Free, Libre, and Open Source Software

• Standards/Consortia

  • CNX Software ☛ Comparing the latency of various wireless standards

    If you’ve ever wondered which wireless standard may deliver the smallest lag (latency) when transmitting small packets, we’ve now gotten an answer thanks to Scott at Electric UI who benchmarked various wireless links in common MCU development boards.

Leftovers

• Brandon ☛ RE: On following many blogs

  But to respond to Meadow, over the years I've come to realize that most blogs don't last more than ninety-days. Those first few posts come easy because you are excited and have something to say, but unless writing comes to you naturally or you "must" write to maintain your sanity, it can be a challenge. So, if I find a blog I like, I immediately add it to my RSS. About once a year, I go through them and usually there are well over one-hundred blogs, but probably only twenty that are active and it's usually the same twenty that were active the year before, and the year before that. I even noticed when I was putting together my links page that so many of the BearBlogs I initially had added were no longer updated. I think there are a few on there now that are pretty much abandoned. That's just the nature of blogging.

• IT Tavern ☛ forum.ittavern.com - Thoughts & Ideas

  forum.ittavern.com is online and I would love to welcome you there!

  More information about the forum itself can be found in the original forum post. In this article I would like to share my thoughts and ideas with you.

• Micro Maique ☛ 🌐 Small Web | {micro maique}

  Kagi, the search engine, has a rather cool initiative called Small Web. Showcasing blogs written by regular humans.

  "We want to amplify the voices of genuine humans on the web."

• Manuel Moreale ☛ P&B: Peter Rukavina

  This is the 25th edition of People and Blogs, the series where I ask interesting people to talk about themselves and their blogs. Today we have Peter Rukavina and his blog, ruk.ca

• Juha-Matti Santala ☛ Stickers tell stories

  I’m one of the people whose laptop covers are full of stickers. Recently, a friend shared a picture of his laptop and noted (paraphrased translation):

  "Looking at them, I realized how many of these are connected to stories and people”

• Johnny Decimal ☛ 14.03 The Workshop • Johnny.Decimal

  In 2024 I am proud to announce The Johnny.Decimal Workshop: where we bring the Workbook to life.

  This is the fastest, simplest, most reliable way to organise your life.

• Rob Knight ☛ Three Months of The Johnny Decimal System

  Three months ago I wrote about using the Johnny Decimal System - a system to organise your files, emails, and everything else in a way that means things are findable and storable quickly.

  I had assumed, like a lot of things I try, that given a month or so I'd be back to just dumping files wherever and being annoyed when I couldn't find things but to my surprise the system is working. Really well. [...]

• Science

  • Omicron Limited ☛ Know a secret you're burning to share? Read this first instead of becoming an 'a-hole'

    That's part of the conclusion drawn by Einav Hart, assistant professor of management at the Donald G. Costello College of Business at George Mason University, in a recently published paper in the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology. In a series of studies, Hart finds that divulging others' secrets often makes you look bad in the eyes of observers, even when the observers say it's the "right" thing to do.

  • The Kent Stater ☛ Researchers discover process to domesticate small-scaled organisms

    For centuries, people have domesticated large animals for their own benefit, but new research at the university’s Liquid Crystals Materials Science Building suggests humans can domesticate more small-scaled organisms.

  • Science Alert ☛ A Mysterious Virus Called 'Alaskapox' Is Emerging. Here's What We Know.

    Seven known cases, one fatality.

  • Science Alert ☛ Ancient Fossil That Baffled Scientists For Decades Finally Reveals Its True Identity

    We've never found anything else like it.

• Education

  • CS Monitor ☛ Afghan girls’ education is at the heart of Pashtana Durrani’s work

    When the U.S. military officially withdrew from Afghanistan in August 2021, evacuation coordinators quickly drew up a list of individuals eligible for humanitarian parole: Afghan citizens who had cooperated with NATO in the past and those who worked for local nongovernmental organizations.

    Pashtana Durrani ticked both boxes: As a fierce, outspoken champion of every girl’s right to an education, she had founded her own NGO and regularly visited the nearby NATO base.

    She faced danger from the returning Taliban, and many people encouraged her to leave the country. But amid the chaos and destruction, Durrani felt she still had important work to do. Should she stay, or should she go?

  • Jacobin Magazine ☛ North Carolina School Privatizers Are Subverting Democracy

    In September, North Carolina became the tenth state to universalize private school choice. Starting next school year even billionaires will be able to cash in on the OS program, extracting tax revenues that might otherwise be used to support the state’s public schools, which are in crisis due to defunding. Data from other states with universal programs show that vouchers enable a phenomenal upward transfer of wealth, with about three-quarters being claimed by privileged families whose children have never attended public schools. That’s partly because tuition at high-quality private schools far exceeds what a voucher will cover, meaning average people are priced out of robust private education even with the subsidies their tax dollars are paying for. It’s a reverse Robin Hood scheme.

  • International Business Times ☛ Struggling To Find A Job After Graduating? What About Studying Abroad?

    Every year in the UK, an average of 900,000 undergraduate students leave university with a degree.

    For many of them, higher education represented the best route into full-time work after their studies – after all, the first thing employers look for is a degree, right?

    Not anymore, the research suggests.

  • CS Monitor ☛ Afghan girls’ education is at the heart of Pashtana Durrani’s work

    When the U.S. military officially withdrew from Afghanistan in August 2021, evacuation coordinators quickly drew up a list of individuals eligible for humanitarian parole: Afghan citizens who had cooperated with NATO in the past and those who worked for local nongovernmental organizations.

    Pashtana Durrani ticked both boxes: As a fierce, outspoken champion of every girl’s right to an education, she had founded her own NGO and regularly visited the nearby NATO base.

    She faced danger from the returning Taliban, and many people encouraged her to leave the country. But amid the chaos and destruction, Durrani felt she still had important work to do. Should she stay, or should she go?

• Health/Nutrition/Agriculture

  • Digital Music News ☛ New York City Sues TikTok for Harming Kids’ Mental Health

    New York City is filing a lawsuit against five social media platforms — TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, Snapchat, and YouTube — for harming kids’ mental health nationwide.

    New York City Mayor Eric Adams, alongside the city’s Corporation Counsel Sylvia O. Hinds Radix, NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (DOHMH) Commissioner Dr. Ashwin Vasan, NYC Health + Hospitals (NYC H+H) President Dr. Michell Katz, and New York City Department of Education Chancellor David C. Banks, announced the filing of a lawsuit against five social media platforms — TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, Snapchat, and YouTube — to hold them accountable for “fueling the nationwide youth mental health crisis.”

  • Science News ☛ U.S. opioid deaths are out of control. Can safe injection sites help?

    The United States had more than 106,000 drug overdose deaths in 2021, the most recent year for which complete data are available. That’s more per capita than other high-income countries with available data. The vast majority of those deaths involve opioids, including prescription opioid medications and heroin, but predominantly synthetic opioids such as fentanyl. Annual deaths from opioid overdoses have more than doubled since 2015.

  • Quack tycoon Joe Mercola now thinks he’s “the new Jesus” who will save the world

    Dr. Joseph Mercola has been a frequent topic on this blog, mainly because he’s been near the top of the quack pile going back over a quarter of a century. Basically, Mercola is, unfortunately a pioneer of 21st century quackery and antivax misinformation. He started out selling “natural health” in the late 1990s, at which time he started a newsletter and website to publish his “thoughts”—such as they were—on medicine, “natural health,” and vaccines. Over the first years of the 21st century, his efforts led him from being one of the first “pioneers” selling quackery on the Internet to becoming fabulously wealthy selling quackery, to the tune of a net worth upwards of $100 million. Naturally, with the arrival of the pandemic, Mercola pivoted to the even more profitable selling of COVID-19 disinformation. Basically, these days when you think of the top misinforming quacks, you have to include Mercola among the rarified ranks of people like Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. (RFK Jr.) and his Children’s Health Defense, Del Bigtree, Andrew Wakefield, and Joe Rogan. The main difference is that Mercola is richer than them all, other than the possible exception of Joe Rogan.

