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Deadly, Exploding Pagers Force the U.S. to Get Serious About Malware from China in U.S. Products that Are Potential National Security Threats
by Gunnar Larson 24 Sep '24

24 Sep '24

https://wallstreetonparade.com/2024/09/deadly-exploding-pagers-force-the-u-… By Pam Martens and Russ Martens: September 24, 2024 ~ U.S. Secretary of Commerce, Gina Raimondo U.S. Secretary of Commerce, Gina Raimondo Yesterday, the U.S. Department of Commerce announced it was proposing to ban certain technologies from China and Russia in U.S. automobiles. The U.S. Secretary of Commerce, Gina Raimondo, explained the thinking as follows: “Cars today have cameras, microphones, GPS tracking, and other technologies connected to the internet. It doesn’t take much imagination to understand how a foreign adversary with access to this information could pose a serious risk to both our national security and the privacy of U.S. citizens. To address these national security concerns, the Commerce Department is taking targeted, proactive steps to keep PRC and Russian-manufactured technologies off American roads.” According to the announcement, the proposed rule, which will be put out for public comment, would do the following: “…prohibit the import and sale of vehicles with certain VCS or ADS hardware or software with a nexus to the PRC [People’s Republic of China] or Russia. The VCS is the set of systems that allow the vehicle to communicate externally, including telematics control units, Bluetooth, cellular, satellite, and Wi-Fi modules. The ADS includes the components that collectively allow a highly autonomous vehicle to operate without a driver behind the wheel. “The rule would also prohibit manufacturers with a nexus to the PRC or Russia from selling connected vehicles that incorporate VCS hardware or software or ADS software in the United States, even if the vehicle was made in the United States. “The prohibitions on software would take effect for Model Year 2027 and the prohibitions on hardware would take effect for Model Year 2030, or January 1, 2029 for units without a model year.” Wait? What? It’s a recognized national security threat but Americans must wait years before corrective action is taken? How does that make any sense? On February 7 of this year, U.S. intelligence agencies revealed that a state-sponsored cyber actor in China, known as Volt Typhoon, had engaged in the following broad-based malicious activity inside the United States: “The U.S. authoring agencies have confirmed that Volt Typhoon has compromised the IT environments of multiple critical infrastructure organizations—primarily in Communications, Energy, Transportation Systems, and Water and Wastewater Systems Sectors—in the continental and non-continental United States and its territories, including Guam. Volt Typhoon’s choice of targets and pattern of behavior is not consistent with traditional cyber espionage or intelligence gathering operations, and the U.S. authoring agencies assess with high confidence that Volt Typhoon actors are pre-positioning themselves on IT networks to enable lateral movement to OT assets to disrupt functions. The U.S. authoring agencies are concerned about the potential for these actors to use their network access for disruptive effects in the event of potential geopolitical tensions and/or military conflicts. CCCS assesses that the direct threat to Canada’s critical infrastructure from PRC state-sponsored actors is likely lower than that to U.S. infrastructure, but should U.S. infrastructure be disrupted, Canada would likely be affected as well, due to cross-border integration. ASD’s ACSC and NCSC-NZ assess Australian and New Zealand critical infrastructure, respectively, could be vulnerable to similar activity from PRC state-sponsored actors.” Monday’s announcement from the U.S. Commerce Department comes just one week after pagers and walkie-talkies were detonated by Israel in an attack against Hezbollah in Lebanon. Dozens of people, including four children, were killed in those detonations and thousands were injured or maimed – overwhelming area hospitals during the two days of attacks on September 17th and 18th. According to a New York Times report last week, Israel had not tampered with the pagers and walkie-talkies but had actually set up a shell company to manufacture them as future deadly devices to attack Hezbollah. The (paywall) Times report included this stunning revelation: “By all appearances, B.A.C. Consulting was a Hungary-based company that was under contract to produce the devices on behalf of a Taiwanese company, Gold Apollo. In fact, it was part of an Israeli front, according to three intelligence officers briefed on the operation. They said at least two other shell companies were created as well to mask the real identities of the people creating the pagers: Israeli intelligence officers.” Approximately 30 seconds after we first heard the initial news reports that Israel had planted explosives in pagers which it could simultaneously detonate with a code, we stated out loud: “That’s going to unleash mass suspicions about the safety of the entire global supply chain.” Is anyone looking at their cellphone or iPad in the same way this week?

