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● 07.15.23

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● Leftover Links 15/07/2023: Diffoscope 244 and Istio Patched

Posted in News Roundup at 5:30 pm by Dr. Roy Schestowitz

Leftovers

=> ↺ Chris ☛ First Impressions of Metaculus

Health/Nutrition/Agriculture

=> ↺ Democracy Now ☛ U.N. Warns Pandemic, Climate & Ukraine War Have Dramatically Increased World Hunger

• The United Nations this week released its annual report on nutrition, finding that the pandemic, extreme weather shocks and the war in Ukraine have all contributed to food insecurity around the world — now higher than it was before the COVID-19 pandemic. Officials estimate that the world saw an increase of more than 100 million people facing hunger in 2022 compared to 2019. For more, speak with Million Belay, general coordinator of the Alliance for Food Sovereignty in Africa and a member of the International Panel of Experts on Sustainable Food Systems, as well as Raj Patel, research professor at the University of Texas at Austin and author of Stuffed and Starved: The Hidden Battle for the World’s Food System.

=> ↺ JURIST ☛ US Department of Justice charges 78 people with $2.5B worth of healthcare fraud

• The US Department of Justice (DOJ) announced on Wednesday that it was criminally charging 78 people for their alleged involvement in healthcare fraud schemes. The alleged fraud schemes totaled over $2.5 billion and targeted the elderly, people with HIV, pregnant women and others.

=> ↺ The Straits Times ☛ ‘Significant threat’: Around the world, doctors battle impersonators

• Impersonation scams pose financial risks and often jeopardises access to safe and reliable healthcare.

Security

=> ↺ Diffoscope ☛ Reproducible Builds (diffoscope): diffoscope 244 released

• The diffoscope maintainers are pleased to announce the release of diffoscope version 244. This version includes the following changes:

• [...]

=> ↺ Frank Ch. Eigler: no trust in black box ai

• I’m a software guy, and have been a while. I’ve had the pleasure of witnessing or studying many a software failure, and even causing a few. Comes with part of the job. When a software system fails, we open it up, take a look at how it works, make a patch, then close ‘er up and release a new version. Done, more or less, usually. This is possible because the “how it works” part – the computer program – is generally available for inspection and modification. This is especially true in the free/open-source part of the industry, where all the program source code is available to end-users.

=> ↺ Frank Ch. Eigler: hash attack

• Apple has announced that it will start scanning your personal files on your devices for “Child Sexual Abuse Material”, as identified by its cryptographic hash. It will apparently match hashes against a database of hash codes of “known” bad content distributed by some sort of well-meaning activist organization. A match will apparently trigger an automatic disabling of one’s Apple account, just for starters.

=> ↺ Security Week ☛ Critical Cisco SD-WAN Vulnerability Leads to Information Leaks

• A critical vulnerability in the Cisco SD-WAN vManage software could allow unauthenticated attackers to retrieve information from vulnerable instances.

=> ↺ Security Week ☛ Hackers Target Reddit Alternative Lemmy via Zero-Day Vulnerability

• Several instances of the Reddit alternative Lemmy were hacked in recent days by attackers who had exploited a zero-day vulnerability.

=> ↺ SANS ☛ IDS Comparisons with DShield Honeypot Data, (Thu, Jul 6th)

• An Intrustion Detection System (IDS) can be helpful to identify suspicious activity. The information recieved from these tools needs to be tuned to the environment so the tool can highlight what is unusual. When looking at honeypot data, it is anticipated to see internet scanners and malicious traffic.

=> ↺ Security Week ☛ Google Researchers Discover In-the-Wild Exploitation of Zimbra Zero-Day

• Google researchers have discovered that a Zimbra zero-day vulnerability has been exploited in the wild, with users being advised to manually patch their installations.

=> ↺ ISTIO-SECURITY-2023-002

=> ↺ Announcing Istio 1.18.1

• This release fixes the security vulnerabilities described in our July 14th post, ISTIO-SECURITY-2023-002.

• This release note describes what’s different between Istio 1.18.0 and 1.18.1. There will be an additional security release made on or after July 25th, 2023 that will fix numerous security defects with the highest security defect considered high severity. For more information, please see the announcement.

=> ↺ Announcing Istio 1.17.4

• This release fixes the security vulnerabilities described in our July 14th post, ISTIO-SECURITY-2023-002.

• This release note describes what’s different between Istio 1.17.3 and 1.17.4.

=> ↺ Announcing Istio 1.16.6

• This release fixes the security vulnerabilities described in our July 14th post, ISTIO-SECURITY-2023-002.

• This release note describes what’s different between Istio 1.16.5 and 1.16.6.

Integrity/Availability/Authenticity

=> ↺ WhichUK ☛ easyJet scam: fraudsters are trying to trick customers affected by flight cancellations

• Scammers are setting up fake customer service Twitter accounts

=> ↺ Vice Media Group ☛ Twitter’s Verified ‘Scam Store’ Accounts Thrive as Humans Flee the Site

• Users on the dying social media site are tracking the rise of sketchy dropshipping accounts, which have nearly identical bios and avatars.

Privacy/Surveillance

=> ↺ Site36 ☛ A letter from hell: EU Commission President outlines new border surveillance for North Africa

• The EU is paying hundreds of millions of euros this year to “partner countries” Libya, Egypt and Tunisia for border surveillance. The announcement came just days after the shipwreck off Pylos. Since December 1, 2019, former German Defense Minister Ursula von der Leyen has been President of the European Commission.

=> ↺ JURIST ☛ Canada Supreme Court denies appeal on bank account information sharing case

• The Supreme Court of Canada dismissed an application for leave Thursday in the case of Gwendolyn Louise Deegan v. Attorney General of Canada.

Defence/Aggression

=> ↺ Hong Kong Free Press ☛ As Hong Kong issues arrest warrants for overseas activists, a brief history of extraordinary rendition

• Last week, the top news item was that a magistrate had issued warrants for the arrest of eight Hong Kong residents, now living abroad, for alleged offences under the national security law. The government also promised HK$1 million rewards for information leading to each of their arrests and prosecutions.

=> ↺ JURIST ☛ ICC prosecutor opens investigation into human rights offenses in Sudan

• International Criminal Court (ICC) prosecutor Karim Khan announced Thursday that the court has opened an investigation into human rights offenses committed by the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Security Forces (RSF) 90 days after the conflict began in Sudan. Khan appeared before the UN Security Council on Thursday to make the announcement.

=> ↺ teleSUR ☛ Congo: Government Spokesman Shot Dead

• The Spokeman of the Congelese government, Patrick Muyaya, said today on Twitter “Cherubin Okende Senga, a former minister and spokesman for the party of leading Congolese opposition leader Moise Katumbi, has been killed in an “assassination”.

=> ↺ Atlantic Council ☛ Is Germany shifting its approach on China?

• Germany released its first-ever China strategy. Experts weigh in on what this means for the future of relations between Berlin and Beijing.

=> ↺ Atlantic Council ☛ After Tunisia expelled 1,200 Black Africans, here’s how the West can help avoid a humanitarian disaster

• The West has the opportunity to prevent further deaths while simultaneously establishing resolutions to the migration predicament in Tunisia.

=> ↺ France24 ☛ Wagner fighters are training Belarus defence forces, government says

• Minsk said Friday that members of the Russia’s Wagner mercenary group were acting as instructors for Belarusian territorial defence forces “in a number of military disciplines”, three weeks after the group’s aborted rebellion in Russia. Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Friday that Wagner “simply doesn’t exist” as a distinct legal entity. Read our blog to see how the day’s events unfolded. All times are Paris time (GMT+2).

=> ↺ New York Times ☛ South Africa Grapples With Putin’s Plan to Attend BRICS Summit

• An arrest warrant for the Russian leader from the International Criminal Court has created a diplomatic quandary ahead of an August summit.

War in Ukraine

=> ↺ New York Times ☛ Russia-Ukraine War News: Putin Seeks to Project Control Amid Military Turmoil

• Three weeks after a mutiny by Wagner mercenaries, the Russian leader says he suggested that the group’s chief be sidelined and that its members fight under a different commander.

=> ↺ France24 ☛ US sending F-16 fighter jets to Strait of Hormuz after Iran opens fire on oil tanker

• The U.S. is beefing up its use of fighter jets around the strategic Strait of Hormuz to protect ships from Iranian seizures, a senior defense official said Friday, adding that the U.S. is increasingly concerned about the growing ties between Iran, Russia and Syria across the Middle East.

=> ↺ RFERL ☛ Status Of Wagner Mercenaries Unclear As Putin Comments On His Offer To Troops

• The Kremlin has refused to elaborate on the future of the Wagner mercenary group after Russian President Vladimir Putin said the private military company, which mounted a short-lived mutiny last month, has operated without a legal basis.

=> ↺ New York Times ☛ Wagner Fighters Are Training Forces in Belarus, Defense Ministry Says

• Television news footage of a training exercise involving the Russian mercenaries offered a rare, if vague, glimpse of the group after its failed mutiny last month.

=> ↺ Latvia ☛ Defense Minister: NATO summit showed commitment to strengthen eastern flank

• Canada has committed to investing 2.6 billion Canadian dollars (€1.76 billion) in defense of Latvia in the coming years, and the first results will be this year – 15 Leopard tanks will be brought in autumn, Defence Minister Inara Mūrniece (National Alliance) said in an interview on Latvian Television July 14.

=> ↺ Meduza ☛ One injured in Russian drone attack on Kryvyi Rih — Meduza

• Russian troops launched an overnight drone attack on Kryvyi Rih, reported the Dnipropetrovsk regional governor Serhiy Lysak.

=> ↺ Meduza ☛ Putin says Wagner Group doesn’t legally exist — Meduza

• Russian President Vladimir Putin told Kommersant correspondent Andrei Kolesnikov that at a meeting with Wagner Group on June 29, he offered the company’s commanders “several options for employment,” including — under the leadership of their direct commander, call sign Sedoy.

=> ↺ Scheerpost ☛ Is Turkey Abandoning Russia to Turn Back Toward the West?

