Links 14/10/2023: Hardware Sanction Wars (Loongson and TSMC), California's Right To Repair Bill Signed Into Law
Contents
- Leftovers
- Science
- Hardware
- Health/Nutrition/Agriculture
- Proprietary/Artificial Intelligence (AI)
- Security
- Defence/Aggression
- Environment
- Finance
- AstroTurf/Lobbying/Politics
- Censorship/Free Speech
- Freedom of Information / Freedom of the Press
- Civil Rights/Policing
- Internet Policy/Net Neutrality
- Digital Restrictions (DRM)
- Monopolies
- Gemini* and Gopher
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Leftovers
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Hackaday ☛ Canada Abruptly Ends Official Time Signal
In a sudden move that was noted not only by Canadian media, but also international media channels, the National Research Council Time Signal that was broadcast by Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) on CBC Radio One since November 5 1939 was turned off on October 9th, after eighty-four years, one world war, countless generations, and the rise of modern technology. Although perhaps obsolete by today’s standards, this 15 to 60 second long broadcast at 13:00 Eastern Time every single day has been a constant in the life of Canadians, whether they tuned into local radio, or (increasingly) via Internet radio.
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Alan Pope ☛ Alan Pope: You stole my lighter!
This is the sixth in a series of Friday Tales From Tech Support. Some stories from the past featuring broken computers and even more broken tech support operatives - mostly me.
My first job out of college was for the auspiciously named “National Telecom” as a “Computer Operator”. Back then, this was a job, rather than something you just do day-to-day. I mean, it’s quite likely many of you have “operated” a “computer” in order to read this blog today. Well done, have a pay raise!
It was 1990, and I was just getting to grips with the workplace, having been in it a month or two, so far.
Daily tasks
When I started in July, the computing systems were quite diverse, and old. There was a combination of dumb terminals connected to a machine we’ll kindly call a “mainframe”, Personal Computers and even one Next workstation.
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Tedium ☛ Yes, He Did That
Discussing the ’90s comedy Family Matters from the context of the incredible comic persona work Jaleel White was doing as a child.
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Chris ☛ Sensitivity Counts Against You
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Science
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Hardware
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Hackaday ☛ Restoration Of A Thinkpad 701C
This is like ASMR for Hackers: restoration specialist [Polymatt] has put together a video of his work restoring a 1995 IBM Thinkpad 701c, the famous butterfly keyboard laptop. It’s an incredible bit of restoration, with a complete teardown and rebuild, even including remaking the decals and rubber feet.
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Hackaday ☛ This Packable Ham Radio Antenna Is Made From Nothing But Tape
On today’s episode of “Will It Antenna?”, [Ben Eadie (VE6SFX)] designs and tests an antenna made entirely of tape, and spoiler alert — it works pretty well.
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PC Shipments Decline Slows In Q3 2023, But Apple Plunges Over 23% - Slashdot
An anonymous reader quotes a report from TechCrunch: It hasn't been a great time in recent quarters for PC companies, but with IDC, Gartner and Canalys all reporting data for Q3 2023, it shows an improving landscape.
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Tom's Hardware ☛ China-Made Loongson CPUs Bound for Russia After Export Ban Lifted
Russian PC makers set to use Loongson processors for PCs, servers, storage devices.
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Silicon Angle ☛ TSMC receives temporary US approval to send advanced chipmaking gear to its China fab
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. Ltd. has received temporary approval from the U.S. Commerce Department to send advanced chipmaking gear to its fab in China, Bloomberg reported today. According to Tom’s Hardware, the approval is valid for a year and applies to chipmaking gear made by U.S. companies.
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The Next Platform ☛ Everyone Is Chasing What Nvidia Already Has
Transitions in the datacenter take time.
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Tom's Hardware ☛ AMD’s Lisa Su Leaves Cisco Board of Directors
Three directors leave Cisco's board of directors.
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Health/Nutrition/Agriculture
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Pro Publica ☛ Stillbirth Prevention Legislation Heads to House After Unanimous Senate Approval
Congress is one step closer to prioritizing stillbirth prevention at the federal level.
The U.S. Senate unanimously passed the Maternal and Child Health Stillbirth Prevention Act, which ensures that federal maternal and child health dollars can be used for stillbirth prevention efforts. Every year in the U.S., more than 20,000 pregnancies end in the death of an expected child at 20 weeks of pregnancy or more. Research shows as many as 1 in 4 stillbirths may be preventable.
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US News And World Report ☛ 2023-10-10 [Older] Utah Sues TikTok Over Impact of App on Children
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US News And World Report ☛ 2023-10-10 [Older] Utah Sues TikTok, Alleging It Lures Children Into Addictive and Destructive Social Media Habits
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Gizmodo ☛ 2023-10-11 [Older] Utah Lawsuit Accuses TikTok of Deploying Casino Tactics to Keep Kids Glued to Screens
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Gizmodo ☛ 2023-10-13 [Older] Montana Struggles to Convince Judge to Back Its Historic TikTok Ban
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US News And World Report ☛ 2023-10-12 [Older] Montana's TikTok Ban Faces Skeptical US Judge
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YLE ☛ Finland uses a tenth of its healthcare funds to rectify patient injuries
The country spends more than 10 percent of its healthcare funds on addressing patient injuries.