  • Science Alert ☛ Scientists Reveal How Long a Cannabis High Actually Lasts

  • Science Alert ☛ Ancient Viruses Millions of Years Ago Shaped The Bodies We Have Today

    A genetic code found in all of us.

  • Science Alert ☛ Science Reveals Whether It's Safer to Be Wet or Dry in a Lightning Storm

    The results will shock you.

  • BIA Net ☛ TurkStat reveals 'Life Satisfaction Survey' results

    Among 69.5% stated that being healthy is their primary source of happiness in 2023. This is followed by love at 13.2%, success at 9.2%, money at 5.3%, and work at 2.6%.

  • New York Times ☛ Britain’s Conservative Party Loses Two Seats In Latest Blow To Rishi Sunak

    The loss of two seats came as Prime Minister Rishi Sunak deals with a shrinking economy and discontent over a crisis gripping the country’s health system.

  • New York Times ☛ Biden Set to Visit East Palestine, a Year After Fiery Train Derailment

    The president visited the Ohio town over a year after a devastating train derailment. He faced a divided community anxious over the long-term health consequences of an environmental disaster.

  • Reason ☛ When Doctors Are the Source of Public Health Misinformation

    Medical professionals are often unaware of the relevant research on the relative risks of tobacco products, and that can matter for public health.

• Proprietary/Artificial Intelligence (AI)

  • Quartz ☛ Air Canada AI chatbot lies to passenger about bereavement discounts

    A Canadian tribunal has ruled that Air Canada must pay damages to one of its passengers for misleading advice given by its customer service chatbot, which resulted in the passenger paying nearly double for their plane tickets.

  • The Register UK ☛ Air Canada must pay after chatbot lies to grieving passenger

    Air Canada must pay a passenger hundreds of dollars in damages after its online chatbot gave the guy wrong information before he booked a flight.

    Jake Moffatt took the airline to a small-claims tribunal after the biz refused to refund him for flights he booked from Vancouver to Toronto following the death of his grandmother in November last year. Before he bought the tickets, he researched Air Canada's bereavement fares – special low rates for those traveling due to the loss of an immediate family member – by querying its website chatbot.

  • The Verge ☛ A Wyze outage is cutting off people’s access to their security cameras

    Wyze owners with security cameras, dashcams, and other smart home devices are reporting this morning that they can’t access them and that its apps are returning error messages. Users in the Wyze Discord report the problems began as early as 4AM ET, and reports of the issue popped up widely by 6AM ET according to Down Detector.

  • The Atlantic ☛ Things Get Strange When AI Starts Training Itself

    ChatGPT exploded into the world in the fall of 2022, sparking a race toward ever more advanced artificial intelligence: GPT-4, Anthropic’s Claude, Google Gemini, and so many others. But with every passing month, tech corporations appear more and more stuck, competing over millimeters of progress. The most advanced and attention-grabbing AI models, having consumed most of the text and images available on the internet, are running out of training data, their most precious resource. This, along with the costly and slow process of using human evaluators to develop these systems, has stymied the technology’s growth, leading to iterative updates rather than massive paradigm shifts.

  • Futurism ☛ Man's Tinder AI Makes Date With Woman, Forgets to Tell Him and Stands Her Up

    Unsurprisingly, there were some dehumanizing growing pains with his dating bot. As Forbes reports, the AI program scheduled a date with a woman at the local Contemporary Multimedia Art Museum of Moscow — without actually informing Zhadan.

    The poor woman showed up at the venue and texted the bot to see if Zhadan was still planning to make an appearance. In an even more unfortunate turn of events, the bot reassured her that he was on his way, apologizing.

  • Quartz ☛ Waymo recalls software after Google-owned self-driving taxis hit truck

    Waymo, which is owned by Google parent Alphabet, said its current fleet has updated software and won’t be impacted by the recall announced Tuesday. But the recall is a signal that the autonomous car industry’s ongoing issues with regulators aren’t letting up.

  • Dave Rupert ☛ A dozen thoughts about AI

    AI. It’s the talk of the town (or at least this year, that is). I’ve been in dozens of conversations about AI in recent days. The likelihood that the next big feature or product I build involves AI seems to be going up. No idea where it’s all headed – and reserve the right to change my mind – but a dozen conversations leaves me with a dozen or so disparate thoughts about this new frontier of technology.

  • Techdirt ☛ The Communication Vacuum Is Causing More Chaos As GameStop Tweets And Deletes Promo

    The chaos for Xbox keeps on rolling, it seems. We were just talking about how years of muddled communication coming from Microsoft’s Xbox team over exclusives and game ports to other consoles is resulting in a ton of confusion and speculation among the gaming public. The responsibility for all of this lies squarely at the feet of Xbox chief Phil Spencer and his team, which have oscillated between talking out of both sides of their mouths on these exclusives, and just sitting back and not saying a single thing when the confusion shows its head. And what that also allows for is speculation and conspiracy theories when, seemingly, a 3rd party vendor simply makes an oopsie.

• Security

  • Privacy/Surveillance

    • NYOB ☛ German credit agency earns millions through unlawful customer manipulation

      Today, noyb has filed a complaint and report against the German credit agency SCHUFA with the Hessian data protection authority. The company appears to be making millions of euros by selling people in Germany their own data. With the help of manipulative designs, people are prevented from obtaining a free copy of their data in accordance with Article 15 GDPR – even though they would actually be legally entitled to it. The company’s primary aim appears to be to profit from people looking for accommodation. In Germany, they often have to provide proof of solvency in order to obtain a lease.

    • Futurism ☛ Warning: “AI Girlfriends” Are Hoarding Your Personal Data

      "So-called 'AI soulmates' are giving Mozilla the ick when it comes to how much personal information they collect," reads the Mozilla report, "especially given the lack of transparency and user control over how this data is protected from abuse."

      In other words, bots designed to provide humans with an outlet for intimacy are data-hoarding troves of privacy tripwires — and the companies making them might just be using your very intimate data for their profit.

    • NYOB ☛ 28 NGOs urge EU DPAs to reject “Pay or Okay” on Meta

      The European Data Protection Board (EDPB) will soon issue what is likely to be its most significant opinion to date: It will determine whether Europeans continue to have a realistic option to protect their right to privacy online. In November 2023, Meta adopted a “Pay or Okay” approach. Since then, users have been forced to either pay a ‘privacy fee’ of € 251.88 per year or agree to be tracked. The Dutch, Norwegian and Hamburg data protection authorities (DPAs) have therefore requested a binding EDPB opinion on this matter. If ‘Pay or Okay’ is legitimised, companies across all industry sectors could follow Meta’s lead – which could mark the end of genuine consent to the use of European’s data. noyb has now joined forces with 27 other NGOs (including Wikimedia Europe, Bits of Freedom and the Norwegian Consumer Council) to urge the EDPB to issue an opinion that protects the fundamental right to data protection.

    • TruthOut ☛ Data Broker Sold Data From 600 Planned Parenthood Visits to Anti-Abortion Group

      According to a letter sent to government agencies on Tuesday by Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Oregon), a U.S. company tracked people’s visits to 600 Planned Parenthood locations in 48 states and sold that data to anti-abortion group the Veritas Society, which used the location data to orchestrate one of the largest anti-abortion ad campaigns in U.S. history.

    • Shariq Raza Qadri ☛ Indian Govt's Move to Ban ProtonMail

      In a recent development that has sparked debates on digital privacy and security forums, the Indian government made headlines with its decision to block ProtonMail, a renowned end-to-end encrypted email service.

