Leftovers

• Hackaday ☛ Playing Rock, Paper Scissors With A Time Of Flight Sensor

  You can do all kinds of wonderful things with cameras and image recognition. However, sometimes spatial data is useful, too. As [madmcu] demonstrates, you can use depth data from a time-of-flight sensor for gesture recognition, as seen in this rock-paper-scissors demo.

• Hackaday ☛ DME With A Twist Of LimeSDR

  Navigating aircraft today isn’t like the old days. No more arrows painted on a barn roof or rotating airway beacons. Now, there are a host of radio navigation aids. GPS, of course, is available. But planes often use VOR to determine a bearing to a known point and DME — distance measuring equipment — to measure the distance to that point. DME operates around 1000 MHz and is little more than a repeater. An airplane sends a pair of pulses, and times how long it takes for the DME to repeat them. [Daniel Estévez] has been monitoring these transmissions with a LimeSDR.

• Jim Nielsen ☛ I Don’t Like The Term “IC” Either

  The context in which I heard the term was a planning meeting, where its usage conveyed an idea along the lines of: “Whatever ‘the talent’ comes up with, we’ll take it, market it, and sell it.” (Talent and creativity being mere commodities, you see.)

  I remember thinking the term seemed so flippant. How could they call them “the talent”, as if they were a mere auxiliary to the task at hand? “More like ‘the backbone’ or ‘the heart and soul’ or ‘the driving force’ of everything you’re doing,” I thought.

• Science

  • CBC ☛ How a 378-day Mars simulation changed this Canadian scientist's outlook on life

    Brockwell, who served as the mission's flight engineer, says the experience taught him the importance of living sustainably for the benefit of everyone on Earth.

    "I'm grateful for the chance to live the idea that we must utilize resources no faster than they can be replenished, and produce waste no faster than they can be processed back into resources," Brockwell said during the post-mission press conference.

  • The Atlantic ☛ Photos: The Webb Space Telescope's Second Anniversary

    Last week marked the second anniversary of when the first images were released from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope (JWST). [...]

• Education

  • Kodsnack ☛ Kodsnack 593 - Into the view hierarchy, with Malin Sundberg and Kai Dombrowski

    Fredrik is again joined by Malin Sundberg and Kai Dombrowski for a review of attending this year’s WWDC, working with “AI”, and more.

• Hardware

  • Hackaday ☛ Remembering Seymour Cray

    If you think of supercomputers, it is hard not to think of Seymour Cray. He built giant computers at Control Data Corporation and went on to build the famous Cray supercomputers. While those computers aren’t especially amazing today, for their time, they were modern marvels. [Asianometry] has a great history of Cray, starting with his work at ERA, which would, of course, eventually produce the computer known as the Univac 1103.

• Health/Nutrition/Agriculture

  • ADF ☛ Potent New Drugs a Growing Concern Across Africa

    Ernest Fornah, 32, is among Sierra Leone’s growing number of kush addicts. He smokes the drug four times a day and often can be found sitting with other users on streets and alleyways in Freetown, the capital. “These drugs are killing us,” he told the Financial Times newspaper.

  • NYPost ☛ Want to sleep longer? Do these exercises at night, new study says

    It turns out that squats are better than diddly-squat in the evening.

  • RFERL ☛ Serbian Government Restarts Rio Tinto's Contentious Lithium Mine Project

    Serbia’s government has reinstated a spatial plan for a multibillion-dollar lithium mine and processing plant, days after the Balkan state’s Constitutional Court said a previous government acted improperly to halt the project amid public protests.

  • British Population Grew From 66.7 Million to 67.9 Million, But in Same Period Deaths Grew by More Than 10%

    I‘ve just retrieved today’s numbers (weekly release) and it looks like this: [...] That’s 1,400+ more deaths (for one week) than in 2014-2019. What is the cause?

  • Kev Quirk ☛ Could You Give Up Social Media?

    Having thought about whether or not I could give up social media, I think it's the wrong question.

    Yes, I could give it up. But would I want to give it up? Right now, the answer to that question is "no".

• Proprietary/Artificial Intelligence (AI)

  • Neil Selwyn ☛ When algorithmic ‘harms’ become algorithmic ‘wrongs’ (notes on DiBerardino et al. 2024) – Critical Studies of EDUCATION & TECHNOLOGY

    Such talk of ‘harm’ marks a conscious effort to advance discussions around AI past vague notions of AI ethics, bias, fairness, accountability, transparency, and safety. All these latter terms have gained prominence in tech circles as a way of characterising and codifying the social outcomes arising from new AI technologies. However, such framings of ‘AI ethics’ and ‘AI safety’ are notably limited in their outcomes – often being used simply to justify the development of tech-driven ‘solutions’ and adjustments that purport to remedy the issues at hand. Indeed, tech developers are now well-adept at engineering improvements and interventions designed to make their technologies ethical, fair, transparent and/or accountable. In short, these reductive ways of talking about AI-related problems that tend to result in ‘fixes’.

