California Wants to Join Justice Department Antitrust Suit Against Google

California is seeking to join the Justice Department in its antitrust lawsuit against Google parent Alphabet Inc., one of the state’s largest businesses. The Justice Department sued Google in October. The case, filed in federal court in Washington, D.C., alleges that Google uses billions of dollars collected from advertisers to pay phone manufacturers to ensure Google is the default search engine on browsers.

Amazon Halo Prompts Senator to Push for Stronger Health Privacy Protection

Sen. Amy Klobuchar wants the federal government to provide more consumer privacy protection in response to a new wearable health device from tech giant Amazon. After a Washington Post review of the $65 , Klobuchar (D-Minn.) sent a letter to Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar asking what his agency is doing to ensure such devices safeguard sensitive health information.

Judge Dismisses Lawsuit Seeking to Invalidate Trump's Social Media Order

A U.S. judge dismissed a lawsuit brought by a tech group that had asked the federal court to declare invalid a presidential executive order aimed at weakening a law that protects social media companies like Facebook and Twitter. Judge Trevor McFadden, in dismissing the case, said that the Center for Democracy and Technology (CDT), which is funded by Facebook, Google and Twitter, had no standing to oppose the executive order because it was not directed at the group but instructed federal agencies like the Federal Communications Commission to move toward potential rule- or law-making.

Complex Antitrust Laws May Create Uphill Legal Battle Against Facebook

When the Federal Trade Commission and more than 40 states sued Facebook for illegally killing competition and demanded that the company be split apart, lawmakers and public interest groups applauded. But because antitrust laws are complex and were put in place before the advent of modern technology, the FTC and state attorneys general now face an uphill battle to prove their allegations, some competition experts said.

Mastercard, Visa Stop Their Cards from Being Used on Pornhub

Mastercard and Visa said they will no longer allow their cards to be used on Pornhub, less than a week after the credit card companies said they would review their relationship with the site in light of a recent New York Times column that included allegations that the website contained rape scenes, revenge pornography and underaged sex. Mastercard said in a statement its investigation confirmed violations of its standards that prohibit “unlawful content on their site.”

FCC Starts Process to Revoke China Telecom's Authorization for U.S.

The U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) said it begun the process of revoking China Telecom’s authorization to operate in the United States as it took further steps to crack down on China’s role in U.S. telecommunications. FCC Chairman Ajit Pai noted several U.S. government agencies had recommended the revocation citing national security concerns.

German Regulators Investigating Facebook Over Oculus Requirements

German regulators launched an investigation into Facebook over the company’s decision to link its Oculus virtual reality products to the social network, authorities said. The Federal Cartel Office, or Bundeskartellamt, said it had initiated abuse proceedings over Facebook’s plans to require users of the latest Quest 2 virtual reality glasses produced by Oculus to register with a Facebook.com account.

Cydia, Operator of Once-Popular App Store, Sues Apple

Apple Inc. was sued the creator of a once-popular app store that accused the iPhone maker of illegally monopolizing software distribution on its own operating system. Cydia, which was created in 2008, said Apple has “illegally squashed all competition” for its App Store, depriving consumers of the ability to choose where to obtain iOS apps and developers from choosing which distributors to use.

WhatsApp Calls Apple's Privacy-Labeling Requirement Anti-Competitive

Facebook's global messaging service WhatsApp is protesting Apple's requirement that app owners submit information about the user data they collect for use in new privacy labels coming to Apple's app store. The state of play: WhatsApp says that the provision is anti-competitive because Apple's own encrypted messaging service, Messages, is preinstalled on iPhones and doesn't need to be downloaded from Apple's app store, where the privacy labels are now required.

Hackers Access COVID-19 Vaccine Documents at Pfizer, BioNTech

U.S. drugmaker Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech said that documents related to their development of a COVID-19 vaccine had been “unlawfully accessed” in a cyberattack on Europe’s medicines regulator. The European Medicines Agency (EMA), responsible for assessing and approving medicines and vaccines for the European Union, said hours earlier it had been targeted in a cyberattack.

YouTube to Start Removing Misleading Videos About Presidential Election

YouTube announced changes to how it handles videos about the 2020 presidential election, saying it would remove new videos that mislead people by claiming that widespread fraud or errors influenced the outcome of the election. The company said it was making the change because Tuesday was the so-called safe harbor deadline — the date by which all state-level election challenges, such as recounts and audits, are supposed to be completed.

U.S., 48 States File Antitrust Lawsuits Against Facebook

The U.S. government and 48 state attorneys general filed wide-ranging antitrust lawsuits against Facebook, setting the stage for a potential breakup of the social-networking giant over charges it engaged in illegal, anti-competitive tactics to buy, bully or kill its rivals. The twin lawsuits filed in federal district court chiefly challenge Facebook’s acquisition of two companies: Instagram, a photo-sharing tool, and WhatsApp, a messaging service. Federal and state investigators allege the deals ultimately helped solidify Facebook as a dominant digital juggernaut with the power to weaponize its data to ensure no other company could catch up — leaving Web users with few quality, privacy-protective social-networking alternatives.

British Financial Think Tank Says Data Protection Possible Without 'Localization'

Personal data can be properly protected without forcing banks to build storage servers in every country they serve, which bumps up costs for customers and dents growth, a financial think tank said in a study. The London-based International Regulatory Strategy Group (IRSG) said data can be sufficiently protected without “localization” — the requirement to store data on servers inside the country where it originated.

Pornhub Changes Policy, Bans Uploads from Unidentified Users

Pornhub has made significant changes to its content policies after a New York Times report detailed the damage done by nonconsensual videos posted to the platform, often involving underage girls. In a statement, Pornhub announced a new set of policies aimed at keeping nonconsensual videos off the site. Most significantly, the platform will no longer accept uploads from unidentified users, a significant shift for a company that built its platform on non-professional uploads.

Alabama Students Return to Classes After Cyberattack, Without Computers

Students have returned to class in one of Alabama's largest school systems after a cyberattack shut down the system, but students in Huntsville are doing their work on paper rather than computers. Huntsville city schools said in an update that students still didn't have access to computers as classes resumed, a week after the attack first forced a shutdown.

Second Judge Blocks Trump Administration's Attempt to Ban TikTok

A federal judge fully blocked the Trump administration's attempt to ban TikTok in the U.S., the latest defeat in the White House's legal crusade against the video-sharing app. U.S. District Judge Carl Nichols in Washington found that Trump overstepped his authority in using his emergency economic powers to try to effectively put the wildly popular app out of business. He was the second judge to rule against the president's ban.

  • Read the article: NPR

Tinder's Parent Company Working with Anti-Sexual Violence Groups

Tinder parent company Match Group is partnering with one of the largest anti-sexual violence groups in the U.S. to audit how it handles reports of sexual assault across its many dating platforms. The Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network (RAINN) will “conduct a comprehensive review of sexual misconduct reporting, moderation and response across Match Group's dating platforms and to work together to improve current safety systems and tools,” the company said.

Google Removes IAC/InterActive Browser Extensions for 'Policy Violations'

Alphabet Inc’s Google said it has removed a number of browser extensions of online conglomerate IAC/InterActive Corp for “policy violations” and is reviewing “enforcement options.” “We continue to have conversations with IAC related to Chrome Web Store policies and we have already removed a number of their extensions for violating our policies”, a Google spokesman said in a statement emailed to Reuters.

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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.