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06.11.16

Links 11/6/2016: Wine 1.9.12, PHP 7.1 Alpha

Posted in News Roundup at 9:54 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz

GNOME bluefish

Contents

GNU/Linux

Free Software/Open Source

Leftovers

  • Science

    • Evolution of Fish Bioluminescence

      From the bizarre-looking anglerfish to sharks, bioluminescence is surprisingly common among ocean dwellers. Now, researchers from St. Cloud State University in Minnesota have shown that fish evolved the ability to make their own light on at least 27 separate occasions, according to a study published yesterday (June 8) in PLOS ONE. The fishes use their glowing abilities for everything from finding prey, to luring in mates, to communicating with one another.

      “This is the most comprehensive scientific publication on the distribution of fish bioluminescence ever written, and the authors show that bioluminescence evolved way more times independently than previously thought,” Prosanta Chakrabarty of the Louisiana State University Museum of Natural Science, who was not involved in the study, told Smithsonian.

    • Exploring the Effects of Dimensionality on a PDF of Distances

      Every so often I’m reminded that the effects of changing dimensionality on objects and processes can be surprisingly counterintuitive. Recently I ran across a great example of this, while I working on a model for the distribution of distances in spaces of varying dimension.

  • Health/Nutrition

    • World’s “ugliest color” will be used on cigarette packs

      According to an Australian survey, the shit brown color seen above (Pantone 448C, or “Opaque Couché”) is the ugliest hue around, reminding respondents of dirt and death. To deter smoking, Australian officials required Opaque Couché to be the main color and cigarette packages and now the UK is following suit. Apparently, Australian officials first referred to the color as “olive green” but the Australian Olive Association was none-too-pleased. Now, Pantone is grumpy about the choice of Opaque Couché. “At the Pantone Color Institute, we consider all colours equally,” Pantone’s exec director Leatrice Eiseman told The Guardian. “(There’s no such thing as the ugliest color.”

    • Stylewatch: Is Pantone 448C really the ugliest colour in the world?

      A thousand Australian smokers voted Pantone’s ‘opaque couché’ the world’s least desirable hue. But hey, it’s still in fashion …

    • Lee Fang on Industry’s Role in the Opioid Crisis

      This week on CounterSpin: Opioids can be a lifesaver for some people with severe pain. But the overuse and abuse of powerful drugs like oxycodone is driving what the Centers for Disease Control says is an epidemic in this country, with some 16,000 overdose deaths from prescription opioids a year. But when the CDC pushed for non-binding guidelines encouraging doctors to seek alternatives where possible, the opioid industry, which made $9 billion last year, pushed back.

    • European Parliament speaks out against agricultural colonialism in Africa

      MEPs have called on the New Alliance for Food Security and Nutrition to radically alter its mission. The Alliance currently pushes African countries to replicate the intensive agricultural practices employed in many developed countries. EurActiv France reports.

      For a large majority of MEPs, the G7’s decision to base its programme for food security in Africa on intensive agriculture is a mistake. The European Parliament took its first official stance on the subject with the adoption of a report on the New Alliance for Food Security and Nutrition (NAFSN) on Tuesday (7 June).

      “We have already made the mistake of intensive agriculture in Europe, we should not replicate it in Africa because this model destroys family farming and reduces biodiversity,” said Mara Heubuch, a German Green MEP and rapporteur on the New Alliance.

  • Security

    • Tuesday’s security updates
    • Security advisories for Wednesday
    • Thursday’s security updates
    • Security advisories for Friday
    • Slicing Into a Point-of-Sale Botnet

      Point-of-sale based malware has driven most of the credit card breaches over the past two years, including intrusions at Target and Home Depot, as well as breaches at a slew of point-of-sale vendors. The malware usually is installed via hacked remote administration tools. Once the attackers have their malware loaded onto the point-of-sale devices, they can remotely capture data from each card swiped at that cash register.

    • Microsoft’s BITS file transfer tool fooled into malware distribution

      Researchers at Dell SecureWorks have spotted a new and dangerous way to misuse of Microsoft’s Background Intelligent Transfer Service (BITS).

      While working on a customer clean-up project, SecureWorks staff found that attackers had created self-contained BITS tasks that didn’t appear in the registries of affected machines, and their footprints were limited to entries on the BITS database.

      The attack was spotted on a Windows 7 machine in an academic administration environment.

    • Massive DDoS attacks reach record levels as botnets make them cheaper to launch

      There were 19 distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks that exceeded 100 Gbps during the first three months of the year, almost four times more than in the previous quarter.

      Even more concerning is that these mega attacks, which few companies can withstand on their own, were launched using so-called booter or stresser botnets that are common and cheap to rent. This means that more criminals can now afford to launch such crippling attacks.

    • Twitter locks user accounts that need ‘extra protection’

      Better safe than sorry, or so goes Twitter’s latest thinking.

      The social network on Friday maintained it was not the victim of a hack or data breach, as previously reported. But Michael Coates, Twitter’s head of information security, wrote in a blog post that the company has identified some accounts that need “extra protection.” Those accounts have been locked, requiring users to reset their passwords in order to access them.

  • Defence/Aggression

    • ‘It as if we have created 10 open-air Bataclans and invited the jihadists to do their worst’: French bars banned from showing Euro 2016 matches on big screens for fears they could be terror targets

      Bars and restaurants in France have been banned from screening Euro 2016 matches on giant screens amid fears of a terrorist attack.

      Fans will instead have to watch games indoors or in the heavily policed fan zones across the ten host cities – which have been likened to ‘open air Bataclans’.

    • What pushes the US towards war with Russia

      First of all the US does not have a media. It has a ministry of propaganda. The media in the US is a function of the military security complex and of neoconservatives, and their ideology is world hegemony. That means American control of the entire world includes Russia and China. The neoconservative ideology says that history chose America to be the empire to rule the world. That is why they say that the United States is an indispensable country, and that the American people are the exceptional people. So, what you have here is the same ideology as Adolf Hitler. No one else matters.

    • The Democratic Party Has Destroyed Itself. Will It Now Destroy The Rest Of Us?

      Obama, Clinton and bipartisan neocons infesting Washington explain the deplorable state of America today – a democracy in name only, enriching the privileged few at the expense of most others, waging endless wars on humanity, leaving its fate up for grabs.

      Clinton was chosen Democrat party nominee last year before primary/caucus season began, assuring endless wars of aggression if elected, perhaps the madness of confronting Russia and China belligerently.

      The possibility of her succeeding Obama should terrify everyone, heightening the risk of global war with super-weapons making WW II ones look like toys by comparison.

    • The US-Russia Info-War: What’s Real?

      The Obama administration is dangling the possibility of real peace progress in Ukraine to convince the Europeans to renew sanctions on Russia, but is that just a bait-and-switch trick to keep Europe in line, asks Gilbert Doctorow.

  • Environment/Energy/Wildlife/Nature

    • Singapore offers Indonesia aid in countering haze

      Singapore has offered aircraft, satellite photos of fires and fire-fighting assistance to Indonesia for the dry season, which runs from this month to October and often brings haze to the region.

      The assistance package, offered every year since 2005, is part of the Singapore Government’s commitment to support Indonesia’s fire mitigation efforts, the Ministry of the Environment and Water Resources (MEWR) said in a statement yesterday.

      This year, Singapore is offering up to two C-130 transport planes to fly a Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) fire-fighting team to Indonesia and one C-130 aircraft for cloud seeding.

    • Restoring peatlands a game changer in anti-haze battle

      In recent months, Indonesia has taken major steps to prevent a repeat of last year’s epic fires. The Joko Widodo administration, shocked into action by the scale of the damage and impact on ordinary Indonesians, has decided to act like no other Indonesian government has before.

      These steps are crucial and long overdue, though only part of the solution.

    • IOI’s Indonesian forest fire legacy revealed at European palm oil summit

      Jakarta, 9 June 2016 – New analysis reveals the scale of fires in and around the IOI Group’s palm oil concessions in Indonesia. The findings, published today by Greenpeace International, come as the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) meets in Milan for its European Summit.

    • Singapore Aims to Prosecute Indonesian Polluters Under Haze Law

      Singapore is prepared to prosecute any Indonesian companies found responsible for the fires that produced hazardous ash clouds last year, a minister said, standing his ground even as recent efforts to take firms to account drew ire from the country’s largest Southeast Asian neighbor.

      Under the Transboundary Haze Pollution Act of 2014, Singapore has ordered six suppliers of Indonesia’s Asia Pulp and Paper Group to provide information on steps they are taking to prevent fires on their land, Environment and Water Resources Minister Masagos Zulkifli said in an interview on June 7. APP, one of the world’s largest paper producers, didn’t reply to e-mailed requests for comment, while its parent company didn’t reply to calls for comment.

      “We are standing on high moral ground,” said Masagos. “We have the support of the international community. We are not doing anything criminal nor wrong. We are just asking for the companies and the directors to own up and be accountable for what they’ve done.”

      The six companies have been told that Singapore has the right to bring their directors to court, and firms involved in haze-producing fires face fines of up to S$100,000 ($74,000) a day for every day of fire, the minister said.

  • Finance

    • 6 Ways You Didn’t Realize Ronald Reagan Ruined The Country

      Given the nature of this article, it would border on bad taste for me to mention that this past Sunday marked the 12th anniversary of the death of Conservative Republican Godhead Ronald Reagan, but alas, I just did. That said, he’d merit a mention even if I didn’t still have a bunch of decorations to take down, solely on the strength of all the comparisons the Donald Trump candidacy has drawn to that of Reagan’s.

    • Germany Waves ‘Auf Wiedersehen’ to Costly Wall Street Tax Scheme

      The German Parliament voted Thursday to end a trading strategy that helps foreign investors, many of them Americans,avoid an estimated $1 billion or more a year in taxes on dividends paid by German companies.

      The trades were exposed in a joint ProPublica investigation last month with The Washington Post and German news outlets Handelsblatt and Bayerischer Rundfunk. The report prompted widespread outrage among German lawmakers, some of whom called the maneuver “criminal.”

      This week’s vote effectively shuts down the transactions in Germany, which had been the biggest market for such trades. They live on in more than 20 other countries across Europe and other nations where authorities attempt to collect taxes on dividends.

      While German lawmakers closed the spigot on future tax losses, it remains unclear if tax officials there will be able to recoup billions of lost revenues from previous years.

    • Sen. Warren Slams For-profit College Accreditor for ‘Appalling Record of Failure’

      Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., released a report today slamming an accreditor of for-profit colleges for its “appalling record of failure.”

