Leftovers

• Greece ☛ ‘Polarization’ is Merriam-Webster’s 2024 word of the year

  “Polarization means division, but it’s a very specific kind of division,” said Peter Sokolowski, Merriam-Webster’s editor at large, in an exclusive interview with The Associated Press ahead of Monday’s announcement. “Polarization means that we are tending toward the extremes rather than toward the center.”

• The Korea Times ☛ 'Polarization’ is Merriam-Webster’s 2024 word of year

  The Merriam-Webster entry for “polarization” reflects scientific and metaphorical definitions. It’s most commonly used to mean “causing strong disagreement between opposing factions or groupings.” Merriam-Webster, which logs 100 million pageviews a month on its site, chooses its word of the year based on data, tracking a rise in search and usage.

• 404 Media ☛ Pornhub Sees Surge of Interest in Tradwife Content, ‘Modesty,’ and Mindfulness

  Pornhub's Year in Review report for 2024 reveals a search for something very mindful, and very demure.

• Mike Haynes ☛ The indie web search engine

  Feedle is everything you'd hope for in an indie web-focused search engine. It's small, run by just a couple of people, and features a manual review process for sites. The search functionality is powerful and provides RSS feeds to follow specific topics in your RSS reader.

• The Conversation ☛ 2024-12-06 [Older] The case for lying to kids about Santa – from a philosopher

• The Conversation ☛ 2024-12-04 [Older] Why you shouldn’t lie to your children about Father Christmas, according to philosophers

• The Conversation ☛ 2024-12-05 [Older] Why children play the same game or watch the same show over (and over) again

• The Conversation ☛ 2024-12-06 [Older] What we can and (still) can’t predict about earthquakes

• Science

  • Tech Central (South Africa) ☛ Google says it has cracked a major challenge in quantum computing

    In a paper published in the journal Nature on Monday, Google said that it has found a way to string together the Willow chip’s qubits so that error rates go down as the number of qubits goes up. The company also says it can correct errors in real time, a key step towards making its quantum machines practical.

    “We are past the breakeven point,” Hartmut Neven, who leads the Google Quantum AI unit, said in an interview.

  • BBC ☛ Google unveils 'mind-boggling' quantum computing chip

    Google has unveiled a new chip which it claims takes five minutes to solve a problem that would currently take the world's fastest super computers ten septillion – or 10,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 years – to complete.

    The chip is the latest development in a field known as quantum computing - which is attempting to use the principles of particle physics to create a new type of mind-bogglingly powerful computer.

• Hardware

  • Tom's Hardware ☛ Gelsinger fires back at recent stories about 18A's poor yields, schools social control media commenters on defect densities and yields

    Ex-Intel CEO Gelsinger is 'very proud of the TD/18A team for the incredible work and progress they are making'

  • Hackaday ☛ A Simple Robot For Learning About Robotics

    Robots are super interesting, but you probably shouldn’t start learning about them with a full-sized industrial SCARA arm or anything. Better to learn with something smaller and simpler to understand. This simple Arduino-powered robot is called Bug, and it aims to be just that.

• Health/Nutrition/Agriculture

  • Pro Publica ☛ How High Are Formaldehyde Levels in Your Home? We Tested It.

    The air was packed with savory and sweet aromas when I walked into my colleague’s Brooklyn apartment for dinner. The sizzle and pop of rice and green beans cooking on the gas stove blended with soft jazz coming from the TV. Candle flames danced and flickered.

    But we weren’t gathering just to enjoy a late-summer meal. We were trying to expose an uninvited yet ever-present guest — formaldehyde.

  • Pro Publica ☛ Sign Up to Screen Our New Documentary About Stillbirths

    More than 20,000 pregnancies in the United States end in stillbirth each year. These losses are not inevitable. At least 1 in 4 U.S. stillbirths is likely preventable, according to a key study, and in pregnancies that last 37 weeks or more, nearly half of stillbirths may be preventable.

    “Before a Breath,” a new feature documentary from ProPublica, weaves together the stories of three mothers who have lost children to stillbirth and are now striving to make pregnancy safer. Inspired by Duaa Eldeib’s groundbreaking reporting, which was a finalist for a Pulitzer Prize, this intimate, infuriating and ultimately hopeful film shines a light on the aftermath of stillbirth.

  • The Hill ☛ Nobel laureates oppose RFK Jr.'s confirmation to HHS

    “In addition to his lack of credentials or relevant experience in medicine, science, public health, or administration, Mr. Kennedy has been an opponent of many health-protecting and life-saving vaccines, such as those that prevent measles and polio; a critic of the well-established positive effects of fluoridation of drinking water; a promoter of conspiracy theories about remarkably successful treatments for AIDS and other diseases; and a belligerent critic of respected agencies (especially the Food and Drug Administration, the Centers for Disease Control, and the National Institutes of Health),” the letter read.

  • Alabama Reflector ☛ Louisiana miscarriage patient who had to cross state lines for a D&C wants answers

    Over the course of the next few days, Crowe said she passed baseball-sized blood clots and experienced extreme pain and dizziness in two different hospitals, while never being offered a common miscarriage procedure, even after she requested it.

    An estimated 10 to 20% of known pregnancies in the U.S. end in miscarriage. In about 80% of miscarriages, women are able to expel the pregnancy tissue naturally over a period of one to eight weeks, according to the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. When intervention is necessary in the first trimester, ACOG recommends abortion medications or procedures such as vacuum aspiration or dilation and curettage (D&C). Later in pregnancy, recommended termination procedures include dilation and evacuation (D&E), which has a high safety record but is condemned by anti-abortion groups and banned in some states.

  • New Scientist ☛ Thirteen proteins in your blood could reveal the age of your brain

    The abundance of 13 proteins in your blood seems to be a strong indicator of how rapidly your brain is ageing. This suggests that blood tests could one day help people track and even boost their brain health.

    Most previous studies that have looked at protein markers of brain ageing in the blood have involved fewer than 1000 people, says Nicholas Seyfried at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia, who wasn’t involved in the new research.

  • The Strategist ☛ We must understand why youth are radicalised. It’s not just manipulation

    A Five Eyes report issued this month highlights disturbing case studies of youth involvement in violent extremism across Australia, Britain, Canada, New Zealand and the United States. These case studies offer valuable insights but focus on social media. While digital environments are important, we risk overshadowing the deeper psychological, societal and cultural factors that underlie youth radicalisation.

    We must determine what differentiates those merely exposed to extremist content and those who are radicalised by it. Online interactions may exacerbate radicalisation but are not the sole factor.

  • Futurism ☛ Google-Funded AI Coaxed a Troubled Teenager to Start Cutting Himself, Lawsuit Claims

    As Futurism reports, the newly-filed lawsuit out of Texas names both the startup, Character.AI, and its financial backer Google, charging that they're culpable for all manner of abuse suffered by minors who interacted with the site's disturbing chatbots.

