Links 27/06/2024: Black-Lives-Matter-Poster-Related Lawsuit, Misinformation and Propaganda by Chinese Userfarms
Contents
- Leftovers
- Hardware
- Health/Nutrition/Agriculture
- Proprietary/Artificial Intelligence (AI)
- Security
- Defence/Aggression
- Environment
- AstroTurf/Lobbying/Politics
- Censorship/Free Speech
- Freedom of Information / Freedom of the Press
- Civil Rights/Policing
- Internet Policy/Net Neutrality
- Digital Restrictions (DRM) Monopolies/Monopsonies
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Leftovers
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Hardware
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Silicon Angle ☛ Micron’s stock slumps as fourth-quarter guidance disappoints
Chipmaker Micron Technology Inc. reported solid third-quarter financial results today, beating expectations on earnings and revenue, but its topline forecast for the current quarter was only in line with analyst’s projections, disappointing investors.
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Hackaday ☛ Making Your Wireless Keyboard Truly Low-Power
The basics of keyboard design are tried and true at this point, but there are still a few aspects yet unconquered. One of them is making your keyboards wireless. You might think it’s easy, but if you just slap a wireless-enabled microcontroller onto your board, you’ll soon be left with a dead battery. Rejoice – [Pete Johanson], creator of ZMK, tells all that you want to know about making your keyboard low-power.
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Hackaday ☛ As Cheap As Chips: The MiFare Ultra Light Gets A Closer Look
If you take public transport in many of the world’s cities, your ticket will be an NFC card which you scan to gain access to the train or bus. These cards are disposable, so whatever technology they use must be astonishingly cheap. It’s one of these which [Ken Shirriff] has turned his microscope upon, a Montreal Métro ticket, and his examination of the MiFare Ultra Light it contains is well worth a read.
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Health/Nutrition/Agriculture
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Science Alert ☛ Gut Inflammation Linked to Alzheimer's Disease, Once Again
Not just a brain disease.
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Press Gazette ☛ ‘So many damn follow-up emails’: Jay Rayner tells PRs to stop ‘driving me nuts’
Observer food critic driven "nuts" by common behaviour from PRs.
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Science Alert ☛ Chronic Pain Treatment May Offer Hope For Long COVID Sufferers
Fighting the endless fatigue.
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Proprietary/Artificial Intelligence (AI)
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[Repeat] Neowin ☛ Windows 11 is now automatically enabling OneDrive folder backup without asking permission
Microsoft has made OneDrive slightly more annoying for backdoored Windows 11 users.
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EDRI ☛ New report unravels Hey Hi (AI) narratives in sci-fi cinema and TV
Students of the SWPS University’s Institute of Humanities in Warsaw, Poland, published their research on “Visions of Hey Hi (AI) in Popular Culture: Analysis of the Narratives about Artificial Intelligence in Science Fiction Films and Series”. The report delves into the central themes and recurring motifs through which technology becomes ingrained and socialised in cinematic fiction.
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Jon Udell ☛ Human Insight + LLM Grunt Work = Creative Publishing Solution
Here’s the latest installment in the series on working with LLMS: https://thenewstack.io/human-insight-llm-grunt-work-creative-publishing-solution/ Although streamlined publishing of screenshots is nice, the biggest win comes from reviewing and revising in Surveillance Giant Google Docs; which, for better and worse, has become the defacto collaboration standard for many of us.
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Security
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Integrity/Availability/Authenticity
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WhichUK ☛ Beware dodgy health product ads on Facebook
Shoppers complain of subscription traps after signing up for 'free' health product trials
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Privacy/Surveillance
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Reason ☛ No Pseudonymity for Plaintiffs in Black-Lives-Matter-Poster-Related Lawsuit, Despite Fear of "Cancel Culture" Retaliation
In Cajune v. Indep. School. Dist. 194, decided today by the Eighth Circuit, plaintiffs sued to challenge the School District's permission for teachers to display Black Lives Matter posters in classrooms (but not for members of the public to display other posters, such as All Lives Matter or Blue Lives Matter posters).
