Bonum Certa Men Certa

The European Patent Office Has Become Militarised

What it means for EPO to have hired the British privatised military, Control Risks Group (CRG)

Victim in Iraq
One among many innocent victims in Iraq



Summary: A look at the company which the European Patent Office (EPO) has chosen to spy on sources and journalists who combat corruption

KNOWING for a fact that we are being spied on by the London-based Control Risks (evidence does exist), because a British manager at the EPO (John Martin) hired them, we wish to remind readers of what Control Risks is really doing in general and what it is doing for the EPO. According to Wikileaks, Control Risks works with Stratfor (also known as shadow CIA) [1, 2], providing assessments based on surveillance. It would not shock us if Control Risks got many contacts inside the GCHQ and NSA (e.g. former staff), i.e. access to illegally-intercepted communications. Here is Control Risks in Sony's leaked E-mails. They work with some rather powerful circles -- powerful as in working with impunity. But looking outside the corporate world, Control Risks is heavily involved in military. That's where the big money is and Control Risks, despite not being so well known (it wants to keep a low profile and it never reveals its clients), is a huge company that has amassed billions of dollars over the years. As one blogger put it, "Blackwater USA is the US Government’s mercenaries of choice and Control Risks Group (CRG) is the British government’s."

Control Risks is a basically British branch of privatised military, so the EPO's John Martin must have been nuts for choosing it. Does one need an army to protect EPO management from critics? It's like using a sledgehammer on a nail. This British manager from the EPO chose to hire Control Risks to spy and thus threaten myself and others (probably IP Kat too) and for that he deserves no sympathy. He clearly hates free press, free speech, the rule of law, and worker's rights.

"The EPO employs them now. Fallujah, British blogs... same thing."Control Risks likes to publicly state that it is "ethical", but every company says such stuff; it is promotional nonsense. Control Risks has a role in a deadly invasion that killed up to a million people (depending on whose estimates) and was based on a massive lie, perpetrated in part by the British government and British intelligence agencies. Control Risks had people on the ground in Iraq shortly after the invasion; some staff was killed while on duty. Quoting the book "Blackwater: The Rise of the World's Most Powerful Mercenary Army", "Firms like Control Risk [...] began deploying thousands of mercenaries in Iraq and recruiting" (making money from occupation). "At the time of the Fallujah incident," says the book "Private Security Contractors and New Wars", "Blackwater was taking over operations from a British security company, Control Risks Group."

The EPO employs them now. Fallujah, British blogs... same thing.

According to Source Watch, Control Risks "provided services for the UK government, Bechtel and Halliburton in Iraq" (nice company right there).

It is important for us to show our readers, including EPO staff, just how low their management has stooped. For a British company that works with hired assassins to spy on me in the UK is rather chilling, to say the very least. ⬆

Recent Techrights' Posts

Intercontinental Brigading - Part XXIX - Undermining US Election While Engaging in Lawfare in England (BBC) Against Publishers That Cover Anti-Election Violence
The elephant in the room is back doors in voting machines
The Tower of Babel
More is not better
When Large American "Tech" Companies Can No Longer Complete Payroll
In spite of several very large waves of Dell layoffs, which the media reported on, it seems like they are still experienceng payroll problems, maybe that's why money is being borrowed
Writing for Good
The Web has an abundance of junk
 
