Leftovers

• Ruben Schade ☛ Verify you’re a human before visiting

  I’m not sure if this is a side-effect of using my own VPNs and a bunch of privacy and security extensions, or that FreeBSD/Firefox is unusual enough to raise eyebrows. But I’ve been triggering these checks constantly, at least half a dozen times a day.

  I’ve decided my time is worth more than this. I agree with Marcel; if your page implements these, I make like a cliché Gainax character and bounce.

• Hackaday ☛ Get Today’s Forecast In Classic 90s Weather Channel Style

  Remember when The Weather Channel actually had weather? It’s been a while, but we sure remember what a boon Local on the 8’s was when getting ready for the day. Not having to wait for the low-information national forecast on the morning shows or putting up with the antics of [Willard Scott] or [Al Roker] was just icing on the cake.

• Ruben Schade ☛ Miku Expo 2024: The Good, Bad, and…

  Miku Expo 2024 has launched in North America, with sell out concerts featuring everyone’s favourite virtual idol.

  On the good side, we have hatahiro’s art for the event which is fscking spectacular! She’s clearly a manga-inspired character, but the Gotham-style landscape and the subtle colouring and shading on her outfit are such a fun nod to American comic books. I would buy a poster or wall scroll of this in a heartbeat, and I’m not even in North America!

• Hackaday ☛ Baseboard Heaters Get Automated

  If you’re lucky enough to have central heating and/or air conditioning, with an automatic thermostat, you probably don’t have to worry too much about the outside temperature. But central HVAC is far from the only way of maintaining temperature in a home. From wood stoves to boilers there are many options depending on your climate and home type, and [Murphy’s Law] has a decentralized baseboard system instead of something centralized. An ESP8266 solution was found that was able to tie them all together.

• Hackaday ☛ Chandra X-ray Observatory Threatened By Budget Cuts

  Launched aboard the Space Shuttle Columbia in July of 1999, the Chandra X-ray Observatory is the most capable space telescope of its kind. As of this writing, the spacecraft is in good health and is returning valuable scientific data. It’s currently in an orbit that extends at its highest point to nearly one-third the distance to the Moon, which gives it an ideal vantage point from which to make its observations, and won’t reenter the Earth’s atmosphere for hundreds if not thousands of years.

• Chris ☛ Quarterly Cup 2024 Q1 Retrospective

• Public Knowledge ☛ Emerging Tech 2024

  Dive into the Future of Technology with Emerging Tech Calling all tech enthusiasts! Join us on Friday, June 14th for Emerging Tech, held at the iconic Capitol Visitors Center in Washington, D.C. This year’s event promises to be bigger and bolder than ever before.

• Tom Greenwood ☛ Can we imagine a positive future?

  It's been a couple of months since I last published a post here on Oxymoron. I took some time away, mostly offline, including a month in India travelling and visiting family. One of my hopes for the trip was to find new perspectives and positive visions for the future.

  Having not been to India for 9 years, I was surprised by the pace of change, with monolithic concrete towers springing up at a staggering pace, enormous infrastructure projects under construction amid the organised chaos, and expensive foreign cars swerving around tuk tuks and cows. The juxtaposition between the old India and the newly emerging India was truly fascinating to witness.

• Cory Dransfeldt ☛ We've stopped making things anyone wants // Cory Dransfeldt

  We destroy the institution and practice of journalism, get bored and leave wreckage. We disrupt traditional industries, increase the precariousness of employment, strip benefits and then raise prices — but hey, you've got a new app, right?

  We treat attention as though it's an inexhaustible input to be mined through (it's not). We do the same thing with everything, written, posted, produced and placed on the [Internet].

• Tommy Palmer ☛ Little Tech

  Cultivating your own digital garden is one part of taking back the [Internet], but we’re still figuring out what the post Twitter community looks like.

  I made friends on Twitter. It was a special place. I miss it. Like an ex that broke all our collective hearts, we’re still working through that grief.

  We need to try and move on - make new relationships, memories, and Internet friends.

• Michael Bburkhardt ☛ Why I’m Not a Fan of Podcasts

  I'm not into podcasts. For me they're mostly time sinks, and not in a good way. I mean no disrespect to all the creators out there who put a lot of time and energy into something that a lot of people enjoy. It's just that they (the podcasts, not the creators) are not my cup of tea. Here's why.

• RIPE ☛ Enhancing the Security of RIPE NCC Access - Recent and Upcoming Changes

  Following security incidents involving RIPE NCC Access accounts earlier this year, the urgency to implement these changes increased, particularly the need to make 2FA mandatory. However, we were not yet technically prepared. Transitioning 2FA from our proprietary layer to Keycloak was necessary, as enabling mandatory 2FA in the former solution would have required substantial effort compared to the straightforward process in Keycloak. In essence, there was no easy solution, and the proper implementation required several weeks of work.

  This critical step was successfully completed last month where we used native Keycloak functionality to handle 2FA and enabled the mandatory option. This milestone significantly enhances the security of our members' accounts, safeguarding their resources and network accessibility.

• Phil Eaton ☛ What makes a great technical blog

  I want to explain why the blogs in My favorite technical blogs are my favorite. That page is solely about non-corporate tech blogs. So this post is too. I'll have to make another list for favorite corporate tech blogs.

• Axios ☛ O.J. Simpson dies of cancer at 76

  Simpson was acquitted after a widely watched trial in the 1990s over the murder of his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend, Ronald L. Goldman, which captivated the American public's attention.

• Standards/Consortia

  • Atlantic Council ☛ Standards and interoperability: The future of the global financial system

    This working paper is a foundational step toward a broader, global dialogue about digital asset standards. The Digital Dollar Project and the Atlantic Council’s GeoEconomics Center hosted a global convening titled “Exploring Central Bank Digital Currency: Evaluating Challenges and Developing International Standards” in November 2023. A version of this paper was released as a working paper to level set the attendees of the conference and provide a call to engage the public and the private sector in standard-setting efforts. This paper was further developed based on feedback from the conference and outreach afterward. The paper now reflects what we learned from our convening and incorporates the most recent developments in standard-setting efforts globally. The rapid growth of central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) worldwide underscores the importance of aligning approaches to their development, adoption, and implementation across technical, regulatory, and governance levels. Today, there is a patchwork of first steps undertaken by both public-and private-sector entities, aimed at achieving different objectives. These efforts have focused on frameworks, guiding principles, and, in some cases, the development of standards for digital assets broadly, as described below. Some are CBDC-specific and others have general applicability in the payments sector. As governments and stakeholders collaborate to establish consistent benchmarks for CBDC development, it’s crucial to identify, organize, and align standard-setting endeavors. This process involves assessing existing efforts to pinpoint gaps and create a foundation for international standards that remain open and flexible for future development and innovation. Through this paper, we show the crucial element of interoperability, which is needed for the furtherance of standards on CBDCs and digital assets. We attempt to build the pressing themes around which standards will have to be addressed through existing and new efforts.

