Department of Justice: India-based VoIP provider and its director indicted for facilitating millions of scam robocalls to Americans . “A first-of-its-kind indictment was unsealed today against Indian-based Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) provider, E Sampark, and its Director, Gaurav Gupta, who pushed out tens of millions of scam calls to American consumers on behalf of India-based phone scammers. Pursuant to a consent permanent injunction, a federal court has also ordered a Florida-based server farm to stop providing E Sampark and Gupta with servers used to help perpetuate the fraud scheme. The consent permanent injunction seeks to prevent E Sampark and Gupta from further victimizing U.S. consumers through the use of the servers located in Florida.”
Department of Justice
Brookings Institute: Remedies that can sustain search competition in the DOJ case against Google
Brookings Institute: Remedies that can sustain search competition in the DOJ case against Google. “On October 20, the U.S. Department of Justice filed its long-awaited antitrust suit against Google. Examining possible remedies for the company’s alleged anticompetitive conduct reveals some important lessons for the promotion of competition in digital markets. The first lesson is that it is difficult for antitrust agencies to develop and administer effective measures to promote competition in digital markets that have already tipped to dominant providers. The second is that lawmakers should consider establishing a specialized regulatory agency to foster and maintain competitive alternatives in digital markets and to regulate dominant companies in the public interest if competition does not take hold.”
ABC News: DOJ announces charges against 6 Russian military officers allegedly involved in hacking, malware operations
ABC News: DOJ announces charges against 6 Russian military officers allegedly involved in hacking, malware operations. “The indictment specifically accuses the six alleged hackers of engaging in computer intrusions ‘intended to support Russian government efforts to undermine, retaliate against or otherwise destabilize’ Ukraine, Georgia, elections in France, the 2018 PyeongChang Olympic Games and international efforts to hold Russia accountable for its use of the nerve agent Novichok on foreign soil.”
U.S. Department of Justice: District Court Enters Permanent Injunction Shutting Down Telecom Carriers Who Facilitated Hundreds of Millions of Fraudulent Robocalls to Consumers in The United States
U.S. Department of Justice: District Court Enters Permanent Injunction Shutting Down Telecom Carriers Who Facilitated Hundreds of Millions of Fraudulent Robocalls to Consumers in The United States. “As alleged in a civil complaint filed earlier this year in United States v. Nicholas Palumbo, et al., spouses Nicholas and Natasha Palumbo of Scottsdale, Arizona, and their companies, Ecommerce National LLC d/b/a TollFreeDeals.com and SIP Retail d/b/a sipretail.com, received millions of fraudulent internet-based calls every day from other entities, often located abroad. Those calls were then transmitted, initially to other carriers within the United States and ultimately, to the phones of individuals. The defendants are alleged to have knowingly allowed numerous foreign-based individuals and entities to transmit fraudulent government- and business-imposter robocalls through defendants’ network and on to victims in the United States.”
US Department of Justice: Pasadena Man Indicted by Grand Jury in Cyberstalking Case Alleging Online and Mailed Threats to Injure, Rape and Kill 10 Victims
US Department of Justice: Pasadena Man Indicted by Grand Jury in Cyberstalking Case Alleging Online and Mailed Threats to Injure, Rape and Kill 10 Victims. “A federal grand jury this afternoon returned a 26-count indictment that charges a Pasadena man with making a series of detailed threats to harm, rape and kill 10 victims he met in various social and business settings. Samuel Trelawney Hughes, 31, who is a citizen of the United Kingdom, was charged with seven counts of stalking, nine counts of making online threats, three counts of mailing threatening communications, and seven counts of witness tampering.”
US Department of Justice: Malware Author Pleads Guilty for Role in Transnational Cybercrime Organization Responsible for more than $568 Million in Losses
US Department of Justice: Malware Author Pleads Guilty for Role in Transnational Cybercrime Organization Responsible for more than $568 Million in Losses. “Valerian Chiochiu, aka ‘Onassis,’ ‘Flagler,’ ‘Socrate,’ and ‘Eclessiastes,’ 30, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Court Judge James C. Mahan in the District of Nevada. Chiochiu is a national of the Republic of Moldova, but resided in the United States during the period of the conspiracy. His plea came just over a month after the co-founder and administrator of Infraud, Sergey Medvedev of Russia, separately pleaded guilty on June 26. Sentencing for Chiochiu has been scheduled for Dec. 11.”
