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Links - New and Old Censorship, Anti-trust, Privacy Violations and Pollution.

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  • Finance





  • Anti-Trust

    • Pay TV piracy hits News
      The actions are documented in an archive of 14,400 emails held by former Metropolitan Police commander Ray Adams who was European chief for Operational Security between 1996 and 2002. The Financial Review is publishing thousands of the emails on its website at URL afr.com.

      The emails show that Murdoch used "piracy" as a competitive weapon, helping people to break the digital handcuffs of rival's pay TV boxes. The loss of face and revenue helped Murdoch to consolidate his media empire.



    • Microsoft all but buys Netscape with AOL patent acqusition

      This Microsoft friendly news source uses gloats over this superposed "end of the browser wars" and uses the term "intellectual property" while glorifying and validating software patents.



  • Censorship

    • The reason I'm helping Chris Hedges' lawsuit against the NDAA
      the Homeland Battlefield Bill has already a chilling effect upon my ability to investigate and document matters of national controversy that would ordinarily be subject to my professional inquiry. It has therefore prevented my readers from receiving the full spectrum of truthful reporting which, in a functioning democracy, they have a right to expect.


    • Iraq’s internet on the brink
      A year since the Arab Spring, the internet in the region is facing significant threats from governments trying to gain more control over it.


    • Media companies & ISPs outline plan to stop piracy

      Not so voluntary censorship is set to roll out on people in the US. Appealing accusations of sharing will cost people $35.



    • World Without Web
      ... we underestimate the alarming degree of contingency lurking behind ‘inevitable’ developments. ... The divergence point for this history is in 1983-1984, when the leadership of DARPA lied through its teeth to Congress about who was being allowed access to the Internet. ... what if DARPA had been caught in that lie, funding for its network research scaled back, and a serious effort made to kick randoms off the early net?


    • CISPA – The Sneaky Son Of SOPA

      A good collection of links about a nasty law against sharing.





  • Civil Rights



  • Privacy



  • Education Watch



  • DRM

    • How Adobe DRM Requires People to Pirate Library Books
      Open standards make sense. What makes no sense is that large companies in the field still do not understand this. ... It turns out that a majority of the 6,495 titles available at my local library were accessible only through a locked .acsm file format. ...you can think of a .acsm file as being very much like a .torrent file. If you use Windows or Mac, you can (theoretically) download and install Adobe Digital Editions (ADE). This software reads the .acsm file and then it will download the actual .epub book, complete with DRM. ... there is no legal way to access the content without breaking the law if you are using free (libre) software.

      Tell your local librarian to never use a system like this!





  • Intellectual Monopolies

    • Another Patent Attack on Google with More Wild $$ Predictions ~pj
      Nokia and Microsoft. Partners at law, so to speak. Is this another Microsoft/Nokia outsourced production? Remember when Barnes & Noble told us that it views Microsoft and Nokia's patent campaign as an antitrust violation, a deliberate campaign to destroy Android and maintain Microsoft's monopoly on the desktop and extend it to smartphones, with Nokia piggybacking with its patents for weapons and MOSAID being brought in to do some of the dirty work? So when you read the scare headlines, remember this: Google is awesome at patent litigation. It tends to prevail. I told you that when Oracle first sued Google


    • Oracle’s Position is Worse Than I Thought


    • USPTO Issues Interim Mayo Guidance ~pj
      "...the claimed product or process amounts to significantly more than a law of nature, a natural phenomenon, or an abstract idea with conventional steps specified at a high level of generality appended thereto." Why *wouldn't* that apply to software?


    • Mayo Decision Impacts Myriad Genetics - Judgment Vacated, Remanded ~pj
      Things are looking up in PatentLand


    • Prometheus bound: An important precedent for the next software patent case
      Plainly, this was not a dispute about software patents, but the Court’s unanimous opinion will guide it and lower courts as they analyze future software patent cases.


    • Copyrights

      • Judge rules file sharing is not a "conspiracy"
        The litigators are trying to get around the fact that judges aren't happy with allowing mass lawsuits, so what they are doing is taking one internet user to court but using that lawsuit as a pretext to subpoena other defendants who had participated in the same BitTorrent swarm. ... James Holderman of the Northern District of Illinois raised his eyebrow in disgust at this trick, saying that it was trying to get around the "stiffening judicial headwind."


      • 5000+ Artists Line Up For a Pirate Bay Promotion
        “We’re one of the worlds top 60 sites in the Internet. This brings us a responsibility to use the site to do something good. When I think about it, it’s insane that all the other top 100 sites only blast ads and self-centered stuff on their front pages. We do this for fun and for the love of culture, so we’re everything the major labels are not.”


