Kernel Space

• Linux Plumbers Conference (LPC) ☛ Linux Plumbers Conference: Linux Plumbers Conference General Registration Reopened

  Now that the MC selection process is finished, we’ve recovered enough passes to reopen general registration.

Applications

• Linux Links ☛ 13 Best Free and Open Source Load Balancers

  Load balancing is defined as the methodical and efficient distribution of network or application traffic across multiple servers. Here's our verdict on the best ones for Linux.

Desktop Environments/WMs

• K Desktop Environment/KDE SC/Qt

  • Scarlett Gately Moore: KDE: KDE Neon updates! Qt6 transition moving along.

    With user edition out the door last week, this week was spent stabilizing unstable!

    Spent some time sorting out our Calamares installer being quite grumpy which is now fixed by reverting an upstream change. Unstable and developer ISO rebuilt and installable. Spent some time sorting out some issues with using an unreleased appstream ( thanks ximion for help with packagekit! ) KDE applications are starting to switch to Qt6 in master this week, the big one being KDE PIM! This entails an enormous amount of work re-packaging. I have made a dent, sorta. To be continued next week. I fixed our signond / kaccounts line for qt6 which entailed some work on upstream code that uses QStringList.toSet which was removed in Qt6! Always learning new things!

  • Meetup group related with technology in San Miguel De La Palma: next steps

    San Miguel De La Palma is my home island. Most people simply refer to it as La Palma. Located in the Canary Islands, this has always been the place for me to recharge, for sharing time with friends and family. My friends there have lives different from mine.

• GNOME Desktop/GTK

  • Jose Hunter: Outreachy Recap 2023 -

    The End

    Hello! I didn't blog nearly as often as I should have, but I'm here now to give a comprehensive report of the work I managed to get done this summer! This has been such a rewarding experience, and I do not intend for this to be the end of my GNOME Contributions. I hope you all see more of me in the FOSS world.

    Mentors

    Special thanks to Sonny Piers and Andy Holmes for everything. I wasn't the perfect intern, but I couldn't have asked for better mentors. I'm so thankful to know such cool people

Licensing / Legal

• Linux Magazine ☛ Software Copyright Evolution

  From no licenses to too many, software copyright finally made its way to including today's free software designation.

Programming/Development

• Ruben Schade ☛ Premature web form validation

  They’re right, it’s invalid. Because I haven’t finished typing it!

  I suspect there’s a breed of web devs who feed a bunch of malformed and valid email addresses through forms they write, check they passes their unit tests, then go grab a coffee. I don’t blame them for the latter; I’m drinking one right now.

• Qt ☛ Study reveals: factory connectivity rises, tech priorities vary in Industrial Automation

  Industrial Automation manufacturers are divided on technology investments that will deliver competitive advantages. Even as technological evolution surges forward, the sector grapples with macroeconomic challenges.

• Qt ☛ Qt Journey– Revolutionizing networking security

  In this series, we'll bring you various career stories from people working with Qt.

• Dirk Eddelbuettel ☛ Dirk Eddelbuettel: RcppInt64 0.0.3 on CRAN: Now with nanotime Support

  (announced two weeks ago in this post, with this followup last week) arrived on CRAN earlier today in its second update and relase 0.0.3. RcppInt64

  This release adds support for the corresponding nanotime conversion between R and C++. nanotime is leveraging the same bit64-based reprensentation of 64-bit integers for nanosecond resolution timestamps.

• Python

  • Tom's Hardware ☛ How To Use Lists in Python

    Learn how to work with lists in Python by creating a real world project which has them at its heart.

Science

• Science Alert ☛ Dark Photons Could Explain One of The Universe's Greatest Mysteries

  A new particle?

• Science Alert ☛ Fossils Preserve The Original Color Patterns of Insects, Scientists Find

  Coloring an ancient world.

Hardware

• Dan Langille ☛ Why didn’t I choose the bigger CPUs?

  I have four Dell R730 servers in the basement: r730-01 – main development server R730-02 – unused r730-03 – main storage server R730-04 – unused So what’s on each one? If you look at each of the links, you’ll find this information on CPU and RAM.

