IRC: #techbytes @ Techrights IRC Network: Monday, November 14, 2022

schestowitz

<h5><a href="https://itwire.com/business-it-news/security/govt-announces-100-strong-force-to-hunt-down-online-attackers.html">Govt announces 100-strong force to hunt down online attackers</a> [iophk: Windows TCO]</h5>

schestowitz

-TechBytesBot/#techbytes-iTWire - Govt announces 100-strong force to hunt down online attackers

schestowitz

<p>Home Affairs Minister Clare O'Neil and Federal Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus made the announcement jointly on Saturday, a day after the AFP commissioner Reece Kershaw claimed that those behind the ransomware attack on medical insurance provider Medibank Group were based in Russia. Ransomware generally attacks only systems running Microsoft's Windows operating system.</p>

schestowitz

<p>O'Neil, who is also responsible for online security, said: "This is the formalisation of a partnership, a standing body in the Australian Government, which will day in, day out, hunt down the scumbags who are responsible for these malicious crimes against innocent people.</p>

schestowitz

</blockquote>

schestowitz

</li>

schestowitz

<li>

schestowitz

<h5><a href="https://drewdevault.com/2022/11/12/In-praise-of-Plan-9.html">In praise of Plan 9</a></h5>

-TechBytesBot/#techbytes-drewdevault.com | In praise of Plan 9

schestowitz

schestowitz

<p>One example I often raise to illustrate the design ideals of Plan 9 is to compare its approach to network programming with that of the Unix standard, Berkeley sockets. BSD sockets fly in the face of Unix sensibilities and are quite alien on the system, though by now everyone has developed stockholm syndrome with respect to them so they don’t notice. When everything is supposed to be a file on Unix, why is it that

schestowitz

the networking API is entirely implemented with special-purpose syscalls and ioctls? On Unix, creating a TCP connection involves calling the “socket” syscall to create a magic file descriptor, then the “connect” syscall to establish a connection. Plan 9 is much more Unix in its approach: you open /net/tcp/clone to reserve a connection, and read the connection ID from it. Then you open /net/tcp/n/ctl and write “connect 127.0.0.1!80” to it,

schestowitz

where “n” is that connection ID. Now you can open /net/tcp/n/data and that file is a full-duplex stream. No magic syscalls, and you can trivially implement it in a shell script.</p>

schestowitz

</blockquote>

schestowitz

</li>

schestowitz

<li>

schestowitz

<h5><a href="https://blog.arduino.cc/2022/11/12/handy-machine-cuts-and-strips-wires-so-you-dont-have-to/">Handy machine cuts and strips wires so you don’t have to</a></h5>

-TechBytesBot/#techbytes-blog.arduino.cc | Handy machine cuts and strips wires so you don’t have to | Arduino Blog

schestowitz

schestowitz

<p>Before someone calls us out: no, this machine doesn’t fully strip the wires. It just precuts the ends so that the user can quickly pull off the insulation. But it is still doing all the hard work and is very useful. Just load up a spool of wire, feed it into the machine, set the wire length and stripped lengths, and sit back. The machine will cut through the insulation at one end, dispense the desired

schestowitz

length of wire, cut through the insulation at the other end, and then cut that piece of wire off so it lands in a collection bucket.</p>

schestowitz

</blockquote>

schestowitz

</li>

http://patentblog.kluweriplaw.com/2022/11/08/epo-management-fails-to-allow-mass-emails-despite-iloat-judgment/

schestowitz

-TechBytesBot/#techbytes-patentblog.kluweriplaw.com | EPO management fails to allow mass emails, despite ILOAT judgment - Kluwer Patent Blog

schestowitz

schestowitz

The EPO is worse than Musk not tolerating workers unions at Tesla.

schestowitz

Concerned observer

schestowitz

NOVEMBER 8, 2022 AT 4:31 PM

schestowitz

So what is the practical consequence of the EPO disregarding an ILOAT judgement (and thereby continuing to infringe the right to association of its staff)?

schestowitz

The AC has now been asleep at the wheel for over a decade, and has recently given up even pretending to act as the EPO’s independent overseer. There would therefore seem no point asking the AC to step in to ensure that the EPO respects the rule of law. But to whom else can the EPO’s staff turn?

schestowitz

Would the EPO’s blatant disregard of ILOAT judgements provide an opportunity to ask the Dutch Supreme Court to revisit their infamous judgement on the EPO’s immunity from suit? I have my doubts.

