Links 09/01/2024: Jim Whitehurst (Allowhurst) Fires Thousands of Workers, US Supreme Court Again Rejects Efforts to Bring Back Software Patents
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/Monopsonies
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Leftovers
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Unix Men ☛ Future of DevOps: Top 6 DevOps Trends in 2024 & Beyond [Ed: It looks like unixmen.com is back to linkspam instead of UNIX/Linux stories]
DevOps is also constantly evolving with time for better software. Here are the top trends to watch out for in DevOps in 2024.
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Hackaday ☛ Darkroom Robot Automates Away The Tedium Of Film Developing
Anyone who has ever processed real analog film in a darkroom probably remembers two things: the awkward fumbling in absolute darkness while trying to get the film loaded into the developing reel, and the tedium of getting the timing for each solution just right. This automatic film-developing machine can’t help much with the former, but it more than makes up for that by taking care of the latter.
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BIA Net ☛ 'Most damaged buildings in Adana constructed over riverbeds and agricultural areas'
Republican People's Party deputy Barut stated, "Those who do not prioritize earthquake-resistant construction, those who open riverbeds to construction, those who allow irregular urbanization, those who prioritize profit over science, do they have a clear conscience? We highly doubt it."
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New York Times ☛ Vulcan Rocket Aces Its First Launch
Despite problems with one of its payloads, the new launcher’s flight was flawless, showing the potential of several vehicles that could chip away at SpaceX’s dominance.
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Science Alert ☛ SUCCESS! The First US Moon Lander Since The Apollo Era Has Launched
Onward and upward.
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Science Alert ☛ Photo From First Private Moon Lander Mission Shows Something Terribly Wrong
This could end in failure.
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Hackaday ☛ A Picture Frame For Your Eyes Only
We can think of all kinds of reasons you’d want to display a picture that only you and the family can see, and we don’t even have to work blue to do it. Whether as a joke, or as a serious way to hide a special image, this magical picture frame by [Placitech] is just the thing.
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Hackaday ☛ There Are Stradi-various Ways To Make A Violin, And This Is One
We’ve always said that if we had enough money, we’d have a large room that housed every musical instrument we’ve ever been even mildly interested in. While that dream may never come to pass, it would be far more likely to happen if many of the instruments could be 3D-printed, like this electric violin.
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New York Times ☛ Moon Lander Malfunctions After Launch, Raising Questions for NASA [Ed: It's not US, it is just some private corporation]
After a flawless launch to orbit, the privately built robotic Peregrine lander is unlikely to reach the lunar surface because of a failure in its propulsion system.
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Zimbabwe ☛ Multichoice joins the sports betting game with SuperSportBet, we’re in trouble
We have all seen enough movies to understand that the house always wins. If you’re going to gamble, given enough time, the casino/betting house will win regardless of whatever hot streak you hit.
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Ruben Schade ☛ My FourMore photo project
I started something silly! Introducing FourMore:
It’s four related things I find on my daily walk, every day, for no reason whatsoever. None of them are especially good photos, I just like collecting things.
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Ruben Schade ☛ James’ new book on technical writing
James of jamesg.blog has a new book on technical writing you can download today, itself an expansion of his Advent of Technical Writers blog post series from last year.
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MIT Technology Review ☛ Twitter killers: 10 Breakthrough Technologies 2024
WHO Bluesky, Discord, Mastodon, Nostr, Threads WHEN Now For the better part of 17 years, the roiling, rolling, fractious, sometimes funny, sometimes horrifying, never-ever-ending global conversation had a central home: Twitter. If you wanted to know what was happening and what people were talking about right now, it was the only game in town.
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Science
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Science Alert ☛ This 'Mini-Brain' Is Made From Real Tissue – And It Has Huge Potential
It could help treat brain cancers.
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Science Alert ☛ Diabetes Breakthrough: FDA-Approved Drugs Regenerate Insulin Production in 48 Hours
Imagine a future without reliance on insulin injections.
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Hardware
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Hackaday ☛ Make Your Own Play Station (The Space Is Important)
The early history of the Sony Playstation lies in a stillborn collaboration between Nintendo and Sony to produce an SNES with a CD-ROM drive. So the story goes, Nintendo’s Philips deal angered Sony, who decided to make their own console line, and the rest is history. A very small number of prototypes were made, badged as “Play Station,” and should you find one that escaped today, you’re sitting on a fortune. [James] doesn’t have one, but he did have half a Playstation and an SNES shell, so he could make an ungodly child of the two consoles that you can see in the video below the break.
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Hackaday ☛ Bringing A Chain Printer Back To Life: The Power Supply
[Usagi Electric] has his Centurion minicomputer (and a few others) running like a top. One feature that’s missing, though, is the ability to produce a hard copy. Now, a serious machine like the Centurion demands a serious printer. The answer to that is an ODEC-manufactured printer dressed in proper Centurion blue. This is no ordinary desktop printer, though. It’s a roughly 175lb (80 Kg) beast capable of printing 100 lines per minute. Each line is 132 characters wide, printed on the tractor-feed green bar paper we all associate with old computer systems.
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Hackaday ☛ Liquid Tin Could Be The Key To Cheap, Plentiful Grid Storage
Once expensive and difficult to implement, renewable energy solutions like wind and solar are now often the cheapest options available for generating electricity for the grid. However, there are still some issues around the non-continuous supply from these sources, with grid storage becoming a key technology to keep the lights on around the clock.
