US and Partners launch Declaration of the Future of the Internet | French police investigate vandalism of internet cables | Apple to face fresh antitrust charges in Brussels
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This Declaration represents a political commitment among Declaration partners to advance a positive vision for the Internet and digital technologies. It reclaims the promise of the Internet in the face of the global opportunities and challenges presented by the 21st century. It also reaffirms and recommits its partners to a single global Internet – one that is truly open and fosters competition, privacy, and respect for human rights. The White House
The Paris prosecutor’s office said it has opened a probe into the causes of a major internet outage which affected France’s telecommunications network on Wednesday following reports of coordinated acts of vandalism. Reuters
Apple is set to face fresh antitrust charges in Brussels next week over the way it restricts rivals from accessing its mobile payment system, as the EU sets up its latest challenge to the market power of the world’s most valuable company. Financial Times
ASPI ICPC
Ukraine - Russia
A Meta problem Ukrainian journalists did not need
Coda Story
Natalia Antelava
Facebook says it’s fighting disinformation and blocking Russian propaganda. But independent newsrooms in eastern Ukraine say they’re being restricted under the same rules.
Australia
SA gov to create bug bounty program
iTnews
Justin Hendry
The South Australian government will create a bug bounty program for cyber security researchers who identify vulnerabilities in its internet-facing services. The community vulnerability management service would create a formal way for the department to engage the community, and better manage the discovery of vulnerabilities.
China
Research points to a Chinese hacking effort targeting a Russian border unit
CyberScoop
AJ Vicens
The Chinese government hacking group seen targeting European governments and non-governmental organizations in early March may have also been going after Russian government targets as well, researchers with Secureworks Counter Threat Unit reported Wednesday.
China's Weibo shows user locations to combat 'bad behavior'
Reuters
Weibo, China's equivalent of Twitter, told users on Thursday it would start to publish their IP locations on their account pages and when they post comments, in a bid to combat "bad behavior" online.
Twitter under Elon Musk will need to confront China’s leverage
The Wall Street Journal
Liza Lin and Karen Hao
Elon Musk’s bid to buy Twitter is raising questions, including among employees as well as Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, about how the billionaire investor will handle the Chinese government’s increasing activity on the platform. The questions stem both from Mr. Musk’s stance as a self-described free-speech absolutist, and from China’s vital importance to his main business, electric vehicle maker Tesla.
Expect high drama between Elon Musk and China if Twitter deal closes
Nikkei Asia
Nina Xiang
Despite sending humans to space, recycling rockets, disrupting the combustion engine automotive industry and potentially fixing traffic jams, his attempt to retool Twitter, a mere social media platform, could mark the beginning of his downfall.
USA
United States and 60 Global Partners launch Declaration for the Future of the Internet
The White House
This Declaration represents a political commitment among Declaration partners to advance a positive vision for the Internet and digital technologies. It reclaims the promise of the Internet in the face of the global opportunities and challenges presented by the 21st century. It also reaffirms and recommits its partners to a single global Internet – one that is truly open and fosters competition, privacy, and respect for human rights.
U.S. Intel, Google warn of cyberattacks from China, Russia, North Korea
Newsweek
Jalen Small
Within the last month, intelligence agencies, President Joe Biden, and large companies like Google have all issued the same warning — sounding alarms on the growing threat of cyber attacks coming from foreign governments.
Europe
French police to investigate vandalism behind internet outage
Reuters
Mathieu Rosemain
The Paris prosecutor’s office said it has opened a probe into the causes of a major internet outage which affected France’s telecommunications network on Wednesday following reports of coordinated acts of vandalism.
How the French fiber optic cable attacks accentuate critical infrastructure vulnerabilities
CyberScoop
Suzanne Smalley
The pictures show neatly trimmed fiber optic cables dug up from underground behind what appears to be a well-hidden grate. The apparent simplicity of the sabotage is all the more harrowing in light of how extensively it disrupted Internet service in France, experts said.
Americas
Mexico's top court strikes down controversial cellphone registry with biometric data
Reuters
Cassandra Garrison and Valentine Hilaire
Mexico's Supreme Court on Monday ruled that a plan to create a national cellphone user registry with biometric data is unconstitutional, in a blow to President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador's government, which backed the measure.
Big Tech
Apple to face fresh antitrust charges in Brussels
Financial Times
Javier Espinoza
Apple is set to face fresh antitrust charges in Brussels next week over the way it restricts rivals from accessing its mobile payment system, as the EU sets up its latest challenge to the market power of the world’s most valuable company.
Apple sees growing supply problems, says demand in China affected
Reuters
Apple forecasts growing problems as COVID-19 lockdowns snarl production and demand in China, the war in Ukraine dents sales and growth slows in services, which the company sees as its engine for expansion.
Controversy grows after Musk engages with tweets criticizing Twitter staff
The Guardian
Dan Milmo
Controversy grew on Wednesday over tweets from Elon Musk engaging with criticism of Twitter employees, despite a promise from the entrepreneur not to “disparage” the company or its representatives while he completes the deal to acquire the social media platform.
