Leftovers

• Dhole Moments ☛ Checklists Are The Thief Of Joy

  I have never seen security and privacy checklists used for any other purpose but deception. After pondering this observation, I’m left seriously doubting if comparison checklists have any valid use case except to manipulate the unsuspecting. But before we get into that, I’d like to share why we’re talking about this today.

• Health/Nutrition/Agriculture

  • Pro Publica ☛ FDA Cuts Will Limit Scrutiny of Troubled Foreign Drug Factories, Inspectors Say

  • Ruben Schade ☛ Insomnia is a jerk, and I’m not a fan of their work

    Those people who say you should treasure your teenage years because they’re the “best years of your life” ignore two things:

    they’re not teenagers themselves, and therefore

    don’t remember what being a teenager is like.

• Proprietary

  • Artificial Intelligence (AI) / LLM Slop / Plagiarism

    • Press Gazette ☛ How Surveillance Giant Google Hey Hi (AI) Overviews is fuelling zero-click searches for top publishers

      New Similarweb data shows likes of Mail Online and People see high proportion of Hey Hi (AI) Overviews for their key search terms.

• Security

  • Privacy/Surveillance

    • Police the City of Joburg, not our CCTV cameras – OUTA

      The Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (OUTA) is going to court to challenge the legality of the City of Johannesburg (COJ) new by-law on privately owned closed-circuit television cameras (CCTV), which sets up convoluted rules requiring registration and City access to private data.

    • Citizen Lab ☛ A Match Made in the Heavens: The Surveillance State and the “New Space” Economy

      This new piece co-authored by the Citizen Lab’s Gabrielle Lim discusses the risks of privatized space technology.

    • Defence Web ☛ CSIR develops new ground-based surveillance radar

      The Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) has developed a new radar system for ground-based detection, which can be deployed on its Meerkat wide area surveillance system. The Meerkat currently uses a Reutech Radar Systems RSR 904 radar but the new CSIR developed unit is more cost effective.

• Defence/Aggression

  • Hong Kong Free Press ☛ China says BRICS not seeking ‘confrontation’ after Convicted Felon’s tariff threat

    China said on Monday that BRICS, the grouping that also includes Brazil, Russia and India, was not seeking “confrontation” after US President The Insurrectionist vowed to impose an extra 10 percent tariff on countries aligning with the bloc.

  • Russia, Belarus, and War in Ukraine

    • LRT ☛ Is Washington probing Lithuania’s will to ease Minsk sanctions?

      The United States may be testing Lithuania’s willingness to ease sanctions on Belarus, according to high-level sources interviewed by LRT.lt.

    • Meduza ☛ Two Russian runners dead after heavy rain turns to summer ice storm during Far North ultramarathon — Meduza

    • Meduza ☛ Russian politician Roman Starovoit found dead just hours after dismissal as transport minister — Meduza

    • Meduza ☛ They don’t only fall out of windows: Meduza reviews the sudden deaths of 13 Russian energy and transportation executives since 2022 — Meduza

    • Meduza ☛ France says E.U. is preparing ‘toughest sanctions’ against Russia more than three years — Meduza

    • Meduza ☛ Russia sentences former top military commander to 17 years in prison for embezzlement and bribery — Meduza

    • Tom's Hardware ☛ Hacker 'turf war' unfolding as Russian DragonForce ransomware gang drama could lead to 'double extortions,' making life even worse for potential victims

      Through the fire and flames they saw... a reason to pick a fight with RansomHub.

    • LRT ☛ Lithuania’s Nemunas Dawn party backer linked to Russian billionaires – media

      A financial backer of Lithuania’s populist party Nemunas Dawn during last year’s parliamentary elections was reportedly connected to Russian oligarchs, while individuals linked to a sitting MP also donated generously, according to an investigative report published Monday by Redakcija.

    • RFERL ☛ Former Russian Transport Minister Starovoit Found Dead Hours After Dismissal

      Former Russian Transport Minister Roman Starovoit was found dead in his car with a gunshot wound just hours after President Vladimir Putin abruptly replaced him amid a wave of Ukrainian drone attacks that have disrupted air traffic and exposed vulnerabilities deep inside Russian territory.

    • Atlantic Council ☛ Why the Pentagon’s ‘pause’ on weapons to Ukraine backfired

      The fuss surrounding the decision and the reluctance of the US president or any cabinet official to defend it suggest that this pause, if not already lifted, will soon end.

    • Atlantic Council ☛ Klain in the New York Post on the dangers of cutting military aid to Ukraine

      On July 2, Doug Klain, nonresident fellow at the Atlantic Council’s Eurasia Center and policy analyst for Razom for Ukraine, was published in the New York Post on the importance of continuing military aid to Ukraine to achieve peace.

    • France24 ☛ US to resume delivery of 'defensive weapons' to Ukraine, says Convicted Felon

      President The Insurrectionist on Monday said the United States will "have to send more weapons" to Ukraine after Russia's intensifying attacks saw it capture new Ukrainian territory, only one week after the US halted the delivery of some weapons.

