Judge throws out Facebook anti-trust lawsuits | Google takes down map doxxing Thai activists | Inside the Burmese campaign to paint opposition as Islamic Terrorism
Follow us on Twitter. The Daily Cyber Digest focuses on the topics we work on, including cyber, critical technologies & strategic issues like foreign interference.
A federal court ruling on Monday handed Facebook an unexpected and dramatic win—for now—in its defense against U.S. antitrust lawyers who were seeking to force the company to spin off Whatsapp and Instagram. The Information
Google took down two Google Maps documents on Monday that had listed the names and addresses of hundreds of Thai activists who were accused by royalists of opposing the monarchy, the technology company said. Reuters
State media and pro-military social media users are increasingly comparing civilian resistance fighters to Islamic terrorist groups, and spreading disinformation that blames Muslims for attacks. Frontier Myanmar
ASPI ICPC
Australia
Perth’s billion-dollar train deal linked to exploited Uyghur workers in China
WA Today
@MartaPascual3
A billion-dollar train deal between Western Australia and manufacturing giant Alstom is the latest government contract in Australia to face scrutiny for its use of Chinese suppliers linked to exploited Uyghur workers.
Read our report “Uyghurs for Sale” here.
Myanmar students in Australia accuse embassy of intimidation
ABC News
@stephendziedzic
Myanmar student groups have accused the country's embassy in Canberra of intimidation and foreign interference after it sent letters to Myanmar government scholars in Australia, demanding they pledge loyalty to the military junta.
Check-in apps ‘highlight the danger to data privacy’
The Australian
A former Amazon software developer now in the West Australian parliament’s upper house says recent controversies over access to data collected through the state’s Covid-19 safety apps has underscored the need for tougher privacy provisions.
Insurers call for death of cyber ransom payments
Australian Financial Review
Australia’s biggest insurance companies have largely endorsed potential government intervention to outlaw reimbursements to companies that make ransom payments to cyber criminals on the basis it acts as a perverse incentive.
China
The Communist party at 100: is Xi Jinping’s China on the right track?
The Financial Times
The tension between a party apparatus that has become increasingly powerful under Xi — but also recognises that it needs capable private sector businesspeople to propel the economic growth that keeps it in power — has been evident in the party’s effort to rein in private-sector tech giants such as Jack Ma’s Alibaba and Ant Group, and Pony Ma’s Tencent.
Xi Jinping’s Complicated Quest for the State-Corporate Technology Complex
The Diplomat
@ngor_luong
Alongside more coercive measures, China’s government also uses financial incentives to ensure that private firms prioritize China’s technological goals, including in AI.
China’s cyber power at least a decade behind the US, new study finds
The Financial Times
China strengths as a cyber power are being undermined by poor security and weak intelligence analysis, according to new research that predicts Beijing will be unable to match US cyber capabilities for at least a decade. The study, published on Monday by the International Institute for Strategic Studies, comes as a series of hacking campaigns have highlighted the growing threat of online espionage by hostile states.
Blockchain Service Network: how little-known start-up Red Date is helping China lead the world in the cutting-edge technology
The South China Morning Post
@mashaborak
The Chinese government, which has struggled with technologies such as semiconductors, sees blockchain dominance as strategic to its tech development.
USA
FTC’s Court Loss Against Facebook Could Spur Congress on Antitrust Reform
The Information
@joshua_sisco
A federal court ruling on Monday handed Facebook an unexpected and dramatic win—for now—in its defense against U.S. antitrust lawyers who were seeking to force the company to spin off Whatsapp and Instagram.
Biden Opens Sneaky New Front in Trade War Against China
Foreign Policy
@crmiller1
Want to understand the Biden administration’s China strategy? Set aside the South China Sea and the Quad. A more useful marker of the administration’s thinking may come from a South Korean company that few in Washington have ever heard of. Magnachip, based in South Korea, produces a type of semiconductor needed in the most advanced screens, such as those for the newest smartphones. It’s a small company, with revenues of around $500 million last year, a tiny fraction of chip industry behemoths like Intel or Taiwan’s TSMC. But the Biden administration is now blocking its purchase by a Chinese private equity fund.
How to go viral on social media? Attack a political opponent, study says
NBC News
@David_Ingram
Outrage plays well on social media, and it works even better if you name your enemy. That's the finding of a new study from researchers at the University of Cambridge and New York University who analyzed 2.7 million posts on Facebook and Twitter. Researchers found that each time a social media post referred to a political "out-group," the odds the post would be shared rose 67 percent.
YouTube reinstates channel devoted to exposing conservative extremism
NBC News
@David_Ingram
YouTube said Monday that it had reinstated a channel run by Right Wing Watch that cataloged some of the most extreme statements of prominent conservatives, hours after the Google-owned video platform had banned the channel for violating its rules.
South-East Asia
Google takes down maps targeting hundreds of Thais accused of opposing king
Reuters
@panuw @f_potkin
Google took down two Google Maps documents on Monday that had listed the names and addresses of hundreds of Thai activists who were accused by royalists of opposing the monarchy, the technology company said. A version of one of the maps seen by Reuters included the names and addresses of nearly 500 people, many of them students, together with their photos in university or high school uniforms. It had received over 350,000 views.
