cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ml/post/39234139

Europe is at a crossroads. The Summit on European Digital Sovereignty marks an important milestone for the EU and its member states in aligning on a shared strategy for achieving real and lasting European digital sovereignty. As the EU pursues the goal of digital sovereignty, we urge you to harness open source — that is, technology that is free to use, inspect, adapt, and share — as a key enabler of this strategy.

cross-posted from: https://scribe.disroot.org/post/5700053

Archived version

Major French trade federations representing sectors from mass market retail to clothing and toys are suing Shein for “unfair competition”. The Asian e-commerce giant, already under government scrutiny, described the move as a “boycott attempt”.

Several sector organisations stated in a press release that Shein’s model “relies on non-compliance with regulations applicable to all players established in France”.

Alongside the Conseil du commerce de France (CDCF), organisations joining the initiative include those representing mass distribution (FCD), clothing and textile industries (Alliance du commerce, FFPAPF, Ufimh, UIT, Fédération de la maille, de la lingerie et du balnéaire), jewellery (BOCI, UBH), toys (FCJPE), franchising (FFF) and online sales (Fevad).

Through this action of “unprecedented scale”, joined by around 100 retailers including Coopérative U, Promod, Monoprix, Grain de Malice (clothing) and Besson (footwear), federations and companies “affirm their determination to restore fair competition based on respect for the law”. “They also demand recognition of the economic damage suffered” by retailers established in France and “the granting of damages proportionate to these losses”.

...

The case is being heard at the Aix-en-Provence commercial court. Shein’s Irish subsidiaries have already been summoned there for “unfair competition” regarding the judicial liquidation of local menswear brand Olly Gan. This was specified during a videoconference by Cédric Dubucq, the lawyer representing the federations and companies involved.

The latter “will intervene voluntarily” during a procedural hearing scheduled for January 12. This hearing will set the date for the examination of the case's merits. Dubucq estimated that damages to the injured companies are currently being evaluated and could reach “several hundred million or even several billion euros”. He also mentioned the possibility for the public prosecutor to request the payment of a “civil fine”, a measure newly permitted by law. Trade minister Serge Papin stated in a press release that this collective action is “very good news”. He added: “It proves that the sector will no longer let itself be pushed around.” “The French economy must resist models that jeopardise our values and our security,” Medef president Patrick Martin added.

...

Regarding other e-commerce platforms, Alliance du commerce general director Yohann Petiot explained: “The message we are sending today is that impunity is over.” He views the summons against Shein as a “first step”.

...

The EU must seize Russia’s frozen assets, Maria Malmer Stenergard believes, because any other solution would be unfair to Ukraine’s biggest backers.

Nordic countries can't keep taking on a disproportionate share of supporting Ukraine, Sweden's foreign minister warned in an interview with POLITICO.

"A few countries take almost all of the burden," Maria Malmer Stenergard said on her way into a gathering of foreign ministers in Brussels. "That is not fair and it's not sustainable in the long run."

She added: "The fact that the Nordic countries, with less than 30 million people, we provide for one-third of the military support that the NATO countries, with almost 1 billion people, provide this year ... This is not sustainable. It's not reasonable in any way. And it says a lot about what the Nordics do — but it says even more about what the others don't do."

Israeli air strikes pummelled the besieged Gaza Strip on Wednesday, killing at least 33 Palestinians, including 20 women and children, less than 48 hours after the UN Security Council adopted US President Donald Trump's 20-point plan for the enclave.

Israeli fighter jets bombed tents sheltering displaced Palestinians in southern Gaza’s Khan Younis, as well as homes in Gaza City, with more than 70 people reported wounded.

Shelling and air strikes were also reported on Thursday morning, with most of the casualties reported in Khan Younis, local media reported.

The Palestinian group Hamas condemned the latest "massacre" and described it as "a dangerous escalation through which [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu seeks to resume the genocide."

cross-posted from: https://scribe.disroot.org/post/5699302

Archived version

The UK’s national security adviser Jonathan Powell before taking up his current role co-hosted and attended events with a Beijing think-tank with experts linked to China’s intelligence agencies, according to western analysts.

The Grandview Institution (GVI), whose experts met Powell on at least four occasions when he was head of his peace negotiation consultancy Inter Mediate, is privately incorporated and says it is “independent”.

