𝕿𝖊𝖈𝖍𝖗𝖎𝖌𝖍𝖙𝖘 Bulletin for Tuesday, November 24, 2020 ┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅ Generated Wed 25 Nov 00:08:22 GMT 2020 Created by Dr. Roy Schestowitz (𝚛𝚘𝚢 (at) 𝚜𝚌𝚑𝚎𝚜𝚝𝚘𝚠𝚒𝚝𝚣 (dot) 𝚌𝚘𝚖) Full hyperlinks for navigation omitted but are fully available in the originals The corresponding HTML versions are at 𝒕𝒆𝒄𝒉𝒓𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕𝒔.𝒐𝒓𝒈 Older bulletins can be found at 𝒉𝒕𝒕𝒑://𝒕𝒆𝒄𝒉𝒓𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕𝒔.𝒐𝒓𝒈/𝒕𝒙𝒕-𝒂𝒓𝒄𝒉𝒊𝒗𝒆𝒔 Full IPFS index in 𝒉𝒕𝒕𝒑://𝒕𝒆𝒄𝒉𝒓𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕𝒔.𝒐𝒓𝒈/𝒊𝒑𝒇𝒔 and as plain text in 𝒉𝒕𝒕𝒑://𝒕𝒆𝒄𝒉𝒓𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕𝒔.𝒐𝒓𝒈/𝒊𝒑𝒇𝒔/𝒕𝒙𝒕 ╒═══════════════════ 𝐑𝐄𝐂𝐄𝐍𝐓 𝐁𝐔𝐋𝐋𝐄𝐓𝐈𝐍𝐒 ════════════════════════════════════╕ Previous bulletins in IPFS (past 7 days): QmZ5Fkb4CfotE4Z3E4kaupN5HurudVED9A1JMquN4cmWqX QmRPa3Fa8wFE1JwGtPrdbDGq5VMJ5CinSSSVt2eyZHbt7c QmQ4qcYbFg6RCtajMJBcgoESAn4Cj6wafngVaCsGFVmMTj QmY8CNiuBXEWgEde7biLS6voUiyGg6AsEAjFXJkFEqGUED QmTpnBsAUeyBLJL2NGgLi6vhAmf6Kr6gWhTZYGrmt9U7hv QmZ2hDQGLcFiBexEJSLeXytE1arKzw2acB1Tjz9a89V4Fa Qmd6CkrB6BxvbpYc2A4inaPdP66KBtq72z4VXkuwzSMgkP ╒═══════════════════ 𝐈𝐍𝐃𝐄𝐗 ═══════════════════════════════════════════════════╕ Bulletin articles (as HTML) to comment on (requires login): http://techrights.org/2020/11/24/corrupting-media-and-academia-again/#comments http://techrights.org/2020/11/24/epo-staff-litigation/#comments http://techrights.org/2020/11/24/epo-vico-lies/#comments http://techrights.org/2020/11/24/fake-dialogues/#comments http://techrights.org/2020/11/24/house-arrest-at-epo/#comments http://techrights.org/2020/11/24/irc-log-231120/#comments http://techrights.org/2020/11/24/lots-of-good-news-today/#comments http://techrights.org/2020/11/24/vico-swpats-karma/#comments Followed by Daily Links (assorted news picks curated and categorised): http://techrights.org/2020/11/24/animation-framework-in-gtk/#comments http://techrights.org/2020/11/24/istio-1-6-14/#comments ╒═══════════════════ 𝐀𝐑𝐓𝐈𝐂𝐋𝐄 ═════════════════════════════════════════════════╕ ****** 11.24.20 ****** ***** EPO_Management_is_Still_Distracting_From_the_‘Elephant_in_the_Room’_by Corrupting_Media_and_Academia ***** Posted in Deception, Europe, Patents at 7:57 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz EPO staff suffers a lot; but the EPO’s managers paint rosy pictures to confuse the masses [Elephant falls] [EPO panzer]Summary: Under the EPO’s dictatorship the law is being routinely violated; in order for the public to not pay attention or receive mixed messages (resulting in confusion) the EPO is manufacturing so-called ‘studies’ (which patent offices aren’t supposed to do; they should focus on patent- granting while complying with the law) THE pseudoscience industry is big and likely growing. It gives people false hopes; not too long ago, as we noted here, the EPO mentioned homeopathy, saying it was not backed by evidence. That’s an understatement. But the EPO’s regime isn’t backed by evidence either. All it can do is some annual publicity stunt for photo ops with actual scientists who actually accomplish something, wrongly insinuating that those accomplishment are owed to patents and nothing else. The “EIA” festivals are an insult to science because they associate scientists with Europe’s most corrupt institution; people who sometimes win Nobel prizes are compelled to take photos with criminals. Lots to be gained from it (for the criminals, not those scientists). “The “EIA” festivals are an insult to science because they associate scientists with Europe’s most corrupt institution; people who sometimes win Nobel prizes are compelled to take photos with criminals.”And published some hours ago at the EPO‘s ‘news’ section was the_latest_piece_of_garbage (warning: epo.org link) seeking to associate actual scientists and the public interest… with the EPO. The management of the EPO has been bribing universities for biased ‘studies’ (on a range of issues, including UPC), in effect corrupting academia as much as it had corrupted the media (with bribes and blackmail). Once again the tyrants at the EPO are doing so-called ‘studies’ (marketing). The Office is doing ‘research’ about itself… once again. Anything to distract from the corruption there… A new study published by the European Patent Office (EPO) today, 24 November 2020, shows that European universities and public research organisations use European patents as the main instrument to exploit their inventions commercially. It finds that these institutions already exploit more than a third (36%) of their inventions, with another 42% of their inventions planned to be exploited. The study, entitled “Valorisation of scientific results – Patent commercialisation scoreboard: European universities and public research organisations”, further finds that licensing is by far the preferred channel of commercialisation (accounting for 70% of the commercialisation of inventions), followed by R&D co-operation (14%) and the sale of patents (9%). The puff piece includes passages like “says EPO President António Campinos…” (the hallmark of Benoît_Battistelli‘s self-promotional garbage and lies. Is António_Campinos different from him except in_name?) The EPO is still corruption-led. █ [New EPO study: European patents preferred tool for the commercialisation of inventions developed by Europe universities and public research organisations] The latest publicity stunt from the EPO is widely known as ‘science-washing’, e.g. by misusing white coats (to portray something unscientific or antiscientific and non-factual as a “science”) ╒═══════════════════ 𝐀𝐑𝐓𝐈𝐂𝐋𝐄 ═════════════════════════════════════════════════╕ ****** 11.24.20 ****** ***** Massive_Collective_Action_Begins_at_the_European_Patent_Office_Today, Demanding_Change_and_Forewarning_the_Management_(Litigation) ***** Posted in Europe, Finance, Patents at 9:57 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz [Financial Stock] [Chasing The Markets]Summary: The financial_"hoax"_at_the_EPO (taking away money from staff to feed a_gambling_addiction_of_managers) needs to stop; staff has begun mass-mailing the management, threatening legal action THE EPO is trying_to_distract_the_public from a crisis long brewing at the Office. António_Campinos has lower_trust/approval_rates than CEIPI‘s Benoît Battistelli (Campinos also came from CEIPI) and there are legal_actions on the way (EPO staff against the EPO). Several weeks ago we learned that some European publishers had been studying EPO affairs; knowing and seeing some letters, however, we know that the Mafia which runs the EPO will resort to blackmail and bribes to prevent negative publicity. Will that succeed? “The European citizens definitely deserve to know what’s being done in their name.”Regardless of whether or not mainstream media writes about EPO corruption, we have enough material that we can publish here to show the public some internal EPO affairs. The European citizens definitely deserve to know what’s being done in their name. Sometimes with their money, too… This morning SUEPO circulated among staff a Central Staff Committee publication bearing the following message (“TH/MN” means The Hague/Munich, where well over 90% of staff is based): **** General assemblies of staff TH/MN: E-mailing your feelings to the President **** Dear colleagues, We thank you very much you for the high participation of the general assemblies held in Munich and The Hague on Thursday. We feel a momentum among staff, the feeling of enough is enough. We have suffered from many reforms that have had a cumulative detrimental effect, without any credible justification, the most recent of which being the implementation of the new salary adjustment procedure (SAP). In both assemblies, we call on you to make your views known by sending an email to the President and VP4, preferably adding in cc your local staff committee to keep your staff reps updated. A number of colleagues have already done so, and the depth of feeling portrayed in those emails has left a strong impression on us, hopefully also on the President, and we sincerely thank you for your actions. We received requests during the general assemblies to draft a template for the email. In this publication, we provide an example of an email as well as a short list of questions as inspiration to put your thoughts into writing. We appreciate that colleagues have varying views on the best action to take to express our discontent, but we hope that a significant proportion of you are on-board to help demonstrate the frustration felt with a flood of emails. We further want to express that this collective action, to evidence that we are not at all happy with the outcome of the SAP, is just the beginning. Sincerely yours, The Central Staff Committee – CSC The corresponding letter is dated yesterday and it says this: “We have suffered from many reforms that have had a cumulative detrimental effect, without any credible justification, the most recent of which being the implementation of the new salary adjustment procedure (SAP).” Here’s the full text: Munich,23.11.2020 sc20174cp E-mailing your feelings to the President Dear colleagues, We thank you very much you for the high participation of the general assemblies held in Munich and The Hague on Thursday. We feel a momentum among staff, the feeling of enough is enough. We have suffered from many reforms that have had a cumulative detrimental effect, without any credible justification, the most recent of which being the implementation of the new salary adjustment procedure (SAP). The outcome of the latter can be found in this CSC publication. During both assemblies, we informed you that in the meeting of the CSC with the President on Wednesday, the President stated that he did not believe that staff were furious about the outcome of the SAP, and therefore he did not have any incentive to change it. So now we call on you to make your views known by sending an email to president@epo.org and vp4office@epo.org, preferably adding in cc DHSTCOM@epo.org / MNSTCOM@epo.org / berlinstcomm@epo.org / pvwien@epo.org to keep your staff reps updated. A number of colleagues have already done so, and the depth of feeling portrayed in those emails has left a strong impression on us, hopefully also on the President, and we sincerely thank you for your actions. We received requests during the general assemblies to draft a template for the email. Here we provide an example: Dear Mr Campinos, dear Ms Simon, I was informed during the General Assembly held by our Staff Representation of the first impact that our new SAP will have on my salary progression. I would like hereby to express my discontent and disappointment regarding the new SAP, which to my knowledge is shared by many colleagues. Such a salary adjustment does not meet my legitimate expectations that my remuneration, at the very least, keeps up with the living costs at my place of employment and maintains equality of treatment. This measure comes on top of past measures that have also breached my legitimate expectations. I can only hope that you will take staff’s concerns into consideration. Unfortunately, if the SAP is applied as is currently foreseen, I see no other option than to seek legal remedy, beginning with a Request for Review. Finally, I urge you to discuss reasonable remedies for the SAP with the Staff Representation. With kind regards, However, we feel that the impact of writing to the President is significantly stronger if colleagues put their views into their own words. Therefore, in order to assist you with drafting your personal emails, or with adding extra information to the template above, we provide a short list of questions as inspiration to put your thoughts into writing. • How do you feel about this year’s salary adjustment being lower than local inflation (–1.2% in NL, –0.3% in DE, –0.7% in AT)? Particularly when considering that despite the pandemic, the Office surplus for 2020 is estimated to be €310m and the number of filings as of Q3 have not reduced with respect to last year. • The effect of the new SAP this year is equivalent to losing approximately 1 step, and if a similar result were to materialise in the next two rounds, it would amount to a loss of around 10% of your salary in only three years, when compared to the old SAP. Does that influence your work mentality? • Are you concerned about the influence of the SAP on the amount of our monthly pensions, which is particularly pertinent for those at the beginning of their careers and those in the NPS who already have a very limited maximum monthly amount? • Have the other recent reforms, proposals, and changes influenced your view of the EPO as an employer? (e.g. the new career system, restructuring of the formalities teams, automatisation of your tasks, constant changes in your working tools, the education and childcare reform proposal, introduction of fixed-term contracts for all newcomers, changes to the SSP contributions and the 16:1 distribution of SSP cash injections, ever-increasing targets/workload) • How do you perceive the social dialogue between staff representation and the administration? Do you feel your elected staff committees are being listen to by management? We appreciate that colleagues have varying views on the best action to take to express our discontent, but we hope that a significant proportion of you are on-board to help demonstrate the frustration felt with a flood of emails. We further want to express that this collective action, to evidence that we are not at all happy with the outcome of the SAP, is just the beginning. Sincerely yours, The Central Staff Committee Notice how they put it at the end: “We appreciate that colleagues have varying views on the best action to take to express our discontent, but we hope that a significant proportion of you are on-board to help demonstrate the frustration felt with a flood of emails. We further want to express that this collective action, to evidence that we are not at all happy with the outcome of the SAP, is just the beginning.” A lot of readers of ours might not be familiar with the basis for these grievances (there are several angles/aspects to these, not purely financial). Earlier this month two publications were disseminated to explain what the Office was doing with SAP (not the company), in effect lying to staff and to member states in order to pillage and plunder at the cost of — or expense to Europeans to the tune of — billions of euros. As a bonus, there’s a link to the far right (Mercer family, boosters of racist sites and Donald Trump propaganda outlets). Exactly one week ago the following open letter (open for staff to see) was sent to Campinos regarding the “Salary “Adjustment” Procedure” (they put scare quotes around the misleading euphemism) for 2020. “Three proposals for repairing the EPO new salary “adjustment” procedure” were put forth, saying they were “looking forward to a positive sign from the President (and his Administration) regarding our proposals.” Of course nothing has happened since. “In this open letter to the President,” they said, “we propose three concrete measures.” “The new SAP is currently a disaster in terms of equality of purchasing power and parallelism with the evolution of the salaries of national civil servants.” Going back to the first letter, the representatives “feel a momentum among staff, the feeling of enough is enough.” This is the reason for the escalation. The latest letter to Campinos reads as follows: Reference: sc20172cl Date: 17.11.2020 Mr António Campinos President of the EPO ISAR – R.1081 OPEN LETTER Proposals for repairing the EPO new salary “adjustment” procedure Dear Mr President, The new salary adjustment procedure is cutting EPO staff salaries and pensions massively. Instead of an adjustment of about 3.8 % in July 2020, the newly introduced “sustainability clause” will cap it at 0.5% in January (in The Netherlands and in Germany). Such savings go way beyond the forecasts and are hitting staff unnecessarily. Regarding the forecasts, the draft budget for 2021 (CA/50/20)1 mentions an adjustment of 2.2% from the year 2021 onwards delivering EUR 2bn savings until 2038. The Advisory Group on Remuneration has argued (GCC/DOC 17/20)2 that by the end of 2025 already EUR 1bn will have been saved. This assessment seems to be very conservative. The adjustment in 2021 of 0.5% instead of 3.8% will already contribute EUR 0.95 bn to the savings that will be made until the end of 2025. Moreover, the operating surplus of the EPO is predicted to reach EUR 310m by the end of 2020. EPO staff should have been thanked for their efforts during the on-going pandemic, since they were the ones who maintained business continuity and who even made possible that +6% European patents were published compared to the plan. Unfortunately, the administration already anticipates that there will be no adjustment at all for next year due to the application of the exception clause. The situation is unsustainable for EPO staff (and pensioners). The new salary adjustment procedure must now be repaired together with proper transitional measures. This adds on top with the proper settlement of the previous procedure to reduce litigations. _____ 1 See pages 4, 9, 67 and 168. 2 See paragraph 58. ===================================================================== We propose the following measures: 1. Winding up the previous salary adjustment procedure: Settlement of the moderation clause effect The moderation clause introduced by your predecessor in the previous salary adjustment procedure has resulted in delayed adjustments negatively affecting a number of countries. A measure is foreseen in Article 1(2) of CA/D 4/20 but its implementation is still pending and is in our view incomplete. Simply paying out lump sums cannot solve litigation. We suggest: • To adjust the scales of all countries affected by the moderation clause during the period 2014-2019 (e.g. The Netherlands, Sweden etc) and update all scales from 1 July 2019; • To pay the respective contributions into the pension schemes of active staff. The positive effects would be as follows: • Such contributions into the New Pension Scheme and the SSP would be for instance of particular benefit for staff in the lower grades. • Updating all scales with effect from 1 July 2019 would allow solving the problem of the Luxemburg scale which will otherwise be hit hard by the recently introduced sustainability clause in the new method. 2. Transitional measures: Adapting the scales as a compensation for postponing the adjustment from July to January Article 9(2) of CA/D 4/20 effects a six-month transition from the previous salary adjustment procedure to the new one. However, it remains unclear which procedure will be applied over this period and how it will be implemented. Merely paying out lump sums might trigger further litigation. We suggest: • To apply the result of the new salary adjustment procedure (i.e. 0.50% in The Netherlands and Germany) on the salary scales as from 1 July 2020. • To pay out a lump sum of the remainder of the same period (e.g. 3.28% for Germany and 3.3% for The Netherlands). ===================================================================== The positive effect would be that the adjusted scales would lag less behind the real economic evolution. Please note that adjusting the scales to compensate for the six-month delay in adjustments is the solution which was implemented by the Co-ordinated organisations when they introduced the same change in the past. At the EPO the cumulative adjustments on 1 July 2020 and 1 January 2021 would then amount to 1% which would remain far below the real result of the procedure (3.8%). It would require a specific proposal to the Administrative Council. In budgetary terms the normal adjustment of the scales would still be cut by 70% instead of being cut by 85%. 3. Amendments to the new salary adjustment procedure The results of the new salary adjustment procedure for the year 2020 have now been confirmed: salaries will be adjusted on 1 January 2021 less than inflation meaning that staff (and pensioners) will lose purchasing power. This contradict the Office’s promise made in your Communiqué of 9 April 2020. The most obvious pitfalls must be corrected. We suggest: • To propose to the Administrative Council the necessary amendments to Article 18 of CA/D 4/20 to implement the measures as described in points 1 and 2 above; • To amend as well the implementation of the carry-forward mechanism of Article 10 of the Implementing Rule for Article 64 ServRegs in such a way that any positive adjustment remaining from Article 9 (“sustainability clause”) accumulated every year shall be used to adjust the salary and pension scales accordingly after 3 years (mid- term review of the SAP). The positive effect would be that the scales are at least adjusted to the real economic evolution in the middle of the application period of the salary adjustment procedure. In view of the fact that the exception clause will be triggered next year, there is no risk that the EPO would lose control over the evolution of the salary mass in that period. Whilst still allowing huge savings for the Organisation this further proposal would re-establish purchasing power equality after three years and also be more in line with what is in force in the EU institutions, for which the negative GDP evolution this year is triggering only a postponement of the 2.5% part of the adjustment corresponding to the specific indicator and their scales will be fully updated when the GDP has recovered. ===================================================================== 4. Application of the exception clause – amendment to GCC/DOC 7/2020 (interpretation of the interaction between Articles 9 and 11 of the new procedure) The application of the “sustainability clause” (Article 9) for the year 2020 causes an excess adjustment which is not applied in January 2021 (GCC/DOC 7/2020, paragraph 24: +3.3% for Germany, +3.3% for the Netherlands, +2.4% for Austria and +1.6 % for Belgium). However, document GCC/DOC 7/2020 (paragraph 27) states: “According to the latest real GDP 2020 forecast available as of 31 October 2020, it is probable that the exception clause may (Article 11) be triggered next year, for the threshold below -3%. If so, no salary adjustment would apply for 2021.” (emphasis added) In our view, this statement does not reflect correctly Article 11(1) which provides that: “The delayed adjustment shall not be taken into account for the purpose of Article 9 above.” Our interpretation is that whichever adjustment foreseen for next year will be delayed (Article 11) except for the part that would have been integrated next year in application of Article 9. In legal terms, the provisions of the sustainability clause shall not be cancelled by the application of the exception clause. We therefore suggest that the document is amended as follows: “According to the latest real GDP 2020 forecast available as of 31 October 2020, it is probable that the exception clause may be triggered next year, for the threshold below -3%. If so, the only adjustment of the salaries taking place from 1 January 2022 will be due to the application of Article 9(4) up to the ceiling provided in Article 9(2). Any adjustment resulting from Article 2 to 4 in the reference period from 1 July 2020 to 30 June 2021 will be postponed in accordance with Article 11.” ===================================================================== Conclusion The new salary adjustment procedure is currently a disaster in terms of equality of purchasing power and parallelism with the evolution of the salaries of national civil servants. Furthermore, the results of the SAP are producing savings well in excess of the EUR 2bn envisaged. As a duty of care of the Organisation not to harm staff if this is not financially justified, we are looking forward to a positive sign from your administration regarding our proposals. Yours sincerely, Alain Dumont Chairman of the Central Staff Committee Several days earlier a fact sheet was passed around to explain the SAP scam, accompanied by this message: **** Salary “adjustment” procedure for 2020: Loss of purchasing power for all staff (and pensioners) **** Instead of an adjustment of about 3.8% in July 2020, we get 0.5% in January 2021 (in NL and DE). This_is_equivalent_to_a_pay_cut_of_about one_step. Each year the salaries at International Organisations (IOs) are adjusted according to a salary adjustment procedure (SAP). The same applied so far at the EPO with a procedure respecting two fundamental principles: equality of purchasing power among the places of employment and parallelism with the evolution of the salaries of civil servants in member states. Based on the flawed Financial Study of 2019 by Oliver Wyman & Mercer, Mr Campinos has decided to push a “sustainability clause” – in form of a capping mechanism – on the SAP at the EPO and to ignore the warnings of the Staff Representation that this capping mechanism would abolish both principles and apply arbitrarily. The results for the year 2020 are disastrous: salaries will be adjusted on 1 January 2021 less than inflation meaning that staff (and pensioners) will lose purchasing power. In conclusion, EPO staff (and pensioners) no longer have a salary adjustment procedure worth the name, but rather an arbitrary mechanism for cutting their purchasing power. This is unheard-of in other International Organisations. Massive appeals will have to be lodged against this year’s adjustment and again next year. The sheet had some tables in it. We’ve converted these to HTML but left out colour: Munich 12.11.2020 sc20171cp – 0.2.1- 4.2.2 **** Salary “adjustment” procedure for 2020 Loss of purchasing power for all staff: **** *** Instead of an adjustment of about 3.8% in July 2020, we get 0.5% in January 2021 (in NL and DE). This is equivalent to a pay cut of about one step. *** Each year the salaries at International Organisations (IOs) are adjusted according to a salary adjustment procedure (SAP). The same applied so far at the EPO with a procedure respecting two fundamental principles: equality of purchasing power among the places of employment and parallelism with the evolution of the salaries of civil servants in member states. Based on the flawed Financial Study of 2019 by Oliver Wyman & Mercer1, Mr Campinos has decided to push a “sustainability clause” – in form of a capping mechanism – on the SAP at the EPO, and to ignore the warnings of the Staff Representation that this capping mechanism would abolish both principles and apply arbitrarily. The results for the year 2020 are disastrous: salaries will be adjusted on 1 January 2021 less than inflation meaning that staff (and pensioners) will lose purchasing power. Mr Campinos’ promise… In his communiqué of 09-04-2020, Mr Campinos stated that (emphasis added): “There is no desire to cut staff purchasing power or impose unnecessary savings. There is a desire, however, to make sure that we have a stable and predictable method that generates savings, ensures salaries continue to grow, even above eurozone inflation and even in times of financial crisis, and, above all, make sure we can do so for many years into the future.