Biden Administration Urges Congress to Take Action on App Stores

The Biden administration said Google and Apple serve as “gatekeepers” in the mobile app market and urged legislative action to even the playing field, a boost for lawmakers looking to revamp antitrust laws to target the nation’s largest tech companies. The National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) said Google’s and Apple’s policies could harm consumers by inflating prices and reducing innovation, according to a report.

EU Issues Antitrust Warning to Microsoft Over Activision-Blizzard Acquisition

The European Union has issued Microsoft with a formal antitrust warning over its $69 billion bid for Activision-Blizzard, three people close to the matter have told Politico. In a so-called statement of objections sent to the U.S. tech giant on Tuesday, EU antitrust enforcers laid out the reasons why the deal could threaten fair competition on the video game market, the sources said.

India to Block Hundreds of Apps That Offer Betting, Loan Services

India is moving to block 232 apps, some with links to China, that offer betting and loan services in the South Asian market to prevent misuse of the citizens’ data, the state-owned public broadcaster said. The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology is in the process to enforce an emergency order to ban 138 betting and gambling apps and another 94 that provided unauthorized loan services in the interest of protecting the country’s integrity, the broadcaster said.

Senator, Citing National Security, Asks Apple, Google to Ban TikTok

Senator Michael Bennet, Democrat of Colorado, called on Apple and Google to remove TikTok from their app stores because of national security concerns, as bipartisan pressure on the Chinese-owned company escalates. Mr. Bennet, a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, sent the chief executives of Apple and Alphabet, Google’s parent company, a letter saying no company subject to “Chinese Communist Party dictates should have the power to accumulate such extensive data on the American people or curate content to nearly a third of our population.”

FTC Preparing Potential Antitrust Lawsuit Against Amazon

The Federal Trade Commission is preparing a potential antitrust lawsuit against Amazon Inc. that in the coming months could challenge an array of the tech giant’s business practices as anticompetitive, according to people familiar with the matter. The commission in recent years has been examining Amazon practices including whether it favors its own products over competitors’ on its platforms and how it treats outside sellers on Amazon.com, according to some of the people familiar with the matter.

Harvard to Shut Down Research Center That Studies Online Misinformation

Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government said that it will shut down a prominent research center that studied online misinformation next year, marking the latest turning point for the study of social media’s impact on American society and politics. Since 2019, the Technology and Social Change Project has published research into the spread of coronavirus hoaxes and the online incitement techniques that preceded the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol.

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

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