Links 21/08/2024: "AI Bubble Ready to Burst", VS Code Obsolescence
Contents
- Leftovers
- Science
- Education
- Hardware
- Health/Nutrition/Agriculture
- Proprietary/Artificial Intelligence (AI)
- Defence/Aggression
- Environment
- Finance
- 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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Manuel Moreale ☛ On the value of context
Context matters. Providing details is important. Especially if you care about helping people understand what you mean when you say something.
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Greg Morris ☛ Writers & Non-Writers
The person who thinks everyone can write does the same because they do not understand the importance of written communication. They dismiss the importance of clear and concise writing and overestimate their own skills.
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Seth Godin ☛ Non-professional writers
Now there’s a second option. If the writing you’re doing doesn’t need to be in an idiosyncratic voice, take your memo, paste it into claude.ai and say, “please rewrite this to make it clear, cogent, positive and concise.”
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Luigi Mozzillo ☛ The September Wall · mzll
Every time I come back from vacation, and every time I have much more time to spend reading English content, every damn time I come back with the desire to write my blog posts in English. Every. Single. Time.
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Science
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Deutsche Welle ☛ 2024-08-14 [Older] Stonehenge discovery finds large stone column came from Scotland via sea
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Deutsche Welle ☛ 2024-08-16 [Older] What must NASA decide in order to bring its astronauts home?
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Scoop News Group ☛ Behind the technologies at the forefront of improving NOAA hurricane data
But newer technologies being tested and used during the current hurricane season — which NOAA has projected will be “highly active” — can provide more information through methods that are akin to increasing the number of toothpicks and even carving out the center of the metaphorical pastry. More information means more accurate forecasts, which can ultimately help protect lives and property, a key piece of NOAA’s mission.
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Bartosz Milewski ☛ Sheaves and Topology
In all branches of science we sooner or later encounter the global vs. local duality. Topology is no different.
In topology we have the global definition of continuity: counter-images of all open sets are open. But we perceive a discontinuity as a local jump. How are the two pictures related, and can we express this topologically, that is without talking about sizes and distances?
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Education
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PC World ☛ Can AI be used ethically for school work? Here’s what teachers say
In general, however, the answer boils down to a single golden rule: Students should develop their own answers, incorrect or not. Any AI assistance — from editing to research to actual writing — may be seen as a violation of an academic honor code that some schools require. If AI is used, the thinking now is that it should be cited, like a footnote.
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Deseret Media ☛ Armed guardians coming soon to every Utah school
Among many other things, the law clearly states the guardians can't be teachers or principals, and they can't be assigned the job. They must volunteer.
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Hardware
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AnandTech ☛ Qualcomm Adds Snapdragon 7s Gen 3: Mid-Tier Snapdragon Gets Cortex-A720 Treatment
With three tiers of Snapdragon 7 chips, the 7s can easily be lost in the noise that comes with more powerful chips. But the latest iteration of the 7s is a bit more interesting than usual, as rather than reusing an existing die, Qualcomm has seemingly minted a whole new die for this part. As a result, the company has upgraded the 7s family to use Arm’s current Armv9 CPU cores, while using bits and pieces of Qualcomm’s latest IPs elsewhere.
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Health/Nutrition/Agriculture
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Deutsche Welle ☛ 2024-08-12 [Older] RECOMMENDED — By studying the genes of Indigenous groups, scientists in Brazil aim to diversify and improve medical treatments
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Deutsche Welle ☛ 2024-08-16 [Older] Germany: New sabotage warning issued for water supply
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CBC ☛ 2024-08-16 [Older] Boil-water advisory in eastern Montreal after major water main break
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CBC ☛ 2024-08-16 [Older] Hamilton's steel mills are polluting above Ontario rules even after exemption expired 1 year ago
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Deutsche Welle ☛ 2024-08-16 [Older] India protests: Doctors call for shutdown of services
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CBC ☛ 2024-08-16 [Older] Northern Manitoba community 'in shock' after hospital sent wrong body to grieving family: Chief
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Deutsche Welle ☛ 2024-08-15 [Older] US: 5 arrested over Matthew Perry's death, ketamine supply
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Deutsche Welle ☛ 2024-08-12 [Older] Heat caused nearly 50,000 deaths in Europe last year: study
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Deutsche Welle ☛ 2024-08-13 [Older] Subsurface of Mars harbors oceans of water: study
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Deutsche Welle ☛ 2024-08-14 [Older] West Nile virus is on the rise: What you need to know
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Deutsche Welle ☛ 2024-08-14 [Older] What is the drug Captagon, and how is it linked to Germany?
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Deutsche Welle ☛ 2024-08-14 [Older] Can 'smart' insulin help cure type 1 diabetes?
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CBC ☛ 2024-08-15 [Older] It took Canada's public health agency nearly a year to link plant-based milk listeria cases
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Robert Birming ☛ There's No Secret
If we want to increase our chances of being in good shape, then we need to make sure we move around a bit. If we want to become a better writer, then we need to make sure we write a lot.
