Leftovers

• Rolling Stone ☛ Remembering Brian Wilson and Sly Stone

  We look back at the oddly poetic, near-simultaneous loss of two musical geniuses

• Internet Archive ☛ Keep on GIFin’ — A New Version of GifCities, Internet Archive’s GeoCities Animated GIF Search Engine!

  We are excited to announce a new version of GifCities, Internet Archive’s GeoCities Animated GIF Search Engine!

• Robert Birming ☛ Swedish Midsummer: family, frogs & flowers

  Today is Midsummer’s Day here in Sweden. Of all the holidays we celebrate, this might just be the biggest. Yes, even bigger than Christmas.

• Henrique Dias ☛ Organizing My Website's Media Storage

  All of that meant that the file names in that storage were a mess, a mixture between random non-descriptive hashes, files with year and month, and files with year, month and day. For me, that is not organized enough. In addition, I have been wanting to optimize and improve the way photos are displayed on this website, so I just decided to do everything now.

• [Repeat] Digital Music News ☛ Dr. Demento Announces Retirement After 55 Years

  Over the decades, Dr. Demento became synonymous with offbeat humor, introducing generations to songs like Bobby ‘Boris’ Pickett’s “The Monster Mash,” Benny Bell’s “Shaving Cream,” and Barnes & Barnes’ “Fish Heads.” His most enduring legacy is the pivotal role he played in launching the career of noted parody song creator ‘Weird Al’ Yankovic. In 1976, Dr. Demento played Frankie Yankovic’s “How Many Burps In A Bottle of Beer” before introducing young accordionist Alfred Yankovic, who performed “Belvedere Cruisin’.”

• David Friedman ☛ The Internet is about to get less weird

  By the time the show officially went off the air, it had already been dropped by many local stations and was hard to find. So you may not know that Dr. Demento has continued producing an online streaming version of his show every week since then.

• NPR ☛ Dr. Demento: Off The Air, But Still Happily Deranged

  The Dr. Demento Show began in 1970 as a rock 'n' roll and oldies radio program that featured B-sides, rarities and other nuggets. But it was zany songs like Sheb Wooley's "The Purple People Eater," Barnes & Barnes' "Fish Heads" and Elmo & Patsy's "Grandma Got Run Over By a Reindeer" that caught the public's ear.

• Science

  • Science Alert ☛ Astronomers Uncover a Massive Shaft of Missing Matter

    "Something that's not happened before."

  • Science Alert ☛ 1930s 'Dragon Man' Finally Gives Elusive Ancient Human Species a Face

    A serious case of mistaken identity.

  • Science Alert ☛ A Cracked Piece of Metal Self-Healed in Experiment That Stunned Scientists

    But how?

  • India Times ☛ Finland backs space tech ICEYE firm with R&D funding

    Privately owned ICEYE has grown rapidly in recent years and says its fleet of 48 Synthetic Aperture Radar satellites providing near real-time imaging is now the largest, counting Ukraine, NATO and Japan among its customers.

  • Bartosz Milewski ☛ (Weak) Homotopy Equivalences

    In topology, we say that two shapes are the same if there is a homeomorphism– an invertible continuous map– between them. Continuity means that nothing is broken and nothing is glued together. This is how we can turn a coffe cup into a torus. A homeomorphism, however, won’t let us shrink a torus to a circle. So if we are only interested in how many holes the shapes have, we have to relax our notion of equivalence.

• Career/Education

  • Michigan News ☛ DEI and international students: Why state GOP wants to cut University of Michigan budget - mlive.com

    Hall said UM needs to enroll and educate more Michigan high school graduates, helping keep them in the state after graduation.

    That’s what’s needed to grow the state’s population and economy and that’s what Michigan taxpayers should be getting for their dollars, he said.

  • Marc Brooker ☛ Career advice, or something like it

    That doesn’t mean you need to be 100% up-beat all the time, or be a pushover, or never complain. Those things are normal human behavior. But strongly avoid communities that make complaining the core of their identity. My personal limit is about 20%. I’ll stop engaging with communities when 20% of the content is negative.

  • Manuel Moreale ☛ P&B: Dave Rupert

    This is the 95th edition of People and Blogs, the series where I ask interesting people to talk about themselves and their blogs. Today we have Dave Rupert and his blog, daverupert.com

  • Annie Mueller ☛ Exploring and diving - annie's blog

    Two modes for learning. Both essential. Exploring is preliminary, faster, wider, and often more fun. Diving comes next. It’s slower, deeper, more difficult, but ultimately more satisfying.

  • CS Monitor ☛ Johannesburg central library reopens, sparking hope for the city

    Its reopening is “symbolic of a turnaround,” says Yunus Chamda, program coordinator for an activist organization called the Joburg Crisis Alliance.

    And not just for the library, he says. For Johannesburg, too.

• Hardware

  • Russell Coker ☛ Russell Coker: The defective chip maker Intel Arc B580 and PCIe Slot Size

    A few months ago I bought a Intel Arc B580 for the main purpose of getting 8K video going [1]. I had briefly got it working in a test PC but then I wanted to deploy it on my HP z840 that I use as a build server and for playing with ML stuff [2]. I only did brief tests of it previously and this was my first attempt at installing it in a system I use. My plan was to keep the NVidia RTX A2000 in place and run 2 GPUs, that’s not an uncommon desire among people who want to do ML stuff and it’s the type of thing that the z840 is designed for, the machine has slots 2, 4, and 6 being PCIe*16 so it should be able to fit 3 cards that each take 2 slots. So having one full size GPU, the half-height A2000, and a NVMe controller that uses *16 to run four NVMe devices should be easy.

  • Russell Coker ☛ Russell Coker: Matching defective chip maker Intel CPUs

    To run a SMP system with multiple CPUs you need to have CPUs that are “identical”, the question is what does “identical” mean. In this case I’m interested in defective chip maker Intel CPUs because SMP motherboards and server systems for defective chip maker Intel CPUs are readily available and affordable. There are people selling matched pairs of CPUs on ebay which tend to be more expensive than randomly buying 2 of the same CPU model, so if you can identify 2 CPUs that are “identical” which are sold separately then you can save some money. Also if you own a two CPU system with only one CPU installed then buying a second CPU to match the first is cheaper and easier than buying two more CPUs and removing a perfectly working CPU.

  • Tom's Hardware ☛ I've spent 15 years burning my hands so you don't have to — these are my 21 hottest soldering iron tips

    You’ve taken a look at the best soldering irons and soldering stations, and you are ready to put some fresh solder into a project. But what are the “hot soldering tips” that you need before you get started? We’ve got them right here for you!

  • Vermaden ☛ More Undervalued Hardware Companions

    This is a follow up to the Tiny Undervalued Hardware Companions article. While the original covered quite a lot of small valuable hardware companions – as time passed – I made friends with several more of them.

  • Marcin Juszkiewicz ☛ The hunt for a development machine

    Since I started working on AArch64 in 2012, I had been searching for a hardware system capable of meeting my development needs at home.

  • Hackaday ☛ Build Your Own Telescope The Modern Way

    When we were kids, it was a rite of passage to read the newly arrived Edmund catalog and dream of building our own telescope. One of our friends lived near a University, and they even had a summer program that would help you measure your mirrors and ensure you had a successful build. But most of us never ground mirrors from glass blanks and did all the other arcane steps required to make a working telescope. However, [La3emedimension] wants to tempt us again with a 3D-printable telescope kit.

  • Hackaday ☛ Dual RGB Cameras Get Depth Sensing Powerup

    It’s sometimes useful for a system to not just have a flat 2D camera view of things, but to have an understanding of the depth of a scene. Dual RGB cameras can be used to sense depth by contrasting the two slightly different views, in much the same way that our own eyes work. It’s considered an economical but limited method of depth sensing, or at least it was before FoundationStereo came along and blew previous results out of the water. That link has a load of interactive comparisons to play with and see for yourself, so check it out.

  • Hackaday ☛ Ben Eater Makes Computer Noises

    When [Ben Eater] talks, hackers everywhere listen. In his latest video [Ben] shows us how to make computer noises using square waves and a 6502 microprocessor.

  • Hackaday ☛ Mac SE Restomod Has A Floppy Surprise

    If he’s anything like us [Duncan Hall] was probably equal parts excited and disgusted when he found a 1987 Macintosh SE case at a garage sale. Excited, because not every day do vintage computers show up at these things. Disgusted, because it had been gutted and coated in house paint; the previous owner apparently wanted to make an aquarium. [Duncan] wanted to make a computer, and after 15 years, he finally did, calling it the PhoeNIX SE.

  • CNX Software ☛ AAEON de next-RAP8 credit card-sized Raptor Lake SBC features up to defective chip maker Intel Core i7-1365UE CPU

    AAEON de next-RAP8 may be the world’s most powerful credit card-sized SBC since it’s powered by a choice of 15W defective chip maker Intel Raptor Lake processor, namely the hexa-core Core i3-1315UE SoC, or the 10-core Core i5-1335UE or Core i7-1365UE CPU. Designed for drones and robotics, the compact Raptor Lake SBC is equipped with up to 16GB LPDDR5x of RAM,  supports SATA and M.2 NVMe SSD, features GbE and 2.5GbE networking ports, two USB Type-A ports, HDMI and eDP display interfaces, a PCIe Gen3 x4 FPC connector, RS232/RS485 interfaces, and more.

  • CNX Software ☛ SolidSense AIoT – An IP64-rated Hey Hi (AI) vision development platform with Renesas RZ/V2M or Hailo-15 System-on-module

    SolidRun SolidSense AIoT is an Hey Hi (AI) vision development platform designed based on the company’s Renesas RZ/V2N or Hailo-15 system-on-module with 15 TOPS and 20 TOPS of Hey Hi (AI) performance, respectively. The solution comes with up to 8GB RAM, 256GB eMMC flash, WiFi 5, Bluetooth 5.0, and LTE Cat 1bis connectivity, an 8.4MP Sony IMX678 camera, four IR LEDs, and a few sensors all housed in an IP64-rated enclosure for outdoor operation.

