Supreme Court Upholds Texas Law Requiring Age Checks for Pornography

The Supreme Court rejected a challenge to a Texas law that seeks to limit minors’ access to pornography on the Internet, ruling that it does not violate the First Amendment to require people to verify their age through measures like the submission of government-issued IDs. The Texas law applies to any commercial website “more than one-third of which is sexual material harmful to minors” and and requires such sites to use one of several methods to verify that users are 18 or older.

U.S. Officials Prepare for Cyberattack from Iran as Retaliation

U.S. officials and private experts are warning that Iran may retaliate against the United States for bombing its nuclear facilities with any of a wide range of cyberattacks that could cause lasting damage or significant psychological impact. In the 15 years since the U.S. and Israel attacked Iran with the early cyberweapon known as Stuxnet, a computer worm that infiltrated computers in Iran’s nuclear enrichment program and damaged critical centrifuges, Iran has devoted itself to building its own capabilities to a point well beyond those of other countries its size.

U.S. Indicts British Hacker 'IntelBroker' for Stealing, Selling Data Online

A 25-year-old British man known as “IntelBroker” was accused by U.S. authorities of conspiring with a group of hackers to steal data from dozens of companies and offer it for sale online, causing more than $25 million in damages to victims around the world. Federal prosecutors in New York announced an indictment had been unsealed charging Kai West, 25, with four counts including conspiracy to commit computer intrusions.

Judge Says Fair Use Protects Meta in AI Copyright Case -- With Caveat

Meta Platforms Inc. escaped a first-of-its-kind copyright lawsuit from a group of authors who alleged the tech giant hoovered up millions of copyrighted books without permission to train its generative AI model called Llama. San Francisco federal Judge Vince Chhabria ruled that Meta’s decision to use the books for training is protected under copyright law’s fair use defense, but he cautioned that his opinion is more a reflection on the authors’ failure to litigate the case effectively.

Judge Finds Anthropic's Claude Protected by Fair Use in Books Case

Anthropic’s use of books to train its artificial intelligence model Claude was “fair use” and “transformative,” a federal judge ruled. Amazon-backed Anthropic’s AI training did not violate the authors’ copyrights since the large language models “have not reproduced to the public a given work’s creative elements, nor even one author’s identifiable expressive style,” wrote U.S. District Judge William Alsup.

  • Read the article: CNBC

Shareholders Sue Apple for Overstating Progress on AI Features

Apple was sued by shareholders in a proposed securities fraud class action that accused it of downplaying how long it needed to integrate advanced artificial intelligence into its Siri voice assistant, hurting iPhone sales and its stock price. The complaint covers shareholders who suffered potentially hundreds of billions of dollars of losses in the year ending June 9, when Apple introduced several features and aesthetic improvements for its products but kept AI changes modest.

Pope Urges 'Superior Ethical Criterion' for Development of AI Tools

Pope Leo XIV, who took over leadership of the Catholic Church in May, is revealing one area that he'll be focusing on: artificial intelligence. The Pope has called for tech companies to develop a "superior ethical criterion" against which AI should be evaluated. This message was delivered to tech leaders, including leaders from Google, Meta, OpenAI, and IBM, attending the second annual conference on AI and its ethics in Rome.

  • Read the article: CNET

Social Security Numbers Possibly Stolen in Attack on Aflac

Cybercriminals have breached insurance giant Aflac, potentially stealing Social Security numbers, insurance claims and health information, the company said, the latest in a spree of hacks against the insurance industry. With billions of dollars in annual revenue and tens of millions of customers, Aflac is the biggest victim yet in the ongoing digital assault on US insurance companies that has the industry on edge and the FBI and private cyber experts scrambling to contain the fallout.

  • Read the article: CNN

Google Propose Search Result Changes in EU to Avoid Fine

Alphabet's Google has proposed more changes to its search results to better showcase rivals in a bid to stave off a possible hefty EU antitrust fine, according to documents seen by Reuters. Google's latest proposal came three months after the European Commission charged the U.S. tech giant with favoring its own services such as Google Shopping, Google Hotels and Google Flights over rivals in breach of the Digital Markets Act (DMA).

European Court Adviser Supports $4.98 Billion Fine Against Google

Alphabet's Google faced a potential setback as an adviser to Europe's highest court sided with EU antitrust regulators in the company's fight against a record 4.34 billion euro ($4.98 billion) fine levied seven years ago. The European Commission in its 2018 decision said Google had used its Android mobile operating system to block rivals. A lower tribunal endorsed the EU finding in 2022 but trimmed the fine to 4.1 billion euros, prompting Google to appeal to Europe's top court.

State Department Requires Social Media Review for Student Visas

The State Department is restarting interviews for student visas and installing stricter social media guidelines, including a requirement that all applicants have their accounts set to public to be scrutinized for hostility toward the United States, according to a State Department cable sent to embassies and consulates and obtained by The Washington Post. The move comes after foreign students’ visa appointments were suspended last month in what U.S. officials described as part of a campaign against universities that allegedly fostered antisemitism and other national security concerns.

Senate Approves Legislation Supported by Cryptocurrency Industry

The Senate passed legislation to establish a regulatory framework for stablecoins, putting the cryptocurrency industry, which had long been viewed with suspicion by lawmakers in Washington, on the brink of a major policy breakthrough. Bipartisan approval of the bill, known as the GENIUS Act, followed an aggressive lobbying campaign aimed at transforming the cryptocurrency industry’s image from scandal-plagued experiment to legitimate financial sector.

DOJ Seizes $225.3 Million in Cryptocurrency in Pig-Butchering Scam

The Department of Justice announced the largest-ever seizure of cryptocurrency funds linked to so-called pig-butchering scams. The U.S. attorney’s office filed a civil forfeiture complaint in the District Court for the District of Columbia to seize more than $225.3 million in cryptocurrency that federal prosecutors say was part of a sophisticated blockchain-based money laundering network meant to conceal the source of funds obtained through illegal scams.

Iran Accuses WhatsApp of Sending Users' Information to Israel

Iranian state television urged people to remove WhatsApp from their smartphones, alleging without specific evidence that the messaging app gathered user information to send to Israel. In a statement, WhatsApp said it was “concerned these false reports will be an excuse for our services to be blocked at a time when people need them the most.”

Israeli-Linked Hackers Claim Responsibility for Cyberattack on Iran Bank

Iran’s semi-official Fars news reports that customers are experiencing issues with Bank Sepah due to a cyberattack, after a group of hackers linked to Israel claimed to have broken into the institution and interrupted its operations. The report from Fars says the problems with Sepah may ripple to gas stations that rely on the bank to process transactions.

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