Leftovers

• Robert Birming ☛ Equally different | Robert Birming

  I'm doing this because I love it. If others like it too, great, but that's not the main purpose.

• Pratik ☛ Navigating my Online Presence

  I have been evaluating the best (hate to say, more efficient) way to post my writing and images online on various social media platforms. My intention is to collect everything on my blog hosted at Micro.blog, so regardless of where it is posted, it must show up on my blog. However, I would like to maintain separate online personas. I’m the most frank and open on Micro.blog, but I want to keep some writing off at least Threads where many family members, IRL friends, and some work colleagues follow me1. I use a pseudonym on Bluesky, so I don’t want to share anything that reveals my identity.

• Daniel Fedorin ☛ Microfeatures I Love in Blogs and Personal Websites

  Some time ago, Hillel Wayne published an article titled Microfeatures I’d like to see in more languages. In this article, he described three kinds of features in programming languages: fundamental features, deeply engrained features, and nice-to-have convenience features. Hillel’s premise was that language designers tend to focus on the first two; however, because the convenience features are relatively low-overhead, it’s easier for them to jump between projects, and they provide a quality-of-life increase.

  I’ve been running a blog for a while — some of the oldest posts I’ve found (which are no longer reflected on this site due to their low quality) were from 2015. In this time, I’ve been on the lookout for ways to improve the site, and I’ve seen quite a few little things that are nice to use, but relatively easy to implement. They don’t really make or break a website; the absence of such features might be noticed, but will not cause any disruption for the reader. On the other hand, their presence serves as a QoL enhancement. I find these to be analogous to Hillel’s notion of “microfeatures”. If you’re interested in adding something to your site, consider browsing this menu to see if anything resonates!

  One last thing is that this post is not necessarily about microfeatures I’d like every blog or personal website to have. Some ideas I present here are only well-suited to certain types of content and certain written voices. They need not be applied indiscriminately.

  With that, let’s get started!

• Standards/Consortia

  • Teleport ☛ Accelerate FedRAMP Compliance with Teleport's Access Platform

    FedRAMP authorization can take years. The process is time-consuming, expensive and risky, requiring extensive human capital and dedicated technical resources from the initial project standup through continuous monitoring and compliance reporting before an Authorization To Operate (ATO) has been achieved.

    The Teleport Access Platform significantly reduces the time, cost and risk associated with FedRAMP compliance by addressing many of the most difficult FedRAMP control requirements.

• Science

  • Buttondown ☛ A brief introduction to interval arithmetic

    Instead of treating each as exactly 7 feet, we can instead say that each is somewhere between a minimum of 6.9 feet and a maximum of 7.1. We can write this as an interval (6.9, 7.1). From there, we can say interval (a, b) is "definitely less than" another interval (c, d) if b < c, ie the first interval ends before the second starts. Since 7.1 !< 6.9, we can't say for certain that the couch will fit against the wall. Your couch could actually be 7.1 feet and the wall 6.9 feet, or 7.05 and 7.01 feet, anything like that.

• Education

  • The Hill ☛ Most Gen Zers are in debt: Analysis

    Gen Zers are less likely to have student loan debt compared to older generations, but are still burdened by it.

    Around 37 percent of Gen Zers living in the 100 largest metro areas have student loan debt, with the median balance being $12,172, according to the analysis.

  • Nat Bennett ☛ Don't be results-oriented

    The alternative to results-oriented thinking is process-oriented thinking. With process-oriented thinking, your focus is on the quality of the decisions that produce the result – the part of the process that you can control, instead of the random variables that you don't control.

  • Michigan News ☛ Grand Rapids Public Library bridging literacy gap with mobile library

    The mobile library took to the city streets in early June intending to bring another chance for underserved locals to check out materials, use the free Wi-Fi, or sign up for a library card.

  • Zach Flower ☛ You Are Not Your Impostor Syndrome

    Give yourself some credit. You've come a long way since your first job, and still have a long way to go until your last.

    As someone who has personally struggled with that subtle, yet all encompassing fear of "being found out" as actually terrible at my job, I can promise that impostor syndrome means three things: [...]

• Hardware

  • Hackaday ☛ All About CRTs

    For old-timers, CRTs — cathode ray tubes — were fixtures as kids sat in front of TVs watching everything from Howdy Doody to Star Trek. But there’s at least one generation that thinks TVs and computer monitors are flat. If that describes you, you might enjoy [The 8-Bit Guy’s] coverage of how CRTs work in the video below.

  • The Register UK ☛ Linux geeks cheer as Arm wrestles x86

    All the same, penguin botherers may be interested to know that German Linux laptop vendor Tuxedo Computers is working on a Snapdragon X-based Linux laptop. We are watching with interest. We've previously reviewed its Stellaris model and looked at its in-house Ubuntu remix with KDE.

