Links 09/02/2024: Buzzwords, Hype, and Layoffs Still Dominate
Contents
- Leftovers
- Science
- Education
- Hardware
- Health/Nutrition/Agriculture
- Proprietary/Artificial Intelligence (AI)
- Security
- Defence/Aggression
- Environment
- Finance
- AstroTurf/Lobbying/Politics
- Censorship/Free Speech
- Freedom of Information / Freedom of the Press
- Civil Rights/Policing
- Internet Policy/Net Neutrality
- Digital Restrictions (DRM) Monopolies/Monopsonies
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Leftovers
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Hackaday ☛ The End Of Landlines?
Imagine if, somehow, telephones of all kinds had not been invented. Then, this morning, someone entered a big corporation board room and said, “We’d like to string copper wire to every home and business in the country. We’ll get easements and put the wires on poles mostly. But some of them will go underground where we will dig tunnels. Oh, and we will do it in other countries, too, and connect them with giant undersea cables!” We imagine that executive would be looking for a job by lunchtime. Yet, we built that exact system and with far less tech than we have today. But cell phones have replaced the need for copper wire to go everywhere, and now AT&T is petitioning California to let them off the hook — no pun intended — for servicing landlines.
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Hackaday ☛ A Tube Tester Laid Bare
There’s still a mystique around vacuum tubes long after they were rendered obsolete by solid state devices, and many continue to experiment with them. They can be bought new, but most of us still come to them through the countless old tubes that still litter our junk boxes. But how to know whether your find is any good? [Rob’s Fixit Shop] took a look at a tube tester, once a fairly ubiquitous item, but now a rare sight.
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Hackaday ☛ 3D Printing Silicone Parts
Silicone is a useful material for many purposes. Traditionally, creating something out of silicone required injection molding. That’s not difficult, but it does require a good bit of setup. As [Formlabs] points out in a recent video, there are at least three other routes to create silicone parts that utilize 3D printing technology that might fit your application better, especially if you only need a few of a particular item. You can see the video below.
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Manuel Moreale ☛ The great list of all the blog platforms
Pretentious title, I know. It’s obviously tongue-in-cheek but it’s at least partly what I’m gonna try to do with this post. Blogs are back. They never went anywhere but still, they’re back. Many people will—hopefully—ditch social media and start a blog in the near future. Almost as many people will ask themselves which tool/platform/incantation they should use to start said blog. I’m gonna do my part and try to collect here all the possible alternatives. I am 100% certain that this list won’t be exhaustive but it’s a start. If you have suggestions to improve it, email me.
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Simone Silvestroni ☛ Minutes to Midnight - A Kafkaesque digital relationship with ourselves
The topic of this month’s IndieWeb Carnival, digital relationships, invites a lot of reflection, especially from an introvert like myself, who’s been basking in the shadow of any form of genuine online communication for a long time. As a Gen-X, I had been heavily invested in email, Usenet newsgroups, BBSes, and IRC channels during the 1990s. I used to juggle between Eudora, Forté Agent, a client called FirstClass, and some form of terminal emulation.
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Barry Hess ☛ Digital Relationships Offer Real Hope
Upon reflection I’ve realized that for most of my conscious life I’ve been looking to the digital for hope in this broken world. When I was in high school I wrote a research paper about the [Internet]. I wrote about the limitless potential the [Internet] had to bring people together. As a curious kid in a small, rural town, I instinctually craved connecting with other people out there in the world. Subconsciously I think I knew that there were a lot of “my people” out there, yet to be met.
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Teleport ☛ 2024 Predictions from Teleport CEO Ev Kontsevoy
In 2024, I hope to see significant growth and renewed optimism in the tech sector. Personally, I’m looking forward to the year ahead with positivity as Teleport enters an important period and a packed pipeline of significant enhancements to the platform. These capabilities are increasingly critical to a threat landscape that is centered on attacking identity and exploiting human behavior.
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Nico Chilla ☛ My website as a home
Back in Spring 2021, I was browsing the web for an online tool that would let me generate spirograph-like vector drawings, which I was hoping to incorporate in a project. My search led me to the perfect such generator on “JW’s Pictures and Patterns Site”, the personal website of one John Whitehouse. I hope you enjoy this letter, found at the top of his home page, as much as I did: [...]
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Michael Bburkhardt ☛ Photography Lessons I Learned (The Hard Way) in the Galápagos
In January my wife and I spent a week with some good friends on an expedition cruise around the Galápagos Islands. The experience was far beyond anything I’d hoped for. The weather, the sea, the wildlife, even the land, was gorgeous. The photography though, did not go as I had planned. This is not your run of the mill vacation photography scenario, and I found I was ill-prepared for shooting these subjects in these conditions. In short, I learned a few lessons about photography, and myself as a photographer, the hard way.
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Hackaday ☛ Lawny Five Keeps Lawn Mowed, Snow Plowed
Although there’s been considerable excitement over the past half century of a Jetsons-like robotic future, outside of a few niche uses of our day-to-day lives there hasn’t been much in the way of robotic assistants coming to ease our physical household workloads. Sure, robots exist in manufacturing and other industrial settings, but the vast majority of us won’t see a robotic revolution unless we make it for ourselves. To that end, [Jim] has begun construction of a robot that can at least mow his lawn and eventually plow his driveway, among other potential tasks.
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Science
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The Register UK ☛ CERN training robot dogs to spot radiation hazards at LHC
And so, officials at CERN turned to a dog-like robot, which appears to be Unitree's Go1 model priced at $2,700, to carry out an inspection test to see how well that form of remote-controllable droid performs.
The bot managed to complete its first radiation protection test – trotting across CERN's North Area, walking down narrow corridors and climbing stairs to examine its environment using sensors and cameras.
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Futurism ☛ Explosion Light-Years Away Could Obliterate Life on Earth, Scientists Find
A kilonova is usually the result of a collision involving two neutron stars within a binary system, or when a neutron star and a black hole merge. These collisions release brain-melting amounts of electromagnetic radiation in the form of gamma-ray bursts.
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Omicron Limited ☛ How dangerous are kilonovae?
So it's hard to imagine that light years away there could be a lurking event that poses an existential threat to humanity. That threat is extremely tiny, but not zero, and it is the focus of a recent paper published in The Astrophysical Journal.
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Education
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Anil Dash ☛ “Wherever you get your podcasts” is a radical statement
But here's the thing: being able to say, "wherever you get your podcasts" is a radical statement. Because what it represents is the triumph of exactly the kind of technology that's supposed to be impossible: open, empowering tech that's not owned by any one company, that can't be controlled by any one company, and that allows people to have ownership over their work and their relationship with their audience.
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Neil Selwyn ☛ Taking technology out of Swedish schools … and the search for what the ‘science’ says (notes on Forsler & Guyard 2023)
One prominent feature of this shift has been the government’s repeated calls to follow ‘what the science says’. More specifically, this has taken the form of canvassing the opinions of Swedish neuro-scientists and cognitive psychologists around the harms of young children’s excessive device use. This fits with a general push toward ‘brain-based’ approaches in Swedish education thinking, and is seen to lend an empirical rigour to otherwise unsubstantiated claims around the educational benefits of digital technologies.
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Hardware
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CNX Software ☛ Sapphire Edge+ VPR-4616-MB mini-ITX motherboard features “AMD Embedded+” architecture with Ryzen R2314 & Versal VE2302
Sapphire Edge+ VPR-4616-MB is a new mini-ITX motherboard on the “new” AMD Embedded+ “architecture” comprised of an AMD Ryzen Embedded R2314 processor and an AMD Versal Hey Hi (AI) Edge VE2302 adaptive SoC (also called FPGA SoC…).
