Links 31/01/2024: PayPal Fires 2,500 Employees and Microsoft Layoffs at WoW Developer Impact Story Teams
Contents
- Leftovers
- Science
- Hardware
- Health/Nutrition/Agriculture
- Proprietary/Artificial Intelligence (AI)
- Security
- Defence/Aggression
- Transparency/Investigative Reporting
- 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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Hong Kong Free Press ☛ Ex-head of China’s top football body Chen Xuyuan stands trial for bribery
The former head of China’s top football body Chen Xuyuan is to stand trial for bribery on Monday, Beijing’s state media said, as an anti-corruption drive sweeps up once-major players in the sport.
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Hackaday ☛ Need A Serial Data Plotter? Better Write Your Own
When you’re working with a development team, especially in a supporting capacity, you can often find yourself having to invent tools and support systems that are fairly involved, but don’t add to the system’s functionality. Still, without them, it’d be a dead duck. [Aidan Chandra] was clearly in a similar situation, working with a bunch of postgrads at Stanford, on an exoskeleton project, and needed an accurate data plotter to watch measurements in real-time.
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Hackaday ☛ Tech In Plain Sight: Escalators
If you are designing a building and need to move many people up or down, you probably will at least consider an escalator. In fact, if you visit most large airports these days, they even use a similar system to move people without changing their altitude. We aren’t sure why the name “slidewalk” never caught on, but they have a similar mechanism to an escalator. Like most things, we don’t think much about them until they don’t work. But they’ve been around a long time and are great examples of simple technology we use so often that it has become invisible.
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New York Times ☛ Pandora Now Only Sources Recycled Metals for Its Jewelry
Is that as good as it sounds?
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Hackaday ☛ A Mouse Becomes A Camera
If your pointing device is a mouse, turn it over. The chances are you’ll see a red LED light if you’re not seriously old-school and your mouse has a ball, this light serves as the illumination for a very simple camera sensor. The mouse electronics do their thing by looking for movement in the resulting image, but it should be possible to pull out the data and repurpose the sensor as a digital camera. [Doctor Volt] has a new video showing just that with the innards of a Logitech peripheral.
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Hackaday ☛ New Robots To Explore New Areas Of Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Plant
During a press event on January 23rd, Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) demonstrated two new robots at the mock-up facility at Japan Atomic Energy Agency’s Naraha Center for Remote Control Technology Development (NARREC). As pictured by AP, one is a snake-like robot that should be able to reach very inaccessible areas, while four flying drones will be the first to enter the containment vessel of the Unit 1 reactor for inspection.
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Manuel Moreale ☛ Best laptop of 2024
You see, this is not going to be a post about laptops. It’s going to be a post about words, about generated content, and about SEO. It’s also going to be an experiment because I’m a curious person and the inner workings of search engines fascinate me.
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Buttondown ☛ What does 'TLA+' mean, anyway
TLA+ stands for "Temporal Logic of Actions, Plus".
Okay but that doesn't explain anything. So let's talk about what that actually means. I'm going to oversimplify both the history and math to avoid spending two more days on fact checking.
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Zach Flower ☛ Working with Serverless Log Data
As mentioned in last week's Sunday Reboot, I've recovered a few of my old posts from the Wayback Machine—all from my time at the now shut-down Fixate.io (via their blog, Sweetcode). These are all freelance topics, so the style of writing is a bit different than normal (for me, at least), and the topics are a little wider-ranging than I would normally write about here. This particular piece was written and then subsequently cancelled for Twistlock in about 2018 (now owned by Palo Alto Networks).
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Science
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Vice Media Group ☛ How Top Secret Nuke Sensor Data Confirmed the First Interstellar Object on Earth
A freedom of information act request unearthed emails from the Los Alamos National Lab as they struggled to balance secrecy and scientific discovery.
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Science Alert ☛ Unique Feature of a Nearby Black Hole Could Help Solve Cosmic Ray Mystery
It's special.
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Science Alert ☛ Virus That Murders Sleeping Bacteria Could Be Used to Assassinate Superbugs
Nighty-night.
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Vice Media Group ☛ Scientists Discover Stunning Evidence of Multiple Lost Prehistoric Societies
Now, new research shows that jewelry was just as important for distinguishing different cultures in ancient Europe as it is for signaling your allegiance to a particular group today.
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Hardware
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Hackaday ☛ A Basic USB-C Primer
Over the last five years or so there has been a quiet take-over of the ports on laptops, phones, and other devices, as a variety of older ports as well as the familiar USB A and micro USB sockets have been replaced by the now-ubiquitous USB-C port. It’s a connector which can do so many things, so many in fact that it bears a handy explanation. The Electromagnetic Field 2022 hacker camp has been quietly uploading videos of its talks, and a recent one has [Tyler Ward] explaining the intricacies of the interface.
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Lee Peterson ☛ Casio AE1200, a digital watch legend
As watch theft has risen in the UK I’m tending to feel a bit more conscious about wearing my Omega Speedmaster in cities so tend to wear my Casio’s in these occasions or when I’m going somewhere I know it might get knocked or wet.
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Quartz ☛ Nvidia’s biggest customers are also the AI chip maker’s biggest threat
Microsoft and Meta are the biggest spenders on the company’s H100, the coveted $30,000 chip that powers generative AI products. Microsoft and Meta, together, spend $9 billion on chips alone, according to a report by DA Davidson, a financial services firm. But these buyers are also building their own AI chips, which raises questions about Nvidia’s long-term revenue growth.
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Tom's Hardware ☛ China's first natively built supercomputer goes online — the Central Intelligent Computing Center is liquid-cooled and built for AI
China Telecom claims to have launched the country's first supercomputer built entirely on top of domestic hardware and software.
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Hackaday ☛ 3D Printed Axial Compressor Is On A Mission To Inflate Balloons
[Let’s Print] has been fascinated with creating a 3D printed axial compressor that can do meaningful work, and his latest iteration mixes FDM and SLA printed parts to successfully inflate (and pop) a latex glove, so that’s progress!
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Hackaday ☛ A Complete Exchange From Scratch For Your Rotary Dial Phones
Such has been the success of the mobile phone that in many places they have removed the need for wired connections, for example where this is being written the old copper connection can only be made via an emulated phone line on an internet router. That doesn’t mean that wired phones are no longer of interest to a hardware hacker though, and many of us have at times experimented with these obsolete instruments. At the recent 37C3 event in Germany, [Hans Gelke] gave a talk on the analog exchange he’s created from scratch.
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CNX Software ☛ Quectel CC660D-LS IoT-NTN module is built for Skylo’s satellite network
Quectel recently announced the launch of the Quectel CC660D-LS IoT-NTN module, created in partnership with Skylo. Designed for two-way IoT (Internet of Things) applications this model supports the latest 3GPP Release 17 standards for IoT over non-terrestrial networks (NTN). Additionally, It can operate on L-band (1 to 2 GHz), and S-band (2 to 4 GHz) frequencies, making it ideal for asset tracking, fleet management, and agricultural and maritime uses. >
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CNX Software ☛ Review of SONOFF SNZB-03P new Zigbee motion sensor with eWelink and Home Assistant
SONOFF continues to release new Zigbee products series including the wireless switches/buttons (SNZB-01P) and temperature and humidity sensors (SNZB-02P) that we reviewed last year. Today, we will review another new sensor, that is the Zigbee 3.0 motion sensor (SNZB-03P) and we’ll need a Zigbee Hub/Bridge/Dongle to receive Zigbee signals to make it work. The technology of this sensor remains PIR, which uses infrared waves similar to before.
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Hackaday ☛ A Vintage Monitor Lives Again With A New Heart
Aside from keeping decades-old consumer-grade computing hardware working, a major problem for many retrocomputing enthusiasts lies in doing the same for vintage monitors. Whether your screen is a domestic TV or a dedicated monitor, the heat and voltage stress of driving a CRT made these devices significantly less reliable than many of their modern-day counterparts. [Adrian’s Digital Basement] has a worn-out and broken Commodore 1701 monitor, which he’s brought back to life with a modern circuit board and a CRT transplant.
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Mobile Systems/Mobile Applications
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Dedoimedo ☛ Samsung A54, three months later, second impression
Today, we have a review and report 2 of Samsung A54 mid-range smartphone long-term usage, covering look & feel, ergonomics - audio, video and camera, battery life, everyday functionality, various apps, additional tweaks, deep sleep, other observations, and more. Take a look.
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Health/Nutrition/Agriculture
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Futurism ☛ Facebook Approves Disgusting Pro-Anorexia and Drug Ads Targeted at Teens and Made With Its Own AI
Most of the fake ads were, as TTP claims in its report, approved in "less than five minutes" to run on Facebook, Instagram, Messenger, and Meta Quest, its virtual reality platform.
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France24 ☛ Almost a third of French bottled water brands use banned purification methods
A July 2022 report by the IGAS authority found that "close to 30 percent of brands undergo treatment not in line" with French regulation on mineral water, the outlets wrote.
The report "was clear that the 30-percent figure underestimates the phenomenon", they added.
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NPR ☛ Researchers find a massive number of plastic particles in bottled water
Microscopic pieces of plastic are everywhere. Now, they've been found in bottled water in concentrations 10 to 100 times more than previously estimated.
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CBS ☛ Bottled water contains up to 100 times more plastic than previously estimated, new study says
Study co-author Wei Min, a biophysicist at Columbia, was one of the inventors of the laser method used to test the samples. Researchers probed the samples for seven common types of plastics before using a data-driven algorithm to interpret the results.