  • The Drone Girl ☛ How Teledyne FLIR's Hadron 640+ thermal camera leverages AI

    Teledyne FLIR’s Hadron 640 series thermal camera just got an upgrade. And to indicate the new and improved, AI-powered version of the popular drone thermal camera, the newer model has a spiffier tag on its name: the Hadron 640+.

• Health/Nutrition/Agriculture

  • Tom's Hardware ☛ Organ-on-chip market for drug testing expected to see tenfold growth to $1.3 billion by 2032

    Organs-on-chips have advanced to the point that we have multi-organ-on-chip systems that can act as multiple organs. Researchers can use these combination chips to see how these distinct structures interact and communicate when exposed to a substance. For example, cosmetic companies could use human skin, hair, and eye chips to check how the human body could physically react when exposed to their final product.

  • International Business Times ☛ Why America's Farmers Are Facing Alarming Suicide Rates and What's Being Done to Help

    The high suicide rate among farmers can be attributed to several factors. While the availability of firearms in rural areas is significant, mental health specialists believe that cultural and economic pressures also play a crucial role. A 2023 review of research on farmer suicides across several nations, including the US, linked this devastating trend to these pressures.

  • Michigan News ☛ Gun violence is labeled a ‘public health crisis’ by the surgeon general

    The nation’s top doctor called on policymakers to consider gun safety measures such as bans on assault weapons and high-capacity ammunition magazines and universal background checks for all firearm purchases. His advisory also urges a “significant increase” in funding for research on gun injuries and deaths, as well as greater access to mental health care and trauma-informed resources for people who have experienced firearm violence.

  • Vox ☛ After the fall of Roe, pregnancy feels like a crime

    Such frightening experiences are growing more common in the wake of the Supreme Court’s 2022 Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health decision, as doctors and other medical staff, fearful of the far-reaching effects of state abortion bans, are simply refusing to treat pregnant people at all.

    It’s part of what some reproductive health activists see as a disturbing progression from bans on abortion to a climate of suspicion around all pregnant patients. “People are increasingly scared even to be pregnant,” said Elizabeth Ling, senior helpline counsel at the reproductive justice legal group If/When/How.

    The fall of Roe has led to an ever-widening net of criminalization that can ensnare doctors, nurses, and pregnant people alike, leading to devastating consequences for patients’ health, experts say.

• Proprietary/Artificial Intelligence (AI)

  • Perion embarks on layoffs after revenue takes hit

    Software company Perion Network has embarked on a streamlining and cost-cutting process after Microsoft changed the advertising rules on its search engine Bing, significantly harming the Israeli company's revenues.

  • The Tech Bloodbath Is Far From Over

    Last year, TrueUp says, 1,177 people in the tech industry lost their jobs every day.

  • Bennett, Coleman &amp; Company Ltd ☛ Apple To Cut More Jobs In iPhone Assembly Lines: 5 Key Points To Know

  • Head Topics ☛ European Union accuses Microsoft of breaching antitrust rules by bundling Teams with office software

    The logo of Microsoft is seen outside it's French headquarters in Issy-les-Moulineaux, outside Paris, on May 13, 2024. European Union regulators accused Microsoft of possibly abusive practices that violate the bloc's antitrust rules by tying its Teams messaging and videoconferencing app to its widely used business software.

    The European Commission said it's concerned the U.S. tech giant has been “restricting competition” by bundling Teams with core office productivity applications such as Office 365 and Microsoft 365.The commission, the 27-nation bloc's top antitrust enforcer, said it suspects Microsoft might have granted Teams a “distribution advantage” by not giving customers a choice on whether to have Teams when they purchased the software.

  • Common Dreams ☛ Medicare Advantage Opens “AI Can of Worms” for Patients

    In a letter spearheaded by Rep. Judy Chu (D-Calif.), Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-NY), and Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) more than 50 members of Congress expressed concerns about privatized Medicare plans’ use of artificial intelligence (AI) and algorithmic software in prior authorization to guide coverage decisions. “Plans continue to use AI tools to erroneously deny care and contradict provider assessment findings,” noted the letter. “We believe more detailed guidance is needed to protect access to care for Medicare beneficiaries and improve clarity for providers.”

    The letter urges CMS to clarify the specific elements that must be contained in prior authorization denial notices and establish an approval process to review AI and algorithmic tools, among other guardrails concerning the use of the technology.

  • The Register UK ☛ Remove Polyfill.io code from your website immediately

    The polyfill.io domain is being used to infect more than 100,000 websites with malware after a Chinese organization bought the domain earlier this year.

    Multiple security firms sounded the alarm on Tuesday, warning organizations whose websites use any JavaScript code from the pollyfill.io domain to immediately remove it.

  • The Register UK ☛ Y Combinator, ML startups oppose California AI safety bill

    Venture capitalist Y Combinator and more than 140 machine-learning startups have signed an open letter in opposition to a proposed hot-button AI safety law making its way through the California legislature.