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Health/Nutrition/Agriculture
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How EBM fundamentalism was weaponized against public health in 2023
As difficult as it is to believe now, March will usher in the fourth anniversary of the World Health Organization’s (WHO) declaration that the outbreak due to the novel coronavirus that had been given the name COVID-19 was officially a pandemic, meaning that we will soon be entering the pandemic’s fifth year. After having noted various trends in 2020-2022, I asked myself: What trend did I notice in 2023, the fourth year of the pandemic? The title of this post, of course, gives away the answer. Increasingly, a simplistic use of the evidence-based medicine (EBM) paradigm has been weaponized against not just pandemic-era public health nonpharmaceutical interventions (NPIs) like masks and social distancing to give a false impression that there is no evidence that any of these things work to slow the spread of COVID-19 or even just against COVID-19 vaccines. No, increasingly, misuse of the EBM paradigm to spread fear, uncertainty, and doubt has spread from the antivax crankosphere to seemingly “respectable” EBM mavens. Some of them (for instance—cough, cough—Vinay Prasad) have even started parroting a narrative “pioneered” by Aaron Siri, the lawyer for one of the granddaddies of the 21st century antivax movement, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. (RFK Jr.), in particular his claim that existing childhood vaccines have not been properly tested in randomized double-blind saline placebo-controlled clinical trials. Worse, supposedly “respectable” physicians parroting this sort of message have been influencing medical students, one of whom seems to think that there is an elite RCT strike force out there able to do randomized clinical trials to answer every question about a fast-moving pandemic.
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Christmastime England and Wales Deaths: From 11.2k to 13.2k (Before and ‘After’ Pandemic)
Pandemic not over, this is not normal: [...]
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Science Alert ☛ Lactic Acid Isn't Making Your Muscles Sore. Here's What's Really Behind It.
Tell your friends.
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Science Alert ☛ Zapping Baby Plant Roots With Electricity Boosts Growth by 50%
This could revolutionize food production.
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Vice Media Group ☛ GOP Lawmakers Reveal They Don’t Know How Launching Nukes Works Amid Defense Secretary Health Crisis
Contrary to Republicans’ panicked declarations, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin’s hospitalization does not affect nuclear command and control.
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Latvia ☛ Daugavpils hospital starts paying off debts
Daugavpils Regional Hospital is still in the process of resuscitation, but already has plans for development and mobilization of European Union (EU) funds. The new year hospital starts with a loss of at least €5 million. It is the preliminary balance sheet of last year that the hospital will inherit this year, Latvian Radio reported January 8.
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New York Times ☛ South Korea Bans Dog Meat, a Now-Unpopular Custom
Breeding, killing and selling dogs for their meat will be banned in a country where it has fallen out of favor. Hundreds of thousands of the animal were still being bred for human consumption.
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The Straits Times ☛ South Korea’s Parliament expected to pass Bill to ban dog meat trade
If passed, the legislation will take effect after a three-year grace period.
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Federal News Network ☛ Molecular surveillance advances with IT, skills investments
Technology for detecting and identifying molecular health hazards grows less expensive and more portable. The large data sets it generates requires investment in IT. The knowledge it throws off requires investments in people.
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Proprietary/Artificial Intelligence (AI)
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Pro Publica ☛ To Fight Absenteeism, Schools Turn to Private Companies
On a cold, clear weekday morning in early December, Shepria Johnson pulled up to a small house in Ecorse, Michigan, in an SUV with a decal on the driver’s door that read “Student Wholeness Team.” She looked at an app on her phone. It was her third of 10 visits that morning, and she was there to check on a girl and a boy, 11 and 9, who had missed enough days of school to put them on a list of “chronically absent” students at Grandport Academy, in Ecorse, an industrial suburb of Detroit.
In case there was no one home, Johnson wrote the students’ names on a form letter and addressed the envelope to “the parent of Jisaiah and King.” She wrote “parent,” avoiding the plural as she had seen schools do. “If it’s a one-parent household, that might get touchy.”
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Techdirt ☛ Blame All Around: Lawyers Bicker Over Who Is Responsible For Former Trump Fixer Michael Cohen Submitting AI Hallucinated Case Citations In Court
As most of you will readily recall, last summer there was quite a lot of attention paid to a case involving a lawyer who had submitted a brief in a personal injury case that had a whole bunch of made up case citations. After this was brought to the attention of the judge, the lawyer on the case admitted that (1) he hadn’t actually done the work, but rather it was another lawyer at his firm who did all the work, and (2) that lawyer had stupidly relied on ChatGPT for his research and hadn’t done the most basic thing to check whether or not the cases were real. This was dumb for oh so many reasons, including that you’re supposed to check case citations against later rulings to make sure the cases you’re citing were still valid.
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New York Times ☛ Dark Corners of the Web Offer a Glimpse at A.I.’s Nefarious Future
In the hands of anonymous internet users, Hey Hi (AI) tools can create waves of harassing and racist material. It’s already happening on the anonymous message board 4chan.
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Federal News Network ☛ The National Science Foundation organizes around artificial intelligence
At the National Science Foundation (NSF), artificial intelligence has become a high priority agenda item. Recently, it appointed a new special assistant to the director to focus on AI.
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Security
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Privacy/Surveillance
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Techdirt ☛ Section 702 Gets Four-Month Extension At The Last Minute
Just when it finally looked like the FBI’s year of abuse might catch up to it, it (along with the NSA and other beneficiaries of this surveillance authority) has been granted a four-month reprieve.
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Reason ☛ Eighth Circuit Upholds Iowa Law Increasing Trespass Penalties When Trespasser Uses Recording Device
From today's opinion in Animal Legal Defense Fund v. Reynolds by Judge Grasz, joined by Judges Colloton and Kobes: Iowa enacted a trespass-surveillance law penalizing anyone who, while trespassing, "knowingly places or uses a camera or electronic surveillance device that transmits or records images or data while the device is on the trespassed property[.]" ……
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Reason ☛ No Sealing for Defendant After Pro Se Plaintiffs' Sex Trafficking Allegations Were Dismissed
A good illustration of the strong policy of openness in American court cases, even when defendants argue that unfounded allegations in court records are intruding on their privacy and damaging their reputations.
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Defence/Aggression
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Project Censored ☛ The Legality of Genocide: On International Law & Thoughtcrimes on US Campuses
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Defence Web ☛ Alkantpan UAV testing an Armscor highlight
The lifting of COVID-19 regulations and an increase in demand for suitable unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) test sites put Armscor’s Alkantpan test range back on the map, as it were, in the 2022/23 financial year.