• By Juan Cole / Informed Comment Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Given the decisions announced by Turkey’s President Tayyip Erdogan at the NATO summit in Vilnius, Lithuania, some have speculated that Turkey is “turning back toward the West” after a long period of estrangement and flirtation with Russia. Erdogan finally dropped his opposition to Sweden […]

=> ↺ Meduza ☛ ‘The flow of migrants must stop’ A religious dispute in a Moscow suburb ends with both sides asking Putin for protection — Meduza

• Moscow has millions of Muslim residents but only four mosques, leading many to rely on smaller, and sometimes less official, prayer houses for their worship. After a popular xenophobic, pro-war Telegram channel recently reported one of these centers to the authorities, however, Russian riot police conducted an aggressive raid of the premises, causing congregants to fear for their security. The incident sparked dueling video addresses to Vladimir Putin from the neighborhood’s Muslim and non-Muslim communities. Meduza explains the conflict over how far — and to whom — religious freedom should extend in Russia.

=> ↺ RFERL ☛ Russia Closes Polish Consulate In Smolensk In Retaliation For ‘Unfriendly’ Polish Actions

• The Russian government has ordered the closure of the Polish Consulate in Smolensk, a city some 400 kilometers west of Moscow.

=> ↺ Federal News Network ☛ US sending F-16 fighter jets to protect ships from Iranian seizures in Gulf region

• A senior defense official says the U.S. is beefing up its use of fighter jets around the strategic Strait of Hormuz to protect ships from Iranian seizures. The official says the U.S. is increasingly concerned about the growing ties between Iran, Russia and Syria across the Middle East. The official tells reporters the U.S. will send F-16 fighter jets to the Gulf region this weekend to augment the A-10 attack aircraft that have been patrolling there for more than a week. The move comes after Iran tried to seize two oil tankers near the Strait last week, opening fire on one of them.

=> ↺ Meduza ☛ Russia rejects South Africa’s request for Lavrov to attend BRICS Summit instead of Putin — Meduza

• Russia rejected South African President Cyril Ramaphosa’s request for Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov to attend the BRICS Summit instead of President Vladimir Putin, reports South Africa’s Deputy President Paul Mashatile.

=> ↺ Meduza ☛ Wagner Group’s unlikely fan club: Anti-war activists, teenagers, and wives of Wagner fighters explain their support for the mercenaries — Meduza

• Yevgeny Prigozhin’s rebellion captured the attention and sympathy of people from all across Russian society — from anti-war activists in exile to teenagers to wives who said that Wagner made their husbands into “men.” Independent Russian media outlet Verstka spoke to those who support the Wagner mercenaries, as well as psychologists and sociologists, to understand their popularity despite the fighters’ criminal histories. Meduza in English is publishing an abridged translation.

=> ↺ France24 ☛ France awards AFP journalist Arman Soldin, killed in Ukraine, its highest order of merit

• France posthumously awarded AFP video journalist Arman Soldin, who was killed while working in Ukraine, the Legion d’Honneur (Legion of Honour) on Thursday.

=> ↺ JURIST ☛ Ukraine receives cluster munitions from US amid international criticism

• The Ukrainian armed forces confirmed Thursday they received cluster munitions sent by the US. Tavria Region defense spokesman Valery Shershen confirmed the delivery to Radio Free Liberty in Ukraine amidst international condemnation of the US’s decision to provide the weapons.

=> ↺ LRT ☛ Behind the scenes of the NATO summit in Vilnius – in photos

• As armed guards kept watch at the border and amid the empty streets of Vilnius, NATO leaders gathered for the summit in what many hoped would become the deciding moment for Ukraine. It wasn’t to be.

=> ↺ RFERL ☛ Russian Forces Shell Ukraine’s Sumy Region As Kyiv Claims Advances In South

• Russian shelling targeted border areas in Sumy Province in Ukraine’s northeast, causing multiple explosions, local officials said on July 15, as Kyiv claimed its troops were advancing against the invading forces in the country’s south.

=> ↺ RFERL ☛ Accused Russian Intelligence Officer Extradited To U.S. From Estonia

• An alleged Russian intelligence officer accused by the United States of smuggling U.S.-origin electronics and ammunition to Russia to help its war against Ukraine was extradited from Estonia, federal prosecutors said on July 14.

=> ↺ RFERL ☛ UN Chief Awaits Answer From Putin On Proposal To Extend Black Sea Grain Export Deal

• UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is still waiting for a response from Russian President Vladimir Putin on a proposal to extend a deal allowing the export of Ukrainian grain through Black Sea ports as a deadline for an extension of the deal looms.

=> ↺ The Atlantic ☛ Russia Has a New Gulag

• Moscow has revived the Soviet-era labor camp.

=> ↺ YLE ☛ Supo: Finnish far-right extremists fighting in Ukraine have returned to Finland

• Operating in a conflict zone can increase the risk of an individual becoming radicalised, the Finnish Security and Intelligence Service (Supo) said.

=> ↺ RFERL ☛ Ukraine Claims Advances In South As Forces In East Hold Back Russian ‘Onslaught’

• The Ukrainian military says its troops are advancing in the southern Zaporizhzhya region and restraining an “onslaught” by the Russian Army on the Kharkiv and Donetsk regions in the east.

