Author: tmccarthy36

Internet Governance

D.C. Sues Facebook Over Cambridge Analytica Scandal: The Attorney General of the District of Columbia sued Facebook for its involvement in the Cambridge Analytica data scandal; the lawsuit comes in the wake of a New York Times report revealing that the company gave major technology firms including Apple, Netflix, and Amazon special access to users’ personal data and granted them exceptions to its privacy policies.

Uber Loses Appeal Over Drivers’ Employment Status: The U.K. Court of Appeal dismissed Uber’s appeal against employment tribunal rulings that Uber drivers should be classified as workers rather than as independent contractors; if upheld by the Supreme Court, the decision would require Uber to classify all of its drivers as workers, entitling them to workers’ rights such as minimum wage, sick days, and paid holidays.

Privacy

Consumer Groups Allege Google Misleads Kids: A group of consumer, privacy, and public health groups filed a complaint asking the Federal Trade Commission to investigate Google’s marketing of children’s apps in its Google Play Store; the complaint alleges that Google’s endorsement of certain “Family” apps as child-appropriate is misleading because some apps appear to violate the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act, contain adult content, require children to watch video advertisements, and  encourage children to make in-app purchases.

Information Security and Cyberthreats

U.S. Issues More Sanctions On Russian Hackers: The U.S. Treasury Department issued sanctions against 15 Russian military intelligence officers for their involvement in multiple campaigns against the U.S., including nine members of Russia’s intelligence service who were indicted by special counsel Robert Mueller for their alleged interference in the 2016 presidential election; the sanctions were imposed days after a report detailed Russia’s political disinformation campaign on U.S. social media was more far-reaching than previously understood, with troll farms working to discourage people from voting and exploiting political and racial divisions to help elect Trump in 2016.

EU Investigates Hacked Diplomatic Communications: The European Union is investigating a cyber hack of its diplomatic communications, allegedly by hackers working for China’s People’s Liberation Army; for years, hackers downloaded thousands of communications that revealed concerns about “the Trump administration, struggles to deal with Russia and China, and the threat of Iran reviving its nuclear program.”

Intellectual Property

German Court Grants Qualcomm’s Injunction Against Apple: Apple will stop selling certain models of the iPhone in German stores after a German court ruled that the phones’ use of a combination of chips from Intel and Qorvo violates a Qualcomm “envelope tracking” patent.

Free Expression and Censorship

Google’s Dragonfly Suspended Indefinitely: Development of the censored search engine has been put on hold after an internal rift forced Google engineers to shut down a crucial data analysis system that involved examining queries that Chinese users entered into Beijing-based search engine 265.com.

Practice Note

European Court Will Decide Responsibility For Facebook “Like” Button: The European Court of Justice heard arguments in a case that will decide whether websites that embed data-collecting widgets such as Facebook’s “Like” button are jointly responsible for complying with data collection requirements under the GDPR.

On The Lighter Side

Parrot Befriends Alexa: A mischievous parrot named Rocco was caught using Amazon’s Alexa to order snacks and other items.

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Joel R. Reidenberg
Stanley D. and Nikki Waxberg Chair and Professor of Law
Founding Academic Director, Fordham CLIP

Tom Norton 
Executive Director, Fordham CLIP

Tommine McCarthy 
Subrina Chowdhury 
Editorial Fellows, Fordham CLIP

Internet Governance

White House Requires Agencies To Strengthen Cybersecurity: A memo issued by the Office of Management and Budget expands the criteria of what constitutes a “high-value asset” and instructs all federal agencies to work with the Department of Homeland Security to ensure those assets are adequately protected.

FCC Allows Carriers To Block Texts: The Federal Communications Commission voted to classify SMS text messages as a Title I “information service” under the Telecommunications Act in an effort to enable phone companies to block spam; critics argue that the decision gives wireless carriers the ability to censor messages and hike rates.

Privacy

Study Shows Apps Track Every Move: A New York Times investigative report explains how thousands of apps aggregate users’ precise location data – sometimes to within a few yards and updated 14,000 times a day – and sell it to advertisers, retailers, and hedge funds seeking consumer insights; while companies that use location data note that phone users who enable location services consent to their information being collected, critics argue that privacy policies do not adequately explain the extent of tracking.

Senators Introduce Privacy Bill: The proposed Data Care Act would assign online service providers fiduciary-like duties and would require the Federal Trade Commission to draft rules for fining companies that misuse private data; the draft is designed to complement rather than replace other bills recently introduced in Congress to protect consumer privacy.

Information Security and Cyberthreats

Another Google+ Bug: Following an October revelation that a vulnerability exposed profile data from 500,000 Google+ accounts, Google discovered a second bug that affected 52.5 million profiles; as a result, Google announced it will shut down the social media service four months earlier than planned.