"It is one thing to detect, but another to know what you are detecting," Min said in a press release.
The researchers found 110,000 to 370,000 particles in each liter, according to the study. About 90% of the particles were nanoplastics, while the rest were microplastics.
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The Washington Post ☛ Here’s what you’re really swallowing when you drink bottled water
Sherri Mason, a professor and director of sustainability at Penn State Behrend in Erie, Pa., says plastic materials are a bit like skin — they slough off pieces into water or food or whatever substance they are touching.
“We know at this point that our skin is constantly shedding,” she said. “And this is what these plastic items are doing — they’re just constantly shedding.”
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Forbes ☛ Bottled Water Contains Hundreds Of Thousands Of Potentially Toxic Tiny Plastics, Study Finds
Seven of the most common plastics were detected in the bottles, including polyethylene (PE) and polyethylene terephthalate (P.E.T.)—what water bottles are made of—and polystyrene (PS), what Styrofoam containers are made from, but the most commonly found plastic was polyamide (PA), a type of nylon.
However, these seven plastics only accounted for 10% of the nanoplastics found in the water—researchers have no clue what type of nanoplastics the other 90% are, but depending on the type, there could be tens of millions of them in each liter.
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Science Alert ☛ FDA Warns of 'Gas Station Heroin' Supplements. Here's Why They're a Growing Concern.
It's not the dietary supplement you might think it is.
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New York Times ☛ Canada Delays Plan to Offer Medically Assisted Death to the Mentally Ill
A parliamentary panel concluded that there are not enough doctors, particularly psychiatrists, in the country to properly assess patients.
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The Straits Times ☛ Soundwaves accelerate the growth of soil fungi that could help repair ecosystem
Some fungi could grow up to five times faster when exposed to increased sound levels.
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Pro Publica ☛ Philips Agrees to Stop Selling Sleep Apnea Machines in the U.S.
Reeling from one of the most catastrophic recalls in decades, Philips Respironics said it will stop selling sleep apnea machines and other respiratory devices in the United States under a settlement with the federal government that will all but end the company’s reign as one of the top makers of breathing machines in the country.
The agreement, announced by Philips early Monday, comes more than two years after the company pulled millions of its popular breathing devices off the shelves after admitting that an industrial foam fitted in the machines to reduce noise could break apart and release potentially toxic particles and fumes into the masks worn by patients.
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Pro Publica ☛ How Georgia’s Small Power Companies Endanger Their Most Vulnerable Customers
In early 2019, Tina Marie Marsden needed more time to pay her electric bill. A mother in her mid-40s who lived on a fixed income because of a medical disability, she tried to explain to the local utility that the prospect of having no electricity was more than just an inconvenience. A mechanical pump kept her heart beating, and the pump ran on batteries that needed to be frequently charged. If the batteries ran out, Marsden could die.
Marsden had recently moved nearly 40 miles south of downtown Atlanta to Griffin, Georgia, a city that provides electricity to more than 13,000 residents through the utility it owns. Griffin offered customers only a seven-day period to pay past-due bills before cutting off their power — regardless of their health.
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Science Alert ☛ Embryo Development Linked to a 500 Million Year Old Viral Infection
We're all 8-10 percent retrovirus.
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Latvia ☛ Rīga's 2nd hospital overloaded with injuries
Due to the influx of injured patients, the work of Riga 2nd Hospital specializing in traumatology and orthopedics has been overloaded.
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The Straits Times ☛ China’s rapid rise in potentially deadly fungal infections sparks calls for monitoring
Scientists identified 182 hospitalisations and outbreaks in 2023, compared with 33 in 2022.
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RFA ☛ US officials headed to Beijing for fentanyl talks
China suspended cooperation against narcotics outflows after Nancy Pelosi’s trip to Taiwan in 2022.
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Hong Kong Free Press ☛ China and US resume stalled talks on stemming production of chemicals for fentanyl
China and the United States will meet Tuesday in Beijing to resume stalled talks on stemming the production of ingredients for the drug fentanyl.
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Michigan Medicine service aims to combat health care disparities
In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic shining light on health care disparities across the country, Michigan Medicine has established the Healthcare Equity Consult Service.
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BBC ☛ Pharmacists to prescribe drugs for minor illnesses [Ed: So it seems like they are working to bypass strike junior GPs, by lowering health standards]
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The Age AU ☛ Video: Father to get compensation for vaccine heart condition
An Adelaide public servant is set to receive compensation for a heart condition he developed from a reaction to the COVID-19 vaccine.
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Proprietary/Artificial Intelligence (AI)
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GNU ☛ British Office comupter system scandal: BBC drama renews interest
This January BBC aired the drama "Mr Bates vs The Post Office" based on the experiences of Alan Bates, one of the victims, bringing greater public attemtion to the fiasco.
UK Prime Minister Sunak has admitted in Parliament that this is "one of the greatest miscarriages of justice in our nation's history"; he has also expressed his desire to clear the names of those wrongly accused and offer compensation.
Here are some relevant links on the issue. Of the several summaries currently available I most recommend the one by Computer Weekly.
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CoryDoctorow ☛ My McLuhan lecture on enshittification
Last night, I gave the annual Marshall McLuhan lecture at the Transmediale festival in Berlin. The event was sold out and while there's a video that'll be posted soon, they couldn't get a streaming setup installed in the Canadian embassy, where the talk was held: [...]
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The Register UK ☛ Cory Doctorow has a plan to wipe away the enshittification of tech
The coiner of the term, author and activist Cory Doctorow, described it thus.
"Here is how platforms die: first, they are good to their users; then they abuse their users to make things better for their business customers; finally, they abuse those business customers to claw back all the value for themselves. Then, they die."
Doctorow gave a speech on the topic at last year's DEF CON infosec conference, and his analysis is gaining traction on all sides of the political and technological spectrum. With a few small portals dominating the technology landscape and either buying out or crushing the competition, it's looking like entrenched interests are ceasing to innovate themselves, and settling into just generating value for shareholders – customers and suppliers be damned. You can see the whole talk below.
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The Register UK ☛ The real significance of Apple's Macintosh
Even four decades on, though, there's still a lot of misinformation, and disinformation, about the Macintosh. It wasn't the first computer with a GUI. It wasn't a cut-down successor to the Lisa. It didn't replace the Apple II either. Indeed, it was several years before a Macintosh with a usable specification came along, and in the meantime, it was the Apple II that supported the company.
So let's puncture a few illusions.
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The WoW developer gets 10 years of game time before being fired
Former Blizzard developer Adam Holisky posted on X (formerly Twitter) on January 26th. They claimed they used all the one-year subscription codes they had for Wow As soon as they found out that a mass layoff was coming. “When I realized what was going on and that I was going to be fired, I immediately jumped on the keychain and used all the 1-year subscription codes I had left,” Holisky wrote on the platform. The developer doesn’t have to pay for it Wow Subscription until the distant year 2033. Talk about future-proofing.
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Why Microsoft plans to layoff 1,900 empolyees
Blizzard’s previously announced survival game has been cancelled as part of these changes. Microsoft will shift some of the people working on it to one of several promising new projects Blizzard has in the early stages of development.
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Forbes ☛ PayPal Cutting 2,500 Jobs This Year, Report Says
PayPal will cut some 2,500 jobs in the upcoming year, the company confirmed Tuesday, marking the latest round of tech industry layoffs so far this year.
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PayPal joins tech layoff wave with major workforce reduction
PayPal is set to layoff approximately 9% of its workforce, a move announced by CEO Alex Chriss in a recent letter to staff, as per a recent Bloomberg report. This decision comes as the company faces increasing competition, profit pressures, and a series of analyst downgrades. The layoffs, which will affect about 2,500 employees, are part of Chriss’s strategy to streamline the company and enhance its agility and profitability.
Chriss, who took the reins at PayPal in September, emphasized the need to “right-size” the organization through both direct cuts and the elimination of open roles. This restructuring aims to enable PayPal to respond more swiftly to customer needs and foster profitable growth. The company, which had around 29,900 employees at the end of 2022, had previously executed a similar round of layoffs in January of the same year.
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India ☛ Tech Layoffs Continue: PayPal Fires 2,500 Employees To 'Right Size' The Company
As January comes to a close, we’ve witnessed a series of layoffs impacting various tech companies, including Google, Microsoft, and eBay. Continuing this trend, PayPal, a major player in the payments industry, has announced a workforce reduction of 2,500 employees, constituting 9% of its global staff.
According to the company’s CEO, Alex Chriss, this decision aims to enhance focus and “right-size” the business. The affected employees are slated to receive notifications by the week’s end. Notably, these layoffs will affect both current staff and positions that the tech giant had initially planned to fill.
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PayPal Layoffs 2024: US-Based Fintech Firm Announces To Lay Off 2,500 Employees Due to ‘Rising Competition’
The US-based multinational fintech company Paypal has joined the other tech companies and announced to cut thousands of jobs. According to the reports, Paypal has announced to lay off 2,500 employees, about 9% of its global workforce. The reports said the fintech giant decided to "right-size" the company. The Paypal layoffs will reportedly follow the "direct reductions" and "elimination of open roles".
According to the report by BBC, the employees who are getting laid off will be notified by the end of the week. Google, Paytm, BlackRock, Amazon, Microsoft, Meta and many others have announced their layoffs, due to restructuring, slow market and to focus on AI and automation. The tech layoffs started in early January, affecting thousands of employees. iRobot Layoffs: After Amazon Terminates Acquisition Deal, Consumer Robot Maker Announces To Lay Off Around 350 Employees, Nearly 31% Workforce.
