Leftovers

• Gannett ☛ John Sinclair, Detroit poet, cannabis activist, dead at 82

  Swaggering and purposely outrageous with a flair for theatrics, Sinclair was a natural-born leader. He had long, bushy hair in his heyday, a raspy voice, a diabolical laugh and a linebacker-like physique that Detroit police once quantified as 6-feet-4 and 250 pounds. Recalling his first encounter with Sinclair, a New York record executive described him as “bursting with charm, vigor and intellect. Just the look and size of him ― he was one of the most impressive people I had ever met.”

  In addition to managing the legendary MC5 and leading the White Panthers, later renamed the Rainbow Peoples Party, Sinclair helped build Detroit’s Grande Ballroom into one of the best-known concert venues in the Midwest. He had a hand in launching the long career of Iggy Pop, originally the outlandish lead singer of the Psychedelic Stooges. He made numerous appearances at high schools and other venues, preaching rebellion to wide-eyed students.

• Hindustan Times ☛ John Sinclair, a marijuana activist who was immortalized in a John Lennon song, dies at 82

  John Sinclair, a poet, music producer and counterculture figure whose lengthy prison sentence after a series of small-time pot busts inspired a John Lennon song and a star-studded 1971 concert to free him, has died. He was 82.

• Digital First Media ☛ Marijuana activist and 'Detroit's resident radical' John Sinclair has died at 82

  Sinclair was an influential activist who was best known for his fight toward legalizing marijuana and for his role as band manager for the MC5. The Davison native was also a champion of civil rights and co-founder of the radical anti-racist group the White Panther Party.

• Rolling Stone ☛ John Sinclair, Poet, MC5 Manager, and Activist, Dead at 82

  In the mid-Sixties, he became the manager of the MC5, whose politically-driven rock aligned with his worldview. The group (shorthand for Motor City Five) first came to prominence as the house band for left-wing rallies in the city at the time. Following a performance outside the Democratic National Convention in Chicago in 1968, the group returned to Detroit and its Grande Ballroom in October of that year to lay down what would become their landmark album Kick Out the Jams. (The live LP — with its rallying cry “Kick out the jams, motherfuckers” — would ultimately land on Rolling Stone’s list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.)

• Metro Times ☛ RIP John Sinclair, dead at 82

  Sinclair was also a founding member of the White Panther Party, an anti-racist socialist group aligned with the Black Panthers.

  In 1969, Sinclair was sentenced to ten years in prison after offering two joints to a woman who was an undercover cop. The severity of the sentence sparked protests that inspired John Lennon to write a song called “John Sinclair” and sparked Ann Arbor’s annual Hash Bash, a rally where attendees smoked pot openly on the University of Michigan campus that eventually evolved into the heart of the movement to decriminalize and legalize cannabis in the state.

• Variety ☛ John Sinclair, Former MC5 Manager and Activist, Dies at 82

  In 1966, the Motor City rock band got a regular gig at Detroit’s Grande Ballroom where they met Sinclair – a radical political writer and White Panther Party leader nicknamed the “King of the Hippies” – and by the next year made him the group’s manager. In turn, Sinclair made them into the official house band of the White Panthers and fueled their radical politics. After bringing the MC5 to the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago (where they became the only band to perform there before police broke up the massive anti-Vietnam war rally) Sinclair got the band signed to Elektra for its 1969’s live album debut, “Kick Out the Jams.”

  “He was as a very important part in what the MC5 became,” Kramer said.

• Gizmodo ☛ Discord April Fool's Video Surpasses a Billion YouTube Views in a Day and Nobody's Sure How

  An April Fool’s Day video posted to YouTube by the chat platform Discord wracked up well over a billion page views in less than a single day. The video is only 17 seconds long and jokingly advertises “Loot boxes”—the frequently recurring video game trope—as coming to the chat and streaming app. While you’d think there would be limited interest in that sort of thing, its page views exploded, swiftly growing beyond the margins of popular creators like Mr. Beast.

• Computer World ☛ Kill meetings (before meetings kill your company)

  Meetings waste time, destroy solitary deep work and make a mockery of flex work and a globally distributed workforces.

  Meetings have been problematic for decades. They’re often used as a catch-all solution to unresolved problems. And a chronic lack of meeting discipline means that, for all the time spent getting people together, little is accomplished.

  Now, in a post-pandemic remote work world, where hybrid work and flex work are common, meetings are turning into something like an ongoing crisis at many organizations. They’re harming productivity and causing havoc with employee morale.

• Alex Ewerlöf ☛ Service Level April Fool's Joke

  This year’s joke was rather technical and would make sense to anyone who has a good understanding of service levels, why they’re important, and more importantly how not to implement them!

• Virus Bulletin ☛ Virus Bulletin :: In memoriam: Prof. Ross Anderson

  In 2015 we were honoured to have him deliver the opening keynote address at VB2015, where he spoke about some of his many research projects.

• Dillon Mok ☛ Tall Business Cards

  I thought I'd have some fun and make cards to hand out to people who ask any of these common height questions. I was inspired by this viral image which you've probably seen a version of on the Internet before. I have no idea what the original source is or who started it- but they always follow the same template.

• Austin Kleon ☛ On quantity and quality

  The parable tells us that if we worry less about making perfect work and just make a lot of work, we’ll make a lot of junk, sure, but we’re also more likely to make something great.

• Sean Conner ☛ It only took 25 years for my idea to catch on

  But Christian mentioned Sefaria as using my method, and true enough, it does! <https://www.sefaria.org/Genesis.6:9-9:17> does indeed go to the Noah's Ark story. I think that's neat! I don't know if they were inspired by my site (unlikely, but not completely out of the relms of possibility) or just came up with it on their own, but it's nice to see someone else is using an easy to hack URL form for Bible references.

• Science

  • Andreas ☛ 82MHz

    So why is it being retired now? Well firstly, it was never used with permission of either the model herself or the publication (Playboy). Secondly, maybe having an image of a naked woman (even though it was cropped to just the face) out of Playboy magazine spread across decades of scientific research literature was never the best idea in the first place…

    But most importantly in my opinion, the woman depicted in the picture herself asked for the image to be retired. And even if all the other factors didn’t exist, that alone is more than enough reason to stop use of the image.

• Education

  • Gabriel ☛ Afraid of missing out.

    I have been having weird feelings about my boss taking on a new, much higher, position and how now the expectation is that I consider the post he left. I did have a talk with my boss the day (or a few days after) he personally told us about it, before the official announcement, about what him taking on this new position could mean for me and my career. I have very conflicted feelings as I don't want to miss out on the opportunity about something more. More is better, right? But at the same time, I love my current status, ish. Yes, I would love to become something more like, well, before was called a technical expert and now they call it an analyst and I could be an Analyst or a Senior Analyst.

• Hardware

  • Tom's Hardware ☛ China aims to break chokehold of US chipmaking sanctions — Naura Technology to develop lithography tools for the first time

    Naura Technology is already a successful manufacturer of etching and chemical vapor deposition tools. Now it has started its initial research into developing lithography systems, the report says. The dedicated program was initiated back in December 2023, and as of March the company has assembled a small group of engineers to to explore lithography systems. This is an area that extends beyond its conventional focus on etching and film deposition, SCMP reports, citing sources familiar with the matter.