      “Students and taxpayers have paid the price” for the failures of the Accrediting Council for Independent Colleges and Schools, she wrote in an accompanying letter to the U.S. Secretary of Education. Warren urged the Department of Education to take “strong, aggressive action to hold ACICS accountable.”

      Citing ProPublica’s reporting, Warren blasted ACICS for accrediting schools that “consistently produce astronomical debt levels and terrible outcomes for students.”

      Warren’s report comes nearly a year after she grilled members of ACICS during a senate hearing on their failure to sanction Corinthian Colleges, which kept its accreditation until the day the school collapsed in bankruptcy.

    • It’s Up to Us to Level CEO Pay

      Does anyone really need two mansions in the Hamptons, Wall Street’s favorite summertime watering hole? Lloyd Blankfein, the CEO at banking giant Goldman Sachs, has apparently decided he can get by with just one.

      Blankfein recently sold his first Hamptons manse — a seven-bedroom affair with a sunken tennis court that he bought in 1995 — for $13 million. From now on, he’ll have to make do with only his second Hamptons manse, a 7.5-acre spread that set him back $32 million in 2012.

    • Google Comes Down On The Wrong Side Of The TPP

      The TPP expands copyright rules to ridiculous levels in many countries, including extending copyright terms at a time when there is no sound basis for advocating for extending copyright terms. And the “requiring fair and reasonable copyright exceptions and limitations that protect the Internet” is just wrong. Yes, it’s true that for the first time the USTR actually acknowledges user rights in such an agreement. In the past, all such trade agreements only focused on expanding copyright holder rights. So you can argue that’s progress. But the details showed that it’s not creating “fair and reasonable copyright exceptions and limitations,” but instead pushing a misleading tool that will limit the way countries can explore fair use, and (even more important) makes the fair use stuff optional. Google claiming that it requires such things is just… wrong.

    • Devastating report reveals a bribery and fraud crimewave sweeping Britain that is costing City £127bn a year

      A bribery and fraud crimewave is sweeping Britain and is costing the City £127bn a year, a devastating report has revealed.

      A major study has uncovered how fraud is costing the economy as a whole £193bn – with the vast majority of this being lost through false invoices, dodgy payments and fake contracts.

      The study suggests banks, charities and the NHS are all major victims. And it shows that the public is also suffering, with millions of people falling victim to identity theft and other scams every year.

  • AstroTurf/Lobbying/Politics

    • An Election Season Conversation With Ralph Nader, the Nation’s No. 1 Public-Interest Crusader

      It’s been an interesting couple of years for left-wing populist movements, from Occupy Wall Street and Black Lives Matter to Bernie Sanders’ insurgent run for president. Driven by widening inequality and fanned by social media, some have already brought about real changes — like the fight for a $15 minimum wage across the country — while others have quietly faded away. Few people have a longer-term perspective on what it takes to have an impact than public-interest crusader and political maverick Ralph Nader, who, over the span of five decades, has leveraged the courts, the media, and the electoral system to win hefty gains for consumers and the environment. A five-time candidate for president, he’s sitting this election out, working the channels through his role with the Center for Study of Responsive Law, the research and advocacy organization he founded in 1968. The center is housed at the Carnegie Institution for Science in Washington, D.C., where we met in a grand, bookshelf-lined conference room and talked politics, elections, and organizing for change as the late-afternoon sun slanted through tall windows.

    • Clinton helped create Trump: Green Party’s Jill Stein blasts Hillary for already implementing Donald’s policies

      The Clintons’ own right-wing policies helped spawn the rise of far-right demagogues like Donald Trump, argues the Green Party’s presidential candidate. She warns that a Hillary Clinton presidency would only continue to fuel this right-wing extremism.

      Dr. Jill Stein, the Green Party nominee for president, spoke on Democracy Now on Thursday. She blasted Hillary Clinton for implementing many of the same policies that Trump is currently calling for, and expressed hope that Bernie Sanders will consider continuing his presidential run on a third-party ticket.

      The present electoral system “tells you to vote against what you’re afraid of and not for what you believe,” Stein said. “This politics of fear has actually delivered everything we were afraid of.”

    • Sen. Sanders Goes to Washington

      At a Bernie Sanders rally ahead of Washington D.C.’s last-in-the-nation June 14 primary, I wanted to get a sense of how his supporters would vote in the fall with Hillary Clinton now the presumptive Democratic nominee.

      Based on media accounts of how “unruly” Sanders supporters are supposed to be, I was, frankly, somewhat surprised by the number of attendees who said they would vote for Clinton, although this could partly stem from the fact that the rally on Thursday took place in Washington, D.C. which is, by definition, more comfortable with establishment politics.

      [...]

      Still others completely rejected the idea of voting for Clinton in November. “I would rather eat my own hand than cast a vote for Hillary Clinton, and you can quote me on that,” said Nikki Diamantopoulos from Baltimore County, Maryland.

    • State Department Says It Will Take 75 Years to Release All Requested Clinton Emails

      The State Department this week, apparently with a straight face, defended its claim that releasing all the emails sought by the Republican National Committee (RNC) would take 75 years. “It’s not an outlandish estimation, believe it or not,” spokesman Mark Toner told reporters.

    • Special Appeal from Senator Bernie Sanders

      It’s been a hell of a journey, we’ve come a long way, and now we are on the verge of our biggest victory! The Democratic Party is about to nominate my opponent, Hillary Clinton, who represents everything we have campaigned against from the very beginning of this race.

      I always said, this isn’t about Bernie Sanders, it is about the Revolution, the young people rising up and confronting Wall Street, confronting militarism, confronting an oligarchy that is killing us all with its climate change and low wage jobs and control of our democracy!

    • Hillary Clinton Used Leadership PAC as “Slush Fund” in 2008-09

      The Bernie Sanders campaign in April accused Hillary Clinton of “looting” her joint fundraising committee to fund her presidential campaign, effectively circumventing rules that cap donations at $5,400 per person.

      Clinton’s joint committee, called the Hillary Victory Fund, can raise $358,500 per person because it’s supposed to share money with the Democratic National Committee and state parties.

      The Sanders campaign pointed to news reports that the fund has been covering expenses for the Clinton campaign instead of spending on down-ballot races.

      The Clinton campaign called the charges irresponsible.

    • Why US Politics and Policy Are Adrift

      The U.S. system of politics and public policy is in disarray awash with elites trying to manipulate the public and the public drifting away from any factual grounding, as ex-CIA analyst Paul R. Pillar explains.

    • Sanders Encourages Struggle Against Establishment Politics To Continue

      “The struggle continues,” Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders declared in a speech, which capped off his statewide campaign in California. He described the struggle broadly as one for social, economic, racial, and environmental justice.

      Sanders also noted he has overwhelmingly won young people in the majority of the United States. Young people recognize they must shape the future, and they share the Sanders campaign’s vision for a government that works for lower class citizens instead of catering to the interests of corporations and the rich.

      The primary contests did not go as well as Sanders supporters hoped. The campaign won decisively in North Dakota. It eked out a victory in Montana, but the campaign lost in South Dakota and New Mexico. It was blown out in New Jersey. Sanders did not win California, and there is ample evidence of massive irregularities at polling places, which should have Californians concerned.

    • Jill Stein to Bernie Sanders: Run on the Green Party Ticket & Continue Your Political Revolution

      As Bernie Sanders prepares to meet with President Obama, we speak to Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein, who has also been reaching out to the Vermont senator. With Hillary Clinton claiming victory in the Democratic race, Stein is attempting to start a dialogue with the Sanders campaign. In an open letter in April, Stein wrote, “In this hour of unprecedented crisis—with human rights, civilization, and life on the planet teetering on the brink—can we explore an historic collaboration to keep building the revolution beyond the reach of corporate party clutches, where the movement can take root and flourish, in the 2016 election and beyond?” Stein joins us from Albany ahead of this weekend’s New York Green Party convention.

  • Censorship/Free Speech

    • Censorship makes you feel that the audience is like children

      Versatile actress Tisca Chopra will now be seen in a comic caper, ’3 Dev’ which will question the faith in a humourous way. Her last big outing on the silver screen ‘Ghayal Once Again’ was received well by the critics and moviegoers alike. In an exclusive interview to the Timesofindia.com, the ’24′ girl spoke about her future plans, censor board and more…

      [...]

      Do you agree with censor board’s way of working like it happened with ‘Udta Punjab’?

      I am against censorship in principle. I am completely averse to the idea of censoring films because that makes you feel that the audience is like children and they need to be told what they can do and what they can’t do. I think the better and smarter way to do it is to grade films with stuff like PG, A, UA certification like they grade internationally for films. There, the films are rated as ‘above 16′ and ‘above 18′. And then its parent’s choice and the children’s choice. Here, they have a strict identification at the cinema point that this child is not 18 and can’t go and see the film. We are behaving like an immature society by creating this kind of structure.

    • Gawker Files for Bankruptcy, Will Be Put Up for Auction [Ed: You don’t have to agree with a media organisation to be able to see what’s wrong with rich people shutting down Web sites they dislike. Gawker ceasing operation may mean not only that there won't be further publishing but that all existing/published material will vanish. Sad day for free media and free speech as controversial site/network destroyed by legal bullying.]

      Gawker Media filed for bankruptcy Friday and the company will be put up for auction after a judge ruled that a $140 million jury judgment against it in a costly legal battle with former professional wrestler Hulk Hogan would stand.

    • Gawker Media files for bankruptcy

      Gawker Media filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on Friday, in order to protect its assets from seizure by former professional wrestler Hulk Hogan.

      In March, Hogan won a $140.1 million judgment against Gawker Media, CEO Nick Denton and former Gawker.com editor A.J. Daulerio. Following the trial, Gawker asked the presiding judge, Pamela Campbell, to either reduce the judgment or issue a routine stay to give them time to appeal the judgment. In May, Campbell upheld the full amount of the judgment. On Friday morning, she denied Gawker’s request for a stay.

    • Gawker Files For Bankruptcy, Begins Process Of Auctioning Itself Off

      Either way, this is still unfortunate. Even if you believe the Hogan case was justified (and I think you’re wrong about that), we should still be concerned when a billionaire basically sets out to destroy a media organization through a variety of lawsuits (many of which appear to be extremely questionable).

      What if the next billionaire who gets upset about coverage targets a publication you do like? And don’t say that it won’t matter if that publication doesn’t do anything wrong. Just the lawsuits alone can kill a company. And, even worse, the threat of lawsuits may create a massive chilling effect on what companies publish and how they go about their reporting. And disagree with Gawker’s decisions and tactics all you want, the company did break a ton of important news stories. While this does not mean the end of Gawker, it’s certainly the crippling of Gawker, and that should be a concern for anyone who believes in a free and open press.

