China deems all crypto-related transactions illegal | Quad leaders unite to weaken Chinese dominance over rare-earth minerals | Inside the CIA's secret war plans against WikiLeaks
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China banned on all crypto transactions and vowed to root out mining of digital assets, delivering the toughest blow yet to the industry. Bloomberg
Australia will intensify co-operation with the United States, India and Japan to ensure that China does not exert excessive control over the supply of minerals essential to modern technology in one of the key goals of the first face-to-face leaders’ meeting of the “Quad” nations. The Sydney Morning Herald
Some senior officials inside the CIA and the Trump administration even discussed killing Assange, going so far as to request “sketches” or “options” for how to assassinate him. Discussions over kidnapping or killing Assange occurred “at the highest levels” of the Trump administration, said a former senior counterintelligence official. “There seemed to be no boundaries.” Yahoo! News
ASPI ICPC
Cyber battlelines drawn for global ascendancy
The Australian
@bennpackham
Fergus Hanson, director of the Australian Strategic Policy Institute’s International Cyber Policy Centre, said the Quad’s insistence that democratic values be “baked into” new technologies was a pivotal one to ensure that new advances were not harnessed against the common good.
Defense experts call for action over disinformation
Taipei Times
Aaron Tu, Jonathan Chin
The fast-growing economies and fragile democracies of the Indo-Pacific region are vulnerable to online foreign meddling, said Jacob Wallis, head of information operations and disinformation at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute. Countries in the region should create a forum or platform to defend their societies against targeted disinformation campaigns, Wallis said. Such a forum should be open to experts working in academia and the private sector, not just government officials, he said, adding that it is needed to make governments more agile in their response to threats.
Allies realign geo-strategic priorities to secure region
The Australian
As Fergus Hanson, director of the Australian Strategic Policy Institute’s International Cyber Policy Centre says, the West has been “asleep at the wheel” for too long in allowing Chinese companies to set tech standards on their own terms.
World
Quad leaders unite to weaken Chinese dominance over rare-earth minerals
The Sydney Morning Herald
@KnottMatthew
Australia will intensify co-operation with the United States, India and Japan to ensure that China does not exert excessive control over the supply of minerals essential to modern technology in one of the key goals of the first face-to-face leaders’ meeting of the “Quad” nations… In a separate speech to the United Nations on Saturday, Morrison will position Australia on the front lines of the battle to ensure China does not monopolise the Asia-Pacific. “The changes we face are many, whether it’s tensions over territorial claims, rapid military modernisation, foreign interference, cyber threats, disinformation and indeed economic coercion.
Quad must wrestle with post-AUKUS Asian dilemmas
Nikkei Asia
Much bolder future tech cooperation is entirely conceivable. The Quad could support nascent U.S. plans to deny China access to advanced semiconductors, or move to share military technologies and codevelop new ones. It could also develop technology side projects under a Quad plus banner, moving to involve countries like the U.K. Looked at more broadly, AUKUS and the Quad underline the emergence of a new multispeed Asian security environment with many overlapping multilateral and minilateral groupings, all linked in some way to the U.S. as it seeks to deter China.
Quad expands cooperation to space at first in-person summit
Nikkei Asia
@kenmoriyasu
Leaders agree to boost vaccine distribution, expand 5G and meet annually.
See the Quad leaders’ remarks here & an official fact sheet here.
The Quad countries (Australia, India, Japan, and the United States of America) affirm that the ways in which technology is designed, developed, governed, and used should be shaped by our shared democratic values and respect for universal human rights: Read the ‘Quad Principles on Technology Design, Governance, and Use’ here.
In the West, China holds growing sway over Chinese-language media
The Economist
Many Chinese newspapers increasingly rely on WeChat to reach new readers. To make that easier, they often censor themselves. In China, WeChat purges content that the party does not like. The international version of the app is less tightly controlled, but it is difficult for news organisations considered hostile by the party to set up public accounts on it to push their articles to users. In December the platform even deleted a post by Australia’s prime minister, Scott Morrison, in which he said that Australia was a “free, democratic, liberal country”.
