Links 15/02/2024: Rushing to Unionise Amid Mass Layoffs at Microsoft, High-Level Blizzard Departures
Contents
- Leftovers
- Education
- 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 Monopolies/Monopsonies
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Leftovers
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Education
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Society for Scholarly Publishing ☛ Guest Post - How Identifiers Can Help Publishers Do a Better Job of Curating the Scholarly Record
Historically, best practices in peer review revolved around the evaluation of publication content. This approach remains an important aspect of journal practice, however, the emergence of generative AI, ever-more complex content, and limited editor time, means that deriving “quality signals” from content alone is increasingly sub-optimal.
For this reason, publishers should explore “quality signals” systemically derived from researcher identity and metadata associated with identity.
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Hardware
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Tom's Hardware ☛ AMD says Anti-Lag+ is returning in a more mature state after its disastrous launch
AMD's Frank Azor has confirmed that Anti-Lag+ will make a return soon, suggesting AMD has not forgotten about the latency-killing feature and is working to improve integration for a second launch.
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Health/Nutrition/Agriculture
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About 5,000 More Deaths in England and Wales Last Month Than Same Month 5 Years Ago
The new numbers from ONS are out as of this morning, counting 12,662 mortalities in England and Wales for the week ending February 2.
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Science Alert ☛ Cannabis Extract Triggers Death of Deadly Skin Cancer Cells
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Science Alert ☛ Scientists Invent New Hybrid Food by Growing Beef Inside Grains of Rice
This is genius!
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NYPost ☛ I’m a psychologist from Finland, the world’s ‘happiest country’ — here’s our secret
Community matters.
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Science Alert ☛ We May Finally Know Why Fasting Protects The Body From Dangerous Inflammation
The mechanism revealed.
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Reason ☛ Iowa Cops Arrested a Sober College Student for Driving Intoxicated. His Lawsuit Is Moving Forward.
A federal judge ruled that Tayvin Galanakis' lawsuit against the officers who arrested them could go forward. He also approved part of the officers' defamation case against him.
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Science Alert ☛ Chinese Study Finds Suicide Rates Spike When Air Quality Drops
Cleaner air has prevented suicides, too.
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Science Alert ☛ Mouse Study Finally Explains How Loud Noises Damage Our Hearing
This could help recovery.
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Latvia ☛ Latvia desperately needs sex education, say experts
Knowledge of reproductive and sexual health in Latvia remains relatively low and is not improving. Experts agree that the education of adults and children on these issues is at a critical level in Latvia, but there is still no clarity as to when and how it will be implemented, Latvian Radio reported on February 14.
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Latvia ☛ Flu still rampant in Latvia
The incidence of influenza continues to increase in Latvia, according to data from Disease Prevention and Control Center (SPKC) published on February 14.
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New York Times ☛ South Korea Court Convicts Three in Case Tied to Halloween Crush in Itaewon
A South Korean court found that the former officers had deleted an internal report that warned of safety risks ahead of Halloween celebrations.
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Science Alert ☛ Would You Recognize a Seizure? Here's How to Help as a Bystander.
You could save a life.
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Federal News Network ☛ COVID-era contracting question continues to bedevil the government
A recent argument a contractor made to the Contract Board of Appeals might lead companies to the wrong conclusion. It is another case of a company trying to recover unanticipated costs under a fixed price contract, costs incurred because of the COVID pandemic. The case is about jurisdiction, though, and not cost recovery.
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Off Guardian ☛ The New Self-Amplifying RNA Vaccines Promise to be Double, Triple, Quadruple the Fun!
Just when you thought you’d heard the last of the Covid vaccines—those mRNA vaccines you’ve come to “know and love” as MIT so endearingly puts it— there’s a new version in town. Welcome to the next generation of self-amplifying Covid vaccines, also known as replicons.
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The Strategist ☛ National resilience for Australia—learning the lessons
The last four years have been tough for Australia.
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Proprietary/Artificial Intelligence (AI)
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Scoop News Group ☛ State-backed hackers are experimenting with Proprietary Chaffbot Company models
Microsoft and Proprietary Chaffbot Company say hackers from China, Iran, North Korea and Russia are exploring the use of large language models in their operations.
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New York Times ☛ Hackers for China, Russia and Others Used Proprietary Chaffbot Company Systems, Report Says
Microsoft and Proprietary Chaffbot Company said the Hey Hi (AI) had helped groups with ties to China, Russia, North Korea and Iran mostly with routine tasks.
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Tom's Hardware ☛ Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang says $7 trillion isn't needed for AI — cites 1 million-fold improvement in AI performance in the last ten years
When we first heard that OpenAI's head, Sam Altman, was looking to build a chip venture, we were impressed but considered it as another standard case of a company adopting custom silicon instead of using off-the-shelf processors. However, his reported meetings with potential investors to reportedly raise $5 to $7 trillion to build a network of fabs for AI chips is extreme given that the entire world's semiconductor industry is estimated to be around $1 trillion per year. Nvidia's Jensen Huang doesn't believe that much investment is needed to build an alternative semiconductor supply chain just for AI. Instead, the industry needs to continue its GPU architecture innovations to continue improving performance — in fact, Huang claims that Nvidia has already increased AI performance 1 million fold over the last ten years.
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The Verge ☛ DuckDuckGo’s privacy browser adds built-in password syncing
This addresses one of the main roadblocks to switching to DuckDuckGo’s browser from one that uses your data for its own ends like Chrome. It’s easy to say you want to use a privacy-respecting browser, but passwords are still king of the mountain, and the internet’s security situation demands that each one of them be totally unique. Password managers are helpful, but with this update, you no longer have to connect an outside password manager to DuckDuckGo (or track your passwords manually) if you want your passwords synced.
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Futurism ☛ Protesters Swarm OpenAI
And PauseAI isn't alone in that. Even top AI executives have voiced concerns over AI becoming a considerable threat to humanity. Polls have recently found that a majority of voters also believe AI could accidentally cause a catastrophic event.
"You don’t have to be a genius to understand that building powerful machines you can’t control is maybe a bad idea," Elmore told Bloomberg. "Maybe we shouldn’t just leave it up to the market to protect us from this."
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Silicon Angle ☛ VMware moves to quell concern over rapid series of recent license changes
In the wake of widespread customer confusion over a series of license changes announced in December, Broadcom Inc.’s VMware subsidiary is positioning the moves as simplifying its product portfolio and accelerating development while making it easier for customers to move to virtual and cloud-native constructs.