Chasing the Taliban’s shadow
Frontier Myanmar
@ANachemson
State media and pro-military social media users are increasingly comparing civilian resistance fighters to Islamic terrorist groups, and spreading disinformation that blames Muslims for attacks.
UK
UK and Singapore kickstart negotiations on cutting-edge digital trade agreement
The UK Department of Trade
The ambitious new digital trade agreement could remove barriers to digital trade and enable UK exporters to expand into high-tech markets.
The Big Tech business model poses a threat to democracy
Global Witness
Our new investigation reveals Facebook approved incendiary ads targeted across the sectarian divide in Northern Ireland.
Europe
Danish media club together to make US tech giants pay for news
The Financial Times
Denmark’s media industry is pioneering a new bargaining tactic with Google and Facebook over payments for news, with newspapers, broadcasters and internet start-ups joining forces to negotiate with the tech groups as a copyright collective.. The Danish initiative, based on the EU copyright directive which gives news publishers the right to claim revenues for online use of their material, is the first in Europe to form a broad-based collective to pursue claims with tech companies.
Russia
Russian hackers breached Microsoft customer support to try phishing targets in 36 countries
Cyber Scoop
@jeffstone500
State-sponsored Russian hackers compromised a Microsoft customer support representative’s account, leveraging that access to try to hack other customers, the company said. The cyber-espionage group that Microsoft calls Nobelium — also known as APT 29 and Cozy Bear — obtained “basic account information” about a limited number of customers as part of the effort.
Misc
Why some biologists and ecologists think social media is a risk to humanity
Vox
@shiringhaffary
The paper argues that our lack of understanding about the collective behavioral effects of new technology is a danger to democracy and scientific progress. For example, the paper says that tech companies have “fumbled their way through the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, unable to stem the ‘infodemic’ of misinformation” that has hindered widespread acceptance of masks and vaccines.
Can We Conceive of a New Internet?
Columbia News
The Knight First Amendment Institute hosted a week-long symposium to explore ways to lessen the dominance of tech giants and find new alternatives to gather online.
Hackers Tricked Microsoft Into Certifying Malware That Could Spy on Users
VICE
@lorenzofb
The company said the hackers targeted video games in China, potentially to cheat and compromise their accounts.
Why Is the Intellectual Dark Web Suddenly Hyping an Unproven COVID Treatment?
VICE
@annamerlan
Even as scientists study a drug used to deworm dogs as a COVID treatment, the loudest people online claim it's a miracle cure, and that inquiry into it is being suppressed.
Events
ASPI Webinar: In-conversation with Will Cathcart, Head of WhatsApp
ASPI
ASPI's International Cyber Policy Centre is delighted to invite you to the webinar 'In-conversation with Will Cathcart, Head of Whatsapp'. Join Fergus Hanson in a 'fireside chat' with the CEO of WhatsApp Will Cathcart as they discuss the big issues facing the world’s largest messaging service. This webinar will include Q&A with the online audience. How do we balance requirements for safety, privacy and security? Why does WhatsApp use end-to-end encryption and how has WhatsApp evolved to combat misinformation?
Join us at 10am on Thursday, 8 July to take part in this important conversation.
Research
Cyber Capabilities and National Power: A Net Assessment
IISS
The result of two years of study by IISS researchers, this report provides a major new qualitative assessment of 15 countries’ cyber power, as well as a new qualitative framework for understanding how to rank global state cyber capacity.
Debunking the AI Arms Race Theory
Texas National Security Review
@paul_scharre
There is no AI arms race. However, military competition in AI does still pose certain risks. These include losing human control and the acceleration of warfare, as well as the risk that perceptions of an arms race will cause competitors to cut corners on testing, leading to the deployment of unsafe AI systems.
Mapping of cyber doctrines
Konrad Adenauer-Stiftung
@iiyonite
In light of the discussion on the alignment of cyber doctrines this brief uses the defense postures of Japan, the Netherlands, and the United States, to exemplify their contrasting evolutionary pathways.
Cyber Insurance and the Cyber Security Challenge
RUSI
@jamiemaccoll @jasonnurse @MrJamesSullivan
Cyber risk poses a complicated and growing challenge for governments, businesses and consumers. This paper explores cyber insurance’s potential contribution to solving this problem.
Jobs
ICPC Analyst or Senior Analyst - Information operations & disinformation
ASPI ICPC
ASPI’s International Cyber Policy Centre has an outstanding opportunity for a talented and proactive senior analyst or analyst to join its centre. The successful candidate will work with a small, high-performing team to produce original research and analysis centred around policy responses to information operations and disinformation by state and non-state actors. They will also work with senior staff in the centre to engage globally with governments, social media and Internet companies.
ICPC Analyst or Senior Analyst - Cyber & technology
ASPI ICPC
ASPI’s International Cyber Policy Centre (ICPC) has a unique opportunity for an exceptional cyber-security or technology focused analyst or senior analyst to join its centre in 2021. Please note that interviews have commenced for this position and will continue until the end of June. This role will focus on policy relevant cybersecurity analysis, informed public commentary and either original data-heavy research and/or technical analysis. Analysts usually have around 7-15 years work experience. Senior analysts usually have a minimum of 15 years relevant work experience and tend to be involved in staff and project management, fundraising and stakeholder engagement.
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.