Open access: All human knowledge is there—so why can’t everybody access it?; Ars Technica, 6/7/16

Glyn Moody, Ars Technica; Open access: All human knowledge is there—so why can’t everybody access it? :

"In 1836, Anthony Panizzi, who later became principal librarian of the British Museum, gave evidence before a parliamentary select committee. At that time, he was only first assistant librarian, but even then he had an ambitious vision for what would one day became the British Library. He told the committee:

I want a poor student to have the same means of indulging his learned curiosity, of following his rational pursuits, of consulting the same authorities, of fathoming the most intricate inquiry as the richest man in the kingdom, as far as books go, and I contend that the government is bound to give him the most liberal and unlimited assistance in this respect...

The example of The Pirate Bay shows that the current game of domain whack-a-mole is not one that the lawyers are likely to win. But even if they did, it is too late.

Science magazine's analysis of Sci-Hub downloads reveals that the busiest city location is Tehran. It wrote: "Much of that is from Iranians using programs to automatically download huge swathes of Sci-Hub’s papers to make a local mirror of the site. Rahimi, an engineering student in Tehran, confirms this. 'There are several Persian sites similar to Sci-Hub'."

In this, people are following in the footsteps of Aaron Swartz, with the difference that we don't know what he intended to do with the millions of articles he had downloaded, whereas those mirroring Sci-Hub certainly intend to share the contents widely. It would be surprising if others around the world, especially in emerging economies, are not busily downloading all 45 million papers to do the same."

Ellen DeGeneres bombarded by Great Barrier Reef tweets from Australian minister; Guardian, 6/8/16

Michael Slezak and Elle Hunt, Guardian; Ellen DeGeneres bombarded by Great Barrier Reef tweets from Australian minister:

"The federal government has exerted considerable effort attempting to conceal or underplay the crisis.

Last month it was revealed that every reference to Australia, including a key chapter on the reef, was scrubbed from the final version of a major UN report on climate change after the Australian Department of Environment intervened, concerned that it would negatively impact tourism.

Australia was the only inhabited continent on the planet not mentioned in the published document.

Hunt’s point to DeGeneres that the reef had been removed from the Unesco watch list overlooks the fact that it is assessed as being in “poor” condition and “worsening”, according to the government authority GBRMPA and Unesco.

In March Hunt said that Australia’s greenhouse gas emissions “peaked” 10 years ago, which was received with deep scepticism by experts."

Graham calls on Republicans to un-endorse Trump; Politico, 6/7/16

Nick Gass, Politico; Graham calls on Republicans to un-endorse Trump:

"Graham wants fellow Republicans who have endorsed Donald Trump to take it all back in the wake of his repeated claims that Judge Gonzalo Curiel's heritage make him unfit to preside over lawsuits against him.

“This is the most un-American thing from a politician since Joe McCarthy,” Graham told The New York Times. “If anybody was looking for an off-ramp, this is probably it,” he added. “There’ll come a time when the love of country will trump hatred of Hillary.”"

Controversial film linking vaccines and autism to premiere in Pittsburgh; Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 6/7/16

Anya Sostek, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette; Controversial film linking vaccines and autism to premiere in Pittsburgh:

"A controversial film that asserts a government cover-up on a purported link between autism and vaccines will premiere in Pittsburgh on Friday.

“VAXXED,” pulled from New York’s Tribeca Film Festival in March after groups such as the American Academy of Pediatrics voiced concerns to actor and festival founder Robert De Niro, will be shown for seven days at the Parkway Theater in Stowe...

“It’s a dangerous and misleading attempt to perpetuate a conspiracy theory that is completely discredited,” said Arvind Venkat, a physician at Allegheny General Hospital who specializes in educating emergency departments on the acute needs of patients with autism.

“There aren’t two sides to this issue — there really aren’t — and we need to be careful about putting movies out there and portraying them as truthful when they aren’t.”...

The film has drawn protests in cities where it has been shown, such as Atlanta, and cities where it has been pulled from film festivals, such as New York and Houston. Mr. Wakefield’s landmark study was retracted by The Lancet medical journal that published it and the United Kingdom stripped him of his medical license...

As for the criticism, Mr. Stubna believes that there’s no downside to more information."

The Judicial System According to Donald Trump; New York Times, 6/6/16

Editorial Board, New York Times; The Judicial System According to Donald Trump:

"Federal judges have repeatedly and emphatically refused to recuse themselves from cases because of their race or ethnicity. These rulings were driven by two realizations: Ethnically based challenges would reduce every judge to a racial category, which would be racist in itself. And such challenges would make judges vulnerable to recusal motions — for reasons of race, ethnicity, gender or religion — in every case that came before them.

In other words, once these challenges were allowed, there would be no end to them.

The gravity of this matter has clearly eluded Donald Trump, who has cast aside the Constitution and decades of jurisprudence by suggesting both ethnic and religious litmus tests for federal judges. These pronouncements illustrate that Mr. Trump holds the rule of law in contempt."

The Madness of America; New York Times, 6/6/16

Charles M. Blow, New York Times; The Madness of America:

"...[T]here is a line one dares not cross, and that is the one of responding to violent rhetoric with violent actions.

As I have said before, the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. said it best in his 1967 book “Where Do We Go From Here: Chaos or Community?,” and he is worthy of quoting here at length:

“The ultimate weakness of violence is that it is a descending spiral, begetting the very thing it seeks to destroy. Instead of diminishing evil, it multiplies it. Through violence you may murder the liar, but you cannot murder the lie, nor establish the truth. Through violence you may murder the hater, but you do not murder hate. In fact, violence merely increases hate. So it goes. Returning violence for violence multiplies violence, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars. Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that...”

In a democracy, the vote is the voice. The best way to reduce the threat Trump poses is to register and motivate people who share your view of the threat...

Trump and his millions of minions have replaced what they call “political correctness” with “ambient viciousness.”

This won’t “make America great again,” because the “again” they imagine harkens back to America’s darkness. We are the new America — more diverse, more inclusive, more than our ancestors could ever have imagined."

Donald Trump Finally Admits His Campaign Is Racist; Huffington Post, 6/6/16

Amanda Terkel, Huffington Post; Donald Trump Finally Admits His Campaign Is Racist:

"Paul Manafort, Trump’s chief strategist, recently told The Huffington Post that Trump is unlikely to pick a woman or minority as a running mate because that would be seen as “pandering.”

If he were to become president, Trump would have the power to nominate candidates to the Supreme Court and other spots on the federal bench. But between his comments about race, religion and gender, the people Trump thinks would be unbiased enough to serve may make up a very narrow slice of the population."

Megyn Kelly Slams Donald Trump’s ‘Mexican’ Judge Remarks: ‘That Is Not The Way Our System Works’; Huffington Post, 6/7/16

Dominique Mosbergen, Huffington Post; Megyn Kelly Slams Donald Trump’s ‘Mexican’ Judge Remarks: ‘That Is Not The Way Our System Works’ :

"Kelly strongly disagreed with O’Reilly’s position.

