Policy

feds-to-get-early-access-to-openai,-anthropic-ai-to-test-for-doomsday-scenarios

Feds to get early access to OpenAI, Anthropic AI to test for doomsday scenarios

AI safety, ai safety institute, Anthropic, Artificial Intelligence, NIST, openai, Policy, us ai safety institute / /

“Advancing the science of AI safety” —

AI companies agreed that ensuring AI safety was key to innovation.

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Feds to get early access to OpenAI, Anthropic AI to test for doomsday scenarios

OpenAI and Anthropic have each signed unprecedented deals granting the US government early access to conduct safety testing on the companies’ flashiest new AI models before they’re released to the public.

According to a press release from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), the deal creates a “formal collaboration on AI safety research, testing, and evaluation with both Anthropic and OpenAI” and the US Artificial Intelligence Safety Institute.

Through the deal, the US AI Safety Institute will “receive access to major new models from each company prior to and following their public release.” This will ensure that public safety won’t depend exclusively on how the companies “evaluate capabilities and safety risks, as well as methods to mitigate those risks,” NIST said, but also on collaborative research with the US government.

The US AI Safety Institute will also be collaborating with the UK AI Safety Institute when examining models to flag potential safety risks. Both groups will provide feedback to OpenAI and Anthropic “on potential safety improvements to their models.”

NIST said that the agreements also build on voluntary AI safety commitments that AI companies made to the Biden administration to evaluate models to detect risks.

Elizabeth Kelly, director of the US AI Safety Institute, called the agreements “an important milestone” to “help responsibly steward the future of AI.”

Anthropic co-founder: AI safety “crucial” to innovation

The announcement comes as California is poised to pass one of the country’s first AI safety bills, which will regulate how AI is developed and deployed in the state.

Among the most controversial aspects of the bill is a requirement that AI companies build in a “kill switch” to stop models from introducing “novel threats to public safety and security,” especially if the model is acting “with limited human oversight, intervention, or supervision.”

Critics say the bill overlooks existing safety risks from AI—like deepfakes and election misinformation—to prioritize prevention of doomsday scenarios and could stifle AI innovation while providing little security today. They’ve urged California’s governor, Gavin Newsom, to veto the bill if it arrives at his desk, but it’s still unclear if Newsom intends to sign.

Anthropic was one of the AI companies that cautiously supported California’s controversial AI bill, Reuters reported, claiming that the potential benefits of the regulations likely outweigh the costs after a late round of amendments.

The company’s CEO, Dario Amodei, told Newsom why Anthropic supports the bill now in a letter last week, Reuters reported. He wrote that although Anthropic isn’t certain about aspects of the bill that “seem concerning or ambiguous,” Anthropic’s “initial concerns about the bill potentially hindering innovation due to the rapidly evolving nature of the field have been greatly reduced” by recent changes to the bill.

OpenAI has notably joined critics opposing California’s AI safety bill and has been called out by whistleblowers for lobbying against it.

In a letter to the bill’s co-sponsor, California Senator Scott Wiener, OpenAI’s chief strategy officer, Jason Kwon, suggested that “the federal government should lead in regulating frontier AI models to account for implications to national security and competitiveness.”

The ChatGPT maker striking a deal with the US AI Safety Institute seems in line with that thinking. As Kwon told Reuters, “We believe the institute has a critical role to play in defining US leadership in responsibly developing artificial intelligence and hope that our work together offers a framework that the rest of the world can build on.”

While some critics worry California’s AI safety bill will hamper innovation, Anthropic’s co-founder, Jack Clark, told Reuters today that “safe, trustworthy AI is crucial for the technology’s positive impact.” He confirmed that Anthropic’s “collaboration with the US AI Safety Institute” will leverage the government’s “wide expertise to rigorously test” Anthropic’s models “before widespread deployment.”

In NIST’s press release, Kelly agreed that “safety is essential to fueling breakthrough technological innovation.”

By directly collaborating with OpenAI and Anthropic, the US AI Safety Institute also plans to conduct its own research to help “advance the science of AI safety,” Kelly said.

Feds to get early access to OpenAI, Anthropic AI to test for doomsday scenarios Read More »

mpa-says-no-more-“whac-a-mole”-with-pirate-sites,-claims-it-took-down-“mothership”

MPA says no more “Whac-a-Mole” with pirate sites, claims it took down “mothership”

fmovies, fmovies takedown, motion picture association, pirate streaming, Policy / /

“We took down the mothership” —

Fmovies takedown “is a stunning victory,” MPA CEO Charles Rivkin said.

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Motion Picture Association CEO Charles Rivkin gives a speech at a podium during a conference.

Enlarge / Motion Picture Association CEO Charles Rivkin speaks onstage during CinemaCon, a convention of the National Association of Theatre Owners, at Caesars Palace on April 9, 2024, in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Getty Images | Jerod Harris

A group representing major film studios said it collaborated with Vietnamese authorities to take down what it called “the largest pirate streaming operation in the world.”

Fmovies, which the film industry group also called the “world’s largest piracy ring,” is said to have drawn more than 6.7 billion visits between January 2023 and June 2024. Launched in 2016, the Hanoi-based outfit included pirate sites bflixz, flixtorz, movies7, myflixer, and aniwave.

“The takedown of Fmovies is a stunning victory for casts, crews, writers, directors, studios, and the creative community across the globe,” Motion Picture Association (MPA) CEO Charles Rivkin said today.

The industry announcement was made by the Alliance for Creativity and Entertainment (ACE), an enforcement group that was created by the MPA and has members including Amazon, Apple, Comcast, Disney, Fox, HBO, Hulu, MGM, NBCUniversal, Netflix, Paramount, Sony, and Warner Bros. In addition to leading the MPA, Rivkin is the chairman of ACE.

“With the leadership of ACE and the partnership of the Ministry of Public Security and the Hanoi Municipal Police, we are countering criminal activity, defending the safety of audiences, reducing risks posed to tens of millions of consumers, and protecting the rights and livelihoods of creators,” Rivkin said.

ACE said that Vidsrc.to, “a notorious video hosting provider operated by the same suspects,” was also taken down in an operation that affected “hundreds of additional dedicated piracy sites.”

“We took down the mothership”

Rivkin claimed that the industry action will have a major effect on availability of pirated content. “We took down the mothership here,” he told Variety. “There was a time when piracy was Whac-a-Mole… Today, we go after piracy at its root.”

