Author: KS

Amazon Pays Employees To Chirp Happily On Twitter About Wonderful Working Conditions | Techdirt

Hoping to correct the “public perception” of poor working conditions at the company’s warehouses, Amazon executives have crafted a new “solution” to the problem. They’ve started paying some warehouse employees to create Twitter accounts and speak positively of not only their working experiences, but CEO Jeff Bezos. Under the tags of “Amazon FC Ambassadors,” these employees are broadly encouraged to respond to any criticism of Amazon with positivity and, apparently, copious use of emojis as they proudly insist they can pee any time they’d like

Source: Amazon Pays Employees To Chirp Happily On Twitter About Wonderful Working Conditions | Techdirt

Dutch Government Prosecuting Dutch Citizen For Insulting Turkish President Recep Erdogan | Techdirt

Erdogan knows the laws of foreign countries at least as well as he knows his own. He’s found another “insulting a friendly foreign head of state” law on the books in the Netherlands and has successfully demanded punishment for this violation of a foreign law by a foreign citizen.This is an unacceptable turn of events. Just because the law is on the books doesn’t mean Dutch prosecutors have to actually prosecute anyone. Laws are broken every day, and even those incidents that law enforcement witness don’t always result in charges. For this person, there’s the possibility of a 6-8 month jail sentence for comparing Erdogan to Hitler, which isn’t that much of a stretch.

Source: Dutch Government Prosecuting Dutch Citizen For Insulting Turkish President Recep Erdogan | Techdirt

Only 12% Of Music Revenue Goes To Actual Artists | Techdirt


Very little of the money being made actually goes to the artist. Now we have even more data on this. Citibank recently released a massive and incredibly thorough report on the entire music industry showing how and where the money is made. There’s lots of interesting and useful information in the report, but the headline grabbing fact is that musicians end up with just about 12% of global music revenue.

Source: Only 12% Of Music Revenue Goes To Actual Artists | Techdirt

Irony Alert: Disney (Yes, DISNEY!) Whines About ‘Overzealous Copyright Holders’ | Techdirt


Disney has now been put in the possibly awkward position of complaining about “overzealous copyright holders,” and talking about the importance of user rights and fair use to protect free speech and the First Amendment. No, really.Disney, of course, owns ABC. Back in May (though the complaint appears to incorrectly state March), ABC aired a two-hour program entitled The Last Days of Michael Jackson. The Michael Jackson Estate was not pleased and sued for copyright infringement. The complaint itself is quite a read.

Source: Irony Alert: Disney (Yes, DISNEY!) Whines About ‘Overzealous Copyright Holders’ | Techdirt

A Palestinian Bedouin Village Braces for Forcible Transfer as Israel Seeks to Split the West Bank in Half


Khan al-Ahmar is one of the last-standing obstacles in the way of Israel’s plan to completely swallow up a broad swath of land around Jerusalem.

Source: A Palestinian Bedouin Village Braces for Forcible Transfer as Israel Seeks to Split the West Bank in Half

Are Patent Claims Coming for Your WS2812? | Hackaday


There are some components which are used within our sphere so often as to become ubiquitous, referred to by their part number without the need for a hasty dig through a data sheet to remind oneself…

Source: Are Patent Claims Coming for Your WS2812? | Hackaday

Koch-Backed Think Tank Finds That “Medicare for All” Would Cut Health Care Spending and Raise Wages. Whoops.


A NEW STUDY from the Mercatus Center at George Mason University is making headlines for projecting that Independent Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders’s “Medicare for All” bill is estimated to cost $32.6 trillion — a number that’s entirely in line with 2016 projections, and is literally old news. But what the Associated Press headline fails to announce is a much more sanguine update: The report, by Senior Research Strategist Charles Blahous, found that under Sanders’s plan, overall health costs would go down, and wages would go up.

Source: Koch-Backed Think Tank Finds That “Medicare for All” Would Cut Health Care Spending and Raise Wages. Whoops.

Guy In Charge Of Pushing Draconian EU Copyright Directive, Evasive About His Own Use Of Copyright Protected Images | Techdirt

– had Voss paid for the images he used? — and yet one that seemed so hard for the Voss team to answer, even with the single word “yes”. The article (original in German) took screenshots of the images the BuzzFeed Germany journalists had found. That’s just as well, because shortly afterwards, 12 of the 17 posts with copyrighted images had been deleted. The journalists contacted Axel Voss once more, and asked why they had disappeared (original in German). To which Axel Voss’s office replied: anyone can add and remove posts, if they wish. Which is true, but fails to answer the question, yet again.

Source: Guy In Charge Of Pushing Draconian EU Copyright Directive, Evasive About His Own Use Of Copyright Protected Images | Techdirt

No, you can’t patent the ability to pause a lesson recording, EFF says | Ars Technica


According to Thomas’ patent filing itself, “the technique involves a process through which a student, for each of a set of expressions listens to a recorded expression in the home language, and then with a pause under control of the student, translates the expressions into the target language.”

Source: No, you can’t patent the ability to pause a lesson recording, EFF says | Ars Technica

MSNBC Does Not Merely Permit Fabrications Against Democratic Party Critics. It Encourages and Rewards Them.

The network routinely allows outright lies to stand if aimed at critics of Democrats, especially fabricated allegations of being Kremlin agents. The latest is Malcolm Nance.

Source: MSNBC Does Not Merely Permit Fabrications Against Democratic Party Critics. It Encourages and Rewards Them.