  • SparkFun Electronics ☛ Why L-Band?

    We mention L-band a lot here at SparkFun, from our RTK Facet L-band to our RTK mosaic-x5, which boasts triband reception. Recently on the blog, we discussed the basics of what it is, but didn't get to why we use it - we saved that for today! Buckle in for a history lesson.

    L-band has been crucial in the development of GPS, helping to transform it from a military tool to the ubiquitous navigation aid we rely on today. Today we'll chart the journey of L-band, from its early adoption in GPS systems to its role in the high-tech positioning hardware we use now. We'll explore how this slice of the radio spectrum has been the backbone of GPS, supporting its growth and ensuring that getting lost is, well, a thing of the past. Ready to get a clearer signal on how the L-band has steered the course of GPS history? Let’s dive in!

• Science

  • The Register UK ☛ Majority of US science agency budgets cut for 2024

    By our count, four agencies saw an increase in funding, 11 had their budgets cut, and one was given the same budget as in 2023. The cuts ranged in the single digits, with the deepest cuts hitting the National Science Foundation at 8.2 percent and the Department of Defense's Basic Research at 8.9 percent.

    Science budgets increased overall in 2023 – a year in which legislators were enthusiastic about plans such as the $50-billion-plus CHIPS and Science Act. Even the lowest budget boost in 2023, awarded to NASA Science, delivered 2.4 funding growth. Many agencies enjoyed double-digit budget increases – such as the National Science Foundation at 11.7 percent and National Institute of Standards and Technology at 18 percent.

  • New York Times ☛ Computer Theorist Wins $1 Million Turing Award

    Computers seem methodical, deliberate and utterly predictable. But they can also behave in ways that are completely random. As researchers build increasingly powerful machines, one key question is: What role will randomness play?

    On Wednesday, the Association for Computing Machinery, the world’s largest society of computing professionals, announced that this year’s Turing Award will go to Avi Wigderson, an Israeli-born mathematician and theoretical computer scientist who specializes in randomness.

  • Michael Bburkhardt ☛ Eclipse Photos

    Luckily, I had brought with me a set of stacking neutral density filters. ND16 + ND1000 for a total filter factor of 64000 (just shy of 16 stops). Unfortunately, the only lens these filters fit is my little Fujinon 27mm f/2.8 prime! So the sun is teeny in the frame.

  • Science Alert ☛ NASA Spots Surfboard-Shaped Object Speeding Past The Moon

    What a photo opportunity!

  • Science Alert ☛ Scientists Create Levitating Graphite Plate For Ultra-Sensitive Quantum Sensors

  • Science Alert ☛ Four Jurassic Fossils Help Explain How We Got Our Ears And Teeth

    "A critical missing link."

  • Federal News Network ☛ Navy unveils new strategy for science, technology

    Navy Secretary Carlos del Toro unveils partnership involving the Office of Naval Research, Naval Postgraduate School, U.S Naval Academy and Naval War College.

• Education

  • Federal News Network ☛ Army considering cuts to education programs

    The Army Credentialing Assistance program that gives soldiers up to $4,000 a year to pursue industry-recognized credentials has been “met with catastrophic success,” Army Secretary Christine Wormuth told lawmakers on Wednesday. The program, however, is still in its pilot stages, and Army officials recognized they might need to curb its yearly costs.

• Hardware

  • India Times ☛ Meta debuts new generation of AI chip

    The new Meta Training and Inference Accelerator (MTIA) chip is part of a broad custom silicon effort at the company that includes looking at other hardware systems too. Beyond building the chips and hardware, Meta has made significant investments in developing the software necessary to harness the power of its infrastructure in the most efficient way.

  • AnandTech ☛ Google Develops In-House Arm 'Axion' CPU for Datacenters

    Google's Axion processor is based on the Arm Neoverse V2 (Arm v9) platform, which is Arm's current-generation design for high-performance server CPUs, and is already employed in other chips such as NVIDIA's Grace and Amazon's Graviton4. Within Google, Axion is aimed at a wide variety of workloads, including web and app servers, data analytics, microservices, and AI training. Google claims that the Axion processors boast up to 50% higher performance and up to 60% better energy efficiency compared to current-generation x86-based processors, as well as offer a 30% higher performance compared to competing Arm-based CPUs for datacenters. Though as is increasingly common for the cryptic cloud side of Google's business, least for now the company isn't specifying what processors they're comparing Axion to in these metrics.

  • [Repeat] Security Week ☛ Researchers Resurrect Spectre v2 Attack Against Intel CPUs

    The VUSec cybersecurity group at the VU Amsterdam university in the Netherlands has presented a new variation of the Spectre v2 attack targeting Intel processors.

    When the Spectre and Meltdown CPU attacks were disclosed in 2018, the variant that was named the most dangerous was Spectre v2 or Spectre BTI (Branch Target Injection). CPU makers and others have been developing hardware and software mitigations, but researchers keep finding new ways to conduct these attacks.

  • The Register UK ☛ Google joins the custom CPU crowd with Arm-based Axion chips

    Now Google has seen fit to build a custom Arm server microprocessor of its own.

    Specifically, Axion is based on the British chip designer's Neoverse V2 design, which uses the standard ARMv9 architecture and instruction set. However, beyond this, details such as core count, process tech, cache or memory configuration remain unspecified. With that said, a rendering of the chip does imply a monolithic design.

  • Hackaday ☛ Homebrew Network Card With No CPU

    A modern normal network card will have onboard an Ethernet controller which, of course, is a pre-programmed microcontroller. Not only does it do the things required to keep a computer on the network, it can even save the primary CPU from having to do certain common tasks required for communicating. But not [Ivan’s]. His homebrew computer — comprised of 7 colorful PCBs — now has an eighth card. You guessed it. That card connects to 10BASE-T Ethernet.

  • Hackaday ☛ Synesthetic Clock Doesn’t Require Synesthesia

    We often think of synesthetes as those people who associate say, colors with numbers. But the phenomenon can occur with any of the senses. Simply put, when one sense is activated, synesthesia causes one to experience an unrelated, activated sense. Sounds trippy, no?

