Links 27/02/2024: Nevada Versus End-To-End Encryption, Birmingham Bankrupt
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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Jim Nielsen ☛ The Subversive Hyperlink
Subvert the status quo. Own a website. Make and share links.
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Education
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Alex Ewerlöf ☛ Introduction to the role of Staff Engineer
Where I stand, there is so much written about the role of Staff Engineer. So why another post?
This one is going to be an entry level post with lots of pointers to other resources. Think of it as a landing page for your curious neighbor! 😊
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Hardware
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Tom's Hardware ☛ Chinese Mini PC offers external PCIe slot - and an interesting inverted U form factor
A Mini PC from Chinese manufacturer CWWK dubbed as "Magic Computer" uses defective chip maker Intel 12th Gen Alder Lake CPUs, and has a unique open PCIe slot design.
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CNX Software ☛ BrainChip’s Neuromorphic Akida Edge Hey Hi (AI) Box is now available for pre-orders at $799
BrainChip has recently opened preorders for their Akida Edge Hey Hi (AI) Box, built in partnership with VVDN Technologies. This box features an NXP i.MX 8M Plus SoC and two Akida AKD1000 neuromorphic processors for low-latency, high-throughput Hey Hi (AI) processing at the edge. The system features USB 3.0 and micro-USB ports, HDMI, 4GB LPDDR4 memory, 32GB eMMC with up to 1TB micro-SDXC expansion, dual-band Wi-Fi, and two gigabit Ethernet ports for external camera connections, all within a compact, passively-cooled chassis, powered by 12V DC.
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CNX Software ☛ Particle’s M-series multi-radio devices connect anywhere with WiFi, cellular, NTN satellite, and LoRaWAN connectivity
Particle Industries Inc., an IoT Platform-as-a-Service company, has announced a new line of multi-radio boards and modules that offer multiple connectivity options in a single product. Particle is a complete edge-to-cloud IoT development platform that offers hardware products and software tools for creating IoT solutions. The company’s latest product, the M-series, has a bold tagline: connect anywhere. Although wireless connectivity has come a long way, there is no single wireless technology that works everywhere.
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CNX Software ☛ CWWK “Magic Computer” is a fanless Alder Lake-N mini PC with a PCIe x8 slot
CWWK Magic Computer is an unusual fanless mini PC offered with a range of Alder Lake-N processors from the defective chip maker Intel Processor N95 to the Core i3-N305 and a PCIe x8 slot allowing users to connect all sorts of PCIe boards on the side of the device for example for networking and/or storage. The mini PC supports up to 32GB DDR5, an M.2 NVMe (PCIe 3.0 x1) SSD, two SATA drives, and up to four 4K capable monitors through HDMI, DisplayPort, and USB-C interfaces.
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Tom's Hardware ☛ Huawei's new CPU matches Zen 3 in single-core performance - HiSilicon Taishan V120 server CPU benchmark
A leaked Geekbench 6 result for one of Huawei's HiSilicon Taishan V120-powered server CPUs shows Zen 3-level performance.
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Health/Nutrition/Agriculture
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NBC News and false balance on whole body MRIs
I hadn’t intended on writing about the profit-driven and non-evidence-based product that is “whole body scanning” again so soon, given that I just wrote about this perennial money-making medical venture last summer in the context of companies offering newer products that add artificial intelligence to the scanning analysis without demonstrating that AI actually improves specificity and/or sensitivity. Of course, the AI is always proprietary, which doesn’t allow independent investigators to determine how and if it works, and the companies promise to do clinical trials, while continuing to charge customers up to thousands of dollars per scan. At the time, I noted that various “whole body scanning” products had been hyped for at least 20 years before and that one of my earliest forays into medical skepticism occurred in the early 2000s when I was faculty at a cancer center in New Jersey and noted radio ads for AmeriScan, Dr. Craig Bittner. The overblown claims being made for the scans, which included breast MRI and various whole body CT scans, being able to “catch cancer early” and save lives led me on a bit of a crusade that I wrote about back in 2005. Ultimately, AmeriScan went out of business, as whole body scans of the type it sold went out of favor, but bad ideas in medicine are evergreen. It was thus inevitable that, as the technology progressed by leaps and bounds over the next two decades, other companies would see profit potential selling old wine (whole body scans) in a new bottle (AI-augmented CT and MRI).
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Futurism ☛ Elon Musk’s Tunnel Reportedly Oozing With Skin-Burning Chemical Sludge
In interviews with the news source, Boring Company workers who declined to give their names on the record for fear of retribution said that in some parts of Musk's Vegas tunnel system, the sludge would sometimes be up to two feet high. If it got over their work boots or onto their faces, they said, it would burn their skin.
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CS Monitor ☛ Florida passes bill to ban social media access for anyone under 16
Florida’s Republican-controlled legislature has passed legislation that would ban anyone under age 16 from social media platforms in a move that supporters have said would protect young people from online risks to their mental health.
The measure, which goes to the desk of Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis after being passed by lawmakers Feb. 22, would require social media platforms to terminate the accounts of people under 16 and use a third-party verification system to screen out those who are underage.
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Futurism ☛ Doctors Concerned About Neuralink's First Patient
Neuralink founder Elon Musk claimed this week that the first human to receive one of his company's heavily scrutinized brain implants was already able to control a mouse cursor with their mind.
The only problem? Since then, Neuralink hasn't shared any evidence supporting that claim — and medical researchers are starting to call its bluff.
As shared in a new writeup for Nature, not only is this is hardly a new innovation, but we're not getting enough information from Neuralink to verify its claims, or more distressingly, to assess the safety of its practices.
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The Hill ☛ For Big Oil, deadly childhood asthma is the cost of doing business
Fossil fuel pollution is a primary cause of childhood asthma. The fuels’ emissions also cause lung cancer, COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease), heart attacks, strokes, impaired cognitive functioning, premature births and deaths, impairments in mental functioning, and greater susceptibility to infection.
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Pro Publica ☛ Inside the Internal Debates of a Hospital Abortion Committee
Sitting at her computer one day in late December, Dr. Sarah Osmundson mustered her best argument to approve an abortion for a suffering patient.
The woman was 14 weeks pregnant when she learned her fetus was developing without a skull. This increased the likelihood of a severe buildup of amniotic fluid, which could cause her uterus to rupture and possibly kill her. Osmundson, a maternal-fetal medicine specialist at Vanderbilt University Medical Center who helps patients navigate high-risk pregnancies, knew that outcome was uncommon, but she had seen it happen.
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Proprietary/Artificial Intelligence (AI)
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Supermassive Games Entering Consultation, Anticipates Layoffs
The message was issued on Twitter/X, which is surprising to see that a studio announce they are going to be laying off people given these stuff are usually swept under the rug by most companies.
