Facebook whistleblower testifies before US Senate | More details on the global social media outage that affected billions | China looks to regulate algorithm use to curb big tech's influence
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In more than three hours of testimony before a Senate subcommittee, Frances Haugen, who worked on Facebook’s civic misinformation team for nearly two years until May, spoke candidly and with a level of insight that the company’s executives have rarely provided. She said Facebook had purposely hidden disturbing research about how teenagers felt worse about themselves after using its products and how it was willing to use hateful content on its site to keep users coming back. The New York Times
Technology outages are not uncommon, but to have so many apps go dark from the world’s largest social media company at the same time was highly unusual. This time, Facebook said late Monday, the culprit was changes to its underlying internet infrastructure that coordinates the traffic between its data centers. That interrupted communications and cascaded to other data centers, “bringing our services to a halt,” the company said. The New York Times
Launched last week by the Cyberspace Administration of China, the campaign aims to establish a comprehensive system to regulate the use of algorithms within three years, part of the ruling Communist Party’s effort to rein in what it sees as unscrupulous business practices and exert more control over online discourse. The Wall Street Journal
ASPI ICPC
ASPI’s decades: China’s cyberpower
The Strategist
Graeme Dobell
The list of 14 grievances issued last year by China’s embassy in Canberra had one point aimed at ASPI. Among the sins of the Australian government, in the eyes of China, was to fund an ‘anti-China think tank for spreading untrue reports, peddling lies around Xinjiang and so-called China infiltration aimed at manipulating public opinion against China’. The aggrieved and annoyed tone was also an acknowledgement: the institute’s research was having an impact. Beijing’s growing cyberpower had made China a natural focus for the work of ASPI’s International Cyber Policy Centre.
World
Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp Were Down: Here's What to Know
The New York Times
@MikeIsaac @sheeraf
Facebook and its family of apps, including Instagram and WhatsApp, were inaccessible for hours on Monday, taking out a vital communications platform used by billions and showcasing just how dependent the world has become on a company that is under intense scrutiny.
With WhatsApp down, the virtual worlds of some came to a halt
The Washington Post
@Amy_23_Cheng
For tens of millions of people worldwide whose personal and professional lives play out on WhatsApp, the instant messaging app’s blackout was more than a mere inconvenience.More details about the October 4 outage
Facebook
Santosh Janardhan
Now that our platforms are up and running as usual after yesterday’s outage, I thought it would be worth sharing a little more detail on what happened and why — and most importantly, how we’re learning from it. This outage was triggered by the system that manages our global backbone network capacity. The backbone is the network Facebook has built to connect all our computing facilities together, which consists of tens of thousands of miles of fiber-optic cables crossing the globe and linking all our data centers.
Australia
‘Proper scrutiny’: New powers for bodies overseeing spy agencies on the cards
The Sydney Morning Herald
@Gallo_Ways
The parliamentary body that scrutinises Australia’s security agencies could be given more powers and resources amid growing concern that the oversight of the nation’s intelligence community is outdated. The Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security (PJCIS) wants to conduct an inquiry into whether the laws governing its work – which have not been examined since they were legislated in 2001 – are fit-for-purpose.
China
China Leaps Ahead in Effort to Rein In Algorithms
The Wall Street Journal
@StephanieAYang
A sweeping new plan to restrain the algorithms that power tech platforms has thrust China to the forefront of a growing movement to curb the influence of giant internet companies. Launched last week by the Cyberspace Administration of China, the campaign aims to establish a comprehensive system to regulate the use of algorithms within three years, part of the ruling Communist Party’s effort to rein in what it sees as unscrupulous business practices and exert more control over online discourse.
China is exploiting search engines to push propaganda about origins of covid-19, study finds
The Washington Post
Chinese government officials and state media are exploiting gaps in search results on powerful engines like Google, YouTube and Bing to advance conspiracy theories about the origins of covid-19, according to a new report shared exclusively with The Technology 202. Chinese state media and officials have posted over 1,000 tweets, articles and videos about Fort Detrick since May, in doing so “flooding social media platforms with elaborate conspiracy theories that have been thoroughly debunked,” according to a report released Tuesday by the Alliance for Securing Democracy (ASD), a bipartisan transatlantic advisory council.
Deep in the Data Void: China’s COVID-19 Disinformation Dominates Search Engine Results
Alliance For Securing Democracy
Since the earliest days of the pandemic, Chinese state officials and media outlets have disseminated conspiracy narratives claiming that COVID-19 originated at Fort Detrick—a U.S. army research facility in Maryland that has been the target of disinformation campaigns for more than four decades. But Chinese efforts to pump conspiracy narratives about the lab into the information bloodstream have accelerated in recent months in response the Biden administration’s renewed interest in the possibility that the virus leaked from China’s Wuhan Institute of Virology.