    • Hindustan Times ☛ IT ministry looks to block Proton Mail on request of Tamil Nadu police

      The decision to block Proton Mail was taken at a meeting of the 69A blocking committee on Wednesday afternoon. Under Section 69A of the IT Act, the designated officer, on approval by the IT Secretary and at the recommendation of the 69A blocking committee, can issue orders to any intermediary or a government agency to block any content for national security, public order and allied reasons.

    • EDRI ☛ GDPR enforcement: European Parliament must guarantee procedural rights to ensure people’s data protection

      The current text is a step back from the draft report published by the European Parliament’s member leading on the new harmonising procedural law in November 2023. It uses contradictory language that risks reducing existing protections and unduly restricting the rights to be heard and access files for parties involved in a complaint procedure — especially for the complainant. Furthermore, the text places impediments to people in lodging complaints.

      Access Now urges the European Parliament to address the following serious shortcomings before a plenary vote: [...]

    • Austin White ☛ Bye-bye Google - austinwhite.org

      must work with Google Analytics for many campaigns and reporting features for my day job. I have to say - I hate it. It feels bloated and not intuitive; the documentation is off in some places by years and never cleaned up. I have to psych myself up to do what I have to do at work. Too much information is collected that is never used, and you cannot pick and choose what you want. What started as a nice platform a long time ago is an utter disaster now.

    • Gizmodo ☛ University of Michigan Says It's Not Selling Student Data to AI Companies

      On Thursday morning, news broke that someone was going around selling student data from the University of Michigan to tech workers that build AI chatbot tech. An employee at Google DeepMind, the company’s AI research hub, said they’d gotten an offer for recordings of lectures, student discussions, and office hours, as well as essays written by seniors and grad students all available for a paltry licensing fee. Now, the University says it was all a misunderstanding, that students gave their consent, and there’s nothing to worry about.

    • Quartz ☛ AI girlfriend chatbots big on data harvesting, report says

      Lonely on Valentine’s Day? AI can help. At least, that’s what a number of companies hawking “romantic” chatbots will tell you. But as your robot love story unfolds, there’s a tradeoff you may not realize you’re making. According to a new study from Mozilla’s *Privacy Not Included project, AI girlfriends and boyfriends harvest shockingly personal information, and almost all of them sell or share the data they collect.

    • Quartz ☛ AI girlfriend chatbots can't be trusted with your data

      Among the privacy issues *Privacy Not Included found when reviewing the bots were a lack of user privacy policies and information about how the AI companions work, as well as Terms and Conditions saying companies were not responsible for what could happen when using their chatbots.

    • Mozilla ☛ Happy Valentine’s Day! Romantic AI Chatbots Don’t Have Your Privacy at Heart

      In their haste to cash in, it seems like these rootin’-tootin’ app companies forgot to address their users’ privacy or publish even a smidgen of information about how these AI-powered large language models (LLMs) -- marketed as soulmates for sale -- work. We’re dealing with a whole ‘nother level of creepiness and potential privacy problems. With AI in the mix, we may even need more “dings” to address them all.All 11 romantic AI chatbots we reviewed earned our *Privacy Not Included warning label – putting them on par with the worst categories of products we have ever reviewed for privacy.

• Defence/Aggression

  • Futurism ☛ Elon Musk Selling Blue Checkmarks to Literal Terrorists

    The social network formerly known as Twitter is once again in the midst of an extremism crisis under Elon Musk's leadership.

    In a new report, the Tech Transparency Project found sanctioned entities — including leaders of Hezbollah, an Islamic fundamentalist group in Lebanon that has been designated a terrorist organization by the United States for nearly 30 years — have been given blue verification checkmarks on X-formerly-Twitter.

  • The Hill ☛ Americans split on TikTok ban as Biden campaign joins platform: Poll

    The findings come after President Biden’s reelection campaign joined TikTok on Sunday with a Super Bowl-themed 30-second video featuring Biden answering questions.

  • El País ☛ ‘We cannot normalize having 10-year-old children working as influencers’: The challenge of controlling underage content creators

    Garza Crew’s TikTok account has 4.9 million followers. The videos, made by her mother, show her as a 7-year-old American girl who, baby teeth and all, presents her makeup routines and the products that she buys like a professional. She also takes the time to talk about what it means to be a Gen Alpha influencer: “Of course we are obsessed with skin care. Of course our favorite stores are Sephora and Ulta. Of course we don’t have toys.” The star of the Garza Crew videos claims that she has been buying makeup with her sister, who is the same age, since they were both six years old. All her videos are monetized.

  • The Hill ☛ Rick Scott criticizes Met Gala for making TikTok CEO honorary chair

    TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance, a Beijing-based company, is at the center of the controversy as it has connections with the Chinese government. Officials are worried that the platform poses a national security threat and puts Americans’ data at risk.

    Scott echoed that sentiment in his online post.

  • BIA Net ☛ Protests continue for Eros killed under torture

    Animal rights activists will hold demonstrations in different cities today and over the weekend, calling for the arrest of the perpetrator and for the rights of all animals whose rights have been violated.

  • Democracy Now ☛ “I Died That Day in Parkland”: Shotline Uses AI-Generated Voices of Gun Victims to Call Congress

    The shooting in Kansas City on Wednesday came on the sixth anniversary of the Parkland, Florida, school massacre that left 17 dead and injured 17 others at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. To mark the anniversary, gun control advocates have launched a project called “The Shotline,” which calls lawmakers with AI-generated audio messages that feature the voices of gun violence victims, pushing them to pass stricter gun control laws and prevent future tragedies. One of the victims featured is Parkland student Joaquin Oliver, who was just 17 years old when he was killed. We speak to Joaquin’s father, Manuel Oliver, a gun reform activist who worked on the “Shotline” project. He describes the project as the “result of more than six years being ignored” while “begging these politicians to pass laws,” and reacts to the news of the Super Bowl parade shooting in Kansas City.

  • Democracy Now ☛ “Uniquely American Hell”: Kansas City Shooting Highlights Missouri’s Pro-Gun Laws in “Pro-Life” State

    In the first 46 days of 2024, there have been 49 mass shootings in the United States — over one per day. In total, almost 5,000 people have died from gun violence this year, including Elizabeth “Lisa” Lopez-Galvan, a radio host and mother of two who was shot and killed Wednesday at a rally held after the Super Bowl victory parade in Kansas City, Missouri. Twenty-two others were wounded, many of them children, when the shooting broke out near the end of the rally. Missouri has some of the weakest gun control laws in the country, with no universal background checks, no assault weapon restrictions, no ban on large-capacity magazines, no waiting periods to purchase a gun and no domestic violence gun laws. “This, unfortunately, is not surprising,” says Missouri-born activist and host of the Undistracted podcast, Brittany Packnett Cunningham. Last year, Kansas City set a new high for gun violence, and the city has one of the country’s highest murder rates. Packnett Cunningham traces this violence to the influence of the powerful gun lobby, and calls on lawmakers to refuse funding from pro-gun groups like the NRA.

  • Techdirt ☛ Cop Tries To Kill An Arrestee Because Nature Happened

    Cops see themselves as the roughest, toughest warriors to ever hit the mean streets. They adorn themselves with “blue line” flags and Punisher logos (hilarious, that last one), gear up in military garb, wave weapons at all and sundry whilst shouting at the top of their lungs. But when it comes to doing regular police work, they’re more skittish than that cast-off cop dog you adopted from the shelter, urinating itself the moment they’re startled.

  • Russia, Belarus, and War in Ukraine

    • Latvia ☛ All suspects found in 2019 murder case in Saulkrasti, Latvia

      Two people were detained in Ukraine at the end of January this year on suspicion of kidnapping and killing a Belarusian citizen in 2019 in Latvia, Saulkrasti municipality, the State Police (VP) reported February 16. Two Russian citizens were already detained by the VP in 2022.

