06.07.21
[Meme] Judges Aren’t the Enemy
Summary: There’s no independent judge left at the EPO; the coup has been so thorough that nobody dares speak about it anymore (not even AMBA)
No update since then! Silence says so much! Like a canary…
The Correlation Between Software Freedom and Universal Justice
MicrophoneSoft?
Summary: There’s an alliance of convenience between EPO workers (especially the examiners) and activists for Free/libre software; we need to re-establish human rights in the digital age and rejection of malicious software is a pre-requisite
THE concept of “Justice” and/or “Ethics” isn’t universal; different cultures apply different cultural standards to arrive at what they consider to be objective notions of what’s “right” and what’s “wrong”.
“More and more examiners at the EPO have learned (the hard way) over the past year or so that companies like Microsoft don’t value their privacy.”We can all (hopefully) agree on some basic rights however. Among them? Speech, privacy, access to justice (right to be heard) and so on…
Why those things are important values (which need to be guarded if not enshrined as human rights) is probably a story for some other day…
A lot of our readers are EPO employees (insiders told us that almost all EPO workers read this site, even if not on a daily basis), so it would be wrong to assume people read the site because they use and care for GNU/Linux — or Free software, by extension.
So, it’s probably worth explaining in simple terms the correlation or the connection between the Software Freedom Moment and “Justice” (however one defines it).
Justice can be loosely defined as an opportunity to have rules (or laws) obeyed. If the law or the rules are not properly enforced, or only selectively enforced (e.g. those who are rich and powerful are somehow exempted), that’s an injustice. It means that people are mistreated based on their privilege (or lack thereof).
In the realms of Software Freedom (when we say “Free software” we refer to freedom, not price) we put people in control of their lives. As more aspects or facets of people’s lives have gone “digital” it means that the systems running on devices should be controlled by users, nor vendors. Data transactions and code should be auditable as that’s the only way to detect (or overcome) mischievous behaviour.
More and more examiners at the EPO have learned (the hard way) over the past year or so that companies like Microsoft don’t value their privacy. The software imposed on them by António Campinos is very invasive spyware, installed at people’s private homes. Benoît Battistelli and his “I.U.” (Stasi) could only have dreamed of such breadth of data collection from employees. Who needs keyloggers to be covertly installed when Microsoft Teams does just that and who needs hidden cameras when Skype is exactly that (unless the camera is physically covered)?
Of course we welcome examiners to join our fight for Software Freedom, which extends to a fight for justice. We’ve tried hard to squash European software patents for nearly a decade and a half; having EPO insiders on our side would be beneficial to Europe as a whole and it’s no secret that such patents hurt Free software the most (we can rarely afford court battles). To make the world a better place (more innovative and more just) we’ll need to reject software monopolies, surveillance capitalists (people who ‘monetise’ spying and snitching), and clueless managers like Campinos, who illegally impose the use of spyware in people's private spaces. █
EPO Management: We Listen to Users, Especially Monopolists and Overzealous Litigation Firms
Summary: The media manipulation or the perception management campaign seems to have geared up a bit; somehow, miraculously enough, nobody seems to care (anymore) about the EPO's EBoA/EBA being stacked and utterly incapable of ruling properly on patent matters in Europe's second-largest institution
THE EPO‘s management (Team Battistelli/Campinos; many overlaps exist and sometimes family connections too) has finally decided to break a week-long silence in order to pretend that it cares about what the public thinks and what the public says whilst in fact censoring the public. It’s censoring comments of such users (or stakeholders) and ‘externalities’ who suffer from the EPO’s actions (e.g. granting of European software patents).
“Thankfully we have some exclusive coverage on the way.”The EPO’s autocrats say that “[u]sers meet to discuss EPO Guidelines and agree to extend public consultation” (warning: epo.org link) but those so-called ‘users’ are actually fronting for large corporations. They’re like lobbyists or representatives of corporations that aren’t even European a lot of the time!
So much for “users”…
Nice twist on terms like “lobbyists”…
“The working party [corporations] discussed almost 200 user comments,” says the EPO, “some of them very extensive.”
How many were hidden away or binned for not being flattering enough to the cabal which had hijacked the Office?
Earlier today we noticed Maiwald commenting on the EPO’s EBoA/EBA because it was promoted in Lexology. Very disappointing and shallow coverage, i.e. the usual from law firms. They seem to like things the way they are, even if it’s corrosive to Europe as a whole (from chaos come legal bills!) and here’s a screenshot.
Shallow coverage about G1/21
We’ve also just noticed Amy Sandys posting another marketing spam piece disguised as ‘journalism’. As if there’s no actual news for Juve to cover anymore. Posted under “People & Business” was a so-called ‘report’ about one single person moving from one law firm to another (connected to Team UPC, never mind the aggressive nature of the firms and their media control at Pinsent Masons).
