‘Misleading’ Facebook data leak claims questioned | China researchers face abuse, sanctions as Beijing looks to silence critics | Vietnam unveils tools for taxing and tracking Big Tech
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After 533 million Facebook user records including phone numbers, Facebook IDs, full names and birthdates were discovered over the weekend, the social media company defended itself in a statement overnight, suggesting that the information in the database that is circulating online was public. Politico
The Internet has become an unbearable place for Vicky Xiuzhong Xu, a 26-year-old analyst based in Australia. Over the past week, she was shocked to see her name trending on Chinese social media, with millions of views and thousands of negative comments. The flood of attacks posted and reposted by state-media outlets and nationalist bloggers followed similar themes. The Washington Post
Vietnam is proposing a pair of regulations that would compel global tech players such as Alibaba and Google to hand over more taxes and data, in a move to increase government oversight in one of the world's fastest-growing digital markets. Nikkei Asia
World
‘Misleading’ Facebook data leak claims questioned
Politico
@vmanancourt
After 533 million Facebook user records including phone numbers, Facebook IDs, full names and birthdates were discovered over the weekend, the social media company defended itself in a statement overnight, suggesting that the information in the database that is circulating online was public.
Australia
China researchers face abuse, sanctions as Beijing looks to silence critics
The Washington Post
@lilkuo @gerryshih
The Internet has become an unbearable place for Vicky Xiuzhong Xu, a 26-year-old analyst based in Australia. Over the past week, she was shocked to see her name trending on Chinese social media, with millions of views and thousands of negative comments. The flood of attacks posted and reposted by state-media outlets and nationalist bloggers followed similar themes.
Aussie attorneys-general considering blanket defamation immunity for digital platforms
ZDNet
@campbell_kwan
Australia's attorneys-general have released a new discussion paper focused on updating the country's defamation laws so that they take into account the role of digital platforms in distributing and displaying online content.
Ombudsman report shows Centrelink's data-matching tool was mostly a waste of time
ZDNet
@ashabeeeee
A report from the Commonwealth Ombudsman has made a number of recommendations and a handful of comments on the handling of Centrelink's online compliance intervention (OCI) program -- which became colloquially known as robo-debt -- by Services Australia.
Victorian government backs businesses investing in tech with AU$5m grant funding
ZDNet
@achanthadavong
The Victorian government has announced a AU$5 million grant program to help small to medium-sized business (SMB) invest specifically in projects aimed at lifting their technology capabilities.
China
Huawei deactivates AI and cloud business group in restructuring
Nikkei Asia
Zhang Erchi @timmyhmshen
Chinese telecom giant Huawei Technologies is closing its core cloud and artificial intelligence business group after only 14 months, reflecting the company's difficulty in transforming from device-maker to service provider.
China builds advanced weapons systems using American chip technology
The Washington Post
In a secretive military facility in southwest China, a supercomputer whirs away, simulating the heat and drag on hypersonic vehicles speeding through the atmosphere — missiles that could one day be aimed at a U.S. aircraft carrier or Taiwan, according to former U.S. officials and Western analysts. The computer is powered by tiny chips designed by a Chinese firm called Phytium Technology using American software and built in the world’s most advanced chip factory in Taiwan, which hums with American precision machinery, say the analysts.
Huawei launches 5G autonomous car system to be installed in new sedan
South China Morning Post
Che Pan @celiachensi
Huawei Technologies Co and Chinese carmaker Arcfox have launched the first electric car with a full suite of autonomous-driving features, as the telecoms equipment giant looks for new sources of revenue after its networking gear and smartphone businesses were hobbled by US sanctions.
USA
Hunting the hunters: How Russian hackers targeted US cyber first responders in SolarWinds breach
CNN
@Zachary Cohen @Alex Marquardt @Geneva Sands
After infiltrating US government computer networks early last year as part of the SolarWinds data breach, Russian hackers then turned their attention to the very people whose job was to track them down.
China building offensive, aggressive military, top US Pacific commander says
CNN
Brad Lendon
Those partners include members of the four-nation Quad, or Quadrilateral Security Dialogue, a strategic forum of the US, Japan, India and Australia. Davidson on Tuesday referred to that grouping as a "diamond of democracies" in the Indo-Pacific.. Davidson said Tuesday he hoped the organization could "build into something bigger." "Not in terms of security alone, but in terms of how we might approach ... the global economy, critical technologies like telecommunications and 5G, collaboration on the international order -- just much to be done diplomatically and economically," he said.
Despite Ban, Facebook Continued To Label People As Interested In Militias For Advertisers
Buzzfeed News
@RMac18
For months after it banned violent extremist groups, Facebook's advertising preference system, which lets advertisers deliver targeted ads, continued to identify and categorize some people as interested in militias.
The Cybersecurity 202: Lawmakers want Biden to fund technology they say could secure American telecommunications companies from spies
The Washington Post
@TonyaJoRiley
A bipartisan group of lawmakers is urging President Biden to include $3 billion in funding for technology it says would reduce American reliance on Chinese telecommunications equipment that could provide a back door for spying.
What gets lost in ‘cyber Pearl Harbor'-style rhetoric
CyberScoop
@shanvav
Over a year into the coronavirus pandemic, more people have become accustomed to doomsday talk. Americans following public officials’ remarks about cybersecurity, though, may have been expecting a kind of digital apocalypse for decades.
North-East Asia
Taiwanese lawmaker exposes wrongdoings at government’s 5G office
Taiwan News
George Liao
A Taiwanese legislator pointed out last week that the government’s heavy investment into 5G R&D has not only yielded a dismal ROI but has also opened a vulnerability to invasion by Chinese software into the country’s infrastructure, potentially endangering national security.
South-East Asia
Vietnam unveils tools for taxing and tracking Big Tech
Nikkei Asia
@lienh
Vietnam is proposing a pair of regulations that would compel global tech players such as Alibaba and Google to hand over more taxes and data, in a move to increase government oversight in one of the world's fastest-growing digital markets.
New dawn for south-east Asian tech as Grab prepares blockbuster listing
Financial Times
Grab, south-east Asia’s most valuable start-up, is set to finalise a deal to go public as early as this week, according to an exclusive in the FT. The planned listing in New York is likely to value the SoftBank-backed technology group at about $35bn.
New Zealand & The Pacific
UK
Lessons of the SolarWinds hack
IISS
@Marcus Willett
Ever since the hack, complex and painstaking technical investigations have been under way into the precise nature and extent of the breach. At the same time, debate has raged about the intent behind the hack and the implications for the cyber policies of the US, and states in general, including whether some form of retaliation is justified. This article examines issues raised by the SolarWinds hack with respect to the cyber-security, offensive-cyber and broader national-security policies of the US and its allies.
Europe
Apple finally admits its products are difficult to repair
Grist
@themadstone
Major tech brands like Apple and Microsoft must now give their smartphones and laptops "repairability" scores in France — and the initial results don’t look good.
Misc
Time to regulate AI that interprets human emotions
Nature
@katecrawford
During the pandemic, technology companies have been pitching their emotion-recognition software for monitoring workers and even children remotely.
Patreon’s Valuation Triples to $4 Billion as Platform Draws Creators, Fans
The Wall Street Journal
@mjarmental
Patreon Inc., an online platform that connects musicians and other creators with fans, was valued at $4 billion in its latest investment round, more than tripling its value since September as venture capitalists bet on startups that serve content creators.
Machines That Shop for Themselves Promise to Save Time and Money
The Wall Street Journal
@benmorenne
As everything from trucks to toasters goes online, the next step for connected devices is the ability to buy and sell goods and services for their human users.