Links 27/04/2024: Kaiser Gave Patients' Data to Microsoft, "Microsoft Lost ‘Dream Job’ Status"
Contents
- Leftovers
- Science
- Education
- Hardware
- Health/Nutrition/Agriculture
- Proprietary/Artificial Intelligence (AI)
- Security
- Defence/Aggression
- Transparency/Investigative Reporting
- Environment
- Finance
- AstroTurf/Lobbying/Politics
- Censorship/Free Speech
- Freedom of Information / Freedom of the Press
- Civil Rights/Policing
- Internet Policy/Net Neutrality
- Digital Restrictions (DRM) Monopolies/Monopsonies
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Leftovers
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Brandon ☛ Granny's Recipes
I have a new blog alert. It's not something I think many folks will be interested in, but I wanted to share it nonetheless. My great-grandmother hand wrote a recipe book a few decades ago. I've had a digital copy for a few years that I've wanted to type out to preserve. I decided to create a new blog to encourage me to work through transcribing all of these recipes over the next few months. I've already done about 1/4 of them.
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Kev Quirk ☛ Too Little, and Too Much, Self-Promotion
As for advertising vs promotion, I personally think what Manu is talking about is well in the realms of promotion. To me, advertising is shilling other people’s shit. Whereas promotion is talking about your own stuff, on your own space. The two are completely different in my book.
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Barry Hess ☛ Self-Promotion
There is certainly a line that can be crossed. We may talk too much about our Ko-fi or Patreon. We may make our self-promotion too loud or distracting. But I think most of us are very far from crossing that line and it’s time for us to push a bit out of our comfort zones. Let’s push ourselves to share what we like. Let’s push ourselves to share ourselves. Let’s do things and tell people.
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Manuel Moreale ☛ P&B: Veronique
This is the 35th edition of People and Blogs, the series where I ask interesting people to talk about themselves and their blogs. Today we have Veronique and her blog, veronique.ink
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Crooked Timber ☛ Going Meta on Culture Wars — Crooked Timber
Now, anything can become a culture war topic. That’s because anything can become of symbolic importance and become instrumental in solidifying affective and instrumental ties among people. Don’t believe me? Go re-read Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels!
However, there is a class of topics that are especially likely to be effective in perpetuating culture wars. These are topics that are at the (i) intersection of campus politics (recall elite education) and, also, (ii) involve considerable abstraction. Now, what’s important about campus politics (especially at highly selective schools) is it is far removed from ordinary people’s lives despite the high seeming stakes involved (getting in is perceived to generate enormous windfalls). There is little direct acquaintance with them, and even people that have gone to a selective institution in the past spend their adult lives away from them. In addition, on campus there is an extreme intellectual division of labor among (and even within) disciplines such that the vocabulary of one discipline can become highly unintelligible and esoteric to members of another. The jargon of one discipline can easily become gibberish to the next, and this jargon is utterly unsuitable for public debate, where it will quickly seem mystery or bullshit.
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[Old] Tampa Bay ☛ Gates gets creamed
Microsoft's Bill Gates was greeted with a pie in the face Wednesday as he arrived in Brussels for a meeting with Belgian business and government officials, including Prime Minister Jean-Luc Dehaene. [...]
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[Old] New York Times ☛ Brussels Journal; The Philosopher With a Pie, and a Glint in the Eye
Mr. Godin's goal has long been to ''entarte,'' as he calls it, as many people like Mr. Gates as possible -- people he feels are particularly full of self-importance and particularly lacking in a sense of humor. Mr. Gates fit the bill because he is unspeakably rich and powerful and because, Mr. Godin said in a recent interview, he ''chooses to function in the service of the capitalist status quo, without really using his intelligence or his imagination.''
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Uwe Friedrichsen ☛ The need-vs-want dilemma
Watterson made this comment in the context of a strip where Calvin, the 6 year old precocious and sometimes annoying main character presented a “poll of six-year-olds in this household” to his dad, trying to influence his father’s policies. Of course, the strip and Watterson’s comment on it were a skit on politicians who align their messages and their acting with the results of polls – which reflect what people want and not what they need.
While we could use the observation that want rarely corresponds to need to explain a lot of things that seem to go wrong in politics, economy and many other areas of our lives, I will limit the discussion (mostly) to IT here.
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Science
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New York Times ☛ Beth Linker is Turning Good Posture On its Head
A historian and sociologist of science re-examines the “posture panic” of the last century. You’ll want to sit down for this.
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Science Alert ☛ NASA's Advanced Solar Sail Has Successfully Deployed in Space
The future is bright.
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Science Alert ☛ World-First: Woman Receives Combined Heart Pump And Pig Kidney Transplant
It's a success so far.
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Science Alert ☛ Breakthrough: Rare Gene Mutation Offers Clues to Preventing Type 1 Diabetes
Never seen anywhere else.
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Science Alert ☛ Antarctica's Extended Ozone Hole Raises Concerns For Penguin And Seal Breeding
Their young may be more vulnerable to UV rays.
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Omicron Limited ☛ New algorithm cuts through 'noisy' data to better predict tipping points
A new algorithm developed by University at Buffalo researchers can identify the most predictive data points that a tipping point is near. Detailed in Nature Communications, this theoretical framework uses the power of stochastic differential equations to observe the fluctuation of data points, or nodes, and then determine which should be used to calculate an early warning signal.
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Vox ☛ So you’ve found research fraud. Now what?
Gino was a prolific researcher, and with 138 papers now called into question and more than 143 people who had co-authored with her, it proved a challenge to find who handled what data — so six co-authors began to work through each paper to systematically make public how the data was collected and who had custody of it. Their work was organized as the Many Co-Authors Project.
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Omicron Limited ☛ AI deciphers new gene regulatory code in plants and makes accurate predictions for newly sequenced genomes
However, the grasp of how genetic variation influences gene activity at the molecular level is quite limited. This gap in knowledge hinders the breeding of "smart crops" with enhanced quality and reduced negative environmental impact achieved by combination of specific gene variants of known function.
Researchers from the IPK Leibniz Institute and Forschungszentrum Jülich (FZ) have made a significant breakthrough to tackle this challenge. Led by Dr. Jedrzej Jakub Szymanski, the international research team trained interpretable deep learning models, a subset of AI algorithms, on a vast dataset of genomic information from various plant species.
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YLE ☛ Nokia, Nasa aim for the moon with pioneering 4G project
The 4G network unit is being built by Nokia’s Bell Labs division, which focuses on research and product development.
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CNN ☛ NASA and Nokia are taking 4G into space
The 4G network unit is being built by Nokia’s Bell Labs using a range of off-the-shelf commercial components. It will be loaded onto a lander made by US company Intuitive Machines, and once deployed it will connect the lander via radio equipment to two roaming vehicles with their own special mission: to search for ice.
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Education
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Hamilton Nolan ☛ College Is an Education in Bullshit - by Hamilton Nolan
Seen from this perspective, the protest encampments in support of Gaza that are sweeping elite college campuses across the nation—and being ruthlessly crushed by riot cops at the same rate—are valuable arenas of political education, more valuable than anything those kids will learn in the classroom. These experiences will teach these kids some of the most important truths they will need to know to accurately assess the way that America operates: That the polished people in charge of things are often merciless dictators at heart; That awful atrocities will be tolerated as soon as they can be ignored; That one millimeter beneath the smile of the boss lurks gritted teeth and a determination to call the cops to break your head open if you don’t listen. To have young people set out to protest the deaths of tens of thousands of civilians and then be met by hysterical repression from the same institutions that have been tasked with making them “good citizens” is one of the best lessons I can imagine. It is an act of wiping off the makeup to reveal the pig beneath. We wouldn’t want that pig to be concealed forever, would we?
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The Register UK ☛ Prisoners build websites, self-esteem, and skills
Teaching prisoners how to design and program websites turns out to improve their sense of self-worth and provides them with digital literacy skills that help them stay out of prison.
Boffins at MIT CSAIL and University of Massachusetts Lowell report that their Brave Behind Bars program, a 12-week college-accredited web design course for incarcerated individuals, has a demonstrable effect on the self-efficacy of people in prison.
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Hardware
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AnandTech ☛ TSMC Jumps Into Silicon Photonics, Lays Out Roadmap For 12.8 Tbps COUPE On-Package Interconnect
Optical connectivity – and especially silicon photonics – is expected to become a crucial technology to enable connectivity for next-generation datacenters, particularly those designed HPC applications. With ever-increasing bandwidth requirements needed to keep up with (and keep scaling out) system performance, copper signaling alone won't be enough to keep up. To that end, several companies are developing silicon photonics solutions, including fab providers like TSMC, who this week outlined its 3D Optical Engine roadmap as part of its 2024 North American Technology Symposium, laying out its plan to bring up to 12.8 Tbps optical connectivity to TSMC-fabbed processors.
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The Register UK ☛ The eight-bit Z80 is dead. Long live the 16-bit Z80!
Zilog has announced that it will end production of the original, classic DIP-format, pin-through-hole eight-bit Z80 processor. Although there will be stock in the channel for a while, all the same this is bad news for many hobbyist computer builders… but all is not lost.
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Tom's Hardware ☛ Two Chinese nationals charged in US with trying to export banned semiconductor machinery to China — one arrested in Chicago
Two Chinese nationals were charged of being part of a scheme to illegally smuggle semiconductor processing machinery out of the US to China, breaking export law.
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Health/Nutrition/Agriculture
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Bridge Michigan ☛ U-M expert probes psychological effect of active-shooter drills in schools
The committee is expected to finalize its report by the summer of 2025.
