Old Fucking Punk @lwriemen@librem.one

Our brains appear uniquely tuned for musical pitch

Results of a study involving primates suggest that speech and music may have shaped the human brain's hearing circuits.

Possible link between sugary drinks and cancer

Findings from a new study suggest that limiting sugary drinks might contribute to a reduction in cancer cases, say researchers.

Amy McGrath Is Challenging Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. She’s Everything Wrong With the Democratic Party.

McGrath can’t simply be blamed on the deformed strategic thinking of Democratic leaders.

The post Amy McGrath Is Challenging Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. She’s Everything Wrong With the Democratic Party. appeared first on The Intercept.

Tell Rep. Adam Schiff to remove this dangerous secrecy provision from this year’s intelligence bill

Democratic Rep. Adam Schiff is reportedly responsible for inserting a provision in this year's intelligence bill that threatens press freedom.

Largely unnoticed until yesterday, the CIA is pushing Congress to pass a bill that will vastly expand secrecy laws, threaten press freedom, and prevent accountability for intelligence officials who violate the law.

This year’s Intelligence Authorization Act (IAA) contains a provision that would radically expand the definition of employees in the CIA and other intelligence agencies that can be considered “covert.” Right now, the Intelligence Identities Protection Act (IIPA) only applies to covert officers who are stationed overseas within the last five years. As Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press explained, “if the changes advocated by the CIA are adopted, the law would indefinitely criminalize the disclosure of the identity of anyone with a classified relationship to an intelligence agency regardless of whether they have ever served abroad.”

This provision was inserted into the intelligence bill by Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA), who is chair of the House Intelligence Committee, and someone who claims to be a strong supporter of press freedom.

Critically, the bill would allow the Trump administration—and all future administrations—the ability to prosecute reporters who reveal these officers’ names, even if those officers have tortured innocent people in clear violation of the law. In fact, the CIA literally cites media revelations about the CIA’s torture program in its justification to Congress to pass the bill. That type of important reporting could be subject to prosecution if the IAA provision is allowed to move forward.

Dozens of press freedom and open government groups have sent a letter to Congress protesting the bill.

Freedom of the Press Foundation’s executive director Trevor Timm released the following statement about the controversial provision.

The press is critical in holding intelligence agencies like the CIA accountable for breaking the law, and this bill is a clear attempt to stifle press freedom. It’s an open invitation to the Trump administration to hide government criminality behind official secrecy and potentially prosecute reporters for revealing it. Anyone in Congress who cares about press freedom should vigorously oppose this dangerous bill. We urge Rep. Adam Schiff to do everything in his power to withdraw this misguided provision.

Please contact Rep. Schiff's office and tell him to remove the dangerous provision and stand up for press freedom ahead of next week’s vote. The contact information for Rep. Schiff and his office are below. The House may vote on the IAA as soon as early next week.

Phone: (202) 225-4176
Twitter: @RepAdamSchiff or @AdamSchiff

Mattresses could emit higher levels of VOCs during sleep

Hundreds of household items, including furniture, paint and electronics, emit volatile organic compounds (VOCs), which at high levels can pose health risks. Now, researchers have measured the emission rates of the gaseous compounds released by several types of polyurethane mattresses under simulated sleeping conditions, finding levels of some VOCs that could be worrisome for children and infants. However, so far there is no evidence of adverse health effects.

Fossil fuels increasingly offer a poor return on energy investment

Researchers have calculated the EROI for fossil fuels over a 16 year period and found that at the finished fuel stage, the ratios are much closer to those of renewable energy sources -- roughly 6:1, and potentially as low as 3:1 in the case of electricity.

Global farming trends threaten food security

Citrus fruits, coffee and avocados: the food on our tables has become more diverse in recent decades. However, global agriculture does not reflect this trend. Monocultures are increasing worldwide, taking up more land than ever. At the same time, many of the crops being grown rely on pollination by insects and other animals. This puts food security at increased risk.

Isn't this lovely... #morningreading #coffeetime https://thehackernews.com/2019/07/whatsapp-android-malware.html

Meet the Thai Woman Ensuring Your Seafood Dinner Isn’t Harvested By Slaves

Ghost Fleet is a gripping new documentary about modern-day slaves in the Thai fishing industry. The film delves into the sordid labor practices of an industry that supplies the United States, Europe, and Asia with seafood, but it does so by focusing on the compelling work of Bangkok-based Patima Tungpuchayakul, an abolitionist who has devoted […]

The Trump Administration Is Using Secretive Gang Databases to Detain Migrants and Separate Families

This story was originally published by ProPublica. With scant public notice, federal immigration officials are relying on databases run by foreign police and militaries to check whether migrants crossing the United States border have gang affiliations, which would allow officials to detain and eventually deport them. The information is being provided through a new “fusion” […]

How U.S. Tech Giants Are Helping to Build China’s Surveillance State

A nonprofit led by Google and IBM executives is working with Semptian, whose technology is monitoring the internet activity of 200 million people in China.