    Though Google has taken pains to distance itself from Character, the suit claims the two are inextricably linked.

  • Matt Webb ☛ From here to Harrison Bergeron via AirPods and transparency mode (Interconnected)

    My everyday hearing doesn’t (yet) require hearing aids. But I have a trance techno shaped hole from the 90s, the high end is done in from covid, and I wear earplugs to the cinema because I can’t see the pictures if I don’t knock 20 decibels off the sound.

  • The Register UK ☛ Artivion's cyber issues involve encrypted, stolen data

    In plain terms, it means attackers broke in, stole data, and locked the company out of at least some of its files. The company doesn't mention it specifically, but the description sounds like a classic case of double extortion ransomware.

    It said in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission: "Artivion identified and began taking measures to address a cybersecurity incident on November 21, 2024. Artivion's response measures included taking certain systems offline, initiating an investigation, and engaging external advisors, including legal, cybersecurity, and forensics professionals to assess, contain, and remediate the incident.

  • Kevin Wammer ☛ Reset Week

    Nuke all my timelines and inboxes. I still don’t read social media (I post and then bounce), but I’m clearing out all feeds, newsletters, and followings. Then I’ll add back only what’s worth it, one by one.

  • Vice Media Group ☛ Posting to Social Media Is Ruining Your Mental Health

    The study from University College London was published in the Journal of Medical Internet Research, which sounds like a journal dedicated to looking up what disease you might have on WebMD. The researchers analyzed data from over 15,000 adults in the UK aged 16 and up. The participants had originally, uh, participated in a study called “Understanding Society” wherein they were asked a series of questions about their social media use.

  • NPR ☛ Taller vehicles are more dangerous to pedestrians, even at low speeds, research finds

    It's the latest study to find that taller vehicles are more dangerous for pedestrians. The majority of vehicles sold in the U.S. are now SUVs and light trucks, which can have front ends that are often 40 inches or taller. Safety advocates say that's one reason why pedestrian fatalities are up more than 75% since reaching their lowest point in 2009.

• Proprietary/Artificial Intelligence (AI)

  • EuroGamer ☛ Outriders studio People Can Fly cuts "more than 120" jobs in second round of layoffs this year

    Outriders developer People Can Fly has announced its second round of layoffs in less than a year, this time affecting "more than 120" people. The move accompanies the cancellation or downsizing of several projects, with the studio blaming "external market pressures".

    In a statement announcing its latest layoffs, People Can Fly CEO Sebastian Wojciechowski wrote, "Today, we made a very difficult decision to reduce our self-publishing strategy by suspending Project Victoria, scaling down our team on Project Bifrost and restructuring some of our supporting teams at People Can Fly."

  • Tom's Hardware ☛ Windows 11 for Arm can run natively on specific Android smartphones — the test device heats up very fast, and battery life substantially decreases

    Windows 11 on Arm runs natively on the Xiaomi Poco X3 Pro, though it's not quite a mobile-optimized experience.

  • Game Rant ☛ People Can Fly Hit With Layoffs

    People Can Fly is announcing that the game studio has axed over 100 jobs in recent layoffs. The surprising move from People Can Fly comes just before the end of 2024 and winter holiday season.

    People Can Fly's most recent best-known release is likely Outriders, which saw mixed reviews, but over three million players within a month of its launch back in 2021. After acquiring Incuvo, People Can Fly and Incuvo launched Green Hell VR in 2022, and Bulletstorm VR released earlier in 2024. The remaining projects the studio has been working on have seen some shakeups, with People Can Fly's Project Dagger having been canceled outright earlier in the year.

  • People Can Fly Scales Back Self-Publishing And Development, Restructuring Result In 120 Layoffs

    Today, we made a very difficult decision to reduce our self-publishing strategy by suspending Project Victoria, scaling down our team on Project Bifrost and restructuring some of our supporting teams at People Can Fly.

    We are deeply saddened by the fact that this situation means suspending or parting ways with more than 120 talented Aviators, colleagues who we enjoyed having as part of our team.

    This action became necessary as external market pressures persisted beyond our forecasts. The video game market is still evolving, and we have to adjust with where things are today. We are redoubling our efforts with new work for hire engagements and focusing on the development of a single independent game.

    We believe in our teams, games and their potential, and we remain extremely committed to continuing that journey, but we need to tailor our plans to our financial capacity.

  • The Conversation ☛ Large language models: how the AI behind the likes of ChatGPT actually works

    LLMs are a particular type of language model, which is a mathematical representation of language based on probabilities. If you’ve ever used predictive text) on a mobile phone or asked a smart speaker a question, then you have almost certainly already used a language model. But what do they actually do and what does it take to make one?

    Language models are designed to estimate how likely it would be to see a particular sequence of words. This is where probabilities come in. For example, a good language model for English would assign a high probability to a well formed sentence like “the old black cat slept soundly” and a low probability to a random sequence of words such as “library a or the quantum some”.

  • Axios ☛ OpenAI's video-making tool Sora takes photorealistic but fake video mainstream

    Why it matters: We're about to witness an at-scale experiment in what it means for people to create and consume large quantities of video content that is photorealistic but fake.

  • Deccan Chronicle ☛ Spanish Woman Held for AI-Driven Sextortion Scheme Targeting Over 300 Men

    With the rise of the internet and smartphones, technology has become an integral part of our daily lives, offering convenience but also enabling malicious activities. A 26-year-old Spanish woman allegedly orchestrated a sophisticated sextortion scam, defrauding over 300 men using just a cheap smartphone and artificial intelligence tools.

  • The Register UK ☛ Open source projects drown in bad bug reports penned by AI

    "Recently I've noticed an uptick in extremely low-quality, spammy, and LLM-hallucinated security reports to open source projects," he wrote, pointing to similar findings from the Curl project in January. "These reports appear at first glance to be potentially legitimate and thus require time to refute."

    Larson argued that low-quality reports should be treated as if they're malicious.

  • Security Week ☛ Cisco Says Flaws in Industrial Routers, BGP Tool Remain Unpatched 8 Months After Disclosure

    Talos published advisories for the vulnerabilities last month, and on Monday released a blog post announcing that they have yet to be patched, despite being responsibly disclosed to vendors roughly eight months ago. The advisories indicate that the company first reached out to the impacted vendors in March (MC Technologies) and April (GoCast).

  • 404 Media ☛ Congress Pushes Apple to Remove Deepfake Apps After 404 Media Investigation

    Congress is asking Apple, Google, Microsoft, and other big tech companies why they can’t get their deepfake problem under control.