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CNX Software ☛ Microchip introduces PIC16F13145 Series MCUs with customizable logic
Microchip recently introduced the PIC16F13145 series of 8-bit MCUs featuring a Configurable Logic Block (CLB). This allows users to create custom hardware-based logic functions within the MCU. This approach lowers the BOM costs and boosts performance. Last year, we saw Microchip introduce PIC32CZ Arm MCU with a Hardware Security Module (HSM) and before that, we saw they launched LAN8650/LAN8651 10BASE-T1S single-pair Ethernet Controllers.
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Health/Nutrition/Agriculture
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New Claim: 20% of Deaths Seem to Be Connected to Blood Clotting Issues
If we don’t get answers, vaccine hesitancy will (in general) increase and cause a lot of trouble...
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TMZ ☛ Surgical Robot Burned Fatal Hole In Florida Woman, Lawsuit Alleges
Her husband claims the burning of her internal organs happened without the surgical team even fully knowing what was happening at the time.
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The Beaverton ☛ Report: One in 20 people are sociopaths and all of them play music directly from their phone speakers in public settings - The Beaverton
“Just remember,” Qundy added, “Although all sociopaths blast from their phones, not all people who blast from their phones are sociopaths. It’s important to remember that some of them are psychopaths – there’s a difference.”
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Bridge Michigan ☛ Unseasonably warm weather in Michigan a challenge for fruit farmers
“For the average plant in Michigan, I would say they need 1,000 chilling hours before they wake up … typically between the temperatures of 35 Fahrenheit and 45,” said Brent Crain, consumer horticulture educator at Michigan State University.
If the trees are behind on chilling hours, they usually catch up in January and February because they are typically colder months, Crain said.
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New York Times ☛ More Adolescent Boys Have Eating Disorders. Two Experts Discuss Why.
For the longest time, researchers focused on diagnosing and treating girls, but that is changing.
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Mexico News Daily ☛ Can addiction be cured with ibogaine, a powerful psychedelic used in Mexican clinics?
Rehab facilities in Mexico are exploring treating addiction, chemical dependencies, and mental health with Tabernanthe iboga.
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The Kent Stater ☛ University adds cannabis education after statewide legalization
New cannabis certificate programs are now offered at the university after last year’s election made cannabis legal across the state. The university partnered with Green Flower, an online training platform for the cannabis industry, to offer four non-credit certificate programs through its Lifelong Learning initiative. The programs focus on agriculture, business, compliance and healthcare. Prior...
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Latvia ☛ Hospital builders disagree with contract termination
The builder of the new Stradiņš Hospital building complex LLC "Velve" considers the hospital's decision to unilaterally terminate the contract to be illegal and continues work, the company said in a statement on February 8.
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The Straits Times ☛ Malaysia’s health ministry to take action against ‘energy sticks’ nasal inhalers sold online
The product, which comes in a range of flavours, are priced as low as RM2.50.
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YLE ☛ People in Finland donate millions of kilos to UFF second-hand stores
The organisation says it funded development cooperation projects in Angola, India and Mozambique last year.
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Proprietary/Artificial Intelligence (AI)
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New York Times ☛ Vision Pro Goggles Are Not Safe While Driving a Tesla, U.S. Says [Ed: Nothing except driving is safe while driving]
Videos, many of them stunts or jokes, of people wearing Apple’s new virtual reality headset while driving Teslas in Autopilot mode prompted officials to issue warnings.
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Techdirt ☛ Congressional Witness Claims ChatGPT Won’t Write Poems Praising Jim Jordan; Ranking Member Submits A Bunch Of ChatGPT-Authored Poems Praising Jim Jordan
We’ve written a few times now about how the misleadingly named House “Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government” is not actually looking into the “weaponization of the federal government,” but rather is very much about allowing Chairman Jim Jordan to go about weaponizing the powers of the subcommittee himself to threaten and intimidate others for their free speech.
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Digital Music News ☛ Google’s MusicFX Has Created More Than 10 Million Tracks
Google reports on the successes of its generative Hey Hi (AI) tools MusicFX and TextFX, and announces the release of ImageFX.
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Tracy Durnell ☛ If the medium is the message, what do AI graphics say?
To me, using an AI-generated graphic says that the writer probably puts little value in art or aesthetics — which is fine in itself — but that also leads me to the conclusion the piece was written as “content” because the only reason to add a superfluous image is for social media share previews. Maybe the writing is good, maybe it’s not — the AI graphic is enough to make me question. Ryan Broderick describes using AI graphics as “the digital equivalent of wearing a fake Chanel bag.”
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Tedium ☛ Novell Meets Apple: How MacOS Nearly Went Intel in 1992
Today in Tedium: “Whatever is good for our competition is good for us” is not usually a sentiment used in the cutthroat business world, especially in a space like technology where large companies are known for brazenly ripping one another off—after all, when was the last time you logged into a social network that didn’t have a “Stories” feature? But it was a stated business model of the networking software company Novell throughout the 1980s and early 1990s, and one that inspired one of the most unusual collaborations during that era. Today’s Tedium talks about the time, way back in 1992, that Novell nearly convinced Apple to port the original MacOS to x86 in a bid to take on Windows, and why it didn’t end up happening in the end. — Ernie @ Tedium
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Mike Rockwell ☛ ‘The Productivity Use Cases Simply Didn’t Materialize for Me’
I don’t find the Vision Pro to be compelling at all. I think of it like 3D movies or motion controls in games — something that will be popular for a period time, but will ultimately only be useful for specific applications and thought of more as a novelty than as the default.
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Security
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Privacy/Surveillance
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NL Times ☛ Police intelligence services unlawfully spied on whole population groups
The police intelligence services unlawfully monitored entire population groups, the Supervisory Committee of the Intelligence and Security Services (CTIVD) said. In the four-month period between February 23 and July 1, 2022, they crossed that line three times, NOS reports.
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The Register UK ☛ FBI's latest defense of warrantless S. 702 snooping is China
Section 702 is a contentious amendment to FISA that is supposed to allow US intelligence agencies to spy on foreign intelligence targets located overseas. In reality, the private communications of some US persons may be warrantlessly swept up in these Section 702 dragnets and analyzed by agents, which alarms privacy campaigners.
The amendment is due to expire by April 19 this year unless Congress votes to reauthorize it. Lawmakers have the option of tweaking the rules so that, for instance, warrants are required in certain circumstances or some other protections are put in place. The Feds aren't a fan of some of the changes to 702 right now under consideration, as they argue things like warrant requirements for all those queries they run each month will slow down and hamper investigations.
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Gizmodo ☛ OpenAI Wants to Control Your Computer
OpenAI is reportedly developing “agent software,” that will effectively take over your device and complete complex tasks on your behalf, according to The Information. OpenAI’s agent would work between multiple apps on your computer, performing clicks, cursor movements, and text typing. It’s really a new type of operating system, and it could change the way you interact with your computer altogether.
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The Verge ☛ Ring’s cheapest subscription plan is going up by $1 a month
Just last month, Arlo increased its single-camera subscription price to $7.99 monthly from $4.99. Google Nest’s cheapest plan went up to $8 a month from $6 late last year, but that covers all cameras on your account. On balance, Ring’s increase is small, but unlike when it raised prices in 2022 (from $2.99 to $3.99), subscribers aren’t getting any new features — just higher costs all around.
Without a subscription, all you can do with a Ring camera is view a livestream and get alerts for motion from your camera.
