Leftovers

• Matt Birchler ☛ Why do these YouTubers keep talking about video editing?

  I think a few things are going on here. One, people underestimate how hard it is to review products well, and they do value reviewers who have done a ton of them to hone their craft, even if they don’t realize it. These experienced critics are able to figure out what to talk about and what people are going to be interested in, which is not something that comes naturally to almost anyone. Go ask your significant other or a non-techie friend to review their current laptop and see if they hit all the points you'd want to know as a buyer. I'm guessing they won't. It might be interesting and even useful feedback, but I'd be shocked if they dig into the data and comparisons you want from a formal review.

• Science

  • Society for Scholarly Publishing ☛ Guest Post - Is AI the Answer to Peer Review Problems, or the Problem Itself? - The Scholarly Kitchen

    Peer review, a process popularized during the post-war expansion of academic journals publishing, is struggling to keep up with the sheer volume of research we publish today. A process that worked for getting two or three suitably qualified peers to pass judgement and suggest improvements on a worldwide output of 100,000 papers in the late 1950s is, unsurprisingly, struggling as we have now surpassed the five million annual published papers mark.

    Given that each paper is typically reviewed by at least two reviewers (and more for papers that are rejected and resubmitted elsewhere), then each and every one of the estimated eight to nine million active researchers in the world could be expected to provide at least one peer review report each year. Which sounds manageable, but of course only a fraction of all researchers are asked to review, compounding the problem on the shoulders of active reviewers who get invitations to review every few weeks (if not every few days). This is not only unfair to those reviewers, but inequitable in terms of the lack of opportunity for those who are not invited.

  • The Register UK ☛ Scientists demonstrate X-rays for asteroid defense

    The researchers said the technique, which involves using a powerful X-ray pulse to vaporize a chunk of the asteroid's surface, could potentially be used for future planetary defense missions.

  • Science Alert ☛ Scientists Found a Slime Mold Algorithm, And Asked It to Build a Universe

    Computers truly are wonderful things and powerful but only if they are programmed by a skillful mind. Check this out… there is an algorithm that mimics the growth of slime mold, but a team of researchers has adapted it to model the large-scale structure of the Universe.

• Education

  • Phil Eaton ☛ Be someone who does things

    I meet so many people who say they want to do things. And I ask them what they're doing to get there and they get flustered. This is completely understandable.

  • Robert Birming ☛ The Right Way to Be Wrong

    Often, when we make mistakes, it's partly because someone else taught us wrong from the beginning. So, it's not just our own ego we're trying to protect but others as well. An impossible mission where the only thing that will self-destruct is ourselves.

  • Aaron Aiken ☛ nostalgic for the office

    Part of my day-to-day is continuing to do some I.T. Consulting. I resigned last October so that I could focus on my leather business but have stayed on for a few hours each week to assist with routine type tasks.

  • Stan Bright ☛ Time spent programming is often time well spent

    I think that there are three main reasons why time spent programming is well spent and joyful (when you are not dealing with “bugs”).

• Hardware

  • Nicolas Cropp ☛ My tiny toolkit for tiny problems

    I'll go through them from left to right, each with its own dedicated little section. All titles are clickable with a link to the store or manufacturer page for each tool.

• Health/Nutrition/Agriculture

  • Chris ☛ How Often Does a Child Get Sick?

    Perhaps surprisingly, the pre-exposed child has been sick more frequently than the isolated one!

  • Kevin Wammer ☛ My new gym plan (aka I'm a hybrid athlete now)

    So far, my routine followed a Push, Pull, Leg, Upper, Lower system. Now, I'm removing two hypertrophy-focused sessions (Upper, Lower) and instead adding one purely strength-based one, one for Zone 2 cardio, and one for Zone 3 cardio.

  • Lou Plummer ☛ Using the Mute Button on Social Media

    Like any sane person in the modern age, I try my best to curate an online experience that doesn't stress me out, bore me or waste my time. Thankfully most of the web sites where I spend my precious leisure time have all the tools I need to do that, not that I am that picky.