=> ↺ RFERL ☛ France Awards Journalist Killed Working In Ukraine Its Highest Order Of Merit

• France posthumously awarded AFP video journalist Arman Soldin, who was killed while working in Ukraine, the Legion d’Honneur (Legion of Honour) on July 14.

=> ↺ CS Monitor ☛ For Ukrainian women left behind, painting is a form of therapy

• For some Ukrainian women who have lost their partners in the war, painting has offered a therapeutic way to cope with grief. The project, called “Alive. True Stories of Love,” honors those who have died, in addition to providing comfort to their partners.

=> ↺ New York Times ☛ Tucker Carlson Turns a Christian Presidential Forum into a Putin Showcase

• The Iowa evangelical leader Bob Vander Plaats gathered Republican White House hopefuls in Des Moines, then gave Tucker Carlson the microphone.

=> ↺ New York Times ☛ Putin Says Wagner Can Keep Fighting for Russia, but Without Prigozhin

• As Russia’s president reasserts control after a failed mutiny, he wants to sideline the Wagner leader while keeping its fighters — who have started training troops in Belarus — working for him.

=> ↺ New York Times ☛ Ruined, Empty, Mined and Overgrown: Ukraine’s Forgotten Villages

• Settlements along Ukraine’s eastern steppe were reduced to wreckage as the war passed through them. Now choked with weeds and with few residents, they are at risk of disappearing.

=> ↺ RFERL ☛ Serbia Reverses Course, Allows Russian Anti-War Activist To Enter

• Russian lawyer Pyotr Nikitin, a sharp critic of the Kremlin’s war in Ukraine, has been allowed to enter Serbia more than 24 hours after authorities at the Belgrade airport confiscated his passport and refused to let him in.

=> ↺ Meduza ☛ Bryansk governor reports one killed in attack on Russian border village — Meduza

• Bryansk governor Alexander Bogomaz reported that the village of Belaya Beryozka, located near the border with Ukraine, was attacked by Ukrainian forces on July 14.

=> ↺ Democracy Now ☛ What Is the Point of NATO? Historian Grey Anderson on How U.S. Has Used Alliance to Strengthen Power

• This week’s NATO summit in Lithuania ended with the military alliance agreeing to extend membership to Ukraine at some point in the future but declining to give a firm timeline. Meanwhile, Sweden is set to become the newest member, bringing the alliance to 32 countries, after it started in 1949 with just 12 founding members. Historian Grey Anderson says that while NATO is officially about common defense, its true purpose has always been more about giving the United States a dominant role in European affairs. He adds that the Russian invasion of Ukraine has “remarkably strengthened” both NATO and U.S. power on the continent.

=> ↺ New York Times ☛ Cluster munitions reach Ukraine a week after Biden’s announcement.

=> ↺ New York Times ☛ A Commander Describes Ukraine’s Counteroffensive From the Front Lines

• Troops with the 36th Marine Brigade have been the tip of the spear in Ukraine’s counteroffensive and have advanced about five miles into a bulge into Russian lines in southern Ukraine.

=> ↺ New York Times ☛ U.S. Cluster Munitions Arrive in Ukraine, but Impact on Battlefield Remains Unclear

• U.S. officials and military analysts say the weapons, which are banned by many countries, will ease Ukraine’s artillery ammunition shortage but may not have an immediate impact in the war.

Transparency/Investigative Reporting

=> ↺ The Dissenter ☛ Unauthorized Disclosure: Zoe Alexandra

Environment

=> ↺ The Straits Times ☛ Torrential rain continues to batter South Korea; 7 killed and over 1,500 evacuated

• July 15, 2023 11:30 AM

• Three people were missing and seven were injured.

=> ↺ New York Times ☛ 115 Degrees Fahrenheit

• Summer technically just began, and parts of the U.S. already have dangerous heat.

=> ↺ France24 ☛ Europe, China and US swelter in record-breaking heatwaves

• Summer has just begun in the Northern Hemisphere but a brutal heat wave is already gripping parts of Europe, China and the United States, where record temperatures expected this weekend are a stark illustration of the dangers of a warming climate.

Energy/Transportation

=> ↺ RFERL ☛ One Killed In Accident At Russian Uranium Plant

• One person was killed in an accident at a uranium enrichment plant in Russia’s Urals region on July 14, the RIA Novosti news agency said, but the factory said radiation levels at the site and surrounding area were normal.

=> ↺ Binance lays off over 1,000 employees amid regulatory hurdle

• Binance is reportedly laying off over 1,000 employees as part of a restructuring effort that could result in a reduction of more than a third.

• Wall Street Journal shared an insight on June 14. According to an unnamed Binance spokesperson, 1,000 people have already been laid off. They added that up to 3,500 people will lose their positions in Binance by the end of 2023.

• A week earlier, several senior executives, including chief strategy officer Patrick Hillmann and general counsel Hong Ng, also shared their departure from the company.

=> ↺ RFA ☛ Critical minerals market doubled due to clean energy demand, report says

• Companies based in China lead in investment spending.

=> ↺ New York Times ☛ Celsius Ex-CEO Alex Mashinsky Is Arrested

• Alex Mashinsky was arrested on Thursday morning. He and his former firm also face lawsuits from the Securities and Exchange Commission and other regulators.

