DigitalPolitik (№4)
A newsletter on states, markets, and their digital intersection by Sean McDonald and An Xiao Mina
MEMES TO MOVEMENTS LAUNCH
Editor’s Note: An wrote a book! We’re biased, but it’s objectively great and that’s how the internets work now. Also, lots of people who aren’t affiliated with this newsletter think it’s great. But don’t take the internets’ word — buy it yourself. And then maybe another copy, just to be sure. And then a few copies for your friends “in the know.” Then, start using its structure to make highly contextual in-jokes based on current events and… well, you know how it goes. Needless to say, An’s off this edition, but she’ll be back soon!
Highlights
- Facebook’s Reverse Alphabet
- Amazon’s Weirdly Anodyne Dominance
- Data Broken
- US Trying to Lock China Out of 5G Markets
Synthesis and Analysis
Z, Y, X, W, V, U, T… Facebook announced plans to consolidate Messenger, WhatsApp, and Instagram’s backend. The upside of Facebook’s roll-up is that it may include end-to-end across all three platforms, which protects the substance of messages. The downside is that it would consolidate its collection of metadata and ad-targeting, running roughshod over the unique promises that convinced users to join each. The Data Protection Commission of Ireland, ironically, is raising concerns about the potential impact under GDPR.
Facebook’s backend consolidation is the reverse of Alphabet’s approach. Facebook will maintain a unified commercial front, with an equally centralized backend across some of the web’s largest properties — while using end-to-end encryption to argue that their metadata doesn’t amount to identifying information, while selling targeting services based on it. Alphabet, by contrast, federated its business architecture to avoid regulator pressure to provide evidence that each of its companies didn’t have a consolidated backend.
At the same time, WhatsApp is restricting the way users share information based on misinformation in India. The ruling political party is responding by, reportedly, building armies of bots to circumvent the new limitations, maximizing asymmetry in the political dialogue (h/t @billyperrigo). — SMM
#superpower #consolidator
Everybody’s a Broker. 2019 is shaping up to be the year we realize everyone, and really everyone is a data broker whose business model is weaponizing your data — or that aggregate of lots of people’s data — against you. The biggest, and by far most invasive, is the revelation by MotherBoard that US mobile networks are selling real-time location data on commercial markets through a bunch of shady intermediaries. The Weather Channel is getting in trouble (h/t @jtashea) for trying to do the same thing, Glaxo Smith Kline and 23 & Me partnered to share their sweet, sweet genetica data, and Indian telcos are actively lobbying to share data with the government, to start standardizing the process.
Customer markets are less about providing value, and more about exploiting the data, and its aggregated potential, that each transaction generates. The direction of the data economy has led regulators to call data brokers ‘privacy deathstars’ — which would be more reassuring, if it wasn’t also the explicit direction of some of the world’s most established brands (h/t @WolfieChristi). It doesn’t seem any more plausible to ask consumers to predict the harms that institutions, relying on data and models they can’t interrogate, might visit upon them, than it is to assume regulators will be able to control global markets with domestic action. And yet, without increasing the liabilities attached to data sharing and supply chains, the overwhelming pressure — and even fiduciary duty — will be to exploit the trust of relationships we depend on most. — SMM #influencer #consolidator
The Network Thickens. In #3, we tracked Canada’s arrest of a Huawei executive amidst pressure from the US. Since, the US has widened the scope of its offensive — and is posing an ultimatum to trade partners like the UK, Canada, and Germany over the roll-out of 5G infrastructure. This week, the US accused Huawei of stealing trade secrets and violating sanctions against Iran — Huawei responded with ‘disappointment’ and denial. Bloomberg recently pointed out that China’s exporting surveillance systems to at least 18 countries (h/t @neve_peric). Poland arrested Huawei’s national sales director on spying charges, who the company then fired. Regardless, Poland is locking Huawei out of its 5G rollout. Meanwhile, British Telecom became the first international telecom to get a license to operate in China. In an excellent analysis of the US and China’s technology fueled trade war, Dan Ciuriak proposes a ‘digital round’ of WTO negotiations.