• Health/Nutrition/Agriculture

  • Science Alert ☛ Flesh-Eating Fly Invasion Could Cause Devastation Across America

    It's back.

  • Science Alert ☛ FDA-Approved Sleeping Pill Slows Alzheimer's Tangles in Pre-Clinical Trial

    "Worth looking at further."

  • Science Alert ☛ Cannabis Linked to 2x Risk of Heart Disease Death, Scientists Discover

    "Treat it like tobacco."

  • Science Alert ☛ 5 Daily Habits Could Be Causing Your Liver Serious Harm

    How many can you tick?

  • Science Alert ☛ Risk of Sleep Breathing Disorder Set to Rise 45% by End of Century

    Nothing to snore about.

  • New York Times ☛ Medically Assisted Dying Closer to Legalization After Vote by UK Lawmakers

    British lawmakers on Friday confirmed their support for assisted suicide for some terminally ill people, after months of scrutiny that followed an initial vote last year.

  • Task And Purpose ☛ Army to study how rifle, anti-armor, artillery fire impact brain health

    Long-term brain and head injuries have long been a concern for soldiers who absorb repeated shock waves in routine training with powerful weapons. A new Army study will examine how different exposures to firing .50 caliber rifles, the Carl Gustaf recoilless rifle and howitzer cannons impact soldier health. Researchers will also try to determine if factors like the type of job, medical history or sleep patterns put soldiers at higher risk for chronic health issues like those common among football players.

    The research differs from previous studies in that it will not consider single, severe head injuries but instead examine the effects of many small ones over time.

  • CoryDoctorow ☛ Pluralistic: Oregon bans the corporate practice of medicine

    Private equity firms are the demon princes of the hellspace that is the imploding, life-destroying, plutocrat-generating American economy. Their favorite scam, the "leveraged buyout" is a mafia bustout dressed up in respectable clothes, and if you mourn a beloved, failed business, chances are that an LBO was the murder weapon, and PE was the killer: [...]

  • Daniel Lemire ☛ Life expectancy of men in Canadian provinces

    One hypothesis suggests that variations in obesity rates may be a key factor. Quebec differs from other Canadian provinces in several ways. Notably, men in British Columbia and Quebec tend to have lower body mass indices compared to those in other regions. The correlation between obesity and longevity is more obvious (R square of 0.59).

  • Court House News ☛ Luigi Mangione pans prosecutors for ‘cherry-picked’ journal release

    Luigi Mangione’s defense team lambasted Manhattan prosecutors on Friday for “intentionally” violating his right to a fair trial by “unnecessarily publicly releasing his alleged journal” in an effort to paint him as a terrorist.

• Proprietary

  • Cybernews ☛ 16 billion passwords exposed in colossal data breach​ | Cybernews

    Several collections of login credentials reveal one of the largest data breaches in history, totaling a humongous 16 billion exposed login credentials. The data most likely originates from various infostealers.

  • Techdirt ☛ Salt Typhoon Hack Keeps Getting Worse, Telecoms Tell Employees To Stop Looking For Evidence Of Intrusion

    So big telecoms are so afraid of liability and government oversight they’ve just stopped looking for evidence of intrusion in one of the worst hacks the U.S. has ever seen. That’s sure to fix the problem.

    The U.S. business press covering the [breach] refuse to talk about it, but a major catalyst for the [breach] was the steady and mindless deregulation of the U.S. telecom sector. Libertarians and right wingers, “free market” think tanks in tow, spent the better part of the last thirty years insisting that gutting all meaningful state and federal oversight would result in vast, near-Utopian outcomes.

  • Dedoimedo ☛ Windows 11 reset - Results, findings, observations

    A quick baseline & recap for ye of low Dedoimedo readership. I don't like Windows 11. I don't want to use it, like at all, nopety nope. But I do occasionally test the system, just so I can report my experience, as I've recently done in my June review. That experiment was so bad that I actually decided to fully reset the system, and see what happens once I wipe the slate clean. Ought to be interesting.

  • The Register UK ☛ UK colleges given £45M 'savings' deal for Oracle Java

    Jisc, a provider of digital solutions for UK education and research, has negotiated a national agreement for programming and development platform Oracle Java SE. It said the deal gives institutions licensing tailored to UK education and research that saves the orgs up to £45 million compared to published single license list pricing, and also offers a waiver for potential historical licensing discrepancies.

  • Artificial Intelligence (AI) / LLM Slop / Plagiarism

    • Silicon Angle ☛ Study finds that LLM use leads to ‘likely decrease’ in learning skills

      Scientists from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have determined that using large language models leads to a “likely decrease” in learning skills. Time reported the research team’s findings this week. In a preprint paper, the scientists detailed that the new data is the fruit of a months-long study.

    • Futurism ☛ Conspiracy Theorists Are Creating Special AIs to Agree With Their Bizarre Delusions

      The news highlights a troubling trend, with countless ChatGPT users developing bizarre delusions and even spiraling into severe mental health crises, as we reported last week. Experts have warned that AI chatbots are designed to be incredibly sycophantic, predisposing them to agreeing with users even when doing so is clearly harmful.

    • Deccan Chronicle ☛ Experts Caution Against Bias In AI’s Work

      What happens when AI isn’t just answering prompts, but making decisions, completing tasks, and acting independently? At St Francis College for Women, students from across Hyderabad got hands-on with agentic AI, a model that shifts AI from passive automation to intelligent, goal-driven systems that can perform complex functions like drafting job applications, responding to emails, summarising news, or conducting research.

    • Futurism ☛ Elon Musk Concerned That Reality Has Infiltrated His "Grok" AI

      Elon Musk is once again fuming against his own AI model, Grok, because he doesn't like that its answers don't line up with his personal politics.

    • Futurism ☛ Tesla Just Admitted Something Wildly Embarrassing About What'll Be in the Front Seat of All Its Robotaxis

      But there's a huge, embarrassing catch. As Electrek reports, the self-driving cabs will have a human "safety monitor" plunked in the front passenger seat — a far cry from Elon Musk's bold promise that his automaker would be hosting unsupervised rides this summer.

      The hilarious admission was disclosed in the recent invitations Tesla sent out to those interested in participating in the robotaxi service (read: X-addicted pro-Tesla "influencers" and other Musk sycophants, according to Electrek.)

    • The Register UK ☛ US patent office floats plan for AI to scan prior art

      The US Patent and Trademark Office is exploring a plan for using AI at the agency to speed up the process of granting patents - but its initial request for information says that vendors should expect to be paid in exposure rather than cold, hard cash.

    • Digital Camera World ☛ I saw a photographer’s work wrongly accused of being AI, why do we have to prove our innocence? I want AI Content Credentials and a purple tick

      AI is encroaching on our turf, so let’s flip the script and call for more AI transparency, not the other way around

    • Pivot to AI ☛ AI venture capital resorts to feeding the secondary market

      Stupid things can go on way longer than you’d think. Especially stupid and well-funded not-technically-a-Ponzi schemes.

    • Futurism ☛ Once You Notice ChatGPT's Weird Way of Talking, You Start to See It Everywhere

      It's not useful, it's slop.

  • Social Control Media

    • New York Times ☛ TikTok Hits Cannes, Where a U.S. Ban Seems a Distant Dream

      TikTok executives hosted happy hours and played pickleball with influencers on the French Riviera this week, even as a U.S. ban loomed over the company.

    • Mexico News Daily ☛ US sanctions CJNG leaders, citing Fentanylware (TikTok) influencer’s murder

      People in the United States are now blocked from any transaction involving property that the five sanctioned cartel leaders have an interest in.

    • Smithsonian Magazine ☛ Museumgoers Accidentally Break Fragile Crystal-Covered Chair Inspired by Vincent van Gogh Painting

      Carlon says the incident highlights just how far people will go to get a good photo, as well as their flagrant lack of accountability. “These two people decided to escape,” she adds. “That was the behavior that really offended us.”

    • MIT Technology Review ☛ How a 30-year old techno-thriller predicted our digital isolation

      Thirty years ago, Irwin Winkler’s proto–cyber thriller, The Net, was released. It was 1995, commonly regarded as the year Hollywood discovered the [Internet]. Sandra Bullock played a social recluse and computer nerd for hire named Angela Bennett, who unwittingly uncovers a sinister computer security conspiracy. She soon finds her life turned upside down as the conspiracists begin systematically destroying her credibility and reputation. Her job, home, finances, and very identity are seemingly erased with some judicial tweaks to key computer records.

    • Manuel Moreale ☛ Digital chains

      If you wish you could do the same, stop wishing and just do it. Delete those stupid apps. Rediscover that you can stay in touch with the people you care about in other ways. Rediscover the joy of reading a good book, of eating a meal without having to take a picture to post it on your stupid Instagram profile nobody cares about, of walking in a beautiful place and enjoying it fully, without having to document every second of your own experience for the other TikTokers. Nobody will care about your content in a few years but you’ll likely regret not being more present in those moments.

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-06-19 [Older] Cheeto Mussolini Extends TikTok Ban Deadline for a Third Time

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-06-19 [Older] Cheeto Mussolini Extends Deadline for US TikTok Sale to September

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-06-18 [Older] US Cites Murder of TikTok Influencer in New Mexican Cartel Sanctions

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-06-17 [Older] Dutch Government Recommends Children Under 15 Stay off TikTok and Instagram

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-06-17 [Older] Cheeto Mussolini Suggests He'll Extend Deadline for TikTok's Chinese Owner to Sell App

• Security

  • [Windows TCO] Security Week ☛ Record-Breaking 7.3 Tbps DDoS Attack Targets Hosting Provider

    Previous record-breaking DDoS attacks seen by Cloudflare reached 5.6 Tbps and 6.5 Tbps. Cybersecurity blogger Brian Krebs reported last month that his website had been targeted in a 6.3 Tbps attack.

    The 7.3 Tbps DDoS attack, seen by Cloudflare in mid-May, lasted only 45 seconds and it was aimed at a hosting provider.

  • Integrity/Availability/Authenticity

    • WhichUK ☛ Beware of dodgy ULEZ sites advertising on Google

      The websites are appearing at the top of search results

  • Privacy/Surveillance

    • The Guardian UK ☛ Pornhub and other adult sites back online in France after three-week protest

      In a bid to preserve privacy, the government decree also required operators to offer a third-party “double-blind” option that would prevent the platforms from seeing users’ identifying information.

    • India Times ☛ Big-name porn sites back online in France after age check row

      "Requiring you to repeatedly provide sensitive personal information creates an unacceptable security risk that we refuse to impose on our users," the company said in a message displayed on the sites' homepages earlier this month.

    • Semafor Inc ☛ Reddit considers iris-scanning Orb developed by a Sam Altman startup

      Talks between representatives of Reddit and World ID parent Tools for Humanity highlight the growing market for new identity verification technologies, as artificial intelligence floods online platforms with inauthentic content and governments around the world consider new age verification laws to prevent children and teenagers from accessing social media.

    • Democracy for the Arab World Now ☛ The Outsized Role of Surveillance Technology in the Israel-UAE Abraham Accords

      Far from a peace milestone, the Abraham Accords represent the public formalization of a long-standing covert partnership between two governments with interests in population control and surveillance. The UAE purchased and deployed Israeli surveillance technology well before the adoption of the Abraham Accords. Leaked emails in 2018 revealed that the UAE signed a contract with NSO, and Israeli cyber war company, to license surveillance software as early as August 2013—including its infamous Pegasus spyware.

    • Michael Geist ☛ Lawful Access on Steroids: Why Bill C-2’s Big Brother Tactics Combine Expansive Warrantless Disclosure with Unprecedented Secrecy

      This alone is dangerous and makes the bill an obvious target for a constitutional challenge. The Department of Justice has released its Charter statement, which unsurprisingly concludes everything is just fine. But a court is far less likely to be so generous. The Supreme Court of Canada has strongly affirmed the reasonable expectation of privacy of Canadians and the court is unlikely to simply toss away those rights based on an unreasonable law.

      But beyond the stunning breadth of the information demand power, there should be serious concern with how the government has crafted a system that is unprecedented in its secrecy and lack of transparency. Simply put, there will be millions of information disclosures every year and Canadians will be kept in the dark on both an individual basis and in terms of the overall scope of warrantless demands.

    • Security Week ☛ 161,000 People Impacted by Krispy Kreme Data Breach

      Krispy Kreme’s investigation showed that information such as name, date of birth, Social Security number, driver’s license or state ID number, financial account information, payment card information, passport number, digital signature, email address and password, biometric data, US military ID number, and medical and health information was compromised.

    • Bitdefender ☛ Krispy Kreme hack exposed sensitive data of over 160,000 people

      What is perhaps most alarming, however, is not the number of people who have had their sensitive personal information breached, but rather the type of information that was taken: [...]

    • Doc Searls ☛ We’ve Had Enough of This Shit

      I didn’t accept that, and suggest you don’t either. I just checked in another browser, and in Europe (or at least in The Netherlands, where I am VPN’d right now), Bloomberg gives you these choices: [...]

    • Court House News ☛ Want to plant trees to offset fossil fuels? You’d need all of North and Central America, study finds

      And even if there were, if those 200 companies had to pay for planting all those trees, it would cost $10.8 trillion, more than their entire combined market valuation of $7.01 trillion. The researchers also determined that the companies would be in the red if they were responsible for the social costs of the carbon in their reserves, which scientists compute around $185 per metric ton of carbon dioxide.

    • Bruce Schneier ☛ Surveillance in the US

      Good article from 404 Media on the cozy surveillance relationship between local Oregon police and ICE: [...]

    • Nick Heer ☛ Border Bill Powers Would Allow Warrantless Police Requests to ‘Public Services’ of All Types – Pixel Envy

      Robertson and the Citizen Lab explain how this seems to be driven by compliance with the Second Additional Protocol to the Cybercrime Convention, but it could have far-reaching implications as currently drafted.

    • Michael Geist ☛ Government Reverses on Privacy and the Charter: Department of Justice Analysis Concludes Political Party Privacy Bill Raises No Charter of Rights Effects

      The finding that there are no Charter effects is surprising since the Department of Justice examined many of the same provisions in the Bill C-65 Charter statement and concluded that they engaged Section 2(b) (freedom of expression) and Section 3 (democratic rights) of the Charter. The political party privacy rules in Bill C-4 are a weaker version of Bill C-65 as both seek to override provincial privacy protections but Bill C-4 drops provisions on security breach disclosure and restrictions on the sale of personal information. However, many of the core provisions, including the need for a privacy policy, the elimination of provincial privacy rules, and the role of the Elections Act, are the ones that just last year were invoked in the Bill C-65 Charter statement.

    • Patrick Breyer ☛ Chat Control: The EU’s CSAM scanner proposal

      On 11 May 2022 the European Commission presented a proposal which would make chat control searching mandatory for all e-mail and messenger providers and would even apply to so far securely end-to-end encrypted communication services. Prior to the proposal a public consultation had revealed that a majority of respondents, both citizens and stakeholders, opposed imposing an obligation to use chat control. Over 80% of respondents opposed its application to end-to-end encrypted communications.

      Currently a regulation is in place allowing providers to scan communications voluntarily (so-called “Chat Control 1.0”). So far only some unencrypted US communications services such as GMail, Facebook/Instagram Messenger, Skype, Snapchat, iCloud email and X-Box apply chat control voluntarily (more details here). As a result of the mandatory Chat Control 2.0 proposal, the Commission expects a 3.5-fold increase in scanning reports (by 354%).

    • ChatControl DK ☛ Chat Control: Your private messages will be scanned!

      The EU commission has proposed a new law to protect children against abuse. The cause is good, but the law itself is bad, because it requires online services with messaging functionality to be surveilled, if there is a possibility for children to use the service or if users could potentially use the service to exchange child abuse material. This will affect many communication services and it will mean that your communication will be scanned, because all users of regular communication services will be treated as suspects for child abuse. More specifically this means that your e-mails, chat-messages, video- and voicecalls will be analysed by algorithms, to determine if they contain illegal content. The analysis will happen directly on your computer/smartphone, so that the algorithms can see what you say/write before it becomes encrypted.

    • Hong Kong Free Press ☛ [Algorithms on] surveillance cameras helped prosecute 6 people for monkey feeding, Hong Kong gov’t says

      Hong Kong authorities used evidence from Hey Hi (AI) surveillance cameras installed last year to prosecute six people for monkey feeding, a government conservation officer has said.

    • Michael Geist ☛ Government Reverses on Privacy and the Charter: Department of Justice Analysis Concludes Political Party Privacy Bill Raises No Charter of Rights Effects

      The Department of Justice has released its Charter Statement for Bill C-4, the affordability measures bill that also exempts political parties from the application of privacy protections on a retroactive basis dating back to 2000. The provisions give political parties virtually unlimited power to collect, use and disclose personal information with no ability for privacy commissioners to address violations. Charter statements are designed to identify Charter rights and freedoms that may potentially be engaged by a bill and provide a brief explanation of the nature of any engagement, in light of the measures being proposed.

    • Defence Web ☛ Modernising border security in South Africa through integrated surveillance technologies

      South Africa’s land borders remain vulnerable to illegal crossings, particularly along rivers shared with neighbouring countries. A recent parliamentary response to a question has revealed that there are no comprehensive fences or high walls along these river borders.

• Defence/Aggression

  • New York Times ☛ Chilling Photos Capture Police Shooting Man, Fueling Anger in Kenya

    The protests and police shooting on Tuesday came nearly a year after demonstrations against President William Ruto of Kenya convulsed the country.

  • New Yorker ☛ The Rise and Fall of DOGE

    Without MElon, what is the Department of Government Efficiency going to do?

  • Deutsche Welle ☛ 'Crunch time' for climate action, scientists warn

    The world is running out of time to rein in human-driven climate change, with top UN scientists warning that key indicators are now in uncharted territory.

  • France24 ☛ EU rule of law report shows worrying trends: How should the bloc defend its core principles? - Talking Europe

    Threats to the rule of law and democratic values persist, and are getting worse in some areas. That is the message from MEPs following an analysis of the EU Commission’s latest annual rule of law report, covering the year 2024.

  • JURIST ☛ US appeals court allows Trump to keep National Guard deployed in California

    While the lower court held that the US unlawfully federalized the California National Guard and interfered with the state’s exercise of its police powers, last week, the Ninth Circuit blocked the return of the California National Guard to the governor, awaiting further proceedings.

  • Los Angeles Times ☛ Contributor: The awful optics of uniformed troops cheering Trump's partisan applause lines

    But this speech was different from his others. The location was Ft. Bragg in North Carolina — and the audience was mostly soldiers from the 82nd Airborne Division, the “All Americans.” Internal unit communications revealed soldiers at the rally were screened based on political leanings and physical appearance. “If soldiers have political views that are in opposition to the current administration,” the guidance advised, “and they don’t want to be in the audience then they need to speak with their leadership and get swapped out.”

    So what followed was to be expected. A sea of young soldiers in uniform — selected for their preference for the president — cheering and clapping for partisan commentary. This obviously violates Defense Department regulations. Heck, it’s even spelled out in a handy Pentagon FAQ:

    Q. Can I ever wear my uniform when I attend political events?

    A. No; military members must refrain from participating in political activity while in military uniform in accordance with both DoDD 1344.10 and DoDI 1344.01. This prohibition applies to all Armed Forces members.

  • Jacobin Magazine ☛ Don’t Lose Sight of the Oligarchy

    Last weekend’s massive “No Kings” rallies proved Donald Trump’s deep unpopularity. But Trump should be opposed as a symptom of America’s vast warmongering, oligarchic elite, not a simply a grotesque anomaly.

