New York City Ignites Debate About Privacy of Vaccine Passports

When New York City announced that it would soon require people to show proof of at least one coronavirus vaccine shot to enter businesses, Mayor Bill de Blasio said the system was “simple — just show it and you’re in.” But the mainstreaming of these credentials could also usher in an era of increased digital surveillance, privacy researchers said.

Senator Calls Facebook's Disabling of NYU Researcher Accounts 'Concerning'

Senator Mark Warner said that Facebook Inc's move to disable the accounts of a group of New York University researchers who were studying political ads on its platform was "deeply concerning." Facebook said it had cut off the personal accounts and access of the NYU researchers, who were studying political ads on the site, because of concerns about other users' privacy.

Customers Lack Information About Attack on Passwordstate Password Manager

It has been over three months since Click Studios, the Australian software house behind the enterprise password manager Passwordstate, warned its customers to “commence resetting all passwords.” But customers tell TechCrunch that they are still without answers about the attack, and several customers say they were met with silence from Click Studios, while others were asked to sign strict secrecy agreements when they asked for assurances about the security of the software.

Judge Allows Advertisers to Pursue Claims Against LinkedIn Over Videos

A U.S. judge said Microsoft Corp's LinkedIn must face a lawsuit claiming it inflated the number of people who watched video ads on the networking platform, allowing it to overcharge hundreds of thousands of advertisers. U.S. Magistrate Judge Susan van Keulen, however, dismissed fraud-based claims and an unfair competition claim, saying the plaintiff advertisers did not show that LinkedIn made specific misrepresentations or that its conduct hurt the public at large.

Facebook Disables Accounts of NYU Researchers Studying Political Ads

Facebook Inc. has disabled the personal accounts of a group of New York University researchers studying political ads on the social network, claiming they are scraping data in violation of the company’s terms of service. The company also cut off the researchers’ access to Facebook’s APIs, technology that is used to share data from Facebook to other apps or services, and disabled other apps and Pages associated with the research project, according to Mike Clark, a director of product management on Facebook’s privacy team.

SEC Chair Pushes Congress to Better Police Cryptocurrency Trading

The chair of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) called on Congress to give the agency more authority to better police cryptocurrency trading, lending and platforms, a "Wild West" he said is riddled with fraud and investor risk. Gary Gensler said the crypto market involves many tokens which may be unregistered securities and leaves prices open to manipulation and millions of investors vulnerable to risks.

Senate Report Faults Federal Agencies for Weak Cybersecurity Practices

A Senate report called several federal agencies to the carpet for weak cybersecurity practices. Among other things, the 47-page report from the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee said seven of the eight federal agencies reviewed had failed to implement baseline cybersecurity practices to protect personally identifiable information, creating a significant privacy and security risk for Americans' data.

  • Read the article: CNET

Infrastructure Bill Could Create Windfall for Cable, Fiber Internet Companies

The $1 trillion infrastructure bill moving through the Senate stands to be a windfall for cable and fiber-optic internet companies, with $65 billion allocated to improve internet access for poor and isolated communities. The plan, which must still be reconciled with a House version, would help home internet providers such as AT&T Inc. and Charter Communications Inc. by providing $40 billion in grants that states can dole out to operators that expand their networks to households that lack high-speed service.

Kaseya Ransomware Attack Encourages Others to Look for Vulnerabilities

A ransomware attack in July that paralyzed as many as 1,500 organizations by compromising tech-management software from a company called Kaseya has set off a race among criminals looking for similar vulnerabilities, cyber security experts said. An affiliate of a top Russian-speaking ransomware gang known as REvil used two gaping flaws in software from Florida-based Kaseya to break into about 50 managed services providers (MSPs) that used its products, investigators said.

White House Using Social Media Influencers to Reach Young for Vaccines

Fewer than half of all Americans age 18 to 39 are fully vaccinated, compared with more than two-thirds of those over 50, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. And about 58 percent of those age 12 through 17 have yet to receive a shot at all. To reach these young people, the White House has enlisted an eclectic army of more than 50 Twitch streamers, YouTubers, TikTokers and the 18-year-old pop star Olivia Rodrigo, all of them with enormous online audiences.

Man Harassed Estranged Wife Through Shared Napster Account, Court Says

An Ohio man harassed his estranged wife through a shared Napster account, evading a no-contact order by changing the titles of playlists. Ohio’s Eighth District Court of Appeals outlined the case in a July 29th ruling, which was flagged on Twitter by writer and attorney Eric Goldman. It’s an example of how metadata can become a vector for harassment outside major social platforms — echoing long-standing problems on other services like Spotify.

EU Antitrust Regulators Focus on Facebook's Acquisition of Kustomer

Facebook's acquisition of U.S. customer service startup Kustomer may hurt competition and boost its market power in online advertising, European Union antitrust regulators warned as they opened a full-scale investigation into the deal. The move by the European Commission comes amid regulatory concerns on both sides of the Atlantic that a buying spree of startups by big firms, which normally don't trigger competition scrutiny because of the low value of the deal, may be so-called killer acquisitions aimed at closing down nascent rivals.

Zoom Agrees to Pay $85 Million in Class-Action Privacy Settlement

Zoom Video Communications Inc agreed to pay $85 million and bolster its security practices to settle a lawsuit claiming it violated users' privacy rights by sharing personal data with Facebook, Google and LinkedIn, and letting hackers disrupt Zoom meetings in a practice called Zoombombing. Zoom agreed to security measures including alerting users when meeting hosts or other participants use third-party apps in meetings, and to provide specialized training to employees on privacy and data handling.

Two Reports Find Social Media Companies Still Allowing Anti-Semitic Content

Anti-Semitic content explicitly banned by social media companies has been shared online and allowed to remain up even after being were reported to the companies, according to a report released by the Center for Countering Digital Hate, a nonprofit organization. The study, which found that social media companies acted on fewer than one in six reported examples of anti-Semitism, comes alongside a report with similar findings from the Anti-Defamation League.

Russia Launches Case Against WhatsApp for Not Storing User Data Locally

Russia launched administrative proceedings against Facebook's WhatsApp for what it said was a failure to localize data of Russian users on Russian territory, the Interfax news agency reported. A day earlier, a Russian court fined Alphabet Inc.'s Google 3 million roubles for violating personal data legislation and registered administrative proceedings against Facebook and Twitter for the same offense.

Moscow Court Fines Google for Not Storing Personal Data in Russia

A Moscow court ordered Google to pay a fine of 3 million rubles (roughly $41,000) for refusing to store the personal data of Russian users on servers in Russia, a move that is part of the government’s longstanding effort to tighten its grip on online activity. The fine is the first one given to Google in Russia over data storage regulations. Facebook and Twitter previously received similar penalties for allegedly violating Russian regulations.

Bill Would Update Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act

Rep. Kathy Castor (D-Fla.) introduced a bill that would update the decades-old law governing children’s privacy online, an effort bolstered by increased attention on the issue from lawmakers, regulators and kids’ advocates. The bill, the Protecting the Information of our Vulnerable Children and Youth Act, would expand the existing law to include teenagers under 18 and make the rules apply to all sites that children and teens use.

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.