US Senators Mark Warner (D-VA) and Deb Fischer (R-NE) on Tuesday introduced a bill to protect consumers from exploitative and deceptive practices by certain large online platforms that trick consumers into providing their personal data for commercial exploitation. The practices are referred to as “dark patterns” because they are created using extensive behavioral psychology research to [...]
The US Department of Justice (DOJ) announced Tuesday that it indicted 24 individuals for their part in a $1.2 billion health care fraud scheme involving telemedicine and durable medical equipment (DME). The individuals charged include three licensed professionals, CEOs and COOs of telemedicine companies, and the owners of dozens of DME companies. The scheme involved [...]
Attorneys for Yahoo submitted a proposal to the US District Court for the Northern District of California on Monday to settle a class action data breach lawsuit. This proposal is Yahoo’s second attempt to settle a series of data breaches that occurred between 2013 and 2016. US District Judge Lucy Koh rejected a previous version due [...]
A bill that would add nuclear energy to the definition of alternative energy sources that are eligible for alternative energy credits was referred to a Pennsylvania Senate committee Monday. The current definition of alternative energy sources includes solar, wind, hydropower and geothermal energy. The bill would create a price floor and price cap for the [...]
A federal judge on Tuesday denied a motion for preliminary injunction sought by a First Amendment advocacy group to compel the expeditious processing of a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request for the Mueller report and supporting materials. US District Court Judge Reggie Walton ruled from the bench that the Electronic Privacy Information Center’s (EPIC) [...]
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio on Tuesday declared a public health emergency following a measles outbreak in several parts of Brooklyn. The declaration requires residents living in the identified zip codes to receive the measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccine. According to a press release issued by the Mayor’s Office, the mandatory vaccination will be issued [...]
The European Court of Human Rights ruled Tuesday that Russia violated the rights of opposition leader Alexei Navalny by placing him under house arrest in 2014. Navalny, a prominent critic of President Vladimir Putin, spent 10 months under house arrest in 2014 while Russian authorities investigated him for embezzlement charges. The court found that Navalny’s confinement violated [...]
Pittsburgh Mayor Bill Peduto on Tuesday signed four gun control laws, setting up a fight over the limits of municipal authority over the regulation of firearms in Pennsylvania. Following the mass shooting at the Tree of Life Synagogue in October that killed 11, the Pittsburgh city council passed a series of gun control regulations aimed [...]
The Trump administration filed a notice Monday with the US District Court for the District of Maryland that it intends to appeal the court’s ruling that the addition of a citizenship question on the 2020 census is unlawful. On April 5 Judge George Hazel decided that the addition of a proposed question on the 2020 [...]
A Hong Kong court on Tuesday found nine members of the 2014 pro-democracy “Umbrella Movement” guilty of charges including conspiracy and inciting a public nuisance. The convictions are the latest of a series stemming from protests calling for increased democracy in Hong Kong which occurred nearly five years ago. The protests shut down parts of [...]
