| Internet Governance Meta’s Oversight Board Calls on Facebook and Instagram to Crack Down on Address Doxxing: The opinion, which is in response to a request issued by Meta last year, outlines steps that the social media giant can take to protect against doxxing and other forms of targeted harassment. Recommendations include getting rid of an exception for “publicly available” information and creating a specific enforcement channel to prioritize reports of doxxing, while still allowing protests at publicly-owned official residences and posts in which users share their own addresses. |
| Privacy French Data Protection Authority Finds that Google Analytics Breaches GDPR: Mirroring a decision last month from the Austrian DPA, France’s CNIL held that Google Analytics’ operations contravened the GDPR and are therefore illegal. The decision came days after a report that Meta allegedly threatened to pull its services from the EU if the United States and European Union can’t reach a data-sharing agreement. IRS Abandons Plan to Use Facial-Recognition Software to Access Tax Records, Other Online Services: At the urging of nearly two dozen members of Congress, the IRS said that it would “transition away” from using a face-scanning verification service offered by the company ID.me. Four Democratic lawmakers also sent a letter this week urging several other federal departments to limit their relationships with the facial recognition surveillance company Clearview AI. |
| Information Security and Cyberthreats DOJ Seizes $3.6 Billion in Bitcoin: The Justice Department also arrested a married couple who is accused of laundering the cryptocurrency that hackers had stolen from Bitfinex, a digital currency exchange based in Hong Kong, in 2016. |
| Free Expression and Censorship TikTok Updates Community Guidelines to Limit Hateful Ideologies, Dangerous Acts and Challenges, and Eating Disorder Content: While the company has already addressed these issues in its Safety Center and in previous versions of its community guidelines, TikTok is now clarifying and redefining these policies by providing more detail and specifics as to how they’ll be enforced. |
| Practice Note UK Law Criminalizes “Grossly Offensive” Tweets: After a British man was recently found guilty of sending a “grossly offensive” tweet, there has been renewed interest in section 127 of the 2003 Communications Act, which proscribes sending public messages of a “grossly offensive or of an indecent, obscene or menacing character,” and can lead to fines, community service, or even jail time. |
| On the Lighter Side Mazda Drivers in Seattle Area Find Their Radios Stuck on NPR: The issue apparently began at the end of January, after the local NPR affiliate sent album cover images without a valid file extension. To date, there is no known solution besides replacing an expensive component of the onboard display. |
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| Ron Lazebnik Academic Director, Fordham CLIP Tom Norton Executive Director, Fordham CLIP Elyssa Diamond Editorial Fellow |