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Vox ☛ Facebook is 20 years old. Here are some of the platform’s worst days.
As the Crimson noted, Zuckerberg was trying to restore his reputation on campus with TheFacebook. His previous creation was Facemash, a “Hot or Not?” clone that stole student photos from private house directories of Harvard undergraduates and asked visitors to decide which one was more physically attractive.
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Patrick Breyer ☛ Police data sharing: “Prüm II” lacks safeguards
Today, MEPs approved the trilogue outcome of the regulation for automated data exchange for police cooperation (“Prüm II”). Pirate Party Members of the European Parliament voted against Prüm II, because this unprecedented rise in personal data sharing among EU police forces lacks sufficient safeguards for affected individuals. Extending the existing system to soon include facial images and police records further accelerates this trend.
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Defence/Aggression
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RFA ☛ North Korea forces residents to buy photos of recent satellite rocket launch
The people say both the photos and missiles are a waste. They want food instead.
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Hong Kong Free Press ☛ Violent crime and fraud surge, as Hong Kong’s crime rate rises 29% in 2023
Hong Kong logged over 90,000 reported crime cases in 2023 – a 28.9 per cent increase from a year earlier. The rise was led by a surge in fraud-related offences and violent crime, including robbery and rape, according to police data released on Tuesday.
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India Times ☛ TikTok challenges EU fee under Digital Services Act
TikTok, the Chinese social media short video platform, is the latest tech giant to fight a supervisory fee mandated by the EU under the new Digital Services Act (DSA). This fee, set at 0.05% of a company's annual worldwide net income, aims to finance the bloc's monitoring of compliance with the DSA's rules. TikTok follows Meta Platforms, which previously contested the fee.
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EFF ☛ EFF Helps News Organizations Push Back Against Legal Bullying from Cyber Mercenary Group
We are helping to push back on that effort, which seeks to transform a very limited and preliminary Indian court ruling into a global takedown order. We are representing Techdirt and MuckRock Foundation, two of the news entities asked to remove Appin-related content from their sites. On their behalf, we challenged the assertions that the Indian court either found the Reuters reporting to be inaccurate or that the order requires any entities other than Reuters and Google to do anything. We requested a response – so far, we have received nothing.
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Meduza ☛ Finland extends border closure with Russia until mid-April
The Finnish Interior Minister added: “Understandably, the continued total closure of the eastern border is distressing especially for people with family on the Russian side. However, the temporary closure of border crossing points is the result of Russia’s actions, which require Finland to put national security first.”
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The Hill ☛ Mayor Bowser signs order outlining AI plan for DC government
The announcement was held at the Microsoft Innovation & Policy Center. The D.C. government uses Microsoft 365 in its work and said it is ready to use the company’s Azure AI Government Cloud in the future. The executive order is effective immediately.
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The Atlantic ☛ The Cases Against Trump: A Guide
In all, Trump faces 91 felony counts across two state courts and two different federal districts, any of which could potentially produce a prison sentence. He’s also dealing with a civil suit in New York that could force drastic changes to his business empire, including closing down its operations in his home state. Meanwhile, he is the leading Republican candidate in the race to become the next president—though the Supreme Court has now heard a case seeking to disqualify him. If the criminal and civil cases unfold with any reasonable timeliness, he could be in the heat of the campaign at the same time that his legal fate is being decided.
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The Atlantic ☛ If Russia wins
Despite the twaddle from propagandists in Moscow (and a few academics in the United States), Russia’s war is not about NATO, or borders, or the balance of power. The Russian dictator Vladimir Putin intends to absorb Ukraine into a new Russian empire, and he will eradicate the Ukrainians if they refuse to accept his rule. Europe is in the midst of the largest war on the continent since Nazi panzers rolled from Norway to Greece, and the Russian invasion of Ukraine is by far the most important threat to world peace since the worst days of the Cold War. In a less febrile political era, defeating Russia would be the top priority of every American politician.
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The Register UK ☛ Microsoft and Euro cloud group in talks over software spat
The complaint hung on the higher costs of buying and running Microsoft wares in cloud infrastructure outside of Azure. Microsoft has already tried to settle the dispute but the offer was rejected by CISPE as "paltry," as exclusively revealed by The Register in May last year.
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Tech Central (South Africa) ☛ New Microsoft data centre 'significant' for South Africa
A recent IDC report on the state of cybersecurity in South Africa showed that nearly half (48%) of organisations in the country are using cloud as a platform and driver of digital innovation.
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Site36 ☛ Antifa trial hits EU right-wing parties: MEPs and Commission criticise Hungary
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The Straits Times ☛ We will wipe out North Korea’s enemies if they use force: Kim Jong Un
He also repeated his vow to never hold dialogue or negotiations with South Korea.
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RFA ☛ North Korea ends all economic cooperation with South: state media
But Seoul expects no swift impact on inter-Korean relations.
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RFA ☛ Broad survey of escapees indicates worsening quality of life in North Korea
Food is scarcer, crackdowns are harsher. Women play more significant role -- out of economic necessity.
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New York Times ☛ As Fears Rise, Some Australians Seek U.S.-China Détente
Many countries are trying to figure out what to do about a more insecure, more nuclear-driven world. Australia has an idea.
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The Straits Times ☛ US lawmakers accuse VC firms of funding Chinese military-linked firms
Sequoia Capital China, Qualcomm Ventures among those who pumped at least US$3b into Chinese tech firms.
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The Straits Times ☛ ST Picks: Is China really uninvestable?
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RFERL ☛ Relatives Of Ethnic Kazakhs Incarcerated In Xinjiang Resume Protest Near Chinese Consulate In Almaty
Relatives of several ethnic Kazakhs incarcerated in China's northwestern region of Xinjiang have resumed a protest near the Chinese Consulate in Kazakhstan’s largest city, Almaty, as they demand that their relatives be released.
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RFA ☛ Hong Kong police vow to hunt exiled activist Agnes Chow ‘for life’
Canada-based Chow joins a lengthening list of Hong Kong exiles wanted under a crackdown on dissent back home.
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RFA ☛ Senate vets Biden’s pick for key human rights diplomat
The State Department’s Bureau of Democracy, Human rights and Labor has not had a confirmed leader for three years.
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RFA ☛ Chinese firm helps websites push pro-Beijing content: research
Findings that more than 100 portals posed as local media overseas show only part of the truth, says former editor.
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YLE ☛ Robberies by under-15 year-old suspects on the rise
According to a report by Finland's National Bureau of Investigation, robberies by minors have become more common in schools.
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Zimbabwe ☛ Sudan hacker group cyber attacks Djibouti, Kenya and Uganda telecoms companies over politics
There is so much craziness going on in the world, so many wars and rumours of wars that we kind of forget about it.
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New York Times ☛ Trump Came for the Republican Party and Took Over Their Souls
The defeat of the immigration-Ukraine-Israel package marks the end of the party of Eisenhower, Reagan and McCain.
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New York Times ☛ Can America Survive a Party of Saboteurs?
Republican cynicism seems to have no bottom.
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New York Times ☛ Friday Briefing: Will Trump Be Allowed to Hold Office Again?
Also, Pakistan’s elections and a shake-up in Ukraine’s military leadership.
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Russia, Belarus, and War in Ukraine
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Rolling Stone ☛ Tucker Carlson Was Steamrolled by Vladimir Putin In Rare Interview
Tucker Carlson’s interview with Russian President Vladimir Putin went exactly how everyone expected, as not so much of an interview, but a demonstration by Putin of the ease with which he could utterly overpower one of the United States’ most prominent media figures.
