Tag Archives: Singapore International News

Canada orders TikTok to shut down its business operations in the country due to ‘national security risks’

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Canada has ordered TikTok to shut down its operations in the country, citing unspecified “national security risks” posed by the company and its parent ByteDance. With the move, TikTok will be forced to “wind up” all business in the country, though the Canadian government stopped short of banning the app.

“The government is taking action to address the specific national security risks related to ByteDance Ltd.’s operations in Canada through the establishment of TikTok Technology Canada, Inc,” Canada’s Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry François-Philippe Champagne said in a statement. “The decision was based on the information and evidence collected over the course of the review and on the advice of Canada’s security and intelligence community and other government partners.”

Canada’s crackdown on TikTok follows a “multi-step national security review process” by its intelligence agencies, the government said in a statement. As the CBC points out, the country previously banned the app from official government devices. It also comes several months after the United States passed a law that could ban the app stateside. US lawmakers have also cited national security concerns and the app’s ties to China. TikTok has mounted an extensive legal challenge to the law.

In a statement, a TikTok spokesperson said the company would challenge Canada’s order as well. "Shutting down TikTok’s Canadian offices and destroying hundreds of well-paying local jobs is not in anyone's best interest, and today's shutdown order will do just that,” the spokesperson said. “We will challenge this order in court. The TikTok platform will remain available for creators to find an audience, explore new interests and for businesses to thrive."

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/big-tech/canada-orders-tiktok-to-shut-down-its-business-operations-in-the-country-due-to-national-security-risks-002615440.html?src=rss

Meta AI will launch in six more countries today, including the UK

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Meta AI is beginning a big international rollout. The AI assistant will arrive today in Brazil, Bolivia, Guatemala, Paraguay, Philippines and the UK. It is also slated to debut in Algeria, Egypt, Indonesia, Iraq, Jordan, Libya, Malaysia, Morocco, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Thailand, Tunisia, United Arab Emirates, Vietnam and Yemen over the coming weeks, although the company did not offer specific dates for those countries.

This expansion is also adding new language support to Meta AI. Starting today, it is getting support for Tagalog, while Arabic, Indonesian, Thai and Vietnamese will join the assistant "soon." Customers can use the Meta AI assistant on the web or within the company's social media apps: Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp and Messenger. 

The final element of today's announcement is that Meta AI will be launched on Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses in the UK and in Australia. The UK launch will only include voice support for now; Meta did not provide a timeline for when UK customers might get the full multimodal capabilities on the glasses.

The EU is a notable absence in this expansion. Meta said this summer that it would not introduce multimodal AI services in the EU due to concerns over regulation in the bloc. CEO Mark Zuckerberg has been public with critiques of how European regulators are handling the proliferation of artificial intelligence.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/meta-ai-will-launch-in-six-more-countries-today-including-the-uk-150057934.html?src=rss

The US, UK, EU and other major nations have signed a landmark global AI treaty

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The United States, United Kingdom, European Union, and several other countries have signed an AI safety treaty laid out by the Council of Europe (COE), an international standards and human rights organization. This landmark treaty, known as the Framework Convention on artificial intelligence and human rights, democracy, and the rule of law, opened for signature in Vilnius, Lithuania. It is the first legally binding international agreement aimed at ensuring that AI systems align with democratic values.

The treaty focuses on three main areas: protecting human rights (including privacy and preventing discrimination), safeguarding democracy, and upholding the rule of law. It also provides a legal framework covering the entire lifecycle of AI systems, promoting innovation, and managing potential risks.

Besides the US, UK and the EU, the treaty’s other signatories include Andorra, Georgia, Iceland, Norway, Moldova, San Marino, and Israel. Notably absent are many major countries from Asia and the Middle East, and Russia, but any country will be eligible to join it in the future as long as they commit to comply with its provisions, according to a statement from the Council of Europe.

“We must ensure that the rise of AI upholds our standards, rather than undermining them,” said COE secretary general Marija Pejčinović Burić in the statement. “The Framework Convention is designed to ensure just that. It is a strong and balanced text - the result of the open and inclusive approach by which it was drafted and which ensured that it benefits from multiple and expert perspectives.

The treaty will enter into force three months after five signatories, including at least three Council of Europe member states, ratify it. The COE’s treaty joins other recent efforts to regulate AI including the UK's AI Safety Summit, the G7-led Hiroshima AI Process, and the UN's AI resolution.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/the-us-uk-eu-and-other-major-nations-have-signed-a-landmark-global-ai-treaty-232119489.html?src=rss

EU delays decision over scanning encrypted messages for CSAM

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European Union officials have delayed talks over proposed legislation that could lead to messaging services having to scan photos and links to detect possible child sexual abuse material (CSAM). Were the proposal to become law, it may require the likes of WhatsApp, Messenger and Signal to scan all images that users upload — which would essentially force them to break encryption.

For the measure to pass, it would need to have the backing of at least 15 of the member states representing at least 65 percent of the bloc's entire population. However, countries including Germany, Austria, Poland, the Netherlands and the Czech Republic were expected to abstain from the vote or oppose the plan due to cybersecurity and privacy concerns, Politico reports. If EU members come to an agreement on a joint position, they'll have to hash out a final version of the law with the European Commission and European Parliament.

The legislation was first proposed in 2022 and it could result in messaging services having to scan all images and links with the aim of detecting CSAM and communications between minors and potential offenders. Under the proposal, users would be informed about the link and image scans in services' terms and conditions. If they refused, they would be blocked from sharing links and images on those platforms. However, as Politico notes, the draft proposal includes an exemption for “accounts used by the State for national security purposes."

EU Council leaders are said to have been trying for six months to break the impasse and move forward negotiations to finalize the law. Belgium's presidency of the Council is set to end on June 30, and it's unclear if the incoming leadership will continue to prioritize the proposal.

Patrick Breyer, a digital rights activist who was a member of the previous European Parliament before this month's elections, has argued that proponents of the so-called "chat control" plan aimed to take advantage of a power vacuum before the next parliament is constituted. Breyer says that the delay of the vote, prompted in part by campaigners, "should be celebrated," but warned that "surveillance extremists among the EU governments" could again attempt to advance chat control in the coming days.

Other critics and privacy advocates have slammed the proposal. Signal president Meredith Whittaker said in a statement that "mass scanning of private communications fundamentally undermines encryption," while Edward Snowden described it as a "terrifying mass surveillance measure."

Advocates, on the other hand, have suggested that breaking encryption would be acceptable in order to tackle CSAM. "The Commission proposed the method or the rule that even encrypted messaging can be broken for the sake of better protecting children," Vice President of the European Commission for Values and Transparency Věra Jourová said on Thursday, per EuroNews.

The EU is not the only entity to attempt such a move. In 2021, Apple revealed a plan to scan iCloud Photos for known CSAM. However, it scrapped that controversial effort following criticism from the likes of customers, advocacy groups and researchers.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/eu-delays-decision-over-scanning-encrypted-messages-for-csam-142208548.html?src=rss