Links 03/11/2026: Slop-Tied Debt is Becoming a Crisis (Lenders Panic), "Ukrainian Journalists Urge Global Media Not to Look Away From Russian Aggression"
Links for the day
Malaysia Seems to be Exploring Digital Independence With GNU/Linux and More
not too bad
Microsoft Windows is Crashing in Republic of South Korea
Like in Japan, they seem to be shutting the lid on decades of Microsoft-isms
Think Less, Aim for Less (When It Comes to Hardware)
An abundance of hardware being wasted on a pyramid scheme will become a cautionary tale one day
Gemini Links 03/11/2026: Stargazing, Linux-Powered Prism "Ambient Computer", and Abandoning Streaming Disservices
Links for the day
GNU/Linux Made Big Strides in Portugal This Year
Microsoft had many layoffs in Portugal in recent years
GNU/Linux in Argentina Now Measured at 8% "Market Share"
Argentina is known for exporting skilled footballers, not advanced technology, but it has a large population, which we can hope will dump Windows
Microsoft is Borrowing Loads of Money While Telling 60,000 Workers to Take the "Offer" and Leave, Microsoft Wants Bailouts From the Dictator
Vote in elections and also vote with your wallet
Microsoft and Spoilt Food
Some whistleblowers may be needed here
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Monday, November 02, 2026
IRC logs for Monday, November 02, 2026
Links 02/11/2026: Bracing for US Election and New Zealand Has November 7 Election
Links for the day
Gemini Links 02/11/2026: Beginning With Gemini Protocol, Looking for CoCs, and Slop for Local Data
Links for the day
NDA-Compatible PIPs and RAs at IBM Red Hat
We welcome Red Hat whistleblowers who can share with us the NDA/s passed their way
GNU/Linux Rises in African's Largest Population
15% in Nigeria [...] A country with over 200 million people
The Register MS Has Just Published a Fake Article With "AI" 28 Times in the Page (Communist Party of China Entity Paid for That)
In IRC, someone has just pointed out that an article at The Register MS repeats Microsoft's lies about its financial situation
Windows Down to All-Time Low, Says statCounter, While Microsoft Tells 60,000 Workers They're No Longer Necessary
Microsoft must be feeling "salty" right now
A British Uphill Battle to Eliminate Microsoft and Its American Back Doors
There are places of work and homes where GNU/Linux is installed and regularly used, not as a mere hobby but as a hyper-productive, practical tool
Technical Coverage of US Elections
When elections are done by computers and decided by computers it becomes a tech issue
By Killing the "Linux News Section" in Softpedia (the Most Popular Section, Based on Its Editor) Softpedia Killed Itself
Enjoy Ballmer
Linkspam in "It's FOSS" Today (and It's Not Even FOSS)
free-to-access ad for some dodgy companies and the URLs are 'tampered' for cashback
Links 02/11/2026: Slop Destroying Mathematics and "Democracy is Not on the Ballot" (in US)
Links for the day
Celebrating Photography, Celebrating Life, Celebrating Magnificent Humanity, Not Plagiarism Disservices
Any time we adopt or spread slop imagery we are participating in the problem
Year-Long Celebration Starts on Saturday
This coming Saturday we turn 20
Intercontinental Brigading - Part XXVIII - Microsoft Doesn't Want People to Speak About Microsoft-Controlled Restricted ('Secure') Boot, a Silent Injustice and Back Door/Kill Switch
Can we please stop treating this as normal or acceptable?
On Desktops/Laptops, Clownflare Sees Windows at Under 60% and GNU/Linux at 15% This Past Weekend
Impressive if accurate
Microsoft Lunduke is Slop
Microsoft Lunduke is just trying to stir up hatred
Intercontinental Brigading - Part XXVII - Shooting the Messengers (People Who Oppose Microsoft Back Doors), Even Across the Atlantic
Keep this in mind later this week when a dictator either discredits the voting or covertly tampers with the voting process
Microsoft Wants 60,000 Employees Gone (One Way or Another)
At IBM, 15% of staff got marked as candidates for removal; at Microsoft it's almost 30%
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Sunday, November 01, 2026
IRC logs for Sunday, November 01, 2026
Jean-Claude Van Linus
Claude talking?
Gemini Links 01/11/2026: OpenBSD, Broken MicroHDMI, Nextcloud, and More
Links for the day
IBM Vapourware on a Budget (to Grab Bailouts From US Taxpayers)
Anderon is the sort of thing that makes IBMers uncomfortable
Links 01/11/2026: Digital Minimalism and "Palantir Cofounder Announces Cruel Plan to Breed Thousands of Lab Monkeys for Medical Experiments"
Links for the day
Microsoft Accenture in Trouble, Accenture’s Debt Skyrockets
Seeing a wave of adoption of Free software in Europe, it's not exactly shocking that "consultants" from Microsoft Accenture are no longer in demand
Microsoft Says Its "Goodwill" Value Has Been Declining for Years, But It Also Claimed That Doubled in One Year
Wall Street deserves far more criticism or scepticism (at the very least)
SkyChatz: From Nothing to #2 in IRC (in Less Than a Year)
Second only to Libera.Chat
Making Up Words or Inventing a Vocabulary
Or why Large Language Models are useless
Assange on What Lula Means to Free Press
Here in the UK we've also found our 'Lulas'
GNU/Linux is No Underdog (But There Are Attempts to Put It "To Sleep")
There's a moral imperative
Intercontinental Brigading - Part XXVI - The "Law and Order" Candidate Who Crushes Both Law and Order and Even Rejects Election Outcomes (Insurrection Follows)
A world without real technical security is a world void of democracy, justice, and human rights
Links 01/11/2026: Malaysian Media Perishing, France Belatedly Identifies Social Control Media as Weaponised Yellow Press
Links for the day
Gemini Links 01/11/2026: "Trick-or-Treating seems to be dead, at least in our neighborhood"; BaseFree Numerical System and Human Emacs
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Saturday, October 31, 2026
IRC logs for Saturday, October 31, 2026