    • Swedes slam ‘censorship’ of cartoon lesbian romance

      A group of Swedes have launched a petition urging Cartoon Network to stop censoring a lesbian romance depicted in one of its shows, after a scene showing two women flirting was apparently altered in the Swedish dub of the programme.

    • Bankrupting Gawker over a grudge isn’t justice. It’s censorship

      Though Gawker’s chapter 11 filing may not end it, the fact that a personal vendetta caused the act sets a chilling precedent

      [...]

      Gawker has, on occasion, run pieces which teeter on the brink of bad taste. Sometimes the site has even run pieces which fell from that ledge. But those lapses don’t justify bringing the whole structure down in flames.

      The infamous article outing a Condé Nast executive as gay last year was one of those, and Gawker was rightly excoriated for it. The 2007 story outing venture capitalist Peter Thiel was another. Stories in which people’s private sexual preferences, without genuine public interest at stake, are splashed without their consent on the front pages of newspapers or news sites have no place in a modern, enlightened press.

    • Gawker Union Takes On Peter Thiel

      The legal saga that is Hulk Hogan’s winning suit against Gawker Media for publishing his sex tape is far from over. While Gawker’s attorneys are working to postpone payment of the former professional wrestler’s $140.1 million award and filing for bankruptcy, the media company’s union is taking on Peter Thiel — the PayPal cofounder who surreptitiously bankrolled Hogan’s lawsuit.

      The Writers Guild of America, East (WGAE) has launched a petition requesting Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg to remove Thiel, who was one of the social network’s early investors, from the company’s board of directors.

    • Gawker Bankruptcy Filing Means Peter Thiel Has Already Won

      But that was before Hogan won a $140 million judgement from a Florida jury—and before it emerged that billionaire Peter Thiel was financing the case, in an attempt to drive Gawker out of business. And now he appears to have succeeded in doing exactly that.

      [...]

      Despite the agreement with Ziff Davis, however, there is no guarantee that it will emerge the eventual owner of Gawker Media. Since the assets the company is selling are the subject of a bankruptcy filing, there will be a court-mandated auction, and it is likely that other bidders will appear (Ziff Davis is what’s called a “stalking horse”). It’s even possible that Peter Thiel could acquire the company and shut it down, a scenario some Gawker-watchers have already speculated about.

      [...]

      Gawker may have published a handful of articles that were beyond the pale of civilized conduct or pushed the boundaries of what should be allowed by privacy rules (although it’s worth noting that two judges ruled that the Hogan material was newsworthy), but it has also done some ground-breaking and valuable journalism on a range of subjects.

      Should all of that have to be destroyed because it published some pieces that upset a billionaire or his friends? If free speech laws don’t protect media outlets that push the boundaries, then who will they protect?

      The reality is that Thiel’s vendetta has pushed an entire media organization into bankruptcy, and forced it to auction off its already damaged assets to the highest bidder. That could mean dozens or even hundreds of journalists will lose their jobs. And for what? And while some of the sites it operated may survive under new ownership, something unique will inevitably be lost. And that’s not something we should be celebrating, regardless of what we think of Gawker or Nick Denton.

    • Govt must think about film industry: Irrfan on censorship

  • Privacy/Surveillance

    • As horrible as Internet surveillance is, the alternative could have been far worse

      While the Internet has turned into a global surveillance machine, with only tech-aware and privacy-aware people opting out of the surveillance, it’s important to remember that we could have had something far worse. In the 1990s, the telcos were aggressively pushing for their own version of a packet switched network – and had they won over the Internet’s simplicity, we wouldn’t even have had the option to turn on privacy today.

    • Reviewing Microsoft’s Automatic Insertion of Telemetry into C++ Binaries

      Recently Reddit user “sammiesdog” posted claims that Visual Studio’s C++ compiler was automatically adding function calls to Microsoft’s telemetry services. The screenshot accompanying their post showed how a simple 5 line CPP file produced an assembly language file that included a function call titled “telemetry_main_invoke_trigger”.

      The ensuing discussion then revolved around how to disable this unannounced “feature” while also speculating its purpose. “sammiesdog” noted that this appears in release builds, while user “ssylvan” also indicated that it appeared in debug builds too. The telemetry function is intended to communicate with ETW.

    • German Domestic Intel Chief Accuses Snowden of Working for Russia

      German domestic intelligence chief suggested that Edward Snowden was a Russian spy, the German parliament said in a Friday press release.

    • NSA’s Word Problem

      NSA analysists fill out lots of paperwork. That paper work is a core protection against NSA abuse. It constrains their activities, and facilitates legal and compliance review. As Justice Sotomayor has noted in her famous Jones concurrence the importance of costs as a constraint on surveillance. Some costs are monetary, but some costs are time. And when presented with things that require time or money, there is a natural inclination to find efficiencies.

    • Snowden Emails Reveal the NSA Used Notoriously Insecure Microsoft Word Macros

      At the heart of the NSA’s intelligence reporting process are—or at least were, in 2012—some templates using Microsoft Word macros. That’s one of the unbelievable details revealed in a series of Edward Snowden’s emails to NSA’s SIGINT Oversight and Compliance Division released to VICE News in response to a FOIA request. The revelation comes amid renewed focus in the security community on hackers’ uses of Microsoft macros as a vector to launch malware.

      In August 2012, compliance personnel in NSA’s Fort Meade headquarters had a problem. As part of NSA’s oversight of the use of congressionally-authorized spying authorities under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, Department of Justice and NSA compliance personnel review the intelligence reports written by analysts to ensure they meet legal guidelines, including ensuring that analysts only targeted appropriate people and masked the identities of any Americans in the reports. But because of new security compartmentalization implemented on its network in Hawaii, personnel in NSA’s headquarters stopped being able to open the files sent by the Hawaii location.

    • The SSCI Contemplates Splitting CyberCommand from DIRNSA

      The Intercept’s Jenna McLaughlin liberated a copy of the Senate Intelligence Committee’s Intelligence Authorization for 2017 which was passed out of committee a few weeks back. There are two really shitty things — a move to enable FBI to get Electronic Communications Transaction Records with NSLs again (which I’ll return to) and a move to further muck up attempts to close Gitmo.

      But there are a remarkable number of non-stupid things in the bill.

    • How Did Booz Employee Analyst-Trainee Edward Snowden Get the Verizon 215 Order?

      It’s not clear why Snowden made the switch, but we have certainly seen a number of cybersecurity related documents — see the packet published by Charlie Savage in conjunction with his upstream cyber article. Even the PRISM PowerPoint — the second thing released — actually has a cybersecurity focus (though I think there’s one detail that remains redacted). It’s about using upstream to track known cyberthreat actors.

    • Communications Show GCHQ’s ‘Oversight’ Talking Itself Out Of Performing Any Sort Of Oversight

      New documents obtained by Privacy International as a result of its ongoing litigation over GCHQ bulk surveillance shows (yet again) there’s really no such thing as “oversight” when it comes to spying. Owen Bowcott of The Guardian highlights conversations between GCHQ and its supposed oversight, in which the former talks the latter out of applying more restrictive guidelines from updated laws to its massive data intake. (Unfortunately, Bowcott discusses the documents but does not link to them, and I have been unable to locate these at Privacy International’s website.)

    • William Hague to InfoSec community: ‘there can be no absolute right to privacy’ [iophk: “the war on math continues”]

      Former foreign secretary and life peer William Hague said that in light of technological developments there can be no absolute right to privacy versus security, and that although the public is in favour of “unbreakable” encryption now, it might not remain so.

      Former foreign secretary William Hague has advised the information security community that public opinion in support of full encryption can be reversed.

      Speaking at the Infosec 2016 information security conference today, life peer of Richmond – who personally reviewed interception requests from the secret intelligent services in his previous role – outlined his views on achieving a balance between state surveillance and individual privacy.

      Hague said that, in his opinion, there can be no absolute right to privacy with technology.

      “If I was advising networks and technology companies offering unbreakable encryption – unbreakable by law enforcement authorities – I would give this advice: public opinion on this issue can turn around very quickly,” Hague said.

    • Creepy startup will help landlords, employers and online dates strip-mine intimate data from your Facebook page

      There’s a scene in the dystopian scifi novel “Ready Player One” in which the protagonist glimpses the dossier of personal information a major tech company has gathered on him. It includes his height and weight, his browser history, his address — even several years of his school transcripts.

      We’re still several years away from that vision, thankfully, but a new British startup called Score Assured has taken a big step in that direction: The company wants to, in the words of co-founder Steve Thornhill, “take a deep dive into private social media profiles” and sell what it finds there to everyone from prospective dates to employers and landlords.

    • Adobe fined by German privacy watchdog over lifeless EU-US data transfer deal

      Adobe Systems took a kick to the shins from a German privacy regulator, after the software maker was found to be using the defunct Safe Harbour deal to transfer data from the European Union to the US.

      The fine of €8,000 was levied by the office of the Hamburg Data Protection Supervisor, a regulator known for its tough stance on outfits that it feels are breaching privacy laws.

    • Sir Tim Berners-Lee: Internet has become ‘world’s largest surveillance network’

      WORLD WIDE WEB CREATOR Sir Tim Berners-Lee has said that the internet has fallen into the hands of large corporations and governments and become the “world’s largest surveillance network”.

      Berners-Lee explained in an interview with The New York Times that his invention has steadily come under the control of powerful interests.

      “It controls what people see. It creates mechanisms for how people interact. It’s been great, but spying, blocking sites, repurposing people’s content, taking you to the wrong websites completely undermines the spirit of helping people create,” he said.

    • Privacy habits: Full-disk encryption goes from optional to very recommended

      As US authorities decide they have the right to seize any data, the mandatory privacy suite expands: full-disk encryption goes from optional to very recommended, in addition to using a firewall and some sort of encrypting anonymizer.

      A decision by a U.S. appeals court says that all your hard drives can be searched without warrant to determine if you’re guilty of a crime, any crime. This means that in addition to an encrypting anonymizer (such as Tor or a VPN) and a good firewall, full-disk encryption is now a must not just for geeks and nerds, but for everybody.

    • Newspaper Association Thinks FTC Should Force Readers To Be Subject To Godawful Ads And Invasive Trackers

      This assertion continues to scapegoat ad blocking for many publications’ decision to force readers to play “find the content” when visiting their sites. As user ad blindness eventually rendered banner ads invisible, the response has been to escalate intrusion, via new ad delivery methods like popunder/popups, autoplay video ads, pervasive trackers, or escalating encroachment of ads into the “content” area. If ad blocker usage is more prevalent, publishers really have no one but themselves to blame.

