No Password Required: An FBI Special Agent's Journey from Submarines to Anti-Corruption to Cybersecurity
With the rise in social media usage and the comfort with which people are expressing their thoughts and views on social media, many users do not realize the real-life implications of their online activities. Time and again,...more
The UAE laws regarding crime against people, and particularly when such crimes are committed online are strict and aim to protect people from activities that could potentially harm the victim’s reputation. Here, we are...more
As calls for executive accountability for cybersecurity intensify, it is essential for companies to scrutinize the adequacy of ephemeral messengers, such as Signal, WhatsApp, WeChat, and Snapchat, in light of both present and...more
Several years before announcing the first “off-channel” communications enforcement action, the SEC and FINRA cautioned broker-dealers and investment advisers about problematic record-keeping practices involving the use of...more
On May 3, 2023, the FTC announced that it is proposing a blanket prohibition preventing Facebook from monetizing youth data. The Commission alleges that the company violated the 2020 privacy order and now proposes new...more
2023 continues to be a busy year for European data protection authorities. Following its release of the Irish Data Protection Commission’s (DPC’s) binding decisions in cases against Facebook and Instagram, the European Data...more
The SEC and CFTC recently charged 11 large financial institutions and their affiliates for failing to collect, monitor, and preserve communications over WhatsApp and other messaging services. These settlements follow a...more
This is a fun and interesting case covered by one of my all-time favorite bloggers, Chris Dale, on his excellent eDisclosure Information Project blog. Here is a brief summary of the case and the eDisclosure implications....more
The FTC's case against Facebook will be allowed to proceed now that the district court has held its Amended Complaint plausibly alleged violations of Section 2 of the Sherman Act related to Facebook's acquisition of Instagram...more
Last week was momentous for the Federal Trade Commission. First, the campaign use antitrust to reign in “Big Tech” faced a setback as the United States District Court for District of Columbia dismissed the FTC’s suit against...more
On June 28, 2021, Judge James E. Boasberg of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia granted Facebook’s motions to dismiss two parallel antitrust complaints filed by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and a group...more
Germany’s largest consumer protection organisation calls on Clubhouse operator Alpha Exploration Co. to cease and desist from illegal business practices and data protection violations. According to a statement by the...more
The need for tighter control on employees’ use of chat applications when conducting or discussing company business. What we learned from the FCA’s 2020 Vishnyak prosecution and the FCA’s reminder about the need to record...more
The latest lame-duck Covid relief package proposal would trim about 150 billion dollars (and a number of key sticking points, including funds “to bolster state and local governments, and a temporary coronavirus liability...more
The Trump Administration has focused on competition and the technology sector. First, the Justice Department’s Antitrust Division filed a monopolization case against Google. Last week, the Federal Trade Commission and 46...more
We often think of phony financial institution emails as a bad actor’s phishing scheme of choice to capture confidential bank account numbers or other private financial information. While those phishing emails certainly do...more
India’s Reliance Industries is considering acquiring TikTok’s business in India from ByteDance. We recently discussed the growing distrust by companies and countries of TikTok because of the perceived vulnerability of user...more
Malware goes commercial. Last year, Jeff Bezos’ phone was hacked after he received a message on WhatsApp containing a line of malware code. The incident has shed light on the malware, aka spyware, industry. Companies sell...more
While there’s plenty of other business afoot in D.C. these days, it also happens to have been a pretty big week for trade deals. A day after Phase One with China was inked, the Senate overwhelmingly approved a revised...more
WhatsApp has announced that it has patched a vulnerability that would have allowed hackers to access with malware the chat history of users. Android 8.1 and 9 could have been susceptible to the attack. However, WhatsApp is...more
WhatsApp, the popular instant messaging app announced a hack and the exposure of a security flaw this week. The flaw injected malware onto users’ phones, potentially exposing their otherwise encrypted data and messages. ...more
With new data pointing to similarities between the Lion Air and Ethiopian Air Boeing 737 Max 8 crashes, the White House has decided to override the FAA and ground all models of the plane in the US....more
On 7 February 2019 the German antitrust authority (Bundeskartellamt) found that the extent to which Facebook collects, merges, attributes to and uses data in user accounts amounts to an abuse of a dominant position on the...more
Nissan’s Carlos Ghosn problems now extend to the United States, where the Securities and Exchange Commission has opened a probe into the accuracy of the company’s financial disclosures and internal controls....more
As social media platforms and apps such as Twitter, WhatsApp, Facebook, Instagram, SnapChat, and YouTube become increasingly enmeshed in the fabric of our lives, the unintended consequences of their use cannot be overstated. ...more