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● 08.27.23

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● Leftover Links 27/08/2023: Windows TCO Stories and Linux Foundation ‘Masters’

Posted in News Roundup at 2:53 pm by Dr. Roy Schestowitz

Leftovers

=> ↺ France24 ☛ Paris exhibits to see this autumn, from Bollywood to Chagall and Picasso

• As Parisians return from their summer holidays and get back to work or school (a period known in France as “la rentrée”), the City of Lights is set for a rich cultural season. From Russian-French artist Marc Chagall to a retrospective on Indian cinema, FRANCE 24 has selected 10 of the top upcoming exhibits in Paris.

=> ↺ 10 Best Photo Selling Websites: Capture, Sell, and Earn

• If you have a dream to be a professional photographer but don’t know how you can sell your captures, you are welcome in this discussion. Many beginners often get confused about whether it’s possible to make money by selling photos.

=> ↺ [Repeat] Stacey on IoT ☛ Episode 437: Goodbye and good luck

• This is the final episode of The Internet of Things Podcast, and to send us off after eight years, we don’t discuss the big news of the day such as Arm’s planned IPO, a new display option from Brilliant, or new gear from Leviton. Instead we share our reasons for stepping back from the show, and where we’re heading next. Also, because everyone wants some new podcasts or IoT news options, we share some of our favorite resources. On the podcast side, I sometimes listen to the Mr. Beacon Show or The IoT Podcast. We also read The Verge, TechHive, The Ambient, and The Journal of Innovation published by the Industrial IoT Consortium. We both stop in at r/smarthome and r/homeautomation on Reddit, and I’ll read anything by James Blackman over at RCR Wireless for industrial IoT news. I also check out the Axios Pro Rata newsletter from Dan Primack to see fundings and sales, and subscribe to Target is New by Iskander Smit for thoughtful takes on IoT, AI, and design. There are many other options out there, but we didn’t want to make our goodbye episode any longer. To close out the show we answered our last listener question on what we think makes a complete smart home and our thoughts on future innovation that will keep the industry moving forward.

=> ↺ BBC ☛ OnlyFans: Who is Leonid Radvinsky, the elusive owner of a porn empire?

• Leonid Radvinsky is a 41-year-old Ukrainian-American entrepreneur with an estimated net worth of $2.1bn.

• He bought the company in 2018 from father and son team, Guy and Tim Stokely, who had started it two years earlier with a £10,000 ($12,500) investment.

=> ↺ Variety ☛ OnlyFans Users Spent $5.6 Billion on Porn-Friendly Creator Site in Fiscal 2022, up 16%

• U.K.-based OnlyFans generated a pre-tax net profit of $525 million for the most recent fiscal year, up 21% on an annual basis, according to a regulatory filing Thursday by parent company Fenix International. OnlyFans owner Leonid Radvinsky was paid $338 million in dividends for the 2022 fiscal year, up 19% from $284 million the year prior, as reported by Bloomberg.

• As of November 2022, OnlyFans had 3.18 million registered creators, an increase of 47%, while the number of users increased 27% to 238.8 million, per the filing.

=> ↺ The Economist ☛ Japan’s porn industry comes out of the shadows

• The Japanese porn industry is enormous. It is estimated to churn out 4,500 videos a month, to generate about 55bn yen (about $380m) a year, and to employ around 10,000 performers. While it has shrunk since its peak in the early 2010s it remains a significant export, including to South Korea, where the production and distribution of pornography is officially banned. Taipei, Taiwan’s capital, once issued metro cards stamped with the picture of a popular Japanese porn starlet.

Science

=> ↺ Futurism ☛ Man Sets Up Telescope in NYC, Attracts Huge Crowd Letting People Peer Into It

• Amateur astronomer Joe Delfausse, who lives in Park Slope, Brooklyn, has made it a habit to carry his telescope out into the streets on clear nights to allow anybody who walks by to have a peek.

• A recent video, which went viral on social media, shows a massive crowd of people lining up to have a look through Delfausse’s telescope, in a wholesome and heartwarming illustration of our neverending wonder of what lies beyond our Blue Planet.

Education

=> ↺ JURIST ☛ Taliban blocks about 100 women in Afghanistan from flying to Dubai for university

• Since the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan in August 2021, women have faced an increasing amount of repression and human rights violations. The Taliban have prohibited women in Afghanistan from traveling more than 75 kilometers from their homes without a male escort. Women are also barred from attending school past the sixth grade, often forced to stay home and unable to obtain basic aid or employment.

=> ↺ Jacobin Magazine ☛ Management at California State University Is Living Large While Faculty Struggle

• A number of proposals were on the table, but the pitifully low salaries of faculty — especially in light of the exorbitant salaries of administrators — cast a large shadow. Among the CFA proposals was a 12 percent general salary increase for faculty. Unsurprisingly, the CSU management balked and counteroffered a 4 percent — later raised to 5 percent — general salary increase followed by an 8 percent increase over the next two years, the latter being contingent on annual state funding for the CSU.

Hardware

=> ↺ Hackaday ☛ Off-Grid Radio Also Repairable Off-Grid

• Low-power radios, often referred to in the amateur radio community as QRP radios, have experienced a resurgence in popularity lately. Blame it on certain parts of the hobby become more popular, like Parks on the Air (POTA) or Summits on the Air (SOTA). These are events where a radio operator operates off-grid at remote parks or mountaintops. These QRP rigs are a practical and portable way to make contacts. You would think that a five- or ten-watt rig running on batteries would be simple. Surprisingly, they can be enormously complex and expensive. That’s why [Stephen] built the RFBitBanger, a QRP radio designed to not only be usable off-grid but to be built and maintained off-grid as well.

=> ↺ Hackaday ☛ The Mysterious Case Of The Disappearing Inventor

• When combing through the history of technological innovation, we often find that pinning down a given inventor of something can be tricky. [Foeke Postma] at Bellingcat shows us that even the Smithsonian can get it wrong when given faulty information.

=> ↺ IT Wire ☛ Intel to quadruple advanced chip packaging services in Malaysia

• A report in Nikkei Asia on Wednesday said the factory, to be built in Penang, would be the American firm’s first overseas facility for advanced 3D chip packaging, technology which is called Foveros.

• The advanced packaging combines various types of chips into one to increase computing power and reduce energy consumption.

Health/Nutrition/Agriculture

=> ↺ Bruce Schneier ☛ Hacking Food Labeling Laws

• This article talks about new Mexican laws about food labeling, and the lengths to which food manufacturers are going to ensure that they are not effective. There are the typical high-pressure lobbying tactics and lawsuits. But there’s also examples of companies hacking the laws:

=> ↺ Reason ☛ Presence of ‘Forever Chemicals’ in Paper Straws Highlights the Inanity of Plastic Straw Bans

• A new study from Belgian researchers found that paper straws had higher concentrations of long-lasting, water resistant “forever chemicals” than plastic or steel straws.