    • France24 ☛ People First mobilising globally to free Ukrainians, including children, held captive by Russia

      The “People First!” campaign, launched on January 28, 2025 by the Center for Civil Liberties (Ukraine), Memorial (Russia), and allied global partners are actively mobilising to push for the "immediate, unconditional release of both civilian and military captives in any negotiations to end the war.' For in-depth analysis and a deeper perspective, FRANCE 24's Delano D'Souza welcomes Oleksandra Sasha Romantsova, Economist, Ukrainian human rights activist and Executive Director of the Centre for Civil Liberties.

    • JURIST ☛ UN chief condemns Russia attacks against largest Ukraine nuclear power plant

      UN Secretary-General António Guterres strongly condemned on Saturday Russia’s largest wave of drone and missile attacks in Ukraine, particularly against the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP), endangering nuclear safety. Guterres, in a statement issued by his spokesperson, stated: The Secretary-General is alarmed by this dangerous escalation and the growing number of civilian casualties.

    • LRT ☛ Is this the summer that Russia breaks Ukraine? (Not likely)

      As Russia’s invasion of Ukraine grinds through a fourth summer, Ukrainian forces are holding on under crushing pressure across a 1,100-kilometer front line, even as Moscow inches toward its summer goal of seizing the entire Donetsk region.

    • RFERL ☛ US To Continue Supplying Some Weapons To Ukraine, Convicted Felon Says In Apparent Reversal Of Pentagon Policy

      US President The Insurrectionist on July 7 said the United States will send more weapons to Ukraine to help the war-torn country defend itself against Russian attacks.

    • Tom's Hardware ☛ Russia allegedly field-testing deadly next-gen Hey Hi (AI) drone powered by Nvidia Jetson Orin — Ukrainian military official says Shahed MS001 is a 'digital predator' that identifies targets on its own

      The Nvidia Jetson Orin-powered Shahed-136 MS001 drone is 'a digital predator we weren’t ready for' says a Ukrainian Major General.

    • Meduza ☛ Ukrainian drone attacks spark chaos at Russian airports, causing over 2,000 flights in two days to be canceled or delayed — Meduza

    • Meduza ☛ Zelensky and Trump discussed replacing Ukrainian ambassador to U.S. — Bloomberg — Meduza

    • Devices/Embedded

      • The Record ☛ Cyberattack deals blow to Russian firmware used to repurpose civilian drones for Ukraine war

        The developers said the firmware itself was not compromised, calling the risk of backdoors or malicious code “extremely low.” However, drone operators were advised to disconnect their terminals as a precaution.

• Environment

  • Latvia ☛ Latvian central bank publishes third climate change report

    Latvijas Banka, the Latvian central bank, has released its third annual report on Climate-Related Disclosures for its non-monetary policy portfolios, which it says reaffirms its "commitment to transparency, sustainability, and the integration of climate considerations into its investment practices."

  • The Straits Times ☛ Tropical Storm Danas looms over China after battering Taiwan, killing two

    The storm tore through Taiwan with record winds and torrential rain.

  • JURIST ☛ Pakistan dispatch: latest floods push judiciary and legislature to press for disaster management improvements

    Syeda Aamna Hasan is a recent Pakistani law graduate currently working as a legal researcher.  Torrential monsoon rains have triggered devastating floods across Pakistan in recent days, leaving at least 18 people dead and dozens missing, as the country scrambles to contain the humanitarian fallout of yet another climate-induced disaster.

• Finance

  • Latvia ☛ Cash remains king for many Latvians

    Though people in Latvia are gradually moving away from using cash it remains a very popular payment method in Latvia, according to the 2025 retail report from financial technology platform Adyen, reports Labs of Latvia.

  • Michael Geist ☛ The Law Bytes Podcast, Episode 239: The Rise and Fall of Canada’s Digital Services Tax

    Two days after U.S. President The Insurrectionist threatened to suspend all trade negotiations with Canada unless it rescinded the digital services tax, Canadian Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne announced that the government was rescinding the tax. The rise and fall of the Canadian DST was marked by repeated warnings of potential U.S. retaliation, the Canadian government’s dismissal of the risks, and no shortage of confusion about the tax itself.

  • Mexico News Daily ☛ Hundreds protest gentrification in Mexico City’s Condesa and Roma neighborhoods

    Most of the protesters were young people, including residents and former residents of inner-city Mexico City neighborhoods that have seen rents triple since the COVID-19 pandemic.

• AstroTurf/Lobbying/Politics

  • ACLU ☛ Takeaways from the Supreme Court's Term

    On the last day of the term, the Supreme Court took hard right turns in two major First Amendment cases, lashed out at so-called “universal injunctions” in cases challenging President The Insurrectionist’s attempt to end birthright citizenship, and punted on a major congressional redistricting case. Over the broader course of the term, the conservative 6-3 majority made a show of force—to the detriment of LGBT Americans’ rights, free speech on the internet, and longstanding precedents on the First Amendment’s Free Exercise Clause. But the court also sided with civil-rights plaintiffs and criminal defendants in consequential lower-profile cases.