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TwinCities Pioneer Press ☛ Appellate court reinstates lawsuit against Lakeville school district over Black Lives Matter posters
The appellate panel sent the case back to the U.S. District Court in Minnesota for further proceedings.
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Silicon Angle ☛ Supreme Court rules US officials can continue communicating with social control media companies
The U.S. Supreme Court today rejected a lawsuit that sought to limit how the federal government communicates with social control media companies. The case, Murthy v. Missouri, was dismissed in a 6-3 ruling.
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EDRI ☛ EDRi-gram, 26 June 2024
Summer seems to have finally arrived in Brussels, just in time for the heart of the EU to reel from the results of the European elections. Maybe having the sun will make it all bearable? Stay tuned as we test out this theory.
We do have some positive news to share from the world of digital rights. Earlier this month, Microsoft's Surveillance Arm LinkedIn gave in to pressure from civil society and Digital Services Act (DSA) enforcers based on a complaint by EDRi and three partner organisations. The platform will no longer allow advertisers to target ads based on sensitive personal data from users. A big win for privacy!
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EDRI ☛ European Court of Human Rights: Secret surveillance in Poland violates citizens’ privacy rights
On 28 May 2024, a precedent judgment was announced by the European Court of Human Rights. The court said that the operational control regime, the retention of communications data, and the secret surveillance regime under the Anti-Terrorism Act in Poland violate the right to privacy.
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Public Knowledge ☛ Public Knowledge Opposes Weak Privacy Bill
The bill lacks key civil rights protections and fails to preserve the role of the Federal Communications Commission in ensuring telecommunications privacy.
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EDRI ☛ EDRi Annual Report 2023: Our collective impact defending digital rights in Europe
In our Annual Report, you can read more about EDRi’s efforts to build an inclusive and equitable digital environment that allows us all to thrive. In 2023, we resisted attempts to normalise corporate and state surveillance, mobilised thousands of supporters, and had an unmistakable impact on European tech policy.
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Silicon Angle ☛ Broadcom’s enterprise vision for private AI: Privacy, partnerships and platform flexibility
The artificial intelligence pie is expanding, and niche offerings are emerging to serve particular enterprise pain points. Broadcom Inc. has made private Hey Hi (AI) its cornerstone initiative in the space, having fleshed out the platform over the past year, according to Chris Wolf (pictured), global head of Hey Hi (AI) and advanced services, VMware Cloud Foundation Division, at Broadcom.
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Scoop News Group ☛ Federal privacy law faces new hurdles ahead of markup
Business groups and civil rights activists have raised objections to the latest version of the legislation, due for committee consideration Thursday.
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Federal News Network ☛ DeRusha finds new Surveillance Giant Google gig after departing government
Former Federal CISO Chris DeRusha is headed to Surveillance Giant Google Cloud to serve as director of global public sector compliance.
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Off Guardian ☛ Exposed: How Climate Racketeers Aim to Force Us into Smart Gulags
Shocking evidence is emerging from Australia and New Zealand of how the climate scam is being used to impose a techno-totalitarian smart-city future. The criminocratic global imperialists often use their Commonwealth colonies to try out the most insidious escalations of their tyranny – think of Canada, New Zealand and Australia during Covid.
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Defence/Aggression
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France24 ☛ French court upholds arrest warrant for Syria’s Assad
The Paris appeals court on Wednesday ruled that an international arrest warrant for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad issued by France for alleged complicity in war crimes during Syria’s civil war is valid and remains in place, lawyers said.
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New York Times ☛ I.C.C. Convicts Senior Jihadist Police Leader of Atrocities in Timbuktu
The court said his crimes had involved overseeing public floggings, torture and arbitrary arrests during a jihadist takeover in northern Mali in 2012.
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JURIST ☛ Human rights groups condemn Lebanon deportation and torture of Syrian refugees
Amnesty International issued a joint statement along with other human rights groups on Tuesday urging Lebanese authorities to end unlawful practices against Syrian refugees. These practices include torture, unlawful deportations, and ill-treatment of Syrian refugees, which run contrary to their international obligations.
