Leftovers

• Netcraft ☛ September 2024 Web Server Survey [Ed: Microsoft is down in every category]

  In the September 2024 survey we received responses from 1,119,023,272 sites across 270,782,860 domains and 12,940,670 web-facing computers. This reflects an increase of 11.2 million sites, 717,065 domains, and 70,346 web-facing computers.

  Cloudflare experienced the largest increase of 3.1 million sites (+2.41%) this month, now accounting for 11.6% (0.16pp) of sites seen by Netcraft. OpenResty made the next largest gain of 2.8 million sites (+2.54%).

  Apache suffered the largest loss of 2.4 million sites (-1.19%) this month, with its market share now standing at 18.0% (-0.40pp). Google experienced the next largest loss, down by 1.7 million sites (-2.84%).

• KOL442 | Together Strong Debate vs. Walter Block on Voluntary Slavery (Matthew Sands of Nations of Sanity)

  This is a debate between me and Walter Block about voluntary slavery contracts, hosted by Matthew Sands of the Nations of Sanity project as part of his "Together Strong" debate series.

• Science

  • Latvia ☛ Latvia's only state sports school in financial trouble

    The Ministry of Education and Science (IZM) will investigate why the Murjāņi Sports School faces financial difficulties, IZM Sports Department Director Aleksandrs Samoilovs told LETA September 17.

  • New York Times ☛ Lunar Eclipse During Supermoon Tonight: When and How to See It

    Earth’s shadow will partially cover one of the biggest and brightest full moons this year.

  • New York Times ☛ NASA’s Europa Clipper Mission Looked Doomed. Could Engineers Save It?

    Weeks before Europa Clipper was to be shipped for launch, scientists discovered a potentially fatal flaw that might endanger the spacecraft’s ability to study an ocean moon of Jupiter.

  • Arduino ☛ Giving Billy Bass the arti-fish-al intelligence he always deserved

    If you were unlucky enough to visit a big box retail store or goofy uncle’s home around the turn of the century, you would have undoubtedly come across a Big Mouth Billy Bass. That’s an animatronic fish that wiggles on a plaque while older, very licensable hit songs play. But while ol’ Billy was wildly […]

    The post Giving Billy Bass the arti-fish-al intelligence he always deserved appeared first on Arduino Blog.

  • TwinCities Pioneer Press ☛ Bethel University joins Concordia, others in cutting ‘sticker price’ tuition

    The cut will apply to students in the College of Arts and Sciences, the university’s undergraduate college.

  • Science Alert ☛ JWST Confirms Distant Galaxy Was Murdered by a Black Hole

    Snuffed out in its prime.

  • Science Alert ☛ Plants 'Talk' to One Another in Languages We Might Soon Translate

    How do you say 'hello' in grass?

  • Science Alert ☛ This Famous Van Gogh Painting Features Astonishingly Accurate Physics

    The creative flow.

  • Science Alert ☛ Listen to The Eerie 'Sound' From A Black Hole, Captured by NASA

    This is creepy!

  • Science Alert ☛ Scientists Find 3,600 Food Packaging Chemicals in Human Bodies

    Some are considered to be of "high concern".

• Education

  • Pro Publica ☛ Ohio Will Use Taxpayer Money to Construct Private Religious Schools

    The state of Ohio is giving taxpayer money to private, religious schools to help them build new buildings and expand their campuses, which is nearly unprecedented in modern U.S. history.

    While many states have recently enacted sweeping school voucher programs that give parents taxpayer money to spend on private school tuition for their kids, Ohio has cut out the middleman. Under a bill passed by its Legislature this summer, the state is now providing millions of dollars in grants directly to religious schools, most of them Catholic, to renovate buildings, build classrooms, improve playgrounds and more.

• Health/Nutrition/Agriculture

  • New York Times ☛ Gen Z Has Regrets

    One way to quantify the value of a product is to find out how many of the people who use it wish it had never been invented.

  • France24 ☛ US woman died after abortion law delayed urgent medical care

    A Georgia woman died from delayed life-saving surgery caused by the US state's restrictive abortion law, ProPublica revealed on Monday, sparking outrage from reproductive rights groups. Amber Nicole Thurman, 28, experienced a rare complication after taking abortion pills and died during a critical procedure in what ProPublica said was the first abortion-related death officially deemed "preventable" .

