Links 27/06/2024: Microsoft's Chief Brand Offices Kathleen Hall to Leave, The Beauty of Blogging, Ukraine Updates
Contents
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Leftovers
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Robert Birming ☛ The beauty of blogging
There's something wonderful about seeing sentences grow, letter by letter, on a blank page. It's progress and full awareness in one beautiful combination. It works just as well with paper and pencil, of course.
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Juha-Matti Santala ☛ Website self-sustenance checkup
A key philosophy I want to follow with my website is for it to be “self-sustaining”. In this context, I mean having as little vendor-lock or dependency on third party services as possible. At the same time, I do want to take the advantage of great tooling and services so it’s a balancing act rather than going to one single extreme of doing everything myself or only using a minimal set of tools.
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Standards/Consortia
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India Times ☛ Reddit to update web standard to block automated website scraping
Reddit said that it would update the Robots Exclusion Protocol, or "robots.txt," a widely accepted standard meant to determine which parts of a site are allowed to be crawled.
The company also said it will maintain rate-limiting, a technique used to control the number of requests from one particular entity, and will block unknown bots and crawlers from data scraping - collecting and saving raw information - on its website.
More recently, robots.txt has become a key tool that publishers employ to prevent tech companies from using their content free-of-charge to train AI algorithms and create summaries in response to some search queries.
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Licensing / Legal
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New York Times ☛ When the Terms of Service Change to Make Way for A.I. Training
Last July, Google made an eight-word change to its privacy policy that represented a significant step in its race to build the next generation of artificial intelligence.
Buried thousands of words into its document, Google tweaked the phrasing for how it used data for its products, adding that public information could be used to train its A.I. chatbot and other services.
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Science
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VOA News ☛ Historic Chinese lunar probe returns to Earth
An uncrewed Chinese spacecraft returned to Earth Tuesday carrying the first soil and rock samples taken from the far side of the moon.
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New York Times ☛ A Feline Scientist Explains Why Your Cat Might Actually Like You
Cats are more social than they are often given credit for. Can you help yours access its inner dog?
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New York Times ☛ If You Give a Frog a Sauna, It Might Fight Off a Deadly Fungus
A fatal fungal disease has devastated the world’s amphibians. But the fungus has a vulnerability: It cannot tolerate heat.
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MIT Technology Review ☛ Toys can change your life
In a November 1984 story for Technology Review, Carolyn Sumners, curator of astronomy at the Houston Museum of Natural Science, described how toys, games, and even amusement park rides could change how young minds view science and math.
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Science Alert ☛ A Glow in Jupiter's Night Could Be The Smoking Gun Signal For Dark Matter
If we can find it...
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Science Alert ☛ Losing Both Ovaries Could Come at a Serious Cost to The Brain, Researchers Find
Age matters.
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Science Alert ☛ Iceland's Volcanic Eruptions Could Continue For Decades, Study Finds
Now we know what's fueling them.
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Education
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The Register UK ☛ Paul Allen's tech museum closes, sells off his vintage tech
It's not entirely clear why the Paul Allen estate, which is run by his sister Jody Allen, decided to shut the museum, given no apparent cash shortage. We've asked for clarification.
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Hardware
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CNX Software ☛ GOWIN GW5AT-15 low-cost FPGA provides high-speed video interfaces up to 4K at 120 FPS
GOWIN Semiconductor has just announced the “Arora V” GW5AT-15 FPGA designed for high-speed video interfaces up to 4K at 120 FPS in space-constrained consumer and automotive applications. Manufactured with TSMC’s 22nm LP process, the new FPGA offers high-performance 12.5 Gbps SerDes, PCIe 3.0, MIPI CPHY, and DPHY interfaces.
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Hackaday ☛ 3D Printering: Adaptive Bed Leveling
Have you ever read about something and thought, “Gee whiz! Why did I never think about that?” That was my reaction to reading about a feature commonly associated with Klipper called adaptive bed leveling or adaptive mesh leveling. Too bad I don’t typically use Klipper, but it all worked out, and I’ll show you how it might work for you.
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Health/Nutrition/Agriculture
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The Straits Times ☛ Sarawak seeks to become Malaysia’s next ‘rice bowl’, rivalling Kedah
Malaysia has faced a shortage of white rice since 2023, following India’s ban on rice exports.
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The Straits Times ☛ China tackles rising obesity rates with 3-year weight control campaign
Obesity and overweight rates have become a significant public health concern in China.
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Wired ☛ Boring Architecture Is Starving Your Brain
This isn’t just a matter of opinion. Heatherwick cites, for instance, the research of Colin Ellard, a cognitive neuroscientist at the University of Waterloo who studies the neurological and psychological impact of the built environment. In his experiments, Ellard has shown that people’s moods were considerably affected when surrounded by tall buildings. In one experiment, he collected data from wearable sensors that tracked skin conductance response, a measure of emotional arousal. When people pass by a boring building, Heatherwick says, “their bodies literally go into a fight-or-flight mode. They have nothing for their mind to connect to.”
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teleSUR ☛ US Surgeon General Declares Gun Violence 'Public Health Crisis'
Experts estimate that 400 million guns are circulating in private hands, making it nearly impossible for the government to meaningfully restrict access to them. In 2020, gunshot wounds surpassed car accidents as the leading cause of death for children and adolescents in the United States.
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Wired ☛ The US Is Being Flooded by Chinese Vapes
Almost exclusively manufactured in China, the vapes are colorful and come in eye-catching metallic finishes, squishy silicone textures, and rounded shapes that fit comfortably in a person’s hand. But what really sets them apart are LCD screens, which make the devices even more harmful for the environment than normal disposable vapes. And like the vast majority of all e-cigarettes available in stores, they are technically illegal and haven’t been approved for sale by the US Food and Drug Administration.
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Science Alert ☛ Parkinson's Link to Gut Bacteria Suggests Unexpected, Simple Treatment
Inching closer to the full picture.
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Science Alert ☛ Eating a High-Fat Diet May Increase Your Anxiety, Study Warns
What's eating you?
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Science Alert ☛ Multivitamins Won't Help You Live Longer, Massive Study Finds
Eat food instead.
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Science Alert ☛ Fossilized Bone of Neanderthal With 'Down Syndrome' Challenges Ideas of Prehistoric Care
Compassion without reciprocation.
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Latvia ☛ Swine fever found in three farms in one week in Latvia
The third outbreak of African swine fever (ASF) in a week has been detected in a 24-pig holding in Vecate parish, the Food and Veterinary Service (PVD) said on June 25.
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PHR ☛ Kenya Law Enforcement Must Avoid Using Dangerous Crowd-Control Weapons Against Protestors: PHR
Kenyan law enforcement must cease their misuse of crowd-control weapons during ongoing protests across the country, Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) said today. “Law enforcement officials who are meant to protect civilians used lethal tactics against protestors and medical personnel trying to help people.
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Proprietary/Artificial Intelligence (AI)
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Tom's Hardware ☛ South Korean telecom company attacks torrent users with malware — over 600,000 customers report missing files, strange folders, and disabled PCs
Upon further investigation, the company noted that all affected users had KT as their internet service provider. The representative added, “Only KT users have problems. What the malware does on the user’s PC is to create strange folders or make file invisible. It completely disables the Webhard program itself. In some cases, the PC itself was also disabled because of it, so we reported it.”
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Cyble Inc ☛ Polyfill Supply Chain Attack Affects Over 100,000 Websites
A widespread supply chain attack has hit more than 100,000 websites, including notable platforms like JSTOR, Intuit, and the World Economic Forum. The attack stems from a fake domain impersonating the popular open-source library Polyfill.js, which supports older browsers.
