House Democrats Want Facebook to Stop Work on Libra Cryptocurrency

House Democrats are requesting Facebook halt development of its proposed cryptocurrency project Libra, as well as its digital wallet Calibra, until Congress and regulators have time to investigate the possible risks it poses to the global financial system. Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA), the chairwoman of the House Financial Services Committee, hinted at a move like this last month shortly after the project was announced.

Amazon Says It Keeps Alexa Recordings, Transcripts Unless Deleted by Users

Sen. Chris Coons, a Democrat from Delaware, sent a letter to Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos in May, demanding answers on Alexa and how long it kept voice recordings and transcripts, as well as what the data gets used for. Amazon's vice president of public policy, Brian Huseman, sent a response telling Coons that Amazon keeps transcripts and voice recordings indefinitely, and only removes them if they're manually deleted by users.

  • Read the article: CNET

Despite Trump's Statement, Commerce Dep't Says Huawei Still Blacklisted

A senior U.S. official told the Commerce Department’s enforcement staff that China’s Huawei should still be treated as blacklisted, days after U.S. President Donald Trump sowed confusion with a vow to ease a ban on sales to the firm. Trump had surprised markets by promising Chinese President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Japan that he would allow U.S. companies to sell products to Huawei Technologies Co Ltd.

D-Link Settles FTC Complaint, Agrees to Implement New Security Program

Router and webcam maker D-Link has agreed to implement a new security program to settle charges it failed to safeguard its hardware against well-known and preventable hacks and misrepresented its existing security regimen. The agreement settles a 2017 complaint by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission that alleged D-Link left thousands of customers open to potentially costly hack attacks.

UK Competition Watchdog Investigates Google, Facebook for User Data

The UK competition watchdog has launched an investigation into the way Google and Facebook collect and exploit personal data and have used their power to dominate the £13bn UK digital advertising market. The Competition and Markets Authority’s wide-ranging investigation into online advertising will focus on the sector’s two biggest players, Google and Facebook, and look at whether “consumers are able and willing to control how data about them is used and collected.”

China Orders 26 Audio Apps to Shut Down Amid 'Pornography' Probe

A total of 26 audio-focused apps in China were ordered to terminate, suspend services, or have talks with regulators as they were investigated and deemed to have spread “historical nihilism” and “pornography,” according to a notice posted by the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC). The clampdown has, in a way, been foreshadowed by a recent attack of user-generated audio content.

Facebook's New Policy Limited to Use of Term 'White Nationalism'

Facebook’s new policy banning white nationalism from its site has been undercut by the company’s decision to ignore content that does not use the term “white nationalism”, according to an external audit. The auditors, appointed by Facebook in 2018 to oversee its goals of “advancing civil rights on our platform”, said Facebook’s overly narrow implementation of its own rules was hampering moderation.

Man Sues Square for Misdirected Sending of Digital Medical History Receipt

A California man accused Square Inc. of violating privacy laws after the payments company mistakenly forwarded a digital receipt containing details of his medical history to one of his friends. A. Trent Ruark, a resident of San Diego County, paid a bill in early May at a health-care provider that used a Square device to process credit cards, his attorneys said in a filing in state court in May.

Republican Creates Popular 'Joe Biden' Website to Mock Ex-Vice President

For much of the last three months, the most popular Joseph R. Biden Jr. website has been a slick little piece of disinformation that is designed to look like the former vice president’s official campaign page, yet is most definitely not pro-Biden. From top to bottom, the website, JoeBiden.info, breezily mocks the candidate in terms that would warm the heart of any Bernie Sanders supporter: There are GIFs of Mr. Biden touching women and girls, and blurbs about his less-than-liberal policy positions, including his opposition to court-ordered busing in the 1970s and his support for the Iraq war.

Trump Administration Officials Discuss Bill to Limit Encryption

Senior Trump administration officials met to discuss whether to seek legislation prohibiting tech companies from using forms of encryption that law enforcement can’t break — a provocative step that would reopen a long-running feud between federal authorities and Silicon Valley. The encryption challenge, which the government calls “going dark,” was the focus of a National Security Council meeting Wednesday morning that included the No. 2 officials from several key agencies, according to three people familiar with the matter.

Read the article: Politico

Grubhub Acquired Thousands of Domain Names Related to Their Customers

Grubhub has been buying tens of thousands of domain names that resemble those of businesses they either work with or are pitching to get on the platform, reports New Food Economy. Those domains, of which Grubhub owns as many as 23,000, are used to resemble a landing page for the official business, complete with an online ordering form, despite the sites being completely unassociated with the restaurants themselves.

Trump Concedes, Says U.S. Companies Can Again Sell Products to Huawei

President Donald Trump said he’ll allow Huawei Technologies Co. to buy products from U.S. suppliers, in a concession to China after talks with the country’s President Xi Jinping. “U.S. companies can sell their equipment to Huawei,” Trump said at a news conference following the Group of 20 summit in Osaka, Japan. “We’re talking about equipment where there’s no great national security problem with it.”

FDA Says Some Insulin Pumps Vulnerable to Fatal Cyber Threats

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) warned patients and health care providers using certain types of insulin pumps of cyber threats involving the devices, with the pumps recalled due to vulnerabilities that could lead to fatal consequences for users. Security researchers found cyber vulnerabilities in certain types of Medtronic MiniMed insulin pumps that enabled unauthorized users to access the pumps if they are connected to WiFi and alter or stop the amount of insulin delivered to a patient.

Facebook Releases Findings for Proposed 'External Oversight Board'

Facebook Inc. released the findings from its consultations with outside experts into its content review process, providing a glimpse into how its plans for a proposed “external oversight board” might take shape. Facebook has been soliciting feedback over the past six months from more than 650 people at workshops in 88 countries on its draft plan for the board, which it says will function as an independent court of appeals on content decisions.

Western Hackers Broke Into Russian Internet Search Company Yandex

Hackers working for Western intelligence agencies broke into Russian Internet search company Yandex in late 2018 deploying a rare type of malware in an attempt to spy on user accounts, four people with knowledge of the matter told Reuters. The malware, called Regin, is known to be used by the “Five Eyes” intelligence-sharing alliance of the United States, Britain, Australia, New Zealand and Canada, the sources said. Intelligence agencies in those countries declined to comment.

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.