I sometimes wish the powers that be hadn't taken my editor from me.
First up, the headline story from The Register, September 15:
Compiled using mostly open-source intel, shines a light on extent of China’s surveillance activities
A US academic has revealed the existence of 2.4-million-person database he says was compiled by a Chinese company known to supply intelligence, military, and security agencies. The researcher alleges the purpose of the database is enabling influence operations to be conducted against prominent and influential people outside China.
The academic is Chris Balding, an associate professor at the Fulbright University Vietnam.
And he says the company is company is named "Shenzhen Zhenhua".
Security researcher Robert Potter and Balding co-authored a paper [PDF] claiming the trove is known as the “Overseas Key Information Database” (OKIDB) and that while most of it could have been scraped from social media or other publicly-accessible sources, 10 to 20 per cent of it appears not to have come from any public source of information. The co-authors do not rule out hacking as the source of that data, but also say they can find no evidence of such activity.
“A fundamental purpose appears to be information warfare,” the pair stated.....MUCH MORE (probably the best overview of what's going on)
Balding wrote on his blog that the database contains the following:
The database includes details of politicians, diplomats, activists, academics, media figures, entrepreneurs, military officers and government employees. Subjects’ close relatives are also listed, along with contact details and affiliations with political and other organisations....The information specifically targets influential individuals and institutions across a variety of industries. From politics to organized crime or technology and academia just to name a few, the database flows from sectors the Chinese state and linked enterprises are known to target. The breadth of data is also staggering. It compiles information on everyone from key public individuals to low level individuals in an institution to better monitor and understand how to exert influence when needed.
Again, here are Balding's blog and his twitter feed.
And the link that got lost in the queue: https://www.baldingsworld.com/2020/09/14/personal-statement-on-shenzhen-zhenhua-data-leak/
I am so sorry.
Recently:
July 2020
Two From Professor Balding
May 2020
Professor Balding: "China, the SEC, and Strategy"
Almost as soon as I mention (May 17):
...Via Professor Christopher Balding who for years hung his hat at Shenzhen's Peking University HSBC Business School.He goes and posts to his blog (May 21) for the first time in almost eight weeks:
(here's a lengthy Inside Higher Ed piece on his departure)
Balding tweets a lot, his blog not that much.