• Health/Nutrition/Agriculture

  • Victor Kropp ☛ 100 push-ups a day challenge

    In March 2024, I’ve challenged myself to do 100 (one hundred) push-ups a day every day for a month. It was a second attempt after I failed to do so in January due to illnesses and consequently poor fitness.

    Here’s what I’ve learned.

  • Ruben Schade ☛ Nick Jordan reviews Australian instant coffees

    Nicholas Jordan and his taste testing team of taste testers tasted and tested various Australian instant coffees. Taste test!

  • Pro Publica ☛ After Imprisoning Patients, Idaho OKs New Mental Health Facility

    After decades of detaining psychiatric patients in maximum security prison cells, Idaho is finally on the verge of building a secure mental health facility that would house those with serious mental illness more humanely.

    Idaho Gov. Brad Little on Monday signed into law a bill, passed with bipartisan support, to allocate $25 million to construct a facility. It would have 26 beds, with 16 dedicated to patients who display violent behaviors and whose mental illness is so severe that they are put into involuntary treatment by court order.

  • Pro Publica ☛ How Toddler Milk Ads Prompted a Formula Marketing Investigation

    When my sons were young, ads promoting formula made especially for toddlers appeared unsolicited in my mailbox. I found them curious. My kids drank cow’s milk when needed. It cost less and worked just fine.

    Little more than a decade later, my questions about the product would fuel reporting that took me half a world away, to Thailand, where public health officials were trying to stop similar formula marketing. I found they’d encountered an adversary that many Americans, including myself, might find surprising: the U.S. government.

  • Lee Yingtong Li ☛ WHO and CDC weight-for-age charts with additional centile lines

    Below we present weight-for-age charts in a standardised format based on data from the World Health Organization (birth to 2 years) and United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (2 to 18 years). A full complement of centile lines is provided, namely the 3rd, 10th, 25th, 50th, 75th, 90th and 97th centiles, as is typically used in medical applications.

  • Off Guardian ☛ What if it’s all long-term conditioning?

    I wrote this commentary in response to Todd Hayen’s article “Did the Covid PsyOp fail?”, to which I would add a few remarks. I agree with Hayen: something about the alleged failure of the “Covid PsyOp” feels strange. It “feels” fishy. But what could that be? I will explain this below.

  • France24 ☛ French govt presents bill allowing terminally ill adults to take lethal medication

    France’s government presented a bill Wednesday to allow adults with terminal cancer or other incurable illness to take lethal medication, as public demands grow for legal options for aid in dying.

  • New Yorker ☛ The Dumbphone Boom Is Real

    A burgeoning cottage industry caters to beleaguered smartphone users desperate to escape their screens.

  • Science Alert ☛ Obesity Is Complex: How Drugs Like Ozempic Can Reinforce Fat Stigma

    They might address biology, but what about society?

  • Science Alert ☛ Keto Diet May Slow Down Alzheimer's, Mouse Study Reveals

    But don't change your eating habits just yet.

  • Science Alert ☛ Repetitive Blast Waves in Military Explosives Training Might Trigger Leaky Guts

    Even from a 'safe' exposure distance.

  • PHR ☛ Arizona and Florida Abortion Bans the Latest Assault on Reproductive Justice: PHR

    Recent state supreme court decisions in Arizona and Florida that uphold dangerous and draconian abortion bans seriously threaten the health of pregnant people and represent the latest attack on reproductive justice in the United States, Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) said today. 

  • Democracy Now ☛ As Arizona Reinstates 1864 Abortion Ban, Doctors & Organizers Fight Back to Preserve Access

    In Arizona, Republican lawmakers have blocked efforts by Democrats to repeal an 1864 law — first written before women had the right to vote and recently revived by the state’s Supreme Court — that bans nearly all abortions under threat of criminal penalties including jail time. To respond, we host a trio of reproductive justice advocates in Arizona. Dr. DeShawn Taylor, an OB-GYN physician, abortion provider and the CEO of the only Black woman-operated abortion clinic in Arizona, emphasizes that her practice “will continue to provide abortions until we are made to stop,” but warns that in the future “abortions likely will not happen in Arizona because of those criminal penalties.” Meanwhile, organizers like Chris Love and Alejandra Pablos are fighting back. Love is a spokesperson for Arizona for Abortion Access, a coalition of reproductive rights organizations working to put a constitutional amendment on abortion on the state’s upcoming November ballot. The petition for the proposed ballot measure is still collecting signatures. “We know what we want, and we want people to have the care that they need,” concludes Pablos, who organizes for reproductive, racial and immigrant rights.

  • Science Alert ☛ Organic Material Detected in Eggshell Fossils Could Unlock Dinosaur Secrets

    A scientific windfall.

  • Science Alert ☛ Breakthrough Parkinson's Gene Discovery Sheds Light on Evolutionary Origin

  • Science Alert ☛ Experimental Treatment For Spinal Cord Injury Shows Improvement in 7 of 10 Patients

    It looks ever more promising.

  • Latvia ☛ 'Impulse buying' booze online could be restricted in Latvia

    A proposal by the Ministry of Health and medical experts to ban alcohol sales on the Internet did not win the support of the majority of the committee in charge on Wednesday, 10 April. Instead, MPs agreed on a compromise that would exclude impulse purchases of alcoholic beverages over the Internet, Latvian Television reported on April 11.

  • Science Alert ☛ Brain Acidity Linked With Multiple Neurological Disorders

    A common underlying problem for many diseases?

• Proprietary/Artificial Intelligence (AI)

  • AccessNow ☛ Joint statement: Finding the good in the first UN General Assembly resolution on artificial intelligence

    We, the undersigned civil society organizations, welcome the United States-led United Nations (UN) General Assembly resolution “Seizing the opportunities of safe, secure and trustworthy artificial intelligence systems for sustainable development.”

  • The Straits Times ☛ Activists press Fashion Company Apple to oppose Vietnam's detainments of climate experts

    Apple was pressed on Thursday to take action on Vietnam's detention of climate experts, with activist organizations saying it should weigh in given that the country has become a key manufacturing hub for the iPhone maker.

  • Techdirt ☛ Company At Center Of Sports Illustrated, Gannett ‘AI’ Content Scandals Continues To Fail Upward

    So you might recall that both Gannett and Sports Illustrated were caught recently creating fake, “AI” generated journalists to create fake, plagiarism-prone “journalism.” In both instances the kind of brunchlord executives that fail upward at these kind of companies thought it would be great to replace real human journalism with automated junk — without informing their actual human employees.

• Security

  • Privacy/Surveillance

    • EFF ☛ Virtual Reality and the 'Virtual Wall'

      EFF Director of Investigations Dave Maass recently gave a lightning talk at University of Nevada, Reno's annual XR Meetup explaining how virtual reality, perhaps ironically, has allowed us to better understand the reality of border surveillance.

