Roughly two thousand years ago, the full combat load of a Roman legionary weighed approximately 100 pounds (45 kg). Remarkably, modern militaries exhibit a similar pattern. U.S. Army soldiers still carry around 45 kg in full combat gear, while South Korean and British troops typically carry about 40 kg. Despite...
In last week’s blog post, The Frontier Illusion: Rethinking DeepSeek’s AI Threat, I discussed Cisco’s safety test on DeepSeek R1, which revealed the model’s inability to filter out socially unacceptable content, including cybercrime, harassment (bullying), chemical and biological weapons, and other illegal activities. During my data collection process last month,...
The Frontier Illusion: Rethinking DeepSeek’s AI Threat Following the release of DeepSeek-V3 on December 26, 2024, Western nations, led by the United States, have found themselves caught between astonishment at China's AI advancement and deep concerns over potential threats to privacy, safety, and national security. This tension has sparked a...
From October 30 to November 2nd, the 2024 Association of Internet Researchers (AoIR) conference was held at the University of Sheffield in Sheffield, United Kingdom. This year marked the 25th anniversary of the AoIR conference, which set a record as the largest in its history, drawing approximately 700 attendees from...
April 16, the Japanese government took action against LINE, the most popular messaging app in Japan, following a hacking incident in 2023 that compromised the data of 510,000 users. They issued unusual administrative guidance to LineYahoo, the company operating LINE in Japan, demanding a shareholder restructuring. This guidance called for...
As the global community grapples with various mis/disinformation laws, regulatory frameworks, community standards, and other governance efforts put forward by states, social media companies, and academia, the pivotal role of traditional media and journalists often slips under the radar. The article discusses information integrity efforts in East Asia, including digital...
On December 6th, the United States and Japan formalized their commitment to collaboratively address foreign information manipulation by signing a memorandum of cooperation. The Department of State further disclosed that a similar memorandum with the same objectives is imminent with South Korea. While specific nations were not explicitly identified as...
Disinformation during emergencies (DiE) can critically undermine government efforts to mitigate socioeconomic harm and damage the relationship between the state and citizens. With the production of nuclear power growing in multiple countries and widespread concern over generative-AI-fueled disinformation online, we are researching the impact of DiE on transnational nuclear emergency responses....
Dispatches from the evolving digital political economy Is De-Dollarization fueled by the rise of Digital Currencies? Nations, particularly within the BRICS alliance, are increasingly exploring alternatives to the US dollar. The rise of Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs) is playing a pivotal role in shaping the conversation around De-dollarization. The...
Dispatches from the evolving digital political economy Taiwan Internet Governance Forum Taiwan will hold its own Internet Governance Forum a week before the UN IGF in Kyoto, Japan, which Taiwanese will not be allowed to attend. Organized around the theme “Critical Moment: Fragmentation, Geopolitics, AI Revolution and Resilience,” the program...
Declaring Independence in Cyberspace tells the story of the struggle between governments and the global Internet community over control of the Internet registries (IANA). It offers new insights into a pressing question with profound implications: is state sovereignty the immutable foundation of global governance, or can new technological capabilities change the model?
“This is a book that needed to be written, and no one is better placed to write it than Milton Mueller. This full, rigorous account provides researchers and policymakers with a precious resource on global internet governance.”
