Leftovers

• EFF ☛ If Not Amended, States Must Reject the Flawed Draft UN Cybercrime Convention Criminalizing Security Research and Certain Journalism Activities

  The latest and nearly final version of the proposed UN Cybercrime Convention—dated May 23, 2024 but released today June 14—leaves security researchers’ and investigative journalists’ rights perilously unprotected, despite EFF’s repeated warnings.

  The world benefits from people who help us understand how technology works and how it can go wrong. Security researchers, whether independently or within academia or the private sector, perform this important role of safeguarding information technology systems. Relying on the freedom to analyze, test, and discuss IT systems, researchers identify vulnerabilities that can cause major harms if left unchecked. Similarly, investigative journalists and whistleblowers play a crucial role in uncovering and reporting on matters of significant public interest including corruption, misconduct, and systemic vulnerabilities, often at great personal risk.

• Hackaday ☛ Busted: Toilet Paper As Solder Wick

  It didn’t take long for us to get an answer to the question nobody was asking: Can you use toilet paper as solder wick? And unsurprisingly, the answer is a resounding “No.”

• Anil Dash ☛ The New Alt Media and the Future of Publishing

  You might have noticed, it’s not a super fun time to be in the publishing industry, especially if you’re trying to do journalism. The years-long drumbeat of bad news issuing from nearly every newsroom has left people understandably despairing about what’s going to happen next.

  I’m not a Pollyanna; I don’t think everything is just magically going to turn out okay. But for the first time in decades, I’m seeing a movement that gives me hope. Call it the New Alt Media.

  But first, we probably have to go back a little bit.

• Martin Hähne ☛ #100DaysToOffload Just Deliver

  I had a hard day at work. It was hard, because I ended a streak of about three days, in which I was unable to work productively and today was the day in which I finally had to “show my work”. And then nobody saw my work. But now it’s lying there, out in the open, awaiting feedback. And I have to go into the weekend with a feeling of dread.

• Manuel Moreale ☛ P&B: Jessica Nickelsen

  This is the 42nd edition of People and Blogs, the series where I ask interesting people to talk about themselves and their blogs. Today we have Jessica Nickelsen and her blog, discombobulated.co.nz

  If I'm not mistaken I discovered Jess thanks to her 100 blog post. There're enough ideas in there to power a blog for at least a few years.

• Phil Eaton ☛ Confusion is a muse

  Some of the most interesting technical blog posts I read come from, and a common reason for posts I write is, confusion. You're at work and you start asking questions that are difficult to answer. You spend a few hours or a day trying to get to the bottom of things.

• Marty Day ☛ blast-o-rama.

  So, what are your rankings of convenience store / gas station food?

• The Conversation ☛ Flight MH370: can underwater sound signals solve aviation’s greatest mystery?

  Flight MH370 was en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing when it vanished from radar screens. Official investigations suggest it deviated from its planned route, heading southwest over the Indian Ocean. Despite multinational search efforts, including extensive underwater searches along and near the so-called “seventh arc” (the area determined by last communication between the satellite and the plane), the main wreckage has not been found.

• Standards/Consortia

  • The Register UK ☛ Congress unconvinced by Space Force GPS resiliency plan

    A plan by America's Space Force to harden GPS against spoofing attacks may be going nowhere: A request by the service branch for $77 million of public cash to finish the work is struggling to get approval from Congress.

    The US Department of Defense's overall proposed $833 billion budget for 2025, which is now being pulled apart and scrutinized by the House Appropriations Committee, included the aforementioned request for the USSF's Resilient GPS (R-GPS) project, initial work for which began this year.

• Science

  • Science Alert ☛ Space Rock That Fell to Earth Reveals Ancient Traces of Early Solar System

    A time capsule from billions of years ago.

  • Science Alert ☛ The World's Loneliest Plant Is Facing a Sexual Crisis. Does a Female Exist?

    One hundred years of solitude.

  • Science Alert ☛ Earth's Core Seems to Be Wrapped in an Ancient, Unexpected Structure

• Education

  • New York Times ☛ We Overvalue Intelligence

    Intelligence strongly correlates with positive educational and career outcomes, but it is not everything.

  • Science Alert ☛ This Flower Could Be Defined as Intelligent, Scientists Say

  • Deccan Chronicle ☛ IIT Madras offers B.Tech in AI and Data Analytics

    The Program aims to cultivate expertise in diverse aspects of AI and data analytics, offering a panoramic view of its applications across industries. It will have a student strength of 50 admitted through JEE. There will be a strong emphasis on Math Fundamentals, Data Science /AI/ML Foundations, Application Development and Responsible Design besides a distinct interdisciplinary flavor.

  • Mike Haynes ☛ WWDC24 and Apple Intelligence

    I found WWDC24 to be a bit of a mixed bag.

    I’m excited for the quality of life updates across Mac and iPhone, including the new Passwords app, updates to Mail, and the continuity stuff from the phone to the computer. I’m also cautiously interested in some of the intelligence stuff Apple showed off.

  • Manton Reece ☛ WWDC initial takeaway

    One thing I didn’t appreciate before this year’s WWDC is how limited Apple’s on-device models could be. Apple is going for easy wins and generally not biting off more than they can chew. Summarizing or rewriting text is something LLMs are great at, with almost no risk for getting derailed with hallucinations. So it shouldn’t have been surprising that Apple is doing so much themselves with their own models, and punting to ChatGPT for what Craig Federighi called “broad world knowledge” that is beyond Apple’s own models.

• Hardware

  • CNX Software ☛ Cincoze DS-1402 modular embedded computer review – Part 1: Specs, unboxing, teardown, and first boot

    Cincoze has sent me a sample of the DS-1402 modular embedded computer for review. The system is offered with a range of 12th Gen Alder Lake-S or 13th Gen Raptor Lake-S processors and features various expansion options with two PCIe slots, two CMI module slots, a CMF module slot, and three MEC (mini PCIe) module slots. The review sample is equipped with an defective chip maker Intel Core i9-12900E 16-core Alder Lake-S processor, 64GB DDR5 memory, a 512GB NVMe SSD, and an NVIDIA GTX1630 graphics card inserted into one of the PCIe slots.

  • CNX Software ☛ JieLi Tech AC6329C4 is a 35 cents Bluetooth 5.0 microcontroller

    JieLi Technology AC6329C4 is an ultra-cheap microcontroller with Bluetooth 5.0 connectivity and several I/Os including some for motor control that sells for just 35 cents on  LCSC in single units, or 25 cents per piece for 1K+ orders. The microcontroller features a 32-bit RISC core clocked at 96 MHz with 73KB SRAM, and up to 4Mbit (512KB) flash.

  • Vox ☛ The Supreme Court just effectively legalized machine guns, in Garland v. Cargill

    The Court’s decision in Garland v. Cargill involves bump stocks, devices that allow ordinary semiautomatic weapons that can legally be owned by civilians to automatically fire, much like a machine gun designed for that purpose. Bump stocks cause a semiautomatic gun’s trigger to buck against the shooter’s finger, repeatedly “bumping” the trigger and making the gun rapidly fire.

  • Maine Morning Star ☛ Advocates reiterate call for Maine to pass bump stock ban after Supreme Court ruling

    Biden called on Congress to ban bump stocks and assault weapons, but any gun-related legislation is likely to be stalled with Republicans controlling the House and Democrats holding only a slim majority in the Senate.