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RFERL ☛ U.S. Imposes Fresh Russia-Related Sanctions, Updates Restrictions On Diamond Imports
The United States on February 8 imposed fresh sanctions for alleged violations of an oil price cap set by the Group of Seven (G7) nations and took steps to further restrict the importation of certain categories of diamonds mined in Russia, the U.S. Treasury Department said.
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RFERL ☛ Imprisoned Russian Rights Defender Reportedly Beaten In Custody
The wife of imprisoned Uzbek-born Russian rights defender Bakhrom Khamroyev was quoted by Mediazona as saying her husband was severely beaten in a detention center in the city of Vladimir last month after he demanded his rights be respected.
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RFERL ☛ Russian Skater Blamed Positive Drug Test On Dessert Made By Grandfather
Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva blamed a strawberry dessert made by her grandfather for the presence of banned doping substances that resulted in her being stripped of Olympic gold, an explanation rejected by arbitration judges.
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New York Times ☛ Ukraine’s Creative Use of Weapons Carries Promise and Risk
A Russian plane shot down with a Patriot missile was probably carrying Ukrainian prisoners of war, U.S. officials say.
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New York Times ☛ Zelensky Removes General Valery Zaluzhny, in Ukraine Military Shake-Up
Gen. Valery Zaluzhny led the effort that thwarted Russia’s initial assault on Kyiv. But his troops have struggled to make progress recently, and tensions have mounted with the civilian leadership.
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France24 ☛ Putin says Russian defeat in Ukraine 'impossible' in rare US interview
President Vladimir Putin said in an interview released Thursday with controversial right-wing US journalist Tucker Carlson that the West should understand it is "impossible" to defeat Russia in Ukraine.
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New York Times ☛ Gen. Oleksandr Syrsky Takes Over at a Fraught Time for Ukraine’s Military
Gen. Oleksandr Syrsky is taking a job vacated by a general who is well-regarded by the army, in what is widely perceived as a politicized shake-up of Ukraine’s military leadership.
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France24 ☛ Russia blocks war critic Nadezhdin from facing Putin in presidential vote
Russia's election commission on Thursday blocked pro-peace politician Boris Nadezhdin from running in next month's presidential election, the candidate said in a post on social control media.
[...]
"The CEC (Central Election Commission) refused to register my candidacy for the post of president of the Russian Federation," Nadezhdin said, adding that he would appeal against the decision at Russia's supreme court.
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Meduza ☛ ‘It would show something is wrong’: Meduza’s sources say Kremlin barred anti-war candidate Boris Nadezhdin after fears he would get over 10 percent of presidential vote
The surge of support for Boris Nadezhdin in January, when Russians across the country waited in long lines to add their signatures to back the anti-war candidate, came as an “unpleasant surprise” for the Kremlin. “Naturally, this didn’t add to their desire to register him,” said one source close to the president’s team.
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Meduza ☛ Russia’s Central Election Commission refuses to register Putin challenger Boris Nadezhdin in upcoming elections — Meduza
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Latvia ☛ Interior Minister: Latvia remains vigilant against potential Russian provocation
Considering Latvia's position in support of Ukraine, there are risks associated with hybrid war elements that Russia could use against Latvia and these risks are increasing, said Interior Minister Rihards Kozlovskis (New Unity) in an interview with Latvian Radio February 8.
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RFERL ☛ Russian Anti-War Candidate Nadezhdin Vows To Fight Election Commission's Rejection Of His Registration
Boris Nadezhdin, the only remaining anti-war presidential hopeful, said on February 8 that Russia's Central Election Commission (TsIK) refused to register him for an upcoming election set up to hand incumbent Vladimir Putin another six-year term.
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New York Times ☛ Russia Bars Antiwar Candidate in Election Putin Is All But Sure of Winning
The barring of the only candidate voicing opposition to the war in Ukraine showed how little tolerance the Kremlin has for dissent. Here’s what to know about the presidential election in March.
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RFERL ☛ Putin Says In Interview With U.S. Commentator Russia Has 'No Interest' In Expanding War Into Poland
Right-wing U.S. political commentator Tucker Carlson, who is known in part for lauding authoritarian leaders and has questioned U.S. support for Ukraine in its fight against invading Russian troops, said he will publish an interview with Russian President Vladimir Putin late on February 8.
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New York Times ☛ Putin Calls on U.S. to ‘Negotiate’ on Ukraine in Tucker Carlson Interview
In a two-hour interview, President Vladimir Putin of Russia was more direct than usual about how he sees his Ukraine invasion ending: not with a military victory, but a deal with the West.
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New York Times ☛ Trump, Putin, Carlson and the Shifting Sands of Today’s American Politics
An interview with Russia’s leader and congressional resistance to aid for Ukraine underscore the transformation of the parties and electorate in the United States more than three decades after the Cold War.
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Meduza ☛ Tucker Carlson asks Putin about war in Ukraine, Nord Stream attack, and jailed U.S. journalist Evan Gershkovich in two-hour interview — Meduza
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New York Times ☛ Tucker Carlson Urges Putin to Release American Journalist
The Russian president was noncommittal after Mr. Carlson asked about Evan Gershkovich, a Wall Street Journal reporter who has been held in a Moscow prison for nearly a year.
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New York Times ☛ Report Calls for Putin and Russian Officials to Be Investigated for Assault on Mariupol
Human rights groups said the attack on the Ukrainian port city pointed to unlawful actions by top Russian leaders.
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Latvia ☛ Rally in support of Ukraine planned in Rīga February 24
On February 24 – the day that marks two years since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine – Rīga will host a rally “Together until victory!”, said the Latvian Civic Alliance representing the non-governmental sector.
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Atlantic Council ☛ Removal of Ukraine’s ‘Iron General’ is one of Zelenskyy’s biggest gambles
President Zelenskyy's decision to remove Ukraine's top general comes as no surprise but is nevertheless one of his biggest gambles of the entire war, writes Peter Dickinson.
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Atlantic Council ☛ President Zelenskyy’s dual citizenship proposal presents wartime dilemmas
President Zelenskyy's recent proposal to allow dual citizenship is a potentially popular but impractical measure in the current wartime conditions, writes Mark Temnycky.
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Atlantic Council ☛ Congress must act to stop Kremlin aggression—for the sake of US interests
Failure to provide aid to Ukraine would be a major blow against US leadership; empower US foes in Moscow, Beijing, and Tehran; and, in the end, likely cost the United States in both money and blood.
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France24 ☛ Ukraine's Zelensky replaces top general Zalushnyi with Syrsky in dramatic military shakeup
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Thursday appointed commander of the ground forces Oleksandr Syrsky as the country's new army chief, in a dramatic military shakeup nearly two years into Russia's invasion.
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RFERL ☛ Zelenskiy Names New Ukrainian Military Commander, Says It's Time For 'Renewal'
President Volodymyr Zelenskiy appointed Colonel General Oleksandr Syrskiy as the Ukrainian Army's commander in chief just minutes after announcing it was time for a "renewal" and "renewed leadership" of the country's armed forces.
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RFERL ☛ Another Russian Billionaire Renounces Citizenship
Forbes reported on February 8 that billionaire Vasily Anisimov had renounced his Russian citizenship, becoming the seventh tycoon to do so since Moscow launched its ongoing full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
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RFERL ☛ Nikopol Deputy Mayor Shot Dead, Ukrainian Police Say
The deputy mayor of the southern Ukrainian city of Nikopol was killed when an unidentified gunman opened fire at his vehicle, Ukraine's national police reported on Telegram.