The post How U.S. Tech Giants Are Helping to Build China’s Surveillance State appeared first on The Intercept.

House Democrats Are Panicked About Primaries, but New York Shows How Potent They Can Be

Cynthia Nixon won, actually.

The post House Democrats Are Panicked About Primaries, but New York Shows How Potent They Can Be appeared first on The Intercept.

Trump Lashes Out at Tech Companies and Lavishes Self-Praise: “So Great Looking and Smart”

The White House is set to host its first social media summit where right-wing extremists and trolls will gather on Thursday to allege an anti-conservative bias by the world’s leading tech companies. Notably, Google, Facebook, and Twitter were shut out of attending the event. But while President Donald Trump declined to directly name them, the […]

Green Hypocrisy

Life-Altering Copyright Lawsuits Could Come to Regular Internet Users Under a New Law Moving in the Senate

The Senate Judiciary Committee intends to vote on the CASE Act, legislation that would create a brand new quasi-court for copyright infringement claims. We have expressed numerous concerns with the legislation, and serious problems inherent with the bill have not been remedied by Congress before moving it forward. In short, the bill would supercharge a “copyright troll” industry dedicated to filing as many “small claims” on as many Internet users as possible in order to make money through the bill’s statutory damages provisions. Every single person who uses the Internet and regularly interacts with copyrighted works (that’s everyone) should contact their Senators to oppose this bill.

Take Action

Tell the Senate Not to Enable Copyright Trolls

Easy $5,000 Copyright Infringement Tickets Won’t Fix Copyright Law

Making it so easy to sue Internet users for allegedly infringing a copyrighted work that an infringement claim comes to resemble a traffic ticket is a terrible idea. This bill creates a situation where Internet users could easily be on the hook for multiple $5,000 copyright infringement judgments without many of the traditional legal safeguards or rights of appeal our justice system provides.

The legislation would allow the Copyright Office to create a “determination” process for claims seeking up to $5,000 in damages:

Regulations For Smaller Claims.—The Register of Copyrights shall establish regulations to provide for the consideration and determination, by at least one Copyright Claims Officer, of any claim under this chapter in which total damages sought do not exceed $5,000 (exclusive of attorneys’ fees and costs). A determination issued under this subsection shall have the same effect as a determination issued by the entire Copyright Claims Board.

This could be read as permission for the Copyright Office to dispense with even the meager procedural protections provided elsewhere in the bill when a rightsholder asks for $5000 or less. In essence, what this means is any Internet user who uploads a copyrighted work could find themselves subject to a largely unappealable $5,000 penalty without anything resembling a trial or evidentiary hearing. Ever share a meme, share a photo that isn’t yours, or download a photo you didn’t create? Under this legislation, you could easily find yourself stuck with a $5,000 judgment debt following the most trivial nod towards due process.

Every Internet User Could Face Life-Altering Money Judgments Thanks to Statutory Damages

Proponents of the legislation argue that the bill’s cap on statutory damages in a new “small claims” tribunal will protect accused infringers. But the limits imposed by the CASE Act of  $15,000 per work are far higher than the damages caps in most state small claims courts—and they don’t require any proof of harm or illicit profit. The Register of Copyrights would be free to raise that cap at any time. And the CASE Act would also remove a vital rule that protects Internet users – the registration precondition on statutory damages.

Today, someone who is going to sue a person for copyright infringement has to register their work with the Copyright Office before the infringement began, or within three months of first publication, in order to be entitled to statutory damages. Without a timely registration, violating someone’s copyright would only put an infringer on the hook for what the violation actually cost the copyright holder (called “actual damages”), or the infringer’s profits. This is a key protection for the public because copyright is ubiquitous: it automatically covers nearly every creative work from the moment it’s set down in tangible form. But not every scribble, snapshot, or notepad is eligible for statutory damages—only the ones that U.S. authors make a small effort to protect up front by filing for registration. But if Congress passes this bill, the timely registration requirement will no longer be a requirement for no-proof statutory damages of up to $7,500 per work. In other words, nearly every photo, video, or bit of text on the Internet can suddenly carry a $7,500 price tag if uploaded, downloaded, or shared even if the actual harm from that copying is nil.

For many Americans, where the median income is $57,652 per year, this $7,500 price tag for what has become regular Internet behavior would result in life-altering lawsuits from copyright trolls that will exploit this new law. That is what happens when you eliminate the processes that tend to ensure only a truly motivated copyright holder can obtain statutory damages.

