EU Privacy Regulator Proposes $425 Million Fine Against Amazon

A European Union privacy regulator has proposed a fine of more than $425 million against Amazon.com Inc., part of a process that could yield the biggest-yet penalty under the bloc’s privacy law, people familiar with the matter said. Luxembourg’s data-protection commission, the CNPD, has circulated a draft decision sanctioning Amazon’s privacy practices and proposing the fine among the bloc’s 26 other national authorities, the people said.

ISP Frontier Communications Sued by Record Labels for Not Fighting Piracy

Frontier Communications, an ISP that serves around 3 million subscribers, has been sued by Warner, Sony, and Universal’s record labels for allegedly not taking action against its users who pirate music (via Ars Technica). The record labels allege in their complaint that not only did Frontier fail to disconnect people who repeatedly pirated, but it even encouraged them by advertising the ability to “download 10 songs in 3.5 seconds” and profited from the result.

Hackers Trying to Sell 780 GB of Data Stolen from Electronic Arts

Electronic Arts, publisher of video games such as "Madden NFL," was hit by a data breach that reportedly included source code for "FIFA 21" and tools for the Frostbite engine, which powers games including "Battlefield." Hackers say they have stolen 780 gigabytes of data and are advertising it for sale on underground forums, according to posts viewed by Vice's Motherboard, which first reported the incident.

Schumer Launches Review of Recent High-Profile Cyber Attacks

U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said he is initiating a review of recent high-profile cyber attacks on governments and businesses to find out whether a legislative response is needed. "Today I am asking Chairman Gary Peters of our Homeland Security Committee and our other relevant committee chairs to begin a government-wide review of these attacks and determine what legislation may be needed to counter the threat of cyber crime and bring the fight to the cyber criminals."

Apple Paid Multimillion Settlement After Techs Posted Customer's Sex Video

Apple paid a multimillion dollar settlement to a woman after iPhone repair techs posted risque pictures from her phone to Facebook, one of the most severe customer privacy breaches yet to be made public, according to legal documents obtained by the Telegraph. The tech behemoth agreed to cover the amount for Apple-approved repair contractor Pegatron following a 2016 incident in which an unnamed Oregon college student sent her phone to Apple for repairs after it stopped working.

Biden Revokes Trump's Executive Order Banning TikTok, WeChat

President Biden revoked a Trump-era executive order that sought to ban the popular apps TikTok and WeChat and replaced it with one that calls for a broader review of a number of foreign-controlled applications that could pose a security risk to Americans and their data. The Trump order had not been carried out “in the soundest fashion,” Biden administration officials said in a call with reporters, adding that the new directive would establish “clear intelligible criteria” to evaluate national security risks posed by software applications connected to foreign governments, particularly China.

UK's Competition Watchdog Plans Formal Investigation of Amazon

The UK’s competition watchdog is planning a formal competition investigation into Amazon, mirroring a continuing investigation by the EU, according to three people familiar with the situation. The Competition and Markets Authority has been analyzing Amazon’s business for months, focusing on how the online retailer uses the data it collects on its platform.

Ohio Files Suit to Declare Google Public Utility, Subject to Regulation

Ohio’s attorney general, Dave Yost, filed a lawsuit in pursuit of a novel effort to have Google declared a public utility and subject to government regulation. The lawsuit, which was filed in a Delaware County, Ohio court, seeks to use a law that’s over a century old to regulate Google by applying a legal designation historically used for railroads, electricity and the telephone to the search engine.

Colonial Pipeline Hackers Stole Single Password, CEO Tells Senate Committee

The head of Colonial Pipeline told U.S. senators that hackers who launched last month’s cyber attack against the company and disrupted fuel supplies to the U.S. Southeast were able to get into the system by stealing a single password. Colonial Pipeline Chief Executive Joseph Blount told a U.S. Senate committee that the attack occurred using a legacy Virtual Private Network (VPN) system that did not have multifactor authentication in place.

Senate Approves Bill to Boost U.S. Semiconductor Production Against China

The Senate overwhelmingly approved a bill that aims to boost U.S. semiconductor production and the development of artificial intelligence and other technology in the face of growing international competition, most notably from China. The 68-32 vote for the bill demonstrates how confronting China economically is an issue that unites both parties in Congress.

Google Agrees to Pay $270 Million Fine to Settle French Antitrust Accusations

Google agreed to pay roughly $270 million in fines and change some of its business practices as part of a settlement announced with French antitrust regulators who had accused the company of abusing its dominance of the online advertising market. The agreement was one of the first times an antitrust regulator had taken direct aim at Google’s online advertising infrastructure, a platform that scores of websites worldwide rely on to sell ads.

Chinese Regulators Increasingly Target Tech Companies for Violations

What started out as a government crackdown on anticompetitive practices among Chinese internet giants has grown into a broader effort to clean up how the country’s fast-growing — and, until recently, freewheeling — tech sector operates. Not a week seems to go by without Chinese regulators calling out tech companies for alleged offenses ranging from inconsistent pricing to imperiling user privacy to difficult working conditions.

Twitter Blocks Four Accounts in India to Comply with Government Request

Twitter disclosed that it blocked four accounts in India to comply with a new legal request from the Indian government. The American social network disclosed on Lumen Database, a Harvard University project, that it took action on four accounts — including those of hip-hop artist L-Fresh the Lion and singer and song-writer Jazzy B — to comply with a legal request from the Indian government it received over the weekend.

FTC Charges, Settles with MoviePass Executives Over Fraud Allegations

The Federal Trade Commission charged the executives of the long-defunct MoviePass app over allegations that they fraudulently blocked customers from using the service as advertised while failing to protect their data privacy. The FTC also announced that it had reached a settlement with MoviePass and its executives as a result of the investigation.

Federal Authorities Recover More Than $2 Million from Pipeline Ransom

Federal authorities have recovered more than $2 million in cryptocurrency paid in ransom to foreign hackers whose attack last month led to the shutdown of a major pipeline that provides nearly half the East Coast’s fuel, according to officials. The seizure of funds paid by Colonial Pipeline to a Russian hacker ring, DarkSide, marks the first recovery by a new ransomware Justice Department task force.

U.S. Tech Giants Could Benefit from Group of Seven Tax Agreement

U.S. tech giants could benefit from the agreement of the Group of Seven rich countries’ agreement to create a global minimum 15% corporate tax rate if the final deal also scraps increasingly popular digital services taxes, according to industry lobbyists. The deal was designed to reduce companies’ incentives to shift profits to low-tax offshore havens and could bring hundreds of billions of dollars into government coffers.

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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.