Bonum Certa Men Certa

2022 Starts With Censorship of Christmas and Other Greetings at the EPO

SUEPO et al censored
Benoît Battistelli 'deleted' holidays and António Campinos is 'finishing the job'



Summary: The nihilists who run the EPO want a monopoly on holiday greetings; to make matters worse, they're censoring staff representatives in their intranet whilst inconsistently applying said policies

THE FOLLOWING message was circulated earlier this week by the Local Staff Committee Munich (LSCMN) and sent around by members of SUEPO. So naturally, as usual, a copy landed on our lap, alleging "Censorship of Christmas wishes".



"So people out there can see what sort of chronic sociopaths and liars we're dealing with here."At the "[e]nd of 2021," the message said, "the Local Staff Committee Munich (LSCMN) requested the sending of a mass-email on Office email addresses to share its Christmas greetings to staff. The Office rejected the request and answered: "the Office does not send mass e-mails with Christmas greetings to staff but posts a Christmas message on its website. You are kindly invited to adopt the same approach on your intranet page.” Shortly afterwards, Ms Romano-Götsch and Mr Menidjel sent their own greetings by mass-email to staff. Once again, the Office applies double standards. We hope that in 2022 the Office will put an end to unnecessary and arbitrary censorship of the staff representation and become a modern and open organisation worthy of the 21st Century."

So people out there can see what sort of chronic sociopaths and liars we're dealing with here. As a reminder, Romano-Götsch elevated her career by propping up a dictator; staff still loathes her for it. How's this one for a shameless and deliberate lie?

EPO quality lies



Here's the full publication from Munich Staff Representatives:

Personalausschuss München Staff Committee Munich Le Comité du Personnel de Munich

Munich, 12.01.2022 sc22001mp

Censorship of Christmas wishes



Unhappy ending to 2021 – Happy New Year to everybody in 2022!

Dear colleagues,

For staff the final months of 2021 were full of disappointment:

- A Salary Adjustment of 0% (which corresponds to a real-terms cut in salaries of up to 5% because of inflation);

- Plans to abolish Flexitime (a system which requires minimal administrative effort, does not cost a dime to the Office, and is well appreciated and frequently used by staff);

- No progress on Fixed-Term Contracts (an unfair system for a vulnerable younger generation: Just imagine being on a contract when the next Coronavirus crisis comes).

During the very last days of 2021 we were disappointed yet again.

This is what happened: In these times of greatly-reduced personal contact the Local Staff Committee Munich thought it would be nice to email Christmas wishes to all our colleagues in Munich and to inform them about our plans to organise a General Assembly.

The reply by the Office was not what we expected:

“Please be informed that the Office does not send mass e-mails with Christmas greetings to staff but posts a Christmas message on its website. You are kindly invited to adopt the same approach on your intranet page.” (Email from the Administration, 16.12.2021)


Censorship yet again! Furthermore, we are not sure how to reconcile the statement “the Office does not send mass e-mails with Christmas greetings“ with the fact that shortly afterwards both Roberta Romano-Götsch and Razik Menidjel sent Christmas wishes en masse:

Mass E-mails at EPO



Unfortunately, the absurdness does not stop here: A similar request by the Berlin Local Staff Committee to email Christmas wishes to their colleagues was actually approved by the Administration.

We have, of course, asked the Office for the reasons for all these inconsistencies. So far we have not received any answer.

One of our wishes for 2022: That the Office will put an end to unnecessary and arbitrary censorship and become a modern and open organisation worthy of the 21st Century.

Happy New Year to Everybody!

Your Staff Committee Munich


What a way to start the year, eh? We'll soon publish The EPO’s Overseer/Overseen Collusion parts XXXXI and XXXXII.

Recent Techrights' Posts

Ponzi Schemes Are Useful (to Corrupt CEOs)
Pathetic, corruptible so-called 'media' is bagging bribes to perpetuate the lies about "AI" (slop)
Body-Shaming Using Fakes
a lot of the people who casually claim "defamation" are themselves defaming loads of people every day
EPO People Power - Part XXIV - Today or Tomorrow You Should Write to National Representatives (Delegates) at the EPO in Your Country
Keep up the pressure!
Red Hat and IBM Layoffs, Staff Kept Quiet About it, WARN Act Skirted/WARN Notices Avoided
What a terrible company to be in
 
