Cyberlaw

A recent update to the Valve Steamworks documentation revealed the deadline for developers who need to comply with German regulations that require an Age Rating to be displayed. The date is November 15th. The games without a rating by then will no longer be displayed to Steam customers in Germany.

Thanks to a new law signed by Governor Gavin Newsom, the California Energy Commission can now impose bidirectional charging in electric vehicles. This would allow them to supply electricity back to the grid, thus enhancing its resiliency and reducing peak demand. However, there is no timeline set for now.

Targeted by a lawsuit filed by the US Department of Justice for allegedly violating environmental protection and public safety laws, eBay has just won. The listings targeted by this lawsuit include over 340,000 aftermarket products for motor vehicles that could disable emission control systems, as well as large amounts of pesticides.

The bill that would have forced some AI companies to spend time and resources coming up with safety protocols when developing certain AI models has been vetoed by Gavin Newsom. The official argued that this isn't the best approach for protecting against the dangers of AI. However, experts are still working on similar bills.

Nintendo officially announced that it, along with The Pokémon Company, had filed a lawsuit against Pocketpair, the developer behind the smash-hit game, Palworld. The lawsuit comes as a surprise to absolutely no-one, but Pocketpair has feigned ignorance in its response.

The European Consumer Organisation (BEUC) has announced an action calling to end what it calls “unfair practices” relating to in-game purchases. It doesn't dance around the issue, either, calling game companies out for their claims that gamers prefer in-game currencies and subtly accusing game developers of manipulating the whims of children for monetary gain.

While European and US users of Facebook and Instagram were allowed to choose for their data not to be used to train AI, Australians didn't have any opt-out options available. As a consequence, all of their public posts since 2007 were used by Meta. For now, Facebook representatives couldn't confirm a future freedom of choice in the matter to Australian users.

If everything goes as planned, Nevada will soon become the first administration to use a generative AI system to process appeals hearings transcripts and issue a recommendation regarding the ruling. However, it should also be taken into account that the final decision (and accountability) will remain in human hands.

The U.S. Commerce Department is now focusing on both AI and cloud computing service providers with a new proposal, which involves requiring additional reporting from these companies. The goal of these new requirements is to ensure the safety of the technologies developed, such as their ability to handle cyberattacks.

The Internet Archive, which hosts millions of websites, pieces of media, and other bits of information, has lost its appeal in a court case between it and major publishers. The case concerns whether the Internet Archive has the right to redistribute or lend digitized versions of over 500,000 books owned by the publishers, which include Penguin Random House, HarperCollins, and more.

The Netherlands' Data Protection Association, a nationwide personal data watchdog organization, has issued a fine of around $33.7 million to Clearview AI over a global facial recognition database. They are not the first or only national organization to go after the company. Allegations generally fall along the same lines: that Clearview gathered the photos it has on hand illegally, and has invaded the privacy of those whose likenesses it has on hand.

Brazilian Supreme Court has ordered service providers and app stores to block X (Twitter) within five days after the company failed to name legal representative, a requirement for foreign companies operating within Brazil. The move is another chapter in the continuing row between Justice Alexandre de Moraes and Elon Musk, who is accused of helping spread fake news and threats against the justices.

Defended by Elon Musk and feared by the executives of iconic tech companies such as Google, OpenAI, and Meta, California’s antagonistic AI safety bill, SB 1047, is now just one step away from reshaping the tech landscape. After passing the state legislature, the bill is now waiting for Gavin Newsom's decision.

Pavel Durov, founder and CEO of Telegram, has been arrested by French authorities. The detention is allegedly linked to an ongoing investigation into Telegram's operations, which focuses on insufficient content moderation and lack of cooperation with law enforcement agencies. French authorities claim that Durov's inaction allowed many crimes to be committed through Telegram, and the platform has become a hub for organized crime.

Concept designer Antonio De Rosa, known for his high quality conceptual designs of possible Apple products, has received a letter from the tech giant’s legal team, informing him that some of his designs seem “too real”, and requesting a discussion about making certain changes to them. Without revealing specifics, De Rosa has said that discussions with Apple’s team are currently underway.

