As outbreak rages, India orders critical social media posts to be taken down | GCHQ chief warns of tech 'moment of reckoning' | Germany falls in line with EU on Huawei
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With a devastating second wave of Covid-19 sweeping across India and lifesaving supplemental oxygen in short supply, India’s government on Sunday said it ordered Facebook, Instagram and Twitter to take down dozens of social media posts critical of its handling of the pandemic. The order was aimed at roughly 100 posts that included critiques from opposition politicians and calls for Narendra Modi, India’s prime minister, to resign. The government said that the posts could incite panic, used images out of context, and could hinder its response to the pandemic. The companies complied with the requests for now, in part by making the posts invisible to those using the sites inside India. In the past, the companies have reposted some content after determining that it didn’t break the law. The New York Times
The West is faced with a "moment of reckoning" when it comes to technology and security, the head of intelligence agency GCHQ has told the BBC. Jeremy Fleming said there was a risk that key technologies on which we rely will no longer be shaped by the West. "We have to keep evolving our approach if we're going to keep up," he said of the growing challenge from China. BBC News
German lawmakers passed tougher 5G security legislation on Friday, capping two years of doubts over whether Europe's largest market would get tough on Chinese telecoms giant Huawei. The new IT Security Law 2.0, approved by the Bundestag, restricts the role of “untrustworthy” suppliers of 5G technology and requires telecoms operators to notify the government if they sign contracts for critical 5G components. It also gives the government powers to block them. POLITICO
Australia
Facebook removes Craig Kelly's page, cites breaching misinformation policies
ABC News
@JadeMacmillan1 @BWorthington_
Former Liberal MP Craig Kelly has been stripped of a controversial Facebook page, with the social media giant accusing him of breaching its misinformation policies. Mr Kelly quit the Liberal Party to sit on the crossbench earlier this year after facing backlash from the Prime Minister and health experts for the content he was posting on his Facebook page about COVID-19 vaccines.
MP Craig Kelly ‘absolutely outraged’ after Facebook removes his page for misinformation
The Guardian
@Josh Taylor @ Paul Karp
Independent MP has called removal of page ‘censorship’ while Facebook says no one is permitted to share misinformation about Covid on the platform.
NSW plans to lead reform for digital birth certificate
The Sydney Morning Herald
@Rabe9
Australians would have access to a digital birth certificate under a cross-jurisdictional plan spearheaded by the NSW government and “turbocharged” by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Telcos spend more than $600 million snapping up 5G friendly spectrum
The Sydney Morning Herald
@zoesam93
Australia’s largest telecommunications companies have secured crucial radio wave spectrum that will dramatically improve mobile and internet speeds.
China
Women Are Battling China’s Angry Trolls. The Trolls Are Winning.
The New York Times
@suilee
As online attacks against Chinese feminists intensify, popular social media companies are responding by removing the women — not the abusers — from their platforms.
This Company Monitors Prisoners In Xinjiang. It Won An “Innovation” Award At An Event Sponsored By Amazon.
BuzzFeed News
With an Amazon logo behind him and luminaries from Shanghai’s booming venture capital scene in front of him, the executive onstage delivered his pitch. His company, Renwei Electronics, helps authorities in China track prisoners and detainees — alerting guards to their movements and even fitting them with heart rate monitors. Renwei deploys its “smart prison” system in China’s Xinjiang region, where more than 1 million Muslim minorities have been locked up.
Tesla Is Sorry, but Not for the Fatal Driverless Car Crash in Texas
VICE
@Viola Zhou
Tesla has offered a “deep apology” for failing to please Chinese customers after a car crash led to a dramatic protest.
USA
Florida Cops Flew Spy Plane Above Press Conference for Black Teens Killed By Police
VICE
@josephfcox
The Florida Highway Patrol flew a surveillance plane in repeated circles above a news conference where a civil rights lawyer was demanding a federal investigation into how local law enforcement killed two unarmed Black teenagers, according to flight data reviewed by Motherboard.
Secret Court Reveals: FBI Hunted for Domestic Terrorists Without a Warrant
The Daily Beast
@attackerman
A secret court warned the FBI in 2018 about warrantless searches. But the bureau still went looking for “racially motivated violent extremists” in NSA troves without a court order.
Court Chides F.B.I., but Re-Approves Warrantless Surveillance Program
The New York Times
@charlie_savage
Newly disclosed episodes in which analysts improperly searched for data about Americans largely came before changes at the bureau.
Facebook Stopped Employees From Reading An Internal Report About Its Role In The Insurrection. You Can Read It Here.
BuzzFeed News
After BuzzFeed News reported on an internal document that examined the social network’s failings leading up to the Capitol riot, many of Facebook's employees were prevented from accessing it.
Vaccine makers say IP waiver could hand technology to China and Russia
Financial Times
Proposal to suspend patent rights comes as poorer countries struggle to obtain Covid doses.
