Links 15/12/2023: Strikes Over Layoffs and Kangaroo Courts for Patent Monopolies in the EU
Contents
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Leftovers
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Education
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Project Censored ☛ Arizona Private Schools Surge Tuition Despite State Vouchers
This rise in tuition costs across the state happened only months after the state approval and will once again exclude the same families the decision intended to serve. As part of the initiative, the state provided families with about $7,000 of public funding to reduce the costs of non-public education. However, those opposed to Arizona’s empowerment scholarship accounts, or ESAs, maintain that this plan won’t benefit low-income families.
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Project Censored ☛ Incarcerated Youth Benefit from Recent Education Investment
The budget administers $80 million for alternative schools, serving students who face various challenges such as behavioral issues and learning disabilities, and $15 million for programs that “connect incarcerated youth to higher education.” County probation departments are required to offer secondary education options in juvenile detention facilities, and county offices of education will also receive additional funds to operate alternative and juvenile court schools.
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Project Censored ☛ New Legislation Addresses Lack of Funding for Rural School Districts
Exacerbating the problem, the cost of maintaining schools with low enrollment is higher than schools with greater enrollment, with ripple effects on the quality of education available to students in those schools. Despite these districts’ efforts to trim their budgets, they are still unable to provide adequate learning environments.
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Hardware
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Digital Music News ☛ Utopia Distribution Services Touts ’Record-Breaking’ November
Notwithstanding the well-documented operational woes it’s grappled with throughout 2022 and 2023, Utopia Music has revealed that its UK warehouse shipped north of 3.3 million physical-media units during November. The Switzerland-based company reached out to Digital Music News with word of the “record-breaking” November [...]
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Proprietary/Artificial Intelligence (AI)
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MIT Technology Review ☛ Yahoo’s decades-long China controversy and the responsibility of tech companies
It’s a perennial debate: whether American tech companies are contributing to government control of the internet in China.
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France24 ☛ Tesla recalls 2 million US vehicles to fix autopilot safety problems
Tesla is recalling just over two million vehicles in the United States fitted with its Autopilot advanced driver-assistance system to install new safeguards, after a safety regulator said the system was open to "foreseeable misuse."
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Embracer Strikes Again as Layoffs are Reported at 3D Realms
More layoffs have hit the gaming industry under the severely leaking Embracer umbrella, with more layoffs reported at Danish publisher and developer 3D Realms.
The developer and its development arm Slipgate Ironworks, which are owned by Embracer Group via their parent company Saber Interactive, appear to have suffered an unconfirmed number of layoffs across their staff.
These include composer, sound designer, and level designer Michael Marke and social and event coordinator Alex Danino, both of whom mentioned having been let go on their X (formerly Twitter) accounts.
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Workers picket Game Awards amid industry layoffs
Game Workers of Southern California say the industry has laid off 8,000 workers in 2023 despite record projected profits of $180 billion.
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Security
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Privacy/Surveillance
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NYOB ☛ GDPR complaint against X (Twitter) over illegal micro-targeting for chat control ads
GDPR complaint against X (Twitter) over illegal micro-targeting for chat control ads
X enabled the illegal political micro-targeting used by the EU Commission
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Defence/Aggression
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The Straits Times ☛ Iraq links some US embassy attackers to security services
Iraq has identified links between several of the perpetrators of a Dec. 7 multiple rocket attack on the U.S. embassy in Baghdad and some of the country's security services, a spokesperson for Iraq's prime minister said in a statement.
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The Strategist ☛ Australia must act now to develop a national security strategy
Urgency is mounting for Australia to reintroduce the national security strategy into its strategic arsenal and Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s recent visits to the United States and China present an opportunity for doing so.
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The Straits Times ☛ Philippines ‘wargaming’ Chinese hostilities as South China Sea stand-offs intensify
Ties have deteriorated after several collisions and stand-offs near disputed features of the South China Sea.
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RFERL ☛ Iranian Professor Resigns After Being Questioned Over Support Of Protesters
Akbar Jafari, a professor at Tehran's Sharif University, has resigned after being summoned and interrogated by security agents over his support for protests last year sparked by the September 2022 death of Mahsa Amini while in police custody.
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RFA ☛ Motorcycle protester appears in 'confessional' video
Video is part of propaganda films made by Hong Kong police in support of security law.