• Dan Langille ☛ r730-01

  For reference, the previous post on this server is still available. Today I noticed this post is out of date. I like to keep this information around for each host, just in case it’s needed during a rescue mission. This is my primary developer server in my basement.

• CNX Software ☛ Qualcomm 10G Fiber Gateway Platform supports Wi-Fi 7 and “Service Defined Wi-Fi technology”

  Qualcomm 10G Fiber Gateway Platform combines 10G Passive Optical Network (PON) technology with Wi-Fi 7 connectivity to deliver 10 Gbps Internet speed to the home. The platform also supports “Service Defined Wi-Fi technology” to enable cloud-to-device quality of service.

• CNX Software ☛ Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K Max (2023) features a 2 GHz MediaTek MT8696T CPU, support WiFi 6E

  Amazon has recently introduced its second-generation Fire TV Stick 4K and Fire TV Stick 4K Max 2023 powered by MediaTek MT8696D and MT8696T Arm Cortex-A55 processors respectively and going for $49.99 and $59.99 on Amazon.

• CNX Software ☛ AMD Kria K24 Zynq Ultrascale+ system-on-module targets motor control and DSP applications

  The AMD Kria K24 System-on-Module (SOM) with a custom-built Zynq UltraScale+ MPSoC and the KD240 Drives Starter Kit are designed for the development of cost-sensitive industrial and commercial edge applications.

• CNX Software ☛ PICO-EHL4-SEMI fanless mini PC is made for PoS and kiosk applications

  AAEON PICO-EHL4-SEMI is a fanless Elkhart Lake mini PC designed for digital signage, smart retail (PoS and Kiosk), and industrial automation, and available with either the 10W quad-core Intel Celeron J6412 or the dual-core 6.5W Intel Celeron N6210. The mini supports up to 16GB LPDDR4X memory, 32 to 128GB eMMC flash, optional mSATA storage, and comes with a 4K capable HDMI 2.0b video output port, two Gigabit Ethernet ports, two USB 3.2 Gen 2 ports, and two optional COM ports providing RS232/RS422/RS485 connectivity.

• Tom's Hardware ☛ Microsoft Surface Chief Panos Panay Left Over Budget and Product Cuts: Report

  Panos Panay was known by some as a "diva" with an extreme attention to detail.

Health/Nutrition/Agriculture

• New York Times ☛ In Hospitals, Viruses Are Everywhere. Masks Are Not.

  Amid an uptick in Covid infections, administrators, staff and patients are divided over the need for masks in health care settings.

• The Straits Times ☛ US ambassador to Japan criticises China in speech and social media post

  Rahm Emanuel, the U.S. ambassador to Japan, took fresh aim at China on Friday over coercing its neighbours, posted pictures of Chinese boats he said were fishing near Japan despite a seafood ban and noted China's defence minister was still missing.

• Reason ☛ Court Refuses to Dismiss Lawsuit Stemming from Parent's Speech About COVID Policies

  The parent's comments at a school board meeting led to a "no trespass notice" that blocked him from school district premises (apparently including his children's school).

Proprietary/Artificial Intelligence (AI)

• Tom's Hardware ☛ Windows and Surface Boss Panos Panay Leaving Microsoft, Reportedly Joining Amazon

  Panos Panay, the longtime leader of Microsoft's Surface hardware and the more recent chief of the Windows operating system announced that he is leaving the company.

Security

• Privacy/Surveillance

  • Internet Society ☛ Techxit: The UK Declares Its Exit from the High-Tech Startup World

    No one in their right mind would now want to start up a high-tech company in the UK. With a last-minute addition to the Online Safety Bill (OSB), the UK government made it clear that startups are no longer welcome in the UK.

  • Bruce Schneier ☛ New Revelations from the Snowden Documents

    Jake Appelbaum’s PhD thesis contains several new revelations from the classified NSA documents provided to journalists by Edward Snowden. Nothing major, but a few more tidbits.

    Kind of amazing that that all happened ten years ago. At this point, those documents are more historical than anything else.

    And it’s unclear who has those archives anymore. According to Appelbaum, The Intercept destroyed their copy.

