British Interior Minister Urges Meta to Work on Safety Issues in Encryption

British interior minister Suella Braverman said she wanted to work constructively with Facebook-owner Meta over the issue of end-to-end encryption on Instagram and Facebook Messenger and the danger it could pose to children. The government has urged Meta not to roll out encryption on those two platforms without safety measures to protect children from sexual abuse.

Microsoft Accidentally Discloses Sensitive Xbox Files Online in FTC Case

A huge collection of purported Xbox files related to the Federal Trade Commission’s case against Microsoft have been published online, spilling some of the company's plans for the gaming console into public view. Douglas Farrar, director of the FTC's office of public affairs, told NBC News that "Microsoft was responsible for the error in uploading these documents to the court."

TikTok Fined $370 Million for Violating Child Privacy Laws in Europe

TikTok has been fined 345 million euros ($370 million) for breaching privacy laws regarding the processing of children's personal data in the European Union, its lead regulator in the bloc said. The Chinese-owned short-video platform, which has grown rapidly among teenagers around the world in recent years, breached a number of EU privacy laws between July 31, 2020, and Dec. 31, 2020, Ireland's Data Protection Commissioner (DPC) said in a statement.

X Complies with German Requests to Provide User Info in Hate-Speech Cases

In Germany, X under Elon Musk’s ownership is complying with requests to turn over more information about its users to prosecutors in online hate-crime investigations. The country has strict hate-speech laws forbidding certain defamation of politicians and promotion of white supremacy, and the company under Musk has turned over reams of user data to prosecutors to help identify those who break the law, according to three prosecutor offices who spoke with The Washington Post. As a result, hundreds of new cases are being pursued, they said.

At Antitrust Trial, Justice Department Says Google Sought Defaults on Mobile

The Justice Department used its first full day of questioning in its antitrust trial against Google to establish that the Internet giant had long sought agreements to be the default search engine on mobile devices, which the government argues were used to illegally maintain the company’s hold over online search. Google responded by highlighting evidence suggesting that companies that signed those agreements — including smartphone makers, browser developers and wireless carriers — did so partly because its search product was better.

White House Watching China's Limits on iPhones 'With Concern'

The White House said it believes China’s moves to institute and expand a government ban on iPhones is an attempt to retaliate against the U.S. as it weighed in for the first time on the backlash against Apple Inc. “We’re watching this with concern, clearly. It seems to be of a piece — of the kinds of aggressive and inappropriate retaliation to U.S. companies that we’ve seen from the PRC in the past. That’s what this appears to be,” National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told reporters, referring to the People’s Republic of China.

On Capitol Hill, Tech Leaders Agree on Need for AI Rules, Disagree on Details

Some of the most powerful tech leaders in the world — including Tesla CEO Elon Musk and Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg — traveled to Capitol Hill for a meeting on artificial intelligence, where they expressed unanimous agreement that the government needs to intervene to avert the potential pitfalls of the evolving technology. But as the six-hour session wore on, there was little apparent consensus about what a congressional framework should look like to govern AI, as companies forge ahead amid a tense industry arms race.

U.S. Trademark Office Approves Law Firm's Application to Register "#LAW"

Plaintiffs' law firm Morgan & Morgan has agreed to end a lawsuit against the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office after making progress in its bid to register the trademark "#LAW," the two sides said in Florida federal court filing. The filing said the PTO would approve Morgan & Morgan's application after receiving new supporting evidence from the firm.

Musk Violated Government Restrictions on Twitter's Data Security, DOJ Says

Elon Musk repeatedly made decisions after his takeover of Twitter that likely ran afoul of a 2022 government order imposing sweeping restrictions on the company’s data security and privacy practices, according to a court filing, part of an ongoing legal battle that could lead to fines and new stipulations for the social network’s business practices. In the legal filing, the Justice Department published previously confidential evidence from the Federal Trade Commission’s probe into the social network, including detailed excerpts of depositions with former executives about ways Musk’s directives and efforts to cut costs ran afoul of the company’s security and privacy practices.

Writers Seek Class-Action Status for Lawsuit Against Meta Over AI

Pulitzer Prize-winner Michael Chabon and Tony-winning playwright David Henry Hwang are among a group of writers that filed a class action lawsuit against Meta in San Francisco federal court for having “copied and ingested” their works to train its LLaMA AI platform. Plaintiffs also including authors Matthew Klam, Rachel Louise and Ayelet Waldman are seeking class action status for the suit, which says their copyrighted books appear in the dataset that Meta has admitted to using to train LLaMA.

Prominent Russian Journalist's iPhone Infected with Pegasus Spyware

The iPhone of a prominent Russian journalist whose news outlet has effectively been outlawed by President Vladimir Putin was infected with Pegasus spyware this year, researchers say, in the first known case of the powerful eavesdropping tool being used against a significant Russian target. The spyware appears to have been installed while the phone’s owner, Galina Timchenko, owner of the news outlet Meduza, was in Germany for a meeting with other Russian journalists in February — raising questions about who hacked her phone while in a Western democracy.

X Sues California Over Law Requiring Reports on Content Moderation

Elon Musk’s X Corp. is suing the state of California over AB 587, a state bill requiring social media platforms to report to the state attorney general, semiannually, how they’re tackling moderation of certain categories of speech. The complaint alleges that the bill violates federal and state free speech laws because it “compels companies like X Corp. to engage in speech against their will,” as they’re forced to settle on definitions for “politically-charged” issues like hate speech or racism.

Appeals Court Says Biden White House Likely Violated First Amendment

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit ruled that the Biden White House, top government health officials and the FBI likely violated the First Amendment by improperly influencing tech companies’ decisions to remove or suppress posts on the coronavirus and elections. The decision was likely to be seen as victory for conservatives who’ve long argued that social media platforms’ content moderation efforts restrict their free speech rights.

Musk Reportedly Cut Ukraine's Satellite Internet Service During Drone Attack

SpaceX cut off Starlink satellite internet service to Ukrainian submarine drones last year just as they were launching an attack on the Russian Black Sea Fleet, according to a new biography of SpaceX founder Elon Musk. The new details of the previously reported incident underscore how dependent multiple governments have become on a man who controls both a dominant means of high-speed communication and a major platform for public discourse, X.

Bipartisan Senators Introduce Framework to Regulate Artificial Intelligence

Senator Richard Blumenthal, Democrat of Connecticut, and Senator Josh Hawley, Republican of Missouri, plan to announce a sweeping framework to regulate artificial intelligence, in the latest effort by Congress to catch up with the technology. The leaders of the Senate judiciary’s subcommittee for privacy, technology and law said in interviews that their framework will include requirements for the licensing and auditing of A.I., the creation of an independent federal office to oversee the technology, liability for companies for privacy and civil rights violations, and requirements for data transparency and safety standards.

Trial in Google Antitrust Case Tests Limits of U.S. Control of Tech Companies

U.S. et al. v. Google is the federal government’s first monopoly trial of the modern internet era, as a generation of tech companies has come to wield immense influence over commerce, information, public discourse, entertainment and labor. The trial moves the antitrust battle against those companies to a new phase, shifting from challenging their mergers and acquisitions to more deeply examining the businesses that thrust them into power.

Australia to Require Deletion of AI-Created Child Porn from Search Engines

Australia will make search engines like Google and Bing take steps to prevent the sharing of child sexual abuse material created by artificial intelligence, the country's internet regulator said. A new code drafted by the industry giants at the government's request will require search engines to ensure that such content is not returned in search results, e-Safety Commissioner Julie Inman Grant said in a statement.

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.