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New York Times ☛ Senate Democrats put salvaging an aid bill for Israel and Ukraine on hold for at least a day.
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New York Times ☛ Karolina Shiino’s Brief Reign as Japan’s First Foreign-Born Beauty Queen
Karolina Shiino, a naturalized Japanese citizen who was born in Ukraine, resigned two weeks after winning the Miss Japan crown.
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Latvia ☛ Russian cars will be banned from traffic as of next week in Latvia
Next week, February 15, the ban approved last year by the Saeima on vehicles with Russian registration numbers participating in road traffic in Latvia will come into force, with unregistered cars expected to be confiscated.
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JURIST ☛ Finland extends closure of Russia border until mid-April amid migrant crisis
Finland announced on Thursday the extension of the closure of its border crossing points with Russia until April 14, 2024, citing concerns over weaponized migration and threats to national security from Russia.
[...]
The most recent extension comes amid observations from border authorities that weaponized migration could resume if crossings reopen. Finland alleged irregular movements have occurred under the influence of a foreign state, believed to be Russia.
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YLE ☛ Finland to keep border with Russia closed until April
The Finnish government called the extension of the border closure a "necessary and proportionate measure" taken to ensure Finland's national security.
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Meduza ☛ Kremlin to hold early voting for upcoming Russian presidential election in annexed Ukrainian territories — Meduza
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Meduza ☛ ‘New approaches, new strategies are needed’ Here’s what we know so far about Valerii Zaluzhnyi’s dismissal from the post of AFU Commander-in-Chief — Meduza
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Meduza ☛ Zelensky meets with AFU Commander-in-Chief Valerii Zaluzhnyi, proposes he ‘remain part of the team’ — Meduza
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Meduza ☛ ‘The full death toll may never be known’: Human Rights Watch documents Mariupol’s destruction and calls for war crimes investigations in new report — Meduza
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Environment
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Omicron Limited ☛ Industrial pollutants found in Mediterranean corals for the first time
The study, published in the journal Science of the Total Environment, identified carbon particles emitted by burning fossil fuels embedded in the corals of Illa Grossa Bay, off the Columbretes Islands in the Mediterranean Sea. Finding this type of pollution—known as fly-ash or spheroidal carbonaceous particles (SCPs)—contaminating natural deposits is seen as an indicator of the presence of human influence on the environment, and an historical marker of the beginning of the proposed Anthropocene epoch.
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[Old] The Washington Post ☛ How Taylor Swift, Drake and celebrities with private jets affect the climate
The analysis of flight data, which was published online Friday by a U.K.-based sustainability marketing agency Yard, came on the heels of other celebrities such as Kylie Jenner and Drake weathering intense public criticism after it was revealed that their emissions-spewing private jets logged trips as short as 17 minutes and 14 minutes, respectively.
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TMZ ☛ Taylor Swift Sells Her Private Jet, New Owner Linked to CarShield
Taylor Swift recently unloaded one of her private jets -- and at least one of the new owners is linked to a well-known company ... specializing in cars.
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DeSmog ☛ Michael Mann Wins $1 Million Verdict In Defamation Trial
In a victory for climate scientists, jurors in Michael Mann’s defamation case against Rand Simberg and Mark Steyn awarded Mann $1 million in punitive damages for defamatory comments made in 2012.
In a unanimous decision, jurors agreed that both Simberg and Steyn defamed Mann in blog posts that compared Mann to convicted sex offender Jerry Sandusky, former assistant coach of football at Penn State University. They announced that Simberg will pay $1,000 in punitive damages and Steyn will pay the larger $1 million.
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Energy/Transportation
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Hackaday ☛ How Airplanes Mostly Stopped Flying Into Terrain And Other Safety Improvements
We have all heard the statistics on how safe air travel is, with more people dying and getting injured on their way to and from the airport than while traveling by airplane. Things weren’t always this way, of course. Throughout the early days of commercial air travel and well into the 1980s there were many crashes that served as harsh lessons on basic air safety. The most tragic ones are probably those with a human cause, whether it was due to improper maintenance or pilot error, as we generally assume that we have a human element in the chain of events explicitly to prevent tragedies like these.
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The Local DK ☛ Fjernvarme: How does Denmark’s district heating work?
District heating, fjernvarme in Danish, is when heated water generated at a central location such as a power plant is pumped via insulated pipes to houses or apartments, where it provides heating.
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David Rosenthal ☛ Tracing The Pig Butchers
This is a romance- and cryptocurrency-enabled version of the "Wee Forest Folk" scam we described in our 2003 SOSP paper.
Below the fold, I look into the details of pig-butchering scams, and how the tracing techniques I discussed in Criming On The Blockchain are being applied to identify the cryptocurrency companies facilitating it.
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Interesting Engineering ☛ Zero-gravity parabolic flights to connect Japan's islands
0-G Launch, a Washington DC-based pioneer in microgravity flight technology, and PD AeroSpace, a Japanese firm renowned for its groundbreaking advancements in space transportation, have inked a collaboration deal to initiate zero-gravity parabolic flights from Japan's Simojishima islands, commencing in 2024.
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DeSmog ☛ Why Exxon Is Suing Its Shareholders
Last month, ExxonMobil sued two of its “activist investors” — groups that try to use shareholder resolutions to pressure companies into taking action on social and environmental problems — in an attempt to block a proposal for the oil giant to limit its climate pollution from coming to a vote at an upcoming shareholder meeting.
Follow This and Arjuna Capital announced on February 2 that they would withdraw their proposal from the ballot and promised not to refile. But Exxon says it will move forward with its lawsuit anyway.
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LRT ☛ More oil spilled from Orlen’s terminal than first reported, some reached Latvia’s waters
The amount of oil released into the Baltic Sea from the Būtingė crude terminal on Wednesday was larger than reported by Orlen Lietuva and some of it has reached Latvian territorial waters, the Environmental Protection Department (AAD) said on Thursday as cleanup efforts continued.
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Wildlife/Nature
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teleSUR ☛ Venezuela Destroys Illegal Mining Camps in the Amazon Region
Venezuela will not tolerate illegal groups in its territory, FANB Commander Hernandez warned.
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New York Times ☛ Polluted Flowers Smell Less Sweet to Pollinators, Study Finds
The research, involving primroses and hawk moths, suggests that air pollution could be interfering with plant reproduction.
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Finance
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Reason ☛ Bureaucrats Are Moving To Cap Bank Overdraft Fees, Which Will Hurt the People It's Meant To Help
Many who see overdraft protection as preferable to other short-term credit options will have fewer choices as some banks decide the service isn't worth offering anymore.
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Latvia ☛ Latvian Capital Markets Forum taking place in Rīga
On February 7, the Bank of Latvia is hosting the Latvian capital market forum 2024 udner the slogan "Capable companies – a more capable country".
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Hong Kong Free Press ☛ Chinese consumer prices suffer fastest fall in 14 years as government struggles to kickstart economy
By Oliver Hotham Chinese consumer prices fell in January at their quickest rate in more than 14 years, data showed Thursday, piling pressure on the government for more aggressive moves to revive the country’s battered economy.
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YLE ☛ Union: One fifth of construction workers unemployed or furloughed during January
Compared to December, the number of construction workers on jobless benefits increased by 2,500 in January — reflecting the crisis the sector faces, the construction union said.
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Silicon Angle ☛ Pure Storage reportedly lays off 4% of its workforce
Pure Storage Inc. is reportedly letting go as many as 275 employees, or 4% of its workforce, following two previous rounds of job cuts early last year. Blocks and Files reported the move today.
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Mexico News Daily ☛ Mexico’s inflation rate in January is the highest since June last year
Spikes in the prices of fruits and vegetables again contributed to a bigger increase in the annual headline rate than forecast by analysts.
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AstroTurf/Lobbying/Politics
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Federal News Network ☛ Contractors facing some onerous new reporting requirements
Unless Congress says otherwise, federal contractors will have a raft of new disclosure requirements imposed by the Biden administration. Specifically climate, ESG and cybersecurity.
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Hong Kong Free Press ☛ Hong Kong man jailed for 5 months over Facebook (Farcebook) comments about stabbing police chief
A Hong Kong man has been sentenced to five months in jail after being found guilty of inciting others to wound the city’s police chief. Wearing an orange down jacket, Chau Kin-kwok appeared at District Court on Wednesday. He was convicted two weeks ago over Facebook (Farcebook) comments made in 2020...
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Digital Music News ☛ Warner Music Cutting 10% of Workforce, Looking to Offload Uproxx
WMG will incur around $140 million in pre-tax charges as a result of the cuts—mostly through severance payments and other termination costs. This is WMG’s second round of layoffs in less than a year, as 270 employees were laid off in March 2023. During that round of layoffs, Kyncl said the company had to make “hard choices in order to evolve.”
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Scoop News Group ☛ Federal IT officials call on CISA for tougher standards, more coordination
The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency has proven to be a critical partner and resource over the past five years for federal cybersecurity. But as CISA enters the second half of its first decade, the cyber agency and its Joint Cyber Defense Collaborative should focus on better governmentwide coordination and tougher security standards, a panel of federal IT officials said this week.
During a Center for Strategic & International Studies panel discussion, tech leaders from the Treasury Department and the Department of Veterans Affairs detailed the ways in which they’re pleased with and frustrated by CISA, expressing an overarching sentiment that while the agency has been helpful, there’s room for improvement as it matures.
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Federal News Network ☛ DoD to evaluate zero trust products as part of run up to 2027 deadline
Randy Resnick, the director of the Zero Trust Portfolio Management Office at DoD, said training, education and listening are huge factors in ensuring this program’s success.
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Federal News Network ☛ Biden’s executive order on AI: Where to go from here
“Responsible AI use has the potential to help solve urgent challenges while making our world more prosperous, productive, innovative and secure,” the order said. “At the same time, irresponsible use could exacerbate societal harms such as fraud, discrimination, bias and disinformation; displace and disempower workers; stifle competition; and pose risks to national security.”
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Kansas Reflector ☛ Kansas bills set penalties for businesses enabling minors to view [Internet] pornography
The mandates in Senate Bill 394 introduced by Salina Sen. J.R. Claeys and House Bill 2592 sponsored by Wichita Rep. Patrick Penn would apply to websites in which at least one-fourth of the site’s viewed pages in any month contained descriptions, exhibitions or representations of nudity, sexual conduct, sexual excitement or sadomasochistic abuse.
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Quartz ☛ Microsoft layoffs at Activision violate merger promises, FTC says
In a letter to the clerk of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, the FTC criticized Microsoft for the layoff of 1,900 workers in January, which represented about 8% of its gaming division. The layoffs largely affected employees at Activision Blizzard. The antitrust regulator explained that the layoffs were “inconsistent with Microsoft’s suggestion to this Court that the two companies will operate independently post-merger.”
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Democracy Now ☛ Senegal’s “Unraveling”: President’s Delay of Election Is Latest in String of Anti-Democratic Actions
Senegal is in the midst of its worst political upheaval in decades after the president postponed this month’s election. More than 200 opposition politicians and protesters have been arrested, and the government has shut down some internet access, amid what the decision’s opponents are describing as a coup. “This is just the latest step in a string of human rights abuses,” says Amnesty International researcher Ousmane Diallo, who says Sall’s latest anti-democratic move is characteristic of an increasingly repressive regime. We also hear from former Prime Minister Aminata Touré, who broke from Sall’s political coalition in 2022 after accusing him of anti-democratic actions. Touré, now a leading opposition figure, was arrested Sunday at a protest. And we are joined by Mamadou Diouf, professor of African studies at Columbia University, who says Sall has been trying to circumvent the Senegalese presidency’s two-term limit since his 2019 reelection. Touré and Diouf describe Senegal as an outlier in West Africa for its postcolonial record of strong democratic systems. “We will do whatever we need to do to keep the foundation of our democracy solid,” says Touré.
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Democracy Now ☛ “Io Capitano”: Oscar-Nominated Film Dramatizes Perilous Migrant Journey from West Africa to Europe
The new Oscar-nominated film Io Capitano follows young Senegalese migrants on their journey from West Africa to Europe. “We wanted to … give visual form to a part of the journey that we don’t see,” says director Matteo Garrone. We are also joined by Mamadou Kouassi, whose journey from the Ivory Coast to Italy inspired the movie. Nearly 200,000 migrants traveled to Europe via the Mediterranean Sea last year. Thousands have died or gone missing during the perilous journey. “We wanted to try to humanize this number,” says Garrone. For migrants like Kouassi, who face increasingly xenophobic and racist anti-immigrant policies and sentiment in Europe, the film provides an “opportunity also to express ourselves” and to share “what African people are suffering before they arrive in Europe.” Kouassi served as a script consultant for the film.
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Misinformation/Disinformation/Propaganda
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Cloudbooklet ☛ Meta Labeling Hey Hi (AI) Generated Images: Facebook, Instagram & Threads
Learn why is Meta labeling Hey Hi (AI) Generated images on its social control media platforms, such as Instagram, Facebook (Farcebook) and also Threads.
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The Register UK ☛ US FCC decides AI robocalls are most definitely illegal
"The [TCPA] is the primary law we have to help limit unwanted robocalls," Rosenworcel said in a statement today. The declaratory ruling "means that AI technologies like voice cloning fall within this law's existing prohibitions and that calls that use this technology to simulate a human voice are illegal, unless callers have obtained prior express consent," Rosenworcel added.
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Scoop News Group ☛ FCC bans AI-generated voices, grants states legal authority
Those who break the law could face fines up to $23,000 per call and recipients of the scam calls have the right to take legal action and potentially recover up to $1,500 for each unwanted call, according to the Associated Press.
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Quartz ☛ AI robocalls called illegal under new FCC rule
The Federal Communications Commission cited the Telephone Consumer Protection Act, a 1991 law, in effectively banning unwanted AI-generated voices in robocalls. Callers must now receive permission before making an AI call.
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BBC ☛ Fake Biden video prompts call for Meta to label posts
The independent body that reviews how the owner of Facebook moderates online content has said the firm should label fake posts rather than remove them.
The Oversight Board said Meta was right not to remove a fake video of US President Joe Biden because it did not violate its manipulated media policy.
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The Atlantic ☛ A Simple Theory for Why the Internet Is So Conspiratorial
Mike Caulfield, a researcher at the University of Washington who studies media literacy and misinformation, told me that this is the reason it feels like political discourse online has grown so unhinged, and will only become more bizarre as we press forward into the abyss of an upcoming presidential election. He has written that all of the information online—news, research, historical documents, opinions—has conditioned people to treat everything as evidence that directly supports their ideological positions on any subject. He calls it the era of “evidence maximalism.” It’s how we argue online now, and why it’s harder than ever to build a shared reality.
