Bonum Certa Men Certa

Defenders of Democracy and Free Speech Under Attack from Germany, AstroTurfers, and Maybe Microsoft

Camera sign



Summary: A summary of new reports that reveal a brutal, unethical system for information control and monopolies

THOSE GOOD folks from Wikileaks continue to show the world that juicy, truthful journactivism is far from dead. Having recently exposed the censorship plans from Australia, they also leaked ACTA drafts a few days ago and Glyn Moody, as usual, commends them.

Given that a draft is now available, and that others will doubtless follow, the best thing would be for for the ACTA nations to acknowledge that we live in different, more open times, and to embrace them. Let them release an official ACTA draft for everyone to comment on – and not just the chosen few that are permitted to walk the hallowed corridors of power.


Watch what is happening in Germany: Germany deletes WikiLeaks.de domain after raid

cording to claims of German registration authority DENIC, the Wikileaks.de domain has been sent to DENIC by the Internet domain registrar, "Beasts Associated" and therefore is "In Transit". The registrar claims this had happened as a consequence of "contract breach" by the domain owner. WikiLeaks has open questions that cannot be answered at this point in time. It also remains unclear whether the "breach of contract" is related to content on the website or administrative issues. An update will be posted as soon as we have all information required to assess the situation.


The raid was blunt enough, but there are no clear answers in this later case. What really was the cause?

Another detested process in the making is the patent deform bill, which puts to shame the need to change for the better. Watch this report from ACS which names the stakeholders.

A group representing Silicon Valley giants such as Microsoft, Google, Apple, and Cisco has also endorsed the measure. Similar patent reform legislation (H.R. 1260) is awaiting action in the House.


What about the small companies? Or consumers? Who are these laws for anyway? Shades of the ACTA, which similarly involves only giant companies and thus leaves all the rest completely in the dark and/or without ability to make substantial impact.

Mind another AstroTurf which is going for this reform (a Microsoft-esque AstroTurf).

Lobbyists Get Random Unsuspecting Groups To Rally Against Patent Reform



[...]

Well, it appears that the same thing is happening with patent reform. Wired has done a little digging, and was curious why an anti-communist Hungarian group, the Minutemen (vigilante border guards), and various religious groups have suddenly come out against patent reform. In pretty much all cases, the groups don't seem knowledgeable at all about the actual issues, and were basically told to "sign on" after being given a one-sided presentation that falsely claimed that patent reform was designed to harm American inventiveness and help foreign companies. The best explanation, however, goes to Laszlo Pasztor, the 87-year-old "honorary chairman" of the National Federation of American Hungarians, who is very much opposed to patent reform, though he seems rather confused why:

"It was in Chicago or Detroit, I can't remember. Somebody brought this up, I don't know for what reason... So I gave them permission to use my name."


Here is the seminal report from Wired. It gives another example.

When asked if we could talk to other members of the group to understand their perspective on patent reform, Pasztor replied that it will be the last year that the organization was going to be around. "I am a 87 and a half years old," he explained. "And our treasurer is 91 years old. Our chairman, who is a Roman Catholic priest, is so busy working on church issues in Ukraine and Slovakia, it is impossible to reach him."

Pasztor volunteered to get us more information once he reaches Washington. "I will try to reach the still living members of the board," he said.


While we're on this abominable subject of intellectual monopoly, watch this report about the Czech Presidency, which is sponsored by Microsoft, making another move to legalise software patents in Europe. It could be part of another mighty lobby.

Despite all odds, the present Czech EU Presidency has prepared another patent policy Document 8588/09 titled "Revised proposal for a Council Regulation on the Community patent". It conveys a revised Presidency proposal for a Council Regulation on the Community patent, based on recent discussions in the Working Party on Intellectual Property (Patents). Changes to the previous version of the proposal (Document 9465/08) are underlined. The Working Party will be invited to have a first exchange of views on this Working document at its meeting on 22 April 2009.


Don't let software patents pass without a democratic process.