In February, the Chinese company Funnull had acquired the domain and GitHub account associated with the project, leading to the injection of malware into sites that embed cdn.polyfill.io. The malicious code is designed to redirect mobile users to sports betting sites or pornographic sites using a fake Google Analytics domain.
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The New Stack ☛ Human Insight + LLM Grunt Work = Creative Publishing Solution
The naive solution is, of course, to just export the Google Doc as HTML. That gets you most of the way there, but the last mile is a slippery slope. Google Docs won’t let you create custom styles to align elements with their counterparts in your published web page. And the images are sourced from googleusercontent which is convenient — they seem to just magically work — but you probably want those images stored as named files in your publishing system.
So what I’ve seen happen, in several different environments, is manual transfer and reformatting that becomes a tax on the collaborative benefit of Google Docs.
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Michael Tsai ☛ Michael Tsai - Blog - Slack to Delete Old Messages in Free Accounts
I see no reason that Discord and other free competitors won’t eventually do the same thing.
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Doug Jones ☛ On fighting AI bots
Molly’s perspective really resonates with me. I like the comparison to open source software, where a freely licensed project could always be used by companies in for-profit products. However, what’s missing from the open web is some standards around licensing with regard to AI models. Just because something is free to read, doesn’t mean it’s free to use in any way, including ingestion into an LLM.
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Security Week ☛ Polyfill Supply Chain Attack Hits Over 100k Websites
Security researchers are warning of a web supply chain attack impacting over 100,000 websites that are using the ‘cdn.polyfill.io’ domain.
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Armin Ronacher ☛ What is Self Hosted? What is a Stack?
My colleague Ben Vingar wrote a tool called Counterscale which I would describe as “deploy your own analytics”. Except there is a catch: it needs Cloudflare to run. Is it really self hosted if your only way to deploy it is some proprietary cloud vendor?
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Kathleen Hall to depart Microsoft
Chief brand officer Kathleen Hall is leaving her post at Microsoft.
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Security
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Privacy/Surveillance
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EFF ☛ EFF Livestream Series Coming to a Platform Near You!
In the first segment of EFF's livestream series, we'll dive into the impact of the U.S. Supreme Court's recent opinions on technology and civil liberties. Get an expert's look at the court cases making the biggest waves for tech users with our panel featuring EFF Civil Liberties Director David Greene.
This summer marks the two-year anniversary of the Dobbs decision overturning Roe vs Wade. Join EFF for a livestream discussion about restrictions to reproductive healthcare and the choices people seeking an abortion must face in the digital age where everything is connected, and surveillance is rampant. Learn what’s happening across the United States and how you can get involved.
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EFF ☛ Hack of Age Verification Company Shows Privacy Danger of Social Media Laws
This threat is not hypothetical. This morning, 404 Media reported that a major identity verification company, AU10TIX, left login credentials exposed online for more than a year, allowing access to this very sensitive user data.
A researcher gained access to the company’s logging platform, “which in turn contained links to data related to specific people who had uploaded their identity documents,” including “the person’s name, date of birth, nationality, identification number, and the type of document uploaded such as a drivers’ license,” as well as images of those identity documents. Platforms reportedly using AU10TIX for identity verification include TikTok and X, formerly Twitter.
Lawmakers pushing forward with dangerous age verifications laws should stop and consider this report. Proposals like the federal Kids Online Safety Act and California’s Assembly Bill 3080 are moving further toward passage, with lawmakers in the House scheduled to vote in a key committee on KOSA this week, and California's Senate Judiciary committee set to discuss AB 3080 next week. Several other laws requiring age verification for accessing “adult” content and social media content have already passed in states across the country. EFF and others are challenging some of these laws in court.
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India Times ☛ Meta AI rolls out in India on WhatsApp, Facebook, Instagram
Meta on Monday announced the availability of its AI assistant 'Meta AI' in India on WhatsApp, Facebook, Messenger, Instagram, and meta.ai portal. With this, people can use Meta AI in feeds and chats across its apps to get things done, create content, and deep dive into topics, without having to leave the app they are using, according to a statement by the social media giant.
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EPIC ☛ EPIC, Coalition Urge FCC to Promptly Issue Order Protecting Domestic Violence Survivors from Abuse through Connected Cars Services
On June 24, EPIC, the Clinic to End Tech Abuse (CETA), the National Network to End Domestic Violence (NNEDV), and Public Knowledge filed reply comments to the Federal Communications Commission on protecting survivors of domestic violence from attempts to control, surveil, harass, or otherwise re-victimize them through misuse of connected car services.
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Techdirt ☛ EU’s ‘Going Dark’ Expert Group Publishes 42-Point Surveillance Plan For Access To All Devices And Data At All Times
Techdirt has been covering the disgraceful attempts by the EU to break end-to-end encryption — supposedly in order to “protect the children” — for two years now. An important vote that could have seen EU nations back the proposal was due to take place recently. The vote was cancelled — not because politicians finally came to their senses, but the opposite. Those backing the new law were worried the latest draft might not be approved, and so removed it from the agenda, to allow a little more backroom persuasion to be applied to holdouts.
Although this “chat control” law has been the main focus of the EU’s push for more surveillance of innocent citizens, it is by no means the end of it. As the German digital rights site Netzpolitik reports, work is already underway on further measures, this time to address the non-existent “going dark” threat to law enforcement: [...]
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The Register UK ☛ Microsoft makes Windows 11 OneDrive avoidance trickier
The feature can be turned off – and won't be turned on for users able to dodge the Microsoft Account requirement or for existing Windows 11 installations – but the fact it is enabled by default in new installations will irritate many users. This will be particularly annoying when OneDrive's 5GB of free personal storage is exhausted, and the user is prompted to set up a subscription to add more capacity.
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The Washington Post ☛ Law enforcement is spying on thousands of Americans’ mail, records show
The surveillance technique, known as the mail covers program, has long been used by postal inspectors to help track down suspects or evidence. The practice is legal, and the inspectors said they share only what they can see on the outside of the mail; the Fourth Amendment requires them to get a warrant to peek inside.
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The Local SE ☛ Why Sweden's Chat Control vote is causing parliamentary chaos
The representatives for the Green Party and the Left Party – both of whom are opposed to the measure – then somewhat mysteriously backed the government's position without leaving a dissenting opinion.
With only the Centre Party and the far-right Sweden Democrats opposing, Sweden's government could then claim parliamentary backing for supporting the Belgian compromise at a planned meeting of the EU Council on Thursday.
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Gunnar Wolf ☛ Gunnar Wolf: Find my device - Whether you like it or not
I received a mail today from Google (
noreply-findmydevice@google.com
) notifying me that they would unconditionally enable the Find my device functionality I have been repeatedly marking as unwanted in my Android phone.The mail goes on to explain this functionality works even when the device is disconnected, by Bluetooth signals (aha, so “turn off Bluetooth” will no longer turn off Bluetooth? Hmmm…)
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Defence/Aggression
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El País ☛ ‘No to dictators. No to Trump’: The controversial ad campaign comparing Fidel Castro with the Republican candidate
After being displayed for five days, on Saturday the billboard was removed and replaced by a sign that reads “Convicted Felon” next to the image of the Republican candidate. In May, Trump was found guilty of all 34 counts in the hush money case, in which it was proven that he falsified business records to hide the payment of bribes to a porn actress with whom he had a relationship. The founder of Mad Dog, Claude Taylor, a former Democratic campaign staffer, assures EL PAÍS that the fact that the controversial billboard was removed was not a result of criticism, but rather planned in advance. The Trump-Castro comparison continued to be seen throughout Miami on the sides of a truck over the weekend.
“I understand that many Cuban-Americans are upset by the comparison. But for me it is total hypocrisy to oppose Castro and his terrible dictatorship, to escape that tyranny, and come to this country and want a right-wing dictator instead of a left-wing dictator. To me all dictators are evil, whether they are from the left or the right,” says Taylor.