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Defence Web ☛ Rwanda’s military support to other countries is part of a strategy to boost its reputation
Rwanda is one of Africa’s geographically smallest countries. However, its foreign policy, whose hallmark is military diplomacy, has attracted international attention. Military diplomacy refers to activities carried out by representatives of a country’s security apparatus to pursue its foreign policy interests.
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Defence Web ☛ UN Security Council hears Al-Shabaab resilient and unpredictable in Somalia
Al-Shabaab in Somalia remains unpredictable and has the ability to conduct devastating attacks, the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) was informed by ATMIS (African Union Transition Mission in Somalia) Head Ambassador Mohamed El-Amine Souef.
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Defence Web ☛ Kenya getting 16 helicopters, other military support from US after historic meeting
The United States has revealed plans to transfer eight UH-1 ‘Huey’ and eight MD500 helicopters to Kenya along with 150 armoured vehicles to improve regional security following a historic visit by Kenyan President William Ruto to the United States.
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Defence Web ☛ Two SANDF soldiers killed in latest DRC attack and 20 injured
M23 rebels on Tuesday attacked the town of Sake in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), resulting in the deaths of two South African National Defence Force (SANDF) soldiers. Twenty more were injured.
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MIT Technology Review ☛ Why China’s dominance in commercial drones has become a global security matter
This story first appeared in China Report, MIT Technology Review’s newsletter about technology in China. Sign up to receive it in your inbox every Tuesday.
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The Straits Times ☛ US, Japan, South Korea pledge closer ties on key technologies
They highlighted semiconductors, clean energy, critical minerals, cyber security and Hey Hi (AI) as vital areas.
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Russia, Belarus, and War in Ukraine
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Atlantic Council ☛ Ukraine’s innovative drone industry helps counter Putin’s war machine
Ukraine's rapidly expanding and highly innovative domestic drone industry is helping the country compensate for Russia's overwhelming advantages in both manpower and munitions, writes David Kirichenko.
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New York Times ☛ Mark Rutte Moves From Leading Netherlands to Heading NATO
Mr. Rutte, who served as the Dutch prime minister for nearly 14 years, has been a harsh critic of Russia’s president, Vladimir V. Putin, and a strong supporter of Ukraine.
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Environment
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Energy/Transportation
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The Strategist ☛ Australia and partners must harmonise critical-minerals policies
While Australia and its critical-minerals partners agree that supply-chain diversity, security and sustainability are essential, inconsistent national policies continue to inhibit the development of the end-to-end supply chains they seek.
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DeSmog ☛ Report: Campaigners Are Targeting Financial Backers with Lawsuits Against Fossil Fuel Funders
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DeSmog ☛ How Oil Giant Exxon Bought Influence Over the Swedish Moderate Party
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DeSmog ☛ LNG Promoted as Climate Solution at Vancouver Expo Despite Evidence
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DeSmog ☛ Canada’s LNG Pipe Dream Is an Unsustainable, Bad Investment: Report
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AstroTurf/Lobbying/Politics
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Hong Kong Free Press ☛ Hong Kong 47: Judges reject Benny Tai having ‘little or no role’ in subversion scheme after security law took effect
A Hong Kong court has rejected claims that legal scholar Benny Tai’s role in a subversion scheme was limited after Beijing imposed a national security law, as mitigation hearings in the city’s largest case against 47 pro-democracy figures continued.
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Latvia ☛ President Rinkēvičs promises he'll prompt action on national security, competitiveness and energy
Now more than a year into his four-year term as State President, Edgars Rinkevičs has already sent several legislative prroposals to the Saeima, and in an interview with Latvian Television's "What's happening in Latvia?" he promises to send more.
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New York Times ☛ Supreme Court Rules Public Corruption Law Allows Gifts to Officials
The court, which has limited the sweep of several anti-corruption laws, distinguished after-the-fact rewards from before-the-fact bribes.
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Misinformation/Disinformation/Propaganda
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Security Week ☛ Google Disrupts More China-Linked Dragonbridge Influence Operations [Ed: But Google itself is a gigantic influence operation, too]
Google has disrupted over 175,000 YouTube and Blogger instances related to the Chinese influence operation Dragonbridge.
