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EESTI ELU reedel, 31. juulil 2020 — Friday, July 31, 2020
ESTONIAN CULTURE LINKS by Vincent Teetsov
Ministry drafts bill aimed at curbing Chinese 5G tech ERR, ERR News, July 2020
Film still from Rainer Sarnet’s film “November”.
Krattid – farm spirits and chilling images of the future would be given a soul of its own. In Rainer Sarnet’s 2017 film They would do your bidding, “November”, these horrifying whether that was reaping or beings roam around farmland threshing grain or stealing with just enough human-like something. Who knows if gui characteristics to be con tar-playing virtuosity was ever sidered both useful for work offered as an option in this and grisly to the extent that devilish ritual, as we were told you’d want to keep them by blues musician Robert working indefinitely, so they Johnson. leave you alone. Kratt is a Getting rid of a kratt was word that creates such a vivid achieved by assigning it an im image in the Estonian con possible task; one that would sciousness that it was used to take so long to complete that identify a potential piece of the being would blow up in legislation about artificial frustration and confusion. If intelligence. The debate was you weren’t successful in de over whether AI would re stroying the kratt, however, you ceive special legal status. In could put yourself at risk of the the end, creators of AI are kratt trying to destroy you, your still legally responsible for home, and your possessions. their products. This legend shows us how The folk stories of the kratt the idea of reducing work has reach deep down into the re evolved to where it is now. We cesses of a not particularly pro wished technology would do found idea – how can we get everything for us at first. Then, work done when we ourselves as in manufacturing, technology don’t want to get up and do it? began to reduce labour costs. If this was the origin of AI, This wasn’t always received so then it certainly doesn’t sound well, as shown by the 1811 as noble as how Ott Velsberg, rebellion of the Luddites in Chief Data Officer of the England. Work gives us pur Estonian government, describes pose, and attempts to augment machine learning. In an inter work had to be tempered with view with Sifted, he stated, “We the understanding, once again, are not getting rid of people, that technology would make but enhancing what they can work easier. do.” Telling the story of krattid has been connected to events of Tallinna Linnateater (Tallinn misfortune and tragedy. Bal City Theatre) describes the way lerina injuries inhibited the first that one would have had to production of Eduard Tubin’s create a kratt if they wanted ballet, Kratt, before its world one. Build it with whatever premiere. During the sixth per materials you have lying around. formance of the ballet at the Maybe some old shovels and a Estonia Theatre, on the night of bike wheel. Some krattid would Thursday March 9th, 1944 (a be made of hay, so they could full moon), bombs began to fall be disposed of more easily. In essence, you had to build some on Tallinn. The city was completely devastated, and the thing that has the ability to move and do tasks. Go to a theatre was on fire. That is not to say that telling crossroads on a Thursday night this story caused horrible things when there is a full moon and to happen. Rather, it is one whistle three times. The Devil l egend that is culturally endur would supposedly appear, and ing despite its associations. by donating your soul and three Why? drops of your blood, the kratt
Vincent Teetsov
The Ministry of Economic Affairs and Communications is preparing a regulation which would allow restricting the use of high-risk techno logies in telecoms networks, a move which would bar Chinese tech giant Huawei, for instance, from construct ing Estonia’s 5G network. The entry into force of the restrictions is also a precon dition for moving forward with the 5G frequency licensing competition, ERR’s online Estonian news reports. In late 2019, Prime Minister Jüri Ratas (Center) met with US Vice President Mike Pence, with the pair agreeing on a joint Estonian-U.S. approach to 5G and its security, which should essentially exclude China’s Huawei. Huawei had faced criticism for various aspects of its opera tions, especially U.S. allega tions of its products containing backdoors for Chinese govern ment espionage. The U.S. has imposed business restrictions on Huawei’s activities there. In mid-May, the Riigikogu passed the Electronic Com munications Act Amendment Act, which allows the govern ment to regulate which devices may be used in the Estonian telecoms network, in the interests of ensuring national security. The regulation reportedly also offers clearer control of communications equipment ma nufactured outside the EU. “Just by reading our foreign
State developing protocol to protect whistleblowers ERR, July 2020 The Ministry of Justice is pre pared to develop a bill aimed at providing protection to whistleblowers. By the end of 2021, Estonia must transfer the EU’s Directive on the Protection of Whistleblowers into law. Minister of Justice Raivo Aeg (Isamaa) said: “A number of recent cases clearly show that whistleblowing can have unintended consequences. Creating information channels
It’s possible that boredom or fatigue fuel the legend. The concept of an object doing work for us is enticing to those who are tired, no matter the consequences. Something so troubling is an antidote to banality, just like high fantasy and science fiction literature make us look to the future with renewed curiosity. FYI: the next full moon on a Thursday will be January 28th, 2021, in case you’re feeling overwhelmed by your to-do list.