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Proprietary/Artificial Intelligence (AI)
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Common Dreams ☛ Michigan Introduces Legislation to Regulate A.I. in Elections
“Deepfakes threaten to make it impossible for voters to distinguish authentic media from fake, A.I.-generated content, undermining the prospect of a functioning democracy” said Robert Weissman, president of Public Citizen. “Michigan’s legislative leaders are showing that we don’t have to let our democracy get overrun by deceptive deepfakes.”
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Windows TCO
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Data Breaches ☛ Colonial Pipeline was hacked. No, wait, Accenture was hacked. No, wait….. untangling claims.
By, now, there’s been a lot of buzz by some claims made by RansomedVC on their leak site and on their Telegram channel.
In their post this afternoon, RansomedVC claimed that (1) Rob Lee of Dragos somehow cheated someone called “fooble,” and as a result, (2) RansomedVC was going to leak files that Lee had allegedly bought to try to woo Colonial Pipeline away from Accenture and to Dragos.
(Is your head spinning already? Sit down, because (3) will be even worse). On their Telegram channel, RansomedVC claimed that, “We have successfully taken control of the systems of colonial pipeline.”
So if you’re keeping score, Rob Lee, the CEO of Dragos, is allegedly a cheating threat actor, files were being leaked in revenge for him cheating “fooble,” and Colonial Pipeline’s systems are under RansomedVC’s control.
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Security
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Integrity/Availability/Authenticity
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YLE ☛ Fraudsters posing as tax office empty bank accounts
Police are warning members of the public of phishing scams involving messages purported to be from from the tax office.
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Privacy/Surveillance
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New York Times ☛ Can You Hide a Child’s Face From A.I.?
Parents have been stressing out for at least two decades about what to share about their children online. Powerful new technologies present a more urgent risk.
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Defence/Aggression
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RFERL ☛ Taliban Police Say Seven Killed In Suicide Bombing Of Mosque In Afghanistan's Baghlan Province
A number of people have been killed and wounded in an explosion that occurred during Friday Prayers on October 13 in a Shi'ite mosque in Pol-e-Khomri, the capital of Afghanistan's northern Baghlan Province, local officials and sources told RFE/RL.
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The Straits Times ☛ Israel says employee of its China embassy is stable after attack
The staffer is in a stable condition, there is no indication the episode is linked to the crisis in Gaza.
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NL Times ☛ 2023-10-14 Rising football violence due to lack of security investment by clubs, study finds
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CBC ☛ 2023-10-08 [Older] Canada on sidelines as Haiti finally gets an armed intervention against gang violence
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The Local SE ☛ 2023-10-13 [Older] Nato chief: Turkey 'stands by' deal to ratify Sweden's membership
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Russia, Belarus, and War in Ukraine
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CS Monitor ☛ After Karabakh: Why peace in Azerbaijan could unsettle larger Russian sphere
Azerbaijan's seizure of the Armenian-populated enclave of Nagorno Karabakh could prompt other ex-Soviet republics to choose violence over diplomacy.
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Insight Hungary ☛ Orban to attend Beijing conference alongside Putin
Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orbán is expected to be the sole EU leader attending China's Belt and Road Forum in Beijing this month, a notable departure from the 2019 event when other EU leaders participated, Politico reports. However, this time, Orbán is not expected to be content, as Chinese funding for the Budapest-Belgrade railway has significantly stalled due to challenges in meeting EU standards.
Orbán, known for his close ties with Beijing and Moscow while criticizing the EU, faces this setback amid tensions with the EU over rule-of-law issues. Despite Chinese assurances that the railway project will continue, there is growing discontent in Budapest over China's position. Orbán is also set to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin during the event.
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Atlantic Council ☛ Ukraine’s neglected Danube region is a crucial front in the war with Russia
Ukraine's Danube ports are at the heart of efforts to bypass Russia's Black Sea naval blockade but years of neglect have left the Bessarabia region unprepared to play a key wartime role, writes Michael Druckman.
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RFERL ☛ Russian Shelling Kills, Wounds Civilians In Kherson, Donetsk
Russian forces again shelled civilian areas in eastern and southern Ukraine, killing at least one person and wounding more than 20, regional officials reported on October 14, as fighting continued with renewed intensity around the Donetsk towns of Bakhmut and Avdiyivka.
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RFERL ☛ Russia Says It Downed Two Ukrainian Drones Off Krasnodar Coast
Russia's Defense Ministry says its forces shot down two Ukrainian drones early on October 14 over the Black Sea off the coast of the Krasnodar region.
