Leftovers

• Hackaday ☛ Going Brushless: Salvaging A Dead Drill

  Let’s face it—seeing a good tool go to waste is heartbreaking. So when his cordless drill’s motor gave up after some unfortunate exposure to the elements, [Chaz] wasn’t about to bin it. Instead, he embarked on a brave journey to breathe new life into the machine by swapping its dying brushed motor for a sleek brushless upgrade.

• Hackaday ☛ Using Guanella Baluns As Impedance Transformers

  Even before entering the mystical realms of UHF design, radio frequency (RF) circuits come with a whole range of fun design aspects as well. A case in point can be found in transmission line transformers, which are commonly used in RF power amplifiers, with the Guanella transformer (balun) being one example. Allowing balanced and unbalanced  (hence ‘balun’) systems to interface without issues, they’re both very simple and very complex. This type of transformer and its various uses is explained in a video by [FesZ Electronics], and also the subject of an article by [Dr. Steve Arar] as part of a larger series, the latter of which is recommended to start with you’re not familiar with RF circuitry.

• Science

  • Hackaday ☛ Taylorator Makes Mischief On The Airwaves

    [Stephen] recently wrote in to share his experiments with using the LimeSDR mini to conduct a bit of piracy on the airwaves, and though we can’t immediately think of a legitimate application for spamming the full FM broadcast band simultaneously, we can’t help but be fascinated by the technique. Called the Taylorator, as it was originally intended to carpet bomb the dial with the collected works of Taylor Swift on every channel, the code makes for some interesting reading if you’re interested in the transmission-side of software defined radio (SDR).

• Career/Education

  • The Straits Times ☛ China takes aim at ‘race-to-the-bottom’ competition

    Called neijuan or involution, it broadly refers to excessive competition in a saturated space.

• Hardware/GPUs

  • Tom's Hardware ☛ Nvidia stock drops again thanks to rumors of expanded China chip sanctions by Convicted Felon administration

    The Convicted Felon administration is reportedly considering expanding the bans and sanctions against China, which could mean that the Nvidia H20 chip will no longer be legal to sell in the country.

  • The Strategist ☛ DeepSeek challenges the supremacy of US tech companies in AI

    It shouldn’t have come as a complete shock. US tech stocks, especially chipmaker Nvidia, plunged on Monday after news that the small China-based company DeepSeek had achieved a dramatic and reportedly inexpensive advance [...]

  • Atlantic Council ☛ Is DeepSeek a proof of concept?

    Understanding how Deepseek emerged from China’s innovation landscape can better equip the US to confront China’s ambitions for global technology leadership.

  • Hackaday ☛ Paper Tape – With LASERs!

    Though it is many decades since paper tape was commonly used as a data input or storage medium, it still holds a fascination for many who work with computers. Over the years we’ve featured more than one paper tape related project, and the latest to come out way is [ColemanJW2]’s 8-bit ASCII paper tape generator.

  • Open Hardware/Modding

    • Hackaday ☛ Supercon 2024: Joshua Wise Hacks The Bambu X1 Carbon

      Bambu Labs have been in the news lately. Not because of the machines themselves, but because they are proposing a firmware change that many in our community find restricts their freedom to use their own devices.

• Health/Nutrition/Agriculture

  • PHR ☛ Dictator Administration Use of Guantánamo to Detain Immigrants Threatens Abuse, Inhumane Conditions, Health Harms: PHR

    In response to the Convicted Felon administration memorandum directing the U.S. government to prepare the Guantánamo Bay prison in Cuba to detain migrants, the following statement is attributable to Michael Payne, deputy director of advocacy at Physicians for Human Rights (PHR)...>

  • France24 ☛ The Insurrectionist's health secretary pick faces critical Senate grilling

    Robert F. Kennedy Jr’s confirmation hearings began Wednesday before the Senate Finance Committee. He appears before the Health, Education, Labor and Pension committee on Thursday. For more, FRANCE 24's correspondent, Fraser Jackson.

  • France24 ☛ 'I am not anti-vaccine,' Robert F. Kennedy Jr tells US Senate hearing

    US President The Insurrectionist's nomination for health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr, who has spent decades fueling misinformation around vaccines, told a Senate hearing on Wednesday he was not anti-vaccine but pro-safety.

  • New Yorker ☛ The Junk Science of Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.

    For the first time in modern American history, a skeptic of medical research could be responsible for safeguarding public health.

  • New York Times ☛ 5 Takeaways From R.F.K. Jr.’s First Confirmation Hearing

    Mr. Kennedy appears to have most Republicans behind him as he seeks the job of health secretary, though he couldn’t escape his past stances on vaccines and abortion.

