Update: Intel issued an apology statement briefly after this article was published.  The tech giant said that its commitment to avoid supply chains from Xinjiang was an expression of compliance with US law, rather than a statement of its position on the issue.

The United States has long criticized China over the alleged widespread torture and repression of the mostly Muslim Uyghurs and other religious and ethnic minorities in Xinjiang.

At the same time, Beijing has repeatedly dismissed all those allegations and claimed it to be borne of “political motivation” and “disinformation.”

Allegations and retaliation from both parties have resulted in continued tit-for-tat sanctions with Washington banning imports from the region and China taking “necessary measures” to prove its steadfastness.

To recall, the Chinese government’s oppression of Uyghurs and other Turkic Muslims in the region is not a new phenomenon, but in recent years, has reached unprecedented levels.

By July this year, the White House opted to issue a tough warning to US companies doing business in the Xinjiang province.

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Calling US investments a potential threat, the government has warned American firms that they may wind up breaking the law if they don’t leave the region, a move that has prompted accusations of hypocrisy from Beijing.

In a Xinjiang Supply Chain Business Advisory published jointly by the State Department, Treasury, Commerce, Homeland Security, Labor, and the Office of the US Trade Representative, it was stated that “Businesses and individuals that do not exit supply chains, ventures, and/or investments connected to Xinjiang could run a high risk of violating US law.”

Between a rock and a hard place, there is Intel

In 1985, when Intel entered the Chinese market, it was one of the first American companies to do so following China’s reform and opening-up.

Inevitably, the company has reaped huge benefits from China over those decades — by 2020, 26% of Intel’s revenue came from mainland China and nearby Hong Kong.

Nearly 10% of the company’s properties, factories, and equipment are located in China. 

Yet, to the surprise of many, especially Chinese netizens, the US chipmaker told its suppliers in a public letter to not source products or labor from the northwestern region of Xinjiang.

According to a report by Reuters, Intel said it had been “required to ensure that its supply chain does not use any labor or source goods or services from the Xinjiang region”, following restrictions imposed by “multiple governments”.

Intel just joined sanction on suppliers frm #Xinjiang, China pic.twitter.com/2T7TSJEd1Q

— Carl Zha (@CarlZha) December 21, 2021

The letter has caused a stir and led to severe criticism from Chinese users on Chinese social media, especially Twitter-like service Weibo.

In fact, Bloomberg said a hashtag on the topic has generated more than 250 million views on Weibo.

As the nationalist tabloid run by the ruling Communist Party’s People’s Daily, Global Times puts it, the move by Intel is “an attempt to prove the company’s own innocence under the pressure of the extreme political environment in the US, as well as pleasing US society with some fine words.”

To date, not many American companies have done what Intel did.

Global Times, in a separate report, added: “Most US enterprises, which Chinese people are familiar with, hesitantly and negatively support Washington’s demands to boycott Xinjiang’s products made by the so-called forced labor,”

Experts reckon that Intel “could afford this move simply because there are very few Xinjiang products in its current supply chain, and its CPU is rigidly demanded in China.”

It seems that Intel isn’t worried about retaliation from China and sees this as a move that favors the US and Western world, never mind that China is Intel’s largest international source of business revenue for six consecutive years. 

Even in Europe earlier this year, French authorities opened a “crimes against humanity” probe into four fashion brands namely Uniqlo, Zara-owner Inditex, and French textile firm SMCP (not to be confused with news outlet South China Morning Post).

The move came after complaints from the European Uyghur Institute and other pressure groups that those retailers were profiting from the use of forced labor from Xinjiang.

For context, the Xinjiang region produces 85% of China’s cotton and accounts for about a fifth of global cotton supplies.

A quick apology

Briefly after this article was published, Intel issued an apology statement over its open letter to suppliers. “We apologise for the trouble caused to our respected Chinese customers, partners and the public. Intel is committed to becoming a trusted technology partner and accelerating joint development with China,” Intel said as per Reuters‘ report.

The post Intel under fire in China after shunning Xinjiang appeared first on Tech Wire Asia.

Companies like IBM that aren’t afraid to shift and pivot that respond to changing conditions in their market and in the world at large are the successful ones. A similar more local case is Interactive, the Australian company we featured on the Tech Means Business podcast.

Interactive has always been the go-to player for technology solutions, including business continuity, APRA-compliant services, and disaster recovery for many thousands of companies in the APAC. But it was the COVID pandemic that led to the company’s recent move into secure, serviced office provision. It’s not a common-or-garden variety commercial landlord, renting meeting rooms and draughty communal spaces to roving freelancers. Instead, it’s offering facilities directly related to its APRA compliant data centre capabilities, giving financial services companies (or any security-conscious organisation) the capability to split their staff into more localised locations while retaining the cast-iron security and best standards necessary in this highly regulated vertical.