  • Baldur Bjarnason ☛ The sentiment disconnect on 'AI' between tech and the public

    I took a bit of break from work last week and tried my hardest to get away from the “tech context”. I went on photography exhibits, took walks, and gave clearing my head a good shot.

    But that clear space just immediately filled with muddy, anxious questions.

    I don’t think I’ve ever experienced before this big of a sentiment gap between tech – web tech especially – and the public sentiment I hear from the people I know and the media I experience.

  • Video Cardz ☛ Poll shows 84% of PC users unwilling to pay extra for AI-enhanced hardware

• Security

  • Privacy/Surveillance

    • OpenRightsGroup ☛ Complaint to the ICO about Meta

      Open Rights Group has submitted a complaint to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) in the UK about Meta’s plans to take users’ information to “develop and improve AI”. Find out more and read our full complaint here.

    • OpenRightsGroup ☛ ORG complaint to ICO about Meta privacy policy changes

      Open Rights Group has submitted a complaint to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) about Meta’s plans to take users’ information to “develop and improve AI”. The complaint has been submitted on behalf of five ORG staff members who are Meta users.

    • Truthdig ☛ The Gold in AI Mass Surveillance Goes to …

      The plan goes beyond new AI video surveillance systems. According to news reports, the prime minister’s office has negotiated a provisional decree that is classified to permit the government to significantly ramp up traditional, surreptitious surveillance and information gathering tools for the duration of the Games. These include wiretapping; collecting geolocation, communications and computer data; and capturing greater amounts of visual and audio data.

    • Scoop News Group ☛ VA moving to Login.gov and ID.me for managing health care services

      The Department of Veterans Affairs is transitioning online users to Login.gov or ID.me sign-ins to access benefits and health care service accounts, a move that is expected to impact 3 million veterans and other beneficiaries.

    • [Old] Bloomberg ☛ Cybersecurity Company ID.me Is Becoming Government’s Digital Gatekeeper

• Defence/Aggression

  • ADF ☛ RSF Battlefield Victories Give It Control Over Crucial Parts of Sudan

    Since it began in April 2023, the war between Sudan’s top generals has been marked by the relentless and largely unresisted advance of Rapid Support Forces (RSF) fighters, bringing ever-larger areas of the country under the paramilitary force’s control.

  • ADF ☛ Sudan Conflict Spills Into Northern CAR, Complicating Security

    Sudan’s war has begun to spill into the Central African Republic as both sides of the fight conduct operations along Sudan’s southwest border.

  • ADF ☛ U.N. Denounces Foreign Actors for Prolonging Sudan’s Conflict

    As Sudan’s civil war drags on, experts are pointing to the role played by outside interests in prolonging it and making it deadlier.

  • ADF ☛ Majority of Islamic State Group Attacks Target African Countries

    The Islamic State group (IS) claims that it committed 788 attacks globally in the first half of 2024. Of those attacks, 536 were in Africa, where the terror group killed 2,142 people.

  • New York Times ☛ Former C.I.A. Agent Is Charged With Working for South Korea

    Sue Mi Terry, a North Korea expert with the Council on Foreign Relations, was charged with acting as an agent for Seoul after leaving the intelligence agency.

  • TwinCities Pioneer Press ☛ Former CIA official charged with being secret agent for South Korean intelligence

    By ERIC TUCKER WASHINGTON (AP) — A former CIA employee and senior official at the National Security Council has been charged with serving as a secret agent for South Korea’s intelligence service, the Justice Department said.

  • New York Times ☛ U.S. Detected Potential Iranian Plot to Kill Trump Separate From Saturday’s Shooting

    American intelligence agencies were tracking an Iranian threat even before the attack on former President Donald J. Trump. But officials said the two were unrelated.

  • France24 ☛ Security boosted for Trump after reports over Iran assassination plot

    The US received intelligence in recent weeks about a plot by Iran to try to assassinate former president, according to US news organisations. Reports say Secret Service and campaign were alerted before Republican presidential candidate injured in rally shooting.

  • JURIST ☛ Israel ministers vote unanimously in favor of law extending mandatory military service

    Israeli government ministers voted on Sunday to extend the mandatory military service in the IDF from 32 to 36 months for men. This government order determines the length for the coming eight years, leaving the ultra-orthodox community exempted from this military service.

