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● 06.24.23

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● Links 24/06/2023: Ardour 7.5 and Xonotic 0.8.6 Released

Posted in News Roundup at 3:24 pm by Dr. Roy Schestowitz

GNU/Linux

Desktop/Laptop

=> ↺ Make Use Of ☛ System76 Pangolin Laptop Review: The Linux Laptop You’ve Been Dreaming Of!

• Whether you’re abandoning Windows and considering a MacBook or you’re a Linux veteran in the market for a new laptop, the name System76 will no doubt have come up in your research.

• Among its range of desktop and laptop computers is the Pangolin, a smart-looking, “casually powerful” notebook. Boasting a range of storage options and up to 10 hours of battery life, it’s an attractive prospect.

=> ↺ EIN Presswire ☛ Kubuntu Focus Announces 17.3″ M2 GEN 5 with More Powerful GPUs

• The Kubuntu Focus Team announces the immediate availability of the 17.3″ M2 GEN 5 mobile workstation. This larger size accommodates a performance-tuned RTX 4080 or 4090 GPU. The Focus team touts this system as the perfect mobile workstation for those who require the ultimate GPU performance in a laptop less than an inch thick.

Audiocasts/Shows

=> ↺ Tux Digital ☛ Sudo Show 63: Working Distributed

• The hosts get together to discuss remote work and how it appears to be an extension of what organization have done for years and compare it to how Open Source projects work.

Applications

=> ↺ 9to5Linux ☛ Ardour 7.5 Revamps Tempo Maps Editing, Remembers I/O Connections Per Device

• Coming two months after Ardour 7.4, the Ardour 7.5 release is here to introduce mapping tempo to real performance, a feature that will allow sound engineers to create tempo map nodes and easily adjust their positions to match onsets in their recordings. The tempo mapping mode can now also be used by default.

• Another new feature in Ardour 7.5 is the ability to save and restore I/O connections per device when switching back and forth between multiple locations and audio interfaces (e.g. ALSA and PulseAudio on Linux). Moreover, Ardour 7.5 introduces the ability to rename loaded plugins in the processor box.

=> ↺ Barry Kauler ☛ KeePassXC now builtin to EasyOS

• I posted about compiling KeePassXC in OE:

• https://bkhome.org/news/202306/keepassxc-275-compiled-in-oe.html

• Have decided to have both KeePassXC and Symphytum builtin.

• I have configured KeePassXC so that it appears in the tray at startup:

• Click on the tray icon and it pops up. I pre-created a database, in /files/database/keepassxc, with password “woofwoof”. Snapshot:

Instructionals/Technical

=> ↺ What Does “Bash” Mean in Linux? – The Tech Edvocate

• If you are a Linux user, you may have heard of “bash” and wondered what it actually means. The term “bash” is an acronym for “Bourne-Again SHell,” which refers to a command-line interface shell program that allows users to interact with the operating system.

• Bash is one of the most important components of the Linux operating system. It comes pre-installed with most Linux distributions, including Ubuntu, Debian, and Fedora. The shell program enables users to execute various commands and manage files and directories in the Linux file system.

• Bash is known for its robustness, flexibility, and a vast set of features. With its extensive command library, users can accomplish nearly anything with the Linux operating system—from simple tasks like file management to advanced scripting and automation.

=> ↺ Can we kill the zombie process?. 🔄 Your Linux processes can be in… | by Prashant Lakhera | Jun, 2023 | Medium

• After the child uses the exit system call, the parent receives a SIGCHLD signal. That triggers the parent to issue the wait system call, which should clean up all zombies . Once the parent has read the exit status via the wait system call, the zombie can be reaped .

• Zombies occur naturally, and in most cases, they disappear naturally as well. The switch between the exit system call from the zombie process and the wait system call by the parent, is normally very fast. If you are monitoring what’s happening in ps or top command, you may see a zombie popping up for a second and then disappearing immediately.

=> ↺ Cloudbooklet ☛ Infinigen – Create Realistic 3D Scenes with Blender

• Infinigen is creating realistic and diverse 3D scenes with Blender.

=> ↺ LinuxTechi ☛ How to Install and Use Wireshark in Ubuntu 22.04

=> ↺ Linux Handbook ☛ Run Multiple Linux Commands in One Go

• There are times when you want to execute multiple commands but don’t want to wait for one to end so that you can run the next.

=> ↺ Chris Coyier ☛ sizes=auto is a great idea

• The attributes of responsive s are pretty intense!

=> ↺ MWL ☛ “Run Your Own Mail Server” technology stack

• I’ve churned through much of the general stuff about email, and am about to dive into specific configurations and examples. In some ways, the protocol background is the hardest part of any book. Orienting the reader to understand the configuration examples and make their own decisions is a pain–though front-loading the hard stuff simplifies writing the rest of the book.

• But this means I need to make final decisions on the book’s technology stack.

=> ↺ Jussi Pakkanen ☛ PDF subpage navigation

• A common presentation requirement is that you want to have a list of bullet points that appear one by one as you click forward. Almost all PDF presentations that do this fake it by having multiple pages, one for each state. So if you have a presentation with one page and five bullet points, the PDF has six pages, one for the empty state and a further one for each bullet point appearing.

=> ↺ ID Root ☛ How To Install Apache on Debian 12

• In this tutorial, we will show you how to install Apache on Debian 12. For those of you who didn’t know, Apache is a widely-used, open-source web server that powers a significant portion of the internet.

=> ↺ TechRepublic ☛ The easiest method of installing Docker on Linux

• In this TechRepublic How to Make Tech Work video, Jack Wallen shows you how to install Docker on Linux machines.

Games

=> ↺ Xonotic 0.8.6 Release

• This release should have been nerfed by the balance council because there’s a lot here for a point version. Two maps popular for years have been polished up and included. There’s new gametypes and moderation features, new bot capabilities, new HUD and interface features, quality of life and customisation features for players and server admins, XonStat upgrades, and as usual more fixes and optimisations than you can swing a shotgun at.

Desktop Environments/WMs

K Desktop Environment/KDE SC/Qt

=> ↺ Nate Graham ☛ This week in KDE: SDDM

• This week SDDM–the venerable login manager used by KDE and some other DEs–finally got a new release after two and a half years! This work was pushed through by a variety of KDE contributors, notably Aleix Pol Gonzalez, Fabian Vogt, David Edmundson, and Harald Sitter. At this point they contribute the overwhelming majority of changes and have effectively taken over the SDDM project. Because of this, we’re going to bring SDDM closer and incubate it in KDE for Plasma 6! Once completed, this project will see SDDM release at the same time as Plasma and use Plasma technologies to add many new features, such as management of network and Bluetooth devices on the login screen, and tighter integration with user settings.

• In other Plasma 6 news, everything has been fully ported to use KSvg, the new SVG-handling library that can be used outside of Plasma as well. The technical work was almost entirely done by Marco Martin, with me helping out and performing QA.

• Additionally, Xaver Hugl significantly improved graphics performance with multi-GPU systems that are using an NVIDIA GPU in the secondary position. Work is also in progress on a massive performance improvement for some Intel GPU users; more on that next week.

• Finally, Qt scaling will be used on X11 in Plasma 6, improving the high DPI scaling experience for people not using mixed-DPI multi-monitor setups. That use case is already not supported on X11, so our story remains the same: if you have a mixed-DPI multi-monitor setup, use Wayland! Marco did this too.

Distributions and Operating Systems

=> ↺ STH ☛ Proxmox VE 8.0 Is Out Upgrading Linux and More

• The new release is based upon foundations like Debian Bookworm and Ceph Quincy. The new Debian underpinnings mean that we have a Linux Kernel 6.2 base. When we did the Proxmox VE 7.4 release article, we highlighted how to upgrade the kernel in Proxmox VE 7, but this brings that to PVE 8. That new kernel comes with a host of hardware support updates which is awesome. Here are the highlights from the new release via the Proxmox team:

BSD

=> ↺ [Repeat] FreeBSD ☛ Celebrating 30 Years of FreeBSD: Licensing

• Many choices are available when it comes to deciding on what license to use for your latest project. Today, we are going to focus on the 2 clause variant of the Berkeley Software Distribution (BSD) license, also known as the FreeBSD license. For many folks, the business-friendly FreeBSD license offers the flexibility they are looking for. Why? Well first let’s take a look at the license itself.

=> ↺ DragonFly BSD Digest ☛ More offline HAMMER2 options

• Tomohiro Kusumi’s offline HAMMER2 support continues, with ‘setcheck’ (check code) and ‘setcomp’ (compression type) support.  See the hammer2(8) man page for what those options do.

=> ↺ FreeBSD ☛ Celebrating 30 Years of FreeBSD: Performance

• For information on how you can better tune your performance on your own FreeBSD systems, [...]

SUSE/OpenSUSE

=> ↺ SUSE reveals new capabilities to flagship enterprise Linux platform

• Announced at SUSECON 2023, SUSE has unveiled new capabilities to help customers accelerate digital transformation as part of its mission to best secure IT infrastructure and accelerate digital trust.

• In a report sponsored by SUSE, 88 percent of respondents reported experiencing more than one cloud-related security incident in the past year. To address these concerns, SUSE is enhancing its infrastructure security stack to ensure that customers, partners and open source communities can safely run their application workloads in the cloud, the edge or datacenters.

• SUSE has introduced the latest version of its flagship enterprise Linux platform, SUSE Linux Enterprise 15 Service Pack 5 (SLE 15 SP5), which is designed to deliver high-performance computing capabilities for AI and ML workloads.

Fedora Family / IBM

=> ↺ Jeff Geerling ☛ Removing official support for Red Hat Enterprise Linux

• For all of my open source projects, effective immediately, I am no longer going to maintain ‘official’ support for Red Hat Enterprise Linux.

• I will still support users of CentOS Stream, Rocky Linux, and Alma Linux, as I am able to test against those targets.

• Support will be ‘best effort’, and if you mention you are using my work on Red Hat Enterprise Linux, I will close your bug/feature/support request as ‘not reproducible’, since doing so would require I jump through artificial barriers Red Hat has erected to prevent the use of their Linux distribution by the wider community.

=> ↺ The Register UK ☛ Red Hat strikes a crushing blow against RHEL downstreams

• A superficially modest blog post from a senior Hatter announces that going forward, the company will only publish the source code of its CentOS Stream product to the world. In other words, only paying customers will be able to obtain the source code to Red Hat Enterprise Linux… And under the terms of their contracts with the Hat, that means that they can’t publish it.

• In the opinion of the Reg FOSS Desk, the blog post itself is so full of corporate language that it borders on obfuscatory. However, we’ve contacted the Red Hat press office, and the company confirmed that the release does say what we got out from reading between the lines. This is very bad news for downstream projects which rebuild the RHEL source code to produce compatible distributions, such as AlmaLinux, Rocky Linux, EuroLinux, and Oracle Unbreakable Linux.

=> ↺ It’s FOSS ☛ Red Hat’s Source Code Lockout Spells Disaster for CentOS Alternatives: Rocky Linux and AlmaLinux in Trouble?

• Red Hat is known for its offerings, such as Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL), CentOS, OpenShift, and more.

• While they are still a good part of the open-source and Linux, they do not have a clean reputation with decisions affecting the rest of the community. For instance, the decision to introduce CentOS Stream as an upstream to RHEL and kill off Cent OS.

• Also, the Red Hat layoffs were pretty recent.

• What’s Happening: In a recent announcement, Red Hat announced that CentOS Streamwill now be the only repository for RHEL-related source code releases 😲

=> ↺ Web Pro News ☛ Rocky Linux Promises No Disruptions From Red Hat Restricting Source Access

• Gregory Kurtzer, Rocky Linux founder and chair of the board of the Rocky Enterprise Software Foundation, slammed Red Hat’s decision to restrict RHEL’s source code behind a paywall.

• “I believe that open source should always be freely available and completely stable. It should never be hidden behind a paywall, nor should it be controlled by a single company,” said Kurtzer, founder of the Rocky Linux project and chair of the board of the Rocky Enterprise Software Foundation, which hosts the project. “Red Hat’s decision to limit the distribution of their sources has created a minor inconvenience for the Rocky Linux team, but due to fast development and an amazing group, there is no disruption to Rocky Linux users. Moving forward we are becoming even more stable, supported, and secure.”