      • 3 Major Publishers Sue Open-Education Textbook Start-Up

        See also this excllent summary

        To gain access to the digital alternatives, students select the traditional books assigned in their classes, and Boundless pulls content from an array of open-education sources to knit together a text that the company claims is as good as the designated book. The company calls this mapping of printed book to open material “alignment”—a tactic the complaint said creates a finished product that violates the publishers’ copyrights.


      • DRM is crushing indie booksellers online


      • MPAA Lines Up With Porn Studio in Steamy Copyright Dispute

        A video site that published movies as urls is surprised that people would download those movies. They also found a judge that agrees enough to shut down a website where users share the urls, sometimes as embedded movies.







  • Recent Techrights' Posts

    IBM is "Making an Exit". Only the Executives Will Get Rich.
    failure disguised as success
    2026 is the Year of Blockchains, Says IBM's CEO a Decade Ago?
    "falling upwards"
    Most Coders Used to be Women, Not Men (and Men Who Dropped Out of College Now Plunder Everything They Can)
    "Ethics For Hackers"
    European Patent Office (EPO) Series: Down But Not Out – Costa's Comeback
    he managed to secure a top-level EU position in June 2024
     
    Links 05/06/2026: Lawyers in Trouble for Citing Cases That Don't Exist (Slop Too Bad to Justify Costs; Even It It Did Work, It Would Still be Far Too Expensive)
    Links for the day
    Gemini Links 05/06/2026: Bears in the Streets, WWII Revisionism, and Westworld
    Links for the day
    Microsoft's LinkedIn Called "Dying Platform" by One Who Worked There
    The co-founder of LinkedIn has just stepped down too
    GAFAM (Google, Amazon, Facebook, Apple, Microsoft) Layoffs Are Due to Surging Debt, or About 120 Billion Dollars Borrowed in One Year Alone
    It's well above 150 billion dollars if one adds Oracle
    After One Jeffrey Epstein Associate 'Leaves' Microsoft's Board Another Jeffrey Epstein Associate Steps Down, Workers Concerned About the Mass Layoffs
    How many more loans can Microsoft receive? Those loans are becoming increasingly risky.
    IBM Exploits Overambitious, Hungry Young Men to Help the "Great Quantum Hype Campaign" (Pumping the Stock Based on Deliberate Misinformation or Outright Disinformation)
    The boot-licking campaign is live...
    What Will Likely Happen When the Slop Bubble Pops (and When It'll be Widely Accepted That It Popped)
    all the "most successful" slop companies are so deep in debt
    The Register MS is Part of the Problem, It's Publishing "AI" SPAM Because it's Paid by Chinese Military-Connected Firms
    Given that The Register MS is run by a Microsofter (since last summer), destruction seems inevitable
    IBM's CEO Does Not Use GNU/Linux, So Why Did He Suggest Buying Red Hat Only to Lay Off Its Workers, Market Slop Instead of Linux, and Sack UNIX Professionals?
    Shortly after IBM had bought Red Hat and there were mass layoffs we pointed out that Red Hat's CEO was not using GNU/Linux
    If You're Not Focusing on Software Freedom, All You'll Get is Slopware and Buzzwords
    If you're not focusing on attaining Software Freedom (and remember "Linux" is just a brand), then you're losing sight of the goals that actually matter
    Red Hat/IBM: Microsoft is Our Partner of the Year
    Red Hat is a really bad gravy
    Gemini Links 05/06/2026: Enshittification of Institutes for Project Management, Codebases Contaminated With Slop, Personal Stories
    Links for the day
    Communicating With Freedom - Part II - Quibble Breathing New Life Into LibreJS
    Notice how work on one thing led to thousands of lines of code added to a mostly dormant (but nevertheless important) project
    Slop Has no ROI, an Economy Built on False Assumptions of Slop is Doomed
    we're all going to suffer from this Ponzi scheme
    Links 05/06/2026: More GAFAM Layoffs, Google Faces Regulatory Crackdown in UK Over Plagiarism in "AI" Clothing
    Links for the day
    Rumour That Layoffs at Microsoft Will Kick Off on July 1st, 2026 (Impacting 10,000 or More Workers)
    this is what the rumour mill or the word through the grapevine is
    Mission:Libre, Which Teaches Young People Free Software Ideals, Needs Financial Backing
    plea for assistance with Mission:Libre
    The Slop Ponzi Scheme is a Problem and Threat to All of Us (Even Those Who Don't Invest in or Use Slop at All)
    This problem is systemic, not contained