  • The Washington Post ☛ Character.ai sued after teen’s AI companion suggested killing his parents

    In just six months, J.F., a sweet 17-year-old kid with autism who liked attending church and going on walks with his mom, had turned into someone his parents didn’t recognize.

  • Luigi Mozzillo ☛ Facebook is not dying

    I rarely sign in, and only with a dedicated browser, and I noticed how it has become, much more than before, an infinite content trashcan. I have encountered racist, misogynistic, conspiracist, fanatical, false, extremist, religious, and violent posts.

  • Greg Morris ☛ YouTube: Information vs Entertainment

    Many years ago I tried, but I spent even more time trying to find something to watch than I would do in the Netflix never-ending carousel. Do people really sift through all the garbage to find something worth watching? What is there that’s worth my time? Certainly not Mr Beast or Fortnite streamers.

  • Tim Kellogg ☛ Is ML Experience A Liability For AI Engineering?

    Yesterday I posted here about becoming an AI Engineer and made a statement that prior ML experience is often a liability for transitioning into AI engineering. That turned out to be quite the hot take! In this post I’ll incorporate feedback and try to expand that into a more balanced take. I’ll expand on the perspective of it being an asset, as well as where it’s a liability.

    First of all, the responses were very polarized, either enthusiastic agreement or disagreement (no in between, so you know it was extra spicy). That seems like a strong indicator that it’s a difference between archetypes.

• Security

  • Integrity/Availability/Authenticity

    • Cloudbooklet ☛ Visa Tackles Hey Hi (AI) Scams by Ending SMS OTPs for Security

      Visa tackles Hey Hi (AI) scams by ending SMS OTPs, enhancing security with advanced authentication methods to protect users from fraud and ensure safer transactions.

  • Privacy/Surveillance

    • Privacy International ☛ Travellers’ surveillance: The role of the UN Countering Terrorist Travel Programme

    • French internet operator fined $53 million for unsolicited ads and tracking users without consent - PogoWasRight.org

    • The Register UK ☛ WhatsApp patches View Once flaw exposing vanishing media

      View Once was introduced in 2021, enabling media to delete itself after being opened. However, that privacy mechanism was flawed and could be "trivially bypassed" when using the web app and a rogue browser extension, according to the researchers who discovered this weakness in August and responsibly disclosed the issue to WhatsApp.

    • New York Times ☛ The Brave New World of A.I.-Powered Self-Harm Alerts

      Ms. Cholka did not know that A.I.-powered software operated by the local school district in Neosho, Mo., had been tracking what Madi was typing on her school-issued Chromebook.

• Defence/Aggression

  • Hong Kong Free Press ☛ Calls for sanctions cannot be ‘concealed,’ jailed media mogul tells court in national security trial

    Jailed media tycoon Jimmy Lai has denied making any indirect calls for sanctions on Hong Kong after the Beijing-imposed national security law took effect in 2020. There was no way to “conceal” such calls, he said.

  • Defence Web ☛ Djibouti Code of Conduct signatories meet in Dar es Salaam

    Maritime security and regional stability were under the microscope at the 7th high level meeting on implementation of the Jeddah Amendment to the Djibouti Code of Conduct (DCoC).

  • Defence Web ☛ ASF review meeting hears of multiple continental challenges

    All five Africa’s continental regions experienced a disruptive 2024 which impacted on security, climate, economies and the “global order as a whole” an African Standby Force (ASF) strategic review meeting heard. >

  • Defence Web ☛ US Bilateral defence focus in Benin and Côte d’Ivoire ahead of Washington power transition

    In a significant diplomatic initiative just six weeks before President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration, the Biden administration is redoubling efforts to bolster regional security in West Africa.

  • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2024-12-04 [Older] Syria: HTS Islamists pledge to show tolerance for minorities

  • TwinCities Pioneer Press ☛ Musk warns Republicans against standing in Trump's way

    During the presidential campaign, Musk contributed roughly $200 million to America PAC, a super PAC aimed at reaching Trump voters online and in person in the seven most competitive states, which Trump swept. He also invested $20 million in a group called RBG PAC, which ran ads arguing Trump would not sign a national abortion ban even as the former president nominated three of the justices who overturned a federally guaranteed right to the procedure.

  • RTL ☛ Nihon Hidankyo: Nobel laureate warns Putin about danger of nuclear weapons

    "I don't think he has even thought about this," Tanaka told a press conference in Oslo a day before he was due to accept the 2024 Nobel Peace Prize, with two other co-chairs, at a formal ceremony in Oslo on behalf of Nihon Hidankyo.

  • The Local DK ☛ Denmark charges man for promoting far-right terror on Telegram

    The man faces charges under section 114e of the Danish criminal code, which relates to promoting terror. The charges are based on nine counts of offences committed between June 14th, 2023, and his arrest on Monday evening.

  • New Eastern Europe ☛ When Czechs knew freedom

    Freedom now for many is just to make do for themselves; to cheat, lie and steal like before in new ways…From the start people accused others of being informers and during the lustrace (lustration) after the revolution were presumed guilty, who knew the difference between crooked and just like one political party from another now…The ones who want power always find a way…Before we tuned into jammed foreign radio stations; now no one listens…We could cross the borders but still needed papers, we weren’t in the EU, not in Schengen…Even now they still see us and frankly we can act like second class Europeans, liberty seems too much for us…Freedom is a drug that let us down—

  • Deutsche Welle ☛ Three arrested in Germany over suspected Islamist plot

    Authorities said the trio was planning something that could have "endangered the state," though emphasizing that the plan was in its early stages and there was no concrete danger to the public at any time.

  • The Strategist ☛ How Assad’s fall hurts Russia and Iran

    Russia may lose use of an air base in Syria and, most importantly, a naval base there, limiting its ability to project force in the Middle East and Africa. Iran meanwhile has presumably lost an important ally as Israel increases the pressure on Hezbollah and other Iran-linked forces across the Middle East.

    These losses will constrain Russian and Iranian ambitions beyond Syria.

  • Defence Web ☛ Mozambique’s deadly protests: how the country got here - defenceWeb

    If Chapo ultimately assumes the highest office in Mozambique, then authoritarianism will likely be consolidated. This is not so much because of his personal profile. But because he will have to govern against a large part of the population that is discontented.

    He would thus likely resort to repression to contain dissent. Also because Nyusi will continue to wield considerable power behind the scenes as president of the Frelimo.

  • VOA News ☛ Mozambique political unrest disrupts Eswatini sugar exports 

    "The option, however, is for us to move the sugar via the Durban [South Africa] port, but this would come at an additional cost," Mabuza said. "For consistency and safe delivery, our customers might choose to migrate to using the Durban port as the port from which we ship. This would, however, strain the transport infrastructure and potentially, as I said earlier, come at an additional cost, and it would possibly also cause longer turnaround times as the shipments are diverted" from Mozambique to South Africa.