We spoke to Brett Wilson, Chief Operating Officer Infrastructure & Risk at Interactive, about the company’s new take on providing for its customers. He told us: “Being a business continuity solutions provider means that we’ve got a unique lens on the delivery of [IT] services. We reduce risk effectively which is very much complemented by the data centre service we offer.”

Ask most serviced office providers if they can host fault-resilient, highly encrypted servers on-site, and blank looks is likely all you’ll get. But Interactive’s customers have always used the company for its expertise in technology, and the provision of physical space equipped to specialist standards is the next logical step. That includes dedicated data feeds, encryption capabilities, physical security, and data centre quality provisioning. The quality extends to the basics, too: “Every single desktop in our facility sits behind a UPS [uninterruptible power supply] and diesel generator, so that power resiliency of the site comes in addition to the security,” Brett said.

Most companies now go out of their way to ensure data security, continuity, and resilience, but the government mandates these in the financial sector. Companies in the vertical operate under APRA strictures, which, for non-Aussie readers, refers to the Australian Prudential Regulatory Authority. The quango regulates financial, deposit-taking institutions – that is, any company that’s a custodian of the public’s money.

In practical terms, APRA compliance translates to a whole list of obligations regarding information and physical security, system redundancy, and resilience in the IT systems used to do business. Non-compliance ends up with financial institutions losing their license to trade.

While Interactive can’t coach companies through their individual compliance application procedures, they can lend considerable experience to key personnel to ensure internal procedures and operations are on course. “Moreover, we end up helping our customers. [The] less experienced risk managers really do lean on Interactive’s expertise from having done this thousands of times with many, many customers,” Brett said.

Without getting into the weeds of acronyms, companies must aim for APRA’s accepted level of ‘sound practice’. With regards to digital information, CPS 232 and CPS 234 [PDFs] (Business Continuity Management and Information Security, respectively).

Brett told us that Interactive’s aim is “to be a part of our customers’ accreditation process. So, it’s about our facilities being a compliant part of their complete solution.”

For general ease of use of its data centre facilities, remote office provisioning, secure IT, and governance adherence, and what are actually very specialist requirements and services, Interactive offers simplicity. Brett told us, “It’s about aggregating all the aspects required to stand up a second office for staff. That relates to leases, to our furniture, […] to the technology, to power cabling and all the niceties of video conferencing and meeting rooms and breakout areas and facilities and amenities. We turn all that complexity into a single monthly service fee that has flexibility.”

In highly regulated industries, every aspect of digital interaction is considered a potential place to compromise security and resilience. That situation isn’t particularly compatible with home working, where professionals have to share networks with – for instance – teenagers’ BitTorrent-ing, kids downloading pirated games and bandwidth needed by VPNs eaten up by streaming media.

“You have staff performing regulated functions and these aren’t jobs that can be done around the kitchen table with children running around,” Brett told us. “We’re talking about institutions transferring billion dollars of superannuation fees in a single transaction and that type of requirement necessitates a regulated and controlled environment, [one] with secure access and identity management so that we know we can report on and track who was literally in the room at the time of the transaction.”

Helping companies transition from home or remote working back to offices that may be closer, smaller, cheaper, yet still compliant is all in a day’s work.

“Over the years of providing business continuity services to this customer base [the financial services industry], you go through thousands and thousands of audits and each time there’s a new audit and a new auditor, they identify opportunities for improvement. Our service just hones and improves over time.”

The list of adjectives describing Interactive’s office spaces also includes luxurious. One client allegedly told Brett that his new office space is “like being at a resort, except I have to work.”

For some commercial landlords, luxury is the sole USP. In Interactive’s spaces, it’s an add-on. The real core of the offering is APRA-compliant levels of security, connectivity, and resilience. Although those features are in the background, they need to be at the forefront of decision-makers’ minds as the company begins to get back into the workplace.

To learn more about Interactive’s unique offerings, get in touch with a representative from the company to talk through your options.

The post APRA Compliance Just Step One for Returning Workforces, with Interactive appeared first on Tech Wire Asia.

Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding Ltd has been facing intensified competition that has been eating into its market share. The pandemic and evolution in the way consumers shop has even widened the difference in revenue growth of Alibaba and its peers. Having its position in the industry challenged, Alibaba realized it needs to do what it takes to have its e-commerce business especially to stay relevant.

For starters, the company announced that it will be reorganizing its international and domestic e-commerce businesses and have its CFO replaced. According to the company’s statement on Monday, the changes come “as the tech giant grapples with an onslaught of competition, a slowing economy, and a regulatory crackdown.”

