Lawyers Predict Less Cryptocurrency Regulation Under Trump White House

Less enforcement in the cryptocurrency sector is on the horizon, as Republican President-elect Donald Trump prepares to reset policy at the Justice Department and regulatory agencies, current and former senior government lawyers said. Speaking at a conference in New York, the lawyers said financial fraud cases would still be brought, but that the new administration's Justice Department would prioritize other areas such as enforcing immigration laws — a major focus of Trump's campaign.

Trump Spokeswoman Says President-Elect 'Will Deliver' on TikTok

TikTok, the Chinese-owned video app set to be banned in the United States in two and a half months, is hoping that President-elect Donald J. Trump will find a way to rescue it after a smattering of promises to that effect on the campaign trail this year. Mr. Trump’s team says he will “deliver” on those promises — though the details are hazy.

OpenAI Outlines Proposal for Fewer Regulations to Incentivize New Projects

OpenAI outlined a proposal calling on the United States to support the artificial intelligence industry with a landmark infusion of funding and resources, previewing a potential lobbying and policy battle emerging for the incoming Trump administration. The proposal, presented by OpenAI’s head of global affairs, Chris Lehane, at a think tank event in Washington, calls for special economic zones with fewer regulations to incentivize new AI projects, a fleet of small nuclear reactors to power data centers aided by the U.S. Navy and a “North American Compact” allowing U.S. allies to collaborate to bolster the field, according to a document provided by OpenAI.

Meta Agrees to EU Concessions, Will Offer 'Less Personalized Ads'

Meta Platforms plans to give European users of Instagram and Facebook the option of receiving what it says are “less personalized ads,” a concession to regulators that risks hitting the company’s revenue in one of its largest markets. The social-media company plans in coming days to begin prompting users in Europe with the choice of the new ad format, without paying a fee, according to people briefed on the plans.

U.S. to Support UN Cybercrime Convention Despite Concerns of Misuse

The United States will support the United Nations cybercrime convention when it comes up for a vote this week, top officials said. The decision follows months of internal deliberations at the White House and other agencies over whether to support the treaty, which digital rights groups and other officials have raised serious concerns over due to its potential misuse by countries like Russia and China.

Businesses May Get Incentives to Bolster Cyber Defenses Under Trump

Businesses in critical infrastructure sectors — which have been besieged by hacking — should expect perks in exchange for improving their cyber defenses under the Trump administration, said Mark Montgomery, senior director of the Center on Cyber and Technology Innovation at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, a think tank focused on national security. Those incentives might include safe harbor or liability protections for cloud providers, for example.

Judge Dismisses Professor's Facebook Suit Over 'Unfollow Everyone' Tool

A federal judge dismissed a suit brought by a professor who wants to build a tool that allows Facebook users to unfollow everyone in their feed. Ethan Zuckerman, who teaches public policy at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, had asked a federal court to rule that Meta, Facebook’s owner, couldn’t sue him if he went through with his plan.

Trump Expected to Soften Regulation for Big Tech Companies

Donald Trump will likely dial back some of the antitrust policies pursued under the administration of President Joe Biden, potentially including a bid to break up Alphabet's Google over its dominance in online search, experts said. Trump is expected to continue cases against Big Tech, several of which began in his first term, but his recent skepticism about a potential Google breakup highlights the power he will hold over how those cases are run.

Read the article: Reuters

Canada Orders TikTok to Shut Business Operations, Citing National Security

Canada said it ordered TikTok Technology Canada, or the domestic unit of the social-media app’s China-based owner, to dissolve its business operations due to national-security concerns. The decision follows a review and is on the advice of the country’s security and intelligence agencies, said Industry Minister François-Philippe Champagne.

Indonesia Blocks iPhone, Google Pixel Over Local Manufacturing Requirement

Indonesia said it has banned sales of smartphones made by Alphabet's Google due to rules requiring the use of locally manufactured components, days after blocking sales of tech giant Apple's iPhone 16 for the same reason.Indonesia blocked sales of Google Pixel phones because the company has not met the rules which necessitate certain smartphones sold domestically to contain at least 40% of parts manufactured locally.

UK Court Rejects Meta's Bid to Challenge Class-Action Suit Over Personal Data

Meta Platforms Inc. failed in a bid to challenge a class action suit in the UK that alleged Facebook abused its dominant position and exploited its users’ personal data. The UK’s Court of Appeal refused to permit Meta and Facebook’s UK unit to challenge a competition appeals court which had greenlit a revised version of the lawsuit.

Georgia Secretary of State Asks Musk to Delete Fake Voting Video from X

Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger (R) said that his office asked Elon Musk, the owner of X, and the leadership of other social platforms to take down a video purporting to show a Haitian immigrant with multiple Georgia IDs who claimed to have voted multiple times. The secretary’s office said that the video is false and it is working to identify where the video originated.

Russian Hackers Target U.S. Officials via Spearphishing, Microsoft Says

Russian hackers are going after U.S. government officials, defense workers and others in a new email phishing campaign targeting thousands of people, according to Microsoft Corp. The hackers have sent “a series of highly targeted spearphishing emails” to thousands of people in more than 100 organizations since Oct. 22, according to a blog post from Microsoft Threat Intelligence.

Chinese Government-Linked Hackers Target Trump's Son, Son-in-Law

U.S. officials believe Chinese government-linked hackers targeted Eric Trump’s and Jared Kushner’s call and text data as the scale of a sweeping cyber-espionage campaign targeting senior figures in both the Republican and Democratic parties comes into focus just days before the U.S. election, with dozens of people believed to be impacted, three people familiar with the matter told CNN. Former President Donald Trump’s son and son-in-law join a growing list of top political figures whose phone communications US officials believe were targeted by the elite Chinese hacking team.

  • Read the article: CNN

Delta Air Lines Sues CrowdStrike for 'Catastrophic' Software Update

Delta Air Lines sued cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike in a Georgia state court after a global outage in July caused mass flight cancellations, disrupted travel plans of 1.3 million customers and cost the carrier more than $500 million. Delta's lawsuit filed in Fulton County Superior Court called the faulty software update from CrowdStrike "catastrophic" and said the firm "forced untested and faulty updates to its customers, causing more than 8.5 million Microsoft Windows-based computers around the world to crash."

Hacking of National Security Database Hits Italian Politicians

Italy was reeling from a weekend of revelations on hacking of a national security database, bringing to light attempts to dig up sensitive information on high-profile individuals in the business and political arenas. A senior member of the Senate and a former prime minister were among the politicians targeted by hackers hired to dig up sensitive information, daily Corriere della Sera reported.

Apple Wins Watch Design Patent Verdict Against Masimo, Gets $250

A federal jury in Delaware awarded Apple Inc. $250, finding the original designs of Masimo Corp.'s smartwatches infringed Apple Watch design patents. The jury’s mixed verdict marks the latest chapter of a long-running clash over smartwatch patents pitting Apple, a tech giant worth more than $3.5 trillion, against Masimo valued at $7.5 billion.

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.