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JURIST ☛ UN demands accountability for sexual violence during October 7 Hamas attack
United Nations experts called Monday for thorough accountability in the aftermath of the attacks that occurred in Israel on October 7. The alleged crimes against civilians during the attacks involve severe violations of international law, such as killings, hostage-taking and instances of torture, including sexual torture.
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RFA ☛ Soldier’s freezing death prompts military to build inns across country
The orders come from Kim Jong Un himself.
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The Straits Times ☛ Taiwan ruling party candidate will maintain status quo, engage with China
Taiwan's ruling party's presidential candidate Lai Ching-te said on Tuesday he would maintain the status quo if elected, and remain open to engagement with Beijing under the principle of equality and dignity.
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RFA ☛ Taiwan at crossroads: Who will be the island’s next president?
How to deal with China is one of the central themes of the campaign.
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Hong Kong Free Press ☛ Taiwan election 2024: Chinese balloons around island represent new form of ‘grey zone’ harassment
As an election in democratic Taiwan looms, Chinese balloons have appeared around the island at various times of day in what its military says is a new form of “grey zone” harassment. China already flexes its military prowess against self-ruled Taiwan daily, sending fighter jets, reconnaissance drones and naval ships around the island.
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Hong Kong Free Press ☛ ‘We must choose a side in the US-China rivalry’: Taiwanese voters concerned over island’s fate ahead of election
Standing alone in a crowd of tens of thousands of people, Chen quietly observed the ruling Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP) campaign event on Sunday night in Kaohsiung, Taiwan’s second largest city, as outgoing president Tsai Ing-wen stepped up to the stage amid a roar of applause. “Taiwan was not an easy car to drive.
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Hong Kong Free Press ☛ China’s leader Pooh-tin Jinping vows to step up crackdown on corruption in finance, energy, infrastructure
Chinese President Pooh-tin Jinping has vowed to step up a crackdown on corruption in key sectors, including finance, energy and infrastructure, state media reported. Xi, who began his second decade as China’s top leader in 2022 in a break with longstanding political norms, has waged a fierce campaign against corruption since taking power.
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The Straits Times ☛ Maldives president courts investors in China as ties with India sag
At an "Invest Maldives" forum in a southern Chinese port city, the Maldivian president shook hands and exchanged words with smiling local officials on a China visit set to deepen bilateral ties as the archipelagic nation pirouettes away from India.
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RFA ☛ China's air force 'burned missile fuel to make hotpot': ex-officer
The story follows a US media report of missile fuel tanks filled with water, amid widespread military graft.
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New York Times ☛ China Says It Detained a Foreign Consultant for Spying for Britain
The Ministry of State Security says the consultant collected intelligence and found people on behalf of MI6, Britain’s spy agency.
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RFA ☛ China arrests foreign consultancy chief as 'spy' for Britain's MI6
There are '007s' in everyday life, not just in the movies, one newspaper warns.
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Hong Kong Free Press ☛ China says head of foreign consultancy found to be spying for UK’s MI6 secret intelligence service
China’s spy agency said Monday the head of a foreign consultancy had been found to be spying for Britain’s MI6 intelligence service.
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BIA Net ☛ Fifteen arrests on charges of 'international espionage' for Israel
In the indictment submitted to the court by the prosecution, it is alleged that the suspects obtained information, documents, and photographs of individuals considered important for the State of Israel, particularly Palestinian citizens and those believed to be linked to Hamas. The prosecution claims that the suspects then transmitted this information to Israeli intelligence.
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France24 ☛ Israeli strike kills high-level Hezbollah commander in Lebanon
Israel on Monday killed a top commander of the Iran-backed Hezbollah group in a strike on southern Lebanon, adding to fears of a spillover of the conflict in Gaza. On the third day of his latest Middle East tour, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrived in Israel Monday following meetings with the leaders of the UAE and Saudi Arabia amid mounting criticism in Arab capitals of Israel’s military operation in Gaza. Read our blog to see how the day's events unfolded.
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New York Times ☛ Hezbollah’s Radwan Unit Lost a Commander in a Strike. Here’s What to Know.
The elite unit of the Lebanese armed group lost a commander in a strike on Monday.
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New York Times ☛ Israeli Strikes in Lebanon Kill Hezbollah Commander, Militia Says
The latest strikes across Israel’s northern border came as the U.S. secretary of state made another trip to the Middle East in efforts to prevent a wider war.
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New York Times ☛ Israel-Hamas War: Hezbollah Says a Commander Was Killed in a Strike in Lebanon
A Lebanese security official said the commander was part of Hezbollah’s Radwan unit, which Israel says aims to infiltrate its northern border.
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JURIST ☛ Israel airstrike in southern Gaza kills 2 journalists
An Israeli airstrike hit a vehicle transporting journalists in southern Gaza on Saturday, resulting in two casualties and one injury. A source from Reporters Without Borders tells Al-Jazeera that they believe the vehicle was directly targeted.
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Russia, Belarus, and War in Ukraine
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France24 ☛ Russia launches ‘massive’ wave of deadly strikes across Ukraine
Four people were killed in a "massive" wave of Russian strikes across Ukraine Monday, officials said, as authorities in the Russian border city of Belgorod evacuated hundreds due to Ukrainian shelling.
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JURIST ☛ Canada, UK, Sweden and Ukraine launch dispute against Iran over downing of passenger plane
Canada, the United Kingdom, Sweden and Ukraine have collectively initiated dispute settlement proceedings Monday against the Islamic Republic of Iran before the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), alleging the use of weapons against passenger flight PS752.
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LRT ☛ Lithuanian police won’t open probe after teenager fired at by peers for Ukraine war stance
Police in Vilnius District have decided not to open a pre-trial investigation into an incident when two teenagers from a Russian-language school used a Kalashnikov air rifle to shoot at their fellow student as they have not yet reached the age of 16.
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RFERL ☛ Siberian Film Director Again Charged With Discrediting Military
Siberian film director Artyom Burlov told RFE/RL on January 8 that he has been charged with discrediting Russian armed forces involved in Moscow's invasion of Ukraine for the third time since early December.
