Judge Gives Preliminary Approval to $500M iPhone Performance Settlement

A California federal judge preliminarily approved Apple's $500 million deal to end multidistrict litigation accusing the company of releasing software updates that slowed down the performance of certain iPhones, but extended the final approval deadlines in light of the coronavirus pandemic. During a hearing held via Zoom's videoconferencing tool, U.S. District Judge Edward J. Davila told the parties he wants to extend the final approval deadlines by a few weeks due to the COVID-19 crisis and he told them to meet and confer about proposing a new date for a final settlement approval hearing that would take place sometime in December.

Justice Department, States Preparing Antitrust Lawsuits Against Google

The Justice Department and top state attorneys general are likely to file antitrust lawsuits against Google in the coming months, according to two people familiar with the matter, as regulators prepare to take more aggressive aim at the tech giant’s search-and-advertising empire. The federal case could come as soon as the summer, said the sources, who requested anonymity to discuss a law-enforcement proceeding that had not been finalized.

Google Removes News Articles Based on Bogus Complaints, Analysis Finds

The Wall Street Journal identified hundreds of instances in which individuals or companies, often using apparently fake identities, caused Google to remove links to unfavorable news articles and blog posts that alleged wrongdoing by convicted criminals, foreign officials and businesspeople in the U.S. and abroad. Google took them down in response to copyright complaints, many of which appear to be bogus, the Journal found in an analysis of information from the more than four billion links sent to Google for removal since 2011.

Pompeo Faults China for Online Efforts to Steal Coronavirus Research

The United States condemned attempts by China-linked “cyber actors and non-traditional collectors affiliated” to steal U.S. intellectual property and data related to coronavirus research, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said. “The PRC’s behavior in cyberspace is an extension of its counterproductive actions throughout the COVID-19 pandemic,” Pompeo said in a statement.

FBI Gets Warrant to Seize Sen. Burr's Cellphone in Stock Trade Probe

Federal agents seized a cellphone belonging to a prominent Republican senator on Wednesday night as part of the Justice Department’s investigation into controversial stock trades he made as the novel coronavirus first struck the U.S., a law enforcement official said. Sen. Richard Burr of North Carolina, the chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, turned over his phone to agents after they served a search warrant on the lawmaker at his residence in the Washington area, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss a law enforcement action.

ACLU Wants House to Revisit Vote on Warrant for Web Browsing Data

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is calling on the House to revive an amendment that would block law enforcement from being able to access web browsing data without a warrant after the measure fell short by one vote in the Senate. The amendment was introduced by Sens. Steve Daines (R-Mont.) and Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) during debate on legislation reauthorizing three intelligence programs that lapsed earlier this year.

France to Start Digital Tax This Year, Calling It 'Legitimate and Necessary'

France will tax big digital businesses this year whether there is progress or not towards an international deal on a levy, its finance minister said, adding such a tax had never been more legitimate or more necessary. Nearly 140 countries from the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) are negotiating the first major rewriting of tax rules in more than a generation, to take better account of the rise of big tech companies such as Amazon, Facebook, Apple and Google that often book profit in low-tax countries.

TikTok Accused of Violating Children's Privacy Agreement with FTC

TikTok, the popular app for making and sharing short videos, has flouted an agreement it made with the Federal Trade Commission to protect the privacy of children on the service, a coalition of 20 children’s and consumer groups said. Last year, TikTok agreed to make major changes to settle charges that one of its predecessor companies, Musical.ly, had violated the federal children’s online privacy law.

Austrian Privacy Activist Sues Google Over 'Tracking IDs' for Advertisers

Google faces a data-protection complaint from Austrian privacy activist Max Schrems amid concerns it unlawfully monitors users and passes on the “tracking ID” to advertisers. Schrems’s campaign group Noyb filed a complaint with the Austrian data protection authority, accusing Google of tracking users of Android phones through a unique ID that “allows Google and countless third-parties to” monitor users.

Amazon Files Suit Over Tech Support Scam for Alexa Devices

Amazon is pushing back against an allegedly widespread tech support scam that the company says targeted its Alexa and Echo device customers through phony Alexa apps and websites. In a civil lawsuit Amazon filed in federal court in Seattle, the company said an international ring in Washington state and India developed a scheme to draw in people looking to set up their new Alexa devices.

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Bill Would Create Fund for College Students Who Need Internet Access

Democrats in both chambers introduced legislation aimed at ensuring that all college students have Internet access amid the coronavirus pandemic. The Supporting Connectivity for Higher Education Students in Need Act allocates $1 billion for a fund at the National Telecommunications and Information Administration targeted for students lacking Internet access.

French Law Requires Content Providers to Remove Pedophile in One Hour

Social networks and other online content providers will have to remove pedophile and terrorism-related content from their platforms within the hour or face a fine of up to 4% of their global revenue under a French law. For other “manifestly illicit” content, companies such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Instagram and Snapchat will have 24 hours to remove it, according to the law, which sets up a specialised digital prosecutor at the courts and a government unit to observe hate speech online.

Facebook Report Faults Response to Sri Lanka Abuse on Network

Facebook Inc.’s lack of a serious response to signs of abuse on its platform in Sri Lanka may have helped stoke deadly violence in the country in 2018, according to an investigation of the social network’s operations there. The company released a summary of the findings, along with other independent assessments of the service’s impact on human rights in Indonesia and Cambodia.

Facebook Agrees to Pay $52 Million to Workers Who Suffered PTSD

Facebook has agreed to pay $52 million to thousands of U.S. workers who suffer the psychological consequences of reviewing posts depicting acts of suicide, murder, child abuse and other disturbing content, attorneys for the workers said. The class-action settlement, in which Facebook did not admit or deny harms caused to these workers, is the first of its kind, the lawyers said.

Facebook Reports Spike in Deleted Posts Promoting Violence, Hate

Facebook Inc, reported a sharp increase in the number of posts it removed for promoting violence and hate speech across its apps, which it attributed to technology improvements for automatically identifying text and images. The world’s biggest social media company removed about 4.7 million posts connected to hate organizations on its flagship app in the first quarter, up from 1.6 million in the 2019 fourth quarter.

FTC Chair Says Agency 'Looking At' Privacy Complaints Against Zoom

Federal Trade Commission Chairman Joseph Simons indicated that the agency was looking at privacy complaints regarding Zoom Video Communications Inc. Representative Jerry McNerney of California and others had written a letter to Zoom expressing concerns about information collected about registered and non-registered users and recordings made by Zoom subscribers which may be stored in the cloud.

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