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The Atlantic ☛ We’re All Reading Wrong
But the ancients read differently than we do today. Until approximately the tenth century, when the practice of silent reading expanded thanks to the invention of punctuation, reading was synonymous with reading aloud. Silent reading was terribly strange, and, frankly, missed the point of sharing words to entertain, educate, and bond. Even in the 20th century, before radio and TV and smartphones and streaming entered American living rooms, couples once approached the evening hours by reading aloud to each other.
But what those earlier readers didn’t yet know was that all of that verbal reading offered additional benefits: It can boost the reader’s mood and ability to recall. It can lower parents’ stress and increase their warmth and sensitivity toward their children. To reap the full benefits of reading, we should be doing it out loud, all the time, with everyone we know.
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NPR ☛ 10 years after Flint, the fight to replace lead pipes across U.S. continues
"We had greenish and brownish water. It smelled weird. It was giving people's rashes and they were losing hair. Patients were asking, 'Was it okay to use this tap water to mix their babies' formula?" Dr. Hanna-Attisha recalls.
State and city officials reassured Flint residents that the water was safe. That wasn't true
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Science Alert ☛ Florida Man's Mystery Migraine Traced to Rare Case of Parasite in His Brain
Quite a puzzling situation.
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Science Alert ☛ Breakthrough Vaccine Shows High Protection Against Drug-Resistant Superbug in Mice
A potential path forward.
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Science Alert ☛ Ancient DNA Unveils Family Secrets of a Lost Nomadic Culture in Europe
Who were the Avars?
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New York Times ☛ Israel’s Military Campaign Has Left Gaza’s Medical System Near Collapse
The Israeli military’s bombardment and invasion of Gaza have decimated its health care system in a way that aid groups and international bodies are increasingly calling “systematic.”
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teleSUR ☛ Skilled Labor Situation in German Healthcare Remains Tense
This country is expected to face a shortage of between 280,000 and 690,000 nurses by 2049.
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New York Times ☛ When U.S. Officials Visit China, Their Food Choices Are Closely Watched
Visits to China by American officials like Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken can bring fame to local restaurants, as well as scrutiny to the dignitaries.
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The Straits Times ☛ When US diplomats visit China, meal choices are about more than taste buds
Where, what and how US dignitaries eat when they visit China is a serious matter.
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Proprietary/Artificial Intelligence (AI)
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The Register UK ☛ Amazon to ditch WorkDocs sharing service
The letter cheerfully notifies users that "if you do not take any action, your WorkDocs data will be deleted on April 26, 2025."
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Ruben Schade ☛ VMware outsourcing their support
We run VMware for some legacy workloads at work, or for those that require VMware for certification. Aka, things we can’t migrate to our Xen-based platform. Our clients understand it’s not us hiking their licencing costs and enshittifying their support, but it’s still not a fun conversation to have several times a week. I’d rather talk about this cool new feature or integration their platform supports. You know, tech stuff.
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The Register UK ☛ Man arrested for 'framing colleague' with AI-generated voice
"On January 17, 2024, the Baltimore County Police Department became aware of a voice recording being circulated on social media," said Robert McCullough, Chief of Baltimore County Police, at a streamed press conference today. "It was alleged the voice captured on the audio file belong to Mr Eric Eiswert, the Principal at the Pikesville High School. We now have conclusive evidence that the recording was not authentic.
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India Times ☛ AI is touching lives of 9 in 10 internet users: report
Kantar research indicates that AI is already affecting 9 in 10 internet users in India through phone computing capabilities, connectivity, and cloud infrastructure.
It added that the current AI user base of the country stands at 724 million and is poised to grow at 6% year on year. These are users who have used any of the AI features, like image filters, personalised recommendations, and smart devices, till now.
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Futurism ☛ Self-Driving Waymo Spotted Plowing Down Wrong Side of Street
Another video shows the same event from a different perspective, with the Waymo car seemingly trying to overtake the unicyclists — by taking over the entirety of the oncoming lane.
Fortunately, one of the unicyclists managed to get the vehicle to stop by getting in front of it.
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San Fancisco ☛ Waymo: Robotaxi drove on wrong side of SF street to ensure safety
According to the videos, a Waymo robotaxi heading west crossed a double solid yellow line onto the eastbound lane closest to the median as it drove behind a crowd of people riding electric scooters and unicycles.
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William ☛ Firstyear's blog-a-log
However Chrome simply never implemented it leading to it being removed. And it was removed because Chrome never implemented it. As a result, if Chrome doesn't like something in the specification they can just veto it without consequence.
Later the justification for this not being implemented was: "We have never implemented it because we don't feel that authenticator discrimination is broadly a good thing. ... they [users] should have the expectation that a given security key will broadly work where they want to use it."
I want you to remember this quote and it's implications.
Users should be able to use any device they choose without penalty.
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The Telegraph UK ☛ Post Office inquiry live: Chief who 'misled High Court about Horizon' to give evidence for second day
Angela van den Bogerd, who was in charge of handling complaints about Horizon from 2010, told the High Court in 2019 that she did not know subpostmasters’ branch accounts could be accessed remotely before 2018.
Testifying under oath in March 2019, Ms van den Bogerd told the court in the case of Mr Bates vs the Post Office she had first become aware transactions could be inputted without a sub-postmaster’s knowledge the previous year.
However, the inquiry was shown emails which revealed she was told remote access was possible as far back as 2010.
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The Guardian UK ☛ Former Post Office executive says he should not have said Horizon was robust
David Miller, who retired in 2006 as chief operating officer of the Post Office, had been told of problems with Horizon when he held meetings with post office operators in June 1999, the inquiry into the scandal has heard.
Miller told a hearing on Tuesday that he did not remember a Post Office board meeting in July 1999 where minutes show he gave assurances to executives that the Horizon system was “robust and fit for purpose”.
“I should not have said it was robust. I make the assumption that the board minutes are correct – so I did say it,” Miller told the inquiry.
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Security
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Privacy/Surveillance
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The Register UK ☛ Kaiser gave 13.4M people's data to Microsoft, others
Millions of Kaiser Permanente patients' data was likely handed over to Google, Microsoft Bing, X/Twitter, and other third-parties, according to the American healthcare giant.
Kaiser told The Register it has started notifying 13.4 million current and former members and patients that "certain online technologies, previously installed on its websites and mobile applications, may have transmitted personal information to third-party vendors," when customers used its websites and mobile applications.
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404 Media ☛ Chaturbate Will Pay Texas $675,000 for Violating New Porn Age Verification Law
Now, Chaturbate has to pay this fine and run age verification for all users in Texas; it’s using a private identity verification platform called Incode to verify ages. The process is similar to how it works in Utah for xHamster users: navigating to to a separate platform and scanning your ID before being allowed to access porn.
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The Verge ☛ Eken fixes ‘terrible’ video doorbell issue that could let someone spy on you
Gaining access to the doorbell didn’t even require any level of hacking knowledge: bad actors could simply download the Aiwit app, go to their target’s home, and hold down the doorbell’s button to pair it with their own smartphones, change their Wi-Fi network, and take control of the device.
Additionally, anyone with the doorbell’s serial number could remotely view still images from the video feed — no password or account required, CR security experts found. Doorbell owners didn’t receive a notification of any kind if another user accessed their video feed in this manner.
The doorbells also didn’t encrypt the user’s home IP address or Wi-Fi network, leaving both potentially exposed to criminals.
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Scheerpost ☛ US Senate and Biden Admin Usher in a Two Year Expansion of Unconstitutional Mass Surveillance
While Section 702 prohibits the NSA and FBI from intentionally targeting Americans with this mass surveillance, these agencies routinely acquire a huge amount of innocent Americans’ communications “incidentally.” The government can then conduct backdoor, warrantless searches of these “incidentally collected” communications.
The government cannot even follow the very lenient rules about what it does with the massive amount of information it gathers under Section 702, repeatedly abusing this authority by searching its databases for Americans’ communications. In 2021 alone, the FBI reported conducting up to 3.4 million warrantless searches of Section 702 data using Americans’ identifiers. Given this history of abuse, it is difficult to understand how Congress could decide to expand the government’s power under Section 702 rather than rein it in.
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Lee Peterson ☛ Motorola will use your data for training AI and passes data to advertisers
Being asked for location a lot and my lack of Android privacy settings had me uneasy using the Razr.
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Lee Peterson ☛ Motorola privacy policies might be a showstopper for me using the Razr
Whilst they don’t ‘sell’ my information, they are passing it into third parties.
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New York Times ☛ How to Claim Your Part of a $5.6 Million Ring Settlement
The Federal Trade Commission said this week that some people who had bought certain home security cameras made by Ring, which is owned by Amazon, would be eligible for refunds for their purchase. The payments, totaling more than $5.6 million, are part of a settlement between Ring and the F.T.C. over claims that the company failed to protect customer accounts.
Here’s what to know.
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404 Media ☛ Discord Shuts Down ‘Spy Pet’ Bots That Scraped, Sold User Messages
Discord banned a mass of accounts that were part of a service that scraped and sold user data, including messages posted across servers and what voice channels they joined, 404 Media has learned. The move comes after 404 Media reported on the service, called Spy Pet, last week and verified it was selling access to genuine user messages ripped from Discord servers.
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OpenRightsGroup ☛ Europe warns of threat to adequacy agreement
The Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs (LIBE Committee) has written to the Chair of the European Committee in the House of Lords to warn that “UK divergence from EU data standards, [is] putting the validity of the adequacy findings into question”. The Committee notes that it has been closely following the progress of data reform in the UK, as both adequacy agreements with the EU “contain sunset clauses, and thus will automatically expire four years after their entry into force”.