But according to research from the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, corroborated by publicly available information, a number of GVI’s senior staff have current or past links with China’s Ministry of State Security, the country’s primary foreign spy agency, and to military intelligence.

“GVI has remarkable convening power for an unofficial think-tank, arranging meetings for government and military delegations from around the world with senior Chinese government and party officials,” said Bethany Allen, head of China investigations at ASPI.

The links of some of GVI’s personnel to civilian and military intelligence organisations were “not normal for an unofficial think-tank”, Allen said.

ASPI’s research comes amid heightened anxiety in the UK about Chinese influence and espionage. A high-profile case against two Britons accused of spying for Beijing collapsed last month and UK domestic spy agency MI5 warned on Tuesday that China’s intelligence services were targeting people who work in parliament.

The research also highlights the multiple roles played by Chinese think-tanks, which include acting as important channels of communication between foreigners and Beijing policymakers while also promoting Chinese Communist party agendas.

...

UK officials pointed out that Powell had worked on China-related matters since being involved in negotiations on Hong Kong 30 years ago, and that people working with Beijing were well aware Grandview was an “interlocutor” for the Chinese government.

“The idea you can engage with China without speaking to people with close links to the CCP is not a serious position,” one UK official said.

...

GVI was founded by Ren Libo, a former reporter for China’s state media agency Xinhua, according to his biography on the GVI website. But Aspi’s Allen said Ren’s role appeared to be more as a convener for other key figures at GVI.

GVI’s academic committee director Zhang Tuosheng has had a long career with People’s Liberation Army academic institutions and served in China’s UK embassy, according to his publicly available biographical details. He has also chaired the academic committee of the China Foundation for International Strategic Studies (CFISS), which western analysts say is PLA-affiliated. Zhang said he left CFISS several years ago and said the foundation had no relationship with GVI.

...

GVI’s academic committee deputy director Ouyang Wei has also been a director of the China Association for International Friendly Contact, according to publicly available biographical information. CAIFC’s website says it is controlled by the foreign and civil affairs ministries, but western analysts and a 2011 US congressional report have said it is a front for the PLA’s international liaison department, which collects intelligence and conducts Chinese propaganda and perception management campaigns.

...

A former vice-president of GVI is Tian Shichen, whose long military career before retiring included stints in intelligence and at the Central Military Commission, the PLA supreme leadership body, according to his publicly available biographical information.

...

GVI’s senior research fellow Li Wei also serves as the assistant to the president of China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations, according to GVI’s website. CICIR is a think-tank under the MSS, which runs the country’s spy agency, Chinese state media has reported in the past.

...

While think-tanks everywhere sometimes employ former members of the military and intelligence services, in democratic political systems they can still be independent from the governing political party, analysts say.

In China’s one-party state, by contrast, particularly under President Xi Jinping, who has called for “think-tanks with Chinese characteristics”, the room for public debate or independent policy outreach is highly restricted.

“We must uphold the Party’s leadership,” Xi said in an article on building a “new type” of think-tank in 2014.

...

Peter Mattis, president of the Jamestown Foundation and a former counter-intelligence analyst at the CIA, said Chinese think-tanks typically had two main external uses: cover for espionage and “to provide an alternative way to convincingly deliver talking points”.

...

cross-posted from: https://scribe.disroot.org/post/5699302

Archived version

The UK’s national security adviser Jonathan Powell before taking up his current role co-hosted and attended events with a Beijing think-tank with experts linked to China’s intelligence agencies, according to western analysts.

The Grandview Institution (GVI), whose experts met Powell on at least four occasions when he was head of his peace negotiation consultancy Inter Mediate, is privately incorporated and says it is “independent”.

But according to research from the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, corroborated by publicly available information, a number of GVI’s senior staff have current or past links with China’s Ministry of State Security, the country’s primary foreign spy agency, and to military intelligence.

“GVI has remarkable convening power for an unofficial think-tank, arranging meetings for government and military delegations from around the world with senior Chinese government and party officials,” said Bethany Allen, head of China investigations at ASPI.

The links of some of GVI’s personnel to civilian and military intelligence organisations were “not normal for an unofficial think-tank”, Allen said.

ASPI’s research comes amid heightened anxiety in the UK about Chinese influence and espionage. A high-profile case against two Britons accused of spying for Beijing collapsed last month and UK domestic spy agency MI5 warned on Tuesday that China’s intelligence services were targeting people who work in parliament.