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Caltech Magazine ☛ How Wearable Sensors Will Transform the Practice of Medicine
Studies have shown that preventive medicine—the act of detecting and trying to avert potential health conditions before they begin—vastly improves patient outcomes. Now, several Caltech researchers are working to make preventive medicine more accessible through the development of wearable sensors—small, unobtrusive devices that can provide continuous real-time monitoring of biomarkers related to diabetes, stress, inflammation, heart disease, gout, fertility, and more. The goal: to bring medical care to the patient instead of bringing the patient to the medical care. While a visit to a doctor’s office requires an appointment and is just a moment in time, a wearable sensor can monitor the health of a patient as long as it is worn, whether the patient is at home or at work, asleep or awake.
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Federal News Network ☛ It’s never too early to make sure your life’s paperwork is in order
Shrewd federal employees spend a lot of time ensuring they’ll have enough money to retire — and maybe leave some behind. Too often, though, they don’t spend enough effort on the legal documents needed to protect a modern estate. Joining the Federal Drive with Tom Temin with a few important reminders is wealth advisor Thiago Glieger.
Interview transcript: [...]
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Hakai Magazine ☛ Here a Bee, There a Bee, Everywhere a Wild Bee
Biologists are finding new bee species all over the Pacific Northwest—highlighting how little we know about native pollinators.
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Science Alert ☛ New Technique Removes More Than 98% of Nanoplastics From Water
Using natural liquid ingredients that have low toxicity, the team has shown they can remove around 98 percent of nanoscopic polystyrene beads from fresh and salt water.
The solvent that researchers engineered floats on the surface of water, kind of like oil. A quick mix, however, and – voila! – the liquid picks up microscopic plastics in the water and carries them to the surface.
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The Conversation ☛ How accurate are wearable fitness trackers? Less than you might think
However, discrepancies were larger for energy expenditure (the number of calories you burn when exercising) with error margins ranging from −21.27% to 14.76%, depending on the device used and the activity undertaken.
Results weren’t much better for sleep. Wearables tend to overestimate total sleep time and sleep efficiency, typically by more than 10%. They also tend to underestimate sleep onset latency (a lag in getting to sleep) and wakefulness after sleep onset. Errors ranged from 12% to 180%, compared to the gold standard measurements used in sleep studies, known as polysomnography.
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Omicron Limited ☛ TikToks—even neutral ones—harm women's body image, but diet videos had the worst effect, study finds
Women who spend a lot of time on TikTok—especially those seeing a lot of pro-anorexia content—feel worse about their appearance, a new study shows. The results suggest that high TikTok exposure could harm mental health, reducing body image satisfaction and increasing the risk for disordered eating behavior.
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US News And World Report ☛ TikTok Videos Glamorize Eating Disorders and Harm Women's Body Image
“Our study showed that less than 10 minutes of exposure to implicit and explicit pro-anorexia TikTok content had immediate negative consequences for body image states and internalization of appearance ideals," wrote study co-authors Madison Blackburn and Rachel Hogg, from Charles Sturt University in Australia.
TikTok is incredibly popular among young users worldwide, and its algorithm creates a customized "For You" page based on user preferences.
That means that if girls and young women show a liking for weight loss-oriented videos, such clips can quickly flood their TikTok feed.
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NIH ☛ #ForYou? the impact of pro-ana TikTok content on body image dissatisfaction and internalisation of societal beauty standards
Videos glamourising disordered eating practices and body image concerns readily circulate on TikTok. Minimal empirical research has investigated the impact of TikTok content on body image and eating behaviour. The present study aimed to fill this gap in current research by examining the influence of pro-anorexia TikTok content on young women's body image and degree of internalisation of beauty standards, whilst also exploring the impact of daily time spent on TikTok and the development of disordered eating behaviours. An experimental and cross-sectional design was used to explore body image and internalisation of beauty standards in relation to pro-anorexia TikTok content. Time spent on TikTok was examined in relation to the risk of developing orthorexia nervosa. A sample of 273 female-identifying persons aged 18-28 years were exposed to either pro-anorexia or neutral TikTok content. Pre- and post-test measures of body image and internalisation of beauty standards were obtained. Participants were divided into four groups based on average daily time spent on TikTok. Women exposed to pro-anorexia content displayed the greatest decrease in body image satisfaction and an increase in internalisation of societal beauty standards. Women exposed to neutral content also reported a decrease in body image satisfaction. Participants categorised as high and extreme daily TikTok users reported greater average disordered eating behaviour on the EAT-26 than participants with low and moderate use, however this finding was not statistically significant in relation to orthorexic behaviours. This research has implications for the mental health of young female TikTok users, with exposure to pro-anorexia content having immediate consequences for internalisation and body image dissatisfaction, potentially increasing one's risk of developing disordered eating beliefs and behaviours.
