Bonum Certa Men Certa

EPO “Intranet Fails to Present Any Negative Press Cuttings, Reports and Reactions From the Media”

The EPO treats employees like frightened children

Wikileaks blocked



Summary: The unprecedented censorship and information war inside the European Patent Office (EPO) reaches ridiculous levels, where a parallel reality is being constructed and outrageous amounts of money spent to reinforce this bogus reality

AS NOTED here earlier on, there is a happiness propaganda in the making (conducted secretly by EPO managers). We expect it to be funneled pretty soon into media sites and the European press, assisted by a massive budget (about $80,000 per month) as part of the EPO's secret reputation laundering campaign (leaked here last week).



"Inside the EPO there is still a misinformation campaign as the management blocks E-mails from certain domains, blocks entire Web sites (like Techrights), and apparently tries to control the channels through which staff receives information."Not only SUEPO is concerned about the abuses at the EPO. Other unions are equally concerned and they speak about it, though having seen how SUEPO is being crushed, they must be terrified, so they're just tiptoeing.

Inside the EPO there is still a misinformation campaign as the management blocks E-mails from certain domains, blocks entire Web sites (like Techrights), and apparently tries to control the channels through which staff receives information. It mirrors government censorship just like with Wikileaks back in 2010 (several public, taxpayers-funded institutions in the US blocked access to Wikileaks, not just parts of the US Army).

"Well, this is not surprising given the EPO's history of going as far as threatening staff representatives for presenting mere links to negative press articles about the EPO."Owing to the Streisand Effect alone (attempts to gag Techrights using threats), we have noticed that top news in Google News right now (try a search for "EPO") yield very negative press articles. They're visible at the very top. Here is the Streisand Effect* in action (the very same thing that EPO tried to deny access to is now top news, more so because of the suppression efforts):

EPO news



Many people have been reading about this recently. In the EPO, however, the babysitters who blocked Techrights apparently keep tight controls.

Earlier today we learned about "THE MEDIA COVERAGE" at the EPO. To quote what we've learned: "Media coverage is progressing all over Europe. After France, NL, Belgium, Germany, it is now the turn of new public attention throughout Europe. It is interesting to note that the Intranet fails to present any negative press cuttings, reports and reactions from the media."

Well, this is not surprising given the EPO's history of going as far as threatening staff representatives for presenting mere links to negative press articles about the EPO. Is this China or is this Europe? Is this a private company or a public service?

"Interesting in particular," said the same person, "is the link made with the risk such situation brings for the patent System as a whole and the public or users in particular.

"Here is a collection of some of the latest ones: [with our comments in brackets]

€· in Denmark: http://ing.dk/debat/epo-paa-vildspor-en-status-180452 (article by George Brock-Nannestad, we need a translation from a Danish-speaking reader)

€· in Portugal: http://observador.pt/2015/11/27/mundo-obscuro-da-organizacao-europeia-patentes/ (by Observador, mentioned here a day ago)

€· in the United Kingdom: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2015/11/30/european_patent_office_launches_lawyers/ (article by Kieren McCarthy, mentioned here before)

€· in Spain: http://www.elconfidencial.com/economia/2015-11-26/suicidios-espionaje-nepotismo-la-oficina-europea-de-patentes-es-un-polvorin_1107057/ (just translated for us)

€· in Italy: http://punto-informa.co.it/4286621/PI/News/epo-denunce-breve are.aspx (by Carlos Sánchez, English translation published here yesterday)

€· in Germany : http://www.labournet.de/internationales/europa/europaeisches-patentamt-belegschaft-gegen-sonnenkoenig /#more-77614 (mentioned here before)

"And also in Blogs:

€· Techdirt: https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20151125/06173532901/european-patent-office-threatens-blogger-with-defamation-lawsuit- criticism.shtml (by Mike Masnick, a little out of date by now)

€· WIPR: http://www.worldipreview.com/page/10-second-survey-industrial-dispute (readers, please take this 10-second survey)

€· Techrights: please consult outside the EPO (or in Mozilla’s Cache)

€· SUEPO took an official position on Mr Battstelli's letter to French MP Pierre-Yves le Borgn' who has published it on his blog (SUEPO's position can be found in pdf at the bottom of Mr le Borgn's post): http://www.pyleborgn.eu/2015/11/crise-a-loeb-reponse-de-lunion-syndicale-suepo/

“...when protest are measurable and visible, they trigger reactions of the press and politicians, which are otherwise busy elsewhere...”
      --Anonymous
"As the Register notes, these events have been “covered in some depth for several months but it was the mass protests that appears to have been the spark that lead the heavy legal response from the EPO”. It is also the case for the reaction from the media: when protest are measurable and visible, they trigger reactions of the press and politicians, which are otherwise busy elsewhere...

