Month: August 2022

Internet Governance FTC Removes Zuckerberg from Suit Against Meta: The Commission dropped the executive as a defendant in its suit to block the company from acquiring virtual-reality business Within Unlimited. In exchange, Zuckerberg has agreed to not purchase Within in his personal capacity.

Privacy Snap, Meta Settle Privacy Suits: Snap will pay $35 million to settle a class action alleging that it violated Illinois’ Biometric Information Privacy Act by collecting data from users who posted content using filters and “lenses” without their consent. Meta will pay a similar amount to settle allegations that Facebook violated California law by collecting information about users’ location via IP address even though they opted out of location tracking.

Information Security and Cyberthreats Whistleblower Claims Twitter’s Vulnerabilities Pose a National Security Threat: The company’s former security head filed complaints with the SEC, DOJ, and FTC alleging that Twitter’s servers use “out-of-date and vulnerable software,” and that employees have “wide-ranging and poorly tracked internal access to core company software.”

Intellectual Property Comedian George Lopez Sues Pandora Over Unlawful Streaming: Lopez alleges that Pandora’s streaming of two of his albums violates his copyrights in both the recordings and in the underlying literary works. The case has implications for the scope of publishing rights in spoken-word content.

Freedom of Expression and Censorship Photos Sent to Doctor Marked as Child Sexual Abuse Material: Google disabled the account of a man who sent photos of his toddler’s genitalia to his wife and the child’s doctor after its automated tool for detecting abusive images of children falsely flagged the photos.

Practice Note Pre-Test Room Scan Ruled Unconstitutional: An Ohio federal judge ruled that Cleveland State University violated the Fourth Amendment’s prohibition on unreasonable searches by conducting virtual scans of the rooms in which students take remote tests.

On the Lighter Side Janet Jackson Hit from 1989 Deemed Security Threat: Jackson’s “Rhythm Nation” has been labeled as a security threat after it was determined that the song contains frequencies that can cause the hard drives on certain laptops to malfunction.

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 Amazon Filing to FTC Reveals Breadth of the Commission’s Investigation into the Company: The recent filing suggests that the Commission’s investigation into whether Amazon deceived users into subscribing to services including Amazon Prime has expanded to over a half-dozen of the company’s other services and involves aggressive requests for information, including the testimony of founder Jeff Bezos and CEO Andy Jassy.

Privacy Report Suggests Weak Privacy Practices for Period-Tracking Apps: In a new analysis, Mozilla gave 18 of the 25 most popular period- or pregnancy-tracking apps and wearables privacy warning labels due to concerns about the services’ data collection and sharing practices. Similarly, a company under investigation by the Federal Trade Commission for allegedly brokering reproductive health data has sued the Commission for overreach, and argues that its “Privacy Block” feature that purportedly “removes health services location data” from its data marketplace resolves the Commission’s concerns.

Information Security and Cyberthreats Now-Patched Vulnerability in Amazon Ring App Exposed Personal and Device Data: The vulnerability would have allowed hackers to harvest personal data and device data, including recordings, which could be automatically analyzed to extract further information.

Freedom of Expression and Censorship TikTok Rolls Out Plan to Combat Election Misinformation: The platform announced an “election center,” which users can visit to find “authoritative information” on political topics, as well as a new fact-checking process and labels for content posted by governments, politicians, and political parties. Facebook and Instagram Remove Accounts of Prominent Anti-Vaccine Nonprofit: Following a 30-day ban, Children’s Health Defense saw itself removed from both platforms for “repeatedly” violating the sites’ policies on medical misinformation.

Practice Note Australia’s High Court Rules for Google in Defamation Case: The Court found that Google was not a “publisher” of, and therefore is not subject to liability for, a link to an allegedly defamatory story posted on the platform in 2014. The Court reasoned that Google “merely facilitated access” to the story and did not encourage users to read it.

On the Lighter Side Record Set for Longest Use of Brain-Computer Interface: A 36-year-old paralyzed man has set the record for the longest use of a brain-computer interface after having it installed for 7 years and three months. The interface, which is a pencil-eraser-sized electrode that implants into the brain, allows patients to control computers and prosthetics using their minds.