Defence/Aggression

• RFERL ☛ U.S. Senator Leads Delegation To Armenian-Azerbaijan Border, Calls For International Monitors In Karabakh

  U.S. Democratic Senator Gary Peters, who is leading a congressional delegation to the Armenia-Azerbaijan border, called on September 23 for international monitors to be sent to observe conditions in Nagorno-Karabakh, which has been captured by Baku after a lightning military strike.

• The Straits Times ☛ U.S. Senator Peters expresses concern about Nagorno-Karabakh situation

  A U.S. senator, leading a congressional delegation to the Armenia-Azerbaijan border on Saturday, said international observers were needed to monitor the situation in Nagorno-Karabakh, adding that people were \"very fearful\" about what was happening there.

• France24 ☛ ‘There is no way out’: Nagorno-Karabakh residents fear new outbreak of war

  Residents of Nagorno-Karabakh – disputed by Armenia and Azerbaijan – took shelter in basements on September 19 as the Azerbaijani defence ministry launched a military operation, demanding the total withdrawal of Armenian forces from the region. Fears of a fresh war have been building recently, as Armenia has accused Azerbaijan of amassing troops and blockading the country’s only corridor into the breakaway region. A resident of Stepanakert, the capital of Nagorno-Karabakh, told us more.

• JURIST ☛ Azerbaijan launches military operation in Nagorno-Karabakh, prompting humanitarian concerns

  Azerbaijan launched a military operation in the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh on Tuesday, prompting humanitarian concerns from international observers, including the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).

• France24 ☛ Iran uses arrests and intimidation to stop families commemorating protesters' deaths

  Since September 16, Iranian authorities have been using arrests, death threats and direct attacks to prevent families from celebrating the anniversaries of the deaths of their loved ones killed during the "Woman, Life, Freedom" protests. The aim: to prevent these commemorations from giving rise to new anti-regime demonstrations throughout the country.

• The Strategist ☛ Influencing the Indo-Pacific through northern Australia’s communities

  For many observers, Australia’s diplomatic approach in the Indo-Pacific could be characterised as erratic, inconsistent and paternalistic. We run hot and cold.

• RFERL ☛ Russia Adds President Of ICC To Wanted List

  The Russian Interior Ministry added the president of the International Criminal Court (ICC), Piotr Hofmanski, to its wanted list for unspecified reasons on September 25.

• RFERL ☛ Russia Calls Pashinian's Criticism Of Moscow Over Situation In Nagorno-Karabakh 'Unacceptable'

  Russia’s Foreign Ministry on September 25 slammed remarks by Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian that were critical of Moscow, saying they "include unacceptable outbursts addressed against Russia and can spark nothing but rejection."

• France24 ☛ Russia woos Haftar, but can the Derna floods give Libyans another chance?

  Moscow seized the disaster diplomacy initiative after the deadly Derna floods, with Russian Deputy Defence Minister Yunus-bek Yevkurov arriving in eastern Libya with a promise of aid. Russia is helping Libyan strongman Khalifa Haftar while seeking geostrategic payback. But the Derna tragedy has also drawn the US back into Libya, and that could be a game-changer.

• RFERL ☛ Russian Theater Director Found Dead In Leningrad Region

  The director of the Tovstonogov Bolshoi Drama Theater in Russia's second-largest city, St. Petersburg, has been found dead in a suburb, local media reports said.

• Russia, Belarus, and War in Ukraine

  • Federal News Network ☛ Ukraine targets key Crimean city a day after striking Russia’s Black Sea Fleet headquarters

    Russia says Ukraine has launched another missile attack on Sevastopol in occupied Crimea, a day after an attack on the headquarters of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet left a serviceman missing and the main building smoldering. The regional governor says Sevastopol was put on air raid alert for about an hour early Saturday after debris from intercepted missiles fell near a pier. Ferry traffic in the area was also halted and later resumed. Crimea, illegally annexed by Russia in 2014, has been a frequent target for Ukrainian forces. Ukraine’s intelligence chief told Voice of America on Saturday that at least nine people were killed and 16 injured as a result of Kyiv’s attack on the Black Sea Fleet on Friday.

  • The Kent Stater ☛ Ukraine says strike on Russia’s Black Sea Fleet HQ left dozens dead and wounded ‘including senior leadership’

    CNN — Ukraine said Saturday its bold strike on Russia’s Black Sea Fleet headquarters in the Crimean city of Sevastopol had left dozens dead and wounded “including senior leadership.”

  • RFERL ☛ Satellite Imagery Points To Uptick In Activity At Russian Arctic Nuclear Testing Site

    Russia has significantly increased construction at a remote Arctic island location where it conducts nuclear tests, new satellite imagery shows, suggesting Moscow may be intending to resume tests.

  • RFERL ☛ Former Russian Economy Minister Yevgeny Yasin Dies At 89

    A leading ideologue of economic reforms during Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev's reforms in the late 1980s, former Russian Economy Minister Yevgeny Yasin died at the age of 89 in Moscow on September 25.

  • France24 ☛ Russian foreign minister lashes out at the West but barely mentions Ukraine in UN speech

    Russia's top diplomat denounced the United States and the West on Saturday as self-interested defenders of a fading international power structure, but he didn't discuss his country's war in Ukraine in his speech to the U.N. General Assembly.

  • JURIST ☛ Germany says 90 military-age Russian men granted asylum since Ukraine invasion

    The German interior ministry said that 90 Russian men of military age have been granted asylum in the country since Russia’s 2023 invasion of Ukraine, according to a Friday report from the German news outlet RedaktionsNetzwerk Deutschland (RND).

  • RFERL ☛ Russian Foreign Minister Says Ukraine Peace Plan, UN Bid To Revive Grain Deal 'Not Realistic'

    Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on September 23 that Ukraine's proposed peace plan as well as the latest UN proposals to revive the Black Sea grain initiative were both "not realistic."

  • RFERL ☛ About 90 Russian Men Seeking To Avoid Conscription Back Home Granted Asylum In Germany

    About 90 Russian men have been granted asylum in Germany in their bids to avoid military conscription back home, the Interior Ministry in Berlin said on September 23.

  • New York Times ☛ Ukraine Attacks Moscow’s Black Sea Fleet in Crimea, Russia Says

    Russian-installed authorities in the occupied peninsula said debris from a downed rocket fell in the Sevastopol bay, where Moscow’s Black Sea Fleet is based.

  • Spiegel ☛ Ukraine: How Merkel Prevented Ukraine's NATO Membership (A DER SPIEGEL Reconstruction)

    In April 2008, NATO deliberated on admitting Ukraine as a new member as a show of strength against Vladimir Putin. Washington favored the move, but the Germans thwarted the plan. A reconstruction of a decision that ended in disaster.

  • JURIST ☛ Norway arrests ex-Wagner commander under suspicion of illegally crossing Russia border

    Norwegian police arrested former commander of the Wagner Group, Andrey Medvedev, on Friday under suspicion of attempting to illegally cross the border into Russia, according to local Norwegian news site the Barents Observer. Earlier this year, Medvedev sought asylum in Norway.

  • AntiWar ☛ NATO Keeps Saying Things NATO Doesn’t Let You Say

    There are two things that go off script and are not allowed to be said. Every official statement or mainstream media article that mentions the war in Ukraine must call it an unprovoked war.

  • The Kent Stater ☛ Ukraine claims Russian Black Sea Fleet’s commander killed in Sevastopol attack

    CNN– Ukraine has claimed that the commander of Russia’s Black Sea Feet, Admiral Viktor Sokolov, has been killed in the Ukrainian attack in Sevastopol on Friday.

  • NYPost ☛ If we stop funding Ukraine, Fetterman’s press protectors and other commentary

    “Congress should swiftly approve additional military and economic aid to Ukraine at a critical time when the country is on the offensive,” warns Daniel F. Runde at Newsweek.

  • France24 ☛ 🔴 Live: Russia says it is repelling attacks over Crimea, Belgorod regions

    The Russian-installed head of Sevastopol in Russian-annexed Crimea on Monday said air defence forces were fending off an aerial attack over the peninsula. Russian air defences also saw action in the region of Belgorod bordering Ukraine, over which seven Ukrainian drones were destroyed, the Russian defence ministry wrote on Telegram. Follow our live blog for the latest developments on the war in Ukraine. All times are Paris time (GMT+2).

  • LRT ☛ Baltic, Nordic countries condemn Russia at UNHRC

    At the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC), the Baltic and Nordic countries have condemned Russia’s human rights violations in Ukraine, the Lithuanian Foreign Ministry said on Monday.

  • LRT ☛ As West fumbles, support for Ukraine will dry up – interview

    Both the Kremlin elites and the Russian society see their country as an empire. The only way this can be changed is by taking the same measures as against Nazi Germany and Japan after the Second World War, says Keir Giles, senior consultant fellow at the influential Chatham House think tank.

  • RFERL ☛ Russian Black Sea Fleet Commander Killed In Sevastopol Attack, Kyiv Says

    Ukraine's military on September 25 said the commander of Russia's Black Sea Fleet was killed along with 33 other naval officers in Ukraine's September 22 attack on the fleet headquarters in Russian-annexed Crimea city of Sevastopol.

  • RFERL ☛ Ukraine Hails Arrival Of First U.S. Abrams Tanks As Occupation Officials Claim Missile Attack On Sevastopol Repelled

    Ukraine received its first shipment of U.S.-made Abrams tanks that it says will strengthen its counteroffensive against Russian troops in the east after Moscow continued to attack port facilities in the southern city of Odesa destroying key grain storage facilities.

  • YLE ☛ Estonian PM, French FM to visit Finland this week

    Estonian PM Kaja Kallas and her Finnish counterpart Petteri Orpo will discuss topics such as border safety, the security situation in the Baltic Sea region and support for Ukraine.

  • RFERL ☛ Polish President Promises Ukraine Help With Grain Transit Amid Dispute

    Poland remains ready to help export grain from Ukraine to global markets outside of Europe despite an ongoing dispute over access to the Polish market, President Andrzej Duda said.

  • Latvia ☛ State Security Service reportedly revisits microchips-to-Russia investigation

    The State Security Service (VDD) has started an additional investigation into the possibility that Latvian companies could have been supplying Russian military factories with microchips, reported the LETA newswire September 25.

  • Latvia ☛ Latvia-based Russian journalist says her phone was hacked

    British newspaper The Guardian reported September 25 on an alleged hacking incident involving a Latvia-based independent Russian journalist.

  • Latvia ☛ Latvian army loses drone above Latvian-Russian border

    The National Armed Forces (NBS), lost contact with a drone on Saturday, September 23, that may have landed on Russian soil. The incident took place during military exercises Namejs 2023, the Ministry of Defense (AM) said Sunday.

  • RFERL ☛ Crowd Gathers To Demand Reopening Of Russian Orthodox Church In Bulgaria

    A crowd of supporters gathered on September 24 to demand the reopening of a Russian Orthodox church in the Bulgarian capital, Sofia, after the government expelled the head of the church and other officials for carrying out “activities directed against” the country's national security and interests.

  • teleSUR ☛ Russia Accuses Kosovo of Promoting Ethnic Cleansing of Serbs

    "Yesterday's bloodshed is a direct result of the course taken by the so-called PM Kurti to stoke the conflict and purge the territory of Serbs," Russian diplomat Zahkarova said.

  • teleSUR ☛ Negotiations to Take Place on the Battlefield: Lavrov

    "We will not entertain ceasefire proposals because we have done so before and were deceived," the Russian FM stated.

  • YLE ☛ Finnish FM Valtonen discusses Russia's future, Sweden's Nato bid in Washington Post interview

    Finland's foreign minister sat down for an interview with the Washington Post during her visit to New York City for the UN General Assembly last week.

  • RFERL ☛ Belarusian Freelance Journalist, Wife Handed Prison Terms On Extremism Charges

    A court in the city of Vitsebsk in Belarus's northeast has sentenced freelance video-journalist Vyachaslau Lazarau and his wife, Tatsyana Pytsko, to five years and three years in prison, respectively, on extremism charges.