Intel downbeat as Ukraine war and China lockdowns threaten PC sales
Financial Times
Richard Waters
Intel issued a downbeat revenue and earnings forecast for the current quarter as pandemic lockdowns in China and the war in Ukraine combined to hit the outlook for new sales of PCs. The news, which wiped 5 per cent from Intel’s share price in after-market trading, comes at a time when investors have been looking for clues about whether the surge in demand seen in the broader chip industry has been starting to weaken.
Intel CEO sees chip shortage lasting into 2024
The Wall Street Journal
Asa Fitch
Intel Chief Executive Pat Gelsinger said the chip shortage will last longer than expected as the semiconductor giant reported a decrease in quarterly sales with PC purchases slowing.
It's time to open the black box of social media
Scientific American
Renée DiResta, Laura Edelson, Brendan Nyhan and Ethan Zuckerman
Social media companies are stingy about releasing data and publishing research, especially when the findings might be unwelcome (though notable exceptions exist). The only way to understand what is happening on the platforms is for lawmakers and regulators to require social media companies to release data to independent researchers.
Inside Twitter, fears Musk will return platform to its early troubles
The New York Times
Kate Conger
Employees of Twitter and other social media companies said that Mr. Musk seemed to understand little about Twitter’s approach to content moderation and the problems that had led to its rules — or that he just didn’t care. Some of the suggestions he has made, like labeling automated accounts, were in place before Mr. Musk launched his bid.
Musk, Twitter and the need to vet new media owners
Financial Times
There is a long history of wealthy individuals buying media outlets to cement their power. But the prospect of Musk owning Twitter has prompted concern in a way that, for instance, the 2013 purchase of the Washington Post by Jeff Bezos, Amazon’s founder, did not. Partly that is down to Musk himself — likened by a US judge this week to a “serial violator of the securities laws” — and whether he would be a suitable guardian of a company with 229mn users.Elon Musk isn’t buying Twitter to defend free speech
The Atlantic
Adam Serwer
Compared to the big social media giants, Twitter is a relatively small but influential social network because it is used by many people who are relatively important to political discourse. Although the moderation policies of a private company don’t implicate traditional questions of free speech—that is, state restriction of speech—Twitter’s policies have played a prominent role in arguments about “free speech” online, that is, how platforms decide what they want to host.
Elon Musk got Twitter because he gets Twitter
The New York Times
Ezra Klein
Twitter rewards decent people for acting indecently. The mechanism by which this happens is no mystery. Engagement follows slashing ripostes and bold statements and vicious dunks.
Misc
The U.S. and China need ground rules for AI dangers
Foreign Policy
Ryan Fedasiuk
At a time when about 9 in 10 U.S. adults consider China to be a “competitor” or “enemy,” calls for Washington and Beijing to cooperate on shared challenges routinely fall on deaf ears. But, as laboratories in both countries continue to unveil dramatic capabilities for AI systems, it is more important than ever that the United States and China take steps to mitigate existential threats posed by AI accidents.
UN to begin new phase of negotiations on cybercrime treaty, alarming human rights activists
CyberScoop
Suzanne Smalley
Human rights advocates are alarmed by looming United Nations negotiations to hammer out a cybercrime treaty that they say could give governments unprecedented power to criminalize free speech and use the Internet to violate citizens’ privacy.
Private equity executive sought to undermine NSO critics, data suggests
The Guardian
Stephanie Kirchgaessner and Harry Davies
The Citizen Lab at the University of Toronto has for years been a thorn in the side of the NSO Group, deciphering the company’s sophisticated hacking tools and – crucially – identifying victims of the spyware.
‘Bossware is coming for almost every worker’: the software you might not realize is watching you
The Guardian
Zoë Corbyn
Computer monitoring software is helping companies spy on their employees to measure their productivity – often without their consent
Research
Training tomorrow’s AI workforce: The latent potential of community and technical colleges
Center for Security and Emerging Technologies
Diana Gehlhaus and Luke Koslosky
Community and technical colleges offer enormous potential to grow, sustain, and diversify the U.S. artificial intelligence (AI) talent pipeline. However, these institutions are not being leveraged effectively. This report evaluates current AI-related programs and the associated number of graduates. The authors find that few AI and AI-related degrees and certificates are being awarded today. They propose five recommendations to address existing challenges and harness the potential of these institutions to train tomorrow’s AI workforce.
Probing political bias on Twitter with drifter bots
Indiana University Bloomington
Wen Chen, Diogo Pacheco, Kai-Cheng Yang and Filippo Menczer
Social media platforms attempting to curb abuse and misinformation have been accused of political bias. We deploy neutral social bots who start following different news sources on Twitter, and track them to probe distinct biases emerging from platform mechanisms versus user interactions. We find no strong or consistent evidence of political bias in the news feed. Despite this, the news and information to which U.S. Twitter users are exposed depend strongly on the political leaning of their early connections.
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.