    • Latvia ☛ Latvian soldier in Ukraine: 'The front lacks everything'

      In Ukraine, the full-scale war has been going on for nearly two years. The front “lacks wildly” everything necessary, Latvian volunteer soldier under the nickname Ghost (Spoks), who has spent a year and a half defending Ukraine, said in an interview with Latvian Television's “Today Question” on February 16.

    • Atlantic Council ☛ Can Ukraine’s new army chief overcome mounting battlefield challenges?

      As Ukraine’s new top general, Oleksandr Syrsky must now come to grips with a range of mounting difficulties facing the Ukrainian military.

    • France24 ☛ Ukraine troops withdraw from frontline city Avdiivka to avoid encirclement

      Ukrainian troops have withdrawn from the frontline city of Avdiivka to avoid being encircled, new military chief Oleksandr Syrsky said Saturday, handing Russia its biggest symbolic victory following Kyiv's failed summer counter-offensive.

    • France24 ☛ Zelensky to rally leaders for support at Munich Security Conference

      Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky on Saturday will seek to rouse allies from war fatigue and step up their financial and military backing at a critical juncture in his country's battle against Russia.

    • France24 ☛ France signs security pact with Ukraine, pledges 'up to €3 billion' in additional military aid

      Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky signed a security pact with France in Paris on Friday, having earlier secured a similar deal with Germany hailed by Chancellor Olaf Scholz as a "historic step" anchoring support for Kyiv in its raging battle against Russia.

    • France24 ☛ ‘Living in the moment’: Ukraine's second city keeps going after two years of war

      The scars of two years of war are evident across Ukraine’s second city of Kharkiv, just 42km from the Russian border and a frequent target of missile and drone attacks. Nevertheless, daily life continues for many. Businesses remain open, cafés are busy and there is even some nightlife in a city that was seen as a cultural hub before the war. Some of those who initially fled have started to return.

    • France24 ☛ Zelensky signs 'historic' security deal with Germany

      Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky signed a security deal with Germany on Friday in Berlin, hailed by Chancellor Olaf Scholz as a "historic step" amid Kyiv's raging battles against Russia.

    • France24 ☛ Ukraine reinforces embattled frontline city of Avdiivka amid 'fierce' fighting

      Ukraine said Friday it was sending more reinforcements to the frontline city of Avdiivka, a main target for Moscow ahead of the second anniversary of the Russian invasion.

    • France24 ☛ Deepfake of FRANCE 24 journalist continues to be shared on social control media

      As reported in Wednesday's edition of Truth of Fake, FRANCE 24 has been the victim of a deepfake. The video in question, which manipulates an extract from one of our French-language news bulletins by using artificial intelligence to simulate the presenter's voice, falsely claims that French President Emmanuel Macron postponed a trip to Ukraine over fears of a plot to assassinate him there. The video is still being spread on social control media.

    • JURIST ☛ FBI informant indicted for false statement and obstructive crimes in Biden bribery claims

      A former Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) informant was charged Thursday for falsifying reports that US President Joe Biden and his son, Hunter Biden, each received $5 million in bribes from a Ukrainian energy company.

    • New York Times ☛ Life Imitates Art as a ‘Master and Margarita’ Movie Stirs Russia

      An American director’s adaptation of the beloved novel is resonating with moviegoers, who may recognize some similarities in its satire of authoritarian rule.

    • Vice Media Group ☛ Why Congress's Fears of Russian Space Nukes Is Political Theatre

      This week on CYBER: Why is Congress talking about Russian space nukes? And the ramifications a civil lawsuit may have on NDA law.

    • France24 ☛ The Kremlin puts Baltic leaders on ‘wanted’ list for challenging its worldview

      The Kremlin placed Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas and other Baltic officials on a list of wanted criminals on Monday in a move aimed at preserving Russia’s view of its glorious past from present-day challenges. The Kremlin said Kallas was put on the list for her efforts to remove WWII-era monuments to Soviet soldiers, moves seen by Moscow as unlawful and “an insult to history”.

    • Meduza ☛ When a Kremlin prisoner dies: Meduza answers key questions about Alexey Navalny’s death and what happens next — Meduza

    • Meduza ☛ The battle between good and indifference isn’t over yet: Meduza’s statement on Alexey Navalny's death — Meduza

    • Meduza ☛ Navalny’s associates say still confirming reports of politician’s death — Meduza

    • France24 ☛ West mounts pressure on Russia after Navalny's death in prison

      Western nations Saturday mounted pressure on Russia, blaming its leader and the government for the death of leading Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny in an Arctic prison in opaque circumstances.

    • RFERL ☛ Biden Joins Other World Leaders In Blaming Putin For Navalny's Apparent Death

      U.S. President Joe Biden joined other Western leaders in condemning Russian President Vladimir Putin, saying he is "responsible" for the reported death of jailed opposition leader Aleksei Navalny.

    • YLE ☛ Finland reacts, offers condolences following Alexei Navalny's death

      Prison authorities in Russia announced the death of the jailed opposition leader on Friday.

    • New York Times ☛ Aleksei Navalny, Russian Opposition Leader, Dies in Prison at 47

      The Kremlin’s fiercest critic, whose work brought arrests, attacks and a near-fatal poisoning in 2020, had spent months in isolation.

    • RFERL ☛ Aleksei Navalny, Putin's Staunchest Critic, Found Dead In Prison, Russia Says

      Russian opposition politician Aleksei Navalny has died while in prison, according to a statement from the local department of the Federal Penitentiary Service, triggering outrage and condemnation from world leaders.

    • European Commission ☛ Joint statement by President von der Leyen and High Representative/Vice-President Borrell on the death of Alexei Navalny

      European Commission Statement Brussels, 16 Feb 2024 We are shocked and grieved by today's reports about the death of Russian opposition politician Alexei Navalny.

    • Latvia ☛ President Rinkēvičs: Navalny was 'brutally murdered by the Kremlin'

      Commemorative events are planned in various countries around the world on Friday, February 16, in connection with news of the death of Kremlin critic Alexey Navalny who reportedly died in prison in Russia. Among other locations, such events are taking place in Rīga and Tallinn.

    • JURIST ☛ Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny dead in Arctic prison

      Alexei Navalny, a leading opposition figure in Russia, died in an Arctic prison colony, federal authorities said Friday. Navalny “felt unwell after taking a walk, and began to lose consciousness almost immediately. All necessary resuscitation efforts were made, and did not yield results.

    • Latvia ☛ Alexei Navalny commemorated in Rīga

      A demonstration took place outside the Russian embassy in Rīga February 16 to mark the death in custody of prominent Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny at the age of 47.

    • New Yorker ☛ The Death of Alexey , Putin’s Most Formidable Opponent

      The opposition leader, who died in prison, had been persecuted for years by the Russian state. He remained defiant, and consistently funny, to the very end.

    • Marcy Wheeler ☛ Putin’s Other War of Attrition

      Alexei Navalny, Russia’s opposition leader and founder of the Anti-Corruption Foundation, died today as a complication of Vladimir Putin’s trumped-up imprisonment.

    • France24 ☛ Death of Alexei Navalny decimates the Russian opposition

      The death of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny has further diminished a rapidly shrinking Russian opposition, which has seen its members assassinated, sentenced to lengthy prison terms or forced into exile as Russian President Vladimir Putin makes it clear he will not tolerate challenges to his regime.

    • France24 ☛ Alexei Navalny, the daring Kremlin critic who died behind bars

      Anti-corruption campaigner Alexei Navalny, whose death in a remote Arctic prison was announced on Friday, was long the most prominent face of Russian opposition to President Vladimir Putin.