“That is not the way our system works,” she said on her show an hour later.

“If a litigant making stink about a judge necessarily resulted in a conflict that would force the judge to step down, it would lead to chaos in our court system,” she added...

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich also skewered Trump’s position.

“We don’t judge you as part of a group. That would be to suggest that blacks can’t get a fair white judge, whites can’t get a fair black judge,” Gingrich said on “The John Gibson Show.” “Once you go down that road, you destroy America. You can’t take a group definition and apply it.”

On Sunday, Gingrich called Trump’s comments about Curiel “one of the worst mistakes Trump has made.”

“I think it’s inexcusable,” Gingrich told Fox News."

Hacker Lexicon: What Is the Digital Millennium Copyright Act?; Wired, 6/6/16

Kim Zetter, Wired; Hacker Lexicon: What Is the Digital Millennium Copyright Act? :

"THE CALL FOR copyright reform in America has grown so loud that Congress has finally heard it. Lawmakers have ordered a slate of studies to look into how to fix what has become a broken system, and activists are cautiously optimistic that this could be the first step toward reform. The source of the fracture? The Digital Millennium Copyright Act.

The DMCA was passed in 1998 as an anti-piracy statute effectively making it illegal to circumvent copy protections designed to prevent pirates from duplicating digital copyrighted works and selling or freely distributing them. It also makes it illegal to manufacture or distribute tools or techniques for circumventing copy controls.

But in reality the controversial law’s effects have been much broader by allowing game developers, music and film companies and others to keep a tight control on how consumers use their copyrighted works, preventing them in some cases from making copies of their purchased products for their own use or from jailbreaking smartphones and other devices to use them in ways the manufacturers dislike.

The DMCA has two problematic sections: section 1201, which deals with the circumvention of copy-protections, and section 512, which allows a copyright holder to send a so-called takedown notice to web sites and others believed to be infringing a copyright."

Guns N' Roses' Axl Rose is trying to get a 'fat photo' off the Internet; CNet, 6/5/16

Aloysius Low, CNet; Guns N' Roses' Axl Rose is trying to get a 'fat photo' off the Internet:

"What would you do if you were the lead singer of Guns N' Roses and some young punks on the Internet used a photo of you to make fat jokes? Well, Axl Rose thinks the best way to deal is to wipe all traces of the picture off the web, and he's starting with Google...

Interestingly, the copyright for the original image is tricky. While TorrentFreak did hunt down the original photographer to check if Axl Rose has the right to take down the image, Web Sheriff, the company performing the takedown, says that photographers at the singer's show sign an agreement transferring copyright ownership to his company."

Donald Trump may be in deep trouble: The press is finally figuring out how to cover the “billionaire” bigot; BillMoyers.com via Salon, 6/5/16

Todd Gitlin, BillMoyers.com via Salon; Donald Trump may be in deep trouble: The press is finally figuring out how to cover the “billionaire” bigot:

"CBS president Leslie Moonves has deservedly come in for scorn with his grotesque, though accurate, proclamation that the Trump phenomenon “may not be good for America, but it’s damn good for CBS.” Let that Moonves statement be engraved in stone in the lobby of every journalism school in America, adding a single word in a grosser font: BEWARE.

But Moonves in mid-gaffe was only spilling the obvious (as in Michael Kinsley’s definition of a gaffe: when a politician tells the truth). Though journalists may chortle or blush at such eruptions of truth, they never stop to note the unseemliness of broadcast networks piling up profits while their stations are government-licensed at no cost. It would, I suppose, be indecorous to point out that the airwaves belong to the nation and that broadcast networks have obligations to public life...

Whatever the scale of the current cable TV rethink, Trump goes on trumpeting. He continues to rant his way through falsehoods — most recently spending 12 minutes at a rally denouncing the Indiana-born judge hearing the fraud lawsuit brought against his “Trump University” — a judge who, Trump said, “happens to be, we believe, Mexican.” In the spirit of informing the public of the character and prejudices of the candidates who come before them, it’s a good sign that many journalists took note of the ethnic insinuation. It’s a sign that they’ve stopped bending over backwards to avoid the obvious. It’s a sign that, at least for now, they’re walking away from the role of — in the late Village Voice journalist Jack Newfield’s memorable words — “stenographers with amnesia.”"

City schools superintendent schedules news conference; Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 6/6/16

Don Hopey, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette; City schools superintendent schedules news conference:

"Anthony Hamlet, the recently hired Pittsburgh Public Schools superintendent, will hold a news conference Tuesday afternoon to address apparent discrepancies in his resume related to graduation rates and school performance improvement in the south Florida district where he worked before coming to Pittsburgh.

In an unusual Sunday press release, the Pittsburgh Public Schools’ board of directors said Mr. Hamlet would “provide context to information shared on his resume that has recently come under question in the media.”

A May 29 article in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette found that while his resume stated that two schools in the Palm Beach County school system had “moved from ‘F’ to ‘C’” during his tenure as principal, both schools were already “C” schools before he took over.

The article also noted that federal graduation rates in the district improved by 4 percent during his tenure instead of the 13 percent claimed in his resume. He has said the higher percentage includes those who graduated after an extended summer session...

The Tuesday press conference is scheduled for 2:30 p.m., in the school Administration Building, 341 S. Bellefield Ave., in Oakland."

New resume questions raised about incoming Pittsburgh Schools superintendent; Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 6/3/16

Molly Born and Chris Potter, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette; New resume questions raised about incoming Pittsburgh Schools superintendent:

"In the wake of new reports questioning figures that the future Pittsburgh Public Schools’ superintendent cited in his resume, the school board president acknowledged that more could have been done to check his claims.

Regina Holley emphasized Friday afternoon that Anthony Hamlet “will do a wonderful job in the district, and the board will work with him to ensure that happens,” saying she valued his experience turning around struggling schools in Palm Beach County, Fla. But she said that in hindsight, “I would have questioned him more thoroughly on some of the numbers.”

A revised version of Mr. Hamlet’s resume, which included additional information in sections reporters had questioned, was sent to the Post-Gazette Friday.

The questions involve graduation figures, school performance ratings and other claims that Mr. Hamlet made in a resume released by the Pittsburgh school district on May 18. Some of the assertions were examined in a Pittsburgh Post-Gazette article Sunday, and others were questioned in a Palm Beach Post story Friday.

Ms. Holley said that she would have liked to see Brian Perkins, the consultant hired by the school board to guide the superintendent search, “go deeper on vetting that data.” But she added that when the district was drafting its list of priorities for finding a new superintendent — a process that involved public input — “we didn’t make that as an emphasis. ... What we were looking for is, was there a positive experience with challenging children in the district? That’s the goal.”

