Steptoe Cyberlaw Podcast: An Interview with Adam Segal

What kind of internet world order does China want, and will it succeed? That’s the question we ask Adam Segal, Maurice R. Greenberg Senior Fellow at the Council on Foreign Relation and author of The Hacked World Order. We review China’s surprising success at getting tech companies to help it build an authoritarian Internet – the technological equivalent of persuading Jello to nail itself to the wall. Meanwhile, every nation, it seems, is busy reasserting sovereignty over cyberspace. Except the United States. Which raises the question whether other countries will decide to assert sovereignty over our cyberspace. We’re the Syria of cyberspace!

In the news roundup, I note that an apparent FBI raid on Tiversa is making the FTC look more and more like the dumb muscle called in to enforce someone else’s shakedown scheme. Imagine Edith Ramirez as The Hulk: “LabMD bad! FTC smash!”

Maury Shenk examines the latest Spanish decision on Google and the Right to Be Forgotten and I conclude that it’s classic TL;DR material.

Turning next to the FBI-Apple fight, I thank the President for opening SXSW for me and muse on his surprisingly strong endorsement of the FBI’s position. I also dissect the “lawyerly” affidavit submitted by Apple to deflect (though not answer) the questions I asked in an earlier blog post.

Maury and I consider whether WhatsApp is likely to be hit with an Apple-style wiretap order due to its strong end-to-end encryption, and I am surprised to hear that WhatsApp may have its own intercept backdoor, which makes an Apple order more likely.

Alan Cohn explains how a lost laptop can cost you $3.9 million. And I claim vindication when the Home Depot breach lawsuits settle at or below the Baker Range of $.50 to $2.00 per victim. Home Depot gets its bill down to $.10 to $.50 per victim – though that’s before the banks take their cut.

If you’re left feeling sorry for the plaintiffs’ bar, though, I have one word for you: malvertising. Alan notes that I’ve waited a lifetime to be able to sue the BBC and New York Times, but that time has come, as both have apparently infected their readers with ransomware.

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The views expressed in this podcast are those of the speakers and do not reflect the opinions of the firm.