Audit Shows Border Officers’ Improper Data Processing: The Department of Homeland Security’s Office of the Inspector General released an audit revealing that U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers recklessly handle the personal data of travelers entering the country; one finding exhibits the agency’s failure to delete data on USB drives after traveler information is uploaded to CBP servers.

Intellectual Property

First Sale Doctrine Doesn’t Protect Digital Music Resale: In Capitol Records LLC v. ReDigi Inc., the Second Circuit ruled that ReDigi, an online marketplace for reselling legally-purchased digital music files, infringed copyright holders’ reproduction rights because ReDigi’s technology created unauthorized new copies of digital files instead of merely transferring existing files to a new user.

Free Expression and Censorship

Google Faces Russian Fine: Russia fined the tech giant 500,000 rubles ($7,530) for failing to comply with a legal requirement that it censor its search results by removing certain entries; the fine comes a month after Moscow opened a civil case against the company for its failure to join a registry showing that it lists Kremlin-banned websites.

Practice Note

Health Tracking Lawsuit Dismissal Affirmed: The Ninth Circuit affirmed dismissal of a suit alleging that Facebook illegally gathered data about user-plaintiffs’ visits to medical websites; the Court found that the users had consented to the tracking and collection by agreeing to Facebook’s privacy policy, and that their browsing history on the medical websites was not so “sensitive” or “qualitatively different” that it fell outside the scope of Facebook’s terms of service.

On The Lighter Side

Bee Backpacks Keep Wearable Tech Buzzing: Researchers at the University of Washington have developed a 102-milligram sensor system that rides on the backs of bumblebees and collects data about temperature, humidity, and light intensity.

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Joel R. Reidenberg
Stanley D. and Nikki Waxberg Chair and Professor of Law
Founding Academic Director, Fordham CLIP

Tom Norton 
Executive Director, Fordham CLIP

Tommine McCarthy 
Subrina Chowdhury 
Editorial Fellows, Fordham CLIP

Internet Governance

DOJ And SEC Subpoena Snap: The DOJ and SEC subpoenaed Snap for information regarding its March 2017 IPO; the subpoena comes in the wake of an ongoing shareholder lawsuit alleging that Snap misled investors by, among other things, failing to disclose a pre-IPO lawsuit claiming that the company had misrepresented user metrics and failing to reveal the effects of competition from Instagram.

Privacy

UK Data Watchdog Monitors DeepMind: The Information Commissioner’s Office will monitor artificial intelligence lab DeepMind’s handoff of its Health unit to Google Health; the reshuffling, which comes as part of an effort to scale DeepMind’s Streams app into an “AI-powered assistant for nurses and doctors everywhere” stokes concerns that Google will now have direct access to National Health Service patients’ records, which ICO determined DeepMind illegally accessed while developing the Streams app last year.

Information Security and Cyberthreats

Bill Cements Cybersecurity Agency In DHS: A bill establishing the new Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency within the Department of Homeland Security heads to President Trump’s desk to be signed into law; the bill also rebrands DHS’s main cybersecurity unit — the National Protection and Programs Directorate — as the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Protection Agency, solidifying the DHS’s role as the main federal agency overseeing civilian cybersecurity.

Beware Of Fake Bitcoin Giveaways: A number of high-profile, verified Twitter accounts, including Target and Google’s G-Suite, were hacked as part of a fraudulent Bitcoin giveaway that scammed users out of their cryptocurrencies; it is unclear how the scammers gained access to the brands’ accounts, and Twitter is working on counter security measures to prevent further breaches following earlier criticism of its failure to devise a clear defense against this type of incident.

Intellectual Property

YouTube Decries Article 13: CEO Susan Wojcicki argued that the EU’s proposed copyright directive, which would make internet companies responsible for infringement on their platforms, is “unrealistic” because of the technical and financial capabilities required for compliance; the EU will conduct its final vote on the controversial directive in January.

Free Expression and Censorship

France Joins Facebook To Combat Hate Speech: For the first time, the social media giant is allowing a small team of French regulators to monitor its systems for combatting hate speech; the six-month partnership will start in early 2019 and is designed to result in “joint, precise, and concrete” regulatory proposals.

China Deletes Accounts Tied To Independent Media: The Cyberspace Administration of China removed 9,800 social media accounts, including those belonging to independent sources that are not state-registered and produce original content ranging from investigative journalism to celebrity gossip, on the basis that they posted “sensational, vulgar or politically harmful content.”

