Parent of Paramount, CBS Reports Data Breach Affecting 80,000 People

National Amusements, the cinema chain and corporate parent giant of media giants Paramount and CBS, has confirmed it experienced a data breach in which hackers stole the personal information of tens of thousands of people. The private media conglomerate said in a legally required filing with Maine’s attorney general that hackers stole personal information on 82,128 people during a December 2022 data breach.

Substack's Founders Say They Won't Ban Nazi Symbols, Extremist Speech

Under pressure from critics who say Substack is profiting from newsletters that promote hate speech and racism, the company’s founders said that they would not ban Nazi symbols and extremist rhetoric from the platform. The response came weeks after The Atlantic found that at least 16 Substack newsletters had “overt Nazi symbols” in their logos or graphics, and that white supremacists had been allowed to publish on, and profit from, the platform.

FTC Proposes Changes to Children's Online Privacy Protection Act

The Federal Trade Commission proposed sweeping changes to bolster the key federal rule that has protected children’s privacy online, in one of the most significant attempts by the U.S. government to strengthen consumer privacy in more than a decade. The changes are intended to fortify the rules underlying the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act of 1998, a law that restricts the online tracking of youngsters by services like social media apps, video game platforms, toy retailers and digital advertising networks.

Italy Fines Meta $6.45 Million for Breaching Ban on Gambling Ads

Meta Platforms, the parent company of Facebook, has become the latest tech company to be fined in Italy for breaches of a ban on the advertising of gambling. Meta has been fined 5.85 million euros ($6.45 million) in connection with profiles and accounts on Facebook and Instagram, as well as sponsored content which promoted either betting or games with cash prizes, communications watchdog AGCOM said in a statement.

White House Blocking North Korea's Ability to Launder Cryptocurrency

Convinced North Korea primarily sees hacking as a way to funnel money back to the cash-strapped Kim Jong Un regime, the White House has focused on blocking the country’s ability to launder the cryptocurrency it steals through its cyberattacks. In the last year, the administration has unveiled a flurry of sanctions against North Korean hacking groups, front companies and IT workers, and blacklisted multiple cryptocurrency services they use to launder stolen funds.

Google to Pay $700 Million to Settle Antitrust Suit Over App Store

Google said that it would allow developers on its Play app store to offer direct payment options to users and would pay $700 million to settle an antitrust suit brought by state attorneys general, in the company’s latest move to navigate increased regulatory scrutiny of its power. The suit, brought in July 2021, accused Google’s app store of abusing its market power and forcing aggressive terms on software developers.

Meta's Oversight Board Rules Against Removal of Videos from War in Gaza

Meta Platform's Oversight Board said that the social media company erred in removing two videos depicting hostages and injured people in the Israel-Hamas conflict, saying the videos were valuable to understanding human suffering in the war. The videos about the conflict are the first time that the Oversight Board, an independent body that reviews content decisions on Meta's Facebook and Instagram, examined cases on an expedited basis.

Law Enforcement Agencies Seize Ransomware Gang's Website

An international group of law enforcement agencies have seized the dark web leak site of the notorious ransomware gang known as ALPHV, or BlackCat. “The Federal Bureau of Investigation seized this site as part of a coordinated law enforcement action taken against ALPHV Blackcat Ransomware,” a message on the gang’s dark web leak site now reads, seen by TechCrunch.

European Union Opens Formal Investigation of X for 'Deceptive' Practices

The European Union announced a formal investigation into X, the social media platform owned by Elon Musk, accusing it of failing to counter illicit content and disinformation, a lack of transparency about advertising and “deceptive” design practices. In going after X, the European Union is for the first time using the authority gained after last year’s passage of the Digital Services Act.

Brazil's First Lady Plans to Sue X After Hacker Accessed Her Account

Brazilian first lady Rosangela 'Janja' Lula da Silva said she will sue Elon Musk-owned social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter, after having her account hacked. The alleged hacker entered Janja's account on Dec. 11 and posted several messages, including insults against the first lady and President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, as well as misogynistic slurs.

Mortgage Company Says Hackers Stole Data on 14.6 Million Customers

Hackers stole the sensitive personal information of more than 14.6 million Mr. Cooper customers, the mortgage and loan giant has confirmed. In a filing with Maine’s attorney general’s office, Mr. Cooper said the hackers stole customer names, addresses, dates of birth and phone numbers, as well as customer Social Security numbers and bank account numbers.

Legal Filing Accuses Meta of Using Pirated Books to Train AI Models

Meta Platforms' lawyers had warned it about the legal perils of using thousands of pirated books to train its AI models, but the company did it anyway, according to a new filing in a copyright infringement lawsuit initially brought this summer. The new filing consolidates two lawsuits brought against the Facebook and Instagram owner by comedian Sarah Silverman, Pulitzer Prize winner Michael Chabon and other prominent authors, who allege that Meta has used their works without permission to train its artificial-intelligence language model, Llama.

Report Says UK at High Risk of 'Catastrophic' Ransomware Attack on Infrastructure

The UK is at high risk of a “catastrophic” ransomware attack that could bring critical national infrastructure to a standstill and cost the country tens of billions of pounds, according to a parliamentary report. Departments responsible for national infrastructure across the government are running outdated systems that put them in danger of a breach, said the Joint Committee on the National Security Strategy, or JCNSS. The committee, led by Labour politician Margaret Beckett, accused the government of failing to invest in protections ahead of the upcoming general election.

Apple Requires Judge's Order to Disclose Notification Data to Law Enforcement

Apple has said it now requires a judge's order to hand over information about its customers' push notification to law enforcement, putting the iPhone maker's policy in line with rival Google and raising the hurdle officials must clear to get app data about users. The new policy was not formally announced but appeared sometime over the past few days on Apple's publicly available law enforcement guidelines.

Judge Upholds Texas Law Banning State Workers from Using TikTok

A federal judge in Texas upheld a ban that prevented state employees from using TikTok, the Chinese-owned short-form video app, on government devices and networks, rejecting a challenge by lawyers who argued that the prohibition had violated the First Amendment. In his decision, Judge Robert L. Pitman of the United States District Court for the Western District of Texas said he agreed that the ban had prevented public university faculty from using state-provided devices and networks to research and teach about TikTok, but found that it was a “reasonable restriction” in light of Texas’ concerns about data privacy.

Support for Banning TikTok in U.S. Drops, Even Among Republicans

Americans’ support for a ban of TikTok has crumbled this year, even among Republicans, further undermining a Republican-led push to outlaw the popular video app nationwide. Roughly 38 percent of the U.S. adults polled by Pew Research Center this fall said they supported a federal TikTok ban, down from 50 percent in March, according to a survey.

Sony Investigating Claims by Ransomware Group Targeting Wolverine Game

Sony is investigating claims by the Rhysida ransomware group that it stole sensitive data from Insomniac Games, including personal information for the voice actor who portrayed Peter Parker in Spider-Man 2. Australian outlet Cyber Daily reported that the group had posted some of the data as proof of the hack and is currently auctioning the full set for around $2 million worth of bitcoin.

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.