Smart Asian women are the new targets of CCP global online repression | How censoring China’s open-source coders might backfire | Russian hackers boast of holding Costa Rica to ransom
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The Chinese Communist Party has a problem with women of Asian descent who have public platforms, opinions and expertise on China. In an effort to counter the views and work of these women, the CCP has been busy pivoting its growing information operation capabilities to target women, with a focus on journalists working at major Western media outlets..The White House could, for example, lead a coalition of countries in condemning digital transnational repression. A joint statement should gain support from countries and regions like Australia, the UK, Canada, Europe, Japan and hopefully others. It would signal to publics, diaspora communities, social media platforms, malicious actors and, of course, the individuals and organisations under threat, that there will be a rapid step-up in policy focus and action. Australia can’t continue to put this in the too-hard basket. The Strategist
Many suspect the Chinese state has forced Gitee, the Chinese competitor to GitHub, to censor open-source code in a move developers worry could obstruct innovation. MIT Technology Review
Costa Rica has declared it's "at war" with ransomware cyber-criminals that have disabled essential government systems. So who's responsible? And which countries will be targeted next? ABC News
ASPI ICPC
Smart Asian women are the new targets of CCP global online repression
The Strategist
Albert Zhang and Danielle Cave
The Chinese Communist Party has a problem with women of Asian descent who have public platforms, opinions and expertise on China. In an effort to counter the views and work of these women, the CCP has been busy pivoting its growing information operation capabilities to target women, with a focus on journalists working at major Western media outlets..The White House could, for example, lead a coalition of countries in condemning digital transnational repression. A joint statement should gain support from countries and regions like Australia, the UK, Canada, Europe, Japan and hopefully others. It would signal to publics, diaspora communities, social media platforms, malicious actors and, of course, the individuals and organisations under threat, that there will be a rapid step-up in policy focus and action. Australia can’t continue to put this in the too-hard basket.
China-linked Twitter harassment targets female Asian journalists who work for western news outlets
Axios
Bethany Allen-Ebrahimian
A network of Twitter accounts previously linked to the Chinese government is targeting female journalists of Chinese heritage who work for western news outlets in a campaign of online harassment, according to a new report..What's happening: In recent weeks, the Twitter accounts of the New Yorker's Jiayang Fan, the Economist's Alice Su, the New York Times' Muyi Xiao, and other journalists and China analysts — mostly female, mostly of ethnic Chinese heritage and largely based outside of China — have been flooded with thousands of tweets criticizing them as traitors and accusing them of "smearing" China. The harassment campaign is connected to the Chinese state-linked "Spamouflage" network, according to analysis performed by researchers Danielle Cave and Albert Zhang at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI) and reviewed by Axios.
Casualties of China’s aggression: how Galwan clash marked the beginning of end for Huawei, ZTE
The Economic Times - India
“If there is one tipping point which led to higher scrutiny of Chinese investments and influence in India’s critical infrastructure, it was the 2020 border clashes, especially Galwan,” says Baani Grewal, researcher at Australian Strategic Policy Institute’s International Cyber Policy Centre.
Ukraine - Russia
Volodymyr Zelensky on war, technology, and the future of Ukraine
WIRED
Geoffrey Cain
In a one-on-one interview with WIRED, the embattled president expresses clarity amidst the chaos.
Sandvine pulls back from Russia as US, EU tighten control on technology it sells
Bloomberg
Ryan Gallagher
Before the company pulled out of Russia and even since then, some Sandvine employees have expressed concerns during internal meetings that the company’s technology could be used in the country to enable censorship, according to three people familiar with the discussions. And at least three articles detailing some of Sandvine’s business ties to Russia were removed from the company’s website, according to the people. More generally, the US Commerce Department recently finalized a rule that would control the export of deep packet inspection systems that could enable “large-scale government surveillance,” according to a department spokesperson. Such controls are needed from many allied countries, the spokesperson said, “in order to keep sensitive technologies out of dangerous hands.”