  • The Guardian UK ☛ A bored child is not a parenting failure. Teach them to shrug off the learned helplessness of boredom

    Lawrence argues that kids know when they’re being lied to, so it’s best to be honest and direct. Instead of “The world is a wondrous and interesting place”, try “Life isn’t always interesting – learn to entertain yourself”.

    Studies suggest that boredom is good for our mental health, as disengagement from external activity or stimulus gives the brain a chance to reset.

• Proprietary/Artificial Intelligence (AI)

  • GeekWire ☛ F5 layoffs impact in-house content creation employees

    F5 is laying off employees working for the company’s marketing-related content production team, GeekWire has learned.

    The Seattle-based company confirmed the cuts, and said they impacted less than 0.25% of its workforce. F5 has about 6,500 employees worldwide.

    F5 is shifting marketing resources and will rely more heavily on agencies for creative and content needs.

  • EFF ☛ EFF to Federal Trial Court: Section 230’s Little-Known Third Immunity for User-Empowerment Tools Covers Unfollow Everything 2.0

    This type of tool would greatly benefit Facebook users who want more control over their Facebook experience. The unfollowing process is tedious: you must go profile by profile—but automation makes this process a breeze. Unfollowing all friends, groups, and pages makes the News Feed blank, but this allows you to curate your News Feed by refollowing people and organizations you want regular updates on. Importantly, unfollowing isn’t the same thing as unfriending—unfollowing takes your friends’ content out of your News Feed, but you’re still connected to them and can proactively navigate to their profiles.

  • The Register UK ☛ Cloudflare reins in AI scraper bots with new Audit panel

    Cloudflare is now upgrading its arsenal with an AI Audit control panel.

    The idea is to provide customers with analytics data about crawlers that harvest data for AI training and inference so better decisions can be made about whether to embrace the bots or turn them away.

  • The Register UK ☛ 10 security bugs put fuel storage tanks at risk of attacks

    Automatic Tank Gauges (ATGs) are used to monitor fuel levels in storage tanks and ensure that the tanks don't leak. The ten CVEs disclosed today were found in products from several different vendors: Dover Fueling Solutions (DFS), OPW Fuel Management Systems (owned by DFS), Franklin Fueling Systems, and OMNTEC.

  • The Register UK ☛ FAA air traffic control modernization efforts are a mess

    In a report released Monday, the GAO said that 51 of the FAA's 138 ATC systems – more than a third – were unsustainable due to a lack of parts, shortfalls in funding to sustain them, or a lack of technology refresh funding to replace them. A further 54 systems were described as "potentially unsustainable" for similar reasons, with the added caveat that tech refresh funding was available to them.

  • Doc Searls ☛ On Intelligence

    To sum this all up, just remember that when we talk about intelligence, we are talking about a human quality, not a quantity of anything. That machines test out better at pattern recognition than we do does not make them intelligent in a human sense. It just makes them more useful in ways that appear human but are not.

    So have all the fun you want with AI. Just remember its first name.

  • The Atlantic ☛ America Needs Better Laws for AI in Political Advertising

    Two years ago, the Biden administration issued a blueprint for an AI Bill of Rights aiming to address “unsafe or ineffective systems,” “algorithmic discrimination,” and “abusive data practices,” among other things. Then, last year, Biden built on that document when he issued his executive order on AI. Also in 2023, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer held an AI summit in Washington that included the centibillionaires Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg, and Elon Musk. Several weeks later, the United Kingdom hosted an international AI Safety Summit that led to the serious-sounding “Bletchley Declaration,” which urged international cooperation on AI regulation. The risks of AI fakery in elections have not sneaked up on anybody.

  • Bitdefender ☛ Citing security fears, Ukraine bans Telegram on government and military devices

    In an announcement on Friday, Ukraine's National Security and Defence Council (Rnbo) claimed that Telegram posed a security threat to the nation, particularly during the war between Russia and Ukraine.

