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07.04.16

The European Patent Organisation Jokes About Independence on the 4th of July (US Independence Day)

Posted in Deception, Europe, Patents at 3:42 pm by Dr. Roy Schestowitz

How to frame an assault on independence as “greater independence and improved efficiency” [sic]

The independence farce at EPO

Summary: Distancing itself even further from reality and from truth-telling, the European Patent Organisation resorts to reality distortion and EPO communications people called their face-saving lies “news”, after they had lied both to staff and to journalists

Greater lies from the EPO were finally promoted in the Organisation’s or Office’s Twitter account today (the account is called EuropeanPatentOffice but the username is “EPOorg”, which is contradictory unless they refer to the domain name). This came out several days after we had offered a translation of this pack of lies. Ironically enough and probably by coincidence this happened on the same day as the US celebrations of independence day. The President of the Boards of Appeal will be controlled by appointment by Battistelli, based on my careful reading of the EPLAW analysis as well as some press articles about it. The above tweet and accompanying/corresponding “news” item isn’t amusing; it’s actually rather disgusting as it grossly misrepresents what Battistelli and his goons did behind closed doors. Words are no longer enough to express the disgust; maybe more caricatures would help. CA/29/16, which we wrote about last night, showed further potential retaliatory tactics. So where is the substance for that “independence” nonsense?

“This is a typical tactic in politics. One puts forth an absolutely horrible proposal/bill and then lets it be slightly improved for initially-sceptical parties to approve under the supposition that the watering down somehow had them accomplish something.”“CA/29/16 Rev1 is certainly an improvement over the original,” wrote one person today. “but it is still far from being acceptable.”

This is a typical tactic in politics. One puts forth an absolutely horrible proposal/bill and then lets it be slightly improved for initially-sceptical parties to approve under the supposition that the watering down somehow had them accomplish something. To quote further from that comment: “It is good that we no longer have a vague reference to the “legitimate interests of the Office”. But what could possibly be meant by “integrity of the EPO’s appeal system”? And why has the option of forbidding a member of the BoA to take up a new position been retained?”

Perhaps more importantly, who will be appointed to run/manage the people whom Battistelli wishes to crush? The President of the Boards of Appeal is appointed in part by Battistelli himself and then there’s the issue of HR and IT (i.e. Bergot and other Battistelli cronies) meddling in Boards of Appeal activities, recruitment and so forth. This is independence???

“The Organisation is a lot more loyal to the Office (Battistelli) than to anybody else, which perpetuates and strengthens the perception that Battistelli has “got them by the balls,” to use a crude slang term.”As the above comment put it, “I struggle to think of any potential conflict of interest that could not be dealt with by instead placing limitations upon the ex-member’s future interactions with the EPO. If those limitations make a new position untenable, then that is a problem for the ex-member to sort out with his or her new employer. But forbidding a member to take up a new position is just an unenforceable restraint of trade (and an infringement of human rights).”

Another person rightly argued that “the amendments are cosmetic. If you check my concerns (and those of CIPA or AMBA) you can see by yourself that they have not been addressed.”

“It’s militarised, it enjoys special treatment (even immunity from law enforcement) and while striving to merely maintain some illusion of independence it actively eliminates the independence as envisioned and codified by the EPC.”“There is not much point in being consulted if no-one listens to you,” wrote another person. What can the public deduce from total apathy towards AMBA? The Organisation is a lot more loyal to the Office (Battistelli) than to anybody else, which perpetuates and strengthens the perception that Battistelli has “got them by the balls,” to use a crude slang term. Given the lack of gender diversity at the Organisation’s management, the term can be almost taken literally. Under Battistelli, the Organisation and Office are almost synonymous (no proper seperation or effective oversight) — to the point where the EPO's lawyers use the words "Organisation" and "Office" interchangeably, and thus wrongly.

One person asked: “What’ll be the free rooms in the Isar building be used for?” More personnel under direct supervision of “him”? More toys (IU, …) he can send out to other buildings? I fear his bodyguards are in “need” of a readyness room. His right hand [Bergot] and her bodyguards too? More luxury apartments?”

Whatever is going on at the EPO, it’s like there’s a presidential palace is not fortress. It’s militarised, it enjoys special treatment (even immunity from law enforcement) and while striving to merely maintain some illusion of independence it actively eliminates the independence as envisioned and codified by the EPC. This is a coup. Battistelli ‘hacked’ the EPC. It’s now a task/duty of everyone conscious and brave enough inside the EPO to restore order and honour the EPC. █

Links 4/7/2016: VectorLinux 7.2 Beta, Linux 4.7 RC 6

Posted in News Roundup at 2:34 pm by Dr. Roy Schestowitz

GNOME bluefish

Contents

GNU/Linux

Free Software/Open Source

  • Why PayPal bets on open-source

    The old way was to spend a lot of money on limited software and hardware. The new way, as PayPal’s Bill Scott, VP of next gen commerce found, is to scale out with lots of low-cost hardware and software. Open-source enables this, and to marvelously good effect.

    Scott, a firm believer in lean engineering, stands by the fact that it’s the secret sauce that fosters innovation and efficacy.

    Lean engineering, simply put, is becoming a part of the experimentation and learning cycle. The idea is to have rapid iteration and get feedback from customers quickly.

  • Distributed, Open Source Chat with Vector and Matrix

    When it comes to chat, you have many choices. Facebook Messenger, Google Talk, Whatsapp, Kik, and Slack are all viable options. However, all of these choices are proprietary, and require you to use servers that you can’t run yourself. They’re highly centralized, closed source tools.

    In the open source world, IRC has been the go to solution for chat for many years, and for good reason. Anyone can run a server, there’s many clients, and it’s built on open standards. But IRC comes from a pre-mobile world, and relies on clients to maintain persistent connections to the server. It’s not the best experience on a phone.

  • The Growth of the Linux and Open Source Channel since 1989

    The Linux kernel was born twenty-five years ago this summer. Since that time a thriving partner ecosystem has arisen around open source platforms built on Linux, GNU and other free and open source software products. Here’s a look at milestones in the evolution of the Linux channel and partner ecosystem.

  • Living, in Limbo [Ed: Pieter Hintjens, famous Free software developer, with terminal cancer]

    “Is he getting better, or is he dying?” asked my nephew of me. How to explain? The hospital sent me home three months ago with boxes of pain killers, oxygen, a medical bed, and home care. Palliative care: aim for quality of life, not return to normal. And yet here I am, not on oxygen, not taking the pain killers, and seeing medical staff only when it’s time for my biweekly chemotherapy.

    I’m clearly not dying yet. And still, slowly losing weight and muscle. A simple walk leaves me tired and needing to sit. I wake up, make an early morning cup of chicory/coffee, drink it, then lie down again, hit by the simple effort of standing up.

    We did a CAT scan a few weeks ago. Inconclusive. Things don’t seem worse. Yet the numerous little blobs of cancer are still there in my lungs, patient. Another scan in a month, and we’ll have a better idea.

  • Web Browsers

  • SaaS/Back End

  • CMS

    • Arastta: Community Driven & Open Source eCommerce

      Arastta eCommerce is an open source project which is driven by its community. For a relatively new startup project Arastta has a great community sharing ideas, translating into different world languages, reporting issues and bugs, contributing the source code and helping to plan the future of the project.

  • Pseudo-Open Source (Openwashing)

  • Public Services/Government

  • Openness/Sharing/Collaboration

    • Peerplays creates open-source profit sharing module

      Blockchain-based online gaming and wagering platform Peerplays, has created an open-source fee sharing module that will enable direct profit distribution to token holders by any Graphene-based blockchain platform.

    • Open Hardware/Modding

      • Wevolver Open Source 3D Printable Robots And More (video)

        …if you are interested in creating your own 3D printed robots using a little Arduino programming, open source coding or making in general. You might be interested in some new 3D printed open source robot projects which have been published to the Revolver website for all skill levels.