  • 404 Media ☛ ‘Martyrdom or Bust:’ Texas Man Caught Plotting Terror Attack Through Roblox Chats

    According to the witness, Crazz3pain kept talking about their desire to commit “martyrdom” at a Christian event and that he wanted to “bring humiliation to worshippers of the cross.” The Witness allegedly asked Crazz3pain if the attack would happen at a church service and Crazz3pain told them it would happen at a concert.

    Someone asked Crazz3pain when it would happen. “‘It will be months…Shawwal…April,’” Crazz3pain said. Shawwal is the month after Ramadan in the Islamic calendar. The conversations the witness shared with the FBI happened on January 21 and 23, 2025.

  • Wired ☛ What Big Tech's Band of Execs Will Do in the Army

    My big question is whether these men could have provided the same assistance from the private sector. Parmeter and Butler both cited precedent of cases where top executives were directly commissioned, including a top railway executive in 1917, the head of a gas and electric company in 1944, and the General Motors Company president in 1942. But those were full-time roles during world wars. Parmeter also reminded me that many currently serving reservists are already in the tech industry, including, he claimed, some generals at Google(!). Presumably none of them, however, began their military careers as senior officers, and they presumably do not receive special dispensation to perform some of their service from home.

  • JURIST ☛ Trump extends deadline for nationwide TikTok ban another 90 days

    The White House said the purpose of the order is to prevent the Department of Justice from enforcing the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act. Congress passed the act on April 24, 2024, restricting the use of apps in the US that are controlled by foreign adversaries, specifically naming TikTok as one of those apps. Lawmakers expressed concern that the app would be used to spy on or influence American users.

  • Axios ☛ GOP senators are not fans of Trump's new TikTok delay

    Between the lines: Some senators did not directly respond to the latest plans for delay but again warned about the dangers of TikTok and urged a quick solution.

  • The Moscow Times ☛ Australia Sanctions Oil Tankers in Russia’s ‘Shadow Fleet’

    The new restrictions target 60 vessels, which have also been targeted by sanctions from the United Kingdom, Canada and EU.

  • Greece ☛ 10 years after Europe’s migration crisis, the fallout reverberates in Greece and beyond

    “Migration is now at the top of the political agenda, which it didn’t use to be before 2015,” said Camille Le Coz Director of the Migration Policy Institute Europe, noting changing EU alliances. “We are seeing a shift toward the right of the political spectrum.”

  • India Times ☛ Social media ban moves closer in Australia after tech trial

    The results of the government-backed trial clear the way for the law to come into force by the end of the year. The findings also potentially allow other jurisdictions to follow Australia’s lead as countries around the world grapple with ways to protect children from harmful content online.“Age assurance can be done in Australia and can be private, robust and effective,” the government-commissioned Age Assurance Technology Trial said in a statement Friday announcing its preliminary findings.

  • Michigan Advance ☛ Violent extremists like the Minnesota shooter are not lone wolves • Michigan Advance

    I am a scholar of political violence and extremism and wrote about these beliefs in a 2021 book, “It Can Happen Here: White Power and the Rising Threat of Genocide in the US.” I think it’s important to understand the lessons that can be learned from events such as the recent Minnesota shootings.

    After decades of research on numerous attacks that have left scores dead, we have learned that extremists are almost always part of a pack, not lone wolves. But the myth of the lone wolf shooter remains tenacious, reappearing in media coverage after almost every mass shooting or act of far-right extremist violence. Because this myth misdirects people from the actual causes of extremist violence, it impedes society’s ability to prevent attacks.

  • The Atlantic ☛ The Trojan Horse Will Come for Us Too

    I stopped using my cellphone for regular calls and text messages last fall and switched to Signal. I wasn’t being paranoid—or at least I don’t think I was. I worked in the National Security Council, and we were told that China had compromised all major U.S. telecommunications companies and burrowed deep inside their networks. Beijing had gathered information on more than a million Americans, mainly in the Washington, D.C., area. The Chinese government could listen in to phone calls and read text messages. Experts call the Chinese state-backed group responsible Salt Typhoon, and the vulnerabilities it exploited have not been fixed. China is still there.

  • The Georgia Recorder ☛ Bookman: Massive turnout for 'No Kings' protests in Georgia shows people's courage to act • Georgia Recorder

    Of course, neither the protests nor the protesters have actual power to enact or force change. Those who marched hold no office; they have no vote in Congress. They control no divisions of troops and cannot make or enforce laws. But what they can do, what they have begun to do, is to demonstrate to those who do hold power that the people are watching them, that the people have the courage to act when supposed leaders quake and quail.

  • The Straits Times ☛ Taiwan on alert over China’s military activities in Pacific

    President Lai said he asked the defence and security teams to strengthen monitoring of regional developments.

  • France24 ☛ Dihydroxyacetone Man to decide 'in two weeks' whether US will directly attack Iran

    President The Insurrectionist said Thursday he will decide within two weeks whether to involve U.S. forces in the Israel-Iran conflict, citing a "substantial chance" for renewed nuclear talks. The White House said he is weighing strikes on Iran’s fortified Fordo uranium site.

  • France24 ☛ Europeans push for renewed diplomacy with Iran as Convicted Felon mulls military action

    European foreign ministers will meet Iran’s top negotiator on Friday to revive nuclear talks, despite US signals it may back Israeli strikes. In a rare call this week, the E3 and the EU’s foreign policy chief urged Abbas Araqchi to de-escalate, leading to an agreement for in-person talks at Iran’s request.

  • France24 ☛ Iran has just finished losing a war and is not in a position to dictate terms, analyst says

    U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff and Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi have spoken by phone several times since Israel began its strikes on Iran last week, in a bid to find a diplomatic end to the crisis, three diplomats told Reuters. Speaking to FRANCE 24's Sharon Gaffney, Ray Takeyh, Senior Fellow for Middle East Studies at the Council on Foreign Relations, says Iran is not in a position to dictate terms in possible negotiations.

  • France24 ☛ Israel says Khamenei 'can no longer be allowed to exist' after Iran strikes hospital

    An Iranian missile strike hit south Israel's Soroka Hospital on Thursday in what Israeli officials described as a deliberate attack on the country's infrastructure. Defence Minister Israel Katz that Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei "can no longer be allowed to exist".

  • RFERL ☛ Israel Threatens Khamenei After Hospital Strike As Global Concerns Grow Over Possible US Entry Into Conflict

    Israel vowed to "remove" Tehran's nuclear and ballistic missile threat after Iranian air strikes hit a hospital as fears among many countries grew over prospects the United States would join the fight to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons.

  • France24 ☛ Israel threatens Iran's supreme leader as Iranian strikes wound over 200

    An Iranian missile struck the main hospital in southern Israel early Thursday, causing extensive damage and injuring several people, though no serious injuries were reported. Other missiles hit a high-rise in Tel Aviv and sites in central Israel, leaving at least 240 wounded. Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz blamed Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei, stating that he “should not continue to exist” to achieve military goals.

  • France24 ☛ France urges Iran nuclear talks

    France and its Foreign Minister are engaged in intense diplomatic efforts as Israel continues its strikes on Iran, which began last week. To help ease tensions, France seeks to restart negotiations on Iran’s nuclear programme. President Macron has affirmed that Israel has the right to defend itself amid the ongoing conflict, and reminded at the G7 what happened when the West directly intervened in Middle East conflicts lately. Marc Perelman has the details.

  • France24 ☛ What is Israel’s Iron Dome and why isn’t it invulnerable?

    Israel’s Iron Dome is a highly advanced missile defence system designed to intercept and destroy incoming rockets and missiles. While it has proven highly effective in the past, the recent exchanges of missiles with Iran have highlighted its limitations. The system is not invincible, as some strikes still manage to get through, causing damage. FRANCE 24's international editor Philip Turle has the details.

  • LRT ☛ Lithuania to evacuate diplomats' families, some staff from Israel as situation escalates

    Lithuania has decided to evacuate the families of its diplomats and some non-essential staff from Israel as security concerns continue to mount, Foreign Ministry Chancellor Aistė Stankevičienė confirmed on Thursday.

  • The Straits Times ☛ US will strike N. Korea if it attacks South with nukes, says Seoul’s spy chief nominee

    North Korea has for years pursued a nuclear programme.

  • New York Times ☛ Doctor at Soroka Hospital in Israel Recounts Iranian Strike

    An Iranian missile hit a building at the Soroka Medical Center, a major hospital complex in southern Israel. The hospital said it was treating several patients with minor injuries.

  • New York Times ☛ Iran Missile Strikes Hospital in Southern Israel

    The strike highlighted the risks to civilians in Israel and Iran after days of fighting between the two nations.

  • France24 ☛ 🔴 Live: Israel attacks dozens of military targets in Iran, including nuclear research site

    The Israeli military said on Friday it carried out strikes on dozens of military targets in Iran overnight, including an attack on the Organisation of Defensive Innovation and Research (SPND), which it said is involved in Iran's nuclear weapons development.

  • New York Times ☛ U.S. Spy Agencies Assess Iran Remains Undecided on Building a Bomb

    U.S. intelligence officials said Iran was likely to pivot toward producing a nuclear weapon if the U.S. attacked a main uranium enrichment site, or if Israel killed its supreme leader.

  • France24 ☛ Watch out for flight tracking images showing Chinese cargo planes landing in Iran

    Since the start of the Israel-Iran war, X-accounts have been claiming that several Chinese aircraft have landed in Iran to supply the country with weapons. However, the main airline involved, Cargolux, has denied the allegations, and the photos from the flight tracking website Flightradar24 have been misconstrued.

  • The Strategist ☛ Pakistan’s air-combat lesson for Indonesia: buy air-surveillance aircraft

    In Jakarta, decision makers are gradually convincing themselves to buy Chinese J-10 fighters, viewing the possible order as a step in defence modernisation. But it would be a misstep.

