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04.10.16

Avoiding the Vista 10 Trap and Rejecting Microsoft’s Attempt to ‘Jail’ GNU Inside Windows

Posted in GNU/Linux, Microsoft at 4:25 pm by Dr. Roy Schestowitz

GNU behind bars and gates?

Embrace and Extend
Credit: unknown (Twitter)

Summary: Why Microsoft’s effort to “embrace” (or jail) GNU and Linux inside of Vista 10 should in no way lure people into this mass surveillance software (misleadingly marketed as operating system)

MR. TORVALDS, who wrote a good kernel and then licensed it under the terms of Stallman’s GPL, is still eager to take over the desktop, as a lot of this weekend’s coverage noted [1,2,3]. Given the disinterest in this goal at the Linux Foundation (which now receives money from Microsoft in all sorts of way), this is important. Don’t let Microsoft simply relegate GNU/Linux, making it an ‘app’ of Windows [4]. There’s keylogging and worse things in there. We need to strive for freedom [5] and Stallman has just published an article about the conundrum which is a Free (libre) environment entrapped in a proprietary one (with back doors in Microsoft’s case).

“Don’t let Microsoft simply relegate GNU/Linux, making it an ‘app’ of Windows.”Microsoft is now using Trump methods of associating GNU/Linux with Vista 10. This was a truly clever marketing strategy which dominated the media last week, courtesy of (for the most part) Microsoft boosters with their puff pieces, blurring the lines between freedom and mass surveillance.

Over the past week I’ve read several testimonials in Reddit and other forums from people who escape Windows because of lack of freedom. They move to GNU/Linux for idealogical reasons and practical reasons such as privacy and control. One sort of ‘testimonial’ also came to me personally and said:

I’m about to splurge and buy me a new laptop. I want to go for a slightly older model which won’t come with Windows 10 pre-installed. I now realise that I might just be able to make the jump to Linux as a native OS. The switch would be more for practical reasons than ideological ones. I now realise that I monitor software updates as closely as if they were spam malware attachments, as MS now tries to slip through a Win10 “upgrade” at least once a month. How many times must I say no for them to understand?

My few MS-specific software items would continue to run on the home “mainframe” (an older laptop that is too battered to take on the road, but which is a vast improvement over the ~2003 vintage desktop it replaced). Fortunately, there aren’t too many of them, and none are absolutely essential for mobile use, even though some of them would be really nice to have. I’m now far enough up the learning curve to be able work my way around.

We are likely to hear more such stories in the near future because a lot of people openly complain about Vista 10 and repeatedly say that they’re unwilling to ever accept its terms. Some already move away [6] and Microsoft tries to forcibly make people use it. █

Related/contextual items from the news:

  1. Torvalds prepared to spend next 25 years helping Linux conquer the desktop

    The phrase “year of the Linux desktop” has been around for well over a decade but has become more of a meme rather than a statement of fact. Without a doubt, Linux has seen much success on mobile devices, including smartphones and tablets, as well as servers, network appliances and the emerging “internet of things” device category. However, despite Microsoft stumbling with Windows Vista and Windows 8.x, Linux failed to capitalize on these moments of weakness.

  2. Linux can still beat Windows in the desktop war, and Linus Torvalds is ‘working on it’

    While Linux has lost many battles to Microsoft on the desktop, the war is not over. Torvalds pledges to dedicate the next 25 years of his life to usurping Windows. Will the open source kernel prove victorious on the desktop? It is totally possible. After all, time is not finite, and even the Roman Empire fell. If you follow history, nothing lasts forever and that should ring true for Microsoft’s stranglehold on the desktop.

  3. Linus Torvalds: “I’ll Spend Next 25 Years To Help Linux Beat Windows In Desktop War”

    While Linux and other open source technologies continue to rule the server and mobile markets, the desktop arena is still dominated by Windows operating systems. Linux creator Linus Torvalds knows this fact very well and expresses his commitment to work hard to make Linux a bigger force in the desktop war.

  4. GNU/kWindows

    There has been a lot of talk lately about a most unique combination: GNU—the fully free/libre operating system—and Microsoft Windows—the freedom-denying, user-controlling, surveillance system. There has also been a great deal of misinformation. I’d like to share my thoughts.

    [...]

    Free software is absolutely essential: it ensures that users, who are the most vulnerable, are in control of their computing—not software developers or corporations. Any program that denies users any one of their four freedoms is non-free (or proprietary)—that is, freedom-denying software. This means that any non-free software, no matter its features or performance, will always be inferior to free software that performs a similar task.

    Not everyone likes talking about freedom or the free software philosophy. This disagreement resulted in the “open source” development methodology, which exists to sell the benefits of free software to businesses without discussing the essential ideological considerations. Under the “open source” philosophy, if a non-free program provides better features or performance, then surely it must be “better”, because they have outperformed the “open source” development methodology; non-free software isn’t always considered to be a bad thing.

    [...]

    Secondly, when you see someone using a GNU/kWindows system, politely ask them why. Tell them that there is a better operating system out there—the GNU/Linux operating system—that not only provides those technical features, but also provides the feature of freedom! Tell them what free software is, and try to relate it to them so that they understand why it is important, and even practical.

    It’s good to see more people benefiting from GNU; but we can’t be happy when it is being sold as a means to draw users into an otherwise proprietary surveillance system, without so much as a mention of our name, or what it is that we stand for.

  5. Good bye “open source”; hello “free software”

    Everyone has at least a good reason to prefer software freedom over non-free software products.

  6. Ecuador hospital runs on Linux Mint

    This is the type of Linux desktop deployments we all want to see more of. No drama, just regular users using Linux all day to get their job done.

Church of EPO: How Team Battistelli Engineered the Dismissal of People Not Sufficiently Loyal to Them – Part I

Posted in Europe, Patents at 3:51 pm by Dr. Roy Schestowitz

God Blatterstelli

Summary: A new series which looks back at how Battistelli stacked the deck not only by crushing oversight but also amassing instruments of coercion over staff, with various new pretexts for dismissal

AT THE end of last week we shared a single page from the EPO‘s CoC. There is a lot more to be said about it and this long post shall help the EPO with transparency that Battistelli loves so much to brag about (without actually doing anything to that effect).

Here is the page/leaf in full:

EPO CoC page

As a reminder, in the words of a reader, a lot of this relates to the union-busting activities we have been seeing since the end of 2015 (they truly intensified at that point but didn’t start then). Here is what Battistelli et al pushed through to staff:

EPO on protecting staff

The above was a culmination of something that had been cooking for a while. Consider the full CoC:

Europaisches Patentamt
European Patent Office
Office européen des brevets

CODE OF CONDUCT
FOR THE EPO

EPO’s PUBLIC SERVICE VALUES

- Respect for the individual
- Integrity and accountability
- Impartiality and objectivity
- Compliance with the rules of law
- Quality and professionalism

The European Patent Office’s public service values are a guide to behaviour which should promote the development of a culture of respect. The values are: respect for the individual; integrity and accountability; impartiality and objectivity; compliance with the rules of law; quality and professionalism.

These values, which are all of equal rank, guide our actions and underlie the EPO’s mission, which is to support innovation, competitiveness and economic growth across Europe through a commitment to high quality and efficient service delivered under the European Patent Convention (EPC).

These values apply to all persons working at and for the Office. Staff with managerial responsibilities are expected to promote these values by leadership and example.

This document does not create another legal framework and refers to the existing EPO regulations setting out the formal obligations of its staff. In the event of any conflict between the content of this code of conduct and formal obligations under the EPC or Service Regulations, then those obligations take precedence.

Confronted with an individual or collective breach of these values, all staff must be allowed to exercise freely and in good faith their right to draw attention to it without any fear of reprisal. They may in particular ask their line manager or Human Resources partner, or the responsible unit within Internal Audit and Oversight for advice. I undertake to respect our values and ensure that they are respected.

Benoît Battistelli

President

RESPECT FOR THE INDIVIDUAL

The services provided by the Office are the result of the work done by qualified and motivated staff members. The Office therefore recognises the individual value of each and every employee. Mutual respect, dignity, respect for human rights, nondiscrimination and the promotion of diversity are our guiding principles.

Our keywords

• DIGNITY
• NON-DISCRIMINATION
• TOLERANCE
• TRUST AND RELIABILITY
• LISTENING AND UNDERSTANDING
• POLITENESS
• OPENNESS
• DIALOGUE
• HEALTH
• SAFETY

Our approach

We share the international community’s commitment to respect human rights.

We strive to create a working environment marked by mutual respect.

Mutual respect, trust and the ability to listen are indispensable elements in our professional relations. Each individual’s abilities and talents deserve to be acknowledged.

We take the necessary steps to provide a safe and healthy working environment.

We seek to promote diversity and equal opportunities among employees.

We are committed to not allowing situations to arise which could be prejudicial to the dignity of our colleagues. We make every effort to prevent any form of discrimination or harassment.

INTEGRITY AND ACCOUNTABILITY

Integrity is an inalienable criterion for our professional conduct. It implies acting with responsibility, accountability, loyalty, discretion and common sense. We resist all forms of corruption.

Our keywords

• HONESTY
• LOYALTY
• FAIRNESS
• CONFIDENTIALITY
• EXAMPLE

Our approach

We act with honesty, responsibility and discretion.

We act with loyalty and solely in the interest of the Office. We perform our tasks under the authority of the President of the Office, except for the specific responsibilities or functions expressly laid down in the EPC or Service Regulations.

We respect the scope of our responsibilities and of the tasks entrusted to us. When delegating tasks, we remain accountable for their execution and results, and therefore managers exercise adequate supervision and control.

We respect the confidentiality of information: we do not disclose confidential information received in the course of our work to unauthorised persons, nor use it for our own benefit or to the detriment of the Office.

Our duty to do our work to the best of our abilities also implies an obligation to share with our colleagues the information necessary to perform their own duties.

We are committed to combating all types of fraud.

We are careful in our external communications and respect our duties of tact and discretion about the Office. In particular, we refrain from making any statement that could be detrimental to it.

IMPARTIALITY AND OBJECTIVITY

The Office and its staff must remain independent of all governments, authorities, organisations or persons outside the Organisation. Our conduct must be impartial and reflect that independence. We tackle situations which could impair our objectivity.

Our keywords

• INDEPENDENCE
• NEUTRALITY
• EQUAL TREATMENT
• IMMUNITY

Our approach

We seek to ensure that nothing which occurs under our responsibility is or could appear to be a direct or indirect act of preferential support for a political, economic, ideological or religious group.

We refrain from doing or saying anything that might call our impartiality and objectivity into question.

Our actions when taking decisions or leading projects are reasoned.

We need to be impartial and objective. We are aware of the risk of potential conflicts of interest, whether actual or apparent. Where possible, we avoid them; where not, we disclose and manage them.

Gifts or other favours might compromise our professional impartiality. Therefore we do not solicit any. And, without the President’s permission, we do not accept any either.

COMPLIANCE WITH THE RULES OF LAW

The Office has its own legal system, which must be respected.

The Office and its staff must also respect the applicable national laws of the country they are in and must meet their legal and financial obligations.

Our keywords

• LEGALITY
• JUSTICE
• RIGHTS AND OBLIGATIONS

Our approach

We respect both the letter and spirit of the Office’s rules and regulations.

We apply these rules and regulations fairly and in good faith.