Read our report: ‘The influence environment: A survey of Chinese-language media in Australia’
Big Tech targeted by U.S. and EU in draft memo ahead of tech and trade meeting
Reuters
@nanditab1
The United States and European Union plan to take a more unified approach to limit the growing market power of Big Tech companies, according to a draft memo seen by Reuters. The move will be among announcements on tech, climate, trade and supply chains likely to be made at a U.S.-EU Trade & Technology Council meeting on Sept. 29 in Pittsburgh.
EU Confirms Inaugural Trade-Tech Summit With U.S. to Go Ahead
Bloomberg
@JohnFollain
The European Commission confirmed that the inaugural meeting of a new trade council with the U.S. will go ahead as planned after France sought to have it postponed.
Big Tech cozying up to China and Russia undermines argument against breaking them up
Yahoo! News
@NihalKrishan
Big Tech companies are complying with the requests of foreign adversaries such as China and Russia, which significantly undercuts their argument that breaking them up is a national security risk, according to both sides of Congress.
Australia
Australia and India strike deal on low-emissions technology
SBS News
A new Australia-India technology partnership will focus on hydrogen development and ultra low-cost solar programs to help reduce carbon emissions.
Fears adult content and sex workers will be forced offline under new Australian tech industry code
The Guardian
@joshgnosis
Adult content and sex workers could be forced offline under a new code, industry insiders are warning, despite assurances from the eSafety commissioner that powers would not be used for that purpose.
China
China Deems All Crypto-Related Transactions Illegal in Crackdown
Bloomberg
China banned on all crypto transactions and vowed to root out mining of digital assets, delivering the toughest blow yet to the industry. Crypto-related transactions will be considered illicit financial activity, including services provided by off-shore exchanges, the People’s Bank of China said on its website. It added that cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin and Tether, are not fiat currency and cannot be circulated.
China Cracks Down Harder on Cryptocurrency With New Ban
The New York Times
@amyyqin @el72champs
The clampdown comes as China’s central bank has been testing its own digital currency. The price of Bitcoin dropped on the news.
Related: ‘China says all cryptocurrency-related transactions are illegal and must be banned’ in TechCrunch.
Huawei CFO Meng Wanzhou Reaches Deal With Justice Department
The Wall Street Journal
@aviswanatha @DanStrumpf @jacquiemcnish
The U.S. Justice Department agreed to allow Huawei Technologies Co. finance chief Meng Wanzhou to return to her home in China nearly three years after she was detained in Canada on behalf of the U.S., removing one irritant in a deteriorating relationship between the U.S. and China. Under the agreement, entered in federal court in Brooklyn on Friday, Ms. Meng admitted remotely from Canada to some wrongdoing in exchange for prosecutors deferring and later dropping wire and bank fraud charges.
2 Canadians Held by China Are Freed, Hours After Huawei Deal Is Reached
The New York Times
@ktbenner @DanBilefsky @emilyepalmer
Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor had been held by China since 2018, soon after Canada detained the Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou. A U.S. agreement has cleared the way for Ms. Meng’s release.
To Get Back Arrested Executive, China Uses a Hardball Tactic: Seizing Foreigners
The New York Times
@ChuBailiang @ktbenner
The speed at which Beijing returned two Canadians held seemingly tit-for-tat in exchange may signal comfort with the tactic.
Read our report: ‘The Chinese Communist Party’s coercive diplomacy’
Alibaba, Under Beijing Pressure, Moves to Sell Stake in State-Owned Broadcaster
The Wall Street Journal
@jingyanghk
Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. plans to dispose of its minority ownership in a state-owned broadcaster, the first concrete step the Chinese internet giant is taking to dismantle its sprawling media empire following pressure from Beijing.
Hikvision, HWG Deceive FCC About New Critical Vulnerability
IPVM
@CharlesRollet1
Hikvision and its law firm, HWG, deceived the FCC in a lengthy submission filed on September 20th about Hikvision's critical new vulnerability impacting 100+ million devices.
China’s Xinjiang Crackdown Reaps Millions of Dollars in Assets for the State
The Wall Street Journal
@wsjeva @JChengWSJ
Chinese authorities have seized and sold at auction tens of millions of dollars in assets owned by jailed Uyghur business owners amid a broad government campaign to assimilate ethnic minorities in the country’s northwest Xinjiang region. Since 2019, Xinjiang courts have put at least 150 assets—ranging from home appliances to real estate and company shares—belonging to at least 21 people and valued at a total $84.8 million up for auction on e-commerce sites.
