A few weeks ago the European Commission made the decision to stop funding the Next Generation Internet initiative (NGI) in its then current draft for the Horizon Europe 2025 Work Programme. This decision results in a loss of €27 million for software freedom.

Now you can ask for these funds and criticise the Commission's decision, by taking part in the ongoing consultation on the Digital Europe Programme.

By participating in this consultation, which closes on 20 September (midnight Brussels time) you can help to advocate for a digital future that puts users in control of technology. Your input makes a difference.

The consultation on the linked website is available in all EU languages. It also provides hints how to take action.

Addition: You may also be interested in signing the petition about 'public code', claiming that code paid by the people should be available to the people.

cross-posted from: https://feddit.org/post/2929490

Archived link

Since August 28, disinformation has been circulating on social media platforms, Chinese content farms, and Taiwanese news media, claiming that Lai was stranded for one day (some disinformation said two days) in Kinmen because of the People's Liberation Army's exercise encircling Kinmen. Many of the disinformation posts identically referred to Lai as "rampant and arrogant [囂張]" and used the Chinese idiom "catching a turtle in a jar [甕中捉鱉]" to describe how the Liberation Army successfully confined Lai in Kinmen. The pieces further asserted that if the Liberation Army continued the exercise, Lai would only be imprisoned in Kinmen.

These claims were apparently untrue. According to the Taiwan President's office and the Kinmen County government, Lai was back in Taipei around 12:30 pm on the same day and later on met with athletes who were going to compete in the Paris Paralympics. Lai's meeting with the athletes was also broadcast by several news media.

What makes this disinformation particularly intriguing is how Taiwanese political commentators propagated this disinformation claim. These Taiwanese political commentators, who often appear on pro-China TV talk shows or make comments on cross-strait politics on their own online platform channels, were among the first to spread the false claim around the same time in late August.

[...]

**The [...] disinformation claims resonated with the main theme of Chinese propaganda: on the one hand, it denounced the idea of Taiwan's independence and demonized those who defied China; on the other hand, the propaganda was eager to show China's generosity and its congenial relationship with those who are willing to "return to the Motherland." **

Archived link

Since August 28, disinformation has been circulating on social media platforms, Chinese content farms, and Taiwanese news media, claiming that Lai was stranded for one day (some disinformation said two days) in Kinmen because of the People's Liberation Army's exercise encircling Kinmen. Many of the disinformation posts identically referred to Lai as "rampant and arrogant [囂張]" and used the Chinese idiom "catching a turtle in a jar [甕中捉鱉]" to describe how the Liberation Army successfully confined Lai in Kinmen. The pieces further asserted that if the Liberation Army continued the exercise, Lai would only be imprisoned in Kinmen.

These claims were apparently untrue. According to the Taiwan President's office and the Kinmen County government, Lai was back in Taipei around 12:30 pm on the same day and later on met with athletes who were going to compete in the Paris Paralympics. Lai's meeting with the athletes was also broadcast by several news media.

What makes this disinformation particularly intriguing is how Taiwanese political commentators propagated this disinformation claim. These Taiwanese political commentators, who often appear on pro-China TV talk shows or make comments on cross-strait politics on their own online platform channels, were among the first to spread the false claim around the same time in late August.

[...]

**The [...] disinformation claims resonated with the main theme of Chinese propaganda: on the one hand, it denounced the idea of Taiwan's independence and demonized those who defied China; on the other hand, the propaganda was eager to show China's generosity and its congenial relationship with those who are willing to "return to the Motherland." **

Nach seinem Urteil zur Rechtmäßigkeit der Beobachtung der AfD durch den Verfassungsschutz hat das Oberverwaltungsgericht Nordrhein-Westfalen auch nach einer Prüfung keine Revision zum Bundesverwaltungsgericht zugelassen.

In den Verfahren der „Alternative für Deutschland (AfD)“ und ihrer Jugendorganisation „Junge Alternative für Deutschland (JA)“ gegen die Bundesrepublik Deutschland, vertreten durch das Bundesamt für Verfassungsschutz, hatte das Oberverwaltungsgericht gegen seine Urteile vom 13.05.2024keine Revision zum Bundesverwaltungsgericht zugelassen.