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Proprietary/Artificial Intelligence (AI)
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The Verge ☛ Procreate’s anti-AI pledge attracts praise from digital creatives
The creative community’s ire toward generative AI is driven by two main concerns: that AI models have been trained on their content without consent or compensation, and that widespread adoption of the technology will greatly reduce employment opportunities. Those concerns have driven some digital illustrators to seek out alternative solutions to apps that integrate generative AI tools, such as Adobe Photoshop.
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Macworld ☛ The AI bubble is real and it's ready to burst
On the stealing aspect of AI, former Google CEO Eric Schmidt recently spoke at a conference at Stanford University where he told attendees to not worry about it. One of the things he suggested is making a TikTok clone and populating it by using AI to steal everything already on TikTok. If you become rich off of it, he said, you can lawyer up to the point you’ll be fine and if you don’t get rich, no one will care.
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India Times ☛ Not an open and shut case: India’s balancing act between open and closed-source GenAI models
As India starts to emerge as the use-case capital of GenAI applications, tech leaders and startup founders believe both open and close-sourced technologies have a unique role to play in optimising costs, ensuring data sovereignty and delivering the best performance. ET’s Himanshi Lohchab takes a deep dive on how India weighs in on pros and cons of open versus closed-source GenAI models.
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Cyble Inc ☛ Microsoft Apps Flaw Enables Unauthorized Access On Mac
A critical vulnerability has been discovered in several popular Microsoft apps in Apple MacBook. The vulnerability could potentially allow hackers to steal user permissions from apps and gain unauthorized access to sensitive data like camera feeds and microphone recordings. The vulnerability reportedly affects a wide range of Microsoft apps for macOS, including Outlook, Teams, Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote.
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Science Alert ☛ Digital Equivalent of Inbreeding Could Cause AI to Collapse on Itself
In 2023, researchers started wondering if they could get away with only relying on AI-created data for training, instead of human-generated data.
There are huge incentives to make this work. In addition to proliferating on the [Internet], AI-made content is much cheaper than human data to source. It also isn't ethically and legally questionable to collect en masse.
However, researchers found that without high-quality human data, AI systems trained on AI-made data get dumber and dumber as each model learns from the previous one. It's like a digital version of the problem of inbreeding.
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Josh Erb ☛ VS Code Obsolescence
Now, maybe this is a naive proposition, but I think that a 9 year old laptop with 250 GB of memory, a 2.9 GHz dual-core processor, and 8 GB of RAM should still hum along quite well[3] for basic tasks. Yet, lo and behold, as I was working on some tweaks to my site I was dismayed to learn that this wasn't the case. With only my web browser open & VS Code running, my laptop slowed to a crawl. Taking a peak at Activity Monitor, VS Code & it's associated processes were gobbling up all of my CPU. I was stunned. Naysayers might cry foul and say it was probably some renegade plugin. But this was a fresh install, I hadn't added any 3rd party plugins.
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Facundo Olano ☛ Software Possession for Personal Use
There’s a lot to be frustrated about software, the cloud, and Big Tech, especially if you’ve been using computers long enough to remember what the experience used to be like. It was worse, of course, in some ways, more limited and primitive, but much better in others. And that’s the thing: we probably didn’t notice that we were making this trade-off—not before we were all in.
We gave up privacy and control in exchange for convenience and information sharing, but we also gave up performance and offline access, and data durability and ownership. There are things we can do now—things we need to do now, like video conferencing and real-time collaboration—that couldn’t be done with traditional desktop software. But for the things we could do back then, the overall experience has likely gotten worse, and it seems to be getting worse all the time.
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“The Wokest Game Ever” ‘Dustborn’ Has Abysmal Player Numbers On Release Day
Back in July following the release of the game’s trailer, a representative for the game conducted an interview with PSU and confirmed the entire game spawned out of protest against Donald Trump being elected President of the United States in 2016.
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Defence/Aggression
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Task And Purpose ☛ Army boots out soldier tied to online white supremacists
According to court documents, Nix lied on his Security Clearance Application Standard Form (SF) 86 on Aug. 2, 2022, writing that he had never been a member of any group dedicated to violent insurrection against the government. Documents do not say what group Nix is accused of being a member of. However, the Southern Poverty Law Center’s Hatewatch reported on August 19 that Nix is a member of the white nationalist and Neo Nazi Patriot Front. When questioned by a New Yorker reporter on a separate story, Nix denied being a member of the extremist group.
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JURIST ☛ Panama starts first US-funded repatriation flight
All the deported people had illegally entered Panama through the Darien jungle, or the Darien Gap, which is a border jungle separating Panama and Columbia. It consists of more than 60 miles of dense rainforest, steep mountains, and vast swamps and is considered one of the most dangerous migration routes. As it is the only overland path connecting Central and South America, and due to the crackdown on alternative routes by sea and air, migrants and asylum seekers have been increasingly crossing this region in order to get to the US. In addition to the harsh natural conditions, migrants crossing this jungle also endure violence and abuse from gangs operating in the area. Most of the migrants originated from Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador and Haiti.
