Press Freedom

Court Urged to Unseal 

Documents Related 

to FBI Raid on Journalist

    TAMPA, Fla. (ACLU) - Jan. 6, 2024 - The American Civil Liberties, the ACLU of Florida, and their partners filed a friend-of-the-court brief on Jan. 2 in the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals arguing that a search warrant authorizing a raid on Florida journalist Tim Burke’s home should be unsealed to preserve press freedoms and increase transparency. The ACLU previously joined more than 50 organizations to send a letter to the Department of Justice demanding transparency about how the government believes Burke’s newsgathering broke the law.

    “The First Amendment protects the vital role journalism plays in keeping powerful institutions accountable to the public. But it appears that the government is interpreting computer crime laws in a dangerously overbroad manner — despite Supreme Court case law warning against this kind of overreach. This is both impermissible and unwise,” said Jennifer Stisa Granick, surveillance and cybersecurity counsel with the ACLU’s Speech, Privacy, and Technology Project.

    The FBI raided Burke’s home after he obtained outtakes of Tucker Carlson’s interview with Ye (formerly known as Kanye West) where Ye made antisemitic and other offensive remarks. The investigation, according to court filings, involves alleged violations of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, or CFAA, and a federal wiretapping law. The CFAA is the federal anti-hacking law that prohibits unauthorized access to a computer. But Burke says he got the outtakes from websites where Fox News uploaded unencrypted live streams to URLs anyone could access, using publicly accessible login credentials.

    The brief argues that the meager information available about the government’s investigation of Burke chills newsgathering by generating fear that journalists will be prosecuted for First Amendment-protected activity. Importantly, the brief also calls on the government to return seized materials that are not related to the case, and to allow access to materials that enable Burke to fulfill his newsgathering function. It does not appear that the government has taken Burke’s newsgathering activities into account in conducting this investigation. That failure demonstrates “callous disregard” for Burke’s First Amendment rights.

    “A key function of the press is to report news that might embarrass powerful people and companies,” said Seth Stern, director of advocacy for Freedom of the Press Foundation. “If Burke is being investigated for locating and publicizing publicly available interview outtakes merely because Fox News would’ve preferred the footage remain secret, that poses serious First Amendment problems. Countless other journalists who use the internet to find news need to know whether the government believes they’re breaking the law by doing their jobs.”

    The brief also takes issue with prosecutors’ suggestions that Burke is not actually a journalist, in part because he did not work for an established news outlet at the time he obtained the outtakes. Burke has a long history in journalism. Unsealing the search warrant and any additional documents related to the raid will confirm whether the court was informed that Burke was a journalist — and whether the government considered him to be one. Federal policy requires that the government provide journalists notice before any search of their newsgathering materials or work product occurs, and no such notice was given to Burke.

    The organizations submitting the brief raise concerns — and demand answers — regarding whether the government’s apparent belief that Burke was not a journalist led it to eschew procedures for searches of journalists’ newsgathering materials required under the Privacy Protection Act of 1980 and the DOJ’s own policies. Those policies were revised last year to better protect journalists’ rights in light of Trump-era abuses.

Related Documents

• TIMOTHY BURKE v. UNITED STATES -- Amicus Brief

Law & Policy

People For the American Way

Releases Year-End Statement on

Senate Judicial Nominations

WASHINGTON D.C. – 12/21/2023 – As the Senate leaves for the holiday break with a total of 166 confirmed judges, including this week’s confirmations of former Attorney General for the Cherokee Nation Sara E. Hill and former federal prosecutor John D. Russell for the United States District Court for the Northern District of Oklahoma, People For the American way President Svante Myrick released the following statement:

“People For the American Way commends President Joe Biden and the Senate, under the leadership of Majority Leader Schumer and Senate Judiciary Chair Durbin, for the tremendous progress made in filling the federal bench with highly qualified and fair-minded judges, who reflect the rich diversity of this country. Biden’s appointed judges bring brilliance and credentialed experiences to the federal bench, and with strong records of commitment to protecting the civil and human rights of all of the people in America, they will ensure equality and justice for all.

“It is urgent that the Senate, when it returns in January, prioritize the confirmation of the more than 30 outstanding judicial nominees that will still be awaiting action, including Nicole Berner who will be the first openly LGBTQ+ person ever on the Fourth Circuit and Adeel Mangi who will be the nation’s first Muslim American federal appellate court judge.

