Supreme Court to Hear Java Copyright Case Between Oracle, Google

The Supreme Court said that it will hear a dispute between tech giants Oracle and Google in a blockbuster case that could lead to billions of dollars in fines and shape copyright law in the Internet era. The case concerns 11,500 lines of code that Google was accused of copying from Oracle’s Java programming language. Google deployed the code in Android, now the most popular mobile operating system in the world.

  • Read the article: CNBC

Whistle-Blower's Apparent Name Spreading Online Despite Attempts to Block

Despite YouTube and Facebook saying they would block people from identifying the government official thought to be the whistle-blower who set in motion an impeachment inquiry into President Trump, a name believed by some to be the whistle-blower has been shared thousands of times on Facebook and videos discussing the identity have been watched by hundreds of thousands of people on YouTube. The failure to keep this official’s name off social media is the latest indication of how difficult it is for these companies to police their sprawling platforms.

Pope Francis Calls for Tech Companies to Remove Child Porn Online

Pope Francis called for Facebook, Apple, Microsoft, Google and other tech companies to urgently take measures to remove child porn from the web and prevent children from accessing pornography online. Francis told a Vatican conference of religious leaders and high-tech representatives that it’s no longer acceptable to merely follow the law in monitoring online content, because technology is fast outpacing regulation.

FTC Chairman Encourages Congress to Pass Stronger Privacy Laws

In testimony before a House subcommittee, Federal Trade Commission Chairman Joseph Simons renewed his call for Congress to pass new privacy legislation, telling representatives, essentially, he can't enforce a law that doesn't exist. Simons was on Capitol Hill testifying in a hearing on "Online Platforms and Market Power," the probe the House Antitrust subcommittee launched in June to dig into Apple, Amazon, Facebook, and Google.

State Attorneys General in Google Ad Probe Expand Scope to Android

The 50 attorneys general investigating Google are preparing to expand their antitrust probe beyond the company’s advertising business to dive more deeply into its search and Android businesses, people familiar with the matter tell CNBC. The attorneys general — who represent 48 states, Puerto Rico and Washington, D.C. — will write up subpoenas known as civil investigative demands, or CIDs, to support the inquiries, the people said.

  • Read the article: CNBC

EU Laws Force Google to Stop Sharing Some User Data with Advertisers

Alphabet Inc.’s Google said its ad exchange would stop telling advertisers what categories of websites users are visiting, a concession to European data-protection authorities that have said the company’s real-time ad auctions violate European Union privacy laws. The changes will affect the process behind the electronic auction that happens in milliseconds to determine which ads show up when users load a website.

Counterfeits Remain Prevalent on Amazon as Critics Blame Other Priorities

Amazon executives have publicly lamented the scourge of counterfeits, saying they have spent hundreds of millions of dollars and hired thousands of workers to police its massive market of third-party firms that use the e-commerce site to sell their goods. But Amazon’s system is failing to stanch the flow of dubious goods even with obvious examples of knockoffs, the result of Amazon’s decisions to prioritize a broad selection of products and cheaper prices over the deployment of aggressive technologies and policies that could further stem the problem, according to former executives and outside consultants.

YouTube to Require Creators Label Videos Directed at Children

YouTube formally announced its plan to have creators label any videos of theirs that may appeal to children. Starting in January 2020, if creators mark a video as directed at kids, data collection will be blocked for all viewers, resulting in lower ad revenue, and those videos will lose some of the platform’s most popular features, including comments and end screens.

Facebook Reports Taking Action on Tens of Millions of Posts, Photos, Videos

Facebook took action against tens of millions of posts, photos and videos over the past six months for violating its rules that prohibit hate speech, harassment and child sexual exploitation, illustrating the vast scale of the tech giant’s task in cleaning up its services from harm and abuse. The company revealed the data about its policy enforcement to the world as part of its latest transparency report, which it said reflected its still-improving efforts to use artificial intelligence to spot harmful content before users ever see it and outwit those who try to evade its censors.

Lawmakers Push Antitrust Regulators to Take More Action Against Tech Firms

House lawmakers called for two top antitrust regulators to take more action against major tech companies, saying several of these companies have avoided serious scrutiny for years as they swallowed up competitors and consolidated power. They made the request during a hearing for the House Judiciary's Subcommittee on Antitrust, Commercial and Administrative Law, which has been holding a series of hearings dubbed Online Platforms and Market Power.

  • Read the article: CNET

Court Rules Against Random Electronics Searches of International Travelers

A federal court ruled that random searches of international travelers' phones and computers by the government violates the Fourth Amendment. The Massachusetts District Court ruled that Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) must have a specific suspicion to be able to search a person's phone or computer as they enter the country.

Politically Themed Malware Programs Growing in Popularity

The “Donald Trump Screen of Death” or a dancing Hillary are just some of hundreds of politically themed malware programs that are circulating the Internet, Cisco Talos cybersecurity experts said in a blog post last week. The programs vary in severity, from a nuisance that can be clicked away to malware that can hack a corporate network.

Britain's Two Main Political Parties Hit by Hackers Ahead of Elections

Hackers hit Britain’s two main political parties with back-to-back cyberattacks, sources told Reuters, attempting to force political websites offline with a flood of malicious traffic just weeks ahead of a national election. The attacks come after Britain’s security agencies have warned that Russia and other countries may attempt to disrupt the Dec. 12 vote with cyberattacks or divisive political messages on social media, a charge Moscow denies.

After Instagram's Demand, Apple Removes App Allowing Surveillance

Apple has removed the Like Patrol app from its App Store, following Instagram's delivery of a cease-and-desist letter to the app's developers for violating its policies against data collection. Like Patrol enables subscribers to keep constant surveillance of other people's social media activities. Like Patrol wanted to make spying on Instagram easier than ever, setting up a service that let paying subscribers get notifications anytime someone they followed commented on or liked a photo.

  • Read the article: CNET

Twitter Soliciting Feedback on Policy to Limit Reach of 'Deepfake' Videos

Twitter is soliciting feedback to inform its new policy limiting the reach of "deepfakes," or video footage that has been altered in misleading ways. Twitter's vice president of trust and safety Del Harvey wrote in a blog post that Twitter might begin labeling tweets that include "synthetic or manipulated media" or warning users when they're sharing such content.

Google Working with Healthcare System to Collect Data on Millions of People

Google is engaged with one of the U.S.’s largest health-care systems on a project to collect and crunch the detailed personal-health information of millions of people across 21 states. The initiative, code-named “Project Nightingale,” appears to be the biggest effort yet by a Silicon Valley giant to gain a toehold in the health-care industry through the handling of patients’ medical data.

Lawsuits Target Government's Use of Facial Recognition Technology

The Project on Government Oversight sued Immigration and Customs Enforcement over what it says is the agency’s inadequate response to the group’s request for information about its use of facial recognition. That follows a lawsuit filed by the ACLU against the FBI, the Department of Justice and the Drug Enforcement Administration over the same thing.

Facebook, YouTube -- But Not Twitter -- to Block Spread of Whistleblower's Name

Twitter found itself isolated as other major social media platforms moved to block users from spreading the name of a CIA officer who conservatives contend filed the extraordinary whistleblower complaint against President Trump that triggered House impeachment hearings. Facebook said it would block references to the alleged whistleblower’s name and photo under its policy against “coordinating harm.” YouTube said it was doing the same.

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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.