A weekly digest of the latest news and research related to the work of the Technology, Economics, and Governance Working Group. Topics covered in the digest include cybersecurity, domestic regulation, innovation, international competition, social media disinformation, and the California exodus.
Industrial Policy, International Competition and Cooperation
The U.S. Is Continuing Its Campaign Against Huawei | Lawfare
This article compares and contrasts the Biden administration’s Huawei policy against that of the Trump administration. Continuities remain in the push to decouple and decrease the firm’s presence in Western technological infrastructure. Broader differences exist, however, in Biden’s emphasis on multilateralism, use of the carrot in addition to the stick, and generally a more deliberative and integrative approach.
Commerce Department to Tap Former Pentagon Official for Export-Control Post | The Wall Street Journal
Alan Estevez, a former Pentagon acquisitions director, has been nominated to lead the Bureau of Industry and Security. The position would give Estevez the power to determine technology exports and imports from China, and the ability to place Chinese firms on a Commerce Department “blacklist.”
The Failure of China’s Microchip Giant Tests Beijing’s Tech Ambitions | The New York Times
Tsinghua Unigroup’s bankruptcy is revelatory of Beijing’s competitive intentions and potential shortcomings. The firm’s path is considered by the Chinese to be a success story in terms of training chip-building talent, demonstrating the growth potential available through state financing, and stoking geopolitical competition in the semiconductor arena. The article however points out the risks of this approach: short-term monetary losses and an ultimately inefficient approach to achieving semiconductor autarky.
Domestic Regulation
FTC Revives Merger Reporting Requirements for Startup Deals | Bloomberg Law
The FTC repealed a 1995 policy loosening disclosure requirements for tech firm acquisitions and mergers on a 3-2 partisan vote. Business groups like the U.S. Chamber of Commerce had lobbied against the policy change. The new policy is couched in promoting transparency and competitive practices in the startup acquisition sphere.
New bill would make some companies report cyberattacks to the government | CNBC
In response to SolarWinds and the Colonial pipeline hacks, the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence has introduced a bipartisan bill implementing disclosure requirements. Under the bill, government agencies, contractors, and key infrastructure firms would be required to disclose a cyberattack. The bill would also implement limited liability protections to assuage concerns from firms whose reports would be otherwise chilled by threats of litigation.
Innovation
DeepMind’s AlphaFold2 Predicts Protein Structures with Atomic-Level Accuracy | Synced
This AI model produced by DeepMind can predict the 3D folding patterns of proteins based off DNA sequences with unprecedented accuracy at the atomic level. Applications of this modelling network for biotechnology are significant, reducing cost and time for conventional protein diagnostics, enabling the identification of thousands of proteins in the human genome, and potentially better tailoring future drug research.
Path for DARPA tech to become part of military’s JADC2 enterprise still unclear | C4ISRNET
This article considers the issues of integrating DARPA research products into the JADC2 initiative. Human capital and direction, not the technology itself, is offered as a barrier to successful incorporation of new DARPA innovations into operational systems. The challenges of this process are raised with the example of STITCHES, an AI that can independently code patches to translate comms between platforms utilizing different data types.
Cyber
Microsoft Exchange hack caused by China, US and allies say | AP
The United States, EU, and NATO member states have attributed the hacking of Microsoft Exchange email servers to Chinese state-sponsored actors. Chinese-affiliated hackers were also implicated in a wide raft of ransomware and intellectual property theft hacks on American and Western targets. While stopping short of outright sanctions, the joint statement is intended to send a comprehensive message to Beijing as prosecutions of responsible individuals commence.
Malware From An Infamous Hacker-For-Hire Group Was Found On Nearly 900 Phones | NPR
The Israeli hacking outfit NSO Group has been implicated in an extensive spyware infiltration of phones belonging to numerous targets selected by its clients. These targets included 189 journalists, 600 politicians, 65 business leaders, 89 human rights activists, and a few heads of state. NSO Group, which claims to only service governments, denies that it maintained a list of potential targets for its Pegasus spyware.
‘Somebody has to do the dirty work’: NSO founders defend the spyware they built | The Washington Post
A deeper investigation into NSO’s Pegasus spyware abuse, offering a more narrative insight. The history of NSO Group is interlinked with the progression of the infiltrations, and the article offers the group’s founders’ perspective on these events.
TSA issues new cybersecurity rules for pipeline companies | The Washington Post
Following a disclosure from DHS revealing that 13 American pipelines were compromised by Chinese hackers between 2011 and 2013, stronger security requirements have been announced by TSA. The regulations, which are partially classified, call for reviews of pipeline IT infrastructure and the development of comprehensive corporate response plans to hacks.
Rapid7 acquires Israel-founded cybersecurity firm for $335 million | The Boston Globe
The Boston-headquartered cybersecurity company has purchased IntSights, a firm founded by former members of Israel’s cyber spy agency Unit 8200. The acquisition signals Rapid7’s desire to implement better cyberattack responses for its clients, which include a wide variety of major American companies. The deal also represents a possible onshoring of Israeli cyber expertise into the American private market.
California
California will spend $6 billion to expand internet access. Who gets priority? | The Sacramento Bee
Governor Newsom has signed a bill allocating funding for broadband internet expansion into rural and underserved urban communities. The law expands California’s broadband regulatory office, supplies broadband to public access points, and increases broadband access to individual households on a competitive basis. Lawmakers hope that the law will help reduce California’s digital divide and upgrade the state’s digital infrastructure to holistically integrate its economy.
The California Dream is Dying | The Atlantic
An extensive feature article examining the ongoing crisis hampering California’s economic and demographic vitality. Friedersdorf considers the racial and class legacies of California housing politics stifling growth, education inequalities kneecapping human capital, and regulatory excess constraining business and agricultural dynamism. Friedersdorf does not arrive at a partisan conclusion, suggesting that a bipartisan, generational anti-growth consensus feeds and perpetuates the imbalances leading business and people to leave the state.
Freedom of Speech, Domestic Democracy, and Extremism
White House reviewing Section 230 amid efforts to push social media giants to crack down on misinformation | CNN
President Biden has directed his staff to examine whether social media companies can be held liable for misinformation under Section 230. Biden’s concern arises as COVID-19 misinformation efforts on social media platforms may impact the success of the American vaccination drive. Biden remains, like Trump, legally hampered in his ability to affect moderation and liability due to the present statute, partisan division in Congress, and the FCC.
Combating Foreign Disinformation on Social Media | RAND
A comprehensive RAND report on foreign disinformation and other info-ops on American social media, containing recommendations for how the Armed Forces, and specifically the Air Force, should respond. Topline action items include expanding military information operations capacity, avoiding usage bans on social media and prescriptive content policing, and implementing a proactive counter-disinfo campaign that incorporates civil society.