The United States’ ‘winner take all’ approach to standards and infrastructure ownership is an ahistoric read of the dynamics that lead to successful adoption of either. Not only will brinksmanship serve both sides poorly, but it will likely end up with the kind of obstinate market division that primarily punishes customers by complicating interoperability. More concerning, though, is the growing use of sovereign diplomatic powers and pressure to defend market positions — particularly using politically charged accusations of politically defined insecurity to lock out competitors. — SMM #superpower #influencer #consolidator
Market of the Jungle. Amazon is becoming the lightning rod for the defining the limits of vertical integration. In January they became the most valuable public company in the world. Amazon’s dominance and public perception has less blowback for successive scandals around its flawed and racist facial recognition technology, deceptive and obtrusive market practices, its clandestine data sharing relationship with Facebook, or its questionably ethical attempt to capture the federal procurement marketplace, than other internet giants. Amazon’s market position is insane by nearly any measure — so much so that journalist Kashmir Hill found it impossible to live a life without it. Despite a lot of anti-trust scholarship, and the occasional bit of Presidential jealousy, Amazon is largely unscathed while growing at an unprecedented scale. Unpicking Amazon is likely beyond any single regulator but that’s not to suggest they won’t try. In the meantime, Amazon will continue to grow while the rest of us try and figure out how to say stop. — SMM #superpower
Droning On. Gatwick shut down over suspicions of drone activity. Then, briefly, Heathrow. Then Newark. While each case appears to be different, it proved a relatively small number of drones can panic or close an airport, which is a pretty low barrier to entry. Meanwhile, the American FAA is suggesting that drones should be allowed to fly at night, over groups of people without their consent. Stacks up. — SMM #consolidator #influencer
Internet Climate Change. Internet infrastructure is increasingly being used to create space for abuse — and/or limit violence — during elections. That’s already happened a lot recently — Bangladesh slows mobile internet ahead of election. Gabon shut down the internet during a recent coup attempt. Sudan and Zimbabwe, too, during protests, through reports are that Zimbabwe’s political leadership used VPNs that gave them regular access. At the same time, electronic voting records are the source of significant concerns about the validity of Congo’s recent election (h/t @patrickgaspard). — SMM #consolidator #influencer
Notables and Quotables
“The controversy of “innovative Multilateralism” vs. “neo-nationalistic Unilateralism” could dominate the global Internet Governance debate in the coming years. This global debate has already started in the early 1990s. It circled in the first years around the management of critical Internet resources. But since the Tunis Agenda from 2005, which introduced the “multistakeholder approach”, the discussion has moved into all fields of global policy-making: from security to trade to human rights. It was a technical issue with political implications 20 years ago. Now it is a political issue with a technical component.” — Wolfgang Kleinwächter in Internet Governance Outlook 2019: Innovative Multilateralism vs. Neo-Nationalist Unilateralism (h/t @PaulFehlinger)
“Remarkable finding: People don’t trust transparent models any more than opaque ones, and have more difficulty detecting large errors in transparent ones.” — Pedro Domingos (@pmddomingos) summarizing this important study on the relationship between understanding and trust.
“…over time, what will matter more to global markets is the big rise in Chinese consumer demand, the big fall in Chinese savings and the big increase in China’s need for foreign capital.” — Nathaniel Taplin’s The China Story That Is Far Bigger Than Apple (h/t @AndrewSErickson)
“Whoever had “drug company buys your DNA to target drugs at you that you’ll never be able to afford because US health care is broken,” you “win” the dystopian pool today.” — Kyle E. Johnson (@kyleejohnson) on Glaxo Smith Kline’s $300m deal to access 23&Me data
Is This Working? Global VC market sees highest-ever concentration of supergiant dollar volume in Q4 2018
‘Nuff Said. The Divide Between Silicon Valley and Washington Is a National-Security Threat
Disruption to Construction. Disruption for thee, not for me (h/t @Klonick)
“Unwittingly” Don’t believe the hype: the media are unwittingly selling us an AI fantasy
Notya Digital War Insurance. NotPetya an ‘act of war,’ cyber insurance firm taken to task for refusing to pay out
No Chill. Netflix pulls episode of comedy show in Saudi Arabia
Immigration, eh? Indian technology talent is flocking to Canada
Byte-ing Back. China’s ByteDance to Challenge Facebook.
EU’re a Bug. EU starts running Bug Bounties on Free Open Source Software
Open Face Letter. Pressure Mounts on Amazon, Microsoft, and Google Against Selling Facial Recognition to Government
You Don’t Mined. The Exaggerated Promise of So-Called Unbiased Data Mining (h/t @jonathanstray)
Universal Coverage. POTRAZ (Zimbabwe) Has Now Built 367 Base Stations Using the Universal Services Fund
Giant Leap. ‘New Chapter’ in Space Exploration as China Reaches Far Side of the Moon
Understate-ing. “Smart cities,” pose fresh ethical challenges for open governance
UKnowthatsbullshit. UK spies: You know how we said bulk hacking would be used sparingly? Well, things have ‘evolved’
Only the Strong Advertise. The impact of GDPR, in 5 charts
The Regulator of My Regulator is… Mandatory SIM registration: policy and regulatory perspectives in the absence of data protection laws
iSprechen. iPhone sales ban takes effect in Germany
BlitzBreach. Authorities already knew about the hacker attack in December
Privatization without Representation. The Citizen United Playbook (h/t @brendan_fischer)
The Surveillance is Already Here. Not All Surveillance is Created Equal
Ghosting in the Kingdom. Saudi women to be notified of divorce by text message
It can’t. Blockchain Can Wrest the Internet from Corporations’ Grasp
You know it when you see it. Courts Remain Skeptical of Certifying Data Privacy Class Actions
The Aadhaar of Payments. Nandan Nilekani to head five-member RBI panel on digital payments
The VPEnd? China turns up heat on individuals’ use of foreign websites
Brentrance. British Telecom becomes first non-Chinese telecom to get operating license in China (h/t @adschina)
Crowdsourcing as Elite-Led Direct-ish Democracy. The digital activist taking politicians out of Madrid politics
Equity Cushions are the New Derivatives. Netflix’s stretched stock probably won’t protect its bond buyers (h/t @alexandrascaggs)
Companies that Surveil Together… Intel and Alibaba team up to develop artificial intelligence and 3D tracking technology
Commons Internet. Investing in Indigenous Connectivity Is an Investment in Our Future Online
Vote Unblock. Court: Politicians who block citizens on social media violate 1st Amendment
UnlinkedIn. LinkedIn Blocking Pages of People Not in China, in China (h/t @emilyrauhala)
Hotel Florida. Florida Governor pledges to block employees from using Airbnb based on the company’s aid to the West Bank
Dance, Dance Capitalism. Forza Horizon 4 removes dance moves at the center of ongoing Fortnite copyright lawsuits (h/t @anildash)
You Have the Right to Withhold Your Fingerprint. Feds forcing mass fingerprint unlocks is an “abuse of power,” judge rules (h/t @wbm312)
The Employees are INSIDE the building. Googlers for Ending Forced Arbitration launch awareness campaign
AlphaNo. A Style-Based Generator Architecture for Generative Adversarial Networks
L;R
We’re going to try a new section Long; Resource which may include interesting books, articles, libraries, and analysis tools.
Review essay: How Platforms Shape Public Values and Public Discourse (paywall)
Custodians of the Internet by Tarleton Gillespie
When data is capital: Datafication, accumulation, and extraction by Jathan Sadowski (h/t @FrankPasquale)
‘Rule of Trust’: The Power and Perils of China’s Social Credit Megaproject by Yu-Jie Chen, Ching-Fu Lin, and Han-Wei Liu
Privacy’s Double Standards by Scott Skinner-Thompson
Internet & Jursidiction Policy Network Retrospect Database
Global Privacy and Data Protection Enforcement Database by IAPP (members only)
From the Contributors
DID WE MENTION AN’S BOOK?!?! You should get it here.
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DigitalPolitik is a twice-monthly newsletter on states, markets, and their digital intersection. We started calling the phenomenon #digitalpolitik (dig-E-tahl-pol-E-tique), as a shorthand for the global politics of digitization. As far as we can tell, the term was coined by the German Government, who use it to describe their digital economic strategy. We use digitalpolitik more like realpolitik, and use it to refer to the increasingly adversarial convergence of geopolitics, markets, memes, misinformation, machinations, and movements.
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