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01.17.16

Unitary Patent (UPC) Highlights Reality Behind the EPO’s Management and Its Multinational/Overseas Bosses

Posted in Europe, Patents at 1:13 pm by Dr. Roy Schestowitz

The Banana Republic which is Eponia best illustrated as follows…

Reunión of Pinochet and Kissinger
Source: Archivo General Histórico del (Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores de Chile)

Summary: A survey of news about the Unitary Patent Court, the driving forces behind it, and who will actually benefit from it if/when it becomes a reality

THE EPO is not a European body but an international organisation above European law — one that may even break international law as long as it feels immune enough from local law enforcement (whatever the locality might be). Over the years I was approached by whistleblowers who had suffered reprisal for purely political reasons. One of them was from the UN. I saw in her a lot of what I see now in Elizabeth Hardon. She angered the ‘wrong’ people by daring to help expose their abuses. She was in for a surprise. The legal system was not present (except show trials); there was lawlessness everyone and it took a considerable toll on physical health, mental health, etc. Public perception around international organisations needs to change because these organisations are often assumed to be benevolent by virtue of having no borders or loyalty to one particular nation/ethnicity/religion. What many people easily overlook is the inclination of such organisations to serve power, or class. This can mean lenience or favouritism for large international corporations, too. Plutocrats live a life void of fear from the courts and they travel without borders (many have their private jets). They exercise power and coerce international bodies, where the currency (not a commodity) is power. That’s just an essential point that EPO employees sooner or later learn from experience. The I.L.O. is far too slow (and thus weak) to protect them. Protecting the weak from the powerful isn’t quite the goal because such systems were put in place by the powerful. Those who speak truth to power should watch out, or else they’re end up hiding in some embassy in London or somewhere in Moscow.

“It’s hard to imagine that someone like Augusto Pinochet would even want to be associated with an autocrat like Battistelli.”The madman who now runs the EPO, Mr. Battistelli, has just been mentioned by the press in Korea, which was used as an excuse to provide inexcusable favouritism to large multinational corporations such as Microsoft. We’ve heard that south America is next on Battistelli’s itinerary. Eduardo, who provides Techrights and equips us with all the Spanish translations, originally came from south America and he is not happy about Battistelli going there. “Once you mentioned,” he said, that “this guy will go to Chile to visit Augusto Pinochet’s grave.”

Well, all we know is that Battistelli will go to south America, based on an online source. It’s hard to imagine that someone like Augusto Pinochet would even want to be associated with an autocrat like Battistelli.

“I did remember something my great uncle regarding a military dictator,” Eduardo added, “who expropriated a lot of lands to our family. I will apply it to Pinoccio Battistelli: ‘I hope when he dies they will make a coffin in the shape of a (soccer) football. So we can take it to the cemetery by kicking it all the way to it’” (it’s a crude joke, no doubt, but a lot of people are now very angry at Battistelli, even people outside the EPO).

Last month we wrote about James Nurton giving Battistelli a platform at a patent lawyers’ site. He said that Battistelli had answered all the questions passed to him, but he excluded the question that I asked his publisher to ask. Nice bias by omission there. The interview that James Nurton did with Battistelli (probably subjected to strict rules and conditions imposed by the aggressive PR team) was filled with UPC promotion, despite the fact that the UPC is not yet a reality and might never become a reality. Here is Nurton again with “Some practical questions about the UPC” (more like talking points in favour of the UPC and self-fulfilling prophecies).

“He [Battistelli] may seem superficially client friendly and indeed a lot of pressure is exerted on the examiners and board members not to refuse applications or otherwise bite the hand that feeds them.”
      –Anonymous“As the clock ticks down to the launch of the Unified Patent Court,” Nurton wrote, “interest is increasing in how the yet-to-be-appointed judges will handle cases, who they will be and what impact the UPC will have in Europe” (people are already applying for such jobs in the UK, as we recently learned, even though the large majority of such jobs would be in Germany).

Nurton’s piece is totally void of any criticism of the UPC. He is speaking to patent lawyers, not Europeans (more than 99% of them are not patent lawyers) to whom the UPC brings nothing but harm.

As one comment put it today, “most attorneys are not at all in favour of the Unitary Patent.” To quote this in context (the EPO scandals):

Somebody further up asked why Merpel in particular and attorneys in general should worry about a case which appears to deal with disgruntled trade union members?

Well, do you really think somebody who respects his employees so little and treats them with such a contempt for legality would be anymore lawabiding when it comes to his clients.

He [Battistelli] may seem superficially client friendly and indeed a lot of pressure is exerted on the examiners and board members not to refuse applications or otherwise bite the hand that feeds them. But indeed, most attorneys are not at all in favour of the Unitary Patent. They won’t be treated any better when it turns out there is a conflict of interest between huge overseas multinationals and local economic entities.

Indeed, the biggest beneficiaries here are big multinationals. A company like Apple is said to have estimated that a lawsuit in the whole of Europe (e.g. banning Android devices in the whole continent over a petty patent dispute) would cost ‘just’ $1 million under the UPC. Does that sound like something that can help poor European SMEs? Total poppycock.

The FFII’s President, Benjamin Henrion, says that he is “Sick in bed reading UKIPO long PDFs over Unitary Patent ratification, have a hard time to understand their software exception” (software patents).

“It’s not because of the sickness,” I told him, “it’s vague and confusing (as such) by intention and design.” This way he’ll need to hire a lawyer for about 400 euros per hour.

“The government intends to bring forward legislation to implement the Unified Patent Court Agreement in January 2016.”
      –UK-IPOIs the British UK-IPO becoming more like a vassal of the Battistelli regime? Seems so. “Government Response to Technical Review of UPC implementing legislation published today,” they wrote on Friday, having published “Secondary Legislation Implementing the Unified Patent Court”.

To quote the page (not the PDFs): “This government response gives a full analysis of responses to the Technical Review and Call for Evidence and outlines the direction that government will be taking. The government intends to bring forward legislation to implement the Unified Patent Court Agreement in January 2016.”

UK-IPO, says Henrion, “mentions the average legal cost for a dispute over an UPC patent will be 1M pounds” (he aptly labels this “SME killer”).

He has asked UK-IPO, “what is this software exception in UK law?” He later added that “this would imply that software patents exist in the first place.” They obviously should not. For all we know, the UK-IPO is not even responding. UK-IPO never responded to me. They’re stonewalling. They don’t care about the public and they definitely snub public voices. There was going to be an EPO protest in front of a diplomatic British office in Germany (February 2015), but the British government stepped in to intervene, along with Battistelli. The powerful politicians are revolting against scientists.

It looks like UK-IPO is preparing to surrender to the EPO some time very soon (with the UPC). Multinational corporations are getting their way rather quickly thanks to the Battistelli regime. EPO staff should know by now who Battistelli is loyal to; he has no loyalty to his staff, whom he merely views as an enemy (most of them signed a petition against the EPO's recent actions). Is Battistelli acting like a European politician or like a corporations’ (clients’/applicants’) lobbyist? █

“He does not possess wealth; it possesses him.”

–Benjamin Franklin

Pierre-Yves Le Borgn’ Responde Críticamente a la OEP por Despedir a Sus Representates

Posted in Europe, Patents at 11:51 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz

English/Original

Publicado en Europe, Patents at 6:55 pm por el Dr. Roy Schestowitz

Tranducción enviada en apuro

A response to EPO

Sumario: Dos diferentes traducciones (de arriba y de abajo) de la fuerte reacción del señor Pierre-Yves Le Borgn (político francés mas relevadnte al abuso contra empleados en el extranjero) contra la cacería de brujas e imitaciones de juicios.

Los viciosos ataques de la OEP contra sus empleados, a quienes trata como no-humanos, fué cubierto aqui en previous artículos, pero quedan muchos para exponerlos a la luz (mucho más este fin de semana).

Pierre-Yves Le Borgn, a quienes hemos mencionado muchas veces antes aquí acaba de responder. ¨Aqui está el comunicado de prensa de Pierry-Yves le Borgn¨ una persona escribio, ¨Gracias señor Le BORGN¨!¨

Alguién nos proveyó con una traducción arriba y también lo siguiente en un comentario en IP Kat:

Un comentario reciéntemente publicado en el sitio web del MP, Pierre Le Borgn´
(mi traducción al español)

Sanciones contra representantes de la unión en la OEP: una DESGRACIA y PROFUNDA INJUSTICIA
15 January 2016

¨Me he enterado con asombro la decisión anunciada esta mañana por el presidente de la OEP, Pinocho Battistelli, para castigar duramente a tres empleados de la OEP, todos ellos miembros del Comité de la SUEPO unión basado en Munich. Estoy profundamente en shock. Dos de esos mimebros, uno la cabeza de la rama de SUEPO en Munich, la otra anterior lider, han sido despedidos. El primero incluso deprivado de su derecho a pensiones. El tercero ha sido degradado en un considerable grado. Noto que el presidente P. Battistelli decretó estas sanciones muy allá de las recomendaciones del comite disciplinario de la OEP. Estos actos demuestran una VOLUNTAD DE HACER EL MAL, ASUSTAR, Y ERRADICAR TODO CRITICISMO Y TODO PODER INTERMEDIARIO.

¨Contacté al Gobierno Francés inmediatamente. Lo que ha pasado es una desgracia y profunda injusticia. Espero que los estadom miembors de la OEP, comenzando con Francia intervengan urgentemente para poner un fin a la arbrietaridad y esta tendencia a ARRUINAR VIDAS, DESTRUIR FAMILIAS, y mina el trabajo de toda la organización. Es inaceptable por la inmunidad que disfruta esta organización llevar a cabo tales aberraciones del gobierno de ley, basado entre otras cosas, en respeto a los derechos de las uniones de representantes y a sus empleados, la independencia del comite disciplinario en relación a la gerencia y sanciones proporcionales, son materias largamente ignoradas aquí.

¨Una organizacion tiene futuro sólo cuando sus empleados se identifican con ella, con su gobernancia y gerencia. Esto no es el caso de la OEP. Es urgente para los estados miembros refleccionar en las razones que llevaron a esto. Y considerar seriamente la cabeza de la OEP y toda su gerencia.¨

Gracias, señor Pierre-Yves Le Borgn, por ser el único politico con COJONES para hacer lo que nadie ha hecho en esta materia, al frente del abuso e intimidación.

Por favor queridos lectores, si son ciudadanos de la Unión Europea, contacten inmediatamente a sus delegados acerca de la OEP. Este SUPREMO ABUSO de lo que se ha convertido LA VERGUENZA DE EUROPA. █

Battistelli Hopes That People Forget (or Don’t Know About) Criminal Charges Against Željko Topić, But Croatian Media Does Not Forget as Election Imminent

Posted in Europe, Patents at 7:39 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz

“A new political scandal in Croatia?”

FIFA EPO
Nothing scares some organisations as much as truth itself

Summary: Techrights has got some news from Croatia which can indirectly relate to the EPO scandals and are associated with corruption and criminal charges

Weekend news in Techrights will set aside the EPO‘s attack on unions (at least for a moment) and focus on other patent-related matters. We will hopefully fully catch up with everything that is out there about the attack on the unions (we still need the internal communication from the EPO and the Heise article’s translation, shall anyone be willing and able to provide those).

Today, for the first time in quite a while, Croatia will be our focus, at the very least because the criminal charges against Željko Topić resurface in some form in the press. The Topić Audi/Mercedes scandal was covered here numerous times before, so readers can revisit our archives and catch up.

“I just got news for Croatia,” a source told us, “that the former Minister of Science Dragan Primorac is being considered as a candidate for the position of Foreign Minister in the new government.”

We received a translation of a recent news report from tjedno.hr, a news site from Croatia. “According to the information,” this source told us, “the new government is due to be announced on Friday.” (that’s this week)

“Here is a link which gives some information about the situation,” this source told us. To quote: “HDZ president Tomislav Karamarko and MOST leader Božo Petrov met yesterday afternoon for an hour and discussed the process of forming the new Croatian government, reports Vecernji List on January 12, 2016.”

