Links 02/03/2024: Actual Journalists Under Attack, More Software Patents Being Challenged
Contents
- Leftovers
- Science
- Education
- Hardware
- Health/Nutrition/Agriculture
- Security
- Defence/Aggression
- Environment
- Finance
- AstroTurf/Lobbying/Politics
- Censorship/Free Speech
- Freedom of Information / Freedom of the Press
- Civil Rights/Policing
- Internet Policy/Net Neutrality
- Digital Restrictions (DRM) Monopolies/Monopsonies
-
Leftovers
-
James G ☛ Morning routines
An espresso machine hums as water is boiled and pushed through a puck of coffee. Coffee sprays where coffee should not be, for the machine is new to me. I tilt a jug filled one-thirds of the way with milk, then start the steam wand. A whoosh of steam comes out. I focus on trying to get the wand in the right place: near the surface at first to create foam, then lower down to create a whirlpool that incorporates the foam into the milk. I think that's what I should be doing. Eggs boil in the background. Soon, breakfast is ready.
-
Hackaday ☛ Build Yourself A Little Mangonel, You Deserve One
If you’re of a certain age, you almost certainly learned about mangonels by playing Age of Empires II. Any intermediate player will tell you they are a powerful siege weapon that nevertheless cannot destroy trees (in game). However, why limit yourself to experiencing this capable siege engine in digital form? With the help of [Arry Koster’s] design, you can build a little mangonel of your very own!
-
Science
-
Hackaday ☛ The Six Million Dollar Jellyfish
What if you could rebuild a jellyfish: better, stronger, faster than it was before? Caltech now has the technology to build bionic jellyfish.
-
Science Alert ☛ The World's Largest Meteorite Seemed to Vanish in 1916. Why Can't We Find It?
An enormous mystery.
-
Science Alert ☛ Scientists Confirm The World Now Has Over 1 Billion Obese People
It's spreading even faster than we predicted.
-
Science Alert ☛ The Great White Shark Inspires Terror. But For One Animal, It's Just Prey.
It was all over in 2 minutes.
-
Science Alert ☛ First-of-Its-Kind Experiment Confirms The Best Cannabis Compound For Anxiety
Good vibes only.
-
-
Education
-
YLE ☛ Paper: Finland sees record number of foreign graduates
Students from outside the EU completed a record number of higher education degrees last year.
-
-
Hardware
-
Hackaday ☛ An Open SPARCstation USB Keyboard&Mouse Adapter
Got a SPARCstation? You might have had to deal with the proprietary DIN port used for keyboard and mouse input. However, you need not look for outdated hardware anymore – we’ve recently found an adapter project called [usb3sun], which lets you use a regular USB keyboard and mouse instead! Designed by [delan] from [the funny computer museum], the usb3sun adapter is featureful, open-source, and even comes with four blog posts describing its inner workings and development process!
-
-
Health/Nutrition/Agriculture
-
The ultimate antivax conspiracy theory
I’ve long argued that antivaccine beliefs are, at their heart, nothing but a big conspiracy theory, even going so far as to delineate what I consider to be the central conspiracy theory of the antivaccine movement. Indeed, I’ve gone further than that and argued that antiscience beliefs are always rooted in conspiracy theories. I was reminded of this one more time the other day by Toby Rogers, whose Substack is a reliable source of only the most bonkers antiscience conspiracy mongering, be it antivaccine, transphobic, or whatever. This reminder came in the form of two posts, Every step was designed to inflict maximum harm and The economic crisis we face.
-
New York Times ☛ DeSantis Vetoes Florida Social Media Ban for Kids Under 16
The statute, passed by the Florida Legislature last week, would have required sites like Fentanylware (TikTok) and Instagram to deny accounts to underage users, even if their parents permitted them to do so.
-
Off Guardian ☛ WATCH: How to Stop the WHO – #SolutionsWatch
We all know the problem by now: the World Health Organization is trying to override your health freedoms and abrogate your bodily autonomy in the name of their scamdemic agenda. But what is the solution?