  • Deseret Media ☛ ByteDance, TikTok seek temporary halt to US ban pending Supreme Court review

    China-based ByteDance and its short-video app TikTok on Monday asked an appeals court to temporarily block a law that would require that parent company ByteDance divest TikTok by Jan. 19 or face a ban, pending a review by the U.S. Supreme Court.

  • Digital Music News ☛ TikTok Seeks Emergency Injunction As U.S. Sale Deadline Nears

    From the outset, ByteDance has maintained that a TikTok sale simply isn’t in the cards. (Admittedly, even if the company was open to a sale as a last resort, it couldn’t very well come out and say as much.) At present, the gameplan – attempting to fend off the law in any way possible – appears to be the same.

  • YLE ☛ Border Guard apprehends Finnish citizen for crossing into Russia

    Finland's land border crossings with Russia have been closed for about a year, due to Russia funnelling asylum seekers from third countries to the border. The practice is called instrumentalised migration, a form of hybrid warfare.

  • The Register UK ☛ TikTok hopes Trump or Supreme Court will allow it to live

    The shutdown was ordered after the Biden administration passed the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act (PFACAA). TikTok and its parent ByteDance used the courts to challenge the law's constitutional validity in a series of cases that last Friday saw the law – and ban – upheld.

  • VOA News ☛ TikTok asks federal appeals court to bar enforcement of potential ban until Supreme Court review

    If the law is not overturned, both TikTok and its parent ByteDance, which is also a plaintiff in the case, have claimed that the popular app will shut down by Jan. 19, 2025. TikTok has more than 170 million American users.

  • India Times ☛ TikTok asks federal appeals court to bar enforcement of potential ban until Supreme Court review

    TikTok, which has more than 170 million users [sic] in the US, was asked by to divest from its China-based parent company or face a ban as soon as next month. If the law is not overturned, the popular app will be shut down by January 19, 2025. It's not clear if the Supreme Court will take up the case.

  • JURIST ☛ South Korea president survives impeachment attempt in National Assembly

    An impeachment motion against South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol failed to proceed in the country’s National Assembly on Saturday after the session fell short of the required quorum. Only 195 members were present at the session, below the two-thirds threshold of 200 lawmakers needed to initiate the impeachment process.

  • New York Times ☛ Tuesday Briefing: Syrian Rebels Rush to Establish Order

  • New York Times ☛ Crowds Throng to Syria’s Sednaya Prison to Find Relatives and Friends

    The Assad regime ran a network of torture centers that swallowed up tens of thousands of Syrians. Now that the rebels have opened the gates, many see a chance to learn of the detainees’ fates.

  • France24 ☛ Iran's proximity to Assad will hinder any effort to open channels with rebel groups, analyst says

    The ouster of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, after rebel forces swept into Damascus this weekend, shattered Iran's network of influence in the Middle East. FRANCE 24's Yinka Oyetade speaks to Rouzbeh Parsi, Head of MENA Programme at the Swedish Institute of International Affairs. He says that Iranians will try to open channels with the groups that are trying to control Syria, although their proximity to the Assad regime makes that a tall order.

  • France24 ☛ Global inaction for fourteen years 'biggest trauma': former Syrian political prisoner

    FRANCE 24's Yinka Oyetade speaks to Omar Alshogre, a Syrian man who was imprisoned and tortured under the Assad regime. He says that global inaction against Bashar al-Assad has been the biggest traumatic experience, adding that nothing is more depressing than seeing democracies around the world 'not even caring about humans that are trying to fight for democracy'.

  • France24 ☛ European countries suspend Syrian asylum decisions after Assad's fall

    Germany, France, Austria, Belgium and several Nordic countries said Monday they would freeze all pending asylum requests from Syrians, a day after the ouster of president Bashar al-Assad. While Berlin and other governments said they were watching the fast-moving developments in the war-ravaged nation, Vienna signalled it would soon deport refugees back to Syria. FRANCE 24's Nick Holdsworth reports from Berlin.

  • France24 ☛ 'At the border with Lebanon, there are more people fleeing Syria' than the opposite

    Millions of refugees could finally go home from camps in Lebanon, following the toppling of Bashar al-Assad by rebels over the weekend. However, some Syrians are also lining up on the other side of the border with Lebanon, fleeing the uncertain times to come. More information with FRANCE 24 Lebanese correspondent in Damascus, Rawad Taha.

  • France24 ☛ Hundreds of Syrians line up at Turkish border crossing, awaiting return home

    Hundreds of Syrian refugees gathered at two border crossings in southern Turkey, eagerly anticipating their return home following the fall of President Bashar Assad’s government. Story by Camille Knight.

  • LRT ☛ EU must help stabilise Syria, says incoming Lithuanian FM

    The European Union will have to take an active role in stabilising the situation in Syria after Islamist-led rebels announced on Sunday that they had seized control of Damascus and overthrown President Bashar al-Assad, Lithuania’s Foreign Minister-designate Kęstutis Budrys has said.

  • JURIST ☛ Syria President Bashar al-Assad ousted as rebels seize capital

    Syrian rebels declared on Sunday they ousted President Bashar al-Assad after seizing control of the capital city of Damascus. Bashar al-Assad has reportedly fled Syria, putting an end to five decades of Ba’ath rule in this country.

  • France24 ☛ Israel says conducted airstrikes on 'chemical weapons' in Syria

    Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said that his country had struck "chemical weapons" in neighbouring Syria, where rebel forces ousted president Bashar al-Assad over the weekend. More information with FRANCE 24 correspondent in Jerusalem, Noga Tarnopolsky.

  • France24 ☛ Turkish-backed forces launch offensive in a Kurdish-held area of Northern Syria

    A Turkish drone strike in a Kurdish-held area in northern Syria killed 11 civilians including six children, a war monitor said Monday. The attack comes a day after Islamist-led rebels ousted president Bashar al-Assad in a lightning offensive that saw them sweep swathes of territory from government control. Details with FRANCE 24 correspondent in Ankara, Jasper Mortimer.

  • BIA Net ☛ SOHR: Turkish drone strike kills 11 civilians in northern Syria

    The strike targeted the Ain Issa town 35 kilometers from the Turkish-Syrian border.

  • Russia, Belarus, and War in Ukraine

    • Meduza ☛ Breakaway Georgian region of Abkhazia suspends school and plans Internet shutdown amid energy crisis — Meduza

    • Latvia ☛ Two coalition parties support Kazāks' second term as Latvian central bank president

      Two of the three parties forming the government - New Unity and Progressives - nominate Mārtiņš Kazāks for a second term as President of the Bank of Latvia. The politicians announced this after a cooperation meeting of the government-forming parties on Monday, December 9.

