Media bargaining code passes the Senate | Biden to order sweeping review of U.S. supply chain weak spots | FB execs silenced an enemy of Turkey to prevent a hit to the company's business

Feb 24, 2021

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Using news content on their platforms has always been something Google and Facebook have done — without paying. So when the Australian government tried to force the tech giants to cough up some cash for publishers, there was always going to be fireworks. That culminated in Facebook's decision last week to block access to news to Australians. It may have walked back on that, but the showdown continues. Today, a new phase of the government's plan starts. Here's what happens next. ABC News
President Biden on Wednesday will formally order a 100-day government review of potential vulnerabilities in U.S. supply chains for critical items, including computer chips, medical gear, electric-vehicle batteries and specialized minerals. The directive comes as U.S. automakers are grappling with a severe shortage of semiconductors, essential ingredients in the high-tech entertainment and navigation systems that fill modern passenger vehicles. Washington Post
Internal Facebook emails show how it backed Turkey's request to block the page of an adversary - or risk getting shut down entirely. 'I am fine with this,' wrote Sheryl Sandberg. ProPublica

ASPI ICPC

China and India battle for vaccine supremacy in soft power push across the world
ABC News
A report from the Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI) has highlighted the battle being waged online and in each nation's respective media. ASPI analyst Ariel Bogle said Chinese state media had regularly published stories critiquing India's vaccine rollout. "The Global Times published 20 stories about India and its vaccines in January — many of these were negative, calling into question the safety and efficacy of India's vaccines," said Ms Bogle, who was formerly the ABC's technology reporter. Meanwhile, Indian netizens have been pushing narratives that China "exported the virus" and India is "killing the virus" through inoculation — a sentiment echoed by some Indian politicians and media outlets, according to the report.

China and India tussle online over vaccine diplomacy The Strategist

Canada’s joint declaration against arbitrary detention needs teeth
The Strategist
@emilia_currey
While the declaration doesn’t specify any particular state responsible for these actions, it’s widely believed to be tied to Canada’s ongoing efforts to free two of its citizens, Michael Spavor and Michael Kovrig, from arbitrary detention in China. Spavor and Kovrig were detained in China on 10 December 2018, one week after Huawei Chief Financial Officer Meng Wanzhou was arrested in Canada pursuant to its extradition treaty with the US.

Lindsay P. Gorman @LindsayPGorman

A big thank you to @fryan & the @ASPI_ICPC team for putting on this great conversation abt TikTok and WeChat and to fellow panelists from 🇦🇺🇨🇦🇺🇸 for thoughtful insights. Discussions that span democracies are so important to build collective understanding on tech and info threats.

ASPI @ASPI_org

The webinar 'TikTok & WeChat, where to now?' will begin shortly! Join @fryan, @jordanschnyc, @LindsayPGorman, @joannachiu & @caparsons to discuss the challenges posed by the apps & policy options available 📝 Register now to watch live or on-demand: https://t.co/rDRHedq8uc

Australia

The media bargaining code has passed the Senate. This is what happens now
ABC News
Using news content on their platforms has always been something Google and Facebook have done — without paying. So when the Australian government tried to force the tech giants to cough up some cash for publishers, there was always going to be fireworks. That culminated in Facebook's decision last week to block access to news to Australians. It may have walked back on that, but the showdown continues. Today, a new phase of the government's plan starts. Here's what happens next.

Facebook's Australia tantrum shows why Big Tech must be reined in
Nikkei Asia
Other nations likely to follow Canberra's lead with their own regulatory frameworks.

Bill establishing cyber abuse takedown scheme for adults enters Parliament
ZDNet
It is accompanied by a new Act that will replace the Enhancing Online Safety Act 2015 and amend parts of the Criminal Code, giving the eSafety Commissioner further powers in the digital realm.

Carnegie Clean Energy, Segafredo Zanetti hit by ransomware attacks
AFR
ASX-listed renewables company Carnegie Clean Energy has been hit by a cyber attack while hackers have also claimed to have hit coffee roaster Segafredo Zanetti and are threatening to publish allegedly stolen data. The attacks come as one of the world’s largest cyber security providers warned attempted cyber incursions had become “unrelenting”.

CSIRO paints why Australia needs its own national space capability
ZDNet
The national research agency also touted that the country is at an advantage because it lacks 'baggage'.

China

China’s tech giants can change. But the state is still their number one stakeholder.
Ranking Digital Rights
China’s system of authoritarian internet control has inescapable consequences for Chinese companies in the RDR Index: Baidu and Tencent have always ranked at or near the bottom. In 2020, we evaluated e-commerce giant Alibaba for the first time, and it landed low in the overall ranking, right next to Baidu. Yet at the same time, Chinese companies have taken meaningful steps over the past five years to protect consumer privacy and security from threats that are unrelated to Chinese government surveillance. They have also tried to be a bit more open with users about how content is moderated for reasons other than government censorship requirements.

