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Hybrid Co-learning workshop #25474

Online Surveillance in the Pacific Islands: The Impact of AI on Data Privacy and Protection
Date August 27, 2025 (Wednesday)
Time 10:00am–11:20am (1h20m)
Kuala Lumpur time / UTC+8
Venue Room 2.04, Second Floor, AICB Centre for Excellence
Videoconference Join on ZoomNew link

Mobile phones were once a privy to the wealthy few decades ago. It has enabled ease of communication between people from different places. With the exponential growth of mobile technology firms within the Pacific Islands Countries, competition has facilitated enormous access to the technology. However, the advent of smart phone has changed the game as it opens up Internet access to everyone. Web 2 Apps in android smart phones can now co-exist simultaneously with Web 3 Apps such as chatGPT, Gemini, Deepseek, Durable, etc. Web 3 enables the operation of Artificial Intelligence softwares and Blockchain Technology like Coinomi and CoinMama, etc. Artificial Intelligence has replaced human efforts and ingenuity such as in graphic designs (chatGPT) and website development (Durable) and so on. Artificial Intelligence Technology has effectively cut down costs, promote efficiency, and remove the need for human efforts. In parallel, Artificial Intelligence has increased significant threats against data privacy and protection as personal data becomes vulnerable to exploitation by global technology firms. This analysis will investigate online surveillance in the Pacific Islands Countries through exploring AI apps in android smart phones. It will also delve into various data privacy and protection regulations in different jurisdictions to assess how AI has impacted their implementations. Building on, a special case here is a comparative analysis of different country code Top Level Domains (ccTLD) within the PICs and how they become avenues for online surveillance. This analysis is a combination of literature reviews, focus group discussions, and in-depth interviews with key professionals within the regional and global Internet Governance ecosystem. The evolution of the Internet will likely render data privacy as obsolete as data integrity becomes more important when everything is networked to the Internet in the future.
Presenters
  1. Songo Nore
    NetMission.Asia Asia Pacific Policy Observatory
Host Songo Nore
Songo Nore is a Policy Analyst attached with NetMission.Asia Asia Pacific Policy Observatory APPO delving into tech policy analysis of Emerging Technologies within the Asia Pacific region. He is also the Principal Consultant of SNOB Consultancy, a local consulting firm based in Papua New Guinea. SNOB Consultancy's project 'Migration of Small Islands Developing States into the Metaverse as a Climate Adaptation Strategy' was declared as a Champion Project by the World Summit on the Information Society to receive WSIS Prizes 2025 in Geneva, Switzerland, scheduled on 7-11 July 2025. Currently, he is undertaking an online cyber security training, that is, 'Post-Quantum Cryptography in the Indo-Pacific Program' with Monash University Australia's Information Technology Department in partnership with Oceania Cyber Security Center which is funded by the US Department of State.