    • France24 ☛ 'Alexei Navalny hasn't died, he was killed,' Kyiv mayor Vitali Klitschko tells FRANCE 24

      Reacting to news of Alexei Navalny's death in an interview with FRANCE 24 on Friday, Kyiv mayor Vitali Klitschko blamed the Kremlin for the Russian opposition leader's "killing". He said: "In Russia, if you tell your opinion, and if it is different from Vladimir Putin's, you will be put in prison or be killed."

    • France24 ☛ West blames Russia's Putin after Navalny dies in prison, UN calls for 'credible' probe

      Western governments said that Russian President Vladimir Putin was responsible for the death of Kremlin foe Alexei Navalny, who Russian officials said died in prison on Friday. The UN human rights office urged the Russian authorities to ensure that a credible probe into the circumstances surrounding Navalny's death be carried out. Read our blog for the reactions to the prominent Russian opposition figure's death in custody.

    • JURIST ☛ ‘Putin is responsible’ — Biden says US mulling ‘consequences’ over death of Russian opposition leader

      US President Joe Biden said Friday that he was unsurprised but outraged to learn of the death of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, adding the US was considering a “whole number of options” in response.

    • Meduza ☛ Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov comments on Navalny’s death — Meduza

    • European Commission ☛ Statement by President von der Leyen on the death of Alexei Navalny

      European Commission Statement Brussels, 16 Feb 2024 The news of Alexei Navalny death is horrible, but it also shows that Putin fears nothing more than the dissent from his own people.

    • Meduza ☛ ‘Did you expect anything else?’ Kremlin insiders weigh in on Alexey Navalny’s death and what it means for Vladimir Putin’s regime — Meduza

    • Meduza ☛ Worldwide demonstrations for Alexey Navalny: A list — Meduza

    • Meduza ☛ Kremlin calls E.U.’s decision to blame Russia for Navalny’s death ‘reckless’ — Meduza

    • Meduza ☛ Director of Alexey Navalny’s Anti-Corruption Foundation says Navalny was likely killed — Meduza

    • Meduza ☛ ‘Legalized torture’: What we know about conditions in the Arctic prison where Alexey Navalny died — Meduza

    • Meduza ☛ ‘An unlikely reason for a natural death’: Russian state media says a blood clot killed Navalny. His doctor says there’s no way of knowing without an independent autopsy. — Meduza

    • New York Times ☛ The Documentary Aleksei Navalny Knew We’d Watch After His Death

      The Oscar-winning film followed the dissident after an attempt on his life. It played like a thriller at the time; today it feels even more chilling.

    • New York Times ☛ The Kremlin Was Never Able to Fully Silence Navalny

      The opposition found ways to get his message out even after being imprisoned.

    • [Old] RFERL ☛ Navalny Associate Zhdanov Says Jailed Father Under Pressure In Penal Colony

      Ivan Zhdanov, a self-exiled associate of imprisoned opposition politician Aleksei Navalny, says his 68-year-old father, Yury Zhdanov, who is also imprisoned in a penal colony, is being harassed.

    • The Kent Stater ☛ Harris says reports of Navalny’s death are another sign of Putin’s brutality

      US Vice President Kamala Harris on Friday called reports Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny has died in a Russian prison “terrible news,” and that “Russia is responsible.” “We’ve all just received reports that Alexey Navalny has died in Russia." [...]

    • Reason ☛ Tucker Carlson vs. the Evidence of Russians Voting with their Feet

      Carlson praises Russia's supposed abundance and high living standards. Hundreds of thousands of Russians fleeing Putin's regime think otherwise.

    • Reason ☛ Alexei Navalny's Death Is a Timely Reminder of How Much Russia Sucks

      And, sadly, of how relatively powerless the United States is to fix the mess that Russian President Vladimir Putin has made.

    • Reason ☛ Alexei Navalny, RIP

      Russia's most prominent opposition leader died in prison today, quite possibly murdered at Vladimir Putin's order.

    • Atlantic Council ☛ Russia’s democracy movement will survive the death of Navalny

      The strategies and messages that the late opposition leader developed for fighting the Putin regime have spread to a diverse group of Russian pro-democracy actors.

    • Atlantic Council ☛ Navalny’s life and death show Putinism isn’t inevitable

      The Russian opposition leader built a national movement based on exposing the rampant corruption and gangsterism of Putin’s system.

    • CS Monitor ☛ With Navalny’s death, Russia’s opposition loses its last leader

      Many in the West saw Alexei Navalny as the Russian opposition’s most promising challenger to Vladimir Putin. His death in prison on Friday brings a tragic end to a struggle the Kremlin had already largely contained.

    • New York Times ☛ Biden Condemns ‘Putin and His Thugs’ for Navalny’s Death

      President Biden condemned “Putin and his thugs” for the Russian dissident’s demise, while European allies urgently sought assurances that the United States would not abandon them.

    • New York Times ☛ Tucker Carlson’s Lesson in the Perils of Giving Airtime to Vladimir Putin

      The death of Aleksei Navalny, the Kremlin’s most vocal domestic opponent, prompted fresh criticism on Friday of the right-wing host’s recent interview with Vladimir Putin.

    • New York Times ☛ In Prison or Out, Navalny Was the Thorn in Putin’s Side

      A straight-talking former real estate lawyer, he stayed relevant even from prison, pleading with Russians not to give up or give in to their fears and railing against the “criminal” war in Ukraine.

    • New York Times ☛ What Navalny Can Teach Americans About Bravery

      The authoritarian Russia that Navalny stood against is the same Russia that too many Americans have buttressed by opposing aid to Ukraine.

    • New York Times ☛ Live Updates: Biden Says ‘Putin Is Responsible’ After Report of Navalny’s Death

      Russian authorities say the opposition leader Aleksei A. Navalny has died in prison. An anticorruption campaigner, he rose to become the most prominent critic of President Vladimir V. Putin.

    • New York Times ☛ Navalny’s Wife Says Putin Will ‘Bear Responsibility’ if Husband Is Dead

      An interview with the anti-corruption leader brought out his vintage wit and smarts, but also his fearlessness about his favorite theme.

    • New York Times ☛ Where Does Navalny’s Reported Death Leave Russia and Putin?

      The reported death of Aleksei A. Navalny ushers in a new turning point for President Vladimir V. Putin’s Russia, underscoring both the Kremlin’s power and the potential for instability that continues to threaten it.

    • New York Times ☛ Who Was Navalny? A Timeline of the Putin Critic’s Career

      Starting as an anticorruption blogger, Mr. Navalny mobilized a generation of young Russians and rose to prominence for investigations into the country’s elite.

    • New York Times ☛ Navalny’s Wife Says Putin Will ‘Bear Responsibility’ if Husband Is Dead

      In a surprise address in Munich, Yulia Navalnaya said that if her husband, Aleksei A. Navalny, was dead, President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia would “bear responsibility,” and she called on the world to “defeat this evil.”

    • Meduza ☛ ‘Putin, hell is waiting for you’ Protesters in Russia and around the globe gather to mourn Alexey Navalny — Meduza

    • New York Times ☛ Zelensky and Other EU Leaders React to Word of Aleksei Navalny’s Death

      President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine said that Aleksei Navalny, the Russian dissident, “was killed by Putin, like thousands of others.”

    • New York Times ☛ Little Is Known of a Possible Cause for Aleksei Navalny’s Reported Death

      The Russian authorities have issued sparse details of what they said happened to Aleksei A. Navalny, the opposition leader who they announced had died in prison.

    • Meduza ☛ Russian opposition politician Alexey Navalny has died — Meduza

    • RFERL ☛ Another Belarusian Goes On Trial Over 2020 Protests As Crackdown Continues

      Amid an ongoing crackdown on dissent in Belarus, a former worker of the Belarusian Metallurgical Works in the eastern city of Zhlobin has gone on trial for their participation in the 2020 protests against the presidential election that named Alyaksandr Lukashenka the winner.

