Retraction: An earlier episode of the Cyberlaw Podcast may have left the impression that I think Google hates mothers. I regret the error. It appears that, in reality, Google only hates Republican mothers who are running for office. But to all appearances, Google really, really hates them. A remarkable, and apparently damning study disclosed that during the most recent federal election campaign, Google's Gmail sent roughly two-thirds of GOP campaign emails to users' spam inboxes while downgrading less than ten percent of the Dems' messages. Jane Bambauer lays out the details, which seem to refute most of the excuses Google might offer for the discriminatory treatment. Notably, neither Outlook nor Yahoo! mail showed a similar pattern. Tatyana thinks we should blame Google's algorithm, not its personnel, but we're all eager to hear Google's explanation, whether it's offered in the press, before the Federal Election Commission (FEC), in court, or in front of Congressional investigators after the next election.
Jordan Schneider helps us return to China's cyber policies after a long hiatus. Things have not gotten better for the Chinese government, Jordan reports. Stringent lockdowns in Shanghai are tanking the economy and producing a surprising amount of online dissent, but with Hong Kong's coronavirus death toll in mind, letting omicron spread unchecked is a scary prospect, especially for a leader who has staked his reputation on dealing with the virus better than the rest of the world. Among the results is hesitation in pursuing what had been an aggressive techlash regulatory campaign.
Tatyana Bolton pulls us back to the Russian-Ukrainian war. She notes that Russia Is not used to being hacked at anything like the current scale, even if most of the online attacks turn out to be pinpricks. She also flags Microsoft's report on Russia's extensive use of cyberattacks in Ukraine. All that said, cyber operations remain a minor factor in the war.