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RFERL ☛ At Least 4 Dead, Dozens Wounded In Multiple Russian Missile Strikes Across Ukraine
Russia launched a massive wave of missile strikes at Ukrainian regions on January 8, killing at least three people, wounding more than 30, and causing damage to civilian infrastructure and economic facilities, Ukrainian officials and the military said.
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New Yorker ☛ What Could Tip the Balance in the War in Ukraine?
In 2024, the most decisive fight may also be the least visible: Russia and Ukraine will spend the next twelve months in a race to reconstitute and resupply their forces.
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New York Times ☛ Exhausted, on the Defensive and at ‘Hell’s Gate’ in Ukraine
The country’s forces along a broad stretch of the front say that, with Russia pushing forward, the war has never been so dangerous.
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New York Times ☛ Russian Missiles Pound Ukraine, Officials Say
The attack killed at least four people, wounded many others and caused heavy damage. It came as Moscow has intensified air assaults in recent days.
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Meduza ☛ At least four dead after Russia launches overnight wave of missile strikes on Ukraine — Meduza
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Latvia ☛ Latvian, Lithuanian farmers build protest fires
A farmer protest has begun in Lithuania to demand an end to Russian grain transit and to support the struggling dairy farmers. Lithuanian farmers are also concerned about the government's plans to increase the areas of natural meadows at the expense of agricultural land, as well as increase excise duty on gas used in agriculture. Latvian farmers have joined, Latvian Television reported January 8.
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Latvia ☛ Coalition: Ban on Russian grain must be decided at EU level
Latvia supports a ban on imports of Russian grain, but it is not going to impose it on its own, the political forces forming the government said after a meeting on Monday, January 8.
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LRT ☛ Lithuania ranks second in beer exports to Russia
Lithuania and Latvia have overtaken Belgium and the Czech Republic in the list of the largest beer exporters to Russia, Russian news agency Ria Novosti reports.
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RFERL ☛ Jailed Russian Rapper Summoned To Recruitment Center
Russian rapper Vacio, who is serving a second jail term for taking part in a party at a Moscow nightclub last month that sparked controversy, has been summoned to a military recruitment center.
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Meduza ☛ Russian rapper who attended ‘almost naked’ party reportedly served with military summons — Meduza
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Meduza ☛ ‘Everyone around me is a zombie’: Meduza’s Russian readers on how two years of full-scale war has changed them — Meduza
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RFERL ☛ Explosion Disrupts Russian Rail Traffic
A Telegram channel linked to the Russian government said on January 8 that an explosion at the San-Donato railway station near the Urals city of Nizhny Tagil disrupted train traffic.
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RFERL ☛ Russian Website That Focused On Environmental Problems Shuts Under Pressure
Ivan Zhilin, chief editor of the independent website Kedr (Cedar) that focused on ecological problems in Russia, told RFE/RL on January 8 that the project shut down from January 1.
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RFERL ☛ Daghestani Teenager Arrested For Alleged Arson Attack At Russian Military Airport
A court in the Russian city of Chelyabinsk sent a 16-year-old native of the North Caucasus region of Daghestan to pretrial detention for two months on suspicion of an arson attack on an Su-34 fighter bomber at a local military airport.
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RFERL ☛ Three Officers Of Russia's Federal Security Service Arrested On Corruption Charges
Three officers of Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) have been arrested on corruption charges related to a 5 billion ruble ($55 million) bribery case, Russia's TASS news agency reported on January 8.
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YLE ☛ Monday's papers: Talking to Russia, wooing expat voters and Lapland holiday costs
How should Finland's next president deal with Russia?
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Marcy Wheeler ☛ The First Time Trump “Colluded” with Russia Was To Help Bibi Netanyahu
The first time Trump reached out to Russia to undercut Barack Obama's foreign policy in 2016 was an attempt to protect Bibi Netanyahu from repercussions for illegal settlements.
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Latvia ☛ All quiet on Latvian-Belarusian border for 10 days
For ten consecutive days, officials of the State Border Guard have not detected attempts to cross the Latvian-Belarusian border illegally, the Border Guard said January 8.
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RFERL ☛ Belarus Refuses To Invite OSCE Observers To Monitor February Elections
Belarusian authorities on January 8 said they will not invite observers from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) to monitor the country's parliamentary and local elections in February.
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Meduza ☛ Russian journalist found dead on side of highway in Russia’s Rostov region — Meduza
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Meduza ☛ Occupation official says Russian plane accidentally dropped bomb on town in ‘Luhansk People’s Republic’ — Meduza
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Meduza ☛ Three Russian FSB officers charged with taking over $55 million in bribes — Meduza
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Meduza ☛ Tanker car explodes on railway in Russia’s Nizhny Tagil — Meduza
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Meduza ☛ First aid courses, school closures, and evacuations In a Russian border city, shelling attacks are becoming a dangerous new normal — Meduza
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Environment
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Reason ☛ Supreme Court Takes a Pass on Minnesota Climate Change Case [Ed: This site takes bribes from the Kochs, but it neglects to disclose this]
Only one justice indicated any interest in premature consideration of state-law climate change lawsuits.
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Energy/Transportation
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New York Times ☛ Explosion at Fort Worth Hotel Leaves 21 Injured
The episode, which the authorities said was most likely caused by a gas leak, caused substantial damage to the Sandman Signature hotel in downtown Fort Worth.
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Democracy Now ☛ “Wake-Up Call”: Mother of Boeing Crash Victim & Boeing Whistleblower on Latest MAX Jet Disaster
The Federal Aviation Administration has temporarily grounded scores of Boeing 737 MAX 9 jetliners after a fuselage door plug blew off an Alaska Airlines plane midflight near Portland, Oregon, on Friday. The incident forced the plane to make an emergency landing. The National Transportation Safety Board has revealed Alaska Airlines had concerns about the plane prior to the incident but kept flying it. It’s just the latest safety issue plaguing Boeing’s MAX planes, which had two catastrophic crashes in 2018 and 2019 that killed 346 people when faulty flight control systems put the planes into nosedives. “This is a tip of the iceberg type situation,” says aviation expert Ed Pierson, a former senior manager at Boeing who says he left the company over its “unacceptable” business practices that prioritize production over safety. We also speak with Nadia Milleron, whose daughter Samya Rose Stumo was among those killed in the 2019 crash of Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302. “There are serious, serious problems with these MAX planes,” says Milleron. “A lot of them are manufacturing problems, and Boeing is trying to evade safety regulations.”