  • New York Times ☛ Pakistan Waging a Deadly Drone Campaign Inside Its Own Borders

    As it strikes militants, the country’s security services are adopting a tactic that Pakistan once criticized the United States for using.

  • Russia, Belarus, and War in Ukraine

    • Meduza ☛ Some Russian highways will ‘never’ have mobile coverage due to ‘closed zones,’ says road agency head — Meduza

    • Meduza ☛ Economy minister warns Russia is ‘on the brink of recession,’ finance minister and central bank head disagree — Meduza

    • Meduza ☛ ‘What even is propaganda?’ How Russia’s murky anti-LGBTQ laws fuel a repressive campaign that makes the state millions — Meduza

    • Meduza ☛ Russian drones strike Odesa and Kharkiv overnight, killing at least one — Meduza

    • Meduza ☛ Russian air defenses shoot down two drones near Moscow, mayor says — Meduza

    • Latvia ☛ 2025-06-20 [Older] Nordics, Baltics and partners to 'compile guidelines' on Russia's shadow fleet

    • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2025-06-20 [Older] What's next for Ukrainians returning from Russia prisons?

    • The Local DK ☛ 2025-06-20 [Older] European countries announce joint action against Russia's 'shadow fleet'

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-06-20 [Older] German Military Deems Russia 'Existential Risk' to Nation and Europe, Spiegel Reports

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-06-20 [Older] Moscow Promises to Closely Monitor Foreign Businesses That Return to Russia

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-06-20 [Older] Putin Says Russia Has Shared Peace Proposals With Israel and Iran

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-06-20 [Older] Putin Says Russia Plans to Deepen Military-Technical Ties With 'Friendly Countries'

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-06-20 [Older] Russia and Ukraine Swap More POWs in Second Exchange in Two Days

    • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2025-06-19 [Older] Indonesia inks strategic partnership with Russia

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-06-19 [Older] Russia's Economy Minister Says the Country Is on 'The Brink of Recession'

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-06-19 [Older] Exclusive-Russia's Dmitriev Says Russia, US and Saudi Arabia Could Act Jointly to Stabilise Oil Markets

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-06-19 [Older] Finnish Parliament Votes to Exit Landmines Treaty Due to Russia Threat

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-06-19 [Older] Putin Hosts Indonesia's Prabowo in Russia in Bid to Deepen Ties

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-06-19 [Older] Russia and Ukraine Exchange POWs, Russian News Agencies Report

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-06-19 [Older] Russian Court Sentences Actor to 17 Years in Prison for Railway Sabotage

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-06-19 [Older] Putin and Xi Condemn Israel Over Its Iran Strikes in Phone Call, Kremlin Says

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-06-19 [Older] Ukraine and Russia Exchange POWs in Latest Swap

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-06-19 [Older] Zelenskyy Calls for More Pressure on Russia After Deadly Missile Strike in Ukrainian Capital Kyiv

    • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2025-06-18 [Older] Russia's Putin says he's open to talks with Merz, Zelenskyy

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-06-18 [Older] ECB's Panetta Says EU a Victim of US Efforts to Distance Russia From China

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-06-18 [Older] Kyiv Mourns as Death Toll From Russian Strike Climbs to 28

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-06-18 [Older] Russian Forces Hit Ukrainian Troops in Sumy Region With Iskander Missile, TASS Says

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-06-18 [Older] Suspected Russian Hackers Used New Tactic Against UK Researcher

    • CBC ☛ 2025-06-17 [Older] Russian strikes in Kyiv kill at least 16 people, flatten apartment block

    • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2025-06-17 [Older] Ukraine updates: 15 killed in wave of Russian strikes

    • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2025-06-17 [Older] Why Russia hesitates to help Iran in conflict with Israel

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-06-17 [Older] Exclusive-Cheeto Mussolini Administration Disbands Group Focused on Pressuring Russia, Sources Say

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-06-17 [Older] Kremlin Calls G7 'Useless', Agrees With Cheeto Mussolini That Kicking Out Russia Was a Mistake

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-06-17 [Older] Poland Says GPS Disruptions Over Baltic Could Be Related to Russia

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-06-17 [Older] UK Sanctions Hit Two Residents Accused of Sending Tech to Russia

    • International Business Times ☛ 2025-06-16 [Older] Vitaly Zdorovetskiy News: Russian YouTuber Transferred To Maximum Security Prison In The Philippines

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-06-16 [Older] G7 Needs to Raise Pressure on Russia, Von Der Leyen Says

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-06-16 [Older] Russia Is Ready to Mediate on Iran, and to Accept Tehran's Uranium, Kremlin Says

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-06-16 [Older] Russia Says US Has Cancelled Next Round of Talks on Easing Tensions

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-06-16 [Older] Ukraine Says Repatriation of War Dead Over After 1,245 More Bodies Received From Russia

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-06-16 [Older] Ukraine's Zelenskyy Visits Austria for First Time Since Russia's Full-Scale Invasion of His Country

    • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2025-06-15 [Older] Ukraine receives 1,200 more war dead bodies from Russia

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-06-15 [Older] Russia Hands Over 1,200 War Dead Bodies to Ukraine

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-06-15 [Older] Russian Air Attack Damaged Boeing Offices in Ukraine, FT Reports

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-06-15 [Older] Russia Says It Struck Oil Refinery That Supplies Ukrainian Army With Fuel

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-06-15 [Older] Russia’s Strong Ties With Both Israel and Iran Could Help It Emerge as a Power Broker

    • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2025-06-14 [Older] Exploitation in Russia: Building drones instead of training

    • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2025-06-14 [Older] Russia and Ukraine conduct a fourth POW swap

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-06-14 [Older] Finland Accuses Senior Crew of Russia-Linked Vessel in Damage of Undersea Power Cable in Baltic Sea

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-06-14 [Older] Russia and Ukraine Exchange Prisoners of War, but Moscow Received No War Dead, Russia Says

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-06-14 [Older] Zelenskiy Says Ukraine Halts Russian Troop Advance in Sumy Region

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-06-14 [Older] Zelenskyy Warns Oil Price Surge Could Help Russia's War Effort

    • CBC ☛ 2025-06-13 [Older] Russia and Ukraine are returning the bodies of their soldiers. It's a grim snapshot of battlefield loss

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-06-13 [Older] From a Russian Prison, US Schoolteacher Tells Lawyers He Was Grabbed by Moscow's Soldiers

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-06-13 [Older] Residents Weigh Their Chances as Russian Troops Approach Ukrainian City

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-06-13 [Older] Russia Advises It Citizens Against Travel to Iran and Israel

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-06-13 [Older] Russian Aircraft Intercepted Over Baltic on Friday, Poland Says

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-06-13 [Older] Russian Space Agency Says It Fixed a Leak on Its Segment of Space Station, Ifax Reports

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-06-13 [Older] Russia Says It Tests New Laser Defences Against Drones

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-06-13 [Older] Ukraine Repatriates Another 1,200 Soldiers' Bodies From Russia

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-06-13 [Older] Ukraine Repatriates More Bodies of Fallen Soldiers in Line With an Agreement With Russia

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-06-20 [Older] Putin on Israel-Iran, Ukraine and the Risk of the World Sliding Towards World War Three

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-06-20 [Older] Putin Quips That the 'The Whole of Ukraine Is Ours' in Theory

    • Bleeping Computer ☛ 2025-06-19 [Older] Ryuk ransomware’s initial access expert extradited to the U.S. from Ukraine

    • InfoSecurity Magazine ☛ 2025-06-20 [Older] Russia Expert Falls Prey to Elite Hackers Disguised as US Officials

    • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2025-06-19 [Older] Ukrainian women search for loved ones missing in action

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-06-19 [Older] Tried and Tested in War: for European Drone Manufacturers, Ukraine Is the Place to Be

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-06-19 [Older] A Ukrainian Fled to Israel. an Iranian Missile Shattered Her New Life

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-06-19 [Older] Denmark to Push for Ukraine's EU Membership During Presidency

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-06-19 [Older] Ukraine's Zelenskiy Appoints New Commander of Land Forces

    • NL Times ☛ 2025-06-18 [Older] Dutch gov’t wants aid to Ukraine to count towards NATO defense spending standard

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-06-18 [Older] Former US Ambassador to Ukraine Who Resigned in Protest Launches Run for Congress in Michigan

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-06-17 [Older] Ukraine Appoints New Prosecutor General

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-06-17 [Older] Ukraine's Zelenskiy Seeks G7 Support as Cheeto Mussolini's Early Exit Dampens Summit

    • Vox ☛ 2025-06-17 [Older] Cheeto Mussolini doesn’t have a foreign policy

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-06-16 [Older] Seeking Unity, G7 Meets Amid Escalating Ukraine, Middle East Conflicts

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-06-14 [Older] Ukraine Receives 1,200 Bodies of Dead Ukrainian Soldiers, Kyiv Says

    • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2025-06-13 [Older] Ukraine updates: EU sends Ukraine €1 billion in latest loan

• Environment

  • New York Times ☛ Boy, 15, Survives Lightning Strike in Central Park, Police Say

    The boy was standing under a tree when lightning hit and an electrical current transferred to a chain necklace around his neck, a law enforcement official said.

  • CBC ☛ Old, inactive oil and gas wells emitting almost 7 times more methane than official estimates

    Inactive and abandoned oil and gas wells in Canada are a much bigger climate problem than previously thought, emitting almost seven times more methane than the official estimates, according to a new study from researchers at McGill University.

  • Court House News ☛ Navy faces key ruling in Hawaii fuel contamination case | Courthouse News Service

    The Wai Ola Alliance, a coalition of Native Hawaiian leaders and environmental groups, is asking for partial summary judgment, arguing the Navy discharged petroleum into Pearl Harbor from two piers between March 2020 and September 2021. The motion focuses on Hotel and Kilo piers, where the Navy itself reported fuel leaking through seawall cracks into the harbor.

  • Deutsche Welle ☛ Major oil companies face first 'climate death' lawsuit

    A US complaint against oil and gas giants including BP and Shell claims they fueled the extreme heat that killed a woman in Seattle. Can the first death by "climate disaster" claim succeed?

