Chinese Government Takes Ownership Stake in Company Behind ByteDance

In another sign of China’s tightening grip on the country’s growing technology sector, the government has taken an ownership stake in a subsidiary that controls the domestic Chinese social media and information platforms of ByteDance, the Beijing-based company that owns TikTok. The ownership stake does not appear to directly affect TikTok, the wildly popular video service that last year surpassed Facebook Messenger as the most downloaded app in the United States. But the development could prompt fresh debate about whether TikTok poses national-security risks to American users.

China Expected to Pass Privacy Law Giving It Wide Access to Data

China’s top legislative body is expected to pass a privacy law that resembles the world’s most robust framework for online privacy protections, Europe’s General Data Protection Regulation. But unlike European governments, which themselves face more public pressure over data collection, Beijing is expected to maintain broad access to data under the new Personal Information Protection Law.

Facebook 'Proactively' Removing Content Promoting Taliban

A Facebook Inc. executive said the company is “proactively” removing content from its platforms that promotes the Taliban as the group seizes power in Afghanistan. The Taliban is on the company’s list of dangerous organizations and therefore any content promoting or representing the group is banned, Adam Mosseri, head of Facebook’s photo-sharing app Instagram, said during a Bloomberg Television interview.

Apple Foe Offers $5,000 Grants to Research Scanning Software

One of Apple’s legal foes has offered to help independent researchers analyze the tech giant’s controversial new scanning software for detecting child sexual abuse material on iPhones. Corellium’s new “Open Security Initative” will offer $5,000 grants to security researchers to support “independent public research into the security and privacy of mobile applications,” according to the company’s announcement.

Twitter Unblocks Account of India's Main Opposition Party Congress

Twitter unblocked the accounts of India's main opposition party Congress, its leader Rahul Gandhi and other party officials, days after suspending the accounts over a tweet on the alleged rape and murder of a nine-year-old girl. Gandhi's account was locked after he posted a photograph of himself with the parents of a girl who was allegedly raped and killed in New Delhi on Aug. 1, saying the family deserved justice.

Jury Orders Apple to Pay $300 Million in Optis Wireless Patent Trial

A U.S. jury awarded Optis Wireless Technology LLC and several related companies $300 million in damages after a second patent trial against iPhone maker Apple Inc. A jury had previously found that Apple had infringed five Optis wireless standard essential patents and awarded $506 million in damages, but U.S. District Judge Rodney Gilstrap in Marshall, Texas, vacated that award in April and ordered a new trial to determine the amount of damages.

Google Infringed Sonos Patents, ITC Says in Preliminary Finding

Google infringed on speaker-technology patents held by Sonos and should not be allowed to import products that violate Sonos’s intellectual property, a judge said in a preliminary finding by the United States International Trade Commission. In January 2020, Sonos sued Google in federal court and in front of the United States International Trade Commission, a quasi-judicial body that decides trade cases and can block the import of goods that violate patents.

Cyberspace Commission Cites U.S. Progress Against Cyber Threats

The federal government has made “significant” progress on strengthening the United States against cyber threats over the past year, but more work remains, a congressionally established bipartisan committee concluded in a report. The Cyberspace Solarium Commission (CSC) – a group composed of members of Congress, federal officials, and industry leaders – found in its 2021 implementation report that around three-quarters of its recommendations for defending the U.S. against cyber threats have been implemented since March 2020.

Apple Employees Speaking Out Against Plan to Scan Customers' iPhones

A backlash over Apple's move to scan U.S. customer phones and computers for child sex abuse images has grown to include employees speaking out internally, a notable turn in a company famed for its secretive culture, as well as provoking intensified protests from leading technology policy groups. Apple employees have flooded an Apple internal Slack channel with more than 800 messages on the plan announced a week ago, workers who asked not to be identified told Reuters.

Banks Taking Steps to Reduce Risks from Greater User of Cloud Computing

Banks are taking steps to mitigate risks from their increasing use of external cloud computing services, a survey by Harris Poll and Google Cloud said. The Bank of England and the Bank of France have expressed concerns about a lack of transparency in how banks rely on a "concentrated" number of outside cloud computing providers like Google, Microsoft and Amazon which are beyond the arm of the regulators.

Companies Pushing to Narrow Legislation on Reporting Cyberattacks

Companies are pushing to narrow legislation that would require them to report cyberattacks to the U.S. government, as a series of hacks has added momentum to a nearly decadelong effort in Congress to approve such a law. Emerging proposals in the House and Senate offer competing visions for how businesses operating most U.S. critical infrastructure would feed information to the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, which could then share it across the public and private sectors.

84,000 Illicit Entertainment Sites Generate $1.3 Billion in Revenue, Study Says

Websites and apps featuring pirated movies and TV shows make about $1.3 billion from advertising each year, including from major companies like Amazon.com Inc., according to a study. The piracy operations are also a key source of malware, and some ads placed on the sites contain links that hackers use to steal personal information or conduct ransomware attacks, according to the online safety nonprofit Digital Citizens Alliance and the anti-piracy firm White Bullet Solutions Ltd.

Hackers Return $260 Million of Funds in $613 Million Cryptocurrency Heist

Hackers behind one of the biggest ever cryptocurrency heists have returned more than a third of $613 million in digital coins they stole, the company at the center of the hack said. Poly Network, a decentralized finance platform that facilitates peer-to-peer transactions, said on Twitter that $260 million of the stolen funds had been returned but that $353 million was outstanding.

Ransomware Gang Threatens to Publish Accenture's Encrypted Files

Accenture, the global consulting firm, has been hit by the LockBit ransomware gang, according to the cybercriminal group’s website. Accenture’s encrypted files will be published by the group on the dark web unless the company pays the ransom, LockBit claimed, according to screenshots of the website reviewed by CNN Business and Emsisoft, a cybersecurity firm.

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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.