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Security
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Privacy/Surveillance
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MIT Technology Review ☛ How the internet pushed China’s New Year red packet tradition to the extreme
In fact, red packets have not merely turned from a physical activity to a digital one. They’ve become a way for Chinese tech companies to make a stack of money each year and attract new users and traffic. In return, users have to follow increasingly complicated rules to get a few bucks.
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Meduza ☛ Polish prime minister says he has ‘long list’ of opposition politicians bugged by Pegasus spyware
Donald Tusk, Poland’s prime minister, told the country’s President Andrzej Duda that he has evidence Polish intelligence acquired Pegasus spyware and used it against the then opposition.
“I have a disclosed document, but it is only a sample of the documents that are at your disposal Mr. President, which unfortunately, I say this without satisfaction, confirm one hundred percent the purchase and use in a legal and illegal manner of Pegasus,” Prime Minister Donald Tusk stated. “The list of victims of these practices is unfortunately very, very long,” he added.
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Hong Kong Free Press ☛ 2,000 new CCTV cameras in Hong Kong 'not enough': Police chief
The 2,000 new security cameras to be installed in Hong Kong by the end of 2024 for improving public safety may be equipped with face recognition functions, the city’s police chief has said.
Hong Kong will see 615 new CCTV cameras set up at “black spots” next month as part of police efforts to enhance surveillance for crime detection and prevention, Commissioner of Police Raymond Siu said in an interview with TVB last Sunday.
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Futurism ☛ AI-Powered Children's Toy Agrees to Stop Responding, But Keeps Keeps Butting Into Conversation Again
It didn't take long for Murdock to be creeped out by the toy's unnerving ability to listen to everything he was saying.
"This is weird, it's like responding to everything I say," he said, but was quickly interrupted by Grok.
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Rolling Stone ☛ 600 Planned Parenthood Locations Tracked for Anti-Abortion Ads
Back in May, The Wall Street Journal reported that anti-abortion group Veritas Society (which was established by parent organization, Wisconsin Right to Life) used geo-location smartphone data to send targeted ads on social media to people who had visited Planned Parenthood clinics. “Took the first pill at the clinic? It may not be too late to save your pregnancy,” read one ad on social-media platforms such as Facebook, per WSJ.
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EDRI ☛ Temporary ePrivacy derogation: Companies like Facebook must never indiscriminately scan people's private messages - European Digital Rights (EDRi)
The general and indiscriminate scanning of people’s private messages, regardless of whether it is voluntary or not, represents a significant violation of fundamental rights such as privacy, data protection, and free expression of a large number of individuals.
Furthermore, voluntary measures may undermine the claim that these measures are legitimate in the eyes of the law. If despite all the concerns raised, the legislator still deems these measures to be essential and effective, then commercial entities should be required to implement them. To be legally consistent, measures that allow such an intrusion into people’s digital private lives of individuals cannot be left to the discretion of tech companies such as Facebook, Microsoft, Apple, Thorn, or any other. They already hold too much power over our online lives, and EU law should not make this even worse!
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Confidentiality
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Bruce Schneier ☛ Improving the Cryptanalysis of Lattice-Based Public-Key Algorithms
The winner of the Best Paper Award at Crypto this year was a significant improvement to lattice-based cryptanalysis.
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Quanta Magazine ☛ Quanta Magazine
Over the years, researchers have honed variants of LLL to make the approach more practical — but only up to a point. Now, a pair of cryptographers have built a new LLL-style algorithm with a significant boost in efficiency. The new technique, which won the Best Paper award at the 2023 International Cryptology Conference, widens the range of scenarios in which computer scientists and mathematicians can feasibly use LLL-like approaches.
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Defence/Aggression
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AntiWar ☛ Indispensable Nation or One Obsessed with Hegemony
An Internet search shows journalist Sidney Blumenthal and historian James Chace as the first to coin the term “indispensable nation,” which is appropriate for describing the United States. This happened in 1996 during Bill Clinton’s presidency and Madeleine Albright’s term as Secretary of State.
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Eesti Rahvusringhääling ☛ Estonian intelligence warns about Chinese state-linked Tik Tok big data collection
The Estonian Foreign Intelligence Service (Välisluureamet/VLA) has warned that China is creating an integrated political-technological ecosystem, by exploiting Chinese digital companies, especially Tik Tok, and the big data they collect for developing comprehensive artificial intelligence.
The Estonian Foreign Intelligence Service reminds that China has set the course to "export" its digital standards and create dependency on them and that the global proliferation of Chinese technology is not solely the result of talent and entrepreneurship, but of the strategic planning.
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RFERL ☛ Russian Forces Getting More Access To Starlink Satellite Internet, Threatening Ukraine's Military Communications
The findings from RFE/RL's Russian Service corroborate earlier statements from Ukrainian military officials, underscoring how Kyiv's ability to secure its command communications is potentially threatened.
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BIA Net ☛ It emerges that the captured ISIS member was working at Akkuyu Nuclear Plant construction
According to a statement released today by the Mersin Provincial Security Directorate, one of the detainees was identified as U.A., a Russian citizen who was the subject of a diffusion (urgent apprehension) was working at the Akkuyu Nuclear Power Plant (NGS) with a false identity.
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Greece ☛ TikTok prepares to combat misinfo, AI fakes and influence ops ahead of European Union election
Hundreds of millions of Europeans are scheduled to go to the polls in June to elect 720 lawmakers for the bloc’s parliament in a vote that happens once every five years. With more than 50 countries due to hold national elections in 2024, tech companies are stepping up efforts to thwart attempts to disrupt the votes, including through the use of artificial intelligence to supercharge the spread of misleading content or create deepfake images and videos.
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India Times ☛ TikTok to ramp up fight against fake news, covert influence ahead of EU elections
ByteDance-owned social media platform TikTok said on Wednesday it will ramp up its fight against fake news and covert influence operations in the run-up to European Parliament elections in June with a local language app in all 27 countries.
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Digital Music News ☛ TikTok Testing New ‘Subscriber Only’ Livestreams with ‘Sub Space’
TikTok is testing a new feature to allow users an exclusive space to interact with subscribers only. The new feature is called ‘Sub Space.’ Fentanylware (TikTok) told TechCrunch that the feature is in an early testing phase after images of the feature were shared widely across Twitter. The idea is to give subscribers of a Fentanylware (TikTok)...
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Futurism ☛ Scientists Say the Atlantic Current Appears to Be on the Verge of Collapse
The beating heart of AMOC is a current called the Gulf Stream, which the authors describe as "the ocean's conveyor belt." In it, warm and salty water at the equator flows northward, passing through the Gulf of Mexico and the US East Coast and bringing heat to Europe, the authors explained.
As it continues heading north, the salty water cools down and becomes heavier. Then it sinks, pulling in more water from the surrounding Atlantic, and travels southward, starting the cycle all over again.