"For those who do not find comfort in protesting but “feel confused, burdened, anxious, caught in a whirlwind, endlessly spinning in a wheel like a hamster on amphetamines”, I would advise to take the take heart in the advices of the following excellent DH publication. And most important of all, think of yourself, your friends and beloved ones: your health comes first."

Our next post will be about the protests, which we encourage everyone who works in Munich to attend. ____ * It is worth noting that the person who coined the term "Streisand Effect" has just proven it again. That was yesterday (an article titled "Our Response To The Latest Ridiculous Legal Threat Against Us").

Recent Techrights' Posts

Estimates That IBM to Lay Off Close to 10,000 Workers in 2026 (Not Counting People Pushed Out)
There's still chatter about Confluent mass layoffs
Sophie Brun, Raphael Hertzog & Debian sexual conflicts of interest
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Instant Bluewashing at Confluent: Mass Layoffs Alleged at IBM
So the main question is, did IBM just fire 800 people?
 
IBM Red Hat is Still Promoting Restricted Boot Which Restricts Users' Control Over Their Computers
Red Hat under IBM is a total catastrophe
Arvind Says... Something Something "Hey Hi" (the State of Today's Media)
Look for news about IBM and most likely it'll boil down to some sound bites from an executive and nothing else
New Post Has Just Explained How IBM Gets Robbed by the People Who Fail IBM
Their plan for IBM is a personal plan
Slop-Spewing GAFAM LLM That Knows Nothing and Understands Nothing, It's a Stochastic Parrot That Cannot Even Figure Out Tux Machines is a Community That Started in Tennessee 22 Years Ago
RMS rightly calls those things "bullshit generators"
Cusdeb Makes New Presentation About Where GNU Hurd (Still a Possible Linux Replacement) Stands in 2026
coming from a generally RMS-friendly account
Gemini Links 18/03/2026: Librarians, Phone Anxiety, Growing 'Small' Net, and Slop Versus Software Engineering
Links for the day
Smug Threat by Garrett to Put My Family and I in Prison Doesn't Prove We Did Anything Wrong, It Only Proves He's Truly Desperate to Stop Further Publications That Embarrass Him
his reputation is poor in the United States
systemd Increasingly Microsoft Project, Controlled by Microsoft and Slopware
Cannot allow choice
What IBM Meant to Red Hat: "Proprietary Bundling, Restricted Source Access"
Anyone or anything that joins IBM likely shortens its lifespan
IBM Thrashing Confluent Upon Arrival, Based on Rumours
We deem it a bigger issue that investigative journalism perished, not that one must rely on hearsay online or mere "rumours"
Slop Is Plagiarism, Not (Vibe) Coding, and It's Not Automated, It Doesn't Save Money
Reject misnomers, explain what's actually happening
UPC is Still Illegal and Unconstitutional (Kangaroo Court for Patents, Manned by Corporate Staff), Federal Court of Justice of Germany Receives Belated Complaint About It
What is happening to Europe???
EPO Demonstration Happening Right Now, Later This Week Things Will Only Escalate Further
The SUEPO The Hague Committee wrote to staff this morning
Links 18/03/2026: Commodore's Hedley Davis Dies, Apple Not Good Enough, Cheeto "Floats Treason Charges for Iran War Coverage"
Links for the day
A Step Close to Shutting Down the European Patent Office (EPO)
Not going to work all month long
EPO Staff Demonstration Today
The demonstration will be live-streamed for those thousands of colleagues who don't live in Munich
Gemini Links 18/03/2026: Brazilian SYN Attacks and BGP
Links for the day
LibreLocal Also Coming to Jordan, Kenya, Mexico, New Zealand, and Spain
It helps raise awareness of Software Freedom
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, March 17, 2026
IRC logs for Tuesday, March 17, 2026
Microsofters' SLAPP Censorship - Part 14 Out of 200: Men Who Strangle Women (and Worse) Trying to Force Us to Write Public Apologies to These Men
For those who never before saw a SLAPP, they basically make many demands
"Vibe-forking" and Why It'll Ultimately Fail (Hype on Top of Hype)
Code made with LLMs sucks; converting solid, human-tested code into slop only complicates matters and increases risk
Updates About Richard Stallman's Free Software Foundation
After all those years (a decade) and in spite of phony scandals many people out there still respect him
LLM Slop With "Linux" in the Domain Names
This is becoming a pain and a problem also in the arts and in software engineering
The EFF Has a Bug, Fixing This Bug is Likely Not Possible Anymore
