Internet shutdowns increasingly utilised across the globe | Facebook's tumultuous relationship with Myanmar changes after coup | Berlin to invest in local telecom firms
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At least 35 countries have restricted access to the internet or social media platforms at least once since 2019, according to NetBlocks, a group that tracks internet freedom. Authorities have used the outages to reduce or prevent unrest — or to hide it from public view. Axios
Facebook has designated Myanmar as a “Temporary High-Risk Location” for two weeks, allowing the company to remove content and events in the country that include “any calls to bring armaments.” BuzzFeed News
The German government is preparing a massive investment plan to boost the development of local telecoms firms, in an effort to pivot away from dominant suppliers like China's Huawei. Politico Europe
ASPI ICPC
World
Internet blackouts skyrocket amid global political unrest
Axios
@DavidLawler10 @sarafischer
At least 35 countries have restricted access to the internet or social media platforms at least once since 2019, according to NetBlocks, a group that tracks internet freedom. Authorities have used the outages to reduce or prevent unrest — or to hide it from public view.
Wikipedia launches new global rules to combat site abuses
Reuters
The foundation that operates Wikipedia will launch its first global code of conduct on Tuesday, seeking to address criticism that it has failed to combat harassment and suffers from a lack of diversity.
USA
Twitter and YouTube Banned Steve Bannon. Apple Still Gives Him Millions of Listeners.
ProPublica
@lydiadepillis
Steve Bannon broadcasts election denialism and apocalyptic calls to action several times a day via Apple’s podcast app. He’s not the only one using the platform to spread claims that became a rallying cry of the mob that threatened the Capitol.
Read an article by ICPC’s Ariel Bogle on the role of podcasts in spreading disinformation here.
She was stunned by Biden's inauguration. How this South Carolina mom escaped QAnon
CNN
@donie
Vanderbilt reflects that she could perhaps have been pulled out of QAnon before inauguration day if Trump himself condemned it. Instead, he flirted with it and tacitly embraced it by retweeting prominent QAnon accounts and saying positive things about QAnon followers.
China
Huawei’s HarmonyOS: “Fake it till you make it” meets OS development
ArsTechnica
@RonAmadeo
The phrase "fake it till you make it" is often given as motivational advice, but I've never seen it applied to OS development before. If you've ever seen a modern Huawei Android phone, HarmonyOS is largely the same thing... with a few strings changed.
South-East Asia
After Fueling A Genocide, Facebook Is Taking A Stand Against A Myanmar Coup
BuzzFeed News
@TasneemN @RMac18
Facebook has designated Myanmar as a “Temporary High-Risk Location” for two weeks, allowing the company to remove content and events in the country that include “any calls to bring armaments.”
How Vietnam-based hacking operation OceanLotus targets journalists
Committee to Protect Journalists
@madelineearp
What Mai didn’t know at the time was that her subject had fallen victim to a massive hacking and surveillance operation known as OceanLotus, which experts say targets people who have criticized the Vietnamese state – and which would come to target her as well.
Open Data Labs Jakarta: a legacy to celebrate
World Wide Web Foundation
For six years, the Open Data Labs Jakarta has been at the forefront of research, innovation and capacity building to unlock the benefits of open data in Indonesia and across the region.
New Zealand & The Pacific
Papua New Guinea and China’s Debt Squeeze
The Diplomat
@rpotter_9
A debt trap? Not quite. But PNG’s telecom industry is a showcase example of how debt to China weighs down governments and constrains choices.
South and Central Asia
Journalists Covering India's Farmer Protests Charged
Human Rights Watch
Eight journalists who covered the farmer protests in India and violence in Delhi on January 26, 2021 are facing baseless criminal charges, Human Rights Watch said today. The Indian authorities should drop the charges, which include sedition, promoting communal disharmony, and making statements prejudicial to national integration.
Europe
Berlin’s €2B plan to wean off Huawei (Nokia and Ericsson too)
Politico
@laurenscerulus
The German government is preparing a massive investment plan to boost the development of local telecoms firms, in an effort to pivot away from dominant suppliers like China's Huawei.
A Spyware Vendor Seemingly Made a Fake WhatsApp to Hack Targets
Vice News
@lorenzofb @josephfcox
Technical analyses by Citizen Lab and Motherboard found links between a fake version of WhatsApp and Cy4Gate, an Italian surveillance firm that works with cops and intelligence agencies.
Misc
Ransomware gangs made at least $350 million in 2020
ZDNet
@campuscodi
The figure was compiled by tracking transactions to blockchain addresses linked to ransomware attacks. The company said its estimate was only a lower bound of the true total due.
Amazon Plans AI-Powered Cameras to Monitor Delivery Van Drivers
The Information
@MarkDiStef
The company plans to install high-tech video cameras in Amazon delivery vans in a move that it says is aimed at improving safety but that will surely ignite questions about privacy.
Open Internet, open standards and why they matter
APNIC
@patrikhson
We have a situation, with regard to Internet architecture, where cooperating in some way allows for service differentiation and competition in others. We should also be aware that the border of what to collaborate on and where to compete is fluid and changes over time.
Events
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