Bonum Certa Men Certa

António Campinos and the Alicante Clique (EPO Management, Appointed Based on Nepotism Despite Lack of Qualifications) Nowadays Exploiting Kids for PR Charades

Video download link | md5sum d4bf9bfb9a51470afb466c2c5991c77e Campinos Wooing the Children Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivative Works 4.0



Summary: The sick old habit of exploiting kids for Public Relations (PR) and marketing purposes is all too common at the EPO (they're constantly exploiting "the children" [1, 2, 3, 4] to associate criticism of the EPO with demeaning the young and innocent), but the management -- which enjoys nepotism and immunity rather than relevant skills -- carries on today and it's being called "inaugural"

"Young Inventors". What does that even mean? When I was a teenager I saw that word being used to describe me and my friends (who were also my classmates). 20 years later I saw newspaper articles about it, mis-portraying what we did as "inventing patents" though we never bothered with patents at all*. Maybe we were used for propaganda in the media. But at age 15 or 16 I did not quite understand what was going on*.



Fast-forward to 2022 and we now see the EPO doing this too. Benoît Battistelli and António Campinos have been increasingly using the children or "girls" (young and also gender aspect; the EPO likes talking about schoolgirls) for marketing fluff, much like the pinkwashing and greenwashing [1, 2] stunts. This latest one (warning: epo.org link) is a marketing stunt and it's currently plastered all over the front page of epo.org, nowadays a propaganda front of Team Campinos and Team UPC.

"He has no idea what he's doing and sometimes he sounds drunk, though he casually blames "jet lag"."Regarding Campinos (or Monopoly Tony), we previously showed how he advocated indoctrinating children for so-called "IP". We shared two videos about that; he also did this 2 months ago in this recorded session (it's as shallow as a desert creek) and he loves hanging out with patent maximalists and lobbyists, not scientists, as he did months ago with CIPA, the Team UPC's biggest fanatics in the UK. He calls himself "nomad" and says he has not settled in at EPO (in 2021), though he still seeks reappointment. He has no idea what he's doing and sometimes he sounds drunk, though he casually blames "jet lag". This nonchalant attitude has been passed to his son.

And now, on top of the "Inventor" PR charade (waste of money and very risky, more so during COVID-19), he's looking to leverage youngesters, not just the work of actual scientists for reputation laundering of dictators, a.k.a. techwashing [1, 2]. Sometimes there's even posthumous exploitation. We gave examples in past years. So in other words, the EPO also exploits the dead for techwashing. ____ * This is a bit personal. I vaguely recall my duty as the financial manager of my Junior Achievement team (Young Enterprise equivalent), which won the national final, surpassing 210 rival teams. We consequently competed in the international final in Copenhagen. I was selected for the voiceover job used for this national Junior Achievement representation (explanation of our project). I later met the mayor. He likely used us all for political gain. Sure, we received recogniton (and gifts); but he likely sought to benefit from that politically.

Recent Techrights' Posts

When Microsoft Folks Who Literally Strangle Women Try to Strangle Microsoft Critics
Speaking to Court staff yesterday, they too are shocked about those SLAPPs
Martinique: Windows Down to All-Time Low
we cannot expect Windows to ever recover
Press Reports Say Almost 10,000 Western IBMers Laid Off
We've been trying to verify/corroborate this somehow
Days Ago yewtu.be Found a Workaround That Made Invidious Work Again. Then Google Broke All the Instances (Again).
"Youtube changed something again, so if a video does not play, it's because of that."
 
Gemini Links 25/03/2025: Relaxation, Literary "Movements", and Gemini Mentions
Links for the day
After US Government Funding Cuts the Centralisation of the Web (Especially Certificate Authority Let's Encrypt) is at Risk
They try to pull the plug on open protocols with decent encryption available (unless it is outsourced to third parties)
Links 25/03/2025: Putin Sends Children to Battle, 23andMe Drowns as People's Highly Personal DNA Data Floats
Links for the day
Anticipated in 2018: Lilie James & Location tracking, Googlists complained
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Monday, March 24, 2025
IRC logs for Monday, March 24, 2025
IBM (and Red Hat) on a Fast Train to Nowhere
What is the future of Fedora when IBM keeps removing its leadership?
Gemini Links 24/03/2025: "Live Off the Land" and Life Without YouTube
Links for the day
Planet Ubuntu (or Ubuntu Planet) is LLM Slop
Reading chatbots' output is bad use of time
The European Patent Office (EPO) is Slowly Killing Its Own Staff; All It Cares About Is Money
The Office hasn't been run by a scientist for about 18 years already
Links 24/03/2025: US Detaining Innocent People, F-35 Contracts Suspended Due to Hostilities
Links for the day
Cellphones (Mobile Phones) in Classrooms
A recent study confirmed that people's intelligence has dropped in recent years/decades
Is the FSF Being 'Trolled' by Microsofters Pushing C# (Microsoft)?
Who stands to benefit from training people to use and spread Microsoft?
Matthew J. Garrett is "Former Microsoft Researcher", According to Microsoft's Serial Strangler
Their argument is something along the lines of, "what Roy published damaged my career prospects, so I want Roy to pay me...
Links 24/03/2025: Political Catchup and Environmental Concerns
Links for the day
Windows Has Now Fallen to Rather Ridiculous 3% "Market Share" in Iraq (Windows Was Measured at 100% Back in 2010)
Iraq is not a place where Windows can make a comeback
Gemini Links 24/03/2025: Working With Music and Unconscious Influence
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Sunday, March 23, 2025
IRC logs for Sunday, March 23, 2025
Critics of IBM's Strategy Aren't Racists, But...
the situation is saddening as it serves to obscure the severity of the problem
Mauritania: Windows Falls to All-Time Low of 6% (It Used to be Over 99%)
Windows is 0% in mobile
New USPTO Memo Makes Fighting Patent Trolls Even Harder
The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) just made a move that will protect bad patents at the expense of everyone else
Outline of Open Source Initiative Coverage to Come (Now That Consensus is Changing)
Policing Wikipedia and attacking critics is not a sustainable strategy
An "EU OS" Would Need European Components
There are many European (or Europe-led) distros of GNU/Linux. EU OS developers ought to look at those.
Gemini Links 23/03/2025: "Connor of the Cats" and CSS Naked Day
Links for the day
Links 22/03/2025: Science and Antoine Beaupré on "Losing the War for the Free Internet"
Links for the day
We Probably Served Close to 100 Million Gemini Requests
Many of these requests probably came from bots, but it's hard to distinguish (to block them) ... This coming summer Gemini Protocol will turn 6
Just Because Microsoft Resents Techrights Doesn't Mean SLAPPs Will Silence Techrights
To confront lies the best solution is to speak truth
Windows at New Low Levels in Madagascar (Population About 33 Million)
Madagascar does not need Microsoft
Slop Images Are Bad Optics, Including for Perl.org
Slop devalues one's genuine work
What Happened to the Open Source Initiative (OSI) Elections: Proprietary Software Companies in Control, the Scandals Cannot be Hidden Anymore
We'll talk about it later this month and next month
Slopwatch: Fake News About Security Using LLMs That Make Fake 'Articles' About "Linux" (With Slop for Images)
This cannot end well
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Saturday, March 22, 2025
IRC logs for Saturday, March 22, 2025