Another MPA official, Chief Content Protection Officer Larissa Knapp, said the group anticipates “ongoing joint efforts with Vietnamese authorities, US Homeland Security Investigations, and the US Department of Justice International Computer Hacking and Intellectual Property (ICHIP) program to bring the criminal operators to justice.”

ACE also recently announced settlements with three US-based operators requiring them to shut down IPTV services accused of “mass copyright infringement.” ACE bills itself as the “world’s leading coalition dedicated to protecting the legal creative market and reducing digital piracy.” It works closely with the US government: The National Intellectual Property Rights Coordination Center, a US government office overseen by Immigration and Customs Enforcement, announced in 2022 that it was “embedding MPA and ACE personnel” with its team in Washington, DC.

In an April 2024 speech, Rivkin complained that American users were able to access Fmovies because of the lack of a site-blocking law. “One of the largest illegal streaming sites in the world, FMovies, sees over 160 million visits per month—and because other nations already passed site-blocking legislation, a third of that traffic still comes from the United States,” Rivkin said. In the speech, Rivkin said the MPA planned to lobby members of Congress for a law requiring Internet service providers to block piracy websites.

Film studios have also tried to force ISPs to disconnect Internet users accused of piracy. Cable firm Cox Communications recently asked the Supreme Court to overturn an appeals court ruling in a case brought by Sony, saying the ruling “would force ISPs to terminate Internet service to households or businesses based on unproven allegations of infringing activity.”

MPA says no more “Whac-a-Mole” with pirate sites, claims it took down “mothership” Read More »

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Telegram CEO charged with numerous crimes and is banned from leaving France

Policy, telegram pavel durov / /

Indictment —

Multi-billionaire must post bail of 5 million euros, report to police twice a week.

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Telegram CEO Pavel Durov sitting on stage and speaking at a conference.

Enlarge / Pavel Durov, CEO and co-founder of Telegram, speaks at TechCrunch Disrupt SF 2015 on September 21, 2015, in San Francisco.

Getty Images | tSteve Jennings

Telegram CEO Pavel Durov was indicted in France today and ordered to post bail of 5 million euros. The multi-billionaire was forbidden from leaving the country and must report to police twice a week while the case continues.

Charges were detailed in a statement issued today by Paris prosecutor Laure Beccuau, which was provided to Ars. They are nearly identical to the possible charges released by Beccuau on Monday.

The first charge listed is complicity in “web-mastering an online platform in order to enable an illegal transaction in organized group.” Today’s press release said this charge carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison and a 500,000-euro fine.

Telegram’s alleged refusal to cooperate with law enforcement on criminal investigations resulted in a charge of “refusal to communicate, at the request of competent authorities, information or documents necessary for carrying out and operating interceptions allowed by law.”

Beccuau said there was a near-total lack of response from Telegram to requests for cooperation in cases related to crimes against minors, drug crimes, and online hate. This led authorities “to open an investigation into the possible criminal responsibility of the messaging app’s executives in the commission of these offenses,” Beccuau said, as quoted by Bloomberg.

Durov was further charged with complicity in drug trafficking and distribution of child pornography.

Cryptology-related charges

He was also charged with providing cryptology services without making required declarations to government officials. Under French law, providers of cryptology must make declarations to ANSSI, the country’s cybersecurity agency. French authorities may request that companies provide “the technical characteristics and the source code of the means of cryptology which was the subject of the declaration.”

The charges against Durov include “providing cryptology services aiming to ensure confidentiality without certified declaration,” “providing a cryptology tool not solely ensuring authentication or integrity monitoring without prior declaration,” and “importing a cryptology tool ensuring authentication or integrity monitoring without prior declaration.”

Telegram offers a mix of private messaging and social network features. Telegram messages do not have end-to-end encryption by default, but the security feature can be enabled for one-on-one conversations.

In response to Durov’s arrest, Telegram said on Sunday that it follows the law and industry standards on moderation and called it “absurd to claim that a platform or its owner are responsible for abuse of that platform.”

French authorities also reportedly issued a warrant for the arrest of Durov’s brother and fellow Telegram co-founder, Nikolai.

Telegram CEO charged with numerous crimes and is banned from leaving France Read More »

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Court: Section 230 doesn’t shield TikTok from Blackout Challenge death suit

blackout challenge, bytedance, child death, child safety, communications decency act, liability, online child safety, Policy, product liability, Section 230, tiktok, wrongful death / /

A dent in the Section 230 shield —

TikTok must face claim over For You Page recommending content that killed kids.

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Court: Section 230 doesn’t shield TikTok from Blackout Challenge death suit

An appeals court has revived a lawsuit against TikTok by reversing a lower court’s ruling that Section 230 immunity shielded the short video app from liability after a child died taking part in a dangerous “Blackout Challenge.”

Several kids died taking part in the “Blackout Challenge,” which Third Circuit Judge Patty Shwartz described in her opinion as encouraging users “to choke themselves with belts, purse strings, or anything similar until passing out.”

Because TikTok promoted the challenge in children’s feeds, Tawainna Anderson counted among mourning parents who attempted to sue TikTok in 2022. Ultimately, she was told that TikTok was not responsible for recommending the video that caused the death of her daughter Nylah.

In her opinion, Shwartz wrote that Section 230 does not bar Anderson from arguing that TikTok’s algorithm amalgamates third-party videos, “which results in ‘an expressive product’ that ‘communicates to users’ [that a] curated stream of videos will be interesting to them.”

The judge cited a recent Supreme Court ruling that “held that a platform’s algorithm that reflects ‘editorial judgments’ about compiling the third-party speech it wants in the way it wants’ is the platform’s own ‘expressive product’ and is therefore protected by the First Amendment,” Shwartz wrote.

Because TikTok’s For You Page (FYP) algorithm decides which third-party speech to include or exclude and organizes content, TikTok’s algorithm counts as TikTok’s own “expressive activity.” That “expressive activity” is not protected by Section 230, which only shields platforms from liability for third-party speech, not platforms’ own speech, Shwartz wrote.

The appeals court has now remanded the case to the district court to rule on Anderson’s remaining claims.

Section 230 doesn’t permit “indifference” to child death

According to Shwartz, if Nylah had discovered the “Blackout Challenge” video by searching on TikTok, the platform would not be liable, but because she found it on her FYP, TikTok transformed into “an affirmative promoter of such content.”

Now TikTok will have to face Anderson’s claims that are “premised upon TikTok’s algorithm,” Shwartz said, as well as potentially other claims that Anderson may reraise that may be barred by Section 230. The District Court will have to determine which claims are barred by Section 230 “consistent” with the Third Circuit’s ruling, though.