-
New York Times ☛ CVS and Walgreens Will Begin Selling Abortion Pills This Month
The pill mifepristone will be available with a prescription at pharmacy counters in a few states to start.
-
JURIST ☛ Missouri AG accuses Planned Parenthood of assisting minors travel out of state to obtain abortions
Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey filed a lawsuit on Thursday accusing a Planned Parenthood organization affiliate of violating state laws by helping transport minors into Kansas for abortions. The lawsuit is based on alleged camera footage showing staffers transporting minors across state lines to get an abortion without parental consent.
-
The Straits Times ☛ South Korea publicly orders some doctors who walked off the job back to work
South Korea's government late on Friday publicly ordered 13 doctors, at least some of whom have been vocal about a walkout by roughly 9,000 physicians over a health system reform plan, to return to work or face penalties.
-
MIT Technology Review ☛ How some bacteria are cleaning up our messy water supply
-
YLE ☛ Government gets serious about scabies scourge
With an increasing number of people feeling the itch, the Finnish government is looking to make treatment more effective.
-
-
Security
-
Integrity/Availability/Authenticity
-
Bruce Schneier ☛ NIST Cybersecurity Framework 2.0
NIST has released version 2.0 of the Cybersecurity Framework:
The CSF 2.0, which supports implementation of the National Cybersecurity Strategy, has an expanded scope that goes beyond protecting critical infrastructure, such as hospitals and power plants, to all organizations in any sector. It also has a new focus on governance, which encompasses how organizations make and carry out informed decisions on cybersecurity strategy. The CSF’s governance component emphasizes that cybersecurity is a major source of enterprise risk that senior leaders should consider alongside others such as finance and reputation...
-
-
Privacy/Surveillance
-
Techdirt ☛ Biden EO Restricts Sale Of Consumer Data To ‘Countries Of Concern’ (But We Still Need A Privacy Law And To Regulate Data Brokers)
So we’ve noted for a long while that the fixation on China and TikTok specifically has often been used by some lazy thinkers (like the FCC’s Brendan Carr) as a giant distraction from the fact the U.S. has proven too corrupt to regulate data brokers, or even to pass a baseline privacy law for the internet era. The cost of this corruption, misdirection, and distraction has been fairly obvious.
-
RFA ☛ Turkish media reveal identities of alleged spies for China
Suspects are accused of spying on prominent Uyghurs and Uyghur organizations in Turkey.
-
-
-
Defence/Aggression
-
JURIST ☛ HRW: Türkiye bears responsibility for abuses in Syria
Türkiye bears responsibility for the human rights abuses and potential war crimes committed by Turkish and proxy forces in Turkish-occupied northern Syria, according to a report released Thursday by Human Rights Watch (HRW). The 74-page report documents various abuses, including abductions, sexual violence and torture, by the Turkish-backed Syrian National Army (SNA) and Military Police.
-
Off Guardian ☛ Fake Terrorism and the Genocide Agenda
The criminocracy is in danger of losing its carefully-constructed shield of invisibility as it accelerates its deranged bid for total and permanent global control. It is therefore obliged to ramp up its attacks on those who dare expose its existence, its crimes and its lies.
-
RFA ☛ Ford vans seen in Kim Jong Un’s entourage
Photos from North Korea’s news agency are more evidence of the evasion of UN sanctions.
-
JURIST ☛ Federal appeals court orders re-sentencing Jan. 6 rioter over improper sentencing enhancements
The US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit ruled Friday that enhancements were improperly applied to the sentencing of a participant in the January 6, 2021 Capitol riot.
-
New York Times ☛ ‘This Is For Gaza’: George Galloway, Leftist Firebrand, Wins Rochdale By-Election
As the Mideast conflict reverberates through British politics, the politician with a history of inflammatory statements about Israel won a special election in northern England.
-
Meduza ☛ Explosion in St. Petersburg apartment building reportedly caused by drone — Meduza
-
YLE ☛ Finnish fighters heading to Nordic Response 24 drills
Next week's international exercise is the Finnish Defence Forces' "most important" drill of the year, according to the Air Force.