To recall, the company was fined a record 18 billion yuan (US$2.8 billion) in April for abusing its dominant market position. Alibaba broke the country’s antimonopoly law by preventing merchants from selling their goods on other shopping platforms.

How will Alibaba and its e-commerce unit be structured then?

The reorganizing of its e-commerce unit will begin with the formation of two new units — international digital commerce and China digital commerce which the company said was part of efforts to become more agile and accelerate growth. In Alibaba’s last quarterly earnings, the company announced its annual active consumers (AAC) overseas reached 285 million and reiterated its ambitious goal of serving 2 billion consumers globally.

Apparently, the international digital commerce unit will include AliExpress which sells to retail buyers particularly in Europe and South America, its Southeast Asian e-commerce business Lazada and Alibaba.com which is more focused on selling to overseas business customers. The newly-formed International Digital Commerce will be led by Jiang Fan while Alibaba veteran Trudy Dai will lead the new China Digital Commerce that combines Alibaba’s China consumer-facing and wholesale marketplaces. 

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Toby Xu will also be succeeding Maggie Wu as CFO from April 1,next year. In a letter to employees outlining his strategy and leadership changes, Alibaba Group Chairman and CEO Daniel Zhang said “We will continue to focus on becoming a truly globalized company, and we believe that overseas markets present many exciting potential and opportunities for us to capture. We have confidence in our local teams, and we are charting a path forward with a holistic strategic blueprint and organizational stability for winning our overseas markets.”

Strengthening its domestic presence

As with its international commerce integration, Alibaba will also be combining all domestic commerce businesses to foster more collaboration and synergy across business units to serve its consumers and customers better. For this, the company appointed Alibaba veteran Trudy Dai to lead the new China Digital Commerce.

“An Alibaba founding member and partner, Dai has served various leadership roles within the company over the years. She has strong expertise across the China consumption sector, a keen understanding of consumer needs, and deep knowledge of the Alibaba ecosystem,” the blog posting reads.

The new structure for domestic e-commerce will put Dai in charge of all China retail marketplaces, including Taocaicai — its community e-commerce service; Taobao Deals, as well as Lingshoutong, a retail management platform for mom and pop stores, according to 86research.com analyst Xiaoyan Wang.

Competition and hefty fines have not been the only dilemma faced by the tech giant. The company was affected by weaker growth and fierce competition from a plethora of rivals.

Conditions have even led Alibaba to slash its forecast for annual revenue growth to its slowest pace since its 2014 stock market debut. To make it worse, Alibaba’s sale during this year’s Singles Day — the company’s own banner event — grew at the slowest rate.

The post Alibaba reshuffles e-commerce arm, replaces CFO appeared first on Tech Wire Asia.

Asian leading buy-now-pay-later company Atome has collaborated with the world’s first syariah-compliant (Islamic) payment gateway PayHalal to enable murabaha buy-now-pay-later (iBNPL) acceptance across the latter’s merchant touchpoints first in Malaysia. PayHalal, a Malaysia-born company, intends to also launch its services in Indonesia in the near term.

Upon offering PayHalal as a payment gateway, merchants are certified to offer products and services that are halal for consumption. PayHalal in a statement said, the Covid-19 pandemic had accelerated the shift for Malaysian shoppers to adopt digital payment options.

That said, by partnering Atome to introduce iBNPL across PayHalal’s merchant touchpoints, “shoppers now have access to a flexible, convenient and secure payment option that allows them to split their purchases into three zero-interest deferred payments, with no annual or servicing fees,” PayHalal said.

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For PayHalal’s acting CEO Muhammad Sulwan Mohamed Subhan, the pandemic-driven shift towards online shopping had created an urgent need for Muslim retailers and businesses to improve and enhance e-commerce user experience.

“This partnership with Atome will broaden the payment experience across thousands of point-of-sale checkouts, with the right assortment of payment options, throughout PayHalal’s merchant network,” he said.

Atome’s CEO David Chen also shared his excitement to partner PayHalal to expand seamless Murabaha buy now pay later acceptance first in Malaysia before rolling out in Indonesia in the coming months.

syariah-compliant BNPL — Huge room for growth.

Globally, BNPL programmes have seen tremendous growth globally, for fulfilling a major consumer need and providing a financial alternative that is both simple and effective. When it comes to the Islamic market, experts reckon there lies a huge potential for the BNPL sector.

Global Islamic Financial Services Firm CEO Mufti Ismail Desai said in a blog posting that “there are significant opportunities for BNPL within an Islamic Finance context as this growing industry is estimated to be worth US$2.8 trillion, and is projected to grow to US$4.8 trillion by 2024. BNPL can be used as effective financial tool in generating tremendous financial value for Muslim consumers globally.”

To be clear, current leading BNPL service providers are mostly not syariah-compliant for two reasons: the charging of interest and the lack of an Aqd (Islamic contract) between the BNPL provider (as lender) and the consumer (as borrower). Therefore, introducing syariah-compliant offerings would actually solve many of these issues for Muslim users.

To put it simply, the focus of Islamic Finance BNPL solutions would be on providing interest-free credit, with reasonable charges and an emphasis on mutual benefit rather than any potential exploitation of customers through late payment and other fees.

The collaboration between PayHalal and Atome will not result in Malaysia’s first syariah-compliant BNPL services. In fact, earlier this year, BNPL platform Split has had its services reviewed and certified as a syariah-compliant, the first in Malaysia.

The post Atome partners with Syariah-compliant PayHalal to enable Islamic BNPL in Malaysia appeared first on Tech Wire Asia.

Career-oriented social network, LinkedIn, was first launched in China in 2014 and ever since, it has been the only major Western social-media platform operating in China. Having been operational for nearly seven years, LinkedIn, owned by Microsoft, had always agreed to adhere to the requirements of the Chinese government although it disagreed with some of the local government’s stance.

China is one of LinkedIn’s largest markets, with 54 million users, after the United States and India. 

Unfortunately, Microsoft said it is not finding it manageable anymore, especially to comply with the Chinese state. While the platform has always been transparent about how it conducted business in the country, as claimed, it disagreed with the government’s censorship.

That brings us to the incident prior to LinkedIn’s decision to pull the plug on China — the career-networking site faced questions for blocking the profiles of some journalists. According to a report by BBC, LinkedIn blacklisted several journalist accounts, including those of Melissa Chan and Greg Bruno, from its China-based website.

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“Mr Bruno, who has written a book documenting China’s treatment of Tibetan refugees, told Verdict he was not surprised the Chinese Communist Party did not like it but was “dismayed that an American tech company is caving into the demands of a foreign government”. US senator Rick Scott called the move a “gross appeasement and an act of submission to Communist China”, in a letter to LinkedIn chief executive Ryan Roslansky and Microsoft boss Satya Nadella, BBC reported.

LinkedIn senior vice-president Mohak Shroff blogged, “We’re facing a significantly more challenging operating environment and greater compliance requirements in China.” Separately in a statement, LinkedIn said, “While we are going to sunset the localised version of LinkedIn in China later this year, we will continue to have a strong presence in China to drive our new strategy and are excited to launch the new InJobs app later this year.”

LinkedIn had plans to launch a standalone jobs application for China, called InJobs, later this year. The site will however, not include a social feed or the ability to share or post articles. “Our new strategy for China is to put our focus on helping China-based professionals find jobs in China and Chinese companies find quality candidates,” Shroff said.

To recall, in March this year, LinkedIn temporarily paused new member sign ups in China as it ensured it was in compliance with local law. At the same time, China’s internet regulator told LinkedIn officials to better regulate its content and gave them 30 days to do so, report claims.

The post Microsoft pulls the plug on China’s LinkedIn operations appeared first on Tech Wire Asia.

As an epicenter of Bitcoin mining, China miners have called it quits following months of intense crypto crackdown that ended with China’s Central Bank declaring all crypto-related transitions illegal last month. Following that, China added cryptocurrency mining to a draft list of industries in which investment is restricted or prohibited.

Based on a report by Reuters, the country early this month added crypto mining to a draft “negative list” that limits or outright bans investments in a given industry, whether by Chinese or foreigners. Would-be investors would need to get approvals, and those are unlikely given China’s anti-crypto stance.

Apparently, Bitcoin.com noted that China’s Development and Reform Commission is asking for public commentary on the list through October 14th, though it’s impossible that public input will change the government’s stance. Basically, it is fair to say that the overall move just further made cryptocurrency impractical in China.

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Crypto trading has officially been banned in China since 2019, but activities have continued online through foreign exchanges. The crackdown only got more significant this year, from Chinese state intuitions warning buyers they would have no protection for continuing to trade Bitcoin and other currencies online, to authorities telling banks and payment platforms to stop facilitating transactions.

The crown belongs to the US — for now.

For a long time before the Chinese government began intensifying its crackdown on cryptocurrencies, China was hosting more than 75% of the world’s bitcoin mining capacity. 

However, over the years, with the emergence of other players in the industry and a widening crypto crackdown under the leadership of President Xi Jingping, the country’s bitcoin mining begun dropping until it accounted for only less than half (46%) of the world’s bitcoin mining as of April this year, Cambridge Centre for Alternative Finance data shows.

As of July, more than a third (35.4%) of bitcoin’s hashrate was located in the US. Source: CBEIC

After being added to the “negative list”, China as expected, would lose its spot as the world’s epicenter for bitcoin mining. According to new data from the University of Cambridge, the United States (US) now tops the list for bitcoin miners in the world, replacing China for the first time.

As of July, more than a third (35.4%) of bitcoin’s hashrate—a measure of the mining network’s computing power—was located in the US,  data by the Cambridge Centre for Alternative Finance shows. It is the highest proportion recorded for the US, up from around 21.8% as of May and around 4.2% a year ago.

Kazakhstan (18.1%), Russia (11.2%) and Canada (9.6%) were other leading destinations for bitcoin miners, according to the hashrate data. Unfortunately, no single hashrate was recorded in mainland China, the data showed, a dramatic shift for the longtime market leader.

However, experts reckon the tax provisions for cryptocurrency in the Infrastructure Bill could prompt miners to reconsider the US as a viable location. Even Kazakhstan has a mining tax that is due to come into force next year.

The post The US has finally leapfrogged China in bitcoin mining appeared first on Tech Wire Asia.

The final act of the delayed Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics took place last Sunday, almost eight years to the day after the Japanese capital was awarded the Games. When it comes to major sporting events, scammers have always jumped on the opportunity to ply their trade — and the Tokyo Olympics were no different. This summer games saw fake streaming services as the biggest threat.

Since the Rio 2016 Olympics, online streaming of sporting events has increased. To be fair, it is an international game attracting billions of viewers across the globe — and between cord-cutting and Covid-19, more viewers streamed the recent Summer Olympic games than ever before.  As major sporting events become increasingly digitized, sports officials are increasingly concerned about cybersecurity. Experts reckon digital technologies pose an increasingly diverse set of threats to Olympic events, and the newer forms of threat are likely to have more serious consequences. 

Despite the FBI’s warning that cybercriminals would target the Olympic Games this summer, it did not stop cybercriminals, in fact, most of them are getting extra creative with the campaigns designed to harvest credentials. Two separate reports by Kaspersky experts and Zscaler’s ThreatLabz analyzed Olympic-related phishing attacks and found fake pages offering streaming services, tickets to events that won’t have spectators, and even a fake Olympic Games virtual currency.

Live Streams

During the summer games, Zscaler’s ThreatLabz observed multiple instances of suspicious streaming services that weren’t associated with any of the official Olympic streaming providers. Instead, these websites claimed to provide free access to watch the games online before requesting payment credentials from customers.

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After users register for access to these illegitimate streaming sites, they were directed to a fake payment portal that was used to harvest their credit card numbers and other payment information. Most of the streaming transactions observed were from the United States and Europe, with Germany and France leading in transactions. Within the Asia Pacific countries, India and Japan led the way. The importance and popularity of the event make it a target for cyberattacks, with threat actors installing malicious software from ransomware to coin miners.

On the other hand, Kaspersky experts found various phishing pages offering streaming services for the games. The trick is that users have to register to watch. Those registration pages are phishing schemes and, “once a user enters their credentials, they might be redirected to a page that distributes different malicious files,” according to Kaspersky. 

Basically, the fake streaming sites scams highlighted are a double whammy, delivering malware and harvesting user credentials.  To top it off, some fraudsters are still trying to sell tickets to the games even with no live audiences this year.  Kaspersky experts also discovered pages offering refunds for already purchased tickets.

Olympic-themed adware

Zscaler also observed Olympic-themed adware activity during the Tokyo Olympics that claimed to offer free streaming services.

However, users were instead redirected to unrelated sites for online gambling, auto-trading, and other topics. According to their blog posting, it also saw cases where users were redirected to install adware in the form of browser extensions and fake software updaters. 

OlympicDestoyer

To top it off, the sophisticated malware OlympicDestroyer, which first appeared online during the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea, was also observed in the wild this summer as cybercriminals brought it back for the latest Olympic Games. 

At its core, OlympicDestoryer is a worm that spreads using Windows network shares and drops multiple files onto a victim’s machine that tries to steal their browser and system credentials.

Fake virtual currency 

Kaspersky researchers found a fake virtual token of the event — by cybercriminals masquerading as a charity. To convince people to buy it, the scammers say that the fundraiser will support athletes who are in need of financial support. Kaspersky’s security expert Olga Svistiunova said, “Cybercriminals always use popular sporting events as bait for cyber attacks.

We see that fraudsters have no limits when it comes to creating ways to profit. For example, the phishing that sells an Olympic Games virtual currency shows that cybercriminals are not only using existing baits but are also creating sophisticated and creative ideas.”

A lesson for upcoming Olympics

It is axiomatic as it is, that not all cyberattacks are created equal. Yet when it comes to major sporting events, there has been no coherent effort to categorize the risks that are particular to these types of events, and/or to enable officials to prioritize among the various types of attacks. 