    • Latvia ☛ Rīga considers renaming some more streets

      Riga City Council has begun considering plans to rename Maskavas (Moscow) Street and other streets in the capital, Latvian Radio reported on February 15.

    • RFA ☛ Blinken meets with China’s foreign minister

      The two top diplomats discussed Taiwan, South China Sea and the conflicts in Ukraine and the Mideast.

    • RFERL ☛ Russia's Invasion Of Ukraine Has Probably Cost Up To $211 Billion, U.S. Official Says

      Russia has probably spent up to $211 billion in equipping, deploying, and maintaining its troops for operations in Ukraine and Moscow has lost more than $10 billion in canceled or postponed arms sales, a senior U.S. defense official said.

    • RFERL ☛ Russian Warrant Issued For Self-Exiled Actor Panin

      The press service for the Moscow courts of common jurisdiction said on February 15 that an arrest warrant was issued for noted Russian actor Aleksei Panin, who currently resides in the United States, on a charge of justifying terrorism.

    • RFERL ☛ Moscow Court Starts Retrial Of Russian Veteran Rights Defender Orlov

      The Golovinsky district court in Moscow has begun the retrial of veteran Russian rights defender Oleg Orlov, a co-chair of the Nobel Peace Prize winning Memorial human rights center, on a charge of "repeatedly discrediting" Russian armed forces involved in Moscow’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine.

    • RFERL ☛ FBI Informant Charged With Lying About Bidens' Ties To Ukrainian Energy Company

      An FBI informant has been charged with fabricating a multimillion-dollar bribery scheme involving President Joe Biden, his son Hunter, and a Ukrainian energy company, a claim that is central to the Republican impeachment inquiry in Congress.

    • RFERL ☛ Munich Security Conference To Focus On War In Ukraine, Trump's View Of NATO

      UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres on February 16 is due to open the 60th Munich Security Conference at a critical time as the U.S. presidential election campaign heats up and with a major U.S. military aid package for Ukraine bogged down in the House of Representatives.

    • RFERL ☛ On Tour For 'New Security Architecture,' Zelenskiy Signs Key Agreement With Germany As Ukraine Withdraws From Southern Avdiyivka

      President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz signed a key security agreement on February 16 between their countries before the Ukrainian leader travels to France to initial a similar deal with President Emmanuel Macron.

    • YLE ☛ Finnish exports to Russia, Central Asia drop by nearly 70% over 2 years

      Finland's exports to its eastern neighbour declined after Russia's invasion of Ukraine nearly two years ago.

    • CS Monitor ☛ GOP’s Michael McCaul sees path to ‘yes’ on House aid for Ukraine

      Can Ukraine’s Republican congressional supporters win approval for $60 billion in fresh assistance? GOP Rep. Michael McCaul says proponents must redouble efforts.

    • New York Times ☛ Avdiivka, Longtime Ukraine Stronghold Ukraine, Falls to Russia

      With Ukraine’s forces at risk of encirclement, the top military commander ordered a retreat. In startlingly candid accounts, soldiers described disarray and despair.

    • New York Times ☛ Zelensky Visits Berlin and Paris to Shore Up Support as U.S. Wavers

      The Ukrainian president signed security agreements and sought to push the European leaders to bolster aid as concerns over American funding grow.

    • Meduza ☛ NATO promises to supply Ukraine with one million drones — Meduza

    • Meduza ☛ Ukraine’s top commander announces withdrawal of Ukrainian troops from Avdiivka — Meduza

• Transparency/Investigative Reporting

  • Papers Please ☛ FOIA follies at the State Department

    It’s sometimes hard to say which Federal agency does the worst job or displays the most bad faith in responding (or not responding) to Freedom Of Information Act requests.

    But the latest actions by the FOIA office of the Department of State certainly place near the top of our all-time scorecard of FOIA follies.

    In the past, our worst FOIA experiences have been predominantly with the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) and other components of the Department of Homeland security (DHS). There was the time the TSA’s Chief Privacy [sic] Officer circulated libelous statements about us to the FOIA offices of all DHS components, in the hope of influencing them not to take us or our requests seriously, and then the TSA FOIA office tried to hide this misconduct from us by illegally redacting the libelous lines from the versions of their internal email messages that they released to us. We found out only when another staff person accidentally sent us an unredacted copy of the incriminating TSA email.

  • The Dissenter ☛ Unauthorized Disclosure: John Kiriakou

• Environment

  • Omicron Limited ☛ Fishermen, ecologists unite in northern France against 'sea bulldozer'

    Environmental activists and fishermen on Thursday joined forces to protest in northern France against a new giant fishing trawler factory, warning the vessel risked wrecking livelihoods and the environment.

    Around 200 people protested in the port of the town of Saint-Malo in a show of anger against the Annelies Ilena, a massive fishing trawler with an on-board processing factory, one of the biggest such vessels in the world.

  • Energy/Transportation

    • The Verge ☛ How much electricity do AI generators consume?

      It’s common knowledge that machine learning consumes a lot of energy. All those AI models powering email summaries, regicidal chatbots, and videos of Homer Simpson singing nu-metal are racking up a hefty server bill measured in megawatts per hour. But no one, it seems — not even the companies behind the tech — can say exactly what the cost is.

    • Terence Eden ☛ “I’m sorry, Dave. I’m afraid that computation is too carbon intensive.”

      I don't really think that domestic devices will refuse our requests in the near future. But I am curious what incentives - financial or otherwise - there might be to encourage more efficient resource use.

    • YLE ☛ Balticconnector gas pipeline repairs starting in March

      Preparations for repair work on the Balticconnector gas pipeline are underway, according to Gasgrid Finland.

  • Overpopulation

    • Stanford University ☛ Overpopulation in Developing Countries: What's the Best Method to Reduce Unintended Pregnancies?

      140 million people are born every year on Earth, 385,000 per day, and 259 per minute [1]. With these increasingly high birth rates, it becomes harder to conserve natural resources which has a detrimental effect on living spaces. Developing countries, countries with low economic and industrial status, are where some of the highest spikes in birth rates occur. But the bigger issue, stated by the United Nations Population Fund, is that nearly half of all pregnancies are unintended [2]. All these accidental pregnancies have a huge toll on the environment, economy, and health of these nations. In this investigation, a multitude of perspectives are involved to analyze the extent to which method is the “best” for the future of these countries.

• Finance

  • The Wall Street Journal ☛ Layoffs in 2024: A List of Companies Cutting Jobs This Year

    Companies are cutting staff and focusing on efficiency amid a commitment to do more with less following a year of widespread layoffs.

  • Michael Lynch ☛ My Sixth Year as a Bootstrapped Founder

    Six years ago, I quit my job as a developer at Surveillance Giant Google to create my own bootstrapped software company.

    For the first few years, all of my businesses flopped. The best of them earned a few hundred dollars per month in revenue, but none were profitable.

    Halfway through my third year, I created a device called TinyPilot. It allows users to control their computers remotely. The product quickly caught on, and it’s been my main focus ever since.

• AstroTurf/Lobbying/Politics

  • Quartz ☛ Elon Musk moving SpaceX from Delaware after Tesla pay package ruling

    The news comes less than a month after a Delaware court ruling voided his $56 billion executive compensation package from Tesla.

    Delaware chancery court judge Kathaleen McCormick ruled on Jan. 30 that the “process leading to the approval of Musk’s compensation plan was deeply flawed” and was unfair to shareholders. The 2018 package, the largest in history, awarded Musk’s 20.3 million stock options over 12 installments and was valued as high as $55.8 billion at the time. It helped make him the richest person in the world.