  • New York Times ☛ Senate Republicans Block I.V.F. Bill Again, Breaking With Trump

    Democrats brought up the measure again to highlight Republican opposition to abortion rights and make the case to voters that the G.O.P. stance threatens access to reproductive health care.

  • PHR ☛ Florida’s Abortion Ban Endangers Patients by Causing Delays and Denials of Medical Care: PHR Research Brief

    Florida’s six-week abortion ban harms the health and safety of Florida patients while obstructing clinicians from providing basic reproductive and maternal medical care, according to a new research brief published today by Physicians for Human Rights (PHR).

  • One-fifth of parents worry their child doesn’t have friends

    Many parents worry about their children's friendships, with one in five saying their child aged 6 to 12 has no friends or not enough friends, according to the C.S. Mott Children's Hospital National Poll on Children's Health.

  • Latvia ☛ Boy with diphtheria dies at Latvian children's hospital

    Despite doctors' best efforts, a four-year-old boy from the Vidzeme region who had contracted diphtheria died on Monday, September 16, in the intensive care unit of the Children's Clinical University Hospital (BKUS), the Children's Hospital confirmed to LSM.

  • European Commission ☛ Commission recommends stronger measures on smoke-free environments to better protect public health

    European Commission Press release Brussels, 17 Sep 2024 Today, the Commission has recommended to better protect people from the effects of second-hand smoke and aerosols through the revision of the Council Recommendation on smoke-free environments.

  • Silicon Angle ☛ Big changes to Instagram: Will teens be saved?

    Meta Platforms Inc.-owned Instagram today announced some profound changes to how the platform works for young people in an effort to address the growing concern that social control media is damaging the minds of children.

• Proprietary/Artificial Intelligence (AI)

  • Bryan Lunduke ☛ MIT Uses Hey Hi (AI) Chatbots to Brainwash You

    Researchers at MIT & Cornell experiment with using Hey Hi (AI) chatbots to stop people from believing in "Conspiracy Theories" like "election fraud".

  • Stuart Langridge: On iOS, Home Screen web apps are part of your iCloud Backup

    Recently I have been most baffled by how on my iPhone, my iCloud backup was over 5GB (and therefore would not back up into the free space that I have) despite how I had turned off most of the apps that might want to be included in the backup.

• Security

  • Privacy/Surveillance

    • New York Times ☛ Instagram Unveils Sweeping Changes for Users Under Age 18

      The app, which is popular with teenagers, introduced new settings and features aimed at addressing inappropriate online contact and content, and improving sleep for users under 18.

    • Silicon Angle ☛ Cofense uncovers new sextortion scam tactics involving Surveillance Giant Google Street View images

      Sextortion scams, where a malicious actor attempts to extort money by threatening to publish stolen intimate photographs or video, are one of the most insidious forms of online scams.

    • Security Week ☛ Dependency Confusion Could Have Led to RCE in Surveillance Giant Google Cloud Platform

      Tenable shares details on a dependency confusion attack that led to the execution of code on Google’s internal servers.

• Defence/Aggression

  • Defence Web ☛ Tunisia receives Caravan aircraft

    The Tunisian Air Force has bolstered its intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) capacity with the delivery of four Textron Aviation C-208B Grand Caravan EX aircraft from the United States. The US Embassy and Tunisian Ministry of Defence announced the aircraft’s arrival on 9 September in a ceremony at Al-Auaina Air Base.

  • RFERL ☛ 9 Killed, Thousands Wounded In Simultaneous Explosion Of Pagers In Lebanon, Minister Says

    At least eight people were killed and 2,750 were wounded when pagers exploded simultaneously in Lebanon, the health minister said on September 17 after the Iranian-backed Hizballah militant group said two of its members and a girl were among those killed in the "mysterious" explosions.

  • New York Times ☛ A Look at Israel-Hezbollah Tensions and How a Wider War Could Impact Lebanon

    Hezbollah and Israel have repeatedly traded strikes since the Gaza war began in October, killing civilians and combatants in Lebanon and Israel.

  • The Straits Times ☛ North Korea fires multiple short-range ballistic missiles

    It was Pyongyang’s second such weapons test in a week.

  • RFA ☛ North Korea executes 2 women who fled and were forcibly repatriated from China

    9 others were given life in prison on human trafficking charges

  • TwinCities Pioneer Press ☛ North Korea test-fired ballistic missiles in latest military display, neighbors say

    By KIM TONG-HYUNG and MARI YAMAGUCHI SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korea on Wednesday test-fired multiple ballistic missiles toward its eastern seas, the South Korean and Japanese militaries said, adding to its military demonstrations as tensions with Washington and neighbors escalate.