Zur Begründung hatte es ausgeführt, dass die gesetzlichen Voraussetzungen für die Zulassung der Revision nicht gegeben seien. Insbesondere bestehe keine grundsätzliche Bedeutung, weil die maßgeblichen Rechtsfragen in der höchstrichterlichen und verfassungsgerichtlichen Rechtsprechung geklärt seien.

Die Klägerinnen haben gegen die Nichtzulassung der Revision Beschwerde eingelegt und diese umfangreich begründet. Mit Beschlüssen vom 16.09.2024 hat der 5. Senat des Oberverwaltungsgerichts nun abgelehnt, den Beschwerden gegen die Nichtzulassung der Revision abzuhelfen.

Die Verfahren sind dem Bundesverwaltungsgericht zur Entscheidung über die Nichtzulassungsbeschwerden vorgelegt worden.

cross-posted from: https://feddit.org/post/2927437

Archived link

High-tech CCTV, super-accurate DNA-testing technology and facial tracking software: China is pushing its state-of-the-art surveillance and policing tactics abroad.

Delegates from law enforcement across the world descended this week on a port city in eastern China showcasing the work of dozens of local firms, several linked to repression in the northwestern region of Xinjiang.

China is one of the most surveilled societies on Earth, with millions of CCTV cameras scattered across cities and facial recognition technology widely used in everything from day-to-day law enforcement to political repression.

Its police serve a dual purpose: keeping the peace and cracking down on petty crime while also ensuring challenges to the ruling Communist Party are swiftly stamped out.

During the opening ceremony in Lianyungang, Jiangsu province, China's police minister lauded Beijing's training of thousands of police from abroad over the last 12 months -- and promised to help thousands more over the next year.

An analyst said this was "absolutely a sign that China aims to export" its policing.

"Beijing is hoping to normalise and legitimise its policing style and... the authoritarian political system in which it operates," Bethany Allen at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute said.

[...]

"The more countries that learn from the Chinese model, the fewer countries willing to criticise such a state-first, repressive approach."

[...]

Tech giant Huawei said its "Public Safety Solution" was now in use in over 100 countries and regions, from Kenya to Saudi Arabia.

[...]

The United States sanctioned SDIC Intelligence Xiamen Information, formerly Meiya Pico, for developing an app "designed to track image and audio files, location data, and messages on... cellphones".

In 2018, the US Treasury said residents of Xinjiang "were required to download a desktop version of" that app "so authorities could monitor for illicit activity".

China has been accused of incarcerating more than one million Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in Xinjiang -- charges Beijing vehemently rejects.

[...]

Several delegations expressed interest in learning from the Chinese police.

"We have come to establish links and begin training," Colonel Galo Erazo from the National Police of Ecuador told AFP.

"Either Chinese police will go to Ecuador, or Ecuadorian police will come to China," he added.

One expert said that this outsourcing of security is becoming a key tool in China's efforts to promote its goals overseas.

[...]

"China's offers of police cooperation and training give them channels through which to learn how local security forces -- many either on China's periphery or in areas that Beijing considers strategically important -- view the security environment," [Sheena Greitens at the University of Texas in the U.S.] said.

"These initiatives can give China influence within the security apparatus if a threat to Chinese interests arises."

[Corrected broken link.]

cross-posted from: https://feddit.org/post/2927437

Archived link

High-tech CCTV, super-accurate DNA-testing technology and facial tracking software: China is pushing its state-of-the-art surveillance and policing tactics abroad.

Delegates from law enforcement across the world descended this week on a port city in eastern China showcasing the work of dozens of local firms, several linked to repression in the northwestern region of Xinjiang.

China is one of the most surveilled societies on Earth, with millions of CCTV cameras scattered across cities and facial recognition technology widely used in everything from day-to-day law enforcement to political repression.

Its police serve a dual purpose: keeping the peace and cracking down on petty crime while also ensuring challenges to the ruling Communist Party are swiftly stamped out.

During the opening ceremony in Lianyungang, Jiangsu province, China's police minister lauded Beijing's training of thousands of police from abroad over the last 12 months -- and promised to help thousands more over the next year.

An analyst said this was "absolutely a sign that China aims to export" its policing.

