More Signal. Less Noise.

V2 | Issue 195 | 10.7.20

Congress barks at Big Tech's "monopolies." EU calls for a halt to national e-surveillance. Indian states' evolving cyber policies.

Summary

By the CyberWire staff

At a glance.

House inquiry into Big Tech criticizes the Four Horsemen of the new Gilded Age.
EU checks indiscriminate e-data collection.
New cyber policy for Karnataka.

US House subcommittee recommends Big Tech breakup.

The Democrat-led US House Antitrust Subcommittee wrapped up its sixteen-month investigation of Google, Amazon, Facebook, and Apple’s economic influence, concluding that the companies suppress rivals and Congress should divide them, The Wall Street Journal says. Claiming “evidence of monopolization and monopoly power,” the report contends the Big Four’s ascendancy has “diminished consumer choice, eroded innovation and entrepreneurship in the U.S. economy, weakened the vibrancy of the free and diverse press, and undermined Americans’ privacy.” The document continues, “To put it simply, companies that once were scrappy, underdog startups that challenged the status quo have become the kinds of monopolies we last saw in the era of oil barons and railroad tycoons.” Engadget reports that Republicans don’t back the body’s recommendations, with one representative calling a breakup “the nuclear option.”

Amazon responded by saying the panel’s “fringe notions” would drive up costs, decrease selection, diminish competition, inconvenience shoppers, and snuff out small stores. Google also gainsaid the findings, with the exception of those touching “data portability,” “software interoperability,” and “comprehensive federal privacy legislation.” Joining the chorus, Apple “vehemently” rejected the subcommittee’s conclusions in a comment to MacRumors. Facebook has yet to issue a comparable statement.

EU checks “indiscriminate” e-spying.

Yesterday the European Court of Justice hemmed in EU member state intelligence bureaus’ blanket gathering of residents’ digital communications, leaving exceptions for major crimes and threats, Security Week reports. A press release says the court “confirms that EU law precludes national legislation requiring a provider of electronic communications services to carry out the general and indiscriminate transmission or retention of traffic data and location data.” Exceptions must be time-bound and overseen by an external jurisdiction, but these limitations might not satisfy privacy enthusiasts skeptical of vague escape clauses. The case follows ex-CIA contractor Edward Snowden’s disclosure of UK coordination with US data harvesting post 9-11.

Karnataka brews new cyber policy.

In response to snowballing cyberassaults, some of which the CyberWire Pro Privacy has covered recently, the Indian state of Karnataka plans to issue a cybersafety policy, according to The News Minute. Deputy Chief Minister Dr CN Ashwatha Narayana said the policy will “address the needs of the citizens, industry, students as well as the state government” following “the rapid adoption of IT solutions for delivering public services.” A US FBI report ranking India third in total cybercrimes drew his concern, while New Delhi’s National Crime Records Bureau found Karnataka to be the “worst-hit” state, with 12 thousand recorded events last year. The government is also developing cybersecurity classes for top administrators. “Cyber aware employees are the best defense against cyber risks in any organization,” the Deputy Chief Minister concluded.

Selected Reading

Germany battles over Huawei’s 5G role (Asia Times) Battle lines are being drawn in the Bundestag over Huawei’s role in Germany’s 5G broadband buildout, as Chancellor Angela Merkel’s government submits crucial draft IT security legislation later thi…

Ukraine plan to tackle hackers sparks privacy fears (Reuters) From crashing supermarket tills to messing with radiation readouts, Ukraine is hoping to tackle an ever-growing list of cyber attacks with a new law that rights experts warn could give authorities excessive powers to pry into the lives of citizens.

Democrats urge halt to security aid to Azerbaijan in Armenia conflict (Defense News) A growing number of Democrats in Congress are calling for the Trump administration to immediately suspend U.S. security aid to Azerbaijan as fighting between Armenian and Azerbaijani forces over the separatist territory of Nagorno-Karabakh reaches its second week.

House Panel Calls for Congress to Break Up Tech Giants (Wall Street Journal) The biggest U.S. technology companies have leveraged their dominance to stifle competition and innovation, Democrats said in a report following a 16-month inquiry and called on Congress to take antitrust action.

Tech giants' anticompetitive practices investigation - US lawmakers report their findings (Computing) Report concludes that big tech firms like Google, Apple, Facebook and Amazon are monopolies that need to be broken up

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House Democrats say Facebook, Amazon, Alphabet, Apple enjoy 'monopoly power' and recommend big changes (CNBC) Republicans have voiced objections to some of the bolder proposals in the report, such as imposing structural separations.

Big Tech Was Their Enemy, Until Partisanship Fractured the Battle Plans (New York Times) A House report on how to limit the reach of Apple, Amazon, Google and Facebook has been delayed as Democrats and Republicans split on remedies.

Fringe notions on antitrust would destroy small businesses and hurt consumers (US Day One Blog) Misguided interventions in the free market would kill off independent retailers and punish consumers by forcing small businesses out of popular online stores, raising prices, and reducing consumer choice and convenience.

Apple 'Vehemently Disagrees' With U.S. Tech Company Antitrust Report (MacRumors) Earlier today, the U.S. House Judiciary Antitrust Subcommittee completed its ongoing antitrust investigation into the practices of Apple, Facebook,...

Officials urge social media groups to weed out election disinformation targeting minority voters (TheHill) Officials on Tuesday urged social media platforms to take further steps to root out and remove disinformation and misinformation targeting minority groups that could lead to voter disenfranchisement in the upcoming

Cybersecurity and the 117th Congress (Atlantic Council) About eighty congressional subcommittees have jurisdiction over parts of cybersecurity policy: can they effectively govern an evolving field?

GAO makes recommendations to Treasury Dept on cybersecurity for financial sector (Homeland Preparedness News) The Government Accountability Office (GAO) is recommending that the Treasury Department work with other federal agencies and sector partners to enhance cybersecurity within the financial sector. The financial services sector’s reliance on information technology makes it a leading target for … Read More »

CISA Reveals Timeline for Improving Anemic Information Sharing Program (Nextgov) The private sector has been pushing for greater liability protections before participating in a two-way exchange of cyber threats and vulnerabilities with the agency.

Shared cyber defense strategy for gov’t firms pushed (INQUIRER.net) To better fight cybercriminals, the Department of Finance (DOF) has ordered its attached agencies and government financial institutions (GFIs) to band together to cost-effectively strengthen their

House panel urges intelligence community to step up science and technology efforts (TheHill) A House Intelligence Committee subcommittee on Tuesday urged the intelligence community to take steps to boost its science and technology innovation work, warning that without improvements, the U.S. could fall behind other nations including China.

DHS awards $1M for cybersecurity information sharing tool (Homeland Preparedness News) The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Program awarded $1 million to InferLink Corp. to develop a tool for sharing cybersecurity information. Inferlink, based in El Segundo, Calif., awarded the Phase II contract to InferLink based … Read More »

Rightly Scaled, Carefully Open, Infinitely Agile: Reconfiguring to Win the Innovation Race in the Intelligence Community (House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, Strategic Technologies and Advanced Research (STAR) Subcommittee) From our nation’s founding moment, innovation has been an essential ingredient of American prosperity and national security.

National Consumer Privacy Law Round-Up: Data Privacy and Security Are Back in Focus (JD Supra) As emergency legislative responses to COVID-19 abate, lawmakers across the country—particularly in Congress—have started to turn their attention back...

Karnataka govt to bring out cybersecurity policy in light of increasing cyber attacks (The News Minute) The Karnataka government will soon bring out a cybersecurity policy in light of increasing cyber attacks, Deputy Chief Minister Dr CN Ashwatha Narayana said on Monday during a government-held event. “Cybersecurity is gaining increased focus in the government in view of the rapid adoption of IT (Information Technology) solutions for delivering public services. Whilst this has many benefits the increased adoption of IT also comes associated with significant cyber risks.

UK regulator bans sale of crypto derivatives to retail users (The Block) The U.K.’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has today officially banned the sale of cryptocurrency derivatives and exchange-traded notes to retail users, more than a year after first proposing such a ban.

NSA boss Paul Nakasone in self-isolation after potential coronavirus exposure (CyberScoop) The director of the U.S. National Security Agency, Gen. Paul Nakasone, has entered quarantine out of an abundance of caution after a potential exposure to the coronavirus.

Indiana National Guard activates cyber battalion (Army.mil) Indiana National Guard activates cyber battalion

Maryland National Guard Soldiers Participate in National Cyber Exercise (DVIDS) Soldiers from the Maryland National Guard’s 169 Cyber Protection Team have just wrapped up their part in this year’s Cyber Shield exercise, which ran from September 12—27, and was conducted virtually for the first time due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Huawei set to challenge EU discrimination law in Estonia (Telecoms.com) Estonia has drafted a fairly standard law banning high-risk telecoms vendors, but Huawei has reportedly decided to make a stand this time.

Tax Agency Watchdog Is Investigating IRS Use of Cellphone Location Data (Wall Street Journal) Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration J. Russel George said in a letter to Capitol Hill he was examining the agency’s use of software sold by Venntel, a data company that caters to government clients in the intelligence, military and law enforcement space.

The IRS Is Being Investigated for Using Location Data Without a Warrant (Vice) The IRS used smartphone location data from a contractor to try and track Americans without a warrant.

Here’s Why Cisco Was Ordered To Pay $1.9B To Centripetal Networks For Patent Infringement (CRN) Here's why a federal court ordered Cisco Systems to pay $1.9 billion for infringing on four patents belonging to cybersecurity startup Centripetal Networks.ta.

EU Court Curbs Mass Phone Data Grab by Spy Agencies (SecurityWeek) EU law precludes national legislation that requires telcos and tech companies to carry out the "indiscriminate retention" of data.

EU’s top court limits government spying on citizens’ mobile and internet data (CNBC) The European Court of Justice (ECJ) has ruled that member states cannot collect mass mobile and internet data on citizens.

U.S. judge to hold November 4 hearing on Commerce Dept TikTok ban (Reuters) A U.S. judge said on Tuesday he would hold a Nov. 4 hearing on whether to allow the U.S. government to bar transactions with TikTok, a move that the Chinese-owned short video-sharing app has warned would effectively ban its use in the United States.

DNI Declassifies CIA Memo That Comey Claimed to Have No Memory of Receiving (Epoch Times) The head of the U.S. intelligence community on Oct. 6 declassified a referral sent from the CIA to ...

Trump’s team trusts Russian intelligence over U.S. intelligence (Washington Post) As the election draws near, President Trump’s political appointees, private lawyers and GOP allies on Capitol Hill are escalating their campaign to help the Russians interfere in U.S. politics.