    These R&D efforts are being carried out with utmost secrecy to prevent additional sanctions from the U.S., which perceives them as attempts to bypass existing export controls. A representative from Naura told SCMP on Monday that the reported information was not accurate, but did not provide further details.

  • Tom's Hardware ☛ Windows Copilot key is secretly from the IBM era — but you can remap it with the right tools

    While some folks, including me, don't find Copilot on Windows helpful, Microsoft is going all-in on its new AI-powered assistant, going so far as to create a dedicated Copilot key which some new laptops have next to the right Alt key on their keyboards. In fact, in order to meet the official definition of an "AI PC," a laptop certification that Microsoft created, the computer must have a CPU with a Neural Processing Unit (NPU), Copilot installed in Windows and the Copilot key on its keyboard.

• Health/Nutrition/Agriculture

  • International Business Times ☛ 3 Tips To Build Up Your 'F**k You Fund' For When You Want To Quit

    Since the piece went viral, the concept has developed into a "f*ck you fund" or "f*ck you money."

    The explicit phrase is most commonly used to describe a savings pot that allows employees to walk away from their jobs if they are hurting their mental health.

  • Gizmodo ☛ Controversial Scientist Back at Work After Jail Time for Creating Genetically Modified Babies

    A Chinese scientist once jailed for helping to create the world’s first genome-edited babies seems to have not missed a beat. In a recent interview, He Jiankui revealed that he is once again working in the field of human genetic engineering. These newest experiments are reportedly in compliance with ethical standards and He Jiankui has pledged that he will not work to produce any further modified humans.

  • El País ☛ ‘Sexting’ with robots: How artificial intelligence will be able to ‘read’ our arousal

    The report The Future of Sex Report, launched by Ian Pearson, argues that most people will practice some type of virtual sex by 2030, and that five years later, most people will own sex toys that interact with virtual reality sex. But perhaps the most striking claim from the report is that by 2050 robot sex could overtake human sex. “Virtual sex with AIs or robots will compete with human sex, but robots will be expensive,” it states. “It might feel very pleasant, and will be perfect for those people who want to live their ultimate fantasy without all the strings and emotional commitments of real relationships.”

  • NL Times ☛ 75 percent of motorists, cyclists use their phones while on the road

    Fines and public awareness campaigns are not having any effect on Netherlands residents' tendency to use their smartphones in traffic. Around 75 percent of motorists and cyclists sometimes use their phones while driving or cycling, almost 10 percent more than six years ago, AD reports based on a new report from SWOV, the national scientific institute for road safety research.

  • Chuck Grimmett ☛ Week of March 25, 2024

    Trying out a new watering solution in the garden this year. The past two years I used wick irrigation (see 1 and 2), but this year I want to try using Ollas. I’m hoping to cut down on the issues I had with wick irrigation (mosquitos in the open buckets, wicks drying out, too much air evaporation.)

    I didn’t want to buy them, so I took an chipped terra cotta pot and siliconed a saucer in it. Letting it dry overnight tonight. As long as it proves to be waterproof, I’ll bury it and fill it from the small hole in the top. (And make 5 more)

    The general idea is that terra cotta is porous, so water will dissipate out into the soil when the soil is dry.

  • Science News ☛ A new study has linked microplastics to heart attacks and strokes. Here’s what we know 

    An analysis of artery-clogging plaques in 257 patients found that the presence of these microplastics was associated with a roughly quadrupled risk of heart attack, stroke or death, researchers report March 7 in the New England Journal of Medicine.

• Proprietary/Artificial Intelligence (AI)

  • The Hill ☛ Billie Eilish, Nicki Minaj among artists warning against AI use in music

    More than 200 artists — including Billie Eilish, Nicki Minaj and the Jonas Brothers — are calling for tech companies, artificial intelligence (AI) developers, and digital music services to cease the use of AI over concerns of its impact on artists and songwriters, according to an open letter published Tuesday.

    The artists warned that the unregulated use of AI in the music industry could “sabotage creativity and undermine artists, songwriters, musicians and rightsholders,” according to the letter organized by the Artists Rights Alliance, a nonprofit artist-led education and advocation organization.

  • Adam Newbold ☛ Neatnik Notes · Apple’s calculator apps considered harmful

    So much of this is baffling: Apple knows the distinction between NaN and Error, so why can’t they apply the correct responses in each scenario? Why are these two seemingly identical Calculator apps on iOS and macOS running entirely different code? Why can’t we count on the most primitive technical operations on some of the most sophisticated modern equipment to offer reliable, valid responses? Where is the quality control?

  • Reason ☛ Taking AI Existential Risk Seriously

    This episode is notable not just for cyberlaw commentary, but for its imminent disappearance from these pages and from podcast playlists everywhere. Having promised to take stock of the podcast when it reached episode 500, I've decided that I, the podcast, and the listeners all deserve a break.

    So, I'll be taking one after the next episode. No final decisions have been made, so don't delete your subscription, but don't expect a new episode any time soon. It's been a great run, from the dawn of the podcast age in 2014, through the ad-fueled podcast boom, which I manfully resisted, to the podcast market correction that's still under way. It was a pleasure to engage with listeners from all over the world. (Yes, even the EU! )

  • Cory Dransfeldt ☛ Building a scrobbler using Plex webhooks, edge functions and blob storage // Cory Dransfeldt

    I've written before about embedding music into my site and I've largely used Last.fm to do so. Their API is rather extensive, though it is showing its age — the default response format is XML, they've dropped artist images and have intermittently failed to return album art. ListenBrainz is great, but client support is still lacking. I've also tried charting Apple Music data from their (quite limited) API.

  • The Verge ☛ Yahoo is acquiring Artifact to bring its AI features to Yahoo News

    The two sides declined to share the cost of the acquisition, but both made clear Yahoo is acquiring Artifact’s tech rather than its team. Mike Krieger and Kevin Systrom, Artifact’s co-founders, will be “special advisors” for Yahoo but won’t be joining the company. Artifact’s remaining five employees have either gotten other jobs or are planning to take some time off.

  • Futurism ☛ AI Companies Running Out of Training Data After Burning Through Entire Internet

    As AI companies keep building bigger and better models, they're running down a shared problem: sometime soon, the [Internet] won't be big enough to provide all the data they need.

    As the Wall Street Journal reports, some companies are looking for alternative sources of data training now that the internet is growing too small, with things like publicly-available video transcripts and even AI-generated "synthetic data" as options.

  • The Register UK ☛ X's Grok AI is great – if you want to know how to make drugs

    Grok, the edgy generative AI model developed by Elon Musk's X, has a bit of a problem: With the application of some quite common jail-breaking techniques it'll readily return instructions on how to commit crimes.

  • Futurism ☛ Amazon Abandons Grocery Stores Where You Just Walk Out With Stuff After It Turns Out Its "AI" Was Powered by 1,000 Human Contractors

    But over five years later, the system has seemingly become more of a burden. According to The Information, the tech was simply far too slow and too expensive to implement, with outsourced cashiers reportedly taking hours to send back data so customers could get their receipts.

    Apart from relying on cheap, outsourced labor instead of paying fair wages locally, critics have also long questioned Amazon's practice of collecting a horde of sensitive data, including customers' in-store behavior, turning a quick visit to the store into a privacy nightmare.

