Facebook Sues Registrar Namecheap for Selling Deceptive Domain Names

Facebook is suing Arizona domain name registrar Namecheap and its proxy service Whoisguard for allowing people to register domain names that “deceive people by pretending to be affiliated with Facebook apps,” the company said in a blog post. Whoisguard registered 45 domain names — including instagrambusinesshelp.com, facebo0k-login.com, and whatsappdownload.site — that infringe on Facebook’s trademarks, according to the post by Christen Dubois, Facebook’s director and associate general counsel of IP litigation.

Facebook Removes Misleading Trump Campaign Ads on Census

Facebook removed Trump campaign ads for violating its policy against misleading references to the U.S. census amid criticism that it has given politicians too much leeway to misinform users on its platform. The Trump ads urged Facebook users to “take the official 2020 Congressional District Census today,” but despite the look and language of the ad, they were not related to the once-a-decade national count of U.S. citizens happening this year.

State Department Blames Russia for Coronavirus Misinformation Online

A top State Department official said that Russia is behind “swarms of online, false personas” that sought to spread misinformation about coronavirus on social media sites, stressing the “entire ecosystem of Russian disinformation is at play.” The latest warning came from Lea Gabrielle, the coordinator of the government’s Global Engagement Center, in testimony to Congress.

Senate Bill Ends Protection for Websites That Allow Child Sex Abuse Content

A bipartisan group of U.S. senators on the powerful judiciary committee introduced a bill aimed at curbing online distribution of child sexual abuse material that technology and civil liberties groups said was an attack on strong encryption critical to billions of people. The bill by Judiciary Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham and Democratic member Richard Blumenthal would end the civil immunity of platforms like Facebook and Alphabet’s Google for user-posted content if they do not follow a new commission’s “best practices” for detecting abusive images.

Judge Dismisses Gabbard's $50 Million Lawsuit Against Google

A federal judge dismissed a $50 million lawsuit filed by Representative Tulsi Gabbard, a Democratic presidential candidate, that accused Google of infringing on her free speech when it briefly suspended her advertising account last year. The judge, Stephen V. Wilson of the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, granted Google’s motion to dismiss the lawsuit because the Gabbard campaign had failed to prove that the First Amendment clause that prohibits the government from curbing free speech applied to Google as a private company.

More Malicious Emails Mention Threats Related to Coronavirus

The number of malicious emails mentioning the coronavirus has increased significantly since the end of January, according to cybersecurity firm Proofpoint Inc., which is monitoring the activity. The company recently assigned an analyst to track coronavirus threats, something it hasn’t done for prior hacking campaigns related to disasters or major public events, said Sherrod DeGrippo, Proofpoint’s senior director of threat research and detection.

Senator Wants to Ban Federal Employees from Using TikTok

Republican Senator Josh Hawley said he will introduce legislation banning federal employees from using social media app TikTok on their devices and accused the company of sharing data with the Chinese government. Hawley said the proposed ban would apply to government-issued devices and his comments added to growing tensions between Washington and Beijing over trade and technology transfers.

Senators Planning Revisions to Section 230 Internet Protections

U.S. regulators are preparing to take fresh aim at Facebook, Google and other tech giants, unveiling new efforts to combat online content that harms or abuses children — and hold Silicon Valley responsible for its spread. The heightened activity in Washington reflects the government’s simmering frustration with Silicon Valley, along with a growing appetite to rethink decades-old federal laws that spare profitable, popular tech platforms from being held liable for dangerous content that goes viral on their services.

Senators Push Google for Answers on Health Data Collection Project

A bipartisan trio of U.S. senators pushed again for answers on Google’s controversial “Project Nightingale,” saying the search giant evaded requests for details on its far-reaching data tie-up with health giant Ascension. The senators, in a letter to St. Louis-based Ascension, said they were put off by the lack of substantive disclosure around the effort.

Researchers Find Mixed Results on YouTube's Efforts to Fight Conspiracies

YouTube’s efforts to curb conspiracy theories pose a major test of Silicon Valley’s ability to combat misinformation, particularly ahead of this year’s elections. A new study from researchers at University of California, Berkeley, which examined eight million recommendations over 15 months, provides one of the clearest pictures yet of that fight, and the mixed findings show how challenging the issue remains for tech companies like Google, Facebook and Twitter.

India's Supreme Court Overturns Decision on Cryptocurrency Exchanges

India’s Supreme Court overturned a central bank ban forbidding lenders to facilitate banking transactions for cryptocurrency exchanges and traders, removing a major hurdle for the development of the sector. In April 2018, the Reserve Bank of India gave entities it regulated three months to snap all banking relationships with individuals or businesses dealing in virtual currency.

Facebook Removes Hundreds of Accounts Linked to Deceptive Marketing

Facebook in February removed hundreds of accounts and pages tied to deceptive campaigns that appear to be from Egyptian and Indian marketing firms, the company said. The takedowns are part of the social media giant's efforts to crack down on what it calls "coordinated inauthentic behavior," which involves creating dozens or hundreds of fake accounts and using them to promote ideologies and drive users to deceptive content on other websites.

  • Read the article: CNET

Apple to Pay Up to $500 Million Settlement for Slowing Older iPhones

Apple Inc has agreed to pay up to $500 million to settle litigation accusing it of quietly slowing down older iPhones as it launched new models, to induce owners to buy replacement phones or batteries. The preliminary proposed class-action settlement calls for Apple to pay consumers $25 per iPhone, which may be adjusted up or down depending on how many iPhones are eligible, with a minimum total payout of $310 million.

Millions of Tweets Spreading Conspiracy Theories About Coronavirus

Roughly 2 million tweets peddled conspiracy theories about the coronavirus over the three-week period when the outbreak began to spread outside China, according to an unreleased report from an arm of the State Department, raising fresh fears about Silicon Valley’s preparedness to combat a surge of dangerous disinformation online. The wrongful, harmful posts floated a number of hoaxes — suggesting, for example, that the coronavirus had been created by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation or was the result of a bioweapon.

FCC Approves $200 Million Fine for Cell Phone Carries Selling Location Data

The Federal Communications Commission has approved a proposal to fine T-Mobile, AT&T and two other cellphone carriers more than $200 million for selling customers’ location data to companies that allowed it to be misused by rogue law enforcement officers and others. The proposed fines are among the largest the FCC has sought in years, representing a major action by an agency whose chairman has pushed for a lighter touch to industry regulation under President Trump.

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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.