India's Supreme Court Rules for Amazon in Fight Over Supermarket Chain

India’s Supreme Court ruled in favor of Amazon’s bid to block a multibillion-dollar deal that would give the country’s richest man control over an Indian supermarket chain, in a boost to the American retailing giant’s ambitions toward India’s nearly $900 billion retail market. Amazon is embroiled in a bitter, politically fraught clash with Reliance Industries, one of the biggest and most powerful companies in India.

WeChat's 'Youth Mode' Doesn't Comply with Chinese Laws, Lawsuit Says

Beijing prosecutors initiated a civil public-interest lawsuit against a Tencent subsidiary, saying the "youth mode" on the company's popular social messaging app WeChat does not comply with laws protecting minors. The lawsuit was initiated by Beijing’s Haidian District People’s Procuratorate against Shenzhen Tencent Computer Systems Co Ltd, according to a filing posted on JCRB.com, a website run by China’s top prosecutor.

Senators Plan Legislation to Sanction Countries That Harbor Cyber Criminals

Two senior U.S. senators planned legislation that would fight ransomware attacks on U.S. infrastructure by sanctioning countries the harbor cyber criminals, as well as by strengthening protections against attacks. Senators Marco Rubio, the Republican vice chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, and Democrat Dianne Feinstein, a senior member of the intelligence and judiciary committees, planned to introduce the "Sanction and Stop Ransomware Act.”

Google Fires Dozens of Employees for Misusing Access to Tools, Data

Google fired dozens of employees for misusing their access to the company’s tools and data between 2018 and 2020, a spokesperson confirmed to The Hill. “The instances referred to mostly relate to inappropriate access to, or misuse of, proprietary and sensitive Google corporate information or [intellectual property] IP,” the Google spokesperson said in a statement.

FTC Official Criticizes Facebook for Blocking NYU Researchers' Access

A senior Federal Trade Commission official is criticizing Facebook’s move to shut down the personal accounts of two academic researchers and terminate their probe into misinformation spread through political ads on the social network. Facebook wrongly used a 2019 data-privacy settlement with the FTC to justify shutting down the New York University researchers’ accounts this week, Samuel Levine, acting director of the FTC’s consumer protection bureau, said in a letter to Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg.

Apple to Scan iPhones for Child Pornography, Explicit Content

Apple unveiled a sweeping new set of software tools that will scan iPhones and other devices for child pornography and text messages with explicit content and report users suspected of storing illegal pictures on their phones to authorities. The aggressive plan to thwart child predators and pedophiles and prohibit them from utilizing Apple’s services for illegal activity pitted the tech giant against civil liberties activists and appeared to contradict some of its own long-held assertions about privacy and the way the company interacts with law enforcement.

Scammers Abusing Instagram's Protections to Sell Banning Services

Scammers are abusing Instagram's protections against suicide, self-harm, and impersonation to purposefully target and ban Instagram accounts at will, with some people even advertising professionalized ban-as-a-service offerings so anyone can harass or censor others, according to screenshots, interviews, and other material reviewed by Motherboard. It appears that in some cases, the same scammers who offer ban-as-a-service also offer or are at least connected to services to restore accounts for users who were unfairly banned from Instagram, sometimes for thousands of dollars.

  • Read the article: Vice

Homeland Security Enlists Tech Companies to Help Fight Cyber Threats

The U.S. government is enlisting the help of tech companies, including Amazon.com Inc., Microsoft Corp. and Google, to bolster the country’s critical infrastructure defenses against cyber threats after a string of high-profile attacks. The Department of Homeland Security is formally unveiling the initiative called the Joint Cyber Defense Collaborative.

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.

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