“Now Battistelli created his gang with for the biggest part French friends and family members.”
      –AnonymousConsider the arrest of previous country leaders in Croatia. The perception of corruption there is high and the perception of corruption inside the EPO (where Topić is Battistelli’s right-hand man) has become quite high or strong. It’s so strong in fact that earlier today someone called for sanctions against Germany (until it intervenes in EPO affairs). To quote this one comment: “As an expression of personal protest against Germany, the host country of the EPO which incomprehensibly continues to tolerate on his soil the dictatorship of Mr Battistelli & Co. (as the Münchner Merkur put it: “Die letzte Diktatur auf dem deutschen Boden” after the Nazi and DDR regimes), whenever possible, I will stop buying or using German goods or services until the German Government takes clear position against the blatant violations of human rights and rules of law at the EPO. I ask all the readers of this blog, who still care about justice and the future of the EPO, to join me in this boycott. It might sound irrelevant but every long walk begins with a small step.”

Another person hopes that Battistelli “and his gang will soon be dismissed and replaced by a normal functioning management.” To quote this entire new comment: “Knowing the EPO from the time of Bob van Benthem, the first president and one of the fathers of the EPC and of a successfull EPO, I felt very sad yesterday and also the whole year 2015 because of the very bad news I received regularly. Bob was an honest and high level patent specialist. But he was also a generous and sensitive human being. He was an excellent manager. That time it was impossible that when you worked for the EPO, your wife could get a job there. The EPO did not like two ¨privileged¨ in one family. Now Battistelli created his gang with for the biggest part French friends and family members. Moreover Battistelli has by far not the high quality of Bob. He is not a honest and a high level patent specialist. He is a not a human honest person but a dishonest and cruel person and not only because of that not able to be a manager. Battistelli is the first president who needs body guards. He is the first president who avoids contact with the directors and examiners. He is the first president who needs Control Risks and illegal phone and PC taps. I hope that he and his gang will soon be dismissed and replaced by a normal functioning management.

“Battistelli is the first president who needs body guards.”
      –Anonymous“The EPO staff representatives always did excellent work. Els Hardon advised me once in a case in a very good and detailed manner. She is very intelligent and for SUEPO the right woman on the right place. I fully agree with Anonymous here above that the vicious and disproportionate punishment dished out by Battistelli shows how well the staff representatives have done their jobs in exposing him and his inner circle for what they are. I think with his decision Battistelli shot in his own foot.”

One person rightly asked: “How did the President get this position? Are there no checks or tests at all?”

He is more well-connected than sufficiently qualified [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6].

Another commenter wrote “An Organisation which belongs to just one man is no true Organisation!”

With all this in mind, consider the fact that the last thing Battistelli wants right now is some ‘investigative’ unit going after him and fellow managers. “It will be interesting to see whether Primorac is appointed or not,” our source told us. Here is the original article (in Croatian) and here it is in English as HTML:

EXCLUSIVE: MAIN FEATURE

VETERAN MANIPULATORS PRIMORAC, ŽANETIĆ AND STERN TO BE MEMBERS OF THE NEW GOVERNMENT BY DECISION OF PM DESIGNATE

3 January 2016

Croatia elections

Dragan Primorac is involved in two incidental criminal lawsuits from the era of Prime Minister Sanader. One of these is associated with the Croatian Standards’ Institute (DZN) where a “written-off” VW Touareg SUV disappeared. Siniša Žanetić was in the securities business, and earned his expertise in the Karlovačka and Raiffeisen Banks, Zagreb Insurance and Partner Bank. During his time in Karlovačka bank he was sentenced in the Karlovac court and fined along with Sandi Šola and Marijana Trpčić-Reškovac. As far back as 2000, Mr. Radimir Čačić, a member of the Račan government, publicly stated that ” prison bars are the future” for Davor Štern.

Written by: Franjo Dobrović
Photo: www.ezadar.hr

Dragan Primorac – a former cabinet minister during the Sanader, Davor Štern – a former Croatian Minister of the Economy, entrepreneur and currently member of the Zagreb City Assembly and a certain Siniša Žanetić – a former board member of the Karlovačka Bank, the main financier of Pliva, whose relationship with tennis player Iva Majoli was subject of many gossip columns, form the trio that, according to some unofficial sources, are among the personal choices of the Prime Minister designate Tihomir Orešković for ministerial positions in the new government of the Republic of Croatia. All three candidates of Mr. Orešković are connected to American-Israeli business circles or have been trained there like Siniša Žanetić. They are the personal choices of the PM designate Tihomir Orešković and, as we learned, are not linked to the party quotas of coalition partners HDZ and MOST for ministerial positions in the new coalition government.

Convicted together with the Šola brothers

Siniša Žanetić was in the securities business, and gained his experience in the Karlovačka and Raiffeisen Banks, Zagreb Insurance and the Partner Bank. During his time in Karlovačka Bank, he was sentenced by the Karlovac court and fined together with Sandi Šola and Marijana Trpčić-Reškovac because of irregularities in the allocation of loans and payments. Besides that, Karlovačka bank as a legal entity was also subject to a heavy fine. In addition, he is also mentioned in an detailed negative report of the Croatian National Bank prepared during the monitoring that was carried out in the Bank in connection with the “Mamma Mia” scandal1.

The damage suffered by the Bank and its shareholders in the scandal was estimated at over HRK 170 million. In addition, he was a suspect under charges of money laundering through Karlovac handball club. In the course of the three years during which the Karlovačka Bank was its main sponsor, the club received around 2 million HRK. Mr. Siniša Žanetić is the current preferred candidate for the post of Finance Minister.

Missing cars

Dragan Primorac is the preferred choice of PM designate Tihomir Orešković to succeed Vesna Pusić in the position of Minister of Foreign Affairs. Mr. Primorac is involved in two incidental criminal lawsuits from the era of the former Prime Minister Sanader. One is related to the Croatian Standards’ Institute (DZN) where a “written-off” VW Touareg SUV disappeared. The other is related to the State Intellectual Property Office (DZIV) where, allegedly, an official Audi A6 Quattro “went missing” from the official car park. In addition to the A6 Quattro, another Mercedes car disappeared from the DZIV car park through financial manipulations during the time in which Mr. Primorac was sitting in Sanader’s cabinet. Both lawsuits are being dealt with by the County State Attorney’s Office in Zagreb.

“Loose ends” at White Nights

According to unofficial sources, Davor Štern is the most likely candidate of the “Canadian” PM designate for the post of Minister of the Economy. Mr. Štern has never explained some financial “loose ends” relating to the White Nights, that is, the claims to concession contracts for Russian oil fields2.

As far back as 2000, a soft-spoken Radimir Čačić, a member of the Račan government, publicly predicted that “prison bars are the future” for Mr. Štern. Davor Štern confirmed his excellent Russian-Israeli business connections by his presence at the wedding of the housewife and novice golfer, Ms. Maja Brinar and Mr. Aaron Frenkel in Monte Carlo in 20043. Some 700 guests invited from all around the world attended this wedding in the principality of Monaco.

The sharks are approaching…

Whether or not the church pastors congregating around Božo Petrov of MOST have any idea about the above matters should become apparent during the negotiations on the formation of the new Government between the “Patriot coalition” and the PM designate Tihomir Orešković which are due to start in a few days. It could be that the members of MOST have already received some hints in reaction to the recent disturbing announcement on the party’s official Facebook page. However, the public yet has to learn whether or not these [i.e., Žanetić, Primorac and Štern] are the approaching “sharks” to which MOST referred in its Christmas epistle4. All in all, the first weeks of the New Year 2016 in the political life of Croatia promise to be anything but dull. As we can see, the veteran manipulators are hoping to make a comeback to the “great game” through the new Government.

____________________________
1 Translator’s note – More information to be found here:

http://easteuropebankingdeposits.blogspot.de/2013/04/croatia-police-arrest-former-ceo-of.html

2 Translator’s note – More information to be found here:

http://arhiva.nacional.hr/en/clanak/18202/ina-could-lose-74-million-in-the-sale-of-white-nights

3Translator’s note – More information to be found here:
htp://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/features/inside-intel-friends-in-high-places-1.278328

4 Translator’s note – More information to be found here:

http://www.total-croatia-news.com/politics/1900-in-a-christmas-message-most-attacks-sdp-and-warns-hdz

Some local reporters have called Topić “Sanader’s protégé" (Sanader is already in prison). The most relevant part from the above is this: “Dragan Primorac is the preferred choice of PM designate Tihomir Orešković to succeed Vesna Pusić in the position of Minister of Foreign Affairs. Mr. Primorac is involved in two incidental criminal lawsuits from the era of the former Prime Minister Sanader. One is related to the Croatian Standards’ Institute (DZN) where a “written-off” VW Touareg SUV disappeared. The other is related to the State Intellectual Property Office (DZIV) where, allegedly, an official Audi A6 Quattro “went missing” from the official car park. In addition to the A6 Quattro, another Mercedes car disappeared from the DZIV car park through financial manipulations during the time in which Mr. Primorac was sitting in Sanader’s cabinet. Both lawsuits are being dealt with by the County State Attorney’s Office in Zagreb.”

Remember that, as far as we are aware, this is the subject of ongoing court cases in Croatia. Pointing this out is, based on our understanding, what got the suspended judge in a lot of trouble and then — by association — got SUEPO under fire.

We urge EPO staff to dig deeper into these matters. It’s clear that there is something there which the EPO’s top management is very much afraid of. █

“Peace and justice are two sides of the same coin.”

–Dwight Eisenhower

“Injustice must be exposed, with all the tension its exposure creates, to the light of human conscience and the air of national opinion before it can be cured.”

–Martin Luther King Jr.

Anti-Competitive and Anti-Choice: the ‘New’ Microsoft Reveals New Abusive Policies

Posted in GNU/Linux, Hardware, Microsoft, Vista 10, Windows at 6:28 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz

Can’t compete? Then cheat…

“I’m thinking of hitting the OEMs harder than in the past with anti-Linux. … they should do a delicate dance”

–Joachim Kempin, Microsoft OEM Chief

Two locks

Summary: After scheming to make new hardware incapable of booting GNU/Linux (in the name of UEFI ‘security) the company now attempts to tie up hardware (processors) with malicious new malware called Windows 10 (more like Vista 10, with the user-hostile ‘features’ of Vista)

“Want Freedom To Choose Your Hardware? Choose GNU/Linux.”

That’s the message from Robert Pogson. Some days ago we became aware of a nasty little scheme from Microsoft. The abusive monopolist, Microsoft, is calling monopoly abuse “innovation”. In additional to more DRM and antifeatures, including mass surveillance in real time, the company goes further as “Upcoming Intel And AMD CPUs Will ONLY Support Windows 10,” to quote FOSS Bytes. “In the latest change to its update policy,” wrote the author, “Microsoft has announced that older versions of Windows like Windows 7 and Windows 8.1 will lose support on the Intel 6th generation Core processors, also known as Intel Skylake. So, if you have just bought a new PC, you should consider upgrading to Windows 10 within the next 18 months.”

“Does anyone really think there is a ‘new’ Microsoft which is benevolent?”And Microsoft later expresses shock that people generally dislike it, some more than others.

Microsoft Peter shows how, after UEFI lockout of GNU/Linux (which he wrote about last year, arguably breaking the news), the historically abusive Intel helps Microsoft impose NSA-friendly spyware on everyone. “Microsoft Will Not Support Upcoming Processors Except On Windows 10,” says another report and “New hardware must have the latest Windows,” wrote a Microsoft booster. Microsoft’s influence over OEMs may be diminishing, the development teams may be shrinking (based on our confidential sources they are!), so the company is now limiting the scope of its operating system using hardware manufacturers/chipmakers, i.e. doing exactly the opposite of Linux (whose hardware support is always broadening).

Moreover, as revealed by this new report from The Register, Microsoft is really trying to piss people off and make Vista 10 synonymous with malware. Watch what they are doing right now:

Microsoft’s relentless campaign to push Windows 10 onto every PC on the planet knows no bounds: now business desktops will be nagged to upgrade.

When Redmond started quietly installing Windows 10 on computers via Windows Update, it was aimed at getting home users off Windows 7 and 8. If you were using Windows Pro or Enterprise, or managed your machines using a domain, you weren’t supposed to be pestered with dialog boxes offering the free upgrade.

[...]

Microsoft claims it’s doing this because many small businesses – the sort of organizations that run Windows Pro, use a domain, but leave automatic updates on – want an easy way to install the new operating system. If companies really want this software, you’d think they’d install it themselves – or opt in for it, rather than having to opt out repeatedly.

