YouTube’s Fine Criticized As Proof US Government Is ‘Not Serious’ About Big Tech Crackdown

YouTube’s $170 million fine for illegally collecting data on children “shows the US government is not serious about a Big Tech crackdown,” argues an article at CNBC: The FTC’s new settlement with YouTube over alleged violations of child privacy rules is just a fraction of the revenue its parent company generates in a single day. Shares of Google parent company Alphabet…

Feds Order Apple and Google To Hand Over Names of 10,000+ Users of Gun Scope App

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Forbes: Own a rifle? Got a scope to go with it? The government might soon know who you are, where you live and how to reach you. That’s because Apple and Google have been ordered by the U.S. government to hand over names, phone numbers and other identifying data of at least 10,000 users…

US Files Lawsuit Against Bitcoin Exchange That Helped Launder Ransomware Profits

The U.S. Department of Justice has filed a civil lawsuit seeking to recover more than $100 million from a notorious cryptocurrency exchange that has helped cyber-criminals launder stolen funds, such as those obtained from ransomware payments, dark web drug marketplaces, and funds from hacked cryptocurrency exchanges. ZDNet reports: In a lawsuit filed on Friday, July 26, the U.S. wants to recover…

Microsoft Pays $25 Million To End US Probe Into Bribery Overseas

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Bloomberg: Microsoft Corp. agreed to pay $25 million to settle U.S. government investigations into alleged bribery by former employees in Hungary. The software maker’s Hungarian subsidiary entered into a non-prosecution agreement with the U.S. Department of Justice and a cease-and-desist order with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Microsoft said in an email to employees…

Prenda ‘Copyright Troll’ Lawyer Sentenced To Five Years In Prison

John Steele, one of the attorneys behind the ‘copyright troll’ law firm Prenda, has been sentenced to five years in prison. The attorney was one of the masterminds behind the fraudulent scheme that extracted settlements from alleged pirates. Because of Steele’s cooperative stance, his sentence is significantly lower than that of co-conspirator Paul Hansmeier. TorrentFreak reports: During a hearing this morning,…

Engineer Faces 219 Years In Prison For Smuggling US Military Chips To China

schwit1 quotes a report from ZDNet: On Tuesday, the U.S. Department of Justice (DoJ) said that Yi-Chi Shih, a part-time Los Angeles resident, attempted to secure semiconductor chips used in US military applications in order to transfer them to Chinese associates. The 64-year-old was subject to a six-week trial in a Los Angeles, California federal court. Prosecutors alleged that Shih, alongside…

Kim Dotcom In Final Bid To Halt Extradition

An anonymous reader quotes a report from the BBC: Controversial internet entrepreneur Kim Dotcom has begun a final appeal to halt his extradition from New Zealand to the U.S. on copyright-related charges. The FBI claims Mr Dotcom’s Megaupload site earned millions of dollars by facilitating illegal file-sharing. But his lawyers told New Zealand’s Supreme Court on Monday it was never meant…