“We expect the Senate to prioritize judicial nominations, to process nominees put forward by the White House, and to clear the calendar of nominees awaiting confirmations to fill court vacancies and repair our courts. Time is of the essence.”

About People For the American Way 

People For the American Way, a national progressive advocacy organization, inspires and mobilizes community and cultural leaders to advance Truth, Justice and the American Way. Learn more: http://www.pfaw.org

World Affairs

Israel and the Occupied 

Palestinian Territories

 Background For a Better Understanding of the Situation

12/10/2023

ACADEMIC ARTICLE: Zionist hegemony, the settler colonial conquest of Palestine and the problem with conflict: A critical genealogy of the notion of binary conflict. (By Anne de Jong, May 3/2017; Taylor & Francis Online)

ABSTRACT: Describing the situation in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories as a ‘binary conflict’ is taken as a value-free and academically neutral depiction. This article challenges the objective nature of the notion of binary conflict. Contributing to scholarship that prioritizes subjugated knowledge, this article poses that the depiction of the situation entirely in terms of conflict – and the rigid alterity that such a perspective tacitly transmits – should be recognized as a paradigm with an inherently Zionist bias. A genealogy of the notion of conflict shows how early Zionist leaders consciously advocated a framework of binary conflict in order to counter accusations of settler colonialism and garner the support of non-Zionist Jews and other potential allies. This exposition draws out how the notion of binary conflict is instrumental in obscuring settler colonial dispossession and Palestinian lived experience; in forging the hegemonic unification of Zionist Jews; and in negating critique from third-party others. An understanding of how this perception of Israel–Palestine came about offers fresh insight into the strategies adopted by the early Zionist movement. Furthermore, acknowledging the power-nexus behind the binary conflict perspective has the potential to deepen our understanding of the discursive and oppressive mechanisms of contemporary settler colonialism. 

Link: Zionist hegemony

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BOOK REVIEW: Inventing the new antisemitism. Book review written by Em Hilton; Book -- "Whatever Happened to Antisemitism?: Redefinition and the Myth of the 'Collective Jew," by author Antony Lerman; Pluto Press, June 2022, pp 336)

INTRO: Israel and its acolytes have long pushed the agenda that anti-Zionism is a form of anti-Jewish racism. A new book shows how this endeavor came at the expense of Palestinians and diaspora Jews alike.

EXERPT: We are living through a particularly troubling moment in the global struggle against antisemitism. Amid resurgent right-wing authoritarianism, antisemitic conspiracy theories are being deployed as the basis of electoral campaigns all over the world; violent attacks on Jews in Europe show no signs of decreasing, going hand-in-hand with attacks on other minoritized communities; and in the United States, the masks continue to fall from white nationalist politicians, while public figures with enormous platforms profess their support for Nazism . . . . Yet, all the while, public understanding of what constitutes antisemitism is more muddied than ever. Accusations of antisemitism are regularly rolled out to silence critics of Israel — very often by Israel itself — and to attack any form of Palestine advocacy as being solely motivated by anti-Jewish racism. In the U.K., this politicization of antisemitism, manifesting in large part as a battle of definitions, has reduced the once intellectually rigorous pursuit of understanding how antisemitism manifests to a political football and tedious identity politics.

Link: Inventing the New Antisemitism

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AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL: Statement Regarding US Veto of a UN Ceasefire Resolution Israel/OPT: US veto of ceasefire resolution displays callous disregard for civilian suffering in face of staggering death toll

Reacting to the United States (US) veto of a UN Security Council draft resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire in the Occupied Palestinian Territories and Israel, Amnesty International’s Secretary General Agnès Callamard said:

“By vetoing this resolution, the US has displayed a callous disregard for civilian suffering in the face of a staggering death toll, extensive destruction and an unprecedented humanitarian catastrophe happening in the occupied Gaza Strip.

“The US has brazenly wielded and weaponized its veto to strongarm the UN Security Council, further undermining its credibility and ability to live up to its mandate to maintain international peace and security.

 

“There can be no justification for continuing to block meaningful action by the UN Security Council to stop massive civilian bloodshed. The use of the veto is morally indefensible and a dereliction of the US duty to prevent atrocity crimes and uphold international law. 

“On top of blocking the adoption of a ceasefire that would end mass humanitarian suffering in Gaza, aid the return of hostages, and calm tension multiplying in the region, the US continues to transfer US-made munitions to the government of Israel that contribute to the decimation of entire families. 