=> ↺ Scheerpost ☛ Cuba’s Worsening Food Crisis Means US Blockade Must End Now, Not Later

• Cubans individually had consumed only 438 grams of animal protein per month in 2022, and in May 2023, only 347 grams; recommendations call for ingestion of 5 kg monthly. Not enough chickens were be…

=> ↺ NBC ☛ ‘Atomic veterans’ overwhelmingly denied benefits for illnesses related to radiation exposure during service

• But a year later, the VA has rejected 86% of claims, according to data obtained by NBC News. The VA said that of the roughly 4,100 processed radiation-related claims, it denied more than 3,500 and granted about 570 from Aug. 10, 2022, to Aug. 10, 2023.

• “They’re waiting for us to die,” said Kenneth Brownell, 66, who was one of the first soldiers sent to clean up Enewetak Atoll islands in the Pacific Ocean, where the U.S. conducted 43 nuclear tests from 1948 to 1958.

=> ↺ The Scotsman ☛ Children’s addiction to smartphones is damaging their education and social skills – Charles Tate

• Recently, I’ve found many pupils don’t even try to hide their phones, they almost seem to consider them an extension of their very selves. They are not hidden anymore but displayed, openly, on the desk, and there’s no shame in using them. From a pupil’s point-of-view, phones are a right, not a privilege.

• I’ve been a teacher for more than ten years and I’ve come to the conclusion that mobile phones are damaging to the education of young people. If you don’t believe me, then ask the United Nations, which has just called for a global classroom ban. I couldn’t agree more. I have seen pupils become increasingly addicted. It might be Snapchat, TikTok, or video games.

=> ↺ Vox ☛ America has the world’s safest air travel but sucks so bad at car safety

• In the last decade, two passengers have been killed in accidents on US commercial airlines. Over the same period, more than 365,000 Americans have been killed by cars.

• Yet it was the safety of the US air travel system that was the subject of a damning, genuinely terrifying New York Times investigation last weekend — detailing lapses in the oversight of flights that are leading to near-crashes multiple times a week. The pattern led one air traffic controller to declare: “It is only a matter of time before something catastrophic happens.”

• That statement captures something essential about the way that US air travel is regulated: society expects absolute safety in plane travel, catastrophes are never meant to happen, and any loss of human life is considered unacceptable. A vast federal bureaucracy exists to make sure no one dies in a plane crash. So, what would happen if we treated cars like we do planes?

=> ↺ NBC ☛ Biden says he will request more funding for a new coronavirus vaccine

• “I signed off this morning on a proposal we have to present to the Congress a request for additional funding for a new vaccine that is necessary, that works,” Biden, who is vacationing in the Lake Tahoe area, told reporters on Friday.

Proprietary/Artificial Intelligence (AI)

=> ↺ Rolling Stone ☛ These Women Tried to Warn Us About AI

• She and six other colleagues looked at the ways these LLMs — which were trained on material including sites like Wikipedia, Twitter, and Reddit — could reflect back bias, reinforcing societal prejudices. Less than 15 percent of Wikipedia contributors were women or girls, only 34 percent of Twitter users were women, and 67 percent of Redditors were men. Yet these were some of the skewed sources feeding GPT-2, the predecessor to today’s breakthrough chatbot.

=> ↺ The Economist ☛ AI could fortify big business, not upend it

• One reason for this is incumbents’ advantages in distribution. That can help the giants maintain their dominance, even if they do not dream up the technology in the first place. Having paired with OpenAI, the creator of ChatGPT, for instance, Microsoft is souping up its ubiquitous Office software with AI features that let workers automate tasks such as writing emails and summarising documents. That will leave little space for rival upstarts. Salesforce and Zendesk, makers of software for sales reps and call-centre agents, respectively, are likewise embedding AI features in their tools. Whereas most companies may not be comfortable turning to a chatbot from an unknown startup for legal advice, they may try a large law firm like Allen & Overy, which is using one to help its lawyers speed up mundane tasks.

=> ↺ NPR ☛ Armed with traffic cones, protesters are immobilizing driverless cars

• Two people dressed in dark colors and wearing masks dart into a busy street on a hill in San Francisco. One of them hauls a big orange traffic cone. They sprint toward a driverless car and quickly set the cone on the hood.

• The vehicle’s side lights burst on and start flashing orange. And then, it sits there immobile.

• “All right, looks good,” one of them says after making sure no one is inside. “Let’s get out of here.” They hop on e-bikes and pedal off.

=> ↺ Futurism ☛ If AI Is a Gold Rush, Nvidia Is Selling Shovels

• Whether any of those players will figure out how to effectively monetize that buzz is widely debated. But in the meantime, someone has to supply the hardware to run all that viral generative AI — and for now, that’s where the money is.

• Enter the Nvidia Corporation, a newly trillion dollar company that’s making so much dough off its gangbusters AI chips that its revenue has more than doubled from last year, quickly becoming the undisputed backbone of the AI industry.

=> ↺ NPR ☛ Young professionals are turning to AI to create headshots. But there are catches

• The process is simple enough: Users send in up to a dozen images of themselves to a website or app. Then they pick from sample photos with a style or aesthetic they want to copy, and the computer does the rest. More than a dozen of these services are available online and in app stores.

=> ↺ Gizmodo ☛ How a Well-Regarded Mac App Became a Trojan Horse

• In an email with Gizmodo, Robinson broke down their own investigation into the app. They found that NightOwl installs a launcher that turns the users’ computer into a kind of botnet agent for data that’s sold to third parties. The updated 0.4.5.4 version of NightOwl, released June 13, runs a local HTTP proxy without users’ direct knowledge or consent, they said. The only hint NightOwl gives to users that something’s afoot is a consent notice after they hit the download button, saying the app uses Google Analytics for anonymized tracking and bugs. The botnet settings cannot be disabled through the app, and in order to remove the modifications made to a Mac, users need to run several commands in the Mac Terminal app to excise the vestiges of the code from their system, per Robinson.

=> ↺ SANS ☛ macOS: Who?s Behind This Network Connection?, (Sat, Aug 26th)

• When you must investigate suspicious behavior or work on an actual incident, you could be asked to determine who’s behind a network connection.

Windows TCO

=> ↺ SANS ☛ Python Malware Using Postgresql for C2 Communications

• I searched for similar scripts with valid credentials, but nothing was found yet. If you spotted the same kind of script, please share!

=> ↺ Security Week ☛ University of Minnesota Confirms Data Breach, Says Ransomware Not Involved

• The attacker claimed to have accessed 7 million unique Social Security numbers, as the database contained records the university has been digitizing since 1989.

• Responding to a SecurityWeek inquiry, the University of Minnesota confirmed that it initially learned about the [cracker’s] claims on July 21 and that it immediately launched an investigation to verify the validity of the attacker’s claims.