    • The Local DK ☛ 2024-12-09 [Older] Ship in Danish waters raises concerns over Russian hybrid warfare in Baltic Sea

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2024-12-09 [Older] Assad’s Downfall Is a Humbling Blow to Russia. How Will It Affect Putin's Prestige?

    • ANF News ☛ 2024-12-08 [Older] Russia confirms Assad's departure from Syria

    • The Age AU ☛ 2024-12-08 [Older] Assad’s family ‘flees’ to Russia – but Kremlin ‘won’t come’ to Syrian leader’s rescue

    • The Age AU ☛ 2024-12-08 [Older] Russia says Syria’s Assad has left country and gave orders for peaceful power handover

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2024-12-08 [Older] Russia Says Assad Has Left Syria, Silent on His Future and That of Military Bases

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2024-12-08 [Older] Trump Says Russia Abandoned Syria's Assad, Never Should Have Been Involved

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2024-12-08 [Older] Ukraine Says It Destroys 28 Russian Drones Overnight

    • Modern Diplomacy ☛ 2024-12-07 [Older] Russia updates nuclear doctrine: An analysis of strategic implications

    • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2024-12-07 [Older] Yemenis forcefully recruited to fight for Russia in Ukraine

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2024-12-07 [Older] Russian Bases in Syria Threatened by Insurgent Advance, Say Moscow's War Bloggers

    • Modern Diplomacy ☛ 2024-12-06 [Older] Can Russia Serve as a Stable Oil Supplier to India, Reducing its Overdependence on Instable Middle East?

    • Modern Diplomacy ☛ 2024-12-06 [Older] Central Africa Republic Unveils Statue of Russia’s Wagner founder Prigozhin

    • NL Times ☛ 2024-12-06 [Older] Russian ASML employee suspected of stealing trade secrets; Banned from NL for 20 years

    • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2024-12-06 [Older] Ukraine updates: Russia, Belarus to sign security treaty

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2024-12-06 [Older] Russia's Lavrov Signals Readiness to Use Any Means in Ukraine Conflict

    • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2024-12-05 [Older] Is Russia able to fight in both Ukraine and Syria?

    • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2024-12-05 [Older] Ukraine updates: Russia, N. Korea defense pact takes effect

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2024-12-05 [Older] Top US, Russian Generals Spoke by Phone Amid Tensions

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2024-12-05 [Older] Russia's Putin Appoints New Governor for Partly Occupied Kursk Region

    • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2024-12-04 [Older] Norway's wealth fund divests from Israeli and Russian firms

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2024-12-04 [Older] North Korea-Russia Treaty Comes Into Force, KCNA Says

    • The Age AU ☛ 2024-12-10 [Older] 400,000 Ukrainian soldiers dead or injured, says Zelensky as he pushes for peace

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2024-12-09 [Older] Ukrainian Man Fleeing War Rescued With His Kitten on a Perilous Journey Through Romanian Mountains

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2024-12-09 [Older] Ukraine's Zelenskiy Boosts Funding for Drone Deployment

    • Jacobin Magazine ☛ 2024-12-08 [Older] Red Ukraine’s Modernism

    • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2024-12-08 [Older] Ukraine: Zelenskyy urges 'enduring peace' in Elysee talks

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2024-12-08 [Older] 'Reindeer' Volunteers Bring Holiday Magic to Ukrainian Children Living on the Frontlines

    • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2024-12-07 [Older] Belarusians fighting for Ukraine seek refuge in EU

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2024-12-07 [Older] US Announces Nearly $1 Billion More in Longer-Term Weapons Support for Ukraine

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2024-12-07 [Older] Scholz Says a Joint Ukraine Approach Can Be Found With Trump

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2024-12-07 [Older] Macron Brings Trump, Ukraine's Zelenskiy Together Ahead of Notre-Dame Ceremony

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2024-12-07 [Older] Ukraine Confirms Second Danish Delivery of F-16s as Zelenskyy Seeks Support in Paris

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2024-12-07 [Older] Ukraine Receives Second Batch of F16 Fighter Jets From Denmark, Zelenskiy Says

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2024-12-07 [Older] US Unveils $988 Million Aid Package for Ukraine Including Rockets and Drones

    • Jacobin Magazine ☛ 2024-12-06 [Older] The Terminator’s Vision of AI Warfare Is Now Reality [Ed: Conflating computers with some dumb buzzwords]

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2024-12-06 [Older] Ukraine's Zelenskiy Heads to Paris With Possible Trump Talks in Mind, Sources Say

    • HRW ☛ 2024-12-05 [Older] Ukraine: Flawed Legislation on Collaboration

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2024-12-05 [Older] Canada Bans More Types of Firearms and Proposes Donating Guns to Ukraine

    • Modern Diplomacy ☛ 2024-12-04 [Older] In Pursuit of a Quick Peace: Keith Kellogg’s “America First” Plan for Ukraine

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2024-12-04 [Older] French Government Collapse Raises Questions Over Ukraine Support

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2024-12-04 [Older] Ukraine's Yermak Meets Senior Trump Advisers, Source Says

• Environment

  • New York Times ☛ Arctic Tundra Has Long Helped Cool Earth. Now, It’s Fueling Warming.

    For thousands of years, the shrubs, sedges, mosses and lichens of the Arctic have performed a vital task for the planet: gulping down carbon dioxide from the air and storing the carbon in their tissues. When the plants die, this carbon is entombed in the frigid soil, where it no longer helps warm Earth’s surface.

  • RTL ☛ For the first time: Air passenger numbers to top five billion in 2025: IATA

    Global air passenger numbers are projected to surpass 5 billion for the first time in 2025, marking a 6.7% increase from 2024, according to IATA.

  • The Washington Post ☛ How politics and the pandemic changed Elon Musk’s climate change views

    Earlier this year, top executives at Tesla gathered in Palo Alto to sell CEO Elon Musk on a line of compact cars that would bring the electric-vehicle revolution to budget-conscious consumers across the world. The more affordable car had long been part of Musk’s master plan for Tesla to fight climate change by “accelerat[ing] the world’s transition to sustainable energy.”

  • Energy/Transportation

    • Scoop News Group ☛ Public and private sectors must partner to address generative AI’s interdependent energy and security requirements [Ed: It's a waste of energy for a Ponzi scheme; they should mothball it]

      Collaboration across government and industry is the only way to protect energy infrastructure in the generative Hey Hi (AI) age, a former ODNI official argues.

    • The Conversation ☛ 2024-12-04 [Older] Smart windows could be the next big thing in renewable heating

    • Modern Diplomacy ☛ Sweden’s opportunity to lead on the clean energy transition

      Sweden’s advanced electricity system, natural resources and geology mean the country is well placed to accelerate electrification and transform energy-intensive industries by drawing heavily on low-emissions electricity, according to the IEA’s new Sweden 2024: Energy Policy Review.

