On TheDonald.win, Trump Supporters Debated Violence at Capitol

In the weeks before supporters of then-President Donald Trump assaulted the U.S. Capitol, TheDonald.win forum commenters debated how best to build a gallows for hanging — or simply terrifying — members of Congress deemed disloyal. Such conversations flowed freely and visibly on TheDonald.win for weeks, underscoring the openly violent intent of some of the thousands of Trump enthusiasts who thronged the Capitol on Jan. 6, as well as the intelligence failures of the authorities charged with preparing for that day.

U.S. Federal Investigators Probe Intrusion at Software Auditing Company

U.S. federal investigators are probing an intrusion at San Francisco-based software auditing company Codecov that affected an unknown number of its 29,000 customers, the firm said, raising the specter of knock-on breaches at companies elsewhere. Codecov said in a statement hackers began tampering with its software — which is used across the tech industry to help test code for mistakes and vulnerabilities — on Jan. 31.

U.S. Imposes Sanctions on Russia for Cyberespionage Campaign

The Biden administration imposed the first significant sanctions targeting the Russian economy in several years to punish the Kremlin for a cyberespionage campaign against the United States and efforts to influence the presidential election, according to senior U.S. officials. The administration also sanctioned six Russian companies that support Russian spy services’ cyberhacking operations and will expel 10 officials at the Russian Embassy in Washington, most of them identified as intelligence officers working under diplomatic cover, U.S. officials said.

House Judiciary Committee Approves Report Against Big Tech Companies

The U.S. House of Representatives Judiciary Committee formally approved a report accusing Big Tech companies of buying or crushing smaller firms, Representative David Cicilline’s office said in a statement. With the approval during a marathon, partisan hearing, the more than 400-page staff report will become an official committee report, and the blueprint for legislation to rein in the market power of the likes of Alphabet Inc's Google, Apple Inc, Amazon.com Inc and Facebook Inc.

Twitter Suspends Project Veritas's O'Keefe for 'Manipulation and Spam'

Twitter suspended Project Veritas’s James O’Keefe’s account for violations of "manipulation and spam," according to the social media platform. “The account you referenced (@JamesOKeefeIII) was permanently suspended for violating the Twitter Rules on platform manipulation and spam,” a Twitter spokesperson said in a email to The Hill.

Children's, Consumer Groups Urge Instagram to Drop Plans for Young Users

An international coalition of 35 children’s and consumer groups called on Instagram to scrap its plans to develop a version of the popular photo-sharing app for users under age 13. Instagram is pushing for a separate children’s app after years of complaints from legislators and parents that the platform has been slow to identify underage users and protect them from sexual predators and bullying.

Australia's Federal Court Says Google Misled Consumers Over Android Data

Australia's federal court found Alphabet Inc's Google misled consumers about personal location data collected through Android mobile devices, the country's competition regulator said. The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission said the court found Google wrongly claimed it only collected information from the location history setting on users' devices between January 2017 and December 2018.

Data Protection Commission Investigating Disclosure of Facebook User Data

Ireland’s privacy agency is launching an investigation into a trove of information from roughly half a billion Facebook users that has been leaked and is circulating online. “This dataset was reported to contain personal data relating to approximately 533 million Facebook users worldwide,” the country's Data Protection Commission (DPC) said in a release.

YouTube Bans Ex-Trump Aide for Violating 'Presidential Election Integrity Policy'

YouTube has banned the channel of Sebastian Gorka, a former aide to President Donald Trump, saying it violated the video platform's presidential election integrity policy. In a statement obtained by USA Today, YouTube spokesperson Ivy Choi said Gorka's channel, called America First, received three strikes for violating the policy within the same 90-day period, leading to permanent removal from the platform.

Australian Hacking firm Unlocked iPhone for FBI After 2016 Shooting

The iPhone used by a terrorist in the San Bernardino shooting was unlocked by a small Australian hacking firm in 2016, ending a momentous standoff between the U.S. government and the tech titan Apple. Azimuth Security, a publicity-shy company that says it sells its cyber wares only to democratic governments, secretly crafted the solution the FBI used to gain access to the device, according to several people familiar with the matter.

Health Insurers Can't Block Pricing Data from Web Searches, Regulators Say

Federal regulators said healthcare pricing data that health insurers must post under a new requirement shouldn’t be blocked from web searches, issuing new guidance after The Wall Street Journal reported that hospitals used special coding that shielded such information from Google and other search engines. Under new federal requirements, both hospitals and insurers must reveal long-confidential pricing data, including the rates that insurers pay for services.

Judge in Google Antitrust Lawsuit Puts Limits on Confidential Information

The judge hearing the Texas antitrust lawsuit against Alphabet Inc’s Google put limits on what the search giant’s in-house lawyers can see in an order aimed at ensuring that confidential information used in an upcoming trial remains secure. The issue is a key one for companies that have not been identified but that gave information to the Texas attorney general’s office for its investigation and fear that their confidential data, like strategic business plans or discussions about negotiations, could be disclosed to Google executives.

Facebook Oversight Board Allows Appeals Over Decisions Not to Remove Posts

The Facebook oversight board, a court-like body that the company has created to handle its trickiest content moderation decisions, has announced that users can now appeal decisions made by Facebook to leave posts up. For the first few months of the oversight board’s operations, users were only able to appeal to the board if they thought Facebook had wrongly taken down their own posts.

Russia's Federal Antimonopoly Service Takes Action Against Yandex

Russia’s Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS) said it had initiated proceedings against internet giant Yandex over alleged competition law violations on the company’s search engine. The state agency told Yandex in February it had created unequal market conditions for general online search services, that it was preferentially promoting its own products and asked it to stop.

Director of National Intelligence Warns of Cyber Threats from China, Russia

An annual worldwide threats assessment made public by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) warned of increasing cyber, technological and military threats from China and Russia, particularly as the COVID-19 pandemic continues. The report was released ahead of hearings later this week set to be held by the House and Senate Intelligence panels to examine the findings of the intelligence community.

Biden Administration Announces Picks for Top Cybersecurity Posts

The Biden administration announced its intent to name a former senior National Security Agency official as the first national cyber director and another former NSA official to head the Department of Homeland Security’s cybersecurity agency. The planned nomination of former NSA deputy director Chris Inglis ends months of speculation about whom the Biden administration would appoint to the White House position, and it comes after bipartisan pressure from lawmakers to fill the job they created in legislation that passed in December.

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