Trump Changes Course, Signals No Probe of Google for Search Results

President Trump signaled that the White House isn’t looking to regulate Google and the way it displays search results, a day after his administration said it was exploring whether to set new rules in response to charges that the tech giant is biased against conservatives. Speaking to reporters at the White House, Trump repeated his belief that Google and its tech peers, including Facebook and Google, mistreat users whose politics hew to the right and “silence a very large part of this country.”

Iranian Influence Operation Online Larger Than Previously Known

An apparent Iranian influence operation targeting Internet users worldwide is significantly bigger than previously identified, Reuters has found, encompassing a sprawling network of anonymous websites and social media accounts in 11 different languages. Facebook and other companies said last week that multiple social media accounts and websites were part of an Iranian project to covertly influence public opinion in other countries.

Trump Unblocks Some Twitter Users After Judge's First Amendment Ruling

U.S. President Donald Trump unblocked some additional Twitter users after a federal judge in May said preventing people from following him violated individuals constitutional rights. U.S. District Judge Naomi Reice Buchwald in Manhattan ruled on May 23 that comments on the president’s account, and those of other government officials, were public forums and that blocking Twitter Inc users for their views violated their right to free speech under the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.

Man Charged in Zuckerberg Case Fighting Extradition from Ecuador

A New York man charged with trying to defraud Facebook Inc. founder Mark Zuckerberg is fighting extradition from Ecuador where he was arrested after fleeing before his trial in the United States more than three years ago. Paul Ceglia, 45, a wood pellet salesman, faced charges of mail fraud and wire fraud over his alleged forging of documents to extort Facebook and Zuckerberg.

South Korea President's Ally Accused of Conspiring with Bloggers

A close political ally of President Moon Jae-in of South Korea conspired with a team of online bloggers to illegally influence public opinion ahead of Mr. Moon’s election last year, a special counsel said. The special counsel, Huh Ik-bum, whose investigation was authorized by the National Assembly, found no evidence that Mr. Moon himself was involved in the alleged scheme. 

Instagram Adds Tools to Fight Spread of Misinformation

Instagram is adding three new tools to prevent the spread of misinformation on the platform. “We’ve been focused on the safety of our platform since the very beginning, and today’s updates build upon our existing tools, such as our spam and abusive content filters and the ability to report or block accounts," Instagram co-founder and chief technology officer Mike Krieger said in a press release.

Tech, Human Rights Groups Ask Google to Stop Chinese Search Engine

More than a dozen tech NGOs and human rights groups have issued an open letter calling on Google to stop work on a censored search engine project in China. Organizations including Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, the Electronic Frontier Foundation, Access Now and others released the letter to Google CEO Sundar Pichai on Tuesday, saying the tech giant's plans to release a censored version of its search engine app to users in China represent an "alarming capitulation by Google on human rights."

Trump Administration 'Taking a Look At' Regulating Google Search Results

The Trump administration is “taking a look” at whether Google and its search engine should be regulated by the government, Larry Kudlow, President Trump’s economic adviser, said outside the White House. The announcement puts the search giant squarely in the White House’s crosshairs amid wider allegations against the tech industry that it systematically discriminates against conservatives on social media and other platforms.

Judge Continues Ban on Plan to Allow 3D Gun Blueprints Online

A federal judge issued a preliminary injunction continuing a prohibition on the Trump administration proposal to make available blueprints for so-called ghost guns, untraceable weapons that can be manufactured on a 3D printer, California Attorney General Xavier Becerra said. The injunction extends a ruling last month that barred the Trump administration from taking steps that would allow the firm Defense Distributed to disseminate 3D gun blueprints.

Tech Companies Lobbying for Federal Privacy Law -- With Leeway

In recent months, Facebook, Google, IBM, Microsoft and others have aggressively lobbied officials in the Trump administration and elsewhere to start outlining a federal privacy law, according to administration officials and the companies. The law would have a dual purpose, they said: It would overrule the California law and instead put into place a kinder set of rules that would give the companies wide leeway over how personal digital information was handled.

Cyber Attack Targets Bank of Spain's Website; No Data Breach Reported

The Bank of Spain’s website has been hit by a cyber attack which has temporarily disrupted access to the site, a spokesman for the central bank said. The spokesman said that the attack has not had any effect on the bank’s services or its communications with the European Central Bank or other institutions and that there was no risk of a data breach.

Facebook Removes Myanmar Military Officials for Spreading Hate

Facebook said it was removing several Myanmar military officials from the social media website and an Instagram account to prevent the spread of “hate and misinformation” after reviewing the content. Facebook also said it removed dozens of accounts for engaging in a campaign that “used seemingly independent news and opinion pages to covertly push the messages of the Myanmar military.”

Airbnb Sues New York City Over Law Requiring Disclosure of Names

Airbnb filed suit over a new law, passed in July, that would make it easier for New York City to crack down on illegal listings by requiring Airbnb and other home-sharing companies to share hosts’ names and addresses with the city’s enforcement agency on a monthly basis. In its suit, Airbnb says the law violates its users’ privacy and constitutional rights.

Twitter CEO to Testify Before House Committee Studying Censorship

Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey will testify before the House Energy and Commerce Committee as Republican lawmakers claim that they're victims of censorship on social media. “Twitter is an incredibly powerful platform that can change the national conversation in the time it takes a tweet to go viral," Rep. Greg Walden (R-Ore.), the chairman of the panel, said in a statement.

Trump Says 'Social Media Giants Silencing Millions of People'

U.S. President Donald Trump accused social media companies of silencing “millions of people” in an act of censorship, but without offering evidence to support the claim. “Social Media Giants are silencing millions of people. Can’t do this even if it means we must continue to hear Fake News like CNN, whose ratings have suffered gravely. People have to figure out what is real, and what is not, without censorship!” Trump wrote on Twitter, not mentioning any specific companies.

T-Mobile Says Hackers Accessed Personal Data on 2 Million Customers

T-Mobile has announced that the company was hit by hackers who were able to gain access to personal information from roughly 2 million customers, including the name, billing zip code, phone number, email address, account number, and account type of users. According to the company, more sensitive information -- financial data, Social Security numbers, and passwords -- weren’t compromised in the hack.

Google Shuts 58 YouTube Accounts Linked to Iran Broadcasting

Google has removed dozens of YouTube channels it says are linked to an influence operation run by Iran's state broadcaster. Google says it shut down 58 accounts on its video service YouTube and other sites that had ties to the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting, or IRIB, according to Kent Walker, Google’s senior vice president for global affairs.

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.