  • RFA ☛ North Korea launches multiple short-range ballistic missiles: Seoul

    Missile tests come after the North unveiled a uranium enrichment facility last week.

  • RFA ☛ Vietnam coast guard holds rare live fire exercise

    The drills are aimed at strengthening combat readiness amid rising tension in the South China Sea.

  • RFA ☛ ‘Too early’ for an Asian NATO: US official

    A leading candidate to become Japan’s next leader says he would spearhead the creation of such a bloc.

  • RFA ☛ China’s ban of international adoptions leaves families in limbo

    Families whose applications were underway are left wondering what will happen to the children.

  • JURIST ☛ Philippines vessel departs disputed South China Sea shoal

    The Philippine Coast Guard vessel BRP Teresa Magbanua has left Escoda Shoal, a disputed area in the South China Sea, following a five-month deployment, according to a Sunday announcement from the Philippine government.

  • Hong Kong Free Press ☛ Philippines says disputed reef ‘not lost’ to China despite pulling out after months-long standoff

    The Philippines insisted on Monday that it had not given up a South China Sea reef, two days after it pulled out a ship stationed there following a months-long standoff with rival claimant China.

  • Atlantic Council ☛ Adapting US strategy to account for China’s transformation into a peer nuclear power

    Reassessing China’s changing strategy, doctrine, and warfighting approach as a peer nuclear power, and China’s employment of this nuclear power.

  • The Strategist ☛ Australia’s national threat response requires inter-governmental coordination

    Cooperation between federal and subnational Australian governments on national security must continue to evolve in the face of the complex terrorism, espionage and foreign interference threats.

  • The Strategist ☛ Closer defence partnerships can accelerate capability to the front line

    Embracing partnership more widely across governments, the military, industry and academia can accelerate capability to the frontline, which enhances a nation’s deterrence posture. The profound changes underway in the global security environment are clear.

  • France24 ☛ Second attempt on Trump’s life raises new concerns over security protocols

    Donald Trump escaped a suspected assassination attempt on Sunday, two months after he was shot at during a rally in Pennsylvania. The FBI announced the arrest of a man suspected of targeting the former president on a golf course in Florida, once again raising questions about the security arrangements put in place by the Secret Service.

  • Hong Kong Free Press ☛ Taiwan premier vows speedy review of Chinese men’s illegal entry

    Taiwan’s premier said Monday the government will promptly review several incidents of Chinese nationals illegally entering the self-ruled island by boat, vowing to ensure its security. Cho Jung-tai’s comments came after a Chinese man was found in a rubber dinghy in waters near northern New Taipei City on Saturday, following a similar incident in June.

  • Mobile Systems/Mobile Applications

    • Bruce Schneier ☛ Remotely Exploding Pagers

      Were they each tampered with physically, or did someone figure out how to trigger a thermal runaway remotely? Supply chain attack? Malicious code update, or natural vulnerability?

      I have no idea, but I expect we will all learn over the next few days.

    • Vox ☛ Pagers explode in Lebanon in attack targeting Hezbollah: What we know

      Israel has weaponized personal communications devices against its adversaries in the past. It used an exploding phone to kill a Hamas bomb maker in 1996.

    • New York Times ☛ Wednesday Briefing: Exploding Pagers Kill at Least 9 in Lebanon

      Plus, China’s “silver economy.”

    • 404 Media ☛ Experts: Lebanon Pager Explosions Likely Not Lithium Batteries Alone

      While it is still unclear exactly what happened in Lebanon, Hezbollah has blamed Israel for the attacks. Videos of the explosions and their aftermath and conversations with experts make it hard to believe that single, small lithium-ion batteries alone could have caused the level of reported damage, suggesting that additional explosives may have been added to the devices by those responsible for the attack.

    • New York Times ☛ The Evening: Hundreds of Pagers Explode in Lebanon

      Hundreds of pagers blew up at the same time across Lebanon today in an apparent operation against Hezbollah.

    • New York Times ☛ Israel Planted Explosives in Pagers Sold to Hezbollah, Officials Say

      The explosive material, as little as one to two ounces, was implanted next to the battery in each pager, two of the officials said. A switch was also embedded that could be triggered remotely to detonate the explosives.