Practice Note

Patent Assignor Can Challenge Validity In IPR: In Arista Networks, Inc. v. Cisco Sys., Inc., the Federal Circuit recently held that assignor estoppel did not apply to bar a patent assignor from later challenging the assigned patent in an inter partes review proceeding.

On The Lighter Side

Pumping The Breaks On “Teslaquila” Trademark: After Tesla filed a trademark application for “Teslaquila,” Mexico’s Tequila Regulatory Council warned that the name evokes the protected term “Tequila,” and thus the company would have to “associate itself with an authorized tequila producer, comply with certain standards and request authorization from Mexico’s Industrial Property Institute.”

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Joel R. Reidenberg
Stanley D. and Nikki Waxberg Chair and Professor of Law
Founding Academic Director, Fordham CLIP

Tom Norton 
Executive Director, Fordham CLIP

Tommine McCarthy 
Subrina Chowdhury 
Editorial Fellows, Fordham CLIP

Internet Governance

UK Proposes Big Tech Tax: Chancellor Philip Hammond proposed a 2% digital services tax on the UK-generated revenues of search engines, social media platforms, and online marketplaces that are profitable and achieve global revenue above £500m per year; U.S. political leaders and business groups expressed concern that the tax proposal may violate tax agreements by targeting U.S. firms, spark U.S. retaliation, and hurt prospects for a U.S.-UK trade deal.

Waymo Takes The Wheel: California granted Waymo, the self-driving car startup of Google parent Alphabet, a first-of-its-kind permit to test fully driverless cars on public roads in the state; while the vehicles may not travel faster than 65 miles per hour, they are allowed to drive in fog and light rain and operate in parts of Mountain View, Sunnyvale, Los Altos, Los Altos Hills, and Palo Alto in Northern California.

Privacy

AI Lie Detector To Question EU Travelers: In an EU-funded six-month pilot program, travelers at border crossing points in Hungary, Latvia, and Greece will be administered an automated lie-detection test by animated AI border agent “iBorderCtrl”; which will ask travelers questions, record the travelers’ faces to analyze micro-gestures, and score each response before either providing a QR code that permits the traveler to pass through the border or directing the traveler to a human agent for further assessment.

Information Security and Cyberthreats

Aerospace Companies Hacked By Chinese Spies: The Justice Department charged two Chinese Ministry of State Security officers, six hackers, and two aerospace company insiders for allegedly leading a five-year operation to steal the technology behind a turbofan engine used in commercial airliners by hacking U.S. and French aerospace companies using malware and spear fishing techniques.

White House Monitors Foreign Election Interference: The FBI, the Justice Department, and the Department of Homeland Security are working with the National Security Council to monitor possible foreign interference in next week’s congressional elections, and will sanction any company or individual found to interfere through hacking or disinformation efforts; the Justice Department will also launch an “election interference command post” to help the FBI rapidly communicate with its different field offices around the country on election day.

Intellectual Property

The Right to Repair: The U.S. Copyright Office carved out new exemptions to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act that allow for the lawful circumvention of digital locks on voice assistants, tablets, smartphones, and vehicles so that consumers and third-parties acting on their behalf may repair such devices without violating copyright law.

Free Expression and Censorship

Twitter Reverses On Pipe Bomber’s Tweets: The social media platform apologized for denying a user’s request to address Cesar Sayoc Jr.’s threatening tweets weeks before he was charged with sending explosive devices to prominent critics of President Trump; other platforms continue to face backlash for not adequately monitoring hate speech, including Instagram for its initial refusal to remove content about Sayoc before reversing course due to public outcry.

Practice Note

Major Case Law Project Unveiled: In an effort to make a complete, searchable database of state and federal cases free on the Internet, Harvard Law launched the Caselaw Access Project with nearly 6.5 million decisions; while the primary documents have always been in the public domain, the project makes them accessible to anyone with Internet connection.

On The Lighter Side

Art Is In The AI Of The Beholder: An AI-generated painting recently fetched $432,500 at a Christie’s auction.

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Joel R. Reidenberg
Stanley D. and Nikki Waxberg Chair and Professor of Law
Founding Academic Director, Fordham CLIP

Tom Norton 
Executive Director, Fordham CLIP

Tommine McCarthy 
Subrina Chowdhury 
Editorial Fellows, Fordham CLIP

Internet Governance

FCC Makes Case For Net Neutrality Repeal: The Federal Communications Commission filed a brief with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit to defend its recent repeal of the 2015 net neutrality rules, marking its first move to defend a challenge by 22 states, consumer advocates, and technology companies that contend the repeal was arbitrary and capricious; the brief argues that the agency acted within its discretion in rolling back the rules and presents evidence that the rules stifled investment in broadband networks.

SEC Warning:  The Securities and Exchange Commission issued an investigative report warning that public companies’ failure to consider cyber threats in their internal accounting controls may violate federal law; the report stems from the SEC’s investigation of nine companies victimized by “business email compromise” frauds, in which cyber criminals pose as company executives to deceive employees into sending company funds to bank accounts controlled by the hackers.

Privacy

TSA Unveils Biometrics Roadmap: The Transportation Security Administration published a roadmap for expanding the use of biometrics in airports across the country to strengthen security and improve the travel experience; while the roadmap only hints at addressing privacy issues in later studies, the Administration plans to begin working with U.S. Customs and Border Protection on biometric security for international travel, put biometric technology into use for TSA PreCheck  travelers, and eventually use biometric data for screening at airport security checkpoints.

Anthem Pays Record $16 Million Settlement: Anthem agreed to pay a record $16 million to the Department of Health and Human Services and Office for Civil Rights to settle potential violations of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) Privacy and Security Rules after a series of cyberattacks led to the largest health data breach in history and exposed the electronic health information — including names, birth dates, Social Security numbers, and medical IDs — of nearly 79 million people in 2015; Anthem also agreed to take corrective steps to comply with HIPAA, including assessing its electronic security risks, taking appropriate countermeasures, and maintaining surveillance.

Information Security and Cyberthreats

Penta-gone! 30,000 Personal Records Swiped: The Pentagon announced that a cyber breach at an unnamed contractor that maintains the Defense Department’s travel records compromised the personal information and credit card data of nearly 30,000 U.S. military and civilian staffers; the Department is unsure about when the initial breach occurred, and a Pentagon spokesperson stated that the Department will “continue to assess the risk of harm and will ensure notifications are made to impacted personnel whose PII may have been compromised.”

Intellectual Property

Facebook Demotes Inauthentic Content: Facebook is displaying articles that are stolen and republished with little or no modification less prominently; the new Publisher Guidelines will hopefully curtail copyright infringement by reducing the illicit websites’ referral traffic and ad revenue, and thus discourage content misappropriation.

Free Expression and Censorship

Google Confirms Censored Search Engine For China: CEO Sundar Pichai confirmed that Google will launch a search engine that automatically removes websites banned by the Chinese government from search results; in response to backlash from constituents such as Google employees and the U.S government, Pichai defended the project by arguing it could provide “information better than what’s available” to people in China presently.

Wikimedia Warns Of Stifled Criticism: TVEyes, a service that records television content and compiles it into a searchable database of 10-minute clips, filed a petition for Supreme Court review after the Second Circuit rejected TVEyes’s fair use argument and upheld Fox News’s copyright infringement claims; an amicus brief filed by the Wikimedia Foundation argues that the ruling permits copyright owners to “stifle criticism and undermines established fair use principles that are vital for media commentary.”

Practice Note

ABA Issues Opinion On Lawyers’ Obligation After Data Breach: The ABA issued a formal opinion that addresses a lawyer’s duty in the event of a data breach that destroys or discloses client confidences; the opinion only provides guidance for the breach of client data, not other data breaches that may also require action on the part of an attorney or firm.

On The Lighter Side

MIT Will Open College Of Computing: As pressure mounts on the U.S. to stay competitive in the global AI race, MIT is opening a college of computing that will focus on educating a new generation of artificial intelligence experts; the training will also bridge the talent gap in the AI hiring pipeline for human-powered industries such as customer service and trucking.

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Joel R. Reidenberg
Stanley D. and Nikki Waxberg Chair and Professor of Law
Founding Academic Director, Fordham CLIP

Tom Norton 
Executive Director, Fordham CLIP

Subrina Chowdhury
Tommine McCarthy
Editorial Fellows, Fordham CLIP

Internet Governance

California Sued Over Net Neutrality: Internet, cable, and wireless providers filed a federal lawsuit seeking to block California’s new statute mandating net neutrality rules, following a separate lawsuit filed by the Department of Justice; the lawsuit alleges California’s law is a “classic example of unconstitutional state regulation” and urges the court to block the legislation before it takes effect on January 1.

Amazon Raises Minimum Wage: Following months of public criticism about its labor practices, Amazon announced it will begin paying all U.S. employees, including part-time, seasonal, and temporary workers, at least $15 an hour and all U.K. employees at least £9.50; Amazon also revealed that it will begin lobbying Congress to raise the federal minimum wage, which has been set at $7.25 for almost a decade.

