03.15.16
Posted in America, Microsoft, Patents at 11:59 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz
English/Original
Publicado en America, Microsoft, Patentes at 7:37 pm por el Dr. Roy Schestowitz
“La Comisión no puede unilateralmente quitar un derecho fundamental de defensa.”
–Horacio Gutierrez, hypocrita de Microsoft quien colecta ‘dinero de protección’ de compañías que usan/distribuyen Linux
Sumario: Agresores de patentes como Microsoft y entidades no-prácticantes que llevan las patentes de software al Distrito Este de Texas para extraer dinero de compañíás productivas que han atraído hacia ellas atención (celos) de gente que puede ponerles freno
Los reciéntes artículos acerca de la agresión de patentes (4 artículos acerca de ello [1, 2, 3, 4] han atraído bastante tráfico (el cache de nuestro server obtuvo 22,986,674 hits en las últimas cuatro semanas) y ha traído un montón de artículos en toda suerte de medios, incluyendo medios en otros lenguajes. Este hilo titulado ¨Microsoft trolleando a Linux con patentes pueda que se este exténdiendo a la cadena Azure de microsoft¨, por instancia, links a este artículo que a su turno nos cita y dice:
Microsoft ha lanzado otra campaña anti-open source en las últimas semanas, apuntando prominentes compañíás de Linux y Software Libre. Ellos están atentando limitar el desarrollo de open-source con compras, trolling de patentes, así como cobrar ¨regalíás¨ por productos que usan Linux. Sus esfuerzos reciéntes los tienen AGARRANDO PATENTES DE TECNOLOGÍA DE OPEN SOURCE iNCLUYENDO SOFTWARE DESARROLLADO POR CANONICAL, desarrolladores de la más popular Linux distr, Ubuntu.
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Esta no es la primera vez que Microsoft ha usado esta metodología para tratar de obstaculizar innovación en la comunidad de open source. Usaron tecnologías similares el 2006 al entrar en un ´arreglo´ de patentes con Novell acerca de su venta de Linux productos de empresa. Han hecho lo mismo al aplicar por patentes en ´su´ tecnología llamada Continuum, (a similar software, llamado Convergence, ha estado siendo desarrollado en Canonical en los años anterióres) y firmar otro ´arreglo´ de patentes con Rakuten Inc. que cubre aparatos Android y Linux. Microsoft usa estos ´acuerdos´ para perseguir al software de código libre que daña considerablemente sus margines, tulliendo innovación al ir alrededor de las protecciones proveidas por el licensing de open source. Usan estos casos como precedente para ESTABLECER QUE LINUX Y OTROS SOFTWARE DE CÓDIGO ABIERTO ES SU PROPIEDAD INTELECTUAL. Estos casos típicamente son cubiertos por los medios corporativos con gran parcialismo, pintando al pobrecito Microsoft protegiendo ´su´ propiedad intelectual, cuando en realidad lo opuesto es la verdad.
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En los ambientes actuales legales de desarrollo de software, el open source no es más suficiente para protejer contra compañíáß cuyo interés es poner zancadillas, como hemos discutido en un previos artículo. Microsoft ha hecho lo mismo en el pasado, así que no hay nada que los detenga de hacerlo de nuevo con el blockchain y cryptocurrencies? Nada al presente. Todo lo que toma es un ´arreglo´ de patentes con una compañíá pequeña que no puede financiar una batalla legal para empezar el proceso en cadena en el ecosistema para llevar la bola de Microsoft a rodar de nuevo.
Microsoft no es un clásico troll de patentes porque todavía tiene sus propios productos en el dominio mobil. ¿Pero por cuánto tiempo?
“Microsoft no es un clásico troll de patentes porque todavía tiene sus propios productos en el dominio mobil. ¿Pero por cuánto tiempo?”De acuerdo con este artículo de MIP ¨TC Heartland será escuchado hoy 11 de Marzo [eso fué hace días]. El caso busca voltear el caso de 1990 en el Circuito Federal VE Holdin versus Johnson Gas Appliance, que dió a los dueños de patentes más opciones de enjuiciar¨ (usualmente en el Distrito Este de Texas [1, 2, 3]).
“Hace unos pocos meses,” escribió otro autor,¨Yo estaba en el Distrito Este de Texas Banco y conferencias Bar, y empecé a hablar con un juez federal de distrito acerca de sus puntos de vista de la desaparición entonces inminente del Formulario 18, la forma que esencialmente hizo suficiente para una denuncia por infracción directa para incluir sólo acusaciones escuétas de los hechos. Su respuesta fue, “que va a ser la infernal Regla 12.¨
El mismo autor fue interrogado posteriormente (en el titular): ¨¿Qué Pasaría a Casos de Patentes si Ellos no Pueden Ser llenados en Texas?¨
“Wadhwa no es un troll de patentes pero más un académico y empresario. Contraste sus puntos de vista con aquellos de Neil Wilkof (IP Kat), quien tremprano hoy dijo que estaba suavizando la imagen de los trolles de patentes y minimzando los asuntos asociados con ellos.”“Así,” dijo, “¿A dónde nos lleva esto? Muchas veces tenemos que moverlos, no sólo casos llevados por NPEs [trolles]. Incluso así, un decente número de casos permanecen en la misma localidad. Que Delaware y Nor California serían las más populares no es sorprendente, dado que muchos acusados tienen sede en Delaware o Silicon Valley. Talvez más sorprendente es que el Distrito Este de Texas permanezca tercero en la lista, aunque con un menor número de casos. Esos caso probablemente sean llenados contra negocios vendiendo bienes patentados de tiendas localizadas en ese distrito, aunque haya algunos acusados en nuestra muestra que tenían sede allí.¨
Un nuevo artículo por Vivek Wadhwa, a quien habitualmente citamos aquí, desea poner un punto final a esta costosa y espurea/frívola litigacion. En AOL escribió el otro día: ¨Lo que es bueno para la innovación es un próspero ecosistema en el cual compañías construyan en ideas mutuas y constantemente se reinventen a sí mismas en vez de tratar de poner zancadillas una a otra en las cortes.
“Es suficiente malo cuando grandes compañíás con bolsillos profundos batallan una a otras, pero para compañías nuevas, juicios pueden ser faltales.¨
“Innovadores en ciernes tienen que vivir en constante temor de que un troll de patentes saque una pistola grande y los ponga en quiebra. Para compañíás nuevas, esto es de mayor preocupación que alguie robe sus ideas.”
Wadhwa no es un troll de patentes pero más un académico y empresario. Contraste sus puntos de vista con aquellos de Neil Wilkof (IP Kat), quien tremprano hoy dijo que estaba suavizando la imagen de los trolles de patentes y minimzando los asuntos asociados con ellos. El escribió: ¨En Noviembre 2013, como Kat reportó previamente, más de 60 profesores de propiedad intelectual enviaron una carta al Congreso de los Estados Unidos, estableciéndo su critica del sistema de patentes y sugerencias para una reforma. Entre otras cosas, la carta discute el efecto global negativo de los trolls de patentes sobre la innovación …”
Lo que todo el mundo parace estarse dando cuenta. Es difícil de negar.
“Curiosamente, ya que Kat lo ha sugerido en otro lugar, el emblema de riesgos (u oportunidades) en el potencial para ampliación del trolling de patentes, específicamente Intellectual Ventures, parece que su presencia pública ha bajado significativamente.”
–Neil Wilkof¨En una palabra,¨ Wilkof añadió, ¨parece simplemente haber un murmullo acerca de la materia. Curiosamente, ya que Kat lo ha sugerido en otro lugar, el emblema de riesgos (u oportunidades) en el potencial para ampliación del trolling de patentes, específicamente Intellectual Ventures, parece que su presencia pública ha bajado significativamente. Sea causa o efecto de la más general decadencia del troll de patentes es una pregunta intersante. Más aún, Kat se pregunta si la dificultad en definer lo que se entiende por un troll de patentes también ha contribuido a este descenso “.
Intellectual Ventures es un masivo troll de patentes conectado a Microsoft (uno de varios) y de verdad ha sufrido despidos. Sin embargo, hay miles de satélites alrededor de Intellectual Ventures, así que es difícil decir si esta disminuyendo, creciendo or simplemente metamorfoseando.
Entre la gente que defiende a los trolles de patentes (y consiguen ser financiados por ellos, e.g IAM ´magazine´) es común ver que ¨troll¨ es una palabra indefinida y raramente la mencionan (como vampiros que les ponen ajos en frente). Miren este comentario en este artículo de Wilkof, que dice: ¨el mar de cambio en las cortes, efectivamente revirtiéndo State Street y encontrándo (vez tras vez) la materia de reclamo ineligible que se haga valer la NPE. Despues de todo, muchos de los reclamos sostenidos por las NPEs son métodos de negocios con una contribución a artes útiles que podemos resumirlo como ¨hazlo en la red¨. Accionistas han retumbado que tales reclamos simplemente no cortan más la mostaza.¨
Lo que el/ella/ellos quisieron decir es, esto esta ¨en la red¨ patentes de software; esa es una de las más populares herramientas de los trolles de patentes.
“Se escribió mucho acerca de la LEY DE PATENTES así como la Ley de Innovación habiéndose explicado en varias ocasiones que estos están diseñados para ayudar a las grandes empresas y trolles de patents a expensas de la sociedad, en lugar de ayudar a la sociedad en su conjunto, a expensas de los trolls de patentes.”Ahora que los trolles de patentes están de regreso en la agenda en los Estados Unidos (primera vez desde el receso de Verano en el Congreso), algunos escritores pretenten que necesitamos trolles de patentes para la ¨innovación¨. Este ejemplo dice: ¨Nuestra futura economía está basada en la innovación, como las muchas compañías de ciencias de la vida y de la biotecnología que se están desarrollando en Kentucky. No sólo es nuestra industria ayudando a afrontar algunos de las amenazas para la salud más grandes del mundo, pero lo que están haciendo al crear la próxima generación de puestos de trabajo”.
¿Este tipo piensa que innovación no puede suceder sin patentes en cada dominio? O ¿qué combatir a los trolles de patentes es algo malo para los negocios pequeños? Pretender que impedir la ola de trolles de patentes actualmente puede dañar a los pequeños negocios (a los que usualmente los trolles de patentes EXTORSIÓNAN hasta que quiebren) es engañoso a lo mejor. Aquí esta otro nuevo ejemplo de las noticias “S 1137 (the PATENT Act) and HR 9 (the Innovation Act),” dice esta persona, ¨cambiaría la manera que los juicios de patentes son manejados. El nuevo proceso crearía un complejo y oneroso labor de retazos legal para pequeños y medianos negocios así como inventores defiendan sus patentes. Mientras que largas corporaciones y sus equipos de abogados de alto precio serían insignificantemente impactados por los cambios en esos proyectos de leyes, aquellos sin los recursos para defender sus patentes estarán [jodidos] devastados.¨
We wrote a great deal about both the PATENT Act and Innovation Act and explained repeatedly that these are designed to help big corporations at the expense of patent trolls, rather than help society as a whole at the expense of patent trolls. It does not, however, mean that these so-called ‘reforms’ are undesirable or detrimental to small businesses which actually produce things (i.e. not patent trolls).
Se escribió mucho acerca de la LEY DE PATENTES así como la Ley de Innovación habiéndose explicado en varias ocasiones que estos están diseñados para ayudar a las grandes empresas y trolles de patents a expensas de la sociedad, en lugar de ayudar a la sociedad en su conjunto, a expensas de los trolls de patentes. No significa, sin embargo que aquellas llamadas ¨reformas¨ son indeseables o detrimentales para los pequeños negocios que actualmente producen cosas (i.e no trolles de patentes). █
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Posted in Microsoft, Patents at 11:41 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz
English/Original
Publicado en Microsoft, Patentes at 5:20 pm por el Dr. Roy Schestowitz
Sumario: Artículos que publicamos la semana pasada acerca de los chantajes de Microsoft (contra Linux usando patentes de software) estan recibiendo niveles de tráfico sin precedente
TECHRIGHTS esta satisfecho de ver poco después de escribir 3 artículos acerca de los últimos arreglos de patentes contra Linux [1, 2, 3] hay un amplio debate en la red acerca de ello, y se ha extendido mucho más allá del mundo de GNU/Linux. Las mucha entradas acerca de ello se aproximan a 1,000 comentarios en toda clase de sitios (difícil de leerlos todos) y la gente expresa su justificada ira contra Microsoft.
“Los diversas entradas al respecto se acercan a 1.000 comentarios en todo tipo de sitios (es difícil mantenerse al día con todo) y las personas expresan su ira justificada en Microsoft.”Ayer notamos que este es un ángulo que tiene cubrimiento en la prensa Alemana. Para citar: “Microsoft hat zwei Patentabkommen geschlossen, die sich auf Technologien beziehen, die in Linux und Android verwendet werden. Darauf weist Roy Schestowitz vom Techrights-Blog in einem Beitrag hin. Zwar versuche Microsoft derzeit, sich als besonders Linux-freundlich zu inszenieren, so Schestowitz, an der Praxis der Geltendmachung von Patentrechten gegenüber Linux und Android habe sich aber nichts geändert.”
Un sitio de noticias en Inglés escribió ayer que ¨no todas las ramas de la comunidad de open source estan dando la bienvenida al supuesto aproximamiento de Microsoft al open source. Christine Hall en FOSS Force lleno un analisis esta semana en el que escribió que los movimientos de Microsoft ¨están basados únicamente en codicia¨ y representan una ¨calle de un sólo sentido¨ para empujar más negocios para Microsoft.
“Básicamente hacen un montón de dinero sin mover un dedo, con sólo el envío de un flujo de solicitudes de patentes, a costa de millones de personas, con el fin de ganar miles de millones de empresas que realmente hacen cosas.”“Similarmente, Roy Schestowitz, uno de los más firmes de la nueva generación de propenentes de open source, escribe que Microsoft ha “chantajeado a Linux.”
“A primera vist, criticismos como estes parecen meramente reflejar profundas dudas contra Microsoft por parte de proponetes del open source que representan la más ideológica parte de la comunidad de open source. Sería fácil condonarlos como puntos de vista radicales con poca presencia en la comunidad misma.”
Para aquellos que no saben lo suficiente acerca de la controversia, el meollo de lo que Microsoft desea:
- Hacer Linux más caro
- Sacar ventaja sobre el desarrollo y distribución de Linux, usando la AMENAZA de una litigación onerosa, en orden de hacer preinstalar el software de Microsoft (malware/spyware) e.g. en Android
- ásicamente hacen un montón de dinero sin mover un dedo, con sólo el envío de un flujo de solicitudes de patentes, a costa de millones de personas, con el fin de ganar miles de millones de empresas que realmente hacen cosas.
“Es un escorpión o una serpiente en el sentido de la parábola.”Ayer mencionamos al artículo de Simon Phipps en IDG acerca de esto. Poco despues acompañando al mismo (talvez indicando lo que no es adecuado publicar allí) publicó esta pieza en su blog personal y dijo: ¨Fui a la pagina de las Publicaciones de Prensa de Microsoft buscando noticias de apoyo a Linux de SQL server y su unión a Eclipse. Para mi gran sorpresa, no hubo nada allí. Pero hubo algo más; una publicación de prensa celebrándo l firma de otro usuario de Linux de las Patentes de Microsoft Licensing así como otra ganancia de patentes contra Android. Nada acerca de SQL server, Eclipse o cualquier positivo compromiso con open source.
¨Pondré aparte los asuntos de validez de las patentes de software, or la aplicabilidad del portafolio de Microsoft a Linux, aunque ambas tienen asuntos reales y significativos. La sorpresa surge por mis propias experiencias en Sun.¨
Esto vino después que intercambié algunas palabras con Phipps, quién concluyo con: ¨Por eso he escrito en InfoWorld un llamado a Microsoft a unirse al Open Invention Network (OIN). Por favor unanse a mi respondiendo cada anuncio de Microsoft relacionado con Open Source con ¨¿Pero ya se han unido al OIN?¨ hasta que ellos lo hagan.¨
Ellos probablement nunca lo harán. No es su naturaleza. Es un escorpión o serpiente en el sentido de la parábola.
Temprano hoy, uniéndose a un sitio proponente de Microsoft, notamos este post de Reddit titulado ¨Lloviendo en el Desfile: Microsoft extorsióna a compañíá por su infringimiento de patentes de Linux¨ (muchísimos medios no prestaron atención a ello por que hubo suficiente distracción). Ahora hay casi una docena de posts de Reddit uniéndose a Techrights en relación a esta materia (este es sólo uno de ellos). Incluso Soylent News cubrió esto hoy al tomar parte del artículo de Phipps y el nuestro:
Los comentarios de Simon Phipps las últimas payasadas de Microsoft contra open source. Específicamente, mientras el público es distraído por el show, Microsoft esta extorsiónando a las comunidades de Android/Linux y GNU/Linux por licensias de patentes.
Roy Schestowitz tiene palabras duras en la misma materia, notando que los medios estan ignorando las acciones maliciosas de Microsfot a favor de prestar atención a su campaña de relaciones públicas.
Mientras que la OIN no pueda protejer contra NPEś (Entidades No Prácticantes) alias trolles de patentes, fue creada justamente por esta clase de situaciones y eligir no unirse a ella – envia un claro mensaje de sus intenciones en contra de la comunidad.
“Esperamos que nuestros pocos artículos sobre el tema de Microsoft y GNU/Linux seán suficiente para dejar a un montón de gente con el equilibrio aleccionador y una perspectiva más amplia de las cosas.”Hay muchos comentarios allí, incluyendo: ¨Simon ha escrito mucho en su blog personal. Solicita a la gente a unirsele en responder a cada anuncio de M$ relacionado con open source con: ¨¿Pero ya se unieron al OIN? [webmink.com]” hasta que lo hagan. M$ no puede esperar seguir extorsionando y al mismo tiempo ser respetado como un par en open source.
“Tal vez unirse a OIN funcionaría, pero yo preferiría ver al camp financiero de M$ y sus activos restantes apropiados. Nada de lo que tienen es necesario o incluso ventajoso con el código abierto o software libre. El mundo sería muchísimo mejor sin ellos. Ciertamente, la tecnología sería mucho más avanzada. Las décadas de daño que han hecho a la industria del software en general, no se pueden deshacer rápidamente o fácilmente, incluso si fueran a hacerlo en serio, no tienen esa intención. Pero dejando quejas a un lado, estoy de acuerdo con Simon. La única forma en que puede demostrar que ellos están allí para trabajar con el código abierto en lugar de atacarlo sería unirse a la OIN.¨
“Esto lleva a la gente cerca de la verdad.”Al presente hay cerca de 800 comentarios en Reddit acerca del último artículo de Techrights (no recuerdo si alguna vez alcanzamos tantos comentarios por un simple artículo). FOSS Force acaba de decir: ¨Aunque Microsoft principalmente exitósamente escondió sus atentados de joder a FOSS al esparcir noticias de amor a open source – en vez de esparcir FUD, creo que hubieron muchas noticas de FOSS sucendiéndo lejos del campo de Redmon. Incluso Microsoft con todos sus billones, parece que no es lo suficientemente largo para monopolizar (aunque lo quieran y traten) todas las noticias en el grade y maravillos mundo de FOSS.¨
Esperamos que nuestros pocos artículos sobre el tema de Microsoft y GNU/Linux seán suficiente para dejar a un montón de gente con el equilibrio aleccionador y una perspectiva más amplia de las cosas. Microsoft no es un amigo y estimamos que cerca de un millón de personas se han encontrado con nuestros posts acerca del último MATONEO de Microsoft. Esto lleva a la gente cerac de la verdad. █
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Posted in News Roundup at 11:14 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz
Contents
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If Microsoft really cares about Linux and open source, if they really want to be part of the community. they must win the trust of the community. As I’ve said before and will say again, if Microsoft really loves Linux, they must make a public pledge to not go after Linux. They should join the Open Innovation Network (OIN) to send a message to the Linux and open source world that they are in it with us, that they are not going to attack us, to destroy us if we use Linux.
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Desktop
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Server
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Rackspace’s expanded OnMetal bare-metal server service for OpenStack cloud debuts.
Rackspace is expanding its OnMetal bare-metal service for OpenStack, providing users with more powerful options to deploy applications in the cloud.
Typically with a cloud deployment, server assets are virtual and customers don’t get to choose the physical underlying hardware, the actual bare-metal that an application will run on. The Rackspace OnMetal service first launched in June 2014, enabling users to directly deploy an OpenStack cloud onto physical hardware.
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Swiss software start-up LzLabs has unveiled the world’s “first” software defined mainframe, designed to move legacy mainframe applications and data to open Linux server and cloud platforms.
Announced at CeBIT 2016, LzLabs says it is still undergoing clinical trials with ten companies, but it will be offered to customers both for use within their own datacentres running on Red Hat Linux-based computers and for deployment via the Microsoft Azure cloud platform.
The software defined mainframe has been five years in the making and if the testing goes well, LzLabs plans to launch it later this year.
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So what’s left for Microsoft to do?
Well, if they announce AD Services running on Linux, you’ll know that their heart is no longer in the Windows data centre.
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Kernel Space
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Of course the update that is most interesting to us, is the addition of experimental support for Powerplay in the amdgpu driver. Powerplay is the brand name for the power management technologies found in AMD CPUs and APUs, which requires the dreaded and deprecated Catalyst driver to work properly.
