New Cambodian internet censorship | The semiconducter industry between two superpowers | Facebook restricts sharing and viewing news in Australia
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Cambodia's government has issued a decree establishing a China-style internet gateway that will allow online traffic to be controlled and monitored, prompting local concern that democratic freedoms could be under threat. Reuters
Caught between these global superpowers is the Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Corporation (TSMC), a leading manufacturer in the industry, owning 51.5 percent of the foundry market and producing the most advanced chips in the world. TSMC supports both American and Chinese firms such as Apple, Qualcomm, Broadcom, and Xilinx. Taiwan has also become a geopolitical focal point because the Trump administration’s moves to strengthen American-Taiwanese relations heightened tensions in the Taiwan Strait and increased China’s military activity in the region. Foreign Policy
Facebook will restrict publishers and people in Australia from sharing or viewing Australian and international news content. The announcement comes in response to proposed new laws in Australia that would force tech companies to negotiate with media companies over how much to pay them for news content. ABC News
ASPI ICPC
Virtual control: the agenda behind China’s new digital currency
Financial Times
Samantha Hoffman at the ASPI, which published one of the first in-depth reports on the digital renminbi last year, says the e-yuan will significantly expand the party’s surveillance capabilities. “Through the [virtual currency] the party-state would have visibility over all financial transactions,” she says. “The transactions are fully traceable, and there will be no such thing as true anonymity for users.”
Read our report, the flipside of China’s central bank digital currency.
World
Semiconductors and the U.S.-China Innovation Race
Foreign Policy
Caught between these global superpowers is the Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Corporation (TSMC), a leading manufacturer in the industry, owning 51.5 percent of the foundry market and producing the most advanced chips in the world. TSMC supports both American and Chinese firms such as Apple, Qualcomm, Broadcom, and Xilinx..Taiwan has also become a geopolitical focal point because the Trump administration’s moves to strengthen American-Taiwanese relations heightened tensions in the Taiwan Strait and increased China’s military activity in the region.
Australia
New commissioner 'key' to targeting foreign interference
Canberra Times
@sbasfordcanales
An independent statutory body aimed at addressing foreign interference might be the solution Australia needs, a national security expert has said. The threat of foreign interference has long existed but is now playing out in the homes of everyday Australians... New teams were established in the Department of Home Affairs for cyber interference while DFAT and ASIO would deal with foreign disinformation and human-centred interference attempts, respectively.
Facebook restricts sharing or viewing Australian and international news content
ABC News
Facebook will restrict publishers and people in Australia from sharing or viewing Australian and international news content. The announcement comes in response to proposed new laws in Australia that would force tech companies to negotiate with media companies over how much to pay them for news content.
Broaden our critical security areas
The Australian
Security experts are calling for democratic institutions to be classified “critical infrastructure” in a sweeping Morrison government crackdown on cyber attacks amid concern political parties and other bodies involved in free and fair elections are vulnerable to digital foreign interference.
Google strikes $30m deal with Nine with bargaining code in parliament
News Corp Australia
@finnianmchugh
Google striking “fair and generous” deals with Australian news outlets is proof the government’s media bargaining code is working, Treasurer Josh Frydenberg says.
USA
Biden-ordered review of supply chain to include electric car batteries, medical supplies and rare earth metals
Yahoo News
@jennamc_laugh
President Biden will sign an executive order that will require the government to produce unclassified assessments of key industries and their supply chains, including semiconductor manufacturing, electric car batteries, medical supplies, and rare earth elements such as the ones used in iPhones and military systems.
The LAPD Asked Amazon Ring Owners to Hand Over Footage of BLM Protesters
Gizmodo
The Los Angeles Police Department has asked locals to turn over footage their Amazon Ring doorbell cameras may have picked up of Black Lives Matter protests.
US global lending banks are given new life to battle an aggressive China
South China Morning Post
@jodixu
After four years of inactivity, and as US concerns over China’s aggressive state-subsidised financing grew, Exim reopened its doors under the directive of former president Donald Trump.. Under its China programme, which began a year ago, Exim provides loans, guarantees and financing insurance “that are fully competitive with rates, terms and other conditions established by the People’s Republic of China,” according to the description on its website. It is authorised to give preferences in 10 areas, including artificial intelligence, robotics, biotech, biomedical sciences and wireless communications equipment.
Biden expected to embrace tough-on-China cyber policy, think tank says
South China Morning Post
US President Joe Biden is expected to gradually resume cybersecurity talks with China, but will continue to fiercely compete against Beijing to maintain an upper hand in cyber strategy and in global cyberspace governance, a Chinese think tank report said.
ByteDance in early talks to list Douyin in New York, source says
South China Morning Post
@xinzhou
ByteDance, one of China’s most valuable technology unicorns, is looking to raise capital in the United States by listing the shares of its China-only short video sharing application Douyin in New York, according to a source familiar with the plan.
Tim Maurer takes front office DHS cybersecurity job advising Mayorkas
CyberScoop
@timstarks
Tim Maurer, director of the Cyber Policy Initiative at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, is joining the Department of Homeland Security as a senior political appointee in the role of senior counselor for cybersecurity to Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.
Apple tweaks syringe emoji to be less graphic amid vaccine rollout
CNN
@kyurieff
Apple on Tuesday unveiled a small change to its syringe emoji that removes the drops of blood.
