In the latest salvo in the battle to defend the right to publish the law, EFF filed a counterclaim on Friday against three standards development organizations (“SDOs”), asking a federal court in Washington to declare that the online publication of safety codes does not violate copyright or trademark law. We are joined in the effort by co-counsel Fenwick & West LLP, Durie Tangri LLP, and David Halperin.
Daily Archives: 30. September 2013
It Sure Sounds Like the NSA Is Tracking Our Locations
The drumbeat of “non-denial denials” is getting louder as the NSA continues to refuse to directly state whether it is using cell phone information to track Americans’ whereabouts. When NSA Director Lt. Gen. Keith Alexander was asked again about the NSA’s cell phone location tracking on Thursday — at a hearing before the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence — this is how the exchange went:
‘Freedom’s just another word…’ The Police State of America
I no longer recognize my country.
Back in 1997, after two years living in China, and five more living in Hong Kong, during which time, as a correspondent for Business Week magazine, I slipped in and out of China regularly as a journalist to report on developments there, I got a good dose of life in a totalitarian society.
Facebook expands Graph Search to let you search status updates
Facebook Graph Search, the social network‘s natural language search engine, is maturing in a way that will help it live up to its original promise of freeing all past and present content from the confines of News Feed.
Two generals asked to retire in wake of Bastion attack
The attack was devastating. The insurgents completely destroyed six AV-8B Harrier jets, which cost about $24 million each, and severely damaged two others. Six other aircraft were also damaged.
CNN, NBC cancel Hillary Clinton film projects
„It‘s a victory for the Clintons, and for the money machines that both political parties have now become,“ Ferguson wrote. „But I don‘t think that it‘s a victory for the media, or for the American people.“
Asked for a comment on the developments, Merrill e-mailed this statement: „Lights, camera, no reaction.“
Charter protesters call for ‘open Quebec’
Mit dabei war Philosoph Charles Taylor, der als Co-Vorsitz Quebec 2007 der Kommission über angemessene Vorkehrungen.
„Ich glaube, dies ist ein wesentliches Merkmal unserer Gesellschaft – gleiche Rechte für alle und wenn man das gehen lassen, haben wir nichts für unsere Kinder und unsere Enkel geben“, Taylor gegenüber Reportern.
Haiti introduces special police force for tourists
The agents will carry 9 mm handguns and will report both to the tourism and justice ministries.
The two-year-old government of President Michel Martelly has sought to make tourism a priority. His government has doubled its tourism budget and is hoping that $27 million from Venezuela will help revive the once-thriving industry.
Auch Congstar wird drosseln
Trotz gegenteiliger Erklärungen im April 2013 wird Congstar doch eine Drosselung einführen. Das erklärte ein Sprecher der Deutsche-Telekom-Tochter dem Nachrichtenmagazin Focus. „Wir planen die Einführung einer Datenobergrenze für Festnetzkunden.“ Ein genauer Zeitpunkt wurde nicht bekanntgegeben.
Martha Stewart Joins the Fight Against Lodsys as Apple Takes a Timeout
The competition is fierce, but Lodsys might be the worst patent troll in America. Using vaguely worded early-90s patents that barely rise above gibberish, it has waged a massive campaign of lawsuits and intimidation against small application developers. Last week saw two big stories in the ongoing Lodsys saga.
The first story is that Martha Stewart’s media company has sued Lodsys in federal court in Wisconsin. How did Lodsys end up in a patent fight with Martha Stewart?
Kampfjet in der Türkei verunglückt – beide Piloten überlebten
Ein Kampfjet der türkischen Fliegerkräfte ist am Montag im zentralen Teil des Landes nach Angaben der Nachrichtenagentur Anadolu verunglückt.
Irak will Erfahrungen Russlands im Kampf gegen Terror nutzen
„Die irakische Regierung strebt eine Kooperation mit Russland im Kampf gegen den Terror an und möchte die erfolgreichen russischen Erfahrungen bei der Bekämpfung bewaffneter extremistischer Gruppierungen in Tschetschenien und in Afghanistan übernehmen“, sagte Mohamed al-Akili, Abgeordneter von der Regierungsblock im irakischen Parlament.