We act with professionalism and a sense of social responsibility in observing the applicable laws, and respecting customs and traditions of the countries in which we work, contributing responsibly to the welfare of society.

Our privileges and immunities do not prevent us from complying with our obligations under applicable national laws.

QUALITY AND PROFESSIONALISM

The way each of us does our job is reflected in the Office’s overall performance. Our commitment to high quality and efficient public service is a contribution to innovation, competitiveness and economic growth in Europe.

Our keywords

• INNOVATION
• COMPETENCE
• PROFESSIONALISM
• TRAINING
• EXCELLENCE
• EFFICIENCY

Our approach

We give of our best to achieve our professional goals and to offer an efficient public service.

We work with colleagues in a spirit of teamwork and co-operation.

We manage the Office’s resources appropriately and efficiently, in line with the principles of economy and sound financial management.

We strive to maintain, adapt and develop skills within the Office. With the aim of ensuring sustainability, we act in a strategic and long-term perspective, not in our own immediate interests.

We do our best to reach highest international standards and best practice.

The above makes widely available what should have been publicly available all along. It helps accountability (for management, not only those who are managed by abusive management).

Later this week we are going to show how Battistelli essentially engineered the sacking of people whom he viewed as obstruction for his (and his corporate bosses’) agenda. Stay tuned for more. █

With Software Patents in Autonomous Cars Few Giants Want a Monopoly on Driving, Not Just Physical Car Components

Posted in America, Asia, Patents at 2:48 pm by Dr. Roy Schestowitz

Mobile car

Summary: How software patents can retard innovation in the autonomous cars space and why it’s the far east (Asia) that’s likely to exploit this obsession with patents

NOW that David Kappos lobbies for software patents after his USPTO career and Battistelli threatens to bring software patents to Europe through EPO/UPC, let’s consider what’s at stake and whether society should tolerate it. People have been driving for many years; there’s nothing novel about it.

Decades ago Martin Goetz had CAFC introduce software patents in the US (the first software patent ever to be granted relates to this) and right now a blog of software patents proponents writes about patents on autonomous cars.

“Media and Sonar Systems have the least number of patent filings with only 396 and 597 patents/patent applications respectively.”
      –Rahul VijhThis matters to me personally as I previously developed an Android app for computer vision on the dashboard (my research field at one time though I usually dealt with medical/biology). I did wonder how many software patents existed in this domain in the US, but I never bothered checking (it’s infeasible). According to the blog: “As with any new emerging technology, focus also shifts to patents and patent ownership trends on that technology. Research shows that technologies such as Adaptive Cruise Control and Anti-Collision Systems have the highest number of patents/patent applications filings, followed by Braking Control Mechanism and Communication Systems. Media and Sonar Systems have the least number of patent filings with only 396 and 597 patents/patent applications respectively.”

That’s a lot of patents. Many are on software. Tesla, which more or less gave up on patents in this domain, gets mentioned later: “Despite the small portfolio size, Tesla oft shares spotlight with Google – and has announced that the new Model 3 cars shipping in 2017 will be able to run in ‘Autopilot’ mode at least on freeways and to “Summon” itself out of its parking spot. But that’s not just why Tesla is dangerous for competition. Tesla’s product seems to be the most advanced commercially-viable implementation of autonomous car technology – seeing how the Model 3 is only expected to cost $35,000, which means the heat is really on for the other larger traditional automobile players (and also on Google and Apple) to commercialize their own autonomous car technology, and make it accessible to regular consumers, before Tesla takes the road from beneath their wheels.”

“That’s a lot of patents. Many are on software.”Looking at today’s news alone, one finds that the US is falling behind in this area, in spite (or maybe because) of patents. Too many patents on this domain (driving as ‘innovation’) hamper progress and new articles indicate that it’s a growing industry that has moved to the far east [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6].

Consider for a moment the fact that many of the methods described in such patents have nothing to do with mechanics and everything to do with computer programs (that’s just what autonomy is about). These are software patents on emulation of whatever drivers have been doing for about a century. What’s next? A flood of “on a car” patents? Like “over the Internet” or “on a computer” patents? █

04.09.16

Patents Roundup: US Patent System/Landscape Disqualified, Corrupted, Saturated With Patent Trolls, and Funded by Microsoft

Posted in Apple, Microsoft, Patents at 11:21 pm by Dr. Roy Schestowitz

Still sticking its dirty fingers in many patent pies

HNBA Microsoft

Summary: An all-encompassing (based on our admittedly limited breadth or scope of research) roundup of patent news pertaining to software in the US

THIS article is a summary of recent USPTO news. It’s as comprehensive as possible and it focuses, as usual, on software patents. Those are just most relevant to us.

“Anyone can probably see that USPTO greed (for both power and money) is going way too far.”

Quality Control Out the Window

Patently-O, a decent source of information on the subject of patents (albeit a little subjective at times, which is understandable given the audience it reaches), looked at recent changes related to infringement and invalidity of patents. The latter article said that “the district court rejected the plea for vacatur — finding that the PTO decision does not “displace a district court judgment” and that it would be “against the public interest” to allow a patentee to overcome an invalidity judgment simply by “amending its invalid claims.” [...] What is unclear here is the level of claim & issue preclusion that will apply going forward when Cardpool asserts the patent against some third party.”

“What we deal with here is a patent troll that claims it ‘owns’ scanning activity.”Watch what the USPTO is up to. Basically, as usual, having seen the courts invalidating many of its bogus patents (minimal quality control is to blame here), it now looks to bolster/improve its business by making a mockery of the course of justice. What is this, a third world country? Anyone can probably see that USPTO greed (for both power and money) is going way too far. The USPTO is very plaintiff-friendly because plaintiffs are its ‘clients’ (applicants). The USPTO must be kept out of the legal process altogether. The same goes for the EPO (increasingly abusive in that regard under Battistelli’s regime). Some people are now bombarding the patent system with more automated tools/robots (like DMCA requests that are bogus and served by algorithms, or trading activity in stock markets, also using algorithms). See this new press release about a “Proprietary Patent Application Software”. These help exhaust, fool, mislead examiners. They even say “proprietary” as if it’s some kind of marketing term. “Every bloody unit will be using proprietary software components jealously guarded by patents,” said this article from 2 days ago.

“Patently-O noted that in some particular cases even antitrust laws creep in.”In other new blog posts from Patently-O the MPHJ patent troll is revisited (it can come to Europe with UPC hooks perhaps, suing everyone who uses a scanner if all goes as Battistelli foresees). “HP challenged claim 13 on both obviousness and anticipation grounds,” noted Patently-O, after MPHJ had already sued so many people who habitually use a scanner at a business (and often retrieved ‘protection money’ without as much as a legal challenge). What we deal with here is a patent troll that claims it ‘owns’ scanning activity. It’s really about as bad as it sounds. No exaggeration is needed, hence it resulted in plenty of press coverage over the years.

Institutional Corruption in the US Patent System

Another new Patently-O article deals with a patent “case involving both plaintiffs and defendants presenting false expert testimony.”

“When a nation’s patent system mostly serves to protect one’s giant (and often taxpayers-funded) monopoly the perception of corruption will inevitably increase.”Yes, nice to have ‘justice’… whoever has the deeper pockets (or less to lose) tends to win. Who benefits from all this chaos? Patently-O noted that in some particular cases even antitrust laws creep in. To quote this new post about GlaxoSmithKline (GSK): “The question in the case, now pending before the U.S. Supreme Court is whether that license structure can raise a plausible antitrust claim under F.T.C. v. Actavis, Inc., 133 S. Ct. 2223 (2013).”

When a nation’s patent system mostly serves to protect one’s giant (and often taxpayers-funded) monopoly the perception of corruption will inevitably increase. Who’s being served here? The public that will consequently be overcharged and have few (or none at all) alternatives? Going back to the false testimony, Patently-O wrote: “On cross-examination, Rembrand’s technical expert witness Dr. Thomas Beebe “drastically” changed his testimony regarding his methodology for testing whether the accused contact lenses were “soft.” After being called-out by the defense’s expert Dr. Christopher Bielawski, a jury found no-infringement. Post-trial, the district court doubled-down by also granting J&Js motion for JMOL of non-infringement. Bielawski’s testimony may have been particularly damaging – with his statement: “You should not trust Dr. Beebe, and you should throw out his testimony, not in part, but in whole. You should not trust Dr. Beebe.””

“A patent system of secrecy defeats the very purpose (original goal) of the patent system.”Judging any case at all based on written/oral testimony is dangerous and misguided. It’s like using the words of cops or some errand bystanders as evidence in criminal trials. Any such ‘evidence’ is the weakest form of evidence because there is no way to ascertain/verify claims. Moreover, people are often corruptible and when there’s much at stake in a trial (not just prison but a lot of money) there’s plenty of room for abuse, such as bribery. Remember those infamous cases of Apple with jury foreman Hogan? Probably trial misconduct. Don’t forget Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (CAFC) corruption either.

Pressing on, the EFF celebrates progress in a patent case it intervened in one year ago. It says it “has put significant time and effort into getting this one document in one case unsealed. Unfortunately, it is just one of countless documents that are routinely sealed without good reason in patent cases around the country. Just last week we asked the court in a different patent case to unseal documents that almost surely should not have been completely hidden from public view.”

“It is worth adding that while the number of lawsuits did provably decline it does not tell the full story for more than a single reason and we should generally take with great degree of caution any conclusions that accompany this, e.g. that things are improving on their own, hence no intervention is needed at all.”

Overlooking Patent Trolls in Post-Alice Era

A patent system of secrecy defeats the very purpose (original goal) of the patent system. This kind of secrecy gave rise to shady, secretive operations such as Intellectual Ventures, which boasts thousands of shell companies. This whole kind of system (unaccountable and unregulated) is ripe for abuse by trolls.

“US patent case filing in district courts dropped in the first quarter,” MIP wrote, “down 39% on the fourth quarter and 34% on the first quarter last year, according to Unified Patents. An analysis of Eastern District of Texas filing reveals a disproportionately large drop in the district” (that’s the summary of a paywalled article from MIP).

This echoes several other Web sites which reference the same data and conclude that it’s all about trolls and the Eastern District of Texas. This is a somewhat simplistic view because in reality, as we pointed out the day before yesterday, there are also settlements outside the courts and it might be worth looking at what proportion among these patent lawsuits involved some kind of software patents, hence identifying a correlation between scale of litigation and patent scope rather than lawsuit venue, a plaintiff’s business model and so on. In reality, some of these surveys are politically or commercially motivated, or are set up by academics (or lobbyists) to suit a particular narrative and then push for some particular kind of reform (e.g. a ‘reform’ for more certainty around software patents in the US — something which Kappos lobbies for with money from patent aggressors such as IBM, Microsoft, and now Apple as well).

It is worth adding that while the number of lawsuits did provably decline it does not tell the full story for more than a single reason and we should generally take with great degree of caution any conclusions that accompany this, e.g. that things are improving on their own, hence no intervention is needed at all.

As we found out only earlier this year, one verdict in favour of a patent troll such as VirnetX can cost a great deal of money. VirnetX, according to CCIA’s Matt Levy, now denies that it’s a patent troll, which is of course somewhat laughable a thing to do. “A patent troll is,” Levy explains, “essentially, a company that makes its money by suing companies that it claims are using patents that it has acquired. (For comparison, the FTC said that “The business model of [patent assertion entities] focuses on purchasing and asserting patents against manufacturers already using the technology, rather than developing and transferring technology.” Brian Kahin describes patent trolls as companies whose business is being infringed and whose product is litigation.)”