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Silicon Angle ☛ Google intensifies efforts against wide-reaching China-linked influence operation
Google LLC’s Threat Analysis Group today shared insights into how it is taking on prolific influence operation actor DRAGONBRIDGE, a “spammy influence network” allegedly linked to China with a presence across multiple platforms. DRAGONBRIDGE, also known as “Spamouflage Dragon,” was first highlighted by Surveillance Giant Google TAG in January 2023.
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Censorship/Free Speech
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Hong Kong Free Press ☛ Exhibitors at Hong Kong’s annual book fair should obey national security laws, organiser says
Exhibitors at Hong Kong’s upcoming annual book fair should comply with the Beijing-imposed national security law and the city’s homegrown security law, the event’s organiser has said.
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Federal News Network ☛ The Supreme Court rules for Biden administration in a social control media dispute with conservative states
The Supreme Court has sided with the Biden administration in a dispute with Republican-led states over how far the federal government can go to combat controversial social control media posts on topics including COVID-19 and election security. The justices in a 6-3 vote on Wednesday threw out lower-court rulings that favored Louisiana, Missouri and other parties in their claims that federal officials leaned on the social control media platforms to unconstitutionally squelch conservative points of view. Justice Amy Coney Barrett wrote for the court that the states and other parties did not have the legal right to sue.
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Freedom of Information / Freedom of the Press
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Press Gazette ☛ Public interest defence not allowed for Mail on Sunday ‘statin deniers’ articles
Qualified privilege defence not allowed for reports of Hancock's statement which were "not fair or accurate".
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Security Week ☛ WikiLeaks Founder Julian Assange Returns to Australia a Free Man After US Legal Battle Ends
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange returned to Australia, hours after pleading guilty to obtaining and publishing U.S. military secrets.
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IT Wire ☛ Assange lands back in Australia, a free man after 14-year ordeal
“There’s another significant fact – the government has indicated there is no personal victim here. That tells me the dissemination of this information did not result in any known physical injury," she said.
“These two facts are very relevant. I would say if this was still unknown and closer to [2012] I would not be so inclined to accept this plea agreement before me. But it’s the year 2024."
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JURIST ☛ Assange pleads guilty to one count of US espionage, walks free
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange pleaded guilty in a remote US court on Wednesday to one count of conspiracy for releasing troves of US classified documents via WikiLeaks. The Australian national was released with time served. He had spent the past five years in a UK prison, where he had been battling extradition requests from the US.
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New York Times ☛ Who Is Julian Assange? What to Know About the WikiLeaks Founder and His Plea Deal
The deal ends a period of confinement that lasted about a dozen years, first in the self-exile of the Ecuadorean embassy in London, then in prison.
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Reason ☛ The Legacy of Assange's Prosecution
Julian Assange is free, but information isn't.
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The Straits Times ☛ US State Department says Julian Assange’s actions put people at risk [Ed: That's untrue and pure spin]
A spokesperson for the department was asked to give examples of harm caused but did not provide any.
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Press Gazette ☛ Emotional salaries: How do media jobs stack up?
“And you never say thank you.” “That’s what the money is for!” Mad Men’s The Suitcase may have first-aired fourteen years ago, but the episode spawned some of the show’s most-quoted and memed lines.
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New York Times ☛ Rogue to Victim: What Australia Sees in Julian Assange
Broad support for his release seems to have grown more out of resentment of his treatment by the U.S. justice system than concerns about press protections.
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JURIST ☛ CPJ calls for immediate release of Syria journalist detained on espionage charge in Kurdistan Region of Iraq
The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) on Tuesday called on Iraqi Kurdish authorities to “immediately and unconditionally” release Syrian journalist, Sleman Ahmed. Ahmed has been detained for eight months and is facing a charge of espionage under acts of endangering the national security of the Kurdistan Region.
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Civil Rights/Policing
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New Yorker ☛ What You Need to Know About 2024’s Most Significant Supreme Court Decisions
In some of its most consequential cases, the Court is trying to clarify the sweeping decisions it previously made in Bruen and Dobbs.
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Internet Policy/Net Neutrality
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MIT Technology Review ☛ Inside the US government’s brilliantly boring websites
The United States has an official web design system and a custom typeface. This public design system aims to make government websites not only good-looking but accessible and functional for all.
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APNIC ☛ Navigating Starlink’s FCC paper trail
Guest Post: What I learned when I figured out how to navigate FCC filings.
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APNIC ☛ Event Wrap: BKNIX Peering Forum 2024 and ThaiNOG Day 6
APNIC hosted a booth and conducted training at BKNIX Peering Forum 2024, held in conjunction with ThaiNOG Day 6 in Bangkok, Thailand from 30 to 31 May 2024.
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APNIC ☛ Event Wrap: CommunicAsia 2024
Paul Wilson presented on the benefits of IPv6 at CommunicAsia 2024 held in Singapore from 29 to 31 May 2024
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APNIC ☛ [Podcast] Calling time on DNSSEC: Part 1 of 2
Geoff Huston discusses the market failure of DNSSEC in deployment.
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Digital Restrictions (DRM)
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Digital Music News ☛ Sirius XM Faces Lawsuit Over ‘US Music Royalty Fee’ Surcharge That Adds 21% to the Monthly Subscription Cost
Sirius XM faces a class action lawsuit over ‘US Music Royalty’ fee that adds 21% to the monthly subscription cost. Sirius XM is being sued over its “US Music Royalty” fee, a surcharge added on top of the advertised subscription cost to cover what the satellite radio company owes the music industry.
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Digital Music News ☛ Live Nation Execs, Board Members Blamed for Antitrust Action in Latest Lawsuit
Live Nation Entertainment is facing a new shareholder lawsuit that alleges executives and board members approved anti-competitive practices which left the company open to financial losses. The action names CEO Michael Rapino and CFO Joe Berchtold, as well as Oak View Group CEO Tim Leiweke in its allegations of collusion.
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Digital Music News ☛ Live Nation Execs and Board Members Blamed for Renewed Antitrust Action in Latest Investor Lawsuit
Live Nation Entertainment is facing a new shareholder lawsuit that alleges executives and board members approved anti-competitive practices which left the company open to financial losses. The action names CEO Michael Rapino and CFO Joe Berchtold, as well as Oak View Group CEO Tim Leiweke in its allegations of collusion.
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Federal News Network ☛ What happens when a company that didn’t bid files an award protest?
A vendor of computer vision software protested a National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency award to systems integrator CACI.
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Trademarks
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TTAB Blog ☛ TTAB Summarily Dismisses Monster Energy's Opposition to PREDATOR & Design: No Lack of Bona Fide Intent and No Abandonment
Frequent TTAB litigant Monster Energy lost another one at the TTAB, this time on summary judgment. It sought cancellation of a registration for the mark PREDATOR & Design, issued in 2017, for soft drinks and energy drinks made with natural ingredients, claiming lack of bona fide intent and abandonment. The registration was blocking Monster's application to register PREDATOR for energy drinks, soft drinks, and sports drinks. The Board granted respondent's summary judgment motion, finding no genuine disputes of material fact. Monster Energy Company v. Golden Global Innovations Besloten Vennootschap and Golden Global Group BV, Cancellation No. 92078934 (June 20, 2024) [not precedential].
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Copyrights
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Public Domain Review ☛ Sensitive Material: Wordsworth Donisthorpe, Blackmail, and the First Motion Pictures
The story of early cinema may have been different had Wordsworth Donisthorpe been better at blackmail. Irfan Shah goes digging in the archives to recover the details of this forgotten polymath — political individualist, chess reformer, inventor of a peculiar kind of film camera — and finds a fierce debate about the history of English wool combing improbably implicated in the rise of motion pictures.
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Creative Commons ☛ Moving Institutions Toward Open—Building on 6 Years of the Open GLAM Survey
“Violette Heymann, 1910” by Odilon Redon (French, 1840–1916), The Cleveland Museum of Art, Hinman B. Hurlbut Collection ,CC0. Creative Commons’ Open Culture Platform is supporting 25 institutions in opening up access to their collections by the end of 2025.
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Monopolies/Monopsonies
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