  • Quartz ☛ Amazon drops 'Just Walk Out' grocery store checkout

    Amazon is phasing out its checkout-less grocery stores with “Just Walk Out” technology, first reported by The Information Tuesday. The company’s senior vice president of grocery stores says they’re moving away from Just Walk Out, which relied on cameras and sensors to track what people were leaving the store with.

  • Gizmodo ☛ Amazon Ditches 'Just Walk Out' Checkouts at Its Grocery Stores

    Just over half of Amazon Fresh stores are equipped with Just Walk Out. The technology allows customers to skip checkout altogether by scanning a QR code when they enter the store. Though it seemed completely automated, Just Walk Out relied on more than 1,000 people in India watching and labeling videos to ensure accurate checkouts. The cashiers were simply moved off-site, and they watched you as you shopped.

  • The Verge ☛ Amazon gives up on no-checkout shopping in its grocery stores

    Amazon has decided to give up on its Just Walk Out program that lets customers leave its brick-and-mortar grocery stores without a formal checkout process. Instead, it’s switching fully to “Dash Carts,” where customers scan products as they toss them in their cart.

  • The Verge ☛ The FTC is trying to help victims of impersonation scams get their money back

    The agency is also taking public comment until April 30th on changes to the rule that would allow it to also target impersonation of individuals, such as through the use of video deepfakes or AI voice cloning. That would let it take action against, say, scams involving impersonations of Elon Musk on X or celebrities in YouTube ads. Others have used AI for more sinister fraud, such as voice clones of loved ones claiming to be kidnapped.

  • India Times ☛ us britain ai safety partnership: US, Britain announce partnership on AI safety, testing

    Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo and British Technology Secretary Michelle Donelan signed a memorandum of understanding in Washington to jointly develop advanced AI model testing, following commitments announced at an AI Safety Summit in Bletchley Park in November.

  • The Register UK ☛ Happy 20th to Gmail, now sort out the spam problem

    "We started requiring that emails sent to a Gmail address must have some form of authentication. And we've seen the number of unauthenticated messages Gmail users receive plummet by 75 percent," it added. "That's great progress, but there's much more we need to do."

  • Firstpost ☛ Facebook let Netflix see user DMs, was planning to start own streaming service, claims lawsuit

    In what may be the single biggest breach of public trust by Mark Zuckerberg-led Meta, Facebook let Netflix see users DMs to help them better programme content, a lawsuit has revealed.

    In a startling revelation, court documents unsealed in an ongoing antitrust lawsuit against Meta, formerly known as Facebook, have exposed the intricate relationship between the social media giant and streaming behemoth Netflix.

  • The Register UK ☛ Amazon recipe book slammed for giving of whiff of AI

    The Register has been in touch with Amazon asking whether it can clear up two issues.

    1. Is the book(s) content generated by AI and is that made known to the buyers.

    2. Are some or all of the positive reviews generated by AI, creating a misleading impression of their content.

    We're waiting for an answer.

  • Security

    • Integrity/Availability/Authenticity

      • The Hill ☛ Washington judge bans use of AI-enhanced video as trial evidence

        “This Court finds that admission of this AI-enhanced evidence would lead to a confusion of the issues and a muddling of eyewitness testimony, and could lead to a time-consuming trial within a trial about the non-peer-reviewable process used by the AI mode,” McCullough wrote.

      • Gizmodo ☛ Court Bans Use of 'AI-Enhanced' Video Evidence Because That's Not How AI Works

        “This Court finds that admission of this Al-enhanced evidence would lead to a confusion of the issues and a muddling of eyewitness testimony, and could lead to a time-consuming trial within a trial about the non-peer-reviewable-process used by the AI model,” McCullough wrote.

      • NBC ☛ Washington state judge blocks use of AI-enhanced video as evidence in possible first-of-its-kind ruling

        The ruling, signed Friday by King County Superior Court Judge Leroy McCullogh and first reported by NBC News, described the technology as novel and said it relies on "opaque methods to represent what the AI model 'thinks' should be shown."

      • [Repeat] Security Week ☛ 'WallEscape' Linux Vulnerability Leaks User Passwords

        The security defect, tracked as CVE-2024-28085 and dubbed ‘WallEscape’, impacts the ‘wall’ command of util-linux that fails to filter escape sequences from command line arguments.

        An attacker could embed escape sequences into crafted messages and send them via the ‘wall’ command, allowing them to leak passwords and modify commands, if specific conditions are met. “This allows unprivileged users to put arbitrary text on other users’ terminals, if mesg is set to y and wall is setgid,” said security researcher Skyler Ferrante.

    • Privacy/Surveillance

      • Site36 ☛ Surveillance now banned in secrecy: German government takes a new approach towards parliament

        The Federal Ministry of the Interior has decreed complete secrecy towards parliament regarding telecommunications surveillance measures, thereby taking a new approach. This is evident from the answer to a parliamentary question from the new BSW Group, which enquired about the use of stealth SMS, IMSI catchers, radio cell searches and other digital surveillance methods. These enquiries had previously been regularly made by the left-wing parliamentary group, from which the BSW split off.

      • Wired ☛ The Incognito Mode Myth Has Fully Unraveled

        Under the terms of the settlement, Google must further update the Incognito mode “splash page” that appears anytime you open an Incognito mode Chrome window after previously updating it in January. The Incognito splash page will explicitly state that Google collects data from third-party websites “regardless of which browsing or browser mode you use,” and stipulate that “third-party sites and apps that integrate our services may still share information with Google,” among other changes. Details about Google’s private-browsing data collection must also appear in the company’s privacy policy.

        Additionally, some of the data that Google previously collected on Incognito users will be deleted. This includes “private-browsing data” that is “older than nine months” from the date that Google signed the term sheet of the settlement last December, as well as private-browsing data collected throughout December 2023. Certain documents in the case referring to Google's data collection methods remain sealed, however, making it difficult to assess how thorough the deletion process will be.

      • Privacy International ☛ Key highlights of our results from 2023

        In 2023, Privacy International continued to produce real change in the world. We kept challenging governments and corporations that use data and technology to exploit us; pushed for new legislative standards; educated and campaigned with others.

        And, we produced HUGE impact that directly affects each of us.

        Here's a selection of our biggest achievements from last year.

      • The Register UK ☛ Polish officials may face criminal charges for Pegasus use

        Former Polish government officials may face criminal charges following an investigation into their use of the notorious spyware Pegasus to surveil political opponents and others.

        Poland officially launched a parliamentary probe into the previous government's potential misuse of the commercial surveillance software in February.

        On Monday, Minister of Justice Adam Bodnar told The Guardian that Pegasus victims would soon receive notification that they had been targeted by the NSO Group's controversial snoopware.

  • Defence/Aggression

    • CS Monitor ☛ NATO has united the West for 75 years. Here’s why it still matters.

      As NATO marks its 75th anniversary on April 4, leaders of the 32 member states are celebrating what is widely considered the greatest and most effective military alliance in history.

      NATO was part of the postwar architecture of multilateral organizations – largely designed by the United States – whose aim was preventing a third world war and building global economic stability. Yet it was also at the visionary forefront of reaching for those goals from a foundation of core principles: democratic governance, universal human rights, and the rule of law.