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Wash. Agency No Longer Seeking Names In 3M Earplug Case
by Gunnar Larson 24 Sep '24

24 Sep '24

Wash. Agency No Longer Seeking Names In 3M Earplug Case <https://www.law360.com/governmentcontracts/articles/1881503?nl_pk=4126fe73-…> By Jonathan Capriel The Washington state agency that handles child support claims seems no longer interested in seeking information on service members who are expected to receive payments from the 6 billion settlement from 3M Co. over injuries stemming from its Combat Arms Earplugs. Order attached | Read full article » <https://www.law360.com/governmentcontracts/articles/1881503?nl_pk=4126fe73-…> | Save to favorites » <https://www.law360.com/governmentcontracts/articles/1881503?nl_pk=4126fe73-…>

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Bio Lab Settles Conn. False-Claims Allegations For $1.73M
by Gunnar Larson 24 Sep '24

24 Sep '24

Bio Lab Settles Conn. False-Claims Allegations For $1.73M <https://www.law360.com/governmentcontracts/articles/1881487?nl_pk=4126fe73-…> By Aaron Keller Enzo Biochem Inc. and subsidiary Enzo Clinical Labs Inc. will pay nearly $1.73 million to settle accusations that the companies' former Farmingdale, New York, laboratory billed higher rates to the state of Connecticut's Medicaid coffers than it billed to other payers, the state attorney general announced Monday. Complaint attached | Read full article » <https://www.law360.com/governmentcontracts/articles/1881487?nl_pk=4126fe73-…> | Save to favorites » <https://www.law360.com/governmentcontracts/articles/1881487?nl_pk=4126fe73-…>

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Chamber Says X Ruling Boosts Bid To Nix Calif. Climate Laws
by Gunnar Larson 24 Sep '24

24 Sep '24

Chamber Says X Ruling Boosts Bid To Nix Calif. Climate Laws <https://www.law360.com/compliance/articles/1881554?nl_pk=ab5ce197-c1fb-4d8e…> By Sarah Jarvis The U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the state of California have filed competing briefs on how a recent Ninth Circuit decision blocking parts of a social media law applies to the state's corporate climate disclosure rules, with the Chamber arguing the ruling reinforces how the latter violate the First Amendment. 2 documents attached | Read full article » <https://www.law360.com/compliance/articles/1881554?nl_pk=ab5ce197-c1fb-4d8e…> | Save to favorites » <https://www.law360.com/compliance/articles/1881554?nl_pk=ab5ce197-c1fb-4d8e…>

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Petco, Shareholders Battle In Chancery Over Controller Clout
by Gunnar Larson 24 Sep '24

24 Sep '24

Petco, Shareholders Battle In Chancery Over Controller Clout <https://www.law360.com/delaware/articles/1881362?nl_pk=8f2e5a76-bb66-462b-a…> By Jeff Montgomery Attorneys for Petco Health & Wellness Co. Inc. face an "uphill battle" in branding as "wrongly decided" a landmark Court of Chancery ruling earlier this year that struck down an agreement giving a company's controlling stockholder board-trumping power, Delaware's chancellor cautioned on Monday. Read full article » <https://www.law360.com/delaware/articles/1881362?nl_pk=8f2e5a76-bb66-462b-a…> | Save to favorites » <https://www.law360.com/delaware/articles/1881362?nl_pk=8f2e5a76-bb66-462b-a…>

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Penn Law Professor Sanctioned For Discriminatory Remarks
by Gunnar Larson 24 Sep '24