      And there’s nothing out there that suggests the only way a publication can remain profitable is by assaulting users with ads and tracking them all over the internet. But that’s the narrative publishers have chosen because it’s simpler to make users conform to their wishes than it is to cede ground to site visitors’ best interests.

      [...]

      The supposed “deception” the NAA refers to is things like AdBlock Plus selling companies spaces on its “whitelist.” Then it has the audacity to make claims about the darkish shade of ad blockers’ kettles by claiming any information about these built-in whitelists is buried in the terms of service. Burial of crucial details under several pages of fine print is SOP for 99.9% of the internet — including (especially) the same tracking software the NAA says is crucial to the survival of the industry.

      The NAA also claims that evading paywalls — if enabled by ad blockers — is an “unfair method of competition.” Considering how easy it is to evade most paywalls (via referral links, Google searches, going “incognito,” etc.), it seems rather disingenuous to claim the automation of this process is somehow a violation of trade laws. For that matter, the complaint offers no proof that any popular ad-blocking extension actually offers this “service.” (There are extensions written solely for that purpose, however.)

      The complaint also takes issue with “replacement” services that substitute bad ads with better ads or offer micropayments to sites in exchange for blocking their revenue generators. The NAA insists these, too, are deceptive and should be kicked of the ‘net by the FTC.

    • NSA Looking to Exploit Internet of Things, Including Biomedical Devices, Official Says

      The National Security Agency is researching opportunities to collect foreign intelligence—including the possibility of exploiting Internet-connected biomedical devices like pacemakers, according to a senior official.

      “We’re looking at it sort of theoretically from a research point of view right now,” Richard Ledgett, the NSA’s deputy director, said at a conference on military technology at Washington’s Newseum on Friday.

      Biomedical devices could be a new source of information for the NSA’s data hoards—“maybe a niche kind of thing…a tool in the toolbox,” he said, though he added that there are easier ways to keep track of overseas terrorists and foreign intelligence agents.

      When asked if the entire scope of the Internet of Things, billions of interconnected devices, would be “a security nightmare or a signals intelligence bonanza,” he replied: “both.”

    • Intelligence: Ban The NSA

      A growing number of American politicians (and their constituents) are calling for the elimination of the National Security Agency (NSA). Yet the recent anniversaries of the World War II Battle of Midway (in 1942) and D-Day landings (in 1944) both stand as testaments as to why the NSA matters for grunts on the front line.

  • Civil Rights/Policing

    • Latest Absurd Moral Panic: Parents Complain Amazon Echo Is Creating Rude Children

      It wouldn’t be a month at Techdirt without one group or another engaging in a fit of moral hysteria over something they really don’t need to spend precious calories worrying about. Whether it’s the false claim that video games create deadly assassins, VR makes us slaves to Mark Zuckerberg, smartphones have demolished cultural civility or having Google at our fingertips makes us dumber, there’s always something new to waste time having a hissy fit over.

    • Parents are worried the Amazon Echo is conditioning their kids to be rude

      Alexa will put up with just about anything. She has a remarkable tolerance for annoying behavior, and she certainly doesn’t care if you forget your please and thank yous.

      But while artificial intelligence technology can blow past such indignities, parents are still irked by their kids’ poor manners when interacting with Alexa, the assistant that lives inside the Amazon Echo.

    • REPORT: Migrants Burn Down Asylum Centre After Not Receiving Ramadan Wake Up Call

      A massive fire at Düsseldorf’s major international trade fair grounds yesterday has been followed by reports that the blaze was set deliberately by migrants who were angry because of Ramadan.

      Officially, some 160 migrants were resident at hall 18 of the Messe Düsseldorf conference centre, but it was a facility plagued by racial conflict which had seen violence spark before. Düsseldorf’s Express newspaper reports these conflicts were not between European German staff and their guests, but between the predominantly Arab residents, and a minority of Afghans who sided with the security staff running the facility — who were mainly Iranian.

    • Germany’s migrant crisis turns into a NIGHTMARE as 80% of refugees have NO documents

      THE true scale of the migrant crisis in Germany has been uncovered as it emerges 80 per cent of asylum seekers have arrived there WITHOUT a passport – and hundreds of thousands are now planning to bring over their FAMILIES.

    • As Brasília’s Corruption Is Exposed, Lawmakers Try to Criminalize Dissent

      Leaked secret audio recordings of Brazil’s most powerful figures have sparked a series of explosive scandals in the nation’s ongoing political crisis. Now, Brazilian lawmakers are trying to outlaw publication of such recordings.

    • ‘Media Money Matters With the Olympics’

      Another one that often comes up is displacement. For example, in Beijing, 1.5 million people were displaced to make way for the Summer Olympics that year, 1.5 million. In Rio, we’ve seen 77,000 people being displaced for Olympic structures and for Olympic venues since Rio got the games in 2009.

    • Muhammad Ali: ‘The Truth Must Ultimately Prevail’

      So while media talked about Ali’s conversion to Islam, and his refusal to be inducted into the Army—because, as some even quoted, he refused, in his words, to go “10,000 miles from home to help murder and burn another poor nation simply to continue the domination of white slave masters of the darker people the world over”—it’s still hard to convey how these things were heard, including by media, what it meant to say them, in 1967.

    • UN chief says he removed Saudi Arabia from damning human rights report under ‘undue’ financial pressure

      The United Nations Secretary General excised the Saudi-led coalition fighting in Yemen from an annual UN register of children’s rights violators, after the middle-eastern country and its coalition partners threatened to cut off crucial funding to the world body.

      Ban Ki-Moon said the removal of Saudi Arabia from the list was “one of the most painful and difficult decisions” he has had to make as Secretary General, describing the pressure the Arab nation had exerted on the UN as “unacceptable”.

    • African-American Women Now Top the List of Most-Educated Group in the Country

      Statistics on black women and education have shown them leading all other gender and racial groups for a few years now. More than half of all black women specifically between the ages of 18 and 24 are enrolled in college, and black women overall outpace other race and gender groups in terms of college enrollment, according to the National Center of Education Statistics/U.S. Census numbers.

    • UK was Involved in Libyan Torture Flights and Politicians Knew, Say British Prosecutors

      UK Government prosecutors investigating the kidnap and ‘rendition’ of two families to Libya by MI6 and the CIA have today announced their conclusions that a senior British intelligence official was involved in the operation and had – to a limited extent – sought political approval for it.

    • My Metropolitan Police Evidence on Torture and Extraordinary Rendition

      This is a transcript of the evidence I gave, at their request, to the Metropolitan Police. I published scans of the witness statements yesterday, and a commenter has kindly transcribed them to make them web searchable. I was interviewed by the Police both at my home and at their headquarters, and it was made very plain to me that not only Sir Mark Allen, but Tony Blair, Jack Straw and numerous officials in the FCO and the Security Services were in the frame. I confess I therefore always expected the Establishment would have the case dropped despite overwhelming evidence.

      I first offered this evidence to the Gibson Inquiry, I was treated by that Inquiry as an important witness and Judge Gibson ordered the FCO to give me full access to all documents I saw while Ambassador, to refresh my memory. No. 10 panicked at this and other evidence that Gibson was doing a genuine job, and the Gibson Inquiry was closed down by Cameron with the active complicity of Nick Clegg. I was then told by the Gibson secretariat that the Metropolitan Police were taking over aspects of that inquiry. I was then contacted and interviewed by the Metropolitan Police and gave this evidence.

      [...]

      All the disciplinary allegations were false and around this time my security clearance was up for review. My security clearance reviewer contacted me to state my clearance had been passed by him but it had then been sent back to him and he had been put under pressure not to clear me. He said that he was sticking by his recommendation and my clearance was renewed.

      l was suspended for four months and sent back to Tashkent and told not to speak to anyone about the outstanding allegations. l was banned from entering embassy buildings and the stress of it all caused my health to collapse. I suffered severe heart and lung problems as a result.

      After four months of investigation l was cleared of all l8 allegations: there was a formal hearing in relation to two matters only. These related to being seen with a ‘hangover’ by a local member of staff in Tashkent and secondly misusing an embassy car, l was cleared on both counts and the evidence against me was shown to be rubbish or non-existent.

      l was however found guilty of telling someone about the existence of the allegations when I returned to Tashkent for which I was given a final written warning in January 2004.

      Later in June 2004 one of the initial telegrams l had written was somehow leaked to the Financial Times newspaper and the Times printed sections of it. This was not done by me and although I denied it I was suspended as a result and in February 2005 I resigned from the Civil Service. I was given six years early retirement severance pay.

      I firmly believe that the allegations against me were knowingly false or grossly exaggerated,. and were concocted against me deliberately to silence me after l was the only senior civil servant to enter a written objection to the policy of collusion in torture. As a consequence my career was destroyed and my health permanently damaged.

    • England fans in fresh clashes with riot police in Marseille

      French riot police made nine arrests and were involved in a series of pitched battles with England football fans in Marseille as violence threatened to overshadow the country’s opening Euro 2016 game on Saturday.

      On the eve of England’s first game in the European Championship at the city’s Stade Velodrome, riot police fired teargas repeatedly into large groups of fans who had gathered around the city’s old port.

      The fans, many of whom had been drinking heavily for much of the day, responded by hurling bottles at the police as they marched towards them.

    • Muslim waitress is assaulted in south of France for serving alcohol on first day of Ramadan

      Police have launched a criminal investigation after a Muslim waitress in the south of France was attacked for serving alcohol on the first day of Ramadan.

      The horrifying assault took place in Nice, the seaside city that will play host to thousands of football fans attending Euro 2016 next week.

      Politicians immediately claimed that the incident was an example of the growing influence of religious extremism in France.

    • African migrant smuggler extradited; wife in Sweden, money in USA banks

      An Eritrean dubbed “the general”, suspected of controlling a people-smuggling network responsible for shipping thousands of people to Europe, has been extradited to Italy.

      Prosecutors said that Medhane Yehdego Mered had a reputation for risky practices, often packing more humans than was safe, Reuters wrote. The NCA reportedly believes that Mered had arranged the transit of a boat that sank near the Italian island of Lampedusa in October 2013.

      Eritrean Medhane Yehdego Mered, accused of organising a trafficking route through Africa, is flown to Rome from Sudan.

    • Welcome to Swedenistan…and have a lousy day

      ‘All my life I’d been grateful to be part of a civilized society,’ explains Dan, whose parents were among almost the entire population of 8,000 Danish Jews, who were secretly ferried from Nazi-occupied Denmark in 1943 to sanctuary in neutral Sweden.
      ‘And, until about 2005, I felt blessed to live in a true social democracy, where people willingly paid high taxes for a fine welfare system and liberal values.’

