India's Antitrust Watchdog Evaluating E-Commerce Industry

India’s antitrust watchdog is assessing the domestic e-commerce sector, a step that could have consequences for Amazon.com Inc. and Walmart Inc.’s Flipkart, which dominate online sales in the country. In a questionnaire dated May 17, the Competition Commission of India says it is seeking to understand the evolution of the e-commerce industry, the sector’s methods and strategies, business practices and “implications for competition,” according to a copy reviewed by The Wall Street Journal.

After Trump's Executive Order, Microsoft Stops Selling Huawei Laptops

Microsoft looks set to be the latest in a long line of U.S.-based technology companies that are complying with President Trump’s new executive order to crack down on Chinese tech companies. Google cut off Huawei’s Android license over the weekend, but Microsoft has stayed silent on whether it will prevent the Chinese company from obtaining Windows licenses.

Ransomware Attack Takes Down 10,000 Government Computers in Baltimore

About 10,000 city government computers in Baltimore remain frozen two weeks after a disruptive cyberattack that has delayed home sales and halted water bills. The city was hit May 7 by hackers demanding an undisclosed sum to unlock computers. The city hasn’t paid, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation is probing the incident. Mayor Bernard C. “Jack” Young has warned it could take months to recover some systems.

U.S. Antitrust Officials Investigating Broadcom's Semiconductor Products

U.S. antitrust officials investigating Broadcom Inc. are significantly broadening their scrutiny to focus on whether the chipmaker abused its dominance to sell some of its most important semiconductor products, according to documents and a person familiar with the probe. The Federal Trade Commission is seeking evidence that Broadcom’s conduct harmed competition in Wi-Fi and switch-chip markets, according to a civil investigative demand issued last week and obtained by Bloomberg News.

Database of Instagram Influencers, Celebrities, Brand Accounts Exposed

A massive database containing contact information of millions of Instagram influencers, celebrities and brand accounts has been found online. The database, hosted by Amazon Web Services, was left exposed and without a password allowing anyone to look inside. At the time of writing, the database had over 49 million records — but was growing by the hour.

Senator to Introduce 'Do Not Track' Legislation to Limit Data Collection

Sen. Josh Hawley wants to make opting out of online tracking as easy as adding your number to the “Do Not Call” list. Hawley, a Missouri Republican, will introduce legislation to create a “Do Not Track” program: It would require companies to limit data collection on Americans who check a setting in their web browsers or install a special app on their phones.

U.S. Chipmakers Indicate They'll Stop Supplying Parts to Huawei

Chipmakers including Intel Corp., Qualcomm Inc., Xilinx Inc. and Broadcom Inc. have told their employees they will not supply Huawei Technologies Co. until further notice, according to people familiar with their actions. Alphabet Inc.’s Google cut off the supply of hardware and some software services to the Chinese mobile phone equipment giant, another person familiar said, asking not to be identified discussing private matters.

ICANN Allows Amazon to Proceed with Applications for .amazon Domains

Amazon has provisionally won the right to the “.amazon” domain name, following a years-long dispute with eight Latin American governments. After a seven-year argument, the international body that monitors Internet addresses sided with the tech giant against the Amazon Cooperation Treaty Organisation, a coalition of Latin American governments that had argued the name referred to their geographic region and should belong to them.

Airbnb Users Wrongly Charged for Reservations, Some at Fake Destinations

Airbnb users have been charged for non-refundable reservations at fake destination homes and in some cases, users report that money was taken from their bank and PayPal accounts. Airbnb confirms that there have been some occurrences, but said in a statement sent to USA Today that “these are isolated incidents and at no point was the Airbnb platform compromised.”

White House Social Media Bias Reporting Tool Raises Many Objections

A new White House campaign to collect stories about alleged instances of political bias on social media has drawn wide-ranging objections from members of Congress, free-speech advocates and privacy hawks, some of whom question whether the Trump administration’s effort violates the constitution. Their concerns stem from a survey the White House tweeted to followers that asked people to provide their names, citizenship status, contact information and links to their accounts on Facebook or other social platforms, along with details about instances in which they felt they had been censored.

Google Suspends Business with Huawei After U.S. Addition to Blacklist

Alphabet Inc.’s Google has suspended business with Huawei that requires the transfer of hardware and software products except those covered by open source licenses, a source close to the matter told Reuters, in a blow to the Chinese technology company that the U.S. government has sought to blacklist around the world. Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd. will immediately lose access to updates to the Android operating system, and the next version of its smartphones outside of China will also lose access to popular applications and services including the Google Play Store and Gmail app.

Facebook Removes Hundreds of Accounts Linked to Israeli Entity

Facebook Inc. said it removed hundreds of fake accounts, pages and groups linked to a commercial entity based in Israel, a rare move against a private operation as the social network tries to stamp out misinformation around global elections. The company Thursday said it took down a network of 265 accounts, pages and groups, including 65 Facebook and four Instagram accounts, that posted content primarily pertaining to elections and other political activity in Africa, as well as Latin America and Southeast Asia.

FBI Keeps Classified Which Florida Counties Were Hacked in 2016 Election

Almost everyone, it seems, has been told which Florida voter registration systems were breached during the 2016 presidential election — except for the voters whose information was targeted. Elected leaders in Washington and Tallahassee want to tell them, but they say they can’t. The FBI has kept the information classified, refusing to publicly identify the two counties where Russian hackers had access to voter data that could have allowed them to wreak havoc for voters on Election Day.

U.S., European Law Enforcement Dismantle Cybercrime Network

U.S. and European law enforcement officials said they had dismantled a global organized cybercrime network, which used malware to steal banking login details in an attempt to pocket about $100 million from thousands of businesses. A federal grand jury in Pittsburgh charged ten members of the network, and other criminal prosecutions have begun in Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine, the European Union’s agency for law enforcement cooperation Europol said in a statement.

Subscribe

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.