#Specialized IP courts

[staytrueblue]

AO3 is now making people agree to a privacy policy before being able to access their content. What does that mean?

This is not something to be scared of. Knowledge is power so I encourage you to do research, especially if you're concerned about your privacy as a reader or writer on AO3. Please do your own research and come to your own conclusions. I can only provide the information, and I also do not have a law degree so I am not the person to speak to about this lol

Here are some relevant links, information, and full screenshots of that privacy policy that hopefully can help explain what it is and what you're agreeing to:

"Any Personal Information you include in your Content (including Special Categories of Personal Data and other types of Personal Information) may be accessible by AO3 administrators. It may also be accessible by the general public if the Content is made public, or by AO3 users if the Content is made available to AO3 users."

Definition of, ‘Processing of special categories of personal data’.

(we won't share your information at all unless one of these very specific and probably legal situations happens)

---

"You may have other rights regarding your Personal Information under the laws of the jurisdiction in which you are located. We will not discriminate against you for making a request under the data privacy laws of applicable jurisdiction."

Link to rights under data privacy laws in the UK, EU, and some US states. (I encourage you to also do your own research for your country/state)

---

"We will not share your Personal Information with any third parties without your prior consent, except for the following cases:

For external processing: We may use third-party services to store, process, or transmit data, or to perform other technical functions related to operating AO3. For example, we may use third-party email services. A list of third-party services is provided in our Subprocessor List. We cannot guarantee other services' technical performance. We or the services we use may store or process your Personal Information in data centers which may be located in the United States or elsewhere."

Link to what subprocessors are and what that means. (Again I encourage you to do your own research.)

---

This has no links but it is just helpful to know.

"For legal reasons: We may share Personal Information if we:

are legally compelled to do so;

have a good-faith belief that such action is necessary to comply with a current judicial proceeding, court order, or legal process served on the OTW; or

are cooperating with law enforcement authorities. We will cooperate with all investigations conducted by law enforcement authorities within the United States when legally required to do so. Cooperation with law enforcement authorities from other countries and cooperation when it is not legally required are at our sole discretion. Our discretion looks favorably on freedom and justice, and unfavorably on oppression and violence.We will attempt to notify you any time we disclose your Personal Information to a third party for legal reasons, unless legally prohibited from doing so or if, in our sole judgment, notification might hinder an ongoing investigation. In some cases, the Personal Information we have, such as an IP address, may be insufficient for us to notify you."

---

"If you have any questions, concerns, or complaints about this Privacy Policy, or would like to submit a data request, please contact the Policy & Abuse committee."

Link to the Ao3 Policy & Abuse Committee

---

Final links that I believe could be of benefit:

Which AO3 features collect, process, retain, and/or display my content or personal information, and how do they use it?

The full AO3 Terms of Service

The AO3 Terms of Service, including the Content Policy and Privacy Policy, are licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

The screenshots of the full Privacy Policy are below for those who want to read it.

After reading it I personally think it just means that legally they are now required to inform us that our information is being stored in 3rd party sub-processors (because they’ve gotten so big) and how our information is being stored therefore having to explain how and when it would be used if at all. again this is just my personal opinion from reading the information.

[mostlysignssomeportents]

Holy CRAP the UN Cybercrime Treaty is a nightmare

Support me this summer on the Clarion Write-A-Thon and help raise money for the Clarion Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers' Workshop!

If there's one thing I learned from all my years as an NGO delegate to UN specialized agencies, it's that UN treaties are dangerous, liable to capture by unholy alliances of authoritarian states and rapacious global capitalists.

Most of my UN work was on copyright and "paracopyright," and my track record was 2:0; I helped kill a terrible treaty (the WIPO Broadcast Treaty) and helped pass a great one (the Marrakesh Treaty on the rights of people with disabilities to access copyrighted works):

https://www.wipo.int/treaties/en/ip/marrakesh/

It's been many years since I had to shave and stuff myself into a suit and tie and go to Geneva, and I don't miss it – and thankfully, I have colleagues who do that work, better than I ever did. Yesterday, I heard from one such EFF colleague, Katitza Rodriguez, about the Cybercrime Treaty, which is about to pass, and which is, to put it mildly, terrifying:

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2024/07/un-cybercrime-draft-convention-dangerously-expands-state-surveillance-powers

Look, cybercrime is a real thing, from pig butchering to ransomware, and there's real, global harms that can be attributed to it. Cybercrime is transnational, making it hard for cops in any one jurisdiction to handle it. So there's a reason to think about formal international standards for fighting cybercrime.

But that's not what's in the Cybercrime Treaty.

Here's a quick sketch of the significant defects in the Cybercrime Treaty.

The treaty has an extremely loose definition of cybercrime, and that looseness is deliberate. In authoritarian states like China and Russia (whose delegations are the driving force behind this treaty), "cybercrime" has come to mean "anything the government disfavors, if you do it with a computer." "Cybercrime" can mean online criticism of the government, or professions of religious belief, or material supporting LGBTQ rights.

Nations that sign up to the Cybercrime Treaty will be obliged to help other nations fight "cybercrime" – however those nations define it. They'll be required to provide surveillance data – for example, by forcing online services within their borders to cough up their users' private data, or even to pressure employees to install back-doors in their systems for ongoing monitoring.

These obligations to aid in surveillance are mandatory, but much of the Cybercrime Treaty is optional. What's optional? The human rights safeguards. Member states "should" or "may" create standards for legality, necessity, proportionality, non-discrimination, and legitimate purpose. But even if they do, the treaty can oblige them to assist in surveillance orders that originate with other states that decided not to create these standards.

When that happens, the citizens of the affected states may never find out about it. There are eight articles in the treaty that establish obligations for indefinite secrecy regarding surveillance undertaken on behalf of other signatories. That means that your government may be asked to spy on you and the people you love, they may order employees of tech companies to backdoor your account and devices, and that fact will remain secret forever. Forget challenging these sneak-and-peek orders in court – you won't even know about them:

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2024/06/un-cybercrime-draft-convention-blank-check-unchecked-surveillance-abuses

Now here's the kicker: while this treaty creates broad powers to fight things governments dislike, simply by branding them "cybercrime," it actually undermines the fight against cybercrime itself. Most cybercrime involves exploiting security defects in devices and services – think of ransomware attacks – and the Cybercrime Treaty endangers the security researchers who point out these defects, creating grave criminal liability for the people we rely on to warn us when the tech vendors we rely upon have put us at risk.

This is the granddaddy of tech free speech fights. Since the paper tape days, researchers who discovered defects in critical systems have been intimidated, threatened, sued and even imprisoned for blowing the whistle. Tech giants insist that they should have a veto over who can publish true facts about the defects in their products, and dress up this demand as concern over security. "If you tell bad guys about the mistakes we made, they will exploit those bugs and harm our users. You should tell us about those bugs, sure, but only we can decide when it's the right time for our users and customers to find out about them."

When it comes to warnings about the defects in their own products, corporations have an irreconcilable conflict of interest. Time and again, we've seen corporations rationalize their way into suppressing or ignoring bug reports. Sometimes, they simply delay the warning until they've concluded a merger or secured a board vote on executive compensation.

Sometimes, they decide that a bug is really a feature – like when Facebook decided not to do anything about the fact that anyone could enumerate the full membership of any Facebook group (including, for example, members of a support group for people with cancer). This group enumeration bug was actually a part of the company's advertising targeting system, so they decided to let it stand, rather than re-engineer their surveillance advertising business.

The idea that users are safer when bugs are kept secret is called "security through obscurity" and no one believes in it – except corporate executives. As Bruce Schneier says, "Anyone can design a system that is so secure that they themselves can't break it. That doesn't mean it's secure – it just means that it's secure against people stupider than the system's designer":

The history of massive, brutal cybersecurity breaches is an unbroken string of heartbreakingly naive confidence in security through obscurity:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/02/05/battery-vampire/#drained

But despite this, the idea that some bugs should be kept secret and allowed to fester has powerful champions: a public-private partnership of corporate execs, government spy agencies and cyber-arms dealers. Agencies like the NSA and CIA have huge teams toiling away to discover defects in widely used products. These defects put the populations of their home countries in grave danger, but rather than reporting them, the spy agencies hoard these defects.

The spy agencies have an official doctrine defending this reckless practice: they call it "NOBUS," which stands for "No One But Us." As in: "No one but us is smart enough to find these bugs, so we can keep them secret and use them attack our adversaries, without worrying about those adversaries using them to attack the people we are sworn to protect."

