Trump Administration to Urge States to Probe Social Media Censorship

The Trump administration is expected to urge Republican state attorneys general to investigate social media sites over allegations that they censor conservatives online, escalating the White House’s war with Silicon Valley as tech giants are increasingly taking action against the president’s most controversial posts. The administration plans to raise the issue at a gathering with at least eight top Republican officials, encouraging them to use their existing state laws to probe and potentially punish perceived acts of political bias, according to two people familiar with the White House’s thinking.

Chinese Operations Interfering in U.S. Election, Facebook Says

Facebook has detected limited Chinese operations intended to both help and hurt President Trump’s re-election chances, the company announced, the first public disclosure of Chinese efforts to influence the presidential election in November. The Chinese activity, while modest and not directly attributed to the government in Beijing, could undercut Mr. Trump’s repeated contention that China is intervening in the election to support former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr., the Democratic candidate.

Global Law Enforcement Agencies Arrest 179 People on Dark Web

Law enforcement agencies around the world have arrested 179 people involved in buying and selling illicit goods and services on the dark web as part of a coordinated international take down operation involving agencies in nine countries — and police have warned cyber criminals that “the golden age of the dark web is over.” The coordinated campaign was led by the German Federal Criminal Police, with support from the Dutch National Police, the UK's National Crime Agency, US government agencies including the Department of Justice and FBI, Europol and others.

House Approves Bill Criminalizing Hacking of Voting Systems

The House unanimously approved legislation that would make hacking federal voting systems a federal crime. The Defending the Integrity of Voting Systems Act, approved by the Senate last year, would make hacking federal voting infrastructure a crime under the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, which is commonly used by the Justice Department to take action against malicious hackers.

Justice Department to Brief State Attorneys General on Google Lawsuit

The Justice Department is expected to brief state attorneys general about its imminent plans to file an antitrust lawsuit against Google, setting in motion a landmark legal clash between the U.S. government and the search and advertising behemoth. The timeline puts federal competition watchdogs on track to file a case against Google potentially next week, capping off a wide-ranging inquiry into the tech giant and the extent to which its sprawling corporate footprint harms rivals and consumers.

TikTok Deal Complicated by Disagreement Over U.S. Ownership

A deal intended to address the Trump administration’s concerns about TikTok’s ties to China was complicated by a disagreement over whether a U.S. company would control the social media app and the president’s threat to block any agreement that leaves the service in the hands of a Chinese company. Mr. Trump had said he had given his “blessing” to a transaction that he said would result in non-Chinese investors, including Oracle and Walmart, owning TikTok.

Facebook Says It Might Leave European Union if It Can't Transfer Data

Facebook has told Ireland’s High Court it cannot see how its services could operate in the European Union if regulators freeze its data transfer mechanism, the Sunday Business Post reported, citing court documents seen by the paper. The U.S. social media giant last week said that the Irish Data Protection Commission, its lead EU regulator, had made a preliminary decision that the mechanism it uses to transfer data from the EU to the United States “cannot in practice be used”.

Homeland Security Issues Critical Security Warning for Windows Servers

Homeland Security’s cybersecurity advisory unit has issued a rare emergency alert to government departments after the recent disclosure of a “critical”-rated security vulnerability in server versions of Microsoft Windows. The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, better known as CISA, issued an alert late on Friday requiring all federal departments and agencies to “immediately” patch any Windows servers vulnerable to the so-called Zerologon attack by Monday, citing an “unacceptable risk” to government networks.

Court Blocks Trump Administration's Plan to Ban WeChat, Citing First Amendment

A federal court has granted a preliminary injunction halting the Trump administration’s planned ban of Chinese app WeChat, in response to a plaintiff lawsuit saying the ban would harm their First Amendment rights. In an order, the U.S. District Court in San Francisco said the plaintiffs, a group of WeChat users, had shown there are “serious questions” related to their First Amendment claim.

Trump Approves TikTok Deal with Oracle, Walmart, Averting U.S. Shutdown

President Trump said that he had approved a deal between the Chinese-owned social media app TikTok and major American companies, an agreement that will delay the U.S. government’s threat to block the popular app in the United States over national security concerns. The deal, which must still gain formal U.S. approval, would create a new U.S.-based company, TikTok Global, in which Oracle, an American software maker, and Walmart would own 20 percent, placing more equity in the service into the hands of American companies and investors.

Germany Investigating Woman's Death After Ransomware Attack on Hospital

German authorities are investigating the death of a patient following a ransomware attack on a hospital in Duesseldorf. The patient, identified only as a woman who needed urgent medical care, died after being re-routed to a hospital in the city of Wuppertal, more than 30 km away from her initial intended destination, the Duesseldorf University Hospital.

FBI Director Warns Against Getting Election Information from Social Media

If a Facebook page or an Instagram post is offering the location of your polling place, you should double check that with your local elections office, the FBI director said at a congressional hearing. Better yet, don't get your election information from social media at all. The House Committee on Homeland Security hosted its annual worldwide threats hearing, where intelligence agencies in past years have warned about international cyberattacks and online disinformation.

  • Read the article: CNET

Twitter Adds Security Measures to 'High-Profile, Election-Related' Accounts

Twitter is taking steps to tighten account security for a range of users ahead of the US presidential election, including by requiring the use of strong passwords. “We’re taking the additional step of proactively implementing account security measures for a designated group of high-profile, election-related Twitter accounts in the US. Starting today, these accounts will be informed via an in-app notification from Twitter of some of the initial account security measures we will be requiring or strongly recommending going forward,” it said in a blog post announcing the preemptive step.

Amazon Removes Peptide Listings After Investigation of Doping

Amazon has removed dozens of listings for peptides, drugs that can be used for doping, after an investigation from The Markup found 66 examples of such products on the site. Peptides are made naturally in the body, but synthetic versions, which can be sold in vials and then reconstituted and injected, are often used as performance-enhancing drugs since they can speed recovery from injuries.

ByteDance Agrees to Trump Administration's Changes to TikTok Deal

The Chinese company that owns TikTok has accepted the Trump administration’s changes to a deal designed to mitigate the White House’s concerns that the popular app poses a national security threat, two people with knowledge of the talks said. The Treasury Department, which leads a group reviewing the deal for national security purposes, provided TikTok’s owner, ByteDance, with revisions to its proposal, one of the people said.

Twitter Removes Kanye West Post Sharing Forbes' Editor's Phone Number

Twitter removed a post by Kanye West that shared personal information about a Forbes editor, but only after the tweet was up long enough to garner about 17,000 retweets. West, the rapper who at times appears to post a stream of consciousness on Twitter, called Forbes' chief content officer a white supremacist and shared his phone number, which is against Twitter's policies.

  • Read the article: CNET

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