"Beijing is hoping to normalise and legitimise its policing style and... the authoritarian political system in which it operates," Bethany Allen at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute said.

[...]

"The more countries that learn from the Chinese model, the fewer countries willing to criticise such a state-first, repressive approach."

[...]

Tech giant Huawei said its "Public Safety Solution" was now in use in over 100 countries and regions, from Kenya to Saudi Arabia.

[...]

The United States sanctioned SDIC Intelligence Xiamen Information, formerly Meiya Pico, for developing an app "designed to track image and audio files, location data, and messages on... cellphones".

In 2018, the US Treasury said residents of Xinjiang "were required to download a desktop version of" that app "so authorities could monitor for illicit activity".

China has been accused of incarcerating more than one million Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in Xinjiang -- charges Beijing vehemently rejects.

[...]

Several delegations expressed interest in learning from the Chinese police.

"We have come to establish links and begin training," Colonel Galo Erazo from the National Police of Ecuador told AFP.

"Either Chinese police will go to Ecuador, or Ecuadorian police will come to China," he added.

One expert said that this outsourcing of security is becoming a key tool in China's efforts to promote its goals overseas.

[...]

"China's offers of police cooperation and training give them channels through which to learn how local security forces -- many either on China's periphery or in areas that Beijing considers strategically important -- view the security environment," [Sheena Greitens at the University of Texas in the U.S.] said.

"These initiatives can give China influence within the security apparatus if a threat to Chinese interests arises."

[Corrected broken link.]

Archived lilnk

The President of Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Tokayev urged visiting German Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Monday (16 September) to give up on the idea that Russia can be defeated on the battlefield and to support China’s peace plan for Ukraine, a suggestion Scholz rejected.

Scholz is on his first official tour of Central Asia as Berlin looks for new sources of energy and minerals in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Kazakhstan remains a close ally of its former Soviet overlord Russia, though the Astana government has not taken sides in the conflict or supported Moscow’s claims to some Ukrainian territories.

“It is a fact that Russia cannot be defeated in the military sense,” Tokayev told Scholz in Astana.

“A further escalation of war will lead to irreparable consequences for the whole of humanity and above all for the countries involved in the Russia-Ukraine conflict,” he added.

Scholz diplomatically disagreed, saying Germany was supporting Ukraine because Russia had invaded it.

Archived link

High-tech CCTV, super-accurate DNA-testing technology and facial tracking software: China is pushing its state-of-the-art surveillance and policing tactics abroad.

Delegates from law enforcement across the world descended this week on a port city in eastern China showcasing the work of dozens of local firms, several linked to repression in the northwestern region of Xinjiang.

China is one of the most surveilled societies on Earth, with millions of CCTV cameras scattered across cities and facial recognition technology widely used in everything from day-to-day law enforcement to political repression.

Its police serve a dual purpose: keeping the peace and cracking down on petty crime while also ensuring challenges to the ruling Communist Party are swiftly stamped out.

During the opening ceremony in Lianyungang, Jiangsu province, China's police minister lauded Beijing's training of thousands of police from abroad over the last 12 months -- and promised to help thousands more over the next year.

An analyst said this was "absolutely a sign that China aims to export" its policing.

"Beijing is hoping to normalise and legitimise its policing style and... the authoritarian political system in which it operates," Bethany Allen at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute said.

[...]

"The more countries that learn from the Chinese model, the fewer countries willing to criticise such a state-first, repressive approach."

[...]

Tech giant Huawei said its "Public Safety Solution" was now in use in over 100 countries and regions, from Kenya to Saudi Arabia.

[...]

The United States sanctioned SDIC Intelligence Xiamen Information, formerly Meiya Pico, for developing an app "designed to track image and audio files, location data, and messages on... cellphones".

In 2018, the US Treasury said residents of Xinjiang "were required to download a desktop version of" that app "so authorities could monitor for illicit activity".

China has been accused of incarcerating more than one million Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in Xinjiang -- charges Beijing vehemently rejects.

[...]

Several delegations expressed interest in learning from the Chinese police.

"We have come to establish links and begin training," Colonel Galo Erazo from the National Police of Ecuador told AFP.

"Either Chinese police will go to Ecuador, or Ecuadorian police will come to China," he added.

One expert said that this outsourcing of security is becoming a key tool in China's efforts to promote its goals overseas.

[...]

"China's offers of police cooperation and training give them channels through which to learn how local security forces -- many either on China's periphery or in areas that Beijing considers strategically important -- view the security environment," [Sheena Greitens at the University of Texas in the U.S.] said.

"These initiatives can give China influence within the security apparatus if a threat to Chinese interests arises."

[Corrected broken link.]

cross-posted from: https://feddit.org/post/2926436

A Hong Kong man is facing as long as 10 years in jail after he pleaded guilty to sedition for wearing a T-shirt featuring a protest slogan.

In court on Monday, Chu Kai-pong, 27, was the first person to be convicted under Hong Kong’s tough homegrown national security law enacted in March.

[...]

He was arrested on June 12 at a train station wearing a T-shirt with the slogan “Liberate Hong Kong, revolution of our times”, and a yellow mask printed with “FDNOL” – the shorthand for another pro-democracy slogan, “five demands, not one less”. June 12 is a date associated with protests in the city in 2019.

[...]

Chu’s lawyer argued that the maximum he could be given would be two years.

cross-posted from: https://feddit.org/post/2926436

A Hong Kong man is facing as long as 10 years in jail after he pleaded guilty to sedition for wearing a T-shirt featuring a protest slogan.

In court on Monday, Chu Kai-pong, 27, was the first person to be convicted under Hong Kong’s tough homegrown national security law enacted in March.

[...]

He was arrested on June 12 at a train station wearing a T-shirt with the slogan “Liberate Hong Kong, revolution of our times”, and a yellow mask printed with “FDNOL” – the shorthand for another pro-democracy slogan, “five demands, not one less”. June 12 is a date associated with protests in the city in 2019.

[...]

Chu’s lawyer argued that the maximum he could be given would be two years.

Archived link

US firms warned against possible negative implications of the high-level report published last week by former European Central Bank President Mario Draghi on Monday (16 September) – arguing that certain recommendations would unfairly discriminate against non-European companies.

Despite praising Draghi’s “important contribution” to the discussion surrounding Europe’s flagging competitiveness, the American Chamber of Commerce to the EU (AmCham EU) cautioned that an overarching strive to prioritise European firms would endanger the bloc’s ability to leverage bilateral investments and trade flows.

“Making Europe more competitive does not require the region to turn its back on its long-standing commitment to openness,” the association warned.

“[US] companies are woven into the fabric of the EU economy, committed to building on their legacy of strengthening the region’s Single Market and industrial base,” it went on to say, highlighting the “€3.5 trillion of US foreign direct investment” (FDI) that goes to the 27 member states.

Meanwhile, total EU-US trade in goods surpassed over €850 billion last year – making for the world’s largest trade and investment relationship by far, well above the €520 billion US-China trade in goods and the €738 billion in total EU-China goods trade.

[...]

Draghi’s warnings against both blocs [China, U.S.] “actively pursuing policies to enhance their competitive positions” largely echoed widespread European industry worries around, in the case of the US, the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) signed by President Joe Biden in 2022 – a massive green subsidy programme that has been seen to create market distortions and unduly favour US-based growth. Draghi has sharply criticised both Chinese and US protectionist policies in recent months, accusing both of “no longer playing by the rules” on international trade, through their increasing use of tariffs, subsidies, and other non-market policies.

[...]

Draghi, however, suggested in his report that EU defence-related public tenders should ensure that “a minimum share” of the increasing global demand for weaponry “is concentrated on European companies rather than flowing overseas” – something that echoes the EDIP text and that AmCham warned “would not address European security needs in the near term”.

A Hong Kong man is facing as long as 10 years in jail after he pleaded guilty to sedition for wearing a T-shirt featuring a protest slogan.

In court on Monday, Chu Kai-pong, 27, was the first person to be convicted under Hong Kong’s tough homegrown national security law enacted in March.

[...]

He was arrested on June 12 at a train station wearing a T-shirt with the slogan “Liberate Hong Kong, revolution of our times”, and a yellow mask printed with “FDNOL” – the shorthand for another pro-democracy slogan, “five demands, not one less”. June 12 is a date associated with protests in the city in 2019.

[...]

Chu’s lawyer argued that the maximum he could be given would be two years.