Wildlife/Nature

=> ↺ The Revelator ☛ Species Spotlight: Saving the Bog Buck Moth

=> ↺ Hong Kong Free Press ☛ Rare whale sighting in Hong Kong waters delights locals, intrigues experts

• A whale has been spotted in Hong Kong’s eastern waters, a rare sighting that has enthralled spectators and intrigued experts trying to assess the reason for the visit. The World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) said in a Facebook post on Friday the mammal was suspected to be a Bryde’s whale.

Overpopulation

=> ↺ teleSUR ☛ Nigeria in State of Emergency Over Food Security

• The declaration of a state of emergency is intended to mobilize all available resources to mitigate the crisis.

Finance

=> ↺ Axios ☛ Europe emerging as summer blockbuster destination

• The Eurotrip is back, no matter how much it costs.

• Why it matters: Travel from the U.S. to Europe was projected to surge 55% this summer, per Allianz, which based its estimate on the company’s bookings. The surge comes even as airfare and hotel prices have spiked.

=> ↺ YLE ☛ Finland’s inflation dips slightly to 6.3% in June

• Inflation rates slowed across the EU last month.

=> ↺ Turkey maintains rent increase cap, housing sales decline amid exorbitant prices

• Despite the cap, the rents doubled in the country on average. Eviction cases also soared, with property owners seeking new tenants to avoid the cap.

=> ↺ Mexico News Daily ☛ Study: 75% of Mexico businesses say they struggle to find workers

• A lack of flexibility and low wages are keeping millions out of the economy, says business think tank Coparmex.

=> ↺ New York Times ☛ How Economists Got the Inflation Debate Wrong (on Both Sides)

• Were we all equally wrong, or were some more equal than others?

=> ↺ Axios ☛ Gig workers’ push for better pay is a still struggle

• Even in a tight labor market where the lowest-wage workers are seeing outsized gains, gig drivers, who deliver food or people for companies like Uber or DoorDash, are having a hard time notching pay wins.

• Driving the news: A minimum wage of $17.96 an hour for food delivery workers in New York City was supposed to go into effect this week, but a last-minute lawsuit from the app companies put the law on hold.

AstroTurf/Lobbying/Politics

=> ↺ Axios ☛ House GOP passes key defense bill with abortion restrictions

• The House on Friday voted largely along party lines to pass key legislation setting military spending levels and policy.

=> ↺ RFA ☛ Hun Sen deletes Twitter post linking Thai election to Cambodian opposition

• The long-time leader seems to gloat over a Thai politician’s defeat in an initial parliamentary vote.

=> ↺ CS Monitor ☛ Free, fair election? Zimbabwe government cracks down on opposition.

• Zimbabwe’s suppression of political opposition has increased this year in anticipation of the presidential election, scheduled for late August. Police banned opposition party CCC’s rally on Jun. 7, sparking protests with freedom songs outside a courthouse.

Misinformation/Disinformation/Propaganda

=> ↺ Hong Kong Free Press ☛ Facebook says China trolls ‘evolving’ in push for influence

• Networks of fake Facebook accounts run from China are “evolving” and adopting new tactics in their quest to sow discord overseas, the social media platform told Australian lawmakers Tuesday.

=> ↺ Scoop News Group ☛ Pro-Chinese Twitter accounts seek to expand Beijing’s influence in Latin America

• One of the accounts directs users to an app that gathers personally identifiable information and seeks access to Twitter accounts.

=> ↺ NYPost ☛ Pair of Oregon mayors resign back-to-back days following uproar over Facebook posts on immigrants, LGBTQ

• Newport Mayor Dean Sawyer and Baker City Mayor Matt Diaz announced their resignations this week.

Censorship/Free Speech

=> ↺ Mint Press News ☛ From TikTok to Taking on the CIA: The Resurgence of Cutting Political Comedy with James Rehwald

• Join MintCast for a hilarious conversation with James Rehwald as he discusses anti-imperialist comedy, the limitations of mainstream media, and the rise of political satire on social media.

=> ↺ RFERL ☛ Two Navalny Associates’ Houses Searched By Russian Police

• Police have carried out searches of the houses of two former employees of jailed opposition politician Aleksei Navalny’s headquarters in the cities of Tambov and Tver for unspecified reasons.

=> ↺ Techdirt ☛ Pharma Exec Trying To Dodge First Amendment By Pretending He’s Going To Sue An American In A Foreign Court

• People are finding cool new (probably illegal) ways to unmask people they want to sue. In this case, it’s a guy who didn’t like some things said about him. But in order to get a libel lawsuit going, the plaintiff needs to have a defendant to sue. Here’s where all the bad faith begins, as uncovered (and reported) by Paul Levy of Public Citizen.

=> ↺ Reason ☛ Call for Papers: Free Speech and Civil and Social Progress

• Request for Paper Proposals Snapshot: Voices for Liberty, an initiative of the Liberty & Law Center at the Antonin Scalia Law School, seeks to examine the ways in which free speech propels civil and social progress. Authors are invited to submit proposals for original articles that will ultimately appear in academic journals and explore the…

=> ↺ Techdirt ☛ 5th Circuit Puts A Hold On Louisiana Court’s Injunction Barring Gov’t From Talking To Companies, After District Court Refuses To

• So we wrote about Judge Terry Doughty’s somewhat questionable ruling preventing the Biden White House from communicating with tech companies or researchers regarding certain areas of disinformation. As we noted, there were some good elements in the ruling, reminding government officials of the 1st Amendment restrictions on coercion in attempting to silence protected speech.