  • New York Times ☛ Surge in Violence by West Bank Settlers Draws Ire of Israel’s Allies

    The European Union sanctioned settler extremists for ‘systematic human rights abuses against Palestinians,’ and rights groups say the Israeli military is complicit.

  • JURIST ☛ US court dismisses appeal challenging military and financial aid for Israel

    The US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit upheld the dismissal of a lawsuit that sought to compel the Biden administration to withdraw military, diplomatic, and financial support from Israel on Monday.

  • RFA ☛ Myanmar junta steps up security in Mandalay as fighting spreads across region

    Two are dead, including a child, following an airstrike as the junta battles for control of Mogoke town.

  • New York Times ☛ Israeli Strikes Kill Over 20 and Hit Another U.N. Building in Gaza

    The Israeli military said it was targeting militants operating in a U.N. school being used as a shelter in Nuseirat. A second strike caused fatalities in Al-Mawasi, the Gazan Health Ministry said.

  • New York Times ☛ Middle East Crisis: Israeli Strikes, One on a School Building Turned Shelter, Kill More Than 20

    At least five were killed in the U.N.-run school and 17 people died in a separate Israeli strike in Mawasi, a coastal area that Israel has designated a safer zone, health officials said.

  • ADF ☛ Majority of Islamic State Group Attacks Target African Countries

    The Islamic State group (IS) claims that it committed 788 attacks globally in the first half of 2024. Of those attacks, 536 were in Africa, where the terror group killed 2,142 people.

    More than half of the continent’s total deaths from IS violence — 1,115 — were recorded in West Africa, where the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) and the Islamic State in the Greater Sahara (ISGS) are prominent.

  • EDRI ☛ Will the far right threaten Europe's digital future?

    The European elections in June swept many of us in civil society through a whirlwind, cementing the continuous progression of the far-right within our democratic institutions.

    With over twenty years of experience advocating for a free, fair, and open digital environment in Europe, one thing is clear to us — a shift to the right poses a grave threat to our fundamental rights.

    Looking ahead to the next mandate of EU institutions, we anticipate a rise in the market dominance of large tech corporations and the implementation of draconian state surveillance practices.

  • Futurism ☛ Elon Musk Is Giving $180 Million to Trump Even After Trump Publicly Humiliated Him

    As the Wall Street Journal reports, Musk has told people in his circle that he's pledging roughly $45 million per month to a new super-political action committee (PAC) that's funding Trump's third presidential bid.

  • Marcy Wheeler ☛ Boiled Frog Journalism: Is Trump an Agent of Saudi Arabia, and Other Pressing Questions Buried under Biden's Age

    And yet we are two days into Trump’s nomination party, and no one has asked — much less answered — whether Donald Trump is a business partner, paid foreign agent, or merely an employee of Saudi Arabia.

    This is not a frivolous question. Since Trump left office, his family has received millions in four known deals from the Saudis: [...]

  • The Hill ☛ Donald Trump's Hannibal Lecter remarks leave Anthony Hopkins 'shocked and appalled'

    “Hannibal, that’s a long time ago that movie,” Hopkins said in a Deadline interview published Tuesday in response to hearing about Trump’s remarks. “God, that was over 30 years ago. I’m shocked and appalled what you’ve told me about Trump.”

    Trump has repeatedly praised Lecter, calling him “a wonderful man.”

  • India Times ☛ bytedance: EU court rejects ByteDance's challenge against EU gatekeeper label

    Europe's second-top court on Wednesday dismissed TikTok owner ByteDance's challenge against its designation as a gatekeeper under landmark EU tech rules, in a boost for EU antitrust regulators.

  • JURIST ☛ TikTok owner Bytedance loses challenge to gatekeeper status under EU Digital Markets Act

    The Commission assigned ByteDance gatekeeper status in September 2023 under the DMA. Gatekeeper status under the DMA gives companies with “a significant impact on their relevant digital market” additional obligations to uphold European competition law. The DMA can be seen as an extension of Article 102 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU), which prohibits the abuse of dominance in market competition.

  • ANF News ☛ A museum not to forget the crimes by the Islamic State to be built in Raqqa

    In March 2024, the Body for Culture and Antiquities of the Democratic Autonomous Administration of Northern and Eastern Syria has started work to open a museum to document violations and crimes against the population of Northern and Eastern Syria during the era of ISIS control, as well as the crimes committed by the Turkish occupation state.

  • Russia, Belarus, and War in Ukraine

    • Meduza ☛ Russia’s payments to soldiers and their families amount to eight percent of federal spending, study finds — Meduza

    • Meduza ☛ A nuclear physicist born and educated in Ukraine who worked with CERN is now designing drones for Russia’s military, a new investigation reveals — Meduza

• Transparency/Investigative Reporting

  • [Repeat] RFERL ☛ Russia's Statistics Service Excludes Data From Annual Report To Hide War Deaths

    [...] Experts would have been able to use that data to extrapolate the number of Russians killed in the invasion of Ukraine, something the Kremlin has refused to disclose. [...]