Reddit faces lawsuit for failing to remove child sexual abuse material
The Verge
@thedextriarchy
A woman has sued Reddit for allowing an ex-boyfriend to repeatedly post pornographic images of her as a 16-year-old. The lawsuit applies controversial measures instituted in 2018 under FOSTA-SESTA to a site that’s drawn particular criticism for child sexualization. The resulting case will test the limits of platforms’ legal shields amid ongoing efforts to pare back the law behind them.
North-East Asia
TSMC to invest $2.8bn in China to ramp up auto chip production
Nikkei Asia
Yu Nakamura
Russia’s SolarWinds hack appears to constitute reconnaissance and espionage of the sort that the US itself excels at, not an act of war, writes Marcus Willett.
Global chip shortage spreads to toasters and washing machines
Financial Times
Asian appliance makers feel pinch as impact of shortfall ripples across industries.
New Zealand & The Pacific
New Zealand avoids offending China, offends Allies instead
The Sydney Morning Herald
Anne-Marie Brady
Yet the outcome was that her words ended up offending New Zealand’s closest partners, while the Chinese state media launched a disinformation campaign against the speech that damaged New Zealand’s international reputation.. For New Zealand this was strong stuff. New Zealand ministers usually avoid public criticism of China, even though China is New Zealand’s main source of state-sponsored cyber attacks, and the main source of foreign interference activities – currently New Zealand’s top two national security threats.
Pacific: Australia backs cyber security for Pacific countries
ABC Radio Australia
@taliaualiitia
The Pacific is going to benefit from the Australian Government's new strategy aimed at increasing cyber security for its international neighbours. Australia is committing $17 million dollars to Pacific island nations to strengthen their cyber capabilities and resilience - which include fighting cybercrime, improving online safety and countering disinformation and misinformation.
South and Central Asia
As Outbreak Rages, India Orders Critical Social Media Posts to Be Taken Down
The New York Times
@Karan_Singhs @paulmozur
With a devastating second wave of Covid-19 sweeping across India and lifesaving supplemental oxygen in short supply, India’s government on Sunday said it ordered Facebook, Instagram and Twitter to take down dozens of social media posts critical of its handling of the pandemic. The order was aimed at roughly 100 posts that included critiques from opposition politicians and calls for Narendra Modi, India’s prime minister, to resign. The government said that the posts could incite panic, used images out of context, and could hinder its response to the pandemic. The companies complied with the requests for now, in part by making the posts invisible to those using the sites inside India. In the past, the companies have reposted some content after determining that it didn’t break the law.
Twitter Is Blocking Tweets That Criticize How The Indian Government Has Handled The Pandemic
BuzzFeed News
Pranav Dixit
As India’s coronavirus pandemic burns out of control, the country’s government is cracking down — on social media. On Thursday, India’s government ordered Twitter to block more than 50 tweets that criticized how it has handled the pandemic. Twitter complied, preventing residents in the country from viewing the posts from people who include a state minister, an opposition member of the Indian Parliament, filmmakers, an actor, two journalists, and several ordinary people.Amid ‘heartbreaking’ coronavirus surge in India, government orders Twitter to remove posts critical of response
The Washington Post
@antoniafarzan
At least 52 tweets from prominent figures including opposition politicians, journalists and filmmakers have been censored, according to the Lumen Database, a Harvard University initiative that tracks takedown requests.
UK
GCHQ chief warns of tech 'moment of reckoning'
BBC News
@gordoncorera
The West is faced with a "moment of reckoning" when it comes to technology and security, the head of intelligence agency GCHQ has told the BBC. Jeremy Fleming said there was a risk that key technologies on which we rely will no longer be shaped by the West. "We have to keep evolving our approach if we're going to keep up," he said of the growing challenge from China.
Chinese company Nuctech handed security deals worth £12m
The Times
@Fhamiltontimes
A Chinese company dubbed the “Huawei of border security” has been given more than £12 million in security contracts at the border, in prisons and at the Home Office headquarters in Westminster, The Times has learnt. Nuctech, which has close ties to the Chinese state, has provided its scanning equipment in key areas of UK infrastructure despite bans in the US and Canada.
Court clears 39 post office workers convicted due to ‘corrupt data’
The Guardian
@Haroon_Siddique @BenQuinn75
Theft, fraud and false accounting convictions quashed after one of England’s biggest ever miscarriages of justice.
Europe
Germany falls in line with EU on Huawei
POLITICO
@laurenscerulus
German lawmakers passed tougher 5G security legislation on Friday, capping two years of doubts over whether Europe's largest market would get tough on Chinese telecoms giant Huawei. The new IT Security Law 2.0, approved by the Bundestag, restricts the role of “untrustworthy” suppliers of 5G technology and requires telecoms operators to notify the government if they sign contracts for critical 5G components. It also gives the government powers to block them.
Dutch MPs in video conference with deep fake imitation of Navalny's Chief of Staff
NL Times
Dutch parliamentarians, like their British and Baltic colleagues, had a conversation via Zoom with a deep fake imitation of the chief of staff of the Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny on Wednesday.. It concerns the parliamentary standing committee on foreign affairs, which thought it was talking to Leonid Volkov, Navalny's chief of staff, who has been operating from Vilnius since last year due to increased repression in Russia. But it was a moving image created by artificial intelligence.
