Canadian Agency Reports 'Numerous Russia-Backed Disinformation Campaigns'

A Canadian agency said that it had observed “numerous Russia-backed disinformation campaigns” that were meant to support Moscow’s actions in Ukraine. Canada’s Communications Security Establishment (CSE) said in a Twitter thread that among the observations noted in its classified reporting were allegations that Russia coordinated efforts to spread the idea that organs of dead soldiers, women and children were being harvested by Ukraine, while using “mobile cremators to dispose of the evidence.”

EU Antitrust Regulators Probing Microsoft's Cloud Business, Licensing Deals

EU antitrust regulators are quizzing Microsoft's rivals and customers about its cloud business and licensing deals, a questionnaire seen by Reuters showed, in a move that could lead to a formal investigation and renewed scrutiny of the U.S. software company. The European Commission has fined Microsoft a total 1.6 billion euros ($1.8 billion) in the previous decade for breaching EU antitrust rules and for not complying with its order to halt anti-competitive practices.

Russian Mass Media Regulator Accuses Wikipedia of 'Inaccurate Information'

Russian mass media regulator Roskomnadzor has threatened to fine Russian-language Wikipedia over an article it claims contains “inaccurate information” about the Kremlin’s invasion of Ukraine. Roskomnadzor, in a stern notice, warned that it had notified the administration of Wikipedia to immediately remove the “inaccurate information” on the subject, which it said is aimed at misinforming Russian users, according to a translation of the Russian notice.

Meta Chooses to 'Err On the Side of an Adult' When Uncertain About Images

Facebook is a leader among tech companies in detecting child sexual abuse content, which has exploded on social media and across the internet in recent years. But concerns about mistakenly accusing people of posting illegal imagery have resulted in a policy that could allow photos and videos of abuse to go unreported. Meta, the parent company of Facebook, Instagram, Messenger and WhatsApp, has instructed content moderators for its platforms to “err on the side of an adult” when they are uncertain about the age of a person in a photo or video, according to a corporate training document.

Russian Oligarchs Using Data Privacy Laws to Protect Their Online Images

Russian oligarchs and other powerful individuals are turning to an unusual method to protect their online images: data privacy laws. Those laws, which were intended to prevent ads from tracking consumers too closely around the Internet, are now being used in the United Kingdom to sue anyone holding undesirable information on their devices.

Senators Express Concerns to FTC About Microsoft's Activision Acquisition

Four U.S. senators sent a letter to the Federal Trade Commission citing concern about Microsoft Corp.’s proposed acquisition of Activision Blizzard Inc., saying the deal could undermine employees’ calls for accountability over alleged misconduct at the videogame company. In the letter, viewed by The Wall Street Journal, Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D., Mass.), Bernie Sanders (I., Vt.), Cory Booker (D., N.J.) and Sheldon Whitehouse (D., R.I.) urge FTC Chairwoman Lina Khan to assess whether the planned transaction could exacerbate the flurry of sexual-abuse, harassment and retaliation allegations at Activision stemming from recent federal and state investigations.

Attorneys General Want Snap, TikTok to Work with Parents to Protect Children

A group of attorneys general asked Snap and TikTok to work more closely with parental control apps and to apply more scrutiny to inappropriate content on their platforms, the latest salvo in a growing fight over child protection between governments and social media companies. Attorneys general from 43 states and territories said in a letter to executives at the two apps that they were worried the companies were “not taking appropriate steps to allow parents to protect their kids on your platforms.”

Biden Administration Divided Over Imposing Sanctions on Kaspersky Lab

The Biden administration is divided over whether to impose sanctions on Kaspersky Lab, a Russian cybersecurity giant that officials warn could be used by the Kremlin as a surveillance tool against its customers, according to people familiar with the matter. The White House’s National Security Council has pressed the Treasury Department to ready the sanctions as part of the broad Western campaign to punish Russia for its invasion of Ukraine, according to officials familiar with the matter.