China Wields New Legal Weapon to Fight Claims of Intellectual Property Theft
The Wall Street Journal
@JoshZumbrun
Chinese technology giants have seized on a new legal tactic to fight claims of intellectual property theft, raising concerns in the U.S. that Beijing’s promises to strictly enforce patent and copyright laws will be undermined by Chinese courts. In four major cases since 2020, Chinese courts granted so-called anti-suit injunctions blocking foreign companies from taking legal action anywhere in the world to protect their trade secrets.
Super Fund money in blacklisted China firms criticised
newsroom.
@SamSachdevaNZ
A new report has raised concerns about the Super Fund’s investments in Chinese companies blacklisted for their role in human rights abuses, saying pension funds should not place profit maximisation above all else.
USA
Regulators Racing Toward First Major Rules on Cryptocurrency
The New York Times
@EricLiptonNYT @el72champs @jeannasmialek
After largely standing aside for years as cryptocurrency grew from a digital curiosity into a volatile but widely embraced innovation, federal regulators are racing to address the potential risks for consumers and financial markets… Now the Treasury Department and other agencies are moving urgently on an initial target for tighter regulation: a fast-growing product called a stablecoin.
Tech firms' nightmare: Vanishing green cards
Axios
@margarethmcgill
Thousands of green cards are about to go to waste, leaving Google, Microsoft and other tech companies fuming — and pushing the Biden administration to ensure it doesn't happen again.
Republican Review of Arizona Vote Fails to Show Stolen Election
The New York Times
Jack Healy @miwine @NYTnickc
The much criticized review showed much the same results as in November, with 99 more Biden votes and 261 fewer Trump ones.
Arizona audit debunks Trump’s false claims, but the poison of misinformation still threatens the electoral process
The Washington Post
@danbalz
As other audits continue and the former president continues to claim fraud, GOP leaders refuse to call a halt to his effort to undermine the system.
CIA station chief in Vienna recalled amid criticism of management and handling of mysterious ‘Havana Syndrome’ incidents
The Washington Post
@John_Hudson @shaneharris
Some officials have speculated that several countries could be using energy weapons to sicken U.S. personnel, arguing that the focus on Russia might be too narrow. Others have noted that there is scant evidence connecting the use of energy weapons to the symptoms people have reported.
FCC showers schools across the US with $1.2B from Emergency Connectivity Fund
TechCrunch
Devin Coldewey
The FCC has sent out the first checks from its Emergency Connectivity Fund, an effort to help close the “homework gap” at schools by covering the cost of computers and internet services. Thousands of school districts, in every state plus D.C., Guam and Puerto Rico, will split this first $1.2 billion distribution, and there’s still lots more to come.
Fallout begins for far-right trolls who trusted Epik to keep their identities secret
The Washington Post
@drewharwell Hannah Allam @jeremybmerrill @craigtimberg
The colossal hack of Epik, an Internet-services company popular with the far right, has been called the “mother of all data lodes” for extremism researchers. Some of those named in the data have already lost their jobs.
Tesla owners can now request ‘Full Self-Driving’, prompting criticism from regulators and safety advocates
The Washington Post
@faizsays
It’s the first time the company has let typical owners upgrade to the software it terms self-driving, although the name itself is an exaggeration by industry and regulatory standards. Tesla chief executive Elon Musk had said owners would be able to request this weekend the upgraded suite of advanced driver-assistance features, which Tesla says is a beta, although they wouldn’t receive the capabilities right away.
North Asia
Japan faces difficulty in handling respective CPTPP bids of China and Taiwan
The Japan Times
Japan plans to support Taiwan’s request to accede to the CPTPP as it aims to boost cooperation with the economy, which has strength in the manufacture of semiconductors amid a global shortage, officials said.
PM Modi, Japan's Suga for free, open Indo-Pacific; oppose 'economic coercion, unilateral attempts' to change status quo
The Economic Times
Suga mentioned potential areas of cooperation such as establishing safe and reliable 5G network and submarine cables, strengthening industrial competitiveness and supply chain, realising realistic energy transitions, accepting workers from India under the system of Specified Skilled Worker (SSW), enhancing the exchanges of IT professionals, and promoting development of India's North Eastern Region.