China Crypto Exchange Huobi Decided to Quit Country Before Ban
Bloomberg
@pingroma
Hours before China issued its sweeping ultimatum against cryptocurrency trading, the industry’s last remaining giant player had already decided to call it quits. Huobi founders and backers voted unanimously at their shareholder meeting Sept. 24 that the crypto exchange, China’s largest, should leave its home market after years of growing government scrutiny.
USA
Facebook Whistle-Blower Urges Lawmakers to Regulate the Company
The New York Times
@ceciliakang
Frances Haugen spent hours detailing to lawmakers how the social network harms young people. Facebook disagreed with her testimony but said new rules for the internet were long overdue: ‘It is time for Congress to act.’
Key Takeaways from Facebook's whistleblower hearing.
The New York Times
@sheeraf
Lawmakers in the hearing explored the role that Facebook’s algorithms play in amplifying problematic content.
Facebook chose to maximise engagement at users’ expense, whistleblower says
The Financial Times
@kiranstacey @tim
Facebook repeatedly chose to maximise online engagement instead of minimising harm to users, as it struggled to retain staff and younger users, a whistleblower told Congress on Tuesday.
Anger and relief: Facebook employees react to whistle-blower testimony
The New York TImes
@MikeIsaac
Over the past few weeks, as the public has seen more of the whistle-blower’s information come to light, the reaction inside of the social network from its employees has been decidedly mixed. That was especially prevalent on Tuesday morning, when Frances Haugen, the former Facebook employee and whistle-blower, came to Capitol Hill to explain her reasons for coming forward.
Facebook Knew It Was Fueling QAnon
VICE
@daithaigilbert
A damning whistleblower report reveals how Facebook mishandled the rise of QAnon—and other militarized social movements.
Facebook is harming our society. Here’s a radical solution for reining it in.
The Washington Post
@Sulliview
The system is broken. And we all suffer from it. But how to fix it? A problem that threatens the underpinnings of our civil society calls for a radical solution: A new federal agency focused on the digital economy.Is Congress too clueless to regulate Facebook?
The Washington Post
@WillOremus
In last week’s congressional hearing on Facebook’s effects on teens, Sen. Richard Blumenthal’s earnest misuse of an Instagram slang term — “finsta” — prompted a fusillade of Internet dunks, reinforcing the sense that septuagenarian lawmakers are out of touch with today’s tech. The Connecticut Democrat’s gaffe recalled an infamous 2018 exchange in which Sen. Orrin G. Hatch (R-Utah) appeared ignorant of Facebook’s business model, prompting chief executive Mark Zuckerberg to deadpan, “Senator … we run ads.” But a closer look at the context reveals that neither Blumenthal’s blooper nor Hatch’s howler was quite what it seemed at first blush. Both senators had made remarks earlier in their respective hearings in which they displayed a solid grasp of the concepts they later appeared to mangle.
Facebook asks judge to dismiss the Federal Trade Commission’s antitrust complaint
The Washington Post
@Cat_Zakrzewski
Facebook on Monday again asked a federal judge to throw out the Federal Trade Commission’s antitrust lawsuit, arguing that the agency still has “no valid factual basis” showing that the social network is an illegal monopolist, in one of the most high-profile competition cases in decades.
Statement by President Joe Biden on Cybersecurity Awareness Month
The White House
Cyber threats can affect every American, every business regardless of size, and every community. That’s why my administration is marshalling a whole-of-nation effort to confront cyber threats.
White House plans 30-country meeting on cyber crime and ransomware
Reuters
@TrevorNews @nanditab1
Top U.S. national security advisers will gather officials from 30 countries this month with plans to combat the growing threat of ransomware and other cyber crime.
Dr. Eric Schmidt Announces Special Competitive Studies Project
Special Competitive Studies Project
Today, Dr. Eric Schmidt announced the launch of the Special Competitive Studies Project (SCSP), a new initiative that will make recommendations to strengthen America’s long-term global competitiveness for a future where artificial intelligence (AI) and other emerging technologies reshape our national security, economy, and society. Headed by Schmidt, the SCSP will have a bipartisan board of national security leaders.
