GEOPOLITICS

The Balkanized Internet

Washington ramped up efforts this week to decouple American and Chinese technology. On Wednesday, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo laid out a five-pronged “Clean Network” plan to mitigate tech security risks.

The five pillars

• “Clean” carrier: Prevent Chinese carriers from connecting to U.S. telecom networks. The U.S. has already banned Huawei gear from its 5G network. 
• “Clean” store: Remove “untrusted apps” from the App Store, Play Store, and other mobile marketplaces.
• “Clean” apps: Bar Chinese original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) from pre-installing software. Pompeo name-drops Huawei here. 
• “Clean” cloud: Prevent U.S. companies from storing sensitive IP on Alibaba, Tencent, or Baidu cloud services. Most U.S. corporations use AWS, Azure, or Google Cloud, so this wouldn’t change much. 
• “Clean” cable: Ensure undersea cable isn’t “subverted for intelligence-gathering by the PRC [People’s Republic of China] at hyper scale.” 

The key caveat: Since this isn’t law, we’ll have to see what enforcement looks like. Pompeo said over 30 countries and territories have signed on to the “Clean Network.”

What does decoupling look like in practice? 

We already know—it rhymes with RikRok. 

Australia, Japan, and others are scrutinizing TikTok for security flaws. India banned the app. The U.S. will follow suit on Sept. 20 if TikTok doesn’t find a buyer. Last night, President Trump signed executive orders that will officially block transactions with ByteDance and WeChat in 44 days. 

Microsoft, TikTok’s leading suitor, is scheming to acquire all overseas app operations from ByteDance, the FT reported yesterday. A full ByteDance-TikTok split would please the White House, which has aggressively lobbied allies to embrace its lead on other decoupling efforts (i.e. Huawei). 

Zoom out: Beijing has already banned virtually all major American content platforms. But the government could pull other levers—from rare earth materials to American companies operating in China—to retaliate for SplinterTok. 

Plus, as ex-Facebook security chief Alex Stamos noted, the U.S. posture could backfire. Citing national security or data protection, more governments could start banning foreign tech competitors by fiat.

HARDWARE

Samsung’s Unpact

Samsung has hardware innovation down pat, but software is a different beast. 

On Wednesday, the South Korean tech manufacturer introduced five new devices: the Galaxy Z Fold 2 (it folds better than V1), the 5G-compatible Note 20 and 20 Ultra, the Galaxy Tab S7, the Galaxy Watch 3, and Galaxy Buds Live (which resemble beans, the magical fruit). 

The latest in Game of Phones: Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella was a surprise guest at last year’s Unpacked. Since then, Samsung has clearly tapped House of Microsoft for software help. 

In demos, the two companies showed off tighter ecosystem integrations. Galaxy owners can cross-sync mobile apps with Microsoft counterparts. Note 20 users will be able to use new phone-to-PC features and run Android apps on their desktop. 

• Samsung is offering an Xbox Game Pass bundle with the Note 20. It’s good timing, since Microsoft’s xCloud game-streaming service launches Sep. 15. 
• Samsung was reportedly moving toward a tighter services partnership with Google. Maybe not?

Bottom line: Samsung and Microsoft are pooling their respective strengths to create the anti-Apple product portfolio.

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Attack of the Cyber

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AV

Human-Machine Interaction Isn’t So Hands-Off

AAA took advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) for a quality assurance spin, testing cars from BMW, Ford, GM, Subaru, and Kia. Reminder: These Level 2 systems provide acceleration, braking, and steering support in specific driving situations. 

In tests, ADAS systems struggled the most with staying in their lane and avoiding collisions (the second one is essential for a successful trip). On average, the cars’ systems experienced an issue every eight miles. 

AAA’s recommendation: Automakers should increase testing and limit rollouts for ADAS. But AAA didn’t suggest automakers bring the technology back to the premarket stage. 

My recommendation: If you’re using ADAS, you must stay alert. These systems can quickly pass control back to the driver when they disengage. If drivers overtrust ADAS systems—and/or let their guard down—it makes an accident more likely.   

+ While we’re here: According to AAA’s survey, only 12% of drivers would trust riding in a self-driving car.

WHAT ELSE IS BREWING

• Virginia became the first U.S. state to roll out the Google/Apple COVID-19 exposure notification API.
• Shanghai Zhizhen Network Technology is suing Apple for $1.4 billion in damages. The Chinese tech company says Siri has infringed on its voice assistant tech.  
• Anthony Levandowski, the self-driving engineer who took trade secrets from Google to Uber, was sentenced to 18 months in jail. He’s also now suing Uber for $4.1 billion, saying his former employer agreed to indemnify him against legal action. 
• Facebook is extending its WFH policy to July 2021. 
• Intel is investigating a leak of 20GB of internal documents that include sensitive information.
• SpaceX launched 57 more Starlink satellites.

BITS & BYTES

Stat: China has four of the world’s top five unicorns. Unicorn = a startup valued north of $1 billion. The global startup accolade will likely forever be denominated in dollars, but I digress.

Quote: “That’s predatory pricing.”—Sonos CEO Patrick Spence told Protocol about Amazon’s strategy of selling Echo speakers below cost. 

Experience: Tyler Denk, the Brew’s tech lead, created a digital home for his Big Desk Energy playlist. The music is great, the aesthetics are exquisite, and you can play Pong. What’s not to like?

TECH THINGAMABOBS

For preserving privacy: The University of Chicago’s Sand Lab created Fawkes, a tool that adds slight noise into images and makes faces unrecognizable to AI recognition systems. 

For an amazing imitation: A TikToker plays Tim Cook at an Apple launch.

ICYMI

Catch up on the top Emerging Tech Brew stories from the past few editions: 

• Quantum meets the final frontier
• U.S. census data shows low AI adoption rates among U.S. businesses
• Tech trivia, bitcoin edition

GOING PHISHING

Three of the following news stories are true, and one...I made up. Can you spot the odd one out?

1. A drone disrupted the Twins-Pirates MLB game. 
2. NASA was “almost kind of speechless” at how well the SpaceX mission went. 
3. “After a 14-day quarantine, we’re boarding a yacht so we can work together in isolation and finalize our product,” a hardware startup’s CEO said this week.
4. There’s a new blank check company called E.merge Technology.

GOING PHISHING ANSWER

A hardware startup isn’t boarding a yacht to work together and finalize their product.