• Environment

  • Hakai Magazine ☛ Seagrass and Plastic Are Not Friends

    In a recent meta-analysis, Alice Rotini, a marine biologist at the Institute for Environmental Protection and Research in Italy, and her colleagues comprehensively reviewed and analyzed 26 existing studies that examine how plastic pollution affects seagrasses. Rotini says that rather than filtering plastic pollution out of the water, seagrass meadows and the diverse life that depends on them may be suffering under plastic’s influence.

  • Barry Hess ☛ The Falling Glacier

    It’s true, not all glaciers last thousands of years. Some naturally have mere hundreds-of-years engagements. I will definitely be reading more about Icelandic glacier melt in particular, but for now I find myself very sobered by this incredible experience. I must suggest, if hiking on a glacier in Iceland interests you at all, get to planning your trip!

  • Energy/Transportation

    • NYPost ☛ Bike commuting lowers risk of early death by 47%: ‘important findings’

      This is wheelie good news for cyclists.

    • Wired ☛ The Race for Space-Based Solar Power

      Beaming solar energy from space is not new; telecommunications satellites have been sending microwave signals generated by solar power back to Earth since the 1960s. But sending useful amounts of power is a different matter entirely.

    • Wired ☛ A Tiny Texas Village Is About to Annex a Gigantic Bitcoin Mine

      The annexation plan, which has yet to be finalized, will make possible much-needed improvements to Oak Valley roads and other public infrastructure. Nor will it cost Riot anything, because the energy company serving the area will foot the bill. For Riot, it is a public relations gambit, meant to curry favor with local residents and county officials standing in the way of a lucrative discount on its property taxes. Millions of dollars potentially rides on its ability to garner local support in Navarro County before a final decision on its abatement application is reached.

    • Deseret Media ☛ Helmet use declines amid rising number of bike vs. vehicle collisions in Utah

      "That (helmet) probably saved my life that day," he said. He also wonders what might have happened if the car had been traveling at a higher speed.

      Now, almost a year removed from the accident, Roberts is back to commuting via bicycle — and he isn't taking any chances. In addition to a helmet, he now wears a reflective vest, even in daylight hours.

    • University of Toronto ☛ My self-inflicted UPS and computer conundrum

      The easy way to use a UPS is just to let it run down until it powers off. But this is kind of abrupt on the computer, even if you've more or less halted it already, and it also means that the computer's load reduces the run time for everything else. In my case this matters a bit because after a power loss, my phone line is typically slow to get DSL signal and sync up, so that I can start doing PPPoE and bring up my Internet connection. So if it looks like the UPS's power is running low, my reflex is to power off the computer and hope that power will come back before the UPS bottoms out and the DSL modem turns off (and thus loses line sync).

    • Bridge Michigan ☛ Bridge is taking a Michigan road trip in an EV. Come along for the ride

      Bridge Michigan has written extensively about the auto industry and state’s transition to electric vehicles.

      Now, we’re hitting the road for five days to experience it first-hand.

      On Monday, Bridge Michigan’s Paula Gardner, Kelly House and Asha Lewis will set out on a classic summer excursion, a 1000-mile trek around Lake Michigan in a rented EV.

  • Wildlife/Nature

    • The Revelator ☛ Global Warming Funnies

• Finance

  • European Commission ☛ Functionalities and integrity of European Digital Identity Wallets

    The implementing act provides the necessary provisions to ensure that Member States set-up of European Digital Identity Wallets that are interoperable and that successfully enable the use of the European Digital Identity Wallets for all their intended purposes. These include secure online cross-border identification for a wide range of public and private services, as well as functionalities to enable the sharing of various electronic documents and the issuance of electronic signatures.

  • European Commission ☛ Certification of European Digital Identity Wallets

    This implementing act lays down the requirements on Certification of the conformity of the European Digital Identity Wallets under the European Digital Identity Regulation. Where Member States cannot use European cybersecurity certification schemes adopted pursuant to Regulation (EU) No 2019/881 or such schemes are not sufficient, they shall establish national certification schemes to complement those schemes, which then shall for example define the competence requirements, and an evaluation process.

  • New York Times ☛ I.M.F. Sees Signs of Cooling in U.S. Economy

    The International Monetary Fund warned that inflation remained stubbornly high and that protectionism posed a risk to the global economic outlook.

  • Reason ☛ Republicans Hammer Biden on Inflation. But Do They Have a Better Plan?

    Opening night of the Republican National Convention programmed a central issue with a Trumpian twist: "Make America Wealthy Again."

