Some companies are selling government agencies access to data stolen from websites in the hope that it can generate investigative leads, with the data including passwords, email addresses, IP addresses, and more. Motherboard reports: Motherboard obtained webinar slides by a company called SpyCloud presented to prospective customers. In that webinar, the company claimed to “empower investigators from law enforcement agencies and…
Tag: justice
Supreme Court Upholds Cellphone Robocall Ban
An anonymous reader quotes a report from The Associated Press: The Supreme Court on Monday upheld a 1991 law that bars robocalls to cellphones. The case, argued by telephone in May because of the coronavirus pandemic, only arose after Congress in 2015 created an exception in the law that allowed the automated calls for collection of government debt. Political consultants and…
Political Protests Are Now Happening in Videogames
Business Insider reports that some players are adapting their avatars in the game world of Animal Crossing: New Horizons to show their support for the Black Lives Matter movement in the real world:
In “Animal Crossing: New Horizons,” players are creating customized signs and clothing for their game characters that say “BLM” and depict symbols of “No justice, no peace….” Anyone with…
US Senate Amends EARN IT Act — To Let States Restrict Encryption
Long-time Slashdot reader stikves reminded us that a committee in the U.S. Senate passed an amended version of the “EARN IT” act on Thursday. And this new version could do more than just end personal end-to-end encryption, warns Engadget: The other major concern opponents of the EARN IT Act raise has to do with Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act,…
Former Yahoo Engineer Who Infiltrated 6,000 Accounts Avoids Jail
This week finally saw the federal sentencing of a former Yahoo software engineer who “admitted to using his access through his work at the company to hack into about 6,000 Yahoo accounts” back in 2018, according to America’s Department of Justice:
Ruiz admitted to targeting accounts belonging to younger women, including his personal friends and work colleagues. He made copies of images…
An Embattled Group of Hackers Picks Up the WikiLeaks Mantle
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: For the past year, WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has sat in a London jail awaiting extradition to the US. This week, the US Justice Department piled on yet more hacking conspiracy allegations against him, all related to his decade-plus at the helm of an organization that exposed reams of government and corporate…
With DOJ Charges, Former VC Mike Rothenberg Could Now Be Facing Serious Jail Time
Connie Loizos writing via TechCrunch: While some in Silicon Valley might prefer to forget about investor Mike Rothenberg roughly four years after his young venture firm began to implode, his story is still being written, and the latest chapter doesn’t bode well for the 36-year-old. While Rothenberg earlier tangled with the Securities and Exchange Commission and lost, it was a civil…
Whatever Happened to the ‘Flash Crash’ Trader?
British stock trader Navinder Sarao was accused of helping cause a $1 trillion stock market crash in 2010. But the rest of his story is now being told in a new book titled Flash Crash: A Trading Savant, a Global Manhunt, and the Most Mysterious Market Crash in History. “I think that he was a gamer and, for him, markets were…
Lyft Settles With Justice Department Over Disability Lawsuit
Lyft has settled with the Justice Department in a lawsuit alleging the company discriminated against customers with disabilities. Engadget reports: Now, drivers will be required to help fold and stow wheelchairs and walkers for customers. The rideshare company has also been ordered to educate its drivers as well as pay complainants and a $40,000 civil penalty. Lyft will pay various amounts…
Facial Recognition Bill Would Ban Use By Federal Law Enforcement
An anonymous reader quotes a report from NBC News: Sens. Ed Markey, D-Mass., and Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., introduced legislation Thursday that seeks to ban the use of facial recognition and other biometric surveillance technology by federal law enforcement agencies. The legislation would also make federal funding for state and local law enforcement contingent on the enactment of similar bans. The Facial…