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LRT ☛ Intelligence chief says Lithuania should limit migration or ramp up screening capabilities
Lithuania’s authorities have to either limit immigration or bolster intelligence capabilities, since officers are struggling to screen all arriving foreign nationals, says Darius Jauniškis, chief of the State Security Department (VSD).
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Hong Kong Free Press ☛ Upholding national security to become ‘core value’ in Hong Kong’s updated civil service code
Upholding national security will become a “core value” for Hong Kong’s 175,000 civil servants, a proposed new code of conduct states. Employees will also be barred from criticising government policies in their official capacity. The Civil Service Bureau published a draft of its updated Civil Service Code on Wednesday.
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Hong Kong Free Press ☛ Man jailed under security law says he was swayed by society’s atmosphere in Hong Kong police-promoted TV show
The first person jailed under the national security law has been featured in a Hong Kong police-promoted television special, saying he was swayed by the atmosphere in society when he committed his offence.
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Environment
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Energy/Transportation
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Project Censored ☛ Exposing the Jewish National Fund and Radioactive Fracking
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Finance
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Atlantic Council ☛ The migration dividend: Unlocking new opportunities for migrants’ labor force integration
Table of contents IntroductionActionable prioritiesChallengesRecommendationsThe path forward Introduction Latin America and the Caribbean is seeing a wave of intra-regional migration that is without precedent in our hemisphere. Millions of people are displaced by lack of economic opportunities, security (including gender-based violence), poverty, and climate change, among other factors.
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The Strategist ☛ Biden’s trade policy U-turn bodes ill for Indo-Pacific security
America’s economic isolationism is increasingly entrenched, with President Joe Biden’s administration no longer supporting the trade policies advocated by US multinational corporations, retreating instead to a nativist protectionism.
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These four European cities offer tech workers the best quality of life
The European tech industry is booming. From hyper-growth start-ups like GitLab, to profitable fintech like TransferWise, to IPO successes like Spotify, you’ll find innovation spanning all areas of technology.
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Hong Kong Free Press ☛ Ex-vice-president of state-run China Development Bank Zhou Qingyu arrested for alleged bribery
A former top official at one of China’s largest state-run banks has been arrested for alleged bribery, state media reported Thursday, as Beijing cracks down on corruption in the country’s financial sector. The case of Zhou Qingyu, a former vice president of the China Development Bank, “has been transferred… for examination and prosecution”, state news […]
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AstroTurf/Lobbying/Politics
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Misinformation/Disinformation/Propaganda
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New York Times ☛ Pro-China YouTube Network Used Hey Hi (AI) to Malign U.S., Report Finds
Content from at least 30 channels in the network drew nearly 120 million views and 730,000 subscribers since last year.
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Censorship/Free Speech
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Hong Kong Free Press ☛ Hong Kong national security police issue arrest warrants, HK$1 million bounties for 5 overseas activists
Hong Kong’s national security police have announced arrest warrants for five overseas activists, placing HK$1 million bounties on their heads. Police named Simon Cheng, Frances Hui, Joey Siu, Johnny Fok and Tony Choi as wanted for alleged offences under the national security law during a press conference on Thursday.
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Hong Kong Free Press ☛ China blasts UK’s ‘malicious intentions’ after foreign sec. meets son of Hong Kong media mogul Jimmy Lai
China on Wednesday accused Britain of having “malicious intentions” toward Hong Kong after British Foreign Secretary David Cameron met with the son of jailed pro-democracy publisher Jimmy Lai.
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Hong Kong Free Press ☛ Chinese University of Hong Kong fires vice-president with immediate effect, citing ‘loss of confidence’
The governing body of the Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) has dismissed one of its vice-presidents with immediate effect, citing “a loss of confidence” in the senior officer’s ability to support future work.
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BIA Net ☛ Turkey’s ‘Ekşi Sözlük’ social control media site banned again
A group monitoring online censorship in the country reported that the website was banned for reasons related to “national security and the preservation of public order.”
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Techdirt ☛ Missouri AG Announces Bullshit Censorial Investigation Into Media Matters Over Its Speech
Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey is currently engaged in numerous legal battles over speech which can more or less be summarized as “criticism of people Andrew Bailey likes is censorship,” but “criticism of people Andrew Bailey doesn’t like is good and just and important to the marketplace of ideas.”