  • Hong Kong Free Press ☛ Hong Kong leader John Lee tells young people not to ‘deliberately’ depress income to be eligible for public housing

    Hong Kong’s leader has called on young people not to waste “potential and opportunities” by “deliberately” depressing their income below the limit allowed to apply for public housing.

  • Panic! at the Job Market

    Basically, all the “free money” went away when the gubbment mandated interest rates go from years of declining-or-near-zero percent to now over 5% (curiously, a 5% increase in the fed rate also caused all credit cards rates to go from 9% to 30% over the same timeframe. what world).

    Why would interest rates cause jobs to go away? Remember an interest rate is essentially “the price of money” — a higher interest rate means money is more expensive itself. Also with higher interest rates, organizations with millions and billions of cash sitting idle can park their money in safe government-backed interest accounts2 to grow their balances risk-free instead of taking on risk assets seeking outsized returns.

    What counts as risk assets avoided during high interest rate periods? Well, funding companies with uncertain futures is a pretty risky asset. So, at times of high interest rates, the weaker companies collapse, strong companies use high interest rates as an excuse to “clean house” every 10 years, then a couple hundred thousand previously high compensation workers discover there are no jobs for anybody anymore over the next 2-4 years.

  • Warner Bros. Discovery to Lay Off Nearly 1,000 Workers Across Multiple Sectors

    When will the cuts stop? Warner Bros. Discovery is laying off nearly 1,000 employees across multiple sectors, including finance, business affairs, production, and at streamer Max in the name of cost-cutting. Most of the cuts will be in the finance department, with less than to Max staff.

• AstroTurf/Lobbying/Politics

  • The Register UK ☛ FOSS funding vanishes from EU's 2025 Horizon program plans

    According to NGI's examination of more than 1,000 "grassroots open source projects" it has funded with Horizon cash, 57 percent offer "viable alternatives to existing market solutions," and 74 percent continue to operate post-funding, "showcasing their sustainability."

    In addition, more than a third of NGI programs involve supporting compliance with the EU's GDPR law and its Cyber Resilience Act, while a further 23 percent are involved with implementation of Digital Services Act and Digital Markets Act rules.

    In other words, not all NGI funding is for fun stuff like EU-made RISC-V-free laptops - some of it's important for helping the EU implement laws around digital goods and services. Without necessary funding, such implementations could be imperiled.

  • Digital Music News ☛ Jack Black Cancels Remaining Tenacious D Tour Dates After On-Stage Trump Comments

    Jack Black has canceled the remaining Tenacious D tour dates following comments made by his band partner Kyle Gass. Here’s the latest. During a concert in Australia at the ICC Sydney Theatre, Jack Black presented Gass with a cake to celebrate his 64th birthday.

  • The Straits Times ☛ Malaysian rulers’ meeting could make or break government plans

    The Conference of Rulers is set to discuss amendments to citizenship laws and the next Chief Judge of Malaya.

  • TwinCities Pioneer Press ☛ Judge dismisses Minnesota State student fee lawsuit

    In November 2022 a federal judge tossed all but one of the claims brought by the group.

  • JURIST ☛ Hijab ban on France Olympic athletes breaches international human rights laws: Amnesty International

    Amnesty International criticised the French government’s decision to ban women athletes representing France at the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games from wearing headscarves in a report released Tuesday.

  • Pro Publica ☛ Trump Media Deal Could Secure Major Windfall for GOP Candidate

    After markets closed the day before the Fourth of July holiday, former President Donald Trump’s social media company made a disclosure that got little notice.

    “The Company entered into the Standby Equity Purchase Agreement,” Trump Media & Technology Group, the company behind Trump’s Truth Social platform, said in a filing.

  • JURIST ☛ Thousands of lawyers in Delhi, India protest three new criminal laws

    Thousands of lawyers in the Indian capital city of Delhi protested against provisions of three new criminal laws on Monday. The lawyers said the new criminal laws are draconian and in opposition to litigants’ interests.

  • Pro Publica ☛ J.D. Vance Praised Alex Jones as a Truth-Teller in Speech to Leonard Leo-Backed Group

    Sen. J.D. Vance, whom Donald Trump named as his vice presidential running mate Monday, told a group of influential young conservatives in a closed-door speech in 2021 that they should stand up for “nonconventional people” who speak truth, such as Infowars founder Alex Jones.

    “If you listen to Rachel Maddow every night, the basic worldview that you have is that MAGA grandmas who have family dinners on Sunday and bake apple pies for their family are about to start a violent insurrection against this country,” Vance said. “But if you listen to Alex Jones every day, you would believe that a transnational financial elite controls things in our country, that they hate our society, and oh, by the way, a lot of them are probably sex perverts too.”

