Supreme Court Refuses to Hear Dispute Over Facebook Facial Recognition

The Supreme Court declined to take up a high-profile court battle over whether users can sue Facebook for using facial recognition technology on their photos without proper consent. The high court rejected Facebook's bid to review the case, meaning the social media giant will likely have to face the multibillion-dollar class-action lawsuit over whether it violated an Illinois privacy law.

Federal Prosecutors in Brazil Charge American Journalist with Cybercrimes

Federal prosecutors in Brazil charged the American journalist Glenn Greenwald with cybercrimes for his role in bringing to light cellphone messages that have embarrassed prosecutors and tarnished the image of an anti-corruption task force. In a criminal complaint made public on Tuesday, prosecutors in the capital, Brasília, accused Mr. Greenwald of being part of a “criminal organization” that hacked into the cellphones of several prosecutors and other public officials last year.

Bezos's Phone Hacked by File Sent from Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia

The Amazon billionaire Jeff Bezos had his mobile phone “hacked” in 2018 after receiving a WhatsApp message that had apparently been sent from the personal account of the crown prince of Saudi Arabia, sources have told the Guardian. The encrypted message from the number used by Mohammed bin Salman is believed to have included a malicious file that infiltrated the phone of the world’s richest man, according to the results of a digital forensic analysis.

Apple Dropped Plan to Let iPhone Users Fully Encrypt iCloud Backups

Apple Inc. dropped plans to let iPhone users fully encrypt backups of their devices in the company’s iCloud service after the FBI complained that the move would harm investigations, six sources familiar with the matter told Reuters. The tech giant’s reversal shows how much Apple has been willing to help U.S. law enforcement and intelligence agencies, despite taking a harder line in high-profile legal disputes with the government and casting itself as a defender of its customers’ information.

Facebook Apologizes for Vulgar Translation of Chinese Leader's Name

Facebook apologized after its platform translated Xi Jinping, the name of the Chinese leader, from Burmese to a vulgar word in English. The mistranslation caught the company’s attention when Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, the de facto civilian leader of Myanmar, wrote on her official Facebook page about Mr. Xi’s two-day visit to her country.

Trade Approach with China Could Ultimately Hurt U.S. Tech Companies

President Trump’s aggressive trade approach has accelerated a technology arms race with China, putting some American companies at risk as the two nations try to decouple their economies. In an effort to reduce its reliance on American components, China has expedited efforts to produce its own semiconductors, driverless cars, artificial intelligence and other technologies. Those efforts, along with the Trump administration’s desire to restrict the sales of American tech products to China, could hurt the very companies Mr. Trump set out to protect.

European Regulators Impose $126 Million in Privacy Fines Under GDPR

European regulators have imposed 114 million euros ($126 million) in fines for data breaches since tougher privacy rules came into force in mid-2018, with approaches varying widely from country to country. A report by law firm DLA Piper said France has imposed the biggest single fine — of 50 million euros against Google — while the Netherlands, Britain and Germany led in terms of the number of data breach notifications.

Macron Says He Had 'Great Discussion' with Trump Over France's Digital Tax

French President Emmanuel Macron said he had a “great discussion” with U.S. President Donald Trump over a digital tax planned by Paris and said the two countries would work together to avoid a rise in tariffs. Macron and Trump agreed to hold off on a potential tariffs war until the end of the year, a French diplomatic source said, and continue negotiations at the OECD on the digital tax during that period.

Domain for 'WeLeakInfo' Password Site Taken Down as Two Arrested

Police in the Netherlands and Northern Ireland arrested two 22-year-old men believed to be connected to WeLeakInfo, a site offering usernames and passwords from multiple data breaches for sale. At the same time, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, in coordination with the UK's National Crime Agency, the Netherlands National Police Corps, the German Bundeskriminalamt, and the Police Service of Northern Ireland, took down the domain for the site, redirecting it to a seizure notice.

Biden Wants to Revoke Content Protections for Internet Companies

Former Vice President Joe Biden called for revoking a key legal protection for online companies in an interview with The New York Times. The presidential hopeful railed against Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, which gives platforms legal immunity for content posted by third-party users while also giving them legal cover to take good-faith efforts to moderate their platforms, when asked about his concerns with Facebook.

