruling by the San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that the litigation could move forward as a class action representing advertisers who used the service between 2004 and 2008.

Man Gets Eight Years for Role in Illegal Drug Website

A Washington state man was sentenced to eight years in prison for his role in helping the management of the successor website to Silk Road, an online black market where illegal drugs and other goods were sold. Brian Farrell, who prosecutors say was a staff member for Silk Road 2.0, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Richard Jones in Seattle after pleading guilty in March to a charge of conspiracy to distribute heroin, cocaine and methamphetamine.

Facebook Denies Using Microphones on Phones to Target Ads

Facebook has shut down rumors that it uses your mobile device's microphone to eavesdrop on conversations so it can better target ads. In a statement issued on June 2nd, Facebook said it "does not use your phone’s microphone to inform ads or to change what you see in News Feed." The company says it only shows ads based on people's interests and other profile information.

Social Media, Apps Used to Spread Malware to ISIS

The Islamic State group has used social media platforms and apps as vehicles to spread information to its followers as well as aid in recruitment. The apps, while being viewed as a trustworthy source of intelligence, can also be exploited, according to a report from Motherboard. Recent alerts sent out through official channels of the terrorist organization, also known as ISIS or ISIL, warn of fake news apps filled with malware.

Researchers Find Flaws in Europe's 'Right to be Forgotten'

Europe's so-called right to be forgotten — one of the world’s most widespread efforts to protect people’s privacy online — may not be as effective as many European policy makers think, according to new research by computer scientists based, in part, at New York University. The academic team, which also included experts from the Federal University of Minas Gerais in Brazil, said that in roughly a third of the cases examined, the researchers were able to discover the names of people who had asked for links to be removed.

EU Regulatory Guidelines Aim to Boost Net Neutrality

Europe's telecoms operators will have to justify giving priority to certain services on their network, according to new EU regulatory guidelines in a move likely to disappoint an industry hoping for more leeway so they can boost revenues. The European Union last year adopted its first ever net neutrality rules which require telecoms operators such as Orange, Deutsche Telekom and Telecom Italia to treat all Internet traffic equally.

'Irongate' Malware Can Disrupt Energy, Chemical Plants

A group of researchers discovered a rare instance of malicious computer software cleverly designed to mask the disruption of an industrial machine that's being used, for instance, at an energy or chemical plant. The team from FireEye, a cybersecurity firm, stumbled across the malware last year while researching viruses that attack industrial control systems. They dubbed it Irongate.

Amazon Sues Three Sellers Over Fake Product Reviews

As part of its effort to combat fake reviews on its platform, Amazon sued three of its sellers for using sock puppet accounts to post fake reviews about their products. Amazon has been aggressively pursuing reviewers it does not consider genuine over the last year, often using lawsuits to discourage the buying and selling of reviews, but this is the first time it has sued the sellers themselves.

Newspaper Association Asks FTC to Investigate Ad Blockers

The Newspaper Association of America, the industry association representing 2,000 newspapers, filed a federal complaint against the ad-blocking industry, alleging that software companies which enable users to block ads are misleading the public. The complaint asks the U.S. Federal Trade Commission, the government agency that oversees trade practices, to investigate ad blockers that offer “paid whitelisting,” – a service which charges advertisers to bypass ad-blocking software – along with services that substitute ad blockers’ own advertising for blocked ads or get around publishers’ subscription pages.

EU Urges Governments Against Banning 'Sharing Economy' Services

European Union governments should not ban services like home-rental site Airbnb or ride-hailing app Uber except as a last resort, the EU says in new guidelines, seeking to rein in a crackdown on the "sharing economy." In guidelines seen by Reuters, the European Commission said any restrictions by EU member states on these new online services should be justified and proportionate to the public interest at stake.

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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.