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CS Monitor ☛ Terrorist attacks on Christians and Jews in Dagestan worry Russia
Islamist extremists killed at least 21 people in the coordinated attacks – the third major terrorist incident in Russia in as many months, according to the government. They struck a police station and four places of worship in two cities, executing an Orthodox priest and burning down the only synagogue in Derbent.
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Counter Punch ☛ An AI Hell on Earth?
A recent Wall Street Journal investigation suggests that the new generation of military tech is being oversold as well. The Journal found that small top-of-the-line new U.S. drones supplied to Ukraine for its defensive war against Russia have proved far too “glitchy and expensive,” so much so that, irony of ironies, the Ukrainians have opted to buy cheaper, more reliable Chinese drones instead.
Finally, the approach advocated by Brose and his acolytes is going to make war more likely as technological hubris instills a belief that the United States can indeed “beat” a rival nuclear-armed power like China in a conflict, if only we invest in a nimble new high-tech force.
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The Register UK ☛ Oracle fears US TikTok ban will dent its cloud profits
ByteDance may not be the only company hurt by a US ban on TikTok: Oracle put a warning in its recently filed annual report that such a move could hit its revenue and profits as a provider of hosting services.
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The Nation ☛ Venture Capitalists Are Gunning for New Frontiers in Techno-War
Venture capital and military start-up firms in Silicon Valley have begun aggressively selling a version of automated warfare that will deeply incorporate artificial intelligence (AI). Those companies and their CEOs are now pressing full speed ahead with that emerging technology, largely dismissing the risk of malfunctions that could lead to the future slaughter of civilians, not to speak of the possibility of dangerous scenarios of escalation between major military powers. The reasons for this headlong rush include a misplaced faith in “miracle weapons,” but above all else, this surge of support for emerging military technologies is driven by the ultimate rationale of the military-industrial complex: vast sums of money to be made.
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Atlantic Council ☛ China and the US both want to ‘friendshore’ in Vietnam
As a “connector economy” bridging the supply chains between United States and China, Vietnam is being courted by both powers. How can the US pull Vietnam closer to its side?
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Democracy Now ☛ Auma Obama, Sister of Pres. Obama, on Kenyan Police Attacks on Youth-Led Tax Protests, 22+ Killed
Political unrest in Kenya erupted into violence Tuesday as authorities opened fire on protesters in Nairobi who oppose President William Ruto’s controversial tax bill. Hundreds of people stormed the legislature and burned part of the building. Meanwhile, inside, lawmakers voted to pass the tax measure, which will raise the cost of many everyday items to pay down government debt. The new taxes have sparked weeks of youth-led demonstrations as many call for Ruto to resign, and the president responded to Tuesday’s events by deploying the military to crack down on the protests. At least 22 people have been killed and dozens more injured in the nationwide protests. We speak with Faith Odhiambo, president of the Law Society of Kenya, who describes how high unemployment and disinvestment in social services led to the mass unrest, and to activist Auma Obama, sister of former U.S. President Barack Obama. “The Kenyan people are struggling, especially the young people,” says Obama, who was tear-gassed by police Tuesday. “The debt is irresponsible, and it is a pattern that has repeated again and again on the continent.”
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FAIR ☛ CNN’s Debate Plan Makes Democracy the Likely Loser
On Thursday, President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump will face each other on CNN for the first scheduled debate of the 2024 presidential election. This year, things will be run differently; CNN will be entirely in charge. If history is any guide, things will not go well for democracy.
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European Commission ☛ Remarks via Video Message by Commissioner Stella Kyriakides at the MedTech Europe Business Summit
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The Strategist ☛ The role of AUKUS in Australia’s deterrence strategy
Elevated to a military science during the Cold War, deterrence is a relatively new task for the Australian Defence Force.
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The Straits Times ☛ North Korea claims successful test to develop multiple warhead missile
“The purpose was to secure the capability to destroy individual targets using multiple warheads,” KCNA said.
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RFA ☛ North Korea’s missile launch ends in mid-air explosion: South
The launch came after the North criticized the arrival in South Korea of a U.S. aircraft carrier.
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H2 View ☛ Hydrogen safety tests ‘faked’ at Korean government institute – reports
A South Korean government agency risked fatal accidents by issuing false safety reports on hydrogen refuelling hoses for companies working on government-funded R&D projects, according to local reports.
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France24 ☛ N.Korea says successfully tested multiple-warhead missile capability
North Korea claimed to have successfully tested its multiple-warhead missile capability, according to state-run KCNA news agency Thursday.
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The Straits Times ☛ Philippines needs to ‘do more’ than protest China’s actions in South China Sea: Marcos
The Philippine President said the Chinese coast guard had conducted an "illegal action".
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The Straits Times ☛ Philippines has not sought US resupply support in China dispute: Ambassador
Ambassador Jose Manuel Romualdez said the US was providing only "visuals" to aid his country.
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The Straits Times ☛ Philippines needs to 'do more' than protest China's actions in South China Sea, Marcos says
MANILA - Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said on Thursday that a June 17 incident at a disputed shoal in the South China Sea was not an \"armed attack\" by China against Manila's sailors and vessels, but the country needs to \"do more\" than protest.
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The Straits Times ☛ China’s recent aggression in the South China Sea aimed at figuring out Philippines’ red line
The recent escalation was driven by Chinese apprehension over Manila’s actions in the waterway, says one expert.
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New York Times ☛ China’s Anguished Debate: Do Its Children Have a Crime Problem?
China has been considered relatively progressive on juvenile justice. But several high-profile killings have prompted calls for the law to come down more harshly on minors.
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Russia, Belarus, and War in Ukraine
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Meduza ☛ ‘We’re prepared to defend our rights’: Anti-Putin activist Pavel Kharitonenko on his plans to run for local office on a pro-democracy platform — Meduza
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Scoop News Group ☛ Russian national indicted for role in cyberattacks on Ukraine
Amin Timovich Stigal is alleged to have participated in attacks dubbed “WhisperGate” ahead of Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine.
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France24 ☛ Euro 2024: Belgium advance to last 16 to face France, Ukraine out
Belgium got the best out of a 0-0 draw at the European Championship on Wednesday, advancing to the last 16, along with Romania and Slovakia..
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France24 ☛ NATO appoints Dutch PM Rutte as next secretary general
NATO tapped outgoing Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte Wednesday to become the bloc’s next secretary-general who will replace Norway’s Jens Stoltenberg from October 1. Stoltenberg led NATO for more than a decade during which his mandate was extended due to the war in Ukraine.
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France24 ☛ For Ukraine, Euro 2024 is about more than football
With Group E delicately poised before the last round of group stage matches, Ukraine have a chance to qualify for the last 16 at Euro 2024. For the Ukrainians, going far in Germany is about more than football – it’s about giving hope to those back home in a country at war.
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Hong Kong Free Press ☛ China opposes EU’s ‘unilateral sanctions’ on firms with links to Russia’s war in Ukraine
China on Tuesday said it had protested to the European Union after the bloc imposed sanctions on 19 Chinese companies for abetting what the West believes is Beijing’s support for Russia’s war in Ukraine.
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LRT ☛ Lithuania mulls allocating at least 0.25% of GDP to Ukraine annually
The State Defence Council on Wednesday backed plans to allocate at least 0.25 percent of Lithuania’s GDP annually for military assistance to Ukraine.
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LRT ☛ Five Lithuanians injured in Ukraine after coming under fire
Five Lithuanians were injured on Monday morning after they came under fire in Pokrovsk in Ukraine’s Donetsk region, which was attacked with Iskander missiles.