China to test digital currency transactions with Thailand, UAE · TechNode
TechNode
China, Hong Kong, Thailand, and the United Arab Emirates announced they will be testing central bank digital currencies in cross-border payments. Why it matters: The collaboration between the four countries is a milestone in the digital yuan’s development. Nailing down cross-border payments is a key step in achieving a long-term strategic goal of using the digital RMB to internationalize China’s currency.

USA

Biden to order sweeping review of U.S. supply chain weak spots
The Washington Post
President Biden on Wednesday will formally order a 100-day government review of potential vulnerabilities in U.S. supply chains for critical items, including computer chips, medical gear, electric-vehicle batteries and specialized minerals. The directive comes as U.S. automakers are grappling with a severe shortage of semiconductors, essential ingredients in the high-tech entertainment and navigation systems that fill modern passenger vehicles.

Sheryl Sandberg and Top Facebook Execs Silenced an Enemy of Turkey to Prevent a Hit to the Company's Business
ProPublica
Internal Facebook emails show how it backed Turkey's request to block the page of an adversary - or risk getting shut down entirely. 'I am fine with this,' wrote Sheryl Sandberg.

Senate hearing on SolarWinds hack lays bare US shortcomings, remaining mysteries
CyberScoop
A host of federal government policy failures contributed to the rippling damage of the SolarWinds hack, leaders of cyber firms told a Senate panel on Tuesday, with even lawmakers saying Congress must do more to prevent a repeat.

The Biden Administration Should Review and Rebuild the Trump Administration’s China Initiative From the Ground Up
Lawfare
The China Initiative was launched in November 2018 as a prosecutorial response to China’s persistent, pervasive, and well-documented campaign of economic espionage and illicit knowledge transfer. The core mission is both justified and necessary. Many of its prosecutions clearly serve the public good, including bringing charges against state-sponsored hackers for targeting American biomedical companies working on treatments for COVID-19, the respiratory disease caused by the novel coronavirus. However, outright economic espionage is only one component of China’s overall innovation strategy.

Outlaw Participation in Foreign Attacks on U.S. Elections
Just Security
Nobody has suffered serious legal consequences for actively welcoming—some say aiding and abetting—Russian interference in the 2016 and 2020 elections, or for having asked the presidents of Ukraine and China to similarly interfere.

Canada

Airplane maker Bombardier data posted on ransomware leak site following FTA hack
ZDNet
Canadian airplane manufacturer Bombardier has disclosed today a security breach after some of its data was published on a dark web portal operated by the Clop ransomware gang.

North Asia

Chipmakers in drought-hit Taiwan order water trucks to prepare for 'the worst'
Reuters
Taiwan chipmakers are buying water by the truckload for some of their foundries as the island widens restrictions on water supply amid a drought that could exacerbate a chip supply crunch for the global auto industry. Some auto makers have already been forced to trim production, and Taiwan had received requests for help to bridge the shortage of auto chips from countries including the United States and Germany. Taiwan, a key hub in the global technology supply chain for giants such as Apple Inc, will begin on Thursday to further reduce water supply for factories in central and southern cities where major science parks are located.

Southeast Asia

APT32 state hackers target human rights defenders with spyware
BleepingComputer
Vietnam-backed hacking group APT32 has coordinated several spyware attacks targeting Vietnamese human rights defenders (HRDs) between February 2018 and November 2020.

Europe

Huawei chief criticises academic’s ‘false attack’ over 5G security risks
The Irish Times
The chief executive of Huawei Ireland criticised “false attacks” from an academic who raised security concerns about the telecoms company accessing Ireland’s 5G network, in a letter to Minister for Defence Simon Coveney. The letter, released to The Irish Times under the Freedom of Information Act, was sent to Mr Coveney, Department of Defence secretary general Jacqui McCrum, and Defence Forces chief of staff Vice Admiral Mark Mellett. Mr Yangxu requested their “full support in mitigating the damage that has been done”, so that it did not “contaminate” Ireland and Huawei’s collective future.

Russia

Hackers Tied to Russia's GRU Targeted the US Grid for Years, Researchers Warn
WIRED
Researchers at Dragos have defined a new APT group they call Kamacite, which at times works as the "access" team for Russia's GRU hackers known as Sandworm, at times independently. And they found Kamacite has targeted the US grid + oil and gas for years.

Research

Securing America’s Critical Supply Chains
CNAS
Supply chain risks are front and center in the global technology competition. How the U.S. government addresses these risks—security, lack of vendor diversity, limited resilience, reliance on foreign raw materials and technology—will have outsized impact on America’s long term economic competitiveness, political power, and military might.