  • The Register UK ☛ Microsoft throws €3.2B at AI ops in Germany [Ed: It's Cheaper to Pay Bribes (and Produce Press Releases) Than to Pay Fines (After Lots of Negative Publicity)]

    The spend represents Redmond's largest single investment in the Euro nation since the MS-DOS giant opened there in 1983, and will go toward expanding cloud capacity in Frankfurt and constructing datacenters in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia.

  • India Times ☛ Wisconsin Assembly passes bills regulating AI use in elections, outlawing AI-produced child porn

    The Assembly also approved a bill that calls for auditors to review how state agencies use AI. The measure also would give agencies until 2030 to develop a plan to reduce their positions. By 2026. the agencies would have to report to legislators which positions AI could help make more efficient and report their progress.

  • Quartz ☛ California Forever city planned by tech billionaires has no government

    From the moment I heard about tech billionaires’ weird plans to create a bustling new city in the heart of California’s Solano County, I was preoccupied with one basic question: Who is actually going to run this thing?

  • IGN ☛ Embracer Warns of More Layoffs Despite Already Letting Go 1,387 Staff

    Embracer’s total headcount was reduced by 904 during the second quarter of its financial year, then by another 483 in the third quarter. That’s 8% of the group's global workforce. The company has also cancelled 29 unannounced games during the two quarters.

  • Insight Hungary ☛ Hungary's President resigns, Orban faces his biggest political scandal in years

    Hungary's President Katalin Novák resigned on Saturday after pardoning a convicted individual, Endre K, who was involved in a sex abuse cover-up at a children's home. After 444. hu reported the story, ignited a firestorm of criticism across Hungary resulting in a protest on Friday. In her televised address, Novák acknowledged her misstep, expressing regret and apologized to victims who felt marginalized by her actions.

    After facing mounting pressure from opposition figures urging Novák's resignation, Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orbán swiftly introduced a constitutional amendment in parliament aimed at restricting the president's authority to grant pardons in cases involving crimes against minors. "There's no clemency for pedophile offenders. This is my conviction," Orbán declared in a post on his Facebook page.

  • The Nation ☛ Trump Gets (Almost) the New York Business Death Penalty

    On the day Alexei Navalny got the death penalty from the henchmen of Vladimir Putin, disgraced former president, New York real estate magnate, and Putin ally Donald Trump got something like a business death penalty in a New York courtroom. It wasn’t the same, of course, but the ruling against Trump was worth savoring, if you’re opposed to capitalist corruption as well as Trump’s fascist politics (and if you were appalled by Trump’s giving Putin the green light earlier this week to invade NATO countries if they weren’t paid up on their nonexistent dues).

  • Pro Publica ☛ New Wisconsin District Maps Could End Years of GOP Gerrymandering

    Wisconsin’s dinosaur-shaped legislative district could soon be history.

    The curiously drawn district and other oddities associated with the state’s extreme gerrymandering would be erased in new voting maps passed this week by the Wisconsin Legislature.

  • Pro Publica ☛ Why Haven’t Harlan Crow and Leonard Leo Been Subpoenaed?

    More than two months after authorizing subpoenas for key figures in the Supreme Court’s ethics controversies, Senate Democrats have yet to issue them. The delay has caused outside activists to demand that Democrats press ahead with their investigation.

    On Nov. 30, the Democratic-led Senate Judiciary Committee voted to approve subpoenas for Republican donor Harlan Crow and conservative legal activist Leonard Leo after the two men had refused to voluntarily provide all the information requested by the committee about gifts for Supreme Court justices.

  • New York Times ☛ Donald Trump, the Business Fraud

    A New York judge said his lies “shock the conscience.”

  • RFA ☛ Pyongyang ‘open to enhancing ties with Japan’: N Korean leader’s sister

    Kim Yo Jong’s remarks came after the Japanese leader stressed the need to change current relationship.

  • The Straits Times ☛ China’s Wang Yi held ‘constructive’ talks with Blinken in Munich: Chinese Foreign Ministry

    February 17, 2024 11:58 AM
    
    

    Both sides also discussed facilitating people-to-people exchanges.

  • RFA ☛ Where is Jakarta’s South China Sea policy heading under Prabowo?

    Indonesia’s new president may advocate a pragmatic approach but don’t expect radical changes, experts say.

  • Misinformation/Disinformation/Propaganda

    • VOA News ☛ X Users Pass Off 2015 China Firefighting Exercise as Hezbollah Strike on Israel

      Social media users with apparent sympathies to Hezbollah recently circulated an old video that they falsely claimed shows a successful strike by the militant group on Israel.

    • [Repeat] France24 ☛ Google to launch anti-misinformation campaign ahead of EU parliamentary elections

      France, Poland and Germany accused Russia on Monday of putting together an elaborate network of websites to spread pro-Russian propaganda.

      Europe's Digital Services Act, which comes into force this week, will require very large online platforms and search engines to do more to tackle illegal content and risks to public security.

    • Vice Media Group ☛ Scientific Journal Publishes AI-Generated Rat with Gigantic Penis In Worrying Incident

      A peer-reviewed science journal published a paper this week filled with nonsensical AI-generated images, which featured garbled text and a wildly incorrect diagram of a rat penis. The episode is the latest example of how generative AI is making its way into academia with concerning effects.

    • Gizmodo ☛ No, Elizabeth Warren Didn't Just Endorse Bitcoin Despite Viral Story

      Have you seen a story on social media recently claiming that Sen. Elizabeth Warren, a Democrat from Massachusetts, has endorsed Bitcoin? That would be quite a change, given Warren’s intense skepticism of crypto and her advocacy of more regulation for the industry. But the claim that Warren has made an about-face—even flying a flag a the U.S. Capitol in support of Satoshi Nakamoto—is wildly misleading.

    • Reason ☛ Progressives Are Ditching Free Speech To Fight 'Disinformation'

      From limits on liability protections for websites to attempts to regulate the internet like a public utility, these proposals will erode Americans' right to express themselves.

• Censorship/Free Speech

  • Techdirt ☛ Apparently Suing Non-Profits That Highlight Terrible Shit On ExTwitter Isn’t Scaring Off More Non-Profits From Reporting On Terrible Shit On ExTwitter

    Last summer Elon Musk sued the Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH) over its report about a rise in hate speech on ExTwitter. A few months ago, he sued Media Matters for their report about how ads can appear next to neoNazi content on the site. If he thought those two SLAPP suits would intimidate other groups pointing out the sketchiness of ExTwitter these days, it appears he was mistaken.

  • Meduza ☛ Memorials to Navalny in Russian cities taken down, new ones appear — Meduza

  • Meduza ☛ Over 100 people arrested across Russia at memorial protests for Alexey Navalny — Meduza

  • RFERL ☛ RFE/RL Journalist Alsu Kurmasheva, Held In Russian Prison, Nominated For UNESCO Prize

    The Czech Foreign Ministry said on February 16 that it and 22 other nations have nominated RFE/RL journalist Alsu Kurmasheva, who has been detained by security officials in Russia for more than 120 days, for the UNESCO/Guillermo Cano 2024 World Press Freedom Prize.

  • RFERL ☛ Russian Court Rejects Woman's Appeal Against Arrest Over Video Mocking WWII Monument

    The Volgograd regional court in Russia on February 15 rejected an appeal filed by 23-year-old Alyona Agafonova against her arrest on charge of "rehabilitating Nazism" over an online video showing her mocking a monument to a significant Soviet victory in World War II.

  • JURIST ☛ Russia enacts law permitting confiscation of property for ‘disseminating fake news’

    Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a law Wednesday calling for confiscation of property for those who commit crimes “detrimental to national security” and those who disseminate fake news about Russia’s military according to TASS.

  • RFA ☛ Hong Kong jails ailing veteran activist over fake coffin protest

    Koo Sze-yiu, also known as 'Long Beard,' gets a 9-month jail term for 'sedition,' despite advanced cancer.

