Tech Companies Urge Court to Reject Trump's Travel Ban

Amazon, Facebook, Google, Snap and more than 150 other tech companies told a federal court in Virginia that it should toss U.S. President Donald Trump’s latest attempt to ban refugees and travelers from many majority-Muslim countries. In a brief filed in the U.S. District Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, a host of Silicon Valley heavyweights lambasted Trump’s new order — his second attempt, after a judge blocked his first one — and stressed it would inflict “substantial harm on U.S. companies, their employees, and the entire economy.”

Chinese Internet Regulators Want Apple to Check Apps

Internet regulators in China's capital plan to summon Apple Inc. to urge the American firm to tighten its checks on software applications available in its Apple Store, the official Xinhua News Agency reported. The Beijing Cyberspace Administration, together with the Beijing Public Security Bureau and Beijing Cultural Market Administrative Law Enforcement Team, has already met representatives from Apple about the examination of live streaming apps from its app store, Xinhua said.

Consumer Groups Oppose Password Disclosures for Travelers

A coalition of consumer advocacy groups is calling on the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to oppose requiring foreign nationals to provide their social media passwords to enter the U.S. In February, DHS Secretary John Kelly floated the idea of forcing citizens of certain countries to hand over their passwords as part of “enhanced vetting measures” supported by the Trump administration.

Amazon Gets Patent for On-Demand Product Manufacturing

Amazon was awarded a patent for an on-demand manufacturing system designed to quickly produce clothing — and other products — only after a customer order is placed. The computerized system would include textile printers, cutters and an assembly line, as well as cameras designed to snap images of garments that would provide feedback on alterations needed in subsequent items.

Uber Plans EU Expansion Despite Legal Obstacles

Uber Technologies sees opportunities to expand in the Europe Union, despite withdrawing its ride-hailing service from Denmark and facing the possibility of an EU court ruling that could mean tougher rules for the firm, an Uber executive said. Danes hailed their last rides on the UberPOP app before enforcement of a new law making taxi meters mandatory for drivers and imposing other requirements that meant Uber could no longer operate there.

Cyber Criminals Target Japanese Victims Using Game Schemes

Gamers beware: Hackers offering free virtual trinkets don’t care about your passwords or personal data, but your employer’s most closely guarded secrets. An employee at a Japanese high-tech company learned this the hard way, duped by a fake giveaway for 300 magic stones for the smartphone game Puzzle & Dragons. Cyber criminals are stepping up these kind of schemes to break into corporate networks in Japan, according to FireEye Inc., a security software provider.

Google Settles with Russia's Federal Antimonopoly Service

Google has reached a settlement with Russia’s Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS) agency in the antitrust case the Russian search rival Yandex had originally filed, claiming Google had violated local competition rules. The case revolved around how Google had required handset makers to pre-load their devices with Google apps and services in order to also gain access the Google Play Store application.

Search for Facebook Live Murder Suspect Turns Nationwide

The search for a suspect who police believe randomly shot a man walking along a Cleveland-area sidewalk before posting a video of the fatal shooting on Facebook broadened nationwide as officials acknowledged that they did not know where the man was and announced a $50,000 reward for information leading to his arrest. In the minute-long shooting video, a driver pulls up to an older man on a sidewalk. The driver asks the man to say a person’s name, then pulls out a gun and shoots him.

Facebook Launches Changes to Detect Fake Accounts, News

Facebook is ramping up efforts to kill off sham accounts used to spread fake news, pass along malware and falsely boost page rankings, activity that can distort its advertisers' views of user interest. The company is in the process of rolling out changes to its technical systems to make it harder to create fake accounts, its security team said in in a blog post.

NSA Accessed Middle East Finance Structure, Hackers Show

For eight months, the hacker group known as Shadow Brokers has trickled out an intermittent drip of highly classified NSA data. Now, just when it seemed like that trove of secrets might be exhausted, the group has spilled a new batch. The latest dump appears to show that the NSA has penetrated deep into the finance infrastructure of the Middle East — a revelation that could create new scandals for the world’s most well-resourced spy agency.

  • Read the article: Wired

U.S. Surveillance Requests Doubled, Microsoft Reports

Microsoft Corp. said it had received at least a thousand surveillance requests from the U.S. government that sought user content for foreign intelligence purposes during the first half of 2016. The amount, shared in Microsoft's biannual transparency report, was more than double what the company said it received under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) during the preceding six-month interval, and was the highest the company has listed since 2011, when it began tracking such government surveillance orders.

Facebook Fails to Remove Terrorism, Porn Content in U.K.

Facebook is at risk of a criminal prosecution in Britain for refusing to remove potentially illegal terrorist and child pornography content despite being told it was on the site, The Times can reveal. The social media company failed to take down dozens of images and videos that were “flagged” to its moderators, including one showing an Islamic State beheading, several violent paedophilic cartoons, a video of an apparent sexual assault on a child and propaganda posters glorifying recent terrorist attacks in London and Egypt.

Facebook Takes Action Against Fake Accounts in France

Facebook said it is taking action against tens of thousands of fake accounts in France as the social network giant seeks to demonstrate it is doing more to halt the spread of spam as well as fake news, hoaxes and misinformation. The Silicon Valley-based company is under intense pressure as governments across Europe threaten new laws unless Facebook moves quickly to remove extremist propaganda or other content illegal under existing regulation.

Study Outlines Companies' Losses from Cyber Breaches

Cyber security breaches erode companies' share prices permanently, with financials the worst hit, a study issued by IT consultant CGI and Oxford Economics has found. Severe cyber security breaches, such as those having legal or regulatory consequences, involve the loss of hundreds of thousands of records and hurt the firm's brand, caused share prices to fall on average 1.8 percent on a permanent basis, the analysis of 65 companies affected since 2013 globally has found.

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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.