    • The Hill ☛ NYC mayor says women being punched in his city shows ‘corrosiveness of TikTok’

      New York Mayor Eric Adams (D) cited the “corrosiveness of TikTok” when discussing reports of multiple women being punched across New York City in recent weeks.

      During a Tuesday appearance on “Good Morning America,” Adams was asked about the reported assaults after videos on TikTok went viral of women describing being punched moments earlier while walking down the sidewalk.

    • The Nation ☛ “In Techno Parentis”: Who Should Regulate the Online Lives of Teenagers?

      When “Josie” was a 12-year-old fifth-grader, passionate about sports, her parents gave her a smartphone. She immediately started searching for sports-related content on TikTok. But TikTok’s social media feed is targeted based on a user’s data profile: It started sending “Josie”—as a minor we have changed her name to protect her privacy—disordered-eating content, and videos about how to be anorexic. The content engaged her and kept her on the app; it also led her to isolation from friends, family, and sports. Just after she turned 13, she was hospitalized with severe malnutrition, and almost died. She had to spend 16 days in intensive care.

      Josie’s story is not unique. The same thing happened to millions of kids: The social media company profiled her, identified the content that would be most likely to keep her online, and served it to her. Research from the Center for Countering Digital Hate found that the recommendation algorithm would suggest eating-disorder and self-harm content to new teen accounts on TikTok within minutes of their signing up to the website. One account saw suicide content within 2.6 minutes; another saw eating-disorder content within eight minutes; and while it did not show up on most accounts so quickly, and not all the content offered was eating-disorder-themed, the same premise holds: Platforms are targeting children with content that addicts them.

    • Reason ☛ Scotland’s New Hate Crime Laws Could Land Author J.K. Rowling in Jail

      Rowling took to X (formerly Twitter) with a thread calling attention to how women receive no additional legal protections, but transgender activists—some of whom use violent and threatening rhetoric—do: [...]

    • Crooked Timber ☛ Navies are obsolete, but no one will admit it — Crooked Timber

      In summary, most of the claimed use cases for naval power have been shown to be unworkable. Navies can’t support a seaborne invasion against a country armed with modern anti-ship weapons. More generally, they can’t operate freely within the range of land-based anti-ship missiles and drones, a range that is extending all the time. They can’t prevent a blockade of sea routes by nearby land-based forces and they can’t mount an effective blockade themselves if (as in the case of Ukraine) their targets can stick close to friendly shores.

      At the core of are two simple facts. First, under modern conditions, it’s impossible for a ship (except for submarines, but that will change soon) to hide from satellites and aircraft . By contrast, it’s easy to hide land-based weapons and to move them about quickly. Second, a ship has to carry its own defences and weapons with it, which is a big engineering challenge. Land based systems can be spread out over a large area.

    • Hindustan Times ☛ ‘TikTok came up’: Biden and Xi discuss the Chinese app sale in US during call, says White House

      The US House passed a bill last month to ban the video-sharing app if its Chinese owner, ByteDance Ltd, does not divest its stake. Biden has said he would sign the bill. Its fate in the US Senate is unclear.

    • India Times ☛ joe biden tiktok xi jinping: Joe Biden reiterated US concerns over TikTok in call with Xi Jinping: White House

      In March, the US House of Representatives overwhelmingly voted to pass a bill giving ByteDance, the Chinese company that owns TikTok, about six months to sell the US assets of the app or face a ban, citing national security concerns. Senators are still undecided on how to proceed.

    • Atlantic Council ☛ Putin is weaponizing corruption to weaken Europe from within

      Corruption has long been a favorite weapon in Vladimir Putin’s arsenal. He used it extensively against Ukraine over a number of years to help prepare the ground for the full-scale invasion of February 2022. The Russian leader now appears to be employing the same weaponized corruption tactics honed earlier in Ukraine to undermine Europe and weaken the continent’s democratic institutions from within.

    • Digital Music News ☛ TikTok Ban Bill Faces Potentially Slow Path in Senate: Report

      Following the House’s quick passage of a bill that would compel ByteDance to sell or shut down TikTok in the U.S., senators are reportedly preparing for a lengthy debate on the measure.

      This update in the multifaceted discussion about TikTok’s stateside future entered the media spotlight in a Wall Street Journal report. After the House voted overwhelmingly in favor of the legislation, the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act, in early March, immediate evidence suggested that the bill’s path through the Senate would perhaps be slightly slower.

    • The Hindu ☛ Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma proposes ‘tit for tat’ naming of places in Tibet

      Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Tuesday said India should rename 60 places in the Tibetan area of China as a tit for tat exercise.

      Beijing recently came out with a map renaming 30 places in Arunachal Pradesh in Chinese.

    • Modern Diplomacy ☛ How the Taliban Have Inspired Global Terrorism and What to Do About It

      The March 22nd’s spectacular complex terrorist attack on the Crocus City Hall, twelve miles west of Kremlin, in Moscow is hardly new or surprising in the context of the world’s protracted failing war on terrorism. Unfortunately, “22/3” will soon be forgotten only to be added to the growing list of other terrorist-attack memorial dates, including “9/11” (New York), “26/11” (Mumbai), “7/7” (London), “11/3” (Madrid), “12/10” (Bali), “21/9” (Nairobi), and “23/7” (Sharm El Sheikh), to name just a few. But the people of Russia, particularly Moscow residents, will long remember “22/3” as one of the most tragic days in their recent history, which witnessed the indiscriminate killing and wounding of over two hundred innocent civilians, who were going about their daily lives that fateful day.

    • The Hill ☛ Press: Top psychologist says Trump likely to fall off mental cliff

      But after hearing Trump denounce having “an election in the middle of a political season” (when else do you have elections?), on top of his confusing his primary opponent Nikki Haley with former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and asserting on several occasions that he was running against Barack Obama, not Joe Biden, I wondered whether he was just confused or could there be something else going on. Could Trump be losing it, mentally?

      For answers, on my podcast, the “Bill Press Pod,” I turned to one of America’s leading psychologists, Dr. John Gartner, who was professor of psychiatry at Johns Hopkins Medical Center for 28 years and, along with 36 other psychiatrists and mental health professionals, was a contributor to the 2017 bestselling book, “The Dangerous Case of Donald Trump.”

      I was stunned by Dr. Gartner’s professional analysis.

    • Russia, Belarus, and War in Ukraine

      • Meduza ☛ Safety theater As Russia’s Belgorod faces near constant attacks, local authorities say they’re working to protect residents. Their spending says otherwise. — Meduza

      • Meduza ☛ Lukashenko says Belarus wants peace but is ‘preparing for war’ — Meduza

      • Meduza ☛ Chechen man arrested after Moscow terrorist attack reportedly dies in police custody — Meduza

  • Transparency/Investigative Reporting

    • New York Times ☛ U.S. Intelligence Warning to Moscow Named Specific Target of Attack

      The U.S. warning to Russia ahead of a terrorist attack near Moscow was highly specific: Crocus City Hall was a potential target of the Islamic State, according to U.S. officials.

      The warning had the right venue but imprecise timing, suggesting that the attack could come within days. Indeed, the public warning by the United States Embassy on March 7 warned of potential terrorist attacks in the next two days.

