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Links - New and Old Censorship, Anti-trust, Privacy Violations and Pollution.

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  • Anti-Trust

    • Pay TV piracy hits News
      The actions are documented in an archive of 14,400 emails held by former Metropolitan Police commander Ray Adams who was European chief for Operational Security between 1996 and 2002. The Financial Review is publishing thousands of the emails on its website at URL afr.com.

      The emails show that Murdoch used "piracy" as a competitive weapon, helping people to break the digital handcuffs of rival's pay TV boxes. The loss of face and revenue helped Murdoch to consolidate his media empire.



    • Microsoft all but buys Netscape with AOL patent acqusition

      This Microsoft friendly news source uses gloats over this superposed "end of the browser wars" and uses the term "intellectual property" while glorifying and validating software patents.



  • Censorship

    • The reason I'm helping Chris Hedges' lawsuit against the NDAA
      the Homeland Battlefield Bill has already a chilling effect upon my ability to investigate and document matters of national controversy that would ordinarily be subject to my professional inquiry. It has therefore prevented my readers from receiving the full spectrum of truthful reporting which, in a functioning democracy, they have a right to expect.


    • Iraq’s internet on the brink
      A year since the Arab Spring, the internet in the region is facing significant threats from governments trying to gain more control over it.


    • Media companies & ISPs outline plan to stop piracy

      Not so voluntary censorship is set to roll out on people in the US. Appealing accusations of sharing will cost people $35.



    • World Without Web
      ... we underestimate the alarming degree of contingency lurking behind ‘inevitable’ developments. ... The divergence point for this history is in 1983-1984, when the leadership of DARPA lied through its teeth to Congress about who was being allowed access to the Internet. ... what if DARPA had been caught in that lie, funding for its network research scaled back, and a serious effort made to kick randoms off the early net?


    • CISPA – The Sneaky Son Of SOPA

      A good collection of links about a nasty law against sharing.





  • Civil Rights



  • Privacy



  • Education Watch



  • DRM

    • How Adobe DRM Requires People to Pirate Library Books
      Open standards make sense. What makes no sense is that large companies in the field still do not understand this. ... It turns out that a majority of the 6,495 titles available at my local library were accessible only through a locked .acsm file format. ...you can think of a .acsm file as being very much like a .torrent file. If you use Windows or Mac, you can (theoretically) download and install Adobe Digital Editions (ADE). This software reads the .acsm file and then it will download the actual .epub book, complete with DRM. ... there is no legal way to access the content without breaking the law if you are using free (libre) software.

      Tell your local librarian to never use a system like this!





  • Intellectual Monopolies

    • Another Patent Attack on Google with More Wild $$ Predictions ~pj
      Nokia and Microsoft. Partners at law, so to speak. Is this another Microsoft/Nokia outsourced production? Remember when Barnes & Noble told us that it views Microsoft and Nokia's patent campaign as an antitrust violation, a deliberate campaign to destroy Android and maintain Microsoft's monopoly on the desktop and extend it to smartphones, with Nokia piggybacking with its patents for weapons and MOSAID being brought in to do some of the dirty work? So when you read the scare headlines, remember this: Google is awesome at patent litigation. It tends to prevail. I told you that when Oracle first sued Google


    • Oracle’s Position is Worse Than I Thought


    • USPTO Issues Interim Mayo Guidance ~pj
      "...the claimed product or process amounts to significantly more than a law of nature, a natural phenomenon, or an abstract idea with conventional steps specified at a high level of generality appended thereto." Why *wouldn't* that apply to software?


    • Mayo Decision Impacts Myriad Genetics - Judgment Vacated, Remanded ~pj
      Things are looking up in PatentLand


    • Prometheus bound: An important precedent for the next software patent case
      Plainly, this was not a dispute about software patents, but the Court’s unanimous opinion will guide it and lower courts as they analyze future software patent cases.


    • Copyrights

      • Judge rules file sharing is not a "conspiracy"
        The litigators are trying to get around the fact that judges aren't happy with allowing mass lawsuits, so what they are doing is taking one internet user to court but using that lawsuit as a pretext to subpoena other defendants who had participated in the same BitTorrent swarm. ... James Holderman of the Northern District of Illinois raised his eyebrow in disgust at this trick, saying that it was trying to get around the "stiffening judicial headwind."


