Leftovers

• Education

  • CS Monitor ☛ Tutoring is getting kids excited about school. Educators want to make it permanent.

    Tutoring emerged as a leading strategy to mitigate pandemic-related learning loss. Now, evidence suggests it’s helping reduce absenteeism as well.

• Health/Nutrition/Agriculture

  • Science Alert ☛ Common Blood Pressure Drug Extends Lifespan And Slows Aging in Animals

    The potential is immense.

  • The Strategist ☛ Biosecurity for food security

    This week is Australia’s inaugural National Biosecurity Week (NBW).

  • Defence Web ☛ SAPS intercepts convoy carrying R1 million in Illicit cigarettes

    Officers of the Limpopo Provincial Flying Squad have intercepted a convoy of five “high-powered vehicles” loaded with illicit cigarettes, and following a high-speed pursuit, apprehended three suspects, and seized illicit cigarettes worth over R1 million.

  • US News And World Report ☛ 2024-08-23 [Older] Cholera Spreads as Sudan Grapples With Rains and Displacement

  • US News And World Report ☛ 2024-08-25 [Older] Rapper Macklemore Cancels Dubai Show to Protest UAE Role in Sudan War

  • US News And World Report ☛ 2024-08-26 [Older] Most Americans Unsure How to Help Someone in Opioid Overdose

• Proprietary/Artificial Intelligence (AI)

  • AccessNow ☛ Access Now’s statement on French authorities’ detention of Telegram CEO Pavel Durov

    Access Now, Article 19, and EFF urge the EU Commission to let their enforcement work be guided by evidence rather than political sentiment.

  • Craig Murray ☛ Pavel Durov and the Abuse of Law

    The detention of Pavel Durov is being portrayed as a result of the EU Digital Services Act. But having spent my day reading the EU Services Act (a task I would not wish upon my worst enemy), it does not appear to me to say what it is being portrayed as saying.

• Security

  • Privacy/Surveillance

    • CS Monitor ☛ UK’s fight against far-right hate goes online, but does it go too far?

      To stop far-right rioting, the U.K. is looking to stamp out the sort of online activity that fostered the violence. But the legislation that the government might use is under fire for being both too weak and overboard.

    • Bruce Schneier ☛ The Present and Future of TV Surveillance

      Ars Technica has a good article on what’s happening in the world of television surveillance. More than even I realized.

    • JURIST ☛ Netherlands data protection authority fines Uber €290M for violating EU data regulation

      The Data Protection Agency (DPA) of the Netherlands fined Uber 290 million euros on Monday for violating the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) by storing the personal data of European taxi drivers on US servers.

    • EFF ☛ Backyard Privacy in the Age of Drones

      Police departments and law enforcement agencies are increasingly collecting personal information using drones, also known as unmanned aerial vehicles. In addition to high-resolution photographic and video cameras, police drones may be equipped with myriad spying payloads, such as live-video transmitters, thermal imaging, heat sensors, mapping technology, automated license plate readers, cell site simulators, cell phone signal interceptors and other technologies. Captured data can later be scrutinized with backend software tools like license plate readers and face recognition technology. There have even been proposals for law enforcement to attach lethal and less-lethal weapons to drones and robots. 

      Over the past decade or so, police drone use has dramatically expanded. The Electronic Frontier Foundation’s Atlas of Surveillance lists more than 1500 law enforcement agencies across the US that have been reported to employ drones. The result is that backyards, which are part of the constitutionally protected curtilage of a home, are frequently being captured, either intentionally or incidentally. In grappling with the legal implications of this phenomenon, we are confronted by a pair of U.S. Supreme Court cases from the 1980s: California v. Ciraolo and Florida v. Riley. There, the Supreme Court ruled that warrantless aerial surveillance conducted by law enforcement in low-flying manned aircrafts did not violate the Fourth Amendment because there was no reasonable expectation of privacy from what was visible from the sky. Although there are fundamental differences between surveillance by manned aircrafts and drones, some courts have extended the analysis to situations involving drones, shutting the door to federal constitution challenges.

      Yet, Americans, legislators, and even judges, have long voiced serious worries with the threat of rampant and unchecked aerial surveillance. A couple of years ago, the Fourth Circuit found in Leaders of a Beautiful Struggle v. Baltimore Police Department that a mass aerial surveillance program (using manned aircrafts) covering most of the city violated the Fourth Amendment. The exponential surge in police drone use has only heightened the privacy concerns underpinning that and similar decisions. Unlike the manned aircrafts in Ciraolo and Riley, drones can silently and unobtrusively gather an immense amount of data at only a tiny fraction of the cost of traditional aircrafts. Additionally, drones are smaller and easier to operate and can get into spaces—such as under eaves or between buildings—that planes and helicopters can never enter. And the noise created by manned airplanes and helicopters effectively functions as notice to those who are being watched, whereas drones can easily record information surreptitiously.

    • The Age AU ☛ 2024-08-25 [Older] ‘It doesn’t run out of battery’: How close are we to a cashless economy?

• Defence/Aggression

  • The Strategist ☛ South Korea’s impressive force of cruise and ballistic missiles

    South Korea’s force of indigenously developed ballistic and cruise missiles may be the most underappreciated set of weaponry in Asia.

  • The Strategist ☛ Like the US, Australia remains badly unprepared for drone threats

    Prominent security failures have demonstrated that even nations regarded as the most well-equipped to handle domestic threats are wildly unprepared to deal with drones as tools of surveillance and direct attack.

  • Hong Kong Free Press ☛ Jury begins deliberations in landmark UN anti-terrorism trial of 7 Hongkongers accused of 2019 bomb plot

    The jury in the trial of seven Hongkongers over an alleged bomb plot to kill police officers during the 2019 protests and unrest has begun deliberating their verdict.

  • New Yorker ☛ The Haditha Massacre Photos That the Military Didn’t Want the World to See

    When U.S. Marines killed twenty-four people in an Iraqi town, they also recorded the aftermath of their actions. For years, the military tried to keep these photos from the public.

  • Hong Kong Free Press ☛ China’s top diplomat Wang Yi meets US national security official Jake Sullivan for talks in Beijing

    By Oliver Hotham US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan and China’s top diplomat Wang Yi said on Tuesday they were hoping for productive talks as they met in Beijing.

  • CBC ☛ 2024-08-22 [Older] Are you very demure? How to be very mindful of the latest TikTok trend taking over the internet [Ed: Harmful of mindful?]

  • US News And World Report ☛ 2024-08-23 [Older] Are 'Bed Rotting' and Other TikTok Sleep Trends Good for You?

  • Atlantic Council ☛ How the Israeli intelligence community got its mojo back

    Israel’s recent preemptive strikes against Hezbollah targets helped avert a wider war and showed how Israeli intelligence has bounced back from the failures of October 7.

  • New York Times ☛ Hostage Rescued in Gaza as Israeli Airstrikes Kill Scores of Palestinians

    A Bedouin Arab citizen of Israel was rescued after Israeli commandos found him alone in an underground warren, apparently abandoned by his captors.

  • New York Times ☛ Israel launches a deadly airstrike in the West Bank, and other news.

  • France24 ☛ 🔴Live: Israeli army says launches operation in West Bank

    Israeli security forces have launched an operation in the north of the occupied West Bank, a military spokesman said early Wednesday, with the Palestinian health ministry reporting two deaths in the city of Jenin.

  • France24 ☛ US national security adviser arrives in Beijing for 'substantive' talks with China's top diplomat

    Top officials from China and the US said they were hoping for productive talks as US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan arrived in Beijing to meet with Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi. A senior US official said that the talks would include discussions on the disputed South China Sea and ongoing tensions around Taiwan.