Mr. Hamlet, 46, began a consulting contract with Pittsburgh Public Schools on Wednesday for “transition and planning activities” through this month. He will start a five-year pact as its top school administrator on July 1 — a day after current superintendent Linda Lane’s contract expires — with a starting salary of $210,000."

Public info, now: As county and city improve, the state stays lousy; Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 6/6/16

Editorial Board, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette; Public info, now: As county and city improve, the state stays lousy:

"County officials in recent days have rolled out new online tools to make certain types of public information more accessible.

Controller Chelsa Wagner on Thursday debuted alleghenycounty.opengov.com, which features graphs, charts and sortable data about spending, vendors, employees, salaries and benefits. She also introduced allegheny.openbookportal.com, providing instant access to contracts with vendors...

Local governments are getting better at providing basic financial and vendor information to the public, and some officials, such as city Controller Michael Lamb, take pride in providing easy access to public information...

Across the state, however, access to public documents is uneven, and obtaining anything beyond routine documents, such as annual budgets, often involves a cumbersome right-to-know process in which the government agency drags its feet and attempts to keep secret anything potentially embarrassing or controversial. Incremental progress on openness should be applauded, but it is important to remember that the larger battle is far from won."

Charles Darwin letter returned to Smithsonian over 30 years after theft; Guardian, 6/2/16

Alan Yuhas, Guardian; Charles Darwin letter returned to Smithsonian over 30 years after theft:

"More than three decades after a letter by Charles Darwin was stolen, the FBI’s art crime team has recovered and returned it to the Smithsonian.

The letter, part of the Darwin’s correspondence with an American geologist, Ferdinand Vandeveer Hayden, was written in May 1875 to thank his fellow naturalist for field studies of what became Yellowstone national park.

It was stolen in the mid-1970s from the Smithsonian archives, not long after it arrived there as part of the papers of George Perkins Miller, another 19th-century geologist.

An FBI spokesperson told the Guardian the letter was stolen by an employee before it could be inventoried in the large collection, so the theft at first went unnoticed. Earlier this year, the FBI received a tip from someone who said they knew where the letter was kept – in the Washington DC area, not far from the Smithsonian...

The FBI’s art crime team was created in 2004, as the black market sale of artifacts expanded after the invasion of Iraq. It says it has recovered more than 2,650 items valued at more than $150m."

Trump Could Threaten U.S. Rule of Law, Scholars Say; New York Times, 6/3/16

[Video and Article] Adam Liptak, New York Times; Trump Could Threaten U.S. Rule of Law, Scholars Say:

"Donald J. Trump’s blustery attacks on the press, complaints about the judicial system and bold claims of presidential power collectively sketch out a constitutional worldview that shows contempt for the First Amendment, the separation of powers and the rule of law, legal experts across the political spectrum say."

Megyn Kelly’s peace with Trump is officially over: Fox News host lashes out over attacks on Trump U judge for allegedly being “Mexican”; Salon, 6/3/16

Scott Eric Kaufman, Salon; Megyn Kelly’s peace with Trump is officially over: Fox News host lashes out over attacks on Trump U judge for allegedly being “Mexican” :

"On The Kelly File Thursday evening, host Megyn Kelly tore into Donald Trump for suggesting that the judge presiding over the Trump U case has a “an absolute conflict” of interest because “he’s a Mexican,” a group the GOP front-runner has repeatedly gone out of his way to offend.

The problems with Trump’s argument are many, but the biggest is the simple fact that — as Kelly pointed out earlier this week — Judge Gonzalo Curiel isn’t “Mexican,” given that he was born an American citizen in Indiana.

But Trump insists that because his parents were Mexican immigrants, Judge Curiel is incapable of rendering an objective verdict in the case — which is a canny legal move, when one thinks about it. First, you insult every ethnic group on the planet; second, when you’re sued for bilking thousands of people out of millions of dollars, claim that no one who isn’t 100 percent “American” can preside over your case.

Kelly didn’t go quite that far, saying only that “Trump continues to attack a sitting federal judge — who by the way, did a lot to fight the drug cartels when he was a prosecutor — based on his ethnicity.”

She added that “suggesting he has an inherent conflict of interest because of his heritage [is the equivalent of saying] ‘a Hispanic cannot judge a case against me.’ That is what Trump is saying.”"

A Chill Wind Blows; New York Times, 6/2/16

Charles M. Blow, New York Times; A Chill Wind Blows:

"Our constitutionally protected freedom of speech and freedom of the press are pillars that make this country great, and different.

Not only did Trump say Tuesday that if he became president he was going to “continue to attack the press,” but in February, he said:

One of the things I’m going to do if I win, and I hope we do and we’re certainly leading. I’m going to open up our libel laws so when they write purposely negative and horrible and false articles, we can sue them and win lots of money. We’re going to open up those libel laws. So that when The New York Times writes a hit piece which is a total disgrace or when The Washington Post, which is there for other reasons, writes a hit piece, we can sue them and win money instead of having no chance of winning because they’re totally protected...

Trump’s dictatorial instinct to suppress what he deems “negative” speech, particularly from the press, is the very thing the founders worried about.

In 1737, more than 50 years before the Constitution was adopted, signed and ratified — before the First Amendment was adopted — Benjamin Franklin wrote in The Pennsylvania Gazette:

“Freedom of speech is a principal pillar of a free government; when this support is taken away, the constitution of a free society is dissolved, and tyranny is erected on its ruins. Republics and limited monarchies derive their strength and vigor from a popular examination into the action of the magistrates.”

Our unfettered freedom to interrogate and criticize our government and our leaders are part of our patriotism and an expression of our national fealty."

The Seven Broken Guardrails of Democracy; The Atlantic, 5/31/16

David Frum, The Atlantic; The Seven Broken Guardrails of Democracy:

"A long time ago, more than 20 years in fact, the Wall Street Journal published a powerful, eloquent editorial, simply headlined: “No Guardrails.”

In our time, the United States suffers every day of the week because there are now so many marginalized people among us who don't understand the rules, who don't think that rules of personal or civil conduct apply to them, who have no notion of self-control.

Twenty years later, that same newspaper is edging toward open advocacy in favor of Donald Trump, the least self-controlled major-party candidate for high office in the history of the republic. And as he forged his path to the nomination, he snapped through seven different guardrails, revealing how brittle the norms that safeguard the American republic had grown...

The television networks that promoted Trump; the primary voters who elevated him; the politicians who eventually surrendered to him; the intellectuals who argued for him, and the donors who, however grudgingly, wrote checks to him—all of them knew, by the time they made their decisions, that Trump lied all the time, about everything. They knew that Trump was ignorant, and coarse, and boastful, and cruel. They knew he habitually sympathized with dictators and kleptocrats—and that his instinct when confronted with criticism of himself was to attack, vilify, and suppress. They knew his disrespect for women, the disabled, and ethnic and religious minorities. They knew that he wished to unravel NATO and other U.S.-led alliances, and that he speculated aloud about partial default on American financial obligations. None of that dissuaded or deterred them.

And the “them” is growing."

Reprint of Hitler’s ‘Mein Kampf’ Tests German Law; New York Times, 6/1/16

Melissa Eddy, New York Times; Reprint of Hitler’s ‘Mein Kampf’ Tests German Law:

"A German publisher of right-wing books has begun selling a reprint of Adolf Hitler’s “Mein Kampf,” originally issued in 1943 by the Nazi party’s central publishing house, a move that risks violating Germany’s law against the distribution of Nazi propaganda.

A copyright on “Mein Kampf” that was held by the Bavarian government expired on Dec. 31, and an annotated scholarly edition was published this year with government permission.

Now, state prosecutors in the German city of Leipzig, where the publisher, Der Schelm, is based, are investigating whether they can press charges . Last week, prosecutors in Bamberg opened a separate investigation after a bookseller, who was not identified, advertised Der Schelm’s edition.

Although Hitler’s two-volume treatise, written from 1924 to 1927 and laying out his ideas on race and violence, is widely available on the internet, the annotated version is the only one that is legal in Germany. The 3,500 comments accompanying the text provide context for the work, and they are aimed, in part, at trying to prevent a new generation from taking up Nazi ideologies.

“Promoting an edition without annotations is considered a criminal offense,” Christopher Rosenbusch, a spokesman for prosecutors in Bamberg, said on Wednesday."

Why the World Is Drawing Battle Lines Against American Tech Giants; New York Times, 6/1/16

Farhad Manjoo, New York Times; Why the World Is Drawing Battle Lines Against American Tech Giants:

"Over the last decade, we have witnessed the rise of what I like to call the Frightful Five. These companies — Apple, Amazon, Facebook, Microsoft and Alphabet, Google’s parent — have created a set of inescapable tech platforms that govern much of the business world. The five have grown expansive in their business aims and invincible to just about any competition. Their collective powers are a source of pride and fear for Americans. These companies thoroughly dominate the news and entertainment industries, they rule advertising and retail sales, and they’re pushing into health care, energy and automobiles.

For all the disruptions, good and bad, Americans may experience as a result of the rise of the Frightful Five, there is one saving grace: The companies are American. Not only were they founded by Americans and have their headquarters here (complicated global tax structures notwithstanding), but they all tend to espouse American values like free trade, free expression and a skepticism of regulation. Until the surveillance revealed by the National Security Agency contractor Edward J. Snowden, many American tech companies were also more deferential to the American government, especially its requests for law enforcement help.

In the rest of the world, the Americanness of the Frightful Five is often seen as a reason for fear, not comfort. In part that’s because of a worry about American hegemony: The bigger these companies get, the less room they leave for local competition — and the more room for possible spying by the United States government."

Former Trump University Workers Call the School a ‘Lie’ and a ‘Scheme’ in Testimony; New York Times, 5/31/16

Michael Barbaro and Steve Eder, New York Times; Former Trump University Workers Call the School a ‘Lie’ and a ‘Scheme’ in Testimony:

"One sales manager for Trump University, Ronald Schnackenberg, recounted how he was reprimanded for not pushing a financially struggling couple hard enough to sign up for a $35,000 real estate class, despite his conclusion that it would endanger their economic future. He watched with disgust, he said, as a fellow Trump University salesman persuaded the couple to purchase the class anyway...

“I believe that Trump University was a fraudulent scheme,” Mr. Schnackenberg wrote in his testimony, “and that it preyed upon the elderly and uneducated to separate them from their money.”...

The most striking documents were written testimony from former employees of Trump University who said they had become disenchanted with the university’s tactics and culture. Corrine Sommer, an event manager, recounted how colleagues encouraged students to open up as many credit cards as possible to pay for classes that many of them could not afford.

“It’s O.K., just max out your credit card,” Ms. Sommer recalled their saying.

Jason Nicholas, a sales executive at Trump University, recalled a deceptive pitch used to lure students — that Mr. Trump would be “actively involved” in their education. “This was not true,” Mr. Nicholas testified, saying Mr. Trump was hardly involved at all. Trump University, Mr. Nicholas concluded, was “a facade, a total lie.”"

Silence = Death; Huffington Post, 5/31/16

Bob Garfield, Huffington Post; Silence = Death:

"The usual false balance. The usual staged cable bickering. The usual dry contextual analysis. The usual intermittent truth-squading to garnish our careless daily servings of uncontested hate speech, incitement and manifest lies. The usual reluctance to “be part of the story” — which, in fact, we are inextricably part of because we in large measure created it by giving oxygen to his every incendiary outrage and being our soundbitten, compulsively enabling selves.

Again.

It is precisely this craven faux objectivity, after all, that fueled the historically ruinous Iraq war. It is just this fetishized impartiality that gave us a decade of stenography as the country’s political center moved to the far fringes of the right. (Alas, this is not my first call to vigilance.) When one side of a story is madness, medieval anti-intellectualism, scapegoating. demagoguery and lies, the neutral broker in the middle has in fact made a choice. The wrong choice.

The only right choice is for truth. And righteous condemnation, not ghettoized on opinion pages but front and center. Every day.

Are we not supposed to be the watchdogs, the speakers of truth to power, the guardians of democracy? It’s time for a gut check. Colleagues, stop gawking. Stop debating. Stop obsessing on the process. Stop being distracted by the daily Trumpruption. Stop analyzing his “policy” positions, his vp choice, his potential Supreme Court nominees, his unreleased tax returns."

Donald Trump and the Judge; New York Times, 5/31/16

Editorial Board, New York Times; Donald Trump and the Judge:

"In a rambling, 11-minute stream of vitriol, Mr. Trump, who has attacked Judge Curiel before, called him “very hostile” and a “hater of Donald Trump,” and said he “should be ashamed of himself. I think it’s a disgrace that he’s doing this.”

One would think Mr. Trump, whose sister is a federal appellate judge, would know how self-destructive it is for any litigant anywhere to attack the judge hearing his or her case. But Mr. Trump is not any litigant; he is running to be president of the United States — a job that requires at least a glancing understanding of the American system of government, in particular a respect for the separation of powers. When Mr. Trump complains that he is “getting railroaded” by a “rigged” legal system, he is saying in effect that an entire branch of government is corrupt.

The special danger of comments like these — however off the cuff they may sound — is that they embolden Mr. Trump’s many followers to feel, and act, the same way.

For good measure, Mr. Trump added that Judge Curiel “happens to be, we believe, Mexican.” False; the judge is from Indiana. But facts are, as always, beside the point for Mr. Trump, who reassured his audience that “the Mexicans are going to end up loving Donald Trump when I give all these jobs.” (Presumably he was not referring to those he has promised to deport if he is elected.)

