Apple set to face EU charges under landmark tech rules | Stanford Internet Observatory being dismantled | China is testing more driverless cars than any other country
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Brussels is set to charge Apple over allegedly stifling competition on its mobile app store, the first time EU regulators have used new digital rules to target a Big Tech group. The European Commission has determined that the iPhone maker is not complying with obligations to allow app developers to “steer” users to offers outside its App Store without imposing fees on them, according to three people with close knowledge of its investigation. Financial Times
After five years of pioneering research into the abuse of social platforms, the Stanford Internet Observatory is winding down. Its founding director, Alex Stamos, left his position in November. Renee DiResta, its research director, left last week after her contract was not renewed. One other staff member's contract expired this month, while others have been told to look for jobs elsewhere, sources say. Platformer
The world’s largest experiment in driverless cars is underway on the busy streets of Wuhan, a city in central China with 11 million people, 4.5 million cars, eight-lane expressways and towering bridges over the muddy waters of the Yangtze River. Across China, 16 or more cities have allowed companies to test driverless vehicles on public roads, and at least 19 Chinese automakers and their suppliers are competing to establish global leadership in the field. No other country is moving as aggressively. The New York Times
ASPI
World
How Pope Francis became the AI ethicist for world leaders and tech titans
The Washington Post
Anthony Faiola, Cat Zakrzewski and Stefano Pitrelli
Pope Francis is an octogenarian who says he cannot use a computer, but on a February afternoon in 2019, a top diplomat of American Big Tech entered the papal residence seeking guidance on the ethics of a gestating technology: artificial intelligence. Microsoft President Brad Smith and the pope discussed the rapid development of the technology, Smith recounted in an interview with The Washington Post, and Francis appeared to grasp its risks. As Smith departed, the pope uttered a warning. “Keep your humanity,” he urged, as he held Smith’s wrist.
Australia
Modi’s Indian government accused of spying and silencing critics
ABC News
Avani Dias, Mayeta Clark, Mridula Amin, and Dylan Welch
Indian intelligence officers were trying to gain access to sensitive defence technology and airport security protocols. Four Corners has confirmed at least four intelligence officers were asked to leave Australia. Some had been posing as diplomats in India’s high commission. The expulsions were done secretly. They left one by one. The Modi government, laser-focused on turning India into a respected and strong player on the world stage, thought it had gotten away without public embarrassment.
China domestic interference, cyberattacks ‘never been more prolific’: Coalition
The Sydney Morning Herald
Paul Sakkal
Coalition home affairs spokesman James Paterson has declared Chinese cyberattacks and meddling in Australian institutions has “never been more prolific”, as top intelligence officials raise fears about state-sponsored hacking group Volt Typhoon. Australian officials held deep concerns about Volt Typhoon because intelligence suggested the group was “pre-positioning for the purposes of disruptive impact” including sabotage, according to Abigail Bradshaw, head of the Cyber Security Centre at the Australian Signals Directorate.
Voice of Dan Andrews snapped up by TikTok
The Australian Financial Review
Mark Di Stefano
In Australia, ByteDance's subsidiary just hired Sabina Husic to a newly created in-house lobbying role. Husic’s roots run up and down levels of the Labor Party panopticon, but she really made a name for herself as one of the key backroom operatives who helped shape the public avatar of Dan Andrews, as well as overseeing the centralised media operation that ran out of his office.
China
China is testing more driverless cars than any other country
The New York Times
Keith Bradsher
The world’s largest experiment in driverless cars is underway on the busy streets of Wuhan, a city in central China with 11 million people, 4.5 million cars, eight-lane expressways and towering bridges over the muddy waters of the Yangtze River. Across China, 16 or more cities have allowed companies to test driverless vehicles on public roads, and at least 19 Chinese automakers and their suppliers are competing to establish global leadership in the field. No other country is moving as aggressively.
Machine intelligence reignites China’s century-old dream ‘to seek a continent’
South China Morning Post
Stephen Chen
The plan aims to transform Xinjiang into an oasis capable of accommodating 200 million people, elevating China’s national strength to a new level. Thanks to intelligent machines, this century-old aspiration is materialising at an unprecedented speed.
