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04.03.15

Links 3/4/2015: ‘Atomic’ Distribution, System76′s Broadwell-Powered Lemur

Posted in News Roundup at 5:43 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz

GNOME bluefish

Contents

GNU/Linux

  • Desktop

    • Can Linux learn anything from Windows 10?

      Microsoft’s Windows 10 operating system is available as a preview release. One Linux user at Network World decided to take the plunge and see if there was anything Windows 10 had to teach Linux.

    • 10 Truly Amusing Easter Eggs in Linux

      Back in 1979, a video game was being developed for the Atari 2600 — Adventure.

      The programmer working on Adventure slipped a secret feature into the game which, when the user moved an “invisible square” to a particular wall, allowed entry into a “secret room”. That room contained a simple phrase: “Created by Warren Robinett”.

  • Server

    • RancherOS: A Minimal OS for Docker in Production

      RancherOS, the latest minimal Linux-based operating system for running Docker containers, was recently launched by Darren Shepherd, Rancher Lab’s CTO. In contrast with Boot2Docker (another lightweight Docker-centric distribution) which openly discourages production use, RancherOS’s announcement claims the new OS is production and scale-ready.

  • Kernel Space

    • Linux Brought to Canon DSLRs by Magic Lantern

      Members of the Magic Lantern community are saying that this development will open the door to a universe of possibilities. While Magic Lantern was previously a set of hacks running on top of Canon code, being able to run Linux on a Canon DSLR means the developers will be able to implement new features cleanly and access the camera’s hardware directly.

    • Linux Kernel Ported to Canon DSLRs, Thanks to the Magic Lantern Developers – Video

      It’s no longer April Fools Day, so what we are about to tell you is no joke, but the real deal. The awesome developers behind the well-known and acclaimed Magic Lantern third-party software add-on that brings a wide range of new features to Canon EOS cameras, have announced that they’ve managed to port the Linux kernel to Canon DSLRs.

    • Graphics Stack

  • Applications

  • Desktop Environments/WMs

    • K Desktop Environment/KDE SC/Qt

      • Calligra 2.9.2 Released

        The Calligra team has released version 2.9.2, a the bugfix release of the Calligra Suite, Calligra Active and the Calligra Office Engine. Updating the software is recommended to everybody.

      • Calligra Office Suite 2.9.2 Out Now with Major Improvements for Krita Digital Painting Tool

        The Calligra Team, through Jarosław Staniek, was proud to announce today, April 2, that the second maintenance release of their Calligra office suite for KDE desktop environments has been released with a great number of improvements to the Krita digital painting software, for which we have a separate announcement.

    • GNOME Desktop/GTK

  • Distributions

    • Evolve OS Changes Names to Solus, an Old Community Favorite

      The Evolve OS project has just changed its name to Solus after a trademark spat over a name owned by UK’s Secretary of State office.

    • New Releases

    • Screenshots

    • Red Hat Family

      • PHP version 5.5.24RC1 and 5.6.8RC1

        NEW : Release Candidate versions are now available in remi-test repository for Fedora and Enterprise Linux (RHEL / CentOS) to allow more people to test them. They are only available as Software Collections, for a parallel installation, perfect solution for such tests.

      • Red Hat Enterprise Linux Atomic Host: Updates Made Easy

        Earlier in March we announced the general availability of Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 Atomic Host, a small footprint, container host based on Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7. It provides a stable host platform, optimized for running application containers, and brings a number of application software packaging and deployment benefits to customers. In my previous container blog I gave the top seven reasons to deploy Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 Atomic Host. One reason was the ability to do atomic updates and rollbacks. In this blog I provide an in-depth look into atomic updating and how it differs from a yum update. And, speaking of atomic updates… it just so happens that our first atomic update was made available yesterday.

      • Fedora

        • FLOCK 2015 is in Rochester NY

          This is a short blog post to get over my writer’s block. For the last 2 years, Fedora has had a computer festival called FLOCK in either Europe or North America. The first FLOCK happened in beautiful Charleston SC in 2013. The second FLOCK was in the wonderful capital of the Czech Republic, Prague. This years FLOCK is to be held from August 12-15 in Rochester New York. The main website is having some issues (various links aren’t pointing to the correct places because WordPress is being obstinate) but these are being worked on as I write and hopefully will be fixed soon.

        • Fedora under construction?

          Fedora’s quality makes complacency easy. But in truth, we’re always under construction — or we should be. You could call that constant disruption by different names. Risk positive. Forward leaning. Embracing change. Since inception, Fedora was intended to avoid the status quo. So what’s next for shaking up said status?

        • Fedora May Move to Project Atomic Distribution

          Fedora 22 was different from other releases most significantly by the way it was distributed – namely in three purpose-designed editions. However, Paul Frields is floating another method for future Fedora releases. He suggest Fedora 23 or 24 may consist of “some combination of a strongly managed center, curated stacks, and an expanding nebula of containers.”

        • Fedora 22 Beta Is Now in Freeze, Will Be Released on April 14

          Dennis Gilmore has announced the other day that the upcoming Beta release of the Fedora 22 Linux operating system is now in freeze and no other packages than the ones who fix the accepted blocker or repair two bugs that have been declared exceptions to the freeze.

    • Debian Family

      • Derivatives

        • Canonical/Ubuntu

          • Canonical Refuses to Fix a 5-Year-Old Bug in Ubuntu, Related to Notification System

            Recent reports show us that a known Ubuntu bug, which was submitted to Canonical’s Launchpad bug-tracking website about half a decade ago, still exists in the current version of the Ubuntu Linux operating system and Canonical refuses to fix it for unknown reasons.

          • System76 unveils all-new Broadwell-powered Lemur — an affordable Ubuntu Linux laptop

            While many computer manufacturers are in a race to the bottom — both in price and quality — some makers continue to produce reliable high-quality machines. One of these manufacturers is System76. If you aren’t familiar, it manufactures and sells desktops and laptops running the Ubuntu operating system. In other words, Linux fans can buy one of these machines and have it running the Linux distro out of the box — no need to format the drive to remove Windows.

  • Devices/Embedded

Free Software/Open Source

  • The Building Blocks of Open Source Innovation

    Open source code creation opens the door for IT developers across varied industries to adopt, modify and customize technology to their organization’s specific needs. Companies are free to contribute to and adopt code so long as resources—such as intellectual property software audit services—are applied to ensure that the ground rules established by the code’s originator are acknowledged and followed.

  • What does the future hold for the Internet of Things?

    I started getting involved with open source as a Computer Science (CS) grad student. I was using a combination of open source and proprietary software in my research. Given the nature of research, being able to rapidly prototype a concept and customize the tools involved are both hugely important goals. I found that open source tools often gave our team this win-win scenario where we were able to quickly try a variety of tools at no cost while also being empowered to modify or even combine solutions. This was a big advantage over using closed proprietary software.

  • ON.Lab Releases ‘Blackbird’ Open Source SDN Operating System

    ONOS’ community today announced the availability of the second release of its open source SDN Open Network Operating System (ONOS), named Blackbird, that is focused on performance, scale and high availability. ONOS is the first open source platform to define a comprehensive set of metrics for effectively evaluating the “carrier-grade quotient” of SDN control plane platforms/controllers and to publicly publish the performance evaluation of its Blackbird release using these metrics.

  • ONOS Project Unveils Second Release of Open SDN Platform
  • Instagram’s open-source library could make it easier for app makers to build for Apple Watch

    The library is known as IGInterfaceDataTable, and is intended to make “configuring tables with multi-dimensional data easier.” In other words, Instagram said, like its own app for Apple’s forthcoming smart watch.

  • Open Xchange teams with PowerDNS and Dovecot to create open source powerhouse

    OPEN-XCHANGE, the security conscious open source white label productivity provider from Germany, has announced a three-way merger to create one of the largest open source companies in Europe.

    The deal sees the company join up with Dutch DNS software vendor PowerDNS and Finnish IMAP server provider Dovecot to form a pan-European powerhouse.

    The new deal sees the combined Open-Xchange take a 90 percent market share in the secure DNS market and some 130 million user accounts.

    We caught up with Open-Xchange CEO Rafael Laguna to get his thoughts on the news, starting with the advantages that the combined company will bring to the open source market.

  • Web Browsers

  • SaaS/Big Data

  • Oracle/Java/LibreOffice

  • Project Releases

  • Openness/Sharing

    • How open source software builds strong roots for better governance

      Open data and going digital are subjects high on the international agenda for global development, particularly when it comes to financing improved services and infrastructure for the poorest people in the world. Young people from Laos to Lagos aspire to become software developers, and smartphones are set to put unprecedented computing power into every corner of the earth. But the paradox is that many governments still only have rudimentary information technology infrastructure and often can’t find trained and skilled staff to design and run it.

    • Open Data

      • Slovakia project to reduce administrative burden

        The Slovak Republic wants to reduce the administrative burden on citizens and companies, and to avoid the need to repeatedly request information. The Ministry of Finance in February signed a contract for a base registry to make it possible for public administrations to exchange data and information. The EUR 13 million project will also result in standards for data sharing between public administrations.

    • Open Hardware

  • Programming

Leftovers

  • Security

    • Thursday’s security updates
    • Why Unikernels Can Improve Internet Security

      The creator of MirageOS, Anil Madhavapeddy, says it’s “simply irresponsible to continue to knowingly provision code that is potentially unsafe, and especially so as we head into a year full of promise about smart cities and ubiquitous Internet of Things. We wouldn’t build a bridge on top of quicksand, and should treat our online infrastructure with the same level of respect and attention as we give our physical structures.”

      In the hopes of improving security, performance and scalability, there’s a flurry of interesting work taking place around blocking out functionality into containers and lighter-weight unikernel alternatives. Galois, which specializes in R&D for new technologies, says enterprises are increasingly interested in the ability to cleanly separate functionality to limit the effect of a breach to just the component affected, rather than infecting the whole system.

  • PR/AstroTurf/Lobbying

  • Privacy

    • Consent That Goes Both Ways

      In client-server, we’re calves and sites are cows. We go to sites to suckle “content” and get lots of little unwanted files, most of which are meant to train advertising crosshairs on us. Having Do Not Track in the world has done nothing to change the power asymmetry of client-server. But it’s not the only tool, nor is it finished. In fact, the client-side revolution in this space has barely started.

    • China’s CNNIC issues false certificates in serious breach of crypto trust

      In a major breach of public trust and confidence, the Chinese digital certificate authority China Internet Network Information Center (CNNIC) certified false credentials for numerous domains, including several owned by Google. The deliberate breach had the potential to seriously endanger vulnerable users, such as journalists communicating with sources. The breach was discovered by Google and published on its security blog on March 23. Despite this serious lapse, it appears CNNIC’s authority will not be revoked, and that its credentials will continue to be trusted by almost all computers around the world.

    • What’s the Cost of NSA Spying?

      By design, the research company’s numbers don’t reflect the amount of money spent by U.S. taxpayers funding the NSA’s operations. Nor do they indicate how much of this $47 billion is being born by the likes of Microsoft and Oracle, as far as I can tell. What I do know is that many foreign governments have been publicly investing in Linux and open source projects since Snowden’s revelations that back doors for the NSA have been built into many proprietary U.S. enterprise software products.