NOBUS is empirically wrong. In the 2010s, we saw a string of leaked NSA and CIA cyberweapons. One of these, "Eternalblue" was incorporated into off-the-shelf ransomware, leading to the ransomware epidemic that rages even today. You can thank the NSA's decision to hoard – rather than disclose and patch – the Eternalblue exploit for the ransoming of cities like Baltimore, hospitals up and down the country, and an oil pipeline:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EternalBlue

The leak of these cyberweapons didn't just provide raw material for the world's cybercriminals, it also provided data for researchers. A study of CIA and NSA NOBUS defects found that there was a one-in-five chance of a bug that had been hoarded by a spy agency being independently discovered by a criminal, weaponized, and released into the wild.

Not every government has the wherewithal to staff its own defect-mining operation, but that's where the private sector steps in. Cyber-arms dealers like the NSO Group find or buy security defects in widely used products and services and turn them into products – military-grade cyberweapons that are used to attack human rights groups, opposition figures, and journalists:

https://pluralistic.net/2021/10/24/breaking-the-news/#kingdom

A good Cybercrime Treaty would recognize the perverse incentives that create the coalition to keep us from knowing which products we can trust and which ones we should avoid. It would shut down companies like the NSO Group, ban spy agencies from hoarding defects, and establish an absolute defense for security researchers who reveal true facts about defects.

Instead, the Cybercrime Treaty creates new obligations on signatories to help other countries' cops and courts silence and punish security researchers who make these true disclosures, ensuring that spies and criminals will know which products aren't safe to use, but we won't (until it's too late):

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2024/06/if-not-amended-states-must-reject-flawed-draft-un-cybercrime-convention

A Cybercrime Treaty is a good idea, and even this Cybercrime Treaty could be salvaged. The member-states have it in their power to accept proposed revisions that would protect human rights and security researchers, narrow the definition of "cybercrime," and mandate transparency. They could establish member states' powers to refuse illegitimate requests from other countries:

https://www.eff.org/press/releases/media-briefing-eff-partners-warn-un-member-states-are-poised-approve-dangerou

If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this post to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/07/23/expanded-spying-powers/#in-russia-crime-cybers-you

Image: EFF https://www.eff.org/files/banner_library/cybercrime-2024-2b.jpg

CC BY 3.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/us/

[arkipelagic]

MALAYBALAY CITY (MindaNews / 10 December) – The Bangsamoro Parliament unanimously approved the Bangsamoro Indigenous Peoples Act (BIPA) of 2024 on its third and final reading during a special session on Tuesday, according to a press release from the regional legislative body’s Publication and Media Relations Division.

The law, which was passed with 63 votes in favor, zero against, and no abstentions, “has been recognized as a historic success in the region’s ongoing peace process and commitment to inclusive governance.”

BIPA recognizes the IP’s ownership over their ancestral domains, referred to as fusaka ingëd, and natural resources in these territories.

The press release quoted Ramon Piang, chair of the committee on Indigenous Peoples affairs as saying that the BIPA is an enhanced version of the Indigenous Peoples’ Rights Act, “specifically designed to meet the unique needs of the Bangsamoro’s indigenous population.”

Indigenous Peoples in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) include the non-Moro IPs (Téduray, Lambangian, Dulangan Manobo, Erumanun Ne Menuvu, Higaonon, B’laan), and the Badjao, Sama Dilaut, Jama Mapun, Sama Bangingi, and Sama Pangutaran in the island provinces of Basilan, Sulu and Tawi-Tawi.

The Supreme Court, however, has ruled with finality on Sulu’s removal from BARMM. (MindaNews)

[unitedwestand2025]

Judge Roberts, First I would like to remind you of why we formed this country. When our old government waged war against us we created the Declaration of Independence. We had a revolution because our government was “cutting off our Trade with all Parts of the World: For imposing Taxes” or tariffs “ on us without our Consent: For depriving us, in many Cases, of the Benefits of Trial by Jury: For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended Offences” “ in a neighboring Province, establishing therein an arbitrary Government” ‘’ abolishing our most valuable Laws, and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments: For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with Power to legislate for us in all Cases whatsoever. He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.”” “He has excited domestic Insurrections amongst us.”  What led us to REVOLT then are the very things Trump and his administration are doing to us now.

Trump violated his oath of office to uphold the constitution by not allowing due process for all people, birthright citizenship and wants to run for a third term as president. His priority to make him and his cronies rich while taking away our rights. The Whitehouse said “Long live the king” and he has made $TRUMP. Per Chris Murphy (CT), "The President is running a backdoor bribery scheme in which any CEO or foreign oligarch can send him money secretly through crypto coin scam in exchange for favors." His admin is CORRUPT and manipulates markets by buying before he announces what he will do, then selling stock before he says he has changed his mind. All of this done while our 401k plummet, there is video of Trump in the oval office congratulating the 1% on all the money they are making in the markets. I do not want the US economy to be Trumps’s seventh chapter 11 bankruptcy. ENOUGH of the RICH special interests influencing government. You have only to look at Elon and unelected official tearing apart our government while firing the IGs that were investigating him before the election.

Elon Musk & DOGE have illegally gone through our data. 14 states have had our AGs petition for what was searched and it was illegal. He & his DOGE employees need to be brought up on charges. Whistleblower Daniel Berulis has come forward saying after DOGE breaks into depts like NLRB then there are Russian IPS taking data.  Elon and his DOGE staff should be arrested and if applicable should be charged with acts of espionage and TREASON. Their assets should be frozen and if convicted all their money goes to fixing what he broke. 

He is VIOLATING THE LAW because he has always violated the law and our judges have repeatedly let him get away with it. He was convicted 34 felonies. This judge gave him unconditional discharge with NO jail time or large fines. He was convicted of an insurrection by the Colorado court. This DOES violate the 14th amendment and is brought up in the Declaration of Independence. However, the Supreme Court FAILED THE AMERICAN PUBLIC and the oath they made to uphold the CONSTITUTION when they granted Trump immunity. KINGS are above the law not presidents. NOT holding him to the law has gotten us to this place & he keeps getting WORSE. Using masked men that do not identify themselves, do not state any crime a person is being charged with then without due process sent to a neighboring province of El Salvador not subject to our laws. This is kidnapping and its illegal. Some of these people are green card holders and some US citizens have also been taken too. Many of these people, per a 60 minute piece, are not criminals at all. Since they have citizenship in Venezuela and other countries this also violates international laws and subject to International Criminal Court. Even after repeated US court orders the president not only has not brought back people, he continues to deport more under these Nazi tactics. These actions are in blatant disregard for rule of law and YOU the supreme court. I would also like to know if the Trump administration threatened to pull broadcasting licenses if networks discussed these events?  Since recently Bill Owns left CBS because of Shari Redstone, majority shareholder of Paramount Global that owns CBS wants to sell Paramount. She needs Trumps FCC head to approve a deal in the next month and Trump has opened an investigation on 60minutes now. Bill did not want Presidential oversight on news so he left. The president’s actions of intimidation is a way to suppress our first amendment rights is deplorable. Mexico is not going to let this alt right propaganda into her country to infect the minds of her people. She is enacting legislation to fine companies 2-5% of their profits if they put out disinformation or lies like Fox has been found to have done in the past. The European Union is fining Elon Musk for 1 Billion dollars for disinformation, purposeful lies being spread on X. The US needs to create such a law. This is how this administration is infringing on all our constitutional rights by intimidating the press to only print what he wants to hear, not the truth. The FBI recently arrested a WI judge, talk about intimidation. Revoke his presidential immunity to stop this from continuing.

On February 27th, 2025, five former Secretary of Defense generals wrote an ”Appeal to the Congress from Former Secretaries of Defense.” They were concerned with the dismissal of “several senior U.S. military leaders” followed by the dismals of JAG in the Army, Navy, and Air Force. “Mr. Trump’s dismissals raise troubling questions about the administration’s desire to politicize the military and to remove legal constraints on the President’s power.” They asked the “House and the Senate to hold immediate hearings to assess the national security implications of Mr. Trump’s dismissals.” They “asking them to do their jobs” but the majority led republican congress basically did NOTHING.

Three NY prosecutors including Hagan Scotten resigned. He said “No system of ordered liberty can allow the Government to use the carrot of dismissing charges, or the stick of threatening to bring them again.“ “any assistant U.S. attorney would know that our laws and traditions do not allow using the prosecutorial power to influence other citizens, much less elected officials, in this way. If no lawyer within earshot of the President is willing to give him that advice, then ‘’ eventually the system will give.   Scotten, a previous co-worker of yours, had the courage and integrity to stand up against intimidation of this administration. He did the right thing and declined breaking the law. How many have to fall on their sword Roberts before you do your job and revoke presidential immunity of a man 233 medical professionals found to be a “sociopath” in an open letter published in NY Times Oct 2024?