If one asks IAM ‘magazine’, no such thing even exists and it hardly surprises us that several trolls are paying IAM.

Speaking of payments, Oracle had paid Florian Müller, so it’s not too shocking that he took Oracle’s side in his latest article about Oracle’s war on Android. Müller spent a lot of his life campaigning against software patents and we hope this will precede the desire to make cash with so-called ‘consulting’ contracts.

“On March 22, 2016,” said this new article, the U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware issued a Memorandum Opinion in a case captioned Treehouse Avatar LLC v. Valve Corp., in which software patent claims survived a patent eligibility challenge.”

Alice does not always kill software patents, but it does most of the time. Another new article speaks of the Mayo/Alice Rule (both SCOTUS decisions). Now that there’s no Scalia at SCOTUS some people wonder what will happen regarding patent cases. Will the “T” word (trolls) come up again in transcripts or even formal rulings/determinations? Those who argue against reform regarding trolls are quoted in this new article which says: “Jessica Sebeok, associate vice president for policy at the Association of American Universities, believes universities will suffer unintended consequences if President Barack Obama succeeds in making it tougher for patent holders to defend their intellectual property.”

“And some people keep telling the world that Microsoft has changed or that there’s a ‘new’, gentler Microsoft…”Well, universities that essentially behave like patent trolls or feed trolls with their patents (we gave many examples here before) might suffer. And if so, that’s a good thing. The article later says: “Business coalition United for Patent Reform – whose membership includes influential allies of the Obama Administration like Google, Amazon and General Motors – and other supporters of HR 9 seek to stop patent trolling by making it riskier to file patent infringement suits and imposing additional costs of plaintiffs, but AAU argues this would put undue pressure on legitimate patent holders.”

Microsoft Licensing Still an Active Patent Troll

In the above, neither side speaks about patent scope. To them it’s just a so-called ‘Turf War’ between producing and non-producing (e.g. universities) entities. A company like Microsoft is both because while one company produces things another one, called “Microsoft Licensing”, is effectively a patent troll and based on this new page, Microsoft not only funds front groups for software patents and conferences that promote software patents, it now also puts its finger in the “2016 Hispanic National Bar Association/Microsoft IP Law Institute” pie, where Microsoft is the sole program supporter.

And some people keep telling the world that Microsoft has changed or that there’s a ‘new’, gentler Microsoft… █

‘“Other than Bill Gates, I don’t know of any high tech CEO that sits down to review the company’s IP portfolio” —Marshall Phelps

Cabilderos por las Patentes de Software en Ropas de ‘Periodismo’ y ‘Reforma’ (con Conecciones a Microsoft)

Posted in Debian, Deception, GNU/Linux, IBM, Law, Microsoft, Patents at 2:50 pm by Dr. Roy Schestowitz

English/Original

Article as ODF

Publicado en Debian, Decepción, GNU/Linux, IBM, Law, Microsoft, Patentes at 6:23 pm por el Dr. Roy Schestowitz

Una familia grande y felizcon montón de dinero en circulación y una agend pro-patentes de software

David Kappos PAI

Sumario: Los últimos ejemplos de inéquivocosempujes por las patentes de software bajo el disfraz de ‘reportajes’ (pobre farsa) o ‘reforma’ de patentes (nada que ver con reforma), courtesía de IAM ‘magazine’ y David Kappos, respectivamente

LA cálidad de patentes en la USPTO bajo el mando de David Kappos ha sido pobre y en decadencia. Esto aparentemente fue su objetivo o (predictivamente) consequencia de la estrategia. Deja a los Estados Unidos en un estado de desórden total, donde un montón de compañías ´start-ups´ tosen ‘dinero por protección’ o se van a la quiebra. No sólo trolles de patentes están causando estos estragos pero también grandes agresores de patentes, como Microsoft y IBM. Imaginen lo que significaría esta clase de caos para la India, donde un montón de software es desarrollado y el presupuesto de las firmas locales es ajustado (contratar abogados en otro país es oneroso).

“No sólotrolles de patentes están causando estos estragos pero también grandes agresores de patentes, como Microsofty IBM.”

Haciéndo balance de la última propaganda del ‘magazine’ IAM, Techrights no puede dejar de regañar y el ridículizar a este llamado ‘magazine’ (parece mas un pamfleto de cabildeo). No es incluso un magazine, es Kool-Aid en forma de papel y un sitio de pago web (para mantener sólo el coro, voces disentivas no son permitidas). Aquí esta el lavado de cerebro de IAM acerca de ‘calidad’ de patentes hoy (el número de patetentes otorgadas creciendo al doble en sólo pocos años es una evidente indicación de su baja cálidad) e incluso peor lavada de cerebro es aquella que engañosamente representa el punto de vista de los Hindues, compuesto por un Anglo-Saxon quien es empleado para escribir tales callos. No Hindú es incluso citado en este artículo, excepto una firma de leyes (!obviamente no parcialidad!).

Incluso después de que Alice, desafíe las patentes de software en su país de origen, IAM sigue pataleándo por las patentes de software. IAM tiene su base en Londres, lo que hace que sea aún más indignante, hasta que uno comprueba que los fondos del IAM en realidad provienen de …

“Techrightsno puede dejar de regañar y el ridículizara este llamado ‘magazine’ (parece mas un pamfleto de cabildeo). No es incluso un magazine, es Kool-Aid en forma de papely un sitio de pago web (para mantener sólo el coro, voces disentivas no son permitidas).”

Robert R. Sachs del Bilski Blog (ástutamente nombrado como el famoso caso Bilski) esta preparando un reporte (y una serie de artículos derivados de el) acerca del porque las patentes de software son simplemente procesos mentales, por lo tanto abstráctas. En muchos aspectos, las patentes de software son un gran engaño, que explotan la incomprensión de la gente de cómo funciona realmente el software (no es difícil estafar o embaucar a los jueces de patentes que nunca escribierón una sola línea de código).

Temprano hoy confronté al editor en jefe de IAM, quien esta en negación de trolles (todavía pretende que ese problema exista, al igual que las personas que niegan el calentamiento global provocado por el hombre o el cambio climático). Este editor y sus chicos (la única mujer que hay administrativo) no están reportando. Están presionando por las patentes de software en la India hoy en día, con el uso de la distorsión de los hechos y mentiras. La culpa es de IAM por hacer esto. Como dije el día de hoy, en respuesta al editor: “Mientras ustedes hacen lavado de reputación de los trolles de patentes y de las patentes de software, mientras al mismo tiempo ellos son los que les pagan, esas son noticias falsas. PR “.

“Ellos están presionando por las patentes de software en la India hoy en día, con el uso de la distorsión de los hechos y mentiras .”

Es extremandamente importante sacar a la luz de quien IAM realmente es y quienes lo están financiando (y el porque).

Como dije el día de hoy, IAM “sigue demostrando que no es un verdadero periódico / revista, pero sólo esta cabildeando por dinero mientras pretendoe estar reportando. Asqueroso.”

IAM está lleno de maximálistas de patentes (miren de donde proviene el autor) quien quiere más patentes en más lugars, más dominios, más compañías, y así sucesivamente. IAM es financiado por aquellos intereses. ¿Qué dice esto de IAM? Es como una revista acerca de energía que es financiada por petroleras y compañías de carbon, en orden de suprimir información acerca de formas altenativas de energía. Por lo menos parcialismo por omisión. Este ‘magazine’ IAM conectado con villanos y la EPO ahora se atreve avergonzar a la India por su muy táctica decisión de bloquear las patentes de software, de la misma manera que lo hizo con Alemania por no hacer lo suficiénte (para disgusto del editor) para promover abiértamente a la UPC, la cual incidentalmente pagó a IAM para promover(incluso por la firma PR de la EPO). No se necesita ser un genio para ver lo que aquí sucede, quien paga, y cui bono etc. IAM dedicó su último número al troll de patentes más grande del mundo [EN|ES] — un asunto que fue incluído en este artículo, cuya sóla premisa (y titular) es una gran mentira. El título dice: “La actitud fuerte de la India contra las patentes de software podría obstaculizar los planes de impulsar sus “start-ups” digitales (no jodan!). Lo único y correctamente que la decisión India está obstaculizando es la criminal extorsión y cobro de cupos por supuesta protección de parte de los trolles de patentes y las grandes corporaciónes detrás de ellos, lease la Sagrada Familia: Microsoft, IBM, Apple y otros.

“Cada vez es más importante sacar a la luz lo que realmente IAM es y quienes lo están finánciando (y el porque).”

En realidad, lo opuesto es cierto, ya que las patentes de software obstaculizarían las ´start-ups´ de la India. Pregúntelo a estas nuevas empresas y ellas se lo dirán. Solicitar a Microsoft o IBM (o sus abogados de patentes en la India) y ellos hablarán ‘a favor’ de nuevas empresas sólo un montón de mentiras. Pregunte a los grupos de presión de las grandes empresas y sus abogados de patentes (como los que pagan IAM) y ellos también le dirá un montón de mentiras. Es el mismo escenario que vimos en New Zealand y en Europe, donde Microsoft paga cabilderos para supuestametne representar PYMEs y actualmente dice lo opuesto a o que las PYMEs Europeas piensan creen y necesitan. IAM ahora demuestra que no es mejor que esos cabilderos. La diferencia es la manera en que se carácterizan a sí mismos.

Indian startups necesitan código no patentes, las que están fuera de su alcanze de todas maneras, no importa el costo del litigio. IAM escribió: “Me parece que esto podría causar grandes problemas para las empresas de nueva creación digitales que el gobierno tiene tanto interés en apoyar. Muchos de ellos tendrán las innovaciones relacionadas con la informática en el corazón de sus modelos de negocio; si llega a ser mucho más difícil para ellos obtener protección de patentes sobre estos, entonces las razones para que consideren su reubicación fuera de la India podría llegar a ser aún más convincente.”

“Indian startups necesitan código no patentes, las que están fuera de su alcanze de todas maneras, no importa el costo del litigio.”

Esto son tonterías. ¿Dónde esta la evidencia que sin patentes de software aquellas start-ups se mudarían de la India y dado que el mercado de software es internacional (definivamente no local), ¿Qué diferencia la relocación tendría? Podría hacer una diferencia para corporaciones multinacionales como IBM or Microsoft, no duda acerca de eso…

Hablando de Microsoft, anoche descubrimos (no sorprendente) que Microsoft está poniéndo dinero en la mesa de Debian (conferencia). Se convierte en — gasp — un financista. Si, es E.E.E., pero ¿Entiénde Debian eso? Como notamos hace unos dias y el último fin de semana, Microsoft todavía financia conferencias de maximálistas de patetnes (con Microsoft financiados cablideros quienes promueven las patentes de software), donde pueda poner más adentro de la EPO su influencia (su socio criminal) y políticos Europeos. ¿Puede Microsoft ser confíado cuando continúa extorsiónando y chantajeando a fabricantes de aparatos basados en Debian usando patentes de software? Eso es una pregunta retórica.

“¿Puede Microsoft ser confíado cuando continúa extorsiónando y chantajeando a fabricantes de aparatos basados en Debian usando patentes de software?”