  • Los Angeles Times ☛ A forest the size of North America would be needed to offset Big Oil's reserves, study finds

    The world would need to plant a forest the size of North America in order to offset planet-warming emissions from the 200 largest oil and gas companies, new research has found.

  • Energy/Transportation/Manufacturing

    • Security Week ☛ Predatory Sparrow Burns $90 Million on Iranian Crypto Exchange in Cyber Shadow War

      Israel-linked Predatory Sparrow hackers torched more than $90 million at Iran’s largest cryptobank as Israel-Iran cyberwar escalates.

    • The Straits Times ☛ Subsidies spur spending in China’s 618 shopping fiesta but momentum could fade

      An Fashion Company Apple iPhone 16 Pro sold for 2,500 yuan (S$448) off its original price on e-commerce platforms after subsidies.

    • YLE ☛ Estlink 2 electricity cable back online after months-long outage

      The Estlink 2 electricity link between Finland and Estonia was operational again on Friday, according to Finnish transmission system operator Fingrid.

    • India Times ☛ Norway plans temporary ban on power-intensive cryptocurrency mining

      "Cryptocurrency mining is very power-intensive and generates little in the way of jobs and income for the local community," she added.

    • MIT Technology Review ☛ Is this the electric grid of the future?

      In the industry, they call it the “trilemma”: the seemingly intractable problem of balancing reliability, affordability, and sustainability. Utilities must keep the lights on in the face of more extreme and more frequent storms and fires, growing risks of cyberattacks and physical disruptions, and a wildly uncertain policy and regulatory landscape. They must keep prices low amid inflationary costs. And they must adapt to an epochal change in how the grid works, as the industry attempts to transition from power generated with fossil fuels to power generated from renewable sources like solar and wind, in all their vicissitudes.

    • Wired ☛ How Much Energy Does AI Use? The People Who Know Aren’t Saying

      As a result, Sasha Luccioni, the climate lead at AI company Hugging Face, doesn’t put too much stock in Altman’s number. “He could have pulled that out of his ass,” she says. (OpenAI did not respond to a request for more information about how it arrived at this number.)

  • Wildlife/Nature

    • The Revelator ☛ An Early ‘Independents’ Day?

  • Overpopulation

    • Omicron Limited ☛ Colorado River water market could help fish and farmers alike

      When the seven states of the Colorado River basin first divided water rights in the 1920s, they allocated more than the river could reliably deliver, especially during periods of drought. Today, the basin supplies drinking water to 40 million people and irrigation to 5 million acres of farmland across the southwestern United States, 30 tribal nations, and parts of Mexico.

• Finance

  • The Straits Times ☛ Rice prices double in Japan as inflation accelerates

    Japan’s consumer price index rose 3.3 per cent, compared with April’s 3 per cent.

  • Jamie Zawinski ☛ Just one more Patreon indignity

    I was today years old when I learned that Patreon offers no mechanism to download all of your own posts from your "creator" account. Because fuck you that's why.

  • WhichUK ☛ Groceries with inflation-busting price hikes revealed

    The cost of some groceries has more than doubled in a year, Which?'s inflation tracker has revealed

  • Hong Kong Free Press ☛ Hong Kong proposes registration of subdivided flats from March 2026 to phase out ‘substandard’ living spaces

    Hong Kong has proposed registering subdivided flats as part of its “basic housing units” scheme from March 2026, as it seeks to phase out “substandard” living spaces that fail to meet government-set minimum living standards.

  • FAIR ☛ ‘Housing Unaffordability Is the Primary Cause of Homelessness’: CounterSpin interview with Farrah Hassen on criminalizing homelessness

    Janine Jackson interviewed Cal Poly Pomona’s Farrah Hassen about criminalizing homelessness for the June 12, 2025, episode of CounterSpin. This is a lightly edited transcript.

• AstroTurf/Lobbying/Politics

  • JURIST ☛ Wisconsin Supreme Court strikes down law weakening state attorney general’s power

    A unanimous Wisconsin Supreme Court on Tuesday sided with the Democratic state attorney general in a long-running battle over a law passed by Republicans who wanted to weaken the attorney general’s power during a lame-duck legislative session in 2018. In a 7-0 ruling, the court found the law unconstitutionally violated the separation of powers doctrine.

  • New York Times ☛ Police Investigate Threats to Mamdani in Mayoral Race’s Final Days

    Voice mail messages promising violence against Zohran Mamdani, a progressive Democrat, came as attacks on politicians, judges and other government officials have skyrocketed.

  • France24 ☛ Taryn Simon explores ‘The Game’ of Democracy

    Her images reveal the impossible, the invisible and the many, many layers behind a photograph. Taryn Simon’s singular and meticulous approach to fine art photography produces pictures that interrogate our political structures, our social conventions and our governing principles. Her latest exhibition “The Game”, on show at the Almine Rech gallery in Paris, zooms in on symbolic and significant moments during the presidential election last year in the United States, questioning the random nature of democratic processes. We talk about the power of photography in a world of smartphones and Artificial Intelligence and reflect upon the universal moment of mourning during the COVID 19 pandemic.

  • Deccan Chronicle ☛ Microsoft Planning Thousands More Job Cuts Amid Heavy Spending On AI [Ed: Lousy and laughable attempts to twist a massive failure at Microsoft ass some sort of "AI" success story

    The cuts are expected to be announced early next month, following the end of Microsoft's fiscal year, according to people familiar with the matter. The reductions won't exclusively affect sales teams, and the timing could still change, said the people, who requested anonymity to discuss a private matter.

  • The Independent UK ☛ Zuckerberg’s political shift didn’t shock Meta staff: ‘The whole time this was all one inch underneath’

    Since Trump was elected in November, the Meta CEO has met with Trump at Mar-a-Lago, donated $1 million to Trump’s inaugural fund, attended the inauguration, co-hosted a reception, and changed company policy to align more closely with the administration.

  • The Guardian UK ☛ Social success not about who you know – it’s about knowing who knows whom

    “Having friends helps, but social influence isn’t just about who you know – it’s also about what you know about the rest of your social network,” said Isabella Aslarus, first author of the study from Stanford University in California.

  • India Times ☛ Former Y Combinator investor Arnav Sahu joins Peak XV

    Arnav Sahu has joined Peak XV as the first investment partner after a four-year stint as principal at startup accelerator Y Combinator.

  • Deccan Chronicle ☛ Microsoft Planning Thousands More Job Cuts Amid Heavy Spending On AI

    The cuts are expected to be announced early next month, following the end of Microsoft’s fiscal year, according to people familiar with the matter. The reductions won’t exclusively affect sales teams, and the timing could still change, said the people, who requested anonymity to discuss a private matter.

  • International Business Times ☛ Trump's Harvard Crackdown Could Crush Boston's Luxury Scene as Rich Foreign Students Vanish

    Massachusetts rakes in £3.1 billion annually from international students—making it America's fourth-largest beneficiary after California, New York, and Texas. Harvard alone enrolled 6,793 international students last academic year, representing over a quarter of its student body.

    But the warning signs are flashing red. Leonardo Solís watched his international student accommodation business crater from 100 clients yearly to just five in 2025. 'Boston was always the golden goose for wealthy international students,' he reflects grimly. 'That era might be ending.'

  • Marcy Wheeler ☛ National Park Visitors Are Not Impressed With Trump's Revisionism

    These aren’t comments on lefty websites. These are official public comments to government requests for input from the public – input some poor soul has to read and summarize for Burgum and Miller. Can you picture the cold sweat breaking out on that civil servant’s brow, realizing he or she might be facing their own firing as the bearer of bad news? Sure you can.

  • The Register UK ☛ Attack on Oxford City Council exposes 21 years of staff data

    It said "some historic data on legacy systems" was accessed by unauthorized attackers, namely the personal information of people who worked on council-administered elections between 2001 and 2022.

  • The Register UK ☛ AFRINIC election proceeds after ICANN's protests waived

    AFRINIC oversees allocation and management of IP addresses for 54 nations across Africa and the Indian Ocean. The registry (RIR) has a long history of controversy and tumult involving sexual harassment, corruption, and a complex set of interlocking disputes that have seen it unable to appoint a CEO or elect board members since 2022.

  • Misinformation/Disinformation/Propaganda

    • Hong Kong Free Press ☛ Meta sues Hong Kong-based company behind Hey Hi (AI) deepfake app that creates fake nude images [Ed: It should also sue Zuckerberg for creating a site which objectified women without their consent]

      US social control media giant Meta has sued the Hong Kong-based company behind an app that uses artificial intelligence to create fake nude images of people without their consent, seeking to stop the firm from advertising the app on Meta platforms.

    • RTL ☛ Information warfare: Tech-fueled misinformation distorts Iran-Israel fighting

      AI deepfakes, video game footage passed off as real combat, and chatbot-generated falsehoods -- such tech-enabled misinformation is distorting the Israel-Iran conflict, fueling a war of narratives across social media.

    • The Moscow Times ☛ Argentina Says It Uncovered Russian Disinformation Operation

      The organization's objective was "to form a group of people loyal to Russia's interests" so that they would carry out disinformation campaigns against the Argentine state, the spokesman added.

      "The Company" allegedly created and disseminated content on social media, influencing local civic organizations and NGOs, as well as developed focus groups with Argentine citizens and obtained political information for Russia.

• Censorship/Free Speech

  • Hong Kong Free Press ☛ Gov’t vows strict vetting of applications for event subsidies, performance venues to prevent ‘soft resistance’

    Hong Kong will strictly vet applications for event subsidies and performance venues, as well as exhibition content and library collections, to better safeguard national security, the city’s culture minister has said.

  • Pro Publica ☛ New York Bans Anonymous Calls to Child Abuse Hotline

  • JURIST ☛ UN expert warns of threat to academic freedom in US

    A UN special rapporteur raised concerns on Thursday over the negative effects of political interference on higher education within the US. The expert’s statement emphasized the threat to “academic freedom, student rights, and democratic integrity,” and highlighted the banning of international students from enrollment at Harvard University as an example of this “wider trend.”

  • US News And World Report ☛ How Trump Has Targeted Harvard's International Students — and What the Latest Court Ruling Means

    Targeting foreign students has become the administration's cornerstone effort to crack down on the nation's oldest and wealthiest college. The block on international enrollment, which accounts for a quarter of Harvard's students and much of its global allure, strikes at the core of Harvard's identity. Courts have stopped some of the government's actions, at least for now — but not all.

  • Axios ☛ Handcuffed Democrats become symbol of Trump's crackdown on dissent

    What they're saying: "The disturbing incident in Los Angeles reflects this administration's alarming tendency to use federal officers to squelch dissenting voices," writes Kareem Crayton, vice president of the Brennan Center for Justice's Washington, D.C. office.

    "An unabashed government stamping out dissent through force ignores the commitment to unfettered political discourse that defines American law and traditions," he wrote.

  • RFERL ☛ A Day Later, Watchdog Says Iranians Still Largely Cut Off From Internet By Authorities

    "It has now been 24 hours since Iran imposed a nationwide [Internet] shutdown; the ongoing blackout incident is the most severe tracked since the November 2019 protests and impacts the public's ability to stay connected at a time when communications are vital," London-based NetBlocks, an organization that monitors cybersecurity, said in a post on social media on June 19.

  • The Independent UK ☛ Iran's [Internet] blackout leaves public in dark and creates an uneven picture of the war with Israel

    Activists see it as a form of psychological warfare for a nation all-too familiar with state information controls and targeted [Internet] shutdowns during protests and unrest.

  • US News And World Report ☛ Iran's Internet Blackout Leaves Public in Dark and Creates an Uneven Picture of the War With Israel

    “The Iranian regime controls the information sphere really, really tightly,” Marwa Fatafta, the Berlin-based policy and advocacy director for digital rights group Access Now, said in an interview with The Associated Press. “We know why the Iranian regime shuts down. It wants to control information. So their goal is quite clear.”

    War with Israel tightens information space

  • The Guardian UK ☛ A Saudi journalist tweeted against the government – and was executed for ‘high treason’

    It was the first high-profile killing of a journalist by the Saudi state since the 2018 murder of Jamal Khashoggi, the Washington Post columnist and prominent critic of the Saudi crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, who was lured into the Saudi consulate in Istanbul and murdered by Saudi agents. A UN report concluded that the murder was an extrajudicial killing by the state, and an intelligence assessment released by then president Joe Biden in 2021 concluded that Prince Mohammed approved the murder.

    But the circumstances around that murder and al-Jasser’s killing, and the international response to it, are markedly different. Most dissidents and experts who followed al-Jasser’s case say he was probably detained by Saudi authorities in 2018 after being identified as the writer behind a popular anonymous Twitter account that accused the Saudi royal family of corruption and human rights abuses.

  • RSF ☛ Reign of terror in Saudi Arabia: the execution of journalist Turki al-Jasser demands an international response | RSF

    Reporters Without Borders (RSF) strongly condemns the execution of Saudi journalist Turki al-Jasser, who was killed on 14 June after seven years of arbitrary imprisonment. Al-Jasser, who was in his 40s, is the first journalist to be sentenced to death and executed in Saudi Arabia under the rule of Mohammed bin Salman and the second in the world since 2020, according to RSF data. Riyadh's international allies must take all necessary measures, including sanctions, to put an end to this regime of terror targeting journalists.

  • ABC ☛ Saudi Arabia executes a journalist after 7 years behind bars

    Authorities had raided Al-Jasser's home in 2018, arresting him and seizing his computer and phones. It was not clear where his trial took place or how long it lasted.

    According to the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists, Saudi authorities maintained that Al-Jasser was behind a social media account on X, formerly Twitter, that levied corruption allegations against Saudi royals. Al-Jasser was also said to have posted several controversial tweets about militants and militant groups.

  • Middle East Eye ☛ Campaigners say Saudi Arabia executed prominent journalist for Twitter account

    As Mohammed bin Salman's economic and social reforms have made headlines in recent years, human rights activists have highlighted a parallel crackdown on dissent, including extreme sentences handed out to individuals for their social media posts.

  • Democracy Now ☛ Saudi Arabia Executes Journalist Turki al-Jasser

    Saudi Arabia has executed the prominent journalist Turki al-Jasser, who was arrested in 2018 and convicted on what press freedom advocates say are trumped-up charges. The Committee to Protect Journalists said, “The international community’s failure to deliver justice for Jamal Khashoggi did not just betray one journalist; it emboldened de facto ruler Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to continue his persecution of the press.”

• Freedom of Information / Freedom of the Press

  • AccessNow ☛ Paragon must answer for spyware use against civil society and journalists

    Access Now calls on Paragon to answer for the use of its spyware in Italy against journalists, and to address oversight failures.

  • AccessNow ☛ Paragon: stop spyware abuse and deliver justice to victims

    In an open letter released today, June 19, 2025, Access Now alongside several leading human rights and press freedoms groups are demanding accountability and answers from Israeli spyware company Paragon

  • The Dissenter ☛ US Homeland Security's Escalating Attacks On International Journalists

  • RFERL ☛ Baku Court Hands Radio Free Europe Journalist Mehralizada 'Outrageous' 9-Year Prison Sentence

    A court in Azerbaijan has sentenced journalist and economist Farid Mehralizada to nine years in prison on charges he says are tied directly to his critical reporting for RFE/RL’s Azerbaijani Service, known locally as Azadliq Radiosu.

  • Deutsche Welle ☛ US updates: Trump admin slashes jobs at Voice of America

    Voice of America is the largest US government-funded international broadcaster and hundreds of employees have been laid off in a fresh round of firings. A top Democrat called it a "dark day for the truth."

  • CPJ ☛ Georgia: Independent media face new wave of repression as new laws come into effect.

    As the ruling Georgian Dream party intensifies efforts to consolidate authoritarian rule, independent media face unprecedented pressure and are now on the brink of survival. Journalists are increasingly subjected to detentions, physical attacks, arbitrary fines, censorship, as well as financial and institutional repression.

    We, the undersigned international media freedom, journalists’, and human rights organisations, renew our call on the international community, especially the European Union (EU), to exert effective pressure on the Georgian Dream ruling party to end the suppression of independent journalism and to uphold democratic principles and media freedom. We further reiterate our full solidarity with Georgian journalists, who, despite mounting pressure, refuse to be silenced.

  • Jamie Zawinski ☛ "How My Reporting on the Columbia Protests Led to My Deportation"

  • Marcy Wheeler ☛ Why Kristi Noem's Kidnapping of Brad Lander Failed ... Thus Far

    Mainstream media (with exceptions like Wired) may not save us. But the diligence of independent outlets could.

    NYT has the ability to sustain all that independent journalism. But if you can — especially if you live in New York — you might consider supporting them (recall that The City did a lot of the reporting on Eric Adams’ corruption before bigger outlets picked up the story).

  • India Times ☛ Saudi Arabia executes a journalist after seven years behind bars, activists say it was over his tweets

    "The international community's failure to deliver justice for Jamal Khashoggi did not just betray one journalist," he said, adding it had "emboldened de facto ruler Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to continue his persecution of the press."

  • India Times ☛ Turki al-Jasser: Tweet that cost a life: After Jamal Khashoggi, Saudi journalist’s online dissent ends in execution

    Saudi journalist Turki al-Jasser was executed for criticizing the government on social media, drawing comparisons to the Jamal Khashoggi case. Al-Jasser's execution, the first high-profile case since Khashoggi's murder, highlights the severe consequences of dissent in Saudi Arabia. Saudi authorities tracked him down through infiltrated Twitter accounts, leading to his arrest, imprisonment, and eventual execution for treason.

• Civil Rights/Policing

  • Digital Music News ☛ Fat Joe Accused of Engaging in Sex with Minors in $20 Million Lawsuit

    Fat Joe’s former hype man filed a lawsuit against the rapper with allegations he engaged in sex acts with minors, financial fraud, labor exploitation, and more. Terrance “T.A.” Dixon, Fat Joe’s former hype man, has filed an incendiary lawsuit in federal court against the rapper.

  • International Business Times ☛ 2025-06-13 [Older] TikTok Star Khaby Lame Detained by ICE Over Visa, Voluntarily Departs the United States

  • FAIR ☛ Top Papers Dutifully Echo Cooked-Up Charges Against Abrego Garcia

    Kilmar Abrego Garcia was returned to the United States on June 6, after being wrongly deported to El Salvador almost three months earlier. Abrego Garcia had been detained in El Salvador’s Terrorism Confinement Center since March 15, along with more than 250 other immigrants accused of belonging to the Latin American gangs Tren de Aragua and MS-13.

  • FAIR ☛ Michael Galant on Sanctions & Immigration, LaToya Parker on Budget’s Racial Impacts

  • The Guardian UK ☛ Banned from home for 40 years: deportations are Russia’s latest move to ‘cleanse’ Ukraine

    Serdiuk’s home town of Komysh-Zoria, in Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia region, was part of the territory occupied in the first weeks of Russia’s full-scale invasion in spring 2022. According to Moscow, it is now part of Russia. And because Serdiuk, the headteacher of a local school, refused to work for the new authorities, they decided he had no place living there.

  • BIA Net ☛ Too old to work, too young to retire: 'If you lose your job after 40, you face an empty table'

    Official statistics show that Turkey has over 11 million people between the ages of 45 and 54 out of its population of 85 million. Around 6.7 million of them are employed, while about 4.5 million are not working in any capacity.

  • Futurism ☛ CEOs Using AI to Terrorize Their Employees

    As Axios highlighted this week, CEOs are increasingly using AI adoption as a cudgel to justify layoffs, or to manufacture consent for layoffs in the future. Amazon CEO Andy Jassy, for example, recently said AI is likely to "reduce our total corporate workforce," while JPMorgan executives told investors that AI will allow for a "10 percent headcount reduction."