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RTL ☛ Testing home occupancy: Police warn of "glue string" method used by burglars
Intruders have taken to using thin strings of adhesive on entryways and doors to help them ascertain when a resident has left the property. The strings are usually barely visible, showing if the door has been opened recently.
If the strings are left intact, they function as an indication for burglars that the property is empty, allowing them free rein to break in.
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NYOB ☛ AG at CJEU: Facebook must "minimize" personal data for ads in EU
Limits on "scraping" of personal data - even if "manifestly made public". In the context of the highly personal information that Meta collected about Mr Schrems (via advertising partners), a discussion arose as to whether the subsequent public criticism of such practices would lead to a "waiver" of Mr Schrems' right to privacy in respect of the initially unlawful processing. Mr Schrems always agreed that he made such information public and it generally falls under Article 9(2)(e) GDPR ("mainfestly made public") - while some Member States before the CJEU were questioning this element. While this is a very specific situation of a single user, the interpretation of the law is relevant in the broader context of "web scraping", where publicly available information is simply taken and processed for other purposes. Mr Schrems argued that the principle of "purpose limitation" in Article 5(1) GDPR must be applied in parallel here. This is now also argued by the Advocate General.
Katharina Raabe-Stuppnig: "Just because some information is public, does not mean it can be used for any other purposes. If you make a political comment on social media, it cannot be used for targeting political advertising at you. If users lose all their rights to published information, it would have a huge chilling effect on free speech."
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Confidentiality
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The Register UK ☛ Flaws in Chinese keyboard apps expose smartphones to snoops
Computers set for use by Chinese language speakers therefore employ “Input Method Editor” (IME) software , the most popular of which use the Pinyin scheme that makes it possible to represent the sounds of Mandarin using the Latin alphabet. Smartphones intended for use by Chinese speakers often include Pinyin keyboard apps, and they’re also available in app stores.
But mapping the Latin alphabet to Chinese characters is not easy, so some Pinyin apps upload keystrokes to the cloud for processing. Apple and Google don't use this technique.
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NDTV ☛ WhatsApp, Delhi High Court: If We're Told To Break Encryption, WhatsApp Goes: Platform's Big Warning
WhatsApp won't stay if it is made to break encryption of messages, the messaging service platform has told Delhi High Court in a case challenging the amended IT rules. WhatsApp and Facebook (now Meta) have challenged Rule 4(2) of the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021.
This rule lays down that a social media intermediary providing services primarily in the nature of messaging shall enable the identification of the first originator of the information on its computer resource, as may be required by a judicial order passed by a court or competent authority.
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Defence/Aggression
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The Straits Times ☛ US, South Korea outline visions for cost-sharing on troops, US negotiator says
The allies named envoys in March to launch early talks for a new deal to take effect in 2026.
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RFA ☛ Annual hunger crunch: North Koreans scour fields for leftovers
While last year’s harvest was better, people still lack enough food.
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New York Times ☛ Suddenly, Chinese Spies Seem to Be Popping Up All Over Europe
A flurry of arrests this week reflect the continent’s newly toughened response to Beijing’s espionage activities and political meddling.
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New York Times ☛ Xi and Blinken Trade Small Nods Over a Large Gap
The U.S. secretary of state and the Chinese leader struck conciliatory notes in Beijing. But there was no budging on, or hiding, their governments’ core differences.
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The Hill ☛ US no longer viewed as most influential global power in Africa: Survey
The United States is no longer viewed as the most influential global power in Africa, having been surpassed by China in a new survey from Gallup.
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The Record ☛ Congress picked a direct fight with ByteDance and TikTok. The privacy implications are less clear.
The national security concerns were too great, the lawmakers say, and they vehemently disagree with the idea that the legislation was unnecessary.
“Congress is acting to prevent foreign adversaries from conducting espionage, surveillance, maligned operations, harming vulnerable Americans, our servicemen and women, and our U.S. government personnel,” Senate Commerce Chair Maria Cantwell (D-WA) said Tuesday after the Senate passed its bill.
In an interview last month, Senate Intelligence Chair Mark Warner (D-VA) echoed those concerns, saying, “at the end of the day, TikTok is owned by a Chinese company, ByteDance. And by Chinese law, that company has to be willing to turn over data to the Communist Party.” Warner also cited how TikTok is used to circulate propaganda and disinformation.
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Jason Kratz ☛ Ben Werdmuller is wrong on TikTok
Yes these are all worries, leaving aside the snark of “something no other social network would ever do”. The big difference between TikTok and other social networks of course is that those other networks he’s referring to aren’t controlled by the Chinese Communist Party with it’s own agenda and interests in manipulating American citizens. There is already plenty of evidence that this is occurring. That Werdmuller is defending this under the guise of “free speech” is absolutely preposterous.
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The Hill ☛ ByteDance says it won’t sell TikTok business in US
Even if TikTok were purchased in the U.S., it likely would be different from the app users use today because Chinese export rules would regulate whether the algorithm could be transferred, and the TikTok algorithm has been a key factor to its popularity among users.
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TwinCities Pioneer Press ☛ These are the countries where TikTok is already banned
TikTok is already banned in a handful of countries and from government-issued devices in a number of others, due to official worries that the app poses privacy and cybersecurity concerns.
Those fears are reflected in the U.S. law, which is the culmination of long-held bipartisan fears in Washington that China’s communist leaders could force ByteDance to hand over U.S. user data, or influence Americans by suppressing or promoting certain content. TikTok has long maintained that it doesn’t share data with the Chinese government and its CEO has taken a defiant stance, vowing to fight back.
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The Hill ☛ GOP’s inclusion of TikTok ban is secret weapon against Biden
Democrats are bracing for a backlash from young voters over the potential ban of TikTok on U.S. phones, something made more likely by the Chinese government’s opposition to ByteDance selling off one of the most sophisticated algorithms in the world.
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The Register UK ☛ US ban on TikTok could lead to Chinese trade war retaliation
With President Biden signing off that legislation and ByeDance considering its options and appeals, we caught up with Payton to chat about TikTok's fate after previously discussing the matter earlier this month.
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The Verge ☛ DJI faces US ban if the Countering CCP Drones Act becomes law
If passed, the Countering CCP Drones Act would add DJI drones to the FCC’s list of equipment covered by the Secure and Trusted Communications Networks Act of 2019. This bars communications equipment or services that “pose a national security risk” from running on US networks. It also prevents companies from using federal funding to purchase banned equipment. Chinese companies such as Huawei and ZTE are already included on the FCC’s list.
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Wired ☛ Sale or No Sale, TikTok Will Never Be the Same
There are a few ways this could all shake out. An American company or private equity fund could buy TikTok and its powerful recommendation algorithm. Or, a buyer might have to accept just the bones of the platform without that algorithmic muscle; The Information reported on Thursday that ByteDance has already started gaming out what a sale without the algorithm would look like. Or, perhaps no buyer can be found and TikTok goes poof.
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Hong Kong Free Press ☛ TikTok owner says 'no plans' to sell after US ban law
US lawmakers set the nine-month deadline on national security grounds, alleging that TikTok can be used by the Chinese government for espionage and propaganda as long as it is owned by ByteDance.
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India Times ☛ tiktok ban: ByteDance prefers TikTok shutdown in US if legal options fail: report
A shutdown would have limited impact on ByteDance's business while the company would not have to give up its core algorithm, said the sources, who declined to be named as they were not authorised to speak to the media.
ByteDance declined to comment.
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CBC ☛ TikTok parent company says it won't sell, despite possible U.S. ban
The legislation that U.S. President Joe Biden signed this week could allow Washington to widen its scope to target other China-related apps, such as the popular e-commerce platform Temu, and embolden U.S. allies to follow suit, said Hu Xijin, a former editor-in-chief for the party-run newspaper Global Times.
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RFERL ☛ Siberian Teens Get Prison Terms Over Anti-War Graffiti
[...] Aleksandr Snezhkov, 19, and Lyubov Lizunova, 16, were sentenced to 6 years and 3 1/2 years in prison, respectively, on April 25. [...]
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Deutsche Welle ☛ Espionage in the EU: Is the bloc ready to ward off spies?
First, starting from December 2022, came bombshell accusations that parliamentarians and their staff had accepted cash for influence from Qatar, Morocco and Mauritania. Then, at the start of this year, investigative outlet The Insider alleged that Latvian lawmaker Tatjana Zdanoka had worked with Russian intelligence officials for years.
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NPR ☛ China's influence operations against the U.S. are bigger than TikTok
National security is at the heart of bipartisan concerns in Washington motivating the law. Lawmakers say they're worried the Chinese government could lean on ByteDance in order to use TikTok to suck up Americans' data, surveil them, and spread false and misleading claims to U.S. voters.
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The Register UK ☛ ByteDance would rather torpedo TikTok than sell it – claim
There is a fear stateside that China-based ByteDance could be forced by Middle Kingdom mandarins to manipulate TikTok, one of the biggest social media platforms in the United States, to spread misinformation or snoop on Americans. The House, Senate, and Biden all rubber-stamped the sell-or-ban bill.
The law says ByteDance must divest itself of TikTok by January 19, 2025, the day before President Biden's term as president expires, or get the ban hammer. That deadline may be extended by three months. It's also worth remembering that Western social media, such as Facebook and Reddit, is already by and large blocked in China.