      • 5000+ Artists Line Up For a Pirate Bay Promotion
        “We’re one of the worlds top 60 sites in the Internet. This brings us a responsibility to use the site to do something good. When I think about it, it’s insane that all the other top 100 sites only blast ads and self-centered stuff on their front pages. We do this for fun and for the love of culture, so we’re everything the major labels are not.”


      • 3 Major Publishers Sue Open-Education Textbook Start-Up

        See also this excllent summary

        To gain access to the digital alternatives, students select the traditional books assigned in their classes, and Boundless pulls content from an array of open-education sources to knit together a text that the company claims is as good as the designated book. The company calls this mapping of printed book to open material “alignment”—a tactic the complaint said creates a finished product that violates the publishers’ copyrights.


      • DRM is crushing indie booksellers online


      • MPAA Lines Up With Porn Studio in Steamy Copyright Dispute

        A video site that published movies as urls is surprised that people would download those movies. They also found a judge that agrees enough to shut down a website where users share the urls, sometimes as embedded movies.







  • Recent Techrights' Posts

    Car Companies Fail Because They Don't Manufacture What Costumers Actually Want
    They try to impose their dumb vision on purchasers
    Links 24/07/2026: Mass Layoffs at Patreon, Netflix Deemed Bad for People's Brains
    Links for the day
    Google Spreads Misinformation, Google's Slop Makes Stuff Up and Calls That "Intelligence"
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    US is Insolvent, GAFAM is Buying Time by Hiding (Not Disclosing) Its True Debt Which Explains Never-ending Layoffs (Unrelated to Slop or "Efficiency Drives")
    Five Tech Giants are Hiding $1.65tn in AI Debt, Using the Trick that Toppled Enron
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    Poor Piece From Valnet: Microsoft Keeps Sabotaging GNU/Linux, So You Should Quit Using GNU/Linux
    Really awful take
    We Need More Encryption, Not Less of It
    Use Free software and use encryption to ensure sources are fully protected
    At 3PM on a Friday The Register MS Collects Some 'Pyramid Scheme' Money From Communist China (ZTE)
    This won't age well for The Register MS
    What Freedom Does Not Mean
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    Linuxiac is Plagiarism
    We won't link to it, we're done [...] If you wish to support journalism about GNU/Linux, do not visit or link to slop
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    They will tell us this is "innovation", not a failure, and that only "Luddites" would oppose this
    You've Been Conned If You Ever Believed That MElon (MUSK, Elon) Was a Trillionaire
    Connected to corrupt officials
    The People Who Tried to 'Cancel' (or Deplatform/Censor) Daniel Pocock Are Annoyed That He's Mentioned in Dozens of Press Articles
    If Pocock's words did not matter, there would not be such a huge effort to silence him
    Cybershow Explains Why Only Sociopaths Gravitate Towards Leadership Position in 'Tech'
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    Give Me Your "Dumbest" (Devices)
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    Speeding Up 'Down Under': Australia, New Zealand, Tasmania...
    As things stand, the best we can do is let people retrieve pages within less than 0.1 seconds since a request is received
    Google's Debt Trebled in Only 9 Months and It's Not Even the Full Picture (There's Secret Debt, Too)
    No wonder there are so many layoffs and workers try to unionise
    Microsoft Layoffs in India
    it's about cost-cutting
    Deregulation is Blowing Up the Economy, Which Has Become a Multi-Level Scheme or Pyramid Scheme
    Why did only Japanese media call out the BS; is that so hard to figure out and properly report on?
    Daniel Pocock Proves Wikipedia is for Rich People or People Who Work for Very Rich People (the True Owners of Wikipedia)
    It's for billionaires and their faithful boot lickers
    GNOME: Your Personal Opinions Must Overlap GAFAM's (Otherwise Those Opinions Are Impermissible)
    Get well soon, GNOME
    Making Excuses for Stressful, Unrewarding, and Immoral Jobs
