Justice Dep't to Explore 'Widespread Concerns' About Top Tech Websites

The Department of Justice said it is opening a wide-ranging review of “market-leading online platforms” for potential competition concerns, an inquiry that could sweep up Amazon, Facebook, Google and others in the government’s regulatory crosshairs. The DOJ’s new effort aims to explore “widespread concerns that consumers, businesses, and entrepreneurs have expressed about search, social media, and some retail services online,” the agency said in a statement, pledging that it would “seek redress” if in the course of its investigation it identifies violations of federal antitrust law.

Huawei Secretly Helped North Korea Build Wireless Network

Huawei Technologies Co., the Chinese tech giant embroiled in President Trump’s trade war with China and blacklisted as a national security threat, secretly helped the North Korean government build and maintain the country’s commercial wireless network, according to internal documents obtained by The Washington Post and people familiar with the arrangement. Huawei partnered with a Chinese state-owned firm, Panda International Information Technology Co. Ltd., on a variety of projects there spanning at least eight years, according to past work orders, contracts and detailed spreadsheets taken from a database that charts the company’s telecom operations worldwide.

Facebook's Settlement with FTC May Create Board Committee for Privacy

Facebook Inc.’s expected settlement with U.S. regulators will create a board committee to help ensure senior-level scrutiny of the company’s privacy-related efforts. Among the measures expected to be imposed on the social-media giant to prevent future consumer-data violations, the board committee would add to an internal privacy team already in place that vets major new products.

Microsoft to Pay $26 Million in Settlement Over Foreign Corrupt Practices Act

Microsoft will pay $26 million to settle claims that it violated the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act when a handful of Hungarian employees inflated margins on software sales to fund an improper payment scheme. Microsoft didn’t admit or deny wrongdoing, according to the settlement documents. But in an email to employees, President and Chief Legal Officer Brad Smith said that the claims “involved employee misconduct that was completely unacceptable” and that the employees involved and the partners with whom they worked “behaved in a wholly unethical manner.”

Equifax Nears $700 Million Settlement Over 2017 Data Breach

Equifax Inc. is nearing a deal to settle a slew of state and federal investigations into a 2017 data breach that exposed nearly 150 million Americans’ Social Security numbers and other sensitive personal information. Under the agreement, the credit-reporting firm would pay around $700 million to settle with the Federal Trade Commission, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and most state attorneys general, according to people familiar with the matter.

FTC Finalizes Settlement with YouTube for Children's Privacy Violations

The Federal Trade Commission has finalized a settlement with Google in its investigation into YouTube for violating federal data privacy laws for children, said two people familiar with the matter who were not authorized to discuss it on record. The settlement — backed by the agency’s three Republicans and opposed by its two Democrats — finds that Google inadequately protected kids who used its video-streaming service and improperly collected their data in breach of the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act, or COPPA, which prohibits the tracking and targeting of users younger than 13, the people said.

White House Economic Adviser to Meet with Execs to Discuss Huawei Ban

White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow will host a meeting with semiconductor and software executives to discuss the U.S. ban on sales to China’s Huawei Technologies Co Ltd, two sources briefed on the meeting said. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin will also attend the White House event, to which chipmakers Intel Corp and Qualcomm Inc have been invited, the people said.

Hackers Breach Contractor for Russia's National Intelligence Service

Hackers have breached SyTech, a contractor for FSB, Russia's national intelligence service, from where they stole information about internal projects the company was working on behalf of the agency -- including one for deanonymizing Tor traffic. The breach took place last weekend, on July 13, when a group of hackers going by the name of 0v1ru$ hacked into SyTech's Active Directory server from where they gained access to the company's entire IT network, including a JIRA instance.

Schumer Asks FBI, FTC, to Investigate FaceApp Over Russian Gov't Concerns

Warning of national security and privacy risks for millions of Americans, Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) urged the FBI and the Federal Trade Commission to investigate FaceApp, the viral age-defying photo program that has raised fresh concerns about facial recognition and data protection. In a letter, Schumer called on the FBI to assess whether personal data uploaded into FaceApp “may be finding its way into the hands of the Russian government” or groups associated with Moscow.

FTC Considering Ways to Expand Children's Privacy Protection Online

Federal regulators began considering ways to update and potentially expand enforcement of the country’s online children’s-privacy law, questioning whether swift advances in technology have outpaced rules meant to protect children younger than 13. The effort by the Federal Trade Commission is in its initial phases, but the agency’s reevaluation of the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act, or COPPA, could eventually lead to tougher enforcement of the 1998 law against apps and websites that illegally collect personal information from younger users.

Lawmakers Say Facebook Can't Be Trusted to Develop Cryptocurrency

U.S. lawmakers bashed Facebook over its planned cryptocurrency, saying the company had not shown it could be trusted to safeguard the world financial system and consumers’ data. The social media company is fighting to get Washington on its side after it shocked regulators and lawmakers with its announcement on June 18 that it was hoping to launch a new digital coin called Libra in 2020.

EU Launches Antitrust Investigation of Amazon Over Merchants' Data

Amazon became the target of an antitrust investigation by the European Union over its use of merchants’ data, underlining the increasing regulatory scrutiny about how tech companies exploit customers’ information. U.S. tech giants Amazon, Google, and Facebook have been in the regulatory spotlight as antitrust enforcers examine how they use data to boost their market power.

Microsoft Detects 740 Infiltration Attempts Targeting U.S. Political Parties

Tech giant Microsoft says it has detected more than 740 infiltration attempts by nation-state actors in the past year targeting U.S.-based political parties, campaigns and other democracy-focused organizations including think tanks and other nonprofits. Microsoft did not say how many infiltration attempts were successful but noted in a blog post Wednesday that such targeting similarly occurred in the early stages of the 2016 and 2018 elections.

Germany Drops Antitrust Probe as Amazon Makes Changes for Merchants

Amazon has reached a deal with Germany’s antitrust authority to overhaul its terms of service for third-party merchants, acting to appease regulators as the European Union announced its own investigation of the e-commerce giant. Germany’s Federal Cartel Office said it was dropping its seven-month investigation after Amazon agreed to amend a Business Services Agreement that applies to hundreds of thousands of merchants trading on its platform.

Lawmakers Criticize Amazon, Apple, Facebook, Google at Hearings

Lawmakers leveled stinging criticism and sharp questions at Big Tech executives, attacking Amazon, Apple, Facebook and Google for their market power, their perceived bias as gatekeepers of communication and Facebook’s ambitions to reshape the financial industry. The criticisms came at three hearings on Capitol Hill that showcased Washington’s widening range of concerns with Silicon Valley.

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