Disney will soon lose copyright to original Mickey Mouse

The copyright for the earliest version of Mickey Mouse will expire in 2024. What does this mean for the world's most famous mouse?

The first version of Mickey Mouse from 1928 had a pointy rat-like nose

In 2024, the earliest iteration of Disney's Mickey Mouse will enter the public domain.

Mickey Mouse first appeared in 1928 in the animated short film "Steamboat Willie" — the first animation film to use synchronized sound.

In the US, copyright for original works of authorship last until the author's death plus 70 years. But for works created anonymously, pseudo-anonymously or by an employee as part of their job, it lasts 95 years. Works published before 1978, like Mickey Mouse, only have a copyright of 95 years from the date of publication.

While the first version of Mickey Mouse is nearing the end of its 95-year copyright protection, the mouse has had a few transformations since 1928, and subsequent versions of Mickey Mouse will still be protected until their 95 years runs out.

The original Mickey Mouse looks quite different to the warm and round mouse seen today. He had a pointy rat-like nose and skinny arms and legs.

While Disney may lose the copyright to "Steamboat Willie," they may still maintain some rights if that version of the mouse is recognized as a trademark.

"The first question is whether Disney is using 'Steamboat Willie' not just as a character but also as a symbol of Disney," Jane Ginsburg, a professor of literary and artistic property law at Columbia Law School in New York, told DW.

 

FAMOUS CARTOON CHARACTERS WITH THEIR OWN STARS ON THE HOLLYWOOD WALK OF FAME 

Donald Duck ; Although he started his career playing a minor role in Mickey Mouse cartoons, he got his own animated cartoon in 1937. Living in Duckburg, Donald is a stereotypical down-on-his-luck character who stays afloat by doing odd jobs and trying to manage his temper. In spite of this, or perhaps because of it, Donald is a popular character who was given his own Hollywood star in 2004.       12345678

Copyright vs. trademark

A trademark is a recognizable symbol or expression that is connected to a product or service from a particular company or individual, and unlike copyright, they can last forever.

In the US, a trademark doesn't have to be registered to be considered a trademark.

If the version of Mickey Mouse seen in "Steamboat Willie" is seen as a symbol of Disney, the company can say it is a trademark.

This means people can use the characters but it must be done in a way that people do not mistake the work as being from Disney.

Winnie-the-pooh as a serial killer

For example, the original stories and characters of A.A. Milne's "Winnie-the-Pooh" (1926) joined the public domain at the beginning of 2022.

But Disney's iconic image of the character, the yellow bear with a red T-shirt that first appeared in a short animated feature in 1966, is still under copyright. The entertainment giant also maintains a hold on several trademarks related to the popular teddy, which restricts the use of the character's image on products.

Testing the limits of Disney's stronghold on its copyright linked to the character, "Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey" is a horror film set to be released this year. The film re-imagines A.A. Milne's character as a serial killer. 

"We knew what [Disney's] copyright was and what they've done," director Rhys Waterfield told Variety. "So we did as much as we could to make sure [the film] was only based on the 1926 version of it." 

Apart from the name, the honey-loving bear couldn't be mistaken for Disney's. Pooh wears a lumberjack suit and his facial traits are distorted.

Mickey Mouse in 'Steamboat Willie'

Dead trademarks: From Escalator to Thermos

If a trademark becomes a generic term for a class of products or services, that entity can lose its right to say it is their trademark.

This is why in 2013 Google said it would crackdown on consumers using "google" as a generic verb when they weren't actually using Google's search engine.

"A trademark owner wants it both ways," says Ginsburg. "They want the word to be a household name, so long as people can keep two ideas in their head at one time — that Google is synonymous with search but that Google is a particular company that does search."

Famous examples of brands and products that became generic terms include Aspirin, Escalator and Thermos.

"There's actually a whole lot of dead trademarks that lost their connection, often because the trademark owner didn't properly police the use of the mark — the word stopped meaning an individual brand," explained Ginsburg.

When a trademark's validity is put into question, survey techniques are used to determine whether people associate the trademark with a particular brand or product.

Why does copyright expire?

If a person goes to the effort of creating an original piece of work, one might think they should obtain the rights in perpetuity. So why do authors and inventors only receive limited ownership rights?

The patent and copyright clause of the US Constitution states that the Congress shall have power "to promote the progress of science and useful arts, by securing for limited times to authors and inventors the exclusive right to their respective writings and discoveries."

"So how do you promote the progress of knowledge? First you get people to create works and then you ensure those works become widely available. And ultimately, putting works in the public domain makes them fully available," said Ginsburg.

In 1998, an additional 20 years were added on to copyright terms in the US. Before that, it lasted the life of the author plus 50 years. This gave Disney an additional 20 years of protection for the original Mickey Mouse.

Germany led the way for this extension of copyright as one of the first countries in the European Union (EU) to increase copyright to life plus 70 years. 

When the EU harmonized and adopted the same copyright standards EU-wide, they made that conditional on reciprocity, meaning that US works would not get the extra 20 years of protection in the EU unless the US extended its copyright protection by 20 years, said Ginsburg. 

"The EU being a very large market for US works, that was I think what was ultimately more persuasive than lobbying efforts of any particular industries," Ginsburg said.

Edited by: Elizabeth Grenier

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Oil dispute sharpens Baghdad-Kurd tensions amid deadlock

Tony Gamal-Gabriel

Sun, July 17, 2022 

Iraq's oil wealth is rekindling tensions between federal authorities and the autonomous Kurdish region, in a row that could compromise the lifeline industry and keep investors away, analysts say.

The long-simmering dispute came to a head in February -- at a time of political deadlock in Baghdad -- when the federal supreme court ordered Kurdistan to hand over oil extracted from its territories to the federal authorities.

Then earlier this month, a commercial court in the Iraqi capital annulled contracts between the Kurds and foreign firms, after the oil ministry in Baghdad filed a judicial complaint.

Authorities in the Kurdistan capital Arbil have cried foul, accusing Baghdad of heaping "unjust pressure" on them and announcing their own legal action.

Iraq, the second largest producer in the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, sits on enormous oil reserves, and revenues from the sector feed 90 percent of the federal government budget.

It exports an average of 3.3 million barrels of crude oil per day (bpd), while production in Kurdistan amounts to just over 450,000 bpd.

The February ruling stated that a 2007 law adopted by Arbil to regulate oil and gas was unconstitutional.

But analysts say politics play a major role in the dispute in Iraq, whose political barons have failed to reach agreement on choosing a president and a prime minister since October legislative elections.

"When it comes to oil, each side uses their respective powers as carrots and sticks depending on the political atmosphere of the day," said Bilal Wahab of The Washington Institute for Near East Policy.

"At times when there was political accord, the courts were rather quiet. When there was political discord, however, the reverse was true," he told AFP.

- 'Reputation being damaged' -

The nullification of oil contracts between the Kurds and four international oil companies (IOCs) from Canada, Britain, Norway and the United States at the start of July has inflamed the row.

"For Baghdad to be chasing IOCs out of Iraqi Kurdistan does not serve to show Iraq as a major producer welcoming of foreign investment," cautioned Yesar al-Maleki, an analyst at the Middle East Economic Survey.

In a fightback, the Kurdish regional authorities in June initiated judicial proceedings against the federal government.

One lawsuit targets Oil Minister Ihsan Ismail, accused by the Kurds of trying to "intimidate" foreign firms operating in the Kurdistan region of northern Iraq.

The Kurdish autonomous government has accused Baghdad of taking "illegal" and "politically motivated" actions.

For Wahab, Kurdish and federal government officials fail to appreciate "how much they are damaging the overall reputation of Iraq's energy industry".

"Questioning the sanctity of contracts ... adds legal risk to a slew of other regulatory and governance risks that ail the Iraqi energy industry," he added.

The dispute, he said, "repels much-needed foreign investment".

Oil revenues are critical for Iraq, a country faced with widespread corruption but also mired in a financial crisis and in need of funds to rebuild infrastructure after decades of conflict.

- 'Compromise'? -

Despite the legal actions, Kurdistan says it is open to a negotiated solution.

It is working on setting up two companies specialised in oil exploration and marketing that would coordinate with Baghdad, a spokesperson for the Arbil government said.

Baghdad's oil ministry, meanwhile, marked a small victory after oil giants Baker Hughes, Halliburton and Schlumberger committed not to initiate new projects in Kurdistan.

The ministry says the companies are also working to "liquidate and close" existing contracts.

Baghdad has fought to regain control of output from lucrative oil fields in Kurdistan since the autonomous region began marketing oil independently more than a decade ago.

But under a current deal, the Kurdish region delivers 250,000 barrels per day to Baghdad, in return for a share of federal funds to pay the salaries of Kurdish civil servants.

In recent weeks, tensions have risen further after a series of unclaimed rocket attacks targeting oil and gas installations in Kurdistan.

Experts say the assaults aim to put pressure on the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), the largest in Kurdistan.

The KDP is allied to Shiite leader Moqtada Sadr, whose bloc won 73 seats in the October polls, making it the largest faction in the 329-seat parliament.

The party is eyeing the Iraqi presidency for one of its members, although traditionally the job has been held by a member of the rival Patriotic Union of Kurdistan.

"The timeline of events evidently shows that this whole crisis started because the KDP took the side of the Sadrist movement... opposing the Iran-backed Shiite Coordination Framework," Maleki said.

He expects a "compromise" will be reached to resolve the oil dispute because "Iraq is a country of compromise".

"Until then, the supreme court ruling will hang like the sword of Damocles over the Kurdish regional government," he said.

bur-tgg/gde/hkb/hc/je

 

Satellite study shows most forests around the world are becoming less resilient to change

Credit: Unsplash/CC0 Public Domain

A small team of researchers with members from institutions in Italy, France and the U.S. has found that most forests around the world are becoming less resilient to environmental changes due to global warming. In their paper published in the journal Nature, the group describes their study of satellite pictures of forested parts of the planet over time.