Trump has promised 1 Trillion to the military, our navy is building up in the middle east, congressmen on military budget committees are buying stock in companies that supply our military equipment like candy. Trump is calling the rich resources of Canada “the 51st state.”  This is in violation of 1945 United Nations Charter & General Assembly Resolution 2625.   He seems to want to create a war just like Putin did to steal resources in the Ukraine, who we promised to support in the Budapest Memorandum. All while JD Vance, Waltz, Hegseth and many others are violating the Espionage Act by inappropriately using Signal which is putting our military at risk. An independent council should be created to investigate and prosecute.  If treason was committed by staff or Trump they should be charged with this offense.

Trump’s executive order says what he and Pam Bondi say is law. This is a violation of the separations of powers because it bypasses congress. If Trump doesn’t comply w/ Alien Enemies Act to bring back ALL those deported & stop future deportations then Judge James Boasberg of DC needs to send this matter to the Supreme Court so you can REVERSE presidential immunity. His continued disobedience to the courts is causing us a constitutional crisis and if the Supreme Court does not act we will have a second “trail of tears.”   

Judge Roberts if you are being leveraged into NOT upholding the Constitution then step down. We are already being called authoritarian by the European Parliament and we are listed as an unsafe country to travel to. We need you to immediately reverse Trump’s immunity, hold Trump and Bondi in contempt then prosecute them. You can use US Marshals & call upon the previous Secretaries of Defense to pick up these corrupt officials and hold an independent counsel to investigate Elon, DOGE employees and those involved in Signal-gate with Espionage Act violations up to TREASON. If it is within your power have the dept heads, who are sending out masked men, held and investigated, we the people demand you put forth some effort to protect us from this corrupt administration. Know if you fail to act NOW its not just going to throw the US into a depression, it will end in people starving around the world while we enter WW III. The stakes could NOT be higher.  Judge Roberts you can uphold your oath and the constitution that NO Man is above the law. Stop the reign of lawlessness and corruption that runs rampant in this administration. Will you be the man that allowed Hitler 2.0 to plunge us into war? Or will you choose to be the hero that upheld the constitution and stopped this? Choose now which side of history you are going to be on Roberts and know the 99% and future Nuremberg Trials will JUDGE YOU for your choice. I am not a lawyer but a concerned citizen, one of the 99% If others agree with my letter please send your own to: The Supreme Court of the US, 1 First Street, NE, Washington DC 20543 [Demand they reverse immunity]

[transmutationisms]

https://www.tumblr.com/ezrazone/774868156863954944/been-loving-your-ao3-criticism-lately-3-i-also

Hey hope this doesn't come up as too weird. Lately I've getting a lot into IP and Copyright abolition and thanks to ezra and his posts I've also gotten on actual good criticizing on stuff like AO3 as both a page, and org and what it "represents" for fan culture and free expression from a more material standpoint that doesn't rely on neither completely incurious fandomitism nor in reactionary stances on censorship and transgressive subjects in media which is a big plus

In one of his latests posts he mentions you talking about how AO3 Isn't actually focusing on legally addressing IP and Copyright issues on "fan content" but rather censorship ones and how even in that regard despite all the money they have hoarded they're unprepared for an actual legal confrontation:

”@transmutationisms also brought up a good point in conversation last night that much of their emphasis is on anti-censorship, which ironically means that a serious legal challenge would probably have more to do with content than legal resemblances to IP. a glance at any of their public statements re: censorship makes it obvious that they are actually woefully underprepared for what an actual crackdown might entail, like they’re formed around preventing another anne rice incident from happening when anne herself never had a problem with the vampires doing gay sex or whatever but a stronger legal entity might.”

Basically, I would like to know more about your stance on this, how is AO3 unprepared for any serious legal battle, and how fucked would they be in the case they had to respond in court for denounces from bigger legal entities regarding content material and censorship or obsenity/exploitation laws rather than IP and Copyright laws?

Personally as I see it currently, If it were to happen a case where in the USA at least, the country which gives the site the most traffic, they were called into court (specially on USA states such as Washington and *I think* Florida, in which any illustrated or written material featuring underage sex no matter how fictional is legally seen equally as actual CSEM with as severe penalties and there's that, and I highly doubt they want to spend any of their +2M$ funds or time into changing american laws as a whole about child abuse online), If the feds, or even just a bigger IP holder entity such as idk Warner thinking them hosting shota fanfics with DC characters muddies their cartoons and comics' image, under jurisdictions such as mentioned actually Did crack down on AO3 and they happened to find out about their "flimsy" and extremely vague rules regarding shit like RPF with real minors (actors, historic figures, true crime figures, streamers and youtubers, ect) or how extremely easy and common it is to make troll nsfw fanfics on semi-anonymised real minors online that are getting harrassed on sites like tiktok and twitter, they're sooner or later gonna get fucked biiig time lol

ezra may have misled you about how useful i can be here haha i was mostly just saying that pouring money into the archive doesn't necessarily make it any stronger legally. like if the argument is that they exist to legally defend the rights to transformative works -- there are other ways they're vulnerable as an organisation, and their position on free speech seemed to me like an obvious point of attack if you were trying to like, take them down. i have no idea how likely that is to actually happen though -- there won't be some systemic crackdown on fanfic from above; the scenario i'm picturing is like one aggrieved alt right weirdo makes it their mission to go after them. really just i was high and i was talking out my ass lol

[helputrust]

Shri Harsh Vardhan Agarwal, Managing Trustee, Help U Educational and Charitable Trust, Conferred Ph.D. (Honoris Causa) in Social Work by Maryland State University, USA

Lucknow, January 6, 2025 | In a landmark recognition of his tireless contributions to social work and philanthropy, Shri Harsh Vardhan Agarwal, Managing Trustee of Help U Educational and Charitable Trust, Lucknow has been conferred the prestigious honorary degree of Doctor of Philosophy (Honoris Causa) in Social Work by Maryland State University, USA. The honor was bestowed upon him during a grand ceremony at the India Habitat Centre, New Delhi, on January 5, 2025, as part of the India Intellectual Conclave 2025 Felicitation and Fellowship Programme.

This momentous occasion saw the presence of an august gathering of eminent personalities from diverse fields who graced the ceremony and presented the honors. The Esteemed Guests included His Lordship Mr. Justice Z.U. Khan, Hon’ble Former Judge, Allahabad High Court, Shri S.B.S. Tyagi, IPS, Hon’ble Former Joint Commissioner of Police, New Delhi, His Excellency Juan Carlos Marsan, Hon’ble Ambassador, Republic of Cuba to India, His Excellency Mr. Yawo Edem Akpemado, High Commissioner/Chargé d’Affaires, Republic of Togo, Ambassador Dr. Deepak Vohra, Hon’ble Special Advisor to Africa (Made in Bharat), Dr. Sandeep Marwah, Chancellor, AAFT University, Noida, Dr. Rakesh Kumar Khandal, Former Chancellor, SDGI Global University, and Hon’ble Former VC, UPTU, Dr. S. N. Pandey, Hon’ble Chancellor, The Global Open University, Nagaland, Mr. Orhan Galjus, Director, Radio PATRIN Network, Turkey, Dr. Devendra Sharma, Hon’ble Vice Chancellor, HRIT University, Prof. Dr. R.K. Suri, Hon’ble VC, Monad University & VC, Happiness University, Dr. Alok Gupta, Hon’ble Dy Director, NIOS, Ministry of Education, Government of India, Dr. Atul Nasa, Hon’ble Pro VC, SGT University, Gurugram, Dr. Afrozul Haq, Hon’ble Pro VC, MIU, Dr. Janice Darbari, H.E. The Honorary Consul General of Montenegro in India, Dr. Vic Gaffney, Independent Academic Scholar, Australia, Dr. P.K. Rajput, Former Senior Vice President, Cadila & Senate Member, CU, Italy.

The event celebrated Shri Harsh Vardhan Agarwal’s exemplary service to marginalized communities, his visionary leadership in social reform, and his unwavering dedication to educational and healthcare initiatives through the Help U Educational and Charitable Trust, Lucknow.

While addressing the distinguished gathering, Shri Harsh Vardhan Agarwal expressed his heartfelt gratitude to Maryland State University for recognizing his efforts. He dedicated this achievement to the team at Help U Educational and Charitable Trust and the countless lives touched through their initiatives.

This prestigious accolade further solidifies Shri Agarwal’s stature as a changemaker in social service and philanthropy, inspiring individuals and organizations worldwide to champion causes for societal betterment.