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University of Michigan ☛ The Middle East and U-M: A better way
We, the newly-formed Faculty and Staff for Justice in Palestine, a group of University faculty and staff engaged in education, advocacy, and action in solidarity with Palestinian liberation, issue this statement in response to our University’s horrific suppression of free speech and activism regarding Palestinian human rights.
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Internet Policy/Net Neutrality
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New York Times ☛ Luiz Barroso, Who Supercharged Google’s Reach, Dies at 59
In designing warehouse-size data centers that behaved like a single computer, he changed the fabric of the internet.
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Michael Geist ☛ The Most Dangerous Canadian Internet Bill You’ve Never Heard Of Is a Step Closer to Becoming Law
After years of battles over Bills C-11 and C-18, few Canadians will have the appetite for yet another troubling Internet bill. But given a bill that envisions government-backed censorship, mandates age verification to use search engines or social control media sites, and creates a framework for court-ordered website blocking, there is a need to pay attention. Bill S-210, or the Protecting Young Persons from Exposure to Pornography Act, was passed by the Senate in April after Senators were reluctant to reject a bill framed as protecting children from online harm. The same scenario appears to be playing out in the House of Commons, where yesterday a majority of the House voted for the bill at second reading, sending it to the Public Safety committee for review.
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Digital Restrictions (DRM)
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Digital Music News ☛ Did Spotify Just Score a Major Victory Against Fashion Company Apple in the EU?
A new report suggests EU regulators are prepping to side with Spotify in its antitrust battle against Apple. Here’s the latest. According to Bloomberg, European regulators are preparing a ruling that would prevent Fashion Company Apple from “blocking music services from pushing their users away from the App Store to alternative subscription options.”
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Security Week ☛ Apple Testing New Stolen Device Protection Feature for iPhones [Ed: Apple is always in (remote) control of all these devices. That is not a plus.]
Apple is testing a new security feature that should limit what iPhone thieves can do with a stolen phone, even if they have the passcode.
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CCIA ☛ Amazon’s Motion to Dismiss Shows the Factual and Legal Weaknesses of the FTC’s Case [Ed: Did Project Disco take money from Bezos?]
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Patents
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MIT Technology Review ☛ Vertex will pay tens of millions to license a controversial CRISPR patent
Vertex Pharmaceuticals has agreed to buy rights to use a dominant CRISPR patent monopoly owned by the Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT, avoiding a potential lawsuit over its new gene-editing treatment for sickle-cell disease. The agreement allows Vertex to start selling its treatment, approved last Friday, without fear of patent monopoly infringement claims.
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Unified Patents ☛ Graphite Charging power supply patent monopoly reexam granted
On December 13, 2023, three weeks after Unified filed an ex parte reexamination, the Central Reexamination Unit (CRU) granted Unified’s request, finding a substantial new question of patentability on all challenged claims of U.S. Patent 8,291,243, owned by Graphite Charging Company LLC, an NPE.
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Dennis Crouch/Patently-O ☛ Federal Circuit Continues to Apply Strict Obviousness-Type Double Patenting Analysis
This post gets into some weeds about obviousness type double patenting stemming from the Federal Circuit’s new decision in Institut Pasteur. Although non-precedential, the decision signals that the doctrine remains strong (and strict). The decision cements that for OTDP analysis, any comparison of unexpected results or long-felt need must be made to the applicant’s own earlier patent monopoly claims, not the closest “prior art.” The court also endorsed reliance on inherency to satisfy claim limitations not found in earlier claims.
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Dennis Crouch/Patently-O ☛ More Than Just “Inventory”: Some Professional Responsibility Implications of Third Party Patent Assertion Entity Funding
Law is a noble profession destined to be marred by the activities of attorneys behaving badly. On November 27th, Chief Judge Colm Connolly of Delaware released a blistering opinion reprimanding counsel for inexcusable and willful lapses in professional responsibility, misrepresentations to the USPTO, and potential unauthorized practice of law all associated with the patent monopoly assertion entity IP Edge LLC (IP Edge) and its affiliate Mavexar LLC (Mavexar). Disciplinary, administrative, and potential criminal referrals result for the counsels of record for plaintiffs for this conduct. For other practitioners, this is a cautionary tale about third-party litigation and candor to the Court.
