Author: Heather Zeiger | Page 4

^{Type
post

Heather Zeiger
Date
May 23, 2021

Categorized
Law, Religion, Technocracy

Tagged
Chinese Communist Party (CCP), Featured, Freedom of religion}

Why the Chinese Communist Party Feels It Must Destroy Religion

_{Persecution of religious groups is not based on what they actually teach but on whether their separate existence could pose a threat to the Communist Party} _{Heather Zeiger
May 23, 2021

9

Law, Religion, Technocracy}

The U.S. Department of State’s just-released 2020 Annual Report on the state of religious freedom around the world devotes 136 pages to China. That’s because the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) uses an extensive network of surveillance cameras coupled with facial recognition software — as well as cell phone tracking, internet and message monitoring, and biometric profiling — to persecute adherents of non-state-sanctioned organizations. Advances in collecting and storage of massive amounts of data to be sifted by algorithms have made this possible. In 2020, according to the report, the CCP used the COVID-19 pandemic to suppress religion through monitoring house church locations, shutting down online services, and creating bureaucratic barriers to opening buildings for worship. Through this “stability maintenance program,” Read More ›

communicator technology on wood table top view

^{Type
post

Heather Zeiger
Date
May 17, 2021

Categorized
Business and Finance, Ethics, Global Technology, Work

Tagged
Ken Buck, Xinjiang}

Apple’s Supply Chain Includes Forced Labor in China

_{Big companies like Apple claim they try to avoid forced labor but maybe not hard enough} _{Heather Zeiger
May 17, 2021

6

Business and Finance, Ethics, Global Technology, Work}

The Information, an online periodical covering the tech industry, found that Apple’s supply chain includes companies that use the forced labor of members of minority groups in China, particularly Uyghurs — Chinese citizens who are ethnically Turkish and mostly Muslim: The Information and human rights groups have found seven companies supplying device components, coatings and assembly services to Apple that are linked to alleged forced labor involving Uyghurs and other oppressed minorities in China. At least five of those companies received thousands of Uyghur and other minority workers at specific factory sites or subsidiaries that did work for Apple, the investigation found. The revelation stands in contrast to Apple’s assertions over the past year that it hasn’t found evidence of Read More ›

conceptual image Chinese stock exchange with digital currency, devaluation of bitcoin or growth of Chinese e-rmb

^{Type
post

Heather Zeiger
Date
May 12, 2021

Categorized
Artificial Intelligence, Business and Finance, Global Technology, Surveillance

Tagged
Blockchain, Controllable anonymity concept (China), e-CNY, Featured, Stablecoins}

Will China’s Digital Yuan Displace the US Dollar in Global Trade?

_{The U.S. dollar became the world’s reserve currency because it was stable and easily transferable. It also enabled the U.S. to penalize sponsors of terrorism and genocide} _{Heather Zeiger
May 12, 2021

6

Artificial Intelligence, Business and Finance, Global Technology, Surveillance}

China has just launched its Digital Currency Electronic Payment System, called variously the electronic yuan or electronic renminbi (abbreviated e-CNY or e-RMB). It will likely thwart Alipay and WeChat Pay’s dominance in China’s financial tech market and allow the government to track almost all financial transactions in real time. There are, of course, international implications to China being the first country to roll out a digital currency backed by the central bank. Can the Digital Yuan Compete with the Dollar for Global Dominance? Some analysts now see China’s move to a digital currency based on blockchain technology as intended to displace the dollar. Right now, eighty-eight percent of global trade interactions are in U.S. dollars, followed by the euro, and Read More ›

New Yuan digital currency of china on red economy graph chart

^{Type
post

Heather Zeiger
Date
May 10, 2021

Categorized
Business and Finance, Global Technology, Technocracy

Tagged
Alipay, Ant Group, Big Tech (China), ByteDance, China, e-CNY, Jack Ma}

China Sharply Reins in Big Tech Amid All-Digital Currency Rollout

_{Ant Group must turn over its vast customer database to the government in exchange for the easing of strict regulations} _{Heather Zeiger
May 10, 2021