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The Linux 4.5 kernel was officially released by Linus Torvalds late on Sunday March 13, providing the second major kernel milestone update so far in 2016, following Linux 4.4 which debutedon January 10.
Among the big additions in Linux 4.5 is support for the copy_file_range() system call for offloading copies between regular files. The Linux kernel code commit for the new system was authored by Red Hat’s Zach Brown and according to the git entrythe new system call, “..gives an interface to underlying layers of the storage stack which can copy without reading and writing all the data.”
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This release nearly didn’t make it: Linux lord Linus Torvalds writes that he came close to ordering an eighth release candidate, as “We did have one nasty regression that got fixed yesterday [Sunday - Ed], and the networking pull early in the week was larger than I would have wished for.”
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Benchmarks
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Thanks to wccftech (and our IRC for the link) I have learnt today that AMD’s new processor design named Zen is shaping up very nicely. Apparently they are due out in October of this year (not confirmed), so hopefully not too long to find out for ourselves. I’ve no doubt Phoronix will have tests up shortly after they are released so we can see their Linux performance.
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Applications
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Tox is a free, open source, end-to-end encrypted messenger that allows you to communicate securely with your family, and friends. It is completely decentralized, peer-to-peer messenger without relying on any central server. The communication between you and your friend should always remain private and secure. Nobody knows what you’re communicating, except the recipient of course. The idea behind the development of Tox was born when the NSA whistle bowler Edward Snowden’s leaks of NSA spying activity. The Tox project has been started by single anonymous developer back in 2013, and now hundreds of active developers are contributing to this project.
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Instructionals/Technical
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Games
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Another game which is really amazing is Team Fortress 2, it can be played online and it’s fun you can choose a personallity and play with that, the guns of each personallity is different with others for example spy’s guns are different with doctor’s tools, this game is about 8GB too!
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Spike Chunsoft is releasing a sequel to its visual novel murder mystery thriller with a cult-like following, Danganronpa. The sequel, titled Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair, will be headed to Steam on April 18, allowing PC gamers to join in on the fun.
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I keep reading comments that Linux gaming is pretty much stagnating and not worth investing in because it is still at around 1% in the Steam Hardware Survey. So I decided to try and find some numbers. Unfortunately, there isn’t all that much data publicly available, if you have additional or better data, I’ll be happy to add them. Also, if you find any mistakes please let me know.
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Kingdom Come: Deliverance, a game built with CryEngine looked like it was going to be a fantastic game to have on Linux, but the developers have told me it “is not possible technically”.
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The Godot Engine has grown by leaps and bounds alongside Dog Mendonça & Pizzaboy’s development. Its recent 2.0 release and Steam launch have been received with enthusiasm by both the existing Godot community and newcomers alike. The engine is now under the protective wing of the Software Freedom Conservancy, which is as I understand it, making sure that two of its primary developers can continue working on it.
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Good news Danganronpa fans as Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair looks like it will support Linux on the April 18th release.
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If you are stuck in the world of bin and bash, trying to figure out a way to escape your machine’s Terminal, here’s how to take a quick break. If you know some basic UNIX commands and PHP, this quick and dirty method will help you play Pokémon and Mario inside your Terminal.
I found this Terminal Game Boy project on GitHub. To use this, your machine needs to be running at least PHP 5.6, 7, or HHVM. This Terminal emulator only works on Linux and Mac OS X. Based on Game Boy JS Emulator and making use of PHP7’s performance improvements, this project has become a fun way to kill some time.
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The developers of the open-source and cross-platform Unvanquished FPS (first-person shooter) game have announced today, March 14, 2016, the release of the 49th Alpha build.
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The latest monthly alpha release for the Unvanquished open-source first person shooter game is now available. This release also marks four years since these releases began by this project derived from Tremulous.
Unvanquished Alpha 49 is also special in that it brings a new, tile-based forward+ renderer, which should help significantly with lighting performance. There are also patches to improve performance for those using graphical effects and more. The Unvanquished engine’s renderer was originally derived from XreaL while now it’s evolved into a radically different beast. Both the new and old renderer will be around for a few more releases as the new tile-based renderer doesn’t yet support shadows and some other features, plus there is always the chance of regressions.
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GNOME Games app developer Adrien Plazas announced this past weekend the availability for testing of the RC (Release Candidate) build of the upcoming 3.20 release, which should land as part of the GNOME 3.20.
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Desktop Environments/WMs
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K Desktop Environment/KDE SC/Qt
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KDSoap is a tool for creating client applications for web services without the need for any further component such as a dedicated web server.
KDSoap lets you interact with applications which have APIs that can be exported as SOAP objects. The web service then provides a machine-accessible interface to its functionality via HTTP.
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It looks like Qt 5.6 is finally ready to be released.
The Qt Company’s Jani Heikkinen announced the availability this morning of the final Qt 5.6.0 packages. The availability of these packages today is for any last minute testing to see if the Qt 5.6.0 release can be officially announced on Wednesday if there are no last minute issues.
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The crew behind the incredible Krita KDE drawing program has today announced they’ve gone into a feature freeze for Krita 3.0 and have decided to release 3.0 Pre-Alpha 3.
The program is now under a feature freeze until the official Krita 3.0 release, which is scheduled to take place on 27 April. For the next month they are focused on just fixing bugs in this huge release that marks the porting to Qt5 and KDE Frameworks 5. Krita 3.0 also brings Kickstarter-sponsored features of an instant preview, animation support, rulers and guides, grid docker, layer multi-selection handling improvements, support for GImp brushes as images, a revamped layer management panel, and more.
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Scott Petrovic from the Krita Foundation has sent an email announcement to Softpedia informing us about the immediate availability for testing of the third Pre-Alpha build of the upcoming Krita 3.0 software.
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GNOME Desktop/GTK
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Plank is one of the simplest to use and easiest to install dock-like applications for GNU/Linux operating systems, and it reached the 0.11.0 milestone this past weekend.
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The GNOME Project is getting ready for the GNOME 3.20 desktop environment, due for release next week, on March 23, 2016, and most of the core components and apps are currently in the process of being updated to the RC (Release Candidate) version.
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During weekend I was in Puck, Poland at small conference called “Zimowisko linuksowe” (Linux winter camp) where I had a talk called “Dlaczego moje urządzenie nie jest obsługiwane przez dystrybucje” (Why my device is not supported by distributions).
In talk I presented how distributions (Debian, Fedora) handle ARM devices (one kernel for all, one image for all) and why it does not fit Raspberry/Pi or Chromebook. Also mentioned Roseapple/Pi as an example of how not to make support for device.
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New Releases
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RapidDisk is an open source and enhanced Linux RAM drive solution. Dynamically create, resize, and remove RAM drives. Or map those same RAM drives as a cache to slower data volumes. RapidDisk consists of a collection of kernel modules, an administration utility, High Availability scripts, and a RESTful API for third party integration.
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The developer of the Studio 13.37 OS, a GNU/Linux distribution based on the well-known Puppy Linux operating system, has announced earlier the release of the 2.4 build.
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Screenshots/Screencasts
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Red Hat Family
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Today’s data centers and clouds run on virtualization. The leading business Linux provider Red Hat knows that so it’s released an update to its Red Hat Enterprise Virtualizaiton (RHEV) project: RHEV 3.6.
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Qualcomm wants to port Red Hat’s Enterprise Linux Server for ARM which will allow developers to write applications for Qualcomm’s server chips.
Qualcomm has not hinted at a server chip shipment date, but said it will enter the ARM server market when it’s viable. There’s a handful of ARM systems available, but there is a lack of software which makes users a little more wary.
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Fedora
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That said, today I want to tell you and ask for feedback for Fedora 24 Alpha Release Wallpaper. Let me guide you for the process of wallpaper creation first. As you might know, before the final release, we have Alpha and Beta releases, for which we already have to package wallpapers. Between Alpha and Beta we collect feedback and make changes accordingly. You can take a look at previous versions wallpapers on their wiki pages: f23_artwork, f22_artwork, etc, etc. There you can also take a look at banners (based on wallpapers) and supplemental wallpapers chosen by vote. By the way, everybody is welcome to submit supplemental wallpapers! If you have pics to share, read this article and contribute. The deadline is in April, so there’s still time.
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For the Humanitarian Free and Open Source Software Development (HFOSS) course at the Rochester Institute of Technology, we were tasked with the Community Architecture (CommArch) project. For this project, we were tasked with analyzing an open source project’s community and the general details surrounding the project. This blog post serves as the analysis our team prepared for the project.
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Debian Family
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I plan to enforce SHA2 for GPG signatures some time after the release of xenial, and definitely for Ubuntu 16.10, so around June-August (possibly during DebConf). For xenial, I plan to have a SRU (stable release update) in January to do the same (it’s just adding one member to an array). This should give 3rd party providers a reasonable time frame to migrate to a new digest algorithm for their GPG config and possibly a new repository key.
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Derivatives
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Canonical/Ubuntu
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A few minutes ago, Canonical published a new Ubuntu Security Notice to inform users of the Ubuntu 12.04 LTS (Precise Pangolin) operating system about the availability of a kernel update.
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We reported earlier that Canonical released a minor kernel update for its Ubuntu 12.04 LTS (Precise Pangolin) operating system, and now the company announces a new kernel update for Ubuntu 15.10 (Wily Werewolf).
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Publicly, Canonical Software’s announcement that Ubuntu 16.04 will include the ZFS filesystem sounds like a potential violation of the second version of the GNU General Public License (GPLv2).
The fact that ZFS’s license, the Common Development and Distribution License (CDDL), is a free license but incompatible with the GPL makes the case unusual, but the problem routine.
However, the implications could prove extraordinary — in fact, they could indicate that, contrary to years of assumptions, the GPLv2 does not protect the Linux kernel at all. Many other projects could also be affected.
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Canonical has just teased the Linux and Ubuntu community with the fact that the upcoming BQ Aquaris M10 Ubuntu Edition tablet will be available for purchase soon.
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Michael Hall of Canonical has come up with a lengthy blog post to explain why the forthcoming Ubuntu 16.04 LTS (Xenial Xerus) operating system needs your help to make GNOME Software look beautiful.
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We reported on March 14 that Canonical published two new Ubuntu Security Notices with detailed information on multiple Linux kernel vulnerabilities patched for Ubuntu 12.04 LTS (Precise Pangolin) and Ubuntu 15.10 (Wily Werewolf) operating systems.
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Intel OTC’s PowerTOP utility has been around for nearly a decade for making it easy to carry out power optimization tweaks on Intel Linux systems. However, is this program still useful or are modern Linux distributions and upstream code now better optimized by default for delivering an ideal power-savings experience? As it’s been a while since the last time I tried PowerTOP, I fired it up today on an Intel Haswell ultrabook running a development snapshot of Ubuntu 16.04.
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Flavours and Variants
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The leader of the Ubuntu MATE project, Martin Wimpress, announced a few moments ago that the forthcoming Ubuntu MATE 16.04 LTS (Xenial Xerus) operating system would feature full support for Client Side Decoration (CSD) and Header Bar applications.
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Although I’m very pleased with the Pi 3, it is clearly still very early days for the new hardware. The one thing that every point listed above has in common is that they are all in need of an updated software release for one reason or another. So here’s to the future!
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Firefly’s sandwich-style “Reload” version of its quad-core Firefly-RK3288 hacker SBC adds SATA, more HDMI, camera, and USB ports, and more expansion I/O.
The Cortex-A17 has seen fairly high adoption in Android media player such as the Tronsmart Orion R28 via Rockchip’s quad-core, 1.8GHz Rockchip RK3288 SoC. T-Chip Technology’s Firefly single board computer spinoff has once again tapped the RK3288 for its open-spec Firefly-RK3288 Reload board, running Linux or Android on the same RK3288 with Mali T764 GPU as its earlier Firefly-RK3288 SBC. This time, however, it’s a sandwich-style carrier/COM product that adds SATA storage, more expansion pins, and more USB, HDMI, and camera ports.
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Open Pandora’s successor, the Pyra, now has a working prototype. The makers of this Linux-powered handheld computer are looking to make it better on the precision front and working to launch it in the market later this year. Know about the device here and watch the demonstration video.
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Today only you can get a quad-core ARMv7 development board for less than $15 USD.
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The king of tiny and cheap computers finally has a successor. The first Raspberry Pi computer made a big impact on the technology world, offering a full computer on a $35 chip roughly the size of a credit card. It has since proved to be a popular tool for students and hackers alike, providing easy and accessible software and hardware. Now, the Raspberry Pi Foundation is back with the Raspberry Pi 2, which crams in even more computing power while keeping the same price and roughly the same form factor.
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Internet of Things (IoT) company myDevices has announced a competition that it hopes will help build new partnerships centered on Rasbperry Pi, the inexpensive, open source-friendly hardware platform.
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Although the Raspberry Pi 3 was recently announced, the Raspberry Pi 2 still has plenty of life and is more than suitable for many interesting and useful tasks.
I have a few Raspberry Pis sitting around that I’ve been exploring for other interesting projects, one of which is the possibility of replacing a very old single-core 64-bit Intel rackmount server that I use for the primary firewall and router on the edge of my network. But before I disrupt the main firewall and gateway for my network, I wanted to test the Pi a bit and see just what it would take to make this happen.
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Nearly every pundit on the planet has chimed the death knell for the desktop PC. After all, isn’t everyone pretty much glued to their smartphones at this point?
It’s Linux.
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Phones
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Android
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With an effort led by John Stultz at Linaro, developers have managed to get a Google Nexus 7 tablet running on a mainline Linux kernel.
Open-source developers were able to get the Nexus 7 running on a mainline kernel plus about fifty extra patches, which are all open-source and available via a Linaro Git tree. They even managed to get accelerated open-source graphics for the Qualcomm SoC by using the Freedreno MSM DRM driver and Mesa Git.
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According to a research paper authored by some Google minds, a futuristic variant of the Google Now voice assistant is being developed by the search giant. The new personalised Google Now won’t require internet access – up to some extent – to process your voice commands as it will be intelligent (artificially) enough to understand you. The commands will be saved for later use and sent to the servers if the voice assistant feels them hard to understand.
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The next round of Oracle’s copyright lawsuit against Google over Android will begin on May 9, and we can expect to be treated to a lot of “bombshells” about Google’s Android business, sources close to the situation have told Business Insider.
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Last week Google released the developer preview for Android N. Some of you guys might have been pretty excited about it and might have gone and downloaded the system image to flash the OS onto your phone manually. Now if you’re regretting that decision because you think that you won’t get OTA updates, you can rest easy.
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Last month we told you about a new Android phone called the Freedom 251 that costs as much as a cup of coffee. This particular device is ridiculously shady, as it looks like the company behind it stole a bunch of Adcom Ikon 4 phones and rebranded them under its own name. In fact, as Android Authority points out, the company even used whiteout to conceal the Adcom brand name on the device.
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Google last week announced a developer preview of Android N, the forthcoming release of its mobile operating system. The release comes early; it was widely expected to be announced in May at Google I/O 2016, the Google developers conference. Releasing a work-in-progress build earlier in the development cycle will give Google more time to incorporate feedback from developers and will let it hand off the final release to device makers in the summer, the company said.
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A walkthrough of the Node.js Foundation’s base contribution policy.
A lot has changed since io.js and Node.js merged under the Node.js Foundation. The most impressive change, and probably the change that is most relevant to the rest of the community and to open source in general, is the growth in contributors and committers to the project.
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Now, what does this have to do with open source?
Well, open source projects function on both social and market norms. On one hand, we see corporate sponsors or contributors who are being paid to write code; on the other, we see several highly skilled, intelligent people contributing not for monetary gain, but because they value the community and the goodwill purpose of the project. These people identify with the altruistic ideal of giving back to others and the recognition that comes with it.
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One of the most important resources that an open source project can provide to potential contributors is contributor guidelines. When eager new contributors rush over to your project to make their first open source contribution, they rely on your contributor guidelines to be their guiding hand. That means that contributor guidelines should be easy to read, thorough, and friendly.
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ONS has become a recognized forum for major industry announcements and the introduction of open source networking projects. AT&T, Google and The Linux Foundation, among others have announced major networking projects and initiatives at ONS over just the last few years.
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Managing the changes made to any given dataset becomes a challenge as the scope of the organization grows, especially at the level of enterprise.
WhereHows was recently released as open source by its developer, LinkedIn, which manages vast amounts of data (about 50,ooo datasets, 14,000 comments, and 35 million job execution records). The name is a compound of two important attributes of data: “WHERE is the data, and HOW is it produced/consumed.”
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Among the purists is Chef, a firm which in fact describes itself as a player in automation for DevOps.
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Moxie Marlinspike, a co-developer of the Signal encrypted mobile messages app, is seeing his security technology used by Facebook’s messaging service, WhatsApp.
Encryption is a key technology for social media websites such as Facebook, and the technology developed by Moxie Marlinspike (the name is a pseudonym) and now marketed by his company Open Whisper Systems in the Signal app, is playing a big part in online community moves to improve security of user data.
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Web Browsers
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Mozilla
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Paul Rouget of Mozilla has shared plans for making an initial alpha release of their next-generation Servo Engine and Servo-based Browser.html web browser release for this summer.
The first version of Servo and Browser.html is planned for release in June. Browser.html is Mozilla’s experimental web browser built atop Servo where the UI itself is built in HTML. While a Servo Alpha release was originally expected in 2015, it’s great to see a release now planned in a few months.
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Amnesty International today announced a new #360Syria “virtual tour” website showing the devastation brought by Syrian government barrel bombing of the besieged city of Aleppo. The website demonstration, called “Fear of the Sky” (www.360Syria.com), is built using Mozilla A-Frame technology.
Websites like #360Syria, that allow viewers to take a virtual tour of the devastated city of Aleppo, are a significant new use case for WebVR. Technology gives people a voice where otherwise there is none. It brings a new level of visibility and greater levels of empathy to real-life situations.
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SaaS/Big Data
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First of all, there is no question that open source is becoming more pervasive in the enterprise stacks. And open source is part of the DNA of Hadoop. It is an essential part of the business model of Hadoop.
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Pseudo-/Semi-Open Source (Openwashing)
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“SONiC is a collection of networking software components required to have a fully functional L3 device that can be agnostic of any particular Linux distribution,” the SONiC Github project page states. “Today SONiC runs on Debian.”
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Open source ECM and BPM company Alfresco is expanding its channel presence through a new partner program tailored for businesses seeking standards-based content management solutions.
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Funding
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If you are a college student, you probably look forward to the summer as a relaxing time away from learning. Yeah, I get it — school can be very stressful, but sleeping late and vegetating won’t result in meaningful growth.
Instead of wasting your summer, why not learn about open source? If that sounds boring, then maybe it isn’t for you. However, if you are excited by the possibility of working on an open source project like Fedora, KDE, LibreOffice or VLC, then you should sign up for Google’s Summer of Code 2016.
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BSD
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While PAM has a potentially wider audience than FM:AZ, that interest isn’t as deep. I’m expecting nowhere near as many PAM sponsors. If you want to really stand out in a list of sponsors, this is your chance.
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OpenBSD 5.9 is gearing up for release at the start of May as the next feature release of this BSD operating system.
Mike Belopuhov of OpenBSD presented at this weekend’s AsiaBSDCon in Tokyo about the state of OpenBSD 5.9. There are PDF slides available to those interested.
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FSF/FSFE/GNU/SFLC
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The GNU free software project has launched version 0.0.1 of its Gneural Network package in response to the “outstanding and truly inspiring” results achieved of late in proprietary artificial intelligence.
The Free Software Foundation (FSF) describes Gneural Network as a GNU package for a programmable neural network, which as of 0.0.1 is “a very simple feed-forward network which can learn very simple tasks such as curve fitting” – although more advanced features will hopefully be delivered soon.
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GNU Health is growing quite fast, and we take very seriously the security of the implementations around the world that trust us.
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Public Services/Government
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Using open source has set the city of Limerick (Ireland) free to modernise its organisation. The city merged several isolated department front-desks into one modern customer centre, with the customer relations management system and other open source solutions greatly improving service levels.
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The Swiss Open Systems User group /ch/open wants the country’s cantons to use Geneva’s eVoting solution. The canton of Geneva is working to make the source code of its Internet voting solution available under an open source software licence, sometime next year.
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The US is buying into open-source software development methodology. “This policy will require new software developed specifically for or by the Federal Government to be made available for sharing and re-use across Federal agencies. It also includes a pilot program that will result in a portion of that new federally-funded custom code being released to the public.”
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Openness/Sharing
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Open Data
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If we take into consideration all the votings, we will notice that the greatest differences exist between the government and the opposition. It turns out that there are two Members of Parliament on the side of the government (Jarosław Gowin and Jacek Żalek) who usually voted as MPs from PO (the colour on the diagram corresponds to the club that a given Member of Parliament belonged to during most votings), yet their profiles differ considerably from the profiles of the remaining MPs. Besides, that pair migrated from one party to another, what may explain their incompatibility with the stance of PO. As far as PiS is concerned, the least compliant voters were Górski Artur and Tomaszewski Jan (who finally transferred to PO at the end of the year).