• Censorship/Free Speech

  • Stanford University ☛ Strawser | Don’t let democracy die at Stanford

    Stanford’s punitive measures against the Daily reporter that covered the Building 10 occupation are at odds with the democratic values it preaches, Strawser writes.

  • Press Gazette ☛ Harry versus The Sun: Eight-week trial expected to start in January 2025

    Some 42 people have live legal claims against The Sun publisher.

  • Meduza ☛ The death of the ‘Wikipedia killer’ The project Putin once proposed as a Wikipedia replacement has closed after the Russian government cut its funding — Meduza

  • The Barents Observer ☛ Russia cancels Olesia's internal passport

    Without the internal passport you are an undocumented person. It does not only serve as an ID like any other European travel passports. The internal passport is a mandatory identity document for all Russian citizens who are aged 14 and over. It’s what you need to open or close a bank account, receive medical care or receive any government services.

  • The Moscow Times ☛ Russia Cancels Passport of Anti-War Student Who Fled Country

    “I’m not worried since I didn’t have any rights before anyway,” Olesya Krivtsova wrote in a Telegram post announcing her passport cancelation. “The only thing that’s worrying is how the insane government of R[ussia] comes up with more perverse ways to pressure those who left the country.”

  • Tedium ☛ Tenacious D Controversy: On Power Dynamics & Creative Partnerships

    Gass made a mistake, but his mistake is that he told an edgy joke in a charged moment. There are people currently working at high profiles that have done far worse than Gass. For example, Shane Gillis appeared as the host on Saturday Night Live earlier this year, a mere four and a half years after he had been fired from the show for a long history of edgy podcast episodes that played with racist and homophobic tropes. But he was popular, and so he got a pass. Will Gass eventually get that pass, or will he have to disappear for 20 years like, say, Michael Richards?

• Freedom of Information / Freedom of the Press

  • Press Gazette ☛ Most Britons want online journalism ad-funded, but don’t like the ads they see

    Vast majority more willing to share data than to pay money for content.

  • The Moscow Times ☛ Russia Issues Arrest Warrant for Exiled Journalist Andrei Zakharov

    Zakharov, who lives in Bulgaria, told The Moscow Times that he had been “awaiting” a warrant for his arrest, but added that he would “continue to live life just as before.”

    Russia’s Justice Ministry added the journalist to its registry of “foreign agents” in October 2021. In December of that same year, Zakharov left Russia over “unprecedented surveillance” following his designation.

  • Kansas Reflector ☛ Lawrence school board's spyware renewal leaves student journalists' concerns unresolved

    Lawrence schools implemented Gaggle’s spyware on district-owned devices last November to flag “possible student situations,” which involve the intervention of a mental health coordinator, the district said. The board voted 6-1 last week to renew Gaggle’s contract for the next school year at a cost of $53,000.

    But the vote did not deter the former students’ interest in making their voices heard.

  • The Strategist ☛ As technology distorts information, Pacific governments and media must cooperate

    On 13 July, the Australian government announced a new Indo-Pacific Broadcasting Strategy designed to increase Pacific access to Australian content and foster engagement across the region, boosting capacity and capability through a variety of training and exchanges. Most of this training will rightly be led by media organisations for media organisations.

• Civil Rights/Policing

  • RFERL ☛ Romanian Court Reimposes Travel Ban On Andrew Tate, Brother As They Await Trial

    Internet influencer Andrew Tate and his brother Tristan will no longer be allowed to leave Romania as they await trial on charges of human trafficking, rape, and forming a criminal gang to sexually exploit women, following a July 16 court ruling.

  • France24 ☛ Paris airport staff call off pre-Olympics strike after reaching deal

    Paris airport workers have called off a strike that would have disrupted travel just ahead of the Olympic Games after reaching a deal on bonuses, labour and management said Tuesday.

  • Pro Publica ☛ Many Judges Don't Recuse in Cases Involving Their Families’ Interests

    Soon after longtime New Orleans attorney Wendy Vitter became a federal judge in the Eastern District of Louisiana, she heard a lawsuit against the local government in Plaquemines Parish, a peninsular province encompassing the final 70 miles of the Mississippi River, between New Orleans and the Gulf of Mexico.

    A group of paramedics had sued the parish, seeking compensation for unpaid overtime. Vitter oversaw a pair of jury trials in 2019 and 2021, both resulting in wins for the parish. But an appeals court later ruled Vitter had erred in judgment and overturned her final order. That paved the way for the paramedics to be awarded more than $500,000 in compensation, plus hundreds of thousands more for their attorneys.

