Man Pleads Guilty to Cyberstalking Using AI Chatbots

A man from Massachusetts has agreed to plead guilty to a seven-year cyberstalking campaign that included using artificial intelligence chatbots to impersonate a university professor and invite men online to her home address for sex. James Florence, 36, used platforms such as CrushOn.ai and JanitorAI, which allow users to design their own chatbots and direct them how to respond to other users during chats, including in sexually suggestive and explicit ways, according to court documents seen by the Guardian.

Hackers Exploiting WordPress, Plug-Ins to Install Malware

Hackers are exploiting outdated versions of WordPress and plug-ins to alter thousands of websites in an attempt to trick visitors to download and install malware, security researchers have found. The hacking campaign is still “very much live,” said Simon Wijckmans, the founder and CEO of web security company c/side, which discovered the attacks.

DeepSeek AI App Removed from Apple, Google App Stores in Italy

The Chinese artificial intelligence app DeepSeek could not be accessed in Apple and Google app stores in Italy, the day after the country's data protection authority requested information on its use of personal data. Ireland's Data Protection Commission said it had also requested information from DeepSeek about data processing in relation to Irish users.

Meta Agrees to $25 Million Settlement with Trump Over Suspended Account

Meta Platforms has agreed to pay roughly $25 million to settle a 2021 lawsuit that President Trump brought against the company and its CEO after the social-media platform suspended his accounts following the attacks on the U.S. Capitol that year, according to people familiar with the agreement. Of that, $22 million will go toward a fund for Trump’s presidential library, with the rest going to legal fees and the other plaintiffs who signed onto the case.

Hackers Linked to Foreign Governments Using AI Technology

Hackers linked to China, Iran and other foreign governments are using new AI technology to bolster their cyberattacks against U.S. and global targets, according to U.S. officials and new security research. In the past year, dozens of hacking groups in more than 20 countries turned to Google’s Gemini chatbot to assist with malicious code writing, hunts for publicly known cyber vulnerabilities and research into organizations to target for attack, among other tasks, Google’s cyber-threat experts said.

U.K. Regulators Find Lack of Competition in Cloud-Services Market

Microsoft and Amazon Web Services could face an investigation by U.K. regulators after an independent enquiry found that competition isn’t working in the cloud-services market. The U.K. Competition and Markets Authority said that the enquiry provisionally found that the lack of competition could result in higher costs, less choice, less innovation and lower quality of service for businesses and organizations across the U.K. economy.

Google Asks EU Court to Overturn $4.5 Billion Antitrust Fine

A record EU antitrust fine of 4.3-billion-euro ($4.5 billion) imposed on Google seven years ago punished the tech giant over its innovation, the Alphabet unit told Europe's top court, as it asked judges to scrap the EU decision. Google's appeal to the Luxembourg-based Court of Justice of the European Union comes two years after a lower tribunal sided with the European Commission which said the company used its Android mobile operating system to quash rivals.

PayPal to Pay $2 Million Fine for Cybersecurity Failures Exposing SSNs

PayPal will pay a $2 million civil fine over cybersecurity failures that led to the exposure of customers' Social Security numbers in late 2022, New York state's Department of Financial Services said. Adrienne Harris, New York's financial services superintendent, said a probe by her office found PayPal failed to use qualified staff to manage key cybersecurity functions or provide adequate training to address cybersecurity risks.

Court Rules FBI's 'Backdoor' Searches Under FISA Unconstitutional

Following years of litigation, a federal court has finally ruled it unconstitutional for the FBI to search communications of U.S. citizens collected under Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA). In a ruling, U.S. District Court Judge LaShann DeArcy Hall decided that these “backdoor” searches violate the Fourth Amendment.

Nigerian Man Extradited to U.S. in Sextortion Scheme After Teen's Suicide

A Nigerian man has been extradited to the United States on charges that he targeted a 17-year-old South Carolina boy in a sextortion scheme that prosecutors contend led to the boy’s suicide, the U.S. Justice Department said. In July 2022, the man, Hassanbunhussein Abolore Lawal, posed as a college woman on social media and convinced the boy to send him sexually compromising images of himself, according to federal prosecutors.

DHS Terminates Probe of Chinese-Linked Hack of U.S. Telecoms

The Department of Homeland Security has terminated its advisory committees, wiping out decades of institutional experience and abruptly ending a sweeping investigation into the Chinese-linked hack of U.S. telecom companies, sources familiar with the move confirmed to CBS News. According to a memo signed by Acting DHS Secretary Benjamine C. Huffman, and obtained by CBS News, the decision to disband multiple advisory committees is being made "in alignment with the Department of Homeland Security's (DHS) commitment to eliminating the misuse of resources and ensuring that DHS activities prioritize our national security."

OpenAI Tells Indian Court U.S. Obligations Prevent Removing Training Data

OpenAI has told an Indian court that any order to remove training data powering its ChatGPT service would be inconsistent with its legal obligations in the United States, according to a recent filing seen by Reuters. The Microsoft-backed AI firm also said that it was not within the jurisdiction of Indian courts to hear a copyright breach case brought by local news agency ANI as OpenAI had no presence in the country.

Indonesia's Antitrust Agency Fines Google for Play Store Payment System

Indonesia's antitrust agency ordered Google to pay fines of around 202 billion rupiah ($12.4 million) for unfair business practices related to its payment system services for Google Play Store, its software distribution platform. The agency launched an investigation into Alphabet Inc's Google in 2022 on suspicion it had abused its dominant position by requiring Indonesian app developers to use Google Play Billing, at higher rates than other payment systems, or face removal from the Google Play Store.

Trump Pardons Creator of Silk Road Drug Marketplace Serving Life Sentence

President Trump granted a pardon to Ross Ulbricht, the creator of the Silk Road drug marketplace and a cult hero in the cryptocurrency and libertarian worlds. In doing so, Mr. Trump fulfilled a promise that he made repeatedly on the campaign trail as he courted political contributions from the crypto industry, which spent more than $100 million to influence the outcome of the election.

Trump Signs Executive Order Intended to Limit Restrictions on Social Media

President Donald Trump ordered that no federal officer, employee or agent may unconstitutionally abridge the free speech of any American citizen, an early step toward his campaign promise to dismantle what he called government “censorship” of U.S. citizens. The president’s executive order, issued just hours after he was sworn in to a second term, comes after Trump and his supporters have accused the federal government of pressuring social media companies to take down lawful posts over concerns around misinformation.

Carr, New FCC Chair, Vows to Focus on 'Tech and Media Regulation'

Brendan Carr is now formally the chair of the Federal Communications Commission, giving him the power to set the agency’s agenda and usher through a host of regulations with major implications for the tech and media industries as soon as he has a Republican majority. In a statement, Carr named a few areas of focus: “issues ranging from tech and media regulation to unleashing new opportunities for jobs and growth through agency actions on spectrum, infrastructure, and the space economy.”

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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.