-
Russia, Belarus, and War in Ukraine
-
Latvia ☛ Russian fascist symbols removed from roadside
Police continue to receive reports about the public display of symbols glorifying Russia's war of aggression in Ukraine, in particular the prominent use of the letters 'Z' and 'V' as used on the invading force's war machines.
-
Federal News Network ☛ Congress approves short-term extension to avoid shutdown, buy more time for final spending agreement
Congress has passed another short-term spending measure that would keep one set of federal agencies operating through March 8 and another set through March 22. The extension averts a shutdown for parts of the federal government that would otherwise have kicked in at 12:01 a.m. Saturday. The bill now goes to President Joe Biden to be signed into law. The short-term extension is the fourth in recent months. Lawmakers are voicing increased optimism that it'll be the last before Congress approves two separate spending packages totaling more than $1.6 trillion for the full fiscal year.
-
Atlantic Council ☛ Don’t let the ‘boots on the ground’ debate obscure the progress France is making on Ukraine
Too much focus on the French president’s speculative comments about a potential Western military presence in Ukraine is a distraction from the concrete steps that European leaders made in Paris to support Kyiv.
-
JURIST ☛ Russia announces willingness to repatriate remains of Ukraine victims of January plane crash
Russia’s Human Rights Commissioner Tatyana Moskalkova told Russian state news outlet RIA Friday that Russia is prepared to repatriate the remains of the Ukrainian victims of the II76 plane crash in January.
-
RFERL ☛ Kasparov Says Russia May Shed Some Territories If It Loses War In Ukraine
Self-exiled Russian opposition politician and co-founder of the Free Russia Forum Garry Kasparov told RFE/RL in an interview on March 1 that Russia's current borders may "not necessarily remain" if Moscow loses the war in Ukraine but stressed that a total dissolution of Russia is unlikely.
-
RFERL ☛ Russian Prosecutor Seeks 8 Years For Journalist Over Ukraine War Coverage
A prosecutor asked a court in the city of Korolyov near Moscow on March 1 to convict and sentence journalist Roman Ivanov to eight years in prison on a charge of distributing false information about Russia's military.
-
RFERL ☛ Russia-China 5G, Satellite Cooperation Poses Risk For Ukraine, Report Warns
Russia is increasing its cooperation with China in 5G and satellite technology and this could facilitate Moscow's military aggression against Ukraine, a report by the London-based Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) security think tank warns.
-
RFERL ☛ Ukraine Shoots Down 4 Russian Drones; 4 Russian Villages Without Power After Attack
Ukrainian air-defense forces shot down four Russian drones over the regions of Kharkiv and Dnipropetrovsk early on March 1, the military said, without specifying how many drones Moscow had launched at Ukraine's territory.
-
RFERL ☛ Balkan Leaders Pledged To Supply Ukraine With Ammunition, Zelenskiy Says
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on February 29 that his meetings with Western Balkan leaders at a summit in Tirana will help Ukrainian troops get more of the artillery shells they badly need to fend off advancing Russian forces.
-
teleSUR ☛ France Will Not Send Troops to Fight in Ukraine: FM Sejourne
Previously, however, President Macron said that the possibility of sending European troops to Ukraine could not be ruled out.
-
YLE ☛ Ukrainian media: Three Lviv Opera artists AWOL after Finnish tour
Ukrainian media reports suggest that the trio did not return after a tour of Finland in February.
-
New York Times ☛ Biden Unites With Italy’s Prime Minister to Champion Ukraine
In a visit to the White House by Italy’s far-right prime minister, Giorgia Meloni, the president declared that “we have each other’s backs” and “we also have Ukraine’s back.”
-
New York Times ☛ Why More American Weapons Will Soon Be Made Outside America
With the wars in Ukraine and Gaza straining U.S. arsenals, Washington is seeking to expand production with global partners like Australia.