6

Business and Finance, Global Technology, Technocracy}

Earlier, we looked at what China’s new digital yuan, also called Digital Currency Electronics Payment or e-CNY, will mean for Chinese citizens. The rollout may relate to billionaire e-commerce founder Jack Ma’s critiques of China’s regulators and subsequent (temporary) disappearance. Also to the subsequent denial of his Ant Group’s billion-dollar initial public offering on the Shanghai index. Since then, the Chinese government has cracked down on several Big Tech companies while promoting the digital yuan. How China is rapidly reining in its Big Tech industries Chinese media have been promoting the second annual Double Five (i.e., May 5) Shopping Festival in Shanghai. This month-long state-organized shopping festival is part of “National Consumption Promotion Month.” The first Consumption Month festival, held Read More ›

Padlock, China flag on a smartphone and China map, symbolizing the Great Firewall of China concept or GFW and all extreme Internet censorship in China

^{Type
post

Heather Zeiger
Date
April 28, 2021

Categorized
Arts & Culture, Censorship

Tagged
China, Chinese Communist Party (CCP), Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC), Hong Kong, Internet Archive, Oscars, Wayback Machine}

The Academy Award Goes to… 404

_{Chinese citizens were suddenly no longer allowed to know of an Oscar for Best Director won by a Beijing-born woman, let alone see the film} _{Heather Zeiger
April 28, 2021

7

Arts & Culture, Censorship}

As the hoopla from the 92nd Academy Awards last weekend fades, if you search for “Chloe Zhao” on Google, you’ll discover a curious thing: She is the first Asian director and second female director to win an Academy Award for best director, for her film Nomadland. Search for “Chloe Zhao” or her Chinese name, “Zhao Ting,” on Baidu in China and you’ll find “only scattered links to deleted articles about the Academy Award honor” (Wall Street Journal, April 26, 2021). Posts on Weibo and WeChat congratulating her were removed within minutes of the announcement of her win for best director. Rewriting the story in the U.S. Zhao (pictured) was born in Beijing, went to a boarding school in the U.K., Read More ›

^{Type
post

Heather Zeiger
Date
April 22, 2021

Categorized
Artificial Intelligence, Global Technology, Social Media, Technocracy

Tagged
China, Chinese Communist Party (CCP), David Cowhig, George Orwell, Tienanmen Square (massacre)}

China: Snitching on Those Who Recall Non-Approved History

_{The Communist Party of China wants its centennial to proceed this year without memory of the millions dead in the Great Leap Forward, the Cultural Revolution, and Tiananmen Square} _{Heather Zeiger
April 22, 2021

7

Artificial Intelligence, Global Technology, Social Media, Technocracy}

“Who controls the past controls the future. Who controls the present controls the past.” – George Orwell, 1984 The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) was formed on July 23, 1921, so is gearing up for the hundredth anniversary of its founding with the theme “Forever Following the Party.” In preparation, the Cyberspace Administration of China has launched a hotline for citizens to report online statements that contradict the Party’s official version of its history. A translation of the announcement from the Central Network Information Office Reporting Center is available on former American diplomat David Cowhig’s blog: One part of the announcement reads: In order to avoid misleading the public with false statements, maintain a clear cyberspace and create a good atmosphere Read More ›

Businessman hand holding tablet and Yuan currency sign on digital map backgroung.Chinese Yuan digital currency and circuit background.Technology digital Financial and china cryptocurrency concept.

