Texas Attorney General Unblocks Twitter Users Who Sued Him

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has unblocked on Twitter the nine Texans who sued him after they say they were unconstitutionally blocked for criticizing him or his policies on the social media platform. In a lawsuit filed in April, a group of Texans said being blocked from viewing Paxton’s tweets from his @KenPaxtonTX account was a violation of the First Amendment because it limited the rights of people to participate in a public forum and access statements made by the public official.

Russian State-Sponsored Hackers Exploited Microsoft Server App, Officials Say

Russian state-sponsored hackers were among those to exploit recently uncovered vulnerabilities in Microsoft’s Exchange Server email application, which potentially compromised thousands of organizations, a coalition of American and British federal agencies warned. The finding was part of a joint advisory released by the FBI, the National Security Agency (NSA), the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) and the United Kingdom’s National Cyber Security Centre that detailed cybersecurity tactics and techniques Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service, or SVR, uses to hack global organizations.

SolarWinds Says Hackers Probably Stole Data from Email Accounts

The Russia-linked hackers that compromised popular software by the Texas-based firm SolarWinds Corp. last year broke into email accounts and likely took data from the firm. SolarWinds said it “found evidence that causes us to believe the threat actor exfiltrated certain information as part of its research and surveillance,” according to a regulatory filing on Friday. The hackers “accessed email accounts of certain personnel, some of which contained information related to current or former employees and customers,” the company said.

Ransomware Attack Shuts Down U.S. Fuel Pipeline Operator

A ransomware attack led one of the nation’s biggest fuel pipeline operators to shut down its entire network, according to the company and two U.S. officials familiar with the matter. While it is not expected to have an immediate impact on fuel supply or prices, the attack on Colonial Pipeline, which carries almost half of the gasoline, diesel and other fuels used on the East Coast, underscores the potential vulnerability of industrial sectors to the expanding threat of ransomware strikes.

Twitter Suspends Accounts Created to Share Statements from Trump

Twitter Inc. suspended several accounts that were set up to share statements from a new part of former U.S. President Donald Trump’s website, saying they broke its rules against evading an account ban. Trump was banned from Twitter, where he had more than 88 million followers, and multiple other social media platforms following the deadly Jan. 6 siege of the U.S. Capitol by his supporters.

ISPs Funded Fake Accounts for Net Neutrality Comments, New York AG Says

Internet service providers funded an effort that yielded millions of fake comments supporting the Federal Communications Commission’s repeal of so-called net neutrality rules in 2017, the New York attorney general said. Internet providers, working through a group called Broadband for America, spent $4.2 million on the project, Attorney General Letitia James said.

Facebook Removes Accounts Linked to Deceptive Campaign at Ukraine

Facebook Inc. has taken down a network of hundreds of fake accounts and pages targeting people in Ukraine and linked to individuals previously sanctioned by the United States for efforts to interfere in U.S. elections, the company said. Facebook said the network managed a long-running deceptive campaign across multiple social media platforms and other websites, posing as independent news outlets and promoting favorable content about Ukrainian politicians, including activity that was likely for hire.

Twitter Encourages Users to Review Potentially Offensive Tweets

Twitter released an improved version of its "prompts" feature discouraging users from sending "potentially harmful or offensive” replies, encouraging them to think twice before sending any mean tweets. Mean tweets like those seven-time Super Bowl champion Tom Brady read on Kimmel's show in January. "Want to review this before Tweeting?" the prompt asks Twitter users about that not-so-nice tweet and presents three choices: send the tweet as is, edit it or delete it.

Republicans Support Antitrust Reform for Social Media Services

Several high-profile Republican lawmakers suggested they would support antitrust reforms in the wake of Facebook's Independent Oversight Board upholding former President Trump's ban from the platform. House Republican Whip Steve Scalise (La.) said in a statement that if “Big Tech believes they have the power to silence a president of the United States, then we need to take a serious look at antitrust laws to limit their monopolistic power.”

Facebook Oversight Board Upholds Trump's Ban But Wants 6-Month Review

A Facebook-appointed panel of journalists, activists and lawyers upheld the social network’s ban of former President Donald J. Trump, ending any immediate return by Mr. Trump to mainstream social media and renewing a debate about tech power over online speech. Facebook’s Oversight Board, which acts as a quasi-court over the company’s content decisions, ruled the social network was right to bar Mr. Trump after the insurrection in Washington in January, saying he “created an environment where a serious risk of violence was possible.”

Facebook Warns Apple Users Their Data Keeps Its Services Free

Facebook and Instagram began to warn users on Apple platforms that their data shared to target ads on the platforms help keep them "free of charge," according to a company blog post. A recent announcement indicated that Apple users would begin seeing popups notifying them that new privacy requirements on Apple's iOS 14 force apps to seek permission for collecting data from users, including search histories, that are used to target ads on personal feeds.

DDoS Attack Takes Down Most of Belgium Government's Network

Most of the Belgium government’s IT network went down after a massive distributed denial of service (DDoS) attack knocked offline both internal systems and public-facing websites. The attack targeted Belnet, a government-funded ISP that provides internet connectivity for Belgian government organizations, such as its Parliament, educational institutes, ministries, and research centers.

Judge Questions Epic CEO on How Apple Changes Would Impact Developers

A U.S. judge pressed the chief executive of "Fortnite" creator Epic Games on how the fundamental changes the game maker is asking her to force on Apple Inc's App Store would affect the livelihoods of millions of developers who make software for Apple devices. Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers is presiding over a three-week trial that kicked off in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California.

WhatsApp Returns Its Payment Service in Brazil After Suspension

WhatsApp is again rolling out its payments service in Brazil, after the service was suspended by Brazil’s Central Bank in June of 2020 a few days after it launched there. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg made the announcement in a video aired in Brazil, where he spoke about how the payment information added to WhatsApp will also be able to be used on Facebook and Instagram.

Cyberspace Administration of China Says 33 Apps Break Data Privacy Rules

China's main internet watchdog has found that 33 mobile phone apps have broken data privacy rules by collecting data without consent, among other issues. The Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC), in a statement published on its official website, identified map apps, those used for instant messaging and others with more functions, such as the downloading of emojis.

Florida Bill Prevents Social Media Companies from Banning Politicians

Florida could soon become the first U.S. state to prohibit social media companies like Facebook and Twitter from kicking politicians off their sites, following the high-profile banning earlier this year of then-President Donald Trump. A bill passed by Florida's Republican-led House and Senate and headed for the governor's desk says social sites can't "deplatform" political candidates, meaning they can't permanently send them packing or temporarily ban them for more than 14 days.

  • Read the article: CNET

Arguments in Epic v. Apple Trial Set to Begin, Focusing on App Store Fees

The tech battle between Apple and “Fortnite”-maker Epic Games is headed to court as a judge will begin hearing arguments over whether Apple is running a monopoly in its App Store and whether it should be allowed to take a 30 percent cut of revenue from purchases made using its in-app purchase system. The case could change the way we use our smartphones.

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