Incidentalmente habiéndo mencionado a David Kappos temprano, él también está actuando más como un grupo de presión (oficial convertido en cabildero de una manera clásica de convertir influencia en dinero), financiado por Microsoft y otras empresas con el fin de promover las patentes de software. Recuérden que Horacio Gutierrez y sus compañeros de Microsoft una vez (o más de una vez) pagarón a Florian Müller para hacer lo mismo. Aquí esta un artículo reciénte que un lector nos envió anoche.Se deja de mencionar el papel especial de Kappos allí. Sólo dice que “Apple está tomando un papel más importante en el impulso a la reforma de patentes en los Estados Unidos asociándose con IBM, Microsoft y otras empresas como parte de la Asociación Americana para la Innovación. El objetivo de la organización es para presionar al gobierno federal a adoptar los cambios que quiere mejorar sistema de patentes del país.

No, sólo quiere promover las patentes de software. Cuando Microsoft dice “reforma” de patentes significa cabildeo por las patentes de software (al igual que Apple e IBM). Ellos secuestran la palabra reforma y el jefe de su principal grupo de presión en el PAI es el mismo David Kappos.”

“¿Microsoft está ahora en el mismo grupo liderado por Kappos que promueve las patentes de software.”

“Por cierto,” nos dijo un lector, “nos hemos estado preguntando aquí acerca de por qué Microsoft es tá tan tranquilo y no ataca las legislaciones de implementación dee software libre. Nos dimos cuenta de que deben estar trabajando en algo con lo que se deshacerán de ambos. Escarbándo un poco, pueda ser que ellos esten confidentes que la TTIP, TISA, y CETA prohibirán FOSS. No hay cubrimiénto de ello en la prensa. Así mismo, Veo que me he subestimado la importancia de Wikileaks, así como los motivos de Microsoft y sus peones del gobierno de aplastarla. Por lo que yo sé, TISA o TTIP también está impulsando las patentes de software, pero he leído casi nada todavía y estoy a punto de comenzar.”

Microsoft esta en le grupo liderado por Kappos que promueve las patentes de software. Como nuestro lector lo pone, “reforma resulta ser otra de sus palabras comadreja”

Lo mismo va por “amando” a Linux. Cuidado, Debian. Ya estás quebrado y fragmenta do debido a systemd. ¿Ahora dejas que un matón de patentes entre a tus conferencias? ¿Distribuiras botones que digan “Microsoft ama a Linux” a los asistentes, como es usual? Perfectamente va con el último perfil E.E.E..

“He matado al menos dos conferencias de Mac. [...] Mediante la inyección de contenido de Microsoft en la conferencia, la conferencia cerró. El tipo que lo dirigió, dijo, ¿por qué estoy haciendo esto? “

Jefe Evangelista de Microsoft

Aja! Battistelli: El Presidente de la EPO President Violando el Código de Conducta de la EPO

Posted in Europe, Patents at 2:45 pm by Dr. Roy Schestowitz

English/Original

Article as ODF

Publicado en Europa, Patentes at 6:57 pm por el Dr. Roy Schestowitz

Snap!

Sumario: La libreta (u hoja) de Battistelli de acuerdo al oficial Códigode Conductaen la Oficina Europea de Patentes (EPO)

El Presidente de la EPO, con sus crecientes problemas con Brumme and Hardon está fallándo su propio CoC (Código de Conducat)y no pudimos evitar hacer un post crítico, el que muestra, punto por punto como Battistelli falla su propio CoC. Consideren las siguientes 2 páginas (en una sóla imagen) del CoC:

EPO Code of Conduct

Actuálmente es muy fácil ver lo que aquí esta mal. Battistelli ha sido un niño muy traviesoporque (tomado en una base punto por punto):

¿Porqué Battistelli no ha sido despedido hasta ahora? Una ‘prohibición de la casa’ paraBattistelli y su innecesaria y matona guarda pretorianatiene mucho atraso. Tal movimiento devolvería el respeto a muchos individuos, devolver algo de integridad, dar la impresión de acountabilidad para todos, parecería imparcial para los trabajadores, que probablemente obedecen las leyes externas e internasparecería algo profesional dado todo lo que Battistelli ha estado haciendo hasta ahora.

Tenemos mucho más viniéndo este fin de semana. Sintonicenos.

Links 10/4/2016: MATE 1.14, LibreOffice 5.1.2

Posted in News Roundup at 2:32 pm by Dr. Roy Schestowitz

GNOME bluefish

Contents

GNU/Linux

Free Software/Open Source

  • Open source geeks in a world of silos

    Bryan Lunduke is well known in free software circles. He’s a writer of books and Network World articles. He co-founded the Linux Action Show and is a co-host of the Bad Voltage podcast. In between hobbies, he has a day job doing marketing for SUSE and serving on the openSUSE board. Perhaps his longest-lasting contribution, though, is the Linux distro building simulator game Linux Tycoon.

    At LinuxFest Northwest, Bryan will be debating James Mason on the subject of Open source geeks in a world of silos. We asked him some questions and turned him loose.

  • Qubole releases SQL optimizer as open source

    Big data-as-a-service provider Qubole Inc. has open-sourced its Quark cost-based SQL optimizer that simplifies and optimize access to data across multiple hosts.

    Quark essentially chooses between popular big data open source query systems such as Hive, RedShift and Presto/Impala to select that which will deliver the best query results. “All of these query engines are good at some things and bad at others,” said Ashish Thusoo, co-founder and CEO of the 90-employee Qubole. “Subsuming that intelligence allows the machine to decide what engine is best used for that query.”

  • Building Bonobo, the Guardian’s open source API key management tool

    We built the application using the Play Framework and Scala – the programming language that the Guardian widely uses for backend development. This required a lot of patience as the community for these technologies is still quite small and the documentation can be rather limited. However, having very talented Scala developers in our team allowed us to make mistakes and guided us in the right direction. They made a big difference.

  • Signal desktop app with end-to-end encryption now open to all
  • Signal, the open-source encrypted messaging app, is now available for desktop
  • Open-source software provides new opportunities

    Crashes happen. Open-source software can remedy that. It’s known for higher security and fewer code errors. The numbers speak for themselves: Linux, a major developer of open-source software has an average of 0.17 bugs per 1000 lines. Proprietary software has an average of 20 to 30 bugs per 1000 lines.

  • Events

    • ELC 2016

      I got home from ELC on Wednesday night. I’m not doing embedded work on a day to day basis as much anymore but I gave a talk on Ion which was my primary reason for attending. IoT was unsurprisingly a big theme of the conference. I was amused to hear other people referring to IoT as “embedded Linux plus the cloud” which is what my mental model has always been. I didn’t go to many (any?) of the sessions about various IoT solutions mostly because there are too many to choose from. I’m not in a position right now where I’m directing IoT strategy and if that ever were to change my information would be out of date anyway. The useful sessions were mostly covering specific aspects of IoT or general Linux.

    • FOSDEM 2016 notes

      While being on the committee for the FOSDEM MySQL & friends devroom, I didn’t speak at that devroom (instead I spoke at the distributions devroom). But when I had time to pop in, I did take some notes on sessions that were interesting to me, so here are the notes. I really did enjoy Yoshinori Matsunobu’s session (out of the devroom) on RocksDB and MyRocks and I highly recommend you to watch the video as the notes can’t be very complete without the great explanation available in the slide deck. Anyway there are videos from the MySQL and friends devroom.

  • Web Browsers

    • Mozilla

      • Introducing Mozilla’s Web Literacy Map, Our New Blueprint for Teaching People About the Web

        Within the next decade, the number of individuals with access to the Internet will rise to five billion. These billions of new users, many from emerging markets, have the potential to experience unprecedented personal, civic and economic opportunity online — but only if they have the necessary skills to meaningfully wield the Internet.

        To this end, Mozilla is dedicated to empowering people with the knowledge they need to read, write and participate online. We define this knowledge as “web literacy” — a collection of core skills and competencies like search engine know-how, design basics, online privacy fundamentals, and a working understanding of sharing, open source licensing and remixing.

  • Databases

  • Oracle/Java/LibreOffice

    • LibreOffice 5.1.2, Ubuntu Numbers, OS is Dead

      The Document Foundation today announced the release of LibreOffice 5.1.2, the second update in the 5.1 Fresh branch. Nearly 90 bugs were squashed this cycle dealing heavily with rendering and placement issues. In other news, Red Hat touts a new client and Canonical is still trying to convince folks of their hundreds of millions of users. Matt Asay said today that the OS is dead thanks to the cloud and that “developers are becoming babies.”

    • LibreOffice 5.1.2 available for download

      Berlin, April 7, 2016 – The Document Foundation (TDF) announces LibreOffice 5.1.2, the second minor release of the LibreOffice 5.1 family.

    • LibreOffice Receives Better OpenGL Rendering Support

  • Education

    • Teaching teachers to teach open source

      This seems obvious, but the ability to learn independently is very important to successful student participation in HFOSS projects. Students have to be able to learn in a variety of manners from a range of different sources, and they need to take ownership of their learning in order to flourish in an open source community.

      Communication, teamwork and the ability to problem solve are also critical skills. While understanding technologies such as version control is emphasized by most open source communities, students who don’t understand how to navigate a professional environment by communicating clearly or who can’t work on a team won’t even get to the point of using those technologies. These process skills can sometimes be more difficult to teach than teaching a student Java.

  • BSD

    • FreeBSD/PC-BSD 10.3 vs. Linux Benchmarks

      With FreeBSD 10.3 having been released followed by the desktop-oriented PC-BSD 10.3 release that’s running rather nicely, I decided to run some open-source performance benchmarks atop PC-BSD 10.3 x64 compared to various Linux distributions.

      Originally I also aimed to run some PC-BSD vs. Linux gaming tests using the updated Linux binary compatibility layer in FreeBSD 10.3′s kernel, but sadly, that didn’t pan out. As noted in the aforelinked article, I’ve been running into a variety of issues that made my usual test candidates not run on PC-BSD 10.3 with either the x86 or x86_64 Linux binaries. If you want to see my old tests, there is FreeBSD: A Faster Platform For Linux Gaming Than Linux? from a few years ago.

  • FSF/FSFE/GNU/SFLC

    • Friday Free Software Directory IRC meetup: April 8th
    • When Free Software Depends On Non-Free

      When a program is free software (free as in freedom), that means it gives users the four freedoms (gnu.org/philosophy/free-sw.html) so that they control what the program does. In most cases, that is sufficient for the program’s distribution to be ethical; but not always. There are additional problems that can arise in specific circumstances. This article describes a subtle problem, where upgrading the free program requires using a nonfree program.

  • Public Services/Government

    • GSA’s 18F Assembles Open Source Code Repositories on GitHub

      The General Services Administration‘s 18F organization has assembled repositories that contain open source code on its GitHub account in an effort to help federal government employees reuse the code for their work and personal use.

      Britta Gustafson, content designer at 18F, wrote in a blog post published Wednesday that the code repositories include client projects, guides, prototypes and open source tools 18F plans to adapt.

    • 18F surfaces code for 35 useful projects

      Although the General Services Administration’s 18F digital services shop publicly shares code from its projects as a matter or course, finding useful code among the hundreds of entries in the 18F GitHub repository can be time consuming.

