Australia joins world-first AI group | U.S. to allow companies to work with Huawei on 5G standards | Norway shuts down Coronavirus tracing app due to privacy concerns
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Australia will join forces with 11 other countries and the European Union to form the world's first multilateral forum dedicated to fostering responsible development and innovation in artificial intelligence. The forum, known as Global Partnership on Artificial Intelligence (GPAI), will seek to tackle issues such as the use of artificial intelligence in policing and surveillance, which came to a head last week when IBM, Amazon and Microsoft all said they would delay or cease work on the technology in light of the Black lives Matter protests in the US. Australian Financial Review
The United States will amend its prohibitions on U.S. companies doing business with China’s Huawei to allow them to work together in standards setting for next-generation 5G networks, according to people familiar with the matter. The U.S. Commerce Department and other agencies signed off on the rule change, and it is awaiting publication in the Federal Register, the people said. Reuters
Norway's health authorities said on Monday they had suspended an app designed to help trace the spread of the new coronavirus after the national data protection agency said it was too invasive of privacy. SBS News
ASPI ICPC
Read Damien Spry’s ASPI report: Winning Hearts and Likes: How foreign affairs and defence agencies use Facebook.
Australia
Australia joins world-first AI group to tackle ethics, commercialisation
Australian Financial Review
Australia will join forces with 11 other countries and the European Union to form the world's first multilateral forum dedicated to fostering responsible development and innovation in artificial intelligence. The forum, known as Global Partnership on Artificial Intelligence (GPAI), will seek to tackle issues such as the use of artificial intelligence in policing and surveillance, which came to a head last week when IBM, Amazon and Microsoft all said they would delay or cease work on the technology in light of the Black lives Matter protests in the US.
No significant commercial benefit from having news on platform: Facebook
The Sydney Morning Herald
Facebook has rejected the premise of a code of conduct forcing it to share revenue with media outlets, denying that it derives significant value from having news stories shared on its platform.
China
China’s Tech Champions Have Big Homegrown Problems
Bloomberg
China has big plans for its technology industry, vowing to spend an estimated $1.4 trillion over six years to roll out everything from 5G mobile networks to artificial intelligence. Such grand ambitions have stoked strategic tensions with the U.S., prompting the administration of President Donald Trump to curb access to U.S. technology and capital markets, and Congress to sputter that “China is on a glide path to dominance and is cheating at every turn.”
USA
Exclusive: U.S. to allow companies to work with Huawei on 5G standards - sources - Reuters
Reuters
@karen_freifeld @davidshepardson
The United States will amend its prohibitions on U.S. companies doing business with China’s Huawei to allow them to work together in standards setting for next-generation 5G networks, according to people familiar with the matter. The U.S. Commerce Department and other agencies signed off on the rule change, and it is awaiting publication in the Federal Register, the people said.
EBay Employees Charged With Harassing Couple By Sending A ‘Fetal Pig’ In The Post
Forbes
They also sent a bloodied pig Halloween mask and a funeral wreath to their targets, according to the Justice Department. That's just one of numerous wild allegations made against the eBay security team.
Fifty-four scientists have lost their jobs as a result of NIH probe into foreign ties
AAAS
Some 54 scientists have resigned or been fired as a result of an ongoing investigation by the National Institutes of Health into the failure of NIH grantees to disclose financial ties to foreign governments. In 93% of those cases, the hidden funding came from a Chinese institution.
North Asia
The Real Dangers of Surveillance
The New York Times
How citizens and authorities respond to one another during large-scale protests — including how they use technology as a tool in the battle — can say a lot about trust in the entire political system. Paul Mozur, who has written extensively about the Chinese state surveillance machine for The New York Times, told me that mistrust of the authorities in Hong Kong was reflected in constant digital surveillance and paranoia during the pro-democracy demonstrations that started a year ago and continue to break out.