    “Bump stocks have played a devastating role in many of the horrific mass shootings in our country, but sadly it’s no surprise to see the Supreme Court roll back this necessary public safety rule as they push their out of touch extreme agenda,” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, a Democrat from New York, said.

• Health/Nutrition/Agriculture

  • TwinCities Pioneer Press ☛ Twins trio of stars are finally all healthy and it’s like an ‘explosion’

    The trio has been sparingly healthy at the same time over the course of the past few seasons.

  • Reason ☛ Feds Arrest Telehealth Execs for Overprescribing Adderall

    But will the government ever face repercussions for its role in the Adderall shortage?

  • NYPost ☛ Joe Biden is ‘healthy, wise’ despite wandering off at G7 summit, Jill insists

    Joe Biden is ready, willing and able to handle a second term as president, his wife insisted Friday.

  • Federal News Network ☛ Veterans Affairs hopes non-human entity can help keep tabs on patients

    A mobile and interactive service known as “Annie” is being deployed nationwide to help vets keep up with their healthcare protocols via text message.

  • Los Angeles Times ☛ Doing this one thing may improve your odds of healthy aging

    A new study by Harvard researchers links the popular pastime of sitting and watching television to the likelihood of reaching one’s senior years in a state of good health: the more time spent doing the former, the lower the odds of achieving the latter.

  • Los Angeles Times ☛ The dirty, dangerous secret of California's legal weed

    Twenty-five of 42 legal cannabis products that The Times and WeedWeek purchased from retail stores and had tested at private labs showed concentrations of pesticides either above levels the state allows or at levels that exceed federal standards for tobacco. The contaminants include chemicals tied to cancer, liver failure, thyroid disease and genetic and neurologic harm to users and unborn children.

  • Tracy Durnell ☛ US psyops to undermine confidence in vaccines

    So, we decide to prioritize vaccinating Americans during a global pandemic, and allow drug companies to set their own pricing on vaccines. But extorting poor countries and undermining the vaccination effort isn’t enough for us. When China does the right thing and provides vaccines affordably, we launch psyops to undermine trust in their vaccine — knowing that vaccine hesitancy spreads beyond a single vaccine, and that vaccinating as many people as fast as possible is important to get through the COVID pandemic?

  • Collaborative Fund Management LLC ☛ My Month Without a Smartphone

    n a rainy morning earlier this spring, I pulled my car out of our driveway to take my seven-year-old son to school. After shifting from reverse into drive, I looked at my phone to listen to a podcast on Spotify. Then it happened. He said it.

    “Dad, why do you have to look at your phone SO much?”

    Dagger.

  • Science Alert ☛ Daycares in Finland Grew Forests, And It Changed Kids' Immune Systems

    When daycare workers rolled out a lawn, planted forest undergrowth (such as dwarf heather and blueberries), and allowed children to care for crops in planter boxes, the diversity of microbes in the guts and on the skin of the young kids appeared healthier in a very short space of time.

    Compared to other city kids who play in standard urban daycares with yards of pavement, tile, and gravel, 3-, 4-, and 5-year-olds at these greened-up daycare centers in Finland showed increased T-cells and other important immune markers in their blood within 28 days.

  • Futurism ☛ New Research Links Tattoos to Developing Cancer

    The study, published last month in the journal eClinicalMedicine, surveyed close to 12,000 people in Sweden, examining every subject 20 to 60 years old that was diagnosed with a form of cancer called lymphoma between 2007 and 2017. When compared to a control group of random people who never had lymphoma, the researchers found that people that had at least one tattoo were 21 percent more likely to have developed the cancer.

    The study only demonstrates that there's an association, not a definitive link. Still, 21 percent would constitute a pretty significant risk, especially for a form of cancer that's considered somewhat rare. What's more, it appears that the number or size of tattoos the subjects had didn't matter: so long as they had at least one tattoo of any size, they were seemingly at risk as much as someone who had multiple.

  • The Conversation ☛ Generative AI at school, work and the hospital – the risks and rewards laid bare

    That said, the diagnostic performance of some expert physicians may not be improved by AI. Another study focusing on radiology found that AI can in fact cause incorrect diagnoses in situations that otherwise would have been correctly assessed. This highlights the need for balanced integration that supplements rather than replaces humans.

  • Science Alert ☛ One Exercise Technique Is Especially Good For Building Muscle, Experts Say

    It all makes sense.

  • Science Alert ☛ Experiment Reveals Microplastics in Every Human Semen Sample Tested

    Everywhere we look.

  • New York Times ☛ Menendez Trial Delayed After Co-Defendant Gets Covid-19

    Fred Daibes, a real estate developer charged with Senator Robert Menendez, began feeling sick during the fifth week of the corruption trial, delaying it for at least a few days.

  • Rasmussen Reports eagerly plumbs Steve Kirsch-levels of antivax stupid

    Regular readers will likely be familiar with the level of contempt that I have for Steve Kirsch, an aging tech bro turned rabid antivaxxer, quack, and COVID-19 conspiracy theorist. You might also remember that one of his signature moves, in terms of stupidity, ignorance, and arrogance, is to post online polls on his Substack and then accept the results as valid, even though the audience is biased and his polls poorly designed and inappropriate for the questions being asked. For example, you might remember when he claimed, based on one of his nonsense polls, that COVID-19 vaccines had killed 3.5X more people than COVID-19 itself or, even more pathetically stupid, when he claimed that COVID-19 vaccines cause The Trans and The Gay. Most recently, he is running an online poll asking his readers to help him find out, “How many kids under age 21 did the COVID vaccines kill?” No doubt the results will be as informative as his poll suggesting that vaccines turn people gay and trans. No wonder Kirsch loves the pollsters at Rasmussen Reports, which recently published a poll indicating that one in five people say that they know someone who died from a COVID-19 vaccine.

  • The Straits Times ☛ Price for Malaysia’s first dengue vaccine soars

    The vaccine is being offered at some clinics at nearly three times higher than the supplier’s price.

  • Democracy Now ☛ Supreme Court Protects Access to Mifepristone, But War on Abortion Rights Continues to Escalate

    The Supreme Court has unanimously rejected a challenge from anti-abortion groups to the nationwide availability of the abortion medication mifepristone, which is available by mail and can be taken at home in many states. However, advocates warn the far-right-dominated court’s ruling on the FDA’s authority to regulate the pill was purely on procedural grounds, and could even offer a “roadmap” for future challenges. Mifepristone is used in roughly two-thirds of all U.S. abortions, including in some states that have severely limited or banned abortions. “This is just one of the strikes — not the first strike, not the second or third, but one of the strikes — in an artillery that is aimed at reproductive freedom,” says our guest, legal scholar Michele Goodwin. We discuss the ruling and the anti-abortion movement’s “playbook” of attacks on reproductive healthcare with Goodwin.

  • Pro Publica ☛ How Remote Work and AI Have Impacted Fraud in Local Government

    When the COVID-19 pandemic upended the workplace, jobs went remote, offices had to adopt new technologies and longtime employees suddenly departed. Federal stimulus dollars flooded into state and local government accounts, and fraudsters had a heyday.