    • Talend latest firm to back open source training network in France

      Talend, a specialist in Big Data integration software, has joined Acquia, Open Wide, OW2 and Red Hat as a Founding Partner of France’s national Open Source School, an institution dedicated to higher education training and continuing education for open source solutions (OSS).

    • Make your voice heard: take part in an open public consultation on Interoperability in Europe

      As of this week, through this public consultation, administrations, businesses and private organisations, research centres, academic institutions, standardisation organisations and others can all have their say in setting up an interoperability framework and strategy in Europe.

  • Openness/Sharing/Collaboration

    • OpenTraffic for Manila, US agencies to release 20% code as open source, and more news
    • FABrics: Open Source Furniture

      FABrics are open source chairs designed to be manufactured locally by the user. The chairs consist of CNC routed plywood and laser-cut leather. They are assembled together using 3D printed connectors.

      The aim of this project was to create a collection of lounge furniture that can be made anywhere in the world using universal materials and technologies. These digital processing technologies can be found in local facilities and in Fab Labs or Maker Spaces around the world. The manufacturing process is designed to be simple and straightforward in order to accommodate a large variety of users.

    • Open Access/Content

      • A letter to Carlos Moedas on open science

        “I’m offering to come to Brussels and demonstrate on my (or your) laptop the value of text and data mining for open science,” says Peter Murray-Rust of Cambridge University, as he presses the EU to go further on copyright reform

    • Open Hardware/Modding

      • Happy Hardware Freedom Day!

        Today is the new selected date for Hardware Freedom Day. We did a community survey a few months back and that was by far the most popular time. While our website is back up the wiki and registration are still down though. Considering the status we’re hoping to get things back up and encourage people who missed the date to celebrate a HFD on their schedule. Following up our mail list you may know there are events in Barcelona and India or can simply ping us there.

      • An Open Source Two Stroke Diesel

        With a welder and a bunch of scrap, you can build just about anything that moves. Want a dune buggy? That’s just some tube and a pipe bender. Need a water pump? You might need a grinder. A small tractor? Just find some big knobby tires in a junkyard. Of course, the one thing left out of all these builds is a small motor, preferably one that can run on everything from kerosene to used cooking oil. This is the problem [Shane] is tackling for his entry to the 2016 Hackaday Prize. It’s an Open Source Two-Stroke Diesel Engine that’s easy for anyone to build and has minimal moving parts.

  • Programming/Development

    • Which Is The Most Complex Programming Language?

      Very often we talk about the most popular and most loved programming languages, but we skip the discussion dealing with the most complex programming languages. Here’s an infographic that outlines the complexities in JavaScript and other modern programming languages.

    • Face it: Developers are becoming babies

      Way back in the dawn of the open source era, Boston Consulting Group (BCG) uncovered an interesting fact: Open-source developers weren’t anarchists and didn’t sport purple mohawks (usually). Typically, developers in the open source community were comfortably middle-aged (30 years old, on average), generally bringing 11 years of experience to their craft.

    • Software ‘developer fatigue’, it’s now a thing

      JNBridge’s core message is as follows: it’s not Java OR Microsoft .NET, it’s Java AND .NET — working on this premise, JNBridge has become a supplier of Java/.NET interoperability tools for software developers.

Leftovers

  • ‘Taxi Driver’ Oral History: De Niro, Scorsese, Foster, Schrader Spill All on 40th Anniversary
  • Yahoo’s once-great website eyed by Google, Verizon
  • Verizon to plan Yahoo bid, Google weighs offer
  • Verizon, Google said to be planning bids for Yahoo

    Verizon Communications Inc. plans to make a first-round bid for Yahoo Inc.’s Web business next week, and is willing to acquire the company’s Yahoo Japan Corp. stake to help sweeten the offer, according to people familiar with the matter.

  • Mashable mixes it up, lays off staff as it shifts focus

    Hot on the heels of snagging $15 million in funding from Turner/Time Warner, Mashable Inc. decided to put a number of its employees on the chopping block.

    The tech and lifestyle site now wants to be an online video and TV production company. As part of that reorganization, New York-based Mashable is laying off a number of staffers. It is also deemphasizing its world news and politics coverage, preferring to focus more on technology, science, social media, entertainment and lifestyle.

  • The executive deficit of the European Union

    The oft-repeated mantra of ‘more coordination’ won’t provide a real solution to Europe’s political crises unless the EU’s dual executive architecture is first rationalized and democratized.

  • Health/Nutrition

    • 20 million people in Bangladesh are drinking water laced with arsenic, Human Rights Watch survey finds

      Each year, 43,000 Bangladeshis die as a result of drinking arsenic-contaminated water, a figure which has not significantly altered since steps were taken to clean up Bangladesh’s water supply at the turn of the century.

      Corruption and international neglect are to blame for the fact 20 million people in Bangladesh are still drinking water laced with arsenic, more than a decade after the extent of the problem was made clear, according to a new report by Human Rights Watch (HRW).

    • VA bosses in 7 states falsified vets’ wait times for care

      Supervisors instructed employees to falsify patient wait times at Veterans Affairs’ medical facilities in at least seven states, according to a USA TODAY analysis of more than 70 investigation reports released in recent weeks.

      Overall, those reports — released after multiple inquiries and a Freedom of Information Act request — reveal for the first time specifics of widespread scheduling manipulation.

      Employees at 40 VA medical facilities in 19 states and Puerto Rico regularly “zeroed out” veteran wait times, the analysis shows. In some cases, investigators found manipulation had been going on for as long as a decade. In others, it had been just a few years.

      In many cases, facility leaders told investigators they clamped down the scheduling improprieties after the Phoenix scandal, but in others, investigators found they had continued unabated.The manipulation masked growing demand as new waves of veterans returned from wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and as Vietnam veterans aged and needed more health care.

  • Security

    • ‘BillGates’: Linux botnet is launching DDoS attacks on online gaming services

      IRONY ALERT: Bill Gates-themed software wants to get on as many computers as possible and not budge.

      Not Windows, of course, but a botnet called BillGates. The malware has been around since 2014 but now seems to be leaping forwards (not over a chair) and making a nuisance of itself, according to Akamai.

    • Mumblehard spam-spewing botnet floored

      Security researchers have teamed up with authorities in Ukraine to take down a spam-spewing Linux-infesting botnet.

      Security firm ESET teamed up with CyS-CERT and the Cyber Police of Ukraine to take down the Mumblehard botnet.

    • Authorities Shut Down Botnet of 4,000 Linux Servers Used to Send Spam

      The six-year-old Mumblehard botnet is no more, ESET reports, explaining that a joint effort with CyS Centrum LLC and the Cyber Police of Ukraine has finally allowed them to sinkhole the botnet’s main C&C (command and control server).

    • Mumblehard Linux Spamming Botnet Finally Taken Offline

      Thousands of servers running Linux and BSD had been affected by one of world’s most damaging botnets

    • Academics claim Google Android two-factor authentication is breakable

      Computer security researchers warn security shortcomings in Android/Playstore undermine the security offered by all SMS-based two-factor authentication (2FA).

    • Google adds Cloud Test Lab integration to new Android Studio 2.0

      Google has updated its key Android development tool, Android Studio, to version 2.0 and added cloud test integration, a GPU debugger, and faster emulation and resource allocation.

      Mountain view touts the instant run feature as just about the most important new feature in the upgrade, as it analyses Android app code as it runs and determines ways it can be deployed faster, without requiring app re-installation.

    • Heartbleed Remains a Risk 2 Years After It Was Reported

      A vulnerability publicly disclosed in the open-source OpenSSL project two years ago continues to have an impact today.
      On April 7, 2014, CVE-2014-0160, better known as Heartbleed, was publicly disclosed by the OpenSSL project, affecting millions of users and devices around the world. Today, two years to the day it was first reported, the vulnerability remains a risk, and the trend of branded vulnerabilities it created continues to have an impact.

    • Friday’s security advisories
    • Thursday’s security updates
    • Nation-wide radio station hack airs hours of vulgar “furry sex” ramblings

      Some Tuesday morning listeners of KIFT, a Top 40 radio station located in Breckenridge, Colorado, were treated to a radically different programming menu than they were used to. Instead of the normal fare from Taylor Swift, The Chainsmokers, or other pop stars, a hack by an unknown party caused one of the station’s signals to broadcast a sexually explicit podcast related to the erotic attraction to furry characters. The unauthorized broadcast lasted for about 90 minutes.

      KIFT wasn’t the only station to be hit by the hack. On the same day, Livingston, Texas-based country music station KXAX also broadcast raunchy furry-themed audio. And according to an article posted Wednesday by radio industry news site RadioInsight.com, the unauthorized broadcasts from a hobbyist group called FurCast were also forced on an unnamed station in Denver and an unidentified national syndicator.

    • Maryland hospital: Ransomware success wasn’t IT department’s fault

      MedStar refused to respond to Ars Technica’s inquiries about the attack. In the statement released to media, MedStar’s spokesperson said, “As we have said before, based on the advice of IT, cybersecurity and law enforcement experts, MedStar will not be elaborating further on additional aspects of this malware event. This is not only for the protection and security of MedStar Health, its patients and associates, but is also for the benefit of other healthcare organizations and companies.” The spokesperson claimed the hospital had “no evidence of any compromise of patient or associate data… furthermore, we are pleased that we brought our systems back up in what can only be viewed as a very rapid recovery led by dedicated MedStar and external IT expert partners.”

    • Its a good thing SELinux blocks access to the docker socket.

      I have seen lots of SELinux bugs being reported where users are running a container that volume mounts the docker.sock into a container. The container then uses a docker client to do something with docker. While I appreciate that a lot of these containers probbaly need this access, I am not sure people realize that this is equivalent to giving the container full root outside of the contaienr on the host system. I just execute the following command and I have full root access on the host.

    • New Malware Headlines, Fedora Stickers, New RMS Article

      A new Linux botnet named BillGates is making headlines today. The Russian-based Asian designed malware seems to be focusing on gaming sites. Elsewhere, Richard Stallman posted a new article today explaining the problem when free software requires non-free to function and Matt Hartley explained the difference between GNOME, Unity, and MATE. Then, for some fun, the new Plasma 5.7 wallpaper was revealed, a new Linux poll beckons, and Fedora announced a partnership with UnixStickers.com.

    • A perfect storm of broken business and busted FLOSS backdoors everything, so who needs the NSA?

      In 2014, Poul-Henning Kamp, a prolific and respected contributor to many core free/open projects gave the closing keynote at the Free and Open Source Developers’ European Meeting (FOSDEM) in Belgium, and he did something incredibly clever: he presented a status report on a fictional NSA project (ORCHESTRA) whose mission was to make it cheaper to spy on the Internet without breaking any laws or getting any warrants.

    • Researchers help shut down spam botnet that enslaved 4,000 Linux machines
    • Mumblehard Linux botnet eliminated as a threat: ESET

      Security researchers at ESET reported that the spam-dispensing Mumblehard Linux botnet is no longer active due to the combined efforts of ESET, the Cyber Police of Ukraine and CyS Centrum.

    • OSVDB Shuts Down, Firefox Add-ons Unsafe & More…

      Speaking of vulnerabilities: We lost an open source security asset this week. On Tuesday we received word that OSVDB, or the Open Sourced Vulnerability Database project, an organization that’s cataloged computer security flaws since 2002, is closing up shop. The news came by way of an OSVDB blog that said, “We are not looking for anyone to offer assistance at this point, and it [the database] will not be resurrected in its previous form.” As for why the database is being shut down, the post went on to somewhat cryptically explain, “The industry simply did not want to contribute and support such an effort.” A good analysis of the details by Jon Gold was published Thursday on Network World.