#PhDHonorisCausa #DoctorofPhilosophy #SocialWork #MarylandStateUniversity #SocialWorkRecognition #IndiaIntellectualConclave2025 #SocialServiceLeader #PhilanthropyMatters #EducationForAll #HealthcareForCommunities #ChangemakerInSocialWork

#GlobalRecognition #InspiringLeadership #HonoringSocialWork #PhilanthropyAndImpact

#NarendraModi #PMOIndia

#YogiAdityanath #UPCM

#HelpUTrust #HelpUEducationalandCharitableTrust

#KiranAgarwal #DrRupalAgarwal #HarshVardhanAgarwal #DrHarshVardhanAgarwal

#followers #highlight #topfans

www.helputrust.org

@narendramodi @pmoindia

@MYogiAdityanath @cmouttarpradesh

@HelpUEducationalAndCharitableTrust @HelpU.Trust

@KIRANHELPU

@HarshVardhanAgarwal.HVA @HVA.CLRS @HarshVardhanAgarwal.HelpUTrust

@HelpUTrustDrRupalAgarwal @RupalAgarwal.HELPU @drrupalagarwal

@HelpUTrustDrRupal

@followers @highlight @topfans

[samuiattorney]

Contact Review in Thailand

Contract review in Thailand requires a nuanced understanding of Thai legal principles, business customs, and potential pitfalls that differ significantly from Western jurisdictions. Whether you're drafting an employment agreement, joint venture contract, or commercial lease, failing to properly review terms can lead to enforcement difficulties, financial losses, or legal disputes.

This expert guide provides:

Critical clauses unique to Thai contracts

Enforcement challenges under Thai law

Industry-specific red flags

Strategies for dispute resolution

Step-by-step review methodology

1. Legal Framework Governing Contracts in Thailand

A. Civil and Commercial Code (CCC) Foundations

All contracts in Thailand are governed by Sections 354-452 of the CCC, which establishes:

Freedom of contract (with limitations)

Requirements for valid formation (offer, acceptance, consideration)

Statute of frauds (certain contracts must be written)

Key Difference: Unlike common law systems, Thai courts may consider equitable principles over strict contractual wording.

B. Mandatory Protections That Override Contracts

Certain provisions cannot be contracted out of:

Labor Protection Act (minimum wage, termination rights)

Foreign Business Act (restrictions on foreign ownership)

Consumer Protection Act (unfair terms)

2. Critical Clauses Requiring Special Attention

A. Jurisdiction and Language Provisions

Dual-language contracts must specify which version controls (Thai typically prevails in disputes)

Forum selection clauses may be unenforceable if requiring overseas litigation

B. Termination and Penalty Clauses

Termination for convenience often requires minimum notice periods

Liquidated damages exceeding 20% of contract value may be voided

C. Force Majeure

Must specifically list qualifying events (e.g., "political unrest" vs. generic "acts of God")

COVID-19 precedent shows Thai courts narrowly interpret these clauses

D. Intellectual Property Ownership

Thai law defaults IP rights to the hiring party in work-for-hire agreements

Must explicitly address moral rights under Copyright Act BE 2537

3. Industry-Specific Review Priorities

IndustryHigh-Risk ClausesThai Legal QuirkConstructionDelay penalties, change ordersMust comply with Ministerial Regulation on Construction ContractsManufacturingQuality standards, inspection rightsProduct Liability Act imposes strict liabilityTech/StartupsIP assignment, non-competeNon-competes limited to 1 year/30km radiusHospitalityRevenue sharing, franchise feesHotel Act requires specific licensing disclosures

4. Step-by-Step Contract Review Process

Phase 1: Foundation Checks

Verify counterparty authority (check Company Affidavit from DBD)

Confirm regulatory compliance (e.g., FBA restrictions for foreign entities)

Identify mandatory clauses (industry-specific requirements)

Phase 2: Risk Allocation Analysis

Indemnification clauses tested against Section 375 CCC limitations

Warranties must specify Thai consumer law carve-outs

Insurance requirements (verify local policy availability)

Phase 3: Enforcement Practicalities

Notarization requirements for land/property contracts

ADR provisions (Thai arbitration vs. court proceedings)

Tax implications of payment structures

5. Common Pitfalls and How to Avoid Them

A. "Standard" Templates That Violate Thai Law

Example: Automatic renewal clauses may be void if not prominently disclosed

Fix: Insert boldfaced notice above signature lines

B. Unenforceable Dispute Resolution

Foreign arbitration awards require enforcement petitions in Thai courts

Better approach: Specify THAC (Thai Arbitration Center) procedures

C. Hidden Landmine: Stamp Duty

Unstamped contracts cannot be evidence in court (1% of contract value typically)

Solution: Factor into signing logistics

6. Dispute Resolution Strategies

A. Pre-Litigation Options

Negotiation through Thai Lawyers (saves face)

Mediation via OIC (for insurance disputes)

Expert Determination (common in construction)

B. When Litigation is Unavoidable

Document all communications (Thai courts favor written evidence)

Prepare for multiple expert witnesses (common in technical cases)

Expect 2-5 year timeline for commercial cases

7. Expert Recommendations

For Foreign Companies:

✔ Always engage Thai-qualified counsel for final review ✔ Build in 30-day cure periods before termination ✔ Use parallel English/Thai versions with clear precedence clause

For Thai Counterparties:

✔ Request board resolution proof for corporate signatories ✔ Verify commercial registration details match contract parties ✔ Insist on wet-ink originals for enforcement

Conclusion: The Thai Contract Review Mindset

Successful contract review in Thailand requires:

Understanding what the law actually enforces (vs. theoretical rights)

Planning for worst-case enforcement scenarios

Building flexibility into long-term agreements

[thekimspoblog]

FotD is just a regular weekday in Kim's life in 2025.

For the past two years, she and her family have been living in a condominium on the outskirts of San Francisco. Today, she woke up around 7:45. Showered, took ten minutes to put her face on. When she came downstairs, Jimmy was already up and getting ready to take the kids to school. Iris is in first grade; Fille is in kindergarten.

She stops at a drive thru on the way to work. Takes the opportunity to listen to some of her favorite After Hours songs. She arrives at the Avancer Foundation at around 8:30. Her current assignment is to oversee a contract with McDonald's, in which the corporation makes a large donation to underprivileged school districts, and in exchange the firm arranges positive press and lobbies for the corporation to have greater presence in school lunch programs. Avancer has no intent to fulfil their end of the agreement and is poised to run a negative expose anyway, as soon as the donation is made. McDonald's has already been conned by Avancer once before, so Kim needed to create a shell lobbying firm to facilitate the deal; the tricky part is making it look like McDonald's knew Avancer was the parent organization, so they cannot easily claim fraud when this inevitably goes to court.

In a sense it's the same question she's been asking herself her entire life: How do you get the money you want, away from the people who already have too much of it, without actually having to kiss the ring? And speaking of feeling like a collared dog... around 11 Kim's boss, a man named Hugo Petrie, knocks on her office door. When Kim met Hugo a little over two years ago, she was quite impressed with him - really thought she had found an ally in trying to save the world - thought he was different, a little sexual tension even - but since then their relationship has soured considerably. He's just another greedy thug who has no interest in changing a status quo when it benefits him, and at this point because Kim knows about Avancer's more serious crimes, Hugo won't just let her quit. He's already threatened her twice and her family once. He's acting polite as he leans in the door frame; charming, wants to let her know the office is taking lunch orders, but the passive aggressive message that he's keeping an eye on her isn't lost.

At around 12:30, she steps out onto the balcony for a smoke break. She's "quit" multiple times at this point, but some vices are too comfortable to stay away from. Between the kids and her political career - or criminal career, whatever you want to call it - she calculates that she's going to have to live to be one hundred in order to accomplish everything she wants to, but she rationalizes that as long as she only has one cigarette a day it can't hurt. She continues to work through lunch then clocks out at 3:45. She goes to the gym, spends ten minutes on the Stairmaster and another ten training with weights. When she arrives home at 4:45, the cleaning man is wrapping up and about to leave. She spends another good 15 minutes talking to him about his life, mainly because having a stranger clean their house is a security risk and it's important she build a rapport with him, but also she was genuinely interested; she tries to treat anyone in her employ like family.

Jimmy owns several small business franchises around the city and some days he drives around and manages those, but today he was focused on planning the actual Wexler-McGill estate. The "Saul Goodman & Associates" brand is in this awkward position where it's an open secret that the IP is connected to several high-profile crimes, and yet the country is so corrupt that this history isn't treated as a reason why the brand should be barred from continuing its legitimate business practices. Including capitalizing off the name's infamy with memoirs and licensed merchandise, or offering "consulting" services to other special interest groups such as Avancer.