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Open Access/Content
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DRAWING comparisons to Edward Snowden, a graduate student from Kazakhstan named Alexandra Elbakyan is believed to be hiding out in Russia after illegally leaking millions of documents. While she didn’t reveal state secrets, she took a stand for the public’s right to know by providing free online access to just about every scientific paper ever published, on topics ranging from acoustics to zymology.
Her protest against scholarly journals’ paywalls has earned her rock-star status among advocates for open access, and has shined a light on how scientific findings that could inform personal and public policy decisions on matters as consequential as health care, economics and the environment are often prohibitively expensive to read and impossible to aggregate and datamine.
“Realistically only scientists at really big, well-funded universities in the developed world have full access to published research,” said Michael Eisen, a professor of genetics, genomics and development at the University of California, Berkeley, and a longtime champion of open access. “The current system slows science by slowing communication of work, slows it by limiting the number of people who can access information and quashes the ability to do the kind of data analysis” that is possible when articles aren’t “sitting on various siloed databases.”
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Open Hardware
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Amos Dudley, a broke undergrad, casted a mold of his teeth using “cheap alginate powder, Permastone, and a 3d printed impression tray,” then 3D printed and vacuformed a series of alingment trays for a fraction of what it would have cost to get name-brand invisaligns.
Obviously, this only works if you have ready access to “knowledge of orthodontic movement, a 3D scanner, a mold of the teeth, CAD software, a hi-res 3D printer, retainer material, and a vacuum forming machine.”
But if you do, it doesn’t look all that challenging to roll your own alignment trays.
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Programming
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Released a few days back was the newest version of AMD/RTG’s HIP compiler as part of their Boltzmann initiative in porting CUDA code to run on Radeon hardware with their new software stack.
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Fire has badly damaged a 16th Century hall in Manchester destroying the roof and causing extensive damage to an upper floor.
The blaze started in the roof of Wythenshawe Hall at about 03:30 GMT, Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service (GMFRS) said.
More than 50 firefighters tackled the “serious blaze” at the Tudor hall.
Five fire engines are still at the scene as an investigation is under way into the cause.
The timber-framed hall was built in 1540 and was home to the Tatton family for about 400 years.
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Science
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Senate Bill 1342, which will be heard this week by the House Education Committee, would authorize the use of the Bible “for reference purposes” in any class where “an understanding of the Bible may be useful or relevant.” Of course, our courts have repeatedly made clear that instruction in the Bible and creationism is neither useful nor relevant nor constitutional in science class. But that didn’t stop the bill’s drafters from explicitly listing astronomy, biology, and geology among the courses into which teachers may incorporate the Bible.
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One of the many frightening aspects of life under Joseph Stalin was the central direction of science by the Communist party. This led to egregious scientific data, disregarded in the west, but celebrated in the Soviet Union. One of the best examples was the nonsensical doctrine known as Lysenkoism, which rejected concepts such as genes and natural selection in favour of “natural cooperation” and the belief that physical changes imposed on one generation of organisms would pass down to the next – for example that plucking the leaves from a plant would encourage leaflessness in its descendants. Scientists who questioned the official view, such the geneticist Nikolai Vavilov, were denounced, exiled and in many cases sentenced to death.
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Health/Nutrition
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Senate Finance Committee Ranking Member Ron Wyden, D-Ore., and senior committee member Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, today released comments from the health care and patient community in response to the policy questions raised in their report, “The Price of Sovaldi and Its Impact on the U.S. Health Care System,” released on December 1, 2015.
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While US funding for medical research declines, China steadily progresses as shown by a total $1,1 billion investment in new drug development between 2011 and 2015.Despite this growth, China remains, however, far behind countries (such as the US and in the EU) renowned as home to top drug industries simply because the majority of Chinese companies are not competitive with foreign big corporations. As a result, almost all Chinese firms are currently focused on the production of generic medicines (more than 95 percent of chemicals produced in the country are, in fact, generics).
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The once quiet city of Flint, Michigan is facing a drinking water crisis that is drawing concern from around the nation. Here’s what you need to know about how the public health crisis has evolved.
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Security
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Last week I spent a good while on writing a new security realm for KDE’s Jenkins setups. The result of my tireless java brewing is that the Jenkins installation of KDE neon now uses KDE’s Phabricator setup to authenticate users and manage permissions via OAuth.
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In a shocking move, cyber criminals recently hacked the Linux Mint Web server and used it to launch an attack against the popular distro’s user base.
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System rescue tools provided by antivirus makers are often used to clean infected systems after the main antivirus software detects infections.
Most antivirus makers bundle this functionality in their main products, but a few offer more specialized tools that also repair damaged files, attempting to restore the system to its earlier working point as much as possible.
Only five of such tools are currently available on the market as free tools. They are AVG Rescue CD, Avira EU-Clean, Bitdefender Rescue CD, ESET SysRescue, and Kaspersky Virus Removal Tool.
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Spammed Word documents with malicious macros have become a popular method of infecting computers over the past few months. Attackers are now taking it one step further by using such documents to deliver fileless malware that gets loaded directly in the computer’s memory.
Security researchers from Palo Alto Networks analyzed a recent attack campaign that pushed spam emails with malicious Word documents to business email addresses from the U.S., Canada and Europe.
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Defence/Police/Secrecy/Aggression
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The journalist Eva Golinger (US – Venezuela) has repeatedly questioned the suspicious circumstances surrounding the death of Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez. The website aporrea.org quotes her statement: «Everything that Washington was trying to achieve during the administration of Hugo Chávez is today being realized in his absence. The cancerous illness from which Chávez suffered was unusually aggressive and suspicious, and every day turns up more evidence that it is possible Chávez was murdered».
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Jeffrey Goldberg’s newly published book-length article on Barack Obama and the Middle East includes a major revelation that brings US Secretary of State John Kerry’s Syrian diplomacy into sharper focus: it reports that Kerry has sought on several occasions without success over the past several months to get Obama’s approval for cruise missile strikes against the Syrian government.
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Transparency Reporting
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Last spring, Shoshana Walter with the Center for Investigative Reporting filed a routine public records request with the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Department for a story on a rogue firearms instructor. The request was unceremoniously denied, so Walter did exactly what reporters do in that situation: she pushed back. Moments later she received an email that she was never meant to see.
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While other states seem distressingly focused on exempting law enforcement from greater transparency — whether by crafting new loopholes in FOI laws or deciding body camera footage should remain in the control of police — California is going the other way.
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Environment/Energy/Wildlife
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‘In short, we are now hurtling at a frightening pace toward the globally agreed maximum of 2.0°C warming over pre-industrial levels’
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February smashed a century of global temperature records by “stunning” margin, according to data released by NASA.
The unprecedented leap led scientists, usually wary of highlighting a single month’s temperature, to label the new record a “shocker” and warn of a “climate emergency.”
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Bill McShea broke into an infectious belly laugh when I ask him the question I’ve been posing to biologists, conservationists, and zookeepers for months: What is it about the panda?
“Look at it,” he said, gesturing to snapshots of him jovially clutching baby pandas to his chest, which were tacked in his office at the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute in Front Royal, Virginia. “It’s cute as hell. You have to say, ‘Is that real? Does something really look like that?’”
McShea, a rosy-cheeked, bespectacled research biologist, has spent the last two decades devoting part of his studies to pandas, including annual pilgrimages to China to study the species’s habitat and collaborate with local conservationists. If pressed, he’ll admit a deeper fascination with the lesser-known creatures that share the pandas’ habitat—the Asiatic black bear, the takin, the tufted deer—but McShea has no trouble identifying what it is about pandas that’s so appealing to everyone else. And you really only have to look at one photo, or video, or GIF of a panda to solve the mystery.
With its round ears, fluffy fur, stub snout, tubby tummy, and those distinctive, big black polka dot eyes, it’s not hard to see why people around the world are enamoured. But there’s a growing group of dissenting voices who openly and actively hate pandas.
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Finance
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Nearly two-and-a-half months ago, I started a daily examination of the Trans Pacific Partnership focused on the intellectual property and digital policy issues raised by the agreement. My initial plan for the Trouble with the TPP series was to write for one month leading up to the planned signing in New Zealand on February 4th. However, the more I dug into the TPP, the more trouble I found. With this final post in the series, I wrap up the key IP and digital policy concerns with links to all the original posts.
Canadians interested in the TPP now have an opportunity to have their voices heard. The Standing Committee on International Trade has been conducting hearings on the agreement for several weeks and has announced plans for cross-country consultations. Canadians can provide written submissions by April 30th. Alternatively, they can ask the committee to appear as a witness. Details on the committee opportunities can be found here. In addition, Canadians can send their comments directly to Global Affairs Canada, which is managing the government’s consultation. The email address is TPP-PTP.Consultations@international.gc.ca.
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PR/AstroTurf/Lobbying/Politics
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Unit uses psychology and social media to help ‘fight in the information age’
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Since hearing about Hillary and her superdelegate count, many Sanders supporters believed Bernie was automatically doomed. But actually, the superdelegates’ pledge to Clinton isn’t finalized, and each can still change his or her vote prior to the final vote following the last state primaries. Superdelegates generally vote in line with the popular vote when the time comes, but there is nothing requiring them to do so.
[...]
So how would that affect Americans?
“I think the inequality would heighten, I think that would pretty much cinch it,” Grayson told the Young Turks, adding “if you have a billionaire for the leader of the country, then it really is an oligarchy. Game over.”
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Ahead of Tuesday’s key primaries, supporters of Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders gathered in Zuccotti Park in New York City to call voters in Illinois, Florida and Ohio. Many of the phone bankers were former Occupy Wall Street activists who returned to the site of the 2011 encampment because they saw parallels between Occupy and Sanders’ message. “We were really inspired by the incredible amount of grassroots momentum and energy that’s been inspired by the Sanders campaign and its critique of Wall Street, of money in politics and a rigged economy,” said Beka Economopoulos, a former Occupy activist who helped organize the phone bank. But other Occupy activists disagreed with what they saw as the co-opting of the movement; they staged a “mic check,” using Occupy’s signature call-and-response to say the movement should remain independent of political candidates.
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Hackers affiliated with the Anonymous hacktivist collective have vowed to relaunch cyber-operations against US presidential candidate Donald Trump from 1 April. They threaten to ‘dismantle his campaign’ by taking his election websites offline in a large-scale and orchestrated distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack.
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Hackers affiliated with the Anonymous hacktivist collective have vowed to relaunch cyber-operations against US presidential candidate Donald Trump from 1 April. They threaten to ‘dismantle his campaign’ by taking his election websites offline in a large-scale and orchestrated distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack.
In December 2015, Anonymous officially ‘declared war’ on Trump after a radical speech in which he said Muslims should be banned from entering the United States. The operation at the time resulted in a number of websites being targeted by hackers, but failed to have lasting impact.
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Despite this news media have given him a free ride saving $millions in advertising expenses and he’s leading in the GOP primaries despite ⅔ or voters voting for anyone but Trump. I hope he gets kicked out at the convention or he’ll just cause an order of magnitude more trouble before being defeated in the general election. In the unlikely event he becomes president, the world, not just USA is in for a Hell of a lot of trouble. So, it may actually be a good thing Anonymous is going after his networks.
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As Donald Trump’s campaign predictably moves from toxic rhetoric targeting the most marginalized minorities to threats and use of violence, there is a growing sense that American institutions have been too lax about resisting it. Political scientist Brendan Nyhan on Sunday posted a widely cited Twitter essay voicing this concern, arguing that “Trump’s rise represents a failure in American parties, media, and civic institutions — and they’re continuing to fail right now.” He added, “Someone could capture a major party [nomination] who endorses violence [and] few seem alarmed.”
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Censorship
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EFF is basically right: While accurate in some cases, the White House’s assertion is an overly optimistic characterization of TPP’s probable effects. For example, EFF argued that TPP would not prevent potential signatory Malaysia from suppressing, within its own territory, Internet-based political speech relating to alleged governmental misappropriation of hundreds of millions of dollars of development funds. I think that EFF’s analysis is correct.
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It is possible to argue that North Korea has the world’s strictest media censorship system. North Korean media outlets are, essentially, a branch of the government propaganda bureaucracy. Their goal is not to inform, but to indoctrinate and control common people, to explain to them what they should think about the world. In a sense, North Korean media exists to distort the picture of the world in accordance with the ever-changing demands of the ruling elite.
North Korean leaders believe that this system is necessary to keep people obedient and controllable, to prevent the rise of criticism about the government. This might be the case, indeed: Being unaware of the alternatives to their lifestyles, people are less likely to dream about a change.
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The Censorship of Publications Board of Ireland has banned The Raped Little Runaway by Jean Martin.
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Over the last couple of years, the increasing popularity of the open source streaming software Popcorn Time has turned into one of the film industry’s biggest nightmares. Not just because it’s free, but also because it provides an extremely easy-to-use service. The fact that it is open source — and therefore essentially impossible to eradicate — just makes things worse. As part of the film industry’s attack on Popcorn Time, a UK judge was persuaded a year ago to order a group of web sites to be blocked purely on the grounds that they were distributing the Popcorn Time software. That was the first step down a slippery slope, and it seems that the second step has now been taken in Norway.
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The Spectre of censorship has visited Hollywood’s secret service agent in India, where 007’s kissing scenes have been cut by half. But there’s more than meets the eye. Dennis Hanlon and Shorna Pal explain.
On 19 November 2015, the day before it was due to be released in Indian theatres, the Times of India announced that the Central Board of Film Censorship (CBFC) had ordered the kissing scenes in the latest James Bond film, Spectre, to be reduced by half.
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A very active and lively discussion has been taking place on the Prime Minister’s Facebook page regarding the No Jab, No Pay law. I made several posts in response to Dr Patrick Stokes – a Senior Lecturer in Philosophy who supports censorship when it comes to vaccination as evidenced by his article on The Conversation entitled: No, You’re Not Entitled to Your Opinion.
Dr Stokes is an Australian academic who readily admits that he is not an authority on the this issue. Furthermore, he openly states that he does not WANT to know about the science of vaccination, instead claiming that everyone should defer to doctors and health authorities because they are the only ones capable of understanding the subject.
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Graffiti artist Danilo Maldonado Machado, known as “El Sexto”, found this out when he was locked up for most of 2015 for painting the names of Raúl and Fidel – the names of the Castro brothers who have been in power since 1959 – on the backs of two live pigs. He had planned to release the animals as part of an artistic performance but, before he could, he was accused of desacato (contempt) and thrown in prison for ten months. He was never formally charged or brought before a judge.
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As if it isn’t bad enough that Ireland still has a Censorship of Publications Board, at the weekend we discovered that this archaic outfit is still active. Given that it’s been 18 years since these book-burners in chief forbade publication of a book in Ireland – 1998’s The Base Guide to London, a book about seedy London hangouts – you could be forgiven for thinking they’d done the decent thing of realising it’s the 21st century and calling it a day on their censoring antics. But no – on Saturday it was revealed that the CPB has banned The Raped Little Runaway, a weird novel by Jean Martin, which means it’s an offence to distribute the book anywhere in the Republic of Ireland.
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Privacy
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The UK’s investigatory powers bill receives its second reading on Tuesday. At present the draft law fails to meet international standards for surveillance powers. It requires significant revisions to do so.
First, a law that gives public authorities generalised access to electronic communications contents compromises the essence of the fundamental right to privacy and may be illegal. The investigatory powers bill does this with its “bulk interception warrants” and “bulk equipment interference warrants”.
Second, international standards require that interception authorisations identify a specific target – a person or premises – for surveillance. The investigatory powers bill also fails this standard because it allows “targeted interception warrants” to apply to groups or persons, organisations, or premises.
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Mark Zuckerberg has a gargantuan social network. If you add up the number of accounts from the services he owns – Facebook, WhatsApp, Messenger and Instagram – you get a figure of 3.5bn, which is roughly half the world’s population. Granted many people will have multiple accounts and belong to multiple services, but still, that’s a lot of pokes, likes and cat gifs. Especially impressive given the scepticism and the love-hate relationship many have with his empire, particularly the Facebook mothership – or Dark Star, depending on your point of view. Being part of modern society without being involved somehow with the Zuck is increasingly tricky: instant messaging is hard without going via Facebook’s servers; you’ll need Instagram if you want to show off your perfectly arranged avocados and children’s fancy-dress outfits to the world; and if you want to date, no Facebook means no Tinder. Even if you’re one of those refuseniks who proudly claim “I’m not on Facebook”, you probably are – what about that chemically inconvenienced stag weekend in Tallinn that your pals created a Facebook album for? Yes, you’ll have to join to find out.
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The government’s investigatory powers bill faces its second reading in the House of Commons today. Having represented many individuals in cases against the police and the security and intelligence services as a human rights lawyer, and having also worked with those same bodies as director of public prosecutions, I know all too well the challenges this legislation will throw up and the importance of making sure parliament gets it right.
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“In short, domestic law enforcement officials now have access to huge troves of American communications, obtained without warrants, that they can use to put people in cages,” the ACLU of Massachusetts notes in a post on its PrivacySOS blog. “FBI agents don’t need to have any ‘national security’ related reason to plug your name, email address, phone number or other ‘selector’ into the NSA’s gargantuan data trove. … That means information the NSA collects for purposes of so-called ‘national security’ will be used by police to lock up ordinary Americans for routine crimes.”
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Other spokespeople had similar nods of “yes, more restrictions” to add and even hinted that these new limits may be made public at some point. Heartening news… perhaps. We don’t know how expansive the data-sharing was prior to the new guidelines and we still don’t know how scaled back it will be post-restrictions.
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“This is particularly timely given the passage of the current Investigatory Powers Bill with its authorisation for State-sponsored mass hacking and intrusion into individual privacy and personal freedom.”
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A gathering of journalists, hackers and whistleblowers in Berlin this weekend heard former National Security Agency (NSA) contractor, Edward Snowden, issue a call for citizens to find ways to take direct control over the information technologies we use everyday.
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Labour MPs will abstain in a vote on the Government’s latest so-called “Snooper’s Charter”, the shadow home secretary has said.
Andy Burnham said the Investigatory Powers Bill, which contains a raft of government spying powers, should give people “a presumption of privacy” but said he would work constructively with the Government on it.
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As the government’s fight to eliminate encryption as we know it, and ensure themselves unfettered access to all of all Americans’ communications, spreads out of the most-mediagenic example with Apple, Barack Obama has weighed in, using some of the oldest and sleaziest scare tactics available.
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It looks as though the National Security Agency (NSA) crown jewels are about to be fondled by the rest of America’s intelligence agencies. The NSA monitors and collects various types of communications including emails, phone calls, and even transmissions conducted by our foreign allies (and foes). As we learned from the the Edward Snowden leaks, this information is stored in bulk and is one of the reasons for the ever-increasing use of encryption in our smartphones (see Apple vs FBI).
Historically, the data collected has mainly been kept within the halls of the NSA and only offered to other intelligence agencies — i.e. the CIA and the FBI — after being scrubbed of “irrelevant” identifiable personal information. But now, according to sources familiar with the matter, the Obama administration will allow the NSA will share any and all information, unfiltered, with other intelligence agencies.
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There is only one number you need to know to determine why encrypted devices and those who want them will win this legal battle between the FBI and Apple.
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The guy that warned George Bush about an imminent al-Qaida attack before 9/11 is taking Apple’s side in the company’s fight against the FBI over whether it can be compelled to break into the San Bernardino terrorist’s iPhone.
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A former counter-terrorism chief has laid into the Feds over its ongoing Apple iPhone battle – saying FBI director Jim Comey is exaggerating the need for access and that if agents really wanted into the phone, they would just send it to the NSA…
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Perhaps you’re beginning to see a pattern. Everything our government uses against foreign enemies, eventually makes its way back home. Every war is an opportunity to try out new technologies, before turning around and using them against American citizens. It just goes to show, that war really is the health of the state.
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Civil Rights
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As part of the government’s so-called ongoing war on terror, the nation’s de facto secret police force is now recruiting students and teachers to spy on each other and report anyone who appears to have the potential to be “anti-government” or “extremist.”
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If you’re thinking that North Korean leader Kim Jong Un is busy drinking Cristal champagne and enjoying caviar, take a moment to notice South Korean spy agency’s report that tells that the number of cyberattacks on the South has doubled over the past month.
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German Chancellor Angela Merkel has been left politically damaged after her Christian Democrat (CDU) party suffered significant losses in regional elections, as the right-wing Alternative for Germany (AfD) party put on significant gains in regional elections.
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Yet again the US is simply disappearing people into secret prisons on foreign soil. Obama has in effect maintained the Bush doctrine that “enemy combatants” are neither alleged criminals nor soldiers. They do not get the rights of alleged criminals to decent treatment and a fair trial, nor do they get the Geneva Convention rights of soldiers captured during a war. They are non-persons who can simply be pitched into a black hole.
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One of the world’s best female tennis players, Maria Sharapova, has been suspended, because a medicine she has been taking legally under a doctor’s prescription for ten years was suddenly retroactively declared to be a prohibited substance that is a “metabolic modulator.”
The medicine, known as mildronate and also as meldonium in its banned name, has been in medical use for thirty years. Its inventor declared that the prohibition of mildronate “is a crime” and will lead to deaths among athletes. He says that it has not been proven that the medicine enhances athlete performance, but it does protect their hearts from over-exertion.
