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12 Year Old Arrested Over Use of Emoji

A picture is worth a thousand words, the saying goes. So how about 3 emoji? According to Virginia prosecutors, three emoji are worth criminal charges, even if the emojier is only 12 years old, and the emoji posted on Instagram.

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San Bernardino DA Suggests “lying dormant cyber pathogen” on Shooter’s iPhone

In a novel twist in the FBI versus Apple iPhone case, the San Bernardino District Attorney’s office has filed a motion (full text below) to submit an Amicus Curiae brief, stating that, among other things, the phone could harbor a “lying dormant cyber pathogen.” Of course, there’s no such thing as a lying dormant cyber pathogen, but why let a little thing like the facts get in the way of a good argument?

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Latest in Apple FBI iPhone Wranglings: Just 1 Phone Turns Out to Already be at least 12 Phones (plus Full Text of FBI Motion)

As we recently reported, the FBI (and so the Federal government) is trying to force Apple to assist them in unlocking the iPhone that belonged to San Bernardino shooter Syed Farook. A Federal court ordered Apple to do so, and so far Apple has resisted. Part of the heart of the FBI’s argument is that this will affect only one phone, while Apple has insisted that it’s much larger than that – that an order to help unlock one phone will lead to a dangerous precedent of being ordered to help unlock any number of phones. The Feds have steadfastly insisted it is “just this one.” However, recent court filings have revealed that in fact there are as many as a dozen iPhones in other cases just waiting for Apple to be ordered to unlock them.

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Feds Bury New Potentially Crucial Information in Footnote in Apple Terror iPhone Dispute

In Round 2 of the Apple iPhone FBI court dispute, in which the court ordered Apple to alter the iPhone used by San Bernardino shooter Syed Farook, the Feds have filed a Motion to Compel Apple to comply with the order, in which they mention, in passing in a footnote, that the San Bernardino County Department of Public Health (SBCDPH) actually changed the password to the iCloud account to which the phone was backing up, thwarting any further backups of the phone’s data, between the time it was recovered from Farook’s vehicle, and handing it over to the FBI.

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Full Explanation of Court Order to Apple to Unlock San Bernardino Shooters’ iPhone and Apple Refusal (Full text of court order and Tim Cook’s letter included)

Late yesterday afternoon a Federal court ordered Apple to assist the FBI in their investigation into the San Bernardino shootings by unlocking the iPhone belonging to the shooters. In response, this morning, Apple CEO Tim Cook released a public statement in which Apple refuses to comply, explaining the reasons that even if Apple can comply with the order, they will refuse to do so.

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Woman Widowed by Terror Attack Sues Twitter for Enabling ISIS

Tamara Fields became a widow when her husband, Lloyd Carl Fields Jr., was killed in a terrorist attack in Jordan. Now Fields is suing Twitter, claiming that Twitter is not doing enough to shut down ISIS Twitter accounts, which they use for recruiting and planning terror attacks. (Full text of Tamara Fields v. Twitter lawsuit is linked below.)

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UK Passes Law Making Domestic Violence over Social Media a Crime

The United Kingdom has passed a law that recognizes ‘domestic violence over social media’, and makes it a punishable offense. According to the new law, threatening or even monitoring someone via social media counts as domestic violence. So how do they distinguish between the average act of ‘following’ someone on Facebook or Twitter, and monitoring? Good question.

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NSA Collection of Phone Data Unconsitutional, says Federal Court – the Klayman Decision Explained

A Federal court has ruled this week that the National Security Agency’s (NSA) Bulk Telephony Metadata Program (BTMP), is unconstitutional, putting the final nail in the coffin of this iteration of the NSA’s cellphone snooping.

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Massive High School Sexting Ring of 100-plus High Schoolers and Middle Schoolers Busted in Colorado

Dozens of high school and middle school students in Cañon City, Colorado are facing the possibility of felony child pornography charges (and having to register as sex offenders for the rest of their lives) in one of the largest underage sexting scandals to date.

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Amazon Lawsuit puts Fake Reviewers in the Crosshairs

We all know that fake reviews on sites such as Yelp and Amazon are the bane of both the business and their customers. And some of us knew that you can buy fake reviews for your product on places such as FiveRR. Now Amazon is suing over one thousand Fiverr sellers, all whom have advertised, sold, and posted phony reviews on Amazon, says Amazon.

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Teen Prosecuted as Adult for Having Naked Pictures of Himself on His Own Phone

North Carolina teen Cormega Copening didn’t even have to sext the naked pictures that he had of himself on his phone to someone else in order to be prosecuted for child porn. Having his own pictures, of himself, on his own phone, was enough for the Fayetteville teenager to be charged as an adult and to face felony possession of child pornography charges.

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Facebook Sued, Settles, for Allowing Underaged Girl to Open Account

Countless parents wring their hands over trying to keep their underage children off Facebook, something which Facebook itself seems mostly unable to do, and unable to do at all if the child lies about their age when signing up. But one parent has done more than wring his hands: he sued Facebook.

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Ashley Madison Knew Security was Weak; Courts say Feds can go after Companies with Weak Security

Evidence in the form of leaked email demonstrates that Ashley Madison execs knew that their security was weak. A Federal court ruling last week says that the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) can go after companies whose Internet security is weak. Hrrm…

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FBI, Feds Want to be Able to Decrypt Your Encrypted Email and Messages

Both the Federal Senate Judiciary Committee and the Senate Intelligence Committee heard today from FBI Director James Comey, and from Deputy Attorney General Sally Quillian Yates, that they need a backdoor (or a “front door”, as Comey calls it) that allows them to decrypt encrypted email and messages in order to fight terrorism.

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Comcast Requires NDA Before Giving Customer Refund

When John and Carol Lehman of Philadelphia returned their cable box to Comcast, they assumed they would no longer be charged for it. Wrong. Over five years, the charges kept piling up, amounting to $600. Comcast finally agreed to return the $600, but only if the Lehmans signed an NDA (NonDisclosure Agreement) with Comcast!