Global Media News

China Makes It Difficult For Tech Companies to do Business

 China New Information Gathering Idea Rejected By the U.S 

Chinas new ideas promote gathering the information of tech companies users. The laws they are trying to in force require tech companies to turn over "snooping" mechanisms to the Chinese government.   The United States is against the act of China trying to enforce laws to collect user data. China's inquiries are mainly about tech companies encryption keys to their codes for personal data. The sharing of user data can threaten the U.S of economic cyber espionage.  In an interview Obama stated his concerns for China requiring tech companies to give personal data to their firms. 

"This is something that I’ve raised directly with President Xi," Obama said. "We have made it very clear to them that this is something they are going to have to change if they are to do business with the United States." (BBC)

Obama spoke on cyber security and consumer protection at Stanford University. Obama felt it would be critical for any international company to prosper while collects data to keep track of user data. He stated, "I don't think there's any U.S or European firm, international firm that can get away with that whole sale turning over of data".

China is concerned with any possible threats from religious extremist or separatists. "Beijing has argued the need to quickly ratchet up its cybersecurity measures in the wake of former NSA contractor Edward Snowden's revelations of sophisticated U.S. spying techniques." (reuters.com) 

 

Google Overshadowing Other Manufacturers

Its' difficult for smaller companies to shine when large scale companies get all of the shine. Google has pushed its competing rivals buttons such as Yandex. Yandex is a Russian Internet company which operates the largest search engine in Russia with about 60% market share in that country. According to bbc.com, Yandex alleges that its rival, Google has an unfair advantage because it insists device-makers set Google as the default search setting if they want to pre-install its Play store. 

 

Googles restrictions are conflict with the way Yandex markets its company. The amount of shares on android phones are affected because of  Google services. "Google's rivals have claimed Android is used as a way to give Google's other services an unfair competitive advantage". (bbc.com) 

 

Although Yandex has filed an antitrust complaint against Google,  the search engine has yet to respond. Google will most likely make an account that their rival search engines can be downloaded to android phones as long as their services aren't pre-downloaded. 

 

It's agreeable that Google is one of the largest most used search engines. With such reliable and safe services, Google attracts millions of servers worldwide. Of course others countries would like their citizens to use there soft- ware hence that challenge of competing against Google. Other internet companies have complained about the unfair benefits that Google has. The "take-it-or-leave-it" rule where manufacturers can either install all of Googles complete serve including google maps, gmail, google play, or reject cellular service all together. 

"We believe that user-centric services, such as search, maps, email, etc., should be unbundled from the Android OS. It is essential to return to a level playing field where competition is over quality of products and services rather than bundling and pre-installation."

 

Android is by a long way the most popular mobile device in Russia. Googles restriction of  apps and other services are pushing away customers from local smart phone vendors in Russia. "Google has been under investigation for years in Europe regarding its approach to desktop search -- something that Yandex's CEO has publicity backed. The European Commission also recently voted to push forward with legislation that could see Google (and other search providers) forced to unbundle its search engine from its other services.Google wants there search engine to be the main search engine or nothing at all. 

 

 

'The Interview' Shines A Light On North Korean Regime

 

   "The Interview", a Sony film, pushes boundaries of the North Korean regime.  The movie shows off how weak of a country the North Koreans actually are by showing the peoples poverty and belief in their leader.  Many political relationships between North Korea and other countries are put on the line due to "The Interview" shining a light onto North Korea's regime.

    "The Interview" entails a U.S. celebrity interviewer invited to interview North Korea's leader, Kim Jong Un,  and in the process the United States FBI plots to assassinate Kim Jong Un with the help of the celebrity interviewer.  It opens up topics for the celebrity interviewer to possibly ask Kim Jung Un such as, why does North Korea spend billions of dollars on their nuclear weapons program but needs a hand out of $100 million from the UN to feed their people.  Such things as famine, brainwashing propaganda, and censorship show how much the regime controls its people.  This movie has the power to challenge the North Korean regime and authority. It also shows other countries like America that despite all of North Korea's missiles and nuclear threats, North Korea is a repressed country.  According to the Washington Post,

"That is why the North Koreans have reacted so aggressively. Because if this movie is seen by audiences around the world, and if copies are pirated in to North Korea, it is a very real challenge to the ruling regime's legitimacy."

   Being that "The Interview" is a Sony Pictures film, and Sony is a Japanese company that has since expanded into America, there were some concerns that it was possible that the movie would destroy the negations and relationship between North Korea and Japan.  This movie has the potential to distance and ruin the relationship the Japanese is trying to build with North Korea. In the past there has been abductions in Japan and test missiles that have launched towards Japan.  The Wrap reports,

"A New York Times exposé published Dec. 14 suggested that Sony CEO Kazuo Hirai intervened in creative decisions for “The Interview” to avoid provoking Pyongyang:
“While many Americans seem to see North Korea as too distant to keep them awake at night, many Japanese see it as a very visible threat. Until three decades ago, North Korean agents occasionally snatched people off beaches in neighboring Japan to serve as Japanese-language teachers, and long-range North Korean rockets on test runs still fly ominously over Japan’s main islands.”

    Could a movie starring comedians James Franco and Seth Rogan have so much power as to destroy the bonds and agreements made by North Korea and Japan? According to a NewYorkTimes.com article, 

"North Korea fired three short-range projectiles off its east coast on Thursday, a day after it warned of retaliation against the release of an American comedy film involving a plot to kill its leader, Kim Jong-un."

It remains unclear if the act was in retaliation of the movie "The Interview", or not.  