    The pandemic was only one of several recent disruptions to roil the financial operations of state and local governments, which oversee $4 trillion a year in spending. Payments — and paper trails — have gone digital. Scammers can now use AI tools to streamline their hunt for victims, including within government agencies. And local newspapers in the United States, one historic line of defense against graft, are disappearing at a rate of 2.5 a week.

  • New York Times ☛ Fauci Speaks His Mind on Trump’s Rages and Their ‘Complicated’ Relationship

    In a new book, Dr. Anthony S. Fauci recounts a career advising seven presidents. The chapter about Donald J. Trump is titled “He Loves Me, He Loves Me Not.”

• Proprietary/Artificial Intelligence (AI)

  • Bruce Schneier ☛ AI and the Indian Election

    As India concluded the world’s largest election on June 5, 2024, with over 640 million votes counted, observers could assess how the various parties and factions used artificial intelligence technologies—and what lessons that holds for the rest of the world.

    The campaigns made extensive use of AI, including deepfake impersonations of candidates, celebrities and dead politicians. By some estimates, millions of Indian voters viewed deepfakes.

  • France24 ☛ AI tools refuse to write in style of controversial French author Michel Houellebecq, publisher says

    The world's favourite French misanthrope writer Michel Houellebecq is too controversial for the world's new Hey Hi (AI) tools, which find his views so offensive that they cannot be repeated.

  • Tom's Hardware ☛ Microsoft recalls Recall: Controversial Hey Hi (AI) feature won't be in Copilot+ backdoored Windows build at launch

    This is the second time Abusive Monopolist Microsoft has back-tracked on Recall.

  • Tom's Hardware ☛ Microsoft dev shares story behind iconic backdoored Windows screensavers — 3D Pipes, 3D Maze, and more [Ed: Microsoft: stay with Windows! WE GOT WALLPAPERS!!]

    Windows NT screensavers, including the most popular, get their origin story explained by Raymond Chen.

  • Reuters ☛ Microsoft to delay release of Recall Hey Hi (AI) feature on security concerns [Ed: What about privacy, bloat and so on?]

    Microsoft will not roll out “Recall”, an AI-powered feature that tracks computer usage, with its new computers next week and will instead preview it with a smaller group later [...]

  • Cory Dransfeldt ☛ Did anyone ask for these AI features?

    I'm genuinely curious as to who wants this outside of investors looking for the next big thing. Anecdotally, my more technical friends are generally lukewarm about new AI features and less technical friends either don't pay attention or are annoyed by the changes.

  • New York Times ☛ Apple Intelligence Revealed at WWDC 2024 as Company Jumps Into AI Race

    Apple’s plans to offer A.I. in its iPhones represents the next step in bringing artificial intelligence into the consumer mainstream. Apple, the marquee name of Silicon Valley, could do more than any other company to add credibility to a technology that has more than a few critics, who worry that it is mistake-prone and could add to the flood of misinformation already on the internet.

  • The Verge ☛ Apple’s AI opportunity is all about the big picture

    During its keynote today, it’ll be Apple’s turn to make the case for AI as our daily assistant — and the signals so far are encouraging. Some of the rumors sound like stuff we’ve heard before, like AI voice memo transcriptions and summaries, but the most recent reports point to features with “broad appeal.” Siri would be a sensible home for stuff like that, and all signs point to a big update for iOS’s virtual assistant. Most compelling of all, Siri might be able to do things on your phone for you. You know, the stuff virtual assistants have promised to do for the past decade.

  • New York Times ☛ Hey, Siri! Let’s Talk About How Apple Is Giving You an A.I. Makeover.

    Each June, Apple unveils its newest software features for the iPhone at its futuristic Silicon Valley campus. But at its annual developer conference on Monday, the company will shine a spotlight on a feature that isn’t new: Siri, its talking assistant, which has been around for more than a decade.

  • Futurism ☛ Tim Cook Admits Apple May Never Be Able to Make Its AI Stop Lying

    When asked about his "confidence that Apple Intelligence will not hallucinate," an increasingly unpopular term that has quickly become the catch-all for AI-generated fibs, Cook conceded that plenty of unknowns remain.

  • Wired ☛ Apple Proved That AI Is a Feature, Not a Product

    Apple's otherworldly, flying-saucer headquarters in Cupertino, California, felt like a suitable venue this week for a bold and futuristic revamp of the company’s most prized products. With iPhone sales slowing and rivals gaining ground thanks to the rise of tools like ChatGPT, Apple offered its own generative artificial intelligence vision at its Worldwide Developer Conference (WWDC).

  • Daniel Miessler ☛ A Collection of Thoughts and Predictions About AI (June 2024)

    I have been talking about AI and making limited predictions about it for nearly 10 years now, but some new ideas and thoughts have come out recently that I want to comment and expand on.

    I'm specifically speaking of the wondrous conversation between Leopold Aschennbrenner and Dwarkesh Patel, and Leopold's collection of essays he recently released on the topic of AI safety (my summary here).

    That’s what kicked off a bunch of ideas, and I now have so many I need to make a list.

  • Rob Knight ☛ Blocking Bots with Nginx

    In April Ethan wrote this post about blocking AI bots with Apache and .htaccess. I've already done this for my robots.txt file but quite frankly I don't trust any of the AI companies to respect that. Jason Santa Maria (via Ethan):

  • Michigan News ☛ Sharing deepfake porn could result in prison time, hefty fines under proposed law

    The pair of bills that would make the creation or distribution of nonconsensual deepfake porn illegal and liable for a civil lawsuit passed the state House on Wednesday, June 12, with nearly unanimous support.

  • Archive Today ☛ How a single ChatGPT mistake cost us $10,000+

    What happened was that as part of our backend migration, we were translating database models from Prisma/Typescript into Python/SQLAlchemy. This was really tedious. We found that ChatGPT did a pretty exceptional job doing this translation and so we used it for almost the entire migration. We copy pasted the code it generated, saw everything worked fine, tried it in production, saw it also worked, and went on our merry way. At this point however, we still used our Next API for all database insertions. Python was only ever reading from the database. The first time we started actually inserting DB records in Python was when we implemented subscriptions. Though we created completely new SQLAlchemy models during the process by hand, we ended up just copying over the same format that ChatGPT wrote for our existing models. What we failed to notice was that we were copying over the same issue with the way we were generating IDs in all our models.

• Security

  • Integrity/Availability/Authenticity

    • The Record ☛ Two arrested in Britain over homemade mobile antenna used for SMS blasting

      The police said the case was believed to be the first of its kind in Britain where an illegal telephone mast was used to send phishing messages that were able to “bypass mobile phone networks’ systems” for blocking suspicious texts.

      According to the police, the suspects sent thousands of messages posing as banks and other official organizations to members of the public in an attempt to trick the recipients into sharing their personal details.

  • Privacy/Surveillance

    • EFF ☛ The UN Cybercrime Draft Convention is a Blank Check for Surveillance Abuses

      The United Nations Ad Hoc Committee is just weeks away from finalizing a too-broad Cybercrime Draft Convention. This draft would normalize unchecked domestic surveillance and rampant government overreach, allowing serious human rights abuses around the world.

      The latest draft of the convention—originally spearheaded by Russia but since then the subject of two and a half years of negotiations—still authorizes broad surveillance powers without robust safeguards and fails to spell out data protection principles essential to prevent government abuse of power.