As the planet warms due to humanity's inability to stem greenhouse gas emissions, scientists around the world continue to study possible impacts. In recent years, a host of studies have shown that cutting down the trees in rain forests and other forests to make way for crops is detrimental to climate—forests produce oxygen and absorb carbon dioxide from the air and sequester it. Less work has been conducted to learn more about the impact of global warming on forests, though it has been noted that increases in temperatures and reduced moisture could make it difficult for some forests to survive. In this new effort, the researchers wondered whether such changes might also be making forests less resilient, degrading their ability to withstand temporary challenges such as floods, pests, droughts or pollution. To find out, they turned to years of satellite imagery.

To learn more about the resilience of the world's forests, the researchers used a learning algorithm to sift through massive amounts of satellite data showing vegetation covering regions of the planet over the years 2000 to 2020. In their effort, they defined resilience as the ability of a forest to bounce back after a disruptive event. When such efforts fail, they note, the vegetation changes from forest to something else, such as savannah.

They found that over half of all the forests in the world today show signs of decreases in resilience. They also found that global warming seems to be improving resilience in some trees, such as those in boreal forests in the northern latitudes. The researchers found that the biggest factors in reducing resilience in forests were increases in average heat and decreases in available water.Trees aren't a climate change cure-all: Two new studies on the life and death of trees in a warming world show why

More information: Giovanni Forzieri et al, Emerging signals of declining forest resilience under climate change, Nature (2022). DOI: 10.1038/s41586-022-04959-9

Journal information: Nature 

© 2022 Science X Network

Rare sauropod dinosaur teeth uncovered in Australia

Diamantinasaurus matildae AODF 2298 (AODL 127) tooth (possibly from the same 

individual as AODF 836). (a–o) Right upper tooth in mesial (a,b), mesiolabial (c), labial 

(d), distolabial (e,f), distal (g,h), distolingual (i), lingual (j), mesiolingual (k,l), apical (m,n) 

and basal (o) views. (a), (e), (g), (k), (m) and (o) are photographs; all other images are 

screenshots of digital models. Scale bar = 10 mm. Credit: Royal Society Open Science

 (2022). DOI: 10.1098/rsos.220381

A team of researchers at the Australian Age of Dinosaurs Natural History Museum The Jump-Up, working with colleagues from the University of New England and University College London, has uncovered sauropod teeth fossils at the Upper Cretaceous Winter Formation of Queensland in Australia. In their paper published in the journal Royal Society Open Science, the group describes their find and its importance to understanding the history of the creatures in Australia.

Sauropods were big, plant-eating dinosaurs with long necks that lived in many parts of the world. Fossils have been found in many countries, but have been rare in Australia due to its unique geography. The country has very few places where rocks from the Cretaceous or Jurassic are exposed at the surface. The dig site for this new effort, called Mitchell, is little more than a small mound sticking up out of a vast, flat landscape used to graze sheep. The site has thus far yielded 17 sauropod teeth.

The researchers note that sauropods did not chew their food and thus, they had no molars. All of their teeth were semi-conical and curved with a pointed end and were slightly offset. The dinosaurs would have used them in conjunction with their tongue and jaw to grab leaves and snip them into their mouths, which they would consume as is—no pre-processing occurred in the mouth. Thus, the gut would have had to do all the work, a process that could take as long as two weeks.

The researchers found marks on the teeth indicating that they had been worn down by constant eating. The marks also provided clues about the types of plants the dinosaur had been consuming—flowering plants, conifers and gingkos, and possibly horsetails, which no longer grow in Australia. The limits of the creatures' neck length indicate that that they likely ate from plants that had leaves that were approximately 1 meter from the ground to approximately 10 meters. The researchers obtained precise measurements of the teeth by making casts of them, which were then coated in a very thin layer of gold—that allowed for study of dental features using an electron microscope.Tooth fast, tooth curious? New study uncovers novel approach to plant-based diet, unique to long-necked dinosaurs

More information: Stephen F. Poropat et al, Sauropod dinosaur teeth from the lower Upper Cretaceous Winton Formation of Queensland, Australia and the global record of early titanosauriforms, Royal Society Open Science (2022). DOI: 10.1098/rsos.22038

Journal information: Royal Society Open Science 

© 2022 Science X Network

 

Pacific Islands ask international court to rule on climate

Tuvaluan Foreign Minister Simon Kofe says he would like to see Vanuatu's campaign

 supported.

Climate-threatened Pacific islands called on Monday for the International Court of Justice to rule on countries' legal duties to stop climate change, a move designed to ratchet up pressure on polluting nations.

In a statement released after a summit in Fiji last week, Pacific leaders issued a joint call for the Hague-based court to make clear states' obligations "to protect the rights of present and future generations against the adverse impacts of climate change".

The islands—many low-lying and already buffeted by climate change—hope the move will introduce a heightened level of legal jeopardy for high carbon-emitting countries and spur action.

Leaders also declared the region was in a climate emergency that posed an "existential" threat.

The plan will need the backing of a majority at the United Nations General Assembly in September to be put to the ICJ.

The initiative began in a classroom at the University of the South Pacific in 2019. About 27 law students wrote to Pacific leaders asking them to take up the campaign—and Vanuatu answered the call.

Fijian university student Vishal Prasad, 26, was one of those involved.

He told AFP during the Suva summit last week that even a non-binding "advisory opinion" from the International Court of Justice would have "wide-reaching impacts".

Prasad said he hoped the court weighing in would put polluters on notice.

For young people in the Pacific, "the existential threat, the reality" of climate change "is quite scary", he said.

Eyes on Australia

Rising sea levels and stronger storms are already causing serious problems across the Pacific.

"We are already seeing impacts on a daily basis. We are seeing the onset of cyclones," said Prasad. "We are seeing communities being relocated."

Tuvaluan Foreign Minister Simon Kofe told AFP that he would like to see Vanuatu's campaign supported as it was "consistent with our efforts to protect our people that are impacted by climate change".

Smaller islands are also looking to fellow Pacific Island Forum members Australia and New Zealand to do more.

Australia is one of the world's largest coal and gas exporters.

"I've been clear and consistent in our ask for more ambitious climate commitments," said Fijian Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama following the summit, which wrapped up on Thursday.

"We need to end our fossil fuel addiction, including coal. That is our ask of Australia, New Zealand" and all high emitting countries, he added.

Greenpeace welcomed Australia's support for the ICJ to rule on climate change.

"However, this endorsement cannot be viewed in isolation," said Greenpeace Australia campaigner Steph Hodgins-May.

"Australia must not only champion the journey towards climate justice through the campaign for an ICJ advisory opinion, but also pursue more ambitious climate action by committing to no new coal and gas projects.Pacific looks to international court for help on climate

© 2022 AFP

 

Sudan's gold rush wreaks havoc on health

by Abdelmoneim Abu Idris Ali

Talab, the youngest child of Awadya Ahmed, lies on a bed in the village of Banat in River 

Nile state, north of the Sudanese capital Khartoum. She says Talab was born after mining

 residues spread in the area.

Sudanese mother Awadya Ahmed has long wondered why her youngest child Talab was born blind and unable to walk; now she suspects the piles of poisonous waste left by gold miners.

In recent years, a growing number of traditional miners have flocked to her village hoping to strike it rich.

But they leave behind hazardous white-powdered waste laden with toxic chemicals including mercury used in the gold extraction process.

The waste is dumped near farmland, water sources and residential areas.

"His four brothers were born in good health, but Talab is the only one born after mining residues spread," Ahmed, 45, told AFP at her home in Banat village, in River Nile state north of Khartoum.

The four-year-old lay beside her, unable to move.

Artisanal gold mining is widespread across much of Sudan, employing more than two million people and producing about 80 percent of the gold extracted nationwide, according to experts.

Sudan is one of the world's poorest countries, and mining remains a source of fast profits attracting many.

The industry has flourished since oil-rich South Sudan broke away in 2011 during the rule of now-ousted president Omar al-Bashir, a period marked by economic hardship, government mismanagement, corruption and international sanctions.

Gold mining residues are seen piled up near a residential area in the village of Banat in 

River Nile state, north of the Sudanese capital Khartoum. Sudan is one of the world's

 poorest countries, and gold mining remains a source of fast profits.

'Harmful to health'

But chemical contamination from artisanal gold extraction poses clear health dangers.

Mercury damages the nervous, digestive and immune systems and can be fatal. It also threatens the development of children in the womb and early in life, according to the World Health Organization.

Ahmed is not the only one of Banat's 8,000 residents to have observed birth defects and miscarriages.

In a nearby house, Awad Ali says his daughter was "a very normal child," until she turned two. "Then she became unable to move or walk, stand up or sit down," he said.

Community leader Algaily Abdelaziz said the problems began five years ago.

"Since we saw these waste deposits appear, children have been born with deformities, and there have been still-births," Abdelaziz said, noting 22 children had been born in the village with deformities including blindness and brain damage.

Saleh Ali Saleh, from Khartoum's Neelain University's Faculty of Petroleum and Minerals, notes that it is well known "that mercury is harmful to health".

Nafisa, 8, who is unable to walk, is pictured sitting next to her father in the village of 

Banat.

A January report by Saleh and other Sudanese researchers found that around 450,000 tonnes of mining waste—rife with mercury—dot the lush green landscape of River Nile state.

Samples of blood, urine, drinking water and soil from several parts of the state have shown high levels of mercury traces, according to the report.

"People, frankly, are not concerned with removing the waste," said Ali Mohammed Ali, head of the Sudanese Environment Conservation Society.

The process "requires special treatment" and is "ideally carried out away from residential areas or water sources," he added.

Such safety measures are far from the minds of miners.

Around 50 kilometres (30 miles) from Banat, Mohammed Issa mixed mercury with sand in a large metal bowl with his bare hands, hoping to separate gold from other minerals.

"That's how people do it here," the 25-year-old said.

Issa said he abandoned a meagre life of farming and herding in North Kordofan state to search for the precious metal.

Sudan is one of Africa's top gold producers, generating 30.3 tonnes of gold in the first half

 of 2021 alone, according to official figures -- which do not include the artisanal output.

Years to fix

In 2019, Sudan's now-deposed transitional government issued a decree banning the use of mercury and cyanide after protests against their use at gold mines.

The decision has rarely been enforced and miners continue to use the chemicals in more secluded outlying areas, Saleh said.

Political and economic turmoil in Sudan has piled pressure on households already struggling to make ends meet.

The country's economic crisis worsened after an October military coup led by army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan.

The coup triggered cuts to crucial international aid and fed into spiralling prices of basic commodities.

Sudan is one of Africa's top gold producers, generating 30.3 tonnes of gold in the first half of 2021 alone, according to official figures—which do not include the artisanal output.

The Central Bank puts Sudan's gold revenues in the first quarter of this year at $720 million, reflecting the official output.

Talab, the son of Awadya Ahmed, lies on a bed in the village of Banat in River Nile state. 

Ahmed is not the only one of Banat's 8,000 residents to have observed birth defects and 

miscarriages.

The state-run company supervising mining activities declined multiple requests for comment by AFP.

The lucrative business has long been controlled by shadowy companies with links to the security services which flourished under Bashir.

Saleh warns there will be no quick fix.

"The damage already done to the environment cannot be treated easily," said Saleh.

"If we managed to stop today, it will still take us years and years to contain the impact of artisanal mining."

For little Talab, it is already too late.

Brazil launches plan to expand mining in Amazon

© 2022 AFP

Book Review: Criminal Contagion: How Mafias, Gangsters and Scammers Profit from a Pandemic by Tuesday Reitano and Mark Shaw

In Criminal Contagion: How Mafias, Gangsters and Scammers Profit from a Pandemic, Tuesday Reitano and Mark Shaw explore how organised crime has adapted and flourished during the COVID-19 pandemic by exploiting human vulnerability. Parisa Kabir recommends this expertly written book to readers who want to learn more about the impacts of COVID-19 on organised crime and how dimensions of global health intersect with the criminal world and illicit activity.

Criminal Contagion: How Mafias, Gangsters and Scammers Profit from a Pandemic. Tuesday Reitano and Mark Shaw. Hurst Publishers. 2021.

Without a doubt, the COVID-19 pandemic has drastically changed the way our world functions and reconfigured the way societies interact and behave worldwide. In their recent book, Criminal Contagion, Tuesday Reitano and Mark Shaw elucidate the ways in which organised crime has adapted, and consequently flourished, during the pandemic by exploiting human vulnerability. Reitano and Shaw investigate various aspects of the ‘criminal underworld’ and its illicit activities and pathways for illegal commodities, including controlled substances and humans.

Both authors are directors at the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime (GI-TOC) with extensive experience working at the United Nations. Reitano has published widely on organised crime and the security-development nexus within a global context, while Shaw is a prolific author of work in the areas of policing, organised crime and crime in general, with a particular interest in sub-Saharan Africa. Their in-depth knowledge of and expertise in criminal networks, corruption and the political economy of crime are demonstrated throughout Criminal Contagion. Set within the very recent context of COVID-19, the book combines a variety of sources, including news articles, reports, GI-TOC data and scholarly literature, along with primary research, including key informant interviews.

The book is clear, well-structured and engaging in describing and exploring the evolution and primary features of global crime prior to the pandemic. It examines various aspects of organised crime and illicit markets associated with the chaos and dynamics of COVID-19 and related state policy responses.

Image Credit: Photo by Dan Dennis on Unsplash

Reitano and Shaw first introduce the contemporary political economic context of organised crime and how criminal enterprises have exploited vulnerabilities for self-gain, with costly consequences. Each chapter of Criminal Contagion focuses on a specific crime or criminal enterprise as a case study and then proceeds to provide a historical overview supported by various data within transnational contexts. Topics include, but are not limited to, the illicit wildlife trade and increases in poaching, human trafficking and smuggling as well as cybercrimes constituting ‘virtual violence’, involving medical disinformation, hacking, ID theft, banking fraud, and romance and 419 scams.

Reitano and Shaw also devote an entire chapter to ‘criminal coronomics’, discussing illicit financial flows and the politics of tax havens, poverty and criminal recruitment, money laundering in bankrupt economies, China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) as well as oil and debt in Africa. Criminal Contagion ends with recommendations on how to best move forward, largely in the context of strengthening surveillance amidst the weakening of state legitimacy.

Both fascinating and concerning is how Reitano and Shaw highlight the ability of crime to adapt to its cultural and social environments, and how it spreads into all sectors of society, like an infection itself. The book illustrates the resilience of the ‘criminal underworld’ and its ability to innovate, such as through cybercriminal activity and by exploiting governance vacuums. One example describes how phishing scams sent emails claiming to provide government-funded stimulus payments or COVID-19 test results as a means to gather personal information and introduce malware, or malicious software (121). One section of the book explains how people dealing drugs reportedly disguised themselves as health-care or fast-food delivery workers to escape detection while out in public and on the streets (20).

Although Criminal Contagion provides an extremely robust and comprehensive understanding of illegal activities in the context of COVID-19, one area that could have been explored in more depth is how governments and institutions play a role in the flourishing of organised crime. However, Reitano and Shaw do emphasise the need to build stronger institutions and redirect resources to properly regulate and address the enduring nature of organised crime.

Criminal Contagion is highly recommended for readers who want to learn more about the impacts of COVID-19 on organised crime and how dimensions of global health intersect with the criminal world and illicit activity. Readers also seeking to expand their knowledge on current and future trends associated with criminal activity will find this book very helpful in understanding where to better allocate resources and what policies may best address organised criminal activity at this scale. Although the structure and language of Criminal Contagion are not difficult to follow, upper-year undergraduate students, postgraduate students and those working in relevant fields, including governance, law and public health, are likely to have enhanced understanding and appreciation of the book.

As a student in the University of British Columbia’s Global Resource Systems programme, this book provides insights into understanding the contemporary global dynamics of health and crime in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic when criminal justice systems have been at their weakest. This timely book will serve as a great teaching resource for professors assigning readings for courses focusing on the intersections of COVID-19, crime, health, governance, commerce and/or law. With Criminal Contagion, Reitano and Shaw have expertly written a book for scholars, practitioners, students and policy experts alike.

• This review first appeared at LSE Review of Books.

Please read our comments policy before commenting.

Note: This article gives the views of the author, and not the position of USAPP – American Politics and Policy, nor of the London School of Economics. 

Shortened URL for this post: https://bit.ly/3RyTuiF

---

About the reviewer

Parisa Kabir – University of British Columbia
Parisa Kabir (she/her) is a fourth year undergraduate student at the University of British Columbia in the Global Resource Systems program. She is currently a co-op student working with the Centre for Gender and Sexual Health Equity. She hopes to specialise in the field of global and public health. Parisa has done an extensive amount of volunteer work within her community, including with the Canadian Red Cross and the Aga Khan Foundation as well as various clubs and organizations at UBC. She has also had experience conducting research, having completed an undergraduate research project on food insecurity and having worked as a research assistant.

Thailand's Prayuth Chan-ocha fights economy, Thaksin's popularity

Ruling coalition frays ahead of no-confidence motion and eventual elections

Thailand's Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha walks past an honour guard in Bangkok in May. 

YOHEI MURAMATSU,

 Nikkei staff writer

July 18, 2022 

BANGKOK -- Eager to keep his job once his term expires in March, Thai Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha this month has been trying to quash rumors that he will be replaced due to the country's suffering economy, taking to the internet and visiting his supporters.

But his campaign comes with his ruling coalition on the verge of suffering a defection and on the eve of a no-confidence showdown in the lower house.

"If I can continue [as the leader,]" the prime minister told supporters in a rural part of northern Thailand, "the projects will proceed faster."

It was the first time Prayuth made it clear in public that he intends to remain in office for a second term. Previously statements had expressed an intention to serve a full term.

The following day, Prayuth posted a video of himself on his government's website, pledging to rebuild the economy by building infrastructure and promoting the electric vehicle industry. He promised his measures would start showing results within two years, asking the public to keep supporting him so he can complete long-term programs.

With a lower house election to take place by next May at the latest, Prayuth's recent remarks seem to indicate a determination to continue heading the government beyond that period.

Prayuth has led Thailand since May 2014, when as army chief he pulled a military coup, then remained as junta chief until elections were staged for one house of parliament in March 2019. With the upper house hand-picked by the military and holding great power to put a prime minister in place, Prayuth was able to officially assume the prime ministership under a quasi-civilian government.

In a policy speech in July 2019, when the ruling coalition was formed, the pro-military leader vowed to pull Thailand out of its middle-income trap, one many developing countries fall into when they gain a certain amount of economic strength. Then the pandemic struck.

In 2021, Thailand's economy grew 1.5%, the worst performance among major Southeast Asian nations. It is expected to plug along at a relatively low 3% or so this year.

Prayuth can do little about the biggest drag on Thailand's economy, tourism, which in normal times accounts for more than 10% of the country's gross domestic product. Although Thailand is now allowing international arrivals, a big tourism rebound is unlikely due to the relentlessness of COVID-19 and repercussions, especially those pertaining to energy costs, from Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

But Thailand, whose economic recovery has been slower than those in neighboring countries, has other concerns.

"The population has peaked out, and foreign companies' investment appetite has diminished," said Seiya Sukegawa, a visiting professor at the Thai-Nichi Institute of Technology in Bangkok.

At the household level, Thais keep having to borrow to make ends meet. According to the Bank for International Settlements (BIS), Thailand's household debt in 2021 reached 91% of GDP, up 10.8 percentage points from 2019, before the pandemic, and much worse than the emerging economy average of 51%.

Their harsh economic reality has many Thais yearning for a return of the Shinawatra family. Thaksin Shinawatra, a former prime minister who led the country to high economic growth, is now living in self-imposed exile, having been convicted of abuse of power. His sister Yingluck, another former prime minister, is also a fugitive.

Thaksin has continued to influence Thai politics from abroad, which shows in an opinion poll conducted by the National Institute of Development Administration in June. In the survey, 25% of respondents favored Thaksin daughter Paetongtarn as the next prime minister. Prayuth came in No. 3 at 12%, outdone even by Pita Limjaroenrat, the leader of Move Forward Party, at 13%.

Thailand's opposition parties have filed a no-confidence motion against Prayuth, with parliamentary debate beginning Tuesday. The motion comes with the 19-party ruling coalition beginning to fray. The Thai Economic Party, a medium-size coalition member, on Wednesday stated it will vote for the no-confidence motion.

Even without the Thai Economic Party, the ruling coalition enjoys about a 15-seat majority in the 484-member lower house. But if more defections follow, they could end the Prayuth era.

Pegasus was used to spy on protesters, a popular actress, and dozens more in Thailand, report shows

Forensic analysis by CitizenLab says government is the likeliest perpetrator.

Varuth Pongsapipatt/SOPA Images/LightRocket/Getty Images

By ANTONIA TIMMERMAN
17 JULY 2022 • JAKARTA

At least 30 Thai citizens were targeted by the Pegasus phone-hacking software between October 2020 and November 2021, according to a forensic report by the Canadian digital rights organization CitizenLab and Thai NGOs iLaw and DigitalReach. The victims included prominent pro-democracy protesters and their lawyers and supporters. The hack is the latest in a string of documented uses of Pegasus against civil society figures.

NSO Group says that it sells its technology only to governments and law enforcement agencies — meaning that the most likely perpetrator of the hacks is the democratically elected Thai government, CitizenLab said.

Some of the victims were first alerted to the possible hacks of their devices in November 2021, when Apple pinged their phones, warning that they may have been the target of state-sponsored attacks. In the report, corroborated by Amnesty International’s tech initiative, Amnesty Tech, CitizenLab performed forensic analysis of the devices to confirm the hacks were perpetrated using Pegasus, a sophisticated tool developed by the cyberarms-maker NSO Group, an Israeli company that was blacklisted by the U.S. government last year.

CitizenLab’s report noted that many targets were, predictably, leaders of civil society groups. But even individuals with supporting roles were targeted.

Those targeted by Pegasus included prominent pro-democracy activists from FreeYouth, United Front of Thammasat and Demonstration (UFTD), and We Volunteer (WeVo) as well as their lawyers and supporters, who were targeted during a period of widespread pro-democracy protests. An anti-government rapper, Dechathorn “Hockhacker” Bamrungmuang; a famous Thai actress, Intira Charoenpura; and a political science professor, Prajak Kongkirati, were also among those attacked.

Thailand’s current administration took power through democratic elections in 2019, but many of its members — including the prime minister — are drawn from the military junta that displaced the previous elected government in 2014. Thousands of Thai people took to the streets in waves of protest, and dissent has blossomed online in the form of taboo-breaking mockery of the royal family. The authorities have arrested dozens of protesters on charges of sedition, insulting the monarchy (lèse-majesté), and under a loosely worded “computer-related crimes” law.

CitizenLab’s report noted that many targets were, predictably, leaders of civil society groups. But even individuals with supporting roles were targeted. Lawyers for civil society groups were caught in the net, too, along with fundraisers. Niraphorn Onnkhaow, a donation manager for the UFTD and the group’s Facebook page admin, was infected with Pegasus at least 12 times between February and June 2021.

The report speculates that the attack against Niraphorn may show that the perpetrator had attempted to gather information about how the movement was funded and organized. It could have been triggered by specific transactions that would have been known to financial institutions and the Thai government but not the public, the report said.

“This … shows that there is nonpublic knowledge going into the targeting, further reinforcing that this would have been part of a larger intelligence operation,” John Scott-Railton, a senior researcher at CitizenLab who co-wrote the report, told Rest of World.

“I can’t think of cases with rappers or actresses targeted with Pegasus,” Scott-Railton added.

Pegasus is uniquely able to infect an iOS or Android device even if the user doesn’t click on a compromised link. The user needs to only open a text or email link to unwittingly allow the software to download, which then gives the attacker unrestricted access to the target device, letting them see messages, emails, contacts, and photographs. CitizenLab found that Pegasus’ developers used zero-day exploits — previously unreported system vulnerabilities — including weaknesses in the iOS system dubbed Kismet and ForcedEntry, to infect phones in Thailand.

The same day that it notified victims of the hacks, Apple moved to sue NSO Group — the second company to do so after WhatsApp launched a suit in October 2019 alleging that the group hacked its server.

One of those startled awake by the ping was Yingcheep Atchanont, executive director of iLaw, a human rights NGO in Bangkok, and a defender in protest-related cases. CitizenLab researchers showed he was targeted by Pegasus six times in 2021.

Atchanont told Rest of World he hadn’t suspected a thing and isn’t entirely sure what the attackers were looking for — though he suspects it could be linked to rumors that his organization was funneling money from foreign donors to the protest groups.

“Maybe the police or military are stupid enough to believe that conspiracy theory; maybe they want to look for more information on the budgeting issue, so they try to attack me,” he said. Atchanont thinks there could be many more infected who are using non-Apple devices and would never have received a warning.

Charoenpura, the outspoken actress known for her public support for the protests and a role in fundraising, never received a notification. She told Rest of World she had thought she was being watched, with plain-clothed authorities visiting her family’s coffee shop, so she moved away temporarily.

Months later, after hearing about other activists receiving notifications from Apple, Charoenpura suspected she might have been a victim. The investigation eventually showed that Charoenpura’s phone was repeatedly infected with Pegasus throughout April and June 2021.

“Can you imagine? One time I encountered a stranger wandering and looking at my house, around 10 or 11 p.m. … With my phone infected, that [has] just raised my concern to the next level,” Charoenpura told Rest of World.

CitizenLab first observed a Pegasus operator in Thailand in May 2014, then in 2016, followed by 2018. From six years of tracking Pegasus spyware infections, including samples of Pegasus code collected from infected devices, and NSO Group’s infection and monitoring infrastructure, CitizenLab was able to identify Pegasus fingerprints associated with the installation of the spyware on the activists’ iPhones, the report showed.

Civil society groups and global institutions have stepped up efforts to hold spyware companies like NSO Group accountable. In April, the European Parliament launched a committee to investigate the use of Pegasus in EU member states. In the U.S.,NSO Group has been put on the Department of Commerce’s blacklist, and major U.S. defense firm L3Harris just dropped its bid to acquire the company’s spyware.

NSO Group’s debt valuation continued to drop in response to the souring public opinion and particularly to government action, like that of the U.S., Scott-Railton noted.

“What really counts is things that make investors realize that they stand to lose everything on investing in spyware and governmental action,” he said. “These things have meaningful impacts on the bottom line of spyware companies. And I think it is probably through that mechanism that we try to slow the global proliferation of this technology.”

Sudan police fires tear gas against pro-democracy protests

Sudanese police fired tear gas in the capital Khartoum in an attempt to disperse hundreds of pro-democracy protesters

A crackdown by Sudan's security forces has left at least 114 protesters and other civilians killed [Getty]

The New Arab Staff & Agencies
17 July, 2022
Sudanese police fired tear gas in the capital Khartoum on Sunday in an attempt to disperse hundreds of pro-democracy protesters demonstrating against coup leader General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, AFP correspondents reported.

Security forces had erected road blocks on bridges crossing the Nile river linking Khartoum to its suburbs, AFP reporters said, to deter protesters who had vowed to take to the streets in large numbers.

The demonstrators oppose Burhan's October power-grab and are also highlighting heavy fighting in Sudan's southern Blue Nile state, about 450 kilometres (280 miles) south of Khartoum.

They accuse the military leadership and the ex-rebel leaders who signed a 2020 peace deal of exacerbating ethnic tensions there for personal gain.

Sudan's latest coup derailed a transition to civilian rule, sparking near-weekly protests and a crackdown by security forces that has left at least 114 killed, according to pro-democracy medics.

Nine were killed on June 30, the medics said, when tens of thousands had gathered and their deaths reinvigorated the movement.

On July 4, Burhan vowed in a surprise move to make way for a civilian government.

But the country's main civilian umbrella group rejected the move as a "ruse". Protesters have continued to press the army chief to resign.

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Analysis

Jihad Mashamoun

The rallies on Sunday follow a period of relative calm over the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha, which ended last week.

Protesters in Khartoum held signs noting the recent bloodshed in ethnic clashes in the south of the country.

"Al-Damazin is bleeding," one Khartoum protester's sign read on Sunday, referring to the state capital of Blue Nile.

Troops were deployed in the Blue Nile town of Al-Roseires Sunday, after at least 33 people were killed and more than 100 wounded in the state, according to the health ministry.

Guerrillas in Blue Nile battled former strongman president Omar al-Bashir during Sudan's 1983-2005 civil war, picking up weapons again in 2011.

Bashir was ousted in 2019. The following year, the transitional administration reached a peace deal with key rebel groups, including from Blue Nile as well as the war-ravaged western Darfur region.

But the areas remain awash with weapons and local grievances over land, water and livestock regularly erupt into deadly clashes.

The current violence in Blue Nile is between two local ethnic groups, the Berti and the Hausa.