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Apple accuses YouTube influencer of illegally leaking iOS 26
Apple accuses YouTube influencer of illegally leaking iOS 26

Miami Herald

time2 days ago

  • Business
  • Miami Herald

Apple accuses YouTube influencer of illegally leaking iOS 26

YouTube influencer Jon Prosser allegedly violated Apple's intellectual property rights by illegally accessing and releasing trade secrets regarding the tech firm's iOS 26 operating system before its launch. Prosser and co-defendant Michael Ramacciotti allegedly misappropriated trade secrets and violated the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, Apple says in a federal lawsuit filed Thursday in the U.S. District Court for Northern California. Apple revealed its iOS 26 operating system on June 9 during its Worldwide Developers Conference but says Prosser released important details two months earlier. Prosser's YouTube channel, 'Front Page Tech,' commonly predicts tech launches of consumer goods, including popular Apple products. Apple says he and Ramacciotti schemed to 'break into an Apple development iPhone, steal Apple's trade secrets and profit from the theft,' Wired reported on Friday. 'Prosser, working with defendant Michael Ramacciotti, improperly accessed and disclosed Apple's highly confidential, unreleased software designs, including details regarding the unreleased iOS 19 operating system, which is now known as iOS 26, for Apple mobile devices,' Apple says in the lawsuit. Apple accuses the pair of conspiring to break into Apple employee Ethan Lipnik's development iPhone to obtain Apple's trade secrets. Lipnik worked for Apple from 2023 to 2025, when he was terminated by Apple over the leak, Business Insider reported. The tech firm says it received an anonymous tip on April 4 that accuses either Prosser or Ramacciotti, who shared housing with Lipnik, of engaging the Apple employee in a FaceTime call that discussed the pending iOS 26 release. The unreleased operating system at the time was known as iOS 19 among Apple employees. The anonymous tip says Prosser obtained details on the unreleased operating system's lock screen, home screen, app animations and app interfaces. It also says Prosser had video from the FaceTime call that shows the operating system's unique interface. Apple claims Prosser learned Ramacciotti needed money and roomed with Lipnik, who worked on the unreleased operating system. Prosser and Ramacciotti 'jointly planned to access Apple's confidential and trade secret information through Mr. Lipnik's Apple-owned development iPhone,' Apple says. The tech firm also says Lipnik provided it with an audio message from Ramacciotti that alleges he used location tracking to learn when Lipnik would be gone for an extended period. Apple says the message indicates Ramacciotti acquired Lipnik's passcode and 'broke into his development iPhone,' which Lipnik did not properly secure in accordance with company policy. 'As he detailed in the audio message, Mr. Ramacciotti made a video call to Mr. Prosser and 'showed [the] iOS' on the development iPhone,' Apple claims. 'He demonstrated several features and applications, disclosing details of the unreleased iOS 19 operating system,' Apple says. Prosser denies Apple's claims against him. 'This is not how the situation played out on my end,' Prosser said in an X post on Thursday. 'I did not 'plot' to access anyone's phone,' Prosser continued. 'I did not have any passwords. I was unaware of how the information was obtained.' Prosser said he is 'looking forward to speaking with Apple on this.' Apple says it suffered financial losses exceeding $5,000 over a one-year period and seeks monetary and punitive damages in amounts to be proven at trial, plus interest. It also seeks injunctive relief to cease Prosser and Ramacciotti's alleged release of Apple's trade secrets to third parties without written consent and to return or help Apple to locate and destroy any trade secrets that might remain under their control. Copyright 2025 UPI News Corporation. All Rights Reserved.

