Pro-Trump Accounts Post Home Details for Florida Elections Supervisor

Several pro-Trump Facebook pages and one Twitter account posted the home address and phone number of the Broward County, Fla., election supervisor who has been the target of blistering criticism from the president and other Republicans amid highly politicized vote recounts. Posting the home address of Elections Supervisor Brenda Snipes — a tactic called “doxing” — often is a step toward harassment of people in the public spotlight and is prohibited by Facebook, Twitter and most other online platforms.

Senators Want FTC to Probe Ads in Apps Aimed at Children

A trio of Democratic senators is pushing for the Federal Trade Commission to probe manipulative advertising practices on phone apps aimed at children. “The FTC has a statutory obligation to protect consumers from unfair and deceptive advertising practices. That responsibility is all the more urgent when the potential victims of such practices are children,” Sens. Edward Markey (D-Conn.), Tom Udall (D-N.M.) and Richard Blumenthal wrote (D-Mass.) in their letter to FTC Commissioners.

Google's G Suite Twitter Account Victim of Bitcoin Scam

Google’s official G Suite Twitter account is the latest victim of an ongoing bitcoin scam that has been plaguing the social media platform for the last few weeks, joining companies like Target, via The Next Web. G Suite might be the highest-profile target of the scam yet, which saw fake, promoted tweets that appeared to originate from the G Suite account pop up in users’ timelines, directing them toward a scammy bitcoin address as part of a “giveaway.”

Lawmakers in Five Countries Pressuring for Zuckerberg's Testimony

Members of parliament in five different countries are pressuring Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg to testify in an “international grand committee” after he previously snubbed Canadian and British lawmaker requests to testify. “We were very disappointed with this dismissive response,” the members wrote of Facebook’s response to the British and Canadian requests for Zuckerberg to testify.

German Finance Minister Pushing for EU Deal on Digital Taxes

German Finance Minister Olaf Scholz said he favors getting a binding deal on a European Union digital tax at a meeting of EU finance ministers in December and that he supported the French model. “If the negotiations continue the way that they have been going, we’ll still be in talks in 100 years. That is why I support the French model and want to offer the proceeds to the EU,” news weekly Der Spiegel quoted Scholz as saying.

Facebook to Let French Regulators Study How It Fights Hate

Facebook will open its doors for French regulators to study its approach to combating hate speech online, marking the latest attempt by governments around the world to figure out new ways to thwart toxic, derogatory content from spreading on social media. Under a six-month arrangement, French investigators will monitor Facebook’s policies and tools for stopping posts and photos that attack people on the basis of race, ethnicity, religion, sexuality or gender.

20 Percent of U.S. E-Commerce Sites Exposing Customer Information

The personal information of American charity donors, political party supporters, and online shoppers, has continued to quietly leak onto the internet as a result of poor website security practices, new research shows. As many as one in five e-commerce sites in the U.S. are still leaving their customers exposed, Philadelphia-based search marketing company Seer Interactive said.

U.S. Banks Prepare for Possible Attacks from Iranian Hackers

As the United States reinstated economic sanctions on Iran, American banks were gearing up for retaliatory Iranian cyberattacks. Bank executives believe Iranian hackers could attempt to disrupt financial services, perhaps as they did between 2011 and 2013 -- with denial-of-service attacks that interrupted bank websites and other internet financial services.

  • Read the article: CNN

Twitter Deletes Millions of Suspicious Followers That Reappeared

Twitter Inc. made another attempt to make users’ tallies of followers more accurate, subtracting millions of suspicious followers which had reappeared on the social media service since a major purge in July. Twitter is under pressure to tackle its problem of fake users, which are a turn-off for investors and advertisers and have led to scrutiny from U.S. Congress.

Gab's Founder Says Site Will Proactively Screen for Violent Posts

The social-media site where the alleged Pittsburgh synagogue shooter broadcast his intentions is pledging to curb threats of violence, while it said it plans to remain a platform where hate speech and other forms of extreme content are permitted. Gab.com, which resumed service after a stretch in digital exile, will proactively police the site rather than wait for users to report troubling posts, founder Andrew Torba said in an interview, vowing to bolster efforts to expunge threats of physical harm.

Amazon, PayPal End Relationships with Far-Right Group 'Proud Boys'

Amazon and PayPal are distancing themselves from the far-right extremist group the Proud Boys, which has been involved in violent clashes at political demonstrations and has been labeled a hate group. Buzzfeed News reported that Amazon had removed merchandise from its marketplace promoting the Proud Boys after the news outlet contacted the company.

SEC Settles Charges with Founder of Unregistered Cryptocurrency Platform

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) said it settled charges against Zachary Coburn, the founder of cryptocurrency token trading platform EtherDelta, over operating an unregistered securities exchange. The vast majority of the orders placed through EtherDelta’s platform were traded after the SEC had issued its 2017 report, in which the agency concluded that certain digital assets were securities and that exchanges that offered trading in these digital assets would be subject to the SEC’s registration rules.

Facebook Delays Political Transparency Features in U.K.

Facebook is delaying compulsory political transparency features in the U.K. after a series of reports about the fallibility of the new measures. “We have learned that some people may try to game the disclaimer system by entering inaccurate details and have been working to improve our review process to detect and prevent this kind of abuse," a Facebook spokesperson said in a statement.

Facebook Finds Links Between Blocked Sites, Russian Agency

Facebook revealed that the 115 accounts it blocked for "inauthentic behavior" over the weekend could've been linked to Russia's Internet Research Agency (IRA). The social network previously only said it believed "foreign entities" were behind the suspended Facebook and Instagram accounts, but gave more specifics as it announced further suspensions on the day of the U.S. midterm elections.

  • Read the article: CNET

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.