    • The Atlantic ☛ The Exploding Pagers of Lebanon

      The significance of the attack quickly became clear: The pagers were being used by members of Hezbollah, the Lebanese militant movement that has been fighting an undeclared war with Israel since October.Israel has been using digital technologies to target members of Hezbollah for months, but today’s attack was unlike anything seen before and appears to have struck a new kind of blow. It maimed thousands of fighters and possibly crippled the group’s ability to respond if a broader conflict breaks out soon. It also exposed the identity of the victims, shattering Hezbollah’s careful efforts to maintain the anonymity of its members.

    • France24 ☛ Hezbollah blames Israel after several killed, thousands wounded by pagers exploding across Lebanon

      Hezbollah blamed Israel for the explosions of pagers across Lebanon on Tuesday that killed at least nine people and wounded 2,750 more, according to the health minister. Hundreds of Hezbollah members were among the wounded, security sources said. Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu earlier said Israel’s war goals now include the “safe return of the residents of the north to their homes” after they fled amid cross-border fire between Israel and Hezbollah. Read our live blog to see how all the day's events unfolded.

    • Bryan Lunduke ☛ Exploding Pagers & The Case for a Secure Supply Chain

      Hezbollah's exploding pagers is a good opportunity to talk about hardware and software supply chains.

    • Security Week ☛ Hezbollah Members Among Hundreds Wounded after Pagers Explode in Lebanon and Syria, Officials Say

      A Hezbollah official speculated that malware may have caused the pagers to heat up and explode, wounding 2,750 people — 200 of them critically.

    • Israel degrades Iran-backed Hezbollah terrorists in spectacular pager explosion operation: Experts

      The Jewish state’s James Bond-style alleged hack attack on Tuesday that caused explosions of handheld pagers carried by thousands of members of the U.S.-designated terrorist movement Hezbollah was a devastating setback for the Lebanon-based organization.

      Fox News Digital spoke to leading U.S. and Israeli experts about the setback for the Iranian regime proxy.

      According to a Reuters report, Israel’s foreign intelligence agency, Mossad, planted explosives inside of 5,000 pagers imported by Hezbollah months before Tuesday's detonations that killed nine people, a senior Lebanese security source and another source told Reuters.

    • BBC ☛ Exploding walkie-talkies kill 14 and injure at least 450 in new attacks across Lebanon

      Exploding walkie-talkies: There were frenetic scenes this afternoon as reports emerged of more communication devices blowing up in Lebanon. The UN Security Council is set to meet to discuss the situation before the end of the week, and its secretary general Antonio Guterres is "deeply alarmed" by the situation.

      [...]

      Due to security concerns, we were not allowed to talk to the patients or their families, as they're mainly members of Hezbollah.

  • Russia, Belarus, and War in Ukraine

    • Atlantic Council ☛ Countering Russia’s campaign to erase Ukrainian cultural identity

      International initiatives by Surveillance Giant Google and others are helping to preserve Ukraine's national heritage amid a Russian campaign to erase Ukrainian cultural identity and destroy heritage sites across the country, writes Mercedes Sapuppo.

    • Atlantic Council ☛ Time to make Russia worry about the West’s red lines in Ukraine

      Even talking about Western red lines in Ukraine will no doubt be seen as too provocative by some, but it is now obvious that allowing Russia uncontested escalation dominance has been a costly blunder, writes Mykola Bielieskov.

    • Atlantic Council ☛ Biden shouldn’t ‘throw away his shot’ at a foreign policy legacy. It starts with Ukraine.

      Biden’s excessive caution on aiding Ukraine could squander his best chance at leaving behind a positive foreign policy legacy.

    • RFERL ☛ Five Belarusian Activists Jailed In Continuing Crackdown On Dissent

      The Brest regional court in Belarus said on September 17 that five people were handed prison terms a day earlier over taking part in the mass rallies in 2020 against a presidential election many felt was rigged.

    • New York Times ☛ Meta Plans to Ban the Russian TV Network RT

      The owner of Facebook (Farcebook) and Instagram said it would bar Russian media outlets including RT, while YouTube is removing channels it had already blocked.

    • RFERL ☛ Meta Bans RT, Other Russian State Media Networks

      Facebook owner Meta said on September 16 that it was banning RT, Rossiya Segodnya, and other Russian state media networks from its platforms, claiming the outlets had used deceptive tactics to carry out covert influence operations online.