  • [Repeat] Jacobin Magazine ☛ The Pentagon Has Decided to Battle Chinese Film Censorship

    A new Pentagon policy bars the US Defense Department from working on films that cooperate with Chinese censorship demands. It’s a new front in the economic battle with China — and it ignores the Defense Department's own influence over film content at home.

  • 404 Media ☛ Leaked Emails Show Hugo Awards Self-Censoring to Appease China

    A trove of leaked emails shows how administrators of one of the most prestigious awards in science fiction censored themselves because the awards ceremony was being held in China.

• Freedom of Information / Freedom of the Press

  • FAIR ☛ Baltimore’s Media Nightmare and the Billionairification of News

    David D. Smith, leading stockholder of Sinclair, Inc., announced on January 15 that he was purchasing what is left of the Baltimore Sun, once regarded as the crown jewel of the Maryland city’s media (AP, 1/15/24).

  • Hong Kong Free Press ☛ China’s suspended death sentence for writer Yang Jun will ‘impact’ ties, Australia’s Penny Wong says

    Australia on Thursday warned that China’s handing of a suspended death sentence to writer Yang Jun will hinder ties that had been on the mend and fuel public mistrust of Beijing.

  • RFERL ☛ Closing The Kloop: Kyrgyzstan's Media Crackdown Becomes Farcical As Leading Journalism Foundation Shuttered

    Kyrgyzstan's civil society and free press have traditionally been the most vibrant in Central Asia. But that has changed under Japarov, who came to power in 2020 and has since overseen a deepening government crackdown.

  • BBC ☛ Julian Assange: Australian politicians call for release of WikiLeaks founder

    The Australian citizen, currently in London's Belmarsh Prison, is wanted in the US on espionage charges and faces up to 175 years in prison.

    Australian MPs voted 86-42 that Mr Assange should be allowed to come home.

  • The Dissenter ☛ Countdown To Day X: US Suggests Assange Has No First Amendment Rights

  • Press Gazette ☛ News diary 19 – 25 February: Final Assange extradition hearing, two years since Ukraine invasion

    A look ahead at the key events leading the news agenda next week, from the team at Foresight News.

  • Democracy Now ☛ Australian Parliament Calls for U.S. to Drop Case Against WikiLeaks’ Assange Ahead of U.K. Court Hearing

    Imprisoned WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange is set to find out next week whether he has exhausted opportunities to avoid extradition to the United States, where he faces life in prison for publishing classified documents exposing U.S. war crimes in Iraq and Afghanistan. A two-day hearing before the British High Court of Justice is scheduled to take place in London on Tuesday and Wednesday. He has been held in London’s infamous Belmarsh Prison since 2019 awaiting his possible extradition. Jennifer Robinson, an Australian human rights attorney and legal adviser to Assange and WikiLeaks, discusses public and governmental support for Assange in Australia, where an “unprecedented” parliamentary resolution was passed Wednesday calling for Assange’s release. Robinson calls the charges against Assange a “dangerous precedent for free speech” and says, “It’s time that the United States respects our special relationship and listens to the calls of the Australian people and our Parliament and our government and drops this case.”

• Civil Rights/Policing

  • Craig Murray ☛ Life

    I do apologise for the break in articles. Exacerbating the problems of leading an itinerant life, I have suffered a series of remarkable thefts, including of phone, wallet, money and passport, which have caused me a huge amount of disruption.

  • RFA ☛ Tibetans protest forced resettlement due to Chinese dam project — Radio Free Asia

    At least 300 Tibetans staged a protest in a Tibetan-populated area of Sichuan province on Wednesday against the building of a hydropower dam on the Drichu River that will displace residents of at least two villages and force six monasteries, Tibetans with knowledge of the situation told Radio Free Asia.

  • Jamie Zawinski ☛ Cops are easily startled

    Fuck dem acorns: Cop empties clip into his own car after an acorn falls on the roof: [...]

  • YLE ☛ Left-leaning parties file no-confidence motion over labour market turmoil

    The government says it still plans to move ahead with its planned reforms.

  • RFA ☛ Taiwanese YouTubers get 2 years for Cambodia kidnapping stunt

    Sihanoukville court sentences pair on charges of incitement.

  • FAIR ☛ Ariel Adelman on Disability Civil Rights

  • Hong Kong Free Press ☛ With German carmaker VW under fire over Xinjiang presence, China says allegations of rights abuses ‘a lie’

    China on Thursday urged companies not to be “blinded by lies” about its rights record in Xinjiang, after German automaker Volkswagen said it was discussing the future of its activities in the troubled region.

• Internet Policy/Net Neutrality

  • Techdirt ☛ Arizona Representative Has The Solution To Cyberbullying: Require Social Media To Wave A Magic Wand And Make It Go Away

    Look, I’m getting exhausted trying to follow every attempt around the country (coming from both Democrats and Republicans) to pass obviously, blatantly, unconstitutional bills to “protect the children on social media,” that make it clear that their authors have no idea (1) how the 1st Amendment works, (2) how social media works, or (3) how children work.

  • New York Times ☛ What the News and the Pews Have in Common

    How the internet is making everything nondenominational.

Monopolies/Monopsonies

• New York Times ☛ The Antitrust Enforcers Aimed at Big Tech. Then Came the Backlash.

  South Korea pledged to protect its online platforms from marketplace giants, but lobbyists are crying foul play.

• Patents

  • Scoop News Group ☛ U.S. Patent and Trademark Office announces $70 million contract for AI patent search tool

    The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office said this week that it intends to award an estimated $70 million contract to Accenture Federal Services for its Patent Search Artificial Intelligence capabilities.

    The notice of intent described the need for a contractor to provide a “full system development effort” to continue maintenance for PSAI capabilities, and “provide new enhancements” for the component. USPTO anticipates negotiating and awarding this responsibility to AFS by April 1.

• Trademarks

  • Torrent Freak ☛ Pirate Site Shut Down For Trademark, Cybersquatting & Copyright Violations

    A popular pirate site specializing in content from South Korea has been shut down by a court in the United States. Wavve Americas, a coalition of Korean broadcasters, filed a complaint against Kokoa TV in 2023, alleging trademark infringement, cybersquatting, copyright infringement, and other business-related violations. Kokoa TV had been receiving tens of millions of visits each month.

• Copyrights

  • Michael Geist ☛ Bid to End Crown Copyright is Back: MP Brian Masse’s Bill C-374 Would Remove Copyright from Government Works

    While debate over crown copyright continues (this 2019 Law Bytes podcast episode with Amanda Wakaruk and Jeremy de Beer focused on it), NDP MP Brian Masse has been a consistent advocate in favour of its elimination. There have been bills to eliminate crown copyright that date back to the 1990s, but Masse has introduced several crown copyright bills in recent years. Last week, he did it again with Bill C-374. The bill features a single provision reversing Section 12 of the Copyright Act on crown copyright:

    Section 12 of the Copyright Act is replaced by the following:

    No copyright — His Majesty

  • Press Gazette ☛ News media versus AI: What if we win?

    The problem is that when the internet was too new for the consequences to be obvious, we made the big internet platforms one of those exceptions.

    Laws like the Digital Millennium Copyright Act and the notorious section 230 of the Communications Decency Act in the USA, the e-commerce directive in the EU and others around the world created special legal immunities and exceptions which shielded internet businesses from many legal risks.

    As a result, any content created by our industry, the result of our expertise and hard work, became fair game for their use. Everyone’s work was made theirs for the taking.

  • Torrent Freak ☛ Pirate Site Blocking Boosts Legal Consumption, Research Finds

    A new study has found that pirate site blocking in Brazil and India boosted legal consumption. The non-peer-reviewed research confirms previously published findings that were limited to the UK. The effects on unblocked pirate sites are mixed, however, and whether the increased interest in legal content lasts over longer periods has yet to be researched.