Concurring in part, circuit Judge Paul Matey noted that by the time Nylah took part in the “Blackout Challenge,” TikTok knew about the dangers and “took no and/or completely inadequate action to extinguish and prevent the spread of the Blackout Challenge and specifically to prevent the Blackout Challenge from being shown to children on their” FYPs.

Matey wrote that Section 230 does not shield corporations “from virtually any claim loosely related to content posted by a third party,” as TikTok seems to believe. He encouraged a “far narrower” interpretation of Section 230 to stop companies like TikTok from reading the Communications Decency Act as permitting “casual indifference to the death of a 10-year-old girl.”

“Anderson’s estate may seek relief for TikTok’s knowing distribution and targeted recommendation of videos it knew could be harmful,” Matey wrote. That includes pursuing “claims seeking to hold TikTok liable for continuing to host the Blackout Challenge videos knowing they were causing the death of children” and “claims seeking to hold TikTok liable for its targeted recommendations of videos it knew were harmful.”

“The company may decide to curate the content it serves up to children to emphasize the lowest virtues, the basest tastes,” Matey wrote. “But it cannot claim immunity that Congress did not provide.”

Anderson’s lawyers at Jeffrey Goodman, Saltz Mongeluzzi & Bendesky PC previously provided Ars with a statement after the prior court’s ruling, indicating that parents weren’t prepared to stop fighting in 2022.

“The federal Communications Decency Act was never intended to allow social media companies to send dangerous content to children, and the Andersons will continue advocating for the protection of our children from an industry that exploits youth in the name of profits,” lawyers said.

TikTok did not immediately respond to Ars’ request to comment but previously vowed to “remain vigilant in our commitment to user safety” and “immediately remove” Blackout Challenge content “if found.”

Court: Section 230 doesn’t shield TikTok from Blackout Challenge death suit Read More »

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X’s Grok will direct users to Vote.gov after bungling basic ballot question

Policy, x grok / /

Not that trustworthy —

After falsely stating that ballot deadlines passed, Grok sends users to Vote.gov.

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The logo for X's Grok AI tool displayed on a smartphone with an xAI icon and a picture of Elon Musk visible in the background.

Getty Images | NurPhoto

Elon Musk’s X platform made a change to its AI assistant, Grok, that may prevent it from giving users false information on election ballot deadlines and other election-related matters. From now on, X says that Grok will direct users to Vote.gov when asked election-related questions.

X, formerly Twitter, made the change about two weeks after five secretaries of state complained to the company. “On August 21, 2024, X’s Head of US and Canada Global Government Affairs informed the Office of the Minnesota Secretary of State [Steve Simon] that the platform has made changes to its AI search assistant, Grok, after a request from several Secretaries of State,” Simon’s office said in a press release yesterday.

Grok is developed by xAI, one of Musk’s other companies, and is available on X to paying subscribers.

Simon and the secretaries of state from Michigan, New Mexico, Pennsylvania, and Washington sent a letter to Musk about Grok on August 5. The letter pointed out that “within hours of President Joe Biden stepping away from his presidential candidacy on July 21, 2024, false information on ballot deadlines produced by Grok was shared on multiple social media platforms.”

The false Grok post said that the “ballot deadline has passed for several states for the 2024 election,” and listed nine states in which the deadline had supposedly expired. “This is false. In all nine states the opposite is true: The ballots are not closed, and upcoming ballot deadlines would allow for changes to candidates listed on the ballot for the offices of President and Vice President of the United States,” the August 5 letter said.

X took its time correcting false post

Grok, which has also been known to make up false news based on X users’ jokes, continued making the false ballot-deadline statement until July 31. Grok “provided inaccurate information on elections rules… and then delayed correcting its own mistake for ten days, even after it learned that the information it had spread was false,” Simon’s office said.

While that particular piece of false information was eventually corrected, the secretaries of state told Musk that X should “immediately adopt a policy of directing Grok users to CanIVote.org when asked about elections in the US.”

CanIVote.org redirects to a page maintained by the National Association of Secretaries of State. X will instead direct users to Vote.gov, which is maintained by the US government.

The secretaries of state said they are satisfied with the change given that Vote.gov and CanIvote.org are both trustworthy resources. “We appreciate X’s action to improve their platform and hope they continue to make improvements that will ensure their users have access to accurate information from trusted sources in this critical election year,” the state officials said in a joint statement.

OpenAI’s ChatGPT was already programmed to direct users to CanIVote.org, their recent letter said. “As you know, inaccuracies are to be expected for any AI products, especially chatbots based on large language models… As tens of millions of voters in the US seek basic information about voting in this major election year, X has the responsibility to ensure all voters using your platform have access to guidance that reflects true and accurate information about their constitutional right to vote,” the state officials wrote to Musk.

X’s Grok will direct users to Vote.gov after bungling basic ballot question Read More »

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Missouri AG’s legal war against Media Matters shot down by federal judge

media matters x, missouri attorney general, Policy / /

Stop right there —

Judge: Missouri AG’s actions chill speech about extremist content on Musk’s X.

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Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey adjusts his necktie while in a Congressional hearing room

Enlarge / Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey arrives to testify at House Homeland Security Committee hearing on Wednesday, January 10, 2024.

Getty Images | Bill Clark

A federal judge ordered Missouri’s attorney general to halt an investigation into Media Matters for America, a nonprofit journalism organization that earned Elon Musk’s wrath when it published an article showing that Musk’s X platform placed advertisements next to pro-Nazi posts.

In March, Missouri AG Andrew Bailey issued an investigative demand seeking names and addresses of all Media Matters donors who live in Missouri and a range of internal communications and documents regarding the group’s research on Musk and X. Bailey also filed a lawsuit asking Cole County Circuit Court for an order to enforce the investigative demand.

Media Matters countered by suing Bailey in US District Court for the District of Columbia. Last week, US District Judge Amit Mehta granted a preliminary injunction that prohibits Bailey from enforcing the civil investigative demand and from pursuing the related lawsuit.

Mehta had issued a similar order against Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton a few months earlier. Mehta filed a memorandum opinion on August 23 describing the reasons for granting Media Matters’ request for an injunction against Bailey.

Media Matters demonstrated a likelihood of success in its claim that Bailey took retaliatory actions designed to deter speech, Mehta wrote:

The court already has held that Defendant Paxton’s announcement of an investigation and issuance of a CID [Civil Investigative Demand] demanding records relating to Media Matters’ organization, funding, and journalism would sufficiently deter a news organization or journalist “of ordinary firmness” from speaking again about X-related matters. Defendant Bailey has gone one step further. He has filed suit not only to enforce the Missouri CID, but he has asked a state court to sanction Media Matters with a civil penalty. Such action chills speech.