^{Type
post

Heather Zeiger
Date
April 20, 2021

Categorized
Business and Finance, Data Privacy, Global Technology, Surveillance, Technocracy

Tagged
Ant Group, China, Chinese Communist Party (CCP), Controllable anonymity concept (China), cryptocurrencies, Digital currency, e-CNY, Jack Ma, Social Credit (China)}

Why China Is Making a Bold Gamble With Digital Currency

_{“Controllable anonymity” means that all transactions between individuals are visible to the People’s Bank and trackable by the Chinese government} _{Heather Zeiger
April 20, 2021

8

Business and Finance, Data Privacy, Global Technology, Surveillance, Technocracy}

Last week, China announced the national rollout of the electronic yuan, a plan in the works since 2014. The e-CNY* or Digital Currency Electronics Payment (DCEP) was piloted last year in four major Chinese cities: The digital yuan resides in cyberspace, available on the owner’s mobile phone — or on a card for the less tech-savvy — and spending it doesn’t strictly require an online connection. It appears on a screen with a silhouette of Mao Zedong, looking just like the paper money. In tests in recent months, more than 100,000 people in China have downloaded a mobile-phone app from the central bank enabling them to spend small government handouts of digital cash with merchants, including Chinese outlets of Starbucks Read More ›

Bündel roher Baumwolle (Gossypium arboreum), Südindien

^{Type
post

Heather Zeiger
Date
April 12, 2021

Categorized
Business and Finance, Censorship, Ethics

Tagged
China, Cotton, Forced labor, Garment industry, Uyghurs, Xinjiang}

Clothing Retailer H&M Canceled for Revealing China’s Forced Labor

_{About a fifth of the world’s cotton is grown in Xinjiang, for which Uyghur labor is conscripted, partly through the detention camps complex} _{Heather Zeiger
April 12, 2021

6

Business and Finance, Censorship, Ethics}

Recently, I wrote about the fact that many fashionable products consumed in the West are produced by forced Uyghur labor. Those who speak out pay a steep price, as Swedish clothing retailer H&M can attest. Two weeks ago, H&M was Canceled in China after the Communist Youth League decried the company’s comments on forced labor in Xinjiang on Weibo, China’s biggest social media platform. The comments themselves dated from last year (March 2020). The online vitriol is likely in response to sanctions recently imposed by the European Union, the U.S., the U.K., and Canada on Chinese officials for human rights abuses. Earlier in March (2021), Newslines Institute for Strategy and Policy, an international independent organization, published a report showing that Read More ›

Young male employee in industrial espionage concept

^{Type
post

Heather Zeiger
Date
April 9, 2021

Categorized
Business and Finance, Creativity, Global Technology, Law

Tagged
Center for Strategic & International Studies (CSIS), China (competitiveness in AI), Chinese Communist Party (CCP), Huawei (industrial espionage), Industrial espionage, Meng Wanzhou}

Why Do Huawei’s “Inventions” Look Oddly Familiar?

_{One former Motorola employee was arrested at O’Hare International Airport in Chicago with more than 1,000 documents, on her way to Beijing on a one-way ticket} _{Heather Zeiger
April 9, 2021

7

Business and Finance, Creativity, Global Technology, Law}

Earlier we looked at how Huawei stole intellectual property from Canada’s once world-class Nortel, which most likely led to the company’s demise. But Nortel wasn’t the only company that Huawei targeted. Read More ›

Arrested man handcuffed hands at the back

^{Type
post

Heather Zeiger
Date
April 2, 2021

Categorized
Business and Finance, Ethics, Global Technology, Law, Programming

Tagged
Canada, China, Huawei, Huawei (industrial espionage), Meng Wanzhou}

How China’s “Hostage Diplomacy” Traps Unsuspecting Visitors

_{Canada’s “Two Michaels” await their fate in prison in China, hostages to the growing tensions in a high-tech war} _{Heather Zeiger
April 2, 2021

6

Business and Finance, Ethics, Global Technology, Law, Programming}

Canadian entrepreneur Michael Spavor (pictured) and former Canadian diplomat Michael Kovrig were arrested in China in 2018 on charges of espionage and sharing state secrets, and held in prison since then. Spavor’s trial was on March 19, 2021, in Dandong near China’s border with North Korea. Kovrig’s trial was on March 22 in Beijing. As of this writing, no verdict has been announced. Their trials coincided with the U.S-China Summit in Anchorage, Alaska, on March 18 and 19, 2020, which involved a tense back-and-forth between the two countries. Court proceedings were closed-door and Spavor’s and Kovrig’s lawyers were not allowed to be present. That, according to Canada’s deputy chief of mission in China, violates the Canada-China consular agreement. Prime Minister Read More ›