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RFERL ☛ U.S. Says North Korea Delivered Arms To Russia For War In Ukraine
The United States says it has information indicating that North Korea has delivered more than 1,000 containers of military equipment and munitions to Russia for use in Ukraine in violation of UN Security Council resolutions.
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CS Monitor ☛ As Poland votes, its close partner Ukraine becomes a political football
If one European nation has stood by Ukraine in its war with Russia, it is Poland. But that partnership is under strain as Poland nears crucial national elections and parties try to take advantage of voters’ frustrations.
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New York Times ☛ Has Support for Ukraine Peaked? Some Fear So.
The war in the Middle East, anxiety about the commitment of the U.S., and divisions in Europe are worrying Kyiv that aid from the West may wane.
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New York Times ☛ North Korea Shipped Arms to Russia for Use in Ukraine, U.S. Says
American intelligence agencies tracked a shipment of 1,000 containers of military equipment and munitions from North Korea to Russia, according to the White House.
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France24 ☛ Armenian president signs ratification of ICC membership despite Moscow’s ire
Armenia's President Vahagn Khachaturyan has signed the ratification of the Rome Statute, recognising the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court (ICC) despite Russian warnings, a statement said Saturday.
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JURIST ☛ UN rights office urges Russia to withdraw arrest warrants against senior ICC judges
The UN Human Rights Office (OHCHR) issued a statement Friday urging Russia to retract arrest warrants the country issued against senior International Criminal Court (ICC) judges. Senior ICC judges investigate and try persons charged with the gravest crimes, namely genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity and the crime of aggression.
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RFERL ☛ Armenian President Ratifies Country's ICC Membership Despite Russian Warnings
President Vahagn Khachaturian has signed into law a decision by the Armenian parliament to ratify the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC), putting the Caucasus nation in the jurisdiction of the Hague-based institution despite warnings from its longtime ally Russia.
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RFERL ☛ Russian Prisoner Rights Activist Olga Romanova, 11 Others Declared 'Foreign Agents'
Russia's Justice Ministry has declared Olga Romanova, the founder and head of Russian prisoner advocacy organization Russia Behind Bars, and 11 other activists as foreign agents.
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Meduza ☛ Life in the Russian ‘Pentagon’: A new documentary film series captures conditions in a crumbling public housing complex amid the full-scale invasion of Ukraine — Meduza
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Meduza ☛ Putin travels to Bishkek for Commonwealth of Independent States Summit This marks the Russian president’s first trip abroad since the International Criminal Court arrest warrant against him — Meduza
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Meduza ☛ Lawyer who represents Ukrainian POWs arrested in occupied Crimea — Meduza
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Meduza ☛ Russian Defense Ministry reports intercepting combat drones in Belgorod and Bryansk regions — Meduza
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Meduza ☛ Dispatch from Podlaskie In Poland’s Wild East, Tatar culture is alive and well — Meduza
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Meduza ☛ Meduza’s updated combat map Russian offensive by Avdiivka threatens to compromise Ukraine’s southern front — Meduza
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Meduza ☛ Three members of Alexey Navalny’s legal team are in custody and facing extremism charges The politician’s associates sound the alarm over Navalny’s increasing isolation in prison — Meduza
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Meduza ☛ Russian patrol ship reportedly attacked by Ukrainian naval drones near Sevastopol — Meduza
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Meduza ☛ Maria Ovsyannikova, former Russian state TV employee who protested war on air, denies reports that she was poisoned — Meduza
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Meduza ☛ ‘Will it save lives or jeopardize them?’ Pavel Durov explains why he won’t ban Hamas from Telegram — Meduza
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Meduza ☛ Putin comments on what awaits Russians who return from abroad: ‘It depends how they behaved’ — Meduza
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Modern Diplomacy ☛ 2023-10-13 [Older] Changing landscape in Middle East may impact course of conflict in Ukraine
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Counter Punch ☛ 2023-10-13 [Older] Putting Ukraine Spending in Context
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Deutsche Welle ☛ 2023-10-13 [Older] Ukraine: North Korea supplied weapons to Moscow, says US
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US News And World Report ☛ 2023-10-13 [Older] US Republican Speaker Nominee Jordan Known as Ukraine Aid Skeptic
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2023-10-12 [Older] Denmark and Czechia to send tanks and firearms to Ukraine
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US News And World Report ☛ 2023-10-12 [Older] Pentagon's 'FrankenSAM' Program Cobbles Together Air Defense Weapons for Ukraine
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Deutsche Welle ☛ 2023-10-11 [Older] Pro-Ukraine alliance pledges more military aid
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Deutsche Welle ☛ 2023-10-11 [Older] Ramstein group pledges further military aid for Ukraine
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Deutsche Welle ☛ 2023-10-11 [Older] Ukraine updates: Zelenskyy calls for winter aid at NATO
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2023-10-11 [Older] Denmark expects to send first F-16s to Ukraine in spring 2024
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US News And World Report ☛ 2023-10-11 [Older] UK-Led Coalition to Give Ukraine 100 Million Pound Mine-Clearing Support Package
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US News And World Report ☛ 2023-10-11 [Older] Some Republicans Say They Would Resist Any Biden Plan Linking Israel, Ukraine Aid
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US News And World Report ☛ 2023-10-10 [Older] Ukrainian Forces Make Headway in East, South -Officials
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US News And World Report ☛ 2023-10-10 [Older] Explainer-Will US Military Aid to Israel Jeopardize Biden's Help to Ukraine?
