Corporate America Worries WeChat Ban Could Be Bad for Business | The Week QAnon Went Mainstream | Facebook algorithm found to 'actively promote' Holocaust denial
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U.S. companies whose fortunes are linked to China are pushing back against the Trump administration’s plans to restrict business transactions involving the WeChat app from Tencent Holdings Ltd., saying it could undermine their competitiveness in the world’s second-biggest economy. WSJ.
A supporter of the dangerous QAnon conspiracy theory is most likely headed to Congress. The social media platforms have some soul-searching to do. NYT.
Facebook’s algorithm “actively promotes” Holocaust denial content according to an analysis that will increase pressure on the social media giant to remove antisemitic content relating to the Nazi genocide. The Guardian.
Australia
Defence Department warns that 'highly active' spies pose 'extreme threat' to Australia's shipbuilding plan
ABC
Foreign agents are now "highly active" in plots to steal Australian military secrets, with Defence warning the threat to the nation's multi-billion-dollar shipbuilding projects is considered "extreme".
New rules to ensure spies stay in line
The Australian
The minister’s guidelines, which were quietly tabled out of session in federal parliament last week, also place responsibility on Australian Security Intelligence Organisation officers to be proactive in telling the Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security when they have accessed data illegally. “The government’s actions should help reassure Australians that ASIO acts in a targeted, proportionate and ethical way,” Mr Burgess said. “It is critically important that the guidelines are kept up to date to reflect the changes in legislation, technology and threat environment. ASIO has already updated its internal policies to reflect the new guidelines.”
China
China leak exposes Beijing’s surveillance secrets
The Australian
The Australian can reveal the Chinese Communist Party has installed facial-recognition software in residential buildings that are home to members of the Tujia and Miao tribes in Yuping Dong Autonomous County near the city of Tongren in the southwest province of Guizhou.. The Chinese government’s facial-recognition database, called the Tongren City Security Facial Recognition System for Building Controls, was subject to a security breach by Chinese activists seeking to expose the invasive treatment of minorities. The activists leaked the real-time facial recognition data, while it was still operational and live-streaming, to an international group of cyber security analysts specialising in China.
USA
Corporate America Worries WeChat Ban Could Be Bad for Business
WSJ
U.S. companies whose fortunes are linked to China are pushing back against the Trump administration’s plans to restrict business transactions involving the WeChat app from Tencent Holdings Ltd., saying it could undermine their competitiveness in the world’s second-biggest economy.
Trump orders ByteDance to divest interest in US TikTok operations within 90 days
SMH
US President Donald Trump on Friday ordered the Chinese company ByteDance to divest its interest in video-sharing app TikTok's operations in the United States within 90 days.
Trump says looking at pressuring other Chinese companies after Bytedance
Reuters
U.S. President Donald Trump said on Saturday he could exert pressure on more Chinese companies such as technology giant Alibaba (BABA.N) after he moved to ban TikTok.
Opinion - The Week QAnon Went Mainstream
NYT
A supporter of the dangerous conspiracy theory is most likely headed to Congress. The social media platforms have some soul-searching to do.
Read Twitter moves against QAnon conspiracy theorists in The Strategist
Asia
Japan’s tech industry reboot will have region-wide effects
Lowy Institute
With Covid-19, Japan has an opportunity to help accelerate the world’s digital transformation and, simultaneously, to revitalise its fragile domestic economy. In an encouraging sign that Tokyo is responding to this challenge, Japan’s cabinet passed sweeping economic guidelines last month to promote digitisation and teleworking.
Japan wants de facto 'Six Eyes' intelligence status: defense chief
Nikkei Asian Review
Japan is eager to expand cooperation with the "Five Eyes" intelligence-sharing alliance that includes the U.S. and the U.K, Defense Minister Taro Kono told Nikkei, expressing hopes for the framework that would allow the country to obtain key classified information at an early stage.
PM Modi says India to have new cyber security policy soon
Live Mint
India will soon come out with a new cyber security policy, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced on Saturday during his speech on India’s 74th Independence Day.