    • Bruce Schneier ☛ Declassified NSA Newsletters

      Through a 2010 FOIA request (yes, it took that long), we have copies of the NSA’s KRYPTOS Society Newsletter, “Tales of the Krypt,” from 1994 to 2003.

    • Mint Press News ☛ The US and ISIS: It's Complicated

      A now-declassified DoD document shows US military officials believed backing AQ and ISIS in Syria could help defeat Assad

    • US News And World Report ☛ Trump Sues Two Trump Media Co-Founders, Seeking to Void Their Stock in the Company

      Donald Trump is suing two co-founders of Trump Media & Technology Group, the newly public parent company of his Truth Social platform, arguing that they should forfeit their stock in the company because they set it up improperly.

      The former U.S. president's lawsuit, which was filed on March 24 in Florida state court, follows a complaint filed in February by those co-founders, Andy Litinsky and Wes Moss. Their lawsuit sought to prevent Trump from taking steps the two said would sharply reduce their combined 8.6% stake in Trump Media. The pair filed their lawsuit in the Delaware Court of Chancery.

  • Environment

    • Energy/Transportation

      • CS Monitor ☛ Why drivers may soon pay $15 in New York’s congestion pricing zone

        In June, New York is due to become the first U.S. city to charge a fee on cars and trucks as they enter its central business district in Manhattan, potentially raising billions of dollars to upgrade the city’s buses and subway lines.

        New York’s congestion toll follows similar moves in cities like London, Milan, and Singapore. While it signals local ambitions to lessen traffic gridlock, reduce the carbon footprint of private vehicles, and nudge more people onto public transport, it also runs headlong into the global political debate about climate action’s cost and who pays the price.

      • Air Force Times ☛ No snakes in couches: What to know for a smooth PCS move in 2024

        Historically, more than 120,000 shipments — about 40% of the annual total for Defense Department’s household goods program — are moved during peak season, according to officials with U.S. Transportation Command, the organization in charge of shipping troops’ belongings around the world. In 2022, for example, the military logged nearly 303,000 household goods shipments.

        “We are anticipating similar numbers for this year,” officials told Military Times in an email.

      • David Rosenthal ☛ The Left Curve

        Why does Shen think those who know nothing about cryptocurrencies are the big winners? Because they are jumping in to yet another cruptocurrency bubble: [...]

      • The Telegraph UK ☛ Why Tesla's electric car bubble is threatening to burst

        Inflation and higher charging costs have dampened electric car demand, says Richard Windsor, an independent technology analyst, while buyers are increasingly coming to the “realisation that as an EV user today, you are a beta tester”.

        This is more true for Tesla than most. While other EV users must contend with clunky charging infrastructure or questionable claims about range, Tesla customers are expected to pay for features such as “self-driving” technology that have been delayed for years.

        Musk’s business is also facing competition in China, one of its biggest markets, on a far greater scale than it has ever endured in the West. “Brutal Chinese competition” has forced Musk to cut prices as “the Chinese have figured out how to make decent cars,” Windsor says.

      • Futurism ☛ Buyers Are Avoiding Teslas Because Elon Musk Has Become So Toxic

        The slide is happening in real time. The values for Tesla's "consideration" and "trust and like" scores put together by Caliber have fallen eight percent from January — while those of German automakers including Mercedes, BMW and Audi rose during the same period.

        In other words, Tesla's sluggish sales aren't just the result of rising interest rates, a surge in competing offerings, and a slowing overall demand for EVs.

        "It's very likely that Musk himself is contributing to the reputational downfall," Caliber CEO Shahar Silbershatz told Reuters.

      • Reuters ☛ Would-be Tesla buyers snub company as Musk's reputation dips

        Caliber cited strong associations between Tesla's reputation and that of Musk for the scores. "It's very likely that Musk himself is contributing to the reputational downfall," Caliber CEO Shahar Silbershatz told Reuters, saying his company's survey shows 83% of Americans connect Musk with Tesla.

      • DeSmog ☛ Big Oil Clouded the Science on Extreme Weather. Now It Faces a Reckoning.

        When Bucks County, Pennsylvania, filed a lawsuit last week against major oil and gas companies for climate damages, Commissioner Chair Diane Ellis-Marseglia pointed to “unprecedented weather events here in Bucks County that have repeatedly put residents and first responders in harm’s way, damaged public and private property and placed undue strain on our infrastructure.” The county argues oil companies’ “campaigns to deceive and mislead the public about the damaging nature of their fossil fuel products” delayed climate action for decades, robbing communities of precious time to mitigate the climate-driven disasters they now face.

  • AstroTurf/Lobbying/Politics

    • Federal News Network ☛ DoD to automate assessment of zero trust implementation plans

      In November, the Defense Department’s chief information officer’s office received 39 zero trust implementation plans from the military services, defense agencies and combatant commands.

      It took 35 full-time staff and nearly four months to review those plans, provide tailored feedback and receive final versions with all recommendations incorporated.

      Randy Resnick, the director of the Zero Trust Architecture Program Management Office in the DoD CIO’s office said the lesson they learned about the process is that they can’t repeat it again.

    • The Register UK ☛ UK and US to jointly develop AI test suites to tackle risks

      The Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), signed by US Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo and UK Technology Secretary Michelle Donelan, is effective immediately and intended to ensure the two nations are aligned in their scientific approaches to creating robust test suites for AI models, systems, and agents.

      The MoU comes after the 2023 global AI Safety Summit in Bletchley Park, England, where many hands were wrung over the threats posed by AI and the need to mitigate the risks associated with the technology.

    • International Business Times ☛ Insiders Worry Microsoft's AI Future Hitched To OpenAI's Wagon

      Following a recent Business Insider exclusive where Microsoft insiders offered their unfiltered opinions on the company's AI direction and the new Copilot tools, comments have surfaced expressing concerns about the software giant turning into a glorified IT department for the Sam Altman-led AI startup.

    • Hindustan Times ☛ Taylor Swift officially declared billionaire by Forbes. Here's how much she earns

      Swift, 34, also has a significant real estate portfolio, with homes in New York, Beverly Hills, Nashville and a coastal mansion in Rhode Island.

      Her touring milestone was one of many records Swift shattered over the past year, including winning a fourth Grammy for Best Album, the most of any artist.

    • NPR ☛ Trump's social media stock tumbles, erasing early gains

      The drop came after a regulatory filing, in which the company — ticker symbol DJT — reported losing $58 million last year, on revenues of just over $4 million.

    • Misinformation/Disinformation/Propaganda

      • New Statesman ☛ Hitler, Putin and the information wars

        What lessons should we draw from Delmer’s story, 80 years later, in the face of Russian disinformation over the invasion of Ukraine and a possible Trump win in November? What is permissible in the pursuit of victory against a new kind of existential threat? Can it be called freedom and democracy if won by manipulation? Could deception inflate distrust in democracy, and so boost demagogues in the long run? In later life, Delmer would wonder whether his aims of undermining the Nazi killing machine had entirely justified his means.