South-East Asia
Highest gov't body for cybersecurity confirms AFP link to cyberattacks – targeted sites
Rappler
The Computer Emergency Response Team - Philippines (CERT-PH), a unit under the Department of Information and Communications Technology, confirmed a finding that an IP (Internet Protocol) address linked to cyberattacks against alternative media outlets and one human rights group is assigned to the Philippine army.
Q&A on Court Ordering Facebook to Disclose Content on Myanmar Genocide
Just Security
@KAlexaKoenig
On Wednesday, United States Magistrate judge Zia M. Faruqui issued an order in the highly important case of The Republic of Gambia v. Facebook, Inc. The Gambia seeks content from Facebook that relates to the genocide in Myanmar in order to assess “responsibility for genocide” against the Rohingya before the International Court of Justice (ICJ). Facebook’s role in propagating hate speech against the Rohingya and facilitating the genocide is well documented.
Cambodia’s prime minister is Zoombombing opposition meetings
Rest of World
@bophaphorn @ShaunTurton
When Cambodia’s banned opposition party held a Zoom call on September 9, they hardly expected it to be personally infiltrated by the country’s prime minister. Appearing abruptly and interrupting a speaker, the uninvited guest, Prime Minister Hun Sen, chimed in to warn virtual attendees that their communications were being monitored.
New Zealand & The Pacific
Concern over ‘censorship’ rules of NZ-Chinese news site
newsroom.
@EmanuelStoakes @SamSachdevaNZ
An influential Chinese-language media outlet in New Zealand warned its users their information could be shared with 'relevant state agencies' if they violated Chinese laws.
UK
Kidnapping, assassination and a London shoot-out: Inside the CIA's secret war plans against WikiLeaks
Yahoo! News
@zachsdorfman @SeanDNaylor @Isikoff
Some senior officials inside the CIA and the Trump administration even discussed killing Assange, going so far as to request “sketches” or “options” for how to assassinate him. Discussions over kidnapping or killing Assange occurred “at the highest levels” of the Trump administration, said a former senior counterintelligence official. “There seemed to be no boundaries.”
UK’s AI strategy is ‘ambitious’ but needs funding to match, says Faculty’s Marc Warner
TechCrunch
@riptari
The U.K. published its first-ever national AI strategy this week. The decade-long commitment by the government to levelling up domestic artificial intelligence capabilities — by directing resource and attention toward skills, talent, compute power and data access — has been broadly welcomed by the country’s tech ecosystem, as you’d expect. But there is a question mark over how serious government is about turning the U.K. into a “global AI superpower” given the lack of a funding announcement to accompany the publication.
Europe
French government confirms cabinet ministers’ phones bore traces of Pegasus spyware, news outlet reports
The Washington Post
@michaelbirnbaum
The phones of five French cabinet ministers bore traces of powerful Pegasus spyware, according to an analysis done by their country’s security agencies, France’s Mediapart news outlet reported Thursday. The confirmation that Pegasus was directed against the ministers underscores the degree to which spyware developed by the Israeli company NSO Group has been used to penetrate the top reaches of a powerful democracy.
Declaration by the High Representative on behalf of the European Union on respect for the EU’s democratic processes
Council of the European Union
Some EU Member States have observed malicious cyber activities, collectively designated as Ghostwriter, and associated these with the Russian state. Such activities are unacceptable as they seek to threaten our integrity and security, democratic values and principles and the core functioning of our democracies.
German regulator launches investigation into Chinese mobile phones
POLITICO
@SarahAnneAarup
The move comes after Lithuania’s defense ministry released a report earlier this week that found a dormant censorship configuration that can be activated remotely in one model of Xiaomi phones sold in Europe. Vilnius is now advising its citizens not to purchase these phones and throw out any that have already been bought.
Election fraud, QAnon, Jan. 6: Far-right extremists in Germany read from a pro-Trump script
The Washington Post
@isaacstanbecker
Apocalyptic messages circulating ahead of German elections on Sunday import conspiratorial rhetoric from the U.S.
Read our new report, ‘Buying and selling extremism’.
An Experiment to Stop Online Abuse Falls Short in Germany
The New York Times
@satariano
Despite having one of the world’s toughest laws against online hate speech and harassment, Germany has struggled to contain toxic content ahead of its Sept. 26 election.