    • Do You Think Linux Is More Secure Than Other OS?

      There’s an old school of thought that says that Linux is more secure than other operating systems. This topic has been hotly debated over the years. What’s your opinion? Do you think Linux is more secure than other OS?

    • Adobe Issues Emergency Update to Flash After Ransomware Attacks
    • FBI: $2.3 Billion Lost to CEO Email Scams

      The U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) this week warned about a “dramatic” increase in so-called “CEO fraud,” e-mail scams in which the attacker spoofs a message from the boss and tricks someone at the organization into wiring funds to the fraudsters. The FBI estimates these scams have cost organizations more than $2.3 billion in losses over the past three years.

  • Defence/Aggression

    • Pulling the Trigger: An Interview With the ‘Eye in the Sky’ Filmmaker Gavin Hood

      I had the opportunity recently to see Gavin Hood’s new film, “Eye in the Sky,” at a screening hosted by Reprieve. The film weaves together the lives of ordinary people in Nairobi living in the shadow of a largely secret drone war, the high-level deliberations between British and American officials concerning a fictional drone operation, and the individual moral responsibility of a U.S. drone operator sitting safely in Nevada who must ultimately decide whether or not he will pull the trigger. Although some of the technology shown in the film is more advanced than what we know to be available today, the questions it explores are starkly contemporary: What are the costs of conducting a secret war with ambiguous boundaries and goals? Who gets to decide when civilians are to be put in danger? What is the lived experience of those people who live below the buzz of drones, and the pilots half a world away who are charged with pulling the trigger?

    • The Revolt Against NATO

      This has the foreign policy Establishment in a panic, with legions of “experts” rising up to denounce Trump’s heresy as misguided, absurd, and – of course! – “isolationist.” Yet the politicians can’t afford to be so dismissive: after all, they have to listen to their constituents, at least to some extent. And it’s quite telling what Sen. Corker – who has warned the “Never Trump” crowd to back off – had to say to Stoltenberg:

  • Transparency/Investigative Reporting

    • 77% of Freedom of Information Act Requests Not Fully Answered

      On his election, President Obama promised greater governmental transparency to the American people. In practice, the Obama administration has set a record for failures to find and produce government documents in response to Freedom of Information Act requests. Signed into law by President Johnson in 1966, the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) encourages and enforces government disclosures to the people with only nine specific exemptions. As Ted Bridis and Jack Gillum reported for the Associated Press’s Big Story, in response to the public’s FOIA requests, 129,825 times (or more than one in every six cases), government searchers said they came up empty-handed last year. Bridis and Gillum write, “People who asked for records under the law received censored files or nothing in 77 percent of requests, also a record.” The 77% figure represents a twelve percent increase, compared with the first full year after President Obama’s election.

  • Environment/Energy/Wildlife/Nature

    • Bruce Stanley on Coal-Industry Crime

      When Massey Energy, the biggest coal company in Appalachia, polluted the groundwater of the community Massey CEO Don Blankenship lived in, he had employees run a private water line direct to his mansion, while fighting off the lawsuit from his poisoned neighbors. That’s just the kind of guy he is, and it’s decades of that behavior, as much as the 2010 explosion that killed 29 people at Massey’s Upper Big Branch mine, that led to Blankenship’s sentencing this week to a year in prison on a charge of conspiracy to violate mine safety standards.

    • Australia Is Letting the Great Barrier Reef Die Over a Lot of Coal

      If there was one thing Australia could’ve done to save the Great Barrier Reef, it would’ve been to block the development of the country’s largest coal mine, which its state government approved with resounding confidence this week.

      The Great Barrier Reef, true to its name, is the most expansive reef ecosystem in the world. It’s the largest living organism on the entire planet, and is so big we can actually see it from outer space. Remember the Seven Natural Wonders of the World? It’s one of those, too.

      But its vast size will not keep it from dying—which it is—at an astounding rate, thanks to humans.

  • Finance

    • EU trade secrets law under fire in wake of Panama papers

      In the light of the Panama papers scandal, a soon-to-be adopted EU law on trade secrets has come under renewed scrutiny over fears it will hamstring journalists and whistleblowers.

      New EU rules to protect trade secrets could prevent leaks like the Panama papers from coming to light in future, member of European Parliament (MEPs) and activists fear.

      According to MEPs and activists, a draft EU directive on the “protection of undisclosed know-how and business information (trade secrets)” focuses on protecting companies over private individuals and freedom of expression.

    • Labour says PM ‘losing trust’ over offshore fund row

      Labour has said David Cameron’s admission that he owned shares in an offshore fund set up by his late father has undermined public trust in him.

      On Thursday, the PM said he sold the shares before he entered Number 10 in 2010 and had paid all UK taxes due on profits from the £30,000 sale.

      He said the firm, Blairmore Holdings, had not been set up to avoid tax.

      But Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said the PM had “misled the public” and “lost the trust of the British people”.

    • In recent test, blockchain brings transparency to notorious credit default swaps

      On Thursday, Wall Street’s bookkeeper announced that it had successfully tested blockchain technology to manage single-name credit default swaps (CDS) among four big banks: Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Citi, Credit Suisse, and JP Morgan.

    • ‘Please do not feed the animals’: Oklahoma GOP Compares Food Stamp Recipients to Park Animals

      In America, we have a very crude understanding of social welfare programs. For most Americans, anything the government gives to its people (i.e., us) to keep us healthy, fed and educated, is a “handout” to lazy people who don’t deserve it.

      Helping each other, using our tax money for us, as does most of the civilized world, is somehow wrong. In America, we’d prefer you starve to death, quietly if possible, as the rest of us are binge watching Netflix whilst eating Doritos.

    • Predatory Tactics by For-Profit Colleges Affecting Students Nationwide

      In March 2016, Annie Waldman, writing for ProPublica, reported how Corinthian College used disingenuous recruiting tactics to mislead impoverished, prospective students to sign up for programs they offered, with the intention to make a profit. Legal documents have been filed against the school for misconduct and there are several suits pending. The college allegedly coerced students who were homeless and/or had low self-esteem to enroll. They encouraged students to take out federal student loans, despite their financial position.

    • Downing Street Protest Attracts Attention Of Anarchist Group Class War

      The Metropolitan Police say that appropriate plans are in place ahead of a protest outside Downing Street due to take place on Saturday.

      Facebook events for the Panama-themed demonstration show over two thousand people as attending, including the singer Lily Allen, inspired by the Panama Papers revelations.

      Abi Wilkinson, one of the event’s organisers, said: “We’re hoping to have a fun, tropical party vibe and to get ordinary people out rather than committed activist types.”

    • What time is the David Cameron tax havens protest and where does it start?

      Thousands are expected to take to the streets of London on Saturday to demand David Cameron resign as Prime Minister.

      It follows the Prime Minister’s admission that he trousered thousands of pounds in profits from an offshore firm owned by his father.

      He and his wife finally admitted to having owned 5,000 shares in Blairmore Holdings, a firm set up Dave’s stockbroker dad Ian Cameron.

      The fund was set up in Panama to avoid paying UK corporation and capital gains tax.

      The protest gained a boost in interest last night, after fugitive whistleblower Edward Snowden retweeted it to his 1.9m followers, urging Brits to rise up against Mr Cameron’s leadership.

    • Edward Snowden: ‘Demand Cameron’s resignation over tax dodging’

      Cameron came clean about his tax affairs on Thursday evening, admitting that between 1997 and 2010 he and his wife, Samantha Cameron, owned shares in his father’s Blairmore Investment Trust – a multimillion-pound offshore trust fund.

    • Cameron odds-on to step down

      BOOKIES rushed to cut David Cameron’s odds to step down to 11/2 yesterday after the PM admitted he had profited from his father’s offshore dealings.

      Paddy Power labelled the dramatic shortening of its original 20/1 odds “the equivalent of a first fence faller” in the Grand National.

      A spokesman for the betting agency said: “Forget Many Clouds in the Grand National tomorrow, this is the real one-horse race right now.”

    • Timeline of David Cameron’s scathing attacks on those who evade tax

      After four days of dodging ­questions about his tax affairs, David Cameron finally cracked and admitted he did profit from his dad’s offshore investment fund.

      The embarrassed PM revealed he and his wife Samantha held £30,000 of shares in Bahamas-based Blairmore Holdings, one of the firms named in the explosive Panama Papers .

      Mr Cameron is facing calls to quit over his bombshell confession, which after intense pressure from the Mirror.

      He had arrogantly brushed off his tax affairs as a private matter then insisted he had not benefited from any offshore funds, before finally coming clean in a TV interview.

    • The Conservatives may live to regret this shameless generational discrimination

      How broke is the Government? It depends who’s asking. If you’re unemployed, then things are impossibly tough: far more cuts are needed from the welfare budget because there is no alternative. If you’re at school, then things are not quite so bad. The school budget is being “protected,” which is a nice way of saying “frozen”. But if you’re a pensioner, then David Cameron has some great news for you. Thanks to the “difficult decisions” his government has taken, he can now afford the largest increase to the state pension in 15 years. The new, enlarged cheque will be in the post this week.

    • Why Cameron went public over Blairmore shares

      When a politician is under pressure, facing questions about their family and their finances, their natural instinct is to protect their privacy and say as little as possible.

    • ‘Resign Cameron’ protests: Thousands to gather at Downing Street to ask Prime Minister to step down

      Thousands of protersters are expected to move on Downing Street to call for tough action on tax avoidance – or David Cameron’s resignation.

      Following the revelations about his tax affairs in the Panama papers, demonstrators are asking Mr Cameron to either “close tax loopholes or resign”. The protests are being organised around the hashtags “Resign Cameron” and “Close tax loopholes”, and have gained support from high-profile figures including Edward Snowden and Lily Allen.

    • UK ministers humiliated after Cayman and BVI leaders repeatedly ignore requests for meetings

      The governments of two notorious tax havens have repeatedly ignored UK ministers’ requests to meet about cracking down on corporate tax avoidance of the kind detailed on the so-called Panama Papers, The Independent can reveal.

      Official letters obtained using freedom of information rules show humiliated ministers “disappointed” at being stood-up after “numerous attempts” to meet with the premiers of the British Virgin Island and Cayman Islands.

      Campaigners reacted to the letters by berating the Government’s “meek” and “softly-softly” approach towards the havens, while Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has accused the Government of “pussyfooting” around the issue.

    • David Cameron protest: Live updates as thousands call for PM’s resignation after Panama Papers scandal
    • Law to make all company ownership transparent in UK dependencies & territories

      As the Panama Papers prove the British Virgin Islands is one of the world’s capitals of tax avoidance, evasion and money laundering. The territory has 600,000 companies registered there with a population of around 30 thousand.

    • David Cameron: I could have handled tax row better

      Prime Minister David Cameron has said he could have handled the row over his financial affairs “better”, admitting it had “not been a great week”.

      Addressing the Tories’ spring forum, he said he was to blame for the handling of revelations about his holding in his late father’s offshore fund.

      Days after questions were first raised, the PM admitted this week he had owned and later sold units in the fund.

