Senators Ask FERC to Combat Telecom Threats Posed by Huawei

Six senators sent a letter to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) urging the body to combat threats posed by using technology from Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei. "As you know, the Intelligence Community has issued repeated warnings to regulators and political leaders about the dangers associated with using Huawei equipment on the nation’s telecommunications network," the senators, led by Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), wrote in a letter to FERC chair Neil Chatterjee, who oversees the country's electrical grid.

Facebook Considers Options for Labeling Political Ads

Facebook has weighed whether to label political ads to indicate they have not been fact-checked, rather than vetting what candidates say, one of a series of proposals the company has floated to Democratic and Republican operatives as it seeks to head off controversies in the 2020 election campaign. Some of the ideas — described by four people who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss private conversations — have left campaign strategists in both parties uneasy, fearful that Facebook’s reforms might hamstring their ability to persuade and mobilize voters in a year when the White House is at stake.

Census Bureau's Digital System Plagued by Security Problems

In 2016, the U.S. Census Bureau faced a pivotal choice in its plan to digitize the nation’s once-a-decade population count: build a system for collecting and processing data in-house, or buy one from an outside contractor. The bureau chose Pegasystems Inc, reasoning that outsourcing would be cheaper and more effective. Three years later, the project faces serious reliability and security problems, according to Reuters interviews with six technology professionals currently or formerly involved in the census digitization effort.

Despite Claims, Studies Don't Support Benefits of School Spying Software

Companies that make school-focused surveillance software — popular brands include Securly, Gaggle, and Bark — say that their machine learning detection systems keep students safe from themselves and away from harmful online content. But the few published studies looking into the impacts of these tools indicate that they may have the opposite effect, breaking down trust relationships within schools and discouraging adolescents from reaching out for help — particularly those in minority and LGBTQ communities, who are far more likely to seek help online.

  • Read the article: Vice

FBI Warns Consumers That Smart TVs May 'Silently Cyberstalk You'

Those Black Friday and Cyber Monday super sales are not only a boon for your bank account, but may also reap serious rewards for cyber criminals intent on causing harm, according to the FBI. In a pre-holiday message to consumers, an FBI field office is warning that "smart TVs" -- televisions equipped with internet streaming and facial recognition capabilities -- may be vulnerable to intrusion.

  • Read the article: CNN

College Student Sues TikTok for Transferring Private Data to Chinese Servers

A California college student has accused popular video-sharing app TikTok in a class-action lawsuit of transferring private user data to servers in China, despite the company’s assurances that it does not store personal data there. The allegations may deepen legal troubles in the United States for TikTok, which is owned by Beijing ByteDance Technology Co but operates entirely outside of China and has developed an especially devoted fan base among U.S. teenagers.

Google Says Users Spending Less Time Watching Conspiracy Videos

YouTube said its policies and enforcement helped reduce the length of time viewers watch videos that advance conspiracies and other debunked theories, as the leading video site responds to criticism regarding its failure to police such content. The Google-owned company said it had pared by 70 percent the average time U.S. viewers spend watching videos that it deems “borderline” content, such as those peddling miracle medical cures or flat-earth conspiracy theories.

Lawyer Fights Section 230 of Communications Decency Act in Sex-Trafficking Cases

Annie McAdams, a personal-injury lawyer in Houston, is waging a legal assault against Facebook and other tech companies, accusing them of facilitating the sex trafficking of minors. In a series of lawsuits in California, Georgia, Missouri and Texas, she is using a novel argument to challenge Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, and finding some early success.

Genius Media Files Copyright Suit Against Google for Copying Lyrics

In a new lawsuit, music site Genius Media claims it caught Google “red-handed” copying lyrics for its own benefit at the expense of Genius’ business. Genius claims Google and Canada-based lyric licensing company LyricFind misappropriated lyrics from its website. Genius alleges that Google, through LyricFind, displayed lyrics at the top of search results in its “Information Boxes” that were stripped directly from Genius without attribution.

  • Read the article: CNBC

Judge Refuses to Dismiss Proposed Class-Action Over MacBook Keyboards

A federal judge rejected Apple Inc’s bid to dismiss a proposed class-action lawsuit by customers who said it knew and concealed how the “butterfly” keyboards on its MacBook laptop computers were prone to failure. U.S. District Judge Edward Davila in San Jose, California said Apple must face claims that its troubleshooting program did not provide an “effective fix” for MacBook design defects, or fully compensate customers for their out-of-pocket expenses while seeking repairs.

Twitter Revamping Privacy Policies to Comply with California, EU Laws

Twitter announced that it is revamping its policies around the world to comply with online privacy laws in California and the European Union, a complicated process that will leave some users with more safeguards around their personal information than others. For most users around the world, Twitter is tweaking its policies to better comply with the incoming California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), a tough set of privacy protections that goes into effect in January 2020.

Facebook VP Says Antitrust Officials Must 'Reconfigure Old Concepts'

Nick Clegg, Facebook’s vice president of global affairs and communications, said that antitrust officials should be careful not to treat data like other commodities that could be monopolized, but rather as something more complex that can be shared and kept at the same time. “We think it is legitimate to ask profound questions about how data is held,” Mr. Clegg said at a briefing with journalists. But he added that officials defining what he called the orthodoxy of competition policy should “reconfigure old concepts” and “relinquish themselves of the idea that [using data] is the same as using finite resources in finite, one-off ways.”

FBI Treats Mobile Apps from Russia as 'Potential Counterintelligence Threat'

The FBI is treating any mobile app that comes out of Russia as a “potential counterintelligence threat,” the U.S.’s top law enforcement agency said in a letter to Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer. The Federal Bureau of Investigation’s concern arises in part from “the legal mechanisms available to the Government of Russia that permit access to data” in the country, according to the letter, which Schumer’s office released.

Amazon Removes Christmas Ornaments Featuring Images of Auschwitz

Amazon has removed a number of Christmas ornaments featuring images of the Auschwitz concentration camps from sale, amid anger from the museum that manages the site. Pictures of the Nazi death camp complex were used on a variety of tree ornaments, a mouse pad and a bottle opener, which the Auschwitz Memorial described as "disturbing and disrespectful."

  • Read the article: CNN

Fake Credentials Allow Applicants to Register .gov Domain Names

Many readers probably believe they can trust links and emails coming from U.S. federal government domain names, or else assume there are at least more stringent verification requirements involved in obtaining a .gov domain versus a commercial one ending in .com or .org. But a recent experience suggests this trust may be severely misplaced, and that it is relatively straightforward for anyone to obtain their very own .gov domain.

Database with Tens of Millions of Text Messages Exposed Online

A massive database storing tens of millions of SMS text messages, most of which were sent by businesses to potential customers, has been found online. The database is run by TrueDialog, a business SMS provider for businesses and higher education providers, which lets companies, colleges, and universities send bulk text messages to their customers and students.

Web Founder 'Very Concerned' About Sale of .org Domain Operator

Web inventor Tim Berners-Lee is worried that a for-profit company plans to buy the organization that administers the .org internet addresses used by millions of nonprofit organizations. On Nov. 13, the Internet Society, a nonprofit devoted to increasing the internet's reach, security and privacy, announced a plan to sell the .org oversight role to investment firm Ethos Capital by the first quarter of 2020.

  • Read the article: CNET

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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.