Bonum Certa Men Certa

The EPO's War on Justice and Assault on the Law -- Part 10: A Faustian Pact?

Previously in this series:



Carl Josefsson and Benoît Battistelli
Carl Josefsson's "deal" with the EPO seems to be a Faustian pact.



Summary: Benoît Battistelli's rubber-stamping judge from Sweden saw his salary growing four- or five-fold and he has meanwhile lowered his public profile, fearing that people will see what he sold his soul for

As we noted in the last part, since Josefsson's arrival in Haar in March 2017, there haven't been many signs of a lively Habermasian discourse in the corridors of the EPO's Boards of Appeal in Haar.



"EPO insiders also report that Josefsson studiously avoids getting involved in any "political" discussions about the EPO's glaring governance deficits, including those affecting the Boards of Appeal."The only things the new President of the Boards of Appeal seems to care about nowadays are production figures and "timeliness". His carefully honed reports and PR releases are full of the usual insipid, self-congratulatory managerial waffle and utterly devoid of any kind of inspiring content.

EPO insiders also report that Josefsson studiously avoids getting involved in any "political" discussions about the EPO's glaring governance deficits, including those affecting the Boards of Appeal.

"In addition to this there are other perks and benefits, such as top-notch private health insurance, travel expenses and generous daily allowances for duty missions."But what exactly does Josefsson get out of the Faustian pact which he has concluded with the mafia-like entity that controls the EPO?

The answer to this question seems to lie in the lucrative tax-free salary that he receives as President of the Boards of Appeal.

This is estimated to be of the order of EUR 20K a month by the time that all available fringe benefits such as an expatriation allowance are factored in. In addition to this there are other perks and benefits, such as top-notch private health insurance, travel expenses and generous daily allowances for duty missions. And of course, for good measure, there are also the EPO's gold-plated pension arrangements for senior managers.

Carl JosefssonBy anybody's standards that's quite an attractive compensation package and one that compares very favourably with the average judicial salary in Sweden.

According to available information, the average salary for a senior judge in Sweden is estimated to be of the order of SEK 690 000, which is approximately equivalent to € 68 000 at current exchange rates.

"Based on the available data, it is estimated that Josefsson's career move to Haar may have enabled him to boost his take-home salary by as much as a factor of four or five, perhaps even more."That's a gross salary figure and it should not be forgotten that Sweden is a relatively high-taxation jurisdiction.

Based on the available data, it is estimated that Josefsson's career move to Haar may have enabled him to boost his take-home salary by as much as a factor of four or five, perhaps even more. Nice money if you can get it.

By way of comparison, back home in Sweden journalists - including Josefsson's old buddy Per Wirtén - were sounding the alarm in 2015 about the low levels of remuneration for freelancers: "Freelancer rates have fallen so much that much of quality freelance journalism is under threat and its practitioners with it."

According to a report in the Swedish press, the post-tax income of many freelance journalists left them under social security benefit levels.

Translation into English [PDF] below:

SOURCE: https://www.svt.se/kultur/medier/flera-frilansars-arvoden-pa-socialbidragsnivaer

Alarm: freelancers' remuneration at social welfare benefit levels



Swedish journalism
Per Wirtén, Annina Rabe and Dan Josefsson are among those taking part in the appeal.



Published 6 November 2015

20 freelance journalists in a joint protest against the industry's conditions.

Many are now working on remuneration rates below social welfare benefit levels, according to a new survey.

"Freelancer rates have fallen so much that much of quality freelance journalism is under threat and its practitioners with it."

So write 20 freelance journalists, including names like Dan Josefsson, Per Wirtén and Annina Rabe, in a joint appeal in Expressen.

The call comes in connection with a new Sifo survey from the Journalists' Union, which shows that four out of ten freelancers in the union now have extra jobs on the side to make a living.

Wages at subsistence level

The average income for a freelance journalist is SEK 15,000 after tax, according to the survey. But many members fall below the social security benefit level (SEK 3,880 + rent), when they declare what they are left with after taxes and contributions.

29% have less than SEK 10,000, and 12% less than SEK 5,000.

According to the survey, more and more journalists are changing professions, while many are considering it because of increased stress and tougher conditions. At the same time, the pressure to deliver quickly is affecting quality, according to the majority of respondents.

"It is difficult to argue that the meticulous, ethical and responsible freelance journalism is cut off from ordinary economic logic. We want media owners, financial managers and publishers who have power over freelance budgets to take responsibility," the freelancers write in their statement.

The survey is based on a Sifo poll commissioned by the Journalists' Union.

622 out of 1,832 registered freelance members responded to the survey.


One is left to wonder what Josefsson's former buddies in Swedish left-wing circles would make of the manner in which he has cast aside his youthful idealism and prostrated himself before the power of the purse.

Like his Nordic confrère Kongstad, Josefsson seems to have succumbed to the lure of easy tax-free money from the EPO.

"Whatever "Calle" may have sold his soul for, the general consensus among EPO insiders is that it certainly isn't rock 'n' roll."In fairness to Josefsson, it should be pointed out that he receives his tax-free salary through lawful channels rather than under the table as in Kongstad's case.

Josefsson himself appears to have become rather reclusive since taking up his position at the EPO. He no longer uses his Twitter account and he has not been seen to participate in any public discussions about legal or political affairs.

The only personal presence which he still maintains online these days is on the Internet music platform Bandcamp, where he reveals himself to be a heavy metal fan.

Whatever "Calle" may have sold his soul for, the general consensus among EPO insiders is that it certainly isn't rock 'n' roll.

Heavy metal fan Josefsson
Heavy metal fan Josefsson may have sold his soul – but not for rock 'n' roll…



And with that we conclude our in-depth profile of the Chairman of the Enlarged Board.

In the next part, we turn our attention to the rapporteur in case G 1/21, Wim van der Eijk.

Recent Techrights' Posts

"Many Applications Labelled as "Cybersecurity" and Given a Veneer of Legitimacy Are Really "Weaponised" and Abusive Code"
New from Dr. Andy Farnell
Security Advisory: Debian falls for social engineering hacks
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
The High Cost of Making Scepticism of Proprietary Voting Machines a "Trump" and "Conspiracy Theory" Territory
Time to get back to paper? Or read an old paper?
 
Donald Trump as Censor in Chief Can Now Leverage Censorship Companies and Fake Protection Disguised as 'Security'
Centralised CAs were trouble all along
Technology: rights or responsibilities? - Part VI
By Dr. Andy Farnell
A Death of a News Industry
A theme we explored thrice today
Deciphering Centralised CAs and Why Their Demise Should be a Goal
Encryption in transmission is good; but who controls the key exchange and certification/authentication/validation?
Links 08/11/2024: Strikes, Recessions, and Slowdowns
Links for the day
[Teaster] [Meme] New Ways of Wrecking (NWoW)
The EPO
Gateway for News and Blogs
In the long run, this site and its sister site (less overlap between them now) should hopefully become a popular destination for people who look for information, not chaff
Going Even Faster
We hope the site will be faster soon
Psychopaths Who Reaffirm Our Work's Value
Psychopaths and sociopaths lack empathy, so they're willing to go very far and stoop as low as they deem necessary
[Meme] How Low Can You Go at the European Patent Office?
Not just in terms of patent quality
More Cuts/End to Benefits for EPO Workers (Europe's Working Conditions Incompatible With the European Patent Convention)
"The Office is now reviving it but plans to introduce new cuts on benefits"
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Thursday, November 07, 2024
IRC logs for Thursday, November 07, 2024
Gemini Links 08/11/2024: US Election, RetroChallenge 2024, and More
Links for the day
[Meme] Questioning Proprietary Software? Not OK...
A disaster long in the making
Links 07/11/2024: HTTP/3, Health Research, and Punditry
Links for the day
Gemini Links 07/11/2024: On Writing Publicly and Record Player Table
Links for the day
Open Source Security Foundation (OpenSSF) Hosted SOSS as Microsoft Propaganda Platform With Microsoft Front Group OSI
They essentially promote what they're attacking under false pretences [...] OSI is deeply corrupt. It's more toxic than arsenic.
Anti-Linux FUD, Now in LLM Form, Thanks to Brittany Day
They attack Linux with chatbots
[Meme] When You Discredit People Who Discredit Secret Code
proprietary systems with hundreds of millions of transistors (and hundreds of millions of lines of code)
Links 07/11/2024: Online Manipulation in Social Control Media, Election Deniers, and More
Links for the day
Gemini Links 07/11/2024: emacs-guix and File Hoarding
Links for the day
[Meme] Election Day at the European Patent Office
Less than 60 minutes left to cast your vote
Staff Union of the European Patent Office (SUEPO) Election Ending Today
In one hour
[Meme] When the Patent Office Does Illegal Things and Staff Speaks Out
many leaks received today
Today We Got an Early Birthday Gift
Exciting times
[Meme] Going Too Far to the Left Can Breed Militant Ideology
Some people can never be appeased because they prefer not to be appeased
Apple's Debt Has Skyrocketed While Gimmicks Like Vision Pro Failed
In Apple's case, the debt is almost double the "Cash on Hand", which isn't even cash
FSF Expressed No Preference Regarding Presidential Candidates (Its Founder Did)
Because he is a principled person, he does not prioritise loyalty to customers or employers (money)
A President Trump is Excellent News to Microsoft
His racist policies gave lots of contracts to Microsoft
Who Next on the Linux Foundation's 'Kill List'?
Remember that only about 2% of the "Linux" Foundation's budget goes to Linux
Links 07/11/2024: Facebook Scams, Journalists on Strike
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, November 06, 2024
IRC logs for Wednesday, November 06, 2024
Microsoft-Connected Publishers Want Us to Think That Linux is Some Sort of a Virus and a "Backdoor"
"The problem is with windows and the attack vector is via Windows"
We've Made it to 18! Here's to Another 18!
Going on for another 18 years means until some time at the end of 2042
Links 07/11/2024: Political Angst and Laptop Issues
Links for the day
Even LKML Subjected to Slop/SPAM by Guardian Digital, Inc (linuxsecurity.com)
They're really awful
Links 06/11/2024: BPF in RFC 9669, More Facebook Fines for Privacy Abuses
Links for the day
Gemini Links 06/11/2024: Political Shock and Hermaic Encouragement
Links for the day
Planet Debian Allows Politics (But It Depends on Your Opinions and Debian's Big Sponsors)
Planet Debian is OK with politics... as long as all your political opinions are the "correct" ones and you add cute animals
What Makes RMS Such an Attractive Target ('Discreditisation' Campaigns)
Don't be so easily fooled
The Biggest OEMs or Vendors of GNU/Linux Stopped Competing With Microsoft (Which Pays Them to Promote Windows, Too)
Where are the competition authorities (or regulators for that matter)?
Let's Encrypt Falls to a New Low of Only 0.6% of Gemini Capsules Known to Lupa
In Gemini Protocol, certificates for encryption are required, but centralised Certificate Authorities (CAs) aren't needed
Computer-Generator Crap Flooding the Web, the Latest Example About "Linux"
Here's today's example
Links 06/11/2024: Election Disinformation and Legal Actions
Links for the day
Gemini Links 06/11/2024: Stargazing and Death on Hallowe'en
Links for the day
Would You Trust a Liar?
Why lie about the authorship?
Mass Layoffs at Mozilla Announced During US Elections
Maybe nobody will notice?
[Meme] Announcing "Results" Before Everyone Even "Played"
There is a "tech" angle to otherwise political news
US Polls Close in One Minute (Social Control Media Does Not Care, Will Not Wait)
US election results will be known in about 2 days
Concentration and Centralisation Versus Aggregation or Syndication
KDE has a history of burying old sites
Social Control Media, Even Hours Before Polls Have Closed
Has social control media controlled by CPC (TikTok) and the Trumpmobile guy (Musk's "X") done enough to convince people not to even vote (based on presumptive "results", presented a long time before all polls have closed)?
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, November 05, 2024
IRC logs for Tuesday, November 05, 2024
Wayland Pains in Community-Led Distros of GNU/Linux
Few people and companies use Wayland; there's hardly any technical or practical reason to choose it
IBM Still Conflating Microsoft With 'Security'
As a meme
Sanctions Cause Fragmentation in Software
some Chinese Linux developers are already subjected to restrictions similar to Russians'
Web Failing With Slop, Even in 'Linux' Sites (LLM Spam)
Add SEO prompting to the mix and the Web becomes a pool of slop, not knowledge
[Meme] State of the World Wide Web and Online Journalism
Technically a failure (DRM) and cannot even get basic things right
Trump's signature policy, building a wall, copied from Irish-Australian student politician
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Linus Torvalds' self-deprecating LKML CoC mail linked to Hitler's first writing: Gemlich letter
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
[Meme] Turning 18 in One Day
just one more day