Meta Offers to Limit Use of Competitors' Ad Data for Facebook Marketplace

Meta Platforms offered to curb the use of competitors' advertising data for its Facebook Marketplace online classified service in an attempt to settle an EU antitrust investigation but regulators gave it the cold shoulder, people familiar with the matter said. Its offer also included limiting the use of advertising data to develop products that compete with advertisers, the people said.

Three AI Leaders Urge Congress to Push for International Cooperation

A trio of influential artificial intelligence leaders testified at a congressional hearing, warning that the frantic pace of AI development could lead to serious harms within the next few years, such as rogue states or terrorists using the tech to create bioweapons. Yoshua Bengio, an AI professor at the University of Montreal who is known as one of the fathers of modern AI science, said the United States should push for international cooperation to control the development of AI, outlining a regime similar to international rules on nuclear technology.

Meta Faces Possible $14 Million Fine in Australia for Collecting User Data

An Australian court ordered Facebook owner Meta Platforms to pay fines totaling $14 million for collecting user data through a smartphone application advertised as a way to protect privacy without disclosing its actions. Australia's Federal Court also ordered Meta, through its subsidiaries Facebook Israel and the now-discontinued app, Onavo, to pay legal costs to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC), which brought the civil lawsuit.

FTC Finalizing Antitrust Lawsuit That Could Force Amazon to Restructure

The Federal Trade Commission is finalizing its long-awaited antitrust lawsuit against Amazon, four people with knowledge of the matter told Politico, a move that could ultimately break up parts of the company. The FTC has been investigating the company on a number of fronts, and the coming case would be one of the most aggressive and high-profile moves in the Biden administration’s rocky effort to tame the power of tech giants.

Popular Online Games Fail to Restrict Hateful Usernames, ADL Says

Usernames that include racist, misogynistic, antisemitic, anti-LGBTQ+, ableist and white supremacist terms go unmoderated on some of the most popular online games, according to a report published by the Anti-Defamation League. The report from the ADL Center for Technology and Society said usernames were one of the easiest pieces of content to moderate, since they’re screened by the registration system when an account is created.

Jury Finds Google Liable for $338.7 Million in Remote-Streaming Patent Case

Alphabet's Google violated a software developer's patent rights with its remote-streaming technology and must pay $338.7 million in damages, a federal jury in Waco, Texas decided. The jury found that Google's Chromecast and other devices infringe patents owned by Touchstream Technologies related to streaming videos from one screen to another.

Student Suspended for Memes Targeting Principal Files First Amendment Suit

A Tennessee high school student who was suspended after posting three memes last year to Instagram making fun of his principal’s “overly serious demeanor” is suing Tullahoma City Schools. He alleges that then-Principal Jason Quick and Assistant Principal Derrick Crutchfield violated his free speech rights by punishing him for social media posts he published off campus.

Top AI Companies Agree to Voluntary Safeguards with White House

Seven leading A.I. companies in the United States have agreed to voluntary safeguards on the technology’s development, the White House announced, pledging to manage the risks of the new tools even as they compete over the potential of artificial intelligence. The seven companies — Amazon, Anthropic, Google, Inflection, Meta, Microsoft and OpenAI — will formally announce their commitment to new standards in the areas of safety, security and trust at a meeting with President Biden at the White House.

Cybercriminals Using AI to Create Phishing Emails, Canadian Official Says

Hackers and propagandists are wielding artificial intelligence (AI) to create malicious software, draft convincing phishing emails and spread disinformation online, Canada's top cybersecurity official told Reuters, early evidence that the technological revolution sweeping Silicon Valley has also been adopted by cybercriminals. In an interview, Canadian Centre for Cyber Security Head Sami Khoury said that his agency had seen AI being used "in phishing emails, or crafting emails in a more focused way, in malicious code (and) in misinformation and disinformation."

Kevin Mitnick, Once Called 'Most Wanted Computer Outlaw,' Dies

Kevin Mitnick, who at the dawn of widespread internet usage in the mid-1990s became the nation’s archetypal computer hacker — obsessive but clever, shy but mischievous and threatening to an uncertain degree — and who later used his skills to become “chief hacking officer” of a cybersecurity firm, died on Sunday in Pittsburgh. Described by The New York Times in 1995 as “the nation’s most wanted computer outlaw,” Mr. Mitnick was a fugitive for more than two years.

North Korean Hackers Target U.S. Cryptocurrency Companies

A North Korean government-backed hacking group penetrated an American IT management company and used it as a springboard to target cryptocurrency companies, the firm and cybersecurity experts said. The hackers broke into Louisville, Colorado-based JumpCloud in late June and used their access to the company’s systems to target "fewer than 5" of its clients, it said in a blog post.

Chinese Hackers Gain Access to Email Account for U.S. Ambassador

Hackers linked to Beijing accessed the email account of the U.S. ambassador to China, Nicholas Burns, in an attack that is believed to have compromised at least hundreds of thousands of individual U.S. government emails, according to people familiar with the matter. Daniel Kritenbrink, the assistant secretary of state for East Asia, was also hacked in the cyber-espionage attack, the people said.

Executives from U.S. Chip Companies Discuss China Policy with Secretary of State

U.S. chip company executives met with top Biden administration officials to discuss China policy, the State Department and sources said, as the most powerful semiconductor lobby group urged a halt to more curbs under consideration. Secretary of State Antony Blinken talked with chip company chief executives about the industry and supply chains after his recent trip to China, a department spokesperson told reporters.

Pentagon Acknowledges Emails Intended for .mil Addresses Sent to .ml Instead

Millions of emails meant for U.S. military personnel were inadvertently sent to email accounts in Mali over the past 10 years due to typos caused by how similar Pentagon email addresses are to the domain for the African country, according to multiple reports. The misdirected emails included sensitive information such as diplomatic documents, medical data, maps and photos of installations, identity document information, passwords, tax returns and hotel reservations for senior officers, according to Johannes Zuurbier, a Dutch technologist who discovered the problem in 2013.

Prosecutors Say Teenage Hacker Blackmailed Developer of Grand Theft Auto

A teenage member of the Lapsus$ hacking group hacked Uber and fintech firm Revolut then blackmailed the developers of best-selling videogame Grand Theft Auto, prosecutors have told a London court. Arion Kurtaj, 18, is said to have targeted Revolut and Uber in September 2022, accessing around 5,000 Revolut customers' information and causing nearly $3 million of damage to Uber.

Microsoft Signs Agreement with Sony to Keep Call of Duty on PlayStation

Sony has signed a binding agreement with Microsoft to keep Call of Duty on its PlayStation gaming consoles after closing the Activision Blizzard acquisition, Microsoft said. “We are pleased to announce that Microsoft and PlayStation have signed a binding agreement to keep Call of Duty on PlayStation following the acquisition of Activision Blizzard,” Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer said on Twitter.

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