-
Meduza ☛ Russia says it’s ready to hand over bodies of Ukrainian POWs allegedly killed in Belgorod plane crash — Meduza
-
Latvia ☛ Border guard chief: Russian, Belarusian agents may be active on eastern border
During the winter months, the Latvian-Belarusian border as been quieter than in the summer and fall, with no attempt by migrants to illegally enter Latvia detected for approximately seven weeks, reported Latvian Radio March 1.
-
Reason ☛ Review: For All Mankind Offers an Alternate History of Moon Exploration
What if Russia had landed on the moon before the United States?
-
Defence Web ☛ SA Navy will hit the high seas this year with ship visits to Russia and Cuba
The South African Navy will this year send the frigate SAS Amatola to Russia for a parade and the logistics vessel SAS Drakensberg to Cuba on a diplomatic visit as the service returns more vessels to sea and strengthens relations with global navies.
-
JURIST ☛ Russia court rejects appeal by Russian-American woman accused of treason
A Russian court on Thursday rejected an appeal by a Russian-American woman against her detention on a treason charge, according to Reuters and ABC News reporters in the room. The 33-year-old Ksenia Karelina was arrested on January 27 and detained in a jail in Yekaterinburg for treason.
-
LRT ☛ LRT English Newsletter: Polish blockade, French hawk, and Russian hoodie
LRT English Newsletter – March 1, 2024
-
RFERL ☛ Russian 'Disinformation' Hyped Paris Bedbug Scare, French Deputy Minister Says
A bedbug scare in Paris last year that made headlines across the globe was artificially amplified by social control media accounts linked to Russian "disinformation" activities, a French minister said on March 1.
-
RFERL ☛ Wanted Former Wirecard Executive Spied For Russia For Years, Investigative Journalists Say
The former chief operating officer of the defunct German fintech giant Wirecard, who fled to Russia in 2020 to evade possible prosecution on embezzlement and fraud charges, spied for Moscow for years, according to an investigation by German, Austrian, and Russian media outlets published on March 1.
-
RFERL ☛ Siberian Activist Arrested On Sexual Abuse Charge Now Accused Of Violation Of Foreign Agent Law
The Telegram channel Kuzbass bez ekstremizma, which is linked to police in Russia's Kemerovo region, said on March 1 that local activist Sergei Piskunov, who was arrested last month on a charge of sexual abuse, is now also accused of violating the law on so-called foreign agents.
-
CS Monitor ☛ Russia is on a quest to divide US voters. This time it’s immigration.
Russian state media and online accounts are pushing misleading and incendiary claims about U.S. immigration in an effort to target U.S. voters ahead of the 2024 election, deepening political divides, experts say.
-
Meduza ☛ Not Russians’ ‘little brother’ anymore: Russia’s decolonial movement banks on interethnic solidarity in its fight against the Kremlin — Meduza
-
YLE ☛ Finland's new President Stubb vows to ensure peace "under all circumstances"
"We are standing on the threshold of a new era," Stubb said during his inaugural address.
-
-
-
Environment
-
Energy/Transportation
-
DeSmog ☛ Alberta’s Wind and Solar Regulations Put More Than 6,000 Jobs at Risk, Critics Say
As Alberta’s moratorium on renewable energy development comes to an end, Premier Danielle Smith has announced a new set of regulations critics argue will handicap the province’s economy.
The province has outlined 13 new regulations limiting wind and solar projects near agriculture land and other proposed “protected” areas. These include the creation of 35-kilometre buffer zones intended to protect what the province has termed “pristine viewscapes” from wind power development. The new rules followed a seven month moratorium that halted development of more than 100 wind and solar projects in the province, worth an estimated $33 billion.
-
YLE ☛ Olkiluoto 3 maintenance break starts on Saturday
Finland's electricity market is to be tested once the third reactor at the Olkiluoto plant starts a planned, month-long maintenance break on Saturday.
-
New York Times ☛ Murder and Magic Realism: A Rising Literary Star Mines China’s Rust Belt
In gritty tales from China’s northeast, Shuang Xuetao chronicles a traumatic chapter of Chinese history with fresh resonance today: the mass layoffs that afflicted the region in the 1990s.
