Hong Kong Police urged to "punish" Chinese Australians social media activity | Facebook Mulls Political-Ad Blackout Ahead of U.S. Election | Johnson set to curb Huawei role in UK’s 5G networks
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Details of two social media groups followed by thousands of Chinese Australians have been delivered to Hong Kong's pro-Beijing Police Department by an anonymous informant calling for its members to be "punished" for breaking the city's new National Security Law. ABC.
Facebook is considering imposing a ban on political ads on its social network in the days leading up to the U.S. election in November, according to people familiar with the company’s thinking. Bloomberg.
Boris Johnson is expected to unveil plans this week to phase Huawei out of the UK's 5G mobile phone networks. Huawei has hired several prominent public relations firms in London. Burson, Cohn and Wolfe is the company’s primary PR agency, along with Finsbury. FT.
ASPI ICPC
Government warns of social media manipulation as TikTok faces backlash
SMH
@fryan
“A company like Apple can publicly refuse the FBI access to an iPhone, that simply wouldn't happen in China and there is no evidence it has ever happened," he said. Mr Ryan pointed to Article 7 of China's National Intelligence Law which states "Any organisation and citizen shall, in accordance with the law, support, provide assistance and co-operate in national intelligence work and guard the secrecy of any national intelligence work that they are aware of". “In other words, if the Chinese government requested TikTok user data, the company would be required by law to assist them and then would be legally prevented from talking about it," Mr Ryan said.
This is our chance to get smarter
The Australian
@daniellescave
COVID-19 has demonstrated to intelligence collectors around the world that they will be expected to redeploy against a wide range of unusual targets — from a hospital in Wuhan to the inner chambers of the WHO in Geneva to medical labs developing vaccines. In the short term, it has created new opportunities, especially for signals intelligence agencies, as the world’s politicians, business leaders and government officials began working from home, hopping on to unencrypted teleconferencing tools and social apps — some with controversial credentials. But agencies will need to find ways to work effectively in a new environment that may limit their time in secure buildings and their access to secret systems. They may need to rely more on technologies that will not always compensate for a loss of face-to-face contact with human sources and colleagues. Spies can’t always teleconference like the rest of us. In the long term, the pandemic raises questions about intelligence services’ abilities to respond to rapid and unexpected change. COVID-19 was a black swan event — difficult to predict but enormously consequential. There will likely be others. Climate change, in particular, will dramatically increase the frequency and severity of natural hazards. Yet the more predictable challenges, or “white swans”, such as foreign interference and cyber espionage, will remain. Traditional spycraft will need to evolve to balance these threats. In the meantime, easier access to data and new technologies is lowering the entry costs into the murky world of espionage.
National cyber resilience strategy needed to protect Australia’s small businesses
The Strategist
While large enterprises in Australia have generally enhanced their cybersecurity measures in recent years, small businesses operate in a very different environment. Big firms typically have dedicated IT staff and detailed information-security policies and practices. In contrast, small businesses often have just enough staff to deliver a particular service, tight budgets and time-poor owners who might also manage the IT despite having a limited understanding of cybersecurity principles.
Australia
Hong Kong Police urged to "punish" Chinese Australians social media activity
ABC
China's increasingly authoritarian stance towards the people of Hong Kong appears to be stoking tensions again within the Chinese diaspora here in Australia. PM understands details of two social media groups followed by thousands of Chinese Australians have been delivered to Hong Kong's pro-Beijing Police Department by an anonymous informant calling for its members to be "punished" for breaking the city's new National Security Law.
This activist says she is being tracked and harassed in Australia by Chinese police
SBS
Chinese woman Zoo* is living in Melbourne on a working holiday visa. She says her parents have been taken to the police station in China every week regarding her online activities.
ABC boss wants revenue from tech giants to fund journalism
SMH
ABC managing director David Anderson says the public broadcaster deserves payments from the global tech giants that distribute its content and the revenue boost would be ploughed back into journalism.
China
USA
Facebook Mulls Political-Ad Blackout Ahead of U.S. Election
Bloomberg
Facebook is considering imposing a ban on political ads on its social network in the days leading up to the U.S. election in November, according to people familiar with the company’s thinking.
Wells Fargo tells workers to delete TikTok as security concerns grow
NBC
Wells Fargo is directing employees to delete TikTok from their work phones amid growing concerns over security and privacy from the short-form Chinese-owned video app.
Anatomy Of A COVID-19 Conspiracy Theory
NPR
Conspiracy theories need just the right ingredients to take off within a population, and the COVID-19 pandemic has been a breeding ground for them. A Pew Research Center survey recently asked people if they had heard the theory that the COVID-19 outbreak was intentionally planned by people in power. Seventy-one percent of U.S. adults said they had. And a third of those respondents said it was "definitely" or "probably" true.
Twitter suspends more than 50 white nationalist accounts
NBC
The move came days after NBC News published an article on a new report documenting the proliferation of white nationalist content on social media platforms.
How the US lost its way on innovation
MIT Technology Review
The US government spends hundreds of billions of dollars every year—more than any other government in the world—to stay at the cutting edge of science and technology. And yet when an incredibly predictable crisis hit, we were caught completely flat-footed.