What happened to actual investigative journalism? Why is almost nobody covering the EBA blunder? The reason they churn out fluff and spam is that this is their business model. This won’t change any time soon (or ever) because the EPO seeds bribery money/budget for those who play along with the propaganda and the cover-up.
Thankfully we have some exclusive coverage on the way. Teaser on the top/right. For those who think that one single person (a partner at a law firm) changing her job isn’t the “big news”… █
IBM is Doing to Red Hat What Novell Did to SUSE (and People Are Leaving)
Summary: IBM is striking partnerships with the world’s biggest patent trolls, it’s pushing software patents, and it is killing any remnants of hope (a much-needed policy change)
If you speak to IBM insiders, they will admit that the company is dead meat. They worry about it and it causes anxiety. Even IBM veterans whose pensions are tied to IBM’s financial performance should be worried.
My personal opinion is that key Red Hat employees need to do to IBM what some Nokia employees did to Nokia with Jolla. As Red Hatters exit IBM they take with them a lot of valuable skills. Where will their experience/knowledge be unloaded and vision implemented? Hopefully not GAFAM…
The above video explains what at IBM has gone awfully wrong, especially in the past decade or so (IBM wasn’t so bad before that). With blog posts like “How Red Hat and Microsoft helped Andreani Logistics Group address rapid increase in demand” (screenshot below) and “Visualizing performance with RHEL 8.4 Grafana Dashboard for Microsoft SQL Server” earlier today in Red Hat’s official blog (second time they promote Microsoft SQL Server in recent days) one gets the idea that IBM would do just about anything for money. It’s like Novell a decade and a half ago, after it had appointed a former IBMer (Hovsepian) as its CEO.
IBM is destroying Red Hat for a quick buck. This is the blog post I was struggling to find while recording this video. It’s an hours-old blog post.
Judging by the latest threads, including this one, IBM has been a total and complete catastrophe lately. IBM’s disgruntled employees flock to these boards and point out that contrary to what HR says, it’s a bloodbath on many fronts (redundancies, not hirings; losses, not recovery). And as one person put it today, “the total revenue always decline… it is always smoke and mirrors with IBM… reason why this company is just dead.”
IBM is being accused (by people who seem to know IBM from the inside) of ‘creative’ accounting, cooking the books, and a financial shuffle that makes it look like there’s growth in “strategic” areas (like Microsoft, IBM rebrands many things ‘cloud’).
And resurfaced in Planet Fedora earlier today is a departure letter from Stephen Smoogen, who was “Leaving Fedora Infrastructure” (core operations). He’s not alone. IBM is ruining communities/userbases like CentOS and nowadays we see the same in Fedora. As many feared would happen…
Greed and Free software are not compatible. IBM just doesn’t understand Free software and communities. Another Novell-SUSE scenario…
“Why not rebrand as International Bully for Microsoft?”As psydroid put it in IRC some hours ago, “first they replaced proprietary UNIX and then they became proprietary UNIX The Next Generation. I don’t really get the point…”
MinceR said it’s “more like proprietary anti-Unix,” as Unix never had systemd. It was instead modular.
To top it all up with another self-harming move, IPwe CEO Erich Spangenberg is now hooking with IBM. This is the person who was sending me death wishes by E-mail for pointing out that he’s a malicious patent troll [1, 2, 3, 4].
IBM became everything we stand against. It’s time to leave IBM behind and think of a different kind of future for GNU/Linux — one where communities, not monopolies who man the Linux Foundation‘s board, decide on the direction. Things like systemd are more like vendor lock-in (deliberate complexity), not freedom.
As for IBM, it is arming Microsoft-connected patent trolls and now it’s hooking up with the world’s worst patent trolls. “I like this statement from the article,” AdmFubar said in IRC, quoting the following: “IBM’s own patent business has found it more difficult to monetize its patent portfolio in recent years, according to Bloomberg. Its revenues have slipped to just over $600 from a high of $1.6 billion.”
OK, IBM’s management has decided, so let’s work with trolls… who ‘monetise’ patents. This is awful on so many levels and it sheds light on IBM’s truly awful strategy, which isn’t compatible with programming, let alone with Free software. Why not rebrand as International Bully for Microsoft? █
[Meme] Loving to Win When Windows is Losing
Summary: Microsoft ‘love’ is more about abducting those who are taking over a lot of the market and are technically solid
“We need to slaughter Novell before they get stronger….If you’re going to kill someone, there isn’t much reason to get all worked up about it and angry. You just pull the trigger. Any discussions beforehand are a waste of time. We need to smile at Novell while we pull the trigger.”
