Security Experts Fear More Cyber Attacks Amid U.S.-Russia Stalemate

The Trump administration's refusal to publicly accuse Russia and others in a wave of politically motivated hacking attacks is creating a policy vacuum that security experts fear will encourage more cyber warfare. In the past three months, hackers broke into official websites in Qatar, helping to create a regional crisis; suspected North Korean-backed hackers closed down British hospitals with ransomware; and a cyber attack that researchers attribute to Russia deleted data on thousands of computers in the Ukraine.

Greek Police Arrest Man Linked to Bitcoin Money-Laundering Scheme

Greek police have arrested one of the central figures in the Bitcoin exchange BTC-e on suspicion of money laundering. Russian citizen Alexander Vinnik was arrested in Greece at the request of US law enforcement, according to a Reuters report. The BTC-e exchange has long been a favorite of criminals, as its headquarters in Russia places it outside the reach of US and European law enforcement.

Google Wants U.S. Court to Stop Canadian Ruling on Search Results

Google is going south of the Canadian border to push back on a landmark court ruling that the tech giant must take down certain Google search results for pirated products Google filed an injunction with the U.S. District Court for Northern California, arguing that globally removing the search results violates US law, and thus Google should not be forced to comply with the Canadian ruling.

High-Tech Leaders Asked to Testify at House Hearing on Net Neutrality

The chairman of the U.S. House Energy and Commerce Committee asked the chief executives of Alphabet Inc., Facebook In.c, Amazon.com Inc., AT&T Inc., Verizon Communications Inc. and other companies to testify at a Sept. 7 hearing on the future of net neutrality rules. The U.S. Federal Communications Commission is considering tossing out 2015 Obama administration net neutrality rules that reclassified internet service like a public utility. 

EU Pressures Facebook, Google, Twitter to Amend User Terms

European Union authorities have increased pressure on Facebook, Google and Twitter to amend their user terms to bring them in line with EU law after proposals submitted by the tech giants were considered insufficient. The European Commission and consumer protection authorities in the bloc wrote to the three companies in June, asking them to improve their proposed changes to user terms by the end of September, according to letters sent to the companies and seen by Reuters.

DHS Confirms End of Laptop Ban on Flights from 10 Muslim Countries

Passengers flying into the United States from airports in 10 Muslim-majority countries affected by the ban may now take their laptops and other large electronic devices into the cabin with them, the Department of Homeland Security confirmed. Security officials imposed the ban in March, warning then that the Islamic State was developing bombs that could be hidden in portable electronic devices.

Microsoft Uses Cybersquatting Laws to Pursue Russian Hackers

A new offensive by Microsoft has been making inroads against the Russian government hackers behind last year’s election meddling, identifying over 120 new targets of the Kremlin’s cyber spying, and control-alt-deleting segments of Putin’s hacking apparatus. Last year attorneys for the software maker quietly sued the hacker group known as Fancy Bear in a federal court outside Washington DC, accusing it of computer intrusion, cybersquatting, and infringing on Microsoft’s trademarks.

 

FTC Reviews Allegations About Amazon's Misleading Pricing

As part of its review of Amazon's agreement to buy Whole Foods, the Federal Trade Commission is looking into allegations that Amazon misleads customers about its pricing discounts, according to a source close to the probe. The FTC is probing a complaint brought by the advocacy group Consumer Watchdog, which looked at some 1,000 products on Amazon's website in June and found that Amazon put reference prices, or list prices, on about 46 percent of them.

Twitter Cites Increase in Suspensions as Part of Anti-Abuse Measures

Twitter offered an update on how its improvements to user safety and its newer anti-abuse measures are having an impact. The company declined to share any hard numbers related to abuse on its network, including how many abuse reports have been filed, or the number of actions it’s taken, for example, noting instead across the board percentage increases on things like account suspensions, implementations to limit abusers’ account functionality, and the further results of those actions.

YouTube Adds Videos to Counter Searches for Terrorist Content

YouTube is taking its next step in countering extremism and terrorist content on its platform. The company announced that effective immediately, YouTube will respond to certain English-language keyword searches by displaying playlists of pre-existing videos on the site that debunk and discredit "violent extremist recruiting narratives" from the Islamic State and other groups.

Justice Department Describes Sting Operation That Shut AlphaBay

Two so-called “dark Web” sites dedicated to illegal drug and arms sales have been seized in an audacious sting operation, and the suspected ringleader has committed suicide, U.S. Justice Department officials said. Canadian Alexandre Cazes, 25, who was suspected of creating an illegal online marketplace called AlphaBay, was arrested by Thai authorities earlier this month.

U.S., Russia Reportedly Discuss Joint Cyber Security Working Group

Moscow and Washington are in talks to create a joint cyber security working group, Russia's RIA news agency reported, citing Andrey Krutskikh, a special presidential envoy on cyber security. "The talks are underway ... different proposals are being exchanged, nobody denies the necessity of holding the talks and of having such contacts," Krutskikh said, according to RIA.

Music Publishers Sue Spotify for Not Getting Proper Licenses

Two independent music publishers filed separate lawsuits in Nashville against streaming giant Spotify for failing to obtain the appropriate licenses to thousands of songs. The plaintiffs in the lawsuit are Bluewater Music Services, a Nashville-based publisher and music catalog administrator, and Bob Gaudio, a publisher and primary songwriter for the band Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons.

Facebook, Austrian Lawyer Battle Over Privacy Actions

Facebook Ireland has rejected claims by Austrian lawyer Max Schrems that he is a private consumer and entitled to take a class action case against the social network. In parallel to the ongoing case in the High Court in Dublin, lawyers for Mr. Schrems and Facebook Ireland appeared at the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) in Luxembourg, over the admissibility of a worldwide “privacy class action” against the social network by the Austrian.

Top EU Court to Consider Google's 'Right to be Forgotten' Appeal

EU judges will have to decide whether Alphabet's Google has to remove certain web search results globally to comply with a previous privacy ruling after France's supreme administrative court referred the issue to the top EU court.Google has gone head to head with CNIL, the French data protection authority, over the territorial scope of the so-called "right to be forgotten", which requires the world's biggest search engine to remove inadequate or irrelevant information from web results under searches for people's names.

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.