Law360: DOJ Shuts Down Websites Shilling ‘False’ COVID-19 Vaccines
Law360: DOJ Shuts Down Websites Shilling ‘False’ COVID-19 Vaccines. “A Kentucky federal judge on Monday ordered the shutdown of a series of related websites and a Facebook page offering preregistration for a nonexistent COVID-19 vaccine in exchange for $100 worth of bitcoin after the Louisville man prosecutors claim is behind the scam agreed to a preliminary injunction.”
U.S. Department of Justice: Department of Justice Announces Launch of Civil Rights Reporting Portal
U.S. Department of Justice: Department of Justice Announces Launch of Civil Rights Reporting Portal. “The new Civil Rights Reporting Portal – located at civilrights.justice.gov – will consolidate over 30 unique reporting pathways. The portal will dramatically ease the burden on victims of civil rights violations to identify the proper reporting channel. The form is fully accessible to people with disabilities. It is also available in both English and Spanish, with more languages to be added over the next year.”
Justice Department, state attorneys general poised to hit Google with antitrust lawsuits: report (MarketWatch)
MarketWatch: Justice Department, state attorneys general poised to hit Google with antitrust lawsuits: report. “The Justice Department and a group of state attorneys general may file antitrust lawsuits against Alphabet Inc.’s Google as soon as this summer, according to a Wall Street Journal report that published Friday afternoon and cited people familiar with the matter.”
Marketing Land: Justice Department homing in on Google Ad Manager in antitrust probe
Marketing Land: Justice Department homing in on Google Ad Manager in antitrust probe. “The U.S. Justice Department (DOJ) is talking with multiple publishers and ad-tech companies as it scrutinizes Google’s third-party ad tools, as part of the DOJ’s antitrust investigation, the Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday. Companies the DOJ has reached out to include the New York Times, Gannett, Condé Nast, Oracle, Yelp and DuckDuckGo among several others.”
CNBC: DOJ antitrust chief recuses himself from the Google probe due to potential conflicts
CNBC: DOJ antitrust chief recuses himself from the Google probe due to potential conflicts. “Makan Delrahim, the top antitrust official at the Department of Justice, is recusing himself from the agency’s investigation of potentially anticompetitive behavior at Google due to potential conflicts of interest in his past.”
Techdirt: Puerto Rico’s Justice Department Demanded Info From Facebook About Journalists Who Livestreamed Protests
Techdirt: Puerto Rico’s Justice Department Demanded Info From Facebook About Journalists Who Livestreamed Protests. “While the DOJ and FBI have dealt with some limited repercussions due to their targeting of First Amendment activities (which includes targeting Muslims because they’re Muslims), it really hasn’t promised to stop doing this. Nor has it been told to stop doing this. Instead, the DOJ has simply made it slightly more difficult for investigators to violate people’s rights. The Intercept has done some investigating of its own and discovered the FBI actively engaged in First Amendment violations for years during its partnership with Puerto Rican law enforcement agencies.”
CNET: Facebook’s rivals reportedly contacted by DOJ as part of antitrust probe
CNET: Facebook’s rivals reportedly contacted by DOJ as part of antitrust probe. “The US Department of Justice has reportedly been setting up interviews with Facebook’s rivals as part of an antitrust investigation into the world’s largest social network, a sign that the agency is moving forward with its probe.”
Reuters: U.S. state AGs, Justice Dept. officials to meet and coordinate on Google probe – sources
Reuters: U.S. state AGs, Justice Dept. officials to meet and coordinate on Google probe – sources. “Talks will likely include Google’s dominance in online search, possible anticompetitive behaviour in its Android mobile operating system, and the best division of labour as the probes move forward, the paper said, citing some of the people.”
US Department of Justice: Man Sentenced to 50 Years in Prison for Orchestrating Snapchat Sextortion Ring that Targeted Children
US Department of Justice: Man Sentenced to 50 Years in Prison for Orchestrating Snapchat Sextortion Ring that Targeted Children. “U.S. Attorney Ariana Fajardo Orshan for the Southern District of Florida, Special Agent in Charge George L. Piro of the FBI’s Miami Field Office, Chief W. Howard Harrison of the Planation Police Department, and Chief Dale Engle of the Davie Police Department, announced that Joseph Isaiah Woodson, Jr., 30, of Ashburn, Virginia, was sentenced yesterday to a total of 600 months in federal prison and a lifetime of supervised release by U.S. District Judge Jose E. Martinez, after having been convicted at trial of using the internet to target and extort children through sexual exploitation (‘sextortion’) and pornographic offenses.”