  • Idiomdrottning ☛ AI punditry

    One of the things that makes me super bored now is blogposts with a super self-assured reductive take on AI and what AI is and will be and mean and will mean. (And usually the post also has a tedious rant on what to call it instead of “AI”, and why AI is such a misnomer.) Those have gotten so old already.

  • Futurism ☛ OpenAI Exec Says AI Will Kill Creative Jobs That "Shouldn't Have Been There in the First Place"

    Generative AI has immediately posed an existential threat to artists — not because the 'art' it produces is any good per se, but because it serves as a cheap substitute to paying human creatives, many of whom have already lost their jobs.

    This potential — and ongoing — job destruction, among artists or otherwise, is a touchy subject. And what does OpenAI's chief technology officer Mira Murati have to say about it? Well, Murati, whose PR blunders have come off as incredibly tone-deaf, has once again stirred the pot by boldly suggesting that any artists who lose their jobs to AI probably deserve it — and never should've been employed anyway.

  • Federal News Network ☛ The true cost of AI: 6 factors government agencies should consider

    Here are some key factors to consider:

    Hardware costs: Graphics processing units (GPUs) are fundamental to the advancement of artificial intelligence, serving as the backbone of AI innovation. The availability of these critical components is currently hampered by supply shortages, contributing to a significant increase in costs.

    Energy costs: Training complex AI models requires significant computational power, which in turn consumes a considerable amount of energy. The energy costs associated with running the underlying infrastructure to power this can be substantial. [...]

  • Wired ☛ Deepfake Creators Are Revictimizing GirlsDoPorn Sex Trafficking Survivors

    The most notorious deepfake sexual abuse website is hosting altered videos originally published as part of the GirlsDoPorn operation. Experts say this new low is only the beginning.

  • 404 Media ☛ ‘No Bot is Themselves Anymore:’ Character.ai Users Report Sudden Personality Changes to Chatbots

    Users of massively popular AI chatbot platform Character.AI are reporting that their bots' personalities have changed, that they aren't responding to romantic roleplay prompts, are responding curtly, are not as “smart” as they formerly were, or are requiring a lot more effort to develop storylines or meaningful responses.

    Character.AI, which is valued at $1 billion after raising $150 million in a round led by a16z last year, allows users to create their own characters with personalities and backstories, or choose from a vast library of bots that other people, or the company itself, has created.

• Security

  • Privacy/Surveillance

    • The Register UK ☛ American Privacy Rights Act is now weak sauce, critics warn

      "The EFF could not support the draft bill in the beginning because of its preemption of stronger state laws and its relatively weak private right of action. The removal of civil rights protections makes it even weaker," F. Mario Trujillo, staff attorney at EFF, told The Register.

      Evan Greer, director of Fight for the Future, offered a similarly unenthusiastic assessment of the privacy bill.

      "This was the one comprehensive privacy bill that had a real chance of passing and now Congress has effectively gutted it as part of a backroom deal to appease right wing extremists," Greer opined to The Register.

    • Reuters ☛ Exclusive: Amazon mulls $5 to $10 monthly price tag for unprofitable Alexa service, AI revamp

      "We have already integrated generative AI into different components of Alexa, and are working hard on implementation at scale—in the over half a billion ambient, Alexa-enabled devices already in homes around the world—to enable even more proactive, personal, and trusted assistance for our customers," said an Amazon spokeswoman in a statement. The service -- which provides spoken answers to user queries, like the local weather, and can serve as a hub to control home appliances – was a pet project of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos who envisioned a technology that could emulate the fictional voice computer portrayed on television’s Star Trek series.

• Defence/Aggression

  • US News And World Report ☛ Arizona Authorities Are Investigating Theft of Device That Allows Access to Vote Tabulators

    Skinner said authorities were reviewing Walter Ringfield's social media feeds and phone to determine whether he was working with anyone when he took the small black fob that allows access to the tabulators used in the county, which has been the subject of election conspiracy theories ever since President Joe Biden narrowly beat former President Donald Trump in the state four years ago.

  • The Hill ☛ Yes, women should be part of the military draft 

    It may be too soon to tell if the amendment survives, but it’s time to prepare for conscripting women in a time of war or national emergency.

    In 2013, all combat roles were opened up to women. Now, two of the uniformed services, the Navy and the Coast Guard, are commanded by women. Women also command the U.S. Southern Command and the U.S. Transportation Command, both four-star general positions.

  • CS Monitor ☛ In British elections, Muslim voters seek candidates who care about Gaza

    That would be music to the ears of a new organization, The Muslim Vote, launched six months ago to try to shape a Muslim voting bloc that will demand that politicians pay attention to Muslim concerns. Such a bloc, based on religious belief, is unprecedented in Britain, outside Northern Ireland.