  • Latvia ☛ Latvian-Belarusian border fence builders accused of nonpayment

    The owners of guesthouses in the border area of Belarus say they have been waiting at least half a year for payment from the builders of the fence of the eastern border of Latvia. The promised wages for winter work in swampy areas have also allegedly not been received by workers. The general contractor, Citrus Solutions, says subcontractors have not been left in debt, Latvian Television reported September 23.

  • The Strategist ☛ The axis of outcasts

    Russian President Vladimir Putin had obvious reasons for hosting North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un at Vostochny, Russia’s new spaceport in eastern Siberia, this month. Owing to his illegal war of aggression in Ukraine, Putin is ...

Environment

• Wildlife/Nature

  • RFERL ☛ Russian Animal Shelter Where Dozens Of Dead Dogs Found Investigated

    Police in Russia's southwestern Astrakhan region have started a new investigation accusing a shelter of animal cruelty after dozens of mutilated dead dogs were found near and in the facility last year.

AstroTurf/Lobbying/Politics

• Federal News Network ☛ Brazil’s Lula pitches his nation — and himself — as fresh leader for Global South

  “Brazil is back." That has been Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva’s refrain for the better part of the last year, with the newly elected president deploying the snappy slogan to cast Brazil and himself as leaders of the Global South. Last year, Lula thwarted the reelection bid of far-right Jair Bolsonaro, who showed little interest in geopolitics or diplomacy during his four years in office. Lula, by contrast, has crisscrossed the globe and visited 21 countries. He was the first leader to speak at the United Nations this week, and his speech reflected his larger goal — to be a more active participant, and leader, in world affairs.

Censorship/Free Speech

• Off Guardian ☛ How Not to Launch a Global Anti-Censorship Movement

  So, I’ve been excommunicated from Michael Shellenberger’s global anti-censorship movement. It’s my own fault. I was sowing dissension. I engaged in harmful speech in the group chat. I was making people feel uncomfortable. I was not playing ball. I was not with the program.

• ACLU ☛ RICO and Domestic Terrorism Charges Against Cop City Activists Send a Chilling Message

  The 2020 police killing of George Floyd launched the largest protests in U.S. history and a nationwide reckoning with systemic racism and police brutality. Now, Georgia’s Attorney General Chris Carr has shamefully invoked Floyd’s killing and the subsequent uprising in a sweeping criminal indictment of activists protesting a $90 million Atlanta police training center known as “Cop City.” Carr’s actions must be understood as extreme intimidation tactics that we need to resist. They must not set a precedent.

• Reason ☛ Louisiana Town Admits It Was Wrong to Block Flying "Fuck Biden" / "And Fuck You for Voting for Him" Flags

  The Town of Grand Isle just settled Ross Brunet's lawsuit against it, agreeing that 1. Plaintiff was wrongfully cited for engaging in constitutionally protected speech of flying flags with political messages. 2. Defendants … agree to cease interfering with Plaintiff's right to fly flag(s) with the word "F**k" on them. 3.

• Reason ☛ Federal Judge Blocks California Online Age-Checking Law as Unconstitutional

  Shielding children from “harm” shouldn’t come at the expense of speech protected by the First Amendment.

• JURIST ☛ Tunisia police arrest political cartoonist on suspicion of insulting PM

  A prominent political cartoonist in Tunisia announced he was released from custody Friday on his Facebook page. Tunisian authorities arrested Tawfiq Omrane, well-known for publishing satirical drawings of political figures on his Facebook page, on Thursday on suspicion of insulting Prime Minister Ahmed Al-Hasani through his cartoons.

Freedom of Information / Freedom of the Press

• IT Wire ☛ Sixty-three Australian MPs call for end to Assange detention

  Sixty-three members of Australia's parliament have signed a letter, published as an advertisement in the Washington Post on Monday, calling for WikiLeaks founder and publisher Julian Assange to be freed.

• Press Gazette ☛ NCTJ’s fight to save Community News Project after ‘heartbreaking’ Meta decision

  Joanne Forbes writes about working in secret to create the scheme in 2018, and what's next after Meta pulled out.

Civil Rights/Policing

• The Kent Stater ☛ UAW strike extends to Northeast Ohio, Stellantis facility in Streetsboro joins the strike

  UAW President Shawn Fain announced Friday that the strike will be expanding to Northeast Ohio, following the one week strike in three main locations and not reaching an agreement. The Stellantis parts distribution center located in Streetsboro has joined the strike last night with 35 other facilities across different states. TV2’s Michael Neenan was on...

• New York Times ☛ UAW Deal With Ford Could Put Pressure on G.M. and Stellantis

  Talks continued on Saturday with all three companies, a day after the U.A.W. expanded its strike at G.M. and Stellantis.

• Hong Kong Free Press ☛ Hong Kong’s Covid mask mandate enforcement was a ‘violation of freedom to demonstrate,’ activist tells court

  How Hong Kong enforced the Covid-19 mask mandate was a “violation of freedom of speech and freedom to demonstrate,” a pro-democracy activist charged over pulling down his mask for several seconds while protesting, told a court on Monday.

Internet Policy/Net Neutrality

• Internet Society ☛ What’s the Internet Like Today?

  Every day as I get my son ready for daycare, I recite seven words: “Hey Google, what’s the weather like today?” The results from this now-‘ritual’ search dictate what he’ll wear, what type of extra clothes I will pack, and whether we’ll need a jacket for the bike ride.

• Dedoimedo ☛ Google AdSense does not see a certified CMP

  Here's something mildly interesting. A short article highlighting the problem with Google AdSense not seeing a Google-certified Consent Management Platform (CMP) on my website, practical implications, next steps, and more. Have fun.

Digital Restrictions (DRM)

• Right to Repair ☛ Apple's War on Right to Repair Through Serial Numbers

  Apple's latest maneuver in the battle against the Right to Repair movement is nothing short of a declaration of war on consumers and small businesses alike.

  Both Cory Doctorow and iFixit have shed light on an increasingly common and unsettling practice—Parts Pairing. This tactic is not exclusive to Apple; it finds its roots in the auto industry, known there as VIN Burning. The endgame? To ensure that replacement parts, whether new or used, are rendered useless without the original equipment manufacturer's (OEM) "blessing." [...] In layman's terms, Parts Pairing is the technological "handshake" that occurs between a device and its replacement part. This "handshake" requires an authentication or "pairing" process conducted by the OEM. Imagine you've got a puzzle piece that only fits when the puzzle maker says it fits. Annoying, right?

Monopolies

• CCIA ☛ DoJ v. Google – After the First Week of Trial, the DoJ is Still Drawing Blanks

  The first week of the Department of Justice’s (DoJ) high profile trial against Google has come to an end.

• Patents

  • Unified Patents ☛ Fortress entity, Entropic Communications, broadband patent challenged

    On September 11, 2023, Unified Patents filed an ex parte reexamination proceeding against U.S. Patent 7,594,249, owned and asserted by Entropic Communications, an NPE and Fortress IP subsidiary. The '249 patent generally relates to communication between devices in a local area network utilizing coaxial wiring.

  • Kluwer Patent Blog ☛ The relevance of court-appointed examiners on patent cases in Brazil

    Judges deciding patent matters in Brazil usually have none to limited technical background.

  • What Europe Is Doing Right On SEPs

    The European Union (EU) is diving into one of patent policy’s most controversial questions: how should patents on technologies which are essential for wireless connectivity be licensed?

  • Unified Patents ☛ $2,000 awarded for Fortress entity, Entropic Communications, signal patent prior art

    Unified is pleased to announce PATROLL crowdsourcing contest winner, Vibhor Dimri, was awarded $2,000 for his prior art submission on U.S. Patent 11,399,206, owned by Entropic Communications, an NPE and Fortress IP subsidiary.

  • Dennis Crouch/Patently-O ☛ Supreme Court Patent Petitions: Seeking Guidance on Eligibility, Inventorship, and Procedure

    Leading Eligibility Case: In next week’s long conference (Sept 26), the court will consider what I see as the current leading case of CareDx Inc. v. Natera, Inc., No. 22-1066. The case focuses on the question of whether the patent covering a new biologic diagnostic method was properly invalidated as directed to a natural phenomenon.

