New York Investigating Apple's Response to FaceTime Flaw

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo and new Attorney General Letitia James said the state was probing Apple Inc’s failure to warn consumers about a FaceTime bug that lets iPhones users see and hear others before they accept a video call. The bug allows an iPhone user placing a call using Apple’s FaceTime video-calling feature to hear audio from the recipient’s phone even if the call has not gone through.

Seller of Fake Social Media Accounts Settles with N.Y. Attorney General

Letitia James, the attorney general of New York, announced a settlement with Devumi, a company that sold hundreds of millions of fake followers on Twitter and other social media platforms before going out of business last year. The settlement is one of the first major efforts by regulators and law enforcement officials to investigate the shadowy market of social media fraud, where armies of fake accounts are sold to businesses, politicians and celebrities seeking the appearance of influence.

Hackers in UAE Accessed iPhones of Activists, Diplomats, Rival Foreign Leaders

A team of former U.S. government intelligence operatives working for the United Arab Emirates hacked into the iPhones of activists, diplomats and rival foreign leaders with the help of a sophisticated spying tool called Karma, in a campaign that shows how potent cyber-weapons are proliferating beyond the world’s superpowers and into the hands of smaller nations. The cyber tool allowed the small Gulf country to monitor hundreds of targets beginning in 2016, from the Emir of Qatar and a senior Turkish official to a Nobel Peace laureate human-rights activist in Yemen, according to five former operatives and program documents reviewed by Reuters.

Senators Question Facebook After Reports of Children's Game Purchases

Two Democratic senators are demanding answers from Facebook Inc. Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg over reports that the social media giant allowed kids to make purchases costing thousands of dollars on the platform’s games. Senators Ed Markey of Massachusetts and Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut told Zuckerberg in a letter that internal documents detailed by the Center for Investigative Reporting “are alarming and raise serious concerns about whether your company and its employees knowingly harmed families.”

Judge Rejects Yahoo's Proposed Settlement for Largest Data Breach

A U.S. judge rejected Yahoo’s proposed settlement with millions of people whose email addresses and other personal information were stolen in the largest data breach in history, faulting the Internet services provider for a lack of transparency. U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh in San Jose, California, said she could not declare the settlement “fundamentally fair, adequate and reasonable” because it did not say how much victims could expect to recover.

Apple Disables Group FaceTime After Bug Allows Eavesdropping

Apple disabled the group calling feature in its FaceTime calling service, as it furiously tries to remedy a bug that allowed eavesdropping. The bug appears to fool a call recipient's phone into thinking a group call, which involves more than two people, has already started. It then switches the recipient's microphone on without them ever having to accept or reject the call.

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DNI Director Cites Cyber Threats from China, Russia, Iran, North Korea

China and Russia pose the biggest risks to the United States, and are more aligned than they have been in decades as they target the 2020 presidential election and American institutions to expand their global reach, U.S. intelligence officials told senators. “China, Russia, Iran, and North Korea increasingly use cyber operations to threaten both minds and machines in an expanding number of ways - to steal information, to influence our citizens, or to disrupt critical infrastructure,” Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats said.

New York State Senator Urges Google to Remove Gay Conversion Therapy App

Google’s Play Store is currently hosting a gay conversion therapy app from a religious group called Living Hope Ministries that gives users access to recordings of sermons, text devotionals, and at least one podcast, including a section that appears to mostly contain stories telling gay readers that their sexuality can be ignored or changed. For New York State Senator Brad Hoylman — whose bill prohibiting conversion therapy in New York was recently signed into law, and who represents the district where Google has its New York City headquarters — that’s unconscionable.

Facebook Plans to Create Independent Content Oversight Board

Facebook Inc. laid out plans for an independent content oversight board with the power to overturn company decisions on user posts, aimed at addressing concerns over misinformation and abusive behavior on the platform. The board’s 40 members would select cases to review as the world’s largest social media network tries to crack down on harassment, incitement of violence and the spread of false information without infringing freedom of speech.

U.S. Files Criminal Charges Against Huawei, Including Theft of Trade Secrets

U.S. prosecutors filed criminal charges against Huawei Technologies Co., China’s largest technology company, alleging it stole trade secrets from an American rival and committed bank fraud by violating sanctions against doing business with Iran. Huawei has been the target of a broad U.S. crackdown, including allegations it sold telecommunications equipment that could be used by China’s Communist Party for spying.

Irish Data Protection Commissioner Probes Twitter Over Breach Notice

Twitter’s lead regulator in the European Union, the Irish Data Protection Commissioner (DPC), said it was investigating the company for a breach notification received from the social networking site. “The DPC has this week opened a new statutory inquiry into the latest data breach it received from Twitter on 8 January, 2019,” said the Commission in a statement posted on its website.

Japan Approves Law Allowing Hacking of Internet Devices for Security Survey

The Japanese government approved a law amendment that will allow government workers to hack into people's Internet of Things devices as part of an unprecedented survey of insecure IoT devices. The survey will be carried out by employees of the National Institute of Information and Communications Technology (NICT) under the supervision of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications.

After Nine-Month Freeze, China Approves New Video Game Licenses

Tencent Holdings and NetEase, which run China’s two biggest video game operations, received their first new game licences after a nine-month freeze by Chinese regulators, removing the cloud of uncertainty over these firms’ main revenue source. The State Administration of Press and Publications (SAPP) on Thursday published a list of 95 approved titles that it reviewed on January 13, marking the fourth round of game approvals since the government resumed granting new licences in December.

WTO Members, Including U.S., to Start Negotiating New E-Commerce Rules

Impatient with a lack of World Trade Organization rules on the explosive growth of e-commerce, 76 members - including the United States, China, the European Union and Japan - agreed to start negotiating a new framework. China, which is locked in a trade war with the United States, signaled conditional support for the initiative but said it should also take into account the needs of developing countries, in comments likely to rile Washington.

YouTube Changes Algorithm to Stop Recommending Conspiracies, False Info

YouTube said it is retooling its recommendation algorithm that suggests new videos to users in order to prevent promoting conspiracies and false information, reflecting a growing willingness to quell misinformation on the world’s largest video platform after several public missteps. In a blog post, the company said that it was taking a “closer look” at how it can reduce the spread of content that “comes close to – but doesn’t quite cross the line” of violating its rules.

Advocacy Groups Want FTC to Break Up Facebook Because of Privacy

Advocacy groups urged the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to order a breakup of Facebook after the agency concludes its investigation into the company’s handling of the Cambridge Analytica scandal. The groups, led by the Electronic Privacy Information Center, wrote in a letter to FTC Chairman Joseph Simons that modest enforcement actions would not be adequate to curb Facebook’s privacy practices.

Huawei Chairman Says Company Unfairly Targeted as Spy for China

The chairman of embattled telecom giant Huawei Technologies Co. is pushing back against claims his company conducts espionage for the Chinese government, contending that Huawei is being unfairly targeted without any proof. “If they believe there’s a backdoor, they should offer evidence to prove it,” Liang Hua told reporters on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos.

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.