Gabe Friedman reports:
A federal judge on Friday
unveiled a long sealed proposed class-action complaint that accused the law
firm, Johnson & Bell, of failing to take adequate steps to protect the data
on its servers.
The case is currently proceeding in confidential
arbitration and the complaint was filed in April by the plaintiff’s firm
Edelson P.C. on behalf of two of Johnson & Bell’s onetime clients, Jason
Shore, a California resident, and Coinabul, a Wyoming limited liability
company.
Read more on Bloomberg
Law.
I don’t think they mean hacking as we know it. They seem to think that millions of Russians
were shipped into the US Midwest and voted for Trump. Or perhaps they just think it wasn’t fair that
Democrats were hacked and Republicans were not?
Obama Orders Investigation Into Election-Related Hacking
President Obama asked intelligence officials to perform a
“full review” of election-related hacking this week, and plans will share a
report of its findings with lawmakers before he leaves office on January 20,
2017.
Deputy White House Press Secretary Eric Schultz said
Friday that the investigation will reach all the way
back to 2008, [See? It’s not just
Trump. Bob] and will examine
patterns of “malicious cyber-activity timed to election cycles.” He emphasized that the White House is not
questioning the results of the November election.
(Related)
CIA 'believes Russia intervened to help Donald Trump win
Presidential Election - and now has the proof'
… Last night, the
Washington Post reported CIA sources as saying the agency now believes it has
evidence individuals with connections to the Russian government were behind a
number of hacks targeting the Democrats.
… CIA agents
allegedly say it is now "quite clear"
that electing Trump was Russia's goal..
(Related)
Russia Hacked Republican Committee but Kept Data, U.S.
Concludes
American intelligence agencies have concluded with “high
confidence” that Russia
acted covertly in the latter stages of the presidential campaign to harm
Hillary Clinton’s chances and promote Donald J. Trump, according to senior
administration officials.
They based that
conclusion, in part, on another finding — which they say was also reached with
high confidence — that the Russians hacked the Republican National Committee’s
computer systems in addition to their attacks on Democratic organizations, but
did not release whatever information they gleaned from the Republican networks.
Is Verizon assuming Samsung’s liability here?
Verizon Won’t Brick Galaxy Note 7 Citing Conflicting
Dedication To Customer Safety
Well, we were definitely wrong, because Verizon Wireless has
just issued a statement saying that it will not send the death ROM update to
Galaxy Note 7 devices. Interestingly
enough, the company says that it is taking this precaution in order to ensure
the safety of its customers in the case of an emergency. The statement reads:
Verizon will not be taking
part in this update because of the added risk this could pose to Galaxy Note 7
users that do not have another device to switch to. We will not push a
software upgrade that will eliminate the ability for the Note 7 to work as a
mobile device in the heart of the holiday travel season. We do not want to make
it impossible to contact family, first responders or medical professionals in
an emergency situation.
For starters, this wording is a bit curious, as no one is
going to be
boarding a flight domestically or from the U.S. to a foreign destination
with a Galaxy Note 7 in tow — they’ve been banned from all airlines. And the part about not being able to contact
emergency responders is a bit comical considering that you wouldn’t be able to
call anyway if your Galaxy Note 7 is on fire.
Is Detroit ready for this?
Michigan Just Embraced the Driverless Future
The Wolverine State just became one of the first in the
country to formally give the thumbs-up to autonomous cars on public roads, with
no driver in the front seat.
Friday, Governor Rick Snyder put his signature on bills
permitting automakers to operate networks of self-driving taxis in the
state.1
… “As near as I
can tell from the language and the context, what’s going on is a specific
effort to implement a specific regime for a specific company,” says Bryant
Walker Smith, a legal scholar with the University of South Carolina School of
Law who studies self-driving vehicles.
I have a couple of friends (I do, honest!) who speak
better French than I do. Perhaps this
will allow me to catch up?
While the world waits on Apple, Molotov brings the future of
TV to France and raises $23 million
… Molotov is a
free app that allows users to watch any of the 70 basic free channels in
France. It works in partnership with
French TV stations, so it’s all perfectly legal. And no cable subscription is required to
access the stations. It is a big step
toward making those over-the-top (OTT) dreams a reality.
… Molotov’s app
has been available on almost all iOS, tvOS, Windows, and Android platforms. It
allows for a continuous viewing experience across all those platforms. But it
also solves the problem of needing a dozen apps for each channel to catch what
limited live streams may be available.
I can’t help it, I love lists!
Friday Reads: Best Books Lists
It’s that time of year again, when the “Best Books of the
Year” lists begin to flurry like snowflakes. There’s the august New York Times’ 10
Best Books of the Year, many of which also appear on the year-end round ups
by Publisher’s
Weekly, BuzzFeed
Books, NPR,
BookRiot, the
user-generated lists on Goodreads…and
the list of lists goes on and on.
Hack Education Weekly News
… Via
Inside Higher Ed: “The number of complaints filed last year with the U.S.
Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights soared to a
record 16,720, according to a report the department released Thursday. The number of complaints was a 61
percent increase over the previous year’s total.”
… Via
Inside Higher Ed: “After months of review, the U.S. Department of Education
on Wednesday approved the proposed $1.14 billion sale of Apollo
Education Group, which owns the University of Phoenix,
to a group of three private equity firms.” The sale comes with conditions, including: 1)
the Department of Education demands a letter of credit valued at 25% of the
company’s federal funding allocation; 2) the company cannot add or change its
educational offerings or open new locations until 2018; and 3) enrollment must
be maintained at or beneath current levels. More via
The Chronicle of Higher Education and via
Bloomberg.
… Via
The Guardian: “ To Kill a Mockingbird removed from Virginia
schools for racist language.”
… Common
Sense Media surveyed parents
on their own digital media habits. “On
any given day, parents of American tweens and teens average more than nine
hours with screen media each day.”