=> ↺ [Repeat] IT Wire ☛ London court finds two teenagers guilty of Lapsus$ attacks

• The so-called Lapsus$ attacks were reported in 2021 and 2022 and the two who were found guilty on Wednesday were charged out of a group of seven teens arrested on 25 March 2022.

• One of the teens was not named as he is 17. The other was identified as Arion Kurtaj and was claimed to be a key member of the group which attacked a number of well-known companies.

=> ↺ [Repeat] IT Wire ☛ New group found using Microsoft-signed certificates in attacks

• This was the second attack on this gambling firm, with the technique used also being similar. On the earlier occasion, a group known as Budworm, aka LuckyMouse or APT 27, was found to be behind the attack, leading ESET to attribute the 2022 attack to the same group.

• The 2022 attack used a variant of the Korplug malware which had the word ESET in a header indicating that it may have been modified to bypass ESET products, the Symantec researchers noted.

Linux Foundation

=> ↺ Silcon Republic ☛ Mastering Linux skills for a DevOps career [Ed: LF spam disguised as article with "master" (which they insisted was rude) in the headline]

• Linux is very important for DevOps professionals as it powers a lot of modern internet infrastructure. Here’s what you need to know.

• If you’re working in DevOps you’re all about optimising tech and making sure development processes are as smooth and efficient as possible. There are a lot of basic skills DevOps workers are supposed to have, as well as more advanced knowledge.

• Linux skills fall between the two categories – you need a certain amount of Linux know-how if you’re working in DevOps, but it’s not absolutely essential. That said, Linux is the operating system that powers Android, which is one of the most popular platforms around. There are other benefits to using Linux, too. It’s pretty secure, reliable and free to install.

Security

=> ↺ Industry Dive ☛ Ransoming Linux and ESXi systems is getting easier [Ed: The issue is proprietary software like VMware, not the kernel]

• Ransomware threat actors are widening the pool of potential targets as they shift their sights from Windows-powered devices to Linux and VMware ESXi hosts, according to SentinelOne.

=> ↺ Security Week ☛ North Korean APT Hacks Internet Infrastructure Provider via ManageEngine Flaw

• North Korea-linked Lazarus Group exploited a ManageEngine vulnerability to compromise an internet backbone infrastructure provider.

=> ↺ Security Week ☛ In Other News: Africa Cybercrime Crackdown, Unpatched macOS Flaw, Investor Disclosures

• Weekly cybersecurity news roundup that provides a summary of noteworthy stories that might have slipped under the radar for the week of August 21, 2023.

=> ↺ Security Week ☛ Lawmaker Wants Federal Contractors to Have Vulnerability Disclosure Policies

• Congresswoman Nancy Mace has introduced a bill that would require federal contractors to have a Vulnerability Disclosure Policy (VDP).

=> ↺ Security Week ☛ Nearly 1,000 Organizations, 60 Million Individuals Impacted by MOVEit Hack

• Nearly 1,000 organizations and 60 million individuals are impacted by the MOVEit hack, and the Cl0p ransomware gang is leaking stolen data.

=> ↺ TechCrunch ☛ A Brazilian phone spyware was hacked and victims’ devices ‘deleted’ from server

• Portuguese-language spyware called WebDetetive has been used to compromise more than 76,000 Android phones in recent years across South America, largely in Brazil. WebDetetive is also the latest phone spyware company in recent months to have been hacked.

• In an undated note seen by TechCrunch, the unnamed hackers described how they found and exploited several security vulnerabilities that allowed them to compromise WebDetetive’s servers and access to its user databases. By exploiting other flaws in the spyware maker’s web dashboard — used by abusers to access the stolen phone data of their victims — the hackers said they enumerated and downloaded every dashboard record, including every customer’s email address.

=> ↺ The Sun ☛ Metropolitan Police on red alert after details of officers and staff hacked in massive security breach

• The Metropolitan Police were on red alert tonight after details of officers and staff were hacked in a massive security breach. All 47,000 personnel were warned of the risk their photos, names and ranks had been stolen when cyber crooks penetrated the IT systems of a contractor printing warrant cards and staff passes.

=> ↺ Cloud and hosting provider Leaseweb took down critical systems after a cyber attack

• Global hosting and cloud services provider Leaseweb has disabled some “critical” systems following a recent security breach. The company informed its customers that is now working on restoring these systems.

• According to a notice of incident sent to customers, on August 22, the company discovered “unusual” activity in some of its systems while investigating Customer Portal downtime issues.

=> ↺ Hackers bring down Poland’s train network in massive cyber attack

• Polish intelligence agencies are currently conducting an investigation into a cyberattack that targeted the country’s railway infrastructure, according to reports from Polish media.

• The incident, which occurred overnight, involved hackers gaining unauthorized access to railway frequencies, resulting in disruptions to train services in the northwestern region of Poland. The Polish Press Agency (PAP) revealed that during the attack, the hackers broadcasted Russia’s national anthem and a speech by President Vladimir Putin.

Integrity/Availability/Authenticity

=> ↺ WhichUK ☛ ULEZ scams: drivers targeted by dodgy websites when paying charges

• Unofficial websites advertising on Google may set up recurring payments

=> ↺ The Register UK ☛ Tor turns to proof-of-work puzzles to defend onion network from DDoS attacks

• To thwart future debilitating DDoS attacks, Tor developers have been working on a defense first proposed in April 2020. It just arrived in Tor version 0.4.8.4 and it relies on a mechanism developed in 1992 by Moni Naor and Cynthia Dwork as a defense against DoS and spam but made famous for energy profligacy by Bitcoin: proof-of-work.

• Essentially, clients trying to reach .onion services may be asked to complete small proof-of-work tests. If you’re connecting as a legit user, you shouldn’t notice anything. If you’re trying to hammer the project’s network of nodes with lots of repeated connections, the proof-of-work challenges may well hamper your attempts.

Privacy/Surveillance

=> ↺ Associated Press ☛ Man, 86, accused of assuming dead brother’s identity in 1965 is convicted of several charges

• A new investigation was launched in 2020 after facial identification software indicated Gonzalez’s face was on two state identification cards.

• The facial recognition technology is used by the Maine Bureau of Motor Vehicles to ensure no one obtains multiple credentials or credentials under someone else’s name, said Emily Cook, spokesperson for the secretary of state’s office.

Defence/Aggression

=> ↺ YLE ☛ Prosecutors to consider case against six security guards over woman’s death

• The 35-year-old woman died after being restrained by security personnel at the Iso Omena shopping centre in Espoo earlier this year.

=> ↺ Petrov Day ☛ Petrov Day

• On September 26th, 1983, the world was nearly destroyed by nuclear war. That day is Petrov Day, named for the man who averted it. Petrov Day is a yearly event on September 26, commemorating the anniversary of the Petrov incident. It consists of an approximately one-hour long ritual with readings and symbolic actions with candles and other props.