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US News And World Report ☛ 2023-10-09 [Older] US Army Chief Says Congress Must Act to Ensure Arms to Both Israel and Ukraine
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US News And World Report ☛ 2023-10-08 [Older] Ukraine Expects 'Record' Number of Drone Attacks This Winter - Air Force
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Modern Diplomacy ☛ 2023-10-14 [Older] After losing Nagorno-Karabakh, Armenia embarks on a challenging journey between Russia and the West
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Deutsche Welle ☛ 2023-10-14 [Older] Russia detains three Navalny lawyers
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NL Times ☛ 2023-10-13 [Older] Eight Dutch people & four companies punished for building bridge between Russia, Crimea
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CBC ☛ 2023-10-13 [Older] CSIS warning Inuit leaders about covert foreign investment in Arctic, documents show
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Deutsche Welle ☛ 2023-10-13 [Older] Ukraine updates: Kyiv says 'Sea Babies' hit 2 Russian ships
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US News And World Report ☛ 2023-10-13 [Older] Dutch Prosecutor Fines Four Companies That Helped Russia Build Crimea Bridge
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US News And World Report ☛ 2023-10-13 [Older] Five Alleged Russian Spies Appear in London Court
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US News And World Report ☛ 2023-10-13 [Older] Allies of Russia's Navalny Say Three of His Lawyers Detained
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US News And World Report ☛ 2023-10-13 [Older] Latvia Says Russia Trying to Disrupt Border With Ukraine Passport Ruling
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US News And World Report ☛ 2023-10-13 [Older] Russian Air Strikes Kill Two in Ukraine, Ukrainian Officials Say
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US News And World Report ☛ 2023-10-13 [Older] Putin: Russia Expanding Economic Ties With CIS Despite Western Sanctions
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US News And World Report ☛ 2023-10-13 [Older] Russian Authorities Detain 3 Lawyers for Imprisoned Opposition Leader Alexei Navalny After Raids
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US News And World Report ☛ 2023-10-13 [Older] Russia Proposes UN Security Council Resolution on Israel-Hamas Conflict
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US News And World Report ☛ 2023-10-13 [Older] Russia Pummels East Ukrainian Town of Avdiivka in Heavy Fighting
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US News And World Report ☛ 2023-10-13 [Older] Ukraine Hit Two Russian Vessels in Drone Attacks - Intelligence Source
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Modern Diplomacy ☛ 2023-10-12 [Older] NYT: Russia’s Economy Is Increasingly Structured Around Its War in Ukraine
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Modern Diplomacy ☛ 2023-10-12 [Older] Russia’s Politics of Free Grains to Poorest African Countries
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CBC ☛ 2023-10-12 [Older] IOC suspends Russian Olympic Committee for incorporating Ukrainian sports regions
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Deutsche Welle ☛ 2023-10-12 [Older] Olympics: IOC suspends Russia over annexed Ukrainian regions
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Deutsche Welle ☛ 2023-10-12 [Older] Ukraine updates: Russians repelled in Avdiivka
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International Business Times ☛ 2023-10-12 [Older] Assad Regime And Russia Conduct Combined Attack On Civilians In Syria
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US News And World Report ☛ 2023-10-12 [Older] The US Government Sanctions Two Shipping Companies for Violating the Russian Oil Price Cap
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US News And World Report ☛ 2023-10-12 [Older] IOC Suspends Russian Olympic Committee for Incorporating Ukrainian Sports Regions
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US News And World Report ☛ 2023-10-12 [Older] US Sanctions Two Tanker Owners for Carrying Russian Oil Above Price Cap
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US News And World Report ☛ 2023-10-12 [Older] A UN-Backed Expert Will Continue Scrutinizing Human Rights in Russia for Another Year
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US News And World Report ☛ 2023-10-12 [Older] North Korea's Kim Shares Letters With Russia's Putin, Wishes Victory Over 'Imperialists'
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US News And World Report ☛ 2023-10-12 [Older] Russia Downs Drone in South, at Least Two Dead -Regional Governor
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US News And World Report ☛ 2023-10-12 [Older] Olympics-Russian Olympic Committee Handed Immediate Ban Says IOC
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US News And World Report ☛ 2023-10-12 [Older] US Must Be Ready for Simultaneous Wars With China, Russia, Report Says
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US News And World Report ☛ 2023-10-12 [Older] Why Russia Is Engaged in a Delicate Balancing Act in the Israel-Hamas War
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Modern Diplomacy ☛ 2023-10-11 [Older] Yellen says US eyes Russia Oil-Cap crackdown as potency fades
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US News And World Report ☛ 2023-10-11 [Older] Russian Forces Launch Big Push on Key Eastern Ukraine City