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Supermassive Games faces restructurings and layoffs
Though the company admits the hard time the games industry is facing right now, the announcement did not detail just how impacted the studio was by this decision. Just prior to this announcement, Jason Schreier of Bloomberg reported that the layoffs will affect around 90 Supermassive Games staff. That’s up to 30% of its employee base.
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Venture Beat ☛ Supermassive Games adds to the expanding list of industry layoffs
Supermassive Games, the developer of Until Dawn and The Dark Pictures anthology, announced today that it is adding to the growing list of studios laying off staff in 2024. The studio said that, in part because of prevailing problems in the industry, it will be reorganizing, and plans to enter a period of consultation. Reportedly, it may lay off up to 90 people, or around 25-30% of its staff.
Bloomberg reports that 150 Supermassive employees were warned that their jobs were at risk today, in accordance with labor laws. It also says that the company expects to lay off around 90 people after its consultation period. Supermassive later confirmed this in a statement on X (formerly Twitter), saying, “We are all too aware of how unsettling and difficult this process is going to be for all our employees and will be working closely with all those involved to ensure the process is conducted as respectfully and compassionately as possible.”
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Fandom Inc ☛ Until Dawn Dev Supermassive Games Is Cutting Jobs
Supermassive Games, the British studio known for games like Until Dawn and The Quarry, is cutting numerous positions. According to Bloomberg, the studio notified staffers on Monday that there will be 90 layoffs at the studio, and that 150 positions overall are "at risk."
The site pointed out how UK labor laws require companies to give advance notice of layoffs. The notification reportedly came today, February 26.
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Until Dawn, Little Nightmares III Developer Supermassive Games Is Laying Off 90 Employees
Supermassive Games, the developer behind Until Dawn, The Quarry, and the upcoming Little Nightmares III, is laying off roughly 90 employees, according to a new report from Bloomberg. The publication reports that 150 staff members at the British studio were informed today they are “at risk” of being laid off in accordance with U.K. labor laws that require companies to give notice ahead of layoffs.
Shortly after Bloomberg’s report went live, the studio tweeted the following statement:
It’s no secret that the games industry is currently facing significant challenges, and unfortunately we aren’t immune to this.
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Employment Opportunities Plummet as Interest Rate Impact Takes Hold
Recent data from the job search engine Adzuna reveals a concerning trend: job vacancies have plummeted to below 900,000 for the first time since April 2021. This represents a significant 15% decline compared to the previous year, signalling a challenging environment for jobseekers.
The current economic downturn has prompted widespread anticipation for an impending interest rate cut, particularly in light of the Bank of England's unprecedented string of 14 consecutive increases in borrowing costs.
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Layoffs Target Remote Workers More Than In-Office Staff
As Bloomberg News noted in a recent report, the white-collar labor market has cooled, leading companies to scale back their work-from-home offering.
The report, citing information from employment firm Live Data Technologies, says that fully remote staff were more likely to be cut last year than their counterparts who worked in office.
The share of postings for fully remote jobs in the U.S. on LinkedIn fell more than nine percentage points between the beginning of 2022 and the end of 2023. And among Fortune 100 companies, the average in-office attendance requirement is now 3.1 days, according to real estate firm JLL.
“The perception that it’s a lousy job market is persuading people that they better say ‘yes’ [to in-office work] because they don’t want to hunt for a job in a down market,” Peter Cappelli, director of the Wharton Center for Human Resources, told Bloomberg.
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EA lays off staff after sunsetting MLB Tap Sports and F1 Mobile Racing
Electronic Arts is set to lay off some of its staff after sunsetting two of its mobile titles EA Sports MLB Tap Sports and F1 Mobile Racing.
Speaking to GamesIndustry.biz, EA stated, “This is a difficult decision that we know impacts passionate communities who have played and enjoyed these games, and we do not take it lightly. We extend our thanks and appreciation to the MLB, MLBPA, OneTeam Partners, and MLBPAA for their close and valuable partnership.”
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67,000 IT Employees Fired By TCS, Infosys, Wipro, Tech M In Last 365 Days
Year 2023 has been a precarious one for techies around the globe due to the large-scale layoffs announced and executed by companies. No company has been immune to this and many people who lost their jobs from companies like Twitter (now called X), Meta, Google, Amazon, and Microsoft came forward and shared their ordeal and storied on LinkedIn.
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South Korean Doctors Walk Off Jobs, Demand Better Conditions
A significant portion of South Korea’s medical workforce, consisting of over 7,800 interns and residents, have resigned from their positions to protest against working conditions and policy directives.
The mass resignation, emblematic of deep-seated discontent within the medical community, has thrust the nation’s healthcare system into turmoil.
Ryu Ok Hada and Park Dan, representative of the disenchanted junior doctors, highlight a chorus of voices calling for improved pay, reduced work hours, and increased recognition.
The doctors, often hailed as a crucial cog in South Korea’s esteemed medical infrastructure, decry being overworked, underpaid, and unheard.
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Unmitigated Risk ☛ Navigating Content Authentication In the Age of Generative AI | UNMITIGATED RISK
So, where does this take us? If we take a step back, what we see is that societally we are now seeing an increased awareness of the need to authenticate digital artifacts’ integrity and origin, just like we saw with the need for encryption a decade ago. In part, this is why we already see content authentication initiatives and discussions, geared for different artifact types like documents, pictures, videos, code, web applications, and others. What is not talked about much is that each of these use cases often involves solving the same core problems, such as: [...]
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Gizmodo ☛ The U.S. Is Already Using AI to Conduct Airstrikes
If you’ve been wondering when our military would start deploying artificial intelligence on the battlefield, the answer is that it appears to be already happening. The Pentagon has been using computer vision algorithms to help identify targets for airstrikes, according to a report from Bloomberg News. Just recently, those algorithms were used to help carry out more than 85 airstrikes as part of a mission in the Middle East.
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Security Week ☛ Zyxel Patches Remote Code Execution Bug in Firewall Products
Taiwanese networking device maker Zyxel has rolled out patches for multiple defects in its firewall and access point products alongside warnings that unpatched systems are at risk of remote code execution attacks.
Zyxel, a company that has struggled with software security problems, documented at least four vulnerabilities that expose businesses to code execution, command injection and denial-of-service exploitation.
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Silicon Angle ☛ Dissecting the AI boom through the dotcom lens
Many people question whether the current artificial intelligence boom will end in the same way that the dotcom bubble burst.
It’s understandable, as there are many similarities, especially with the exuberance seen this past week in the stock market following Nvidia Corp.’s earnings print. Although it’s easy to dismiss AI as a completely different era, there are some stark similarities that are worth remembering.