A new world war over technology
CNN
Nations and companies around the world are being sucked into a running battle over the future of technology between the United States and China, forcing them to choose sides in a conflict that is fracturing global supply chains and pushing businesses out of lucrative markets.
Asia
Japan Inc set to challenge Huawei in 5G
Asia Times
NEC, Japan’s leading producer of telecom equipment, and NTT, the country’s largest telecom network operator, recently announced plans for joint R&D and global marketing of 5G and other products incorporating their leading-edge optical and wireless telecommunications technologies.
Undeterred by coronavirus, China takes influence campaign online to win Taiwan hearts
Reuters
As the coronavirus pandemic all but halts travel across the Taiwan Strait, China is taking its campaign pushing for “reunification” with Taiwan to the virtual world of live broadcasts, online conferences and video-making competitions.
India’s power grids under threat of cyber attacks
Sunday Guardian Live
India’s power grids are “highly” susceptible to cyber attacks from neighbouring countries, official sources told The Sunday Guardian. They stated that urgent action was required to be taken to isolate the critical part of the control rooms so that they were kept out of the reach of the hackers.
UK
Johnson set to curb Huawei role in UK’s 5G networks
FT
Huawei has hired several prominent public relations firms in London. Burson, Cohn and Wolfe is the company’s primary PR agency, along with Finsbury. Both firms are part of the WPP group. Flint Global, led by Simon Fraser, former permanent secretary at the Foreign Office, is advising Huawei on policy, while MHP Communications is leading on parliamentary relations. The company also has several influential City of London grandees on the board of its UK arm — including John Browne, former chief executive of BP, and Mike Rake, former chair of BT.
Jesus college accepted £155,000 contribution from Huawei
The Times
The Cambridge University college that produced a controversial “white paper” on global communications reforms accepted £200,000 from the Chinese state and £155,000 from Huawei, The Times can reveal. Concerns were voiced yesterday about Jesus College’s links to Beijing institutions and Chinese companies.
Europe
German intel warns against giving data to Chinese firms
AP
Germany’s domestic intelligence agency is warning consumers that personal data they provide to Chinese payment companies or other tech firms could end up in the hands of China’s government. In its annual report released Thursday, the BfV agency noted that Chinese government offices have access to data stored in China by companies such as Tencent, Alibaba “as well as other apps, web services and mobility providers such as for example (bike sharing) providers” that operate in Germany. The head of the BfV, Thomas Haldenwang, said German’s data isn’t safe with Chinese companies because they are required by law to provide the data to their government.
Africa
Government official monetized racial tensions on South African social media
DFR Lab
A South African government official posing as a racist white woman on Twitter posted several racially incendiary tweets that were designed to spark outrage. The furor generated by these tweets was used to funnel users to at least three of his websites, where he hoped to net an income off the back of the outrage caused by his tweets.
Misc.
I Have Cancer. Now My Facebook Feed Is Full of ‘Alternative Care’ Ads.
NYT
Last week, I posted about my breast cancer diagnosis on Facebook. Since then, my Facebook feed has featured ads for “alternative cancer care.” The ads, which were new to my timeline, promote everything from cumin seeds to colloidal silver as cancer treatments. Some ads promise luxury clinics — or even “nontoxic cancer therapies” on a beach in Mexico.
Opinion - Is TikTok Seriously Dangerous—Do You Need To Delete It?
Forbes
The question I’m now asked more than any other, unsurprisingly, is whether TikTok is seriously that dangerous and whether users should seriously delete the app. The answer is not as simple as you might expect.
Research
Submarine Cables in the Law of Naval Warfare
Lawfare
No technology is as profoundly important to the global economy as the internet, which is dependent on the security of a vast network of some 750,000 miles of seabed cables that criss-cross the oceans’ depths. The interdependence of global submarine communication systems means that a break in one cable can have cascading effects on internet access to distant states.
Electrifying: How China Built an EV Industry in a Decade
Macro Polo
In December 2019, the Chinese Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) announced that new energy vehicles, composed mainly of plug-in electric vehicles (EVs), would represent 25% of overall vehicle sales by 2025.
Events
EU Cyber Direct #ClosingTheGap @EUCyberDirect
What happens when different worlds converge? Join #ClosingTheGap to find out! More than 120 speakers from all over the world will meet 13-17 July to discuss gaps in #knowledge #accountability #freedom. Check out the programme and register by 11 July: 🔥https://t.co/45VlmEFQ0I https://t.co/XMnTOnmsDnJobs
Program Manager/Senior Analyst
ASPI’s International Cyber Policy Centre (ICPC) has an outstanding opportunity for a talented, proactive and super efficient program manager/senior analyst to join its growing centre. The successful candidate will need to have a proven track record of leading teams and experience in project management including financial and stakeholder management (which will include industry, the Australian Government, Parliament and foreign governments). To succeed in this position candidates should have exceptional communication and problem-solving skills and experience in research, policy analysis or policy development.
Analyst
ASPI’s International Cyber Policy Centre has an outstanding opportunity for a talented and proactive allrounder to join its growing centre. The ICPC is looking for someone who is an excellent writer and researcher and who is a team player - you will need to juggle multiple research projects that could span the range of topics listed above. This is not an entry level position. Analysts in ICPC have between 5-15 years’ relevant work experience and, depending on experience, are involved in stakeholder and project management, fundraising and the management of small teams.
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