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The Conversation ☛ Atlantic Ocean is headed for a tipping point − once melting glaciers shut down the Gulf Stream, we would see extreme climate change within decades, study shows
Too much fresh water from melting glaciers and the Greenland ice sheet can dilute the saltiness of the water, preventing it from sinking, and weaken this ocean conveyor belt. A weaker conveyor belt transports less heat northward and also enables less heavy water to reach Greenland, which further weakens the conveyor belt’s strength. Once it reaches the tipping point, it shuts down quickly.
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The Straits Times ☛ North Korea's Kim Jong Un oversees test of surface-to-sea missile: KCNA
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un oversaw the inspection test of a new surface-to-sea missile on Wednesday, KCNA said on Thursday.
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France24 ☛ North Korea's Kim Jong Un 'supervises test of surface-to-sea missile'
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un supervised a test of new surface-to-sea missiles and warned that the country would take a more aggressive military posture in disputed sea boundaries with war-divided rival South Korea, the North’s state media said Thursday.
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TwinCities Pioneer Press ☛ Kim watches missile tests and warns that North Korea will take an aggressive stance in disputed seas
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un supervised a test of new surface-to-sea missiles and warned that the country would take a more aggressive military posture in disputed sea boundaries with war-divided rival South Korea, the North’s state media said Thursday.
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teleSUR ☛ Cuba Establishes Diplomatic Relations with South Korea
Trade between the countries amounted to 21 million U.S. dollars in 2022.
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Russia, Belarus, and War in Ukraine
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France24 ☛ US House Speaker Johnson blocks vote on Ukraine aid passed by Senate
The Republican leader of the US House of Representatives on Tuesday blocked war aid for Ukraine, ignoring President Joe Biden's plea that passing the bill was vital for standing up to "Russian dictator" Vladimir Putin.
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RFERL ☛ Russians Living In Bosnia Will Be Able To Vote In Presidential Elections Next Month
Russian citizens living in Bosnia-Herzegovina will be able to vote in the Russian presidential election next month, the country’s Council of Ministers said on February 14.
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New York Times ☛ After Fighting Ukraine Aid, Trump Says Biden Will ‘Give’ Ukraine to Putin
Donald Trump suggested he would do more to protect the country from Russia, seeking to flip the script on the president, who has been calling for more military aid for months.
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France24 ☛ France and Ukraine to sign security agreement soon, says French FM Sejourne
France and Ukraine are soon likely to sign a bilateral agreement on security commitments, French Foreign Minister Stephane Sejourne said on Wednesday.
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France24 ☛ Ukrainian forces claim to destroy a Russian warship in the Black Sea
Ukraine said Wednesday it had destroyed a Russian warship in the Black Sea, a key battleground of the nearly two-year war where Kyiv's forces have recently escalated attacks.
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Hong Kong Free Press ☛ EU proposes export bans on 3 Chinese firms over alleged support for Russia’s military
The EU has proposed imposing export bans on firms in mainland China, India and Turkey accused of supplying Russia with military technology as part of a new round of sanctions over the war in Ukraine, according to a document seen by AFP.
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RFERL ☛ Serbian Appeals Court Orders Retrial In Money Laundering Case Against Ukrainian Ex-Spy
An appeals court in the southeastern Serbian city of Nis on February 14 overturned the verdict of a lower court that had found an ex-officer of Ukraine's Security Service (SBU) guilty of money laundering and sent the case back for a retrial.
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RFERL ☛ Ukraine's New Armed Forces Chief Warns Of 'Extremely Difficult' Situation On Front Line
The new chief of Ukraine's armed forces warned that the situation on the front line has become extremely difficult as Russia pours in additional troops and equipment after months trying to capture the eastern Ukrainian strongholds of Avdiyivka and Kupyansk.
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RFERL ☛ Russian Forces Getting More Access To Starlink Satellite Internet, Threatening Ukraine's Military Communications
Russian troops in Ukraine increasingly have access to Starlink, the private satellite Internet network owned by Elon Musk that Ukraine's military relies on heavily for battlefield communications.
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RFERL ☛ Tajik Diaspora Leader's Call To Join Russian Military In Ukraine Causes Fear In Samara
Tajik migrant workers in the Russian city of Samara said they were scared and confused after Sunatullo Nazriev, the leader of the Tajik diaspora, called on Tajiks who have Russian citizenship and those who want to get Russian passports in an expedited way to join Russia's armed forces in Ukraine.
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RFERL ☛ Ukraine Says It Destroyed Large Russian Landing Ship Off Crimea Coast; Kremlin Declines Comment
The Ukrainian military says it has destroyed a large Russian landing ship in the Black Sea off the coast of occupied Crimea in a combined operation of the armed forces and military intelligence.
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RFERL ☛ Russian Shelling Of City In Donetsk Kills At Least 3 Civilians, Including Child
Russian shelling killed at least three people, including a child, and wounded 12 others early on February 14 in the city of Selydove in the eastern Donetsk region, the local council reported, adding that four of the wounded were also children.
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CS Monitor ☛ Amid war, civilians’ power of innocence
From Gaza to Ukraine to Sudan, individuals lay the ground for peace through quiet acts of caring.
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New York Times ☛ How Senate Democrats Flipped the Border Issue on Republicans
Senator Chuck Schumer was wary of tying immigration policy to emergency aid for Ukraine, but he saw an opening to address border turmoil that was becoming a political liability — and to call Republicans’ bluff.
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New York Times ☛ Ukraine, Struggling on Land, Claims to Deal Blow to Russian Warship
The Ukrainian military says it has sunk a large Russian landing ship off the coast of Crimea, although Ukrainian troops inland find themselves in a precarious position.
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New York Times ☛ Europe Wants to Stand on Its Own Militarily. Is It Too Little, Too Late?
Outraged by Donald J. Trump’s remarks about encouraging Russia to punish some NATO members, and downbeat about Ukraine’s military prospects, Europe faces growing anxiety over its own security.
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New York Times ☛ Austin, Speaking by Video, Reiterates U.S. Support for Ukraine
Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III spoke on Wednesday to a U.S.-led group that marshals military aid to Ukraine.
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Latvia ☛ Public urged to be cautious traveling outside EU, NATO member states
The Latvian Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) is warning that not only people mentioned on Russia's reported 'wanted list' but by anyone from Latvia considering going outside EU and NATO member states to third countries should consider their situation carefully.
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LRT ☛ Lithuania protests Russia putting politicians on wanted list
Lithuanian Foreign Ministry on Wednesday handed a protest note to a representative of the Russian Embassy regarding Moscow’s decision to put Lithuanian politicians and public figures on the wanted list.
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Latvia ☛ Russian diplomat summoned for 'explanations' of wanted list
Tensions between Latvia and aggressor state Russia continued to be high February 14 with the Latvian Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) announcing that it had summoned the senior diplomat at the Russian embassy in Rīga for what it called "explanations".
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New York Times ☛ Russia’s Advances on Space-Based Nuclear Weapon Draw U.S. Concerns
A congressman’s cryptic statement about new intelligence set Washington abuzz and infuriated White House officials.
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The Kent Stater ☛ US has new intelligence on Russian nuclear capabilities in space
The US has new intelligence on Russian military capabilities related to its efforts to deploy a nuclear anti-satellite system in space, according to multiple sources familiar with the intelligence.
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RFERL ☛ Chairman Of U.S. House Intelligence Committee Warns Of 'Serious National Security Threat'
The chairman of the U.S. House of Representatives' intelligence committee issued a statement on February 14 that referred to a "serious national security threat," which sources quoted in U.S. news reports said was related to Russia.
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RFA ☛ Russian company seeks millions in compensation from PetroVietnam: report
The Vietnamese oil and gas company had to suspend the project after Power Machines was hit with U.S. sanctions.
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RFERL ☛ Navalny Again Placed In Punitive Solitary Confinement By Russian Prison
The press secretary of imprisoned Russian opposition politician Aleksei Navalny said on February 14 that the outspoken Kremlin critic was again placed in a punitive solitary confinement cell for unspecified reasons just three days after he served a previous 10-day solitary confinement term.
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RFERL ☛ Russian Activist Detained In Nizhny Novgorod On Extremism Charges
The Operativnyye Svodki (Operative Data) Telegram channel close to Russian law enforcement structures said on February 14 that police detained a former member of the Yabloko opposition party, Mikhail Sharygin, on extremism charges in the city of Nizhny Novgorod a day earlier.
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RFERL ☛ 67-Year-Old Woman Gets 10-Year Sentence For Setting Fire At Russian Recruitment Center
A Russian court on February 14 sentenced a 67-year-old woman to 10 years in prison for setting a fire at a military recruitment center in St. Petersburg.
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teleSUR ☛ Russian FM Lavrov To Visit Cuba, Venezuela, Brazil
He will meet with Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and Vice President Delcy Rodriguez.
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Vice Media Group ☛ Globetrotting Millennial Woman Pleads Guilty to Sending $7M of Drone, Missile Parts to Russia
The basic Instagram influencer was part of a scheme to send semiconductors to Russia to avoid U.S. sanctions.
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YLE ☛ Wednesday's papers: Strikes in high gear, Russia's most wanted, hazardous roads
Strikes protesting government labour policies and social welfare cuts are in full swing, hitting key economic sectors and impacting daily life.
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RFERL ☛ Belarusian Authorities Investigate Self-Exiled Writer Sasha Filipenka
Self-exiled Belarusian writer Sasha Filipenka told the Novaya gazeta Europe website on February 13 that his father had been officially informed that a criminal case was launched against him on unspecified charges.
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Transparency/Investigative Reporting
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Scheerpost ☛ UK Steps Up War on Whistleblower Journalism With New National Security Act
I chose to comply. And so it was that over the next five hours, I sat with a couple of anonymous counter-terror cops in an airless, windowless, excruciatingly hot back room. They fingerprinted me, took invasive DNA swabs, and probed every conceivable aspect of my private and professional life, friend and family connections, and educational background. They wanted to know why I write, say and think the things I do, the specifics of how I’m paid for my investigative journalism, and to which bank account.
I had been detained under Britain’s 2019 Counter-Terrorism and Border Security Act, which the UN has branded draconian and repressive. Under its Schedule 3 powers, anyone entering British territory suspected of “hostile activity” on behalf of a foreign power can be detained, interrogated for six hours, and have the contents of their digital devices seized and stored. “Hostile acts” are defined as any behavior deemed threatening to Britain’s “national security” or its “economic well-being.”
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Environment
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University of Michigan ☛ Nearly 15% of Americans deny climate change, study finds
Using social control media data and artificial intelligence in a comprehensive national assessment, a U-M study reveals that nearly 15% of Americans deny that climate change is real.
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Energy/Transportation
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Andy Wingo: family bike transportation
Good evening! Tonight I have a brief and unusual post, which is a product review of an electric cargo bike and its accessories for transporting kids. Let’s see if I can get this finished while I wait for my new laptop to finish installing.
So, I have three young kids (5yo, 3yo, 1yo), and I need to get them places. Before the 3rd was born I would use a bike trailer (Thule Chariot Lite single, bought when there was just one kid) and a bike seat (Thule RideAlong Lite, attached on seat-post).
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Mexico News Daily ☛ Is Chinese electric vehicle manufacturer BYD coming to Mexico?
BYD sold more electric vehicles than any other company in the last quarter of 2023, mostly in China, but is expanding to other markets.
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YLE ☛ Only half of long-distance trains to run on Wednesday
Trains will continue to be affected, following Tuesday's cancellation by VR for safety reasons.
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Wildlife/Nature
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CS Monitor ☛ Charlotte the stingray swims alone. So how is she suddenly pregnant?
A North Carolina aquarium announced that a stingray who has not been around a male companion in eight years is pregnant. Parthenogenesis, or asexual reproduction, is a rare phenomenon that can occur in some birds, reptiles, and amphibians.
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Mini-course allows students to delve into the art of anatomy
Two School of Kinesiology faculty members created a seven-week mini-course that challenged students to revisit their preconceptions about both art and the body.
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Science Alert ☛ Teasing Among Apes Could Help Explain The Evolution of The Joke
Stop me if you've heard this one.
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CS Monitor ☛ Thailand legalized weed two years ago. Now officials want a rollback.
Thailand was the first country in Asia to legalize cannabis. But, citing a spike in treatment for mental health issues and unlawful consumption by young people, health officials now want to limit recreational use.
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Finance
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WhichUK ☛ Inflation rate stays at 4% in January 2024 - can any savings accounts still beat it?
Plus, what this month's inflation figures mean for broadband and mobile phone price rises
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Mexico News Daily ☛ Inflation drives up the cost of Valentine’s Day celebrations in Mexico
Popular gifts like flowers have spiked in price as much as 40% according to a national small business association.
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WhichUK ☛ Which? Shorts podcast: sneaky supermarket shrinkflation
Ellie Simmonds uncovers the tactics depoyed by retailers to help cut their spiralling costs.
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RFA ☛ Satellite images show North Korea could restart cross-border tourism soon
Light detected in two border spots suggest a coming uptick in tourism and trade.