Australia
Google ordered to pay John Barilaro $715,000 over 'vulgar' YouTube videos
ABC News
Jamie McKinnell
Former NSW deputy premier John Barilaro has been awarded $715,000 in defamation damages over two YouTube videos. Mr Barilaro sued Google in the Federal Court over its failure to remove the sketch videos, which were made by comedian Jordan Shanks and published in September and October 2020.
Work for us: tech billionaire to Tesla staff after Musk missive
Australian Financial Review
Tess Bennett
Tech titan Scott Farquhar says Elon Musk’s demand that workers return to the office is like something from the 1950s and Tesla staff who don’t like his attitude should apply for jobs at Atlassian.
China
How censoring China’s open-source coders might backfire
MIT Technology Review
Zeyi Yangarchive
Many suspect the Chinese state has forced Gitee, the Chinese competitor to GitHub, to censor open-source code in a move developers worry could obstruct innovation.
USA
The Supreme Court vs. social media
The New York Times
Shira Ovide
The court blocked a Texas law that would have forced large social media companies to publish all viewpoints.
New York passes nation's first electronics Right-to-Repair Law
VICE
Jason Koebler
New York becomes the first state in the country to pass historic legislation that would make it easier to fix your things.
Who won the Depp-Heard trial? Content creators that went all-in.
The Washington Post
Taylor Lorenz
The trial became an online phenomenon, thanks in large part to the creators and influencers who pivoted their accounts to focus solely on the trial, almost universally with pro-Depp stance.
A European country helped the FBI intercept Anom messages, but it wants to remain hidden
Motherboard
Joseph Cox
A U.S. authored document obtained by Motherboard says that the unnamed country that was vital to the FBI being able to read messages from its honeypot phone company Anom was a “European Union member country.”
Americas
Your country was destroyed by two people': Russian hackers boast of holding Costa Rica to ransom
ABC News
James Purtill
Costa Rica has declared it's "at war" with ransomware cyber-criminals that have disabled essential government systems. So who's responsible? And which countries will be targeted next?
South & Central Asia
Control and delete: The Hindu Editorial on government appellate panels for social media
The Hindu
The Government’s plan to set up a panel that can overturn content moderation decisions made by social media platforms is problematic in many ways.
Europe
Estonian court jails woman over Chinese espionage charges
Politico Europe
Gabriela Galindo
An Estonian court jailed a woman after it found her guilty of spying for China and conspiring against Tallinn.
NZ & Pacific Islands
Misc
How the internet turned us into content machines
The New Yorker
Kyle Chayka
Two new books examine how social media traps users in a brutal race to the bottom.
Someone stole Seth Green's Bored Ape, which was supposed to star in his new show
BuzzFeed News
Sarah Emerson
The actor has been pleading on Twitter with “DarkWing84,” who bought his ape from a scammer, to return it.
Research
Events
Strengthening economic competitiveness through smart tech regulation
Foreign Policy
On June 23rd at 10:00 a.m. ET tune in with Foreign Policy, in partnership with Computer & Communications Industry Association (CCIA), for a Virtual Dialogue highlighting the potential economic consequences of proposed legislation in the tech industry. With economic competitiveness and robust innovation key priorities of both the Biden administration and high-profile legislative efforts, how can legislators work to mitigate any potential economic risks of their regulatory proposals? This event is the second of a two-part series on the intersection of technology, policy, and geopolitics.
Jobs
The Sydney Dialogue - Senior Events Coordinator
ASPI ICPC
The Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI) is currently recruiting for an experienced events professional to coordinate the planning and logistics of the second iteration of ASPI’s Sydney Dialogue - the world’s premier summit on emerging, critical and cyber technologies.
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.
Digital Forensics Fellowship
Amnesty International
Amnesty Tech are thrilled to announce the launch of the Digital Forensics Fellowship, led by our Security Lab. This innovative Fellowship is an opportunity for human rights defenders working at the nexus of human rights and technology to expand their learning on digital forensics and to work alongside the Security Lab to conduct unique research projects.