  • JURIST ☛ Dictator restricts access to gender-affirming treatment for transgender youth

    US President The Insurrectionist issued an executive order on Tuesday directing federal agencies to restrict access to gender-affirming medical care for transgender youth under age 19 and block federal funding for such treatments. The order requires federal health programs to exclude coverage for gender-affirming surgeries and hormone treatments for minors beginning in 2026.

  • University of Michigan ☛ Down with discussion boards

    We’ve all been there: rewording a classmate’s post just enough to hit the word count on a discussion board. Usually, we start with “Great point!” and then proceed to paraphrase their entire argument.  As a pre-health student, however, this discussion board filler isn’t just tedious — it’s a missed opportunity to learn actual practical skills.

  • Freeze to US aid hits Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar hard

    With hundreds of millions of dollars paused, healthcare, food and education programs are already feeling a pinch.

  • New York Times ☛ Leaving the W.H.O. Could Hurt Americans on a Range of Health Matters

    President Convicted Felon’s decision to pull out of the international health agency could deprive the United States of crucial scientific data and lessen the country’s influence in setting a global health agenda.

  • New York Times ☛ State Department Permits Distribution of H.I.V. Medications to Resume — for Now

    Experts fear a resurgence of infections in low-income countries if the ban were to continue. The waiver remains in place, while officials review foreign aid programs.

  • Latvia ☛ Latvia unveils its first children's precision medicine center

    Latvia's first Pediatric Precision Medicine Center has been opened. The aim is to create a new center of research excellence at the Children's Clinical University Hospital (BKUS), increasing research and innovation capacity. In the future, a new building will also be constructed to house the center, Latvian Television reported on January 29.

• Pseudo-Open Source

  • Openwashing

    • GeekWire ☛ Ex-Google, Apple engineers raise $10M to give AI its ‘Linux moment’ with new open source platform [Ed: Microsoft-sponsored propaganda site refers to openwashing as "Linux moment"]

      A new startup out of Seattle wants to open up the “black box” of foundational AI models in a bid to help spur more innovation for the booming field of artificial intelligence.

• Defence/Aggression

  • North Korea’s Kim inspects nuclear facilities, warns of ‘vicious’ hostility

    Kim made a similar visit in September when the North unveiled a uranium enrichment facility

  • The Straits Times ☛ Japanese city where HK tourist died places guards around popular tourist destination

    The guards hold signs in English, Chinese and Korean, and will be stationed till the end of March.

  • Thai lawyer petitions court for release of detained Uyghurs

    The court is due to hold a hearing on the fate of the men on Feb. 17

  • The Straits Times ☛ Malaysian police arrest 4 after 2 cars ram into crowd outside KL nightclub

    According to a witness, a pickup and a sedan were recklessly driven outside Top Plus Club in KL.

  • With acoustic blast, China ups aggression in disputed waters: Philippine Navy

    Beijing’s deployment of long-range acoustic device is among its “gray-zone” tactics in the South China Sea: Manila.

  • Hong Kong Free Press ☛ As a village waits to be swallowed by Hong Kong’s Northern Metropolis, once-defiant residents are unsure of their fate

    More than a decade ago, construction on an underground rail link connecting Hong Kong to mainland China began beneath Yau Tam Mei Tsuen, a village in the city’s northern New Territories. For some villagers, it was a warning that their homes would one day be ceded to further development.

  • Ethnic Mongolian dissident Hada gets Nobel Peace Prize nomination

    Four Japanese lawmakers say his struggle for his people’s self-determination should be recognized

• Transparency/Investigative Reporting

  • The Dissenter ☛ Gabbard's Confirmation Hearing: Snowden Blasts Senators For Obsessing Over Him

• Environment

  • DeSmog ☛ Cenovus Funded ‘Grassroots’ Groups That Oppose Climate Laws, Document Reveals

  • Energy/Transportation

    • Hong Kong Free Press ☛ South Korea airplane fire leaves seven injured

      Seven people sustained mostly minor injuries in Tuesday’s airplane fire in South Korea, authorities said Wednesday, with local media suggesting the blaze may have been caused by a portable battery stored in the overhead bin.

    • The Straits Times ☛ South Korea begins probe into cause of Busan Air fire

      The testimonies of some passengers suggest the fire broke out at an overhead compartment.

    • New York Times ☛ How Dozens Fled an Inferno on a South Korean Plane

      A month after the deadliest aviation disaster on South Korean soil, a fire destroyed another passenger jet in the country.

• Finance

  • The Verge ☛ Google offers ‘voluntary exit’ to all US platforms and devices employees

    A year ago, Google started off 2024 with some layoffs. It hasn’t taken similar steps (yet) in 2025, but employees are fearing the worst. And if the Platforms and Devices team is anything to go by, there’s ample reason for concern. Google has distributed a memo to all US employees working on Android, Pixel hardware, and other projects that offers a “voluntary exit program” guaranteeing severance for anyone willing to step away from their role at the company. The memo went out from platforms and devices SVP Rick Osterloh, according to 9to5Google.

    “This comes after we brought two large organizations together last year,” Osterloh wrote. “There’s tremendous momentum on this team and with so much important work ahead, we want everyone to be deeply committed to our mission and focused on building great products, with speed and efficiency.” Voluntary buyouts can often be a precursor to layoffs if not enough employees take Google up on its offer and choose to leave.

  • Business Insider ☛ Microsoft's performance-based job cuts have started, according to termination letters sent to staff

    Employees losing their jobs will see healthcare benefits end immediately, the letters state. In three specific cases, employees were told by Microsoft they're not getting severance, according to people familiar with the situation. These people asked not to be identified discussing sensitive topics.

  • India Times ☛ Appraisals for software engineers: Microsoft and Amazon are using performance reviews to decide who gets sacked

    Microsoft is yet again preparing for another round of layoffs while focusing on performance based workforce reduction, reported Fortune. The technology giant Microsoft which is now valued at $3.1 trillion will be carefully evaluating the underperforming employees across the various departments.

  • Yahoo News ☛ Microsoft and Amazon are using performance reviews to decide who gets laid off—experts warn these surefire mistakes will get you cut

    While a Microsoft spokesperson did confirm layoffs were on the horizon, they did not share any specifics on the number of workers who may be let go and the reasons why.

  • Indian Express ☛ Amazon trims communications team, dozens affected in cost-saving move

    Ecommerce giant Amazon seems to have begun laying off employees. Reportedly, Amazon.com Inc. has sacked dozens of people from its communications department. The development comes at a time when executives are working towards cutting costs and reducing bureaucracy. After Meta and Microsoft, Amazon is the third tech giant to axe jobs in 2025.

    In an email statement, Amazon spokesperson Brad Glasser said that the decision was after a recent review. “We’re making some changes to the Communications and Corporate Responsibility organisation to help us move faster, increase ownership, strengthen our culture, and bring teams closer to customers,” Glasser said.

  • Bioware’s spin machine manages to make layoffs sound positive and for the benefit of all when actually…

    The games industry is not shy of layoffs since Covid. The mass extinction of jobs at games studios has become a pandemic of its own and news of more swingeing cuts is usually accompanied by some mealy-mouthed press release from high ups, full of words such as restructure, agile and dynamic, but never really mentioning that the people whose only crime was to come into work and grind themselves into the dust to make you money, now have to dynamically find themselves a new job.

    There have been so many of these corporate vomits that these days I just roll my eyes at the insensitivity of it all, but then, Bioware, heroes of classics such as Mass Effect and more recently the still successful but not as successful as the overlords demand, Dragon Age: The Veilguard have seen these statements and gone for a ‘hold my beer’ moment.

  • Dragon Age The Veilguard Devs Laid Off As Part Of BioWare's Mass Effect Focus

    Other game development studios like Phoenix Labs and Microsoft are also facing layoffs in 2025.

  • PC-Tablet ☛ Dragon Age Developers Reveal They’ve Been Laid Off After BioWare Puts ‘Full Focus’ on Mass Effect

    BioWare lays off 50 staff amid a shift to focus on Mass Effect, raising concerns about the future of the Dragon Age series. Discover the implications of these changes and what they mean for fans and the industry.

    The gaming industry is experiencing a significant shift as BioWare, a venerable name in RPG development, announces the layoff of 50 employees from its Dragon Age and Mass Effect teams. This move is part of a broader restructuring aimed at focusing resources and attention on the upcoming Mass Effect project, leaving many to question the future of the Dragon Age series, specifically the latest installment, Dragon Age: Dreadwolf.

• AstroTurf/Lobbying/Politics

  • India Times ☛ Microsoft, Meta CEOs defend hefty AI spending after DeepSeek stuns tech world

    Days after Chinese upstart DeepSeek revealed a breakthrough in cheap AI computing that shook the U.S. technology industry, the chief executives of Microsoft and Meta defended massive spending that they said was key to staying competitive in the new field.

  • India Times ☛ Amazon is laying off more employees, calling them "unnecessary layers," and …

    Amazon is restructuring and laying off employees in its communications and sustainability divisions. The company is streamlining operations after significant growth during the pandemic. Affected employees will receive financial support and assistance. Amazon remains committed to its sustainability goals, including achieving carbon neutrality by 2040 and using renewable energy by 2025.

  • Krebs On Security ☛ Infrastructure Laundering: Blending in with the Cloud

    In January 2024, the U.S. Department of Commerce issued a proposed rule that would require cloud providers to create a “Customer Identification Program” that includes procedures to collect data sufficient to determine whether each potential customer is a foreign or U.S. person.

    According to the law firm Crowell & Moring LLP, the Commerce rule also would require “infrastructure as a service” (IaaS) providers to report knowledge of any transactions with foreign persons that might allow the foreign entity to train a large AI model with potential capabilities that could be used in malicious cyber-enabled activity.

  • The Register UK ☛ Gutting US cyber advisory boards 'foolish'

    Gutting the Cyber Safety Review Board as it was investigating how China's Salt Typhoon breached American government and telecommunications networks was "foolish" and "bad for national security," according to retired US Navy Rear Admiral Mark Montgomery.

  • Wired ☛ The World According to Marc Andreessen

    it wasn’t that long ago that one of Silicon Valley's most prominent and influential venture capitalists, Marc Andreessen, was a major supporter of the Democratic Party. So how did he, in such a short time, transform into a top adviser to the Trump administration? This week, we retrace Andreesen’s steps–from his early days at Netscape to his current role of “unpaid intern” at DOGE.

  • The Verge ☛ The fallout of Meta’s content moderation overhaul

    CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s announcement appeals to many of the new administration’s talking points. Zuckerberg, who has visited Trump at Mar-a-Lago multiple times since the election and attended the inauguration, has promised to move US content review from California to Texas, where he says there’s “less concern about the bias of our teams.” He also says Meta will work with Trump to “push back on governments around the world that are going after American companies and pushing to censor more.”

  • Open Secrets ☛ Microsoft Corp Lobbyists

    Lobbyists representing Microsoft Corp, 2023

  • [Old] The American Prospect ☛ Defense Department Submits to Microsoft’s Profit-Taking - The American Prospect

    But Microsoft’s power is still very real, and its image as the nicer tech giant is shifting because of its rapid expansion into artificial intelligence, through a partnership with OpenAI. Meanwhile, recent mishaps with Microsoft’s core software business, like a series of major cybersecurity attacks, remind us of all the many tentacles Microsoft has wrapped around technology markets, and even our national-security state.

    One of those episodes came at the end of last month when the Department of Defense, the largest and most powerful body in the government, bowed down to its tech master from Redmond, the largest federal contractor for information technology (IT), according to several estimates.

  • Google ☛ Adversarial Misuse of Generative AI | Google Cloud Blog

    Google Threat Intelligence Group (GTIG) is committed to tracking and protecting against cyber threat activity. We relentlessly defend Google, our users, and our customers by building the most complete threat picture to disrupt adversaries. As part of that effort, we investigate activity associated with threat actors to protect against malicious activity, including the misuse of generative AI or LLMs.

  • Tom's Hardware ☛ Microsoft and OpenAI investigate whether DeepSeek illicitly obtained data from ChatGPT

    The probe comes after DeepSeek launched its R1 AI model. The company claims R1 matches or exceeds leading models in areas like reasoning, math, and general knowledge while consuming considerably fewer resources. Following DeepSeek’s announcement, Alphabet, Microsoft, Nvidia, and Oracle experienced a collective market loss of nearly $1 trillion. Investors reacted to concerns that DeepSeek's advancements could threaten the dominance of U.S. firms in the AI sector. However, if it turns out that DeepSeek used data illicitly obtained data from others, this will explain how the company managed to achieve its results without investing billions of dollars.

  • The Washington Post ☛ Meta, Microsoft CEOs say DeepSick doesn’t disrupt AI investment plans

    Both CEOs also indicated that they expected capable AI software to be increasingly available at low cost or free — a trend that could put pressure on companies dependent on charging others to access private AI models.

  • New York Times ☛ Mark Zuckerberg Defends Embrace of Trump Administration in Meta Employee Q&A

    In a wide-ranging question-and-answer session with Meta employees on Thursday, Mark Zuckerberg, the company’s chief executive, defended recent changes he had made to loosening restrictions on online speech and ending diversity initiatives, and doubled down on embracing President Trump’s new administration.

  • Marcy Wheeler ☛ Mark Zuckerberg Agrees to Turn Meta [Back] into a Pogrom Machine

    According to WSJ, Meta has agreed to pay $25 million to lose the frivolous lawsuit Trump launched after Facebook exercised its prerogative under the First Amendment not to platform Trump’s insurrection anymore in 2021.

  • The Atlantic ☛ Why Meta Is Paying $25 Million to Settle a Trump Lawsuit

    Oral arguments in 2023 had gone poorly for Trump, and many legal observers saw little hope for him. As recently as August 2024, nearly two years after Musk took over the company formerly known as Twitter, X had filed a brief with the Ninth Circuit arguing that Trump’s case lacked merit and that it had been properly dismissed by a lower court.

    Now, the attorneys told the court in the November letter, no ruling would be needed in the case. “We write to advise the court that the parties are actively discussing a potential settlement,” read the joint letter, which was also signed by lawyers for Trump’s co-plaintiffs.

  • US News And World Report ☛ Meta to Pay $25 Million to Settle Trump's 2021 Lawsuit Over Suspended Accounts

    Trump's Facebook and Instagram accounts were suspended after his supporters launched an assault on the U.S. Capitol following a speech by him repeating false claims that his election defeat was the result of widespread fraud.

    Out of the settlement amount, $22 million will go towards a fund for Trump's presidential library, and the rest to legal fees and other plaintiffs in the case.

    Facebook parent Meta filed a notice regarding the settlement in a federal court in San Francisco.

  • Misinformation/Disinformation/Propaganda

    • Deccan Chronicle ☛ Social Media Influencers Join White House Briefings

      The Trump administration is opening White House press briefings to 'new media,' including podcasters, influencers, and independent creators.

    • Meduza ☛ ‘Pulling children into the system’: The Kremlin is bringing its patriotic lesson series to Russia’s youngest students — kindergartners

      The fall after the Kremlin launched its full-scale war against Ukraine, schools across Russia introduced a new state-designed “patriotic” lesson series called “Important Conversations.” Now, the program is expanding to some of the youngest members of society — kindergartners. Officials in the Vologda region are piloting the new initiative. At some of the first lessons, teachers dressed children in uniforms, gave them toy guns, pretended to bandage their arms, led a moment of silence, and played patriotic music. The independent Okno project learned what’s happening in these lessons, how they made their way into kindergartens, and how parents feel about them. Meduza shares an abridged English-language version of the story.

• Censorship/Free Speech

  • Tom's Hardware ☛ Facebook admits that the Linux topic crackdown was 'in error' and has been fixed

    In the above post, DistroWatch notes that it is aware of the supposed lifting of its ban but that the account still seems to be locked. We just checked DistroWatch's Facebook page (so you don't have to). A post yesterday was '403 Forbidden' by Facebook (10 likes), but one about a new BSD release published earlier today seems successful (2 likes).

  • PC Mag ☛ Facebook Accidentally Blocks Users From Posting About Linux

    DistroWatch reached out to Facebook. But initially, the company refused to relent. “I've tried to appeal the ban and was told the next day that Linux-related material is staying on the cybersecurity filter. My Facebook account was also locked for my efforts,” DistroWatch wrote.

    “The sad irony here is that Facebook runs much of its infrastructure on Linux and often posts job ads looking for Linux developers,” DistroWatch added.

  • The Cyber Show ☛ Not one of us

    The censorship engine is ramping up as Facebook, Google and Amazon toady-up to Trump. The US tech oligarchy is on course to suppress all talk of Software Freedom and alternatives. Censorship of cybersecurity - in other words security from them - will be next.

  • CPJ ☛ Guinean regulator bans news site Dépêche Guinée

    “The banning of Dépêche Guinée represents an escalation of the Guinean communications regulator’s censorship efforts and reflects a grave disregard for citizens’ right to diversity of information,” said Moussa Ngom, CPJ’s Francophone Africa Representative. “The regulator must reverse this decision and work to reverse all restrictions on media outlets banned in the country.”

  • RFA ☛ China’s dissidents struggling, apart from loved ones at New Year

    Many of China’s political prisoners are serving jail terms because they criticized the government, shared sensitive information with others, or stood up for the victims of official abuse. They are journalists, editors, lawyers and activists. They and their loved ones spoke to RFA about their feelings of separation, ongoing injustice and their hopes for the new year to come: [...]

  • EFF ☛ Executive Order to the State Department Sideswipes Freedom Tools, Threatens Censorship Resistance, Privacy, and Anonymity of Millions

    Right now, we want to draw attention to one of the executive orders that directly impacts the freedom tools that people around the world rely on to safeguard their security, privacy, and anonymity. EFF understands how critical these tools are – protecting the ability to make and share anticensorship, privacy and anonymity-protecting technologies has been central to our work since the Crypto Wars of the 1990s.

  • New Eastern Europe ☛ Navalny: a patriot and an imperialist

    Not long after Navalny’s death, his memoirs were released under the name The Patriot. In his book, Navalny wrote about his youth; his activism; his fight against Russian dictatorship; his time in prison; and ultimately his patriotism for Russia. In the West, Navalny’s image remains that of a brave hero, committed to democratic values and the idea of a free Russia. What is, however, missing from this forming legacy of Navalny is his imperialist rhetoric, to which he remained loyal right up until his death.

  • Business Today ☛ DeepSeek’s AI raises censorship concerns: Avoids speaking on many China-related topics - BusinessToday

    DeepSeek's latest AI model, R1, has garnered significant attention for its advanced capabilities and cost-effective development. However, users have reported that R1 consistently avoids responding to questions about China's problems, particularly those deemed politically sensitive. This behaviour is attributed to built-in censorship mechanisms that align the AI's outputs with the Chinese government's directives.

    For instance, when users ask about issues like the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests, or any human rights issues in China such as the treatment of Uighurs in the country, the chatbot often replies with a generic response like, "Sorry, that's beyond my current scope. Let's talk about something else."

  • The Korea Times ☛ An Iraqi man who carried out several Quran burnings in Sweden has been killed

    Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson said that Sweden's security service was involved because “there is obviously a risk that there is a connection to a foreign power,” according to TT.

    Momika argued that his protests targeted the religion of Islam, not Muslim people. He argued that he wanted to protect Sweden’s population from the messages of the Quran. Swedish police allowed his demonstrations, citing freedom of speech , while filing charges against him.

  • India Today ☛ Salwan Momika, who burnt Quran in 2023, shot dead in Sweden: Report

    “The permit granted in connection with the demonstration is covered by my client’s intent. His rights are protected by the Swedish Constitution,” Safaryan said.

    Momika had said he wanted to protest against Islam as an institution and called for banning its holy book. Sweden’s migration agency had moved to deport him over false information in his residency application but said the order would not be enforced due to the risk of torture in Iraq.

  • The Hindu ☛ Salwan Momika Quran protests: Iraqi man who carried out several Quran burnings in Sweden, shot dead; five people arrested

    Salwan Momika, Iraqi refugee and anti-Islam campaigner, was shot dead in Sweden before court verdict, sparking arrests and security concerns

  • NDTV ☛ Salwan Momika, Man Who Burnt Quran In 2023 Sparking Huge Protests, Shot Dead In Sweden

    A Stockholm court was due to rule on Thursday whether Salwan Momika, a Christian Iraqi who burned Qurans at a slew of protests, was guilty of inciting ethnic hatred.

  • New York Times ☛ Salwan Momika, Who Burned a Quran in Sweden, Is Killed

    Salwan Momika, an Iraqi immigrant in Sweden, set off enormous protests when he burned a Quran in 2023. He had been scheduled to appear in court on Thursday.

  • BBC ☛ Man who burned Quran 'shot dead in Sweden'

    Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson said Sweden's security services were involved in the investigation because there was "obviously a risk that there were links to foreign powers," SVT reported.

    Mr Momika carried out a series of anti-Islam protests, sparking outrage in many Muslim-majority countries.

  • Reuters ☛ Swedish PM says shooting of anti-Islam campaigner may be linked to foreign power

    Salwan Momika, 38, an Iraqi refugee, was shot in a house in Sodertalje town near Stockholm on Wednesday. A prosecutor ordered that the five people be detained, police said, without specifying if the gunman was among them. Momika had burned and desecrated copies of the Koran, the Muslim holy book, either in public or in social media broadcasts in 2023.

  • France24 ☛ Koran burner shot dead in Sweden

    In August of that year, Sweden's intelligence service Sapo raised its threat level to four on a scale of five after the Koran burnings had made the country a "prioritised target".

    The Swedish government condemned the desecrations while noting the country's constitutionally protected freedom of speech and assembly laws.

  • teleSUR ☛ Sweden Arrests Five People for Shooting Death of Quran Burner

    “Regarding Momika’s death, I can confirm that five people have been arrested, and a preliminary investigation has been opened,” said National Police Chief Petra Lundh, who declined to provide further details or reveal whether the 38-year-old Momika had police protection.

  • The Washington Post ☛ Salwan Momika, known for Quran burning, shot dead in Sweden

    Salwan Momika’s 2023 burning of the Quran drew ire in the Muslim world. He was killed just before he was set to receive a sentence in Sweden.

  • The Guardian UK ☛ Sweden points to ‘foreign power’ after Iraqi refugee on trial for Qur’an burnings shot dead

    Swedish media reported Momika was streaming live on TikTok when he was shot. A video seen by Reuters showed police picking up a phone and ending a live stream that appeared to be from his TikTok account.

    In 2023 Sweden raised its terrorism alert to the second highest level and warned of threats against Swedes at home and abroad after Qur’an burnings, many of them by Momika, angered many Muslims and prompted threats from jihadists.

• Freedom of Information / Freedom of the Press

  • CPJ ☛ Colombian journalist Óscar Gómez Agudelo shot dead at radio station

    The Bogotá-based Foundation for Press Freedom (FLIP) said Gómez was well known for his morning news program on Rumba del Café that regularly denounced alleged corruption by local government officials as well as the sale of illegal drugs on the streets of Armenia.

• Civil Rights/Policing

  • CS Monitor ☛ Women in physics saw their rise in Germany crushed by Nazi policies

    While women’s rights had advanced under the Weimar Republic, Nazi ideology claimed women’s place was in the home as wives and mothers. Jewish women, of course, were targeted for their religious identities, but non-Jewish women could be dismissed simply for being female, especially if they were seen as political opponents of Nazism or as sympathetic to their Jewish colleagues.

  • VOA News ☛ UN rights chief seeks $500 million in 2025, warning that lives are at risk

    The U.N. human rights chief appealed on Thursday for $500 million in funding for 2025 to support its work, such as investigating human rights abuses around the world from Syria to Sudan, warning that lives hang in the balance.

  • RFA ☛ Tibetan writer put under surveillance after release from jail – Radio Free Asia

    A Tibetan writer and former elementary school teacher, imprisoned for having contact with Tibetans living abroad and making a prayer offering to the Dalai Lama, has been placed under strict surveillance following his release from jail in November 2024.

  • International Business Times ☛ 'Give a Fair Contract or Else': 18,000 Costco Workers Prepare to Strike Over Pay and Conditions

    The Teamsters union has been pushing for a new contract that includes improved paid family leave, seniority rights, increased sick time, and safeguards against workplace surveillance. However, union leaders say that Costco has refused to negotiate in good faith.

    According to Teamsters General President Sean M. O'Brien, Costco rejected 98% of the union's proposals, which he called a 'troubling unwillingness to bargain'.

  • Techdirt ☛ Hi Kids, Do You Like (Police) Violence? Trump’s DOJ Shuts Down Civil Rights Division

    As has often been said of (and so often proved by) the Trump Administration: the cruelty is the point. Trump isn’t simply content with ensuring no cop shop goes punished going forward during his second term. He wants to undo as much positive effort from his predecessor as possible to inflict maximum pain on the American public. We’re a nation once again being run by petty bullies and supported by the sort of people who love bullying, so long as the people they hate get beat up more often than they do.

  • The Washington Post ☛ Justice Department freezes all cases in civil rights division

    The Justice Department has ordered the civil rights division to halt much of its investigative activity dating from the Biden administration and not pursue new indictments, cases or settlements, according to a memo sent to the temporary head of the division that was obtained by The Washington Post.

  • Air Force Times ☛ Federal military spouse workers ‘should’ be able to continue remotely

    Federally employed military spouses who work remotely for their agencies “should” be allowed to continue to do so, according to a joint memo from the federal agencies in charge of budget and personnel.

  • Jeremy Cherfas ☛ Improved Accessibility

    You can see the problem. In dark mode, the background remains pale yellow but the text is white and totally illegible apart from the blue links. Not nice at all.

• Internet Policy/Net Neutrality

  • The Straits Times ☛ Thailand expects high-speed rail link to China to operate from 2030

    The railway is expected to begin operations nearly a decade later than originally planned.

  • Techdirt ☛ Ted Cruz Blocks FCC Plan To Bring Mobile Wi-Fi To School Kids For A Very Very Stupid Reason

    Last year the Biden FCC passed a new rule that would help bring Wi-Fi access to school kids who struggle to do their homework online. More specifically, the rule allowed schools to leverage the FCC’s E-Rate program funds to pay for mobile hotspots in things like busses, making it easier for kids who lack broadband (or can’t afford broadband) to get online. The E-Rate budget was not increased.

Monopolies/Monopsonies

• CoryDoctorow ☛ Pluralistic: Petard (Part I)

  When a vendor abuses you, that's not punishment for you being a cheapskate and wanting to use services for free. Vendors who screw you over do so because they know they can get away with it, because you are locked in and can't shop elsewhere. The ultimate manifestation of this is, of course, prison-tech. A duopoly of private equity-backed prison-tech profiteers have convinced prisons and jails across America to get rid of calls, in-person visits, mail, parcels, libraries, and continuing ed, and replace them all with tablets that charge prisoners vastly more than people in the free world pay to access media and connect with the outside. Those prisoners are absolutely paying for the product – indeed, with the national average prison wage set at $0.53/hour, they're paying far more than anyone outside pays – and they are still the product.

• Security Week ☛ Justice Department Sues to Block $14 Billion Juniper Buyout by Hewlett Packard Enterprise

  The Justice Department sued to block Hewlett Packard Enterprise’s $14 billion acquisition of rival Juniper Networks on Thursday, the first attempt to stop a merger by a new Trump administration that is expected to take a softer approach to mergers.