To date, there are four significant categories of cyberattacks on major sporting events: the infiltration of sporting websites and IT systems; tickets-related scams; the hacking and release of sensitive athlete data; and the risk of fans being hacked while attending an event.

This will change—and quickly. The increased ‘technification’ of sports will continue and even accelerate, over the next seven or so years. There are huge possible future risks that will come to fruition as technology continues to change.  Perhaps, past Olympic cyber-related issues and the most recent ones could shed light on how the Olympic movement can keep up with the rapid pace of cybercriminals activity.

The post From fake streaming sites to adware, Tokyo has lesson for future Olympics appeared first on Tech Wire Asia.

Beginning October 1, connected vehicle makers in China – including Tesla and a number of domestic carmakers – that offer automated driving assistance and other autopilot capabilities must “clearly inform” about their vehicles’ functions and performance limitations, as well as driver responsibilities and other important data. After a public comment period that began in mid-May, China last week officially released regulations on automotive data security management.

The regulations are aimed at preventing vast amounts of personal data generated in China, the world’s largest auto market, from being leaked beyond its borders. The rules will be based on the country’s 2017 cybersecurity law, as well as its sweeping Data Security Law, which is set to take effect on Sept 1.

Data security has been a major concern for China’s regulators, and according to the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT), data that needs to be exported abroad must pass a security assessment, reiterating previous regulations. Aside from safeguarding data, the MIIT said connected vehicle makers must increase cybersecurity efforts to fend off threats to system vulnerabilities and to standardize software upgrades.

Why vehicles?

According to reports by the Chinese media, nearly half of new cars sold in 2020 are capable of connecting to the internet. In China, the driver can open the window, adjust the inside temperature or play music or videos using voice recognition technology through the internet.

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The ministry published the proposed new regulations months after electric vehicle (EV) maker Tesla initiated a recall in mainland China over a potential safety hazard. In June, the State Administration for Market Regulation said the recall covered about 285,000 electric vehicles to fix the cruise-control function, which can be activated accidentally and cause cars to suddenly accelerate.

That led to a 69% plunge in Tesla’s domestic car sales in June, according to data from the China Passenger Car Association. The MIIT however, indicated that it has been working on formulating regulations on smart connected vehicles since last year. In June, for instance, it issued a set of draft regulations focused on cybersecurity, including provisions for smart cars that aim to establish a relatively complete cybersecurity standard by 2025.

Notably, the new rules will apply to a wide range of businesses, including automakers, auto parts makers, software companies, car dealers, as well as ride-hailing services. Most evidently, companies will have to disclose the locations where they plan to store the data. Authorities have stated that sensitive data will include anything from Chinese road traffic and logistics information to facial recognition data, videos, and photos taken by onboard cameras, as well as operational data on charging stations for electric vehicles.

How will it impact automakers?

According to a report by Reuters, a handful of automakers shared that they have been storing data locally. None of the carmakers said whether they would share data from China with their overseas offices.

For example, Ford Motor said it established a data center in China in the first half of last year and was storing all vehicle data locally. BMW also said it operates “local data centers in China for the Chinese vehicle fleet,” without saying when they opened.

Meanwhile, Daimler said it runs “a dedicated vehicle backend in China, where vehicle data is stored.” General Motors and Toyota Motor Corp on the other hand declined to discuss how they manage their data in China, while France’s Renault said it does not yet have a car data center in China.

Nissan Motor and Stellantis said they would comply with rules in China but gave no further details. Volkswagen agrees that compliance with data protection rules was crucial for a successful digital transformation, but “as the regulatory environment is still in rapid development, it is too early for us to comment on the specifics.”

The post China tightens smart vehicle data regulation for Tesla and others appeared first on Tech Wire Asia.

Over the last few years, the Chinese government, seeking to strengthen consumers’ trust and participation in the digital economy, has begun to implement data privacy protections that in many respects resemble those in America and Europe today.

China under President Xi Jinping especially has been cracking down on its most powerful tech stars, including Alibaba Group Holding Ltd., Tencent Holdings Ltd, and Didi Global Inc. in a bid to ensure its hold on society. 

It appears that the government is constantly moving to address consumer worries about the gradual erosion of their privacies as tech companies make rapid advances in the use of tools from facial recognition to big data. That said, the most recent move by the Chinese authorities is passing legislation setting out tougher rules for how companies handle user data.

Last Friday, the legislature of the Asian nation approved the Personal Information Protection Law (PIPL), said China Central Television. Based on earlier drafts, companies are required to get user consent to collect, use and share information, and to provide a way for them to opt out. 

Companies found breaking the rules could face fines of up to 50 million yuan (US$7.7 million) or 5% of their annual revenue. The national privacy law, China’s first, closely resembles the world’s most robust framework for online privacy protections, Europe’s General Data Protection Regulation.

