Artwork: The Conversation The Australian newspaper today, quoting Senate Speaker Scott Ryan, said that on March 27, the computer network of the Australian Parliament was attacked by hackers for nearly 24 hours. As soon as the attack was discovered, appropriate controls were put in place to lock down the accounts of MPs and staff working in Parliament to ensure that information was not compromised. These measures prevented malicious actors, but left MPs and staff working for the Australian Parliament unable to access their accounts on the Parliament computer network for about a week. On the same day, March 27, the computer network of one of Australia’s largest media companies, Nine Entertainment, was also attacked by hackers, affecting the broadcast of many television programs. Nine Entertainment was forced to change broadcast locations and rebroadcast some old shows to overcome the impact of this attack. According to information from Australian authorities, in recent years, public agencies and businesses of this country have become the target of many cyber attacks. Typically, the National Assembly computer network attack before the country held the National Assembly elections in 2019. MP Andrew Hastie, Australia’s assistant defense minister, said: “Cyber ​​attacks are low-cost and difficult to detect. At the same time, these attacks can be carried out at any time and from any location”, so it’s time to think about “cyberspace as a battlefield”.

Facial recognition technology. Photo: https://towardsdatascience.com/ According to the Vietnam News Agency correspondent in Ottawa, in a recent speech to the Canadian House of Representatives, Daniel Therrien, Canada’s Privacy Commissioner, said that bill C-11 is not enough to protect people from identity technology. face and need to include “significant modifications”. This measure proposes to amend private sector privacy laws. Regarding facial recognition technology, Mr. Therrien mentioned US technology company Clearview AI. In February 2021, Daniel Therrien’s office, along with three provincial privacy commissioners, concluded that Clearview AI violated Canadian privacy laws by providing facial recognition software. for the police. What’s interesting is that Clearview AI’s (New York-based) software works by comparing photos with a massive stockpile of billions of photos the company has amassed, collected from various sources. popular social media sites without the consent of individuals. “While we found that Clearview’s practices violated Canadian privacy laws, the company refused to follow our recommendations, such as removing photos of Canadians,” said Mr Therrien. Meanwhile, the new administrative penalty regime in C-11 is not applied to such violations of the law. Therrien noted that the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada is investigating whether online website Pornhub and its parent company MindGeek (based in Montreal) violated Canadians’ privacy rights. MindGeek is accused of regularly sharing videos of child pornography and sexual assault, as well as content that was filmed/or posted without the subject’s consent. Within the framework of the bill, for the most serious violations, fines could be up to 5% of revenue or CAD 25 million (whichever is greater). These measures have been assessed by Canada’s Department of Innovation, Science and Economic Development as the strongest penalty framework among the world’s Group of Seven (G7) privacy laws. Therrien recommends that when there is a conflict between commercial goals and protecting privacy, the privacy of Canadians should take precedence.

The European Parliament has announced its decision to ratify the Brexit trade pact with Great Britain. As expected, the Bureau agreed to the contract, said Parliament President David Sassoli in Brussels. The contract, which has only been applied provisionally so far, can therefore come into force on May 1st.

A long struggle comes to an end

The trade and cooperation agreement received an overwhelming majority of 660 of the 697 votes cast, ending the tough and nerve-wracking struggle for the UK to exit the EU in an orderly manner. The aim was to prevent a hard break with legal uncertainty and chaos at the borders. Specifically, the contract includes rules on fishing as well as cooperation on energy, transport, justice, police and many other topics. The pact gives Great Britain access to the EU internal market. In return, the EU demanded fair competition – the so-called level playing field. What is meant are the same environmental, social and subsidy standards.

The issue of fisheries only provisionally resolved

An important sticking point in the negotiations was the access of EU fishermen to British waters. A transition period of five and a half years was agreed, during which EU fishermen are allowed to fish 25 percent less in British waters. This should then be determined annually. In the parliamentary debate on Tuesday, EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen recognized the contract and promoted its acceptance. The agreement protects the rights of the citizens, prevents significant breaks for the economy, safeguards the EU internal market and EU standards.

From Moritz Pompl, ARD studio Rome The fact that the Italian parliament, i.e. the Senate and Chamber of Deputies, would approve the reconstruction plan was more a matter of form. Even so, there was still a lot to be discussed in Rome. “The fact that parliament receives the updated version just a few hours before the discussion is frankly a bit unacceptable,” complained Nicola Fratoianni of the left-wing party alliance Liberi e Uguali. And Francesco Lollobrigida from the right-wing national party Fratelli d’Italia also criticized: “One plan, 336 printed pages. And Parliament couldn’t even read it properly!” Prime Minister Mario Draghi, on the other hand, thanked the parliamentarians for their valuable work over the past few months. And thus rejected the opposition’s criticism that parliament was not sufficiently involved.

Italy receives more money than other EU countries

The headline above the ambitious plan could be: Italy should become more progressive, greener and fairer. It amounts to a government program, not only for these governments, but also for future governments. In the next five years, the country should get back on its feet – with a financial injection of almost 250 billion euros, of which around 190 billion from the pot of the European development fund “Next Generation EU” . Italy gets more than any other EU country. However, said Draghi, the economic and social damage caused by the corona crisis is particularly great here:

The pandemic has hit us more than our European neighbors. We have now reached almost 120,000 Covid deaths. Then there are those who have not even been registered. The gross domestic product fell by 8.9 percent last year. And unemployment has increased, especially among young people and women.

The birth rate is set to rise again

It is precisely women and young people who play a central role in the reconstruction plan: a total of around 50 billion euros is to flow into projects that ensure more social justice. It’s about 230,000 new daycare places and more all-day schools. For better education, universities of excellence are planned across Italy and more scholarships. In order to relieve women, the elderly and people with disabilities should be better cared for. Women who want to start a business should be supported through a special program. According to Draghi, the measures should help ensure that more children are born again:

We have one of the lowest birth rates in Europe. A woman has an average of 1.3 children with us. In Europe the average is 1.6. We have to enable our young people to have families. And for this they need three basic conditions: a good welfare state, an apartment and a safe job.

Southern Italy should particularly benefit

In the relatively poor south of Italy in particular, one is struggling with the problem that many young people have emigrated. 40 percent of the development funds should therefore go to the south – for example to relocate research institutes, modernize ports and create express train connections. This should make the south more interesting for foreign investors. 70 billion euros alone, and thus the largest item, are earmarked for the “ecological restructuring” of Italy, ie for solar and hydrogen projects, charging stations for e-cars or emission-free bus fleets. Draghi already has parts of the industry on board for this, such as the energy company Enel or the Stellantis auto consortium, to which Fiat also belongs. With the help of the companies, Italy wants to set up its own battery research. This is particularly important for the Italians because they are particularly exposed to the risks of climate change, said Draghi.

Draghi wants to pay off mountain of debt

The government also wants to invest a lot of money in digitization and innovation. What sounds a bit bulky means, for example, that more than eight million households and thousands of schools should get fast internet. In doing so, the country wants to become more modern and competitive. In addition, the health care system is to be improved after the experience of the corona pandemic – with more small hospitals and medical centers away from the big cities. Italy hopes the program will give a boost to growth. It also wants to pay off the debts, which have grown to 160 percent of the gross domestic product. The program must be submitted to the EU Commission by April 30th. If they approve it, the first tranche could flow by the summer.

From Moritz Pompl, ARD studio Rome The fact that the Italian parliament, i.e. the Senate and Chamber of Deputies, would approve the reconstruction plan was more a matter of form. Even so, there was still a lot to be discussed in Rome. “The fact that parliament receives the updated version just a few hours before the discussion is frankly a bit unacceptable,” complained Nicola Fratoianni of the left-wing party alliance Liberi e Uguali. And Francesco Lollobrigida from the right-wing national party Fratelli d’Italia also criticized: “One plan, 336 printed pages. And Parliament couldn’t even read it properly!” Prime Minister Mario Draghi, on the other hand, thanked the parliamentarians for their valuable work over the past few months. And thus rejected the opposition’s criticism that parliament was not sufficiently involved.

Italy receives more money than other EU countries

The headline above the ambitious plan could be: Italy should become more progressive, greener and fairer. It amounts to a government program, not only for these governments, but also for future governments. In the next five years, the country should get back on its feet – with a financial injection of almost 250 billion euros, of which around 190 billion from the pot of the European development fund “Next Generation EU” . Italy gets more than any other EU country. However, said Draghi, the economic and social damage caused by the corona crisis is particularly great here:

The pandemic has hit us more than our European neighbors. We have now reached almost 120,000 Covid deaths. Then there are those who have not even been registered. The gross domestic product fell by 8.9 percent last year. And unemployment has increased, especially among young people and women.

The birth rate is set to rise again

It is precisely women and young people who play a central role in the reconstruction plan: a total of around 50 billion euros is to flow into projects that ensure more social justice. It’s about 230,000 new daycare places and more all-day schools. For better education, universities of excellence are planned across Italy and more scholarships. In order to relieve women, the elderly and people with disabilities should be better cared for. Women who want to start a business should be supported through a special program. According to Draghi, the measures should help ensure that more children are born again:

We have one of the lowest birth rates in Europe. A woman has an average of 1.3 children with us. In Europe the average is 1.6. We have to enable our young people to have families. And for this they need three basic conditions: a good welfare state, an apartment and a safe job.

Southern Italy should particularly benefit

In the relatively poor south of Italy in particular, one is struggling with the problem that many young people have emigrated. 40 percent of the development funds should therefore go to the south – for example to relocate research institutes, modernize ports and create express train connections. This should make the south more interesting for foreign investors. 70 billion euros alone, and thus the largest item, are earmarked for the “ecological restructuring” of Italy, ie for solar and hydrogen projects, charging stations for e-cars or emission-free bus fleets. Draghi already has parts of the industry on board for this, such as the energy company Enel or the Stellantis auto consortium, to which Fiat also belongs. With the help of the companies, Italy wants to set up its own battery research. This is particularly important for the Italians because they are particularly exposed to the risks of climate change, said Draghi.

Draghi wants to pay off mountain of debt

The government also wants to invest a lot of money in digitization and innovation. What sounds a bit bulky means, for example, that more than eight million households and thousands of schools should get fast internet. In doing so, the country wants to become more modern and competitive. In addition, the health care system is to be improved after the experience of the corona pandemic – with more small hospitals and medical centers away from the big cities. Italy hopes the program will give a boost to growth. It also wants to pay off the debts, which have grown to 160 percent of the gross domestic product. The program must be submitted to the EU Commission by April 30th. If they approve it, the first tranche could flow by the summer.