=> ↺ Press Gazette ☛ Fears SLAPPs threat could be leading journalists to quit profession

• Questions over whether EU and UK anti-SLAPP laws will work.

=> ↺ Breach Media ☛ Billionaire’s app blocks non-profit news

• Instagram has blocked The Breach from posting as tech’s fight with the Canadian government drags on

Freedom of Information / Freedom of the Press

=> ↺ Meduza ☛ Novaya Gazeta journalist targeted by attack in Grozny says assailants threatened to kill her if she returns to Chechnya — Meduza

• Novaya Gazeta journalist Elena Milashina, who was brutally attacked by masked men in Chechnya in early July, was questioned by an investigator from Chechnya about the assault, according to the Crew Against Torture.

=> ↺ RFERL ☛ OSCE Calls On Turkmenistan To Comply With Media-Freedom Obligations

• The Organization for Security and Cooperation In Europe (OSCE) has called on Turkmen authorities to comply with their obligations regarding media freedom and open Internet access to citizens.

=> ↺ Court releases fifteen Kurdish journalists in Diyarbakır

• After 13 months behind bars without appearing in court, Serdar Altan, Aziz Oruç, Mehmet Ali Ertaş, Zeynel Abidin Bulut, Ömer Çelik, Mazlum Güler, İbrahim Koyuncu, Neşe Toprak, Elif Üngür, Abdurrahman Öncü, Suat Doğuhan, Remziye Temel, Ramazan Geciken, Lezgin Akdeniz, and Mehmet Şahin were released today pending trial.

=> ↺ STUDY BY UNION: Journalism in Turkey: Political pressure, mobbing, low wages

• The study shows that journalists face multifaceted problems while carrying out their jobs, and that women journalists are more affected by these problems in every area.

Civil Rights/Policing

=> ↺ Techdirt ☛ Ninth Circuit Latest Appeals Court To Say TSA Agents Can Be Sued For Constitutional Violations

• We’re getting a bit more clarity and commonsense applied to lawsuits involving constitutional violations by TSA agents.

=> ↺ Pro Publica ☛ Meet the People Uprooted by LA’s American Hotel

• Jaime Colindres’ third-floor room at the American Hotel in Los Angeles was tiny, but in it he painted expansive scenes of the American West on salvaged pieces of wood. Guitar sounds filled the halls, and neighbors kept their doors open. Some residents landed there when the city’s ruthless rental market slammed its doors on them, but they quickly soaked up the creative soul that creaked and hummed, rattled and swelled through the battered hotel.

=> ↺ Roma community in Turkey faces deepening challenges after Covid-19 pandemic, warns study

• From economic challenges to lack of access to services and discrimination, a new report highlights the problems faced by the Roma community in Turkey in the wake of the pandemic.

=> ↺ Techdirt ☛ Twitter Sues The Law Firm That Made Elon Live Up To The Contract He Signed To Buy Twitter

• Elon Musk’s Twitter is apparently really hard up for cash. In addition to not paying rent or other important bills, it is now trying to claw back bills that were paid just prior to Elon getting the keys to Twitter. As you may have heard, last week, Twitter sued Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz, well known powerhouse law firm for dealing with mergers and acquisitions, which very successfully represented Twitter in court to force Elon to actually complete the deal he had signed, which he then tried to get out of.

=> ↺ Common Dreams ☛ Pining For How Simple Life Was When Jesus Ruled and Mom Served Candy For Dinner

• Swaddled in sanctimony, bigotry and mawkish nostalgia for a time in America when white men ran everything, right-wing evangelical fabulists gathered this weekend at a Faith and Freedom confab to celebrate the “privilege twins” of Christian nationalism and white supremacy, the triumphant revoking of women’s bodily autonomy, and their tawdry Jesus stand-in and cult leader, affirming, per Kari Lake, “With God on our side, nothing can stop us from taking back this country.” Good God, save us.

=> ↺ The Nation ☛ The Great Collapsing Culture Bubble

• Everywhere you look, the culture industry is shrinking. It’s a moment when the ongoing Writers Guild of America strike only cracks the top 10 list of things going wrong. In the last two weeks, a perfect storm of industry trends converged to reshape the experience of dramatic entertainment—decisively for the worse. The Mark Taper Forum in Los Angeles canceled its 2023–24 theater season and laid off 10 percent of its staff, citing $8–9 million annual shortfalls in fundraising, and an audience that has not come back since the pandemic. Paramount+’s merger with Showtime brought not only the cancellation of several shows but also their wholesale removal from its platform, for the sake of tax write-offs. Then, WB Discovery continued its companywide crop burn by laying off top executives at the beloved cable channel Turner Classics Movies (TCM).

=> ↺ Democracy Now ☛ “What Arrogance Looks Like”: Supreme Court Justice Alito’s Ruling vs. EPA Allegedly Violates Ethics

• On the final day of the Supreme Court’s term, we speak with David Dayen, executive editor of The American Prospect, about recent revelations detailing many of the Supreme Court conservative justices’ close relationships to Republican megadonors, and how allegations of financial impropriety further delegitimize the court’s standing as an objective legal authority. “These are lifetime appointments,” says Dayen. “This is what arrogance looks like.”

=> ↺ The Nation ☛ America’s Youth Have a Problem

• In March, a poll from The Wall Street Journal and NORC found that just 23 percent of people under 30 found patriotism to be “very important” to them, compared to 60 percent of those 65 and older. But what’s the biggest issue facing the country? For young people, there isn’t a clear answer.1

=> ↺ Scheerpost ☛ How a Notorious Georgia Army School Became America’s Training Ground for Global Torture

• Fort Benning is home to a shadowy academy where around 84,000 Latin American soldiers and police officers have been taught on the U.S. dime on how to kill, torture and how to stamp out political activists.

=> ↺ Common Dreams ☛ Hard Exploitative Times: To Hear the Wail Of the Children

• With a rapacious GOP shredding not just women’s/black/queer/poor people’s rights but now child labor laws – the number of kids as young as 10 working in America has soared 37% – we mark this weekend’s 120th anniversary of Mother Jones’ 1903 March of the Mill Children, wherein she led 100 “worn down, defeated waifs…sacrificed on the altar of profit” to ask Teddy Roosevelt to end their abuses “in the name of the aching hearts of these little ones.” God bless capitalism: He refused.

=> ↺ JURIST ☛ Canada inquiry probes Nike, Dynasty Gold over allegations of use of forced Uyghur labor

• Canada launched an inquiry into allegations over the use of the Chinese minority Uyghur forced labor in Nike and Dynasty Gold production lines. The Canadian Ombudsperson for Responsible Enterprise Sheri Meyerhoffer announced the inquiry Tuesday as a part of a broader initiative to evaluate and probe substantial grievances against corporations operating within Canada.

=> ↺ The Nation ☛ LA’s Hotel Workers Are on Strike

• This past week, thousands of hotel workers in dozens of hotels in Los Angeles and Orange County, represented by Unite Here Local 11, walked off the job. The strike, which 96 percent of members voted to authorize, comes after many large hotel contracts expired and the vast majority of owners refused to meet union demands. These include adequate pay raises to reflect California’s soaring housing costs, as well as shoring up pension and health care benefits. They also include requests to hire sufficient numbers of new workers to lower daily workloads to manageable levels for existing housekeepers and other staff, since, despite their having reaped billions of dollars in federal assistance during the Covid pandemic, and despite profit levels in 2023 reaching pre-pandemic heights again, hotels are still making workers do more with less.

=> ↺ New York Times ☛ ‘10 Seconds’: Outrage Follows Acquittal in Italy Abuse Case

• A court in Rome said it had decided to acquit a janitor accused of improperly touching a student in part because the episode lasted “a handful of seconds” and took place in a public area in front of other students.

=> ↺ Axios ☛ Hollywood shuts down as actors join writers on strike

• SAG-AFTRA, the union that represents Hollywood actors, will strike for the first time since 1980 after failing to reach a new labor deal with the major studios.

• Why it matters: The actors’ strike, which begins at midnight, marks the first time in 63 years that Hollywood has two unions on strike simultaneously, which is expected to bring the industry to a screeching halt. It could also lead to a quicker end to Hollywood’s labor war.

=> ↺ Axios ☛ Another family sues Harvard over stolen body parts

• Another family has filed a lawsuit asking for class-action status against Harvard Medical School over the university’s role in a ring that allegedly sold human remains on the black market for years.

• Why it matters: It’s the latest in a string of similar class-action suits against the prestigious school since federal authorities charged its morgue manager with conspiracy and trafficking of stolen goods.

=> ↺ ACLU ☛ How Michiganders Showed Up for Reproductive Freedom and Won

• Last year’s decision overturning Roe v. Wade proved to be a major galvanizing moment for people who support abortion rights in communities across the country as bans began to go into effect. One of those states is Michigan, where a grassroots coalition had growing concerns about an archaic 1931 abortion ban that could take effect if the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, and had already been working to prepare for that possibility. Their tireless work put abortion rights on the ballot with Proposal 3, which secured the right to reproductive freedom in Michigan, protecting abortion, prenatal care, birth control, and all pregnancy-related care.

Internet Policy/Net Neutrality

=> ↺ Techdirt ☛ Finally Close To Having A Voting Majority, Will The Biden FCC Actually Restore Net Neutrality?

• Last month we noted how the country’s top telecom and media regulator has been under the bootheel of industry for the better part of seven years, and nobody much seems to care.

Monopolies

=> ↺ Techdirt ☛ It Ain’t Over: FTC Appeals Microsoft, Activision Ruling While CMA Pumps The Brakes On Restructuring Deal

• Well, well, it appears that rumors of the death of the regulatory battle over the Microsoft and Activision Blizzard purchase have been greatly exaggerated. We just discussed media reports of two items related to the deal. The first was the FTC’s loss in court to get a preliminary injunction barring the two companies from consummating the purchase, potentially allowing them to close on the deal even as FTC litigation remains pending and the CMA in the UK works through Microsoft’s appeal of its blocking the deal. The second were reports that Microsoft and the CMA were close on a restructuring of the deal that would lead to the CMA granting its approval of the purchase. In that post, I indicated that those combined reports threw into question whether the FTC would even bother appealing the ruling.

