California Lawmakers Pass Artificial-Intelligence Safety Bill

California lawmakers passed a hotly contested artificial-intelligence safety bill, after which it will need one more process vote before its fate is in the hands of Governor Gavin Newsom, who has until Sept. 30 to decide whether to sign it into law or veto it. Tech companies developing generative AI — which can respond to prompts with fully formed text, images or audio as well as run repetitive tasks with minimal intervention — have largely balked at the legislation, called SB 1047, saying it could drive AI companies from the state and hinder innovation.

Telegram Founder Charged in France with Not Stopping Illegal Activity

Pavel Durov, the Russian-born entrepreneur who founded the online communications tool Telegram, was charged in France with a wide range of crimes for failing to prevent illicit activity on the app, and barred from leaving the country. His indictment was a rare move by legal authorities to hold a top technology executive personally liable for the behavior of users on a major messaging platform, escalating the debate over the role of tech companies in online speech, privacy and security and the limits of their responsibility.

Iranian Government Hackers Accused of Targeting Presidential Campaigns

Iranian government hackers accused of breaching the Trump campaign with deceptive emails also used WhatsApp accounts to try to trick former Biden and Trump administration officials, parent company Meta said. Meta said it discovered the effort after users reported suspicious messages in which the hackers posed as customer support representatives from Microsoft, Google, Yahoo and AOL.

OpenAI Supports California Bill Requiring Labels on AI Content

ChatGPT developer OpenAI is supporting a California bill that would require tech companies to label AI-generated content, which can range from harmless memes to deepfakes aimed at spreading misinformation about political candidates. The bill, called AB 3211, has so far been overshadowed by attention on another California state artificial intelligence (AI) bill, SB 1047, which mandates that AI developers conduct safety testing on some of their own models.

Founder of Telegram Arrested in France in Probe of Child Porn

Pavel Durov, the Russian-born founder of messaging app Telegram, was arrested in France as part of an investigation into crimes related to child pornography, drug trafficking and fraudulent transactions on the platform, French prosecutors said. French President Emmanuel Macron, making the first official confirmation of Durov's arrest since he was detained at Le Bourget airport outside Paris on Saturday evening, said there was no political motive in the arrest, despite many false comments online.

Zuckerberg Says White House Pressured Meta to 'Censor' Covid-19 Content

Mark Zuckerberg, chairman and CEO of the social media company Meta, said in a letter to the House Judiciary committee that his teams were “pressured” by the Biden White House to censor some content around the Covid-19 pandemic. “In 2021, senior officials from the Biden Administration, including the White House, repeatedly pressured our teams for months to censor certain COVID-19 content, including humor and satire, and expressed a lot of frustration with our teams when we didn’t agree,” Zuckerberg said.

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Chinese Government-Backed Hackers Allegedly Penetrate U.S. ISPs

Chinese government-backed hackers have penetrated deep into U.S. internet service providers in recent months to spy on their users, according to people familiar with the ongoing American response and private security researchers. The unusually aggressive and sophisticated attacks include access to at least two major providers with millions of customers as well as to several smaller providers, people familiar with the separate campaigns said.

Internet Speeds Slow in Pakistan as Some Blame 'National Firewall'

Across Pakistan, Internet speeds have ground to a crawl in recent days, stoking uproar and fueling claims that the government is secretly testing a new firewall-like system to better surveil and control the country’s internet. The government denies responsibility for the slowdown, which has affected millions of users and disrupted businesses across the country.

X Says It Will Close Operations in Brazil After 'Censorship Orders'

Media platform X said it would close its operations in Brazil "effective immediately" due to what it called "censorship orders" by Brazilian judge Alexandre de Moraes. X, owned by billionaire Elon Musk, claims Moraes secretly threatened one of the company's legal representatives in the South American country with arrest if it did not comply with legal orders to take down some content from its platform.

U.S. Blames Iran for Hacking Attempts of Trump, Harris Campaigns

The FBI and U.S. intelligence agencies have confirmed Iran was responsible for recent attempted hacks into the Trump and Biden-Harris presidential campaigns, the agencies said in a joint statement. Campaign staffers received phishing emails that were designed to appear legitimate but could give an intruder access to the recipients’ communications, The Washington Post has previously reported, according to people familiar with the matter who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe a sensitive investigation.

Russian Spy Agencies Reportedly Using Phishing Attacks

Russian spy agencies are using deep knowledge about foreign and domestic opponents, reporters and human rights groups to target them with well-crafted phishing attacks, in some cases successfully, according to the groups and security researchers. Reports published by digital rights group Access Now and Canadian research nonprofit Citizen Lab include samples of the emails sent during the past two years to targets such as Russian rights organization First Department, which represents Russians accused of treason or espionage.

San Francisco Sues Companies That Create 'Deepfake Nudes'

The San Francisco City Attorney's office is suing companies that create "deepfake nudes," where artificial intelligence is used to turn photos of adults and children into pornography. City Attorney David Chiu announced a first-of-its-kind lawsuit against 16 of the most visited websites creating AI-generated nonconsensual explicit images, often of women and girls.

Google Accused of Selling Phones with 'Unvetted Insecure Software'

Google’s master software for some Android phones includes a hidden feature that is insecure and could be activated to allow remote control or spying on users, according to a security company that found it inside phones at a U.S. intelligence contractor. The feature appears intended to give employees at stores selling Pixel phones and other models deep access to the devices so they can demonstrate how they work, according to researchers at iVerify who shared their findings with The Washington Post.

Justice Department Officials Consider Asking Court to Break Up Google

Justice Department officials are considering what remedies to ask a federal judge to order against Google, said three people with knowledge of the deliberations involving the agency and state attorneys general who helped to bring the case. They are discussing various proposals, including breaking off parts of Google, such as its Chrome browser or Android smartphone operating system, two of the people said.

Lawmakers Want U.S. to Probe China's TP-Link for National Security Risks

Two U.S. lawmakers want the Biden administration to probe China's TP-Link Technology Co and its affiliates for potential national security risks from their widely used WiFi routers over fears they could be used in cyber attacks against the U.S. Republican Representative John Moolenaar and Democratic Representative Raja Krishnamoorthi, who lead the House Select Committee on China, requested a Commerce Department probe in a letter seen by Reuters.

Hacking Group Claims It Stole Almost 3 Billion Personal Records

Public advocates fear a possible tsunami of identity theft could be coming after a hacking group claims it was able to steal nearly 3 billion personal records, including Social Security numbers. The theft happened in April, according to a class-action lawsuit filed in federal court in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. It says the hacking group known as USDoD stole the records from National Public Data, which offers personal information to employers, private investigators and others who do background checks.

Meta Removes Accounts Promoting Fake Political Advocacy Group

A network of social media accounts used Meta to promote a fictitious political advocacy group that attempted to recruit conservative candidates to run as independents — part of a rush of campaigns infiltrating the platform ahead of the 2024 election. Meta removed dozens of social media accounts and pages amplifying Patriots Run Project, a group that purported to be a national grassroots organization but that appeared to be run by a small U.S.-based group, the RT Group.

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