    excuses for difficult and/or barely-rewarding jobs. [...] People in tech must not be evaluated (or have their "worth" assessed) based on remuneration
    Almost 5 Years Without Social Control Media ('Mind Prison')
    Life is too short to be stuck inside a skinnerbox
    Linux Must be About People (Humans), Not Bribery From Slop Companies Trillions of Dollars in Debt and in Pursuit of Positive Press
    We've lost Williams
    John Dvorak Understood That "MSM" Was a Vehicle of Censorship
    Independent publishing, which obviates the need to censor (influenced by existing advertisers or lookout for prospective advertisers), is the only credibly thing out there
    To Understand Why Linus Torvalds Became a Boot-Licking Booster of Slop Look at Another Operative of 'Linux' Foundation, the "Mentor" of Clickfraud SPAMnil (According to SPAMnil Himself)
    it seems like SJVN does not give a full disclosure
    Blaming "Computers" Instead of Blaming Microsoft
    Blaming Microsoft is "hate"
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    They basically resort to nationalism and racism to distract from their commercial failure and fraud (pyramid scheme)
    GNU/Linux Soaring in Antigua And Barbuda
    GNU/Linux is internationally approaching 8%
    Calling Out the Worst Culprits in "Linux" Slop (Slopfarms That Manipulate Information and Engage in Plagiarism)
    Once they're gone (offline), the slopfarms cannot carry on for much longer
    Defying Discrimination
    Rianne's birthday is exactly a month away
    Dan Williams Represented Real Diversity in Linux
    Williams probably understood based on personal experience what it was like to be marginalised and discriminated against
    The First Point About Software Freedom is, You Must Understand What It Really Means (Not "Open Source")
    Forty Three Years of Commitment to Software Freedom [...] Educating people about what Software Freedom actually means
    Gemini Links 24/07/2026: Recovering From Broken Shoulders, Loss of Passion, and "True Hacker Versus Growth Hacker"
    Links for the day
    Over at Tux Machines...
    GNU/Linux news for the past day
    IRC Proceedings: Thursday, July 23, 2026
    IRC logs for Thursday, July 23, 2026
    Gemini Links 23/07/2026: Databases, TLGS, and RSS Feeds
    Links for the day
    Links 23/07/2026: Science, Censorship, and Territorial Overreach by China
    Links for the day
    The State of Google Security: Blocking competition
    GMail is the best!
    What Happens When Windows Becomes as 'Niche' as GNU/Linux on Desktops and Laptops
    Android enjoys a near-monopoly and GNU/Linux isn't far behind Windows.
    IBM Cash "Down $6.3 Billion From Year-end 2025." Total Debt/Equity 188.97%. (Debt Can Exceed the Company's Real Value)
    the CEO alone can make well over $0.7 billion in 5 years of salaries and bonuses
    Wave of PIPs Allegedly Coming to Microsoft, Managers Trained to Terminate Employees Without Paying Severance (and Without Calling it Layoffs)
    They count and cut the losses
    This Looks Like the End of XBox, the Console
    Sharma has become the "fall man" of Microsoft
    European Patent Office (EPO) Series: A Consummate Master of the "Rigged Game"
    "single-candidate shortlist"
    Attempts to Change Focus and Change the Subject as IBM Shares Dwindle. Buying Revenue to Mask the Rapid Decline One More Time.
    IBM used to be good at engineering, not financial engineering
    Down 848% Year-on-year, Negative Cash Flow, Growing Debt (Richest Man on the Planet or Shrewd Scammer?)
    The latest for Tesla is more of the same
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    Gemini Links 23/07/2026: SharePoint Rants and “Junk DNA” in Commented-Out Code
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    Links 23/07/2026: RIP John C. Dvorak, Organisation Weaponised Against J.K. Rowling
    Links for the day
    Over at Tux Machines...
    GNU/Linux news for the past day
    IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, July 22, 2026
    IRC logs for Wednesday, July 22, 2026
    Freexian & Debian: antitrust, unfair competition against joint authors and volunteers
    Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
    IBM in the Red After Bad Results (Shares Down in After Hours)
    Will the CEO step down, retire, of what else?
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    Links for the day