=> ↺ LWN ☛ Kuhn: A Comprehensive Analysis of the GPL Issues With the Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) Business Model

• Over on the Software Freedom Conservancy blog, Policy Fellow and Hacker-in-Residence Bradley M. Kuhn analyzes the recent changes to Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) source availability in light of the GPL. It contains some interesting information about two alleged GPL violations that came about because the company’s business model is structured in a way that brings it too close to non-compliance with the license, he said:

=> ↺ A Comprehensive Analysis of the GPL Issues With the Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) Business Model

• For approximately twenty years, Red Hat (now a fully owned subsidiary of IBM) has experimented with building a business model for operating system deployment and distribution that looks, feels, and acts like a proprietary one, but nonetheless complies with the GPL and other standard copyleft terms. Software rights activists, including SFC, have spent decades talking to Red Hat and its attorneys about how the Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) business model courts disaster and is actively unfriendly to community-oriented Free and Open Source Software (FOSS). These pleadings, discussions, and encouragements have, as far as we can tell, been heard and seriously listened to by key members of Red Hat’s legal and OSPO departments, and even by key C-level executives, but they have ultimately been rejected and ignored — sometimes even with a “fine, then sue us for GPL violations” attitude. Activists have found this discussion frustrating, but kept the nature and tenure of these discussions as an “open secret” until now because we all had hoped that Red Hat’s behavior would improve. Recent events show that the behavior has simply gotten worse, and is likely to get even worse.

=> ↺ The Register UK ☛ Forester delivers bare metal remote provisioning to Fedora • The Register

• Forester is a new network-based unattended OS provisioning tool for Fedora and Red Hat family OSes, still being implemented – in Go.

• Lukáš Zapletal’s talk at Devconf.cz was entitled “Anaconda kickstart with superpower,” which is possibly a little less than enlightening to people outside the RH ecosystem. It may help to know that Anaconda is Red Hat’s installation program, and Kickstart is the company’s tool for automating unattended installations.

=> ↺ Aurora Supercomputer Blade Installation Complete :: Intel Corporation (INTC) [Ed: CentOS everywhere]

• Intel Configuration: 1-node, 2x Intel® Xeon® Max 9480,HT On, Turbo On, SNC4, Total Memory 128 GB (8x16GB HBM2 3200MT/s), BIOS Version SE5C7411.86B.8424.D03.2208100444, ucode revision=0x2c000020, CentOS Stream 8, Linux version 5.19.0-rc6.0712.intel_next.1.x86_64+server, Black Scholes v1.4. Test by Intel as of 9/2/2022. o AMD Configuration: 1-node, 2x AMD EPYC 9654, HT On, Turbo On, CTDP=360W, NPS=4, 1536GB DDR5-4800, BIOS 1.2, microcode 0xa101111, Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8.7, Kernel 4.18, Black Scholes v1.4. Test by Intel as of 03/27/23.

Debian Family

=> ↺ [Repeat] Systemd Free ☛ antiX 23 next stable based on debian’s bookworm is here already

• Based on the announcement above we tested the runit based full image with an urge to hunt and find something to criticize, constructively of course. We uninstalled some things we don’t like, even when they work right, installed some others, openbox, pcmanfm, lxterminal, conky, and everything worked. No elogind, no dbus running, no polkit, no automount or auto.. anything. Then we flipped repos to sid, where things are expected to be exciting. A beta release, and unstable repositories, which defeats the purpose of testing bookworm (testing repo a few weeks ago for Debian) … but you can only test antiX to a certain point before it gets too boring.Runit feels and seems more like runit of void/artix fame (these days, who else is using it, joborun as a backup init/svc-management ) still though with an antiX flair of mix of runit supervised services and some traditional scripts. It may be the peculiarities of debian that can’t all be handled properly by runit alone, but runit is pid1.

Open Hardware/Modding

=> ↺ Raspberry Pi ☛ Welcome home! An original Astro Pi computer back from space is now on display at the Science Museum

• After seven successful years on the International Space Station, 250 vertical miles above our planet, the original two Astro Pi computers that we sent to the ISS to help young people run their code in space have been returned to Earth.

=> ↺ Raspberry Pi ☛ Adafruit Feather RP2040 review

• [...] The board features an RP2040 32-bit Cortex-M0+ dual core running at ~125MHz, perfectly packaged into the Feather form factor. [...]

=> ↺ Arduino ☛ Intelligently control an HVAC system using the Arduino Nicla Vision

• Suryo developed his proof of concept as a 1:50 scale model of a plausible office space, complete with four separate rooms and a plethora of human figurines. Employing Edge Impulse and a smartphone, 79 images were captured and had bounding boxes drawn around each person for use in a FOMO-based object detection model. After training, Suryo deployed the OpenMV firmware onto an Arduino Nicla Vision board and was able to view detections in real-time.

=> ↺ peppe8o ☛ Password-protected locker system with Arduino

• In this tutorial, we will make a locker system which locks and unlock using the keypad interfaced with Arduino Uno. LCD displays the information about

=> ↺ Olimex ☛ Neo6502 the credit card size Open Source Modern Retro computer with W65C02 processor prototypes are ready for test!

• The board size is only 80×55 mm but do not be fooled this is complete 6502 computer with: [...]

=> ↺ Andrew Hutchings ☛ This alien device is something really cool

• In my quest to try out lots of interesting older tech, something really cool popped up for an incredibly low price. I acquired it and found it very useful. Here is the story.

=> ↺ Tom’s Hardware ☛ Raspberry Pi Project Detects and Recognizes Bird Calls

• BirdNET-Pi is a tool designed to run on the Raspberry Pi that uses TFLite to process audio input and listen to bird calls. It was put together by Patrick McGuire, who forked the project from Stefan Kah’s BirdNET-Lite. BirdNET-Pi is optimized for the Raspberry Pi and can run on the Raspberry Pi 4B, Raspberry Pi 400, Raspberry Pi 3B, and even the Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W.

• The system works by listening to bird calls using a USB microphone. The audio input is parsed through BirdNET-Pi and processed to identify what bird was likely making the sound. According to the GitHub page, BirdNET-Pi can identify hundreds of birds from different countries around the world.

=> ↺ Tom’s Hardware ☛ Recalbox RGB JAMMA Brings Retro Arcade Hardware to the Raspberry Pi

• Merging the past with the present, the Recalbox RGB JAMMA brings the long standing JAMMA cabinet specification to the humble Raspberry Pi.

Free, Libre, and Open Source Software

=> ↺ Lionel Dricot ☛ How to Kill a Decentralised Network (such as the Fediverse)

• Year is 2023. The whole Internet is under the control of the GAFAM empire. All? No. Because a few small villages are resisting the oppression. And some of those villages started to agregate, forming the “Fediverse”.

• With debates around Twitter and Reddit, the Fediverse started to gain fame and attention. People started to use it for real. The empire started to notice.

SaaS/Back End/Databases

=> ↺ Silicon Angle ☛ MongoDB’s evolution into a developer data platform: Hear theCUBE’s analyst perspectives

• MongoDB’s ongoing efforts to cater to its developer base is notable, including new additions such as faster queries and the ability to manage time-series data effectively. These changes underscore the company’s shift from a traditional database model to a developer-centric approach, according to Mohan.

Programming/Development

=> ↺ Undeadly ☛ Game of Trees 0.90 released

• Version 0.90 of Game of Trees has been released (and the port updated): [...]

=> ↺ University of Toronto ☛ Go 1.21 will (probably) download newer toolchains on demand by default

• For some time, Go modules have supported specifying the minimum version of Go required by the module in go.mod, through the go directive. Once you can have modules that specify a minimum Go version, you have a design question of what should happen when an older version of Go tries to do something with a module that says it requires a newer version of Go. Up through Go 1.20 (more or less), Go’s answer was to go ahead and try anyway. Starting in Go 1.21, Go will refuse to be this optimistic, and thus Go guarantees from 1.21 onward that a module will always be processed with at least its minimum version of Go. If this isn’t possible, Go will stop with a clear error about the situation.

=> ↺ Julia Evans ☛ New zine: How Integers and Floats Work

• Now let’s talk about some of the motivations for writing this zine!

=> ↺ Steve Kemp ☛ Simple REPL for CP/M, in Z80 assembly

• So my previous post documented a couple of simple “scripting languages” for small computers, allowing basic operations in a compact/terse fashion.

Python

=> ↺ Seth Michael Larson ☛ I am the first PSF Security Developer-in-Residence

• Back in January 2023 the PSF announced they were hiring a Security Developer-in-Residence (abbreviated as SDIR) following the success of the model used for the CPython Developer-in-Residence. Immediately after reading this news I was over-the-moon excited for Python’s future. Attacks on the software supply chain have been on the rise and given Python’s position as one of the most popular programming ecosystems it is a critical time to invest in security and the safety of our community.

• I’m honored to have been selected by the PSF to be the inaugural SDIR. The Python community is such a positive part of my life, so I’m grateful for this incredible opportunity to contribute back. I’m looking forward to partnering with all of you to build a more secure Python ecosystem for everyone.

Shell/Bash/Zsh/Ksh

=> ↺ Earthly ☛ How to Automate Common Tasks with Shell Scripts

• Shell scripts are an excellent way to automate repetitive tasks. Shell scripts are programs written in a shell language such as bash, csh, or sh that can be executed from the command line. As a result of their flexibility and power, shell scripts allow developers to automate tasks according to their needs. Implementing changes to an existing script is also very easy, making it a fast and more effective tool for software development.

Standards/Consortia

=> ↺ Bryan Lunduke ☛ The Unlikely Story of UTF-8: The Text Encoding of the Web

• Plan 9, Placemats, New Jersey Diners, and last minute ideas

Leftovers

=> ↺ New York Times ☛ The Five People Who Died on the Titanic Submersible Expedition

• On board the submersible were the founder of the company that operates the vessel; a British businessman and explorer; a British father and teenage son from a prominent Pakistani family; and a French maritime expert.

=> ↺ Vice Media Group ☛ Coast Guard: ‘Debris Field’ Found During Search for Missing Titanic Submarine

• “A debris field was discovered within the search area by an ROV near the Titanic.”

=> ↺ The Atlantic ☛ How a Trip to the Titanic Went So Wrong

• What we know so far about a tragic expedition

=> ↺ teleSUR ☛ Titanic Sub Crew Died in Catastrophic Implosion

• The Coast Guard said the wreckage found was “consistent with a catastrophic implosion of the vessel.”

=> ↺ NYPost ☛ OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush once boasted about ‘breaking some rules’ to build ill-fated Titanic sub

• “It’s picking the rules you break that are the ones that will add value to others and add value to society.”

=> ↺ The Kent Stater ☛ US Coast Guard says ‘debris field’ discovered within search area for missing Titanic-bound submersible

• The US Coast Guard said Thursday a “debris field” was discovered by a remotely operated vehicle near the Titanic and within the search area for the missing submersible with five people aboard. “Experts within the unified command are evaluating the information,” the Coast Guard said.

=> ↺ France24 ☛ US Navy detected acoustic ‘anomaly’ that was likely Titanic sub’s fatal implosion

• A U.S. Navy acoustic system detected an ‘anomaly’ Sunday that was likely the Titan’s fatal implosion, according to a senior military official.

=> ↺ France24 ☛ Crew of missing Titanic sub died after vessel imploded, US Coast Guard says

• The submersible that went missing during a tourist expedition to the Titanic imploded near the wreckage, killing all five people on board, the US Coast Guard said Thursday, bringing a grim end to a massive international search for the vessel.

=> ↺ France24 ☛ More ships join search for missing Titanic sub amid fears of depleted oxygen supply

• A multinational mission to find a missing submersible near the Titanic wreck is still focused on rescuing the five-member crew alive, the US coast guard insisted Thursday, despite fears that the vessel’s oxygen may already have run out.

=> ↺ Federal News Network ☛ Tourist sub’s implosion draws attention to murky regulations of deep-sea expeditions

• The fatal implosion of the Titan submersible has drawn attention to the murkily regulated waters of deep-sea exploration. It’s a space where laws and maritime conventions can be sidestepped by entrepreneurs who operate in international waters. Salvatore Mercogliano is a history professor at Campbell University in North Carolina who focuses on maritime history and policy. He says deep-sea exploration is less scrutinized than private space travel. Mercogliano says the sector is at a state of development similar to where aviation was in the early 20th Century. He notes that it took accidents for aviation laws and regulations to be passed.

=> ↺ TwinCities Pioneer Press ☛ The latest on the Titan submersible tragedy and what’s next in the recovery efforts

• The desperate search for the missing Titan submersible has turned into a possible recovery effort after officials announced that the vessel imploded sometime this week, killing all five aboard, near the Titanic shipwreck. Deep-sea robots will continue to search the sea floor for clues about what happened deep in the North Atlantic. The Titan’s pilot and four passengers died in the catastrophic implosion. Officials say there isn’t a timeframe for when they will call off the massive international search, and Coast Guard Rear Adm. John Mauger says the prospect of finding or recovering remains is unknown.

=> ↺ TwinCities Pioneer Press ☛ A Titanic expert, an adventurer, a CEO, and a father and son were killed in Titan’s implosion

• A renowned Titanic expert, a world record-holding adventurer and two members of one of Pakistan’s wealthiest families and the CEO of the company leading an expedition to the world’s most famous shipwreck were killed when the Titan submersible imploded. It’s not known when exactly the catastrophic implosion occurred this week. The vessel was reported missing Sunday and the Coast Guard announced the deaths Thursday. The people on board included British businessman and world record-holding adventurer Hamish Harding; Titanic expert Paul-Henri Nargeolet, who had made multiple trips to the wreck; and businessman Shahzada Dawood and his son Suleman. OceanGate CEO and founder Stockton Rush was the pilot.