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Faking Results
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While impressing shareholders about Xbox (nope, Blizzard!) revenue, Microsoft avoids saying "layoffs" when talking about 1900 job losses
After laying off a small town’s worth of people from its gaming arm just last week, Microsoft has managed to host an earnings call that, in a fashion that feels wrong even if it’s predictable, saw its top execs vaguely touch on said layoffs... without actually talking about the layoffs.
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Layoffs at WoW Developer to Affect Story Teams
Microsoft's layoffs have not spared Blizzard. Among the employees laid off are those responsible for the plot and story of World of Warcraft and Overwatch.
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Security
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Privacy/Surveillance
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Jim Nielsen ☛ An Inbox Full O’ Receipts
It reminds me of those really long receipts you get from places like CVS. You buy one thing, you get a receipt that’s two feet long.
That’s how I feel buying things online. You buy one thing and the default is you now get an infinitely-long receipt.
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The Register UK ☛ Microsoft Edge ignores user wishes, slurps tabs from Chrome without permission
Ostensibly a way for Microsoft to simplify the process of getting Windows users to switch to Edge, the feature has a classic Microsoft problem: it's right now doing so without full permission, according to users. As the Windows maker is wont to do, it'll also sync that data to the cloud too, provided users are signed into a Microsoft account - not great if you had intended to keep your Chrome and Edge environments separated.
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Mark Phillips ☛ It is impossible to delete RAW files from iCloud Photos
I decided to try and save some space in my iCloud drive. Looking at the usage, 160gb was being taken up by Photos. I thought that was ridiculous. This turned out to be nowhere near as ridiculous as the ensuing saga to try and delete some files.
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Security Week ☛ ChatGPT Violated European Privacy Laws, Italy Tells Chatbot Maker OpenAI
The country’s data protection authority, known as Garante, said Monday that it notified San Francisco-based OpenAI of breaches of the EU rules, known as General Data Protection Regulation.
The watchdog started investigating ChatGPT last year, when it temporarily banned within Italy the chatbot that can produce text, images and sound in response to users’ questions.
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Futurism ☛ OpenAI Denies Report That ChatGPT Leaked User Passwords
Of the conversations the reader screenshotted and sent to Ars, including a presentation-building exchange and some PHP code, one seemed to contain troubleshooting tickets from the aforementioned pharmacy portal. Stranger still, the text of the apparent tickets indicated that they'd been initiated in the years 2020 and 2021, before ChatGPT was even launched.
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El País ☛ ChatGPT violated European privacy laws, Italy tells chatbot maker OpenAI
Based on the results of its “fact-finding activity,” the watchdog said it “concluded that the available evidence pointed to the existence of breaches of the provisions” in the EU privacy rules.
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Bruce Schneier ☛ NSA Buying Bulk Surveillance Data on Americans without a Warrant
This is almost certainly illegal, although the NSA maintains that it is legal until it’s told otherwise.
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US Senate ☛ Wyden Releases Documents Confirming the NSA Buys Americans’ Internet Browsing Records; Calls on Intelligence Community to Stop Buying U.S. Data Obtained Unlawfully From Data Brokers, Violating Recent FTC Order
Wyden fought for nearly three years to publicly release the fact that the NSA is purchasing Americans’ [Internet] records. He succeeded in obtaining public confirmation of that fact after placing a hold on the nomination of Lt. General Timothy Haugh to serve as NSA director. Web browsing records can reveal sensitive, private information about a person based on where they go on the [Internet], including visiting websites related to mental health resources, resources for survivors of sexual assault or domestic abuse, or visiting a telehealth provider who focuses on birth control or abortion medication.
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Reason ☛ Brickbat: Casting a Wide Net
The ACLU of Northern California reports it has uncovered a geofence warrant that stretched nearly two miles across San Francisco. The warrant would have allowed law enforcement to find active cellphones across an area that included numerous private homes as well as several government buildings.
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Kev Quirk ☛ Rach Turned off Analytics
People who arrive via search are just looking to get a question answered and move on. That's great and I hope I can help them, but they are not the reason I'm here. This site is here for the people who stay a while, have a look around and then send me an email to start an interesting conversation.
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Latvia ☛ Doctor raises alarm over unauthorized patient data access
Last year, the Data State Inspectorate (DVI) received 30 complaints about cases where medical employees viewed data not relevant to them in the e-Health system, Latvian Television reported on January 27.
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Silicon Angle ☛ Italian data protection regulator accuses Proprietary Chaffbot Company of violating GDPR rules
Italy’s data protection authority has OpenAI’s Abusive Monopolist Microsoft Chaffbot lined up in its sights: After briefly banning the service from being used last year because of alleged privacy violations, the Garante today formally filed charges against the artificial intelligence developer.
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Confidentiality
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LRT ☛ Lithuania’s Foreign Ministry launches investigation into information disclosure
On the instructions of the State Security Department (VSD), Lithuania’s Foreign Ministry has launched an official investigation into the disclosure of confidential or restricted information during the process of coordination of ambassador nominations, Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis has said.
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Defence/Aggression
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The Straits Times ☛ North Korea fires ‘several’ cruise missiles: Seoul military
Pyongyang has accelerated weapons testing in the new year.
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France24 ☛ North Korea's Kim Jong Un oversees test of submarine-launched cruise missiles
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un oversaw the test launch of a new strategic cruise missile from a submarine, state media said Monday, the latest tension-raising move by the nuclear-armed state.
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RFA ☛ North Korean orphans ‘volunteer’ for grueling mine and farm work
After they age out of the system, the teens have nowhere else to go.
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RFA ☛ Philippines, Vietnam set to boost cooperation in South China Sea
Hanoi and Manila signed agreements to better manage incidents and foster maritime cooperation amid rising tensions at sea.
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The Straits Times ☛ Vietnam, Philippines seal deals on South China Sea security
The agreement in Hanoi, details of which were not disclosed, could risk angering Beijing.
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LRT ☛ EU suspends WTO dispute against China’s trade restrictions on Lithuania
The European Union has suspended its dispute against China at the World Trade Organization (WTO) over a de facto trade embargo against Lithuania, Politico has reported.
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JURIST ☛ China-Hong Kong arrangement on HK enforcement of mainland court rulings comes into effect
The Arrangement on Reciprocal Recognition and Enforcement of Judgments in Civil and Commercial Matters by the Courts of the Mainland and of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, which allows for specific court rulings from mainland China to be enforced in Hong Kong, officially came into effect on Monday.
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The Straits Times ☛ S.Korea's Yoon blocks new probe of 2022 Halloween crowd crush
South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol blocked on Tuesday a bill to launch a new probe into a Halloween crowd crush that killed 159 people in Seoul's Itaewon district in 2022, in a move slammed by the opposition and relatives of the victims.
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CS Monitor ☛ US, allies defund UN relief agency over Oct. 7 allegations
Countries ranging from the United States to Switzerland have pulled funding from UNRWA, the U.N. Palestinian refugee agency, after Israeli intelligence alleged collusion between agency members and Hamas militants during the Oct. 7 attacks.
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New York Times ☛ E. Jean Carroll and the Value of a Woman ‘Past Her Prime’
Her lawsuit against Donald Trump was about defamation. It was also about the worth of a woman, long past middle age, who dared to claim she still had value.
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The Straits Times ☛ Hong Kong leaders start legislative push to tighten national security laws
January 30, 2024 10:27 AM
The leaders say the city has the constitutional responsibility to impose the new laws.
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teleSUR ☛ S. Sudan: At Least 42 Killed in Fresh Communal Clashes
The United Nations Interim Security Force for Abyei (UNISFA) condemned the series of armed attacks that took place Saturday in the Abyei Administrative Area, which resulted in the death of a UN peacekeeper from Ghana.
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RFERL ☛ Turkey Deports Kazakh National Suspected Of Joining Armed Group In Syria
Kazakhstan's Committee of National Security said on January 29 that Turkey over the weekend deported to Astana a 22-year-old Kazakh man suspected of joining an armed group in Syria.
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Defence Web ☛ Police officer arrested after fatally shooting SAAF member in Hoedspruit
A South African Police Service (SAPS) sergeant has been arrested by the Independent Police Investigative Directorate (IPID) in connection with killing a South African Air Force (SAAF) member on Friday. According to IPID, the 37-year-old sergeant had an argument with the 33-year-old SAAF member at the Kalimambo pub in Hoedspruit.
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New York Times ☛ Iran Denies Ordering Drone Strike That Killed U.S. Troops in Jordan
The deaths of three U.S. service members were the first known fatalities from hostile fire since the start of Israel’s war against Hamas.
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New York Times ☛ How Biden May Respond to the Drone Strike That Killed Three U.S. Soldiers
President Biden is balancing political pressures, military calculations and regional fragility after a drone strike killed three service members.
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New York Times ☛ Tuesday Briefing: U.S. Weighs a Response to the Drone Strike
Plus, Evergrande’s liquidation and Biden’s election strategy.
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CS Monitor ☛ A court’s soft words for a hard crisis
A ruling on both Israel and Hamas from the International Court of Justice strikes a note for reflection, balance, dignity, and perhaps reconciliation.
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New York Times ☛ Mix-Up Preceded Deadly Drone Strike in Jordan, U.S. Officials Say
The attack on Sunday killed three Army reservists, the first known American military deaths from hostile fire in the turmoil spilling over from Israel’s war with Hamas.
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RFERL ☛ Pakistan, Iran Agree To Work Together To Improve Security After Tit-For-Tat Air Strikes
Pakistan and Iran on January 29 agreed to work together to improve security cooperation in the wake of deadly air strikes by Tehran and Islamabad earlier this month that killed at least 11 people, marking a significant escalation in fraught relations between the neighbors.
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RFERL ☛ U.S. Names Three Soldiers Killed In Jordan Attack, Points Finger At Iran-Backed Militia
The United States has released the names of the three American soldiers killed by a drone strike in Jordan that Washington has blamed on Iran-backed forces and vowed to respond to the attack, which the Pentagon said carried the "footprints" of the Tehran-sponsored Kataib Hizballah militia.
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France24 ☛ White House vows 'consequential' response to deadly drone strike on US troops in Jordan
The White House on Monday vowed a "very consequential response" to a drone attack on a base in Jordan that killed three American troops, with President Joe Biden blaming Iran-backed militants.
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AntiWar ☛ Biden Doctrine: ‘If It’s Broke Don’t Fix It!’
Last week President Biden was asked by a reporter about US attacks on Yemen: Reporter: “Are the airstrikes in Yemen working?” Biden: “Well, when you say working, are they stopping the Houthis? No. Are they gonna continue? Yes.”
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BIA Net ☛ ISIS claims Saint Mary Church attack on Sunday
Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya stated that two attackers have been apprehended, noting, "We assess that both individuals, one from Tajikistan and the other from Russia, are affiliated with ISIS."
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The Register UK ☛ The latest cold war is already being fought in the supply chain trenches
In many respects the current state of global AI closely mirrors that of the atomic age, in that progress is a double-edged sword. The same uranium used to build bombs of huge destructive power could just as easily be harnessed to generate cheapish and abundant energy. Similarly AI models that can discover cures for serious illnesses can also potentially cause catastrophe. It's up to those who wield such a sword to decide.
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The Verge ☛ TikTok test automatically identifies products in videos and offers purchase links
The latest reports on the experimental feature comes a few months after the TikTok Shop launched in the US which, among other things, allows creators to add links to products from their videos. Currently, Bloomberg notes that influencers and brands need to be approved by TikTok to tag products in videos, but the new feature has the potential to expand product links to all videos, representing a large expansion of TikTok’s e-commerce features as the platform targets $17.5 billion in sales in the US in 2024.
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ADF ☛ Sub-Saharan Africa has Highest Number of Terror Attacks Globally
The International Institute for Strategic Studies’ (IISS) Armed Conflict Survey 2023 tracked the political, military and humanitarian dimensions of armed conflicts globally from May 2022 to June 2023. During that period, continental fatalities due to terrorist violence increased by 48%, and the number of violent incidents increased by 22% over the previous time frame.
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The Atlantic ☛ Iran Cannot Be Conciliated
Would that that were true. Escalation of a limited kind is absolutely in the interest of Iran, which definitely wants to see more fronts opened in this conflict.
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Security Week ☛ US Disrupted Chinese Hacking Operation Aimed at Critical Infrastructure: Report
The disruption attempt reportedly took place in recent months, but no details are available on exactly what was targeted or what actions were taken.
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RFA ☛ Papua New Guinea highlights Australia ties after China security deal report
Tkatchenko’s statement lauds Papua New Guinea’s long relationship with Australia, which was the Pacific country’s former colonial power, but doesn’t deny his reported comments of ongoing security talks with China. The comments were a departure from Papua New Guinea’s usual stance that it wants only expanded economic ties with China.
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ANF News ☛ Witness to the Yazidi genocide: ISIS attacked Shengal with the help of the Turkish state and the KDP
Suad Murad Khalaf (Hêza), contemporary witness of the 74th genocide of the Yazidis in 2014, pointed out that the KDP forces withdrew when the genocide attacks started and added, "All this was planned."
Remarking that ISIS gangs attacked Shengal with the help of the Turkish state and the KDP, Xelef continued, "Shengal was sold before the genocide. Our weapons were collected before the attack so that Yazidis could not protect themselves. Thousands of people were massacred apart from those kidnapped. Children and elderly people lost their lives.”
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Salon ☛ Trump ramps up the threats of violence — and as usual, the media looks away
For Trump to claim that police must be allowed free rein to commit acts of violence with impunity was not a random "example." Its implications should be obvious. This from the same man whose attorney recently argued in federal court that Trump, as president, could have ordered political rivals executed and accepted bribes without being held accountable before the law. (Under this ludicrous theory, impeachment is the only recourse against a criminal or corrupt president.)
[...]
Of course there's also the ad revenue, along with the clicks, shares and "traffic" — the material incentives, in other words — that may flow from normalizing Trump and his behavior. This is motivated, not unreasonably, by a fear that telling the American people what they need to hear about this worsening crisis, instead of what they want to hear, will result in backlash and buzzkill, meaning lower revenues. The attention economy, like other aspects of consumer capitalism, is demand-driven. As I have repeatedly warned in this space and elsewhere, hope-peddling, happy-pill selling and catering to the emotional immaturity of the American public can be a lucrative business.
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US News And World Report ☛ Places the U.S. Government Warns Not to Travel Right Now
Over 70 countries are currently at Level 2, meaning the State Department recommends travelers “exercise increased caution” when traveling to those destinations.
Sweden is designated a Level 2 country, with terrorism noted as the primary risk factor in the country. France, which saw nationwide protests throughout 2023, has civil unrest and terrorism noted as risk factors for its Level 2 status.
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Russia, Belarus, and War in Ukraine
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Latvia ☛ LTV takes closer look at Andrejsala investment project
Mohamed Ali Alabbar, a real estate project developer from the United Arab Emirates, signed a memorandum Rīga's mayor to develop the district of Andrejsala with a three-billion investment. Latvian Television's De Facto reported on January 29 that Alabbar develops similar projects in a number of countries, including Belarus. State Security Service is assessing whether this poses any risks to Latvia.
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Meduza ☛ New investigation alleges Latvian member of European Parliament has secretly worked for Russian FSB for 20 years — Meduza
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Meduza ☛ Russian opposition politician Vladimir Kara-Murza reportedly transferred to harshest prison punishment cell — Meduza
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Meduza ☛ What to expect from the 2024 film adaptation of Mikhail Bulgakov’s classic novel ‘The Master and Margarita’ — Meduza
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Meduza ☛ Russian opposition politician Vladimir Kara-Murza transferred from Omsk prison to unknown location — Meduza
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The Straits Times ☛ Russian dissident Kara-Murza transferred to punishment cell in new prison - media cites lawyer
Russian opposition politician Vladimir Kara-Murza has been transferred to a new penal colony in the Omsk region of Siberia and placed in a punishment block, Novaya Gazeta Europe reported on Tuesday, citing his lawyer.
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Meduza ☛ Pro-Kremlin activist asks Russian prosecutors to declare presidential hopeful Boris Nadezhdin a ‘foreign agent’ — Meduza
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Computer World ☛ Russia hacks Microsoft: It’s worse than you think
Another day, another hack of Abusive Monopolist Microsoft technology.
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Meduza ☛ Putin’s secret Great Northern getaway grabbed a national reserve’s waterfall — Meduza
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Latvia ☛ Latvian MEP Ždanoka named as Russian FSB asset
The strong support Latvian MEP Tatjana Ždanoka (Latvian Russian Union party) has always shown for Vladimir Putin and Russian foreign policy – even at its most brutal – is a matter of long record. But now an investigation by Re:Baltica, the Baltic Center for Investiagtive Journalism, in association with Russian independent outlet The Insider, Delfi Estonia and Ekspressen in Sweden claims to provide definitive proof that Ždanoka is not just a Kremlin ideological fellow-traveller but an active collaborator with Russia's FSB security service.
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Meduza ☛ Russian politician Sergey Baburin submits signatures in support of presidential candidacy, promptly withdraws from race, backs Putin — Meduza
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Meduza ☛ European Parliament to investigate Latvian member alleged to have secretly worked for Russian FSB for 20 years — Meduza
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Meduza ☛ Russian mayor orders quote from ballet dancer Mikhail Baryshnikov on choreography school wall to be replaced by ‘words of a true patriot’ — Meduza
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Meduza ☛ Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva receives four-year ban for doping — Meduza
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New York Times ☛ Russian Skater Kamila Valieva Is Given Four-Year Ban Over Olympic Doping Case
Kamila Valieva, once a 15-year-old gold medal favorite, was punished in a case that upended the Beijing Games, and kept other athletes from receiving medals.
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Meduza ☛ Ukraine denies Moscow’s claim to have captured third village in two weeks — Meduza
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Meduza ☛ Ukraine’s Defense Ministry says reports of Commander-in-Chief Valerii Zaluzhnyi’s dismissal ‘not true’ — Meduza
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Meduza ☛ E.U. countries agree on plan to transfer profits from frozen Russian assets to Ukraine — Meduza
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Transparency/Investigative Reporting
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The Register UK ☛ Reg story prompts fresh security bulletin, review of Juniper Networks' CVE process
Despite submitting four vulnerability reports in total, Juniper credited watchTowr with the discovery of just two. The two other CVEs were apparently fixed in the original batch of updates – watchTowr is thought to have just rediscovered them – but they each now have their own distinct CVE.
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Marcy Wheeler ☛ Joe Biden Appointee Ana Reyes Imposes Maximum Sentence to Avenge Donald Trump’s Privacy
Judge Ana Reyes just sentenced Charles Littlejohn — the guy who stole the Donald Trump tax returns behind this story and the tax returns behind this ProPublica series — to five years in prison, the statutory maximum sentence for the single count to which he pled guilty.
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NBC ☛ Ex-IRS contractor sentenced to 5 years in prison for leaking Trump tax records
The former Internal Revenue Service contractor who leaked the tax records of former President Donald Trump to The New York Times as well as the tax records of billionaires like Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk to ProPublica was sentenced Monday to five years in prison.
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Environment
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YLE ☛ Court rules in favour of climate group Elokapina in police dispute
The Administrative Court overturned police decisions to block two fundraising efforts by the environmental NGO.
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RFA ☛ Atoll nations, predicted to sink, have kept pace with sea-level rise
Some scientists are urging more attention to keeping coral reefs healthy, saying land reclamation isn’t the only option.
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Energy/Transportation
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Tech Central (South Africa) ☛ Why South Africa struggles to end load shedding
The state-owned enterprise Eskom now probably embodies a case study of everything that should not be done if a government wishes to achieve the best electricity results for its citizens. South Africa’s experience with its electricity delivery systems has demonstrated that such systems should be planned and developed with great care. Experience has shown electricity generation and delivery systems should not be undertaken by teams under the control of government officials.
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David Rosenthal ☛ Criming On The Blockchain
It seems obvious that doing crimes and writing the receipts to an immutable public ledger is risky, but many criminals have been convinced that there is no risk because cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin are anonymous. Although there are cryptocurrencies with anonymous transactions, such as Monero and zCash, they are much more difficult to use and much less liquid than pseudonymous cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin. As many criminals have discovered, without an unrealistically intense focus on operational security (opsec), the identity behind the pseudonym can be revealed. An entire industry has evolved to do these revelations, tracing the flow of coins through their blockchains.
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MIT Technology Review ☛ Why the world’s biggest EV maker is getting into shipping
To understand why BYD has made this move, you need to learn a little about how cars are transported across the sea. Usually, the cargo industry uses roll-on/roll-off (RORO) ships. Unlike ships that use a crane to lift up cargo and place it aboard, RORO ships have ramps that allow vehicles to be driven directly on, making the whole process much easier.
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YLE ☛ Finland sets new wind power generation record
Finland now has more than 1,600 wind turbines, according to the Finnish Wind Power Association.
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New York Times ☛ In the South, Gas Stations Are Temples of Commerce and Community
Are they gas stations that serve food or restaurants that pump gas? A new photography book explores the lure of these restorative community rest stops.
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YLE ☛ Finnair cancels some 550 flights due to strikes — 60k passengers affected
The national airline aims to operate a few flights during the strikes, and will directly inform passengers about those departures.
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YLE ☛ Still unclear how Thursday's strikes could affect store opening hours
Finland's major retailers are anticipating limited effects, but say that some products may run out.
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YLE ☛ Friday's strike to stop most public transport services
Most buses in the capital area will not be running on Friday. The strike also affects local- and long-distance trains, the metro and trams in the region.
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Barry Kauler ☛ Construction of trike front suspension pivot
Continuing the recumbent trike project, here is the previous post:
https://bkhome.org/news/202401/starting-assembly-of-trike-front-suspension-frame.html
The two shock absorbers meet at a central point, and that is where it gets very interesting. The design is such that the trike can be tilting or non-tilting. If tilting, it can be achieved by either balancing, like on a bicycle, or by linkage with the steering. The idea is to experiment with all three.
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Wildlife/Nature
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BIA Net ☛ Animal rights group denounces 'hate speech' against stray animals
The initiative highlighted the need for local governments and political parties to address illegal actions and statements that lead to unhappy and unhealthy lives for animals in areas where they are exposed to various diseases.
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European Commission ☛ Keynote Speech by Commissioner Stella Kyriakides at the Call to Care for Animal Welfare organised by the Belgian Presidency
I warmly welcome that the Belgian Presidency will focus on animal health and animal welfare...
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The Hindu ☛ Operation to drive away wild elephants on the outskirts of Chikkamagaluru continues
The district administration has sought people’s cooperation during the driving operation. The Forest Department has involved its staff for the drive, and eight kumki (tamed and trained) elephants are also on the job.
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Overpopulation
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CS Monitor ☛ Is China’s birthrate slump a sign of global things to come?
China’s birthrate has slumped and women in most areas of the world are having fewer children. How will falling populations shape humanity’s future?
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Finance
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RFA ☛ N Korea launches rural growth committee as economy struggles
The move came a week after leader Kim Jong Un admitted his country’s dire economic status.
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The Straits Times ☛ Malaysia’s Pardons Board reportedly discusses jailed former PM Najib’s case
The report didn’t say when the decision would be made public.
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RFA ☛ Evergrande collapse casts long shadow on China’s troubled property market
Failing to find an alternative growth driver, Beijing relaxes financing for real estate projects.
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New York Times ☛ What Evergrande’s Liquidation Might Mean for the Global Economy
The long-embattled property developer was finally ordered to liquidate. What comes next will test Western companies’ appetite to keep operating in China.
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WhichUK ☛ Lloyds Banking Group to close 123 branches and mobile van service in 2024
Find out if your local bank branch will be shutting its doors
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Latvia ☛ Latvians lost at least EUR 12.7 million to scammers last year
Last year, a total of 12.7 million euros were defrauded from clients of the four largest commercial banks in Latvia, while a potential amount of 9.2 million euros was prevented from being stolen in scam schemes, according to data compiled by the Finance Latvia Association (FLA) January 29.
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JURIST ☛ Malaysia’s former finance minister charged under anti-corruption act
Malaysia’s former finance minister, Tun Abdul Daim bin Zainuddin, was charged Monday for failing to comply with the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) order to declare his assets. Zainuddin, along with his wife and two children, were requested in January 2024 to testify about “high-value assets” that are under their company’s name within and outside the country.
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CS Monitor ☛ Argentina’s wake-up call? National strike, politics slow Milei’s broad reforms.
Argentina’s new President Javier Milei is trying to balance big economic and policy shocks with public demands – and expectations.
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The Strategist ☛ A new economic policy agenda for Asia as challenges mount
The global economic landscape is changing fast. Scarring from the Covid-19 pandemic has weakened potential growth, making slower income gains the new normal for many countries.
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AstroTurf/Lobbying/Politics
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Robert Reich ☛ Trump’s Chaos Agenda
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RTL ☛ Google says AI helped it beat profit expectations
Alphabet reported a profit of $20.7 billion on revenue of $86.3 billion, with strong contributions from video-sharing platform YouTube and its cloud computing unit.
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Quartz ☛ Google will keep cutting costs to invest in AI even as revenue is up
Throughout 2023, the company slashed its workforce by about 4% or 8,000 jobs, according to the report. A new round of cuts occurred this month when the tech company laid off hundreds of workers at YouTube and its advertising sales team.
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RTL ☛ Microsoft, Google ride AI wave as revenues surge
Still mainly driven by ads, full-year revenue at Google reached $307.4 billion, up 8.7 percent from the previous 12 months.
Ads brought in a total of $65.5 billion in the quarter, compared with $59 billion in the same period the prior year.
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Quartz ☛ UPS is laying off 12,000 workers after pay raises and falling revenue
United Parcel Services (UPS) plans to slash about 2% of its 500,000-person workforce. Most of the 12,000 job cuts will be full- and part-time management positions and contract roles, UPS executives said. No employees represented by the International Brotherhood of Teamsters have been affected, the union—which represents some 300,000 UPS workers—told Quartz.
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Rolling Stone ☛ Trump Allies Pledge ‘Holy War’ Against Taylor Swift
Singer-songwriter Taylor Swift hasn’t even endorsed President Joe Biden for reelection yet. That hasn’t stopped members of MAGAland’s upper crust from plotting to declare — as one source close to Donald Trump calls it — a “holy war” on the pop mega-star, especially if she ends up publicly backing the Democrats in the 2024 election.
According to three people familiar with the matter, Trump loyalists working on or close to the former president’s campaign, longtime Trump allies in right-wing media, and an array of outside advisers to the ex-president have long taken it as a given that Swift will eventually endorse Biden (as she did in 2020). Indeed, several of these Republicans and conservative media figures have discussed the matter with Trump over the past few months, the sources say.x
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NPR ☛ UPS is cutting 12,000 jobs just months after reaching union deal
UPS will cut 12,000 jobs and released a revenue outlook for this year that sent its shares down sharply at the opening bell.
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India Times ☛ Germany will approve EU's planned AI act
Germany will approve the European Union's landmark AI Act after the Free Democrats (FDP), part of the ruling coalition, dropped their objections, four sources told Reuters on Tuesday.
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Tech Central (South Africa) ☛ Microsoft, Alphabet under pressure to show AI earnings boost
The upcoming reports are expected to reflect healthy growth for both companies. Revenue at Microsoft is seen rising about 16%, while Alphabet’s comes in at about 12%. However, consensus expectations for the quarter have barely changed for either over the past three months, suggesting that the excitement over AI isn’t translating to improved near-term expectations.
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RTL ☛ Taylor Swift love affair sparks Republican conspiracy theory mania
Right-wingers -- who, like their leader Donald Trump, increasingly see conspiracy theories under every stone -- detected not a love story but a deep-state psychological operation against the American people and the November presidential election.
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The Straits Times ☛ Australia the ‘security partner of choice’ in South Pacific: PM Albanese
This comes after Papua New Guinea said China was seeking a policing and security deal.
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France24 ☛ Hong Kong to create its own national security law, years after Beijing law crushed dissent
Hong Kong will create its own national security law "as soon as possible", city leader John Lee said Tuesday, adding insurrection and other crimes not covered by existing legislation imposed by Beijing four years ago.
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The Straits Times ☛ Explainer: Why Hong Kong wants new national security laws
January 30, 2024 2:32 PM
Hong Kong's government announced on Tuesday that it hopes to swiftly pass new national security laws. A public consultation document was also released. A deadline for its eventual passage into law has yet to be announced.
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JURIST ☛ US House lawmakers introduce impeachment articles against Homeland Security Secretary Mayorkas
US lawmakers introduced articles of impeachment on Sunday against US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas. The articles of impeachment allege that Mayorkas failed to comply with US law and breached public trust in his handling of the US-Mexico border and immigration matters.
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Hong Kong Free Press ☛ Hong Kong begins public consultation for new, homegrown security law Article 23
A four-week consultation period for Hong Kong’s homegrown security law, known locally as Article 23, begun on Tuesday, Chief Executive John Lee has announced.
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Meduza ☛ Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili announces resignation — Meduza
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FAIR ☛ ‘If You Can’t Choose Your Own Leaders, Nothing Else Matters’
Janine Jackson interviewed People For the American Way’s Svante Myrick about roadblocks to voting for the January 26, 2024, episode of CounterSpin. This is a lightly edited transcript.
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RFERL ☛ Georgian PM Garibashvili Resigns Ahead Of Elections Later This Year
Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili has announced his resignation to give his party time to prepare for general elections that are to be held in the Caucasus nation by October.
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Misinformation/Disinformation/Propaganda
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Meduza ☛ Russia and Belarus to create joint state media company — Meduza
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The Register UK ☛ AI is changing search, for better or for worse
Much of the excitement around AI-assisted search has to do with the tech industry's (and the media's) focus on what comes next. Google has been the dominant search power for decades and there's hunger for change, particularly given persistent concerns about declining search quality in recent years – a trend now ironically exacerbated by the proliferation of generative AI content.
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Omicron Limited ☛ Learning to read in times of alternative facts [sic]
The child runs a finger along the lines of text, painstakingly mouthing the words. Teaching children to read and write has always been a major task for our schools, but developments in society require a new, broader view of what this means, according to researcher Ulrika Bodén at Linköping University, Sweden.
Opinions, facts, half-truths and lies are abundant online. An incalculable amount of information is available at the push of a button. This is almost too much to handle, both for children and adults.
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The Register UK ☛ It's true, LLMs are better than people – at creating convincing misinformation
Computer scientists have found that misinformation generated by large language models (LLMs) is more difficult to detect than artisanal false claims hand-crafted by humans.
Researchers Canyu Chen, a doctoral student at Illinois Institute of Technology, and Kai Shu, assistant professor in its Department of Computer Science, set out to examine whether LLM-generated misinformation can cause more harm than the human-generated variety of infospam.
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Censorship/Free Speech
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Reason ☛ Utah Would Rather Repeal Social Media Age Check Law Than Defend It In Court
Laws like Utah's would require anyone using social control media to prove their age through methods such as submitting biometric data or a government-issued ID.
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RFA ☛ Amazon's TV show about Hong Kong expats 'unavailable' in city
The streaming platform hasn't responded to queries but commentators say 2014 protest scenes could be the reason.
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Hong Kong Free Press ☛ A ‘rich-people melodrama,’ shot in a ‘burning house’: Critics weigh in on Amazon’s ‘Expats’ series
Critics have weighed in on a new television series featuring scenes from Hong Kong’s 2014 pro-democracy protests that cannot be viewed in the city. While some found fault in Expats‘ portrayal of privilege and detachment, others appreciated its exploration of Hong Kong’s identity politics.
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CS Monitor ☛ Lawmakers want to define antisemitism. But do they limit free speech?
Lawmakers in more than six states are pushing for a legal definition of antisemitism. The definition would distinguish instances when criticism of Israel amounts to antisemitism, which some opponents see as a threat to free speech.
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RFA ☛ More than 200 people sign petition urging Vietnamese activist’s release
Before her 2021 arrest on “anti-state propaganda” charges, Nguyen Thuy Hanh raised money for families of people jailed for their political or religious views.
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Freedom of Information / Freedom of the Press
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Hong Kong Free Press ☛ Hong Kong Apple Daily founder Jimmy Lai was not a boss you could say no to, ex-publisher tells national security trial
Hong Kong media mogul Jimmy Lai was not a boss you could say no to, the ex-publisher of Apple Daily newspaper has said as he continued his testimony against his former employer in the high-profile national security trial.
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BIA Net ☛ Courts do not take into account 'publication ban' decision by the Constitutional Court
The publication ban imposed by the Istanbul 5th Criminal Peace Judgeship on Sunday's church attack is not the first. In 2023, courts and judges issued 114 publication bans on various incidents. However, in 2019, the Constitutional Court and in 2021, the European Court of Human Rights ruled that such bans violate freedom of expression and the press. These bans not only affect the media but also amount to censorship of the public's right to information.
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The Hindu ☛ Journalist redacts objectionable statements against Periyar from his article; informs Madras High Court
After its publication, the police had registered the FIR under Sections 153 (wantonly giving provocation with intent to cause riot), 505(1)(b) (publishing statements that induces a person to commit offence against the State or against public tranquility) and 505(2) (publishing statements that create or promote enmity, hatred or ill will between classes) of the IPC.When the FIR quash petition was listed for hearing on January 8 this year, Justice Venkatesh read the opinion piece and found certain “highly condemnable and derogatory” statements against Periyar. Then, the petitioner’s counsel sought time to take instructions on redacting those portions.
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The Atlantic ☛ Is American Journalism Headed Toward an ‘Extinction-Level Event’?
The Times was once a pillar of the American media establishment, celebrated in David Halberstam’s classic media study, The Powers That Be. Now it has become a national exemplar of what the journalist Margaret Sullivan calls the “ghosting” of the news—the gradual withering of news-gathering muscle as once-proud publications become shadows of their old selves. The biotech billionaire Patrick Soon-Shiong looked like a savior when he bought the Times from its cost-cutting corporate parent in 2018. For a few years, he was; Soon-Shiong invested about $1 billion, by his count, to build up the depleted organization. But he turned out to have his limits. Facing mounting losses, in June last year the Times dropped 74 people from its newsroom. Last week’s even bigger blow was foreshadowed by managerial turmoil: Three top editors, including the executive editor Kevin Merida, resigned just before the news came down. “I won’t fault him for being unwilling to write checks,” Matt Pearce, a Times reporter who is head of the newspaper’s union, told me, referring to Soon-Shiong. But, he added, “we don’t seem to have a clear theory of the case as a business. We need to execute on a strategy. And we don’t have one.” (Soon-Shiong declined to comment for this article.)
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VOA News ☛ Judge Orders Oregon Newspaper Not to Publish Documents Linked to Nike Lawsuit
The Oregonian/OregonLive reported that an attorney who represents plaintiffs in the case sent the documents to one of its reporters on January 19 and then asked for them back. When the news outlet declined, the attorney filed a court motion requesting they be returned.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Jolie Russo approved the motion on Friday and ordered the news outlet to return the documents.
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RFERL ☛ Belarusian Photojournalist Gets Prison Term As Crackdown Continues
The Minsk City Court on January 30 sentenced photojournalist Alyaksandr Zyankou to three years in prison on extremism charges as a crackdown on independent media and democratic institutions continues in Belarus. [...]
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Press Gazette ☛ Why 2024 is the year of skills-based hiring for media professionals
It’s not the first to pinpoint the growing importance of skills when it comes to hiring. In 2022, the Harvard Business Review reported on how skills-based hiring was on the rise.
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CPJ ☛ Colombian journalist Mardonio Mejía Mendoza shot dead at home
On Wednesday, January 24, a gunman shot and killed Mejía, founder and director of the independent Sonora Estero radio station in the northern town of San Pedro, at his home, according to Colombian authorities and news reports. A security camera video of the attack shows two men on a motorcycle approaching Mejía as he parks his own motorcycle inside his house. One of the men holding a pistol briefly enters the house and then jumps back on the motorcycle, which speeds away.
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Civil Rights/Policing
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BIA Net ☛ Imprisoned journalist Dicle Müftüoğlu starts a hunger strike
Dicle Müftüoğlu who has been in detention for nine months stated, "As a journalist imprisoned due to criminalization of professional activities, I am raising my voice against silence."
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EFF ☛ In Final Talks on Proposed UN Cybercrime Treaty, EFF Calls on Delegates to Incorporate Protections Against Spying and Restrict Overcriminalization or Reject Convention
It’s been a long fight pushing for a treaty that combats cybercrime without undermining basic human rights. Without these improvements, the risks of this treaty far outweigh its potential benefits. States must stand firm and reject the treaty if our redlines can’t be met. We cannot and will not support or recommend a draft that will make everyone less, instead of more, secure.
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ACLU ☛ Celebrating An Important Victory In The Ongoing Fight Against Reverse Warrants
For years, the ACLU and other privacy advocates have been challenging law enforcement’s growing use of reverse warrants. These problematic warrants include, most prominently, reverse location warrants (also known as geofence warrants), which seek location data to identify anyone who was within a defined area during a specific time period. A second type, reverse keyword warrants, demand the identity of every person who entered a certain word or phrase into a search engine during a set timeframe and possibly within a defined geographic area. The constitutionality of reverse warrants is highly suspect because, like general warrants that are prohibited by the Fourth Amendment, they permit searches of vast quantities of private, personal information without identifying any particular criminal suspects or demonstrating probable cause to believe evidence will be located in the corporate databases they search.