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It only took five minutes from the time he began. Donald Trump was in the middle of a riff about “Lyin’ Ted Cruz” when a protester stood up.
“So early,” Trump said. “Get ’em out.”
The Republican frontrunner made it through just four more sentences before the next one stood up. “Hello! Go home to mom.”
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RHINESTONES twinkling around the perimeter of her shades, cornsilk curls undaunted by the Pensacola sun, Elizabeth Kemper, a supporter of Donald J. Trump, is all certainty. She is fed up. “You know, this country is so dang political correct,” she tells a CNN reporter. “I’m afraid to say what I really feel, you know?”
On her shirt, a silhouette of Mr. Trump’s head nestles in the protective crook of the state of Florida, his face turned stalwartly eastward, away from Mexico, his Mordor.
Ms. Kemper is blazing, passionate, incredulous. “I think this country better go back to some of those values. Some of the values my parents grew up with, my grandparents grew up with,” she says. “Whatever was wrong, they could point it out and tell you.”
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On the morning of December 26th, 2015, as Amrik Singh Bal was waiting near his home for a ride to work, two men in a pickup truck stopped nearby to yell racial slurs at him. Singh, a 68-year old Sikh American who worked at a nearby farm outside Fresno, California, attempted to cross the street to get away from his assailants. As he did so, the men struck Bal with their vehicle, knocking him to the ground before jumping out of the truck and assaulting him. By the time they were done, the elderly Bal was left bleeding in the street with a broken collarbone and cuts across his face. The attack was described by local police in Fresno as a hate crime.
Unfortunately, assaults against Sikh Americans are nothing new. In the first month after the 9/11 attacks, the Sikh Coalition, an advocacy group, tallied more than 300 cases of violence and discrimination against Sikh Americans. Many additional incidents followed in subsequent years, the most high-profile being a 2012 terrorist attack in which a white supremacist shot and killed six congregants at a Sikh temple in Oak Creek, Wisconsin, wounding several others. Now, as U.S. politicians, led by Donald Trump, increasingly embrace xenophobia, and as fears of terrorism surge back, Sikh activists say their community is experiencing another spike in discrimination.
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The DEA seems very concerned about controlled substances. Internal control of these substances? Not so much. A recent Inspector General’s audit found multiple problems with the DEA’s handling of seized drugs, the most egregious of which appears to be this particular aspect.
[...]
The OIG recommends the DEA start doing the thing it should have been doing 100% of the time already. The DEA concurs and will presumably correct it at the speed of bureaucracy. The problem is that this is obviously a systemic issue that has gone unaddressed for years. This lax handling of evidence should call into question the amounts cited during prosecution, not to mention any statements in court regarding the integrity of the evidence it supplies.
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Just after 5 p.m. on July 29, 2015, two Colorado Springs cops raced with lights and sirens to a burglary in progress. They’d been told 72-year-old Albert Schmeiler, who has Alzheimer’s disease, could be “very violent.”
But on their arrival, Officers David Isue and Nicholas Ryland found Schmeiler calmly standing in the driveway with his mother-in-law, Margo Alvarez, according to a police report.
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Hillary Clinton told a man who was wrongly convicted of murder and spent almost four decades on death row that she was still in favour of the death penalty.
In the run-up to primaries in five states on 15 March, Ms Clinton said she was “struggling” with the concept of the death penalty but that it should still be applied for “horrific mass killings” under the federal, not the state, system.
The Democrat was asked a question on the subject by exonerated man Ricky Jackson, who “came perilously close to [his] own execution.” Mr Jackson was convicted at 18 years old for killing a salesman in Cleveland, Ohio in 1975. The key witness was 12 years old at the time and later recanted in court, as reported by CNN.
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Internet/Net Neutrality
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When FCC boss Tom Wheeler was first appointed to head the agency, few expected much. After all, here was yet another FCC revolving door regulator with a history of lobbying for both the cable and wireless industries — now tasked with heading an agency that oversees both. Yet the one-time “dingo” surprised everybody by fighting for tougher net neutrality rules, raising the standard definition of broadband, standing up for municipal broadband and improved broadband competition, and now fighting to unlock the cable industry’s stranglehold over the cable set top box.
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Several cable operators managed to eek out some modest subscriber gains in the fourth quarter of last year, prompting some renewed claims by the industry that cord cutting was “on the ropes” or was otherwise an unfair hallucination of the media. After all, Comcast saw a net gain of 89,000 pay TV users during the fourth quarter. Time Warner Cable similarly saw its best year since 2006 with a net gain of 54,000 TV subscribers. Charter also saw a net gain in the fourth quarter of 29,000 video subscribers. For some of these companies, this was the best performance they’ve seen since 2006.
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It’s early March in Marrakech, and a gleaming conurbation of hotels run in the kind of rare equilibrium of slick organisation and genuine friendliness that Tyler Brûlé might dream about.
Inside, the people who run the internet’s naming and numbering systems have been meeting with some of the governments who would rather be doing the job themselves. Eventually they cut a deal, and then negotiators from countries mostly in the northern hemisphere staggered blinking into the sunlight and splayed like lizards around the azure swimming pools, almost too tired to drink. Almost.
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DRM
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And so another conspiracy theory falls, this times at the hands of faulty DRM. I’ll put this here so nobody has to in the comments: never blame malice when incompetence is just as likely. Or maybe just blame DRM always and for everything. You’re going to be right a decent amount of the time.
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We’ll rally in front of the global office of the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) to oppose a disastrous proposal by Hollywood and proprietary tech companies: adding Digital Restrictions Management (DRM) to the HTML standard that undergirds the Web. We’ll hear experts and activists speak on the topic, and distribute flyers, right outside an ongoing W3C event.
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Intellectual Monopolies
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The UK IPO will provide updated guidance for design applicants after the Supreme Court upheld the Court of Appeal’s decision that PMS International’s Kiddee Case does not infringe Magmatic’s registered community design (RCD) for the Trunki suitcase
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Halo (a Hong Kong based company) sued Comptoir (a Canadian company) in N.D. Illinois Federal Court for infringing its intellectual property rights associated with its furniture designs. The IP rights here include design patents, copyrights (pending registration) and non-registered trademark rights.
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Copyrights
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Hollywood-funded anti-piracy group BREIN has announced that it will begin pursuing legal action against individual BitTorrent users who share copyright infringing content. These pirates can look forward to settlement demands of several thousands of euros and the group plans to punish VPN users even harder, if they are exposed.
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Let’s go back just a few months to remind you about two stories that seem fairly unrelated.
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To Kill a Mockingbird is obviously one of the most well-known and widely read books in American literature. And, of course, there’s been some controversy of late around its author, Harper Lee, who passed away last month. Much of the controversy focused on the decision last year to publish Go Set a Watchman, which was initially described as something of a long lost “sequel” to TKAM, but which it was later admitted was actually an early draft of TKAM. Many argued that Lee didn’t actually intend for the book to be published, and that she may have been taken advantage of by those around her. Either way, the controversy is now growing, following Lee’s death, as what appears to be the first and second orders of business for Lee’s estate was to (1) have the details of her will sealed and (2) stop publishing the mass market paperback version of To Kill a Mockingbird, making sure that the only new versions of the book that will be available will be the noticeably more expensive trade paperbacks.
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03.14.16
Posted in Europe, Patents at 11:44 pm by Dr. Roy Schestowitz
No room for free speech about Željko Topić at the EPO…
…because it’s embarrassing to Team Battistelli
Summary: The highly controversial person who initiated a lot of the union-busting chaos has quite an extraordinary past back in Croatia
THIS morning we wrote about a possible successor (replacement rather) of Battistelli, the current EPO President. Both MIP* and IAM’s editor in chief nodded in a possible agreement over at Twitter (relaying the article to their followers) and as promised, here is an English translation of this article which we said would be published at a later date (well, it’s almost 5 AM now on a Tuesday, so technically it’s another date).
The following text includes possible evidence that Battistelli should drag Topić along with him as he leaves the Office. We highlight in yellow some noteworthy bits because the article is fairly long.
Criminal proceedings pending against Topić in six cases
Non-certified translation from the original Croatian.
Wednesday 11th, April 2012, 07:00
Author: Franjo Dobrovic
Picture caption: Croatia is faced with an international scandal
The announcement on the official website of the State Intellectual Property Office of the Republic of Croatia that Željko Topić has been appointed as of 1 May 2012 to a post at the European Patent Office (EPO) in Munich, could lead to a disgrace and a scandal – not only for Mr. Topić himself, but also for the Republic of Croatia. In such a law-abiding country as Germany it may prove difficult to conceal the criminal proceedings already pending against Mr. Topić – although he himself appears to have managed to conceal details of these affairs from the EPO and from the international professional public so far.
According to our information, there is also an appeal pending before the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg, which includes mention of Mr. Topic’s alleged bribery of the former education minister in the government of the corrupt Ivo Sanader. Currently there are criminal proceedings pending against Željko Topić in six cases that are in various stages of processing to which a number of civil lawsuits against him must also be added.
Intellectual criminal
In the documentation, which accompanies the file before the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg, it is alleged that Željko Topić literally “purchased” his position as director of the State Office of Intellectual Property [in Croatian: DZIV] in 2008, paying the then Minister of Education Dragan Primorac nearly 500,000 kuna. This is also well known to the current government. In January 2009, the then government of the Republic of Croatia requested an explanation and a review on the part of the former Ministry of Economy, Labour and Entrepreneurship [Croatian: MGRP] concerning the allegations of bribery and other illegal acts by Mr. Topić. However, the MGRP never complied with the request. Had the then government and monitoring system been functioning properly, Željko Topić should already have been replaced in 2008 – following the exposure as a result of the state inspection of his violations of financial and labor laws, the cover-up of criminal offences by the previous Director-General of the DZIV, the payment of bribes and other matters, reflected in numerous criminal complaints. According to our information, even the Bishop of Banja Luka, Franjo Komarić, lobbied the Cabinet of Ivo Sanader in 2008 on behalf of this esteemed “intellectual criminal” for a renewal of his mandate as Director-General of the DZIV.
Interesting spicy stories
We are further informed that a confidential urgent memorandum with all the juicy details on the “Topić Case” including the risk of a possible international scandal at the expense of the Republic of Croatia has been lying for a number of days now on the desks of the Prime Minister of the Republic of Croatia, the first deputy prime minister, the deputy prime minister Mimica and other members of the Government of the Republic of Croatia. However, there has been no official response so far, either from this quarter or from the government department responsible for the DZIV headed by Minister Željko Jovanović. The only information issued by the Croatian government so far has been a brief notification referring to the appointment of the Deputy Director, Liljana Kuterovac as acting Director-General of the DZIV for a period of six months. This appointment has proven to be questionable, as the newly appointed Director-General is a graduate in electrical engineering, whereas the post actually requires a person with legal qualifications. Additionally, in 2008 the then Director-General, Mr. Topić, carried out a restructuring of the DZIV, against the recommendations of the EU and contrary to official undertakings given by the DZIV to the EU in the framework of the CARDS-programme, by effectively abolishing the department dealing with authors’ and similar rights. Intellectual property is divided into two sectors: industrial property, an area in which over a hundred people work in the DZIV, while only a single official is now responsible for the other fundamental area – authors’ and related rights. In view of various criminal complaints and other proceedings against Željko Topić there is reason to suspect that this matter constitutes a joint offence in the form of abuse of office and power under Article 333 of the Croatian Criminal Code*. There are at least three persons who appear to be involved here, namely the Director-General of the DZIV, Željko Topić, his former deputy Romana Matanovac Vuckovic (who was previously active in the Association of Composers ZAMP which she failed to publicly disclose) and her best friend Tajana Tomic.
On 14 March 2012, the “Intelektiv” Conference on Intellectual Property organized by the American Chamber of Commerce (AmChamCroatia) took place in the Forum Convention Centre Zagreb. The main sponsor of the “Intelektiv” Conference on Intellectual Property was the Croatian Composers’ Union (Croatian HDS ZAMP). Additional information about this “interesting” case can be accessed on the official website: www.intelektiv.com
Although it had been announced in the official programme of the conference that the Director-General of DZIV, Željko Topić, would give a talk, to the general astonishment of those present he failed to appear as scheduled. Instead – whether by coincidence or not – Mr. Ivan Mijatovic, Mag. Iur., who was presented as a Chief Police Inspector, appeared as a speaker and representative of the Ministry of the Interior. Ivan Mijatovic has been working at the Ministry since 1993, initially assigned to the Police Headquarters in Zagreb where he was
responsible for dealing with the infringement of intellectual property rights. From 2008 onwards he has held the post of Chief Police Inspector of the police department which deals with white-collar criminality and corruption, where his tasks include monitoring the violation of intellectual property rights and computer criminality. Perhaps Mr. Mijatovic from the Ministry of the Interior could have explained to the Prime Minister in a few words who Željko Topić really is and what his appointment to an international organization like the EPO means at a time when Croatia is subject to EU monitoring in relation to its legal system – with the aim of determining how and by whom his appointment was facilitated, particularly in view of the series of very dangerous and serious criminal charges tailing him from behind and of which the law enforcement agencies do not yet appear to be aware.
In view of the fact that the EU, as well as the international media, are following the matter with great attention, it is to be expected that Mr. Topić will be subject to particular scrutiny by the media upon his arrival at the EPO in Munich as the European and the German public learn at first-hand who exactly their new guest is.
* Article 333: Associating for the Purpose of Committing a Criminal Offense
(1) Whoever organizes a group of people or in some other way associates in joint action three or more persons, the objectives of whom are directed toward the perpetration of a serious criminal offense for which, according to the law, imprisonment for five years or a more severe punishment may be imposed shall be punished by imprisonment for three months to three years.
(2) Whoever organizes a criminal organization or manages it shall be punished by imprisonment for six months to five years.
(3) A member of the group referred to in paragraph 1 of this Article shall be punished by a fine or by imprisonment not exceeding one year.
(4) A member of the group referred to in paragraph 2 of this Article, shall be punished by imprisonment for three months to three years.
(5) If the member of a group or a criminal organization uncovers such a group or criminal organization prior to committing a criminal offense as a member of it or for it, the court may remit his/her punishment.
It is important to remember that a lot of the union-busting chaos began when Topić’s reputation was at stake. Everywhere Topić goes chaos follows, or so it seems… █
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* MIP (Managing IP) also pointed out that Antonio Campinos has his existing term until 2020, but then again Battistelli has got his for another couple of years and given the state of emergency at the EPO he can be fired once he accepts his golden parachute (superfluous severance).
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Posted in Europe, Patents, Videos at 10:46 pm by Dr. Roy Schestowitz
Summary: The full German transcript of the TV program shown earlier this month in Germany
Dialogue time: 00:00.000:07.00: Bayerischer Rundfunk FernsehenMagazin „Kontrovers“ 02.03.2016 21:00Die Story:„Wenn der Traumjob zum Albtraum wird“
Dialogue time: 00:07.94,0:00:11.40: Klaus Schießl besucht das Grab seines Bruders
Dialogue time: 00:12.32,0:00:16.98: Sein Bruder Wolfgang war jahrelang Mitarbeiter des Europäischen Patentamtes, …
Dialogue time: 00:16.98,0:00:21.86: … bis er sich im Sommer 2014 umgebracht hat.
Dialogue time: 00:23.86,0:00:27.76: „Ja, ich denke, er ist da voll und ganz in der Arbeit aufgegangen.
Dialogue time: 00:27.92,0:00:30.84: Der war hilfsbereit, der war immer da.
Dialogue time: 00:30.84,0:00:33.28: Er hat versucht, alles genauestens zu machen.
Dialogue time: 00:33.28,0:00:38.28: Und, ja, er war, Gott sei Dank, bei Kolleginnen und Kollegen sehr geschätzt.“
Dialogue time: 00:42.28,0:00:46.20: Klaus Schießl weiß lange Zeit nichts von den Problemen seines Bruders,
Dialogue time: 00:46.200:53.94: weder dass er schwere Depressionen hat, noch dass das Europäische Patentamt ein Disziplinarverfahren gegen ihn anstrengt.
Dialogue time: 00:54.02,0:00:59.78: Doch als sich sein Bruder im Sommer 2014 tagelang nicht meldet, wird er unruhig.
Dialogue time: 00:59.78,0:01:03.48: Deshalb beschließt er, in dessen Haus zu gehen.
Dialogue time: 01:07.16,0:01:09.52: „Hier habe ich ihn tot gefunden.
Dialogue time: 01:09.52,0:01:16.80: Es war ja damals so warm.Ungefähr den dreifachen Körperumfang hat er gehabt.
Dialogue time: 01:16.801:22.10: Da vorn ist der Fernseher gelaufen.
Dialogue time: 01:22.58,0:01:29.92: Das war ein bestialischer Geruch. Und im Gesicht war er schon fast ganz schwarz.“
Dialogue time: 01:33.92,0:01:39.96: Das Europäische Patentamt hatte Wolfgang Schießl verdächtigt, anonyme Beschimpfungen verschickt zu haben,
Dialogue time: 01:39.96,0:01:43.93: deswegen das Disziplinarverfahren gegen ihn.
Dialogue time: 01:43.93,0:01:48.00: Klaus Schießl findet noch einen Abschiedsbrief.
Dialogue time: 01:50.26,0:02:04.83: „An meinen Bruder Klaus! Bitte verdamme mich nicht! Meine Depressionen waren so übermächtig. Ich habe im Leben total versagt.“
Dialogue time: 02:06.33,0:02:11.23: Klaus Schießl glaubt, dass auch der Konflikt in der Arbeit ein Auslöser war.
Dialogue time: 02:11.53,0:02:15.96: Wenn er schreibt, er hat Depressionen, er kann nicht mehr,
Dialogue time: 02:15.96,0:02:22.93: und dann gerade an dem Tag, wo wieder ein Brief kommt, wie es mit dem Disziplinarverfahren weitergeht,
Dialogue time: 02:23.402:28.90: ich denke, das hat ihm letztendlich das Kreuz gebrochen.
Dialogue time: 02:32.03,0:02:34.03: Gibt es diesen Zusammenhang?
Dialogue time: 02:34.03,0:02:38.56: Bekannt ist: Die Stimmung im Europäischen Patentamt ist schlecht.
Dialogue time: 02:38.86,0:02:42.55: Immer wieder demonstrieren die Mitarbeiter vor ihrer Verwaltung,
Dialogue time: 02:42.55,0:02:49.23: und das, obwohl die Mitarbeiter hier hoch bezahlt sind und viele Privilegien haben.
Dialogue time: 02:49.23,0:02:53.20: Wir wollen wissen, was die Menschen hier trotzdem auf die Straße treibt.
Dialogue time: 02:53.202:58.46: Doch als wir mit der Kamera auftauchen, bitten uns viele, sie nicht offen zu zeigen.
Dialogue time: 02:58.46,0:03:00.46: Hier herrscht offensichtlich Angst.
Dialogue time: 03:00.46,0:03:02.26: „Hmm, ich sag’ gar nichts.“
Dialogue time: 03:02.26,0:03:04.26: “Weil, wir dürfen nicht mit Journalisten sprechen.“
Dialogue time: 03:05.96,0:03:08.26: „Warum können Sie mir nichts sagen?“
Dialogue time: 03:08.56,0:03:11.36: „Weil wir eine Verantwortung unseren Familien gegenüber haben.
Dialogue time: 03:11.36,0:03:16.24: Es ist so: Die ganze Familie hängt daran, die Ausbildung der Kinder, die Schule, Sozialsystem, soziale Absicherung,
Dialogue time: 03:16.28,0:03:17.93: alles hängt an diesem Job.
Dialogue time: 03:17.93,0:03:20.76: Und jetzt, wenn wir den Job verlieren, verlieren wir alles.“
Dialogue time: 03:20.76,0:03:23.80: „Aber man verliert normalerweise nicht so schnell den Job?“
Dialogue time: 03:23.803:25.13: „Hier schon!“
Dialogue time: 03:25.13,0:03:28.92: Das Europäische Patentamt ist eine außerstaatliche Institution.
Dialogue time: 03:28.92,0:03:31.70: Deshalb gilt hier das deutsche Arbeitsrecht nicht.
Dialogue time: 03:31.703:34.31: Was geht da vor, hinter den Kulissen?
Dialogue time: 03:34.31,0:03:37.53: Warum haben die Mitarbeiter so große Angst?
Dialogue time: 03:37.56,0:03:41.40: Im Münchener Justizpalast treffen wir Siegfried Broß.
Dialogue time: 03:41.403:43.60: Er war Richter beim Bundesverfassungsgericht.
Dialogue time: 03:43.603:47.80: Sein Spezialgebiet: öffentliches Recht und Patentrecht.
Dialogue time: 03:47.803:53.50: Er erklärt, weshalb die Angestellten diesem Arbeitgeber so ausgeliefert sind.
Dialogue time: 03:53.504:03.36: „Ich stelle fest, dass dort ganz erhebliche Defizite bestehen, was die arbeitsrechtliche Stellung der Bediensteten anbetrifft.
Dialogue time: 04:03.36,0:04:09.86: Es gibt zwar Personalvertretung, aber die hat keine konstitutiven Mitwirkungsrechte,
Dialogue time: 04:09.86,0:04:14.55: sondern kann nur Empfehlungen abgeben, an die der Präsident nicht gebunden ist.“
Dialogue time: 04:16.404:20.19: Während unserer Recherchen wenden sich viele Menschen an uns,
Dialogue time: 04:20.19,0:04:23.50: berichten von Schikanen im Europäischen Patentamt,
Dialogue time: 04:23.504:27.46: aber niemand wagt sich vor die Kamera.
Dialogue time: 04:27.46,0:04:30.10: Nicht einmal die Vertreter des Personalrats.
Dialogue time: 04:30.104:36.03: Schließlich erklärt sich ein Patentprüfer aus Den Haag bereit, uns in Köln zu treffen.
Dialogue time: 04:36.804:39.16: Auch er will nicht erkannt werden.
Dialogue time: 04:39.16,0:04:42.66: Deswegen sprechen wir seinen Bericht nach.
Dialogue time: 04:47.03,0:04:51.40: „Der Druck gerade auf die Patentprüfer hat sich enorm erhöht.
Dialogue time: 04:51.404:57.56: Das kann man daran lesen, dass die Tage pro Patentprodukt stetig abgenommen haben,
Dialogue time: 04:57.56,0:04:59.56: das Zeitbudget, das man da hat.
Dialogue time: 04:59.56,0:05:03.86: Es ist schon sehr fließbandmäßig geworden.
Dialogue time: 05:03.86,0:05:13.46: Also man kann den komplexen technischen Gebieten, der Sache wirklich nur noch, ja, grenzwertig gerecht werden, wenn man mal ehrlich ist.
Dialogue time: 05:13.46,0:05:19.40: Weil: Es wird ja nur noch Wert gelegt auf den quantitativen Output.“
Dialogue time: 05:21.705:27.83: Man sagt uns, dass der Druck seit dem Amtsantritt von Präsident Benoît Battistelli enorm gestiegen ist.
Dialogue time: 05:27.83,0:05:31.50: Sein Ziel: das Patentamt reformieren und Kosten senken.
Dialogue time: 05:31.505:33.16: Doch zu welchem Preis?
Dialogue time: 05:33.16,0:05:38.26: Wir fragen nach.Zu einem Hintergrundgespräch lädt uns das Europäische Patentamt ein.
Dialogue time: 05:38.26,0:05:40.96: Ein Interview vor der Kamera bekommen wir nicht.
Dialogue time: 05:40.96,0:05:45.36: Schriftlich bestätigt das Amt die durch die Reform gestiegenen Anforderungen.
Dialogue time: 05:45.36,0:05:54.90: „Schließlich hat das Amt ein jährliches Anmeldewachstum von durchschnittlich 4 % zu bewältigen, und dies bei gleichbleibendem Personalbestand.“
Dialogue time: 05:54.906:06.53: „Die Reformen haben positive Ergebnisse bewirkt: Unsere Produktivität ist im letzten Jahr um 10 % gestiegen, die Produktion gar um 14 %“.
Dialogue time: 06:08.53,0:06:11.63: Doch der Weg dahin ist fragwürdig.
Dialogue time: 06:11.63,0:06:15.73: Umstritten zum Beispiel der Umgang mit kranken Kollegen.
Dialogue time: 06:15.73,0:06:22.26: Seit 2013 dürfen diese ihre Wohnung während der Kernarbeitszeit nicht verlassen,
Dialogue time: 06:22.26,0:06:25.43: nur für angemeldete Arztbesuche.
Dialogue time: 06:25.43,0:06:32.53: Das kann das Patentamt jederzeit mit einem Anruf oder einem unangemeldeten Besuch überprüfen.
Dialogue time: 06:34.53,0:06:42.80: Wir lernen einen Mitarbeiter kennen, der wegen einer schweren chronischen Erkrankung nicht mehr arbeiten kann und jetzt ans Haus gefesselt ist.
Dialogue time: 06:44.26,0:06:50.50: „Man hat das Gefühl, dass man ein Verbrecher ist, dass man etwas Falsches gemacht hat,
Dialogue time: 06:50.506:54.03: obwohl ich leider nur krank geworden bin.
Dialogue time: 06:54.03,0:06:56.03: Es fühlt sich wie ein Gefängnis an.“
Dialogue time: 06:59.33,0:07:02.80: Die genaue Krankheitsgeschichte dürfen wir nicht erzählen.
Dialogue time: 07:02.807:06.53: Wieder jemand, der große Angst vor der Amtsleitung hat.
Dialogue time: 07:06.53,0:07:12.00: Wir sprechen mit einem Arzt, der viele Mitarbeiter des Europäischen Patentamtes betreut.
Dialogue time: 07:12.007:17.83: Auch er will nur verdeckt gedreht werden, um seine Patienten zu schützen.
Dialogue time: 07:18.53,0:07:26.60: „Das Europäische Patentamt geht mit den Patienten so um, dass die Mitarbeiter so verängstigt sind,
Dialogue time: 07:26.607:35.66: dass sie im Grunde selbst wenn es medizinisch indiziert wäre, dass sie krankgeschrieben werden, eine Krankschreibung ablehnen,
Dialogue time: 07:35.66,0:07:49.23: weil sie befürchten, wenn sie eine gewisse Anzahl an Fehltagen auf ihrem Konto aufweisen, dass sie entlassen werden, mit negativen Sanktionen belegt werden.
Dialogue time: 07:50.607:53.76: Das Patentamt sieht das anders.
Dialogue time: 07:54.53,0:08:08.36: „In Folge der stringenteren Praxis auf diesem Gebiet hat sich der durchschnittliche Krankenstand im Amt innerhalb eines Jahres bereits von über 14 Tagen auf 11,5 Tage reduziert.“
Dialogue time: 08:10.16,0:08:18.50: Während unserer Recherche bekommen wir einen immer klareren Blick hinter die Kulissen der Glaspaläste des Europäischen Patentamts…
Dialogue time: 08:18.508:24.10: und stellen fest: Die Menschen, die uns ihre Geschichte erzählt haben, sind keine Einzelfälle.
Dialogue time: 08:24.108:30.46: Sie berichten von der Angst, wegen kleinster Vergehen abgemahnt oder entlassen zu werden.
Dialogue time: 08:31.86,0:08:35.36: Der Rechtsanwalt Alexander Holtz berät viele von ihnen.
Dialogue time: 08:35.36,0:08:40.83: Die meisten brauchen vor allem seelischen Beistand, weil sie mit dem Druck nicht mehr fertigwerden.
Dialogue time: 08:42.36,0:08:49.50: „Das sind häufig Menschen, die beispielsweise zu mir als Anwalt einmal die Woche kommen, ihre Post vorbeibringen, …
Dialogue time: 08:49.508:51.64: … ich muss dann die Post für die Menschen öffnen,
Dialogue time: 08:51.64,0:08:57.34: weil sie nicht mehr in der Lage sind, solche Dinge des täglichen Lebens selbst zu erledigen,
Dialogue time: 08:57.409:03.32: … Leute, die, äh, wirklich in lebensbedrohlicher Situation sich befunden haben,
Dialogue time: 09:03.32,0:09:06.94: äh, bei denen ich froh war, wenn ich am Montag sie wieder telefonisch erreichen konnte,
Dialogue time: 09:06.94,0:09:11.75: weil ich nicht wusste, ob sie nicht übers Wochenende sich etwas antun.“
Dialogue time: 09:12.66,0:09:19.53: Innerhalb von drei Jahren haben fünf Mitarbeiter des Europäischen Patentamtes Selbstmord begangen.
Dialogue time: 09:19.53,0:09:22.46: Das Amt sieht keine Verantwortung bei sich.
Dialogue time: 09:25.13,0:09:41.30: „Gespräche unseres betriebsärztlichen Diensts, von Kollegen und Managern mit den Familien der Verstorbenen erlauben in allen Fällen keine Rückschlüsse auf berufliche Gründe für den Suizid, sondern stellen persönliche Umstände in den Vordergrund.“
Dialogue time: 09:43.76,0:09:47.83: In Deutschland hilft bei Konflikten mit dem Arbeitgeber der Personalrat.
Dialogue time: 09:47.83,0:09:50.86: Seine Mitglieder genießen besonderen Schutz.
Dialogue time: 09:50.86,0:09:58.00: Anders hier: Gewerkschaftsvertreter, wie die Biologin Elizabeth Hardon, sind zur Zielscheibe geworden.
Dialogue time: 09:58.010:03.56: Sie und ihr Kollege Ion Brumme, Vater von fünf Kindern, wurden im November [2015] suspendiert.
Dialogue time: 10:03.56,0:10:10.46: Ausgerechnet sie, als Mitarbeitervertreter, sollen Kollegen gemobbt und das Amt diffamiert haben.
Dialogue time: 10:11.03,0:10:14.86: Doch viele Mitarbeiter solidarisieren sich mit ihnen.
Dialogue time: 10:14.86,0:10:18.76: [Ion Brumme]„Ich bin wirklich, wirklich, froh, so viele von Euch hier zu sehen.
Dialogue time: 10:18.76,0:10:22.33: Danke für Euer Kommen, für Eure Unterstützung für uns.“
Dialogue time: 10:23.210:29.20: Weil das Verfahren noch läuft, dürfen sich die beiden nicht konkret äußern.Nur so viel:
Dialogue time: 10:29.210:34.10: [Elizabeth Hardon]„Es ist schon – schon sehr belastend und für meine Kollegen noch schlimmer.
Dialogue time: 10:34.110:39.80: Ich bin im Vorrentenalter also, aber meine Kollegen sind viel jünger.
Dialogue time: 10:39.810:45.63: Also da, für den ist es, den anderen suspendierten Kollegen, ist es sehr, sehr, sehr bedrohlich.“
Dialogue time: 10:48.57,0:11:05.11: „Aus meiner Sicht handelt es sich um ein systematisches Vorgehen der Amtsleitung, um die Führung der Gewerkschaft zu beseitigen, zu eliminieren.“
Dialogue time: 11:07.91,0:11:15.02: In der Zwischenzeit wurden Elizabeth Hardon und Ion Brumme sogar gekündigt. [Januar 2016]
Dialogue time: 11:19.02,0:11:25.42: Auch am Standort in Den Haag sind Personalvertreter ins Visier der Geschäftsführung geraten.
Dialogue time: 11:25.42,0:11:32.08: Unser Informant berichtet uns in Köln von einem Vorfall, der viele Mitarbeiter geschockt hat.
Dialogue time: 11:32.35,0:11:40.93: Nachdem ein Personalvertreter in Den Haag abends seinen Arbeitsplatz verlassen hat, bekommt er eine Nachricht, die er nicht mehr sieht.
Dialogue time: 11:40.93,0:11:47.42: Die interne Ermittlungseinheit des Amtes bittet ihn für den nächsten Morgen zum Gespräch.
Dialogue time: 11:47.42,0:11:53.28: Als er wieder ins Büro kommt, hat er keine Zeit mehr, sich darauf vorzubereiten, und bittet um Aufschub.
Dialogue time: 11:56.88,0:12:06.57: „Wenn jemand sagt, er habe gewisse Probleme mit einem anderen Mitarbeiter, dann wird eine Untersuchung eingeleitet. Dann werden Zeugen befragt.
Dialogue time: 12:07.11,0:12:09.88: Da ist halt der Rechtsstandard sehr niedrig,…
Dialogue time: 12:09.88,0:12:13.35: weil: man darf keinen Rechtsanwalt einschalten.“
Dialogue time: 12:15.55,0:12:22.51: Innerhalb von wenigen Minuten erscheinen zwei interne Ermittler an seinem Platz und überreden ihn mitzukommen.
Dialogue time: 12:22.51,0:12:27.20: Diese Form der Befragung ist bei den Mitarbeitern gefürchtet.
Dialogue time: 12:32.24,0:12:36.60: „Da wird man anscheinend auch schon relativ hart angegangen.
Dialogue time: 12:36.912:39.60: Da wird es auch mal richtig laut.
Dialogue time: 12:40.02,0:12:45.13: Da wird man auch schon sehr eingeschüchtert, selbst wenn man nur Zeuge ist.“
Dialogue time: 12:47.31,0:12:53.08: In Den Haag bricht der Personalrat im Anschluss an seine Befragung zusammen.
Dialogue time: 12:54.42,0:12:57.33: Seine Ehefrau muss ihn ins Krankenhaus bringen.
Dialogue time: 12:58.11,0:13:01.44: Inzwischen ist er dauerhaft krankgeschrieben.
Dialogue time: 13:03.82,0:13:10.68: Die interne Ermittlungseinheit des Europäischen Patentamtes ist unter den Arbeitnehmern auch deswegen so gefürchtet,
Dialogue time: 13:10.68,0:13:15.02: weil sie dort die Aussage nicht verweigern können, auch wenn es ihnen schadet.
Dialogue time: 13:15.02,0:13:17.11: Ist das wirklich rechtens?
Dialogue time: 13:17.64,0:13:20.15: Das Europäische Patentamt schreibt dazu:
Dialogue time: 13:20.77,0:13:35.46: „Das Untersuchungsverfahren im Europäischen Patentamt ist kein Strafverfahren, sondern ein administratives Tatsachenfeststellungsverfahren im Sinne eines Dialogs zwischen beschuldigtem Mitarbeiter und Arbeitgeber.
Dialogue time: 13:35.71,0:13:45.44: … Es entspricht damit der Praxis und den Standards in nationalen und internationalen Organisationen unserer Vertragsstaaten.“
Dialogue time: 13:46.86,0:13:53.17: Wegen der Immunität des Europäischen Patentamtes gelten deutsche Rechtsgrundsätze bei den Ermittlungsverfahren nicht.
Dialogue time: 13:53.17,0:13:56.44: Die Angestellten gehen verzweifelt auf die Straße.
Dialogue time: 13:56.44,0:14:02.11: „Wir sind ja nicht in Deutschland. Das Europäische Patentamt, das fühlt sich außerhalb des deutschen Rechts.“
Dialogue time: 14:02.11,0:14:04.60: „Da zählen keine Menschenrechte. Da zählt gar nichts mehr.
Dialogue time: 14:04.614:11.00: Was unser Herr Präsident für richtig hält, das wird durchgesetzt.“
Dialogue time: 14:11.06,0:14:13.02: Ist das wirklich möglich,
Dialogue time: 14:13.08,0:14:17.53: ein Amt mit 3.000 Mitarbeitern im quasi rechtsfreien Raum?
Dialogue time: 14:17.53,0:14:20.71: Wir bitten den Bundesjustizminister [Heiko Maas] um ein Interview.
Dialogue time: 14:20.71,0:14:22.71: Er will uns nicht direkt antworten.
Dialogue time: 14:22.71,0:14:26.60: Zu den umstrittenen Ermittlungsverfahren schreibt sein Ministerium:
Dialogue time: 14:26.614:40.82: [Bundesministerium für Justiz und für Verbraucherschutz]„Deutschland hat den Präsidenten des Europäischen Patentamtes wiederholt und nachdrücklich aufgefordert, die von ihm erlassenen Richtlinien für das Ermittlungsverfahren insofern zu ändern. Dies ist bedauerlicherweise bisher nicht geschehen.“
Dialogue time: 14:42.214:49.55: „Bloße Aufforderungen sind zu wenig“, sagt der ehemalige Bundesverfassungsrichter Siegfried Broß.
Dialogue time: 14:49.55,0:14:53.13: [Siegfried Broß, Bundesverfassungsrichter a.D.]„Das Bundesverfassungsgericht sagt ausdrücklich,
Dialogue time: 14:53.13,0:14:59.31: dass die Bundesrepublik Deutschland nicht die Hand reichen darf für menschenrechtswidrige Behandlungen,
Dialogue time: 14:59.31,0:15:04.33: und, von daher gesehen, ist Deutschland als Sitzland schon gefordert.
Dialogue time: 15:04.33,0:15:08.57: Wenn man’s etwas überspitzt und weiterdenkt,
Dialogue time: 15:08.66,0:15:12.60: bei diesen Denkstrukturen, wie sie hier zu Tage treten,
Dialogue time: 15:12.615:14.60: wäre Guantanamo möglich in Deutschland,
Dialogue time: 15:15.415:17.98: und das kann ja nicht sein. Das leuchtet jedem ein.“
Dialogue time: 15:19.68,0:15:24.66: Doch das Europäische Patentamt ignoriert sogar Gerichtsentscheidungen.
Dialogue time: 15:25.17,0:15:34.73: In den Niederlanden stellte das oberste Gericht die Verletzung von Grundrechten fest und fordert, dass die Immunität des Amtes aufgehoben wird.
Dialogue time: 15:34.73,0:15:37.88: Die endgültige Entscheidung steht noch aus.
Dialogue time: 15:37.88,0:15:47.95: Aber der Vizepräsident des Patentamts stellt im Interview mit dem niederländischen Fernsehen schon mal klar, wie er mit einer möglichen Verurteilung umgehen wird.
Dialogue time: 15:49.26,0:15:54.88: [Niederländischer TV-Reporter]„Was ist, wenn das Hohe Gericht die Immunität des Europäischen Patentamtes aufhebt?“
Dialogue time: 15:54.88,0:16:07.68: [EPO Vizepräsident]„Äh, ja, dann wird der Präsident mit dem Verwaltungsrat reden, den Vertretern der Mitgliedsstaaten, um zu sehen, was in diesem Fall geschehen soll.
Dialogue time: 16:07.71,0:16:14.75: Das Ergebnis wird wahrscheinlich sein, dass das Urteil zu den Akten gelegt wird.“
Dialogue time: 16:14.77,0:16:18.93: „Sie werden also das Urteil des höchsten Gerichtes der Niederlande nicht akzeptieren?“
Dialogue time: 16:18.93,0:16:20.93: [EPO Vizepräsident]“Ja!”
Dialogue time: 16:23.33,0:16:30.84: Wie kann es sein, dass sich eine Behörde nicht an Grundrechte gebunden fühlt und Entscheidungen oberster Gerichte ignoriert?
Dialogue time: 16:31.416:34.97: Die Ursachen dafür liegen in der Gründungsgeschichte.
Dialogue time: 16:34.97,0:16:42.66: Vor mehr als vierzig Jahren haben die Mitgliedsstaaten ein Regelwerk entwickelt, das dem Präsidenten sehr viel Macht gibt,
Dialogue time: 16:43.02,0:16:47.77: und der aktuelle Präsident Benoît Battistelli nutzt diese Macht.
Dialogue time: 16:48.04,0:16:59.76: „Ich hab’ den Eindruck, dass hier eben diese Lücken und Spielräume, die durch die Vertragsstaaten geschaffen wurden, ausgenützt werden.“
Dialogue time: 17:00.73,0:17:06.26: Die einzigen, die den Präsidenten stoppen könnten, wären die Mitglieder des Verwaltungsrats.
Dialogue time: 17:06.26,0:17:09.24: Sie kommen aus den 38 Mitgliedsstaaten.
Dialogue time: 17:09.24,0:17:14.91: Jedes Land hat eine Stimme, egal ob San Marino oder Deutschland.
Dialogue time: 17:14.91,0:17:18.75: Im Verwaltungsrat saß auch der Österreicher Friedrich Rödler.
Dialogue time: 17:18.75,0:17:22.35: Er reist extra aus Wien an, um uns einen Einblick zu geben.
Dialogue time: 17:22.35,0:17:28.08: Seiner Meinung nach findet seit Jahren keine wirksame Kontrolle der Führungsspitze mehr statt.
Dialogue time: 17:28.08,0:17:31.80: [Friedrich Rödler, ehemaliges Verwaltungsratsmitglied EPA]„Der Verwaltungsrat stößt auch an strukturelle Grenzen.
Dialogue time: 17:31.817:39.66: Der Verwaltungsrat ist bei seinen Beschlüssen auf jene Informationen angewiesen, die er selbst vom Präsidenten des Amtes erhält.
Dialogue time: 17:39.66,0:17:42.13: Über andere Informationen verfügt er nicht.
Dialogue time: 17:42.617:47.48: Und das ist genau die Basis, auf der der Verwaltungsrat seine Entscheidungen trifft…
Dialogue time: 17:47.48,0:17:50.45: oder manchmal eben leider nicht trifft.
Dialogue time: 17:52.217:55.51: Die Patentamtsmitarbeiter protestieren weiter.
Dialogue time: 17:55.51,0:18:01.71: Inzwischen hat der Verwaltungsrat den Präsidenten aufgefordert, das soziale Klima zu verbessern.
Dialogue time: 18:01.71,0:18:03.71: Doch viele Mitarbeiter bleiben skeptisch.
Dialogue time: 18:04.31,0:18:06.06: Wie geht es weiter?
Dialogue time: 18:06.06,0:18:10.42: Die Personalratsmitglieder wollen ihre Entlassung intern anfechten.
Dialogue time: 18:10.42,0:18:16.88: Wenn das nicht klappt, müssen sie in Genf beim Gericht der Internationalen Arbeitsorganisation [ILO] klagen.
Dialogue time: 18:16.88,0:18:24.68: Auch einige chronisch Kranke versuchen derzeit in Genf, die aus ihrer Sicht menschenunwürdigen Auflagen des Amtes anzufechten.
Dialogue time: 18:24.84,0:18:28.26: Doch bis es zu einem Urteil kommt, kann es Jahre dauern.
Dialogue time: 18:28.88,0:18:35.20: „Hier geht es um Menschen, Schicksale, um Familien, Kinder.
Dialogue time: 18:35.218:37.08: Da geht es um wirklich viel mehr.“
Dialogue time: 18:37.51,0:18:43.02: Den Präsidenten des Europäischen Patentamtes scheint das nicht zu berühren.
Dialogue time: 18:43.02,0:18:47.14: Bericht: Jutta Henkel, Irene Esmann Kamera: Harry Rensch, Dany Hunger, Nicole Christmann Schnitt: Stefan Kinnl, Florian Stronski
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Posted in Europe, Patents, Videos at 10:41 pm by Dr. Roy Schestowitz
Summary: The full English transcript of the TV program shown earlier this month in Germany
Dialogue time: 00:00.000:07.00: Bayerischer Rundfunk FernsehenMagazin “Kontrovers” 02.03.2016 21:00Die Story: “When the dream job becomes a nightmare.”
Dialogue time: 00:07.94,0:00:11.40: Klaus Schießl is visiting his brother´s grave.
Dialogue time: 00:12.32,0:00:16.98: His brother Wolfgang was an employee of the European Patent Office for many years…
Dialogue time: 00:16.98,0:00:21.86: …until he killed himself in the summer of 2014.
Dialogue time: 00:23.86,0:00:27.76: I think he was completely absorbed in the work.
Dialogue time: 00:27.92,0:00:30.84: He was helpful, he was always there,
Dialogue time: 00:30.84,0:00:33.28: he tried to do everything carefully.
Dialogue time: 00:33.28,0:00:38.28: And he was greatly appreciated by his colleagues, thank God.
Dialogue time: 00:42.28,0:00:46.20: Klaus Schießl knows little of his brother’s problems.
Dialogue time: 00:46.200:53.94: Neither that he is suffering from severe depression, nor that the European Patent Office is carrying out a disciplinary procedure against him.
Dialogue time: 00:54.02,0:00:59.78: But when his brother doesn’t get in touch for days in the summer of 2014, he becomes unsettled.
Dialogue time: 00:59.78,0:01:03.48: So he decides to go to his house.
Dialogue time: 01:07.16,0:01:09.52: Here is where I found him dead.
Dialogue time: 01:09.52,0:01:16.80: It was so warm at that time. His body had about three times its normal girth.
Dialogue time: 01:16.801:22.10: There at the front, the TV was running.
Dialogue time: 01:22.58,0:01:29.92: There was a beastly smell. And his face was almost completely black.
Dialogue time: 01:33.92,0:01:39.96: The European Patent Office suspected Wolfgang Schießl of having sent anonymous insults.
Dialogue time: 01:39.96,0:01:43.93: Hence the disciplinary proceedings against him.
Dialogue time: 01:43.93,0:01:48.00: Klaus Schießl was still to find a suicide note.
Dialogue time: 01:50.26,0:02:04.83: “To my brother Klaus: Please do not condemn me, my depression was too overpowering. I’ve totally failed in life.”
Dialogue time: 02:06.33,0:02:11.23: Klaus Schießl believes that the conflict at work was also a trigger.
Dialogue time: 02:11.53,0:02:15.96: If he writes, he is depressed, he can’t carry on,
Dialogue time: 02:15.96,0:02:22.93: and then, on the same day a letter arrives saying how the disciplinary procedures will proceed, …
Dialogue time: 02:23.402:28.90: … I think it was the final straw.
Dialogue time: 02:32.03,0:02:34.03: Is there a link?
Dialogue time: 02:34.03,0:02:38.56: It’s well known: The mood in the European Patent Office is bad.
Dialogue time: 02:38.86,0:02:42.55: Again and again the employees demonstrate in front of their administration.
Dialogue time: 02:42.55,0:02:49.23: Even though the employees here are highly paid and have many privileges.
Dialogue time: 02:49.23,0:02:53.20: We want to know what is nevertheless driving the people here onto the streets.
Dialogue time: 02:53.202:58.46: But when we show up with the camera, many ask us, not to show them publicly.
Dialogue time: 02:58.46,0:03:00.46: There is obviously fear here.
Dialogue time: 03:01.86,0:03:05.36: “Because, we cannot speak to journalists.”
Dialogue time: 03:05.96,0:03:08.26: Why can’t you tell me anything?
Dialogue time: 03:08.56,0:03:11.36: “Because we have a responsibility towards our families.
Dialogue time: 03:11.36,0:03:16.24: The whole family depends on it, the children’s education, the school, the social system, social security.
Dialogue time: 03:16.28,0:03:17.93: Everything depends on this job.
Dialogue time: 03:17.93,0:03:20.76: If we lose the job, we lose everything.”
Dialogue time: 03:20.76,0:03:23.80: But you usually don’t lose your job so quickly, do you?
Dialogue time: 03:23.803:25.13: “Here you do!”
Dialogue time: 03:25.13,0:03:31.70: The European Patent Office is an inter-governmental institution, so German labour law does not apply here.
Dialogue time: 03:31.703:34.31: What is going on behind the scenes?
Dialogue time: 03:34.31,0:03:37.53: Why are staff so afraid?
Dialogue time: 03:37.56,0:03:41.40: In the Munich Palace of Justice we meet Siegfried Broß.
Dialogue time: 03:41.403:43.60: He was a judge at the Federal Constitutional Court.
Dialogue time: 03:43.603:47.80: His specialty: Public law and patent law.
Dialogue time: 03:47.803:53.50: He explains why the staff are so at the mercy of this employer.
Dialogue time: 03:53.504:03.36: I note that there are very substantial deficiencies, as regards the staff’s employment law status.
Dialogue time: 04:03.36,0:04:09.86: While there is a staff representation, it has no constitutional right of involvement,
Dialogue time: 04:09.86,0:04:14.55: but can only make recommendations to which the President is not bound.
Dialogue time: 04:16.404:23.73: During our research, many people turn to us, report of harassment in the European Patent Office,
Dialogue time: 04:23.73,0:04:25.97: but no one dares to face the camera.
Dialogue time: 04:27.46,0:04:30.10: Not even the representatives of the Staff Representation.
Dialogue time: 04:30.104:36.03: Finally, a patent examiner in The Hague agreed to meet in Cologne.
Dialogue time: 04:36.804:39.16: He also does not want to be identified.
Dialogue time: 04:39.16,0:04:42.66: For that reason his report is spoken by an actor.
Dialogue time: 04:47.03,0:04:51.40: The pressure especially for patent examiners has increased enormously.
Dialogue time: 04:51.404:57.56: This can be seen in that the days per patent product have been steadily declining.
Dialogue time: 04:57.56,0:04:59.56: The time budget that you have for it.
Dialogue time: 04:59.56,0:05:03.86: It has become very much like an assembly line.
Dialogue time: 05:03.86,0:05:13.46: If you’re honest, it’s borderline whether you can to justice to all the aspects of the complex technical fields.
Dialogue time: 05:13.46,0:05:19.40: Because there is really only any emphasis on the output quantity.
Dialogue time: 05:21.705:27.83: We are told that the pressure since the inauguration of President Benoît Battistelli has increased enormously.
Dialogue time: 05:27.83,0:05:33.16: His goal: To reform the Patent Office and reduce costs. But at what price?
Dialogue time: 05:33.16,0:05:38.26: We make enquiries. The European Patent Office invites us for a background discussion.
Dialogue time: 05:38.26,0:05:40.96: But we can’t have an interview on camera.
Dialogue time: 05:40.96,0:05:45.36: In writing, the Office confirms increased demands due to the reform:
Dialogue time: 05:45.36,0:05:54.90: “At the end of the day, the Office has to cope with an annual increase in filings of 4% on average, and this with staffing levels remaining the same.
Dialogue time: 05:54.906:06.53: The reforms have led to positive results: our productivity increased by 10% last year, the production by as much as 14%.”
Dialogue time: 06:08.53,0:06:11.63: But the path taken to get there is questionable.
Dialogue time: 06:11.63,0:06:15.73: Controversial is, for example, the way sick colleagues are treated.
Dialogue time: 06:15.73,0:06:22.26: Since 2013, they are not allowed to leave their homes during core working hours.
Dialogue time: 06:22.26,0:06:25.43: Only for registered visits to the doctor.
Dialogue time: 06:25.43,0:06:32.53: The Patent Office can check up on this at any time with a phone call or an unannounced visit.
Dialogue time: 06:34.53,0:06:42.80: We get to know an employee who can no longer work because of a serious chronic illness and is now housebound.
Dialogue time: 06:44.26,0:06:50.50: “You have the feeling that you’re a criminal, that you have done something wrong,
Dialogue time: 06:50.506:54.03: even though I’ve just unfortunately fallen ill.
Dialogue time: 06:54.03,0:06:56.03: It feels like a prison.”
Dialogue time: 06:59.33,0:07:02.80: We can’t explain the exact medical history.
Dialogue time: 07:02.807:06.53: Again someone who is very much afraid of the Office management.
Dialogue time: 07:06.53,0:07:12.00: We talk with a doctor who cares for many employees of the European Patent Office.
Dialogue time: 07:12.007:17.83: He too only wants to be filmed under concealment to protect his patients.
Dialogue time: 07:18.53,0:07:26.60: “The European Patent Office treats the patients in such a way that the employees are so scared…
Dialogue time: 07:26.607:35.66: that they basically refuse to be written off sick, even if that would in fact be medically advisable.
Dialogue time: 07:35.66,0:07:49.23: Because they are afraid that if they have a certain number of days of absence on their account they will be dismissed, or have sanctions imposed.”
Dialogue time: 07:50.607:53.76: The Patent Office sees it differently:
Dialogue time: 07:54.53,0:08:08.36: “As a result of more stringent practices in this field, the average sickness rate has already been reduced from 14 days to 11.5 days in Office within a year.”
Dialogue time: 08:10.16,0:08:18.50: During our research, we get an ever clearer look behind the scenes of the glass palaces of the European Patent Office.
Dialogue time: 08:18.508:24.10: And we note: The people who told us their stories are not isolated cases.
Dialogue time: 08:24.108:30.46: They tell of the fear of being reprimanded or fired for the smallest offenses.
Dialogue time: 08:31.86,0:08:35.36: The lawyer Alexander Holtz represents many of them.
Dialogue time: 08:35.36,0:08:40.83: Most need above all emotional support, because they no longer cope with the pressure.
Dialogue time: 08:42.36,0:08:49.50: [Alexander Holtz, lawyer]“They are often people who, for example, come to me as their lawyer once a week to bring their mail.
Dialogue time: 08:49.508:57.40: I then have to open the post for them, because they are no longer able to do such everyday things themselves.
Dialogue time: 08:57.409:02.30: People who were in a life-threatening situation,
Dialogue time: 09:02.309:11.80: where I was glad when I was able to reach them on Monday because I didn’t know whether they might do something to themselves over weekend.”
Dialogue time: 09:12.66,0:09:19.53: In three years, five employees of the European Patent Office have committed suicide.
Dialogue time: 09:19.53,0:09:22.46: The Office does not consider itself at all responsible.
Dialogue time: 09:25.13,0:09:41.30: “In all cases, talks that our occupational health service, colleagues and managers have held with the families of the deceased do not allow the conclusion to be drawn of any work-related reasons for suicide, but put personal circumstances at the forefront.”
Dialogue time: 09:43.76,0:09:47.83: In Germany, the Staff Representation helps when there are conflicts with the employer.
Dialogue time: 09:47.83,0:09:50.86: Its members enjoy special protection.
Dialogue time: 09:50.86,0:09:58.00: Here it is different: Union representatives like the biologist Elizabeth Hardon are being targeted.
Dialogue time: 09:58.010:03.56: She and her colleague Ion Brumme, a father of five children, were suspended in November [2015].
Dialogue time: 10:03.56,0:10:10.46: Of all people they, as staff representatives, are supposed to have bullied colleagues and defamed the Office.
Dialogue time: 10:11.03,0:10:14.86: But many employees are in solidarity with them.
Dialogue time: 10:14.86,0:10:18.76: [Ion Brumme]“I’m really, really happy to see so many of you here.
Dialogue time: 10:18.76,0:10:22.33: Thank you for coming, for supporting us.”
Dialogue time: 10:23.210:29.20: Because the procedure is still ongoing, the two cannot comment specifically. Only this much:
Dialogue time: 10:29.210:34.10: [Elizabeth Hardon]“It is very distressing and even worse for my colleagues.
Dialogue time: 10:34.110:39.80: I’m in pre-retirement age, but my colleagues are much younger.
Dialogue time: 10:39.810:45.63: For the other suspended colleagues that is very threatening.”
Dialogue time: 10:48.57,0:11:05.11: “As I see it, this is a systematic strategy of the Office management, to get rid of the union leadership, to eliminate them.”
Dialogue time: 11:07.91,0:11:15.02: In the meantime Elizabeth Hardon and Ion Brumme have even been dismissed [Jan. 2016].
Dialogue time: 11:19.02,0:11:25.42: Staff representatives in The Hague have also come into the management’s sights.
Dialogue time: 11:25.42,0:11:32.08: Our informant in Cologne told us about an incident that has shocked many people.
Dialogue time: 11:32.35,0:11:40.93: After a staff representative in the Hague had left work in the evening, he received a message that he didn’t see.
Dialogue time: 11:40.93,0:11:47.42: The Office’s internal investigation unit invites him for an interview the next morning.
Dialogue time: 11:47.42,0:11:53.28: When he comes back to the office, he no longer has time to prepare for it and asks for postponement.
Dialogue time: 11:56.88,0:12:06.57: “If someone says he has a problem with another employee, an investigation is started and witnesses are interviewed.
Dialogue time: 12:07.11,0:12:09.88: The legal standards applied for that are simply very low.
Dialogue time: 12:09.88,0:12:13.35: Because: You can’t call in a lawyer.”
Dialogue time: 12:15.55,0:12:22.51: Within a few minutes two internal investigators turn up at his workplace and persuade him to come with them.
Dialogue time: 12:22.51,0:12:27.20: This type of questioning is feared by the staff.
Dialogue time: 12:32.24,0:12:39.28: “There, you’re apparently attacked quite hard; it can sometimes get really loud.
Dialogue time: 12:40.02,0:12:45.13: You can also be really very intimidated, even if you’re only a witness.”
Dialogue time: 12:47.31,0:12:53.08: In The Hague, the Staff Representative collapses after his questioning.
Dialogue time: 12:54.42,0:12:57.33: His wife has to take him to the hospital.
Dialogue time: 12:58.11,0:13:01.44: He is now on long-term sick leave.
Dialogue time: 13:03.82,0:13:10.68: The internal investigation unit of the European Patent Office is also feared by the staff…
Dialogue time: 13:10.68,0:13:15.02: because you cannot refuse to make a statement, even if it is damaging to you.
Dialogue time: 13:15.02,0:13:17.11: Is this really legal?
Dialogue time: 13:17.64,0:13:20.15: The European Patent Office writes:
Dialogue time: 13:20.77,0:13:35.46: “The investigation procedure at the EPO is not a criminal procedure, but an administrative fact-finding process in the sense of a Dialogue time between the accused employees and the employer.
Dialogue time: 13:35.71,0:13:45.44: As a result, it corresponds with the practices and standards in the national and international organisations of our contracting states.”
Dialogue time: 13:46.86,0:13:53.17: Because of the European Patent Office’s immunity, German legal principles for investigations do not apply.
Dialogue time: 13:53.17,0:13:56.44: The staff take to the streets in desperation.
Dialogue time: 13:56.44,0:14:02.11: “We are not in Germany here. The European Patent Office considers itself to be outside of German law.”
Dialogue time: 14:02.11,0:14:04.60: “Human rights don’t count there, nothing counts there anymore.
Dialogue time: 14:04.614:11.00: Only what our Mr President thinks is right, that is forced through.”
Dialogue time: 14:11.06,0:14:13.02: Is that really possible?
Dialogue time: 14:13.08,0:14:17.53: An office with 3,000 employees in a sort of legal vacuum?
Dialogue time: 14:17.53,0:14:20.71: We ask the Federal Justice Minister for an interview.
Dialogue time: 14:20.71,0:14:22.71: He doesn’t want to answer us directly.
Dialogue time: 14:22.71,0:14:26.60: Regarding the controversial investigation procedures his ministry writes:
Dialogue time: 14:26.614:40.82: [Federal Justice Ministry]“Germany has called on the President of the EPO repeatedly and urgently to change the rules it has laid down for the investigation procedures in this respect. This has unfortunately not yet happened.”
Dialogue time: 14:42.214:49.55: Mere requests are too little, says former federal constitutional judge Siegfried Broß.
Dialogue time: 14:49.55,0:14:53.13: [Siegfried Broß, former Judge, Federal Constitutional Court]“The Federal Constitutional Court explicitly states…
Dialogue time: 14:53.13,0:14:59.31: that the Federal Republic of Germany may not assist in acts which violate human rights.
Dialogue time: 14:59.31,0:15:04.33: From that point of view, Germany as a host country is indeed called upon to act.
Dialogue time: 15:04.33,0:15:08.57: If you exaggerate a little and think ahead,
Dialogue time: 15:08.66,0:15:12.60: with the way of thinking that has come to light here,
Dialogue time: 15:12.615:14.60: Guantanamo would be possible in Germany.
Dialogue time: 15:15.415:17.98: It should be clear to all that that can’t be.”
Dialogue time: 15:19.68,0:15:24.66: But the European Patent Office even ignores court decisions.
Dialogue time: 15:25.17,0:15:34.73: In the Netherlands, the Supreme Court determined a violation of fundamental rights and calls for the immunity of the Office to be lifted.
Dialogue time: 15:34.73,0:15:37.88: The final decision is still pending.
Dialogue time: 15:37.88,0:15:47.95: But the vice-president of the Patent Office has made it clear in an interview with Dutch television how he will deal with a possible conviction.
Dialogue time: 15:49.26,0:15:54.88: [Dutch TV Reporter]“What if the High Court lifts the immunity of the European Patent Office?”
Dialogue time: 15:54.88,0:16:07.68: [EPO Vice-President]“Then the President will talk to the Administrative Council, with the representatives of the Member States, to see what should happen in this case.
Dialogue time: 16:07.71,0:16:14.75: The result will probably be that the verdict will be shelved.”
Dialogue time: 16:14.77,0:16:18.93: “So you will not accept the verdict of the Supreme Court of the Netherlands?”
Dialogue time: 16:18.93,0:16:20.93: [EPO Vice-President]“Yes.”
Dialogue time: 16:23.33,0:16:30.84: How can it be that an authority does not feel bound by fundamental rights and ignores decisions made by the courts?
Dialogue time: 16:31.416:34.97: The reasons for this lie in the history of the Office’s creation:
Dialogue time: 16:34.97,0:16:42.66: More than 40 years ago, the member states developed a set of rules that gave the President a great deal of power.
Dialogue time: 16:43.02,0:16:47.77: And the current President Benoît Battistelli is making use of this power.
Dialogue time: 16:48.04,0:16:59.76: “I have the impression that the loopholes and leeway, created by contracting states, are being exploited.”
Dialogue time: 17:00.73,0:17:06.26: The only ones who can stop the President are the Members of the Administrative Council.
Dialogue time: 17:06.26,0:17:09.24: They come from the 38 Member States.
Dialogue time: 17:09.24,0:17:14.91: Each country has one vote, regardless whether San Marino or Germany.
Dialogue time: 17:14.91,0:17:18.75: The Austrian Friedrich Rödler sat on the Administrative Council.
Dialogue time: 17:18.75,0:17:22.35: He travelled especially from Vienna to give us an impression.
Dialogue time: 17:22.35,0:17:28.08: In his opinion, there has been no effective control of the top management for years.
Dialogue time: 17:28.08,0:17:31.80: [Friedrich Rödler, former Austrian Administrative Council Representative]“The Administrative Council is also constrained by structural limitations.
Dialogue time: 17:31.817:39.66: The Administrative Council is guided in its decisions by the information that it receives from the President of the Office.
Dialogue time: 17:39.66,0:17:42.13: It has no other source of information.
Dialogue time: 17:42.617:47.48: This is the exact basis on which the Administrative Council has to reach a decision…
Dialogue time: 17:47.48,0:17:50.45: …or sometimes unfortunately not.”
Dialogue time: 17:51.77,0:17:55.51: The Patent Office employees continue to protest.
Dialogue time: 17:55.51,0:18:01.71: Meanwhile, the Administrative Council has called on the President to improve the social climate.
Dialogue time: 18:01.71,0:18:03.71: But many employees remain sceptical.
Dialogue time: 18:04.31,0:18:06.06: What will happen next?
Dialogue time: 18:06.06,0:18:10.42: The staff committee members wish to contest their dismissal internally.
Dialogue time: 18:10.42,0:18:16.88: If that doesn’t work, they will have to make a claim in Geneva before the Tribunal of the International Labour Organisation [ILO].
Dialogue time: 18:16.88,0:18:24.68: Also, some chronically ill employees are currently trying in Geneva to challenge what in their view are the inhumane requirements of the Office.
Dialogue time: 18:24.84,0:18:28.26: But before there is a judgment, it can take years.
Dialogue time: 18:28.88,0:18:35.20: “This is about people and their fate, families, children.
Dialogue time: 18:35.2,0:18:37.08: It’s really about much more.”
Dialogue time: 18:37.51,0:18:43.02: That doesn’t seem to concern the President of the European Patent Office.
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Posted in Europe, Patents, Videos at 10:33 pm by Dr. Roy Schestowitz
Summary: The full French transcript of the TV program shown earlier this month in Germany
Dialogue time: 00:00.000:07.00: Bayerischer Rundfunk Fernsehen Magazin „Kontrovers“ 02.2016 21:00 L’histoire : lorsqu’un emploi de rêve tourne au cauchemar:
Dialogue time: 00:07.94,0:00:11.40: Klaus Schießl est venu se recueillir sur la tombe de son frère.
Dialogue time: 00:12.32,0:00:16.98: Son frère Wolfgang était employé de l’Office Européen des Brevets (OEB) depuis de nombreuses années..
Dialogue time: 00:16.98,0:00:21.86: …jusqu’à ce qu’il mette fin à ses jours durant l’été 2014.
Dialogue time: 00:23.86,0:00:27.76: “Oui, je pense qu’ il s’est pleinement réalisé dans le travail.
Dialogue time: 00:27.92,0:00:30.84: Il était serviable, toujours là.
Dialogue time: 00:30.84,0:00:33.28: Il a essayé de tout faire méticuleusement.
Dialogue time: 00:33.28,0:00:38.28: Et, Dieu merci, il était très estimé de ses collègues.“
Dialogue time: 00:42.28,0:00:46.20: Pendant longtemps Klaus Schießl ne sait rien des problèmes qu’a son frère.
Dialogue time: 00:46.200:53.94: Ni qu’il souffre de graves dépressions, ni que l’OEB intente une procédure disciplinaire à son encontre.
Dialogue time: 00:54.02,0:00:59.78: Mais il s’inquiète lorsque durant l’été 2014 il reste pendant plusieurs jours sans nouvelles de son frère.
Dialogue time: 00:59.78,0:01:03.48: Il décide alors de se rendre à la maison de son frère.
Dialogue time: 01:07.16,0:01:09.52: „C’est ici que je l’ai trouvé mort.
Dialogue time: 01:09.52,0:01:16.80: Il faisait tellement chaud à l’époque.
Dialogue time: 01:16.801:22.10: Devant lui, le téléviseur marchait encore.
Dialogue time: 01:22.58,0:01:29.92: Il y avait une odeur bestiale.“
Dialogue time: 01:33.92,0:01:39.96: L’OEB avait soupçonné Wolfgang Schießl d’avoir envoyé des injures anonymes.
Dialogue time: 01:39.96,0:01:43.93: D’où la procédure disciplinaire à son encontre.
Dialogue time: 01:43.93,0:01:48.00: Klaus Schießl trouve encore une lettre d’adieu.
Dialogue time: 01:50.26,0:02:04.83: „A mon frère Klaus ! S’il te plaît, ne me maudis pas ! Mes dépressions étaient tellement surpuissantes.“:
Dialogue time: 02:06.33,0:02:11.23: Klaus Schießl croit que le conflit au travail était aussi un déclencheur.
Dialogue time: 02:11.53,0:02:15.96: Si il écrit qu’il a des dépressions, qu’il n’en peut plus,
Dialogue time: 02:15.96,0:02:22.93: et juste le jour où arrive à nouveau une lettre lui indiquant le déroulement de la procédure disciplinaire,
Dialogue time: 02:23.402:28.90: je pense que cela lui a finalement cassé les reins.
Dialogue time: 02:32.03,0:02:34.03: Y-a-t’il ce lien ?
Dialogue time: 02:34.03,0:02:38.56: Il est connu que : l’ambiance à l’OEB est mauvaise.
Dialogue time: 02:38.86,0:02:42.55: A plusieurs reprises les employés manifestent devant leur administration,
Dialogue time: 02:42.55,0:02:49.23: et ce, bien que les employés soient hautement rémunérés et bénéficient de nombreux privilèges.
Dialogue time: 02:49.23,0:02:53.20: Nous voulons savoir qu’est-ce qui pousse néanmoins les gens à descendre dans la rue.
Dialogue time: 02:53.202:58.46: Mais quand nous apparaissons avec la caméra, beaucoup nous prient de ne pas les montrer en public.
Dialogue time: 02:58.46,0:03:00.46: Ici la peur règne apparemment.
Dialogue time: 03:00.46,0:03:02.26: „Je ne dis rien du tout.“:
Dialogue time: 03:02.26,0:03:05.54: „Parce que : nous n’avons pas le droit de parler aux journalistes.“:
Dialogue time: 03:05.96,0:03:08.26: „Pourquoi est-ce que vous ne pouvez rien me dire ?“
Dialogue time: 03:08.56,0:03:11.36: „Parce que nous avons une responsabilité envers nos familles. :
Dialogue time: 03:11.36,0:03:16.24: C’est comme ça : toute la famille en dépend, l’éducation des enfants, l’école, le système social, la protection sociale,:
Dialogue time: 03:16.28,0:03:17.93: tout dépend de cet emploi.:
Dialogue time: 03:17.93,0:03:20.76: Et maintenant, si nous perdons l’emploi, nous perdons tout. :
Dialogue time: 03:20.76,0:03:23.80: „Mais normalement on ne perd pas son emploi si vite.“
Dialogue time: 03:23.803:25.13: „Ici, oui“:
Dialogue time: 03:25.13,0:03:28.92: L’OEB est une institution inter-gouvernementale.
Dialogue time: 03:28.92,0:03:31.70: C’est pourquoi le droit allemand du travail n’est pas en vigueur ici.
Dialogue time: 03:31.703:34.31: Que se passe-t-il dans les coulisses ?
Dialogue time: 03:34.31,0:03:37.53: Pourquoi les employés ont-ils tellement peur ?
Dialogue time: 03:37.56,0:03:41.40: Dans le Palais de justice de Munich nous rencontrons Siegfried Broß.
Dialogue time: 03:41.403:43.60: Il était juge à la Cour constitutionnelle fédérale.
Dialogue time: 03:43.603:47.80: Sa spécialité :droit public et droit des brevets.
Dialogue time: 03:47.803:53.50: Il explique pourquoi les employés sont à la merci de cet employeur.
Dialogue time: 03:53.504:03.36: „Je constate qu’il y a des déficits considérables en ce qui concerne le statut du droit du travail des employés.
Dialogue time: 04:03.36,0:04:06.26: Certes il y a une représentation du personnel.
Dialogue time: 04:06.26,0:04:09.76: Néanmoins celle-ci n’a pas de droit constitutionnel de participation,
Dialogue time: 04:09.76,0:04:16.40: mais peut seulement faire des recommandations, auxquelles le Président n’est pas lié.“
Dialogue time: 04:16.404:20.19: Pendant nos recherches, beaucoup de gens se sont adressés à nous.
Dialogue time: 04:20.19,0:04:23.50: Ils font état des chicanes à l’intérieur de l’OEB,
Dialogue time: 04:23.504:27.46: mais personne n’ose poser devant la caméra,
Dialogue time: 04:27.46,0:04:30.10: même pas les représentants du Comité du personnel.
Dialogue time: 04:30.104:36.03: Finalement, un examinateur de La Haye accepte de nous rencontrer à Cologne.
Dialogue time: 04:36.804:39.16: Lui aussi ne veut pas être reconnu.
Dialogue time: 04:39.16,0:04:42.66: C’est pourquoi nous relatons son rapport.
Dialogue time: 04:47.03,0:04:51.40: „La pression, en particulier sur les examinateurs, a énormément augmenté.:
Dialogue time: 04:51.404:57.56: On peut le voir à la diminution continue du nombre de jours par produit-brevet. :
Dialogue time: 04:57.56,0:04:59.56: Le budget de temps qui vous est accordé. :
Dialogue time: 04:59.56,0:05:03.86: Ça ressemble déjà beaucoup au travail à la chaîne. :
Dialogue time: 05:03.86,0:05:13.46: Si on est honnête, on est à la limite pour apprécier tous les aspects des domaines techniques complexes. :
Dialogue time: 05:13.46,0:05:19.40: Parce que : il n’y a plus qu’à la quantité du Output que l’on accorde de l’importance. :
Dialogue time: 05:21.705:27.83: On nous dit que depuis l’entrée en fonction du Président Benoît Battistelli la pression a énormément augmenté.
Dialogue time: 05:27.83,0:05:31.50: Son but : réformer l’Office des brevets et réduire les coûts.
Dialogue time: 05:31.505:33.16: Mais à quel prix ?
Dialogue time: 05:33.16,0:05:34.42: Nous interrogeons.
Dialogue time: 05:34.42,0:05:38.26: L’OEB nous invite à une discussion sur le fond.
Dialogue time: 05:38.26,0:05:40.96: Nous n’obtenons pas d’entrevue devant la caméra.
Dialogue time: 05:40.96,0:05:45.36: Par écrit l’Office confirme les exigences accrues dues à la réforme.
Dialogue time: 05:45.36,0:05:54.90: „En fin de compte l’Office doit maîtriser une augmentation annuelle des demandes de 4% en moyenne, tout en maintenant constant l’effectif du personnel.“ :
Dialogue time: 05:54.906:06.53: „Les réformes ont produit des résultats positifs : l’année dernière notre productivité a augmenté de 10%, la production même de 14%.“:
Dialogue time: 06:08.53,0:06:11.63: Mais les moyens d’y parvenir sont discutables.
Dialogue time: 06:11.63,0:06:15.73: Par exemple la façon dont sont traités les collègues malades est controversée.
Dialogue time: 06:15.73,0:06:22.26: Depuis 2013 ceux-ci n’ont pas le droit de quitter leur logement durant le temps de travail noyau,
Dialogue time: 06:22.26,0:06:25.43: sauf pour des visites médicales enregistrées.
Dialogue time: 06:25.43,0:06:32.53: Une mesure que l’Office peut contrôler à tout moment par appel téléphonique ou une visite sans préavis.
Dialogue time: 06:34.53,0:06:42.80: Nous faisons la connaissance d’un employé, qui ne peut plus travailler en raison d’une maladie chronique grave et qui est maintenant cloué à la maison.
Dialogue time: 06:44.26,0:06:50.50: „On a l’impression que l’on est un criminel, que l’on a fait quelque chose de faux,:
Dialogue time: 06:50.506:54.03: alors que je n’ai malheureusement fait que tomber malade.:
Dialogue time: 06:54.03,0:06:56.03: On se sent comme en prison.“:
Dialogue time: 06:59.33,0:07:02.80: Nous n’avons pas le droit de révéler le déroulement exact de la maladie.
Dialogue time: 07:02.807:06.53: Encore quelqu’un qui a très peur de la direction de l’Office.
Dialogue time: 07:06.53,0:07:12.00: Nous parlons avec un docteur qui soigne beaucoup d’employés de l’OEB.
Dialogue time: 07:12.007:17.83: Lui aussi ne veut être filmé qu’avec le visage dissimulé afin de protéger ses patients.
Dialogue time: 07:18.53,0:07:26.60: „L’OEB traite les patients de telle sorte qu’ils sont tellement appeurés..:
Dialogue time: 07:26.607:35.66: qu’ils refusent d’eux-mêmes un arrêt du travail même médicalement indiqué.:
Dialogue time: 07:35.66,0:07:49.23: Ils craignent le licenciement ou des sanctions négatives au cas où ils totaliseraient trop de jours de maladie.:
Dialogue time: 07:50.607:53.76: L’Office des brevets voit cela différemment.
Dialogue time: 07:54.53,0:08:08.36: „Suite à la pratique plus sévère dans ce domaine, le nombre moyen de jours de maladie à l’Office est passé de 14 jours à 11,5 jours en un an.“:
Dialogue time: 08:10.16,0:08:18.50: Durant notre recherche nous avons une vue de plus en plus nette dans les coulisses des palais de verre de l’OEB
Dialogue time: 08:18.508:24.10: et nous constatons : les gens, qui nous ont raconté leur histoire ne sont pas des cas individuels.
Dialogue time: 08:24.108:30.46: Ils font état de leur peur d’être sanctionné ou licencié pour la moindre faute.
Dialogue time: 08:31.86,0:08:35.36: L’avocat Alexander Holtz conseille beaucoup d’eux.
Dialogue time: 08:35.36,0:08:40.83: La plupart ont avant tout besoin d’assistance morale, parce qu’ils ne viennent plus à bout de la pression.
Dialogue time: 08:42.36,0:08:49.50: Ce sont souvent des gens, qui par exemple viennent chaque semaine m’apporter leur courrier. :
Dialogue time: 08:49.508:51.64: Je dois alors ouvrir le courrier des gens,:
Dialogue time: 08:51.64,0:08:57.34: car ils ne sont plus en état d’accomplir eux-mêmes ces tâches de la vie quotidienne. :
Dialogue time: 08:57.409:03.32: Des gens qui se sont réellement retrouvés dans une situation mettant en danger leur vie,:
Dialogue time: 09:03.32,0:09:06.94: où j’étais heureux quand je pouvais à nouveau les joindre au téléphone le lundi,:
Dialogue time: 09:06.94,0:09:11.75: car je ne savais pas, si ils ne feraient pas une tentative de suicide durant la fin de la semaine. :
Dialogue time: 09:12.66,0:09:19.53: En l’espace de trois ans, cinq employés de l’Office européen des brevets se sont suicidés.
Dialogue time: 09:19.53,0:09:22.46: L’Office dénie toute responsabilité.
Dialogue time: 09:25.13,0:09:41.30: “Les entretiens de notre service médical du travail, de collègues et managers avec les familles des décédés, ne permettent dans tous les cas aucune déduction quant à des raisons professionnelles pour le suicide, mais mettent en avant des circonstances personnelles.”:
Dialogue time: 09:43.76,0:09:47.83: En Allemagne, c’est le Comité d’entreprise qui aide lors de conflits avec l’employeur.
Dialogue time: 09:47.83,0:09:50.86: Ses membres bénéficient d’une protection particulière.
Dialogue time: 09:50.86,0:09:58.00: A l’opposé ici: des représentants syndicaux, comme la biologue Elizabeth Hardon, sont devenus des cibles.
Dialogue time: 09:58.010:03.56: Elle et son collègue Ion Brumme, père de cinq enfants, ont été suspendus en Novembre [2015].
Dialogue time: 10:03.56,0:10:10.46: Précisément eux, en tant que représentants du personnel, auraient harcelé des collègues, et diffamé l’Office.
Dialogue time: 10:11.03,0:10:14.86: Mais beaucoup de membres du personnel se solidarisent avec eux.
Dialogue time: 10:14.86,0:10:18.76: [Ion Brumme] „Je suis vraiment, vraiment heureux de voir autant de vous ici.:
Dialogue time: 10:18.76,0:10:22.33: Merci d’être venus, de nous soutenir.“:
Dialogue time: 10:23.210:29.20: Parce que la procédure est encore en cours, les deux ne peuvent s’exprimer concrêtement. Juste ceci:
Dialogue time: 10:29.210:34.10: [Elizabeth Hardon] „C’est quand même – quand même très pesant, et pour mes collègues encore pire.:
Dialogue time: 10:34.110:39.80: Je suis en âge de la préretraite donc, mais mes collègues sont beaucoup plus jeunes.:
Dialogue time: 10:39.810:45.63: Alors là, pour lui c’est, pour les autres collègues suspendus, c’est très, très, très menaçant.“:
Dialogue time: 10:48.57,0:11:05.11: „De mon point de vue, il s’agit d’une manière d’agir systématique de la direction de l’Office, afin d’achever, d’éliminer la direction du syndicat.“:
Dialogue time: 11:07.91,0:11:15.02: Entretemps Elizabeth Hardon et Ion Brumme ont même été licenciés. [Januar 2016]
Dialogue time: 11:19.02,0:11:25.42: Au site de La Haye également des représentants du personnel sont ciblés par la direction.
Dialogue time: 11:25.42,0:11:32.08: Notre informateur nous rapporte à Cologne un incident qui a choqué beaucoup d’agents.
Dialogue time: 11:32.35,0:11:40.93: Alors qu’un représentant du personnel a quitté le soir son lieu de travail, il reçoit un message, qu’il ne voit plus.
Dialogue time: 11:40.93,0:11:47.42: L’unité d’investigation interne l’invite à un entretien au lendemain matin.
Dialogue time: 11:47.42,0:11:53.28: Lorsqu’il revient à son bureau, il n’a plus le temps de se préparer, et demande un délai.
Dialogue time: 11:56.88,0:12:06.57: „Lorsque quelqu’un dit, qu’il a certains problèmes avec un autre employé, une enquête est initiée. On interroge alors des témoins. :
Dialogue time: 12:07.11,0:12:09.88: La norme du droit y est donc très basse,…:
Dialogue time: 12:09.88,0:12:13.35: parce que: on n’a pas le droit d’avoir recours à un avocat.“:
Dialogue time: 12:15.55,0:12:22.51: En quelques minutes apparaissent deux enquêteurs internes à son lieu de travail, et le persuadent de les suivre.
Dialogue time: 12:22.51,0:12:27.20: Cette forme d’interrogation est redoutée par les agents.
Dialogue time: 12:32.24,0:12:36.60: „On y est attaqué apparemment aussi déjà de manière relativement dure. :
Dialogue time: 12:36.912:39.60: Cela devient alors aussi parfois vraiment bruyant. :
Dialogue time: 12:40.02,0:12:45.13: On y est parfois aussi très intimidé, même lorsqu’on n’est qu’un témoin.“:
Dialogue time: 12:47.31,0:12:53.08: A La Haye, le membre du Comité du Personnel a un malaise à la sortie de l’interrogatoire.
Dialogue time: 12:54.42,0:12:57.33: Son épouse doit l’amener à l’hôpital.
Dialogue time: 12:58.11,0:13:01.44: Entretemps il est en congé maladie de longue durée.
Dialogue time: 13:03.82,0:13:10.68: L’unité d’investigation interne de l’Office européen des brevets est aussi tellement redoutée par les employés,
Dialogue time: 13:10.68,0:13:15.02: parce qu’ils n’y peuvent refuser de témoigner, même à leur propre dépens.
Dialogue time: 13:15.02,0:13:17.11: Est ce réellement légal?
Dialogue time: 13:17.64,0:13:20.15: L’Office européen des brevets écrit é ce sujet:
Dialogue time: 13:20.77,0:13:35.46: „La procédure d’investigation à l’Office européen des brevets n’est pas une procédure pénale, mais une procédure administrative d’établissement de faits dans le sens d’un Dialogue time entre employé accusé et employeur. :
Dialogue time: 13:35.71,0:13:45.44: … Cela correspond à la pratique et aux normes dans les organisations nationales et internationales de nos états membres.“
Dialogue time: 13:46.86,0:13:53.17: Du fait de l’immunité de l’Office européen des brevets les principes légaux lors de procédures d’enquête n’ont pas cours.
Dialogue time: 13:53.17,0:13:56.44: Les employés descendent désespérés dans la rue.
Dialogue time: 13:56.44,0:14:02.11: „Nous ne sommes pas en Allemagne ici. L’Office européen des brevets, il se sent en-dehors du droit allemand.“
Dialogue time: 14:02.11,0:14:04.60: „Les droits de l’homme n’y comptent pas. Rien n’y compte du tout. :
Dialogue time: 14:04.614:11.00: Seulement ce que notre Monsieur le Président pense être correct, est appliqué.“:
Dialogue time: 14:11.06,0:14:13.02: Est ce vraiment possible ?
Dialogue time: 14:13.08,0:14:17.53: Un Office avec 3000 employés dans un espace de quasi non-droit?
Dialogue time: 14:17.53,0:14:20.71: Nous sollicitons une interview avec le Ministre fédéral de la justice [Heiko Maas].
Dialogue time: 14:20.71,0:14:22.71: Il ne veut pas nous répondre directement.
Dialogue time: 14:22.71,0:14:26.60: Quant aux procédures d’enquêtes contestées, son ministère écrit:
Dialogue time: 14:26.614:40.82: [Ministère fédéral de la Justice et de la protection des consommateurs] „L’Allemagne a invité, à plusieurs reprises et avec insistance, le Président de l’Office européen des brevets, à revoir en cela les directives pour les procédures d’enquêtes, édictées par lui. Cela n’a regrettablement jusqu’à présent pas eu lieu.“:
Dialogue time: 14:42.214:49.55: „De simples invitations, cela est trop peu“: , dit l’ancien juge fédéral Siegfried Broß.
Dialogue time: 14:49.55,0:14:53.13: [Siegfried Broß, Juge fédéral à la retraite] „La Cour constitutionnelle fédérale dit expressément,:
Dialogue time: 14:53.13,0:14:59.31: que la République fédérale allemande ne doit pas prêter la main à des traitements allant à l’encontre des droits de l’homme,:
Dialogue time: 14:59.31,0:15:04.33: et, de ce point de vue, l’Allemagne est, en tant que pays hôte, appelé à agir.:
Dialogue time: 15:04.33,0:15:08.57: Si l’on exagère un peu, et le pense jusqu’au bout,:
Dialogue time: 15:08.66,0:15:12.60: avec ces structures de pensées, telles qu’elles sont apparues ici au grand jour,:
Dialogue time: 15:12.615:14.60: Guantanamo serait possible en Allemagne.:
Dialogue time: 15:15.415:17.98: Et cela ne peut être. C’est clair pour quiconque.“:
Dialogue time: 15:19.68,0:15:24.66: Mais l’Office européen des brevets ignore même des décisions de justice.
Dialogue time: 15:25.17,0:15:34.73: Aux Pays-Bas la Cour Suprême constata une enfreinte aux droits fondamentaux et demande que l’immunité de l’Office soit levée.
Dialogue time: 15:34.73,0:15:37.88: La décision finale est en attente.
Dialogue time: 15:37.88,0:15:47.95: Mais le Vice-Président de l’Office des brevets dit clairement dans une interview avec la télévision néerlandaise comment il traitera cette condamnation possible.
Dialogue time: 15:49.26,0:15:54.88: [Reporter Télé-NL] „Que se passe-t-il, si la Cour Suprême lève l’immunité de l’Office européen des brevets?“:
Dialogue time: 15:54.88,0:16:07.68: [Vice-président de l'OEB] „Euh, oui, alors le Président va parler avec le Conseil d’administration, les délégués des Etats membres, pour savoir ce qu’il y a à faire dans ce cas.:
Dialogue time: 16:07.71,0:16:14.75: Le résultat sera sans doute que le jugement sera mis de côté.“:
Dialogue time: 16:14.77,0:16:18.93: „Alors Vous n’allez pas accepter le jugement de la plus haute Cour des Pays Bas ??“:
Dialogue time: 16:18.93,0:16:20.93: [Vice-président OEB] “Oui!”: :
Dialogue time: 16:23.33,0:16:30.84: Comment se peut il, qu’une administration estime ne pas devoir respecter les droits fondamentaux et ignore lla jurisprudence de Cours suprêmes ?
Dialogue time: 16:31.416:34.97: Les causes pour cela résident dans l’histoire de sa fondation.
Dialogue time: 16:34.97,0:16:42.66: Il y a plus de quarante ans, les états membres ont élaboré un ensemble de règles, qui confère au Président beaucoup de pouvoir.
Dialogue time: 16:43.02,0:16:47.77: et le Président actuel Benoît Battistelli use de ce pouvoir.
Dialogue time: 16:48.04,0:16:59.76: „J’ai l’impression, qu’ici justement ces failles et ce jeu dans les règles, qui ont été créées par les états membres, sont exploités.“:
Dialogue time: 17:00.73,0:17:06.26: Les seuls, qui pourraient stopper le Président, sont les membres du Conseil d’administration.
Dialogue time: 17:06.26,0:17:09.24: Ils sont originaires des 38 états membres.
Dialogue time: 17:09.24,0:17:14.91: Chaque pays a une voix, peu importe que ce soit San Marino ou l’Allemagne.
Dialogue time: 17:14.91,0:17:18.75: L’autrichien Friedrich Rödler a aussi siégé au Conseil d’administration.
Dialogue time: 17:18.75,0:17:22.35: Il nous rejoint exprès de Vienne, afin de nous donner un aperçu.
Dialogue time: 17:22.35,0:17:28.08: Selon son avis depuis des années la direction n’est plus contrôlée de manière efffective.
Dialogue time: 17:28.08,0:17:31.80: [Friedrich Rödler, ancien membre du Conseil d'administration de l'OEB] „Le Conseil d’administration se heurte à ses limites structurelles.:
Dialogue time: 17:31.817:39.66: Le Conseil d’administration dépend pour ses décisions des informations spécifiques, qui lui sont données par le Président.:
Dialogue time: 17:39.66,0:17:42.13: Il ne dispose pas d’autres informations.:
Dialogue time: 17:42.617:47.48: Et ceci est exactement la base, sur laquelle le Conseil d’administration prend ses décisions…:
Dialogue time: 17:47.48,0:17:50.45: ou bien malheureusement parfois ne les prend pas.:
Dialogue time: 17:52.217:55.51: Les employés de l’Office de brevet continuent de protester.
Dialogue time: 17:55.51,0:18:01.71: Entretemps le Conseil d’administration a sommé le Président d’améliorer le climat social.
Dialogue time: 18:01.71,0:18:03.71: Mais de nombreux agents restent sceptiques.
Dialogue time: 18:04.31,0:18:06.06: Quelle sera la suite?
Dialogue time: 18:06.06,0:18:10.42: Les membres du Comité du personnel veulent contester leur licenciement par recours interne.
Dialogue time: 18:10.42,0:18:16.88: Si cela ne fait pas son effet, ils doivent déposer leur plainte à Genève auprès du Tribunal de l’Organisation internationale du Travail.
Dialogue time: 18:16.88,0:18:24.68: Quelques malades chroniques essayent également actuellement, de contester les régulations qui, selon leur point de vue, vont à l’encontre de la dignité humaine.
Dialogue time: 18:24.84,0:18:28.26: Mais jusqu’à ce qu’il y ait un jugement, cela peut durer des années.
Dialogue time: 18:28.88,0:18:35.20: „Ici il s’agit de personnes individuelles, de destins, de familles, d’enfants. :
Dialogue time: 18:35.218:37.08: Ici il s’agit réellement de beaucoup plus.“:
Dialogue time: 18:37.51,0:18:43.02: Cela ne semble pas concerner le Président de l’Office européen des brevets.
Dialogue time: 18:43.02,0:18:47.14: Bericht: Jutta Henkel, Irene Esmann Kamera: Harry Rensch, Dany Hunger, Nicole Christmann Schnitt: Stefan Kinnl, Florian Stronski
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Posted in Europe, Patents at 10:05 pm by Dr. Roy Schestowitz
Stay classy, Battistelli et al. (more attempts to chill the media)
Original photo: Minister-president Rutte from Nederland
Summary: Techrights will accelerate dissemination of the recent Bayerisches Fernsehen TV program in response to what looks like an attack by the EPO’s management on the media (again) and also controversial accusations (leaking out of confidential and dubious ‘investigations’ again) made against the dead
YESTERDAY we made local copies (right here, no third party/ies) in English, the original in German, and also in French of a very recent TV program. It’s probably a good thing that we did so, as we are seeing a pattern of censorship (as used against Techrights and against SUEPO in the recent past) in its early phase. It’s hard to censor TV programs which were already screened (national broadcast); preserving the programs is another matter.
“It’s hard to censor TV programs which were already screened (national broadcast); preserving the programs is another matter.”The scandalous EPO management always finds excuses for its abusive behaviour; those who speak out about/against such abusive behaviour end up being compared to Nazis, criminals, snipers etc.
Battistelli et al habitually attack the messengers, typically whistleblowers, and then celebrate actions such as union-busting, all this while comparing these unions to "Mafia" (and judges to "Nazis").
Fortunately for the unions and the judges, they’re still alive and they can attempt to defend themselves. The EPO has a massive PR contract with which to smear them and it’s even easier when the accused is dead, hence unable to defend himself/herself. Those who have followed this saga long enough probably know too well that EPO accusations against staff are extracted under immense pressure (intimidation and more) and sometimes even made up or entrapped for. The same thing happened in the (in)famous Aaron Swartz case. This is in fact what many of the complaints themselves are about and this is why the EPO came under intense fire. This mirrors in some ways what happened in WIPO (there too there are gagged/daemonised whistleblowers and even suicides).
“The EPO is drunk on power and if it’s not stopped very soon, then more suicides can be expected.”Earlier this month we showed that EPO management (Battistelli’s circle) was flipping out because of the TV program which exposed the nastiness and the illegalities of the ‘Gestapo’ [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7]. Well, not too shockingly Battistelli’s circle at the EPO responds to such a TV program by attacking the dead and what looks like an implicit threat to the media. One day we are hoping to show that newspapers too are subjected to such abusive tactics. The EPO is drunk on power and if it’s not stopped very soon, then more suicides can be expected. The media too is facing a firing line.
What follows is the latest “Communique” from EPO management (appeared today as a supposedly factual response). Our response is in-line below. We attempted to keep it concise, but it’s still rather long (and it’s 3 AM here, it actually took me 2 hours to write it).
Report on Bayerisches Fernsehen
More like ‘damage control’, not a “report”.
Distorted information and facts
Coming from the EPO, which lies to its own staff and to journalists.
On 2 March, the Bayerisches Fernsehen aired a report about the Office on which we have already commented with a first note.
We wrote about it before. There was something menacing about it, as if the EPO was preparing to sue the reporters and/or their bosses (potentially costing these reporters their jobs).
The broadcast portrays the Office in a way that is factually false and damaging to the EPO’s external image.
Damaging to the EPO’s external image? For sure. Factually false? No. The EPO does not have some God-given right to have a positive external image and if its actions are so abusive (if not corrupt), then it deserves negative publicity. Only a psychopath or a sociopath would be so intolerant/resistant to criticism.
In several aspects, it concerns staff members’ privacy for which the Office has always adopted very protective behaviour. The broadcast implies that our management and staff – including our occupational health physicians, lawyers, investigators, administrative staff, as well as staff members from all DGs involved to various degrees – are acting in a non-professional way and would even be endangering the health of other colleagues. This is false, offensive and totally unacceptable.
Nope. It is ABSOLUTELY CORRECT based on what we have been hearing from many separate sources. The Office does not care about “staff members’ privacy” as if claims. Just look what it did to a suspended judge. There are many other examples as such. The EPO is selectively ousting people based on Battistelli’s evil agenda. In that respect, the EPO is hardly any better than North Korea. Maybe the UN should take a closer look at Battistelli, the I.U. and the EPO, rather than only obsess over North Korea (incidentally, see the nature of the WIPO scandals in relation to North Korea).
The EPO says it has “adopted very protective behaviour” when it comes to privacy. This is just hilarious. How many EPO staff members know about the (personal) data exchange with Europatis? Read all about it in:
- Jacques Michel (Former EPO VP1), Benoît Battistelli’s EPO, and the Leak of Internal Staff Data to Michel’s Private Venture
- Europatis: “Turnover of €211,800 and Zero Employees”
- Loose Data ‘Protection’ and Likely Privacy Infringements at the EPO: Here’s Who Gets Employees’ Internal Data
- Summary of the EPO-Europatis Series
- Revolving Doors of High-Level EPO Management: Jacques Michel and the Questel Deal With the EPO
Regarding “endangering the health of other colleagues,” see how EPO management (mis)treats ill staff. That’s despicable. Even China isn’t this bad. The EPO under Battistelli has become like some kind of Republican/neo-liberal experiment in human rights abandonment, something akin to the Stanford prison experiment.
We have therefore analysed the broadcast thoroughly, including sequences, statements and accusations therein, as a basis for discussion with the Bayerisches Fernsehen on the topics that seem essential to us.
We are going to publish transcripts in several languages. When the above says “us” it probably means the tiny (all-time low) minority that voted against a strike (see the raw numbers).
Below we provide you with the same information.
We are “transparent” enough when it suits us, i.e. when it demonises those who help expose our abuses.
This information only contains what can be made public.
We omit the stuff that doesn’t bolster our side/position, e.g. Battistelli’s secret contract and defense of the accused.
It explains the background and real facts behind the events fictitiously outlined or even fabricated in the broadcast.
Both “fictitiously” and “fabricated”, eh? Like the EPO 'results'?
It shows how information has been distorted and how crucial facts were omitted, changing the context of entire events.
Get your “facts” and “information” from Battistelli and his boys (and his boy’s wife), because nobody but they is the fountain of truth.
From the broadcast by the Bayerisches Fernsehen:
Suicide of Mr S.
As if the name isn’t obvious already from the broadcast. Whose identity are they trying to guard?
Facts:
They conveniently forgot the scare quotes.
Disciplinary procedures are initiated only after facts have been established and not based on simple suspicions. Mr S. admitted, both in person and through his lawyer, to having sent anonymous death wishes and severe insults to three colleagues working in Patent Administration.
Given the accusations made against Ms. Hardon (and repeatedly refuted), we urge readers to be sceptical of the above. The EPO has a terrible track record on accuracy. It should be noted that “death wishes” aren’t the same as death threats. I received numerous death wishes over the years (even online and at times anonymously), however I never received death threats. I know some who have.
These letters led to serious health effects in the case of at least one of the colleagues concerned in pregnancy.
The EPO evokes “health”, conveniently forgetting what it did to Ms. Hardon's health. In its threatening legal letters (sent to me) the EPO used similar strategies, as if being emotionally harmed is in itself grounds for action. My lawyer clarified that it doesn’t work this way. When someone gets exposed doing something wrong or unethical that someone is likely to feel agitated and stressed. This in itself isn’t grounds for seeking damages/reparations.
The same letters were made available to other colleagues. Mr S.’s suicide occurred in June 2014, only days after he had suffered a tragic loss in his personal life.
Let’s divert attention to something else then. When causing someone to commit suicide it’s just so convenient to divert attention.
The Office has supported his family after his death with psychological and administrative support. Until the said broadcast, his brother had never complained about the Office’s possible responsibility. On the contrary, he thanked the Office for its support on several occasions. (see also here EPO guideline regarding psycho-social risks).
In the case against Ms. Hardon (amateurish accusations sheet) we saw these same claims coming from the EPO. If the brother ‘defected’ — so to speak — then it’s probably because he found out something that he didn’t know before. The EPO doesn’t seem to be able to accept that. The EPO also regularly misleads people, which makes one wonder…
Dismissal of staff members
No, no…
These are staff representatives. Don’t repeat the lie that this is all just a coincidence. They are targeting unions. This is unequivocally union-busting action. It is made abundantly clear from letters that we published here before (in full or in part).
The EPO lies in small doses and small steps. Don’t fall for it.
Facts:
They conveniently forgot the scare quotes again.
According to our Service Regulations, dismissal can only occur after a thorough disciplinary procedure in case of serious misconduct (frauds, severe acts of harassment, gross negligence) or incompetence (continuous lack of fulfilment of professional duties). In the past 3 years, there have been 2 dismissals per year following disciplinary procedures on issues such as fraud and repeated severe moral harassment.
What are they getting at? We’re obviously not talking about “fraud” or even “repeated severe moral harassment” here (unless the made-up claims against Ms. Hardon get counted as the latter). What about Ion Brumme? Was his ‘offense’ the signing up of more members for the incredibly popular union, SUEPO? The EPO just relies on people being lazy or insufficiently informed. One can imagine how they bully the TV staff over it, Battistelli style…
How many TV channels will be ‘brave’ enough to criticise the EPO after this journalism-shaming routine?
Disciplinary procedures against staff representatives/union officials
“Union-busting” is shorter.
Facts:
They conveniently forgot the scare quotes again.
Disciplinary procedures are not launched based on suspicions but on facts and evidence. The events leading to disciplinary procedures and subsequent sanctions against some staff representatives do not relate to having expressed criticism or disagreements with management, nor are they linked to the colleagues’ role as staff representatives or trade union officials. They relate to the facts of moral harassment, abuse of authority towards other colleagues (denial of their fundamental rights), as well as defamations and insults via the use of external blogs under hidden pseudonyms.
This is nonsense. A person who didn’t even lodge a complaint is being used as a phantom ‘witness’ to bring about excuses to dismiss Ms. Hardon, making it appear like the real cause for dismissal rather than her speech (like the use of rape allegations against Julian Assange in order to muzzle Wikileaks). This is a classic union-busting and movement-crushing tactic (many examples exist, including recent ones beyond the scope of this response). As for “defamation”, the EPO needs to actually investigate Željko Topić’s terrible status in Croatia rather than people who speak about it (obviously anonymously, for their own protection).
Maybe Bayerisches Fernsehen should consider doing another episode, this time about Željko Topić (if his story is even possible to fit within one episode at all). There would be many criminal charges to cover.
The Office has a duty to prevent and sanction such actions.
Except when Topić, Battistelli and other untouchable thugs do it? This is a two-tiered ‘justice’ system, where some people enjoy inculpability and some are assumed to be guilty all along (because the agenda makes it imperative).
Not doing so would on the contrary engage the responsibility of the Office. In certain cases, the process was launched due to direct complaints against the staff representatives/trade union officials introduced by other staff members, in all cases on the basis of facts and documents voluntarily reported by the victims.
“In certain cases” is a term used because it wasn’t always the case and they know it.
Acts of intimidation by the respondents have taken place against witnesses, victims and EPO officials in charge of the cases throughout the fact-finding and disciplinary procedures. An elected staff representative, member of SUEPO, even asked for the protection of the administration. As an example, a staff representative, harassed by other staff representatives, resigned from his mandate and wrote publicly this on 25 November 2014.
This is a distortion of what actually happened because when the accuser, the judge and so on is the same person, what kind of a moron even frames this as above, as if there’s a legitimate legal process at hand? It’s a mock trial, and Elodie Bergot sure isn’t happy about people discovering that she’s the mistress of ceremony (MC) of it all. It is a blatant spit on democracy, on the rule of law, and on human rights.
Investigation Unit meeting a Staff Representative in The Hague
Facts:
Investigations at the EPO are carried out to address concerns of harm to colleagues, the Office’s resources, or its reputation.
Remember that Topić, Battistelli, Bergot and so on count as “colleagues”, so basically criticising the management for something (anything!) would be interpreted as “harassment”. It’s funny that they again mention “reputation”, almost as though the EPO has a God-given right to good reputation.
The facts pertaining to allegations of misconduct are established objectively and impartially, taking into account all exculpatory and inculpatory evidence and mitigating or aggravating circumstances.
“Objectively and impartially”? On EPO payroll? Or external contracts (EPO ‘dark money’) with Control Risks? That’s a mockery of the very notion of fair trial, let alone of ad hoc justice.
No staff member has ever “collapsed” during or in relation to an investigation interview.
Nonsense. That’s just denial. See above regarding the suicide. Similar pattern for sure…
As someone from the EPO put this when asked, “it is really horrible. Quite a few people in the Office who were friends of Wolfgang were very upset.”
Audio records of the meetings are made of each meeting and are at the disposal of the disciplinary committee (which itself also includes two staff representative members) and of the interviewee. In all the interviews conducted by the investigative unit, which are audio recorded, there is not a single incident of any investigator raising his voice. No interviewee was at any time and in any way neither intimidated nor psychologically or physically attacked.
Release the tapes. Or maybe destroy them like the Bush era government did. The EPO’s words are without value as long as the EPO’s management, and especially its spokespeople, habitually lie if/when it suits them.
Interviews are conducted professionally and with the utmost level of respect for all parties. In the case discussed in the said broadcast, the staff member in question was never escorted by any member of the Investigative Unit to the interview room. He was invited to an interview as a witness and he joined the meeting unaccompanied after a delay of 20 minutes. The interview lasted 25 minutes.
See what the EPO is doing here? It targets and zooms in on the identity of people who wish to remain anonymous. If anything, this proves what the program claimed. There’s a culture of witch-hunting and whistleblowers are being cast/framed “liars” by all means possible. Victims are the predators now?
It was passed in a respectful atmosphere from both parties, and was concluded early, on request of the interviewee, to allow him to prepare for his meeting with the Central Staff Committee. It is after this later meeting with the Central Staff Committee, that the staff member in question reported that he was feeling unwell. He was permitted to leave work, and returned to work a few days later. For transparency reasons, the Investigative Unit would be willing to make the record of the interview available with the consent of the interviewee.
At this stage it’s rather clear who they are alluding to. And the alleged ‘crime’? Doing an independent staff survey about satisfaction (or lack thereof). It’s all about reputation. In an effort to guard his reputation, Battistelli now does the same thing as North Korea because he monopolises truth by elimination. Even family members are impacted by this (collective punishment).
Sickness reform
Facts:
The possibility to verify sick leave (control at home) has been an integral part of the EPO’s regulations for many years. The only significant change introduced in recent years is the possibility for the EPO to send a doctor to the staff member’s home to verify the sick leave claimed. When sick, staff members should therefore be at home between 10.00 and 12.00 hrs and between 14.00 and 16.00 hrs. In case a staff member is not at home e.g. for visiting his/her doctor, he/she must simply provide the Medical Advisory Unit with justification. Privacy is fully respected and nobody is obliged to grant access to his/her private home. On average, 14 verifications are conducted per year at the EPO (with regard to more than 6700 staff members, i.e. about 0.2% of total staff. This is done by all health insurance schemes). No EPO’s employee has ever been dismissed due to sickness or because of “too many sick leave days”. There is also no legal basis in the Service Regulations to do so.
We have evidence with which to refute this. The EPO relies on the TV channel’s staff having no access to such evidence. How convenient.
Confronted with such accusations and false information, it is important to us to provide the facts behind decisions and events that were mentioned in the broadcast, so that each one of you can judge for him/her self the content of the broadcast and question the real motivation of the few employees who have taken the responsibility to participate in such a defamatory and damaging campaign against the Office. All necessary steps to obtain the repair of the damages are considered.
Is the EPO considering legal action? They seem to have sent such letters to German names (German media we assume) before. We still have some stories in the pipeline about German media and EPO meddling. Are they going to demand ‘corrective’ reporting, an ‘apology’ (a forced one of extracted by pressure), or something along those lines? Whatever it is, be prepared for the nastiness of Team Battistelli to shine through.
We will do even more work on disseminating the program (locally-hosted videos) in the coming days, in order to ensure nothing can take it down, not even EPO legal threats against SUEPO Munich, which uploaded videos to YouTube. The harder they try to suppress the truth, the wider it’ll spread. The fools who advise Battistelli obviously don’t understand how the Streisand Effect works. █
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