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Kangaroo Courts
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Kluwer Patent Blog ☛ Unified Patent Court: ‘Conflicting decisions aren’t something of the past’ [Ed: Unified Patent Court is totally illegal, but firms that promoted this huge crime, at the expense of the EU's legitimacy, are going out of their way trying to legitimise the crime]
The EPO has recently announced it will ‘accelerate its processing of parallel opposition proceedings if it is informed by the Unified Patent Court or a national court or competent authority of a contracting state that an infringement or revocation action relating to a European patent monopoly or a Unitary Patent has been instituted before it.’
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JUVE ☛ Reel and Hogan Lovells repel Fives damages claim at the UPC [Ed: UPC is an illegal, fake "court"; it was lobbied for, using bribed, by this corrupt publisher, essentially telling lies to advance an ongoing crime, then reporting on the outcome of this crime. The EU collapsing (being abolished by right-wing parties) is one way the UPC will go away; the UPC was a case of crime, which in turn serves to discredit the EU and helps its critics.]
In the dispute between two manufacturers of control units for aluminium melting furnaces, Fives has failed to enforce its claims regarding the amount of damages it is seeking against competitor Reel at the UPC.
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JUVE ☛ Lederer & Keller and Kraus & Weisert announce merger [Ed: And yet more marketing disguised as journalism, with sponsorship from the firms covered]
Following the merger on 1 January 2024, the new outfit Kraus & Lederer will have a total of 25 patent monopoly attorneys.
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Trademarks
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TTAB Blog ☛ VOGUE VEGAN for Cosmetics Dilutes Famous VOGUE Marks, Says TTAB
The Board sustained an opposition to VOGUE VEGAN for cosmetics containing no animal products or by-products, and granted a petition for cancellation of a registration for that same mark for "personal shopping for others who want goods containing no animal products or by-products," on the ground that the mark dilutes the famous VOGUE and VOGUE-formative marks for fashion magazines and related services. Plaintiff failed to prove its claims of abandonment and fraud. The Board declined to reach plaintiff's likelihood of confusion claim. Advance Magazine Publishers Inc. v. Brenda Joan Hollifield, Opposition No. 91247611 and Cancellation No. 92072531 (November 30, 2023) [not precedential] (Opinion by Judge Peter W. Cataldo).
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Gemini* and Gopher
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Personal/Opinions
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Pots and Pans
New non-stick pans were purchased. The old ones were not very non-stick, and had been observed atop red-hot burners boiling something or the other. This is not so good a use? Warnings were issued not to turn the heat up on the new non-stick pans, a warning that probably was and will be forgotten.
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Politics and World Events
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I'm Tired of These Stochastic Invocations
I'm not particularly clever, but even I recognize this for what it is: a deniable call to action, to violence, a more subtle form of what Henry II gave when he gave his famous "Will nobody rid me of this turbulent priest?" speech. King Henry had knights, legal authority, and a state monopoly on violence (inasmuch as the peasants didn't realize that this, like every other legal concept was just an implicitly agreed-upon convention, that their so-called betters were flesh and blood and squishy) but Musk has something potentially even more powerful: a large audience, an army of maladjusted simps loyal to her son, many of whom have knives, or guns, and many of which have, perhaps best to say, a questionable grip on reality.
[...]
And what's all this over, anyway? The FCC ruling to deny $900M in subsidies for rural Starlink broadband. That's it! Just a denial for free government money, the kind that rich call subsidies when applied to themselves, and handouts should we poors get the same.
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It sounds like if Musk wants public funds, his company needs to actually do the necessary work. Instead of buying a social media company and running it into the ground, tweeting erratically, he could focus on the work of doing work instead. But he can never, will never log off. He's cursed with a desire to post while at the same time lacking any ability to do it well. We're all worse off for it. We unlock our phone. A tweet comes across our feed. We grimace. _Christ, what did those assholes say this time._
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Technology and Free Software
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Oxymoronistic
Although hate speech and disinformation with potentially dangerous consequences do not need to be encouraged in any way, the most zealous efforts to stop such speech also have negative consequences. The problem, of course, is that jokes, irony, parody, various forms of art, or legitimate critique may fall under the generous definition of hate speech or disinformation.
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Monopolies/Monopsonies
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* Gemini (Primer) links can be opened using Gemini software. It's like the World Wide Web but a lot lighter.