European Commission Says Tech Firms Taking Down Hate Content More Quickly

In its latest monitoring report of a voluntary Code of Conduct on illegal hate speech, which platforms including Facebook, Twitter and YouTube signed up to in Europe back in 2016, the European Commission has said progress is being made on speeding up takedowns but tech firms are still lagging when it comes to providing feedback and transparency around their decisions. Tech companies are now assessing 89% of flagged content within 24 hours, with 72% of content deemed to be illegal hate speech being removed, according to the Commission — compared to just 40% and 28% respectively when the Code was first launched more than two years ago.

Chinese Embassy Denies Norwegian Intelligence Assessment of Tech Threat

A Norwegian intelligence assessment that China posed a threat to the Nordic country’s security by seeking to steal its secrets was “ridiculous”, the Chinese Embassy said as Norway mulled the future status of China’s Huawei Technologies. While Russian security services posed the biggest threat, China also conducts intelligence operations against Norwegian interests and businesses, including trying to penetrate computer networks, Norwegian intelligence service PST said in its annual threat assessment report.

Facebook Deletes Indonesian Accounts Linked to Hate, Fake News

Facebook Inc. has removed hundreds of Indonesian accounts, pages and groups from its social network after discovering they were linked to an online group accused of spreading hate speech and fake news. Indonesian police uncovered the existence of the group, called Saracen, in 2016 and arrested three of its members on suspicion of being part of a syndicate being paid to spread incendiary material online through social media.

Facebook Faces Seven Data-Protection Lawsuits in Ireland, Official Says

Facebook Inc. faces seven separate data-protection probes in Ireland as the country’s privacy regulator looks to take advantage of new rules that allow it to impose hefty fines. The investigations are among 16 cases targeting big technology companies including Twitter Inc., Apple Inc., LinkedIn Corp., and also Facebook’s WhatsApp and Instagram, Helen Dixon, Ireland’s data protection commissioner, said in an interview.

Cisco Joins Apple in Calling for U.S. Version of EU Data Privacy Law

Cisco has joined Apple in calling for a U.S version of the European General Data Protection regulation, underlining the divisions among big technology companies over how to tackle privacy concerns. The technology hardware group told the Financial Times it wanted US politicians to enact a version of the European legislation in the coming months, despite others in the industry criticizing it as overly broad and punitive.

New York Fed to Assist Bangladesh's Central Bank After Cyber Heist

The Federal Reserve will lend a hand to Bangladesh’s central bank as it sues to recoup losses from one of the world’s largest cyber heists, even while the Philippine bank targeted by the lawsuit called it baseless and beyond U.S. jurisdiction. The New York Fed’s formal agreement to provide “technical assistance” could spell some relief for Bangladesh Bank and sets the stage for its long-promised litigation over the February 2016 heist of $81 million, of which only $15 million has been recovered.

Man Gets 10 Years for Stealing Cryptocurrency Through SIM Swapping

California college student Joel Ortiz has agreed to a plea deal that will have him serve 10 years in prison for stealing over $5 million in cryptocurrency through SIM swapping -- the first time someone has faced a sentence for the crime, authorities told Motherboard. Ortiz admitted to compromising about 40 victims through the technique, which typically involves making phony SIM swap requests and using the newly gained control to obtain logins that require two-factor authentication.

Facebook, Twitter Remove Thousands of Accounts Linked to Disinformation

Facebook and Twitter announced that they have removed thousands of accounts associated with an Iranian disinformation campaign across their platforms. Facebook said it has removed 262 Iranian-linked pages, 356 accounts and three groups from Facebook and 162 accounts from Instagram, which it owns. And Twitter announced a takedown of 2,617 accounts it believed to have originated in Iran, along with thousands more from Russia and Venezuela.

Appeals Court to Hear Arguments on Repeal of Net Neutrality Rules

A federal appeals court will hear arguments over whether the Trump administration acted legally when it repealed landmark net neutrality rules governing Internet providers in December 2017. The panel, which has set aside 2-1/2 hours to hear the case, is made up of Judges Robert Wilkins and Patricia Millett, two appointees of Democratic former President Barack Obama, and Stephen Williams, an appointee of Republican Ronald Reagan.

German Court Dismisses Four Qualcomm Patent Suits Against Apple

A German court dismissed four patent lawsuits from Qualcomm Inc. against Apple Inc., the second victory this month for the tech giant in a continued global legal battle with the chip maker. The regional court in the city of Munich rejected Qualcomm’s claims that Apple had infringed on its patents related to some search capabilities on the iPhone.

Special Counsel Identifies 'Disinformation Campaign' on Twitter

Special counsel Robert Mueller said in filing that materials in his criminal case against a Russian troll farm were released and apparently used in a “disinformation campaign” aimed at discrediting his ongoing investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election. The filing cites an Oct. 22, 2018, tweet in which the account claimed, “We’ve got access to the Special Counsel Mueller’s probe database as we hacked Russian server with info from the Russian troll case Concord LLC v. Mueller. You can view all the files Mueller had about the IRA and Russia collusion. Enjoy the reading!”

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.

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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.