Capital One must face social media creators' lawsuit alleging stolen commissions
Capital One must face social media creators' lawsuit alleging stolen commissions

Yahoo

time03-06-2025

  • Business
  • Yahoo

Capital One must face social media creators' lawsuit alleging stolen commissions

By Jonathan Stempel (Reuters) -Capital One must face a lawsuit by social media creators who said the bank's free browser extension stole their sales commissions when consumers bought their products and services. In a Monday night decision, U.S. District Judge Anthony Trenga in Alexandria, Virginia said creators plausibly alleged that Capital One knew or should have known that it diverted their commissions by overriding tracking codes that showed consumers had seen their content. The proposed class action involves affiliate marketing, where creators promote content through links that appear on their platforms and social media channels, and are provided by online merchants and third-party marketers. Creators said the Capital One Shopping browser extension, used by more than 10 million people to find discounts, made it appear at checkout as though consumers made purchases from merchants' sites after clicking referral links from the bank. They said this let McLean, Virginia-based Capital One collect millions of dollars of commissions that bloggers, influencers, YouTubers and other creators had "rightfully earned". Trenga said creators can pursue claims that Capital One was unjustly enriched, interfered with their contracts and ability to make money, and violated the federal Computer Fraud and Abuse Act. He dismissed a conversion claim and four state law claims. Capital One did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Tuesday. In seeking a dismissal, the bank said it was up to merchants to decide how to allocate commissions. It also said the lawsuit reflected creators' frustration that merchants "do not always share their view that they did all the work." Norman Siegel, a lawyer for the creators, said they looked forward to continuing to prosecute their case. Microsoft and PayPal face similar litigation over their Microsoft Shopping and PayPal Honey extensions. Capital One is the sixth-largest U.S. commercial bank by assets, after buying Discover Financial Services in May. It acquired its browser extension when it bought online shopping startup Wikibuy in 2018. The case is In re Capital One Financial Corp, Affiliate Marketing Litigation, U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Virginia, No. 25-00023.

Meta wins $167 million in damages from NSO group over Pegasus spyware
Meta wins $167 million in damages from NSO group over Pegasus spyware

Hindustan Times

time07-05-2025

  • Business
  • Hindustan Times

Meta wins $167 million in damages from NSO group over Pegasus spyware

A US jury has ordered NSO Group, the company behind the notorious Pegasus spyware, to pay more than $167 million in punitive damages to Meta for deploying malware via WhatsApp. The decision marks a significant legal victory for Meta following years of courtroom battles. A US judge previously found that NSO had violated the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act.(Pixabay/Representative) Meta first sued NSO Group in 2019, alleging that the Israeli firm used its Pegasus spyware to target over 1,400 individuals across 20 countries—including journalists, human rights activists, and political dissidents. According to Meta, the malware was delivered through WhatsApp video calls, even if those calls went unanswered. A US judge previously found that NSO had violated the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, setting the stage for the jury trial to determine financial damages. On Tuesday, the jury awarded $444,719 in compensatory damages and $167,254,000 in punitive damages to Meta. Meta calls ruling a 'critical deterrent' Carl Woog, WhatsApp's VP of Global Communications, welcomed the verdict, calling it 'a critical deterrent to this malicious industry against their illegal acts aimed at American companies and the privacy and security of the people we serve.' Meta has also said it plans to seek a court injunction to prevent NSO from targeting WhatsApp in the future and hopes to donate the awarded funds to digital rights organisations. NSO pledges to appeal NSO Group, which describes itself as a 'cyber intelligence' company, maintained in court that Pegasus cannot be used on US phone numbers and claimed WhatsApp had suffered no actual harm. Gil Lainer, a spokesperson for NSO, criticised the verdict, calling it 'another step in a lengthy judicial process.' He said the firm would explore 'further proceedings' or an appeal, adding: 'We firmly believe our technology plays a critical role in preventing serious crime and terrorism… this perspective was excluded from the jury's consideration.' Despite the ruling, Meta acknowledged that recovering the damages may be a lengthy process. Mobile finder: CMF Phone 2 Pro goes on sale in India

FBI Confirms $10 Million Chinese Hacker Bounty
FBI Confirms $10 Million Chinese Hacker Bounty