      As the August 9 finalization date approaches, Member States have a last chance to address the convention’s lack of safeguards: prior judicial authorization, transparency, user notification, independent oversight, and data protection principles such as transparency, minimization, notification to users, and purpose limitation. If left as is, it can and will be wielded as a tool for systemic rights violations.

    • The Conversation ☛ Apple insists its ChatGPT tie-up will protect users’ privacy: here are the questions it must answer first

      When users need greater AI capabilities, they will be able to turn to Apple’s new larger cloud-based AI, and also ChatGPT. This is where the concerns come in. For a company known for building its own technology, this sudden shift has led people like Musk to wonder why Apple cannot build all its artificial intelligence in-house.

      These concerns are certainly valid and highlight the need for careful consideration of the implications of this collaboration with OpenAI which, like Apple, is based in California. However, it is important to note that Apple says it has taken steps to ensure that user privacy is protected. The ChatGPT features will be opt-in by default, and users will be prompted before any data is sent to that service. As Apple said in the press release: [...]

    • The Atlantic ☛ The iPhone Is Now an AI Trojan Horse

      The tools supposedly rely on the context of what’s happening on your device: They’ll be able to identify which contacts you are referencing and pull information from a range of apps. Apple offered a quintessentially Apple example in its marketing video: The senior vice president of software engineering, Craig Federighi, plays a busy dad who uses Apple Intelligence to figure out whether a last-minute meeting will conflict with his daughter’s play. The tool pulls information from his calendar, scans a PDF his daughter sent him, and looks at the traffic on Apple Maps to figure out if he can make it on time. This, Apple stresses, is not some wonky enterprise-software solution—“This is AI for the rest of us,” Federighi declares.

    • NL Times ☛ xHamster considering further appeal against Dutch court’s takedown order

      xHamster said it was studying the ruling. “After the first ruling of the Dutch court, we removed absolutely all content that could be identified as Dutch by our technical and manual means,” the company said. “It is very important to keep in mind that user-generated content does not equal illegal content, and we have a previous ruling stating this.”

      In practice, the ruling will mostly affect adult content uploaded to xHamster before October 2021. In that month, xHamster changed its terms and conditions so that uploads must be accompanied by a consent form.

    • The Hindu ☛ Cyberabad police adds eye-in-the-sky surveillance to manage traffic

      The Unmanned Aerial Surveillance Vehicle (UASV) is equipped with advanced surveillance capabilities that will enable real-time updates of traffic flow and related issues, allowing traffic police officials to address them rapidly and ensure smoother commute for road users, according to a note released by the department

    • India Times ☛ Alphabet hit with Austrian privacy complaint over alleged browser tracking

      Alphabet's Google was hit with a complaint by Austrian advocacy group NOYB on Thursday for allegedly tracking users of its Chrome Web browser, an issue already on EU antitrust regulators' radar.

    • Tom's Hardware ☛ Microsoft recalls Recall: Controversial AI feature won't be in Copilot+ Windows build at launch

      Ever since Microsoft announced Recall at its May 20th Copilot+ event, the new AI feature has been mired in controversy and it's easy to see why. Just a couple of days after the announcement and before users had even tried it, the UK Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) launched an investigation.

    • NYOB ☛ (Preliminary) noyb WIN: Meta stops Hey Hi (AI) plans in the EU

      (Preliminary) noyb WIN: Meta stops Hey Hi (AI) plans in the EU

• Defence/Aggression

  • JURIST ☛ UN Security Council adopts resolution demanding Sudan paramilitary protect civilians and lift siege of El Fasher

    The UN Security Council on Friday adopted a UK-backed resolution on the situation in Sudan, demanding that Sudan’s paramilitary Rapid Support Forces halt its siege of El Fasher, the only capital in the vast western region of Darfur that it doesn’t control.

  • CS Monitor ☛ Protesters and police collide after Argentine president’s spending cut passes Senate

    Argentina President Javier Milei’s proposal to cut state spending and strengthen his power was barely approved on June 13 by the Senate. Thousands of protesters gathered outside Congress, and federal security pushed back with tear gas and water cannons.

  • CS Monitor ☛ Biden’s border policy under fire: Immigration advocacy groups sue over asylum directive

    President Joe Biden faces his first lawsuit over the administration’s directive to limit access to asylum at the southern border. Immigrant advocates claim it differs little from a similar policy issued by the Trump administration later blocked by the courts.

  • Defence Web ☛ Junior Border Guards drive successes at ports of entry

    The employment of Junior Border Guards at South Africa’s ports of entry is already yielding results and bolstering national security, while providing employment opportunities for young people. This is according to the Commissioner of the Border Management Authority (BMA), Dr Michael Masiapato.

  • NYPost ☛ Top Hamas official claims ‘no one has any idea’ how many Israeli hostages are still alive

    While Israel believes more than 70 of the 120 hostages are still alive, Hamdan claimed he didn’t know what the correct figure was.

  • Hong Kong Free Press ☛ Hong Kong justice dept. will not appeal acquittal of democrat cleared in city’s largest national security case

    Hong Kong’s Department of Justice (DoJ) has announced it will not appeal the acquittal of one of the democrats cleared of conspiring to commit subversion in the city’s largest national security case, after earlier saying it intended to challenge the judges’ ruling.

  • Hong Kong Free Press ☛ US, Australia express ‘concern’ after Hong Kong cancels passports of 6 UK-based activists

    The United States and Australia expressed concern Friday over Hong Kong’s invoking of a national security law to cancel the passports of six democracy activists, adding to a growing chorus of Western condemnation.

  • The Straits Times ☛ New Zealand to reform ‘outdated’ firearm laws

    While gun violence in New Zealand was rare, it has been increasing in recent years.

  • European Commission ☛ EU report shows growing focus on national security in Macao

    European Commission Press release Brussels, 13 Jun 2024 The European Commission and the High Representative have today adopted their 24th annual report to the European Parliament and the Council on political and economic developments in the Macao Special Administrative Region. This report covers developments in 2023.

  • Federal News Network ☛ FBI reinstates its removal of FBI staffer’s security clearance

    FBI revoked the staffer's clearance for what it called "questionable judgment" when it came to the agency's investigations into the attack on the U.S. Capitol.

  • The Gray Zone ☛ British meddling in Macedonia backfires, exposing coup machinations

  • The Straits Times ☛ North Korea building walls along border with South Korea: Media

    North Korea’s motive remains unclear, and Yonhap News didn’t say how high or wide the walls were.

  • New York Times ☛ Parisians on Fentanylware (TikTok) Plead: ‘Don’t Come’ to Paris for the Olympics [Ed: Great example of CPC undermining the West via Fentanylware (TikTok); CPC gets to decide what goes viral and therefore spreads like wildfire, what gets suppressed, who gets banned, who gets financed etc.]

    Parisians are using the social control media app to vent their displeasure with hosting the Games — and to send warnings to tourists.

  • Russia, Belarus, and War in Ukraine

    • Meduza ☛ Putin names Russia’s conditions for ceasefire in Ukraine — Meduza

    • Meduza ☛ The beautiful gain As Kyrgyzstan advances in World Cup qualifying, the authorities are tightening their grip on soccer — Meduza

    • The Straits Times ☛ Why Putin may visit North Korea

      Here is how North Korea-Russia relations began and how ties have warmed in recent years.