      So what prompted – or rather drove – the amiable Dan and his gentle wife, creator of the world’s most lip-smacking gravidlax, to sell their Malmö shoreline home, rip up their roots and migrate to Spain?

      ‘Sure, the sunshine and lifestyle played some part in our decision,’ he explains. ‘But the real reason was Sweden’s changing demographics and politics. The radical, Left-wing establishment became totally obsessed with multiculturalism and political correctness, which we didn’t need reminding had been part of Swedish ethos for centuries.

      ‘But this was different. It was verging on authoritarian diktat and the open-door immigration policy was threatening the nation’s cohesion. Only a fool couldn’t see this, but there was a conspiracy of silence, or rather a policy to whitewash the adverse effects of accepting half-a-million immigrants from the Middle East, who plainly weren’t interesting in adopting Sweden’s values and Swedish culture.

      ‘The politicians, the media, the intellectuals…they all played their parts in pandering to this dangerous ideology and, sadly, it’s changing the fabric of Swedish society irreversibly.’

    • Police Defend Actions On Barricaded Suspect: ‘Property Is Last’

      The Greenwood Police Department defended the actions of its officers during a 20-hour standoff last week that left a home, where a barricaded shoplifting suspect had taken refuge, destroyed.

      “I made the right call because we’re standing here instead of standing over a casket,” said Greenwood Village Police Cmdr. Dustin Varney.

      Police believe they executed the standoff, which ended with the capture of the suspect with no one injured, tactically well. The homeowner disagrees, calling it a blatant example of excessive force because there was only one suspect inside with a handgun.

    • It’s not a Fourth Amendment search if a cop swipes your credit card, court finds

      A federal appeals court ruled Wednesday that law enforcement can legally scan or swipe a seized credit card—in fact, it is not a Fourth Amendment search at all, so it doesn’t require a warrant.

      In the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals’ 15-page opinion, swiping a card does not constitute a physical search, as the magnetic stripe simply contains the same information obviously visible on the front of the card. Plus, the defendant, Eric-Arnaud Benjamin Briere De L’Isle, couldn’t have had a reasonable privacy interest in the card, the court concluded, because he would have tried to use it when he tried to buy something, thereby giving up privacy interests to a third party (the issuing bank).

      According to court records in United States v. De L’Isle, the case began in June 2014 when Eric-Arnaud Benjamin Briere De L’Isle was driving westbound on I-80 and was pulled over by a Seward County, Nebraska, sheriff’s deputy.

  • Internet Policy/Net Neutrality

    • Regulators genuinely don’t understand the Internet can work fine without their regulation

      Every now and then, we see regulators trying the most asinine move toward the Internet: banning encryption, requiring this, prohibiting that. They seem to be trying things at random, and a lot of it can be explained with regulators not being permitted to allow the Internet to come into being in the first place.

      Regulators remain utterly confused when it comes to the Internet – everything from what it is (it’s an agreement about a communications network with endpoints only) via who is responsible for it (no one, it is an organic agreement between millions much like a language) to whether human rights should apply as usual when using it (yes, very yes).

  • Intellectual Monopolies

    • Merck’s $200m patent damages award voided after “misconduct”

      Northern District of California judge rules Merck forfeited its right to assert patents against Gilead because of “unclean hands” and “numerous unconscionable acts”, voiding the second-largest US patent damages award of 2016 so far

      A California federal judge has ruled that Merck forfeited its right to assert its Hepatitis C drug patents against Gilead because of “unclean hands,” and voided the $200 million jury verdict that was awarded to Merck in March.

      In the conclusion of her opinion in Gilead Sciences v Merck, Judge Beth Labson Freeman of the Northern District of California wrote that: “Candor and honesty define the contours of the legal system. When a company allows and supports its own attorney to violate these principles, it shares the consequences of those actions. Here, Merck’s patent attorney, responsible for prosecuting the patents-in-suit, was dishonest and duplicitous in his actions with Pharmasset, with Gilead and with this Court, thus crossing the line to egregious misconduct.

    • Kenya’s Fledgling Innovation Agency Could Be Dissolved

      Kenya could disband its infant innovation agency and have its functions taken up by the state’s science, technology and innovation body, if changes suggested by the government to reform the science, technology and innovation (ST&I) sector are carried through.

    • Amid Allegations Of IP Theft By Corporations, Local Kenyan Innovators React [Ed: When ideas are "property", people are "inventors" (or innovators or whatever) and copying/inspiration is "theft" surely we're brainwashed]

      As start-up and innovation centres spring up across Africa, Kenya – which birthed the continent’s tech movement – is emerging as one of its leading innovation nuclei. But concerns are intensifying here that young inventors are losing their innovations to conglomerates, in what is alleged as intellectual property theft or abuse.

    • Copyrights

06.10.16

The EPO is in a Mess So Sordid That It Pays for Positive Publicity, Further Abolishes Labour Rights (to Punish Whistleblowers) and More

Posted in Europe, Patents at 6:03 pm by Dr. Roy Schestowitz

Battistelli, who has been buying European media, is politically connected to Sarkozy

Blatter buying World Cup the media

Summary: Taking stock of recent articles (including bought puff pieces) and some comments from EPO insiders who express concern about the direction the Office has taken

THE EPO is not an ordinary patent office. It’s a state within a state (or several) and it literally buys ‘articles’, or puff pieces that look like news and help groom/improve the image of the Office.

As of this afternoon, just moments before writing this earlier/previous article about the Financial Times (FT), the EPO became active again in Twitter (for the first time today) and ‘found’ media partners (i.e. paid media companies) doing some puff pieces, soon thereafter retweeting these. There are four tweets in total.

“How does the FT feel about being exposed as ‘journalism’ for sale and how does the EPO feel about being exposed as buyer of ‘journalism’?”The first, which got mentioned by Cambridge, is another new example of FT acting like/serving as a mouthpiece of the EPO after receiving money (it is behind paywall, probably printed in the presses to be disseminated around the world, even offered to passengers on airplanes). This is an example of paid coverage. How does the FT feel about being exposed as ‘journalism’ for sale and how does the EPO feel about being exposed as buyer of ‘journalism’? “The harm caused by patent trolls extends beyond the legal sphere,” wrote United for Patent Reform about another article from FT (this one too behind a paywall). What’s noteworthy though is that FT, having received money from the EPO, does a lot of EPO puff pieces and shortly afterwards the EPO links to these.

The second came from INPI, the former employer of Battistelli where a lot of top-level management at the EPO came from (because Battistelli wanted his old buddies to become his “yes men”… and woman [1, 2, 3, 4]). INPI doing puff pieces for Team Battistelli makes perfect sense.

“INPI doing puff pieces for Team Battistelli makes perfect sense. “The third one also came from France. It’s from the EPO’s French media partner. Les Echos learned no lessons from last year (self-censorship for Battistelli) and it is still producing puff pieces for Battistelli after receiving money, then having them promoted even by the EPO itself (same as in the FT example above). How shallow a distortion of media…

The fourth and last tweet of today came from English-speaking German media. This one is the only one (among four) which does not seem to be financially connected to the EPO. When 75% of the news you link to comes from paid partners and nepotism, what does that really tell about you? Maybe the popularity is just an illusion, or maybe it is manufactured using one’s money.

“When 75% of the news you link to comes from paid partners and nepotism, what does that really tell about you?”“According to the previous post of Mr. Joss Wild, the future of patents in Europe is rosy,” wrote one commenter today. Joff Wild (not Joss), however, is always repeating the EPO’s party line and then getting cited by the EPO as ‘proof’. To put it metaphorically, he’s in bed with Battistelli and to suggest everything is great at the EPO is to perpetuate a lie, just like those paid ‘studies’ and ‘surveys’ conducted/commissioned by and for Battistelli.

Is there no sense of shame left?

Well, later at night (way after working/office hours) the EPO also retweeted a press release. There is the obligatory Battistelli grooming in that press release, pretending Battistelli is some kind of cancer scientist after helping to promote this major scam that may have cost thousands of people their lives (and never mind the EPO's unethical position on cancer). Sixth (and last) for today was something from the French media. Money well spent? How many millions of Euros were spent on this charade and how much of the resultant coverage was manufactured and/or paid for?

“How many millions of Euros were spent on this charade and how much of the resultant coverage was manufactured and/or paid for?”There have been some interesting discussions at IP Kat recently. In spite of EPO articles there being less than 10% of the whole, about 80% of all comments are about the EPO. No wonder the EPO tried gagging IP Kat (and failed, as usual). Now we just see provocation or trolling there instead. We alluded to this before, but we don’t want to feed the provocateurs. Instead, let’s look at and focus on some recent comments of interest.

One person wrote that “we’re in the protective bubble zone of EPO employment law – literally a law unto itself.” Here is the full comment:

Seems to me that the EPO, whilst refusing to admit applicability of national employment law, is attempting to impose extra-jurisdictional employment law obligations on its former staff. One could easily imagine, for example, the case where a former employee is hired by a government or military department under whose own rules they would not be allowed to divulge the fact to others, i.e. the EPO, that they were employed by said department.

Other questions spring to mind :

Has the expression “for a certain time” been defined ?

Is any compensation for potentially limiting a former employee’s freedom of movement to work provided for ?

Oh I forgot, we’re in the protective bubble zone of EPO employment law – literally a law unto itself.

Another person then said that “if the President engineers the dismissal of a staff representative – a purely hypothetical scenario of course ! – under the new regulations he can then prohibit that person from engaging in any union-related activities (whether gainful or not).”

That refers to Hardon for example, as we noted the other day. Here is that comment in full:

“Hardly Draconian”

Try reading the small print: “any occupational activity, gainful or not.”

“If the envisaged activity is related to the work they carried out immediately before leaving the service, and could lead to a conflict with the legitimate interests of the Office, the former employee could be exceptionally prohibited from taking this activity, by decision of the appointing authority. In order to make the prohibition relevant, only the duties carried out during last up to three years of service would be taken into account.”

For example, this means that if the President engineers the dismissal of a staff representative – a purely hypothetical scenario of course ! – under the new regulations he can then prohibit that person from engaging in any union-related activities (whether gainful or not).

“Observer” than appeared, making a long remark about current and former staff. The use of the term “CII”, which is a sneaky way to say software patents, caught our attention. Part 1 of the comment went like this:

A slightly different view, trying to balance the needs of the EPO and the needs of its former staff:

Part I

To be fair, the question of what a former permanent employee can do immediately after leaving the EPO is indeed a problem. Actually, why should it be limited to permanent staff? Even staff under contract can gain information which might be useful in a future employment, the more so if the contract is plurennial or has been renewed a few times.

