Senator Blumenthal Calls Zuckerberg Testimony 'Urgent and Important'

Senator Richard Blumenthal is again calling on Mark Zuckerberg to testify about Facebook’s research into Instagram and child safety. “It is urgent and necessary for you or Mr. Adam Mosseri to testify to set the record straight and provide members of Congress and parents with a plan on how you are going to protect our kids,” the Connecticut lawmaker wrote in a letter addressed to Zuckerberg.

Sanctioned Russian Ransomware Group Blamed for Olympus Cyberattack

An “ongoing” cyberattack against the Japanese technology giant Olympus was caused by a Russian ransomware group sanctioned by the U.S. government, according to two people with knowledge of the incident. A new malware variant known as Macaw was used in the attack that began on October 10, which encrypted Olympus’ systems in the U.S., Canada and Latin America.

D.C. Attorney General Wants to Add Zuckerberg to Consumer-Protection Suit

The District of Columbia’s attorney general is seeking to hold Facebook Inc. Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg personally liable in a lawsuit stemming from the 2018 Cambridge Analytica scandal, in what the district said was a novel legal action against the social-media giant. Attorney General Karl Racine said he filed a motion to add Mr. Zuckerberg as a defendant in a consumer-protection lawsuit originally filed in December 2018 accusing Facebook of misleading its users about the privacy and security of their personal data.

Facebook Agrees to Fine, Compensation for U.S. Worker Discrimination

Facebook is paying a $4.75 million fine and up to $9.5 million to eligible victims to resolve the Justice Department’s allegations that it discriminated against U.S. workers in favor of foreigners with special visas to fill high-paying jobs. Facebook also agreed in the settlement to train its employees in anti-discrimination rules and to conduct more widespread advertising and recruitment for job opportunities in its permanent labor certification program, which allows an employer to hire a foreign worker to work permanently.

Animal Rights Group Sues YouTube for Allowing Abuse Videos

Lady Freethinker, an animal rights nonprofit, sued YouTube, accusing it of failing to live up to its agreement with users by allowing animal abuse videos to be uploaded and failing to take action when alerted about the content. Lady Freethinker, which has exposed dogfighting rings in Chile and dog meat auctions in South Korea, said YouTube had ignored the group’s repeated flagging of animal abuse videos.

Lawmakers Want Facebook to Stop Pilot of Cryptocurrency Wallet

A group of U.S. lawmakers said Facebook Inc. cannot be trusted to manage cryptocurrency and urged the social media platform to discontinue immediately a small pilot of its cryptocurrency wallet named Novi. U.S. Democratic senators Brian Schatz, Sherrod Brown, Richard Blumenthal, Elizabeth Warren and Tina Smith voiced their opposition to Facebook's two-year-old effort to launch a cryptocurrency and digital wallet.

Lawmakers Ask Amazon to 'Correct the Record' on Sworn Testimony

Members of a congressional committee questioned whether Amazon.com Inc. executives misled them during an investigation of the company’s business practices and if they may have lied under oath. In a letter sent to Amazon CEO Andy Jassy, five members of Congress asked the company to provide “exculpatory evidence” to corroborate the sworn testimony that several leaders, including then-CEO Jeff Bezos, provided to the House Judiciary Committee’s antitrust subcommittee in 2019 and 2020.

Facebook Whistleblower Advises UK Lawmakers on Online Safety Bill

Facebook whistleblower Sophie Zhang gave UK lawmakers her perspective on how best to implement the pending Online Safety Bill in a hearing in Parliament. The former Facebook data scientist used her inside knowledge of moderation practices to answer questions from the Draft Online Safety Bill joint committee about how to ensure that tech companies comply with upcoming legislation that would see them more tightly regulated in the UK.

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Sinclair Broadcast Group Says Cybersecurity Incident Disrupts Networks

Sinclair Broadcast Group Inc., one of the largest owners of broadcast stations in the U.S., said it is working to contain a cybersecurity incident that disrupted some of its networks and had some of its servers and workstations encrypted with ransomware. Sinclair said the event, which it identified over the weekend, has caused a disruption, and may continue to do so, to parts of the business, including its local advertisements.

Treasury Department Says Digital Currencies Could Hinder Sanctions

The Biden administration warned that digital currencies posed a threat to America’s sanctions program and said in a new report that the United States needed to modernize how sanctions were deployed so that they remained an effective national security tool. The warning was included in a six-month Treasury Department review of the nation’s sanctions program, which has been used more aggressively in recent years as a lever in international diplomacy.

U.S. Preparing for International Cybersecurity Challenge in Greece

As the United States seeks to shore up its defenses against cyberattacks, the country is seeking to harness the skills of some of the country’s most promising young minds using a model that mirrors competitive video gaming, also known as esports. U.S. Cyber Games, a project founded in April and funded by the National Institute of Standards and Technology’s National Initiative for Cybersecurity Education, has assembled a team of 25 Americans, ages 18 to 26, who will compete against other countries in the inaugural International Cybersecurity Challenge, scheduled to be held in Greece in June 2022.

Ransomware Gangs Attack Three U.S. Water and Wastewater Treatment Facilities

Ransomware gangs have silently hit three U.S. water and wastewater treatment facilities this year, in 2021, the U.S. government said in a joint cybersecurity advisory published by the FBI, NSA, CISA, and the EPA. The attacks — which had been previously unreported — took place in March, July, and August and hit facilities in Nevada, Maine, and California, respectively.

Ransomware Payments in U.S. on Track to Double in 2021, Treasury Dep't Says

The volume of suspected ransomware payments flagged by U.S. banks has surged this year, on pace to nearly double last year’s, the Treasury Department said, highlighting the scale of a problem that governments across the world have described as a critical national security threat. Nearly $600 million in transactions were linked to possible ransomware payments in so-called Suspicious Activity Reports financial services firms filed to the U.S. government in the first six months of this year, according to a Treasury Department report.

South Korea, Apple Clash Over New Requirements on App Payment Systems

Apple Inc. was on a collision course with South Korea over new requirements that it stop forcing app developers to use its payment systems, with a government official warning of a possible investigation into the iPhone maker's compliance. The development comes after South Korea amended the Telecommunication Business Act in August to try to curb the tech majors' market dominance and stop the big app store operators such as Apple and Alphabet Inc.'s Google from charging commissions on in-app purchases.

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.