  • The Nation ☛ It’s Time for the US to Declare a National Climate Emergency

    All of this is no coincidence. The hot and heavy hand of climate change is now upon us. Last year was the hottest on Earth in 125,000 years, and the concentration of heat-trapping carbon dioxide (CO2) in the atmosphere was the highest in 4 million years and is still climbing at an ever-increasing rate. Meanwhile, global sea surface temperatures also reached a peak, causing severe massive coral bleaching in all three major ocean basins.

    The World Bank is projecting that by 2050 there will be more than 200 million climate refugees, 20 times the 10 million refugees that have already destabilized Europe. Climate change is also putting an increasingly heavy burden on our social safety net, which could ultimately cause social order to begin to break down, generating chaos.

  • Los Angeles Times ☛ A few phrases for your Biden-Trump debate drinking games

    You’ve probably heard a ton about Project 2025, the Heritage Foundation plan to remake America as some kind of ultraconservative paradise/hell if Trump is elected to another term.

    Over the weekend, Heritage Foundation President Kevin Roberts gave a terrifying interview to MSNBC about what that means — including rebranding the Department of Health and Human Services as the Department of Life. Because fascism is best served up by happy-sounding bureaucracies.

  • The Hill ☛ Hillary Clinton: 'Waste of time' to try to refute Donald Trump debate arguments

    “It is a waste of time to try to refute Mr. Trump’s arguments like in a normal debate,” she wrote. “It’s nearly impossible to identify what his arguments even are. He starts with nonsense and then digresses into blather This has gotten only worse in the years since we debated.”

  • New York Times ☛ Opinion | Hillary Clinton: I’ve Debated Trump and Biden. Here’s What I’m Watching For.

    It is a waste of time to try to refute Mr. Trump’s arguments like in a normal debate. It’s nearly impossible to identify what his arguments even are. He starts with nonsense and then digresses into blather. This has gotten only worse in the years since we debated. I was not surprised that after a recent meeting, several chief executives said that Mr. Trump, as one journalist described it, “could not keep a straight thought” and was “all over the map.” Yet expectations for him are so low that if he doesn’t literally light himself on fire on Thursday evening, some will say he was downright presidential.

  • Futurism ☛ Top Secret Aquatic Drone Spotted on Google Maps

    Known as Manta Ray, the uncrewed underwater vehicle can still be seen docked at Port Hueneme naval base in California, looking as out of place as an exotic sea creature that ended up as some fisherman's catch. Strike one, maybe, against whoever's in charge of operational security over there.

  • VOA News ☛ Chinese [crackers] have stepped up attacks on Taiwanese organizations, cybersecurity firm says

    In recent years, relations between China and Taiwan, a self-governed island across the Taiwan Strait that Beijing claims as its territory, have deteriorated. The cyberattacks by the group known as RedJulliett were observed between November 2023 and April 2024, during the lead up to Taiwan's presidential elections in January and the subsequent change in administration.

• Environment

  • 404 Media ☛ California Apple Manufacturing Facility Has 19 ‘Potential Violations’ of EPA Regulations

    The EPA’s observation is that Apple likely did not account for all of its airborne waste in determining when the filters would be broken through and need replacing, meaning that it is possible for some compounds to have escaped a worn out filter. The potential violation lies in the fact that Apple has been mischaracterizing those filters as state-regulated hazardous waste, but provided the EPA with no evidence that its filters should qualify for this less stringent categorization of hazardous waste, according to the report. A 55-gallon canister of activated carbon attached to the 1,700-gallon waste tank had also been treated as NRHW since December of 2020 without proper justification, the report found. The report continued to say that Apple also improperly shipped these filters as NRHW, which “may have resulted in the improper treatment and disposal of this waste stream” under federal regulations.

  • Vox ☛ Natural disaster preparedness and aftermath: How to help kids cope with their emotions

    Broaching the topic doesn’t need to be distressing, experts say. Rather, it’s possible to talk honestly about the potential of a climate event while still allaying kids’ anxieties and giving them space to discuss their emotions. Despite how stressful it can seem, there are also strategies to help your kids cope if your family is affected by a natural disaster.

  • Energy/Transportation

    • Democracy Now ☛ NYC Congestion Pricing: Advocates Slam NY Gov for Halting Plan to Reduce Emissions, Fund Mass Transit

      Democratic New York Governor Kathy Hochul has shocked constituents this month with a surprise decision to cancel New York City’s congestion program plan just weeks before it was set to start. Hochul had previously supported the plan, which would have charged drivers $15 to enter parts of Manhattan in order to fund the city’s public transportation budget. New York City’s public transportation system, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA), is used daily by millions of city residents but has long been plagued by underfunding for necessary expansions and repairs. Congestion pricing has been championed by a wide coalition that includes disability rights advocates, low-income residents and climate activists. The program was expected to dramatically reduce air pollution and fossil fuel emissions in the third-highest emitting city in the world. We hear from two New Yorkers: David Jones, an MTA board member and the president and CEO of the Community Service Society of New York, and Keanu Arpels-Josiah, a young climate activist with Fridays for Future NYC who has just graduated high school. “We’re at a dire point in the climate crisis,” and Governor Hochul is “failing on this issue,” says Arpels-Josiah.