=> ↺ France24 ☛ Titanic sub crew: Who were the five people on board the vessel

• The submersible that went missing during a tourist expedition to the Titanic imploded near the wreckage, killing all five people on board, the US Coast Guard said Thursday, bringing a grim end to a massive international search for the vessel.

=> ↺ Vice Media Group ☛ The Titanic Submarine Suffered ‘Catastrophic Implosion,’ Crew Is Dead, OceanGate and Coast Guard Say

• “The debris field is consistent with a catastrophic implosion of the vessel.”

=> ↺ New York Times ☛ Shahzada Dawood, Wealthy Executive, Died With Son, Suleman, on Submersible

• Mr. Dawood, a British Pakistani businessman, was the vice chairman of Engro Corporation, a conglomerate owned by one of the richest families in Pakistan.

=> ↺ New York Times ☛ Navy Detected a Possible Implosion Near Titan Sub as Communications Failed

• Two senior Navy officials said the information was shared with the Coast Guard official in charge of the search. But without certainty of a disaster, one said, the search continued.

=> ↺ Ayer ☛ The Story Behind Last Week’s Let’s Encrypt Downtime

• Last Thursday (June 15th, 2023), Let’s Encrypt went down for about an hour, during which time it was not possible to obtain certificates from Let’s Encrypt. Immediately prior to the outage, Let’s Encrypt issued 645 certificates which did not work in Chrome or Safari. In this post, I’m going to explain what went wrong and how I detected it.

=> ↺ Quillette ☛ Chaucer’s Bawdy Broad

• Antifeminist polemic is essentially a comic genre, characterized by the exaggerations of standup. It is a comic genre that has persisted to this day, or at least until the day before yesterday: “Take my wife … please,” Andy Capp’s Flo chasing him with a rolling pin, H.L. Mencken’s remark that women are “the only grand hazard a man will truly encounter,” the “ways of women” bewilderment in the 1990s “Lothar of the Hill People” sketches on Saturday Night Live. Of late, “That’s not funny!” feminism has pretty much killed off this genre. Washington Post writer David Weigel got suspended in 2022 for retweeting this joke: “Every girl is bi. You just have to figure out if it’s polar or sexual.” But there were plenty of people whose lips twisted in wry smiles of recognition—that is, if they didn’t laugh out loud.

=> ↺ The Nation ☛ Nona Fernandez and the Black Hole of Collective Memory

• After her mother begins to experience inexplicable fainting episodes, Nona Fernández finds herself sitting behind a screen in a doctor’s office, observing her mother’s electrical brain activity. To help her relax, the doctor tells her mother to think of a happy memory. Suddenly, the screen lights up with “a neuronal circuit like the most complex stellar tapestry.” When Fernández tells her mother what the thought looked like, she is told that the happy constellation was created by the memory of Nona’s birth—a starscape sparked by a moment in which she participated, though the memory of the event is inaccessible to Fernández.

=> ↺ Bert Hubert ☛ On Being Useful

• I wrote this piece after an early-career friend of mine asked some very good questions on how to be useful. Since this is a thing I struggle a bit with myself, I thought it worthwhile to write up my thoughts. Note that I fully understand that not everyone has the luxury to think about their career like this – you first have to take care of yourself and family before you can start fretting about if your working life is saving the world!

Science

=> ↺ France24 ☛ 57,000-year-old Neanderthal engravings found in France’s Loire Valley

• The oldest known cave engravings in France, and possibly Europe, have been discovered in the Loire Valley, with researchers uncovering designs dating back at least 57,000 years to the age of Neanderthals.

=> ↺ New Yorker ☛ French Parents Don’t Know What They’re Doing, Either

• An ongoing debate in France complicates the notion that there is an overarching secret to raising kids à la française.

Education

=> ↺ CS Monitor ☛ Religion and public education: How a new charter school tests the law

• The school choice movement took a new twist in June when an Oklahoma school board approved a Catholic charter school, opening the door for litigation and the potential for taxpayer money flowing to a religious school.

Hardware

=> ↺ Hackaday ☛ Is This The World’s Largest Dot Matrix Printer?

• [RyderCalmDown] was watching a road painting vehicle lay down fresh stripes on the road one day and started thinking about the mechanism that lets it paint stripes in such a precise way. Effectively the system that paints the interspersed lines acts as a dot matrix printer that can only print at a single frequency. With enough of these systems on the same vehicle, and a little bit more fine control of when the solenoids activate and deactivate, [RyderCalmDown] decided to build this device on the back of his truck which can paint words on a roadway as he drives by. (Video, embedded below.)

=> ↺ Hackaday ☛ Portable Soldering Station Runs On Drill Batteries

• Power tool batteries are a convenient portable power supply for all manner of different things. [Zachary Goode] noticed that Ryobi was using them to power soldering irons, but no such tool existed in the DeWalt range. Thus, he set about to build such a rig himself.

=> ↺ Hackaday ☛ Powerful Water Pump Is Modular In Nature

• If you’ve got one decently powerful DC motor, you could conceivably build a water pump. Gang up ten of them, however, and you could build something considerably more powerful, as [akashv44] demonstrates.

=> ↺ Hackaday ☛ Adapter Lets Digital Gamepads Work On The Tandy Color Computer

• The Tandy Color Computer came with analog joysticks, quite unlike most computers and consoles of the early 1980s. Many games of the era actually worked best with digital input, so [Gadget Reboot] whipped up a converter board to allow Nintendo gamepads to work with the computer.

Health/Nutrition/Agriculture

=> ↺ YLE ☛ One-fifth of Finland’s fatal road accidents caused by tired drivers

• Three-quarters of driver fatigue-caused accidents involved vehicles on leisure trips.

=> ↺ The Atlantic ☛ Your Phone Is a Mindfulness Trap

• But what are the apps selling, really? Mindfulness—let’s define that tersely as the ability to be present in your sensations without judgment—is an aim compatible with a range of lifestyles and beliefs. It’s so compatible as to invite blanket application: mindful eating, mindful meetings, mindful sleeping, mindful fights. Stripping some of the negative charge from life’s tediums and hardships can benefit anybody. But the mindfulness platforms have taken each of these use cases as a jumping-off point for another tile on the screen, another video or podcast, another claim on your gaze. And here, mindfulness seems to blur into something bigger and so different as to verge on its opposite: mindfulishness.

=> ↺ The Nation ☛ A Forum on Dobbs: “We’re Gonna Need a Bigger Boat”

• On June 24, 2022, the US Supreme Court turned one of the most intimate choices a person can make into a decision that will be imposed on millions of people by politicians. In some ways, the Dobbs ruling marked the culmination of a multi-decade campaign to overturn Roe v. Wade, but in other ways, it was just one more battle in a larger war, one that aims to take decisions about our bodies and our lives out of our hands. As The Nation looks back on the first year of the post-Roe era, we’ve asked our contributors and correspondents to reflect on the impact of Dobbs. Read on for their responses.

=> ↺ Scoop News Group ☛ A year after Dobbs, federal privacy legislation to protect abortion seekers remains stalled

• Legislative efforts have suffered due to little Republican interest and a lack of urgency in Congress to address privacy issues.

=> ↺ Privacy International ☛ Global AdTech Company CRITEO fined €40 million in France for unlawfully collecting personal data

=> ↺ NYPost ☛ 3M reaches $10.3 billion settlement over contamination of water systems with ‘forever chemicals’

• The agreement would settle a case that was scheduled for trial earlier this month involving a claim by Stuart, Florida, one of about 300 communities that have filed similar suits.

=> ↺ New York Times ☛ 3M Reaches $10.3 Billion Settlement in ‘Forever Chemicals’ Suits

• The deal followed an agreement by Chemours, DuPont and Corteva to pay $1.19 billion to help resolve claims that the chemical manufacturers contaminated drinking water across the country.

=> ↺ WhichUK ☛ Don’t try this at home: DIY ear wax removal kits likely to be ineffective, and some are potentially unsafe

• We asked an expert to examine popular products and found many lack good evidence, while others may be risky to use

=> ↺ Vice Media Group ☛ Local Town Gets Park Upgrade

• East Palestine, Ohio receives a $25 million gift from Norfolk Southern Corporation to renovate the town’s park.

=> ↺ The Atlantic ☛ The Happy Art of Grandparenting

• I just became a grandfather—and the role holds a lot of lessons for happiness.

=> ↺ LRT ☛ Lithuania bans flavoured heated tobacco products

• The Seimas on Thursday banned the sale of heated tobacco products with an added aroma or flavour in Lithuania as of October 23.

=> ↺ Reason ☛ Appellate Court Dismisses Case Challenging CDC Transportation Mask Mandate Because it has Become Moot

• A case that began with a bang ends with a whimper. The issue of whether the CDC has the power to impose mask mandates remains unresolved.

=> ↺ Axios ☛ Study: Cumulative force of impacts — not concussions — predicts CTE

• The largest study to date of chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) found that cumulative force to the head — not diagnosed concussions — is the best predictor of future brain disease.

=> ↺ WhichUK ☛ 7 DIY health fixes you shouldn’t try

• It might be tempting to give these treatments a go at home, but you could end up injuring yourself and wasting money

=> ↺ The Atlantic ☛ How the Vape Shops Won

• It’s a rough time for retail stores in America. How can there be so many vape shops?

Proprietary/Artificial Intelligence (AI)

=> ↺ WhichUK ☛ New laptops are riddled with ‘bloatware’ [Ed: No, with Windows]

• Pre-installed software – known as bloatware – is rife on new laptops. We reveal

• the most common brands featured on the latest laptops and explain how to get rid of them

=> ↺ Tom’s Hardware ☛ OpenAI Responds to ChatGPT User Account Credentials Found on Dark Web

• Over 100,000 ChatGPT user credentials have been dumped on the dark web’s markets since June 2022, something that poses a significant risk considering what can be contained within a single chat session.

=> ↺ The Strategist ☛ To pay or not to pay? Ransomware attacks are the new kidnapping [Ed: This is primarily a Microsoft Windows problem. Don't pay for Windows, don't use it either.]

• From our vantage point in the UK, it’s hard not to be envious of the rigorous public debate taking place in Australia on the future legality of ransomware payments.

=> ↺ Reason ☛ Sanctions Issued in Case Where Lawyers Cited ChatGPT-Hallucinated Precedents

• From today’s opinion in Mata v. Avianca, Inc., by Judge Kevin Castel (S.D.N.Y.), which stems from an incident blogged about here last month (and see this follow-up): In researching and drafting court submissions, good lawyers appropriately obtain assistance from junior lawyers, law students, contract lawyers, legal encyclopedias and databases such as Westlaw and LexisNexis.

=> ↺ Silicon Angle ☛ MosaicML releases open-source 30B parameter AI model for enterprise applications

• MosaicML Inc., a generative artificial intelligence startup that provides infrastructure for companies to run machine learning services, announced the open-source availability of MPT-30B, the company’s most advanced MosaicML Pretrained Model foundation series for commercially licensed AI applications.

Security

=> ↺ Hackers Attack Linux SSH Servers with Tsunami DDoS Malware [Ed: Microsoft has this new FUD campaign against Linux and SSH. It boils down to bad passwords and helps distract from Windows being utterly horrendous, causing countless billions in damages each year.]

=> ↺ Hackers Attack Linux SSH Servers with Tsunami DDoS Malware [Ed: Microsoft has this new FUD campaign against Linux and SSH. It boils down to bad passwords and helps distract from Windows being utterly horrendous, causing countless billions in damages each year.]

• An attack campaign has been recently uncovered by AhnLab ASEC, where poorly controlled Linux SSH servers are targeted and infiltrated with the Tsunami DDoS Bot.

• In addition to Tsunami, the threat actor installed several other types of malware, including:-

=> ↺ CyberRisk Alliance LLC ☛ Trojanized OpenSSH used in Linux, IoT device compromise | SC Media

• BleepingComputer reports that internet-facing Linux and Internet of Things devices have been targeted by brute-force attacks involving the distribution of a trojanized OpenSSH package to facilitate compromise and SSH credential exfiltration.

=> ↺ Hacker News ☛ New Cryptocurrency Mining Campaign Targets Linux Systems and IoT Devices [Ed: Microsoft spreads FUD through Microsoft-connected site, trying to stigmatise "Linux" and "SSH" as lacking in security when in fact they have nothing to do with it]

• “The threat actors behind the attack use a backdoor that deploys a wide array of tools and components such as rootkits and an IRC bot to steal device resources for mining operations,” Microsoft threat intelligence researcher Rotem Sde-Or said.