Government Secretly Orders Google To Identify Anyone Who Searched A Sexual Assault Victim’s Name, Address And Telephone Number
Forbes
@iblametom
The U.S. government is secretly ordering Google to provide data on anyone typing in certain search terms, an accidentally unsealed court document shows. There are fears such “keyword warrants” threaten to implicate innocent Web users in serious crimes and are more common than previously thought.
New emergency cyber regulations lay out ‘urgently needed’ rules for pipelines but draw mixed reviews
The Washington Post
@aaronjschaffer @nakashimae
The government in July issued emergency rules to strengthen the cybersecurity of the nation’s most important energy pipelines in a bid to prevent a repeat of the Colonial Pipeline shutdown earlier this year that sparked massive fuel shortages and gasoline panic-buying. The regulations are an acknowledgment that the traditional voluntary approach to cybersecurity in critical industries was not working, said some lawmakers and analysts. But the rules, industry officials and some analysts said, were written in such a way that implementing them could hamper pipeline reliability.
America needs a 'Million Talents Program' now
The Hill
@GrahamTAllison
As Americans wake up to the stark fact that China is overtaking the U.S. in the race to develop frontier technologies such as 5G and artificial intelligence (AI), what is the single most significant step the U.S. can take to sustain the technological predominance it has enjoyed since World War II? In one line, it is to recruit the world’s million most talented individuals to work, live and thrive here in the United States.
Snapchat rolls out new tool aimed at helping young users run for office
TechCrunch
@aiishamalik1
Snapchat is rolling out a new “Run for Office” in-app tool to encourage young adults to run for local office. The company says the new Run for Office tool is designed to help younger users engage with democracy in an easy way. The goal of the tool is to tackle common barriers that young people face when determining whether they want to get involved in local politics.
North-East Asia
Fake News' Bill in South Korea Gets Shelved Amid Outcry
The New York Times
@choesanghun
President Moon Jae-in and his Democratic Party in South Korea have spent months vowing to stamp out what they have called fake news in the media. But lawmakers had to postpone a vote on a new bill this week when they encountered a problem: no one can agree on exactly how to do it.
Seoul watches on as US corrals allies to counter China
The Financial Times
@crsdavies
Its manufacturing muscle and prowess in sectors such as semiconductors, electric vehicle batteries and artificial intelligence make it vital in the eyes of western policymakers for securing next-generation technology and global supply chains. But South Korea’s proximity to China, and Beijing’s historic influence over North Korea, has long left Seoul eager to avoid attracting its neighbour’s wrath.
Korea Antitrust Regulator Steers Away From Harsh Tech Crackdown
Bloomberg
@soheefication
South Korea’s powerful antitrust regulator sought to defuse fears of a sweeping tech crackdown as it takes steps to rein in the influence of its fastest-growing online platforms.
New Zealand & The Pacific
Telco merger on track: Duma
The National
Peter Esila
The Telikom-bmobile merger is on track, with a major announcement to be made next month, State Enterprises Minister William Duma says. Duma said he was not able to disclose details on the merger yet as there were other parties involved and commercial arrangements to consider. Prime Minister James Marape last month announced the merger of the two entities into a single retail telecommunications company Telikom Ltd. Meanwhile, Duma said the rollout of the third operator in the telecommunications market, Vodafone, would be good for the market.
South and Central Asia
India Fueling One of World’s Fastest-Growing Crypto Regions
Bloomberg
@ossingerj
Demand for digital coins in India is helping to make a region spanning central and southern Asia and Oceania one of the fastest-growing cryptocurrency markets globally, according to Chainalysis.
UK
Reddit removes post about British aircraft carrier defying China
UK Defence Journal
@geoallison
A post on a subreddit called r/worldnews was seemingly removed for presenting information regarding a British aircraft carrier standing up to China. The post had reached the ‘frontpage’ of reddit, attracting tens of thousands of upvotes and thousands of comments.
Europe
The World Wants Greenland’s Minerals, but Greenlanders Are Wary
The New York Times
@JackEwingNYT
The island has rare elements needed for electric cars and wind turbines. But protesters are blocking one project, signaling that mining companies must tread carefully.
In Venice, High-Tech Tracking of Tourists Stirs Alarm
The New York Times
@EmmaBubola
The city’s leaders are acquiring the cellphone data of unwitting tourists and using hundreds of surveillance cameras to monitor visitors and prevent crowding. Next summer, they plan to install long-debated gates at key entry points; visitors coming only for the day will have to book ahead and pay a fee to enter. If too many people want to come, some will be turned away.
Poland seeks to bolster border with new tech amid migrant influx
Reuters
Joanna Plucinska Karolina Tagaris Krisztina Than
Poland plans to strengthen its border with a system of motion sensors and cameras, modelling it on the Greek border with Turkey, its interior minister said in comments published on Monday, as it faces a large migrant influx from Belarus.