schestowitz

In any event, it is interesting to observe how an international body tasked with implementing laws can effectively “go rogue” (by failing to uphold the rule of law, rendering their governing laws meaningless by interpreting them according to their wishes, etc.) without giving rise to even the slightest signs of concern amongst the member states. And yet this is the very organisation that will soon be entrusted with even more powers (regarding “

schestowitz

unitary” patents).

schestowitz

Given the weaknesses and flaws in the governance structure of the UPC (even compared to the EPO), I shudder to think what might happen if that organisation were to similarly “go rogue”.

schestowitz

Enough is enough

schestowitz

NOVEMBER 8, 2022 AT 4:33 PM

schestowitz

The present attitude of the head of the EPO illustrates best that immunity is considered as giving impunity when refusing to apply a clear judgement of the ILO-AT.

schestowitz

It actually boils down to contempt of court when a further condition is added which has never been envisaged by the court. If people do not like messages from the staff representation, there is a delete button on every keyboard.

schestowitz

The attitude of the head of the EPO and its minions is despicable.

schestowitz

But he has the support of a majority of the AC.

schestowitz

One actually wonders why?

schestowitz

If one knows that the DPO is employed on a contract basis, one cannot expect a document emanating from the DPO being contrary to the wishes of the president.

schestowitz

I am convinced that it is not the DPO who has thought of this extra hurdle but the (un)human resources management.

schestowitz

What is going on at the EPO is tragic, and the success story of the EPO is getting ruined by pseudo managers who think they can act as if we were still in the 19th century.

schestowitz

How can anybody expect that examiners and their immediate support staff can work with a free mind in such atrocious conditions. I am not surprised that the EPO experiences difficulties in recruiting examiners.

schestowitz

Concerned observer

schestowitz

NOVEMBER 8, 2022 AT 5:53 PM

schestowitz

Contempt of court? Well, not quite. Regarding execution of its judgements, the ILOAT’s website contains the following advice:

schestowitz

“The Tribunal’s judgments carry the authority of res judicata and must be executed as ruled. The parties must work together in good faith to this end. In cases where no time frame is set by the Tribunal for the execution of an order, the judgments must be executed within a reasonable period of time. In order to ascertain whether this is the case, all the circumstances of the case must be taken into account, especially the nature and the scope of

schestowitz

the action which the organisation is required to take (see, in particular, Judgments 3656, consideration 3; 2684, considerations 4 and 6; and 3066, consideration 6). If there are serious reasons to believe that the defendant organisation will not honour its obligations or will delay execution, the complainant may, after having allowed the organisation a sufficient and reasonable period of time to execute the judgment, ask the Tribunal, by an

schestowitz

application for execution filed pursuant to Article VI(1) of the Statute, to rule that the organisation has failed to do so and to order that appropriate measures be taken.

schestowitz

An application for execution must satisfy the formal requirements provided for in the Rules; the party applying for execution should fill in a specific form available on the website of the Tribunal, write a brief, provide a list of annexes as well as the annexes themselves, and submit six copies of all these documents. These applications are not subject to time limits, nor is there any obligation to exhaust internal means of redress before filing

schestowitz

the application”.

schestowitz

Article VI(1) of the Statute states that:

schestowitz

“The Tribunal shall take decisions by a majority vote. Judgments shall be final and without appeal. The Tribunal may nevertheless consider applications for interpretation, EXECUTION or review of a judgment”.

schestowitz

It therefore seems that ignoring an ILOAT judgement has no consequence unless and until an application for execution is filed and then decided by the Tribunal. Even then, success for a complainant is far from certain, as they must demonstrate “serious reasons” to believe that execution of a judgement will be (further) delayed. No doubt this will give international organisations plenty of opportunities for gaming the system, for example by

schestowitz

teasing possible solutions that arguably do not comply with the judgement in question.

schestowitz

Moreover, even presuming that the Tribunal decides promptly and in the complainant’s favour, it is unclear what “appropriate measures” the Tribunal can take. This is not least because the ILOAT would seem to have no power to impose anything other than financial sanctions. Also, it is important to remember that, at any point, the EPO is free to withdraw its recognition of the ILOAT’s jurisdiction.

schestowitz

So what can be done? Well, one thought would be to see if a way can be found to get the case before the CJEU (eg in view of the EU’s Charter of Fundamental Rights, as applied in cases such as C-402/05 P). But that presupposes the existence of a national court that will take the case (despite the immunities of the international organisation) AND be willing and able to make a reference to the CJEU. This seems unlikely.

schestowitz

It has been observed in academic writings that the only way that laws applicable to international organisations can be enforced is either by the organisations themselves, or through political pressure of their members. When it comes to the EPO, this means that there is no way for the laws to be enforced.

schestowitz

Enough is enough

schestowitz

NOVEMBER 9, 2022 AT 3:04 PM

schestowitz

Dear Concerned observer,

schestowitz

When i wrote my comment, I was fully aware that the ILO-AT was not an ordinary court.

schestowitz

The ILO-AT has no real means of enforcement if its decisions are not implemented.

schestowitz

And the EPO is playing with it.

schestowitz

It is remarkable that the ILO-AT is literally flooded with motions stemming from EPO staff members.

schestowitz

There have been discussions between EPO’s management and the ILO-AT to see if something could be done. But to no avail! The EPO’s management even envisaged to levy a fee if a staff member wanted to go to Geneva.

schestowitz

It is tragic to see “that there is no way for the laws to be enforced”. The AC is rubber stamping what comes from the 10th floor of the Isar building, That a new member state will join the EPC can even render things worse, as this further state will be very keen to get a part of the “cooperation” budget!

schestowitz

The EPO is indeed free to withdraw its recognition of the ILOAT’s jurisdiction. But then EPO’s staff would be subject to the arbitrary decisions of the president. He is by no means bound by a decision of the internal appeals committee and can even aggravate sanctions if he is displeased with the result of the internal appeal committee. This has happened, so it is not a mere theoretical possibility.

schestowitz

After the salaries and pensions having been frozen for a while on the basis of a fake financial study and an amendment to the way salaries have been calculated, a salary increase is foreseen to compensate for the inflation. But the president has already announced that the production will have to increase with in parallel with the salary increase. This is typical of what was going on in the 19th century.

schestowitz

The salaries at the EPO are by far not as good as they used to be. Combined with the fact that an open ended contract can only be obtained after two five year contracts it also explains why the EPO experiences difficulties in recruitment.

schestowitz

When looking at the way the job of an examiner is presented on the EPO’s home page, nice buzzwords are used, but nowhere is anything mentioned about the 5 years contracts and the way disputes between staff and management can be settled.

schestowitz

A good scientist or engineer with some knowledge of foreign languages is not dependent on the EPO to find a good job. Very few candidates with a family and kids will envisage coming to the EPO and at the same time severing any ties with the social protection and pension system from its country of origin.

schestowitz

Concerned observer

schestowitz

NOVEMBER 10, 2022 AT 1:46 PM

schestowitz

The “financial study” was a masterclass in lies and misrepresentations. It does not matter that there is already clear evidence that its “predictions” were nothing more than a managerial fantasy. This is because it was only ever intended to serve the purpose of further reducing the EPO’s outgoings (to its staff) and thereby increasing the flow of funds into the EPO’s coffers … to be disposed of as the management and the AC see fit.

schestowitz

It is a sad state of affairs when such a clearly meritless “study” is simply rubber-stamped by the AC, with none of the delegations apparently voicing any concern or dissent. This is the part that I find hardest to understand. However, it has become clear to me that even those AC delegations that once might have expressed an independent view have quickly been taught the error of their ways. The only question is how that has been achieved. Whilst

schestowitz

there is no doubt that money has been the key to achieving this, the veil of secrecy that covers all dealings with international organisations makes it hard to understand from where and to which organisations (or individuals??) the funds have flowed. If it were possible to drag that information out into the light of day, then there might just be a chance of the AC remembering that it is supposed to act as the EPO’s overseer … and not its poodle!

schestowitz

Extraneous Attorney

schestowitz

NOVEMBER 8, 2022 AT 6:25 PM

schestowitz

If the EPO were not an international organisation, but a EU agency like the EUIPO, would any of this be possible?

schestowitz

(To clarify, I do not necessarily think that the EPO ought to be a EU agency, and I am very well aware that such a change could be difficult to bring about, to put it mildly.)

schestowitz

Enough is enough

schestowitz

NOVEMBER 9, 2022 AT 3:19 PM

schestowitz

The answer to your question is a clear NO.

schestowitz

Means of redress for EU staff members is at the end the CJEU.

schestowitz

Many years ago the commission had agreed with staff unions an increase in wages within a given range. The Commission decided to go 0,1% above the lower value of the range. Following a complaint before the CJEU the Commission was sentenced to increase the salaries with the average value of the range.