  • Russia, Belarus, and War in Ukraine

    • CPJ ☛ 2024-08-27 [Older] Reuters safety adviser killed, 3 journalists injured in Ukraine

    • Jacobin Magazine ☛ 2024-08-27 [Older] In Russia, They Don’t Read Lenin Anymore

    • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2024-08-27 [Older] Russia's FSB launches criminal case against DW reporter

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2024-08-27 [Older] Slovakia Cancels Protection for Man Accused of Running Pro-Russia Website

    • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2024-08-27 [Older] Russia’s drone attacks target civilians in Ukraine

    • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2024-08-27 [Older] Ukraine updates: Kyiv says 600 Russian soldiers captured in Kursk

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2024-08-27 [Older] Explainer-Why Is Russia Seeking to Capture the Strategic City of Pokrovsk in Eastern Ukraine?

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2024-08-27 [Older] IAEA Chief Warns of Risk of Nuclear Accident at Russian Plant in Kursk Region

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2024-08-27 [Older] Russia Warns the United States of the Risks of World War Three

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2024-08-26 [Older] Russian Electronics Retailer M.Video Reports 13% Rise in First-Half Volumes

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2024-08-27 [Older] Ukraine's Zelenskiy to Present Plan to Biden to End War With Russia

    • CBC ☛ 2024-08-26 [Older] At least 4 killed in wide-ranging Russian attack on Ukraine

    • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2024-08-26 [Older] Ukraine updates: 4 dead as Russia pummels power grid

    • Atlantic Council ☛ Putin hopes Belarus border bluff can disrupt Ukraine’s invasion of Russia

      With his overstretched army struggling to repel Ukraine's invasion of Russia, Vladimir Putin has pressed Belarusian dictator Alyaksandr Lukashenka to mass troops on the Ukrainian border, but Belarus is unlikely to join the war, writes Peter Dickinson.

    • Latvia ☛ Russian residents surprised Ukraine came but apathetic about Putin's war

      A Latvian Television crew has gained exclusive access to parts of southern Russia where Ukrainian forces have taken control in response to the unprovoked Russian invasion of Ukraine.

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2024-08-26 [Older] Poland Says Drone Likely Entered Its Airspace During Russian Attack on Ukraine

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2024-08-26 [Older] Russia Says It Disrupted Ukraine's Power Network and Arms Supplies With Massive Strike

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2024-08-26 [Older] Russia Says It Pummelled Ukrainian Forces Along the Kursk Front

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2024-08-26 [Older] Russia Skips UN Meeting Pledging Respect for Humanitarian Law

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2024-08-26 [Older] Seven Injured in Fire at Russia's Omsk Oil Refinery, Production Continues

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2024-08-26 [Older] Russia's Wagner Says It Is Not Fighting in Ukraine

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2024-08-26 [Older] Russia's Deadly Overnight Barrage of Missiles and Drones Hits Over Half of Ukraine, Officials Say

    • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2024-08-25 [Older] Ukraine updates: Russia says several killed in Belgorod

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2024-08-25 [Older] China Opposes US Sanctions on Firms Over Alleged Ties to Russia's War Efforts

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2024-08-25 [Older] Five Civilians Die in Ukraine's Shelling of Russia's Belgorod Region, Governor Says

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2024-08-25 [Older] 5 People Die in Shelling of a Russian Border Region While Russian Fire Hits a Hotel With Reporters

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2024-08-25 [Older] Mudslide in Thailand's Phuket Kills 13, Including 2 Russians, Official Says

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2024-08-25 [Older] Russian Attacks on Ukraine Kill 4 and Injure 37, Local Authorities Say

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2024-08-25 [Older] Russian Lawmaker Butina Says Arrest of Durov Means Freedom of Speech Is 'Dead' in Europe

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2024-08-25 [Older] Russia Sends More Artillery to Troops Fighting Ukraine in Kursk

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2024-08-25 [Older] Russia's Medvedev Says Durov Miscalculated by Fleeing Russia

    • CBC ☛ 2024-08-24 [Older] Ukraine and Russia swap more than 100 prisoners

    • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2024-08-24 [Older] Could Ukraine get Berlin’s abandoned 'Russian houses'?

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2024-08-24 [Older] Russia Declares Emergency in Part of Voronezh Region After Drone Attack

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2024-08-24 [Older] Russian Attack Kills Five People in Eastern Ukraine Town, Governor Says

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2024-08-24 [Older] Russia, Ukraine Swap 115 Prisoners Each

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2024-08-24 [Older] Ukraine Marks 33rd Independence Day Anniversary as War Against Russia Reaches 30-Month Milestone

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2024-08-24 [Older] Ukraine's Zelenskiy Signs Anti-Russia Laws to Mark Independence Day

    • Defence Web ☛ 2024-08-23 [Older] Machinery not working properly cited for SAN frigate not going to Russia

    • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2024-08-23 [Older] Why is India's Modi visiting Ukraine after Russia?

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2024-08-23 [Older] Islamist Prisoners Slash Guards, Seize Hostages in Russian Jail

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2024-08-23 [Older] Russia Accuses Ukraine of Trying to Attack Kursk Nuclear Power Plant With Drone

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2024-08-23 [Older] Russian Court Sentences Five Men for Anti-Israel Riots at Dagestan Airport

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2024-08-23 [Older] Russia Suspends Ferry Service to Crimea After Ukrainian Port Attack

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2024-08-23 [Older] Ukraine Says It Has Recaptured Land in the Kharkiv Region, Reversing Some Russian Gains There

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2024-08-23 [Older] Ukraine's Navy Says It Destroyed Russian Ferry in Attack

    • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2024-08-22 [Older] How Russia is recruiting foreigners to fight in Ukraine

    • Truthdig ☛ 2024-08-21 [Older] The Dangers of Ukraine’s Advance Into Russia

• Environment

  • Energy/Transportation

    • Zimbabwe ☛ Realme retakes fast-charging crown with 320W – top up phone in only 4 minutes, 30 seconds

      Have you ever tried using the very first iPhone in 2024? Or any of the Android phones that came out around that time? They are unusable.

  • Wildlife/Nature

    • Latvia ☛ Tirza residents stand up for their apple trees

      Residents of the village of Tirza are protesting against the planned felling of more than 20 apple trees as part of road improvement works.

• Finance

  • Atlantic Council ☛ Going for gold: Does the dollar’s declining share in global reserves matter?

    If gold—which has recently experienced a surge in purchases by many global central banks—is included in reserve asset portfolios, the share of the US dollar is smaller than what the IMF has highlighted.

  • More economic pain and hardship isn’t what people voted for, says Carla Denyer

    Responding to Keir Starmer’s speech in which he said that the Labour government has inherited a £22bn black hole in the nation’s finances, as well as a “societal black hole”, co-leader of the Green Party Carla Denyer MP said: “Enduring more economic pain and hardship isn’t what people voted for.

  • The Age AU ☛ 2024-08-26 [Older] Should big super get involved in tackling housing affordability?

  • Amazon's Blue Protocol Devs Will Avoid Layoffs In The Wake Of MMO's Global Cancelation

    ...large corporations like Microsoft have let record amounts of talent go.

• AstroTurf/Lobbying/Politics

  • New York Times ☛ Why Some Young, Undecided Voters Changed Their Minds About Kamala Harris After Her Speech

    They were skeptical and even suspicious of Ms. Harris before the convention. Her speech shifted some of their thinking.

  • New York Times ☛ Kamala Harris and Tim Walz Interview to Air on CNN on Thursday

    The joint interview, airing at 9 p.m. Eastern, is the first time the vice president will face sustained questions from a journalist since President Biden withdrew from the race.

  • Hong Kong Free Press ☛ Hong Kong 47: Ex-district councillor says ‘no remorse’ over joining primaries at centre of national security case

    The first defendant in a landmark national security case to represent himself in mitigation has admitted to having “no remorse” over participating in a primary election that judges ruled could cause a “constitutional crisis.”

• Censorship/Free Speech

  • AccessNow ☛ #KeepItOn in Venezuela: Maduro must end his regime’s assault on free speech

    Access Now and the #KeepItOn coalition are demanding the Nicolás Maduro regime stop imposing internet shutdowns and other human rights abuses in Venezuela in response to protests relating to the presidential election.

  • AccessNow ☛ Maduro must #KeepItOn in times of protest and unrest

    Access Now and the #KeepItOn coalition demand that the Nicolás Maduro regime stop imposing internet shutdowns and blocking essential communications platforms in Venezuela.

  • AccessNow ☛ Africa in 2023: internet shutdowns attack democracy

    Content note: The following post contains references to violence and war crimes. By almost every measure, 2023 was the worst year of internet shutdowns on record.

• Civil Rights/Policing

  • France24 ☛ French rugby players' rape accuser survives suicide attempt, says lawyer

    The Argentinian woman who accused two French rugby players of raping her attempted suicide on Friday and is undergoing "intensive treatment". She will not be present on Tuesday at the court hearing her lawyer said. The rugby players intend to file a request for dismissal of the case in order to obtain their return to France.

  • Chronicle Of Higher Education ☛ Academic Boycotts Hurt Dissidents Most

    An Eastern European scholar says the AAUP's new policy is a mistake.

• Internet Policy/Net Neutrality

  • APNIC ☛ Ipurangi Aotearoa’s (InternetNZ’s) recent work in digital inclusion

    Guest Post: How InternetNZ’s infrastructure supports digital inclusion.

Monopolies/Monopsonies

• Patents

  • Dennis Crouch/Patently-O ☛ Amarin Seeks En Banc Review in Skinny Label Inducement

    by Dennis Crouch

    Hikma’s recent petition for rehearing en banc against Amarin asks the Federal Circuit to reconsider its “skinny label” jurisprudence.  Amarin Pharma Inc. v. Hikma Pharmaceuticals USA Inc., 23-1169 (Fed. Cir. 2024)

    These cases typically involve the following scenario: [...]

  • Unified Patents ☛ MDSP Technologies navigation patent monopoly found invalid

    On August 26, 2024, the Central Reexamination Unit (CRU) issued a notice of intent to issue a reexamination certificate cancelling all claims of U.S. Patent 9,239,376, owned and asserted by MDSP Technologies LLC. The ‘376 patent monopoly relates to determining the position and acceleration of a mobile device using doppler aided inertial navigation.

  • JUVE ☛ Licensing deal between Acer and Sisvel ends litigation [Ed: Sisvel is a disgusting parasite and it's quite revealing that JUVE fails to describe it as such]

    In July 2022, non-practising entity Sisvel announced the launch of a new Wifi 6 patent monopoly pool, with Chinese telecommunication company Huawei and Dutch company Philips among the first to join. In the meantime, the patent monopoly pool has grown to eight members.

  • Dennis Crouch/Patently-O ☛ Eye-Opening Verdict: Lashify’s Patent Win Curls Industry Expectations

    This week a unanimous jury in Judge Albright’s W.D.Tex. courtroom filled out a very simple verdict form that favored the patentee Lashify over the accused infringer Worldbeauty, who sells drugstore lashes: [...]

• Trademarks

  • TTAB Blog ☛ EAGLE PARK DISTILLING for Alcoholic Beverages Not Confusable with EAGLE RARE for Bourbon Whiskey, Says TTAB

    In a 50-page opinion, the Board dismissed this opposition to registration of the marks EAGLE PARK DISTILLING for "distilled spirits; alcoholic beverages, except beer," and EAGLE PARK BREWING COMPANY for "alcoholic beverages, namely beer," finding confusion unlikely with Sazerac's registered marks EAGLE RARE for "bourbon whiskey" and the design mark shown below for "whiskey." The dissimilarity of the marks underpinned the dismissal as to the first challenged mark and, combined with the lack of proof of relatedness of beer and whiskey, also underpinned the dismissal as to the second mark. Sazerac Brands, LLC v. Eagle Trace Brewing Company LLC, Opposition No. 91272260 (August 22, 2024) [not precedential] (Opinion by Judge Mark Lebow).

• Copyrights

  • The Local DK ☛ 2024-08-27 [Older] Danish court acquits Google in job website's copyright case