    • The Scotsman ☛ Wonder why it's cheaper to fly than take a train? Here's one big reason

      T&E added that there was "no correlation" between high fares and punctuality, something to which many weary travellers could attest. However, apparently the EU can learn from the UK on one issue: rail passengers' rights. Here, an hour’s delay entitles passengers to a full refund, whereas travellers in other parts of Europe get only 25 per cent back for trains up to 199 minutes late. Being good at issuing refunds tells its own story.

    • Renewable Energy World ☛ How utilities are working to meet AI data centers’ voracious appetite for electricity

      Across the U.S. and worldwide, energy demand is soaring as data centers work to support the wide and growing use of artificial intelligence. These large facilities are filled with powerful computers, called servers, that run complex algorithms to help AI systems learn from vast amounts of data.

  • Wildlife/Nature

    • The Hindu ☛ Two elephants sighted on Mysuru outskirts

      It is suspected that the two elephants skirted the KRS backwaters in K.R. Nagar taluk and entered Bommanahalli in Mysuru taluk early in the day.

• Finance

  • Mexico News Daily ☛ Inflation hits 9-month low as Banxico eyes fresh rate cut

    The November rate was just below the 4.6% median estimate of economists surveyed by Bloomberg.

  • Scheerpost ☛ 2024-12-09 [Older] Ellen Brown: How to Escape the Federal Debt Trap

  • Latvia ☛ Annual inflation at 2.2% in Latvia in November

    The latest data published on December 9 by the Central Statistical Bureau show that in November 2024, compared to November 2023, the average level of consumer prices increased by 2.2 %.

  • The Straits Times ☛ Australia strikes $86m security, economic treaty with Nauru

    It is the second security deal Australia has made in the Pacific Islands that blocks China from forming policing ties.

• AstroTurf/Lobbying/Politics

  • The Straits Times ☛ China’s plans for large new London embassy rejected by local officials

    It was rejected on the grounds it could pose a security risk to nearby residents.

  • New York Times ☛ Running Spies Is Not a Game for Amateurs

    Will Trump be satisfied with servile leadership, or is he seeking to dismantle the system and make agencies responsive to his demands?

  • The Straits Times ☛ New Zealand spy agency says terror attack remains ‘realistic possibility’

    Evolving global and domestic security trends continue to drive extremist sentiment.

  • Tech Central (South Africa) ☛ Europe on collision course with Trump over Big Tech

    In the coming months, Apple, Google, Meta Platforms and the X platform owned by Trump confidant Elon Musk, could face billions in fines or even mandatory divestment orders from dozens of separate ongoing EU investigations.

  • Techdirt ☛ LA Times Billionaire Owner Hilariously Thinks He Can Solve Media Bias With ‘AI’

    Academics have spent generations warning about what happens when you let journalism and media consolidate in the hands of rich people and corporations. As this season’s election coverage demonstrated, the end result is usually a lazy simulacrum of journalism that looks like real reporting, but tends to reflect ownership interests and (usually) lacks the courage to challenge wealth and power.

    The coverage tends to be feckless and shallow. It tends to hew toward false ideological symmetry (what NYU journalism professor Jay Rosen calls the “view from nowhere“). It tends to give short shrift to issues like labor and consumer rights, and extra attention and credence to corporatist beliefs. It very often demonstrates sexist, classist, and racist bias. It’s generally not subtle.

• Censorship/Free Speech

  • New York Times ☛ Jay-Z Sued Tony Buzbee as a ‘Celebrity’ John Doe Before Assault Accusation

    Lawyers for the rapper accused Tony Buzbee of attempting to “extort exorbitant sums” from him by making false assault claims.

  • Digital Music News ☛ Jay-Z Accused of Sexually Assaulting 13-Year-Old Along with Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs In New Legal Filing

    A woman who alleges she was sexually assaulted by Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs has amended her lawsuit to include allegations she was also assaulted by Jay-Z. A lawsuit filed against Sean “Diddy” Combs in October has been amended over the weekend to include Shawn Carter, better known as Jay-Z, as a defendant.

  • Digital Music News ☛ Jay-Z Quickly Fires Back Against Diddy Lawsuit That Names Him — Says Accuser Must Reveal Her Name

    After a Jane Doe’s Diddy lawsuit was amended to name Jay-Z as a defendant, Jay-Z files a motion arguing the accuser should have to reveal her name.

  • Public Knowledge ☛ A Policy Primer for Free Expression and Content Moderation, Part I: Centering Public Interest Values

    In this first post of a four-part blog series on a vision for free expression and content moderation, we provide a brief historical perspective on platform content moderation, review the values that Public Knowledge brings to this topic, and discuss the importance of rooting content moderation approaches and policies in user rights.

  • Public Knowledge ☛ A Policy Primer for Free Expression and Content Moderation, Part II: Empowering User Choice

    In this second post of a four-part blog series, we discuss the structure of digital platform markets and the necessity of policy choices that create healthy competition and user choice. We also center digital platforms in the broader ecosystem of news and information, and discuss how policy interventions may offset the impact of poor platform content moderation on the information environment by promoting other, diverse sources of credible news.

  • Public Knowledge ☛ A Policy Primer for Free Expression and Content Moderation, Part III: Safeguarding Users

    In this third post of a four-part blog series, we turn to policy interventions specifically designed to enhance free expression and content moderation on digital platforms while preventing harm to people and communities.

  • Public Knowledge ☛ A Policy Primer for Free Expression and Content Moderation, Part IV: Tackling Hey Hi (AI) and Executing the Vision

    In this final installment in a four-part blog series, we discuss the implications for free expression and content moderation of the new “elephant in the content moderation room” – generative artificial intelligence.

  • Forbes ☛ Cloud Companies Like Oracle, Amazon And Abusive Monopolist Microsoft Would Lose Millions To A Fentanylware (TikTok) Ban

    A court’s decision upholding the divest-or-ban Fentanylware (TikTok) law may deprive many of America’s largest cloud providers of millions of dollars in contracts with the social control media company [...]

  • New York Times ☛ TikTok Asks Court to Temporarily Pause Ban As It Looks to Supreme Court or Trump to Weigh In [Ed: TikTok is censorship, it's not free speech]

    The company is requesting a pause on a law that requires the app to be sold or face a ban in the United States by mid-January, aiming to buy time for the Supreme Court or the incoming Trump administration to rescue it.

  • Digital Music News ☛ TikTok Seeks Emergency Injunction as Forced-Sale Deadline Nears — Nervous Creators Prepare for the App’s Possible U.S. Shutdown

    41 days out from TikTok’s possible shutdown in the U.S., the app is seeking an emergency injunction as it works to bring an appeal before the Supreme Court. Meanwhile, creators are preparing for the worst, and prospective buyers are still exploring deals.

