Leftovers

• Hamilton Nolan ☛ This Publication's Path To Sustainability

  Today is the 15 month anniversary of the launch of this site. Nice! I spent more than 15 years as a journalist before I started this site, and this place gives me more personal satisfaction than anywhere I have ever worked, because of the direct relationship between me, the one writing stuff, and you, the readers. The fact that there is no media company between us mediating that relationship means that, on one hand, there is very little safety net here for me, professionally speaking; but on the other hand, I feel a much greater sense of satisfaction over every subscriber here. Sometimes in my little appeals for subscriptions that I append to posts I write something like, “We will make it together, my friends.” This is corny, but honest. You are reading the most independent version of independent media, right here, and it will either survive or die based not just on me, but on all of you believing that this place is worth it.

• The Scotsman ☛ 'Alarming' 34% spike in sophisticated Scotland rural crime incidents as top targets revealed

  In a sign of the increasing organisation and sophistication of criminals, Global Positioning System (GPS) units were targeted by gangs throughout 2023, causing the value of claims to NFU Mutual to rocket by 137 per cent to an estimated £4.2m.

  Intelligence shows thieves frequently target several farms in one night before moving locations to steal these highly valuable and portable kits. The high-tech equipment, typically costing more than £10,000 a unit, is used to guide tractors and combine harvesters to improve accuracy. Without it, farmers and agricultural contractors can face severe delays and disruption to harvesting and cultivating work.

• Science

  • MIT Technology Review ☛ A controversial Chinese CRISPR scientist is still hopeful about embryo gene-editing. Here’s why.

    This story first appeared in China Report, MIT Technology Review’s newsletter about technology in China. Sign up to receive it in your inbox every Tuesday.

  • Science Alert ☛ Nearby Earth-Sized Planet Discovered in Habitable Zone

    A close neighbor with potential for life.

  • Science Alert ☛ Olympians Need Breaks To Balance 'Athlete Identity' With Self Identity

    A sports psychologist explains.

  • Science Alert ☛ Complex Life on Earth May Be 1.5 Billion Years Older Than We Thought

    That's quite a shift.

  • Science Alert ☛ New Study Challenges Established Theories About Moon's Early History

    There's a twist in the lunar birth story.

  • Science Alert ☛ A New Type of Wood Just Discovered Could Revolutionize Carbon Storage

    A pretty flower was hiding a secret.

  • Science Alert ☛ Whole New Group of Methane-Burping Microbes Discovered in Yellowstone Springs

    Overlooked for decades.

• Education

  • Nicolas Cropp ☛ Job searching in 2024 is horribly broken

    The day is July 10th, and my boss pulls me into a meeting with HR and lets me know I'm being let go. He's fired too, and his boss as well, so from the sounds of it, it was just a scorched earth strategy after our department was audited. Time to find a new job. Nothing personal, here's a positive reference, good luck to ya.

    For a little background, I am a network engineer with about 5 years experience working for ISPs, from residential to commercial/enterprise. I operated a computer repair shop for about 6 years, where I learned everything from accounting, to systems design/deployment, to procurement. I used to have my A+ cert, but that's expired now, and I've moved well beyond. With a fresh CCNA cert in hand, and a CompTIA Security+ to back it up, finding a network or security job should be no problem at all. I've got a lot of skills - video production, security, Linux, Mikrotiks, Ciscos, virtualization, cloud, domains, DNS, the list goes on and on. My homelab is probably bigger than some businesses and it's taught me a lot. Even got an SD-WAN site to site VPN set up to my parent's house so they can watch movies off my home Plex server. Should be easy to find a job...right?

  • Maine Morning Star ☛ Maine community college grads now guaranteed admission at state universities

    In a new partnership announced Wednesday by the Maine Community College and University of Maine systems, Maine’s community colleges will proactively notify their students about transfer opportunities to public universities after they finish 30 credits — or approximately, their first year — at the community college.

• Hardware

  • Tom's Hardware ☛ China's newest homegrown Hey Hi (AI) chip matches industry standard at 45 TOPS — 6nm Arm-based 12-core Cixin P1 starting mass production

    The Cixin P1 has entered the tape-out phase of its development, with test models seen by the Chinese tech press in a recent launch event. The 12-core Arm CPU on the 6nm process will reach 45 TOPS across its CPU, GPU and NPU.

  • Tom's Hardware ☛ Intel class action lawsuit investigation begins for the company's CPU crashing and instability issues

    Class action law firm asks owners of Intel's desktop processors whether they want to participate in a class action lawsuit against Intel.

  • Silicon Angle ☛ Intel reportedly set to announce another round of layoffs, involving ‘thousands’ of workers

    Intel Corp. is expected to layoff thousands of workers in the coming days in an effort to trim its cost base, as it pursues an ambitious plan to regain its status as the world’s top chipmaker.

  • Tom's Hardware ☛ China limits civilian drone exports starting September 1 — country aims to prevent use by foreign military or terror orgs

    China will adjust its civilian drone export rules from September 1. Starting from that date, policy changes will be enacted to prohibit the export of civilian drones that can be used for military or terrorist aggression.

• Health/Nutrition/Agriculture

  • Science Alert ☛ Making One Diet Change For 8 Weeks Could Turn Back The Clock on Aging

    Benefits are seen quickly.

  • Science Alert ☛ Wild Study Finds Your Name Has an Incredible Effect on Your Face

    This is mind-blowing.

  • JURIST ☛ Biden orders federal crackdown on fentanyl supply chain

    US President Joe Biden on Wednesday ordered federal agencies to coordinate and intensify efforts to disrupt the supply chain of fentanyl and other synthetic opioids.

  • NYPost ☛ Gen X, millennials at higher risk for 17 cancers: ‘critical’ report

    Here's another reason for a midlife crisis.

  • New York Times ☛ How to Use Your Smartphone to Help You Sleep

    These features to let you wind down for bed, mute notifications and stay on a regular sleep schedule may help you get more rest.

• Proprietary/Artificial Intelligence (AI)

  • Silicon Angle ☛ Meta faces Hey Hi (AI) accuracy issues as tech industry tackles hallucinations, deepfakes

    Meta Platforms Inc. is moving to fix an issue that caused its Meta Hey Hi (AI) chatbot to claim the assassination attempt on Donald Trump didn’t happen. The Facebook (Farcebook) parent announced the development on Tuesday.

  • EFF ☛ CrowdStrike, Antitrust, and the Digital Monoculture

    The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) solicited public comments last year on the state of the cloud computing market. EFF made it clear that the consolidation of service providers has created new dangers for everyone and urged the commission to encourage interoperability so customers could more easily switch and mix cloud services. Microsoft cautioned against intervention, touting the benefits of centralized cloud services for IT security.

    A year later, a key cloud-based cybersecurity firm released a bug unique to Microsoft systems. Vital IT systems were disrupted for millions worldwide. 

    This fragility goes beyond issues at a specific firm, it results from power being overly concentrated around a few major companies.

  • Science News ☛ Want to spot a deepfake? The eyes could be a giveaway

    Researchers at the University of Hull in England reported July 15 that eye reflections offer a potential way to suss out AI-generated images of people. The approach relies on a technique also used by astronomers to study galaxies.

    In real images, light reflections in the eyeballs match up, showing, for instance, the same number of windows or ceiling lights. But in fake images, there’s often an inconsistency in the reflections. “The physics is incorrect,” says Kevin Pimbblet, an observational astronomer who worked on the research with then–graduate student Adejumoke Owolabi and presented the findings at the Royal Astronomical Society’s National Astronomy Meeting in Hull.

  • Futurism ☛ OnlyFans Stars Are Using AI to "Sext" With Their Desperate Simps

    Until recently, Jaris explained, chatbots didn't really "get" flirting. But with advances in the tech's capability — and, no doubt, the widening of its simp training data pool — he claims the chatbots are now able to banter as well or better than humans.

    "You cannot directly jump into the typical 'Hey, Daddy, tip me!' stuff," the NEO CEO said. "You have to start by really comprehending the fan... Where’s he from? What’s his problem? Why does he hate his boss? What's his dog's name? You collect information. Because otherwise, how are you supposed to connect with him? How are you supposed to get money out of him?"

  • EDRI ☛ Statement: EU takes modest step as AI law comes into effect

    On 1 August 2024, the long-awaited Artificial Intelligence (AI) Act enters into force, meaning that after years of negotiations, the AI Act is now an official EU law.

    This is a significant administrative step, one which signals to governments and companies alike that they must prepare themselves to abide by these new rules. If they don’t, they could face significant penalties when developing, selling and using risky AI systems in the EU.

    Whilst civil society groups like EDRI and our AI Act coalition partners are disappointed not to see a more human rights-based approach, the final Act nevertheless contains several avenues for positive change.

  • European Commission ☛ Artificial Intelligence – Q&As

    The EU AI Act is the world's first comprehensive AI law. It aims to address risks to health, safety and fundamental rights. The regulation also protects democracy, rule of law and the environment.

    The uptake of AI systems has a strong potential to bring societal benefits, economic growth and enhance EU innovation and global competitiveness. However, in certain cases, the specific characteristics of certain AI systems may create new risks related to user safety, including physical safety, and fundamental rights. Some powerful AI models that are being widely used could even pose systemic risks.

  • JURIST ☛ EU artificial intelligence act officially enters into force

    The European Commission first drafted the EU AI Act in 2021. After amendments by the European Parliament and the Council, the final version of the act or Regulation 2024/1689 was published in the Official Journal (OJ) of the European Union on July 12, 2024. The AI Act harmonizes rules on artificial intelligence throughout EU member states.

  • Futurism ☛ Study Finds Consumers Are Actively Turned Off by Products That Use AI

    "When AI is mentioned, it tends to lower emotional trust, which in turn decreases purchase intentions," said lead author and Washington State University clinical assistant profess of marketing Mesut Cicek in a statement. "We found emotional trust plays a critical role in how consumers perceive AI-powered products."

  • El País ☛ Beatriz Busaniche: ‘Artificial intelligence doesn’t think, it doesn’t learn, it doesn’t decide’

    A. Since they are stochastic systems that make decisions purely based on statistics, they are based on things that have been published, on things that they have seen, and they are extremely conservative. They rely on the past to make decisions for the future. AI does not create a new discourse, it recreates the existing one. Minority discourses or those that are thinking of changing the status quo do not have the same weight in statistical validation as large volumes of data from the past. AI was no doubt trained with books that are in the public domain, that is, more than 100 years old. The future designed by AI is very similar to the past. In some cases it is very useful, such as in the detection of breast cancer or in weather forecasts for which AI is being used. But in all cases an ethical filter must be applied.

  • Federal News Network ☛ CISA details software security keys in new guide for acquisition pros

    In a new guide released today, CISA details how agencies can better evaluate the security of the software they purchase. The document, the “Software Acquisition Guide for Government Enterprise Consumers,” was written by the Information and Communications Technology Supply Chain Risk Management Task Force, which is co-led by CISA and industry representatives.

• Security

  • Integrity/Availability/Authenticity

    • Matt Sephton ☛ PSA: Internet Archive “glitch” deletes years of user data & accounts

      Recently at Internet Archive a “glitch” (their choice of word) deleted a great many accounts, including my account that had been at https://archive.org/details/@gingerbeardman since 2015.

      Somewhat surprisingly, they are not reaching out to affected users but rather waiting for them to create new accounts and silently relinking their old uploads only if the new account has same email as the old account. Otherwise, all profile metadata, favourites, lists, reviews, posts, collections, web archives, and the original username are not being relinked. For me that’s a decade of data…gone.

  • Privacy/Surveillance

    • OpenRightsGroup ☛ Light and Shadow of the Digital Information and Smart Data Bill

      In what could be a new, welcomed development, Labour appear to have decided to narrow the scope of the data protection reform by … taking away the data protection parts. Open Rights Group has engaged with the Conservatives’ data protection changes since the very outset, working with both domestic and EU stakeholders throughout the years and playing a key role in averting the adoption of a disastrous Bill.

    • NYOB ☛ ‘Pay or OK’ at DER SPIEGEL: noyb sues Hamburg DPA

      Cheap legal advice for SPIEGEL. The Hamburg DPA was in close contact with SPIEGEL during the proceedings. Instead of investigating and deciding impartially, it also met with representatives of the company several times, invited them to its premises and provided feedback on the proposed changes. For the administrative costs of the procedure, the Hamburg authority charged SPIEGEL € 6,140. Another media company had previously even been proactively encouraged by the Hamburg authority to switch to ‘Pay or OK’. It can be assumed that the authority actively encourages companies to engage in problematic behaviour. Incidentally, the complainant was only informed of all this after the decision had been made. He was not heard by the authority. The majority of his messages to the authority were not even answered.

• Defence/Aggression

  • NYPost ☛ Israel’s strikes on terror chiefs show it will fight alone — despite US reluctance

    After months of self-defeating handcuffing by the Biden administration and its insistence on restraint and "proportionate responses," Israel said “enough” — and went for Hamas’ jugular.

  • France24 ☛ Who was Hamas leader Haniyeh, the ex-Palestinian PM killed in Tehran strike?

    Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh was killed by a predawn air strike in the Iranian capital Tehran on Wednesday, Iran and the militant group said, blaming Israel for a shock assassination. Israel had vowed to kill Haniyeh and other leaders of Hamas over the October 7 attacks.

  • Hong Kong Free Press ☛ China condemns ‘assassination’ of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Iran

    China on Wednesday said it condemned the “assassination” of Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh in a strike in Tehran, warning it could lead to further instability in the region. “We are highly concerned about the incident and firmly oppose and condemn the assassination,” foreign ministry spokesman Lin Jian said.

  • New York Times ☛ Live Updates: Assassinations of Hezbollah and Hamas Leaders Stir Fears of Wider War

    Hezbollah confirmed that one of its senior commanders, Fuad Shukr, had been killed in an Israeli strike on Beirut, and Hamas accused Israel of killing its political leader, Ismail Haniyeh, while he was in Tehran for the inauguration of Iran’s new president.

  • RFERL ☛ Hamas Leader Ismail Haniyeh Killed In Tehran Air Strike; Khamenei Vows Revenge

    Iran said Ismail Haniyeh, the political leader of the Palestinian extremist group Hamas, was killed on July 31 in Tehran in a raid that it accused Israel of carrying out.

  • France24 ☛ 🔴Live: Hezbollah confirms killing of top commander in Israeli strike on Beirut

    Lebanese armed group Hezbollah on Wednesday confirmed the assassination of its top commander Fuad Shukr in an Israeli strike on southern Beirut. The confirmation came the day after Israel said it targeted Shukr in Tuesday's strike on the Lebanese capital and hours after Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh was assassinated in Tehran.

  • NYPost ☛ Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh was killed in precision strike on his room during visit to Iran

    Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant did not rule out the possibility that war will break out across the Middle East after Hamas and Iran vowed to retaliate. “We don’t want war but we are preparing for all possibilities,” he warned.

  • France24 ☛ Body of top Hezbollah commander Shukr killed by Israel found in Beirut, sources say

    The body of senior Hezbollah military commander Fuad Shukr was recovered Wednesday from the rubble of a building in southern Beirut that was targeted in an Israeli strike. The recovery came almost 24 hours after Israel confirmed that it had targeted Shukr in an airstrike on the Lebanese capital.

  • France24 ☛ US carries out 'defensive' strike in Iraq as regional tensions worsen

    US forces on Tuesday carried out an airstrike on "combatants" inside a base south of Baghdad used by Iraq's Popular Mobilisation Forces (PMF). The strike targeted militants who intended to launch drones and posed a threat to US and coalition forces, US officials said. At least four PMF members were killed, Iraqi police and medical sources said.

  • New York Times ☛ Drone Strike in Sudan Targets Army Leader in Failed Assassination Attempt, Military Says

    For 15 months, Gen. Abdel Fattah al-Burhan has been leading a war for control of the country against his rival, Lt. Gen. Mohamed Hamdan, the head of the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces.

  • New York Times ☛ Iran and Hamas Blame Israel for Killing of Ismail Haniyeh, and Vow Revenge

    The deadly strike on Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran threatened to further inflame the region and derail negotiations aimed at reaching a cease-fire in Gaza.

  • New York Times ☛ Two Al Jazeera Journalists Were Killed in an Israeli Strike on Gaza

    A reporter and a cameraman were working from or near the house of Ismail Haniyeh, the Hamas political chief who was assassinated on Tuesday.

  • New York Times ☛ Strikes in Iran and Lebanon Raise Risk of Escalation, but All-Out War Is Not Inevitable

    The scale of the reaction from Iran and its regional proxies to the attacks on two of Israel’s largest foes could determine whether the low-level regional battle tips into a full-scale conflict.

  • New York Times ☛ Iran’s Leader Orders Attack on Israel for Haniyeh Killing, Officials Say

    Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, ordered retaliation after a humiliating security failure, as Iran once again balances showing strength against the risk of escalation.

  • RFA ☛ Myanmar rebel group vows to protect China’s interests

    The force said it would speak with allied insurgent groups to ensure protection of Chinese citizens and businesses.

  • RFA ☛ Planned US missile defense tests divide Guam residents

    A 10-year launch program is part of the U.S. military’s Pacific build-up against China.

  • RFA ☛ Taiwan, China ‘smoothly’ wind up talks on fishermen killed off Kinmen

    Taipei says apology made to families of the dead, it will to exert its authority in waters it claims.

  • New York Times ☛ Why Chinese Propaganda Loves Foreign Travel Influencers

    Videos by influencers documenting their trips have been widely promoted on Chinese media — if they tell a certain story.

  • Pro Publica ☛ Paul Dans, the Man Behind Project 2025’s Most Radical Plans

    But then again, his resignation was at least partly symbolic: The work of Project 2025 is largely done. Under Dans, the project has assembled a database of more than 10,000 names — job candidates vetted for loyalty to Trump’s cause — who will be ready to deploy into federal agencies should he win the 2024 election. Project 2025 has delivered a toolkit, ready for use, to create a second Trump administration that would be decidedly more MAGA than the first.

  • India Times ☛ Hamas military chief Deif, mastermind of October 7 attack, eliminated, says Israel

    Deif is believed to be the masterminds of Hamas' October 7 attack on southern Israel, which triggered the Gaza war, now in its 300th day. He had topped Israel's most wanted list for decades, held personally responsible for the deaths of dozens of Israelis in suicide bombings.

  • The Barents Observer ☛ Russia prisoner swap includes Tromsø university illegal Mikushin

    A major prisoner exchange between the West and Russia is underway and includes Mikhail Mikushin, the GRU affiliated charged with espionage in Norway.

  • Sightline Media Group ☛ The US election and NATO: What’s at stake

    Several developments in the U.S. presidential race, including former President Donald Trump’s pick of JD Vance as vice president earlier this month, have left European NATO member countries worried as they contemplate the possibility of the U.S. reducing its leadership role in the treaty organization — or pulling out altogether — analysts say.

  • Russia, Belarus, and War in Ukraine

    • RFERL ☛ Moldovan Intelligence Agents Raid Parliament In Spying Probe

      Moldovan Intelligence and Security Service (SIS) agents and anti-corruption prosecutors on July 31 raided the premises of the country's parliament in Chisinau, RFE/RL has learned.

• Transparency/Investigative Reporting

  • Marcy Wheeler ☛ How to Fact Check Trump's Lies about His Document Case

    A particularly egregious moment came in his false claims about the parallel investigations into his and President Biden’s retention of classified information. Trump told several lies without (successful) interruption. It was an unfortunate missed opportunity for correction, because Trump repeats these lies in his stump speech all the time, and it may be some time before someone competent has the ability to correct them in real time again.

    Since Trump is going to keep telling the lie, I’d like to talk about how to fact check it.

