| 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 |