-
-
Wildlife/Nature
-
Latvia ☛ Timber company to support university forestry program
Stiga RM, one of Latvia’s leading timber companies, has announced that it has signed a cooperation agreement with the Latvia University of Life Sciences and Technologies (LBTU) in support of science and education.
-
-
-
Finance
-
LRT ☛ Banks in Lithuania paid €256m in solidarity levy in 2023
Lithuanian banks and credit institutions paid around 256 million euros in temporary solidarity levy for 2023, the Bank of Lithuania said on Friday.
-
Hong Kong Free Press ☛ China’s factory output falls for 5th straight month, as slow demand drags growth down
Factory activity in China contracted for the fifth straight month in February, official figures showed Friday, as sluggish demand in the world’s second-largest economy continues to drag on growth.
-
Silicon Angle ☛ Despite a strong earnings and revenue beat, Elastic’s stock plunges 14%
Enterprise search technology company Elastic N.V. must be wondering what it did wrong today, since despite delivering a strong earnings and revenue beat and guidance in-line with analysts’ expectations, its stock plunged in extended trading.
-
-
AstroTurf/Lobbying/Politics
-
JURIST ☛ US federal judge upholds most provisions of Arizona voting laws requiring proof of citizenship
A federal judge in Arizona upheld two state laws on Thursday that require voters to provide documentation to prove their US citizenship before registering to vote. US District Judge Susan Bolton’s decision upheld HB 2492 and 2243.
-
TwinCities Pioneer Press ☛ Wisconsin Supreme Court rejects Democrats’ congressional redistricting challenge
The liberal-controlled Wisconsin Supreme Court on Friday rejected a Democratic lawsuit that sought to throw out the battleground state’s congressional maps.
-
ACLU ☛ President Biden's Order to Ban Private Prisons Faces a Persistent Internal Challenge: The U.S. Marshals Service
At the onset of President Biden’s term, in January 2021, he issued an executive order to phase out the federal criminal system’s use of for-profit prisons. This was an important step toward stemming the flow of federal money to corporations that lock people up for profit. The executive order covered both the Federal Bureau of Prisons, which holds people convicted of crimes, and the U.S. Marshals Service, which holds people while they await trial or await transfer to a federal prison after sentencing. However, it left out the federal government’s heavy use of for-profit immigration detention facilities, which are rife with abuse, unsanitary conditions, and overcrowding.
-
RFA ☛ In Malaysia, refugees living in limbo struggle to pay medical bills
Refugees pay much higher foreigners’ rates at public hospitals and clinics, which most cannot afford.
-
New York Times ☛ Monica Lewinsky Is the New Face of Reformation
A new fashion campaign offered the White House intern turned activist, writer and producer yet another way to remake her image.
-
YLE ☛ Friday's papers: A polyglot president, housing shortages and an affinity for Finglish
Finland's next president Alexander Stubb's rhetorical style differs greatly from that of his predecessor.
-
Misinformation/Disinformation/Propaganda
-
DeSmog ☛ Meat Industry Using ‘Misinformation’ to Block Dietary Change, Report Finds
The agriculture sector has spent millions of dollars on discrediting plant-based diets, a new report has claimed.
The report, published by the consumer advocacy organisation Freedom Food Alliance on Thursday (29 February), found that multinational meat companies and lobby groups were using industry-funded research, public ad campaigns and educational materials to sway public opinion on meat and dairy.
-
JURIST ☛ Brazil electoral authority warns against employing artificial intelligence in electoral campaigning [Ed: They just mean CG and misinformation, nothing to do with these stupid buzzwords]
Brazil’s Superior Electoral Court President Alexandre de Moraes warned Thursday that candidates of the 2024 municipal elections may face disqualification or have their mandates rescinded if they employ artificial intelligence to attack opponents.