24 Sep '24

Penn Law Professor Sanctioned For Discriminatory Remarks <https://www.law360.com/cannabis/articles/1881699?nl_pk=c844ee6a-f80e-4e60-b…> By Lynn LaRowe A professor at the University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School will be sanctioned for making "sweeping and derogatory generalizations about groups by race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, and immigration status," according to university documents made available Monday. Read full article » <https://www.law360.com/cannabis/articles/1881699?nl_pk=c844ee6a-f80e-4e60-b…> | Save to favorites » <https://www.law360.com/cannabis/articles/1881699?nl_pk=c844ee6a-f80e-4e60-b…>

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Suit Says LAPD Stormed Medical Office Looking For Pot
by Gunnar Larson 24 Sep '24

24 Sep '24

Suit Says LAPD Stormed Medical Office Looking For Pot <https://www.law360.com/cannabis/articles/1881252?nl_pk=c844ee6a-f80e-4e60-b…> By Jonathan Capriel The Los Angeles Police Department "maliciously" raided an X-ray and imaging clinic in North Hollywood, erroneously thinking it was an illicit marijuana grow site, destroying an MRI machine in the process, according to a lawsuit filed in California federal court. Complaint attached | Read full article » <https://www.law360.com/cannabis/articles/1881252?nl_pk=c844ee6a-f80e-4e60-b…> | Save to favorites » <https://www.law360.com/cannabis/articles/1881252?nl_pk=c844ee6a-f80e-4e60-b…>

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Aetna ER Payment Suit Remanded To Ohio State Court
by Gunnar Larson 24 Sep '24

24 Sep '24

Aetna ER Payment Suit Remanded To Ohio State Court <https://www.law360.com/health/articles/1880739?nl_pk=6422bbc2-a823-4be5-9a9…> By Ryan Harroff An Ohio federal judge remanded a suit accusing multiple Aetna health insurance entities of underpaying healthcare workers for emergency services they provide to its insureds to state court, stating that to resolve the claims in his own court "would disrupt the state-federal balance of judicial responsibilities." Order attached | Read full article » <https://www.law360.com/health/articles/1880739?nl_pk=6422bbc2-a823-4be5-9a9…> | Save to favorites » <https://www.law360.com/health/articles/1880739?nl_pk=6422bbc2-a823-4be5-9a9…>

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DOJ Adds AI Risk To Corporate Compliance Program
by Gunnar Larson 24 Sep '24

24 Sep '24

DOJ Adds AI Risk To Corporate Compliance Program <https://www.law360.com/banking/articles/1881546?nl_pk=feb6bbba-7878-4d39-be…> By Sarah Jarvis The U.S. Department of Justice's Criminal Division is now weighing how companies manage risk related to artificial intelligence and potentially stymie whistleblowers, one of several updates to the division's policies on evaluating corporate compliance programs announced by a senior official on Monday. 1 document attached | Read full article » <https://www.law360.com/banking/articles/1881546?nl_pk=feb6bbba-7878-4d39-be…> | Save to favorites » <https://www.law360.com/banking/articles/1881546?nl_pk=feb6bbba-7878-4d39-be…>

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Bluey,' 'Paw Patrol' App Maker Sued Over 'Stealth Marketing'
by Gunnar Larson 24 Sep '24

24 Sep '24

Bluey,' 'Paw Patrol' App Maker Sued Over 'Stealth Marketing' <https://www.law360.com/technology/articles/1881450?nl_pk=2bd720dd-746c-4744…> By Mike Curley A proposed class of parents is suing Budge Studios Inc., the maker of licensed phone and tablet applications for children's cartoons such as "Bluey" and "Paw Patrol," alleging that the company used predatory "stealth marketing" and "dark patterns" to entice children into getting their parents to pay for monthly subscriptions and in-app purchases. Complaint attached | Read full article » <https://www.law360.com/technology/articles/1881450?nl_pk=2bd720dd-746c-4744…> | Save to favorites » <https://www.law360.com/technology/articles/1881450?nl_pk=2bd720dd-746c-4744…>

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