FBI Official Warns Lawmakers About Russian Hacking on Infrastructure

Russian hackers have been scanning the systems of energy companies and other critical infrastructure in the United States, and state-sponsored hacking by Russia presents a "current" threat to American national security, a top FBI official told lawmakers. "The threat from Russia in a criminal sense, in the nation state sense, is very, very real — and current," said Bryan Vorndran, an assistant director in the FBI's cyber division, during a hearing before a U.S. House of Representatives panel.

European Court of Auditors Says Institutions Must Prepare for Cyber Attacks

EU institutions must do more to protect themselves from cyber attacks as their interconnected networks put them at greater risk, the European Court of Auditors (ECA) said, the latest agency to sound the alarm on a sharp rise in stealth attacks. A spate of cyber attacks by some governments against political opponents and recent high-profile ransomware attacks have prompted countries around the world to strengthen their defenses.

Hackers Target Election Officials with Invoice-Themed Phishing Emails

Hackers are targeting U.S. election officials with invoice-themed phishing emails in an attempt to steal user names and passwords, the FBI said in a bulletin. Since October, election officials in nine states have received phony emails that would dupe users into handing over their login credentials. Some of the ruses contained similar file attachments, the FBI said, with names such as “invoice inquiry.pdf.”

FTC Sues Intuit for Offering 'Bogus' Free Tax Filings with TurboTax

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced it was suing Intuit, the owner of TurboTax, for allegedly deceiving consumers with "bogus" advertisements pitching free tax filings that millions of Americans do not qualify for. The FTC is also asking a federal court to immediately halt "deceptive advertising" immediately, the agency said in a statement.

Russia Prepares False Information Cases Against YouTube

Russia's communications regulator said it had drawn up two administrative cases against Alphabet Inc.'s Google for failing to remove banned information from its YouTube video-sharing platform, accusing it of blatantly promoting false content. Roskomnadzor said Google could be fined up to 8 million roubles ($91,533), or as much as 20% of the company's annual revenue in Russia for repeat offences.

Justice Department Endorses American Innovation and Choice Online Act

The Justice Department endorsed legislation forbidding large digital platforms such as Amazon and Google from favoring their own products and services over competitors’, marking the Biden administration’s first full-throated support of the antitrust measure. “The Department views the rise of dominant platforms as presenting a threat to open markets and competition, with risks for consumers, businesses, innovation, resiliency, global competitiveness, and our democracy,” says a letter to bipartisan leaders of the Senate Judiciary Committee, signed by Peter Hyun, the Justice Department’s acting assistant attorney general for legislative affairs.

Ex-TikTok Moderators Sue Company for Not Protecting Them from Trauma

Two former TikTok moderators, Reece Young, have filed a federal lawsuit seeking class action status against the video-sharing app and its parent company, ByteDance. Their lawsuit accuses TikTok of negligence and says it broke California labor laws by allegedly not protecting Velez and Young from the emotional trauma caused by reviewing hundreds of "highly toxic and extremely disturbing" videos every week, including videos of animal cruelty, torture and even the execution of children.

  • Read the article: NPR

Lawmakers Seek Bipartisan Agreement on Broad Privacy Legislation

Democrats and Republicans are seeking to forge a bipartisan agreement on comprehensive privacy legislation, according to people familiar with the matter, pursuing a goal that has long eluded Congressional resolution. As a first step, aides to senior Democrats and Republicans on both the House and Senate Commerce committees are planning to meet in an effort to reach consensus on how legislation might be pieced together, according to the people.

FCC Adds Kaspersky Lab to List of Banned Telecom Providers

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) added Russia's AO Kaspersky Lab, China Telecom (Americas) Corp and China Mobile International USA to its list of communications equipment and service providers deemed threats to U.S. national security. The regulator last year designated five Chinese companies including Huawei Technologies Co. and ZTE Corp. as the first firms on the list, which was mandated under a 2019 law.

U.S., EU Reach Preliminary Seal to Store Data on Europeans in United States

The U.S. and the European Union reached a preliminary deal to allow data about Europeans to be stored on U.S. soil, heading off a growing threat to thousands of companies’ trans-Atlantic operations. The deal, announced by President Biden and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, could if concluded resolve one of the thorniest outstanding issues between the two economic giants.

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