Kerry: Trotz Syrien werden die Vereinigten Staaten von Amerika weiterhin ihr Militär im Ausland benützen
Der plötzliche Ausbruch von Diplomatie in Syrien hat eine Reihe von Falken desorientiert, und den Aussenminister John Kerry, den Möchtegern-Architekten eines Krieges, zu dem es dann nicht gekommen ist, auf der Suche nach einer Wiederholung von Amerikas militärischer Kriegslüsternheit gelassen.
Saatgutvielfalt in Gefahr – gegen eine EU-Saatgutverordnung zum Nutzen der Saatgut-Industrie
Keine weitere Zerstörung der landwirtschaftlichen und gartenbaulichen Sortenvielfalt in Europa!
If It Took Seven Years And An Employee Confession To Reveal Intentional NSA Abuse, How Can NSA Say It Knows All Abuses?
Given that, you‘d assume those twelve cases of intentional (and at times flagrant) abuse of the system, often to spy on „love interests“ would have been caught by those audits. But no. By our count, only three out of the twelve were caught by audits. And four of the revelations appear to have been self-reported. And one of the abuses (one of the self-reported ones) happened seven years before the confession.
Die Schweizer Armee führt gerade eine Übung durch.
Das ist noch nicht spannend, aber guckt euch mal das Szenario an, das die da üben. Es handelt sich um einen Angriff aus Frankreich.
Industry leader says Italy risks being ruled from Brussels
Confindustria President Giorgio Squinzi said he feared the country could return to the situation it faced late in 2011, when Silvio Berlusconi was forced to quit as premier to make way for Mario Monti‘s emergency technocrat administration due to the threat of a Greek-style financial meltdown.
Letta‘s office says received PdL ministers‘ resignations
Alfano, De Girolamo, Lorenzin, Lupi, Quagliariello quit
Mortar shell hits Chinese embassy in Syria: state media
A mortar shell hit the Chinese embassy in Syria‘s capital Damascus on Monday, damaging the building and wounding one person, Chinese state media reported.
Peres: Israel will consider joining chemical weapons ban treaty
The Israeli government will seriously consider joining the international treaty banning chemical weapons after Syria said it would destroy its own toxic arsenal, President Shimon Peres said on Monday.
Es gibt mal wieder einen klaren Fall von Selbstmord: Ein Kronzeuge gegen den NSU.
Der setzt sich vor Zeugen in ein Auto, und das Auto explodiert. Und er hat keinen Abschiedsbrief hinterlassen.
NSA Has Built Its Own, Secret, Warrantless, Shadow Social Network, And You‘ve Already Joined It
The NY Times has an article by James Risen and Laura Poitras (what a combo reporting team there!) detailing how the NSA has basically built its own „shadow“ social network in which it tries to create a „social graph“ of pretty much everyone that everyone knows, foreign or American, and it all happens (of course) without a warrant. And, note, this is relatively new:
Anonymous Cop Claims Anonymity Is Bad, Proposes National Email Registry For Internet Users
Online anonymity is a feature, not a bug, as we‘ve pointed out several times here at Techdirt. True, being faceless and nameless can often bring out the worst in certain people. Anonymity may make a bad things worse, but anonymity, in and of itself, isn‘t a bad thing.
Die NSA hat auch US-Senatoren Frank Church und Howard Baker abgehört
Mit anderen Worten: Die NSA hat illegal Politiker abgehört, die für die Aufarbeitung von Fällen von illegalem Abhören zuständig waren.
Helping Build The Surveillance State Is Good Business: Palantir Gets $196 Million More In Funding
Palantir is definitely a fairly well-known (if somewhat secretive) company in Silicon Valley. While Silicon Valley firms actually tend to have a reputation for being skeptical of partnering up with the intelligence community, Palantir has always focused on trying to work directly with the intelligence community, quite successfully. Palantir got a bit of notoriety a couple years ago, when it was revealed to be associated with HBGary Federal when Anonymous leaked plans to try to discredit Wikileaks and various critics (including Glenn Greenwald) in a pitch to Bank of America and the US Chamber of Commerce.
