Biometrics & Counterterrorism | Ransomware Persists | What Ukraine Can Learn from Finland, and more

Islamic Extremists Sidestep Facebook’s Content Police  (Mark Scott, Politico)
Photos of beheadings, extremist propaganda and violent hate speech related to Islamic State and the Taliban were shared for months within Facebook groups over the past year despite the social networking giant’s claims it had increased efforts to remove such content. The posts — some tagged as “insightful” and “engaging” via new Facebook tools to promote community interactions — championed the Islamic extremists’ violence in Iraq and Afghanistan, including videos of suicide bombings and calls to attack rivals across the region and in the West, according to a review of social media activity between April and December. At least one of the groups contained more than 100,000 members. In several Facebook groups, competing Sunni and Shia militia trolled each other by posting pornographic images and other obscene photos into rival groups in the hope Facebook would remove those communities. In others, Islamic State supporters openly shared links to websites with reams of online terrorist propaganda, while pro-Taliban Facebook users posted regular updates about how the group took over Afghanistan during much of 2021, according to POLITICO’s analysis. During that time period, Facebook said it had invested heavily in artificial intelligence tools to automatically remove extremist content and hate speech in more than 50 languages.

The Use of Biometric Technologies for Counter-terrorism Purposes in a Human Rights Vacuum  (Tomaso Falchetta, Just Security)
In its December 2021 analytical briefing on biometrics and counter-terrorism, the United Nations Counter-terrorism Committee Executive Directorate (CTED) notes how “the use of biometrics for counter-terrorism purposes – notably in the context of border management and security – has become increasingly widespread.”
That should not come as a surprise, given repeated UN Security Council resolutions imposing legally binding obligations on all UN member states to develop biometric technologies for counter-terrorism purposes, paired with the strong promotion of these technologies by some, mostly Western states and by powerful industry players.
Also not surprising, for reasons elaborated further below, is that these biometric technologies have very often been deployed in a human rights void, raising predictable and serious human rights concerns.

Cyber Challenges for the New National Defense Strategy  (Erica Lonergan and Jacquelyn Schneider, War on the Rocks)
A major moment for America’s approach for cyberspace might be just around the corner. It’s hard to make a new national defense strategy an exciting watershed, especially when a curious and ill-defined term — “integrated deterrence” — is at the center of it. But skeptics should be a little more open to the idea that the Pentagon is on the verge of pushing out a key idea that could solve many of its struggles in cyberspace. According to defense officials, integrated deterrence includes incorporating military capabilities across domains, theaters, and phases of conflict; rebuilding alliances; and fostering innovation and technological development, all with an eye towards creating a more resilient military. This list sounds good in theory. But, gauging from some expert reactions so far, it’s not clear what successful integration (or deterrence) would look like in practice.

What Ukraine Can Learn from Finland  (Elizabeth Braw, Foreign Policy)
In December 1939, a small country with a small military held off the vastly superior Soviet Red Army and avoided occupation by its larger neighbor.