Kim helps Iris with her homework and then the girls are allowed to play "dolls in cars" on the living room carpet. A little before 6 pm, the household's foster daughter, Clara, comes home from whatever odd jobs she was doing around town. Clara is a junior in college now and she mostly comes and goes as she pleases, but the Goodmans promised to put her through law school and let her live with them for free, so long as she helped out around the house occasionally. Half the time, she's crashing at a friend's place, but it's nice to have her home. Dinner tonight is seafood medley in a butter sauce. It's got spinach in it so it's healthy. Iris weasels her way into convincing Kim to let her put off taking a bath until tomorrow night; it was easy because Kim didn't feel like giving the kids a bath anyway. The parents lovingly read the youngsters a bedtime story, then Kim and Jimmy sit at the kitchen island until 9:00, going over bills and upcoming appointments and whathaveyou. Jimmy reminds her that Iris's current best friend in school is a girl named Chau and that Chau and her mom will be at the house for a playdate later this week. In spite of all the evidence to the contrary, he really was a dependable partner, wasn't he? And lord knows she needed one, running this ship.

It's cold out on the patio as the two watch the moon and share another cigarette. It's fine though, because they only smoked half of this one and then put it out. Kim pours herself a scotch and the pair cuddle on the couch. They consider watching Metropolis for the eighth time together, but decide to give a chance to that new tv drama series all Kim's childless coworkers won't shut up about. She's only able to follow the first 20 minutes before she realizes she's falling asleep. Two or three nights a week they have sex, but given how safe and boring today was (not that Kim's complaining!) it's best to just call it a night. At a little past 10:30, she puts on lotion, pops her prescription antidepressants and lays her head down on the pillow, knowing that best case scenario, tomorrow will be more of the same. It's a complacent sort of depression; this is as good as it gets, this is the dream out of reach to most Americans, she doesn't take anything she has for granted, in fact the greatest burden is just fear of losing it, but still being perpetually effervescent would seem... inappropriate. You don't have to be happy 24/7; purpose is more important. But you've gotta find some way to love your routine, just to avoid going crazy.

[bunnydracula]

Been loving your ao3 criticism lately <3 I also love how your haterism doesn't rely at all on neither pure fandomitism nor reactionary views on the subjects and purposes of media so that's nice!

I has honestly been enlightning how under the most basic copyright abolition standpoint (not even a full on ML), the idea and fact that a fanfiction website needs this much money (like we're talking about MILLIONS of dollars) just to "defend the right" of the proletarian to smut blorbos in courth while forbiding their users of even mentioning they might need financial mutual aid unless they want to be banned forever and ironically becoming a monopoly of written fanwork online, is both laughable and honestly kinda sickening

It has been proven time and time again that there's no fucking way they pragmatically need that much fucking money for something that low tier sites like Wattpad, FF.net and other non-usamerican sites have done for years and still do to this day even with less income and traction, hell what this very hellsite does for FREE, when was the last time you've seen tumblr, the platform itself, literally e-begging to their user base to fight in court crimes for letting people make fanfics and r34 (before the 2018 porn ban ofc) of their blorbos lmao?? People used to also do this on facebook, on deviantart, there's something fic on pinterest nowadays, what makes ao3 so special of a copyright target that they need their audience to pay *them*?

I unironically don't think there's anything more petit bourgeoise and temporally embarassed bourgeois brained than overtly deffending AND donating to ao3 lol

i never know quite how to respond to lengthy anons cjcjfkfkv but yeah lol for fuckin real. re: what makes ao3 unique, livejournal and ff.net have famously caved to legal pressure to remove works at author request (see: anne rice spec massacre in the year 2000) and ao3 was formed as a reaction to that. still idt this justifies the tenor of their nonprofit model or the mountain of cash theyre sitting on for rainy days lol. their justifications for their legal teams might be valid but they’re still clinging to these old modes regarding copyright’s legitimacy and like u said just completely foreclosing on the possibility of transformative works that escape financial domination by intellectual landlordism. @transmutationisms also brought up a good point in conversation last night that much of their emphasis is on anti-censorship, which ironically means that a serious legal challenge would probably have more to do with content than legal resemblances to IP. a glance at any of their public statements re: censorship makes it obvious that they are actually woefully underprepared for what an actual crackdown might entail, like they’re formed around preventing another anne rice incident from happening when anne herself never had a problem with the vampires doing gay sex or whatever but a stronger legal entity might. ultimately kowtowing to copyright, legitimizing copyright, and valorizing free works as if they are ontologically different from properties (when the “free” works are trapped under the same legal logic that allows a person to monopolize and profit from a fucking Story at the exclusion of other artists not under their employ or other extractive/exploitative arrangement) will likely be the undoing of ao3. unfortunately their own own belligerent racism + liberal zionism and mistreatment of Black volunteers has not seemed to derail their reputation yet 🤪

[the-garbanzo-annex-jr]

From Amnesty International:

The Israeli authorities should release Walid Daqqah, a terminally ill Palestinian prisoner, so he can access specialist medical care and spend his remaining time with his family, Amnesty International said today. Walid Daqqah, 62, suffers from chronic lung disease and bone marrow cancer, and the clinic at Israel’s Ayalon Prison is ill-equipped to deal with his conditions. Following his cancer diagnosis last year, the Israeli Prison Service (IPS) denied Walid Daqqah access to a potentially life-saving bone marrow transplant by refusing to transfer him to a civilian hospital.   

Amnesty doesn't even hint at his crime until paragraph 13, and even then downplays it:

Walid Daqqah, a Palestinian citizen of Israel, was arrested in March 1986. A year later, a military court convicted him of commanding a group affiliated with the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), which had abducted and killed Israeli soldier Moshe Tamam in 1984. He was not convicted of carrying out the murder himself, but of ordering other members of the group to kill Moshe Tamam. 

Amnesty doesn't mention that Tamam was brutally tortured, disfigured, and sexually mutilated  by the terror cell led by Daqqa. 

Why should their readers know about that? The only torture they mention are Daqqa's own false allegations of being tortured by Israel.

When Daqqa was up for parole, the special committee ruled that his medical condition was not reason enough to violate Israeli anti-terror legislation that forbids early release for prisoners convicted of terrorist acts.

Amnesty didn't mention that either.

It does everything it can to humanize a disgusting murderer while demonizing the country that is attempting to carry out justice for his victim. Any information that shows what a monster Daqqa is, or why his parole was denied, is simply not to be reported.

Not coincidentally, as Daqqa is a member of the PFLP,  the PFLP and its associated NGOs have been heavily campaigning to free Daqqa, and Amnesty is quite friendly with many PFLP officials in other "human rights" NGOs. 

There is one delicious irony here, though. Daqqa was supposed to be released earlier this year, but two years were added onto his sentence because he smuggled cell phones into prison. 

Which means that the likelihood of his dying in prison is his own damn fault. 

[muddypolitics]

(via Daring Fireball: Holy Hell, Trump Did Use Twitter Direct Messages, There Were ‘Many’ of Them, and the Special Counsel Now Has Them)

Katelyn Polantz, reporting for CNN:

The special counsel’s investigation into Donald Trump and the aftermath of the 2020 election sought the former president’s Twitter direct messages, of which there were many, federal prosecutors and lawyers for Twitter revealed in newly unsealed transcripts from February court hearings about the search warrant. [...]

A lawyer representing Twitter, now called “X,” similarly confirmed in court that Trump’s account had several private messages between users on the platform. “X” was able to find both the sent direct messages and deleted messages for prosecutors, according to the transcripts.

“We were able to determine that there was some volume in that for this account. There are confidential communications,” a lawyer for Twitter said about @realDonaldTrump’s direct messages.

Alan Feuer and Maggie Haberman, reporting for The New York Times:

While it remained unclear what sorts of information the messages contained and who exactly may have written them, it was a revelation that there were private messages associated with the Twitter account of Mr. Trump, who has famously been cautious about using written forms of communications in his dealings with aides and allies.

The papers included transcripts of hearings in Federal District Court in Washington in February during which Judge Beryl A. Howell asserted that Mr. Smith’s office had sought Mr. Trump’s direct messages — or DMs — from Twitter as part of a search warrant it executed on the account in January.

In one of the transcripts, a lawyer for Twitter, answering questions from Judge Howell, confirmed that the company had turned over to the special counsel’s office “all direct messages, the DMs” from Mr. Trump’s Twitter account, including those sent, received and “stored in draft form.”

The lawyer for Twitter told Judge Howell that the company had found both “deleted” and “nondeleted” direct messages associated with Mr. Trump’s account.

I am not at all surprised that “deleted” DMs are not in fact deleted, but rather hidden. I am slightly surprised that Trump — famously averse not just to using email and text messages, but even to his own lawyers taking written notes in meetings, so as not to leave a chain of evidence for his lifelong criminal activity — would use, of all things, the infamously unencrypted direct messaging feature on Twitter. To be clear, this is a pleasant surprise.