^{Type
post

Heather Zeiger
Date
March 11, 2021

Categorized
Business and Finance, Economics, Ethics, Global Technology

Tagged
bitcoin, China, Cotton, cryptocurrencies, Falun Gong, Featured, Forced labor, Uyghurs, Xinjiang}

In China, Forced Uyghur Labor Produces Many Fashionable Products

_{Industries such as fashion and solar panels rely heavily on supplies from detention centers and concentration camps in China} _{Heather Zeiger
March 11, 2021

8

Business and Finance, Economics, Ethics, Global Technology}

China has been called the “world’s factory.” American companies like Apple, may assemble their tech in the U.S., but the parts are made elsewhere, including Xinjiang, China (Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region). Industries such as fashion and solar panels also rely heavily on Xinjiang for their supply lines. Reports from the Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI) and the Center for Strategic and International Studies in the U.S., as well as testimonials from Uyghurs, show that many such factories in Xinjiang involve the forced labor of Uyghurs in what are called “vocational training schools.” These vocational training schools are more appropriately described as detention centers. In many cases, they are essentially concentration camps. Many Uyghurs are also sent from Xinjiang to other Read More ›

Asian woman is wearing facial mask during virus epidemic

^{Type
post

Heather Zeiger
Date
March 1, 2021

Categorized
Media, Medicine and Health, Science

Tagged
China, COVID-19, COVID-19 lab leak hypothesis, Featured, Peter Ben Embarek, Peter Daszak, SARS-CoV-2, WHO COVID-19 investigation in China, World Health Organization (WHO), Wuhan Institute of Virology}

Was the WHO Investigation of COVID-19’s Origin Thwarted by China?

_{The World Health Organization team was not really allowed to conduct a proper investigation in China} _{Heather Zeiger
March 1, 2021

11

Media, Medicine and Health, Science}

On January 14, 2021, an international team from the World Health Organization (WHO) landed in Wuhan in Hubei province in China to investigate the origins of the SARS-CoV-2 virus which causes COVID-19. From the outset, the investigation was plagued with three issues: 1) It ‘s been a year since the outbreak in Wuhan, which makes an investigation into the origins of the outbreak difficult. 2) WHO has catered to the Chinese government since the beginning of the pandemic, and 3) the scientists involved in the investigation had to be approved by Beijing. Two of them had conflicts of interest. When the WHO team arrived, they faced additional barriers to a thorough investigation. They were quarantined for two weeks so they Read More ›

Classic club sandwich with ham and bacon on a wooden board. Next cup is a mixture of pickled miniature onions, gherkins, tomatoes. Gray background. Close-up.

^{Type
post

Heather Zeiger
Date
February 15, 2021

Categorized
Surveillance, Technocracy

Tagged
China, Elon Musk, Featured, Kai Strittmatter, Li Wenliang, Mark Zuckerberg, Uyghurs, Voice recognition software, We Have Been Harmonized (book)}

For Five Days There Was Free Expression in China

_{Then censors blocked the Clubhouse app} _{Heather Zeiger
February 15, 2021

7

Surveillance, Technocracy}

In March 2020, Silicon Valley entrepreneur Paul Davidson and former Google engineer Rohan Seth launched their newest app, Clubhouse. The app is an invite-only audio chat app that lets users talk in virtual rooms. These conversations can be one-on-one or they could have an audience of up to 5,000 users (the current room limit in the beta version of the app). The app is only available on the iPhone and, once invited, users must use their actual phone number and Apple ID to join. Each user is only allowed to invite up to five people. The app’s exclusive nature gave it the tantalizing aura of the “next-big-thing” among the tech types. On January 31, Space-X’s Elon Musk made an appearance Read More ›

High-Ranking Military Man holds a Briefing to a Team of Government Agents and Politicians, Shows Satellite Surveillance Footage.

