Trump's Upstart Social Network Faces Delays, Limiting His Influence

Former president Donald Trump’s upstart social network is probably months away from being fully operational, potentially limiting his ability to influence the midterm elections, according to people familiar with the fledgling operation. The pace of development for Truth Social has at times frustrated Trump, who has discussed but ultimately turned down opportunities to work with other platforms in the fast-growing universe of right-wing social media sites, said three people familiar with the discussions, who like others in this article spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive matters.

FCC Positioning to Reestablish Obama-Era Net Neutrality Rules

A new chapter in the ongoing saga of net neutrality and who governs the internet will take shape over the next year thanks to another shift in power at the Federal Communications Commission. With new appointees from President Joe Biden firming up a Democratic majority at the agency, reinstating Obama-era net neutrality rules thrown out under the Trump administration will be a top priority for the agency.

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U.S. Warns Journalists, Dissidents About Commercial Surveillance Tools

The federal government warned the public about the risks of commercial surveillance tools that have been used to spy on journalists and political dissidents by infecting their phones with malware. The warning, issued by the National Counterintelligence and Security Center, came after the Biden administration’s actions in November against the NSO Group, an Israeli surveillance company, and other firms that have developed malware.

Domestic Extremists Changing Online Plans to Avoid Content Moderation

Domestic extremists are adapting their online strategies to push disinformation and conspiracies despite a crackdown by social media platforms in the year since the attack by a pro-Trump mob on the Capitol. Online extremist groups and far-right influencers are using more coded language to slip through gaps in mainstream content moderation enforcement and are still active on alternative platforms that have risen in popularity since the Jan. 6, 2021, riot.

ITC Rules for Sonos in Audio Technology Patent Case Against Google

Google infringed on five audio technology patents held by the speaker manufacturer Sonos and is not allowed to import products that violate Sonos’s intellectual property into the United States, a trade court ruled. The final ruling by the United States International Trade Commission, a quasi-judicial body that decides trade cases and can block the import of goods that violate patents, closes a two-year investigation into the intellectual-property dispute.

Police in China Cite Walmart for Allegedly Violating Cybersecurity Law

China Quality News, the news website supported by the State Administration for Market Regulation, reported that the police in the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen cited Walmart for allegedly violating the country’s cybersecurity law. Police had found 19 vulnerabilities in the company’s network system in November, and the company was slow to fix the loopholes, the media outlet reported, citing people familiar with the matter.

Federal Security Guard's Sister Sues Meta Over Facebook's Role in Death

Facebook’s parent company, Meta Platforms, has been sued over the 2020 killing of a federal security guard, a move that aims to challenge a federal statute that shields websites and social media platforms from liability for what users post. The lawsuit, filed by Angela Underwood Jacobs, the guard’s sister, argued that Facebook was responsible for connecting individuals who sought to harm law enforcement officers and sow civil discord.

Snap Sues USPTO Over Refusal to Register 'Spectacles' as Trademark

Snap is suing the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) for rejecting its application to trademark the word “spectacles” for its digital eyewear camera device. But the USPTO has maintained that “spectacles” is a generic term for smart glasses and that Snap’s version “has not acquired distinctiveness,” as required for a trademark.

FBI Arrests Man for Stealing Unpublished Book Manuscripts via Email

The Federal Bureau of Investigation arrested Filippo Bernardini, a 29-year-old rights coordinator for Simon & Schuster UK, saying that he “impersonated, defrauded, and attempted to defraud, hundreds of individuals” over five or more years, obtaining hundreds of unpublished manuscripts in the process. The thefts and attempted thefts occurred primarily over email, by a fraudster impersonating publishing professionals and targeting authors, editors, agents and literary scouts who might have drafts of novels and other books.

French Data Regulator Set to Fine Google, Facebook Over EU Privacy Rules

French data regulator the CNIL is set to fine Google €150 million and Facebook €60 million for violating EU privacy rules. According to a document seen by Politico, the CNIL will fine Google's United States and Irish operations €90 million and €60 million respectively, and Facebook's Irish arm €60 million for failing to allow French users to easily reject cookie tracking technology.

China's Copyright Authority Puts Limits on Agreements for Digital Music

China's copyright authority said digital music platforms are not allowed to sign exclusive copyright agreements except in special circumstances, amid a regulatory crackdown on monopolistic behavior in the country's private sector. The National Copyright Administration of China (NCAC) gave the order on Thursday at a meeting in Beijing with influential digital music platforms, as well as record and songwriting copyright companies, according to a statement published on the NCAC's official WeChat account.

Meta Appeals British Competition Watchdog Ruling on Giphy

Facebook-owner Meta has applied to appeal a British competition watchdog ruling that it must sell Giphy on grounds that include challenging the finding that the deal removed a potential competitor in display advertising. Meta said last month it had lodged an appeal against the decision by the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) to block its 2020 acquisition of Giphy.

Disney Gets Patent on 'Virtual World Simulator' Without Glasses

Disney has taken one step closer to creating a virtual metaverse at Disneyland that would allow the entertainment giant to simulate a digital world with animated characters in a real-world theme park attraction. The Walt Disney Company was granted a patent on Dec. 28 by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office for a Virtual World Simulator that enables multiple users to experience a 3D virtual world from multiple vantage points without any glasses, goggles or digital devices.

Probe Finds 650,000 Facebook Posts Attacking Election Before Capitol Riot

Facebook groups swelled with at least 650,000 posts attacking the legitimacy of Joe Biden’s victory between Election Day and the Jan. 6 siege of the U.S. Capitol, with many calling for executions or other political violence, an investigation by ProPublica and The Washington Post has found. The barrage — averaging at least 10,000 posts a day, a scale not reported previously — turned the groups into incubators for the baseless claims supporters of President Donald Trump voiced as they stormed the Capitol, demanding he get a second term.

China's Cyberspace Administration Issues Draft Rules on Mobile Apps

China's cyber regulatory body issued draft rules governing mobile apps, including a requirement for security reviews of apps whose functions could influence public opinion. The proposed regulations are part of a campaign run by the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC) over the past year to increase oversight of the country's tech companies.

Judge Refuses to Dismiss Shareholder Lawsuit Against BlackBerry

A U.S. judge rejected BlackBerry Ltd's bid to dismiss a long-running lawsuit claiming it defrauded shareholders by inflating the success and profitability of its BlackBerry 10 smartphones, and said the class-action case could go to trial this fall. U.S. District Judge Colleen McMahon in Manhattan said "genuine issues of material fact" remained in dispute in the more than eight-year-old case, including over BlackBerry's accounting, and that "battle-of-the-experts" issues precluded her from ruling for one side or the other.

Right-Wing Provocateurs Turning on Each Other Over Online Tactics

After months of failing to disprove the reality of Trump’s 2020 presidential election loss, some of the Internet’s most popular right-wing provocateurs are grappling with the pressures of restless audiences, saturated markets, ongoing investigations and millions of dollars in legal bills. The result is a chaotic melodrama, playing out via secretly recorded phone calls, personal attacks in podcasts, and a seemingly endless stream of posts on Twitter, Gab and Telegram calling their rivals Satanists, communists, pedophiles or “pay-triots” — money-grubbing grifters exploiting the cause.

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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.