    "Blind Justice" Examines the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) Turning a Blind Eye to Abuse by British Solicitors
    We have some jaw-dropping examples of how the SRA does not do actual regulation - to the point where its staff does not actual work and does not look into any evidence at all!
    7 Days From Now the FSF's Founder Gives a Talk in Bern, the FSF Has Just Advertised This
    Meanwhile the FSF (or GNU) processes and uploads many recent talks by RMS
    Over at Tux Machines...
    GNU/Linux news for the past day
    IRC Proceedings: Thursday, June 04, 2026
    IRC logs for Thursday, June 04, 2026
    Links 04/06/2026: Self-hosting Remotely and GemText Emphasis
    Links for the day
    Links 04/06/2026: Ukraine’s Daily Moment of Silence and Uber Lays off 23% of HR
    Links for the day
    SLAPP Censorship - Part 98 Out of 200: Microsoft Threatening Real Security Researcher With Criminal Investigation for Talking About Microsoft's Bug Doors/Back Doors
    The crime should be the back doors (deliberate attack on every user's data protection), not talking about those back doors
    Microsoft Would Get Away Even With Pedophilia
    "Microsoft should never be above the law"
    Journalists Should be Ashamed for Parroting False Claims From IBM Management About "Quantum Computing", Say IBM Insiders Who Work on "Quantum Computing"
    IBM is a buzzwords vendor. International Buzzwords Machines.
    Free Software is Nourishment to Software Users, Unlike Proprietary Software
    Quit treating "mere users" of software "like animals"
    The "Peanut Gallery" of GAFAM Has Infiltrated Free Software Projects or Disrupts Free Software Communities
    They contribute nearly nothing and do substantial damage; they're freeloaders who attack the most productive members of projects
    Coding is Not a Quantity Game (It Never Was!)
    "less is more"
    Exposing Corruption Using a Highly Resilient Platform
    Growing levels of trust, based on our track record, help us attract whistleblowers
    Mass Layoffs Expected at Microsoft in July 2026
    They're preparing more "lists" of people
    Reflection on EPO Leadership That Harbours Cocaine, IBM Leadership That Pumps-and-Dumps the Shares, and More
    ManCity replaced Manuel Pellegrini with a more famous manager it didn't envision winning 20 titles in 10 years (it could only hope) [...] Team-building is something that "Pep" seemed to be good at, as was Jürgen Klopp
    Pump and Dump by IBM Insider Traders: Nickle LaMoreaux, Gary Cohn, James Kavanaugh, Arvind Krishna, Robert Thomas, and Others
    the shares are already collapsing
    FOMO (Fear Of Missing Out) Has Weakened If Not Ruined What's Left of Big Media
    Many things that have existed for decades are now being rebranded as "AI"
    SLAPP Censorship - Part 97 Out of 200: Garrett in Hiding (From the Simple Observable Fact He's Closely Connected to the Microsofter Who Strangles Women, Tells Women to Kill Themselves, and Worse)
    They use one another; they are coordinating this via the SLAPP industry in another continent
    Links 04/06/2026: Microsoft Threatening Security Researcher for Naming Back Doors in BitLocker, "Demand is Booming for" Old Tech
    Links for the day
    Gemini Links 04/06/2026: "Word Vomit", Slop", and Moving to Gopher/Gemini
    Links for the day
    Rust Outsources its Financing (or Financial Control) to Microsoft
    How long before the third "E"?
    "Format Sovereignty" Can Only be Accomplished With LaTeX or OpenDocument Format (ODF) or Vendor-Neutral Standards for Editable Documents
    Microsoft is, in effect, above the law
    IBM's Shares Fell Nearly 13% in One Day (Including After Hours)
    its main product is false promises
    The Cyber Show on the Importance of Software Freedom and Why GNU/Linux Could Not be Stopped
    an excellent article
    Drew DeVault Can Still Redeem His Reputation. Revisiting His Attacks (and Attack Site) on Richard Stallman Might be a Good Start.
    DeVault has openly apologised (this past spring)
    The Register MS is Publishing Paid SPAM; Some of It is Designed to Prop Up the "AI" Pyramid Scheme
    The Register MS participates in scams
    European Patent Office (EPO) Series: "Operation Influencer"
    Costa's political career was far from finished
    Over at Tux Machines...
    GNU/Linux news for the past day
    IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, June 03, 2026
    IRC logs for Wednesday, June 03, 2026
    GNU/Linux Usage Rising Among Gamers, But "Hardware Survey Data Not Available."