North-East Asia
Humour over rumour? The world can learn a lot from Taiwan’s approach to fake news
The Guardian
@arwam
Inoculating people from misinformation and tackling the “infodemic” are key to fighting the coronavirus. Tang, Taiwan’s first transgender government minister and a self-described “civic hacker”, has done this by fostering digital democracy: using technology to encourage civic participation and build consensus.
Disinformation Campaign Targets Hongkongers Seeking U.K. Visas
Bloomberg
@albertonardelli @KariSoo1 @kitty_donaldson
The rhetoric that leaving Hong Kong would be a bad move has escalated to threats that people are in danger of becoming stateless.
South-East Asia
Cambodia adopts China-style internet gateway amid opposition crackdown
Reuters
@prakchanthul
Cambodia's government has issued a decree establishing a China-style internet gateway that will allow online traffic to be controlled and monitored, prompting local concern that democratic freedoms could be under threat.
New Zealand & The Pacific
Should Australia outbid China for a Pacific phone network?
ABC RN
@MatthewBevan
There are reports a Chinese state-owned telecommunications company is lining up buy a struggling multinational mobile phone network in the Pacific.
UK
Secrecy for high-risk tech research agency Aria
The Times
@Steven_Swinford
Ministers will announce plans tomorrow for an £800 million scientific research agency legally entitled to invest in projects that are likely to fail and which will be exempted from freedom of information laws.. It will be exempt from rules designed to prevent taxpayers’ money from being invested in projects with little chance of success. Ministers hope that the agency, to be set up next year, will produce next-generation technology.
We have been staggeringly blind to China’s rare earth dominance
The Telegraph
@harrydq
China’s threatened export ban on rare earths is an almighty own goal for the West.
Europe
Soaring EU-Xinjiang trade in textile machinery, tomatoes piles pressure on Brussels to act on alleged forced labour
South China Morning Post
@fbermingham
German-made exports of machinery parts for Xinjiang’s textiles industry are soaring, despite evidence of forced labour.
Estonia warns of "silenced world dominated by Beijing"
Axios
@BethanyAllenEbr
In its annual report released today, the Estonian Foreign Intelligence Service paints a stark picture of China's attempts to silence criticism and dominate key technologies in Estonia and other democracies.
Africa
Uganda, Ethiopia, Egypt… the hidden cost of internet blackouts
The Africa Report
@Emythat
In the past ten years, the practice of jamming cyber communication has become a new tool by certain nations and governments.
Misc
Apple Is the $2.3 Trillion Fortress That Tim Cook Built
Bloomberg
@AustinCarr @markgurman
Cook seemed to understand that although Apple was vulnerable to Trump’s anti-China bellicosity, he also could use the company’s reputation and his glad-handing as enticement for a president who craved mainstream business validation.
The Assault on Encryption, and Why It’s Bad for your Business
dot magazine
Restricting encryption is a danger for human rights and public safety, but will also be disastrous for the wider Internet industry.
Forget Samsung And Google—Huawei Suddenly Turns To Apple Instead
Forbes
@ukzak
As Huawei waits to see whether Donald Trump’s departure will signal a change of fortune for its embattled smartphone business, it has launched a new strike against its Android partners, praising Apple’s iPhone as “the world’s best” 5G phone.
Clubhouse, a Tiny Audio Chat App, Breaks Through
New York Times
The 11-month-old app has exploded in popularity, even as it grapples with harassment, misinformation and privacy issues.
Graphene integrated on wafer scale marks step towards next-gen photonics
Engineering and Technology
Researchers from the Graphene Flagship project have developed a wafer-scale fabrication technique which could help open the door to a new generation of telecommunications devices.
Events
ASPI Webinar: TikTok & WeChat, where to now?
ASPI ICPC
Wednesday, February 24 2021 - 9am (AEDT)/5pm (Washington)
ASPI's International Cyber Policy Centre is delighted to invite you to the webinar, 'TikTok & WeChat, where to now?' A change in administration in the United States has given a brief reprieve to TikTok and WeChat, two Chinese apps targeted in a series of Executive Orders by former President Trump, but questions about the national security, privacy and censorship implications of these popular apps are set to persist in 2021.
At this webinar, ASPI analyst Fergus Ryan will be joined by Lindsay Gorman from the German Marshall Fund’s Alliance for Securing Democracy; Jordan Schneider, host of the ChinaTalk podcast; Joanna Chiu, journalist and Christopher Parsons from the Munk School's Citizen Lab, to examine and debate the challenges and threats posed by apps like TikTok and WeChat. The panellists will also discuss the policy options available to lawmakers, both in the United States and around the world, that go beyond blanket bans.
Ranking Digital Rights Launches the 2020 RDR Corporate Accountability Index
New America
Wednesday, February 24 2021 - 11:00 AM (EST)
Join Ranking Digital Rights for a first look at the 2020 RDR Corporate Accountability Index and a discussion of how policymakers, advocates, and shareholders can use our data to hold tech and telecom companies accountable for upholding our fundamental rights in 2021.
Research
Analyzing Iranian information operations targeting Pakistan
Ray Serrato
@raymserrato
Iran targeted Pakistan's 2018 elections, with accounts supporting the ruling party and Imran Khan, and at least 10 accounts still up on Facebook/Instagram in 2020.
The COVID-19 Pandemic and Trends in Technology
Chatham House
@joycehakmeh @etaylaw @SophiaIgnatidou
Focusing on the dynamics between governments and big tech, on cybercrime, and on disinformation and fake news, this paper examines some of the risks that have been highlighted and aggravated as societies have transitioned at speed to a more virtual way of living.