Shein tries to suppress chair’s claim that fashion retailer is ‘American’
Financial Times
James Kynge, Sun Yu and Ryan McMorrow
Online fast-fashion retailer Shein has been racing to hide remarks by its chair that claim it is essentially an “American company”, as the group’s efforts to distance itself from its Chinese roots threaten to derail approval for an IPO in the west.
China wants to fine-tune personal data protection, but doors to government access remain open
South China Morning Post
Xinlu Liang
China is seeking public feedback on revising its guidelines for identifying sensitive personal information. Analysts said the revised rules could help companies better protect individual privacy, but stop short of limiting government access to personal data. A draft guideline for the revision, outlining identification methods and offering common categories and examples, was released by China’s cybersecurity standardisation and data protection agency on Tuesday.
How worrying is the rapid rise of Chinese science?
The Economist
Chinese laboratories contain some of the most advanced kit, from supercomputers and ultra-high-energy detectors to cryogenic electron microscopes. These do not yet match the crown jewels of Europe and America, but they are impressive. And China hosts a wealth of talent. Many researchers who studied or worked in the West have returned home. China is training scientists, too: more than twice as many of the world’s top ai researchers got their first degree in China as in America.
USA
The Stanford Internet Observatory is being dismantled
Platformer
Casey Newton and Zoë Schiffer
After five years of pioneering research into the abuse of social platforms, the Stanford Internet Observatory is winding down. Its founding director, Alex Stamos, left his position in November. Renee DiResta, its research director, left last week after her contract was not renewed. One other staff member's contract expired this month, while others have been told to look for jobs elsewhere, sources say.
Congress questions Microsoft boss after a ‘cascade’ of security errors
The Washington Post
Joseph Menn
The House Homeland Security Committee grilled Microsoft President Brad Smith on Thursday about the software giant’s plans to improve its security after devastating hacks reached into federal officials’ email accounts, challenging the company’s fitness as a dominant government contractor. The questioning followed a withering report on one of those breaches, in which the federal Cyber Safety Review Board found the event was made possible by a “cascade of avoidable errors” and a security culture “that requires an overhaul.”
Crypto exchange Gemini to pay $50 million in NY fraud suit
Bloomberg
Erik Larson and Ava Benny-Morrison
A crypto exchange that was accused of lying to hundreds of thousands of customers about the risks tied to a failed investment program agreed to return $50 million of digital assets to resolve a suit by New York Attorney General Letitia James. Under the Gemini settlement, digital assets will be returned to investors who were locked out of their accounts when the program collapsed. Gemini will also be banned from operating a crypto lending program in New York, James said.
Voice assistants and AI chatbots still can’t say who won the 2020 election
The Washington Post
Caroline O'Donovan and Cat Zakrzewski
Who won the 2020 presidential election? Alexa can’t always say. And chatbots built by Microsoft and Google won’t answer at all. In a pivotal year for global democracy, some artificial intelligence chatbots and voice assistants are still struggling to answer basic questions about elections in the United States and abroad, raising concerns the tools could confuse voters.
Why the homegrown technology industry is the United States' most important foreign policy stakeholder
Young Australians in International Affairs
Shae Potter
The ubiquity of US-based technology firms across global digital infrastructures extends their influence beyond the private market and into how social groups interact. Meta integrates online communities, Microsoft’s Office Suite is the world’s standard business software, Google organises behavioural data, and Amazon reshapes consumer demands. How the leaders of these and other companies view and engage with American values of liberty, democracy and capitalism will affect global democratic outcomes where they operate.
Pair charged with running dark web market for illicit goods
Bloomberg
Jake Bleiberg
US prosecutors have charged two men with operating a dark web market where people around the world anonymously bought and sold more than $430 million worth of drugs, stolen information, counterfeit currency and malicious computer programs.
North Asia
IBM and Japan institute team up to develop next-gen quantum computer
Nikkei Asia
Riho Nagao
Japan's government-backed technology institute will partner with IBM to develop next-generation quantum computers, Nikkei has learned. The National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology and IBM aim to develop a quantum computer with 10,000 quantum bits, or qubits, which would be 75 times more than current quantum computers have.
Japan defense startups draw interest from U.S. venture capital
Nikkei Asia
Jun Iiyama
U.S. venture capital firms began expressing more interest in Japanese defense-related startups around two years ago, when Japan decided to boost its defense spending, according to an official at the Ministry of Defense's Acquisition, Technology and Logistics Agency. "Businesses overseas are more aware than those at home that an increased budget will expand the defense industry," the official said.
Southeast Asia
Myanmar’s embattled military government cracks down on free flow of news by blocking VPNs
Associated Press
Grant Peck
Myanmar’s military government has launched a major effort to block free communication on the Internet, shutting off access to virtual private networks, or VPNs, which can be used to circumvent blockages of banned websites and services. The attempt to restrict access to information began at the end of May, according to mobile phone operators, internet service providers, a major opposition group and media reports.
Trump-era Pentagon ran secret anti-vax social media campaign aimed at the Philippines
The Sydney Morning Herald
Christopher Bing and Joel Schectman
At the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, the US military launched a secret campaign to counter what it perceived as China’s growing influence in the Philippines, a nation hit especially hard by the deadly virus. The clandestine operation, which has not been previously reported, aimed to sow doubt about the safety and efficacy of vaccines and other life-saving aid that was being supplied by China, a Reuters investigation found.
South & Central Asia
Indian election was awash in deepfakes – but AI was a net positive for democracy
The Conversation
Vandinika Shukla and Bruce Schneier
As India concluded the world’s largest election on June 5, 2024, with over 640 million votes counted, observers could assess how the various parties and factions used artificial intelligence technologies – and what lessons that holds for the rest of the world. The campaigns made extensive use of AI, including deepfake impersonations of candidates, celebrities and dead politicians. By some estimates, millions of Indian voters viewed deepfakes.
India aims for global leadership in quantum technology
OPENGOV ASIA
Samaya Dharmaraj
India has made significant strides in the field of Quantum Technology, producing over 40 start-ups in just two years, several of which have the potential to make a global impact, announced Dr Jitendra Singh, Union Minister for Science and Technology (Independent Charge), during a review meeting of the Department of Science and Technology in New Delhi on June 15, 2024.
Ukraine - Russia
ICC probes cyberattacks in Ukraine as possible war crimes
EURACTIV
Prosecutors at the International Criminal Court are investigating alleged Russian cyberattacks on Ukrainian civilian infrastructure as possible war crimes, four sources familiar with the case said. It is the first confirmation that attacks in cyberspace are being investigated by international prosecutors, which could lead to arrest warrants if enough evidence is gathered.
Europe
Apple set to be first Big Tech group to face charges under EU digital law
Financial Times
Javier Espinoza and Michael Acton
Brussels is set to charge Apple over allegedly stifling competition on its mobile app store, the first time EU regulators have used new digital rules to target a Big Tech group. The European Commission has determined that the iPhone maker is not complying with obligations to allow app developers to “steer” users to offers outside its App Store without imposing fees on them, according to three people with close knowledge of its investigation.
Meta pauses AI models launch in Europe due to Irish request
Reuters
Foo Yun Chee
Meta Platforms will not launch its Meta AI models in Europe for now after the Irish privacy regulator told it to delay its plan to harness data from Facebook and Instagram users, the U.S. social media company said on Friday. The move by Meta came after complaints and a call by advocacy group NOYB to data protection authorities in Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Ireland, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland and Spain to act against the company.
UK
Chinese firm sought to use UK university links to access AI for possible military use
The Guardian
Hannah Devlin
A Chinese state-owned company sought to use a partnership with a leading British university in order to access AI technology for potential use in “smart military bases”, the Guardian has learned. Emails show that China’s Jiangsu Automation Research Institute (Jari) discussed deploying software developed by scientists at Imperial College London for military use.A Chinese state-owned company sought to use a partnership with a leading British university in order to access AI technology for potential use in “smart military bases”, the Guardian has learned.
