Data Breaches Increase by 20% in Past Year, According to Apple-Funded Study

In the first nine months of 2023, U.S. data breaches increased by 20% compared to the full year 2022, according to a new study that was commissioned by Apple. The iPhone maker paid for the study, which was conducted by Massachusetts Institute of Technology Professor Stuart E. Madnick, about a year after it rolled out a new feature to expand end-to-end encryption for data stored in its iCloud service.

Spanish Media Outlets Sue Meta for Violating EU Data Protection Rules

A group representing 83 Spanish media outlets has filed a 550 million euro ($600 million) lawsuit against Facebook owner Meta Platforms, citing unfair competition in the advertising market in a case that could be replicated across the European Union. The AMI media association said in a statement the lawsuit was filed collectively by the newspapers with a commercial court, and allege Meta violated EU data protection rules between 2018 and 2023.

23andMe Says Hackers Accessed 14,000 Customer Accounts

Genetic testing company 23andMe announced that hackers accessed around 14,000 customer accounts in the company’s recent data breach. In a new filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission published Friday, the company said that, based on its investigation into the incident, it had determined that hackers had accessed 0.1% of its customer base.

Federal Regulators Push Labeling Systems for AI Healthcare Apps

Federal regulators are proposing a new labeling system for AI healthcare apps designed to make it easier for clinicians to spot the pitfalls and shortcomings of these tools. The Biden administration has proposed that these apps come with a “nutrition label” that discloses how the app was trained, how it performs, how it should be used and how it shouldn’t.

Judge Vows to Investigate Google for Deleting Evidence

Judge James Donato, who is s overseeing Epic v. Google, vowed to investigate Google for intentionally and systematically suppressing evidence, calling the company’s conduct “a frontal assault on the fair administration of justice.” Testimony in the trial — and in a parallel DOJ antitrust suit against Google in Washington, D.C. — revealed that Google automatically deleted chat messages between employees, and that employees all the way up to CEO Sundar Pichai intentionally used that to make certain conversations disappear.

EU Tech Regulators Want Meta to Provide Details on Child Sex Abuse

Meta Platforms was told by EU tech regulators to provide more details on measures taken to tackle child sexual abuse material on its photo and video sharing app Instagram by Dec. 22 or risk a formal investigation under new EU online content rules. The European Commission in October sent a first request for information on measures taken to counter the spread of terrorist and violent content, and a second last month on measures to protect minors.

Despite Task Force, Meta Still Working To Limit Underage-Sex Content

Meta Platforms set up a child-safety task force in June after The Wall Street Journal and researchers at Stanford University and the University of Massachusetts Amherst revealed that Instagram’s algorithms connected a web of accounts devoted to the creation, purchasing and trading of underage-sex content. Five months later, tests conducted by the Journal as well as by the Canadian Centre for Child Protection show that Meta’s recommendation systems still promote such content.

Google Seeks Antitrust Action Against Microsoft in Britain

Google has called on Britain’s antitrust regulator to take action against Microsoft, claiming its business practices had left rivals at a significant disadvantage, according to a letter seen by Reuters. Microsoft and Amazon have faced mounting scrutiny around the world over their dominance of the cloud computing industry, with regulators in Britain, the European Union, and the U.S. probing their market power.

Big Tech Companies Agree to 'Online Fraud Charter' with British Government

Eleven of the world's biggest tech companies, including Amazon.com, Alphabet's Google and Microsoft, will sign an agreement with the British government to step up their efforts to tackle online fraud, the interior ministry said. Under the "Online Fraud Charter," due to be signed at a meeting chaired by Interior Minister James Cleverly in London, the companies pledge to take further action to block and remove fraudulent content from their sites, the government said.

Canada, Google Reach Agreement on Paying News Publishers for Content

Canada’s government said it reached a deal with Google for the company to contribute $100 million Canadian dollars annually to the country’s news industry to comply with a new Canadian law requiring tech companies to pay publishers for their content. The agreement removes a threat by Google to block the ability to search for Canadian news on Google in Canada.

Google Sees 'Massive Increase' in Chinese Cyberattacks on Taiwan

China is waging a growing number of cyberattacks on neighboring Taiwan, according to cybersecurity experts at Alphabet Inc.’s Google. Google has observed a “massive increase” in Chinese cyberattacks on Taiwan in the last six months or so, said Kate Morgan, a senior engineering manager in Google’s threat analysis division, which monitors government-sponsored hacking campaigns.

Meta to Stop Political Ads One Week Before U.S. Presidential Election

The rules for political and social issue advertising on Facebook and Instagram during the 2024 presidential race will look a lot like past election cycles, parent company Meta Platforms Inc. told U.S. officials. The social media company will block new political ads one week before U.S. voters go to the polls next November, according to a post by Meta Global Affairs President Nick Clegg.

Hackers Who Targeted Okta Accessed Data from All Customer Support Users

Hackers who compromised Okta’s customer support system stole data from all of the cybersecurity firm’s customer support users, Okta said in a letter to clients obtained by CNBC, a far greater incursion than the company initially believed. The expanded scope opens those customers up to the risk of heightened attacks or phishing attempts, Okta warned.

  • Read the article: CNBC

Australia's Competition Watchdog Pushing for New Laws for Big Tech

Australia's competition watchdog said new competition laws were required in response to the rapid expansion of digital platforms such as Amazon, Apple, Google, Meta and Microsoft in the country. The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) in its latest report for the Digital Platform Services Inquiry raised concerns that the expansion of these platforms has increased the risk of them engaging in harmful behavior such as invasive data collection and practices that lock in customers and limit their choices.

Stock Photo Services Offering AI-Generated Images About News Events

As rapid advances in AI image-generation tools make automated images ever harder to distinguish from real ones, experts say their proliferation on sites such as Adobe Stock and Shutterstock threatens to hasten their spread across blogs, marketing materials and other places across the web, including social media — blurring lines between fiction and reality. Adobe Stock, an online marketplace where photographers and artists can upload images for paying customers to download and publish elsewhere, last year became the first major stock image service to embrace AI-generated submissions.

U.S., Other Countries Unveil International Agreement for AI Security

The United States, Britain and more than a dozen other countries unveiled what a senior U.S. official described as the first detailed international agreement on how to keep artificial intelligence safe from rogue actors, pushing for companies to create AI systems that are "secure by design." In a 20-page document, the 18 countries agreed that companies designing and using AI need to develop and deploy it in a way that keeps customers and the wider public safe from misuse.

Complaint Accuses Instagram of Illegally Collecting Children's Information

Meta has received more than 1.1 million reports of users under the age of 13 on its Instagram platform since early 2019 yet it “disabled only a fraction” of those accounts, according to a newly unsealed legal complaint against the company brought by the attorneys general of 33 states. Instead, the social media giant “routinely continued to collect” children’s personal information, like their locations and email addresses, without parental permission, in violation of a federal children’s privacy law, according to the court filing.

Australia Plans Legislation to Regulate Digital Payment Services

Australia's government said it would bring Apple Pay, Google Pay and other digital payment services under the same regulatory umbrella as credit cards and other payments as part of legislation set to be introduced to parliament. The legislation, first flagged last month, will broaden the legislation that empowers the Reserve Bank of Australia to regulate payments so that it applies to new and emerging technology.

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.