    • Google Strikes Back Against Chinese Certificate Authority

      Both Google and Mozilla are taking aggressive measures against Chinese certificate authority CNNIC.

    • Invizbox (hands-on): Another flawed Tor “privacy” router debuts

      Invizbox aims to do exactly that. The project follows in the footsteps of Anonabox, the crowdsourced effort that raised hundreds of thousands of dollars to bring a router that anonymizes Internet traffic to market, but was later pulled by Kickstarter after its custom hardware claim came under scrutiny.

    • EFF General Counsel Takes On NSA Spying

      Kurt Opsahl talks to Dark Reading about government surveillance and privacy in anticipation of his Interop keynote.

    • Matt DeHart formally arraigned today

      Matt DeHart, Anonymous activist and alleged WikiLeaks courier, was formally arraigned today, but he did not appear in court. Matt is pleading not guilty to all charges against him, so he waved his formal court appearance and pled not guilty by submitting papers to the court. He remains imprisoned in Bowling Green, Kentucky.

    • A year after firestorm, DHS wants access to license-plate tracking system

      The Department of Homeland Security is seeking bids from companies able to provide law enforcement officials with access to a national license-plate tracking system — a year after canceling a similar solicitation over privacy issues.

      [...]

      In a privacy impact assessment issued Thursday, the DHS says that it is not seeking to build a national database or contribute data to an existing system.

  • Civil Rights

    • NarcoNews: CIA Veteran Sees Big Hole in Sterling Espionage Conviction

      A former CIA spy manager is raising a serious question about the way the intelligence agency handled the national-security risk raised in the case of Jeffrey Sterling, a former CIA officer who was recently convicted on espionage charges for leaking classified information to New York Times reporter James Risen.

    • The VICE News Interview: John Kiriakou

      In 2007, John Kiriakou became the first Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) official to publicly confirm that agency interrogators waterboarded a high-value detainee, terrorism suspect Abu Zubaydah — a revelation that had previously been a closely guarded secret.

      Five years after this unauthorized disclosure to ABC News, the veteran CIA officer pleaded guilty to leaking to journalists the identity of certain individuals who were involved with the CIA’s rendition, detention, and interrogation program. He was sentenced to two and a half years in federal prison.

    • Guantánamo Bay detainees’ release upon end of Afghanistan war ‘unlikely’

      Typically, when a war ends, so does the combatants’ authority to detain the other side’s fighters. But as the conclusion of the US war in Afghanistan approaches, the inmate population of Guantánamo Bay is likely to be an exception – and, for the Obama administration, the latest complication to its attempt to close the infamous wartime detention complex.

    • With combat over, lawyers for Afghan captives ask Obama to let them go

      With U.S. combat operations officially ended in Afghanistan, some U.S. lawyers for five Afghan detainees at Guantánamo wrote the Obama administration Monday asking that the captives be freed.

  • Internet/Net Neutrality

    • Proposals on European net neutrality open ‘two-speed’ internet

      European internet providers would be allowed to profit from “two-speed” data services under proposals being considered in Brussels, opening a transatlantic divide on telecoms regulation after the US banned similar tactics last week.

      In documents seen by the Financial Times, EU member states are proposing rules that would establish a principle of “net neutrality” but still allow telecoms groups to manage the flow of internet traffic to ensure the network worked efficiently.

    • Epic Awards One Of Three Unreal Dev Grants To Makers Of Net Neutrality Game

      It’s been a unique experience for me as a Techdirt writer, one who does not delve into the net neutrality debates and posts very often, to watch the effect the wider coverage about net neutrality has had on the general public. Without being scientific about it, there are certain markers for story penetration I notice and have noticed specifically when it comes to net neutrality. For instance, a couple of months ago, my father called me up with a simple question: “What should my position be on net neutrality?” The question itself isn’t generally useful, but the simple fact that a grandfather is even asking about it means something when it comes to the public consciousness of the topic itself. So too is the appearance of the topic and debates on the Sunday news programs. But maybe the most important indication that net neutrality has become, at the very least, a thing the public is discussing is the topic’s appearance in seemingly unrelated venues. Even if the take was wrong, coverage in political cartoons was something cool to see, for instance. But the topic coming up as the theme of a politically-motivated video game is even more exciting.

04.02.15

Governments Adopt Free Software and Standards, So Microsoft Distorts the Press for Propaganda and Lies About Microsoft’s Proprietary ‘Products’

Posted in Free/Libre Software, Microsoft, Open XML, OpenDocument at 11:29 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz

Summary: Microsoft’s lobbying apparatus is trying to hook entire nations into PRISM (i.e. NSA espionage) with proprietary Microsoft formats and proprietary software, especially now that nations have policies in place and Free software available which renders Microsoft obsolete

DESPITE Microsoft’s gross behaviour and sheer influence in the Indian government, the Government of India recently managed to pass new laws in relation to software, making Free software a necessity (to what degree depends on the article one trusts the most, as there have been at least a dozen of them in English). This makes perfect sense for a software powerhouse like India. It would benefit local industries. India can be self-sufficient in the software sense.

Meanwhile, here in the UK the government managed to pass pro-ODF policies, despite lobbying by Microsoft, its proxies, and its British partners. We covered this last year and we played a role in giving feedback to the government, at the expense of many hours and as much as one day’s work. We now have what can be cautiously labelled Free software-friendly procurement policy even in the UK, which has historically been one of the most Microsoft-friendly countries in the world.

“We now have what can be cautiously labelled Free software-friendly procurement policy even in the UK, which has historically been one of the most Microsoft-friendly countries in the world.”Microsoft is of course not accepting defeat. It is now pretending to be “Open Source”, starting with lies about the status of .NET, accompanied by concealment patent issues (as with OOXML) and openwashing of Visual Studio — an integral part of .NET — even though it’s a mischievous distortion of facts. Microsoft pretends to be “Open Source” because it wants a loophole into government contracts even where governments strictly require Free software and open standards. A new article by Liu Qihao & Ciaran O’Riordan highlights the reality behind so-called ‘Open Source’ .NET. The instruction states:

Microsoft is publishing the source code to certain parts of .NET. The terms of distribution (the licence) is the combination of the MIT licence and a separate patent promise. Given that Microsoft has a history of aggressively using software patents against free software, we decided to take a look at the legal details.

The conclusion is as follows:

If you only intend to use the software as published by Microsoft, then everything looks fine. The patent promise (if it’s even necessary) will apply. If you intend to modify the code, then the protections of the patent promise may be necessary or useful and you should take care. And if you’re looking for a project to contribute to, then it would be worth giving your preference to projects which don’t contain conditions which create or suggest patent risks if the code is used in other free software projects (outside of the set of .NET Runtime projects).

So it’s basically false marketing, as one should expect from Microsoft. The Economist has just released a horrible Microsoft puff piece (more like an advertisement in article form), misleadingly titled “Opening Windows”. Opening, really? As in “Open Source”? The article, written in Redmond, says: “At an event in San Francisco last October Mr Nadella showed a slide that read: “Microsoft loves Linux”. In contrast, Mr Ballmer once called the open-source operating system a “cancer”.”

Paul Krill, a Microsoft-friendly writer (for many years now), has meanwhile published “Windows goes open source?” (not April’s Fool). Paul Krill consciously (or not) helps Microsoft openwash Windows, pretending there are such legitimate claims as policies in governments change to require “Open Source”.

What we have here is a misinformation campaign. You love Open Source? Then you will love Microsoft. That’s the (almost) daily message from your Microsoft-affiliated and at times Microsoft-bribed friends (acting as ‘reporters’).

Here in the UK our government is apparently so dumb that even when it adopts ODF as the editable documents standard and asks for Free/Open Source software it remains stuck with the prospect of blobs from Microsoft. Regarding an article that seeks to associate Microsoft with ODF, iophk told us: “In practice it is unlikely that it will actually comply with the standard.”

This relates to statements like this one from Linda Humphries, titled “Making document formats open, it makes them better” (the same applies to software, not just data).

Francis Maude has just met (i.e. lobbying) with a Microsoft liar, Michel Van der Bel (see her mentioned in this older post). Microsoft pretends that it can deliver ODF support and that therefore the government’s requirement (ODF) and preference (Free software) should be compatible with Windows and Office. To quote the article: “Stanchak said Cabinet Officer minister Francis Maude met with Microsoft’s UK country manager, Michel Van der Bel, to discuss the company’s work on open standards to enable universal document access across government departments.

“Maude said the use of ODF will deliver significant savings to the public sector.

“”This will give people more choice about the software they use. This supports our digital by default agenda, which is helping save citizens, businesses and taxpayers £1.2bn over this Parliament as part of our long-term economic plan,” he said.

“The update comes despite Microsoft arguing last year that its own Open XML file format is more widely adopted than ODF and therefore should be on the government’s approved format list.”

So Microsoft attacked ODF and now it wants to be part of ODF. Is that how it works? The UK government should shun Microsoft. As this other new article reminds us: “In 2014, Microsoft went against the government’s request to support ODF, claiming its own XML format was more heavily adopted. The UK government refutes the claim, stating that ODF allows users to not be boxed into one ecosystem.”

Microsoft now pretends otherwise. More lies from Microsoft UK, an opportunist with NSA connections. The British government’s decision on office suites (if they’re needed at all) shouldn’t be about picking a ‘cloud’; it would be a privacy farce. If the government was ever to adopt Microsoft ‘cloud’ (i.e. NSA PRISM with that glorified ‘cloud’ buzzword which appeases non-technical people), would it be sued by any British citizens for supporting espionage by foreign spies? A lot of personal data is being encoded and stored in such documents. In the past, for NSA to acquire data/files from Office it needed to use Microsoft’s Windows back doors. With Office 360 [sic.] it’s becoming trivial. Microsoft is in PRISM.

The British government needs to adopt Free software such as LibreOffice and stop wasting time being lobbied by the company that attacked open standards and Open Source software like no other company in the history of computing. █

Links 2/4/2015: Linux Lite 2.4, Ubuntu Phone Jailbreak

Posted in News Roundup at 11:02 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz

GNOME bluefish

Contents

GNU/Linux

  • Desktop

    • Google Goes Crazy for Chromebooks

      Google on Tuesday announced two new budget-busting Chromebook computers, a tablet/notebook convertible with a full swivel screen, and a Chrome computer-on-a-stick.

      The Haier Chromebook 11 (pictured above) and the Hisense Chromebook both are available for preorder for US$149.

    • Choosing Software to Work Remotely from Your Linux Dev Station

      In the previous article, I gave an overview of how I’ve managed to go mobile. In this installment, I’m going to talk about the software I’m using on my different devices. Then in the third and final installment, I’ll explain how I set up my Linux servers, what software I’m using, and how I set up the security. Before getting started, however, I want to address one important point: While downtime and family time are necessary (as some of you wisely pointed out in the comments!) one great use for this is if you have to do a lot of business traveling, and if you’re on call. So continuing our story…

    • A Linux user tries out Windows 10

      Long answer: Are you kidding me? I couldn’t repartition that drive fast enough and re-install Linux.