In a masterpiece of understatement, Judge Curiel, who is prevented by ethical rules from responding directly to comments like these, noted in his order that Mr. Trump “has placed the integrity of these court proceedings at issue.”"

Effort to Expose Russia’s ‘Troll Army’ Draws Vicious Retaliation; New York Times, 5/30/16

Andrew Higgins, New York Time; Effort to Expose Russia’s ‘Troll Army’ Draws Vicious Retaliation:

"This “information war,” said Rastislav Kacer, a veteran diplomat who served as Slovakia’s ambassador to Washington and at NATO’s headquarters in Brussels, “is just part of a bigger struggle.” While not involving bloodshed, he added, it “is equally as dangerous as more conventional hostile action.”

For Ms. Aro, the abuse increased sharply last year when, following up on reports in the opposition Russian news media, she visited St. Petersburg to investigate the workings of a Russian “troll factory.” The big office churns out fake news and comment, particularly on Ukraine, and floods websites and social media with denunciations of Russia’s critics.

In response to her reporting, pro-Russian activists in Helsinki organized a protest outside the headquarters of Yle, accusing it of being a troll factory itself. Only a handful of people showed up.

At the same time, Ms. Aro has been peppered with abusive emails, vilified as a drug dealer on social media sites and mocked as a delusional bimbo in a music video posted on YouTube."

Judge exceeded authority by ordering ethics classes for possibly 3,000 DOJ lawyers, brief says; ABA Journal, 5/31/16

Debra Cassens Weiss, ABA Journal; Judge exceeded authority by ordering ethics classes for possibly 3,000 DOJ lawyers, brief says:

"The U.S. Justice Department is asking a federal judge to stay his unusual order requiring department lawyers who appear in any court in 26 states to take ethics classes for alleged misrepresentations in a major immigration case.

The Justice Department brief filed on Tuesday argues that the sweeping sanctions imposed earlier this month by U.S. District Judge Andrew Hanen of Brownsville, Texas, “far exceed the bounds of appropriate remedies.”

The Justice Department brief argues that Hanen “has no inherent authority to superimpose additional ethics-training requirements” on more than 3,000 Justice Department attorneys who are unconnected to the immigration case before Hanen. In addition, the brief argues, Hanen’s order interferes with the Attorney General’s executive authority and violates the separation of powers.

Hanen had found Justice Department lawyers made misrepresentations concerning the implementation date of President Obama’s deferred deportation program. According to Hanen, Justice Department lawyers asserted the deferred deportation program would not be implemented until February 2015, even though the government had already expanded deportation deferrals from two to three years for more than 100,000 immigrants...

Hanen’s May 19 sanctions order required any Justice Department lawyers who want to appear in the 26 states challenging the deferred deportations to attend an annual ethics course for the next five years. Hanen also ordered Attorney General Loretta Lynch to develop a “comprehensive plan” to prevent future unethical conduct."

Hulk Hogan, media ethics and the battling Internet moguls; PBS NewsHour, 5/30/16

PBS NewsHour; Hulk Hogan, media ethics and the battling Internet moguls:

"When Hulk Hogan won $140 million in court from millionaire Nick Denton’s Gawker Media after it published video of him having sex, the verdict raised serious questions about journalistic ethics. Hogan’s suit was funded by Peter Thiel, the billionaire founder of PayPal who Gawker outed as gay a decade earlier. Hari Sreenivasan talks to Wired’s Jason Tanz for more on the case and its implications."

Universities seek united front in open access debate; University World News, 5/13/16

Munyaradzi Makoni, University World News; Universities seek united front in open access debate:

"The risk of re-colonisation

The motives behind the recent overtures of major publisher Elsevier to science councils and research organisations in Africa around the creation of a major open access science journal for the continent were questioned by Eve Gray, research associate with the Intellectual Property Unit at the University of Cape Town in South Africa.

Elsevier’s partners in this move include the African Academy of Sciences, African Centre for Technology Studies, South African Medical Research Council and IBM Research – Africa.

Gray, who also works for the Centre for Educational Technology at the University of Cape Town, said there was a danger that universities and research institutions would “give away” their knowledge to Elsevier and not be able to claim it back.

While an Elsevier Africa site was an attractive prospect, enabling researchers in the region to discuss ideas, download material and share information, it was also dangerous because there was no guarantee it would remain open access.

Gray said the Elsevier initiative had exploited a funding gap unfilled by governments and universities in the region. In addition, universities had been slow to strategise at leadership levels.

“What ought to be done by African governments, especially in Southern Africa, is now being done by Elsevier, but we are at risk of being colonised.”"

Must stop bill to copyright public records; San Jose Mercury News, 6/28/16

Thomas Peele, San Jose Mercury News; Must stop bill to copyright public records:

"In a blog post EFF legislative counsel Ernesto Falcon made it clear the potential chilling effect on free speech and public participation Stone has proposed.

"Such a broad grant of copyright authority to state and local governments will chill speech, stifle open government, and harm the public domain," Falcon wrote. "If a citizen infringed on a state owned copyright by making a copy of a government publication, or reading that publication out loud in a public setting, or uploading it to the Internet, they could be liable. ..."

Does Stone want to keep news organizations and others from freely posting public records that show wrongdoing, abuse, corruption, misuse of public funds?

Rather than working to make access to records more difficult, state lawmakers should working to make them more accessible."

Moral Blindness at Baylor; New York Times, 5/27/16

Editorial Board, New York Times; Moral Blindness at Baylor:

"Among the most intriguing — and to some people, satisfying — aspects of the sex-abuse scandal at Baylor University was the ouster of Kenneth Starr as university president. Mr. Starr was the special prosecutor who pursued President Bill Clinton’s indiscretions and moral shortcomings with almost preternatural zeal back in 1998. Now here he is, bounced from his job as president for what appears to have been his failure to pay close enough attention to serious moral problems in Baylor’s football program...

The larger point here, however, involves the special status, approaching immunity, that football was accorded at Baylor. The same scathing report by outside investigators that led to Mr. Starr’s demotion asserted that football was treated by administrators as “above the rules” of federal law when it came to the cover-up of sexual abuses and assaults by players.

The investigators described a secretive football culture built around a lucrative, nationally ranked program in which officials concealed charges of sexual abuse against players while female accusers were discouraged “in conduct that could be perceived as victim blaming.”"

The Observer view on Donald Trump; The Observer, 5/28/16

The Observer Editorial; The Observer view on Donald Trump:

"A line must be drawn. Illusions must be discarded. The truth must be told. Trump, with his innate, rich man’s hostility to social justice and equal rights, with his greedy love of big business and corporate tax cuts, with his scornful disdain for green policies and climate change science, with his alarming ignorance of strategic realities in the Middle East and east Asia, with his cruel and ruthless contempt for the weak, the less privileged and the vulnerable of this world, with his foolhardy isolationism and protectionism, with his loathsome self-adoration, and with his hateful fear-peddling is a menacing problem, not a passing phenomenon.