  • Axios ☛ Why CEOs are using AI to scare workers

    Appealing to investors: The tough talk is for Wall Street, a signal that a company is on trend. (It doesn't hurt that investors tend to like layoffs.)

  • Techdirt ☛ US Marines Witnessed Detaining A US Citizen In Los Angeles

    That extra step is hugely problematic, especially if Marines start pitching in with law enforcement work — something they’re explicitly forbidden from doing. And yet, here they are, doing cop work for cops, something captured on video and (unbelievably) confirmed by the Defense Department: [...]

  • The Independent UK ☛ Judge asks if troops in Los Angeles are violating Posse Comitatus Act

    U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer put off issuing any additional rulings and instead asked for briefings from both sides by noon Monday on whether the Posse Comitatus Act, which prohibits troops from conducting civilian law enforcement on U.S. soil, is being violated in Los Angeles.

  • Los Angeles Times ☛ Secret police have no place in democracy. But here they are

    The alleged officers detaining hundreds if not thousands of people each day in California and across the country are often masked. They sometimes refuse to answer questions, including which agency they represent. They threaten force — and even use it to make arrests of bystanders — when they are challenged.

  • Techdirt ☛ ICE Tells Agents They Can Start Making Unjustified Arrests Again

    Not only does ICE believe it doesn’t need real warrants to enter homes, it believes it doesn’t even need self-issued “administrative” warrants to perform arrests. We’re seeing this all over the nation as ICE raids are now as common a feature in the daily news as sports scores and weather forecasts.

  • Los Angeles Times ☛ Contributor: By wearing masks, immigration agents undermine authority and endanger us all

    Masking is not good law enforcement practice. It may contradict Homeland Security regulations, while potentially providing cover for some officers to violate constitutional and civil rights. It undermines agents’ authority and endangers public safety as well.

    The federal government has no specific policy banning immigration agents from wearing masks. But the fact that such practice is not illegal does not make it acceptable. Department of Homeland Security regulations require immigration officers to identify themselves during an arrest or, in cases of a warrantless arrest, provide a statement explaining how they identified themselves. The use of masks seems to violate the intent of these directives for identification.

  • Nexstar Media Group Inc ☛ Pregnant U.S. citizen detained by border patrol agents: 'We didn't do anything wrong' 

    Video taken by López depicts her struggling with a masked agent wearing a Border Patrol uniform asking to see her identification as she was protecting a truck carrying her boyfriend Brayan Nájera and cousin Alberto Sandoval — the latter of whom is also a U.S. citizen.

• Internet Policy/Net Neutrality

  • AccessNow ☛ #KeepItOn: Israel must stop cutting Gaza off from the world

    We call on authorities in Israel and all relevant actors to restore full access to internet and communication services in Gaza.

  • AccessNow ☛ Digital ceasefire: the path to peace goes online

    In today’s era of digital warfare, digital ceasefires are cornerstones on the pathway to peace. Access Now has been working with peace-building experts to discuss exactly what a digital ceasefire should look like.

  • France24 ☛ Israel-Iran war: Internet blackout in Tehran

    This Thursday, Tehran experienced no missile strikes, but a widespread communication blackout has left families isolated and anxious. With phone lines, WhatsApp, and email services all down, many are unable to connect with relatives or access information. FRANCE 24's Saeed Azimi has more from Iran.

  • New York Times ☛ Iranians mostly lost internet access on the sixth day of Israeli strikes.

    The shutdown appears to be the result of an internal decision rather than a consequence of an Israeli strike.

  • RFERL ☛ A Day Later, Watchdog Says Iranians Still Largely Cut Off From Internet By Authorities

    Large swathes of Iran have been without Internet access for more than a day due to an outage imposed by state authorities as many people inside the country scramble for information amid air attacks from Israel.

  • APNIC ☛ Event Wrap: INNOG 8 and India ISP Conclave 2025

    APNIC conducted training and presented at INNOG 8, held in conjunction with the 2nd India ISP Conclave (IISPC2025) in Delhi, India from 23 to 28 May 2025.

  • Zimbabwe ☛ Data Expires. Here’s Why Mobile Operators Say It Must, and Why That’s Not Good Enough - Techzim Why Mobile Data Expires — And Why That’s Not Good Enough

    In fact, MNOs already use network management tools like throttling, congestion control, and fair usage policies to deal with actual traffic. If someone with 50GB of old data suddenly starts bingeing HD video on Netflix, the network can still manage that.

    To show that MNOs are being disengenuous here, consider that they also risk unpredictable surges when many users buy data and use it immediately.

    They don’t limit the number of people who can recharge at the same time, so why claim saved and unused data is a bigger threat? The answer is simple, one generates fresh revenue, the other is a liability.

• Digital Restrictions (DRM)

  • Digital Music News ☛ Amazon Music Adds Two More Exclusives -- One from Rod Stewart

    After all, nobody wants to cough up for ad-free music just to find that their favorite acts’ songs are solely hitting a different service. But a lot has changed in the interim. Premium adoption is quite strong in several established markets, and platforms are competing with different kinds of exclusives in any event.

  • Jérôme Marin ☛ Netflix's strategic shift

    This is the first time Netflix will broadcast live television channels. Such a deal seemed unthinkable until now, as TV groups had launched their own video-on-demand platforms to adapt to new viewing habits. In this battle, the US giants mostly opted for paid offerings, sometimes leveraging their ownership ties with film studios.

Monopolies/Monopsonies

• PC World ☛ Microsoft's Family Safety app is blocking Chrome on Windows PCs

  If your PC won’t open Google Chrome, there may be a culprit: Microsoft.

  Google determined that Microsoft’s Family Safety app is blocking Chrome, though the company hasn’t discovered how or why. “For some users, Chrome is unable to run when Microsoft Family Safety is enabled,” Google support engineers posted on the company’s support blog. The issues have apparently been occurring for weeks.

• The Verge ☛ Microsoft is blocking Google Chrome through its family safety feature | The Verge

  Earlier this month, Microsoft’s Family Safety feature, primarily used by parents and schools as a set of parental controls and filters, started randomly blocking Google’s Chrome browser from opening on Windows. The first reports surfaced on June 3rd, with some Chrome users noticing the browser kept closing or wouldn’t open.

• EFF ☛ Apple to Australians: You’re Too Stupid to Choose Your Own Apps

  For small businesses, the DMA offers something just as valuable: the right to process their own payments. That may sound boring, but here’s the thing: Apple takes 30 percent commission on most payments made through iPhone and iPad apps, and they ban app makers from including alternative payment methods or even mentioning that Apple customers can make their payments on the web.

• Patents

  • Kangaroo Courts

    • Unified Patents ☛ Misbehav’n in the UPC: Good FRAND Behavior [Ed: UPC is illegal and they really ought to point this out because that's essential to know]

      Craig Thompson, General Manager of Unified Consulting, presented recent developments over the Unified Patent Court and its handling of large FRAND cases during a CLE dinner in Austin, TX in April. 

      The Unified Patent Court (UPC) issued its first two substantive decisions on FRAND (fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory) matters, and these recent developments show that the UPC is open to handling large FRAND cases, rule on them quickly, and deal with related aspects (for example, production orders, and confidentiality) in a practical manner.

• Copyrights

  • Digital Music News ☛ Carol Kaye Says She Is ‘Declining’ Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Induction

    Legendary bassist Carol Kaye has publicly declined her induction into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. At 90 years old, the outspoken Kaye posted on Facebook (Farcebook) to make her views known. She is being recognized with the Musical Excellence Award at the 2025 ceremony, but Kaye has chosen not to attend or participate.

  • IP Kat ☛ 2025-06-18 [Older] AG Emiliou advises CJEU on pastiche (while adopting very critical stance on EU copyright system as a whole and past CJEU case law too)

  • India Times ☛ BBC threatens legal action against AI startup Perplexity over content scraping: Report

    In a letter to Perplexity Chief Executive Aravind Srinivas seen by the FT, BBC said it may seek an injunction unless the AI firm stops scraping its content, deletes existing copies used to train its AI systems, and submits "a proposal for financial compensation" for the alleged misuse of its intellectual property.

  • Wired ☛ ‘Wall-E With a Gun’: Midjourney Generates Videos of Disney Characters Amid Massive Copyright Lawsuit

    The release of V1 comes on the heels of a very different kind of announcement earlier in June: Hollywood behemoths Disney and Universal filed a blockbuster lawsuit against Midjourney, alleging that it violates copyright law by generating images with the studios’ intellectual [sic] property [sic].

  • Tech Central (South Africa) ☛ The algorithm will sing now: why musicians should be worried about AI

    Tools like Udio and Suno, trained on millions of songs crafted by human artists, are now churning out millions of their own tunes at the click of a button. Deezer, a rival of Spotify Technology, estimates 20 000 AI tracks are uploaded to its platform daily, or 18% of the total. While they only account for 0.5% of total listens, real royalties are being earned and often fraudulently so, judging by the spread of bots to amplify listens. This may not be a Napster-scale issue yet — but the US$20-billion music market is clearly vulnerable.

  • Digital Music News ☛ Why Some Artists Are Rethinking Touring

    Rising costs, low ticket sales, and strict visa rules are reshaping the touring landscape for artists worldwide. From major acts to emerging talent, the entire live music ecosystem is feeling the strain.

  • Torrent Freak ☛ BitTorrent Pirate Gets 5 Years in Prison, €10,000 Fine, For Decade-Old Offenses

    Authorities in Greece are making good on their promise to crack down and deter use of pirate sites and services. Arrests during a significant action to disrupt pirate IPTV last month are now followed by news of an immediate five-year prison sentence and a €10,000 fine. The 59-year-old defendant was reportedly found guilty of running a private torrent site; P2Planet.net. Curiously, the site announced its closure over a decade ago, making the offenses even older than that.