  • DaemonFC (Ryan Farmer) ☛ Prescription Drug Shortages in the United States.

    Normal vaccines, like the flu shot, don’t need to coerce people to take them. People know they work, serious side effects are really 1 in a million, if that, and they’ve been around for almost 80 years. Before COVID “vaccines” made people skeptical of real ones, you had 50-60% taking their flu shot every year. But even that’s probably down at this point.

    At some point, they may pull an “insulin” and take all the cheap ones off the market and replace them with patents, I mean mRNA flu shots. In the testing, the mRNA flu shots didn’t protect better than the ones we take now, but they did result in COVID shot-like side effects. They got really rough and for no added protection against the flu.

    But this will be patent evergreening. They’ll conspire to take the safe flu shots off the market, the ones that cost $26 cash, and replace them with ones that are like the $180 COVID shots.

• Trademarks

  • TTAB Blog ☛ Precedential No. 27: TTAB Renders Split Decision in Appeal From Section 2(d) Refusal of IMPACT for Various Healthcare Services

    In a dubiously precedential decision, the Board affirmed-in-part and reversed-in-part a refusal to register the mark IMPACT for various healthcare-related services in Classes 35, 44, and 45. The USPTO had refused registration in view of the mark IMPACT in the Stylized form shown below (without color), registered for "Consulting services in the field of patient relationship management for healthcare workers” in Class 35 and “Training in patient-centered, evidence-based community health worker-centered healthcare” in Class 41. In re OSF Healthcare System, 2023 USPQ2d 1089 (TTAB 2023) [precedential] (Opinion by Judge Christopher C. Larkin).

  • TTAB Blog ☛ TTAB Finds AUSTRALIAN BOTANICAL SOAP (Stylized) Geographically Descriptive of . . . SOAP

    The Board upheld a Section 2(e)(2) refusal to register the mark AUSTRALIAN BOTANICAL SOAP in the stylized form shown below, for body soaps and various other Class 3 products [SOAP disclaimed], finding that the proposed mark is primarily geographically descriptive of the goods. Applicant claimed acquired distinctiveness based on several years of use in the United States and sales representing some 17 million bars of soap, but the Board found the evidence insufficient. In re Apperley Holdings Pty. Ltd., Serial No. 79277754 (September 11, 2023) [not precedential] (Opinion by Judge Thomas V. Shaw).

  • TTAB Blog ☛ TTABlog Test: How Did These Three Recent 2(d) Appeals Turn Out?

    The rate of affirmance for Section 2(d) refusals is running at 85% or so this year. That's about 5% lower than usual. Here are three recent TTAB decisions. How do you think they came out?

    
    In re Pour Moi Limited, Serial No. 79318691 (September 7, 2023) [not precedential] (Opinion by Judge Jennifer E. Elgin). [Section 2(d) refusal of POUR MOI for various clothing items in view of the identical mark registered for "Non-medicated skin care preparations and cosmetics for the face and body."]

  • TTAB Blog ☛ A NEW KIND OF SODA Fails to Function as a Trademark for Beverages, Says TTAB

    The Board upheld a refusal to register the proposed mark A NEW KIND OF SODA on the Supplemental Register, for "Non-alcoholic sparkling fruit juice beverages; non-alcoholic water-based beverages," finding that the phrase fails to function as a trademark under Sections 1, 2 and 45 of the Trademark Act. Evidence of third-party use of the phrase "a new kind of soda," mixed in with applicant's own usage, took the fizz out of applicant's arguments. In re Olipop Inc., Serial No. 90381174 (September 21, 2023) [not precedential] (Opinion by Judge Thomas V. Shaw).

• Copyrights

  • Public Domain Review ☛ Behold the Nebulous Smear: ‘Abd al-Rahmān al-Sūfī’s Illustrated Book of Fixed Stars (ca. 1430)

    The greatest astronomical work of its age, this Arabic book represents each constellation twice: once from below and above from above.

  • Public Domain Review ☛ A Careful Selection of Whisk Ferns (1837)

    Curious two-volume illustrated book on bonsai which dispensed not only with the vessels but with the trees themselves.