Trump admin bans investment in firms linked to Chinese military | Telstra plans biggest restructure since privatisation | Biden’s China Tech Plan
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The Trump administration on Thursday unveiled an executive order prohibiting U.S. investments in Chinese firms that Washington says are owned or controlled by the Chinese military, ramping up pressure on Beijing after the U.S. election. Reuters
Telstra has revealed dramatic plans to split itself into three legal entities, amid widespread speculation it is positioning to buy the National Broadband Network in coming years. ABC
President-elect Joe Biden may change the tone of Washington’s relationship with Beijing, but business leaders and Democratic advisers say he is likely to push back on China’s aim to become a global technology leader. WSJ
ASPI ICPC
Questions mount about controversial Hunter Biden-China Dossier
The Intercept
@MaraHvistendahl
In late October, disinformation researcher Elise Thomas discovered that both the firm whose logo appears on the China dossier, Typhoon Investigations, and an associated analyst named Martin Aspen were fake.
Tired of coronavirus conspiracy theories in your Facebook feed? So was Elissa — so she did something about it
ABC
@EliseK53
Cyber analyst Jake Wallis works for the independent think tank the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, which tracks online misinformation campaigns that some people read and share as news. "There is a whole eco-system of misinformation around COVID-19 and the origins of the virus," Dr Wallis said.
World
Australia
Telstra plans biggest restructure since privatisation, push into renewable energy
ABC
@grhutchens
Telstra has revealed dramatic plans to split itself into three legal entities, amid widespread speculation it is positioning to buy the National Broadband Network in coming years.
Foxtel given $10 million federal grant without plan for spending it, FOI documents reveal
ABC
The documents, obtained under a Freedom of Information (FOI) request, show the Federal Communications Department gave Foxtel free rein to allocate millions of dollars of taxpayer money granted to broadcast under-represented sports.
China
The Chinese Communist Party just showed Jack Ma — and the rest of us — who’s boss
The Washington Post
Even one of the world's wealthiest businessmen can't stand up to the power of the party.
USA
Trump administration bans U.S. investments in firms linked to Chinese military
Reuters
The Trump administration on Thursday unveiled an executive order prohibiting U.S. investments in Chinese firms that Washington says are owned or controlled by the Chinese military, ramping up pressure on Beijing after the U.S. election.
Biden’s China Tech Plan: Stronger Defense, Quieter Offense
The Wall Street Journal
@Stuwoo @asafitch
President-elect Joe Biden may change the tone of Washington’s relationship with Beijing, but business leaders and Democratic advisers say he is likely to push back on China’s aim to become a global technology leader.
Trump administration goes dark on TikTok as midnight deadline looms
Axios
@danprimack
The Trump administration's existential threat to TikTok is again going down to the wire, as today is the deadline for when its Chinese parent company ByteDance must unwind a 2018 merger that helped create the app.
Exclusive: Top official on U.S. election cybersecurity tells associates he expects to be fired
Reuters
@Bing_Chris @josephmenn @razhael
Top U.S. cybersecurity official Christopher Krebs, who worked on protecting the election from hackers, has told associates he expects to be fired by the White House.
Senior U.S. cybersecurity official asked to resign amid Trump transition tumult
Reuters
@Bing_Chris
Bryan Ware, the Assistant Director for Cybersecurity for the Department of Homeland Security’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), confirmed to Reuters that he had handed in his resignation on Thursday.
US Intelligence Agencies Research On Long-Range Biometrics Examined
IPVM
Identifying people at close range is increasingly accurate but what about identifying people at 100 or 500 meters or even 1 kilometer? This is far more difficult. The US government is investing in developing these capabilities.
Ron Klain, Biden’s new chief of staff, gets tech
Protocol
@issielapowsky
President-elect Biden has already stacked his transition team with people who are deeply steeped in tech. Now, he's picked another one to be his right-hand man.
How the Pentagon is trolling Russian, Chinese hackers with cartoons
CyberScoop
@shanvav
There’s little that Russian hackers hate more than being seen as soft. So when U.S. military hackers saw a way to publicly portray them as bumbling and unthreatening in recent weeks, they seized the moment.
Zuckerberg says Bannon has not violated enough policies for suspension: recording
Reuters
@katielpaul
Facebook FB.O Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg told an all-staff meeting on Thursday that former Trump White House adviser Steve Bannon had not violated enough of the company's policies to justify his suspension, according to a recording heard by Reuters.
North Asia
South-East Asia
Vietnamese hacking group OceanLotus uses imitation news sites to spread malware
Cyberscoop
@shanvav
Suspected Vietnamese government-linked hackers are behind a series of fake news websites and Facebook pages meant to target victims with malicious software, according to Volexity research published Friday.
UK
Europe
Brussels Report: Europe Tries to Boost Its Cybersecurity Industry
The Wall Street Journal
@catstupp
European investors are aiming to give the continent’s fragmented cybersecurity industry a financial boost, part of a slew of recent initiatives designed to reduce dependence on foreign technology suppliers.
Russia
The GRU's MH17 Disinformation Operations Part 1: The Bonanza Media Project
Bellingcat
An investigation by Bellingcat and its investigative partners has discovered evidence that Bonanza Media, a self-styled independent investigative platform, is in fact a special disinformation project working in coordination with Russia’s military intelligence.
Africa
Is Big Tech Setting Africa Back?
Foreign Policy
@Nima_Elmi
Data colonialism is rampant on the African continent. Smart regulation can stop it.
Misc
Cheating-detection companies made millions during the pandemic. Now students are fighting back.
The Washington Post
With remote proctors watching them take tests, some worry that even leaving for the bathroom will brand them as cheats.
Research
Dialling in the Law: A comparative assessment of jurisprudence on internet shutdowns
Association for Progressive Communications
State-mandated internet shutdowns are becoming more frequent as governments use these to quell dissent and silence critics. Can citizens push back against these shutdowns by taking their own states to court? Do countries in the global South have a legal framework to address and counter internet shutdowns?
Events
Jobs
Senior Researcher / Project Lead
ASPI ICPC
ASPI’s International Cyber Policy Centre (ICPC) has an outstanding opportunity for a senior researcher to lead a one-year project looking at leadership networks across Asia. Interviews will start immediately.
Senior Strategic Communications Manager
ASPI
The Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI) has an outstanding opportunity for a highly experienced, strategic comms professional to contribute to the launch of a new, high profile global project. The Senior Strategic Communications Manager will be an integral member of a bespoke team that will liaise with the Australian government, foreign governments, industry and civil society to build up this exciting new project from scratch. The position will work closely with the Executive Director and the Institutes’s International Cyber Policy Centre.