"the EFF's continued existence impairs the arrival of a replacement organization, one which will actually champion digital rights."
Links 17/03/2026: Microsoft Windows Broken by Samsung, Afghanistan-Pakistan War Escalation
Links for the day
Gemini Links 17/03/2026: Newcomers and False-Positive 'Slop'
Links for the day
Héctor Orón Martínez & Debian shadow candidate pressure on Sruthi Chandran
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Links 17/03/2026: American Fentanylware (TikTok) Investors Implicated in Kickbacks, "Big Oil Knew It Was Wrecking Louisiana’s Coast"
Links for the day
For Third Time in a Week The Register MS Runs Google SPAM That Paints Google as an Ally of Women (Which is False, They're Womanisers)
What does that make The Register MS to women?
British Justice Minister Sarah Sackman Blasts Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA)
The "legal industry" is due for "some reckoning"
GAFAM Deprecating Old Videos ("Content") by Removing the Support for Their Format for No Good Reason
"Security" is not a valid excuse
Credit/Debit Cards Have Long Been Called Plastics, Over Time They're Becoming More Like Pure Plastics
They cost less than a dollar to manufacture
The European Patent Office (EPO) Holds a Public Demonstration Tomorrow and It'll be Live-streamed
The EPO's workforce was meant to be capable of speaking many languages and have extensive experience in the sciences
People Who Attacked Techrights Also Attacked My Mother
Picking on old ladies because you don't like Free software advocates is never OK
Little Community Element Left in CentOS
CentOS, unlike Fedora, was meant to be long supported and solid
Social Control Media is Cancel Culture (Companies Like Facebook Also Punish/Ban Accounts for Mentioning "Linux" and Lobby for Anti-Linux Legislation)
The masters of Social Control Media decide what ideas can and cannot be expressed
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Monday, March 16, 2026
IRC logs for Monday, March 16, 2026
Someone at Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) is Censoring the Birthday Greetings to Richard Stallman
Some people remember
The European Patent Office (EPO) Illegally Transitioning Into 'Gig' 'Economy' Equivalent (a Shop for Patent Monopolies in Europe)
for scabs aka SEALs
At Least Six EPO Strikes Next Month (Yes, Six!)
The pressure intensifies over time
Several MPs Blast Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) for Inaction and Ineffective Action This Week
"Four MPs have written to the SRA"
Microsofters' SLAPP Censorship - Part 14 Out of 200: The Abusive Cases of the Serial Strangler From Microsoft and His Litigation Buddy Garrett Did Cause "Serious Harm"
claims were de facto abandoned at the trial
Today's Discussions About How IBM Pushes Workers Out
The corporate media keeps trying - baselessly and in vain - to paint everything that happens with the "hey hi" brush
Linux Teck (linuxteck.com) and Ubuntu PIT (ubuntupit.com) Are Botspam
now they just keep experimenting by trashing their sites and reputation
Links 16/03/2026: Moscow Experiencing Cellphone Internet Outages, "Salman Rushdie Is Tired of Talking About Free Speech"
Links for the day
Links 16/03/2026: Arctic Security and 'Mr. Nobody Against Putin'
Links for the day
Gemini Links 16/03/2026: KN95 Skins and CSS Surprises
Links for the day
Debian is Dying for Some of the Same Reasons IBM's Fedora is Rapidly Dying
Prioritising CoC censorship, not communities
The Register MS is Again Femmewashing GAFAM (Which Makes Widows) in Exchange for Money
This is a moral issue because they betray or harm women and prop up authoritarian regimes
Gemini Links 16/03/2026: AB 1043, Lagrange Android Beta 47, and Poetry
Links for the day
"Slop-forking" or "Vibe-forking" as the New 'Noble' Plagiarism
New Cloudflare Slop Project?
EPO "Cocaine Communication Manager" - Part VII - Cult Mentality, Mobbing, Nepotism
Does the EPO actually believe in the law?
2026 Microsoft Layoff Rumours
Surely if we had properly-functioning media, then someone would investigate this rather than rely on official statements from Microsoft and WARN notices
EPO Strike This Week
contact your national representatives about it
Gemini Links 15/03/2026: "Create Opportunities for Good Things to Happen", DOSbook, and Bitcoin Criticism
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Sunday, March 15, 2026
IRC logs for Sunday, March 15, 2026
Pirate Praveen Arimbrathodiyil & Debian denouncing volunteers, hiding romances
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock