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'Roblox' sues long-banned user for allegedly terrorizing the platform
The company is seeking $1.7 million in damages from Benjamin Robert Simon.
The USA's latest trade legislation is more bad news for Huawei phones
The US Commerce Department has issued further crushing legislation against Huawei.
FBI sees cybercrime reports increase fourfold during COVID-19 outbreak
Cybercrime has increased since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Twitter bans House candidate who suggested Ilhan Omar should be hanged
Twitter may be reluctant to crack down on politicians' tweets, but it still has its limits -- and one political candidate may have crossed the line. The social media giant has permanently banned Republican House candidate Danielle Stella's personal and campaign accounts for "repeated violations" of Twitter's policies. While it didn't elaborate on what those violations were, Stella's campaign suggested that her potential rival, incumbent representative Ilhan Omar, should be "tried for #treason and hanged" if she was found to have passed sensitive info to Iran through Qatar. That claim is unsupported by evidence. The posts may have violated Twitter policies forbidding the promotion of violence or threats.
Amnesty International: Facebook and Google are a threat to human rights
Amnesty International, the premiere human rights organization, says Facebook and Google pose an unprecedented systematic threat to human rights. Specifically, Amnesty is concerned with the companies' "pervasive surveillance." In a new report, the organization warns against what it calls "omnipresent surveillance of billions of people" and calls for a "radical transformation of the tech giants' core business model."
Alphabet’s Chronicle finally reveals its cybersecurity moonshot
Last year, Google's parent company Alphabet announced Chronicle, a cybersecurity division spun out of X (previously Google X). Now, Chronicle has launched its first commercial product -- a global telemetry platform called Backstory. According to Chronicle, it's a bit like Google Photos, but for business network security.
Facebook reportedly tracks the location of 'credible threats'
Facebook's security teams reportedly have a list of people they're instructed to watch out for, including ex-employees and users who have threatened the company, according to CNBC. That's a reasonable safety measure, particularly given Facebook recently evacuated its headquarters over a bomb scare and a shooter attacked YouTube's HQ last year. While many businesses keep records of potential threats, not many will be able to monitor them in a similar way to Facebook, whose information security team is able to potentially track them through location and IP data.
Trolls threaten laid off reporters in coordinated online campaign
Unfortunately, sustained online harassment campaigns are still a reality. NBC News has learned that trolls have launched a coordinated threat campaign against BuzzFeed and Huffington Post (owned by Engadget parent Verizon) journalists recently let go as part of layoffs. They appear to have originated from 4chan and used the same far-right memes before launching into racist and sexist slurs as well as death threats. The attackers have largely targeted writers on social networks like Twitter and Instagram, although they've also used email and even PayPal.
For Twitter, 'sorry' seems to be the easiest word
Two weeks before Cesar Sayoc was arrested for mailing 13 pipe bombs (and counting) to various Democratic politicians and supporters, including President Barack Obama, he was threatening people on Twitter who opposed his nationalist, pro-Trump views. In a tweet to political analyst Rochelle Ritchie on October 11th, which he sent from one of two Twitter accounts that have since been suspended, he said she should hug her "loved ones real close every time" she left home. "So you like [to] make threats. We Unconquered Seminole Tribe will answer your threats. We have nice silent Air boat ride for you here on our land Everglades Swamp. We will see u 4 sure," he added. Ritchie reported the tweet, only to be told by Twitter that it did not violate its terms of service.
FBI tracks down California man who threatened Ajit Pai's family
Today the Department of Justice announced it has arrested a man in LA on charges that he threatened to kill the family of FCC Commissioner Ajit Pai. 33-year-old Markara Man allegedly sent three emails to Pai from "stubblemanliness@gmail.com" that in succession blamed the commissioner for a child's suicide, threatened his kids while listing several Arlington preschools and finally contained a picture of Pai and his family. According to the filing, Man admitted that he sent the emails in response to the FCC's repeal of net neutrality protections. Earlier this year, Pai canceled a scheduled appearance at CES 2018 citing security concerns, and in November another man was charged with threatening Representative John Katko. The charge Man is facing carries a maximum penalty of ten years in jail.
Twitter bans Trump adviser Roger Stone for threatening CNN staff
Twitter is no stranger to taking down high-profile users' accounts when it believes they've crossed the line, but its latest takedown is arguably the biggest yet. The social network has suspended former Trump adviser Roger Stone after he hurled threats at multiple CNN personalities. When CNN reported that Robert Mueller had filed his first indictments in the Russia investigation, Stone flew off the handle... to put it mildly. In addition to throwing insults, he insisted that Don Lemon should be "confronted, humiliated, mocked and punished," while Jake Tapper should be "very severely punished." Whether or not Stone was promoting violence, it's clear Twitter didn't want to risk people using this as a pretext for more direct threats.
'Pharma bro' Shkreli ordered to jail over internet harassment
Martin Shkreli is learning the hard way that his eagerness to harass others has consequences beyond social networking bans. Judge Kiyo Matsumoto has ordered the price-gouging (and most recently, securities fraud convict) "pharma bro" CEO to jail over the Facebook post he wrote offering $5,000 to whoever could get him a strand of Hillary Clinton's hair. Shkreli and his lawyer maintained that the post was satire protected by free speech, but Judge Matsumoto didn't buy it. This was "solicitation of assault," she said in her decision, adding that it wasn't funny to effectively issue a threat.
France releases terror alert app in time for Euro 2016
With the Euro 2016 football tournament starting on June 10th, France has unveiled a smartphone app that alerts users to terrorist attacks. Called SAIP (System to alert and inform the population), it allows you to opt-in to geolocalization or select up to eight regions to monitor. If you're at a game where an attack has occurred, your smartphone will display an alert screen, otherwise, you'll get a notification. It will also advise users on what do do, with instructions like "take shelter" and "stay down," according to France's Ministry of the Interior.
Supreme Court: online threats must be intentional to be illegal
You can't be sent to prison for kinda sorta threats in the real world, and that now applies to the internet as well. The US Supreme Court has overturned the conviction in Anthony Elonis v. United States on the grounds that online threats aren't illegal unless they're clearly intentional -- not just that a "reasonable person" would see them as hostile. When Elonis raged against his ex-wife and the government through allegedly "therapeutic" rap lyrics on Facebook, the court says, it wasn't absolutely certain that he actually wished harm. The man isn't out of the woods yet (a lower court has to look at the case once again), but there's now a higher standard for putting him behind bars.
ISIS threatens Twitter employees after account was blocked
Middle Eastern terror group ISIS has apparently threatened the lives of Twitter's employees, as well as that of its chairman, Jack Dorsey. The threat was reportedly made as a response to the service's policy of blocking accounts that directly encourage acts of violence or illegal activities such as terrorism. BuzzFeed has translated portions of the message, part of which reads "when our lions come and take your breath, you will never come back to life."
Anita Sarkeesian speech canceled following threats, safety concerns
Feminist critic Anita Sarkeesian has canceled an appearance at Utah State University following death threats where the institution could not implement stronger safety controls. "Sarkeesian was informed that, in accordance with the State of Utah law regarding the carrying of firearms, if a person has a valid concealed firearm permit and is carrying a weapon, they are permitted to have it at the venue," according to a USU statement.
WoW Archivist: The classic Molten Core experience
WoW Archivist explores the secrets of World of Warcraft's past. What did the game look like years ago? Who is etched into WoW's history? What secrets does the game still hold? Are you ready to return to the Core? Last week, we learned that Blizzard is planning a 40-player LFR version of classic's Molten Core raid as part of WoW's 10th anniversary celebration. Regardless of what they have in mind, the experience is certain to be very different than it was back in 2005. Sure, you've probably solo'ed MC or cleared it with a few friends. But what was a Molten Core run like during classic WoW, when conquering Ragnaros and his fiery lieutenants was the pinnacle of endgame content? Read on to find out. Zoning in To access Molten Core at release, raids had to fight their way through the 5-player Blackrock Depths dungeon in order to access the raid. Today that would be impossible, but originally, dungeons had the same 40-player cap as raids. Those poor, poor fools in BRD didn't stand a chance with three dozen+ players carving their way through. Since clearing it offered nothing but a timesink, Blizzard changed the Molten Core discovery quest into an attunement in March 2005. You had to reach the entrance of Molten Core once, and then you could port there directly by jumping out of a small window in Blackrock Mountain. The game sometimes failed to register the instance transfer and you plummeted into a vast lake of lava. Yes, Molten Core could kill you before you even set foot in it.
Supreme Court will decide when threats made on social media become criminal
We're still waiting to see what the Supreme Court has to say about Aereo and warrantless cellphone searches, but in the meantime there are more cases to be heard! Including Anthony Elonis v. United States, which the highest court in the nation just agreed to hear. The decision will end up setting a precedent for when violent comments made online cross from protected speech to criminal threats. In 2011, Elonis was sentenced to nearly four years in jail for posting status updates and self-penned lyrics on his Facebook page wishing death on his wife, the police and others.
The Light and How to Swing It: The ups and downs of protection's funky aggro
Every week, WoW Insider brings you The Light and How to Swing It for holy, protection and retribution paladins. Protection specialist Matt Walsh spends most of his time receiving concussions for the benefit of 9 other people, obsessing over his hair, and maintaining the tankadin-focused blog Righteous Defense. Granted, as far as class design goes, protection paladins are sitting fairly pretty (and not just the blood elves). Our rotation is great, our stat priorities produce a fun playstyle, our talents do what they need to. We don't have any serious holes in our stable of cooldowns, and on the whole staying alive isn't really an issue for us as long as there's a healer nearby. If you had to ask me what the biggest source of frustration with my paladin is, I would quickly reply with the inconsistencies of how aggro plays out. That's not to say that single-target, Patchwerk-like aggro is an issue. Vengeance as-is means that tanks really aren't going to lose threat if they have a lead and they're being punched in the face. Rather, where the look and feel of the system breaks down is on the periphery, and in particular when new adds appear as the clock ticks on those crucial few seconds between spawning and gnawing of the closest healer.
EverQuest Next groups will function without 'the stereotypical tank'
The holy trinity has been a hot topic ever since SOE introduced EverQuest Next at last week's SOE Live convention in Las Vegas. The firm is clearly trying to move away from traditional MMO combat, and more evidence of this comes courtesy of a USGamer interview with producer Terry Michaels. "The dedicated roles of the holy trinity are not going to be present in Everquest Next. There will be different classes and different builds that are angled towards some of the roles," Michaels explains, "so there might be a class or a build that is more tankish but you don't need that person to accomplish that goal and content. You can go in there without having somebody who is the stereotypical tank." Not only that, but EQN is attempting a new spin on aggro in general. "The combat's very different. There's not the common threat mechanic that people see in MMOs where there is somebody who can generate enough aggro that the NPC will never ever turn away from them," Michaels says. [Thanks bardamu1999!]