Leftovers

07.03.16

Grim Situation at the European Patent Office Following Battistelli’s Latest Lawlessness Tendencies, as Explained by Concerned Insiders

Posted in Europe, Patents at 6:54 pm by Dr. Roy Schestowitz

Lawless state of affairs does a disservice to the services offered by the EPO

Firing Benoît Battistelli

Summary: Some of the latest input regarding Battistelli’s (mis)behaviour and the Administrative Council’s passive acceptance of such behaviour

THE USPTO may be notably poor when it comes to patent quality, but at no time in the recent past were there any scandals there that come anywhere close to what happens at Battistelli’s EPO. Battistelli has done so much damage to the EPO that it may take the Office decades to recover from it. The latest Battistelli scandal (among many) is extending to the whole Organisation, as the Organisation’s Administrative Council (AC) foolishly and recklessly plays along with Battistelli. As one person put it over the weekend or just before the weekend:

It appears, that the AC desperately felt the need to do something about the independence of DG3.

There are procedures at the german Bundesverfassungsgericht this year (the link is somewhere above). If the judges there see a lack of independence of DG3, it may cause quite some trouble, like an amendment to the EPC (http://www.stjerna.de/index_htm_files/Unitarypatent_Constitution.pdf, check out point 2).

Maybe this is why the AC felt the need to it quick?

Here is another comment about the massive fee hikes and what they will mean for SMEs, i.e. the large majority of European businesses:

It’s very difficult these days to follow the reforms at the EPO. So many different developments and proposed changes. Which of them are before the AC for decisions is difficult to understand. I hope at least the AC follows the situation.

RE: Considering that the present cost coverage for an appeal is 6.3%, the AC aims at increasing the cost coverage within the next five years to 20 to 25%.

On the one hand, an appeal fee of about 5000-7000 euros probably strengthens the case before national courts on the absence of independent judicial/quasi-judicial review of EPO grant/revocation decisions.

On the other hand, such a new appeal fee effectively diverts from the EPO patenting route small and middle size businesses/innovation, since they need fully disclose and make public their inventions while a review of EPO decision would have a 5000-7000-euro barrier. And this is just to start an appeal, without attorney costs, etc. And this all just for one patent.

Besides, it seems extremely disproportional to me to charge 5000-7000 euros a patentee who validates 3-4 countries and a patentee who validates 20+ countries. At the same time, also SMEs should be able to patent 38 countries.

Last but not least, an increase of BoA appeal fee seems to be indirect increase of patenting costs, given that now an appeal fee is already being paid, i.e. included in an entire series of EPO fees.

This entire policy appears to have been aimed at crushing the appeals process, hence/thereby speeding up examination and not doing the job properly. As one person put it later in the day, “it will be really difficult to get the applicants back to the EPO [...] once the current President has left.” Here is the entire comment:

I cannot help but wonder.

I hear that the Council extended the appointments of some members of the Enlarged Board having participated in the latest disciplinary decision. Nice sign. However, the Council should have suspended or dismissed the President, for interference with proper application of justice. That would have solved the independence issue, too.

It would also have bought enough time to finally organize the conference of ministers, overdue since 2012. Reshaping DG3 would definitely have merited such a conference, as would the UPC.

The impression I get is that all the Council is interested in is cash, i.e. as many patents and renewal fees as possible. As long as the President provides this cash, the Council will not stop him. Downside: once the applicants have voted with their feet and the cash flow drops, it will be really difficult to get the applicants back to the EPO. But that is unlikely to happen in the next one or two years, i.e. once the current President has left.

“Mr. Battistelli,” said some insiders, “appears unable to deliver what the AC has requested from him in its March resolution.” He not only continues his war on DG3 but also on staff representatives. In other words, he attacks both the Office and the Organisation. What a total mess.

Now that Bavarian authorities get increasingly upset or at least worried about the EPO, Team Battistelli pulls a fast one. According to insiders, “cooperation with the local authorities” was recently established as a largely political move:

On 19 April 2016 Mr. Battistelli met the Bavarian Minister of Justice, Mr. Winfried Bausback. According to the report on the intranet signed by Mr. Lutz (VP5) “the meeting participants expressed their willingness to enforce the links and exchanges between the Office and the Land of Bavaria.” In this context we refer to Article 20(1) EPO PPI that reads: “The Organisation shall co-operate at all times with the competent authorities of the Contracting States in order to facilitate the proper administration of justice, to ensure the observance of police regulations and regulations concerning public health, labour inspection or other similar national legislation, and to prevent any abuse of the privileges, immunities and facilities provided for in this Protocol.” In our opinion Data Protection forms part of the “similar national legislation”.

“Thus far we have seen very little of any such cooperation,” note the sources, so it seems like a hand-waving/white-washing exercise, much like the MoU with FFPE-EPO.

More of the same concerns about patent quality or examination/search exhaustion/depth were brought up in The Register. More people now advise other people not to apply for EPO patents. This is the kind of Battistelli-induced damage we have been warning about for years. “Filing a patent application in the USA is so much easier,” one person said, “and has a far greater chance of being granted. There’s a reason the likes of IBM file all their applications there after all. Besides, who really wants an EU patent anyway? Seriously!”

Here is a response to this:

Having a greater chance of your patent being accepted sounds like a great thing, except that it isn’t.

At all.

You could replace every patent office in the world with a stamping machine – come along, put your patent docs in the machine, get them stamped – Bingo – you have your patent.

Then all that remains is fighting out the validity of that patent in the various courts around the world, with rooms full of lawyers from all of the other companies that self-stamped their patents. The result is zero certainty in the validity of your patent and a fortune spent on lawyers with zero certainty of the outcome.

Patent applications need to be checked very carefully in order to ensure that the applicant can have a very high degree of certainty that their patent is actually valid – with that certainty companies can make decisions regarding investment and further research.

See also https://www.newscientist.com/article/dn2178-boy-takes-swing-at-us-patents/ and somewhat rounded corners.

Well, the EPO could be going down a similar route and some say it already does. See “Increasing the PACE” (MIP article) as a euphemism for prioritising large foreign businesses and granting patents to them in bulk and at a higher pace. Later this week we shall shed more light on how it happens in practice and what it means to examination quality.

“One point has to be made clear,” said this commenter. “All EPO activities are paid by the renewal fees.” Well, Battistelli dooms it and he might finish his term before money runs out and budget dries up. To quote:

One point has to be made clear. All EPO activities are paid by the renewal fees.
None of them (including search, examination and opposition and not even mentioning the PR events of Battistelli or his bodyguards) cover its costs with the procedural fees.
The cost coverage factor of opposition, for instance, is similar (slightly lower) than that of an appeal.
Thus, BB’s [Battistelli] argument about the need for an increase in appeal fees in order to cover the costs is, as usual, completely disingenuous.
If that is not the reason which is the real reason?

“I believe the situation is now so bad and dangerous at the EPO,” wrote the following person:

I believe the situation is now so bad and dangerous at the EPO that it is time that public, patent attorneys, economists and company bosses assemble and act together. Make a petition, use your professional or private network if you know politicians, journalists, economists, write to ministers or representatives. We need to inform them that the whole European Patent System is at risk. Companies, economy, research will be endangered if the EPO continues on this track.
About the other reform voted at last AC, namely “risk of conflict of interest”, it is appalling that it appplies to DG3 members. A very clear conflict of interest exists at the moment at the EPO : the President and VP who force excessively high targets on examiners : EPC vs production and objectives. It is the representatives sitting at the AC : EPC vs money for grants, money for dentists, money for cooperation projects.

Based on comments and articles like the above, it increasingly seems like there’s a gentle avoidance (if not boycott) of the Office by stakeholders. The EPO had to hire (at the expense of millions of Euros) crisis management professionals after Battistelli had hired his mates and thugs. Did he not foresee the backlash? EPO examiners are not as naive as he needed them to be.

We honestly strive to save the EPO rather than destroy it because the current trajectory is a massive threat to current staff and former staff (pensions). It would damage Europe’s leadership and welfare. Former EPO workers, not just stakeholders like attorneys, are rightly concerned about the EPO. The EU’s future may depend on it to some degree. “This procedure which lead to the acceptance of the amended documents is the reason why the UK voted “exit”,” one person wrote about Battistelli’s behaviour. “First day clear NO! Some amendments overnight, and all public input, opinions,… are forgotten and the proposal is accepted anyway. Sounds like Bruxelles….”

The following comment was also posted in relation to this bunch of “amendments” and it said:

Reading the decision of the council linked above:

The last word on budget and information stays with Battistelli.

Proposal for appointments and re-appointments are delegated to the president of the boards. However, they are made dependent on the whim of the president of the board, himself dependent from Battistelli for his appointment or reappointment (the Boac has only a rubber-stamping function because the crucial power to propose the chairman of the Enlarged board and give an opinion on his reappointment is not delegated).

The drafting of the Rules of procedure has been moved from the presidium to the boac where Battistelli is again sitting and the users and the members of the boards . are excluded.

Costs of the appeal (ultimately paid by the users in form of sloppy dg1-style treatment of the appeals and/or higher fees) are going to increase because of the move into a new building.

In summary: the council abandoned the idea of an independent judiciary. They gave control over it to Battistelli(at least previously they could decide who was going to serve as VP3), whose contempt for the rule of law is known and told the users to mind their business.

If it is true that the initial reactions to the office proposal were (rightly) negative one wonders what happened behind the closed doors of the council that led 35 delegates to be satisfied with just a couple of purely cosmetic amendments.

This “contempt for the rule of law,” as the above puts it, is exactly why the EPO under Battistelli’s leadership can continue to degrade/erode trust. This might even mean that foreign investors walk away and foreign companies may become less interested in European patents. Look what a mess or liability Battistelli has become not just for the Office/Organisation but also for Europe as a whole. As a side note, Battistelli's political ally Nicolas Sarkozy has just announced preparations for a 2017 presidential bid. In politics there aren’t quite the same age limitations as in this patent sector. Might Battistelli return to ruinous politics having ruined the excellent EPO in just a few years? █

IAM’s Latest Take on the UPC: Dead End For Another 2.5 Years (At Least) With No Effective Workarounds

Posted in Europe, Patents at 6:28 pm by Dr. Roy Schestowitz

A shipwreck of UPC

Summary: The EPO-connected IAM expresses some rather pessimistic views regarding the Unitary Patent regime, which was constructed secretly by (and for) patent law firms

THE EPO may have gotten a friend (or friends) at IAM, but Battistelli does not always get what he wants (even after backing a pro-UPC event organised by IAM with funding from the EPO's PR firm). “The UPC,” some insiders noted, is definitely “not for DG3″ (which Battistelli is crushing right now) and earlier today (a Sunday even!) IAM’s editor in chief published “It would be politically wrong and morally indefensible to ignore the Brexit vote and plough on with the UPC,” echoing a lot of what we have said this past week. Is it realistic, pessimistic, or a sobering sip from a non-Kool-Aid harsh reality for IAM, a longtime advocate of the UPC? Here is the part about expectation of at least 2.5 years before anything happens: “Probably the biggest IP casualty of the Brexit vote is the proposed Unified Patent Court and the EU unitary patent regime. Until the UK leaves the EU its ratification is needed for the system to come into being, so realistically that probably means a minimum of two and a half years’ delay from here. Given all the time and money that has been invested in preparing for what was thought to be its imminent introduction, that’s a big blow.”

“Perhaps democracy is treated by patent circles the same way that EU authorities and the UK government treat democracy.”Regarding Team UPC’s (like so-called 'expert' teams) effort to work around the barrier, here is what IAM says: “Perhaps in part because of that investment, over the last week there have been several suggestions (here and here, for example) that there may be ways to bypass the Brexit vote in order to get the UPC up and running in any case. I think that would be a terrible mistake. [...] The UPC already has its critics. They consider it to be the result of a deal done behind closed doors, designed to benefit nobody but big corporations and patent lawyers. That may be an entirely mistaken viewpoint, but one way to reinforce it and to give it more traction is to ignore the implications of the Brexit vote and to concoct a way for the UK to participate in the UPC.”

IAM isn’t exactly happy with the situation. The closing words from the editor are “The people have spoken, the bastards.”

Yes, that’s very professional. Perhaps democracy is treated by patent circles the same way that EU authorities and the UK government treat democracy. The ‘bastards’… because back room deals of patent lawyers (complemented by photo-ops of Battistelli with heads of offices and politicians) should apparently instruct elected officials and steer Europe’s entire policy on patents in one fell swoop (against people’s will and for lawyers, who would profit even more from if the UPC ever became a reality). █

Post-Jeremy IP Kat Deems It OK to Publish Anonymous Comment Comparing Techrights to “Daesh” While Censoring Polite Response to That

Posted in Patents at 5:32 pm by Dr. Roy Schestowitz

Censorship in IP Kat. Again.

IP Kat gags

Summary: The troublesome pattern of sanitisation of comments (presumably based on agenda rather than commenting policy) continues at IP Kat, which prides itself in being the most popular blog for IP matters

LAST month we tried to protect IP Kat from EPO censorship (by generating backlash or Streisand Effect, which eventually seemed to have worked), but IP Kat does not reciprocate. To make matters worse, it blatantly censors polite comments of mine and even lets an anonymous commenter (unnamed person) label me a “foreign power”, “Daesh”, “communist/anarchistic”, or “anti-IP” (yes, no kidding!). This comment is not at all rational and some EPO workers have already responded to it online with some shock (new lows of character assassination).

“This comment is not at all rational and some EPO workers have already responded to it online with some shock (new lows of character assassination).”The comment almost seems like comedy, but the tone is serious. It says: “Reading all these insider comments above about “decreasing patent quality”, “criminal international organisation”, “applicants should go to national patent offices”, “admin council not caring about staff” etc..etc.. it appears to me that there might be some darker forces at play here. Who has any interest in discrediting a good employer and an organisation that delivers an excellent product in this way? Perhaps some foreign power? Perhaps some communist/anarchistic or anti-IP rights organisation? Daesh? Who knows.. It says a lot that a lot of confidential documents and information ends up on the website of the very secretive anti-IP organisation Techrights.”

Taking into account a pattern of IP Kat censorship (which readers have been telling us about for months), I kept my response to this polite (and this time I saved it too, as previously IP Kat just deleted my comment, of which I had no copy, and was unable to send me a copy upon repeated requests as there’s usually some ‘paper trail’ in E-mail form). Be the one to judge whether my rebuttal, which I thought was imperative as I had been ‘defamed’ (not just by Battistell’s standards), is worthy of deletion:

Wow. What an accusation. Congratulations for reducing everything to “foreign power” “Daesh” “communist/anarchistic” or “anti-IP”. This comment is not at all rational. First of all, “criminal international organisation” is not a term from me, “decreasing patent quality” is somewhat of a consensus and “applicants should go to national patent offices” is an opinion I’ve increasingly seen expressed and it gives me no solace as an ardent supporter of the EU (I’m a German living in the UK, so calling me “foreign power” is ludicrous, set aside “Daesh”); regarding “communist/anarchistic” — again, totally baseless. I support neither Communism not anarchism. As for “anti-IP”? I spent over a decade fighting against software patents. Everyone who has read Techrights that long (or even for one week) knows this. This opinion is expressed repeatedly, but those who try to discredit the messenger would rather misrepresent the messenger, whereupon criticism becomes trivial. I know these tricks, they’re commonplace. Remember that the patent system was all along dependent on quality control, not just for its its legitimacy but also for perceived value (per granted patent). The same goes for copyright law.

You said “it appears to me that there might be some darker forces at play here.” Right, let’s ignore how Battistelli has been ruining the EPO to the point where his approval rate is 0%; why not call his critics “dark forces” and believe that Battistelli’s critics are “snipers”, “Mafia”, and armed “Nazis” [sic]? Maybe the “darker forces” are not his critics; maybe they’re even anonymous comments in Google’s Blogspot. Who knows…

You called my site “secretive anti-IP organisation Techrights.” Actually, it’s one of the most transparent sites out there. We are huge proponents of transparency at all levels in society (see daily links), as it helps guard against corruption and mischief. We used to even publish IRC logs on a daily/weekly basis (since 2008) until Control Risks with the Investigative Unit started scraping them in an effort to crack down on people (they never succeeded because thankfully we’re technically ahead of them).

You also said: “It says a lot that a lot of confidential documents and information ends up on the website” (we don’t even publish everything; far from it!).

The last point serves to demonstrate that people with access to such documents and information trust Techrights more than they trust their bosses. Why use that to discredit me and my site?

I welcome people to challenge my track record and check if I’m “anti-IP” as “European patent examiner” claims. I have published nearly 21,000 articles in Techrights with focus on justice for software development (my profession). We in the software spheres have copyrights for code; software developers generally don’t wish to pursue patents because they know that such patents would slow down development, increase development cost, and potentially be used against them, quite famously by patent trolls (in the majority of cases NPEs rely on software patents and prey on SMEs that would settle without challenge).

Best regards and with true sincerity,

Roy Schestowitz

Quite a few comments have been approved since (including later ones in the same thread), so it’s abundantly clear they deleted mine. Apparently I have not even a right of self-defense, whereas pseudonymous/anonymous people comparing me to “Daesh” is absolutely fine. Well, Battistelli sure view as everything he doesn’t like as terrorism, as we’ve documented here before.

Out of frustration perhaps I decided to send a message to Merpel, whom I consider the most likely person to be empathetic among the Kats (she and I previously exchanged quite a few messages on the subject of comment moderation policy). I asked: “Can you please tell me who deleted my defence of myself from defamatory accusations like “Daesh”? And why?”

“Apparently I have not even a right of self-defense, whereas pseudonymous/anonymous people comparing me to “Daesh” is absolutely fine.”This is similar to previous inquiries like these, which eventually went unanswered. Jeremy is no longer the boss of the blog, so it’s hard to tell who has the last word on such matters. I later contacted Jeremy as well, but still, no reply….

Hours ago, seeing that IP Kat was still active in moderation (even on a Sunday evening) I just came to the conclusion that not much would come out of it and posted the following in social media:

It seems like @ipkat is censoring my polite comment again, even when I merely defend myself from defamatory accusations in #ipkat

please have a quick check to understand why @ipkat censors my comments on @EPOorg – fear of #censorship (again)?

Honestly, I can only hypothesise there’s a power play at #ipkat where several writers offer #epo and #upc protectionism, dodge the truth

Remember that there is no single person who is ‘the Kat’ (especially after Jeremy left), it’s just a collection of people from different background with potentially conflicting interests

What I worry about is that we’re all getting a sanitised view of comments and thus on @EPOorg happenings @JeremyTheKat

We need courageous writers with little loyalties to salaries/employers and power to speak truth to power

I don’t want to waste energy bickering over reporting standards with #ipkat but if you deal with thugs in the case of #epo then grow a pair

Remember that there is no single person who is ‘the Kat’ (especially after Jeremy left), so #ipkat is a mix of less cohesive writings

Reluctance to criticise #epo at #ipkat isn’t a Merpel thing. I think she’s genuinely concerned for EPO (not the management), has colleagues

#ipkat not consistent on EPO; it’s just a collection of people from different backgrounds with potentially conflicting interests

#ipkat should not be terrified of getting banned by #epo – it doesn’t need Office-bound/inbound traffic, people read after/outside work

The articles critical of #epo at #ipkat declined noticeably in terms of frequency after I told them EPO had threatened me.

Control over the view-ability of opinions is control over a story, like editorial control, or meddling in affairs rather than reporting them

I am increasingly convinced that only weeks after signing #FTIConsulting contract (they now “follow” me) #EPO started intimidating journos

Two things happened shortly after #epo signed #FTIConsulting contract (recently broadened): defaming the accused, bullying journalists

#FTIConsulting are scum of the Earth now just for promoting #fracking for their clients who in essence poison people to death [1/2]

#FTIConsulting became the #epo external apparatus before (apparently) taking control of journalists to defame ‘unwanted’ judges [2/2]

In my humble assessment, Judge C from the Appeal Boards and #SUEPo should start preparing legal action against #FTIConsulting

When Adelson bought Las Vegas media to defame a judge who had ruled against him (for his abuses), big scandal. Not when #FTIConsulting & #epo

#epo may still (for now) enjoy legal immunity and #battistelli laugh himself to sleep, but #FTIConsulting hasn’t that. Sue those bastards.

It’s probably no coincidence that European journalists received threats while fake ‘journos’ planted libel just weeks after #FTIConsulting deal

The number of #epo scandals is ever-growing, but journalists are intimidated into cooperation or silence

It may be time to revisit (probably later tonight) the EPO’s gagging campaign against the media. #epo #FTIConsulting #battistelli #de #nl

Will #battistelli write some blog post about #bangladesh on Monday to create the illusion that he cares and worries for people’s lives?

Still no reply from #ipkat or @JeremyTheKat regarding their #censorship of my defence, so I’ll take that as a “no comment”. They’re active.

There are a few more, but they may be less relevant rants. The above may seem less polite than my comment which was censored; well, that’s just what happens when you take people’s voices away and it may be fear (of the EPO) — not disdain — that causes it. We don’t know just how many other comments (regarding the EPO) are being silently deleted like this. People aren’t getting the full story! And they don’t have a platform in which to complain about censorship, hence they contact Techrights about it.

I don’t think that IP Kat folks hate me or anything like this (some chat with me amicably online, even in public). Maybe they don’t want my name to show up in their comments for fear of another censorship campaign by the EPO itself (blocking the entire IP Kat blog). As noted above, much of this weirdness began after I had informed them about the EPO's bullying (SLAPP) of bloggers. Don’t let the EPO management get its way and shape the story. That’s just what they want! █

What Team Battistelli Claims to be Independence of the Boards of Appeal Actually a Likely Dismissal Plan for ‘Unwanted’ Judge (and Maybe His Protectors), Potentially Permanent Unemployment Plan

Posted in Europe, Patents at 4:34 pm by Dr. Roy Schestowitz

Whatever Battistelli wants from the Administrative Council (even collective punishment) he still gets

Independence of the BoA page 1

Independence of the BoA page 2

Independence of the BoA page 3

Summary: The Boards of Appeal (BoA) at the EPO have just been dealt another blow by Battistelli and new texts shed light on further crackdowns, not independence

Team Battistelli (i.e. Battistelli and his flunkies) habitually lies to staff and to journalists. Truth does not seem to matter anymore. On Friday we dissected the pack of lies released under the umbrella of "news" by EPO management after it had crushed the Boards of Appeal even further, paving the way for — as one person correctly noted — even more punishment (potentially collective punishment, which is hugely controversial and merely serves to discredit the whole Organisation).

With help/cooperation from his blindly loyal payees in the Administrative Council, Battistelli may have just engineered dismissal of the judge who allegedly spoke about Battistelli’s right-hand man (criminal charges in Croatia). To quote:

Why this reform is urgent?

21. (…) the President of the BOA will be responsible for proposing disciplinary action to the Administrative Council with regard to the members, including the Chairmen, of the BOA and the members of the EBA.

5. (…) the President of the BOA shall be appointed by the Administrative Council on a joint proposal made by the BOAC and the President of the Office (sic).

After this reform, the suspended member of BOA could be easily dismissed on proposal of the President of the BOA (for sure a BB [Battistelli] good friend).
The members of the Enlarged Board who dared to organize the public oral proceedings will be in trouble too.

This is exactly what we had in mind all along. The above puts it nicely citing the relevant paragraphs. Another comment says:

If the AC really were concerned about the independence of the BoAs, then why did they approve amendments that arguably make the Boards less independent (at least in some respects)?

It is not like they could not judge the effect of the proposals upon independence: AMBA’s comments on that point were unambiguous.

By the way, does anyone have a copy of CA/29/16 as amended that they are willing to make available? I am willing to wager that the most problematic issues with that proposal were not adequately dealt with by the amendments.

AMBA does not matter to Battistelli as it’s probably seen as an obstacle to his agenda. Regarding CA/29/16, says another comment: “I think those were only the proposal documents. As far as I understood the text wasn’t agreed as so much time was spent on DG3? The DG3 document was amended to drop references to non-DG3 staff with regard to these documents but wasn’t that just a nicety and CA29/16 would continue to be applicable to all staff if approved?”

Someone did eventually upload or link to CA/29/16 (annotated). We have made local copies of the following PDFs for long-term preservation purposes (differences shown at the top for those who are not eager to open PDFs on the World Wide Web):

Here you go:

CA/29/16 Rev. 1: Post-service integrity: prevention of conflicts of interest

CA/29/16 Add. 1 Rev. 1: Post-service integrity: prevention of conflicts of interest: comparison between existing and new text

“The amendments made by the Admin Council in CA/43/16 Rev.1 might not do everything you want,” one person wrote, “but they do address some of your concerns. They are more than “purely cosmetic”. Please read the actual document itself, not just the summary on the EPLAW blog. For example, the BOAC now has to consult users about amendments to the Rules of Procedure, not just the EPO President. The actual wording is to be proposed by the new President of the Boards of Appeal, advised by the Presidium.”

Yes, but who will be choosing or consenting to (or contrariwise, vetoing) a new President of the Boards of Appeal? See the comment above. “What is truly missing here is a comparison with national provisions/case law applicable in similar national cases,” another person wrote. “What is even more missing is an independent court capable to test proportionality and application of these CA/29/16 provisions. First of all, it goes about compensation for lost time and opportunities.”

“Battistelli just wants the perception of justice and a perception of independence, albeit it’s not clear at all how the latest changes would help achieve this.”The matter of fact is, as usual, national laws are largely ignored. They’re seen as obstacles. Battistelli just wants the perception of justice and a perception of independence, albeit it’s not clear at all how the latest changes would help achieve this.

Citing Robin Jacob at ‘IP and Other Things’ the above quotes the following “for the AC [Administrative Council] of the EPO,” s/he said. It goes like this: “And the wider our experience the more we can develop what I think is a key attribute – the ability to put yourself in the place of the other man or woman, whether they be litigant or witness or anyone else. This attribute – empathy-is precious; beyond just the courts it is one of the greatest protections against cruelty and one of the greatest forces for peace.”

It sure sounds like he was talking about Battistelli even though he certainly was not. What happens at the EPO right now is hugely damaging to the perception of lawfulness. Not only has the Office made some truly dubious hirings but it also viciously attacks those who are brave enough to bring up the subject. It’s the kind of behaviour one might expect from the Pentagon, so why not at the increasingly-militaristic EPO?

“What happens at the EPO right now is hugely damaging to the perception of lawfulness.”“EPO Stooge” wrote: “All of the alleged “decisions” of the administrative council (i.e. 43/16 and 29/16) are proposals only, it it clearly says in every case “for decision” on the cover page. In contrast, all decisions of the AC clearly state “Decision of the Administrative Council for/to/…”. I haven’t seen any official statement of the AC yet and what BB posts on the EPO’s intranet (quoted several times above) has a credibility rating of close to 0%, at least if its face value is concerned. Before jumping to conclusions, lets wait for both explicit decisions and an official statement by the AC (in a hidden niche on the EPO.org homepage). It should come out next week. There’s a lot of tactical moves going on, on both sides of the EPO/AC fence.” Well, another comment from “EPO Stooge” said: “Please disregard my latest comment re official AC statement on 148th meeting, just saw it (http://www.epo.org/about-us/organisation/communiques.html#a25). I’m very surprised that they actually did allow proceedings for a removal to a new building in Munich, after initial strong words against it, including those of influential members like Grossenbacher. Depressing. Deeply intransparent.”

Well, there he goes. Battistelli received everything he wanted and due to obsession over this one single matter there was no time at all to discuss his gross abuses (and failure to address demands) while he got the usual protection from his ‘clients’ and friend, Mr. Grossenbacher (the story of Brimelow led some to the suspicion that it was Grossenbacher along with Battistelli who had elbowed her out [1, 2, 3]). █

[ES] Las Acciiónes Destructivas de Battistelli Llevaran a los Aplicantes de la EPO Hacia las Oficinas Nacionales de Patentes, Poniéndo en Riesgo el Proyecto Total de la UE y Más Allá

Posted in Europe, Patents at 2:51 pm by Dr. Roy Schestowitz

English/Original

Article as ODF

Publicadoen Europa, Patentesa las5:44 pmpor el Dr. Roy Schestowitz

Mucho para ‘unitaria’ y ‘la mejor oficina de patentes (basado en los expertos conectados a la EPO)

EPO features

Sumario: Las políticas regresivas de Battistelli y su completo mal comportamiénto motiva a la gente cada vez más a evitar a la EPO, lo que sirve a reforzar la observación de que Battistelli se ha convertido en un riesgo existencial de la EPO con sus treméndos gastos en su propia glorificación, militarización y dudosos contratos secrétos

EL LEGADO de Battistelli — sin importar cuando deje la Oficina— será una para los libros de historia. Battistelli no será recordado por nada pero por ser un tirano quien es odiado ampliámente por sus propios empleados ya que su grado de aprobación se mantenió en un 0%, creando advertencias de una crisis dentro de la Organización. Algunos gerentes de alto mando se han ido (o decidido dejar el bote) desde entonces.

Temprano esta noche El Register compuso una pieza acerca de los últimos ataques a las Salas de Recurso, acerca de los cuales la Oficina orguillosamente miente (la Oficina esta acostumbrada a mentir a sus empleados periódistas y los demás). He aquí una porción del artículo:

Un esfuerzo para expulsar de la Oficina Europea de Patentes (EPO) a su presidente Benoit Battistelli llegó a nada esta semana, cuando representantes de los países europeos pasaron dos días ´trabajando´ en una propuesta de reforma.

La reunión del Consejo de Administración de la EPO en Munich había amenazado con convertirse en un enfrentamiento sobre el comportamiento cada vez más autocrático de Battistelli – una situación personal de la EPO alentado por el intento de entrega de documentos legales al presidente y el envío de mensajes a los miembros del consejo para pedirles que le despidan.

El consejo decidió hacer caso omiso de manera efectiva las continuas disputas entre el personal y la gestión, sin embargo, en batea los temas del programa correspondientes a su próxima reunión de octubre.

En cambio, la reunión se centró en la reforma de Juntas de la organización de Apelación (BOA), que a su vez habían sido objeto de controversia debido a los esfuerzos de Battistelli para permitirse a sí mismo poderes adicionales sobre lo que se supone que es un órgano independiente y el proceso.

El Consejo rechazó la Powergrab, se autoriza un sistema de reforma que vio unas nuevas Juntas de Comité de Apelación de configurar como un subsidiario del Consejo de Administración, y un Presidente de nueva creación de la Junta de que va a absorber algunos de los poderes actualmente en poder del Presidente de la EPO.

Al momento, el único comentario allí dice “Tán Europeo,” el cual muestar a que grado Battistelli ha desgraciádo a Europa, no sólo a la EPO. Él ha creado resentimiénto en contra de las instituciónes de la UE y desconfianza en contra de los Franceses, lo que notamos anteriórmente como una buena razón para que los políticos Franceses se deshagan de él.

“Battistelli no será recordado por nada pero por ser un tirano quien es odiado ampliámente por sus propios empleados ya que su grado de aprobación se mantenió en un 0%, creando advertencias de una crisis dentro de la Organización.”

George Brock-Nannestad, un comentarista ocasional que escribe sobre el EPO, dejó un comentario en términos muy fuertes hoy. Dijo que “no es responsable de recomendar la obtención de una patente a través de la EPO,” directamente como resultado de las acciones de Battistelli que pueden matar a la Oficina en el largo plazo. No tome la EPO por sentado; cuando millones de euros se gastan en esencia la compra de los medios de comunicación y decenas de millones de euros son arrojados a empresas privadas sin ni siquiera una licitación probablemente necesitamos contadores forenses para hacer una visita, si Eponia lo permite (ni siquiera un agente judicial apenas se permite cerca del buzón de correos y autoridades croatas luchan para invocar con éxito Zeljko Topic, quien se niega a asistir a las audiencias sobre su presunta corrupción). Este es el comentario completo de Brock-Nannestad:

El desarrollo, o mejor dicho, terminando de la calidad en la EPO es muy triste y otro golpe a la estabilidad que permite un cierto grado de complacencia de los profesionales.

Al parecer, nadie entre los que se encargan de llevar a cabo la carta y las intenciones del CPE tiene ninguna perspectiva histórica. Al igual que los políticos sólo se preocupan de ser re-elegidos y de la financiación de su asiento [casi como en los EE.UU., donde la recaudación de fondos parece ser la principal actividad de los elegidos para el Congreso, al menos por algunos informes].

Sin embargo, los cambios que se pueden llevar a cabo en un año a lo que era un sistema de procesamiento de la solicitud completa tendrá repercusiones en más de 15 años, y aquellos usuarios que necesitan tener en cuenta dónde colocar su dinero “seguro” no puede correr el riesgo de obtención de patentes superficialmente brillantes que ocultan debilidades estructurales, y por otro lado no pueden tolerar las patentes de calidad similares de sus competidores actuales o futuros.

Para los consultores a las empresas más pequeñas, por lo menos, la lección es clara: ya no es responsable es recomendar la obtención de una patente a través de la EPO, y las soluciones más pronto alternativos se encuentran sobre una base individual, mejor, porque entonces las reformas en la EPO se no sentirse.

El problema restante será una sobreabundancia de patentes indignos de competición, agravado por la facilidad con la que los padres sabios esperan que la Unificado de Patentes sea obtenible, es decir, que defensas pueden las empresas más pequeñas reunir contra las patentes que van son los irritantes (casi) trollls? No estamos previendo un movimiento para eliminar la oposición europea como medio legítimo de defensa (pero quién soy yo para predecir nada?), Y eso es lo que se necesita.

9 meses (y mucho más, si usted tiene una conciencia temprana) es sin duda suficiente para estructurar búsquedas complementarias y estudiar los argumentos insignificantes de patentabilidad que vemos más y más. En efecto, existe una cuestión de costos, pero las empresas más pequeñas han acoplan entre sí en el pasado con el fin de proteger sus intereses mutuos, y el pago de una cuota de socio oposición patente corresponde de algún modo de acuerdo con su volumen de negocios. Y recuerda que, debido a la asimetría de la CPE, el titular perdedor no puede ir a los tribunales para tratar de revertir la decisión y con ello ganar más tiempo extorsión. Incluso si la EPO fuera a rechazar todas las oposiciones, los oponentes aún tienen los tribunales disponible.

Creo que tenemos que pensar de esta manera, y los miembros de CA no será realmente en oposición: sus oficinas de patentes, una vez más tienen responsabilidades, y si no pueden levantarlas ahora, debido a la complacencia y la fuerte dependencia de los contratos de servicios de examen de EPO, lo harán b … .y así tener que recargar sus baterías. El proyecto EPO será un paréntesis en la historia, un grupo de expertos de grandes dimensiones se desintegrará, y no habrá sacrificios humanos. Vamos a celebrar los 30 años durante los cuales tuvimos el orgullo, pero hay que seguir adelante.

Mi candidato para un único país de Europa en los que sería conveniente aplicar en todos los casos, es Alemania. En función de su bolso y competitivo situación en la que elegiría otros países también. Estamos de nuevo a antes de 1978! Por suerte todavía hay algunos profesionales por ahí con experiencia que va tan atrás.

Un ex/antiguo examinador de la IPO del Reino Unido sostiene que los delegados del CA “que no deseen mostrar ignorancia seguiran a la manada” y he aquí estan aceptando las propuestas de Battistelli, no importa el dinero y el gratuito cuidado dental. Para citar:

Me temo que hemos visto a BB utilizando el principio de la acreditación con buenos resultados (BBB = “Bullshit cerebros de los deflectores», y lo que veteranos de las Fuerzas Armadas del Reino Unido dicen). No sé nada acerca de los delegados del CA, pero parece ser una ley de la naturaleza (como se expuso hace muchas décadas en el libro de texto clásico “Ley de Parkinson”), que el tipo de persona que termina en un comité como el AC, tiene pocas veces tenía “manos en” la experiencia en la operación del día a día de la organización a la que representan (a menudo después de haber llegado de otro campo a nivel alto), y, no queriendo demostrar la ignorancia, tenderá a seguir a la manada, especialmente si argumentos se presentan con suficiente fuerza.

La EPO, sostiene esta persona, es “cara e impredecíble. Pueda ser buena para los grandes jugadores (i.e. corporaciónes multinacionales) , pero no es una solución sensible para las PYMEs.” Lo mismo es verdad para la UPC, por la cual Battistelli lucha y trabaja duro para imponerla:

Las patentes nacionales son de repente mucho más atractivas. Sobre todo porque muchos de los principales estados de patentes han relajado sus requisitos para la aplciación local. La ruta nacional es ahora altamente rentable, y mucho menos riesgoso que poner todos los huevos en la canasta de EPO. nuevo régimen de apelación de la OEP hace que toda la ruta EPO sea demasiado cara e impredecible. Puede estar bien para los grandes corporaciónes multinacionales, pero ya no es una opción razonable para las PYMEs.

He aquí una explicación del porque los delegados del CA no están hablando acerca de los abusos de Battistelli y sus muchas ofensas dignas de despido; en vez de ello, él ataca más aún a aquellos a quienes abusó (castigo colectivo es una posibilidad por defender a un colega) así que los delegados simplemente siguen la corriente:

Tras reflexionar sobre ello, es posible que algunas (deliberadas) tácticas interesantes pueden haber sido empleados por BB en la última reunión del CA.

La razón para la reflexión es la siguiente: ¿por qué fue la discusión de la reforma de la Boas tan urgente (. Es decir, no 1 punto en el orden del CA), sea tan complejo (es decir, la participación de múltiples propuestas que, sin una buena razón, estaban atados juntos por la Oficina) y tan controversial (es decir tan abiertamente en contra del sentido común como para garantizar un intenso debate en la reunión de la CA)?

Tal vez podría ser que BB cree que la mejor forma de defensa es el ataque. Si es capaz de controlar la agenda y acondicionar el ambiente atándolos con un debate sobre el primer punto, luego cuidadosamente elude un problema que podría haber realmente lo visto en la línea de fuego. También gana meses (en lugar de sólo unos días) para preparar su defensa a cualquier crítica que se derivan de la debacle reciente Eboa (artículo 23 del CPE).

Bien puede ser mucho más complicado que eso. Sin embargo, si realmente era así de simple, a continuación, los delegados a la AC tienen que despertar al hecho de que BB bien puede jugar con ellos para los tontos.

Definitivamente debo señalar, mi intención en caso de que se entiende mal, que soy un gran defensor de la UE y también un defensor de la EPO como un proyecto para toda la UE (y más allá de la UE). Sin embargo, lo que sucede en este momento dentro de la EPO significa que Europa perderá toda su competitividad y dañará su reputación. Mientras más pronto nos deshagamos Battistelli y sus compadres, mejor. Estamos llegando al punto en que hacerlo podría ser demasiado tarde (salas de recursos ya están siendo hundidas, por lo que la situación es irreversible y la decision es prácticamente irrevocable).

Links 3/7/2016: GNU/Linux Desktop Market Share Hype, Fedora 24 Release Party in Panama

Posted in News Roundup at 1:58 pm by Dr. Roy Schestowitz

GNOME bluefish

Contents

GNU/Linux

Free Software/Open Source

  • Implementing NATO’s standards (STANAG)

    I recently joined Linnovate, and while working on one of the open source projects the company produces, we needed to process video content according to NATO’s standard agreement (STANAG) 4609: NATO Digital Motion Imagery Standard.

  • Cygwin library now available under GNU Lesser General Public License

    Today, we’re pleased to announce that the next release of the Cygwin library (version 2.5.2) will be available under the GNU Lesser General Public License (LGPL) version 3. The Cygwin library is the core of the Cygwin project, which includes a distribution of the popular GNU tools and other open source tools designed to enable easier porting of Linux applications to Microsoft Windows. This change to the Cygwin library, previously available under the GNU General Public License, opens up a variety of commercial opportunities for companies to use the newest Cygwin versions in their products.

  • Universal rendering with SwiftShader, now open source

  • Events

  • Web Browsers

    • Mozilla

      • This Week In Servo 69

        In the last week, we landed 84PRs in the Servo organization’s repositories.

        One of our contributors, Florian Duraffourg, landed a patch recently that switched our public domain list matching source and algorithm, resulting in a huge speedup in page load times (~25%!). Shing Lyu tracked down and measured this unexpectedly-large gain through a new automated page load testing performance infrastructure that he has been testing. It compares Servo daily builds against Firefox for page load on a subset of the Alexa Top 1000 sites. Check it out!

  • Oracle/Java/LibreOffice

  • CMS

    • 4 Reasons an Open Source CMS Should Be Appealing to IT

      With an open source CMS, there’s a massive development community, which alleviates the constraint of a limited pool of technical resources. That coupled with full access to the code allows organizations to drive their technical needs based on their business requirements — not the other way around. A site built for the business user reduces the need for technical support in the first place, further enabling non-technical users to take control of their online presence.

  • Pseudo-Open Source (Openwashing)

  • FSF/FSFE/GNU/SFLC

    • What’s up with nano?

      As expected, the recent state of events where nano transitioned maintainership to Benno Schulenberg, and the project left GNU, has a lot of people speculating about what happened, and more disappointingly, making some pretty nasty assertions about motivations. I want to try and give a brief update on them to hopefully calm things down.

    • User freedom in the age of computer-generated software

      Many of us share a vision for the way software, free or otherwise, is developed: software is written by a programmer as “source code” and transformed through some mechanisms into “object code.” As free software activists, we are used to thinking about our legal, development, and community processes and tooling in terms of this workflow. But what happens when software which used to be written manually by humans is developed generatively through other software? How does this affect software and user freedom?

    • Unifont 9.0.01 Released

      This release includes all Basic Multilingual Plane and Supplemental Multilingual Plane scripts that are easily drawn in a 16-by-16 pixel grid up through all new Unicode 9.0 scripts. This release also incorporates changes to scripts that The Unicode Consortium altered. See the ChangeLog file for full details.

Leftovers

  • Hardware

    • The Macintosh is at a new crossroads

      Late last week, Apple announced it has discontinued its Thunderbolt Display, a once-groundbreaking 27-inch monitor that functioned not only as a monitor but as a hub for MacBooks and other Macs attached to it.

      The Thunderbolt Display, which hadn’t been updated since 2011, epitomized Apple’s Mac strategy at the time of providing high-capacity, high-speed peripheral connections to set Macs apart from the pokey peripheral buses then common on PCs. The Mac was for power users; the PC was not.

    • Inside Japan’s Future Exascale ARM Supercomputer

      The rumors that supercomputer maker Fujitsu would be dropping the Sparc architecture and moving to ARM cores for its next generation of supercomputers have been going around since last fall, and at the International Supercomputing Conference in Frankfurt, Germany this week, officials at the server maker and RIKEN, the research and development arm of the Japanese Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) that currently houses the mighty K supercomputer, confirmed that this is indeed true.

    • Fujitsu turns to ARM for Post-K supercomputer

      Alternative chip architectures are taking some thunder away from Intel’s x86 at this week’s International Supercomputing Conference in Frankfurt.

      China’s TaihuLight, which was ranked the world’s fastest supercomputer, has a homegrown chip. And the ARM architecture, which dominates mobile-device chips, will appear in Fujitsu’s next flagship supercomputer.

    • Intel: ARM Servers To Renew Their Attack

      Up until now, server chips based on ARM Holdings’ (NASDAQ:ARMH) architecture have had little impact on the data center market, and Intel’s (NASDAQ:INTC) Data Center Group has continued to grow. ARM server vendors are preparing the next wave of server chips based on 14-16 nm FinFET technology. These will be much more competitive and energy efficient and could start to erode Intel’s share of the data center by 2017.

  • Security

    • Progress Towards 100% HTTPS, June 2016
    • Exploiting Recursion in the Linux Kernel
    • Home Computers Connected to the Internet Aren’t Private, Court Rules [iophk: "MS Windows == insecure, therefore all computer are game"]

      A judge in Virginia rules that people should have no expectation of privacy on their home PCs because no connected computer “is immune from invasion.”
      A federal judge for the Eastern District of Virginia has ruled that the user of any computer that connects to the Internet should not have an expectation of privacy because computer security is ineffectual at stopping hackers.

      The June 23 ruling came in one of the many cases resulting from the FBI’s infiltration of PlayPen, a hidden service on the Tor network that acted as a hub for child exploitation, and the subsequent prosecution of hundreds of individuals. To identify suspects, the FBI took control of PlayPen for two weeks and used, what it calls, a “network investigative technique,” or NIT—a program that runs on a visitor’s computer and identifies their Internet address.

  • Defence/Aggression

    • Hindu temple volunteer hacked to death in Bangladesh, say police

      A Hindu temple worker was hacked to death in western Bangladesh on Friday, police said, the latest in a series of attacks on religious minorities by suspected Islamists.

      Shyamananda Das, who helped to conduct prayers at the Radhamadan Gopal Bigraha Math in Jhenaidah district, was killed by three men on a motorcycle as he was walking on a highway adjacent to his temple early in the morning, police said.

    • Police blow up suspicious car near Stade de France

      French police used an explosive to blast entry to a car parked illegally near the Stade de France stadium in Paris where France and Iceland will play a Euro 2016 quarter-final match tonight.

      The blast by the stadium – which was targeted by terrorist attacks last November – caused jitters among fans arriving for the key game.

  • Environment/Energy/Wildlife/Nature

    • Palm oil companies ditch landmark Indonesian ‘zero deforestation’ pact

      Major palm oil companies that backed a landmark Indonesian “zero deforestation” pact on green practices have now ditched it in favour of less strict standards, triggering criticism the companies have caved into Indonesian government pressure.

      The companies signed the 2014 Indonesia Palm Oil Pledge, or Ipop, in an agreement hailed as boosting efforts to fight rampant deforestation and annual forest fires and the haze. As part of the pledge, the firms, which include top palm oil producers and traders, pledged no development of peatlands of any depth. Peatland fires are a major source of the haze.

      But on Friday (July 1), the companies said Ipop had run its course and was no longer needed. They supported the Indonesian government’s efforts to “transform the palm oil sector” and to strengthen the country’s own certification standards called the Indonesia Sustainable Palm Oil, or Ispo.

  • Finance/Brexit

    • After Brexit, Germany Should Give Brits Citizenship: Minister

      Britain voted 52 to 48 percent on June 23 in favor of quitting the EU.

      Germany should offer citizenship to young Britons living in Germany given that it was largely older voters in England and Wales who voted for “Brexit” in last month’s referendum, German Economy Minister Sigmar Gabriel said on Saturday.

      Britain voted 52 to 48 percent on June 23 in favor of quitting the European Union, with the referendum splitting the country along several lines such as old versus young, England and Wales versus Scotland and Northern Ireland.

    • SPD urges Germany to offer citizenship to young British expats

      SPD member Sigmar Gabriel has said Britons living in Germany should get EU citizenship. His words come amid growing uncertainty in the wake of Britain’s decision to leave the EU.

    • Germany should offer young Britons EU citizenship after Brexit, says German Vice-Chancellor

      Germany should offer citizenship to young Britons living in Germany, since it was largely older voters who voted to leave the European Union, the German Vice-Chancellor has said.

      Speaking at a meeting with the Social Democratic Party in Berlin on Saturday, Sigmar Gabriel, who is also the Economy Minister, said the UK’s referendum was a further reason to campaign to relax the rules on dual citizenship in Germany.

      “Let us offer it to young Britons who live in Germany, Italy or France, so they can remain European Union citizens in this country,” he said.

    • The rest of the world is laughing at the UK – but one country is explaining why they love us

      It’s been a difficult week for the UK. After voting to leave the European Union in a historic referendum, our country seems to have been split down the middle.

      Remain voters are blaming Leave voters for ‘ruining their futures’, Leave voters are telling Remain voters to stop complaining, politicians are tearing each other to shreds.

      The Prime Minister has resigned, the shadow cabinet is falling apart, we’re not sure what’s happening to our economy and there are worrying reports of increased xenophobia.

      It’s fair to say we don’t have much cause to love the UK at the moment.

      We’ve also been made the butt of the joke all over the world.

    • ‘Let EU migrants stay’ say the British public, plus voices from business and politics

      The Government and nominees to be the next Conservative Leader faced new pressure today to make a clear and unequivocal statement to reassure the 3 million EU citizens living in the UK that they would be able to stay after Brexit, and that a similar deal would be pursued to protect the status of the 1.2 million British citizens living in other EU countries.

      New research from ICM for British Future finds that 84% of the British public supports letting EU migrants stay – including three-quarters (77%) of Leave voters. Among Conservatives, support for protecting the status of EU citizens in the UK and UK citizens in Europe is even higher at 85%, with 78% of UKIP supporters in agreement.

      Just 16% of the public think that EU citizens should be required to leave the UK and that UK citizens in Europe should return home, with 23% of Leave voters and 15% of Conservatives agreeing.

    • The Tories played with fire and you can hear the flames crackling round you

      Writing of the British intellectuals who fell for Stalin, George Orwell came up with a sentence that applies as well to today’s conservatives as to the socialists of the 1930s. “So much of leftwing thought is a kind of playing with fire by people who don’t even know that fire is hot.” I was repeating it almost hourly as I watched the frivolous, dishonest, over-privileged and over-grown adolescents who presumed to govern us skip away from the consequences of their folly.

      At a moment when Britain is more fragile and angry than I have seen it, when parliament has been silenced by the referendum, and the opposition has collapsed, they have manured the soil in which extremism flourishes.

      Before I go on, I accept that you cannot get a hearing on immigration, race and the backlashes they inspire until you acknowledge hard truths. It is not the case that everyone who voted to leave was racist, or even primarily concerned about immigration. It is arguable that the origins of our crisis lie in the last Labour government’s decision to open Britain up to hundreds of thousands it never expected to arrive.

    • British Conservatives in Chaos Over Brexit, but Labour Party’s in No Position to Pounce

      Until Thursday, the political wrangling in Britain over how, or whether, to withdraw from the European Union — a move supported by a narrow majority of the voters in last week’s referendum, but opposed by 75 percent of the members of Parliament elected just last year — seemed likely to trigger a new general election.

    • Poll reveals young remain voters reduced to tears by Brexit result

      Almost half of voters aged 18 to 24 cried or felt like crying when they heard that the UK had voted to leave the European Union, according to polls conducted for the London School of Economics.

      The findings were released last night after tens of thousands of people demonstrated in central London against the results of the referendum.

      The polling by Opinium, conducted as part of an LSE electoral psychology initiative called “Inside the mind of the voter”, found that the electorate’s verdict on EU membership prompted a far more emotional reaction than the results of most other elections or referendums.

      Overall, out of a sample of 2,113 British adults questioned between 24 and 30 June, 32% of respondents said they cried or felt like crying when they discovered the result.

    • Douglas Carswell challenged by Leave voter over broken NHS pledge

      Ukip MP claims Vote Leave only ever promised £100m a week – despite £350m a week being at the top of his Twitter profile

    • Thousands of patients could be denied life-extending drugs and treatment in wake of Brexit

      Thousands of patients could be denied life-extending drugs and treatment in the wake of Brexit , the Sunday People reports.

      NHS bosses have delayed funding for vital medicines and services because the fall in the value of the pound means they may no longer be able to afford them.

      And kidney patient Abi Longfellow, the teenager who won her battle for a wonder drug thanks to a Sunday People campaign, is one of those hit by the devastating blow.

      The cost of Abi’s drug went up by £16,000 overnight due to Brexit . When the NHS first agreed to buy the drug form the US it cost £136,000.

      But the price has now shot up to £152,000 because the pound has slumped against the dollar.

      The delays also hit cancer patients, children with gender issues, HIV patients and stroke victims.

    • EU tells Swiss no single market access if no free movement of citizens

      The European Union is to show its determination to make no concessions to the UK on Brexit terms by telling Switzerland it will lose access to the single market if it goes ahead with plans to impose controls on the free movement of EU citizens.

      The Swiss-EU talks, under way for two years but now needing a solution possibly within weeks, throws up the exact same issues that will be raised in the UK’s exit talks – the degree to which the UK must accept free movement of the EU’s citizens as a price for access to the single market.

      The Swiss are desperate to strike a deal in order to give its politicians time to pass the necessary laws to meet a February 2017 deadline imposed by a legally binding referendum in 2014.

  • AstroTurf/Lobbying/Politics

    • Jeremy Corbyn exclusively reveals why he’s offering Labour MPs a peace deal – in his own words

      Britain now faces an economic and political crisis.

      Since voters decided to leave the ­European Union, financial markets have been in a tailspin.

      Threats to living standards have grown. The Prime Minister has announced his resignation, the country is divided and the Government is in disarray.

      George Osborne has finally had to agree to ditch his job-destroying plan for a budget surplus, as Labour has been demanding.

      But Tory ministers have no EU exit plan. Instead, they are threatening to make working people pay for their ­failures, with more spending cuts
      and tax rises.

  • Censorship/Free Speech

    • MDA ticked off for irrational censorship by Festival Director and acclaimed photographer

      Newsha Tavakolian an acclaimed Iranian photojournalist and documentary photographer, and Singapore’s cultural medallion winner Ong Keng Sen have hot out at the Singapore authorities for the unnecessary censorship of works of artistic merits.

    • ICANN: We Won’t Pass Judgment on Pirate Sites

      Following more pressure from rightsholders, domain name oversight body ICANN has again made it clear that it will not act as judge and jury in copyright disputes. In a letter to the president of the Intellectual Property Constituency, ICANN chief Stephen Crocker says that ICANN is neither “required or qualified” to pass judgment in such cases.

    • Man arrested for posting picture insulting PM in WhatsApp group

      Police have arrested a man for sharing a crude photo insulting the Prime Minister in a WhatsApp group.

      Johor police chief Comm Datuk Wan Ahmad Najmuddin Mohd said that the man was arrested in Kampung Tunku, Petaling Jaya at around 12.15pm on Saturday.

      He said the suspect, who goes by the name Pa Ya, had uploaded the photo into a WhatsApp group called “Bicara Politik Melayu”.

      “The photo has insulted and hurt the feelings of Malaysians,” he said in a statement on Saturday.

  • Privacy/Surveillance

  • Internet Policy/Net Neutrality

    • Landlords, ISPs team up to rip off tenants on broadband

      Who would have thought that handing out free coffee and donuts in an apartment house would lead to Comcast reprimanding the building owners? That’s exactly what happened in Norcross, Ga., when cruller-baring Google representatives recently tried to tell residents about the company’s new fiber, high-speed Internet service.

      The landlord in question was reminded that he, like apartment building owners in many states, has an exclusive deal that deems Comcast the only company that can provide broadband to the building. Such deals with Comcast and other major ISPs effectively rob residents of the right to choose broadband providers, and they bar competitors from even setting foot in certain buildings.

  • Intellectual Monopolies

    • Trademarks

      • Comodo spat shows importance of effective PR around trademark strategies

        US-based Comodo Group is the world’s largest issuer of SSL digital certificates (which are small data files that allow secure website connections, usually with an annual cost). A new entrant to the market is non-profit Let’s Encrypt, which was founded in 2014 by the Internet Security Research Group (ISRG) and offers similar digital certificates for free. The rivalry between the organisations turned bitter last week after ISRG executive director Josh Aas revealed that Comodo had filed three trademark applications for the term LET’S ENCRYPT.

    • Copyrights

      • BitTorrent Protocol Turns 15 Years Old Today

        Fifteen years ago a developer named Bram Cohen posted a short message online, announcing his new file-sharing tool BitTorrent. Three years later his protocol was responsible for a quarter of all Internet traffic, and now it helps people to share hundreds of petabytes of data per day.

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