The Biggest Hack of 2023 Keeps Getting Bigger | U.S. Mayor on Terror Watchlist | NSA to Stand up AI Security Center, and more

Muslim American Mayor Sues US Government Over Terror Watchlist  (Masood Farivar, VOA News)
A New Jersey mayor barred from a White House event earlier this year is among a dozen Muslim Americans suing the U.S. government over its continued use of a terror watchlist created after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. Mohamed Khairullah, the five-term mayor of Prospect Park, New Jersey, was invited along with other Muslim elected officials to attend an Eid celebration at the White House in May but was told shortly before the event that he wouldn’t be allowed to enter the compound. The Secret Service did not explain why it turned him away but a new lawsuit brought by Khairullah and 11 others claims he was barred because his name was on the terror watchlist between 2019 and 2022. “After approximately August 2022, after Defendants removed Mr. Khairullah from the watchlist, they continued — and continue, to this day — to retain records of his past watchlist status and use them to harm and stigmatize him,” the lawsuit says.

Michigan School Killer Could Spend Life in Prison  (Mike Wendling, BBC)
Ethan Crumbley, 17, pleaded guilty to terrorism and murder charges last year. He was 15 when he opened fire at Oxford High School, around 30 miles (48km) north of Detroit, in November 2021. The sentencing is set for December. He faces a minimum term of 25 years in prison. Automatic life sentences for criminals aged under 18 have been ruled unconstitutional by the US Supreme Court - even for murder - but they can be imposed by a judge based on the seriousness of the crime, the maturity of the child and other factors. During an online hearing Friday, Judge Kwamé Rowe cited psychological evaluations and said that the attacker’s planning, work and social life “does not illustrate the hallmark immaturity of a child”. The judge noted that before the attack the attacker wrote 22 pages in his journal about school shootings and conducted significant research online about other school shootings and potential maximum sentences. He killed four students and wounded seven others during the rampage. The shooter pleaded guilty last year to 24 charges, including terrorism, murder, assault and possession of a firearm.

Court to Weigh State Laws Constraining Social Media Companies  (Reuters)
The U.S. Supreme Court on Friday agreed to decide the legality of Republican-backed state laws in Texas and Florida that constrain the ability of social media companies to curb content on their platforms that these businesses deem objectionable. The justices took up two cases involving challenges by technology industry groups who argued that these 2021 laws restricting the content-moderation practices of large social media platforms violate the U.S. Constitution’s First Amendment protections for freedom of speech. Lower courts split on the issue, striking down key provisions of Florida’s law while upholding the Texas measure. The industry challengers to the laws are NetChoice and the Computer & Communications Industry Association (CCIA), industry groups whose members include Facebook parent Meta Platforms Inc (META.O), Alphabet Inc’s Google (GOOGL.O), which owns YouTube, as well as TikTok and X, formerly called Twitter. CCIA President Matt Schruers called the court’s decision to tackle the case encouraging. “It is high time that the Supreme Court resolves whether governments can force websites to publish dangerous content. Telling private websites they must give equal treatment to extremist hate isn’t just unwise, it is unconstitutional, and we look forward to demonstrating that to the court,” Schruers said.

NSA to Stand up AI Security Center  (Caitlin M. Kenney, Defense One)
The National Security Agency is standing up an artificial intelligence security center to maintain America’s advantages in that space by protecting the technology from cyber threats, the head of the agency said Thursday.
“The AI Security Center will become NSA’s focal point for leveraging foreign intelligence insights, contributing to the development of best practices, guidelines, principles, evaluation methodology, and risk frameworks for AI security. With an end goal of promoting the secure development, integration, and adoption of AI capabilities within our national security systems, and our defense industrial base,” Army Gen. Paul Nakasone said at a National Press Club event in Washington, D.C.