OUR PICKSDHS Loses Track of Migrants | Falsehoods Follow Close Behind Natural Disasters | Why America Needs to Out-Innovate TikTok, and more
· Why America Needs to Out-Innovate TikTok
That a ban of the popular app is unpalatable to Americans right now doesn’t necessarily mean surrendering to a social media diet planned by Beijing
· China-Linked Hackers Breached a Power Grid—Again
Signs suggest the culprits worked within a notorious Chinese hacker group that may have also hacked Indian electric utilities years earlier
· How China Demands Tech Firms Reveal Hackable Flaws in Their Products
Some foreign companies may be complying—potentially offering China’s spies hints for hacking their customers
· Phoenix Sets New Heat Record, Hitting 43.3 C on 54 Days This Year
Phoenix experienced the hottest three months since record-keeping began in 1895
· September 11: Evacuating the World Trade Center, Twice
The firsthand accounts of those who survived the terrorist attacks on America are being lost each year, and we as nation should pause, reflect, honor, and learn from that day
· What Keeps the Homeland Security Enterprise Up at Night?
Other problems shift the nation’s focus and resources away from counterterrorism
· Homeland Security Loses Track of Migrants, Report Finds
The federal government has little ability to keep track of migrants once they are apprehended entering the U.S. and subsequently released into the country
· Falsehoods Follow Close Behind This Summer’s Natural Disasters
Misattributed videos, recycled lies and warped fears are fueling unfounded claims about the recent record-breaking heat, floods and wildfires
Why America Needs to Out-Innovate TikTok (Bronte Munro and Greg Brown, National Interest)
Innovation is the best way to win the TikTok battle. Many liberal democratic states have banned the Chinese-owned platform from government devices, including the Five Eyes intelligence alliance. Despite this, TikTok remains the world’s most downloaded app, continuing to outcompete competitors, such as Meta, in a space they have traditionally dominated. Like all Chinese technology companies, TikTok’s parent company Byteadance is answerable to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), distinguishing it from companies in Western countries.
A global society-wide ban would be the silver bullet solution, but for various reasons—including legal risk and economic liberal cultures in some countries, and fear of Beijing in others—such comprehensive action is unpalatable and unlikely. The U.S. government needs to work in partnership with—not in opposition to—the private sector to encourage the creation of alternative platforms. The technology driving the success of TikTok’s algorithm is here to stay. In the absence of an immediate ban or acquisition of TikTok by an American company, the U.S. government should be devising ways to nurture a competitive U.S.-owned alternative through investment incentives.
Analysis by the Australian Strategic Policy Institute and other social media researchers has revealed a simple answer for why TikTok is outperforming U.S. alternatives: TikTok’s AI algorithm makes it more attractive. It produces a more personalized user experience than other platforms. The closest competitor is Instagram Reels, where, anecdotally, a large portion of the content is recycled TikTok clips.
Understanding how TikTok’s interest-based AI algorithm functions is the key to grasping the risks of the platform but also the secret to developing alternatives.
China-Linked Hackers Breached a Power Grid—Again (Andy Greenberg, Wired)
The loose nexus of Chinese-origin cyberspies collectively called APT41 is known for carrying out some of the most brazen hacking schemes linked to China over the past decade. Its methods range from a spree of software supply chain attacks that planted malware in popular applications to a sideline in profit-focused cybercrime that went so far as to steal pandemic relief funds from the US government. Now, an apparent offshoot of the group appears to have turned its focus to another worrying category of target: power grids. (Cont.)
