Passwords Hacked from Kiwi Farms, Internet Forum Used to Organize Harassment

The head of Kiwi Farms, the Internet forum best known for organizing harassment campaigns against trans and non-binary people, said the site experienced a breach that allowed hackers to access his administrator account and possibly the accounts of all other users. Creator Joshua Moons aid that the unknown individual or individuals behind the hack gained access to his admin account by using a technique known as session hijacking, in which an attacker obtains the authentication cookies a site sets after an account holder enters valid credentials and successfully completes any two-factor authentication requirements.

Appeals Court Upholds Texas Law Limiting Social Media Content Policies

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit upheld a controversial Texas social media law that bars companies from removing posts based on a person’s political ideology, overturning a lower court’s decision to block the law and likely setting up a Supreme Court showdown over the future of online speech. The ruling could have wide-ranging effects on the future of tech regulation, giving fresh ammunition to conservative politicians who have alleged that major tech companies are silencing their political speech.

Uber Investigating Hack That Seems to Compromise Internal Systems

Uber discovered its computer network had been breached, leading the company to take several of its internal communications and engineering systems offline as it investigated the extent of the hack. The breach appeared to have compromised many of Uber’s internal systems, and a person claiming responsibility for the hack sent images of email, cloud storage and code repositories to cybersecurity researchers and The New York Times.

Justice Department Indicts Three Iranians for Hacking, Extortion

The Department of Justice (DOJ) unsealed an indictment of three Iranian nationals alleged to have hacked hundreds of computer systems of organizations in the U.S. and around the world. U.S. officials accused the defendants of exfiltrating data from the organizations’ computer systems and attempting to extort money from them by either threatening to release the stolen data or keeping the data encrypted unless the hackers were paid.

Senators Question TikTok's COO About Company's Data-Sharing with China

Senators grilled a top TikTok executive about whether the viral video app could leak data to the Chinese government, the first time a leader at the company has had to answer to lawmakers in public about recent reports on its ties to Beijing. Members of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee repeatedly asked TikTok’s chief operating officer, Vanessa Pappas, about whether the company would ever provide data about Americans to Chinese officials or delete content at their request. TikTok’s owner, ByteDance, is based in China.

Calif. Governor Signs Law Requiring Disclosures from Social Media Companies

California Gov. Gavin Newsom has signed a controversial bill into law that aims to force greater transparency of social media companies, setting up a potential battle over whether such measures violate free-speech protections. The law, known as A.B. 587, requires tech companies to file semiannual reports with the state’s attorney general that publicly disclose their content moderation policies regarding hate speech, disinformation and extremism.

EU Judges Uphold Most of Record $4.3 Billion Google Fine in Antitrust Case

Google lost most of the first round of its battle to topple a record 4.3 billion-euro ($4.3 billion) European Union antitrust fine that struck at the heart of the U.S. tech giant’s power over the Android mobile-phone ecosystem. In a boost for EU antitrust chief Margrethe Vestager, judges upheld the vast majority of the European Commission’s arguments, but cut the penalty to 4.1 billion euros after finding faults in some of the regulator’s analysis and that Google’s right to a fair hearing had partly been infringed.

California Files Lawsuit Against Amazon Alleging Antitrust Violations

California sued Amazon.com. Inc., the state attorney general said, alleging the online retail giant’s contracts with third-party sellers and wholesalers inflate prices, stifle competition and violate the state’s antitrust and unfair competition laws. Attorney General Rob Bonta announced his office had filed a lawsuit in San Francisco Superior Court seeking to halt Amazon policies he said prevent merchants from offering lower prices through competitors’ websites.

Iranian State-Sponsored Hacking Group Reportedly Aims at Western Targets

Cybersecurity researchers say they've identified what's likely an Iranian state-sponsored hacking group that's targeting opponents of that country's regime including Western think tanks, researchers, journalists, government officials and members of the Iranian diaspora. In a report, researchers for the cybersecurity firm Mandiant say the advanced persistent threat group, which they refer to as "APT42," has conducted information gathering and surveillance operations going back to at least 2015.

  • Read the article: CNET

'Criminal' Cyberattack Disables Computer Systems at Los Angeles Schools

The massive cyberattack that disabled computer systems across the Los Angeles Unified School District school over the weekend is “criminal in nature,” but most all online services — including key emergency systems — were operating safely, no ransom demands were made and schools opened with only a few glitches, Supt. Alberto Carvalho said. Besides taking the district’s website offline, the attack resulted in staff and students losing access to email.

Brazil Fines Apple, Says iPhone Sales Must Include Battery Chargers

Brazil's government ordered Apple Inc. to stop selling iPhones without a battery charger in the country, claiming that the company provides an incomplete product to consumers. The Justice Ministry fined Apple 12.275 million reais ($2.38 million) and ordered the cancellation of the sale of the iPhone 12 and newer models, in addition to suspending the sale of any iPhone model that does not come with a power charger.

Cloudflare Drops Support for Kiwi Farms Message Board, Citing 'Imminent Threats'

Cloudflare, a major American internet services company, pulled its support for Kiwi Farms, a controversial online message board, citing “imminent threats to human life.” The move temporarily forced Kiwi Farms offline. Cloudflare’s decision came as Kiwi Farms was linked to a campaign of harassment and violent threats targeting Clara Sorrenti, a Canadian trans woman who is a streamer on Twitch, a platform popular among video gamers.

  • Read the article: CNN

Court Says Meta Violated Washington State's Campaign-Ad Transparency Law

Meta, Facebook’s parent company, repeatedly and intentionally violated Washington campaign-ad transparency law and must pay penalties yet to be determined, a judge ruled. The court also denied Meta’s attempt to invalidate Washington’s decades-old transparency law, according to Attorney General Bob Ferguson, whose office has repeatedly sued Meta over its failure to abide by the law.

Google, YouTube Disclose Plans to Limit Misinformation in Midterm Elections

Google and its video sharing app YouTube outlined plans for handling the 2022 U.S. midterm elections, highlighting tools at its disposal to limit the effort to limit the spread of political misinformation. When users search for election content on either Google or YouTube, recommendation systems are in place to highlight journalism or video content from authoritative national and local news sources such as The Wall Street Journal, Univision, PBS NewsHour and local ABC, CBS and NBC affiliates.

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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.