Southeast Asia
Philippine journalist convicted of libel, given 6-year term
AP
An award-winning journalist critical of the Philippine president was convicted of libel and sentenced to jail Monday in a decision called a major blow to press freedom in an Asian bastion of democracy.. A cybercrime law, which Rappler allegedly violated, was also enacted in September 2012 or four months after the story written by Santos was published. Rappler’s lawyers said Philippine penal laws cannot be retroactively applied.
South Asia
India: Human Rights Defenders Targeted by a Coordinated Spyware Operation
Amnesty International
Amnesty International and the Citizen Lab have uncovered a coordinated spyware campaign targeting at least nine human rights defenders (HRDs) in India. Eight of the nine HRDs have been calling for the release of other prominent activists, popularly known as the Bhima Koregaon 11, most of whom have been imprisoned in Maharashtra, India since 2018.
UK
Revealed: how Huawei conquered Britain
The Times UK
Bagging a key role in the 5G network was like ‘winning the Battle of Stalingrad’. But the Chinese telecoms giant’s march to the heart of the Establishment began 20 years ago.
Europe
Coronavirus tracing app shut down in Norway due to privacy concerns
SBS News
Norway's health authorities said on Monday they had suspended an app designed to help trace the spread of the new coronavirus after the national data protection agency said it was too invasive of privacy.
Russia
Russian Arctic Academy president accused of working for Chinese intelligence
TASS
Valery Mitko, 78, President of the St. Petersburg Arctic Social Sciences Academy, was charged with treason, his lawyer Ivan Pavlov told TASS Monday.. According to a TASS source familiar with the case, the investigation believes that Mitko gave China information on research on hydro acoustics and submarine detection methods.
How two information portals hide their ties to the Russian news agency InfoRos
EU DisinfoLab
Based on this, we began to look deeper into Observateur Continental and uncovered that two information portals (oneworld.press and observateurcontinental.fr) hide their ties to InfoRos – a news agency previously linked to Russian military intelligence (GRU), according to reports by the Washington Post and Stanford Internet Observatory.
Americas
U.S., Brazil in talks on funding to buy 5G gear from Ericsson, Nokia: paper
Reuters
The United States is in talks with Brazil and its local telecommunications companies on funding the acquisition of fifth-generation gear produced by Ericsson and Nokia, U.S. ambassador for Brazil Todd Chapman told Brazilian newspaper Folha de S.Paulo.
Expert says Huawei’s cyber risks can’t be mitigated in a 5G network
IT World Canada
There’s no way to mitigate the possibility that network equipment from Huawei Technologies could be used by Chinese intelligence agencies for spying in Canada’s fledgling 5G networks, says a U.S. cyber expert.
Misc
Podcast: Content moderation in fast moving times w/ Barrie Sander by In beta
In beta
We speak to Barrie Sander, Fellow at Fundacao Getulio Vargas (FGV) Direito Rio in Brazil, about current trends in content moderation by online platforms.
How influencers went over to the dark side of wellness
ABC
Social media influencers are sharing conspiracy theories about COVID-19 and Black Lives Matter alongside smoothie recipes. But why?
Events
ASPI Webinar: Unraveling the Chinese Communist Party's overseas influence: United front work from Australia to Europe
ASPI
ASPI is delighted to invite you to the webinar discussion: 'Unraveling the Chinese Communist Party's overseas influence: United front work from Australia to Europe’ on 18 June at 5pm. The ASPI International Cyber Policy Centre's recent report The party speaks for you: Foreign interference and the Chinese Communist Party's united front system revealed the structure and growing scale of Chinese Communist Party influence. These activities can involve political interference, technology transfer and media influence, and risk inflaming racial tensions around Chinese communities.
ASPI Webinar: UN Cyber Negotiations - What they mean for Australian diplomacy
ASPI
ASPI warmly invites you to a webinar on 'UN Cyber Negotiations - What they mean for Australian diplomacy'. Join ASPI’s Bart Hogeveen in conversation with Johanna Weaver, Special Adviser to Australia's Ambassador for Cyber Affairs, on how states can be restrained from conducting, condoning, and sponsoring cyber operations that destabilise international peace and security, and what states can do to encourage a safe, secure and resilient internet ecosystem at home.