Global Domain Name and Internet Policy News
With more than 60 backers, an updated Kids Online Safety Act finally has a path to passage in the Senate but faces uncertainty in the House
After months of negotiations, senators announced Thursday that a sprawling bill to expand protections for children online had secured more than 60 backers, clearing a path to passage for what would be the most significant congressional attempt in decades to regulate tech companies.
A deal to ensure that data from Meta, Google and scores of other companies can continue flowing between the United States and the European Union was completed on Monday, after the digital transfer of personal information between the two jurisdictions had been thrown into doubt because of privacy concerns.
Russia might be reeling from an “armed mutiny” at home and a botched invasion of Ukraine, but that hasn’t stopped it from pushing a plan for centralized United Nations oversight of the internet. An unfortunate new wrinkle is that Moscow’s approach appears to be getting some support from U.N. Secretary General António Guterres.
Authorities in the U.S. and Europe arrested nearly 300 people, confiscated over $53 million, and seized a dark web marketplace as part of an international crackdown on drug trafficking that officials say was the largest operation of its kind.
The Justice Department and a group of eight states sued Google on Tuesday, accusing it of illegally abusing a monopoly over the technology that powers online advertising, in the agency’s first antitrust lawsuit against a tech giant under President Biden and an escalation in legal pressure on one of the world’s biggest internet companies.
Seven domain names used in a recent cryptocurrency confidence crime, known as “pig butchering”, were seized by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia earlier this year. Through these seven domain names, five people were scammed losing $10 million.
President Biden on Friday signed an executive order giving Europeans the ability to protest when they believe their personal information has been caught in America’s online surveillance dragnet, a key step toward reaching a broader agreement over the flow of digital data.
Social media and game platforms often use recommendation algorithms, find-a-friend tools, smartphone notices and other enticements to keep people glued online. But the same techniques may pose risks to scores of children who have flocked to online services that were not specifically designed for them.
The Federal Trade Commission is considering whether to write sweeping new regulations that could restrict how businesses collect and use consumer data, hinting at a possible crackdown on commercial algorithms and a sprawling economy powered by the personal information of millions of Americans.
I want us to consider the implications of this new reality: In three of the four most populous countries in the world, governments have now given themselves the power to order that the internet be wiped of citizens’ posts that the authorities don’t like.