Privacy

EU Enforcement Can Access Telecom Data: The European Court of Justice ruled that national law enforcement authorities may access individuals’ basic information, such as addresses and phone numbers, held by telecommunication companies when investigating minor criminal offenses so long as the data-gathering does not seriously infringe their privacy rights; the decision arises as the court is dealing with several privacy disputes, including efforts to extend the “Right to be Forgotten” worldwide and upcoming hearings related to the legality of the EU-U.S. Privacy Shield.

Suspect Unlocks iPhone With Face: In what may be a world first, the FBI forced a suspect to unlock his iPhone X using Apple’s Face ID feature and searched photos and chats on the iPhone, allegedly finding material and conversations associated with child pornography; while courts ruled that there is a difference between a facial or fingerprint recognition system and a passcode typed into a phone, the case raises an interesting legal question of whether a person can be compelled to unlock his or her phone by looking at it.

Information Security and Cyberthreats

Sentenced for ATM “Jackpotting”: A federal judge sentenced a man from Springfield, Massachusetts to twelve months and one day of imprisonment for his role in an ATM “jackpotting” scheme, marking the first time someone in the U.S. is imprisoned for this form of ATM hacking; according to the Department of Justice, the hackers dressed as legitimate repair technicians to install malware on an ATM while others used the malware to extract the cash.

Irish Regulator Opens Facebook Investigation: The Irish Data Protection Commissioner commenced an investigation into a massive cyberattack that allowed hackers access to more than 50 million accounts, potentially costing Facebook more than $1.63 billion in fines; the investigation will examine “Facebook’s compliance with its obligation under the GDPR to implement appropriate technical and organizational measures to ensure the security and safeguarding of the personal data it processes.”

Intellectual Property

Vigilante Prevents Waymo Patent: Eric Swildens, an engineer with no connection to the self-driving industry, spent $6,000 of his own funds to successfully argue that the lidar circuit in Waymo’s patent already existed, causing the US Patent and Trademark Office to deny 53 of out Waymo’s 56 claims; the same patent was at issue in Waymo’s lawsuit against Uber in December 2016, which resulted in Uber agreeing to redesign its lidar instrument and give Waymo $254 million worth of equity, a resolution that now seems unnecessary.

Groupon Settles IBM Patent Infringement Claim:  Having previously argued in court that some of IBM’s patents involving pre-internet technology from the 1980s are outdated, Groupon agreed to pay $57 million to settle IBM’s infringement claims and entered into a long-term cross-licensing deal; IBM, which maintains over 45,000 technology patents, previously litigated patent infringement suits against titans such as Twitter, Amazon, and Expedia.

Free Expression and Censorship

Alphabet Takes on DNS Manipulation: Jigsaw, an Alphabet incubator tasked with addressing global security challenges, developed a tool called Intra that defends Android users against attacks on free speech by encrypting connection to the DNS server and pointing to Google’s own DNS servers, which prevents authoritarian governments from denying access to information deemed off-limits;  DNS manipulation is widespread with more than 60 countries, including Iran, China, and Turkey censoring parts of the Internet.

Infowars Publisher Sues PayPal: After PayPal banned his account for violating its policy against promoting hate and discriminatory intolerance in September, Alex Jones, publisher of Infowars, sued the digital payment platform, complaining of “viewpoint discrimination” against political conservatives that permeates technology companies; PayPal spokesperson, Kim Eichorn, responded, “PayPal believes the claims in the complaint are without merit.”

Practice Note

California Overhauls Ethics Rules: California’s ethics rules will be in-line with the ABA Model Rules of Professional Conduct starting November 1, which means all U.S. states will track the Model Rules; Dennis Rendleman, lead senior counsel for ethics for the ABA’s Center for Professional Responsibility, in reflecting on lawyers’ increasingly multi-jurisdictional practice, stated, “It’s better for the rules to be consistent from state to state … [s]o the development in California, which of course is one of the largest economies in the country, is a positive development.”

On The Lighter Side

9 Million Wikipedia Links Rescued: Internet Archive, a nonprofit digital library, reinstated 9 million previously broken Wikipedia links and intends on continuing its efforts with Wikipedia as well as other media such as e-books and academic papers; replacing broken links with their archived versions boosts the credibility of Wikipedia, preserves internet history, and expands access to original sources.

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Joel R. Reidenberg
Stanley D. and Nikki Waxberg Chair and Professor of Law
Founding Academic Director, Fordham CLIP

Subrina Chowdhury
Tommine McCarthy
Editorial Fellows, Fordham CLIP

Internet Governance

Stopping Fintechs: The New York Department of Financial Services filed a suit against the U.S. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency to repeal its decision permitting payment services like Venmo and online lenders to apply for national bank charters, stating the move violated the Constitution’s Tenth Amendment and put vulnerable consumers at risk of exploitation.

Hunting Pirates: The Supreme Court of Canada unanimously held media makers and other copyright holders must pay internet service providers “reasonable” compensation to link pirates’ IP addresses to customers’ personal data; the Supreme Court asked a lower court to determine the “reasonable” amount that internet service providers should be reimbursed for identifying subscribers accused of infringing on copyrights.

Privacy

Protecting Children’s Privacy: New Mexico Attorney General Hector Balderas filed a federal lawsuit against Tiny Lab Productions and its contracted advertisers, including Google and Twitter, for allegedly sending children’s location, demographic, and other personal information to advertisers without parental consent; the Attorney General also claims Google gave its customers the false impression that the apps adhere to child privacy policies by marketing the apps in the family section of its online store.

Amazon Under Preliminary Antitrust Probe: The European Commission launched a preliminary antitrust investigation into Amazon’s use of data on third-party merchants to determine whether retailers are being placed at a disadvantage; Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager stated her office received complaints and sent questionnaires to retailers who do business with Amazon to gather more information.

Information Security and Cyberthreats

Newegg Data Breach: Hardware retailer Newegg suffered a data breach that exposed customers’ credit card information for a month to Magecart, the same group behind the British Airways and Ticketmaster UK breaches earlier this year; the hackers injected a 15-line credit card-skimming code into Newegg’s payments webpage and sent the data to a server with a similar domain name and an HTTPS certificate controlled by the hackers.

UK Fines Equifax: The UK Information Commissioner’s Office (“ICO”) fined Equifax’s UK arm for 500,000 pounds for failing to protect up to 15 million citizens’ personal data; ICO found significant problems with Equifax’s data retention, IT system patching, and audit procedures and discovered the company failed take appropriate steps to fix a critical vulnerability identified by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

Intellectual Property

Modernizing Music: The Senate unanimously passed a bill that revamps Section 115 of the U.S. Copyright Act by making music licensing easier and more rewarding for rights holders, compensating songwriters and artists for pre-1972 creations, and improving payouts for producers and engineers when their recordings are used on satellite and online radio; reflecting on the bill’s likelihood of becoming law, Mitch Glazier, the president of the Recording Industry Association of America, said that the Music Modernization Act, “moves us toward a modern music licensing landscape better founded on fair market rates and fair pay for all.”

USPTO Seeks Artificial Intelligence: In hopes of moving quicker without compromising integrity, the United States Patent and Trademark Office (“USTPO”)  issued a request for information about an artificial intelligence solution that would aid the agency’s internal search function as it reviews patent applications; one challenge the USTPO hopes to address is the ever-changing nature of language as applicants and innovation cultivate new terms, which makes keyword searches difficult.

Free Expression and Censorship

China Collaborates on Artificial Intelligence: Facing rigid content restrictions, U.S. tech giants, such as Google, Microsoft, and Amazon, are finding an opportunity to make headway into the Chinese economy and data through artificial intelligence; for example, Google has introduced a new line of AI-backed products, which marks its first new consumer product in China since its search engine was largely blocked in 2010.

Registering Domains with “Seven Dirty Words”: The National Telecommunications and Information Administration rescinded its rule prohibiting the “seven dirty words” in domain names; after back-and-forth views between a registrant, the Electronic Frontier Foundation, and Harvard Law School,  the government found that Federal Communications Commission v. Pacifica Foundation only restricts the language on over-the-air broadcasts and thus the First Amendment protects the “seven dirty words” in domain name registrations.

Practice Note

Free Access to Public Judiciary Records? Republican Congressman Doug Collins introduced legislation that gives free access to documents on the federal judiciary’s website PACER, instead of charging 10 cents per page; in addition to cutting costs for the legal community, the legislation would allow readers to readily access external site links to the electronic records and enable the use of modern software to analyze legal files and evaluate biases and other trends in the judicial system.

On The Lighter Side

New Robo-Dog Litter: For those interested in experiencing evolving AI at home, Sony’s latest Aibo robot puppy is now on sale in the U.S.; the adorable mechanical pet recognizes up to 100 faces, develops a personality that changes (and becomes more obedient with training) over time, and even plugs itself in by walking to its charging station.

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Joel R. Reidenberg
Stanley D. and Nikki Waxberg Chair and Professor of Law
Founding Academic Director, Fordham CLIP

Subrina Chowdhury
Tommine McCarthy
Editorial Fellows, Fordham CLIP

Internet Governance

Tech Meeting on Capitol Hill: While Google declined to make a C-suite executive available for the hearing, Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg and Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey testified to the Senate Intelligence Committee about their efforts to curb foreign interference in U.S. elections and whether Twitter is biased in how it monitors online accounts; directly after the hearing ended, the Department of Justice stated that Attorney General Jeff Sessions “has convened a meeting with a number of state attorneys general this month to discuss a growing concern that these companies may be hurting competition and intentionally stifling the free exchange of ideas on their platforms.”

‘Stop BEZOS Act’: Senator Bernie Sanders introduced a bill entitled “Stop Bad Employers by Zeroing Out Subsidies Act” that would require companies with at least 500 employees to pay a one-hundred percent tax on government benefits received by workers, following similar legislation introduced in Congress last summer by Representative Ro Khanna; while Sanders claimed Amazon’s employees are paid inadequate wages and rely on federal benefits to cover their families’ basic needs, Amazon argued Sanders’ figures are “inaccurate and misleading” because they include temporary and part time workers.

Privacy

‘Five Eyes’ on Encrypted Data:  Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen and her counterparts from Britain, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand, the so-called Five Eyes nations, issued a joint memo calling on technology firms to create workarounds to their encrypted products and services so the governments may lawfully access encrypted e-mails, text messages and voice communications; while technology firms have not yet commented on the memo, Facebook’s global public policy lead on security Gail Kent wrote in May that “cybersecurity experts have repeatedly proven that it’s impossible to create any back door that couldn’t be discovered — and exploited — by bad actors. It’s why weakening any part of encryption weakens the whole security ecosystem.”

LinkedIn Recruits Spies? U.S. counter-intelligence chief William Evanina claims that Chinese espionage agencies are using fake LinkedIn accounts to recruit spies in America with access to government and commercial secrets and asked Microsoft, the owner of LinkedIn, to shut down the alleged fake accounts; while German and British authorities previously cautioned their citizens that China is using LinkedIn to recruit spies, this is the first time a U.S official publicly discussed the issue.

Information Security and Cyberthreats

Spy Gets Spied Upon: mSpy, an app that allows people to track their children, loved ones, or anyone else, leaked more than two million sensitive records, including personal passwords, text messages, contacts, notes, and even location data for mSpy users; the leak emerged when security researcher Nitish Shah found mSpy’s online database did not require authentication and allowed anyone to find up-to-the-minute records for customer transactions and mobile phone data.

Intellectual Property

Facebook v. Blackberry: Facebook filed a complaint against Blackberry in the U.S. District Court of the Northern District of California claiming six patent infringements, including “Voice Instant Messaging”; the allegation comes only months after Blackberry filed a lawsuit against Facebook and its subsidiaries, WhatsApp and Instagram, in March which also involved messaging patents.

EU Copyright Reform Warning: The Wikimedia Foundation issued a blog post that warns against the EU copyright reform that will be voted on next week, which proposes a copyright for snippets of journalistic content online and shifting liability for platform users’ copyright infringements onto the platforms themselves; supporters argue the legislation will help fairly recompense European creatives for their work.

Free Expression and Censorship

Saudi Arabia Punishes Satire: Saudi Arabia’s Public Prosecution tweeted on Monday that posting satire online that “mocks, provokes, or disrupts public order, religious values and public morals” could result in an $800,000 fine and up to 5 years in jail; the restriction was announced amidst the apparent crackdown over the past year on critics of the government.

Apple Pride Watch Face Removed in Russia: iOS developer Guilherme Rambo discovered that the pride Apple watch face is “hardcoded to not show up if the paired iPhone is using the Russian locale”; Apple’s removal is an apparent attempt to abide by a Russian “gay propaganda” law passed in 2013 which makes actions such as supporting LGBTQ rights punishable by jail time.

Practice Note

Development of Domain Name Jurisprudence: Panels appointed to adjudicate nearly 50,000 domain name disputes under the Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy have developed a complex jurisprudence of domain names, including certain evidentiary hurdles for complainants and respondents; as a result, there has been an emergence of counsel who have expertise in domain names.

On The Lighter Side

AP Computer Science Female, Minority Students on the Rise: Thanks to an introductory course in tech skills, a record number of female, black, and Latino students took the Advanced Placement computer science course this year according to the College Board; the program is designed to expose high school students, especially those belonging to groups currently underrepresented in the tech industry, to computer science training and hopefully provide access to high-paying tech jobs in the future.

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Joel R. Reidenberg
Stanley D. and Nikki Waxberg Chair and Professor of Law
Founding Academic Director, Fordham CLIP

N. Cameron Russell
Executive Director, Fordham CLIP

Subrina Chowdhury
Tommine McCarthy
Editorial Fellows, Fordham CLIP

Internet Governance

Defining Competitive Markets: The Eighth Circuit upheld the ruling of the Federal Communications Commission (“FCC”) that a business broadband market with one provider can be “competitive” if another provider is within a half-mile radius of the service area, which enables the FCC to remove price caps in monopolized regions; the court was deferential to the FCC in reasoning that the agency has the authority to “rationally choose which evidence to believe among conflicting evidence.”

FTC Asked to Investigate Verizon: Following Verizon’s recent data throttling of first responders who were battling wildfires in California, a group of senators have called on the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) to investigate the controversy; the letter stated that the FCC has “abdicated its jurisdiction over broadband communications.”

Privacy

Data Protection Complaints on the Rise: Since the GDPR went into effect three months ago, the number of data protection complaints has more than doubled; the Information Commissioner’s Office in the U.K. attributes the spike to greater privacy awareness and recent high-profile data scandals and expects the figures will continue to climb.

Inbox Scanning: Oath confirmed that humans and algorithms scan over 200 million Yahoo! users’ promotional emails to create data segments to sell to advertisers; the practice takes place as Yahoo! continues to compete with Gmail and face unfavorable public perception after a series of data breaches in recent years.

Information Security and Cyberthreats

PIN Vulnerability: Following the recent T-Mobile database breach, two security researchers uncovered flaws in third-party websites that allowed an interested party unlimited attempts at guessing T-Mobile and AT&T customers’ PIN numbers; Apple and Asurion have confirmed that all vulnerabilities have been addressed.

The Key to Two-Factor Authentication: Google’s internal security kit, which serves as a physical tool for two-factor authentication, was made available to the public yesterday and consists of one USB key and another that supports Bluetooth and NFC for mobile devices; Google reports there have been “no reported or confirmed account takeovers since implementing security keys at Google.”

Intellectual Property

IP Address Not Enough to Catch Pirate: The Ninth Circuit held that an internet protocol address used to illegally download copyrighted films, standing alone, is insufficient to state a direct copyright infringement claim against the registered subscriber of the IP address, affirming the dismissal of a copyright infringement lawsuit against an owner of an adult foster home where someone downloaded pirated copies of the movie “The Cobbler”; the contributory infringement claim similarly failed because the complaint contained no allegations that the registered subscriber encouraged or assisted the copyright infringement.

NAFTA Creates Copyright Confusion: After the Trump Administration reached a preliminary agreement with Mexico to revise NAFTA, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (“USTR”) created confusion by posting a fact sheet that indicates the copyright term would “extend” to 75 years; it remains unclear whether this means there will be an extension of the copyright term, which is currently the life of an author plus 70 years for most works owned by individuals – one official at the USTR told the Hollywood Reporter that the fact sheet did not extend the copyright term because it referred to “publication based” works with a 95 year term, while other officials told reporters that they mean to extend the copyright term to life plus 75 years.

Free Expression and Censorship

Gun Blueprints In The Mail: Defense Distributed founder Cody Wilson began selling blueprints of 3-D printed firearms at a price determined by the customer, despite a federal judge’s court order requiring the State Department to continue blocking him from publishing his blueprints; Wilson believes his strategy to sell the blueprints by emailing them or mailing them on USB drives is permitted because the judge ruled that the blueprints “cannot be uploaded to the internet, but they can be emailed, mailed, securely transmitted, or otherwise published within the United States.”

Facebook Finally Bans Myanmar Leaders: After criticism for failing to remove the Myanmar army’s anti-Rohingya posts, Facebook acknowledged that it was slow to respond to the problem, pledged to hire more Burmese-speaking monitors, and banned Myanmar military officials and army chief from the platform for using Facebook to spread false information about the Rohingya and promote “hate and misinformation,” making it the first time Facebook banned a country’s military and political leaders.

Practice Note

Better Get It In Writing: A California judge granted Johnny Depp’s bid to dismiss a claim by his former attorneys and found that an oral agreement entitling Depp’s former attorneys to a percentage of Depp’s earnings was invalid, citing a statute that requires contingency fee agreements to be in writing; the ruling will likely change how attorneys and actors execute their agreements and may motivate other actors displeased with their counsel to seek similar legal claims.  

On The Lighter Side

A Look Into Unseen Amazon Tribe: Ever wonder what life is like for Amazon Tribes? Now you can find out. Using a drone, a Brazilian government agency filmed the first footage of an extremely isolated tribe in the Amazon. Still photos are available on the agency’s website and drone footage can be viewed on YouTube. 

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Joel R. Reidenberg
Stanley D. and Nikki Waxberg Chair and Professor of Law
Founding Academic Director, Fordham CLIP

N. Cameron Russell
Executive Director, Fordham CLIP

Subrina Chowdhury
Tommine McCarthy
Editorial Fellows, Fordham CLIP