  • US News And World Report ☛ 2024-12-05 [Older] Bangladesh Court Bans Publication of Speeches by Ousted Prime Minister Hasina

  • The Telegraph UK ☛ My gender-critical views got me barred from university radio but I’ll keep fighting for free speech

    The storm broke the following day when I was informed by Leeds University Union (LUU) I had been suspended from LSR. A complaint had been made about my conduct and was being investigated. I wasn’t given much detail at that stage, only that the complaint related to my social media, Substack and media productions.

    I was actually surprised it hadn’t come sooner, given the backlash already experienced by a friend who had helped me edit the podcast interview with Bentley-Astor. After this, I was braced for something similar.

• Freedom of Information / Freedom of the Press

  • JURIST ☛ Azerbaijan authorities arrest six journalists after COP29

    The Khatai District Court in Azerbaijan held a trial on Sunday of the six journalists detained Saturday in Baku on smuggling charges. Five of the six reporters, Natig Javadli, Khayala Aghayeva, Aytaj Tapdig, Aynur Elgunesh, and Aysel Umudova work with the Berlin-based independent media outlet Meydan TV. The sixth person is an independent journalist.

  • [Repeat] BIA Net ☛ Journalism that will make us say 'it was worth it'

    There are both good and bad reasons for us to talk about the pressures faced by journalists in Turkey. The good reason is that the country's journalism tradition, regardless of the circumstances, continues to expose unlawful actions, corruption, and societal issues. Moreover, it can create public awareness. Try to stretch your memory. How many recent events have you heard of and been surprised by, only because journalists chased after them? How many of those would you have learned about without journalists? And in how many cases, thanks to the efforts of journalists, was even a small step forward taken?

    These are the good reasons...

  • BIA Net ☛ Study reveals journalists in Turkey living at hunger threshold

    The Press, Broadcast, and Printing Workers Union (DİSK Basın-İş) has conducted a wage study involving 82 journalists from 53 different media outlets. According to the findings, the average salary in the media sector is just 28% above the minimum wage, at 23,378 Turkish lira (~850 US dollars).

    The study found that salaries vary significantly based on years of experience. Only journalists with more than 10 years of experience earn over 30,000 liras, while those with less experience are generally paid below the average.

  • CS Monitor ☛ Judge rejects Rupert Murdoch’s effort to pass Fox News to only his son

    A probate commissioner has ruled against Rupert Murdoch’s effort to change his family’s trust to give one of his sons control of his media empire and ensure Fox News maintains its conservative editorial slant, according to a sealed document obtained by The New York Times.

    In a decision filed on Dec. 7, a probate commissioner in Nevada concluded that Mr. Murdoch and his son, Lachlan Murdoch, had acted in “bad faith” in their endeavor to amend the irrevocable trust, The New York Times reported on Dec. 9.

  • RFA ☛ Cambodian journalist who reported on illegal logging dies from gunshot wound

    Chhoeung Chheung, who worked as a journalist for online news outlet Kampuchea Aphivath, had previously reported on the destruction of natural resources in a community forest in the sanctuary.

  • Techdirt ☛ Court Says New Jersey Law Forbidding Disclosure Of Cops’ Personal Info Doesn’t Violate The 1st Amendment

    Like almost all laws named after crime victims, the law is problematic. In this case, the law is named after the husband of New Jersey judge Esther Salas, whose son (Daniel Anderl) was killed by someone posing as a delivery person. The assumption was that the murderer (who also killed California attorney Marc Angelucci) had something against people involved in the criminal justice system. And thus, Daniel’s Law was born, resulting in the ability for the government to extract fines from companies who disseminated this data, as well as creating a legal avenue for cops, judges, and others protected by this law to sue data brokers and others (ranging from Zillow to Whitepages to LexisNexis) who published publicly-available data.

• Civil Rights/Policing

  • Make Tech Easier ☛ 2024-12-05 [Older] ’Where’s My Amazon?’ Retailer Slowed Deliveries for Low-Income Users

  • Task And Purpose ☛ 25 World War I Native American soldiers could get Medals of Honor

    Records for those soldiers are being reviewed by the Valor Medals Review Project and Task Force. Established in 2018 by Congress, the panel’s mission is to surface the cases of U.S. service members who fought in World War I but whose awards and recognitions at the time were either blocked or never submitted because of racial bias in military leadership.

  • Hindustan Times ☛ Norway plans to protest FIFA and abstain from decision giving 2034 World Cup to Saudi Arabia

    Norway's soccer federation plans to abstain from giving its approval when Saudi Arabia is confirmed Wednesday as the 2034 World Cup host, saying FIFA has done too little to protect human rights around the tournament.

  • CoryDoctorow ☛ Pluralistic: Tech’s benevolent-dictator-for-life to authoritarian pipeline

    In other words, "a reactionary tech boss is a liberal tech boss who hired a bunch of pals only to have them turn around and start a union." And also: "Tech founders say things were simpler when they were running startups, but what they miss is that the reason no one asked their startup to seriously engage with the social harms it caused is the because the startup was largely irrelevant to society, while the large company it turned into is destroying millions of peoples' lives today."

• Internet Policy/Net Neutrality

  • EFF ☛ Speaking Freely: Tomiwa Ilori

    Tomiwa Ilori is an expert researcher and a policy analyst with focus on digital technologies and human rights. Currently, he is an advisor for the B-Tech Africa Project at UN Human Rights and  a Senior ICFP Fellow at HURIDOCS.  His postgraduate qualifications include masters and doctorate degrees from the Centre for Human Rights, Faculty of Law, University of Pretoria. All views and opinions expressed in this interview are personal. 

  • EFF ☛ Introducing EFF’s New Video Series: Gate Crashing

    There is a lot about the internet that needs fixing, but the one thing we should preserve and nurture is the nontraditional paths to success it creates. In this series of interviews, called “Gate Crashing,” we look to highlight those people and learn from their examples. In an ideal world, lawmakers will be guided by lived experiences like these when thinking about new internet legislation or policy. 

    In our first video, we look at creators who honed their media criticism skills in fandom spaces. Please join Gavia Baker-Whitelaw and Elizabeth Minkel, co-creators of the Rec Center newsletter, in a wide-ranging discussion about how they got started, where it has led them, and what they’ve learned about internet culture and policy along the way. 

• Digital Restrictions (DRM)

  • Tom's Hardware ☛ Microsoft allows Windows 11 to be installed on older, unsupported hardware but specifically nixes official support — minimum requirements for full compatibility remain unchanged

    At this point, almost everyone knows that Windows 11's TPM requirements can easily be circumvented through a simple registry tweak. However, apart from that, Microsoft confirms that Windows 11 can officially be installed on devices that don't meet the requirements. However, it warns users that they should be comfortable running into compatibility issues. To see if your PC is compatible with Windows 11, use the PC Health Check app to assess Windows 11 eligibility.

