Binding Hook

Another example of what Anjuli Shere and Neil Ashdown meant when they wrote, "tech barons use their resources to shape when, how, and which policy issues are considered – acting as the ‘stage on which such politics unfold’, rather than as participants themselves."

bindinghook.com/private-powe...

Private power and the unravelling of the international order The rise of tech companies has created a new set of international actors that, with Trump’s support, are challenging older diplomatic and legal institutions.

In their latest for Binding Hook, Anjuli Shere and Neil Ashdown look at how the rise of tech companies as international institutions is challenging the international order:

Read more: bindinghook.com/private-powe...

Faced with powerful new institutions, states are encouraging domestic tech growth and trying to find their place in a new balance of power and on a new world stage – where they are not the only actors. (4/4)

More than the influence of individual companies, it is the emergence of this rival set of institutions – what Joe Biden termed the #techindustrialcomplex – that is reshaping the international order. (3/4)

Today’s #techbarons don’t just lobby governments. They shape the information space itself, influencing markets, public opinion and democratic processes worldwide, write Anjuli Shere and Neil Ashdown. (2/4)

Private power and the unravelling of the international order The rise of tech companies has created a new set of international actors that, with Trump’s support, are challenging older diplomatic and legal institutions.

In their latest for Binding Hook, Anjuli Shere and Neil Ashdown look at how the rise of tech companies as international institutions is challenging the international order:

Read more: bindinghook.com/private-powe...

How deepfakes and gendered disinformation exclude women from public and political life As generative AI makes deepfakes cheaper and easier to produce, synthetic content is increasingly used to discredit, silence, and exclude women, especially in contexts where traditional gender norms a...

Deepfakes are now used for political intimidation. From elected officials to activists, women across ideological lines are targeted with sexualised fabrications designed to undermine credibility & silence dissent. Read the full piece by Mhajne & Sears here: bindinghook.com/how-deepfake... #deepfakes

Self-attribution as strategy in the Russo-Ukrainian War Ukraine’s military intelligence service has turned cyber self-attribution into a weapon, claiming responsibility for operations to disrupt Russia and using visibility as a tool of strategic communicat...

2/2 ...with the country's main military intelligence service, the HUR'.

Ik schreef eind 2025 ook over de bijzondere publieke zelfattributietactieken van de HUR op @bindinghook.bsky.social

bindinghook.com/self-attribu...

YouTube video by Virtual Routes Virtual Routes European Cybersecurity Fellowship Testimonial from Nikolas Ott (2022–2023 Fellow)

⏰ 4 more days until applications close for the 2026–2027 European Cybersecurity Fellowship! As a fellow, you’ll take part in expert-led workshops, policy writing and debate sessions, and in-depth discussions on real-world challenges. Apply now: virtual-routes.org/initiatives/...
youtu.be/pNJrBIY8vH8

For more background on the Pall Mall Process, have a look through Binding Hook's archives.

To start, check out @gil-baram.bsky.social's review of the spyware market and the Process's potential:

bindinghook.com/the-pall-mal...

Not sure if Age of Deception is the book for you? Check out Max van der Horst's review in Binding Hook!

bindinghook.com/rethinking-c...

Despite the harm, platform accountability remains weak. Engagement-driven algorithms and reactive moderation leave women to absorb the damage, often after deepfakes have gone viral and exclusion has already occurred. (4/4)

The consequences of deepfakes are especially severe in conservative contexts. In parts of the Middle East, North Africa, and South Asia, moral policing and gender norms amplify the political cost of deepfake abuse. (3/4)

Studies reported a 245% increase in deepfakes in 2024, with women and girls disproportionately targeted, often through nonconsensual pornographic content. (2/4)

How deepfakes and gendered disinformation exclude women from public and political life As generative AI makes deepfakes cheaper and easier to produce, synthetic content is increasingly used to discredit, silence, and exclude women, especially in contexts where traditional gender norms a...

Deepfakes are now used for political intimidation. From elected officials to activists, women across ideological lines are targeted with sexualised fabrications designed to undermine credibility & silence dissent. Read the full piece by Mhajne & Sears here: bindinghook.com/how-deepfake... #deepfakes

While increasing ransomware group diversity is a challenge for law enforcement, sometimes the local hackers and the Russian-speaking ransomware groups are one and the same: bindinghook.com/local-hacker...

All those end-of-year book round-ups and subsequent debates got you thinking about reading more in 2026? Our holiday tech fiction list is a great place to get inspired!

bindinghook.com/bright-ideas...

Rethinking cyber power beyond the language of war Jon Lindsay’s Age of Deception: Cybersecurity as Secret Statecraft offers a sober alternative to the cyberwar rhetoric, showing how cyber operations function as intelligence contests shaped by secrecy...

‘Age of Deception offers a disciplined and persuasive alternative to dominant ways of thinking about cyber power,’ writes Max van der Horst in his review of @jonrlindsay.bsky.social's recent book: bindinghook.com/rethinking-c...

Is misogyny an overlooked training ground for cybercrime? Cybercrime group dynamics echo those of misogynistic online spaces. What does this mean for cyber defence?

Research shows cybercrime cultures often reproduce masculinities tied to dominance and humiliation. Misogyny shapes identity and behaviour in these digital criminal spaces.

#genderandcybersecurity #digitalmisogyny #cybercrime

bindinghook.com/is-misogyny-...

Hooked! #11: Special law enforcement operation, groundbreaking cyber war, or just another day mowing America’s back lawn? A quick look at what the cyber community (and the US government) is saying about the Venezuela operation

In the first Hooked! of the new year, @katharinegk.bsky.social explores cyber community reactions to the #Venezuela operation and the Trump administration’s allusions to the usage of cyber power there: bindinghook.com/hooked-11-sp...

The UN Cybercrime Convention is necessary, but the law still lags behind cybercriminals The newly adopted UN Cybercrime Convention marks a turning point in international law, but it continues to struggle keeping up with real-time threats. A hybrid approach could offer the required speed.

Cybercrime moves in hours. Law moves in years.
The UN’s new cybercrime treaty is a milestone but still lags behind reality. New Binding Hook article by Karem Lizbeth Parraga Espinoza & Richard Harknett: bindinghook.com/the-un-cyber...

How European and allied cybersecurity strategies are shifting from defence to offence In an ever more uncertain world, countries from Finland to Japan are creating cyber commands, adapting previously defensive capabilities, and facing new legal and diplomatic challenges.

‘Alongside traditional #rearmament and defence spending increases, many states are shifting from purely defensive to increasingly #offensivecyber postures,’ writes @percepticon.bsky.social. Read more:
bindinghook.com/how-european...

💻Subscribe to the Binding Hook newsletter for more independent analysis that helps you interpret digital change and think ahead: www.bindinghook.com
PS from our Editor @katharinegk.bsky.social – if you’d like to review a book about emerging /digital technologies for us, let us know!

For more in-depth coverage of the Pall Mall Process, cyber surveillance, and everything else emerging and digital technologies, check out bindinghook.com!

Using export controls to tackle the proliferation and misuse of spyware and cyber-surveillance tools While the US and the Wassenaar Arrangement have historically led the way on spyware export controls, it may be the EU’s and the Pall Mall Process’s turn

Finally, @sipri.org's Mark Bromley and Giovanna Maletta argue that it's time for the EU and the Pall Mall Process to take the lead in combatting misuse of spyware and other surveillance tools:

bindinghook.com/using-export...

Next, @virtualroutes.bsky.social's @lenariecke.bsky.social reviews the events of last April's Pall Mall meeting in Paris and examines some potential barriers to successful implementation:
bindinghook.com/third-times-...

Then read Binding Hook managing editor @jamesshires.bsky.social's proposed principles for how states should govern cyber intrusion capabilities/#spyware:

bindinghook.com/pell-mell-or...

For more background on the Pall Mall Process, have a look through Binding Hook's archives.

To start, check out @gil-baram.bsky.social's review of the spyware market and the Process's potential:

bindinghook.com/the-pall-mal...

💻Subscribe to the Binding Hook newsletter for more independent analysis that helps you interpret digital change and think ahead: www.bindinghook.com
PS from our Editor @katharinegk.bsky.social – if you’d like to review a book about emerging /digital technologies for us, let us know!

How European and allied cybersecurity strategies are shifting from defence to offence In an ever more uncertain world, countries from Finland to Japan are creating cyber commands, adapting previously defensive capabilities, and facing new legal and diplomatic challenges.

‘Alongside traditional #rearmament and defence spending increases, many states are shifting from purely defensive to increasingly #offensivecyber postures,’ writes @percepticon.bsky.social. Read more:
bindinghook.com/how-european...