    • AccessNow ☛ Joint statement – The EU Migration Pact: a dangerous regime of migrant surveillance

      The EU New Pact on Migration and Asylum ushers in a deadly new era of digital surveillance, expanding the digital infrastructure for an EU border regime based on the criminalisation and punishment of migrants and racialised people. 

    • Privacy International ☛ The EU Migration Pact: a dangerous regime of migrant surveillance

    • Privacy International ☛ PI seeks to inform report on Hey Hi (AI) and racial discrimination of the UN Special Rapporteur on racism

    • Reason ☛ Republicans Split on Whether FBI Should Be Able To Snoop Without a Warrant

      A Section 702 reauthorization moving through Congress could actually weaken privacy protections.

    • RFA ☛ In China, drones, social control media monitor foreign journalists: report

      More than 80% of journalists say they have faced harassment and violence while doing their jobs.

    • Scoop News Group ☛ Renewal of controversial surveillance law screeches to a halt in the House

      Lawmakers defeated a procedure allowing debate on extending Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.

    • New York Times ☛ After Trump Broadside, FISA Bill Collapses in the House

      Right-wing lawmakers blocked a move by Speaker Johnson to extend a key foreign intelligence surveillance tool after former President Donald J. Trump urged lawmakers to “kill” the law underlying it.

• Defence/Aggression

  • YLE ☛ McDonald's stabbing suspect held in remand custody

    The man, in his 30s, is suspected of manslaughter.

  • Digital Music News ☛ US Senator Says Fentanylware (TikTok) Divestiture Period Could Be Extended to One Year — Putting a ‘Ban’ Into 2025

    The chair of the US Senate Commerce Committee said that the Fentanylware (TikTok) divestiture period could be extended to one year, pushing a potential ‘ban’ into 2025.

  • The Straits Times ☛ India, China should urgently address ‘prolonged situation’ on borders, Modi says

    Ties between India and China have been strained since troops of both countries clashed in 2020.

  • RFA ☛ Philippines’ Marcos denies ‘gentleman’s agreement’ with Beijing over South China Sea

    President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. says he is ‘horrified’ by the idea that his predecessor compromised Philippine sovereignty.

  • RFA ☛ China's Pooh-tin Jinping meets former Taiwanese president

    Xi reasserts Beijing's claim on Taiwan amid reports of a Chinese smear campaign during 2024 presidential poll.

  • The Straits Times ☛ Explainer: Why are China and Philippines tensions heating up over South China Sea?

    MANILA - An escalating diplomatic row and recent maritime run-ins between China and the Philippines, a U.S. treaty ally, have made the highly strategic South China Sea a potential flashpoint between Washington and Beijing.

  • The Straits Times ☛ China says EU subsidy probes interfere with China, Europe cooperation

    BEIJING - Subsidy investigations started by the European Union interfere with the mutually beneficial cooperation between China and Europe, and China resolutely opposes them, a Chinese commerce ministry official said.

  • teleSUR ☛ No Forces Can Separate Taiwan From China: President Xi

    Only as part of one family can mutual understanding be enhanced, the Chinese leader said.

  • The Strategist ☛ Modernising defence must respect international humanitarian law

    The integration of artificial intelligence and autonomous systems is essential to ensuring that Australia is capable of defending its interests now and into the future [...]

  • New York Times ☛ Trudeau to Testify in Foreign Election Interference Inquiry

    Prime Minister Justin Trudeau testified that past elections had been “free and fair,” but intelligence reports said meddling by China was “sophisticated” and “pervasive.”

  • Techdirt ☛ Judge Tells Corrections Officers To ‘Suck It Up’ If They Can’t Handle An Endless Stream Of Executions

    We’ve long known no one cares what happens to people who are incarcerated.

  • France24 ☛ Greek Solution: Greece's far right gathers steam before EU elections

    With two months to go before the European elections, the Greek far right continues to make headway since ultranationalist parties achieved record scores in the last legislative elections. The Greek Solution party, which currently has only one MEP in the European Parliament, continues its ascension in the polls.

  • NYPost ☛ Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds signs law allowing police to arrest certain migrants

    "Those who come into our country illegally have broken the law, yet Biden refuses to deport them. This bill gives Iowa law enforcement the power to do what he is unwilling to do: enforce immigration laws already on the books."

  • The Kent Stater ☛ University publishes Annual Security Report, drives conversation about rape culture

    The university’s release of the 2023 Annual Security Report has started critical conversations within the community. Under the Clery Act, college campuses are required to publish an Annual Security Report each year. The purpose of the act is to provide transparency around campus crime, policies and procedures.

  • Hong Kong Free Press ☛ Firefighters battle blaze at Hong Kong construction site for more than 24 hours

    A fire that broke out on Tuesday at a Tin Shui Wai construction site has raged on for more than 24 hours, as firefighters continued battling the blaze on Wednesday evening. Firefighters entered the site’s basement level on Wednesday morning.

  • New York Times ☛ Hamas Leader Ismail Haniyeh Defiant After Israeli Strike Kills 3 of His Sons

    Israel confirmed the killing of the sons of the Hamas political leader, Ismail Haniyeh, and said all three were Hamas military operatives.

  • France24 ☛ 🔴 Live: Biden promises Israel 'ironclad' support against Iran reprisals

    US President Joe Biden on Wednesday promised "ironclad" support for Israel as Iran threatens reprisals over a strike that leveled an Iranian consulate building in Damascus and killed two generals. Follow our liveblog for all the latest developments on the Israel-Hamas war.

  • Atlantic Council ☛ Four ways Iran could retaliate against Israel’s latest strike

    The question is whether Iran most wants to meaningfully deter Israel or to avoid regional escalation—because Tehran probably cannot do both.

  • New York Times ☛ Biden Says Netanyahu Is Making ‘a Mistake’ in Gaza

    In an interview recorded last week, the president said again that an Israeli strike on aid workers in Gaza was an outrage.

  • New York Times ☛ Iran Says Israel ‘Will Be Punished’ for Strike in Syria

    The leadership of Iran has repeatedly vowed to avenge the deadly April 1 strike on an Iranian Embassy building in Damascus.

  • New York Times ☛ Israel’s Security Depends on Rafah

    The potential gains in future security for Israelis and in regional peace make the risk of attacking the city worth it.

  • CS Monitor ☛ Biden and Japan’s Kishida bolster defense ties to counter China

    Amid tension with China over the future of Taiwan, part of U.S. strategy is a major upgrade of security ties with Japan.

