Judge to Decide Outcome in Apple versus Epic Antitrust Trial

Apple Inc. spent the final moments of its high-profile courtroom fight against Epic Games Inc. arguing the videogame maker’s antitrust lawsuit was simply a way for it to get out of paying for access to iPhone users. U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers will rule in the coming months on Epic’s claim that Apple has improperly prohibited third-party app stores on the iPhone and required app developers to use its in-app payment system that takes a commission of as much as 30%.

White House Willing to Accept Smaller Broadband Spending Proposal

The White House said it was willing to accept a smaller Republican proposal to spend $65 billion to expand high-speed broadband internet to unserved areas as it seeks to win Republican support for a broader infrastructure plan. President Joe Biden in April called for $100 billion over eight years to expand high-speed broadband access to the entire United States.

Child Advocates Worry About Pandemic's Impact on Cyberbullying

As the pandemic has pushed kids to use the Internet more for school and socialization, children's media safety advocates warn that social media giants’ business models are a key hurdle in combating cyberbullying. Relying on social media platforms for kids and teens to interact amid the pandemic, combined with remote schooling which has put distance between teachers tasked with monitoring students, has exacerbated often toxic and dangerous online environments, according to experts.

German Hospitals Face Increased Risk From Hackers, Leader Says

German hospitals may be at increased risk from hackers, the head of the country's cyber security agency said, following two high-profile digital attacks this month on the Irish health service and a U.S. fuel pipeline. Ireland's health service operator shut down its IT systems to protect them from a "significant" ransomware attack, crippling diagnostic services, disrupting COVID-19 testing and forcing the cancellation of many appointments.

U.S. Treasury to Require Reporting Cryptocurrency Transactions Over $10,000

The Treasury Department announced that it is taking steps to crack down on cryptocurrency markets and transactions, and said it will require any transfer worth $10,000 or more to be reported to the Internal Revenue Service. “Cryptocurrency already poses a significant detection problem by facilitating illegal activity broadly including tax evasion,” the Treasury Department said in a release.

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Ransomware Attack on Ireland's Health System Shuts Down Services

A cyberattack on Ireland’s health system has paralyzed the country’s health services for a week, cutting off access to patient records, delaying Covid-19 testing, and forcing cancellations of medical appointments. Using ransomware, which is malware that encrypts a victims’ data until they pay a ransom, the people behind the attack have been holding hostage the data at Ireland’s publicly funded health care system, the Health Service Executive.

Facebook Won't Remove AIPAC Ad Targeting Rep. Omar Over Gaza Support

Facebook has refused to remove a widely viewed attack ad that links Rep. Ilhan Omar to Hamas, even after her aides told the tech giant the message is inaccurate, hateful and threatened to subject her to death threats. The controversy could further inflame tensions between Facebook and Democratic lawmakers, who say the social media company has failed to police its platform against known, viral falsehoods and refused to heed their cries about the real-world consequences of online speech.

CNA Financial Corp. Paid $40 Million After Ransomware Attack

CNA Financial Corp., among the largest insurance companies in the U.S., paid $40 million in late March to regain control of its network after a ransomware attack, according to people with knowledge of the attack. The Chicago-based company paid the hackers about two weeks after a trove of company data was stolen, and CNA officials were locked out of their network, according to two people familiar with the attack who asked not to be named because they weren’t authorized to discuss the matter publicly.

Facebook Says It Removed 18 Million Misleading Posts About Covid-19

Facebook Inc. said it has removed more than 18 million posts on its main social networking site and the photo sharing app Instagram for violating its Covid-19 misinformation policy since the beginning of the pandemic. Facebook started to take stronger measures against Covid-19 misinformation by banning repeat offenders who spread false information and directing users to a central Covid-19 information center. The statistics, reflecting action through April, were released as part of the company’s regular community standards enforcement report.

FTC, States Sue Frontier Communications for Misrepresenting Internet Speeds

Frontier Communications is accused of misrepresenting internet speeds it advertised and charged for, according to a lawsuit filed by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and six state attorneys general. The lawsuit alleges Frontier Communications, which provides service to about 1.3 million consumers across 25 states, did not provide many consumers with the maximum speeds they were promised, and the speeds consumers did receive often fell short of what was touted in the plans they had purchased.

Colonial Pipeline CEO Admits to Making $4.4 Million Ransomware Payment

Joseph Blount, CEO of Colonial Pipeline Co., told The Wall Street Journal that he authorized the ransom payment of $4.4 million because executives were unsure how badly the cyberattack had breached its systems, and consequently, how long it would take to bring the pipeline back. Mr. Blount acknowledged publicly for the first time that the company had paid the ransom, saying it was an option he felt he had to exercise, given the stakes involved in a shutdown of such critical energy infrastructure.

European Commission Document Pushes Tech Giants to Fight Misinformation

Facebook, Alphabet unit Google and other tech giants will have to pledge to do more to curb the monetization of false information through advertisement placements, according to a European Commission document seen by Reuters. The EU executive also wants smaller social media or search services, private messaging services, ad exchanges, ad-tech providers, communication agencies and e-payment services, e-commerce platforms and crowdfunding/donation systems to commit to do the same, the document said.

Justice Department Retracts Subpoena for Twitter in Nunes Parody Case

The Department of Justice (DOJ) retracted a grand jury subpoena earlier this year for information that would identify the person behind an anonymous Twitter account parodying Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Calif.), according to a newly unsealed court document. The filing was revealed a day after a federal court in Washington, D.C., unsealed a motion showing the Trump administration's DOJ had issued a grand jury subpoena to Twitter demanding that it turn over the identifying information regarding the user @NunesAlt.

China Bans Financial Institutions from Cryptocurrency Transactions

China has banned financial institutions and payment companies from providing services related to cryptocurrency transactions, and warned investors against speculative crypto trading. Under the ban, such institutions, including banks and online payments channels, must not offer clients any service involving cryptocurrency, such as registration, trading, clearing and settlement, three industry bodies said in a joint statement.

At Hearing, Democrats Urge Facebook to Abandon Instagram for Kids

A group of congressional Democrats ramped up calls for Facebook to abandon a plan to create an Instagram for kids platform, alleging that the company failed to adequately address concerns the lawmakers raised. The controversial plan, which has drawn the ire of advocacy groups and bipartisan attorneys general nationwide, was also the target of questioning from senators across the aisle at a Senate Commerce Committee hearing on children’s online data privacy and manipulative marketing.

Colonial Pipeline Attack Has Little Impact on Digital Extortion Attempts

Digital extortion attempts are returning to their pre-Colonial Pipeline levels, according to data and interviews with some incident responders, suggesting that the upheaval around the hack that paralyzed a major U.S. fuel conduit has yet to curb cybercriminals' appetite for ransoms. Indirect data suggests that the global publicity around the hack of Colonial Pipeline, which paralyzed the company for nearly a week and led to fuel shortages on the U.S. East Coast, did little or nothing to puncture the thriving industry.

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.