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RFA ☛ INTERVIEWS: ‘I can’t even afford to eat any more’
Three migrant workers say there is little hope that the Year of the Dragon will bring prosperity in its train.
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YLE ☛ SDP to challenge government over "labour market chaos"
The main opposition party, with close ties to the labour movement, accused the right-wing government of spurring confrontation.
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YLE ☛ Survey: Support dwindles for allowing supermarket wine sales
The government is planning to allow grocery stores to sell drinks with up to 8 percent alcohol content — up from the current 5.5 percent limit.
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BGR ☛ Game over? How tech layoffs are reshaping gaming industry jobs
[...] some of the largest losses have been at Microsoft, which made 1,900 redundancies in its 22,000 person gaming division, some 8.64% of its staff.
Activision Blizzard, ZeniMax and the Xbox Teams, which are all subsidiaries of Microsoft, will all feel the pinch.
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TechStory Media ☛ Why are tech companies laying off so many workers? What’s next in 2024?
According to Roger Lee, the founder of layoff.fyi, technology companies are still trying to shed the extra weight they gained during the pandemic. This is due to high interest rates and a prolonged negative trend in the technology sector.
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Apple And Microsoft Win Exemption From The EU For iMessage And Bing
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Despite game industry layoffs, I have hope thanks to our ZeniMax union
On Thursday morning, before my first sip of coffee, the alerts started flooding my phone. My employer, Microsoft, was laying off 1,900 workers and it was all over the news. I work at the video game company ZeniMax, which was acquired in 2021 by Microsoft, so I felt a familiar, sickening feeling start to take hold.
But I can’t say it came as a surprise. So many people in our industry have lost their jobs this way recently. In 2023, at least 6,500 video game workers were laid off (unofficial trackers have that number much higher). And even before this latest round, 2024 hadn’t shown any sign of improvement.
The video game industry is huge. It was bigger than the movie and music industries combined following the 2020 pandemic surge, and while it has dropped a bit since then, it remains a multibillion-dollar industry. However, it’s still relatively young and lacks a history of successful worker organizing.
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Major companies including Microsoft, Google and Amazon cutting jobs
Major companies including Microsoft, Google and Amazon are cutting more than 1,000 jobs, despite reporting major revenue boosts in the months preceding their announcements. According to outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas, the media industry cut more than 800 positions in January — that's up 11% from the same time last year. Just this week, Paramount, which owns CBS, cut 800 jobs — just two days after its Super Bowl coverage broke viewership records.
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Major companies including Microsoft, Google and Amazon cutting jobs
According to outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas, the media industry cut more than 800 positions in January — that's up 11% from the same time last year. Just this week, Paramount, which owns CBS, cut 800 jobs — just two days after its Super Bowl coverage broke viewership records.
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Cisco Layoffs Hitting More than 4,000 Workers
Cisco layoffs will impact 5% of its workforce, or more than 4,000 employees, during its current quarter as part of a restructuring plan.
Cisco announced the layoffs along with its earnings for its fiscal 2024 on Wednesday. However, CEO Chuck Robbins didn’t specifically address the cuts.
Cisco’s workforce totaled 84,900 as of July 2023.
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ABC ☛ Cisco Systems to lay off more than 4,000 workers
Internet networking pioneer Cisco Systems is jettisoning more than 4,000 employees, joining the parade of technology companies in a trend that has helped boost their profits and stock prices while providing a sobering reminder of the job insecurity hanging over an industry increasingly embracing artificial intelligence.
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Condemned WoW's Narrative Director Leaves Blizzard
World of Warcraft's narrative director is another person to leave Blizzard Entertainment. Steve Danuser confirmed this information in an interview with PC Gamer, and last week fans noticed a mention of his departure from the company on LinkedIn (via Reddit ).
Danuser certainly didn't leave Blizzard as part of the massive layoffs Microsoft announced in January. His departure took place in November last year and - as he himself claims - there's nothing to it, hence the lack of an official statement from him or Blizzard.
The former narrative director of WoW only mentioned that his decision was influenced, on the one hand, by the "return to offices" policy, curbing remote work at Blizzard Entertainment (Danuser lives outside California, where the studio is located), and, on the other hand, by the desire to part with Warcraft and pursue other goals.
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DC Universe Online Developer And Publisher Suffer Layoffs
DC Universe Online developer Dimensional Ink Games and its publisher Daybreak Game Company have been hit with layoffs.
According to Kotaku, Dimensional Ink lost an unknown number of senior staff, with Game Developer reporting reductions in the art, community, and narrative departments. The team is best known for developing the superhero MMO DC Universe Online. Daybreak Games (formerly Sony Online Entertainment) has worked on several multiplayer games, including EverQuest II, H1Z1, Star Wars Galaxies, and Planetside 2. The exact number of affected employees from both studios is currently unknown.
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The Star MY ☛ Google’s once happy offices feel the chill of layoffs
When Diane Hirsh Theriault’s co-worker returned from lunch to Google’s Cambridge, Massachusetts, office one afternoon in October, his work badge couldn’t open a turnstile. He quickly realised it was a sign that he had been laid off.
Hirsh Theriault soon learned that most of her fellow Google News engineers in Cambridge had also lost their jobs. More than 40 people in the news division were cut, a union at the company said, though a number of them were later offered jobs elsewhere inside Google.
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Vox Media ☛ No matter what happens next, unionizing at ZeniMax worked [Ed: Trying to unionise amid mass layoffs by Microsoft]
OnOn Thursday morning, before my first sip of coffee, the alerts started flooding my phone. My employer, Microsoft, was laying off 1,900 workers and it was all over the news. I work at the video game company ZeniMax, which was acquired in 2021 by Microsoft, so I felt a familiar, sickening feeling start to take hold.
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TechXplore ☛ German auto supplier Continental says to cut 7,150 jobs
German auto supplier Continental said Wednesday it would cut some 7,150 posts worldwide by 2025 as the difficult switch to electric vehicles forces companies in the sector to retool.
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AstroTurf/Lobbying/Politics
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Quartz ☛ Paramount layoffs come after Super Bowl ratings sets a record
One day after announcing a record audience for the Super Bowl this weekend, Paramount Global chief executive officer Bob Bakish told employees the media network was laying off hundreds of people in an internal memo Tuesday (Feb. 13).
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RFERL ☛ Baltics Take Diplomatic Steps To Protest Politicians Being Placed On Russian 'Wanted List'
The three Baltic nations have taken diplomatic steps to protest against Russia on February 14 a day after Moscow confirmed senior lawmakers and officials from Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia were placed on Russia's "wanted list" for destroying Soviet-era monuments.