Senators Angle for Monsanto-Friendly FDA Voluntary GMO Labeling ‚Guidance‘
While consumers battle on for laws mandating the labeling of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) in food products, some lawmakers are taking the GMO labeling debate in a different direction. And it’s a direction that’s anything but consumer friendly.
Last month, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Sen. Mark Udall (D-Colo.) asked the U.S. Food & Drug Administration to finalize its 2001 guidance on voluntary labeling of genetically modified organisms (GMOs).
Pentagon chief Chuck Hagel seeks deal to keep 10,000 troops in Afghanistan
US Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said Monday he hoped an accord on the future US military presence in Afghanistan would be in place by November, despite President Hamid Karzai’s refusal to be rushed.
“I hope we’ll have that agreement by the end of October, because we just can’t move without it,” Hagel told US soldiers participating in a live-fire exercise in South Korea.
Hartz IV: Mutter friert mit Baby ohne Heizung
Im Februar stellte die 21-Jährige hochschwanger in Begleitung ihrer Schwiegermutter einen Antrag auf Hartz IV beim zuständigen Jobcenter. Da sich der Vater des Kindes noch in der Tischler-Ausbildung befindet, reicht das Geld der kleine Familie hinten und vorne nicht. Das Jobcenter behauptete jedoch, keinen Antrag erhalten zu haben. Da ein Stempel auf den Unterlagen fehlte, konnte die jungen Mutter nicht das Gegenteil beweisen.
Ahnungsloser Außenminister: Westerwelle und Deutschlands chemiewaffentaugliche Lieferung an Syrien
Am 18. September gab das Bundeswirtschaftsministerium bekannt, dass Deutschland bis 2006 waffentaugliche Chemikalien nach Syrien lieferte. Außenminister Guido Westerwelle fügte eiligst hinzu, dass diese Lieferungen einen Zeitraum betreffen, in der er nicht in Regierungsverantwortung war. Nun stellt sich heraus, dass Deutschland noch bis zum 1. Halbjahr 2011 chemiewaffentaugliche Stoffe nach Syrien exportierten.
N.S.A. Gathers Data on Social Connections of U.S. Citizens
A year earlier, an internal briefing paper from the N.S.A. Office of Legal Counsel showed that the agency was allowed to collect and retain raw traffic, which includes both metadata and content, about “U.S. persons” for up to five years online and for an additional 10 years offline for “historical searches.”
“TravelsWith, hasFather, sentForumMessage, employs” – NSA nutzt Passagierdaten zur permanenten Rasterfahndung
Auch deutsche Behörden kooperieren mit dem DHS. Die operative Zusammenarbeit mit dem BKA und Bundesamt für Verfassungsschutz wird seit 2008 in einer “Security Cooperation Group” ausgestaltet (Großbritannien unterhält hierfür mit dem DHS eine “Joint Contact Group”). Das deutsche Zollkriminalamt darf seit 1973 zur “Drogen- und Terrorismusbekämpfung” mit US-Behörden Daten tauschen.
Stuttgart 21: Verantwortliche bestrafen statt Bürger überwachen
Presseerklärung zur heutigen 191. Stuttgarter Montagsdemo der Bürgerbewegung gegen das Industrieprogramm “Stuttgart 21″ (S21), sowie zum dritten Jahrestag des Schwarzen Donnerstags
Egypt Brotherhood youth reach out across ideology
the Brotherhood faces deep skepticism over its rebranding, particularly among leftist and revolutionary activists who oppose the military‘s current domination of the political scene. Those activists recall how the Brotherhood and its Islamist allies supported military rule after Mubarak‘s 2011 fall because it served their interests, paving the way to elections they would win. The Brotherhood and other Islamists even backed deadly crackdowns on anti-military protesters at the time.