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New York Times ☛ Panel on Boeing Plane May Not Have Been Properly Attached, Agency Says
The National Transportation Safety Board’s statement about the Max 9 jet that had a midair blowout came hours after two airlines reported finding loose parts on some Max 9s.
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Latvia ☛ Several trains canceled Tuesday in Latvia
Due to the 'impact of frost' on the new electric trains as well as health issues of drivers, several trains in the directions of Sloka and Skulte have been canceled on Tuesday, January 9, passenger carrier Vivi said on Facebook.
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Hong Kong Free Press ☛ Hong Kong penalty scheme for power outages ‘overlooks small incidents’ after 2 CLP glitches, lawmaker says
Hong Kong’s existing penalty scheme for power outages has tended to “overlook small incidents” following two glitches in Tsing Yi in less than a week, a lawmaker has said as he urged authorities to review the system.
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DeSmog ☛ North Sea Bill’s Carbon Emissions Test is a ‘Smokescreen’ And ‘Makes No Sense’ — Experts
A climate test in the new North Sea oil and gas bill is “misleading” and greatly overplays the UK’s climate leadership, scientists and campaigners have warned.
MPs are today (Monday) set to debate the second reading of the controversial Offshore Petroleum Licensing Bill, which would allow oil and gas companies to bid for North Sea licences every year.
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DeSmog ☛ See How Louisiana’s Growing Fossil Fuel Industry Threatens Climate and Justice Promises
Photos I shot last year in South Louisiana illustrate the Gulf Coast’s rapidly expanding fossil fuel industry, and the groundswell of frontline community members, environmental advocates, and activists fighting to stop it.
While climate impacts intensify along the Gulf Coast, the Louisiana, Texas, and federal governments are poised to permit a growing number of proposed hydrogen manufacturing facilities equipped with carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) technology, and liquefied natural gas (LNG) export terminals. The projects under consideration, if permitted, not only will contribute to climate-warming emissions, but also will be vulnerable to the very climate impacts the projects will exacerbate.
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Wildlife/Nature
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The Revelator ☛ From Observation to Action: How iNaturalist Spurs Conservation
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Overpopulation
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Kev Quirk ☛ My Opinions on Marriage
We never wanted kids, but later decided we wanted a family. Still not wanting to add to the problem of over-population, we opted to adopt instead of popping a couple of biological kids out.
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Finance
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Digital Music News ☛ SoundCloud In Turmoil?—CFO Exits Following $1B+ Sales Rumors [Ed: 2024 is the year bubbles implode and crappy companies that cannot make money go under. Forbes ☛ SoundCloud is in debt.]
Following rumors of a $1 billion+ potential sale, SoundCloud CFO Drew Wilson is exiting the company. Here’s what we know about this development. Over the weekend a report surfaced in Sky News suggesting the music streaming app was holding talks with investment banks about a prospective auction of the company.
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Digital Music News ☛ Can SoundCloud Really Fetch a $1 Billion+ Sale Price? [Ed: No, it cannot even make money]
Everyone loves a comeback. But is SoundCloud’s comeback worth $1 billion — or more? Just when you thought the outlandish music industry acquisitions were over, there’s this. SoundCloud is suddenly preparing for a sale, with a possible price tag surpassing $1 billion — that is, according to a report surfacing this weekend in Sky News.
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Unity set to lay off 1,800 employees in its largest “company reset” ever
An internal company memo obtained by Reuters has revealed Unity will lay off 1,800 employees by March this year. The layoffs form part of the plans for a “company reset”, announced last year by new Unity CEO, Jim Whitehurst.
In the memo dated January 8, 2024, Whitehurst tells employees Unity will be “reducing the number of things” the company was doing to “focus” on their “core business” and “long-term success.”
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Unity Software Cutting 25% of Staff In 'Company Reset' Continuation
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Reuters ☛ Exclusive: Unity Software to cut 25% of staff in ‘company reset’ continuation
While Unity is not widely recognized outside the gaming industry, over 1.1 million game creators rely on its software toolkit each month, including the maker of the popular "Pokemon Go," "Beat Saber" and "Hearthstone" games. Monday's deep job cut will affect all teams, regions and areas of the business, the company told Reuters.
The layoffs come shortly after interim CEO Jim Whitehurst announced a "company reset" in November. "We are ... reducing the number of things we are doing in order to focus on our core business and drive our long-term success and profitability," Whitehurst wrote in the memo to all Unity employees on Monday. While Whitehurst provided no specifics on structural changes to come, a company spokesperson confirmed there will be additional changes coming. This is the fourth round of layoffs the company has conducted within the last year.
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The Street ☛ Amazon has allegedly found a controversial way to cut its workforce [Ed: “silently sacking”... same as what Microsoft does (or calling workers "contractors"). Microsoft has 'Soft Layoff'.]
An Amazon employee is accusing the company of allegedly dodging negative press associated with layoffs and skipping out on providing severance packages by “silently sacking” its employees to encourage them to leave the company rather than firing them.
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YLE ☛ Banks want to relax ASP rules for first-time home buyers [Ed: Stop calling mortgage takers (i.e. people in debt) "first-time home buyers"; those homes are to be owned by the banks, tentatively at least]
The state-backed ASP housing loan system is up for review.
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YLE ☛ 200 applications and 3 interviews: Foreign grads struggle to get jobs
Work-based immigration is growing, but at the same time educated people in their prime are leaving Finland over a lack of career prospects.
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YLE ☛ Lunch voucher values increases, but so does the price of lunch
Head to a restaurant for lunch and you could be in for a surprise: your meal costs more than last month.