Gemini Links 04/01/2026: 64-bit Addressing and 39th Chaos Communication Congress
Links for the day
Windows Was Always the Punchline
What did we count to calculate taxes?
GNU/Linux Surges to About 4% in Peru This Year
one of the poorest counties in America
This Year Our Adoption of IRC Turns 18
We have used IRC for this site since 2008
The Doors Are Closing, Windows Closing Too
Microsoft wants more vendor lock-in, but at risk that this desire will simply alienate and drive away many users
The FSF's Program Manager, Dr. Miriam Sabrina Bastian, Left in October to Lead Climate School
We are not sure why Miriam Bastian decided to leave the Free Software Foundation (FSF)
Outline of Slop, LLMs, IBM, and Things to Come
This coming week and weekend will be very productive irrespective of how much "news" gets published by other sites
Links 04/01/2026: War Without Borders, "Large Hadron Collider Being Shut Down"
Links for the day
Links 04/01/2026: US Imperialism in Greenland and Venezuela, "Climate Protesters Face Greater Risk of Crackdown Amid Rising Authoritarianism"
Links for the day
2026 Should be the Year We All Stop Saying "AI" and Call Things What They Really Are
Don't give anyone the satisfaction of this misguided belief there's any intelligence there
GNU/Linux at All-Time High in Algeria
In 2026 it hit a new all-time high
Online Mobbing (and Worse) Disguised as 'Free Speech'
People who say they believe in "free speech" have been trying hard to silence RMS and squash the FSF
A 'Cancer That Attaches Itself' to Bulgaria?
"Cancer" is what Microsoft called GNU/Linux
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Saturday, January 03, 2026
IRC logs for Saturday, January 03, 2026
GNU/Linux "Market Share" in Switzerland More Than Doubled Last Year, Based on statCounter
GNU/Linux continues its considerable growth
XBox Layoffs Imminent, More Appalling Sales Figures Published
Expect many layoffs in the gaming division
Slop Still Rare
So far a good start for 2026
Gemini Links 03/01/2026: Climbing, Waking Up, and Social Control Media Woes
Links for the day
Links 03/01/2026: Growing Censorship, Another US Invasion, and Will Smith 'Cancelled'
Links for the day
Links 03/01/2026: Twitter Turns From Disinformation Powerhouse to Production and Dissemination of Child Pr0n, "New China Cybersecurity Law Becomes A Reality In 2026"
Links for the day
Gemini Links 03/01/2026: Formatting Text for Gopher and Text-only Websites
Links for the day
Unverified Claim: Mass Layoffs at Microsoft to Start Around Week 3 (or 4) of This Month
Let's wait and see if the claim above is from an insider who has inside knowledge
Firefox Fell Below 1% in Asia
less than 1 in 100 Web users is detected/assumed to be using Firefox
Links 03/01/2026: Ryanair Fines and Facebook Misleads Regulators
Links for the day
New Record High for GNU/Linux in Benelux in 2026
If the above trends stand (throughout the year), then we can begin talking more seriously about a post-GAFAM Europe
In the Search Engine Market, Microsoft is Falling Behind Russia's Yandex
The so-called 'AI industry' is a boy that cries wolf
A Year of Relaxation, But Also of Hardcore Whistleblowing
Expect industrial action some time soon
The More Influential Richard Stallman (RMS) Becomes, the More Aggressive Attacks on Him (and the FSF) Will Get
We've meanwhile noticed disinformation being spread in social control media
GNU/Linux Reaches All-Time High of 5% in Indonesia (Not Counting Chromebooks and Android)
There are also related events in Indonesia and SUSE in particular seems to have been popularised there
EPO People Power - Part XXIII - António Campinos Knows He's Extremely Vulnerable at This Time
Campinos should never have been put in charge
Gemini Links 03/01/2026: New Organisation System (Notebooks) and "2026 Already Off to an Amazing Start"
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Friday, January 02, 2026
IRC logs for Friday, January 02, 2026
The More Buzzwords a Corporation Resorts To...
buzzwords are a fool's way to compensate for or disguise a lack of knowledge
So You Should Definitely Call it "Slop" and Stop Saying "AI"
with more XBox/gaming layoffs being imminent the blowback will be fun to watch
Why Are We Still Using Voting Machines?
Voting machines still seem to me like an infantile cargo cult and an act of salesmanship (like various security theatre rituals at airports)
"Works for Me!"
Who knows best?
Why IBM Workers Like Techrights (Same Reason EPO Workers Do)
IBM will likely be a daily theme (high rate of recurrence)
Workers Fly Away From IBM's Red Hat (This Year a Lot of Red Hat Staff is "IBM")
The stock (share price) of IBM says nothing about what actually goes on
In 2025 We Contributed to the Headlessness of the OSI, But It's Not Over Yet
By airing some 'dirty laundry' about the OSI last year we contributed to its current state
Africa's Largest Population Sees Diminishing Impact of Windows
less than 1 in 10 Web requests in Nigeria comes from Windows
Russia Cuts Finnish Cables ("Hybrid War"), Finland Cuts Off Microsoft
the birthplace of Linux
Links 02/01/2026: Science, Patent Maximalism, and Public Domain Day
Links for the day
Gemini Links 02/02/2026: Books, Scams, and mkscript (a Script to Make Scripts)
Links for the day
Free Software is More Naturally Inclusive
large, intolerant, violent companies get painted as a glorious example of United Colours of Benetton
Strong Start for GNU/Linux This Year
based on statCounter
More Tools, Factorising Code
If some things in the site of Gemini capsules don't behave as expected, then that's likely due to a bug
Europe in 2026: Over 5% GNU/Linux, Not Counting Chromebooks
2026 has started strongly
State of Tech Journalism in 2026: Follow the Money
in order to understand what motivates an opinion piece one must follow the money
Slopfarm Says Microsoft's "Biggest Business" is the 'Business' Where It Loses Tens of Billions of Dollars
TOI still pretends to have a lot of output
At the Start of January 2025 Microsoft President Said Microsoft Would Spend 80 Billion Dollars on "AI" Data Centres. That Didn't Happen. Microsoft Laid Off 30,000 Workers, Debt Surged.
Maybe this coming Monday Microsoft will come up with more false promises and vapourware
Links 02/01/2026: Insurrectionist Attacks Musicians Critical of Him With Lawfare, Project Gutenberg Now Has Over 75,000 Books
Links for the day
Decline in LLM Slop About "Linux" is a Good Start for 2026
When the only remaining proponents of slop are slop, which is pretty much what's happening right now, the bubble is popping
EPO People Power - Part XXII - Contact Officials and Inform Your National Representatives (Delegates) of the EPO's Cocainegate
Europe's largest media intentionally covers up serious scandals in Europe's second-largest institution
Slopwatch Still Dead, Not Enough LLM Slop About "Linux"
this is the desirable thing
LibXML2 Will Carry on (Without or With the Name "LibXML2")
The proprietary software boosters are projecting
Gemini Links 02/01/2026: ThinkPad, SHARP Zaurus, Lagrange Handheld Support
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Thursday, January 01, 2026
IRC logs for Thursday, January 01, 2026