Read our report on "Weaponised deep fakes" here.
Technically-focused analysis of AI Regulation - AI Governance and technical assessments
Security, Privacy & Tech Inquiries
Lukasz Olejnik
Artificial Intelligence and AI Governance are hot topics in this decade. European Union has a pretty ambitious attempt to regulate AI (project here). In this post, I have a look at the proposal through the technical lens, including paying attention to cybersecurity and privacy.
Chanel loses European court fight in trademark dispute with Huawei
Reuters
Foo Chee
French luxury house Chanel on Wednesday lost its trademark fight with Huawei Technologies (HWT.UL) after a top European court said their logos bear no similarity to each other.
The Americas
Misc
How your mobile carrier makes money off some of your most sensitive data
Vox
Sara Morrison
T-Mobile raised a few eyebrows — and got some unflattering press attention — when the Wall Street Journal reported on its new privacy-invasive ad program. Beginning April 26, T-Mobile says it will use its customers’ web browsing and app usage data to sell targeted ads unless those customers opt out.
The Anti-Vaccine Influencers Who Are Merely Asking Questions
The Atlantic
@noUpside
Institutional experts haven’t adapted to today’s media ecosystem. Other commentators are filling the gap.
The Slander Industry
The New York Times
Aaron Krolik @kashhill
Who makes money from destroying reputations online?
Huawei and the great 6G schism
Light Reading
Morris Lore
The Chinese equipment giant questions the need for 6G and even 5G technology as protectionism looms and US sanctions force a strategic shift.
10,000+ unpatched home alarm systems can be deactivated remotely
The Record by Recorded Future
@campuscodi
ABUS Secvest smart alarm systems are currently unpatched and vulnerable to a bug that would allow miscreants to remotely disable alarm systems and expose homes and corporate headquarters to intrusions and thefts.
Great Power Cyber Party
War on the Rocks
Will we remember early 2021 as a key escalatory moment in offensive cyber operations? Three top experts join us to unpack the implications of two major recent cyber operations — the SolarWinds hack attributed to Russia and the Microsoft Exchange hack by China. What does it all mean? What should the United States do? What should it have done differently? Dmitri Alperovitch, Erica Borghard, and Jason Healey tackle these questions and more.
Do Researchers Have an Obligation to Report Dangerous Actors?
GNET
@arcanakhalil
Given that many in the terrorism and violent extremism research community have voiced concerns about how extremist and dangerous actors have exploited social media and messaging platforms, it’s interesting to note that a clear majority of the respondents have not reported dangerous actors or violations of the terms of service to social media companies.
Why bad times call for good data
Financial Times
Statistical infrastructure sounds less important than a bridge or a power line, but it can mean the difference between life and death for millions. Consider Recovery (Randomised Evaluations of Covid-19 Therapy). Set up in a matter of days by two Oxford academics, Martin Landray and Peter Horby, over the past year Recovery has enlisted hospitals across the UK to run randomised trials of treatments such as the antimalarial drug hydroxychloroquine and the cheap steroid dexamethasone.
A software bug let malware bypass macOS’ security defenses
TechCrunch
@zackwhittaker
Apple has spent years reinforcing macOS with new security features to make it tougher for malware to break in. But a newly discovered vulnerability broke through most of macOS’ newer security protections with a double-click of a malicious app, a feat not meant to be allowed under Apple’s watch.
Breaking Point: How Mark Zuckerberg and Tim Cook Became Foes
The New York Times
@MikeIsaac @jacknicas
The chief executives of Facebook and Apple have opposing visions for the future of the internet. Their differences are set to escalate this week.
Events
Jobs
ICPC Analyst or Senior Analyst - Cyber & technology
ASPI ICPC
ASPI’s International Cyber Policy Centre (ICPC) has a unique opportunity for an exceptional cyber-security or technology focused analyst or senior analyst to join its centre in 2021. Candidates must have the ability to synthesis complex cyber and technology developments and explain these developments to media and key stakeholders in plain language. The ability to engage with and brief seniors across parliaments, governments, civil society and the business community.
International Cyber Policy Centre – Program Coordinator
ASPI ICPC
The Coordinator’s primary focus will be the organisation and execution of ICPC’s sponsorship program. The Program Coordinator will work closely with internal and external stakeholders to maintain and develop these relationships. The coordinator will also support the Director and the Deputy Director with the coordination and delivery of ICPC's global research program. This will be a busy, fast-paced and varied role that would suit a highly organised and energetic individual who thinks and acts strategically.
Cybercrime Editor
OCCRP
OCCRP is hiring a cybercrime editor. This is a new position focused on supporting our investigations at the intersection of organized crime and cybercrime. We’re looking for a talented, and tenacious editor with experience reporting on how criminals conduct nefarious activities in the digital world.
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