federal

0

Some criminals have switched to new iPhones as their “device of choice” to commit wrongdoing due to strong encryption Apple Inc has placed on their products, three law enforcement groups said in a court filing. The groups told a judge overseeing Apple's battle with the U.S. Department of Justice on Thursday that, among other things, they were aware of “numerous instances” in which criminals who previously used so-called throwaway burner phones have now switched to iPhones. The brief by the Federal Law Enforcement Officers Association and two other also cited a jailhouse phone call intercepted by New York authorities in 2015, in which the inmate called Apple's encrypted operating system “another gift from God.” The government obtained a court order last month requiring Apple to write new software to disable passcode protection and allow access to an iPhone used by one of the shooters in the December killings in San Bernardino, California.

0

It’s not unique to the federal government,” said Tony Scott, who spent 35 years in the private sector running systems at companies such as Microsoft Corp, Walt Disney Co and General Motors Co. Scott was named as the federal CIO in February and knew from the start that stepping up cyber defenses would be a focus. The hacks have created a political firestorm and led on Friday to the resignation of the chief of the Office of Personnel Management as Americans questioned the security of government-housed data. Scott began reviewing the status of cyber security at government agencies early in his tenure.

0

By Lawrence Hurley WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Google Inc will have to defend claims that its Street View mapping software violates patents held by Vederi LLC after the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday declined to take up the company's appeal. The high court's decision not to hear the case leaves intact a March 2014 ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, which threw out a district judge's finding that Google had not infringed on four different patents. Vederi sued Google in 2010.

0

A U.S. judge ordered Yahoo Inc to face a nationwide class-action lawsuit accusing it of illegally intercepting the content of emails sent to Yahoo Mail subscribers from non-Yahoo Mail accounts, and using the information to boost advertising revenue. In a decision late Tuesday night, U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh in San Jose, California said people who sent emails to or received emails from Yahoo Mail subscribers since Oct. 2, 2011 may sue as a group under the federal Stored Communications Act for alleged privacy violations. Holders of non-Yahoo Mail accounts accused Yahoo of copying and then analyzing their emails, including keywords and attachments, with a goal of creating “targeted advertising” for its estimated 275 million Yahoo Mail subscribers, in addition to detecting spam and malware

0

A U.S. appeals court on Monday reversed part of the $930 million verdict that Apple Inc won in 2012 against Samsung Electronics Co Ltd , saying the iPhone maker's trade dress could not be protected. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit upheld the patent infringement violations found by the jury. Trade dress is a legal term for a trademark on the way a product is packaged or presented.

0

By Roberta Rampton WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. President Barack Obama on Tuesday will announce a renewed push for cybersecurity legislation after recent headline-grabbing hacks against companies like Sony Pictures and Home Depot. Obama will throw his support behind efforts to give liability protection to companies that quickly share information about attacks, but will require strict protections for personal information, the White House said in a statement. The White House first proposed cyber legislation in 2011. …