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RFERL ☛ Russian Indicted In U.S. For Alleged Cyberattacks Against Ukraine Before War
A federal grand jury in the U.S. state of Maryland has returned an indictment charging a 22-year-old Russian citizen with conspiracy to hack into computer systems and destroy them and the data stored on them.
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RFERL ☛ Ukraine Eliminated At Euro 2024 As Romania Advances
Ukraine was knocked out of the European Championship on June 26 following a 0-0 draw with Belgium in its Group E match.
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RFERL ☛ EU’s Borrell Condemns Russia's 'Totally Unfounded' Move To Block 81 News Outlets
EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell has condemned Russia’s decision to block 81 European media outlets in 25 European Union countries.
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RFERL ☛ 5 Foreigners Sentenced In Absentia In Russia For Joining Ukrainian Military
Russia's Southern District Military Court in Rostov-on-Don on June 26 sentenced in absentia five foreign nationals to prison terms for joining Ukraine's armed forces fighting against Moscow’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine.
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RFERL ☛ Pro-Russian Dodon Blames 'All Sides' For Ukraine War, Won't Pledge To Accept Vote Results In Moldova
Igor Dodon, the pro-Russian leader of Moldova's largest opposition party and a former president, won’t commit to running in Moldova’s upcoming presidential election as he looks to spearhead the defeat of incumbent Maia Sandu and her pro-EU agenda.
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RFERL ☛ Ukraine Starts Extradition Process For Kazakhs Suspected Of Attempted Murder Of Activist In Kyiv
The Ukrainian Prosecutor-General's Office said on June 25 it had started the extradition process for two Kazakh nationals suspected of the attempted murder of Kazakh opposition activist and journalist Aidos Sadyqov in Kyiv.
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RFERL ☛ Zelenskiy, Top Military Brass Visit Frontline Region Of Donetsk
President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and senior commanders of the Ukrainian military on June 26 visited Donetsk, where they met with the troops that have been engaged in the defense of the eastern frontline region and discussed the current situation on the battlefield.
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RFERL ☛ Pentagon Chief, Russian Defense Minister Discuss Ukraine By Phone
U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin had a telephone conversation with his Russian counterpart Andrei Belousov on June 25, Pentagon spokesman Patrick Ryder said
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New York Times ☛ NATO, at Washington Summit, Will Offer Ukraine a ‘Bridge’ to Membership
Officials say Kyiv won’t get membership negotiations at the coming NATO summit, but the alliance will announce a structure to coordinate aid over the longer term.
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Latvia ☛ Latvian citizen to be prosecuted for praising war crimes
On June 17 this year, the State Security Service (VDD) urged the Prosecutor's Office to prosecute a Latvian citizen for publicly praising and justifying war crimes committed by Russia, as well as inciting national and ethnic hatred in society.
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Security Week ☛ The EU Targets Russia’s LNG Ghost Fleet With Sanctions as Concern Mounts About Hybrid Attacks
Some expressed concern about a rise in hybrid attacks by Russia – including allegations of election interference, cyberattacks and sabotage.
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The Strategist ☛ A nuclear sword of Damocles in orbit
Russia is developing a nuclear-weapons-based anti-satellite (ASAT) capability, and the Western democracies must work together to prevent Moscow from deploying such a weapon.
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LRT ☛ Lithuanian wants to ban travel to Russia for people working with classified info
The Lithuanian government is seeking a law to ban those working with classified information from travelling to Russia, Belarus, and China.
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RFERL ☛ At Least 70 Injured In Train Derailment In Russia's Komi Republic
At least 70 people were injured on June 26 when nine of 14 passenger train cars derailed in the Komi region of western Russia.
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RFERL ☛ Prominent Kazakh-Russian Poet Bakhyt Kenzheev Dies In New York Aged 73
One of the most influential Russian poets, Bakhyt Kenzheev died in New York at the age of 73, his colleagues wrote on social control media on June 26.
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RFERL ☛ Soviet-Era Dissident Skobov Loses Appeal Against His Arrest In St. Petersburg
A court in Russia's second-largest city, St. Petersburg, on June 26 rejected an appeal filed by lawyers of well-known opposition activist and Soviet-era dissident Aleksandr Skobov against his pretrial arrest.
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Meduza ☛ ‘It shows they’re on the audience’s side’: Weeks after Duolingo deleted LGBT references in Russia, a popular romance game takes the opposite approach — Meduza
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Environment
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Pro Publica ☛ Feds Advance Plan to Develop a Yakama Nation Sacred Site Without Tribe’s Input
When Yakama Nation leaders learned in 2017 of a plan to tunnel through some of their ancestral land for a green energy development, they were caught off guard.
While the tribal nation had come out in favor of climate-friendly projects, this one appeared poised to damage Pushpum, a privately owned ridgeline overlooking the Columbia River in Washington. The nation holds treaty rights to gather traditional foods there, and tribal officials knew they had to stop the project.
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Axios ☛ Extreme weather patterns, with heat and flooding, are stuck across the U.S.
Climate change is making such heat waves far more likely and intense than they would have been without such high concentrations of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. Weeks of extreme heat in some areas will pose human health risks, according to the National Weather Service.
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Modern Diplomacy ☛ The Failure of the Kyoto Protocol as an International Environmental Regime
The Kyoto Protocol is one of the international regimes in the environmental sector which is intended as a continuation of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).
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Wired ☛ Air So Polluted It Can Kill Isn’t Being Taken Seriously Enough
Given the evidence at the inquest, the coroner also issued a Prevention of Future Deaths Report, which had a series of recommendations, such as ensuring that national air pollution levels be in line with WHO guidelines, that the public in England and Wales be made aware of the risks of air pollution, and that health professionals be educated on the health impacts of air pollution and inform patients accordingly.
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Science Alert ☛ New Antarctic Ice Tipping Point Discovered as Study Says We've Underestimated Melting
Scientists have discovered a new tipping point toward "runaway melting" of Antarctic ice sheets, caused by warm ocean water intruding between the ice and the land it sits on, according to a study published on Tuesday.
While this type of melting has been previously studied, models used by the United Nation's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) to project the impact of global warming on the Antarctic have yet to factor in this phenomenon.
They have also systematically underestimated ice loss seen thus far, said the study, published in the journal Nature Geoscience.
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The Straits Times ☛ China gives cities over $316 million in emergency relief amid deadly floods
China has provided more than 2.3 billion yuan ($316.4 million) in funds to help with rescue efforts, emergency supplies and planning as deadly floods and landslides caused by almost two weeks of torrential rain ravage several parts of the country.
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Energy/Transportation
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Atlantic Council ☛ The EU’s new tariffs are just the start of the EV trade saga with China
New tariffs on Chinese-made electric vehicles signal greater alignment between Washington and Brussels on Beijing. But differences could widen over time.
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The Register UK ☛ AI models use less energy on multiplication diet
In a paper titled, "Scalable MatMul-free Language Modeling," authors Rui-Jie Zhu, Yu Zhang, Ethan Sifferman, Tyler Sheaves, Yiqiao Wang, Dustin Richmond, Peng Zhou, and Jason Eshraghian describe how the energy appetite of artificial intelligence can be moderated by getting rid of matrix multiplication and adding a custom field-programmable gate array (FPGA).
AI – by which we mean predictive, hallucinating machine learning models – has been terrible for keeping Earth habitable because it uses so much energy, much of which comes from fossil fuel use. The operation of datacenters to provide AI services has increased Microsoft's CO2 emissions by 29.1 percent since 2020, and AI-powered Google searches each use 3.0 Wh, ten times more than traditional Google queries.
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Chris ☛ Keep a Safe Following Distance
When the lead vehicle decelerates, the first following vehicle does not respond immediately (because human reaction times) but instead continues closing in on the lead for a while. Once the first following vehicle responds, it does so even more aggressively because of how much the vehicles have closed in on each other already.