North Korea has said that they view "The Interview" as "an act of war".  Time will tell if these wounds can heal between the countries.

North Korea Receives US Sanctions After Sony Attacks

 

    US sanctions against 10 North Korean officials and three organizations have been issued by US President Obama.  This comes after there was an attack on Sony Pictures company on the movie to be released titled "The Interview", featuring a storyline of two interviewers set to interview and kill North Korea's leader, Kim Jong-un.  These sanctions seem to be very military and cyber based.  According to BBC News:

"Among those named in the sanctions were:

• The Reconnaissance General Bureau, North Korea's primary intelligence organisation.
• North Korea's primary arms dealer, the Korea Mining Development Trading Corporation (Komid).
• Korea Tangun Trading Corporation, which supports North Korea's defence research. 
• Jang Song Chol: Named by the US Treasury as a Komid representative in Russia and a government official.
• Kim Yong Chol: An official of the North Korean government, according to the US, and a Komid representative in Iran.
• Ryu Jin and Kang Ryong: Komid officials and members of the North Korean government who are operating in Syria, according to the US."

     The 10 officials named in the sanctions are big time players in North Korean weapon technology.  President Obama wanted to hurt North Korean officials who may have been involved in the attacks without hurting the people of North Korea.  North Korea has denied any involvement in the Sony attack, but US Intelligence begs to differ.  

The NY Times reported a statement made by US Treasury Secretary Jacob J. Lew, which said:

“Today’s actions are driven by our commitment to hold North Korea accountable for its destructive and destabilizing conduct,” Mr. Lew said. “Even as the F.B.I. continues its investigation into the cyberattack against Sony Pictures Entertainment, these steps underscore that we will employ a broad set of tools to defend U.S. businesses and citizens, and to respond to attempts to undermine our values or threaten the national security of the United States.”

     The US administration also said there would be a secret plan of response to North Korea's Sony attacks as well.  For two weeks following the Sony attack, North Korea's internet connection had been shut down.  US Officials skirted around questions asking if the US was involved in North Korea's internet loss.  

Verizon Tech News Site Bans Stories on U.S. Spying

 Verizon is getting into the news business. What could go wrong?

Upshot Journalism

     Upshot was created because of new opportunities being created for journalists due to the spread of digital data and the Internet. 

  

Twitter Partners with IBM

    Twitter and IBM have announced a partnership. This partnership will transform businesses to understand their markets, customers, and customers. 

    

CVS and Rite Aid Reject Apple Pay

    Apple Pay was to replace the consumer's wallet of credit cards with its mobile system. But this mobile system has hit a roadblock. CVS and Rite Aid have removed Apple Pay from their stores.

Digital Attack Map Dramatizes Need for Google's "Project Shield"

Google's  Big Picture Group has created a pretty visualization of global denial of service attacks. According to the Attack Map about page:

"Digital Attack Map is a live data visualization of DDoS attacks around the globe, built through a collaboration between Google Ideas and Arbor Networks.  The tool surfaces anonymous attack traffic data to let users explore historic trends and find reports of outages happening on a given day."

This "Attack Map" is promoting Project Shield.   Project Shield is a Google  "initiative to use Google's infrastructure to protect free expression online" from DDoS attacks. Forbes reporter Andy Greenberg has written a brief description of Project Shield.   Greenberg quotes Google Idea's associate C.J. Adams on the beta roll-out:

“We’re able to take the people who face the greatest threats to [distributed denial of service] attacks and get them behind our protection,” says CJ Adams, an associate with Google who announced the Shield project at a company summit in New York. “If they face an attack, it has to get through us first, and after years of working on this we’re pretty good at stopping these attacks.”

"Among the beta users of Project Shield are the Persian-language political blog Balatarin, a Syrian website called Aymta that provides early warnings of scud missile launches, and an election monitoring website in Kenya called the Independent Electoral and Boundary Commission. Adams said in his talk at the summit that Project Shield had enabled the Kenyan site to stay online through a Kenyan election for the first time in its attack-ridden history."

 

Dan Stuckey has a nice post about this on Motherboard:

While Digital Attack Map is a public service announcement that'll likely captivate a long stare (and fall deaf on many ears, like my mom's), this live map is anything but underwhelming. For those bored with the live map, the site features playbacks of bigger DDoS attacks in recent history. Just scroll down to the bottom of the page, where you can watch Citizen's Bank, Github/Obamacare, and Al-Qaida's forums be attacked.

So now we can sit back and watch these attacks live or in replay as they stream accross the network.  Assuming the DDoS doesn't take the site you are watching down with it  . . .  Popcorn optional.

Cyber War: From Stuxnet to WikiLeaks

Webcast: Cyber Attack!

Our final webcast of this year will be about cyber war: How is it changing our lives?  How is the U.S. defending itself against the threat of cyber attack? 

• Stuxnet-The mysterious cyber attack on Iran's nuclear facility
• Cyber Defense and Cyber Terrorism- Where is the threat how are we fighting it?
• Wikileaks- Are these leaks a form of cyber terrorism?
• Cyber War Games- How are we preparing for  cyber war?
• The Military training in Cyberwarfare-  How is the US Air Force preparing for cyber war?
• Cyber Attacks in America-  Is the Pentagon under attack?
• Department of Homeland Security- Is DHS protecting us from cyber attack?
• Is Cyber Warfare a Real Threat?- A debate

Thanks and enjoy the show, it will be our last for the semester.   

See you in February for a brand new season of Global Media News 

Touring the World's Media with the students of SUNY Old Westbury.