    • VIDEO: ‘Thousands’ descend on Downing Street for ‘Resign Cameron’ protest
    • Crowds march in London to demand Cameron resignation following Panama Papers leak (IMAGES)

      A massive protest has gathered in front of PM David Cameron’s residence at Downing Street 10, calling for his resignation. The rally follows the so-called Panama Papers leak, which among others exposed the offshore dealings of Cameron’s late father.

      “Cameron must go!” and “Tories out!” read the placards held by the demonstrators, RUPTLY’s live feed showed. A huge paper pig was erected by the protesters, with Cameron’s image pinned to its face.

    • Thousands gather outside Downing Street calling on David Cameron to resign

      Thousands of people were expected to march through London this morning calling on David Cameron to close tax loopholes or resign.

      We went along to the protest in Whitehall – watch our live feed here and see if you can spot the Hawaiian shirts, pig pinatas and shouts of ‘We hate you Cameron, we do!’

      Our reporters have been talking to people both for and against David Cameron to see why some feel so strongly that he needs to go.

    • Hold a General Election in 2016

      The General Public were purposefully misguided before the 2015 election.The lies David Cameron told before the election have now been widely acknowledged as such, and it is only reasonable that the public should be allowed to vote with full knowledge about his true agenda in 2016.

    • David Cameron: blame me for mishandling Panama Papers revelations

      Addressing the Conservative party spring forum, the prime minister admitted it had “not been a great week”, to laughter from the gathered supporters.

      Cameron said he would publish details of his tax return “later on” as he attempts to assuage calls for further transparency about his financial dealings.

      “I know I should have handled this better,” he said. “I could have handled this better. I know there are lessons to learn and I will learn them. And don’t blame No 10 Downing Street, or nameless advisers, blame me. And I will learn the lessons.”

    • “Resign Cameron” Protest Targets Conservative Spring Forum As PM Tells Party To Blame Him For Tax Fallout

      Thousands of protesters in London called on prime minister David Cameron to resign on Saturday, after he admitted owning shares in his father’s offshore fund that avoided paying corporation tax in Britain.

    • Defence Secretary blames journalists for not asking Cameron the right questions

      Michael Fallon, the Defence Secretary, has provided the most bizarre defence yet of David Cameron and Downing Street taking five attempts before admitting the Prime Minister had benefited from the offshore fund created by his father, impying it was journalists’ fault for failing to ask the right questions.

    • Downing Street protesters call for Cameron to resign
    • David Cameron did not declare his earnings from the offshore fund either

      It would be reasonable to say that benefitting from an offshore trust may influence Cameron’s view on whether such trusts should be tightly regulated or not.

    • Pyramid vs. obelisk

      Doctors and attorneys have employer-independent credibility, being vouched-for by their professional associations…

  • AstroTurf/Lobbying/Politics

    • CIA’s Work With Filmmakers Puts All Media Workers at Risk

      The CIA’s history of producing or helping to produce films goes back decades. The Agency, for example, secretly bought the rights to Animal Farm after Orwell’s death in 1950 and produce an animated adaptation centered on demonizing the Soviet Union rather than capturing Orwell’s broader critiques of power.

      And as the CIA got involved in film production, Hollywood players have likewise taken part in covert operations. For years, legendary film producer Arnon Milchan (Pretty Woman, Fight Club, back-to-back Oscar winner for Best Picture in 2014 and 2015) worked for Israeli intelligence to deal arms and obtain technologies Israel needed to make nuclear weapons. “At the peak of his activities,” according to the Guardian, he was “operating 30 companies in 17 countries and brokering deals worth hundreds of millions of dollars,” an arrangement that, Milchan told the BBC (11/26/13), involved Sydney Pollack—director of Sabrina, Tootsie and, ironically enough, Three Days of the Condor.

  • Censorship/Free Speech

  • Privacy/Surveillance

    • EU-US Privacy Shield may not pass muster, according to leaked extract

      Leaked extracts from an imminent assessment of the EU-US Privacy Shield replacement for Safe Harbour suggests that a key group of EU data protection authorities will not support it in its present form.

      It is expected that the Article 29 Working Party will say that it is “not yet in a position to confirm that the current draft adequacy decision does, indeed, ensure a level of protection [in the US] that is essentially equivalent to that in the EU.” Any transatlantic data transfer scheme that does not provide an “essentially equivalent” level of protection is unlikely to withstand a legal challenge in the EU courts.

    • How a Cashless Society Could Embolden Big Brother

      In 2014, Cass Sunstein—one-time “regulatory czar” for the Obama administration—wrote an op-ed advocating for a cashless society, on the grounds that it would reduce street crime. His reasoning? A new study had found an apparent causal relationship between the implementation of the Electronic Benefit Transfer system for welfare benefits, and a drop in crime.

    • The Burr-Feinstein Proposal Is Simply Anti-Security

      Sens. Richard Burr and Dianne Feinstein recently released a draft bill forcing nearly all U.S. companies to decrypt any encrypted data they may handle. Specifically, it would place a new, sweepingly broad duty on device manufacturers, software developers, ISPs, online services and others to decrypt encrypted data or offer “such technical assistance as is necessary” if ordered to do so by any court anywhere in the country.

      The draft reflects an ignorance of everyday computer security practices that safeguard your devices and information from criminals. As currently written, the draft likely even outlaws forward secrecy, an innovative security feature that many major tech providers, including WhatsApp, have implemented to limit the damage to user privacy in the event encryption keys are compromised.

    • The California Bill to Undermine Smartphone Encryption Actually Got Worse

      State lawmakers recently introduced some misguided changes to California’s Assembly Bill 1681, which would require that manufacturers and operating system providers be able to decrypt smartphones sold in the state. On first glance, the amendment to A.B. 1681 might seem to address some of EFF’s previous criticisms, but the new version actually makes an already bad bill even worse. EFF has signed on to a new letter in opposition to the bill, and you can still join our action calling on lawmakers to vote against it.

    • Bill That Would Ban End-to-End Encryption Savaged by Critics

      A LONG-ANTICIPATED DRAFT of anti-encryption legislation written by the leaders of the Senate Intelligence Committee circulated late Thursday night and left may critics apoplectic.

    • HTTPS Everywhere: Encryption for All WordPress.com Sites
    • WordPress Upgrades All Websites To HTTPS Encryption For Free

      WordPress.com is enabling HTTPS encryption for all of its websites. This change is an automatic one and the website owners don’t have to do anything to enable HTTPS redirect on their websites. This new step will benefit millions of websites on the web and help to make it a more secure place.

    • “The Internet of Broken Things”

      Third, resist the temptation for gee-whiz devices. Do you really need a refrigerator that can talk to the Internet? Do you really need a “smart” thermostat that can fail due to a software bug and leave you freezing, with no way to fix it? Prefer simple, autonomous devices over complex, networked gadgets.

    • Maryland Court Says Cops Need Warrants To Deploy Stingray Devices

      The Baltimore Police Department’s warrantless deployment of Stingray devices has come to an end. It may have gotten away with more than 4,300 times so far, but the Maryland Special Appeals Court has declared these devices operate as searches under the Fourth Amendment.

      The 74-page opinion — which belatedly follows its two-page order from nearly a month ago, indicating which side it had taken in this dispute — dives into every issue implicated by the warrantless use of Stingray devices and examines them alongside a long list of Fourth Amendment-related Supreme Court decisions and the Fourth Circuit Appeals Court’s precedent-setting US v. Graham opinion on cell site location info.

    • New Reports On Terror Attacks Underline Why Crypto Isn’t A Serious Problem: It’s Hard To Use And Easy To Get Wrong

      The picture that emerges from these two reports is of a large, well-established network of terrorists located across several European countries. Many of them were known in multiple ways to the authorities, which repeatedly failed to bring all this crucial information together, probably because there was too much, not too little, to sift through. What is conspicuous by its absence is any suggestion that the would-be attackers escaped arrest by using encrypted communications. Both stories do, however, reveal that ISIS-trained terrorists have used encryption tools, but in a non-standard way.

      @thegrugq has written a good piece on Medium analyzing the system. It seems the discontinued encryption program TrueCrypt was provided by ISIS on a USB drive. The program was used to place one or more messages inside an encrypted volume, which was then uploaded to an inconspicuous online site. By employing a shared password to encrypt the volume, more than one person could read the messages in a relatively secure and anonymous way. The system creates a kind of digital dead letter drop that can’t be addressed simply by mandating crypto backdoors.

    • Coalition opposes allowing NSA to share surveillance data

      “Considering the extent and scope of the information collected under EO 12333, the policy changes under consideration could allow agencies like the FBI to circumvent constitutional protections and will pose new threats to the privacy and civil liberties of ordinary Americans,” the letter stated.

    • Juniper Completes Removal of Dual_EC

      Juniper Networks hopes to remove any clouds of uncertainty that its networking gear might still have a backdoor that could allow the NSA or hackers to snoop on traffic running through its hardware.

      On Thursday, Juniper completed an update to the way its ScreenOS software handles encryption. Juniper said it has integrated the company’s widely used random number generator component into the ScreenOS software, abandoning older controversial methods.

    • Are Pins, Posts, Tweets and Likes Appropriate for Use in Selecting Jurors?

      When you hear the name of someone you can’t place or don’t know much about, what do you do? Chances are, you “Google” them. Well that is what attorneys are doing to learn more about prospective jurors too! But they are not stopping there. They are looking at a number of social media sites, such as Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn to learn about the profiles, likes, dislikes, friends, hobbies, biases, religion, and preferences of individuals in the jury pool. This practice has raised a number of issues related to ethics, privacy, and responsibility. To date, courts have taken positions ranging from banning these searches to practically requiring them.

    • Illinois Law Requiring Sex Offenders To Report All Internet Activity Violates Free Speech Rights

      With the goal of keeping tabs on sex offenders, the state of Illinois has veered way off course. Its offender registration statute requires individuals to report every nook and cranny of their online activities to law enforcement—or face jail time. Every Internet site they visit, every online retailer account they create, and every news story comment they post must be reported to police.

    • Richard Burr’s Encryption (AKA Cuckoo) Bill, Working Thread

      A version of Richard Burr and Dianne Feinstein’s ill-considered encryption bill has been released here. They’re calling it the “Compliance with Court Orders Act of 2016,” but I think I’ll refer to it as the Cuckoo bill. This will be a working thread.

      (2) Note the bill starts by suggesting economic prosperity relies on breaking encryption. There are many reasons that’s not true, most obviously that it will put US products at a disadvantage in other countries.

      (2) Note this only applies to “providers of communications services and products (including software).” Does it apply to financial companies? Because they’re encrypting data between themselves that should be accessible to law enforcement. Does it apply to car companies? IoT companies?

      (2) Note they mention “judicial order” and “court order” here. It’s clear (and becomes clearer later) that this includes orders that aren’t warrants, so FISA orders. Which suggests they’re having a problem with encryption under FISA too.

      (3) The Cuckoo Bill builds in compensation. That’s one way companies could fight this: to make sure it would take a lot to render data intelligible.

      (4) I suspect this license language would expand to do scary things with other “licensing” products.

      (4) Note that they’ve expanded the definition of metadata to include “switching, processing, and transmitting” data. I bet that has already been done in secret somewhere.

      (5) The language on destination and switching suggests they’re trying to include location data in metadata.