  • The Straits Times ☛ With eyes on China, US and Japan vow new security collaboration

    Biden stressed an unwavering US commitment to defend Japan using its full range of capabilities.

  • The Straits Times ☛ Myanmar troops retreat to Thai border bridge after days of fighting

    Thailand’s military has stepped up security on its side of the border.

  • teleSUR ☛ Israeli Attacks Kills Hamas Leader Ismail Haniyeh’s Sons

    The Israeli security service Shin Bet and the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said in a joint statement that "an aircraft struck three Hamas military operatives."

  • Defence Web ☛ Rwanda’s genocide could have been prevented: 3 things the international community should have done

    As the world marks the 30th anniversary of the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi ethnic group in Rwanda, it is important to understand what the international community could have done to prevent it. In one hundred days an estimated 600,000 to 800,000 Rwandans were killed.

  • AntiWar ☛ The Peril of Forgetting Guantánamo

    Guantánamo? Remind me, what’s that? Oh, wait, how could I have forgotten? It’s that all-American offshore prison of injustice, opened in January 2002, that became the holding area for this country’s prisoners in its “war on terror,” many of whom had been tortured at CIA “black sites” elsewhere on the planet.

  • Russia, Belarus, and War in Ukraine

    • YLE ☛ Stubb: Finland will be a loyal, constructive, responsible Nato partner

      Finnish President Alexander Stubb's visit to Brussels marked the country's one-year anniversary of joining the alliance.

    • France24 ☛ Top Navalny ally Volkov says 'very clear' attack on him was ordered by Kremlin

      FRANCE 24 spoke to Leonid Volkov, former chief of staff to the late Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny. On March 12, Volkov was assaulted in the Lithuanian capital Vilnius, where he has lived in exile since 2019. "I was attacked by someone with a hammer in the dark in front of my house," Volkov said, explaining that he was left with a badly injured leg and broken hand. "It's very clear for me that [the attack] has been an order from [the] Kremlin", he added, saying that "every evidence that I have shows this". The Russian dissident also explained that he receives online threats "pretty much daily".

• Environment

  • Pro Publica ☛ Climate Change Is Already Forcing People From Their Homes

    Another great American migration is now underway, this time forced by the warming that is altering how and where people can live. For now, it’s just a trickle. But in the corners of the country’s most vulnerable landscapes — on the shores of its sinking bayous and on the eroding bluffs of its coastal defenses — populations are already in disarray.

    A couple of miles west of downtown Slidell, Louisiana, and just upstream from the broad expanse of Lake Pontchartrain — the 40-by-24-mile-wide brackish estuary separating what is now the mainland from New Orleans — a five-room shotgun house sits on a plot of marshy lawn near the edge of Liberty Bayou. Colette Pichon Battle’s mother had been born in that house. Colette, bright-eyed and ambitious, devoutly Catholic, a force on the volleyball court, was raised in the house until the day she left for college. The family’s very identity had grown from the waters of the marsh around it. From a humble rectangle of wood, framed onto brick stanchions that kept it hovering several feet above the ground, shaded by the long beards of Spanish moss hanging from the limbs of towering oaks and a hardy pine, a family was born. Its Creole heritage near the acre of low-lying land goes deeper than the trees, deeper than the United States as a nation, to around 1770. Those roots withstood the tests of centuries: slavery, war and more than their share of storms.

  • Energy/Transportation

    • New York Times ☛ Driven by China, Coal Plants Made a Comeback in 2023

      The country, along with India, is still building power stations that run on coal. Elsewhere, retirements of older plants have slowed.

    • France24 ☛ US officials probing Boeing whistleblower claims on 787 airliner

      Federal aviation authorities are investigating claims by a Boeing engineer that the 787 Dreamliner suffers from assembly defects that threaten safety, US officials said Tuesday.

• Finance

  • PC Mag ☛ After Geek Squad Layoffs, Best Buy to Tap AI for Customer Support [Ed: It is not customer support, it is gaslighting]

    Best Buy plans on launching an AI-powered customer support service, a week after conducting mass layoffs of Geek Squad employees.

    Best Buy is developing the project using Google's Gemini AI models, with the goal of launching the AI-powered "self-service" customer support option in late summer. According to the retailer, the tool promises to "greatly improve the experience for Best Buy customers."

    In a post on Google's blog, a Best Buy executive adds that the upcoming customer support service will act as a "gen AI-powered virtual assistant," suggesting it'll be similar to interacting with Gemini or OpenAI's ChatGPT.

  • Amazon Phases Out Developer Incentives, Embraces AI to Revitalize Alexa's Competitive Edge

    AMZN will discontinue its Alexa Developer Rewards Program, which previously paid creators of popular Alexa applications monthly, by the end of June.

  • Latvia ☛ Another Latvian collector coin on the way

    Tuesday, April 16 will see the Latvian central bank (Latvijas Banka, LB) issuing another in its series of coins for collectors. This one is named 'Across the Times' and is dedicated the the Ethnographic Open-air Museum of Latvia.

  • The Sour Taste of Entitlement

    So this person, let's call them Jo, was hungry and had no money. Walking the streets, they come across a square where a group of people are working in a communal open kitchen, serving delicious hot meals free of charge.

  • YLE ☛ Finnwatch: Tax loopholes cost state €1bn a year

    "Our tax system is full of loopholes that are chiefly used by corporations and the wealthiest and most profitable business owners," a Finnwatch tax expert says.

  • YLE ☛ Alko profits slump

    Finland reserves some types of alcohol sales for the state-owned Alko chain.

  • YLE ☛ IL: Finnish YouTuber faces charges over €80k in unpaid taxes

    Beata Rodas is suspected of failure to pay more than 80,000 euros in taxes, newspaper Iltalehti reports.

  • RFA ☛ Fitch downgrades outlook on China to negative

    The ratings agency cites a struggling property sector and weak consumer spending

  • France24 ☛ Fitch downgrades China’s sovereign credit outlook, citing economic uncertainties

    Ratings agency Fitch said Wednesday it had downgraded China's sovereign credit outlook to negative, citing increased risks to the country's public finances, in a move Beijing swiftly called "regrettable".

  • Reason ☛ Inflation Is So Back

    Consumer prices rose 0.4 percent in March and the annual inflation rate ticked up to 3.5 percent, the highest rate seen since September.

• AstroTurf/Lobbying/Politics

  • New York Times ☛ At the Japan State Dinner, Jill Biden Turns to Oscar de la Renta

    The first lady was glittering in crystals — four days after Melania Trump stepped out in pink at a Palm Beach fund-raiser. Together, the pictures offer a harbinger of what is to come.