    Insult and Injury: Getting Banned, Not Just Sacked, by Microsoft
    A former insider spoke about this in public 5 hours ago
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    Links for the day
    IBM's Press Release About Results Mentions "AI" 10 Times, "Quantum" 4 Times
    Blah blah blah AI"
    Top secret: Cults inquiry submission concealed from public
    Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
    An Hour Ahead of Alleged 'Results' (Amid Investigation Into Fraud) IBM Falls Back to New Lows
    Only cents away from a 52-week low
    IBM Headed for Lowest "Value" in 2 Years
    In a nutshell, Krishna "can't keep it up" and IBM is now investigated for fraud
    Investigation Progressing
    There is nothing "funny" about receiving mortal threats for merely reporting information in a civilised country
    Things We Could Do More Than Half a Century Ago But Can No Longer Accomplish
    Newer is not always better
    Anupa Ann Joseph & Debian defamation gang
    Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
    State of the Invidious Project
    Never forget how hostile Google can be towards freedom
    Prioritising the Safety of Women is the Best Approach to Foster Diversity in Technical Communities
    Debian was never "normative", but that does not mean Debian should have such low standards
    IBM Will Report 'Results' Tonight (CET), It's Already Investigated for Securities Fraud
    "Five of the biggest US tech giants are carrying $1.65 trillion in debt that does not show up on their balance sheets"
    Hardware Has Gotten a Lot Worse, Not Just Far More Expensive
    prices go up fast
    Amid Claims of Microsoft Bing Layoffs It Seems Like Bing Cannot Even Hold on to Second Place
    Yandex is sometimes bigger than Bing
    Wikileaks Does Not Publish New Material Anymore, But Wikileaks Still Changes the World
    Wikileaks has a legacy that will soon turn 20
    Links 22/07/2026: Postal IRCs, PlayStation Kills Discs, Union Action Against Microsoft, "Judge Considers Tossing Databricks Patent Suit Under California anti-SLAPP Law"
    Links for the day
    Same 'Journalists' Who Published Fake News for IBM (Pump and Dump) Now Write Puff Pieces About the Stock Falling
    the media is so compromised
    They Called It "Social" and "Media", But It Turned Out to be Slop and Child Porn
    Why do any sane people still use social control media?
    Age of consent: DebConf26 registered sex offender in Argentina?
    Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
    European Patent Office (EPO) Series: In the Pole Position Despite a Dismal Track Record
    António Campinos is an old hand when it comes to such high-level institutional intrigue
    Site a Bit Slower Due to Visitors' Load
    We'll try to work out better speeds
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    Links for the day
    After Involvement by the Free Software Foundation (FSF) LibreTech and Quibble Gain More Participants
    RMS expressed gratitude for people who worked on Quibble and improved LibreJS after many years of inactivity
    The Lessons From the Assange Saga
    This will not end well
    Linux Foundation an Enemy of the Planet, Proponent of Pollution and Global Heating
    "could the "polluters pay" model be extended to the computing environment and used to take on Microsoft and Microsofters?"
    Apple Will Increase Surveillance of Customers, Record Verbal Communications Under the Guise of "Hey Hi"
    Apple now drinks that same Kool-Aid
    Dave Winer, Blogging Pioneer, Sells Out, Spews Out LLM Slop to Readers
    Another one bites the dust [...] Now it's a slopfarm of sorts
    Not Everything Can be Automated
    not a new thing
    GNU/Linux OS in ComorOS
    Now, as in recent years or the last year, the GNU/Linux "signal" is growing significantly
    Microsoft Redefines "Layoffs" to Give Smaller Tallies
    It's not just calling them "buyouts" or saying people are merely "leaving" or "retiring"
    IBM is Not Done Destroying Red Hat, Wait Till October 1st 2026 (More Layoffs and Bluewashing)
    It's not bluewashing 'til it's 100% done
    Over at Tux Machines...
    GNU/Linux news for the past day
    IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, July 21, 2026
    IRC logs for Tuesday, July 21, 2026
    "LF Sex", Nothing to Do With Linux
    a lot of explaining to do this week