Apple Removes Gay Dating Apps in China from App Store

Apple has removed two of the most popular gay dating apps in China from the App Store after receiving an order from China’s main internet regulator and censorship authority, Wired has learned. The move comes as reports of Blued and Finka disappearing from the iOS App Store and several Android app stores circulated on Chinese social media over the weekend.

Roblox Accused of 'Deceiving Parents' About Dangers in Texas Lawsuit

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton says he has sued Roblox over "flagrantly ignoring" safety laws and "deceiving parents" about the dangers the online video gaming platform poses to young people. In a social media post he said Roblox is a "breeding ground for predators", accusing Roblox of putting "pixel pedophiles and corporate profit" over the safety of Texas children.

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Seven Lawsuits Accuse OpenAI of Driving People Into Delusional States

Families in the U.S. and Canada are suing OpenAI, alleging that loved ones have been harmed by interactions they had with the artificial-intelligence company’s popular chatbot, ChatGPT. Four of them died by suicide following the interactions. The seven lawsuits, filed in state courts in California on Thursday, claim people have been driven into delusional states, at times resulting in suicide, after engaging in lengthy chat sessions with the bot.

FBI Subpoena Seeks Information on Registrant of 'Archive' Domains

The FBI is attempting to track down the identity of the owner of Archive.today and its numerous mirrors, like Archive.is and Archive.ph. As reported by 404 Media, the FBI subpoena, which was posted on the official Archive.today X account, was sent to web domain registrar Tucows on October 30th demanding the “customer or subscriber name, address of service, and billing address” associated with Archive.today.

Congressional Budget Office Hacked by Suspected Foreign Actor

The Congressional Budget Office, lawmakers’ nonpartisan bookkeeper, was hacked by a suspected foreign actor, according to four people familiar with the situation, potentially exposing the key financial research data Congress uses to craft legislation. Officials discovered the incursion in recent days and now worry that communications between lawmakers’ offices and nonpartisan researchers could have been accessed by an adversary or one of its digital proxies, as well as internal email and office chat logs, said the people, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the matter publicly.

Motion Picture Association Wants Meta to Stop Using 'PG-13' Label

An attorney representing the Motion Picture Association, which has administered the parental-guidance ratings for films since 1968, sent Meta Platforms a cease-and-desist letter, taking aim at its use of the term “PG-13” in its descriptions of a new system to limit what young people can see. The letter said Meta’s assertions that content on Instagram’s teen accounts would be guided by PG-13 ratings are “literally false and highly misleading.”

Singapore's Parliament Passes Law Targeting Harmful Content Online

Singapore’s parliament passed a law giving authorities more powers to block harmful content on social media platforms, from TikTok to Instagram and Facebook, the city state’s latest move to curb online harms. Under the the Online Safety (Relief and Accountability) Bill, known as OSRA, authorities will be empowered to require Internet companies — including major social media platforms — to remove content deemed harmful, such as material promoting sexual abuse or online bullying.

U.S. Departments, Agencies Want to Ban Home Routers from TP-Link

More than a half-dozen federal departments and agencies backed a proposal to ban future sales of the most popular home routers in the United States on the grounds that the vendor’s ties to mainland China make them a national security risk, according to people briefed on the matter and a communication reviewed by The Washington Post. The proposal, which arose from a months-long risk assessment, calls for blocking sales of networking devices from TP-Link Systems of Irvine, California, which was spun off from a China-based company, TP-Link Technologies, but owns some of that company’s former assets in China.

Cybersecurity Workers Charged with Moonlighting as Criminal Hackers

Three employees at cybersecurity companies spent years moonlighting as criminal hackers, launching their own ransomware attacks in a plot to extort millions of dollars from victims around the country, U.S. prosecutors alleged in court filings. Ryan Clifford Goldberg, a former incident response supervisor at Sygnia Consulting Ltd., and Kevin Tyler Martin, who was a ransomware negotiator for DigitalMint, were charged with working together to hack five businesses starting in May 2023

Google, Epic Games Reach Settlement Over Android App Store Fees

Alphabet's Google said it has reached a comprehensive U.S. court settlement with “Fortnite” video game maker Epic Games, agreeing to Android and app store reforms aimed at lowering fees, boosting competition and expanding choices for developers and consumers. In a joint filing, in the federal court in San Francisco, the companies asked U.S. District Judge James Donato to consider a proposal resolving Epic’s 2020 antitrust lawsuit, which accused Google of illegally monopolizing how users access apps and make in-app purchases on Android devices.

Judge in London Dismisses AI Copyright Claims in Getty's Lawsuit

Getty Images largely lost its London lawsuit against artificial intelligence company Stability AI over its image generator, prompting Getty and some lawyers to call for stronger protections for copyright owners in Britain. Seattle-based Getty, which produces editorial content and creative stock images and video, accused Stability AI of using its images to "train" its Stable Diffusion system, which generates images from text inputs.

University of Pennsylvania Reports Cybersecurity Breach to FBI

The University of Pennsylvania has reported a mass cybersecurity breach to the Federal Bureau of Investigation following reports that the hack compromised data for millions of individuals. The breach resulted in mass scam emails sent from multiple University-affiliated email addresses that were addressed to the Penn community and contained criticisms of the University’s security practices and institutional purpose.

Man Released from Jail Five Weeks After Posting Charlie Kirk Meme

A retired police officer was released from Perry County Jail in Linden, Tennessee, more than five weeks since he was arrested at home after sharing a Facebook post about the killing of conservative activist Charlie Kirk in Utah. The post quoted President Donald Trump saying “we have to get over it” after a deadly 2024 school shooting in Iowa. Authorities in Perry County had held Larry Bushart on charges of threatening mass violence on school property, which he denied.

France Threatens to Ban Shein Over Sex Dolls 'Resembling Children'

The French government threatened to bar the Chinese fashion retailer Shein from selling its products online in the country and referred the company to the Paris prosecutor after an investigation found that sex dolls “resembling children” were being sold on the company’s platform in France. After receiving an anonymous tip, France’s consumer fraud agency said it had discovered the sale of lifelike dolls the size of little girls whose appearance “left little doubt as to the child pornography nature” of the items.

University of Southern California Files Patent Suit Over Google Maps

The University of Southern California has sued Google in Texas federal court, alleging that the tech giant's Google Earth, Maps and Street View applications violate its patent rights. USC said in the complaint, opens new tabfiled Monday that Google's map and navigation products infringe two patents related to technology for overlaying two-dimensional images onto three-dimensional models.

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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.