Report Says Tech Companies Actually Enable Spread of Covid Disinformation

Google, Facebook, Apple and other technology companies that try to keep covid-19 disinformation and fraud off their own platforms are enabling their spread through online services, tools and code used by websites that push such content, according to a new report from Oxford University. The 120 websites studied by the Oxford researchers support protests against government health restrictions or spread misleading information about the disease caused by the coronavirus — false cures, fake charities or misleading health advice.

UAE Official Said It Was Targeted by Cyberattacks After Creating Israeli Ties

The United Arab Emirates was the target of cyber attacks after establishing formal ties with Israel, the Gulf Arab state’s cyber security head said. The UAE in August broke with decades of Arab policy when it agreed to forge ties with Israel in a move that angered Palestinians and some Muslim states and communities. Bahrain and Sudan have followed suit.

Facebook Revising 'Race-Blind' Algorithms for Detecting Hate Speech

Facebook is embarking on a major overhaul of its algorithms that detect hate speech, according to internal documents, reversing years of so-called “race-blind” practices. Those practices resulted in the company being more vigilant about removing slurs lobbed against White users while flagging and deleting innocuous posts by people of color on the platform.

EU to Introduce Regulations on Illegal Content for Online Platforms

The European Union plans to introduce in coming weeks new proposals aimed at changing behavior — and, in some cases, business models — at large online platforms, reasserting the bloc’s role as global tech cop. The European Commission, the bloc’s executive arm, is completing regulatory plans outlining how online platforms should remove illegal content quickly and refrain from using their power to quash rivals or push their own products on their sites.

Trump Signs Executive Order on Federal Agency Use of Artificial Intelligence

The White House said President Donald Trump is signing an executive order setting guidance for federal agency use of artificial intelligence that aims to foster public acceptance of the technology in government decision making. The order directs agencies to prepare inventories of AI-use cases throughout their departments and directs the White House to develop a roadmap for policy guidance for administrative use of AI.

U.S. Sues Facebook for Illegally Reserving High-Paying Jobs for Immigrants

The Trump administration has sued Facebook Inc., accusing the social-media company of illegally reserving high-paying jobs for immigrant workers it was sponsoring for permanent residence, rather than searching adequately for available U.S. workers who could fill the positions. In a 17-page complaint, the Justice Department’s civil-rights division said Facebook inadequately advertised at least 2,600 positions between 2018 and 2019 that were filled by immigrants on H-1B high-skill visas when the company was applying to sponsor those workers for permanent residency, known as green cards.

20-30 States Preparing to File Antitrust Lawsuit Against Facebook

State attorneys general are preparing to file an antitrust lawsuit against Facebook as soon as next week, sources familiar with the matter told CNBC’s Ylan Mui. At least 20 to 30 states could join in, the sources said. The news comes as multiple outlets have reported the Federal Trade Commission is likely to file its own antitrust lawsuit against the social media giant.

  • Read the article: CNBC

U.S. Worked with Estonia Before Election to Thwart Russian Hackers

The United States deployed operatives to Estonia in the weeks before the November election to learn more about defending against Russian hackers as part of a broader effort to hunt down foreign cyberattacks, American and Estonian officials said. Estonian officials believe the growing cooperation with the United States will be an important deterrent to any attacks by neighboring Russia, while American officials have used the collaboration to help bolster their election defenses.

Cyberattacks Target Companies, Governments Distributing Coronavirus Vaccines

A series of cyberattacks is underway aimed at the companies and government organizations that will be distributing coronavirus vaccines around the world, IBM’s cybersecurity division has found, though it is unclear whether the goal is to steal the technology for keeping the vaccines refrigerated in transit or to sabotage the movements. The findings are alarming enough that the Department of Homeland Security plans to issue its own warning to Operation Warp Speed, the Trump administration’s effort to develop and distribute coronavirus vaccines, federal officials said.

NLRB Files Complaint Against Google for Spying on, Firing Two Employees

The National Labor Relations Board filed a complaint against Google alleging that the company illegally spied on and then fired two employees for organizing. The complaint says that Google violated labor laws by surveilling and terminating Laurence Berland and Kathryn Spiers, both former engineers at the company's San Francisco office, in 2019.

Homeland Security Inspector General to Probe Cell-Phone Surveillance

Department of Homeland Security’s internal watchdog said it would open an investigation into the use of mobile-phone surveillance technologies to track Americans without a warrant, the latest salvo in a debate within the U.S. government over the legality of such techniques. The department’s inspector general told five Democratic senators that his office would initiate an audit “to determine if the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and its components have developed, updated, and adhered to policies related to cell-phone surveillance devices,” according to a letter sent last week to Capitol Hill and shared with The Wall Street Journal.

Republicans Break with Trump on Demand to Eliminate Section 230

President Donald Trump’s threat to veto a defense bill if it does not repeal legal protections for social media companies faced stiff bipartisan opposition, setting the stage for a confrontation with lawmakers scrambling to pass the massive bill by year-end. Unusually, members of Trump’s Republican Party broke from the president to join Democrats in objecting to his threat to veto the annual National Defense Authorization Act, or NDAA, a $740 billion annual bill setting policy for the Pentagon, if it does not include a measure eliminating a federal law — known as Section 230 — protecting tech companies such as Facebook Inc and Twitter Inc.

Trump Threatens to Veto Defense Bill Unless Congress Repeals Section 230

President Trump threatened to veto an annual defense bill unless Congress repeals the federal law that spares Facebook, Google and other social-media sites from legal liability over their content-moderation decisions. Trump delivered the ultimatum targeting the digital protections, known as Section 230, in a late-night tweet that marked a dramatic escalation in his attacks against Silicon Valley over unproven allegations that the country’s tech giants exhibit bias against conservatives.

Accused Tesla Hacker Ordered to Pay $400,000 to Former Employer

Martin Tripp, the former Tesla worker who has been embroiled in a bitter legal battle with CEO Elon Musk for over two years, was ordered to pay his former employer $400,000 after admitting to leaking confidential information to a reporter. The settlement is intended to bring an end to one of the more sordid stories at Tesla, in which Tripp, a former process technician, locked horns with the billionaire CEO over allegations that Tesla was wasting a “jaw-dropping” amount of raw material as it ramped up production of the Model 3 sedan.

Commission Urges U.S. to Take Bigger Role in Promoting Tech Against China

Advocates of the U.S. government taking a bigger role in industrial policy got a boost from a bipartisan commission on China, which said the government should consider getting more involved in promoting U.S. technology or risk losing its edge to Chinese products. In its annual report, the influential U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission advised Congress to consider establishing a government committee to work with companies and U.S. allies to push their priorities at global organizations that set technology standards.

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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.