NEW RESOURCES

Emerging Europe: ‘Start-ups and tech will be key to rebuilding’: Google launches Ukraine Support Fund. “Google for Startups has launched a Ukraine Support Fund worth five million US dollars to allocate equity-free cash awards throughout 2022. According to the IT Association of Ukraine, around 85 per cent of the country’s IT workers continue to deliver services for their clients. Some 70 per cent are doing so from safe areas within Ukraine, while a further 16 per cent (mainly women) have relocated to other countries.”

TWEAKS AND UPDATES

Engadget: Clubhouse debuts ‘protected profiles’ in response to at-risk users in Ukraine and Russia. “Invite-only social audio platform Clubhouse will let users limit who can see their full profiles due to increased security threats related to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, according to a company blog post.”

Bloomberg: Russia Internet Giant Risks Running Out of Vital Tech in a Year. “Yandex NV may run short of the semiconductors needed for the servers it uses to power its business within a year to 18 months because of import restrictions, two people with direct knowledge of the issue said, asking not to be identified in order to speak candidly. Sanctions on dual-use technology, which have both military and commercial uses, have hit its self-driving vehicle unit particularly hard, they said.”

USEFUL STUFF

The Verge: How to use Twitter’s content warnings when sharing sensitive images. “When shared sensitively, such images can shed new light on the horrors of war and galvanize support for the people who need it. They can also provide important contributions toward documenting what’s happening in conflict areas. But as fact-checking and open-source intelligence group Bellingcat notes, repeated exposure to such graphic imagery can contribute to a sense of secondary trauma.”

AROUND THE INTERNET WORLD

Deutsche Welle: Lessons from online investigators in Syria help Ukraine. “In Ukraine, open-source investigators are gathering videos posted to social media of missile attacks, counting destroyed tanks and collating the names of soldiers killed. Some investigators work remotely from anywhere in the world while others are in the country. Open-source investigators did similar over the past 11 years in Syria. But while in Syria, the field of online open-source research was only just evolving, in Ukraine it has matured.”

Internet Archive: Ukrainian Book Drive: Please Contribute. “The Internet Archive is requesting donations of Ukrainian books and books useful to Ukrainians. The books will be preserved, digitized and lent (for free to one user at a time) over the Internet. The Internet Archive is prioritizing the digitization and hosting of relevant materials for Ukrainians.”

The Block: Inside Ukraine’s digital ministry and crypto efforts during wartime. “As we speak from approximately 5,000 miles apart, Alexander Bornyakov will not specify where he is located. It’s still in Ukraine, but not in Kyiv, and either way, it’s definitely short on natural light. Bornyakov is, for his part, visibly short on sleep in the way that all of Ukraine’s officials have been for going on two months now. He gestures with a green e-cigarette firmly in his hand. It is a remarkably digitized version of life during wartime.”

New/Lines Magazine: Inside Ukraine’s Psyops on Russian and Belarusian Soldiers. “Ukrainian telecom specialists, New Lines has learned, have been using hacked telephone databases to track down the personal communications of Russian soldiers not just already deployed inside Ukraine but also those still garrisoned at the border. Many of these exchanges, particularly the recorded ones, have been uploaded to YouTube channels and other platforms, mostly untranslated. Tellingly, Ukrainians have targeted not only Russians but also Belarusian troops, who have yet to receive an order to deploy by Alexander Lukashenko’s dictatorship, which Western intelligence sources say is constantly stalling on pressure from Moscow.”

SECURITY & LEGAL

WIRED: Russians Need VPNs. The Kremlin Hates Them. “After Russia invaded Ukraine, VPN companies say the number of Russian users has spiked. The VPN company Windscribe told WIRED that almost a million people from Russia had signed up since the war started, 20 times the usual rate. Another provider called Psiphon said its number of daily active users in Russia jumped to more than 1.1 million immediately after Instagram was blocked, before settling at 650,000. But VPN companies have not escaped Russian censorship.”

Ars Technica: Biden sanctions Russian tech companies, including country’s biggest chipmaker. “The Biden administration slapped a new round of sanctions on Russia, with a focus on technology companies that support the Russian war effort in Ukraine. Among the sanctioned companies is Mikron, Russia’s largest chipmaker.”

Fossbytes: Ukraine’s Biggest ISP In Russian Crosshairs As Nokia Deserts Putin’s Surveillance Setup. “Finnish tech firm Nokia joins many other organizations in ostracizing Russia for its ongoing invasion of Ukraine. Earlier this month, CEO Lundmark announced cutting off the company’s ties with the invading nation as per the latest sanctions. According to the NY Times, Nokia would also leave behind some equipment crucial for Russia’s SORM surveillance tool.”

RESEARCH & OPINION

Fielding Graduate University: How Memes and Media Are Crafting the Way We See War. “Memes play a central role as the world watches Russia’s Invasion of Ukraine in real-time. Not only is the amount of information available is unprecedented, but social media’s aesthetics are shaping how we see conflict. Viral mockery of Putin has replaced funny cat memes. The juxtaposition of Putin at a ridiculously long table is funny as a visual and political joke. But it creates an image of Putin as out of touch, isolated and paranoid. This kind of short-form content defines the narrative of this war, particularly for younger generations.”

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