  • European Commission ☛ Commissioner Johansson's Plenary Speech on the Pact on Migration and Asylum

    Migration is about human beings, men, women and children.

  • Reason ☛ Social Media, Freedom of Speech, and Common Carriers: Response to Adam Candeub

    If adopted by the Supreme Court, Prof. Candeub's approach would be a grave menace to freedom of speech.

  • New York Times ☛ Celebrating Eid in NYC: Looks from Hasan Minhaj, Ramy Youssef and More

    Hasan Minhaj and Ramy Youssef joined hundreds of Muslims dressed to the nines at a morning prayer gathering in New York for the Eid al-Fitr holiday.

  • New York Times ☛ South Korean Election to Set Tone for Remainder of President’s Term

    The vote on Wednesday was a big test for President Yoon Suk Yeol, who has forged closer ties with the United States and Japan but whose domestic agenda has stalled.

  • The Straits Times ☛ Lame duck period looms for South Korea’s Yoon as ruling party awaits election defeat

    SEOUL - With exit polls on April 10 indicating a significant election defeat for South Korea’s ruling People Power Party (PPP), analysts have warned that President Yoon Suk-yeol’s administration may be crippled in the National Assembly and be unable to push through policies.

  • The Straits Times ☛ North Korea leader Kim Jong Un says now is the time to be ready for war: KCNA

    North Korea has stepped up weapons development in recent years under Mr Kim.

  • France24 ☛ As South Korea votes, threat from North looms over frontline island of Yeonpyeong

    As South Koreans head to the polls for a parliamentary election, the country's worsening ties with North Korea are high on the agenda. The small South Korean island of Yeonpyeong is located about 12 kilometres from the North Korean coast. In January, Pyongyang fired live artillery into nearby waters, forcing islanders into air raid shelters. The island could be first in the line of fire if conflict breaks out between the North and South. FRANCE 24's Constantin Simon, Hwang Se-jeong and Justin McCurry report from Yeonpyeong.

  • The Straits Times ☛ South Korea opposition wins landslide parliamentary vote in blow to Yoon

    But it is unlikely they have secured a super majority that could break presidential vetoes.

  • The Straits Times ☛ South Korean prime minister offers to resign after party defeat: Yonhap

    His party was trounced by the opposition in parliamentary elections and failed to win back a majority.

  • France24 ☛ South Korea's president promises reforms after opposition victory

    South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol promised "reform" and the head of his ruling party resigned on Thursday after a disastrous election increased the opposition's stranglehold on parliament.

  • France24 ☛ South Korea opposition wins landslide victory in parliamentary vote

    South Korea's liberal opposition parties scored a landslide victory in a parliamentary election held on Wednesday, dealing a resounding blow to President Yoon Suk Yeol and his conservative party but likely falling just short of a super majority.

  • France24 ☛ South Koreans go to the polls for parliamentary election in test for President Yoon

    South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol faces a crucial test Wednesday, as voters go to the polls for a parliamentary election that could determine whether he becomes a lame duck for his remaining three years in office.

  • France24 ☛ China's Pooh-tin meets with Taiwan’s former president Ma in Beijing

    Chinese President Pooh-tin Jinping on Wednesday met with Taiwan’s former leader Ma Ying-jeou in Beijing, state media said, in a rare display of cross-strait dialogue.

  • Hong Kong Free Press ☛ China’s leader Pooh-tin Jinping tells Taiwan ex-president Ma Ying-jeou that ‘no force can separate us’

    By Matthew Walsh Chinese President Pooh-tin Jinping said Wednesday that “external interference” would not stop Beijing from unifying with Taiwan, as he met the self-ruled island’s former leader in a rare display of cross-strait dialogue.

  • New York Times ☛ Why Pooh-tin Jinping is Meeting Ma Ying-jeou, Taiwan’s Ex-President

    China is using talks between its top leader and Ma Ying-jeou to signal a willingness to engage with Taiwan — but only on its terms.

  • New York Times ☛ Biden and Kishida Agree to Tighten Military and Economic Ties to Counter China

    President Biden is hosting Japan’s prime minister, Fumio Kishida, for a state visit as part of a broad diplomatic outreach.

  • Misinformation/Disinformation/Propaganda

    • Techdirt ☛ Elon Claims Twitter’s Traffic Is At An All-Time High Because He Can’t Be Bothered To Understand The Misleading Data People Show Him

      Elon Musk is like the most gullible confirmation bias sucker who has ever existed. If you present him with literally anything that confirms his priors, no matter how obviously bullshit, he’ll run with it as truth. His Twitter feed is just non-stop stupid people feeding him nonsense, and when he sees something he agrees with, he immediately promotes it, no questions asked.

• Censorship/Free Speech

  • Silicon Angle ☛ Meta is facing a backlash over its cautious policy on political content

    Hundreds of Instagram creators today issued an open letter expressing their concern with Meta Platforms Inc.’s recent policy of limiting political content on the platform. In February, Meta announced new policies regarding limiting political content, given this year will see a U.S. presidential election and a groundbreaking number of elections around the world.

• Freedom of Information / Freedom of the Press

  • Hong Kong Free Press ☛ Hong Kong activist tells national security trial he never spoke to or met media mogul Jimmy Lai

    A Hong Kong activist allegedly instructed by media mogul Jimmy Lai to call for international sanctions against the city and China has testified that he never spoke to or met the mogul.

  • JURIST ☛ Hong Kong deports Reporters Without Borders representative sent to monitor Jimmy Lai’s trial

    Reporters Without Borders (RSF) stated on Wednesday that Hong Kong authorities detained its representative Aleksandra Bielakowska for six hours and later deported her from the territory. Bielakowska was about to attend the trial of Jimmy Lai, the founder of Apple Daily.

  • New York Times ☛ Hong Kong Detains and Expels Journalism Advocate, Group Says

    A representative of Reporters Without Borders was attempting to monitor the national security trial of a media tycoon, Jimmy Lai.

  • IT Wire ☛ Assange case: Albanese eagerly grabs at crumbs from Biden

    In the same way that a hungry traveller who has been wandering in the wilderness without food or water for months would grab at any sustenance, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has leapt upon a throwaway remark from US President Joe Biden about freedom for WikiLeaks founder and publisher Julian Assange.

    Between now and then, one has no doubt that Albanese would be listening with pricked ears for any more mumbled comments from Biden on the subject.

