NEW RESOURCES

Global News (Canada): New website to help Ukrainians in B.C.. “On the website, Ukrainians can access free services such as assistance in finding housing, signing up for health-care coverage, job postings, signing children up for school and learning about other community services. British Columbians can sign up to volunteer to house refugees, offer employment, or donate to the cause as well.”

TWEAKS AND UPDATES

USAID: USAID Safeguards Internet Access In Ukraine Through Public-private-partnership With SpaceX. “The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) has delivered 5,000 Starlink Terminals to the Government of Ukraine through a public-private partnership with the American aerospace manufacturer, SpaceX. The Starlink satellite terminals will enable unlimited, unthrottled data connectivity from anywhere in Ukraine.”

Times of Israel: Report: Jewish CEO of ‘Russia’s Google’ leaves country for Israel over war. “Elena Bunina, a Russian-Jew who in recent years headed top Russian tech company Yandex, has stepped down as the firm’s CEO and has moved to Israel due to the ongoing war in Ukraine, according to media reports.”

Bloomberg: Twitter restricts Russian accounts, bars prisoner-of-war content. “Twitter Inc will stop amplifying Russian government accounts and ask other government-affiliated media to remove posts featuring prisoners of war, it said in a blog post on Tuesday (April 5) that cited international humanitarian law. It’s the latest example of how social media platforms are attempting to strike a balance that honours freedom of expression amid a flood of harrowing and often manipulative images and accounts being shared from the front line of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.”

Bleeping Computer: Intel shuts down all business operations in Russia. “US chipmaker Intel announced Tuesday night that it had suspended all business operations in Russia, joining tech other companies who pulled out of the country due to the invasion of Ukraine. Intel had already suspended all shipments to customers in Russia and Belarus last month after the US government issued sweeping sanctions that prevented the export of technology to the countries.”

AROUND THE INTERNET WORLD

Coda Story: How to document war crimes in the digital age. “OSINT has been crucial for documenting atrocities in Syria and Yemen, but it has its limitations. In many cases, the person who shot a video either can’t be identified or can’t be found, so they can’t be called to testify in court. When videos are uploaded to social media, crucial metadata that often accompanies video files — like the time and precise geographical location where a video was shot — are either obfuscated or can’t be trusted, making those videos harder to authenticate. Anything that makes OSINT evidence easier to dispute can allow Russia to manipulate narratives in its favor.”

Vanity Fair: Russia Denied A Massacre. News Outlets Had Satellite Images To Prove They Did It.. “Using satellite imagery and eyewitness accounts, news outlets are rebutting Russia’s claims that the civilian massacre in the Ukrainian town of Bucha and other recently liberated areas around Kyiv, happened after Russian forces had already left the towns. More than 400 civilian bodies have been discovered since Russian troops withdrew from the area, according to Ukrainian officials—atrocities Moscow has refused to take responsibility for.”

SECURITY & LEGAL

openDemocracy: Belarus is locking up Wikipedia editors over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. “Over the past month, the authorities have detained two Wikipedia editors in the country. The reason for their arrest appears to be editing articles about the Russian invasion, as well as editing articles about Lukashenka and Belarusian opposition politicians. Mediazona, a media outlet that focuses on the law and justice system in Belarus, Russia and Central Asia, has reported on the two editors, who made 300,000 edits between them and are now behind bars for their voluntary work.”

Associated Press: US charges Russian oligarch, dismantles cybercrime operation. “The Justice Department announced Wednesday that it had charged a Russian oligarch with sanctions violations and that officials have dismantled a cybercrime operation controlled by a Russian military intelligence agency.”

RESEARCH & OPINION

The Atlantic: Who’s Behind #IStandWithPutin?. “The fact that we don’t see information warfare doesn’t mean it isn’t happening, and it doesn’t mean we’ve won. It might just mean that ours is not the battleground on which it’s being fought.”

New York Times: Hackers’ Fake Claims of Ukrainian Surrender Aren’t Fooling Anyone. So What’s Their Goal?. “Since Russia’s invasion began in late February, hackers have repeatedly broken into the social media accounts and broadcasting systems of trusted information sources in Ukraine, like government officials and prominent media outlets. They used their access to spread false messages that Ukraine was surrendering, sometimes using fake videos to bolster their claims. And while there is no evidence that the misinformation campaign has had any discernible effect on the conflict, experts say the hackers’ intentions might not be to actually trick anyone.”

ADL: Unmasking ‘Clandestine,’ the Figure Behind the Viral “Ukrainian Biolab” Conspiracy Theory. “The ADL Center on Extremism has, with a high degree of confidence, identified ‘Clandestine,’ the man behind the viral biolab conspiracy theory, as Jacob Creech, a self-described former restaurant manager and Army National Guard veteran living in rural Virginia. The discovery highlights how a fringe QAnon figure, harnessing the power of social media, sparked a viral conspiracy theory that – in just a few weeks – made its way from QAnon to the world stage, amplified by Tucker Carlson, white supremacists Nick Fuentes and Vincent James, members of the Proud Boys, and Steve Bannon – and even the Kremlin.”

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