=> ↺ IT Wire ☛ US FTC seeks temporary halt to Microsoft-Activision deal

• {loadposition sam08}At that time, the regulator said Microsoft’s solution had “significant shortcomings” and would need oversight.

• A month prior, the CMA had signalled that it had received new evidence indicating that the deal would not lead to a substantial lessening of competition in the UK console gaming market.

• A decision by US Judge Jacqueline Scott Corley in San Francisco said the FTC had not shown that Microsoft’s merger with Activision would harm competition for gaming.

• Her decision means 38 jurisdictions have green-lighted the deal, which has an 18 July deadline for closing.

=> ↺ Federal News Network ☛ House Republicans set to interrogate FTC’s Khan over ethics, antitrust issues [Ed: GOP shilling for Microsoft]

• House Republicans who say the Federal Trade Commission has been overzealous and politicized under President Joe Biden are set to interrogate agency head Lina Khan on Thursday. They are bringing her before the House Judiciary Committee for the first time amid her court battles with big technology companies. Committee Chairman Jim Jordan has criticized Khan in recent months on a multitude of issues, including what he says are politically motivated actions directed at Elon Musk since he acquired Twitter last year, questions about whether she should have recused herself from certain cases and her legal actions against tech giants on antitrust issues.

=> ↺ Scoop News Group ☛ FTC faces pressure from Twitter, Republicans over privacy investigation

• A hearing to review FTC Chair Lina Khan’s leadership turned into a debate over the commission’s role overseeing Twitter’s privacy practices.

Patents

=> ↺ Dennis Crouch/Patently-O ☛ SNIPR v. Rockefeller: A Final Nail in the Interference Coffin

• The key benefit of the first-to-file patent regime, introduced by the Leahy-Smith America Invents Act (AIA), is the clarity that it provides. The filing date is an understandable, immutable, and reasonable priority claim marker. This is in contrast to the invention “date”, which requires evidence of the inventor’s mental state as shown by corroboratory evidence; spread across time from conception to invention completion accomplished at reduction to practice. Pre-AIA invention priority contests were decided through a process known as Interference Proceedings—mini trials before the Board (then known as the Board of Patent Appeals and Interferences or BPAI).

=> ↺ Dennis Crouch/Patently-O ☛ User Matching Patent Fails 101 Test for Lacking Technical Improvement

• Trinity Info Media, LLC v. Covalent, Inc., No. 2022-1308, — F.4th — (Fed. Cir. July 14, 2023).

• Trinity Info Media sued Covalent for infringing two patents covering a process of connecting users based on polling question answers – US Patent Nos. 9,087,321 and 10,936,685. The patents describe a system where users answer polling questions and the system uses those answers to find a “likelihood of match” between users. Connections are suggested for high-likelihood matches. The system uses conventional computer components like processors, memory, servers, etc. The ‘685 patent adds limitations about performing operations on a handheld device, displaying results via swiping, and using a mobile app.

• The district court granted Covalent’s motion to dismiss, finding the asserted claims ineligible under 35 U.S.C. 101. The Federal Circuit affirmed after analyzing the claims under the two-step Alice/Mayo framework:

=> ↺ JUVE ☛ EPO Boards of Appeal strike down important Nokia patent in Oppo row [Ed: Juve, a bribed propaganda rag for illegal agenda (unconstitutional kangaroo court, UPC), on fake European Patents (which the kangaroos will be eager to allow)]

• The game of cat and mouse continues. In June, Nokia succeeded in obtaining a bench judgment, at the Regional Court Mannheim, which rejected an infringement case brought by Oppo against Nokia.

Software Patents

=> ↺ Unified Patents ☛ InterDigital AV1/VP9 Japanese patent opposition successful

• On August 4, 2022, the Japanese Patent Office found that the only claim of JP6968024 was obvious and also not novel in view of the known art. The JP ’024 patent is owned by InterDigital VC Holdings.

=> ↺ Unified Patents ☛ KAIST & ETRI AV1/HEVC Japanese patent opposition successful

• On March 14, 2022, the Japanese Patent Office found that the original claims of JP6855419 were obvious in view of the known art. The JP ’419 is owned by the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) and the Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute (ETRI).

=> ↺ Unified Patents ☛ GEVC video codec Japanese patent opposition successful

• On March 30, 2023, the Japanese Patent Office found that the original claims of JP6909818 were obvious in view of the known art. The JP ’818 patent is owned by GE Video Compression LLC (GEVC).

Trademarks

=> ↺ TTAB Blog ☛ TTAB Adds Three New Administrative Trademark Judges, One Departs

• While we were being distracted by the smoke coming down from Canada, the Board added three new Administrative Trademark Judges, while one judge retired. To be specific, Judge Linda A. Kuczma returned to private practice in Chicago after 12 years on the Board. The three new judges (see below) bring the total Board membership to 28, including Chief Judge Rogers and Deputy Chief Judge Thurmon. The complete judicial roster may be found here.

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