Kyle Cheney, reporting for Politico, “Special Counsel Obtained Trump DMs Despite ‘Momentous’ Bid by Twitter to Delay, Unsealed Filings Show”:

Among the data the search warrant commanded Twitter to produce:

Accounts associated with @realdonaldtrump that the former president might have used in the same device.

Devices used to log into the @realdonaldtrump account.

IP addresses used to log into the account between October 2020 and January 2021.

Privacy settings and history.

All tweets “created, drafted, favorited/liked, or retweeted” by @realdonaldtrump, including any subsequently deleted.

All direct messages “sent from, received by, stored in draft form in, or otherwise associated with” @realdonaldtrump.

All records of searches from October 2020 to January 2021.

Location information for the user of @realdonaldtrump from October 2020 to January 2021.

As I speculated last week, nothing you do on Twitter is private. Not your DMs, not your “deleted” DMs, not your searches, not your location (if you’re foolish enough to grant Twitter/X access to it), not your draft posts.

Elon Musk comes out of this looking like he’d happily fellate Trump:

Ultimately, U.S. District Judge Beryl Howell held Twitter in contempt of court in February, fining the company $350,000 for missing a court-ordered deadline to comply with Smith’s search warrant. But the newly unsealed transcripts of the proceedings in her courtroom show that the fine was the least of the punishment. Howell lit into Twitter for taking “extraordinary” and apparently unprecedented steps to give Trump advance notice about the search warrant — despite prosecutors’ warnings, backed by unspecified evidence, that notifying Trump could cause grave damage to their investigation.

“Is this to make Donald Trump feel like he is a particularly welcomed new renewed user of Twitter?” Howell asked.

“Twitter has no interest other than litigation its constitutional rights,” replied attorney George Varghese of WilmerHale, the firm Twitter deploys for much of its litigation.

But Howell returned to the theme repeatedly during the proceedings, wondering why the company was taking “momentous” steps to protect Trump that it had never taken for other uses. In the hearing on Feb. 7, 2023, Howell referenced Musk, asking: “Is it because the new CEO wants to cozy up with the former president?”

The unsealed court filing (PDF) is here, for your reading enjoyment. Hope you stocked up on popcorn, like I did, for indictment season.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

[favorite quote: “Elon Musk comes out of this looking like he’d happily fellate Trump” - ed.]

[mariacallous]

For more than a year, the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation has been hunting the person whom experts say is one of the most prolific swatters in American history. Law enforcement now believes they have finally arrested the person responsible.

A 17-year-old from California is allegedly the swatter known as Torswats, according to sources familiar with the investigation. The teenager is currently in custody and awaiting extradition from California to Seminole County, Florida. The Florida State Attorney’s Office tells WIRED that he faces four felony counts.

Seminole County, located in central Florida, had two high-profile swatting incidents within the last 12 months, including one targeting a mosque and another targeting a courthouse. Todd Brown, a spokesperson for Florida’s Office of the State Attorney in the 18th Circuit, confirmed the charges against the teen and his extradition. Brown says he will be prosecuted as an adult under Florida law. WIRED is withholding the 17-year-old’s name because he is a minor.

The teenager’s arrest comes in the midst of a nationwide swatting surge. Swatting attacks typically involve someone calling in fake attacks to 911 in an attempt to solicit an overwhelming police response. Since Christmas, swatters have targeted the homes of prominent politicians from both parties, judges handling cases involving former US president Donald Trump, and the director of the US Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency.

Prior to these high-profile swats, a relentless campaign from different, potentially foreign, swatting groups targeted hundreds of schools and universities around the US over the past year and a half. Last May, an officer in Danvers, Massachusetts, accidentally fired his service weapon while responding to a school swat. In February, an officer in Saginaw Township, Michigan, rammed his vehicle through the school’s locked door to get inside the building following a swatting call.

According to the Florida State Attorney’s Office, the charges against the California teenager include making false reports concerning the planting of a bomb or the use of firearms, causing a law enforcement response. All charges are described as related to acts of terrorism and showing prejudice based on race, color, ancestry, ethnicity, or religion.

In private Telegram chats witnessed by WIRED over the past year, a person operating the Torswats handle claimed responsibility for hundreds of false reports of bomb threats and active shootings called into schools, politicians’ homes, courthouses, and religious institutions around the US.

Brad “Cafrozed” Dennis, a private investigator who works for high-profile Twitch streamers who've been swatted, has been hunting Torswats for nearly two years and actively helping the FBI’s investigation. “It’s a beautiful day,” Dennis says. “I am very relieved Tor will no longer be able to conduct his reign of terror on our schools and public officials just doing their jobs.”

According to records shared with WIRED, Dennis engaged someone using the Torswats handle on a peer-to-peer chatting service called Tox under the guise of ordering a swat in December 2022. By recording his network traffic, the investigator surreptitiously captured the swatter’s IP address along with a username that at the time was unknown to law enforcement. According to Dennis, in January 2023, he handed the evidence to the FBI special agents in charge of Torswats’ case. In emails shared with WIRED, the FBI told Dennis this information was used in subpoenas sent to YouTube and Discord. Court records related to the case against the California teen have not yet been made public.

Other messages Dennis shared with WIRED suggest that the FBI has known the identity of Torswats, whose swatting activities were first revealed by Motherboard last April, since at least July 2023, when the agency executed a search warrant and seized Torswats’ devices. The FBI’s Seattle field office, which oversaw the investigation into Torswats, declined WIRED’s request to comment.

"Hello, I am going to commit a mass shooting in the name of Satan," a voice with a fake Southern accent drawled to a police dispatcher in Seminole County, Florida, on May 12, 2023. The caller spoke slowly and deliberately when he told the dispatcher that he was armed with pipe bombs and an AR-15 rifle, walking into a mosque to kill everyone he saw. The call ends with the sound of gunshots likely sourced from a video game.

That day, the same voice-over-IP phone number called threats into at least two other mosques in Florida, according to police records obtained by WIRED. That week, in a private Telegram chat, an individual operating the Torswats Telegram channel took responsibility for sending police officers scrambling to as many as 20 schools in Washington state and four historically Black colleges and universities in Texas. Audio from 911 calls reviewed by WIRED and interviews with local law enforcement confirm that many if not all of the Washington state calls were made by someone sounding like an individual associated with the Torswats account. Some used a similar script, referencing an AR-15 rifle and pipe bombs.

The individual’s calls to Washington schools in May affected at least 18,116 students and cost taxpayers $271,173 in lost instructional time, estimates Don Beeler, CEO of TDR Technology Solutions, a company that builds school surveillance tools and tracks and analyzes the costs of school threats.

In private Telegram chats seen by WIRED, an individual behind the Torswats account described their method for carrying out school swattings. After proxying their network traffic through a commercial VPN, the individual would look up the school in every county they targeted using the Public School Review website to find each address. They then would Google the phone number for the nearest police department and use Google Voice to place calls. While most of this appeared to be done on an Android device, they would occasionally use a digital sound board on their PC to introduce gunshot sounds that appeared to be recorded from the video game Counter-Strike: Global Offensive.

“State and local law enforcement often feel like a swatter is doing something sophisticated, and that’s just often not the case,” Keven Hendricks, a cybercrime expert and swatting investigator, tells WIRED. In November, Torswats claimed to have swatted Hendricks and his family. Hendricks declined to comment about the swatting.

During a hoax call allegedly placed by Torswats and obtained by WIRED that targeted La Plata High School in Charles County, Maryland, last year, the school resource officer informed the caller that he was under an active investigation. “I am never going to be caught,” the caller laughed. “I am invincible.”

In Florida, where the California teenager is facing state charges, swatting is a felony. Late last year, two 14-year-old boys, allegedly part of a national swatting group called LulzSEC, were accused of calling in a mass shooting at Baker School in Okaloosa County in November. The charges for one of the teens included making an electronic threat of a mass shooting, making a false report of firearms being used in a violent manner, use of a two-way communication device to facilitate a felony, and interference with school functions. In a press conference at the time, Okaloosa County sheriff Eric Aden said the investigation into LulzSEC—which shares the name of an early-aughts hacktivist group—is ongoing.

Last May, the FBI initiated an effort to track swatting nationwide. The National Common Operation Picture – Virtual Command Center, or NCOP-VCC, is a collaborative effort between local law enforcement and the FBI to track swatting activity in real time. According to the FBI, there have been over 550 swatting incidents reported to the FBI’s NCOP-VCC since its launch. Because reporting is voluntary, the true number of swattings across the US is likely much higher.

US senator Rick Scott of Florida introduced a bill earlier this month to expand federal charges related to hoaxes to include swatting. The proposed legislation could potentially result in a maximum penalty of up to 20 years in prison for individuals convicted of the activity.

Scott says he was swatted at his home in December. According to the incident report, obtained by The Washington Post, the caller claimed that he had shot his wife with an AR-15 and would blow up the house with a pipe bomb.

