Trump Vetoes Defense Spending Bill Because It Lacks Changes to Section 230

President Donald Trump has vetoed an annual defense bill authorizing billions of dollars in military spending after complaints that the bill did not include changes to Section 230, the provision that gives social media companies legal immunity over much of the content posted by their users. Trump threatened to veto the $740 billion spending bill, the National Defense Authorization Act, unless Congress included a provision that would repeal Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act.

China Opens Antitrust Investigation of Alibaba, Plans Meeting with Ant Group

China’s market watchdog said that it had opened an investigation into whether the e-commerce group Alibaba had engaged in monopolistic practices, such as restricting vendors from selling merchandise on other platforms. Separately, four Chinese financial regulatory agencies, including the central bank, said they would meet soon with Ant Group, Alibaba’s finance-focused sister company, to discuss new supervision.

SolarWinds Hacking Impacts Federal, State, Local Governments

The U.S. cybersecurity agency said that a sprawling cyber espionage campaign made public earlier this month is affecting state and local governments, although it released few additional details. The hacking campaign, which used U.S. tech company SolarWinds as a springboard to penetrate federal government networks, was “impacting enterprise networks across federal, state, and local governments, as well as critical infrastructure entities and other private sector organizations,” the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) said in a statement posted to its website.

Human Rights, Press Freedom Groups Support Facebook Suit Against NSO

A coalition of human rights and press freedom groups have filed a brief supporting Facebook Inc.’s lawsuit against the Israeli surveillance technology company NSO Group, arguing that the “very core of the principles that America represents” are at stake in the case. Facebook last year initiated the lawsuit against NSO Group, accusing the company of reverse-engineering WhatsApp and using the popular chat service to send spyware to the devices of approximately 1,400 people, including attorneys, journalists, human rights activists, government officials and others. Facebook acquired WhatsApp in 2014.

'Protecting Lawful Streaming Act' Targets Commercial Piracy Services

Tucked away in the more than 5,000-page long Covid-19 stimulus bill is a new law that severely punishes streamers that pirate large amounts of copyrighted content. The “Protecting Lawful Streaming Act,” which was introduced by Senator Thom Tillis, a Republican from North Carolina, doesn’t target casual internet users but is focused on “commercial, for-profit streaming piracy services” that make money from illegally streaming copyrighted material.

Google Denies Justice Department's Accusations in Antitrust Case

Google said that it had not used its multibillion-dollar deals with other large tech firms to protect its position as the dominant online search engine, in the company’s first formal rebuttal to the Justice Department’s accusations that those deals violated antitrust laws. The filing, a 42-page document, is a paragraph-by-paragraph — and sometimes sentence-by-sentence — denial of the claims made by the government and a group of states that have joined its lawsuit.

Aid Package Includes $7 Billion to Help Low-Income Families Get Broadband

A massive coronavirus aid package approved by Congress sets aside $7 billion to help Americans connect to high-speed Internet and pay their monthly bills, marking one of the most substantial one-time broadband investments in U.S. history. Nearly half the money is slated to fund a new monthly benefit for low-income families, aiming to ensure that those who have lost their jobs can stay online at a time when the pandemic has forced millions of people to work, learn and communicate on their devices from home.

Online Misinformation Campaigns Target Runoff Elections in Georgia Senate Races

As Georgia prepares to hold special elections that will determine which party will control the U.S. Senate, the state has become the focus of a misinformation campaign that is aimed at discrediting the results of the November elections and convincing voters that Democrats are trying to steal the upcoming vote. A small group of “superspreaders” is responsible for the vast majority of that misinformation, according to new research by Avaaz, a global human rights group.

House Intelligence Committee Chair Wants Briefing on Government Hacking

U.S. House Intelligence Committee chairman Adam Schiff asked for a briefing from U.S. agencies about a widespread hack of U.S. government networks and potential vulnerabilities. Schiff said news “about FireEye is especially concerning because reportedly a nation-state actor made off with advanced tools that could help them mount future attacks.”

Homeland Security to Warn Businesses About Chinese Equipment

The Department of Homeland Security is set to issue an advisory to U.S. businesses, warning them of data security risks associated with using communications equipment and services from China-linked companies. The advisory comes as the Trump administration makes a final push on China, highlighting the administration's emphasis on the risks posed by the close relationship between some Chinese companies and the Chinese government.

Dozens of Al Jazeera Journalists Had iPhones Compromised by Spyware

Citizen Lab researchers say they have found evidence that dozens of journalists had their iPhones silently compromised with spyware known to be used by nation states. For more than the past year, London-based reporter Rania Dridi and at least 36 journalists, producers and executives working for the Al Jazeera news agency were targeted with a so-called “zero-click” attack that exploited a now-fixed vulnerability in Apple’s iMessage.

Hackers Sending Fake Shipment Notifications During Holiday Season

Hackers are sending out fake shipping notification links that appear to come from Amazon, FedEx, UPS and other major shippers, but they launch malware or mine for personal information. Cybersecurity firm Check Point Software Technologies found these messages impersonating shippers were up 440% from October to November, and 72% since November last year.

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Zoom Security Executive Charged with Working with Chinese Government

A security executive with the video-tech giant Zoom worked with the Chinese government to terminate Americans’ accounts and disrupt video calls about the 1989 massacre of pro-democracy activists in Tiananmen Square, Justice Department prosecutors said. The case is a stunning blow for Zoom, one of the most popular new titans of American tech, which during the pandemic became one of the main ways people work, socialize and share ideas around the world.

Facebook Removes Misleading Information About Coronavirus Vaccine in Israel

Facebook has taken down content that spread lies in Israel against coronavirus vaccinations as the government seeks to drum up support for the program, the Justice Ministry said. The Justice Ministry said that, at its request, Facebook took down four groups at the weekend that had disseminated texts, photographs and videos with “deliberately mendacious content designed to mislead about coronavirus vaccines.”

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