Middle East
From eels to EVs, Israel startups raise profile in Japan amid war
Nikkei Asia
Takeshi Kumon
Even as fighting rages in Gaza, high-tech Israeli startups have been pitching themselves to investors in Japan. Forsea was among 11 Israeli startups exhibiting in a pavilion set up by the Israeli government at Sustainable High City Tech Tokyo, or SusHi Tech Tokyo. They showcased a variety of technologies, including artificial intelligence and autonomous driving.
Big Tech
Here’s how Apple’s AI model tries to keep your data private
The Verge
Umar Shakir
A big selling point for Apple Intelligence is its deep integration into Apple’s operating systems and apps, as well as how the company optimizes its models for power efficiency and size to fit on iPhones. Keeping AI requests local is key to quelling many privacy concerns, but the tradeoff is using smaller and less capable models on-device.
Leaked documents reveal patient safety issues at Amazon’s One Medical
The Washington Post
Caroline O'Donovan
Since Amazon acquired the primary-care service One Medical, elderly patients have been routed to a call center — staffed partly by contractors with limited training — that failed on more than a dozen occasions to seek immediate attention for callers with urgent symptoms, according to internal documents seen by The Washington Post.
The only app that always wins the battle for your attention
The Wall Street Journal
Ben Cohen
The ability to get people hooked and keep them engaged is one of the holy grails in business. Few companies do it better than Duolingo, the world’s most popular app for learning another language, which takes advantage of two concepts that translate to lots of other industries: streaks and notifications. It’s why Duolingo has become one of the biggest winners in the global battle for your attention.
I know what the Apple Vision Pro is for: the headset is already changing disabled users’ lives.
New York Magazine
Andrew Leland
Earlier this year, Collard had a similar aha moment when she tried the Apple Vision Pro for the first time. Some critics of the AVP were skeptical of a device that pressed two high-resolution micro-OLED screens within millimeters of one’s eyes for hours at a time. But to Collard, the ability to (as she put it) “strap an iPad to my face” was instantly appealing.
Facebook, Instagram are using your data – and you can’t opt out
The Sydney Morning Herald
David Swan
If you’re one of the millions of Australians using Facebook or Instagram, tech giant Meta is using your data to train its artificial intelligence models, and you don’t have the ability to opt out. A backlash over AI policy is brewing against Facebook parent company Meta – and other companies such as Adobe and Reddit – leading to calls for stronger Australian privacy laws, as well as questions about how much data we’re willing to give up to the tech giants in aid of their AI land grab.
Artificial Intelligence
Chinese AI academy vows startup support to take on U.S. rivals
Nikkei Asia
Wataru Suzuki
A top artificial intelligence research institute in China on Friday pledged support for domestic generative AI companies, as the race with the U.S. to lead the development of frontier technologies heats up. At its flagship annual conference, the Beijing Academy of Artificial Intelligence presented a series of large language models, the programs behind applications like OpenAI's ChatGPT.
Misc
Crypto startup funding overcomes blow-ups to hit $100 billion
Bloomberg
Ryan Weeks and Sidhartha Shukla
Crypto startups have drawn in roughly $100 billion of venture funding since the industry’s inception, after a recent pick-up in investment that coincided with a rally in Bitcoin and other major tokens.Fundraising in the form of venture capital deals and token sales has been a major propellant of the crypto industry’s growth, but the billions of dollars poured into startups have produced decidedly mixed results for investors.
The influencer is a young teenage girl. The audience Is 92% adult men
The Wall Street Journal
Katherine Blunt
The mom started the Instagram account three years ago as a pandemic-era diversion—a way for her and her daughter, a preteen dancer, to share photos with family, friends and other young dancers and moms. The two bonded, she said, as they posted photos of the girl dancing, modeling and living life in a small Midwestern town. The mom also began to notice a disturbing trend in the data that showed up on the account dashboard: Most of the girl’s followers were adult men.
Events & Podcasts
The Sydney Dialogue
ASPI
The Sydney Dialogue was created to help bring together governments, businesses and civil society to discuss and progress policy options. We will forecast the technologies of the next decade that will change our societies, economies and national security, prioritising speakers and delegates who are willing to push the envelope. We will promote diverse views that stimulate real conversations about the best ways to seize opportunities and minimise risks.
The Daily Cyber & Tech Digest is brought to you by the Cyber, Technology & Security team at ASPI.