schestowitz

Such a decision is unthinkable at the ILO-AT as its role is mainly to check that the procedure has been respected. Any “political” decision like the one of the CJEU would never be taken by the ILO-AT.

schestowitz

It is only if the procedure has not been correctly followed or if it is arbitrary, that the ILO-AT will do something.

schestowitz

The CJEU has certainly the means to impose its decision to the commission.

schestowitz

A situation like at the EPO is unthinkable at the EU.

schestowitz

The ILO-AT is the only possibility for a final judicial decision for the staff of most intergovernmental organisations. It is open for instance to UN staff or ESA staff.

schestowitz

When hiring at such an organisation, most of staff are not aware of this drawback.

schestowitz

LightBlue

schestowitz

NOVEMBER 10, 2022 AT 9:58 AM

schestowitz

Could a complaint be made against the individual EU states for not requiring their members of the AC to ensure that the rule of law is observerd, with the CJEU having a final say?

schestowitz

critical examiner

schestowitz

NOVEMBER 12, 2022 AT 8:58 AM

schestowitz

It might be linked to the concept of fiduciary duty. One can accuse the AC members of perpetrating the rule of of a president who loses the members countries money by taking illegal decisions. But the ministries that send the AC representatives will surely side with the AC reps. Nobody wants to rock the boat at this level.

schestowitz

LKJL

schestowitz

NOVEMBER 10, 2022 AT 10:47 AM

schestowitz

Surely the long-term solution is to set up the EPO as the Patents Division of the EUIPO granting patents (unitary?), with recourse to the General Court of the EU for applicants and protection for employees under the EU schemes. Democratic legitimacy and oversight are then provided by the European Parliament.

schestowitz

DXThomas

schestowitz

NOVEMBER 11, 2022 AT 12:32 PM

schestowitz

Dear LKJL,

schestowitz

Your suggestion might be interesting, but it would boil down to turning back the wheel of history.

schestowitz

In the 60s of the 20th century, there have been no less than four drafts of a Community Patent Convention. None of those drafts ended up at a diplomatic conference.

schestowitz

One major problem was the closed character of this possible agreement as it was reserved for European Community EC member states. European countries which played an important role in patents, due to the fact they had a substantive examination system (e.g. SE, AT), were at the time not member of the EC.

schestowitz

Other reasons were language requirements (an official document of the EC/EU should in principle be available in all official languages of the member states), the fear of forum shopping to name the most preeminent. The UK, although at the time a young member state, was also not keen on this idea and had a quite obstructive attitude.

schestowitz

It is the pressure of the PCT signed in 1970 which created the fear of some EC/EU member states of being flooded by unexamined patents which pushed the European countries to have a new look at the situation. At the time, the PCT mainly consisted of Chapter 1.

schestowitz

The solution of the problem was, according to my information, proposed by Mr. Kurt Haertel, at the time head of the German Patent Office.

schestowitz

The proposal was to create two conventions, one which was open to non-EC/EU member states which would lead to the grant of a European patent which was equivalent to a national patent. The second convention was meant to deal with the rights of such an EP within the EC/EU.

schestowitz

All those efforts have been successful and ended in 1973 with signing of the EPC and the EPO opened its doors on 01.01.1978.

schestowitz

Another reason why a breakthrough was achieved with the EPC/EPO was the limitation of the official language of this to be created EPO to three: GB, DE and FR.

schestowitz

If you look at the “travaux préparatoires” you will find a lot of documents with reference to these various drafts within the EC and the meetings which took place in Luxembourg under the aegis of the EC.

schestowitz

You know now why the passage between the Pschorr-Höfe buildings is named Kurt Haertel Passage.

schestowitz

There has been a diplomatic conference in 1975 in Luxembourg about the community patent. This was again a closed convention. The community patent was a patent granted by the EPO and which would have been common to all EC/EU member states. The Luxembourg conference led to no tangible result and the project of a common patent was dead for many years. The reasons were still the languages and the fear of forum shopping.

schestowitz

It took up to 2012 and 2013 to come back with the idea of a patent valid for all some EU member states in the form of two EU Regulations, on the translations and on the enhanced cooperation, as well as the UPCA.

schestowitz

It seems thus not thinkable to return to the situation before the creation of the EPC as the EPC has now much more member states as the 27 EU member states. Politically the idea is dead-borne.

