The Protego Weekly Update: New Zealand, Huawei, High-tech Authoritarianism
Here are the stories we are following this week:
New Zealand
We continue to dissect the reaction to the massacre of 50 people at an Islamic Center in Christchurch, New Zealand last Friday- an event broadcast to the world via Facebook, and spread via a variety of social media platforms and sites. The attack appeared to be choreographed for the maximum impact across all media.
- Observers are trying to understand the systemic and technical reasons why the technology firms were not able to stop the spread of this content, and tech platform policies are again under scrutiny.
- Again, concerns over hate speech and terrorist content are in conflict with concerns over free speech. New Zealand police asked Facebook to share the names of all individuals who uploaded the photo. Australian and New Zealand telecoms such as Vodafone and Optus took the unprecedented step of temporarily restricting access to websites such as 4chan, 8chan and Zerohedge, which continue to host copies of the video of the shooting.
- In the US, House Homeland Security Chairman Bennie Thompson has invited Facebook, Google and Twitter to provide briefings on blocking terroristic content after New Zealand attack
- Josh Geltzer sized up Facebook’s disclosures about the New Zealand attack for our partners at Just Security.
The US versus Huawei
United States efforts to get allies to exclude Huawei from future infrastructure development hit a major snag, as Germany has dismissed US concerns and will include Huawei in a bid to develop 5G wireless in the country. Some are concerned the Trump administration is using the beef with Huawei as a bargaining chip in its ongoing trade dispute with China. Once again, Huawei is crowing about the fact that leads the world in the development of intellectual property.
High Tech Autocracy
As authoritarianism rears its head around the world, the role of technology is of particular concern. In the Wall Street Journal, Richard Fontaine and Kara Frederick look at the ways in which emerging technologies will provide new tools for authoritarians. The Intercept looks at how IBM surveillance technology is at play in murderous autocrat Rodrigo Duterte’s Philippines.
The Latest from Protego Press
In case you missed it, last week at Protego our editors considered Facebook’s strategy shift and Elizabeth Warren’s beef with the company over campaign ads that were temporarily banned for using the Facebook logo in video that criticized the tech giants.
-JH