“ … vs. the facts The results of the new method before capping and after capping reveal an impressive reduction of the salary “adjustment” as of 01-07-2020. Country Calculated adjustment Capped adjustment Difference AT 2,73% 0,36% -2,37% BE 1,80% 0,24% -1,56% DE 3,78% 0,50% -3,28% NL 3,81% 0,50% -3,30% ______ 1 See the selected analysis by Ernst & Young of the 2019 Financial Study and its background. ===================================================================== Overall, our salary adjustments are reduced by -86% because of the capping mechanism. Contrary to the President’s words “not to cut staff purchasing power” and “to ensure salaries continuing to grow”, the results also show clearly a huge loss of purchasing power in The Hague, Vienna, Berlin and Munich. Country Inflation (HICP2) Capped adjustment Difference AT 1,10% 0,36% -0,74% BE 0,20% 0,24% +0,04% DE 0,80% 0,50% -0,30% NL 1,70% 0,50% -1,20% Whichever reference one takes (cost of living evolution measured by parities or by reference to national inflation) the results in the above tables show the arbitrariness of the method introduced under the governance of Mr Campinos. Losses are higher where the evolution of the cost of living is higher, which is contrary to what a salary adjustment method should result in. One could illustrate it even better with reference to some pensioner scales, like the Turkish scale which should have been adapted by 14,86% but will be adapted by 1,97%. This means a loss of purchasing power of 12,89% in one year, due to arbitrariness. The same applies for Luxemburg (-15,67% this year), which scale should have been corrected as in the Coordinated Organisations but will not be. One can expect lots of unhappy staff and pensioners every year as this arbitrariness will hit randomly year after year. The operating surplus of the EPO is predicted to reach €310million by the end of 2020. This achievement was made possible thanks to the dedication of staff who worked hard despite the on-going pandemic. EPO staff should have been thanked for their efforts, since business continuity could be maintained and even +6% published European patents than planned have been produced. Staff certainly does not deserve a massive cut in purchasing power. The benchmark with other IOs for 2020 shows that EPO staff will have the worst salary “adjustment” in 2020. The administration has tried to argue away any criticism of the capping method by claiming that the carry-over mechanism is a fix-all solution. However, as will be laid-out in a future publication, the cash pay-out associated with the carry-over is just a cheap attempt to pacify our discontent, and we will not be fooled by such a transparent effort to throw sand in our eyes. For 2021, the administration already anticipates that there will be no adjustment at all due to the application of the exception clause, another limiting mechanism in the salary adjustment procedure of the EPO which is very likely to kick in next year due to the drop in Gross Domestic Product this year. EPO staff (and pensioners) no longer have a salary adjustment procedure worth the name, but rather an arbitrary mechanism for cutting their purchasing power. This is unheard-of in other International Organisations. Massive appeals will have to be lodged against this year’s adjustment and again next year. ______ 2 HICP = Harmonised Index of Consumer Prices We look forward to the next steps, seeing that there’s a boiling point being reached. The representatives say “the feeling of enough is enough” is consistent (across workers). We’re back to 2015. Will representatives be subjected to more threats? Will union-busting activities resume (in their previous levels)? A dysfunctional patent office is a real threat to the economy; the examiners want to rectify things and avoid collapse. █ ╒═══════════════════ 𝐀𝐑𝐓𝐈𝐂𝐋𝐄 ═════════════════════════════════════════════════╕ ****** 11.24.20 ****** ***** Dr._Bausch_Questions_the_Merits_and_Claims_of_EPO_Management_Regarding ViCo_(‘Skynet’_Virtual_‘Courts’) ***** Posted in Europe, Law, Patents at 6:34 pm by Dr. Roy Schestowitz As did a few other law firms as of late, mostly for practical reasons rather than illegality (ripe_for_espionage) [Dollars] Can’t anyone see that outsourcing ‘European’ legal proceedings to the United States is outright absurd and unlawful? Summary: Few courageous attorneys are willing to speak out about (and against) what EPO management is doing right now, in effect exploiting a public health crisis to override the law, spy on lots of people, outsource legal proceedings to the United States and so on THE management of the EPO isn’t fooling staff. The management will_have_its_E- mail_boxes_stuffed_by_complaints_this_week. This kind of action is long overdue and may be effective when staff cannot congregate (legally) to protest. “Well, as it turns out, not everyone in the patent/legal profession appreciates this ridiculous rush to ViCo, which now forces (or compels) parties to participate in something illegal (SUEPO cited the relevant laws or regulations).”What about law firms and attorneys? As it turns out, those with a spine are willing to speak_out and we’re thankful to the few that do. Thorsten Bausch (Hoffmann Eitle) wrote about the EPO’s management breaking the law (again), this time by rushing to ViCo (or VICO, the spelling varies). Laws replaced by buzzwords and catchy acronyms? The “EPO should also listen to the parties’ concerns,” Dr. Bausch explains, “against oral proceedings by VICO in an individual case and take them seriously.” [Stocks] As we put it the_other_week, using an analogy and moreover paraphrasing the EPO’s misleading text: “Nuclear weapons advances have been broadly welcomed by the military profession.” Well, as it turns out, not everyone in the patent/legal profession appreciates this ridiculous rush to ViCo, which now forces (or compels) parties to participate in something illegal (SUEPO cited_the_relevant_laws_or regulations). From Dr. Bausch’s analysis/opinion: With that, we are back in the present. Just recently, the EPO President has ordered (oktroyiert) that oral proceedings before the Opposition Divisions will from now on take place via videoconference (VICO). Consent of the parties will be no longer required. [...] So, to cut it short, VICO as a means to hold oral proceedings in opposition proceedings were available since (at least) May 2020. Yet alas, they were not accepted by “the patent profession” to an extent sufficient to clear the EPO’s backlog. Thus, time to tell the profession how to do it properly. Thank you, Mr. President. It is more the style of this communication that disturbs me than the substance of the President’s decision. I (and I think this applies to the majority of the patent profession) do realize that we live in difficult times, and that oral proceedings in person before the Opposition Divisions are not exactly what should be done in order to keep your contacts to the necessary minimum. I also understand that the EPO is building up a backlog of cases if no or only a few decisions can be made in COVID-19 times. The patent profession will suffer at least as much from this backlog as the EPO itself. Just imagine if you have to attend to (and ideally win) 2 or more oral proceedings every week… – So, I understand that something should be done to avoid this unpleasant state of affairs. But is this not the point in time where to conduct a public consultation and collect both the ideas of stakeholders and their concerns before announcing such a decision? Conversely, if you understand your position as the boss of an Octroybureau, why bother? [...] So this new Article would enable and empower the Boards of Appeal to adopt a “new normal”, i.e. oral proceedings by videoconference “if the Board considers it appropriate to do so“. Notably, this new Article in its present form would apply indefinitely, i.e. may well outlive the current COVID-19 situation. I would not be surprised if the Boards of Appeal and their President would tell us that this is definitely not intended and that the Boards would certainly return to the “old normal” after the end of the pandemic. I would even accept and believe that at face value. However, this is precisely the problem of enablement laws – you are completely dependent on the goodwill of the persons you have empowered. I personally would therefore much prefer a legal solution that is either limited in time from the beginning or made dependent on a declaration of the President of the Boards of Appeal or (better) by the Administrative Council that there is a state of emergency due to a pandemic, during which special rules apply, but these rules cease to be applied once this state of emergency has ended. If my understanding is correct, this is also how several contracting states (including Germany) have formulated their infection protection laws. [...] Conversely, the EPO should also listen to the parties’ concerns, if any, against oral proceedings by VICO in an individual case and take them seriously. Some clever commenter has already made the point we last made yesterday, with respect to software_patents_in_Europe: “How many patents are there over videoconferencing? Even the EPO can’t tell if it is a legal solution that respects all the patents they granted themselves.” Yesterday we joked that those webchats of theirs can be taken down by a patent troll engaging in injunctions, patent assertion activities (blackmail) and so on. We already know about some European GNU/Linux developers who face such abuse, thanks in part to the corrupt EPO granting patents it never should have granted. It hurts everybody. At the moment there are a couple more comments in there. It’s good to see Dr. Bausch back to asking the “tough questions” — the sorts of questions that Benoît_Battistelli and António_Campinos can only ever distract from using fluff/noise_du_jour. █ ╒═══════════════════ 𝐀𝐑𝐓𝐈𝐂𝐋𝐄 ═════════════════════════════════════════════════╕ ****** 11.24.20 ****** ***** EPO’s_Central_Staff_Committee_on_Latest_Meeting_With_Office_Dictator:_“No Meaningful_Discussion_Could_Take_Place.” ***** Posted in Europe, Finance, Patents at 6:58 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz [EUIPO outsourcing] Summary: Whilst allegedly preparing legal_action the staff representatives at the EPO report on the lack of progress after so-called ‘dialogues’ (merely a false impression of consultation) TWO days ago we shared_here a publication informally entitled “16 for me and 1 for you” (it’s about grossly imbalanced wealth distribution by EPO President António_Campinos, referred to as “16:1 ratio” below; remember Campinos sent EUIPO jobs abroad). Is Campinos a president or a demolition man with suit and tie? “…remember Campinos sent EUIPO jobs abroad…”As recently as early November the Central Staff Committee wrote about its ‘meeting’ with Campinos — a ‘meeting’ in which he continued to merely fake a “dialogue”. In Central Staff Committee’s own words: We welcome the transfers of funds in the RFPSS and in the Salary Savings Plan (SSP). However, we stressed that the distribution key for the SSP was even more unfair than in previous years. The Administration acknowledged that the 16:1 ratio between the injections for a G17.1 colleague vs a G7.1 colleague was correct. When we objected to the lack of discussion on the content of the “emergency” teleworking measures, the President replied that we were merely being formalistic. No meaningful discussion could take place. The meeting confirmed our impression that the President intends to make the transition from emergency measures to “New Normal” gradual, putting Staff and its Representation before “faits accomplis”. When we point at weaknesses of the current conditions of employment or suggest improvements, we regret that the President often reacts by announcing that the conditions could in fact be worse. We would expect a more staff-oriented approach. Here is the full publication, regarding a ‘meeting’ that was basically a webchat: Munich, 06.11.2020 sc20169cp – 0.2.1/6.2.1 **** Report on the GCC meeting on 27 October 2020 **** The GCC met again by videoconference. Transfer_of_Funds_from_the_Office’s_Treasury_to_the_RFPSS_and_Salary Savings_Plan_(CA/56/20) The document on the transfer of funds into the pension schemes was the single item on the agenda for consultation. We emphasised that we appreciate the transfers in the RFPSS and in the Salary Savings Plan (SSP). However, we stressed that the distribution key for the SSP was even more unfair than in previous years1. The administration acknowledged that the 16:1 ratio between the injections for a G17.1 colleague vs a G7.1 colleague was correct. It argued that it was also “technically fair”. The President and his administration further argued that the distribution key could only be changed when the entire pension system was reviewed, adding that the present contribution share of staff (one third by staff vs two thirds by the Office) was in fact too low. On a more positive note, he added that the Office would also work towards making the SSP lump sum payment as safe as possible from taxation by national tax authorities. Extension_of_Emergency_Teleworking_Guidelines The President’s intention was only to inform us, with a one-pager, of his decision to continue with the “measures currently in force” and his intention to extend the temporary guidelines on telework until 15 September 20212. Although we support the general idea of giving staff the possibility to telework during the pandemic, we objected that the topic of the teleworking guidelines was on the agenda for information only. We had already protested in June about unclarities in the measures in force at the time, which were scattered over the Intranet and constantly evolving3. The actual situation has evolved further and it is not clear what forms part of the teleworking guidelines ___ 1 See our publication “16 for me and 1 for you”. 2 The document actually ascribes the decision and the intention to “the Office”. We wonder whether the President is reluctant to take responsibility. 3 See our Report on the GCC meeting of 4 June 2020 ===================================================================== which are being extended. Instead of being “informed” of an extension date, we should rather discuss the content of the concrete measures. The President was not impressed: he replied that we were just being formalistic about documents “for information” and documents “for consultation”. No meaningful discussion could take place. Any_other_business The meeting lasted one hour and we only had a few minutes to address further topics. In order to improve the perception of their respective roles, we asked for some re-organisations in the Office structure4, in particular transferring the Conflict Resolution Unit to DG0 under the future Ombudsperson Office (PD08) as announced already one year ago5, moving employment law away from PD43 back to DG5, as well as strengthening the status of OHS. The President assured that something would be done about the Ombudsperson Office in 2021. As regards the “Patent_Workbench” we explained that team managers had access to information which in our view should remain within the divisions entrusted with the procedure under Article 15 EPC6. The President agreed to disagree and maintained that granting access was one of his prerogatives under Article 10 EPC. Conclusion When we point at weaknesses of the current conditions of employment or suggest improvements, we regret that the President often reacts by announcing that the conditions could in fact be worse. We would expect a more staff-oriented approach. As regards teleworking, the meeting confirmed our impression that the President intends to make the transition from emergency measures to “New Normal” gradual, preferably dispensing with any meaningful exchange with the Staff Representation before “faits accomplis” are put in place. The Central Staff Committee Annex: the opinion of the CSC members of the GCC on the document for consultation as sent to the President after the meeting. ____ 4 See also the new EPO organigramme. 5 See President’s announcement “Reorganisation implementation” on 8 October 2019. 6 See our open letter: “Patent Workbench: confidentiality of deliberations”. ===================================================================== **** Opinion of the CSC members of the GCC on GCC/DOC 15/2020: Transfer of funds from the Office’s Treasury to the RFPSS and to the Salary Savings Plan **** The CSC members of the GCC give the following opinion on the proposal of transfer of funds from the Office’s Treasury to the RFPSS and to the Salary Savings Plan (SSP). On_the_transfer_of_funds_to_the_RFPSS_and_to_the_SSP As in the previous years the CSC appreciates the transfer of surpluses into both the RFPSS and the SSP, especially because a) these surpluses are the result of staff’s hard work and b) pension and salaries are by far the main expenses and liabilities the Office has. Furthermore, the CSC supports the transfer of funds since it ensures the long-term stability of the pension schemes for the benefit of the staff and the pensioners as well as the long-term financial sustainability of the Organisation. On_the_transferred_amounts_according_to_document_CA/56/20 RFPSS The Office forecasts an annual cash surplus amounting to EUR 310m, resulting in EUR 124m to be transferred into the RFPSS. Furthermore, the administration proposes also to transfer EUR 1m unspent from the budget for the rewards 2020 in the RFPSS. The total amount therefore to be transferred in the RFPSS amounts to EUR 125m. This year, the total amount of the transfer to RFPSS for 2020 is proposed to be allocated solely to the Pension Reserve Fund (PRF) thereby contributing to improving the coverage of the pension liabilities. The CSC appreciates the transfer in the RFPSS, however wonders about the EUR 1m unspent reward budget and why it wasn’t spent during the reward exercise. EUR 1m could have been used to reward staff who worked hard despite the difficulties under the current circumstances (an average step amounts to EUR 217). SSP The Office also proposes a cash transfer into the SSP on the basis that the SSP assets (EUR 129.6m) represent 1.54% of the PRF assets (EUR 8 431m) on 31 August 2020. The proposed cash transfer to the SSP would be equal to EUR 1.925m, i.e. an amount proportional to the suggested PRF cash transfer (1.54% x EUR 125m). The CSC also appreciates the transfer into the SSP. However, it cannot support the administration’s proposal on the distribution key. As in the previous years, the administration proposes an amount paid into each individual salary savings account proportional to the amount of contributions paid into that account in 2020 (see CA/56/20, paragraph 16). This method creates significant distribution spreads amongst employees in the lower and higher grades of the salary scale, leading to a distribution ratio of 16:1 between a colleague in G17.1 and one in G7.1. This means that if a G7.1 colleague gets 600 Euros whereas a G17.1 colleague will get 9.600 Euros. This distribution ratio is perceived as being completely unfair by staff. The CSC proposes that the distribution should reflect the benefits provided by the injection into the RFPSS. Cash injections into the RFPSS protect members of staff against potential future rises in global contribution rates. Those global contribution rates are proportional to salary. This calculation method results in a distribution ratio of 3:1, which maintains a ===================================================================== difference between the lower and higher grades. This proposal would provide a fair distribution, such that the growing unfairness could be overcome1. Broken_promises_on_the_cash_injections_into_the_SSP The CSC has made similar proposals to the administration in previous years. The President announced in the AC/158 meeting (see CA/PV 158, paragraph 112) that he would have a discussion on the topic so that there would be a positive outlook. He mentioned in the GCC on 22 November 2018 that it was important to start the discussion as soon as possible (see GCC 4/2018, paragraph 48). So far, this promise has not materialised. Legal_aspects_of_the_consultation_procedure Furthermore, the consultation process foreseen this year appears to lack proper procedure. The document CA/56/20 is already present in MICADO, but it is presented to the GCC for opinion on 27 October 2020, one day before the meeting of the BFC on 28 October 2020. This timeline renders the consultation of the GCC a mere formal hurdle, but not a truthfully meant consultation procedure. The CSC requests the administration to include the CSC’s proposal for the distribution key in section VI. ALTERNATIVES of a revised version of CA/56/20. Transfer_ratio_into_RFPSS_and_EPOTIF Following the orientation provided in CA/18/20 (“Long-term Sustainability – Bundle of measures for the period 2020 – 2038”), it is proposed to inject 40% of the annual surpluses in the RFPSS and 60% in the EPOTIF. The reasons being “that the EPOTIF is less exposed to market fluctuations than the RFPSS, due to the asset allocation. Moreover, the cash injected in the EPOTIF has no specific attribution and can always be redirected to cover other needs while the transfers to the RFPSS are definitive.” The CSC doubts that the transfer into the EPOTIF of 60% is a safer option than the transfer into the RFPSS, since the EPOTIF has no supervisory body comprising all stakeholders, namely the AC, the staff representatives and the pensioners’ representatives. Moreover, the RFPSS is geared towards long-term sustainability, which the EPOTIF is not. The CSC requests that in future the transfer of funds shall be weighted such to be transferred mainly into the RFPSS and SSP. The CSC members of the GCC ___ 1 See also our publication “16 for me and 1 for you – Fairness as defined by the administration” In the next post we’ll show the staff representatives elaborating on financial hardships (in relative terms) caused by a corrupt regime that gambles_the_EPO's money_away. █ ╒═══════════════════ 𝐀𝐑𝐓𝐈𝐂𝐋𝐄 ═════════════════════════════════════════════════╕ ****** 11.24.20 ****** ***** Growing_Concerns_That_EPO_Staff_Has_Been_Placed_Under_de_Facto_House Arrest_by_an_Entirely_Unaccountable_Office ***** Posted in Europe, Law, Patents at 5:10 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz [Bars] Summary: “House arrest” is excessive and disproportionate. So says the Central Staff Committee of Europe’s second-largest institution (which surprisingly enough the media is failing to properly study and investigate) as it highlights yet more human rights violations. WHEN we started the “Corona” series earlier this months we gradually showed a large number of illegalities at the EPO, perpetrated by António_Campinos and his friends (whom he now calls “colleagues”). Days ago we started showing the intent to start legal actions over this. [Dog in distress]Just over 3 weeks ago the following letter was sent and then circulated among EPO staff by the Central Staff Committee, basically a group of elected staff representatives who work to highlight the grievances of staff and protect staff from an unaccountable Office management. Sick leave and incapacity scheme means “house arrest” during a pandemic: Reference: sc20165cl-0.3.1 Date: 30.10.2020 Mr António Campinos President of the EPO ISAR – R.1081 OPEN LETTER Urgent_amendment_of_Circular_367_and_immediate_suspension_of_“house arrest” Dear Mr President, Recently, the Appeals Committee has unanimously found that the Office is bound to take due account of human rights, in particular the fundamental right to privacy1 . Consequently, it has unanimously confirmed our view that the obligations imposed on sick staff to stay at home under certain times2, also known as “house arrest”, are excessive and disproportionate. Our Service Regulations already contain less intrusive measures available to verify persons on sick leave. We ask for a meeting with you with a view to amending in depth Circular No. 367, as a matter of urgency. A proposal to revise the Circular inspired by the EU practice was already submitted to the COHSEC on 6 September 2019. It could be a basis for discussion. In addition, we consider it absolutely necessary to alleviate any undue pressure on sick staff now, out of a duty of care. We_request_therefore_an_immediate_suspension_of_the_provision_on “house_arrest”. Yours sincerely, Alain Dumont Chairman of the Central Staff Committee _______ 1 As in Article 12 of the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights 2 Currently, Article B(3) of Circular No. 367 obliges a sick employee to be available at their home address from 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 and from 2:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. every day, including on weekends. “In this open letter to the President,” the Central Staff Committee said, “we ask for a meeting with a view to amending Circular No. 367, as a matter of urgency.” We’ve been back to the Benoît_Battistelli era for quite some time now; if this doesn’t prove it, what will? “Days ago we started showing the intent to start legal actions over this.”In another recent letter the Central Staff Committee sought feedback from staff regarding the general sentiment and stress levels. “Of course we will treat your feedback confidentially,” they said, pointing out mindless buzzwords and euphemisms commonly used by the corrupt administration, run by incompetent bullies. Here’s the full letter: Munich, 26.10.2020 sc20164cp Dear colleagues in Job Groups 5 and 6 We are listening to you, let’s talk, make your voice heard! SP2023 – agility – reorganisations – new normal – staff health – new career – production targets – diversity and inclusion… EPO buzzwords these days, but do you find yourselves addressed in all this? Does management involve you, take your concerns and input into account? Or do you rather feel ignored by management and are issues specific to your situation not taken seriously? Your staff representation has started an internal Job Group 5 and 6 Working Group because we are sure that there are issues you would like to share with us – and of course also positive ideas and experiences. Take a moment and reflect on the following questions  Do you feel stressed?  Can you cope with the workload?  Did the reorganisation(s) impact you?  Is the frequency of changes too high, at a pace too fast to follow?  Have you received the training you need to do your (new) job?  Do you have a feeling of job satisfaction?  Do you feel supported by your colleagues within your team?  Is your work recognised?  Do you feel respected for your contribution to the EPO?  