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Modern Diplomacy ☛ 2023-10-10 [Older] Russia Seeks Position in U.N. Human Rights Council (UNHRC)
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Deutsche Welle ☛ 2023-10-10 [Older] Ukraine updates: Russia loses vote to rejoin UN Human Rights Council
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International Business Times ☛ 2023-10-10 [Older] North Korea-Russia Rail Traffic Sees Dramatic Surge, Suggesting Arms Supply: Report
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International Business Times ☛ 2023-10-10 [Older] Russia Continues To Attack Ukraine With Iranian Drones
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The Local SE ☛ 2023-10-10 [Older] Swedish court releases suspected Russian spy from custody
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Deutsche Welle ☛ 2023-10-09 [Older] Russia uses Hamas attacks on Israel for domestic propaganda
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Deutsche Welle ☛ 2023-10-09 [Older] Ukraine updates: Russia's Duma to discuss revoking nuclear treaty
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US News And World Report ☛ 2023-10-09 [Older] U.N. Held Talks in Russia on Monday on Grain, Fertilizer Exports
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US News And World Report ☛ 2023-10-08 [Older] A Surge in Rail Traffic on North Korea-Russia Border Suggests Arms Supply to Russia, Think Tank Says
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Environment
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Energy/Transportation
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Finance
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Green Party UK ☛ 2023-10-08 [Older] Green Party backs a four-day working week
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NL Times ☛ 2023-10-14 [Older] Kids need to learn about safe banking practices early, financial experts say
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US News And World Report ☛ 2023-10-13 [Older] JD.com Shares Hit Record Low, Banks Cut Q3 Growth Target on Retail Slowdown
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AstroTurf/Lobbying/Politics
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Techdirt ☛ Media Sites That Have Left Twitter Aren’t Missing The Traffic
Elon Musk has made it clear that he’s no fan of the media. And while he seems to whine and pout when big media sites leave exTwitter, he keeps insisting that exTwitter doesn’t need journalists, because the his view of citizen journalism will magically be so much better. Of course, at the same time, he seemed to think that the media needed exTwitter so much that they’d pay $1,000/month to be verified, which basically did not happen.
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Jacobin Magazine ☛ 2023-10-10 [Older] Slovakia’s Election Result Is About Declining Living Standards, Not Just Ukraine
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New York Times ☛ Listen Early to ‘This American Life’: Getting Away With It
Stories of people breaking the rules completely, and with no bad consequences.
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France24 ☛ Final rallies held in Poland as tight parliamentary race draws to a close
The main party leaders facing off in Poland’s upcoming parliamentary election called on voters to give their respective parties winning support as they held final campaign rallies Friday. Opinion polls suggested a close race.
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New Yorker ☛ Werner Herzog Defends His “Ecstatic” Approach to the Truth
The legendary filmmaker makes the case for his unconventional memoir; plus, the fallout from Rodrigo Duterte’s “kill them all” drug policy in the Philippines.
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Modern Diplomacy ☛ 2023-10-12 [Older] Ukrainian People Must Begin to Question Their Future
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Federal News Network ☛ As accusations fly over ballot stuffing in mayoral primary, Connecticut Democrat takes the 5th
A local Democratic official in Connecticut’s largest city has invoked her 5th Amendment right against self-incrimination rather than answer questions in court about allegations of illegal ballot box stuffing during a mayoral primary. Wanda Geter-Pataky is the vice chair of the Bridgeport Democratic Town Committee. She exercised her right to remain silent during a court hearing Friday. Among the questions she wouldn’t answer is whether she's the person seen on surveillance footage making multiple trips in the predawn darkness to stuff papers inside an election drop box. A lawsuit is challenging the results of the Sept. 12 mayoral primary, in which incumbent Mayor Joe Ganim defeated fellow Democrat John Gomes. He wants the primary result overturned.
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France24 ☛ School stabbing in France’s Arras: What do we know about the suspect?
A man of Chechen origin who was under surveillance by French security services over suspected Islamic radicalization stabbed a teacher to death at his former high school and critically wounded three other people Friday in northern France, authorities said.
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France24 ☛ France raises alert to highest level after teacher’s fatal stabbing
France on Friday raised its security alert to the highest level after a man of Chechen origin stabbed a teacher to death and severely wounded two other adults at a school in the northern town of Arras in a knife attack that echoed the grisly slaying of a teacher in 2020.