Judge Orders Facebook to Disclose Data on Apps in Privacy Lawsuit

A Massachusetts judge has ordered Facebook to turn over data about thousands of apps that may have mishandled its users’ personal information, rejecting the tech giant’s earlier attempts to withhold the key details from state investigators. The decision amounted to a significant early victory for Maura Healey, the Democratic attorney general of Massachusetts, who said in a statement that Facebook users — and local watchdogs — “have a right to know” whether the company broke the law and violated people’s privacy.

Smaller Tech Companies Criticize Big Tech at Congressional Hearing

Apple, Amazon, Facebook and Google took a public lashing at a congressional hearing, where some of their smaller rivals, including Sonos and Tile, pleaded with federal lawmakers to take swift action against Big Tech. Democrats and Republicans at times appeared stunned as they heard tales of technology giants wielding their massive footprints as weapons, allegedly copying smaller competitors’ features or tweaking their algorithms in ways that put new companies at a costly disadvantage.

Dozens of Companies Affected by Travelex Vulnerability Exploited by Hackers

A vulnerability at Travelex that was exploited by hackers to disrupt the money-exchange company existed at dozens of major U.S. companies and institutions, potentially leaving them open to similar breaches, according to cybersecurity firm Bad Packets. Purdue Pharma LP, Revlon Inc. and Texas Instruments Inc. were among companies using Pulse Secure VPN to create secure remote logins for their staff, according to Troy Mursch, chief research officer at Bad Packets.

Four Companies Sue Facebook for Revoking Developer Access

Four companies sued Facebook Inc. in U.S. federal court for alleged anticompetitive conduct, saying the social network inappropriately revoked developer access to its platform in order to harm prospective competitors. The plaintiffs sought class-action status and unspecified damages, according to a filing at the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.

Turkish Government Lifts Ban on Wikipedia After 2 1/2 Years

The Turkish government lifted a two-and-a-half-year ban on Wikipedia, restoring access to the online encyclopedia a month after the country’s top court ruled that blocking it was unconstitutional. Access to Wikipedia was blocked in Turkey in 2017, after the site refused to remove unflattering references to Turkey’s relationship with Syrian militants and state-sponsored terrorists.

Senators Want $750 Million to Help U.S. Companies Develop 5G Technology

A bipartisan group of U.S. senators, alarmed by the rise of Chinese electronics supplier Huawei Technologies Co., wants Washington to subsidize firms that could counter China’s 5G advances. The proposed Utilizing Strategic Allied Telecommunications Act would steer at least $750 million toward companies developing fifth-generation, or 5G, wireless technology and create a separate $500 million fund for companies that deploy “trusted and secure” equipment around the world.

Twitter's Top Lawyer Faces Constant Decisions on Content Regulation

Twitter’s head of legal and policy issues, Vijaya Gadde, is the end of the line when it comes to account enforcement -- a delicate position in a world where Twitter’s rules are both an affront to free speech and an invitation to racists and bigots, depending on who’s tweeting at you. “No matter what we do we’ve been accused of bias,” Gadde said. “Leaving content up, taking content down -- that’s become pretty much background noise.”

Microsoft President Warns of High-Tech Cold War with China

Microsoft Corp. gets just 1.8% of its global sales from China, even though the country accounts for about 18% of the world’s population, Microsoft President and Chief Legal Officer Brad Smith said, noting that tensions between the two largest economies risk creating a technology “cold war.” “The Chinese market is not and has never been fully open to U.S. companies,” Smith said at the U.S. China Series conference in Seattle.

U.S. Sanctions Experts Warn Against Cryptocurrency Conference in North Korea

United Nations sanctions experts are warning people not to attend a cryptocurrency conference in North Korea in February, flagging it as a likely sanctions violation, according to a confidential report due to be submitted to the U.N. Security Council later this month. The warning comes after the independent U.N. experts told the council in August that North Korea generated an estimated $2 billion for its weapons of mass destruction programs using “widespread and increasingly sophisticated” cyberattacks to steal from banks and cryptocurrency exchanges.

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.