    Kyrylo Budanov, Ukraine's Chief of Defence Intelligence, claimed he had "substantiated evidence" that Russia's intelligence agencies had access to the personal correspondence of Telegram's users (including deleted messages) as well as their private data.

  • India Times ☛ Will AI be a bust? A Wall Street skeptic rings the alarm

    Jim Covello, the head of stock research at Goldman Sachs, has become Wall Street's leading AI skeptic. Three months ago, he jolted markets with a research paper that challenged whether businesses would see a sufficient return on what by some estimates could be $1 trillion in AI spending in the coming years.

  • The Scotsman ☛ What is AI voice cloning scam and how does it work?

    Just because the voice on the phone may sound like your parents, children or best friend it could actually be a wolf in sheep's clothing. And if your “loved one” is suddenly asking you for money urgently and out of the blue, it could very well be a deeply insidious con.

• Entrapment (Microsoft GitHub)

  • [Old] Software Freedom Conservancy ☛ Give Up GitHub

    We know that many rely on GitHub every day. Giving up a ubiquitous, gratis service that has useful (albeit proprietary) features is perennially difficult. For software developers, giving up GitHub will be even harder than giving up Facebook! We don't blame anyone who struggles, but hope you will read the reasons and methods below to give up GitHub and join us in seeking better alternatives! Also, please check back to this page regularly, as we'll continue to update it throughout 2022 and beyond!

• Security

  • Integrity/Availability/Authenticity

    • RIPE ☛ ccTLD Phishing Characterisation

      Phishing attacks are, to this day, one of the most widespread and effective means of getting access to sensitive and financial data. A new study from the team from SIDN Labs combines more than 28,000 phishing domain names in a bid to improve detection and mitigation policies.

  • Privacy/Surveillance

    • India Times ☛ Google, Volkswagen partner on smartphone AI assistant

      The AI assistant draws on Google's Gemini large language models, programs that can understand and generate predictive responses to human language, and cloud computing capacity.

    • The Register UK ☛ Who is tracking web behavior the most? Google, obviously

      During this 12-month span, Kaspersky's DNT tool was triggered almost 39 billion times. Yes, that's billion with a b. The exact number was 38,725,551,855.

      Using this data, the Russia-based biz put together a list of 25 services that the anti-tracker detected more often across nine regions and certain individual countries.

    • The Record ☛ Study finds many European car resellers fail to delete driver data

      European auto resellers are violating the continent’s tough data privacy laws, according to a new study that found four out of five cars resold in Germany, the U.K. and Italy are hitting the market with prior drivers’ personal data stored and easily accessible.

      One-third of customers can find stored location data and home addresses in resold vehicles and about half can access prior owners’ call logs and text messages, according to a white paper published Tuesday by the industry watchdog Privacy4Cars. The study is largely based on an audit of hundreds of vehicles resold by dozens of dealers.

    • India Times ☛ Telegram's Durov announces new crackdown on illegal content

      Telegram founder and chief executive Pavel Durov said Monday that the messaging platform had removed more "problematic content", weeks after his arrest in France on charges of failing to act against criminals using the app. "Over the past few weeks" staff had combed through Telegram using artificial intelligence to ensure "all the problematic content we identified in Search is no longer accessible", he said.

    • RFERL ☛ Telegram To Disclose Phones, IP Addresses At Authorities' Requests

      Telegram will disclose users' phones and IP addresses to authorities at their requests, the messenger app's founder and CEO, Pavel Durov, said on September 23.

• Defence/Aggression

  • ADF ☛ Al-Shabaab Still Deadly 18 Years After Emergence

    However, some terror groups linked to al-Qaida and the Islamic State in Africa have survived for many years, and Al-Shabaab continues to thrive despite efforts by the Somali National Army, African Union forces and local clan militias.

  • The Moscow Times ☛ Russian Warship Fires ‘Warning Shot’ at Norwegian Fishing Boat During Drills, Captain Claims - The Moscow Times

    While the Russian vessel was outside territorial waters, it was still within Norway’s exclusive economic zone, where the Russian Navy was conducting planned live-fire naval drills as part of global exercises known as Ocean-2024.

  • The Barents Observer ☛ Small Norwegian fishing boat confronted Russian warship during live-shooting exercise

    “Norwegian authorities must put pressure on Russia so that they stop sabotaging Norwegian fisheries and shipping,” says Øystein Orten in the interview with FriFagbevegelse.

  • ANF News ☛ Former wife of ISIS emir on trial in France accused of ‘genocide’

    The 35-year-old woman, born in the south of France, is suspected of enslaving a Yazidi girl in Syria in the spring of 2015, when she lived with her ex-husband Abdelnasser Benyoucef, who is considered one of the founders of ISIS' foreign operations cell. Benyoucef also faces charges of genocide and crimes against humanity. Although he is presumed dead, an arrest warrant has been issued for him.

  • Greece ☛ Smuggler arrested after Samos shipwreck leaves four migrants dead

    In total, 30 migrants and the alleged smuggler, who was arrested, were rescued.

  • France24 ☛ 80 years on, French lake still polluted by World War II bombs

    A French environmental group has found artillery shells dating back to World Wars I and II and even the Franco-Prussian war of 1870 in a lake in eastern France. Water samples from Gerardmer in the Vosges mountains show high levels of TNT explosive as well as metals like iron, titanium and lead. A major theatre of conflicts over the past century and a half, France is particularly afflicted by unexploded ordnance, which results in 10 deaths nationwide a year.

  • The Kent Stater ☛ Trump’s false claims haven’t just triggered a string of bomb threats in Springfield — they’re also draining funds

    Springfield Mayor Ron Rue has spent over a week scrambling to respond to a wave of bomb threats while subtly noting how the tab to keep people safe is growing daily.

    “This is costing the city. We’re definitely in the hundreds of thousands of dollars in expense. We haven’t calculated the overtime, the contracts that need to be secured to be able to secure and communicate… take care of our city,” Rue told CNN’s Boris Sanchez earlier this week.

  • Michigan News ☛ Mayor of Muslim-led Michigan city endorses Trump over Israel-Hamas war

    Hamtramck Mayor Amer Ghalib, a Yemen-born immigrant, announced the endorsement Sunday, Sept. 22, on social media.

  • The Nation ☛ Jane Fonda to Young People: “Do Not Sit This Election Out”

    Electing Kamala Harris and then pushing her to deliver is the only chance for climate survival, says the Hollywood actress and activist.

  • Semafor Inc ☛ ‘A f— you endorsement’: How Trump won over a key Muslim mayor in Michigan

    “This is kind of a f***-you endorsement for the Democrats,” said James Zogby, the founder of the Arab American Institute and an influential party activist. “It’s not so much that people have forgotten how bad Trump is. For some people, it’s about punishment.”

  • Pro Publica ☛ Blinken Rejected Officials Who Concluded Israel Deliberately Blocked Humanitarian Aid to Gaza.

    The U.S. government’s two foremost authorities on humanitarian assistance concluded this spring that Israel had deliberately blocked deliveries of food and medicine into Gaza.

    The U.S. Agency for International Development delivered its assessment to Secretary of State Antony Blinken and the State Department’s refugees bureau made its stance known to top diplomats in late April. Their conclusion was explosive because U.S. law requires the government to cut off weapons shipments to countries that prevent the delivery of U.S.-backed humanitarian aid. Israel has been largely dependent on American bombs and other weapons in Gaza since Hamas’ Oct. 7 attacks.

  • Russia, Belarus, and War in Ukraine

    • Meduza ☛ As rumors swirl about Russia’s next mobilization drive, Meduza’s sources say the Kremlin is still weighing its options — Meduza

    • Meduza ☛ How Ukraine recruits and trains undercover agents to carry out missions in Russian-occupied territories — Meduza

    • Meduza ☛ Journalists link Russian Special Forces officer to Telegram channel that sells snuff videos of killed Ukrainian soldiers — Meduza

• Environment

  • Brian Merchant ☛ AI is revitalizing the fossil fuels industry, and big tech has nothing to say for itself

    Last week, tech reporter Karen Hao dropped a big, thoroughly reported story about how Microsoft is trying to have it both ways when it comes to climate. The software giant has positioned itself as a leader in sustainability, championing its green initiatives and publicizing the ways its AI technology might be used to reduce carbon emissions—all while selling AI tools to oil and gas companies to help them accelerate fossil fuel extraction.

  • The Walrus ☛ Meet the Evangelicals Who Actually Care about the Environment

    For evangelicals concerned about climate change, questions of morality seem to weigh as heavily as those of science. Humphrey cared not only about nature or creation—the scorched forests and the melting polar ice caps—but also about the human fallout from climate change in the decades ahead: rising seas destroying the homes of millions around the world, devastating droughts causing millions more to go hungry. He often worried about how people will respond when confronted with this version of the future.

  • Energy/Transportation

    • DeSmog ☛ Advertising Industry Has Over a Thousand Contracts With Polluting Industries: Report

    • Wired ☛ Microsoft’s Three Mile Island Deal Signals a Broader Nuclear Comeback

      This surge in energy demand is music to the ears of the nuclear power industry. Electricity demand in the US has been fairly flat for decades, but the sheer scale and intensity of the AI boom is changing that dynamic. One December 2023 report from a power industry consultancy declared the era of flat power demand over, thanks to growing demand from data centers and industrial facilities. The report forecasts that peak electricity demand in the US will grow by 38 gigawatts by 2028, roughly equivalent to 46 times the output of reactor one at Three Mile Island.

    • Los Angeles Times ☛ How to plan a dreamy winter Amtrak trip from L.A. to New Mexico

      If you are checking luggage, make sure to bring a small overnight backpack that will fit in your room or in the overhead compartment near your coach seat. (Smaller rooms may not fit carry-on luggage and you may need to store it outside of your room, so you’ll want the overnight bag for easy access.) If you need to charge multiple devices, bring a small multi-plug splitter as there is usually just one electrical outlet. Earplugs can dampen the chugging train sounds at night. And carry cash to tip the first-class attendants and waiters.

    • Nick Heer ☛ The Environmental Cost of A.I.

      Between these reports and the last batch I linked to, the non-A.I.-generated summary seems to be: businesses are largely entrusted with setting their own environmental targets by the accounting measures of their own design, which they are bending in order to hurriedly launch A.I. features.

  • Wildlife/Nature

    • CS Monitor ☛ 'Night Magic': Leigh Ann Henion on nature's denizens of the dark

      Leigh Ann Henion has stepped through the looking glass. You can too, she says. Simply turn off the lights and venture outside.

      That’s the promise of Ms. Henion’s new book, “Night Magic: Adventures Among Glowworms, Moon Gardens, and Other Marvels of the Dark.” In it, she details her own journey to become reacquainted with darkness. Along the way, she meets a wonderland of nocturnal creatures, wrestles with the societal tendency to chase away darkness, and confronts her own fears of the unknown.

      The result is a nature lover’s guide to the dark that unfolds like a novel. Ms. Henion spoke with the Monitor’s Noelle Swan. Their conversation has been edited and condensed.

    • [Repeat] Science Alert ☛ Octopuses Team Up With Fish to Hunt, And Will Punch Them if They Act Up

      Tracking 13 mixed-species hunting groups, Max Planck Institute behavioral ecologist Eduardo Sampaio and colleagues found a surprising level of sophistication in the way octopuses and fish hunt together in groups.

• Finance

  • International Business Times ☛ Paramount Begins Second Round Of Layoffs To Trim 15% Of Workforce: Report

    Paramount Global has reportedly started the second phase of about 2,000 planned layoffs that will trim its workforce by 15%.

    The move was detailed in an internal report seen by multiple media outlets.