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MIT Technology Review ☛ Wikimedia’s CTO: In the age of AI, human contributors still matter
Now almost three decades into a career in open-source technology, Deckelmann is the chief product and technology officer (CPTO) at the Wikimedia Foundation, the nonprofit that hosts and manages Wikipedia. There she not only guides one of the most turned-to sources of information in the world but serves a vast community of “Wikipedians,” the hundreds of thousands of real-life individuals who spend their free time writing, editing, and discussing entries—in more than 300 languages—to make Wikipedia what it is today.
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Modern Diplomacy ☛ ‘Robot cars’ are coming. How can we make sure they’re safe?
Francois Guichard is the lead UN official on Intelligent Transport Systems and Automated Driving, and secretary of the Working Party on Automated/Autonomous and Connected Vehicles. He told Conor Lennon from UN News that the hype surrounding the arrival of driverless cars has always outpaced the reality.
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Silicon Angle ☛ Broadcom to offload VMware’s remote access computing business to KKR in $3.8B deal
Updated with announced deal: Chipmaker Broadcom Inc. is selling VMware Inc.’s End User Compute business to the private equity firm KKR & Co. Inc. in a deal worth $4 billion.
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Security
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Integrity/Availability/Authenticity
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RFERL ☛ Made In Macedonia: Americans Lose Millions Buying Fake Donald Trump Debit Cards
What she didn't know was that behind the offer of "Trump Collection" cards was an opaque group of web-based vendors from a faded industrial city 8,500 kilometers away. And that city, in the Balkan country of North Macedonia, was already notorious for being home to legions of scammers who had fraudulently monetized Donald Trump's popularity in the United States and around the world.
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The Register UK ☛ Man admits to paying magician $150 to create Biden robocall
A political consultant admitted to paying a magician to create a fake anti-Biden robocall urging people not to vote in a Democratic primary election.
Steve Kramer was reportedly paid over $250,000 to rally support for Dean Phillips (D-MN), a Congressman up against Biden to become the Democratic nominee for the US presidency. He claimed to have written the script for the robocall mimicking Biden, and gave $150 to a New Orleans magician named Paul Carpenter to clone the President's voice using the magic of AI. Later, he hired telemarketing firm Life Co. to spread the fake message to more than 5,000 voters.
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Privacy/Surveillance
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YLE ☛ Supo accidentally sent out all its payroll data to gmail account
The breach included nearly all the payroll information of the Finnish Security and Intelligence Service.
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Techdirt ☛ Massachusetts State Troopers Used A Phone App To Make Hundreds Of Illegal Recordings
Law enforcement says laws are the rules that apply to everyone, but especially to people who aren’t in the law enforcement business. We have to follow the laws or face the consequences. But it often appears cops hold themselves to a lower standard. They only have to follow the laws that won’t get in the way of them doing cop stuff.
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404 Media ☛ Texas Sues Pornhub, Claiming It’s Ignoring Age Verification Law
In June, Governor Greg Abbott signed into law HB 1181, which required adult sites to conduct age verification on users, who would be forced to show digital IDs or other official proof of age in order to look at porn in the privacy of their own home, or anywhere on any device at all. The law would also require sites to place a “Texas Health and Human Services Warning” on their homepages in 14-point font or larger.
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The Local SE ☛ EXPLAINED: How do I get a Swedish digital mailbox?
A digital mailbox – or digital brevlåda in Swedish – is a place for you to receive post from authorities, regions and municipalities digitally. With some digital mailboxes, you can also receive post from private companies, such as invoices, payslips and receipts.
If you have a digital mailbox, you'll receive your tax declaration as a PDF by March 4th-8th, although even without a digital mailbox you'll still be able to log into the Tax Agency's page and view your tax declaration there.
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Confidentiality
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EFF ☛ EFF Statement on Nevada's Attack on End-to-End Encryption
Encryption is the most vital means we have to protect privacy, which is especially important for young people online. Yet in the name of protecting children, Nevada seems to be arguing that merely offering encryption on a social media platform that Meta knows has been used by criminals is itself illegal. This cannot be the law; in practice it would let the state prohibit all platforms from offering encryption, and such a ruling would raise serious constitutional concerns. Lawsuits like this also demonstrate the risks posed by bills like EARN IT and Stop CSAM that are now pending before Congress: state governments already are trying to eliminate encryption for all of us, and these dangerous bills would give them even more tools to do so.
EFF plans to speak up for users in the Nevada proceeding and fight this misguided effort to prohibit encryption. Stay tuned.
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Techdirt ☛ Nevada Is In Court This Morning Looking To Get A Temporary Restraining Order Blocking Meta From Using End-To-End Encryption
There have been plenty of silly lawsuits against tech companies over the last few years, but a new one from Nevada against Meta may be the most crazy — and most dangerous — that we’ve seen so far. While heavily redacted, the basics fit the pattern of all of these lawsuits. Vague claims of harms to children from social media, with lots of vague handwaving and conclusory statements with no basis in insisting that certain harms are directly traceable back to choices Meta made (despite a near total lack of evidence to support those claims).
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Defence/Aggression
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The Straits Times ☛ Taliban releases Austrian far-right activist held in Afghanistan
The Taliban on Sunday released Herbert Fritz, an 84-year-old Austrian and far-right nationalist who was arrested in Afghanistan last May.
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JURIST ☛ Tunisia court sentences former president to 8 years in prison for alleged incitement
The Tunis Court of First Instance sentenced former president Moncef Marzouki in absentia on Friday to eight years in prison, according to a statement from the court’s spokesman, Mohamed Zaitouneh, to Tunisia’s state news agency.
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JURIST ☛ Tunisia opposition figure sentenced to 6 months imprisonment for election criticism
The Court of First Instance of Tunis sentenced prominent opposition figure Jawher Ben Mbarek to six months in prison, his sister and lawyer Dalila Ben Mbarek Masddek announced in a live video on Facebook (Farcebook) on Saturday.
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The Register UK ☛ Underwater internet cables in Red Sea reportedly damaged
The first reports of damage to submarine cables off the coast of Yemen began emerged on Monday morning, with Israeli news outlet Globes claiming that four cables (EIG, AAE-1, Seacom and TGN-EA) had experienced damage. Seacom has reportedly confirmed damage to a cable it operates on a stretch between Kenya and Egypt.
"The location of the cable break is significant due to its geopolitical sensitivity and ongoing tensions, making it a challenging environment for maintenance and repair operations," Seacom said. "The team is currently working towards restoration timelines and will communicate these plans with our clients."
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Defence Web ☛ SANDF acquires MAX 3 armoured vehicles, surveillance equipment for border patrols
The South African National Defence Force (SANDF) has acquired half a dozen SVI MAX 3 armoured vehicles as well as surveillance equipment to help combat border crimes during Operation Corona deployments.
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Russia, Belarus, and War in Ukraine
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Meduza ☛ State-controlled ‘autonomy’ How the Kremlin uses ‘independent organizations’ to do its propaganda dirty work — Meduza
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New York Times ☛ The Spy War: How the C.I.A. Secretly Helps Ukraine Fight Putin
For more than a decade, the United States has nurtured a secret intelligence partnership with Ukraine that is now critical for both countries in countering Russia.