Something not dissimilar to the rise of Trump is happening across Europe, where xenophobic and racist parties of the right are advancing, most recently in Austria last week. Trump-ism, for want of a better word, is not something with which tidy, reasonable compromises can be made. It must not be appeased, bought off or left to fester. The only thing to do with Trump-ism, wherever it appears, is to oppose it, fight it, and defeat it. As Elizabeth Warren says, that critical fight must start now."

Why You Will Marry the Wrong Person; New York Times, 5/28/16

Alain de Botton, New York Times; Why You Will Marry the Wrong Person:

"The person who is best suited to us is not the person who shares our every taste (he or she doesn’t exist), but the person who can negotiate differences in taste intelligently — the person who is good at disagreement. Rather than some notional idea of perfect complementarity, it is the capacity to tolerate differences with generosity that is the true marker of the “not overly wrong” person. Compatibility is an achievement of love; it must not be its precondition.

Romanticism has been unhelpful to us; it is a harsh philosophy. It has made a lot of what we go through in marriage seem exceptional and appalling. We end up lonely and convinced that our union, with its imperfections, is not “normal.” We should learn to accommodate ourselves to “wrongness,” striving always to adopt a more forgiving, humorous and kindly perspective on its multiple examples in ourselves and in our partners."

The Slippery Business of Plagiarism; Inside Higher Ed, 5/24/16

Elena Denisova-Schmidt, Inside Higher Ed; The Slippery Business of Plagiarism:

"Plagiarism is a widespread problem around the world. It can take various forms — copying and pasting text without acknowledging its source, “recycling” or self-plagiarism (presenting the same paper several times as original), purchasing papers from an agency or a ghostwriter and submitting them as one’s own. With the benefit of new technologies, cheating is booming, such that some countries are describing a ‘plagiarism epidemic’.[1] In the United Kingdom, for example, almost 50,000 university students were caught cheating from 2012 to 2015. This is only the reported cases — how many more cases remain undetected?

Students, especially those who come from corrupt environments where plagiarism is prevalent but ignored or seen as a trivial offense, need better guidance about the consequences of violating the rules of academic integrity...

Some famous politicians have been implicated in plagiarism scandals."

Was a Va. firefighter humiliated by co-workers online before she killed herself?; Washington Post, 4/25/16

Petula Dvorak, Washington Post; Was a Va. firefighter humiliated by co-workers online before she killed herself? :

"The trolls were horrid to her while she was alive. And they continued to be awful after her death.

Fairfax County firefighter Nicole Mittendorff, 31, killed herself in Virginia’s Shenandoah National Park, the state medical examiner concluded. But even after the search for her was over, her body was identified and memorial candles began to burn, the cyberbullies — who claimed they were her fellow firefighters — kept scorching away at Mittendorff online.

If these trolls are actually members of her firehouse family, then Mittendorff becomes another example of a new form of workplace harassment. Instead of happening in the office, it happens publicly online.

There is an investigation at Mittendorff’s firehouse to find out who posted the vicious online attacks and whether they played a role in her suicide."

What Silicon Valley's billionaires don't understand about the first amendment; Guardian, 5/27/16

Nellie Bowles, Guardian; What Silicon Valley's billionaires don't understand about the first amendment:

"No major American cultural force is more opposed to examination and more active in suppressing it today than Silicon Valley. So when it was revealed this week that Facebook board member Peter Thiel had been secretly bankrolling a lawsuit to inflict financial ruin on the news and gossip site Gawker, Silicon Valley cheered...

Each of these investors – and many of those writing in a wave of local support for Thiel – add caveats that they’re happy to see “clickbait” or “gossip” journalists suffer but that they fully support “real” journalists. As Khosla made clear by putting the New York Times on the side of clickbait, many Silicon Valley investors see most press as suspect.

After six years as a reporter in Silicon Valley, I’ve found that a tech mogul will generally call anything unflattering I write “clickbait” and anything flattering “finally some real journalism”."

Baylor Fires Football Coach Art Briles and Demotes President Ken Starr; New York Times, 5/26/16

Marc Tracy, New York Times; Baylor Fires Football Coach Art Briles and Demotes President Ken Starr:

"Kenneth W. Starr, the independent counsel who delivered a report that served as the basis for President Bill Clinton’s impeachment in 1998, was removed as president of Baylor University on Thursday after an investigation found “fundamental failure” by the university in its handling of accusations of sexual assault against football players.

The university also fired the football coach, Art Briles, whose ascendant program in recent years brought in millions of dollars in revenue but was troubled by accusations of sexual assault against athletes.

Critics claimed that Baylor had sacrificed moral considerations — and the safety of other students — for the sake of its winning football team. The report confirmed as much, describing a culture that flouted federal statutes, including Title IX and the Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act of 2013.

“Actions by University administrators directly discouraged some complainants from reporting or participating in student conduct processes and in one instance constituted retaliation against a complainant for reporting sexual assault,” the report said.

Starr was stripped of his title as university president but will remain Baylor’s chancellor."

Hillary Clinton Is Criticized for Private Emails in State Dept. Review; New York Times, 5/25/16

Steven Lee Myers, New York Times; Hillary Clinton Is Criticized for Private Emails in State Dept. Review:

"The State Department’s inspector general sharply criticized Hillary Clinton’s exclusive use of a private email server while she was secretary of state, saying she had not sought permission to use it and would not have received it if she had.

In a report delivered to members of Congress on Wednesday, the inspector general said that Mrs. Clinton “had an obligation to discuss using her personal email account to conduct official business” with officials responsible for handling records and security but that inspectors found “no evidence” that she had."

Do Airlines Need to Be Re-Regulated?; New York Times, 5/25/16

New York Times; Do Airlines Need to Be Re-Regulated? :

"The summer travel season that begins this weekend will see the effects of the deregulation of the airline industry almost 40 years ago. It transformed travel, increasing competition and passengers, and drastically reducing fares. But only a few big companies have survived that competition. Service has become a sore point with travelers, and fees for things like checked luggage and even where you sit have added to the price of tickets. Meanwhile, company profits soar as fuel prices drop. Does the industry need to be re-regulated?"

Unaffordable Medicines Now Global Issue; System Needs Change, Panellists Say; Intellectual Property Watch, 5/25/16

Catherine Saez, Intellectual Property Watch; Unaffordable Medicines Now Global Issue; System Needs Change, Panellists Say:

"At a side event to this week’s annual World Health Assembly, a member of the Netherlands Ministry of Health delivered an unexpected speech on access to medicines, calling for more clarity in the setting of medicine prices, looking inside and outside of the patent system for solutions, and praising de-linkage. Other panellists viewed partnerships as a key ingredient to fill research and development gaps. And a representative from the Gates Foundation advised against a hasty switch to new system."