    The media giant began eliminating jobs last month and Tuesday's layoffs will leave another 10% to go before they're complete, the memo said, according to Variety and Reuters.

    The cuts are part of an effort to reduce annual costs by $500 million ahead of Paramount's merger with Skydance Media.

• AstroTurf/Lobbying/Politics

  • The Register UK ☛ Warm embrace of CHIPS Act cash envelopes Polar Semiconductor

    US-based Polar Semiconductor – the maker of analog and power chip devices and sensors – has bagged $123 million of CHIPS and Science Act funding to nearly double production capacity in the US.

    Confirmation of the financial award came this morning from the US Department of Commerce under the CHIPS Incentives Program's Funding Opportunity for Commercial Fabrication Facilities. It follows a previously signed memorandum of terms and due diligence by the government.

  • Scoop News Group ☛ Bill ordering DHS to explore AI for border security passes House

    A bipartisan bill requiring the Department of Homeland Security to explore how artificial intelligence and other emerging technologies could be used to secure the border passed the House on Monday, teeing it up for a potential Senate partner in the weeks ahead.

  • Terence Eden ☛ Social Media Blocking Has Always Been A Lie

    Except, of course, that's a lie. If Bob logs out of his account, he can see Alice's public content. If he logs into an alternative account, he isn't blocked.

    The block is a social signal backed up with mild technical restrictions.

  • The Local SE ☛ Swedish Migration Agency in talks with Northvolt over layoffs

    It was not immediately known how many of these would be non-EU workers, but Northvolt is a major employer of international talent, with hundreds of foreigners moving to northern Sweden to work at its Skellefteå factory in recent years.

    Work permit holders who lose their job in Sweden have a maximum of three months after their notice period ends to find new employment in order to retain their right to stay in the country.

  • CBC ☛ Northvolt announces 1,600 layoffs in Sweden, insists Quebec EV battery plant won't be affected

    The Swedish multinational said it plans to cut 1,000 jobs in Skellefteå, 400 in Västerås and 200 in Stockholm — about a fifth of its global workforce — in response to "headwinds" in the automotive market "and wider industrial climate." It said the layoffs will be negotiated with the relevant unions.

  • Misinformation/Disinformation/Propaganda

    • 404 Media ☛ Google Serving AI-Generated Images of Mushrooms Could Have 'Devastating Consequences'

      AI-generated images of mushrooms that look nothing like the real species could spread misleading and dangerous information.

    • Wired ☛ Russia-Backed Media Outlets Are Under Fire in the US—but Still Trusted Worldwide

      “These Kremlin-backed media outlets are not only playing this covert influence role to undermine democracy in the United States, but also to meddle in the sovereign affairs of countries around the world,” said Secretary of State Antony Blinken at the time. “As part of RT’s expanded capabilities, the Russian government embedded within RT a unit with cyber operational capabilities and ties to Russian intelligence. RT’s leadership had direct, witting knowledge of this enterprise.”

    • Associated Press ☛ Haitian group in Springfield, Ohio, files charges against Trump, Vance

      “Their persistence and relentlessness, even in the face of the governor and the mayor saying this is false, that shows intent,” Chandra said. “It’s knowing, willful flouting of criminal law.”

    • India Times ☛ Russia produced most AI content to sway presidential vote, US intelligence official says

      The official from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI), speaking on condition of anonymity, made the comment in a briefing to reporters on the alleged use of AI by Russia and other countries to influence the Nov. 5 vote.

      AI content produced by Moscow is "consistent with Russia's broader efforts to boost the former president's (Trump) candidacy and denigrate the vice president (Harris) and the Democratic Party, including through conspiratorial narratives," he said.

• Censorship/Free Speech

  • The Barents Observer ☛ Russia to increase spending on Internet censorship

    According to the project description, the money will be used to purchase new equipment and develop new software. According to the watchdog, the measures are needed due to the “increased online traffic”.

    Meanwhile, the technical expert of Roskomsvoboda - a Russian NGO that supports the protection of digital rights of internet users - told Forbes that the upgrade plans are aimed at allowing more effective blockage and slowing down of the “unwanted” content.

  • RFA ☛ Tibetan monk jailed for 18 months over Dalai Lama’s speech

    A Tibetan monk has been sentenced to over 18 months in prison on charges of sharing a speech by Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama on social media, Tibetans living in exile told Radio Free Asia.

  • CPJ ☛ Taliban ban live political broadcasts, step up censorship

    The ministry ordered domestic journalists producing daily political discussion shows to seek its approval each morning of proposed topics and participants. Shows must then be pre-recorded and approved by the Taliban prior to broadcasting. Content contrary to Taliban policies or critical of the group or its officials must be removed, it said.

  • Deccan Chronicle ☛ Sweden says Iran behind 2023 Koran burning hacker attack

    "The aim was to create division in Swedish society," the authority said.

    In a separate statement, Sweden's intelligence service Sapo said it had determined that a hacker group had acted "on behalf of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard to carry out an influence campaign."

  • VOA News ☛ Sweden accuses Iran of hacking messaging service after Koran burnings 

    "The security police is able to establish that a cyber group acted on behalf of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard to carry out an influence campaign," the Swedish Security Service said in a statement.

  • The Record ☛ Sweden says Iran behind cyberattack calling for revenge on Quran burners

    The use of criminal networks has similarly been seen elsewhere, including in the United States where an alleged Iranian drug trafficker with ties to Tehran’s intelligence services was charged with recruiting a member of the Hells Angels in a plot to murder an Iranian defector.

  • Soylent News ☛ Refusing to Self-Censor

    During the past 10 days, my two previous journals have received in excess of 150 spam comments, most of which have been deleted. This is hardly the first time I've been targeted in a campaign of harassment and censorship on this site. Many of you may remember that APK posted hundreds of spam comments (example 1 and example 2) over a span of several months, an attack that began because I disputed disinformation he was posting about COVID-19 vaccines. This time, spammers are targeting my journals. The first journal was a criticism of the two party system, gerrymandering, and other toxicity in American elections. Although the journal expressed my intent to vote for third party candidates, it was also very critical of Donald Trump and his authoritarian behavior. The second journal discussed right-wing misinformation intended to undermine confidence in the American electoral system. Although the rate of spamming in these journals is less than the most prolific automated posting by APK, dozens of spam comments have been posted on some days, and the spamming has been for a considerably longer duration.

• Freedom of Information / Freedom of the Press

  • The Dissenter ☛ Assange To Testify On Political Imprisonment For Engaging In Journalism

  • BIA Net ☛ Journalist faces disinformation charges after reporting on alleged ‘state-linked’ criminal gang

    "Our client is a journalist who has been reporting in the public interest," the lawyer group stated. "The search of her home and the attempt to confiscate digital materials, which are essential for her work, is a clear attempt to intimidate the press through the judiciary.

  • Press Gazette ☛ Hearst UK reports operating loss for 2023 but says ads are recovering

    Magazine publisher Hearst UK is hoping for a “full recovery” to its digital advertising revenue after it was hard hit by platform algorithm changes in 2023.

  • CPJ ☛ Egypt violates own law by adding 2 years to Alaa Abdelfattah's prison term

    “After serving his five-year sentence, Egyptian-British blogger Alaa Abdelfattah must be released immediately, and all remaining charges against him must be dropped. He deserves to be reunited with his son and family,” said Yeganeh Rezaian, CPJ’s interim MENA program coordinator, in Washington, D.C. “The Egyptian authorities must uphold their own laws and stop manipulating legal statutes to unjustly imprison Abdelfattah. It is a profound disgrace for Egypt to silence such a vital voice of conscience behind bars.”

  • CPJ ☛ Iranian Kurdish journalist Fardin Mostafaei detained in undisclosed location

    Islamic Republic of Iran authorities must free Iranian Kurdish journalist Fardin Mostafaei, who was arrested on September 18 in a cafe in the northwestern Kurdistan province and detained in an undisclosed location on unspecified charges, according to news reports.

  • BIA Net ☛ Kurdish journalist’s home raided following report on alleged police-gang collusion in Hakkari

    The raid follows a recent investigation by the journalist, which uncovered the alleged involvement of gangs in forcing young women into drug use and prostitution while authorities turned a blind eye. Local journalism groups believe this is the reason behind the police operation.

• Civil Rights/Policing

  • CS Monitor ☛ New police guidelines on physical force aim to reduce deaths

    Over a 10-year period, officers using tactics meant to subdue resulted in around 1,000 deaths. To reduce the risk of death, a group of police leaders have created new guidelines that focus on de-escalation strategies over the use of force.

  • RFA ☛ In Tibet, China’s plans to hike retirement age sparks concerns

    “The increasing presence of Chinese officials in Tibet raises concerns about future prospects for Tibetans, especially the youth seeking employment,” he added.

• Internet Policy/Net Neutrality

  • The Strategist ☛ Australia should seize the chance to be an undersea cable hub for the region

    This presents both risks and opportunities for Australia, as we explain in our report released today, Connecting the Indo-Pacific: the future of subsea cables and opportunities for Australia. The globe’s relentless demand for data has transformed submarine telecommunications cables, which have grown in number from 130 cables networks in 2010 to more than 550 today. Submarine cables are the fastest and most cost-efficient means to transport data internationally, with a capacity that far surpasses satellites. They carry 99 percent of transoceanic public internet and private network data traffic, facilitating critical global economic and financial activity as well as government and military communications and operations.

  • APNIC ☛ Revisiting ICP-2: Strengthening Internet governance for the future

    The Cooperation Special Interest Group (SIG) session at APNIC 58 in Wellington, New Zealand, focused on the historical significance and future revisions of the Internet Coordination Policy 2 (ICP-2).

    Initially developed over 25 years ago, ICP-2 set the criteria for recognizing new Regional Internet Registries (RIRs), such as LACNIC and AFRINIC. The policy has served the global Internet community well over the past two decades, but with the evolving Internet landscape, a revision is necessary due to the growing community interest, complexity, and global importance of the Internet, and its resultant challenges such as failures in good governance, technical capability, and evolving security threats.

• Digital Restrictions (DRM)

  • Digital Music News ☛ TikTok Music to Shut Down in November After Launching in 2023

    ByteDance-owned TikTok confirmed its streaming service’s cessation of operations via a statement as well as an update on the appropriate website. The latter underscores the permanent nature of the move; users’ “account information and personal data will be automatically deleted following the closure of TikTok Music,” per the text.

  • Tech Central (South Africa) ☛ You may soon need a TV licence to watch Netflix

    The SABC has argued in parliament that it can’t wait the three years it could take the communications minister to develop a new funding model for the public broadcaster.

    The three-year period is proposed in the latest draft of the SABC Bill.

Monopolies/Monopsonies

• Copyrights

  • Torrent Freak ☛ "Anne Frank" Copyright Dispute Triggers VPN and Geoblocking Questions at EU's Highest Court

    The Dutch Supreme Court has requested guidance from the EU's top court on geo-blocking, VPNs, and copyright in a case involving the online publication of Anne Frank's manuscripts. The CJEU's response has the potential to reshape the online content distribution landscape, impacting streaming platforms and other services that rely on geo-blocking. VPNs services will monitor the matter with great interest too.

  • Torrent Freak ☛ Amazon Joins the MPA as its Newest Anti-Piracy Member Since Netflix in 2019

    On October 1, 2024, Netflix, Paramount Pictures, Sony Pictures, Universal Studios, Walt Disney Studios, and Warner Bros. Discovery, will welcome Amazon to the most exclusive club in Hollywood; the Motion Picture Association. Prime Video & Amazon MGM Studios, which encompasses Amazon's streaming platform and its film and TV production and distribution division, will become the seventh MPA member and the most recent addition since Netflix joined in 2019.