    • The Straits Times ☛ South Korea, US warn against North Korea-Russia military ties ahead of Putin visit

      Mr Putin is expected to visit North Korea "in the coming days".

    • The Strategist ☛ Switzerland summit should give peace a chance, but only on Ukraine's terms

      This weekend’s Summit on Peace in Ukraine is a misnomer. It’s not about an immediate end to the war but about finding ways to strengthen Ukraine’s hand so that it heads to the negotiating table on its own terms and timing, and that we have a reasonable chance of a peace that is both acceptable and durable.

      Hosted by Switzerland, it will bring together leaders from about 100 countries ranging from Germany and France to Japan and Southeast Asian nations.

    • Deutsche Welle ☛ Bruce Springsteen's 'Born in the U.S.A.': Misinterpreted hit

      "The song is about a disaffected Vietnam veteran who's been chewed up and spat out by his country, but the guy in that song is also claiming his citizenship of America," Steven Hyden, author of "There Was Nothing You Could Do: Bruce Springsteen's 'Born in the U.S.A.' and the End of the Heartland," explained in an interview with pop culture website The Ringer.

      "He's not disavowing America. He's not saying, 'I'm leaving the USA.' He's saying, 'I was born in the USA,'" Hyden added.

    • VOA News ☛ Russia sustains influence operation to undermine integrity of European elections

      European intelligence accused Moscow of supporting pro-Russian candidates, many on the far right of the political spectrum, but also some on the far left, among other influence operations.

      Moscow, in turn, has tried to undermine the democratic legitimacy of the elections.

    • Outlook India ☛ IAEA Sounds Alarm Over Iran's Nuclear Capabilities, Says Tehran Has 'Enough To Build Several Atomic Bombs'

      As reported by AFP, the IAEA has informed its member states that Iran is installing more cascades at enrichment facilities in Natanz and Fordow. Cascades are a series of centrifuge machines used to enrich uranium.

      Iran has been criticised many times over its lack of cooperation with the nuclear agency and has also been accused of removing CCTV footage, refusing entry to IAEA officials and more.

    • The Hill ☛ What’s to lose with a second Trump presidency? Here’s a list. 

      More than 60 court rulings have rejected Trump’s false claim that the election he lost was rigged and riddled with fraud. Yet Trump still contends, with no credible evidence, that he was reelected in 2020. Millions of Americans believe him, undermining public faith in our democracy and in Biden’s legitimacy.

      Alarmingly, Trump is now saying he might not accept the November election result if he loses to Biden again. Trump is even warning that his followers might resort to violence to put him back in the White House, as they did in the deadly riot at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.

      Preserving our democracy and the freedoms democracy gives us is the central issue of the 2024 election. By refusing to accept his election defeat, Trump has shown his contempt for democracy and his desire to rule as an authoritarian.

    • C4ISRNET ☛ US Air Force says it’s on verge of rapid electronic warfare updates

      The Air Force is “very close” to being able to rapidly update electronic warfare systems with fresh battlefield data in a matter of hours, one of the service’s commanders said Wednesday.

    • Security Week ☛ 22 Chinese Nationals Sentenced to Long Prison Terms in Zambia for Multinational Cybercrimes

      Officers from the commission, police, the immigration department and the anti-terrorism unit in April swooped on a Chinese-run business in an upmarket suburb of Lusaka, arresting the 77, including those sentenced Friday. Authorities recovered over 13,000 local and foreign mobile phone SIM cards, two firearms and 78 rounds of ammunition during the raid.

    • The Atlantic ☛ Trump Is Lying to the U.S. Military

      Donald Trump has yet again denied that he called people who gave their life in the service of their country “suckers” and “losers.” But he said those things—and now he wants to goad the military into voting for him as a “revolt.”

• Transparency/Investigative Reporting

  • The Dissenter ☛ Unauthorized Disclosure: Dave DeCamp

  • New York Times ☛ Conversations and insights about the moment.

    In yet another airliner scandal, Boeing and Airbus jets have been manufactured using titanium sold with forged documentation. The problem was uncovered after a parts supplier found small holes in the material from corrosion. Whether the parts are usable despite the faked paperwork is being investigated by the F.A.A.

    Why did this happen? The companies outsourced their manufacturing to China, and what manufacturing remains in the United States has been subject to intense cost cutting. Outsourcing and cost cutting often mean lower quality, more errors and more cover-ups.

• Environment

  • Mexico News Daily ☛ As heat breaks records in Mexico’s north, torrential rains pummel the south

    Emergency officials across Mexico are dealing with both a northern heat wave with 50-degree-Celsius temps and heavy rains in the southeast.

  • WhichUK ☛ Which? Money podcast: how new rules will protect you from financial greenwashing

    We explain how new guidelines in the financial sector will make the industry more transparent

  • The Revelator ☛ Indigenous Artist Meryl McMaster: Lost In, and Crafted by, the Natural World

  • CS Monitor ☛ Cable manufacturers recycle used copper to meet rising demand

    Wire manufacturer Nexans is mixing increasing amounts of discarded copper into its products in an effort to meet the rising demand for the metal, which is expected to nearly double by 2035. The company’s copper rods now contain 14% recycled copper.

  • Energy/Transportation

    • Latvia ☛ Saeima backs cryptoassets regulation in Latvia

      In order to promote the development of the cryptoassets market in Latvia by establishing a regulatory framework for its operation, the Saeima adopted the Cryptoassets Services Law, as well as related amendments to seven other laws, in its final reading on Thursday, June 13.

    • DeSmog ☛ Mapped: The Tory Network of Climate Denial and Fossil Fuel Funding

    • DeSmog ☛ Tory Donors Have Pumped Almost £7 Million into Tufton Street Since 2019

    • DeSmog ☛ Japan, Oil Majors Tout CCS Tomakomai Project as Flagship of Asia’s Energy Future

    • DeSmog ☛ There Is Something Wrong Under New Freeport

    • DeSmog ☛ ‘Thumb on the Scale’: Big Oil Aims to Cash in on Hydrogen Tax Credits – with Natural Gas

    • DeSmog ☛ Revealed: Firm of Veteran Tory Advisor Is Behind ‘Grassroots’ Anti-Solar Ad Campaign

    • DeSmog ☛ Conservative Party Received 40 Percent of its Donations from Fossil Fuel Interests in First Week of Campaign

    • Meduza ☛ ‘We have no choice now’: Desperate to circumvent sanctions and do business with China, Russian companies resort to cryptocurrency and bartering — Meduza

    • Scheerpost ☛ How Daniel Ellsberg’s Moral Power Remains Alive

      Dan had made history in 1971 by revealing the top-secret Pentagon Papers, exposing the constant litany of official lies that accompanied the U.S. escalation of the Vietnam War. In response, the government used the blunderbuss of the World War I-era Espionage Act to prosecute him. At age 41, he faced a possible prison sentence of more than 100 years. But his trial ended abruptly with all charges dismissed when the Nixon administration’s illegal interference in the case came to light in mid-1972. Five decades later, he reflected: “Looking back, the chance that I would get out of 12 felony counts from Richard Nixon was close to zero. It was a miracle.”

