U.S. Treasury Stopped Cyber Attacks by Pro-Russian Hacker Group

The U.S. Treasury last month repelled cyber attacks by a pro-Russian hacker group, preventing disruption and confirming the effectiveness of the department's stronger approach to financial system cybersecurity, a U.S. Treasury official said. The Treasury has attributed the distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks to Killnet, the Russian hacker group that claimed responsibility for disrupting the websites of several U.S. states and airports in October, said Todd Conklin, cybersecurity counselor to Deputy Treasury Secretary Wally Adeyemo.

FCC Commissioner Wants Council on Foreign Investment to Ban TikTok

The Council on Foreign Investment in the U.S. (CFIUS) should take action to ban TikTok, Brendan Carr, one of five commissioners at the Federal Communications Commission, told Axios in an interview. With more than 200 million downloads in the U.S. alone, the popular app is becoming a form of critical information infrastructure — making the app's ownership by a Chinese parent company a target of growing national security concern.

Bipartisan Bill Would Make Online Assistance of Suicide a Federal Crime

Lawmakers are seeking to make online assistance of suicide a federal crime, pushing to hold accountable both individual users and the tech companies and websites that allow such content on their platforms. A bipartisan bill introduced in the House of Representatives, the Stop Online Suicide Assistance Forums Act, comes amid rising concern over suicide rates among young people, and mounting evidence of online dangers.

Musk's Twitter Takeover Allows Large Foreign Investors to Access Finances

Large foreign investors would have access to confidential information about Twitter’s finances — and potentially its users — under the terms of Elon Musk’s deal to acquire the social media site, people familiar with the matter told The Washington Post. That revelation comes as Treasury Department officials begin looking into whether they have the legal authority to start an investigation into the purchase because of Musk’s ties to foreign governments and investors, people familiar with those discussions said.

After Blocking Adult Content in 2018, Tumblr Begins Allowing Nudity

Tumblr changed enormously in 2018 after it started blocking all adult content, reportedly because images of child sexual abuse were posted on the website. It deleted tons of sex blogs and communities to comply with its new rule, and its already dwindling community never quite recovered since. Now, the website has updated its community guidelines so that the naked human form is once again allowed.

FTC Accuses Education Tech Firm Chegg of Disclosing Details on Millions of Users

The Federal Trade Commission cracked down on Chegg, an education technology firm based in Santa Clara, Calif., saying the company’s “careless” approach to cybersecurity had exposed the personal details of tens of millions of users. In a legal complaint, regulators accused Chegg of numerous data security lapses dating to 2017.

Klobuchar Says Tech Companies Should Lose Protections for Amplifying Hate

Senator Amy Klobuchar, a leading Democratic voice on tech regulation, said she doesn’t trust Elon Musk to run Twitter and called for legislation stripping tech companies of legal immunity when they “amplify” hate speech or election falsehoods. In the wake of an assault on Paul Pelosi, the House speaker’s husband, Klobuchar said on NBC’s “Meet the Press” that technology companies are “making money off of this violence.”

Google Plans Legal Challenge to India's Actions Against Android

Google is planning a legal challenge to block a ruling by India's antitrust watchdog to change its approach to its Android operating system, concerned that it will restrict how it promotes the platform, sources with direct knowledge of the situation told Reuters. The Alphabet Inc. unit has been fined $275 million in two Indian antitrust decisions since last week — one for its policies of charging in-app commissions and another for abusing its position in the market for Android operating system.

Zuckerberg to Testify in FTC Case Trying to Block Deal to Buy VR Content Creator

Meta Platforms Inc. Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg will testify in a case by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) that argues the company's proposed deal to buy virtual reality (VR) content maker Within Unlimited should be blocked. In a court document filed with U.S. District Court Northern District Of California on Friday, the FTC listed 18 witnesses it plans to question, including Zuckerberg, Within CEO Chris Milk and Meta Chief Technology Officer Andrew Bosworth.

Musk Promises 'Content Moderation Council' Before Reinstating Accounts

After closing the deal to own Twitter, Elon Musk tweeted that under his leadership, the company would form a “content moderation council with widely diverse viewpoints.” He added that “no major content decisions or account reinstatements will happen before that council convenes.” The announcement appeared to be a step back from Mr. Musk’s position that Twitter should be an anything-goes platform.

Independent Compliance Professional to Monitor Google in Crypto Probe

Alphabet Inc.’s Google has agreed to improve its compliance program in a settlement with the U.S. Justice Department, which said the search giant lost data federal investigators sought in connection with a probe into a cryptocurrency exchange. The DOJ said that a third-party independent compliance professional will monitor whether Google holds up its end of the deal.

U.S. Charges Chinese Intelligence Officers with Obstruction of Tech Case

The United States unveiled charges accusing two Chinese intelligence officers of attempting to subvert a criminal investigation into a China-based telecommunications company — one of three new cases that FBI Director Christopher A. Wray said shows Beijing is trying to “lie, cheat and steal” its way to a competitive advantage in technology. In total, the U.S. Justice Department said 10 individuals were Chinese intelligence officers or government officials engaged in criminal conduct, and in the most alarming case, accused two men of working on Beijing’s behalf to bribe a U.S. law enforcement official to share secrets about an ongoing prosecution of a major Chinese firm.

Australia to Seek Increased Penalties for Companies with Data Breaches

Australia will introduce laws to parliament to increase penalties for companies subject to major data breaches, Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus said, after high-profile cyberattacks hit millions of Australians in recent weeks. Australia's telco, financial and government sectors have been on high alert since Singtel-owned Optus, the country's second-largest telco, disclosed on Sept. 22 a hack that saw the theft of personal data from up to 10 million accounts.

Tech Industry Groups Ask Supreme Court to Review Florida Social Media Law

Tech industry groups asked the Supreme Court to hear a case on a Florida law that could help shape the future of how companies are allowed to moderate content online. The Computer and Communications Association (CCIA) and NetChoice petitioned the Supreme Court to review a case about Florida’s law, which would limit companies from being able to remove content and users that violate their policies.

Texas Files Privacy Suit Against Google Over Facial, Voice Recognition

The Texas attorney general filed a privacy lawsuit against Google, accusing the Internet company of collecting Texans’ facial and voice recognition information without their explicit consent. Ken Paxton, the state’s attorney general, said Google had violated a state consumer protection law that requires companies to inform citizens and get their consent before capturing their biometric identifiers, including fingerprints, voiceprints and a “record of hand or face geometry.”

Facebook Threatens to Block Sharing of News Content in Canada

Facebook warned that it may block sharing of news content on its platform in Canada over concerns about legislation that would compel digital platforms to pay news publishers. The Online News Act, introduced in April, laid out rules to force platforms like Meta's Facebook and Alphabet's Google to negotiate commercial deals and pay news publishers for their content, in a move similar to a ground-breaking law passed in Australia last year.

FTC to Sanction CEO of Alcohol Delivery Company for Exposing Customers

The Federal Trade Commission plans to take the rare step of bringing individual sanctions against the CEO of alcohol delivery company Drizly for data privacy abuses, following allegations that the company’s security failures under his watch exposed the personal information of about 2.5 million customers. The proposed order will follow Drizly CEO James Cory Rellas to future businesses, requiring him to implement a security program at any companies he runs that collect information from more than 25,000 people.

Australia's Biggest Health Insurer Warns Customers About Data Breach

Australia's biggest health insurer Medibank Private Ltd said it expected the number of customers affected by a massive data breach to grow, after it discovered policy records of a further 1,000 customers had been stolen. Medibank, which provides coverage to one-sixth of Australians, said last week an unidentified person had shown the company stolen personal information of a 100 customers, including medical diagnoses and procedures.

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.