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Semafor Inc ☛ Panama starts returning migrants as part of US deal to deter border crossings
Panama began returning undocumented migrants Tuesday on flights paid for by the US as part of a $6 million agreement aimed at reducing the number of people traveling through the Darién Gap to North America.
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New York Times ☛ They Spouted Hate Online. Then They Were Arrested.
As hundreds of people appear in court for their role in recent anti-immigrant riots in Britain, several are accused of fueling disorder through online posts, raising questions about the limits of free speech.
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C4ISRNET ☛ Signal battalions to be rebuilt for modern combat, Army says
Army Lt. Gen. John Morrison, deputy chief of staff for Army G6, which implements command, control, communications and cyber for the force, shared this update Tuesday at the Armed Forces Communications and Electronics Association TechNet event in Augusta, Georgia.
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Defence Web ☛ Russia has tightened its hold over the Sahel region – and now it’s looking to Africa’s west coast - defenceWeb
This has now become a reality, to the detriment of western interests in the country. On Wednesday, April 10, a Russian plane arrived in the Nigerien capital, Niamey, reportedly carrying Russian military trainers and equipment, including a Russian air defence system. It marked the beginning of a new alliance between the Kremlin and Niger’s military leaders.
Following the arrival of Russian military equipment and advisers, hundreds of protesters gathered in Niamey to demand the withdrawal of American forces. Niger has been the centre of US operations in west and north Africa since the two countries signed a military pact in 2012.
The US has since announced that it will pull more than 1,000 military personnel out of Niger. This will result in the closure of Base 201, a key US drone facility that has been used in operations against jihadist terrorist groups in the Sahel region.
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US News And World Report ☛ Taliban Morality Police Dismiss Over 280 Men Without Beards From Security Forces
The Ministry for the Prevention of Vice and Propagation of Virtue said in its annual operations update that around half of those detained had been let go after 24 hours. It did not break down the type of the alleged offences or gender of the detainees.
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[Repeat] New York Times ☛ Iran Is to Blame for [Breaking] Into Trump’s Campaign, Intelligence Officials Say
The finding, which was widely expected, came days after a longtime Trump adviser, Roger J. Stone, revealed that his Hotmail and Gmail accounts had been compromised. That intrusion evidently allowed Iranian hackers to impersonate him and gain access to the emails of campaign aides.
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Counter Punch ☛ 2024-08-13 [Older] Canada Cheers on ‘Africa’s Most Ruthless Regime’
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Deutsche Welle ☛ 2024-08-13 [Older] Myanmar: War crimes escalating 'substantially,' UN says
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Deutsche Welle ☛ 2024-08-16 [Older] Germany: No sabotage detected at Cologne military base
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Deutsche Welle ☛ 2024-08-14 [Older] German military base reopened after suspected sabotage
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Deutsche Welle ☛ 2024-08-16 [Older] India to hold assembly elections in disputed Kashmir
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Deutsche Welle ☛ 2024-08-16 [Older] Is Libya on the brink of a new civil war?
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Deutsche Welle ☛ 2024-08-16 [Older] Middle East updates: Germany condemns deadly settler attack
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Deutsche Welle ☛ 2024-08-16 [Older] Nord Stream sabotage: How are key players reacting?
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Deutsche Welle ☛ 2024-08-12 [Older] Germany: Islamist terror poses 'persistently high' risk
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Deutsche Welle ☛ 2024-08-15 [Older] Taylor Swift returns to stage after foiled terror plot
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Deutsche Welle ☛ 2024-08-13 [Older] Uganda: Ex-LRA commander convicted in war crimes trial
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Deutsche Welle ☛ 2024-08-13 [Older] Tanzania opposition leaders released after mass arrests
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Deutsche Welle ☛ 2024-08-13 [Older] Philippines protests Chinese air force actions over disputed shoal
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Deutsche Welle ☛ 2024-08-13 [Older] India: Doctors protest after medic raped and murdered
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Deutsche Welle ☛ 2024-08-15 [Older] Indian doctors demand safe work spaces after brutal rape
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Deutsche Welle ☛ 2024-08-14 [Older] Sudan truce talks start in Switzerland without Sudanese army
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Deutsche Welle ☛ 2024-08-14 [Older] Middle East crisis: Cyprus readies to receive refugees
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Deutsche Welle ☛ 2024-08-14 [Older] Indian captain killed in Kashmir as clashes escalate
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CBC ☛ 2024-08-12 [Older] Rohingya man whose mother was abducted calls for refugee pathway to Canada
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CBC ☛ 2024-08-11 [Older] Montreal Pride parade interrupted by pro-Palestinian protesters
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Russia, Belarus, and War in Ukraine
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Deutsche Welle ☛ 2024-08-15 [Older] Nord Stream: Gas, politics and war
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Environment
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EcoWatch ☛ Arctic ‘Mercury Bomb’ Threatens Food Chain as Climate Warms
As global heating caused by the climate crisis warms the Arctic as much as four times faster than the worldwide average, Alaska’s Yukon River is eroding thawing permafrost and releasing mercury-laden sediment that has been sequestered for thousands of years into the surrounding environment.