    • Futurism ☛ Trump Has Completely Flip Flopped on Crypto

      At the time, he called crypto out as a "disaster waiting to happen" and that he was "not a big fan."Since then, Trump has done a complete one-eighty, with plenty of financial pressure — in large part fueled by the hundreds of millions of dollars he owes in fraud cases — undermining his ongoing campaign efforts.

      Since then, Trump has done a complete one-eighty, with plenty of financial pressure — in large part fueled by the hundreds of millions of dollars he owes in fraud cases — undermining his ongoing campaign efforts.

    • The Conversation ☛ Cryptocurrencies use massive amounts of power – but eco-friendly alternatives come with their own risks

      But this computing power requires a lot of energy, similar to how a powerful car uses more petrol. So, miners are using a massive amount of electricity to run super-powered computers 24/7.

    • PC Mag ☛ 5 Lesser-Known Air Travel Tips to Use Before Heading to the Airport | PCMag

      Did you know you can track your aircraft's previous flight to find out if you're likely to be delayed? Learn how and read these other tips before boarding another plane.

    • Reuters ☛ EU drafts plan to exempt long-haul flights from new emissions rules

      The European Commission has drafted plans to initially exempt long-haul flights from rules on monitoring their non-CO2 emissions after international carriers lobbied for an opt-out, documents seen by Reuters showed.

      The EU is developing plans to require airlines to track and report their contribution to climate change from January 2025 - not only from carbon dioxide, but also soot, nitrogen oxides and water vapour.

    • Irish Times ☛ Carbon emissions from aviation can’t be swept under the carpet

      Aviation accounts for 2.5 per cent of global carbon dioxide emissions, a figure that rises to 4 per cent when the warming impact of contrails and other factors are accounted for. The responsibility is highly unequal: Only 1 per cent of the global population is estimated to cause half of its emissions, as a very small share of people fly regularly. One study estimated that only 11 per cent of the global population flew in 2018, and only 4 per cent flew internationally. But this figure is set to rise with the growing global appetite for flying.

• Finance

  • Matt Birchler ☛ How I built one of the biggest BIN lookup sites in the world, and how it was killed

    Below is a lightly-edited transcript of a talk I gave recently at work where I walked through the story of how I built Quick BIN Lookup and how it rose and fell to irrelevancy over the last 8 years.

• AstroTurf/Lobbying/Politics

  • University of Toronto ☛ Security is not really part of most people's jobs

    A while back I said something on the Fediverse:

    "In re people bypassing infosec policies at work, I feel that infosec should understand that "getting your job done" is everyone's first priority, because in this capitalistic society, not getting your job done gets you fired. You might get fired if you bypass IT security, but you definitely will if you can't do your work. Trying to persuade everyone that it's IT's fault, not yours, is a very uphill battle and not one anyone wants to bet on."

  • Los Angeles Times ☛ Will Google cut a deal with California news media to fund journalism?

    California news publishers and Big Tech companies appear to be inching toward compromise on a controversial bill that would require Google and huge social media platforms to pay news outlets for the articles they distribute.

    After stalling last year, Assembly Bill 886 cleared a critical hurdle Tuesday when it passed the state Senate Judiciary Committee. Several lawmakers described the legislation as a work in progress aimed at solving a critical problem: The news business is shrinking as technology changes the way people consume information.

  • Federal News Network ☛ DHS AI Corps hires an initial 10 experts

    DHS plans to hire a total of 50 experts to its AI Corps this year. The department plans to employ a model similar to the U.S. Digital Service, where experts are “farmed out” across the department to help advance specific projects.

• Freedom of Information / Freedom of the Press

  • EFF ☛ EFF Statement on Assange Plea Deal

    Additional information about this charge: [...]

  • The Dissenter ☛ The End Of The Biggest Press Freedom Case Of The Century

  • Democracy Now ☛ Julian Assange Is Free: WikiLeaks Founder’s Brother Gabriel Shipton on End of Decadelong Legal Saga

    WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has been freed from Belmarsh Prison in London, where he has been incarcerated for the past five years, after accepting a plea deal with U.S. prosecutors. After a decade-plus of legal challenges, Assange will plead guilty to a single felony count of illegally obtaining and disclosing national security material for publishing classified documents detailing U.S. war crimes in Iraq and Afghanistan on WikiLeaks. The Australian publisher is expected to be sentenced to time served and allowed to return home, where he reportedly will seek a pardon. Assange’s brother Gabriel Shipton describes learning of his release as “an amazing moment.” He speaks to Democracy Now! about Assange’s case and what led up to the latest developments, as well as what he expects will happen next.