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Latvia ☛ Russia deems Latvian politicians 'wanted' in futile gesture / Article
Russia has declared dozens of European politicians and officials "wanted" in its latest example of not being able to process the fact that most of the world finds it abhorrent.
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Latvia ☛ Russian diplomat summoned for 'explanations' of wanted list / Article
The summons relates to a story reported by LSM on Tuesday, February 13 which revealed that dozens of Latvian officials and politicians have been declared "wanted" by Moscow.
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JURIST ☛ Russia adds Estonia Prime Minister to wanted list
The Prime Minister responded by saying that the move by Russia was “nothing surprising.” Kallas has long been a critic of the Kremlin, and in 2022, she ordered the removal of Soviet-era war monuments from public spaces in Estonia to prevent the “tearing open of old wounds” after Russia invaded Ukraine. During her first visit to Ukraine in April 2023, as the head of the new Estonian government, she said, “We believe in Ukraine’s victory and we believe in Ukraine, which is a prosperous liberal democracy and a free market economy that belongs to the Euro-Atlantic family.”
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India Times ☛ Tech companies plan to sign accord to combat AI-generated election trickery
At least six major technology companies are planning to sign an agreement this week that would guide how they try to put a stop to the use of artificial intelligence tools to disrupt democratic elections.
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India Times ☛ EU: EU regulators mull easing merger rules for telcos and Big Tech to help pay network costs
EU regulators may ease their rules against mobile telecoms mergers and also broaden telecoms rules to get Big Tech and others to help fund the rollout of 5G, according to a European Commission document seen by Reuters.
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New York Times ☛ As China Tries to Present a Friendlier Image, a New Face Emerges
Liu Jianchao is a Communist Party diplomat skilled at defending tough positions without being pugnacious. He also once hunted fugitive officials abroad.
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Tom's Hardware ☛ ASML warns that more U.S. sanctions against China could have a major impact on its business
ASML's backlog in China totals tens of billions of dollars, but geopolitical tensions could impact the company's ability to fulfill it.
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RFA ☛ US must better engage allies on Taiwan: experts
For countries with more immediate problems, Taiwan’s strategic importance can seem like an abstract issue.
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RFA ☛ US lawmaker, arch critic of China, to visit Taiwan: report
The retiring House Rep. Mike Gallagher will reportedly lead a delegation of China hawks to the island.
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Hong Kong Free Press ☛ Hongkonger who tried to escape for Taiwan pleads guilty to perverting the course of justice
A Hong Kong man who attempted to escape to Taiwan while facing charges linked to the 2019 protests has pleaded guilty to perverting the course of justice. Tang Kai-yin, 34, appeared at District Court on Wednesday.
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YLE ☛ MPs begin reconsidering long-delayed Sámi Parliament law
The bill, which the indigenous Sámi people see as crucial to their right of self-determination, has been debated over four legislative terms.
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New York Times ☛ Tom Suozzi’s Win Gives Democrats Hope on Immigration and Border Politics
Tom Suozzi’s victory, coming after congressional Republicans killed a bipartisan border security package, could provide Democrats with a road map to shoring up two political vulnerabilities.
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New York Times ☛ Mark Green, Who Oversaw Mayorkas Impeachment, Will Not Seek Re-election
Representative Mark Green, the chairman of the Homeland Security Committee, announced he would retire from Congress, adding to the number of powerful G.O.P. chairmen who will not return.
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New York Times ☛ Senate Looks to Quickly Reject Mayorkas Impeachment Charges in Speedy Trial
Democrats are planning to dispense with the charges against the homeland security secretary with a fast dismissal vote or an accelerated trial in which he would almost certainly be acquitted.
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Misinformation/Disinformation/Propaganda
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Latvia ☛ Beware of AI content in pre-election period, anti-graft cops warn / Article
The Corruption Prevention and Combating Bureau (KNAB) issued a statement on February 12 warning the public that political organizations, as well as non-party persons, might use artificial intelligence-generated materials during the pre-election campaigning period to, among other things, deliberately disinform potential voters and influence their opinion.
The risk identified by KNAB is based on the precedents of the USA, Poland, Slovakia and several other countries where artificial intelligence tools have been used in the context of elections. According to the KNAB, it is likely that artificial intelligence could also be used during the pre-election campaigning period of the upcoming European elections.
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AntiWar ☛ The 'Disinformation' Complex and US Foreign Policy
During Mr. Obama’s second term in office (2013-2017), it had become clear that the terms of the public policy debate were undergoing a radical and worrying transformation. In the space of a very short time, certain ideas and policy proposals were being ruled as out of bounds not on the grounds that they were unwise, impractical, or inefficient, but on the grounds that they were products of “disinformation” campaigns on the part of foreign intelligence agencies.
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VOA News ☛ Will Disinformation Disrupt the 2024 US Elections?
Words like "disinformation" became common parlance in American politics. There were calls for social media companies to take action against weaponized falsehoods online.
Eight years later, as Americans prepare to select their president for the next four years in November, some experts believe the U.S. is no better positioned to block disinformation than it was in 2016.
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France24 ☛ Iran-backed hackers interrupt UAE, UK and Canadian programming with fake Hey Hi (AI) news broadcast
A group of hackers linked to Iran have interrupted BillBC and a host of other European TV streaming services in Britain, the United Arab Emirates and Canada, Abusive Monopolist Microsoft stated in a report earlier this month, noting a marked acceleration of Iranian cyber attacks since Hamas’s October 7 attack on Israel.
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Censorship/Free Speech
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RFERL ☛ 4 Baluchis Sentenced To Death In Iran For Alleged Insurrection
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Court has handed death sentences to four ethnic Baluchis on charges of "baghy," meaning insurrection against a legitimate imam and the Islamic ruler of the country.
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Meduza ☛ Putin signs law enabling asset seizure for convictions related to desertion, genocide, and ‘fake news’ about army
The amendments allow for money, valuables, or other property obtained in the commission of crimes such as spreading “fake news” about the Russian army (Article 207.3 of the Criminal Code) or publicly calling for actions against the security of the state (Article 280.4 of the Criminal Code) to be confiscated into state ownership. In both cases, the law specifies that assets can be seized when the crimes were committed for “personal gain or monetary reward.”
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Walled Culture ☛ Italy’s new Piracy Shield has just gone into operation and is already harming human rights there
Back in October, Walled Culture wrote about the grandly-named “Piracy Shield”. This is Italy’s new Internet blocking system, which assumes people are guilty until innocent, and gives the copyright industry a disproportionate power to control what is available online, no court orders required. Piracy Shield went live in December, and has just issued its first blocking orders. But a troubling new aspect of Piracy Shield has emerged, reported here by TorrentFreak: [...]
"A document detailing technical requirements of Italy’s Piracy Shield anti-piracy system confirms that ISPs are not alone in being required to block pirate IPTV services. All VPN and open DNS services must also comply with blocking orders, including through accreditation to the Piracy Shield platform. Google has already agreed to dynamically deindex sites and remove infringing adverts."
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TMZ ☛ Selma Blair Apologizes For Viral Islamophobic Comment
In her since-deleted comment, Selma wrote ... "Deport all these terrorist supporting goons. Islam has destroyed Muslim countries and then they come here and destroy minds. They know they are liars. Twisted justifications. May they meet their fate."
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Counter Punch ☛ Public Libraries Under MAGA Threat
Contemporary book-banning efforts extend beyond school libraries, where reasonable people might differ (a little!) about what books should be available to children, to public libraries, where book banners seek to keep even adults from reading whatever we choose. EveryLibrary, an anti-censorship organization, keeps a running total of active “legislation of concern” in state legislatures that relates to controlling libraries and librarians. They maintain a continually updated list of such bills (the number of active ones changed just as I was exploring their online list). As of today, they highlight 93 pieces of legislation moving through legislatures in 24 states as varied as Idaho and Rhode Island.
In 2024, they are focusing on a number of key issues, including “bills that would criminalize libraries, education, and museums (and/or the employees therein) by removing long-standing defense from prosecution exemptions under obscenity laws and/or expose librarians to civil penalties.” In addition to protecting libraries and their employees from criminal prosecution for stocking the “wrong” books, they are focusing on potential legislation that could restrict the freedom of libraries to develop their collections as they wish, as well as bills that would defund or close public libraries altogether. Sadly, as those 93 active bills indicate, in all too many states, libraries are desperately under attack.
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Reason ☛ Shoshana Weissmann: Carding People for Joining Social Media Solves Nothing
"None of these laws prevent kids from viewing anything. They just prevent kids from posting," argues Shoshana Weissmann.
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ACLU ☛ Anti-DEI Efforts Are the Latest Attack on Racial Equity and Free Speech
First, Donald Trump and right-wing extremists attacked government trainings on racism and sexism. Then the far right tried to censor classroom instruction on racism and sexism. Next, they banned books about BIPOC and LGBTQ lives. Today, the extreme right’s latest attack is aimed at dismantling diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs.
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Freedom of Information / Freedom of the Press
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CPJ ☛ Four Iranian journalists detained after newsroom raid, detention of 30 employees
Around 2 p.m. on February 5, security forces raided the newsroom of the privately owned multimedia economic news website FardayeEghtesad in Argentina Square in the capital, Tehran, detained all 30 staff inside the building, searched the newsroom, and confiscated everyone’s cellphones and other electronic devices, such as laptops.
The families of the journalists gathered outside the building shortly after as authorities kept the journalists incommunicado. After 14 hours, the security forces released most of the staff, according to those sources, which said authorities did not provide any explanation for the detention.
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Civil Rights/Policing
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Rachel ☛ LDAP differ feedback and the "666" I missed
Seriously, get in, take their money, and go. Whatever tech darling status they had was gone a LONG time ago. I dare say that I watched it curl up and die from the inside. I can't even imagine what could possibly be left inside there now that so much time has passed.
It occurs to me that sufficiently young people who are just now entering the industry fresh out of school (or whatever) have no idea what it used to be like. They've only known the current versions of things, and probably figure it's as bad as everywhere else, so why not, right? I guess it's hard to argue with that. Just never make the mistake of thinking that it's special somehow. Those days are gone gone gone and they aren't coming back. Companies which are that massive just can't deliver that kind of environment.
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RFA ☛ Despite Chinese pressure, NJ township raises Tibetan flag for Tibetan New Year — Radio Free Asia
The incident illustrates how far Chinese officials will go to try to exert control over members of Tibetan diaspora communities abroad, especially during politically sensitive anniversaries and holidays, such as Losar, which began this year on Feb. 10.
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Techdirt ☛ Trader Joe’s Appeals Dismissal Of Its Bullshit Trademark Suit Against Its Employees’ Union
Keep in mind that all of this is happening as the NLRB filed its own complaint against the grocery chain for its unfair labor practices. One of those practices highlighted was retaliating against workers for trying to organize. You know, like keeping up this meddlesome trademark infringement farce just to be a pain in the ass, since the company undoubtedly has more of a legal war chest to work with than a fledgling union.
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CBS ☛ Officer who stood trial for death of Freddie Gray to oversee Internal Affairs for BPD - CBS Baltimore
In her new role, White will oversee probes of complaints filed by the public against Baltimore police officers.
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RFA ☛ Live from Kashgar! See the Uyghurs sing and dance
Critics slam China's New Year TV gala for erasing Uyghur culture, not celebrating it.
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Internet Policy/Net Neutrality
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WhichUK ☛ Virgin Media and O2 announce price hikes for broadband, TV and mobile customers: are you affected?
Both providers have ignored our calls for inflation-based price rises to be cancelled this spring
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New York Times ☛ Could Offering a $100,000 “Dating Bounty” Make You Luckier in Love?
Two men posted “dating bounties” on the internet worth thousands as an incentive for people to help them find love.
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APNIC ☛ APNIC Products: 2023 in review
APNIC Products were improved for the benefit of Members and community in 2023.
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Adolfo Ochagavía ☛ A love letter to the Internet
I’ve never written to you on this special day before, so I thought I’d give you a surprise this time! After all, we’ve been through a lot together, since our first encounter over a dial-up connection in the early two thousands. I was late to the party, I know, but it’s not my fault to have been born in the early nineties!
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The Register UK ☛ Apple, Microsoft partly exempted from EU Digital Markets Act
The Tuesday decision means Apple's iMessage and Microsoft's Edge, Bing, and Advertising won’t be subject to DMA regulations that limit self-preferencing and require concessions to enhance competition.
Europe previously made the abovementioned services subject to the DMA when it named Apple and Microsoft alongside Alphabet, Amazon, ByteDance, and Meta in the first tranche of six gatekeepers, and listed 22 of their core platform services as falling under the DMA.
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India Times ☛ Gmail Spam and Phishing Emails: Google to take action to enhance email security and reduce suspicious emails
Gmail is set to take action against suspicious emails, aiming to improve email security and reduce the number of questionable messages reaching users' inboxes. Google plans to reject a portion of emails that do not adhere to bulk sender guidelines. These guidelines are designed to filter out potentially harmful or unsolicited emails, ensuring the safety of Gmail users.