=> ↺ Bleeping Computer ☛ Microsoft: Hackers hijack Linux systems using trojanized OpenSSH version [Ed: While Microsoft puts back doors in everything for NSA et al it’s trying to defame the secure alternatives as “back doors”]

=> ↺ Bleeping Computer ☛ Microsoft: Hackers hijack Linux systems using trojanized OpenSSH version [Ed: While Microsoft puts back doors in everything for NSA et al it’s trying to defame the secure alternatives as “back doors”]

• “The patches install hooks that intercept the passwords and keys of the device’s SSH connections, whether as a client or a server,” Microsoft said.

=> ↺ eSecurity Planet ☛ Linux Patch Management: Tools, Issues & Best Practices

• Compared to other operating systems, Linux patch management is unique because of its open-source nature, which enables a sizable community of developers and security professionals to find vulnerabilities, examine the code, and submit patches.

• Linux distributions use package managers to make it easier for users to install software packages and updates. These packages automate the download, installation, and dependency resolution process, which simplifies the process of patch application. While popular Linux distributions can be as easy as Windows to update, many enterprises and organizations prefer to test patches and manage their distribution, creating many of the same issues that admins face with closed-source operating systems.

=> ↺ LWN ☛ Security updates for Friday [LWN.net]

• Security updates have been issued by Debian (asterisk, lua5.3, and trafficserver), Fedora (tang and trafficserver), Oracle (.NET 7.0, c-ares, firefox, openssl, postgresql, python3, texlive, and thunderbird), Red Hat (python27:2.7 and python39:3.9 and python39-devel:3.9), Scientific Linux (c-ares), Slackware (cups), SUSE (cups, dav1d, google-cloud-sap-agent, java-1_8_0-openjdk, libX11, openssl-1_0_0, openssl-1_1, openssl-3, openvswitch, and python-sqlparse), and Ubuntu (cups, dotnet6, dotnet7, and openssl).

=> ↺ TechCrunch ☛ [Cr]acker responsible for 2020 Twitter breach sentenced to prison

• Three years after one of the most visible hacks in recent history played out in real-time in front of millions of Twitter users, one of the hackers responsible for the breach will now serve time in federal prison.

• Joseph James O’Connor, 24, was sentenced Friday in a New York federal court to five years in prison after pleading guilty in May to four counts of computer hacking, wire fraud and cyberstalking. O’Connor also agreed to forfeit at least $794,000 to the victims of his crimes.

Integrity/Availability/Authenticity

=> ↺ WhichUK ☛ Scam alert: watch out for this fake Emirates holiday WhatsApp giveaway

• This tempting offer invites you to click on a dodgy link to win a holiday. Find out what it looks like and how to report it

=> ↺ SANS ☛ Qakbot (Qbot) activity, obama271 distribution tag, (Thu, Jun 22nd)

Privacy/Surveillance

=> ↺ Techdirt ☛ Misunderstanding Locks Amazon User Out Of ‘Smart’ Home Voice Control For A Week

• The “smart” internet of things era was supposed to usher forth a new era of convenience. Instead, it often manages to advertise how dumber technology can be the smarter option, and you’re not being particularly innovative if your product actually makes life harder. From “smart” door locks that are easily hackable to hackable “smart” TVs that are so smart they spy on you, there are near daily examples showing how connecting old tech to the internet and calling it innovation — may not be innovative.

=> ↺ uni Bath ☛ Research shows mobile phone users do not understand what data they might be sharing

• Privacy and security features that aim to give consumers more control over the sharing of their data by smartphone apps are widely misunderstood, shows new research from the University of Bath’s School of Management.

• 43 per cent of phone users in the study were confused or unclear about what app tracking means. People commonly mistook the purpose of tracking, thinking that it was intrinsic to the app function, or that it would provide a better user experience.

=> ↺ Zimbabwe ☛ Here are your rights when people collect your data in Zim, can’t have them collect it willy-nilly

• The one thing you can be certain of is that whenever you visit the internet, someone is busy collecting your data. We consent to this collection because we want the free stuff, like seriously, who’s going to tell WhatsApp ‘no’? Do that and you won’t get to use WhatsApp.

=> ↺ Privacy International ☛ Privacy International’s oral statement at the UN Human Rights Council

=> ↺ EFF ☛ A Year Since Dobbs, The Fight For Reproductive Privacy and Information Access Continues

• Right now, EFF is a proud sponsor—along with If/When/How and ACLU California Action—of Assemblymember Mia Bonta (D-Oakland)’s A.B. 793. This bill would protect people seeking abortion and gender-affirming care from dragnet-style digital surveillance. AB 793 targets a type of dragnet surveillance that can compel tech companies to search their records and reveal the identities of all people who have been in a certain location or looked up a particular keyword online. These demands, known as “reverse demands,” “geofence warrants,” or “keyword warrants,” enable local law enforcement in states across the country to request the names and identities of all people whose digital data shows they’ve spent time near a California abortion clinic or searched for information about gender-affirming care online.

• A coalition of more than 50 reproductive justice, civil liberties, LGBTQI+ and privacy groups are supporting the bill; it is also supported by Google and the Law Enforcement Action Partnership. However, the bill has faced opposition from other law enforcement lobbyists and faces a difficult path in the California Senate. If you live in California and support the privacy rights of people seeking reproductive and gender-affirming care, please tell your lawmakers that you care about this issue: […

Defence/Aggression

=> ↺ Latvia ☛ ‘Special reinforcement regime’ to be allowed in Latvia’s eastern border areas

• Instead of repeatedly extending the state of emergency in the eastern border regions of Latvia, the Cabinet will be allowed to announce a reinforced border guarding regime for the area if unusual numbers of migrants will attempt to cross it, according to amendments adopted by the Saeima in the second reading on June 22.

=> ↺ teleSUR ☛ Tanzania Will Not Grant Citizenship to Burundian Refugees

• “I urge you to return to Burundi because the country is now peaceful”

=> ↺ Mint Press News ☛ The Irony of World Refugee Day: Celebrating, then Blaming the Victims

• For World Refugee Day to matter, it must address the root causes of such complex and ongoing problems.

=> ↺ LRT ☛ Lithuanian PM vows funds for new military division, defence spending to reach 2.8% GDP

• Lithuanian Prime Minister Ingrida Šimonytė has vowed to allocate additional funding for the creation of a military division, and the money will not be included in the national defence budget that is estimated to reach around 2.5 percent of GDP next year.

=> ↺ NPR ☛ Charities say Taliban intimidation diverts aid to Taliban members and causes

• Yet the requests can’t be dismissed. “If we refuse to comply, employees are threatened, detained and even beaten on baseless charges,” says MF.

• It’s one of many ways in which the Taliban has cast a pall over aid efforts in Afghanistan even as economic crises are pushing more people into hunger.

=> ↺ Variety ☛ Survey: TikTok Most Entertaining Media Brand for Adults Under 30

• New data from VIP+s “Demographic Divide” collaboration with insights expert GetWizer highlights just how disruptive new media has been to the landscape, as well as how the slowness to respond has cost TV networks valuable brand equity.

=> ↺ Foreign Policy ☛ North Korea Does More Cyberspying Than You Think

• A mention of North Korean hackers typically conjures images of either crippling cyberattacks or, more often, massive cryptocurrency heists. But a new report on the authoritarian state’s capabilities and tendencies paints a different picture.

=> ↺ BIA Net ☛ Religious group members attempt to disrupt protest against appointment of imams to schools

• As part of a new project, the Religious Affairs Presidency will appoint imams to schools to raise awareness about “environment and values,” which has been criticized for violating the constitutional principle of secularism.

=> ↺ Latvia ☛ Saeima approves creation of new military zone

• On their last working day before a long summer break, Saeima deputies approved the final reading of legislation which creates a major new military training zone in Sēlija region.

=> ↺ Meduza ☛ ‘What the new generation wants’ Estonia becomes the first Baltic country to cross the marriage equality finish line — Meduza

=> ↺ teleSUR ☛ Israel Demolishes Palestinian Prisoner’s Family Home in West Bank

• Backed by armored vehicles and bulldozers, the Israeli occupation forces stormed Nablus to demolish a 130-square-meter apartment.

=> ↺ LRT ☛ LRT English Newsletter: NATO hangover

• LRT English Newsletter – June 23, 2023.

=> ↺ LRT ☛ NATO military reps in Lithuania get acquainted with eastern flank situation

• Military representatives from 18 NATO member states are visiting Lithuania on Friday to get acquainted with the situation on NATO’s eastern flank.

=> ↺ JURIST ☛ UN expert calls for new strategy and ASEAN action to end crisis in Myanmar

• UN expert Tom Andrews urged the international community in Jakarta on Wednesday to find a different approach to resolve the crisis in Myanmar, saying the current strategy is ineffective. Myanmar is currently under military rule after the 2021 overthrow of its democratically elected government.

=> ↺ JURIST ☛ Mali postpones release of results of long awaited constitutional referendums

• The nation of Mali postponed the release of the results of its constitutional referendums amid tensions with rebel groups and the UN. Mali’s Independent Election Management Authority (AIGE) has stated that electoral law requires the results be made public no later than June 23.

=> ↺ The Strategist ☛ The five-domains update

• Sea state   The UK Ministry of Defence has awarded a 10-year contract worth £270 million to British multinational BAE Systems to support the Royal Navy’s three main radar systems: Artisan, Sampson and Long Range Radar.

=> ↺ The Strategist ☛ Who will benefit from Australia’s critical minerals strategy?

• Critical mineral projects will be favoured for federal government loans under its new critical minerals strategy, but there are to be no tailored tax breaks.

=> ↺ Scheerpost ☛ Biden’s Refusal to Demand Accountability for Israeli Army Killings Is an Open Farce

• The State Department shrugged after the Israeli government said there would be no consequences for the barbaric killings of 80-year-old Omar Asaad and three-year-old Mohammed al-Tamimi.

=> ↺ The Nation ☛ A Failson Meets a Failed Justice System

• Hunter Biden got a sweetheart deal in negotiations with law enforcement. The forces of liberal corruption have weaponized the justice system. The Biden crime family is steamrolling any semblance of accountability or the rule of law. At least, that’s the story the right is telling.

=> ↺ New York Times ☛ I.R.S. Agent Told Congress of Hunter Biden Invoking His Father in Business Deal

• A whistle-blower said the tax agency found a message from 2017 in which Hunter Biden pressured a Chinese business partner by saying he was with his father, who was then out of office.

=> ↺ LRT ☛ NATO draws up first draft of Vilnius Summit Declaration, negotiations begin

• NATO has produced the first draft of the Vilnius Summit Declaration this week as allied members begin negotiations on the final text.

=> ↺ Atlantic Council ☛ Atlantic Council’s GeoEconomics Center and Rhodium Group release major report on sanctioning China in a Taiwan crisis

• The new research analyzes China sanctions scenarios and costs to the global economy

War in Ukraine

=> ↺ LRT ☛ Swiss manufacturer will not use Belarusian parts for Lithuanian trains – minister

• Stadler Rail, a Swiss train maker contracted to produce 15 electric and battery-powered trains for Lithuania, will not use any parts made at its factory in Minsk, according to Lithuanian Transport Minister Marius Skuodis.

=> ↺ JURIST ☛ Russian mercenary chief Prigozhin to be charged with inciting armed rebellion — state media

• Russian authorities have initiated criminal proceedings against mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin on grounds of incitement to armed rebellion, Russian state-controlled media reported Friday, citing security and anti-terrorism authorities.

=> ↺ teleSUR ☛ Criminal Case Is Opened Against Wagner Group Chief

• The FSB said the decision was made due to the seriousness of the situation and the threat of escalation in Russia.

=> ↺ LRT ☛ Russia is world’s cancer that must be removed, says Landsbergis

• Russia has become a cancer of Europe and the world that must be removed, Vytautas Landsbergis, Lithuania’s first post-independence leader, said at a ceremony at the Seimas on Friday.

=> ↺ RFERL ☛ Putin Vows To ‘Do Everything To Protect’ Country After Wagner Forces Take Control Of Southern Russian City

• Russian mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin announced on Telegram early on June 24 that his forces are occupying the military headquarters in Rostov-on-Don and control the southern Russian city’s military sites and airport.

=> ↺ teleSUR ☛ Russia Responds To 11th EU Sanctions Package

• This round of sanctions against Russia includes restrictions on the sale, supply or transfer of technologies and materials to third countries.

=> ↺ Helsinki Times ☛ EU implements stricter sanctions on Russia: Trailers with Russian license plates banned within EU territory

• The European Union has taken a firm stance against Russia by introducing its 11th package of sanctions, which includes a prohibition on trailers and semi-trailers with Russian license plates operating within EU territory. This latest move aims to further disrupt commercial road traffic transport and prevent circumvention of existing sanctions. In addition to the trailer ban, the EU has expanded the restrictions on transit through Russia for certain goods, reinforcing its commitment to enforce sanctions effectively.

=> ↺ RFERL ☛ Russia Urges Azerbaijan To Unblock Road Connecting Armenia To Nagorno-Karabakh

• Moscow has called on Baku to fully unblock the Lachin Corridor, stressing that such actions violate the provisions of the declaration reached in November 2020 that ended a six-week war.