Forbes

time27-04-2025

  • Politics
  • Forbes

FBI Confirms $10 Million Chinese Hacker Bounty

FBI issues $10 million hacker bounty. getty The U.S. is no stranger to hack attacks that have a Chinese affiliation, from the U.S. Treasury breach, an attack that led the FBI to remotely delete malware from thousands of computers belonging to American citizens, and most recently the nation state sponsored Ghost ransomware attacks leading to yet another FBI security warning as American hospitals and factories were targeted. Now, the FBI has upped the ante as it confirmed a $10 million bounty on the heads of members of the notorious Chinese Salt Typhoon hacking group. The Chinese Salt Typhoon cyber-espionage group has risen to the top of the state-sponsored hacking pile courtesy of a number of high-profile attacks over the last six months or so. From the hacking of presidential candidate campaign iPhones, the exposure of critical vulnerabilities within the U.S. telecommunications infrastructure, and more. Salt Typhoon is known to be an advanced persistent hacking group, affiliated with the Ministry of State Security in China, conducting cyber espionage campaigns against U.S. targets. Salt Typhoon also operates under a number of other guises, including FamousSparrow, Ghost Emperor and UNC2286 Now the Federal Bureau of Investigation has confirmed it is offering a $10 million bounty for 'information about foreign government-linked individuals participating in certain malicious cyber activities against U.S. critical infrastructure in violation of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act.' The FBI bounty is mentioned in a new security advisory that asks members of the public to report any information that they have about Salt Typhoon activity, but 'especially information about specific individuals behind the campaign.' For more information about how to qualify for the $10 million bounty, readers are advised to refer to the U.S. Department of State's national security rewards program, Rewards for Justice.

Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni legal war takes new twist with claims of 'psychic readings' and 'mental breakdowns'
Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni legal war takes new twist with claims of 'psychic readings' and 'mental breakdowns'

Daily Mail​

time25-04-2025

  • Entertainment
  • Daily Mail​

Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni legal war takes new twist with claims of 'psychic readings' and 'mental breakdowns'