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intelligence agency’s annual report, we know that Chinese technology, for example, is clearly higher risk,” said Raul Rikk, who heads up Estonia’s cyber security policy. “It’s no secret that we are talking specifically about tech nology produced in China at the moment, but this regulation is universal in and of itself. It is not just about Chinese techno logy, but about all that we are forced to define as a higher-risk technology in the future,” he added. As it is virtually impossible for the state to fully control each device, it is planned to introduce manufacturer-specific restrictions, Rikk went on. “If we give permission to a certain manufacturer, this is in itself easily feasible. But this is where the basic complexity comes from. Since we do not always control the technology, we have to make a fundamental decision as to whether we trust the manufacturer or not. This is precisely because the adminis trative capacity to accurately control each gadget is limited in all countries,” said Rikk. The regulations will assign a security score to each manufac turer, which will deem them suitable, or not, for use in tele coms installation, from a se curity perspective, with criteria such as being listed on a public stock exchange, being in the EU and having other positive assets giving it a higher score, Rikk said. Should the regulation be adopted, it will also affect tech
already in use and in place, meaning some of this infra structure is likely to be required to be replaced. Of Estonian telecoms tech firms, Rikk added that: “Those who are more dependent on high-risk technology for a certain technology are clearly against any restrictions in the interests of business. This makes perfect sense. The com panies stand for the interests of shareholders and for profit.” However, security trumps all, Rikk added. “This is a fundamentally cri tical infrastructure on which our entire e-state is based. If we do not guarantee security in any way, then there is no point in carrying out anything else. We still have to minimize these fundamental threats.” The draft could reach consul tation stage, where telecoms companies will be able to sub mit their own proposals and comments, in August, with the government potentially giving it the green light in September. “We have to do this before we can move on with the 5G fre quency competition at all,” Rikk added. China’s Huawei is the third largest manufacturer of 5G network equipment next to Swedish and Finnish companies Ericsson and Nokia, with the latter two stating that their equipment is safe for use by sovereign nations. 5G (“fifth generation”) tech refers to cellular networks which will use higher frequen cies than the 4G networks they will replace, giving them greater bandwidth and higher download speeds, among other improve ments.
and providing legal protection contributes to the development of a transparent and open so ciety, and it is certainly impor tant for companies to solve their problems quickly and adequately.” The bill must deal with en suring the confidentiality of the whistleblower which is neces sary to ensure the person who reports the breach is not dis criminated against in the work place. When the law enters into force, it will be prohibited to use coercive measures against the whistleblower in the future, such as harassment, reduction of wages, or dismissal or threats. A three-step system for noti fication has been proposed, with the first step being an internal notification. Public au thorities and private companies with more than 50 employees will need to create secure chan nels through which people can report violations within their organization. Companies that are not required to do so by law are also encouraged to set up in-house information channels. The employee must be in formed in the future about the possibility to report a violation through an external notification
channel. This is particularly im portant in cases where it can be assumed that internal reporting may be subject to retaliatory measures or the company does not have a notification system due to its small size. An inde pendent and separate body must be designated to receive and process external notifications. Thirdly, protection is also provided for making the prob lems public, such as telling the media, but there are separate rules for this. This includes, in particular, situations where there has been no response to internal or external notification or where the breach may consti tute a clear threat to the public interest such as an emergency. Although making the prob lems public is always permitted, protection against retaliatory measures can only be obtained in certain situations, as inform ing the public of an infringe ment, where there is no real ba sis for it, can have a significant impact on the people or organi zations involved. In addition, whistleblowing should be aimed at resolving problems, and notification through an internal or external channel is likely to continue to be the most effective way to remedy the breach.
