Cyberattacks Against Ukraine Raise More Concerns About Cyberwarfare

Russia may be holding off on a land invasion, but a growing list of cyberattacks against Ukraine has prompted concern that the online incursions might eventually cross into cyberwarfare. The website of Ukraine's Ministry of Defense suffered from what appeared to be a distributed denial of service attack, where a bombardment of data requests overwhelms a site. The websites of two banks were also taken offline.

  • Read the article: CNET

Google Blocks Ads for Health Affairs' Issue on Health and Racism

The medical journal Health Affairs spent years planning its special issue on health and racism, which it published at the beginning of February. The journal wanted to reach new readers by promoting the issue through targeted advertisements on Twitter and YouTube. That’s why it was so frustrating when Twitter and Google blocked its ads before they could go up, says Patti Sweet, the director of digital strategy at Health Affairs.

China Manipulating Online Coverage of How Olympic Games Appear

With bots, fake accounts, genuine influencers and other tools, China has been able to selectively edit how the Olympic events have appeared, even outside the country, promoting everything that bolsters the official, feel-good story about the Winter Olympics and trying to smother whatever doesn’t. On Twitter, which is banned in China, Chinese state media outlets and journalists, as well as diplomats, have tried to buff the image of the Games, raving about venues and cooing over the Olympic mascot.

Legislation Would Hold Social Media Firms Responsible for Harm to Kids

Social-media companies would be held responsible for harm they cause to children under bipartisan legislation, in the latest move to strengthen regulation of internet platforms. Dubbed the Kids Online Safety Act, the measure by Sens. Richard Blumenthal (D., Conn.) and Marsha Blackburn (R., Tenn.) would also require tech companies to provide periodic assessments of how their algorithms, design features and targeted advertising systems might contribute to harm to minors.

Texas Suit Says Facebook's Facial-Recognition Tech Violates Privacy Laws

The Texas attorney general filed a suit against Facebook parent Meta Platforms Inc., charging that the social-media giant’s longstanding and now discontinued use of facial-recognition technology violated that state’s privacy protections for personal biometric data. The lawsuit, filed in state district court in Marshall by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, seeks civil penalties in the hundreds of billions of dollars, according to a person familiar with the matter.

Nigerian Rights Croup Seeks Disclosure of Government Agreement with Twitter

Nigerian rights group has asked the High Court to force the government to publish an agreement with Twitter that led to the restoration of the social media company's services last month following a six-month ban. Nigeria suspended Twitter last June after the U.S. company removed a post from President Muhammadu Buhari that threatened to punish regional secessionists.

Senators Seek Transparency from CIA in Bulk Data Collection Program

A pair of U.S. senators say the CIA needs to be more transparent about a newly revealed agency program involving bulk collection of data, including information on some Americans. The existence of the program was made public when an April 2021 letter to the CIA from Democratic Sens. Ron Wyden and Martin Heinrich was declassified in a heavily redacted form.

  • Read the article: CNET

European Publishers Council Accuses Google of Anticompetitive Ad Practices

The European Publishers Council is accusing Google of anticompetitive digital advertising practices, according to a complaint filed with the European Commission. The council is calling on the commission, which is already investigating Google’s advertising technology, to take action against the search giant to “break the stranglehold that Google has over us all.”

Chinese Software Firm Denies Allegations of IP Theft from Dutch Company

China's Dongfang Jingyuan Electron, which makes software for chip manufacturing procedures, has denied reports about alleged IP theft from Dutch lithography giant ASML Holding NV, calling them "false information." On an official social media account, the company said the "recent appearance of a large number of reports related to our company in online media that are inconsistent with the facts."

Senate Judiciary Committee Approves Bill on Child Sex Abuse Online

The Senate Judiciary Committee unanimously advanced a bill aimed at holding tech platforms responsible for the spread of child sexual abuse material, despite widespread opposition from digital rights and industry groups. The Eliminating Abusive and Rampant Neglect of Interactive Technologies (EARN IT) Act would carve out liability protection given to online platforms under Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, opening companies up to federal and state lawsuits for hosting content exploiting children.

Microsoft Announces Principles to Promote Competition in App Stores

Microsoft announced principles intended to promote competition in its app stores, as the company tries to stay a step ahead of policymakers around the world weighing new regulations to prevent large tech companies from abusing their smaller rivals. Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, President Brad Smith and other company executives at a Washington news conference outlined 11 new principles that would apply to the company’s app stores.

CFTC Chairman Asks Congress for Authority to Regulate Cryptocurrencies

The head of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission called on lawmakers to grant his agency authority to regulate cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin, saying the “speculative fervor” around such assets has left investors in need of protection. In a hearing before the Senate Agriculture Committee, which oversees derivatives markets, CFTC Chairman Rostin Behnam also echoed the skepticism expressed by his fellow Biden administration regulators about the potential that cryptocurrencies offer.

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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.