–Jim Allchin, President of Platforms & Services Division at Microsoft
The Kanté of Alicante
Go team!
Summary: Welcome to Campinos FC; it doesn’t know much about patents, but it can compensate by censoring everybody and bribing the media for false portrayals
Nepotism over latte
The modus operandi
Buddy brings a buddy
La familia en route to Munich
Rijswijk, Haar, and its artful kitsch
Patents to them is a niche
But expensive galleries make them look rich
“La familia en route to Munich”Gallery full of wine
Ever-flowing like the Rhine
Racking up the fine
Hiding behind a front line
Francophone over ViCo
Maskless, a wannabe sicko
Cinco de Mayo, cinco cinco
By end of May kangaroo Arnold 'Dicko'
Child of Revolução dos Cravos
A bully like Sergio Ramos █
Jeans and sneakers mean business, Sir!
The EPO’s Censorship of Stakeholders is a Misguided Case of Digging One’s Own Grave
Summary: Burying truth is an awful long-term strategy; The abuses of the EPO and the lack of justice (inherently rooted in the EPO’s very own tribunals system) have become highly visible for all to see, even stakeholders; the panicky management of the EPO is playing with fire now that it has begun censoring what stakeholders themselves are saying
THERE is a rapidly-deepening crisis at the EPO right now. No wonder the Office hasn’t said a single thing this month (it’s not because of some public holiday) and António Campinos seems to have mostly vanished.
“Where’s the government of Germany?”Over time, we predict, more stakeholders will step away from the EPO, seeing that the EPO even censors their briefs now. As if they’re a hostile force or something (rather than genuinely concerned stakeholders)…
EPO isn’t an EU institution, but it helps discredit the EU and thus harms European unity
To me, personally, European software patents were the last straw, but that was before it became abundantly apparent that the EPO became a madhouse and judges had lost their independence because of Benoît Battistelli.
Where’s the government of Germany? Where's the German media?
“Seems that good ol’ Merkel isn’t that happy with the EPO,” one reader told us, citing this article from 7-8 months ago. This isn’t good for CDU / CSU, as AfD already exploited resentment against the UPC and it contributes to the idea that CDU / CSU don’t care about lawfulness, only money. The reader also noted that: “The alicantisation started short after Campinos nomination. All this mafia is a nuisance to the EPO, to the staff, to Europe, to the inventors and to the public.” █
António Campinos is the ‘bin Salman’ of Europe
The Ridiculous Façade of ‘Ethical’ Monopolists and the Ludicrous Media Coverage That Parrots Their Lies
Summary: Corporate trolling by corporate actors is not a new strategy; they try to portray themselves as a force for good, whereas communities are supposedly unruly, racist, sexist and so on; this video discusses some new examples from the weekend’s news
YESTERDAY we mentioned the common misconception that unscrupulous Google and racist IBM are somehow our 'friends', unlike Microsoft. In reality, however, they’re just a different kind of foe. They don’t truly care about our freedom and they only ever pretend to value ethics.
“Ethics don’t get passed in a top-bottom fashion. They’re being demanded from the bottom by grassroots activism, not Public Relations firms employed by the rich and connected to corporate media (for puff pieces to be seeded/planted).”In the video above I allude to reports such as this one about Google and several about Microsoft, from media that’s habitually bribed by Bill Gates and media that basically amplifies face-saving lies from Microsoft officials [1, 2], e.g. this passage: “The photos were taken down globally from Bing, Microsoft’s search engine, on Friday — the 32nd anniversary of the event. A Microsoft spokesman said they were taken offline by mistake, attributing the removal to “human error.” The images reappeared around the world — outside of China — on Saturday.”
So Microsoft censored not only for China inside China (removing history) but also for China outside China. This is the same company that profits from racism and shows no remorse for it.
In the case of Google, it takes quite the audacity to claim any sort of empathy for women. Google paid millions of dollars in secret to hide abuses against women by Google’s top executives [1, 2]. “That Google is stirring that up is an indication that they are wishing to distract from other matters,” an associate of ours noted.
Generally speaking, beware of the idea that sociopaths and career-climbing psychopaths are about ethics. At the EPO we’ve long seen Benoît Battistelli trying to paint himself as champion of “diversity” while surrounding himself by a French cabal; António Campinos is just as bad.
Ethics don’t get passed in a top-bottom fashion. They’re being demanded from the bottom by grassroots activism, not Public Relations firms employed by the rich and connected to corporate media (for puff pieces to be seeded/planted). █
“Microsoft, a rather new corporation, may not have matured to the position where it understands how it should act with respect to the public interest and the ethics of the marketplace.”
–U.S. District fudge Stanley Sporkin
Content is available under CC-BY-SA