Leftovers

• Science

  • Hackaday ☛ Secret Messages On Plastic, Just Add Tesla Coil

    Here’s a short research paper from 2013 that explains how to create “hydroglyphics”, or writing with selecting surface wetting. In it, an apparently normal-looking petri dish is treated so as to reveal a message when wetted with water vapor. The contrast between hydrophobic and hydrophilic surfaces, which is not visible to the naked eye, becomes visible when misted with water. All it took was a mask, and a little treatment with a modified Tesla coil.

• Hardware

  • CNX Software ☛ Firefly ROC-RK3576-PC low-profile Rockchip RK3576 SBC supports Hey Hi (AI) models like Gemma-2B, LlaMa2-7B, ChatGLM3-6B

    Firefly ROC-RK3576-PC is a low-power, low-profile SBC built around the Rockchip RK3576 octa-core Cortex-A72/A53 SoC which we also find in the Forlinx FET3576-C, the Banana Pi BPI-M5, and Mekotronics R57 Mini PC. In terms of power and performance, this SoC falls in between the Rockchip RK3588 and RK3399 SoCs and can be used for AIoT applications thanks to its 6 TOPS NPU.

  • Hackaday ☛ Re-imagining Telepresence With Humanoid Robots And VR Headsets

    Don’t let the name of the Open-TeleVision project fool you; it’s a framework for improving telepresence and making robotic teleoperation far more intuitive than it otherwise would be. It accomplishes this in part by taking advantage of the remarkable technology packed into modern VR headsets like the Apple Vision Pro and Meta Quest. There are loads of videos on the project page, many of which demonstrate successful teleoperation across vast distances.

• Health/Nutrition/Agriculture

  • IP Kat ☛ 2024-07-27 [Older] Happy 30th birthday, EU Plant Variety Rights Regulation!

  • US News And World Report ☛ 2024-07-27 [Older] Hospital-Acquired Infections Have Risen. Here's How to Protect Yourself.

• Proprietary/Artificial Intelligence (AI)

  • US News And World Report ☛ 2024-07-27 [Older] Apple Has Reached Its First-Ever Union Contract With Store Employees in Maryland

  • US News And World Report ☛ 2024-07-26 [Older] Apple Signs on to Voluntary US Scheme to Manage AI Risks, White House Says

  • US News And World Report ☛ 2024-07-26 [Older] Microsoft's LinkedIn Settles Lawsuit Claiming It Overcharged Advertisers

  • Hollywood Reporter ☛ ‘Halo’ and ‘Destiny’ Game Studio Bungie to Cut Hundreds of Jobs

    The video game industry continues to feel the pinch of layoffs.

    On Wednesday, the Sony-owned studio Bungie told employees that it will be cutting about 17 percent of its workforce, or about 220 people.

    “These actions will affect every level of the company, including most of our executive and senior leader roles,” Bungie CEO Pete Parsons wrote to staff.

• Defence/Aggression

  • ADF ☛ Iran Pours Weapons Into Sudan in Push for Naval Base

    For the past six months, Iran has supplied the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) with weapons, a strategy some analysts believe is designed to pave the way for an Iranian naval presence on Sudan’s Red Sea coast.

  • ADF ☛ As M23 Conflict Grinds on in Eastern DRC, Calls Mount for Nonmilitary Solution

    The seemingly intractable conflict between the M23 rebel group and security forces in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo has some observers pressing for an alternative solution to avoid a regional war in the heart of Africa.

  • US News And World Report ☛ 2024-07-27 [Older] US DOJ Asks Court to Reject TikTok Challenge to Crackdown Law

  • US News And World Report ☛ 2024-07-27 [Older] Justice Department Says TikTok Collected US User Views on Issues Like Abortion and Gun Control

  • Modern Diplomacy ☛ 2024-07-28 [Older] Weapon Supplies from China, Russia, Turkey, and United Arab Emirates Fuelling Sudanese War

  • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2024-07-24 [Older] 80 years on: Marking the liberation of Majdanek Nazi camp

  • Russia, Belarus, and War in Ukraine

    • Meduza ☛ Putin doubles army sign-on bonus, offering new recruits $4,600 to fight in Ukraine — Meduza

    • Meduza ☛ A nation in debt: Why Russians are increasingly turning to loans, despite rising interest rates meant to deter them — Meduza

    • Counter Punch ☛ 2024-07-29 [Older] A Personal Discussion of Russian National Security

    • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2024-07-29 [Older] Ukraine updates: Russia captures Donetsk front-line village