Justin Baldoni 's legal battle with Blake Lively has taken a bizarre new twist, with lawyers launching 14 new claims against his embattled former publicist, Stephanie Jones, on Thursday. Baldoni's, 41, movie company, Wayfarer, and his publicist for the film It Ends With Us, Jennifer Abel, both filed new claims including a violation of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, breach of contract, defamation, and fraud against Jones. They accused Jones of snooping on Abel's private messages all the way until January this year, and plotting a 'flagrant abuse of process' with Lively, 37, to generate a subpoena from a 'sham lawsuit' to cover up Jones allegedly leaking messages to Lively. Abel's new filing also accused Jones of making 'bizarre' claims about Abel to her staff based on supposed information from 'psychic readings.' 'In one instance, Jones announced to Abel's subordinates that she had learned through psychic readings that Abel was an alcoholic and a gambling addict.' Abel added that the claim had 'no basis in reality', and instead 'raised alarm about whether Jones was in the midst of a mental breakdown.' Justin Baldoni's, 41, legal battle with Blake Lively, 37, has taken a bizarre new twist, with lawyers launching 14 new claims against his embattled former publicist Stephanie Jones Abel's court document said: 'Although Jones had always been volatile, she now appeared to be actively unraveling.' 'On a different occasion, Jones announced, again per her psychic, that Abel would soon be pregnant with twins, humiliating and infuriating Abel, who—Jones knew—had struggled with fertility issues,' the filing said. Jones' lawyers shot back, calling the new claims 'just distraction and noise' and 'a few debunked conspiracy theories', in a scathing statement to The two bombshell documents filed in New York federal court totaled a combined 125 pages. The filings were made in Jones' lawsuit against Abel. After Lively and Baldoni's legal battle exploded into the courts in December, Jones sued her former staffer Abel in January claiming that Abel plotted behind her back to steal Baldoni as a client, and falsely pinned an alleged smear campaign against Lively on Jones. Trial-watchers were expecting a run-of-the mill filing this evening: a boilerplate denial of Jones' claims. But instead, Baldoni and Abel's lawyer Bryan Freedman went on the offensive. Abel's filing accused Jones of stealing her personal data from her Jonesworks PR firm company phone when she announced she was quitting in July 2024. Abel's new filing accuses Jones of 'bizarre' claims to staff, based on 'psychic readings,' including false accusations about Abel (pictured) being 'an alcoholic and a gambling addict', which Abel says caused alarm about Jones being 'in the midst of a mental breakdown' She claimed Jones had illicit access to all her personal texts through her iCloud account – until as recently as January this year. Abel claimed the alleged snooping amounted to a 'violation of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act', 'violations of Stored Communications Act' and 'violations of the Federal Wiretap Act'. The claws were out in the filing, with Abel giving a damning description of Jones' workplace. She claimed morale at Jonesworks was 'Abysmal', that it 'had a toxic workplace culture', and staff 'constantly gossiped and complained'. Abel even claimed Jones would 'regularly turn on deafening music so that she could berate her employees free from scrutiny.' She quoted an unnamed former employee allegedly saying 'I don't think there was one day in the office that someone wasn't crying.' Abel claimed that when she left and Jones seized her company phone, the PR boss 'had been sharing her private text messages with the entire office, mocking and disparaging her.' The filing even claimed Jones 'retained access to Abel's iCloud for multiple months thereafter, monitoring and intercepting her private communications in real-time [...] not only with her clients, fiancé, doctors, parents, and friends but also with the undersigned counsel.' In their filings, both Abel and Wayfarer cited another twist in the case that was revealed by last week. After Lively and Baldoni's legal battle exploded into the courts in December, Jones sued her former staffer Abel in January claiming that Abel plotted behind her back to steal Baldoni as a client, and falsely pinned an alleged smear campaign against Lively on Jones uncovered how Lively used her little-known company Vanzan Inc. to quietly file a mysterious lawsuit against unnamed defendants in September last year, months before her public legal battle with Baldoni began. She then used the lawsuit to secretly issue a subpoena to Jones for embarrassing texts between Baldoni, Abel and his crisis PR Melissa Nathan, without alerting any of them. The texts, allegedly showing a smear campaign plot against Lively, were used in her bombshell California legal complaint in December that kicked off the public legal war between the two Hollywood stars, and were shared with the New York Times in an explosive article the next day. In their legal filing on Thursday night, Abel and Wayfarer slammed the tactic as a 'sham lawsuit' and 'nothing more than a transparent ploy to obtain subpoena power.' Abel called it a 'flagrant abuse of process'. 'Since there were no identifiable parties and no party had been served, the subpoenas were issued without notice, depriving Abel of any knowledge of the subpoena, much less the opportunity to object,' her filing said. She accused Jones of having already leaked texts with Lively's team – and using the secret Vanzan lawsuit to create 'a veneer of legitimacy' and 'plausible deniability'. 'As a result of Jones' malicious scheme, Abel's life has been turned upside down,' her filing said. 'In an unimaginable invasion of Abel's privacy and dignity, Jones and the Lively Parties now possess the full contents of Abel's iCloud and email accounts, including her photos, text messages, and emails. Abel lives in fear of what is to come, given the vast troves of personal data in the possession of these hostile actors.' Wayfarer's filing accused Jones of a 'breach of contract' for giving up the messages, claiming it violated the 'confidentiality provision' by 'voluntarily and maliciously disclosing Confidential Information'. As well as two counts of 'Breach of contract', they accused Jones of 'breach of implied covenant' and defamation. Jones' lawyers hit back with statements to slamming the new claims as a distraction from what they say was a straightforward breach of contract by Abel. Jones' attorney Kristin Tahler accused Freedman of 'reversing course, dropping previously touted claims, presenting zero new evidence'. Tahler was referring to Abel's previous stance that she had suffered 'false imprisonment', trapped at the Jonesworks office and intimidated into signing documents and giving up her company phone – a claim that did not appear in the new filings on Thursday. 'This case will be decided on the mountain of evidence that demonstrates Wayfarer Studios and Ms. Abel deliberately breached their contracts with Jonesworks, which the defendants have conspicuously failed to rebut,' fellow attorney Maaren Shah added. 'The defendants' weak attempt to assemble their own case against Ms. Jones amounts to nothing more than a few debunked conspiracy theories and media gimmicks that have no basis in fact or evidence.'

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