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Silicon Angle ☛ Meta and Fentanylware (TikTok) cry foul over EU’s DSA enforcement fees
The social control media companies Meta Platforms Inc. and ByteDance Ltd.-owned Fentanylware (TikTok) separately announced today that they will challenge in court the European Union’s demand for fees under its stringent content moderation law.
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WhichUK ☛ Electric heaters sold on Fentanylware (TikTok) and Temu could explode, cause electric shocks or start a fire
Which? research has found that 75% of the heaters it bought from Fentanylware (TikTok) and Temu sellers were unsafe electrically, and could pose a danger to anybody using them
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Censorship/Free Speech
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Reason ☛ Was Amazon 'Free to Ignore' White House Demands That It Suppress Anti-Vaccine Books?
The Biden administration's interference with bookselling harks back to a 1963 Supreme Court case involving literature that Rhode Island deemed dangerous.
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BIA Net ☛ Constitutional Court rules ‘violation of rights’ for 502 internet censorship cases
Prof. Dr. Yaman Akdeniz said that the decision is a result of the pilot decision it made in 2021. He remarked, "When all the decisions are disclosed, a serious political censorship map parallel to political history will emerge."
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The Straits Times ☛ For Malaysian filmmakers, censorship stifles optimism after overseas glory
It was a stellar 2023 for Malaysian filmmakers with awards at Cannes and the Oscars, but signs of heightened censorship at home and death threats have fuelled worries about whether the optimism built off the back of the global success can last.
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JURIST ☛ Thailand mulls prosecuting former premier under royal insult law
Thailand’s attorney general’s office announced that it is still considering prosecuting former Thai premier Thaksin Shinawatra over an alleged insult to the monarchy, an official said on Tuesday. This comes just as Shinawatra is considered for release under parole. The announcement relates to a 2015 interview he gave while in South Korea.
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JURIST ☛ Sudan [Internet] providers face shutdown amid ongoing conflict
The ongoing civil war, which began in April 2023, marks the latest chapter in Sudan’s history of internal strife, with this conflict seeing the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) pitted against the paramilitary RSF. This war has resulted in significant casualties. according to the UN, with more than 13,000 reported deaths, and has displaced 7.6 million people.
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JURIST ☛ Senegal [Internet] restored after 2 days of restriction and growing civil unrest over delayed elections
Senegal’s internet service was restored on Wednesday after two days of curfew-style restrictions by the government following unrest over the postponement of this month’s presidential election. The global community responds to what some Senegalese people are calling a “constitutional coup.” [...] The [Internet] blackout severely affected Senegalese citizens’ access to street protests. With [Internet] access cut off, people faced challenges using social media platforms to share updates and organize protests. Journalists were unable to report independently, hindering transparency and accountability. The decision to shut down the [Internet] raised concerns about further anti-democratic actions. The leading television news service, Walf, had its license revoked after filming the widespread protests this weekend. Supporters of the station held an impromptu sit-in at the headquarters.
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IT Wire ☛ NBN Co losses blow out to $696m for first half of fiscal 2024
Ian Chitterer, vice-president, Moody’s Investors Service, commented: "NBN Co’s results for the first half of fiscal 2024 were marginally above our expectations with EBITDA growth of 10%.
"We expect a slight improvement in NBN Co’s credit profile over the next 12 to 18 months as increasing EBITDA and operating cash flow are offset by high levels of capital spending to improve the network.
"NBN Co’s available liquidity of $7.3 billion is a credit positive, as it alleviates refinancing risk related to the $5.5 billion outstanding under its Commonwealth loan maturing on 30 June 2024.”
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Internet Society ☛ The Decade That Changed The Democratic Republic of Congo’s Internet
A little over ten years ago, using the Internet in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) wasn’t easy. There was a lot less infrastructure, and even where it was present, the fees of intercontinental data traffic meant it was way more expensive than most people could afford.
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Freedom of Information / Freedom of the Press
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The Hill ☛ Julian Assange lawyer submits new registration under foreign agent law
Julian Assange’s lawyer submitted a new registration this week with the Justice Department’s Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) division for his ongoing work on behalf of the embattled Australian WikiLeaks founder.
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AntiWar ☛ A Visit to Julian Assange in Prison
In Mid-December 2023, Charles Glass, the esteemed writer, journalist, broadcaster, and publisher visited with Julian Assange, an inmate at Belmarsh Prison in the U.K. Assange has been confined there since April, 2019. [...]
I encourage you to read Glass’s account of his visit with Assange. It is much more than merely the account of a visit with a person in prison, it is a representation of the Espionage Act and how it is being used by the U.S. government to silence and punish those who dare expose its wrongdoings and illegalities. Much like prison visiting rules, use of the Espionage Act is arbitrary and punitive, justice or security have nothing to do with it. We are all becoming prisoners to the whims of the gate-keepers who are using the Espionage Act to keep us ignorant and in line. With Assange’s extradition, freedom of the press, along with government accountability and a myriad of other supposed freedoms from government persecution are at stake. We will each find ourselves either the visitor or the visited if the current use of the Espionage Act is allowed to continue. Whether visitor or visited, the Espionage Act puts us all in prison. I was there with Charles Glass in that prison visiting room. Considering the stakes if Julian Assange is extradited, we all were.
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Civil Rights/Policing
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RFA ☛ Cambodian activist who spoiled election ballot sentenced to 3 years
Chao Veasna posted a photo of his spoiled general election ballot in July as a form of protest.
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Internet Policy/Net Neutrality
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Techdirt ☛ America Tires Of Big Telecom’s Shit, Driving Boom In Community-Owned Broadband Networks
For decades, frustrated towns and cities all over the country have responded to telecom market failure by building their own fiber broadband networks. Data routinely shows that not only do these networks provide faster, better, and cheaper service, the networks are generally more accountable to the public — because they’re directly owned and staffed by locals with a vested interest in the community.
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Digital Restrictions (DRM)
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The Verge ☛ Funimation is shutting down — and taking your digital library with it
A support page on Funimation’s website says the service will automatically transfer existing subscribers to Crunchyroll, noting that the transfer “may vary depending on your specific payment platform, subscription type and region.” But the page — unhelpfully — doesn’t say how much subscribers will have to pay following the transition, only that legacy subscribers will see a price increase. You’ll have to check your email to see how much you’ll have to pay.
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Techdirt ☛ More Confusion Over Xbox Exclusives As Reports Of Game Ports Start Leaking
I don’t know what it is or why it is, but the Xbox team just can’t seem to communicate clearly when it comes to how it’s going to handle exclusivity in games for its console. After it gobbled up several game studios and publishers, most recently Activision Blizzard, the messaging from the Xbox team about what games would be exclusives has been muddy at best. It was less than two years ago that we watched them do a full flip-flop on exclusives, going from saying that they’re not doing them, to then doing them, only to then say that long-term the company would ween itself off of exclusives because they don’t comport with the company’s “philosophy.”
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The Register UK ☛ Apple broke web apps in iOS 17 beta and hasn't fixed them
The enforcement of Europe's Digital Markets Act was expected to change that – to promote competition held back by gatekeepers. But Apple, in a policy change critics have called "malicious compliance," appears to be putting web apps at an even greater disadvantage under the guise of compliance with European law.
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CoryDoctorow ☛ Big Tech disrupted disruption
And yet…disruption is nowhere to be seen when it comes to the tech sector itself. Five giant companies have been running the show for more than a decade. A couple of these companies (Apple, Microsoft) are Gen-Xers, having been born in the 70s, then there's a couple of Millennials (Amazon, Google), and that one Gen-Z kid (Facebook). Big Tech shows no sign of being disrupted, despite the continuous enshittification of their core products and services. How can this be? Has Big Tech disrupted disruption itself?
That's the contention of "Coopting Disruption," a new paper from two law profs: Mark Lemley (Stanford) and Matthew Wansley (Yeshiva U): [...]
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SSRN ☛ Coopting Disruption
We argue that the tech giants have learned how to coopt disruption. They identify potentially disruptive technologies, use their money to influence the startups developing them, strategically dole out access to the resources the startups need to grow, and seek regulation that makes it harder for the startups to compete. When a threat emerges, they buy it off. And after they acquire a startup, they redirect its people and assets to their own innovation needs. These seemingly unrelated behaviors work together to enable the tech giants to maintain their dominance in the face of disruptive innovations.
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Patents
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Dennis Crouch/Patently-O ☛ Judicial Misconduct Sanction Against Judge Newman Affirmed [Ed: Misconduct in case of patent maximalist. Good riddance? Like Rader?]
The Judicial Conduct and Disability Committee has denied Federal Circuit Judge Pauline Newman’s petition challenging the Federal Circuit Judicial Council’s misconduct finding against her. The Committee includes seven Federal Judges from around the country, chaired by Fourth Circuit Judge Traxler. The particular finding here is an affirming the Federal Circuit’s determination that Judge Newman committed serious misconduct by refusing to undergo a requested medical examination to assess whether she has a disability rendering her unable to discharge her judicial duties. In re Newman.
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Dennis Crouch/Patently-O ☛ AI and Patent Attorney Misconduct
Yesterday in my patent monopoly prosecution course, students turned to Hey Hi (AI) tools to help them draft patent monopoly claims. None of the AI-proposed claims were ready for prime-time, but they served as a useful starting point as the students organized their thoughts. More and more attorneys are turning to these same Hey Hi (AI) tools to help them be more productive and efficient while delivering a higher quality work product. It is tough, for instance, to read all the prior art. Hey Hi (AI) tools can help mine the references for potential obviousness problems — and provide a pin cite to the key language in the art.
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Kluwer Patent Blog ☛ European Parliament supports ban on patenting of gene edited plants
The European Parliament supports the introduction of a full ban on patents for all plants produced by certain New Genomic Techniques (NGT), plant material, parts thereof, genetic information and process features they contain. The ban, part of a proposal to introduce two different categories of NGT plants, got support in a vote today.
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Tom's Hardware ☛ Some defective chip maker Intel chips banned in Germany after company loses patent monopoly spat — Alder Lake, Ice Lake, and Tiger Lake chips impacted [Updated]
German court bans sales of Intel's Ice Lake, Tiger Lake, and Alder Lake processors in Germany.
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EPO staff vote through resolution urging quality control
The resolution, which hints at a close link between work pressure on staff and patent quality, received overwhelming support
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Kangaroo Courts
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JUVE ☛ NanoString files for bankruptcy as first UPC Court of Appeal ruling looms [Ed: UPC is illegal and unconstitutional. It needs to shut down, fold. It's a case of EPO corruption spilling over to the EU and thus it delegitimises the EU. The publisher, JUVE, took bribes to promote this illegal thing, lies for this abomination. Now it tries to legitimise the illegality.]
Since September, NanoString has been unable to sell its products in Europe. This affects NanoString’s CosMx Spatial Molecular Imager (SMI) instruments and CosMx reagents for RNA detection. The UPC local divison in Munich prohibited this at the request of 10X Genomics. NanoString immediately appealed to the UPC Court of Appeal.
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Software Patents
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Unified Patents ☛ Empire IP entity, Fleet Connect Solutions, communications patent monopoly prior art found
Unified is pleased to announce prior art has been found on U.S. Patent 7,260,153, owned by Fleet Connect Solutions, LLC, an NPE and entity of Empire IP. The ‘153 patent monopoly relates to a Multi Input Multi Output (MIMO) Wireless Communication System.
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Unified Patents ☛ IP Edge entity, Communication Advances, image patent monopoly prior art found
Unified is pleased to announce prior art has been found on U.S. Patent 9,538,177, owned by Communication Advances, LLC, an NPE and IP Edge entity. The ‘177 patent monopoly relates to a buffering apparatus for buffering context arrays of a multi-tile encoded picture. It has been asserted against Roku.
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Unified Patents ☛ Ideahub HEVC patent monopoly held invalid
On February 5, 2024, the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) issued a final written decision in Unified Patents, LLC v. Ideahub Inc. holding all challenged claims of U.S. Patent 11,122,274 unpatentable. The '274 patent monopoly generally relates to a video compression method for improving compression efficiency in directional intra-prediction.
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The Register UK ☛ Microsoft seeks patent for tech to put words into your mouth • The Register
Microsoft has filed a patent application for an "automatic dubbing" system that strips speech from media and inserts new voices in its place.
The patent [PDF] describes a system made up of an audio processing module, supported by visual and text code, and married with voice tracking software. The audio from a file is extracted and removed and a new voice is generated, matching the timing of the original speech, and even translating audio and text to another language if desired.
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Trademarks
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TTAB Blog ☛ In a Unanimous Decision, TTAB Dismisses SPLIT DECISION Opposition: Billy Stott Failed to Prove Ownership of the Band Name
The Board dismissed an opposition to registration of SPLIT DECISION for "Entertainment services in the nature of live visual and audio performances, namely, musical rock band," finding that Opposer Billy Stott failed to carry his burden to prove that Applicant Split Decision Music, LLC was not the owner of the mark. Stott began to "manage" the band SPLIT DECISION two years after it was formed, and claimed to be a "full, non-performing primary band member," but there was no agreement regarding ownership of the band's name. Applying the reasoning of its Wonderbread 5 decision, the Massachusetts district court's ruling in Bell v. Streetwise Records, and the CAFC's Lyons decision, the Board sided with the applicant. Billy Stott v. Split Decision Music, LLC, Opposition No. 91249613 (January 31, 2024) [Not precedential] (Opinion by Judge David K. Heasley).
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Copyrights
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Public Domain Review ☛ Eugène-François Vidocq and the Birth of the Detective
According to his memoirs, Eugène-François Vidocq escaped from more than twenty prisons (sometimes dressed as a nun). Working on the other side of the law, he apprehended some 4000 criminals with a team of plainclothes agents. He founded the first criminal investigation bureau — staffed mainly with convicts — and, when he was later fired, the first private detective agency. He was one the fathers of modern criminology and had a rap sheet longer than his very tall tales. Who was Vidocq? Daisy Sainsbury investigates.
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Torrent Freak ☛ Reddit Doesn't Have to Share IP-Addresses of Piracy Commenters, Court Rules
Reddit is not required to share the IP-address of six users who made piracy-related comments on the website. The company successfully protested the third attempt of a group of filmmakers, which planned to use the requested logs as evidence in their lawsuit against Internet provider Frontier. Instead of focusing on anonymous Redditors, filmmakers can go after the ISP's subscribers directly.
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Torrent Freak ☛ ISPs Say They'll Happily Cut Pirate IPTV Streams as Quickly as Law Allows It
Today's symbiotic relationship between content providers and ISPs, often includes the latter selling access to partners' entertainment products. That's a far cry from the situation two decades ago when very little content was made available online and ISPs' customers were viewed as the enemy. In a recent interview, an ISP that fought for seven years to prevent the imposition of piracy filtering and blocking said it's ready to cut pirate IPTV streams as quickly as the law allows.
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Monopolies/Monopsonies
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* Gemini (Primer) links can be opened using Gemini software. It's like the World Wide Web but a lot lighter.