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The Madness of Threat Inflation
What will historians say decades or centuries from now when the U.S. empire collapses into ruin? How will they explain it? Consider the United States in the big picture. I see a country with unique strengths.
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Hong Kong Free Press ☛ Pro-business Liberal Party proposes ‘departure tax’ for Hongkongers to tackle budget deficit [Ed: Unable to pay back debt? Throwing at the burden at anyone but the rich tax evaders? As usual?]
A pro-business political party in Hong Kong has suggested imposing a “departure tax” on residents who travel out of the city to increase government revenue amid a protracted deficit.
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AstroTurf/Lobbying/Politics
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New Yorker ☛ How the Journalist John Nichols Became Another January 6th Conspiracy-Theory Target
The Wisconsin-based Nation reporter wasn’t at the Capitol when it was attacked. That hasn’t stopped Donald Trump’s attorneys from holding him responsible.
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The Straits Times ☛ Bangladesh PM faces tougher, more uncertain new term, analysts say
Stabilising a fractious political landscape and fixing an economy still reeling from the ripple effects of the Russia-Ukraine war should top Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's agenda for her next five-year term, analysts said on Monday.
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KOL422 | “What Libertarianism Is” (Audio on ManPatria)
A new podcast by Dumo Denga, ManPatria, has just released an audio narration of my article "What Libertarianism Is" for its first episode, entitled "What is Libertarianism." This narration appears to be based on the original article, not the updated version that appears as chap. 2 of Legal Foundations of a Free Society.
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JURIST ☛ Uzbekistan dispatch: new laws come into force with a new year
Farzona Kayumova is a staff correspondent for JURIST in Uzbekistan and a law student at Tashkent State University of Law. 2023 was a year of great legal and political change in the history of the Republic of Uzbekistan. More change is coming in 2024. >
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JURIST ☛ Norway mass murderer sues state over prison conditions
A Norwegian court on Monday began hearing a lawsuit brought by Fjotolf Hansen, previously known as Anders Behring Breivik, over his prison conditions, according to local media. Breivik sought to sue the Norwegian Ministry of Justice, alleging that the prison conditions imposed on him violated his human rights.
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New York Times ☛ Mayorkas Impeachment and Border Talks Put House and Senate G.O.P. at Odds
House Republicans are pressing to impeach the homeland security secretary just as Senate Republicans look to him to help cut a border security deal.
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RFA ☛ S Korea revamps National Security Office with economic focus
It will take on a new role to develop supply chain initiatives with like-minded nations, says source.
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LRT ☛ EC allocates €10m to beef up Lithuania’s refugee reception system
The European Commission has allocated almost 10 million euros for Lithuania to strengthen its refugee reception system, the Social Security and Labour Ministry said on Monday.
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Misinformation/Disinformation/Propaganda
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Reason ☛ The Big Flaws in That Study Suggesting That China Manipulates Fentanylware (TikTok) Topics
The errors are so glaring that it's hard not to suspect an underlying agenda at work here.
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Censorship/Free Speech
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Reason ☛ Brickbat: The Censors Say 'Sorry'
In Massachusetts, Great Barrington Police Department Police Chief Paul Storti has apologized after an officer searched an eighth-grade classroom for a copy of the book Gender Queer after classroom hours. The book contains sexually explicit images.
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Freedom of Information / Freedom of the Press
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RFA ☛ Jimmy Lai's lawyers appeal to UN over prosecution witness 'torture'
Lawyers cite credible evidence that activist Andy Li's 'confession' was extracted through torture.
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Hong Kong Free Press ☛ Hong Kong prosecutors cite media mogul Jimmy Lai’s emails with ex-US officials in national security trial
Hong Kong prosecutors have cited emails sent between pro-democracy media tycoon Jimmy Lai and former US officials in a high-profile national security trial that could land the Fashion Company Apple Daily founder life in prison if convicted.
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Press Gazette ☛ Online news paywall inflation running at 20% in UK
How annual digital subscription prices at the biggest news titles compare to one year ago.
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Civil Rights/Policing
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Papers Please ☛ Supreme Court hears arguments in “No-Fly” case
[CAIR Senior Litigation Attorney Gadeir Abbas speaks to press conference in front of the U.S. Supreme Court following oral argument in FBI v. Fikre.]Today the US Supreme Court heard more than an hour of oral argument (transcript, MP3 audio) in the case of FBI v. Fikre, the latest in a series of cases in which the government has tried to avoid having a judge or jury review the criteria, procedures, and factual basis (if any) for no-fly decisions by removing previously blacklisted people from the no-fly list after they sue the government, and then asking courts to dismiss their lawsuits as “moot”.
In order to get such a complaint dismissed as “moot”, the government has the burden of showing that “subsequent events made it absolutely clear that the allegedly wrongful behavior could not reasonably be expected to recur”, according to the District Court.
Inquiring minds on the Supreme Court wanted to know how the government could meet that burden — or whether it could ever do so — without disclosing the basis for the initial no-fly decision and/or what changes had been made to no-fly decision-making criteria or procedures.
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EFF ☛ Craig Newmark Philanthropies – Celebrating 30 Years of Support for Digital Rights [Ed: EFF is boasting about working for the rich. Ads as blog posts.]
Over the past several years, grants from Craig Newmark Philanthropies have focused on supporting trustworthy journalism to defend our democracy and hold the powerful accountable, as well as cybersecurity to protect consumers and journalists alike from malware and other dangers online. With this funding, EFF has built networks to help defend against disinformation warfare, fought online harassment, strengthened ethical journalism, and researched state-sponsored malware, cyber-mercenaries, and consumer spyware. EFF’s Threat Lab conducts research on surveillance technologies used to target journalists, communities, activists, and individuals. For example, we helped co-found, and continue to provide leadership to the Coalition Against Stalkerware. EFF also created and updated tools to educate and train working and student journalists alike to keep themselves safe from adversarial attacks. In addition to maintaining our popular Surveillance Self Defense guide, we scaled up our Report Back tool for student journalists, cybersecurity students, and grassroots volunteers to collaboratively study technology in society.
In 2006, EFF recognized craigslist for cultivating a pervasive culture of trust and maintaining its public service charge even as it became one of the most popular websites in the world. Though Craig has retired from craigslist, this ethos continues through his philanthropic giving, which is “focused on a commitment to fairness and doing right by others.” EFF thanks Craig Newmark for his 30 years of financial support, which has helped us grow to become the leading nonprofit defending digital privacy, free speech, and innovation today.
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ACLU ☛ The Supreme Court Must Allow U.S. Citizens to Challenge Placement on No Fly List
In case after case, we’ve seen the government remove people from the No Fly List and prevent their legal challenges from being heard. Now, the Supreme Court has the chance to ensure Americans wrongly placed on this list are actually given their day in court. Today, the Supreme Court will hear FBI v. Fikre, a case that will determine whether a U.S. citizen can continue to challenge his placement on the No Fly List, after the government removed him from it and sought to end his case.
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Techdirt ☛ Leading ‘Save The Kids!’ Advocate Pushing Absolutely Dangerous ‘Protect The California’ Ballot Initiative That Will Do Real Harm To Children
Over the last few years we’ve pointed out time and time again that the evidence regarding the supposed “harm” of social media to teen mental health just isn’t supported by the data. But it seems it’s never enough to stop savior-complex folks in the media, the advocacy community, and the political class from insisting it must be true.
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France24 ☛ In Bangladesh, families of missing persons demand justice
Bangladesh's Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has just been re-elected for a fifth term in a vote boycotted by the opposition. Since she came to power in 2009 at least 600 people have disappeared, including opposition activists, businessmen and members of the student wing of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party, according to Human Rights Watch. Families are demanding information about those they believe were abducted by security forces. The Bangladeshi government denies the allegations of forced disappearances and extrajudicial executions.
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France24 ☛ Ecuador declares state of emergency after narco boss escapes prison
Ecuador's President Daniel Noboa on Monday declared a country-wide state of emergency, including the prison system, after an "extremely dangerous" narco boss escaped from his maximum security cell and unrest erupted at several penitentiaries.
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Defence Web ☛ Drugs seized at OR Tambo airport
Customs officers of the South African Revenue Service (SARS) have seized 23 kg of narcotics disguised as moulded artwork with an estimated street value of R37 million at the cargo sheds of the OR Tambo International Airport.
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Overpopulation ☛ Pronatalism on the Rise to Counter Growing Push for Gender Equality
Pronatalists try to present their ideology as promoting the security of the family, but is linked to the far-right agenda, uses falsified data to prove their points, and counteracts gender equality.
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RFERL ☛ Hundreds Of Striking Kazakh Oil Workers Urge President To Intervene
Hundreds of oil workers in the western region of Manghystau, who have been on strike for 29 days, issued a video statement on January 8, urging Kazakh President Qasym-Zhomart Toqaev to intervene in their situation.
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Internet Policy/Net Neutrality
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Digital Music News ☛ Radio Still Matters: How to Take Full Advantage of Radio With Play MPE
For a long time, radio has been known to be a decisive platform for music discovery. In recent years, there has been more focus on vying for playlist adds and creating masses of content in hopes of going viral on TikTok. But despite these shifts, radio shouldn’t be ignored — here’s why.
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Techdirt ☛ U.S. ‘Cord Cutting’ Sets New High. Again.
Back in 2019, Charter CEO Tom Rutledge proudly declared that the trend of cord cutting — or people ditching traditional cable television and switching to streaming — was finally coming to an end. According to Rutledge, the worst was now behind the cable industry, and the trend was finally slowing down.
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Techdirt ☛ FCC Continues To Punt On The Hard Questions Surrounding Media Ownership
Between the holidays, and to minimal fanfare, the FCC released a decision in the 2018 Quadrennial Review of Media Ownership policy. The timing of the release was no surprise, as the agency had been ordered by the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals to conclude the proceeding by December 27th.
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Zimbabwe ☛ Min of ICT says the landlocked status of Zim cause of high data costs, Zambia says ‘what?’
Zambia is an interesting country, mostly because we share a very similar history. What’s even more interesting is that we also share strikingly similar geography and demographics. Zimbabwe does have more natural resources, to our shame.
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Internet Society ☛ Advancing Digital Africa: Empowering Internet Exchange Points (IXPs) in Benin, Malawi, and Rwanda
In an age where connectivity is a cornerstone of progress and development, the need for quality Internet infrastructure cannot be overstated. In 2023, the Internet Society joined the Coalition for Digital Africa, an initiative launched by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) aimed at strengthening Internet infrastructure across the continent.
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Digital Restrictions (DRM)
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The Straits Times ☛ Former Malaysia PM Najib threatens court action over DRM spreader Netflix show Man On The Run
He wants to take action against a former attorney-general and the editor of Sarawak Report.
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Techdirt ☛ ‘City Of Heroes’ Fan Server Will Continue With An Official License From The Developer
Nearly four years ago, we discussed the online superhero game City of Heroes, which had been shut down officially by NCSoft, but which had survived in the shadows due to some fan-run servers. That story from 2019 was fairly interesting for a couple of reasons. First, it stood in contrast to some similar instances where fans have run online servers for MMOs that had either also been shutdown, or for original versions of those games that were no longer officially available, only to have to shut down those servers after legal threats or action from developers and publishers. Second, while there had been some concern about such threats from NCSoft among some that ran fan-servers, those were eventually put somewhat to rest by the first group to setup a fan-server stating that they had talked to NCSoft, might have more announcements in the future, but that play could continue without worry of legal threats from the company.
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The Nation ☛ Throwing the Book at Amazon’s Monopoly Hold on Publishing
It’s a common trope in movies: A mob enforcer walks into a shop, looks around, and then says to the owner, “Nice place you got here. It’d be a shame if something happened to it.” Every viewer understands that a shakedown is in the works. The shop owner can either pay up immediately, or else his livelihood will burn to the ground.