• Civil Rights/Policing

  • Techdirt ☛ Prison Telecom Monopolies & Michigan Counties Sued For Kickback Deals That Banned In-Person Visits To Boost Phone And Video Revenues

    However terrible telecom monopolies are in the free world, they’re arguably worse in prisons. For decades, journalists and researchers have outlined how a select number of prison telecom giants like Securus have enjoyed a cozy, government-kickback based monopoly over prison phone and teleconferencing services, resulting sky high rates (upwards of $14 per minute at some prisons) for inmate families.

  • RFERL ☛ Imprisoned Kazakh Activist Launches Hunger Strike Over Medical Assistance

    Imprisoned Kazakh activist Aigerim Tileuzhanova has launched a hunger strike to protest against what she called a "violation of her rights" in a correctional colony in the Almaty region, her colleague Marat Turymbetov said on April 10.

• Internet Policy/Net Neutrality

  • Tedium ☛ The Post-SEO Era

    What happens when a news site launches that basically ignores the SEO orthodoxy? Easy: They do fascinating stuff. Hence, Robinhood’s Sherwood.

  • APNIC ☛ APNIC membership hits 10,000

    On 29 February 2024, APNIC welcomed its 10,000th Member.

  • [Repeat] APNIC ☛ Email is getting harder to self-host. Or is it?

    About new email deliverability guidelines for Google, Yahoo, and Outlook.

• Digital Restrictions (DRM)

  • Techdirt ☛ 30 States Considering ‘Right To Repair’ Reforms in 2024

    Oregon recently became the seventh state to pass “right to repair” legislation making it easier, cheaper, and more convenient to repair technology you own. The bill’s passage came on the heels of legislation passed in Massachusetts (in 2012 and 2020), Colorado (in 2022 and 2023), New York, Minnesota, Maine and California.

  • The Register UK ☛ We never agreed to only buy HP ink, say printer owners • The Register

Monopolies/Monopsonies

• MIT Technology Review ☛ Why China’s regulators are softening on its tech sector

• Patents

  • JUVE ☛ Recordati creates new head IP counsel role with major Zentiva hire [Ed: Fake news or marketing/spam disguised as news, i.e. the usual from JUVE?]

    Kristin Cooklin has moved into the newly created role of group head IP counsel at Italy-based pharmaceutical company, Recordati.

  • JUVE ☛ LOGEX hires legal counsel from Pinsent Masons in Amsterdam [Ed: This is definitely PR spam because the role is not even newsworthy]

    Maud de Haas (28) is now part of the LOGEX team in a legal counsel role, following a two-year stint at the Amsterdam office of Pinsent Masons. LOGEX, which is also situated in the Dutch capital, specialises in transforming healthcare data into insights. She joined the team on 8 April.

  • Unified Patents ☛ DKR Consulting e-commerce patent monopoly challenged

    On April 9, 2024, Unified Patents filed an ex parte reexamination proceeding against U.S. Patent 11,455,678, owned and asserted by DKR Consulting, LLC. The ‘678 patent monopoly relates to the generation and distribution of widgets for commerce over the internet.

  • Dennis Crouch/Patently-O ☛ Using Hey Hi (AI) in your Patent Practice

    Over the past year I’ve been investigating various generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI) tools for assisting patent monopoly attorneys in their practice.  I have a strong belief that these tools and their progeny are now fixtures in our legal environment and are being used to both improve efficient delivery of legal services and to also improve the quality of those services.  Of course the generative creativity of our LLMs go hand in hand with hidden false narratives or hallucinations. Vendors are stepping up to thread the needle here: providing valuable GenAI tools while limiting false story telling.  As we move forward some of the struggle will be a focus on how much the attorney needs to know about how the GenAI works in order to use it responsibly.

  • Dennis Crouch/Patently-O ☛ Docketing Nightmare: CPA Global wins Despite their Docketing Error; Law Firm still on the hook for Missed Deadline

    In a recent unpublished decision, the Georgia Court of Appeals affirmed summary judgment in favor of CPA Global Support Services, LLC (“CPA”) (now part of Clarivate) against a claim of negligent misrepresentation brought by inventor James C. Robinson, M.D. and his patent monopoly holding company (Spectrum Spine).  Robinson’s firm FisherBroyles had relied upon the dates erroneously entered by CPA and missed the national stage filing deadlines.  The parallel case against FisherBroyles is still pending in Georgia state court. Robinson v. CPA Global Support Services, LLC, No. A24A0405 (Ga. Ct. App. Apr. 8, 2024). CPA vs Robinson.

    The case serves as an important reminder about the limitations on vendor liability for negligent misrepresentation claims in the absence of contractual privity — and how attorneys are often stuck in the middle.

  • Software Patents

    • Unified Patents ☛ Open Source Zone continues to enjoy wide industry support after 5 years

      A recent article discussed how Open Invention Network (OIN), The 'Linux' Foundation, Microsoft and a growing list of companies have renewed their support of Unified’s Open Source Zone for the fifth consecutive year.

    • India Times ☛ Amazon owes $525 million in cloud-storage patent fight: US jury

      Amazon Web Services, the world's largest cloud-service provider, owes tech company Kove $525 million for violating its patent rights in data-storage technology, an Illinois federal jury said on Wednesday.

      The jury determined that AWS infringed three Kove patents covering technology that Kove said had become "essential" to the ability of Amazon's cloud-computing arm to "store and retrieve massive amounts of data."

    • Futurism ☛ Roku Files Patent for Plastering Ads on Top of Anything on Your TV

      That's right: whether you're using your gaming console or watching cable, this potential system could plaster an ad on top of whatever you're using your Roku TV to look at — so long as it's hooked up with an HDMI cable.

      According to a patent application filed in August and published in November, the tech would shove ads onto your screen whenever it detects a break in activity. Pause your game or movie, for example, and the Roku TV would seize the moment to overlay a "relevant ad."

      Should this actually be implemented, Roku will have finally conquered one of its major "blind spots," as Lowpass puts it: until now, its TVs haven't been able to "see" what you're doing on your HDMI devices.

• Trademarks

  • Right of Publicity

    • Futurism ☛ Those "AI Influencers" Are Deepfaking Fake Faces Onto Real Women's Bodies Without Permission

      The humans behind the accounts of "virtual influencers," or AI-generated characters that masquerade as the real thing on social media, are now pasting fake faces onto the bodies of real models and sex workers, 404 Media reports.

      It's a particularly egregious new development in the burgeoning industry of AI-generated models, who've been taking over platforms like Instagram and TikTok. Many of these accounts link to OnlyFans competitors, offering fans paid subscriptions.

