The Canadian government’s cybersecurity chief says Canadians should be wary of apps that could leave their data in the "wrong hands." Sami Khoury, head of the Communications Security Establishment (CSE) Canadian Centre for Cyber Security, said users need to be aware of what they're agreeing to when they download an app, and should ask whether it enables access to their personal data. "You have to ask yourself the question, do they need to access that information? Why does an application need to access all of my contact list? Why does it need to access my calendar, my email, my phone records, my [texts]?" he told CBC News, adding "You layer on top of that the risk of connecting my 200 [contacts] with your 200 and then you have an aggregate . . . of information. In some cases, it lands in places that don't live by the same principles of rule of law [and] respect for human rights."

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said in December the CSE was keeping an eye on TikTok, whose parent company ByteDance is based in China. "I think people are concerned about TikTok. I think people are obviously watching very carefully," he said. "The . . . CSE is one of the best cybersecurity agencies in the world and they're watching very carefully."

Meta is being urged by rights groups to seize the opportunity to improve its content moderation in Africa after Kenya-based outsourcing firm Sama, its main third-party contractor in the region, said it would no longer screen harmful posts for the social media giant. “With the exit of Sama, now would be a good chance for Meta to put things right and ensure better labour conditions for African moderators in the region,” said Bridget Andere, Africa policy analyst at Access Now. “Meta should increase the number of moderators for the region to adequately cover local languages and dialects, and also be more transparent about their algorithms which are promoting harmful content,” she said. Meta said Sama’s withdrawal would not adversely impact users on its social media platforms. A Meta spokesperson said: “We’ll work with our partners during this transition to ensure there’s no impact on our ability to review content.”

The FT profiles Esther Crawford, Twitter’s director of product management, who, people say, embodies the “hardcore” vision that Elon Musk seeks to instil across his companies. In November, she tweeted this photograph as testament to her dedication:

Philippine lawmaker Arnolfo Teves, who has filed a bill to require the registration of social media accounts, has spoken on the House floor to complain about "online bashers" and of the Philippines having "too much democracy." Mobile phone users in the Philippines are now having to register their SIM card under a law that initially also sought the mandatory registration of social media accounts. Congress passed the law in 2022 despite privacy concerns raised by groups including the Computer Professionals' Union, EngageMedia and Human Rights Online Philippines. The Asia Internet Coalition, which is the sole trade association of internet companies in Asia, last year flagged the SIM Card Registration Act over the security risks posed by its mandatory collection of information, which would put individuals in vulnerable groups "at risk of tracking and targeting, increasing the chances of their private information being misused."

Ted Gioia, a music journalist who styles himself as ‘The Honest Broker,’ dedicates his latest Substack essay to his eight best techniques for evaluating character. He says the methods “have helped me enormously—and can save you much heartache and anxiety.” The techniques that Ted practices when he needs to get a fast assessment of people he don’t know well include: See how they treat service workers; Discover what experiences formed their character in early life; Identify what irritates people the most in others—because this is probably the trait they dislike most in themselves; Watch how they handle unexpected problems; and, If they cheat at small things, they will cheat at big things.