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Patents
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IP Kat ☛ Highlights from the new EPO Guidelines for Examination 2024
Following G 1/22 (and G 2/22), A-III-6.1 has been updated to state "absent any substantiated indication to the contrary, there is a strong rebuttable presumption under the EPC that an applicant or joint applicants claiming priority in accordance with Art. 88(1) and Rule 52 are also entitled to the claimed priority. The burden of proof is shifted, and the examining division, opponent or third party challenging an applicant’s entitlement to priority has to prove that this entitlement is missing. Especially where an international application under the PCT is filed by joint applicants, including the priority applicant, but without naming the priority applicant as applicant for the European designation, the mere fact of the joint filing implies an agreement between the applicants allowing all of them to rely on the priority right, unless substantial facts indicate otherwise (see G 1/22 and G 2/22)".
An interesting question following G 1/22 is the potential consequences for the Broad Institute's CRISPR cases. In T 0844/18, The Broad Institute famously lost a critical CRISPR patent in view of an invalid priority claim (IPKat). At the time, T 0844/18 was considered the end of the road for the patent. However, with the shift in the approach to priority represented by G 1/22, might the Broad now have a shot at maintaining a patent in this family? Citing G 1/22 and G 2/22, the Broad has already filed an appeal against the opposition decision to revoke the divisional patent EP3144390.
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IP Kat ☛ European Parliament votes to exclude gene edited plants from patentability
The European Parliament has voted to ban patents for gene-edited plants. The vote related to an amendment of the European Commission's proposed legislation seeking to relax the regulatory rules on gene edited plants. The EU parliamentary vote is not legally binding, and has no immediate effect on the patentability of gene editing plants. Nonetheless, the EU Parliament's stance is likely to unnerve an already embattled European agritech industry and will do nothing to encourage innovation into new plant products in Europe.
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Unified Patents ☛ Better Browsing web browser patent monopoly invalidated
On February 12, 2024, the Central Reexamination Unit (CRU) entered a final rejection of the challenged claims of U.S. Patent 8,838,736, owned and asserted by Better Browsing LLC. The '736 patent monopoly relates generally to a zoom feature for an internet browser and has been asserted against Samsung, Hewlett Packard, Lenovo, Opera Norway AS, Toshiba, Acer, Razer, and ASUSTeK.
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Unified Patents ☛ SLS Manager Tech router patent monopoly challenge instituted
On February 7, 2024, less than two months after Unified filed an ex parte reexamination, the Central Reexamination Unit (CRU) granted Unified’s request, finding substantial new questions of patentability on the challenged claims of U.S. Patent 9,763,084, owned and asserted by SLS Manager Technologies LLC, an NPE and AiPi Solutions entity. The '084 patent monopoly is generally directed to a session router that selects a server to process a location request.
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Unified Patents ☛ $3,000 awarded for Jeffrey M. Gross entity Context Directions detection patent monopoly prior art
Unified is pleased to announce PATROLL crowdsourcing contest winner, Ekta Aswal, who was awarded $3,000 for her prior art submission on U.S. Patent 9,807,564, owned by Context Directions LLC, a Jeffrey M. Gross entity. The ‘564 patent monopoly generally relates to a method for detecting context of a mobile device, and to a mobile device having a context detection module, especially to detect that the mobile device is located in a moving vehicle.
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Unified Patents ☛ Virtual Creative Artists social networking patent monopoly invalidated
On February 9, 2024, the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) issued a final written decision in Unified Patents, LLC v. Virtual Creative Artists, LLC holding all challenged claims of U.S. Patent 10,339,576 unpatentable. The '576 patent monopoly is directed towards a process for creating and publishing media content on an electronic exchange.
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Trademarks
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TTAB Blog ☛ CAFC Affirms TTAB: USPTO'S Domicile Address Requirement for Applicants Was Not Improperly Promulgated
The CAFC upheld the Board's affirmance [TTABlogged here] of a refusal to register the mark CHESTEK LEGAL for "legal services" based on Applicant Chestek PLLC's failure to provide its "domicile address." Chestek listed a post office address, but under Trademark Rules 2.32(a)(2) and 2.189 a post office box is not a street address. Conceding that it failed to comply with the domicile address requirement, Chestek argued on appeal that the Rules were unlawfully promulgated under the Administrative Procedure Act (APA), but the Board disagreed and the CAFC sided with the Board. In re Chestek PLLC, Appeal No. 2022-1843 (Fed. Cir. Feb. 13, 2024) [precedential].
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Copyrights
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The Conversation ☛ The New York Times’ AI copyright lawsuit shows that forgiveness might not be better than permission
The New York Times’ (NYT) legal proceedings against OpenAI and Microsoft has opened a new frontier in the ongoing legal challenges brought on by the use of copyrighted data to “train”, or improve generative AI.
There are already a variety of lawsuits against AI companies, including one brought by Getty Images against StabilityAI, which makes the Stable Diffusion online text-to-image generator. Authors George R.R. Martin and John Grisham have also brought legal cases against ChatGPT owner OpenAI over copyright claims. But the NYT case is not “more of the same” because it throws interesting new arguments into the mix.
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Digital Music News ☛ Roddy Ricch Beats ‘The Box’ Infringement Suit: ‘No Reasonable Jury Could Find That the Works Are Substantially Similar’
Roddy Ricch has officially emerged victorious in a years-old copyright monopoly infringement lawsuit filed against him over “The Box.” The presiding judge just recently dismissed the complaint, originally levied by California-based musician Greg Perry, with prejudice. >
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Rolling Stone ☛ Sarah Silverman-Led Lawsuit Against OpenAI Partially Dismissed
The big claim the judge dismissed was the vicarious copyright infringement allegation, which essentially argued that every answer generated by ChatGPT should be considered infringing because the language model was allegedly trained on unlicensed, copyrighted material. The judge called this claim “insufficient,” saying the plaintiffs “fail to explain what the outputs entail or allege that any particular output is substantially similar — or similar at all — to their books.”
Furthermore, the judge said there was no evidence to support the authors’ claim that OpenAI had violated the Digital Millennium Copyright Act by removing pertinent copyright information from the material it trained its model on as a way to hide its alleged infringement. And negligence and unjust enrichment claims were also tossed.
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Michael Geist ☛ Bid to End Crown Copyright is Back: MP Brian Masse’s Bill C-374 Would Remove Copyright from Government Works
Crown copyright, which grants the government exclusive copyright monopoly in any any work that is, or has been, prepared or published by or under the direction or control, has long been the focus on copyright monopoly and open government advocates who have called for its elimination. Under the current system of crown copyright monopoly that dates back for decades, government departments can use copyright monopoly to limit the publication or distribution of public works.
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Monopolies/Monopsonies
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