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France24 ☛ Versailles Palace, Louvre evacuated after threats as France on high alert following knife attack
The Louvre Museum in Paris and Versailles Palace evacuated visitors and staff Saturday after receiving bomb threats. The government has put France on high security alert after a fatal school stabbing by a suspected extremist.
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Hong Kong Free Press ☛ Most Americans would back military intervention for Taiwan, survey finds
A narrow majority of Americans would support committing US troops to defend Taiwan if China were to invade, a survey said Wednesday.
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RFA ☛ Million coal workers at risk: China, India face biggest cuts by 2050
Report highlights looming layoffs amid renewable energy shift.
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RFA ☛ US to persist with renewed Pacific role amid island nations’ doubts
U.S. rhetoric asserts that its renewed attention to island countries is everything but a response to China.
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The Straits Times ☛ Taliban to join China's Belt and Road forum, elevating ties
It underscores Beijing's growing official ties with the administration.
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Misinformation/Disinformation/Propaganda
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US News And World Report ☛ 2023-10-12 [Older] EU's Breton Ticks off TikTok After Meta, X in Test of New Tech Rules
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Deutsche Welle ☛ 2023-10-13 [Older] EU warns X, Meta and TikTok over Israel-Hamas disinformation
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JURIST ☛ Social media platform X takes action against Hamas-affiliated accounts amid EU scrutiny
Social media platform X (formerly Twitter) announced measures on Thursday to combat the spread of illegal content and disinformation on its platform, including the removal of hundreds of Hamas-affiliated accounts. X’s actions follow recent criticism from Europe’s top tech regulator, Thierry Breton, the Internal Market Commissioner of the European Commission.
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Gizmodo ☛ 2023-10-13 [Older] TikTok Has a Misinformation Crisis on Its Hands. Or Does It?
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Censorship/Free Speech
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HRW ☛ 2023-10-11 [Older] Top Russian Human Rights Defender Convicted for “Discrediting” the Armed Forces
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Reason ☛ UK Home Secretary Calls for "Heavy Criminal Consequences" for Various Pro-Hamas Speech
From the Oct. 10 letter by Secretary Suella Braverman (see also Reuters on the French bans on "pro-Palestinian protests"): You will be aware of, and no doubt share my disgust at, the barbaric terrorist attacks we've seen committed against Israel in recent days.
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Reason ☛ Iowa Man Files Lawsuit After Being Arrested Twice for Criticizing the Police at a Public Meeting
"Ironically, the actions of the police department have only proven my point," Noah Petersen said after being handcuffed, arrested, and jailed for his speech.
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JURIST ☛ Hong Kong court grants dismissed teacher leave for judicial review
The Hong Kong Court of First Instance granted on Thursday leave to apply for judicial review to dismissed Hong Kong teacher Toffee Tam Yuk-fun. Tam was previously dismissed as a teacher by Secretary for the Civil Service Ingrid Yeung Ho Poi-yan in July over posting allegedly improper statements on Facebook during the 2019 anti-government protests.
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Freedom of Information / Freedom of the Press
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Civil Rights/Policing
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Techdirt ☛ Officer’s Body Cam Recording Helps Get Him Stripped Of Immunity By Appeals Court
Body cameras can’t possibly solve all the problems of current US law enforcement. No single thing can. But even though body cameras have so far proven more useful to prosecutors than lawsuit litigants and accountability efforts, that doesn’t mean they’re mostly useless.
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The Nation ☛ Safe Staffing Is Front and Center in Another Huge Healthcare Strike
Keven Dardon has worked at a Kaiser Permanente hospital in Clackamas, Ore., for nearly 14 years. As a patient access representative, he is the first person patients see as they arrive and complete paperwork before their appointments. But October 4, when more than 75,000 healthcare workers at Kaiser Permanente locations across five states and Washington, D.C., walked off the job for three days, marked the first time he had ever been on strike.1
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Meduza ☛ Russian authorities search homes of three of Navalny’s lawyers, arrest one — Meduza
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Techdirt ☛ OK, Loomer: Yet Another Court Tosses Yet Another Dumbass Laura Loomer Lawsuit
Alt-right semi-personality Laura Loomer just can’t win. And she shouldn’t! She’s ridiculous. She’s perhaps most famous for treating her own unwillingness to perform routine car maintenance as an act of anti-Loomer terrorism.
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Meduza ☛ ‘Torturing me with hunger’: The Russian authorities are denying protester Sasha Skochilenko’s basic needs to send a message about dissent — Meduza
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ACLU ☛ Baby Bonds: A Path Toward Prosperity for Future Generations
Wealth inequality in the United States has reached alarming levels, particularly when viewed through the lens of racial disparities. This wealth gap isn’t just about money; it’s about historical and systemic injustices like redlining and discriminatory policies that have plagued marginalized communities for far too long. Currently, the net worth of a white family is eight times greater than that of a Black family. Everyone should have access to meaningful economic opportunities and get the chance to build their financial futures, not just the few who have access to wealth. To confront this pressing issue, we need proactive strategies.