^{Type
post

Heather Zeiger
Date
February 6, 2021

Categorized
Arts & Culture, Military

Tagged
China, Featured, United States, Wired}

Sci-fi Saturday Books: Will World War III Be the U.S. vs. China?

_{One thing that is certain is that it will be a cyber war} _{Heather Zeiger
February 6, 2021

7

Arts & Culture, Military}

Wired Magazine devoted its entire February 2021 issue to the first four chapters of a book depicting a near-future dystopia in which the U.S. goes to war with China. You can read the first part of the book here. The authors of 2034: A Novel of the New World War have military backgrounds and were inspired by Cold War literature that speculated on the worst-case scenario if the U.S. and Russia had gone to war. The reason for the Wired editors’ interest is that 2034 is no ordinary thriller. Admiral James Stavridis comes with a wealth of experience in how such a conflict might play out. He is a retired four-star U.S. naval officer who has received numerous medals and Read More ›

Kashgar, China - with more than 80% of the population made by Uyghurs, Kashgar displays a lot of Islamic landmarks. Here in particular the Id Kah Mosque, the biggest mosque in China

^{Type
post

Heather Zeiger
Date
February 3, 2021

Categorized
Data Privacy, Global Technology, Surveillance

Tagged
Biometric databases, China, Featured, Human rights, Intercept (publication), Uyghurs}

Leaked Police Database: Total Surveillance of China’s Uyghurs

_{Human Rights Watch notes that many countries engage in human rights abuses, but “more than any other government, Beijing has made technology central to its repression.”} _{Heather Zeiger
February 3, 2021

8

Data Privacy, Global Technology, Surveillance}

Human Rights Watch has released its 2021 annual report of global human rights abuses in 2020. In his keynote article, Executive Director Kenneth Roth said “this has been the darkest period for human rights in China since the 1989 massacre that ended the Tiananmen Square democracy movement.” The report outlines several ways that the Chinese Communist Party has repressed Chinese citizens. Among those are the Uyghurs, an ethnically Turkish majority Muslim people living in Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region in western China. The CCP continues to use every means, including massive technological surveillance, to control the Uyghur population. This is the second year that China has been one of the biggest offenders of human rights. Last year’s keynote article pointed out Read More ›

Global virus and disease spread, coronavirus

^{Type
post

Heather Zeiger
Date
January 26, 2021

Categorized
Medicine and Health, Science, Technocracy

Tagged
China, COVID-19, Featured, Freedom of expression}

How China Has Tried To Suppress Coronavirus Science

_{So far as investigative journalists have been able to determine, the suppression came directly from the top} _{Heather Zeiger
January 26, 2021

10

Medicine and Health, Science, Technocracy}

An investigation by the Associated Press reveals what everyone has suspected since the beginning of the SARS-CoV-2 (coronavirus) pandemic: The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has been keeping a tight rein on the publication or distribution of any scientific research on the coronavirus conducted within the country. AP recently found out just how extensive the muzzling of scientific findings has been. Its report also confirms that the orders came from the top: The AP investigation was based on dozens of interviews with Chinese and foreign scientists and officials, along with public notices, leaked emails, internal data and the documents from China’s cabinet and the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention. It reveals a pattern of government secrecy and top-down control Read More ›

COVID-19 coronavirus in China, renminbi yuan money bill with face mask. COVID global stock market. World economy hit by corona virus outbreak. Financial crisis and coronavirus pandemic concept.

^{Type
post

Heather Zeiger
Date
January 20, 2021

Categorized
Technocracy

Tagged
censorship, China, Chinese Communist Party (CCP), COVID-19, Fang Fang, Featured, Great Firewall, Journalists}

Lawyer Turned Citizen Journalist in China Turns Up Again—in Jail

_{She has been sentenced to four years in prison for “picking quarrels and stirring up trouble,” a crime in China} _{Heather Zeiger
January 20, 2021