A man whose wife suffered an allergic reaction while eating at a restaurant in Disney Springs is seemingly unable to sue due to a clause in the terms of service for Disney Plus. The document features a forced arbitration clause. The company is also citing the terms of their website, which was used to purchase tickets to Epcot.

In August of 2024, one of the largest data breaches in history took place, exposing roughly 2.7 billion personal records. The set reportedly contains data on citizens of the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom.

China firms, including state-affiliated institutes, have been getting a steady supply of Nvidia’s AI chips the sale of which have been banned by the United States. A whole economy surrounding the procurement of Nvidia chips has reportedly sprung up in China with smugglers and private companies sourcing Nvidia chips for Chinese buyers.

Internal Nvidia Slack communications obtained by 404 Media revealed that the company's staff working on the Cosmos video foundation model has so far compiled 38.5 million hours of video from various sources, primarily YouTube. Employees highlighted possible copyright concerns, but the execs higher up apparently gave an "umbrella approval" to go ahead and scrape content.

The US Senate has passed the “Kids Online Safety Act” (KOSA) to protect children online. The bill requires large social media, online gaming, and virtual reality sites that act as forums for user-generated content to actively prevent minors under 17 from harm. Safeguards include limits on ads, communications with minors, geolocation, automatic recommendation, and time use.

After years of working on a plan to eliminate third-party cookies, which enable tracking user activity across websites, from the Chrome browser, Google has decided not to go ahead with it, citing adverse effects on its advertising business. Instead, it now plans to give users the choice to opt out of third-party cookies in favour of its new Privacy Sandbox tech.

CheckMag So many people rely on mobile devices of all stripes to keep their data secure. Let’s look at why this is not such a good idea - and the options available to fight back.

In what some security experts are calling the largest password compilation in history, over 9.9 billion passwords were posted on a dark web forum. These passwords were compiled from multiple hacks and leaks, including some that occurred decades ago.

The European Commission is accusing Apple of having violated the rules of the Digital Markets Act, which could potentially result in a fine of over EUR 30 billion for the iPhone manufacturer.

After the European Union, Japan is stepping in by promoting a law that forces both Apple and Google to stop keeping third-party app stores out of their ecosystems. For now, some details are still sketchy, but a fine of 20% of the domestic revenue for the initial violation for a specific service is certain.

CheckMag The EU has a solid history of making decisions that actually benefit the consumer and the EU Right to Repair Directive (R2RD) may finally curb environmentally damaging and anti consumer practices employed by tech companies to keep their revenue streams flowing.

Adobe recently stirred up controversy with an update to its terms of use, seemingly demanding unfettered access to user-generated content. The concerns were amplified by fears of Adobe using user content to train its Firefly generative AI. Adobe has now responded, but users remain sceptical, with some already jumping ship.

As a direct consequence of the European Union’s Digital Markets Act (DMA), the Google Play alternative Aptoide is now ready to take on iOS as well. The closed launch will take place tomorrow, and new users will need an invitation to join. Between 500 and 1,000 daily invites will be issued in the first stage.

After Epic Games' unexpected win, veteran antitrust US federal judge James Donato is now taking the story one step further by asking Google to calculate the costs incurred by allowing the Epic Games Store inside the Google Play Store, as well as providing catalog access and library porting rights. Google must reply by June 24th.

After missing the mark in its initial response to the damning Gamers Nexus report highlighting major shortcomings in Asus's warranty process for the YouTube outfit's ROG Ally, Asus has responded with more sweeping changes to its RMA process.

In the aftermath of a patent dispute, Motorola and Lenovo are no longer allowed to sell smartphones and laptops with WWAN modules. Although some targeted Lenovo laptops can still be acquired as long as existing stocks last, the brand might appeal the court's decision and revert the ruling.

Asus is back in the news for shady business surrounding warranty repairs. This time, Gamers Nexus is back at the forefront of it all with an Asus ROG Ally that needed warranty repair. Asus subsequently tried to charge GN for unnecessary repairs and completely missed the reason the ROG Ally was sent in for RMA. On top of all that, Gamers Nexus claims to have hundreds of emails from Asus customers recounting similar stories.

TikTok and ByteDance have filed a federal appeal to fight the recently passed TikTok ban. The companies counter that the ban in unconstitutional and unfairly targets TikTok despite prior reports of Chinese employee and government access to US user data.

