Sessions, State Attorneys General Discuss Data Privacy, Influence

Attorney General Jeff Sessions met with a group of state attorneys general to discuss concerns about the tech industry’s practices, following allegations from Republicans of anti-conservative bias. According to attendees, Sessions raised the issue of how Silicon Valley handles political speech, the intended focus of the meeting. But many of the attorneys general instead put the spotlight on data privacy and concerns about market power.

Facebook, Google Agree to Code of Conduct to Fight Fake News in EU

Facebook, Google and other tech firms have agreed a code of conduct to do more to tackle the spread of fake news, due to concerns it can influence elections, the European Commission said. Intended to stave off more heavy-handed legislation, the voluntary code covers closer scrutiny of advertising on accounts and websites where fake news appears, and working with fact checkers to filter it out, the Commission said.

Google to Allow Ads from 'Regulated' Cryptocurrency Exchanges

Alphabet Inc.’s Google changed its blanket ban on cryptocurrency-related advertising, saying it will now allow “regulated” cryptocurrency exchanges in Japan and the U.S. to run ads on its websites. "Advertisers will need to be certified with Google for the specific country in which their ads will serve," Google wrote in a blog post, adding that advertisers can apply for certification starting in October.

Twitter Announces New Policy Against 'Content That Dehumanizes'

Twitter announced a new policy addressing “dehumanizing speech,” which will take effect later this year, and for the first time the public will be able to formally provide the company with feedback on the proposed rule. The policy will prohibit “content that dehumanizes others based on their membership in an identifiable group, even when the material does not include a direct target.”

Commerce Dep't Seeks Comments on Data Privacy Proposal

The Department of Commerce released a request for public comments as it outlined the Trump administration's approach to consumer data privacy. In the proposal, the National Telecommunications and Information Administration, a branch under the Commerce Department, recommended privacy regulations focused on giving users control over how their data is used by tech companies.

Qualcomm Accuses Apple of Stealing Confidential Info for Chips

Qualcomm has unveiled explosive charges against Apple, accusing it of stealing "vast swaths" of confidential information and trade secrets for the purpose of improving the performance of chips provided by rival Intel, according to a court filing. Qualcomm hopes the court will amend allegations in its existing lawsuit against Apple accusing it of breaching the so called master software agreement that Apple signed when it became a customer of Qualcomm's earlier this decade.

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Lawyer Review Website Avvo Agrees to Changes, N.Y. Attorney General Says

New York’s attorney general said U.S. lawyer review website Avvo had agreed to reform its rating system and improve disclosures after a probe revealed shortcomings in how it presented information to consumers seeking to hire lawyers. Attorney General Barbara Underwood said Avvo, a Seattle-based unit of Internet Brands Inc, will no longer call its ratings “unbiased.”

British Regulator Considers Record Penalty for Cyberattack on Bank

Tesco's banking arm is facing the City regulator's biggest-ever cyberattack-related fine two years after its online services were hacked by criminals attempting to steal funds from customers. Sky News has learnt that the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has warned Tesco that it is considering imposing a penalty of more than £30m on the company.

Suit Says Facebook Content Moderator Suffered Psychological Harm

A former Facebook content moderator is suing the company on the grounds that reviewing disturbing material on a daily basis caused her psychological and physical harm, according to a lawsuit filed Monday in a California superior court. The suit by former moderator Selena Scola, who worked at Facebook from June 2017 until March, alleges that she witnessed thousands of acts of extreme and graphic violence “from her cubicle in Facebook’s Silicon Valley offices,” where Scola was charged with enforcing the social network’s extensive rules prohibiting certain types of content on its systems.

Zoho 'Blocked' by Registrar After Reports of Phishing Complaints

Zoho.com was pulled offline after the company’s domain registrar received phishing complaints, the company’s chief executive said. The web-based office suite company, which also provides customer relationship and invoicing services to small businesses, tweeted that the site was “blocked” earlier in the day by TierraNet, which administers its domain name.

PayPal Terminates Relationship with Alex Jones, Infowars

PayPal is terminating its relationship with Alex Jones and his website, Infowars, the online payment service said. After an extensive review of Infowars and its related sites, PayPal said in a statement, the company “found instances that promoted hate or discriminatory intolerance against certain communities and religions, which run counter to our core value of inclusion.”

FCC Chairman Increases Defense to Repeal Net Neutrality

With a federal appeals court preparing to consider the Trump administration’s reversal of Obama-era U.S. net neutrality regulations, the chairman of the Federal Communications Commission is ramping up his defense of the decision. FCC Chairman Ajit Pai has this month also criticized California’s legislature for approving a state measure to guarantee open internet access and said “bad behavior” on the part of Internet service providers (ISPs) could be prevented by the FCC’s new transparency requirements.

Latvian Man Gets 14 Years in Prison for Creating Malware Tool

Ruslan Bondars, a 37-year-old man from Latvia was sentenced to a whopping 14 years in prison for facilitating cybercrime by creating and running a service named Scan4You that allowed malware authors to check the detection rates of their malicious code. In the infosec industry, Scan4You is what security researchers and malware authors refer to as a "counter-anti-virus" or a "no-distribute-scanner."

Google CEO Contradicts Report of Effort on Political Bias

Google CEO Sundar Pichai sent a company-wide email, which Axios obtained, denying any effort to politically bias the company's search results and emphasizing that Google needs to remain politically neutral. Why it matters: The Wall Street Journal reported that Google staffers had looked for ways to adjust search results in the wake of President Trump's first travel ban in 2017 — reinforcing conservatives' ire over what they have charged is censorship by Google-owned YouTube and anti-conservative bias in search results.

White House Disputes Executive Order on Social Media Bias Probes

The White House sought to distance it­self from reports that President Trump is considering an executive order that would subject tech giants like Facebook, Google and Twitter to federal investigations into alleged political bias. Their worst suspicions seemed to come true with the emergence of a draft executive order that called for nearly every federal agency to study how companies like Facebook police their platforms and refer instances of “bias” to the Justice Department for further study.

White House OKs 'Offensive Cyber Operations' Against U.S. Adversaries

The White House has “authorized offensive cyber operations” against U.S. adversaries, in line with a new policy that eases the rules on the use of digital weapons to protect the nation, National Security Adviser John Bolton said. Bolton did not elaborate on the nature of the offensive operations, how significant they were, or what specific malign behavior they were intended to counter.

EU Commissioner Pushes Facebook to Disclose More on Data Usage

The European Union is ramping up pressure on Facebook Inc. to better spell out to consumers how their data is being used or face sanctions in several countries. Věra Jourová, the European Commissioner for Justice, Consumers and Gender Equality, warned the U.S. tech firm that if it doesn’t change its “misleading terms of service” by the end of the year, that she will call on consumer-protection authorities in EU countries to impose sanctions.

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.