=> ↺ RFERL ☛ Washington Imposes Sanctions On Two Russian FSB Officers Who Allegedly Tried To Influence U.S. Elections

• The United States has slapped sanctions on two Russian intelligence officers who it says attempted to interfere in a local U.S. election, the Treasury Department said on June 23.

=> ↺ RFERL ☛ Russian Man Squats Near Australian Parliament Where Canberra Blocked Moscow From Building Embassy

• Australian media reports said that a Russian man with diplomatic immunity has been squatting on the site where Moscow wanted to build a new embassy in Canberra before lawmakers blocked the plan last week over security concerns.

=> ↺ RFERL ☛ Siberian Official Reportedly Confesses To Killing Five Women In 2000

• The deputy governor of the Kalman district in the Siberian region of Altai Krai, Vitaly Manishin, has confessed to killing five women who were applicants to a local university in 2000, media reports cited sources as saying on June 23.

=> ↺ The Straits Times ☛ Australia imposes sanctions on three men over downing of Flight MH17

• MH17 was shot down by a Russian missile system on July 17, 2014, killing all 298 passengers and crew.

=> ↺ YLE ☛ Niinistö: Finland following events in Russia closely

• Both President Sauli Niinistö and Foreign MInister Elina Valtonen (NCP) commented on the developing situation.

=> ↺ Marcy Wheeler ☛ Compliments to the Chef: Prigozhin’s Trouble Looks like Civil War

• Russia’s FSB filed charges against Putin’s chef, Yevgeny Prigozhin for incitement of attacks on the state. Meanwhile, Prigozhin appears to be hunting down Russia’s defense minister in response to an attack on Wagner group personnel by Russia. Is it a coup attempt or the start of a civil war?

=> ↺ New York Times ☛ Wagner Chief Seizes a Military Compound After Criticizing Russia Generals

• The Wagner chief’s broadside against the Russian military establishment has escalated tensions drastically, but it isn’t yet clear how much of a threat the situation poses to the Kremlin.

=> ↺ New York Times ☛ Debris From Russian Missile Kills Two in Kyiv Apartment Building

• The capital came under attack as anxiety grew in Russia over a confrontation between Yevgeny V. Prigozhin, the founder of the Wagner mercenary group, and President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia.

=> ↺ New York Times ☛ Wagner Chief Prigozhin Appears in Videos at A Russian Military Headquarters

• The head of the mercenary group claimed to have control of parts of the complex in the southern city of Rostov-on-Don.

Transparency/Investigative Reporting

=> ↺ Truthdig ☛ Daniel Ellsberg’s Political Courage

• Ellsberg’s heroism is concentrated in a single, spectacular action: the leaking of the so-called “Pentagon Papers”—properly, the “History of US decision-making in Vietnam, 1945–1968”—to reporters at the New York Times and, when the Times was subjected to an injunction that kept it from publishing the papers, the Washington Post. (Ellsberg also photocopied items related to nuclear armament and deterrence, which he wrote about it in his last published book, The Doomsday Machine.) The Pentagon Papers themselves have an extraordinary origin story, having been commissioned by Robert McNamara while he was Defense Secretary, as an attempt to explain, in part to himself, American entry into a war that he had escalated and prosecuted, at the cost of thousands of American, and millions of Vietnamese, lives. Ellsberg had contributed to the study, but only read it in its entirety in 1969, after photocopying it.

=> ↺ The Economist ☛ Daniel Ellsberg leaked the Pentagon Papers to try to stop the Vietnam war

• The copies went to Neil Sheehan, a reporter for the New York Times, and in June 1971 the Times began to serialise the findings. President Richard Nixon tried to stop publication, both there and in the Washington Post; but when the case went to the Supreme Court the court upheld the freedom of the press against executive pressure. It was a famous victory. The Ellsberg trial, in 1973, was another: he was charged under the Espionage Act, which carried a maximum sentence of 115 years in jail, but all charges were dismissed. He was now a hero of the anti-war movement.

=> ↺ The Dissenter ☛ The Media Delusion That Daniel Ellsberg Blew The Whistle The ‘Right Way’

=> ↺ Meduza ☛ Prosecutor demands 19 years in prison for jailed Dagestan journalist Abdulumin Gadzhiyev — Meduza

• A prosecutor in the case against Dagestan journalist Abdulumin Gadzhiyev, who was an editor with the news outlet Chernovik, has requested that the court sentence him to 19 years in prison, says a group working to support the journalist.

Environment

=> ↺ Common Dreams ☛ Empty seats and empty words at Paris Summit leave fossil fuel culprits off the hook

• “The World Bank Group was in the spotlight this week for its report calling on countries to end harmful fossil fuel subsidies and repurpose these funds to support climate solutions. The Bank must take its own advice— currently, it provides more public finance for fossil fuels than any other multilateral development bank, and it still pushes new fossil subsidies through development policy finance. As long as the World Bank Group and other multilateral development banks (MDBs) continue to pour more fuel on the fire, they cannot be trusted to deliver on the solutions needed to tackle the climate crisis.”

=> ↺ Teen Vogue ☛ Wildfires in the U.S.: Changing Our Response Is the Focus of the FireGeneration Collaborative

• Ryan Reed spent much of his childhood outdoors, absorbing the knowledge of his Karuk, Hupa and Yurok ancestors through activities like hunting and fishing in the forests of Northern California. As he grew older, he began participating in cultural burns, an ancient practice also known as prescribed or controlled burns that involves igniting and tending to small fires as a way to maintain the health of the forest and prevent larger fires. By necessity, this education was “discrete,” he said, because for years, these burns were outlawed as part of a larger suppression of Native practices and rights.

=> ↺ RFA ☛ Indonesia, Malaysia could see worst haze in five years, report warns

• This year’s heatwave will be a stress test for cooperation between governments and the private sector, according to the Haze Outlook 2023, published Wednesday by the Singapore Institute of International Affairs (SIIA).

• It designated a “red” rating for haze, indicating the most severe of the three levels of risk for the first time since the outlook – which analyzes the risk of a severe transboundary haze crisis affecting Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore, and the surrounding region – began five years ago.

=> ↺ The Straits Times ☛ Beijing sizzles with hot weather alert at highest level

• The official temperature for the capital hit 40 deg C just after 1.30pm on Friday.

=> ↺ teleSUR ☛ Heavy Rains in South Australia Lead To Flooding and Blackouts

• “…roads have been closed in some areas and motorists were warned…”

=> ↺ Digital Music News ☛ Red Rocks Hailstorm Pelts Fans, Leaving Hundreds Injured

• A severe hailstorm injured hundreds of concertgoers at the Red Rocks Amphitheatre in Colorado during Louis Tomlinson’s performance. Here’s the latest.  Severe thunderstorms moved across Colorado on June 21, dropping enough hail to cause broken bones. Around 80-90 people were treated for injuries at the venue, some of whom called 911 for help.

Energy/Transportation

=> ↺ Interesting Engineering ☛ Mazda is repurposing its rotary engine for the MX-30 e-Skyactiv R-EV

• Now, after 11 years, rotary engines are making a comeback, with the battery range issues addressed. They have been repurposed to manufacture an engine that can provide a total range of 373 miles, with a portion of that range solely powered by electricity.

=> ↺ The Straits Times ☛ Chinese authorities focus on fire hazards following restaurant blast

• June 23, 2023 11:55 AM

• Wednesday’s explosion sparked discussion on social media about the safety of barbecue restaurants.

=> ↺ teleSUR ☛ Train-Truck Collision Injures 21 in Northern Czech Republic

• “…19 of the train passengers were students…”

Wildlife/Nature

=> ↺ Helsinki Times ☛ Blue-green algae observations increased in inland waters and at sea during Midsummer week

• The blue-green algae situation in inland waters is calm as typical in early summer, even though blue-green algae observations have increased since last week. On the coast, blue-green algae have been observed slightly more than average. Blue-green algae blooms have also clearly increased in sea areas, especially south of Porkkalanniemi and Helsinki.

=> ↺ The Revelator ☛ Ivory-Billed Woodpecker: Lost or Found? (Podcast)

=> ↺ teleSUR ☛ The Amazon “Belongs to All Humanity,” Says Lula in Paris

• The rich nations “must pay the historic debt they have with planet Earth.”

=> ↺ NYPost ☛ Florida deputies hold ‘exhausted’ manatee’s head above water for 2 hours, saving its life

• “I thought I was going to drown – a martyr for the cause.”

=> ↺ Latvia ☛ More forest fires in first half of 2023 than whole of last year

• This year 470 forest fires have been registered and extinguished, with a total burned forest area of 589 hectares, of which 92 hectares were young stands, LETA was informed by representatives of the State Forest Service (VMD) on June 22.

=> ↺ Latvia ☛ Does it really always rain at Midsummer?

• A popular Latvian saying when the rain is falling is that it “rains like Midsummer” (līst kā pa Jāņiem), but does it have any basis in fact?

Finance

=> ↺ Michael West Media ☛ Housing bill on ice puts double dissolution in play

• The solicitor-general has confirmed Labor’s troubled housing future fund bill has failed to pass parliament and a second misfire would be grounds for a double-dissolution election.

• Prime Minister Anthony Albanese confirmed he had received legal advice the $10 billion housing fund had officially failed to make it through the upper house.

=> ↺ Atlantic Council ☛ Addressing multidimensional inequality

• To sustain the ongoing recovery against short-term headwinds and boost inclusive, productive, and sustainable development in the long term, governments cannot, and should not, act alone. Private-sector actions to reduce gender inequality, like level the playing field between SMEs and large firms and narrow the urban-rural divide, can enable a more inclusive economy for LAC.

=> ↺ Scheerpost ☛ The Unlimited Campaign Spending by Corporations and Billionaires Has Destroyed Democracy

• When corporations use their vast wealth to distort or seize control of the political process, they have ceased to operate within the constraints established at their creation. They are in violation of their own corporate charters and should be shuttered or sold off.

=> ↺ Michael West Media ☛ One in three to get slice of $815m in insurer payouts

• About one in three Australian adults are owed money from a compensation pool of $815 million after being overcharged on insurance policies.

• General insurers have overcharged more than 5.6 million consumers and will need to make repayments and fix pricing promises, the corporate watchdog said in a damning report on Friday.

=> ↺ Michael West Media ☛ One in three adults in line for $815m insurer payout

• About one in three Australian adults are owed money from a compensation pool of $815 million after being overcharged on insurance policies.

• General insurers have overcharged more than 5.6 million consumers and will need to make the repayments and fix their pricing promises, the corporate watchdog said in a damning report on Friday.

=> ↺ YLE ☛ Cheap Swedish Krona helps Finns stock up for Midsummer

• The state alcohol monopoly in Haparanda, northern Sweden, has seen its customer numbers shoot up as the Swedish crown’s value has plunged.

=> ↺ Michael West Media ☛ Low productivity growth bringing less bang for the buck

• Australia’s insipid productivity growth is contributing to the soaring cost of living and an independent body is calling for immediate action. 

• Productivity Commission deputy chair Alex Robson says the challenge is urgent and he wants action on its five-yearly report into the matter.

=> ↺ New York Times ☛ JPMorgan’s Epstein Settlement Sets No Cap or Minimum on Claims

• A claims administrator will determine how to disburse $290 million in funds from JPMorgan’s deal with alleged victims of sexual abuse.

=> ↺ Michael West Media ☛ Senate report is out: is the “multi-year cover-up” “game over for PwC”, or not?

• The Senate has quickly handed down its report into the PwC scandal and it pulls few punches, causing one governance expert to declare, “The findings are game over for PwC”. What’s the scam?

• The scam is PwC was confidentially advising the Government on tax reforms and secretly leaked that information to its multinational tax avoiding clients to make a profit.

AstroTurf/Lobbying/Politics

=> ↺ Michael West Media ☛ Politicians and media rub shoulders at Murdoch party

• Politicians from across the political divide have rubbed shoulders with members of the media at Rupert and Lachlan Murdoch’s annual party.

• Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer were among those attending the event at Spencer House in London on Thursday.

=> ↺ The Nation ☛ Not Just Numbers

=> ↺ New York Times ☛ Why Modi and Other Indian Leaders Stay Single

• India’s politicians need a lot of time to attend to 1.4 billion people. And with corruption widespread, those without families are often seen as less likely to steal.

=> ↺ New York Times ☛ Modi Promotes India to Congress After Meeting With Biden

• Prime Minister Narendra Modi emphasized his country’s development and played up what he described as commonalities with the U.S. Earlier, he ducked a question about his government’s treatment of minorities.

=> ↺ France24 ☛ Biden says US and India must ‘work together’ as PM Modi visits White House

• President Joe Biden hailed a new era in the U.S.-India relationship, after rolling out the White House red carpet for Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday, touting deals on defense and commerce aimed at countering China’s global influence.

=> ↺ New York Times ☛ The United States and India Can Be Better Partners

• How the U.S. manages its relationships with elected autocracies is one of its most important strategic questions.

=> ↺ New Yorker ☛ Why Is President Biden Hosting Narendra Modi?

• The journalist Fareed Zakaria credits India’s Prime Minister with a strong national economy—and the decay of Indian democracy.

=> ↺ New Yorker ☛ What Joe Biden Didn’t Say to Narendra Modi

• Whether “hypocritical pivot” or pure pragmatism, the President had more than one reason to skip the lectures on democracy.

=> ↺ New York Times ☛ The Full Guest List for Biden’s State Dinner With Modi

• More than 380 guests were invited, including government officials, business leaders, fashion designers and prominent Indian Americans.

=> ↺ New York Times ☛ Biden’s State Dinner Ignores the Discord Just Beyond the Gates

• The mix of political adversaries created a dinner scene so dissonant that no amount of glass clinking could have drowned out the partisan undercurrents.

=> ↺ RFERL ☛ Kurti, Vucic To Meet Separately With Borrell In Brussels

• Kosovar Prime Minister Albin Kurti and Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic have confirmed their attendance, but won’t meet face-to-face, at a crisis meeting in Brussels on June 22 called by the European Union’s foreign policy chief Josep Borrell.

=> ↺ RFERL ☛ Borrell Says Agreement Reached On Need To Hold Fresh Elections In Northern Kosovo

• European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell says agreement has been reached on the need to hold fresh elections in ethnic Serb-majority northern Kosovo to defuse simmering tensions between Pristina and Belgrade.

=> ↺ CS Monitor ☛ India’s Modi comes to Washington, but what about democracy back home?

• Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to the White House has been accompanied by the announcement of several major deals between the two countries. But the visit has also drawn criticism from some over India’s human rights backsliding under Mr. Modi.

=> ↺ CS Monitor ☛ India, the US, and ‘friendversaries’

• The challenge for the United States is to boost ties with strategically located countries, like India, that have shared interests but adversarial ones as well.

=> ↺ New York Times ☛ The Politics of Class

• We’re covering the class inversion in American politics, severe weather in Texas and the Indian prime minister’s visit to the U.S.

=> ↺ Helsinki Times ☛ HS: National Coalition and Finns Party remain Finland’s most popular parties

• THE APPROVAL RATINGS of Finnish political parties did not change significantly during the coalition formation negotiations that were completed last week, reveals an opinion poll commissioned by Helsingin Sanomat.

• The National Coalition, the poll shows, remains the most well supported party in the country with an approval rating of 21.3 per cent, a drop of 0.1 percentage points from the previous poll.

=> ↺ YLE ☛ APN Podcast: Foreigners protest as Finland turns right

• This week’s special episode on the new government explores how the right-wing coalition will change Finland.

=> ↺ France24 ☛ Little hope for change as Guatemala nears vote in presidential elections

• Guatemalans go to the polls Sunday with two popular candidates disqualified and several prosecutors and journalists detained or in exile amid a government pushback on anti-corruption efforts.

=> ↺ France24 ☛ Bolsonaro’s political future hangs in the balance as Brazil trial opens

• Brazil’s electoral court began delivering its ruling Thursday on charges ex-president Jair Bolsonaro broke the law with his unproven allegations against the voting system, a case that could eliminate him from the 2026 presidential race.

=> ↺ France24 ☛ French envoy Le Drian meets key Lebanese players in push to end political crisis

• French special envoy Jean-Yves Le Drian on Thursday met with key figures in Lebanon on a “consultative” mission as he pushes for a solution to the country’s protracted political deadlock.

=> ↺ Hollywood Reporter ☛ Meta to Block Facebook and Instagram News Sharing in Canada

• Canadian legislation designed to get U.S. digital tech giants to pay local publishers for news snippets shared or repurposed on their platforms has become law.

• But passage of Bill C-18, also known as the Online News Act, has so far not convinced Meta and Google to negotiate commercial licensing deals with Canadian publishers for their local platforms. Instead, Meta announced it will block Canadians from viewing or sharing news on its Facebook and Instagram sites north of the border.

=> ↺ ABC ☛ TikTok’s COO to step down after nearly 5 years at the popular social media company

• Pappas joined TikTok in 2018 as general manager and was promoted to interim head in 2020 when then-CEO Kevin Mayer left the company just after three months in the role. The former YouTube official assumed the COO role the following year, and has testified on Capitol Hill and appeared in media interviews offering a full-throated defense of the company, which has been under scrutiny by lawmakers concerned about its Chinese origins.

=> ↺ Michael Geist ☛ Made-in-Canada Internet Takes Shape with Risks of Blocked Streaming Services and News Sharing as Bill C-18 Receives Royal Assent

• In less than two months, the government has reshaped the Internet in Canada with Bills C-11 and C-18 leading to streaming services that may block Canadian users and platforms that may block news sharing. The result is a cautionary tale for Internet regulation initiatives with Canada emerging as a model for how things can go badly wrong. The initial Bill C-11 consultations at the CRTC have resulted in some streaming services unsurprisingly responding to legislation that applies Canadian law to every service anywhere in the world by raising the prospect of exiting the Canadian market if not granted exemptions. Bill C-18 threatens to create a Canadian news void on Facebook and Instagram, a result that will increase the visibility of low quality sources and lead to millions in lost traffic and revenues for the supposed beneficiaries of the bill.

=> ↺ European Commission ☛ Interim Evaluation of Digital Europe

• The Digital Europe Programme is a new EU funding Programme that aims to bring digital technology to businesses, citizens and public administrations. This interim evaluation will examine its effectiveness, efficiency, coherence, relevance and EU-added value four years after the start of the implementation. This initiative stems from a legal obligation set out in Article 26 of the Digital Europe Regulation 2021/694.

=> ↺ BW Businessworld Media Pvt Ltd ☛ IBM Set To Acquire Software Company Apptio For $5 Bn

• Although it remains unclear whether the reported purchase price includes debt, the potential acquisition of Apptio follows IBM’s recent strategic moves in expanding its software capabilities. In 2021, IBM acquired software provider Turbonomic for over USD 1.5 billion, and in 2019, it made headlines with its massive USD 34 billion acquisition of software company Red Hat.

=> ↺ The Nation ☛ Virginia’s Pro-Choice Majority Just Ousted an Anti-Abortion State Senator

• Virginia state Senator Joe Morrissey signaled in 2021 that he was prepared to break with his fellow Democrats and join Republicans in moving to restrict abortion access in the state. In a legislature chamber that is narrowly divided between the two parties, Morrissey’s position significantly increased the likelihood that Virginia would enact new limits on reproductive rights. That earned him rebukes from abortion rights groups, including Planned Parenthood Advocates of Virginia. But Morrissey was not swayed. Long one of the state’s most contentious political figures, he issued a bombastic challenge to the group, saying, “if Planned Parenthood doesn’t like it, guess what. Campaign against me.”

=> ↺ New York Times ☛ Wyoming Judge Temporarily Blocks State’s Ban on Abortion Pills

• The law was to take effect on July 1. It is the only state law that specifically outlaws the most common abortion method in the country.

=> ↺ CHP provincial leaders back Kılıçdaroğlu as internal conflict heatens up

• Following a closed-door meeting, a joint statement by CHP provincial leaders emphasized the significance of ‘ideas and principles’ in achieving ‘lasting change’ while criticizing attempts to undermine the CHP chair’s credibility.

=> ↺ New York Times ☛ On Aung San Suu Kyi’s Birthday, Flowers, Then Arrests

• People across Myanmar wore flowers on Monday to show support for the jailed civilian leader. Since then, the ruling military has been rounding them up.

=> ↺ New York Times ☛ George Santos Was Bailed Out by His Father and Aunt, Court Records Show

• Mr. Santos, a first-term G.O.P. congressman, had tried to keep the names of the people who guaranteed his $500,000 bond sealed, but two judges rejected his efforts.

=> ↺ The Atlantic ☛ Why Not Whitmer?

• The Michigan governor isn’t running for president. But she is happy to be interrogated over whether she might change her mind.

=> ↺ The Atlantic ☛ Joe Rogan, RFK Jr., and the Debates Worth Having

• Plus: Is the culture war upstream of politics?

=> ↺ RFA ☛ Anti-graft training in Vientiane is latest effort to counter Laos corruption

• The UN session for municipal workers focused on money laundering and state enterprise finances.

=> ↺ Pro Publica ☛ DOT Rejected Truck Side Guards After Meeting With Trucking Industry Lobbyists

• In 2017, researchers at the U.S. Department of Transportation embarked on a project aimed at making America’s roads less dangerous.

• They were concerned over the rising number of pedestrians and cyclists killed in collisions with trucks, which claim the lives of several hundred people every year.

Misinformation/Disinformation/Propaganda

=> ↺ Zimbabwe ☛ 10yrs in prison for sending messages meant to humiliate/demean, 5 for sharing fake news and more penalties

• To some extent, the online space will always be the Wild Wild West. Many efforts have been taken to try and tame it over the years and Zimbabwe is no exception with its Cyber and Data Protection Act.

=> ↺ Reason ☛ Is TikTok Really To Blame for Titanic Conspiracy Theories?

• The New York Times tries to blame social media for conspiracy theories that have been around for decades. Don’t fall for it.

Censorship/Free Speech

=> ↺ Techdirt ☛ Important And Needed New Report: Scaling Trust On The Web

• We talk a lot about the concept of “trust & safety” at internet companies, but the entire concept is relatively new, and still very confusing to many, including some who work in the field!

=> ↺ RFERL ☛ Sister Of Jailed Iranian Protester Korkor Missing After Police Raid Family Home

• Reports of the raids on the Instagram account of Yasna Bakhtiari, another of Korkor’s sisters, said security forces raided the house on June 21, engaged in violent confrontations with family members, and confiscated several personal items, including the mobile phone of Negar Korkor, who is also a sister of Mujahed.

=> ↺ Techdirt ☛ Chinese Authorities Demand Global Censorship Of Protest Anthem ‘Glory To Hong Kong’

• Two weeks later, 24 human rights and digital rights groups wrote an open letter (pdf) to the Internet companies affected, asking them to oppose the injunction. They point out that this is the latest move to extend China’s online control and censorship around the world: [...]

=> ↺ Salon ☛ “Unfriending” America: The Christian right is coming for the enemies of God — like you and me

• “You’ve got a friend in Pennsylvania!” was the theme of the state’s ad campaign to promote tourism in the 1980s. That was a veiled historical reference to the Society of Friends, better known as the Quakers, the liberal Christian sect to which William Penn, for whom Pennsylvania is named, belonged. But since the early 2000s there has been a quiet campaign in the Keystone State and beyond to unfriend anyone outside certain precincts of Christianity — and most Quakers would almost certainly be among the outcasts.

=> ↺ Digital First Media ☛ Kallman: Speak out against bill that will restrict speech

• Under House Bill 4474 you will be “guilty of a hate crime” if you intimidate or harass someone, cause severe mental anguish, or use force or violence if you — regardless of the existence of any other motivating factors — intentionally target a victim based “on the actual or perceived characteristics” of another individual from a list of protected categories, including race, religion, sexual orientation, and gender identity or expression.

• Remember the politicians and activists advocating for this hate speech bill believe words and speech are violence. They will enforce this bill accordingly.

=> ↺ The Michigan Review ☛ Michigan HB 4474 is Anti–Free Speech and Anti-Constitution

• Michigan HB 4474 states that a person may be charged with a felony and sentenced to up to five years in prison if they “intimidate[] or harass[] another individual,” use “force or violence, or cause “severe mental anguish” based on two new additions of “perceived characteristics”: gender identity or sexual orientation. How can we define intimidation, harassment, and violence? Well, if the person feels like they’ve been intimidated or harassed, then, of course, they’ve been harassed according to this bill. It’s also important to mention that no one on the left can even define what violence means. Up until a couple of years ago, effectively everyone understood that violence was related to some form of physical harm. Unfortunately, a wide majority of Democrats no longer define violence that way. So, how do we define violence? According to Democrats, words are violence, and in particular, words that they disagree with are, obviously, violence.

=> ↺ RFERL ☛ Political Sponsors Say Trial For Iranian Rapper Salehi Under Way Behind Closed Doors

• Representatives from the parliaments of Germany, Austria, New Zealand, and Italy, who have become Salehi’s political sponsors, announced on June 22 that the court proceedings concerning the singer’s charges were held without media coverage or official notification, 230 days after his arrest.

• “We are very concerned. There is no transparency at all. We don’t know anything: Not how the court date went. Not when the next court date will be. Not when the verdict will be announced,” Ye-One Rhie, a member of Germany’s parliament, said on Twitter.

=> ↺ RFA ☛ Junta authorities monitor and restrict champion gymnast featured in RFA report

• Armed plainclothes officers entered Thae Su’s home last week as a local media crew filmed.

=> ↺ Hong Kong Free Press ☛ Journalists Assoc. to seek news reporting exemption as gov’t moves to ban ‘Glory to Hong Kong’ protest song

• The Hong Kong Journalists Association (HKJA) is looking to intervene in a legal bid by the government to ban all forms of the protest song Glory to Hong Kong, in the hopes of gaining an exemption for media reporting.