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Reuters ☛ Exclusive: ByteDance prefers TikTok shutdown in US if legal options fail, sources say
A shutdown would have limited impact on ByteDance's business while the company would not have to give up its core algorithm, said the sources, who declined to be named as they were not authorised to speak to the media. ByteDance declined to comment.
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Digital Music News ☛ TikTok Lite Drops Addictive Feature After EU Commission Action
The investigation is the European Union’s second formal inquiry into the app, this time investigating whether the platform violates the Digital Services Act. “The Commission is concerned that the ‘Task and Reward Program’ of TikTok Lite, which allows users to earn points while performing tasks on TikTok—has been launched without prior diligent assessment of the risk it entails,” the official action reads. “In particular, those risks related to the addictive effect of the platform, without taking effective risk mitigating measures.”
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India Times ☛ TikTok CEO expects to defeat US restrictions: 'We aren't going anywhere'
Biden signed legislation in late 2022 that barred U.S. government employees from using TikTok on government phones.
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Hong Kong Free Press ☛ China warns US Chief Sec. Blinken over ‘downward spiral’ in ties following talks
By Shaun Tandon China’s foreign minister warned Antony Blinken on Friday that US pressure could trigger a “downward spiral”, as the visiting secretary of state raised concerns on issues including support for Russia.
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RFA ☛ Blinken meets Pooh-tin amid warning of ‘downward spiral’ in ties
Wrapping up his trip to China, the top US diplomat accused Beijing of interfering in upcoming elections.
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Russia, Belarus, and War in Ukraine
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Latvia ☛ Latvian Foreign Minister makes trip to Ukraine
On 26 April 2024, the Latvian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Baiba Braže, arrived in Ukraine on her first bilateral visit abroad, just a few days after her first foreign trip in the job to Luxembourg, as previously reported.
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France24 ☛ Russian embassy shares disinformation on alleged atrocities by foreign mercenaries in Ukraine
The Russian Embassy in South Africa shared an article on X on April 9 about alleged atrocities committed by foreign mercenaries fighting for Ukraine. But this content originated from a fake news site, and the images used can be traced to other contexts.
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France24 ☛ Russia arrests Forbes reporter over social control media posts on Bucha massacre
Russia has arrested a journalist from the Russian edition of Forbes magazine for social control media reposts over accusations of Russian atrocities in the Ukrainian town of Bucha, his lawyer and Forbes said on Friday.
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France24 ☛ Ukraine agriculture minister released from custody in suspected corruption case
Ukraine's agriculture minister, who has been accused of involvement in a large-scale corruption scandal, posted nearly $2 million in bail and returned to his duties on Friday, his ministry announced.
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LRT ☛ Lithuania vows to follow Poland in mobilising Ukrainian men abroad
Lithuania vows to follow in Poland’s footsteps when it comes to the conscription of military-age Ukrainian men living abroad, Defence Minister Laurynas Kasčiūnas has said.
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RFERL ☛ Briton Charged Over Alleged Russian-Linked Arson Attack
A British man has been charged over alleged hostile state activity intended to benefit Russia, including by allegedly recruiting others for an arson attack on a Ukrainian-linked commercial property in London.
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RFERL ☛ On Chernobyl Anniversary, Zelenskiy Warns Zaporizhzhya Could Be Next
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has said the continued occupation by Russia of Ukraine's Zaporizhzhya nuclear power plant -- Europe's largest -- heightens the danger of a nuclear catastrophe.
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RFERL ☛ Russian Shelling Of Kharkiv Wounds 4, Including 3 Children
Four people, including three children, were wounded early on April 26 when Russian troops shelled the village of Derhachi in Ukraine's Kharkiv region, Governor Oleh Synyehubov said.
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RFERL ☛ Bodies Of 140 Fallen Soldiers Returned To Ukraine
The bodies of 140 Ukrainian servicemen killed in action have been returned to Ukraine, the Kyiv-based Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War announced in a statement on April 26.
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RFERL ☛ Report: Spain To Send Patriot Missiles To Ukraine
Spain will send a small number of Patriot missiles to Ukraine in response to pressure from EU and NATO allies to send more military aid to Kyiv, according to a report published on April 26.
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RFERL ☛ Ukrainian Minister Released On Bail After Corruption Accusations
Ukrainian Agriculture Minister Mykola Solskiy was released from custody on April 26 after posting bail following his arrest earlier in the day over accusations that he had illegally acquired land worth about 291 million hryvnyas ($7 million).
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RFERL ☛ U.S. Announces $6 Billion Aid Package Including Patriot Air-Defense Missiles
The United States will provide Ukraine with Patriot missiles for its air-defense systems as part of a massive $6 billion additional aid package, U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said on April 26 after a meeting of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group.
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RFERL ☛ Siberian Teens Get Prison Terms Over Anti-War Graffiti
A military court in Siberia has handed prison terms to two teenagers over graffiti they painted protesting Russia's ongoing invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
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MIT Technology Review ☛ Here’s the defense tech at the center of US aid to Israel, Ukraine, and Taiwan
MIT Technology Review Explains: Let our writers untangle the complex, messy world of technology to help you understand what’s coming next. You can read more from the series here.
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teleSUR ☛ Chernobyl Nuclear Disaster Shocked the World 38 Years Ago
Radioactive elements contaminated 142,000 square kilometers in Ukraine, Belarus, and Russia.
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New York Times ☛ Pentagon Announces Additional $6 Billion in Military Aid for Ukraine
The funds will allow Kyiv to purchase weapons directly from American defense companies.
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New York Times ☛ Russia Strikes Ukraine’s Railways and Vows to Slow Arrival of U.S. Aid
The attacks killed at least six civilians and injured dozens of others, the Ukrainian military and local officials said.
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New York Times ☛ Ukraine Is Denying Consular Services to Men Outside the Country
New guidance carries a clear message to men abroad who may be avoiding the draft: You don’t get the benefit of state services if you don’t join the fight.
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New York Times ☛ In Western Ukraine, a Community Wrestles With Patriotism or Survival
As the war drags on, communities that were steadfast in their commitment to the effort have been shaken by the unending violence on the front line.
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Meduza ☛ A numbers game What we know about the balance of power between the Russian and Ukrainian armies — and how mobilization could change it — Meduza
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Latvia ☛ Latvian-Russian border fence construction resumes
After a five-year break, in April, with the involvement of the National Armed Forces (NBS), the construction of a fence between Latvia and Russia has resumed. Priority stages are expected to be completed this year, Latvian Radio reported on April 26.
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Latvia ☛ Russia expels two Latvian diplomats
On Thursday, a note on the expulsion of two Latvian diplomats was submitted to the Latvian Chargé d'Affaires at the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Diāna Eglīte, Press Secretary of the Latvian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, confirmed to LETA.
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Off Guardian ☛ Quick Take: So…what’s with all the spying?
Breaking news, from just a couple of hours ago, is that five British men have been charged with “conducting hostile activity in the UK to benefit Russia”.
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JURIST ☛ UK man charged with plotting and funding London arson attack to benefit Russia
UK authorities charged Dylan Earl with conducting hostile activity to benefit a foreign state—in this case, Russia—following Crown Prosecution Service authorization on Friday. Four other men have also been charged in relation to the arson plot. This marks the first time authorities have filed charges under the new National Security Act 2023.
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France24 ☛ Has Germany’s far-right AfD become a gateway for Chinese and Russian spies?
The arrest this week of an aide to the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD)'s lead candidate for the European parliamentary elections on accusations of spying for China is yet another blow to a party already tarnished by scandals involving alleged payments from sources close to Moscow.
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RFERL ☛ Another Tajik Detained In Russia Connection With Crocus Attack
Russian authorities have reportedly arrested another Tajik national in connection with the March 22 terrorist attack on the Crocus City Hall concert venue near Moscow that left 144 people dead and hundreds injured.
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Deutsche Welle ☛ 2024-04-23 [Older] Ukraine updates: US Senate to vote on major aid package
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US News And World Report ☛ 2024-04-23 [Older] Aid for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan Heads to Senate for Final Approval After Months of Delay
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NL Times ☛ 2024-04-21 [Older] Dutch PM says $61 billion U.S. support package for Ukraine is "very good news"
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US News And World Report ☛ 2024-04-23 [Older] Ukraine Launches Military Charm Offensive as Conscription Flags
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US News And World Report ☛ 2024-04-23 [Older] Ukraine's Farm Minister Named as Suspect in Corruption Case, Kyiv Media Reports
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Deutsche Welle ☛ 2024-04-22 [Older] EU ministers welcome US aid for Ukraine ahead of meeting
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US News And World Report ☛ 2024-04-22 [Older] Ukraine's Zelenskiy Expresses Gratitude to Biden, Says Deal on ATACMS in Place
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US News And World Report ☛ 2024-04-22 [Older] UK's Sunak to Announce Uplift in Military Support for Ukraine
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Deutsche Welle ☛ 2024-04-21 [Older] Ukraine updates: Germany's Scholz welcomes US aid package
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The Age AU ☛ 2024-04-21 [Older] Long-awaited Ukraine aid bill passes US House after Speaker puts job on the line
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US News And World Report ☛ 2024-04-21 [Older] Ukrainian and Western Leaders Laud US Aid Package While the Kremlin Warns of 'Further Ruin'
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US News And World Report ☛ 2024-04-21 [Older] Zelenskiy Urges Speedy Passage of Ukraine Aid in US Senate, Transfer of Weapons
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Deutsche Welle ☛ 2024-04-20 [Older] Front-line soldiers in Ukraine anxiously await US weapons
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Deutsche Welle ☛ 2024-04-20 [Older] US House approves major military aid package for Ukraine
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US News And World Report ☛ 2024-04-20 [Older] The House Passes Billions in Aid for Ukraine and Israel After Months of Struggle. Next Is the Senate
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US News And World Report ☛ 2024-04-20 [Older] Kremlin: US House Passage of Ukraine Aid Bill Will Hurt Ukraine, Cause More Deaths
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US News And World Report ☛ 2024-04-20 [Older] Ukraine's Zelenskiy Grateful for US House Approval of Aid
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US News And World Report ☛ 2024-04-20 [Older] US House Passes $95 Billion Ukraine, Israel Aid Package, Sends to Senate
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Deutsche Welle ☛ 2024-04-19 [Older] A German opera gala to help 'Rebuild Ukraine'
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Deutsche Welle ☛ 2024-04-19 [Older] Ukraine: 10 biggest providers of military aid
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US News And World Report ☛ 2024-04-19 [Older] NATO Secretary-General Says Some Allies Have Air Defense Systems They Could Give to Ukraine
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US News And World Report ☛ 2024-04-19 [Older] Seeking 'The Right Side of History,' Speaker Mike Johnson Risks His Job to Deliver Aid to Ukraine
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US News And World Report ☛ 2024-04-19 [Older] US House Advances $95 Billion Ukraine-Israel Package Toward Saturday Vote
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Deutsche Welle ☛ 2024-04-18 [Older] Germany's Habeck visits Ukraine on surprise trip
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Deutsche Welle ☛ 2024-04-18 [Older] Ukraine updates: EU hosts conference to boost economic ties
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Deutsche Welle ☛ 2024-04-18 [Older] Ukraine updates: Mood in Kyiv 'strong,' Habeck tells DW
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US News And World Report ☛ 2024-04-18 [Older] European Union Official Urges G7 to Step up Air Defense for Ukraine and Expand Iran Sanctions
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US News And World Report ☛ 2024-04-18 [Older] EU Countries Must Send Anti-Missile Systems to Ukraine, Borrell Says
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US News And World Report ☛ 2024-04-18 [Older] G7 Foreign Ministers Seek Urgent Defence Support for Ukraine
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US News And World Report ☛ 2024-04-18 [Older] Kremlin Says Any New 'Colonial' U.S. Aid to Ukraine Won't Change Frontline Situation
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Deutsche Welle ☛ 2024-04-17 [Older] Ukraine's Romani people face discrimination in Germany
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Meduza ☛ ‘A watershed moment’ Zelensky administration adviser Mykhailo Podolyak on what the new U.S. aid package means for the war’s future — Meduza
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RFERL ☛ Memorial Concert For Navalny Scheduled To Take Place June 4 In Berlin
Associates of Aleksei Navalny, who died in February in a Russian penal colony, say a concert has been scheduled in his memory in Berlin on June 4, which would have been the opposition politician’s 48th birthday.
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RFERL ☛ Russian Justice Ministry Wants To Ban Nonexistent Separatist Movement
Russia's Justice Ministry said on April 26 that it had asked the Supreme Court to ban what it called the "International Anti-Russia Separatist Movement," a group that does not appear to exist.
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RFERL ☛ Russian 'Crab King' Sentenced In Absentia To 17 Years For Ordering Rival's Murder
A Russian court sentenced businessman Oleg Kan in absentia on April 26 to 17 years in prison after being convicted of ordering the assassination of a business rival in 2010.
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RFERL ☛ Detained Former Karabakh Separatist Official Ends Hunger Strike, Says Family
Ruben Vardanian, a former Russian citizen of Armenian descent who served as prime minister in the de facto government of the breakaway region of Nagorno-Karabakh from November 2022 to February 2023, has ended a hunger strike in a Baku prison, his family said on April 25.
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The Straits Times ☛ Lawyers for Russia's deputy defence minister appeal his pre-trial detention, TASS reports
MOSCOW - Lawyers for Russian Deputy Defence Minister Timur Ivanov have filed an appeal against a court decision to remand him in pre-trial detention, Russian state-owned news agency TASS reported on Friday.
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CS Monitor ☛ Blinken warns China over dual-use sales to Russia, but also praises US-China progress
The United States and China are working hard to repair one of the world’s most consequential relationships. The U.S. secretary of state’s latest visit to Beijing highlighted progress made since last year, and moved the needle forward on key issues.
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Meduza ☛ Russia is reportedly ramping up prosecutions for involvement with independent media. The majority of cases are related to Meduza. — Meduza
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Meduza ☛ Russian authorities ask Supreme Court to ban non-existent ‘Anti-Russian Separatist Movement’ as ‘extremist organization’ — Meduza
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LRT ☛ Lithuania protests false Belarus’ drone attack reports
Lithuanian Foreign Ministry on Wednesday handed a protest note to Belarus over false reports of a drone attack from Lithuania.
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RFERL ☛ Hacker Group Claims It Penetrated Belarusian KGB Network
A group known as Cyberpartisans claims it has infiltrated the network of Belarus’s main security agency and accessed the personnel files of thousands of employees.
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Transparency/Investigative Reporting
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Breach Media ☛ Who said it? Pierre Poilievre or Big Pharma
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Press Gazette ☛ Is lifting of viral news from social media fuelling loss of trust in journalism?
On social media itself accusations of “lazy journalism” and “churnalism” often crop up and responses show that those who lose faith in the writers of these articles, also lose faith in the titles as a whole.
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ACLU ☛ How is One of America's Biggest Spy Agencies Using AI? We're Suing to Find Out.
The National Security Agency (NSA) is the self-described leader among U.S. intelligence agencies racing to develop and deploy AI. It’s also the agency that sweeps up vast quantities of our phone calls, text messages, and internet communications as it conducts mass surveillance around the world. In recent years, AI has transformed many of the NSA’s daily operations: the agency uses AI tools to help gather information on foreign governments, augment human language processing, comb through networks for cybersecurity threats, and even monitor its own analysts as they do their jobs.
Unfortunately, that’s about all we know. As the NSA integrates AI into some of its most profound decisions, it’s left us in the dark about how it uses AI and what safeguards, if any, are in place to protect everyday Americans and others around the globe whose privacy hangs in the balance.
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Environment
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Los Angeles Times ☛ Scientists debate adding a Category 6 for mega-hurricanes
With catastrophic storms regularly blowing past the 157-mph threshold, some scientists argue, the Saffir-Simpson scale no longer adequately conveys the threat the biggest hurricanes present.
Earlier this year, two climate scientists published a paper that compared historical storm activity to a hypothetical version of the Saffir-Simpson scale that included a Category 6, for storms with sustained winds of 192 mph or more.
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The Atlantic ☛ AI’s unending thirst
Karen Hao, a contributing writer at The Atlantic, recently visited one such data center in Goodyear, Arizona. Microsoft owns the facility, which may eventually use an estimated 56 million gallons of drinking water each year—“equivalent to the amount used by 670 Goodyear families,” Karen notes. No one’s at risk of going thirsty, but as Karen writes, “the supply of water in the region is quite limited, and the more that’s taken up by data centers, the less there is for, say, supplying tap water to new housing.”
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YLE ☛ Finnish tourism industry struggling to regain Covid, wartime losses
Asian tourists' journeys to Helsinki are now lengthier, as Finnish planes cannot use Russian air space. The Helsinki-Tokyo journey used to take just nine hours, and now it lasts 14.
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Energy/Transportation
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Quartz ☛ Laid off Tesla workers are getting two months severance pay
Tesla cut 10 percent of its workforce a few weeks ago, and now we’re getting a better look at what sort of severance package its recently laid-off workers are getting. CEO Elon Musk sent an email to impacted employees late at night on April 14 letting them know they were immediately terminated and cut out of Tesla’s internal systems. He also told them that they would receive their severance information “within 48 hours.”
Now, Business Insider is reporting the Austin, Texas-based automaker is offering workers two months of severance pay, which means they’d get paid through June 14, according to five former workers who spoke to the outlet. It does not appear that the packages are weighted based on the length of service at Tesla. That means workers with anywhere from a few months to several years of work at the automaker got the same number of weeks paid out. Brutal. That, folks, is why ya need a union.
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New York Times ☛ U.S. Investigating Tesla Recall of Autopilot
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said in documents posted on its website that it was looking into Tesla’s recall in December of two million vehicles, which covered nearly all of the cars the company had manufactured in the United States since 2012. The safety agency said it had concerns about crashes that took place after the recall and results from preliminary tests of recalled vehicles.
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The Telegraph UK ☛ 'Loyal wingman' fighter drones tested for first time in Britain
It is the first demonstration of its kind to be carried out in the UK and comes as the MoD is preparing to deploy so-called uncrewed “loyal wingman” drones alongside conventional forces.
The drones used did not carry any weapons, but armed versions could one day be deployed in combat situations.
These would fly in formation with manned aircraft such as Typhoons or F-35 stealth jets, with human pilots able to assign them tasks such as electronic warfare, reconnaissance or bombing runs, reducing the risk to military personnel.
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MIT Technology Review ☛ Want less mining? Switch to clean energy.
The report’s findings add to a growing body of evidence that technologies used to address climate change will likely lead to a future with less mining than a world powered by fossil fuels. However, experts point out that oversight will be necessary to minimize harm from the mining needed to transition to lower-emission energy sources.
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IRU ☛ Half of European truck operators can’t expand due to driver shortages
The European truck driver profession has an ageing population with an average age of 47. One third of truck drivers are over 55 and expected to retire in the next ten years, while less than 5% are below 25 years of age.