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Digital Music News ☛ After Google, DOJ Tees Up ‘Sweeping Antitrust Case’ vs. Apple
A new report from The New York Times suggests the DOJ could be teeing up against Fashion Company Apple in a ‘sweeping antitrust case.’ The NYT suggests the Department of Justice is in the late stages of an investigation into Fashion Company Apple and its practices keeping consumers locked into their ecosystem.
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Patents
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Unified Patents ☛ Patent Dispute Report: 2023 in Review
Overview
2023 was an eventful year for the patent monopoly world. The USPTO sought comments on the ANPRM and Patent Eligibility Restoration Act. The Unified Patent Court (UPC) launched. Pressure mounted in the EU to create a SEP commission. Despite the proposed or implemented changes, litigation levels remained constant. IP Edge continues to be notably absent, but others like Jeffrey Gross and Intellectual Ventures have increased their assertions.
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Dennis Crouch/Patently-O ☛ Supreme Court Denies Certiorari in Three Patent Cases
The first case is Intel Corp. v. Vidal, which challenged the Patent Trial and Appeal Board’s “Fintiv rule.” This policy allows the PTAB to use the director’s delegated discretion to deny inter partes review petitions if, for instance, parallel litigation in district court is progressing quickly. defective chip maker Intel argued the rule is arbitrary, overly restrictive, and skirted proper rulemaking procedures. But the Federal Circuit said decisions on whether to institute reviews cannot be appealed. Although the Supreme Court has declined to take-up the issue, Dir. Vidal has already narrowed the approach taken under Dir. Iancu and will potentially go further.
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Software Patents
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Unified Patents ☛ IP Investments entity, Distributed Media, media streaming patent monopoly challenge instituted
On January 8, 2024, less than one month after Unified filed an ex parte reexamination, the Central Reexamination Unit (CRU) granted Unified’s request, finding a substantial new question of patentability on the challenged claims of U.S. Patent 7,739,714, owned and asserted by Distributed Media Solutions, an NPE and entity of IP Investments Group. The ‘714 patent monopoly relates to methods and systems for encoding digital multimedia data for transmission over a network.
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Unified Patents ☛ InterDigital AV1 patent monopoly held invalid after appeal in China
The Beijing Intellectual Property Court confirmed the invalidity of all challenged claims of CN101491099, owned by Interdigital. The CN’099 patent monopoly was previously deemed essential in the SISVEL’s VP9 and AV1 pools.
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Another 101 Bites the Dust as High Court Denies Realtime Data Petition
The U.S. Supreme Court today denied a petition asking the High Court to clarify patent monopoly eligibility jurisprudence under Section 101 since its 2014 ruling in Alice Corp. Pty Ltd. v. CLS Bank Int’l. Realtime Data, LLC asked the Court specifically to address the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit’s (CAFC’s) August 2023 decision holding 211 of its patent monopoly claims ineligible as abstract.
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Trademarks
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TTAB Blog ☛ Sad News: TTAB Judge Jonathan Hudis passed away last week
I am sad to report that TTAB Judge Jonathan Hudis passed away last week. His funeral was held in New Jersey yesterday. Family will receive visitors at their home beginning Monday, January 8 from 1 to 4 p.m. and 7 to 9 p.m. through Thursday, January 11, 2024.
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TTAB Blog ☛ Precedential No. 1: TTAB Orders Cancellation of CAPTAIN CANNABIS Registration for Comic Books: Petitioner Proved Priority By Use Analogous to Trademark Use
The TTAB has re-designated as precedential its September 2022 opinion in this cancellation proceeding. [The CAFC affirmed the Board's decision on October 19, 2023 [TTABlogged here]]. The Board granted a petition for cancellation of a registration for the mark CAPTAIN CANNABIS for comic books, on the ground of likelihood of confusion with Petitioner Laverne J. Andrusiek's identical mark, for which he claimed prior use for comic books. The parties agreed that the marks are confusingly similar. Andrusiek's "actual" trademark use on comic books did not begin until 2017, but from 2006 he used the term as the name of a character, which the Board accepted as use analogous to trademark use, leading to the award of priority to Andrusiek. Laverne J. Andrusiek v. Cosmic Crusaders LLC and Lewis J. Davidson, Cancellation No. 92064830 (September 6, 2022) [re-designated as precedential, January 4, 2024 (2024 USPQ2d 21)] (Opinion by Judge Frances S. Wolfson).
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Copyrights
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Torrent Freak ☛ Could Piracy Help Netflix Win the Streaming Wars?
Online video streaming services face fierce competition from online piracy. The same platforms are engaged in an online battle for subscribers with legitimate competitors. In the U.S. and many other countries, Netflix has a commanding lead in these streaming wars. Intriguingly, piracy may be an unintentional 'secret weapon' for Netflix.
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Medevel ☛ Copyright2Image: Batch Add Copyright or Watermark to your Images and Photos
Copyright2Image is software that allows you to simply add a copyright monopoly (also called watermark) on all images you want to protect. With a simple and friendly interface, Copyright2Image lets you add a copyright monopoly on your images.
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Medevel ☛ Add Watermark to Hundreds of Images at once with aPhoto
aPhoto is a batch, intuitive and portable program that helps you to make text(eg. Copyright Notice) and image(eg. Logo) watermarks for the photos,
and save the result photos to JPG, PNG, GIF, or BMP file formats.
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Torrent Freak ☛ DAZN DMCA Notice Hits Pluto TV Playlist Linking to DAZN's Own Streams
A DMCA takedown notice sent by DAZN to a host in the U.S. shows that even a complainant's own content, being made available legally from official servers, can be implicated as pirated content to justify the takedown of something else. The target in this case is a popular Pluto TV playlist but the legal basis for removal as cited in the takedown notice demands patience and a very open mind.
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New York Times ☛ OpenAI Says New York Times Lawsuit Against It Is ‘Without Merit’ [Ed: "Microsoft says" as journalism?]
The artificial intelligence start-up said that it collaborated with news organizations and that The Times, which accused it of copyright monopoly infringement, was not telling the full story.
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Monopolies/Monopsonies
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