Just a few examples:

It all started with G 2/94. G 2/94 is only dealing with a former member of a Board of Appeal, appearing shortly after retirement as an accompanying person wanting to address his former colleagues. That his former colleagues did not appreciate is fully understandable. The time limit of three years imposed on former members of Boards is too long, but a cooling off period seems reasonable.

G 2/94 only applies to a very specific situation. What about a former member of a Board of Appeal, who was a qualified representative before joining the EPO, and who regains its quality of qualified representative as soon as he has left the office? Should he come and address his former colleagues as representative shortly after he left the office? May be in ex-parte proceedings it would not matter so much, but I would not like to be the other party in inter-partes proceedings. I would I least utter some protest.

The same applies mutatis mutandis to former examiners regaining their quality of qualified representative when leaving the office.
The problem is not acute with staff members of the EPO having passed the EQE. They cannot be immediately taken on the list of qualified representatives. A cooling off is indirectly provided.

When you also see two former chairman of Boards of Appeal taking sides with a party, by drafting a legal advice going plainly against the Office, one is puzzled, to say the least, cf. R 8/13.
When you see a former chairman acting for a firm of representatives in the field of CII, you may feel ill at ease.

Soon afterwards came part 2 (“BB” means Battistelli):

A slightly different view, trying to balance the needs of the EPO and the needs of its former staff:

Part II

Simply negating that there could be a problem is a bit too easy.
What is not correct is to push such a reform through without any proper discussion and concertation. It would be wrong to apply this measure as of a given date, without taking into account existing situations.

I could well imagine a twofold solution:

For any new member of EPO, including members of boards of appeal, joining the EPO as off a given date, he should be informed of a possible bar, of let’s say two years, when leaving the office. For those people, no compensation should be given. This might not ease recruitment, but one cannot have it both ways.

For member retiring as off a given date, and for which the above does not apply, then compensation should be given. You cannot change afterwards the conditions which have motivated a person to work for the EPO in a way which was not foreseeable. There is plenty of ILO case law on this topic.

One situation in which the EPO should not have any problems with, is when a former member engages in education or training. This could even be in the interest of the EPO, and could represent an exception to a possible ban.

I do not think that the problem just came up when BB became president. It was apparently a problem raised by the auditors. It is just another point BB wants to push through in its effort to show that he is the boss and that staff of the EPO needs to be put on short reins.

A clear source of concern is how this new regulation will be put into practice, whatever it might be, especially when somebody like BB is in power. For a long time, Presidents of the EPO had extensive powers. They used them with care, and in general not in order to take personal revenge. With BB this changed, but not to the better.

It should certainly not be allowed that the President can decide at his whim which type of activity is to be authorised or not. The present draft is much too vague and opens the door to arbitrary decisions. This should not be allowed.

The regulation for former staff of the USPTO seems a good compromise. A corresponding rule could apply only for staff having been involved in prosecution of applications and oppositions. Then it should be seen that a corresponding regulation is taken for staff having worked in other areas of the EPO, for instance IT.

Here as well, the mere fact that there is no simple and quick mechanism in dealing with conflicts between staff, actual or former, and the Office is in place is badly felt. The system of internal appeals and of going to the ILO tribunal is not adapted at all to such circumstances. A former member of the EPO might have died before the ILO Tribunal takes a decision……

Between a complete ban and the possibility to act in technical area in which a former member of EPO has not worked in the last three years, lots of different scenarios are possible. But this should be discussed, and not left to a decision per ordre de mufti.

Yes, the EPO deserves some reforms, but not reforms which do even further promote the arbitrary, especially in view of the totally deficient mechanism of conflict resolution.

To make things clear I am not one of BB’s admirers, the contrary is even true.

“Sad Examiner” then said: “Thank you, Observer, for your balanced analysis.”

Here another response to Observer, taking stock of INPI staff that Battistelli brought after him (we mentioned INPI as a Battistelli mouthpiece earlier in this article):

you write “I do not think that the problem just came up when BB became president. It was apparently a problem raised by the auditors.”

Do not forget that among the 3 “auditors” is a former Battistelli’s obligé and ex close INPI staff.

So nothing stated by this group can be taken as genuinely independent hence matching real standards such as those applying in the EU institutions.

Auditing at EPO is a farce and yes the reason behind this new abusive rule is precisely to forbid fired staff reps to get employment with SUEPO in the future.

Of course since Battistelli is generous and wants to treat his ennemies (and he has many) equally, the nre rule will be used for other individuals he and his clique want to destroy.

A brave new world

Some people give Battistelli ideas like:

a SALOMONC solution mght be a one line amendemnt

“in case of conflict , the European Patent Organistion accepts the rulings of the labour courts of the last place of employment of the former emplyoe”

I can imagine the extatic reaction of BB to that

Here is the harsh reality that EPO workers are facing, even if they choose to leave the EPO:

Well, if you stayed only 5 years, you can have your pension rights paid out as lump sum (up to ten years of EPO employment this is possible, after that the money is stuck in the EPO pension system and cannot be transferred out to your pocked).

So, someone who stayed only 5-10 years is nearly immune to threats by the organistaion to not work, as his pension is payed out already, and there is nothing the administration can take hostage anymore.

Enforcement by the administration would have to be through national courts.
But our leader will find ways. Like making the hiring very risky for companies which employ registered representatives… New regulations can be implemented which would allow administration to revoke the right to represent before the EPO for anyone in contractual employment relations with a former employee not observing any restrictions the appointing authority “saw fit”.

As another person noted, “the proposal in CA/29/16 would grant the president of the EPO ridiculously broad – and essentially unfettered – powers,” e.g. against SUEPO’s current head (whom he already sacked). To quote the whole message:

The above comments mirror the discussion on another thread.

http://ipkitten.blogspot.co.uk/2016/05/does-upc-spell-disaster-for-epo-boards.html

As many have pointed out, the proposal in CA/29/16 would grant the president of the EPO ridiculously broad – and essentially unfettered – powers to interfere in the future employment of EPO employees. Whilst in practice this may only amount to powers to withhold pension payments, it still represents a steam hammer to crack a nut.

Merpel – it seems that you have seen a copy of CA/29/16. Does that mean that it is publicly available? If so, then can you point me to where I might find a copy, so that I can raise my concerns about that proposal with my country’s representative to the AC?

Here are some thought on the pension idea:

Charley,since in your scenario, no pension benefits would have been accrued, the ex BoA member would most likely tell the President to take a running jump.

Here started a bunch of provocative comments, e.g. ones that compare examiners to people who can start wars with thousands or millions of casualties (among other improper comparisons), for example:

Misanalyse the small print at your leisure.

It isn’t draconian, but standard practice in many walks of life and is needed more in some. e.g. Defence secretaries obtaining immediate employment with arms dealers.

There was a discussion about potential conflict when Robin Jacob acted for Samsung a few years ago. It is a real concern that needs addressing. I’m not of the opinion that EJ should have been banned from acting as he did, but I mention it as a relevant example.

Even the EPO unions more surely agree that its members spend too much time on this website?

Someone called “PB” basically then derailed the entire thread, making it a non-constructive argument over the very basics. “Mister Battistelli said he is not a “sun king” but if he promotes these new rules he shows that he is,” one person noted. Here it is in full:

The new EPO Service Regulations the Council members will vote on at the next council meeting – and you can guess if they will agree on it with a majority vote – includes among other a clause that makes it mandatory for permanent staff to ask the EPO president for permission to stand for elections at any (national, community or other) level, including staff representation, even after they left the EPO.

Standing for elections is a constitutional right the President has enjoyed and still enjoys very much for his present employment.

I agree that there should not be a conflict of interest between the functioning of an employee of the EPO and his personal interests but making such a decision dependent on the personal opinion of the President who is himself involved in such a conflict of interest is disproportionate and in itself a conflict of interest.

With these new Service Regulations staff are one step further to be deprived of even more of their national constitutional and civil rights.

Mister Battistelli said he is not a “sun king” but if he promotes these new rules he shows that he is.
The new version of the service regulations will be voted on after nice dinner with plenty of good wine for the delegates, all paid for by the EPO.

Versailles has its own rules of governance… and PB much enjoys…

Taking note of improper (and potentially offensive) analogies, one person then wrote:

You may not have noticed but the EPO staff member isn’t quite at defence secretary level. And what may be normal is negotiated garden leave, not extra-legal whim of a single person. There are ways to address the issue – see the USPTO – which do not place absolute power in the hands of an employer. Or do you think that the right to fire someone comes with a right to block their employment anywhere else for 2 years?
What is clear is that staff’s contract of employment is being unilaterally changed, again, without a clear or explained need but in a manner which can only ever be applied to staff’s detriment and without any notion of negotiation or compensation.

Under Battistelli the EPO has been killing patent quality for the sake of so-called ‘production’. “This is squarely aimed at further weakening the Boards of Appeal,” another person noted, later mentioning the potential role of the UPC in all this:

This is squarely aimed at further weakening the Boards of Appeal. (The separation of this proposal from the now separate proposal for reform of the Boards, is just as fatuous as making the Boards more independent by moving them geographically…)

Say I am a lawyer or patent attorney, 50 or so years old with 25-30 years experience under my belt. Just the kind of person who might be ideal as a board member. But now, if I get the job at 50 I only have 5 years “tenure” (i.e. no tenure at all) then I am possibly out on my ear at 55 and blocked from returning to private practice as a consultant or of counsel. I probably won’t apply for that board member position then.

This is all part of the overall intention to weaken the boards. BB was told that he had to end the crippling block on new appointments to the boards, so now tries to make the position unattractive to quality candidates…in favour of what, the UPC?

Incidentally a 2 year restrictive covenant would be unenforceable in most if not all EPC states; 6 months if one is lucky (e.g. to prevent a lawyer from immediately poaching clients when s/he leaves a law firm). And how could the EPO enforce it? It could not. But it could try to withhold pensions, for example. Withholding an accrued benefit would also be highly suspect, but the affected person would only have eventual recourse to the ILO AT…and so it goes.

Hope this one gets laughed out of the room at the next AC meeting.

“One more whip to crack over staff at all levels,” one person reckons:

How is this intended to be enforced? In the broad form drafted, it appears that any examiner leaving voluntarily (or laid off for not meeting his norms under the 5 year plan) could be banned from any paid or unpaid contact with patents for two years. This is in my (non-specialist) view restraint of trade and as such unenforceable under most circumstances under UK & EU law. To which tribunal would the EPO apply to injunct the ex-employee from taking up a relevant job? Surely no national court would enforce such a contract term? The EPO appealing to the ILO?!

The only effective enforcement means that I can see is the EPO holding the ex-employee’s pension rights hostage – “take that job and we will cancel your pension” – leaving the ex-employee as the plaintiff trying to find a tribunal respected by the EPO.

One more whip to crack over staff at all levels, I reckon

On the impact on patent quality one person wrote:

“Perhaps a table of number of grants against number of ex-parte appeals may help (or refusals even). Given the increase in productivity, could there be a simpler link – less refusals = less appeals”.

Not according to EP Bulletin, which shows more refusals in 2015 (4336) than in 2014 (4146), but less than in 2013 (4591). Based on these figures the appeal rate seems to have dropped from 26% in 2013 to 24% in 2014, to 19.9% in 2015.

Of course, it is difficult to say what is the “right” level of appeal, and perhaps the “quality” of refusals has grown so high in the last two years that fewer applicants dare appeal.

Perhaps.

Speaking of herself as a third person:

Merpel sincerely hopes that this mad proposal will be ditched before then, or rejected by the Administrative Council.

What the Administrative Council will see is “Increased appeal fees = More Money for us”.

You can imagine the rest.

Someone then recalled a “2008 increase in claims fees that resulted in a collapse in the number of claims,” which is probably a very bad thing that even predates Battistelli:

Just like the 2008 increase in claims fees that resulted in a collapse in the number of claims, and consequent damage to claims fee income?

One person notes:

Appeal fees do not translate to patent renewal fees, the only fee the Member States receive/keep a share of.
Higher appeal fees = less appeals, likely also lees DG3 decissions reversing refusals, ths even less renewal fees for MSs.

As one person noted, “the EPO pension is conditional on their loyalty to the EPO (or at least to its management).”

The full comment:

It should perhaps be made clear to new recruits that the EPO pension is conditional on their loyalty to the EPO (or at least to its management).

I heard the other day that the EPO’s health insurance may soon be brought in-house. This probably makes sound financial sense. It would enable the EPO’s management to keep a closer eye on all those spurious medical expenses claims. There will be vast savings to be made. And it would be yet another loyalty lever to be pulled when needed – another string for the President’s puppetry finger.

Looking at another thread, we generally find that some threads have been seriously derailed by provocative comments that make readers rather angry and unable to not respond. A cynic might say that looks like EPO management may have changed the censorship strategy (blocking the site) and instead adopted some kind of plan to post provocative (trollish) comments there. It’s not impossible (albeit not probable either, and for a good reason), especially based on responses to “PB” in this part of the thread.

“The only opposition to the destruction of the EPO is SUEPO,” one person correctly put it. This is why some people are eager to just attack SUEPO and it says a lot about what they wish for. To quote a relevant comment:

I find your post curious. On the one hand you seem to have knowledge of some “new” investigation guidelines, which seems to imply that you are an insider of some kind. On the other hand you repeat the lie that until Battistelli’s “reforms” employees were paid to do nothing and promotion had a nothing to do with merit. If you are an insider you know that this is not true. Merit (productivity, quality, aptitude and attitude) had a very strong effect on promotion. Yes, seniority was taken into account as it is everywhere, to reflect experience. Nothing wrong with that. And, pray tell, where did the EPO get its former global reputation when staffed by idle good-for-nothings who just had to turn up and sit on their chairs to earn vast amounts of money.

The truth is that in the pre-BB era not only did we work hard, but we knew we were privileged, and the prevailing ethos was one of delivering the best possible quality and service to our colleagues and to the public in return for that privilege. This ethos was also supported by management. Unfortunately this ethos has been destroyed by the actions of the President. The only opposition to the destruction of the EPO is SUEPO. If it were indeed the case that all the staff care about is money then there would be no support for SUEPO’s actions. You imply that EPO employees should just take the money, keep their heads down and collaborate with the destruction of everything they have dedicated their working life to.

SUEPO has no power or means to intimidate anyone. Instead the very brave few who try to fight for the EPO as it was are subject to the most fearsome sanctions.

To the previous “anonymous”, Nigel Farage is usually seen with a pint of beer, not a coffee cup!

How does the destruction of the boards relate to the UPC? One person explained it as follows:

This regulation seems to be designed inter alia to prevent BoA members to jump ship and apply to sit on the UPC after having duly left service. They will forced to remain on board as the RMS Eponic goes down with all hands…

The question is whether this regulation would be binding on the UPC. Would there be a secret instruction at the UPC secretariat to discriminate against EPO BoA members?

Here is one reasonable suggestion of what should be done to end these abuses by the EPO’s management:

Reading some of the comments above, I start thinking that it might have sense to consider the transformation of the EPO into an intergovernmental agency, thereby integrating it into the government structure of the Contracting States.

It would remove partially an “international organisation” nature of the EPO and would better bound the functionality of the EPO with national policies and organisation, in particular, with judicial system of Member States.

For the EPO’s management, or for people like Battistelli, “postage stamp member states will go along with anything that keeps the money flowing into their coffers,” this one person explains, alluding to 'buying' of votes. Here is the full comment:

Many within and without the EPO have been saying this for quite a while.

The organisation has clearly overgrown its structure. But the prospect is bleak, as what ails the EPOrg is pretty much what ails Europe at large.

How can you create and implement an IP policy when small or postage stamp member states will go along with anything that keeps the money flowing into their coffers, and disregard anything other consideration?

How can you have a discussion about the rule of law when the populistic or authoritarian streak befalling places such as PL, HU, SK, and TR is contagious?

How can you find a solution when large states (GB, FR, DE) are too busy navigating at sight dealing with disasters (Brexit, refugee crisis, the so-called “war on terror”) to deal with the festering situation at the EPO?

As long as BB keeps up the “success” narrative with his clients too happy to feign to believe him, the scandal will go on.

Where does the buck stop?

“I forgot to add,” this person said, that “politicks are too busy creating new problems (TTIP, CETA & co.) to be interested in solving those they already have.”

Well, the UPC is one of these “new problems”. The EPO’s bought media is trying to promote the UPC, as we showed earlier today. █

EPO ‘Bought’ the Financial Times, Which Now Operates in ‘Mouthpiece Mode’ for Mr. Battistelli

Posted in Deception, Europe, Patents at 11:29 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz

EPO is wasting huge amounts of money (EPO budget) for Battistelli’s private agenda (and large foreign corporations)

Financial Times on UPC

Summary: The EPO passes a lot of money to media companies under the cover of an awards ceremony, but the money seems to be going a long way further

THINGS cannot become any more embarrassing than this. It is embarrassing both for the Financial Times and for the EPO. The EPO is now buying (and thus corrupting) the media as part of a highly expensive publicity stunt which it hopes will distract from human rights abuses.

Last year we noted that the EPO’s PR agency pays IAM 'magazine' and/or its parent company for pro-UPC propaganda events in the United States. This IAM ‘magazine’ had already been a UPC propaganda rag that used even shaming tactics against politicians who had antagonised the UPC. It wasn’t so hard to see what was going on and yesterday the EPO used its buddies at IAM (propagandists) as a “source” or reference. This has been happening a lot recently and it seemed to be coordinated based on the citation patterns which we noted.

IAM is a London-based company which is small potatoes compared to the Financial Times (also of London), so we suspect that EPO bought more than just EIA2016 coverage from the Financial Times. Just look at the new article above (screenshot).

Right now they try to make the UPC sound desirable and its potential avoidance like a loss to the UK. The summary says “British exit would delay the birth of a common system and cost UK hosting rights” and the opening paragraph is a long series of promotional lies (as if it was ghostwritten by the EPO’s PR people or PR agency): “A Brexit vote would seriously wound the new “unitary patent” and its associated “unified patent court” (UPC). Having played a big role in developing both institutions, Britain would have to withdraw from the UPC and forgo hosting a division of the court ruling on life sciences and pharmaceuticals disputes. Under current agreements, the unitary system can only come to life if ratified by a minimum of 13 nations including France, Germany and the UK, the EU’s three biggest patentors. “I don’t think Brexit would necessarily torpedo the whole thing,” says Rob Williams, co-head of intellectual property in the London office of Bird & Bird, the international law firm, “but it would certainly delay its introduction while new arrangements are made”.”

This is of course nonsense. Another way to put it is, Brexit would help crush an undesirable patent regime that helps large foreign corporations and patents trolls.

This isn’t the sole example of Financial Times (FT) as EPO mouthpiece after receiving money to become “media partner”. Looking at the past day along, here we see the FT being used for UPC propaganda and pretense of examination quality (in reality it is declining). EPO cites its “media partner”. How convenient. Here we have the EPO piggybacking FT to promote software patents and give the illusion of growth, even if said patents are allegedly registered in no language other than Mandarin.

#FTinvent is currently a hashtag of paid-for EPO coverage, i.e. not journalism, so it is not too hard to track the EPO’s distortion of the media. The EPO, having paid the Financial Times a lot of money (if 1.5 million Euros went to CNN we can only guess how much went to the Financial Times), turns both itself and the Financial Times into a laughing stock. Here is the EPO and its “media partner” (i.e. paid mouthpiece) spreading the “SME” propaganda (reversals of truth in relation to the UPC). The EPO just cannot help perpetuating the “SME” myth, even though SMEs are complaining that their voice has been hijacked.

Paid-for ‘coverage’ from this EPO “media partner” can be found in many other places, e.g. [1, 2] (FT’s official account and “FT Reports”), so we suspect that Battistelli and his goons used this Lisbon stunt as an excuse for passing money to publishers, also for UPC promotion.

Watch one in the choir stating: “UPC needs ratified by 3 countries with most patents. If brexit Italy/NL ratifying would see UPC go ahead I think” (adding the #FTinvent hashtag and later excusing abusive litigation that UPC entails).

When Battistelli speaks of ‘improving’ the EPO what he really means is changing the EPO for the UPC, even eliminating the appeals boards in the process.

The latest UPC nonsense, which is of course being spread by those who stand to benefit from it, now says “LATEST ESTIMATE: UPC TO COMMENCE IN SECOND QUARTER OF 2017″ (each year they say “real soon now” or “the end of the year” or “later this year” and now it’s delayed again). We also saw that when it was labeled “community patent” or “EU patent”. It has gone on for nearly a decade and there was resistance/antagonism, resulting in rebranding (same modus operandi when attempting to pass controversial legislation).

Remember the real purpose of the event in Lisbon, where there’s talk about the notorious cooperation money. Smaller populations like Portugal or Bulgaria are being courted for purely political/strategic reasons and based on this short report [via Bastian Best], Bulgaria is the latest to give up and surrender to the UPC, perhaps having been brainwashed sufficiently by “media partners” like the Financial Times. “According to the website of the Council of the European Union,” says this post, linking to this agreement, “Bulgaria has now deposited its instrument of ratification (on 3 June 2016) to become the tenth country to complete its ratification formalities. Bulgaria joins Finland, Portugal, Luxembourg, Malta, Denmark, Belgium, Sweden, France and Austria as one of the ten countries who have completed their ratification processes.”

How many more media organisations does the EPO need to buy in order to mislead the public, including many British businessmen who read the Financial Times? Are there no senses of ethics left at the EPO? And Battistelli dares justify his attacks on workers’ rights as being in the interest of eliminating conflicts of interest (while hiring his buddy’s wife to manage the staff [1, 2, 3, 4] and buying large media outlets)… █

Battistelli’s EPO is Buying Media Coverage for Lobbying Purposes, But Not at Battistelli’s Expense

Posted in Europe, Patents at 10:49 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz

Just like his extremely overpriced six bodyguards (allegedly for his bicycle)

Battistelli lobbying Portugal

Summary: Battistelli is not only destroying the EPO’s reputation and repelling talent but he is also draining its coffers and is destroying the integrity of European media, which he basically turned into PR agents of the EPO

THE EPO would be in very serious trouble if there was oversight and if someone was capable of firing management on the spot. The expensive publicity stunt which took place yesterday was a continental (not just national) embarrassment. Does Europe want thugs and madmen like Battistelli and his right-hand bulldog Željko Topić to represent it? What has this planet sunk to?

“Does Europe want thugs and madmen like Battistelli and his right-hand bulldog Željko Topić to represent it?”The event distorted European media and even US media like CNN. It helped demonstrate that ‘news’ is basically up for sale and Battistelli can just ‘buy’ the news without scrutiny, just as he allegedly 'buys' votes (cooperation money, see article above). Authoritarian, totalitarian, corrupt or whatever… these are the words that nowadays get used to describe the EPO, which relies on its reputation for survival (justifying the high cost of patent applications and renewals).

Battistelli’s silly festival did not attract media attention. It bought media. There are some puff pieces coming out of it (not many [1, 2]), and they are mentioning Battistelli in relation to the president whom he lobbied. That’s what it was all about: lobbying. The sideshow was some trophies (like high society swapping medals for mutual honour and self-congratulatory symbols) and it helped launder/paint this whole charade with the “science” brush.

“Authoritarian, totalitarian, corrupt or whatever… these are the words that nowadays get used to describe the EPO, which relies on its reputation for survival (justifying the high cost of patent applications and renewals).”Watch those who are (or have been) preparing European Inventor Award puff pieces. Do they realise they’re being exploited by the likes of Battistelli, who delusionally thinks that he’s some kind of modern-age Nobel (recall what he said to the sponsored crowd yesterday)?

The whole thing was staged. It was corny, lame, and above all expensive and corrosive to European journalism. I never received a dime for my articles about the EPO, but some media organisations that were hired as “media partners” are estimated to have just received millions of Euros (or just over a million, it’s hard to tell for sure due to Battistelli’s notorious secrecy).

“The whole thing was staged.”Battistelli handing over a “European Inventor of the Year” award is like Miss Universe doing this. Battistelli is not a scientist, he is just megalomaniac bully whose employees hate him with a passion.

The EPO’s PR drones, who must be blindly loyal to Battistelli, were very busy yesterday (they are relatively quiet today). They played along with the script [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8]. They probably know (deep inside at least) that today’s EPO, under Battistelli’s regime in particular, is built on top of a colossal pack of lies (or “PR”) and attacks on people who dare say the obvious truths (using defamatory remarks against these people). But then again, they need to pay the mortgage, so they play along, as does Battistelli’s friend in the UK (who is notorious here not just for taking distant selfies with Battistelli but for sucking up to Monarchy).

“Battistelli handing over a “European Inventor of the Year” award is like Miss Universe doing this.”The EPO’s winner ceremonies lasted no longer than an hour [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13] and the PR people captured some responses [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8] (there were not so many), but how much did this whole charade cost? Some estimates say 3-7 million Euros. For just a few hours! What’s even more disturbing, as we shall show in our next post, is that this whole charade distorted the European press, including some British media. █

The Commission is Complicit in EPO Abuses, According to Marc Tarabella

Posted in Europe, Patents at 9:59 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz

Perhaps what Battistelli is up to was all along the plan of some ‘higher’ agenda?

Commission

Summary: Remarks on conspicuous inaction from the Commission in the face is very serious abuses at the EPO’s management

THE EPO continues to come under fire from European politicians, who are powerless when it comes to taking action against EPO managerial thugs, due to the misguided way the EPO had been set up (like a state within a state).

SUEPO now highlights the questions from Agnes Jongerius (covered here days ago) and translations are available in French and in German from SUEPO’s Web site.

Interestingly enough, SUEPO found another question from Marc Tarabella (same party as Jongerius), whom we mentioned here last year. It turns out that months later he asked this:

Parliamentary questions
2 February 2016
E-000938-16
Question for written answer
to the Commission
Rule 130
Marc Tarabella (S&D)

Subject: EU representation in the European Patent Office

Written Questions E-009256/2015 and E-010497/2015 drew the Commission’s attention to the appalling situation at the European Patent Office (EPO).

Following the implementation of the 2010 plan to increase productivity, a ban on trade union activity, repeated privacy violations, harassment and unachievable productivity targets which make a mockery of European workers’ rights have put the EPO’s 7 000 staff in a very difficult position. Since 2012, four of them have committed suicide.

The Commission has a representative with observer status on the EPO’s Administrative Council who rarely intervenes, despite the governance problems.

What is the exact role of the Commission representative?

Does he/she report back to the Commission on the management problems?

This is an interesting point because the EPO has just published this piece of nonsense (warning: epo.org link) which says “Benoît Battistelli greets Carlos Moedas” (there is also a photograph). That’s basically Benoît Battistelli lobbying Carlos Moedas (European Commission), as we noted yesterday. It seems to have worked. As we noted here in previous years, the Commission was unwilling to step in despite requests, so what does it make the Commission if not complicit in all these human rights abuses? Not only the Administrative Council should be contacted perhaps… █

Tuesday Hearing at Room 131 Regarding Illegally Suspended (and Then Defamed) Judge Who Said the Truth About Serious Abuse at the Top of EPO

Posted in Europe, Patents at 9:34 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz

Cannot say the truth even outside the EPO (Office) without severe consequences

Room 101
Reference: Ministries of Nineteen Eighty-Four

Summary: More information about the hearing that is just 4 days away and deals with people who allegedly blew the whistle and tried to expose seriously abusive actions taken by Battistelli and his team

AS last noted yesterday, in a few days there may be a major event which relates to a defamed and suspended judge. As secrecy cannot be assured this time around, there is opportunity for judicial oversight, but EPO management “was again creative in finding way to circumvent the effective presence of the public,” according to this new comment which suggests that Team Battistelli chose a very small room:

Indeed, the public announcement of the oral proceedings in Art. 23 1/16 at the entrance of the Isar building indicates the hearing is public.

It is also known room 131 is a very small one! If the EBA as it seems in fact decided to held a public hearing, the administration was again creative in finding way to circumvent the effective presence of the public…

Somebody responded as follows:

Ah yes, the famous “Hitchhiker’s Guide” approach to public proceedings:

M. BATTISTELLI: But, Mr Dent, the notice of the hearing has been available in the EPO for the last week!

ARTHUR DENT (PATENT ATTORNEY): Yes! I went round to find it yesterday afternoon. You’d hadn’t exactly gone out of your way to pull much attention to them have you? I mean, like actually telling anybody or anything.

M. BATTISTELLI: The announcement was on display.

ARTHUR DENT: Ah! And how many members of the public are in the habit of casually dropping around the EPO of an evening?

M. BATTISTELLI: Er – ah!

ARTHUR DENT: It’s not exactly a noted social venue is it? And even if you had popped in on the off chance that some raving bureaucrat wanted to fire a member of the Board of Appeal, the announcement wasn’t immediately obvious to the eye, was it?

M. BATTISTELLI: That depends where you were looking.

ARTHUR DENT: I eventually had to go down to the cellar!

M. BATTISTELLI: That’s the public area of the Office.

ARTHUR DENT: With a torch!

M. BATTISTELLI: The lights, had… probably gone.

ARTHUR DENT: So had the stairs!

M. BATTISTELLI: Well you found the notice didn’t you?

ARTHUR DENT: Yes. It was on display in the bottom of a locked filing cabinet, stuck in a disused lavatory with a sign on the door saying “Beware of the Leopard”.

Maybe someone should bring a recording device to the meeting on Tuesday and help ensure there’s a proper record of everything that goes on there. Transparency begets oversight and accountability.

The retaliation or demolition of the boards was mentioned here before. According to Alexander Esslinger, it may proceed to the next stage as early as 3 weeks for now. To quote Esslinger: “The EPO published a new notice concerning the opposition procedure coming into effect on July 1, 2016. The aim is to reduce the average duration of opposition procedures before the EPO to 18 months.”

Battistelli does not seem to want oppositions. These probably seem to him like an ‘obstacle’ on the path to ‘production’, even if it’s essential for maintenance of patent quality. Battistelli is selfishly nuts. █

Links 10/6/2016: Maru OS, Fedora 24 Delayed

Posted in News Roundup at 7:41 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz

GNOME bluefish

Contents

GNU/Linux

Free Software/Open Source

Leftovers

Photos From Yesterday’s EPO Protest at The Hague, Reports From Munich and The Hague Staff Protests (About 1,200 in Attendance in Spite of Heavy Rain)

Posted in Europe, Patents at 5:05 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz

Summary: In spite of terrible weather conditions at the site of the EPO’s main (and far bigger) ‘branch’, many people still attended, expressing solidarity and support for their staff representatives who are under attack from the Battistelli regime

“The participation in the solidarity demo in the center of The Hague was good today,” a source told us. “Between start and end point, where staff representatives made brief speeches, between 550 and 650 EPO protesters marched about one hour along the French, Portuguese, UK, Swiss and Spanish embassies.”

“Another source reported that there were about 600 colleagues in Munich under a pouring rain and also about 600 colleagues in The Hague under a blue sky.”

Indeed, another source — sending us additional photos (which we have blurred further) — said “ca. 600 colleagues in Munich under a pouring rain and also about 600 colleagues in The Hague this time under a blue sky.”

This seems to be the consensus regarding this round of protests. If weather conditions were better, the usual participation of well over a thousand if not two thousand Munich workers would probably be expected, so this lower turnout shouldn’t mistaken for pacification.

EPO protest in The Hague

EPO protest in The Hague

EPO protest in The Hague

EPO protest in The Hague

EPO protest in The Hague

We have a lot more EPO coverage on the way today. █

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