    • Burr And Feinstein Release Their Anti-Encryption Bill… And It’s More Ridiculous Than Expected

      They’ve been threatening this for months now, but Senators Richard Burr and Dianne Feinstein have finally released a “discussion draft” of their legislation to require backdoors in any encryption… and it’s even more ridiculous than originally expected. Yesterday, we noted that the White House had decided to neither endorse nor oppose the bill, raising at least some questions about whether or not it would actually be released. Previously, Feinstein had said she was waiting for the White House’s approval — but apparently she and Burr decided that a lack of opposition was enough.

      The basics of the bill are exactly what you’d expect. It says that any “device manufacturer, software manufacturer, electronic communication service, remote computing service, provider of wire or electronic or any person who provides a product or method to facilitate communication or the processing or storage of data” must respond to legal orders demanding access to said information. First off, this actually covers a hell of a lot more than was originally expected. By my reading, anyone providing PGP email is breaking the law — because it’s not just about device encryption, but encryption of communications in transit as well. I wonder how they expect to put that genie back in the bottle.

    • Former NSA Chief Urges U.S.-Silicon Valley Deal on Encryption
    • Former NSA Chief Urges U.S.-Tech Deal on Encryption
    • Liberty advocates warn of NSA’s massive new threat to privacy

      In a letter to Defense Intelligence Agency head James Clapper, the groups said the NSA is making policy changes that “would fatally weaken existing restrictions on access to the phone calls, emails, and other data the NSA collects.”

    • Here’s the latest travesty of secrecy from the NSA

      Now, in response to a Freedom of Information Act request, the National Security Agency is withholding its own ethical and legal guidelines, calling them “top secret.” This is ridiculous.

    • GCHQ is having problems meeting Osborne’s 2020 recruitment target

      Blighty’s surveillance and security agency GCHQ is facing significant challenges in meeting the government’s targets for recruitment over the next four years.

      Last year the chancellor promised that 1,900 new recruits would be hired by the intelligence agencies by 2020 – with the lion’s share expected to head to GCHQ in Cheltenham, as total “cyber spending” rises to £3.2bn (by Osborne’s maths).

      However, independent sources close to GCHQ have complained to The Register that the agency would struggle to land the best candidates, with one Cheltenham staffer telling us that they simply didn’t know where the new talent was going to come from.

  • Civil Rights/Policing

    • Leveraging Shame And The Presumption Of Guilt To Destroy Lives And Punish Consenting Adults

      The criminal justice system theoretically operates on a presumption of innocence. An arrest booking is hardly an indicator of guilt, but try telling that to millions of people who believe being accused is no different than being found guilty by a jury. Everyone knows this presumption of guilt exists, despite it being wholly contrary to the basis of our justice system.

      Cops know this best. A high-profile bust is as good as a guilty verdict. So it’s no surprise that they’ve increasingly turned to the greatest shaming mechanism known to man: the internet.

    • NYPD Raises Middle Finger To Public, Oversight In Inspector General’s Year-End Roundup

      The NYPD’s Office of the Inspector General has just released its year-end report summarizing its 2015 oversight work. We covered its use of force report late last year — a report which found the NYPD completely uninterested in policing itself. The report noted the NYPD has “historically… failed to discipline officers who use force without justification.”

      This report points to the OIG’s investigation of chokehold use by NYPD officers — the tactic that ended Eric Garner’s life during his arrest. As is the case with most other excessive uses of force, this tactic — which has been forbidden by department policy — tended to be greeted with shrugs from PD supervisors and a middle finger raised to the general public.

    • Chokehold Audit Paints Grim Portrait of NYPD

      In a report prompted by the death of Staten Island resident Eric Garner, city investigators found the New York City Police Department failed to put officers on trial for using chokeholds in 10 substantiated cases.

    • Stand Your Ground, Unless You’re a Battered Woman

      When victims defend themselves, they put themselves at risk of becoming doubly victimized—first by their abusers, then by the criminal justice system.

    • When Hatred Is Just Around the Corner

      Escaping civil war in Lebanon, my family landed in Dearborn, Michigan, in 1986. Like many immigrants, my parents still speak of Lebanon with the same familiarity they did in the weeks after my aunt opened her doors to her brother, his wife, and their four kids — including me, their clever but slightly odd four-year-old.

      I had one friend, a cousin, and spoke only a few words of English (the necessities: food-related words, “no,” and “dude”). During this time, my social butterfly of a mother tried to convince me through broken English, “You don’t need friends; you have family.” I wasn’t helping my cause. I often wore a cheap red pleather jacket and pants suit with frayed fingerless gloves painted with glitter and told everyone I was Michael Jackson from the Thriller music video.

    • Sharia Villages: Bosnia’s Islamic State Problem

      Radical Islamists have found a new refuge in Bosnia. They recruit fighters, promote jihad and preach a fundamentalist interpretation of Islam — just across the border from the European Union.

    • Bangladeshi student blogger known for secular views hacked to death

      Three motorcycle-riding assailants hacked and shot a student activist to death as he was walking with a friend in Bangladesh’s capital, police said Thursday.

      The killing on Wednesday night follows a string of similar attacks last year, when at least five secular bloggers and publishers were killed, allegedly by radical Islamists.

      Police suspect 28-year-old Nazimuddin Samad was targeted for his outspoken atheism in the Muslim-majority country and for supporting a 2013 movement to demand capital punishment for war crimes involving the country’s independence war against Pakistan in 1971, according to Dhaka Metropolitan Police Assistant Commissioner Nurul Amin.

    • The Body-Worn Camera As State’s Witness: How Cops Control Recordings

      Abusive conduct by police officers — up to and including killing someone for, say, holding a plastic bucket — has always flown under the “your word against ours” radar. But now everyone has a camera, even the cops.

      The push for body-worn cameras is still a good idea, but it has many, many flaws. It won’t save the nation from police misconduct but it will put a dent in it. Back when the NYPD was ordered to begin a body camera pilot program, then-Mayor Bloomberg said the devices would become nothing more than another way to play “gotcha” with good cops.

      [...]

      Officers are actors and directors in their own scenes. Even when performances are captured by bystanders and their cell phones, there’s still plenty of “drama.” Multiple cops swarm the same suspect, blocking the body from view. Officers shout “Stop resisting!” even when subjects are prone with hands behind their back and under the weight of four or five cops. This allows officers to deliver extra amounts of force, instantly justified by the repeated shouts about resistance.

      This scenario has played out again. Footage captured by police body cameras appears to show a tough, physical struggle to subdue a suspect. Shouts of “stop resisting” continue throughout the recording. The up-close-and-personal body cam footage gives every appearance that officers are wrestling with a highly-combative suspect. But footage captured by another camera shows an entirely different scenario.

    • Wrongly-convicted Virginia inmate released from prison

      A man has been released from a Virginia prison after serving more than three decades for crimes authorities now say he didn’t commit.

      Keith Allen Harward walked out of the Nottoway Correctional Center on Friday after the Virginia Supreme Court agreed that DNA evidence proves he’s innocent of the 1982 killing of Jesse Perron and the rape of his wife in Newport News.

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El ¿Porqué 2,657 de los trabajadore de la EPO Fueron Actualmente Menos de los Que Hubieran ido a la Huelga Si No Fuese Por las Obstrucciones de los Chacales de Battistelli

Posted in Europe, Patents at 3:24 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz

English/Original

Article as ODF

Posted in Europa, Patentes at 5:07 pm por el Dr. Roy Schestowitz

Hay muchas bien documentadas técnicas para suprimir huelgas, incluyendouniones amarillas como la FFPE-EPO

Scabs
Fuente: Esquirol

Sumario: Figuras oficiales de la Oficina Europea de Patentes (EPO) no dicen la verdad acerca de la extensión de disturbios en la Oficina, como un lector nos explicó temprano hoy

LA Oficina Europea de Patentes tuvo su día más importante de huelga de ayer, pero sería mucho mayor si no fuera por las tácticas sucias de Battistelli y sus matones. Ya escribímos varios artículos sobre la supresión de la huelga (como la supresión del voto) y tácticas en adelante tenemos algo más de información sobre estas últimas tácticas. Los medios de comunicación en el Reino Unido escribierón al menos dos artículos sobre la huelga. El segundo que encontramos dice que 2,657 es el número exacto de trabajadores que fueron a la huelga. Para citar las partes relevantes: “Más de 2,600 empleados de la Oficina Europea de Patentes (EPO) se fueron de huelga ayer, en lo que una fuente de la EPO ha dicho que es el número más alto de huelguistas que la oficina ha visto. De acuerdo a la fuente, 2,078 empleados se fuero a la huelga el dia entero, mientras que 579 personas lo hicieron por medio dia. El número total alcanzó a 2,657 a traves de los cuatro sedes de la EPO. El 2014, 1,455 de los empleados se fueron a la huelga.”
Pero la pregunta verdadera ¿Cuántas personas quisieron irse de huelga pero no pudieron? “FYI,” un lector nos dijo, “Las figuras de la huelga de la EPO” no son toda la historia, aquí la tenemos por completo:

De acuerdo con las cifras oficiales de huelga, publicado por la EP HR Elodie Bergot el 8 de abril de 2016, un total de 2.657 empleados de EPO se registraron en huelga el 7 de abril (2.078 de un día completo, 579 de medio día). Esta parece ser la mayor participación oficial huelga jamás alcanzada por el personal de la EPO y corresponde a casi el 40% de los actualmente cerca de 6.800 empleados de EPO. Para comparar con la cifra más alta de paro oficial anterior (al menos desde el Sr. Battistelli se convirtió en presidente), hasta el 20 de noviembre de 2014, era 2.537. En ese momento, Florian Mueller informó que “el personal de 2,538 que representa el 36,7% de la población activa” participó en la huelga («http://www.fosspatents.com/2014/12/european-patent-office-examiners.html »).
Como de costumbre, los administradores, asistentes de gerente, en libertad condicional, empleados enfermos, que trabajan para la administración o de prestación de servicios de infraestructura personal no estaban autorizados a atacar. gestión de EPO utiliza una serie de trucos para dificultar a los empleados a ir a la huelga el 7 de abril, por ejemplo mediante la programación de reuniones para ese día y mediante la aplicación de sus habituales tácticas de intimidación. Y esta semana, (presumiblemente) varios cientos de miembros del personal en la rama en Rijswijk se encontraban en licencia debido a las vacaciones de la Escuela Británica en La Haya, y no tienen la oportunidad de ir a la huelga.
Teniendo en cuenta esto, más de la mitad de los que tenían la posibilidad de salir, estaban en huelga el 7 de abril de 2016. Jueves Esto demuestra que la motivación para ir a la huelga debe haber sido extremadamente alto esta vez.
Las cifras de huelga ejercerán presión sobre el presidente de EPO y sin duda tendrá una influencia en la reunión “Junta 28″ del Consejo de Administración prevista para la próxima semana.

¿Qué podemos deducir de esto? 1) muchos de los trabajadores de la EPO están tan molestos con la gerenciaque voluntariamente tomaron el riesgo de un corte de sus pagos. 2) la gerencia de la EPO continúa usando toda clase de trucos para evitar que los trabajadores ejerciten su derecho a la protesta/huelga (sin embargo hubo retribución/represalias). 3) Estiempo de sacar a Battistelli la próxima semanamientras la crisis sólo se profundiza y Battistelli no ha hecho virtualmente nada de lo que se le pidió hace tres semanas (para que desperdiciar otros dos meses).

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