Monopolies/Monopsonies

• RFA ☛ China hits US chipmaker Nvidia with antitrust investigation – Radio Free Asia

  The Chinese government believed Nvidia’s purchase of Israeli networking company Mellanox could violate its anti-monopoly laws, said China’s State Administration for Market Regulation in a statement on Monday, without specifying details. China approved the regulation in 2020.

• VOA News ☛ China launches anti-monopoly probe into Nvidia

  China on Monday said it has launched an investigation into U.S. chip maker Nvidia over suspected violations of the country's anti-monopoly law, in a move that will likely be seen as a retaliatory move against Washington's recent chip curbs.

  The State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR) said Nvidia is also suspected of violating commitments it made during its acquisition of Mellanox Technologies Ltd, according to terms outlined in the regulator's 2020 conditional approval of that deal.

• MIT Technology Review ☛ AI’s hype and antitrust problem is coming under scrutiny

  The new bill would “require a competitive award process” for contracts, which would ban the use of “no-bid” awards by the Pentagon to companies for cloud services or AI foundation models. (The lawmakers’ move came a day after OpenAI announced that its technology would be deployed on the battlefield for the first time in a partnership with Anduril, completing a year-long reversal of its policy against working with the military.)

  While Big Tech is hit with antitrust investigations—including the ongoing lawsuit against Google about its dominance in search, as well as a new investigation opened into Microsoft—regulators are also accusing AI companies of, well, just straight-up lying.

• International Business Times ☛ Nvidia Antitrust Investigation In Beijing Heats Up US-China AI Dominance Rivalry: What We Know

  China has launched an antitrust investigation into Nvidia, the leading US chipmaker and a dominant player in artificial intelligence (AI) technology. This move underscores the intensifying competition between Beijing and Washington in the critical field of AI development.

• Patents

  • Unified Patents ☛ NexGen semiconductor controller patent monopoly held invalid

    On December 6, 2024, the Central Reexamination Unit (CRU) entered a notice of intent to issue a reexamination certificate canceling claims 1, 5-7, and 13 of U.S. Patent 8,278,855, owned and asserted by NexGen Control Systems, LLC, an NPE. The '855 patent monopoly generally relates to control systems for electric motors.

  • Kluwer Patent Blog ☛ The European Commission’s Amicus Curiae Brief in VoiceAge v HMD – A Timely Admonition of the Importance of Following Closely the Huawei v ZTE Guidelines

    The 2015 landmark decision by the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) in Huawei/ZTE established a balanced framework for licensing standard essential patents (SEPs), striking a compromise between the interests of SEPs holders and implementers. The ruling notoriously clarified when SEP holders can seek injunctions without abusing their dominant market position.

  • Dennis Crouch/Patently-O ☛ Making Changes: (Negative) Impact of Rewriting the Provisional Specification

    Patent attorneys know that amending the specification can directly impact claim interpretation. The Federal Circuit in Phillips v. AWH Corp. placed the specification alongside claim language as foundational intrinsic evidence for claim construction, recognizing that the specification provides focused context for understanding claim terms as they would be understood by skilled artisans. 415 F.3d 1303 (Fed. Cir. 2005).  Amendments made during prosecution carry particular weight because they represent deliberate choices by the applicant to alter a known baseline.

  • Kangaroo Courts

    • JUVE ☛ Torggler & Hofmann hidden champion for UPC cases [Ed: UPC is illegal. JUVE continues to shill Team UPC and cheer for an unconstitutional fake 'court' that it got paid to lobby for.]

      Litigation at the UPC is the natural progression of this firm’s work for its regular clientele. Its strategy for the UPC is as simple as it is pragmatic. Whenever the Innsbruck patent monopoly attorneys filed lawsuits for their clients in Germany to cover a larger market, they needed the help of lawyers.

  • Software Patents

    • Unified Patents ☛ $2,000 for Touchpoint Projection network patent monopoly prior art [Ed: Leigh M. Rothschild, which GAFAM front groups like LF and OIN (or GNOME Foundation) settled with]

      Unified Patents added a new PATROLL contest, with a $2,000 cash prize, seeking prior art on at least claim 1 of U.S. Patent 9,118,712, owned and asserted by Touchpoint Projection Innovations, LLC, an NPE and entity of Leigh M. Rothschild. The ‘712 patent monopoly relates to the type of two way network communication that is commonly referred to as “surfing the web.”

• Copyrights

  • Digital Music News ☛ Triller Hit With $35.5 Million+ Lawsuit as Revamped App Roadmap Takes Shape

    As it prepares to release a revamped video-sharing app in 2025, Triller Group (NASDAQ: ILLR) is facing a $35.5 million lawsuit for allegedly failing to honor the terms of a promissory note.

  • Torrent Freak ☛ Musi Decries Apple's App Store Removal: A "Backroom Scheme" with Music Industry

    Music streaming app Musi claims Apple removed its app from the App Store after "backroom conversations" with key music industry players. The app developer alleges this was an "unfair" and "tainted" removal process designed to put it out of business. Musi is seeking a preliminary injunction to reinstate its app while the legal battle plays out.

  • Torrent Freak ☛ TorrentGalaxy's Troubles Silence Popular Upload Bots

    Trouble continues for the popular torrent site TorrentGalaxy. After several technical issues last week, the site has become unreachable. At the same time, the related 'TGxGoodies' uploader accounts at other torrent sites have been inactive for days. TorrentGalaxy switched owners earlier this year, but it's unclear what's behind the recent problems.

  • Techdirt ☛ Non-Infringing Sites As Collateral Damage In Music Industry’s War On Stream Ripping Sites

    The war on stream-ripping sites waged by the music industry continues. And, as with any war, there is collateral damage. Now, as we’ve said for some time, this is an entirely unnecessary war to begin with. There are a host of absolutely legitimate uses for sites like this, none of which would be infringing upon anyone’s copyright. And so we have an industry going after a tool that can be used to infringe, rather than any actual infringement itself.

  • Digital Music News ☛ Sony Music Pulls All Tracks From Boomplay Over Royalty

    Pulse Nigeria reports that songs and projects from Davido, Wizkid, Tems, and Lojay are just some of the tracks impacted by the removal. In addition to the music streaming model, Boomplay also offers paid downloads for its lower-income userbase. Artists who offer downloads receive the wholesale price of Boomplay’s retail price for each song downloaded, with the payout based on territory-specific rates.

  • Pivot to AI ☛ Itch․io taken down by bogus AI-sourced phishing claim from Funko Pop, BrandShield – Pivot to AI

    Lying about phishing is just part of the service, then.