You can try your luck following these instructions to halt the upgrade – until Microsoft changes the rules again. Windows Enterprise edition in large corporations will avoid the automatic, virtually mandatory, upgrade.

Does anyone really think there is a ‘new’ Microsoft which is benevolent? iophk has been writing to us for a number of days about this kind of topic. He said quite a lot of things about what Microsoft plans to do to R right now (or some time in the near future).

“Attacks against R continue with “Microsoft R Open {sic}”,” he said, “with the announcement of vaporware” (we wrote about this some days ago). █

“Stewart Alsop, industry gadfly, presented Gates with the “Golden Vaporware” award, saying, “The delay of Windows was all part of a secret plan to have Bill turn thirty before it shipped.”

–Barbarians Led by Bill Gates, a book composed
by the daughter of Microsoft’s PR mogul

Links 17/1/2016: 4MLinux 16.0 Beta, Black Lab Linux 8 Alpha

Posted in News Roundup at 5:45 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz

GNOME bluefish

Contents

GNU/Linux

Free Software/Open Source

  • git outta here, GitHub

    What a relief! I just deleted my GitHub account. Life is already looking brighter. ’cause you know, GitHub is Facebook. And you don’t want a Facebook account.

  • Nobody is using your software project. Now what?

    Working with open source software is an amazing experience. The collaborative process around creation, refinement, and even maintenance, drives more developers to work on open source software more often. However, every developer finds themselves writing code that very few people actually use.

  • How I Stumbled Upon The Internet’s Biggest Blind Spot

    Open source infrastructure refers to all the tools that help developers build software. On a deep level, it includes physical things like servers, but closer to the surface, it also includes things like programming languages, frameworks, and libraries.

    If you’ve ever built an app before, maybe you used Rails, Django or Node.js. Maybe your app was written in Ruby or Python. Maybe it made use of something like jQuery or React. All of these projects are open source.

    There is no question that these developer tools are vital to startups and technology: we couldn’t build anything without them. There is also no business model in many cases. You couldn’t charge people to use Python, for example, any more than you could charge someone to speak English.

  • AI research lab releases code to help with speech recognition

    Yesterday, Baidu Research’s Silicon Valley AI Lab (SVAIL) released open-source code called Warp-CTC to GitHub. The goal is for this code to be used in the machine learning community.

    Warp-CTC is a tool that can plug into existing machine learning frameworks to speed up the development of artificial intelligence, and according to SVAIL, it will speed up development by 400x compared to previous versions.

  • Events

  • Web Browsers

    • Mozilla

      • Thunderbird 38.5.1 Brings Fixes Only

        As you may know, Thunderbird is an open-source e-mail client and chat client developed by Mozilla. Among others, it has support for email addresses, newsgroup, news feed and chat (XMPP, IRC, Twitter) Client, managing multiple accounts. Also, it has support for different themes and its power can be extended by plugins.

      • Firefox to convert old YouTube Flash code to HTML5 Video

        Mozilla has added a feature to Firefox 46 that will convert old YouTube Flash code to HTML5 Video automatically under certain circumstances.

        When YouTube started out, Flash was the dominating technology used to stream video on the Internet, and the first player that YouTube made available to webmasters to embed videos on third-party sites used Flash exclusively.

        YouTube changed the code later on to reflect changes in streaming technologies. From a technical perspective, YouTube started to offer embed codes as iframes instead of objects.

  • SaaS/Big Data

    • Startup takes on Dropbox, Box, using cloud and local storage

      Right now, access to Infinit Drive and Infinit Cloud, the small-business and enterprise versions of the product, are restricted to invitations only, but it’s possible to sign up for early access. The open source pieces haven’t all been released yet, but the first of them have started to show up on Infinit’s GitHub site.

    • An introduction to OpenStack clouds for beginners

      This year, SCaLE 14x attendees will have the opportunity to hear Anthony Chow speak on how to get started contributing to OpenStack.

      Anthony is network engineer with a passion for sharing and promoting technologies that enable community growth. He’s currently working on Docker and OpenStack Magnum.

      In this interview, Anthony explains what OpenStack is, how it works with containers, and how an enterprise might want to use it.

    • OpenStack Foundation 2016 Directors Announced

      The OpenStack Foundation election of Individual Directors to the Board of Directors has now completed and the winning candidates have been announced.

    • Lessons learned (the hard way) doing DevOps at scale

      I had the chance to talk to Ticketmaster’s Victor Gajendran who will be attending (and speaking) for the first time at SCaLE 14x this year, which is taking place on January 21 and 22 in Pasadena, California. He’ll speak to attendees about how his company uses open source and how to empower your small teams to be part of a large, effective whole.

  • BSD

  • FSF/FSFE/GNU/SFLC

  • Openness/Sharing

    • Kiev tests open budget process

      Through this new initiative SocialBoost partnered with Open North, a Canadian company, which has developed a ready-to-use portal called Citizen Budget. This portal was adapted for the Kiev project.

    • Civil society plays a key role in policy shaping in Europe

      The main theme of this debate, organised by the NGO Support Centre, under the European U-Impact project (From Citizen Involvement to Policy Impact) was “Civil Society and the EU”. The U-Impact project basically gathers citizens’ views on EU policies and explores the relationship and engagement between civil society and EU.

    • Open Hardware

Leftovers

  • Mr Cameron, the renegotiation and evidence-based policy making

    The outcome of the British government’s attempt to renegotiate the UK’s terms of membership of the European Union and the referendum that will follow are highly uncertain but the renegotiation reveals quite a lot about David Cameron.

  • Celine Dion’s brother Daniel dies two days after her husband

    The older brother of Canadian singer Celine Dion has died of cancer, two days after her husband also died.

    Daniel Dion, 59, died on Saturday near Montreal, a statement by the singer’s spokeswoman said.

    Ms Dion’s family paid tribute to the father-of-two, calling him “a gentle and reserved man of many talents”.

  • Health/Nutrition

    • In 1993 Meeting, Hillary Clinton Acknowledged “Convincing Case” for Single-Payer

      Two doctors who met privately with Hillary Clinton during the 1993 health reform debate say she agreed that single-payer healthcare would be good for Americans. Their recollections raise questions about both the motive and the sincerity of Clinton’s recent assault on Democratic presidential rival Bernie Sanders for supporting such a system.

      Until Clinton’s pivot, the accepted Democratic view was that single-payer was the best solution in theory, but that it was politically unrealistic. Clinton’s new critiques, by contrast, are an attempt to make Sanders’s single-payer proposals sound costly and destructive.

    • Sanders’ Courageous Stand for Universal Coverage

      The Clinton campaign just made a serious mistake.

      They sent Hillary and Bill Clinton’s daughter Chelsea out on behalf of her mother to bash Senator Bernie Sanders on the issue of health care.

      What’s so wrong with that? Don’t all candidates use family surrogates when and where they can? The Kennedys, for example, deployed a horde of kinfolk for Jack’s campaign for president, then Bobby’s, then Teddy’s.

    • This is how toxic Flint’s water really is

      The city of Flint, Mich., is in the midst of a water crisis several years in the making. The city opted out of Detroit’s water supply and began drawing water from the Flint River in April 2014, part of a cost-saving move. Eighteen months later, in the fall of 2015, researchers discovered that the proportion of children with above-average lead levels in their blood had doubled.

    • This Bee-Killing Pesticide Is Terrible at Protecting Crops

      In 2011, agrichemical giants Monsanto and Bayer CropScience joined forces to sell soybean seeds coated with (among other things) an insecticide of the neonicotinoid family. Neonics are so-called systematic pesticides—when the coated seeds sprout and grow, the resulting plants take up the bug-killing chemical, making them poisonous to crop-chomping pests like aphids. Monsanto rivals Syngenta and DuPont also market neonic-treated soybean seeds.

      These products—buoyed by claims that the chemical protects soybean crops from early-season insect pests—have enjoyed great success in the marketplace. Soybeans are the second-most-planted US crop, covering about a quarter of US farmland—and at least a third of US soybean acres are grown with neonic-treated seeds. But two problems haunt this highly lucrative market: 1) The neonic soybean seeds might not do much at all to fight off pests, and 2) they appear to be harming bees and may also hurt other pollinators, birds, butterflies, and water-borne invertebrates.

      Doubts about neonic-treated soybean seeds’ effectiveness aren’t new. In 2014, the Environmental Protection Agency released a blunt preliminary report finding that “neonicotinoid seed treatments likely provide $0 in benefits” to soybean growers. But the agrichemical industry likes to portray the EPA as an overzealous regulator that relies on questionable data, and it quickly issued a report vigorously disagreeing with the EPA’s assessment.

    • All Flint’s children must be treated as exposed to lead

      In order to address the public health crisis in Flint, every Flint child under 6 years of age — 8,657 children, based on an analysis of Census data — should be considered exposed to lead.

      The direction came earlier this week from the doctor who forced the state to acknowledge Flint’s lead problem and the state itself.

      The exposure began in April 2014 after the city switched from using Detroit’s water system, which pumps water out of Lake Huron, to its own treatment plant, which drew water from the Flint River.

    • ‘Ludicrous’ as Flint Tells Residents: Pay for Poisoned Water or We’ll Cut You Off

      Amid a crisis that has poisoned the water supply of an entire city, authorities in Flint, Michigan are under renewed fire on Friday for sending out shut-off notices to residents who are behind on paying their water bills.

      Slammed as “ludicrous, the move comes as Republican Governor Rick Snyder finally asked President Obama to step in and declare a federal state of emergency.

      Following a short holiday reprieve, Finance Director Jody Lundquist announced Wednesday that officials will resume sending an unspecified amount of shut-off notices to past-due accounts. According to Lundquist, the city already sent out 1,800 notices in November.

    • Bernie Sanders Calls For Michigan Governor To Resign Over Poisoned Water Scandal

      Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders urged Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder to step down in light of his state’s ongoing and fatal water crisis that has sickened thousands of residents and left more than 30,000 Flint, Michigan households with undrinkable tap water.

      “There are no excuses. The governor long ago knew about the lead in Flint’s water. He did nothing. As a result, hundreds of children were poisoned. Thousands may have been exposed to potential brain damage from lead. Gov. Snyder should resign,” Sanders said in a statement Saturday.

    • Russia’s ‘state sponsored doping’ endangered athletes lives

      Sessions also focused on organizational issues that are necessary to quickly consider doping cases, investigating problems mentioned in the report by the World Anti-Doping Agency’s (WADA) Independent Commission, collecting information about the location of athletes and comprehensive testing of Russian athletes before WADA restores the Russian Anti-Doping Agency (RUSADA), as well as educational and other measures necessary for introducing zero tolerance policy for doping in Russian athletics.

      Part one revealed state-sponsored doping in the country which resulted in them being suspended by the IAAF.

      Being generous, it seems officials weren’t ignoring Russian doping but rather were seeking expedient ways of dealing with the large number of cases thrown up by the IAAF’s “blood passport” anti-doping program before the 2012 London Games.

  • Security

    • Hacking Team’s Leak Helped Researchers Hunt Down a Zero-Day

      The vulnerability, which Microsoft called “critical” in a patch released to customers on Tuesday, would allow an attacker to infect your system after getting you to visit a malicious website where the exploit resides—usually through a phishing email that tricks you into clicking on a malicious link. The attack works with all of the top browsers except Chrome—but only because Google removed support for the Silverlight plug-in in its Chrome browser in 2014.

      [...]

      In July 2015, a hacker known only as “Phineas Fisher” targeted the Italian surveillance firm Hacking Team and stole some 400 GB of the company’s data, including internal emails, which he dumped online. The hack exposed the company’s business practices, but it also revealed the business of zero-day sellers who were trying to market their exploits to Hacking Team. The controversial surveillance firm, which sells its software to law enforcement and intelligence agencies around the world—including to oppressive regimes like Sudan, Bahrain, and Saudi Arabia—uses zero-day exploits to help sneak its surveillance tools onto targeted systems.

    • Flexible, secure SSH with DNSSEC

      With version 6.2 of OpenSSH came a feature that allows the remote host to retrieve a public key in a customised way, instead of the typical authorized_keys file in the ~/.ssh/ directory. For example, you can gather the keys of a group of users that require access to a number of machines on a single server (for example, an LDAP server), and have all the hosts query that server when they need the public key of the user attempting to log in. This saves a lot of editing of authorized_keys files on each and every host. The downside is that it’s necessary to trust the source these hosts retrieve public keys from. An LDAP server on a private network is probably trustworthy (when looked after properly) but for hosts running in the cloud, that’s not really practical.