Are you worried about your future at the EPO? We are very keen to receive your feedback to these questions, no matter how detailed or short they are, and would like to include them in the list of topics relevant to you. Of course we will treat your feedback confidentially. The aim is to get an idea on which topics to start with in our discussions with management, topics especially relevant for colleagues in Job Groups 5 and 6. Your staff representatives Notice the part about “diversity and inclusion…” As recently as 6 days ago Office management pretended_to_care_about_disabled people; in reality, they’re a large contributor to this problem. EPO workers aren’t gullible enough for Office management to get away with these white- washing lies. █ ╒═══════════════════ 𝐀𝐑𝐓𝐈𝐂𝐋𝐄 ═════════════════════════════════════════════════╕ ****** 11.24.20 ****** ***** IRC_Proceedings:_Monday,_November_23,_2020 ***** Posted in IRC_Logs at 2:38 am by Needs Sunlight [HTML5_logs] [HTML5_logs] #techrights_log_as_HTML5 #boycottnovell_log_as_HTML5 [HTML5_logs] [HTML5_logs] #boycottnovell-social_log_as_HTML5 #techbytes_log_as_HTML5 [text_logs] [text_logs] #techrights_log_as_text #boycottnovell_log_as_text [text_logs] [text_logs] #boycottnovell-social_log_as_text #techbytes_log_as_text Enter_the_IRC_channels_now =============================================================================== **** IPFS Mirrors **** CID Description Object type IRC log for  QmTx3f3w9nKjHEKf43kg4AsJJ7k5ecwoPSmhrXr5a4FsXp#boycottnovell [HTML5 logs] (full IRC log as HTML) IRC log for  Qmdr5KZhVc9tvUMSpA5bsEuy1PjkujmhQr4xSB12BCnGKG#boycottnovell [text logs] (full IRC log as plain/ASCII text) IRC log for #boycottnovell-  QmV8vhvtey5WRewSzkK3BTSDKgxtRFUfjB5GmcMX4YGxsLsocial [HTML5 logs] (full IRC log as HTML) IRC log for #boycottnovell-  QmVzH8WYRunYXqTrepCyAF6RUQpvAds7T1s4KquEKN3Bx6social [text logs] (full IRC log as plain/ASCII text) IRC log for  QmYpwnQiy7waxkREZcXBRBZnQcVs1nyTHp2ZqVkgYUG3hJ#techbytes [HTML5 logs] (full IRC log as HTML) IRC log for  QmczoWTDaZSJyg8kY9AQYuapvY2Pxz6CX4M5PJNhNb36zX#techbytes [text logs] (full IRC log as plain/ASCII text) IRC log for  QmWoaMn5txEdSh4beiWFzyrDur1GGLJRLLjnZjM8ZbFExj#techrights [HTML5 logs] (full IRC log as HTML) IRC log for  QmUNgXbA8Ec9Q73g3taxwHnCApx9aTz9wiaZatsEFTGfB4#techrights [text logs] (full IRC log as plain/ASCII text) [IPFS logo] **** Bulletin for Yesterday **** Local_copy | CID (IPFS): Qmd6CkrB6BxvbpYc2A4inaPdP66KBtq72z4VXkuwzSMgkP ╒═══════════════════ 𝐀𝐑𝐓𝐈𝐂𝐋𝐄 ═════════════════════════════════════════════════╕ ****** 11.24.20 ****** ***** Lots_of_Good_News_Today ***** Posted in Site_News at 10:47 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz There’s a courageous fightback despite the growing risk [Serbia_execution] Summary: A quick roundup of news and key developments; most of them are positive and they give us hope TODAY we’ve finally caught up fully with many EPO_affairs and we’re gratified to see intense blowback against the UPC as well (see the comments here; SUEPO has just linked to that). Less than a day ago Donald Trump finally conceded, EPO staff is starting to mass-mail the management, and many other positive things are happening. The fascists are on the run… We don’t expect anything to come out of UPC/A, so we won’t be writing much about that, except to ridicule it. We’ll also write a little less about the EPO, seeing that staff (productive staff, e.g. examiners) started to fight to take back control of the Office. We don’t regret spending the past 2-3 weeks focusing so much on the EPO. It’s well overdue and very much necessary. “The fascists are on the run…”Not everything is so positive however; the pandemic is still destroying lots of things, Groklaw is still offline (the last time Google saw that site online and took a snapshot of the front page was October 24th and today it’s November 24th, so we very much doubt the site will ever come back*), Phoronix is begging for money (it deserves readers’ support), and we still haven’t migrated to the new server — it's_an_urgent_matter. [Phoronix setup]Phoronix recently upgraded_the_setup_a_bit; included or added to the right is a new photograph. They still do decent journalism about technical matters. Areas that they cover aren’t touched by anyone else (except LWN, sometimes). Linux Journal isn’t publishing much anymore (maybe once a week, on average, usually a HOWTO) and a lot of coverage about “LINUX” is just ridiculous click- bait (right now a lot is based on some private E-mail in which Linus Torvalds responds to a question about Apple hype). Geeks who now work from home have more time and more motivation to improve their setups. It’s not just Phoronix. MinceR has just pointed out in IRC Tony_Arcieri’s_latest_setup, a multi-screen laptop arrangement. Some people use a tiny so-called ‘phone’ to scroll down and click on “timelines”, whereas others get some real work done (not pressing “like” or uploading selfies). [Tony Arcieri's setup] Linus Torvalds, a longtime home (‘remote’) worker, famously said: “If it’s a hobby for us and a job for you, then why are you doing such a shoddy job?” Suddenly, working in a bathrobe isn’t considered so eccentric, right? █ ____ * When we saw signs of trouble we mirrored the Bill_Gates_deposition_videos. ╒═══════════════════ 𝐀𝐑𝐓𝐈𝐂𝐋𝐄 ═════════════════════════════════════════════════╕ ****** 11.24.20 ****** ***** [Meme]_Things_Will_Get_Amusing_When/If_EPO_Proceedings_Are_Cancelled_Due to_Patent_Trolls_Suing_the_Platforms_Using_Software_Patents_(Granted_by_the EPO) ***** Posted in Europe, Patents at 6:46 pm by Dr. Roy Schestowitz [Soft power, software patents] Summary: The management of the EPO is so proud to be granting illegal software patents_in_Europe; this clear abuse of authority can come back to bite it in the rear ╒═══════════════════ 𝐃𝐀𝐈𝐋𝐘 𝐋𝐈𝐍𝐊𝐒 ════════════════════════════════════════╕ ****** 11.24.20 ****** ***** Links_25/11/2020:_Raspberry_Pi_400_With_Touchscreens,_Animation_Framework in_GTK/GNOME ***** Posted in News_Roundup at 7:05 pm by Dr. Roy Schestowitz [GNOME bluefish] **** Contents **** * GNU/Linux o Distributions o Devices/Embedded * Free_Software/Open_Source * Leftovers * **** GNU/Linux **** o **** Server **** # ** Everything_you_need_to_know_to_become_an_expert_Linux admin_–_TechRepublic ** IT professionals have to be life-long learners with quarterly goals for improving their skills to keep up with the industry, particularly when it comes to Linux. System administrators should be constantly looking for new ways to improve their skills for managing Linux servers and distributions. This roundup of TechRepublic Premium resources, by Linux expert Jack Wallen, can help you fill the holes in your skills gap. There is advice for mastering the command line as well as selecting the best GUI tool. Maybe your challenge is managing users or permissions? Wallen has got you covered with that task, too. Sysadmins can use any one of these resources to get smarter about Linux and bring value to the IT team. o **** Audiocasts/Shows **** # ** Late_Night_Linux_–_Episode_103_–_Late_Night_Linux ** What we actually mean when we use the word trust, good news for youtube-dl, why we don’t use DuckDuckGo, and Joe’s shocking switch to KDE Neon (on one machine). # ** Coc_Marketplace:_One_Stop_Shop_For_Coc_Plugins_–_YouTube ** Finding coc extensions or coc plugins for vim and nvim can be a bit annoying sometimes so wouldn’t it be nice to have a coc extension store built right into vim and you can do exactly with coc marketplace. # ** This_Gaming_Keyboard_LOVES_Linux_–_YouTube ** Optical switches, analog mode, solid construction AND a dedicated Linux app? And the box does WHAT!? Wooting, you have our undivided attention! So what else should we know about this keyboard # ** Feren_OS_Review_–_SANEST_Defaults_&_Plasma_Polish_(Nov 2020)_–_YouTube ** This review of Feren OS has been a long time coming. I’ve been keeping my eye on this one for a while, and with the November 2020 release snapshot – I think it just joined the big leagues. # ** A_First_Look_At_Garuda_Linux_KDE_“Dr4Gonized”_–_YouTube ** Recently I have been getting a lot of requests from viewers of the channel to take a look at a Linux distribution that I had never heard about–Garuda Linux. This is yet another Arch-based distro but it does some different things. Most notable is that it uses the Zen kernel and seems to be optimized for gamers. # ** Could_Windows_switch_to_the_Linux_kernel? ** o **** Kernel Space **** # ** Linux_READFILE_System_Call_Revived_Now_That_It_Might_Have A_User ** Earlier this year we mentioned Greg Kroah-Hartman working on a new READFILE system call. The goal of this new syscall is for reading small and medium files more efficiently by having one call to read a file straight into a buffer without having to use the separate open/read/close system calls. It’s looking like that system call is back on the table and could be mainlined now that there’s a possible user. The READFILE system call is simple for reading lightweight files straight into a buffer without the overhead of multiple system calls that in turn can help performance, especially if reading many files such as on sysfs/debugfs and the like. It had been a number of months without any updates on that syscall and it wasn’t mainlined in the cycles since it was proposed earlier this year. But now it looks like it’s back on the table. # **** Graphics Stack **** # ** ZLUDA:_Drop-In_Open-Source_CUDA_Support_For_Intel_Xe /_UHD_Graphics ** An interesting solution built off Intel’s oneAPI Level Zero is the open-source “ZLUDA” that is providing a “Level Zero CUDA” implementation for being able to run programs geared for NVIDIA CUDA atop Intel UHD / Xe Graphics hardware. ZLUDA is a project independent of NVIDIA and Intel but one of the most interesting external projects we have seen so far targeting Intel’s Level Zero interface. ZLUDA allows for unmodified CUDA applications to run on Intel GPUs with “near native” performance through this alternative libcuda running with Skylake / Gen9 graphics and newer. o **** Applications **** # ** The_10_Best_Linux_Backup_Tools ** If you are a high-end software developer, system admin, or content creator who changed their Alien ID to the Linux world, then this article piece is for you. There is no worse enemy to a committed Linux enthusiast than data loss. To deal with data loss, you must understand the essential services of backup tools software. You might be thinking, well, my machine system has several partitions. One has my Linux operating system installed, and the remaining ones I use to back up the data that I continuously use and develop. Moreover, you might be considerate enough to acquire an external hard disk drive to store your important files. However, the game of data loss is like playing chess against a supercomputer. The odds are never in our favor. It is usually when everything is going smoothly that an unfortunate event tends to introduce itself. An unstable surge could occur and put your entire machine system in an ICU state. Such circumstances tend to corrupt or put your important data in an irretrievable state. Furthermore, a filled coffee mug that puts your ingenious mind in an active and productive state could accidentally spill on your machine or external HDD and commit the highest level of treason. This coffee that keeps our minds awake could have the opposite effect on our machines and any other external storage devices. Worse still, you will be forced to stay awake the whole night to mourn your data loss because the dark shades of coffee you took are still in your system. # ** Vivaldi_Web_Browser_Now_Has_a_Built-in_Email_Client ** A fully-featured email client is the latest feature to be added to Vivaldi, the Chromium-based web browser. The bods beavering away on the wannabe web fave have added a native IMAP and POP3 email client to the app, as well as a RSS feed reader, and multi- account friendly calendar. Other recent feature additions have included a word processor and a built-in arcade game. Although Vivaldi Mail (as the feature is known) is currently of a ‘pre-Beta quality’ it is fully functional and works relatively well already. On paper Vivaldi Mail will work with most modern e- mail services via IMAP or POP. Alas, for now, this doesn’t include Google or Gmail accounts. # ** GPUOpen_Software_Updated_For_The_Radeon_RX_6000_Series_– Phoronix ** AMD has updated their collection of software offered under their “GPUOpen” umbrella for Radeon RX 6000 series / RDNA 2 compatibility. The Radeon GPU Profiler, Radeon Memory Visualizer, and other software packages offered via GPUOpen have been updated with “Big Navi” RDNA2 support. # ** OctopusWAF:_A_Customizable_Open-Source_WAF_for_High Performance_Applications ** Mainstream web application firewalls (WAFs) can be very difficult to understand, with thousands of lines of code and obscure plugins. This complexity makes it challenging for developers to modify code to block specific anomalies and secure their applications. But OctopusWAF is different – the open-source WAF is customizable, user-friendly and optimized for a large number of parallel connections – making it ideal for high performance Asynchronous JavaScript and XML (AJAX) applications. o **** Instructionals/Technical **** # ** PAM_Bypass:_when_null(is_not)ok ** Someone enters an IRC support channel and proclaims their dovecot server has been hacked and a non existing user sends spam email from their server. The initial reaction might be something along the lines of Wat ಠ_ಠ With the following assumption that the user clearly did something wrong. Hosting email is difficult after all. I don’t quite recall how rest of the support went, but it was solved and the root cause was not found. However, we keep on rolling! Then someone posts about a similar incident on r/ archlinux. Now, if this happens twice something is amiss! Arch has had a few issues with PAM lately, thus it could be that there is a configuration issue. Johannes and I try to reproduce, but I don’t get far and Johannes keeps on working on the issue. # ** How_to_install_Discord_on_Linux_Mint_20_–_YouTube ** In this video, we are looking at how to install Discord on Linux Mint 20. # ** How_to_install_Discord_Canary_on_a_Chromebook ** Today we are looking at how to install Disord Canary, the Alpha Builds of Discord, on a Chromebook. Please follow the video/audio guide as a tutorial where we explain the process step by step and use the commands below. # ** Automated_CI/CD_Deployment_to_App_Engine_with_Cloud_Build –_Cloudbooklet ** Automated CI/CD Deployment to App Engine with Cloud Build. In this guide you are going to learn how to setup a CI/CD deployment which deploys the code to App Engine when a push is made to a specific branch in GitHub using Google Cloud Build. # ** Ansible_Roles:_Complete_Beginner’s_Guide_[RHCE_Ansible Series] ** This is the ninth chapter of RHCE Ansible EX 294 exam preparation series. You’ll understand how roles are structured in Ansible. You’ll also learn to use ready-made roles from Ansible Galaxy and create your own custom Ansible roles. # ** How_to_remote_access_Linux_from_a_Linux_system ** Are you trying to figure out how to access your Linux desktop from your Linux laptop? Don’t know the first thing about remote access? We can help! Follow along with this guide as we show you how to access your Linux desktop from your Linux laptop! # ** How_to_add_controller_support_to_Minecraft_on_Linux ** Minecraft is one of the few mainstream video game franchises to support the Linux platform. That said, although the game works natively on Linux, it does not have controller support. # ** How_To_Install_ModSecurity_Apache_on_Ubuntu_20.04_LTS_– idroot ** In this tutorial, we will show you how to install ModSecurity Apache on Ubuntu 20.04 LTS. For those of you who didn’t know, ModSecurity is an Apache module that helps to protect your website from various attacks such as cross-site scripting, SQL injection attacks, path traversal attacks, etc. ModSecurity can also monitor web traffic in real- time and help you detect and respond to intrusions. This article assumes you have at least basic knowledge of Linux, know how to use the shell, and most importantly, you host your site on your own VPS. The installation is quite simple and assumes you are running in the root account, if not you may need to add ‘sudo‘ to the commands to get root privileges. I will show you through the step by step installation of ModSecurity Apache on an Ubuntu 20.04 Focal Fossa. # ** Enable_File_Browser_in_Default_Gedit_Text_Editor_in_Ubuntu 20.04_|_UbuntuHandbook ** Editing files regularly with the default text editor in Ubuntu? Without looking your documents through Files (Nautilus file browser), gedit offers a built-in file browser mode to make life easy. And this is the beginner’s guide shows you how to enable this built-in file browser mode in Gedit text editor. 1. First open the text editor either from system applications menu or by click opening a document file. 2. When the editor opens, go to menu (the icon after Save button) -> View, and enable Side Panel. You can alternatively press F9 on keyboard to toggle ‘Side Panel’ on / off. # ** Container_image_short_names_in_Podman_|_Enable_Sysadmin ** This new feature, pulling images with Podman by using short names, includes more security, greater convenience, and is another step forward for container management. [...] When people approach me to talk about Podman and containers, I usually ask if they are familiar with Docker. Most people are, and the conversations quickly move beyond the fact that Podman can act as a drop-in replacement for Docker. In fact, there are many useful and innovative features that make Podman special. Podman has excellent rootless support, it can generate systemd unit files for easily containerizing systemd services, and it has a powerful RESTful API that allows for running Podman on macOS and Windows. Those are just a few of the great features. # ** Looking_forward_to_Linux_network_configuration_in_the initial_ramdisk_(initrd)_|_Enable_Sysadmin ** One of the tasks that the initrd might be responsible for is network configuration. # ** The_Ultimate_Guide_to_Dolphin_Emulator._–_Make_Tech_Easier ** Today you can find hundreds of emulators for dozens of old systems for multiple platforms. However, Dolphin manages to stand out from the crowd by achieving something almost impossible: combining advanced features and a high degree of compatibility with ease of use. With Dolphin, which is available for Windows, macOS, Linux, and Android, you gain access to the vast majority of titles for Nintendo’s GameCube and Wii consoles. Theoretically, since it’s easy to use, you only have to run it, add some games, and play. Practically, though, it’s worth investing some time to customize and configure Dolphin to your liking. This way, you’ll be able to take advantage of its advanced features and play your games better than you would on the actual hardware. # ** Terminal_Vitality ** Ever since Douglas Engelbart flipped over a trackball and discovered a mouse, our interactions with computers have shifted from linguistics to hieroglyphics. That is, instead of typing commands at a prompt in what we now call a Command Line Interface (CLI), we click little icons and drag them to other little icons to guide our machines to perform the tasks we desire. Apple led the way to commercialization of this concept we now call the Graphical User Interface (GUI), replacing its pioneering and mostly keyboard-driven Apple // microcomputer with the original GUI-only Macintosh. After quickly responding with an almost unusable Windows 1.0 release, Microsoft piled on in later versions with the Start menu and push button toolbars that together solidified mouse-driven operating systems as the default interface for the rest of us. Linux, along with its inspiration Unix, had long championed many users running many programs simultaneously through an insanely powerful CLI. It thus joined the GUI party late with its likewise insanely powerful yet famously insecure X-Windows framework and the many GUIs such as KDE and Gnome that it eventually supported. # ** Build_a_motion_detection_system_with_a_Raspberry_Pi_| Opensource.com ** If you want a home security system to tell you if someone is lurking around your property, you don’t need an expensive, proprietary solution from a third-party vendor. You can set up your own system using a Raspberry Pi, a passive infrared (PIR) motion sensor, and an LTE modem that will send SMS messages whenever it detects movement. # ** Create_a_machine_learning_model_with_Bash_|_Opensource.com ** Machine learning is a powerful computing capability for predicting or forecasting things that conventional algorithms find challenging. The machine learning journey begins with collecting and preparing data—a lot of it—then it builds mathematical models based on that data. While multiple tools can be used for these tasks, I like to use the shell. A shell is an interface for performing operations using a defined language. This language can be invoked interactively or scripted. The concept of the shell was introduced in Unix operating systems in the 1970s. Some of the most popular shells include Bash, tcsh, and Zsh. They are available for all operating systems, including Linux, macOS, and Windows, which gives them high portability. For this exercise, I’ll use Bash. # ** Use_SSH_keys_for_authentication ** Use SSH keys for authentication without password when you are connecting to your server. simple and secure login process. # ** Authentication_and_authorization_using_the_Keycloak_REST API_–_Red_Hat_Developer ** Enabling authentication and authorization involves complex functionality beyond a simple login API. In a previous article, I described the Keycloak REST login API endpoint, which only handles some authentication tasks. In this article, I describe how to enable other aspects of authentication and authorization by using Keycloak REST API functionality out of the box. # ** Hording_AD_groups_through_wbinfo_«_On_the_third_side ** In a samba setup where users and groups are fetched from Active Directory to be used in a unix/linux environment, AD may prohibit the samba winbind tools like wbinfo to recurse into its group structure. You may get groups and users and their corresponding gids and uids, but you may not get the members of a group. o **** Games **** # ** Build_your_own_ruler_in_the_massive_Crusader_Kings_III update_out_now_|_GamingOnLinux ** Paradox has released the big 1.2 update to Crusader Kings III, with it comes a fun new feature that lets you properly design your initial ruler. Since the release you’ve been able to step into the shoes of pre-set historical monarchs and leaders. Carrying their legacy on through the ages, and across the world. Now though, Paradox are giving us much more control over our game and our leader. You can now design them yourself with various options including appearance, age, ethnicity, sexual orientation, and more with the results sometimes looking quite amusing. You start by choosing a location, then the option to design your own will be available. Unlike how it was handled with Crusader Kings II, this is an entirely free feature added to the base game. o **** Desktop Environments/WMs **** # **** GNOME Desktop/GTK **** # ** GTK:_At_the_Heart_of_GNOME ** GTK is at the heart of the GNOME application and software development kit. GTK is used to create graphical user interfaces (GUIs) for desktop environments, applications, and window managers. Since the GTK 4 development process began in 2016, we have about 250 individual contributors, with more than 100 active this year. Thanks to the funding received by the GNOME Foundation in 2020, the GTK development team was able to run hackfests, including one we were lucky enough to have at FOSDEM. This funding also supported Emmanuele Bassi, Core GTK Developer at the GNOME Foundation, working on GTK full-time. For most of 2020, Emmanuele worked on implementing a new accessibility interface for GTK 4, to ensure that more people can use GNOME applications, including those with disabilities. We are building a diverse and sustainable free software computing ecosystem where everyone can be empowered by technology they trust. Since Emmanuele works directly for the Foundation he’s uniquely able to focus on the needs of the community, project, and users to support these goals. GTK is a project with a long history, and throughout that history, it has gone through multiple iterations. A new major release is on the horizon. After four years of development that included a complete overhaul of the internals of the toolkit, GTK 4 promises to be faster through hardware acceleration; more efficient, in terms of performance and power consumption; and more ergonomic, for both application developers, and end users. Over the past four years, the GTK team has continued work on the existing stable versions of GTK and put out multiple releases. # ** GTK_Planning_More_Improvements_In_2021_From_Better Accessibility_To_Animation_Framework ** In addition to shipping the much anticipated GTK 4.0, this toolkit driven by the GNOME desktop environment is making more plans for an exciting 2021. The GNOME Foundation recently laid out their new initiatives and plans for 2021 while today there was a similar look ahead from the GTK toolkit perspective. o **** Distributions **** # **** SUSE/OpenSUSE **** # ** Kubernetes_and_SUSE_Enterprise_Storage_7_–_SUSE Communities ** Rook is a CNCF – the Cloud Native Compute Foundation (CNCF) hosts Kubernetes and related open source projects – graduated project which automates the installation, deployment and upgrade of Ceph. It takes care to launch and configure all Ceph components correctly, setup Ceph on storage devices and allows Kubernetes applications to use Ceph as storage – for block, file, and object storage. Deployment with Rook is like many other Kubernetes installation, you install Rook using a helm chart that you can configure, and then Kubernetes will do all the necessary steps to setup Ceph. You can also connect to the Ceph dashboard and see how your applications use storage. Once Rook is up, your containerized applications can use Ceph as persistent storage using the usual Kubernetes APIs like PersistentVolumeClaims (PVCs). Running Ceph with Rook on Kubernetes means that you have a smaller footprint overall instead of setting up a separate Ceph cluster and a Kubernetes cluster. Kubernetes will run applications and storage together in the same infrastructure. This is not advised for very large storage installations but a great option for a Kubernetes cluster that needs a smaller storage configuration. Depending on your use-cases and requirements, you can use dedicated storage nodes in your single cluster – and have dedicated application nodes – or use all your nodes for storage and applications. # ** Digest_of_YaST_Development_Sprint_113_|_YaST ** Time flies and it has been already two weeks since our previous development report. On these special days, we keep being the YaST + Cockpit Team and we have news on both fronts. So let’s do a quick recap. Cockpit Modules Our Cockpit module to manage wicked keeps improving. Apart from several small enhancements, the module has now better error reporting and correctly manages those asynchronous operations that wicked takes some time to perform. In addition, we have improved the integration with a default Cockpit installation, ensuring the new module replaces the default network one (which relies on Network Manager) if both are installed. In the following days we will release RPM packages and a separate blog post to definitely present Cockpit Wicked to the world. On the other hand, we also have news about our Cockpit module to manage transactional updates. We are creating some early functional prototypes of the user interface to be used as a base for future development and discussions. You can check the details and several screenshots at the following pull requests: request#3, request#5. # **** IBM/Red Hat/Fedora **** # ** Fedora_program_update:_2020-48_–_Fedora_Community Blog ** Here’s your report of what has happened in Fedora this week. Elections voting is open through 3 December. Fedora 31 has reached end of life. EPEL 6 will reach end-of-life on Monday. # ** Oracle_Linux_8:_Oracle_Ksplice_made_easy_with_free training ** This week’s training blog presents a set of free, short videos on using Oracle Ksplice on Oracle Linux 8. Oracle Ksplice allows you to install the latest kernel and key user-space security and bug fix updates while the system is running. You don’t need to coordinate with users to schedule system down time. You don’t need to stop running applications and you don’t need to reboot your systems to install kernel and user-space updates. # ** More_for_developers_in_the_new_Red_Hat_OpenShift_4.6 web_console_–_Red_Hat_Developer ** Red Hat OpenShift 4.6 streamlines developer onboarding in the OpenShift web console, but that’s not all. This article details improvements and new features in the topology view and introduces OpenShift’s new, form- based approach to creating horizontal pod autoscalers and Helm charts. I also touch on application monitoring improvements and the latest updates for Red Hat OpenShift Pipelines, Red Hat OpenShift Serverless, and the Kiali Operator in OpenShift 4.6. # ** Log-On_Wave_for_IBM_Z_Simplifies_Administration_and Operation_of_Virtualized_Linux_Infrastructures_on_IBM_Z and_LinuxONE ** Log-On Software (Log-On) an IBM Business Partner and developer of software solutions for IBM Z, has announced Log-On Wave for IBM Z, with general availability planned for January 2021. According to the company, Log-On Wave for IBM Z simplifies the administration and operation of virtual Linux servers running on IBM Z and IBM LinuxONE. The result is that IT organizations and service providers benefit from an intuitive graphical interface and intelligent functionality that improves productivity by simplifying administration, configuration and management and future- proofs operations by shielding complexity and enabling less experienced administrators to easily manage highly virtualized infrastructures. # ** Implementing_storage:_Compliance_concerns_for stateful_financial_services_applications ** There’s little doubt that industry pressures have driven financial services firms to implement – and to continue to adopt – transformative solutions to maintain competitive advantages that help streamline operations and introduce new products. However, along with having to surmount technical issues, this industry presents special challenges regulatory and compliance concerns, in addition to technology considerations. Regulators play a major role in financial institutions, therefore, by necessity, banks create organizational models and processes to ensure that work is being delivered with the most minimal risk possible – and technology solutions must also adhere to this regulatory overlay. # ** Web_interfaces_for_your_syslog_server_–_Blog_– syslog-ng_Community_–_syslog-ng_Community ** This is the 2020 edition of my most read blog entry about syslog-ng web-based graphical user interfaces (web GUIs). Many things have changed in the past few years. In 2011, only a single logging as a service solution was available, while nowadays, I regularly run into others. Also, while some software disappeared, the number of logging-related GUIs is growing. This is why in this post, I will mostly focus on generic log management and open source instead of highly specialized software, like SIEMs. # ** Red_Hat_Quarkus_Java_stack_moves_to_OpenShift ** Red Hat’s Quarkus framework for building Kubernetes-native Java applications is now included with the company’s OpenShift 4.6 open source container application platform, a step Red Hat describes as important in bringing Java into modern cloud-native application development. Previously supported in Red Hat Runtimes middleware, Quarkus now is natively integrated into OpenShift to provide for easier development, the company said. Developers can use familiar tools and do remote development on clusters via IDEs such as CodeReady Workspaces. Developers also can do serverless workload deployment and application storage management. # **** Canonical/Ubuntu Family **** # ** Canonical_publishes_set_of_secure_container application_images ** The LTS Docker Image Portfolio comes with up to ten years Extended Security Maintenance by Canonical. “LTS Images are built on trusted infrastructure, in a secure environment, with guarantees of stable security updates,” said Mark Lewis, VP Application Services at Canonical. “They offer a new level of container provenance and assurance to organizations making the shift to container based operations.” Canonical and Docker will collaborate on Docker Official Images and LTS Docker Image Portfolio to bring the best of the two to the community and ecosystem. The entire LTS Docker Image Portfolio will be exempted from per-user rate limits. # ** Torsten_Franz:_My_first_month_at_the_Ubuntu Community_Council ** In the last few weeks I have been asked by many people what topics we have in the Community Council and what we are doing. After a month in the Council, I want to give a first insight into what happened in the early days and what has been on my mind. Of course, these are all subjective impressions and I am not speaking here from the perspective of the Community Council, but from my own perspective. In the beginning, of course, we had to deal with organisational issues. These include ensuring that everyone is included in the Community Council’s communication channels. There are two main channels that we use. On the one hand, we have a team channel on IRC on Freenode to exchange ideas. The channel has the advantage that you can ask the others small questions and have a relaxed chat. To reach everyone in the Council, we have set up the mailing list: community-council at lists.ubuntu.com No, I haven’t yet managed to read through all the documents and threads that deal with the Community Council or how to make the community more active again. But I have already read a lot in the first month on the Community Hub and on mailing lists to get different impressions. I can only encourage everyone to get involved with constructive ideas and help us to improve the community of Ubuntu. I haven’t worked on an international board since 2017 and had completely forgotten one topic that is more complex than national teams: the different timezones. But after a short time we managed to find a date where we all can basically do it and we had our public meeting of the council. This took place twice and the second time we all managed to attend. The minutes of the meetings are publicly available: 1st Meeting and 2nd Meeting. We have decided that we will hold the meeting twice a month. # ** Design_and_Web_team_summary_–_24th_November_2020_| Ubuntu ** Hi, I am Carlos Wu. I work for the Webteam as a web developer, and I just recently reached 1 year at Canonical! I have worked previously in a number of Front-end roles and Canonical and the webteam gave me the opportunity to work on both back- end and front-end, which has been my professional goal for some time. I quite like our tech stack, which includes Python and Flask, React, and we use Docker to deploy our projects, so I really enjoy working and learning in this team. Coming from agencies and companies where managers would just tell me “Don’t ask questions, just do your work”, Canonical’s webteam has proved to be like a family, where I can be curious and ask questions and not be afraid to explore my boundaries. In my free time, I like to do a variety of things. Sometimes, I like to play music, try as many instruments as I can. Although I have been a long time guitar player, I also enjoy playing chords on the piano or fiddling with a violin. Furthermore, I also sometimes build my own small projects to help me in my daily life. I very much enjoy a walk in the park! As you can see in the picture above in Hyde Park, London. o **** Devices/Embedded **** # ** Raspberry_Pi_V3DV_Is_Officially_Vulkan_Conformant, Lavapipe_Also_Nearing_1.0_Conformance ** There are two interesting bits of news today pertaining to open-source Vulkan drivers being officially conformant with the Vulkan 1.0 specification in passing the necessary Vulkan CTS tests. First up, Igalia and the Raspberry Pi Foundation are celebrating that their V3DV Mesa driver for Vulkan support on the Raspberry Pi 4 and newer is officially Vulkan 1.0 conformant. This Mesa Vulkan driver has been passing the Vulkan CTS and the results submitted to The Khronos Group. They have now approved of V3DV as being an official Vulkan 1.0 implementation as tested on the Raspberry Pi 4 Model B. # ** Raspberry_Pi_400_kit_ships_with_7-inch_or_13.3-inch touchscreen_display ** The Raspberry Pi Foundation has recently launched the Raspberry Pi 4 keyboard computer with impressive performance thanks to a well-designed cooling solution, and I think it’s a great tool for kids (and adults) who may want to carry a Raspberry Pi around. # ** Shutdown_button_with_Raspberry_PI_and_Python_–_peppe8o ** Because of their low price, mini button switches are useful for many purposes. We have already analyzed how they work (ref. Using mini Switch Button with Raspberry PI and Python) and a funny use case (ref. Reaction Game (v2) with Raspberry PI and Mini Button Switch). # ** Portwell_and_Congatec_spin_Elkhart_Lake_modules_in multiple_form_factors ** Portwell unveiled a “PQ7-M109” Qseven module with Intel’s Atom x-6000. Congatec recently announced x6000 modules in Qseven (Conga-QA7), SMARC, (Conga- SA7), Mini Type 10 (Conga-MA7), and Compact Type 6 (Conga-TCA7) form factors. Portwell has announced the PQ7-M109, its first product based on Intel’s 10nm fabricated Elkhart Lake family of low-power system-on-chips, which includes several Atom x-6000, Celeron, and Pentium models. In September, in reporting on Congatec’s Elkhart Lake based Conga-PA7 Pico-ITX SBC, we promised to cover Congatec’s four Elkhart Lake compute modules in a separate report. Well, better late than ever: We briefly summarize Congatec’s Conga-QA7 (Qseven), Conga-SA7 (SMARC), and Conga- MA7 (COM Express Mini Type 10) and Conga-TCA7 (Compact Type-6) modules farther below. # **** Open Hardware/Modding **** # ** Arduino_Blog_»_This_remote-controlled_storytelling apparatus_is_made_up_of_Arduino-driven_toy_animatronics ** As an exhibit at the Phaneo Science Center in Wolfsburg, Germany, Niklas Roy and Felix Figus created a remotely-operated storytelling apparatus dubbed “Smart Fairy Tale.” When initiated, a little red ball rolls down the installation’s transparent tubing, triggering different interactions based on the interruption of light sensors along its path. 25 Arduino Nanos are used to control each individual animatronic part of the “story,” making the code manageable and allowing the overall machine to still work if there’s a malfunction in one section. # ** Pine64′s_PINECIL_RISC-V_soldering_iron_launched_for $25 ** We’ve previously mentioned PINECIL RISC- V soldering iron during Pine64’s release of PineCube open-source IP camera development kit, and the good news is the soldering iron is now available for $24.99 on Pine64 store together with optional sets of gross or fine soldering tips compatible with the one used with TS100 model The soldering iron is powered by GigaDevice GD32VF103TB 32-bit RISC-V general-purpose microcontroller and features a small display and two buttons for user interaction, as well as changeable tips. o **** Free, Libre, and Open Source Software **** # ** Daniel_Stenberg:_The_curl_web_infrastructure ** The purpose of the curl web site is to inform the world about what curl and libcurl are and provide as much information as possible about the project, the products and everything related to that. The web site has existed in some form for as long as the project has, but it has of course developed and changed over time. # ** DOSEMU2 ** Since I have the original DOSEMU working, I’m not going to attempt to install DOSEMU2 at this time. (Especially as I’d have to build from source; precompiled packages for Debian are not provided.) But I’m glad to hear that someone has “forked” the DOSEMU project and is continuing maintenance and development, since the original DOSEMU seems to have been frozen in mid-2013. # ** Generous_Match_Challenge_from_Individual_Conservancy Supporters_for_Annual_Fundraiser ** We are pleased to launch our annual fundraiser today with a match challenge of $111,029. This match is extremely exciting (not only because it is a prime number for the second year but also) because the pledges comes entirely from individuals (not companies!) who care deeply about software freedom. The bulk of this match challenge was provided by one very generous donor who prefers to remain anonymous. Their amount was augmented by six Conservancy Supporters (listed alphabetically) who came together to increase the match even more: Jeremy Allison, Kevin P. Fleming, Roan Kattouw, Jim McDonough, Allison Randal and Daniel Vetter. You’ll be hearing more about why they joined this year’s match donation in interviews on our blog in the coming weeks. # ** BookStack:Collaboratively_Create_and_editor_books_with your_team ** When writing or editing a complex project like a book collaboratively with a team, there are many problems that start from selecting the best tools. The main problem here is there are many tools to choose from and most of them require a time to learn and setup for all team members. Many teams tend to use several tools at once which may conflict with their workflow and takes time to jump from here to there with notes, revisions and content. The best option is to keep the collaborative writing and editing workflow in one place to manage book sections, comments, revisions, images, sorting, search and exports. Wiki engines and collaborative writing tools usually require customization for book editing. Also, it’s good to consider the technical knowledge of writers and editors and the time needed to learn how to use the system. # ** Hantro_H1_hardware_accelerated_video_encoding_support_in mainline_Linux ** With the increasing need for video encoding, there are some breakthrough developments in hardware- accelerated video encoding for Linux. Bootlin has been working on the implementation of Hantro H1 hardware accelerated video encoding to support H.264 encoding on Linux which follows the company’s work on the previously-released open-source VPU driver for Allwinner processors. # **** Productivity Software/LibreOffice/Calligra **** # ** LibreOffice_7.1_Beta1_is_available_for_testing ** The LibreOffice Quality Assurance ( QA ) Team is happy to announce LibreOffice 7.1 Beta1 is available for testing! LibreOffice 7.1 will be released as final at the beginning of February, 2021 ( Check the Release Plan for more information ) being LibreOffice 7.1 Beta1 the second pre-release since the development of version 7.1 started at the end of May, 2020. Since the previous release, LibreOffice 7.1 Alpha1, 1131 commits have been submitted to the code repository and 245 issues got fixed. Check the release notes to find the new features included in this version of LibreOffice. # **** Programming/Development **** # ** DOM_Recording_For_Web_Application_Demos ** To show off the power of our Pernosco debugger, we wanted many short demo videos of the application interface. Regular videos are relatively heavyweight and lossy; we wanted something more like Asciinema, but for our Web application, not just a terminal. So we created DOMRec, a DOM recorder. # ** The_20_Best_Kotlin_Books_for_Beginner_and_Expert Developers ** Here you will find the top Kotlin books that will make it very interesting and almost effortless for you to learn Kotlin. Kotlin is a statically composed, universally useful programming language with type deduction. It is also a cross-platform language. Kotlin is intended to engage completely with Java, and Kotlin’s standard library’s JVM variant relies upon the Java Class Library. However, Kotlin’s type of derivation permits its syntax to be more compact and precise. Therefore, it has become quite crucial to learn Kotlin these days. But to learn it in the shortest number of days, a perfect set of Kotlin books is indecipherably important. Whether or not to pick Kotlin or Java for new advancement has been coming up a ton in the Android people group since the Google I/ O declaration. The short answer is that Kotlin code is more secure and more succinct than Java code and that Kotlin and Java records can coincide in Android applications, so Kotlin isn’t just valuable for new applications but also for growing existing Java applications as well. # **** JS **** # ** A_beginner’s_guide_to_developing_with_React_| Opensource.com ** React is a JavaScript user interface (UI) library that was built and is maintained by Facebook. React helps JavaScript developers think logically and functionally about how they want to build a UI. # **** Rust **** # ** What_the_Error_Handling_Project_Group_is Working_On ** The Rust community takes its error handling seriously. There’s already a strong culture in place for emphasizing helpful error handling and reporting, with multiple libraries each offering their own take (see Jane Lusby’s thorough survey of Rust error handling/ reporting libraries). But there’s still room for improvement. The main focus of the group is carrying on error handling-related work that was in progress before the group’s formation. To that end, we’re working on systematically addressing error handling-related issues, as well as eliminating blockers that are holding up stalled RFCs. Our first few meetings saw us setting a number of short- and long-term goals. These goals fall into one of three themes: making the Error trait more universally accessible, improving error handling ergonomics, and authoring additional learning resources. # ** How_to_collect_Rust_source-based_code_coverage ** Source-based code coverage was recently introduced in Rust. It is more precise than the gcov-based coverage, with fewer workarounds needed. Its only drawback is that it makes the profiled program slower than with gcov-based coverage. In this post, I will show you a simple example on how to set up source-based coverage on a Rust project, and how to generate a report using grcov (in a readable format or in a JSON format which can be parsed to generate custom reports or upload results to Coveralls/ Codecov). * **** Leftovers **** o **** Health/Nutrition **** # ** The_New_Humanitarian_|_Community_aid_and_growing_needs_in Chile ** Up and down the length of Chile, people are turning to soup kitchens for their hunger needs as the coronavirus pandemic broadens inequality after lockdown measures shuttered the informal economy for months. Food insecurity in Chile has risen dramatically over the course of the pandemic, and its impacts have been particularly acute among already marginalised urban populations. Despite some government subsidies and the efforts of local aid groups, hunger remains: Chile is considered an upper-middle-income country, so the international humanitarian aid sector is unlikely to step in, regardless of inequalities and growing poverty. Since its return to democracy 30 years ago following a brutal military dictatorship, Chile has been considered a beacon of economic growth and stability in South America – a continent often convulsed by political and social turmoil. “In the midst of this troubled Latin America, our country is a true oasis, with a stable democracy,” Chilean President Sebastián Piñera said in a television interview in October 2019. o **** Integrity/Availability **** # **** Proprietary **** # **** Pseudo-Open Source **** # **** Privatisation/Privateering **** # **** Linux Foundation **** # ** Communication_by_example:_Which methods_do_high-performing_open source_communities_use? ** Although effective communication is an essential life skill, it is the most critical element in any business [2]. Lack of accurate communication is the common cause of any organization’s issues, causing conflicts, reducing client relationships, team effectiveness, and profitability [2]. According to the Project Management Institute (PMI), ineffective communication is the main contributor to project failure one-third of the time. It has a negative impact on project success more than half of the time [1]. In open source projects where there is a diverse and world spread community, effective communication is the key to projects’ success. Using the right technology is crucial for that. So, which tools do open source communities use for communication? # ** ONAP_Certification_Launches_to Help_Close_Talent_Gap_with_Growth_of Network_Automation,_5G_and_Edge Computing ** The Linux Foundation, the nonprofit organization enabling mass innovation through open source, and LF Networking (LFN), which facilitates collaboration and operational excellence across open source networking projects, today announced the Certified ONAP Professional (COP) exam, previously announced to be in development, is now generally available. # ** CNCF_Announces_Graduation_Of_etcd ** The Cloud Native Computing Foundation (CNCF) has announced the graduation of etcd. The project was created at CoreOS in 2013 and joined CNCF in December 2018 as an incubating project. To move from the maturity level of incubation to graduation, etcd has demonstrated growing adoption, an open governance process, feature maturity, and a strong commitment to community, sustainability, and inclusivity. # ** CNCF_Survey_Shows_Continued Increase_in_Container_Use ** The Cloud Native Computing Foundation (CNCF) published the results of its 2020 Cloud Native Survey. Of the 1,324 respondents, 54 percent are part of the CNCF End User Community. # ** etcd_recognized_as_a_well-matured, production-ready_project_at_the_Cloud Native_Computing_Foundation_–_IBM Developer ** etcd is an open source distributed key-value store that plays a crucial role in scaling Kubernetes clusters. The etcd project has been on an impressive journey to maturity under the guidance of the CNCF. Two short years ago at KubeCon North America 2018, etcd was accepted as an incubation project at the CNCF. Today, we’re celebrating another milestone for the etcd project: Graduating from incubation within the CNCF. # **** Security **** # ** Critical_Unpatched_VMware_Flaw_Affects Multiple_Corporates_Products ** VMware has released temporary workarounds to address a critical vulnerability in its products that could be exploited by an attacker to take control of an affected system. “A malicious actor with network access to the administrative configurator on port 8443 and a valid password for the configurator admin account can execute commands with unrestricted privileges on the underlying operating system,” the virtualization software and services firm noted in its advisory. # ** Security_updates_for_Tuesday ** Security updates have been issued by Fedora (chromium, microcode_ctl, and seamonkey), Mageia (f2fs-tools, italc, python-cryptography, python-pillow, tcpreplay, and vino), Oracle (thunderbird), Red Hat (bind, kernel, microcode_ctl, net-snmp, and Red Hat Virtualization), Scientific Linux (net- snmp and thunderbird), SUSE (kernel and mariadb), and Ubuntu (atftp, libextractor, pdfresurrect, and pulseaudio). # ** Syxsense_Announces_New_Support_for_AWS_Linux Devices ** Syxsense, a global leader in SaaS IT and security management solutions, extends support of its cloud-native, real-time architecture to Amazon Web Service (AWS) Linux devices. AWS Linux assets are protected with a single lightweight agent allowing real-time patching and management from the Syxsense Management Cloud. # ** Syxsense_Announces_New_Support_for_Amazon_Web Service_(AWS)_Linux_Devices ** # ** WireGuard_For_Windows_Updated_With_Improved Installer,_ARM/ARM64_Support [Ed: Can we take VPN software seriously when it’s ported to platforms with_NSA_back_doors?] ** # **** Fear, Uncertainty, Doubt/Fear-mongering/ Dramatisation **** # ** Stantinko_Botnet_Now_Targeting_Linux Servers_to_Hide_Behind_Proxies [Ed: They say almost nothing about the fact that you actually need to sabotage your GNU/Linux setup and have malware installed on it for this to become a risk. Microsoft propaganda at ZDNet set off this "Linux" FUD.] ** According to a new analysis published by Intezer today and shared with The Hacker News, the trojan masquerades as HTTPd, a commonly used program on Linux servers, and is a new version of the malware belonging to a threat actor tracked as Stantinko. # **** Privacy/Surveillance **** # ** CIA_Awards_Secret_Multibillion-Dollar Cloud_Contract ** The agency has awarded a contract to bring foundational cloud services from multiple cloud service providers into the intelligence community. o **** AstroTurf/Lobbying/Politics **** # ** Rudy_Giuliani_targeted_for_disbarment_in_state_bar complaints_filed_by_Rep._Bill_Pascrell_(D-N.J.) ** o **** Digital Restrictions (DRM) **** # ** Platform_exclusivity,_DRM,_and_independent_authors:_A cautionary_tale ** Imagine, for the sake of argument, that you wrote a book. You’ve worked on it for years, and you want to share it with the world. You want to reach as many people as possible, but it would be nice to be compensated for your hard work. How many weekends did you spend at home, polishing your manuscript instead of going out with friends? How many sleepless nights have you spent staring at a blank page, looking for inspiration? While researching the best way to publish, you hear horror stories about authors finding their books sold on counterfeit Web sites or distributed gratis without the author’s consent. You read stories about authors feeling violated as their hard work is stolen in such a way. As you read about these activities, you also see mentions of companies that claim that they would protect your work against it. Should you publish your book through them, your book would only be available through their application. People could only access it through their store, and they wouldn’t even be able to open the file on a device that isn’t vetted by the company. The app is very popular, so most people use it anyway, and authors do not have to worry about a lack of interest. Only dealing with one store would also make things easier on your end. You won’t have to manage different things. They’ll even format your book for you. Sounds easy enough, so you take the deal. Weeks pass, and you make a few sales. It’s by no mean a huge success, but you got a few positive reviews, mostly from family and friends. You keep mentioning your project to everyone you know, and find some limited interest. One day, a friend you hadn’t talked to in a while asks about your book. They say that they don’t like the app your book requires, and they don’t want to buy it through the one store you signed an exclusivity deal with. They explain that Digital Restrictions Management (DRM) restricts their freedom to read the book on their device of choice, and won’t even let them make backups of the file. They tell you how they once used a similar app, but were locked out of all the books they purchased after moving away from said application. After hearing your friend’s story, you decide to give them a DRM-free copy of your book. After all, you wrote it so people would enjoy it first and foremost, and you want your friend to see the fruit of your labor. o **** Monopolies **** # **** Patents **** # ** Obviousness:_Claim_Construction_(Q.of.Law)_vs. Interpretation_of_the_Prior_Art_(Q.of.Fact) ** The basic question in this ex parte appeal is whether the asserted references teach the layering of aerogels as required by the insulation materials claim pending before the USPTO. The pending APN 14/446,663 was filed in 2014, but claims a chain of priority stretching back to a 2005 provisional patent application. The basic idea here is that aerogel is a great insulator, but is fragile, so the claim requires fiber-reinforcement. The claim particularly requires two plys of fiber-reinforced aerogel — and that the fibers in the plys are interlaced with one- another. [...] But, the issue is that Stepanian stacks the fibers and then pours in the areogel over the layers of fibers. The PTAB made the factual conclusion that Stepanian disclosed “plys” of fiber-aerogel, even with the pour-over approach, and the appellate panel found substantial evidence for that conclusion. ╒═══════════════════ 𝐃𝐀𝐈𝐋𝐘 𝐋𝐈𝐍𝐊𝐒 ════════════════════════════════════════╕ ****** 11.24.20 ****** ***** Links_24/11/2020:_Linux_5.9.11,_Istio_1.6.14_and_LibreOffice_7.1_Beta Released ***** Posted in News_Roundup at 1:23 pm by Dr. Roy Schestowitz [GNOME bluefish] **** Contents **** * GNU/Linux o Distributions o Devices/Embedded * Free_Software/Open_Source * Leftovers * **** GNU/Linux **** o ** Mobile/Desktop_Convergence ** Mobile/Desktop convergence is something that Purism had planned and has been developing since the launch of the Librem 5. It all started with the amazing work that Adrien initiated with the libhandy library, that let the default Librem 5 applications be adapted from the exact same applications running on the laptops. Now the Librem 5 team is moving a step further by letting the Librem 5 being used as a real desktop computer by simply plugging it into an external monitor, keyboard and mouse through a single USB hub. The feature is still under active development at the time of writing this article, but the different components are starting to come together and it is already pretty functional. o **** Server **** # ** Announcing_Istio_1.6.14 ** This release contains bug fixes to improve robustness. This release note describes what’s different between Istio 1.6.13 and Istio 1.6.14 # ** ISTIO-SECURITY-2020-011 ** # ** Support_for_Istio_1.6_has_ended ** As previously announced, support for Istio 1.6 has now officially ended. At this point we will no longer back-port fixes for security issues and critical bugs to 1.6, so we heartily encourage you to upgrade to the latest version of Istio (1.8) if you haven’t already. o **** Kernel Space **** # ** Linus_Torvalds_worried_Linux_kernel_might_get_messy_around Christmas ** Linus Torvalds has expressed some worries about progress of version 5.10 of the Linux kernel. “Hmm. The 5.10 release candidates stubbornly keeps staying fairly big, even though by rc5 we really should be seeing things starting to calm down and shrink,” he said in his weekly state of the kernel post. While Torvalds went on to write: “There’s nothing in here that makes me particularly nervous,” adding: “I’m still hopeful for things to calm down. Otherwise we get into uncomfortable territory for the next release with the holiday season coming up too.” Torvalds prefers releases to have eight release candidates. If he can stick to that plan, a full 5.10 release will emerge in the week before Christmas. His practice is then to open a two-week merge window that would occupy the less-than-busy times between Christmas and New Year. As a resident of the USA, Torvalds may also have this week’s Thanksgiving holiday on his mind as that’s another time in which productivity is not at its peak. Developers could therefore move slower than usual and see 5.10 remain a little unruly. # ** Linus_Torvalds_would_love_to_own_a_new_M1_MacBook_Air,_but it_doesn’t_run_Linux_Natively ** # ** Linus_Torvalds_would_like_to_use_an_M1_Mac_for_Linux,_but… ** # ** Linus_Torvalds_Wants_Linux_on_Apple_Silicon ** # ** Apple_–_Linus_Torvalds_desires_Apple’s_new_M1-powered_Macs to_run_Linux ** # ** Linux_5.9.11 ** I'm announcing the release of the 5.9.11 kernel. All users of the 5.9 kernel series must upgrade. The updated 5.9.y git tree can be found at: git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/ stable/linux-stable.git linux-5.9.y and can be browsed at the normal kernel.org git web browser: https://git.kernel.org/?p=linux/kernel/git/stable/ linux-s... thanks, greg k-h # ** Linux_5.4.80 ** # ** Linux_4.19.160 ** # ** Linux_4.14.209 ** # ** Linux_4.9.246 ** # ** Linux_4.4.246 ** # **** Graphics Stack **** # ** Mike_Blumenkrantz:_Don’t_Call_It_A_Comeback ** I guess I never left, really, since I’ve been vicariously living the life of someone who still writes zink patches through reviewing and discussing some great community efforts that are ongoing. But now I’m back living that life of someone who writes zink patches. Valve has generously agreed to sponsor my work on graphics-related projects. For the time being, that work happens to be zink. # ** Valve_funds_open_source_developer_to_work_on_Zink, the_OpenGL_on_Vulkan_driver_|_GamingOnLinux ** Developer Mike Blumenkrantz has announced that they’re now being funded by Valve, so Blumenkrantz’s work on the OpenGL implementation on top of Vulkan with ‘Zink’ will continue. Hold on, what actually is Zink? As described by Collabora dev Erik Faye-Lund it’s an “OpenGL implementation on top of Vulkan. Or to be a bit more specific, Zink is a Mesa Gallium driver that leverages the existing OpenGL implementation in Mesa to provide hardware accelerated OpenGL when only a Vulkan driver is available”. After working on Zink for a while, Mike Blumenkrantz posted a blog entry back on November 6 saying it was the “last day” due to the end of it being hobby work while being between jobs. In a new blog post titled “Don’t Call It A Comeback”, Blumenkrantz mentions that “Valve has generously agreed to sponsor my work on graphics-related projects” and that the focus will be on Zink. # ** Valve_Now_Funding_Blumenkrantz_–_Zink_OpenGL-On- Vulkan_To_Continue ** Longtime open-source developer Mike Blumenkrantz who has been an Enlightenment developer for many years and was working for Samsung’s Open-Source Group prior to its demise jumped into the open-source Linux graphics world this year. While being unemployed he began hacking on the Zink Gallium3D code that allows generic OpenGL acceleration over the Vulkan API. He quickly got the code to the point of OpenGL 4.6 support and quite compelling performance compared to where Zink was at earlier this year. Now it turns out he will continue with his Linux graphics adventures thanks to funding from Valve. Mike Blumenkrantz shared today that Valve is going to be sponsoring his graphics-related work moving forward. At least for now, that Linux graphics work is still on the matter of Zink. o **** Benchmarks **** # ** Tiger_Lake_+_Renoir_On_Ubuntu_Linux_For_Battery_vs._AC Performance ** Given the recent Intel presentation alleging AMD Ryzen laptop performance being worse on battery relative to the AC vs. battery performance seen with Intel EVO notebooks featuring Tiger Lake processors, I ran a mini comparison on my side to see whether there is any merit to Intel’s information when testing under Ubuntu Linux. Here is just some initial data on my side when benchmarking AMD Ryzen “Renoir” versus Intel Core i7 “Tiger Lake” when running Ubuntu 20.10 and comparing the AC power versus battery performance. o **** Applications **** # ** Top_7_Linux_GPU_Monitoring_and_Diagnostic_Commands_Line Tools ** A video card is a special circuit board that controls what is displayed on a computer monitor. It is also called a graphics processing unit (GPU), which calculates 3D images and graphics for Linux gaming and other usages. Let us see the top 7 Linux GPU monitoring and diagnostic command-line tools to solve issues. The following tools work on Linux for GPU monitoring and diagnostic purposes and other operating systems such as FreeBSD. The majority of Linux and FreeBSD users these days use Nvidia, Intel, and AMD GPUs. # ** LibreSSL_3.3.0_Released ** We have released LibreSSL 3.3.0, which will be arriving in the LibreSSL directory of your local OpenBSD mirror soon. This is the first development release from the 3.3.x series, which will eventually be part of OpenBSD 6.9. # ** New_alpha_release:_Tor_0.4.5.2-alpha ** There’s a new alpha release available for download. If you build Tor from source, you can download the source code for 0.4.5.2-alpha from the download page on the website. Packages should be available over the coming weeks, with a new alpha Tor Browser release by mid-December. Remember, this is an alpha release: you should only run this if you’d like to find and report more bugs than usual. o **** Instructionals/Technical **** # ** How_to_Install_XFCE_Desktop_Environment_in_Linux_Mint ** XFCE is a well know desktop environment for Linux, Solaris, and BSD systems. It is a fast, lightweight, user-friendly, GTK toolkit based desktop environment. It comes with a wide range of applications and Linux users find it very useful and appealing. You can download Linux Mint 20, in three editions Cinnamon, MATE, or Xfce. Here I will show you how to install Xfce 4.14 (GTK3 based) desktop environment on Linux Mint 20 Ulyana. # ** How_to_get_system_hardware_details_on_CentOS_8 ** When working on a Linux distribution, the user may need to know about hardware and basic system information of the current working system. Regardless of whether you are a software developer or a normal Linux user, it might be necessary to check software and hardware system compatibility. The command-line Linux system provides built-in commands through which a user can get the details about the currently used system and hardware platform. In this article, you will find a brief description of all commands, which will help you easily get details about your system and hardware. # ** [Old] The_Finfisher_Tales,_Chapter_1:_The_dropper ** Amnesty International finally dropped the bomb and released a report about FinSpy spyware made by FinFisher Gmbh. The most interesting thing was the revelation of Mac and Linux versions, something that was missing from previous reports on this commercial malware (Kaspersky, Wikileaks). Their report summarizes the most important features but isn’t technically deep. This got me interested in verifying if FinSpy for Mac was any good malicious software or just the same kind of bullshit commercial malware like HackingTeam (they finally went kaput, oh so many crocodile tears!). # ** How_To_Install_Zoom_on_CentOS_8_–_idroot ** In this tutorial, we will show you how to install Zoom on CentOS 8. For those of you who didn’t know, Zoom is a cross-platform video communication tool that works on Windows, Mac, Android, and Linux systems. With Zoom, you can host webinars, organize online meetings, and create conference rooms. This article assumes you have at least basic knowledge of Linux, know how to use the shell, and most importantly, you host your site on your own VPS. The installation is quite simple and assumes you are running in the root account, if not you may need to add ‘sudo‘ to the commands to get root privileges. I will show you through the step by step installation of Zoom client on CentOS 8. # ** How_To_Install_OpenLiteSpeed_on_CentOS_8_–_idroot ** In this tutorial, we will show you how to install OpenLiteSpeed on CentOS 8. For those of you who didn’t know, OpenLiteSpeed is an open-source HTTP server developed by LiteSpeed Technologies. OpenLiteSpeed is a high performance and lightweight HTTP server which comes with a Web Gui administration interface. As far as Linux web servers are concerned, OpenLiteSpeed has some interesting features that make it a solid choice for many installations. It features Apache compatible rewrite rules, a web administration interface, and customized PHP processing optimized for the server. This article assumes you have at least basic knowledge of Linux, know how to use the shell, and most importantly, you host your site on your own VPS. The installation is quite simple and assumes you are running in the root account, if not you may need to add ‘sudo‘ to the commands to get root privileges. I will show you through the step by step installation of the OpenLiteSpeed web server on a CentOS 8. # ** How_to_Install_Gibbon_LMS_on_Ubuntu_20.04 ** Gibbon is a free and open-source school management system specially designed for teachers, students, parents and leaders. It helps teachers to find, contact and help their students. It allows teachers to plan, teach, collect, assess and return work in one streamlined process. It is an excellent and one-stop-shop efficient tool that makes all information available in one place. It comes with a simple web-based interface that helps teachers to access all student details on the go. # ** How_to_Install_Arch_Linux_[Beginner's_Guide] ** This beginner’s guide explains the steps on how to install Arch Linux – in a most easy and friendly way. # ** How_to_install_MySQL_server_on_CentOS_8_Linux_–_nixCraft ** How do I install MySQL server 8.0 on CentOS 8 Linux server running on Linode and AWS cloud? How do I add and set up a new MySQL user and database account on the newly created CentOS server? Oracle MySQL server version 8.0 is a free and open- source free database server. It is one of the most popular database system used in web apps and websites on the Internet. Typically MySQL is part of the LAMP (Linux, Apache/ Nginx, MySQL, Perl/Python/PHP) stack. Popular open- source software such as WordPress, MediaWiki, and others profoundly used by MySQL as a database storage engine. Let us see how to install MySQL server version 8.x on CentOS 8 Linux server. # ** Linux_Fu:_VPN_For_Free_With_SSH_|_Hackaday ** If you see a lot of banner ads on certain websites, you know that without a Virtual Private Network (VPN), hackers will quickly ravage your computer and burn down your house. Well, that seems to be what they imply. In reality, though, there are two main reasons you might want a VPN connection. You can pay for a service, of course, but if you have ssh access to a computer somewhere on the public Internet, you can set up your own VPN service for no additional cost. The basic idea is that you connect to a remote computer on another network and it makes it look like all your network traffic is local to that network. The first case for this is to sidestep or enhance security. For example, you might want to print to a network printer without exposing that printer to the public Internet. While you are at the coffee shop you can VPN to your network and print just like you were a meter away from the printer at your desk. Your traffic on the shop’s WiFi will also be encrypted. # ** YANUB:_yet_another_(nearly)_useless_blog:_QSoas_tips_and tricks:_using_meta-data,_first_level ** By essence, QSoas works with \(y = f(x)\) datasets. However, in practice, when working with experimental data (or data generated from simulations), one has often more than one experimental parameter (\(x\)). For instance, one could record series of spectra (\(A = f(\lambda)\)) for different pH values, so that the absorbance is in fact a function of both the pH and \(\lambda\). QSoas has different ways to deal with such situations, and we’ll describe one today, using meta-data. [...] QSoas is a powerful open source data analysis program that focuses on flexibility and powerful fitting capacities. It is released under the GNU General Public License. It is described in Fourmond, Anal. Chem., 2016, 88 (10), pp 5050–5052. Current version is 2.2. You can download its source code there (or clone from the GitHub repository) and compile it yourself, or buy precompiled versions for MacOS and Windows there. # ** Many_ways_to_sort_file_content_on_Linux ** The Linux sort command can arrange command output or file content in a lot more ways than you might realize–alphabetically, numerically, by month and randomly are only some of the more interesting choices. In this post, we take a look at some of the more useful sorting options and explain how they differ. # ** How_to_install_Luminance_HDR ** Luminance HDR is an open-source GUI tool that provides an easy to use toolkit for HDR imaging. It is available on all major Linux operating systems and is excellent for photographers. In this guide, we will go over how to install Luminance HDR on Linux. # ** How_to_add_a_WordPress_user_sign_up_–_Anto_Online ** Adding an external user sign up page on a website allows users to register for different roles. Once registered, they can perform tasks such as adding new articles, new comments, and even performing other actions such as designing. Allowing a user to sign up is a common thing for bloggers and companies that accept guest posts. However, this feature can also be used to offer premium content for your members. But, this may require more custom fields and branding. The default WordPress sign up page contains fixed fields and a WordPress logo. # ** How_to_install_Lyrebird_on_a_Chromebook_–_a_Discord_Voice Changer ** Today we are looking at how to install Lyrebird, a voice changer for Discord on a Chromebook. Please follow the video/audio guide as a tutorial where we explain the process step by step and use the commands below. # ** How_to_play_Brawlhalla_on_Linux ** Brawlhalla is a free-to-play 2D fighting game. It was developed by Blue Mammoth Games, published by Ubisoft, and released on Nintendo Switch, Xbox One, PS4, and PC. In this guide, we’ll show you how to play it on Linux. o **** Games **** # ** Aerofly_FS_2_Flight_Simulator_from_IPACS_is_now_available on_Linux_|_GamingOnLinux ** Need to take to the skies? We can possibly help with that. Aerofly FS 2 Flight Simulator from IPACS recently quitely released a Linux version. They don’t seem to have announced it in a news post but it’s up and live on Steam right now. A reader emailed in about this, and the developer has confirmed it on their Steam forum. Looks like quite a detailed flight sim too with a number of aircraft included like the A320, B737- 500, F-15, F-18, Aermacchi MB-339, King Air C90 GTx, Learjet 45, ASG 29 and Swift S1 gliders and more. After being released in Early Access in 2016, then a full release in 2017 it’s continued being supported for a long time now. Most recently, it had a big update adding in the EC135 helicopter along with a bunch of optimizations to the game. # ** Amnesia:_Rebirth_is_easily_one_of_the_scariest_and_best games_of_2020 ** After a rough launch, Frictional Games have nicely fixed up Amnesia: Rebirth and overall the experience is one we’re not going to forget any time soon. “In Amnesia: Rebirth, you are Tasi Trianon, waking up deep in the desert of Algeria. Days have passed. Where have you been? What did you do? Where are the others? Retrace your journey, pull together the fragments of your shattered past; it is your only chance to survive the pitiless horror that threatens to devour you.” While our livestreamer did a full playthrough live on our Twitch Channel cheered on by viewers which you can watch through on-demand on our YouTube Channel, I was spending it entirely alone in a dark room with no one but myself to count on. Not the best idea, because I am a complete wimp. I’m at least honest about that though and Amnesia: Rebirth was, in a word, terrifying. Okay, not all the way through, but plenty of it was. Amnesia: Rebirth might be Frictional’s weirdest yet too. All of their games are strange in their own way but it feels like they really went hard on the darkness in Amnesia: Rebirth. It worked well though, not many games have made me terrified to look at a tiny window on a door before while I search a room for anything useful to keep me going that little bit longer. # ** Deep_survival_game_Vintage_Story_has_my_full_attention with_the_latest_expansion ** Vintage Story has a huge new version almost ready to release, with a couple of Release Candidates going up for the 1.14 release and it’s looking awesome. This is the survival game for those of you who love the blocky style of Minecraft but want something deeper, something much more complex and exciting. With full Linux support, Vintage Story is a good choice and the developer is definitely dedicated to their idea. With the 1.14 update pulling in lots of often requested features including character customization, the “Steel Age” along with assorted items to build like a metal door and a mechanical powered Pulverizer building that can grind down things for you which looks awesome. Your body temperature now matters more too with clothing giving warmth, frost damage during harsh winters, lots of new blocks, new graphics with shader effects and lots more. # ** You_can_now_try_the_RetroArch_Playtest_on_Steam_for_Linux |_GamingOnLinux ** With the awesome RetroArch application for running emulators and all sorts coming to Steam, they now have a Playtest available you can opt into to try it out. Using the new dedicated Steam Playtest feature announced by Valve in early November, developers can have a banner on their Steam store page letting users request access. So the Libretro team have put this up, and as of today it also has Linux builds available for testing. # ** PulseAudio_14.0_Released_With_Better_USB_Gaming_Headset Support_–_Phoronix ** While in 2021 we might begin to see PipeWire replacing PulseAudio by default at least on bleeding-edge distributions like Fedora, for now PulseAudio still is the dominant sound server used by desktop Linux distributions. Rolling out today is PulseAudio 14.0. PulseAudio 14.0 comes with many changes compared to PulseAudio 13.0 that shipped all the way back in September of 2019. # ** “Anarch”,_a_new,_public-domain_Doom-like_game_coded_from scratch_in_<256K ** I’ve argued that the video-game “Doom” is a sort of cultural version of Turing Completeness. Given that we’re jamming computers and screens into just about any device these days, inevitably (and delightfully) someone gets it to run Doom: Watches, digital cameras, ATMs, pregnancy sticks. But you know what’s even cooler? Creating your own new, original game in the exactly style of Doom, and making it so wildly resource-efficient that it fits in under 256K and will run on just about any computational device around. That’s what the programmer Miloslav Číž has done, with his new game “Anarch”. You can play it in your browser here or download it here; I just blasted away in it for a while, and it’s a hoot — he neatly channels the mechanics and twitchy low-rez aesthetics of the original. Gameplay trailer is here; he put it in the public domain, and the code is all here on Gitlab. o **** Desktop Environments/WMs **** # **** GNOME Desktop/GTK **** # ** Customize_Task_Switching_Experience_on_GNOME_Desktop With_These_Nifty_Tools ** Unless you’re new to Linux, you know that there are several popular desktop environment choices for users. And if you’re that newbie, I recommend you to learn what a desktop environment is along with this tutorial. Here, I shall be focusing on tweaking the task switching experience on GNOME. I know that the majority of users just tend to use it as is and stock settings are good enough for the most part. I mean there is nothing wrong with the application switcher that you use with Alt+Tab keyboard shortcut in Ubunt # ** Gnome_Asia_summit_2020 ** o **** Distributions **** # **** Screenshots/Screencasts **** # ** KaOS_2020.11_Run_Though ** In this video, we are looking at KaOS 2020.11. # **** IBM/Red Hat/Fedora **** # ** Adam_Williamson:_Site_and_blog_migration ** So I’ve been having an adventurous week here at HA Towers: I decided, after something more than a decade, I’m going to get out of the self-hosting game, as far as I can. It makes me a bit sad, because it’s been kinda cool to do and I think it’s worked pretty well, but I’m getting to a point where it seems silly that a small part of me has to constantly be concerned with making sure my web and mail servers and all the rest of it keep working, when the services exist to do it much more efficiently. It’s cool that it’s still possible to do it, but I don’t think I need to actually do it any more. So, if you’re reading this…and I didn’t do something really weird…it’s not being served to you by a Fedora system three feet from my desk any more. It’s being served to you by a server owned by a commodity web hoster…somewhere in North America…running Lightspeed (boo) on who knows what OS. I pre- paid for four years of hosting before realizing they were running proprietary software, and I figured what the hell, it’s just a web serving serving static files. If it starts to really bug me I’ll move it, and hopefully you’ll never notice. [...] I also set up a Kolab Now account and switched my contacts and calendar to it, which was nice and easy to do (download the ICS files from Radicale, upload them to Kolab, switch my accounts on my laptops and phone, shut down the Radicale server, done). I also plan to have it serve my mail, but that migration is going to be the longest and most complicated as I’ll have to move several gigs of mail and re-do all my filters. Fun! # ** IBM_Cloud_Now:_Instana_Acquisition,_myInvenio Partnership,_and_Lower_Prices_for_RHOS_on_IBM_Cloud ** # **** Canonical/Ubuntu Family **** # ** A_New_Chrome_OS-Like_Ubuntu_Remix_is_Now_Available ** If you’ve used Chrome OS, you know there’s a beauty in the simplicity. Over the years, there have been a few attempts at recreating that same simplicity for Linux, but many of those distributions have vanished. From the creator of Ubuntu Unity, comes yet another attempt to create that user-friendly magic. The new distribution, called Ubuntu Web, is based on Ubuntu 20.04, and offers an open source take on Chrome OS. The developer, Rudy Saraswat, has employed the GNOME desktop (version 3.36) to pull this off and includes plenty of pre-installed apps to make Ubuntu Web a distribution anyone can use. Included in the app listing you’ll find web apps for Mastodon, Twitter, SoundCloud, and a number of others from the /e/ Foundation. # ** Canonical_publishes_LTS_Docker_Image_Portfolio_on Docker_Hub ** The LTS Docker Image Portfolio comes with up to ten years Extended Security Maintenance by Canonical. “LTS Images are built on trusted infrastructure, in a secure environment, with guarantees of stable security updates,” said Mark Lewis, VP Application Services at Canonical. “They offer a new level of container provenance and assurance to organisations making the shift to container based operations.” Canonical and Docker will collaborate on Docker Official Images and LTS Docker Image Portfolio to bring the best of the two to the community and ecosystem. The entire LTS Docker Image Portfolio will be exempted from per-user rate limits. # ** Ubuntu_Linux_maker_Canonical_publishes_curated container_images_to_help_secure_software_supply_chains ** A good deal of software development now relies on open source images, but it can be hard for businesses to know if they’re introducing security flaws by using them. Canonical — the company behind Ubuntu Linux — is addressing this by publishing the LTS (Long Term Support) Docker Image Portfolio, a curated set of secure container application images, on Docker Hub. LTS Images are built on trusted infrastructure, in a secure environment, with guarantees of stable security updates. Canonical and Docker will collaborate on Docker Official Images and the LTS Docker Image Portfolio to bring the best of the two to the community and ecosystem. The entire LTS Docker Image Portfolio will also be exempted from per-user rate limits. # ** Ubuntu_Fridge_|_Ubuntu_Weekly_Newsletter_Issue_658 ** Welcome to the Ubuntu Weekly Newsletter, Issue 658 for the week of November 15 – 21, 2020. The full version of this issue is available here. o **** Devices/Embedded **** # ** Raspberry_Pi_automation_add-on_offers_ADCs,_DIDO,_and_UPS ** Edgedevices.io’s second-gen “Pi-oT 2” Raspberry Pi automation add-on offers 8x ADCs, 6x digital outputs, and Ethernet plus options including a 2- hour UPS, RS485, 4x 24V digital inputs, and a 12- 24VDC input. Last year, Cleveland-based Pi-oT, now called Edgedevices.io, launched a Kickstarter campaign for a Pi-oT industrial controller add-on for the Raspberry Pi that is housed within a DIN-rail mountable chassis. Edgedevices.io has now returned to Kickstarter with a Pi-oT 2 model loaded with plenty of new features including DIDO and an Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS) while losing the 5x relays of the original. # ** Giveaway:_Win_one_of_three_Linux-friendly_LABISTS Raspberry_Pi_4_8GB_RAM_Starter_Kits_worth_$129.99! ** With Raspberry Pi 4, however, the tiny computer became a viable desktop computer — particularly the model with 8GB of RAM. You can install Ubuntu, for instance, and have a full desktop experience. Best of all, the 8GB variant can be had for just $75. # ** Vulkan_for_the_Raspberry_Pi_4_with_V3DV_is_now_conformant and_official_|_GamingOnLinux ** Great news for the Vulkan API and for fans of the Raspberry Pi 4, as the upcoming V3DV that will be part of the next Mesa release is now an official conforming driver. Sharing the news on the official RPi blog, guest poster Iago Toral from Igalia announced that nearly a year after being first announced, the V3DV Vulkan driver for the Raspberry Pi 4 now passes The Khronos Group’s Vulkan 1.0 conformance tests and is now officially listed. # ** The_smart_video_doorbells_letting_hackers_into_your_home ** We tested 11 different doorbells found on eBay and Amazon, many of which had scores of 5-star reviews, were recommended as ‘Amazon’s Choice’, or on the bestseller list. One was labelled as the number one bestseller in ‘door viewers’. We found vulnerabilities with every single one. # ** Make_your_own_virtual_reality_3D_Shooter ** # **** Open Hardware/Modding **** # ** Homemade_recycling_rig_turns_plastic_waste_into_new products ** While that plastic cup, bag, dish, or other item may have served its purpose, more than likely it could be formed into something new. With this in mind, the SOTOP-Recycling team of Manuel Maeder, Benjamin Krause, and Nadina Maeder developed an automated injection molding machine that can be built at home and is small enough to allow you to run your own recycling operation! [...] Everything is controlled by an Arduino Mega. # ** Delock_MQTT-enabled_power_socket_switches ** The included leaflet is sufficient to get started. Plugging the device into mains has it create a WiFi access point I connect to, and I can then configure it to connect to my home network. The Tasmota firmware spoke German to me all the time, and the only reason I can think of, as my browsers are all set to English, is that it was built that way for delivery here. Ronald confirms that and explains I can flash the device with an en firmware from here (I pasted the link to tasmota.bin into the firmware update page). # **** Mobile Systems/Mobile Applications **** # ** Recent_Android_Auto_Update_Causes_a_New_Dark_Mode Struggle ** # ** Top_10_best_cyberpunk_games_for_Android ** # ** The_Hisense_65-inch_4K_UHD_smart_Android_TV_is coming_back_to_Best_Buy_for_$250 ** # ** Tyne_and_Wear_Metro_launches_mobile_ticketing_on Android_phones ** # ** Football_Manager_2021_Mobile_is_now_available_on Android ** # ** Google_sets_the_groundwork_to_allow_new_emoji without_full_Android_system_updates ** # ** How_to_Turn_on_Dark_Mode_on_Android ** # ** The_Vsmart_Bee_Lite_is_the_cheapest_Android_Go_phone to_date_at_just_$26 ** # ** Samsung_is_absolutely_killing_it_with_Android updates_now ** # ** Google_Removes_Fake_Minecraft_Modpack_Apps_That_Are Loading_Adware_to_Android_Devices ** # ** Google_To_Add_End-to-End_Encryption_To_Android Messages_App ** # ** Google_prepares_to_decouple_new_emojis_from_Android system_updates ** # ** Google_Launches_The_Mandalorian_AR_App_For_5G Android_Phones ** # ** How_to_Turn_off_all_Sensors_on_Android_in_just_one single_tap? ** # ** How_to_Share_Your_Screen_using_Google_Duo_on_Android ** # ** Redmi_K30_5G_starts_receiving_Android_11-based_MIUI 12 ** # ** Top_8_Best_Android_Apps_To_Buy/Sell_Used_Smartphones –_2020 ** # ** Best_new_mobile_games_on_iOS_and_Android_–_November 2020_round-up ** # ** Android_users_could_soon_get_this_huge_privacy upgrade ** # ** Android_app_downloaded_millions_of_times_from_Google Play_Store_has_serious_security_flaws ** # ** Sony_Entertainment_Partners_with_Manga_Reading_App Mangamo_for_Android ** # ** PUBG_Mobile_India_could_be_initially_launched_for Android_devices_–_Report ** # ** Oregan_teams_up_with_AmLogic_for_Android_TV_Operator Tier ** # ** Case_Study_|_HbbTV_on_Android_TV_Operator_Tier_box ** # ** bunq,_phos_to_offer_Android-based_POS_payments ** # ** The_best_Android_smartphone_location_tracker_apps ** # ** Zattoo_launches_HbbTV_on_Android_TV_Operator_Tier box ** # ** How_to_reliably_sideload_the_latest_Google_apps_on Android_11 ** # ** How_to_Scan_a_QR_Code_on_Android_and_iPhone ** # ** How_to_recover_deleted_text_messages_on_Android,_and why_you_should_back_up_your_phone_on_Google_Drive ** # ** Manjaro_ARM_Beta3_for_PinePhone_brings_camera,_phone call,_and_gesture_improvements ** The latest beta of Manjaro ARM for the PinePhone brings a series of software updates and bug fixes. The kernel and default web browser, camera app, keyboard, and chat applications have all received updates. Phone call audio quality has been improved. And you you can now close applications by swiping upward on the thumbnail image in the task switcher. Manjaro ARM Beta3 with Phosh for the PinePhone is available for download from OSDN, and you can flash it to a microSD card using balenaEtcher or a similar tool. o **** Free, Libre, and Open Source Software **** # ** On_Safety_Razors_and_Technology ** Think Windows on one side, vs Linux (and the BSDs) on the other (with macOS initially being in the middle and increasingly swaying to becoming even more constraining than Windows). Think proprietary gaming consoles and mobile IAP-chasing games, vs game platforms that encourage participation like TIC-80 and LÖVE. Think US-centric proprietary social networks (Facebook, Twitter) and services (Dropbox, Google Suite) vs distributed social networks (Mastodon, Pleroma, Diaspora etc.) and self-hosted services (Nextcloud, Cryptpad etc.). What are most people sacrificing to the altar of promised convenience? Literally both time and money: our attention, higher costs; also our autonomy (you’re locked in) and our privacy (… so platform owners can mine your attention and monetize what they observe of your behavior). If you believe in capitalism, this is bad news. If you don’t it’s even worse. [...] But in other jurisdictions like the US, regulation might be a long time coming, except maybe in California (plus the companies we’re trying to unshackle users from are mostly US-based). So a lot of the solution has to be bottom up. We simply need to lower barriers to entry, both actual and perceived, to using the platforms we’re championing. Some involve compromises (e.g. Flatpak is a great way to abstract away the differences between Linux distributions, to the point that it’s easier to install proprietary apps, including Steam – which improves the availability of games on Linux despite, yes, being proprietary). Some involve corporate backing (e.g. Fedora on Lenovo laptops). A lot would involve being more welcoming to newcomers, and bridging the actual usability gaps there are. It’s hard enough to overcome incumbency and the network effect. Let’s not make it harder for ourselves. # **** Productivity Software/LibreOffice/Calligra **** # ** LibreOffice_7.1_Beta_Released_With_Faster_Spell Checking,_Speedier_Find_And_Replace_–_Phoronix ** LibreOffice 7.1 was branched this weekend that also marked the hard feature freeze for this next half-year update to this open- source office suite. LibreOffice 7.1 Beta has now shipped ahead of next month’s release candidate and the additional test releases in January before going gold in early February. LibreOffice 7.1 brings presentation improvements, an outline folding mode as an experimental feature, faster find/replace performance, faster spell checking performance within the Calc spreadsheets, new physics-based animations within Impress, LibreOffice Math now has full support for HTML colors, native support for Windows ARM64, and a wealth of low-level improvements. # ** Community_Member_Monday:_Yusuf_Keten_–_The_Document Foundation_Blog ** I was born on February 25, 1998 in Istanbul, Turkey. Currently I’m a third-year Computer Engineering student at Hacettepe University in Turkey. I really like coding. Nowadays, I am working on computer graphics. Also, I have academic projects about GPGPU programming. I am contributing to LibreOffice in my free time because of my enthusiasm for open source culture. # **** FSF **** # ** Moving_into_the_future_with_the_FSF_tech_team ** The FSF is well-known for spearheading the advocacy and support of free software, not just by recommending it in the face of pervasive proprietary options, but also by condemning nonfree software altogether. Following this recommendation is hard, even for us, because of the ever-increasing dependency on software and computer networks that we are all subject to. To follow through with our commitment, our tech team maintains a large list of services that many other offices our size would have long ago been wrongly pressured into transferring to one of the handful of gigantic corporations that monopolize those services. Your work email account is most likely implemented through Gmail or Outlook; your office’s software is likely to be served by Amazon Web Services, along with all the data backups; your company’s customer service is likely to be managed through Salesforce or SAP, and so on. Make no mistake, this is true for your local government and school networks, too! In contrast, at the FSF, we never jumped on the outsourcing wagon, and we don’t use any Service as a Software Substitute (SaaSS) in our operations. We run our own email servers, telephony and fax service, print shop, full server stack, backups, networking, systems monitoring, accounting, customer relationship management (CRM) software, and a long list of other tasks and software development projects, with a team of just four extremely dedicated technicians. And we implement this on hardware that has been carefully evaluated to meet very high ethical standards, criteria that we push for vendors to achieve through our “Respects Your Freedom” certification program. # **** FSF **** # **** GNU Projects **** # ** GNU_Guix_1.2_Adds_Btrfs_Subvolume_Booting,_New GNU_Hurd_Options ** GNU Guix 1.2 is out today as both an update to the cross-platform package manager as well as the Guix System Linux distribution. This release comes after being in development the past half-year and also on the 8th anniversary of this GNU project. GNU Guix 1.2 comes with new features, performance improvements, and many fixes to the package manager as well as the GNU/Linux system distribution. # ** GNU_Guix_1.2.0_Released_With_Linux-libre 5.9.3,_GNOME_3.34.2,_More ** Celebrating the eighth anniversary of the GNU Guix project, Ludovic Courtès has announced the release of a new GNU Guix version 1.2.0. The latest v1.2.0 includes several new features, user interface, security update, performance improvements, and bug fixes. But before we see it in more detail, let me brief you about GNU Guix. # ** Gimp_Turns_25 ** # **** Programming/Development **** # **** Perl/Raku **** # ** 2020.47_Present_Release_–_Rakudo_Weekly_News ** Alexander Kiryuhin again did all the hard work to create a new Rakudo Compiler release: the Rakudo Compiler 2020.11 Release! With a bunch of new features, such as new coercion semantics, support for the [|| ] and {|| } postcircumfix operators, a new is test-assertion trait for better error reporting during testing. Plus some efficiency improvements and quite a number of bug fixes and improvements. Sadly, shortly after the release it became clear that some typical workloads seem to be affected by a noticeable performance regression. This appears to be caused by the new coercion semantics inadvertently disabling some runtime optimizations. Fixing this has now become a blocker for the next release. It just goes to show that in Raku, it’s important to first make it work, and then make it work fast. And that a lot of users are already relying on those runtime optimizations. # **** Python **** # ** 13_Best_Free_and_Open_Source_Python Microframeworks ** One of the types of software that’s important for a web developer is the web framework. A framework “is a code library that makes a developer’s life easier when building reliable, scalable, and maintainable web applications” by providing reusable code or extensions for common operations. By saving development time, developers can concentrate on application logic rather than mundane elements. A web framework offers the developer a choice about how to solve a specific problem. By using a framework, a developer lets the framework control portions of their application. While it’s perfectly possible to code a web application without using a framework, it’s more practical to use one. # **** Java **** # ** JDK_16:_The_new_features_in_Java_16_| InfoWorld ** Java Development Kit (JDK) 16 has added two more proposed new features including strong encapsulation of JDK internals and a foreign linker API. Previously proposed features include a foreign-memory access API, pattern matching, a production-ready package tool, concurrent thread-stack processing for garbage collection, support for C++ 14 language features, and an “elastic metaspace” capability to more quickly return unused class metadata memory to the OS. JDK 16 will be the reference implementation of the version of standard Java set to follow JDK 15, which arrived September 15. A proposed release schedule has JDK 16 reaching rampdown phases on December 10 and January 14, 2021, followed by release candidates arriving February 4 and February 18, 2021. The production release is slated to be published March 16, 2021. o **** Standards/Consortia **** # ** The_Internet_Archive_are_keeping_Flash_creations_alive with_the_open_source_Ruffle ** Like many of you, I have certain fond memories of playing various Flash games many years ago. There’s obviously many better ways to do web games now and Adobe are killing Flash in December. On December 31, Adobe will be cutting off Flash from any further updates, it will effectively be End Of Life. There’s a few projects around trying to keep it alive, like the open source Ruffle emulator written in Rust. Ruffle is still in development but even so the results are impressive, and it can already play thousands of Flash items. All you need is an up to date browser and it does it all for you with no plugins needed. If you have any Flash stuff, you can even test it online. Seems people have taken notice of this effort, like The Internet Archive who are known rather well for their Wayback Machine that stores websites at various dates. Announced in a blog post on November 19, the archive’s Jason Scott announced that they’re now storing and emulating various Flash animations, games and toys in their growing collection. * **** Leftovers **** o ** Have_You_Ever_Loved_Someone? ** The letting go is not out of hate, but out of an even deeper love, where truth and balance and harmony exist. Knowing that a more perfect love is not only possible, but something that must be and we are moved. Love, true love, the kind we imagine in our best moments, eventually always requires a full commitment to that which is real and honest. In real love, the masks come off, which of course is a grand part what makes love so enticing, exciting, and fun! Love of the other, in such a case requires, if it is to be of its fullest nature, requires that it needs to be coupled with that ever so important other ingredient in any mutual affection, self-respect and the kind of love “of self” that a respect of self generates. o ** Sharing_the_Landscape:_Gator_and_Gunner_Come_To_An_Agreement, More_or_Less ** o ** Buy_Nothing_Day ** Although Buy Nothing Day can be celebrated as a holiday, most people consider it an anti-holiday. It is a day that is celebrated all over North America and Europe on the Friday after the United States’ Thanksgiving – on the same day as Black Friday. In a sense, this makes this holiday the anti-Black Friday, at least in the U.S. In some parts of Europe, however, it is celebrated on the last Saturday in November. o ** The_Olympic_Machine_Meets_With_Protest_in_Tokyo ** It was a bizarre attempt at normality in highly abnormal times. Thomas Bach, the president of the International Olympic Committee, visited Tokyo last week for the first time since the coronavirus pandemic throttled Japan. In a highly scripted set of photo-ops throughout Tokyo, Bach projected a brand of buoyant optimism untroubled by the precariousness of our collective historical moment. o **** Science **** # ** Why_Is_Scientific_Illiteracy_So_Acceptable? ** When it comes to science rather than mathematics, it isn’t so simple. Proudly proclaiming scientific illiteracy is not de rigueur. Instead another refrain has recently become popular among politicians and public figures: “I am not a scientist, but…” Equally prominent, is the statement “I believe in science” (as if there is a choice) which is then followed by some scientific gibberish. Science fiction writer Philip K. Dick once said, “Reality is that which continues to exist even when you stop believing in it.” The line between being scientifically or empirically controversial vs being politically controversial has been blurred to the point of erasure. In Washington, and many other seats of government throughout the world, belief trumps reality. o **** Education **** # ** For_Some_Workers,_Schools_Never_Closed ** Before Covid-19 hit Lexington, Mass., Amy Morin loved her job helping special needs students at an elementary school. She still does, but now she also feels a creeping sense of dread. # ** Siberian_student_scales_birch_tree_for_internet_access_as classes_move_online ** Russian student Alexei Dudoladov has been forced to go to great lengths – or rather great heights – to attend classes online, having to climb a birch tree in his remote Siberian village every time he needs an internet connection. The 21-year-old, a popular blogger and a student at the Omsk Institute of Water Transport, located 2,225 kilometres (1,383 miles) east of Moscow, has got the authorities’ attention by pleading for better internet coverage from the top of a snow- covered birch tree. In his plea – viewed 1.9 million times on TikTok and more than 56,000 times on Instagram since last week – Dudoladov tells regional governor Alexander Burkov that his home internet is not strong enough to connect to his online classes and that he has been forced to come up with a creative solution. o **** Health/Nutrition **** # ** CDC_ready_for_Biden_transition:_‘This_is_what_we’ve_been waiting_for’ ** Leadership at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, beset by a Trump White House that was harshly critical of the agency’s coronavirus response, are anticipating the Biden transition team and the change a new administration will bring, senior health officials tell CNN. # ** Drugmakers_Will_Profit_Off_COVID_Vaccines_Generated_by Taxpayer-Funded_Research ** # ** Russian_authorities_launch_investigation_over_forced sterilizations_at_assisted_living_facility_in_Yekaterinburg ** Russia’s Investigative Committee branch in the Sverdlovsk region has opened an investigation into reports of the forced sterilization of women at the Uktussky Assisted Living Facility in Yekaterinburg. This was reported by the news outlet Lampa Yekaterinburg on its Telegram channel.  # ** High_Drug_Prices_Could_Result_in_Premature_Deaths_of_More Than_1.1_Million_Seniors_in_Next_Decade:_Analysis ** “The costs of doing nothing about high drug prices are too high.” # ** Two_School_Districts_Had_Different_Mask_Policies._Only_One Had_a_Teacher_on_a_Ventilator. ** On a balmy August morning in Emanuel County in eastern Georgia, hundreds of children bounded off freshly cleaned school buses and out of their parents’ cars. They were greeted by the principal, teachers and staff at Swainsboro Middle School who hadn’t seen them in four months. Before allowing the children to enter, a longtime receptionist beamed a temperature gun at their foreheads and checked for violations of the public school’s strict dress code: mostly neutral colors, nothing tight and no shoulders exposed. Masks were optional, and about half of the children wore them. So did the receptionist, but only sporadically, according to several teachers. # ** What_Could_be_Better_Than_a_Drug_That_Can_Stop_Covid?_A Society_That_Doesn’t_Let_Some_Make_Billions_off_a_Drug Millions_Can’t_Access ** Now we find ourselves in a race of much greater import: the dash to develop an effective vaccine for Covid-19. The world now watches with that fabled bated breath. Pfizer, a Big Pharma behemoth, is running neck-in-neck with Moderna, a lavishly funded corporate upstart. Pfizer, first to announce trial results, reports 90 percent effectiveness rates for its pandemic- stopper. Moderna, not to be outdone, reports 95 percent success rates. We actually hit that brass ring, too, retorts Pfizer. And ours even works with older people! # ** A_People’s_Vaccine?_Drugmakers_Set_to_Profit_from_COVID Vaccines_Made_with_Publicly_Funded_Research ** With the world pinning its hopes on a successful coronavirus vaccine to curb the pandemic, corporate watchdogs say much of the research and development of the medicines rely on publicly funded research. “The investment in these vaccines, as for most drugs, has really been underwritten by the taxpayer, by the government,” says Robert Weissman, president of Public Citizen. # ** Steak-umm_vs._COVID-19_misinformation ** Since the COVID-19 pandemic hit the US nine months ago, a number of bizarre things that I never thought I’d see have happened. For example, I never thought I’d see a President of the United States promote unproven treatments for a deadly viral illness, as President Trump did with hydroxychloroquine. (Dr. Mehmet Oz and other medical grifters promoting unproven treatments, sure, but the President of the United States? Well, I guess I did forget momentarily who our President was.) Nor did I ever think I’d see a President say such incredibly stupid things about potential treatments for such a disease, including using light and disinfectants internally to fight the coronavirus. Don’t get me wrong, though. Given my background, certainly, I did expect there to be COVID-19 conspiracy theories and wasn’t particularly surprised to see the antivaccine movement team up so quickly with COVID-19 conspiracy theorists and cranks given their shared world view viewing the same groups as villains hiding “The Truth” from you—yes, you!—but even I was a bit taken aback at how vociferously antimask ideology became a thing even though masks do work (COVID-19 denier misinterpretations of studies notwithstanding) to slow the spread of COVID-19. Perhaps the strangest thing, though, that happened during the pandemic is the rise of the most unexpected source of reason, science, and information to fight disinformation. I’m referring to the Twitter feed of a frozen meat company called Steak-umm. # ** 120,000_too_many:_Russia’s_coronavirus_mortality statistics_at_odds_with_spike_in_excess_deaths_during_the pandemic,_report_says ** The official mortality statistics from Russia’s operational headquarters for the fight against the coronavirus contradict the country’s excess mortality rate for 2020, says a new report from “Mediazona.” Based on data from Russia’s federal statistics agency and regional registry offices, “Mediazona” calculated that in the last seven months, Russia has seen 120,000 more people die than on average for this same period over the last five years. The country’s coronavirus headquarters, on the other hand, has only counted 28,200 deaths from COVID-19 during this period.  # ** Newsom,_family_quarantining_after_exposure_to_COVID-19 ** # ** We’re_celebrating_Thanksgiving_amid_a_pandemic._Here’s_how we_did_it_in_1918_–_and_what_happened_next ** “Every time I hear someone say these are unprecedented times, I say no, no, they’re not,” said Brittany Hutchinson, assistant curator at the Chicago History Museum. “They did this in 1918.” On Thanksgiving more than a century ago, many Americans, like today, lived under various phases of quarantines and face mask orders. Millions mourned loved ones. And health officials in many cities issued the same holiday warning: Stay home and stay safe. # ** NY’s_Cuomo_to_receive_International_Emmy_for_virus briefings ** International Academy President & CEO Bruce L. Paisner said Cuomo is being honored with the academy’s Founders Award for using his briefings to inform and calm the public. Previous recipients include former Vice President Al Gore, Oprah Winfrey, and director Steven Spielberg. “The governor’s 111 daily briefings worked so well because he effectively created television shows, with characters, plot lines, and stories of success and failure,” he said. “People around the world tuned in to find out what was going on, and New York tough became a symbol of the determination to fight back.” # ** Patrick_Quinn,_co-creator_of_the_ALS_Ice_Bucket_Challenge, dies ** The men’s spin on the trend, in which social media users filmed themselves being doused in a bucket of ice-water and then nominating friends to do the same, encouraged participants to donate to ALS research after completing the challenge. o **** Integrity/Availability **** # **** Proprietary **** # ** Manchester_United_forced_to_take_systems_offline following_cyberattack ** Manchester United said in a statement Nov. 20 that it had extensive protocols and procedures in place for such an event and had rehearsed for this risk. It added that “our cyber defenses identified the attack and shut down affected systems to contain the damage and protect data.” Media channels including the club’s website, mobile app and streaming service were unaffected by the attack and no personal data is believed to have been stolen. # ** Apple’s_global_security_chief_and_two_members_of Sheriff’s_office_indicted_for_alleged_bribery ** # ** iPads_for_gun_permits:_Apple_global_security_chief indicted_in_bribery_case ** The head of global security at Apple and two top officials from the Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Office and a local business owner have been accused in a grand jury indictment of exchanging bribes for concealed gun permits, the Morgan Hll Times, a newspaper in California, has reported. # ** Apple_Security_Head_Charged_With_Bribery_for_Gun Licenses ** A California district attorney accused Apple Inc. Chief Security Officer Thomas Moyer of offering a bribe to state officials for gun licenses, according to indictments issued on Monday. Moyer was named along with Santa Clara County Undersherrif Rick Sung and Captain James Jensen in a case that involved offering bribes in return for concealed firearms licenses, according to a court document and a statement from the Santa Clara district attorney’s office. # ** Apple_head_of_security_accused_of_offering_iPads_as bribes_for_concealed_gun_permits ** A California grand jury has indicted Apple’s head of global security on charges that he tried to bribe Santa Clara County officials to procure firearms (CCW) licenses, according to a news release. Santa Clara district attorney Jeff Rosen alleges that Thomas Moyer offered 200 iPads — worth about $70,000 — to Capt. James Jensen and Undersheriff Rick Sung in the Santa Clara County sheriff’s office, in exchange for four concealed firearms licenses for Apple employees. The charges came after a two-year investigation. “In the case of four CCW licenses withheld from Apple employees, Undersheriff Sung and Cpt. Jensen managed to extract from Thomas Moyer a promise that Apple would donate iPads to the Sheriff’s Office,” Rosen said in the news release. The iPads were never delivered, according to Rosen’s office, because Sung and Moyer became aware in 2019 that the district attorney was executing a search warrant for the sheriff department’s CCW records. # **** Security **** # ** Israel_cyber_directorate_warns_of_remotely exploitable_Drupal_flaw ** A warning has been issued by the Israel National Cyber Directorate about a critical remote code execution flaw in the Drupal content management system. # ** Australian_legal_industry_provider_Law_In Order_hit_by_Windows_ransomware ** Australian end-to-end document and digital solutions provider to the legal industry Law In Order says it has suffered a “cyber security incident” and has had to limit access to most of its website as a precaution. # ** Critical_VMware_Zero-Day_Bug_Allows_Command Injection;_Patch_Pending ** VMware explained it has no patch for a critical escalation-of-privileges bug that impacts both Windows and Linux operating systems and its Workspace One. The U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency is warning of a zero-day bug affecting six VMware products including its Workspace One, Identity Manager and vRealize Suite Lifecycle Manager. The critical unpatched bug is a command injection vulnerability. In a separate VMware advisory, the company did not indicate whether the vulnerability was under active attack. Tracked as CVE-2020-4006, the bug has a CVSS severity rating of 9.1 out of 10. The company said patches are “forthcoming” and that workarounds “for a temporary solution to prevent exploitation of CVE-2020-4006” are available. # **** Privacy/Surveillance **** # ** Russia’s_Cabinet_mandates_pre-installed Russian-made_apps_on_all_new_devices starting_in_2021 ** Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin has signed a government decree obliging electronics manufacturers to install Russian- made software on new devices — including smartphones, tablets, desktop and laptop computers, and smart TVs — as of January 1, 2021. # ** Florida_Sheriff’s_Pre-Crime_Software Says_D-Students_And_Victims_Of_Domestic Violence_Are_Potential_Criminals ** Predictive policing is coming for your children. That’s what’s happening in Florida, where the Pasco County Sheriff’s Office has taken an inappropriate interest in minors. It all begins with some questionable access to sensitive records and ends with the Sheriff deciding some students are destined for a life of crime. (h/t WarOnPrivacy) # ** Research_Shows_iOS_Covid_Apps_Are_A Privacy_Mess ** Jonathan Albright, director of the Digital Forensics Initiative at the Tow Center for Digital Journalism, recently released analysis he did into 493 COVID-19 related iOS apps across dozens of countries. The results are…not great, and highlight how such apps routinely hoover up far more data than they need to, including unneeded access to cameras and microphones, your photo gallery, your contacts, and far more location data than is needed. Much of this data then winds up in the adtech ecosystem for profit, where it winds up in the hands of third parties. o **** Defence/Aggression **** # ** US_Must_Halt_Renewed_War_Between_Morocco_and_Polisario ** We must act swiftly to prevent war and further conflict, end the occupation, and allow Sahrawis to make their decision on union with Morocco or independence.  # ** Should_Michèle_Flournoy_be_Secretary_of_Defense? ** # ** Russian_peacekeeper_injured_in_mine_explosion_in_Nagorno- Karabakh ** A Russian peacekeeper has been injured in a mine explosion in Nagorno-Karabakh, reports Interfax on Monday, November 23, citing Russia’s Defense Ministry. # ** FBI_Turns_A_Man_With_Mental_Health_Issues_Into_A ‘Terrorist,’_Busts_Him_For_Using_The_Internet ** Another FBI counterterrorism “investigation” has turned someone with mental health issues into a potential long term tenant of the federal prison system. The arrest happened in August, but the documents related to the arrest weren’t unsealed until earlier this month. # ** Message_to_Joe_Biden:_No_Torturers_in_the_Next_Cabinet ** Biden and Harris must eschew anyone complicit in torture or who frustrated oversight. # ** What_If_They_Called_an_Election_and_Nothing_Changed_in_the War_State? ** Foreign policy, sacred cows, and the U.S. Military. # ** Biden’s_Secretary_of_State_Pick_Showed_Support_of_Iraq_and Libya_Invasions ** # ** Reports_of_Meeting_Between_Netanyahu,_Pompeo,_bin_Salman Spark_Fear_of_Iran_War ** # ** #FeminismNotMilitarism:_Peace_Groups_Blast_Biden’s_DNI Pick_Over_Links_to_Drones,_Torture,_and_Mass_Surveillance ** CodePink co-founder Medea Benjamin and Nicolas J.S. Davies recently noted that Avril Haines “provided legal cover” for CIA torture and “worked closely” on the Obama administration’s expanded drone policy.  # ** Hey_Joe,_Where_You_Going_With_That_Pentagon_in_Your_Hands? ** The pernicious and lucrative aspects of military madness are personified in the favorite to be Biden’s Defense Secretary. # ** ‘Iran_in_the_Crosshairs?’_Reports_of_Secret_Meeting Between_Netanyahu,_MbS,_and_Pompeo_Spark_Fears_of_War_Plot ** “It is extremely alarming that the warmongers most reliant on Trump’s blank checks are secretly meeting in the middle of the night as the clock nearly runs out on the Trump administration.” # ** The_Yemen_Civil_War_Arms_Bonanza ** They do, and will continue to do so, despite the cholera outbreak, coronavirus, poorly functioning hospitals, and 10 million hungry mouths. The latest illustration of this is the Trump administration’s hurried $23 billon sale of 50 F-35 fighter aircraft, 18 MQ-9B Reaper drones, air-to-air missiles and various other munitions to the United Arab Emirates. The UAE used to be a more enthusiastic member of the Saudi Arabian-led coalition that has been pounding Yemen since 2015. Despite completing a phased military withdrawal from the conflict in February 2020 to much fanfare, Abu Dhabi remains involved in the coalition and an influential agent. Amnesty International has issued a grim warning that such weapons might well be used in “attacks that violate international humanitarian law and kill, as well as injure, thousands of Yemeni civilians.” With the imminent change of administration in the United States, there is a moral flutter in Congressional ranks, though much of it remains meek and slanted. Democratic Senators Bob Menendez (NJ) and Chris Murphy (Conn.), along with Republican Senator Rand Paul (Ky) intend introducing separate resolutions disapproving of President Donald Trump’s sale. Menendez felt morally mighty in warning the Trump administration that “circumventing deliberative processes for considering a massive infusion of weapons to a country in a volatile region with multiple ongoing conflicts is downright irresponsible.” # ** Dagestani_police_colonel_accused_of_complicity_in_2010 Moscow_subway_bombings ** On Monday, November 23, Russian state investigators charged Dagestani Police Colonel Gazi Isayev with complicity in a 2010 terrorist attack on the Moscow subway system. Isayev has headed a district police department in Dagestan for a decade. State investigators maintain that he is also responsible for leaking information on special operations to local militant groups, and sources told the media that he is potentially under suspicion for organizing murders, as well.  # ** France’s_Macron_asks_Muslim_leaders_to_back_‘republican values’_charter ** The CFCM has agreed to create a National Council of Imams, which will reportedly issue imams with official accreditation which could be withdrawn. It follows three suspected Islamist attacks in little more than a month. The charter will state that Islam is a religion and not a political movement, while also prohibiting “foreign interference” in Muslim groups. # ** Trump,_GOP’s_ridiculous,_flailing_coup_isn’t_a_joke._It’s a_crime._There_must_be_consequences_|_Will_Bunch ** But it’s time now for all the laughter to die in outrage. Because we need to state in the clearest and most unambiguous terms what is happening in America in November 2020: The president of the United States is using the power of his office to try to overturn, by any means necessary, the fair and democratic election that will remove him from office. In a nation that stakes its claim to “exceptionalism” on 44 peaceful transfers of power (despite one that wasn’t) over 231 years, its current leader is attempting a coup. It’s not a joke. It’s a crime. And there ought to be consequences — for Trump and his enablers, and to ensure this never happens again. # ** Trump’s_Coup_Attempt_Will_Be_a_Very_Costly_Failure ** Meanwhile, most Republican voters don’t think Joe Biden won fairly, despite election officials — including Republicans, who are now getting death threats from other Republicans — saying it might have been among the fairest elections on record. Trump and his enablers in Congress and right-wing media are treating their own supporters with sneering contempt, writes Jonathan Bernstein, but the damage is done: Many of these people may never accept a loss as legitimate again. # ** In_Another_Country_This_Would_Be_Called_a_Coup:_Detroit NAACP_Head_on_Trump_Trying_to_Overturn_Vote ** As part of the unprecedented attempt to keep President Trump in office despite his election loss, Republicans have focused on Michigan, where the party is seeking a delay in the certification of the vote results and to throw out votes from Detroit, which is overwhelmingly Black. A group of Michigan Republicans met with President Trump at the White House last week in what was widely viewed as an attempt by Trump to personally pressure the lawmakers to block Biden from being awarded the state’s 16 electoral votes. “This is an attempt to disenfranchise the African American vote and to give the election to Trump,” says Rev. Wendell Anthony, president of the Detroit branch of the NAACP. “If we were in a different country, this would be called a coup, a political coup.” # ** The_Coup_Stage_of_Donald_Trump’s_Presidency ** They are probably right. Then again, we in the media don’t have a great record for recognizing coups when they are staring us in the face. One of the best critiques of American journalism, still taught today because it remains relevant a hundred years after its publication, is an essay by Walter Lippmann and Charles Merz, “A Test of the News,” which analyzed the Times’ failure to cover the Russian Revolution. But Russian journalists missed it, too. On October 25, 1917, my great-grandfather, Arnold Gessen, wrote a long article for Petrograd’s Birzheviye Vedomosti (Stock Market News)—the Wall Street Journal of its time and place. He had been serving as the paper’s parliamentary correspondent since the Russian parliament had been formed, twelve years earlier. Great-grandpa Arnold explained that the Bolsheviks ought not to be taken seriously, because they were a bunch of grifters with no political plan. His article was printed the following day—November 8, 1917, on the Western calendar—in what turned out to be the last issue of Birzheviye Vedomosti: it was promptly shuttered by the Bolsheviks, who had seized power. “Con versus coup” might be a false dichotomy. A coup is a power claim made illegitimately, often but not always with the use of force, sometimes illegally but sometimes within the bounds of a constitution. A con is a mushy term: it can be a criminal act or simply an unethical one, perhaps just wily and manipulative. A con, in other words, is an illegitimate act of persuasion. A coup always begins as a con. If the con is successful—if the power claim is persuasive—then a coup has occurred. # ** The_Danger_(and_Ineptitude)_of_Trump’s_Failed_Coup ** As a straightforward putsch, it’s too little, too late. Trump failed to come up with a theory for disqualifying crucial states in time, settled on one so silly many Republicans can’t convince themselves of its validity, and failed to lay the groundwork to overrule the election. And while his maneuvers won’t prevent Biden from taking office on January 20, they will serve several other purposes. First, the coup attempt provides Trump with a narrative to sustain his next venture. In the decades-old Trumpian mythos, he never loses; every event must be categorized either as Trump winning or Trump being treated very unfairly. Having now established the latter to the satisfaction of a large segment of the party base, Trump can fulfill plans he has been reportedly discussing to monetize his loyalty as a media brand, run again in 2024, or perhaps both. The Trump cult will stay in place, and any Republican with national ambitions will feel compelled to draw upon its energy and defer to his twisted alt-history. A Reuters interview of 50 Trump supporters found every one of them calling the election rigged or illegitimate and only 20 even open to the possibility of accepting a Biden win. Second, the stolen-election narrative helpfully motivates the right to despise Biden. Biden’s personality has been the weakest point in the Trump campaign all along. Republicans could not get their voters to hate and fear the Democratic nominee as they did Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama. Whipping them up against his “stolen election,” and priming them to view the Biden presidency itself as illegitimate, does the base-mobilization work for them. Third, and most dangerously, it gives Trump a pretext for withholding cooperation from the incoming Biden administration. Trump’s order forbidding all federal officials from cooperating with the normal transition planning has been felt most keenly in the pandemic response. Staffers at the Department of Health and Human Services “have been informed that if anyone from Biden’s team contacts them, they are not to communicate with them and should instead alert the deputy surgeon general of the communication,” CNN reported. Dr. Anthony Fauci expressed public alarm at the failure to loop in the next president. # ** Donald_Trump_is_attempting_a_coup._I_fear_what_comes_next ** My three days and nights on the streets of Moscow were the most exhilarating and the most frightening of my career. No one knew who was in control of the military and law-enforcement agencies. That question was crucial in determining the fate of the plot. Finally, with most of the armed forces supporting Yeltsin, the conspirators were arrested and imprisoned. Gorbachev returned to Moscow, where he ruled for four more months, until the Soviet Union officially dissolved that Christmas Eve. Twenty-nine years later, Donald Trump has flipped the script. Once again, there is a coup attempt from the highest government levels of a superpower. Only this time, the president isn’t being held hostage. This time, it’s democracy itself. This time, the coup comes from inside the Oval Office. # ** Just_because_Trump’s_coup_is_comically_inept_doesn’t_make it_less_dangerous ** There isn’t much chance that all the effort will pay off in a second Trump term. Biden’s victory margin is just too large, even if barely so. But even if it doesn’t work, Trump’s half-baked coup attempt is setting a precedent that elections are just an opening bid. From that point, the loser can simply negotiate—a few ballots thrown away here, some questionable affidavits there—and either overturn the results, or at the very least invalidate them in the eyes of half the electorate. We are heading down a dark path, and laughing all the way about the shoddy paving. # ** Alarm_over_Trump’s_‘coup’_in_slow_motion ** Many political analysts and commentators are sounding alarm over what they see as a coup. “The legal ‘challenges to the election are toast. Realizing the courts are a lost cause, Trump is now trying to convince elected officials to overturn the will of the voters. This is a political coup that is the definition of anti-democracy,” Daniel Goldman, a former Congressional counsel warned. Full-fledged editorials are now appearing in US newspapers and international dailies referring to an unfolding coup. There is also alarm over some of the more ardent Trump aides urging his followers to “retake the country” — words seen as a call to arms to militant groups. o **** Transparency/Investigative Reporting **** # ** Are_the_American_Media_Legitimizing_Terror_Attacks_in France? ** This is also a major difference between France and the American mainstream outlets, of which some apparently would even like to change the date of foundation of the United States. The New York Times’s “1619 Project” could serve as Exhibit A for this new “manipulation of history”. Macron plans to fight “Islamist separatism”. We do not know if the French president’s project will be successful; it is legitimate to have doubts about its real effectiveness in stopping the disintegration of French society operated by the extremist communitarianism that feeds terrorism. We are not, all the same, allowed to accuse France of racism and “Islamophobia”, as the Anglophone media is obsessively doing. It seems that the entire American media has decided to blame the victim of terrorism. o **** Environment **** # ** Climate_crisis:_‘Nowhere_near_the_finish_line’ ** Pointing to its “pioneering legislation and policies”, on Thursday the UN chief hailed the 27- member European Union (EU) as a “a leader on climate action”, that had shown that it was possible to cut emissions while achieving economic growth. Secretary-General António Guterres applauded the bloc’s climate action in a virtual address to the European Council on Foreign Relations, while emphasizing that “we are still nowhere near the finish line… and still running behind in the race against time”. # ** France_plans_to_jail_‘ecocide’_offenders_for_10_years under_new_laws ** France is set to make serious intentional damage to the environment punishable by up to 10 years in prison, as part of a planned “ecocide” law, government ministers said in remarks published on Sunday. The law was proposed following a recommendation made by the Citizens’ Convention for the Climate, an environmental committee of 150 people, created by the government a year ago. # ** Watchdog_Says_Despite_Improvement,_Air_Pollution_Still_A Leading_Health_Hazard_In_Europe ** The European Union’s environment watchdog says air quality has improved significantly across Europe over the past decade but pollution remains a leading cause of premature deaths on the continent. An estimated 417,000 premature deaths in 2018 were linked to fine-particle matter in 41 countries surveyed, according to the annual assessment by the European Environment Agency (EEA) released on November 23. The Copenhagen-based agency also said that about 60,000 fewer people’s lives were shortened due to such exposure in 2018, compared with the previous year, because EU, national, and local policies and emission cuts in key sectors have improved air quality. # ** Climate_Activists_“Deeply_Skeptical”_of_John_Kerry, Biden’s_Climate_Policy_Lead ** # ** Biden’s_Victory_Does_Not_Guarantee_a_Progressive_Agenda. We_Must_Fight_for_It. ** # ** Seagrass:_Another_Vital_Carbon-sequestering_Ecosystem Threatened_by_Climate_Change ** # ** From_‘Alarming_Red_Flag’_to_‘Something_We_Can_Work_With,’ Campaigners_Respond_to_Kerry_as_Biden_Climate_Envoy ** “This is an encouraging commitment, but it is not enough.” # ** ‘No_Time_to_Lose_for_Climate_Action’:_Atmospheric_CO2 Continued_to_Rise_in_2020_Despite_Covid-19_Lockdowns ** The World Meteorological Organization called for “more sustained and ambitious climate action to reduce emissions to net zero through a compete transformation of our industrial, energy, and transport systems.” # ** Mixed_farming_beats_intensive_agriculture_methods ** It sounds like the conservationist’s dream. But a return to traditional mixed farming ways could pay off for farmers too. # ** Pandemic_Lockdowns_Caused_‘Just_a_Tiny_Blip’_in_Climate- Polluting_Emissions,_WMO_Finds ** In fact, the three most powerful greenhouse gases continued to rapidly build up in the Earth’s atmosphere in 2020 despite daily emissions falling up to 17 percent during the most severe pandemic stay-at-home orders. # **** Energy **** # ** Oil_Companies_Can’t_Find_Any_Buyers_For_Refineries Struggling_Amid_Pandemic_Crisis ** The pandemic continues to set new records in the U.S. almost daily — more than 250,000 people in the United States have died from COVID-19 since February. This mounting crisis is leading to a second round of shutdowns and measures that will limit economic activity and slow the consumption of fuel. Amid this, the refining industry is expected to face a prolonged downturn. # ** “Time_to_Cut_Dirty_Energy’s_Lifeline”:_Report Details_How_Fossil_Fuel_Industry_Feasted_on_Covid-19 Relief_Programs ** “By artificially delaying the industry’s inevitable decline at taxpayers’ expense, the government has made it that much harder to make the necessary transition to clean energy sources.” # ** GM_Stops_Backing_Trump_Administration_in_Emissions Fight_With_California ** General Motors Co. will no longer back the Trump administration in its legal battle to strip California’s authority to set its own fuel-efficiency regulations, saying GM’s goals for green cars are aligned with the state and the incoming Biden administration. o **** Finance **** # ** The_Krugman_Boom?_Don’t_Count_on_It ** He argues that this will lead to a spending boom, as consumers have accumulated savings through the slump and will now be in a position to spend lots of money. As a model he points to the boom in 1983 and 1984 after the Fed lowered interest rates. While I have not been one of the doomsayers predicting economic collapse, I can’t be as optimistic as Paul on this one. First, just to be clear, Krugman does not at all question the need for immediate and substantial stimulus. In the next few months, with the pandemic spreading largely unchecked until vaccines become widely available, millions of people will be thrown out of work as restaurants, bars and other businesses in the service sector are either forced to close or see demand collapse even if they remain open. o **** AstroTurf/Lobbying/Politics **** # ** Pennsylvania_certifies_Biden_win_over_Trump_in presidential_election ** # ** The_Smoke_Rings_of_My_Mind ** I felt really good to finally have gotten out of the prison day-camp Catholic boys high school I’d been in for 4 years, and out of the nice suburban North Shore Long Island town my family lived in during my adolescence (before that being in New York City); and I had a brand spanking new draft deferment that I thought would insulate me from the carnage of the Vietnam War, which was at its peak at that time with the Tet Offensive. In fact, Lyndon Johnson’s televised speech with the surprise announcement that he would not seek reelection in November 1968 happened two days after my 18th birthday, after which I had to troop down to the post office and register for the draft. That didn’t feel too good believe me, because I’d watched the news and read the papers daily all through high school. Those were my “Greta Thunberg” years, 1964-1968: from the Bay of Tonkin con-job and 1965’s Marine invasion of South Vietnam — “escalatio” as Tom Lehrer called it — to Tet, erupting on January 31, 1968, and pulsing through three bloody phases that year; when I was dreading the fucked-up situation the adults were shoving my way (you know: die for us, it’s good for “the country”). # ** A_Man-Child_in_A_Promised_Land ** It sucked. The interview that is. I can’t and won’t read the memoir. Myself also (like Obama) the author of three books on Obama, I have read enough of the 44th president’s dreary, pedantic, fake- progressive, and fake-poetic prose to last a lifetime. No more, please. The interview warmed the Obama fan Goldberg’s heart by “remind[ing him] of what a thoughtful president sounds like.” # ** Portland,_Maine_Passes_Facial_Recognition_Ban_That_Says The_City_Can_Fire_Employees_For_Violating_It ** Another facial recognition ban has been passed, bringing a bit more enforceable privacy to the eastern side of the nation. Most of the ban action to date has been on the West Coast, with small pockets of resistance popping up elsewhere. Well, mainly just Massachusetts. The latest ban passed during the most recent election, gives Portland, Maine residents the freedom to live their lives with a little less panopticon. # ** Neither_harmless_nor_distant_How_Russian_state conservatism_combines_emancipation_and_tradition_to_undermine women’s_rights_and_suppress_sexual_awareness ** Many in Russia are inclined to dismiss the bluster of state conservatism as a largely meaningless sideshow. After all, the nation’s laws protecting women’s rights remain relatively liberal, and even the loudest speeches by right-wing politicians have virtually no effect on the everyday lives of the denizens inhabiting Russia’s big cities, where women are part of the workforce, where they get proper healthcare, and where the state apparently doesn’t interfere in their lives. In an article for Meduza, European University at St. Petersburg Sociology Professor of Public Health and Gender Anna Temkina explains how Russia’s “conservative turn” is in fact quite real for many women.  # ** To_Prevent_‘Active_Sabotage’_of_His_Agenda,_Biden_Urged_to Clean_House_of_Trump_Loyalists_on_Day_One ** “The next administration must consider all possibilities, including unconventional but legal removals, to get the federal government working for the public interest as quickly as possible.” # ** Crashing_Against_the_Glass_Ceiling ** Jews have long held important positions at all levels of government, but have never been closer to the highest office since the vice-presidential bid of Senator Joseph Lieberman. An argument can be made that Al Gore’s running mate in 2000 was far away from being even close to liberal, but of major party candidates in this duopoly, he got as close as has been recorded. In a post-election discussion of her multiethnic background, Kamala Harris noted that besides being of Black and South Asian heritage, she is married to a Jew (“Doug Emhoff prepares to brake new ground as America’s second gentleman,” Guardian, November 11, 2020). Her status as a woman also broke through another glass ceiling. Marriage doesn’t count as an attribute, however, since partners in the US can’t ascend to political office. # ** The_Liberal_Establishment_Is_‘a_Stranger_to_Self- Examination’ ** How might we explain to youths, who have witnessed a world turned upside down by Covid-19 and the rise of strongmen around the world, the liberal triumphalism of the 1990s and 2000s? How might they, for instance, respond to Francis Fukuyama’s pronouncement at the end of the Cold War that “what we may be witnessing [is] the end point of mankind’s ideological evolution and the universalization of Western liberal democracy as the final form of human government”? # ** Here’s_the_Truth:_The_Oligarchy_Loves_This_Democratic Decay_and_Politics_of_Lies ** American political leaders display a widening disconnect from reality intended to mask their complicity in the seizure of power by global corporations and billionaires. # ** Georgia_GOP_Senator_Kelly_Loeffler_Just_Got_Caught Violating_the_Law ** Georgia Republican Kelly Loeffler is the richest member of the United States Senate, but that hasn’t stopped the appointed senator from making an illegal pitch for money to fund her embattled bid for a full term in the chamber. # ** The_Day_After ** # ** Pussy_Riot_activists_fined_for_rainbow_flag_protests_on Putin’s_birthday ** On Monday, November 23, two Moscow courts handed down fines to Pussy Riot activists Maria Alyokhina and Veronika Nikulshina for a protest action they conducted on Russian President Vladimir Putin’s birthday, reports MBX Media.  # ** ‘The_People_of_Michigan_Have_Spoken’:_Trump_Defeat_More Official_Than_Ever_After_Board_Certifies_Election_Results ** A Democratic county clerk warned that a vote against certifying the results of the state’s November election would “signal that democracy is dying in Michigan.” # ** Future_of_American_Democracy:_On_Inequality,_Polarization and_Violence ** The demotion of a country that has constantly prided itself, not only on being democratic but also on championing democracy throughout the world, took many by surprise. Some US pundits challenged the findings altogether. However, judging by events that have transpired since, the accuracy of the EIU Index continues to demonstrate itself in the everyday reality of American politics: the extreme political and cultural polarization; growing influence of armed militias, police violence; mistreatment of undocumented immigrants, including children; marginalization of the country’s minorities in mainstream politics and so on. # ** US_Political_Crisis_Just_Entered_More_Dangerous Phase ** The veil of Democracy in America is being ripped away from the body politic right before our eyes. Not only can the Electoral College thwart the popular vote for president; but there are even more nefarious ways for political elites to circumvent the Electoral College if they don’t like it. The electoral college is, of course, the means by which the popular vote for the president is prevented. Instead of Democracy’s principle of ‘one person, one vote’, we have electors who are selected by their state legislatures who then cast their vote for president. That’s the appearance. But it’s even worse than that. # ** Democrats_No_Longer_Have_a_Coalition ** In 2008, Barack Obama was widely described as having built a game-changing political coalition: young people, racial and ethnic minorities, educated professionals, urban and suburban voters. He was held to have built an innovative campaign infrastructure, leveraging big data and social media in an unprecedented way, increasing turnout and Democratic vote share with constituencies that are typically underrepresented at the ballot box. # ** Trump’s_Election_Fraud_Claims_Don’t_Appear_in_Result- Challenge_Lawsuits ** # ** All_Eyes_on_Pennsylvania,_Michigan_and_Arizona_—_Will_They Certify? ** # ** ‘Elite_Strike_Force’?