On July 27, Washington, D.C.’s Office of Cable Television, Film, Music, and Entertainment proposed a set of rules restricting the city’s Internet service providers from selling customer data and browsing history without their consent. The proposal seems basic, commonsense and broadly supported by the public. And, if recent history is any judge, it’s doomed to failure.
While it may yet face legal challenges, the California Consumer Privacy Act is set to take effect Jan. 1, 2020. Although many small businesses may be exempt, those subject to the law will have to ensure their systems and websites can comply with consumer inquiries and requests.
Customers using devices from four major cell phone carriers could unknowingly be exposing sensitive data to hackers, according to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). Fifth Domain reports that DHS-funded researchers from mobile security firm Kryptowire have found vulnerabilities in phones used by Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile and Sprint.
Twitter is leaving accounts for Alex Jones and InfoWars live, at least for now, amid bans from fellow tech companies. A Twitter spokesperson told CNBC that the accounts do not violate the company's policies. The company also said it is constantly moderating content on its platform and will take action if it needs to, and that much of the content posted to other platforms doesn't make it to Twitter.
Apple does not eavesdrop on iPhone users, the company said in response to an inquiry by a congressional committee about the company’s privacy practices. Specifically, the company said it does not listen to iPhone users until they say, “Hey Siri.” Apple’s response to that question and others came in a letter by Timothy Powderly, its director of federal government affairs, to Rep. Greg Walden, R-Oregon, who is chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee.
Advocates for the First Amendment are asking Facebook to ease restrictions on journalists and scholars gathering user data for research. In a letter, the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University asked Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg to change the company's user agreement to allow researchers to use fake accounts and automated data gathering tools that are otherwise banned.
Iranian hackers are developing software attacks that render computer systems inoperable until a digital ransom is paid, a new report says, a threat that comes as the U.S. moves to reimpose tough economic sanctions on the country. Over the past two years, researchers at Accenture PLC’s iDefense cybersecurity-intelligence group have tracked five new types of so-called ransomware they say were built by hackers in Iran.
Users who publish content freely available on the Internet should get consent from the person behind it, Europe’s top court ruled in a boost to the bloc’s creative industries. Regulators say they lose out because illegal uploads of works on big online platforms such as Google’s YouTube and Vivendi’s video-sharing site Dailymotion deny publishers, broadcasters and artists of revenues.
In an area not far from Iowa State University, a racist Wi-Fi network pops up automatically on cellphones and computers. Its name: “Hang that N-----!” When a 24-year-old from Los Angeles visiting friends in Ames saw those words, she called campus police and the Ames Police Department to complain. But Ames police told her they could do nothing about the Wi-Fi address because freedom of expression is protected under the First Amendment.
Singapore’s worst cyber attack in its history, in which personal information of about 1.5 million people including the Prime Minister was stolen, has the hallmarks of a state-linked group, the government’s communications minister said. In late June, hackers started stealing personal details and prescription records of patients who visited Singapore’s outpatient clinics over the previous three years, authorities announced on July 20.
Top administration officials are devising new penalties to hit back more forcefully at state-sponsored hackers of critical infrastructure to deter attacks such as the successful penetration of U.S. utilities by Russian agents last year.The push for explicit action is coming from top federal agencies to fight worsening threats to the country’s electricity system and other critical industries, particularly menacing actions from Russia, China, Iran and North Korea.
Twitter apologized to conservative activist Candace Owens after briefly locking her out of her account over tweets the company believed violated its content rules. "We have restored your account, and we apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused," the message, which Owens shared on Twitter, said.
The FCC has come clean on the fact that a purported hack of its comment system last year never actually took place, after a report from its inspector general found a lack of evidence supporting the idea. Chairman Ajit Pai blamed the former chief information officer and the Obama administration for providing “inaccurate information about this incident to me, my office, Congress, and the American people.”
YouTube, Facebook and Apple have taken steps to remove content associated with InfoWars and its founder Alex Jones. Each social media platform said that it had removed content from Jones or InfoWars because it had violated their policies.
Democrats running in November's midterms were warned not to use devices produced by Chinese manufacturers ZTE and Huawei. The warning, which came from the Democratic National Committee, was sent out after the DNC learned that a Democratic organization was considering buying ZTE phones for its staff, a senior Democratic source told CNN.
Creators of fake accounts and news pages on Facebook are learning from their past mistakes and making themselves harder to track and identify, posing new challenges in preventing the platform from being used for political misinformation, cyber security experts say. This was apparent as Facebook tried to determine who created pages it said were aimed at sowing dissension among U.S. voters ahead of congressional elections in November.
The Trump administration asked the U.S. Supreme Court to vacate a 2016 appeals court ruling that had upheld Obama era “net neutrality” rules that barred internet service providers from blocking, throttling or prioritizing content. The request was made even though the Federal Communications Commission voted along party lines to toss out the 2015 rules late last year, rendering the fight over their legality moot.
Amazon has pulled items from its site featuring racist imagery like burning crosses and swastikas, a company executive said in a letter to a lawmaker. BuzzFeed News reported that Rep. Keith Ellison (D-Minn.) had sent a letter to Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos last month, questioning why the site was selling and profiting from some of the items featuring the racist symbols.
Apple must pay Canadian patent licensing company WiLan $145.1 million in damages for patent infringement, a California jury ruled. The jury said that some iPhone models infringed two WiLan wireless communications technology patents.
The cyber attack that struck the City of Atlanta in March could cost taxpayers as much as $17 million, according to a report obtained by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution and Channel 2 Action News. The seven-page document -- marked "confidential and privileged" -- identifies roughly $6 million in existing contracts along with an additional $11 million in potential costs associated with the March 22 attack.
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