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Attorney General asks Apple to unlock naval base shooter's iPhones
Attorney General William Barr has joined the FBI in asking Apple to unlock two iPhones belonging to the man who attacked a naval base in Pensacola, Florida, in December. Barr also declared the shooting "an act of terrorism." Apple has given investigators details from Mohammed Saeed Alshamrani's iCloud account, but it rejected a plea from the FBI to unlock the phones. The company has claimed complying with such a request could set a precedent that may compel it to unlock a device whenever a federal agency asks it to. The Justice Department wants access to Alshamrani's phones so it can view encrypted messages on apps such as WhatsApp and Signal. It's hoping to determine whether he was acting alone or if others knew of his plans. Barr noted that both phones were damaged in the attack, but said FBI crime lab experts were able to make them operational. The attorney general claimed at a press conference Monday Apple "has not given us any substantive assistance" when it came to unlocking the devices. "This situation perfectly illustrates why it is critical that investigators be able to get access to digital evidence once they have obtained a court order based on probable cause," he said. "We call on Apple and other technology companies to help us find a solution so that we can better protect the lives of Americans and prevent future attacks."
Nearly every state AG has joined NY's Facebook antitrust investigation
Dozens of attorneys general have joined an antitrust investigation into Facebook. The New York Attorney General's office is leading the investigation, which it opened last month with AGs from seven other states and the District of Columbia.
DOJ report finds foreign meddling had no impact on midterm elections
If attempts at election meddling had any tangible effect on the US midterms, you won't hear about it from some officials. The Departments of Justice and Homeland Security have submitted a joint report to President Trump saying there was no evidence a foreign government or agency had a "material impact" on the infrastructures of the 2018 vote, including campaigns and political bodies. The actual conclusions are classified, but they're consistent with what the government said after the elections, the Justice Department said.
Several states are investigating Facebook for mishandling user data
Already the subject of a number of federal probes, Facebook is also the target of investigations being conducted at the state level, according to Bloomberg. The Attorneys General for Connecticut, Illinois, Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey and North Carolina are all involved in ongoing efforts scrutinizing how Facebook handles user data. The investigations were primarily triggered by the revelation of the Cambridge Analytica scandal.
Charter agrees to $174 million settlement for poor service in New York
The New York attorney general's office has reached a settlement with Charter Communications for providing its customers with insufficient internet services. Under the settlement, Charter and Spectrum Management Holding Company will be required to pay customers $62.5 million in refunds and provide $100 million worth of services for free. Further, the agreement calls for Charter to be more transparent about its services going forward.
New York settles with Equifax and others over lax mobile app security
New York Attorney General Barbara Underwood announced that the state has reached settlements with five companies regarding a security vulnerability present on each of their mobile apps. Going forward, the companies -- Equifax, Western Union, Priceline, Spark Networks and Credit Sesame -- will be required to implement security programs aimed at protecting their customers' information.
Jeff Sessions worries social networks are 'intentionally stifling' speech
You can add another voice to the chorus of right-wing figures alleging (or insinuating) that internet giants may be biased against conservatives. The Justice Department has confirmed to TechCrunch that US Attorney General Jeff Sessions is meeting with state AGs later in September to talk about a "growing concern" that social networks might be hurting competition and "intentionally stifling the free exchange of ideas." The DOJ didn't say whether Sessions was calling for regulation or formally investigating the companies' practices.
States sue to block sale of 3D-printed weapon designs online
The fight to keep 3D-printed gun designs off of the web continues as a number of states said on Monday that they would be jointly suing the Trump administration, Reuters reports. In a press release, Washington State Attorney General Bob Ferguson said today that the states have requested an injunction to block online publication of the designs and have filed a lawsuit. Joining Washington in the endeavor are New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Connecticut, Oregon, Maryland and Washington, DC.
New York to investigate cryptocurrency exchanges
As the SEC and other US regulators look for ways to deal with cryptocurrency, New York is taking a step forward. The state's attorney general, Eric T. Schneiderman, sent letters to 13 virtual currency exchanges on Tuesday that request specific disclosures about how each company manages its business.
New York joins Massachusetts investigation of Facebook's data use
All eyes are on Facebook as more and more information rolls out regarding Cambridge Analytica, its involvement in recent elections and forums and how it came to obtain 50 million Facebook users' profile information. Now, New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman is joining those demanding more information from the social network giant. "Consumers have a right to know how their information is used -- and companies like Facebook have a fundamental responsibility to protect their users' personal information," Schneiderman said in a statement. "Today, along with Massachusetts Attorney General Healey, we sent a demand letter to Facebook -- the first step in our joint investigation to get to the bottom of what happened."
