michaelcaster

Published 1 February 2021 at Thomson Reuters Foundation, here. Within a week of seizing power in a 1 February coup, the Myanmar military has already orchestrated two nation-wide internet shutdowns. Amid the rolling internet shutdowns, the Myanmar Ministry of Transport and Communications (MOTC) issued orders on 3 February forcing telecommunication operators to block access to Facebook. This order … More Myanmar’s internet shutdown: A global problem which needs global solutions

Published 15 April 2020 Nikkei Asian Review, here. At the start of April, the U.N. and Chinese technology business Tencent Holdings announced a partnership to host thousands of online conversations using Tencent’s videoconferencing software, in part to ask what the world should look like in 25 years. This sounds modern and optimistic, but the deal risks involving … More UN-Tencent partnership raises questions of censorship and surveillance

Published 27 October 2019 at the Guardian, here. Any western company doing business in Xinjiang should consider their supply chains tainted by forced labour drawn from internment camps. Hardly a drop in the ocean of the vast global economy, this involves companies such as Ikea, H&M, Volkswagen and Siemens. This month, the United States banned the import of … More It’s time to boycott any company doing business in Xinjiang