• Threema GmbH ☛ DMA: The EU’s Digital Competitiveness Is at Stake

  In September 2023, the EU Commission designated the first gatekeepers, which then had to comply with the DMA by March 7, 2024. However, even more than nine months later, there has been little change in the gatekeepers’ behavior: despite investigations for non-compliance, certain companies continue to rely on pseudo solutions to circumvent the law. This is stifling innovation in the EU and making it impossible for SMEs to grow.

• Trademarks

  • Techdirt ☛ Nintendo Loses After Trying To Oppose The Trademark For A Costa Rican Grocery Store

    But not the Super Mario shop in Costa Rica, it seems. The supermarket store owned by a man named Mario (hence the name), has had a trademark on its name since 2013. But when Mario’s son, Charlito, went to renew the registration, Nintendo’s lawyers suddenly came calling.

• Copyrights

  • US Copyright Office ☛ Copyright and Artificial Intelligence: Part 2: Copyrightability [PDF]

    Based on the fundamental principles of copyright, the current state of fast-evolving technology, and the information received in response to the NOI, the Copyright Office concludes that existing legal doctrines are adequate and appropriate to resolve questions of copyrightability. Copyright law has long adapted to new technology and can enable case-by- case determinations as to whether AI-generated outputs reflect sufficient human contribution to warrant copyright protection. As described above, in many circumstances these outputs will be copyrightable in whole or in part—where AI is used as a tool, and where a human has been able to determine the expressive elements they contain. Prompts alone, however, at this stage are unlikely to satisfy those requirements. The Office continues to monitor technological and legal developments to evaluate any need for a different approach.

  • Digital Camera World ☛ Can you copyright generative AI? The answer surprisingly originates with the camera, in a key US Copyright Office report

    Existing intellectual property law is enough to guide artists into the age of generative AI, the US Copyright Office has concluded in a new report published on January 29. In the second part of the Artificial Intelligence Report, the US Copyright Office addresses key questions over whether or not generative AI can be protected under current copyright law. The report says that prompt-based generative AI cannot be copyrighted, but addresses the questions surrounding works made by a joint effort between humans and AI.

  • Futurism ☛ OpenAI Hit With Wave of Mockery for Crying That Someone Stole Its Work Without Permission to Build a Competing Product

    ChatGPT maker OpenAI has become the subject of widespread mockery online after whining that buzzy Chinese AI startup DeepSeek stole its intellectual property — despite indiscriminately ripping off other people's work itself for many years.

  • Digital Music News ☛ China's DeepSeek Model Outpaces OpenAI With Lesser Hardware

    “It is (relatively) easy to copy something that you know works,” OpenAI CEO Sam Altman tweeted in December 2024. “It is extremely hard to do something new, risky, and difficult when you don’t know if it will work. It’s also extremely hard to rally a big talented research team to charge a new hill in the fog together. This is the key to driving progress forward.”

    OpenAI has argued that it will protect its intellectual property, which was built on top of stolen IP from millions of other sources. “We know PRC based companies—and others—are constantly trying to distill the models of leading US AI companies,” an OpenAI spokesperson told Bloomberg.

  • Futurism ☛ OpenAI Says DeepSeek Used Its Work Without Permission to Create an AI That's Stealing Its Job, Which Is Blatantly Hypocritical Since That's Exactly What It Did to Human Artists

    Now that DeepSeek has come for OpenAI, the ChatGPT maker is suddenly crying foul, whining that the upstart lab did exactly what it did to human creatives: vacuumed up its work and used it to build a competing product.

    "The issue is when you [take it out of the platform and] are doing it to create your own model for your own purposes," a source close to OpenAI told the FT.

  • New York Times ☛ OpenAI Says DeepSeek May Have Improperly Harvested Its Data

    This process, called distillation, is common across the A.I. field. But OpenAI’s terms of service say that the company does not allow anyone to use data generated by its systems to build technologies that compete in the same market.

  • Torrent Freak ☛ Pirate IPTV: Sweden Mulls 'Viewing Ban' as Illegal Subscriptions Soar 25%

    A new report from consultancy firm Mediavision provides data on IPTV piracy that the Swedish government didn't want to hear. Between spring and fall of 2024, illegal subscriptions increased by a record 25%, with an estimated 700,000 households now regularly paying to pirate. The government considers a 'viewing ban' for citizens but, there appears to be no clear idea how or even if that would work.

  • Digital Music News ☛ NetEase Cloud Music Inks ‘Preliminary Agreement’ to Continue Streaming SM Entertainment’s Catalog, Confirms Ongoing ‘Extended Negotiations’

    SM Entertainment’s catalog isn’t exiting NetEase Cloud Music after all, as the companies have temporarily extended their existing deal as they continue to negotiate a new licensing pact. The Chinese streaming service disclosed that “preliminary agreement” in a formal release put out in both English and Korean.