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 DOJ Poised to File Second Antitrust Suit Against Google: Reporting suggests that a suit focusing on the company’s role in the digital ad market may come “as soon as next month.” A 2020 suit brought by the Department alleges that Google maintains an unlawful monopoly in the online-search market.

Privacy Facebook Provided Data to Law Enforcement in Nebraska Abortion Case: In response to a warrant, the social network sent to law enforcement private messages between a 17-year-old teen and her mother, in which the pair discussed the use of abortion pills. Meta says that it did not know that the disclosure would be used to investigate an illegal abortion.

Information Security and Cyberthreats Slack Exposed Workspace Users’ Hashed Passwords: An independent security research firm recently informed the company that users who created shared links to their workspaces had their hashed, non-plaintext passwords “slip out” in encrypted traffic.

Intellectual Property Google Sues Sonos for Allegedly Infringing Voice-Recognition Patents: In two new lawsuits, Google alleges that the speaker company’s latest design infringes seven of Google’s patents. The suits are the latest in a years-long quarrel between the companies.

Freedom of Expression and Censorship Report Finds White Supremacist Content Remains on Facebook: A study by the Tech Transparency Project discovered more than 80 white supremacist groups on the site, despite Facebook’s banning of such content in past years. The report also found that Facebook profits off advertisements shown in connection with search results related to white supremacist content.

Practice Note Federal Circuit Confirms that AI Systems Cannot Patent Inventions: The court upheld a decision that a computer scientist’s AI system could not legally be an inventor because it is not a “natural person,” which the Federal Circuit emphasized means “a human being, a person.”

On the Lighter Side “Fiber Cable Guy” Gets $2.6 Million in Government Funds to Expand His ISP: A Michigan man who built his own fiber internet provider after learning that it would cost $50,000 for other ISPs to extend their cable services to his home has won a contract with his local government to expand his broadband services across the community.

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 Task Force of Attorneys General to Crack Down on Robocall Enforcement: The attorneys general of all fifty states have supported the formation of the Anti-Robocall Litigation Task Force, which will take legal action against telecommunications companies and “gateway providers” to combat the 33 million daily spam calls–many of which are in furtherance of scams–made to Americans.

Privacy India Scraps Personal Data Protection Bill: The proposed bill, which was unveiled in 2019 and was designed to give Indian citizens data rights, was withdrawn after a parliamentary panel proposed “dozens of amendments and recommendations.” Lawmakers will now turn their efforts to a more “comprehensive legal framework” and will eventually present a new bill.

Information Security and Cyberthreats DDoS Attacks on Taiwanese Websites Coincide with Pelosi Visit: The websites of President Tsai Ing-wen and the country’s National Defense Ministry, Foreign Affairs Ministry, and largest airport were incapacitated as House Speaker Nancy Pelosi arrived. It’s uncertain who originated the attacks.

Intellectual Property Patent Laws Require Modernization, Argue Experts: In a series of hearings before the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, IP leaders including former United States Patent and Trademark Office Director Andrei Iancu argued that United States patent laws should be rewritten to accommodate artificial intelligence technologies, in part to ensure innovation toward national security.

Freedom of Expression and Censorship Indonesia Blocks, Unblocks, Companies Under Registration Law: After blocking certain sites for missing a deadline to register pursuant to the country’s MR5 internet regulation last week, the country’s Ministry of Communication and Information has allowed now-registered sites such as Steam and Yahoo back online. Still-unregistered sites such as Epic and Origin remain blocked.

Practice Note Claims Against Visa to Proceed in Child-Pornography Suit: A federal judge denied the company’s motion to be dismissed from a suit against it and Pornhub parent company MindGeek, reasoning that “Visa made the decision to continue to recognize MindGeek as a merchant, despite its alleged knowledge that MindGeek monetized child porn.” The case raises questions about payment processors’ liability.

On the Lighter Side Screening for Telltale Signs of Hunger: A new dad built an AI-powered webcam to help figure out when it’s time to feed the baby.

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