    • RFERL ☛ Self-Exiled Russian Journalist Lazareva Loses Appeal Against 'Foreign Agent' Status

      Russia's Supreme Court rejected an appeal filed by self-exiled television journalist Tatyana Lazareva against her status as being a "foreign agent."

    • RFERL ☛ Russian Man Arrested In U.S. On Charge Of Exporting Microelectronics To Russia

      Investigators in the United States have arrested a 44-year-old Russian national  in Sarasota, Florida, on an indictment charging him with conspiring to violate the Export Control Reform Act, to commit smuggling, to commit money laundering, and to defraud the United States.

    • RFERL ☛ 9 People Arrested In Siberia After 3 Patients Die While On IVs

      Russia's Investigative Committee said on September 17 that nine people were arrested in the Siberian region of Krasnoyarsk after the deaths of three people who died while receiving IV treatments.

    • RFERL ☛ Russian Opposition Activist Vitaly Ioffe Killed In St. Petersburg

      Noted Russian opposition activist Vitaly Ioffe was killed in the northwestern city of St. Peterburg, a relative told RFE/RL on September 17.

    • RFERL ☛ Russian Newspaper Sobesednik Suspends Operations After Being Labeled 'Foreign Agent'

      The Sobesednik publishing house in Russia has suspended for up to three months production at all of its outlets, including its popular newspaper, following a decision by authorities to place the company on the list of "foreign agents."

    • RFERL ☛ Russian Military Court Moves Patriot Park Director To House Arrest

      A Moscow court on September 17 transferred Vyacheslav Akhmedov, the director of the Defense Ministry's Patriot Park -- a military-themed complex near Moscow -- to house arrest after he was arrested last month on fraud charges.

    • RFERL ☛ EU Monitoring Mission Patrol Temporarily Detained At Georgian-Abkhaz Boundary

      An EU Monitoring Mission (EUMM) patrol in Georgia was temporarily detained on September 17 near the boundary with the breakaway region of Abkhazia, the mission said in a statement.

    • RFERL ☛ Kara-Murza Advocates For Prisoners Still Held In Russia In Return Trip To U.S. Capital

      The Biden administration and U.S. lawmakers promised to continue fighting for the freedom of Russian and Belarusian political prisoners as they welcomed Vladimir Kara-Murza back to the U.S. capital.

    • LRT ☛ Lithuania slams IMF’s move to resume ties with Russia

      The Bank of Lithuania on Tuesday condemned the International Monetary Fund’s decision to resume economic consultations with Russia, saying that it fully supports the position voiced in a protest letter by the Baltic, Nordic, and Polish finance ministers.

    • Scoop News Group ☛ Russian threat groups shift attention to Harris-Walz campaign, researchers find

      Microsoft said it took some time for Kremlin-affiliated organizations to turn their focus to the revised Democratic presidential ticket.

    • Latvia ☛ LTV: Blocking Russian propaganda is difficult in the digital age

      For several years, Latvian broadcast regulators have attempted to stem the tide of Russian state propaganda by removing the licenses of broadcasters and blocking  channels pumping out lies and hatred as far as possible.

    • Meduza ☛ The dozens of bases that could be in Ukraine’s crosshairs if the West greenlights long-range missile strikes deeper inside Russia — Meduza

    • Meduza ☛ Photos and voices from Sumy, a Ukrainian border city facing constant Russian attacks — Meduza

    • New York Times ☛ $50 Billion in Aid to Ukraine Stalls Over Legal Questions

      U.S. and European officials are struggling to honor their pledge to use Russian assets to aid Ukraine.

    • New York Times ☛ Ukraine-Russia War Updates: Moscow Hits Back in Kursk as Air War Heats Up

      Moscow’s troops have retaken a few villages in a border area that Kyiv’s forces invaded last month and are also advancing steadily in eastern Ukraine.

    • RFERL ☛ Russian Strikes Cut Power In Ukraine's Sumy Region

      The Sumy region in northeastern Ukraine battled extensive power outages on September 17 after an overnight attack by Russian drones that sent emergency crews and Ukrainian officials scrambling to repair damage and tap into backup facilities for water and other utility infrastructure.

    • RFERL ☛ Moscow Man Gets Five Years In Prison For Talking To RFE/RL

      Moscow resident Yury Kokhovets has been sentenced to five years in prison for condemning Russia's invasion of Ukraine during an interview on the street in July 2022 with a reporter from RFE/RL.