Then the cycle repeats for the second following vehicle, except thanks to the even more aggressive braking of the first following vehicle, the second vehicle will have even less time to respond, and will brake even harder. As this wave of ever more aggressive braking travels down the line of cars, it sets up an oscillation that grows worse the further back it goes.
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International Business Times ☛ Man Forgets The Password To His $3 Million Bitcoin Wallet: 11 Years Later, A Hacker Finally Unlocks It - Here's How
Per a report, security researchers have managed to recover a hefty sum of money by cracking a password to an inaccessible crypto wallet for 11 years. Electrical engineer Joe Grand, known online as "Kingpin", was brought in to crack the encryption on a file containing 43.6 BTC.
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DeSmog ☛ Major Donor to Nigel Farage’s Reform Party Owns Russian Assets
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Wildlife/Nature
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The Revelator ☛ There Is No Border Between Humans and Nature • The Revelator
I didn’t think much about the border during those initial visits. It was gone, and that was good enough. It wasn’t until 20 years after Reunification that I finally wondered what had become of it — and then learned that it has become a long, skinny, bizarrely shaped nature preserve called the Grünes Band: Green Belt.
It’s nothing like the African Green Belt Movement, which focused on planting trees. Rather, the lack of commercial development and intensive agriculture allowed the border strip to serve as a refuge for plant and animal species that had become rare across the rest of the landscape. Bird species like European nightjars and northern lapwings, amphibians like moor frogs, plant species like western marsh orchids, and mammals like European wildcats and lynx.
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Los Angeles Times ☛ How to protect L.A. bird feeders and fruit trees from squirrels
A year later, I can tell you exactly what the harm is: hundreds of dollars’ worth of damage and repairs to my high-tech bird buffet and an unhealthy all-hours preoccupation with squirrel abatement. The three-squirrel gang has managed to dash the entire bird feeder to bits by chewing through the wire by which it was hung (once), chewing through the cord that connects the solar roof to the camera (three different times) and feasting so often and with such abandon that filling the feeder became a daily (instead of monthly) thing. To add insult to injury, each breach of the perimeter was brought to my attention immediately — no matter where I was — thanks to the app on my smartphone. It was like watching security camera footage of your own home being burgled.
After the third power-cord repair and 100th squirrel-at-the-feeder alert, most people probably would have thrown in the towel and capitulated to the crafty critters. I am not most people.
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New York Times ☛ San Diego Zoo to Receive 2 Giant Pandas From China
The pandas, Yun Chuan and Xin Bao, will be the first to enter the United States in 21 years, the San Diego Zoo said.
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Hong Kong Free Press ☛ Hong Kong’s San Tin Technopole plan may breach China’s conservation policies, green groups claim
Hong Kong’s town planning authorities should not “hastily approve” a draft zoning plan for a proposed tech hub, green groups have said, warning that the proposal may violate at least five ecological conservation guidelines in mainland China.
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Overpopulation
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Los Angeles Times ☛ California clean water solutions will cost $11.5 billion
In a newly released report, the staff of the State Water Resources Control Board estimated that at the start of this year approximately 913,000 Californians depended on public water systems that are failing to comply with drinking water regulations, while an additional 1.5 million people depended on water systems that are determined to be “at-risk.”
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Finance
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AstroTurf/Lobbying/Politics
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Hong Kong Free Press ☛ After US ambassador says China hindering ties between countries’, Beijing calls claims ‘factually inaccurate’
China on Wednesday hit back at remarks by the US ambassador to the country that Beijing was making it “impossible” to boost ties between Chinese and American citizens, calling them “factually inaccurate”.
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France24 ☛ Raphaël Glucksmann, the man who revived France’s centre-left
Raphaël Glucksmann, co-founder of the centre-left Place Publique party, emerged from a surprisingly strong showing in the June 9 European elections to find himself a key member of a new leftist alliance in France – one hastily forged to battle the far-right party leading in polls ahead of snap elections called by President Emmanuel Macron. But while the left might be demonstrating a newfound unity, Glucksmann has come under fire for striking a deal with a hard-left faction that has been accused of anti-Semitism and being soft on Russia.
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Misinformation/Disinformation/Propaganda
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RFA ☛ Taiwan probes reports of direct Chinese influence at TV station
A journalist from China's state news agency Xinhua allegedly edited scripts and directed guests behind the scenes.
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The Register UK ☛ Supreme Court won't curb Biden over social media contacts
The US Supreme Court has reversed a prior decision barring federal agencies from coordinating with social media platforms to fight misinformation, on the grounds the plaintiffs in the case lacked standing to argue it to begin with.
With the matter settled by a 6-3 decision [PDF] issued on Wednesday, the federal government is free to return to reaching out to social media platforms to get what the Feds say is significant false information flagged or removed.
Justice Amy Coney Barrett (lead author of the decision), Chief Justice John Roberts, and Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan, Brett Kavanaugh, and Ketanji Brown Jackson voted to reverse. Justices Samuel Alito, Neil Gorsuch, and Clarence Thomas dissented.
For those who may not recall, the fight was between the Biden administration and a group of five individuals and the states of Missouri and Louisiana, and it began as a protest against government policing of what the Feds said was COVID-19 misinformation during the 2020 pandemic.
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Censorship/Free Speech
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RFA ☛ US: China still arresting ‘thousands’ each year for practicing faith
Buddhists, Christians, Muslims and Falun Gong followers are targeted.
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RFA ☛ 'Silver' protest democracy activist keeps marching for Hong Kong
How former communist Yeung Po Hei became a die-hard supporter of the city's pro-democracy movement.
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RFA ☛ Facebook user fined in Vietnam for posts about barefoot Buddhist monk
As Tue walked from town to town, his travels were documented by several YouTubers who followed him and recorded his journey. Tue does not claim to be a monk but he has become a symbol for many Buddhists by drawing attention to what many people say is the lack of religious freedom in Vietnam.
In early June, police detained Tue and several of his followers during a raid in a forest in Thua Thien Hue province in central Vietnam.
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Marcy Wheeler ☛ Sammy Alito Makes a Great Case Trump Censored Fox News' Accurate 2020 Election Reporting
Tucker Carlson acknowledged that Trump could destroy Fox news.
And so, in response, Fox started censoring factual news about Joe Biden’s win and instead choosing to report false claims of election fraud.
Sammy Alito may believe that a President can’t take out a newspaper who crosses him.
But Donald Trump responded to Fox News’ accurate call of Arizona for him by demonstrating to Fox that he could take out the cable station, effectively replacing them in the media economy with NewsMax. And that threat from the sitting President of the United States, the threat to replace Fox News with Newsmax, led Fox News to censor themselves, even censoring Jacqui Heinrich specifically.
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CS Monitor ☛ Supreme Court reverses 5th Circuit, again. Questions of online free speech remain.
The case, which arose after the pandemic and 2020 presidential election erupted in mass conspiracy theories online, raised several thorny constitutional issues. How do you crack down on misinformation without curtailing free speech? If the government asks a company to do something, is that inherently coercive? Doesn’t the government have an interest in communicating with social media companies – private businesses that now manage some of the biggest public forums – during a national crisis?
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[Repeat] Hong Kong Free Press ☛ Chow Hang-tung seeks to remove judge from national security trial over bias
The Alliance for three decades organised annual candlelight vigils to commemorate the victims of the Tiananmen crackdown on June 4, 1989. It is estimated that hundreds, perhaps thousands, died when the People’s Liberation Army quashed a student-led pro-democracy movement in Beijing.
The vigil in Victoria Park has been banned since Beijing imposed its security law in June 2020. The alliance voted a year later to disband after its former leaders were prosecuted.