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Latvia ☛ Do Latvians know what to do in a crisis situation?
We have witnessed Russia's war in Ukraine for two years. Many have asked themselves – what would I do in this situation? As found by Latvian Radio, many have come to the conclusion that someone else would take care of it, meanwhile, the National Armed Forces say everyone must know how to protect themselves.
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Federal News Network ☛ Biden is summoning congressional leaders to the White House to talk Ukraine and government funding
President Joe Biden will convene the top four congressional leaders at the White House on Tuesday to discuss the emergency aid package for Ukraine and Israel, as well as avoiding a government shutdown next month. That's according to a White House official, who spoke anonymously to discuss a meeting not yet publicly confirmed. The top four leaders include House Speaker Mike Johnson, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries, and Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell.
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AntiWar ☛ After Two Years, Neocons Desperate for More War in Ukraine
In a recent CNN interview, the normally very confident US Under Secretary of State Victoria Nuland sounded a little desperate.
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Atlantic Council ☛ The EU needs a more comprehensive plan to aid Ukraine
Brussels has an important role to play in terms of pan-European defense procurement, military training, and economic recovery in Ukraine.
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Atlantic Council ☛ Ukraine’s recovery hinges on allied support
Ukraine faces challenges with its judicial system and war aftermath, including destruction, displacement, and educational setbacks. Recovery will require allied support and strategic policies.
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Atlantic Council ☛ EU’s future prosperity will be marked by war in Ukraine
The EU’s freedom and prosperity dynamics will be marked by the war in Ukraine. The indexes provoke philosophical reflection: Is Europe's prosperity dwindling due to an extensive social safety net? Is the strength of European integration declining with new members, while the strength of EU federalism diminishes?
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France24 ☛ Macron not ruling out Western troops on the ground in Ukraine
French President Emmanuel Macron announced Monday new steps to boost Ukraine in its fight against the Russian invasion, saying not even the sending of Western ground troops was ruled out to achieve Europe's goal of defeating Moscow.
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France24 ☛ Hungary approves Sweden's NATO bid after months of blocking membership
Hungary’s parliament voted Monday to ratify Sweden's bid to join NATO, bringing an end to more than 18 months of delays that have frustrated the alliance as it seeks to expand in response to Russia's war in Ukraine.
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New York Times ☛ Hungary Approves Sweden’s Accession to NATO
Budapest had been the final obstacle to the Nordic country’s joining the alliance, which has been trying to isolate Russia over its war in Ukraine.
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New York Times ☛ The NATO Welcoming Sweden Is Larger and More Determined
The alliance’s expansion, with Finland last year and soon Sweden, was a consequence from the invasion of Ukraine that Russia’s president may not have calculated.
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JURIST ☛ President Zelensky says more than 31,000 Ukrainian soldiers killed since Russia’s invasion two years ago
President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Sunday that 31,000 Ukrainian soldiers had been killed since Russia’s full-scale invasion two years ago. This was Zelensky’s first release in over a year of public casualty figures since the beginning of Russia’s invasion, which has garnered accusations of violations of international law.
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LRT ☛ Lithuania won’t recognise elections in Russia-occupied territories of Ukraine – president
Lithuania will not recognise elections organised by Russia in the occupied and annexed territories of Ukraine, Lithuanian President Gitanas Nausėda has said.
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LRT ☛ Polish farmers plan blockade on Lithuania border over Ukrainian grain: ‘We want to check trucks’
The Polish farmers are expanding their protests against the transit of Ukrainian grain. This week, they are preparing for two new blockades at the Polish-German border crossing in Świecko and the Budzisko-Kalvarija crossing on the border with Lithuania.
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LRT ☛ Lithuania buys demining trucks for Ukraine
Lithuania’s Central Project Management Agency (CPMA) is buying four light trucks for demining work for Ukraine’s State Emergency Service.
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RFERL ☛ Kremlin Dismisses Suggestion Of Peace Talks Without Russia As Western Leaders Discuss Ukraine In Paris
Russia has rejected an idea advanced by Switzerland about possible talks in Geneva on a peace plan for Ukraine without Moscow's participation as "ridiculous."
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RFERL ☛ Prosecutor Seeks Almost Three Years For Veteran Russian Rights Defender
A prosecutor in the high-profile retrial of veteran Russian rights defender Oleg Orlov has asked a Moscow court to sentence the co-chair of the Nobel Peace Prize winning Memorial human rights center to two years and 11 months on a charge of "repeatedly discrediting" Russian armed forces.
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RFERL ☛ Allies Agree On Coalition To Supply Ukraine With Medium- And Long-Range Missiles, Macron Says
European leaders have agreed to create a coalition to supply Ukraine with medium- and long-range missiles and bombs to back Kyiv's efforts to stave off Russia's invasion, French President Emmanuel Macron said after a summit of continental leaders in Paris.
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RFERL ☛ Former Russian Actor Gets Life Sentence For Joining Group Fighting For Ukraine
A military court in Moscow on February 26 sentenced to life in prison on high-treason charge former actor Kirill Kanakhin, who joined the so-called Russian Volunteer Corps (RDK) fighting along Ukrainian forces against Russian troops.
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RFERL ☛ Scholz Reiterates No Taurus Delivery To Avoid Ukraine War Involvement
Chancellor Olaf Scholz has again ruled out delivering German Taurus cruise missiles to Ukraine at this time, citing the risk of Germany becoming involved in the war.
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New Yorker ☛ Ty Cobb on Trump’s Admiration for Putin
The former Trump White House attorney is sounding the alarm on the consequences of ignoring the ex-President’s rhetoric on Russia, and his actions on January 6th.
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France24 ☛ Navalny was close to being freed in prisoner swap deal, team says
Associates of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny said Monday that talks were underway shortly before his death to exchange him for a Russian imprisoned in Germany.
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RFERL ☛ Associate Says Navalny Killed As Exchange Deal To West Neared
An associate of the late Aleksei Navalny claims a prisoner swap involving the Russian opposition leader was in the final stages before he died in a remote Siberian prison.
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New York Times ☛ Navalny Was Part of Discussions on a Prisoner Exchange
Allies of Aleksei Navalny said he was about to be freed in a swap. A Western official said discussions for his release and that of two Americans had been underway, but no deal was imminent.
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Meduza ☛ Navalny’s team to hold public memorial for him at the end of this week — Meduza
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RFERL ☛ Navalny Associates Say Looking For Place In Russia To Bid Farewell To Kremlin Foe
Kira Yarmysh, the former spokeswoman for Aleksei Navalny, said on February 26 that his associates are looking for premises to hold a farewell ceremony for the opposition leader, who died in a remote Russian prison on February 16.