schestowitz

critical examiner

schestowitz

NOVEMBER 9, 2022 AT 5:42 PM

schestowitz

It’s very disappointing to see that the present president is not al all better than the previous one. The two choices made by the AC one after another point to a structural problem of the EPO. I dream of a day when all the international organisations will be subjected to the principle of “three strikes, you’re out!” but that will never happen. That would mean that if an organisation loses three lawsuits, then the signatories of the illegal

schestowitz

decision are fired. That would suppose also that the ILOAT decision should be extremely fast and wouldn’t mean anything to the president if (s)he’s in the final year but at least it would clean up the HR and the lawyers who signed, which would be no mean thing. Something must be done against serial abusers of the law.

schestowitz

Concerned observer

schestowitz

NOVEMBER 10, 2022 AT 12:39 PM

schestowitz

“Something must be done against serial abusers of the law”. I could not agree more. However, the foxes are in charge of the hen house. The AC delegations, and likely their political masters, have decided to turn a blind eye to all of this. Ditto for the Dutch Supreme Court and the ECtHR.

schestowitz

Sadly, for an international organisation, the EPO is not alone in “going rogue”. Indeed, its breaches of the rule of law are arguably not as troubling as breaches by other international organisations (such as WIPO, under the leadership of Francis Gurry, who, amongst other things, was accused of breaking United Nations Security Council sanctions by sending IT equipment to North Korea and Iran; see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_Gurry).

-TechBytesBot/#techbytes-en.wikipedia.org | Francis Gurry - Wikipedia

schestowitz

We can therefore conclude that there are strong ground for limiting the immunities granted to international organisations, so that there is at least one reliable route (namely legal action before a national court) that can be used to address the most egregious breaches of the rule of law. However, unless and until that happens, or a national supreme court is prepared to interpret immunities as being so limited, the only hope is that the politicians

schestowitz

in charge of all of this suddenly find a conscience and grow a backbone. Forgive me, but I will not hold my breath waiting for this to happen!

schestowitz

Max Drei

schestowitz

NOVEMBER 10, 2022 AT 10:18 AM

schestowitz

Something must be done, I read. But the human rights of staff at the EPO do not impinge on the consciousness of elected politicians, their voters and their acolytes on the EPO’s AC nearly as much as the human rights of those unfortunate millions of people currently being abused by a whole host of nation States, all around the world.

schestowitz

In the order of priorities for elected politicians worried about getting re-elected, what’s happening at the EPO is so far down the list of concerns as to be invisible. Their time is precious. They are devoting it to other things, and will continue to do so. Nothing is going to be done about it, any time soon.

schestowitz

Besides, ever-increasing divident pay-outs from the EPO increasingly encourage the Member States not to rock the AC boat.

schestowitz

Besides, if the UPC is a roaring success, quality maintenance at the EPO can be dismissed as mattering less than it did.

schestowitz

One-Winged Bird

schestowitz

NOVEMBER 12, 2022 AT 2:43 PM

schestowitz

The main flaw in the system of legal protection for EPO staff can be summed up in a single phrase: “lack of injunctive relief”.

schestowitz

A legal system purporting to protect the rights of its stakeholders which operates without the possibility for injunctive relief is inherently defective.

schestowitz

It’s like a bird trying to fly on one wing.

schestowitz

Thus we end up with situations like the one currently under discussion.

schestowitz

The EPO management can enact measures which breach the fundamental rights of staff.

schestowitz

These will remian in force for years while the files gather dust in Geneva.

schestowitz

Finally – almost a decade later – the breach of fundamental rights will be detected and the impugned measure set aside.

schestowitz

By that time most of those directly involved will either be retired or have moved on to new positions (such as the former head of the German delegation who is now the EPO’s VP5).

schestowitz

Truly an absurd and Kafkaesque situation.

schestowitz

But as Max Drei has noted, a situation which is unlikely to change.

schestowitz

Where there is no will, there is usually no way …

schestowitz

One-Winged Bird

schestowitz

NOVEMBER 12, 2022 AT 2:54 PM

schestowitz

What most commentators appeared to have missed is that a legal protection deficit similar to that afflicting EPO staff is likely to cast a shadow over the UPC.

schestowitz

The EPC at least anchors a right of access to the ILOAT in its text.

schestowitz

However, in the case of the UPC agreement I have been unable to find any provisions governing the matter of employment disputes.

schestowitz

Before anyone barks about EU law, I would caution about placing any reliance on that.

schestowitz

The UPC is not an EU institution.

schestowitz

It is an international court established by an agreement amongst a group of EU states.

schestowitz

There is no reason to assume that EU law applies to employment relationships in such an institution.

schestowitz

I also cannot find any UPC document resembling the EPO’s Staff Regulations so it’s not clear what mechanisms – if any – exist for the resolution of staff grievances.

schestowitz

But why worry about such minor niggling details as the rights of employees when you’re busy trying to set up a supranational gravy-train for judges, lawyers and their corporate lobbyist buddies … 😉

schestowitz

Comments are closed.

schestowitz

schestowitz

<li>

schestowitz

<h5><a href="https://blog.powerdns.com/2022/11/11/fosdem-2023-dns-developer-room-call-for-participation/">FOSDEM 2023 DNS Developer Room Call for Participation</a></h5>

-TechBytesBot/#techbytes-blog.powerdns.com | FOSDEM 2023 DNS Developer Room Call for Participation | PowerDNS Blog

schestowitz

schestowitz

<p>After three earlier successful and packed DNS devrooms at FOSDEM 2018, 2019, and 2020, we are happy to announce a half-day DNS devroom at FOSDEM 2023.</p>

schestowitz

<p>As with the previous events, we hope to host talks anywhere from hardcore protocol stuff, to practical sessions for programmers that are not directly involved with DNS but may have to deal with DNS in their day to day coding or system administrators responsible for DNS infrastructure.</p>

schestowitz

</blockquote>

schestowitz

</li>

schestowitz

<li>

schestowitz

<h5><a href="https://diziet.dreamwidth.org/13476.html">Stop writing Rust linked list libraries!</a></h5>

-TechBytesBot/#techbytes-diziet.dreamwidth.org | diziet | Stop writing Rust linked list libraries!

schestowitz

schestowitz

<p>Don’t write a Rust linked list library: they are hard to do well, and usually useless.</p>

schestowitz

<p>Use VecDeque, which is great. If you actually need more than VecDeque can do, use one of the handful of libraries that actually offer a significantly more useful API.</p>

schestowitz

<p>If you are writing your own data structure, check if someone has done it already, and consider slotmap or generation_arena, (or maybe Rc/Arc).</p>

schestowitz

</blockquote>

schestowitz

</li>

schestowitz

<li>

schestowitz

<h5><a href="https://www.schneier.com/books/a-hackers-mind/">A Hacker’s Mind: How the Powerful Bend Society’s Rules, and How to Bend them Back</a></h5>

-TechBytesBot/#techbytes-Schneier on Security: : A Hacker’s Mind

schestowitz

schestowitz

<p>In A Hacker’s Mind, Bruce Schneier takes hacking out of the world of computing and uses it to analyze the systems that underpin our society: from tax laws to financial markets to politics. He reveals an array of powerful actors whose hacks bend our economic, political, and legal systems to their advantage, at the expense of everyone else.</p>

schestowitz

</blockquote>

schestowitz

</li>

x https://briancallahan.net/blog/20221113.html

schestowitz

Nov 14 06:14

-TechBytesBot/#techbytes-briancallahan.net | Brian Robert Callahan

Nov 14 06:14

schestowitz

<li>

schestowitz

<h5><a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2022/11/13/dan-odowd-challenges-tesla-musk/">The tech CEO spending millions to stop Elon Musk</a></h5>

schestowitz

schestowitz

<p>O’Dowd, who made his fortune selling software to military customers, has been using the Model 3 to test and film the self-driving software. He’s documented what appear to be examples of the car swerving across the centerline toward oncoming traffic, failing to slow down in a school zone and missing stop signs. This summer, he triggered an uproar by releasing a video showing his Tesla — allegedly in

schestowitz

Full Self-Driving mode — mowing down child-size mannequins.</p>

schestowitz

<p>“If Tesla gets away with this and ships this product and I can’t convince the public that a self-driving car that drives like a drunken, suicidal 13-year-old shouldn’t be on the road, I’m going to fail,” O’Dowd said in an interview from his Santa Barbara office, where glass cases display his collection of ancient coins and auction-bought mementos from NASA moon missions.</p>

schestowitz

</blockquote>

schestowitz

</li>

-TechBytesBot/#techbytes-www.washingtonpost.com | Dan O'Dowd is the rich tech CEO spending millions to stop Elon Musk - The Washington Post

*liberty_box has quit (Ping timeout: 2m30s)

Nov 14 06:34

*rianne_ has quit (Ping timeout: 2m30s)

Nov 14 06:35

*rianne_ has quit (Ping timeout: 120 seconds)

*rianne_ (~rianne@ubimf8izmv24i.irc) has joined #techbytes

*rianne_ (~rianne@freenode-r9p.jp8.7132oi.IP) has joined #techbytes

*liberty_box (~liberty@ubimf8izmv24i.irc) has joined #techbytes

*psydruid (~psydruid@jevhxkzmtrbww.irc) has left #techbytes

Nov 14 07:22

*psydruid (~psydruid@jevhxkzmtrbww.irc) has joined #techbytes

Nov 14 07:24

schestowitz

zoobab "NO Software Patents" (@zoobab): "Nokia, Orange, Airbus comme ***juge*** de la future Cour des Brevets, est-ce normal? C'est ce qui se passe quand la capture de la justice par les lobbys des grandes entreprises et du microcosme des brevets http://techrights.org/2022/11/06/malicious-lobby-for-moles-as-judges/"|nitter.it

schestowitz

schestowitz

-TechBytesBot/#techbytes-zoobab "NO Software Patents" (@zoobab): "Nokia, Orange, Airbus comme ***juge*** de la future Cour des Brevets, est-ce normal? C'est ce qui se passe quand la capture de la justice par les lobbys des grandes entreprises et du microcosme des brevets http://techrights.org/2022/11/06/malicious-lobby-for-moles-as-judges/"|nitter.it

https://twitter.com/lovelycave/status/1590454658006323200

schestowitz

-TechBytesBot/#techbytes-@lovelycave: @schestowitz @Snowden Any idea why they keep voting Putin?It's because he has almost destroyed the income gaps in R… https://t.co/bFMLopOWHv

"https://twitter.com/lovelycave/status/1590454658006323200"

schestowitz

schestowitz

"Any idea why they keep voting Putin?It's because he has almost destroyed the income gaps in Russia, he has chased the oligarchs out and pukes on corrupt politicians. And life in Russia is royal: https://youtu.be/9CEv9VZvuTY https://youtu.be/SnHrdDxq9j0"

-TechBytesBot/#techbytes-@Invidious: https://inv.riverside.rocks/watch?v=9CEv9VZvuTY

-TechBytesBot/#techbytes--> inv.riverside.rocks | Massive Indoor Market, Voronezh - Invidious

-TechBytesBot/#techbytes-@Invidious: https://yewtu.be/watch?v=SnHrdDxq9j0

-TechBytesBot/#techbytes--> yewtu.be | Russian Supermarket After 9 Months of Sanctions - Invidious

*psydruid (~psydruid@jevhxkzmtrbww.irc) has left #techbytes

Nov 14 11:40

*psydruid (~psydruid@jevhxkzmtrbww.irc) has joined #techbytes

Nov 14 11:43

schestowitz

> > I read and searched in the decision, I could not find it.

schestowitz

> >

schestowitz

> > I think it was in our complaint, will recheck what we filed.

schestowitz

schestowitz

> IIRC, the complaint in 2017 made the point that if tenure is contingent

schestowitz

> upon appeasing some patent maximalists (like BOAC at EPO), e.g. every 5

schestowitz

> years, then judges are incentivised to rule "for career safety" instead

schestowitz

> of "for justice".> Rereading the comment it might be another decion of the GFCC.

*scientes23 (~c62ebe51@54n9xgft8g6u2.irc) has joined #techbytes

schestowitz

> > I read and searched in the decision, I could not find it.

schestowitz

> >

schestowitz

> > I think it was in our complaint, will recheck what we filed.

schestowitz

schestowitz

> IIRC, the complaint in 2017 made the point that if tenure is contingent

schestowitz

> upon appeasing some patent maximalists (like BOAC at EPO), e.g. every 5

schestowitz

> years, then judges are incentivised to rule "for career safety" instead

schestowitz

> of "for justice".> Rereading the comment it might be another decion of the GFCC.

schestowitz

--------------------------

schestowitz

upsto

schestowitz

> There might be a big breakthrough coming.

schestowitz

schestowitz

> I've just been in touch with Russell, the man who runs the Corporate

schestowitz

> Crime Reporter https://www.corporatecrimereporter.com/subscribe/

-TechBytesBot/#techbytes-www.corporatecrimereporter.com | About/Subscribe

> <https://www.corporatecrimereporter.com/subscribe/>.

schestowitz

schestowitz

schestowitz

> He's very interested in my fight with the USPTO.

schestowitz

schestowitz

> He's a friend of Ralph Nader. You might know him for his political

schestowitz

> campaign, but he has been very famous in the US for about 60 years for

schestowitz

> advocating for personal rights, safety and health issues, etc.

schestowitz

schestowitz

> Anyway, Ralph doesn't like computers - he does everything by typewriter

schestowitz

> and paper - so the matter of Kappos charging $200 for people using paper

schestowitz

> at the USPTO is perfect for Ralph.

schestowitz

schestowitz

> Russell told me that he and Ralph have started a new publication that

schestowitz

> they send to every member of Congress, and he told me that he would

schestowitz

> write up my story and include it in the January edition.

schestowitz

schestowitz

> Also, I dug up the USPTO Today magazine that boasted about their new

schestowitz

> headquarters. Look at how amazingly fast and efficient everything was

schestowitz

> supposed to be.

schestowitz

schestowitz

> What I always remember, though, is that it is in a place called Old Town

schestowitz

> Alexandria, which is an expensive area where no government office should

schestowitz

> be located.

schestowitz

It's good news that your grievances may get more attention.

schestowitz

I'm a longtime follower of Nader. He's mentioned like 1000 times in Techrights. He rarely talks about patents.

schestowitz

> I've been a Nader fan for decades - from the very beginning - and used

schestowitz

> to listen to his podcasts every week, and he talks a lot about his

schestowitz

> advocacy for paper and the postal system, and I actually tried to

schestowitz

> contact him many times in every way possible, and never got through. A

schestowitz

> year or so ago, I got so angry that I stopped listening to his podcast.

schestowitz

schestowitz

> It was just serendipity that I got in touch with Russell Mokhiber. I

schestowitz

> found a link on another website.

schestowitz

schestowitz

> Of course, I focused on the paper issue - that's Ralph's issue - but I

schestowitz

> did, also, get into the DOCX nonsense. I wrote this (a few typos and

schestowitz

> wording errors/omissions):

schestowitz

schestowitz

> /It has gotten worse, with the USPTO now trying to force every

schestowitz

> patent application filer to use a proprietary Microsoft program

schestowitz

> called DOCX, and their plan it to introduce and "incentive" penalty

schestowitz

> for people who use pdfs./

schestowitz

schestowitz

> /

schestowitz

> /

schestowitz

schestowitz

> /Paper - ubiquitous in some form for millennia - not allowed at the

schestowitz

> USPTO. Pdfs - ubiquitous since the earliest days of the computer age

schestowitz

> - soon to not be allowed at the USPTO./

schestowitz

> /

schestowitz

> /

schestowitz

> /Only thing allowed: DOCX, a Microsoft product. The largest and

schestowitz

> most important - I suppose, still - requiring patent application

schestowitz

> filers all around the world to use Microsoft, thanks to David

schestowitz

> Kappos. And, it all started with his punishment of people who use

schestowitz

> paper and the US Postal Service. Maybe because they have to, and

schestowitz

> can't use the internet, of course./

schestowitz

schestowitz

schestowitz

> Have to wait and see what happens.

schestowitz

--------------------------

schestowitz

> They sent me a copy of the pilot edition of the Capitol Hill Citizen,

schestowitz

> which is a bit bigger than a tabloid, 40 pages long, and full of

schestowitz

> excellent content, as would be expected from Ralph Nader, and they "hand

schestowitz

> delivered a print copy to 700 offices in Congress."

> https://www.capitolhillcitizen.com/ <https://www.capitolhillcitizen.com/>

schestowitz

-TechBytesBot/#techbytes-www.capitolhillcitizen.com | Homepage - Capitol Hill Citizen

schestowitz

schestowitz

> Not every one of them will be read, or even looked through, most likely.

schestowitz

schestowitz

> They told me that I'll be in the January issue, which will be the first

schestowitz

> issue, so, if a lot of people are anxious to get the first issue and

schestowitz

> read it, people will learn about the Patent Office.

schestowitz

schestowitz

> Doesn't mean anybody will care enough to want to try to do anything

schestowitz

> about the Patent Office, or even bother to try to contact me,

schestowitz

> assuming they put my name in the article.

schestowitz

schestowitz

> But, it will be a good thing if it happens.

schestowitz

> I thought they would only be mailing it in the US, but I just took

schestowitz

> another look at that webpage, and there's a drop down menu, so they'll

schestowitz

> send it around the world. For some reason I think you're in the UK,

schestowitz

> but, wherever you are, they'll send it to you.

schestowitz

> State / Province / Region

schestowitz

That's very good news!