    Not anymore, not for now anyway
    Jumping Up and Down on the Shoulders of Giants, Never Talking About What Bill Gates Did
    We're back to 2019
    Despite LLM Slop or Chatbots, Our Traffic Has Doubled Since We Moved Everything to the UK (in 2023)
    The demise of news sites was not what we thought it would be
    Software Developers Attacked by Plagiarism Engines Because These Developers Can Teach People How to Exercise Control, Not Outsource to Monopolies of Slop and Back Doors
    "Universities should be telling industry what is to be done next, not the other way about. Present education policy has the tail wagging the dog."
    Quantum Quantum Quantum Quantum (Pump, Then Dump)
    What has IBM become?
    Communicating With Freedom - Part I - Developing “Quibble” and Improving GNU LibreJS in the Process
    In the next part we shall examine where things currently stand
    Quantum Computers Are "All the Rage" (35 Years Ago, What IBM Promises This Year is What People Promised When the CEO Was in His 20s)
    "Quantum" hype is high on the agenda
    How IBM Removes 15% of Its Staff Without Even Checking Performance of Staff (or Calling That "Layoffs")
    Performance Improvement Plan (PIP) as veiled RAs
    Links 03/06/2026: Mobile Systems, Openwashing, and New Antenna
    Links for the day
    Canonical as Reseller of Back Doors in "Ubuntu" Clothing
    Microsoft is the antithesis of security and autonomy
    Romania Used to be Windows Stronghold, But That's No Longer the Case
    Windows was once upon a time so ubiquitous that institutions didn't bother supporting anything except it
    KDE Has Long Used Dragons, and Dragons Come From Hatched Eggs
    That Microsoft Lunduke tries to paint this as some "trans agenda" thing says a lot about Microsoft Lunduke and his COVID-19-damaged brain
    IBM Announces 5 Billion Dollars "Invested" in "AI", in "Security", and 10 Billion Dollars for "Quantum", But IBM Does Not Have This Kind of Money (It's Fake News to Manipulate the Share Price)
    IBM has fast-growing debt and liabilities, it does not intend to invest this kind of money, it's a smokescreen and false promises timed to alleviate the sagging share price (52-week low)
    When Science and Religion Are on the Same Side, United Against Slop Pushers
    The "Mathematics Pope" (sometimes known as "Pope Pi") brought together science and religion, united against technofascists who are mostly college drop-outs who abhor women
    Links 03/06/2026: "In Turkey, Criticizing a Corporation Can Land You in Jail" and "Court Bans X Account of Turkey's Oldest Newspaper"
    Links for the day
    Web Censorship Benefits the Corrupt and the Criminal
    More so when corrupt politicians are in charge
    Have a "Lifetime" Without Microsoft
    The online rage over this is still ongoing
    Internet Archive’s Wayback Machine Undoing Censorship of Corporate Wrongdoing
    That won't go away anymore
    "For Entertainment Purposes Only" But Everyone Must Adopt It for Work and Governance, Say Anti-Scientific Technocrats
    "The present mentality around "AI" is like driving to the gym to use a treadmill - it's walking for people who hate fresh air and beautiful changing scenery."
    Gemini Links 03/06/2026: Ian Murdock's Ex-wife Footprint in Debian and Alhena 5.6.1 Released
    Links for the day
    Irish Company statCounter Recognises It Overestimated Microsoft Windows' Market Share in Ireland
    it seems like the Irish people are gradually moving away from Windows
    Corporate Media Participates in the Lie That Mass Layoffs at GitLab and Loss of Geographic Footprint in More Than a Third of Countries is "AI" and Thus "Success Story"
    There's no way to spin this as positive news
    Slop Prompting is Not a Coding Skill and Slop Deserves Shunning
    Red Hat is hypocritically shunning the very same thing it keeps promoting
    IBM colleagues "handed out a PIP and then right after the end date they are gone"
    Some go into early 'retirement' to save face
    SLAPP Censorship - Part 96 Out of 200: When You Receive Death Threats From Anonymous Sockpuppets/Burner Accounts Connected to People Who Strangle Women and Tell Women to Kill Themselves
    Women are not objects and my wife ought not be mentioned in "threats to kill" (how cops have described this)
    European Patent Office (EPO) Series: A Tale of Two Antónios - Introducing the Other António
    António Costa
    Over at Tux Machines...
    GNU/Linux news for the past day
    IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, June 02, 2026
    IRC logs for Tuesday, June 02, 2026