Judge Rejects FTC's Request to Block Meta from Buying Virtual Reality Start-Up

A federal judge has rejected the Federal Trade Commission’s request to stop Meta, Facebook’s parent company, from buying a small virtual reality start-up, two people with knowledge of the matter said, signaling that efforts to rein in the tech giants may struggle in courts. In a sealed order, Judge Edward J. Davila of U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California declined the FTC’s demand for a preliminary injunction to block Meta from buying Within, which makes a virtual reality fitness game called Supernatural, said the people, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the orders are sealed.

Italy's Privacy Watchdog Orders AI Chatbot to Stop Processing User Data

San Francisco-based AI chatbot maker, Replika — which operates a freemium ‘virtual friendship’ service based on customizable digital avatars whose “personalized” responses are powered by artificial intelligence (and designed, per its pitch, to make human users feel better) — has been ordered by Italy’s privacy watchdog to stop processing local users’ data. The Garante said it’s concerned Replika’s chatbot technology poses risks to minors — and also that the company lacks a proper legal basis for processing children’s data under the EU’s data protection rules.

Hackers Claim Financial Data Firm ION Paid Ransomware

The hackers who claimed responsibility for a disruptive breach at financial data firm ION say a ransom has been paid, although they declined to say how much it was or offer any evidence that the money had been handed over. Lockbit communicated the claim to Reuters via its online chat account but declined to clarify who had paid the money — saying it had come from a "very rich unknown philanthropist."

Microsoft, Github, OpenAI Argue Against Class-Action Open-Source Suit

Microsoft Corp, Microsoft's GitHub Inc and OpenAI Inc told a San Francisco federal court that a proposed class-action lawsuit for improperly monetizing open-source code to train their artificial-intelligence systems cannot be sustained. The companies said in court filings that the complaint, filed by a group of anonymous copyright owners, did not outline their allegations specifically enough and that GitHub's Copilot system, which suggests lines of code for programmers, made fair use of the source code.

Arrested Dutch Hacker Tried to Sell Data on Almost Everyone in Australia

A Dutch hacker arrested in November obtained and offered for sale the full name, address and date of birth of virtually everyone in Austria, the Alpine nation's police said. A user believed to be the hacker offered the data for sale in an online forum in May 2020, presenting it as "the full name, gender, complete address and date of birth of presumably every citizen" in Austria, police said in a statement, adding that investigators had confirmed its authenticity.

FBI Seizes Website Used by Hive Ransomware Group for $100M Extortion

The FBI has seized a website that a notorious ransomware gang, which has extorted more than $100 million from victim organizations, has used to shame its victims, according to a posting on the website. The dark-web website of the so-called Hive ransomware group displayed a message that it had been taken over “as part of a coordinated law enforcement action” against the group by the FBI, Secret Service and numerous European government agencies.

  • Read the article: CNN

U.S., Eight States File Antitrust Suit Against Google Over Online Advertising

The Justice Department and a group of eight states sued Google, accusing it of illegally abusing a monopoly over the technology that powers online advertising, in the agency’s first antitrust lawsuit against a tech giant under President Biden and an escalation in legal pressure on one of the world’s biggest internet companies. The lawsuit said Google had “corrupted legitimate competition in the ad tech industry by engaging in a systematic campaign to seize control of the wide swath of high-tech tools used by publishers, advertisers and brokers to facilitate digital advertising.”

Justice Department Preparing to Sue Google Over Dominance in Online Ad Market

The U.S. Justice Department is poised to sue Alphabet Inc.’s Google as soon regarding the search giant’s dominance over the digital advertising market, according to people familiar with the matter. The case is expected to be filed in federal court before the end of the week, said the people, who asked not to be named discussing a confidential matter.

Supreme Court Seeks White House Input on State Social Media Laws

The Supreme Court asked the Biden administration for its views on whether the Constitution allows Florida and Texas to prevent large social media companies from removing posts based on the views they express. The practical effect of the move was to put off a decision on whether to hear two major First Amendment challenges to the states’ laws for at least several months.

FBI Blames Hackers Linked to North Korea for $100 Million Crypto Theft

Two hacker groups associated with North Korea, the Lazarus Group and APT38, were responsible for the theft last June of $100 million from U.S. crypto firm Harmony's Horizon bridge, the Federal Bureau of Investigation said. On Jan. 13, the groups used a privacy protocol called Railgun to launder over $60 million worth of ethereum stolen during the theft in June, the FBI said in a statement.

FBI Investigating After Senator's Campaign Paid Cybercriminals $690,000

An FBI investigation is underway after cybercriminals targeted an accounting firm employed by a U.S. senator’s reelection campaign last year, according to a spokesperson for the senator. Kansas Republican Sen. Jerry Moran’s campaign sent two wires for fraudulent invoices totaling $690,000 this past fall, according to a Federal Election Commission filing.

  • Read the article: CNN

T-Mobile Investigating Data Breach Affecting 37 Million Accounts

U.S. wireless carrier T-Mobile said it was investigating a data breach that may have exposed 37 million postpaid and prepaid accounts, and hinted at incurring significant costs related to the incident. It's the second major cyberattack in less than two years and comes months after the carrier agreed to upgrade its data security to settle a litigation related to a 2021 incident that compromised information of an estimated 76.6 million people.

Brazil’s Antitrust Watchdog Opens Investigation of Apple

Brazil’s antitrust watchdog Cade has started an investigation into Apple Inc. for alleged abuse of a dominant position. Cade opened the probe on Jan. 12 following a complaint filed by Latin America’s e-commerce and fintech giant MercadoLibre Inc, the agency said in a statement. The complaint adds to a series of antitrust cases around the world, including in the US, EU, UK, South Korea, Japan, India and Indonesia, Cade added.

University of Texas Blocks TikTok on Network, School-Issued Devices

The University of Texas at Austin, a sprawling campus with more than 52,000 students, said it has blocked the social media app TikTok from its networks and is in the process of removing the app from university-issued devices because of digital security concerns. Jeff Neyland, adviser to the university’s president for technology strategy, said in an email to students Tuesday that the university was taking the steps to comply with Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s directive last month banning the use of TikTok, which is owned by Chinese tech giant ByteDance, on any government-issued devices.

Harassment of Religious and Ethnic Minorities Rises on Twitter Outside U.S.

Elon Musk’s overhaul of Twitter has been accompanied by an increase in digital harassment of religious and ethnic minorities in some of its largest markets outside the United States — and it’s beginning to wreak havoc in the physical world as well, according to current and former employees and experts studying the issue. Musk has fired or accepted resignations from about three-fourths of Twitter’s employees since his $44 billion takeover at the end of October.

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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.