    • JURIST ☛ Ukraine calls on UN and ICRC to support humanitarian efforts in Kursk following incursion

      Ukraine’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a statement on Monday calling on the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and the United Nations (UN) to assist their armed forces in adhering to International Humanitarian Law and ensuring basic human rights for Russian Civilians in the Kursk region [...]

    • NYPost ☛ Russia’s brutal invasion of Ukraine reaches grim milestone — with 1M now dead or wounded

      The staggering tally has exacerbated a severe population problem in Ukraine, which was already battling a plunging population before the conflict.

    • European Commission ☛ Statement by Executive Vice-President Dombrovskis at the European Parliament plenary session on continued financial and military support to Ukraine by EU Member States

      Firstly, I would like to thank the European Parliament for its continued support for Ukraine [...]

• Environment

  • RFA ☛ Lightning strikes have killed 50 people in Cambodia so far this year

    Some 130 people died in 2023, according to the National Committee for Disaster Management.

  • The Straits Times ☛ Mayhem as storms lash Penang, felling over 200 trees, damages homes

    The northern region of Malaysia has been lashed by storms since Sept 15.

  • RFA ☛ Myanmar’s flood death toll rises to 226 with scores missing

    Meanwhile, Vietnam bracers for another storm brewing in the South China Sea.

  • Energy/Transportation

    • Ruben Schade ☛ An advanced case of “In Their Defence”

      A friend of mine once joked that I was great at making excuses for other people. I’m starting to realise it’s not an asset.

      Case in point, I was walking across a zebra crossing yesterday—like a gentleman—when a Sydney Buses driver came barreling down the street and nearly mowed me down. I instinctively leaped out of the way, and he instinctively blared his horn and threw his hands in the air out of frustration that someone dared use a pedestrian crossing while he was in the midst of drifting his bus like a Subaru.

    • India Times ☛ Vadodara: Electric vehicles go up in flames

      A fire broke out in the electric two-wheelers parked next to a commercial complex in Fatehgunj late Monday night. Twenty-six scooters went up in flames within an hour. Fire brigade officials said that they were trying to ascertain the reason behind the fire.

  • Wildlife/Nature

    • Science Alert ☛ 'Chestburster' Wasps Erupt From Mississippi's Adult Flies in Surprise Find

      A whole new species.

• Finance

  • Tedium ☛ Locking A Loophole

    The Biden administration’s push to close an obscure loophole on imports highlights just how disruptive the Temu model really is.

    A couple of years ago, I found myself waiting for like a month for something I acquired from a crowdfunding campaign. The device, a tablet I ended up writing both a review and a follow-up for, was in the U.S. for something like two and a half weeks, just sitting there in customs.

  • Business Standard ☛ Information technology stocks suffer biggest one-day fall in six weeks

    Information technology (IT) stocks posted their sharpest drop in over six weeks on Wednesday. Market players said the underperformance of the IT sector during previous rate cut cycles by the US Federal Reserve (Fed), coupled with Accenture’s decision to defer staff promotions, dampened investor sentiment. Experts also attributed the decline to profit booking following a sharp 25 per cent increase over the past three months.

  • RFA ☛ Kanye West's Hainan concert seen as feel-good boost for weak economy

    Officials may have been hoping to emulate the effects of Taylor Swift's Singapore gigs earlier this year.

  • Hong Kong Free Press ☛ China National day: Movies half price, transport and F&B discounts, Hong Kong’s John Lee says

    Movie tickets will be half-price this National Day, with MTR fares for most routes at 25 per cent off, Chief Executive John Lee has said, two weeks ahead of the 75th anniversary of the People’s Republic of China.

• AstroTurf/Lobbying/Politics

  • Pro Publica ☛ Judge Aileen Cannon Failed to Disclose a Right-Wing Junket

    Federal Judge Aileen M. Cannon, the controversial jurist who tossed out the classified documents criminal case against Donald Trump in July, failed to disclose her attendance at a May 2023 banquet funded by a conservative law school.

    Cannon went to an event in Arlington, Va. honoring the late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, according to documents obtained from the Law and Economics Center at George Mason University. At a lecture and private dinner, she sat among members of Scalia’s family, fellow Federalist Society members and more than 30 conservative federal judges. Organizers billed the event as “an excellent opportunity to connect with judicial colleagues.”

• Civil Rights/Policing

  • OpenRightsGroup ☛ Broken e-Visa scheme could lead to digital Windrush scandal

    A new report by digital rights campaigners, Open Rights Group, has warned that the Government’s e-Visa scheme could lead to a digital Windrush scandal where people who have the right to be in the UK are unable to prove it, with life-changing consequences.