  • Server

    • ​Canonical to integrate Chef DevOps into Ubuntu

      You may think of Ubuntu as a desktop Linux, and it is, but it’s also the most popular Linux on Amazon EC2 cloud and very popular on most other cloud platforms. So it only makes good sense that Canonical, Ubuntu’s parent company, has partnered with Chef, one of the most popular DevOps companies.

  • Audiocasts/Shows

    • Docker

      Solomon Hykes, CTO and chief architect of Docker, joins Randal and Gareth this week to talk about Docker’s 2nd birthday and the vast ecosystem it has developed during the time. Docker is an open platform for developers and sysadmins to build, ship, and run distributed applications.

  • Kernel Space

    • Slow April Fools’ Day for Linux

      This certainly hasn’t been a record year for Linux and Open Source April Fools’ jokes. In days of yore distributions would come up with crazy spins or psychedelic themes. Sites would deploy eye-straining colors and heads of projects would announce defections. Every now and again a prank would be so convincing that folks would believe it. However, we did find a few community members getting into the spirit.

    • Virtual GEM Is Coming For Linux 4.1

      There’s already been a fair amount of code building up for the DRM graphics subsystem for the Linux 4.1 kernel and a new feature was just committed to Git last night.

      Virtual GEM (vGEM) is coming! VGEM can increase Mesa’s software rasterizer performance and this fake GEM memory management support was devised by a Google engineer, Zach Reizner.

  • Applications

  • Desktop Environments/WMs

    • K Desktop Environment/KDE SC/Qt

      • There is no KEndorsements

        The next idea is about monitioring the usage behavior of the user. For this I must say that in a Wayland world KWin would have enough information to do that, but we don’t look at the information at all. We do not care what an application is: we don’t know that a given window is “Krita”, we don’t know that it should be used with a drawing tablet, we don’t analyze any input and just pass it through to the application. KWin is completely ignorant on what the application does with input events passed to them and as ignorant to what a window content looks like. To us a window is just a texture we render to the screen. We don’t know that there is a “drawing area” or a “video” element, it’s just one texture. Similarly we do not know (and care) about input events. All we do is determine which window should get the event and pass it to it. We are quite aware that by passing all input events through KWin we could do evil things. The good thing is that our software is open source and you can see what we do (relevant code file is called input.cpp, events come in from the files under the libinput/ directory).

    • GNOME Desktop/GTK

      • Another release, another release video

        Huge credits goes to the GNOME Design Team for awesome assets, Anitek for the awesome music, engagement team for the awesome feedback and translation team for the awesome subtitles. Also thanks to everyone who helped me by fixing visual bugs early so I could record the new improvements. GNOME 3.18 will be amazing.

      • JdLL 2015

        Last week-end, in the Salle des Rancy in Lyon, GNOME folks (Fred Peters, Mathieu Bridon and myself) set up our booth at the top of the stairs, the space graciously offered by Ubuntu-FR and Fedora being a tad bit small. The JdLL were starting.

  • Distributions

    • New Releases

      • Simplicity Linux 15.4 Beta Is Now Based on LXPup, Includes the Latest Tor Browser

        The Simplicity Linux development team, through David Purse, had the pleasure of announcing the immediate availability for download and testing of the Beta version of the upcoming Simplicity Linux 15.4 computer operating system. Simplicity Linux aims to be a small, fast, and versatile Linux distro based on Puppy Linux.

      • Antivirus Live CD 12.0 Has Been Released, Promises to Protect Computers Against Viruses

        Zbigniew Konojacki, the creator of the 4MLinux series of distributions, has announced recently the immediate availability for download of Antivirus Live CD 12.0, an open source distribution that provides users with a live Linux computing environment built around the popular ClamAV (Clam AntiVirus) virus scanner.

      • Emmabuntus 3 Linux Distribution Is Now Based on Xubuntu 14.04.2 LTS

        Patrick Emmabuntus had the pleasure of informing Softpedia about a new maintenance release of his Emmabuntüs 3 Linux distribution, which is now based on the upstream Xubuntu LTS operating system.

      • Black Lab Enterprise Desktop 6.5 RC1 RELEASED

        Today we are releasing Black Lab Enterprise Desktop 6.5 RC1. This is the first Release Candidate of what will become the final product of Black Lab Enterprise Desktop 6.5. We are now in feature freeze meaning there will be no more changes to the application lineup and we will be working on polish. We have introduced quite a few new features. Enterprise Filesystem support, Built in virtualization utilities, and webapp integration.

    • Linux Lite

    • Ballnux/SUSE

      • openSUSE Tumbleweed Is Moving To Systemd’s Journal, GNOME 3.16, Plasma 5

        The openSUSE Tumbleweed rolling-release distribution has already been using systemd for some time, but they’ve kept to using syslog for system messaging logging. However, that’s going to change as Tumbleweed integrates systemd’s journal.

      • Gnome 3.16, systemd-journal coming in next Tumbleweed snapshot

        It’s official, Gnome will be in the next Tumbleweed snapshot and the development experience is highly anticipated. A clean installation works, but the guys are working on one last test before its released. We’re not promising an early Easter gift, but Tumbleweed users won’t have to wait long for Gnome’s latest upgrade.

    • Debian Family

      • Surviving systemd: Lucas Nussbaum satisfied with init system outcome

        It would not be an exaggeration to say that no leader of the Debian GNU/Linux Project has had to cope with more troubling times than Lucas Nussbaum.

        The extent of debate and acrimony that broke out within the project last year over the decision to adopt systemd as the default init system for the next release, Jessie, would have taxed the patience of even the most suave diplomat.

      • Derivatives

        • Canonical/Ubuntu

          • Vendors queuing to launch Ubuntu smartphones – Shuttleworth

            There is a “queue of vendors” looking to launch Ubuntu-powered devices, following the launch of the first commercial smartphone by vendor BQ last month, Mark Shuttleworth, founder of Canonical, told Mobile World Live.

          • See What’s New in Ubuntu 15.04 Vivid Vervet

            The stable edition of Ubuntu 15.04 (Vivid Vervet) is just around the corner, so this is a good time to take a look at the features that are going to be implemented in the new release and see what important packages have been updated.

          • Ubuntu Phone Jailbreak Now Available, Third-Party App Store Created

            Believe it or not, Ubuntu Phones can be jailbroken too, sort of. In a recent blog post, Ubuntu Touch OS developer Michael Zanetti explains how he managed to create a third-part App Store for the Ubuntu Touch mobile operating system that will allow some open doors for power users and developers who want to explore the platform beyond what’s offered to the normal user.

  • Devices/Embedded

    • ODROID C1 review

      The ODROID C1 is a true alternative to the Raspberry Pi 2. It costs the same but brings Gigabit Ethernet, the option of using a high-speed eMMC storage module, and support for Android!

      The Single Board Computer (SBC) movement is still going strong and with the recent release of the Raspberry Pi 2, it doesn’t seem as if it will lose any of its current momentum. The key selling point of the Raspberry Pi has always been its price. While there are lots of other companies that make these nimble little boards, there aren’t that many who seem to be able to match the Pi’s price point. Of course, some of the boards are only slightly more expensive than the Pi and do offer more functionality. For example, the MIPS Creator CI20 costs just $65 and includes built-in Wi-Fi and 8GB of on-board storage, two things missing from the Pi.

    • Android IVI system serves up to 56 bus passengers

      The Via BLISS (Bus Line In-Seat System) Platform provides an in-vehicle infotainment (IVI) VOD network of the type typically found only on airlines, says Via Technologies. The Android-based system has been deployed by long-distance bus operators in Taiwan and Turkey, and is now open for general availability.

    • Lumenera Announces the Release of Their ‘Lumenera Linux SDK 2.0’

      Lumenera, a leading manufacturer and developer of high performance digital cameras and custom imaging solutions, is pleased to announce the launch of Lumenera Linux SDK 2.0— their new software development kit that supports the popular Ubuntu Linux operating system.

    • Phones

Free Software/Open Source

  • Studying polar data with the help of Apache Tika

    For the past 10 years, I have straddled the divide between Earth science and informatics. My PhD focused on remote sensing and snow hydrology, but I entered the world of data science and software development when faced by challenges in processing and distributing the immense amounts of data produced by my research. Fortunately, I was lucky. I had the opportunity to collaborate with a group of computer scientists at NASA/JPL who helped guide me into the world of open source software and the Apache way.

  • Coherent UNIX clone goes Open Source

    We missed this earlier this year, but Coherent has been released as open source. Coherent is a UNIX clone originally developed for the PDP-11, but later ported to a number of other platforms, including the IBM PC. It was developed by the Mark Williams Company, and despite an official investigation by AT&T, no signs of copied code were ever found.

  • Open-source ethos moves from code to wider world

    As powerful as that sounds, the company already has something that could be even more potent: a huge sharing of its once-proprietary information, the kind of thing that would bring a traditional Silicon Valley patent lawyer to tears.

  • Goddard releases open source core flight software suite to public

    The Innovative Technology Partnerships Office at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, announced the release of its core Flight System (cFS) Application Suite to the public. The cFS application suite is composed of 12 individual Command and Data Handling (C and DH) flight software applications that together create a reusable library of common C and DH functions.

  • Web Browsers

  • Oracle/Java/LibreOffice

    • LibreOffice Continues To Gain Mindshare

      According to Google Trends, LibreOffice is holding a substantial mindshare while openoffice.org is in decline

    • LibreOffice – the Cloud edition

      While I do not believe that office suites will disappear, I do believe that the need to be completely integrated into cloud-like environments, whether centralized or distributed, is key to insure potential and an actual future for any desktop software. Because of these trends, the news are of strategic importance to LibreOffice and to software freedom and digital rights in general. At a time when the Internet and cloud services become more and more centralized, the competition diminishes and so do users’rights. “LibreOffice Online” is really good news, and it should make you happy. More specifically, what was announced leads to two distinct outcomes:

  • CMS

    • Higher ed finds increasing value in open source CMS options

      “The university has since launched somewhere between 350 and 400 websites, all built on Drupal 7,” writes Schaffhauser “While the CMS is centrally managed to keep the system updated, it grants individual colleges, programs and departments the flexibility to put up their own images, update text as they want, add and move site objects (themes, content types and Drupal “modules”) and “essentially have a custom look with a managed system,” [director of university Web services, Mark] Albert explained to Campus Technology.

  • Public Services/Government

  • Openness/Sharing

    • Open Source ‘CloudRouter’ Aims to Simplify Cloud Migration

      Several small networking and software companies are teaming up to introduce CloudRouter, an open source router to simplify cloud migration.

    • Open source CloudRouter goes into beta with OpenDayLight’s backing

      An open source project is getting under way that could, if it lives up to its design goals, ease the enterprise transition between on-premise networking solutions to cloud networking services.

    • Unicorns are real in open source
    • 5 reasons we said YES to the first Open Source//Open Society

      For two days in April, Wellington will be home to some of the biggest influencers in open source development and open society thinking. Building on the success of open source software in powering the growth of the internet Open Source // Open Society will explore developments in open government, open innovation, open education, open data, and open business.

    • What is Open Source? Digital tech heavyweights head to Wellington

      Wellington will host a collaboration this month between open source developers, democracy activists, government officials and digital tech heavyweights at the Open Source // Open Society (OS//OS) conference.