-
-
-
Censorship/Free Speech
-
Techdirt ☛ Judge Appears Correctly Skeptical Of Elon’s SLAPP Suit Against Critic
We have pointed out just how ridiculous Elon Musk’s SLAPP lawsuit against the Center for Countering Digital Hate is, so much that I supported the filing of an amicus brief in support of CCDH, even as I find CCDH’s positions and research to be generally problematic and misleading. But, even if their research methods aren’t great, they still deserve their right to speak out, and they should not face ruinous litigation from a petulant CEO who only pretends to support free speech.
-
CCIA ☛ Moody & Paxton Oral Arguments: What Others Are Saying
The language present in both bills is overly broad and presents critical constitutional concerns. These laws are currently stayed, but if permitted to go into effect, they would embody striking governmental overreach and a violation of the First Amendment rights of private companies. This is why 44 amicus briefs were filed by over 127 organizations and individuals in support of CCIA and NetChoice.
After Justices inquired about what these cases would mean for internet users and democracy, everyone from journalists to academics weighed in, with many expressing the same skepticism of Florida and Texas’ arguments that the Justices did:
-
-
Freedom of Information / Freedom of the Press
-
FAIR ☛ Victor Pickard on the Crisis of Journalism
-
The Dissenter ☛ Unauthorized Disclosure: Yanis Varoufakis
-
The Dissenter ☛ Judge Holds Former Fox News Correspondent In Contempt For Protecting Source
-
Democracy Now ☛ The Intercept: New York Times Exposé Lacks Evidence to Claim Hamas Weaponized Sexual Violence Oct. 7
We speak with Jeremy Scahill and Ryan Grim of The Intercept about their exposé of a major New York Times piece into alleged mass rapes committed by Hamas militants on October 7 that raises serious questions about the accuracy of the story. The Times article was headlined “'Screams Without Words': How Hamas Weaponized Sexual Violence on Oct. 7,” and its release in late December helped the Israeli government to justify the ongoing war on Gaza and to paint pro-Palestine supporters abroad as not caring about sexual violence. One of the reporters of the Times piece, Israeli freelancer Anat Schwartz, is being investigated by the Times for her social media activity, which included dehumanizing language and endorsements of violence against Palestinians in Gaza. ”The New York Times has grave, grave mischaracterizations, sins of omission, reliance on people who have no forensic or criminology credentials to be asserting that there was a systematic rape campaign put in place here,” says Scahill, who criticizes the newspaper for not issuing any corrections for their flawed reporting. We also hear from Ryan Grim about how the flawed Times article touched off “extremely intense debate” inside the newsroom. “They’re used to external criticism, but the amount of internal criticism they’re getting has them on the back foot,” he says.
-
Democracy Now ☛ “Just Being Racist”: Biden & Trump Push Anti-Immigrant Policies in Dueling Border Visits
Joe Biden and Donald Trump both visited the U.S.-Mexico border in Texas on Thursday, where the two leading presidential candidates each pitched anti-immigration measures to further militarize the border and restrict asylum. Meanwhile, a federal judge blocked a new Texas law set to go into effect that would give police the power to arrest migrants they suspect of entering the U.S. without authorization. For more, we speak with Marisa Limón Garza, executive director of Las Americas Immigrant Advocacy Center, one of the groups challenging this Texas law. “Clearly, Texas has become a battleground for the soul of this nation,” she says, adding that regardless of which party is in power, immigrant communities come under attack.
-
Techdirt ☛ Sports Illustrated Threw Lavish Parties As It Was Shit-canning All Its Actual Journalists
As the Vice collapse and Messenger collapse just got done illustrating in glorious technicolor, the problem with online U.S. journalism isn’t that it’s not inherently profitable. The problem is usually that the worst, least competent, shallowest people imaginable routinely fail upward into positions of management, then treat the media companies they acquire and operate like a disposable napkin.
-
BIA Net ☛ Journalists detained in Van released three days later
The three journalists who were questioned about the copyright monopoly fees they received for sending news to media organizations in European countries, were released following interrogation by the prosecutor.
-
Hong Kong Free Press ☛ Hong Kong’s Jimmy Lai was sympathetic towards frontline ‘valiant’ protesters in 2019, court hears
Hong Kong media mogul Jimmy Lai was sympathetic towards frontline “valiant” protesters in 2019 and instructed his now-closed Apple Daily newspaper to produce coverage that facilitated public understanding of them, an ex-publisher has told Lai’s national security trial.
-
-
Civil Rights/Policing
-
Pro Publica ☛ Lawmakers Could Limit When County Officials in Mississippi Can Jail People Awaiting Psychiatric Treatment
Key Mississippi lawmakers have introduced several bills that would drastically limit when people can be jailed without criminal charges as they await court-ordered psychiatric treatment.
The proposals follow an investigation by Mississippi Today and ProPublica finding that hundreds of people in the state are jailed without charges every year as they go through the civil commitment process, in which a judge can force people to undergo treatment if they’re deemed dangerous to themselves or others. People who were jailed said they were treated like criminal defendants and received no mental health care. Since 2006, at least 17 people have died after being jailed during the commitment process, raising questions about whether jails can protect people in the midst of a mental health crisis.
-
Techdirt ☛ Ridiculous: Journalist Held In Contempt For Not Revealing Sources
Going way, way back, we’ve talked about the need for protection of journalistic sources, in particular the need for a federal journalism shield law. I can find stories going back about 15 years of us talking about it here on Techdirt. The issue might not come up that often, but that doesn’t make it any less important.
-
-
Internet Policy/Net Neutrality
-
APNIC ☛ Paul Wilson to finish his service as APNIC Director General
After 25+ years of dedication to APNIC, Paul Wilson will end his tenure as Director General.
-
Techdirt ☛ We Can’t Have Serious Discussions About Section 230 If People Keep Misrepresenting It
At the Supreme Court’s oral arguments about Florida and Texas’ social media content moderation laws, there was a fair bit of talk about Section 230. As we noted at the time, a few of the Justices (namely Clarence Thomas and Neil Gorsuch) seemed confused about Section 230 and also about what role (if any) it had regarding these laws.
-
Techdirt ☛ Biden Administration Shouts ‘ONE MORE YEAR! ONE MORE YEAR!’ As Section 702 Stalemate Continues
There are a variety of reasons to alter, if not actually end, the Section 702 collection. Whatever value it may have in terms of national security, the very real fact is that it has been endlessly abused by the FBI since its inception.
-
-
Digital Restrictions (DRM)
-
Hackaday ☛ If You Thought Sega Only Made Electronic Games, Think Again
Most of us associate the name Sega with their iconic console gaming systems from the 1980s and 1990s, and those of us who maintain an interest in arcade games will be familiar with their many cabinet-based commercial offerings. But the company’s history in its various entities stretches back as far as the 1950s in the world of slot machines and eventually electromechanical arcade games. [Arcade Archive] is starting to tell the take of how one of those games is being restored, it’s a mid-1960s version of Gun Fight, at the Retro Collective museum in Stroud, UK.
-
-
Patents
-
JUVE ☛ Akebia defends anaemia drug patents at EPO amid huge Fibrogen battle
Biotechnology company Akebia has successfully combatted attempts to invalidate two patents at the European Patent Office. Opponents Fibrogen and Sandoz mounted the challenge, amid a wider litigation battle involving multiple patents for anaemia drugs.
-
Unified Patents ☛ $3,500 awarded for Mimzi audio recording patents prior art
Unified is pleased to announce PATROLL crowdsourcing contest winners below totaling $3,500 in cash prizes. The patents are owned by Mimzi LLC, an NPE. The patents generally relate to systems for recording audio conversations. The patents have been asserted against Foursquare, TripAdvisor, HTC, Acer, ASUSTek, and Samsung.
We would also like to thank the dozens of other high-quality submissions that were made on this patent. The ongoing contests are open to anyone, and include tens of thousands of dollars in rewards available for helping the industry to challenge NPE patents of questionable validity by finding and submitting prior art in the contests.
-
Unified Patents ☛ InfoGation navigation patent monopoly challenged
On February 28, 2024, Unified Patents filed an ex parte reexamination proceeding against U.S. Patent 8,406,994, owned and asserted by InfoGation Corporation, an NPE. The '994 patent monopoly is generally directed to displaying maps on GPS receivers.
