Tech Advocacy Groups Push TikTok to Stop Hate Speech, Extremism

A coalition of tech advocacy and human rights groups is urging TikTok to crack down on the spread of hate speech and extremism after a recent report detailed the reach of such content on the platform. More than a dozen groups signed on to a letter sent to top TikTok executives, calling for the platform take “substantive action” against hate speech and extremism, citing a report released by the Institute for Strategic Dialogue (ISD) last week that outlined the breadth of the harmful content on the video-sharing app.

China Bans Children from Playing Video Games on School Days

Chinese children and teenagers are barred from online gaming on school days, and limited to one hour a day on weekend and holiday evenings, under newly issued government rules. The rules, released by the National Press and Publication Administration, tightened restrictions from 2019 aimed at what the government said was a growing scourge of online game addiction among schoolchildren.

SEC Settles with Three Firms for Failing to Implement Cybersecurity Policies

Units of three broker-dealer and investment advisory firms agreed to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars in penalties to settle charges from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) over cybersecurity failures, the regulator said. The SEC charged KMS Financial Services, five units of financial firm Cetera, and two units of Cambridge Investment Research for failures to adopt and implement cybersecurity policies and procedures that resulted in email account takeovers exposing the personal information of thousands of customers and clients at each firm.

Amazon Disables Website Used by Propaganda Arm of Islamic State

Amazon disabled a website used by a propaganda arm of the Islamic State that celebrated the suicide bombing that killed at least 170 people in Kabul after The Washington Post reported the extremists relied on the company’s technology to promote extremism. Nida-e-Haqq, an Islamic State media group that distributes Islamist content in the Urdu language, had been using the company’s dominant cloud-computing division, Amazon Web Services, to host its content, despite company policies against working with terror groups.

Apple Settles Lawsuit with App Developers by Allowing Outside Payments

Apple, in a legal settlement announced with a group of app developers, said it would allow developers to urge customers to pay them outside their iPhone apps. The move would allow app makers to avoid paying Apple a commission on their sales and could appease developers and regulators concerned with its control over mobile apps, including strict policies designed to force developers to pay it a cut of their sales.

House Select Committee Demands Social Media Records for Capitol Riot

The House select committee investigating the deadly invasion of the Capitol on Jan. 6 said it is demanding a trove of records from 15 social media companies, including Facebook, Twitter, Google and a slew of pro-Trump platforms. The requests for records stretching back to the spring of 2020 are related to “the spread of misinformation, efforts to overturn the 2020 election or prevent the certification of the results, domestic violent extremism, and foreign influence in the 2020 election,” the committee said in a press release.

  • Read the article: CNBC

Tech Companies, U.S. Government Commit to Increasing Cybersecurity

The federal government and several major technology companies announced they are taking a host of steps to enhance the nation’s cybersecurity, specifically focused on growing the cyber workforce and investing billions of dollars in the field. The announcements followed a meeting on cybersecurity at the White House with President Biden and key members of his administration on cybersecurity, and on the heels of months of high-profile cyberattacks.

Reddit CEO Rejects Calls to Ban Communities Challenging Pandemic Views

Reddit is pushing back against calls for the company to do a better job of moderating disinformation. In a thread titled Debate, dissent and protest on Reddit, CEO Steve Huffman said the company would continue to point users to authoritative information from the CDC when dealing with misinformation related to COVID-19. What it won’t do is ban communities that “challenge the consensus views on the pandemic.”

American Living in Turkey Claims Responsibility for T-Mobile Hacking

The hacker who is taking responsibility for breaking into T-Mobile US Inc.’s systems said the wireless company’s lax security eased his path into a cache of records with personal details on more than 50 million people and counting. John Binns, a 21-year-old American who moved to Turkey a few years ago, told The Wall Street Journal he was behind the security breach.

Facebook Planning Commission to Advise on Election-Related Matters

Facebook has approached academics and policy experts about forming a commission to advise it on global election-related matters, said five people with knowledge of the discussions, a move that would allow the social network to shift some of its political decision-making to an advisory body. The proposed commission could decide on matters such as the viability of political ads and what to do about election-related misinformation, said the people, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the discussions were confidential.

In Meeting with Tech Executives, Biden Calls Cybersecurity 'Core' Issue

President Biden hosted executives from major technology, financial and energy companies for a summit on national cybersecurity, calling the issue “the core national security challenge we are facing.” Top Silicon Valley chief executive officers, including Apple Inc.’s Tim Cook, Amazon.com Inc.’s Andy Jassy, Microsoft Corp.’s Satya Nadella and Alphabet Inc.’s Sundar Pichai were scheduled to attend the White House meeting, according to a list of participants shared by an administration official.

Member of Bahrain Center for Human Rights Hacked via iPhone

A Bahraini human rights activist’s iPhone was silently hacked earlier this year by a powerful spyware sold to nation-states, defeating new security protections that Apple designed to withstand covert compromises, say researchers at Citizen Lab. The activist, who remains in Bahrain and asked not to be named, is a member of the Bahrain Center for Human Rights, an award-winning nonprofit organization that promotes human rights in the Gulf state.

Trump's Tweets Spread Despite Twitter's Actions Against Him, Study Says

Twitter blocked and labeled some of Donald Trump's claims of election fraud in the run-up and aftermath of the 2020 presidential election. The tweets spread on and off Twitter anyway. That’s according to a new study from New York University researchers published in Harvard Kennedy School Misinformation Review and shared exclusively with USA Today.

U.S. Tech Companies to Discuss Cybersecurity at White House Event

The White House is hosting an event that will bring together the largest U.S. technology companies for a discussion about cybersecurity challenges following a raft of high-profile hacking incidents earlier this year, people familiar with the event told Reuters. It comes as Congress weighs new legislation concerning data breach notification laws and cybersecurity insurance industry regulation, historically viewed as two of the most consequential policy areas within the field.

Illegal Copies of New Movies Appearing Online More Quickly

Millions of people are watching high-quality, pirated online versions of Hollywood’s top movies sooner than ever after their releases, undermining potential ticket sales and subscriber growth as the industry embraces streaming. Copies of several of the year’s most popular films, from “The Suicide Squad” and “Godzilla vs. Kong” to “Jungle Cruise” and “Black Widow,” shot up almost immediately after their premieres to the top of the most-downloaded charts on piracy websites such as the Pirate Bay and LimeTorrents, according to piracy-tracking organizations.

UN-Backed Group Urges Tech Platforms to Ban or Restrict Taliban

Tech platforms should ban or restrict content from the Taliban, a United Nations-backed group advised. The group, Tech Against Terrorism, added the Taliban, which has regained control of Afghanistan amid the pullout of U.S. forces, to its Terrorist Content Analytics Platform (TCAP), which detects verified terrorist content online and alerts platforms of it.

Apple Has Scanned Emails for Child Abuse Since 2019, Report Says

Apple reportedly has been scanning some users' emails for child abuse imagery since 2019, according to a new report, adding new details to the ongoing debate about the company's stance on user privacy. Earlier this month, Apple said it would would implement a system to scan some people's iPhones, iPads and Mac computers for child abuse imagery, worrying security and privacy advocates who say the system could be twisted into a tool for government surveillance.

  • Read the article: CNET

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