EU Regulator Says Musk Must Follow Rules to Keep Operating in Europe

A top European Union regulator cautioned that social-media giant Twitter Inc. will need to follow the bloc’s new rules for tackling illegal and harmful content online if it wants to keep operating there, marking a possible challenge to Elon Musk’s plans to take a more hands-off approach to content moderation. Thierry Breton, EU internal market commissioner, said in an interview with The Wall Street Journal that it’s his job to make sure companies, including Twitter, understand their obligations in Europe.

Lawsuit Alleges Intuit Failed to Secure Its Email Marketing Service

Intuit Inc. was sued for failing to secure its email marketing service, which allegedly allowed hackers to steal cryptocurrencies from Trezor users. Using a sophisticated phishing attack, hackers were earlier this month able to access cryptocurrency wallets sold by the Czech company Trezor, according to the lawsuit, filed in federal court in San Jose.

Ninth Circuit Won't Rehear Decision Allowing States to Decide Net Neutrality

The U.S. Court of Appeals that ruled in favor of California's net neutrality law said that it won't reconsider its decision, dealing another blow to the broadband industry trade groups that attempted to block California from enforcing its law. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rejected a petition to rehear the case that the three judge panel decided in January, upholding a previous ruling that said states have a right to adopt their own net neutrality protections.

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North Korean Hackers Still Laundering Money Despite Being Identified

North Korean hackers who last month carried out one of the largest cryptocurrency thefts ever are still laundering their haul more than a week after they were identified as the thieves. The cybercriminals’ continued access to the money, more than $600 million stolen from the Axie Infinity video game, underscores the limits of law enforcement’s ability to stop the flow of illicit cryptocurrency across the globe.

EU Approves Digital Services Act, Forcing Tech Companies to Offer Protections

Big tech companies like Google and Facebook parent Meta will have to police their platforms more strictly to better protect European users from hate speech, disinformation and other harmful online content under landmark EU legislation approved. European Union officials clinched the agreement in principle on the Digital Services Act, which will also force tech companies to make it easier for users to flag problems, ban online ads aimed at kids and empower regulators to punish noncompliance with billions in fines.

Europe Moves Forward on Technology Legislation While U.S. Efforts Stall

In just the last few years, Europe has seen a landmark law for online privacy take effect, approved sweeping regulations to curb the dominance of the tech giants and on Friday was nearing a deal on new legislation to protect its citizens from harmful online content. In the United States, Congress has not passed a single piece of comprehensive regulation to protect internet consumers and to rein in the power of its technology giants.

Hackers Claim Breach of Russian Institutions, Including at Kremlin

Hackers claim to have broken into dozens of Russian institutions over the past two months, including the Kremlin’s Internet censor and one of its primary intelligence services, leaking emails and internal documents to the public in an apparent hack-and-leak campaign that is remarkable in its scope. The hacking operation comes as the Ukrainian government appears to have begun a parallel effort to punish Russia by publishing the names of supposed Russian soldiers who operated in Bucha, the site of a massacre of civilians, and agents of the FSB, a major Russian intelligence agency, along with identifying information like dates of birth and passport numbers.

YouTube Blocks Account for Hong Kong Candidate, Citing U.S. Sanctions

Google’s YouTube blocked the campaign account of Hong Kong’s only leadership candidate, citing U.S. sanctions, in a move that ratchets up tensions between big tech companies and the city’s government amid a national-security crackdown on political opposition. John Lee, a former policeman and government security chief, is poised to become Hong Kong’s next top official in a small-circle election to be held May 8 by a committee of around 1,500 mostly Beijing loyalists and closely orchestrated by China’s central government.

Former eBay Security Executive to Plead Guilty in Cyberstalking Campaign

A former eBay Inc. security executive intends to plead guilty to federal charges that he planned a cyberstalking campaign that targeted a Massachusetts couple whose online newsletter was seen as critical of the e-commerce company. James Baugh, eBay's former senior director of safety and security, had been awaiting trial in Boston with another ex-executive accused of helping harass the couple through Twitter and with disturbing deliveries like a bloody Halloween pig mask and live cockroaches.

Ukraine Forms 'Internet Army' to Pressure Western Companies in Russia

Ukraine’s Ministry of Digital Transformation has organized what it calls its Internet Army: a group of volunteers who are helping Ukraine fight the cyber and information war, including many social-media volunteers who post messages singling out Western companies doing business in Russia, said Mykhailo Fedorov, Ukraine’s minister of Digital Transformation. About 300,000 volunteers have joined the effort, and their social-media posts are reaching some 100 million global users daily, Mr. Fedorov said in an interview.

Secret Service Seizes $102 Million in Cryptocurrency in Fraud Cases

The U.S. Secret Service is cracking down on illicit digital currency transactions, seizing more than $102 million in cryptocurrency from criminals in connection with fraud-related investigations. David Smith, assistant director of investigations, said agents and analysts actively track the flow of bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies on the blockchain, similar to an old-fashioned surveillance.

Appeals Court Upholds Right to Scrape Publicly Available Data from Websites

Good news for archivists, academics, researchers and journalists: Scraping publicly accessible data is legal, according to a U.S. appeals court ruling. The landmark ruling by the U.S. Ninth Circuit of Appeals is the latest in a long-running legal battle brought by LinkedIn aimed at stopping a rival company from web scraping personal information from users’ public profiles. 

NATO's Cyber War Games Face Increased Attention Amid War in Ukraine

NATO’s large, multiday cyber defense exercise is set to bring together technical experts from alliance countries and Ukraine nearly two months after Russia’s invasion. This year’s annual cyber wargames, known as the Locked Shields exercise, is significant for the countries participating because their cyber defense units have been on high alert since the outbreak of the war in Ukraine, said Anett Numa, an international policy adviser in the cyber policy unit of Estonia’s ministry of defense.

Even Free Speech Advocates Alarmed by Musk's Bid to Take Twitter Private

Social media industry safety professionals and outside experts who have spent years trying to slow the empowerment of tyrants and violent mobs by Facebook and other platforms are aghast that a second major company might come under the control of just one person, especially one complaining that Twitter places too many limits on what can be posted on its site. Comments by billionaire Elon Musk about his surprise bid to take Twitter private alarm those whose experience has been that unfettered speech makes social media platforms unusable and that lightly controlled speech favors those who can direct thousands to make versions of the same point, which is then amplified by algorithms designed to maximize engagement and thereby advertising dollars.

Taiwan Concerned About War in Ukraine's Impact on Internet Cables

The war in Ukraine is reviving concerns in Taiwan and some Asia-Pacific nations about the fragility of their Internet connections because they rely on undersea cables that could be severed in a Chinese attack. Ukrainians have used the internet to rally resistance to Russia’s invasion, counter Moscow’s propaganda and win international support, including through President Volodymyr Zelensky’s appeals for weapons.

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.