Hodor on Hodor: Kristian Nairn Discusses His ‘Game of Thrones’ Fate; New York Times, 5/24/16

Jeremy Egner, New York Times; Hodor on Hodor: Kristian Nairn Discusses His ‘Game of Thrones’ Fate:

"The twist, which recast a figure of fun into a tragic hero, sparked an emotional online outpouring that has continued unabated, at times crossing creatively into the real world. Even David Benioff and D.B. Weiss, the creators of the show, called it one of the most shocking revelations they ever received from George R.R. Martin, who writes the books the series is based on and conceived the details of Hodor’s origin.

[SPOILER BELOW]

“There’s a very nice thing going around the Internet that says, ‘Not all heroes hold weapons, some hold doors,’ ” Kristian Nairn, the 6-foot-11 Irish actor who played him, said on Tuesday. “He is a hero now, but I think he always was, in his own way.”"

Kenneth Starr, Who Tried to Bury Bill Clinton, Now Only Praises Him; New York Times, 5/24/16

Amy Chozick, New York Times; Kenneth Starr, Who Tried to Bury Bill Clinton, Now Only Praises Him:

"Mr. Starr now is contending with criticism of his own leadership over Baylor’s handling of sexual assault charges leveled against several of its football players.

In the panel discussion last week, he reached back to an earlier presidency — that of Lyndon B. Johnson. Saying today’s divisiveness “deeply concerns me,” he recalled Johnson’s appealing for comity before a joint session of Congress.

“I remember this so vividly — he said, ‘Come, let us reason together.’ Can we talk with one another?” Mr. Starr said. “The utter decline and erosion of civility and discourse has, I think, very troubling implications.”

He quoted E. Gordon Gee, the president of West Virginia University, saying, “The world has become a shouting match.”

“There are always places for shouts and strong feelings, but the genius of American democracy and of presidential leadership,” Mr. Starr continued, “is to bring unity out of our diversity. E pluribus unum — out of many, one. And we don’t seem to hear too many voices saying, ‘Let us find common ground.’”"

Stop normalizing Trump: He’s conditioned reporters to treat crazy nonsense as routine; Salon, 5/25/16

Simon Maloy, Salon; Stop normalizing Trump: He’s conditioned reporters to treat crazy nonsense as routine:

"Again, we’re talking about one candidate backhandedly making the allegation that his opponent was an accessory to murder, and the press reaction is “boy, that Trump sure can drive headlines – better watch out, Hillary!”

This is precisely what I was talking about I wrote earlier this month about the danger in normalizing Trump. He wants all the craziness to be taken in stride, and he’s succeeding. He’s being abetted in this by a Republican Party establishment that is happy to bite its tongue so long as they get their tax cuts and conservative judicial nominations. But that’s no reason for the press to buy into Trump’s game and treat his crazy mudslinging as a mere campaign tactic rather than a disqualifying character flaw."

Major-league homophobia: San Diego Padres’ “national embarrassment” highlights a persistent problem in pro sports; Salon, 5/24/16

Nico Lang, Salon; Major-league homophobia: San Diego Padres’ “national embarrassment” highlights a persistent problem in pro sports:

"Saturday should have been a celebratory evening for San Diego’s queer community. As part of the team’s recent push for greater LGBT inclusion, the Padres invited the local gay men’s chorus to sing the national anthem during its evening game. Last year, the team became one of the few in professional sports to host an official LGBT night for fans—although the Padres have held an “unofficial” version since 2001. Fifteen years ago, they were one of the first sports teams to do so.

The Saturday game, however, was marred by a controversy as shameful as it is unnecessary: As OutSports reports, “the control room… played a track of a woman singing the National Anthem as a few dozen gay men stood speechless on the field.” It was a national disgrace.

Following the incident, critics have pointed the finger at homophobia to explain how such a thing could have occurred. Jason Collins, the first openly gay man to play in the NBA, alleged that it was yet another case of “deliberate” anti-gay bigotry in baseball. Cyd Zeigler, the editor of OutSports, however, claims that it’s unlikely that the occurrence was a product of a “homophobic conspiracy.” His investigation concluded that it was merely a “disastrous, yet unintentional, mistake.”...

But despite Major League Baseball’s efforts, the league continues to send the gay community a mixed message when it comes to inclusion. As The Atlantic pointed out, the Supreme Court’s 2015 ruling on marriage equality was a brand holiday on Twitter—with businesses across the country proving their LGBT-friendliness by tweeting their support for the community. One industry that was notably silent? Professional sports. Not a single sports team outside of the notably liberal haven of California posted about the groundbreaking decision. (And that’s in either the MLB, NFL, NBA, or the NHL.)"

This Silicon Valley Billionaire Has Been Secretly Funding Hulk Hogan's Lawsuits Against Gawker; Forbes, 5/24/16

Ryan Mac, Forbes; This Silicon Valley Billionaire Has Been Secretly Funding Hulk Hogan's Lawsuits Against Gawker:

"The involvement of Thiel, an eccentric figure in Silicon Valley who has advocated for teenagers to skip college and openly supported Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, adds another wrinkle to a case that has garnered widespread attention for its implications over celebrity privacy and a publication’s First Amendment rights. During court proceedings, which ended in late March with a $140 million victory for Hogan, there had been rumors that a wealthy individual had funded Hogan’s case though there was never any hard evidence that surfaced to prove that was true.

On Tuesday, in an interview with The New York Times, Gawker founder Nick Denton said he had a “personal hunch” that the financial aid could be linked to someone in Silicon Valley. “If you’re a billionaire and you don’t like the coverage of you, and you don’t particularly want to embroil yourself any further in a public scandal, it’s a pretty smart, rational thing to fund other legal cases,” he told the Times.

It is not illegal for an outside entity to help fund another party’s lawsuit, and the practice, known as “third-party litigation funding” has become increasingly common in the U.S. Typically, the outside party negotiates for a defined share of any proceeds from the suit."

China’s scary lesson to the world: Censoring the Internet works; Washington Post, 5/23/16

Simon Denyer, Washington Post; China’s scary lesson to the world: Censoring the Internet works:

"BEHIND THE FIREWALL: How China tamed the Internet | This is part of a series examining the impact of China’s Great Firewall, a mechanism of Internet censorship and surveillance that affects nearly 700 million users.

BEIJING — First there was the Berlin Wall. Now there is the Great Firewall of China, not a physical barrier preventing people from leaving, but a virtual one, preventing information harmful to the Communist Party from entering the country.

Just as one fell, so will the other be eventually dismantled, because information, like people, cannot be held back forever.

Or so the argument goes.