X did not deny basic premise of article

Media Matters has also “likely shown that their reporting was not defamatory and therefore was protected speech,” Mehta wrote. In its public response to the November 2023 Media Matters article, “X did not deny that advertising in fact had appeared next to the extremist posts on the day in question,” Mehta wrote. He continued:

X stated that it had served “less than 50 total ad impressions” next to the “organic content featured in the Media Matters article” (a mere fraction of the 5.5 billion ad impressions served that day), and it conceded that [Media Matters reporter Eric] Hananoki and one other person had seen advertisements of two of the brands identified in the article next to the extremist content. X called these “contrived experiences,” but did not deny the basic premise of the article: that X’s platform was delivering ads of major brands next to extremist content. Many other media outlets, as recently as April 2024, have published similar findings. These other stories corroborate Hananoki’s reporting and Plaintiffs’ belief in its accuracy.

Mehta’s ruling said that Bailey made it clear that “the true purpose of his investigation” was political. “Revealingly, Defendant Bailey expressly tied the investigation to the upcoming election” during an online interview with Donald Trump Jr., Mehta wrote.

“This is absolutely a new front in the fight for the war for free speech. This investigation is really critical and again especially as we move into an election cycle in 2024,” Bailey said during the interview.

Bailey’s lawsuit in Cole County Circuit Court claimed that “Media Matters has used fraud to solicit donations from Missourians in order to trick advertisers into removing their advertisements from X, formerly Twitter, one of the last platforms dedicated to free speech in America.” Bailey hasn’t provided good evidence for this claim, Mehta wrote.

Missouri Assistant Attorney General Steven Reed “never identifies what suspected fraudulent statements or omissions Media Matters made to Missourians for the purpose of soliciting donations,” Mehta wrote. “If he means to say that Media Matters’ defamatory reporting itself is the fraud, he nowhere links that content to Media Matters’ fundraising efforts. He does not claim, for example, that Media Matters used its reporting on X to solicit donations. In fact, the webpage on which the November 16 Article appeared made no express fundraising appeal. Nor did it include a donation link. Defamation is not fraud. It is thus likely that the false reporting-as-fraudulent fundraising justification for the investigation is pretext for retaliation.”

Bailey can appeal Mehta’s order. If the order stands, the preliminary injunction would stay in force until a final judgment in Media Matters’ case against Bailey.

Missouri AG’s legal war against Media Matters shot down by federal judge Read More »

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Telegram CEO Pavel Durov awaits charges in France as firm denies law-breaking

pavel durov, Policy, telegram, telegram pavel durov / /
Telegram CEO Pavel Durov sitting on stage and speaking at a conference.

Enlarge / Pavel Durov, CEO and co-founder of Telegram, speaks at TechCrunch Disrupt SF 2015 on September 21, 2015, in San Francisco, California.

Getty Images | tSteve Jennings

After the arrest of Telegram CEO and co-founder Pavel Durov in France over the weekend, his detention was extended for up to four days while a judge decides whether he should face criminal charges.

“The detention of Durov, 39, was extended beyond Sunday night by the investigating magistrate who is handling the case, according to a source close to the investigation,” Le Monde reported. “This initial period of detention for questioning can last up to a maximum of 96 hours. When this phase of detention ends, the judge can then decide to free him or press charges and remand in further custody.”

Telegram “is accused of failure to cooperate with law enforcement over drug trafficking, child sexual content and fraud,” the BBC wrote. Telegram yesterday said it “abides by EU laws, including the Digital Services Act,” and that the platform’s “moderation is within industry standards and constantly improving.”

“Telegram’s CEO Pavel Durov has nothing to hide and travels frequently in Europe,” the company said. “It is absurd to claim that a platform or its owner are responsible for abuse of that platform. Almost a billion users globally use Telegram as means of communication and as a source of vital information. We’re awaiting a prompt resolution of this situation.”

Durov’s arrest warrant was issued by “France’s OFMIN, an office tasked with preventing violence against minors,” Le Monde wrote. The warrant is reportedly related to “a preliminary investigation into alleged offenses including fraud, drug trafficking, cyberbullying, organized crime, and promotion of terrorism.”

Reuters wrote that a police spokesman told the news agency “that Durov is under investigation by the national cyber crime and fraud offices for failing to cooperate over cyber and financial crimes on Telegram.” The New York Times reported that “Laure Beccuau, the Paris prosecutor, said in a statement that the arrest was part of an investigation opened on July 8 ‘against person unnamed’ on a raft of potential charges, including complicity in the distribution of child pornography and selling of drugs, money laundering, and a refusal to cooperate with law enforcement.”

The statement from Beccuau was released by French authorities in both French and English. It says Durov was questioned as part of an investigation into this “person unnamed.” The accusations against the unnamed person also include “web-mastering an online platform in order to enable an illegal transaction in organized group,” and “refusal to communicate, at the request of competent authorities, information or documents necessary for carrying out and operating interceptions allowed by law.”

Three of the charges being investigated are related to encryption, the French press release said. These include “providing cryptology services aiming to ensure confidentiality without certified declaration,” “providing a cryptology tool not solely ensuring authentication or integrity monitoring without prior declaration,” and “importing a cryptology tool ensuring authentication or integrity monitoring without prior declaration.”

Macron: Arrest not a political decision

Durov was born in Russia and also has citizenship in the United Arab Emirates and France. Telegram is based in the UAE.

The Russian embassy in France reportedly said it “immediately asked French authorities to explain the reasons for this detention and demanded that [Durov’s] rights be protected and that consular access be granted. Up to now, the French side is refusing to cooperate on this question.”

French President Emmanuel Macron wrote today that the French judicial system is acting independently. “The arrest of the Telegram president on French territory took place as part of an ongoing judicial investigation,” he wrote, according to a Google translation. “This is in no way a political decision. It is up to the judges to decide.” Macron also wrote that France is committed to “freedom of expression and communication.”

Telegram offers a mix of private messaging and social network features. It lets users create groups of up to 200,000 people, and its Channels feature allows the posting of public messages to audiences of any size. Telegram messages do not have end-to-end encryption by default, but the extra level of security can be enabled for one-on-one conversations.

