Stories from Abroad

The trade deal that President Donald Trump and Chinese Vice Premier Liu He signed left the tech world clamoring for more. Industry leaders praised the deal’s progress on forced technology transfers and intellectual property theft in China and expressed optimism about its next iteration.

In South Korea, where the next-generation wireless network has been rolled out widely, download speeds have risen but many users aren’t impressed. 5G hasn’t lived up to the hype. For most of 2019, South Korea was home to the vast majority of the world’s 5G users, offering the broadest lessons in what the next-generation network has to offer. Though it is still early in the global rollout, 5G service in South Korea has proved more of a future promise than a technological breakthrough. 

China’s control over online content is likely to tighten further with a comprehensive set of rules that defines what is bad or illegal content, and what content is encouraged, and highlights the role that algorithms play in recommending content to users. The new rules, released by the Cyberspace Administration of China, target producers of online content, including individuals and operators of apps and other platforms. The rules are set to come into effect in March.

Russia will temporarily shut off many of its citizens’ access to the global Internet in a test of its controversial RuNet program, according to an internal government document. RuNet aims to boost the government’s ability to better control internal digital traffic, launch cyber and information attacks against other nations, and track and censor dissidents. The test will evaluate “the possibility of intercepting subscriber traffic and revealing information about the subscriber, blocking communication services,” according to a Dec.

Autorité de la concurrence, France's competition authority, fined Google €150 million ($166 million) for abusing its dominant position in online advertising. At issue are the ads that appear next to search results. France's competition authority says that Google rules governing how and when advertisers can show their ads next to search results are applied in an "unfair and random manner."

Whether it's banking, food delivery or a local taxi company, finding out your favourite services are available online is normally a happy moment -- it's often faster and more convenient.

Companies, including US tech giants, should be blocked from transferring European users’ data in some cases if they can’t guarantee it will be handled in compliance with European Union privacy laws, an adviser to the EU’s top court recommended. The recommendation, if followed by the EU’s Court of Justice, could unleash a 

While our universities and tech firms still lead in cutting-edge innovation — from artificial intelligence to 5G wireless technology — it is China that has deployed them. The US is losing the commercialization race, a failure of our own making. America has no domestic manufacturer of 5G equipment, so it must rely on European or Chinese suppliers.

The general openness of the Internet has generated tremendous economic and social value, giving users the freedom to connect, speak, innovate, and share content without restrictions. Unfortunately, many countries have in recent years enacted policies that undermine this openness. At the same time the Internet has never been fully open. Governments have long blocked illicit and dangerous material such as terrorist propaganda, pirated content, and malware. Too little openness limits the economic and social value of the Internet. Too much openness allows harmful activity.

In 2013, 17 percent of consumers in both China and the US had access to a fiber internet connection. Fast forward to 2019, China’s penetration has jumped to 86 percent while the US is only at 25 percent. While America continues to suffer from an immense digital divide, China’s government has made incredible progress building out a state-sponsored super network of fiber optic connections. Despite the constant posturing and discussion about the importance of fiber, the US has not been effective at deploying a nationwide fiber optical network. Why is this?