=> ↺ ABC ☛ 14th Amendment, Section 3: A new legal battle against Trump takes shape

• That disqualification argument boils down to Section 3 of the U.S. Constitution’s 14th Amendment, which says that a public official is not eligible to assume public office if they “engaged in insurrection or rebellion against” the United States, or had “given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof,” unless they are granted amnesty by a two-thirds vote of Congress.That disqualification argument boils down to Section 3 of the U.S. Constitution’s 14th Amendment, which says that a public official is not eligible to assume public office if they “engaged in insurrection or rebellion against” the United States, or had “given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof,” unless they are granted amnesty by a two-thirds vote of Congress.

=> ↺ France24 ☛ Islamic State group nearly doubled its Mali territory in under a year, UN says

• Islamic State extremists have almost doubled the territory they control in Mali in less than a year, and their al-Qaida-linked rivals are capitalizing on the deadlock and perceived weakness of armed groups that signed a 2015 peace agreement, United Nations experts said in a new report.

=> ↺ JURIST ☛ Netherlands Supreme Court blocks lawsuit over Gaza airstrike

• The Supreme Court of the Netherlands affirmed on Friday that Palestinians are precluded from bringing legal action against Israeli military officers for their involvement in an airstrike on the Gaza Strip dated back to 2014.

=> ↺ France24 ☛ Iran police shooting video: ‘They are only capable of arresting innocent people, mostly women’

• A short video of a confrontation between an armed suspect and a group of police officers taken on August 18 in the Iranian city of Isfahan went viral on social media. Iranians are angry at the police’s “inability to fight real crime” while targeting peaceful protesters and women over their refusal to wear the hijab, according to our Observers in Iran.

=> ↺ France24 ☛ Niger junta orders troops on maximum alert in case of attack

• The junta in Niger has ordered its armed forces to go on highest alert, citing an increased threat of attack, according to an internal document issued by its defence chief on Friday that a security source in the country confirmed was authentic.

=> ↺ New York Times ☛ U.S. Knew Saudis Were Killing African Migrants but Kept Silent

• The United States was told last year that Saudi security forces were shooting, shelling and abusing groups of migrants, but it chose not to raise the issue publicly.

=> ↺ Reason ☛ Brickbat: Religious Unfreedom

• An Egyptian court has sentenced human rights activist Patrick Zaki to three years in prison after finding him guilty of “spreading false news” in an article he wrote about his life as a Coptic Christian. Zaki has already spent 22 months in prison, where his lawyers said he was tortured.

Torture

=> ↺ AntiWar ☛ Torture Comes Home to Roost

• “Maybe there is a beast. Maybe it’s only us.” ~ William Golding (1911-1993), “Lord of the Flies” Hidden within some folks are the souls of saints. Hidden within others are the souls of beasts. Torture unleashes the beasts.

=> ↺ JURIST ☛ Former Mississippi police officers plead guilty to torturing Black men

• Attorney General of Mississippi Lynn Fitch announced on Monday that six Rankin County police officers pleaded guilty to the torture and abuse of two Black men. The announcement follows the officers’ guilty plea to federal charges earlier this month.

=> ↺ RFERL ☛ Kazakhstan Refuses To Grant Asylum To Karakalplak Activists Facing Extradition To Uzbekistan

• Kazakh authorities have refused to grant asylum to two Karakalpak activists who face extradition to Uzbekistan, where supporters say they would face serious risk of politically motivated prosecution and torture over last year’s mass protests in Uzbekistan’s Karakalpak Autonomous Republic.

=> ↺ RFERL ☛ Uzbek Prosecutors To Investigate Death Of Detained Man After Family Accuses Police Of Torture

• The Uzbek capital’s Prosecutor’s Office has launched an investigation into the death of a 33-year-old man being detained at a Tashkent police station after his family said the body showed signs of torture.

=> ↺ Ali Reza Hayati ☛ Ethics

• A while ago I asked a question from some people about where they stand on torture. I asked whether torture can be ethical in any situation but then it wasn’t about whether it can be justified, rather I asked about an specific situation.

=> ↺ Meduza ☛ Russian national arrested in Lebanon on suspicion of spying for Israel — Meduza

• Lebanon’s General Directorate of General Security has arrested a Russian national and his wife, reports Lebanese newspaper al-Akhbar. The names of the two detained people have not been released.

=> ↺ Reason ☛ Idaho Keeps Scheduling This Inmate’s Execution Even Though It Lacks the Means To Kill Him

• A federal judge ruled in favor of an Idaho death-row inmate who says that the state is “psychologically torturing” him.

=> ↺ RFA ☛ Rights organizations urge Vietnam to stop execution in flawed murder case

• Nguyen Van Chuong is believed to be at ‘imminent risk of execution,’ despite allegations of police torture.

=> ↺ Federal News Network ☛ White ex-officers in Mississippi plead guilty to racist assault on 2 Black men during raid

• Six white former law enforcement officers in Mississippi have pleaded guilty to federal civil rights offenses against two Black men who were brutalized during a home raid that ended when an officer shot one of the men in the mouth. The charges were unsealed Thursday as the former officers appeared in federal court. Court documents say the officers called themselves The Goon Squad “because of their willingness to use excessive force and and not to report it.” U.S. Attorney General Merrick B. Garland said the officers had “tortured and inflicted unspeakable harm on their victims.” The former officers also face state criminal charges, including assault, conspiracy and obstruction of justice.

=> ↺ İHD commemorates Kurdish rights activist killed in 1991

• In commemoration of Vedat Aydın, the Human Rights Association requested that the investigations and cases be conducted effectively, that the expiration of time not apply in cases of torture and crimes against humanity,and that perpetrators stand trial and receive the punishments they deserve.

=> ↺ JURIST ☛ HRW: Burkina Faso militia implicated in executions and torturing civilians

• Human Rights Watch (HRW) reported on Thursday three episodes involving the militia in Burkina Faso have resulted in the forced disappearances and purported deaths of 18 men, the execution of at least nine men and the severe beating of children between the ages of 6 and 16.

=> ↺ PHR ☛ Following International Day in Support of Victims of Torture, Human Rights Groups Highlight Dangers of Crowd-Control Weapons and Urge the UN to Adopt a Torture-Free Trade Treaty

• “Less lethal weapons must be employed only when they are subjected to strict requirements of necessity and proportionality, and only in situations in which non-violent means have been exhausted,” said Clément Voule, United Nations Special Rapporteur on freedom of peaceful assembly and of association.

Russia, Belarus, and War in Ukraine

=> ↺ New York Times ☛ A Former French President Gives a Voice to Obstinate Russian Sympathies

• Remarks by Nicolas Sarkozy have raised fears that Europe’s pro-Putin chorus may grow louder as Ukraine’s plodding counteroffensive puts pressure on Western resolve.