23 attorneys general refile challenge to FCC net neutrality repeal
The FCC's order to overturn net neutrality protections was officially published in the Federal Register today and soon thereafter, the attorneys general of 22 states and Washington DC filed a lawsuit challenging the FCC's order. The coalition filed a suit earlier this year, but agreed last week to withdraw it until the FCC published the order, Reuters reports. "Today, the FCC made official its illegal rollback of net neutrality -- and, as promised, our coalition of attorneys general is filing suit," New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman said in a statement. "Consumers and businesses in New York and across the country have the right to a free and open internet, and our coalition of attorneys general won't stop fighting to protect that right."
New York AG will investigate firm selling fake followers to stars
Twitter bots are bad enough by themselves, but it's worse when they're built using real info -- and New York wants to clamp down. State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman has opened an investigation into Devumi, a company that sold over 3.5 million fake social network followers (primarily on Twitter) to celebrities and politicians. While bots by themselves aren't automatically illegal, the company also offered "at least" 55,000 accounts using the personal details of real people, some of whom live in New York. That's "impersonation and deception," Schneiderman said, and it's made all the worse when some of those people aren't legal adults.
Attorneys general request last-minute delay for net neutrality vote
The FCC's controversial vote on net neutrality protections is scheduled to take place tomorrow, and as we get down to the wire, opposition to the proposal hasn't slowed. Today, 18 state attorneys general sent a letter to the FCC asking for the commission to delay the vote, The Verge reports. Their plea centers on evidence that fake comments that used real individuals' names were submitted during the FCC's public comment period. "A careful review of the publicly available information revealed a pattern of fake submissions using the names of real people. In fact, there may be over one million fake submissions from across the country," they wrote. "This is akin to identity theft on a massive scale – and theft of someone's voice in a democracy is particularly concerning."
Washington state sues Uber over data breach
The lawsuits are continuing to pile on top of Uber after it revealed that it covered up a hack in fall 2016. Washington state's Attorney General has sued Uber for allegedly violating its local data breach notification law. Companies are supposed to notify the AG within 45 days if a breach affects 500 or more Washington residents, but that clearly didn't happen when Uber paid hackers to keep quiet. The state is demanding penalties of up to $2,000 for each person whose data was exposed, which should lead to a penalty in the "millions of dollars."
Five state attorneys general are investigating Uber breach
Uber's latest security breach, which exposed 57 million customers' and drivers' personal information, has come under more and more scrutiny since it was revealed earlier this week. The Federal Trade Commission has already confirmed that it's looking into the breach as well as how Uber handled it. A number of agencies abroad are investigating the incident as well. But it doesn't stop there. Uber is also now under investigation by at least five state Attorney General offices and has been named in multiple lawsuits.
The FTC is looking into Uber's latest data breach
This week, Uber revealed that a security breach that happened in October of 2016 exposed personal data from around 57 million customers and drivers. But rather than inform the affected individuals, the company instead chose to pay off the hackers that stole the data in order to keep them quiet. Now, Reuters reports that the FTC is looking into the data breach and Uber's subsequent mishandling of the situation. An agency spokesperson told Reuters, "We are aware of press reports describing a breach in late 2016 at Uber and Uber officials' actions after that breach. We are closely evaluating the serious issues raised."
New York AG blasts FCC for refusing to help fight net neutrality spam
Were you frustrated that the FCC did nothing to look into bots flooding its public comment system with anti-net neutrality spam before deciding to kill net neutrality? So was New York. State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman has posted an open letter chastising the FCC for refusing to help investigate this "illegal conduct." New York made requests for records "at least 9 times" between June and November, and asked key FCC officials (including Chairman Ajit Pai) for help, all to no avail -- there was "no substantive response" to any of the inquiries, Schneiderman said.
Senators propose reforms to wide-reaching surveillance law
Eleven senators -- both Republican and Democrat -- introduced new legislation today that calls for substantial reforms to Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, Reuters reports. Section 702 allows intelligence agencies to monitor the communications of foreign targets living outside of the US, but it also enables those agencies to collect information on US citizens if they happen to be in communication with the non citizens being monitored.
New York forces smart lock maker to improve its security
Smart locks promise the security of a traditional lock without the need to carry around a key. Most can be unlocked with a mobile app or an RFID-equipped card you can store in your wallet. Unfortunately, they're also pretty easy to hack open. The office of New York's attorney general, Eric T. Schneiderman, announced a settlement today with one such smart lock manufacturer. Utah-based Safetech Products has agreed to encrypt all of its smart lock passwords, electronic keys and other credentials within its locks, prompt users to change the default password upon initial setup and establish a more comprehensive security program.
Websites settle with New York over online child tracking
Some of the biggest child-oriented websites are learning a hard lesson about the importance of respecting kids' privacy. New York state has reached settlements with Hasbro, JumpStart Games, Mattel and Viacom for violating the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act by collecting personal information from kids under 13. They'll all have to reform their sites (such as those for Hot Wheels, Neopets and Nickelodeon) to honor COPPA's safeguards and screen third-party trackers. JumpStart, Mattel and Viacom will also have to pay a collective $835,000 in penalties and provide regular reports on their scan results. Hasbro is dodging those bullets only because it's part of an FTC-sanctioned safe harbor program.