“As the only state to veto, it’s clear the US stands isolated from much of world, and a large portion of its own population. It is displaying a complete absence of global leadership and failing to understand the historical significance of the moment.

“The US purports to champion a rules-based international order, however its brazen double standards and disregard for international law has repercussions that extend well beyond the horrific catastrophe in Gaza, weakening the already enfeebled international system for protecting civilians in conflict."

Link: Amnesty statement

---------

ARTICLE BY BRANKO MARCETIC: A Tidal Wave of State and Private Repression Is Targeting Pro-Palestinian Voices

Critics of Israel's merciless war on Gaza are facing threats of government persecution and blacklists or firings. In this neo-McCarthist environment, anything pro-Palestine is being made to carry the whiff of bigotry or even incitement to violence.

EXERPT: last week, the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) teamed up with the Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law to send a letter to nearly two hundred colleges and universities, warning them that the pro-Palestinian organization Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) had “escalated significantly” its anti-Israel “rhetoric and activity,” and demanding that they open investigations into chapters on their campuses. The ADL wanted the chapters scrutinized over their funding, possible violations of school codes of conduct and state and federal laws, and, most seriously, whether they might be materially supporting terrorists, a charge that can bring a maximum sentence of between ten and fifteen years of prison, or even a life sentence in certain circumstances.

The demand from one of the country’s most influential pro-Israel organizations to have pro-Palestinian student groups prosecuted under a federal anti-terrorism statute is alarming. But it’s only a dramatic escalation in a rising wave of political repression aimed at pro-Palestinian voices and those critical of Israeli policy ever since the brutal Hamas attacks on October 7. 

 “The backlash we’re seeing against people in the US speaking out for Palestinian liberation has become a new McCarthyism,” says Dylan Saba, staff attorney at Palestine Legal.

 Link: Anti-Palestine Censorship  

--------

ARTICLE BY CAITLIN JOHNSTONE: The Official Story of Oct 7 

If you question any part of it, you’re an evil an-Semite who loves terrorism and wishes Hitler had won. You should be censored, fired, kicked off campus and disappeared from polite society.

Link: Commentary

Market Research

Quantum Technology 

Market Research Report 2023

 

DUBLIN -- (BUSINESS WIRE) -- (May 30, 2023) -- The "Quantum Technology Market by Computing, Communications, Imaging, Security, Sensing, Modeling and Simulation 2023 - 2028" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of the quantum technology market. It assesses companies/organizations focused on quantum technology including R&D efforts and potential gaming-changing quantum tech-enabled solutions.

The report evaluates the impact of quantum technology upon other major technologies and solution areas including, Edge Computing, Blockchain, IoT, and Big Data Analytics. The report provides an analysis of quantum technology investment, R&D, and prototyping by region and within each major country globally.

The report also provides global and regional forecasts as well as the outlook for quantum technology's impact on embedded hardware, software, applications, and services from 2023 to 2028. The report provides conclusions and recommendations for a wide range of industries and commercial beneficiaries including semiconductor companies, communications providers, high-speed computing companies, artificial intelligence vendors, and more.

Much more than only computing, the quantum technology market provides a foundation for improving all digital communications, applications, content, and commerce. In the realm of communications, quantum technology will influence everything from encryption to the way that signals are passed from point A to point B. While currently in the R&D phase, networked quantum information and communications technology(ICT) is anticipated to become a commercial reality that will represent nothing less than a revolution for virtually every aspect of ICT.

However, there will be a need to integrate the ICT supply chain with quantum technologies in a manner that does not attempt to replace every aspect of classical computing but instead leverages a hybrid computational framework. Traditional high-performance computing will continue to be used for many existing problems for the foreseeable future, while quantum technologies will be used for encrypting communications, signalling, and will be the underlying basis in the future for all commerce transactions. This does not mean that quantum encryption will replace blockchain, but rather provide improved encryption for blockchain technology.

Quantum Technology Market Beyond Computing

The quantum technology market will be a substantial enabler of dramatically improved sensing and instrumentation. For example, gravity sensors may be made significantly more precise through quantum sensing. Quantum electromagnetic sensing provides the ability to detect minute differences in the electromagnetic field.

This will provide a wide-ranging number of applications, such as within the healthcare arena wherein quantum electromagnetic sensing will provide the ability to provide significantly improved mapping of vital organs. Quantum sensing will also have applications across a wide range of other industries such as transportation wherein there is the potential for substantially improved safety, especially for self-driving vehicles.