The founder of Binance, Changpeng Zhao, has been sentenced to four months in prison for putting profits above the law. The company was found guilty of inadvertently helping fund various criminal activities around the globe. Zhao pleaded guilty on the last day of April and he now has to spend several months in prison in the United States in addition to paying hefty fines.

Dr Viviane Ghaderi, an ex-Amazon executive and lead AI engineer, has revealed in a California lawsuit that she was told to ignore company protocol and copyright law in order to beat the competition in an AI arms race.

(Update: 2024-04-24 11:00 PST President Biden has signed the package into law.) TikTok is now a dead-man walking after the US Senate passed a ban included in a $95 billion aid package to Ukraine, Israel, and Taiwan. After President Biden signs it into law, ByteDance will have 270 days to leave the American market, face heavy fines, or sell TikTok to an American-friendly company. TikTok will file a lawsuit as soon as the package becomes law.

The U.S. Senate is set to pass a TikTok ban stuffed into an Israel, Taiwan, and Ukraine support package that includes the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act, which itself passed the House Wednesday. The act includes a fine on TikTok of $5,000 per user located in the United States to force ByteDance to divest TikTok or leave the U.S. market. The Senate can vote on the package as early as Tuesday.

The Chinese Government has forced Apple to delist WhatsApp and Threads from the App Store according to a report by Wall Street Journal, resulting in the inability of the Chinese users to download the said apps from the official channels. This can prove to be the final nail in the coffin for WhatsApp in China as the service has been banned since 2017.

Delta, the multi-system console emulator developer by Riley Testut, is now available on the official iOS App Store. The emulator was previously available only through Testut's AltStore service, which would use some iOS trickery to sideload apps onto an iPhone or iPad. Delta is not available in the European App Store; European iPhone users will have to use the AltStore PAL third-party app store.

Starlink users in Zimbabwe face losing access to satellite Internet for an unknown period of time, much like their counterparts in Botswana and South Africa have. The problem appears to be one of a regulatory nature; officials of the African nations are yet to give Starlink a license to operate.

An AI-powered chatbot officially sanctioned by the government of New York City has been advising some business owners to skirt the law or fully violate city ordinances. The chatbot, which was implemented to help businesses navigate New York City's laws and regulations, has responded to some queries with blatantly illegal statements, such as serving customers cheese that has been partially consumed by rodents.

Popular messenger service WhatsApp will soon update its privacy policy and terms of use. Users must agree to the new regulations, or their account may be suspended.

The Apple Watch has evaded Android compatibility for nearly a decade now. Apple claims this was due to technical limitations, but an internal company email from 2019 suggests it was to protect Apple's iPhone sales and the ecosystem.

Suyu, the follow-up to the popular Nintendo Switch emulator Yuzu, has been removed from GitLab following a DMCA takedown request issued by a "rightsholder." Suyu's developers' accounts were also blocked. The takedown comes just days after Suyu's first public beta release.

CheckMag For those familiar with sideloading on iOS, AltStore has been a staple for many years. Allowing users to sideload any app onto an un-jailbroken device with the use of a free Apple developer account. Now AltStore is going legit, but only if they can figure out how to work around Apple's draconian "malicious compliance" tactics.

To make life difficult for cyber criminals, Meta is restricting the screenshot function when using WhatsApp. However, the update has not yet arrived on all smartphones.

The US House of Representatives has passed the “Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act” putting TikTok one step closer to a complete ban in the US. The bill, if passed into law, will force ByteDance, the parent company of TikTok, to sell its US business in 6 months or risk having the app, among other things, delisted from the app stores in the US.

A recent study exposes a gap in the way many US teens think about their smartphones. Around three quarters feel that they are more peaceful without them, while almost half still complain of separation anxiety.

Apple will soon push an update that will allow software developers to distribute their software to iOS devices directly from their websites. This is in addition to alternative app stores, but this practice will only be available to developers in the EU.

A photographer set out with the goal of recreating some of the most recognisable images of all time using Midjourney and DALL-E. In a surprise to absolutely no-one, the AI systems were able to surprisingly accurately recreate each of the images, which included the Afghan Girl and Muhammad Ali's triumph over Sonny Liston.