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Hong Kong Free Press ☛ Mainland court orders on civil, commercial matters can now be enforced in Hong Kong
A new law that allows the enforcement of mainland Chinese court rulings in Hong Kong, if they relate to civil and commercial disputes, has come into effect. On Monday, the justice chief said the ordinance was “consistent with international practices” amid concerns about its implementation.
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Pro Publica ☛ Task Force to Examine Black Community Destroyed by Virginia University’s Expansion
The city of Newport News, Virginia, and Christopher Newport University are creating a joint task force to reexamine the destruction of a Black neighborhood to make way for the school’s campus starting in the 1960s, and recommend possible redress for uprooted families.
The new commission, announced Monday, will scrutinize four decades of the school’s property acquisitions, probing the decisions that led to locating and expanding its campus in the midst of a once-thriving Black community. It will also contact families displaced by Christopher Newport’s steady growth to ask what “restorative justice” would mean for them, and seek state assistance with potential relief for victims, according to a draft action plan.
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Off Guardian ☛ You’re Probably Already on a Government Extremism List
“In a closed society where everybody’s guilty, the only crime is getting caught.”
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CS Monitor ☛ Small business owners downsize office space as workers stay remote
The pandemic has had a transformative effect on businesses – and it’s here to stay. Small business owners are reassessing whether it’s worth it to pay for office space when co-working spaces or going remote altogether may be more efficient.
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University of Michigan ☛ Even in death, Epstein’s disgusting legacy lives on through his associates
Four years after his death by suicide in a Manhattan jail cell, socialite, financier and serial sexual abuser Jeffrey Epstein continues to make headlines.
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Hong Kong Free Press ☛ Emergency system to help Hong Kong schools tackle rising student suicides extended until end of 2024
A three-tier emergency mechanism for tackling student suicide risk amid a recent rise in cases in Hong Kong has been extended to the end of 2024, the government has announced.
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RFA ☛ Tiktok video by 3 Uyghur women goes viral
Leveraging the #ofcourse challenge, their video mixes humor with human rights abuses and genocide.
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Digital Music News ☛ TikTok Trounces YouTube in Total User Minutes Among Kids Aged 2-18
TikTok is trouncing YouTube in total user minutes for the youngest generation (2-18 year-olds). The study reveals kids are spending 60% more time on Fentanylware (TikTok) compared to YouTube. Is there any wonder why YouTube launched its Shorts feature to compete?
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Eesti Rahvusringhääling ☛ Tibetan government-in-exile works to preserve Tibetan identity
"I was born in exile. My parents are from Tibet, so to fulfill my emotional needs, I often go to the India-Tibet border to see Tibet from the Indian side. India still has the India-Tibet Border Police and the India-Tibet Border Security Force. It has not become a border between China and India. "I think it also underlines India's position," Tsering said.
For most of its history, Tibet has not been part of any other country. Today, in the face of aggressive Chinese occupation, preserving identity is more important to Tibetans than independence.
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RFERL ☛ Iranian Principal Accused Of Beating 11-Year-Old Schoolgirl After Her Hijab Slipped Off
An elementary school principal beat an 11-year-old Iranian girl for allegedly not adhering to the country’s hijab law because her head scarf slipped off while she was helping during gym class, according to local media.
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Internet Policy/Net Neutrality
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Techdirt ☛ Snap Breaks Under Pressure, Supports Dangerous KOSA Bill That Will Put Kids In Danger
Over and over again, we see politicians browbeat companies until they agree to support terrible legislation. Back when FOSTA was being debated, there was tremendous pressure from the media and Congress for tech to support it, falsely claiming that without it they were enabling sex trafficking.
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Medevel ☛ Is AMP (Accelerated Mobile Pages) Dead?
What is AMP?
AMP, short for Accelerated Mobile Pages, is an open-source HTML framework developed by Google. It was created with the purpose of enhancing the loading speed of mobile web pages by utilizing a simplified version of HTML.
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Medevel ☛ Is FTP relevant in 2024? Considerations and Challenges
FTP (File Transfer Protocol) is a standard network protocol used for transferring files between a client and a server on a computer network.
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New Yorker ☛ The Search for a New and Better Internet
Amid worries about what Big Tech is doing to our privacy, politics, and psyches, many stakeholders—from activists to technocrats—are calling for a new rule book.
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Meduza ☛ Russian Internet users report service disruptions amid ‘massive outage’ in Russia-specific domain
Users said they were experiencing issues with tech giant Yandex, social media network VKontakte, and online retailer Ozon. There were also complaints about the operations of websites belonging to major banks and marketplaces. Users abroad also reported issues accessing Russian websites.
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RFERL ☛ Internet Down For Hours In One Of Russia's Largest Outages
Russia has suffered one of its largest Internet outages as sites with the .ru domain were unavailable for hours on the evening of January 30.
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Stanford University ☛ FAQs about the NetChoice Cases at the Supreme Court, Part 1
The Supreme Court is about to review a constitutional challenge to two unprecedented and very complicated laws regulating social media. The laws were enacted by Texas and Florida in order to counter “censorship” and alleged anti-conservative bias of major Internet platforms like Facebook or YouTube. Both laws have “must-carry” rules that restrict platforms’ ability to moderate content under their preferred editorial policies, and “transparency” rules including requirements for platforms to notify users when their posts have been moderated. In the NetChoice cases, the Court agreed to review just one of the many questions the cases present: whether the laws violate the First Amendment.
This is an FAQ to explain some basics about the cases, and address some fairly complicated questions that students, reporters, and others have asked me. I will add more entries over the coming weeks. The FAQ is mostly focused on questions that might not have obvious answers, or that are particularly hard to understand, or that I suspect have fallen between the cracks and not been addressed enough in parties’ and amici’s briefs to the Court. In other words, this will get pretty wonky.
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Digital Restrictions (DRM)
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Techdirt ☛ HP CEO Makes Up A Whole Lot Of Bullshit To Defend Crippling Printers That Use Cheaper Ink
When last we checked in with Hewlett Packard (HP), the company had just been sued (for the second time) for crippling customer printers if owners attempt to use cheaper, third-party printer cartridges. It was just the latest in a long saga where printer manufacturers use DRM or dodgy software updates to wage all out war on consumer choice.
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New York Times ☛ Amazon Scraps Deal to Buy Roomba Maker iRobot Amid Scrutiny
Amazon walked away from the $1.7 billion acquisition of iRobot as it faces questions from regulators in the European Union and United States.
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Silicon Angle ☛ Amazon ends $1.7B acquisition deal for iRobot amid regulatory issues
Amazon.com Inc. announced today that it has called off its planned acquisition of robot vacuum Roomba maker iRobot Corp. after the deal faced increased attention from regulatory agencies in the United States and the European Union.
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Reason ☛ iRobot Lays Off 350 Employees as Amazon Kills Merger Elizabeth Warren Opposed
The robot vacuum company is based in Massachusetts, meaning some of the terminated employees are likely Warren's constituents.
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European Commission ☛ Statement by Executive Vice-President Vestager on announcement by Amazon and iRobot to abandon their transaction
European Commission Statement Brussels, 29 Jan 2024 The Commission takes note of Amazon's and iRobot's decision to terminate their agreement according to which Amazon intended to acquire sole control over iRobot...
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Digital Music News ☛ FTC Launches Investigation Into Generative Hey Hi (AI) Giants Alphabet, Amazon, OpenAI, Anthropic, and Microsoft
The FTC announces the initiation of an investigation into five tech companies with partnerships and investments involving generative AI: Alphabet, Amazon, Anthropic, Microsoft, and OpenAI.
The Federal Trade Commission has announced the launch of an investigation into five companies — Alphabet, Amazon, OpenAI, Anthropic, and Microsoft — requiring them to provide information about investments and partnerships pertaining to generative AI companies and major cloud service providers.
The inquiry will “scrutinize corporate partnerships and investments with AI providers to build a better internal understanding of these relationships and their impact on the competitive landscape.”
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Ali Reza Hayati ☛ I don’t trust giant companies
Take Proton for example. They advertise themselves as a “privacy by default” company. I used to admire their work and suggest them to people. I still suggest them to people who are in their first steps of reclaiming their privacy rights and moving away from Gmail and other proprietary dis-services.
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R J Faas ☛ Sunday five – Apple’s DMA response, caregiver challenges, seasonal depression and how the Mac continues to endure
One thing that has been surprisingly absent in the DMA discussion is what the changes mean for iPhones in business and education. I presume that Apple will deliver this in an MDM option to disallow apps from other app stores and one for setting the default browser. Even without that, iOS already sandboxes work apps and data. I’m assuming that there will be no support or controls for licensing and installing non-App Store apps (with the existing exception of enterprise apps). I’m patting myself on the back a little for having pretty accurately predicted how some this would work last year.
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Patents
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Kluwer Patent Blog ☛ IP challenges in North Macedonia
The legal regime for IP in North Macedonia is generally in line with international standards. North Macedonia has ratified all major IP Conventions and the laws are harmonized with these acts. The most important laws governing IP are the law on industrial property and the law on copyright monopoly and related rights.
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JUVE ☛ Samsung Bioepis and Simmons repel Janssen infringement claims over SPC waiver
The District Court in The Hague has handed down a decision pertaining to the application of the SPC waiver in a case between Janssen Biotech and Samsung Bioepis.
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Payment Fight Further Highlights the Need for Funding Transparency
A payment dispute between William Ramey III, a frequent attorney for plaintiffs in patent monopoly lawsuits, and the litigation investment entity AiPi Inc. has become one more in a long line of examples where undisclosed litigation investment has gone wrong.
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Dennis Crouch/Patently-O ☛ Race to the Finish: Timing Battles in Parallel IPR and District Court Litigation
The new petition for certiorari filed by Liquidia raises some interesting questions about the ongoing race between inter partes review proceedings and district court litigation. Liquidia Techs v. United Therapeutics Corp., 23-804 (US), on petition for writ of certiorari from United Therapeutics Corp. v. Liquidia Techs., Inc., 74 F.4th 1360 (Fed. Cir. 2023).
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Software Patents
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Tech Central (South Africa) ☛ Watch out, Apple! Patent wars come to smartwatches
While at Cercacor, Lamego developed at least two variations of an algorithm known as TSS, to calculate various physiological values, including the concentration of total haemoglobin in the blood of a patient, a measurement known as SpHb. Different wavelengths of light are emitted from LEDs into a patient’s fingertip and the amount of light absorbed by the fingertip is measured. The measurements are input to an equation and certain coefficients are determined by optimising the SpHb equation to fit the results of blood tests conducted during a clinical trial. Because the SpHb equation may include up to 257 coefficients, the optimisation cannot be done by hand – an optimisation algorithm is required.
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Trademarks
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TTAB Blog ☛ USPTO Seeks Candidates for Deputy Chief Administrative Trademark Judge at the TTAB
As the Deputy Chief Administrative Trademark Judge you will have the opportunity to serve as a full voting member of the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board. You'll serve under the administrative direction of the Chief Administrative Trademark Judge, who reports to the Office of the Under Secretary and Director of the USPTO. As the DCATJ you will collaborate with various high level USPTO officials on varied agency initiatives, and with administrative trademark judges on a range of hearings, appeals and trial cases. You will work closely with a diverse team of judges, attorneys and Board managers on the full breadth of operations of the Board. You will also have the exciting opportunity to showcase your ability to develop and implement standard operating procedures (SOP) necessary for the internal operation of the Board.
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TTAB Blog ☛ TTAB Posts February 2024 Hearing Schedule
The Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (Tee-Tee-Ā-Bee) has scheduled two oral hearings for the month of February 2024. [It is a short month]. Both hearings will be held via video conference. Briefs and other papers for each case may be found at TTABVUE via the links provided.
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Right of Publicity
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Digital Music News ☛ Nude Taylor Swift Deepfakes Spark White House Reaction — Anti-Deepfake Legislation Comes Back Into Focus
After several sexually explicit AI-generated images featuring Taylor Swift’s face went viral online, the White House has issued a comment. X/Twitter spent most of last week hiding searches for Taylor Swift as it worked to combat the viral spread of the images.
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Digital Music News ☛ Kat Von D Beats Infringement Lawsuit Over Miles Davis Tattoo
Celebrity tattoo artist Kat Von D beats an infringement lawsuit over a Miles Davis tattoo she inked in 2017.
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Digital Music News ☛ X/Twitter Restores Taylor Swift Searches Following Deepfake Debacle
The explicit fake images began to circulate on social media last week, but it was particularly egregious on the former Twitter. Content moderation has largely been reduced to an automated reporting system since shortly after Musk’s rule began.
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The Register UK ☛ It took Taylor Swift deepfake nudes to focus Uncle Sam, Microsoft on AI safety
The X-rated images, to which The Register won't link, circulated online over the weekend and were published on X, racking up at least tens of millions of views. The deepfakes have thrust the issue of non-consensual explicit AI deepfakes center stage as Swifties – many of whom flagged the images as in appropriate – were apparently disappointed to learn that there is no federal law prohibiting such content.
This incident came long after prior concern over the production of sexually explicit deepfakes featuring less famous women without their consent. Now that megastar Taylor Swift has been pulled into this quagmire, it's red alert all round.
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Digital Music News ☛ Nude Taylor Swift Deepfakes Spark White House Reaction — Anti-Deepfake Legislation Comes Back Into Focus
X/Twitter spent most of last week hiding searches for Taylor Swift as it worked to combat the viral spread of the images. The White House Press Secretary spoke about the issue on Friday, telling ABC News that what can be accomplished with AI tech is ‘alarming.’
“We are alarmed by the reports of the circulation of images that you just laid out—false images to be more exact—and it is alarming,” Karine Jean-Pierre told ABC News. “While social media companies make their own independent decisions about content management, we believe they have an important role to play in enforcing their own rules to prevent the spread of misinformation, and non-consensual, intimate imagery of real people,” she continued.
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Vice Media Group ☛ An AI-Generated Content Empire Is Spreading Fake Celebrity Images on Google
When contacted by Motherboard, Warren did not go into detail about Loaded Media’s SEO-juicing scheme, or comment on the fake news articles. Instead, he simply confirmed that the celeb images are created by AI.
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Copyrights
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Ben Werdmuller ☛ Stripping the web of its humanity
I’m also troubled by the role of training models themselves. When you remove attribution and display facts in this way, you give the appearance of objectivity without the requirement to actually be objective. It all comes down to which sources it checks and how the model is trained to report back — in other words, the biases of the developers.
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Digital Music News ☛ Internet Archive Fires Back Against Major Label Infringement Suit, Alleging ‘A Substantial Swath’ of Time-Barred Claims
Last August, the major labels submitted a $400 million lawsuit, centering on alleged copyright infringement committed through the “Great 78 Project,” against the Internet Archive. Now, the self-described non-profit research library has fired back against the complaint.
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Wired ☛ Scammy AI-Generated Book Rewrites Are Flooding Amazon
AI-generated summaries sold as ebooks have been “dramatically increasing in number, says publishing industry expert Jane Friedman—who was herself the target of a different AI-generated book scheme. That’s despite Amazon in September limiting authors to uploading a maximum of three books to its store each day. “It's common right now for a nonfiction author to celebrate the launch of their book, then within a few days discover one of these summaries for sale.”
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Tech Central (South Africa) ☛ Letter to the editor: copyright article missed the mark
The article also claimed that “on legal advice, President Cyril Ramaphosa declined to sign the bill, and drafting had to start afresh”. In fact, drafting did not have to start afresh. The president failed to sign the bill for 15 months, and only declined when he was unduly pressured by the EU and the US trade representative (as a result of the entertainment industries in the US protesting against fair use, despite they themselves benefiting from fair use in their own country) on the one side, and the constitutional court case against him by Blind SA, on the other side, forcing him to act in terms of section 79(1) of the constitution.
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Digital Music News ☛ Music AI Is Already a $300 Million Industry — With the Potential to Crack $3 Billion by 2028, Study Finds
According to a new study, music accounts for nearly 10 percent of generative AI’s global market volume – to the tune of roughly $300 million, which could crack $3 billion by 2028.
These and several other noteworthy figures came to light in a just-published “AI and Music” report. Commissioned by France’s SACEM and Germany’s GEMA, the analysis is based upon, besides 16 “expert interviews,” the survey responses of 15,073 “people who work full-time or part-time as authors or for music publishers,” per the resource.
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Digital Music News ☛ Is StubHub Overcharging Customers? — New Lawsuit Claims Systematic ‘Junk Fees’
StubHub is hit with a lawsuit for overcharging customers with systematic ‘junk fees.’ Customers are suing StubHub for the alleged systematic overcharging for Beyonce concerts and other popular shows by consistently underestimating fees, contributing to the overall “junk fee” epidemic. >
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Digital Music News ☛ Leaked Lady Gaga Tracks Appear on Spotify, Fashion Company Apple Music, Tidal, Other Streaming Music Services — So What Happened?
Several unreleased versions of Lady Gaga songs have surfaced on major streaming services like Spotify and Fashion Company Apple Music. The tracks were released under the artist’s real name—Stefani Germanotta. Two of the songs appear to be different mixes of previously released songs, “Perfect Illusion” and “Fashion,” while another “Retro Physical” is an unreleased song from 2007.
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Digital Music News ☛ YouTube’s ‘Dream Track’ Heralded as Groundbreaking — But is Surveillance Giant Google Infringing Songs to Build Hey Hi (AI) Platforms?
YouTube’s ‘Dream Track’ is heralded as a modern marvel of generative Hey Hi (AI) — but is Surveillance Giant Google infringing on artists’ copyright monopoly to build its Hey Hi (AI) platforms?
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Digital Music News ☛ Anthem Entertainment Acquires Copyrights from Creative Nation & Luke Laird Catalogs
Nashville-based music publisher Anthem Entertainment has announced the acquisition of a selection of music copyrights from the songwriting duo Beth and Luke Laird’s entertainment company Creative Nation. The catalog includes 20 #1 songs and over 60 radio singles including Sam Hunt’s “Hard To Forget” and Harry Styles’ hit, “Watermelon Sugar.”
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Torrent Freak ☛ Film Companies Counter Reddit: "An IP Address is Not a Person"
Reddit is refusing to share the IP addresses of users who posted piracy-related comments, as that would violate their First Amendment right to anonymous speech. Responding to this argument, film companies now use a line of reasoning that's traditionally been used as a defense by accused pirates. "An IP address is not a person," they inform the court.
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Torrent Freak ☛ Authorities Secure $2 Billion in Bitcoin from Pirate Site Operators
Pirate sites can generate significant revenue streams, but they're not billion-dollar operations. With the right timing and risk tolerance, it is possible to build substantial wealth, however, as a German case illustrates. With help from the FBI, German police managed to secure nearly 50,000 bitcoin (USD $2 billion) from the operators of the defunct movie streaming portal, Movie2k.
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Monopolies/Monopsonies
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