      • El País ☛ Ukraine considers banning Telegram if app is confirmed as threat to national security

        Seventy-two percent of Ukrainians use Telegram as their main source of information. For 75%, it is also their first choice of communication tool, including hundreds of thousands of servicemen in the Armed Forces of Ukraine and the president himself, Volodymyr Zelenskiy. These statistics were provided in 2023 by the Media Detector consulting firm and used by the backers of a legal norm that wants to place limits on the use of the application. The Ukrainian parliament, the Rada, has since last week been studying week a bill that threatens to shut Telegram down. The measure, which has proven very unpopular but has garnered the support of deputies from four political groups in the Rada, is based on the hypothesis that the Russian Security Services (FSB) have access to information about its users, and also on the fact that citizens can consult the invader’s media and Russian propaganda accounts.

  • Censorship/Free Speech

    • El País ☛ ‘Dogma’, the controversial religious comedy that can no longer be seen anywhere

      Nearly 25 years after its release, it is difficult to ascertain whether its alleged level of blasphemy still applies, as it is not available on any streaming platform (although it is on YouTube). It’s not divine punishment: if Smith’s comments on the subject are anything to go by, it has more to do with “the devil.” Why did the fourth film from the hitherto innocent and sympathetic Smith repulse so many people? Let’s refresh his argument.

    • The Scotsman ☛ Rishi Sunak backs JK Rowling in row over Scotland’s new hate crime laws

      However, women have not been given protection under the law, with the Scottish Government instead promising to bring forward legislation to tackle misogyny.

      But with the new Act giving protection to transgender people, Rowling – who does not believe people can change their gender – insisted: “Freedom of speech and belief are at an end in Scotland if the accurate description of biological sex is deemed criminal.”

  • Freedom of Information / Freedom of the Press

    • VOA News ☛ UK police: Suspects in attack on Iranian journalist fled country

      "Detectives have established the victim was approached by two men in a residential street and attacked," it said in a statement. "The suspects fled the scene in a vehicle driven by a third male."

      The suspects later abandoned the car, which is being examined by forensic experts, Scotland Yard said.

      "After abandoning the vehicle, the suspects travelled directly to Heathrow Airport and left the UK within a few hours of the attack," it said, without providing further details.

    • CPJ ☛ Turkish journalists shot at, banned from observing vote count in local elections

      Turkish authorities must not disregard the news media’s legally protected right to observe the election process and must investigate the armed attack on a group of journalists in Diyarbakır, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Tuesday.

      On Sunday’s election day, the High Board of Elections (YSK) banned reporters from observing the votes being counted at some locations.

    • Kansas Reflector ☛ Kansas newspaper that was raided by Marion police sues officials for attack on free press

      The Marion County Record has filed a federal First Amendment lawsuit against local authorities who planned and carried out the raid last year of the newspaper office and publishers’ home, accusing the “co-conspirators” of seeking revenge for unfavorable news coverage through falsified and invalid search warrants.

      According to a 127-page complaint filed Monday, former Mayor David Mayfield ordered the takedown of the newspaper and a political rival after identifying journalists as “the real villains in America.”

    • Kansas Reflector ☛ Colorado authorities wrapping up investigation into Marion police who raided Kansas newspaper

      The announcement comes a day after the Marion County Record filed a lawsuit in federal court seeking damages for alleged violations of civil rights.

      Melissa Underwood, a spokeswoman for the Kansas Bureau of Investigation, said Riley County Attorney Barry Wilkerson and Sedgwick County District Attorney Marc Bennett would determine whether to file criminal charges against journalists, law enforcement officers or anyone else.

  • Civil Rights/Policing

    • Maine Morning Star ☛ Sponsor: Veto of bill limiting noncompete clauses hastens ‘race to bottom’ for labor • Maine Morning Star

      The Maine House of Representatives on Tuesday sustained Gov. Janet Mills’ veto of legislation to further limit noncompete clauses in Maine — a defeat for critics of such agreements who believe they unnecessarily restrict workers.

      Noncompete clauses, which typically prevent an employee from working for a competitor during and for a period of time after their employment, are already limited under Maine law. The bill Mills vetoed late last week, LD 1496, sought to further restrict such agreements by only allowing them in cases that would protect an employer’s “trade secrets” or when an employee has an ownership stake in a business. Trade secrets are information a company tries to keep secret and derives economic value from doing so.

      The House and Senate passed the bill, sponsored by Rep. Sophia Warren (D-Scarborough), last month. After Mills’ veto, the bill returned to the House on Tuesday, which voted 74-72 in favor of overriding the governor’s opposition. However, that fell well short of the number of votes needed to overturn a veto (two-thirds of those present).

    • Reason ☛ Georgia Parents Investigated for Letting 7-Year-Old Get a Cookie From Store

      In August of 2018, the Widner kids—then ages 13, 11, nine, and seven—were members of a swim team at their local YMCA, which was about two blocks from their house. One day, after swim practice, the 7-year-old, Jackson, lagged behind while the rest of his siblings walked home, and stopped by the grocery for a free cookie.

      A store employee thought it was so unusual to see an unaccompanied 7-year-old that a store employee called 911. Then, instead of letting him leave, the employee told Jackson he had to wait for the police to arrive.

      This became part of a pattern; indeed, Jackson's semi-independence attracted police attention on no fewer than three occasions, leading to two investigations by Child Protective Services (CPS).

    • Quartz ☛ California bill gives workers 'right to disconnect' from bosses outside work hours

      At least 13 countries around the world have adopted “right to disconnect” laws in recent years, banning employers from forcing workers to always be ready to answer emails and phone calls outside of work hours. And California could be next if new legislation makes its way through the state legislature.

      Assembly Bill 2751 would require all employers in California to clearly differentiate between working and non-working hours in any given job and create “company-wide action plans” to make sure employees are only required to respond to messages during working hours or according to a plan agreed upon ahead of time.

    • CoryDoctorow ☛ Prison-tech company bribed jails to ban in-person visits

      Here's the catch: all of these services are blisteringly expensive. Prisoners are accustomed to being gouged on phone calls – for years, prisons have done deals with private telcos that charge a fortune for prisoners' calls and split the take with prison administrators – but even by those standards, the calls you make on a tablet are still a ripoff.

    • International Business Times ☛ 40% of Companies Will Use AI to 'Interview' Job Applicants, Report

      Nearly all Fortune 500 companies (99 per cent, according to Jobscan research) are using the newfangled technology to automatically filter applicants during the recruitment process. Moreover, a Resume Builder survey found that nearly 40 per cent of companies will leverage AI for initial candidate interactions this year.

      Now, a new report reveals job applicants are adapting to employers' use of AI, despite their reservations about the technology. Notably, an earlier study found nearly three-quarters of employers still "don't know" how to implement AI effectively.

    • Quartz ☛ Tech billionaires behind California Forever project win court ruling

      California Forever, the tech billionaire-backed effort to create a new city on hundreds of acres in the Bay Area, has faced a number of challenges, including a legal dispute between the project’s backers and a number of families who are longtime residents of the area where developers want to build.

    • Gizmodo ☛ Judge Sides with Tech Billionaires in California Forever Case Against Family Ranchers

      Last May, California Forever’s parent company, Flannery Associates, sued some of those families, accusing them of engaging in a “price fixing” conspiracy and demanding half a billion dollars in damages. The farmers accused California Forever of deploying “strong-arm tactics” to pry loose their land.