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Right before this law, the nation’s legislature passed a related law in June that gave President Xi Jin Ping the power to shut down or fine tech companies that stood in the way of his efforts to control vast reams of data they build. The moves come as some US lawmakers call for breaking up internet titans like Facebook Inc. and Alphabet Inc., and as European regulators prioritize antitrust actions and giving users more control over data.

What else does the data privacy law cover?

According to the Wall Street Journal, the new privacy law, which unifies previously piecemeal legislation on personal information protection, also tackles a number of concerns that have come to light in recent years, such as the proliferation of facial recognition. According to the latest PIPL draft, facial recognition cameras installed in public places must be marked with prominent alerts and only be used to maintain public security.

The new law will also seek to address the issue of algorithmic discrimination, which has drawn increasing public concern, especially in cases where online platforms offer different prices to different users based on their online behavior. The latest draft, which requires automated decision-making to be transparent and fair, also instructs companies to give individuals the option to opt-out of personalized marketing.

Unlike the GDPR, however, the PIPL comes with one major caveat: It’s largely written to protect people from private companies monopolizing their data while giving state authorities a free pass to largely do just that. It is inevitably a loophole that kind of undercuts the biggest problem that a lot of people tend to have with China’s surveillance state.

The PIPL also has pretty strict guidelines for foreign companies doing business in the region—and that includes data-hoovering giants like Facebook that offer services to Chinese customers through obscure subsidiaries.

The PIPL states that any of these outfits aren’t only required to abide by the new law but that they need to “pass a security assessment organized by the State cybersecurity and information department” before they get a pass to operate in the country.

The post Did China just pass one of the strictest data privacy laws in the world? appeared first on Tech Wire Asia.

From enabling money remittance services for governmental platforms, to allowing mobile payments for websites and e-commerce apps, financial service providers have had to look again at how they can help speed up the digital transformation efforts of numerous businesses, worldwide.

In the Asia Pacific region, the events of the past two years have thrown a spotlight on the woeful digital transformation journeys of organizations in the world’s fastest growing region, and that is not limited to developing markets like Vietnam, Indonesia, and the Philippines that were emerging rapidly in the days before the pandemic. Even organizations in developed territories like Singapore, Australia, Hong Kong, and Malaysia were caught unaware by the nearly overnight need to be digital-first – whether that be embracing online productivity methods like cloud computing services or enabling alternative revenue-generating channels by providing digital payment options.

The COVID-19 crisis once again highlighted fears around the usage of cash, which had already been seeing dwindling use in recent years as many markets looked towards digital cures to power payments acceptance in brick-and-mortar retail, to allow for convenient bills payment, and in empowering online sales channels.

New payment technologies such as mobile payments, e-wallets, and contactless cards have been simplified over the years, and they are smoothening both business-to-business and business-to-customer experiences with their range and flexibility of capabilities.

These strengths are putting organizations under pressure to accept these payment innovations that go beyond traditional banking models. And as the online payment processing market continues to develop, users are demanding for additional payment features and options that will lead growth in multiple directions.

For one, users will be demanding online transaction means that will be increasingly exposed to risk of fraud, widening the risk management strategy of the company to whole new horizons, such as chargebacks for fraudulent transactions. Too many chargebacks could effectively cripple a merchant, and without the chip-based physical card authentication of credit cards, newer technologies such as biometrics and multifactor authentication need to be used to validate the identity of online purchasers and authorize their transactions.

Another critical function being demanded of new-age payments is the ability to facilitate cross-border transactions. Traditionally, national banking structures would rather avoid the complexities of enabling cross-border payments, but with digital platforms and services making the internet essentially borderless, consumers are coming to want goods and services from other countries that they may not be able to access in their own.

Hence, transnational payment systems are on the rise, trusted systems that are not bound to any single country, instead licensed by accredited bodies such as the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standards (PCI DSS) certification that governs credit card transactions, both online and off. By partnering with governments and local payment service providers, these new payment systems can maintain a secure network with strong access control measures, manage security and credit risk, and protect users’ identities as well.

Enabling cross-border transactions means being able to accept and process a variety of payment methods and currencies. E-wallet payment processing, mobile payment processing, and of course acceptance of international credit and debit cards help online merchants compete in global markets by allowing their customers to pay in their native currencies and method of choice.

Having the right payment service provider in place, with the necessary infrastructure and technical integration capacities such as applications programming interfaces (APIs) and payment gateways already on board, can go a long way towards serving the customer the digital capabilities they have to expect, including a variety of features, integrated systems that connect with other services, as well as a fast and reliable online payment process that seems virtually seamless.

