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

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  • 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

    No Noticeable Libera Chat Exodus After Code of Censorship (CoC) Scandal Earlier This Month
    Libera Chat pissed off some people by unmasking the CoC's real purpose
    The Local Staff Committee Munich (LSCMN) Speaks of Deterioration of Working Conditions at the European Patent Office (EPO)
    "At least 3 days per week in the Office for an allocated office"
    IBM's Anderon is Like Theranos, But Will Anybody at IBM or Anderon Be Imprisoned for This Billion-Dollar Scam?
    Will anyone ever be held accountable for it?
     
    IBM RAs: "It's on Me"
    IBM has no respect for the workers and it tries to hide the layoffs
    Gemini Links 15/10/2026: Literature, Funerals, and Devices
    Links for the day
    The Efforts to Criminalise Opposition to a Ponzi Scheme Sold as "Super Intelligence" (Plagiarism Engines, Disinformation Generators)
    Cops are becoming combatants for slop bros, i.e. they use power to promote a Ponzi scheme
    Clownflare Sees Most Requests in Africa Coming From Android (Linux)
    Android is the dominant platform
    IBM's "RA Season" is Nearly Upon Us, But Tens of Thousands Are Already Marked for Removal With PIPs (as "Low Performers")
    IBM is a dying company
    Microsoft Has Confirmed It Had a Plan to Cut Azure (or Azure Costs) by 20%
    So basically... yes! Microsoft did have a plan to slash Azure.
    Red Hat Silent Layoffs Seem to Carry on Throughout This Month
    How much longer will these silent layoffs (e.g. PIPs) carry on for?
    Over at Tux Machines...
    GNU/Linux news for the past day
    IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, October 14, 2026
    IRC logs for Wednesday, October 14, 2026
    Netflix and Its Newest Rival Carry 100 Billion Dollars in Debt
    What sort of economy is this?
    Egypt: GNU/Linux Still Measured at About 5%
    Egypt is a prominent African nation and economy
    Gemini Links 14/10/2026: Time Allocation, English as a Fourth Language, and "Reading News Sources" in Geminispace
    Links for the day
    DRM Giant Announces Giant Layoffs (Netflix’s Debt is Huge)
    It's not like operational costs are decreasing, they're climbing fast.
    Intercontinental Brigading - Part III - Reporting Harassment From America to British Police
    Why are they so hostile towards (and afraid of) cops?
    Gemini Links 14/10/2026: GemPub, Randogoth Forge F-Droid Repo, Oddμ, and Kolibri
    Links for the day
    Bluewashing as Silent RAs: A "journey that began at Neudesic [...] and continued as part of IBM" inevitably came "to a close"
    IBM can be antagonistic and reckless with whatever it buys
    Links 14/10/2026: Houthi Attacks on KSA and Airstrikes Near Sudan-Egypt Border
    Links for the day
    No Coronation for 'Cocaine King' Campinos (Not Yet Anyway)
    A flash update suggests perils exist and we must all wait until December as the position for EPO President may open
    In Reddit, Moderators of IBM Subs Are Allegedly on IBM's Payroll (IBM Can Censor Discussions About IBM)
    There also seem to be PIP layoffs in India
    If Worthless Companies Are Valued at a Billion Dollars in the Slop Industry, Then What Is the True Worth of 'Trillion-Dollar' Companies?
    Definitely not a bubble!
    It Sounds Like Microsoft Plans to Lay Off Over 2,000 Azure (Microsoft) Workers as the Datacentre Business Brings Nothing But Epic Debt
    Trillions in losses is not a solid business plan
    Microsoft XBox Won't Survive, Microsoft's CEO for This Perishing Business Turns to Slop
    What the founder or father of XBox said about Asha Sharma earlier this year turns out to be accurate
    Links 14/10/2026: So-called 'AI' Giants Go Bankrupt, "Military Will Hack the Election"
    Links for the day
    Indoor Season
    we have more planned in order to improve navigation, accessibility, and workflows
    Microsoft Demands That Staff Keeps Silent About the Mass Layoffs
    Way to cause anger and ensure whistleblowers will go to the media
    Microsoft Has Had Mass Layoffs in Azure Every Year Since 2020 and the Bleeding Continues Because It Misreports Earnings There
    This is a bad week for Microsoft
    Microsoft's International Mass Layoffs (Asia, Europe, Africa), Now Vietnam
    A crisis that Microsoft is unable to hide
    Over at Tux Machines...
    GNU/Linux news for the past day
    IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, October 13, 2026
    IRC logs for Tuesday, October 13, 2026
    Gemini Links 14/10/2026: Ceiling Fan, Fascism, Democracy, and Slop Being a Huge Bubble
    Links for the day
    Reports of Stress and Layoffs at Microsoft, Some People Laid Off Under the Guise of "Ban" (Gift From the Administration) and Many Sacked in India
    "pip and gvsa" layoffs in India
    ITwire Became Slop and Spam
    The site still exists, but it's not what it used to be
    W3C Died 20 Years Ago, Now We Live in a Post-W3C Era. Linux Foundation is 'Slop Bros', Now Linux is Becoming Unfree.
    Torvalds is on the same side as Epsteingate
    We're Way Past the Point Where Companies Announce or Declare Mass Layoffs
    Layoffs are becoming hidden
    Linux Kernel to Hide the Slop to Avoid Backlash, Suggestion Made by Former Microsoft Employee While Another Former Microsoft Employee is Worst Slopper/Culprit in Linux
    Did Torvalds listen to slop antagonists?
    Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) Besieged by Blind Justice UK, Politicians Increasingly Involved
    "Today we have written to Members of both Houses of Parliament"
    Vance Has Helped Microsoft Implement Secret, Silent Layoffs
    Nothing excites Microsoft more than means by which to discard many employees without an obligation to tell shareholders about it
    To The Register MS, Microsoft is the Only Brand That's at the Main Menu!
    Consider that the Editor of The Register MS is a longtime faithful Microsofter
    Microsoft's Collapse Will Continue, It's Drowning in Debt Now
    Expect many more mass layoffs
    Legal Self-Sufficiency
    The more impact our work has, the more legal bullying will come our way
    Plans for Winter in Manchester and London
    From many perspectives, we're satisfied with the certainty and robustness of UK hosting, it's just that we're not yet robust/resistant enough to DDoS attacks
    Customer Support Experience in 2026
    Because the customer is never right
    Microsoft Shutdowns in Africa, Mass Layoffs Also Reported This Week
    further shutdowns
    Links 13/10/2026: More Plagiarism Lawsuit Over Slop and AirAsia Needs State Help
    Links for the day
    Intercontinental Brigading - Part II - An Outline of This Series
    What's to come
    Gemini Links 13/10/2026: Dopamine Nation, Planner and Fatigue, and Moderators
    Links for the day
    Links 13/10/2026: Norway Fines Microsoft and Cops Can Creep on Airbnb
    Links for the day
    When Computers "Expire" Because Certificates Expire
    People who promote Restricted Boot are liars. They lie for a living.
    Over at Tux Machines...
    GNU/Linux news for the past day
    IRC Proceedings: Monday, October 12, 2026
    IRC logs for Monday, October 12, 2026
    Gemini Links 13/10/2026: Modern Science, Joplin, Luddites, and Lots More
    Links for the day