    • University of Michigan ☛ UMich plans to spend $70 million installing solar arrays

      “Our first step is to identify the full range of sites for installation and then phase them,” Weber said. “We will prioritize which ones we can start right away and then phase into others that might need a little more prep to get the sites ready. But we anticipate a lot of activity starting in 2025 if not sooner.”

    • Digital Music News ☛ 'Once Upon A Time in Shaolin' Wu-Tang Album Now An NFT

      The encrypted album was made available today through a dedicated website for $1, with each purchase shortening the 2103 release date by 88 days. For now, buyers have received snippets of the album while they await the full release — whenever that date arrives.

    • Scope of Work ☛ On Pneumatic Tires.

      Forty years passed, with pneumatic tires nowhere to be seen. Solid rubber tires gained some popularity for farm vehicles; Thomson himself patented a solid rubber tire in 1867, six years before he died. But the big thing that changed around that time was the fact that humans began pushing themselves around on wheels – instead of being dragged in carriages by horses.

  • Wildlife/Nature

    • New York Times ☛ ‘Oddly Satisfying’ Cow Pedicure Videos Are a Hit on TikTok

      In one corner of the internet, professional trimmers grind and buff away at cow hooves to the delight of millions of spellbound social control media users.

    • New York Times ☛ ‘Brainrot’ Is the New Online Affliction

      A popular term captures the condition of being terminally online, with humor and pathos.

    • The Straits Times ☛ South Korea man faces animal cruelty charges for killing his dog for meat

      Officers found an axe and kitchen knife, thought to have been used to butcher the animal.

• Finance

  • Latvia ☛ Lighting wholesaler gets fined for competition breaches

    The Competition Council (KP) has imposed a fine of EUR 34,490 on the lighting merchant Mirastyle for a cartel in price fixing and market division, KP said on June 13.

  • LRT ☛ Lithuanian lawmakers order banks to offer fixed-rate mortgages

    Banks in Lithuania will have to offer their customers the opportunity to pick the type of interest on mortgages, presenting them with both variable and fixed rate options.

  • Digital Music News ☛ StubHub IPO Is Inching Forward as Major Bank Discussions Are Reportedly Happening—Offering Could Happen As Early As Next Month

    A new report from Bloomberg suggests StubHub is working closely with various banks on its planned IPO—which could launch as early as next month.

  • WhichUK ☛ Food inflation falls, but some groceries still soaring in price

    Supermarket inflation has fallen to its lowest level in two years, but some food and drink is bucking the trend

  • Reason ☛ Biden Keeps Blaming Others for His Economic Mistakes

    The president has tried to shift blame for inflation, interest rate hikes, and an overall decimation of consumers' purchasing power.

• AstroTurf/Lobbying/Politics

  • LRT ☛ ‘No apocalypse’ in Latvia and Estonia after ratifying Istanbul Convention, experts say

    As in Lithuania, the Istanbul Convention was a hot issue in both Latvia and Estonia. However, the two Baltic countries have ratified the convention and the apocalypse did not happen, experts say.

  • New York Times ☛ Trump Prosecutor in Georgia Rebukes Critics in Speech to Black Church Group

    “I’ve lived the experience of a Black woman who is attacked and over-sexualized,” the prosecutor, Fani Willis, told leaders of the African Methodist Episcopal Church on Thursday.

  • New York Times ☛ A Palestinian Professor Spoke Out Against the Gaza War. Israel Detained Her.

    The investigation of Prof. Nadera Shalhoub-Kevorkian of Hebrew University has prompted a debate inside Israel about the repression of free speech and academic freedoms since the war began.

  • LRT ☛ Lithuanian president dismisses social security and labour minister

    Lithuanian President Gitanas Nausėda on Thursday signed a decree dismissing Monika Navickienė from her position as social security and labour minister, his office said.

  • Atlantic Council ☛ A Global South with Chinese characteristics

    The Chinese Ministry of Commerce has sponsored training programs overseas on trade, information security technologies, and more. Beijing uses these training programs to make a case for its authoritarian capitalism. Is it working?

  • Defence Web ☛ UN funds for AU peace operations: Somalia as a test case

    Last December, the United Nations (UN) Security Council unanimously agreed to consider case-by-case requests from the African Union (AU) for UN funding for peacekeeping operations on the continent.

  • France24 ☛ UN Security Council demands end to Darfur city siege

    The UN Security Council on Thursday demanded an end to the siege of El-Fasher in Sudan's Darfur region, where fighting between government and paramilitary forces has provoked a humanitarian crisis.

  • Hong Kong Free Press ☛ Beijing’s offices in Hong Kong hit out at British judge who quit top court, as another UK justice pledges to stay

    Two of Beijing’s state offices in Hong Kong have hit back at a British judge who said the city was turning into a “totalitarian state” after resigning from the Court of Final Appeal.

  • FAIR ☛ Jim Naureckas on Secret Alito Tape, Kennedy Smith on Dollar Store Invasion

  • India Times ☛ Microsoft to invest $7.16 billion in new data centres in northeastern Spain

    Microsoft plans to invest 6.69 billion euros ($7.16 billion) to develop new data centres in Spain's northeastern region of Aragon, which is becoming a major cloud computing hub within Europe.

  • Bloomberg ☛ Apple to ‘Pay’ OpenAI for ChatGPT Through Distribution, Not Cash

    Left unanswered on Monday: which company is paying the other as part of a tight collaboration that has potentially lasting monetary benefits for both. But, according to people briefed on the matter, the partnership isn’t expected to generate meaningful revenue for either party — at least at the outset.

  • Misinformation/Disinformation/Propaganda

    • RTL ☛ Cyberattack, misinformation threats: Swiss pull out the stops for Ukraine summit security

      Switzerland is ramping up security for the Ukraine summit this weekend, deploying 4,000 troops to shield against physical threats, cyberattacks, and misinformation. The luxurious Burgenstock resort, perched on a mountain ridge above Lake Lucerne, is fortified with kilometers of fencing and barbed wire, while a temporary military heliport has been established nearby. Beyond physical security, Swiss intelligence is also tackling cyber threats and a wave of misinformation.

    • The Record ☛ Russia attempting to sway election and EU referendum in Moldova, warn US, UK and Canada

      The statement stresses that the allies have “full confidence in Moldova’s ability to manage these threats linked to the Kremlin’s interference,” and are making the statement “in defense of our shared democratic values.”

      According to the allies, Moscow is providing support to its preferred candidates in October’s election and agitating against the incumbent President Maia Sandu, with the intention of inciting protests should a pro-Russia candidate not win.

• Censorship/Free Speech

  • JURIST ☛ ECHR finds Azerbaijan committed human rights violations by blocking news websites

    The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) ruled on Thursday that Azerbaijan violated speech protections under the European Convention on Human Rights when it blocked the websites several news outlets in 2017 – 2018. The case concerns Azerbaijan’s complete blocking of the websites azadliq.org, anaxeber.az, az24saat.org and xural.com in 2017-2018.

  • New York Times ☛ Vietnam Arrests Prominent Journalist for Facebook Posts

    The journalist, Truong Huy San — known to many by his pen name, Huy Duc — was taken into custody last week, according to a prominent Vietnamese blogger. But there was no official confirmation until Friday night, when state news media reported that the Ministry of Public Security was investigating Mr. San for his Facebook posts. There were no details on the content of the posts.