  • RFERL ☛ Police Summon Women Who Appeared In Video Without Hijabs During Ashura Procession In Iranian City

    The chief of police in Iran's Alborz Province said on July 17 that women who took part in an Ashura procession in the city of Karaj without hijabs have been "identified and summoned."

  • Futurism ☛ Uncontacted Tribe Emerges From Rainforest

    It's a sad reality, highlighting humanity's relentless greed and the extent of deforestation affecting one of the largest and most biodiverse tracts of land in the world.

  • Vox ☛ Amazon Prime Day’s hidden cost: higher rates of injury for workers

    But Amazon’s self-proclaimed customer celebration comes at a cost. While Prime members can purchase goods with the ease of a few clicks year-round, getting those millions of products to arrive at their doorsteps in just a day or two is far more intensive — and even dangerous, as research and investigations into the company show — for the warehouse workers and delivery drivers that Amazon employs and relies on. The speed and scale is worse on Prime Day, when even more consumers are buying things.

  • US News And World Report ☛ US Navy Exonerates 258 Black Sailors Unjustly Punished After 1944 Explosion

    After the explosion, white sailors were given leave while the Black sailors had to return to handling ammunition without proper training or equipment.

    When the sailors refused to load the ships, the Navy launched the largest mutiny trial in its history.

  • Reason ☛ Internet Preservation and the Fourth Amendment—Case Updates, Part I

    It is a common practice among criminal investigators to "preserve" Internet accounts without cause. When an investigator learns that a suspect has a Facebook or email account, the investigator will direct the provider to run off and save a copy of the suspect's entire account and to hold it for the government. If, weeks or months later, the investigator can eventually develop probable cause, the investigator can come back with a warrant and order the provider to hand over the previously-preserved account files. And if the investigator never develops probable cause, the provider will usually realize eventually that the government isn't coming back, and it will usually then delete the extra government-ordered account records. This procedure is called "Internet preservation," and it's done in the name of a provision of the Stored Communications Act, 18 U.S.C. § 2703(f).

  • NPR ☛ NFL Hall of Famer Terrell Davis says he was handcuffed and removed from United flight

    “During questioning, it was rightfully determined by the agents that this flight attendant was inaccurate in his accusation and the agents profusely apologized, even offering to support me and my family in any way possible," he wrote.

• Internet Policy/Net Neutrality

  • AccessNow ☛ Kenyan authorities must respect the constitution and stop cracking down on human rights — online and offline

    Access Now and over 20 organisations have written to the Kenyan government calling for an end to violations of human rights — online and off.

  • AccessNow ☛ Open letter to Kenya’s government: cease attacks on protesters’ digital rights

    We the undersigned organisations write to you regarding the alarming deteriorating human rights situation in Kenya.

  • APNIC ☛ Wait. IPv6 stockpiling is a thing?

    Their main observation is that a small group of RIPE members has been accumulating large holdings in the IPv6 address space through the acquisition of otherwise distinct delegations — ones that can be seen to be involved in IPv6 transfers. As a result, around 25% of all IPv6 allocations have been consolidated, involving the unification of over 6,000 distinct delegations.

    It seems unclear why a quarter of all transactions have been directed to create such large holdings when under existing policy it should be possible to justify more than an adequate supply of addresses.

  • Inside Towers ☛ Carr’s Project 2025 Chapter Lays Out What His FCC Might Look Like

    Project 2025 came up during a House Energy & Commerce Hearing on the FCC budget that Inside Towers covered last week. In prepared remarks read by Debbie Dingell (D-MI), Ranking Member of the committee Frank Pallone (D-NJ) stated that Project 2025 would “destroy agencies like the FCC and the important role it plays on behalf of the public in overseeing critical services like our communication networks,” including by “consolidating power under the president.”

  • Ruben Schade ☛ I like Gemini and Gopher… but also HTML

    Maybe we need a signal to say your HTML page is written in the same spirit. Our browsers are capable of rendering minimal pages that respect people. It almost seems defeatist throwing in the towel and starting again somewhere else.

• Digital Restrictions (DRM)

  • Macworld ☛ First details emerge of next year's M5 MacBooks

    But there have been hints from analysts that the cycle could be a little faster than that. In June Mark Gurman discussed the launch of the M4 MacBook Pro, and said it would arrive in late 2024 or early 2025. If the M4 does ship before the end of this year, it’s conceivable that the M5 will appear a year afterward and squeeze into the 2025 release slate. It’s also possible that Apple skips the M4 altogether and jumps straight to the M5 due to the out-of-sync timing of the M4.

Monopolies/Monopsonies

• Digital Music News ☛ EU Slaps ‘Gatekeeper’ Label on TikTok, Apple, Alphabet

  Under the DMA, the European Commission can designate digital platforms as “gatekeepers” if they provide an important gateway between businesses and consumers in relation to core platform services. The recent designation decision follows a 45-day review process conducted by the Commission after the notification to the offending companies of their potential status as gatekeepers. In particular, the Commission has established gatekeeper status with respect to the following core platform services provided by the six tech giants:

• The Register UK ☛ What did Microsoft promise CISPE in its settlement?

  The Cloud Infrastructure Services Providers in Europe (CISPE) organization, which represents 27 members, filed the complaint with the EC in November 2022.

  Microsoft's maneuvering is undoubtedly impressive. For a relatively small payout — we've seen claimed figures ranging from 10 million euros to 30 million US dollars — the company managed to get CISPE's complaint over alleged anticompetitive behavior withdrawn. AWS, Google, and Alibaba were excluded from the settlement.

  The complaint centered on the higher cost of running Microsoft software in public clouds outside of Microsoft Azure.

• Wired ☛ RealPage Has Been Accused of Price-Fixing Rents. Now It’s on the Offensive

  RealPage says it isn’t doing anything wrong by suggesting to landlords how much rent they could charge. In a move to reclaim its own narrative, the property management software company published a microsite and a digital booklet it’s calling “The Real Story,” as it faces multiple lawsuits and a reported federal criminal probe related to allegations of rental price fixing.

• India Times ☛ Microsoft's hiring of former Inflection AI staff prompts UK probe

  Britain's competition regulator has started a formal investigation into Microsoft's hiring of some former staff of Inflection AI and its partnership with the startup, it said on Tuesday.

  Over the past 18 months, regulators around the world have increasingly focused on potentially anti-competitive behaviour in the AI industry, with Microsoft's various deals with smaller startups facing mounting scrutiny.

• UK Antitrust Probe Targets Microsoft’s Hiring From AI Startup Inflection

  UK antitrust regulators have launched a preliminary merger probe into Microsoft’s recent hiring of key employees from AI startup Inflection.

  The investigation involves the recruitment of Mustafa Suleyman, Inflection’s co-founder, and a major portion of the startup’s staff.

  The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) will assess whether these hirings could be considered a merger under UK rules, potentially reducing competition in the AI sector.

  The CMA announced it would decide by September 11 whether to advance the investigation to a more detailed “Phase 2” inquiry.

• Copyrights

  • Digital Music News ☛ ADOR CEO Min Hee-Jin Faces Defamation Lawsuit From Hybe Sub-Label Source Music

    Hybe sub-label Source Music sues ADOR CEO Min Hee-Jin over remarks made about LE SSERAFIM during two press conferences she held in April. The contention between K-pop juggernaut Hybe and Min Hee-Jin, CEO of its subsidiary label ADOR, seems never-ending.

  • Torrent Freak ☛ Fmovies Has Gone Offline, the End of a Pirate Streaming Giant?

    Fmovies, one of the most visited pirate sites in the world, has been unreachable for more than a day. Earlier this month, the site stopped displaying new releases, which in itself was unusual. Without any explanation from the team, some fear that the operators have discontinued the Fmovies brand, which had established itself as streaming piracy's poster child over the years.

  • Torrent Freak ☛ China's Pirate Site Crackdown is Real & Assisted By Anime Anti-Piracy Group

    An interesting and patient strategy deployed by Japan-based anti-piracy group CODA, continues to bear fruit in China. After playing a key role in the recent landmark sentences handed down to the operators of a major anime piracy site, CODA is now reporting the arrests of a further 13 people. After its Beijing office filed criminal charges on behalf of Japanese rightsholders, services offering tens of thousands of anime titles were shut down.

  • El País ☛ Melania Trump’s discreet role at the Republican convention eight years after plagiarizing Michelle Obama

    Melania Trump featured prominently at the 2016 Republican convention in Cleveland (Ohio). Her speech drew admiration, until it was discovered that, to a large extent, it plagiarized the one given by Michelle Obama at the 2008 Democratic convention. After the Covid pandemic forced the convention to be held virtually in 2020, Trump’s wife is expected to be physically present at the Republican gathering in Milwaukee (Wisconsin), but her role will be discreet.

  • Wired ☛ Apple, Nvidia, Anthropic Used Thousands of Swiped YouTube Videos to Train AI

    AI companies are generally secretive about their sources of training data, but an investigation by Proof News found some of the wealthiest AI companies in the world have used material from thousands of YouTube videos to train AI. Companies did so despite YouTube’s rules against harvesting materials from the platform without permission.

    Our investigation found that subtitles from 173,536 YouTube videos, siphoned from more than 48,000 channels, were used by Silicon Valley heavyweights, including Anthropic, Nvidia, Apple, and Salesforce.