"Small Software companies cannot afford to go to court or pay damages. Who is this software patent system for?" —Marco Schulze, Nightlabs Gmbh

Comments

Recent Techrights' Posts

Representing and Speaking for Animals
If I ever choose to take this matter to tribunal with animals-centric NGOs on my side, it'll get some press coverage for sure
Slopwatch: Fake Articles About "Linux", Slop Images in VentureBeat, Linux Foundation Spam Made With LLM Slop and Slop Images
The only relief or upside - if any exists - is that the pace of slop was down a bit this week
 
Slopwatch: Fake Articles About "Linux", Google Helps Ponzi Schemes and Slopfarms in Google News
Slopfarms are a real pain
Gemini Links 29/08/2025: Retiring at 62 and URL Filtering HTTP(S) Proxy on Qubes OS
Links for the day
Links 29/08/2025: Lisa Cook Sues Convicted Felon and Backdoor Mandate in UK Resisted
Links for the day
Links 29/08/2025: Arti 1.5.0, War on Public Health (CDC), and Slop 'Bros' Made to Pay for Their Mass Plagiarism
Links for the day
No, 4Chan is Not Fighting for You by Lawyering Up Against Ofcom (UK)
Don't mistake proto-fascists for people who "fight for you". They don't.
Downlplaying the Impact of "UEFI 9/11" is a Losing Strategy
we won't publish much whilst on holiday
In Many Places in the World Vista 11 "Market Share" is Going Down, Not Up
In some countries Windows is already down to third place or lower
More Microsoft-Connected Layoffs, at Least Third Time This Month! (Also Another Death on Campus)
Microsoft as a "gaming" company is where studios, projects, games, and even developers come to die
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Thursday, August 28, 2025
IRC logs for Thursday, August 28, 2025
Gemini Links 29/08/2025: Poems, Games, and Java 25 Performance
Links for the day
Links 28/08/2025: Greenland 'Interferences' by US and Skinnerboxes to Get Banned in Korean Schools
Links for the day
Richard Stallman (RMS) Talk in Ethereum Cypherpunk Congress Will be Remote
This past week RMS received lots of accolades online
The Register MS (Run by Microsoft Operatives): Free Software is Putin, Hence Evil and Dangerous
The current editor in chief is an American Microsofter, the previous one went to work for Google (US)
Links 28/08/2025: Chatbots Distorting/Fabricating History and Also Driving Suicide
Links for the day
Gemini Links 28/08/2025: Back in Japan and Why "Hacker News" Sucks
Links for the day
A Much-Needed Wake-up Call to Users of Wordpress.com, Blogspot, Substack and All Those Other Outsourced (and Centralised) Platforms
There are several lessons in there
The UEFI 9/11 - Part II - Campaign of Censorship and Defamation Against Critics
In dictatorships, humour serves an important role. It's tragic.
Open Source Initiative (OSI) Resists Software Freedom, Even by Attacking Its Own
The OSI is compromised
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, August 27, 2025
IRC logs for Wednesday, August 27, 2025
Slopwatch: linuxsecurity.com, Slopfarms in Google News, and More
Some readers of ours end up sending us links that are from slopfarms, not realising those are slopfarms
Gemini Links 27/08/2025: Katrina Memories and Google Versus Software Freedom
Links for the day
Links 27/08/2025: Police Against Media Freedom in the UK, Energy-Hungry Countries Targeted by China
Links for the day
Microsoft Windows Fell to All-Time Lows in Egypt This Summer, Vista 11 Adoption Decreases While GNU/Linux Increases
Vista 11 is going down rather than up
Links 27/08/2025: Microsoft Demoralises Staff With Slop Demands, Leaving Mastodon Explained
Links for the day
12 Hours Ago The Register MS Published a Fake (Paid-for) Article, But This One for a Change Did Not Promote a Ponzi Scheme
There are also Free software alternatives, but they don't pay The Register MS for "synthetic" so-called 'journalism'
More People Need to Call Out and Put a Stop to Serial Sloppers
Unless slopfarms are stopped, people will read and share Microsoft propaganda made by chatbots
Gemini Links 27/08/2025: Headphones and Tartarus
Links for the day
Morale at Microsoft is Terrible (Proprietary Plagiarism Machines Have No Future, LLM Slop is a Bubble)
The slop sceptics/critics are going to have lots of "told you so" moments
GNOME "governance issues, staff reduction, etc." amidst Albanian whistleblowing and women trafficking
Notice the connection to Software Freedom Conservancy (SFC) and GNOME
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, August 26, 2025
IRC logs for Tuesday, August 26, 2025