• Copyrights

  • YLE ☛ Early radio helped make composer Jean Sibelius an international star

    The Finnish master wrote more than 550 original works in his life — the most famous of which was likely the symphonic tone poem, Finlandia, composed in 1900.

  • Digital Music News ☛ Universal Music Inks Distribution Deal With TF Entertainment, Underscores Goal of ‘Elevating Chinese Pop Music to Global Acclaim’

    As China’s music industry continues to expand – and with a growing portion of domestic talent tapping into international fanbases – Universal Music Group (UMG) has inked a partnership deal with Beijing-headquartered TF Entertainment. UMG announced the TF Entertainment tie-up today, executing the seemingly far-reaching pact specifically via Universal Music Greater China.

  • Techdirt ☛ Hollywood Believes The Time Is Ripe To Bring Back SOPA

    It’s been twelve years since the big SOPA/PIPA fight. I’ve been talking with a few folks lately about how it feels like many people have either forgotten that story or weren’t paying attention when it happened. Two years ago, we did a 10-year retrospective on the fight, and it feels like some people need a refresher. Most notably, Charles Rivkin, the head of the MPA (formerly the MPAA), certainly appears to need a refresher because he just announced it’s time to bring back SOPA.

  • Futurism ☛ New Law Would Force AI Companies to Reveal Copyrighted Training Data

    The proposed Generative AI Copyright Disclosure Act, if passed, would require businesses to disclose a list of all the copyrighted content they used in a training data set for any new models at least 30 days before they are made public. For current models already being used by consumers, businesses would still be required to disclose copyrighted content if they alter training data "in a significant manner."

    Companies would have to file the disclosure with the Register of Copyrights or face a potential monetary penalty for non-compliance.

  • The Register UK ☛ MPs bemoan UK's lack of protection for copyright against AI

    The UK creative industries have been valued at £109 billion ($136.65 billion), including the global TV show Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?, the Harry Potter books and films, the works of multiple Grammy award-winner Adele, and Rockstar Games' Grand Theft Auto franchise.

    Yet, according to MPs, industries may not feel their work is safe from the industrialized mimicry of the new generation of AI models.

  • The United Kingdom Parliament ☛ House of Commons: Culture, Media and Sport Committee: Creator remuneration Fifth Report of Session 2023–24 [PDF]

    We consider recent policy implications regarding the impact of the development of artificial intelligence (AI) on the creative industries, which we previously discussed in our report on Connected tech: AI and creative technology. We are particularly disappointed that the Government’s working group on AI and intellectual property has failed to come to an agreement between the creative industries and AI developers on creators’ consent and compensation regarding the use of their works to train AI. We call on the Government to ensure that creators have proper mechanisms to enforce their consent and receive fair compensation when their works are used by AI systems.

    Our report scrutinises the prevalence of freelancing within the creative industries. Freelancing has several theoretical advantages, such as allowing creators to choose projects they pursue. However, freelancing can also leave creators vulnerable to economic downturns, unable to access rights to annual leave, parental leave and sick pay and lacking other forms of employee support. More broadly, many creators experience poor working conditions, including inconsistent use of contracts and terms and conditions, uneven responses to bullying, harassment and discrimination and a lack of proper support, accounting, training and development. We recommend that the Government appoint a Freelancers’ Commissioner with appropriate powers and cross-departmental oversight to advocate in the interests of creative freelancers and address wider issues around contracts and working conditions.

  • Silicon Angle ☛ New bill aims to force AI firms to disclose use of copyrighted material

    Lawmakers in the U.S. Congress introduced a new bill on Tuesday that would force artificial intelligence companies such as OpenAI and Google LLC to reveal exactly what copyrighted material they use to train their large language models, which power generative AI chatbots such as ChatGPT and Bard.

    The legislation is the latest in a series of efforts by lawmakers and other groups to compel AI firms to reveal how they use creative works, such as songs, books, art and movies, to train their software.

  • US House Of Representatives ☛ This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Generative AI Copyright Disclosure Act of 2024’’ [PDF]

    REQUIREMENT .—A person who creates a training dataset, or alters a training dataset (including by making an update to, refining, or retraining the dataset) in a significant manner, that is used in building a generative AI system shall submit to the Register a notice that contains— [...]

  • Wired ☛ How to Stop Your Data From Being Used to Train AI

    Tech companies have scraped vast swathes of the web to gather the data they claim is needed to create generative AI—with little regard for content creators, copyright laws, or privacy. On top of this, increasingly, firms with reams of people’s posts are looking to get in on the AI gold rush by selling or licensing that information. Looking at you, Reddit.

    However, as the lawsuits and investigations around generative AI and its opaque data practices pile up, there have been small moves to give people more control over what happens to what they post online. Some companies now let individuals and business customers opt out of having their content used in AI training or being sold for training purposes. Here’s what you can—and can’t—do.

  • Walled Culture ☛ A French collecting society wants a tax on generative AI, payable to…collecting societies

    That sounds all well and good, but as we noted last year, collecting societies around the world have a terrible record when it comes to sharing that remuneration with the creators they supposedly represent. Walled Culture the book (free digital versions available), quotes from a report revealing “a long history of corruption, mismanagement, confiscation of funds, and lack of transparency [by collecting societies] that has deprived artists of the revenues they earned”. They also have a tendency to adopt a maximalist interpretation of their powers. Here are few choice examples of their actions over the years: [...]

  • The Register UK ☛ Bill would require AIs to reveal copyrighted training data

    A bill introduced in the US House of Representatives would require those training AI models to disclose any and all copyrighted works used, and it would apply retroactively.

    Proposed yesterday by Congressman Adam Schiff (D-CA), the Generative AI Copyright Disclosure Act [PDF] could prove a huge headache for AI companies using copyrighted work to train large language models and other forms of machine learning systems.

  • Torrent Freak ☛ 'Pirated' TikTok Clips Help to Promote TV Series, Research Finds

    A new academic study shows that condensed video clips of TV shows, posted on services such as TikTok, can serve as free advertising. This means that efforts to take down these 'copyright infringing' or 'pirated' clips may be counterproductive. This type of 'piracy' can be helpful, though there are some important caveats.

  • Torrent Freak ☛ BREIN Battled ISPs For Years; They're United Against Pirate IPTV Services

    Dutch anti-piracy group BREIN and local ISPs Ziggo and KPN have long been at odds over the issue of piracy. In particular, the thorny issue of whether The Pirate Bay should be blocked in the Netherlands, dragged on for years. But now, as BREIN continues its battle against pirate IPTV providers, the ISPs' sales of bundled TV services are also feeling the squeeze. Suddenly, all three agree; something more substantial is required to counter the growth of pirate IPTV.