    • Conference to discuss open source and open society in Wellington

      Wellington, New Zealand, will be on the world stage on the 16th and 17th of April when it plays host to a collaboration between open source developers, democracy activists, government officials and digital tech heavyweights at the Open Source // Open Society (OS//OS) conference.

    • Wellington hosts NZ Open Source Conference

      Wellington will be on the world stage on the 16th and 17th of April when it plays host to a collaboration between open source developers, democracy activists, government officials and digital tech heavyweights at the Open Source // Open Society (OS//OS) conference.

    • Open for thinking, open for participation, open for collaboration
    • The Blender Institute’s sixth open film project

      The Blender Institute’s sixth film project, codenamed Gooseberry, is in deep into the most open production from the Blender Institute yet. If you’ve been following the project so far, then you already have a sense of what Blender means by an “open production”—lots of sharing.

    • Open Hardware

      • 3D Printing an Open Source Spectrometer

        As an undergraduate and graduate student, Ben Hickman, under the advisorship of Dr. Jack Summers, began developing an affordable chemistry instrument called a potentiostat. This sparked his interest in electronics and programming. After a number of people expressed interest in the potentiostat, including high school science teachers and ordinary citizens interested in monitoring their local water quality, it was evident that there was a demand for affordable chemistry instrumentation. One of the most useful instruments, yet financially out of reach for most, was a UV/Vis spectrometer.

      • Unchained with Open Source: Michigan Tech 3D Printing Course Teaches Students to Build 3D Printers

        Hats off to Michigan Tech, and Dr. Joshua Pearce, for creating such a unique course that comes full circle in teaching their undergraduate engineering students about the world of 3D printing in a new and comprehensive way. Thrusting engineering students not only into the world of 3D design and 3D printing, they immediately enter the open-source world of the growing ‘maker community’ as well.

      • Open source electromagnetic trackers

        Traneus Rex (a.k.a. Peter) will be presenting a Fantastical Theatre talk titled Open-source electromagnetic trackers and the unusual requirements for the embedded system.

      • 5 DIY hardware platforms for physiological computing

        Physiological computing focuses on the use of biosignals for the development of interactive software and hardware systems capable of sensing, processing, reacting, and interfacing the digital and analog worlds.

        However, biosignals have specific requirements for which typical physical computing platforms are not particularly tuned. Until recently, many projects ended up hindered by high costs and limited access to suitable hardware materials. That scenario is different today, thanks to DIY hardware platforms.

  • Standards/Consortia

    • ‘EC should replace PDF by HTML5 for its online forms‘

      The European Commission should stop using PDF for online application forms, say five European groups campaigning for open standards and free and open source software. The EC should instead switch to modern web tools such as HMTL5 and XForms. The EC’s PDF forms often include elements that are only implemented in proprietary software from a particular vendor, the groups say.

Leftovers

  • Report: EU preparing to bring antitrust case against Google

    The member of the European Commission in charge of competition, Margrethe Vestager, is preparing to file a formal antitrust action against Google in the next few weeks accusing it of abusing a dominant market position, according to the Wall Street Journal. Sources said that the European Commission has been contacting companies that had filed complaints against Google, asking them for permission to publish information submitted confidentially, which is seen as a preliminary move before announcing the antitrust action. A spokesperson for Commissioner Vestager told Ars, “The Google investigation is ongoing. We have no further comments and we do not comment on speculations.” Google had not responded to a request for comment at press time.

  • Defence/Police/Secrecy/Aggression

    • Why Iran Distrusts the US in Nuke Talks

      The mainstream U.S. media portrays the Iran nuclear talks as “our good guys” imposing some sanity on “their bad guys.” But the real history of the West’s dealings on Iran’s nuclear program shows bad faith by the U.S. government, as ex-CIA analyst Ray McGovern describes.

  • Environment/Energy/Wildlife

    • Pemex oil platform fire kills four in Gulf of Mexico, 302 evacuated

      At least four people died after a fire broke out on a Pemex oil processing platform in the Gulf of Mexico early on Wednesday, leading to the evacuation of 302 workers, the Mexican state-run oil company said.

      The fire, which burned throughout the day, erupted overnight on the Abkatun Permanente platform in the oil-rich Bay of Campeche. Forty-five people were treated for injuries and 16 of them were hospitalized, two with serious injuries, Pemex said.

    • Fukushima’s Solution to Potential Melt Down? Frozen Ice Walls

      On December 14th, 2014, RT News published an alarming article explaining that Japan’s destroyed Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant must decontaminate and then dump into the Pacific Ocean its stored radioactive water from the 2011 tsunami and meltdown disaster. According to the RT piece, the Fukushima Prefectural Federation of Fisheries Co-operative Associations is calling on the Japanese government and TEPCO (Tokyo Electric Power Company) to ensure that the release of toxic water is safely below the required radiation levels. However local Japanese fishermen have expressed concerns over issues with radiation and water waste management at the Fukushima Daiichi plant.

    • Fukushima No. 1′s never-ending battle with radioactive water

      The disaster that struck four years ago may have abated for most of the Tohoku region, but the nightmare continues at Tokyo Electric Power Co.’s Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant, which suffered three reactor core meltdowns and is plagued daily by increasing amounts of radioactive water.

    • Greenland’s Meltwater: Europe’s Next Little Ice Age?

      In February 2015, the Guardian published an article which stated that atmospheric warming is capable of reaching thousands of meters below Greenland’s ice sheet, potentially increasing the glacier’s rate of flow and creating pools of “meltwater” trapped below the ice. As a result, Greenland’s meltpools are contributing to rising sea levels. Cornell University Geologist Michael Willis and Ohio State University Glaciologist Ian Howat authored the report, on which the Guardian story is based, and Penn State University Earth Scientist Patrick Applegate confirmed it.

  • Finance

    • Hong Kong murders: Trial of Rurik Jutting adjourned

      The trial of a British banker accused of murdering two women found in his Hong Kong flat has been adjourned.

      Prosecution lawyers asked for the extra time to obtain further documents for their case against 29-year-old former Bank of America employee Rurik Jutting.

  • Censorship

  • Privacy

    • Scots say no to SNP super database

      Civil liberties groups fear the scheme – which last month narrowly survived a Holyrood vote – would be only a small step away from an ID card system.

  • Civil Rights

    • Lee Kuan Yew leaves a legacy of authoritarian pragmatism

      For some, Lee Kuan Yew’s death marks the passing of a ruthless tyrant. For others, it is the tireless leader’s final reward.

    • Singapore’s autocracy-for-prosperity compact under strain

      To give his government a free hand to fashion a new society, Lee systematically crushed dissent, muzzled the press and imprisoned political opponents. A social compact of authoritarian government in exchange for a guarantee of prosperity has endured for two generations.

    • Behind Singapore’s growth story lies a human rights tragedy

      By lauding the success of these developmental states, we are in effect saying the end justifies the means

    • The Curse of Lee Kuan Yew

      The leader eulogized by Obama as a ‘giant of history’ is being used to re-legitimize tyranny.

    • Benevolent autocracy: India is drawing the wrong lesson from Lee Kuan Yew

      One of the favourite arguments offered by middle class Indian men (especially when all other arguments fail) is that “India needs a benevolent autocrat,” if the economy has to grow at a fast pace. The word “autocrat” is often used interchangeably with the world “dictator”.

    • Obama authorises penalties for foreign cyber attackers

      President Barack Obama has today signed an executive order extending the U.S. administration’s power to respond to malicious cyberattacks and espionage campaigns. The order enforces financial sanctions on foreign hackers who action attacks against American businesses, institutions and citizens.

    • Snowden Lawyer Discusses Whistleblowing in Panel

      At a panel Tuesday afternoon in Boylston Hall, Jesselyn A. Radack and Walt L. Tamosaitis shared their experiences as whistleblowers and pointed to exposing institutional misconduct as an important method for confronting injustice.

    • The Blood Sacrifice of Sergeant Bergdahl

      Last week charges of Desertion and Misbehavior Before the Enemy were recommended against Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl. Tragically, Sergeant Bergdahl was once again crucified, without evidence or trial, throughout mainstream, alternative and social media. That same day Sergeant Bergdahl was offered as a sacrifice to primarily Republican politicians, bloggers, pundits, chicken hawks and jingoists, while Democrats mostly kept silent as Sergeant Bergdahl was paraded electronically and digitally in the latest Triumph of the Global War on Terror, President Ashraf Ghani was applauded, in person, by the American Congress. Such coincidences, whether they are arranged or accidental, often appear in literary or cinematic tales, but they do, occasionally, manifest themselves in real life, often appearing to juxtapose the virtues and vices of a society for the sake and advancement of political narratives.

    • The Native American Genocide and the Teaching of US History

      One of the things that happened in the United States, Riding In points out, “was to take Indian children away from their parents, away from their tribes, away from their religious people, away from their nurturing environment of their communities and place them in these distant boarding schools where the Indian would be beat out of them if necessary. That policy falls within the definition of genocide, the plan to bring about the physical destruction of a … people. This was aimed at the children.”

    • Venezuelan Coup Plotter Gustavo Cisneros Donated $1M to Clinton Foundation

      A recent report has emerged revealing that Venezuelan billionaire and media tycoon, Gustavo Cisneros, donated up to US$ 1 million dollars to the Bill, Hillary and Chelsea Clinton Foundation between 2009-2013, while Hillary Clinton served as Secretary of State for the Obama administration.

      A recent review of the foundation’s disclosures, carried out by the Wall Street Journal, brings to light a number of donators that were previously unknown to the public.

      The figures include Argentinian and Ukrainian businesspeople, as well as Prince Turki al-Faisal of the Saudi Arabian Royal Family, who collectively donated up to US$68 million to the organisation over the course of four years. The majority of large donations came from residents in the Ukraine (US$10 million), England (US$8.4 million) and Saudi Arabia (US$7.3 million), according to the report.

    • Noam Chomsky on Institutional Stupidity

      Stupidity comes in many forms. Generally it is easier to spot when other people are being stupid and harder to notice when we ourselves are being stupid, in the sense of relying on unexamined assumptions, entrenched mental habits or poor reasoning. Yet we’re all guilty of these sometimes. Trying not to fool ourselves in these ways is central to philosophy.

      So how can Chomsky help us with this? One of the world’s best-known intellectuals, he first gained fame for his work as a linguist, and in particular for his theory that we have an in-born or ‘innate’ grammar that underlies all of the world’s natural languages. He has gone on to do important original work on many other topics, including machine translation, logic, philosophy, and the nature of the media. A tireless social commentator, he also does a great deal of highly controversial political activism.

    • George Soros Would Invest $1bn in Ukraine With Western Backing
    • The Ukraine crisis is not what it seems

      In the West, the prevailing interpretation of the Ukraine crisis is that Russia — specifically President Putin — started it and controls most of the military forces fighting the Ukrainian army, often described in the media as “Russian separatists”. Martin Wolf of The Financial Times (11 February 2015) claims Russia started it because its leaders fear having a stable, prosperous and West-leaning democracy on their doorstep; they saw this as a distinct possibility after their ally, President Yanukovich, was ousted in a coup in February 2014. By one means or other, Russia’s leaders will keep destabilizing Ukraine to prevent such a democracy until stopped by western force or sanctions.