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2024-07-29 [Older] Failed North Korea Satellite Launch Engine Points to Russian Role, Say South Korean Lawmakers

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2024-07-29 [Older] Kremlin Rejects Western Media Speculation That Russia Was Behind Rail Sabotage in France

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2024-07-29 [Older] Russia Inches Toward Strategic Supply Route in Ukraine's East

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2024-07-29 [Older] Ukrainian Troops Say Russia Has Driven Them Out of 2 More Eastern Donetsk Villages

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2024-07-29 [Older] At Least 140 People Hurt as Russian Train Smashes Into Truck

    • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2024-07-28 [Older] Ukraine updates: Russia claims new advance in Donetsk region

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2024-07-28 [Older] The Russia-US Divide Was on Display During Moscow's Monthlong Presidency of the UN Security Council

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2024-07-28 [Older] Russia Says Oil Depot in Kursk Region on Fire After Ukraine Drone Attack

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2024-07-28 [Older] Russia's Putin Vows 'Mirror Measures' in Response to U.S. Missiles in Germany

    • Modern Diplomacy ☛ 2024-07-27 [Older] Possibilities for Trilateral Alliance Between China, Russia and North Korea

    • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2024-07-27 [Older] Russia tightens 'undesirable organizations' law

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2024-07-27 [Older] Russian Media Throw Shade at Paris Olympics, Which TV Won't Show

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2024-07-27 [Older] Olympics-Basketball-Griner's Journey From Russian Prison to Paris Games Applauded by US Teammate

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2024-07-27 [Older] Blinken and Wang Discuss Taiwan, China's Support for Russia

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2024-07-27 [Older] FSB Foils Militant Attacks in Southern Russia, RIA Reports

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2024-07-27 [Older] Hungary's Orban Says Russia Stands to Gain as 'Irrational' West Loses Power

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2024-07-27 [Older] In a Show of Growing Ties, Russian Warships Make a New Visit to Cuban Waters

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2024-07-27 [Older] Russian Shelling Kills Five in Ukrainian Regions, One Dead on Russian Side of Border

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2024-07-27 [Older] Russian Warships Make Routine Visit to Cuba

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2024-07-27 [Older] Russia's Lavrov Says US-South Korea Nuclear Guideline Adds Concern, Media Reports

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2024-07-27 [Older] Russia Takes Control of Lozuvatske Settlement in Eastern Ukraine

    • Modern Diplomacy ☛ 2024-07-26 [Older] OPEC receives compensation plans for overproduction from Iraq, Kazakhstan, Russia

    • Counter Punch ☛ 2024-07-26 [Older] War with China Will Negate Peace with Russia

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2024-07-26 [Older] EU Sends First $1.6 Billion From Frozen Russia Assets to Ukraine

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2024-07-26 [Older] Finland Suspects Russian Vessel of Territorial Violation

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2024-07-26 [Older] Google to Blame for Slower YouTube Speeds in Russia, Says Senior Lawmaker

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2024-07-26 [Older] Kremlin Welcomes Trump Comments on Russia Being 'A War Machine' but Says It Remains Clear-Eyed

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2024-07-26 [Older] Russian Ex-Defence Minister Arrested for Corruption, Says Interfax

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2024-07-26 [Older] Russia's Central Bank Hikes Interest Rate as Inflation Soars

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2024-07-26 [Older] Ukraine Says Missile Forces Hit Russian Air Base in Crimea

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2024-07-26 [Older] UK Urges China to Prevent Its Companies Supporting Russia's Military

    • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2024-07-25 [Older] Ukraine: What's behind talk of negotiated peace with Russia?

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2024-07-29 [Older] Family of Indian Man Killed in Ukraine War Waits for His Remains

    • CBC ☛ 2024-07-27 [Older] She escaped Ukraine unharmed, but was shot on a bus in Ottawa

    • CBC ☛ 2024-07-27 [Older] As the Biden presidency nears its end, Ukraine makes moves to ensure future U.S. support

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2024-07-27 [Older] Indian PM Modi Likely to Visit Ukraine in August, Local Media Reports

    • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2024-07-26 [Older] Ukraine updates: Hungary accuses Kyiv over oil dispute

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2024-07-26 [Older] Kremlin Says It Will Weigh How to Retaliate Over EU Transfer of Frozen Asset Proceeds to Ukraine

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2024-07-26 [Older] With Palestinian Deal and Ukrainian Foreign Minister's Visit, China Shows Its Rising Influence

    • Meduza ☛ Whereabouts unknown: Growing list of missing Russian political prisoners fuels speculation of an imminent swap — Meduza

    • Meduza ☛ ‘The power of diplomacy can help’: What the Ukrainian foreign minister’s China visit reveals about Kyiv’s strategy for ending the war — Meduza

    • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2024-07-24 [Older] What's known about German sentenced to death in Belarus?

• Environment

  • Energy/Transportation

    • DeSmog ☛ The Growing Conservative Backlash Against Carbon Capture and Storage

    • DeSmog ☛ Dozens of New MPs Worked for Oil and Gas Lobbyists

  • Wildlife/Nature

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2024-07-27 [Older] Yellen Launches Amazon Basin Effort to Disrupt Nature Crimes

    • The Revelator ☛ We’re Protecting the Ocean Wrong

• Finance

  • San Fancisco ☛ Bay Area companies lay off hundreds of workers as major cuts go beyond tech sector

    Numerous Bay Area companies slashed hundreds of jobs in the past week, a sign that downsizings are continuing and expanding beyond the tech sector.

  • Pro Publica ☛ In Los Angeles, Your Vacation Rental May Be a Rent-Controlled Apartment

    The first complaint about illegal vacation rentals at 1940 Carmen Ave., a rent-controlled apartment building just blocks from Hollywood Boulevard, arrived at the Los Angeles Housing Department nearly a decade ago.

    “This place is crazy,” a tenant reported in 2015, according to an inspector’s note, “luggage up and down, different people always in and out. Not safe.”

  • Pro Publica ☛ How Some States Are Tackling Data Centers’ Power Usage

    When lawmakers in Washington set out to expand a lucrative tax break for the state’s data center industry in 2022, they included what some considered an essential provision: a study of the energy-hungry industry’s impact on the state’s electrical grid.

    Gov. Jay Inslee vetoed that provision but let the tax break expansion go forward. As The Seattle Times and ProPublica recently reported, the industry has continued to grow and now threatens Washington’s effort to eliminate carbon emissions from electricity generation.

• AstroTurf/Lobbying/Politics

  • The Conversation ☛ 2024-07-29 [Older] Has Nasa found evidence of ancient life of Mars? An expert examines the latest discovery

  • The Conversation ☛ 2024-07-29 [Older] Fly Me to the Moon: what science communicators could learn from marketing professionals

  • Jacobin Magazine ☛ 2024-07-27 [Older] Anne Applebaum’s Dystopia of Rules

  • US News And World Report ☛ 2024-07-27 [Older] As Racist and Sexist Attacks Fly, Republicans Grapple With How to Take on Harris

  • FAIR ☛ ‘Our Most Important Democratic Document Was Intended to Make the Country Less Democratic’: CounterSpin interview with Ari Berman on minority rule

• Censorship/Free Speech

  • The Washington Post ☛ X suspends ‘White Dudes for Harris’ account after massive fundraiser

    The suspension led to unease about how Musk could use X to sway voters in the final stretch of the campaign, even as Republicans welcome his influence.

  • Hong Kong Free Press ☛ Chow Hang-tung to take appeal against conviction over data request to top court

    For over two decades, the Alliance organised the city’s annual Tiananmen vigils at Victoria Park to pay tribute to victims of the 1989 crackdown, who died when the China’s People’s Liberation Army dispersed protesters in Beijing, killing hundreds if not thousands. The last mass vigil was held in 2019, before Hong Kong passed a national security law.

• Freedom of Information / Freedom of the Press

  • Meduza ☛ Russia prepares release of Evan Gershkovich, Vladimir Kara-Murza, and other political prisoners in major exchange with West — Meduza

  • JURIST ☛ CPJ calls upon Taliban to immediately release journalist amid crackdown on local media

    The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) called upon Taliban authorities for the immediate and unconditional release of journalist Mohammed Ibrahim Mohtaj on Monday. Mohtaj is the third journalist to be arrested in Kandahar, Afghanistan in the past month as the Taliban authorities crack down further on local media workers and journalists.

  • El País ☛ US avoids cooperating on investigation into Spanish security company that spied on Assange

    After four years without receiving a response to any of the judicial assistance requests sent to the U.S. by judges José de la Mata and Santiago Pedraz, who have been in charge of the case since 2019, U.S. authorities responded thus to an ultimatum received from Spanish investigators.

    The prolonged silence had caused the General Subdirectorate of International Legal Cooperation, an agency that answers to the Ministry of Justice, to send U.S. authorities “an express pronouncement” on December 12 to know whether the judicial assistance in force between both countries was going to be denied.

  • Press Gazette ☛ Senior departures at The Guardian as voluntary redundancies close

    Guardian News and Media had been aiming for cost savings of between four and five percent this year after advertising and supporter revenue both came in below budget for the 2023/24 financial year.

• Civil Rights/Policing

  • The Guardian UK ☛ ‘They can stone us and flog us – I will keep using makeup’: why women risk everything in Afghanistan’s secret salons

    The Taliban announced the closure of beauty salons throughout Afghanistan in July 2023, claiming a number of the services they offered – including eyebrow shaping and the application of makeup – were violating Islamic law.

    In a country with more than 12,000 salons, the ban had a devastating impact on the estimated 60,000 women who worked in the sector. The salons had also served an important social function for Afghan women – providing a safe, female-only space where they could meet outside their homes and without a male chaperone.

  • Pro Publica ☛ Louisiana Makes It Illegal to Disobey a Cop’s Order to Back Away

    Louisiana is the fourth state to enact a so-called police buffer law, which allows officers to order people to keep their distance. Journalists say the law will make it harder to document when police use excessive force.

  • Citizen Lab ☛ Citizen Lab submission to the United Nations Special Rapporteur on counter-terrorism and human rights: Impacts of biometric data collection measures on civil society in the Tibet Autonomous region (TAR) and Qinghai - The Citizen Lab

    In response to a call for input issued by the United Nations Special Rapporteur on counter-terrorism and human rights, Emile Dirks, research associate at the Citizen Lab, prepared a written submission underlining the legal and human rights implications of the collection and usage of biometric recognition data by the People’s Republic of China.

  • [Old] UN Human Rights ☛ A review on the implications of mass biometric data collection and the use of biometric recognition technologies by public security organs in the Tibet Autonomous Region and Qinghai Province on the fulfillment by the People’s Republic of China of its international human rights obligations and commitments [PDF]

    2. This submission focuses on mass biometric data collection programs conducted by public security organs in two regions of China, as documented by Citizen Lab researchers: (1) a mass DNA collection program in the Tibet Autonomous Region (the TAR), and (2) a mass iris scan collection program in Qinghai Province. Both of these regions have large populations of non-Han people, with roughly 90%2 of the TAR’s population being Tibetan or other ethnic minorities, and roughly 49% of Qinghai’s population being Tibetan, Hui, Tu, Mongol, Salar, or other ethnic minorities. Previous reports by UN3 Experts, civil society organizations, and journalists have documented state surveillance of entire communities, restrictions on religious worship, and detention of human rights defenders in both the TAR and Qinghai.4

    3. While these mass biometric data collection programs in the TAR and Qinghai are led by public security organs, our analysis of publicly available Chinese government sources indicates that these programs are unconnected to investigations into criminal or terrorist activity and do not appear to be specifically authorized by Chinese law. Instead, these two programs appear to be part of broader public security surveillance and social control programs. Mass biometric data collection programs in the TAR and Qinghai violate the human rights of those subjected to biometric data collection, in particular the right to privacy, freedom of expression, the right of peaceful assembly, and freedom from discrimination.

  • The Nation ☛ The Strippers’ Union Faces Employers’ Trump Card

    What Star Garden workers are experiencing is disturbingly common in American union campaigns. Employers, hell-bent on stopping their employees from unionizing, will sometimes go so far as to shut down a location or even an entire business to disrupt a campaign. Kate Bronfenbrenner, director of labor education research at Cornell University, has studied employers’ threats to close when facing unionization campaigns. “I have found in my research consistently that the majority of employers will threaten [that] thanks to unionization that they’re going to have to shut down or move,” Bronfenbrenner told me. In a 2009 report, she found that employers threatened to close a location during 57 percent of union elections. Preliminary findings from when she looked at elections from 2016 to 2021 surfaced similar results. And although only a “small percentage” follow through, she said, the threat is enough to scare many workers away from organizing.

  • Deutsche Welle ☛ Afghanistan: Women tortured, raped in Taliban prisons

    "No one knows exactly how many women are imprisoned in Afghanistan," Nader says.

    "The Taliban refuse to confirm many of the arrests. We don't know what is the condition of the women who are imprisoned. Many of them have been arrested at random," she told DW.

    "Witnesses report that the Taliban often detain young women who are out and about without a male escort, even if they wear a hijab."

  • Pro Publica ☛ NYC Lawmakers: Police Commissioner Shouldn’t Be Able to Bury Brutality Cases

    New York City lawmakers are calling for the police commissioner to be stripped of his power to short-circuit officer misconduct cases. And the Office of the Inspector General for the New York Police Department has begun an independent investigation into the commissioner’s use of the practice, known as “retention.”

    The actions come in response to reporting by ProPublica last month that revealed how Commissioner Edward Caban has exercised this little-known authority to prevent dozens of cases of alleged abuse from getting a public hearing.

  • Site36 ☛ Şengal delegation stopped at Munich airport: Order justified with “foreign policy relations of Germany”

    Five members of a delegation were stopped by the German Federal Police on their way to a commemorative event marking the 10th anniversary of the IS genocide against Yezidis. The justification raises questions.

  • Site36 ☛ EU pushes for new surveillance technology against migration, German police union asks for €35 million

    A new EU regulation on the introduction of border controls came into force in June. Unwanted entries are to be prevented using drones, motion sensors and other technologies. The police spoke out on Monday in the debate about stationary controls at Germany’s internal borders.

  • Papers Please ☛ Customs officers need a warrant to search your cellphone at JFK

    Judge Nina Morrison of the US District Court for the Eastern District of New York (Brooklyn, Queens, Staten Island, and Long Island) has ruled that police, including officers of U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), need a warrant to search your cellphone at JFK International Airport, even when you are entering or leaving the US.

    This ruling is certainly a positive development. It’s a break with a line of judicial decisions that have made US borders and international airports a Fourth Amendment-free zone, even for US citizens. It’s likely to influence other judges and other courts, even though — as a ruling from a District Court rather than an appellate court — it doesn’t set a precedent that’s binding even on other judges in the same Federal judicial district.

    But there are important issues that weren’t addressed in this case, and important things you need to know to exercise your rights at JFK or other airports — even if judges in future cases in the same or other judicial districts are persuaded by the ruling in this case.

• Internet Policy/Net Neutrality

  • Inside Towers ☛ Senate Commerce Plans to Vote on Three Broadband Bills

    The Senate Commerce Committee plans to vote on three broadband bills this Wednesday. Committee Chair Maria Cantwell (D-WA) hopes to pass the PLAN for Broadband Act (S. 2238), the Network Equipment Transparency Act (S.690) and the Rural Broadband Protection Act of 2023 (S. 275).

    Four previous attempts to schedule votes to pass proposals to extend the Affordable Connectivity Program failed because of disputes between GOP and Democratic committee members, Inside Towers reported.

  • APNIC ☛ Bytes from IETF 120 — BBR 1, 2, 3

    During the recent IETF 120 meeting it was suggested that we made a mistake by calling the end-to-end transport flow control algorithms ‘congestion control’, as this term has negative connotations about the network and the quality of the user experience.

    If we had called this function something like ‘performance optimization,’ the focus might have been different. Instead of concentrating on avoiding network congestion and packet loss (which are intrinsic to most packet networks), we would have looked at how to interpret these signals to optimize the algorithm’s adaptation to the network path.

• Digital Restrictions (DRM)

  • Digital Music News ☛ How Much Time Do Teens Spend Streaming Music?

    On-demand streaming options take precedent in the younger demographic, with music streaming and music videos on YouTube accounting for 60% of audio listening time. AM/FM Radio accounts for around 20% of listening time—which includes both music and spoken word content. Edison Research says when factoring in podcasts on Spotify and YouTube, Spotify accounts for 24% and YouTube for 28% of all audio consumption among the age group.

  • New Yorker ☛ Why I Finally Quit Spotify

    I’m hardly alone in my souring on Spotify. When I posted about my annoyance with the interface on X, I heard from dozens of other unhappy users. “It’s harder just to enjoy music,” Kyle Austin, a marketing executive in Boston who responded to the post, told me. He’s noticed that the home-page interface emphasizes only what you’ve played recently; if you don’t want to continue listening to the same playlist or set of albums, you have to scroll past rows of recommendations or click out of the Home window. Diving deep into a particular artist’s discography—say, in Austin’s case, that of the prolific singer-songwriter Zach Bryan—requires scrolling through “Popular” tracks, “Artist Picks,” and “Popular Releases.” “It’s teaching you to not do that,” Austin said. Michael Toohey, an accountant in Chicago, told me that on Spotify “the entire concept of an album feels more like a hindrance than anything.” Music on the app is most easily consumed in a disorganized cascade; every song becomes audio “content” separated from a musician’s larger body of work. In short, Spotify does not seem to care about your relationship to “your” music anymore; for long-term users, this has felt like a slow-motion bait and switch.

Monopolies/Monopsonies

• Patents

  • Kangaroo Courts

    • IP Kat ☛ 2024-07-26 [Older] [UPCKat]UPC Court of Appeal’s PI ruling leaves open the possibility of using prosecution history as an aid for claim construction [Ed: UPC is illegal, but this author kept lying for it for years, for profit (at Bristows), looking to promote attacks on constitutions]

  • Software Patents

    • The Register UK ☛ Amazon countersues Nokia for a dozen patent infringements

      Amazon has filed a complaint against Nokia accusing the Finnish tech firm of violating a dozen of its patents.

      Specifically, Amazon has accused [PDF] Nokia of lifting patents around virtual machine and networking technology used on Amazon Web Services. The filing claims Nokia used the lifted tech in its cloud and network services division, which launched in 2020 and includes Nuage and CloudBand offshoots.

• Trademarks

  • IP Kat ☛ 2024-07-29 [Older] [Guest post] Retromark Volume XIV: the last six months in trade marks

  • IP Kat ☛ 2024-07-29 [Older] Venice Court on “Balsamic Vinegar” and unfair competition

  • IP Kat ☛ 2024-07-28 [Older] [Guest post] Fanatics about trade mark infringement, cancellation and honest concurrent use in Australia

  • IP Kat ☛ 2024-07-28 [Older] The simple math of adidas v Nike: Two stripes are not three stripes

  • Right of Publicity

    • Silicon Angle ☛ Entertainment industry gets behind new bill that will outlaw AI deepfakes

      “Everyone deserves the right to own and protect their voice and likeness, no matter if you’re Taylor Swift or anyone else,” said Coons. “Generative AI can be used as a tool to foster creativity, but that can’t come at the expense of the unauthorized exploitation of anyone’s voice or likeness.”

• Copyrights

  • Digital Music News ☛ Major Labels Set Sights on ‘Parasitic Threat’ Musi — Is An App Store Removal Possible?

    The International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) has been working behind the scenes to get the playlist app Musi removed from Apple’s App Store, according to a just-published report.

  • Torrent Freak ☛ Pirate IPTV Ops See Damages Reduced By $7m, Admin Panel Evidence Fell Short

    After years of plain sailing followed by several years of bad luck, two convicted IPTV operators in Sweden were sentenced to prison and ordered to pay rightsholders $18m in damages. On appeal, the men successfully argued that the amount was excessive and based on incorrect information. A dispute over an admin panel photograph led to damages being slashed by $7m.

  • Torrent Freak ☛ IOC Sends Thousands of DMCA Notices to Deter 'Olympics' Piracy

    The International Olympic Committee is working around the clock to protect its broadcasting rights. Over the past week, IOC has sent thousands of DMCA takedown notices to Google. They reveal that torrent sites are a problem of the past; live-streaming sites are the main concern now.

  • Torrent Freak ☛ Kim Dotcom Denied Leave to Appeal High Court's Dismissal of His Appeal Against Human Rights Tribunal Decision

    In 2015, Kim Dotcom filed 52 requests with New Zealand government departments to urgently disclose information to assist his case. After most of the requests were transferred to the Attorney General's office, Dotcom demanded damages for breaching his privacy. After nine years of courts handing down decisions and Dotcom filing appeal after appeal, the Court of Appeal has now denied Dotcom's request for special leave to appeal the High Court's dismissal of another appeal, against a Human Rights Tribunal's decision not to award damages.

  • South Africa ☛ United States corporate group pressures South Africa to drop fair exemption use from new copyright law

    The South African government has rebuffed recent criticism from US copyright industries over its plan to introduce the principle of fair use into South African copyright law. This reform, the government argues, is necessary for the country's copyright regime to stay abreast of innovation and the changing digital landscape, potentially making South Africa more attractive to artificial intelligence companies.

  • Techdirt ☛ Making Money By Understanding The Difference Between Analog & Digital

    What is particularly interesting about this evolution of analog magazines is that it fits perfectly with the idea of the “true fan,” which Walled Culture the blog and the book have explored at some length. Indeed, the true fan approach means that these high-quality and highly-valued publications can be offered alongside free material placed online. Significantly, the New York Times articles notes that “These new magazine owners aren’t Luddites; they use digital savvy to sell paper and ink.” In other words, digital is a way to generate revenue from analog. Moreover, the analog journals use the same ideas typically employed by those seeking to maximize engagement and revenue from their true fans and patrons: [...]