Censorship of Speech Will Become More Pervasive Under this Legislation

Another major problem with the CASE Act is how it transforms a Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) Notice into a long-term censorship tool. Under current law, if a copyright holder submits a takedown notice to an online platform alleging that your post infringed their copyright, you have a right to file a counter-notice if you disagree. There are many times when false takedown claims occur on the Internet and perfectly lawful speech is suppressed, and counter-notices are an important, though flawed, check on abuse. But the CASE Act would allow a party that filed a takedown notice to also bring a claim with the new “small claims” tribunal. When they do so, the Internet platform doesn’t have to honor the counter-notice by putting the posted material back online within 14 days. Already, some of the worst abuses of the DMCA occur with time-sensitive material, as even a false infringement notice can effectively censor that material for up to two weeks during a newsworthy event, for example. The CASE Act would allow unscrupulous filers to extend that period by months, for a small filing fee.

If all these outcomes sound terrible to you and you want to send a clear message to Congress not to move forward, then you need to contact your Senators right away to tell them you oppose the CASE Act (S. 1273) and want them to oppose it on your behalf.

Take Action

Tell the Senate Not to Enable Copyright Trolls

Researchers discover ice is sliding toward edges off Greenland Ice Sheet

Ice on the Greenland Ice Sheet doesn't just melt. The ice actually slides rapidly across its bed toward the ice sheet's edges. As a result, because ice motion is from sliding as opposed to ice deformation, ice is being moved to the high-melt marginal zones more rapidly than previously thought.

California’s Senate Judiciary Committee Blocks Efforts to Weaken California’s Privacy Law

The California Senate Judiciary Committee heard five bills on Tuesday that EFF and other privacy advocates strongly opposed. These measures, backed by big business and the tech industry, would have eviscerated the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), a landmark privacy law passed last year. We thank the Senate Judiciary Committee, in particular Chair Senator Hannah-Beth Jackson and the committee’s staff, for blocking efforts to weaken the state's baseline privacy protections.

Unfortunately, the California legislature failed to add much-needed additional protections to the CCPA this year when it blocked bills from California Senator Hannah-Beth Jackson and Assemblymember Buffy Wicks. These measures would have afforded consumers rights about how companies use their personal data, and increased their ability to exercise and enforce their rights under the CCPA. Worse, lawmakers advanced several bills that each would have weakened the CCPA on their own. Taken together, they would have significantly eroded this law, which is set to go into effect in January 2020.

Thankfully, Senate Judiciary Committee members voted down A.B. 873, which privacy advocates opposed because it would have weakened the definition of “personal information” and undermined critical privacy protections in the CCPA.

We are also pleased that Assemblymember Ken Cooley chose not to bring the most problematic of the privacy-eroding bills, A.B. 1416, up for a vote, and that it will not move forward this session. A.B. 1416 would have created an enormous loophole that would have allowed any company that sells or shares information to the government the ability to ignore your privacy rights. It faced strong opposition from privacy advocates and immigrant rights advocates.

The committee passed A.B. 25 (Asm. Ed Chau), after the author agreed to amendments that assuaged the concerns of privacy groups, employer advocates, and labor unions. The bill, originally intended to clean up implementation concerns with the CCPA, would have removed CCPA protections from data that companies collect about their employees. This bill contains a one-year sunset, with stakeholders committing to discuss employee privacy legislation more comprehensively in 2020.

The committee also spent significant time discussing the two remaining bills aimed at weakening the CCPA: A.B. 846 (Asm. Autumn Burke), which would make it easier for businesses to force consumers to pay for their privacy rights under the guise of loyalty programs, and A.B. 1564 (Asm. Mark Berman), which would make it harder for low-income Californians to exercise their privacy rights. We appreciate that Sen. Jackson negotiated with both authors to take amendments in committee on their bills that address some of our concerns. We look forward to continuing these conversations.

Finally, we thank every person who spoke up to tell the Senate Judiciary Committee and its chair to defend the basic privacy protections granted by the CCPA. We will continue the fight to improve the privacy rights of all Californians.

Warren and Sanders Have Mobilized to Attack the New Billionaire in the 2020 Campaign

The already overstuffed 2020 Democratic field got a little more crowded Tuesday when billionaire political activist Tom Steyer officially entered the fray. In an announcement video, Steyer, who originally said in January that he wouldn’t mount a White House campaign, said he was running “to end corruption of our democracy by corporations and give more power […]

20 overlooked benefits of distributed solar energy

A study released today provides the most complete list yet of the advantages of solar energy -- from carbon sequestration to improvements for pollinator habitat.

Former Puerto Rico Education Secretary Arrested on Federal Corruption Charges

Julia Keleher, the former Puerto Rico Secretary of Education, was arrested Wednesday morning, accused of illicitly steering hundreds of thousands of dollars in contracts to close associates in 2017. Keleher was arrested in Washington, D.C., according to Noticel, which first reported the news. Mother Jones could not immediately verify the precise location or means of […]