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Frank Meeuwsen ☛ Decades of music news deleted from the [Internet]
Sure, it’s popculture. It’s fleeing, ever-changing and yes, sometimes it was borderline dumb. But MTV News was such an important news outlet for young people. It covered the latest beef in hip-hop next to upcoming elections and world news.
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Marty Day ☛ Farewell, MTV News
Truly sad, especially given that the upkeep of these archives must have been – at best – a rounding error for Viacom.
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The Verge ☛ The MTV News archive has gone offline, taking 20 years of history with it
Although the MTV News website was no longer publishing new stories, its extensive archive, dating back over two decades to its launch in 1996, remained online. But as former staffers discovered yesterday, that archive is no longer accessible. Patrick Hosken, who served as a music and news editor at MTV News for eight years, shared their frustration with the decision on X: [...]
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Variety ☛ Comedy Central Website Removes Archive of Video Clips, Content
The vast repository of content on Comedy Central‘s website — dating back 25 years — has been removed by parent company Paramount Global, in a move to push fans to Paramount+.
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Variety ☛ MTV News Website Goes Dark, Archives Pulled Offline
The now-unavailable content includes decades of music journalism comprising thousands of articles and interviews with countless major artists, dating back to the site’s launch in 1996. Perhaps the most significant loss is MTV News’ vast hip-hop-related archives, particularly its weekly “Mixtape Monday” column, which ran for nearly a decade in the 2000s and 2010s and featured interviews, reviews and more with many artists, producers and others early in their careers.
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Deutsche Welle ☛ Russia bans access to over 80 EU news outlets
Moscow on Tuesday banned Russians from accessing 81 Western media sites from 25 EU nations, accusing them of "systematically distributing inaccurate information" about Russia's "special military operation" — the official name the Kremlin has given its invasion of Ukraine.
To call the conflict in Ukraine a war or invasion is a criminal offense in Russia.
Russia has already shut down most independent media operating within its borders as well as any that are critical of President Vladimir Putin.
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CPJ ☛ Russia to block leading foreign media outlets in retaliation against EU
“Russian authorities’ blocking of 81 European media outlets betrays their deep-seated fear of truthful reporting,” said Gulnoza Said, CPJ’s Europe and Central Asia program coordinator, in New York. “Moscow must immediately stop restricting Russians’ access to information and cease its attempts to stifle the flow of news that deviates from the official line.”
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RFERL ☛ Russia Bans 81 Media Outlets Based In EU Countries
Among the 81 news outlets that the Russian Foreign Ministry said it was banning in retaliation are Agence France-Presse (AFP) and the leading print publications Der Spiegel and the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung in Germany, Le Monde and Liberation in France, El Pais in Spain, and La Stampa and La Repubblica in Italy.
Austria's ORF state TV company, Ireland's RTE broadcaster, and Spain's EFE news agency were also among the outlets affected by the move.
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The Record ☛ Russia to ban 81 foreign media outlets in response to Europe’s sanctions
The Russian ban includes news organizations from 25 EU member states, as well as Europe-wide media such as EUobserver and Politico. The Kremlin accused them of “systematically distributing inaccurate information” about what Russia calls its “special military operation” in Ukraine.
Included are the newswire Agence France-Presse (AFP), German newspapers Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung and Die Zeit, Italian newspaper La Repubblica, and Polish television channel Belsat.
EU state officials and suspended media outlets condemned Russia’s move.
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Hong Kong Free Press ☛ Students at 2 Hong Kong schools not singing China’s national anthem loudly enough, inspections find
Two schools have been singled out by Hong Kong’s Education Bureau after their students were said to have sung the national anthem too softly. The Hong Kong and Macau Lutheran Church Primary School in Hang Hau began implementing school-wide patriotic education this academic year, an inspection report for the school read.
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Reason ☛ Allowing "Black Lives Matter" Signs in Classrooms But Forbidding "All Lives Matter"/"Blue Lives Matter" Might Violate First Amendment
So holds the Eighth Circuit, concluding that the plaintiffs had sufficiently alleged that the "Black Lives Matter" signs were private speech, rather than government speech.
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Reason ☛ SCOTUS Declines To Punish the Feds for Suppressing Social Media Speech
The verdict in Murthy v. Missouri is a big, flashing green light that jawboning may resume.
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Reason ☛ A Government Veto on Speech at the Supreme Court
Murthy v. Missouri challenges government efforts to suppress dissenting viewpoints on social control media.
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Reason ☛ The Supreme Court's Dangerous Standing Ruling in Murthy v. Missouri
The standing requirements laid down by the majority might make it extremely difficult or impossible for victims of indirect goverment censorship to get their cases to court.
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Public Knowledge ☛ Murthy v. Missouri Supreme Court Decision Signals End of Baseless Social Media “Censorship” Claims
Decision closes the path for groundless claims.
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Games
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Chris Enns ☛ Voice Chat Moderation in Video Games
My 14 year old shouldn’t have to do moderator work for Meta because other kids keep using the N word and other offensive language in Meta Quest games. He does it, and rallies other players to report accounts using awful language in voice chat, but it's ridiculous that a kid is playing a game for fun, and while doing it has to moderate other kid's speech.
What a delightful world we’ve created.
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Freedom of Information / Freedom of the Press
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FAIR ☛ Assange Is Free, But US Spite Will Chill Reporting for Years
In some ways, the nightmare for WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange is coming to an end. After taking refuge at the Ecuadorian embassy in London in 2012, he was arrested in 2019 by Britain, who have since been trying to extradite him to the United States on charges that by publishing official secrets he violated the Espionage Act (FAIR.org, 12/13/20; BBC, 6/25/24). Once he enters a guilty plea, he will be sentenced to time served and walk away a free man (CBS, 6/25/24).
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Democracy Now ☛ Julian Assange’s Release “Averted a Press Freedom Catastrophe” But Still Set Bad Precedent: Jameel Jaffer
As Julian Assange returns to his native Australia, press rights advocates warn that his case could cast a long shadow over journalists’ work to investigate and expose government secrets. The WikiLeaks founder has pleaded guilty to one charge of violating the U.S. Espionage Act as part of a deal with the Justice Department that lets him avoid further prison time following five years behind bars in the U.K. awaiting possible extradition to the U.S. He had been facing a possible 175 years in U.S. prison if convicted on all charges related to his publication of classified documents in 2010 that revealed U.S. war crimes in Iraq and Afghanistan. “I don’t think this is an unmitigated victory for press freedom, because we do still have this plea agreement in which Julian Assange essentially agrees that he has spent five years in custody for the kinds of acts that journalists engage in all the time,” says Jameel Jaffer, director of the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University and previously the ACLU’s deputy legal director.
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Democracy Now ☛ “Julian Is Free”: Assange Back Home in Australia After Taking U.S. Plea Deal in “Espionage” Case
Julian Assange has landed in Australia a free man, reuniting with his family Wednesday after pleading guilty to one charge of violating the U.S. Espionage Act as part of a deal with the Justice Department. The WikiLeaks publisher entered his plea on the Pacific island of Saipan, part of the U.S. territory of the Northern Mariana Islands, which lets him avoid further prison time following five years behind bars in the U.K. awaiting possible extradition to the U.S. He had been facing a possible 175 years in U.S. prison if convicted on charges related to his publication of classified documents in 2010 that revealed U.S. war crimes in Iraq and Afghanistan. “This case is an attack on journalism, it’s an attack on the public’s right to know, and it should never have been brought,” the WikiLeaks founder’s wife, Stella Assange, said at a press conference Wednesday. “Julian should never have spent a single day in prison. But today we celebrate, because today Julian is free.” We also play comments from members of Assange’s legal team, Jennifer Robinson and Barry Pollack, who said the use of the World War I-era Espionage Act to go after a publisher put press freedoms at grave risk.
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Democracy Now ☛ “A Big Deal”: Julian Assange’s Release Welcomed by Australian Senator After Grassroots Campaign
We speak with Australian Senator Peter Whish-Wilson, a prominent supporter of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, who says the publisher’s case is “a big deal” in the country that cut across political divisions. “It’s taken a really big campaign, a really big grassroots campaign by thousands of people in Australia — indeed, millions of people around the world — to bring this to the attention of politicians.” Assange landed in Australia Wednesday after pleading guilty to a single charge of violating the U.S. Espionage Act, allowing him to avoid further prison time after years of legal jeopardy.
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VOA News ☛ French journalist describes India’s permit denial as a ‘slap in the face’
Media watchdogs and analysts have questioned whether the denied visa renewals are part of a broader effort by India’s government to silence critical foreign journalists.
Without a valid permit, Farcis told VOA, he was unable to work and so had no option but to leave India while filing a fresh application. The reporter said he has not received an explanation about why the permit was not renewed.
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CBC ☛ WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange is free. His future in publishing government secrets is unclear
The people who were actually harmed in all of this, said Turk, were the two who brought secretive information to light — Assange and Manning — while those who committed potential war crimes, as revealed in the leaks, have faced no consequences.
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France24 ☛ Assange’s return to Australia a ‘huge win for free speech’, says lawyer
The family and lawyer of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange held a press conference on Wednesday after his return to his home country of Australia following a plea deal with the US government. Assange's lawyer Jennifer Robinson described his release as a "huge win for free speech".
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VOA News ☛ A US journalist goes on trial in Russia on espionage charges that he and his employer deny
Jay Conti, executive vice president and general counsel for Dow Jones, described the trial as a sham in an interview with The Associated Press.
“He was an accredited journalist doing journalism, and this is a sham trial, bogus charges that are completely trumped up,” Conti said.
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New York Times ☛ Russia Opens Secret Trial of Evan Gershkovich of The Wall Street Journal
Mr. Gershkovich went on trial Wednesday, facing up to 20 years in prison on an espionage charge that he, his employer and the U.S. State Department vehemently deny.
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New York Times ☛ Supreme Court Rules in Favor of Biden Administration in Social Media Case
The case, one of several this term on how the First Amendment applies to technology platforms, was dismissed on the ground that the plaintiffs lacked standing to sue.
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CPJ ☛ US journalist Evan Gershkovich faces 20-year sentence as trial begins in Russia
“No evidence has been unveiled. And we already know the conclusion: This bogus accusation of espionage will inevitably lead to a bogus conviction for an innocent man who would then face up to 20 years in prison for simply doing his job,” said Emma Tucker, editor-in-chief of The Wall Street Journal, in a Tuesday statement.
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Counter Punch ☛ The Release of Julian Assange: Plea Deals and Dark Legacies
As for the plea deal itself, it is hard to fault it from the emotional and personal perspective of Assange and his family. He was ailing and being subjected to a slow execution by judicial process. It was also the one hook upon which the DOJ, and the Biden administration, might move on. This being an election year in the US, the last thing President Biden wanted was a haunting reminder of this nasty saga of political persecution hovering over freedom land’s virtues.
There was another, rather more sordid angle, and one that the DOJ had to have kept in mind in thinning the charge sheet: a proper Assange trial would have seen the murderous fantasies of the CIA regarding the publisher subject to scrutiny. These included various possible measures: abduction, rendition, even assassination, points thoroughly explored in a Yahoo News contribution in September 2021.
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Marcy Wheeler ☛ The Damaging Precedent of the Julian Assange Espionage Guilty Plea
This plea could have been written in a way that limited the damage of the precedent. For reasons we have yet to discover (but which may have been dictated by Assange’s side, not DOJ’s), it was not.
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JURIST ☛ ECHR finds Russia liable for multiple human rights violations in Crimea since 2014
The European Court of Human Rights unanimously found Tuesday that Russia was guilty of a pattern of human rights violations since 2014 in Crimea under the European Convention on Human Rights (Convention) and international humanitarian law, in its ruling on the case Ukraine v. Russia (re Crimea). These violations included ill-treatment, intimidation, disappearances, forced Russian citizenship, and suppression of Ukrainian media and press.
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US News And World Report ☛ Explainer-Who Is Evan Gershkovich and Why Is He on Trial in Russia?
Gershkovich is a 32-year-old American who grew up in New Jersey, the son of Soviet parents who emigrated to the United States in 1979. He joined the Wall Street Journal in January 2022 and was among the small number of Western journalists to continue reporting from inside Russia after its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February of that year.
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RFERL ☛ Trial Of Journalist Gershkovich Begins In Russia As U.S. Calls For His Immediate Release
The proceedings continued behind closed doors in Yekaterinburg, the Ural city where Gershkovich was arrested on March 29, 2023 during a reporting trip. He has been charged with trying to obtain military secrets to pass on to the CIA.
The U.S. Embassy in Moscow, whose representatives were given brief access to the hearing, said in a statement that Russian authorities failed to provide any evidence to back the charges and called in a statement for Gershkovich's immediate release, urging Moscow to stop using U.S. nationals as leverage for political ends.
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Civil Rights/Policing
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The Straits Times ☛ Hong Kong wants more talent from Malaysia as it seeks to diversify workforce
Many Malaysians are multilingual, including in Cantonese, said the city’s labour minister.
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Atlantic Council ☛ How to stop governments from trafficking people
The US State Department’s latest Trafficking in Persons Report identifies more than a dozen governments that exploit people in forced labor and sex trafficking.
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RFERL ☛ Swedish-Iranian Academic Goes On Hunger Strike After Being Left Out Of Prisoner Swap Deal
Iranian-Swedish academic Ahmadreza Djalali has gone on a hunger strike to protest against being left out of a prisoner exchange deal between Tehran and Stockholm, his wife Vida Mehrannia told RFE/RL’s Radio Farda.
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Greens offer route to pay justice for junior doctors
Green Party co-leader Carla Denyer today offered a route to pay justice for junior doctors embarking on another round of strikes in their long-running dispute. Denyer said: “The outgoing Conservative government should have come to an agreement with the junior doctors a long time ago.
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RFA ☛ Tibetan fungus harvesters detained after reporting fraud
Six Tibetan caterpillar fungus harvesters and sellers from eastern Tibet have been detained by Chinese police after attempting to report a buyer who allegedly defrauded them, sources with knowledge of the situation said.
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New York Times ☛ Landlords Have Started Using A.I. Chatbots to Manage Properties
That’s because the maintenance coordinator is an artificial intelligence bot that the property manager, Jason Busboom, began using last year. The bot, which sends text messages using the name Matt, takes requests and manages appointments.
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[Repeat] The Strategist ☛ China must not choose the next Dalai Lama
This would not be the first time China selected a leader of Tibetan Buddhism. In 1995, it anointed its own Panchen Lama, whose spiritual authority is second only to that of the Dalai Lama, after abducting the actual Panchen Lama, a six-year-old boy who had already been confirmed by the Dalai Lama. Almost three decades later, the real Panchen Lama is among the world’s longest-serving political prisoners.
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Internet Policy/Net Neutrality
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AccessNow ☛ Worse than China or Iran: Myanmar’s dangerous VPN ban
The Myanmar junta is imposing a VPN ban to prevent people from safely accessing blocked apps and websites.
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Andreas ☛ Will we remember 2024 as the year the [Internet] died? - 82MHz
I truly have no idea. I’m hoping for things to get better of course, but I have my doubts… governments are doing very little to reign in anything but the very worst excesses and privacy violations, but at the same time they’re working tirelessly themselves to undermine people’s privacy wherever they can. And let’s be honest… by now, the show isn’t run by any elected governing bodies anymore, but by greedy billionaires who are self appointed dictators for life over their empires and who can’t be fired or voted out of office. And who have no inhibitions to advance their own interests with absolute unscrupulousness.
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Digital Restrictions (DRM)
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Digital Music News ☛ Deadmau5 Threatens Spotify Exit Over Daniel Ek Comments
“Incorrect,” 43-year-old Deadmau5 wrote. “The cost of creating content was 25+ years of my life and much of those proceeds going to your company you complete f–king idiot. @spotify”
And when responding to a comment about how much fans “hate Spotify,” the seven-time Grammy nominee made clear that he may opt to remove his body of work from the platform altogether. “I feel that,” summed up Deadmau5, “I’m about to pull my catalog from these f–king vultures, enoughs enough.”
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Digital Music News ☛ Spotify CEO Daniel Ek Is Richer Than Any Musician in History
On the Forbes billionaires list, Taylor Swift is the only musician to have gained her billionaire status from the sale of music alone. Both Rihanna and Jay-Z have highly successful side hustles that drove their billionaire status. Beyoncé is worth around $600-$800 million and her net worth is driven primarily by album sales, but she has not crossed the billionaire threshold yet.
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Cyble Inc ☛ Microsoft Employee Accidentally Leaks PlayReady Source Code
A Microsoft software engineer accidentally published internal PlayReady DRM source code on a publicly accessible developer forum. The 4GB data leak contains sufficient information to compile the required DLL from the source code, potentially opening the door for reverse engineering or cracking of the DRM protection technology.
PlayReady, introduced in 2007, is Microsoft’s platform-independent digital rights management (DRM) system used for protecting media files. It includes encryption, output protection, and digital rights management features. The leak could have significant implications for the security of this widely-used technology.
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European Commission ☛ Commission clears acquisition of Viatris by Cooper, subject to conditions
European Commission Press release Brussels, 26 Jun 2024 The European Commission has approved, under the EU Merger Regulation, the proposed acquisition of the European over the counter (‘OTC') business of Viatris Inc. (‘Viatris') by Cooper Consumer Health S.A.S. (‘Cooper').
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India Times ☛ Amazon hits $2 trillion in valuation on AI fervor, rate cut bets
Amazon.com Inc hit $2 trillion in market value for the first time on Wednesday, becoming the fifth U.S. company to surpass that level as optimism around artificial intelligence and potential interest rate cuts this year drove demand for technology-related stocks.
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The Register UK ☛ Apple says no to OS emulation on the iPhone
The developers of DOS emulator iDOS and multi-OS emulator UTM both posted about Apple rejecting their wares from the App Store, which they submitted in the wake of iOS App Review Guideline changes made to comply with the European Union's Digital Markets Act (DMA).
The rule in question – section 4.7 – was added to Apple's App Review Guidelines earlier this year and allows for some software, like video game emulators, to access and download content outside their designated container area. The latest review effectively acts as an exception to section 2.5.2, which requires all apps to be self-contained and doesn't allow them to read or write data that introduces changes in functionality.
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Patents
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Dennis Crouch/Patently-O ☛ Texas Startup Must Litigate Fashion Company Apple in California because of Convenience to the Tech Giant
The Federal Circuit recently denied a petition for mandamus seeking to overturn a district court order transferring a patent monopoly case from the Western District of Texas to the Northern District of California. In re Haptic, Inc., No. 2024-121 (Fed. Cir. June 25, 2024). This case was filed in Austin and assigned to Judge Robert Pittman with Haptic alleging that Apple’s “Back Tap” feature on iPhones infringes U.S. Patent No. 9,996,738 relating to gesture detection systems. Haptic is headquartered in Austin at the home of its longtime CEO and listed inventor Jake Boshernitzan.
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Unified Patents ☛ $2,000 for Analytical Technologies customer service patent monopoly prior art
Unified Patents added a new PATROLL contest, with a $2,000 cash prize, seeking prior art on at least claim 1 of U.S. Patent 8,799,083, owned by Analytical Technologies, LLC, an NPE. The ‘083 patent monopoly relates to restaurant customer service management systems and methods.
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Kangaroo Courts
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JUVE ☛ UPC judges: The new complete overview [Ed: UPC is illegal and unconstitutional; JUVE is paid to promote a crime.]
“All is flux” goes the proverb, and this also applies to the Unified Patent Court and its judges.
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Copyrights
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Digital Music News ☛ The Ugly War of Words (and Legal Filings) Continues: RIAA, Udio Trade Barbs Amid Copyright Infringement Battle
Let the war of words continue: Days after the major labels filed copyright monopoly infringement suits against Suno and Udio, the latter Hey Hi (AI) music service has pushed back against the complaint and spurred a formal retort from the RIAA.
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Press Gazette ☛ Hyperlocal news site hit with bill for ‘rights-free’ image from Savills
The bill relates to a brief story published in July 2016 covering the sale of a pub, The Barge Inn, outside Pewsey in Wiltshire. Goodwin told Press Gazette that the image used to illustrate the story was provided in a press release sent by Savills, who gave an “assurance that it was ‘rights free’” at the time.
Despite this Marlborough News has since been contacted by copyright enforcement firm Visual Rights Group demanding payment of £440 for the image on behalf of the rights holder, photo library Alamy. The sum was increased last week to £460.
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Torrent Freak ☛ Filmmakers Legal Battle Over Reddit Users' IP Addresses Heads to Appeal
The legal dispute between a group of filmmakers and Reddit is set to continue at the court of appeal. After several failed attempts to obtain the IP addresses of Redditors who made piracy-related comments, the film companies will try their luck at a higher court. The movie companies say the Redditors can provide crucial evidence in their case against ISP Frontier Communications.
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Torrent Freak ☛ TikTok Copyright Notices Up Again in 2023, Success Rate Collapses to 56%
In common with most large online platforms reliant on content uploaded by their users, TikTok must respond to copyright complaints filed by rightsholders or their agents. Reportedly servicing around a billion users per month, TikTok's latest transparency report reveals copyright complaints on a steep upward trend. Collapsing in the other direction is the percentage of notices that result in takedowns by TikTok.
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The Verge ☛ What the RIAA lawsuits against Udio and Suno mean for AI and copyright
These two lawsuits contribute to a mounting pile of legal headaches for the AI industry. Some of the most successful firms in the space have trained their models with data acquired via the unsanctioned scraping of massive amounts of information from the internet. ChatGPT, for example, was initially trained on millions of documents collected from links posted to Reddit.
These lawsuits, which are spearheaded by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), tackle music rather than the written word. But like The New York Times’ lawsuit against OpenAI, they pose a question that could reshape the tech landscape as we know it: can AI firms simply take whatever they want, turn it into a product worth billions, and claim it was fair use?
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Walled Culture ☛ A rare copyright win for the public – but a small one, only in Canada, and possibly temporary
It is extraordinary that within the copyright world it is accepted dogma that legal protections for this intellectual monopoly should always get stronger – creating a kind of copyright ratchet. One of the manifestations of this belief was the WIPO Copyright Treaty, signed in 1996, which extended copyright in important ways. A key element was the prohibition of any circumvention of copyright protection systems for any reason – even if it were for a legal purpose. This meant for example that if a work’s copyright had expired, it would be nonetheless illegal to access this public domain work if doing so required circumvention of any protection that had been applied. In effect, copyright term would become infinite.
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Gemini* and Gopher
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Technology and Free Software
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Internet/Gemini
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Going for My Amateur Radio License
After about 12 years of wanting to get my amateur radio license, I have decided to finally just go and get it.
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Monopolies/Monopsonies
* Gemini (Primer) links can be opened using Gemini software. It's like the World Wide Web but a lot lighter.