Interview with Haiqing Yu: Automated Decision Making in China & Researching “Global China”

Professor Haiqing Yu teaches at RMIT University in Melbourne, Australia. She researches the sociopolitical and economic impact of China’s digital media, communication and culture on China, Australia and the Asia Pacific. Haiqing is also a member of the 20th annual China Internet Research Conference‘s steering committee, hosted by Digital Asia Hub and held July 12-14,[…]

Meet Nayantara & the Ranking Digital Rights project

Digital Asia Hub has been partnering with Ranking Digital Rights (RDR) to advance corporate accountability in South-East and East-Asia by ranking selected corporate actors for their commitments to human rights. With much of the digital public sphere mediated by corporate technology businesses, it is imperative to understand how their business models square with consequences for human rights. Towards[…]

Shifting Sands for Tech Governance in China

2020 was a year of extreme highs and lows for the fortunes of technology platforms in China. From the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic they were central to sustaining economic activity during lockdown and maintaining a ‘new normal’ as the country re-opened. Their dominance over life in China seemed emphatic. By the end of the[…]

Hong Kong’s Anti-ELAB Demonstrations: Tools, Platforms, and Tactics

It has been almost three months since between 240,000 to a million Hong Kongers marched in protest against an extradition bill many feared would lead to an unacceptable weakening of Hong Kong’s legal independence from Beijing as per the “one country-two systems” principle enshrined in Hong Kong’s Basic Law. While this bill was proclaimed “dead”[…]

Interview with Dr. Rogier Creemers: AI + Social Credit + Algorithmic Governance + Cybersecurity + VPNs

It’s 2017. The world is increasingly looking eastwards for the latest technology and policy developments emerging out of Asia. When it comes to China, news of advances in AI and mobile payment systems battles for attention with thought pieces about social credit rating and circumvention tools. In July, a roadmap for AI development targeted China[…]

Blockchain for Music? Enter Musicoin

  Visualise this scenario for a moment. As a music lover, you have access to all the tunes in the world on your devices: no subscription and platform lock-in, no libraries divided across multiple apps, no regional restrictions. All the music you want, and fully interoperable. As a musician, you have the ability to copyright[…]