Quantum sensing and imaging go hand-in-hand as the former supports the latter and vice versa. Quantum sensing may be used to produce images that reveal information heretofore unobtainable. Conversely, quantum image processing may be used to dramatically improve microscopy, pattern recognition, and segmentation in images. Quantum processes enable detection of image details that would otherwise go unnoticed within the current constraints of background effects/illumination, low light levels, and wavelength limitations.

Commercial applications for the quantum imaging market are potentially wide-ranging including exploration, monitoring, and safety. For example, gas image processing may detect minute changes that could lead to early detection of tank failure or the presence of toxic chemicals. In concert with quantum sensing, quantum imaging may also help with various public safety-related applications such as search and rescue. Some problems are too difficult to calculate but can be simulated and modelled.

Quantum simulations and modelling is an area that involves the use of quantum technology to enable simulators that can model complex systems that are beyond the capabilities of classical. Even the fastest supercomputers today cannot adequately model many problems such as those found in atomic physics, condensed-matter physics, and high-energy physics.

To accomplish this goal, quantum simulators create a more controllable quantum environment to simulate what is actually occurring in nature within a real-world, uncontrollable, inaccessible quantum environment. Quantum simulation and modelling can lead to a variety of practical commercial benefits such as the design of improved computing systems, development of new materials, and predictive analytics for large interdependent systems such as a smart city ecosystem.

Sovereign governments are extremely interested in the quantum technology market and the interest goes way beyond the pride of being the first to be able to claim quantum supremacy for developing a quantum computer that can beat the best classical computer. Governments are interested in quantum technology because of the many military/defense and overall security implications. For example, quantum computing can render all existing encryption useless and exposed to hacking and infiltration.

This means that all financial transactions and state secrets are potentially at risk with quantum computing. Conversely, quantum computing-enabled encryption will be completely unbreakable. In another example, quantum sensing and imaging may be used to detect the presence of aircraft (even stealth fighters).

Advanced Light Detection and Ranging (LIDAR) systems equipped with quantum imaging processes may identify the presence of aircraft based on minute changes in the environment. Conversely, quantum-equipped planes may similarly foil quantum LIDAR detection systems, protecting themselves by projecting images that simulate a normal ambient environment.

Quantum Technology Developments

Some of the latest developments in the quantum technology market include:

• IBM: CONDOR, THE world's first universal quantum computer with more than 1,000 qubits, is set to debut in 2023. The company is also planning to launch Heron, the first of a new flock of modular quantum processors that the company says may help it produce quantum computers with more than 4,000 qubits by 2025. Important to note is that other quantum computers with more qubits exist, but Condor will be the world's largest general-purpose quantum processor.

• Microsoft: DARPA has selected Microsoft as a partner to explore scaled quantum computing in support of DARPA's broader quantum strategies. "Experts disagree on whether a utility-scale quantum computer based on conventional designs is still decades away or could be achieved much sooner," said Joe Altepeter, US2QC program manager in DARPA'sDefense Sciences Office.

• QCI: A subsidiary has been formed with the intention to take QCI's technology products to the Department of Defense and other government agencies. The organization's solutions will offer quantum platforms designed for supply chain management, advanced manufacturing, workforce development and research and development applications.

• Xanadu: During Q4 2022, the company announced that it closed a $100 million USD Series C round that brought its valuation to $1 billion USD. The company's valuation approximately tripled over the course of the last review period, due largely to its cloud-deployed-photonic quantum computer as well as its leadership in the development of an open-source software library for quantum computing, along with its established partnerships with global enterprises.

Select Report Findings:

• Overall global quantum technology market will reach $53.2 billion by 2028

• Quantum computing will lead the market at $17.6 billion by 2028 and 41.2% CAGR

• North America will be the biggest regional market for quantum technologies overall

• China will lead the APAC quantum technology market at $6.31 billion by 2028 with 39.1%CAGR

• Germany will lead the European quantum technology market at $3.9 billion by 2028 with 30.6%CAGR

• The global quantum dots market will reach $14.9 billion by 2028, growing a 33.7%CAGR and led by displays

• The quantum sensing market will reach $1.1 billion globally by 2028, nearly twice the size of the quantum imaging market

• The quantum magnetometer market will reach $998 million globally by 2028, led by superconducting quantum interference devices

For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/715jh6