• Environment

  • The Hill ☛ Kamala Harris reverses stance on fracking as she tries to court swing voters

    However, fracking has come under scrutiny due to its environmental impacts. Beyond its role in producing planet-warming fossil fuels, it has been linked to earthquakes and pollution. A 2022 study also found that children living near fracking sites had a higher likelihood of developing leukemia.

  • Energy/Transportation

    • Hackaday ☛ DIY Off Grid Battery Pack From EV Battery

      Car camping gets you out in the great outdoors, but sometimes it’s nice to bring a few comforts from home. [Ed’s Garage] has taken a module from a salvaged EV and turned it into a handy portable power station.

    • Truthdig ☛ [Cryptocurrency] Is All-In on this Election Cycle - Truthdig

      One of the main political action committees receiving funds from [cryptocurrency] companies has raised more than $202 million since January 2023 — a number that dwarfs the $27 million donated by disgraced former [cryptocurrency]currency billionaire Sam Bankman-Fried to a similar political action committee in 2022.

      [Cryptocurrency]’s booming influence is already in effect: The industry notched wins against politicians who opposed their regulatory agenda during the primary elections, former President Donald Trump has been parroting lobbyists’ questionable data on [cryptocurrency]’s use among Americans, and Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio), Trump’s running mate, has deep ties to the [cryptocurrency] industry. Vance introduced a bill in 2023 that would shield banks from regulatory pressure to cut ties with customers over reputational risks — allowing them to work more freely with the [cryptocurrency], gun, and oil and gas industries.

    • Zimbabwe ☛ Introduction to Blockchain and Cryptocurrencies

      Digital tokens play a crucial role in the broader blockchain ecosystem by enabling various applications and use cases, from decentralized finance (DeFi) to digital identity verification and supply chain management.

    • New York Times ☛ Opinion | How 2024 Became a [Cryptocurrency] Election

      Six years ago I argued that Bitcoin and other [cryptocurrency]currencies served no useful purpose, that their market value rested on nothing but “technobabble and libertarian derp.” I stand by that judgment, which has actually been reinforced by the passage of time.

      But I didn’t foresee how big a deal [cryptocurrency] would nonetheless become — not because it would fulfill its promise of replacing conventional money, which it hasn’t and never will, but because it has become a powerful force that is, among other things, warping our politics.

    • NPR ☛ A road trip in an electric vehicle doesn't have to be nerve-wracking anymore

      Earlier this summer, photographer Amanda Andrade-Rhoades and I drove more than 1,000 miles, partly to try to answer that very question. What we found was a charging infrastructure at a point of flux. Cars are changing. Chargers are changing.

      And things are getting better. Just not evenly.

    • Jacobin Magazine ☛ The [Cryptocurrency] Industry’s 2024 Election Spending Spree

      Cryptocurrency companies are on an unprecedented spending spree to oust politicians opposed to their agenda and to help elect pro-[cryptocurrency] candidates in the 2024 election cycle.

      The cryptocurrency industry — valued at $2.5 trillion worldwide — has lobbied extensively against regulations to hold its industry accountable for widespread fraud and mismanagement of customer funds following spectacular market failures in 2022 that left many Americans without access to their money.

    • David Rosenthal ☛ More Cryptocurrency Gaslighting

      Consensys' defense strategy poses potentially serious problems for the concept of open source, because they are gaslighting about the software that is the basis for the SEC's complaint being open source. Were the court to (a) fall for their gaslighting but (b) agree with the SEC's complaint it could provide a basis for imposing liability on open source developers.

      I am afraid that the explanation for why this is so is necessarily rather long but I and others think that it needs to be understood. So stock up with supplies for the journey and follow me below the fold.

    • Positech Games ☛ Solar Farm update. Even a video!

      In terms of progress… well not a lot, despite it being HUGELY SUNNY right now, my farm remains unconnected, earning nothing, due to the insane delays and bureaucracy. There is some good news, in that finally the insane list of delays and excuses got exhausted and I was given an actual firm date for when the overhead line (so small you will barely see it on the video) gets taken down and buried. This is the hugely expensive work that has to happen before we can fill in those pesky gaps in the rows of panels, and then actually do the final bits and pieces before the big ‘energisation’ of the farm when it goes live.

  • Wildlife/Nature

    • Smithsonian Magazine ☛ Yosemite's Peregrine Falcons Are Rebounding Thanks to Unlikely Allies: Rock Climbers | Smithsonian

      Yager’s story illustrates how climbers were willing to “risk all” to help the birds, as Rob Roy Ramey II, a biologist and climber who helped with the project, told Outside’s Ula Chrobak in 2018.

      In addition, for the last 15 years, climbers and the park service have teamed up to help protect the birds through the Peregrine Falcon Protection Program. From March through July, the park implements temporary, rolling closures of climbing routes as the birds return to their nest sites, lay eggs and rear their babies. They’ve also created buffer zones to prevent helicopters from getting too close.

  • Overpopulation

    • NL Times ☛ Earth overshoot day: 4 planets needed if everyone consumed like the Dutch

      Earth Overshoot Day falls one day earlier this year than last year, when the calculations came out on August 2. The day on which the ‘ecological goods and services’ that the Earth produces in a year are used up has not shifted much in recent years. There was a small trend break in 2020 when many economies were operating at a lower level than usual due to coronavirus lockdowns. Then the day fell on August 16.

      The last time supply and demand were almost in balance was in 1971, according to later calculations. In that year, Overshoot Day fell on Christmas Day, December 25.

• Finance

  • New York Times ☛ Fed Opens Door to September Rate Cut if Inflation Stays Cool

    Federal Reserve officials left interest rates unchanged but signaled that a rate cut could be imminent as they watch inflation and the labor market.

  • Hong Kong Free Press ☛ China’s factory activity contracts for 3rd month, as Beijing vows more state support to boost economy

    Factory activity in China shrank for a third straight month in July, official data showed Wednesday, a day after Beijing pledged more state support to boost activity in the country’s stuttering economy.

• AstroTurf/Lobbying/Politics

  • New York Times ☛ Venezuela’s Election Was Deeply Flawed. Here’s How.

    From voter intimidation to refusing to provide paper tallies to verify the result claimed by the government, the election was riddled with problems.

  • New York Times ☛ Pro-Democracy Organization Denounces Venezuela’s Election

    The Carter Center, a leading pro-democracy organization, says Venezuela’s election violated the country’s own laws and was undemocratic.

  • RFA ☛ China sanctions US lawmaker for criticizing Beijing’s human rights record

    Rep. Jim McGovern says he is unfazed by the measure and will wear it as a ‘badge of honor.’

  • RFA ☛ Calls grow for release of Hong Kong translation activist from U.S. detention

    Hong Konger Yuen Hong Tam was denied bail after bid for political asylum linked to dissident translation group.

  • RFA ☛ Are Chinese universities hotbeds of sexual harassment?

    Young Chinese women say recent allegations of sexual harassment in higher ed come as no surprise.

  • International Business Times ☛ Nancy Pelosi Discloses Buying 10,000 Nvidia Shares After Bipartisan Senators Introduce Bill to Ban Trades

    Nancy Pelosi is popular among investors tracking Congressional trades, given her impressive returns of an estimated 700% since May 2014. The high returns have prompted several institutions to track the portfolios of Congress members and even issue ETFs aligned with their trades. Despite the gains, trades like Broadcom and buying 50 Nvidia call options in November 2023 with a $120 strike price and a December 2024 expiry, way before Nvidia's stock split this year, have been mounting more pressure on Congress to introduce laws that ban its members from trading in stocks.

  • The Register UK ☛ Intel to shed at least 15 percent of staff to save costs

    Intel plans to layoff more than 16,000 workers, or at least 15 percent, with most cuts coming by the end of the year as the x86 giant scrambles to get its finances under control.

  • New York Times ☛ Intel Will Cut More Than 15,000 Jobs

    The job cuts amount to 15 percent of Intel’s work force. The company also announced other restructuring moves and a reduction in capital spending, which are expected to cut costs by $10 billion in 2025. To conserve cash, Intel said, it will suspend its quarterly dividend in the fourth quarter.

  • Tom's Hardware ☛ Intel to layoff more than 15% of workforce — 15,000 or more employees — encountered Meteor Lake yield issues, suspends dividend

    Intel plans to lay off more than 15% of its workforce by the end of the year, the company announced today, meaning roughly 15,000 employees or more (potentially up to 17,475 based on recent Intel headcount numbers of 116,500) — a vast restructuring that comes amid troubling financial results this quarter. The layoffs rank among the most severe in Intel's 56-year history.

  • The Independent UK ☛ Intel to cut more than 15% of workforce as it cuts costs to try to turn chip business around

    The company posted a loss of $1.6 billion, or 38 cents per share, in the April-June period. That's down from a profit of $1.5 billion, or 35 cents per share, a year earlier. Adjusted earnings excluding special items were 2 cents per share.

    Revenue slid 1% to $12.8 billion from $12.9 billion.

  • Wired ☛ Intel Is Cutting More Than 15,000 Jobs Despite Getting Billions From the US Government

    In a move likely to raise a few taxpayer eyebrows, Intel said today that it will cut 15 percent of its workforce, or more than 15,000 jobs, as it struggles to rebound from disappointing results. In March, the US government said it would give Intel no less than $8.5 billion to help it rebuild its US chipmaking operations.

  • Semafor Inc ☛ Europe’s landmark AI Act takes effect

    The European Union’s AI Act came into force Thursday. Widely considered the first law of its kind, it sets a regulatory framework to guide how artificial intelligence is developed and used within the bloc.

    Under the law, regulators will evaluate AI on a scale of four levels of risk, assigning individual companies different timelines to comply with the regulation depending on where their products land on the scale.

  • The Nation ☛ Bitcoin Goes All In With Trump

    Some conference participants expressed mixed feelings about Donald Trump. Many preferred RFK Jr.—who has been around [cryptocurrency] for longer and whose libertarian leanings seem more aligned with Bitcoin’s ethos—but seemed willing to vote for Trump if it came down to it. Others said they’re not likely to vote at all and had only cast write-in ballots in the past. Some of Bitcoin’s more old-school adherents expressed ideological disagreements with the newly proclaimed “[cryptocurrency] president.”

  • CNBC ☛ Samsung Q2 2024 earnings: Strong AI demand lifts profits

    Samsung's revenue for the quarter ended June jumped 23.42% from a year earlier, while operating profit soared 1,458.2%.

    The South Korean giant said robust demand for high-bandwidth as well as conventional memory, such as regular dynamic random access memory, from customers expanding AI investments contributed to the strong performance.

    For the second half, Samsung said it expects the demand from server AI to stay strong across server products including HBM, server DRAM and SSD. SSD, or solid-state drive, refers to a semiconductor-based storage device.

  • India Times ☛ Amazon: Amazon set to join Big Tech's spending surge as AI race heats up

    The e-commerce giant's capital investments - mostly for building cloud and generative AI infrastructure - is expected to have risen 43% in the second quarter to $16.41 billion, according to LSEG data. That represents a roughly $1.5 billion increase from the previous three months.

  • European Commission ☛ European Artificial Intelligence Act comes into force

    Today, the European Artificial Intelligence Act (AI Act), the world's first comprehensive regulation on artificial intelligence, enters into force. The AI Act is designed to ensure that AI developed and used in the EU is trustworthy, with safeguards to protect people's fundamental rights. The regulation aims to establish a harmonised internal market for AI in the EU, encouraging the uptake of this technology and creating a supportive environment for innovation and investment.

    The AI Act introduces a forward-looking definition of AI, based on a product safety and risk-based approach in the EU: [...]

  • Rolling Stone ☛ Hear MC5's 'Can't Be Found' Off Upcoming Posthumous Album

    More than half a century after the release of the last MC5 album, 1971’s High Time, a new album masterminded by the group’s guitarist Wayne Kramer, who died in February, will come out this fall. The record, Heavy Lifting, includes two songs that feature original MC5 drummer Dennis “Machine Gun” Thompson, who died in May, alongside guest appearances by Slash, Tom Morello, Living Colour’s Vernon Reid, and Don Was, among others.

  • [Old] Next Management Partners ☛ MC5’s Wayne Kramer: The Lost Interview - SPIN

    In a previously unpublished 2017 conversation, the late guitarist talks politics, prison reform and the legacy of one of rock's most controversial bands

  • [Old] Gannett ☛ John Sinclair in his own words: On the MC5, Detroit rock history, more

    Here are some selected excerpts from that conversation, including Sinclair's thoughts on Detroit's rock history and audiences, his work with the alternative newspaper Fifth Estate, the founding of the White Panther Party with the MC5 and more — with some barbed remarks about artists such as the Grateful Dead, Ted Nugent and Andy Warhol.

  • [Old] Far Out Mag ☛ MC5, The White Panther Party, and kicking out the jams

    As opposed to the other rockstars who were putting flowers in their hair and wasting away with folk-rock music, Wayne Kramer had started to create his brand of chaos out of Detroit. Miles away from the initial counterculture, Kramer set about making tracks with a more ferocious bent to them, taking the building blocks of old rockers like Little Richard and Chuck Berry and putting his own unique spin on them.

    Alongside the band’s development through their raucous live shows, The Black Panther movement was also becoming a dominant force in US history. Standing for racial equality, the MC5 wanted to be a part of the movement, becoming a staunch advocate for The White Panther arising out of Detroit.

  • Techdirt ☛ Ding Dong KOSA’s Dead (For Now)

    Still, with the GOP killing it, it sounds like Senator Rand Paul’s really excellent letter laying out the reasons he couldn’t support the bill may have had an impact. That letter was quite clear and direct about the very real problems with the bill, and presented them in a non-partisan, non-culture war fashion. Once again, a portion of the letter: [...]

  • Common Dreams ☛ KOSA is advancing in the Senate. It still makes kids less safe.

    The controversial Kids Online Safety Act passed out of the Senate today by a vote of 91-3. As the vote was taking place, a group of human rights, LGBTQ+, and civil liberties experts held a virtual press conference to discuss the longstanding issues with the bill, how passing it would be a major handout to Big Tech, and why the House must reject it.

  • Scoop News Group ☛ CISA names Lisa Einstein as its first chief AI officer

    A Stanford and Princeton graduate who joined CISA in 2022 as executive director of its Cybersecurity Advisory Committee, Einstein will assume the CAIO role at a time when the agency is attempting to leverage the technology to advance cyber defenses and more effectively support critical infrastructure owners and operators.

  • Kansas Reflector ☛ Trump insults Harris, makes false claims, quarrels with Black journalists at conference

    Through the roughly 35-minute combative event, the former president rarely answered questions, lied and exaggerated, attacked Harris, the likely Democratic presidential nominee, and criticized one of the Black journalists interviewing him, ABC News correspondent Rachel Scott.

• Censorship/Free Speech

  • EFF ☛ Broad Scope Will Authorize Cross-Border Spying for Acts of Expression: Why You Should Oppose Draft UN Cybercrime Treaty

    It is crucial to exclude such overreach from the scope of the treaty to genuinely protect human rights and ensure comprehensive mandatory safeguards to prevent abuse. Additionally, the definition of serious crimes must be revised to include those involving death, injury, or other grave harms to further limit the scope of the treaty.

    For a more in-depth discussion about the flawed treaty, read here, here, and here.

  • EFF ☛ Victory! D.C. Circuit Rules in Favor of Animal Rights Activists Censored on Government Social Media Pages

    People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) sued the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in 2021, arguing that the agency unconstitutionally blocked their comments opposing animal testing in scientific research on the agency’s Facebook and Instagram pages. (NIH provides funding for research that involves testing on animals.)

  • RFERL ☛ 'Foreign Agent' Law Goes Into Effect In Georgia, Despite Constitutional Challenges

    Tens of thousands of Georgians braved a brutal crackdown and violent retaliation to demonstrate against the slightly reworded bill in mid-April, whose aim and effect have been likened to decade-old legislation in Russia that has contributed to a fierce clampdown on independent media and public dissent.

  • Common Dreams ☛ ACLU Slams Senate Passage of Kids Online Safety Act, Urges House to Protect Free Speech

    The Senate today passed the Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA), which would violate the First Amendment by enabling the federal government to dictate what information people can access online and encourage social media platforms to censor protected speech. The House of Representatives must vote no on this dangerous legislation.

    “KOSA compounds nationwide attacks on young peoples’ right to learn and access information, on and offline,” said Jenna Leventoff, senior policy counsel at the ACLU. “As state legislatures and school boards across the country impose book bans and classroom censorship laws, the last thing students and parents need is another act of government censorship deciding which educational resources are appropriate for their families. The House must block this dangerous bill before it’s too late.”

• Freedom of Information / Freedom of the Press

  • France24 ☛ Evan Gershkovich, the Wall Street Journal reporter who became the story

    Evan Gershkovich, a Wall Street Journal reporter sentenced to 16 years in Russia on disputed espionage charges, was released Thursday in a major multinational prisoner swap after spending more than a year behind bars. Originally from Russia, the journalist returned in 2017 to the country of his parents, Soviet Jews who fled the USSR in the late 1970s, to report on anything from environmental disasters to the repression of the opposition during the Covid pandemic.

  • VOA News ☛ Advocates sound alarm over Kosovo’s new media law

    The new law seeks to license online media, give the Independent Media Commission, or IMC, power to monitor news websites, and increase the number of politically appointed members of the body, which is responsible for the regulation, management and oversight of the broadcasting frequency spectrum in the Republic of Kosovo.

    The law includes hefty fines for the media that violate the law, ranging from $215 to $43,000. However, the legislation does not provide details of how the fines will be applied, according to the Media Freedom Rapid Response, which monitors conditions for the media.

  • VOA News ☛ How Russia swap happened: Secret talks, a hitman and Biden's fateful call

    But it also meant, say U.S. officials, leaning hard on European allies reluctant to give in to Moscow's demands for getting back a string of Russian citizens imprisoned in the West for serious crimes.

  • Atlantic Council ☛ Experts react: What to know about the release of Evan Gershkovich and others held by Russia

    Two constants drove this deal. The first is Putin’s great interest in securing the release of Russian spies and provocateurs captured and jailed in the West. When he succeeded in trading American basketball player Brittney Griner for Viktor Bout with the United States in December 2022, Putin’s highest priority became the release of Krasikov from Germany. When Putin gave up Griner, he still had Whelan as a hostage for future trades with the United States. Then he added Gershkovich in March 2023 for additional trade bait and Kurmasheva this past spring. The second constant is the Biden administration’s interest in securing the release of all Americans unfairly detained by Moscow. After the Griner-Bout exchange, US efforts to secure the freedom of Whelan and then Gershkovich foundered on the refusal of Germany to include Krasikov—Putin’s prime objective—in any trade.

  • Marcy Wheeler ☛ Biden Administration Negotiates Release of Evan Gershkovich and Others

    As many outlets have been reporting since dawn my time, there has been a massive prisoner exchange between the US, Russia, and five European allies.

  • JURIST ☛ WSJ reporter Evan Gershkovich among high-profile political detainees freed in US-Russia prisoner swap — Updated

    Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, former Marine Paul Whelan, and several other high-profile detainees were released into US custody on Thursday in the largest prisoner exchange between Washington and Moscow since the Cold War.

  • The Atlantic ☛ The Real Trade-Off With Russia

    The deal is in many ways the fruit of years-long negotiations involving multiple countries, but it really came unstuck last month, says Christo Grozev, a researcher who tracks Russian intelligence operations. And according to advocates, the swap includes a few of Russia’s domestic political prisoners, to be released alongside the foreign hostages. In return for all of them, Russia is expected to recover a contract murderer and a Russian couple caught spying in Europe, among other detainees abroad.

    “It’s all very bittersweet,” Grozev told me yesterday: Political prisoners and foreign hostages were to be freed, but President Vladimir Putin will have incentive to continue amassing “swap capital” by taking hostages for future trades.

  • The Hill ☛ Imprisoned American journalists become pawns of the Russian government

    Russia’s hostage-taking of American journalists is an insult to the United States, of course, but also an affront to the civilized world generally. Kurmasheva and Gershkovich are not genuine threats to the Russian government or its war effort in Ukraine. Their seizure is an obvious attempt to intimidate journalists broadly, not to mention internal activists who might support the free flow of information. This heinous practice violates the fundamental principle of human dignity, which is obviously of little concern to Russian authorities.

  • Brattleboro Reformer, Vermont ☛ Russia frees US reporter in huge prisoner swap with West | National | reformer.com

    The group also included Whelan, who was detained in 2018 and had previously complained of being abandoned by Washington, and another American journalist, Alsu Kurmasheva.

  • NPR ☛ From the Cold War to Evan Gershkovich: a new twist in U.S.-Russia prisoner swaps

    But there's still a broad consensus on the need to keep lines of communication open to deal with issues like prisoner swaps or potential military confrontations.

    "Throughout the Cold War, there was a communication mechanism," said Costa. "There can be unintended consequences of putting U.S. military forces close to Russian military forces. So it's absolutely crucial that those channels of communication remain open."

  • The Guardian UK ☛ Russia frees Evan Gershkovich and others in biggest prisoner swap since cold war

    Gershkovich was arrested in March 2023 while reporting in the city of Ekaterinburg and was sentenced to 16 years in prison for espionage last month. He pleaded not guilty and the Wall Street Journal and the US government have dismissed the charges as nonsense.

    Many observers have linked the initial Gershkovich arrest to a Russian policy that amounts to hostage-taking, with a view to increasing pressure on western countries to release Russian spies, hackers and assassins.

  • RFERL ☛ Kurmasheva, Gershkovich, Whelan, Kara-Murza Among Historic U.S.-Russia Prisoner Swap

    Russia, the United States, and several other countries have undertaken the largest prisoner swap since the end of the Cold War, with 16 people -- including RFE/RL journalist Alsu Kurmasheva, Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, and Michigan corporate security executive Paul Whelan -- being released from Russian and Belarusian prisons after being convicted on charges all three vehemently denied, while eight Russians will return home.

  • France24 ☛ US journalist Gershkovich among 26 freed in Russia prisoner deal with West

    The trade followed years of secretive back-channel negotiations despite relations between Washington and Moscow being at their lowest point since the Cold War after Russian President Vladimir Putin’s February 2022 invasion of Ukraine.

  • Los Angeles Times ☛ Evan Gershkovich, Paul Whelan released in U.S., Russia prisoner swap

    Under the deal — one of the largest prisoner exchanges between Russia and the West since the Cold War — Gershkovich and Whelan were freed in exchange for Russians including Vadim Krasikov, who was serving a life sentence in Germany for the killing of Zelimkhan “Tornike” Khangoshvili.

  • US News And World Report ☛ Evan Gershkovich, the Russia Reporter Who Became the Story

    Evan Gershkovich landed what he told friends he regarded as a dream assignment in Moscow in 2022 - reporting for a famous newspaper on one of the world's top stories, at the age of just 31.

    But the new job turned into a hellish ordeal when Gershkovich became the first American journalist since the Cold War to be arrested in Russia with investigators accusing him of collecting sensitive military information for the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency, a charge he and his employer denied.

  • The Hill ☛ Evan Gershkovich, Paul Whelan freed from Russian prisons

    The Biden administration, press freedom groups and Gershkovich’s employer had all called for his release and dismissed the charges as fabricated.

    Biden had previously said he was willing to agree to a prisoner swap in order to free Gershkovich, a tactic he had used before to secure the release of Griner in exchange for Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout — known as the “Merchant of Death.”

  • Brattleboro Reformer, Vermont ☛ Evan Gershkovich: daring US journalist whose arrest shook US-Russia ties

    Russia provided no public evidence for the charges, saying only that Gershkovich spied on a tank factory in the Urals region and was working for the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).

    The Wall Street Journal dismissed the accusation as bogus, saying he was arrested for "simply doing his job".

• Civil Rights/Policing

  • Digital Music News ☛ D.C. Attorney General Sues StubHub, Alleging Deceptive Pricing Practices: ‘StubHub Intentionally Hides the True Price to Boost Profits’

    The Washington, D.C. Attorney General is suing StubHub with allegations of deceptive advertising and unfair pricing. Washington, D.C. Attorney General Brian Schwalb has sued online ticketing platform StubHub on Wednesday, July 31, alleging unfair pricing and deceptive advertising.

  • Digital Music News ☛ The 1975 Faces $2.4 Million Lawsuit From Malaysian Festival Over On-Stage Kiss

    The organizer of Malaysia’s Good Vibes Festival sues the 1975 for Matty Healy’s on-stage kiss last summer in protest of the country’s anti-LGBTQ laws.

  • Press Gazette ☛ Huw Edwards admits having indecent images of children

    Seven of the images were of the most serious type.

  • EFF ☛ Atlanta Police Must Stop High-Tech Spying on Political Movements

    The Atlanta Police Department has been snooping on social media to closely monitor the meetings, protests, canvassing–even book clubs and pizza parties–of the political movement to stop “Cop City,” a police training center that would destroy part of an urban forest. Activists already believed they were likely under surveillance by the Atlanta Police Department due to evidence in criminal cases brought against them, but the extent of the monitoring has only just been revealed. The Brennan Center for Justice has obtained and released over 2,000 pages of emails from inside the Atlanta Police Department chronicling how closely they were watching the social media of the movement.

  • Hong Kong Free Press ☛ China sanctions US Democrat Jim McGovern over Tibet support

    China took control of Tibet in 1951 before the Dalai Lama fled into exile in 1959.

• Internet Policy/Net Neutrality

  • AccessNow ☛ Authorities in Mauritania must #KeepItOn during presidential inauguration and beyond

    Mauritanian President El Ghazouani’s first term in office has been marred by the repeated deployment of internet shutdowns, including a disruption to mobile networks lasting more than three weeks [...]

  • AccessNow ☛ After 22 days of internet shutdown, the government of Mauritania must commit to #KeepItOn at all times

    #KeepItOn coalition urges authorities in Mauritania to take a clear stance against internet shutdowns at the start of this new term.

  • AccessNow ☛ DRAPAC and APrIGF 2024

    The Digital Rights Asia Pacific Conference (DRAPAC) 2024 August 18 – August 19 The Digital Rights Asia Pacific Conference (DRAPAC) 2024 is a pivotal gathering of digital rights advocates, policymakers,

  • APNIC ☛ When routing breaks your (open) DNS service

    If you haven’t seen it yet, this post from Cloudflare discusses a loss of service they experienced on the 1.1.1.1 open DNS service in late June. It was caused by the combination of a hijack and route leaks and the article is an excellent explainer of what route leaks and hijacks are, and how various mitigation techniques like RPKI and Remotely Triggered Black-Hole (RTBH) filtering can play, as well as newer Border Gateway Policy (BGP) features like ‘only-to-customer (OTC)’.

    The event wasn’t globally visible and while it may have affected millions of users, it was probably marginal to the total userbase Internet-wide.

  • The Verge ☛ The FCC’s net neutrality rule is blocked, again

    Net neutrality is officially on hold after the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals blocked the rule from taking effect.

    The court granted a stay, extending an earlier temporary pause. This time, net neutrality will be blocked until the court says otherwise after reviewing the petitions from broadband providers who opposed the rule. Those internet service providers (ISPs) successfully showed they would likely succeed on the merits of their challenge, the panel of judges wrote.

    “The American public wants an internet that is fast, open, and fair,” Federal Communications Commission Chair Jessica Rosenworcel said in a statement on the stay. “Today’s decision by the Sixth Circuit is a setback but we will not give up the fight for net neutrality.”

  • Reason ☛ Sixth Circuit Puts Net Neutrality Rule on Ice

    Today a panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit granted broadband providers' request for a stay of the Federal Communications Commission's rule that would classify broadband internet providers as common carriers under the Communications Act, often referred to as "net neutrality." According to the panel, the broadband providers were likely to succeed on the merits–in part due to the major questions doctrine–and this justified staying the rule pending review of their petitions. The panel consisted of Chief Judge Sutton and Judges Clay and Davis.

  • Techdirt ☛ Struggling Americans Drop Internet Access After GOP Kills Low-Income Broadband Program

    Back in March we noted how the GOP killed a popular program (the Affordable Connectivity Program, or ACP) that provided a $30 discount off of low-income users’ broadband bills. At the time, 22 million Americans were enrolled in the FCC effort to bring down broadband access prices for the most vulnerable.

    But after House leader Rep. Mike Johnson refused to let funding bills even have a vote, the program was discontinued. Now, unsurprisingly, low income users who can’t afford expensive U.S. broadband are being forced to disconnect: [...]

Monopolies/Monopsonies

• India Times ☛ Apple asks US judge to toss antitrust lawsuit

  The Justice Department, 19 states and Washington, D.C., accuse Apple of an illegal monopoly on smartphones maintained by imposing contractual restrictions on, and withholding critical access from, developers.

  In a motion filed in federal court in Newark, New Jersey, Apple argued that putting reasonable limitations on third-party developers' access to its technology did not amount to anti-competitive behavior, and forcing it to share technology with competitors would chill innovation.

• The Register UK ☛ Bring the hammer down on Nvidia, US antitrust orgs ask DoJ

  As the US Department of Justice continues mulling an antitrust probe into Nvidia, numerous advocacy groups are urging the Feds on.

  A letter [PDF] to assistant attorney general Jonathan Kanter, penned by representatives from ten nonprofit organizations, argues Nvidia should be investigated for abusive monopolistic business practices because the GPU giant is "in a position to crowd out competitors and set global pricing and the terms of trade."

• Techdirt ☛ FCC Finally Stops Prison Telecom Monopolies From Ripping Off Inmates And Their Families

  The agency said the new rules will also cut the cost of video visitation calls to less than a quarter of current prices, while requiring per-minute rate options based on consumers’ actual usage. The new rules will take effect in January of 2025 for prisons with more than 1,000 inmates, and in all smaller jails starting in April of 2025.

• Patents

  • JUVE ☛ Win for DRM spreader Netflix and Quinn Emanuel as patent monopoly court invalidates Broadcom patent

    Netflix has fought against Broadcom, previously known as Avago, over mulitple video-coding patents since 2018. The current dispute concerns Avago’s EP 2 575 366.

• Copyrights

  • Digital Music News ☛ UMG, Sony Music, Others Shift $400 Million Legal Action Against the Internet Archive Into Alternative Dispute Resolution

    Major labels shift their $400 million legal action against the Internet Archive’s Great 78 Project into alternative dispute resolution.

  • Torrent Freak ☛ Suno & Udio to RIAA: Your Music is Copyrighted, You Can't Copyright Styles

    AI music generators Suno and Udio have filed their answers in response to separate copyright lawsuits filed by the major recording labels. Penned by the same law firm, the answers have much in common and, even at this early stage, show that the RIAA has a fight on its hands. Suno and Udio are welcoming discovery, noting that the law has always permitted comparable uses of copyrighted works.

  • Techdirt ☛ First Mover Advantage Shows How Copyright Isn’t Necessary To Protect Innovative Creativity

    One of the arguments sometimes made in defense of copyright is that without it, creators would be unable to compete with the hordes of copycats that would spring up as soon as their works became popular. Copyright is needed, supporters say, to prevent less innovative creators from producing works that are closely based on new, successful ideas.

  • CBC ☛ One year after news ban, Canadian journalism is suffering — but Meta isn't budging

    Her business, Black Tartan Media, lost the ability to share its content on Meta platforms, including Facebook and Instagram, last August — along with all other news media in Canada — following the passage of C-18, known as the Online News Act.

  • Techdirt ☛ Sims 4 Updates To Include ‘Safe To Stream’ Setting Because Copyright Is Broken

    The game allows for this kind of music to be played in game, but the moment it’s done as part of a let’s play stream it suddenly becomes a problem. And while that’s all technically true as a matter of current copyright laws, what is most useful in this for our purposes is to highlight how absurd this all is. If a streamer of this game happens to have some copyrighted music playing in the background… who gets harmed? Is a musician really losing a sale due to a video game stream? Are viewers of the stream going to refuse to listen to the song on some other streaming service?

  • 404 Media ☛ Microsoft and Reddit Are Fighting About Why Bing’s Crawler Is Blocked on Reddit

    Reddit, which now demands payment from anyone crawling the site and using its data to train AI products, claims that Bing’s crawler is being used to power AI products. Microsoft claims it has made it easy for any site to block its crawler that’s used for AI products, while still allowing a crawler that is only used for search results, and that Reddit’s decision to block Bing is “impacting competition” in the search engine space.

  • CoryDoctorow ☛ Pluralistic: Why is this Canadian university scared of you seeing its Privacy Impact Assessment?

    But here's the thing: before Streisand's lawsuit, Image 3850 had only been viewed six times. After she filed the case, another 420,000 people downloaded that image. Not only did Streisand lose her suit (disastrously so – she was ordered to pay the defendants' lawyers $177,000 in fees), but she catastrophically failed in her goal of keeping this boring, obscure photo from being seen: