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03.28.16

Patentes de Software en los US – Cuando son Propiamente Desafíadase en una Era de Extrema Leniencia de la USPTO – Simplemente Mueren

Posted in America, Apple, Patents, Samsung at 4:30 pm by Dr. Roy Schestowitz

English/Original

Publicado en America, Apple, Patentes, Samsung at 11:50 am por el Dr. Roy Schestowitz

La sin precedentes barra de baja examinación en la oficina de patentes de Estados Unidos hizo una gran cantidad de patentes de software sospechosas o totalmente falsas

Rubber stamps

Sumario: Sellando unas felices examinaciones en cuanto se trata de patentes de software, esta teniendo su tardío efecto en los aplicantes quienes ven sus patentes o inválidadas or masívamente devaluados después de que la Corte Suprema de los Estados Unidos (SCOTUSP) las evalúa

“La definición de un Troll de patentes es totalmente simple,” escribió una persona temprano esta semana, haciendo eco a lo que algunos de nostros define “[cref 90921 PAE” estos dias. Es “cualquier compañía que hace la mayoría de su dinero usando patentes al amenazar con litigatión.”

Eso es exactamente lo que el “licensing de Microsoft” esta haciéndo. Microsoft ahora tiene su in-house troll de patentes, or PAE, de lo que escribimos la semana pasada.

“Eso es exactamente lo que el “licensing de Microsoft” esta haciéndo. Microsoft ahora tiene su in-house troll de patentes, or PAE…”Afortunadamente la consecuencias de la mayoría de trolles (or PAES) esta en las rocas por Alice. Las patentes de software no pueden dejar de morir, en ambas PTAB y en las cortes. La USPTO últimamente permite que casi cualquier cosa sea patentada (la EPO tiene que observar esto y tomarlo como algo precaucionador), pero simplemente por que una patente es otorgada, no significa que sea válida si/cuando es desafíáda de la manera apropiada, especialmente si esta patente cubre o se relaciona al software.

“Esta decisión de la PTAB invalidándo los reclamos de la patente IV bajo 101 es transtornada,” escribió un abogado de patentes, linking a esta decisión contra Intellectual Ventures, el TROLL de PATENTES de Microsoft y Bill Gates, así como el troll de patentes MÁS GRANDE DEL MUNDO.

“La única patente buena es la patente muerta.”“La hermana de esta patente,” añadió este abogado (citando la patente #9050977), “Conseguí una Rechazo 101” o como este tweet lo pone: “This reads like an un-patentable mental process that drivers do-just “done on a computer”. http://www.pat2pdf.org/patents/pat9290181.pdf” [patent #9290181]

La única patente buena es la patente muerta. Otro nuevo ejemplo de patente de software muerta es esta. Para citar el blog de Docket Rport:

En una escrita decisión final, el Jurado encontró recmaos de un contenido electrónico de distribución no-patentabje bajo
35 U.S.C. § 101. “La ’patente 464 describe que publicaciones electrónicas fueron comúnmente repeditas en una forma leíble por computadora en storage magnético o óptico diskettes y distribuídos a tiendas o por ventas directas de correo. Así el concepto de distribución de publicaciones (contenido), ha sido conocido mucho antes que la patente ´464. Más aún acordamos con el petitioner que distribución de publicaciones (versus publicaciones electrónicas), han sido conocidas por largo tiempo… [Nosotros] determinamos que los reclamos están dirigidos al concepto ABSTRACTO de distribuír contenido electrónico, o más específicamente, a seleccionar, transportar, guardar y enseñar contenido electrónico.”

Es buenho ver noticias como la de arriba porque no sólo devalúa existentes patentes de software pero también reduce el incentivo de llenar aplicaciones por nuevas patentes. ¿Hará SCOTUS lo mismo con las patentes de diseño pronto?

El Caso Apple-Samsung

“A diferencia de Apple, esta compañía Asiática actualmente produce cosas, no simplemente hacen propaganda y rediseñan sus logos.”Vis-à-vis diseño de patentes and patentes de software at SCOTUS, siguiendo talvez miles de reportajes de los medios en casos como este, IDG sirvió para confirmar lo que Florian Müller había pronósticado, principalmente esto. De la historia de IDG: “la Jueza Lucy Koh está preoucpada que el resultado del juicio pueda ser cuestionado después de una revisión de la Corte Suprema” (extraído por Müller).

¿Habrá alguna vez paz? Bueno, todo eso depende de Apple, quién comenzó toda esta guerra total con sus patentes de software y diseño (usuamente GUI software). Esto es lo que pasa entre compañías Asiáticas como Samsung ahora mismo: “Midea y Toshiba anunciaron la semana pasada que ellos han firmado un memorandum de entendimiento por un tratado el cual vería a la más larga compañíá China fabricante de apáratos para el hogar adquirir la mayoría del gigante Japonés bienes blancos.” A diferencia de Apple, esta compañía Asiática actualmente produce cosas, no simplemente hacen propaganda y rediseñan sus logos. Apple ahora gasta un montón de dinero en abogados de patentes; no nos sorprende el porque sus productos están obscenamente con sobreprecio (costos asociados con propaganda sin fin y abogados de patenes son pasados al consumidor).

Links 28/3/2016: BQ Aquaris M10, VoCore

Posted in News Roundup at 4:10 pm by Dr. Roy Schestowitz

GNOME bluefish

Contents

GNU/Linux

Free Software/Open Source

  • Top 11 project management tools for 2016

    For the last three years, I have rounded up the most popular open source project management tools for Opensource.com readers. As there continues to be major reader interest in this area, I decided to take a look back at the tools we covered in 2014 and 2015, and give you updates on all of these projects. I looked to see which projects had new releases, notable new and improved features, and more.

    Let’s take a look at each of these projects and try to answer some of the questions readers have had in the comments of last year’s edition, including which are still in active development, provide hosting options, offer a mobile solution, and more.

  • Events

  • Web Browsers

  • SaaS/Big Data

  • Databases

  • FSF/FSFE/GNU/SFLC

    • Gzip 1.7 Released With Synchronous & Rsyncable Options

      New to Gzip is a –synchronous option for forcing fsync usage when outputting data for greater reliability, but obviously at the cost of slower performance. Gzip 1.7 also has a –rsyncable option when compressing to make the output more amendable for efficient rsync use by minimizing the changes within the gzip file.

    • gzip-1.7 released

      This is to announce gzip-1.7, a stable release. There have been 60 commits by 4 people in the nearly three years since 1.6.

  • Public Services/Government

    • Open Source in the enterprise: Perspectives for CIOs

      The proliferation of OSS technologies, libraries, and frameworks in recent years has greatly contributed to the advancement of software development, increased developer productivity, and to the flexibility and customisation of the tools landscape to support different use cases and developers’ preferences.

  • Openness/Sharing

    • Open Access/Content

      • 8 challenges for improving the Indian-language Wikipedias

        After more than 10 years in existence, the Indian-language Wikipedias still are not known to many Indian language speakers. Wikipedia became the largest encyclopedia in history as a result of thousands of volunteer editors. Whereas native-language Wikipedias are becoming game changers in other corners of the world, the scenario in India is skewed.

      • Universities seek open-source solution to ‘absurd’ textbook prices

        Rajiv Jhangiani grew accustomed to the emails he would receive from his students at the start of each semester:

        “Is a previous edition OK?”

        “Do I really need the textbook?”

        The psychology instructor at Kwantlen Polytechnic University saw an increasing number of students attempting to go without the $150-$250 textbooks he was assigning for his courses, so he decided to stop assigning them.

        “I think it’s absurd, really,” Jhangiani said. “Every two-to-three years we get new editions which are basically cosmetic in terms of the changes that they have, and students are forced to spend a lot of money.”

    • Open Hardware

      • The Onion Omega Carputer Can be Controlled via WiFi

        The Onion Omega, a curiously named ultra-tiny linux-based WiFi board, is a useful little device for everything Internet of Things related. [Daniel] decided to use it to connect his car to the internet.

        Most new cars these days have remote start built in, and slowly, manufacturers are catching up to modern technology and including apps to control various features of their vehicles. But for old cars, there’s not much you can do aside from after-market remote start kits and the likes.

      • Open source OBD-II Adapter

        Automotive diagnostics have come a long way since the “idiot lights” of the 1980s. The current version of the on-board diagnostics (ODB) protocol provides real time data as well as fault diagnostics, thanks to the numerous sensors connected to the data network in the modern vehicle. While the hardware interface is fairly standardized now, manufacturers use one of several different standards to encode the data. [Alex Sidorenko] has built an open source OBD-II Adapter which provides a serial interface using the ELM327 command set and supports all OBD-II standards.

  • Programming

    • Software spat raises open source questions

      If your company uses Node.js, you may have suffered a shock this past week. A critical software package in the open source code base that many Node.js applications rely on suddenly disappeared. The problem was quickly rectified, but it caused problems for many users – and belies a fundamental problem with open source software.

      The problem arose when Azer Koçulu, the developer of the Kik software module, was approached by lawyers working for a company of the same name. They wanted him to unpublish his module because the name infringed on theirs, they said. Koçulu refused, so they approached a company called NPM Inc.

  • Standards/Consortia

Leftovers

  • Ever wondered what the worst TV show in the world would be? Apple just commissioned it

    Remember when soccer’s governing body FIFA spent $30m making a film about itself starring Tim Roth and Gérard Depardieu?

    Well, the tech world’s most egomaniacal company is going to bring its version to the small screen.

    That’s right, Apple has decided to join Netflix and Amazon and get in on the content commissioning game by ordering a television show about… app developers.

  • Science

    • Many Companies Still Don’t Know How to Compete in the Digital Age

      The Internet of Things is a good example of this change. Every industry, no matter how traditional — agriculture, automotive, aviation, energy — is being upended by the addition of sensors, internet connectivity, and software. Success in this environment will depend on more than just creating better digital-enabled products; it will depend on building ecosystem-level strategies that encompass the many moving pieces that come together to create the new value proposition.

  • Health/Nutrition

    • Fukushima’s Former Residents Return Home To Ghost Town In Emotional Photos
    • U.S. Seeks Records of 80,000 Novartis `Sham’ Events for Doctors

      The U.S. is asking Novartis AG to provide records of about 80,000 “sham” events in which the government says doctors were wined and dined so they would prescribe the company’s cardiovascular drugs to their patients.

      The Swiss drugmaker and the Manhattan U.S. Attorney are engaged in a whistle-blower lawsuit that alleges Novartis provided illegal kickbacks to health-care providers through bogus educational programs at high-end restaurants and sports bars where the drugs were barely discussed.

      In a filing Friday, the U.S. said it needs Novartis to provide information to support its allegation that the company defrauded federal health-care programs of hundreds of millions of dollars over a decade by inducing doctors to prescribe its medications through sham speaker events.

  • Security

  • Defence/Police/Secrecy/Aggression

    • Shooting Up: How War and Drugs Go Together

      OF ALL THE CULTURAL NARRATIVES to emerge in the aftermath of American wars, few have proven as pervasive as the Soldier’s Disease. Popular lore holds that the Soldier’s Disease affected hundreds of thousands of Civil War veterans, Yankee and Confederate. A term so specific and vague all at once, the Soldier’s Disease sounds like something meant to conjure up millenniums-worth of human destruction and violence.

      Yet it was never that visceral, or all that physical. The Soldier’s Disease was code for addiction to morphine or other opiates. Given the industrial nature of the Civil War, and the state of medical treatment at the time, the source of the addiction developed from amputations caused by shrapnel wounds. Morphine and the like numbed the horrifying pain that came with the amputations and recovery process. That dependence became addiction, and returned home with the veterans after the war, unleashing a great scourge upon the land.

      So goes the narrative, at least. There’s just one problem, though: the Soldier’s Disease is more myth than historical record. Modern studies reveal that sure, many a Civil War vet had their opiate issues, but so did a lot of Americans in that era, not the least because of a booming (and often unchecked) pharmaceutical industry. Further, the first chronicled use of “Soldier’s Disease” didn’t appear until 1915, a good 50 years after Appomattox. Why? There was a growing antidrug political movement occurring across the nation, and it needed some talking points.

    • We All Are Islamic State

      The tit-for-tat game of killing will not end until exhaustion, until the culture of death breaks us emotionally and physically. We use our drones, warplanes, missiles and artillery to rip apart walls and ceilings, blow out windows and kill or wound those inside. Our enemies pack peroxide-based explosives in suitcases or suicide vests and walk into airport terminals, concert halls, cafes or subways and blow us up, often along with themselves. If they had our technology of death they would do it more efficiently. But they do not. Their tactics are cruder, but morally they are the same as us. T.E. Lawrence called this cycle of violence “the rings of sorrow.”

    • We need both compassion and confrontation to defeat Donald Trump

      Our empathy for white working-class people who are taken with Trump shouldn’t keep us from intervening in the gathering storm of white supremacy that his rise represents, if for no other reason than because we know that the number of people who are repulsed and angry about what he represents—but have remained inactive—is far greater than the total filling the seats of his hate-filled celebrations of patriarchal masculinity. However imperfect our protests have been—and they should incorporate more dramatic and bold experiments along the lines of the Phoenix blockade—they are offering an alternative to the story of white silence, and are galvanizing many to act.

    • Highlighting Western Victims While Ignoring Victims of Western Violence

      For days now, American cable news has broadcast non-stop coverage of the horrific attack in Brussels. Viewers repeatedly heard from witnesses and from the wounded. Video was shown in a loop of the terror and panic when the bombs exploded. Networks dispatched their TV stars to Brussels, where they remain. NPR profiled the lives of several of the airport victims. CNN showed a moving interview of a wounded, bandage-wrapped Mormon American teenager speaking from his Belgium hospital bed.

    • Criminal Bankers Control US Government Push War-Paul Craig Roberts

      Former Assistant Treasury Secretary in the Reagan Administration, Dr. Paul Craig Roberts, contends it is no accident why bankers do not get jail time for constantly committing fraud by stealing documents and committing fraudulent, criminal insider trading and market manipulations. Dr. Roberts explains, “Look at Edward Snowden and Julian Assange. They claim they stole documents, and we are determined to destroy them. One of them is hiding out in Russia, and one of them is hiding out in the Ecuadorian embassy in London. This again shows the immunity of the banks. They are not held accountable because they are in control. Who controls the Fed? Who controls the Treasury? Where do all the Treasury Secretaries come from? They come from the big New York banks. Look at the financial regulatory agencies that are supposed to be regulating the banks. They are filled with executives from the banks. The banks control the government. There isn’t a government, there’s the banks. . . . We have the entire economic policy in the United States concentrating on saving five banks. We had 10 million people who lost their homes, and nothing was done for them, but five banks are saved.”

    • The Pentagon’s Budget Time Bomb

      With plans for military spending on a new Cold War — as well as on old fears about terrorism — spinning out of control, the next U.S. president will face a budgetary time bomb, explains Chuck Spinney.

    • Hillary the Hypocrite

      Who should play Hillary on Broadway?

      “Maybe Lily Tomlin,” Nader says. “She’s good at playing characters that speak with forked tongues.”

      “Hillary the Hawk is the darling of the military industrial complex that President Eisenhower warned about in his farewell address,” Nader said. “And she gets quite a bit of money from those companies. Hillary the Wall Street Promoter gets money from Wall Street. And yet she comes out on that stage and says exactly the opposite and gets away with it.”

    • Lessons of Brussels

      The population of Brussels is nearly 25 percent immigrants from Muslim countries, primarily Morocco and Algeria. And as it turns out the two brothers who were the core of the ISIS cell were habitués of the now notorious Molenbeek neighborhood, which consists primarily of the descendants of immigrants who settled there decades ago. Poor, and beset by petty crime, it is a pool in which terrorist recruiters fish with much success. The Syrian civil war has become a cause that attracts young toughs with no prospects, who are looking for some sense of meaning – and a way to express their alienation from the larger society in which they live. Molenbeek was also the base for those who planned and carried out the Paris attacks – it is, in effect, a general headquarters for ISIS to carry out its European operations. Salah Abdeslam, the chief planner of the Paris attacks, fled there and found sanctuary for four months before being caught.

    • How to Become Terror-Torn Europe—And How Not to

      Our integrated American Muslim communities are helping to keep us safe.

    • “Families Were Blown Up” — Scenes From a Saudi-Led Bombing in Yemen

      Around midday on March 15, fighter jets from a Saudi-led coalition bombed a market in Mastaba, in Yemen’s northern province of Hajjah. The latest count indicates that about 120 people were killed, including more than 20 children, and 80 were wounded in the strikes — perhaps the deadliest attack yet in a war that has killed more than 6,000 civilians. Local residents and health officials say the carnage was so great in Mastaba that most of the bodies could hardly be identified, and several were beyond recognition.

    • The Case of Bowe Bergdahl: Military Justice in a Highly Charged Political Season

      In a season when the political becomes theater, and when military actions remain as prominent and prolific as they were when the sergeant enlisted in the military for the second time, the old refrain that military justice is to justice, as military music is to music, ought to give anyone pause hoping that in Sergeant Bergdahl’s case cooler heads will prevail and the accepted wisdom of enough punishment being enough becomes widely shared. Nearly 15 years of war in Afghanistan, and with a nation on permanent war footing, the chance of Sergeant Bergdahl’s case being considered outside of the turbulent winds of the presidential primary season and the general election are highly unlikely. In this highly charged political atmosphere, the chance of justice prevailing is remote. Determining the conditions on the ground in Afghanistan at the time of Bergdahl’s absence from his unit are impossible to assess since this war is only covered by major media outlets when an event of major proportions takes place.

      The details of how Bowe Bergdahl might be punished are worth comparing to the actual punishments resulting from the assault on My Lai in Vietnam in March 1968 and its aftermath. About 500 unarmed men, women, and children were killed in that massacre by US forces. The only officer to face a military trial for the atrocities of My Lai, Lieutenant William Calley, could have faced the death penalty for the 109 Vietnamese he had been charged with murdering. Ultimately, he was convicted of killing 22 civilians and sentenced to life imprisonment. That sentence was reduced to 20 years and then further reduced to 10 years. Calley’s final time spent under house arrest amounted to three and a half years, at which time he was released by a federal court. Bergdahl has never been charged with killing a single individual or responsibility for the death of troops involved in the search for him as the result of his leaving his post. No one was killed during the search for the sergeant.

    • The Risk of Overreacting to Terror

      There is exploitation by politicians of the spike in public concern about terrorism, this time with presidential candidates calling for patrols of American neighborhoods identified by religion, when those same candidates are not calling for carpet bombing a foreign country.

    • How Donald Trump and Ted Cruz Help Terrorists Achieve Their Aims

      Recoiling from the terrorist carnage in Brussels, Americans may be attracted to the “tough” posturing of Donald Trump and Ted Cruz. The casino mogul wants to bring back torture, while the Texas senator hopes to bomb indiscriminately until the desert glows. Trump would bar any Muslim from entering the United States, while Cruz would dispatch special police patrols into Muslim neighborhoods. Both eagerly demonize Muslims worldwide and stigmatize Muslims in America.

    • Fighting for recognition: Soviet-Afghan War veterans in Tajikistan

      More than a quarter of a century after the Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan, the afgantsy are still struggling to carve out a place for themselves in post-Soviet Tajikistan.

  • Environment/Energy/Wildlife

    • Japan’s Bogus Excuse For Killing Hundreds Of Pregnant Whales

      Japan’s fleet known for capturing whales for research returned to shore this week and confirmed it killed more than 300 minke whales, including pregnant specimens, triggering international condemnation.

      Every year, Japan undertakes what it has labeled as a scientific hunt for whales in the Southern Ocean. However, in 2014, the International Court of Justice ruled Japan should stop. Instead, Japan ignored the ruling last year and announced it would continue whaling while reducing the number of whales it would kill by two-thirds to 333.

    • Largest Wildfire In State History Ravages Kansas

      On Saturday, four UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters from the Kansas National Guard were deployed to contain the prairie blazes that have burned at least 620 square miles in southern Kansas and Oklahoma, where it originated, the Associated Press reported. Smoke was reportedly detected as far away as St. Louis, Missouri — hundreds of miles to the northeast — as at least four homes and livestock were affected, according to Kansas officials. No serious human injuries or fatalities have been reported.

    • Nuclear Power Plants: Pre-Deployed WMDs

      That’s what nuclear power plants are. And that’s another very big reason—demonstrated again in recent days with the disclosure that two of the Brussels terrorists were planning attacks on Belgian nuclear plants—why they must be eliminated.

    • A big deal for our ocean

      Today governments from all over the world will meet at the United Nations in New York to develop a new treaty to save our oceans. We will be there to ensure clear rules for the creation of sanctuaries that will give our oceans the protection they desperately need.

  • Finance

    • UN Development Program’s Pledge Toward Ending Poverty and Hunger

      Since its inception, many members of the European confederation of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) are allocating more money to addressing the social costs of refugee and asylum seekers. For example, the Netherlands has increased its budget 145%, Italy has raised theirs by 107%, Cyprus increased its by 65%, and Portugal has gone up 38%.

    • American Crime Family Advances On The White House

      And serve the deep state the Clintons certaintly do as is indicated by the $153 million in “speaking fees”—read bribes and payoffs—that CNN and Fox News report the Clintons have been paid by Wall Street, the mega-banks, and corporate America. This sum does not include campaign donations or donations to the Clintons’ foundation. http://www.cnn.com/2016/02/05/politics/hillary-clinton-bill-clinton-paid-speeches/

    • VIDEO: Public Education is a Right! Voices of CUNY Students, Faculty and Staff From Die-in Protest

      Students, faculty and staff staged a die-in Thursday in New York City to demand the state fully fund the City University of New York. Later that same day, Governor Andrew Cuomo agreed to some of their demands. Cuomo had threatened to push nearly $500 million in state costs onto the city. Watch a video of some of the voices from the demonstration, at which two city council members were also arrested.

    • Who’s afraid of the evidence about what works in the NHS?

      Politicians have imposed evidence-free re-organisations on us health workers for years. Now they tell us that it’s too late to change the mess they’ve got us into.

    • California Reaches Deal to Raise Minimum Wage to $15 an Hour

      Numerous statewide polls have suggested voters would approve a minimum wage proposal—perhaps even a more sweeping version—if given the chance.

  • PR/AstroTurf/Lobbying/Politics

  • Censorship

  • Privacy

  • Civil Rights

    • Obama Visits Havana: Cuba Libre for Real?

      National isolation is the desire of every dictator: If his subjects never see what a freer society looks like or have the opportunity to avail themselves of its goods and services, they have no standard against which to measure his rule and find it wanting.

    • GOP Lawmakers Tout Religious Liberty, Duck Questions About Discriminating Against Muslims

      IN THE RUN-UP to oral arguments before the Supreme Court this week to challenge the Affordable Care Act’s requirement that employers’ health care plans cover birth control, Republican lawmakers held a series of events to highlight the importance of religious liberty. Conservatives claim that the law, which requires insurance companies to cover contraception, violates the religious rights of Catholic nuns.

      That commitment to religious freedom, however, does not appear to extend to Muslim Americans.

      On Tuesday, in reaction to the terror attacks in Belgium, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz called for law enforcement to preemptively “patrol and secure Muslim neighborhoods before they become radicalized.” Later that day, The Intercept attended a press conference organized by House Republicans to champion religious liberty ahead of the Supreme Court contraception case.

    • Trump’s Incomprehensible ‘Cyber’ Policy: ‘Make Cyber Great Again’

      It seems pretty clear that Trump has no clue what is being discussed and just falls back into his usual talking points about how America just isn’t that good any more, and then uses the tiny bit of information he does have (China and Russia have been in the news around hackings) and argues that they’re better than us. But, “we’re obsolete”? Huh? As noted above (not by him, of course), the most powerful computer-based attacks do seem to be coming from the US itself, not Russia or China.

      Also, what does “inconceivable that, inconceivable the power of cyber” even mean? All I can think of is the scene from The Princess Bride.

    • Bank of America, Microsoft Denounce North Carolina’s Anti-LGBT Law, but Fund Politicians Who Passed It

      Microsoft has joined a corporate campaign calling on politicians “to abandon or defeat” anti-LBGT legislation, and its president, Brad Smith, specifically criticized the North Carolina law on Twitter. And like the political action committees of Bank of America and Lowe’s, Microsoft’s PAC — run by its managing director for government affairs, Edward Ingle — has given to the same anti-LBGT politicians, though somewhat less generously. Since 2008, the Microsoft PAC has given $2,000 to McCrory, $3,000 to Berger, $2,000 to Moore, and $4,000 to the North Carolina Republican Party.

    • The Culture That Created Donald Trump Was Liberal, Not Conservative

      WHO CREATED Donald Trump?

      Now that Donald Trump, the candidate, has become both widely popular and deeply loathsome, we’re seeing a cataract of editorials and commentary aimed at explaining how it happened and who’s to blame. The predictable suspects are trotted out: the Republican Party, which had been too opportunistic and fearful to stand up to its own candidate, Fox News, which inflamed the jingoes, and white working-class voters, unhinged by class envy and racial resentment.

    • CIA Photographed Detainees Naked and Bound Before Extraditing Them for Torture

      The CIA took photographs of detainees naked, bound, and blindfolded—some with visible bruises—before extraditing them to other countries to be tortured, an investigation by the Guardian’s Spencer Ackerman revealed on Monday.

      “The naked imagery of CIA captives raises new questions about the seeming willingness of the U.S. to use what one medical and human rights expert called ‘sexual humiliation’ in its post-9/11 captivity of terrorism suspects,” Ackerman wrote. “Some human rights campaigners described the act of naked photography on unwilling detainees as a potential war crime.”

      Ackerman also reported that “a former U.S. official who had seen some of the photographs described them as ‘very gruesome.’” The photos in question remain classified.

      The detainees were photographed before being extradited to nations known to use more brutal forms of torture than that used in the U.S., Ackerman said, as part of the CIA’s so-called “extraordinary rendition” program.

      The writer V. Noah Gimbel characterized that program in 2011 as “the outsourcing of interrogations to countries where torture could be employed without the legal barriers that exist within the U.S. military and civilian justice systems.”

    • US Intel Vets Warn Against Torture

      Experienced intelligence professionals reaffirm that torture – while popular with “tough” politicians – doesn’t work in getting accurate and actionable information, says ex-CIA analyst Ray McGovern.

  • Internet/Net Neutrality

    • Comcast Fails To Connect SmartCar’s Silicon Valley Office For 10 Months, Wants $60,000 Anyway

      Comcast for years has offered what most find to be utterly abysmal customer service and support, resulting in story after story of nightmare experiences for consumers and businesses alike. This is, by and large, thanks to limited competition in most of Comcast’s footprint, and despite Silicon Valley being arguably the tech epicenter of the country, the region apparently isn’t immune to Comcast’s particular… charms or the nation’s obvious lack of broadband competition.

Preserving Material About the European Patent Office (EPO) and Abuses by EPO Management

Posted in Europe, Patents at 4:25 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz

Keeping as much information as is publicly available online for good

SUEPO archived: [Home | contact | public | about us | background | links]

SUEPO page

Summary: Techrights amasses information about EPO abuses, but there are cases where such information gets taken down and we explore/explain why

At long last, after experimentation nearly two months ago, SUEPO changes its Web site’s design and adds an RSS feed. It has been getting difficult to open the SUEPO Web page (necessary in the absence of an RSS feed) because of many embedded videos that accompanied it, never mind the endless wall of text (going years back).

Whatever happens at the European Patent Office (and will happen in months/years to come), it is important to keep properly documented what happened over the past few years in order to serve as a cautionary tale. SUEPO already removed some of the content from its older site/incarnation (like the Drupal-powered site) and was at times, under pressure from EPO management, removing some material. We still do our very best to never let stuff simply vanish (deletionism/revisionism a possibility thereafter). The only thing ever removed here (after more than 20,000 blog posts) was a long post about the EPO. It later turned out that after we removed it people had already made copies from Google cache and pasted the whole thing elsewhere (not within our control and completely without our knowledge). The EPO's management was the first ever to send us a threatening legal letter. Another such threat was sent to us about a week ago after the EPO's management had expressed anger over a TV program. We have received a lot of feedback since the videos (of the TV program) were removed. The videos started with information about one of 5 recent EPO suicides, blaming it (at least partly) on the Investigative Unit. One reader told us that the “most brutal reorganisation (as part of the reforms) has apparently been carried out in Patent Administration. Two (or three?) of the Munich colleagues who committed suicide worked in Patent Administration units. The working pressure must be extremely high there.”

In an attempt to figure out why takedown of the videos was demanded we considered various views, some of which provided compelling explanations and potential remedies.

“I expected the EPO to threaten BRtv,” told us one reader, “however I don’t get why they (BRtv) agree so easily?!?!? BR should rather be glad that Techrights, SUEPO and others spread their revealing report, shouldn’t they?”

This reader added, “perhaps is this only something from the BR to remain in full control of their material?”

“It would be easier to believe if it didn’t take so long and the EPO didn’t make the two internal communications that it made,” I responded. “Bavarian politicians now intervene. The video supports culpability for deaths.”

A reasonable explanation for BR’s takedown request was provided by another reader, who remarked as follows (redacted):

I checked the Mediathek-View app, and found that the original, German, un-undertitled “Kontrovers” videos are still present there. Videos of the BR-produced “Kontrovers” feature are usually staying there in the Mediathek for a very! long! time! – see other “Kontrovers” videos. These are usually NOT removed after 8 days, or four weeks (unlike normal productions).

So this is one important conclusion for you, me and the public.

So you can use the mere presence of the BR EPO-Video (in the Mediathek) as a “canary” that BR has apparently not received a take-down notice from EPO (or is ignoring such a letter)!

Another issue is the copyright status of the transcript.

(DE undertitles) and the translations (FR, EN), which — in my view — are added-value, and intellectual property of the translators (in this case: WTF license). But I am not sure and you should contact a lawyer, whether you can still publish the two (three) text versions. From view of the DE transcriber and the EN/FR translators: they do not claim any rights for sure.

Here is the up-to-date information (23.03.2016)

The “Story” (Bayerischer Rundfunk/Bayerisches Fernsehen “Kontrovers” 02.03.2016) is still available in the (official) producer’s ARD MEDIATHEK:

Page with background information text

Video selection page

Direct URLs to the videos:

High Definition Video

Single Definition Video

Small Definition Video

I hope you understood what I wrote in addition, namely that one can regard the presence of that specific video in the ARD MEDIATHEK as a “canary” (that ARD / BR is part of ARD / have not received a take-down notice from the EPO, or is ignoring this).

[...]

Normally, due to German law, broadcast videos must not be available longer than 7 days (otherwise, the TV/Radiostations WOULD fall under Internet law, as Internet provider, and not as journals/publishers laws.) This is the legal background, why TV/Radio stations in Germany must usually remove their Mediathek copies after 7 days. But for special programms (Eigenproduktionen), a different rule exist, luckily!

Similar information came to our attention at around the same time.

As one reader put it, “first of all many thanks for all the excellent work done so far. Your informative contribution is essential for the public and the 8800 employees and former employees of the EPO.” Here is a slightly redacted (for privacy) version of the explanation:

Allow me to comment on the article: “Why Bayerischer Rundfunk Videos About the European Patent Office Have Been Removed”

I try to keep it short. The Bayerische Rundfunk (BR) is the public broadcasting authority of the Bavarian free state (Freistaat Bayern). The same kind of authority exists in the other German states (Länder). I guess they compare with the BBC. The trouble with the public broadcast is that they are NOT independent but their Masters voice. This is a structural flaw. Another problem is a lack of financial transparency and a questionable governance. I guess you see where I am heading to…

The BR and other “Staatsfunk” are structurally the same kind of liars as the EPO. They don’t serve the public: They serve themselves. All public TV in Germany collect over 8 billion euros a year. Imagine what you can do with such an amount of money. And no transparency and a bad governance.

There is a huge lack of acceptance of a new financing model which doesn’t rely anymore on the fact of owing a TV set or not, but on having a roof over your head. Every household in Germany has to pay 17,50€ a month, whether you use their service or not. The public TV also dismisses critics are as coming from right wing extremists (Godwin’s Law).

All the German tribunals dismissed so far the complaints as ungrounded although there are plenty of independent expert assessments (one coming from the federal minister of finance!!) proving that the new financing model is illegal.

After FIFA and EPO, BR and consorts are to be the next big scandal in Germany.

Therefore, do not expect much understanding for the EPO problems from the German public TV. Germany, Bavaria and Munich have a big profit from the EPO therefore I don’t expect Germany to change a situation from which they draw a maximum benefit.

Regarding “EPO and BR”, another person wrote to us with similar observations at hand (redacted for privacy/anonymity as well):

I am really bothered by the fact that the most effective blow to EPO in decades, has been silenced. These videos got some attention [...] many of them will only reach error messages or empty pages now.

I just checked the original link on BR and apparently the entire video of 18 minutes is still there, which is good. I had recorded the TV program myself, by the way. Also, the people who made the subtitles must have copies in their hard drives, with and without subtitles.

[...]

Another workaround could be to contact the authors and get their agreement. [...] I am tempted to believe that BR did it under EPO’s instigation, but then again they still might have some genuine interest in casting light on the issue.

Finally, if the subtitled (or even some synchronized translations) come out again in a way or another, the last attempt to silence them will actually emphasize the message, it might be another bigger blow against EPO.

Noting again that the videos are accessible online, one person added:

Can you tell me who demanded you to take down the Kontrovers video?

The video is available on the Federal ARD web site, and should theoretically remain available for the next five years.

(The media is actually hosted by BR and served its CDN).

There are quite a few user-uploaded ARD and ZDF videos on Youtube, so there doesn’t seem to be a blanket policy. I wonder whether Bayerischer Rundfunk has a different policy.

Regards,

[redacted]

The letter (just to clarify) was sent by BR. In the interests of transparency and clarify, below is a redacted letter.

BR letter

People Sent to Prison After Corruption Charges Over Microsoft Licences in Romanian Schools

Posted in Europe, Fraud, Microsoft at 4:11 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz

Microsoft gleefully watched from afar as young children in Romania got Microsoft’s indoctrination after corrupt contracts

Chair in prison

Children were made prisoners of Microsoft
and those responsible for it are sent to prison

Summary: An update from Romania regarding a corrupt contract for Microsoft software

THE SITUATION with regards to corruption in Romania is grimmer than in most of Europe and Microsoft’s role in it was covered here before, e.g. in:

Last month we took note of Microsoft licences in the midst of high-profile corruption and a former Romanian minister is finally going to prison over it. To quote one article about this (in English, not Romanian): “Romania’s high court of cassation and justice on Thursday jailed the former telecommunications minister, Gabriel Sandu, for two years for money laundering, abuse of office and bribery involving the lease of Microsoft IT licenses for schools.

“The ex-mayor of the eastern town of Piatra Neamt, Gheorghe Stefan, and two other businessmen who acted as middlemen also got jail terms of up to three years.

“The four defendants have also to pay a total of almost 10 million euros in compensation. The Supreme Court’s sentence is not final.”

It is worth noting that owing to such corruption it is Microsoft — not GNU/Linux and Free software — that makes it into Romanian schools. Recent reports serve to indicate Microsoft corruption in other countries; this is still the subject of a US-led probe which maybe some more corruption can somehow scuttle. Recall Microsoft’s influence in the United States government, its tax evasion (which only recently became an issue) and big payments to the current US President. “Prosecutors said there was manifest corruption in the contract worth 105 million US dollars,” says the above article, “which was to supply Microsoft Office licenses to schools and other public institutions between 2004 and 2009.”

The article pretends that Microsoft has nothing to do with this corruption/bribery, even though Microsoft clearly benefited from it. How convenient.

03.27.16

Battistelli esta Tratando de Salvar Su Trabajo en la EPO Despues que le llamaron la Atención, Pero no Regresa su Trabajo A los Lideres Sindicales Despedidos; Huelga Inminente

Posted in Europe, Patents at 10:39 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz

English/Original

Publicado en Europe, Patentes at 3:45 am por el Dr. Roy Schestowitz

“Legalidad en la OEP” – una protesta prevista para principios de Abril

Fair trial
Juicio Justo

Sumario: A pesar de una solicitud de justicia de el Consejo Administrativo, Battistelli y la gente de su circulo continúan haciéndo simplemente movimientos simbólicos, como firmando un risible tratado con una unión que a nadie le importa y ahora haciendo un pequeño cambio e relación a varios casos disciplinarios (pasados y presentes) contra representantes de sus empleados en la Oficina Europea de Patentes.

LA ilusión de "justicia" en la EPO ha dañado severamente la credibilidad de la Organización en su conjunto, no sólo la de su Oficina. Por lo tanto, no sorprende que el Consejo afirmativamente pidió a Battistelli reparar este daño restaurando la percepción de justicia – algo que no está probablemente en el syllabus de la École nationale d’administration (ÉNA).

En nuestro previo post (Solicitud de Revisión) mostramos una carta del Presidente de la SUEP en Munich (re-electo reciéntemente). Temprano ese día habiamos mencionado una conseción. No mostró un lado suave de Pinocho Battistelli, pero un Pinocho asustado cada vez más por que su sentido de omnipotencia se ha erosiónado considerablemente. Como una persona lo puso: ¨Esta decisión es de lo más remarcable ya que es un ejemplo en el cual el gobierno de Battistelli ha dado un paso atrás.¨

“…ahora parece obvio que la presente gerencia tiene las intenciones de sobrevivir esto a todo costo!”
      –Anonymous
“No sólo fue la decisión revisada para ventaja del individuo pero también la carta no contiene nínguna forma de amenaza en conclusión – como la mayoría de comunicaciones presidenciales las tienen hasta ahora.”

Esto no debe ser confundida con suavidad, sin embargo, las acciones hablan más fuerte que las palabras y virtualmente no acción ha sido tomada para deshacer el daño causado. ¨La reunión de la semana pasada con la Oficina de la gerencia,¨ por ejemplo, ¨no ha dado señal que esta revisión ha sido incluso considerada por el Presidente.¨ Eso de acuerdo con personas cercas a la acción (o inacción en este caso).

“En esencia [Battistelli] mantiene los despidos pero canceló la reducción del 20% de sus pensiones. En resumen rechaza la existencia de fallas en el proceso y todos los argumentos presentados por el acusado, calificándolas de alegaciones y reiterándo lo apropiado de las sanciones decididas. [...] (Que tales caraduras) la oferta de usar revisión externa del caso, solicitados por ambos los empleados y la AC, han sido ignorados. [...] parece obvio que la presente gerencia tiene la intención de sobrevivir a toda costa!¨

Esto serían terribles como errores (o horrores) Derechos Humanos errors han envenenado (o cargado) las mandos de la gerencia, haciendo a la EPO un sitio miserable para la gente que trabaja allí, he aquí un desánimo para los que apliquen por trabajo y un lugar incapaz de atraer nuevo talento, sólo para perder los talentos existentes. Esto daña seriámente a Europa a largo plazo porque la USPTO sirve para mostrar cuán pésimos son los estándares de examinación, litigación espúrea y una atmósfera de temor es ahora prevalente a nivel nacional allí. En vez de convertirse en un renombrado por innovación y bien conocido por científico (like CERN or NASA, la última esta siendo dejada sin fondos) se está convirtiéndo trístemente notoria por los trolls de patentes y su agresión con cabildeo de parte de grandes multinacionales corporátivas como IBM o Microsoft (ocupadísima chantajeando compañías Asiáticas como simplemente Apple lo hace).

Talvez el punto clave aquí es que hay un problema de Derechos Humanos (HR) y A MENOS QUE LA GERENCIA SEA REEMPLAZADA, NADA CAMBIARÁ. La crisis está garantizada para sólo agravarse. Como un comentador lo puso anoche: ¨En orden de salvarse a sí mismo y a sus chacales para futura gloria de la Patente Unitaria, Mr. Battistelli ahora retrocede en el exceso de castigo en el cual en un sádico movimienteo él impuso sobre los representantes de los empleados: Els recupera su 20% de pensión (por favor recuerden que no hace mucho, contra la unánime opinión del comité disciplinario, ella fue desgradada en su cargo, así que su pensión es menor de todas maneras); Jon probablemente será (crucen los dedos) restituído en su cargo ¨en un acto de gracia¨ porque él tiene 5 niños. No se hagan ilusiones: esto no es justicia pero un movimiento para salvar su cu… Los escuálidos representativos en la AC creerán que han recuperado control de la situación y que han domado al Presidente. El continuará como antes ejerciéndo su loca autoridad (al estilo Calígula) y se retirará antes o buscar por otro trabajo en otro lugar. Lo que permanece es un grupo de sirvientes a nivel de la gerencia y una masa de humillados examinadores peleándo uno contra el otro por avances en puestos y bonuses. Abogados y sus asociaciones han sido silenciados, bloggers neutralizados, la prensa ha sido comprada. En pocas semansa a nadie le importará más la EPO.

“No es demasiado sorprendente, a la luz de la (in)acción anterior, la Oficina de toda (es decir la multinacional) va a irse a la huelga y parece que no es una cuestión de “cuándo”, ni de ”si.””Battistelli “decidió reducir la sentencia de Hardon al reinstar su derecho de pensiones,” un lector nos dijo, “mientras al mismo tiempo confirmó su despido.”

“Esto nos recuerda de una táctica de diversión,” est lector nos dijo (táctica similar a la de la FFPE-EPO MoU). “es como si estuviera tirando un hueso a la AC para mantenerla quieta. El Principe puede no ser justo, pero es magnánimo.”

No es demasiado sorprendente, a la luz de la (in)acción anterior, la Oficina de toda (es decir la multinacional) va a irse a la huelga y parece que no es una cuestión de “cuándo”, ni de ”si.” Aqui esta una carta de un solicitante:

Queridos Caballeros o Damas,

a favor de los iniciadores de la huelga ¨Justicia en la EPO¨ les mando el siguiente mensaje:

Queridos miembros de la CSC

Nosotros los iniciadores del reciénte llamado a la huelga, titulada ¨Justicia en la EPO¨, gustaríamos agradecerles por acordar a actuar como punto de contacto para discusiones con la oficina, y por todo el trabajo que han hecho hasta ahora para apoyar el llamado a huelga.
El Consejo Administrativo y sus meetings con la gerencia de la EPO ya han tenido lugar y fallado de producir significánte progreso. Estamos seguros por lo tanto, que los 754 firmantes a la petición para el llamado a huelga, y los 3701 colegas que votaron estarán esperando una inmediata redacción de nuestra parte.

El llamado a la huelga estipula que una huelga a nivel de todas las oficinas debería tener lugar en Marzo. No es posible organizar una huelga el presente mes, pero nos gustaría que esta suceda a la más temprana oportunidad. Tomando los Feridados de Easter en consideración, creemos que la semana del 4 al 8 de Abril sería aquella oportunidad. Nuestra preferencia sería por una huelga a mitad de semana, el 6 de Abril. Si por alguna razón necesitaramos excluír ese dia, entonces el 7 de Abril también sería aceptable.

Gracias de antemano, así como nuestros representantes vis-à-vis ambos de la oficina y de los empleados, por arrancar las ruedas en movimiénto para arreglar la fecha de la huelga y para asegurar que un máximo número de empleados obedesca al llamado por lo que pueda ser un dia crucial en la historia de la EPO.

Amablemente solicitamos publicar esta carta para que todos los empleados puedan leerla y saber la posición que los iniciadores de ella estan tomando.

Sus Colegas,

Los iniciadores del llamado a la huelga ¨Justicia en la EPO¨

Con nuestra consideración,

[redacted]

Para record futuro la publcación de la respuesta de Battistelli mostrada abajo es un endorement de ninguna clase. Estamos tentados a responder a algunas de las tonteríás y partes sin sentido de ella (he leído muchos documentos relacionados con esto, así que soy capaz de responder a algunos puntos), pero sería desperdicio de tiempo dado su tamaño.

European Patent Office | 8029B MUNICH | GERMANY

Por Mensajero

Ms E. Hardon
An der Hauptfeuerwache 4
80331 München

Decision del Presidente – Documento Número RR 2016-0020

Querida Srta. Hardon,

Debido a su solicitud de revisión fechada el 28 de Enero contra la decisión del Presidente del 15 de Enero del 2016 siguiendo a la acción disciplinaria D8/2015,

el Presidente toma lo siguiente,

Decisión

Su solicitud es parcialmente otorgada. La decisión de despedirla, de acuerdo a la opinión del Comité Disciplinario. Sin embargo, no habrá reducción de sus derechos de pensión.

Racional

Admisibilidad

Su solicitud de revisión es tratado como crédito en la medida en que se refiere a la mencionada decisión de 15 de enero de 2016.

En lo que se refiere a la decisión anterior de rebajarla de categoríá, se observa que el asunto está pendiente actualmente ante el Tribunal Administrativo de la Organización del Trabajo Internacional y usted no puede intentar reabrir otra ruta procedural contra dicha decisión.

Objeciónes al Procedimientoe y Méritos

Se han concluído que su solicitud para revisión es infundada en todos sus aspectos.

Habiendo revisado sus sometimientos, concluimos que el proceso disciplinario no es parcializado por otro procedimiénto a cualquier otra falla y que sus derechos como acusada has sido protegidso por la Oficina y el Comité Disciplinario.

Sus específicas objeciones procedurales llenadas a sus solicitud para revisión y también aquellas articuladas previamente en la carta fechada 02.12.2015 enviadas a su favor por RAin Okyay, han sidor revisadas cuidadosamente.

En cuanto a sus alegaciones de parcialización no hay indicios para derramar dudas de la imparcialidad del Comité Disciplinario. En particular de la participación de Mr. C. McGinley como miembro del Comité Disciplinario siguiendo el sorteo de su nombre ya que las oportunidades fueron de acuerdo a ley. Contrario a sus aserciones en los párrafos 24-25 de su solicitud de revisión, no se pudo establecer conflicto de interés. El Sr. McGinley dió a conocer de manera transparente que el fondo del episodio invoca la Comisión Disciplinaria, que aceptó estas explicaciones después de haber sopesado contra su objeción. El Comité llegó a la conclusión unánime de que no había motivos para recusar Sr. McGinley de su capacidad en el Comité y no se ha presentado ningún argumento nuevo en su solicitud de revisión que podría justificar la conclusión de otra.

En cuanto a los medios procesales a su disposición, usted no ha proporcionado nuevos argumentos para socavar la conclusión de que la investigación y el procedimiento de sancionens siguió el debido proceso. Se hace notar especialmente que usted haya optado por no acogerse a sí mismo de la oportunidad que le ha de asistir a una audiencia más programada para el 8 de enero de 2016. Por otra parte, mientras que usted critica el procedimiénto de revisión a su disposición, usted en realidad no trae nada elaborado o sustancial en apoyo a su posición

En cuanto a su alegación de haber sido sometida a aquejo institucional, es aqui rechazado: la situación en la que usted se encuentra resulta de su propia deliberada conducta la que es inaceptable de acuerdo a los estándares de conducta, de la que usted lamentablemente continua tratándo de justificar. Su seria mala conducta no puede ser dejada sin castigo.

En cuanto al primer set de cargos se nota lo siguiente:

La investigacion contra usted bajo C-62b fue una materia separada de la investigacion C-62 concerniénte a miembros del Jurado de Apelaciones. El material reunido para apoyar el caso C-62b fue suficiente para sustanciar los cargos contra usted. El Presidente de la Oficina tiene autorización plean bajo el Art 10 EPC sobre todos sus súbitos (sic) empleados sobre los que él tiene autoridad, incluyendo usted. No hay conflicto con cualquier otro procedimiento iniciado o pendiente ante el Consejo Administrativo. Fue notado, al revisar sus submisiones, que el Comité Disciplinario alcanzó la misma conclusión, de manera unánime, in párrafo 44-45 de su opinión

En cuanto al documento C-62b, lo siguiente es notado:

Antes de la entrega de los resultados preliminares de la Unidad de Investigación, usted fué debidamente invitada a una entrevista con el fin de escuchar sus comentarios sobre el asunto. Sin embargo decidió no servirse de ella. Como resultado de ello se elaboraron las conclusiones preliminares sin comentarios defensa de su lado.

El 16.11.2015, el Presidente recibió estos hallazgos preliminares de conformidad con el Art. 4 (7) de la Circular N ° 342. Estos hallazgos ya habían sido enviados a usted antes en el mismo día y se le proporcionó con un plazo de siete días para presentar sus observaciones, de conformidad con el Art. 18 (1) de la Circular N ° 342. Se le dio así una segunda oportunidad de ser escuchado. Los resultados preliminares


mostró una clara evidencia de una falta grave relacionada con una campaña organizada de ataques destructivos sobre la reputación de la EPO, sus órganos de gobierno y de los individuos. Hubo por lo tanto causa suficiente para la Unidad de Investigación para informar al presidente de ese modo dándole la oportunidad de proteger los intereses de la Oficina. También se observa que en esta segunda oportunidad de ser escuchado que ha enviado sus comentarios por escrito en respuesta a estas acusaciones, pero, después de considerar esos comentarios, estas alegaciones se consideran todavía como medidas disciplinarias fundada y justificada. Por lo tanto, se concluye que los derechos de la defensa fueron respetados plenamente.

A lo largo de la investigación y el procedimiento disciplinario que tenía todas las oportunidades para defenderse a sí mismo como usted deseaba y para confiar en ella o presentar pruebas para refutar las alegaciones formuladas. Que hayan disfrutado el apoyo de un número de abogados y sus derechos tanto como demandado y el acusado fueron plenamente reconocidas. Contrariamente a sus afirmaciones, no hay motivos para creer que las acusaciones eran “remendado”, inadecuada o manipulados por la Oficina. Es evidente a partir del expediente disciplinario que hubo varios incidentes de mala conducta severa que fueron traídos a la luz durante las investigaciones. No había ninguna razón para llevarlos ante la Comisión Disciplinaria en procedimientos separados o paralelos. Vale la pena señalar también que algunas de las conductas objeto de estos cargos se produjo y continuaron durante los procedimientos reales y por lo tanto, naturalmente, cayó dentro de la competencia de la Comisión Disciplinaria específica.

Alrevisar sus presentaciones, se observa de nuevo que la Comisión Disciplinaria llegó a la misma conclusión, que indica en el párrafo. 5 de su opinión de que el uso de Arte. 4 (7) de la Circular N ° 342, “no tuvo ningún impacto sobre el contenido de D 8/2015, y de hecho la Defensa tenido amplia oportunidad de presentar su caso durante la audiencia”.

En cuanto a su reclamo de párr. 16 de su solicitud de revisión, que tratan de invocar un procedimiento separado pendiente ante un cuerpo diferente y en contra de un miembro del personal diferente, con su propia base factual. Las conclusiones de la Cámara de Recursos de ese procedimiento separado no son relevantes para su


caso. No se considera apropiado para la oficina para hacer otros comentarios sobre esa materia ahorrar señalar que la decisión de la Cámara de Apelaciones se haya adjuntado a su solicitud está relacionada con los procedimientos confidenciales. La Oficina observa con preocupación que, en un caso en el que se le ha encontrado, por la opinión unánime de su Comisión Disciplinaria, que infringen las reglas fundamentales de la confidencialidad de su empleo, que siguen mostrando una indiferencia por las condiciones de confidencialidad que rigen documentos relacionados a un proceso confidencial interna. Se hace notar que persistió en referencia a dicho documento en la audiencia de la Comisión de Disciplina a pesar de las repetidas advertencias del Presidente de la Comisión Disciplinaria que desistiera. Su representante legal, del mismo modo, ya pesar de las advertencias con respecto a la naturaleza confidencial de este material, persistentemente citó de ella (párr. 7 del dictamen de la Comisión). La Oficina está por lo tanto obligado a reservar el derecho de tomar las medidas apropiadas en el Reglamento del Servicio en relación a esta revelación ilícita, no autorizado.

Por otra parte, en respuesta al párrafo 16 de la carta de 02.12.2015 de la lluvia Okyay, vale la pena destacar que la Unidad de Investigaciones de no acceder o encuestar su cuenta de correo electrónico privado según lo especificado por la Sra Okyay. Se limita a confiar en la información de que ya disponía desde 2014 instantáneas HTML de una cuenta anónima del funcionario sujeto en el asunto C-62 – A este respecto, el hecho de que la fecha de 2015 parece que está vinculado únicamente a la fecha de acceso / impresión para el archivo HTML para este informe, y no significa la fecha en que se obtuvo.

Durante todo el proceso, tal como se explica también ante la Comisión Disciplinaria y tan plenamente la aprobación de sus miembros, todas las medidas de investigación eran en cualquier caso, está cubierta en su totalidad por el permiso del responsable de la protección de datos de la Oficina y por lo tanto todas las pruebas reunidas era plenamente admisible en la investigación y los procedimientos disciplinarios.

II.

En cuanto al segundo conjunto de cargos con respecto a su comportamiento amenazante hacia otros representantes elegidos del personal, vale la pena recordar que, si bien el personal


y representantes de los sindicatos se benefician de un grado de latitud en el ejercicio de su libertad de expresión en ese papel, que están obligados por la norma de conducta aplicable a todos los empleados de la Oficina de funcionarios internacionales. El incumplimiento de estas normas, cualquiera que sea el foro en el que se produce, es una cuestión de interés legítimo a la Oficina de empleador. La mala conducta de los representantes del personal y la unión de hecho no puede considerarse únicamente una cuestión de manipulación por parte del personal de la representación y de la unión. De ahí su afirmación de que la investigación de su conducta y medidas disciplinarias posteriores violó los principios de confidencialidad y libertad de asociación está fuera de lugar (ver TAOIT sentencia n ° 54, la consideración 6).

El hecho de que la declaración que dio lugar al procedimiento disciplinario se hizo durante una reunión del comité de personal local en Munich, por tanto, no es, sin más, una respuesta a la acusación hecha. La declaración fue hecha en las instalaciones de la Oficina y entre los empleados de la Oficina de que todos permanecen protegidos y sometidos a las ServRegs y la Circular N ° 341 en todo momento, independientemente de su función o área de actividad. La Oficina, además, tiene la obligación legal de proteger a los presentes de la intimidación incluyendo por sus palabras o acciones y las amenazas verbales o físicas.

Se hace notar que la Comisión Disciplinaria tomó gran cuidado, ya que dejó claro en el apartado 4 de su dictamen, para examinar únicamente asuntos que iban mucho más allá de cualquier definición razonable de los deberes de un representante del personal o unión. Su sugerencia de que su comportamiento era normal, como parte de un animado debate no puede ser aceptado.

Después de haber revisado sus presentaciones en los párrafos 17 a 25, se mantiene la posición de la Oficina de que la declaración que ha realizado, en dos ocasiones, a sus colegas y el gesto de la mano que acompaña, amenazada la dignidad de sus colegas, al contrario de lo que usted sugiere, sus estados de cuenta y la gesto de la mano de acompañamiento han sido suficientemente evidenciado a lo largo de la investigación y los procedimientos disciplinarios. Se considera además que la declaración se hizo en pleno conocimiento de que tendría la posibilidad de poner en peligro su capacidad para cumplir con sus funciones como


representantes elegidos en nombre de otros empleados, y en apoyo de las relaciones entre empleadores y empleados. Estaba claro obligación de la Oficina para investigar un incidente de este tipo, y responder a ella de manera apropiada.

El dictamen de la Comisión Disciplinaria también apoya la decisión de la Oficina a investigar este hecho. Se aconseja que se había comportado de una manera que eran “incompatibles con [sus] funciones como miembro del personal y como un representante del personal elegido” (párrafo 66 -. 69 de su dictamen). Bajo estas circunstancias, su falta grave no es justificada o materialmente mitigado por el que ocupan un puesto representativo (véase también la jurisprudencia TAOIT J. 87 y 969).

III.

En cuanto al tercer conjunto de sus cargos, se repite su opinión en su solicitud de revisión que no se justificaba la confidencialidad en el presente caso y que sus acciones estaban justificadas para mejorar la transparencia en una organización de servicio público. Se considera que sus presentaciones no pueden entender las gravamen de este cargo. Usted fue obligado en todo momento, de conformidad con el Art 5, 14 (1) y 20 ServRegs y 4 del arte de las Circulares Nº 341 y 342 de la obligación de confidencialidad que son fundamentales para cualquier personal en la investigación y los procedimientos disciplinarios. La Comisión Disciplinaria considera plenamente este punto y ha concluido, por unanimidad, que no había mala intención clara e indiscutible. Usted no sólo admitido tal mala conducta, pero lo hizo suyo abiertamente, y declaró su intención de persistir con este comportamiento en el futuro (párr. 74, 79-81).

La Oficina sostiene que estas violaciones fundamentales de su deber de confianza y seguridad que un empleado se ha demostrado de manera concluyente.

No se puede argumentar, como lo hace, que el personal tiene un “interés legítimo” para estar plenamente informados no sólo acerca de la iniciación de la investigación o procedimientos disciplinarios, sino también acerca de los detalles de tales procedimientos han de representantes del personal o de la Unión preocupación. Es, por el contrario, en el interés tanto de la gestión de oficina

y la representación del personal para asegurar que la investigación y los procedimientos disciplinarios se manejan con la debida confidencialidad.

La Oficina sostiene que estas violaciones fundamentales de su deber de confianza y seguridad que un empleado se ha demostrado de manera concluyente.

No se puede argumentar, como lo hace, que el personal tiene un “interés legítimo” para estar plenamente informados no sólo acerca de la iniciación de la investigación o procedimientos disciplinarios, sino también acerca de los detalles de tales procedimientos han de representantes del personal o de la Unión preocupación. Es, por el contrario, en el interés tanto de la gestión de oficina

y la representación del personal para asegurar que la investigación y los procedimientos disciplinarios se manejan con la debida confidencialidad.

Por último, en lo relativo a la decisión de la Oficina de interrumpir el servicio con una reducción del 20% de sus derechos de pensión en virtud del art. 93 (2) (f) en fin, la Oficina recuerda que la recomendación del Comité de disciplina es, por supuesto, no vinculante para el Presidente. Se hace referencia a modo de ejemplo el hecho de que al rechazar las conclusiones y recomendaciones de un Comité de disciplina interna, un Presidente de una organización internacional tiene la obligación de motivación para hacerlo.

La Oficina ha dado razones de peso suficientes en su decisión (cf. entre otras cosas, las partes IV y V) para explicar por qué, en contra de la recomendación de la Comisión Disciplinaria, que considera que la reducción es proporcional al número y la gravedad de las infracciones establecidas. El Presidente subrayó, entre otras cosas, la naturaleza repetida de la mala conducta, su extensión, la falta de contrición o arrepentimiento de su lado, el daño público a la reputación de la Oficina y, además, el hecho de que ya había sido sancionado con la degradación de la mala conducta disciplinaria similar en 2014. Esas circunstancias muestran claramente la conducta que evidencia una ruptura de la relación de confianza mutua y la confianza necesarias para el mantenimiento de la relación de trabajo, de hecho, van mucho más allá de dicha conducta en su gravedad y el efecto potencialmente perjudicial y por lo tanto, la Oficina refuta expresamente las alegaciones de que la sanción era desproporcionada y arbitraria La Oficina sostiene que estas violaciones fundamentales de su deber de confianza y seguridad que un empleado se ha demostrado de manera concluyente.

No se puede argumentar, como lo hace, que el personal tiene un “interés legítimo” para estar plenamente informados no sólo acerca de la iniciación de la investigación o procedimientos disciplinarios, sino también acerca de los detalles de tales procedimientos han de representantes del personal o de la Unión preocupación. Es, por el contrario, en el interés tanto de la gestión de oficina

y la representación del personal para asegurar que la investigación y los procedimientos disciplinarios se manejan con la debida confidencialidad.

Por último, en lo relativo a la decisión de la Oficina de interrumpir el servicio con una reducción del 20% de sus derechos de pensión en virtud del art. 93 (2) (f) en fin, la Oficina recuerda que la recomendación del Comité de disciplina es, por supuesto, no vinculante para el Presidente. Se hace referencia a modo de ejemplo el hecho de que al rechazar las conclusiones y recomendaciones de un Comité de disciplina interna, un Presidente de una organización internacional tiene la obligación de motivación para hacerlo.

La Oficina ha dado razones de peso suficientes en su decisión (cf. entre otras cosas, las partes IV y V) para explicar por qué, en contra de la recomendación de la Comisión Disciplinaria, que considera que la reducción es proporcional al número y la gravedad de las infracciones establecidas. El Presidente subrayó, entre otras cosas, la naturaleza repetida de la mala conducta, su extensión, la falta de contrición o arrepentimiento de su lado, el daño público a la reputación de la Oficina y, además, el hecho de que ya había sido sancionado con la degradación de la mala conducta disciplinaria similar en 2014. Esas circunstancias muestran claramente la conducta que evidencia una ruptura de la relación de confianza mutua y la confianza necesarias para el mantenimiento de la relación de trabajo, de hecho, van mucho más allá de dicha conducta en su gravedad y el efecto potencialmente perjudicial y por lo tanto, la Oficina refuta expresamente las alegaciones de que la sanción era desproporcionada y arbitraria.

This having been said, after a comprehensive reassessment of your case and taking into account the length of your contribution to the Office’s service and commitment towards staff representation albeit unfortunately in the recent years through improper means which went far beyond any acceptable limits, I have decided on an ex gratia basis to partially grant your request for review and cancel the 20% reduction of your pension rights. However your unacceptable behaviour fully warrants dismissal and the decision of 15 January 2015 is thus maintained to that extent.


Medios de reparación

Esta decisión constituye una decisión definitiva en el sentido del artículo 113 del Reglamento de la Administración.

Sinceramente suyo,

Benoît Battistelli

Estas son muchas mamadas para responderlas línea por línea sin quitarmos un montón de tiempo (y sacando referencias para apoyar las respuestas), pero aquellos que han seguido este sitio por mucho tiempo instantáneamente veran las fallas. Pueda ser suficiente para engañar aquellos que están dentro del Consejo (muy ocupados para seguirlo todo y leer los intercambios) y es probablemente esto en lo que se apoya Battistelli. Por ejemplo la ´carta´ de Battistelli (mejor dicho la carta de alguien con el sello y firma de Battistelli) dice que Hardon ¨escogió no presentarse a la oportunidad dada para atender una audiencia oral el 8 de Enero del 2016.¨ Miembros del Consejo (Consejo Administrativo) deben entender/darse cuenta de toda est fársical naturaleza de la llamado ¨procedimiento¨ disciplinario (ne compatible con leyes Europeas, derechos humanos, etc) para entender porque Hardo con debido asesoramiento/consejo legal no entre a la jaula de los leones. Otra mentira digna de notar (¿Pinocho no?) al comienzo de su carta menciona que ella fue despedida de ¨acuerdo¨ a las recomendaciones del Comité Disciplinario, cuando en su realidad las recomendaciones no fueron tan lejos y el – Battistelli omnipotente – tomó justicia en sus manos y decidio despedirla de todas maneras. No hay justicia alli, es sólo el anfiteatro romano con el emperador bajando el pulgar antes que los acusadoes entren al ruedo en la vieja Roma.

“No estoy interesado en el poder por causa del poder, pero estoy interesado en el poder que es moral, que es correcto y que es bueno.”

Martin Luther King Jr.

Bajo Nadella, Otro Ballmer Con Diferente Cara y Muchos Menos Kilos de Peso, La Extorsión de Patentes Contra Linux Esta muy Viva Todavía

Posted in GNU/Linux, Microsoft, Patents at 10:23 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz

English/Original

Publicado en GNU/Linux, Microsoft, Patentes at 11:09 am por el Dr. Roy Schestowitz

¿Hacer dinero sin mover un dedo, porqué no?

Microsoft loves Capone
Microsoft ama a Capone

Sumario: Microsoft mantiene su estrategia Capone (‘dinero por protectión’) en un esfuerzo por coexistir con Linux… como su vaca de dinero, agravado por patentes de software y arreglos secretos en vez de justicia verdadera

MICROSOFT ha caido bajo fuego de los medios por sus ataques de patentes contra Linux. Hay nuevos y renovados casos of EXTORCIÓN a principios de mes y a pesar del criticismo público Microsoft no ha hecho nada (excepto seguir con sus ataques). Incluso no emitió una refutación a los medios.

MIP esta escribiéndo acerca del Mafioso de patentes de Microsoft (hombre horrible que sin misericordia persiguió a los usuarios de Linux), quien reciéntemente salió, siguiendo a Marshall Phelps (hace 6 años).

“Se trata sobre todo de ejercer control sobre la competencia (mediante amenazas de patentes) y hacer dinero de la competicia (también usando amenazas de patentes).”“Horacio Gutierrez va a unirse a Spotify como consejero genere basado en New York,” MIP escribió. “El es consejero general y vice-presidente corporativo de asuntos legales en Microsoft, un rol que asumió en Julio del 2014 despues de previamente haver servido como cabeza de IP de la compañíá.”

Como hemos notado aquí antes, el fue promovido después de que comenzó toda esa extorsión de patentes, mientas que Marshall Phelps salió. Otra persona envuelta en esta estrategia, Brad Smith, fue promovido hace medio año y no indicación cualquiera que Microsoft detendrá su ataque contra Linux con patentes de software. En realidad, basados en este nuevo reportaje de Andrew Orlowski, probablemente habra otra patente que Microsoft usará para EXTORSIÓNAR/SACUDIR/ENJUICIAR Android/Linux. Para citar a Orlowski:

Una reciéntemente publicada aplicación por patentes de Microsoft nos dá huellas a sus futuos pasos para hacer que Windows salte a través de la frontera de especies.

Windows ya lo hace, en una manera, con su aspecto Continuum.

Conecta un teclado y una pantalla al teléfono, y convierte tu teléfono en un órdenador, con los mismos binarios en el teléfono convirténdolo en (suerte de) aplicación completa de pantalla.

Como mencionamos hace unas pocas semanas, Microsoft simplemente COPIÓ de GNU/Linux (Canonical/Ubuntu) y ahora reclame créditos por ello con aplicaciones de patentes. ¿Cuán desgraciado es eso? Todo es acerca de ejercer control de la competencia (usando amenazas de patentes) y hacer dinero de la competencia (también usando amenazas de patentes). Y ahora nos dicen que Microsoft ¨ama a Linux¨…

El Máximalismo de Patentes (Patentar en Exceso) Abordado en un Nuevo Artículo del Profesor Noah Smith

Posted in America, IBM, Patents at 10:16 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz

Original/English

Publicado en America, IBM, Patentes at 10:41 am por el Dr. Roy Schestowitz

Sumario: El patentamiento en exceso, las casi 10 millones de patents sólo en los US, muestra que la cálidad de patentes y su esfera han sido olvidadas por la industria que saca ganancias de ellas mientras que al mismo tiempo no producen nada

El jefe de patentes de IBM, quien todavía esta promoviendo las patentes de software en los Estados Unidos y en todo el mundo (especialmente en India en estos dias), se siente enojado por/acerca de este nuevo artículo que simplemente dice la verdad acerca de la estrategia de IBM “red de seguridad”, que ahora está demandando a sus rivales más pequeños usando las patentes de software — un acto verdaderamente vergonzoso. Para citar el artículo, escrito por Noah Smith (profesor asistente de finanzas en la Universidad de Stony Brook):

El secreto es la perdición de la ciencia, ya que todos los verdaderos grandes avances son en realidad una cadena de pequeños descubrimientos. Cada científico o equipo de científicos con entusiasmo lee los últimos resultados de otros laboratorios y añade algunos pequeñas pero brillantes ideas o piezas fundamentales de datos, entonces lanzán los nuevos hallazgos lo más rápido posible para que el resto de la comunidad científica engulla. Pero si las patentes billónes de dólares están en juego, las universidades – que terminan siendo dueñas de gran parte de la propiedad intelectual que sale de descubrimientos profesores – tienen un fuerte incentivo para presionar a sus estudiosos para mantener sus nuevos descubrimientos e ideas en secreto.

En otras palabras, el sistema de propiedad intelectual amenaza a un retorno de la ciencia a las eras oscuras de Newton y Leibniz.

Esto es sólo la última preocupación sobre el sistema de propiedad intelectual. Los económistas han estado advirtiendo desde hace tiempo acerca de las leyes de IP, intentando fomentar nuevos descubrimientos, pueda terminar haciendo lo opuesto. Muchos observadores de la industria creen que las patentes están deteniendo la innovación en la industria de tecnología. Hay incluso evidencia de que el amumento de IP pueda haber exacerbádo la inequalidad. Preoucupaciones de que la extensión de leyes de IP en la arena internacional constituyen el más válido criticismo de el Tratado de Sociedad Trans-Pacífica.

Smith correctamente dice que hay “incluso evidencia de que el amumento de IP pueda haber exacerbádo la inequalidad.” Consideren a la India.

Patentes de Software en la India

Sharad Sharma escribió este artículo acerca de las patentes de software en la India (inquietantemente similar a lo que se encontró en los medios la semana pasada). Titulado “Esperanza por innovación en IT, no litigación,” el artículo dice:

Una de las persistentes amenazas al ecosystema de softere en la India es el constante empuje de las MNCs para permitir las patentes de software en India.

La naciente industria de productos de software en India esta creciéndo rápidamente y esta en una trayectoria donde podemso ver marcas mundiales como Amazon, Google y Facebook emerger en los próximos 10 años.

Una de las persistentes amenazas al ecosystema de softere en la India es el constante empuje de las MNCs para permitir las patentes de software en India.

El descaro de IBM cabildendo sin verguenza por las patentes de software en India, debe ser retirado. Todo es por dominación y control (una forma de subyugación al limitar el pensamienteo) no innovación.

Las patentes tienen lugar en varias cosas, pero el software no es una de ellas. El software ya esta cubierto lo suficiente bien por los derechos de autor (o copyleft).

Links 27/3/2016: Mageia 6 and Parsix GNU/Linux 8.10 on Their Way

Posted in News Roundup at 10:05 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz

GNOME bluefish

Contents

GNU/Linux

Free Software/Open Source

  • Celebrating 17 Years of The Apache Software Foundation

    The Foundation’s commitment to fostering a collaborative approach to development has long served as a model for producing consistently high quality software and helping advance the future of open development. The ASF’s collaborative leadership, robust community, and meritocratic process serve as best practices widely embraced by organizations and individuals alike.

  • OpenToonz
  • OpenToonz Is The Open-Source Version of Toonz, The Software Used For Creating Futurama And Asterix
  • Web Browsers

    • NoScript Beginner’s Guide

      This NoScript Beginner’s Guide has been designed to provide new Firefox or NoScript users with information on how the browser add-on works. I have published a guide for regular users in 2014 which you may find useful as well.

      NoScript is a long standing security add-on for Firefox that is rated highly on Mozilla AMO and quite popular with more than 2.3 million users.

      It is often confused with ad-blockers, and while it does that to, it is much more than that and the ad-blocking is more of a side-effect of the extension’s functionality than something it has been designed for.

  • Databases

    • Playing with Dalmatiner DB

      Dalmatimer DB is an open source time series database built on top of riak-core and ZFS. It re-uses the logic from riak-core to handle the logic of where data is located but implements its very own database optimised for metrics

  • BSD

    • FreeNAS 9.10-RELEASE is available

      This is an interim release between the 9.3 series and 10 (which is still a few months away), using the same UI and middleware that everyone is used to from 9.3 but with new OS underpinnings, specifically FreeBSD 10.3-RC3.

  • FSF/FSFE/GNU/SFLC

    • G’MIC 1.7.0 (Standalone Software And GIMP Plugin) Has Been Released

      As you may know, G’MIC (GREYC’s Magic Image Converter) is a editing tool, that can be used with GIMP or as a standalone application, being available for both Linux and Windows. G’MIC provides a window which enables the users to add more than 500 filters over photos and preview the result, in order to give the photos some other flavor.

    • PSPP 0.10.0 has been released

      I’m very pleased to announce the release of a new version of GNU PSPP. PSPP is a program for statistical analysis of sampled data. It is a free replacement for the proprietary program SPSS.

  • Licensing

    • Dr Stoll: Or how I learned to stop worrying and love the GPL

      My Free Software journey starts with The Cuckoo’s Egg. Back in the early 90s a family friend suggested I might enjoy reading it. He was right; I was fascinated by the world of interconnected machines it introduced me to. That helped start my involvement in FidoNet, but it also got me interested in Unix. So when I saw a Linux book at the Queen’s University bookshop (sadly no longer with us) with a Slackware CD in the back I had to have it.

  • Programming

    • Don’t Pick a Programming Language Because It’s the ‘Most Profitable’

      An ultra-common and generally bullshit theme that can be found across the internet from Business Insider to coder forums to anywhere else that aspiring programmers and coders may lurk is that of the “most profitable” programming language. Where should “you,” as the stereotypical case of just-anyone wanting to get into code to make better and easier money, be best off spending your limited attention and financial resources? It is a bogus question that gets at sickly heart of programming hype—a phenomenon that rests mostly on the notion that a few weeks of online learning or a code bootcamp will make someone into a coveted resource.

    • There is no “my” in open source

      If you use Node, you’ve probably been following this week’s story between Azer Koçulu, Kik and npm.

      A brief rundown: Azer made an npm module called “kik”, which shares its name with a company. Kik asked him to rename the module, and Azer refused, so npm intervened and reassigned it to Kik.

    • The papa of Perl

      Perl 6 has been 15 years in the making, and is now due to be released at the end of this year. We speak to its creator to find out what’s going on.

      Larry Wall is a fascinating man. He’s the creator of Perl, a programming language that’s widely regarded as the glue holding the internet together, and mocked by some as being a “write-only” language due to its density and liberal use of non-alphanumeric characters. Larry also has a background in linguistics, and is well known for delivering entertaining “State of the Onion” presentations about the future of Perl.

Leftovers

  • Science

  • Health/Nutrition

    • DuPont’s Deadly Deception

      The major industrial enterprise E. I. du Pont de Nemours has been hiding studies on the deleterious effects the chemical C8 has on health for decades. C8 is a major surfactant component of Teflon, used in hundreds of different products including clothing, and furniture. C8 and other perfluorooctonoic acids (PFOA) are associated with a wide range of severe health problems from low levels of exposure like ulcerative colitis, high cholesterol, thyroid disease, testicular cancer, as well as kidney cancer. DuPont continued producing C8 despite knowing its toxicity.

    • Monsanto’s Pesticide Linked to Kidney Disease That is Killing Thousands

      Monsanto’s use of a toxic pesticide, glyphosate, has been linked to rampant kidney disease in farmers and, according to a Vice News article, the death toll “has reached the tens of thousands.” Glyphosate, commonly known as RoundUp, is a weed killer that is made and used by Monsanto that “can become highly toxic to one’s kidneys when mixed with ‘hard water’” wrote Neha Shastry of Vice News.

  • Security

    • Stealthy malware targeting air-gapped PCs leaves no trace of infection [Ed: Windows]

      One of the major failures of the Stuxnet operation was its designer’s inability to maintain control of the computers that were infected by the self-replicating malware. What’s more, the Stuxnet code was also easily dissected by researchers, allowing them to eventually figure out it targeted industrial control systems. Gauss, another piece of malware spawned from at least some of the same developers as Stuxnet, didn’t make the same critical mistakes. Its mystery warhead was encrypted using a key derived from a single computer that has yet to be publicly identified.

  • Defence/Police/Secrecy/Aggression

    • US Stealthily Expands Its Military Presence Across Africa

      In recent years the US has quietly ramped up its military presence across the African continent, even though “officially” the US has only one permanent base, Camp Lemonnier in Djibouti. Since the US opened that base, shortly after September 11, 2001, it has grown from 88 acres with 900 military personnel to around 500 acres with 5,000 military personnel. Camp Lemonnier is currently undergoing a $1.4 billion upgrade, expanding everything from aircraft maintenance hangars, ammunition shelters, and runway extensions to accommodation facilities.

    • Police Find And Detonate Explosive Device At Trump Supporter’s Home After He Threatened Muslims

      William Celli, a 55-year-old man from California, will spend 90 days in jail after being caught in possession of an explosive device and threatening to kill Muslims. Celli took a plea deal that places him on probation for a further three years and bans him from operating an active Facebook profile.

  • Environment/Energy/Wildlife

    • Fossil Fuel Light Pollution May Drown Out the Stars at Texas’ McDonald Observatory

      In Fort Davis, Texas, in the Davis Mountains, the McDonald Observatory, a “multi-million dollar facility” (Santoro), is being threatened, as light pollution from hydraulic fracturing and fossil fuels, has been increasing the sky’s brightness by up to 30%. The “Trans-Pecos Pipeline” project, if implemented early in 2016, is expected to contribute further to that trend. As a result, some of the darkest skies in the United States are being endangered. Furthermore, the projected pipeline project would negatively impact “one of the largest intact bioregions in the country,” according to Alyce Santoro’s report. It would also run through one of the few remaining areas in Texas that is unscathed by fossil fuel extraction and exploration.

    • Asia loses its appetite for coal

      Asia, the world’s biggest coal market by far, is showing signs of turning its back on what is the most polluting of fuels, shelving or cancelling a large number of coal-fired power plant construction projects.

      Four Asian countries – China, India, Indonesia and Vietnam – together account for about 75% of an estimated 2,457 coal-fired power stations at present planned or under construction around the world.

    • We’ve Barely Begun to Tap the Sun’s Mighty Power

      It seems like every few weeks there’s some new measurement of how successful solar power is in the United States. In early March, industry analysts found that solar is poised for its biggest year ever, with total installations growing 119 percent by the end of 2016. This week, federal government analysts reported that in 2015, solar ranked number three (behind wind and natural gas) in megawatts of new electricity-producing capacity brought online. That rank is even more impressive when you consider that each individual solar installation is fewer megawatts than a wind turbine, and far fewer than a natural gas plant; that means solar panels are popping up like crazy across the country.

    • Who can save Poland’s oldest forest from environmental disaster?

      Polish ecological organizations are up in arms over plans to reintroduce large-scale logging in the protected Bialowieza forest in the east of the country, in response to a massive spruce bark beetle infestation there.

    • Past emissions cause mounting climate havoc

      Climate change has reached the point where it may outstrip the quickening efforts to slow it by reducing emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases, scientists say.

    • Investors Could Drag Exxon Kicking And Screaming Into A Low Carbon Economy

      First, the Securities and Exchange Commission ruled that the company has to allow shareholders to vote on a climate change resolution. Then, the Rockefeller Family Fund announced it would divest from fossil fuels — and took the opportunity to hit Exxon specifically for misleading investors about the risks of climate change.

  • Finance

    • High Court Asks Administration to Weigh in on Predatory Lending Case

      A SUPREME COURT order this week forces the Obama administration to make a decision: either save consumers tens of billions of dollars at the expense of debt collectors, car loan specialists, and student lenders, or defend those financial entities.

    • Banning boycotts: is history repeating itself?

      The UK government’s recent attempts to legislate against Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions are reminiscent of Thatcher during South African Apartheid.

    • TPP Under Fire in the U.S. As Other Signatories Advance Towards Ratification

      The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) is taking a beating in the ongoing U.S. presidential election cycle, leaving some observers to wonder if it can survive such a political backlash against trade agreements. But as the leading candidates seem to compete for who can bash U.S. trade policies the hardest, other countries have been pressing forward to ratify the TPP since the deal’s signature in February.

      In the U.S., chances are close to nil that the TPP could get ratified anytime soon. The White House is still seeking congressional support for the massive 12-country deal but the political environment could not be any more unfavorable. Presidential candidates are pointing to trade agreements as the root cause of economic inequality. For the Obama administration, things look grim in Congress as well. More and more lawmakers are coming out against the TPP, while others who had long championed the deal are now holding back their support over their stance that some of the provisions do not go far enough to protect certain industries. The soonest the TPP’s ratification vote may happen is during the “Lame Duck” period after November’s election.

  • PR/AstroTurf/Lobbying/Politics

    • Back to the Future: The Unanswered Questions from the Debates

      The nuances of foreign policy do not feature heavily in the ongoing presidential campaign. Every candidate intends to “destroy” the Islamic State; each has concerns about Russian President Vladimir Putin, North Korea, and China; every one of them will defend Israel; and no one wants to talk much about anything else — except, in the case of the Republicans, who rattle their sabers against Iran.

      In that light, here’s a little trip down memory lane: in October 2012, I considered five critical foreign policy questions — they form the section headings below — that were not being discussed by then-candidates Mitt Romney and Barack Obama. Romney today is a sideshow act for the current Republican circus, and Obama has started packing up his tent at the White House and producing his own foreign policy obituary.

    • ‘A Broadcasting Operation Washes the Hand of the Owning Corporation’

      Journalist Ben Bagdikian died March 11 at age 96. He was a crucial influence on FAIR’s work, not only for his classic book The Media Monopoly, now called The New Media Monopoly and in its seventh printing, but also for the spirited journalism that preceded that work, including pushing the Pentagon Papers into print and going undercover as an inmate at a maximum security prison, and all the thoughtful, humanistic work that followed. He was a friend to us, and we’ll miss him.

    • Hillary Clinton’s Superdelegate Advantage

      Who are these Democrats, imbued with such power? Reason TV put together this instructional cartoon to help sort it all out.

    • Bernie Sanders Gets Big Boost With Landslide Wins in Washington, Alaska Caucuses

      Bernie Sanders won caucuses in Washington and Alaska by wide margins on Saturday to close the delegate lead against Hillary Clinton. Sanders captured 73 percent of the vote in Washington, which had 101 pledged delegates at stake, and 82 percent of the vote in Alaska, which had 16 pledged delegates.

  • Censorship

  • Privacy

    • The Hubris of Investigators

      Policymakers who understand those themes will reject reported legislation that would mandate backdoors in your technology, or otherwise force tech companies to ensure the FBI’s access to everyone’s communications. Senators Dianne Feinstein, D-CA, and Richard Burr, R-NC, have threatened to introduce a proposal along those lines, which would place millions of people at risk, overlook several key facts, and resign a need for long overdue—and increasingly vital—transparency into law enforcement excesses.

    • Glenn Greenwald: U.S. Government Wants Ability to Access the Communications of Everyone, Everywhere

      Web-exclusive interview with Glenn Greenwald on the debate over encryption and the Apple-FBI battle.

    • Tories and Lib Dem rivals in unofficial ‘coalition’ over GCHQ parking problem in Cheltenham

      RIVAL politicians are working in parallel to solve the ongoing parking issue in streets around GCHQ in Cheltenham.

      People who live in Hester’s Way and Fiddlers Green, and the councillors who represent them, are unhappy about employees and external contractors parking cars in residential roads causing disruption and congestion.

    • NSA’s domestic spying violates US Constition: Journalist

      “It’s high time that someone in the US Congress took some direct action against the NSA for their intrusion into Americans’ privacy and violation of their Second Amendment rights,” said Mike Harris, the financial editor at Veterans Today.

      “The NSA was never meant to be a domestic spy organization; the NSA was meant to gather foreign intelligence, not to spy on the American citizenry,” Harris told Press TV on Saturday.

      “This is in direct violation against the Second Amendment of free speech and the Fourth Amendment to be safe and secure in one’s housing,” he added.

      A couple of US lawmakers have called on the NSA to abandon its planned expansion of domestic spying.

  • Civil Rights

    • Saudi Arabia Cracks Down On ‘Peaceful Dissent,’ Sentences Journalist To Five Years In Prison

      Saudi Arabia sentenced a journalist to five years in prison over a series of tweets, in what human rights organizations are calling the latest crackdown on free expression by the oil-rich kingdom.

      In addition to spending five years in prison, Alaa Brinji was sentenced to an eight-year travel ban and a 50,000 Saudi Arabian riyals (about U.S. $13,300) fine. Brinji is a prominent Saudi journalist who was arrested in May 2014 and initially held in solitary confinement and without access to a lawyer. According to Amnesty International, Brinji’s crimes don’t fit the bill.

    • Does The United States Still Exist?

      Historically, a government that can, without due process, throw a citizen into a dungeon or summarily execute him is considered to be a tyranny, not a democracy. By any historical definition, the United States today is a tyranny.

    • Open Letter to the International Community about the political situation in Brazil

      We, professors and researchers from Brazilian universities, hereby address the International Academic Community to report serious breaches in the rule of law currently taking place in Brazil.

    • America’s Astounding Human Rights Hypocrisy in Cuba

      Our American president’s long-overdue visit to Cuba was a great thing for many reasons.

      But maybe our elected officials should cease their hypocritical yapping about the human rights situation in Cuba until they come clean about what’s happening here in the United States.

      To be sure, there is much to say about how this authoritarian regime has handled dissent. The details abound in the corporate media.

      But the idea of the United States lecturing Cuba or any other country on this planet about human rights comes down somewhere between embarrassing and nauseating.

    • Hey Albany, New Yorkers Deserve Paid Family Leave

      American workers have it hard. We put in more hours at work than any other workers in the industrialized world, and we are given — and take — fewer vacation days.

      At the same time, we’re also one of only three countries across the globe (the other two are Papua New Guinea and Suriname) that does not provide paid family leave. For American workers, being unable to leave work to care for a newborn baby or a seriously ill family member is an all too familiar scenario.

    • With Nuisance Laws, Has ‘Serve and Protect’ Turned Into ‘Silence and Evict’?

      When Nancy Markham called 911 multiple times between March and August 2014 because of her abusive ex-boyfriend, the single mother didn’t know that her calls for help would only lead to more fear and insecurity. Instead of serving and protecting her, the police department of Surprise, Arizona, tried to silence and get Markham evicted from her rental home — all because of an ill-conceived nuisance ordinance the city passed in 2010.

  • Intellectual Monopolies

    • Copyrights

      • Kim Dotcom Fights For “Mega Millions” in U.S. Appeals Court

        Megaupload’s legal team was back in court this week in an effort to reclaim an estimated $67 million in assets previously seized by the U.S. Government. Megaupload’s appellate counsel refuted the claim that Kim Dotcom and his former colleagues are fugitives, noting that the District Court ruling violates due process.

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