  • Democracy Now ☛ Press Freedom Advocates Celebrate Julian Assange’s Release, But Warn of Impact of Plea Deal

    We discuss the plea deal and release of Julian Assange with press freedom advocate Trevor Timm. “Thankfully, Julian Assange is finally going free today, but the press freedom implications remain to be seen,” says Timm, who explains the U.S. espionage case against Assange, which was opened under the Trump administration and continued under Biden. Timm expresses disappointment that Biden chose to continue prosecuting Assange rather than demonstrating his stated support of press freedom. If convicted, Assange could have been sentenced to 175 years in U.S. prison, which Timm calls a “ticking time bomb for press freedom rights.”

  • Democracy Now ☛ Journalist Antony Loewenstein on Assange’s Release, WikiLeaks & Israeli Drones Killing Gaza Reporters

    We discuss the plea deal and release of Julian Assange with Australian journalist Antony Loewenstein, and the reaction in Assange’s home country of Australia to his release and WikiLeaks’s legacy, which he says helped open the door to whistleblowers and leakers in the era of digital journalism. Loewenstein, the author of The Palestine Laboratory, also discusses the state of press freedom in Israel’s war on Gaza. The Israeli military doesn’t view Palestinian journalists as journalists, he argues. Instead, it views them as “akin to terrorists” to justify its targeting of them, an issue that Loewenstein argues should be of more concern to Western media outlets.

  • VOA News ☛ Russia bans distribution of dozens of EU news outlets in retaliatory step

    It said at the time that the ban applied to Voice of Europe, to the RIA news agency, and to the Izvestia and Rossiyskaya Gazeta newspapers.

    The Russian Foreign Ministry hit back on Tuesday, releasing a list of 81 media outlets from 25 EU member states, as well as pan-European outlets, whose broadcasts it said would no longer be available on Russian territory.

  • VOA News ☛ ‘Sham’ trial of American journalist Gershkovich to begin in Russia

    The closed-door trial of American journalist Evan Gershkovich is set to begin on Wednesday in Russia, nearly 15 months after he was jailed on espionage charges that are widely viewed as baseless and politically motivated.

    A correspondent with The Wall Street Journal, Gershkovich was detained in March 2023 on spying charges that he, his employer and the U.S. government vehemently deny. The State Department has also declared Gershkovich wrongfully detained.

  • CPJ ☛ CPJ calls on Kenyan authorities to respect press freedom amid ongoing protests

    Beginning on Tuesday afternoon, the Internet Outage Detection and Analysis (IODA) and Cloudflare, two organizations that detect [Internet] outages, reported disruption to the [Internet] in the country as protestors breached parliament buildings in the capital, Nairobi.

    CPJ continues to research reports of press freedom violations connected to the protests; however, due to the ongoing crisis, CPJ was unable to immediately confirm details of the incidents.

  • Common Dreams ☛ ACLU Statement on Long-Overdue Resolution of Julian Assange Case

    “We’re grateful that today Assange will be on a flight to Australia, and not to Virginia to face trial and further punishment. The precedent set by this guilty plea would have been far more dangerous had it been ratified by federal courts. But make no mistake, the vital work of national security journalists will be more difficult today than it was yesterday.”

  • Daniel Pocock ☛ Julian Assange verdict: guilty, not guilty or blackmailed

    Assange was given a choice: his health deteriorating, he might die a martyr. If waiting in the two by three meter cell didn't kill him, he might survive appeal after appeal to be released from prison some time after his children have grown up in another ten or fifteen years.

    Or, he could plead guilty to a single charge. This would give him the opportunity to live a little longer and spend time with his children as they grow up.

    Therefore, was he making a decision about his plea based on the facts of the case? Or was he making the decision to plead guilty based on the side effects of a lengthy extradition and trial?

  • The Register UK ☛ Julian Assange to go free in guilty plea deal with US

    WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has been freed from prison in the UK after agreeing to plead guilty to just one count of conspiracy to obtain and disclose national defense information, brought against him by the United States. Uncle Sam previously filed more than a dozen counts.

    Assange has spent the past five years in a British super-max battling against extradition to the US to face trial for publicly leaking various classified government files via his website.

  • The Atlantic ☛ The Pointless Prosecution of Julian Assange

    That message is not the one the U.S. generally seeks to project when it comes to free expression and press freedom, which is under threat across the world. Although America likes to portray itself as a champion of a free and even aggressive media, it has just secured the conviction of man seen by many as the personification of those values. What’s more, it has also freed him up to talk about it, which he will almost certainly do—in blistering terms, if his previous form is anything to go by.

