A foreign cyberattack targeting multiple state government websites and services took down the Colorado.gov homepage, Colorado’s Office of Information Technology (OIT) said Wednesday. The office and State Emergency Operations Center are working with state and federal partners to restore access, but there was no estimated timeline, OIT said.

FTC Chair Lina Khan named her chief technology officer and a new public affairs director, the agency announced Tuesday. Stephanie Nguyen will be chief technology officer and Douglas Farrar will be public affairs director. Nguyen worked in an acting capacity in the same role since October 2021 and previously worked at the White House and as a research scientist at MIT. Farrar previously worked as vice president-communications and strategy at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and worked for the House Appropriations Committee.

Tighter rules for online platforms got final approval Tuesday from EU government ministers. The Digital Services Act (DSA) governs providers of intermediary services such as social media, online marketplaces, "very large online platforms and very large search engines," the EU Council noted. Very large platforms are those that reach 45 million or more users in the EU. Bigger services with more societal impact will be subject to tougher rules than smaller enterprises. The act places special obligations on online marketplaces to combat the sale of illegal products and services; introduces measures mandating that platforms react quickly to illegal content; and bars platforms from using targeted advertising based on the use of minors' personal data. Very large platforms and search engines will have to offer users a system for recommending content that's not based on profiling, and analyze the systemic risks they create for dissemination of illegal content or adverse effects on fundamental rights. The DSA also includes a crisis response mechanism to fight manipulation of online information in the context of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, making it possible to gauge the impact of the activities of very large search engines and platforms on the crisis. The European Parliament approved the DSA in July (see 2207050003). "If the EU is serious about protecting consumers and leading the world when it comes to regulating the online environment, it is crucial that the Digital Services Act is effectively applied and enforced," said European Consumer Organisation Deputy Director General Ursula Pachl.

A cross-border data access agreement for law enforcement agencies in the U.S., U.K. and Northern Ireland took effect Monday, DOJ said. Data transfers in criminal investigations are authorized under the Clarifying Lawful Overseas Use of Data (Cloud) Act, which Congress passed in 2018. The transfers will help the government “prevent, detect, investigate, and prosecute serious crime, including terrorism, transnational organized crime, and child exploitation,” DOJ said.

The White House urged House passage of the Merger Filing Fee Modernization Act (HR-3843) (see 2209260060). Merger fees to the FTC and DOJ haven’t kept pace with the number, size and complexity of deals, the Office of Management and Budget said Tuesday in a statement of administration policy.

Internet users in North America are facing significant connectivity issues despite increases in connection speeds, reported network diagnostics company RouteThis Monday. Though upstream and downstream speeds have risen dramatically, “pandemic-related behavioral shifts and device upgrades have increased demand on home Wi-Fi environments,” it said. “Every new device added to a home network comes with new requirements and increases the opportunity for a poor subscriber experience,” said RouteThis. North America’s home networks host the world’s highest median number of devices, with nine in the average household, and it’s likely “at least one will suffer from a bad connection,” it said. Up to half an ISP’s “support engagements” can be traced back to problems with the home Wi-Fi setup, rather than with the lines or equipment itself, said the company. Its data shows about 25% of diagnostic scans “reveal a less congested Wi-Fi channel available, while 30% indicate an underlying problem of signal strength, even with no issues with the home internet connection,” it said.

The National AI Advisory Committee of the National Institute of Standards and Technology plans an open hybrid meeting Oct. 12-13, beginning each day at 9 a.m. PDT. Members “will discuss how to direct their input into actionable recommendations” to the president and the National AI Initiative Office, said a notice in Monday’s Federal Register. Registration is required for those planning to attend in person at Stanford University in Palo Alto, California, but not for watching the meeting online, it said. A final agenda will be posted at the committee’s website, it said. Oct. 5 is the deadline for comments to be considered at the meeting, it said.

Big Tech needs to contribute its “fair share” to network builds, FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr said Monday during a visit with EU officials in Brussels. Carr is visiting with regulators from the European Commission, European Parliament and state entities Monday and Tuesday. He said he looks forward to consideration in the U.S. and the EU for updated approaches that would “require Big Tech to start contributing a fair share.” Tech companies benefit “tremendously” from high-speed networks, and “they generate the lion’s share of network traffic both in Europe and in the U.S.,” he said. Carr also welcomed discussion on security threats related to TikTok’s “surreptitious data flows” (see 2209070073).

Legislation that would force social media companies to pay to carry news content from Canadian companies would damage the internet ecosystem and exacerbate media concentration, the Computer and Communications Industry Association said Friday. Bill C-18, the Online News Act, which the House of Commons’ Heritage Committee considered at a hearing Friday, would allow Canadian news companies to negotiate for pay when platforms and search engines index content or users link and quote it. The Senate Commerce Committee passed a similar bill Thursday (see 2209220077), and Australia implemented a similar law. “Targeting a select few U.S. firms ... to force payments to Canadian news businesses, would not only constitute an unwarranted and discriminatory subsidy, but worsen competition in the media market by entrenching Canadian media conglomerates,” said CCIA Vice President-Digital Trade Jonathan McHale.

U.S. businesses are at a high and growing risk of data security threats from “increasingly effective phishing attempts and the lack of procedures to restrict data access,” reported GetApp Tuesday. “Newer companies are especially vulnerable to security threats,” said GetApp, which bills itself as the recommendation engine for small businesses. The company canvassed about 1,000 respondents in August, finding the total number of ransomware attacks has doubled in the past two years, while the proportion of companies paying the ransom has “steadily decreased,” it said. “This finding can be attributed to more companies either successfully decrypting data and removing the malware or recovering from the attack by using a backup without paying a ransom.”