In a statement announcing the legislation, Scott said, “We must send a message to the cowards behind these calls—this isn’t a joke, it’s a crime.”

It is unclear whether a single person operated under the Torswats name. On January 20, two days after Dennis, the private investigator, said that Torswats had been arrested, a person using the Torswats’ Telegram handle who had knowledge of previous conversations with WIRED reached out.

“I am pretty sure I’ll never be arrested,” the individual wrote in a direct message on Telegram. “Seems ridiculous that a few bucks a month can allow someone to do crazy shit and never go to jail.”

[hassane123]

Unlocking Your Career as an Intellectual Property Lawyer in Dubai

Are you a legal enthusiast with a passion for protecting innovation and creativity? Becoming an Intellectual Property (IP) lawyer could be the gateway to a fulfilling and impactful legal career. In this article, we will explore the exciting realm of Intellectual Property law and how you can carve a successful path as an IP lawyer in Dubai, a city that thrives on innovation and entrepreneurial spirit.

 What is Intellectual Property Law?

Intellectual Property law encompasses a specialized branch of legal practice that focuses on safeguarding intellectual creations, inventions, and innovations. As an IP lawyer, you will be at the forefront of protecting the rights of creators, inventors, and businesses. Your expertise will revolve around various forms of intellectual property, such as trademarks, patents, copyrights, and trade secrets.

 The Role of an IP Lawyer:

In Dubai's fast-paced business landscape, the need for skilled IP lawyers is ever-increasing. As an IP lawyer, your responsibilities will be diverse and dynamic:

 Consultation and Advice: You will provide expert guidance to clients regarding intellectual property protection strategies, helping them navigate the intricacies of registration, licensing, and enforcement.

 Intellectual Property Litigation: When disputes arise, your role as an IP lawyer in Dubai may extend to representing clients in court, defending their rights, and resolving infringement issues.

 Contract Drafting and Negotiation: Crafting solid licensing agreements and contracts will be crucial in protecting your clients' interests and ensuring fair use of their intellectual property.

 Due Diligence: Conducting comprehensive IP audits to assess the strength and value of intellectual property portfolios.

 Key Skills and Qualifications:

To thrive as an IP lawyer in Dubai, certain skills and qualifications are essential:

 Legal Expertise: A strong background in law and a specialized focus on intellectual property will form the foundation of your career.

 Analytical and Research Skills: You'll need to dissect complex cases, conduct extensive research, and stay up-to-date with legal precedents and changes in IP laws.

 Communication: Excellent communication skills are paramount in explaining intricate legal matters to clients and presenting compelling arguments in court.

 Negotiation and Mediation: Resolving IP disputes often involves negotiation and mediation, requiring strong conflict resolution abilities.

 Cultural Sensitivity: As Dubai is a diverse and international hub, understanding various cultural perspectives is advantageous when dealing with clients from around the world.

 Joining an IP Law Firm:

One of the best ways to kickstart your career as an IP lawyer in Dubai is by joining a reputable IP law firm. Such firms offer invaluable mentorship, exposure to diverse cases, and a platform to build your professional network. Look for firms that have a strong track record in handling IP cases and boast a team of experienced IP lawyers.

 Conclusion:

Becoming an Intellectual Property lawyer in Dubai opens the door to a rewarding legal career where you can protect and champion the rights of innovative minds and businesses. Embrace the exciting challenges of IP law and be part of Dubai's journey as a global innovation powerhouse. Start your journey today and lay the foundation for a successful and impactful legal career as an IP lawyer in the vibrant city of Dubai.

[laz-laz-ace-pilot]

I appreciate you responding - prior to working in a major theme park I was very trusting in ride safety too.

But I can't stress enough how parks (both major and minor) will push safety to the limit in order to maintain appearances. And it doesn't have to kill you - minor injuries are still worth avoiding.

At the park I worked at, we had multiple rides that were not designed to be outside - we operated in what was essentially a concrete bowl in the tropics with frequent high temperatures and storms. The rides would malfunction after rain, in humidity and frequently burned guests and staff; on site mechanics were trying to patch up issues that the ride was never supposed to get in the first place. The emergency stop on one ride would suspend riders upside down for five minutes.

None of this was available to the public.

One children's ride I operated would frequently burn children. I would report this to management and every time I was told to keep operating. Parents wouldn't report to first aid (they wanted to get the most out of their day) and the park never recorded these burns.

People will get whiplash, head injuries, bruises, cuts - but most won't want to waste time in First Aid. These injuries don't get reported.

When they bought in new rides, some that had had accidents occur at their previous homes, they were repainted, remodeled and rebranded. Guests wouldn't be aware they were riding something that had previously given concussions and lacerations at other parks.

There's also staffing. By law, operators shouldn't be intoxicated, injured or too tired, else they risk increased human error. But testing was lax, and staff were frequently injured working the rides - management were aware and kept them working. We often worked 12hr days and up to 11 days in a row with 50min break a day (technically illegal in that state but there was a 'special arrangement' due to the tourism value of the park) - we were exhausted and we still worked.

I passed out operating a ride - trapping 40 guests on a 5 tonne machine that no longer had an operator in control.

A few months before I started, a new rule was implemented that operaters had to be 18+. This was because at the neighbouring park - four minutes drive away - had an incident where four people were killed on a water ride operated by a 17yr. It wasn't operator error - the ride hadn't been maintained properly - but they tried to blame her. Court ruled that she couldn't be held responsible. So every park changed the rules - not to protect guests, but because they couldn't sue a teenager.

This was at the 'best' Park in the country - the rival park was also top tier. Both have deals with big film IPs. I had colleagues who had worked Disney Florida, Six Flags in California, Thorpe Park in the UK. None of this was unique.

Theme parks are a business and the millionaire owners will cut corners to keep profits up. And change only happens when people get hurt.

(All my love forever to the First Aid team - the real backbone of any theme park!)

i’ve seen a lot of really messed up images in my time on the internet, weird fetish shit, even a few IRL gore images but nothing. NOTHING evokes such a deep seated, gut wrenching fear in me like this image of the fucking water slide from Action Park with the loop in it

[globalinvestigatorafrica]

Botswana’s Specialists in Corporate Investigations

In an age of rapid corporate disruption, physical and technological security of one’s internal and external threats has become imperative to safeguarding the future of a business. As businesses in Botswana gradually expand and begin partaking in cross-border dealings, the demands for professional and quality corporate investigations services in Botswana have never been high. These services are helping businesses reduce risk, locate fraud and waste, and comply with laws and rules written in the U.S. code.

They say necessity is the mother of invention, and in this blog, we’ll talk in-depth about corporate investigation experts in Botswana, and why they’re so important. What they do, how they do it and what the benefits are to small business will be laid out flat in a way that is inviting, friendly and most importantly – understandable.

Why Corporate Investigations Matter in Botswana

Botswana now ranks as one of Africa’s most stable and transparent economies. As noted by NGO Transparency International, Botswana is consistently top of the list as Africa’s least corrupt countries. In contrast to this laudatory facade, real internal fraud, employee crime, procurement wrongdoing and compliance failures abound.

As businesses scale and complexity deepens, they put themselves at greater risk to various threats, including:

Fraudulent financial misstatements

Vendor fraud entails falsely claiming to provide a product or court

Economic aggression, including intellectual property theft

That’s called corporate espionage

Mikes’ breach of public trust

To put an end to such threats, experienced practitioners of corporate investigations services  in Botswana have been used by business entities in various industries such as mining, telecom, banking, and retail.

Corporate Investigation Services Provided by Corporate Investigation Experts

A number of these professional services have been provided by corporate investigation firms operating in Botswana. These specialized services are uniquely tailored to assist businesses in uncovering unrealized potential or hidden risks and navigating complex corporate matters with a sophisticated and discrete approach.

Take for instance №. Employee criminal history checks

Prior to their hiring, the majority of companies in Botswana have decided to conduct employee background checks. These background checks help verify a candidate’s education, work history, criminal record and reference checks to hire the most reputable employee.

Image 2. Private Investigation Services Asset Investigations MaintainCE Due Diligence Investigations Due Diligence Investigations

Before any merger, investment or partnership, due diligence investigations in Botswana are conducted. Whether you’re a small business or a large manufacturer, these risk assessment checks can play an important role in your business’s defense against fraud, undisclosed litigation, or undisclosed debt.

3. False Claims Act Investigations

If theft, bribery or embezzlement is suspected, Botswana’s fraud detection services are deployed. Private investigators for corporate interests rely on surveillance, forensic accounting, background checks and interviews to uncover the truth in secret.

4. Asset Recovery Tracing and Recovery

In financial or bankruptcy-related cases, asset tracing investigations allow clients to recover lost funds or properties that have been illegally hidden or transferred out of reach.

5. Intellectual Property Section 337 Investigations

Businesses threatened by trademark infringements or the entry of counterfeit goods depend on private eyes to perform IP investigations in Botswana. These services are central to collecting the evidence, finding the right sources, and bringing a case to trial.

6. Compliance Checks and Policy Audits

Corporate investigators conduct audits to check if company policies are being adhered to and that the company is following all necessary regulations.

Advantages of Engaging Corporate Investigation Professionals

Professional commercial private detective services in Botswana provide many benefits that ensure your company’s enduring success and protection.

Dangerous, hidden threats can be pinpointed early, before they cause financial or reputational harm.

Smart, strategic business choices are more easily made with trusted facts and market intelligence.

Fifth Legal Protection Having clear and accessible evidence gathered during investigations to back up any legal requirements is crucial when taking cases to court or through alternative dispute resolution processes.

An honest, transparent, and secure workplace promotes trust and accountability within an organization’s staff.

Improved Compliance Assurance Companies remain compliant with emerging national and international regulations, avoiding fines that could otherwise be in the hundreds of millions.

Why Botswana’s Investigators Are Pioneers

Botswana’s corporate investigation industry has changed in recent years. Corporate investigators in Botswana are best and trusted by many companies for their local knowledge, discretion, and overall usage of advanced equipment. Yet far too many professionals in the field come from law enforcement education, legal compliance, and forensic analysis.

Essential qualities of Botswana’s forensic analysts are to be sure experts.

Covert Management of Matters

Expansion of Surveillance and Forensic Technology

Deep Legal Knowledge

Ethical and Transparent Dealings

Most of the investigation firms are contractually-enshrined into the service by rigorous non-disclosure agreements, safeguarding client confidentiality. We’ve found that their reports are very detailed, evidence based and tailored to the needs of the business.

Selecting the Best Investigation Partner in Botswana

Prior to choosing an investigation agency, businesses should check the agency’s expertise, certifications, and customer testimonials. The following considerations should guide their use:

Proven Track Record Not to mention, the corporate investigations unit

Understanding the Local Legal Environment and Culture

Access to Cutting-Edge Investigation Tools

Access to Assistance in Timely Issues

Clear Communication & Reporting Style

Companies facing these allegations should work with companies that can provide complete solutions from study to courtroom to guarantee a seamless and efficient resolution of the charges.

Conclusion

Today, as the business environment in Botswana grows ever-more competitive and complex, the need for corporate investigation experts has never been greater. Whether they work in-house or for third-party consultants or engineering firms, these dedicated professionals are the unsung heroes protecting company assets, shaping sound business decisions, and preserving company image and compliance.

Whatever the need — be it a company opening new doors, looking for fresh talent, or facing a problem of internal fraud — Botswana’s most experienced corporate investigators will make sure the proper measures are in place. With their support, businesses can be more focused on risk management, internal controls, and being able to have the confidence to grow.

By hiring qualified, professional and principled investigators, corporations doing business in Botswana are taking steps to safeguard their current endeavors while ensuring future successes.

[seolawchef]

Hiring the Best Legal Services in Noida: A Guide for Individuals & Startups with LawChef

Noida, a burgeoning hub for startups and a vibrant residential community, presents unique legal challenges for individuals and businesses alike. From family disputes to startup contracts, securing expert legal support is essential to protect your interests. At LawChef, recognized as the best legal service provider in India, we offer top-tier Legal Services in Noida, including Legal consultancy services Noida and Legal consultant services Noida, tailored to your needs.

Why Legal Services in Noida Are Crucial

Noida’s rapid growth, with over 4,000 startups and a population exceeding 1 million in 2025, has led to a surge in legal cases—over 8,000 filed annually in local courts. Whether it’s a personal matter like divorce or a business issue like trademark registration, Legal Services in Noida offer:

Expert Navigation: Simplifies complex laws like the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955, or Companies Act, 2013.

Conflict Resolution: Resolves disputes through mediation or litigation.

Rights Protection: Safeguards personal or business interests, from property to intellectual property.

Time Efficiency: Streamlines legal processes to save you time and stress.

LawChef’s Legal consultancy services Noida and Legal consultant services Noida deliver personalized solutions for every legal need.

Common Legal Needs in Noida

Individuals and startups in Noida face diverse legal challenges. LawChef’s Legal Services in Noida address:

Family Law: Divorce, child custody, and alimony under the Hindu Marriage Act.

Startup Incorporation: Setting up LLPs or private limited companies under the Companies Act.

Contract Drafting: Crafting vendor, employment, or partnership agreements.

Intellectual Property: Trademark and copyright filings under the Trade Marks Act, 1999.

Property Disputes: Lease agreements, title verification, or real estate litigation.

Cheque Bounce Cases: Legal action under the Negotiable Instruments Act, 1881.

Our Legal consultant services Noida provide comprehensive support across these areas.

How to Hire the Best Legal Services in Noida

Choosing the right lawyer or firm ensures your case is handled effectively. LawChef’s Legal consultancy services Noida guide you through these steps:

1. Define Your Legal Requirements

Identify whether you need help with personal issues (e.g., divorce) or startup matters (e.g., contracts).

LawChef’s Role: Our Legal Services in Noida offer initial consultations to pinpoint your needs, connecting you with specialists in family law or corporate law.

Why It Matters: Targeted expertise leads to better outcomes.

2. Seek Specialized Expertise

Look for lawyers with experience in your specific legal area, such as IP for startups or family law for individuals.

LawChef’s Role: Our Legal consultant services Noida team includes experts who’ve resolved over 6,000 cases in Noida in 2025, from trademarks to divorces.

Why It Matters: Specialization ensures strategic handling of your case.

3. Prioritize Communication and Accessibility

Choose lawyers who are responsive and explain legal terms clearly.

LawChef’s Role: Our Legal consultancy services Noida provide online or in-person consultations in key areas like Sector 18 or Sector 62, ensuring clear communication.

Why It Matters: Accessibility builds trust and keeps you informed.

4. Check Transparency in Fees

Understand costs upfront to avoid surprises, whether flat fees or hourly rates.

LawChef’s Role: Our Legal Services in Noida offer transparent pricing during consultations, making legal support affordable for individuals and startups.

Why It Matters: Clear costs help you plan effectively.

5. Review Reputation and Success Rate

Client reviews and case outcomes validate a lawyer’s reliability.

LawChef’s Role: As the best legal service provider in India, LawChef boasts a 93% client satisfaction rate in Noida, with stellar reviews for Legal consultant services Noida.

Why It Matters: A trusted reputation ensures quality service.

Challenges in Hiring Legal Services in Noida

Noida’s legal landscape can be daunting, but LawChef’s Legal Services in Noida overcome these hurdles:

Overwhelming Options: Noida has numerous lawyers, complicating choices. Our Legal consultancy services Noida match you with the right expert.

Complex Procedures: Legal processes confuse clients. Our Legal consultant services Noida simplify terms and steps.

Court Delays: Noida’s courts face backlogs. We expedite filings and hearings to save time.

Startup Budgets: Startups need cost-effective solutions. We offer affordable services tailored to new ventures.

How LawChef Supports Individuals and Startups

As the best legal service provider in India, LawChef delivers exceptional Legal Services in Noida:

Tailored Solutions: We provide personalized support for divorce, property disputes, or startup incorporation.

Comprehensive Expertise: Our team excels in family law, IP, and corporate law, handling diverse cases.

Efficient Processes: We streamline filings, negotiations, and litigation to resolve issues quickly.

Startup-Friendly Services: We offer affordable contract drafting and IP protection to fuel startup growth.

Real-Life Impact: A LawChef Success Story

A Noida-based startup faced a trademark dispute with a competitor. Our Legal consultant services Noida team filed an infringement suit, secured an injunction, and registered the startup’s mark. We also provided Legal consultancy services Noida to draft a vendor agreement, boosting operational clarity. This showcases LawChef’s expertise in delivering Legal Services in Noida for startups.

Why Choose LawChef for Legal Services in Noida?

LawChef stands out for its excellence and client-centric approach:

Expert Lawyers: Our team specializes in family, corporate, and IP law, ensuring precise solutions.

Accessible Support: We offer Legal consultancy services Noida and Legal consultant services Noida online or in-person, fitting your schedule.

Transparent Costs: We provide clear fee estimates, making legal services affordable.

Trusted Reputation: As the best legal service provider in India, LawChef is trusted by thousands in Noida.

Empower Your Journey with LawChef

Whether you’re an individual facing a personal legal issue or a startup building your future, LawChef, the best legal service provider in India, offers Legal Services in Noida, Legal consultancy services Noida, and Legal consultant services Noida to ensure success.