The research also highlights the multiple roles played by Chinese think-tanks, which include acting as important channels of communication between foreigners and Beijing policymakers while also promoting Chinese Communist party agendas.

...

UK officials pointed out that Powell had worked on China-related matters since being involved in negotiations on Hong Kong 30 years ago, and that people working with Beijing were well aware Grandview was an “interlocutor” for the Chinese government.

“The idea you can engage with China without speaking to people with close links to the CCP is not a serious position,” one UK official said.

...

GVI was founded by Ren Libo, a former reporter for China’s state media agency Xinhua, according to his biography on the GVI website. But Aspi’s Allen said Ren’s role appeared to be more as a convener for other key figures at GVI.

GVI’s academic committee director Zhang Tuosheng has had a long career with People’s Liberation Army academic institutions and served in China’s UK embassy, according to his publicly available biographical details. He has also chaired the academic committee of the China Foundation for International Strategic Studies (CFISS), which western analysts say is PLA-affiliated. Zhang said he left CFISS several years ago and said the foundation had no relationship with GVI.

...

GVI’s academic committee deputy director Ouyang Wei has also been a director of the China Association for International Friendly Contact, according to publicly available biographical information. CAIFC’s website says it is controlled by the foreign and civil affairs ministries, but western analysts and a 2011 US congressional report have said it is a front for the PLA’s international liaison department, which collects intelligence and conducts Chinese propaganda and perception management campaigns.

...

A former vice-president of GVI is Tian Shichen, whose long military career before retiring included stints in intelligence and at the Central Military Commission, the PLA supreme leadership body, according to his publicly available biographical information.

...

GVI’s senior research fellow Li Wei also serves as the assistant to the president of China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations, according to GVI’s website. CICIR is a think-tank under the MSS, which runs the country’s spy agency, Chinese state media has reported in the past.

...

While think-tanks everywhere sometimes employ former members of the military and intelligence services, in democratic political systems they can still be independent from the governing political party, analysts say.

In China’s one-party state, by contrast, particularly under President Xi Jinping, who has called for “think-tanks with Chinese characteristics”, the room for public debate or independent policy outreach is highly restricted.

“We must uphold the Party’s leadership,” Xi said in an article on building a “new type” of think-tank in 2014.

...

Peter Mattis, president of the Jamestown Foundation and a former counter-intelligence analyst at the CIA, said Chinese think-tanks typically had two main external uses: cover for espionage and “to provide an alternative way to convincingly deliver talking points”.

...

This is Dystopian AF!

For those who don't Aadhar is a govt ID card for its citizens that doesn't do shit, is unsecured like shit, and doesn't even prove anything about you in legal terms.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.nz/post/30819845

i have a oneplus 9 (LE2113, if that matters) and the battery is starting to give. i'll try to have it replaced when it goes fully unusable but i'd like to already have a replacement in mind so i don't risk going without a phone for too long. any recommendations?

my current phone has never been slow, so i don't really care for a more powerful hardware.
i would like one from a brand with as little software bullshit as possible though (i've seen the horrors of redmi software and want to stay as far away from That as possible).

and in case anyone is wondering, i'm not brave enough to try rooting my main phone lol.

any help would be greatly appreciated

edit: i don't know if i worded myself poorly but by 'rooting' i also mean installing a third party os. i would like a phone that is not awful out of the box if such a thing exists.

Hi guys!

I'm looking for a replacement travel dongle to play my Jellyfin movies whenever I'm traveling. My goto device up to this point has been a Chromecast (with GTV I think). But it's becoming increasingly clear its playback is very unreliable, hanging mid-playback for long periods. I blamed it initially on bandwidth issues over very long distances (the server is on a different continent at the moment!). But playing on the laptop via browser or via the jellyfin media player flatpak works just beautifully. So it clearly seems to be issues with the Chromecast as it's connected to the same Wifi and TV as the laptop.

So I am thinking...what other devices could I look into as Chromecast replacement? There's over 3yr old recommendations about a Walmart device (but I don't live anywhere near the American continent). The other go-to device would be an Nvidia Shield, the canister-looking one. But that still seems a bit hefty for traveling. After all these years, is there any device you'd recommend to use as light-to-bring dongle for traveling?

Thanks!