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JURIST ☛ Close ally of Alexei Navalny claims he was days away from being freed in a prisoner exchange
A close ally of recently deceased Alexei Navalny, Maria Pevchikh, claimed Monday that the Russian dissident was just days away from being freed in a prisoner exchange.
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The Strategist ☛ Russia will honour Navalny some day
We may never know exactly how and why Alexei Navalny died in the remote Arctic penal colony where he was detained.
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RFERL ☛ Kazakh Activists Mark Second Anniversary Of Ukraine War With Rally In Almaty
Kazakh activists marked the second anniversary of Russia's full-scale aggression against Ukraine with a rally over the weekend in the Central Asian nation's largest city, Almaty, to show support for Kyiv.
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Atlantic Council ☛ Polish Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski on how the West must stand up to Russia’s aggression
Sikorski joined the Atlantic Council to outline his government's priorities and discuss ways the West can stop dictators—such as Vladimir Putin—from shaping the world order.
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France24 ☛ Denmark closes investigation into 2022 Nord Stream pipeline ‘sabotage’
Danish police said Monday that they were closing their investigation into the 2022 sabotage of the Nord Stream gas pipelines linking Russia and Germany, a move dubbed "close to absurd" by the Kremlin.
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RFERL ☛ Denmark Ends Probe Into Nord Stream Blasts, Blames 'Deliberate Sabotage'
Denmark on February 26 announced that it had ended an investigation into the explosions that partially destroyed the Nord Stream 1 and 2 pipelines in 2022 and that Western countries initially blamed on Moscow.
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RFERL ☛ Two Killed In Russian Air Strike On Ukraine's Sumy Region
Two people were killed in a Russian air strike in the northeastern Sumy region on February 26 as Russia unleashed a fresh wave of drone and missile strikes on Ukraine, regional officials and the military said.
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teleSUR ☛ Italy Announces Bilateral Security Deal With Ukraine
The partnership includes cooperation in defense, economy, infrastructure, energy, and humanitarian support.
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YLE ☛ Niinistö discusses Ukraine in Paris; Valtonen addresses UN council in Geneva
Finnish President Sauli Niinistö began his final week in office with a conference in France on Monday.
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New York Times ☛ Macron Not Ruling Out Western Troops on the Ground in Ukraine
The French leader said that talks had not resulted in any consensus among European officials on putting troops on the ground in an “official” way, but that “anything is possible.”
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Atlantic Council ☛ Russia will suffer decreases in every dimension of prosperity
Over fifteen years, Russia's economy stagnated with low growth and persistent inequality. Challenges include minority rights restrictions, healthcare issues, and an educational crisis due to teacher exodus.
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Atlantic Council ☛ Polish Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski: ‘Helping Ukraine is not only a good deed. It’s also a good deal.’
The United States must continue to back Ukraine and deepen its alliances to stop Putin's aggression and prevent a wider global conflict.
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JURIST ☛ Bulgaria bans two Russian nationals on allegations of espionage
Bulgarian authorities announced Monday that they had imposed an entry ban on two Russian nationals, alleging that they had set up false identities in order to engage in espionage.
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LRT ☛ Possibly Russian parts in Lithuanian-Polish pipeline must be replaced – ministry
Alvora, the main contractor of the Gas Interconnection Poland-Lithuania (GIPL), will have to replace the possibly Russian-made connecting elbows installed during the construction of the strategically important gas pipeline, Lithuania’s Energy Ministry has said.
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LRT ☛ Lithuania to stop, inspect all Russian, Belarusian grain – ministry
In response to the situation in the region, the Lithuanian Agriculture Ministry is tightening controls on grain imports from Russia and other high-risk countries.
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LRT ☛ Lithuania not planning to follow Latvia in banning Russian grain imports
After the Latvian parliament last week temporarily banned imports of Russian and Belarusian agricultural products, Lithuania is not planning to follow suit.
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RFERL ☛ Russian Tycoon Antipov Reportedly Detained In Fraud Case
Russian media reports said on February 26 that police detained oligarch Yury Antipov in an unspecified fraud case.
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RFERL ☛ Bulgaria Bans Two Russians From Entering EU
Bulgaria has banned two Russian citizens from entering Bulgaria and the entire European Union for five years over their alleged role in a security agency operation in the Balkan country, its state security agency said on February 26.
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teleSUR ☛ Early Voting for Russian Presidential Election Begins
The Central Election Commission has decided to extend the voting period from March 15 to 17.
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teleSUR ☛ Russia to Retaliate Against Sanctions on Its Overseas Assets
Western countries have imposed sanctions on Russia since February 2022, freezing both sovereign and private assets.
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New York Times ☛ Canadian Skaters File Appeal Seeking Medals From Beijing Olympics
Reviving a fight from the 2022 Games, Canada’s team said skating officials improperly awarded third place to Russia. The Russians filed three cases, asking for the gold.
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RFERL ☛ Belarusian Parliamentary Elections Seen As Dress Rehearsal For Presidential Poll
Parliamentary elections in Belarus are being viewed as a dress rehearsal for the presidential election that is scheduled to take place next year in which the country's authoritarian leader, Alyaksandr Lukashenka, is expected to be the only viable candidate.
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LRT ☛ Number of incoming Belarusians drops in Lithuania – Migration Department
The number of Belarusians coming to Lithuania has been going down over the last few months, as businesses have been shifting their focus and inviting employees from other countries, Evelina Gudzinskaitė, head of Lithuania’s Migration Department, has said.
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Latvia ☛ Border Guard: Latvia-Belarus border zone is carefully monitored
The State Border Guard said in a statement on February 26 that due to the increased border control regime on the border between Latvia and Belarus, many are refused the issue of special passes for the border zone.
‘Latching onto successful projects’ Leaked documents suggest Kremlin spin doctors are presenting popular movies and TV to Putin as propaganda wins — Meduza
‘We needed to get him out of prison’ Navalny’s team says Putin killed him because negotiations for his release in prisoner swap were nearing completion — Meduza
Putin killed Navalny because negotiations for his release in prisoner swap were nearing completion, Navalny associate Maria Pevchikh says — Meduza
Video reportedly shows Russian soldiers executing seven Ukrainian POWs near Bakhmut — Meduza
Russian defector murdered in Spain was ‘under protection plan,’ Zelensky administration advisor Podolyak says — Meduza
‘They asked each person: Are you a boy or a girl?’ Russian authorities increasingly raiding private parties in search of LGBT people — Meduza
LGBT bar in Russia’s Krasnoyarsk announces closure following police raids and public accusations from censorship activist Ekaterina Mizulina — Meduza
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Transparency/Investigative Reporting
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The Dissenter ☛ The ACLU, South Carolina, and Information Control In Prisons
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Environment
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Omicron Limited ☛ 'Janitors' of the sea: Overharvested sea cucumbers play crucial role in protecting coral
Corals are foundational for ocean life. Known as the rainforests of the sea, they create habitats for 25% of all marine organisms, despite only covering less than 1% of the ocean's area.