    • Google Street View flasher censored then arrested after showing breasts to camera car

      A woman who gained brief fame by flashing her breasts at a Google Street View car has been charged by police, who say that her actions “were the same as someone flashing their genitals”.

    • New Silk Road docs show how site got looted by cop who hijacked dealers’ accounts

      On January 26, 2013, Dread Pirate Roberts received a series of urgent messages from one of his top lieutenants, Inigo. His online drug marketplace, Silk Road, was being robbed blind.

      “I hope you get online soon,” Inigo wrote. “We are under attack over 100k stolen, shits hitting the fan you need to pull the plug on withdrawals.”

      But there was no “kill switch” for withdrawals, and Inigo couldn’t stop the bleeding. He and DPR would later lament lacking this critical security feature. One by one, the drug dealers who relied on Silk Road to make money were having their accounts broken into, their passwords changed, and their bitcoins looted.

      “Over 300k stolen,” Inigo wrote later. He was up late, frantic, trying to contain the theft. He kept sending messages to DPR, but the boss wasn’t online.

    • SEC finds that KBR confidentiality agreements ‘stifled’ whistleblowers

      In what is being called a landmark ruling for whistleblowers, the Securities and Exchange Commission announced Wednesday that one of the nation’s largest government contractors used confidentiality agreements that had the potential to intimidate and “muzzle” workers from reporting allegations of fraud.

  • Intellectual Monopolies

    • Trademarks

    • Copyrights

      • Movie Licensing Group Demands $350K From Schools

        Fears that teachers and pupils might breach Spain’s new copyright law if strict guidelines aren’t adhered to have led to some schools being presented with an enormous bill. The worldwide Motion Picture Licensing Corporation is now offering a blanket license to one region in return for a payment of $350,000 a year.

When Battistelli’s Defender Ivo Opstelten Turned Out to be Also Defending (Paying) Narcotics Traffickers

Posted in Europe, Fraud, Patents at 3:55 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz

Ivo Opstelten

Summary: Battistelli faces yet another embarrassment as the man who defended his assaults on EPO staff, Ivo Opstelten, turns out to be little more than a thug in a suit

WHY does Battistelli tend to find himself surrounded by thugs and corrupt officials? Željko Topić, EPO Vice-President and Battistelli's right-hand man, faces many criminal charges. And that’s just one of several men. Perhaps it takes thugs to defend a thug, but the reasons could go deeper than this when exploring the networks and power of influence, especially in Europe. Battistelli is strongly connected to ENA (Ecole Nationale d’Administration) and there seems to be a link between Topić and Ivan Šimonović, both of whom are strongly linked to Ivo Sanader, who is in prison.

The Dutch Justice Minister, Ivo Opstelten (not to be mixed with Ivo Sanader), who intervened to prevent execution of the judgment in favour of EPO staff, fits a pattern.

“Newsflash from the Netherlands,” told us a reader nearly a month ago, “Dutch ministers Opstelten and Teeven quit over payment to drug-trafficker” (quitting under such circumstances can help evade legal action).

Links to some news reports (British and Dutch media):

To quote the BBC, “Dutch Justice Minister Ivo Opstelten and his state secretary, Fred Teeven, have resigned after misleading parliament over a 2001 compensation payment to a convicted drug trafficker.”

So here, once again, Battistelli is basically defended by a bunch of opportunistic corrupt/crooked people in positions of power. █

English, French and German Translations of Dutch Article About EPO Abuses

Posted in Site News at 3:37 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz

de Volkskrant front page

Summary: An article from “de Volkskrant” with translations, regarding Benoît Battistelli and the now-disgraced Opstelten who defended Battistelli’s assault on staff

FIVE weeks ago the Dutch media covered the situation at the EPO. One piece came from de Volkskrant, with “a circulation of approximately 250,000 nationwide.” We now have English, French and German translations [PDF]. Since this is an English-speaking site, here is the English version:

Benoît Battistelli, Director of the EPOrg, does not recognise trade unions. He has had email communication between trade unions and members blocked. © EPA

Opstelten: court ruling does not apply to European institution

According to the court, an organisation in Rijswijk breaches the rule of law. No, says the Minister, it has immunity.

By: Willem Feenstra 26 February 2015, 06:26

Ivo Opstelten, Security and Justice Minister. © ANP

Minister of Security and Justice Ivo Opstelten has binned the ruling of the Court of Appeal in The Hague. The ruling states that the European Patent Organisation (EPOrg) violates the fundamental principles of an open and democratic state under the rule of law. However, according to Opstelten, the European organisation enjoys immunity.

For years there has been a conflict at the EPOrg between management and a large portion of the employees. Director Benoît Battistelli is allegedly conducting a reign of terror and is averse to objection. He does not recognise trade unions and refuses to enter into discussion with them.

Measures

In order to counter organised opposition, the management of the organisation has blocked email communication between the unions and their members.

The task of the European Patent Organisation is to grant patent applicants a patent in a large number of European countries by means of a single application. The establishment in Rijswijk is, with 2,700 employees, the largest after Munich. In order to counter organised opposition, the management of the organisation has blocked email communication between the unions and their members. The right to strike has been restricted and employees expressing disagreement are threatened with disciplinary measures and dismissal. The trade unions are
also not welcome at the negotiation table.

Those measures are contrary to the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), so ruled the Court of Appeal in The Hague last week. ‘After all, this case concerns the rights of trade unions to take collective action and conduct collective negotiations, i.e. rights which belong to the fundamental principles of an open and democratic state under the rule of law.’

The Court ordered the Patent Office to reverse the disputed measures. In an internal statement, Battistelli has already indicated that he is not to going to adhere to this. According to him, the Patent Office, as an international organisation, is autonomous in the area of personnel policy. The internal rules were to form its own legal system in which a national court may not intervene.

Immunity

This means that these buildings may not be entered and enforcement action cannot be taken by Dutch authorities, or at any rate not without the consent of the President of the EPOrg.

Ivo Opstelten, Minister of Security and Justice

The Court of Appeal acknowledges that the Patent Office is an international organisation which can claim immunity but ‘this autonomy does not in any case stretch so far that the EPOrg could breach generally recognised fundamental rights in Europe without parties, such as the trade unions, being able to seek an effective remedy against such’.

Opstelten sees this differently. According to him, offices of the Patent Organisation in all contracting States enjoy immunity. This means that these buildings may not be entered and enforcement action cannot be taken by Dutch authorities, or at any rate not without the consent of the President of the EPOrg. He has ordered the court bailiff not to execute the enforcement orders in the judgement.

Immunity above human rights

Opstelten relies on an Act from the seventies. This must be applied dynamically, but he takes a very conservative view.

Cedric Ryngaert, Professor of International Law in Utrecht.

According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the conventions to which the Netherlands is subject in respect of the EPOrg are clear: no enforcement measures can be taken against the Patent Organisation in the Netherlands. ‘With the order, the cabinet therefore opts not to take sides in the underlying dispute,’ according to a spokesperson. ‘This has been done to observe the obligations of the Netherlands under the conventions. We make no public statements on the underlying dispute. This does not affect the fact that we, and other Member States, continue to monitor the situation.’

According to experts, Opstelten’s position is at odds with the rule of law and he chooses immunity over human rights. ‘Legally he might have the law on his side, but in view of the constitutional system this appears very odd,’ according to constitutional law expert and Senator Hans Engels. ‘It is exceptional that these kinds of powers lie with a minister. And I
don’t mean this in a positive sense.’

Cedric Ryngaert, Professor of International Law in Utrecht, considers the order by Opstelten exceptional. ‘Basically he erodes the power of the Court. International organisations are going to increasingly put themselves above the law, which is already a problem now. Opstelten relies on an Act from the seventies, which must be applied dynamically. Instead he takes a very conservative view.’

About a week after the publication of this report Opstelten was found to be corrupt and he stepped down. Supporting criminals seems to be his ‘thing’; it’s not about justice.

Željko Topić: “SUEPO [Staff Union] Has No Standing in This Office. SUEPO Has No Role to Play in This Office.”

Posted in Europe, Patents at 3:19 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz

SIPO article

Summary: EPO staff responds to the weak charm offensive from “Mr Battistelli’s boys”, stating that much work — including protests — remains to be done

LAST WEEK we started writing about the Dutch scandal that led Benoît Battistelli to concessions, in an effort to appease his critics who got his very job under serious threat. Florian Müller said that Battistelli would allow SUEPO to merely exist (based on just a statement) and also published some thoughts about the EPO Administrative Council meeting that we had mentioned for quite a while. Flier [PDF] and comments [PDF] from staff were also uploaded and we present these below.

Ortssektion München . Local Section Munich . Section locale de Munich

23.03.2015
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ACTIONS CONTINUE
DEMONSTRATION: WEDNESDAY 25 MARCH
ISAR BUILDING AT 12.30h

The EPO in the news
Last Saturday (21 March) the two most respected Dutch newspapers, NRC and Volkskrant, both ran highly critical two-page articles about the EPO. The NRC commented in a second article on the refusal of the EPO to admit the Dutch labour inspection after a suicide on the premises in The Hague. As usual, Mr Battistelli denied all the charges, insisted on the EPO’s immunity and blamed SUEPO. The articles can be found here:

NRC, “Ik ben geen zonnekoning”

http://www.nrc.nl/handelsblad/van/2015/maart/21/ik-ben-geen-zonnekoning-1477227

(printable version)1, (Google translation)

NRC, “De arbeidsinspectie komt er bij het Europees Octrooibureau niet in”,
http://www.nrc.nl/handelsblad/van/2015/maart/21/ruzie-de-arbeidsinspectie-komt-er-bij-heteuropee-1477187 (printable version)2, (Google translation)

De Volkskrant, “Baas van Europese octrooiorganisatie voert schrikbewind”
http://www.volkskrant.nl/economie/baas-van-europese-octrooiorganisatie-voertschrikbewind~a3918719/ (printable version)3, (Google translation)

SUEPO will provide official translations as soon as possible.

IP blogs have also become rather critical of Mr Battistelli’s attitude and behaviour, see e.g.:

http://kluwerpatentblog.com/2015/03/20/behavior-benoit-battistelli-is-bad-for-the-epos-reputation/

http://www.fosspatents.com/2015/03/epo-human-rights-issues-and-eu-patent.html

Finally, an English translation of judgment pronounced in a court case in Croatia earlier this
year has become available: http://techrights.org/2015/03/18/full-judgment-against-topic/

In this case Mr Topic (VP4) complained about defamation. The judge could not see any defamation in the – very serious – accusations against Mr Topic. These findings are highly embarrassing not only for Mr Topic but also for Mr Battistelli who has long denounced what he called a “defamation campaign against VP4”4. Mr Battistelli imposed (and the Council rubberstamped) a house ban on a Member of the Boards of Appeal suspected of involvement in the alleged “defamation campaign”5. Such charges now seem difficult to maintain.