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Wildlife/Nature
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The Revelator ☛ Fire for Watersheds
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Finance
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The Register UK ☛ Indian bank banned from opening new accounts over IT risks
India’s Reserve Bank yesterday decided Kotak Mahindra poses a risk to customers and to “the financial ecosystem of digital banking and payment systems.”
Preventing it from signing new customers so that it can focus on tech improvements was therefore felt necessary.
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Yahoo News ☛ Regulators close Philadelphia-based Republic First Bank, first US bank failure this year
Regulators have closed Republic First Bank, a regional lender operating in Pennsylvania, New Jersey and New York.
The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. said Friday it had seized the Philadelphia-based bank, which did business as Republic Bank and had roughly $6 billion in assets and $4 billion in deposits as of Jan. 31.
Fulton Bank, which is based in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, agreed to assume substantially all of the failed bank's deposits and buy essentially all of its assets, the agency said.
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Google announces another round of layoffs
Google and the wider tech industry have been slimming their workforce throughout 2024. According to data compiled by Layoffs,fyi, 254 tech companies have already laid off 74,591 employees in 2024.
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Digital First Media ☛ After hiring bonanza, tech workers face layoffs and disillusionment
Lisa Mabley was laid off a year ago from her job as a software engineer at a Twin Cities software company. Over the course of five months, she sent her résumé to nearly 300 companies.
She received just two offers at the end.
"The one that I did not accept has (since) had layoffs," said Mabley, who lives in Minneapolis. "If I had taken the other job, I would perhaps be unemployed again."
Those months were stressful for Mabley, who was the only person in her household working at times. In September, she began working remotely for a tech startup based in Los Angeles.
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Houston ISD layoffs: 150 workers let go, union president says
According to Hector Mireles, president of the Texas Support Personnel Employees Local 1, at least 150 employees were let go.
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CNBC ☛ How Working For Google, Amazon, And Microsoft Lost ‘Dream Job’ Status
Despite blockbuster earnings from giants such as Alphabet and Microsoft, layoffs continue to ripple through the tech industry. Layoffs.fyi, a platform monitoring job cuts in the tech sector, recorded more 263,000 job losses in 2023 alone. As of April 2024, there have been more than 75,000 job losses in the industry so far. "So instead of rewarding the growth that we saw them all pursue years ago, they're now rewarding profit," said Jeff Shulman, professor at the University of Washington's Foster School of Business. "And so the layoffs have continued. People have become used to them. Regrettably and sadly, it seems that the layoffs are going to be the new normal." Even though mass tech layoffs continue to dominate headlines, the labor market still seems strong. The U.S. economy added 303,000 jobs in March, well above the Dow Jones estimate for a rise of 200,000, with the unemployment rate edged lower to 3.8%. According to Handshake, a popular free job posting site for college students and graduates, the tech layoffs have prompted new workers to seek other opportunities. The share of job applications from tech majors submitted to internet and software companies dropped by more than 30% between November 2021 and September of 2023. "Part of the reason why this is happening is because stability is such a major factor in students' decisions around what types of jobs they apply to and what types of jobs they accept," said Christine Cruzverga, chief education strategy officer at Handshake. "They're looking at the headlines in the news and they're paying attention to all of the layoffs that are happening in Big Tech, and that makes them feel unstable." Mass layoffs have eroded the shine of the tech industry, which is why workers are questioning whether getting a job in the tech industry should still be regarded as a 'dream job.' "For the people who are chasing like a tech dream job, I think keep your options open and be realistic," said Eric Tolotti, senior partner engineer at Snowflake, who got laid off from Microsoft in 2023. "Don't just focus on one company and feel like you have to get into that one company because it's the dream." Watch the video to learn about tech workers' sentiments, considerations for aspiring Big Tech employees, and more. Chapters: 0:00-03:11 Cold Open 03:11-05:11 Chapter 1: The golden age of tech jobs 05:11-07:22 Chapter 2: Start of tech layoffs 07:22-10:21 Chapter 3: Is tech’s shiny image eroding? 10:21-12:00 Chapter 4: What’s next? Produced by: Anuz Thapa Edited by: Kevin Heinz Narration by: Jordan Smith Graphics by: Christina Locopo, Jason Reginato Supervising Producer: Jeff Morganteen Additional Footage: Getty Images
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Why Microsoft's Activision Blizzard Killed Off Blizzcon 2024
Microsoft’s recent layoffs of 1,900 employees across Activision Blizzard and Xbox further underscore the industry’s difficulties.
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AstroTurf/Lobbying/Politics
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Insight Hungary ☛ Orban calls Hungary a conservative island in an ocean of liberals
Hungary's far-right prime minister Viktor Orban seized the moment to rally right-wing forces against progressive ideology in his keynote speech at CPAC Hungary, asserting that forthcoming elections in both Europe and the United States offer a pivotal opportunity for conservative resurgence. Orbán called for a united front among conservatives and described Hungary as an island of difference in the ocean of progressive liberals.
Orbán, who is on his fourth consecutive term, positioned the upcoming EU elections in June and the U.S. elections in November as a crucial moment to establish what he termed an "era of sovereignty," citing Hungary as a blueprint for this conservative vision.
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European Commission ☛ Mr Olivér Várhelyi addresses the participants of the Budapest Security Conference
European Commission Speech Brussels, 26 Apr 2024 Tisztelt Hölgyeim és Uraim!
I am pleased to address the first edition of the Budapest Security Dialogue.
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Craig Murray ☛ Worse Than You Can Imagine
Governments cannot take big decisions extremely quickly except in the most extreme of circumstances. There are mechanisms in all states that consider policy decisions, weigh them up, involve the various departments of the state whose activities are affected by that decision, and arrive at a conclusion, though not necessarily a good one.
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Silicon Angle ☛ CEOs of Microsoft, Nvidia and other tech giants join federal AI advisory board
A group of prominent tech executives will join the Artificial Intelligence Safety and Security Board, a panel tasked with advising the federal government on the use of AI in critical infrastructure.
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The Verge ☛ Google is officially a $2 trillion company
Investors, at least, are eating it up: Google parent company Alphabet has finally officially hit and maintained a $2 trillion market cap for a whole day of trading after briefly touching $2 trillion in November 2021. Google is the fourth most valuable public company in the world, behind Nvidia ($2.2 trillion), Apple ($2.6 trillion), and Microsoft ($3.0 trillion). Amazon is currently at $1.8 trillion, and Meta is at $1.1 trillion.
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The Hill ☛ AI takes center stage at correspondents’ weekend TGAIFriday Lunch
Washingtonians delved into the world of artificial intelligence (AI) on Friday at the Washington AI Network’s inaugural White House correspondents’ weekend TGAIFriday Lunch.
The event, held at The House at 1229’s headquarters, was presented by Meta — the parent company of Facebook and Instagram — and featured demos of the company’s latest technology.
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Federal News Network ☛ DHS fills out AI safety board with major tech execs
DHS named 22 individuals to the Artificial Intelligence Safety and Security Board today. They include leaders of top AI firms, including Sam Altman, the CEO of OpenAI, and Dario Adomei, the CEO and co-founder of Anthropic.
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Federal News Network ☛ Is the AI leash on federal agencies too long?
That new White House guidance on agency use of artificial intelligence: It embodies guardrails, but also a few opt-out scenarios that give agencies plenty of discretion. One analyst thinks it gives them too much discretion. For more on the Federal Drive with Tom Temin, Federal News Network’s Eric White spoke to the senior counsel at the Brennan Center for Justice, Amos Toh.
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Futurism ☛ Facebook Cofounder Says Tesla Has Committed "Consumer Fraud on a Massive Scale," Will End in Jail
Amidst a chaotic month for Tesla — even by its continuously plunging standards — Facebook cofounder and multi-billionaire Dustin Moskovitz has made some pretty dire predictions for the automaker, accusing it of committing "consumer fraud on a massive scale."
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Futurism ☛ CEO Alarmed to Discover That Laying Off 1,500 Workers Had Consequences
In December, music streaming giant Spotify fired 1,500 workers, a cohort amounting to a staggering 17 percent of its total workforce at the time. Spotify CEO Daniel Ek chalked the culling up to cost cuts and bloat reduction, saying that too many roles had been "dedicated to supporting work and even doing work around the work rather than contributing to opportunities with real impact."
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Digital Music News ☛ Daniel Ek Says Spotify Layoffs Disrupted More Than Anticipated
It turns out laying off 1,500 people back in December had a bigger impact on Spotify’s day-to-day operations than CEO Daniel Ek had anticipated. Ek admitted during the company’s quarterly earnings call that the layoffs created a “significant challenge” for Spotify, but assured investors that they’ve already overcome the challenge.
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RTL ☛ Cash bid for British AI: Cybersecurity firm Darktrace accepts $5 bn takeover
Cybersecurity firm Darktrace said Friday it had accepted a $5.3-billion takeover bid from US private equity firm Thoma Bravo, which highlighted the British group's "capability in artificial intelligence".
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Scoop News Group ☛ DHS picks OMB official to lead its new AI Corps
The Department of Homeland Security has named Michael Boyce as the new director of its AI Corps, an initiative to hire 50 artificial intelligence experts for the agency throughout the year. The announcement comes as DHS continues to ramp up its focus on the technology, and follows the agency’s release of a new AI roadmap and the establishment of an AI task force.
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The Register UK ☛ Mandiant: Russia, Iran pose biggest threat to 2024 elections
As leaders of major international powers, both of these elections are likely to be targeted by foreign adversaries, and according to security giant Mandiant's latest report on election security trends, defenders should be aware of the four Ds.
