Ten State Attorneys General File Antitrust Suit Against Google Over Ads

Ten state attorneys general accused Google of illegally abusing its monopoly over the technology that delivers ads online, adding to the company’s legal troubles with a case that strikes at the heart of its business. The state prosecutors said that Google overcharged publishers for the ads it showed across the web and edged out rivals who tried to challenge the company’s dominance.

Dutch Hacker Accessed Trump's Twitter Account, Prosecutor Says

The Netherlands’ public prosecutor said that a Dutch hacker accessed President Trump’s Twitter account, according to a report by Vox. The Dutch prosecutors on Wednesday said that they believed that Victor Gevers, a security researcher, had accessed Trump's account by guessing the password, according to a translated version of the Dutch news report.

Twitter to Remove Misleading Information About Coronavirus Vaccines

With coronavirus vaccine misinformation spreading via social media at an alarming rate, Twitter said it would remove claims that vaccines intentionally cause harm or are unnecessary as well as debunked conspiracy theories about the adverse effects of vaccines. “In the context of a global pandemic, vaccine misinformation presents a significant and growing public health challenge,” Twitter said in a blog post.

Facebook Shifting U.K. Users to U.S. Agreements to Avoid EU Privacy Laws

Facebook Inc. will shift all its users in the United Kingdom into user agreements with the corporate headquarters in California, moving them out of their current relationship with Facebook’s Irish unit and out of reach of Europe’s privacy laws. The change takes effect next year and follows a similar move announced in February by Google.

Sen. Graham Introduces Bill to Repeal Section 230 Protections for Social Media

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) introduced legislation that would repeal a key tech liability shield by 2023 as debate over the protection has put a top defense bill in jeopardy. Graham’s bill would implement a sunset for Section 230, the 1996 law that grants legal protects to tech platforms for third party content posted on their sites.

EU, Britain Introduce New Regulations to Fight Hate Speech, Counterfeiting

Authorities in the European Union and Britain built momentum for tougher oversight of the technology industry, as they introduced new regulations to pressure the world’s biggest tech companies to take down harmful content and open themselves up to more competition. In Brussels, European Union leaders unveiled proposals to crimp the power of “gatekeeper” platforms like Amazon, Apple, Facebook, Google and Microsoft, which policymakers argue deserve more oversight given their outsize influence.

Coalition of Tech Companies Seizes Control of Domain Used for Hacking

Microsoft and a coalition of tech companies have intervened to seize and sinkhole a domain that played a central role in the SolarWinds hack, ZDNet has learned from sources familiar with the matter. The domain in question served as command and control (C&C) server for malware delivered to around 18,000 SolarWinds customers via a trojanized update for the company's Orion app.

EU Fines Twitter $546,000 for Violating General Data Protection Regulation

Two-and-a-half-years after going into effect, the European Union’s new privacy law has its first fine for a U.S. tech company in a cross-border case — an overdue development, critics say. Ireland’s Data Protection Commission said that it is fining Twitter Inc. €450,000, equivalent to about $546,000, for failing to document or properly notify the regulator within 72 hours of learning of a data breach disclosed in January 2019 that exposed some users’ private tweets.

Facebook Links French Military to Influence Operation Targeting Africa

Facebook accused people linked to the French military of running a covert online influence operation targeting parts of Africa. It is the first time Facebook has publicly linked a campaign like this to individuals connected to a Western military. The deceptive tactics allegedly used, which include using Facebook to pose as locals in the targeted countries, mirror misinformation campaigns run by the Russian government.

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Facebook Allows Authorized Political Ads for Georgia Senate Race

Facebook said that it would allow some advertisers to run political issue and candidacy ads in Georgia, a change from its recent ban on political ads in the United States and just weeks before a major runoff election in the state could decide the future of the Senate. Facebook said it would allow authorized advertisers to buy and run political ads targeted to people within Georgia.

Homeland Security, Other Agencies Investigating Russian-Backed Hacking

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security and thousands of businesses scrambled to investigate and respond to a sweeping hacking campaign that officials suspect was directed by the Russian government. Emails sent by officials at DHS, which oversees border security and defense against hacking, were monitored by the hackers as part of the sophisticated series of breaches, three people familiar with the matter told Reuters.

FTC Orders Social Media, Streaming Sites to Provide Details on Data Use

The Federal Trade Commission wants to know how popular social media and streaming sites such as Facebook and Twitter use your personal data. The agency has ordered those two sites, as well as Amazon, YouTube, Discord, Reddit, Snap, WhatsApp and ByteDance, which operates TikTok, to provide details on how they collect and use personal information.

Apple Begins Using New Labels to Identify Privacy Practices for Apps

Apple Inc. said it had begun the rollout of new labels about the privacy practices of apps for users to see before they are downloaded from its App Store. Apple announced the labels, which seek to quickly convey information about several categories of data collection and somewhat resemble the nutrition labels on food products, at a developer conference in June.

Hackers Working for Russia Monitored Email Traffic at U.S. Treasury Department

Hackers believed to be working for Russia have been monitoring internal email traffic at the U.S. Treasury Department and an agency that decides internet and telecommunications policy, according to people familiar with the matter. There is concern within the U.S. intelligence community that the hackers who targeted Treasury and the Commerce Department’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration used a similar tool to break into other government agencies, according to four people briefed on the matter.

FBI, DHS Warn of Ransomware Attacks Targeting Online Classes

The FBI and the Department of Homeland Security’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) warned this week that malicious hackers are targeting the nation’s K-12 classes that have moved online during the COVID-19 pandemic. In a joint alert put out with the Multi-State Information Sharing and Analysis Center (MS-ISAC), the agencies warned that ransomware attacks in particular were hitting online classes and were expected to continue into the next year.

Twitter 'Inadvertently' Limited Engagements with Trump's 'Disputed' Tweets

Twitter Inc. said it had “inadvertently” limited engagements for a brief period on U.S. President Donald Trump’s tweets with “disputed” labels but later reversed its action. Some users on the social media platform had noticed that the ability to like, re-tweet or reply to Trump’s tweets with a “disputed” label was not working.

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.

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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.