In August 2020, Alexei Navalny, the jailed Russian opposition leader and anti-corruption activist whom the Wall Street Journal calls “the man Vladimir Putin fears most”, was medically evacuated to Berlin after being poisoned by a nerve agent that was linked to Russia’s Federal Security Service. He returned to Russia in January 2021 and was arrested…
Within hours of the European Union’s new General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) going into force on May 25th, a new non-profit – the European Center for Digital Rights (aka “noyb” for none of your business) – filed actions Facebook, Google, Instagram and WhatsApp seeking between 1.3 to 3.7 billion euros in penalties. Company Authority Maximum Penalty Complaint…
In January a new word was added to our internet lexicon – “deepfake”. This stemmed from a VICE story about a Reddit user named “deepfakes” using an open source artificial intelligence-based app that allowed users to create fake porn videos by swapping faces of celebrities (or anyone for that matter) onto the adult film actress/actor.…
How to Tame the Tech Giants with Open Market Institute’s Kevin Carty LISTEN / DOWNLOAD Amazon, Apple, Facebook and Google have all come under scrutiny for anticompetitive behavior and market domination, with increasing calls that it may be necessary to break up one or all of these entities (see image below). This debate was fueled…
Australian State Supreme Court Grants Individuals the Power to Censor the Internet Australian Dr. Janice Duffy, was unhappy with the services of psychics offered by the website Kasamba and expressed her dissatisfaction through posts under various alias on RipOffReport.com (“ROR”). The psychics responded in kind, with ROR posts accusing Duffy of stalking and harassing psychics. Duffy…
April 20, 2015 A Dozen Things in Tech You Need to Know Happy Patriot’s Day! Patriot’s Day commemorates that Battle of Lexington and Concord and the “shot heard ’round the world” that began the American Revolution. It is a holiday in Maine and Massachachusetts and celebrated by, among other things, the running of the Boston…
Gmail Class Action Survives Motion to Dismiss. Is Yahoo Next? A class action lawsuit challenging Gmail’s practice of scanning email for purposes of serving targeted advertisements survived Google’s attempt to dismiss The development has led some to speculate that Yahoo! might bee the next target. Excerpts from the Judge Kohs opinion along with…
It has been five months since Edward Snowden and NSA operations such as PRISM first splashed across the front pages worldwide. During this period, the scope of the scandal has only grown through nearly weekly revelations of further NSA transgressions. While the “golden rule” of scandal management is prompt and full disclosure, the NSA scandal…
OBAMA LOOKS WEST FOR NEW FTC CHAIR On Monday, FTC Commissioner Edith Ramirez takes over as FTC Chairwoman. Ramirez, a law school classmate of the President and former partner at the Los Angeles office of Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan, is the FTC’s first Latina chair. She previously has expressed strong interest in privacy stressing that she…
Western Nations Refuse to Accept Divided ITU Proposal Has Cyber Cold War Begun? Ignoring repeated objections from the United States, Canada and EU nations, the International Telecommunications Union continued to press forward at the World Conference on International Telecommunication (WICT-12) with a proposal that would open the door to UN regulation of the internet. Despite “resolute” opposition,…
Phil Corwin, Counsel to the Internet Commerce Association, returns to CLBR to discuss the controversy over the upcoming 2012 World Conference on International Telecommunications organized by the International Telecommunications Union. WHAT: International Telecommunication Union (ITU) 2012 World Conference on International Telecommunications (WCIT-2012) WHEN: December 3 – 14, 2012 WHERE: Dubai, UAE WHAT’S AT ISSUE:From the New…
Australia Abandons Net Censorship Plans; Google Blocked in China Australia, which surprisingly has a checkered history in terms of internet censorship, has abandoned a plan to filter all internet content. Instead, the government is working with Australian ISPs to block 1,400 child abuse websites on INTERPOL’s “worst of” list. When Australia initially announced the filtering program,…
Is Gangnam Style the Trophy for Korean Broadband Policy? With broadband speeds more than double that of the US and even a third-more than 2nd ranked Japan, South Korea has boasted the fastest internet for several years running. Now it appears that this year’s viral smash hit, Gangnam Style may be a product of Korean…
NEWS UPDATE & FOLLOW UP Google to Block YouTube Video in Brazil Google Brazil to Take Down Controversial Video Chief Arrested Over Video Google Brazil Chief Arrested Over YouTube Video Cal Enacts Anti-Social Media Snooping Law Praised by ACLU Prof Goldman is a critic See Backgrounder for May 16th CLBR on this topic FTC Watch…
NEXT CYBER LAW AND BUSINESS REPORT WEDNESDAY SEPTEMBER 19TH, 2012 10AM – 11AM PACIFIC ON WEBMASTERRADIO.FM SEGMENT 1: JOHN DU WORS and LEEOR NETA talk about their successful effort to have the California Spam Law declared unconstitutional as preempted by Federal law. Backgrounder SEGMENT 2: JILLIAN YORK, the Director of International Freedom of Expression, Electronic Frontier…
Cyber Report 