  • Defence/Police/Secrecy/Aggression

    • They Make Cheney Look Like Chomsky: Cruz, Trump, Rubio and the Frightening Bellicosity of Today’s GOP

      They want to “carpet bomb,” “bomb the shit” out of them and make “sand glow.” The GOP field somehow makes Cheney seem moderate.

    • U.S. Radically Changes Its Story of the Boats in Iranian Waters: to an Even More Suspicious Version

      When news first broke of the detention of two U.S. ships in Iranian territorial waters, the U.S. media — aside from depicting it as an act of Iranian aggression — uncritically cited the U.S. government’s explanation for what happened. One of the boats, we were told, experienced “mechanical failure” and thus “inadvertently drifted” into Iranian waters. On CBS News, Joe Biden told Charlie Rose, “One of the boats had engine failure, drifted into Iranian waters.”

    • After Me, the Jihad

      The West was then gearing up to use unrest in Libya as a pretext for military intervention and regime change. Gaddafi desperately tried to convey through Blair the folly of such a war, pleading that he was trying to defend Libya from Al Qaeda, which had set up base in the country.

    • US Foreign Policy Discussions Need a Colossal Dose of Humility

      According to an apocryphal Russian proverb, it’s easy to turn an aquarium into fish soup, but much harder to turn fish soup into an aquarium. The US political class has served up plenty of fish soup over the past decade, and much of it was created in the belief that each aquarium just wasn’t good enough without our help.

      A prime example of US-created fish soup would be Iraq. It’s a steaming bowl of it, and no amount of firepower is going to change that. Societal cohesion was destroyed, it’s not something that can be put back together through force of arms.

    • Thanks to Donald Trump, Police Brutality and Guns, the United States’ Reputation Is Plummeting

      Donald Trump’s bewildering popularity in the presidential race has been exceedingly hard to bear for many Americans, particularly those who belong to one or more of the communities that he openly disparages, like African-Americans and Muslim Americans.

      Yet if even some citizens wrestle to make sense of Trump’s rise to power, how do non-Americans view the strange state of politics in the world’s most powerful nation?

      While on a recent visit to Dubai, United Arab Emirates—where I was born and raised and where my parents still live—Trump’s name cropped up as a topic of conversation within the first few minutes of nearly every interaction I had, so I decided to gather a group of my friends together to answer that question.

      Dubai is home to myriad immigrant communities, and while the city of more than 2.4 million struggles with its own unique social problems, the United States remains hugely influential there when it comes to both pop culture and politics.

    • Implementation Day: Full Description From JCPOA Text

      As can be seen from the incredibly long and detailed list of actions Iran has taken to dismantle much of its nuclear technology, Implementation Day represents a remarkable movement away from any capability to produce a nuclear weapon. A devastating array of economic sanctions has been put into place by the West, and many of these are dropped on this historic occasion.

      Diplomacy has won.

    • GOP Debates Are Pure Hawk Without a Paul

      Former Texas Congressman Ron Paul was not the perfect antiwar candidate sent down from above, but you would be forgiven for thinking so if you compare the 2008 and 2012 presidential races to the 2016 one.

      Ron Paul was not without fault (early immigration fearmongering, the vote for the Afghanistan Authorization for Use of Military Force) but he was the rare politician who got better and more interested in peace and freedom the longer he stayed in office. The 2012 election was basically a victory lap for him, but one that involved the vital message of peace and nonintervention. There’s a reason that he’s so beloved, and that YouTube videos with titles that call Paul a seer for predicting more terrorist attacks on the US back in 1998 are amusingly common.

  • Environment/Energy/Wildlife

    • Why is the Guardian letting Shell fill its pages with dubious spin?

      Oil sponsorship is pretty controversial. Where companies like BP and Shell have paid to have their logos displayed in museums, art galleries and theatres, they have been met with a torrent of protest performances and artistic antipathy.

      Groups like BP or not BP, Liberate Tate, BP out of Opera and Art Not Oil have found numerous high profile and creative ways to challenge oil company sponsorship of institutions including the Royal Shakespeare Company, The British Museum, the Tate and Tate Modern, the Science Museum, the Royal Opera House, the National Portrait Gallery, the Edinburgh Festival and the Louvre.

    • Things Just Got Even Worse For Coal

      About 40 percent of all US coal extraction takes place on federal land, much of that in Wyoming, the nation’s top coal producer. For years, environmentalists have complained that the coal industry enjoys royalty rates much lower than offshore oil or other publicly owned fossil fuels. Those low rates make it cheaper for coal companies to operate and may also be a raw deal for the public that has to deal with the impacts, from local environmental degradation to global climate change. While offshore oil companies typically pay a royalty rate of about 18 percent, Jewell said, the rate for coal is only 8-10 percent. A Government Accountability Office report in 2014 found that undervalued coal leases cost the US Treasury nearly $1 billion per year in lost revenue.

    • Coal Ash Wastewater Will Be Dumped Into Virginia Rivers

      Millions of gallons of treated wastewater from coal ash ponds can be disposed in two major Virginia rivers — one a tributary of the Potomac River — the Virginia Water Control Board ruled Thursday.

      The decision comes as some residents and environmentalists questioned the stringency of permits that allow Dominion Virginia Power to release wastewater with some levels of arsenic, lead, copper, and other substances into nearby waterways rich in wildlife. Wastewater will come from the Possum Point Power Plant located by Quantico Creek, and the Bremo Power Plant located by the James River.

    • 22 Mind-Blowing Catastrophes That Are Just A Matter Of Time
    • Asia is imperiled by COP21’s climate cop-out

      The nations of the world gathered at the Paris Climate Conference (COP21) last month to come to an agreement on the urgent mission of reducing greenhouse gas emissions. However, all they produced was an attractive vision statement that is more sham than solution.

      It is imperative that the world invests significantly and quickly in climate mitigation strategies to reduce the human and economic cost of climate change, which is where COP21 fell short. The vague wording of the final declaration gives too much wiggle room for nations to avoid painful choices.

      “This agreement is a great escape for the big polluters, and a poisoned chalice for the poor,” concludes Asad Rehman from the Global Campaign to Demand Climate Justice. “We’ve got some warm words about temperature levels, but no concrete action.”

      [...]

      Indonesia is also in the process of increasing harmful emissions and pollutants as it develops. Anyone visiting the main cities on the island of Java will come away convinced that Indonesia is zooming toward environmental disaster, while its destruction of rainforest through the deliberate setting of fires to clear land in Sumatra and Kalimantan for palm oil plantations is devastating the environment and subjecting citizens of Singapore and Malaysia to high levels of unhealthy smoke. Indonesia already emits more carbon dioxide per capita than India.

  • Finance

    • Whiny Ragequitting

      I characterized Mike Hearn’s farewell essay as a ‘whiny ragequit’. I did this because it is, well, a whiny ragequit. He attempted a hostile takeover of Bitcoin with Bitcoin-XT, and now that he’s predictably been made to feel like persona non grata in Bitcoin development he’s throwing a tantrum on his way out.

      There are of course real howlers in Hearn’s essay which I can explain, although truth be known I shouldn’t have to. There is overwhelming alignment among people doing Bitcoin development on the path forward. The popular perception of internal division is caused by having a camp consisting of Mike Hearn, Jeff Garzik, and Gavin Andresen who are doing a good job of whipping up popular support and talking to the press. They have a simplistic plan which appeals to people who don’t know any better or want to be told that technical problems can be made to magically go away with a simple fix. On the other side are the people doing actual development, who aren’t particularly good at talking to the press or whipping up support on reddit and have a plan which requires real engineering work moving forwards.

    • ‘Bitcoin Has Failed’, Says Lead Developer Who Just Quit

      Once again Bitcoin has been declared dead. This time, the announcement has come from a prominent developer Mike Hearn who just quit the project. In a long blog post on Medium, he called Bitcoin an ‘experiment’ that has now failed.

    • BTC dev: ‘Strangling’ the blockchain will kill Bitcoin

      The destiny of Bitcoin, like that of Apollo 13, shall never be realised, at least according to one of the cryptocurrency’s most well-known developers, who has announced that “the experiment has failed”.

      Mike Hearn was a senior software engineer at Google up until 2014, when he left to focus his full-time attention on Bitcoin development. In a blog post on Thursday, Hearn announced he would longer be taking part in Bitcoin development and had sold all of his coins.

    • Walmart to Close 269 Stores, Most of Them in the United States
    • Walmart to shutter 269 stores, with most located in the US

      The retail giant announced it is working to transfer 10,000 US employees to nearby stores, as CEO said closings are ‘necessary to keep the company strong’

  • PR/AstroTurf/Lobbying

    • Hillary Clinton: Israel First

      Although the United States is still ten months from its next exercise in electoral futility, most polls do not indicate what former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is most anxious to see: a runaway victory for her candidacy. It is a good sign that, despite the fact that she has no real contrasting opponent on the Democratic side, the coronation she expected isn’t going to happen.

    • The Good, Bad and Ugly in Oregon Standoff Coverage

      Unraveling the Gordian knot of media issues in the Oregon standoff between federal authorities and a Patriot/Militia alliance of building occupiers is a daunting task. Some journalists have written excellent, thoughtful articles, and some have wasted wood pulp and bandwidth. Most early reporting sat between those extremes.

    • Trump’s Muslim Ban is a Vile Joke That GOP Condenders Don’t Have the Guts to Take On

      You obviously can’t try and explain such intricacies to a nasty hare-brain who trucks in inflammatory bromides. So what do you do? Condemn him? Ignore him? The first would be the most honorable course and the second understandable. But what the GOP luminaries actually did – i.e. sing and dance to Trump’s tune – was neither. The only exception was Jeb Bush.

    • Review: Michael Bay’s 13 Hours Is A Coded Message To Benghazi Conspiracy Theorists

      Shortly before Michael Bay’s latest movie, 13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi, hit theaters, The Hollywood Reporter published a long report on how the film had been carefully marketed to conservative pundits. In return, the film was praised as “riveting” and “extraordinary” by people the studio could use to validate the movie to their hoped-for audience.

    • How Corporations and Politicians Use Numbers to Lie — and How Not to Be Fooled

      Americans, as P.T. Barnum once noted, are not all that difficult to fool, and our nation’s somewhat weak math skills don’t help. A Pew Research Center report issued last year, which studied test results of 15-year-olds, ranked the United States 35th in the world in math. Not only has this weakness in understanding numbers created opportunities for mass exploitation by Big Pharma and other industries, it has led to needless and mostly unwarranted fear. While Americans don’t understand math, be assured that corporations do, and they happily use it to mislead and obfuscate in the name of selling their products.

  • Censorship

    • Letter: Censorship can deny all opinion

      Tears flow down my cheeks as I read of the torture some readers go through when they read Thomas Sowell’s weekly column. Their pleading for The Columbian to stop carrying his column tears at my heart. The anguish the writers go through detailing point by point of where they disagree with him is almost too much to bear.

    • Is The Internet Evolving Away From Freedom of Speech?

      Yesterday Motherboard published a fascinating look back at how Twitter’s rules have evolved over the past decade and how its own experiences as flag bearer of the social media revolution have influenced and changed the accepted wisdom of the juxtaposition of freedom of speech and commercial reality. From its founding principles that guided the site through the end of last year that enshrined “because of these principles, we do not actively monitor and will not censor user content except in limited circumstances” to its new rules, published last month that clarify “there are some limitations on the type of content and behavior that we allow,” Twitter has evolved along with the web itself.

    • How Twitter quietly banned hate speech last year

      But that wasn’t all. More links to outside documents appeared in the company rules. In August, Twitter clarified that it would include “indirect threats” under its definition of “hateful conduct.” It would also censor people who “incited” harassment, for example by urging their followers to send harassing messages to another user.

    • My Experience With the Great Firewall of China

      When I recently visited China for the first time, as an InfoSec professional I was very curious to finally be able to poke at the Great Firewall of China with my own hands to see how it works and how easy it is evade. In short I was surprised by:

      Its high level of sophistication such as its ability to exploit side-channel leaks in TLS (I have evidence it can detect the “TLS within TLS” characteristic of secure web proxies)

      How poorly simple Unix computer security tools fared to evade it

      1 of the top 3 commercial VPN providers uses RSA keys so short (1024 bits!) that the Chinese government could factor them

    • Censorship still works — just not the way you think

      But top-down approaches don’t work so well when anyone can get online and fight back. Then-Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan was widely ridiculed for the heavy-handed YouTube ban. Similar backfires occurred in 2010 when WordPress was blocked in Venezuela, and in China the same year when a man with political connections tried to censor news of his hit-and-run killing of a college student. Egyptian authorities turned off the whole country’s internet during 2011 protests there, but it didn’t save President Mubarak. The old ways do not work as well anymore. Effective censorship is done not by deletion, but by confusion.

  • Privacy

    • Apple has patented a way to track your digital ‘skeleton’ using a camera

      Apple has been granted a patent for software that can work out information about a person’s “skeleton” by looking at it through Microsoft Kinect-style hardware.

      Microsoft Kinect is a hardware accessory for the Xbox that uses cameras to the track movements of people in the room, helping control a video game.

    • Why is Apple starting to patent light fittings?

      Apple has been granted a patent for the ceiling lighting system it has developed for its new-look stores in a move that has again raised the issue of the company’s intentions in the lighting market.

    • Theresa May’s snooping defence remains inherently contradictory

      The UK government doesn’t want backdoors to encrypted messages. But it wants companies to decrypt messages on demand anyway.

      That apparently contradictory policy remains at the heart of the Investigatory Powers Bill, Home Secretary Theresa May has told MPs.

      May, who is overseeing the creation of the IP Bill and saw similar plans blocked in 2012, told a group of MPs and Lords that companies will be required to remove electronic protection on messages and information when a warrant is issued.

    • No, the European Court of Human Rights did NOT just greenlight spying on employees

      Reports that say the European Court of Human Rights ruled bosses can peek into their employees’ personal communications are hogwash.

    • German data surveillance includes Finland

      According to leaked German intelligence documents, German intelligence agency BND monitored phone calls and possibly Internet traffic to and from Finland in the 2000s — possibly at the behest of the American security agency, the NSA.

    • FISC Still Sitting on Government Proposal for EFF Data

      When last we checked in with the new-and-improved post USA Freedom Act FISA Court, amicus Preston Burton had helped the Court finish off the Section 215 dragnet with a strong hand, in part by asking a bunch of questions that should have been asked 9 years earlier. And in a reply to the government (the reply was released belatedly), Burton made an argument that led first to a hearing on the issue and then a briefing order for ways the government might stipulate to something in the EFF lawsuits so as to permit the FISC to lift the protection order requiring all Americans’ phone records to be kept indefinitely.

  • Civil Rights

    • Laura Carlsen on the Arrest of ‘El Chapo,’ Omar Shakir on Closing Guantanamo
    • What’s Your Threat Score?

      Police have found a new way to legally incorporate surveillance and profiling into everyday life. Just when you thought we were making progress raising awareness surrounding police brutality, we have something new to contend with. The Police Threat Score isn’t calculated by a racist police officer or a barrel-rolling cop who thinks he’s on a TV drama; it’s a computer algorithm that steals your data and calculates your likelihood of risk and threat for the fuzz.

    • First Member Of Bundy Militia Arrested

      The first members of the militia illegally occupying a federal building in Oregon have been arrested. The occupation has gone on for nearly two weeks, costing the state more than $133,000 per day.

      Two members of the militia were finally arrested when they took federal vehicles stolen from the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge and drove them to a local Safeway.

    • America Is a Dystopian Hellhole and Don’t You Forget It

      And the surprise? There’s nothing on this list from Ted Cruz. He had plenty of criticisms of Obama, but I looked at everything he said last night and there was really no hint of America going to hell in a handbasket. I didn’t expect that, but I’ll bet it’s deliberate. Maybe he knows something the rest of field doesn’t?

    • Poor and Seeking Justice in Louisiana? Get in Line.

      Taking aim at Louisiana’s “chronic underfunding” of its public defender system—which has forced at least four parishes in the state to create “waiting lists” for appointed counsel—the American Civil Liberties Union and the ACLU of Louisiana filed a class-action lawsuit Thursday evening on behalf of criminal defendants in Orleans Parish who are unable to afford an attorney.

      “So long as you’re on the public defender waiting list in New Orleans, you’re helpless,” said Brandon Buskey, staff attorney with the ACLU’s Criminal Law Reform Project. “Your legal defense erodes along with your constitutional rights.”

      What’s more, he added in an op-ed published Friday, “The people the public defender is making wait in line are most at risk in our justice system: usually poor, often a person of color, and facing severe sentences. [T]hese are the people who most need the public defender’s help investigating the state’s case against them and quickly uncovering favorable evidence before it is lost.”

    • Justice Has a Waiting List in New Orleans
    • Terrorism In Europe is Less Common and Less Deadly Than in the Recent Past — And Doesn’t Justify Expanded Repressive Surveillance

      International security researcher: “Western Europe is safer now than it has been for decades and is far safer than most other parts of the world.”

    • Dr. King’s legacy still relevant
    • Cock.li server seized again by German prosecutor, service moves to Romania

      cock.li’s Vincent Canfield said that he had initially chosen a German data host because the country has a reputation for “good data privacy laws.”

      “Of course, though the facts of the case are yet to be seen since no one in Germany is talking to us, I will definitely never host anything in Germany ever again,” he told Ars in an encrypted chat.

      The same Zwickau authorities previously seized one of cock.li’s hard drives in late December 2015. That first seizure came shortly after cock.li was reportedly used to send a bogus bomb threat e-mail from “madbomber@cock.li” to several school districts in the United States, which led to the closure of all schools in the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD). The New York City Department of Education, however, dismissed the e-mail as an obvious hoax. (The LAUSD has refused to provide Ars a copy of this original message under the California Public Records Act, a decision that we have appealed.)

      “We live in an age where anonymous messages can be sent with extreme ease.”
      Because the novelty e-mail host was configured as a RAID1 (mirrored) setup, the e-mail service continued operating until Friday. It is unclear why there was a weeks-long delay between the first and second seizure.

    • The report which could destroy Britain’s immigration prisons

      Entrance to healthcare, The Verne Immigration Removal Centre (HMIP)

      The Home Office never wanted this report. It was only after a string of stories about abusive guards and sexual attacks that Stephen Shaw’s inquiry into Britain’s immigration detention centres was even commissioned.

      Even then, they tried to narrow its remit. It was limited to assessing detainees’ welfare and there was to be no discussion about the principle of detention itself.

      As if that weren’t restrictive enough, officials also didn’t want Shaw, a former prisons ombudsman, addressing the issue of how long detainees are held. Under the current system, they never know how long they’ll be imprisoned. It could be hours or it could be years. That uncertainty can sometimes drive them mad. It is a uniquely bureaucratic form of mental torture.

    • What Accounts for the Saudi Regime’s Hysterical Belligerence? The Agony of Death

      The Saudi rulers find themselves in a losing race against time, or history. Although in denial, they cannot but realize the historical reality that the days of ruling by birthright are long past, and that the House of Saud as the ruler of the kingdom by inheritance is obsolete.

      This is the main reason for the Saudi’s frantically belligerent behavior. The hysteria is tantamount to the frenzy of the proverbial agony of a prolonged death. It explains why they react so harshly to any social or geopolitical development at home or in the region that they perceive as a threat to their rule.

      It explains why, for example, they have been so intensely hostile to the Iranian revolution that terminated the rule of their dictatorial counterpart, the Shah of Iran, in that country. In the demise of the Shah they saw their own downfall.

    • 12-year-old girl suspended because she lent her inhaler to a gasping classmate

      A 12-year-old honor student from Texas got suspended from school for giving her asthama inhaler to another girl who was wheezing and gasping in gym class. She could also be tranferred to an “alternative school” for up to 30 days. The girl told Fox 4 News she feels the punishment is not fair. “I was just trying to save her life. I didn’t think I was trying to do anything bad,” she said.

    • Garland girl suspended, potential alternative school time for sharing inhaler
    • Apple Shrugs Off Diversity Push, Calling It ‘Unduly Burdensome’

      Apple’s board and senior management teams are dominated by white men. But its leadership still feels that speeding up efforts to change that makeup are “unduly burdensome and not necessary.”

      Antonio Avian Maldonado, II, one of the company’s shareholders, has put forward a proposal that would force the company’s board to adopt an “accelerated recruitment policy” for diverse senior management and board seat positions, “bodies that presently fails [sic] to adequately represent diversity (particularly Hispanic, African-American, Native-American and other people of colour).” By Apple’s own count, the company’s leadership team is 72 percent male and 63 percent white, while it’s just 6 percent Hispanic and 3 percent black. Of the eight people on its board, just two are women and only two are people of color.

    • The FBI’s Two-Pronged Investigation of Hillary Clinton

      Later, as a member of a secret Presidential committee to investigate the CIA’s view of the Soviet Union’s ability to withstand an arms race, I had very high clearances as the committee had subpoena power over the CIA. If the Kremlin had had access to the top secret documents, all the Kremlin would have learned is that the CIA had a much higher opinion of the capability of the Soviet economy than did the Kremlin.

      Distinguished law professors have concluded that the US government classifies documents primarily in order to hide its own mistakes and crimes. We see this over and over. The US government can escape accountability for the most incredible mistakes and the worse crimes against the US Constitution and humanity simply by saying “national security.”

    • Saudi Arabia’s foreign affairs minister Adel al-Jubeir urges Britain to ‘respect’ the kingdom’s use of the death penalty

      Saudi Arabia’s foreign minister has urged Britain to “respect” his country’s use of the death penalty, two weeks after the oil-rich kingdom executed 47 people in one day.

      Adel al-Jubeir, responding to a question over the kingdom’s “terrible image problem”, put to him by Channel 4 News’ Jonathan Rugman, said: “Well on this issue we have a fundamental difference. In your country, you do no execute people, we respect it. In our country the death penalty is part of our laws and you have to respect this as it is the law, part of the law, in the United States and other countries.”

    • A Few Keystrokes Could Solve the Crime. Would You Press Enter?

      The discovery would surely help in the prosecution of the laptop’s owner, tying him to the crime. But a junior prosecutor has a further idea. The private document was likely shared among other conspirators, some of whom are still on the run or unknown entirely. Surely Google has the ability to run a search of all Gmail inboxes, outboxes, and message drafts folders, plus Google Drive cloud storage, to see if any of its 900 million users are currently in possession of that exact document. If Google could be persuaded or ordered to run the search, it could generate a list of only those Google accounts possessing the precise file — and all other Google users would remain undisturbed, except for the briefest of computerized “touches” on their accounts to see if the file reposed there.

  • Internet/Net Neutrality

    • Why Americans Should Pay Attention to What Facebook Is Doing in India

      If you live in India, or happen to have visited in the past month, you probably noticed the seemingly-ubiquitous advertising for something called Free Basics. It’s what you might call a full-court press: full-page ads in newspapers, billboards, and movie theater trailers. Also, if you were to log into Facebook, you’d be presented with an ad (and possibly if you were in the US, too).

      The first thing to understand is that Free Basics is Facebook, and Facebook is Free Basics, and they’re both basically Internet.org. Perhaps more accurately, if expressed in matryoshka dolls, Free Basics is inside Internet.org which is inside Facebook. First, Facebook launched the Internet.org initiative, which covers various projects aimed at spreading internet access to developing countries. One of the first projects was a free service that offers limited access to the internet, including ad-free Facebook and other sites. Then, in September, Facebook rebranded that service from Internet.org to Free Basics.

    • outrageous roaming fees

      Unexpected roaming fees are the worst. You’re just cruising along, having a jolly old time, and then boom. $20 per megabyte??? Should have read the fine print. Of course, if you had known to read the fine print, you probably would have already known about the roaming fees, and therefore not needed to read the fine print. And so it goes, in life and in ssh.

      What, ssh has roaming??? Should have read the fine print. The Qualys Security Advisory is more than thorough. Now that we’ve read the fine print, what can we do differently?

    • ‘Poor internet for poor people’: India’s activists fight Facebook connection plan

      India is having its internet uprising, and many western activists can’t figure out what to do about it.

      Since the spring of 2015, Indian activists have built ferocious momentum against Facebook’s bid to take charge of the nation’s internet through a program called Free Basics.

      Formerly called “Internet Zero,” Free Basics’s pitch has been: we’ll get “the next billion internet users” (that is, poor people in developing nations) connected by cutting deals with local phone companies. Under these deals, there will be no charge for accessing the services we hand-pick. We will define the internet experience for these technologically unsophisticated people, with our products at the centre and no competition. It’s philanthropy!

  • DRM

  • Intellectual Monopolies

    • Trademarks

      • Yosemite to Rename Several Iconic Places

        Can a private company trademark public property? That’s the question the feds are scrambling to answer after a longtime concessionaire in Yosemite claimed rights to the names of some of the park’s most iconic locations.

    • Copyrights

      • Summary of ‘Cinematic Bricoleurs’ Remix Conference, King’s College, London (Jan.2016)

        After tea, a panel was assembled for a Q&A session, featuring Prof. Charlotte Wealde, Julia Reda (Pirate Party MEP), Elizabeth Gibson (BBC), Richard Misek, Dan Herbert and myself, chaired by Helen Kennedy. The focus of the panel was ‘the currently shifting sands of territory specific intellectual property legislation, set against the wider backdrop of the global digital economy.’ Each panelist discussed their own position in relation to this issue, as well as suggesting where the leading edge is in terms of influencing changes to current IP legislation and what needs to happen to make those changes. From the floor, questions were fielded in relation to the identity and personality of the author with regard to moral rights and individual self-expression, as well as the challenge of identifying the most important issues and problems in this debate. Some of the answers yielded genuine insights, such as when Julia Reda described how recent attempts to change the EUCD to allow greater freedoms for transformative works were met with great resistance, on the grounds that such exemptions would only serve to benefit large US tech companies. It was suggested that the gathering of evidence and lots of different examples of remix should be prioritized to assist with the changing of copyright legislation and to support the case for such changes. A number of times during the discussion, reference was made to Christian Marclay and especially his found footage work ‘The Clock’ (2010), which was hailed as a superb example of the form.

      • Croatian cake pirates threatened with lawsuits

        As Harlan Ellison once said about Disney, “Nobody fucks with The Mouse.” Even if you live in Zagreb, Croatia, the long hand of The Mouse can reach in and change your birthday party plans. That’s what several bakers in Zagreb discovered when they received cease-and-desist letters warning them to stop making cakes featuring popular Disney characters from Star Wars, Frozen, and more.

        According to Croatian paper Jutarnji, the letters came from a law firm representing the Zagreb chain Fun Cake Factory, which has an exclusive license to make Disney-themed cakes via its partnership with British confectioner Finsbury Food Group. Ana Marcelić, a local Zagreb confectioner who received one of the cease-and-desist letters, told the paper it would be a “huge loss” for her financially and difficult to explain to customers requesting Disney-themed cakes.

      • Pastry Shops Targeted Over Copyright Infringing “Star Wars” and “Minion” Cakes

        Pastry shops in Croatia are receiving legal threats over their use of popular cartoon and movie characters on children’s birthday cakes. Baking cakes with a Star Wars or Minions theme is off-limits, as a local pastry chain has secured the rights from copyright owners.

      • Don’t Terrorize The Public Over Piracy, Putin’s Adviser Says

        The man just appointed as Vladimir Putin’s key adviser on Internet related affairs has suggested that copyright holders should consider the state of the economy before being aggressive with the public. Speaking on local TV, Herman Klimenko says the time is not right for “terrorizing” citizens over piracy.

01.16.16

Masivas Protestas en la OEP Después que el Equipo Battistelli Despide a Críticos y Representates de su Unión (Incluso aquellos con Niños)

Posted in Europe, Patents at 8:10 pm by Dr. Roy Schestowitz

English/Original

Publicado in Europe, Patents at 3:46 pm por el Dr. Roy Schestowitz

Despidiendo a los mensajeros/testigos en vez que a la parte culpable

Sepp Blatterstelli

Sumario: El equipo Battistelli (o Blatterstelli como Florian Müller lo llama) termina de botar del trabajo a aquellos que hablaron acerca de ABUSOS en la cumbre (Equipo Battistelli), en vez de desmantelarse a sí mismo.

Los MALEANTES que gobiernan la OEP (comparado a famosos criminales en televisión, incluyendo el Chapo Guzmán quien recientemente ha sido arrestado) han hecho todo lo que preveíamos. Despidieron a representantes de sus empleados. Esto viniendo de sociópatas cuyo régimen ha llevado a un incremento en el número de suicidios. La gerencia de hoy esta causando depresión, dañando la salud/bienestar de los empleados, crisis nerviosas, suicidios son inevitables. Periodistas deberían mirar en la vigilancia telefónica, keyloggers e camaras escondidas dentro de la OEP (vigilando incluso a los visitantes no sólo empleados) ¿Qué clase de atmósfera es esta? ¿Cuánta gente más tiene que morir antes de que el cambio se haga efectivo? La OEP está PODRIDA hasta el fondo en la gerencia quienes se estan deshaciendo de aquellos quienes lo dicen, obviamente para preservar sus propios trabajos. Esto no es la FIFA. Es algo mucho peor. Gente esta muerta. Pero por que sus objetivos son patentes (concepto que no mucha gente entiende correctamente) en vez de futbol no hay suficiente interes por los medios de comunicación principales, para bienestar de Pinocho Battistelli y compañía.

“Esto no es la FIFA es mucho peor. La gente esta muriendo.”Hay mucho que decir acerca de lo que la gerencia de la OEP hizo hoy. No alcanzará en un simple artículo, como no es una simple historia corta y no ha finalizado. Esperaran que despidiendo empleados lo terminaría todo, pero vamos a probarle lo contrario. El efecto Streisand (silenciar a los mensajeros) significa que el efecto imprevisible hizo la acción (despedir) menos digna y mas que inversamente proporcional en fuerza. Mucha información esta en camino, así que no se vayan.

Como muchos sitios importantes han cubierto estas noticias (Viernes es una oportunidad para leer las malas noticias del día) vamos a confíar en más voces anonimas. La corta historia es, la gerencia de la OEP confirmó lo que era obvio desde hace mucho. Sólo puede hacer simulación de juicios. Para hacerlo peor, la OEP esta tratando de abiertamente defenderlos.

“Bienvenidos a Eponia. Es mucho peor que la Rusia de Putin en términos de derechos humanos.”La SUEPO escribió esta tarde que ¨IPKAT reportó el resultado de las procedimientos disciplinarios contra tres de los representantes de empleados/representantes en su unión.¨ Aquí esta lo que Merpel escribió: ¨Con mucho pesar, Merpel reporta que se han enterado que Mr. Battistelli, Presidente del la OEP, ha despedido ala presente presidante de comité Elizabeth Hardon, y a un ex-presidente de representantes, Ion Brumme. El tesorero de la SUEPO Malik Weaver ha sido bajada de grado. Los cargos en contra de los que Merpel ha sabido (vealo aquí []) parecían tenuos al punto de ser desechados, y en los tres casos había una sanción impuesta en la pensión no sugerida por el Comité Disciplinario, en el caso de Ion Brummen bajar de grado era recomendado en vez de despedirlo, y en el caso de Malika Weaver suspensión de avanze no bajarla de grado.¨

Muchos comentarios estan publicados allí ahora mismo. Si alguien pudiera enviarnos Battistelli comunicaciones (acerca de los despidos de personas que se ´atrevierón´ a hablar des su ABUSO), sería asombroso. Tenemos nuevos documentes acerca de esto. OEP fuentes están advertidos no usar Gmail al menos lo hagan sobre Tor. No hemos comprometido nuestras fuentes en cerca de una décado y deseamos mantenerlo de esa manera.

Debería notarse que basado en nuestras fuente, el personal de la OEP despedido antes de fecha (haciendo una imitación de juicio una farsa/verguenza), en un esfuerzo de reducir la habilidad de responder (tarde/temprano los Viernes es tiempo perfecto).

“Debería notarse que basado en nuestras fuente, el personal de la OEP despedido antes de fecha (haciendo una imitación de juicio una farsa/verguenza), en un esfuerzo de reducir la habilidad de responder (tarde/temprano los Viernes es tiempo perfecto).”Navegando a través de algunos comentarios en IP Kat, encontramos una voz pro-OEP (anonima por supuesto) y el resto esta muy enojado. Una persona escribió: ¨Un comunicado del presidente ha sido circulado internamente. En el fuimos informados que ¨ninguno de los [despedidos o suspendidos representantes] reconocierón sus ´errores´, tampoco expresaron su intención de no repetirlos¨. Son culpables, y ni siquiera lo admiten. Esta gente es incorregible. Que bonita pieza de PROPAGANDA STALINISTA.¨

Si, esto sigue mucho a lo que vimos antes. No hay gobierno de ley dentro de la OEP. Asumir lo contrario es necio.

Otra persona preguntó: ¿Hay alguna manera de deshacerse de Pinocho Battistelli? Es una VERGUENZA para toda la comunidad de patentes [...] una VERGUENZA para la OEP y una VERGUENZA para el pueblo Francés. Deberíamos comenzar a circular una ¨petición¨ para su despido de la OEP. Estamos en una democracia, ¿no es cierto? (excepto en al OEP aparentemente).

Acerca de Pinocho Battistelli una persona remarcó: ¨Si, me gustó la cara hinchada del presidente. Que tal farsa, y que INCORREGIBLE MENTIROSO ES. Día muy triste para la Oficina, de la que estaba orgulloso de trabajar, pero no más. Simplemente orando que mi director no me haga ¨voluntario¨ para reunirme con el en su último esfuerzo propagándistico.¨

Una persona aludió a oficiales británicos preguntando: ¨¿Señores Aly y Denehey, cuándo van a despertar y hacer algo? Por favor!¨

Contacte John Alty y a sus colegas acerca del abuso de Battistelli y sus maleantes en contra mía. Estos COBARDES ni siquiera respondieron.

Otra persona preguntó: ¨¿Dónde esta la voz de los delegados del Reino Unido? Aqui esta el comentarion entero:

Ha sido reportado que los delegados alemanes, franceses y holandeses hablaron en el último meeting para expresar su preocupación acerca de la ¨situación social¨ y las acciones de la OEP contra los representantes de la SUEPO. ¿Dónde estaba la voz de los delegados del Reino Unido? ¿Porqué no alzaron su voz de preocupación? No pueden clamar no haber sido conscientes de lo serios fundamentos de preocupación.

Como Brítanico mismo, estoy AVERGONZADO por la aparente complicidad de la delegacion del Reino Unido al haber permitido que esto pase. Mientras que no delegación por sí misma tiene poder de vencer la voluntad de la mayoría, seguramente incluso Pinocho Battistelli podría resistir oposición concertada de los delegados de los 4 países cumbre.

Mientras que los representantes de la SUEPO puedan o no puedan ser más blanqueados, no es difícil ver que los cargos en contra de ellos no hubieran pasado ante una competente corte. Encuentro irónicao que parte (si no el núcleo de) los cargos en contra se basaban un un referencia a provisiones de la ley alemana. No sólo no había nadie en el comite disciplianrio competente para decretar en puntos de leyes nacionales alemans, pero los representantes de la SUEP fueron incapaces de basarse en las protecciones que la ley nacional les ofrecería!

Francamente, estoy disgustado que el dinero de los aplicantes se desperdicie en este mamarraco – y no sólo el desperdicio empeora por la realidad que el presidente ni siquiera siguió las recomendaciones del DC!

Predijo que la ausencia de respeto por la democracia y el gobierno de ley es tan evidente por los recientes eventes en la OEP van a tener desagradables consequencias. Sin embargo, mi temor es quen ninguna de ellas alcazará a aquellos que se escudan detrás de la inmunidad. ¿Tal vez sea tiemp que la AC levante esa inmunidad?

Aquí viene la comparación con la FIFA de nuevo. Esta persona escribio: ¨La barra a la que el presidente se reporta tiene que hacer algo. Este sujeto esta fuera de control. La FIFa estará buscando por nuevo lider pronto, talvez pueda asumir este rol donde hará menos daño a la reputación de la profesión de patentes en Europa. Mientras tanto aplicantes y examinadores sufren.¨

Si la gerencia de la OEP o equipo Battistelli piensa que acallará a sus críticos al despedir representantes, están muy equivocados. Abrió la caja de Pandora y la dejó abierta. ¨Parece qu la reputación de la OEP y de la AC esta arrastrada en el barro,¨ este comentario dijo. Urgimos a la gente a contactar sus delegados y hemos publicados sus detalles para hacerlo.

Un crítico que no respondio anonimamente (tuvo huevos) es George Brock-Nannested, quien ha escrito reportes my detallados acerca de los abusos de la OEP. Hoy el escribio:

Espere que la administración de Battistelli hubiera salvado su cara al hacer que los cargos caigan.

No puedo entender como una educación francesa pueda traer tal escándalosa manera de manejar un juicio justo.

Verguenza para los pequeños servidores públicos en los estados miembros que tienen que sentarse en sus manos. Directores en general, la mayoría pero con moral estamina de lombrices.

En completo disgusto,

Stefan Krempl, a Heise esritor (Germany’s biggest online IT newspaper), escribió acerca de los despidos pero necesitamos una traducción al Ingles/Español (voluntarios muchas gracias).

“En más de una década escribiendo acerca de estas materias nunca he encontrado maleantes que puedan salirse con la suy de esta manera.”Consideren este comentario que dijo: “Necesitamos una más coordinada estrategia europea para deshacernos de este PERNICIOSO presidente, que esta dañanado a la OEP, sus empleados y la industria european. Estoy ansioso de saber que puedo hacer on my país miembro para alcazar esto. Una cosa que me asombra es que al leer en algun lugar en una publicación de la SUEPO pueda ser que enjuicie a mi gobierno directamente por complicidad en negarme mis derechos, ejemplo el derecho de ser representado por una Unión, el derecho de un juicio justo, etc, entre las lines del caso holándes. Si casos así fuesen comenzados en cada país miembro, entonces nuestro miembros de AC despertarían.¨

Esto es un REYNO DE TERROR y como alguien comentó: ¨Deberían explicar que Pinocho Battistelli demandó que cada directorado envié 5 examinadores a una presentación del mismo a ser transmitida a través de la oficina el 4 de Febrero en The Hague (una para seguir en Munich). Preguntas pueden ser permitidas pero ¿Quién se atreverá si arriesgan su empleo?

Miren cuan ridículas e hipócritas acusaciones de la OEP contra los representantes de sus empleados. El juicio de imitación contra el señor Hardon muestra que ni siquiera bajo la ley – o reglas los empleados están a salvo. Recuerden como la OEP torció la ley británica de difamacion en un fallido esfuerzo de silenciar Techrights, habiendo hecho cosas similares anteriormente. La OEP tiene un larga historia de usar mal or representar mal para atacar a sus críticos. Estas personas son MALEANTES. Repetimos eso para asegurarno que se entiende. ESTA GENTE SON MALEANTES. En más de una década escribiendo acerca de estas materias nunca he encontrado MALEANTES quienes se salgan con la suya por mucho tiempo como estos.

“¿Entonces en qué clase de trampa la gente se a dejado atrapar cuándo se unieron a la OEP?”¨Soy un simple observador a estos eventes,¨ escribió esta persona, ¨pero me apostaría que todo esto ba a salirles por la culata a Pinocho Battistelli y sus chacales. SUEPO tiene ahora más de una causa que nunca para tener empleados amargados o asustados pare rodearse de. Sus números atendiendo las demostraciones y tomando parte de futuras huelgas crecerá de ahora en adelante.

¨Entonces de nuevo talvez esto era el plan de Pinocho Battistelli. En sus ojos, la SUEPO no será un socio negociador en vista de estas demostraciones. Hey presto! Una excusa para finalmente acabar el ¨diálogo social¨ en el que la gerencia esta (presupuestamente) comprometida, a pesar de todas las acciones y anuncios hasta ahora muestra tal ´compromiso´ es FALSO.¨

Otro comentario decia: ¨Pudieron lso SerRegs (o alguién más) haber prevenido a el ahora ex-empleados que hablen la verdad? Como ya no són empleados de la oficina, talvez es tiempo para que los detalles de su lado de la historia salga a la luz. La OEP no tiene ningún poder sobre ellos. Disclosura completa de toda evidencia documentaria pueda mover más de los complacientes delegados AC en acción.¨

¨La oficina paga sus pensiones,¨ un persona añadió, ¨y pienso puede forzar más de un 20% de penalización si es tan maligno. Y PB quiere el derecho de vetar futuro trabajo. Temo que su voluntar de hacer daño no ha sido llevada por completo.¨

¿Entonces en qué clase de trampa la gente se a dejado atrapar cuándo se unieron a la OEP? Hay necesidad de que haya una advertencia en la lata. Uno de los últimos comentarios (hasta ahora) pregunta: ¿Por favor algún franco-hablante pueda informar lo que esta pasando aquí al señor Pierre-Yves Le Borgn?¨

Un montón de este reporte de Merpel puede ser trackeado a estos dos comentarios [1, 2] que dicen ¨Hardon también pierde 20% de su pensión. Empleados protestando a 12:30 (y en The Hague tambien aparentemente). Triste día.¨

“Pinocho Battistelli y sus chacales deberían recordarnos que la FIFA es NADA or a nimiedad comparado con la OEP. pero hay ENCUBRIMIENTE de parte de los medios de comunicación.”¨La señorita Elizabeth Hardon ha sido despedida,¨ dice el segundo comentario. ¨De los otros dos representantes de empleados suspendidos, uno con tres niños, uno de ellos todavía bebe) han sido despedidos también, los otros severamente bajados de cargo.¨

Pinocho Battistelli y sus chacales deberían recordarnos que la FIFA es NADA or a nimiedad comparado con la OEP. pero hay ENCUBRIMIENTE de parte de los medios de comunicación. Como una persona lo puso, un estreno en el mundo internacional bajo ¨liderazgo¨ fránces¨…

Hay muchos asuntos en la OEP otros que la destrucción de su unión. Regresaremos a ellos otro día. Otra OEP patente, por ejemplo, ha sido otorgada para AYUDAR A CONSERVAR UN MONOPOLIO EN EL TRATAMIENTO DEL CANCER, basado en comunicados de prensa [1, 2].

“Vale notar que la OEP es tan ABUSIVA que no sólo despide a sus empleados pero también reduce pensiones (ganadas con tanto esfuerzo).”Estas burlas de juicio contra sus empleados son preocupantes por que suceden en Europa (con gran impunidad), entonces Europa pierde su autoridad moral, ejemplo sobre Rusia. Vale notar que la OEP es tan ABUSIVA que no sólo despide a sus empleados pero también reduce pensiones (ganadas con tanto esfuerzo). Estan robando dinero despues de causar serias perdidas personales en términos de honorarios legales. ¿Europa o China? Difícil de adivinar… y miren donde Battistelli viaja estos días.

Hubo una protesta hoy (espotánea/inesperada) en la OEP en Munich y otros lugares, con detalles a ser publicados pronto (siguiente parte ojalá). ¨Oficina Europea de Patentes Munich,¨ una persona escribió iba a tener una demostracion en frente de ella hoy, dentro de 2 horas. Vocero de la policía confirma hubieron 1,800 manifestantes!¨

Dos horas es buen tiempo de respuesta. Es espontáneo. Muy corto tiempo para 1,800 examinadores/participanes (es la mitad de ellos) para organizar en frente de estas alarmantes noticias [1, 2].

La OEP no ha dicho nada acerca de esto publicamente. La OEP Twitter account invita a hacer preguntas hoy, así que les pregunté: ¿Why Pinocho Battistelli despidió a sus críticos hoy?¨ La gerencia de la OEP nunca habla conmigo excepto a traves de sus agresivos abogados. Mientras apróximadamente 2000 de los empleados de la OEP protestaban en su contra (figurativamente asqueados de su directiva) la última campaña de relaciones públicas comienza. ¿Es parte del arreglo con FTI Consultants?. AVERGUENZATE OEP. Esto no ha acabado Pinocho Battistelli simplemente se esta haciendo de más enemigos. █

La OEP Está Manufacturando Propaganda de Nuevo Publicando Engañosas Figuras a los Medios de Comunicación

Posted in Europe, Patents at 2:24 pm by Dr. Roy Schestowitz

Original/English

Publicado en Europe, Patents at 5:45 am por el Dr. Roy Schestowitz

“La última cosa un partido político deja es su vocabulario.”

–Alexis de Tocqueville

Battistelli with Scud

Sumario: La OEP, ahora ayudada por agentes de relaciónes públicas de FTI Consulting (con un presupuesto de cerca $100,000 dolares por mes), continúa engañado a los medios de comunicación y pretendiendo que todo esta bien, e incluso mejorando.

La Oficina ¨Europea¨ de Patentes (no realmente europea pero basada en Europa y manejada desde los Estados Unidos) no tiene nada bueno que decir excepto ¨piensa en los niños¨ (si son los niños europeos sin futuro) [1, 2] y más maquillaje verde (publicado en promedio una vez cada dos días todavía, la última vez hace dos horas, junto a otros temas recurrentes en Twitter).

Los forums de la SUEPO son (o fuerón, antes del colapso de su unión) mucho más activos que los forums de la propia OEP, los cuales la gerencia de la EPO quiere que la gente use (soporte de masas). Más adelante en el mes o el próxim mostraremos cuan ridículo ¨soporte¨ la OEP realmente tiene (todavía tenemos muchas historias en camino.)

“Algúnos de los números usados en el anuncio fueron expuestos aquí anteriormente.”Ayer la OEP hizo una declaración que tiene muchas fallas. Fue escrita por la OEP o la FTI Consulting (trato oscuro) ayudó a escribir esta tontería?

Benoît Battistelli es citado diciendo: ¨Las reformas internas que hemos iniciado para incrementar la eficiencia de la organización estan dando resultado.¨ Se está refiriendo a sus esfuerzos por DESMANTELAR su unión y aterrar a sus empleados?

Algúnos de los números usados en el anuncio fueron expuestos aquí anteriormente. Grotesco abuso de las estadísticas es una forma de arte. Como una persona familiar con estos números nos dijo hace algunos meses: ¨Este truco estúpido fue tratado vez tras vez el año pasado en diferentes blogs. El número es casi la mitad de ese. No quiero ir en un curso de leyes de patentes, pero en pocas palabras una larga parte de esas aplicaciones nunca llega a la puerta de la OEP.¨

“Basado en lo que hemos escuchado, ningún abogado de patentes o aplicantes de patentes está feliz con la OEP.”No hay duda, dado lo que sabemos y hemos escuchado, la OEP esta arrimándonos esta tontería a un montón de periodistas, esperando por repetición libre de criticismo o libre de facts.

Basado en lo que hemos escuchado, ningún abogado de patentes o aplicantes de patentes está feliz con la OEP. Se están quejando.Algunos abogados de patentes, aquellos que han estado promoviendo patentes de software en Europa (por que están teniéndo GANANCIAS por ello) pueden sentir como que las cosas han mejorado ahora que Alemania ignora la EPC y defiende las patentes de software, pero ellos están en minoría. En este caso particular, el autor ha estado haciendo esto hace tiempo (promoviendo patentes de software) y esta visitando la OEP en Munich estos días. █

Transparencia es Luz del Sol en el Reino de los Vampiros de la OEP

Posted in Europe, Patents at 1:55 pm by Dr. Roy Schestowitz

English/Original

Publicado en Europe, Patents at 12:30 pm por el Dr. Roy Schestowitz

La Justicia requiere transparencia, not oscuridad

EPO Dracula

Sumario: Derramando luz en la manera que los gerentes de los cuárteles de la OEP en Munich tratan de SILENCIAR sus críticos, disparar a los mensajeros, evitando cualquier revelación de sus malévolos actos y potencialmente disparándo (despido potencial).

El macábro Benoit Battisteli orgullosamente proclamó hoy (mencionó hace una hora por la OEP en Twitter) que hay ¨niveles de transparencia unprecedentes¨. Uno tiene que estar completamente desinfomado para creer a Pinocho Battisteli.

La gerencia de la OEP no ha cesado de ATACAR LAS UNIONES, como hicimos muy claro al principio de esta semana. Simplemente hay más ENCUBRIMIENTO. La gerencia o el Equipo de Pinocho Battistelli en Munich, muestra extremada HIPOCRECÍA ya que aperentemente es OK para la gerencia ´gotear´ información acerca de ´investigaciones´ a miembros de la barra (jueces) per no por miembros ordinarios de sus empleados hacer lo mismo. La OEP simplemente trata de controlar la narrativa (mecer al público) y sólo los ad hominem ataques de la OEP contra los acusados son considerados aceptables. Comentarios reaccionarios acerca de los acusadores son considerados traidores. ¿Qué clase de institución la OEP se ha convertido y cómo puede esperar ganarse el respeto de la gente que alguna vez tuvo?

“¿Qué clase de institución la OEP se ha convertido y cómo puede esperar ganarse el respeto de la gente que alguna vez tuvo?”Hace muchas semanas escribimos acerca del cubrimiento de los medios de comunicacion que era muy crítico del tratamiento de la OEP hacia los jueces (vean la traducción de JUVE de Techrights acerca de la gerencia de la OEP y Pinocho Battistelli) SUEPO tiene un nueva traducción (no la misma) en Inglés [PDF] y otros lenguajes. Para citar al sitio público, ¨los comenterios de JUVE en la falla del presidente de la OEP Benoit ¨Pinocho¨ Battistelli para promover su proposal de reforma al Jurado de Apelaciones. Traducciones del artículo están al alcanze en Inglés, Frances y Holandes.¨

Como hemos explicado aquí en cerca de una docena de artículos anteriormente, ¨reforma del Jurado de Apelaciones¨ es un EUFEMISMO o está mal llamado por que el objetivo real – dada la reluctancia a llenar posiciones vacantes y la ansiedad de alejarlos (entre otros factores) – es APLASTARLOS. Es acerca de ¨reforma¨ al mismo grado que destruccion de uniones es ¨investigación¨.

En orden de demostral la cacería de brujas de la OEP contra los representantes de la unión de empleados, hemos decidido compartir pedazos de texto y repelirlos con sentido común y entendimiento general de la situación total. Acompañando cada pedazo de texto (o pedazos de texto similares de cartas enviadas a personas diferentes) – mis disculpas a nuestros lectores por no traducirlas por falta de tiempo – están nuestros pensamientos, no los pensamientos de los acusados (a quienes nunca conversamos en alguna manera).

within-less-than-a-week

Tres ejemplos están alineados horizontalmente por motivo de comparación mostrando como tres representantes de la OEP fueron blanco de cartas dentro menos de una semana desde la primera (sólo unos días aparte).

request-of-secrecy

¨Confidencial es suficientemente vergonzoso como si la naturaleza de las alegaciones abajo, ¨Personal¨ es algo engañoso porque, como mostraremos muchas de las mismas cartas fueron enviadas a diferentes personas. No hay nada tan personal acerca de esto. Es casi impersonal. El intento original aqui fue dividir y conquistar, i.e, evitar que la gente se comunique unos con otros, despues aplastarlos una vez que estén aislados. Una vez aíslados están débiles y hace la defensa legal más onerosa sino totalmente prohibitiba, fuera de alcanze, y su efectividad es limitada. Toda solicitud de secretividad necesita justificarse; simplemente poniendo la palabra ¨Confidencial¨ en todo no caberíá ya que muestra paranoia y dá al público razones de sospechas, preoucación y desconfianza. Típicamente crea mala conducta.

Parecen estar usando equipo de oficina antiguo para estampar estas cartas, así que sueños de ir completamente digital/electrónico todavía parece elusivo en los pisos altos de la oficina principal de la OEP.

opening-template

¨Este modelo introductorio (3 cartas) muestra falta de creatividad, ¿no és cierto? Muchas de estas cartas probablemente pueden ser ¨dobladas¨ en una con extra frases especiales, especificas para recipientes individuales. La persona que las hizo era muy floja o perezosa que una señora fue referida en una carta como ¨Señor¨.

suepo-signup

Enrolarse en la SUEPO es un blanco, ¿porqué? ¿Será porqué un masivo número de nuevos empleados ha decido unirse? ¿Alguién se está sintiendo amenazado? ¿Cómo todo este tiempo la gerencia de la OEP no tuvo problemas con enrolamientos en la SUEPO? ¿Se nécesita tomar ejemplos de 3 años atrás para repéntinamente decir que está mal unirse a la SUEPO? Esta clase de retroceso de 2 años (e incluso más atrás) muestra que la OEP está completamente DESESPERADA por TIRAR BARRO a convenientemente CHIVOS EXPIATORIOS que – simplemente como la Stasi en Alemania Oriental – esta ahora ´disparando´ los archivos (vigilancia masiva) y escaneando los estantes por pretextos y justificaciones retroactivas. Incluso busca informantes con algo de carácter-asesino, ´embarrar´ que pueda reconstruirse de varios años atrás. Es lo que algunos llaman ¨raspar el fondo del barril.¨

repetition-of-allegation

Aqui tenemos repetición de un alegato y el apelamiento a ¨legalidad¨, la que viniendo de la boca de la OEP (despues de desconsiderar lo que es legal o ilegal) – es reíble.

threatening-staff-and-redefining-or-reframing-rules

Aqui estan AMENAZANDO a los empleados y redefiniendo la reglas para dar pie a las acusaciones.

epo-pretends-that-it-finally-cares-about-EU-law-and-host-states

Ahora la OEP pretende – de nuevo! – que finalmente le importa las leyes de la Unión Europe y los estados asociados. Esto es cómico. Es como si la OEP torciera la ley del Reino Unido para SILENCIAR A LOS CRÍTICOS. La OEP gusta de las leyes de los estados asociados sólo cuando sirve a los objetivos de sus perversa gerencia.

lutz-et-al-appealing-to-German-law

Aqui tenemos a Lutz y otros (probablemente apelando a las leyes alemanas, lo que es divertido dado a lo que todo se ha estado diciendo acerca de Lutz con su bizarra interpretación de las leyes alemanas (que se supone entiende). Fue Lutz quien puso su nombre en los notories ¨derechos¨ frase – controversial memorandum interno que sirvió como preludio a suspensiones afectando a la SUEPO.

hypocritcal-EPO-says-it-cares-for-freedom-of-communication

Aqui podemos ver una muy hipocrítica OEP. Dice que le importa la libertad de communicación. Bueno, todos debemos preguntar por que amenaza a bloggers y amordaza a sus empleados, empujando a muchas personas al anonimato y uso de seudónimos (para su propia protección). Esta no es la primera vez que la OEP pretende que le importa al libertad de expresión, privacidad y lo demás. Estos son disparos en el pie por que la gente que dice estas cosas a favor de la OEP se expone al rídiculo por su hipocresía infinita.

hypocritcal-EPO-nitpciking-on-secrecy-while-ignoring-risk-of-reprisal-from-aggressive-EPO

La hipocrítica OEP está ahora minimizando encubiertamente mientras ignorantemente arriesga las represalias de un infame agresiva OEP.

EPO-pretends-to-care-for-national-law

La OEP pretende importarle las leyes nacionales de nuevo? Selectivo a lo mejor, patético por lo menos.

EPO-which-disregards-courts-orders-and-abuses-a-lot-of-staff-pretends-to-speak-for-justice

Así que la OEP, una institución que le importa un bledo las órdenes de la corte y abusa de sus empleados (con continuos ILO casos), pretende hablar por justicia. Es como si BP hable por el medio ambiente y clima y Microsoft hable de Linux.

EPO-refuses-to-tolerate-lawsuits-against-EPO

La OEP rechaza tolerar jucios en contra de ellos. Gran sorpresa aquí. Habiendo eliminado lo que quedaba de supervisión. Pinocho Battistelli aplasta cualquiera que desafíe su tiranía. Esa es la marca especial de los imperios. Sólo desobediencia civil o interferencia de afuera puede poner un fin a eso.

hypocritcal-EPO-talks-about-standards-and-accuses-legitimate-critics

La hipocrítica OEP habla acerca de estádares y acusa críticos legítimos. Tiene ellos espejos el el edificio de la OEP en Munich? (especialmente en los pisos altos)? Mejor todavía, consigan estacas y ajo también. Esta gente en la cumbre falla objetivamente evaluar que estan haciendo por años.

hypocritcal-EPO-on-basic-human-rights-respect-principles-of-law-common-sense-accontability-integrity

La hipocrítica OEP resalta básicos derechos humanos, respete, principios de ley, sentido común, acountabilidad, integridad etc. Incluso un oficial borracho sería capaz de darse cuenta de la hipocrecía cuando tipean estas cosas.

vague-accusation-of-negligence

Aquí están las vagas acusaciones de negligencia, como si no importaran que explicación es dada, la OEP acusador (juez etc.) lo rechazará. Esto NO ES JUSTICIA, es un hoja de rechazo.

epic-hypocrisy-on-secrecy-gag-orders

Esto es hipocresía épica en encubrimiento. Mordazas son correctas para la gerencia de la OEP, pero no para los empleados, incluso para su propia protección contra un creciente gerencia ABUSIVA.

EPO-hypocrisy-on-leaking-details-of-ongoing-investigation

La hipocresía de la OEP en gotear detalles de una presente investigación. No los managers de la OEP usaron los medios de comunicación para personalmente atacar a un juez semana después de pagar un millón de dolares a una firma de relaciones públicas? Pinocho Battistelli se esta convirtiendo Sheldon Adelson.

confidential-by-EPO-definition

Esto es sólo confidencial para la gerencia de la OEP. Su motivacion por confidencialidad is para hacerse favores a sí mismos. Cualquiera con sentido común se da cuenta de eso.

declaring-opposing-views-invalid-and-disregarding-them-completely

Miren como ellos arrogántemente rechazan la existencia de más de una parte en este ´juicio de imitación´, declarando puntos de vistas opuestos inválidos e ignorandolos completamente. Eso es ARROGANCIA y DECLARARSE SANTOS.

EPO-talks-about-intergrity-and-ignores-its-own-sins-of-compromising-an-investigation-with-Dutch-and-German-media

La OEP habla de integridad e ignora sus propios pecados de comprometerse a una investigación con los medios de Holanda y Alemania. Es un recurrente tema de hipocresía y dobles estándares.

painting-bullyish-investigators-as-the-victims

Reláciones Públicas empleadas, pintando a investigadores abusivos [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7] presentados como víctimas.

representation-is-incorrect-because-we-say-so

La arrogancia se muestra de nuevo. La representación está incorrecta por que nosotros los decimos? Qué clase de justicia es esta?

EPO-management-pretends-to-guard-privacy-of-low-level-workers-rather-than-protect-itself-from-accountability

La gerencia de la OEP pretende guardar encubrir a trabajadores de bajo nivel que protegerse a sí mismo de fiscalización (y potencialmente de un juicio).

EPO-guards-secrecy-of-in-house-Stasi-and-pretends-blowing-this-cover-exposes-identity-of-poor-victims

La OEP guarda la clándestinidad de su interna Stasi y pretende que soplando esta cubiérta expondría la identidad de sus pobres victimas. ¨Piensen en los niños…¨

Panicking-that-other-offices-become-aware-of-antics-of-EPO-Munich-management

¿Asústados de que las otras oficinas se enteren de las andánzas de la gerencia de OEP en Munich? ¿Es eso todo? Seguro que suena como información saliendo a la luz, es el enemigo, no la gente.

EPO-Munich-management-panics-that-the-public-knows-what-is-happening-and-things-got-out-of-hand

La gerencia de la OEP evidentemente esta paranóica de que el pueblo conozca lo que esta pasando y las cosas terminen fuera de control.

We-hereby-declare-a-gag-order-because-what-we-do-here-is-embarassing

Esto nuevamente es el modus operandi de la OEP, mantener al público, sus empleados y sus representantes en tinieblas. HE AQUÍ DECLARAMOS LA LEY DE LA MORDAZA POR QUE LO QUE HACEMOS ES VERGONZOSO…

Así que aquí lo tenemos. Is más fácil para la gente ver la verdadera naturaleza de las alegaciones. Viéndolo en contexto, hay suficiente hipocresía, un bajo estandard y mucha manipulación por una cada vez más paranóica gerencia de OEP. █

“La verdad nunca causa daño a una causa que es justa.”

–Mahatma Gandhi

PS – La verdad nunca causa daño a causas justas, pero la verdad le importa un bledo a Pinocho Battistelli. Sus únicos intereses son mantener su tiranía para servir mejor a los intereses de las corporaciones multinacionales. La próxima semana va a Colombia a diseminar su maraña de mentiras para asi someter otro continente a los intereses de una oligarquía multinacional y joder a las próximas generaciones de este hermoso continente.

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