_Trump_Legal_Team_Throws_Right-Wing Attorney_Sidney_Powell_Under_the_Bus_as_Coup_Attempt_Flails ** “It’s OK to laugh at this hilarious clown car and yet appreciate that what’s going here is deadly serious. These tactics will go nowhere but still infect our democracy with doubt.” # ** Profiles_in_Cowardice ** Most elected Republicans in Washington are failing the test by refusing to stand up to Trump. Their cowardice is one of the worst betrayals of public trust in the history of our republic. # ** As_Biden_Taps_Blinken_as_Secretary_of_State,_Critics Denounce_Support_for_Invasions_of_Iraq_and_Libya ** “In the U.S., there is no accountability for supporting the worst foreign policy disaster in modern history. Only rewards.” # ** Trump’s_Massive,_Lawless,_and_Immoral_Legacy_to_Our Country_Will_Continue_Unless_… ** Refusing to concede, however, so as to prolong his crazed fantasies, Trump is distracting the mass media from his looting of the Executive Branch departments to the advantage of big business bosses and his failing family enterprises. Expect this to continue until January 20, 2021. (See my op-ed titled: “If Trump loses, expect him to exact revenge on his way out” Boston Globe, August 10, 2020). Trump and his cronies will get away with their crime sprees unless Joe Biden has a Justice Department team that will follow the law and prosecute any government official who broke the law. In 2009, Barack Obama let law-breaking Wall Streeters and the Bush/Cheney war criminals become successful fugitives from justice. # ** What_Will_a_Biden_Presidency_Mean_for_the_Asia-Pacific Region? ** It is unlikely that Joe Biden will continue Trump’s trade war with China. That would simply be too destabilizing for everyone. Not only is the U.S. greatly dependent on China for so many of its industrial imports, but so many countries are dependent on China as a market for their exports. This is not only for raw materials and agricultural goods, as in the case of Africa and Latin America, respectively, but also industrial goods, as in the case of Southeast Asia, which manufactures components that are shipped to China, assembled there, then sent to the U.S., Europe, and everywhere else. # ** Trump’s_Wisconsin_Recount_Observers_Are_Breaking_Rules, Making_Absurd_Challenges ** # ** Biden’s_Moral_Hazard ** Next month will mark a year since US newspapers published the Afghan Papers, a mass trove of secret US government documents that irrefutably detailed a coordinated effort by the US government, through three presidential administrations, to lie to the American people and their elected leaders, about the war in Afghanistan. Of course, these lies of the Afghan War followed the lies that made possible the US invasion and destruction of Iraq. The 2011 war in Libya was another war built on lies, as documented by the British Parliament. Slips of the tongue and leaks by senior US officials, including the incoming US President, have shown the US and its allies’ role in the Syrian war to be in support of al-Qaeda and the Islamic State. Lies, perjury and propaganda characterize what the US people have been told with regards to torture; intelligence surveillance of their phones and computers; the incredibly high rate of civilians killed by US drones, including American citizens; and the presence of US forces in Africa, including hiding knowledge US soldiers have been killed and wounded in countries that senior members of Congress had no idea US troops were in. The lies to elected officials and the American people continue. This month, Ambassador James Jeffrey, explained to journalists how he intentionally lied to the President of the United States about the number of troops in Syria. In case you think this is fine because the President was Donald Trump, remember it was the computers of Democratic Senators who were hacked and monitored by the CIA in retaliation for the Senate’s investigation of the CIA’s torture program. # ** What_Biden_Can_Do_About_the_Israeli-Palestinian_Mess_He’ll Inherit ** As if finding a resolution to the Israeli- Palestinian conflict weren’t difficult enough, the Trump administration and the Netanyahu government seem hell-bent on making this already bad situation even worse. Sensing that the Trump era will soon be over, members of his team and the Israelis are racing against the clock to implement new “facts on the ground” that will, they hope, permanently alter the political landscape in Israel’s favor. # ** How_Long_Can_Biden_Avoid_Confronting_Trump? ** Refusing to concede his loss in the presidential election, Donald Trump continues to spin absurd conspiracy theories, file vexatious lawsuits, pressure state lawmakers to overturn vote counts, and in general stonewall the transition to the next presidency. On Sunday night, Trump sent out one of his typically nonsensical tweets, writing, “In certain swing states, there were more votes than people who voted, and in big numbers. Does that not really matter? Stopping Poll Watchers, voting for unsuspecting people, fake ballots and so much more. Such egregious conduct. We will win!” # ** “Frankenstein’s_Monster”:_Judge_Slams_Trump_Team’s_Efforts to_Overturn_Election_Results ** As President Trump’s unprecedented campaign to overturn the results of the presidential election drags on, over two dozen lawsuits filed by his legal team have been dismissed or withdrawn. The Trump team is now focusing on delaying or blocking the certification of the election in several states while trying to toss out votes in cities with large Black populations, including Detroit, Philadelphia and Atlanta. New York Times Magazine staff writer Emily Bazelon says the Trump legal team’s efforts have so far lacked real substance, with the president’s lawyer Rudy Giuliani “treating court as if it’s cable news.” She also says more Republican lawmakers need to stand up against Trump’s attempt to subvert democracy. # ** Trump_Is_Blowing_Up_the_Georgia_GOP—and_It_Couldn’t_Happen at_a_Better_Time ** Never underestimate the capacity of Republicans to put aside differences and “come home” just before an election, but right now I’d say Donald Trump’s insults and demands that Georgia Republicans somehow overturn Joe Biden’s stunning if narrow win there—after they certified it on Friday—is inflicting genuine damage to the campaigns of GOP Senators Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue. # ** Moscow_Court_rejects_Navalny’s_lawsuit_against_Kremlin spokesman_Dmitry_Peskov ** Moscow’s Presnensky District Court has dismissed opposition figure Alexey Navalny’s defamation lawsuit against Presidential Press Secretary Dmitry Peskov.  # ** The_Birther_Myth_Stuck_Around_For_Years._The_Election Fraud_Myth_Might_Too. ** A significant number of Americans currently believe the 2020 election was stolen, even though it wasn’t. A Reuters/Ipsos poll last week showed 52 percent of Republicans believe President Trump “rightfully won” the election. But the only “evidence” of election fraud has been widely debunked. An optimist might think the public will gradually drop this election fraud myth as the Trump campaign’s lawsuits are thrown out, recounts and audits are conducted, and, eventually, Joe Biden is sworn in as president. But we’ve seen Trump try to falsely claim a president is illegitimate before, as he spent years claiming without evidence that President Obama wasn’t born in the United States, and thus ineligible to be president. If this recent saga is anything like the birtherism movement, it’s not going anywhere. # ** 3_Hong_Kong_activists_incl._Joshua_Wong_remanded_in custody_over_2019_demo,_sentencing_next_Wed ** Hong Kong pro-democracy activists Joshua Wong, Ivan Lam and Agnes Chow have been remanded in custody on unauthorised assembly charges linked to the siege of the police headquarters in Wan Chai last June. The trio will face sentencing next Wednesday. # ** Right-Wing_Social_Media_Finalizes_Its_Divorce_From_Reality ** Parler, whose backers include the conservative donor Rebekah Mercer and the prominent pro-Trump activist Dan Bongino, was founded in 2018 and began marketing itself to a right-wing audience that felt victimized by supposed censorship on mainstream social platforms. The conspiratorial right-wing media outlet Epoch Times was an early adopter, but most prominent conservative media figures did not join until June 2020, when Twitter took the bold step of fact-checking the president’s tweets. That supposed injustice prompted a recruitment drive for Parler, where posts are neither fact-checked nor labeled, even when demonstrably false. Influential figures such as Carlson, Sean Hannity, and Representative Devin Nunes tweeted about the app. Senator Ted Cruz made a two-minute video declaring that he was joining Parler, and exhorting his followers to join him on the platform: “Let’s speak freely.” For some of American conservatism’s highest-profile figures to insinuate that they were being censored was patently absurd, but the publicity push still won Parler a few hundred thousand new users over a three-day span. By early July, the service claimed 2.8 million users. Parler attracted approximately 1 million downloads in the five days following November 3, and COO Jeffrey Wernick recently put the app’s user count at nearly 9 million. (By comparison, Twitter has 330 million active users globally; Facebook has 2.7 billion, and 255 million in the United States alone.) # ** Epidemiologist_warns_of_“contagion”_of_violent_speech coming_“from_the_White_House” ** Dr. Gary Slutkin is an epidemiologist who spent years working with the World Health Organization to respond to the AIDS crisis and epidemics in Africa and Latin America. After returning to the United States in the 1990s, he “saw the problem that the U.S. was having with violence.” He soon launched a project that eventually became Cure Violence, a non-governmental organization that “stops the spread of violence in communities by using the methods and strategies associated with disease control.” # ** Rush_Limbaugh_Criticizes_Trump_Campaign_for_Hyping_Up ‘Blockbuster’_Voter_Fraud_Evidence:_‘Nothing_Happened…_Not Good’ ** “You call a gigantic press conference like that, one that lasts an hour,” Limbaugh said. “And you announce massive bombshells, then you better have some bombshells.” # ** Trump_fears_Giuliani_and_other_Biden_vote_challenge lawyers_are_fools ** # ** Georgia_Senate_race_reminds_Republicans_they_don’t_have_a lock_on_‘God_talk’ ** # ** Biden_team_pushing_Democrats_to_strike_quick_stimulus_deal with_GOP:_report_–_Business_Insider ** The surge in virus cases is causing another wave of restrictions and closures that experts say could damage the economic recovery. # ** White_House_Christmas_tree_arrives,_continuing_tradition amid_Covid-19_and_election_disputes_–_CNNPolitics ** First lady Melania Trump welcomed the 2020 White House Christmas tree Monday afternoon, continuing the long-held tradition even as the coronavirus pandemic rages on and as President Donald Trump’s longshot election challenges remain unsettled. # ** Trump_administration_officially_begins_transition_to_Biden after_weeks_of_delay ** o **** Censorship/Free Speech **** # ** Roskomnadzor_takes_administrative_action_against_Google for_failing_to_remove_banned_sites_from_search_results ** Russia’s media regulation and censorship agency, Roskomnadzor, has opened an administrative case against Google for its alleged refusal to delete information banned in Russia from its search results. # ** Retracting_a_Controversial_Paper_Won’t_Help_Female Scientists ** Why should this possible takeaway evoke outrage? A recent study8 found that people evaluate scientific studies reporting a male-favoring advantage less favorably, compared to those reporting a female- favoring one. Papers demonstrating a male (versus female) advantage were viewed as less credible, less valuable, more offensive, and more harmful. These findings suggest merely highlighting a disparity disfavoring women is likely to evoke public outcry. Science, however, relies on the dispassionate accumulation and scrutiny of data. It is quite improbable that the entirety of findings will cohere perfectly with our cherished worldviews. With larger and larger datasets available for analysis, we will inevitably uncover unpalatable findings, some with important implications. However, only by documenting reality (or our closest approximation to it) can we strive to improve society. Interventions based on faulty data or incorrect assumptions will fail, wasting millions of taxpayer dollars and innumerable hours. When we bury findings that make us uncomfortable, the empirical landscape presents an inaccurate, lopsided view of reality. If policies and interventions hinge on that empirical landscape, we will only set ourselves up for failure. Moreover, by presenting an incomplete picture of phenomena, we undermine trust in science. Millions of taxpayers are counting on scientists to forward the most compelling evidence, to best inform subsequent interventions and policies. If female scientists benefit by collaborating with both male and female scholars, we deserve to know that. Female scientists deserve to know that. Rather than erasing AlShebli and colleagues’ laborious work from the record, their findings should stimulate future investigations to examine whether the patterns replicate, and if so, examine the underlying causal forces. # ** [Old] Hollywood_Continues_to_Cave_to_Chinese_Censorship, Jeopardizing_Free_Speech,_Report_Finds ** Hollywood has increasingly capitulated to the Chinese regime’s pressure to censor its films, threatening freedom of speech, according to a new report by rights group PEN America. The report, based partly on interviews with industry insiders, said that Beijing has used the allure of China’s massive film market to get Hollywood studios to censor or alter movies—either through direct censorship requests or increasingly through voluntary self-censorship. This year, the Chinese cinema market is projected to overtake the U.S. box office, which in 2019 stood at $11.4 billion. Beijing allows only 34 international films to be screened in the country each year. # ** One_Year_After_Iran’s_Deadly_Crackdown,_Victims’_Families Face_Harassment ** One year after Iran’s deadliest crackdown on anti- establishment protests, no one has been held responsible for the killing of hundreds of citizens. Officials have instead pressured the families of some of those killed to remain silent and warned them not to hold public memorials for their loved ones. # ** Kazakh_Blogger_Critical_Of_Government_Forcibly_Admitted_To Psychiatric_Clinic ** A Kazakh blogger and journalist accused of being involved in the activities of a banned organization has been taken to a psychiatric clinic on a court order. Police in the Kazakh capital, Nur-Sultan, on November 23 took Aigul Otepova from her apartment after a court decision to forcibly admit her into a clinic was upheld by an appeals court last week. Before getting into the police car, Otepova told an RFE/RL correspondent that she had no medical conditions, including mental problems. # ** Defendant_In_Chechen_Blogger_Assault_Case_In_Sweden_Says He_Acted_On_Grozny’s_Orders ** A Russian citizen charged in Sweden with the attempted murder of a blogger and outspoken critic of the authoritarian leader of Russia’s North Caucasus region of Chechnya says he acted on orders he received from Chechen officials. As the trial started at the Attunda district court in Sweden on November 2, the defendant, Ruslan Mamayev, testified that from the very beginning he secretly planned to fail when carrying out the assault against Tumso Abdurakhmanov to keep the Chechen officials who ordered the attack from turning on him. He added that he has since asked for political asylum in Sweden. Abdurakhmanov’s lawyer, Jens Sjolund, said at the hearing that Chechen authorities had promised a reward for the assassination of his client. o **** Freedom of Information/Freedom of the Press **** # ** France’s_‘global_security’_bill ** The French National Assembly is currently examining, with the usual fast track procedure that prevents and marginalises parliamentary debate, a bill called “global security”. This law, filed on October 20 by a group of MPs from the presidential party, couched in the best neoliberal rhetoric, aims to provide a new framework for security actions that its drafters promise will be “inventive and innovative”. With these two adjectives, “inventive and innovative”, the legislators are probably referring to the three highly controversial articles of the proposal that concern the recording and dissemination of images in the context of police actions. Perfectly in line with the trend of the times – and by consequence, we are sorry to have it observed, with very little inventiveness and innovation – these articles impose a general surveillance for the many and a privileged disclosure for the few, as they provide for ground mass surveillance, air mass surveillance and a ban on documenting police action. # ** French_bill_banning_images_of_police_sparks_concern_over media_freedom,_civil_rights ** France’s parliament voted to approve a controversial law Friday that will ban the publication of images of on-duty police officers as well as expand the use of surveillance drones and police powers. Journalists’ groups, human rights activists and unions – including Reporters Without Borders and Amnesty International’s French branch – organised protests in Paris and other French cities on Saturday. # ** FRANCE:_Draft_law_on_“Global_security”_is_dangerous_for fundamental_rights ** From 17 to 20 November, the National Assembly is scheduled to examine the so-called “Global Security” bill, supported by MPs from the governing majority. If such a law were to enter into force as it stands, it would constitute a serious violation of the right to information, respect for privacy, and freedom of peaceful assembly, three conditions that are essential to the right to freedom of expression. We deplore the fact that this bill is being examined under an accelerated procedure when there is no urgency to do so. This has already been the case in recent years for several laws with a strong impact on human rights (the Intelligence Act, the SILT Act, the so-called “anti-rioters law”). This procedure de facto restricts their in-depth examination and informed communication to society. We regret that this text is no exception to the rule. # ** Macron_prepares_“global_security”_law_banning_the_filming of_French_police ** On Tuesday, President Emmanuel Macron’s government presented its “global security” bill to the National Assembly. Coming after the announcement of plans for a law against “separatism” ostensibly targeting Islamist groups, this bill is part of a campaign to establish a permanent state of emergency, handing draconian powers to the police. Its provisions are unprecedented. Anyone publishing of images of a public event including police agents in a way that could “harm the agent’s physical or psychological well-being” faces one year in jail and a €45,000 fine. This purely subjective criterion, which allows police to arrest anyone filming them simply by stating that they feel uncomfortable being filmed, undermines freedom of the press and any attempt to hold security forces accountable for police brutality. o **** Civil Rights/Policing **** # ** Indigenous_Activists_Are_Occupying_the_Hamptons_Until Thanksgiving ** # ** The_Philippines_wants_to_outlaw_child_marriage._But_in Muslim-majority_Bangsamoro,_change_will_be_hard ** Experts say decades of war in the Bangsamoro region have caused an increase in child brides, while long-held cultural practices could prove difficult to shift. # ** Workshop_on_child_marriage_in_Raqqa ** In the workshop, 3 sessions were held on causes of child marriage, methods to reduce child marriage and scientific approach to child marriage. A presentation was made by Jineoloji Center Board Member Xaliya Neimê on the topic of reasons for child marriage. Xaliya noted that child marriage occurs because when there are no deterrent sanctions against violence against women. # ** White_Hat_Senior_and_Education_–_Experiences_in_the community ** I had been thinking of doing a blog post on RCEP which China signed with 14 countries a week and a day back but this new story has broken and is being viraled a bit on the interwebs, especially twitter and is pretty much in our domain so thought would be better to do a blog post about it. Also there is quite a lot packed so quite a bit of unpacking to do. [...] Now that lies in the eyes of the Court whether the single bench choses the literal meaning or use the spirit of the law or the genuine concerns of the people concerned. While in today’s hearing while the company asked for a complete sweeping injunction they were unable to get it. Whatever may happen, we may hope to see some fireworks in the second hearing which is slated to be on 6.01.2021 where all of this plays out. Till later. o **** Internet Policy/Net Neutrality **** # ** The_FCC’s_Independence_and_Mission_Are_at_Stake_with_Trump Nominee ** When there are only five people in charge of a major federal agency, the personal agenda of even one of them can have a profound impact. That’s why EFF is closely watching the nomination of Nathan Simington to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). Simington’s nomination appears to be the culmination of a several-month project to transform the FCC and expand its purview in ways that threaten our civil liberties online. The Senate should not confirm him without asking some crucial questions about whether and how he will help ensure that the FCC does the public interest job Congress gave it, which is to expand broadband access, manage the public’s wireless spectrum to their benefit, and protect consumers when they use telecommunications services. Next time you hear someone blame Section 230 for a problem with social media platforms, ask yourself two questions: first, was this problem actually caused by Section 230? Second, would weakening Section 230 solve the problem? If you are on Instagram, you have been probably bombarded by Instagram Stories and notifications about new features like emojis, chat themes, selfie stickers, and “cross-platform messaging” that will allow you to exchange direct messages with, and search for, friends who are on Facebook. But the… o **** Monopolies **** # **** Patents **** # ** Sherwin-Williams_Co._v._PPG_Industries,_Inc._(W.D. Pa._2020) ** Earlier this month, in Sherwin-Williams Co. v. PPG Industries, Inc., Special Master Henry M. Sneath issued a Report and Recommendation in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania that a motion by Defendant PPG Industries, Inc. to partially exclude the opinions of Plaintiff Sherwin- Williams Co.’s expert witness should be granted. In particular, the Special Master recommended that the opinions set forth in ¶¶ 94-117 of the expert’s Rebuttal Report be excluded. Sherwin-Williams initiated the dispute between the parties by filing suit against PPG for infringement of certain claims of U.S. Patent Nos. 8,617,663; 8,835,012; 9,242,763; 9,415,900; and 9,862,854. The asserted claims are directed to “[a] coating composition for a food or beverage can” that is substantially free of bisphenol A (“BPA”). PPG retained two experts, including Dr. Leon Perez, to opine on the invalidity of the asserted patents, and Sherwin-Williams retained two experts of its own, including Dr. F. Joseph Schork, to rebut the opinions of PPG’s experts. PPG’s experts opined that the asserted patents were invalid in view of U.S. Patent No. 5,714,539 (the ’539 patent or Perez Patent). In his Rebuttal Report, Dr. Schork opined that the ’539 patent does not disclose a BPA-free coating, explaining that “Perez does not disclose a complete coating formulation,” much less one that is BPA-free; that “Perez’s lack of reference to BPA is not an affirmative disclosure of a composition that” is substantially free of BPA; that PPG did not to cite the ’539 patent as prior art when prosecuting its own BPA-free coating patent; and that when PPG formulated the exemplary latexes disclosed in the ’539 patent into coatings, PPG made coatings that contained BPA. # ** Lost_in_translation ** Spain has a well-deserved reputation of being a rather formalistic country when it comes to litigation. For example, according to the Civil Procedure Act, a Spanish translation of documents written in languages other than Spanish must be attached to the initial complaint. Otherwise, the Court may simple ignore them. A judgment of 15 October 2019 from the Valencia Court of Appeal is a good example of the risks entailed when embarking on litigation without bringing onboard the required translations. The facts of the case, for the purpose of the theme discussed in this blog, can be summarised as follows: A toy manufacturer filed a patent infringement action against another toy manufacturer based in Spain, alleging the infringement of a European patent. The latter filed a revocation counterclaim based on lack of novelty and lack of inventive step. For the purpose of questioning novelty, the defendant filed a video and a catalogue, which allegedly disclosed the invention. The inventive step attack was based on two French patents, a German patent, and a Spanish patent. No translations of the French or German patents were filed. Valencia Commercial Court Number 2, in a judgment of 5 December 2018, dismissed both the infringement action and the revocation counterclaim. This judgment was entirely upheld by the Valencia Court of Appeal in the aforementioned judgment of 15 October 2019. Some of the highlights, dealing with the patent’s validity, are briefly discussed below: First, the Court of Appeal dismissed the novelty attack because, in its opinion, neither the video nor the catalogue invoked by the defendant disclosed all the features of the claims of the relevant patent. Therefore, it was not satisfied that the invention, as such, had been made accessible to the public at the priority date. [...] All in all, this teaching warns prospective complainants on the risks of getting lost in translation or, to be precise, failing to duly provide the translations required by law. # ** For_Better_or_Worse:_A_time_for_Family ** # **** Software Patents **** # ** InterDigital_patent_challenged_as_likely invalid ** On November 20, 2020, Unified filed a petition for inter partes review (IPR) against U.S. Patent 8,363,724 as part of its ongoing efforts in its SEP Video Codec Zone. The ’724 patent is owned by InterDigital VC Holdings, Inc. The patent is claimed to be essential as part of SISVEL’s Video Coding pool, as to both the VP9 and AV1 standards. It was also formerly owned by Technicolor, who self-declared the patent as essential to H.265. # **** Copyrights **** # ** Senator_Tillis_Plans_Major_Copyright_Overhaul: Recognizes_Legit_Problems,_But_Current_Solutions_Are Lacking ** We’ve criticized Senator Thom Tillis for his patent and copyright reform ideas that seemed to take a strong “maximalist” line in its approach. He’s also taken the Hollywood line on things like the Internet Archive that was troubling. He’s been promising a copyright reform bill for a while, and many thought it wasn’t going to matter much, since polls indicated that he was very, very likely to lose his re-election campaign in North Carolina (even after his opponent’s bizarrely chaste sex scandal made the news). However, Tillis pulled out a surprise victory, and that means that his plan to reform copyright is something worth watching. # ** ‘The_US_Piracy_Watchlist_is_a_Marketing_Campaign_for Pirate_Sites’ ** A concerned taxpayer has warned the US Trade Representative that its annual “notorious markets” overview, which lists prominent pirate sites, may do more harm than good. According to former criminal defense practitioner Jim Zhoui, it essentially acts as an “advertising campaign for black marketeers at the taxpayer’s expense.” # ** YouTube_“Failed_to_Provide_Evidence”_in_Copyright Class_Action_Counterclaim ** During the summer, Grammy award-winning musician Maria Schneider and Pirate Monitor sued YouTube in an attempt to gain access to its Content ID tools. YouTube then fought back, claiming that Pirate Monitor had already proved itself untrustworthy. However, in a motion to dismiss, Pirate Monitor now says that YouTube has provided zero evidence to back up its claims. # ** The_Broadcasting_Act_Blunder,_Day_Three:_Minister Guilbeault_Says_Bill_C-10_Contains_Economic_Thresholds That_Limit_Internet_Regulation._It_Doesn’t. ** The uncertainty of who is caught by the regulation is sure to have an impact on the market. Internet streaming services thinking about the Canadian market may put those plans on hold until they have some visibility over what they face from a regulatory perspective, leading to less competition and less choice for Canadians. Should the CRTC establish an economic threshold, that too could have an unexpected impact. If it sets a high threshold that is limited to a handful of large, U.S.-based streaming services, it invites the possibility of a trade challenge. If a low threshold becomes the standard, foreign services may avoid the Canadian market altogether given the regulatory costs. Either way, Bill C-10 in its current form creates considerable uncertainty that is compounded by inaccurate claims from Minister Guilbeault. # ** Ridiculous:_‘Cyberpunk_2077′_Will_Ship_With_A_Mode Just_To_Help_Streamers_Avoid_DMCA_Notices ** You will likely have been following along with us as we have steadily commented on the ongoing controversy at Twitch. But if you’re not read up on the topic, Twitch suddenly nuked zillions of hours of recorded content made by Twitch streamers in response to RIAA and game publisher DMCA notices, all without warning and all without a way to counternotice or get any of that content back. As the community went into revolt, Twitch continued taking down content, at times for sound effects within the games streamers were streaming. All the while, Twitch has issued a steady stream of apologies, while the streamer community has basically just shouted “Well then do something!” in response. ╘══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╛