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Omicron Limited ☛ Brazil fishermen turn to mobile app to combat pollution scourge
"We used to take pictures with our cell phone or a camera," but without exact geolocation data, it was of little use, Anderson—president of the bay's Ahomar fishermen's association—told AFP as he filmed a steady stream of wastewater being dumped from a ship.
The app, however, "gives me the precise" data with which to file a complaint, anonymously.
The information is verified by a moderator and published on a dedicated website, after which it is reported to authorities such as the country's Ibama environmental regulator or Brazil's navy, which patrols the bay.
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CBC ☛ 2024-08-12 [Older] How extreme weather affects food prices in Canada
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Deutsche Welle ☛ 2024-08-12 [Older] Europe's Green Deal: More money needed for carbon transition
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CBC ☛ 2024-08-12 [Older] Booming solar industry has a growing appetite for weed-chomping crews
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Deutsche Welle ☛ 2024-08-12 [Older] How Sweden balances emission cuts with economic growth
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Energy/Transportation
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CBC ☛ 2024-08-12 [Older] Travellers accuse screening officers at Ottawa airport of 'unprofessional' behaviour
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Deutsche Welle ☛ 2024-08-15 [Older] Hurricane Ernesto: Almost half of Puerto Rico without power
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Deutsche Welle ☛ 2024-08-12 [Older] Lufthansa suspends Middle East flights for another week
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CBC ☛ 2024-08-13 [Older] Ford, Mazda issue 'do not drive' warning for older vehicles with faulty Takata airbags
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Deutsche Welle ☛ 2024-08-15 [Older] Sicily's Mount Etna erupts, closing Catania airport
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Deutsche Welle ☛ 2024-08-14 [Older] Germany's alcohol problem: Should it ban teenage drinking?
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Deutsche Welle ☛ 2024-08-14 [Older] Nigeria: Army destroys illegal refineries, seizes crude oil
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Deutsche Welle ☛ 2024-08-14 [Older] Nord Stream explosions: Germany issues arrest warrant
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CBC ☛ 2024-08-14 [Older] Air Canada pilots prepare for strike amid ongoing labour dispute
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DeSmog ☛ Strathcona CCS Announcement Another Billion Dollar Handout to Canada’s Oil Industry
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DeSmog ☛ NextDecade Scraps Carbon Capture Plans for Its Rio Grande LNG Terminal
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Wildlife/Nature
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CBC ☛ 2024-08-14 [Older] Report finds safety failures prior to death of B.C. wildfire fighter
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CBC ☛ 2024-08-14 [Older] U.S. nearly doubles duty on Canadian softwood lumber
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Deutsche Welle ☛ 2024-08-16 [Older] Wildfires: how under threat are cities?
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Deutsche Welle ☛ 2024-08-12 [Older] Greece: Athens suburbs evacuated as wildfires spread
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Deutsche Welle ☛ 2024-08-13 [Older] Wildfires in Greece: Blazes in front of the gates of Athens
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Deutsche Welle ☛ 2024-08-13 [Older] Greece: 1 dead as wildfires bear down on Athens
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Deutsche Welle ☛ 2024-08-13 [Older] Panda at Berlin Zoo again pregnant with twins
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CBC ☛ 2024-08-13 [Older] I never thought a wildfire could sweep through my town. Until it did
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CBC ☛ 2024-08-13 [Older] Anxiety, relief as Jasper residents prepare for return to wildfire-ravaged mountain town
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Finance
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AstroTurf/Lobbying/Politics
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Deutsche Welle ☛ 2024-08-16 [Older] Who is Paetongtarn Shinawatra, Thailand's new premier?
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Deutsche Welle ☛ 2024-08-15 [Older] Thailand: What's next after PM Srettha Thavisin's ouster?
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Deutsche Welle ☛ 2024-08-12 [Older] Tanzania opposition Chadema says senior leaders arrested
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Deutsche Welle ☛ 2024-08-15 [Older] Why is Japanese PM Fumio Kishida stepping down?
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Deutsche Welle ☛ 2024-08-14 [Older] Campaign cash: Will corporate America decide US election?
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Deutsche Welle ☛ 2024-08-13 [Older] Germany remembers its first national election after the Nazi dictatorship
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Deutsche Welle ☛ 2024-08-14 [Older] Why Kamala Harris' laugh is a secret weapon
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Scoop News Group ☛ Democrats give cyber short shrift in party platform
There were just two explicit mentions of cyber in the 2024 Democratic platform, both vague and in one case neglecting to note that Kamala Harris, rather than Joe Biden, is the party’s nominee — a platform-wide phenomenon.