  • Hong Kong Free Press ☛ First man charged under new security law for 'seditious' shirt, mask

    A Hong Kong man was denied bail under the city’s new domestic security law after he allegedly wore a t-shirt with a banned protest slogan and a yellow mask.

  • Hengaw Organization for Human Rights Hengaw Organization for Human Rights ☛ Arrest of Media Activist Mahta Sadri Following Social Media Post on Ebrahim Raisi’s Death

    Sources indicate that Mahta Sadri's arrest was prompted by a story she posted on her Instagram page concerning President Ebrahim Raisi's death.

  • Techdirt ☛ European Content Removal Laws Are Scrubbing The Internet Of Completely Legal Content

    Of course, the most important law governing content takedown demands was passed much, much earlier. I’m not talking about the CDA and Section 203 immunity. No, it’s a law that required no input from legislators or lobbyists.

    The law of unintended consequences has been in full force since the beginning of time. But it’s never considered to be part of the legislative process, despite hundreds of years of precedence. So, while the consequences are unintended, they should definitely be expected. Somehow, they never are.

• Freedom of Information / Freedom of the Press

  • Press Gazette ☛ Google and publishers: An unpredictable animal that could eat you at any time

    AI Overviews could cause havoc, but algorithm updates are biggest current Surveillance Giant Google threat to publishers.

  • New York Times ☛ How Jeff Bezos Is Trying to Fix The Washington Post

    The Amazon founder has expressed his support to Will Lewis, the C.E.O., who has faced widespread criticism this month.

  • Press Gazette ☛ ‘Devastating’ potential impact of Surveillance Giant Google Hey Hi (AI) Overviews on publisher visibility revealed

    Investigation reveals widespread rollout of Hey Hi (AI) Overviews on news-related Surveillance Giant Google queries.

  • Press Gazette ☛ Bureau of Investigative Journalism in drive to diversify grant-led funding model

    CEO and editor-in-chief Rozina Breen has warned of £250,000 funding shortfall.

  • Press Gazette ☛ Newspaper ABCs: Evening Standard distribution decline continues amid plan to drop daily paper

  • Press Gazette ☛ Media manifestos 2024: Labour quiet on press regulation and media policy

    The party tipped to form the next government avoids discussing the media in its manifesto.

  • Project Censored ☛ RSF Finds Significant “Barriers to Press Freedom” in the US

    Based on five categories, the index evaluates press freedom in 180 countries and ranks them from freest to least. In the overall global rankings, Norway remains number one. Its Scandinavian neighbors, as well as the Netherlands, Switzerland, New Zealand, Jamaica, Belgium, and Costa Rica, are among the top ten nations that best uphold press freedom. Meanwhile, the United States has fallen from 45th position in 2023 to 55th in 2024, landing one notch after Belize and one before Gabon.

  • CPJ ☛ Hostile climate intensifies for Slovak press after PM Fico shooting

    The day after Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico was shot on May 15, the heads of 27 news outlets condemned the attack and called on politicians not to further divide society by looking for culprits.

    “Just like after the murder of our colleague Ján Kuciak and his fiancée Martina Kušnírová, we are once again at a crossroads,” they said in a joint statement, referencing the 2018 killing of Kuciak, likely in retaliation for his journalism on corruption. “This heinous act must not trigger further aggression, verbal attacks and revenge … We must all try to defuse the situation. Otherwise, tension and violence will escalate.”

    In Slovakia, journalists have long endured verbal attacks and harassment from across the political spectrum, including under the pro-Western administration that ruled before Fico returned to power for the fourth time in October 2023.

  • CPJ ☛ Slovak press under fire after PM Fico shooting

    Almost immediately after the attempted assassination of Slovakian Prime Minister Robert Fico on May 15, members of the ruling coalition blamed the attack on journalists by linking it to their critical coverage and issued retaliatory threats.

  • Terence Eden ☛ The Chancellor of the Exchequer doesn’t understand Tax Law

    Freedom of Information law is brilliant! It allows ordinary people to ask questions of the powerful and get solid answers.

    Sometimes these questions are sensible and journalistic. Sometimes they're vexatious. Sometimes they're a little silly.

  • Neritam ☛ Why the Release of Julian Assange Is Crucial for Our Future

    What is Julian Assange in prison for? He is in prison for showing the truth about our wars, in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere. War and lies are very closely related. Julian Assange has not been charged with any crime in the UK, elsewhere in Europe, or in his native Australia. He is in custody solely because the U.S. is demanding his extradition to face charges under a draconian World War 1 espionage act and imprison him for the rest of his life. But Assange is not a spy, he is a journalist and has acted as such. If he were extradited and convicted, it would set a dangerous precedent. Every journalist on Earth in the future would have to fear being imprisoned for life as a spy for revealing dirty secrets of governments. That would be the end of freedom of the press as we know it.

    What is Julian Assange in prison for? He is in prison for showing the truth about our wars, in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere. War and lies are very closely related. Wars cannot be fought without lies because most populations reject these wars as soon as they know the truth about them. Governments never tell the truth about their wars, because otherwise they lose the support of the population. Embedded journalists do not tell us the truth about the wars. After the disaster of the Vietnam War, various concepts have been developed to allow journalists to go to war theaters only embedded, accompanied by the respective military. We saw this in Iraq, we saw it in Afghanistan and elsewhere. Only a few journalists had the opportunity to look behind the scenes. That is why leaks, confidential sources and journalists like Julian Assange are so important.

• Civil Rights/Policing

  • EDRI ☛ High-Level Group “Going Dark” outcome: A mission failure

    On 13 June, the Justice and Home Affairs Council, composed of EU Member States’ ministers of the Interior, will discuss the recommendations of the High-Level Group (HLG) on Access to Data for Effective Law Enforcement (“Going Dark”). This blogpost provides a short analysis of the HLG’s recommendations and a summary of its procedural flaws.

    The post High-Level Group “Going Dark” outcome: A mission failure appeared first on European Digital Rights (EDRi).

  • Reason ☛ Justice Kavanaugh Denies Standing For Docs Against Glocks

    Doctors cannot claim an injury to challenge gun control laws because their patients may be affected by gun violence.

  • France24 ☛ EU fines Hungary €200 million for flouting asylum laws

    The EU’s top court on Thursday fined Hungary 200 million euros ($216 million) and imposed a daily one-million-euro penalty for failing to follow the bloc’s asylum laws and illegally deporting migrants, a decision Budapest slammed as “unacceptable”.

  • JURIST ☛ Immigrants’ rights advocates sue Biden administration over US asylum ban

    A coalition of advocacy groups filed a federal lawsuit on Wednesday challenging a new Biden administration rule that effectively bans many asylum seekers from protection based on where and how they entered the US.

  • JURIST ☛ US Supreme Court unanimously rejects challenge to abortion pill Mifepristone

    The US Supreme Court on Thursday unanimously struck down a bid by pro-life advocates to restrict the availability of abortion drug Mifepristone. Reproductive rights laws have shifted wildly in the two years since the US Supreme Court decided to overturn Roe v. Wade, the 1973 decision that held abortion was a constitutionally enshrined right.

