Author: Caroline Vermillion

Internet Governance Trump Extends TikTok’s Deadline: Following the original executive order requiring the sale of TikTok to a U.S.-based company within 45 days, President Trump has since extended the deadline to 90 days, with sale now required by November 12th; companies such as Microsoft and Twitter have “been in talks to acquire TikTok.” Facebook Objects To Apple Store Fees: The social media giant has outwardly opposed Apple’s fees, which take 30 percent “for purchases that take place within apps running on iPhones,” stating that such fees dramatically hurt small businesses trying to sell products or services through Facebook’s in-app features.

Privacy Clearview AI Wins $224,000 ICE Contract: An ICE division focused on “cross-border criminal activity” entered into a software licensing agreement with Clearview AI, the controversial facial recognition company that has faced broad scrutiny for its questionable methods of collecting data for its face-matching database.

Information Security and Cyberthreats 235 Million Social Media Profiles Exposed In Data Leak: Profiles details of 100 million Instagram users, 42 million TikTok users, and 4 million YouTube users were exposed on an unsecured database; despite being publicly available information, the profiles are now more valuable to scammers engaged in phishing campaigns because they were “leaked in aggregate as a well-structured database.”

Intellectual Property Google Campaigns Against Australian Revenue-Sharing Rule: In response to a proposed law intended to require it to pay media outlets to display their content, Google published an open letter criticizing the regulation and also created a pop-up message to launch on all Australian users’ searches that argues that the regulation would endanger the quality of search results and risk user data being “handed over to big news businesses.”

Free Expression and Censorship Facebook Removes 790 QAnon Extremist Group Accounts: Under the aegis of a new, more comprehensive moderation policy directed towards “borderline violent content” rolled out this summer, Facebook eliminated nearly 800 groups associated with the anti-government fringe movement and further curtailed the group’s ability to organize using the platform.

Practice Note Ninth Circuit Favors FCC In Preemption Case: A three-judge panel ruled that several cities’ ordinances imposed excessive fees on wireless carriers deploying 5G networks, and were therefore preempted by FCC “just compensation” rules capping such locality fees at a discrete amount based on the actual public cost of building 5G network infrastructure in an area.

On the Lighter Side Google Maps To Provide More Detail: The widely used app plans to add more “granularity and detail” to street-level views of New York City, San Francisco, and London in the coming months, including sidewalk locations, street signage, and road width; outside of these major cities, all users will see an improvement to colors representing “how natural features are presented.”

Joel R. Reidenberg Stanley D. and Nikki Waxberg Chair and Professor of Law Founding Academic Director, Fordham CLIP Tom Norton Executive Director, Fordham CLIP Isabel Brown Caroline Vermillion Editorial Fellows, Fordham CLIP

Internet Governance EU Launches Google-Fitbit Antitrust Investigation: The European Commission will open an intensive investigation of Google’s $2.1 billion bid to acquire Fitbit– a purchase that, if cleared, will allow the company to compete in the international smartwatch and fitness-tracking markets currently dominated by Apple, Samsung, Huawei, and Xiaomi. Microsoft Poised To Purchase TikTok: After a conversation with President Trump, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella announced the company would continue discussions with TikTok parent company Bytedance, with the aim of purchasing TikTok operations in the U.S., Canada, Australia, and New Zealand “subject to a complete security review” and with the assurance that American users’ data will be “deleted from servers outside the country after it is transferred” to U.S. domains.

Privacy DHS Surveilling Portland Protest Reporters: Intelligence memos leaked from the Department of Homeland Security’s Office of Intelligence and Analysis revealed the agency assembled “intelligence reports” on two prominent journalists who had investigated the chaotic handling of the Portland civil rights protests by federal agents; acting DHS secretary Chad Wolf called for an immediate halt to the agency’s “practice of collecting information on members of the press.”

Information Security and Cyberthreats Teenage Twitter Hack “Mastermind” Arrested: A 17-year-old Tampa, Florida, resident Graham Ivan Clark was arrested by FBI agents last Friday for leading the recent hack on several public figures’ Twitter accounts; Clark faces 30 felony counts, and it’s possible that Florida authorities will charge him as an adult.

Intellectual Property Triller Files Lawsuit Against TikTok For Patent Infringement: Triller has filed a lawsuit against rival TikTok, alleging infringement of its patents for“systems and methods for creating music videos synchronized with an audio track;” Triller is allegedly planning to pursue claims against other video competitors as well, including Dubsmash, Lomotif, and Instagram.

Free Expression and Censorship David Duke Banned From Twitter: Former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke has been “permanently suspended” from Twitter for violating the platform’s updated policy which restricts posts that promote violence against persons on the basis of “religion, race, or ethnic origin.” Twitter And Facebook Penalize Trump’s Accounts Over Misinformation: After the accounts shared a video in which President Trump claimed that children are “almost immune” to COVID-19, the social media platforms froze the Trump and the Trump campaign accounts until the posts had been deleted, on the basis that the posts violated platform rules on COVID-19 misinformation.

On the Lighter Side TikTok To Host First “Cross-Reality Experience” On August 7th: TikTok will host its first-ever live, virtual concert performed by The Weeknd, in which a “digital avatar” will represent the artist, which viewers can interact with as he performs; during the concert, The Weeknd will be accepting donations for the Equal Justice Initiative.

Joel R. Reidenberg Stanley D. and Nikki Waxberg Chair and Professor of Law Founding Academic Director, Fordham CLIP Tom Norton Executive Director, Fordham CLIP Isabel Brown Caroline Vermillion Editorial Fellows, Fordham CLIP

Internet Governance UK Uber Drivers Sue For Data Access: A group of drivers from four UK cities claim that Uber violated GDPR data access provisions by failing to adequately explain how company algorithms profile and manage drivers, and by refusing to allow drivers to store performance data compiled on them by a “management algorithm” in a separate, union-administered “data trust” that would assist in fairer collective bargaining negotiations.

Privacy Facial Recognition Banned In New York Schools: In response to the Lockport City School District’s use of facial recognition as a security measure in K-12 schools, the New York legislature passed a moratorium that bans schools statewide from using “facial recognition and other forms of biometric identification until 2022.”

Information Security and Cyberthreats Public Officials’ Private Messages Obtained In Twitter Hack: Twitter confirmed that the direct messages of several dozen accounts ensnared in a cryptocurrency scam last week, reportedly including those of Dutch Freedom Party leader Geert Wilders, were compromised in the attack.

Intellectual Property Spotify And Universal Music Group Reach Worldwide Licensing Agreement: Through the multi-year agreement, Spotify will retain a license to UMG’s entire catalog; UMG will additionally assist the streaming platform in developing marketing tools to increase music monetization beyond streaming royalties alone. Instacart Sues Competitor For Photo Theft: In a suit filed last week, the grocery delivery service claimed that Uber’s own grocery service, Cornershop, reused thousands of Instacart’s images of various goods without permission and “tried to hide the origin of its catalog images by modifying their file names.”

Free Expression and Censorship Facebook Ramps Up Disinformation Controls: Facebook’s third-party fact-checking contractors announced they would begin labeling political posts and directing viewers of those posts to “official info” about voting as part of the company’s “election integrity efforts;” the company itself nonetheless exercised its power to overrule other such labels on a number of conservative posts dismissing climate change as a matter of “opinion.” Twitter Bans Thousands Of QAnon Accounts: In an attempt to curb the spread of misinformation and conspiracy theories that violate Twitter’s policies against “behavior that has the potential to lead to offline harm,” the social media platform banned over 7,000 accounts “associated with QAnon,” and similarly blocked over 150,000 accounts from appearing in trends, recommendations, or from otherwise being highlighted.

On the Lighter Side California Bar Exam Details Change: The California Bar exam has been moved online, will be administered in October, and requires a lower score to pass; in addition, recent law school graduates will be able to “temporarily practice law without passing the exam.”

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

Isabel Brown Caroline Vermillion Editorial Fellows

Internet Governance

Facebook Oversight Board Will Not Be Ready Until Fall 2020: Facebook’s Oversight Board, “which will independently oversee content moderation,” will not be operational until “late fall,” making it unlikely that the Board will be able to help moderate information on Facebook platforms until after the 2020 presidential election.

Privacy

Facebook Shared User Data With Over 5,000 App Developers: Facebook announced this week that a review of data usage in recent months revealed that third-party app developers were able to access an unknown amount of data from accounts belonging to users who had not logged into the Facebook app in more than 90 days, in violation of a company policy disallowing external apps from accessing a user’s data if they did not routinely provide login credentials and grant permission for third-party access to their account. 

Information Security and Cyberthreats

Stringent Hong Kong National Security Law Riles Western Tech: A new mandate issued by the Chinese government last week requiring online platforms to turn over user data to the government without a court order prompted major U.S. tech companies to announce they would pause processing any such requests; the requirement puts many of them in precarious positions given the extensive business ties they maintain with China.

Intellectual Property

Twitter Removes Trump’s Tweet For Copyright Infringement: After turning a photograph of himself into a meme, President Trump’s tweet was removed from the platform for copyright infringement after The New York Times filed a takedown notice as a rightsholder to the photograph.

Free Expression and Censorship

United States Considers Banning TikTok: Due to increasing concern about the “handling of user data” and the relationship between TikTok’s parent company and the Chinese government,  U.S. lawmakers are “considering a ban” on the popular platform.

Practice Note

Supreme Court Bans Robo-Call Debt Collections: Justice Kavanaugh delivered an opinion striking down an exception to a federal ban on debt collection robocalls that allowed contact for a broad range of debts “owed to or guaranteed by” the U.S. government on the ground that the exception violated the First Amendment by “favoring debt-collection speech over other speech.”

On the Lighter Side

Airbnb Sets Restrictions For Users Under 25: In an effort to reduce “the number of unauthorized house parties,” and in light of new COVID-19 precautions, Airbnb has set new restrictions on some users under the age of 25; while many will not be affected, those with fewer than three positive reviews are no longer allowed to book entire homes in their geographic area.

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

Isabel Brown Caroline Vermillion Editorial Fellows

Internet Governance Senators Propose Transparency-Focused Section 230 Reform: A bipartisan bill released by the Senate Communications, Technology, Innovation and Internet Subcommittee this week proposes that the Communications Decency Act be amended to require internet companies to publicly document their moderation practices, remove harmful posts and activity within strict timeframes, and publish quarterly reports on what enforcement actions are taken.

Privacy Michigan Man Wrongfully Arrested On Faulty Facial Recognition Data: Detroit Police arrested an African-American man on larceny charges after the multimillion-dollar facial recognition system the state contracted with mismatched his driver’s license photo to a low-resolution store surveillance camera image taken at the time of the theft; the man was released when it became clear there was no other evidence besides the mismatched photo that could have implicated him, and the Michigan ACLU is now investigating. Boston City Council Unanimously Bans Facial Recognition: Citing concerns with false matches and racial bias, council members preemptively banned future use of broad facial recognition systems by city law enforcement, though a limited exception was allowed for facial recognition and matching evidence generated to investigate specific crimes.

Information Security and Cyberthreats New York City Passes Public Oversight Of Surveillance Technology Act: Last week, the New York City Council passed by a 44-6 vote the POST Act, which will force the NYPD “to divulge the existence of its entire public surveillance capability” and will similarly require the department to outline policies regarding those capabilities’ use.

Intellectual Property Apple To Produce All New Macs On Apple Silicon: After years of using Intel processors, Apple announced a full transition to its own silicon processors within the next two years; consumers will be able to purchase the first silicon Mac by the end of the year.

Free Expression and Censorship Twitter Uses New “Manipulated Media” Tag On Trump’s Tweet: After President Trump shared a poorly edited video representing a fake CNN news report, Twitter used a new tag to label Trump’s tweet as “manipulated media;” though the marker does not remove the content, the video has since been taken down by the social media site due to a “copyright complaint over its misuse.”

Practice Note Indiana Supreme Court Rules Police Cannot Demand Phones Be Unlocked: The state’s highest court held that the Fifth Amendment protected a woman from being forced to unlock her phone and reveal potentially incriminating data to the police, reasoning that such compelled unlocking is “testimonial.”

On the Lighter Side TikTok Teens And K-Pop Fans Reserve Trump Rally Tickets To Leave Stadium Empty: In an effort to skew the anticipated turnout for Trump’s rally in Tulsa, teens on TikTok followed the lead of K-Pop fans by reserving tickets to the rally without the intent to attend.

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

Isabel Brown Caroline Vermillion Editorial Fellows

Internet Governance Record FCC Fine Likely To Go Uncollected: A $225 million fine proposed by the FCC this week against an insurance fraud telemarketing scheme is unlikely to be paid in full, since the proposal is still subject to negotiation by the defense and, once it’s settled, the FCC must rely on the Department of Justice—which has yet to be involved in the matter–to actually collect on the final bill.

Privacy IBM Will No Longer Develop Or Research Facial Recognition Technology: In a letter to Congress, IBM denounced the use and development of facial recognition technology for mass surveillance, stating that it perpetuates racial profiling and violates “basic human rights and freedoms”; Amazon similarly announced that it will withhold from providing the technology to police for one year in hopes that Congress will implement “stronger regulations.”

Information Security and Cyberthreats Google Confirms Hackers Are Targeting Biden And Trump Campaigns: Google security researchers confirmed that state-backed hackers from Iran and China have attempted to access private information from the Biden and Trump presidential campaigns; though the attempts were unsuccessful, Google warned the campaigns to take further security precautions.   Georgia Launches Investigation Into Polling Machine Problems: Georgia’s Secretary of State announced an investigation into the technical problems plaguing the new voting machines used in the state’s Democratic primaries last week, which prevented many from voting by creating long lines and confusion across a smaller-than-usual number of precincts.

Intellectual Property European Pirate Streaming Ring Discovered: EU law enforcement agency Europol raided the bases of an illegal streaming service that offered programming combined from a variety of popular mainstream platforms, including HBOGo, Amazon, and Netflix; the service was in operation for nearly six years and had roughly two million subscribers from around Western Europe.

Free Expression and Censorship Facebook Attempts To Curb “Boogaloo” Groups: In light of recent protests, Facebook has attempted to reduce the visibility of groups affiliated with the “boogaloo” movement, which is “known for advocating for violent uprising against the government”; Facebook has taken steps including banning the term “boogaloo” when paired with images of weapons and refusing to recommend the groups to members of similar groups. EU Demands Social Media Companies Report Disinformation Management Efforts: The European Commission called for major social media companies to publish monthly reports on how they are attempting to combat disinformation and “fake news” on their platforms, in an effort to promote more accurate reporting during the COVID-19 pandemic.

On the Lighter Side Apple Granted Patent For Socially Distant Group Selfies: The United States Patent and Trademark Office recently granted Apple a patent for “synthetic group selfies,” which allows a user to edit and arrange multiple photos into a single image.

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

Isabel Brown Caroline Vermillion Editorial Fellows

Internet Governance

EU Prepares Tech-Focused Coronavirus Recovery Plan: A €750B pan-EU recovery package unveiled by the European Commission on May 27 will invest largely in boosting the resilience of industries linked to green and digital projects, including 5G, AI, cloud, cybersecurity, and supercomputing.

Privacy

Scheduled House Vote On Surveillance Power Withdrawn:  Democrats in the House of Representatives voted to withdraw a bill to reauthorize government foreign surveillance powers under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, and instead opted to enter conference committee negotiations on the bill with the Senate.

Information Security and Cyberthreats

Corporate C-Suites Create Cybersecurity Risks: A recent multinational study indicated that over two-thirds of surveyed executives asked for exceptions to their companies’ security protocols that endangered personal and corporate data, including requesting access to company data on unsecured personal devices and overrides of multi-factor authentication—steps that are widely seen as fundamental to protecting data from breaches and other cyberthreats.

Intellectual Property

U.S. Copyright Office Issues Report On Digital Millennium Copyright Act: In the report, the  Office identifies problem areas in the law and proposes updates including “alternate models” for notice and takedown, “harsher penalties” resulting in safe harbor revocations, clearer standards for liability, and expanded ability for rightsholders to “subpoena online service providers.”

Free Expression and Censorship

Google Investigating YouTube Comment Censorship: Slogans banned by the Chinese government were automatically deleted from YouTube’s comment sections over the past six months; in a public statement, Google attributed the activity to a bug in the video giant’s automated content filter system and has further clarified that the activity was “not the result of outside interference.”

President Trump Issues Executive Order About Social Media Platforms: After his Tweets about fraudulent mail-in voting were tagged by Twitter as potentially misleading, President Trump signed an executive order which, among other things, calls for the loss of immunity under Communications Decency Act section 230 for tech companies that discriminate against or impose certain access restrictions on users.

Practice Note

United States Court Of Appeals Dismisses First Amendment Claims Against Tech Giants: The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit affirmed dismissal of a 2018 case brought by the nonprofit Freedom Watch and conservative user Laura Loomer alleging that Apple, Google, Twitter, and Facebook infringed upon their First Amendment rights by “intentionally and willfully” suppressing conservative content; the court held these tech companies are not “state actors” and thus cannot violate the First Amendment.

On the Lighter Side

Facebook Launches New Feature For Musical Collaboration: In the United States and Canada, Facebook will begin an invite-only, beta round of its newest feature, Collab, the TikTok-inspired app that allows users to share, discover, and “mash up original videos and music.”

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

Tom Norton
Executive Director, Fordham CLIP

Isabel Brown
Caroline Vermillion
Editorial Fellows