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Vox ☛ How big are factory farms? How mega-sized factory farms took over America’s food system, explained in 9 charts.
In a few generations, factory farming — the set of economic, genetic, chemical, and pharmaceutical innovations that enabled humanity to raise tens of billions of animals for food every year — has transformed America.
It has polluted our water and air, ruining quality of life for people who live near animal confinements. It has altered entire landscapes, helping drive the conversion of much of the Midwest’s biodiverse prairie grasslands to soy and cornfields growing feed for billions of animals warehoused in industrial sheds. It contributes an outsized share of planet-warming emissions, heightens the risk of another zoonotic pandemic, and causes unfathomable, normalized suffering for the animals themselves.
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International Business Times ☛ Botanical Gardens Emerge as the Most Effective Green Spaces for Cooling Streets During Heatwaves
In a thorough examination of research on the heat-mitigating attributes of green spaces during heatwaves, botanical gardens have emerged as the most effective.
The Global Centre for Clean Air Research (GCCAR) team, responsible for this finding, envisions that it will serve as valuable insight for policymakers tasked with planning cities in the face of a warming world.
The establishment of the Reclaim Network Plus signifies a global initiative bringing together planners, academics, city officials, charities and businesses.
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Energy/Transportation
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DeSmog ☛ Ellen Ormesher and Kathryn Clare Join DeSmog to Investigate Advertising Industry
DeSmog is excited to welcome investigative reporter Ellen Ormesher and researcher Kathryn Clare to our team focused on climate accountability in the advertising and public relations industry.
Ellen joins us from The Drum, where she was a senior reporter covering sustainability in the advertising sector. Her work has also been featured in The Guardian.
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DeSmog ☛ Investors Challenge ‘Blind Spots’ in Climate-Friendly Ratings for Ad and PR Giants
For money managers who want to prove they care about the climate, buying shares in big advertising and public relations companies might look like a safe bet.
Ad giants such as WPP, Omnicom and Interpublic Group (IPG) score highly on the rankings used to gauge a company’s sustainability performance — so they’re attractive to green fund investors.
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Craig Mod ☛ Electric Bike, Stupid Love of My Life — by Craig Mod
My electric bike sings, emits a nearly imperceptible hum from its tiny motor. I love its song. A song of peace and magic. Has money ever bought as much delight as the delight of an electric bike?
The first time I rode one was nearly a decade ago, in Kyoto. The electric bike I rented was huge and unwieldy, but that tug of its motor never left my mind. I went to climb a hill and it felt as if a giant had gently placed his hand on my back and pushed me forward. That stupid smile has been on my face ever since.
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Martin Gunnarsson ☛ My bicycle
The hub dynamo was not part of the bike as presented in the catalog, but was custom made for me at the factory. Skeppshult assemble their wheels in-house, so I could get the correct rim, matching the rear one, but with a hub dynamo instead of the original one. I also asked for a metal chain guard instead of the ghastly transparent plastic one the bike was supposed to come with. I was pleasantly surprised that this level of customization was possible directly from the factory, and even more so that the man at the bicycle shop didn't seem to think it was anything out of the ordinary. The customizations were surprisingly cheap as well as I recall it, so the whole ordering process was a very positive experience.
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Tech Central (South Africa) ☛ AI is exploding data centre energy use
A technique pioneered by Google is gaining currency as more power-hungry artificial intelligence comes online: using software to hunt for clean electricity in parts of the world with excess sun and wind on the grid, then ramping up data centre operations there. Doing so could cut carbon and costs.
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Atlantic Council ☛ Western Balkans must pursue more competitive energy sectors
The EU needs to take steps to support more competition and efficiency in the energy sectors of Bulgaria and the Western Balkans to advance the energy transition and promote energy independence from Russia.
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Wildlife/Nature
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The Revelator ☛ Out-of-Control Wildlife Trade Is Shackling a Key Climate Solution
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The Atlantic ☛ How to Talk to Whales
I recently visited the paleontologist Nick Pyenson in his office at the end of a long corridor of fossils at the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History. As we hefted a sperm whale’s skull out of a fiberglass crate, he told me that the clans likely date back to the Ice Age and that a few could be hundreds of thousands of years old. Their codas could be orders of magnitude more ancient than Sanskrit. We don’t know how much meaning they convey, but we do know that they’ll be very difficult to decode. Project CETI’s scientists will need to observe the whales for years and achieve fundamental breakthroughs in AI. But if they’re successful, humans could be able to initiate a conversation with whales.
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Finance
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France24 ☛ Eiffel Tower reopens after six-day strike over monument’s maintenance
The Eiffel Tower reopened to visitors on Sunday after a six-day closure because of striking employees demanding better maintenance of the historic landmark, showing traces of rust, and salary hikes.
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Le Monde ☛ The UK's second city Birmingham is bankrupt
Since the success of the Commonwealth Games it hosted in 2022, one of Britain's former industrial cities has sunk into crisis. Poor management is one of the reasons for its downfall. The local government is due to present a rescue plan.
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Quartz ☛ Reddit warns r/WallStreetBets subreddit could hit IPO, stock price
The volatility could cause people to lose all or part of their investment, the company explained, if they are unable to sell their shares at or above the IPO price. The long-term effect of movements like those propelled by r/WallStreetBets is already documented, with the takeaway being that surges of interest and heavy investment don’t necessarily bring success to companies over time.
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AstroTurf/Lobbying/Politics
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New York Times ☛ Spending Impasse Persists Amid G.O.P. Resistance as Partial Shutdown Looms
With Republicans insisting on adding right-wing policy measures to spending bills, lawmakers are running out of time to strike a deal to avert a partial government shutdown before a deadline of Friday at midnight.
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New York Times ☛ Instagram and Facebook Subscriptions Get New Scrutiny in Child Safety Suit
The New Mexico attorney general, who last year sued Meta alleging that it did not protect children from sexual predators and had made false claims about its platforms’ safety, announced Monday that his office would examine how the company’s paid-subscription services attract predators.
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Federal News Network ☛ NIST finalizes Cybersecurity Framework updates
The National Institute of Standards and Technology is out with a major update to its landmark Cybersecurity Framework.
But the key changes in “CSF 2.0” aren’t major shifts in cybersecurity best practices. Instead, officials point out that the new document reflects the broad use of the framework across different industries and technologies, as well as the deepening push to regulate cybersecurity in many sectors.
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Michael Geist ☛ My First Take on the Online Harms Act: Worst of 2021 Plan Now Gone But Digital Safety Commission Regulatory Power a Huge Concern
After years of delay, the government tabled Bill C-63, the Online Harms Act, earlier today. The bill is really three-in-one: the Online Harms Act that creates new duties for Internet companies and a sprawling new enforcement system, changes to the Criminal Code and Canada Human Rights Act that meet longstanding requests from groups to increase penalties and enforcement against hate but which will raise expression concerns and a flood of complaints, and expansion of mandatory reporting of child pornography to ensure that it includes social media companies. This post will seek to unpack some of the key provisions, but with a 100+ page bill, this will require multiple posts and analysis. My immediate response to the government materials was that the bill is significantly different from the 2021 consultation and that many of the worst fears – borne from years of poorly thought out digital policy – have not been realized. Once I worked through the bill itself, concerns about the enormous power vested in the new Digital Safety Commission, which has the feel of a new CRTC funded by the tech companies, began to grow.
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Modern Diplomacy ☛ Global Cybercrime Treaty: A delicate balance between security and human rights
Cybercrime is a multi-trillion-dollar business. Drugs and weapons are being bought on the “dark web”, fraudsters are fleecing members of the public in elaborate online scams, and terrorists are grooming supporters and recruiting fighters. Recognizing the growing dangers of cybercrime, the UN has set about drafting a legally-binding international treaty to counter the threat. Five years later, negotiations are still ongoing, with parties unable to reach an acceptable consensus, and the latest meeting of the Committee members in February 2024 did not conclude with an agreed draft, with countries unable to agree on wording that would balance human rights safeguards with security concerns.
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Misinformation/Disinformation/Propaganda
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Gizmodo ☛ Elon Musk Shares Tweet Falsely Claiming 'Media Blackout' in Death of Georgia College Student
What evidence does Zerohedge present for the assertion that mainstream media outlets are ignoring this murder? None, if you actually read the article. The author simply claims it’s true: [...]
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Zimbabwe ☛ Gemini (Bard) saying Musk is as bad as Hilter and producing images of black Nazis and lady popes cause for concern
You don’t live in Zimbabwe without understanding how the control of the flow of information is the best way to preserve power. Propaganda looks silly when you’re not swayed by the particular lies being peddled but we all fall for it. You are not immune, is what I’m trying to say.
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Censorship/Free Speech
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Hong Kong Free Press ☛ Over 30 YouTube links related to 2019 protest song should be declared illegal, Hong Kong gov’t lawyers argue
More than 30 online links related to Glory to Hong Kong should be ruled as illegal, government lawyers have argued in an appeal against a lower court’s refusal to pass an injunction banning the 2019 protest anthem.
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Cory Dransfeldt ☛ It's past time to delete your Reddit account
You invested in their platform, now they're selling you out to investors. The platform will only, inexorably get worse for everyone logging into it.
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404 Media ☛ Police Bodycam Shows Sheriff Hunting for 'Obscene' Books at Library
Sheriff Robert Norris is speaking into his body camera. “Today’s date is April 20, approximately 7 a.m. Just want to document my visit to the Hayden Library. My attorney and I are just curious and would like to document this visit to see what kind of materials are on display here.”
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BBC ☛ Pakistan woman in Arabic print dress saved from mob claiming blasphemy
The dress has the word "Halwa" printed in Arabic letters on it, meaning sweet in Arabic.
Blasphemy is punishable by death in Pakistan. Some people have been lynched even before their cases go on trial.
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Freedom of Information / Freedom of the Press
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The Straits Times ☛ Hong Kong security law may hurt news reporting, press group says
The group called on the government to protect journalists from being held liable for normal reporting under the law.
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Hong Kong Free Press ☛ Article 23: New domestic security law may affect regular news reporting, says Hong Kong press group
The Hong Kong Journalists Association (HKJA) has raised concerns that the city’s new national security law could have “far-reaching implications” for the press, as it urged the government to provide protection for reporters.
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Jacobin Magazine ☛ Basic Press Freedoms Are at Stake in the Julian Assange Case
Although the US government began drawing up plans to destroy WikiLeaks shortly after the organization began, Assange’s peril truly began on April 5, 2010. On that day, at the National Press Club in Washington, DC, Assange and WikiLeaks published a video of a US gunship attack in Iraq. WikiLeaks provocatively titled the video “Collateral Murder.” The attack killed eighteen civilians, including two Reuters journalists. “Oh yeah, look at those dead bastards,” a soldier can be heard saying.
When a van stops to rescue the wounded, the soldiers fire upon it. They kill the men in the van and injure two children. After learning they had injured children, a soldier says, “Well, it’s their fault for bringing their kids into a battle.” Throughout the video, the soldiers can clearly be heard twisting facts in order to get permission to fire on their desired targets.
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International Business Times ☛ Julian Assange Will Face More Than 175 Years Imprisonment If Extradited To The US
While the two senior judges, who are reviewing the case, are set to deliver a ruling in the coming days or weeks, Judge Victoria Sharp said: "We will reserve our decision."
There have been no further updates on when the senior judges, including Judge Jeremy Johnson, will announce their decision.
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Scheerpost ☛ The Show Trial against Julian Assange
Never before has a journalist been charged under this law. The extradition process therefore sets a dangerous precedent. If it is successful, every journalist on Earth who exposes US war crimes would have to fear suffering the same fate as Assange. That would be the end of freedom of the press as we know it. Because it is based on the capacity to bring to light the dark sides of power without fear of punishment. Where this freedom is extinguished, it is not only the freedom of journalists that dies, but the freedom of us all: the freedom from the arbitrariness of power.
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Civil Rights/Policing
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The Straits Times ☛ Anti-Muslim hate speech soars in India, research group says
Rights groups have alleged mistreatment of Muslims since Modi became PM in 2014.
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Off Guardian ☛ Why France’s New “Anti-Vax Law” is MUCH Worse Than You Think
Last week France passed a new law, “to strengthen the fight against sectarian abuses and improve the support of victims.” . This was widely covered in the alt-media as a “law criminalizing anti-mRNA vaccine speech”, but that is not quite true and was thoroughly “fact-checked” by the usual suspects.
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RFA ☛ US official expresses concern over crackdown on Tibetans protesting dam
An American official expressed deep concern about the arrest of over 1,000 Tibetans protesting a dam project in central China that would destroy several Buddhist monasteries, saying the United States “stands with Tibetans in preserving their unique cultural, religious, and linguistic identity.”
Tibetan advocacy groups condemned China’s actions, calling for the immediate release of those detained.
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Off Guardian ☛ COVID-19 Tested Our Commitment to Freedom. Three Years Later, We’re Still Failing
“The remedy is worse than the disease.” Francis Bacon The government never cedes power willingly. Neither should we.
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Atlantic Council ☛ Regaining trust in government
Crises like COVID-19 prompt increased government control, challenging liberal values. Declining trust in governments clashes with security needs, urging policies to balance freedom and prosperity. Energy security challenges hinder net-zero goals, posing economic challenges globally, alongside privacy dilemmas amid surveillance tech in China, Russia, and the Middle East.