Convenient, seamless, and secure payment options are what these three service providers below have in common. Let’s take a look at what sets them apart:

KIPLEPAY BY GREEN PACKET

Founded back in 2000, right in the heart of California’s Silicon Valley, Malaysia-based Green Packet Berhad (Green Packet), an international technology solutions company has been designing, and producing wireless devices, user-centered applications, and value-based services that complement the telecommunications and digital payments ecosystems.

With an industry know-how that has powered integrated solutions for over 100 clients in more than 70 countries, Green Packet offers bespoke digital financial technology solutions through its subsidiary, Kiplepay Sdn Bhd (Kiplepay). Fintech outfit Kiplepay provides solutions such as e-payment ecosystems and e-wallet services through Kiple products that will help established businesses and organisations, as well as meet the needs of underserved sectors and government-linked projects and bodies.

As a disruptive fintech player, Kiplepay has been a driving force for financial inclusion in Southeast Asia. Its kipleUNI program, in partnership with local Malaysian universities, provides a cashless means of payment on university campuses. Their kipleBiz arm extends Kiplepay’s ability business to connect businesses with end-to-end e-payment solutions. Kiplepay has also worked with Malaysian state governments to distribute funds to disadvantaged communities in poor areas.

Not only does Kiplepay enable cashless transactions with its suite of wallet-as-a-service (WAAS) for different sectors, but its ecosystem of e-wallet, payment gateway, and payment services portal have been harnessed to empower national and state government digitization goals and welfare initiatives, including for universities, small-medium enterprises, low-income groups, and underserved communities.

Read more about Kiplepay here.

STRIPE

Stripe sets its stall out as an API environment designed for developers, and therefore those looking for pre-built solutions may wish to look elsewhere. However, if an organization possesses the necessary tech chops, the company’s offering is powerful and can be adapted to individual use constrained only by the developers using it.

Complete tokenization places a layer of security between the merchant and payee, and allows easy repeat payments, as references are only ever back to the token(s), rather than to the original payment details.

This leads the way to using Stripe to manage subscription-based payments, such as membership or licensing. This is achieved by subscribing a customer to a predefined plan in the Stripe API – repeat payments are then a matter of iteration through a standard presentation of identifying keys and transactional data.

The company also offers Stripe Connect, a full-stack solution for using Stripe’s capabilities on behalf of others. This includes collecting fees for providing such a service, managing all the different types of Stripe accounts and supporting different pay-out schedules and methods.

Security is paramount in the Stripe environment, with a machine-learning engine that carries out risk evaluations of all payments. There’s the standard blacklist of unwanted cards and emails, plus a constant review process examining unusual payments. Action on flags can be configured through a user dashboard, and automated.

Learn more about Stripe’s integrated payments ecosystem.

PAYPAL

With well over 340 million active users worldwide, PayPal is one of the most recognizable brands offering payment and money remittance services anywhere in the world. With a base of operations that spans the globe, PayPal offers comprehensive payment options for individuals such as freelancers, for online merchants and platforms, as well as for SMEs and larger enterprises.

PayPal’s business services are available for organizations of all sizes, with both B2C and B2B payment options. For e-commerce purchases, customers can checkout using a unified PayPal solution that enables the customer to access a variety of payment methods from the merchant’s website, on mobile or on the web, or via the merchant’s dedicated app.

The experienced provider also supplies other options, such as accepting both card and contactless payments using QR codes, with a unique QR code generated for each transaction allowing for a speedy and contact-free transaction.

Debit or credit card payments can now be processed via PayPal’s Virtual Terminal too, which doesn’t require any specialized equipment, coding or software to accept credit and debit card payments by phone. This option saves on costs by requiring virtually no investment, and requires only an internet connection.

Learn more about the PayPal Commerce Platform.

ZIP

Since arriving in 2017, Zip has taken the payments landscape in Australia and New Zealand to new heights. Zip pioneered the interest-free loans that have become part of the ‘buy now, pay later’ phenomenon that has become the in-demand staggered payment option of late.

Zip offers flexible repayments and a six-week repayment period for its online merchants in categories ranging from clothing and lifestyle products to electronics and travel. While there are no interest charges like many BNPL options, it is vital to understand the service’s late fee schedule. For instance, in New Zealand, the purchaser will be charged NZ$8 per purchase on the day the repayment is missed, followed by NZ$8 every subsequent week that the repayment remains outstanding.

Late fees are capped at NZ$40, which is a substantial sum but still reasonable for many. Payments are automatically deducted from the preferred debit or credit card. If other payments have been made, the repayment schedule will automatically adjust, providing flexibility and ease of use.

Zip is a convenient option for those who are not financially savvy or for the growing number of young users who are averse to credit cards or store credit. It provides an easy way to shop primarily online without the risk of long-term credit card debt.

Learn more about Zip by following the link.

*Some of the companies featured on this article are commercial partners of Tech Wire Asia

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