Facebook’s Hate-Speech Rules Collide With Indian Politics
WSJ
In Facebook posts and public appearances, Indian politician T. Raja Singh has said Rohingya Muslim immigrants should be shot, called Muslims traitors and threatened to raze mosques. Facebook Inc. employees charged with policing the platform were watching. By March of this year, they concluded Mr. Singh not only had violated the company’s hate-speech rules but qualified as dangerous.
Russia
Russian YouTuber Arrested for Obtaining State Secrets
Moscow TImes
A Russian YouTuber famous for exploring abandoned sites was arrested and charged with obtaining state secrets last week, authorities and activists said Wednesday.
Middle East
Israel, US close to signing deal on leaving China out of 5G infrastructure
Jerusalem Post
Israel and the US are close to signing a memorandum of understanding (MOU) that would commit Israel to not using Chinese equipment in building its 5G networks, a US government source said over the weekend.
UAE unblocks direct phone lines with Israel following normalization deal
Axios
The United Arab Emirates on Sunday unblocked Israeli websites and direct international phone lines with Israel in a first step following the U.S.-brokered normalization deal announced last week, Israeli officials said.
Misc.
Facebook algorithm found to 'actively promote' Holocaust denial
The Guardian
Facebook’s algorithm “actively promotes” Holocaust denial content according to an analysis that will increase pressure on the social media giant to remove antisemitic content relating to the Nazi genocide.
Events
Working smarter, not harder: Leveraging government procurement to improve cybersecurity and supply chains
ASPI
ASPI's International Cyber Policy Centre is delighted to invite you to the virtual launch of our latest report, 'Working smarter, not harder: Leveraging government procurement to improve cybersecurity and supply chains', with the Minister for Industry, Science and Technology, the Hon Karen Andrews MP on 18 August. The report, Working smarter, not harder looks at how Australian governments - as the nation's largest spenders on ICT - can maximise the leverage that market power gives them to drive improved cybersecurity, more secure supply chains, and build local industry. The launch by the Minister will be followed by a panel discussion with and Q&A. 18 August 2020, 1:00 - 2:00pm.
Webinar Launch - 'Spy vs Spy: The New Age of Espionage'
ASPI and Foreign Policy
The Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI) and Australian Foreign Affairs is delighted to invite you to a panel discussion on the new issue of Australian Foreign Affairs: Spy vs Spy: The New Age of Espionage. This issue of Australian Foreign Affairs explores the threat facing Australia as changes in technology enable malign actors to target individuals, officials, businesses and infrastructure – challenges that have only sharpened due to Covid-19. Speakers: Professor Anne-Marie Brady, Danielle Cave, Andrew Davies, Kim McGrath, Jonathan Pearlman and Penny Wong. 19 August 2020, 11:00am - 12:10pm.
On Fairness and Explainability in AI: Interactions between computer science and social science
Digital Innovation Futures Victoria
Friday 14 September 2020, 1:00 - 2:00PM. While topics such as fairness and explainability have become key talking points in artificial intelligence, these problems cannot be solved by computer scientists working in a vacuum. This talk will look at the link between computer science and areas of philosophy and social science for solving these problems.
Jobs
Assistant Professor in Intelligence and Security
University of Leiden
The Research Group Intelligence and Security studies intelligence from a political, historical, ethical, judicial, and methodological perspective. Our main goal is to improve our understanding of how intelligence and security services operate, how their methodologies can be complemented, and how they are and have been embedded in their broader political, bureaucratic, and societal context - in the Western world and, emphatically, beyond. Applications due 15th September 2020.
Professorship in Legal Tech
University of Zurich
The University of Zurich is seeking applications for a Professorship in Legal Tech to take effect from the beginning of the Spring Semester 2021 (1 February 2021), or by arrangement. The position is to be filled by an academic with an outstanding legal track record and excellent knowledge of information technology, whose research focuses on the impact of digital technologies in the field of law. Applications are due by 6 September 2020.