=> ↺ Federal News Network ☛ Arizona Republican election official sues Kari Lake for defamation

• A top Republican election official in Arizona has filed a defamation lawsuit against Kari Lake, who falsely claims she lost the 2022 race for governor because of fraud. Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer said Thursday he’s faced “violent vitriol and other dire consequences” because of lies spread by Lake, including death threats and the loss of friendships. Lake is a former Phoenix television news anchor who quickly built an enthusiastic political following as a loyal supporter of former President Donald Trump and his lie that the 2020 election was stolen from him. She did not immediately comment on Richer’s lawsuit.

=> ↺ Digital Music News ☛ Kesha and Dr. Luke Settle Their Long-Running Defamation Lawsuit Out of Court

• Kesha and Dr. Luke settle their long-running defamation lawsuit out of court — “Only God knows what happened that night.” Singer Kesha and producer Dr. Luke have settled their long-running bout of suits and countersuits over her allegation that he sexually assaulted her and his accusation that she lied about it and defamed him.

=> ↺ EFF ☛ Civil Society Calls on Tech Firms to Oppose Protest Song Ban

• The injunction, if ordered by the court, would ban intermediaries from broadcasting, performing, selling, or distributing the song and its lyrics. It would also require companies to remove the song from their platforms.

• This would have a disastrous impact on the rights to freedom of expression and access to information not only in Hong Kong, but globally, and would exacerbate concerns around the tendency of Hong Kong authorities to apply abusive laws for actions committed outside Hong Kong’s territory.

• In December 2022, Google refused a request from authorities in Hong Kong to replace “Glory to Hong Kong” with Hong Kong’s national anthem as the top search item. More broadly, during 2022, the Hong Kong government requested that Google remove 330 items, of which 30 per cent were complied with. Similarly, between July 2020 and June 2022, Meta reported the removal of content in 50 instances after pressure from the Hong Kong government.

=> ↺ New York Times ☛ Google News Blocked in Russia as Feud With Prigozhin Intensifies

• At least five telecommunications companies have blocked the service, which aggregates news from various sources, according to an analysis from NetBlocks, an internet observatory.

=> ↺ Craig Murray ☛ Russia and the Wagner Coup

• Who would have thought that creating a large well-armed mercenary army including a large proportion of convicts would turn out to be a bad idea?

=> ↺ Meduza ☛ Bloomberg: Payments to families of dead Wagner Group fighters has flooded Russian economy with cash — Meduza

• Since September 2022, when Vladimir Putin announced Russia’s mobilization drive, the amount of cash circulating in the country has increased at a record rate, Bloomberg reported on Friday. The outlet linked the rise to the compensation payments the Wagner Group paramilitary cartel gives to families of dead fighters.

=> ↺ Meduza ☛ Bad billionaires: A Putin-approved plan to sell Yandex’s Russian assets to a ‘consortium’ might collapse due to Western shareholders’ concerns about sanctions — Meduza

• A deal to sell Yandex’s remaining Russian assets to a “consortium of Russian billionaires” is in danger of collapse due to the risk of international sanctions, four sources with knowledge of the negotiations told journalists at Meduza and The Bell. In mid-May 2023, Vladimir Putin approved a plan to sell to VTB Bank and three oligarchs: Interros conglomerate owner Vladimir Potanin, steel company Severstal main shareholder Alexey Mordashov, and Lukoil founder Vagit Alekperov. But the Kremlin has apparently miscalculated the reservations of Yandex’s foreign shareholders, and the company might now need to return to the president for his approval of another plan.

=> ↺ France24 ☛ 🔴 Live blog : Putin accuses Wagner group of ‘treason’ in national address

• Russia accused Wagner mercenaries of “treason” on Saturday in a live address to the nation after the group’s chief Yevgeny Prigozhin called for an armed uprising to oust the defense minister on Friday. Russian authorities reacted immediately, opening a criminal investigation and urging Prigozhin’s arrest.

=> ↺ NYPost ☛ Putin vows to crush ‘armed mutiny’ after Russian mercenary boss tries to oust top brass

• Russian President Vladimir Putin vowed to crush what he called an armed mutiny after rebellious mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin said on Saturday he had taken control of a southern city as part of an attempt to oust the military leadership. The dramatic turn, with many details unclear, looked like the biggest domestic crisis Putin has faced since he ordered a full-scale…

=> ↺ European Commission ☛ Questions and answers on the 11th package of restrictive measures against Russia

• European Commission Questions and answers Brussels, 23 Jun 2023 Listings

• Who have you targeted?

=> ↺ Scoop News Group ☛ Treasury sanctions two Russian intelligence officers for election influence operations

• The charges follow a grand jury indictments alleging that the officers engaged in years-long international election influence campaigns.

=> ↺ Meduza ☛ FSB says it caught ‘criminal group’ planning to use radioactive material to ‘stage incidents involving WMDs’ and ‘discredit Russia’ in Ukraine — Meduza

• Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) reported Friday that it has arrested five people who it “caught red-handed” attempting to take a kilogram of cesium-137, a radioactive material, out of the country.

=> ↺ Meduza ☛ ‘Time is running out’ In a new video, Yevgeny Prigozhin directly disputes Russia’s main argument for its war against Ukraine — Meduza

• For much of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the outspoken head of the Wagner Group paramilitary cartel Yevgeny Prigozhin has trashed the military leadership in Moscow, carefully but sometimes dangerously flirting with criticisms that might be considered indirect attacks on the Russian president himself. Is Prigozhin Putin’s “anger translator”? Is he acting as some important vent for broader frustrations among Russian combatants? Is he a necessary nuisance to be jettisoned at the first opportunity? Whatever explains why Yevgeny Prigozhin is permitted to speak so openly and outlandishly, he released some of his most virulent commentary yet on Friday, June 23, 2023. Meduza summarizes those remarks below.

=> ↺ New York Times ☛ A War-Themed Restaurant in Ukraine Finds New Resonance

• A restaurant that celebrates Ukraine’s struggles in earlier wars is finding a second life in this one.

=> ↺ New York Times ☛ Who Is Prigozhin, the Wagner Leader Russia Accused of Mounting a Coup?

• Mr. Prigozhin has risen from a businessmen known as President Vladimir V. Putin’s ‘chef’ to a symbol of wartime Russia, controlling a private army operating from Ukraine to Central African Republic.

=> ↺ New York Times ☛ A long-running feud has broken into open confrontation. Here’s the latest.

• The claims from Yevgeny V. Prigozhin including a veiled threat of an uprising against Russia, prompted the F.S.B. to open a criminal investigation.

=> ↺ New York Times ☛ Russian Generals Accuse Mercenary Leader of Trying to Mount a Coup

• Russia sent armored vehicles into the streets of Moscow and a city near Ukraine. Russia’s main security agency urged Wagner mercenaries to detain their leader, Yevgeny Prigozhin, after he accused Russian forces of attacking them.

=> ↺ New York Times ☛ Putin strikes a tough tone in his first address since the uprising started.

Freedom of Information / Freedom of the Press

=> ↺ VOA News ☛ Journalist Says Investigative Reporting Is a Risky Business in Pakistan

• The journalist said he uncovered alleged corruption and thought that authorities would investigate the apparent wrongdoings. But, he told VOA, “instead, they are investigating me.”

=> ↺ Meduza ☛ Making tax-deductible donations to Meduza A breakdown of our partnership with Mother Jones and the Foundation for National Progress — Meduza

=> ↺ RFA ☛ ‘I will never forget the pain of being beaten’

• A journalist describes her torture at the hands of junta authorities.

=> ↺ Press Gazette ☛ Podcast 52: Big news media trends for 2023: This much we know

• The Press Gazette team sums up the trends of the first half of 2023 in our latest podcast.

=> ↺ Press Gazette ☛ Six news titles breach Editors’ Code privacy clause – one with ‘egregious’ details of sexual assault victims

• The Greenock Telegraph was told it should undergo training as a result of its code breach.

=> ↺ Press Gazette ☛ Vice lenders set to buy bankrupt company with $225m all-credit bid

• No other bids were deemed acceptable – despite being larger.

=> ↺ Mint Press News ☛ Detained and Interrogated by British Counter-Terrorism Police, with Journalist Kit Klarenberg

• Journalist Kit Klarenberg joins MintCast host Mnar Adley to discuss his detention and interrogation by British Counter-Terrorism Police.

=> ↺ JURIST ☛ Tunisia judge orders release of journalist following accusations of ‘insulting’ president

• A Tunisian judge ordered the release Thursday of prominent journalist Zied El-Heni who was detained on allegations of insulting Tunisian President Kais Saeid. The decision comes amidst growing concerns about freedom of expression and press freedom in the country.

Civil Rights/Policing

=> ↺ Digital First Media ☛ UM graduate students walk out of negotiations over sexual harassment policy

• The members of the Graduate Employees’ Organization 3550 have been on strike since March 29 and in negotiations over a new contract since November.

• The allegations, which came to light in a detailed report published by The Michigan Daily earlier this month, involved one former graduate student who worked in Stephenson’s lab, prompting the GEO’s bargaining team to discuss sexual harassment protections during Friday’s negotiations.

• “These are graduate students, people who … could easily have been members of a union,” said Amir Fleischmann, the GEO’s contract committee chair.

=> ↺ JURIST ☛ German court finds Islamic State member guilty of enslaving Yazidi woman

• The court found that in April 2016, the husband took the then-21-year-old Yazidi woman, who had been abducted from her homeland and taken by the IS after several transfers, as a slave. The IS gave her to him as a “gift.” The victim was with Nadine K. and her husband for a period of three years, during which she was forced to cook, clean, and care for their animals and daughters. She was not allowed to leave the house unaccompanied or contact her family. The husband also regularly raped the victim, with the knowledge of Nadine K.

=> ↺ Off Guardian ☛ Universal Basic Income & the Anti-Human Agenda

• At the time of writing, the trial has yet to begin, as funding hasn’t been secured, but it is expected to come from local/combined authorities, or ‘private philanthropic sources.’

=> ↺ The Telegraph UK ☛ Sisters found dead in apartment made suicide pact after family cut them off

• The sisters had adopted a Western lifestyle with Asra describing herself as an atheist and Amaal identifying as a lesbian.

• Both would have been in violation of Saudi Arabia’s strict Sharia law.

=> ↺ Axios ☛ New York could become the latest state to ban noncompetes

• Why it matters: There’s new energy around banning or limiting the use of these often-criticized agreements, which prevent people from working for a new employer for a period of time after they leave a job.

• That new buzz is thanks in part to the Federal Trade Commission’s proposal earlier this year to ban them nationally.

=> ↺ Michael West Media ☛ What is the voice?

=> ↺ Michael West Media ☛ Australians will ‘rise to occasion’ on Indigenous voice

• The prime minister is confident Australians will rise to the occasion and support an Indigenous voice referendum, but the opposition leader warns the nation isn’t ready for a vote.

• After two weeks of parliamentary debate about the proposal, resulting in the passage of legislation to enable a referendum, advocates want politicians to step aside to let the campaigns have conversations with Australians. 

=> ↺ Scheerpost ☛ Shipwreck in Pylos. Open Letter by Over 180 Human Rights Organizations

• 10 years after the two shipwrecks off Lampedusa, Italy, killing around 600 people and causing an immense public outcry, up to 600 people drowned off Pylos, Greece, in the Mediterranean Sea. On June 14, 2023, once again, the European border regime killed people exercising their right to seek protection. We are shaken! And we stand in solidarity with all survivors and with the families and friends of the deceased. We express our deep condolences and grief.

=> ↺ AntiWar ☛ No Warrant, No Problem

• In 1928, the late Supreme Court Justice Louis D. Brandeis characterized the values underlying the Fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution as embracing the uniquely American right, and the right most valued by civilized persons, which he called the right to be let alone.

=> ↺ Scheerpost ☛ Missing Links in Textbook History: Civil Rights and Human Rights

• Human rights invented America. Ours was the first nation in the history of the world to be founded explicitly on such an idea.

=> ↺ CS Monitor ☛ Legacy of jungle rescue of lost children? Indigenous collaboration.

• The close coordination between the armed forces and Indigenous volunteers in finding four young children in the Colombian jungle could serve as a model for cooperation.

=> ↺ Reason ☛ Maryland Supreme Court Limits Testimony on Bullet-Matching Evidence

• The ruling is likely the first by a state supreme court to undercut the popular forensic technique.

=> ↺ Hong Kong Free Press ☛ When a contract in Hong Kong is no longer a contract

• According to one of the more suspicious interpretations of China’s intentions for Hong Kong, the future will look like this: decadent Western innovations like democracy, human rights and such will no longer be supplied. But the rule of law will continue as far as business is concerned.