-
Dennis Crouch/Patently-O ☛ Eligibility and Physical Products
The six PTAB decisions reviewed below provide insight into the application of 35 USC 101 in cases involving more than just computer hardware and software. While the claims in each decision recite physical devices or molecules, the PTAB still found most to be ineligible as directed to an abstract idea and lacking an integrated inventive concept beyond well-understood, routine conventional activities. A core parallel across the decisions is the PTAB’s focus on whether the additional elements in the claims, including the physical components, integrate the judicial exception into a practical application or provide significantly more.
-
Software Patents
-
Unified Patents ☛ IP Investments entity DigiMedia Tech H.264/AVC patent monopoly challenge instituted
On February 22, 2024, one month 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 6,606,287, owned by DigiMedia Tech, LLC, an NPE and an IP Investments Group entity. The ‘287 patent monopoly generally relates to recording and storing a media signal, while determining an optimal compression rate based on characteristics of the media signal while maintaining acceptable quality.
-
Unified Patents ☛ VideoLabs digital content patents prior art found
Unified is pleased to announce prior art has been found on the following four patents listed below. The patents are owned by VideoLabs, Inc. The patents generally relate to digital media content and some have been asserted against Netflix, Amazon, Roku, HP, Inc., and ASUStek.
We would also like to thank the dozens of other high-quality submissions that were made on this patent. The ongoing contests are open to anyone, and include tens of thousands of dollars in rewards available for helping the industry to challenge NPE patents of questionable validity by finding and submitting prior art in the contests.
-
-
-
Trademarks
-
TTAB Blog ☛ The Trademark Reporter's 2024 "Annual Review" of U.S. Trademark Cases
The Trademark Reporter has published its latest "Annual Review" of U.S. Trademark Cases: "The Seventy-Sixth Year of Administration of the Lanham Act of 1946," by Theodore H. Davis, Jr. and yours truly, John L. Welch. [download pdf here].
-
-
Copyrights
-
Digital Music News ☛ UMPG Acknowledges Fentanylware (TikTok) Removals ‘Might Be Uncomfortable’ As Licensing Dispute Shows Few Signs of Resolving
Late last month, it emerged that the TikTok-Universal Music licensing showdown was expanding to the publishing side. Now, Universal Music Publishing Group (UMPG) has penned a new statement on the subject, recognizing that the situation “might be uncomfortable at the moment” for its songwriters.
-
Digital Music News ☛ Modified Audio Tracks Growing on Fentanylware (TikTok) After UMG/UMPG Row
Modified audio is on the rise on social control media platforms, with Fentanylware (TikTok) leading the pack. Pex examined which user-generated content (UGC) platforms hosted the most modified audio in 2023—diverting royalties from the proper channels.
-
IT Wire ☛ Facebook says no renewal of media deals in Australia
In a statement, the company said Facebook (Farcebook) News had been deprecated in the UK, France and Germany in 2023.
"People will still be able to view news on Facebook (Farcebook) in feed in these countries, and publishers will continue to have access to their Facebook (Farcebook) accounts and Pages, where they can post their news article links and content," the company said.
-
Digital Music News ☛ Shareholder Lawsuit Against Live Nation Shall Proceed, Rules Federal Judge
A federal judge denies Live Nation’s motion to dismiss a shareholder lawsuit against the concert promotion giant. Live Nation shareholders are suing the company over a “false and misleading” earnings report that resulted in drops in the concert promoter’s share price.
-
New York Times ☛ Elon Musk Sues Proprietary Chaffbot Company and Sam Altman for Violating the Company’s Principles
Musk said the prominent Hey Hi (AI) start-up had put profits and commercial interests ahead of seeking to benefit humanity.
-
New York Times ☛ What Elon Musk and Sam Altman Said About Each Other
Once united over the future of artificial intelligence, they have become increasingly estranged over the years.
-
Monopolies/Monopsonies
-