Undawntech: Era of Cyberespionage

Artificial Intelligence, or A.I., sees all, knows all, and judges all. From jury pools (https://www.infotrack.com/blog/ai-jury-selection) to banking records (https://www.forbes.com/councils/forbestechcouncil/2024/02/23/how-artificial-intelligence-is-reshaping-banking), A.I. is behind the scenes controlling outcomes, information, and government agencies. The question is: when is there an overabundance of hyper-artificiality versus a deficiency of human control?

Or, are humans too engaged with the shiny new toy to make appropriate choices?

The Era of Cyberespionage

Take for instance, China’s DeepSeek A.I. flooded the market, which drove people to its cheap price point and technical scope. The application may look good and contribute to problem solving, but at what price? Any Chinese corporation is owned by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) government at the tune of 51%. Add to that reality is that the Chinese people are conscripted to spy on their fellow citizens and everyone else around the world (https://thediplomat.com/2019/02/the-real-danger-of-chinas-national-intelligence-law) for the communist regime. You, your data, and your privacy are in the hands of an aggressive foreign government campaign to infiltrate other countries’ culture, norms and mores, as well as conduct influence operations onto an unsuspecting populace.  

To illustrate further this idea of cyberespionage by an adversary, let’s scrutinize some popular applications: Tictok (https://www.heritage.org/big-tech/report/tiktok-generation-ccp-official-every-pocket and https://www.cnn.com/2023/06/08/tech/tiktok-data-china/index.html), WeChat/QQ (https://nspirement.com/2019/03/22/ccp-tracking-private-messages-on-chinese-social-media.html), as well as DeepSeek (https://abcnews.go.com/US/deepseek-coding-capability-transfer-users-data-directly-chinese/story?id=118465451) are available to the public, in order to track and surveil their users. The Social Credit Score implemented by the CCP is in effect here.

Defending the Indefensible

The reaction mustered by the ego begins: “But I am an artist, creator, musician, and/or writer, I need to reach my people! I am an independent creator. All marketing falls on my shoulders. How can I become an international sensation without going international?”

Response: How can you reach anyone, if you lose your soul? If you are going to be a victim of cyberespionage at home or abroad, then be a really smart victim.

Counter the Cyberespionage

What can creators do to protect themselves from overt government, foreign and domestic, overreach into our private data and lives?

Creators can reach their audience as long as they do a few extra steps. For one, do not download or use any application from China. That would be the ultimate protection. However, if you cannot resist the siren song of the CCP, then have a separate device or phone to use these applications. A burner phone with no trace to your personal accounts of other social media, banking, or purchases would be a wise alternative. In the age of A.I., no one can be too careful with their data.

Don’t believe China is the only problem.

American software has backdoors for the NSA and other Five Eyes (FVEY)countries to spy on Americans without due process (https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/all/confirmed-windows-10-government-backdoor/c72e091a-3f56-4c7f-a4b8-9de912de5cd6, https://www.gnu.org/proprietary/proprietary-back-doors.en.html). In the United States, probable cause and a warrant signed off by a judge are critical to obtaining private information or property from an American, but our privacy and rights are ignored for national security, which is unconstitutional, unlawful, and illegal.

That sets up the corporate governance angle to cyberespionage. Corporations steal users data as a commodity. Accounts that are FREE, aren’t free. Your data and privacy are being sold to the highest bidder in a modern version of the slave trade.

No fear, if there is nothing to hide.

In other countries, bootleg purses (https://daxueconsulting.com/counterfeit-products-in-china), music (https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/soviet-hipsters-bootlegged-banned-music-bone-records-180957505), and movies (https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2023/08/09/russian-cinemas-screen-pirated-copies-of-barbie-a82102) are commonplace. If your book becomes popular, but not a sensation, then copies of your hard work could be sold for profit and no royalties go your way (https://austinkleon.com/2023/02/09/on-piracy-and-bootlegged-copies-of-my-books).

How does Creators defend their works?

Copyright your creation in the USA, and in other countries where your creative items are sold, would give you legal standing in a criminal case. Don’t use your foreign social media to publish books on other platforms using the same device or cellular/smart phone. Purchase a good virus defender on all of your technology: computer, phone, or anything else that you create on. And, always keep a downloaded, original version of your creations: books, photos, images of created works, music, and videos, preferably burned on a disk for safe keeping. If a legality arises, you have proof the work is yours.

Conclusion

In the ever-changing landscape of technology and its intrusion into our privacy, humans need to safeguard their information like never before. Sometimes due diligence can make the difference between selling books, audiobooks, and videos of creative works, or being a victim of piracy from within and without.  

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DL Mullan holds a Master of Arts in Teaching and Learning with Technology. Her lecture, Spacescapes: Where Photography Ends; Imagination Begins, debuted at the Phoenix Astronomy Society, which then led to her Sally Ride Festival lecture invitations. Her presentation, Bridging the Gap between Technology and Women, won her accolades at a community college’s Student Success Conference. She has been a panelist at speculative fiction, science fiction, and other regional conventions. Her digital exhibition pieces have won awards at convention art shows, as well as garnered her Second Premium at the Arizona State Fair. Currently, Ms. Mullan’s artistic renditions are seen on book covers, blog sites, and various merchandise. As an independent publisher, she uses her technical background to innovate the way she perceives the creative arts.

As a writer, DL Mullan loves to stretch her imagination and the elasticity of genres. She writes complex multigenre stories in digestible and entertaining forms, be it poetry, short fiction, or novels. Her science, history, mythology, and paranormal research background is woven into her writings, especially in Undawnted’s Legacy Universe. Ms. Mullan’s creative endeavors are available in digital and print collections, from academia to commercial anthologies. She is also an award-winning poet.

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