=> ↺ Federal News Network ☛ Chinese human rights lawyer chased out of 13 homes in 2 months as pressure rises on legal advocates

• A disbarred Chinese human rights lawyer has been forced to move 13 times in two months as part of a pattern of harassment against him and three other prominent rights advocates in Beijing that is further squeezing China’s battered civil rights community. Another lawyer was detained along with his wife. Yet another left Beijing in the hopes of ending the harassment. The last has stayed in the apartment he owns, but has been barred from leaving it multiple times by unidentified groups of men who loiter outside his door. All four are prominent independent legal advocates, a rare source of help for people in China facing political charges, or trying to access benefits denied by often unaccountable bureaucracies.

=> ↺ Techdirt ☛ Petty Corruption On Display As Chicago Cop Uses Bogus ‘Girlfriend Stole My Car’ Excuse To Get Out Of 44 Traffic Tickets

• Some more great reporting based on public records has emerged from ProPublica. This one shows how willing cops are to exploit the system they’re supposed to be protecting and upholding.

=> ↺ The Nation ☛ The Federal Government Is “Affirming Everything That Black People Have Been Saying”

• Minneapolis—Nekima Levy Armstrong, a longtime attorney and civil rights leader, has had an imposing presence in protests against police violence and rallies for social justice in the Twin Cities.

=> ↺ Court of Cassation gives its ruling in Hrant Dink case

• The supreme court upheld the acquittals of the then chiefs of police in Trabzon given for “negligent homicide.” The court has also upheld the verdicts of the chiefs of police of the period and others for “deliberate killing,” and “being a member of a terrorist organization,” while revoking some additional verdicts.

=> ↺ Imprisoned MP Can Atalay elected to parliament’s human rights committee

• The speaker of the parliament has said that Atalay’s rights as an MP have been granted but the decision to release him lies within the jurisdiction of the high court.

=> ↺ New York Times ☛ ‘Rust’ Armorer Transferred Narcotics on Day of Shooting, Prosecutor Says

• A new charge of evidence tampering was announced as a departing investigator accused the Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Office of “reprehensible and unprofessional” conduct.

=> ↺ New York Times ☛ Does Justice Alito Hear Himself?

• His response to ethics concerns demonstrates all the bitterness and superciliousness for which he has become known.

=> ↺ JURIST ☛ ProPublica: US Supreme Court Justice Alito failed to disclose luxury fishing trip

• ProPublica reported Tuesday that US Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito accepted and failed to disclose a 2008 luxury fishing trip with Paul Singer, a hedge fund billionaire who—in the time since—has had business before the court at least ten times.

=> ↺ Reason ☛ Justice Alito Shouldn’t Have To Do The Media’s Job

• In a series of stories, ProPublica has charged Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito with two types of misconduct. First, the reports contend that the justices failed to disclose certain travel they received. Second, ProPublica alleges that the justices failed to recuse themselves from cases that indirectly involved the people who provided that travel.

=> ↺ JURIST ☛ Colorado Supreme Court strikes down child sexual abuse law that allowed lawsuits over abuse from decades ago

• The Supreme Court of the State of Colorado struck down the state’s Child Sexual Abuse Accountability Act (CSAAA) on Tuesday, ruling that the law violates the state constitution and is “unconstitutionally retrospective.” Justice Monica M. Márquez authored the opinion of the court.

=> ↺ The Nation ☛ Affirmative Action Is in the Supreme Court’s Crosshairs

• By the close of June, the Supreme Court will almost certainly end affirmative action in college admissions. For Edward Blum, who spearheaded the lawsuits against the University of North Carolina and Harvard—claiming the schools’ race-conscious policies admit unqualified Black and Hispanic students, while “intentionally discriminating” against deserving Asian American applicants—the verdict would fulfill a decades-long quest. In 1992, Blum, who is white, lost his only political run, failing to unseat the Black Democratic incumbent in a majority-Black Houston congressional district that had never elected a Republican. Blum sued Texas, citing racial gerrymandering, and eventually won the case in the US Supreme Court in 1996. By the late 1990s, he had quit his day job as a stockbroker to focus on overturning racial equality legislation.

=> ↺ Scheerpost ☛ The Need to Reform American Labor Laws

• We are living in a moment where corporate America and the 1% have more economic and political power than they have ever had in the history of our country.

Internet Policy/Net Neutrality

=> ↺ Techdirt ☛ Techdirt Podcast Episode 355: The Reddit Meltdown

• If you’re a Techdirt reader, a Reddit user, or both, then you probably know all about the chaos engulfing the site as users and moderators of popular subreddits protest CEO Steve Huffman’s recent changes to the site’s API. This week, we’re joined by Jay Peters from The Verge to talk about the situation, the protests, and Huffman’s disastrous responses.

=> ↺ EFF ☛ Californians: Tell the Governor and Legislature to Keep Their Promise on Broadband Funding

• Tell Gov. newsom and the Legislature

• to Keep their broadband promises

=> ↺ IT Wire ☛ Optus hikes post-paid mobile plan prices, users not happy

• “To ensure we can continue deliver great value to our customers, we are streamlining the mobile plans we offer. As a result, we are moving some customers on older plans to more current plans, which may mean they see changes to their monthly bills.

• “We’ve communicated these changes to those customers affected, as well as any discounts and data bonuses that will apply to their service.

• “Optus continues to invest over $1.5 billion in our network each year to provide our customers with great value plans, super-fast 5G and innovative Living Network features, like Call Translate, Pause and Turbocharge.

=> ↺ Reason ☛ Why Is So Much of Reddit Dark Right Now?

• When your business relies on volunteer moderators and user-generated content, angry denizens can threaten the whole enterprise.

Monopolies

=> ↺ Silicon Angle ☛ EU reportedly set to investigate Amazon’s $1.7B iRobot acquisition

• The European Union is expected to launch an investigation into Amazon.com Inc.’s planned acquisition of iRobot Corp. for $1.7 billion. The development was reported this morning by Bloomberg and Reuters. According to the sources cited in the reports, EU antitrust officials are currently conducting a preliminary review of the deal.

• [...]

• Last August, Amazon announced plans to acquire iRobot for $1.7 billion. The deal could help the company expand its presence in the smart home market, where it already competes with the Ring device series and certain other products. Amazon obtained the Ring product portfolio through an earlier acquisition that closed in 2018.

• Today’s reports didn’t specify what aspects of the iRobot deal are facing scrutiny in the EU. It’s possible officials are concerned about the deal’s potential impact on competing robot vacuum makers. That was a focus of an investigation the U.K.’s Competition and Markets Authority, or CMA, launched into the deal earlier this year.

=> ↺ [Old] Computer World ☛ For Bill Gates, antitrust fight was a personal crucible

• The belief that the government was out to “destroy” Microsoft was certainly the company’s perspective. Microsoft officials thought the government was seeking a corporate breakup. Gates’ feistiness also underscored a different worldview: that the company saw itself competing in a market that could change overnight. Gates’ now famous 1995 Internet Tidal Wave memo (download PDF) illustrated his view: “Browsing the Web, you find almost no Microsoft file formats. After 10 hours of browsing, I had not seen a single Word DOC, AVI file….”

=> ↺ Hollywood Reporter ☛ Microsoft Warns That Pausing Activision Merger Will Sink Deal

• The FTC’s suit represents another aggressive step taken by competition regulators to rein in consolidation of the tech industry. For the agency, its ask for a preliminary injunction to pause the deal goes beyond this particular case. The FTC was forced to sue in federal court because Microsoft and Activision indicated they could close the deal at any time without further notice before its legal challenge in its internal court is resolved. That trial is set to start Aug. 2, past a contractually obligated July 18 deadline to consummate the purchase.

=> ↺ Digital Music News ☛ FTC Sues Amazon Over Predatory Prime Subscription Tactics

• The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is suing Amazon over predatory Prime subscription tactics. Here’s the latest. In the complaint filed on Wednesday, June 21, the FTC alleges that Amazon knowingly deceives customers into signing up for Amazon Prime through the use of “dark patterns.”

=> ↺ Quartz ☛ The FTC thinks cancelling an Amazon Prime subscription should feel easier than fighting a 10-year war

• The US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) yesterday (June 21) accused Amazon of signing customers up for its Prime subscription program without consent, and sabotaging their attempts to cancel for years.

=> ↺ Reason ☛ The Federal Trade Commission’s Latest Frivolous Antitrust Suit Takes Aim at Amazon

• Plus: Texas’ new anti-porn law, Biden meets with A.I. critics, and more…

=> ↺ New York Times ☛ F.T.C. Accuses Amazon of Tricking Users Into Subscribing to Prime

• The lawsuit is the first time that the Federal Trade Commission under its chair, Lina Khan, has taken Amazon to court.

Copyrights

=> ↺ Insight Hungary ☛ MCC acquires Hungary’s largest publishing house

• The subsidiary of the government-funded Mathias Corvinus Collegium Foundation (MCC) has signed a contract with SQ Invest Kft. for the sale of a 67.48 percent stake in the Libri Group. With this transaction, MCC, previously an indirect minority shareholder, will become the 98.41% owner of the leading player in the Hungarian book trade and publishing market. Libri accounts for nearly half of the Hungarian book trade market and nearly a fifth of the publishing market.

• According to the government-adjacent Hungarian Writers’ Association’s social media, „MCC becoming the majority shareholder in the Libri Group could contribute to a more balanced market operation”. However, several authors terminated their contracts with Libri after the move fearing the Orban government would use the publishing house for their “own ideological and political purposes.” The complete takeover is expected to be finalized by the end of June.

=> ↺ Digital Music News ☛ BMI Fires Back As NACPA Appeals March Rate Ruling — ‘For Decades, the Live Concert Industry Has Fought To Keep Rates Suppressed’

• Towards March’s end, a district judge handed down a ruling in a years-running rate dispute involving the North American Concert Promoters Association (NACPA) and Broadcast Music, Inc. (BMI), which touted the development as a “massive” win.

=> ↺ Torrent Freak ☛ U.S. Seeks 70-Month Prison Sentence for YouTube Content ID Scammer

• By pretending to be legitimate music rightsholders, two men managed to extract over $23 million in revenue from YouTube’s content-ID system. Both were arrested, pleaded guilty, and now face multi-year prison terms. This week, the U.S. requested a 70-month sentence against the ‘number two’ of the operation, in part to deter future fraud.

=> ↺ Walled Culture ☛ Long overdue, but good to see: Germany’s new copyright exception for pastiche applied for first time

• It’s great that the German judges conducted such a thoughtful and nuanced analysis, and that they affirmed that this incorporation of an element from another work was a pastiche, and therefore permitted. But it is absurd that it has taken over 20 years to fix this bug in the EU copyright legislation, and that something as natural and creative as pastiche was not regarded as a self-evidently legal way to re-purpose existing copyright material.

=> ↺ Digital Music News ☛ Is It Time to Repeal the Section 115 Compulsory License? One Songwriter’s Formally Urging the Copyright Office To Do Just That

• Meanwhile, the aforementioned 19-page resource explores at length all manner of related topics and information, with the central theme being the alleged conflicts of interest stemming from the major labels’ owning today’s largest publishing companies.

=> ↺ Digital Music News ☛ Five Months Later, Warner Bros. Discovery Is Reportedly Negotiating a $500 Million Catalog Sale

• Five months back, reports revealed that Warner Bros. Discovery was exploring an over $1 billion sale of its film and TV music library, including (among other IP) the soundtracks behind a number of superhero movies. Now, following some obstacles, the company is reportedly closing in on a comparatively modest $500 million sale.

=> ↺ Digital Music News ☛ Paul McCartney Says The Beatles ‘Final Album’ Isn’t Being Generated by AI — “Nothing Has Been Artificially or Synthetically Created”

• But as the media ran with the story, the use of AI in producing the final track has muddied the waters a bit. Now the legendary singer is taking to Twitter to help clarify what is and isn’t happening.

=> ↺ Variety ☛ Comic-Con Crisis: Marvel, Netflix, Sony, HBO and Universal to Skip SDCC as Fest Faces Another Existential Threat

• For two years, the biggest annual fan convention in North America was forced to cancel the five-day gathering due to the COVID-19 pandemic — placing Comic-Con International, the non-profit organization that runs SDCC, under unprecedented financial strain. Last year, SDCC came roaring back with a masked-and-vaccinated convention that was a robust success, with blockbuster Hall H panels for the “Star Trek” TV universe, “House of the Dragon,” “The Walking Dead” and, especially, Marvel Studios.

• This year’s Comic-Con — which is scheduled to start July 19, less than a month away — is increasingly likely to have none of those panels.

=> ↺ David Revoy ☛ Derivation: the Norwegian Nynorsk book of Outland Forlag

• I am very pleased to have a new print publication from Pepper&Carrot to show you today. It’s the Norwegian Nynorsk version from the publisher Outland Forlag.

• This book is the result of a long collaboration between the publisher and the historical translators and maintainers of Pepper&Carrot’s Norwegian Nynorsk translation on the website; Arild Torvund Olsen and Karl Ove Hufthammer.

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