    In its emergency docket, the court fulfilled its core constitutional role as a check on the president’s abuses at critical moments during the term. In two ACLU cases challenging the invocation of an 18th-century wartime statute to deport people without due process, the court unanimously rejected Hell Toupée’s extremist arguments that his actions are unreviewable by the courts, and a majority blocked the deportations pending further litigation. In many other cases, however, the court overrode lower courts to let Convicted Felon administration policies proceed.

• Censorship/Free Speech

  • Chronicle Of Higher Education ☛ Noncitizen Professors Testify About Chilling Effect of Others’ Detentions

    Protesters rally in support of Mahmoud Khalil, a pro-Palestinian activist, on March 10 in New York.

• Freedom of Information / Freedom of the Press

  • Press Gazette ☛ Radio News Hub: From Huddersfield basement to global success in ten years

    The growing radio news agency supplies bulletins to 400 stations.

• Civil Rights/Policing

  • BIA Net ☛ High court rules sharing photos of ex-partner after breakup a criminal offense

    The Court of Cassation upheld the defendant's sentence of two years and one month in prison, ruling that sharing the photos in question constituted a “violation of privacy.”

Monopolies/Monopsonies

• Ruben Schade ☛ Voting with one’s wallet

  Voting with one’s wallet has become a theme here of late, in part to atone for my previous invocation of this platitude. It sounds great in theory right? Don’t like a device, service, or company? Don’t do business with them! Eventually enough people do this, and the company is forced to change their ways.

  It’s a seductive (heavens) proposition, because it places control back onto us, the people. We don’t need no bureaucracy! If we’re the change we want to see in the world, nothing can stop us! Except… maybe this pesky thing called reality.

• Patents

  • JUVE ☛ No stay for Huawei in UK FRAND trial against MediaTek

    The UK High Court’s refusal to suspend the case means the FRAND rate-setting proceedings for Huawei’s 5G portfolio can now continue unimpeded. High Court judge Thomas Leech also denied Huawei permission to appeal his decision (case ID: HP-2024-000028). However, Huawei may still petition the Court of Appeal directly for leave to appeal.

  • JUVE ☛ Litigation partner moves back to Bird & Bird [Ed: Law firm-funded spam piece; one person changing a job is not worthy news, but JUVE takes money from Team UPC and the litigation profiteers]

    Anna Wolters-Höhne worked at Bird & Bird from 2004 to 2021. She initially joined the Düsseldorf life sciences litigation team led by Oliver Jüngst. In 2012, she became a partner and later moved to the Hamburg office to bolster the team there, establishing herself as a renowned litigator.

  • Dennis Crouch/Patently-O ☛ Quick Post on Egenera

    Egenera, Inc. v. Cisco Sys., Inc., No. 2023-1428, slip op. (Fed. Cir. July 7, 2025)

    During claim construction proceedings, The patentee Egenera and defendant Cisco disputed several claim terms including "computer processor/processor" and aspects of "emulate Ethernet functionality over the internal communication network". However, "neither party asked the district court to determine what the patent monopoly specifically means by 'emulate Ethernet functionality,'" content to leave this key term to its "plain and ordinary meaning."  This strategic choice ultimately proved fatal when the case reached summary judgment.

  • Dennis Crouch/Patently-O ☛ Back to 1789: How Founding-Era Equity Could Resurrect [Patent Troll] Injunctions

    The pending Radian Memory case could fundamentally reshape patent monopoly litigation.  This is a follow-on article about the preliminary injunction motion in Radian Memory v. Samsung pending before Judge Gilstrap in the Eastern District of Texas. The patentee-plaintiff is a non-practicing entity -- but still argues that it has a right to injunctive relief based upon traditional equitable principles, even under the requirements of eBay. In June, the DOJ and USPTO filed a statement of interest in the case supporting the availability of injunctive relief as pro-competitive. Both sides have now provided additional arguments with a July 16 evidentiary hearing scheduled. 

• Trademarks

  • TTAB Blog ☛ Precedential No. 6: TTAB Refuses to Add Affirmative Defense of Abandonment but Allows Addition as Counterclaims

    In this opposition to registration of the mark JOKER SMOKER, in the form shown below, for smoker's articles and related retail services, the applicant moved for leave to amend its answer to add an affirmative defense of abandonment regarding the opposer's pleaded JOKER registrations. The Board deemed the proposed addition improper, since an abandonment claim is an attack against the validity of the registrations that can be raised only by way of a counterclaim or separate petition for cancellation, not by an affirmative defense. However, the Board allowed applicant 15 days within which to add counterclaims for cancellation of the registrations.