10

Technocracy}

Lawyer-turned-citizen journalist Zhang Zhan, 37, went missing on May 15 after documenting on Youtube, Twitter, and WeChat what she saw in Wuhan during the early days of the SARS-CoV-2 (coronavirus) pandemic. She has now been sentenced to four years in prison for “picking quarrels and stirring up trouble.” Zhang had already been detained for supporting the 2019 Hong Kong protests, which likely played into her harsh sentence. So far, 47 journalists have been jailed for reporting on COVID-19 in China. YouTube and Twitter are inaccessible within China because of the Great Firewall which allows the Communist Party of China (CCP) to control the information that comes into and goes out of the country. Within the Great Firewall journalists must adhere Read More ›

^{Type
post

Heather Zeiger
Date
January 11, 2021

Categorized
Business and Finance, Technocracy

Tagged
Alibaba, Alipay, Ant Group, Chinese Communist Party (CCP), Featured, Jack Ma}

Chinese Entrepreneur Jack Ma Missing After Criticizing The Party

_{If even Jack Ma can just disappear in China’s high tech world, is anyone safe?} _{Heather Zeiger
January 11, 2021

14

Business and Finance, Technocracy}

Several media outlets are asking “Where is Jack Ma?” China’s most well-known tech entrepreneur and self-made billionaire has not been seen publicly after a speech he gave at the Bund Summit in Shanghai in October criticizing China’s financial system. CNBC’s David Faber reports that Ma (pictured) is not missing but “laying low” and is purposely remaining less visible after his speech angered the CCP. Radio Free Asia, however, says Ma is definitely under a travel ban and may be “under restrictive measures.” More ominously, Asia Times Financial reports that a CCP mouthpiece has said Jack Ma is now “embracing supervision” at an undisclosed location. So who is Jack Ma? He is the founder of e-commerce company Alibaba Group. The company’s Read More ›

The concept of biased views judged by appearances. Various miniature people standing behind the glasses.

^{Type
post

Heather Zeiger
Date
December 30, 2020

Categorized
Artificial Intelligence, Surveillance

Tagged
bias, China, Coded Bias (film), Facial Recognition, Featured, Hong Kong, Joy Buolamwini, Social Credit (China)}

How Bias Can Be Coded Into Unthinking Programs

_{MIT researcher Joy Buolamwini started the project as a trivial “bathroom mirror” message} _{Heather Zeiger
December 30, 2020

7

Artificial Intelligence, Surveillance}

Coded Bias, a new documentary by 7th Empire Media that premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in January 2020, looks at the ways algorithms and machine learning can perpetuate racism, sexism, and infringements on civil liberties. The film calls for accountability and transparency in artificial intelligence systems, which are algorithms that sift large amounts of data to make predictions, as well as regulations on how these systems can be used and who has access to the data. The documentary follows the path of MIT researcher Joy Buolamwini. Buolamwini took a class on science fiction and technology in which one of her assignments was to create a piece of technology that isn’t necessarily useful but is inspired by science fiction. Buolamwini Read More ›

^{Type
post

Heather Zeiger
Date
December 16, 2020

Categorized
Artificial Intelligence, Surveillance

Tagged
Bethany Allen-Ebrahimian, China, Chinese Communist Party (CCP), Christopher Wray, Cyber espionage, Economic espionage, espionage, Fang Fang, Featured, Ministry of State Security (MSS}

Hi Tech and China: The Long Game re Spying in the United States

_{The relationship between California’s Eric Swalwell and Fang Fang could be a thriller. But they say it really happened} _{Heather Zeiger
December 16, 2020

8

Artificial Intelligence, Surveillance}

An investigative report from news site Axios reveals that Christine Fang (better known as Fang Fang), a fundraiser for Representative Eric Swalwell (D.–California), not only interacted with political elites in California but cultivated relationships with two Midwestern governors. She is also accused of being a spy for China from 2011 to 2015. This story adds to the growing evidence that China is playing the long-game of influencing American politics: Start with promising figures at the bottom, not at the top: The case demonstrates China’s strategy of cultivating relationships that may take years or even decades to bear fruit. The Chinese Communist Party knows that today’s mayors and city council members are tomorrow’s governors and members of Congress.” Bethany Allen-Ebrahimian and Read More ›