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Pro Publica ☛ What Happens When Prosecutors Offer Opposing Versions of the Truth?
When Baltimore police arrested Keyon Paylor in 2014, one of two things was true.
Either Paylor hid a gun that the police found, or the police planted the gun and framed Paylor.
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Internet Policy/Net Neutrality
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APNIC ☛ Event Wrap: 31st Convergence India Expo
APNIC hosted a booth at the 31st Convergence India Expo, held in New Delhi, India from 17 to 19 January 2024.
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APNIC ☛ GAC communiqués and community activity on DNS abuse
The DNS Abuse Institute launches a new level of reporting that reveals how malicious phishing and malware are distributed across the DNS registration ecosystem.
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Techdirt ☛ Surprise: Wall Street Journal Editorial Board (Correctly) Explains Why Florida’s & Texas’ Social Media Laws Are Horrible And Unconstitutional
This morning, as you likely heard, the Supreme Court heard oral arguments in the NetChoice/CCIA cases regarding Texas’ and Florida’s social media laws. The outcomes of these cases will have a pretty major impact on the future of online speech. While a lot of people have suggested that the states’ arguments are supported by conservatives, and the platforms’ arguments are supported by liberals, that’s not really how the support has lined up at all.
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Techdirt ☛ The Right To Advertise?
Sometimes, an advertisement is worth a thousand op-eds. Last week, one of us co-authored an op-ed criticizing an amicus brief filed by the American Economic Liberties Project and several prominent law professors in the pending Supreme Court case NetChoice v. Paxton. AELP’s brief defends the constitutionality of a Texas law prohibiting social media companies from moderating – or “censoring,” at least according to Texas – user-generated content. Among other things, AELP argues that social media companies and newspapers have different First Amendment rights, because social media is “open-access” and newspapers aren’t.
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Techdirt ☛ Why Isn’t Taxpayer-Funded U.S. Broadband Mapping Data Owned By The Public?
We’ve noted for decades how, despite all the political lip service paid toward “bridging the digital divide,” the U.S. doesn’t truly know where broadband is or isn’t available. The FCC’s past broadband maps, which cost $350 million to develop, have long been accused of all but hallucinating competitors, making up available speeds, and excluding a key metric of competitiveness: price.
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Michael Geist ☛ The Law Bytes Podcast, Episode 193: The Online Harms Act is Nearly Here – A Backgrounder and Preview
The government plans to introduce the Online Harms Act later today, bringing forward long-delayed legislation that will include new responsibilities and liabilities for Internet platforms alongside an extensive complaints and enforcement governance structure. What is likely to be Bill C-63 will focus on protecting children online and will be the most contentious of the government’s Internet regulation bills given the challenge of balancing safeguards with freedom of expression.
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The Verge ☛ Netflix confirms it’s cutting off Apple billing for grandfathered subscribers
The change is the end of a long saga — despite Apple adding in-app subscription options to iPhones in 2010, Netflix didn’t add them to its iOS app until 2015 because it was opposed to Apple’s 30 percent cut. In late 2018, Netflix decided it didn’t want to pay Apple at all, dropping in-app subscriptions entirely, and it never looked back.
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Patents
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Reason ☛ Feds Make a Pharma Patent Grab [Ed: No, the taxpayers paid for that work, so the public should have never relinquished control in the first place]
A Biden administration ploy could give the federal government control over drug prices.
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Kangaroo Courts
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JUVE ☛ Telecoms and computer proceedings lead UPC case numbers [Ed: UPC is for the software patents and troll mills. It's both illegal and unconstitutional, but JUVE bagged bribed to repeatedly promote this crime using lies and distortions, in effect attacking Europe and the law.]
According to the UPC’s publicly accessible data, analysed by JUVE Patent, 33 cases concerning patents for mobile communications, wifi, video coding and semiconductors are currently pending. No other technical field currently has as many lawsuits as in this segment.
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Software Patents
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Hindustan Times ☛ Granting software patents is fundamentally a bad idea
But that is not the point of this argument. This is intended to highlight what the issues with software patents are. All evidence suggests that granting software patents is fundamentally a bad idea. Perhaps, copyrights may be a better idea. To unpack the difference, imagine a chef creating a unique recipe; copyright protects the written recipe, not the idea of the dish itself. You can make a similar dish, but cannot publish the chef’s recipe as your own. In the realm of software, copyright protects the specific code — how the algorithm is implemented — but not the underlying idea or algorithm itself.
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Trademarks
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TTAB Blog ☛ Guest Article by Michael Hall: "A Few Recommendations for the Office and Those Practicing Before the Office"
Michael Hall, a former examining attorney and now Senior Counsel at Womble Bond Dickinson, provides (pdf here) three recommendations for trademark practitioners to consider when preparing responses to Office Actions, followed by two recommendations for the USPTO with regard to improving its examination of applications.
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Copyrights
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Digital Music News ☛ AFM Scores Tentative Agreement With Hollywood Studios Over Streaming Residuals, AI
The American Federation of Musicians has reached a tentative agreement with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers over streaming residuals and the misuse of AI.
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Techdirt ☛ A Swiftian Solution To Some Of Copyright’s Problems
It seems incredible that an artist as successful as Swift should be forced to re-record some of her albums in order to regain full control over them – control she lost because of the way that copyright works, splitting copyright between the written song and its performance (the “master recording”). A Walled Culture post back in 2021 explained that record label contracts typically contain a clause in which the artist grants the label an exclusive and total license to the master.
Swift’s need to re-record her albums through a massive but ultimately rather pointless project is unfortunate. However, some good seems to be coming of Swift’s determination to control both aspects of her songs – the score and the performance – as other musicians, notably female artists, follow her example: [...]
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Torrent Freak ☛ Piracy Shield Cloudflare Disaster Blocks Countless Sites, Fires Up Opposition
Experts warned that a radical site-blocking program without proper checks and balances would end badly in Italy. On Saturday, at least one Cloudflare IP address was added to the Piracy Shield anti-piracy system. According to an expert, that ended up blocking a large number of websites, including a charity, a telecoms company, and several schools. It's the outcome many people predicted but one that could've been easily avoided.
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Torrent Freak ☛ Hollywood Used 'Dynamic+ Injunction' to Shut Down movie-web and Other Pirate Sites
Late last week, the public-facing demo website of movie-web went offline. New information shows that this was likely the result of a 'dynamic+ injunction', ordered by the High Court of Delhi, India on behalf of Netflix and the Hollywood majors. The order requires ISPs to block dozens of pirate sites and also applies to domain name registrars, including the American company Namecheap.
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Monopolies/Monopsonies
Russia’s Digital Development Ministry drafts bill requiring Apple to permit apps from third-party stores — Meduza
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