___________
1 http://www.suepo.org/public/ex15136cp.pdf
2 http://www.suepo.org/public/ex15138cp.pdf
3 http://www.suepo.org/public/ex15139cp.pdf
4 see e.g. Mr Battistelli’s note to all staff of 26.02.2013:
5 link to Communiqué No. 64

And the politicians?
The leading politicians responsible for patent matters in the Member States remain mostly silent. But it is clear that Mr Battistelli’s open disdain for the Dutch judiciary and the Dutch
labour inspection has raised eye-brows in The Netherlands. We also hear that Mr Battistelli’s plan to move DG3 to Berlin did not go down well with the German government. It seems that the French government is starting to become seriously worried about possible damage to the reputation of France. And we doubt that the UK minister of Innovation (“the Baroness”) failed to notice the criticism about her apparent inactivity in the current crisis:

http://ipkitten.blogspot.de/2015/03/peace-for-our-time-or-another-wasted.html

http://ipkitten.blogspot.de/2015/02/epo-suepo-and-question-of-governance.html

Next reforms
The Administrative Council of the EPO will meet on Wednesday 25 and Thursday 26 March in Munich. On the agenda are a reform of DG3 (CA/16/15) and the next “health reform” (CA/14/15a). The proposed reform of DG3 is purportedly intended to improve the “perception of independence of the Boards of Appeal.” In reality the reform amounts to a hostile take-over of DG3 by the Administrative Council.

The “health reform” pretends to improve the reintegration of staff on long-term sick-leave or invalidity. In practice it will seriously weaken the position of sick staff vis à vis the Office by excluding the treating physician from the medical committee. The Office furthermore plans to unilaterally abolish the – thus far compulsory – invalidity insurance that staff may have been paying for 10, 20 or even 30 years. This amounts to a breach of contract.

Apart from being financially disadvantageous, the new regulations would oblige sick staff to remain at their place of employment during at least 10 years of full incapacity before the Office will consider recognizing their invalidity. During this time they will need to request permission from their employer for every absence. According to SUEPO this is an impermissible infringement of their privacy.

What are our claims?
Staff at the EPO calls on the Administrative Council:
- to reject the proposed health reform that foresees measures that have no equivalent in any of the EPO member states and violates fundamental rights, and
- to order the President of the EPO to enter into negotiation with the staff representation in order to come to an agreed solution.

SUEPO intends to organise a demonstration every month for as long as it takes to bring the EPO back on track.

SUEPO Munich

“I’m open. But we also have troublesome unions. A mix of French unions with German efficiency: a dangerous cocktail.”

Benoît Battistelli, NRC, “Ik ben geen zonnekoning”, 21 March 2015

Here are the comments:

Ortssektion München . Local Section Munich . Section locale de Munich

27.03.2015
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ADMINISTRATIVE COUNCIL
25 / 26 MARCH 2015 – A REPORT
&
NEXT ACTIONS

The Administrative Council: deaf & dumb?

Leading IP blogs have become rather critical of Mr Battistelli’s attitude and behaviour, as well as of the EPO Administrative Council’s passivity in this respect, see e.g.:

http://kluwerpatentblog.com/2015/03/20/behavior-benoit-battistelli-is-bad-for-the-epos-reputation/

http://www.fosspatents.com/2015/03/epo-human-rights-issues-and-eu-patent.html

http://ipkitten.blogspot.de/2015/03/a-kat-may-look-at-administrative.html

SUEPO1, EPO staff in general2 and the Members of the Boards of Appeal3 have also called upon the delegations not to rush through the fundamental reforms on the agenda, namely an outline of a reform of the Boards of Appeal (CA/16/15) and the second health reform (CA/14/15), without thorough reflection and proper consultation of the internal and external stake-holders. To no avail.

DG3 matters
Despite all the comments and objections (see above), the delegations unanimously approved the framework for the proposed reform of the Boards of Appeal. Another controversial decision concerned the suspension of a DG3 accused of “anonymous defamation of VP4” which was prolonged. And again there were no new appointments to DG3, meaning that DG3 will be forced to cope with an increasing workload through increased “efficiency” rather than increased capacity.

The health reform
The health reform also passed, albeit with 10 abstentions. The delegations discussed a 8 (!) hours in closed session (i.e. with the usual observers and without their “social partner”), probably mostly about the social dialog and the social reforms. The open discussion of the health reform was planned to take a mere 10 minutes. It seems for the Office difficult to signal more clearly to your “social partner” that you are not interested in his opinion. On the other hand: the open session finally took 50 minutes rather than 10. And the 8 hours in closed session are a clear sign that discussions are now taking place. That can almost be qualified as “progress”. The three major delegations (DE, FR, and UK) were amongst those who abstained. They were joined by CZ, IE, IT, MT, SE, SI and SK. This voting pattern shows that

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1 http://munich.suepo.org/archive/su15023ml.pdf
2 http://munich.suepo.org/archive/su15024mp.pdf
3 http://amba-epo.org/page/get/ca1615 and http://www.epostaff.org/archive/ex15146cp.pdf

traditional alliances in the Council have shifted. A majority of mostly small countries with a weak or negligible patent system are now outvoting countries with a much bigger population and a greater interest in a functional patent system. This does not bode well for the stability of the EPO and for its functioning as administrator for the Unitary Patent.

What next?
The Council’s approval of the reform of DG3 was not a final decision. The topic will be back on the agenda in June. We can only hope that by then the responsible politicians will have finally woken up and realised what is really going on: a hostile take-over of DG3 by the Administrative Council involving the creation of 8 new “jobs for the boys” – presumably Mr Battistelli’s boys.

For the health reform SUEPO will provide staff with the requests for management review that are now the necessary first step before filing an internal appeal. We will renew our contact with the Bayerische Laendesärztekammer in order to get answers to some pertinent questions about the extent to which medical doctors in Germany may fulfil the tasks the EPO intends to assign to them. Finally, SUEPO will provide legal support for its members who are denied invalidity or otherwise disadvantaged by the latest reform.

Union matters
Amazingly, after having once again brushed aside the concerns of staff and their representation and pushed through yet another ill-conceived reform, Mr Battistelli and Mr Kongstad now jointly announce4 “new initiatives to restore social peace” starting with an invitation to the trade unions (note the plural) to a kick-off meeting on 22 April 2015. Given the previous positions5 of Mr Kongstad, he and Mr Battistelli seem an unlikely pair to negotiate social peace. Whereas SUEPO wishes to echo Mr Battistelli’s statements that “our door is always open”, we also make it clear that we are not interested in merely improving “the perception of a social dialogue”.

Next actions
Should the discussions with Mr Battistelli and Mr Kongstad lead to unexpected progress (e.g. the withdrawal of the above health reform) then SUEPO would be more than delighted to postpone further actions. Until this happens, however, SUEPO intends to organise a demonstration every month for as long as it takes to bring the EPO back on track.

Details of the next demonstration will be published after the Easter holidays.

SUEPO Munich
“I am not talking about SUEPO at all: SUEPO has no standing in this Office. SUEPO has no role to play in this Office.”

Željko Topić (VP4), 19 March 2015, in a meeting with the Munich Staff Committee

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4 http://www.epo.org/news-issues/news/2015/20150326.html
5 http://ipkitten.blogspot.de/2014/12/battistelli-and-kongstad-respond-to-epo.html

“Details of the next demonstration will be published after the Easter holidays,” says the above, so surely Battistelli knows that it’s far from over. It shouldn’t be over until there is justice, which should include not just recognition of the staff’s rights but also removal of corrupt EPO officials. █

04.01.15

Links 1/4/2015: Firefox 37, VirtualBox 5.0 Beta

Posted in News Roundup at 5:37 pm by Dr. Roy Schestowitz

GNOME bluefish

Contents

GNU/Linux

Free Software/Open Source

  • Why open source and enterprise users are natural allies

    Open source software and enterprise users are natural allies. For example, at HotWax Systems, enterprise users are our focus customers, and open source software is at the core of the capabilities we deliver.

  • The benefits of open source identity management software

    What happens when your identity vendor doubles its software maintenance costs and management is so tired of being held at virtual vendor gunpoint that they start looking for an equivalent product in the marketplace? Realistically, there are two ways to respond to this problem: First, go with another vendor and hope it doesn’t have the same sales strategy as the last one, or second, look to see if there’s something on the open source…

  • Events

  • Web Browsers

  • Oracle/Java/LibreOffice

  • CMS

    • How Moodle is driven by user and community feedback

      Moodle is a well-established, highly flexible open source learning platform, having grown from small beginnings at the start of the century into the mainstream solution for millions of people worldwide. Its customizable and secure learning management features allow anyone to create a private website filled with dynamic courses in any subject that promote learning on a schedule that suits students.

  • Education

    • OSS Watch: ‘Universities need to adapt to open source’

      Computer Science students are not learning the skills they need for working in the modern free and open source-friendly of software development, says Scott Wilson, service manager at OSS Watch, a service for higher and further education institutions in the UK. “Institutions need to rethink how they teach computing, to ensure students can practice the craft of software development, such as the use of source control, issue tracking and test-driven development, rather than just programming languages.”

  • BSD

    • OpenBSD 5.7 highlights

      The OpenBSD 5.7 release is still a month away, but the changes have been done for some time. The release page lists lots of changes, though certainly not all, and sometimes it’s hard to tell the big changes from the small changes. Annoying perhaps, but rewarding to someone who reads through the entire list looking for hidden gems. A few notes about changes I found personally interesting.

  • Public Services/Government

    • Hungary: open source key to Internet security

      The use of open source and open standards is essential for a secure Internet, the Hungarian government says in a statement following a workshop with IT researchers and ICT service providers. This type of software will also reduce the cost of ICT and contribute to the country’s economy, says Tamas Deutsch.

  • Licensing

    • Allwinner: “We Are Taking Initiative Actions Internally”

      Allwinner has been taking a lot of heat lately for violating open-source licenses with their Linux binary blob components. They then got caught obfuscating their code to try to hide their usage of open-source code, shifted around their licenses, and has continued jerking around the open-source community.

  • Openness/Sharing

    • Jersey eGovernment to be restarted

      The government of Jersey is to restart its eGovernment project, according to press reports. The government failed to find a suitable contractor for the project and is reconsidering its objectives and approach. Jersey wants to make most of the island’s public administration services available online.

Leftovers

  • Science

    • Image of the Day: Intersex Fish

      Researchers found a developing egg in the testes of a male deep sea trout off the coast of France, an intersex condition possibly linked to pollution levels in the surrounding waters.

  • Security

  • Defence/Police/Secrecy/Aggression

    • Obama Personally Tells the Egyptian Dictator that U.S. Will Again Send Weapons (and Cash) to his Regime

      Yesterday, the Egyptian regime announced it was prosecuting witnesses who say they saw a police officer murder an unarmed poet and activist during a demonstration, the latest in a long line of brutal human rights abuses that includes imprisoning journalists, prosecuting LGBT citizens, and mass executions of protesters. Last June, Human Rights Watch said that Egyptian “security forces have carried out mass arrests and torture that harken back to the darkest days of former President Hosni Mubarak’s rule.”

  • Finance

    • Harry Reid’s appalling defense of his attack on Mitt Romney’s tax record

      One of the more outlandish moments of the 2012 campaign came when Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid went to the floor of the world’s greatest deliberative body and accused GOP nominee Mitt Romney of not paying any taxes at all for the past 10 years. Reid’s evidence? Someone had told him. (That “someone” is alleged to be Jon Huntsman, father of the former Utah governor. Huntsman denies involvement.)

