Amazon Bans Two Militia Movements Linked to Capitol Attack from Charity Program

After pressure from activist group Sleeping Giants, Amazon has banned groups tied to the Oath Keepers and the Three Percenters militia movements from its AmazonSmile charity program, the company tells The Verge. Members of the Oath Keepers and the Three Percenters have been arrested for their suspected involvement in the January 6th attack of the US Capitol.

India Plans to Permanently Ban TikTok, 58 Other Chinese Apps

India’s ministry of electronics and information technology has issued fresh notices to make permanent a ban imposed on video app TikTok and 58 other Chinese apps in June, Indian media reported. When it first imposed the ban, the Indian government gave the 59 apps a chance to explain their position on compliance with privacy and security requirements, the Times of India reported.

Registrant of 'antifa.com' Domain Name Redirects It to White House Website

The domain name antifa.com takes visitors to President Joe Biden's spiffy new White House website, which was recently redone to include accessibility features and a hidden message to coders. Don't let the apparent connection between the antifascist movement and the newly sworn-in president alarm or outrage you, because the redirect is simply a reflection of how the open web can work.

  • Read the article: CNET

Biden Hires National Security Veterans with Cyber Expertise

President Joe Biden is hiring a group of national security veterans with deep cyber expertise, drawing praise from former defense officials and investigators as the U.S. government works to recover from one of the biggest hacks of its agencies attributed to Russian spies. “It is great to see the priority that the new administration is giving to cyber,” said Suzanne Spaulding, director of the Defending Democratic Institutions project at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

Tesla Sues Former Software Engineer for Stealing Trade Secrets

Tesla is suing a former employee and software engineer named Alex Khatilov, alleging trade secret theft and breach of contract. In the complaint, the company accuses Khatilov of grabbing code and files from WARP Drive, a back-end software system that Tesla developed to automate a range of business processes involved in manufacturing and selling its cars.

  • Read the article: CNBC

Lawmakers Reintroduce Legislation to Limit Foreign Disinformation Online

Reps. Abigail Spanberger (D-Va.) and John Katko (R-N.Y.) reintroduced legislation intended to cut down on foreign disinformation and propaganda spread on social media, in particular following a spike in the content after the presidential election and during the COVID-19 pandemic. The Foreign Agent Disclaimer Enhancement, or FADE, Act would attempt to address foreign disinformation by requiring the inclusion of disclaimers on political content on social media in the U.S. if they are funded by a foreign agent, with the disclaimers to remain if the post is shared.

Google, Facebook Threaten to Leave Australia Over News-Sharing Bill

In a major escalation, Google threatened to make its search engine unavailable in Australia if the government approved legislation that would force tech companies to pay for journalism shared on their platforms. Facebook, which appeared with Google at an Australian Senate hearing, reaffirmed a threat of its own, vowing to block users in Australia from posting or sharing links to news if the bill passed.

EU Lawmakers Invite CEOs from Amazon, Apple, Facebook, Alphabet to Hearing

EU lawmakers have invited the chief executives of Amazon, Apple, Facebook and Alphabet to a Feb. 1 hearing in Brussels as they try to crack down on the powers of U.S. tech giants. The European Parliament will in the coming months provide input into proposals by the European Commission to force the companies to play fairly with rivals and to do more to tackle online fake news and harmful content or face hefty fines.

Networking Device Maker SonicWall Investigating Breach of Its Own Network

Networking device maker SonicWall said that it is investigating a security breach of its internal network after detecting what it described as a "coordinated attack." In a short statement posted on its knowledgebase portal, the company said that "highly sophisticated threat actors" targeted its internal systems by "exploiting probable zero-day vulnerabilities on certain SonicWall secure remote access products."

House Committee Chair Wants FBI to Probe Parler's Role in Capitol Attack

The chairwoman of the House Oversight and Reform Committee asked the FBI to conduct a “robust examination” of the alleged role in the Jan. 6 Capitol siege of Parler, the now-disabled social media site that bristled with violent chatter before and after a mob stormed the Capitol in a rampage that left one police officer and four rioters dead. Rep. Carolyn B. Maloney (D-N.Y.), the chairwoman, said the request is a step toward opening a formal committee investigation into sites that may encourage violence, including Parler.

Biden Administration Faces Pressure to Address Digital Divide

The Biden administration’s agenda, already focused on the coronavirus, will face immediate pressure to address a related tech issue: access to home broadband that has become essential to continuing work, school and other important activities during the pandemic. The country is in the midst of another surge in the virus — this time with a more contagious strain — and schools and offices nationwide are again closing their doors.

Trump Pardons Former Google Executive Sentenced for Stealing Trade Secrets

In one of his final acts as president, Donald Trump pardoned the engineer at the center of an iconic, litigious, and years-long conflict between Uber, Google, and federal prosecutors over the technology for self-driving cars. Encouraged by some of his highest-profile backers in Silicon Valley, such as venture capitalist Peter Thiel, Trump issued the surprise full pardon to Anthony Levandowski, a former Google executive who had decamped to work for Uber.

California Plaintiffs Sue Tencent, Alleging WeChat App Surveillance

A group of California plaintiffs has filed a lawsuit against Chinese tech giant Tencent in state court, alleging that the company’s WeChat mobile app has censored and surveilled them and shared their data with Chinese authorities. The lawsuit, which seeks class-action status, claims that the company’s practices violate the plaintiffs’ free-speech and privacy rights and “unjustly enrich Tencent at the expense of California WeChat users.”

European Commission President Warns of Risks from 'Unfiltered' Hate Speech

In a speech to the European Parliament marking the inauguration of U.S. president Joe Biden, the president of the European Commission has called for Europe and the U.S. to join forces on regulating tech giants, warning of the risks of “unfiltered” hate speech and disinformation being weaponized to attack and undermine democracies. Ursula von der Leyen pointed to the shock storming of the U.S. capital earlier this month by supporters of outgoing president Donald Trump as an example of how wild claims being spread and amplified online can have tangible real-world consequences, including for democratic institutions.

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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.