    • 404 Media ☛ Officer Screamed ‘Stop Shooting Her’ While Police Killed Unarmed Teen After Car Chase

      A California law enforcement deputy told an unarmed 15-year-old girl to walk toward him, and screamed for his fellow officers not to shoot her, immediately before they shot and killed her, video and audio material obtained by 404 Media shows. The widely publicized 2022 incident happened at the end of a chaotic, high-speed car chase in which Savannah Graziano and her father, Anthony Graziano, were killed by police in the ensuing firefight.

    • Greece ☛ Digital Labor Card in industry and retail

      The Digital Labor Card will be fully implemented in the industry and retail sectors as of July 1, the Ministry of Labor and Social Security said on Monday.

    • India Times ☛ us inmates social media use: Civil rights groups decry effort to punish US federal inmates for social media use

      A proposed change to US federal prison rules that would punish inmates for using social media or directing others to do so on their behalf could infringe on the free speech rights of people who advocate for incarcerated people, activists say.

      Civil rights advocates are facing a Monday deadline to push the federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) to back away from the proposed change, included in a planned overhaul of its disciplinary rules for the more than 155,000 inmates in its custody.

    • Hamilton Nolan ☛ Let's Talk About the $20 an Hour Fast Food Minimum Wage

      It’s a pretty fucking major tangible economic gain for low income workers, and a structural gain for labor in the sense of establishing a long-term state-backed institution that can mitigate the supremacy of corporate control in that industry. It also (and I hate to use this construction because it sounds wishy-washier than How Things Work generally aspires to be, but in this case it is appropriate) raises a lot of interesting points of discussion about models for expanding labor power. So let’s touch on them—as the beginning of a strategic conversation about the future of work, or just as stuff you can say at the next socialist house party to sound as though you have given this issue more thought than you have.

    • Federal News Network ☛ Survey: What do feds think about return-to-office and telework changes?

      Federal News Network wants to hear directly from current federal employees about their thoughts and experiences after either returning to the office more often, or seeing others do so. This anonymous survey will take about 15 minutes to complete. We will publish the results in the coming weeks.

    • Federal News Network ☛ Return to office in 4 parts: Fed facing the May 5 deadline

      This week’s Federal Report is being presented in four sections looking at how certain agencies are facing the impending May 5 deadline to have employees work in the office at least 50% of the time.

    • Federal News Network ☛ Labor employees show up to protest for more telework

      There’s an old saying that protestors used during the Vietnam war that went something like this, “fighting for peace is like [having sex] for virginity.”

      Protesting at your office for the right to telework more captures those same vibes.

      That is what happened in March when Labor Department employees in Boston went to their office to protest to retain their telework privileges.

  • Internet Policy/Net Neutrality

    • India Times ☛ fcc donald trump net neutrality rules: FCC to vote to restore net neutrality rules, reversing Donald Trump

      The US Federal Communications Commission will vote to reinstate landmark net neutrality rules and assume new regulatory oversight of broadband internet that was rescinded under former President Donald Trump, the agency's chair said.

      The FCC told advocates on Tuesday of the plan to vote on the final rule at its April 25 meeting.

    • Reuters ☛ FCC to vote to restore net neutrality rules, reversing Trump

      The commission voted 3-2 in October on the proposal to reinstate open internet rules adopted in 2015 and re-establish the commission's authority over broadband internet.

      Net neutrality refers to the principle that internet service providers should enable access to all content and applications regardless of the source, and without favoring or blocking particular products or websites.

    • CNBC ☛ FCC to vote to restore net neutrality rules, reversing Trump

    • US Senate ☛ Markey, Wyden, Blumenthal, Klobuchar Urge FCC to Finalize Strong Net Neutrality Rule

      The lawmakers wrote: “We write in strong support of the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) proposed rule to reclassify broadband internet access service (BIAS) as a telecommunications service under Title II of the Communications Act and reinstate net neutrality protections. As the COVID-19 pandemic demonstrated, broadband is essential. By reclassifying broadband under Title II, the proposed rule will protect the free and open internet, strengthen national security, and provide the FCC with the rightful authority to oversee the country’s most important communications network. As part of this rulemaking, the FCC should ensure that ISPs cannot exploit loopholes to circumvent these protections. We urge the Commission to move swiftly to finalize this rulemaking and protect the free and open internet.”

    • Free Press ☛ FCC Chair Rosenworcel Announces Vote on April 25 to Restore Essential Net Neutrality Protections and Safeguard Internet Users | Free Press

      The vote is scheduled for the agency’s monthly open meeting on April 25. Title II authority allows the FCC to safeguard Net Neutrality and hold companies like AT&T, Comcast and Verizon accountable to internet users across the United States. Later this week, Rosenworcel is expected to release a draft of the proposed rule change.

  Monopolies/Monopsonies

  • The Register UK ☛ Lawsuit claims Meta hobbled Facebook Watch to help Netflix

    Meta allegedly starved its Facebook Watch video service to appease Netflix and sustain its ad monopoly, advertisers suing the biz have claimed.

    The lawsuit [PDF], filed on December 3, 2020, was heavily redacted when the complaint was amended [PDF] with additional details on February 28, 2022. But discovery letter briefs filed with the court last year were unsealed last week and shed light on some of the claims by the plaintiffs that were only cursorily addressed in the initial complaints.

    One such revelation involved Project Ghostbusers, an alleged Meta initiative to intercept data traffic from rival Snapchat to gain competitive intelligence.

  • The Verge ☛ Will the Apple antitrust case lawsuit affect your phone’s security?

    The complaint in the DOJ’s antitrust lawsuit against Apple says that the company “wraps itself in a cloak of privacy, security, and consumer preferences to justify its anti-competitive behavior.” In the press conference announcing the lawsuit, Assistant Attorney General Jonathan Kanter said Apple’s choices have actually made its system “less private and less secure.”

    “Apple selectively compromises privacy and security interests when doing so is in Apple’s own financial interest,” the complaint reads, “such as degrading the security of text messages, offering governments and certain companies the chance to access more private and secure versions of app stores, or accepting billions of dollars a year for choosing Google as its default search engine when more private options are available.”

  • The Register UK ☛ At last, everyone gets the choice to unbundle Teams

    After unbundling Teams last year for those in the European Union and Switzerland, on April 1 Microsoft made the same arrangement available everywhere – no joke.

  • Graham Cluley ☛ Amazon refuses to refund me £700 for iPhone 15 it didn’t deliver

    And then, at 14:34, I received an email telling me that they had been delivered.

    That’s odd, I thought. I didn’t hear the doorbell, I haven’t signed for anything, and I definitely haven’t received an iPhone and case from Amazon.

  • VOA News ☛ Deforestation in Indonesia Intensifies Severe Weather, Climate Change Disasters

    Government officials blamed the floods on heavy rainfall, but environmental groups have cited the disaster as the latest example of deforestation and environmental degradation intensifying the effects of severe weather across Indonesia.

    "This disaster occurred not only because of extreme weather factors, but because of the ecological crisis," Indonesian environmental rights group Indonesian Forum for the Environment wrote in a statement. "If the environment continues to be ignored, then we will continue to reap ecological disasters."

    A vast tropical archipelago stretching across the equator, Indonesia is home to the world's third-largest rainforest, with a variety of endangered wildlife and plants, including orangutans, elephants, giant and blooming forest flowers. Some live nowhere else.

  • Mongabay ☛ Sumatra firefighters on alert as burning heralds start of Riau dry season

    Emergency services in the province have been concentrated to the east of the port city of Dumai, where a fire started in the concession of a palm oil company, according to local authorities.