  • RFA ☛ Myanmar junta imposes random searches for VPNs

    Residents report arrests, fines and extortion since crackdown on overseas internet began last month.

  • Tech Central (South Africa) ☛ SpaceX sued by engineers fired after accusing Elon Musk of sexism

    SpaceX and its CEO Elon Musk have been sued by eight engineers who say they were fired illegally for raising concerns about alleged sexual harassment and discrimination against women.

    The engineers — four women and four men — claim Musk ordered their firing in 2022 after they circulated a letter calling the billionaire a “distraction and embarrassment” and urging executives to disavow sexually charged comments he had made on social media. The lawsuit was filed in state court in Los Angeles.

  • TMZ ☛ Four Tops Singer Claims Hospital Put Him in Straitjacket, Gave $25 As Apology

    We spoke to the Four Tops singer on "TMZ Live" Thursday ... and he claims he was sent for a psych exam at Michigan's Ascension Macomb-Oakland Hospital last April -- where he alleges that white staffers, doubting his fame, put him in a straitjacket.

    Alexander says instead of receiving proper care at the hospital after falling ill over the Easter weekend, he was left in the hallway for 3 hours ... this was detailed in his lawsuit, BTW.

  • India Times ☛ Apple accused in lawsuit of underpaying female workers in California

    The lawsuit filed in state court in San Francisco by two women claims Apple systematically underpays female workers in its engineering, marketing, and AppleCare divisions, according to a release from the lawyers.

  • CS Monitor ☛ Harriet Tubman was a Civil War hero. She just got her own statue.

    The monument commemorates her leadership in the Combahee River Raid. On June 2, 1863, she became the first woman to command a major military operation in the United States. She led 150 Black Union soldiers into war, and their efforts led to the liberation of 700 people.

• Internet Policy/Net Neutrality

  • Federal News Network ☛ Rumors targeting Social Security recipients cause inundation of SSA phone lines

    A fake news article suggested that beneficiaries would get an immediate $600 payment increase.

  • Tech Central (South Africa) ☛ Big section of 2Africa subsea cable is now live

    The first big segment of 2Africa, a massive submarine cable system backed by Meta Platforms, is live, connecting South Africa with Kenya.

    “The initial phase of activation connects Kenya, Tanzania and South Africa, heralding a new era of high-speed, reliable internet access,” Airtel Telesonic, the wholesale arm of Airtel Africa, said in a statement on Wednesday.

    When completed, the 45 000km 2Africa system will encircle Africa and connect countries across the continent with Europe and Asia.

Monopolies/Monopsonies

• CoryDoctorow ☛ Pluralistic: Microsoft pinky swears that THIS TIME they’ll make security a priority

  As the old saying goes, "When someone tells you who they are and you get fooled again, shame on you." That goes double for Microsoft, especially when it comes to security promises.

  Microsoft is, was, always has been, and always will be a rotten company. At every turn, throughout their history, they have learned the wrong lessons, over and over again.

• India Times ☛ Amazon pledges $230 million to boost generative AI startups

  Amazon's gesture comes as big tech companies are under increased scrutiny from antitrust regulators over whether they are stifling competition in the emerging AI market.

• Patents

  • Unified Patents ☛ European Patent Litigation and Non-Practicing Entities: A Large and Looming Threat

    JUVE Patent has published an article written by Jessica L.A. Marks, SEP & Foreign Managing Counsel at Unified Patents, over the growing presence of US-based Patent Assertion Entities (PAEs) spreading into Europe. Eight out of the top ten most active NPEs in Europe are US-based companies.

  • JUVE ☛ Düsseldorf Regional Court appoints new presiding judge for third patent monopoly chamber

    Tilmann Büttner is no stranger to the German patent monopoly scene.

  • JUVE ☛ Advocate General points the way to interpretation of SPC regulation

    In 2021 and 2022, both the Finland Market Court and the Supreme Court of Ireland referred questions to the CJEU concerning the scope of the supplementary protection certificate regulation with regard to combination drug products.

  • Software Patents

    • Unified Patents ☛ Intellectual Ventures Open Source/Kubernetes patent monopoly challenge instituted [Ed: Microsoft-funded troll]

      On June 14, 2024, less than three weeks after Unified filed an ex parte reexamination, the Central Reexamination Unit (CRU) granted Unified’s request, finding substantial new questions of patentability on the challenged claims of U.S. Patent 7,949,785, owned by Intellectual Ventures II LLC.

• Trademarks

  • Techdirt ☛ Tour De France Loses Trademark Opposition To German Gym Chain

    It’s hard to argue against that. “Tour de France” is certainly a unique enough phrase to be deserving of trademark protection in the sports and apparel markets. But “Tour de” on its own most certainly is not. And since that’s the only commonality between the marks in this case, you can see the court’s point in siding with FitX.

• Copyrights

  • Digital Music News ☛ ‘Pharma Bro’ Martin Shkreli Faces Legal Action Over Secret Wu-Tang Album MP3s

    Convicted pharmaceutical exec Martin Shkreli faces legal action over releasing mp3s of a one of a kind Wu-Tang album forfeited after his fraud conviction.

  • Digital Music News ☛ Regard’s ‘Ride It’ Has Over a Billion Spotify Streams — Now It’s the Focus of a Copyright Infringement Lawsuit

    Regard’s ‘Ride It,’ the viral remix of Jay Sean’s 2008 track of the same name, is the focus of an infringement lawsuit over an uncleared sample.

  • Torrent Freak ☛ Denuvo Owner Shuts Down Clone Sites, Perpertrators Seem Up For a Chase

    The company behind notorious anti-tamper technology Denuvo, filed an interesting DMCA takedown notice at GitHub this week. According to Irdeto, unnamed parties cloned the company's website, registered a similar domain, and ran their own mail server behind the scenes. A short investigation by TF suggests that the culprits may have known Irdeto would attempt to track them down and may have left Easter eggs along the way.

  • Torrent Freak ☛ TorrentGalaxy Goes Offline With Mysterious Message to Users

    Popular torrent site TorrentGalaxy has gone 'offline' overnight. While downtime is quite common for pirate sites, a mysterious statement by the team is open for interpretation, leading some to believe that it will not return anytime soon. Since the site is a prominent source of new movie and TV show releases, this is a big deal.

  • India Times ☛ AI rules: EU's new AI rules ignite battle over data transparency

    But as the industry booms, questions have been raised over how AI companies obtain the data used to train their models, and whether feeding them bestselling books and Hollywood movies without their creators' permission amounts to a breach of copyright.

  • Press Gazette ☛ 'Devastating' potential impact of Google AI Overviews on publisher visibility revealed

    The dramatic impact of Google‘s AI-written summaries on search result visibility for publishers has been revealed through exclusive new research.

    A Press Gazette-led investigation has found that AI-written summaries were returned for nearly a quarter of news-related search queries in mid-May in the US, with the result that organic links to publisher articles were pushed far down the page.

  • Jessica Nickelsen ☛ AI gives me a copywriting pitch based on previous blog post

    I turned yesterday’s blog post (just randomly grabbing for some actual text) into a tweet, and then saw there’s an option to create a “pitch.” I’ve been exploring different work opportunities lately and wondered what the heck it would suggest for a pitch for copywriting work… and this is what it gave me. It’s pretty good. I went for “humorous” tone: