Month: December 2021

Internet Governance D.C. Circuit Ruling Rejects Challenges To 2020 FCC Wi-Fi Upgrade Order: The order, which was challenged by AT&T, will open up 1,200MHz of spectrum in the 6GHz band for unlicensed use.

Information Security and Cyberthreats “Serious” Cyberattack Halts Operations At Norwegian News Publisher: An attack on the central systems of Amedia, which owns 78 newspapers, has resulted in the stoppage of printing and subscription services, and it’s possible that employees and subscribers have had personal data compromised. T-Mobile Suffers Another Cyberattack: After a data breach exposed nearly 50 million of its customers’ data in August, another attack has compromised “a small number” of customer accounts to expose billing account names, phone and account numbers, and plan information.

Intellectual Property Dutch Competition Authority Orders Apple To Allow Dating Apps To Offer Alternate Payment Options: The Authority for Consumers and Markets said that payment conditions for dating app providers are unreasonable, and that Apple must change its policy to allow dating apps to offer users methods for payment that are alternatives to the App Store.

Free Expression and Censorship TikTok Content Moderator Sues For Failure To Provide Adequate Protection And Psychological Support: The proposed class action alleges that moderators, who spend up to 12 hours per day reviewing “disturbing content” including “genocide in Myanmar, mass shootings, children being raped, and animals being mutilated,” suffer psychological trauma as a result of the company’s inadequate support systems. Tumblr Blocks “Sensitive Content” To Remain On App Store: To ensure that it meets Apple’s guidelines, Tumblr will begin to limit the results for tags or search terms that fall under an expanded definition of “sensitive content”; due to the blocks, it may be more difficult to find content related to mental health, racism, and sexuality on the site

Practice Note West Virginia Federal Court Rules Retweet Does Not Reset Statute Of Limitations In Defamation Suit: The court ruled that a defamation defendant’s retweet of the earlier, allegedly defamatory article did not reset the one-year statute of limitations period because the retweet served as a mere “reference for [the article’s] existing audience” rather than the “republish[ing of] old content to new target audiences.”

On the Lighter Side Out With Touchscreen, In With Tastescreen: A professor from Japan’s Meiji University has developed a prototype “lickable” screen that can imitate the flavors of items appearing on it.

If you enjoy reading CLIP-ings, please consider making a contribution to Fordham CLIP. Your support provides crucial funding at a time when the study of information law and policy is more important than ever.

Ron Lazebnik Academic Director, Fordham CLIP Tom Norton Executive Director, Fordham CLIP

Internet Governance FCC Settles With Mobile Carriers Over Failed 911 Calls During Network Outages: AT&T, Verizon, Intrado, and CenturyLink will pay a combined $6 million and have ensured that they will comply with the Commission’s 911 availability rules after network outages in mid-2020 caused 911 calls to fail.

Privacy Internal Facebook Documents Reveal Company Position On International Data Transfer: Legal documents obtained by POLITICO conclude that “relevant U.S. law and practice,” including the Federal Trade Commission’s role in policing data practices, “provides protection of personal data that is essentially equivalent to the level of protection required by EU law,” and that recent rulings of the Court of Justice of the European Union striking down data transfer frameworks between the EU and U.S. “should not be relied on”; the revelations come as Ireland’s Data Protection Commission finalizes a decision about whether to stop Facebook from transferring data to the U.S. pursuant to the rulings.

Information Security and Cyberthreats Hackers Access Belgian Ministry Of Defense Systems By Exploiting Log4j Vulnerability: The Ministry confirmed that unidentified attackers breached its network through a vulnerability in the Log4j logging utility that is bundled with the widely-used Apache Server; Apache has issued numerous updates to patch the vulnerability after its discovery, and CISA, the FBI, the NSA, and the cybersecurity agencies of Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the UK have released a joint Cybersecurity Advisory on mitigation. United States, Britain, Send Cyberwarfare Experts To Ukraine To Prepare For Potential Russian Attack: The countries dispatched the teams in response to intelligence suggesting that Russian President Vladimir Putin may be planning another cyberattack against Ukraine’s infrastructure in an effort to destabilize the country to justify an invasion and the eventual installation of a puppet leader.

Intellectual Property Meta Sues Phishing Scammers For Trademark Infringement: The lawsuit alleges that the scammers infringed the company’s trademarks by impersonating the login pages of the Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, and Messenger sites as a way to capture the personal information of users who had unknowingly been automatically re-routed to the fake sites.

Free Expression and Censorship India Blocks YouTube Channels And Websites For Alleged Anti-India Content: The country’s Ministry of Information and Broadcasting invoked the controversial IT Act to order the blocking of twenty channels and two sites, which allegedly had 3.5 million subscribers and 500 readers, on the basis that they comprised a “coordinated disinformation network operating from Pakistan” that spread “fake news” and “divisive content”  about “various sensitive subjects related to India.”

On the Lighter Side Vodafone Turns First-Ever Text Message Into NFT: The NFT of the first text, which was sent in December 29 years ago and read “Merry Christmas,” sold at auction for $150,000 worth of Ether; Vodafone will donate the proceeds to the United Nations Refugee Agency.

If you enjoy reading CLIP-ings, please consider making a contribution to Fordham CLIP. Your support provides crucial funding at a time when the study of information law and policy is more important than ever.

Ron Lazebnik Academic Director, Fordham CLIP Tom Norton Executive Director, Fordham CLIP

Internet Governance Facebook Oversight Board Calls For Investigation Of Company’s Role In Ethiopian Violence: As part of a decision to uphold the removal of a post claiming without evidence that Tigrayan civilians perpetrated violence against women and children, the Board asked the company to “commission an independent human rights due diligence assessment on how Facebook and Instagram have been used to spread hate speech and unverified rumors that heighten the risk of violence in Ethiopia.” European Commission Proposes Algorithmic Management Rules For Transparency In The Gig Economy: The proposed Directive builds off and clarifies the GDPR to provide for limitations on data collection, human oversight of AI systems, the right to challenge job-related automatic decisions, and others.

Privacy Norwegian Data Protection Authority Fines Grindr €6.5 Million For GDPR Violation: The fine, which is the largest the DPA has issued, was levied after an investigation revealed that the popular dating app shared users’ GPS locations, IP addresses, advertising IDs, ages, and genders with third parties “for behavioural advertisement without a legal basis.” Huawei Documents Suggest Link To China’s Surveillance Programs: Over 100 “confidential” PowerPoint presentations once posted on a public-facing Huawei website showcase company products designed for voice analysis, detention center monitoring, location tracking for individuals, police surveillance, and employer surveillance; the company says that it did not develop or sell any product designed to target specific groups, and that “[p]rivacy protection is [its] top priority.”

Information Security and Cyberthreats Ransomware Attack Of Payroll Company Jeopardizes Pre-Holiday Paychecks For Major Organizations: Ultimate Kronos Group, which provides payroll and HR services for organizations such as Tesla, Honda, MGM Resorts, and New York City’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority, was affected by a ransomware attack that has some of its services offline without a timeline for when they may be available again.

Free Expression and Censorship Artist Loses “@metaverse” Instagram Handle Shortly After Facebook Announces Name Change: Just days after Mark Zuckerberg announced that Facebook would become Meta, Thea-Mai Baumann, owner of the decade-old @metaverse Instagram handle, found that her account had been blocked under the platform’s policy against impersonation; despite attempting to verify her identity with Instagram and hiring a lawyer, Bauman had the account restored only after The New York Times contacted Meta about the issue.

Practice Note Amendment To Japan’s Telecommunications Business Law Would Require Disclosure Of Locations For Physical Data Storage: If passed, the amendment would require that search engines, social media platforms, and mobile phone companies disclose where they physically store users’ data; the move comes after data from LINE, a messaging app popular in the country, became vulnerable after being routed through China last year.

On the Lighter Side Meta Develops Tech To Animate Children’s Drawings: The first-of-its-kind AI method automatically animates user-uploaded drawings of people and human-like figures.

If you enjoy reading CLIP-ings, please consider making a contribution to Fordham CLIP. Your support provides crucial funding at a time when the study of information law and policy is more important than ever.

Ron Lazebnik Academic Director, Fordham CLIP Tom Norton Executive Director, Fordham CLIP

Internet Governance Complaint Alleges Ads In Amazon Search Results Deceive Consumers: A complaint brought before the Federal Trade Commission by labor union coalition Strategic Organizing Center alleges that Amazon’s frequent inclusion of sponsored ads in its search results amounts to “near-categorical noncompliance” with FTC rules prohibiting search engines from deceptively including ads in organic search results.  Italy’s Antitrust Authority Fines Amazon $1.2 Billion For Anticompetitive Logistics Servicing: The regulator determined that the company abused its market dominance by tying key features to the use of its Fulfilled By Amazon service, which put third-party sellers at a disadvantage.

Privacy Apple Permits User Data Use For Targeted Advertising Despite Privacy Changes: Even though users have the option to ask apps not to track them as part of privacy changes Apple rolled out earlier this year, companies have nevertheless been allowed to rely on user-level iPhone signals for advertising purposes so long as the data is anonymized, aggregated, and not personally identifiable.

Information Security and Cyberthreats Google Disrupts Massive Botnet, While Microsoft Seizes Control Of China-Based Hacking Group Servers: In coordination with internet infrastructure service providers, Google broke up a network of nearly one million devices infected with Gulpteba malware and sued the botnet’s two Russia-based operators in an effort to “set a precedent, create legal and liability risks for the botnet operators, and help deter future activity”; similarly, Microsoft seized control of malicious websites and servers that the China-based Nickel hacking group used to perpetrate cyberattacks to advance the country’s geopolitical interests.

Intellectual Property Clearview AI Set To Receive Patent For Its Facial Recognition-Powered Search Engine: The U.S.P.T.O. issued a notice of allowance to the controversial face-recognition company for a patent that covers “methods of providing information about a person based on facial recognition,” which includes an “automated web crawler” that scans and matches images on the web; civil rights and privacy advocates worry that the patent will help ensure the growth of facial recognition tech before lawmakers and regulators get the opportunity to evaluate all its potential dangers.

Free Expression and Censorship Rohingya Refugees Sue Facebook For $150 Billion Over Failure To Stop Spread Of Misinformation Leading To Myanmar Violence: The lawsuits spearheaded by legal teams in the U.S. and the UK allege that Facebook knew about, but did little to stop the spread of, anti-Rohingya content on is platform.

Practice Note German Court Enjoins Sharing Of Complete IP Address With U.S.-Based Cookie Consent Management Service: The court enjoined university Hochschule RheinMain from using a cookie preference service that shares users’ complete IP addresses with a U.S.-based company on the basis that the sharing runs afoul of data protection law and the Court of Justice of the European Union’s Schrems II decision.

On the Lighter Side Uber Turns To Tree-Hailing: This holiday season, customers in select cities can use Uber’s Holiday Hub to order decorations such as trees and wreaths.

If you enjoy reading CLIP-ings, please consider making a contribution to Fordham CLIP. Your support provides crucial funding at a time when the study of information law and policy is more important than ever.

Ron Lazebnik Academic Director, Fordham CLIP Tom Norton Executive Director, Fordham CLIP

Internet Governance UK Competition Authority Orders Meta To Unwind Giphy Acquisition: In a first-of-its-kind effort, the Competition and Markets Authority ruled that Meta must sell Giphy after determining that the acquisition could harm competition by forcing more users onto Meta products and by removing Giphy’s competing advertising services from the market.

Privacy UK Information Commissioner’s Office Fines Clearview AI £17 million: In the wake of a similar ruling out of Australia, the ICO provisionally fined the controversial photo-gathering company for allegedly failing to notify individuals about its data-scraping practices, processing data unfairly, and lacking a lawful basis to process data, among other things. Newly Released FBI Document Sheds Light On Law Enforcement Access To Messaging Data: The “Lawful Access” document outlines the Bureau’s ability to “legally access secure content on leading messaging applications” using various legal processes; chief among the document’s revelations is that the most popular platforms, such as iMessage and WhatsApp, are the “most permissive,” with WhatsApp able to convey near-real-time metadata to law enforcement, including data about which users communicate with one another and when.

Information Security and Cyberthreats Widely Downloaded Google Play Store Apps Revealed To Be Malware: A group of apps downloaded over 300,000 times circumvented Google’s malware and fraudulent-app detection system by initially appearing benign, only to later push users to download updates that morphed the apps into “banking trojans” that secretly stole passwords, two-factor authentication codes, and more. U.S. Faces Cybersecurity Worker Shortage: Despite growing threats of cyber attacks, companies and public-sector entities are struggling to fill nearly 600,000 vacant cybersecurity positions; to fill the void, the government, private entities, and nonprofit organizations have ramped up efforts to train individuals for the roles.

Free Expression and Censorship Federal Judge Enjoins Texas Law Prohibiting Social Media Platforms From Blocking Political Content: The court found that the law, which was passed in response to the perception that social networks stifle conservative viewpoints, violates social media platforms’ First Amendment right to exercise editorial discretion.

Practice Note Australia Plans To Compel Social Networks To Unmask Trolls Who Defame: The country’s Prime Minister announced planned legislation that would give social media companies the power “to unmask anonymous online trolls” so that they may be sued for defamation; the announcement also carried a “pledge to legislate so that Australian publishers are no longer liable for defamatory comments made on their social media presences,” which would effectively reverse a ruling from the country’s High Court earlier this year.

On the Lighter Side Ring In The Holidays With An Ugly Windows Sweater: Microsoft has released an “ugly sweater” in the style of the popular Windows game Minesweeper.

If you enjoy reading CLIP-ings, please consider making a contribution to Fordham CLIP. Your support provides crucial funding at a time when the study of information law and policy is more important than ever.

Ron Lazebnik Academic Director, Fordham CLIP Tom Norton Executive Director, Fordham CLIP