  • New York Times ☛ Julian Assange’s Plea Deal Could Chill Press Freedoms

    The result is an ambiguous end to a legal saga that has jeopardized the ability of journalists to report on military, intelligence or diplomatic information that officials deem secret. Enshrined in the First Amendment, the role of a free press in bringing to light information beyond what those in power approve for release is a foundational principle of American self-government.

    The agreement means that for the first time in American history, gathering and publishing information the government considers secret has been successfully treated as a crime. This new precedent will send a threatening message to national security journalists, who may be chilled in how aggressively they do their jobs because they will see a greater risk of prosecution.

  • NBC ☛ Julian Assange leaves jail on his way to enter plea deal with the U.S.

    Assange was charged by criminal information — which typically signifies a plea deal — with conspiracy to obtain and disclose national defense information, the court documents said.

  • RTL ☛ Plea deal: WikiLeaks founder Assange leaves Britain after US plea deal

    He flew out of London on Monday to travel to the Northern Mariana Islands, a US territory in the Pacific where he will plead guilty to a single count of conspiracy to obtain and disseminate national defence information, according to a court document.

  • New York Times ☛ Wednesday Briefing: Major Protests in Nairobi

    Also, Julian Assange’s plea deal with the U.S.

  • Off Guardian ☛ TALK THREAD: Assange Gets a Plea Deal

    Late last night it was suddenly reported that after five years in Belmarsh Prison – and seven years essentially under house arrest in the Ecuadorian embassy – Julian Assange was pleading guilty as part a deal to secure his release.

  • France24 ☛ WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange pleads guilty to conspiracy in US court

    WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange pleaded guilty in a US court in Saipan on Wednesday, AFP reporters said, in a plea bargain that will leave him a free man after years of legal drama.

  • New York Times ☛ Julian Assange Pleads Guilty to Espionage, Securing His Freedom

    The WikiLeaks founder, who entered the plea in a U.S. courtroom in Saipan in the Western Pacific, now plans to fly home to Australia.

  • CS Monitor ☛ Julian Assange to enter US plea deal ending years-long WikiLeaks legal saga

    The WikiLeaks founder is set to plead guilty to conspiring to unlawfully obtain and disseminate classified information relating to the national defense of the United States. Rather than prison time in the U.S., he is expected to return to Australia.

  • The Straits Times ☛ WikiLeaks’ Assange arrives in the Mariana Islands for US plea deal

    He is due to be sentenced to 62 months of time already served at a hearing in Saipan.

  • Press Gazette ☛ Campaigners claim victory as Julian Assange freed after five years in Belmarsh

    Campaigners claim victory in long campaign for Wikileaks founder.

  • JURIST ☛ WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange free ahead of anticipated US plea deal

    Julian Assange is free after 12 years of confinement, having negotiated a plea deal with the US Department of Justice on charges related to his website WikiLeaks’ publication of classified materials. In 2006, Assange founded WikiLeaks, a website reputed for high-profile releases of leaked classified documents, including unredacted US diplomatic cables and sensitive defense information.

  • France24 ☛ Who is Julian Assange, the controversial founder of WikiLeaks?

    Julian Assange, who is expected to return home to Australia a free man this week after years of fighting against extradition to the US on spying charges, is for some a fearless campaigner for press freedom. But for others, the 52-year-old Australian was reckless with classified information, possibly endangering human sources.

  • Silicon Angle ☛ Wikileaks founder Julian Assange is returning to Australia a free man

    After spending years in a British prison, the former Australian hacker and Wikileaks founder Julian Assange has left the U.K., reportedly having agreed to a plea deal with authorities in the U.S. Assange (pictured) had been wanted by U.S. authorities after famously publishing hundreds of thousands of leaked documents about the Afghanistan and Iraq wars [...]

  • Mexico News Daily ☛ AMLO celebrates release of Wikileaks founder Julian Assange

    AMLO has been an outspoken supporter of Julian Assange and had previously offered political asylum to the Wikileaks founder.

• Civil Rights/Policing

  • EFF ☛ EFF Welcomes Tarah Wheeler to Its Board of Directors

    Wheeler has served on EFF’s advisory board since June 2020. She is the Senior Fellow for Global Cyber Policy at Council on Foreign Relations and was elected to Life Membership at CFR in 2023. She is an inaugural contributing cybersecurity expert for the Washington Post, and a Foreign Policy contributor on cyber warfare. She is the author of the best-selling “Women In Tech: Take Your Career to The Next Level With Practical Advice And Inspiring Stories” (2016). 

    “I am very excited to have Tarah bring her judgment, her technical expertise and her enthusiasm to EFF’s Board,” EFF Executive Director Cindy Cohn said. “She has supported us in many ways before now, including creating and hosting the ‘Betting on Your Digital Rights: EFF Benefit Poker Tournament at DEF CON,’ which will have its third year this summer. Now we get to have her in a governance role as well.” 

    "I am deeply honored to join the Board of Directors at the Electronic Frontier Foundation,” Wheeler said. “EFF's mission to defend civil liberties in the digital world is more critical than ever, and I am humbled to be invited to serve in this work. EFF has been there for me and other information security researchers when we needed a champion the most. Together, we will continue to fight for the rights and freedoms that ensure a free and open internet for all." 

  • Jacobin Magazine ☛ Jiu Jitsu Fighters Are Grappling With Exploitation

    Professional fighters are rarely paid for participating in competitions and the average income of athletes working with promoters like the UFC is only $45k. Now Jiu Jitsu fighters are pushing back against low pay, giving the industry a wake-up call.

  • San Francisco, California ☛ SFPD considers robot dog named ‘Spot’ in military equipment plan

    The canine-like robot can be deployed for manual operations, or be sent on autonomous missions, says its developer, Boston Dynamics, and can do “inspection, research, and hazardous response,” or be equipped for users’ specific needs with cameras, heat or chemical sensors. It can climb stairs, open doors, and right itself when knocked over.

  • Harvard University ☛ What Harriet Tubman did with the rest of her life

    “We’re really focused on segments of her life that match up with a cinematic adventure story,” said Tiya Miles, the Michael Garvey Professor of History. “But Tubman lived a long life, and she was involved with the Underground Railroad for only about a decade. What did she do with the rest of her years?”

    Miles provides an answer in her new book, “Night Flyer: Harriet Tubman and the Faith Dreams of a Free People,” with its focus on the “eco-spiritual” worldview that made Tubman’s heroism possible. The biography begins with Tubman’s early days as a tenacious child who endures slavery’s abuses while acquiring deep knowledge of the natural world. It also gets to the root of Tubman’s abiding faith in God, a source of solace and strength from early girlhood.

  • Lou Plummer ☛ Music to My Ears

    As I assisted them getting into the back of the car, I could feel the tension starting to build. As I was traveling without another officer, this was not a welcome development. Still, no inmate was going to tell me what to play on my own radio.

    As I turned the dial to the local public radio station to listen to catch the entirety of "Morning Edition" on NPR, I could hear them muttering in the rear as they prepared to sleep the trip away. "That's a cold mother. Damn police don't even listen to music."

Monopolies/Monopsonies

• [Repeat] Silicon Angle ☛ EU tentatively finds that Apple breached DMA rules as officials launch fresh probe

  The Commission published its findings today. In conjunction, it announced the launch of a second DMA probe into Apple. Both decisions relate to the company’s restrictions on so-called steering, or the practice whereby developers encourage users to make purchases on platforms other than the App Store.

• [Repeat] Digital Music News ☛ EU Accuses Apple of Multiple Digital Markets Act Violations

  Apple is still appealing the sizable penalty, and reports have for months pointed to additional investigations into the company’s business practices.

  Returning to today’s DMA charges, Apple – along with Alphabet, Amazon, ByteDance, Meta, and Microsoft – was named a “gatekeeper” under the voluminous law back in September of 2023. In the interest of brevity, that classification and its formal announcement gave the Apple Music owner and the other so-called gatekeepers “six months to ensure full compliance with the DMA obligations.”

• The Register UK ☛ Apple may break DMA with App Store steering rules, says EU

  Although Apple allows developers to direct users to other options through "link-outs," which redirect customers to a webpage to conclude contracts, but the EC's early findings say this isn't enough. According to the EC, Apple restricts link-outs to prevent developers from communicating with customers, promoting offers, or concluding contracts through their preferred distribution channels. Fees charged by Apple for link-outs were also more than strictly necessary, it alleged.

  If the Commission's preliminary findings were confirmed, it would find Apple non-compliant within 12 months from the opening of proceedings on March 25.

• Tech Central (South Africa) ☛ EU trains its guns on Apple

  The European Commission, which is also the EU’s antitrust and technology regulator, said it had sent its preliminary findings to Apple following an investigation launched in March.

  The charge against Apple is the first by the commission under its landmark Digital Markets Act which seeks to rein in the power of Big Tech and ensure a level playing field for smaller rivals. It has until March next year to issue a final decision.

• Copyrights

  • Digital Music News ☛ RIAA Quickly Fires Back Against Suno CEO’s ‘Transformative’ Comments As Generative Hey Hi (AI) Training Models Take Center Stage

    Why confine legal battles to the courtroom? Immediately following news of the major labels’ massive copyright monopoly infringement lawsuits against Suno and Udio, the former Hey Hi (AI) music service’s CEO engaged in a testy war of words with the RIAA.

  • Eric Bailey ☛ Consent, LLM scrapers, and poisoning the well

    I remember feeling numb learning that my writing had been sucked up by OpenAI. It came out of nowhere and was done without my permission or consent.

    I have a lot of ethical issues with contemporary AI productization, notably notions around consent, ownership, and environment. These concerns have all been addressed by others, and far more thoroughly and eloquently than I ever could.