ThinkProgress, a progressive news website, accused Facebook Tuesday of catering to conservative views when it labeled a ThinkProgress story “false.” The story suggested Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh opposes the high court’s Roe v. Wade. ThinkProgress blamed conservative influence from The Weekly Standard, a weekly magazine that also has an online presence, with which Facebook partnered to fact-check articles. Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., who represents Silicon Valley, said “Facebook’s ban seems too broad and should not have censored ThinkProgress. Facebook should hire more humanists to help think through its responsibility as a new media company.” ThinkProgress is a project of the Center for American Progress Action Fund, which does public policy research and advocacy. Facebook didn’t comment.
FTC Commissioner Rebecca Slaughter, economic sciences Nobel laureate Joseph Stiglitz and former FTC Chairman William Kovacic will speak at the agency’s second session of competition policy hearings on Sept. 21 at the FTC’s Constitution Center, (see 1808240027). Panel discussions will focus on U.S. antitrust law and monopsony power.
Apple will launch an online portal later this year that international law enforcement can use to submit requests for user data and better understand what is legally available, General Counsel Kate Adams told Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I. It's “consistent” with Apple’s commitment to protect “security and privacy of our users,” Adams wrote Tuesday.
Equifax failed on multiple fronts in 2017, when hackers exploited data of more than 145.5 million Americans (see 1805080045), GAO reported Friday. That included failures with identification, detection, segmentation and data governance. The IRS, Social Security Administration and U.S. Postal Service “identified a number of lower-level technical concerns that Equifax was directed to address,” it said. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and Rep. Elijah Cummings, D-Md., who sought the report, cited the findings as evidence Congress should pass the Data Breach Prevention and Compensation Act. Equifax would have been penalized at least $1.5 billion under the law. Citing similar remarks in the report, an Equifax spokesman emailed that the company has “taken significant steps to strengthen data security protocols and controls, evaluate and adjust data governance processes and adjust our organizational structure to enhance management of cybersecurity risk.”
A North Korean was charged for involvement in the 2017 WannaCry cyberattacks (see 1712190043) and other “malicious activities,” DOJ announced Thursday. It alleged Park Jin Hyok was involved with North Korean government-sponsored campaigns including the $81 million theft from Bangladesh Bank in 2016 and a Sony Pictures Entertainment attack in 2014. Park was charged with “one count of conspiracy to commit computer fraud and abuse, which carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison, and one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years,” Justice said. Senate Intelligence Committee ranking member Mark Warner, D-Va., called the indictment "the result of years of hard work” and “an important step in making clear to our adversaries that these kinds of criminal activities are unacceptable.” A bill for combating state-sponsored cyberthreats passed the House by voice vote Wednesday. Cyber Deterrence and Response Act (HR-5576) from Rep. Ted Yoho, R-Fla., creates a three-step process for identifying, deterring and responding to state-sponsored cyberthreats. S-3378, a companion bill, awaits Senate consideration.
The Donuts top-level internet domains owner said a majority stake is being bought by private equity firm Abry Partners. "Individuals and businesses manage their digital identities in an increasingly complex world of proliferating devices, platforms and access points," said Abry Managing Partner Erik Brooks about what he called the biggest portfolio of new TLDs. Separately Wednesday, the FTC said it won't challenge the deal, which got an early termination notice. Abry also has invested in midsize cable operators including Atlantic Broadband; TV-station owner Nexstar; and radio broadcaster Citadel Communications.
The next meeting of the FCC Communications Security, Reliability and Interoperability Council VI -- its sixth -- is Sept. 28, 1-5 p.m., in the Commission Meeting Room, said a notice set for Wednesday's Federal Register.
NCTA's argument that edge providers are a bigger threat to internet openness and consumer privacy than ISPs and that the solution is market forces and FTC case-by-case enforcement (see 1808210026) was "inevitable" now that ISPs "are trying to take full advantage of the FCC walking away from broadband regulation," CCG Consulting President Doug Dawson blogged Friday. He said telecom regulation traditionally comes in cycles that can end up in either excessive regulation or excess laxness: "We are certainly hitting the bottom of a trough of a regulatory wave as regulations are being eliminated or ignored." He said customer privacy is likely the issue that reverses the deregulation trend, and called the idea that market forces will govern ISP behavior "pretty laughable." NCTA didn't comment.
A URL click shouldn't let government obtain a search warrant for a person’s home, the Electronic Frontier Foundation told the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit Friday. In U.S. v. Nikolai Bosyk, prosecutors gained access to Bosyk's house after someone there clicked a link to a file-sharing service suspected of child pornography distribution. Bosyk, a 40-year-old Virginia-based repair shop owner, was sentenced to five years in prison for accessing child pornography from the Tor Network Forum. “Although it may be tempting to overlook law enforcement overreach when it comes to tracking down potential pedophiles, the ramifications for our Fourth Amendment rights are dire,” EFF Staff Attorney Aaron Mackey said.
The Agriculture Department added to its website a page highlighting the importance of rural connectivity and ways the agency is trying to promote broadband infrastructure in rural America, it said Wednesday. It said the page will feature information on agency programs putting more than $700 million a year into rural broadband connectivity, and the agency in coming months will nearly double that.