  • Trademarks

    • Right of Publicity

      • Rolling Stone ☛ George Carlin Estate Reaches Settlement Over AI Comedy [sic] Special

        Back in January, Carlin‘s estate filed a lawsuit against Dudesy for the unauthorized use of the comedian’s copyrighted works. The lawsuit denounced the special as “a piece of computer-generated click-bait which detracts from the value of Carlin’s comedic works and harms his reputation,” adding, “It is a casual theft of a great American artist’s work.”

      • TwinCities Pioneer Press ☛ George Carlin estate settles with podcasters over fake comedy special purportedly generated by AI

        In the settlement agreement filed with a federal court Monday, and a proposed order from both sides that awaits approval from a judge, the podcast outlet Dudesy agrees to permanently take down the special and to refrain from using Carlin’s image voice or likeness in the future without the express written approval of the estate.

        The settlement meets the central demands laid out by the Carlin estate in the lawsuit filed on Jan. 25.

      • Variety ☛ George Carlin Estate Settles Lawsuit Over AI Imitation

        The Dudesy podcast is hosted by Will Sasso and Chad Kultgen. Within a week of the lawsuit, they notified the estate that they had removed the video from their YouTube channel along with any mention of Carlin from their podcast and social media accounts.

        Under the settlement, they agreed to a permanent injunction that bars them from uploading the video again, or from using Carlin’s image, voice or likeness in any platform.

        Kelly Carlin, the comedian’s daughter, issued a scathing statement about the AI-generated special when it was first released, calling it “a poorly-executed facsimile cobbled together by unscrupulous individuals.”

      • ABC ☛ George Carlin estate settles with podcasters over fake comedy special purportedly generated by AI

        The plaintiffs say if that was in fact how it was created — and some listeners have doubted its stated origins — it meant Carlin's copyright was violated.

        The lawsuit was among the first in what is likely to be an increasing number of major legal moves made to fight the regenerated use of celebrity images and likenesses.

      • New York Times ☛ George Carlin’s Estate Reaches Settlement After A.I. Podcast

        As part of the agreement, the two podcast creators, Will Sasso and Chad Kultgen, agreed to permanently remove the comedy special and to never repost it on any platform, according to Josh Schiller, a lawyer for Mr. Carlin’s estate. They also agreed not to use Mr. Carlin’s image, voice or likeness on any platform without approval from the estate, according to court records.

        Mr. Schiller declined to elaborate on whether the settlement included monetary damages, saying that other parts of the settlement were confidential.

      • Hollywood Reporter ☛ George Carlin’s Estate Settles Lawsuit Over AI Special

        The settlement marks what’s believed to be the first resolution to a lawsuit over the misappropriation of a celebrity’s voice or likeness using AI tools. It comes as Hollywood is sounding the alarm over utilization of the tech to exploit the personal brands of actors, musicians and comics, among others, without consent or compensation.

      • Associated Press ☛ George Carlin estate sues over fake comedy special purportedly generated by AI

        “None of the Defendants had permission to use Carlin’s likeness for the AI-generated ‘George Carlin Special,’ nor did they have a license to use any of the late comedian’s copyrighted materials,” the lawsuit says.

      • The Verge ☛ George Carlin’s estate is suing the creator of fake AI comedy special

        The faked special has been widely condemned by Carlin’s fans and family members, who believe it to be a mockery of the late comedian’s work. “My dad spent a lifetime perfecting his craft from his very human life, brain and imagination. No machine will ever replace his genius,” said his daughter Kelly Carlin in a statement. “These AI-generated products are clever attempts at trying to recreate a mind that will never exist again. Let’s let the artist’s work speak for itself.”

      • The Wrap ☛ George Carlin Estate Settles Lawsuit With Podcasters Behind Purported AI Comedy Special

        George Carlin’s family has reached a settlement in their lawsuit against the creators of an unauthorized comedy special they initially claimed, falsely, had been created by artificial intelligence.

        In paperwork filed Tuesday in the US District Court for the Central District of California, attorneys for the Carlin family and for the podcast “Dudesy,” which produced the unauthorized special, confirmed that a settlement had been reached.

      • Free Law Project ☛ Case No. 2:24-cv-00711 : MAIN SEQUENCE, LTD., JEROLD HAMZA as executor for the ESTATE OF GEORGE CARLIN, and JEROLD HAMZA in his individual capacity, Plaintiffs, v. DUDESY, LLC, WILL SASSO, CHAD KULTGEN, and JOHN DOES 1-20, Defendants.

        4. More than 16 years later, Defendants took it upon themselves to “resurrect” Carlin with the aid of artificial intelligence (“AI”). Using Carlin’s original copyrighted works, Dudesy LLC (along with some combination of Will Sasso, Chad Kultgen, and the John Doe defendants) created a script for a fake George Carlin comedy special and generated a sound-alike of George Carlin to “perform” the generated script.

  • Copyrights

    • Techdirt ☛ Forgotten Books And How To Save Them

      His post mentions three questions that “reissue” publishers must answer when looking at some of these neglected books as potential candidates for re-printing:

      " Is the book good (meaning of sufficient merit to justify being associated with the imprint)? Is the book in the public domain or are the rights attainable for a reasonable price? Will enough readers buy the book to recoup costs and, with some luck, earn a profit? "

    • Torrent Freak ☛ Piracy Shield: Influential Consumer Union Attempts to Break AGCOM's Silence

      Telecoms regulator AGCOM has either downplayed, dismissed, or flat-out ignored even the most constructive criticism concerning the Piracy Shield system. How AGCOM will handle a demand for information filed by the National Consumers Union (UNC) remains to be seen, but with its connections to the Ministry of Economic Development, dismissing UNC may be less straightforward. Meanwhile, we're informed Cloudflare won't be blocked in the future...

    • Torrent Freak ☛ Court Denies ISP's Request to Dismiss Music and Movie Piracy Liability Claims

      Internet provider Frontier Communications asked a New York bankruptcy court to dismiss several piracy liability claims brought by movie and music industry companies. Citing a recent Supreme Court decision, the ISP argued that merely providing Internet service shouldn't invoke liability. The court agreed that liability isn't automatic but it denied the ISP's request, ruling that there are other copyright-specific factors at play.

  • Gemini* and Gopher

    • Politics and World Events

      • News Notes (publ. 2024-04-02)

        Yes, Hamas terrorists hide out in hospitals

    • Technology and Free Software

      • Dear LinkedIn, why are you still asking me these questions?

        LinkedIn [1] is still asking me to participate as an expert answering questions [2]—this time, “You're a system architect. How do you decide which programming languages to learn?” And just below that is “Powered by AI (Artificial Intelligence) and the LinkedIn community.”

      • Feeding the Machine

        Via The Verge, it seems that the next iteration of ChatGPT (et al) require more tokens, the basic units used to train the algorithms used to emit images, text, etc. In machine learning, these are often words (at least for text generation), and the usual go-to corpus, Common Crawl, apparently isn't enough. So companies are looking for alternatives: what if we created transcriptions of YouTube videos? What if we're able to generate synthetic data? Facebook touts its massive, closed platform as an advantage, a source of constantly-growing data to train on. And so on.