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Breach Media ☛ Toronto police’s secretive ‘no-knock raids’ leave scars for a lifetime
A former director of the Toronto police’s oversight body say cops continue ‘playing cowboy,’ despite what raid victims describe as violence, sexual assault and degrading treatment
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Federal News Network ☛ Black student disciplined over hairstyle hopes to ‘start being a kid again’
For more than a month, Darryl George, a Black high school student in Texas, spent each school day sitting by himself in punishment over his hairstyle. This week, he was sent to a separate disciplinary program where he’s been told he will spend several more weeks away from classmates. In an interview with The Associated Press, George said he has felt discouraged about missing out on his classes and time with the football team. He said: “I feel like I’m missing my full experience of being in the classroom.”
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Internet Policy/Net Neutrality
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Hackaday ☛ Teletext In Ireland, Another Broadcasting Leftover Bites The Dust
Over the years we’ve reported on the passing of a few of the broadcasting technologies of yesteryear, such as analogue TV in America, or AM radio in Europe. Now it’s the turn of an early digital contender, as one of the few remaining holdouts of old-style teletext is to shut down its service. The Irish broadcaster RTÉ is to turn off its teletext service Aertel, which has been live in some form continuously since 1986.
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Techdirt ☛ FCC Wants Consumers To Get Refunds For Annoying Cable TV Contract Blackouts
For decades now, cable TV has been plagued by programming contract feuds that routinely end with users losing access to TV programming they pay for.
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EFF ☛ The FCC is Expected to Propose the Return of Net Neutrality Protections Oct 19th - Let’s Hope They Get it Right!
The FCC will meet on October 19th to vote on proposing Title II reclassification that would support accompanying net neutrality protections. Based on a draft version of the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, the FCC will propose to reestablish the Commission’s authority to issue net neutrality rules for broadband Internet access service by classifying it as a “telecommunications service” under Title II of the Communications Act of 1934. If the FCC issues the notice as expected on October 19th, the next steps would be a public comment phase followed by issuance of a final rule. This process could result in a final rule restoring net neutrality requirements around spring of 2024.
We’re glad that the FCC is finally taking steps to bring back net neutrality. Title II provides a clear avenue for the FCC to exercise authority to enact net neutrality rules that will stand up to a challenge in court. For years, the FCC incorrectly classified broadband access as an “information service,” and when it tried to impose even a weak version of net neutrality protections under that classification, they were struck down in court. We’ve had victories in the past on this issue thanks to the overwhelming support of millions of Americans, and we need the FCC to do the right thing now.
The classification of broadband as a Title II “telecommunications service” is not only correct as a factual matter and proven to be legally defensible, it also provides the FCC the tools it needs to issue narrow regulations that address the proven need for net neutrality rules, while forbearing from any provisions of Title II that might be unnecessary.
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SANS ☛ What's Normal: MAC Addresses, (Fri, Oct 13th)
In this installment of "What&#;x26;#;39;s Normal", I want to discuss MAC addresses. MAC addresses are used to identify devices on ethernet networks. They are six bytes in length and typically expressed in hexadecimal, separated by a colon or a dash. MAC addresses identify network interfaces on the local network. They must be locally unique and are, to some extent globally unique.
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Digital Restrictions (DRM)
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Techdirt ☛ Newsom Signs California Right To Repair Bill Into Law
California Governor Gavin Newsom has been on a bit of a tear lately vetoing bills that successfully pass the state legislature, including an effort to legalize psychedelics, an attempt to provide free condoms to high school students, an effort to cap insulin prices at $35, an attempt to provide severance to grocery store workers laid off by mergers, and much more.
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EFF ☛ California Takes Some Big Steps for Digital Rights
The first big win to celebrate? Californians now enjoy the right to repair. S.B. 244, authored by California Sen. Susan Eggman, makes it easier for individuals and independent repair shops to access materials and parts needed for maintenance on electronics and appliances. That means that Californians with a broken phone screen or a busted washing machine will have many more options for getting them fixed.
S.B. 244 is one of the strongest right-to-repair laws in the country, and caps off a strong couple of years of progress on this issue. This is a huge victory for consumers, pushed by a dedicated group of advocates led by the California Public Interest Research Group, and we're excited to keep pushing to ensure that people have the freedom to tinker.
California's law differs from other right-to-repair laws in a few ways. For one, by building on categories set in the state's warranty laws, S.B. 244 establishes that you'll be able to get documentation, tools, and parts for devices for three years for products that cost between $50 and $99.99. For products that cost $100 or more, those will be available for seven years. Even though some electronics are not included, such as video game consoles, it still raises the bar for other right-to-repair bills.
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Gizmodo ☛ 2023-10-12 [Older] Teens' Friendship Ended With Netflix, Now YouTube Is Their Best Friend
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Monopolies
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Patents
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EFF ☛ Is Landmark Technology’s Two-Decade Patent Assault On E-Commerce Finally Over?
In just one 18-month period, the ‘508 patent was the subject of more than 1,800 patent demand letters sent to more than 1,100 different businesses. All of these businesses were told to pay up—typically $65,000—for using basic e-commerce technology like home pages, customer login pages, and product-ordering pages.
Now the ‘508 patent’s threat is likely dead, thanks to a recent ruling by a North Carolina federal judge in a case that started after Landmark threatened the website Binders.com for selling binders (but, you know, on the Internet). NAPCO, the company that owns Binders.com, responded to Landmark’s $65,000 demand by challenging Landmark’s patent in court. After more than two years of litigation, the judge issued a ruling stating that the ‘508 patent’s disputed claim is invalid because it is ‘indefinite.’ Specifically, it purported to cover network technology that could perform various functions but failed to describe a way those functions could be achieved. While not at issue here, similar terms in the patents’ other independent claims are likely invalid for the same reasons.
“[T]he company broadly and aggressively misuses the patent claims, targeting virtually any small business with a website, seemingly at random,” is how the Washington State Attorney General describes Landmark’s business model.
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Dennis Crouch/Patently-O ☛ Claim Construction and the Indefinite Article Shuffle
Although patent courts do interpret the indefinite article “a” as allowing for a plural meaning, they generally do not permit a change in the associated noun. Let me explain. Here, the patentee Finjan claimed “a computer” performing a certain operation and later referred to “the computer” performing another operation. The accused infringer SonicWall was using two different computers for these operations and the patentee sought a construction that relied upon the presumed plurality to encompass the accused activity. >
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Copyrights
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Techdirt ☛ Music Streaming Royalty Hacking Shows How Desperately The System Needs To Be Overhauled
There’s an interesting story on Wired about “functional music” – things like white noise and brown noise – which is widely available on music streaming platforms. These kind of streams are causing a problem that arises from the fact that the money earned by streaming platforms is allotted in a rather odd way. All the revenues are put together, and then divided up according to an individual artist’s share of the service’s total number of streams. In practice, this means that the subscription paid by someone who only listens to interesting but obscure artists nonetheless goes mostly to the big names in pop music, whose music is listened to millions of times a day.
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IP Kat ☛ 2023-10-12 [Older] [Guest post] Online copyright protection in Greece: recent developments in dynamic website blocking
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Gizmodo ☛ 2023-10-13 [Older] Google Has Your Back If Its AI Lands You in Copyright Trouble
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US News And World Report ☛ 2023-10-12 [Older] Google to Defend Generative AI Users From Copyright Claims
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Torrent Freak ☛ Pirate Sites Exploit 'Interplanetary File System' Gateways, Publishers Warn
The Association of American Publishers has shared its overview of notorious piracy markets with the U.S. Trade Representative. The organization sees shadow libraries, including LibGen and Sci-Hub, as key problems, with the relatively new meta-search engine Anna's Archive also getting a mention. Third-party intermediaries pose problems too, the publishers note, with abuse of the Interplanetary File System (IPFS) as a growing concern.
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Torrent Freak ☛ Advising Pirates to Use VPNs is "Positive News" Says Piracy Blocking Chief
Massimiliano Capitanio, head of Italian telecoms regulator AGCOM, believes the country's all-new internet blocking system will deliver a bright future in the fight against pirate IPTV services. After receiving news that pirate operators are making VPN use mandatory for their subscribers, the response from Italy's blocking chief was surprising. "Positive news," Capitanio said.
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Gemini* and Gopher
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Personal/Opinions
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Utrecht and other things
I currently travel to Utrecht every monday morning, specifically to Utrecht Science Park, for some of my courses. In the Netherlands, certain mathematics courses are organised jointly and students from all Dutch universities come to one place to follow them. I'm doing two such courses at the moment.
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Online Dating Before the Turn of the Millennium
I'm cagey about what I post about myself online: years ago, the wrong kinds of people found my personal writings, and made them agonizingly public. In those days, the internet was a lot smaller - the sort of place you had to sit down at a desktop to access. It was inconvenient. You couldn't just pull out your phone and start scrolling, as the iPhone was nearly a decade out. But even then, if you were tenacious, you could find things. People. Since then, I've had to assume everyone I've ever met is reading everything I post online, even if, as is most likely, the opposite is true.
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Technology and Free Software
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Internet/Gemini
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Orbital Fox Redux: Complete Mirror of Gemini Mailing List
Given some of @solderpunk's recent work (launching geminiprotocol.net, updating the FAQ, etc.) I've been re-reading the spec and related documents, wanting to better understand some of the final bits that need clarification or refining. And a big part of that means understanding how we got here.
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* Gemini (Primer) links can be opened using Gemini software. It's like the World Wide Web but a lot lighter.