Trams, Cable Cars, Electric Ferries: How Cities Are Rethinking Transit
The New York Times
@SominiSengupta
Urban transportation is central to the effort to slow climate change. It can’t be done by just switching to electric cars. Several cities are starting to electrify mass transit.
Middle East
Scandal-hit NSO backs international spyware rules
France 24
The Israeli company at the heart of the Pegasus surveillance scandal on Tuesday said it would support international regulation to prevent repressive governments from abusing powerful spyware like its own. In a letter to the United Nations, seen by AFP, the NSO Group expressed "strong support for the creation of an international legal framework" to govern technology that allows for highly invasive snooping on people's mobile phones.
Misc
Company That Routes Billions of Text Messages Quietly Says It Was Hacked
VICE
@lorenzofb
A company that is a critical part of the global telecommunications infrastructure used by AT&T, T-Mobile, Verizon and several others around the world such as Vodafone and China Mobile, quietly disclosed that hackers were inside its systems for years, impacting more than 200 of its clients and potentially millions of cellphone users worldwide.
Events
CISA National Cybersecurity Summit - October 2021
Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA)
We are excited to bring back our Annual National Cybersecurity Summit for its fourth year! Last year’s Cybersecurity Summit, hosted online as a series of four weekly virtual events, drew more than 15,000 attendees. This year's event will follow a similar schedule. We are hosting four virtual events every Wednesday starting at 1:00 pm ET throughout the month of October.
Enhancing Data Security
U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, & Transportation
U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell (D-WA), Chair of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, will convene a full committee hearing titled “Enhancing Data Security” at 10:00 a.m. on Wednesday, October 6, 2021. This hearing is the second in a series examining the growing urgency to protect consumer privacy and safeguard our data, as well as the need to ensure the Federal Trade Commission is equipped with the authorities and resources to fight digital harms and hold bad actors accountable for increasing privacy violations, data breaches, internet scams, ransomware assaults and other harmful data abuses. The hearing will address major recent cybersecurity incidents, the impact of data breaches on consumers and businesses, and the current state of commercial data security practices.
Beyond 5G: Standards for Sixth Generation Networks
Center for Strategic and International Studies
There is now broad recognition that 5G will shape the economic future and will be the infrastructure for future innovation and economic growth. This understanding has led to the establishment of international 5G standards. 6G — while years away from deployment — is already in an exploratory research phase. 6G is projected to bring faster speeds, lower latency, and more networks utilizing Internet of Things (IoT) technologies. This requires a discussion on the development and implementation of global sixth generation network standards. Please join us for a virtual discussion on global sixth generation network standards moderated by Rob Strayer, Executive Vice President of Policy at the Information Technology Industry Council (ITI) with experts Micaela Giuhat, Director of 5G Policy and External Engagements at Microsoft, Travis Russell, Director of Cyber Security at Oracle Communications, and John Smee, Vice President of Engineering at Qualcomm Technologies Inc.
Cyber 2021
Chatham House
Join cyber security experts from policy, business and civil society to explore the key vulnerabilities of accelerated digital transformation and how to maintain a truly global, open internet.
Research
The 2021 Ransomware Risk Pulse: Energy Sector
Black Kite
In this report, Black Kite Research examined 150 of the top energy companies based on market capitalization. Here you will find a detailed study around common vulnerabilities indicating susceptibility to a ransomware attack, breach highlights corresponding to our data analysis, and data trends over the last year in the energy sector.
Raising the colors: Signaling for cooperation on maritime cybersecurity
Atlantic Council
Few industries are as critical to the global economy as the maritime transportation system (MTS). However, the efficient operation of the MTS is at risk, as the industry is increasingly vulnerable to cyber threats. In 2020, cyberattacks targeting the MTS increased by 400 percent over the span of a few months.
Applying Chapters VI and VII of the Charter of the United Nations in the Cyber Context
UNIDIR
How can Chapters VI and VII of the UN Charter be used to restore peace and security following an international cyber incident? International law as a whole, and the Charter of the United Nations in particular, applies to information and communications technologies (ICTs) and the digital environments that they enable. To address cyber events constituting disputes likely to endanger the maintenance of international peace and security; situations which might lead to international friction or give rise to a dispute under Chapter VI; and threats to the peace, breaches of the peace, or acts of aggression under Chapter VII, traditional dispute settlement and enforcement measures could be complemented or replaced with new, ICT-specific measures.
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.