Latest cybersecurity reporting from selected sources.

Social Media Network Faces Legal Barrage From France, United Kingdom and SpainIn the space of a few hours, French authorities raided X's office in Paris, the British privacy regulator opened an investigation into X and xAI, and Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez announced legal proposals that would criminalize algorithmic manipulation and amplification of illegal content.

Project cites fears of state access as cloud sovereignty row deepens French cloud outfit OVHcloud took another hit this week after GrapheneOS, a mobile operating system, said it was ditching the company's servers over concerns about France's approach to digital privacy.…

Web giant and Chinese e-tailer whacked for dropping trackers without permission France’s data protection authority levied massive fines against Google and SHEIN for dropping cookies on customers without securing their permission, and also whacked Google for showing ads in email service.…

The EU General Court Gives Victory to Backers of Trans-Atlantic Data FlowsThe European Union General Court on Wednesday dismissed a plea by a French politician to annul the legal framework underpinning commercial data flows across the Atlantic, rejecting claims that a U.S. intelligence agency oversight body is not independent of the federal government.

Autorité de la concurrence, France's antitrust watchdog, has fined Apple €150 million ($162 million) for using the App Tracking Transparency privacy framework to abuse its dominant market position in mobile app advertising on its devices. [...]

Apple has been hit with a fine of €150 million ($162 million) by France's competition watchdog over the implementation of its App Tracking Transparency (ATT) privacy framework

Privacy-focused email provider Tuta (previously Tutanota) and the VPN Trust Initiative (VTI) are raising concerns over proposed laws in France set to backdoor encrypted messaging systems and restrict internet access. [...]

Official at AI Summit Says Framing AI as a Solution for Every Issue is ProblematicAI poses "profound" privacy risks, Signal President Meredith Whittaker said during the French AI Action Summit. Big tech should refrain from framing AI as the solution for every problem, "where it is a hunger for data, and the companies push for billions of dollars in investment," she said.

5th Nation to Investigate Software Firm Imposes Largest GDPR Penalty, Bans UseThe Dutch data regulator is the latest agency to fine artificial intelligence company Clearview AI over its facial data harvesting and other privacy violations of GDPR rules, joining regulatory agencies in France, Italy, Greece and the United Kingdom.

Activists Raise Concerns Over Privacy and Hostility to End-to-End EncryptionThe Saturday evening arrest of Telegram CEO Pavel Durov by French law enforcement agencies thrust the already controversial social media platform further into the international spotlight as Paris authorities said the Russian billionaire will likely remain in custody at least through Wednesday.

PLUS: Juniper's support portal leaks customer info; Canada moves to ban Flipper Zero; Critical vulns Infosec In Brief Nearly half the citizens of France have had their data exposed in a massive security breach at two third-party healthcare payment servicers, the French data privacy watchdog disclosed last week.…

The French data privacy regulator has opened an investigation following a data breach affecting two major health insurance firms

Company Fined for Dropping Advertising Cookies Without ConsentThe French data regulator imposed a fine of 10 million euros on Yahoo after determining that the company's advertising cookie policy had violated the country's privacy regulations. Yahoo deposited more than 20 tracking cookies without giving consumers a chance to withdraw consent.

E-Commerce Giant Accuses Luxembourg Regulators of Attacking the CompanyAmazon in a Luxembourg court Tuesday contested a once-record privacy fine levied against the e-commerce giant for its advertising practices by the diminutive country's data protection authority. The fine of 746 million euros stems from a 2018 complaint by French privacy group La Quadrature du Net.

The Swedish data protection watchdog has warned companies against using Google Analytics due to risks posed by U.S. government surveillance, following similar moves by Austria, France, and Italy last year

Also: 3D printing gun mods = jail time; France fines Clearview AI for ignoring fine; this week's critical vulns, and more in brief Japanese automaker Toyota has admitted yet again to mishandling customer data – this time saying it exposed information on more than two million Japanese customers for the past decade, thanks to a misconfigured cloud environment. …

France's privacy watchdog has imposed a €60 million ($63.88 million) fine against Microsoft's Ireland subsidiary for dropping advertising cookies in users' computers without their explicit consent in violation of data protection laws in the European Union

In its largest fine of 2022, France’s privacy watchdog has fined US tech giant €60m for foisting advertising cookies on users

Recommendation from top CNIL advisor claims Cupertino broke EU privacy laws Apple tracked users without their consent and deserves to be fined €6 million, according to a top advisor to France's data privacy watchdog. …

Norway, France also sound data privacy alarms World Cup apps from the Qatari government collect more personal information than they need to, according to Germany's data protection agency, which this week warned football fans to only install the two apps "if it is absolutely necessary." Also: consider using a burner phone.…