Bonum Certa Men Certa

The Sad State of German Anti-Corruption Authorities and Investigative Journalism, as Demonstrated by the EPO

The EPO in Munich enjoys apathy and toothlessness that prevails in media and watchdogs around it

Reichstag



Summary: A personal view on why the EPO manages to get away with so many abuses while the media and watchdogs like Transparency International (TI) play along by doing nothing at all about it

THE EPO is very difficult to trust nowadays because the management routinely lies and the liars are sometimes former staff of the growingly-defunct Transparency International (TI), which was supposed to combat corruption but is increasingly participating in it (or helping to cover it up).



One reader told us, "referring to your article [the above] there's another interference with TI by the person of Hedda van Wedel. The wikipedia article about CORRECTIV names her as member of the supervisory board. If you follow the link to the German wiki about Hedda [see Hedda_von_Wedel] it is noted that she was elected vice president of TI Germany in 2007..."

One has to wonder then who is left to expose the abuses at the EPO, as the government of Germany seems entirely disinterested and the media does a terrible job. The EPO and EUIPO are promoting a big lie, still in pursuit of 'cheap' (no fact-checking) press coverage (sometimes they get it), yet almost nobody in the German media speaks about the latest scandals. There was a long discussion about who's a good journalist to contact about this and one person wrote:

for investigative journalism one golden rule : follow the money.

EPO has plenty (2.000.000.000 EUR / year budget and ZERO decent check-and-balances comparable to what can be found at UNO or EU)

They are currently building expensive in NL aren't they ;o)

Be seeing you


Remember that the EPO effectively bribes/attacks media. It's basically operating in a very corrupt and aggressive manner (like shipping/dishing libel through journalists while threatening others with libel lawsuits) and today someone posted this good point about why EPO scandals' media coverage is so scarce. It's “giving aid and comfort to “…exiteers”,” the person said. Here is the full comment:

Indeed it is difficult, for the reasons given by Sam McClure, to interest investigative journalists. I know, I've tried and so have others to my knowledge. There is an additional barrier he did not mention: anything "European" is considered by the media in many countries, even those with a "free" press, to be a sacred cow that cannot be criticized for fear of giving aid and comfort to "..exiteers". Even if one could find a keen journalist, what mainstream media would touch this story?


Probably just about no "mainstream media" (corporate media), which is why many people still rely on Techrights for information and our Wiki page about the EPO is approaching half a million page views. ⬆

Recent Techrights' Posts

Contemptuous Law Firm Accusing Others of Contempt of Court
Keeping a running tally can help
Links 10/10/2026: Let's Encrypt Making Changes (Problem for Small Sites/Operations), Quartz is Officially a Slopfarm (Busted)
Links for the day
Brigading Against Women - Part XXV - No Anonymity for People Who Did Illegal Things
"Empathy is the sunlight to the vampire of culture."
Links 09/10/2026: Stranded Busan Shark Still a 'Circus', Endangered Monkey Rescued, BBC Shells Out Money
Links for the day
 
Gemini Links 10/10/2026: Radio Romania International, Avoiding GAFAM, Open Camera, and Another Palm
Links for the day
The 2026 Slop Prediction (Slopfarms Perishing)
Morality in the "digital world" has deteriorated profoundly
netsplit.de (Survey of IRC Networks and History) Only Partly Functional This Month
Get well soon, netsplit.de
Microsoft Cuts
GAFAM enshittification
NVIDIA Acts Like It Cannot Pay Salaries (Too Many Obligations, Sales in Circular Financing, or Basically Accounting Fraud)
Masters of acting as clients of themselves
Paying for elections, Reform UK illegal confession in High Court
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Microsoft Abuses PERM and Lays Off Workers in India
The US government has made it easier for Microsoft to hide the mass layoffs
The GAFAM Elections in the United States
If the election is run by platforms that have back doors "baked-in" and if the communications are overseen by GAFAM, you would not have to be a "nutty MAGAt" to dispute the outcome
More GAFAM Layoffs (Late on Friday Night)
They say they are worth trillions, but they don't even make money
Male-Dominated EPO Fails to Have "Concrete Measures to Support Female Staff"
Being a female at the EPO is exceptionally hard
Production Freeze at the European Patent Office (Opposing Monarchy, Institutional Maladministration and Corruption)
Eight reasons to participate
Links 10/10/2026: Microsoft 'Open' 'AI' Silencing Critics, "Data Centres are the New Front Line in the Russia-Ukraine War"
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Friday, October 09, 2026
IRC logs for Friday, October 09, 2026
Gemini Links 10/10/2026: Optimism, Stargazing, "Life Without Smartphone", and Fairphone 4
Links for the day
Gemini Links 09/10/2026: Manifesto, Slop, Geminispace, and "Cryptography of the Internet"
Links for the day
Betanews is Still a Slopfarm, Articles About "Linux" Are Fake and Plagiarism by LLMs
Cheaters and plagiarists aren't journalists; they're people who rip off and harm journalists
The Register MS Sponsored to Hype Up "Datacenters" and "AI" (Bubble, Pyramid Scheme)
"Sponsored by Cisco" with "AI" 26 times in this page
James Bottomley Has Promoted Microsoft-Controlled Restricted ('Secure') Boot, His Blog Has Just Been Cracked
Does this meet IBM's and Microsoft's standards for "distinguished" (in security)?
Links 09/10/2026: "Internet Archive to Demo Wayback Machine at Friday’s Uniqlo Street Festival", France Wages Censorship War via DNS
Links for the day
Controlled Opposition
The underlying concept is hardly new
More Stallmans
We need more Stallmans, we don't need to change Stallman
SUEPO Munich (EPO Staff Union in the Main Headquarters) Opposes Monarchy ('Cocaine King' Campinos), Plans Online Meeting Next Week
They may have about 1,000 workers joining in
World Mental Health Day is Tomorrow and EPO Staff Talks About What the Job Does to Workers
In recent years we've written a great deal about mental health consideration in relation to work, with a focus on "IT"
GNU/Linux Flirts With 20% "Market Share" in North America Overnight
Who should we trust on GNU/Linux? Microsofters on an armchair or Cloudflare Radar?
You Definitely Do NOT Wish to Live Close to a Datacentre
put aside for a moment the noise, the pollution...
New Site Makes the Case Against Adoption of Omarchy, But Focuses Almost Entirely on Politics
Let's examine what the page says and what points it focuses on
Brigading Against Women - Part XXIV - Nobody's Name is Unspeakable
Names are not sacred
Microsoft is in Trouble (With the Regime It Sponsored)
It seems like Microsoft paying the existing regime/dictatorship wasn't enough
GGG Pot Calls the Kettle Black
"It means a situation in which somebody accuses someone else of a fault which the accuser shares, and therefore is an example of psychological projection, or hypocrisy. Use of the expression to discredit or deflect a claim of wrongdoing by attacking the originator of the claim for their own similar behaviour (rather than acknowledging the guilt of both) is the tu quoque logical fallacy."
In the United Kingdom, Rising Cost of Hardware Benefits GNU/Linux
GNU/Linux rose from about 4% to almost 6% in one year
Japanese Targets of Cyber Breaches or Insider Threats
Japanese government bureau and major firms experience data breaches
Gemini Links 09/10/2026: Optimism, Stargazing, and Solar MiniServer
Links for the day
The Microsoft Ban Should Go Further (Telecommunications Cybersecurity and Resilience Act Incompatible With Back Doors)
it's not difficult to see where to start
When Americans Export a 'Suicide Mission' to Other Continents
I worry that this culture of debt-taking and overconsumption is being spread from the US to Europe
The Register MS: "AI" Several Times in Same Headline, 31 Times in Page. The Register MS Was Paid to Do This.
The phenomenon is commercial (paid media), not scientific
The Outcome of Microsoft Ban Was Predictable
told you so
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Thursday, October 08, 2026
IRC logs for Thursday, October 08, 2026
Gemini Links 08/10/2026: Economical Thrashing, How I Killed the Earth, and Thoughts on Gemini
Links for the day
Links 08/10/2026: Wikimedia Bemoans Chaffbot Slop (Bots Sold as 'Agents') That Sabotage It, ICC's Taliban Warrants
Links for the day
Links 08/10/2026: Slop Scammers (Pushers) Inflate Hosting Bills and "YouTube Testing Everything"
Links for the day
The Register MS Helps Prove the "AI" Frenzy in the Media is Evidence of Compromised Media, Not Legitimate "Revolution"
Ignore the hype and carry on
London Became Synonymous With the Royal Courts of Justice
London used to be a place where we go on holiday/retreat/break; nowadays we have only one destination there
Microsoft Insiders on "Effectively Being Silently Laid Off From Microsoft"
People are laid off by the thousands without the media uttering a word or the companies confirming anything
Brigading Against Women - Part XXIII - Extremism in the Mix and Getting the Police Involved
In 2012 I was getting heckled a lot for opposing back doors in Linux; it has not stopped since
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, October 07, 2026
IRC logs for Wednesday, October 07, 2026