Middle East
New evidence suggests spyware used to surveil Emirati activist Alaa Al-Siddiq
The Guardian
@skirchy
An examination of Al-Siddiq’s devices by researchers at Citizen Lab at the University of Toronto, which tracks the use of spyware against activists and journalists, found that she was most likely hacked by a government client of NSO Group, the Israeli spyware company, beginning in 2015, when she lived in Qatar, to 2020, when she was living in London. It is the first time Citizen Lab has confirmed its findings.
Misc
Taking on the dragon: why closer India-Australia ties in cyber tech, defence can push back China
The Economic Times
@SandhyaETprime
The Indo-Pacific region has become a hotbed of geopolitical tensions. All eyes will be on the first in-person meeting of Quad leaders which kicks off today in Washington. Recent developments indicate growing synergies between India and Australia across areas such as cybersecurity and defence. But to make the most of it, India must fix policy loopholes in its cybersecurity strategy.
When the FBI seizes your messages from Big Tech, you may not know it for years
The Washington Post
@greene @drewharwell
Every year, Facebook, Google and other technology companies receive hundreds of thousands of orders from law enforcement agencies seeking data people stash online: private messages, photos, search histories, calendar items — a potentially rich trove for criminal investigators. Often, those requests are accompanied by secrecy orders, also known as nondisclosure or gag orders, that require the tech companies to keep their customers in the dark, potentially for years.
The Surveillance Apparatus That Surrounded Britney Spears
The New York Times
@LizDDay @starksamantha
Britney Spears’s father and the security firm he hired to protect her ran an intense surveillance apparatus that monitored her communications and secretly captured audio recordings from her bedroom, including her interactions and conversations with her boyfriend and children, according to a former employee of the security firm.
Google Forms is fast becoming a favorite tool for cybercriminals
Tech Radar
Mayank Sharma
Cybersecurity researchers have identified over half a dozen ways in which cyber scammers and malware operators abuse Google Forms, as part of a wide range of attacks.
Events
Tuesday 28 September
Thursday 30 September
ASPI Webinar: Stronger together: how cyber defence alliances could create a stronger digital economy
@FergusHanson @rachael_falk
ASPI's International Cyber Policy Centre is delighted to invite you to the webinar 'Stronger together: how cyber defence alliances could create a stronger digital economy'. At this webinar, panellists General (Ret.) Keith Alexander, former Director of the National Security Agency (NSA), Commander of U.S. Cyber Command (USCYBERCOM), and founder of IronNet; Abigail Bradshaw CSC, Head of the Australian Cyber Security Centre (ACSC); and Rachael Falk, CEO of the Cyber Security Cooperative Research Centre, will join moderator Fergus Hanson to discuss the collective measures government, industry, and academia can take to combat cyber threats to the benefit of our digital security and the growth of our digital economy.
Research
Report: Charities vulnerable to cyber attacks
The Australian
@helentrinca
Cyber security is the new buzz word in corporate boardrooms but a survey from professional services firm PricewaterhouseCoopers shows it is low on the list of worries for the not-for-profit sector. Which is a problem, according to PwC social impact partner Rosalie Wilkie and social impact director Jane Edwards, who warn of the potential hacking of private information held by charities.
Better Monitoring and Better Spying: The Implications of Emerging Technology for Arms Control
Texas National Security Review
@JaneVaynman
How will emerging technology affect prospects for arms control? Technologies such as small satellites and artificial intelligence (AI) have applications in arms control monitoring and can affect the amount of information collected or the ease of information processing. While intuition suggests that technologies that improve monitoring should make arms control easier to achieve, this is not always the case.
Jobs
ICPC Senior Analyst or Analyst - China
ASPI ICPC
ASPI’s International Cyber Policy Centre (ICPC) has a unique opportunity for exceptional and experienced China-focused senior analysts or analysts to join its centre. This role will focus on original research and analysis centred around the (growing) range of topics which our ICPC China team work on. Our China team produces some of the most impactful and well-read policy-relevant research in the world, with our experts often being called upon by politicians, governments, corporates and civil society actors to provide briefings and advice. Analysts usually have at least 5 years, often 7-10 years’ of work experience. Senior analysts usually have a minimum of 15 years relevant work experience and, in addition to research, they take on a leadership role in the centre and tend to be involved in staff and project management, fundraising and stakeholder engagement.