=> ↺ YLE ☛ Valtonen: Wagner chief Priogzhin death sign of distress in Russian system

• Finland’s Foreign Minister Elina Valtonen (NCP) also commented on the Ministry of Finance’s budget cuts affecting development cooperation aid and solutions to the vacant Russian-owned Helsinki Halli.

=> ↺ Meduza ☛ Passengers and crew Nine other people died in the plane crash that killed Yevgeny Prigozhin. Here’s what we know about them. — Meduza

• Nine others died in the August 23 plane crash that reportedly killed Yevgeny Prigozhin, the mercenary leader who staged a brief mutiny against Russia’s Defense Ministry in late June. Prigozhin’s death isn’t verified yet, but Russia’s Federal Air Transport Agency has confirmed that he was on the passenger list. The other high-profile passenger aboard the doomed flight was Dmitry Utkin, the Wagner Group commander whose callsign is the basis for the company’s very name. Journalists at BBC Russian and the Dossier Center collected information about the other passengers and crew members who perished in the crash. Meduza summarizes these reports.

=> ↺ Federal News Network ☛ A second merchant ship leaves Ukraine’s port of Odesa following Russia’s exit from grain deal

• A second container ship has left port through a temporary Black Sea corridor established by Ukraine’s government after Russia halted a wartime agreement aimed at ensuring safe grain exports. The Primus, a Liberian-flagged bulk carrier, left the port of Odesa on Saturday morning and was steaming south toward Bulgaria. Its departure came 10 days after the launch of another container ship that had been docked in Odesa since before Russia’s full-scale invasion of its neighbor, the Hong Kong-flagged Joseph Schulte. Analysts had surmised that China’s political closeness to Russia might have eased that ship’s passage and raised doubts whether vessels registered elsewhere would follow.

=> ↺ France24 ☛ 🔴 Live: Ukraine downs four cruise missiles during overnight Russian air strike

• Kyiv on Sunday said the Ukrainian air force destroyed four cruise missiles during an overnight Russian air strike. The news came after Moscow said its military forces had shot down two drones in regions bordering Ukraine. .

=> ↺ RFERL ☛ Ukraine’s Usyk Retains Heavyweight Boxing Titles With Knockout Victory

• Ukraine’s Oleksandr Usyk successfully defended his world heavyweight boxing titles by knocking out Britain’s Daniel Dubois in the ninth round of a fight in Wroclaw, Poland, on August 26.

=> ↺ RFERL ☛ Ukraine Reports Failed Russian Missile Strikes Amid Overnight National Air-Raid Alert

• Ukraine destroyed four Russian cruise missiles as Kyiv declared a nationwide air-raid alert during the night of August 26-27, the country’s Air Force wrote on Telegram. Russia also reported two repelled drone strikes on its territory.

=> ↺ RFERL ☛ Two Ukrainian Combat Planes Collide West Of Kyiv, Killing Three Pilots

• Two Ukrainian aircraft collided in midair while on a training mission over Ukraine’s Zhytomyr region, killing three pilots, the State Bureau of Investigation (DBR) said on August 26.

=> ↺ RFERL ☛ Senior EU Official Calls On Russia To Renew Black Sea Grain Deal

• A senior European Union official urged Russia on August 26 to renew a grain deal to allow the safe export of Ukrainian grain through Black Sea ports, after Moscow quit the agreement last month.

=> ↺ RFERL ☛ Two Civilians Killed In Russian Shelling Of Ukraine’s Kharkiv Region As Russia Reports More Drone Attacks

• Two people were reported killed in Russian shelling in eastern Ukraine on August 26, as Russia reported more drone strikes, including in the capital, Moscow.

=> ↺ YLE ☛ Russian neo-Nazi group and Ukraine seek extradition of Russian man suspected of terrorism

• Kyiv wants the man extradited to Ukraine, while the neo-Nazi group Rusich has asked that the man be extradited back to Russia.

=> ↺ New York Times ☛ Ukrainian Commander Urges More Defenses in the Northeast

• In an apparent break with Pentagon advice, Oleksandr Syrsky, Ukraine’s top general in the east, called for “all measures” to defend an area where Russia was threatening to take more territory.

=> ↺ New York Times ☛ Western Banks Help Fund Blacklisted Oligarch’s Charity

• Konstantin Malofeyev’s foundation funds orphanages in occupied Ukraine. He denies that a child-removal program there is a war crime: “All of this is fake.”

=> ↺ New York Times ☛ Russia Says Ukraine Fired Drones at Three Regions

• The frequency of drone attacks inside Russia has increased in recent weeks, bringing the war to areas deep inside Russian territory.

=> ↺ Meduza ☛ Belgorod authorities say Ukraine hit border town with cluster munitions — Meduza

• Vyacheslav Gladkov, governor of Russia’s Belgorod region, says that Ukraine’s military fired cluster bombs from a Grad rocket launcher at the village of Urazovo, in the Valuysky district. There is no independent confirmation of Gladkov’s claims.

=> ↺ Meduza ☛ Russian Defense Ministry reports attempted drone attack on Moscow — Meduza

• Russia’s Defense Ministry says that Ukraine’s military attempted to hit targets in Moscow and the surrounding region with drone strikes.

=> ↺ Meduza ☛ Two air force jets collide during training in Ukraine, killing three pilots — Meduza

• Two L-39 jet trainers belonging to Ukraine’s Air Forces collided in flight in the Zhytomyr region during training exercises on August 25.

Transparency/Investigative Reporting

=> ↺ Scoop News Group ☛ National Archives discloses planned AI uses for record management

• In its 2023 AI use case inventory, the agency charged with managing U.S. government documents disclosed it wants to use an AI-based system to autofill metadata for its archival documents. Similar to some other agencies, the National Archives also disclosed its interest in using the technology to help respond to FOIA requests.

=> ↺ Jacobin Magazine ☛ UFO Crashes Almost Certainly Aren’t Real. But the Government Itself Is Responsible for Public Distrust.

• The hearings on unidentified aerial phenomena unearthed no public evidence that should make us take claims of crashed alien spacecrafts and recovered “nonhuman biologics” seriously. But the federal government has done plenty to earn public distrust.

Environment

=> ↺ Greece ☛ Greece wildfire ‘worst on European soil in years,’ Copernicus says

• Fire crews were battling 517 wildfires that had broken out across Greece since last Friday, he said, fuelled by high temperatures and in some cases gale force winds.

• While summer wildfires are common in Greece, the government says conditions, which scientists link to climate change have made them more intense this year.

• “It is the combination of high temperatures, drought and winds that unfortunately create the ideal conditions for wildfires with extreme behaviour,” Marinakis said.

=> ↺ FAIR ☛ Maui Fire Coverage Ignored Fossil Fuel Responsibility

• Most of the corporate press focused on the island’s sensational visual destruction, official responses, body counts and destroyed structures. Meanwhile, news reports largely confused or denied the climate crisis’s contribution to the fire, and ignored the connections between fossil fuel use, increased CO2levels and planetary heating.

=> ↺ BBC ☛ The indigenous groups fighting against the quest for ‘white gold’

• Lithium extraction requires huge amounts of water – about two million litres per tonne.

• And locals like Nati Machaca, who live off the land and raise cattle in this predominantly rural area, fear it is drying the soil and polluting the water.

• “If this goes on, we will soon starve and become ill,” she warns.

=> ↺ Teen Vogue ☛ Maui Fires: Recovery Challenges Stem From Years of Colonialism and Tourism

• These incidents were met with outrage, but they aren’t shocking for those who have called Hawaii home for generations, like Native Hawaiian Kaimanamālie Brummel, who was born and raised on Maui, and whose great-grandparents are buried in Lahaina. “Frankly, it didn’t surprise me,” Brummel tells Teen Vogue. “People have felt entitled to Hawaii, to our culture, and to our people for a very long time. Now we’re seeing people feeling entitled to our grief.”

Axios ☛ Heat waves swamp multiple regions simultaneouslyA simultaneous spate of extreme heat events have broken longstanding, all-time records on multiple continents this week. Why it matters: Extreme heat events are the clearest manifestation of climate change in weather that people and the ecosystem experience on a daily basis. Extreme heat can be deadly, causing the most deaths of any weather-related phenomenon in the U.S. during a typical year, according to the National Weather Service. Prolonged heat events with sweltering days and little to no relief at night can be particularly hazardous.

Energy/Transportation

=> ↺ Hackaday ☛ Off-Grid EV Charging

• There are plenty of reasons to install solar panels on one’s home. Reducing electric bills, reducing carbon footprint, or simply being in a location without electric service are all fairly common. While some of those might be true for [Dominic], he had another motivating factor. He wanted to install a charger for his electric vehicles but upgrading the electric service at his house would have been prohibitively expensive. So rather than dig up a bunch of his neighbors’ gardens to run a new service wire in he built this off-grid setup instead.

=> ↺ Interesting Engineering ☛ Roars to whispers: NASA’s quest to mute jet noise pollution

• The latest endeavor involves bridging the gap between scale-model tests and real-world flights, promising a future where roaring skies give way to tranquil whispers. Through collaboration with Learjet 25 flight tests, the AAPL is on the cusp of revolutionizing the prediction of takeoff noise for forthcoming supersonic aircraft.

=> ↺ The Hill ☛ Technologies to enhance the power grid exist, we just need to deploy them

• Utilities now have a range of tools at their disposal known as grid enhancing technologies, which can enable more energy to flow along existing networks. One such technology, dynamic line ratings, has been proven to bolster transmission capacity by as much as 40 percent compared to current levels — a significant jump that can help the grid right now unlock more clean energy resources to help meet the growing demands to electrify everything from transportation to home appliances. Full disclosure: I serve on the board of LineVision Inc., a company that specializes in dynamic line ratings.

=> ↺ Eesti Rahvusringhääling ☛ Problems in Finland behind recent electricity price hike

• A sharp rise in electricity prices in the second half of August was caused mainly by problems in the Finnish power system. Experts believe the hike will be short-lived.

=> ↺ Barry Kauler ☛ Milo Stove: making some small parts

Finance

=> ↺ The Straits Times ☛ ST Picks: How a village song about money troubles became an Internet hit

=> ↺ Tedium ☛ Pricing Out Your Legacy

• But the server costs mean something. And so, when I see the news that WordPress parent Automattic has announced that it is going to charge $38,000 to keep your website online for 100 years, something they call the “100 Year Plan,” I immediately am compelled to do the math on that equation. And even though that is a tough pill to swallow for a lot of people, it breaks down to just over $30 a month—which, honestly, is about the price it costs to purchase solid web hosting these days.

=> ↺ NBC ☛ More Green Dot Bank customers say they can’t access their funds, causing financial distress

• Green Dot, which also operates under the moniker Go2bank, specializes in prepaid debit cards and digital accounts that can be set up for direct-deposit paychecks and to pay bills online. The company has touted itself and its app as the “ultimate mobile bank of Americans living paycheck to paycheck.” Since 1999, the company says it has served more than 33 million customers — a figure that is a function of its 17-year relationship with Walmart and TurboTax, which partners with the bank to help customers claim their tax refunds.

=> ↺ Helsinki Times ☛ Retail centers experience a 6.8% increase in visitor numbers in the second quarter

• The number of visitors to Finnish retail centers saw a growth of nearly seven percent in the second quarter of the current year, compared to the previous year. Similarly, the total sales increased nominally by 4.6% in the second quarter of this year compared to the same period in 2022. However, the growth rate slowed considerably in comparison to the first quarter of the year when the 2022 COVID-19 restrictions still impacted the numbers. The growth in total sales for the second quarter remained just over two percentage points lower than inflation.

=> ↺ Axios ☛ China’s slow-moving economic disaster

• China finally reopened its economy earlier this year after years of extreme COVID restrictions. So far, it’s a giant fizzle — with profound ramifications for the rest of the globe.

AstroTurf/Lobbying/Politics

=> ↺ Axios ☛ March on Washington 60th anniversary to highlight unfinished goals

• Civil rights leaders are set to hold the 60th anniversary of the March on Washington on Saturday at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington D.C., amid ongoing fears the nation is going back on racial equity and voting rights, even as the country becomes more diverse.

• The big picture: The 1963 gathering in D.C., where Martin Luther King, Jr. gave his “I Have a Dream” speech, sought to bring attention to jobs, voting rights, and police brutality. The issues are eerily the same in 2023.

=> ↺ Quartz ☛ The US is suing SpaceX for refusing to hire refugees and asylum recipients

• The US justice department yesterday (Aug 24) filed a lawsuit against SpaceX for “routine, widespread, and longstanding” employment discrimination against asylum recipients and refugees.

=> ↺ Common Dreams ☛ The Hollow Men (and Woman)

• What to say on the surreal spectacle of the eight tawdry GOP cranks, morons, misanthropes and “political pygmies,” minus their dark overlord, who gathered this week to spew hate, lies and ugly talking points – migrants! teachers! Soros! Hunter! abortion up to birth! Trans Marxists in bathrooms! – as sorry also-rans in a bleakly unpresidential race to the bottom. For Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, today’s GOP evokes T.S. Eliot’s The Hollow Men: “This is the way the world ends/Not with a bang but a whimper.”

=> ↺ Computer World ☛ UK government confirms November global AI summit

• The UK government has confirmed it will host a global AI summit on November 1 and 2, bringing together government officials, AI companies, and researchers at Bletchley Park to consider the risks and development of AI technologies and discuss how they can be mitigated through internationally coordinated action.

=> ↺ The Economist ☛ American megachurches are thriving by poaching flocks

• Concentration among churches accelerated as costs rose in the 1970s, notes Mark Chaves of Duke University. Smaller ones lost members. Though evangelicals aim to convert non-believers, about three-quarters of those who join megachurches were already practising. “We’d like to think that we’re reaching atheists. We’re reaching some, but the truth is that the body of Christ is consolidating,” says Mr Tome.

• With more money and more hands, megachurches can innovate. Though they account for just 0.5% of all churches and 7% of churchgoers, their influence is felt in the music played elsewhere and the popularity of their TED-talk-style sermons, says Scott Thumma of the Hartford Institute. Nearly all the top contemporary worship songs between 2010 and 2020 came from just four megachurches.

=> ↺ Hackaday ☛ Going To Extremes To Block YouTube Ads

• Many users of YouTube feel that the quality of the service has been decreasing in recent years — the platform offers up bizarre recommendations, fails to provide relevant search results, and continues to shove an increasing amount of ads into the videos themselves. For shareholders of Google’s parent company, though, this is a feature and not a bug; and since shareholder opinion is valued much more highly than user opinion, the user experience will likely continue to decline. But if you’re willing to put a bit of effort in you can stop a large chunk of YouTube ads from making it to your own computers and smartphones.

=> ↺ Federal News Network ☛ Thousands converge on National Mall to mark the March on Washington’s 60th anniversary

• Thousands have gathered at the Lincoln Memorial in the nation’s capital to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have A Dream” speech. The March on Washington was convened Saturday by the Rev. Al Sharpton’s National Action Network and members of the King family. The event is meant to be a rededication to the push for civil rights in the face of a backlash. The original march in 1963 drew as many as 250,000 people and helped pave the way for the passage of federal civil rights and voting rights legislation in the next few years.

=> ↺ New York Times ☛ ‘I Have a Dream,’ Yesterday and Today

• At the March on Washington, where thousands gathered on Saturday to renew the call for equality, participants reflected on Martin Luther King’s historic speech and its themes in the present.

=> ↺ France24 ☛ Zimbabwe’s President Mnangagwa wins second term in controversial vote

• Zimbabwe’s President Emmerson Mnangagwa won a second term in office, election officials said Saturday, but the opposition rejected the result of a vote that international observers said fell short of democratic standards.

=> ↺ Axios ☛ Trump scores huge mug shot windfall

• Former President Trump’s 2024 campaign had its best day of fundraising yet after the release of his mug shot in Fulton County, aides tell Axios.

• The big picture: The iconic image — the first of a U.S. president and representing 13 of Trump’s 91 pending criminal counts — took over the internet in the hours after its release.

Misinformation/Disinformation/Propaganda

=> ↺ The Straits Times ☛ Photoshopped or real? Egret photo taken in Japan goes viral globally, sparks online debate

• A post of the image on social media platform X has gained almost six million views.

Censorship/Free Speech

=> ↺ Hong Kong Free Press ☛ Avenue of Stars operator must safeguard national security, Hong Kong gov’t says

• Hong Kong NGOs have been invited to submit proposals to operate and maintain Hong Kong’s “move walk” – the Avenue of Stars – and Salisbury Garden located on the Tsim Sha Tsui harbourfront.

=> ↺ RFERL ☛ NGOs Launch Petition Against Internet Blockage, Slowdowns By Kazakh Officials

• A group of nongovernmental organizations have urged Kazakh authorities to cancel legislation that allows the government to block or slow access to the Internet.

=> ↺ Netblocks ☛ Internet cut in Gabon on election day

• The internet shutdown has been imposed on election day as President Ali Bongo seeks to win a third seven-year term, furthering concerns over the democratic process in Gabon. It is likely the move will stifle transparency as the opposition hopes to challenge Bongo’s long-standing dominance. Internet service was previous cut in Gabon during the 2019 attempted coup.

• Gabon joins Zambia, Congo, Uganda, Tanzania, Guinea, Burundi, Togo, Mauritania, Benin, Cameroon, Mali and other countries in the region that have faced internet shutdowns and social media restrictions during elections in recent years, limiting free expression and civic engagement at critical moments.

=> ↺ Deutsche Welle ☛ What impact will the EU’s Digital Services Act have?

• Currently, the EU has narrowed down 19 “very large” digital platforms that will be subject to the DSA. The list includes social media sites Meta, X, Instagram and TikTok; the search engine Google and the online encyclopedia Wikipedia; as well as the online marketplaces Alibaba’s AliExpress, Amazon and Zalando. The mobile application stores Google Play and Apple AppStore, as is the digital navigation platform Google Maps, are also on the list.

=> ↺ India Times ☛ Europe’s sweeping rules for tech giants have kicked in, here’s how they work

• The European Union’s groundbreaking new digital rules took effect Friday for the biggest platforms. The Digital Services Act is part of a suite of tech-focused regulations crafted by the 27-nation bloc – long a global leader in cracking down on tech giants.

• The DSA is designed to keep users safe online and stop the spread of harmful content that’s either illegal or violates a platform’s terms of service, such as promotion of genocide or anorexia. It also looks to protect Europeans’ fundamental rights like privacy and free speech.

=> ↺ India Times ☛ Digital Services Act: Here’s how Europe is cracking down on Big Tech

• Here are five things that will change when you sign on: [...]

=> ↺ JURIST ☛ Burmese hip-hop artist sentenced to 20 years for criticising Myanmar’s military leadership

• On Thursday, 38-year-old Burmese hip-hop artist Byu Har was sentenced to 20 years in prison for purportedly critiquing the present military-administered state.  A family member of Har shared the verdict details with the Associated Press.

=> ↺ Hong Kong Free Press ☛ In Pictures: Traditional tools, innovative ink and plenty of skin on display Hong Kong’s tattoo convention

• There was a lot of flesh on display at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre on Friday for the first day of the city’s tattoo convention, most of it covered in ink.

=> ↺ Hong Kong Free Press ☛ Hong Kong gov’t removes decade-old graffiti over security law concerns, as new artwork appears

• Graffiti outside a Central restaurant showing two labourers with yellow construction helmets has been painted over by the government following complaints that the image “may violate” the 2020 national security law. /blockquote>

Freedom of Information / Freedom of the Press

=> ↺ Soylent News ☛ Chris Hedges’ Sermon on The Crucifixion of Julian Assange

• Given the massive quantities of disinformation spread over a longer period of time against Julian Assange, and the media blackout on coverage of his case and how it effects journalism as a whole, this is a difficult case to find a concise and accurate summary to link to. The bottom line is that, regardless of what one thinks (or has been told to think) about Julian Assange, the case hinges on factors which will determine whether or not there is a future for investigative reporting.