  • OpenRightsGroup ☛ e-Visas: Hostile and Broken

    The e-Visa will be used to demonstrate someone’s ability to enter the UK, to prove their right to work and to access banking, mortgages and secure housing rental agreements. As a result, any problems with accessing or using e-Visas will have very serious consequences for those who are dependent on them.

  • The Straits Times ☛ Child sex abuse allegations in Malaysia care homes: Businessman linked to GISB claims trial

    Mohamad Riza Makar allegedly threatened a 25-year-old woman to withdraw her police report against GISB.

  • New York Times ☛ How Rituals of Faith Became Another Casualty of War

  • Hong Kong Free Press ☛ 2019 protests: Final 8 Hongkongers charged over rioting near PolyU siege jailed for up to 4.5 years

    A Hong Kong court has sentenced the last eight protesters who were charged with rioting near the Polytechnic University when it was under police siege in 2019. They were handed up to four-and-a-half years in jail, with a police officer in charge of the prosecution calling the case “unprecedented.”

  • The Straits Times ☛ No weddings, commercial photo shoots allowed on Bangkok royal temple grounds

    This is in response to recent incidents of influencers using the temple as a backdrop for content creation.

• Internet Policy/Net Neutrality

  • APNIC ☛ Focusing on technology limits understanding of Internet resilience: Pakistan case study

    Guest post: A methodology that combines qualitative social science methods and standard network measurements.

  • Nolan Lawson ☛ The continuing tragedy of emoji on the web

    This, frankly, is a mess. And it’s emblematic of how half-heartedly browsers and operating systems have worked to keep their emoji up to date.

• Digital Restrictions (DRM)

  • Tom's Hardware ☛ Windows Media Player and Silverlight are losing legacy DRM services on backdoored Windows 7 and 8

    Microsoft deprecates legacy DRM services, crippling backdoored Windows Media Player and Silverlight.

Monopolies/Monopsonies

• Patents

  • Dennis Crouch/Patently-O ☛ Teva v. Amneal: Orange Book Listing Requirements Under Scrutiny

    The Federal Circuit is set to hear oral arguments in November 2024 in Teva v. Amneal, No. 24-1936, a case that could significantly impact Orange Book patent monopoly listing (and delisting) practices under the Hatch-Waxman Act (formally known as the Drug Price Competition and Patent Term Restoration Act of 1984).  Hatch-Waxman established a framework for generic drug approvals in the United States. It aims to balance incentives for pharmaceutical innovation with mechanisms to facilitate faster generic drug entry, including provisions for challenging patents listed in the FDA's Orange Book and offering a 180-day exclusivity incentive for first generic entrants.  The Orange Book listing also comes with a powerful 30-month stay -- pausing generic entry - if the patentee sues a generic seeking FDA approval.

  • Dennis Crouch/Patently-O ☛ The Enduring Impact of In re Keller on Obviousness Analysis

    In 1981, the U.S. Court of Customs and Patent Appeals (CCPA) issued its decision in In re Keller, 642 F.2d 413 (CCPA 1981), a case that continues to shape obviousness determinations over four decades later. As the predecessor court to the Federal Circuit, the CCPA's rulings remain precedential and influential, with Keller cited 10,000+ times by the USPTO's Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) and its predecessor Board, the BPAI.

  • The Inherent Illogic of Discretionary Denials

    As the Senate Judiciary Committee gets ready to consider PREVAIL, which would restrict access to inter partes review, a decision out of the PTAB illustrates why PREVAIL is unneeded.

  • Kangaroo Courts

    • JUVE ☛ KPN files first SEP case at local division The Hague [Ed: UPC is an illegal fake court, but this isn't about upholding laws, it's about protecting large companies with EU complicity while the EPO celebrates in a sea of corruption]

      Last Friday, patent monopoly judges and UPC representatives met in the Netherlands to discuss how to help the local division The Hague land more cases and thus increase its presence.

• Copyrights

  • Digital Music News ☛ Miley Cyrus, Sony Music Publishing, Live Nation, Walmart, and Many More Face ‘Flowers’ Copyright Infringement Suit

    Another day, another copyright monopoly infringement lawsuit: Miley Cyrus and an array of others are being sued for allegedly lifting from Bruno Mars’ “When I Was Your Man” without permission to create “Flowers.”