  • PR/AstroTurf/Lobbying

    • Lee Kuan Yew is finally dead — and America’s elites are eulogizing a tyrant and psychological monster

      Lee Kuan Yew made Singapore wealthy & kept people in line with barbaric fear. Clinton & Kissinger should be ashamed

    • Media Inflate Threat With ‘ISIS Plots’ That Don’t Actually Involve ISIS

      Right on cue, the American media publish dressed-up FBI press releases about the “disrupted” plot, complete with balaclava-wearing stock photos: “FBI Disrupts Plot to Kill Scores at Military Base on Behalf of Islamic State” was the Washington Post‘s headline (3/26/15).

      These outlets, as usual, omitted the rather awkward fact that this “ISIS plot” did not actually involve anyone in ISIS: At no point was there any material contact between anyone in ISIS and the Edmond cousins. There was, as the criminal complaint lays out, lots of contact between the Edmond cousins and what they thought was ISIS, but at no point was there any contact with ISIS–the designated terror organization that the US is currently launching airstrikes against.

  • Censorship

    • New Pirate Bay Blockade Foiled By Simple DNS Trick

      The world’s newest blockade of The Pirate Bay has been thwarted in a matter of minutes. After a court in Spain ordered the country’s ISPs to block the notorious site on Friday, users who tweaked their connections to use Google’s DNS instead of the one provided by their service provider were back on the site in seconds.

    • How The TPP Agreement Could Be Used To Undermine Free Speech And Fair Use In The US

      We’ve been writing a lot about the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement over the past few years. There are many, many problems with it, but the two key ones are the intellectual property chapter and the investment chapter. Unlike some who are protesting TPP, we actually think that free trade is generally a good thing and important for the economy — but neither the intellectual property section nor the investment chapter are really about free trade. In many ways, they’re about the opposite: trying to put in place protectionist/mercantilist policies that benefit the interests of a few large legacy industries over the public and actual competition and trade. We’ve already discussed many of the problems of the intellectual property chapter — which is still being fought over — including that it would block the US from reforming copyright to lower copyright term lengths (as even the head of the Copyright Office, Maria Pallante has argued for).

  • Privacy

    • [NyTimes] The French Surveillance State

      Prime Minister Manuel Valls of France has presented yet another antiterrorism bill to Parliament. French lawmakers, who overwhelmingly approved a sweeping antiterrorism bill in September, are scheduled to debate the new bill this month.

    • The French Surveillance State

      Prime Minister Manuel Valls of France has presented yet another antiterrorism bill to Parliament. French lawmakers, who overwhelmingly approved a sweeping antiterrorism bill in September, are scheduled to debate the new bill this month. Mr. Valls argues that the bill’s sweeping new provisions for government surveillance are necessary to monitor potential terrorist-related activity, especially on the Internet and cellphones.

    • French Surveillance Bill: Time To Act!

      As the French Intelligence Bill (which should be more aptly called the French Mass Surveillance Bill) is being examined from 1 April by the French Parliament’s Law Commission, La Quadrature du Net launches a new campaign website and calls on all citizens to mobilize far and wide in order to convince Members of the French Parliament to refuse a law which, in its current form, organises mass surveillance and legalises intelligence methods that are highly detrimental to fundamental freedoms, all without any serious guarantees against abuse.

    • Facebook tracks everyone, everywhere, finds Belgian privacy probe

      FACEBOOK IS DISPUTING the findings of a Belgian study into the firm’s treatment of user rights, and has claimed that the opinions are wrong and that actually it does a lot for human privacy.

    • How Big Business Is Helping Expand NSA Surveillance, Snowden Be Damned

      Today, the bill is back, largely unchanged, and if congressional insiders and the bill’s sponsors are to believed, the legislation could end up on President Obama’s desk as soon as this month. In another boon to the legislation, Obama is expected to reverse his past opposition and sign it, albeit in an amended and renamed form (CISPA is now CISA, the “Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act”). The reversal comes in the wake of high-profile hacks on JPMorgan Chase and Sony Pictures Entertainment. The bill has also benefitted greatly from lobbying by big business, which sees it as a way to cut costs and to shift some anti-hacking defenses onto the government.

  • Civil Rights

    • Leaked TPP Investment Chapter Reveals Serious Threat to User Safeguards

      A newly leaked chapter of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement from Wikileaks has confirmed some of our worst fears about the agreement. The latest provisions would enable multinational corporations to undermine public interest rules through an international tribunal process called investor state dispute settlement (ISDS). Under this process, foreign companies can challenge any new law or government action at the federal, state, or local level, in a country that is a signatory to the agreement. Companies can file such lawsuits based upon their claim that the law or action harms their present or future profits. If they win, there are no monetary limits to the potential award.

    • New TPP leak reveals how we’re trading our sovereignty for cheap tariffs

      WikiLeaks has published the secret investment chapter in the Trans-Pacific Partnership. Dr Matthew Rimmer, associate professor at ANU College of Law, explains its insidious implications.

    • Cop caught berating Uber driver in xenophobic rant is NYPD detective, police sources say

      The angry lawman who was caught on camera belittling an Uber driver during a bias-fueled tirade in the West Village is an NYPD detective assigned to the Joint Terrorism Task Force, police sources confirmed Tuesday.

      The NYPD’s Internal Affairs Bureau is investigating the video, which shows Det. Patrick Cherry lambasting the Uber driver during a traffic stop and mocking his broken English.

      “I don’t know where you’re coming from, where you think you’re appropriate in doing that; that’s not the way it works. How long have you been in this country?” Cherry, who is white, barked at the driver after pulling him over in an unmarked car with flashing lights, according to video of the encounter.

    • Witnesses, Who Say Police Killed Activist, Are to Be Charged in Egypt

      Egyptian prosecutors are bringing criminal charges against witnesses who said they saw the police kill an unarmed poet and activist during a demonstration, a lawyer who has seen the charges said on Monday.

      The witnesses voluntarily told the Egyptian authorities that on Jan. 24, they had seen a group of riot police officers fire birdshot across a street into the peaceful march, which had been headed to Tahrir Square to lay memorial flowers to mark the anniversary, on the following day, of the Arab Spring uprising here.

    • Chinese court jails Muslim for 6 years for growing beard, wife gets 2 years for wearing veil

      A court in China’s mainly Muslim Xinjiang region has sentenced a man to six years in prison for “provoking trouble” and growing a beard, a practice discouraged by local authorities, a newspaper reported Sunday.

    • Katie Hopkins attacked me on Twitter — so I reported her to the police for inciting racial hatred

      That all changed following Katie’s comments, which pointedly linked the Pakistan flag to paedophilia. Employing her usual hateful and provocative shtick she went on to demand whether the nine men convicted in Rochdale of child grooming and sexual offences in 2012 were “my friends”. More abuse from Katie followed before she finished with a promise to come to Rochdale and “explain why no one messes with our white girls”.

      It would be easy to dismiss this as the vacuous posturing of an ill-informed pundit except my timeline suddenly became filled with a deluge of racist bile from Katie’s supporters. Soon I was getting threats from the EDL. A far right group called the North West Infidels suddenly announced they would be marching on our town and the Internet was quickly awash with intolerant abuse directed towards anyone of Pakistani origin in our town.

    • Leann and Paul DeHart to cross US/Canada border tomorrow, 1 April, 10am EDT

      With Paul having already been forced to give testimony to a secret grand jury in Washington DC regarding possible espionage charges, Matt’s parents are concerned that the actions they took to protect their son may have put them in legal jeopardy too.

      Matt, the Courage Foundation’s third beneficiary and a former US Air National Guard drone team member, was deported from Canada to the US on 1 March 2015, after being denied political asylum. Matt had sought refuge in Canada after he was tortured by the FBI during interrogation. The FBI’s own report confirms that US agents questioned him over an “espionage matter.” The FBI asked him about his unit, Anonymous, and WikiLeaks, yet they subsequently presented him with charges related to accusations of teenage pornography. Canadian officials said that the teen porn allegations have “no credible and trustworthy evidence” but deported him regardless, and Matt will be arraigned on Tuesday, 2 April, in Tennessee.

    • 5 other insane things a corrupt DEA agent did while allegedly stealing Bitcoin from Silk Road

      Anyone who has been following the real-life criminal drama swirling around the online drug marketplace Silk Road had their mind blown this week when San Francisco prosecutors announced charges against two federal agents involved in the investigation. DEA agent Carl Mark Force IV and Secret Service agent Shawn Bridges were allegedly helping themselves to copious amounts of Bitcoin through theft, deception and fraud, using the inside information and technical access they had to Silk Road operations as federal investigators.

    • Bureau of Prisons Demanded Whistleblower Work in Jail Cell

      A special prosecutor has stopped retaliation against a whistleblower committed directly under the nose of the Justice Department’s internal watchdog.

    • “Blackwater” Leads Failed Afghan Drug War, Reaps Hundreds of Millions of Dollars

      A mercenary force infamous for a 2007 massacre in central Baghdad has received nearly $600 million from US taxpayers to clamp down on Afghan opium production—an effort that’s been widely reported as a complete failure.

      New data released Tuesday by the Special Inspector General for Afghan Reconstruction (SIGAR) shows that the lion’s share of private contracting dollars spent by the Department of Defense in counter-narcotics operations is going to the security firm Academi—a corporation formerly known as Blackwater.

    • After a story is published, a minimum wage worker loses her job

      Shanna Tippen was another hourly worker at the bottom of the nation’s economy, looking forward to a 25-cent bump in the Arkansas minimum wage that would make it easier for her to buy diapers for her grandson. When I wrote about her in The Post last month, she said the minimum wage hike would bring her a bit of financial relief, but it wouldn’t lift her above the poverty line.

  • Internet/Net Neutrality

    • The Path Toward Tomorrow’s Internet

      High school students in Tennessee can see and manipulate ocean plankton under a superhigh-resolution microscope in Southern California, with a biologist in California serving as their tour guide.

      Surgeons in Cleveland and Los Angeles share insights and run through a simulation of brain surgery on a biologically exact image of the patient’s brain just before the real operation begins.

      Harnessing data from sources ranging from environmental sensor networks to patient records, researchers in Dallas and elsewhere are working to someday be able to send personalized alerts to people who are particularly sensitive to tiny airborne particles — notably, the 44,000 Americans who have an asthma attack each day, with 1,200 of them having to be admitted to a hospital.

    • Massive Anti-Net Neutrality E-mail Campaign Shows Signs Of Faking Many Signatures

      During the first round of the FCC’s net neutrality comment period, the agency was absolutely swamped by public input (including ours), the vast majority of it supporting net neutrality. After the agency released a database of the comments, analysis of the comments showed that while around half were generated via “outrage-o-matic” forms from various consumer advocacy groups, once you got into the other half of the comments — almost all were in support of net neutrality. After the volume of pro-neutrality comments received ample media coverage, anti-neutrality organizations — like the Phil Kerpen’s Koch-Funded “American Commitment” — dramatically ramped up their automated form comment efforts to try and balance the comment scales.