“If you want to use end-to-end encryption in Telegram, you must manually activate an optional end-to-end encryption feature called ‘Secret Chats‘ for every single private conversation you want to have,” Matthew Green, a Johns Hopkins University professor and cryptographer, wrote. “The feature is explicitly not turned on for the vast majority of conversations, and is only available for one-on-one conversations, and never for group chats with more than two people in them.”

Telegram CEO Pavel Durov awaits charges in France as firm denies law-breaking Read More »

us-sues-realpage,-claims-rental-pricing-algorithm-used-by-landlords-is-illegal

US sues RealPage, claims rental-pricing algorithm used by landlords is illegal

Policy, realpage / /

Rental-pricing software —

AG: Landlords use RealPage algorithm “to align their rents.”

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US Attorney General Merrick Garland speaking at a news conference while standing behind a podium.

Enlarge / US Attorney General Merrick Garland speaks during a news conference in Washington, DC, on Friday, August 23, 2024.

Getty Images | Bloomberg

The United States today sued RealPage, alleging that the software maker distorts competition in rental housing by helping landlords collectively set prices.

“To ensure they secure the greatest value for their needs, renters rely on robust and fierce competition between landlords. RealPage distorts that competition,” said the lawsuit filed by the US government and eight state attorneys general. In a press release, the Justice Department said that “RealPage’s pricing algorithm violates antitrust laws.”

Attorney General Merrick Garland delivered remarks on the lawsuit. “When the Sherman Act was passed, an anticompetitive scheme might have looked like robber barons shaking hands at a secret meeting,” he said. “Today, it looks like landlords using mathematical algorithms to align their rents. But antitrust law does not become obsolete simply because competitors find new ways to unlawfully act in concert.”

RealPage’s commercial revenue management software “enable[s] landlords to sidestep vigorous competition to win renters’ business,” the lawsuit alleged. “Landlords, who would otherwise be competing with each other, submit on a daily basis their competitively sensitive information to RealPage. This nonpublic, material, and granular rental data includes, among other information, a landlord’s rental prices from executed leases, lease terms, and future occupancy. RealPage collects a broad swath of such data from competing landlords, combines it, and feeds it to an algorithm.”

Using that sensitive data, “RealPage provides daily, near real-time pricing ‘recommendations’ back to competing landlords,” the US said. The US alleges that these “are more than just ‘recommendations'” and that “RealPage monitors compliance by landlords to its recommendations.”

AG: Landlords “outsource their pricing decisions”

The US asked for a court order declaring “that RealPage has acted unlawfully to restrain trade in conventional multifamily rental housing markets across the United States.” The requested order would prohibit RealPage from continuing its allegedly anticompetitive practices and provide “relief necessary and appropriate to restore competitive conditions in the markets affected by RealPage’s unlawful conduct.”

RealPage recently argued that its software “benefits both housing providers and residents,” and “makes price recommendations in all directions—up, down, or no change—to align with property-specific objectives of the housing providers using the software.” Landlords don’t have to follow the recommendations, the company says.

The US said RealPage takes a more direct role in setting prices. RealPage “reviews and weighs in on landlords’ other policies, including trying to—and often succeeding in—ending renter-friendly concessions (like a free month’s rent or waived fees) to attract or retain renters,” the lawsuit said. Garland alleged that “a large number of landlords effectively agree to outsource their pricing decisions to RealPage by using an ‘auto accept’ setting, which effectively permits RealPage to determine the price a renter will pay.”

The RealPage algorithm “can serve as a mechanism for communication,” Diana Moss, director of competition policy at the Progressive Policy Institute, a public policy think tank, was quoted as saying by The New York Times. “That is as approachable and actionable under US antitrust as any form of communication we’ve seen in past cases in the non-digital era.”

The lawsuit was filed in US District Court for the Middle District of North Carolina. Six landlords in North Carolina provided information to the Justice Department. The states joining the lawsuit are North Carolina, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Minnesota, Oregon, Tennessee, and Washington.

Software eliminates “guessing game” on prices

Garland said the investigation preceding the lawsuit took nearly two years. The lawsuit quoted landlords describing how they use RealPage:

One landlord observed that RealPage’s software “can eliminate the guessing game” for landlords’ pricing decisions. Discussing a different RealPage product, another landlord said: “I always liked this product because your algorithm uses proprietary data from other subscribers to suggest rents and term. That’s classic price fixing.” A third landlord explained, “Our very first goal we came out with immediately out of the gate is that we will not be the reason any particular sub-market takes a rate dive. So for us our strategy was to hold steady and to keep an eye on the communities around us and our competitors.”

The lawsuit said that “RealPage frequently tells prospective and current clients that a ‘rising tide raises all ships.’ A RealPage revenue management vice president explained that this phrase means that ‘there is greater good in everybody succeeding versus essentially trying to compete against one another in a way that actually keeps the industry down.'”

The US and states allege that RealPage violated Section 1 of the Sherman Act by unlawfully sharing information for use in competitors’ pricing, and by entering into vertical agreements with landlords to align pricing. RealPage is further accused of violating Section 2 of the Sherman Act through monopolization of the commercial revenue management software market.

RealPage, which is also facing a ban on its software in San Francisco, said the lawsuit is “devoid of merit and will do nothing to make housing more affordable.”

“We are disappointed that, after multiple years of education and cooperation on the antitrust matters concerning RealPage, the DOJ has chosen this moment to pursue a lawsuit that seeks to scapegoat pro-competitive technology that has been used responsibly for years,” RealPage said.

The White House issued a statement saying it has no comment on the lawsuit against RealPage, but that the Biden-Harris administration “continues to support fair and vigorous enforcement of the antitrust laws to prevent illegal collusion.”

US sues RealPage, claims rental-pricing algorithm used by landlords is illegal Read More »

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Labor board confirms Amazon drivers are employees, in finding hailed by union

Amazon, amazon delivery, amazon drivers, California, labor laws, national labor relations board, nlrb, Policy, teamsters, unfair business practices, unfair labor practices / /

Driving a hard bargain —

“We are Amazon workers”: Delivery drivers celebrate labor board finding.

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Labor board confirms Amazon drivers are employees, in finding hailed by union

Amazon may be forced to meet some unionized delivery drivers at the bargaining table after a regional National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) director determined Thursday that Amazon is a joint employer of contractors hired to ensure the e-commerce giant delivers its packages when promised.

This seems like a potentially big loss for Amazon, which had long argued that delivery service partners (DSPs) exclusively employed the delivery drivers, not Amazon. By rejecting its employer status, Amazon had previously argued that it had no duty to bargain with driver unions and no responsibility for alleged union busting, The Washington Post reported.