“We will remove barriers to legal access, combat hate crimes, and counter cyber threats,” the platform vows in one section.
“He [Biden] will continue to address cyber threats by bolstering the capacity of our intelligence communities and leading the development of rules of the road for technologies like artificial intelligence,” the platform vows in another.
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David Rosenthal ☛ Astroturfing
I seem to be stuck on the theme of cryptocurrency gaslighting with two weeks ago More Cryptocurrency Gaslighting and one week ago Greenwashing. Now I look at cryptocurrency gaslighting in the political arena, where it is termed astroturfing:
"it is defined as the process of seeking electoral victory or legislative relief for grievances by helping political actors find and mobilize a sympathetic public, and is designed to create the image of public consensus where there is none. Astroturfing is the use of fake grassroots efforts that primarily focus on influencing public opinion and typically are funded by corporations and political entities to form opinions."
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US News And World Report ☛ EU Approves German State Aid for $11 Billion TSMC Chip Plant
Taiwan's TSMC on Tuesday launched a major new computer chip plant in Dresden, Germany, expected to be a key supplier to European industry and carmakers after the EU Commission approved 5 billion euros ($5.5 billion) worth of state aid.
The large aid award for the project, which will cost 10 billion in all, is the biggest approved so far under the EU Chips Act, and the first in Germany.
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India Times ☛ GM lays off over 1,000 salaried software, services employees
General Motors said Monday it is laying off more than 1,000 salaried employees at its software and service units worldwide.
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Misinformation/Disinformation/Propaganda
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VOA News ☛ A ‘huge number of people’ did not burn alive in the Donetsk shopping mall
Lysenko is wanted by Ukraine's Ministry of Internal Affairs for spreading malicious propaganda and disinformation on behalf of the Russian government.
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Cyble Inc ☛ Iran Fingered For Influence Ops On U.S. Presidential Candidates While Trump Resorts To Deepfakes
On a day when the top U.S. intelligence and cybersecurity agencies came together to identify Iran’s role in cyberattacks and influence operations aimed at gaining sensitive information on the U.S. elections and trying to tip the scales toward their favored presidential candidate, Donald Trump himself resorted to spreading deepfakes from AI-generated images and videos of Taylor Swift and Elon Musk.
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CBC ☛ Trump posts image of fake Taylor Swift endorsement
Advocates in the music industry, Hollywood and Washington have been pushing for federal legislation and other measures to fight the explosion of fake AI images online.
Trump's post was "yet another example of AI's power to create misinformation," consumer group Public Citizen said.
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The Washington Post ☛ Trump’s AI fakes of Taylor Swift and Kamala Harris aren’t meant to fool you
Rather, the images seem to function more like memes, meant to provoke and amuse. They’re visual parallel to the nasty nicknames Trump calls his opponents and the evidence-free claims he often makes on the campaign trail. For a politician whose favored rhetorical mode is the unconfirmed anecdote — “Many people are saying ...” — generative AI offers a handy new way to illustrate his stories.
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Penske Media Corporation ☛ Donald Trump Shares AI-Generated Pics Claiming Taylor Swift Endorsement
Before this wildly unpredictable presidential campaign season even kicked off, technology experts issued dire warnings that doctored artificial intelligence images and videos could be used to manipulate voters. That appears to be the case with some seemingly manufactured images shared by three-time White House candidate Donald Trump on Sunday (Aug. 18) on his Truth Social account.
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Censorship/Free Speech
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Deutsche Welle ☛ 2024-08-13 [Older] India: Draft bill to regulate digital content stokes concern
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Deutsche Welle ☛ 2024-08-15 [Older] German minister defiant after court lifts 'Compact' ban
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New York Times ☛ How Section 230 Is Being Used Against Tech Giants Like Meta
Facebook, X, YouTube and other social media platforms rely on a 1996 law to insulate themselves from legal liability for user posts. The protection from this law, Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, is so significant that it has allowed tech companies to flourish.
But what if the same law could be used to rein in the power of those social media giants?
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New York Times ☛ Pakistan’s Internet Disruptions Stoke Fears of Government Surveillance
Internet speeds have slowed to half their usual rates, according to trade groups and business owners. Files that once were uploaded in minutes take hours. Online calls and video conferencing are plagued by frozen screens and delayed voices.
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The Register UK ☛ Cloudflare calls for a harmonization of regulations
A large proportion of websites worldwide use plumbing provided by Cloudflare – W3Techs.com puts the figure at 19.2 percent. While an impressive figure, that ubiquity can also result in some spectacular outages when things go wrong – and fingerpointing when Cloudflare-backed sites attract controversy.
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The Register UK ☛ Pakistan’s [Internet] slows, industry group blames censorship
"The imposition of the firewall has triggered a perfect storm of challenges, with prolonged [Internet] disconnections and erratic VPN performance threatening a complete meltdown of business operations," alleged the org, which predicted resultant financial losses of up to $300 million.
That figure would represent a month’s worth of Pakistan's IT exports – recorded in June at $298 million.
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Freedom of Information / Freedom of the Press
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Deutsche Welle ☛ 2024-08-12 [Older] Jimmy Lai: Hong Kong rejects appeal against conviction
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VOA News ☛ Hong Kong press freedom sinks to record low: journalist survey
Published every year since 2013 by the Hong Kong Journalists Association (HKJA) and the Hong Kong Public Opinion Research Institute (HKPORI), the Press Freedom Index ranks the city's media environment on a zero-to-100 scale — 100 being a perfect score.
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Silicon Angle ☛ OpenAI agrees content licensing deal with Condé Nast to feed SearchGPT and ChatGPT
OpenAI said today it has struck a deal with Condé Nast, a subsidiary of Advance Publications Inc. so artificial intelligence tools such as ChatGPT and SearchGPT will be able to access and display content from publications that include The New Yorker, Vogue, Condé Nast Traveler, Architectural Digest, GQ, Vanity Fair and Wired.
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Wired ☛ Condé Nast Signs Deal With OpenAI
Condé Nast employees are voicing concerns about the deal. "No one wants to help train the tools spreading misinformation and degrading the skills many of us spent decades honing,” one writer for a Condé outlet, who requested anonymity out of concerns for professional reprisals, told WIRED.
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Kansas Reflector ☛ Marion woman told investigators she deleted texts with police chief to avoid rumor of affair
Cody, who led an Aug. 11, 2023, police raid on journalists and a city councilwoman, faces a low-level felony charge for telling Newell after the raid to delete text messages between the two. The raid was based on the false assertion that the targets had committed identity theft by obtaining a copy of Newell’s drunk driving record, which is a public document. Newell had lashed out at the journalists and councilwoman during a public meeting four days before the raid.
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NL Times ☛ Measures taken to make files of alleged Dutch Nazi collaborators hard to find online
This archive includes half a million files of Dutch people suspected of things like betraying the location of Jews in hiding or killing resistance fighters during the Second World War. The Archives Act requires the files to be made public next year, and that will happen. But the National Archives will be very careful in the process.
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Civil Rights/Policing
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Deutsche Welle ☛ 2024-08-14 [Older] Assault on family law: Iraq moving further from democracy?
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CBC ☛ 2024-08-14 [Older] UN report on Canada's temporary foreign workers details the many ways they've been abused
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Deutsche Welle ☛ 2024-08-14 [Older] Has Tanzania's protest crackdown dented democratic gains?
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Jacobin Magazine ☛ Eugene Debs on the “New Woman”
From an early age, socialist labor leader Eugene Debs was committed to women’s rights.
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Silicon Angle ☛ US judge blocks FTC’s ban on noncompete clauses
A federal judge in Texas today derailed the Federal Trade Commission’s ban on noncompete agreements, blocking the ban from taking effect in September as planned.
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The Nation ☛ Cornell University Workers Strike as Students Return to Campus
The difference between university and union proposals dealt with safety concerns, training pay, parking costs, and a host of issues. But a significant disagreement came down to the fact that pay increases have not kept up with rising costs for many years. “We have members who are on Section 8. We have members who can’t pay for ADA updates,” said Lonnie Everett, international servicing representative with UAW Region 9. Everett explained that while the percentage increase the union was demanding may seem large, it would simply catch worker pay up to the current cost of living. “The majority of our members can’t afford to live here in Ithaca, close to their job.”
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Techdirt ☛ 2nd Circuit To Cop: Someone Observing All The Laws Is Not ‘Probable Cause’ For A Search
Unsurprisingly, the lower court rejected the officer’s request for immunity, pointing out that while the initial encounter may have been justified, nothing that followed that (pulling Soukaneh from the car, handcuffing him, searching his vehicle, detaining him for another half-hour while trying to figure out what to cite him with) was supported by probable cause.
The Second Circuit comes to the same conclusion. Simply being made aware Soukaneh possessed an item millions of Americans also own legally is not probable cause for anything the officer did past that point.
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The Hill ☛ Cornell University workers strike over contract dispute
Workers at Cornell University have gone on strike on the first day of college move-in after talks on a new contract broke down.
Those going on strike include maintenance and facilities workers, dining workers, gardeners, custodians, and agriculture and horticulture workers.
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Internet Policy/Net Neutrality
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US News And World Report ☛ 2024-08-13 [Older] Canada Regulator Expands Internet Network-Sharing Provision to Telcos Nationwide
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Digital Restrictions (DRM)
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Deutsche Welle ☛ 2024-08-16 [Older] Signing up for Disney+ prevents death lawsuit, argues Disney
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Digital Music News ☛ Money Is The Primary Issue for Streaming Subscription Holdouts
Free trials continue to drive growth as the top influencing factor for new premium subscribers. Despite that, recommendations from friends and family about a particular streaming service are also credited as top influential factors in choosing to subscribe to a premium service. YouTube Music continues to grow at a hefty clip thanks to word-of-mouth recommendations, but Spotify remains supreme in the world of music streaming.
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Nick Heer ☛ We Do Not Need Another iPod for Streaming TV, We Need an iTunes – Pixel Envy
We almost had this in the first years of Netflix, when it was chock full of licensed movies and shows you could stream on demand. Then the handful of large corporations responsible for all layers of media production and distribution realized they could stream their own library. Now, over half of Netflix’s library is original movies and shows, and it competes with Disney Plus, Hulu (also owned by Disney), Max (owned by Warner), and Peacock (owned by NBCUniversal). As Siegler points out, all of these are being offered in various bundle deals. Canadian ISP Rogers, for example, includes Disney Plus access in cable TV subscriptions.
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Michael Burkhardt ☛ On Physical Media
Victoria shared a link to an NPR podcast episode called “Physical Media We Still Treasure”. I happened to be looking for something I could listen to on my lunchtime walk yesterday so I tuned in. And it got me thinking.
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404 Media ☛ Shein Is Suing Temu For Copyright Infringement
“It controls every aspect of its sellers' activity. It directs what products they can list and the prices for which they can sell; encourages them to infringe the intellectual [sic] property [sic] rights of others; and even prevents them from removing their products from Temu's website after they have admitted to infringement. These are not the actions of a legitimate third-party ‘marketplace,’” Shein states.
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The Verge ☛ Shein is now copying Temu’s copyright lawsuit
It gets worse, Shein alleges. Temu isn’t a marketplace at all. “It controls every aspect of its seller’s activity,” the complaint says. “It directs what products they can list and the prices for which they can sell; encourages them to infringe the intellectual property rights of others; and even prevents them from removing their products from Temu’s website after they have admitted to infringement.” I would like to be clear: I am still in the first paragraph of this complaint, a paragraph which uses bitchy scare-quotes around every incidence of calling Temu a “marketplace.”
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RTL ☛ Legal armoury: One year in, EU turning up heat in big tech fight
Brussels scored its first major victory after forcing TikTok to permanently remove an "addictive" feature from a spinoff app in Europe in August, a year after content moderation rules under the bloc's Digital Services Act (DSA) started to apply.
That followed a seven-day period earlier in the summer in which Brussels issued back-to-back decisions targeting Apple, Meta and Microsoft.
And more is to come before 2024 is over, say officials.
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India Times ☛ Apple’s first made-in-India iPhone pro models coming this year
Plan shows Apple making further progress with India assembly Company is shifting output to India to diversify beyond China. The production of Apple’s entire iPhone range in India is a major landmark for the US tech giant’s local push that started gathering steam in 2021, helped by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s financial incentives to attract high-end manufacturing.
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The Register UK ☛ EU competition cop to depart after decade of oversight
During her first two terms, the Danish politician tangled with top US tech giants – including Amazon, Apple, Google, Meta and Qualcomm – as well as European firms like France's Alstom and Germany's Siemens AG.
With Europe's Digital Markets Act (DMA) coming into force in 2022 – and with the designation in 2023 of Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, ByteDance, Meta, and Microsoft as "gatekeepers" – there's been actual change in the competition landscape.
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Trademarks
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Right of Publicity
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Deutsche Welle ☛ 2024-08-14 [Older] Fact check: How do I spot audio deepfakes?
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Copyrights
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Torrent Freak ☛ "The Pirate Bay" TV Series Teaser Appears Online
This November, The Pirate Bay will make its debut as a TV series on Swedish public television. The dramatized version of the site's history will be a trip down memory lane for those who followed the site closely over the years. This includes the 'classic' responses to legal threats, one of which features prominently in a just-launched teaser.
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Deutsche Welle ☛ 2024-08-15 [Older] Megaupload's Kim Dotcom to be extradited to United States
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The Register UK ☛ Anthropic accused of violating authors' copyrights
Anthropic was sued on Monday by three authors who claim the machine-learning lab unlawfully used their copyrighted work to train its Claude AI model.
"Anthropic has built a multibillion-dollar business by stealing hundreds of thousands of copyrighted books," the complaint [PDF], filed in California, says. "Rather than obtaining permission and paying a fair price for the creations it exploits, Anthropic pirated them."
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[Repeat] Digital Music News ☛ Kanye West Settles Infringement Suit Over Boogie Down Sample
Notably, Phase One has not dismissed its case against British tech company Kano Computing, named as a co-defendant in the lawsuit. Kano developed the handheld audio device Stem Player with West through which his song was also released.
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Monopolies/Monopsonies
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