  • Intellectual Monopolies

    • Copyrights

      • Georgia Supreme Court: No, Writing Mean Things About Copyright Trolling By Linda Ellis Is Not ‘Stalking’

        A few years ago, we wrote about a terrible Georgia state court ruling against Matt Chan, the operator of Extortion Letter Info (ELI), a website/forum that has tracked copyright trolling for many years. There had been a number of discussions on the site about Linda Ellis, who is somewhat notorious for her trolling effort. Ellis wrote a poem called “The Dash” that gets reposted a lot online. Ellis and her lawyers then send threat letters, emphasizing the possible $150,000 in statutory damages (yet another example of how statutory damages aid in copyright trolling), before suggesting much lower (but still crazy high) dollar amounts to “settle.” While some of the discussions on ELI were overly aggressive towards Ellis, it still seemed ridiculous that the court ordered Chan to remove all content relating to Ellis and to block any future mentions of her.

      • KickassTorrents Celebrates ‘Happy Torrents Day’

        For the fourth year in a row KickassTorrents is celebrating Happy Torrents Day by encouraging users to download and share as much as possible. The initiative was started to celebrate file-sharing and is growing bigger every year. The latest edition features various challenges and also sees the debut of a Kickass magazine and a Torrents Day album.

When Battistelli’s Defender, Dutch Justice Minister Ivo Opstelten, Attacked Europeans’ Right to Demonstrate

Posted in Europe, Fraud at 6:59 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz

Ivo Opstelten

Summary: The now disgraced (having just resigned) Ivo Opstelten played a role in helping Benoît Battistelli crush his staff

The European Patent Office (EPO) — especially its management as opposed to patent examiners– has indulged in relative calm this past week. What it does not know is that there is still have plenty of exclusive coverage coming and it’s not going to like it. These problems cannot be resolved with words but only with actions.

The EPO‘s management, namely Battistelli and his cronies, are on the retreat from EPO staff. The staff arguably has the upper hand now, so it will be getting its demands met one way or another.

Merpel from IP Kat delivered a sort of interlude at the end of last week, saying: “By recognising both the “social unease” that exists in the EPO and by timetabling the need to address it, this month’s Administrative Council Meeting appears to have provided at least a basis for the various interested parties — the President, Boards of Appeal, management, staff and unions, and also the members of the Administrative Council themselves if truth be told — to start afresh by building relationships that are founded on respect, on tolerance and understanding, on listening to one another, plus a leavening dose of humility.

“The outcome of the Administrative Council Meeting will certainly not be to everyone’s liking. For one thing, it approved the controversial healthcare reforms which, viewed from the standpoint of an objective bystander, appear to be one of the most significant causes of the “social unrest” and which will remain a permanent obstacle to its being remedied. Nor will its acceptance of the proposal for a Board of Appeal Committee, in the face of some sensible and constructive criticisms from the Praesidium and Board members, have done much to enhance respect or confidence for the Council itself. However, a door has been opened and a small step has been taken in the right direction. The question to ask now is whether, now that this opportunity has been created, it will be taken and built upon — or mocked and spurned.

“It is easy to be sceptical and to say that something won’t work, particularly if you can do it anonymously by penning comments on a blogpost. It’s also rather fun to be able to say to anyone who can be bothered to listen “See, it didn’t work. I told you so!” It’s far harder to swallow one’s pride, sit down with people you have not hitherto liked, trusted or respected, and talk through the problems that the EPO has to address, both those which it always has to face and those which it has recently created for itself. But that is what this Kat is calling for.”

EPO scandals should not be left in the past and treated as ‘old news’ because the core issues, including corruption, have not been addressed yet. Some recent articles from the Süddeutsche Zeitung serve to remind us of the profound issues at the EPO.

“We hope that you are enjoying your time in Singapore,” wrote to us a source some weeks ago when sending us translations of Süddeutsche Zeitung articles. “For your information just to keep you up to date with recent developments,” wrote this source, two recent articles from the Süddeutsche Zeitung (with English translations) were sent, accompanying the originals in Dutch.

The first one [PDF] (25th of February) is about the planned demonstration at the British Consulate in Munich (a demonstration which was called off following threats from Battistelli). Here is the English translation:

Süddeutsche Zeitung – Wednesday, 25 February 2015

An Inexorable Conflict

EPO staff call off an officially approved demonstration – because the President bans it

On one occasion, such a large number of staff – reportedly 2000 – arrived with their banners and placards that the police had to cordon off the street in front of the building with the
dark glass façade beside the Isar. They had taken to the streets to protest against the management style of the man who sits – some would say “resides” – on the top floor: Benoît Battistelli, President of the European Patent Office (EPO), an international organisation with its very own rules – “a state within a state”. A state which for quite some time now has been
in a virtual state of war.

All those who object to Battistelli’s new rules had planned to march again today. The route along the Isar would have brought them to the British Consulate General, just like previous actions which had taken place at the French and Danish Consulates. The EPO’s Staff Union SUEPO unexpectedly called off the officially approved demonstration: not of its own volition, however, but because the President had threatened the demonstrators with massive disciplinary consequences. This is confirmed by a document which the Süddeutsche Zeitung has seen. The Office management claimed that the demonstration was “contrary to the interests of the Office” and was likely to damage the EPO’s reputation. Staff members participating in the organisation of the demonstration were warned that they were in breach of the legal framework applicable to their contracts. In a letter to SUEPO, the President stated that the organisers would be held liable for their actions.

This de facto demonstration ban represents a new peak in a conflict whose intensity has been escalating during recent months. It is a conflict which has by now reached a point
where not even senior EPO representatives see any hope of a resolution. For quite some time now staff representatives have been fighting against the President and his plans for reform. The aim of these reforms is to provide a more efficient and cost-effective management of the Office – and one aspect of this involves tackling certain long-established “perks” which date from the early days of the EPO and which until now have contributed to attractive remuneration and working conditions. Time and time again, EPO staff have protested against what they consider to be the excessively brusque manner in which these reforms have been forced through. They have taken to the streets and in the weeks before Christmas they engaged in a strike action, albeit with diminishing participation towards the end. According to staff representatives this was due to increased internal surveillance and repression by management.

Photo Caption:

The Frenchman Benoit Battistelli will remain at the head of the European Patent Office until 2018. However, his management style has been the subject of harsh criticism.

The demonstrators have consistently emphasised that as far as they are concerned, this is not about money but rather about their fundamental rights, such as the freedom of expression. They consider that these rights have been increasingly curtailed by the President. Meanwhile, in attempting to justify the demonstration ban, Battistelli did not cite the attacks on his person and management style but referred instead to those directed against the two British delegates on the Administrative Council, the only supervisory body to which the President is subordinate. This body which is composed of delegates from the EPO member states is considered by its critics to be too much under the sway of the President. On a number of recent occasions, it has bolstered Battistelli, in particular by prematurely extending his term of office until 2018.

For this reason, the Staff Union wrote to the British Consulate General at the beginning of February and requested a discussion: not just about the President but also about what they considered to be the overly uncritical stance of the British delegation. Battistelli interpreted this as a personal attack on the two representatives of a member state. Moreover, discussions with member states are exclusively a matter for the Office – and by “Office” Battistelli means those at the top, i.e. himself. The EPO was unable to provide an answer to our question as to why Battistelli only decided to intervene now and why he did not raise any objection to previous demonstrations and letters to diplomatic representatives.

The second one [PDF] (27th of February) is about the Dutch court judgment and the intervention by the Dutch Justice Minister to prevent execution of the Judgment. There are more documents and comments about this on the public website of SUEPO. Here is the English translation:

Süddeutsche Zeitung – Friday, 27 February 2015

Being in the right is no guarantee of obtaining satisfaction

Following a reprimand by a Dutch court, the European Patent Office strikes back

Berlin – A Court of Appeal in the Netherlands has ordered the European Patent Office (EPO) to engage in collective bargaining with the Staff Union. In addition to this, the EPO is required to cease blocking emails from staff representatives and to desist from threatening Staff Union activists with disciplinary measures. With this development, the conflict between EPO staff and the President Battistelli has reached a new level of intensity. The Appeal Court (“Gerechtshof”) in the Hague has officially declared that the EPO violated the fundamental rights of its staff. The Staff Union known as “SUEPO” had no means of legal redress available to it.

The judgment opens up a new chapter of legal history because until now it was generally accepted that the EPO, as an international organisation, enjoyed immunity from the jurisdiction of national courts. Battistelli consistently emphasised this, in particular in connection with the reforms which he has been implementing in the Office during the last few years. He claimed
that he wanted to do away with long-standing privileges enjoyed by staff and that he had the support of the representatives of the 38 member states of the Organisation. Staff representatives and Union activists, however, complained that the changes led to restrictions of their fundamental rights, for example with respect to Union activities and industrial action. The headquarters of the EPO are in Munich and it also has large sub-offices in Berlin, Vienna and the Hague.

“It was quite an unusual decision”, the attorney representing the Staff Union, Prof. Liesbeth Zegveld, says about the judgment. “The EPO had, however, behaved badly because it did not recognise SUEPO as a social partner”. The EPO management on the other hand rejects the judgment of the Appeal Court as an encroachment. The judges had “decided not to respect the
fundamental principle of immunity” wrote the EPO President in a Communiqué to his staff. “This judgement is neither legally admissible nor practically enforceable”.

In order to ensure that its point of view prevailed, it would appear that the EPO Administration brought pressure to bear on the Dutch authorities. A spokesperson for the Dutch Ministry of
External Affairs confirmed this version of events in response to a query from the Süddeutsche Zeitung. The Dutch Government now takes the position that although the EPO is not immune from the jurisdiction of the courts in its conflict with the Staff Union, it nevertheless enjoys immunity from execution of the judgment. The Ministry of Justice ordered the Court Bailiff not to proceed with the execution. “The Ministry of External Affairs has confirmed to us that the judgment failed to take account of the international legal obligations of the [Dutch] State”, said the EPO press officer, Rainer Osterwalder.

What will happen next is unclear. On one hand, the EPO may refer the matter to the next instance, the Supreme Court of the Netherlands. On the other hand, SUEPO attorney Liesbeth Zegveld is currently considering taking legal action against the [Dutch] State which, in her opinion, is obstructing its own justice system. It is possible that a similar lawsuit could succeed before the German courts.

“The European states, including Germany, should never have ratified the Convention relating to the European Patent Office,” says Siegfried Broß, a former judge of the German Constitutional Court, “because it places the fundamental and human rights of EPO employees at the disposition of the Office Administration.”

The Dutch Socialist Party has also issued a statement calling on the Dutch government not to tolerate human rights abuses at the EPO. To quote the summary alone: “The Court of Justice in The Hague last week ruled that the European Patents Organisation (EPO) is in conflict with important European fundamental rights, such as the right to strike. Security and Justice Minister Ivo Opstelten is, however, refusing to give effect to the judgment, on the grounds that the EPO – not an EU institution, but one with thirty-eight member states, including all EU countries – is an independent organisation and therefore enjoys immunity. SP Member of Parliament Michiel van Nispen finds this reasoning absurd, he says. ‘The minister is thus approving the silencing of trade unions and the fact that workers can’t in the end enforce their rights,’ he points out. ‘Independent organisations should not be hampered in their functioning, but that doesn’t mean that they have carte blanche to transgress human rights and ignore judicial rulings.’”

In imminent articles we are going to show that even Battistelli’s defence, namely Opstelten, is itself corrupt. There is much that can be deduced from it. █

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