DDoS attacks, data theft and leaks, disinformation, and deepfakes lead the way as the most likely types of attacks to be trialed during this year's elections, researchers say, all of which have the potential to impact voter outcomes.
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RiskyBiz ☛ Special Edition: Chris Krebs, Alex Stamos and Patrick Gray [Ed: Microsoft (Chris Krebs)]
In this special edition of the Risky Business podcast Patrick Gray chats with former Facebook CSO Alex Stamos and founding CISA director Chris Krebs about sovereignty and technology.
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RFA ☛ China, North Korea denounce Japan’s involvement with AUKUS
China says it firmly opposes foreign military alliances targeting it and stoking bloc confrontation.
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The Straits Times ☛ Key issues discussed by Blinken in talks with Chinese leaders
Mr Blinken's China visit was the latest high-level contacts between the superpowers.
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RFA ☛ Scarborough Shoal was a refuge for Filipino fishermen. Then Chinese boats moved in
For the Philippines, the triangular chain of reefs offers a warning about China’s intentions.
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Misinformation/Disinformation/Propaganda
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Cyble Inc ☛ Russia Biggest Cyber Threat To Election Security
Russia’s approach to election interference is multifaceted, blending cyber intrusion activities with information operations aimed at influencing public perceptions and sowing discord.
State-sponsored cyber threat actors, such as APT44, better known as the cyber sabotage unit Sandworm, and APT28 have a history of targeting elections in the U.S., and Europe. These actors employ hybrid operations, combining cyber espionage with hack-and-leak tactics to achieve their objectives.
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Deccan Chronicle ☛ Faked!
Bollywood is watching the horror unfold helplessly. As netas are busy electioneering, two deepfake videos of Bollywood A-listers Aamir Khan and Ranveer Singh have been making the rounds, where the actors seem to be exhorting people to vote for a particular political party. The 30-second video of Aamir Khan and the 41-second clip of Ranveer Singh, show the actors criticising a top leader, and exhorting people to vote for the other party. Both videos have been viewed on social media more than half a million times.
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India Times ☛ 75% Indians have viewed some deepfake content in last 12 months, says McAfee survey
More than 75% of Indians present online and surveyed by cybersecurity company McAfee have seen some form of deep fake content over the last 12 months, while at least 38% of the respondents surveyed have encountered a deep fake scam during this time, the company said in a survey released on Thursday. During the 12-month period under the survey, every fourth Indian came across political deep fake content which was later found to be fake, McAfee said. There has also been a rise in the cases of deep fake scams which impersonate not only users but prominent public figures across spheres such as business, politics, entertainment, and sports as well, the survey said.
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Censorship/Free Speech
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ACLU ☛ Open Letter to College and University Presidents on Student Protests
Dear College and University Presidents:
We write in response to the recent protests that have spread across our nation’s university and college campuses, and the disturbing arrests that have followed.
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Truthdig ☛ Salman Rushdie Confronts a World Where Free Speech Is No Longer Sacred - Truthdig
In 'Knife,' his memoir on narrowly surviving a vicious attack, the acclaimed author interrogates a world where liberal principles have become old-fashioned.
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The Atlantic ☛ PEN America Is Fighting for Its Life
PEN America defended itself, the gala went on, and Salman Rushdie, a former president of the group and a writer who knows what it means to have his life endangered because of his art, was given the last word in a New York Times article about the brouhaha: “If PEN as a free speech organization can’t defend and celebrate people who have been murdered for drawing pictures, then frankly the organization is not worth the name.”
Rushdie, who helped found PEN America’s World Voices festival two decades ago, had no confusion about what the organization represented. Its role was not to take a position on the place of Islam in France or comment on the French state’s aggressive secularizing policies, which Charlie Hebdo’s editors had championed through their cartoons. No, PEN America was simply there to protect the right of artists to draw, of writers to write.
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Reason ☛ Australia Tries To Censor Social Media Across the World
Anger at Musk for refusing to let the Australian government censor the planet has unified much of the country's political class. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, of the Australian Labor Party, denounced him as an "arrogant billionaire." Senator Sarah Hanson-Young, from the Greens, called him a "narcissistic cowboy." Liberal lawmaker Simon Birmingham said Musk's censorship accusations are "insulting and offensive." Independent Senator Jacqui Lambie raised the hysterical reaction meter to 11 by insisting "someone like that should be in jail and the key be thrown away."
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GNU ☛ FSF official site does not announce important events
An article in the Techrights site says that FSF does not announce events featuring lectures by Richard Stallman on its official site any more.
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CS Monitor ☛ Samuel Paty was beheaded, and teaching in France has never been the same
When a French teacher was beheaded in 2020 for showing a cartoon of the Prophet Muhammad, the murder reverberated across France. Muslims felt targeted, and the nation’s vaunted system of secular education came under scrutiny. Yet perhaps most of all, the killing shook the connection between teachers and their students.
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The Register UK ☛ Encrypted email service files complaint over Google results
Google Search rankings are all too familiar to search engine optimization (SEO) specialists charged with ensuring web pages rise to the top of search results. In the case of Tutao's products – Tuta Mail and Tuta Calendar – all was going well until the beginning of March 2024, when the company claims tuta.com was abruptly de-ranked in Google Search.
Rather than being displayed as a search result of thousands of keywords, the count dropped to the hundreds, the developer alleges.
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Hong Kong Free Press ☛ Hong Kong pro-Beijing groups seek to hold carnival at former Tiananmen vigil venue during anniversary period
Pro-Beijing groups in Hong Kong are seeking to organise a carnival in part of Causeway Bay’s Victoria Park, where annual vigils were held for decades to mark the 1989 Tiananmen crackdown. The event period is set to cover the crackdown’s 35th anniversary on June 4.
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RFERL ☛ Language Teacher Sentenced To 11 Years Amid Iran's Crackdown On Kurds
A Kurdish-language teacher in the Iranian city of Sanandaj has been sentenced to 11 years in prison for her cultural activities and support for the Women, Life, Freedom protests that have roiled the country since the death of Mahsa Amini in September 2022.
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Freedom of Information / Freedom of the Press
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VOA News ☛ Forbes Russia journalist detained for criticizing military, lawyer says
Konstantin Bubon, the journalist’s lawyer, said in a Facebook post that Mingazov was detained over social media posts he made about the Ukrainian city of Bucha, where Russian forces have been accused of massacring civilians before leaving in April 2022.
“In short, for reposting a publication about the events in Bucha” on a Telegram channel, Bubon said.
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CPJ ☛ Burkina Faso's media regulator suspends BBC Africa and Voice of America
The CSC also ordered [Internet] service providers to block access to the BBC Africa and Voice of America’s websites, and asked Burkinabe media not to relay the content of the Human Rights Watch report under penalty of “sanctions provided for by the laws in force.”
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VOA News ☛ Burkina Faso Suspends VOA, BBC/Africa Broadcasts
Burkina Faso has temporarily suspended the programs of Voice of America and BBC/Africa following the broadcast of news stories about a Human Rights Watch report accusing the Burkinabè army of abuses against civilian populations.
The Superior Council of Communication Thursday ordered the immediate halt of the rebroadcasts and suspension of the programs of both international radio stations for two weeks. Access to the websites and digital platforms of BBC, VOA, and Human Rights Watch was also suspended within Burkina Faso.
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ANF News ☛ Six of the journalists detained on Tuesday released
Six of the nine journalists detained in Istanbul, Ankara and Urfa on Tuesday have been released after questioning by the public prosecutor's office. The Istanbul public prosecutor's office has requested arrest warrants for MA correspondents Esra Solin Dal and Mehmet Aslan as well as Erdoğan Alayumat, apparently on charges of membership of a terrorist organisation. The specific grounds are unknown because the lawyers have not been allowed access to the file because of a confidentiality order.
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CPJ ☛ Chilean journalists Daniel Labbé and Josefa Barraza face criminal charges
With more than five years in the field, Barraza is an investigative journalist known for publishing exposés on police brutality and corruption on alternative media outlets such as CIPER.
According to Javier García, a spokesperson at the Chilean press freedom group, Observatory of the Right to Communication (ODC), Chile has a long history of criminalizing journalists.
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Civil Rights/Policing
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Democracy for the Arab World Now ☛ Saudi Authorities Should Grant Access to Detained Feminist Al-Otaibi, and to All Detainees
Saudi authorities should grant immediate access to all detainees, including feminist Manahel al-Otaibi, who is reportedly held in solitary confinement with a broken leg from physical abuse. They should also unconditionally release al-Otaibi and all others detained for expressing their opinions, said eleven human rights groups, including Democracy for the Arab World Now (DAWN) in a joint letter today.
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Federal News Network ☛ Survey: Back in the office, feds feel mixed on office space functionality
Despite an administrative push for more collaboration and “meaningful” work in the office, employees said in reality, many federal offices have limited or no physical spaces to effectively host team meetings or events.
“It is cubicle city,” wrote one respondent to Federal News Network’s recent survey of more than 6,300 current federal employees.
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RFA ☛ Tibetans from Europe find China’s visa-free policy not so free
Four ethnic Tibetan travelers with EU passports say they were questioned for hours upon arrival in China – and two were ultimately deported – despite Beijing’s visa-free policy for citizens of several European countries for visits of up to 15 days.
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CPJ ☛ Taliban detain 3 Afghan radio journalists for playing music, talking to female callers
The Taliban authorities questioned the journalists regarding their broadcasting of music and talking to female callers during the holiday of Eid al-Fitr earlier this month, those sources said.