But now, after a yearlong investigation, the NLRB has issued what Amazon delivery drivers’ union has claimed was “a groundbreaking decision that sets the stage for Amazon delivery drivers across the country to organize with the Teamsters.”

In a press release reviewed by Ars, the NLRB regional director confirmed that as a joint employer, Amazon had “unlawfully failed and refused to bargain with the union” after terminating their DSP’s contract and terminating “all unionized employees.” The NLRB found that rather than bargaining with the union, Amazon “delayed start times by grounding vans and not preparing packages for loading,” withheld information from the union, and “made unlawful threats.” Teamsters said those threats included “job loss” and “intimidating employees with security guards.”

Sean M. O’Brien, the Teamsters general president, claimed the win for drivers unionizing not just in California but for nearly 280,000 drivers nationwide.

“Amazon drivers have taken their future into their own hands and won a monumental determination that makes clear Amazon has a legal obligation to bargain with its drivers over their working conditions,” O’Brien said. “This strike has paved the way for every other Amazon worker in the country to demand what they deserve and to get Amazon to the bargaining table.”

Unless a settlement is reached, the NLRB will soon “issue a complaint against Amazon and prosecute the corporate giant at a trial” after finding that “Amazon engaged in a long list of egregious unfair labor practices at its Palmdale facility,” Teamsters said.

Apparently downplaying the NLRB determination, Amazon is claiming that the Teamsters are trying to “misrepresent what is happening here.” Seemingly Amazon is taking issue with the union claiming that an NLRB determination on the merits of their case is a major win when the NLRB has yet to issue a final ruling.

According to the NLRB’s press release, “a merit determination is not a ‘Board decision/ruling’—it is the first step in the NLRB’s General Counsel litigating the allegations after investigating an unfair labor practice charge.”

Amazon’s spokesperson, Eileen Hards, told Ars that the NLRB office confirmed to Amazon that it will be “dismissing most of the Teamsters’ more significant claims it filed last year in Palmdale.” That apparently includes dismissing the Teamsters’ claims that Amazon unlawfully terminated its contract with one of their DSPs and that Amazon had a legal obligation to honor the Teamsters’ contract with that DSP.

Next, the NLRB will determine if the “remaining allegations should be decided by an administrative law judge,” Hards said. After that, Amazon will have opportunities to appeal any unfavorable rulings, first to the Board and then to a federal appeals court, the NLRB confirmed to Ars.

Hards confirmed that Amazon still expects all the Teamsters’ remaining claims will be dismissed.

“As we have said all along, there is no merit to the Teamsters’ claims,” Hards told Ars. “If and when the agency decides it wants to litigate the remaining allegations, we expect they will be dismissed as well.”

But Hards declined to comment on the impacts of the NLRB’s determination that Amazon is a joint employer of the unionized delivery drivers.

One Amazon driver in Palmdale, Jessie Moreno, said that worker conditions for Amazon drivers could improve because of the determination.

“Amazon can no longer dodge responsibility for our low wages and dangerous working conditions, and it cannot continue to get away with committing unfair labor practices,” Moreno said. “We are Amazon workers, and we are holding Amazon accountable.”

Amazon drivers uniting “like never before”

The NLRB determination came following a complaint from 84 Amazon workers from Palmdale, California, who became the first Amazon delivery drivers to unionize in April 2023, represented by Teamsters Local 396.

While their DSP recognized the union, workers launched an unfair labor strike in June 2023 after Amazon allegedly “engaged in dozens of unfair labor practices in violation of federal labor law in an effort to quash workers’ organizing efforts,” the Teamsters said.

The picket line quickly expanded “to over 50 Amazon warehouses across 10 states,” the Teamsters said. Most recently, drivers in Skokie, Illinois, “launched their own unfair labor practice strike in June 2024,” right around the same time that “more than 5,500 members of the Amazon Labor Union in New York voted by an overwhelming 98.3 percent to affiliate with the Teamsters.”

In their blog, the Teamsters said that Amazon “has avoided responsibility for its drivers through its DSP subcontractor business model” since 2018, but drivers hope that yesterday’s NLRB determination could put an end to the dodgy tactic.

“The NLRB’s joint employer determination shatters that myth” that “DSP drivers are not official employees of Amazon” and “makes clear that through its DSP business model, Amazon exercises widespread control over drivers’ labor and working conditions, making Amazon the drivers’ employer,” the Teamsters said.

The Teamsters said that they are “confident” that “the NLRB’s regional determination for the Palmdale workers will extend to Amazon DSP drivers who unionize nationwide.” One union member and Amazon driver, Brandi Diaz, celebrated what she considered to be the US government recognizing that the DSP program is a “sham.”

“We wear Amazon uniforms, we drive Amazon vans, and Amazon controls every minute of our day,” Diaz said. “Amazon can no longer have all the benefits of their own fleet of drivers without the responsibilities that come with it. The time has come for Amazon drivers across the country to organize with the Teamsters and demand what we deserve.”

Drivers are currently fighting to increase wages and improve driver safety amid what they claim are unchecked dangerous conditions they must navigate as Amazon drivers. Moreno said that the NLRB determination was a significant step toward unionizing more drivers and ending Amazon’s allegedly unfair labor practices nationwide.

“We have been on strike to stop Amazon’s lawbreaking and we are winning at the NLRB, while we are uniting Amazon workers across the country like never before,” Moreno said.

Labor board confirms Amazon drivers are employees, in finding hailed by union Read More »

ex-bank-ceo-gets-24-years-after-falling-for-crypto-scam,-causing-bank-collapse

Ex-bank CEO gets 24 years after falling for crypto scam, causing bank collapse

crypto scam, Cryptocurrency, pig butchering, Policy / /

Breaking the bank —

Former bank CEO ignored warnings that he was being scammed while tanking bank.

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Ex-bank CEO gets 24 years after falling for crypto scam, causing bank collapse

A federal judge sentenced a 53-year-old Kansas man to more than 24 years in prison after the former bank CEO abused his trusted position to embezzle $47 million after falling for a cryptocurrency scam that he believed would make him wildly rich.

In a press release, the US Attorney’s Office said that Shan Hanes was driven by “greed” when directing bank employees to transfer millions in funds to a sketchy crypto wallet managed by still-unknown third parties behind the so-called “pig butchering” scheme.