=> ↺ [Repeat] IT Wire ☛ Assange backers to hold virtual protest against his extradition

• The event will feature a pre-recorded speech by Assange, and also speeches by Stella Assange, WikiLeaks co-founder and editor-in-chief Kristinn Hrafnsson and former British Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn.

• The Wistaverse is a not-for-profit protocol hosted on the Polygon blockchain and the rally will take place within a virtual auditorium designed to look like the Royal Courts of Justice in London.

=> ↺ VOA News ☛ Exiled Russian Journalist Describes ‘Poisoning’ Ordeal on German Train

• “When you work as an investigative reporter in Russia you are always careful,” she told Reuters. “You have lots of protocols you’re following all the time. But when I found myself in Europe, I totally forgot all these security measures.”

• German prosecutors are investigating whether Kostyuchenko, who is now living in hiding, was the victim of an attempted murder when she became ill last October.

• Her symptoms started with disorientation and stomach pain on a train from Munich to Berlin and persisted for several weeks. By the time she realized she may have been poisoned, it was too late to identify any toxins.

=> ↺ VOA News ☛ Police Secretly Copied Kansas Newspaper’s Data After Raid, Attorney Says

• During a police raid earlier this month on the Marion County Record newspaper in Kansas, law enforcement secretly copied data from at least one computer they seized during the raid and didn’t return it when ordered to do so, the outlet’s attorney said.

• Officers illegally copied 17 gigs of data from the newspaper’s computer system, said Bernie Rhodes, the newspaper’s lawyer.

• “This simply raises even further the level of suspicion that what occurred here was not done for any legitimate purpose,” Rhodes told VOA.

=> ↺ Hong Kong Free Press ☛ Press freedom NGO denounces HK$500k legal bill for journalist cleared of disorder charge

• Cédric Alviani, Asia-Pacific bureau director for NGO Reporters Without Borders said the case was “clearly intended to dissuade foreign journalists who would like to cover future protests in the territory.”

=> ↺ Hong Kong Free Press ☛ Wanted in Hong Kong, self-exiled activists in Britain decry ‘harassment’

• He realised “once you (are) targeted by the regime, then you will be charged with whatever excuse”.

• “If I were ever found guilty, the only crime should be speaking out the truth for Hong Kong people,” the veteran unionist said.

=> ↺ RFERL ☛ American Journalist Evan Gershkovich Appeals Extension Of Pretrial Detention In Russia

• American journalist Evan Gershkovich has appealed a decision to extend his pretrial detention in Russia until the end of November, according to court documents. [...]

Civil Rights/Policing

=> ↺ [Repeat] uni Michigan ☛ GEO accepts UMich contract offer, ends five-month strike

• “We fought tooth-and-nail over 10 months of bargaining and 5 months of strike action, forcing U-M to grant the largest salary increase in GEO history,” the tweet reads. “However, U-M refused to ensure pay parity across all 3 campuses. This battle is over, but the fight goes on!”

=> ↺ Axios ☛ AI’s next target: often-stressful salary negotiations

• What’s happening: Pactum AI, the world’s largest provider of automated procurement negotiation, has been using AI chatbots to negotiate the packages of its employees since 2021.

=> ↺ Vice Media Group ☛ Companies That Union-Bust Must Now Automatically Recognize Union, NLRB Rules

• The decision requires that if a majority of workers ask a company for voluntary recognition of their union, the company must either immediately recognize them or promptly file a petition asking the Board to hold a union election.

=> ↺ VOA News ☛ Iranian Journalist Summoned for Sharing Photos of Women Dancing Without Hijabs

• The prosecutor’s office in Iran has charged a journalist in Tehran for publishing images that featured women dancing and not wearing the hijab.

• Javad Heydarian revealed on X, formerly known as Twitter, that he was summoned by prosecutors in Tehran and charged with “spreading obscenities through the publication of images depicting dancing and unveiling at the LidoMa cultural festival.”

=> ↺ Meduza ☛ Woman who fled Chechnya arrested in Petersburg, handed over to relatives in Grozny

• Human rights advocates fear that in Chechnya, Suleymanova could become the victim of an “honor killing” by members of her family.

• Suleymanova fled Chechnya, where her family considered her “insufficiently religious.” In February 2023, relatives tried to kidnap her. Human rights advocates, to whom she turned for help, say that at that time she was taken away by her brothers but managed to escape. After that, she changed jobs and residences but remained in St. Petersburg.

Internet Policy/Net Neutrality

=> ↺ US News And World Report ☛ Broadband Subsidy Program That Millions Use Will Expire Next Year if Congress Doesn’t Act

• The Affordable Connectivity Program has not reached everyone who is eligible. According to an Associated Press analysis of enrollment and census data, less than than 40% of eligible households have utilized the program, which provides monthly subsidies of $30, and in some cases, up to $75, to help pay for internet connections.

Monopolies

=> ↺ Security Week ☛ Europe is Cracking Down on Big Tech. This Is What Will Change When You Sign On

• The Digital Services Act aims to protect European users when it comes to privacy, transparency and removal of harmful or illegal content.

Patents

=> ↺ Kluwer Patent Blog ☛ First developments at the Unified Patent Court [Ed: Unified Patent Court is illegal and unconstitutional. Celebrating illegal and unconstitutional things bodes well for the messenger.]

• The first two substantive public hearings of the Unified Patent Court will be held next month at the local division in Munich about applications for provisional measures.

=> ↺ Dennis Crouch/Patently-O ☛ “Bald Girls Do Lunch” Unable to Sway the Federal Circuit in Case Involving Deuterated Drug for Alopecia Areata

• Bald Girls Do Lunch (“BDGL”) is a nonprofit organization dedicated to improving the quality of life for females living with alopecia areata (“AA”).  AA has been described as “an autoimmune skin disease resulting in partial to complete hair loss on all hair-bearing areas of the body, including, for example, on the face, resulting in loss of eyebrows and eyelashes.” According to BDGL, “AA is not a simple cosmetic problem—it is a chronic, often devastating condition that has substantial and wideranging implications, affecting patient’s physical, mental, and emotional health.  Indeed, in severe cases, AA can lead to chronic depression.”

Trademarks

=> ↺ TTAB Blog ☛ TTABlog Test: Which of These Three Section 2(e)(1) Mere Descriptiveness Refusals Was/Were Reversed?

• By my count, the Board has affirmed 40 of the first 44 Section 2(e)(1) refusals that it reviewed this year. Here are three more. At least one was reversed. How do you think these three cases came out? [Results in first comment].

Copyrights

=> ↺ Torrent Freak ☛ The Pirates vs. The Premier League: Must-Listen Podcast Available Now

• In their new podcast series The Pirates vs The Premier League, journalists Matt Cutler and Richard Gillis take a deep dive into the world of pirate IPTV. Speaking to suppliers profiting from it and the fans happily consuming it, the series explores potential consequences for the Premier League and possible solutions to a problem it does not want to discuss.

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