The Taliban outlawed playing and listening to music when they retook control of Afghanistan in August 2021.
Last month, authorities in Khost Province banned women and girls from phoning broadcasters, the Afghan Journalists Center said, adding that female listeners sometimes called in to ask questions on educational programs. Afghanistan is the only country in the world where girls are banned from high school.
The person familiar with the case told CPJ that the three journalists were transferred to the provincial police command and were due to face trial soon.
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Internet Policy/Net Neutrality
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Stanford University ☛ | Center for Internet and Society
Today’s decision means that if a future FCC again decided to abdicate its oversight over broadband like it did in 2017, the states have strong legal precedent, across circuits, to institute their own protections or re-activate dormant ones.
The case law is now abundantly clear that if the FCC eliminates its authority over broadband by miscategorizing it as a Title I information service, then the states can step in. They can create their own net neutrality protections, like California and others do, require affordable broadband options like New York, and institute broadband privacy protections like Maine.
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New York Times ☛ F.C.C. Votes to Restore Net Neutrality Rules
In a 3-to-2 vote along party lines, the five-member commission appointed by President Biden revived the rules that declare broadband a utility-like service regulated like phones and water. The rules also give the F.C.C. the ability to demand broadband providers report and respond to outages, as well as expand the agency’s oversight of the providers’ security issues.
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The Washington Post ☛ 5G complicates FCC’s restoration of net neutrality
But there’s a key detail that remains to be worked out: how to define the [Internet] in 2024.
As a growing proportion of the modern physical world is intertwined with the [Internet], the question of precisely where it begins and ends has become murkier. FCC officials stopped short of defining the boundaries at a news conference following the vote, as they continue to study the issue. They affirmed that broadband providers will be prohibited from speeding up or slowing down content on the consumer [Internet] — but will be allowed to run “fast lanes” for unspecified specialized services.
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The Verge ☛ FCC votes to restore net neutrality
Net neutrality is the idea that [Internet] service providers (ISPs) should not be able to discriminate against different kinds of content by blocking or throttling connection speeds or offering paid prioritization for different [Internet] traffic. The FCC has sought to accomplish this by reclassifying ISPs as common carriers under Title II of the Communications Act, giving the agency more regulatory authority over them.
Democratic FCC Chair Jessica Rosenworcel said in remarks ahead of the vote that [Internet] access went from a “nice to have, to need to have.” She added, “Broadband is now an essential service. Essential services, the ones we count on in every aspect of modern life, have some basic oversight.”
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Common Dreams ☛ FCC Votes to Restore Net Neutrality
Today, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) voted to restore Net Neutrality. The move restores the FCC’s authority under Title II of the Communications Act to oversee broadband providers and enforce the open-[Internet] protections. The Open Internet Order was repealed during the Trump Administration in the face of widespread public opposition – including comments filed during the proceedings opposing the controversial reversal by the agency.
Common Cause, along with its partners, delivered a petition with over 126,000 signatures, thanking the Commissioners for their vote today, showing the continued widespread public support for Net Neutrality.
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The Register UK ☛ FCC vote means net neutrality is back, for the moment
Net neutrality, the idea that generally speaking all network traffic is treated equally, was codified in 2015 under President Obama's administration. President Trump's appointed FCC boss Ajit Pai overturned these rules in 2017.
The return of net neutrality may allay fears among some that ISPs will unfairly prioritize certain traffic for cash, whether it's web giants paying for preferential treatment of their packets over competitors, or broadband subscribers having to pay extra for non-hobbled access to things like news and media.
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Digital Restrictions (DRM)
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Digital Music News ☛ Daniel Ek Promises More Subscription Options and Bundles
Spotify has been under fire for a lot of its decisions as of late, not least of all the company’s pivot to audiobooks in a bizarre pricing structure and its shuffling of its overall pricing tiers. The music — and audiobook — publishing industries have been less than enthused with the Stockholm-based audio streaming giant’s plans of a music-only and audiobook-only tier.
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Digital Music News ☛ Spotify Says Apple Not Approving EU Updates, Breaking EU Law
One provision Apple has included is a new ‘Music Streaming Services Entitlement,’ rule, which requires up to 27% commission fees on any purchases initiated through the app—even if they don’t use Apple’s in-app purchase system. That fee is essentially the 30% Apple would normally receive, minus 3% processing fees for a payment processor.
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Digital Music News ☛ Taylor Swift Surpasses One-Week Spotify Streaming Record
Less than a week after its release, TTPD became the first album on Spotify to surpass one billion streams in a single week — the fastest album in history to achieve such a milestone. Further, the album’s lead single and opening track, “Fortnight” featuring Post Malone, broke Spotify’s record for the most streams for one song in a single day.
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The Verge ☛ FTC says Amazon executives destroyed potential evidence by using apps like Signal
The FTC’s lawyers say Bezos, current CEO Andy Jassy, general counsel David Zapolsky, former CEO of worldwide operations Dave Clark, and other execs are all Signal users. Bezos is identified in the document as “a heavy Signal user” who instructed others to use the app, although the 2018 hacking of his personal cellphone may be part of the reason for that.
And because Amazon didn’t instruct employees to preserve messages sent in the app until more than 15 months after it was notified of the investigation, the FTC argues, “It is highly likely that relevant information has been destroyed as a result of Amazon’s actions and inactions.”
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India Times ☛ Spotify says Apple has rejected its app update with price information for EU users
Apple has rejected Spotify's new version of its iOS app with in-app pricing information for users in the European Union, the audio streaming firm said on Thursday. The Swedish company submitted a new version of its app to Apple with basic pricing and website information, which is a minimum requirement under the European Commission's ruling in its music streaming case, it said in a post on X on Wednesday.
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NPR ☛ Some 300 musicians, from Diplo to Nile Rodgers, lobby Congress for ticketing reform
"We are joining together to say that the current system is broken: predatory resellers and secondary platforms engage in deceptive ticketing practices to inflate ticket prices and deprive fans of the chance to see their favorite artists at a fair price," the letter reads.
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Patents
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Software Patents
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JUVE ☛ Ballinno mounts VAR challenge against UEFA just weeks before Euros
Dutch company Ballinno has filed a claim for patent monopoly infringement against joint defendants the Union of European Football Associations (Uefa) and Kinexon. The latter is a software and hardware company based in Munich (case no: ACT_16267/2024).
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Trademarks
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Right of Publicity
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Digital Music News ☛ Tupac Estate Issues Cease & Desist Over Drake's AI Diss Track
Following the release of Drake’s AI-created diss track in which he ‘borrows’ the voice of Snoop Dogg and Tupac Shakur—the Tupac Estate has issued a cease and desist letter.
Actions like this would be illegal under Tennessee’s ELVIS Act, if its provisions were to be adopted at the national level. But it also begs the question—just how much beef do you have if you have to steal somebody else’s voice to say it?
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TMZ ☛ Drake Complying With Tupac Estate to Get 'Taylor Made Freestyle' Scrubbed
Remember ... attorneys for Tupac's estate sent out the letter blasting Drake for using Pac's voice in a Kendrick Lamar diss track .. before setting a 24-hour deadline to take the song down and explain what info they fed the AI generator.
That last part is very interesting ... as it appears Pac's camp is taking steps to better understand the whole AI process -- perhaps to thwart the inevitable future attempts to mimic his voice.
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Futurism ☛ Gym Teacher Arrested for Using AI to Make Principal Say Racist Things
While AI was allegedly used to create the ersatz blackmail material, Darien's charges are not directly related to the AI creation because Maryland, like most other states, doesn't have any laws on the books regarding nonconsensual deepfakes.
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Copyrights
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Torrent Freak ☛ U.S. Trade Representative Flags Vietnam as a Leading Source of Online Piracy
The Office of the United States Trade Representative has released its annual Special 301 Report, calling out countries that fall short on anti-piracy enforcement and other forms of intellectual property protection. Countries such as Argentina and China are listed as priority threats, while Vietnam is labeled a leading source of online piracy. The USTR urges the Asian country to tackle the problem and take criminal prosecutions seriously.
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Torrent Freak ☛ Nintendo vs. Garry's Mod: Dissecting the 'Fake' Domain Behind All the Chaos
Facepunch Studios has confirmed that years of Nintendo-related uploads are being deleted from Steam Workshop in response to takedown notices linked to Garry's Mod. What began as rumors of a Nintendo DMCA takedown campaign, suddenly shifted towards a 'fake notice' campaign, run from a suspicious domain. Frustrations then targeted Garry himself for "falling for a scam." "You didn't even look at the domain!" yelled one fan. Let's do that.
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Walled Culture ☛ Now with added generative AI: a new way to abuse the broken copyright system
As Walled Culture the book (free digital versions available) recounts, one of the many problems with copyright is that it can be used – and abused – for purposes that have nothing to do with its original intent of promoting creativity. One of the best known of these is to force people to take down true statements that are inconvenient for someone, by falsely claiming copyright infringement. An entire industry has sprung up to provide this “reputation management” service.
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Creative Commons ☛ What are the Benefits of Open Culture? A new CC Publication
Following in the footsteps of open culture pioneers, many institutions are taking the leap to open their collections online, partly as a way to celebrate a sense of (re)connection with cultural heritage collections in the digital space. While the road to OC is strewn with barriers, its benefits are well worth the journey.
This report distills the many views expressed in our Open Culture Voices (OCV) series about the ways in which so many people can benefit from open culture. In short: [...]
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Monopolies/Monopsonies
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