Hanes was first targeted by scammers in late 2022, apparently when he got a message from an unidentified co-conspirator on WhatsApp, prosecutors said. After blowing through his own funds seeking promised profits, Hanes stole tens of thousands from a local church, then a local investor club, and finally his daughter’s college fund, NBC News reported. Then when all those wells dried up, he started stealing bank funds—all in the false hopes that sending more and more money to the scammers would somehow “unlock the supposed returns” on his crypto investments.

In total, Hanes made 11 wire transfers using bank funds between May 2023 and July 2023. But instead of getting rich quick, Hanes never realized any profits at all, the US Attorney’s Office said.

He pleaded guilty to one count of embezzlement by a bank officer after he singlehandedly caused the collapse of Heartland Tri-State Bank (HTSB) in Elkhart, Kansas, the press release said.

Because the bank was insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), the FDIC “absorbed the $47.1 million loss” after “Hanes’ fraudulent actions caused HTSB to fail and the bank investors to lose $9 million,” the US Attorney’s Office said. On top of those losses, Hanes’ fraudulent actions caused “catastrophic losses to bank customers who relied on the bank for the safekeeping of their savings,” the press release confirmed.

According to NBC News, Hanes missed at least one opportunity to realize that he was being scammed. After he asked for a $12 million loan from a neighbor, Brian Mitchell, his neighbor detected the scam and refused to lend the money.

“I said, ‘You’re in a scam, walk away,'” Mitchell told NBC News.

But Hanes didn’t walk away. Going the other direction, he directed bank employees to wire millions more to scammers after he got the warning from Mitchell. It wasn’t until Mitchell heard from a bank employee that Hanes had wired money out of the bank that Mitchell insisted on speaking to the bank’s board.

Days later, Hanes was fired, NBC News reported. But even then, Hanes never believed he was being scammed, reportedly telling Mitchell that he was still scheming to find a way to recover his make-believe profits right up to the moment he was arrested.

“He said … ‘If I just had another two months, I could get the money back,'” Mitchell told NBC News.

Law enforcement and government officials have warned that pig-butchering scams are growing increasingly common, urging people to “think twice” to avoid being victimized. Last year, the US Department of the Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network issued an alert, which explained in detail how the scams commonly work and laid out red flags to watch out for.

Victims may never fully recover losses, DOJ says

A Kansas FBI agent, Stephen Cyrus, said in the press release that as CEO, Hanes violated “the trust and confidence of the community of Elkhart” by embezzling the funds.

Mitchell described Hanes’ deceptions and manipulations as “pure evil,” while Cyrus said that it was Hanes’ “job” and “the bank’s job” to “protect its customers and identify fraudulent scams—not to participate in them.”

In a court filing at sentencing, Hanes’ lawyer, John Stang, chalked up his client’s misdeeds to “bad choices,” reminding the court that Hanes had been deceived, too, by “an extremely well-run cryptocurrency scam.”

“He was the pig that was butchered,” Stang wrote. “Mr. Hanes’s vulnerability to the Pig Butcher scheme caused him to make some very bad decisions, for which he is truly sorry for causing damage to the bank and loss to the Stockholders.”

Hanes faced a maximum penalty of 30 years. While Judge John Broomes ordered him to serve less time than that, his sentence of more than 24 years is 29 months longer than prosecutors had requested, NBC News reported.

Right now, it’s unclear how or when victims will be repaid for losses. Broomes ordered “that restitution be finalized at a separate hearing within the next 90 days,” the US Attorney’s Office said.

In the community, people are still struggling to recover, Mitchell told NBC News, noting that some people lost up to 80 percent of their retirement savings. For at least one woman, retirement is impossible now, Mitchell said, and for another local woman, it has become difficult to pay for her 93-year-old mother’s nursing home.

US Attorney Kate E. Brubacher said that it’s hard to say when or if victims will be made whole again.

“Hanes is a liar and a master manipulator” who squandered away “tens of millions of dollars in cryptocurrency” while orchestrating “schemes to cover his tracks concerning the losses at the bank,” Brubacher said. “Many victims will never fully recoup losses to their life savings and retirement funds, but at least we at the Department of Justice can see that Hanes is held criminally responsible for his actions.”

Ex-bank CEO gets 24 years after falling for crypto scam, causing bank collapse Read More »

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Google avoids “link tax” bill with deal to fund California journalism and AI

Google, google journalism, Policy / /

Google funding for news orgs —

Critics say Google got off easy as it agrees to pay $55 million into news fund.

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A large Google logo in the shape of a multi-colored G is seen outside Google's Mountain View offices.

Getty Images | Josh Edelson

Google has agreed to fund local journalism and an artificial intelligence initiative in California as part of a deal that would reportedly result in lawmakers shelving a proposal to require Google to pay news outlets for distributing their content. But the deal’s state financing requires legislative approval as part of California’s annual budget process and is drawing criticism from some lawmakers and a union for journalists.

Governor Gavin Newsom is on board, saying that the “agreement represents a major breakthrough in ensuring the survival of newsrooms and bolstering local journalism across California—leveraging substantial tech industry resources without imposing new taxes on Californians.” The deal “will provide nearly $250 million in public and private funding over the next five years, with the majority of funding going to newsrooms,” said an announcement by Assemblymember Buffy Wicks, a Democrat.

A “News Transformation Fund” would be created with funding from the state and Google and be administered by the UC Berkeley School of Journalism. The state would contribute $30 million the first year and $10 million in each of the next four years, according to a summary provided to Ars by Wicks’ office.

Google would contribute $55 million to the news fund over five years, consisting of $15 million the first year and $10 million in each of the next four years. The funds would be distributed to news organizations based on how many journalists they employ.

Google also agreed to provide $62.5 million over five years for a “National AI Innovation Accelerator.” Wicks’ office said the accelerator “will be administered in collaboration with a private nonprofit, and will provide organizations across industries and communities—from journalism, to the environment, to racial equity and beyond—with financial resources and other support to experiment with AI to assist them in their work.”

The “nearly $250 million” figure quoted by Wicks’ office includes a commitment from Google to continue funding the company’s existing journalism programs with $10 million annually for five years.

Union calls deal a “shakedown”

The Media Guild of the West union slammed the deal as a “shakedown” in a statement issued yesterday. The agreement is disappointing partly because it came “after two years of advocacy for strong antimonopoly action to start turning around the decline of local newsrooms,” the group said.

“The publishers who claim to represent our industry are celebrating an opaque deal involving taxpayer funds, a vague AI accelerator project that could very well destroy journalism jobs, and minimal financial commitments from Google to return the wealth this monopoly has stolen from our newsrooms,” the union said. “Not a single organization representing journalists and news workers agreed to this undemocratic and secretive deal with one of the businesses destroying our industry.”

Perhaps explaining why journalism and AI funding are part of the same agreement, Wicks’ office said the AI accelerator will “complement the work of the Journalism Fund by creating new tools to help journalists access and analyze public information.”

Google recently testified against pending legislation submitted by Wicks, known as the California Journalism Preservation Act. Google said the bill would “break the foundational principles of the open Internet, forcing platforms to pay publishers for sending valuable free traffic to them, which they choose to receive.” Google has called the bill a “link tax.”

Alphabet Chief Legal Officer Kent Walker praised the deal yesterday as “a collaborative framework to accelerate AI innovation and support local and national businesses and non-profit organizations.”

State funding faces opposition in Senate

Democratic State Senator Steve Glazer, who proposed a different bill aiming to fund local journalism, issued a statement criticizing the deal. “Google’s offer is completely inadequate and massively short of matching their settlement agreement in Canada in supporting on-the-ground local news reporting,” he said.

Glazer questioned why only Google was involved in the deal announcement, and not other tech companies. “There is a stark absence in this announcement of any support for journalism from Meta and Amazon,” Glazer said. “These platforms have captured the intimate data from Californians without paying for it. Their use of that data in advertising is the harm to news outlets that this agreement should mitigate.”

Senate President Pro Tempore Mike McGuire “questioned legislative support for the state’s share of the deal,” The New York Times wrote.

“We have concerns that this proposal lacks sufficient funding for newspapers and local media, and doesn’t fully address the inequities facing the industry,” McGuire, a Democrat, was quoted as saying. McGuire said the state Senate is “pursuing a global solution that would hold all of these companies accountable.”

News organizations have reported declines in Google referrals, a trend that may be worsened by how Google’s AI Overview feature displays search results.

Wicks’ announcement of the deal quoted several supporters in the publishing industry. “This is a first step toward what we hope will become a comprehensive program to sustain local news in the long term, and we will push to see it grow in future years,” the California News Publishers Association said.

There was also a supportive quote from OpenAI Chief Strategy Officer Jason Kwon: “A strong press is a key pillar of democracy, and we’re proud to be part of this partnership to utilize AI in support of local journalism across California. This initiative builds on our longstanding work to help newsrooms and journalists around the world leverage AI to improve workflows, better connect users to quality content, and help news organizations shape the future of this emerging technology.”

OpenAI is contributing technology to the agreement, but not any money, the summary from Wicks’ office said.

Google avoids “link tax” bill with deal to fund California journalism and AI Read More »

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Telco fined $1M for transmitting Biden deepfake without verifying Caller ID

biden deepfake, fake biden robocall, Policy / /

Biden deepfake robocall —

Lingo Telecom signed calls with A-Level attestations despite not verifying them.

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President Biden walking outdoors while holding a cell phone to his ear with one hand and holding another phone in his other hand.

Enlarge / President Joe Biden leaving the White House on August 16, 2024, in Washington, DC.

Getty Images | Anna Moneymaker

A phone company agreed to pay a $1 million fine for transmitting spoofed robocalls in which a deepfake of President Joe Biden’s voice urged New Hampshire residents not to vote. Lingo Telecom, which is based in Texas, agreed to a settlement with the Federal Communications Commission, the agency announced today.

Lingo Telecom “will pay a $1 million civil penalty and implement a historic compliance plan—the first of its kind secured by the FCC—that will require strict adherence to the FCC’s STIR/SHAKEN Caller ID authentication rules,” the FCC said. The settlement includes “requirements that the company abide by ‘Know Your Customer’ (KYC) and ‘Know Your Upstream Provider’ (KYUP) principles” that focus on vetting call traffic to ensure it is trustworthy, and “requirements that the company more thoroughly verify the accuracy of the information provided by its customers and upstream providers.”

The calls made before New Hampshire’s presidential primary in January were orchestrated by Steve Kramer, a Democratic consultant who was working for a candidate running against Biden. Kramer was indicted on charges of voter suppression and impersonation of a candidate, and the FCC proposed a $6 million fine for Kramer. The calls inaccurately displayed a phone number associated with a prominent New Hampshire political operative.

The FCC originally proposed a $2 million fine for Lingo Telecom before settling for the $1 million penalty in a consent decree issued today. The consent decree resolves the FCC investigation into Lingo Telecom’s apparent violations of rules related to the STIR/SHAKEN Caller ID authentication system.

Telco didn’t verify calls

Lingo Telecom completed 3,978 calls to potential New Hampshire voters on January 21, 2024, on behalf of a customer called Life Corporation. Lingo Telecom signed those calls with A-Level attestations, which indicate that the phone company “is responsible for the origination of the call onto the IP-based service provider voice network, has a direct authenticated relationship with the customer and can identify the customer, and has established a verified association with the telephone number used for the call.”

Lingo Telecom did not actually verify the calls, the consent decree said:

Lingo Telecom explained that its policy was to assign A-level attestations to a customer’s traffic when the Company directly assigned Direct Inward Dialing (DID) numbers to a customer like Life Corporation. If one of these customers, like Life Corporation, also purchased Company Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) trunks that permits the customer to use numbers assigned by other carriers, Lingo Telecom allowed them to “receive an A-level attestation for traffic associated with… non-Lingo provisioned telephone numbers if the customer certified that it ‘will identify its customer and has a verified association with the telephone number used for the call.'”

Lingo Telecom told the FCC that it relied on the certification provided by Life Corporation, which had been a customer of Lingo Telecom for 16 years. “Lingo Telecom took no additional steps beyond those recited above to independently ascertain whether the customers of Life Corporation could legitimately use the telephone number that appeared as the calling party for the New Hampshire presidential primary calls,” the FCC said.

The consent decree states that, going forward, “Lingo Telecom may only apply an A-level attestation to a call if Lingo Telecom itself has provided the Caller Identity to the calling party associated with the Call.” The consent decree’s “Know Your Customer” provisions require Lingo Telecom to obtain more detailed information from customers, while the “Know Your Upstream Provider” provisions require it to obtain more detailed information from other telcos that it transmits calls for.

Lingo Telecom is also barred from accepting “payment in the form of cryptocurrency, gift cards, or cash to transmit or originate calls.” The consent decree is scheduled to be in effect for three years but can be extended by 12 months for each instance of noncompliance.

Telco fined $1M for transmitting Biden deepfake without verifying Caller ID Read More »