Technology
The hypocrisy of Russia’s push for a new global cybercrime treaty
As the West braces for a possible escalation of Russian ransomware attacks in retaliation for support to Ukraine, the first meeting to negotiate a new global cybercrime treaty…
The election for the future of the internet
In September this year, UN member states will cast their votes for the next secretary-general of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU). While elections for bureaucratic…
Military operations in a more transparent world
In the past eight years, little short of a revolution has occurred in the world of “OSINT” – that is, Open Source Intelligence, information gathered from publicly accessible data …
Power plays: the growing competition to fuel energy transitions
Global demand for battery-producing lithium is expected to significantly rise over the next decade for use in the storage of renewable energy – so much that the US Geological…
Kip-to-currency?
A rare spate of headlines out of Laos last month trilled about a new bullet train that runs from the capital Vientiane to China, with the government heavily in debt after the…
China, Australia, and the Internet of Things
The world is being transformed by the Internet of Things (the IoT) as ever more devices and activities are linked through the internet and endowed with computing power. This…
Regulating unmanned underwater vehicles in Indonesian waters
According to the Indonesia Ocean Justice Initiative, between 2018 and January 2021, a large number of Chinese vessels “deactivated” their AIS transponders – the automatic…
Economic diplomacy: Supply chains, sanctions, and Telstra Pacific
Sovereign nation
It is 18 months since Prime Minister Scott Morrison sent Australians off to their first locked-down Easter with the somewhat mixed message that the government…
Regulate against the machine
Book review: We, the Robots? Regulating Artificial Intelligence and the Limits of the Law, by Simon Chesterman (Cambridge University Press, 2021)
From Tesla’s self-driving cars…
Digital authoritarianism not just a China problem
According to 2019 data from the World Trade Organisation, China is the largest global supplier of telecommunications equipment (generating US$296 billion compared to US$169…