But try telling that to Beijing. Far from knocking down the world’s largest system of censorship, China in fact is moving ever more confidently in the opposite direction, strengthening the wall’s legal foundations, closing breaches and reinforcing its control of the Web behind the wall.

Defensive no more about its censorship record, China is trumpeting its vision of “Internet sovereignty” as a model for the world and is moving to make it a legal reality at home. At the same time — confounding Western skeptics — the Internet is nonetheless thriving in China, with nearly 700 million users, putting almost 1 in 4 of the world’s online population behind the Great Firewall."

Stephen King, Cheryl Strayed, Dave Eggers, more writers sign petition against Donald Trump; Entertainment Weekly, 5/24/16

Derek Lawrence, Entertainment Weekly; Stephen King, Cheryl Strayed, Dave Eggers, more writers sign petition against Donald Trump:

"Hundreds of authors have signed a petition, Writers on Trump, to stand up against the businessman. The petition has already been signed by over 450 writers, including Stephen King, Jennifer Egan, Amy Tan, Dave Eggers, Cheryl Strayed, and Michael Chabon.

“As writers, we are particularly aware of the many ways that language can be abused in the name of power,” says the beginning of a letter posted on the petition’s page. The note continues on with specifics of their opposition to Trump, “The rise of a political candidate who deliberately appeals to the basest and most violent elements in society, who encourages aggression among his followers, shouts down opponents, intimidates dissenters, and denigrates women and minorities, demands, from each of us, an immediate and forceful response.”"

Unemployed Detroit Residents Are Trapped by a Digital Divide; New York Times, 5/22/16

Cecilia Kang, New York Times; Unemployed Detroit Residents Are Trapped by a Digital Divide:

"“Once I leave, I worry that I’m missing an email, an opportunity,” Mr. Hill, 42, said while using a library computer for a free one-hour session online. He cannot afford broadband, he added; his money goes to rent, food and transportation.

As one of the country’s most troubled cities tries to get back on its feet, a lack of Internet connectivity is keeping large segments of its population from even getting a fighting chance.

Detroit has the worst rate of Internet access of any big American city, with four in 10 of its 689,000 residents lacking broadband, according to the Federal Communications Commission.

While difficulties in connecting to the Internet in rural areas are well known, Detroit is becoming a case study in how the digital divide in an urban setting can make or break a recovery.

The deficiency of Internet access in Detroit is particularly glaring given that broadband is now considered as basic as electricity and water. Last year, the F.C.C. defined high-speed Internet as a public utility and made connecting all American homes to the web a priority. Yet many Detroit residents cannot pay for the service or a computer to go online, or for mobile data plans, which enable 24-hour Internet access anywhere over smartphones."

Global code of ethics planned for chemists; Chemistry World, 5/23/16

Emma Stoye, Chemistry World; Global code of ethics planned for chemists:

"Developed in 2015, The Hague guidelines feature nine key elements that require consideration including safety, conduct, security and sustainability. In early April the ACS International Activities Office organised a workshop to discuss the possibility of producing a globally accessible document for chemists that addressed similar principles. Thirty chemists representing 18 countries met in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, and drafted the Global Chemists' Code of Ethics (GCCE).

‘To help determine categories to cover in the code, inputs from chemistry professionals in five countries were gathered about everyday situations they face where an ethical dilemma might arise,’ says Kabrena Rodda, technology and policy integration specialist at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory in the US, who co-organised the initiative with the ACS and the US State Department’s Chemical Security Program.

The questions that were asked include: ‘How do you restrict access to dual-use chemicals?’; ‘If you discover a chemical spill caused by someone else, what action should you take?’; and ‘How should you handle a situation where someone senior asks you to do something you feel is not appropriate or ethical?’"

Revealed: How copyright law is being misused to remove material from the internet; Guardian, 5/23/16

Alex Hern, Guardian; Revealed: How copyright law is being misused to remove material from the internet:

"Censorship by copyright

The motivation of Ashraf can only be guessed at, but censorship using the DMCA is common online. The act allows web hosts a certain amount of immunity from claims of copyright infringement through what is known as the “safe harbour” rules: in essence, a host isn’t responsible for hosting infringing material provided they didn’t know about it when it went up, and took it down as soon as they were told about it.

In practice, however, this means that web hosts (and the term is broadly interpreted, meaning sites like YouTube, Twitter and Google count) are forced to develop a hair-trigger over claims of copyright infringement, assuming guilt and asking the accused to prove their innocence.

As such, a very easy way to remove something from the internet is to accuse its creator of infringing copyright. Worse, the potential downside of such a false claim is minimal: the accused would have to first file a counterclaim, proving they own the copyright; then file a private lawsuit, and prove material damage; and then track down the offending party to actually recover any monies granted by the court.

That doesn’t happen all that often.

But in recent years, big web companies have started funding lawsuits themselves, to fill the gap in the law and tilt the scales a bit further in favour of content creators wrongly accused."

The Craziest Black Market in Russia: It’s not for oil or guns. It’s for plagiarized dissertations. And every self-respecting doctor, lawyer, and politician in the country wants one; Slate, 5/22/16

Leon Neyfakh, Slate; The Craziest Black Market in Russia: It’s not for oil or guns. It’s for plagiarized dissertations. And every self-respecting doctor, lawyer, and politician in the country wants one.:

"Many of the alleged fraudsters are politicians. Some are judges. Others are prosecutors, police officials, and heads of universities; one was a bureaucrat in charge of overseeing Russia’s circus industry. In the past few years alone, there have been credible allegations of dissertation plagiarism made against Russia’s minister of culture, the governor of St. Petersburg, and the head of the country’s top federal investigating authority. Just in the past month, copy-and-pasting has been discovered in the dissertations of the deputy finance minister of the Russian republic of Mordovia and a government adviser on justice who is the putative author of a thesis comparing legal principles in Russia and the West.

In all these cases, the alleged fraud was exposed by members of a volunteer organization that calls itself “Dissernet”—the “website” Naryshkin referred to so dismissively. Started in early 2013 by a handful of scientists and journalists, the group has undertaken the task of identifying and publicly shaming government functionaries, academic administrators, and members of Russia’s so-called elite who allegedly hold advanced degrees they did not earn through legitimate means. Using software that looks for sections of text that resemble previously published work, Dissernet has, to date, identified roughly 5,600 suspected plagiarists and published damning reports on about 1,300 of them. In an exposé posted earlier this year, Dissernet showed that 1 in 9 members of the Russian State Duma—the parliamentary body that Naryshkin presides over—had received their diplomas using dissertations that contained large portions of other people’s work and that had, most likely, been purchased from ghostwriters...

While academic fraud exists all over the world, the pervasiveness of the deception in Russia is unparalleled, as is the extent to which it is tolerated. As MIT historian Loren Graham points out, even Vladimir Putin has been accused, in a 2006 investigation by the Brookings Institution, of plagiarizing parts of his Ph.D. thesis in economics."