Apple's tax woes in Ireland are officially over

Apple's €14.3 billion Irish tax break fine is officially one for the history books now, as the Irish government has announced that it's withdrawn all the money from the escrow account Apple set up back in 2018. That's when it deposited the aforementioned sum after being fined by the European Commission (EC) for receiving unfair tax breaks from Ireland.

The amount is judged to be what Apple would have paid in taxes in Ireland had it not received a "sweetheart deal" in the form of "illegal state aid" from the Irish government in exchange for setting up its European HQ in the country.

Now that Ireland has moved the money from the escrow account into its central fund, the escrow account has been closed and Apple's saga regarding these back taxes allegedly owed can finally be put to rest.

The timeline goes like this: in 2013 the EC launched an investigation into Apple and found that the tax breaks it received from Ireland were illegal, and in 2016 it ruled that Apple had to pay back the "state aid" it was deemed to have received over a 10-year period before the probe was launched, since it was allegedly given "significant advantage" over its competitors.

In 2018, Apple set up the escrow account and paid the amount it was deemed to owe into it. In 2020, the EU's General Court ruled in Apple's favor, but in 2024, the European Court of Justice overturned that decision and confirmed the EC's original ruling from 2016. Hence why the Irish government has now finally taken possession of the money.

Source:  (Department of Finance) www.gov.ie

Corrupt police, the unlicenced ones that get away with it

It’s a real fact that not every person is equal before the law, where corruption is at play in the Judiciary arm of the government, also including the administration of the courts, ‘members’ within tribunals and also police.

Victoria Police as an organisation is corrupt in its day to day business, where if a private corporation operated as such it would be fined, criminalised or shut down, but this is not the case with this taxpayer funded body.

Persons within this organisation have a duty to pursue criminal actions where charges are brought forward before the courts.

Victoria Police Manual – Policy Rules also states that the 

“members have a duty to preserve the peace, protect life and property, prevent offences…” 

and most importantly “apprehend offenders”, meaning 'persons' that commit criminal offences.

Road traffic offences in this colony are classified as criminal and not civil.

Quite simply put VicPol are going against their “Policy Rules”.

Police and the media go hand in hand in portraying a false narrative that the law comes down hard on dangerous or even unlicenced drivers, but the reality is much more shocking.

Documents have been seen, show that unlicenced drivers that have been caught have not been prosecuted, where even in socking circumstances they have caused accidents, yet have not been pursued by police.

It is also noted that a certain migrant minority is left untouched.

The source requires to be anonymous, as the publishing of any documents may reveal the identity of the person exposing police corruption.

What police don’t want you to know about speed measuring devices

The colony’s police forces do not act honourably or honestly when it comes to measuring motorist's ‘speed’ or more accurately, velocity.

In Victoria, many officers do this ‘illegally’ where they get away with it in court.

Victorian driver’s get conned by police and the courts and they don’t even know it, as it’s all about the generation for revenue for the government, that’s all.

An allegation of travelling quicker than a predetermined limit is not treated as a civil offence but rather a criminal one meaning the law is stacked up against you from the start.

As always, in a criminal offence the burden of proof, beyond reasonable doubt, is entirely on the prosecution meaning every aspect of the allegation must be proven.

Victoria Police generally use the ProLaser 4 ‘High Performance Handheld LIDAR’ (LIght  Detection And Ranging), distance measuring device from KUSTOM SIGNALS INC, based in the United States.

What Victoria Police does is it conceals evidence if one decides to challenge the allegation of ‘speeding’.

When one recieves a "Preliminary Brief" vital infomration does not get provided to your 'person'.

Even when one request a "Full Brief" that information is also kept from you.

Therefore it is strongly suggested that a supoena is issued for the information.

What is this information?

This information is called 'metadata'.

This metadata is attached to every photo taken of an alledged speedster.

Victoria Police stated in court that the ProLaser 4 can hold 1000 instances of metadata.

This metadata is downloaded at the officer's workplace via the 'back office' through a USB cable plugged into the workstation.

Victoria Police is inherently corrupt, but the bigger problem is that they have the full support of the judiciary in their corruption.

Another aspect of the law that the police don't want you to know about is a little known law from 1984 called the INTERPRETATION OF LEGISLATION ACT 1984, as seen in the screen capture below:

In particular Section 43 which states the following, in relation to the measurement of distances:

In the measurement of a distance for the purposes of an Act or subordinate instrument, the distance shall, unless the contrary intention appears, be measured in a straight line on a horizontal plane. 

Unbeknown to many motorists this law has been in place for 41 years.

Keep in mind that the ProLaser 4 measures distance divided by time, therefore the above law applies.

The metadata from the ProLaser 4, also contains the parameters of taking a measurement at 0 degrees or a 'horizontal plane', and even if the vehicle they surveyed is factually yours.

A significantly high portion of police in instances of handheld and stationary detection do not follow the above mentioned law meaning they take measurements illegally.

Do they know about this law?

Of course they do, just like they know about the 'KABA' ruling from 2013 on random vehicle stops.

So if you're challenging an allegation of 'speeding' don't ask for the documentation, supoena it, meaning fill out a "Subpoena to produce - Form 42B" from the Magistrates Court of Victoria.

Google loses $314 million lawsuit over data transfers when Android phones are idle

Google just lost the class action suit against it in California – the suit was filed on behalf of an estimated 14 million Californians in 2019 and alleged $800 million in damages over Android phones collecting and transmitting data to Google while idle.

The jury sided with the plaintiffs and awarded them $314.6 million (that’s almost pi!). More specifically, Android phones collected data that would be used for targeted advertising and transmitted it to Google’s servers over cellular data – at the phone owner’s expense.

Google will appeal this verdict as it claims that users were not harmed by these data transfers and that users consented to this when they agreed to Google’s terms of service and privacy policies. A spokesperson for the company stated that the verdict “misunderstands services that are critical to the security, performance, and reliability of Android devices”.

Another group has filed a separate lawsuit, this time on behalf of Android users in the other 49 US states – this trial will begin in April.

Source: retuers

Shocking hidden recording reveals corrupt police on Good Friday

A reality that many do not want to wake up to, is the fact that Austalians live in a police state.

In this exposé, Victoria Police have arrested a motorist under false pretences on Good Friday.

The claim by police was also made that the person is "very sovereign citizeny" DESPITE there being no proof of this.

They wanted to cause physical injury by driving dangerously while he was placed in custody in the back of the divisional van.

They wanted to damage his property, that being his watch that they held.

This is not a unique or isolated example of what sort of scum is in the state's and territory's police forces of Australia.

Police can make all sorts of false claims, where there is little chance of a remedy for victims of police or if there is it's a great finanical cost, where the system is deliberately rigged against people seeking 'justice'.

See video of the title The video these INCOMPETENT COPS don't want you to see :

NEVER trust the police and record all interactions with them.

LIES about fuel price, cost before and after US attack on Iran

People in corporations and governments lie to the general population every single day, where the lies will never stop.

Those in government have preplanned agendas that even span decades where the serfs are none the wiser, pity.

On Monday, the 23rd of June 2025, Rupert Murdoch’s publication mentioned that NRMA spokesperson stated that “drivers likely to pay 8 cents more a litre when fuelling up".

One would expect that to be nationwide, albeit a small difference from one state or territory.

On that day, in Melbourne unleaded fuel was 159.9 c/litre as seen by the receipt below, where certain identifying factors have been blocked out:

After the US attack on Iran, the price of fuel from the same supplier skyrocketed, or rather the motorists were bombed with a price of 219.9 cents per litre, as seen in the headline photo above.

That is an increase of 60 cents per litre or a 37.5% price hike.

The good motorists of Australia are being extored to pay for an overseas attack on another country with full support of this by our colonial govenrment.

Australia, the 'lucky' country... NOT!

16 billion password data breach hits Apple, Google, Facebook and more — LIVE updates and how to stay safe

Latest updates on one of the largest data breaches

The news of a massive 16 billion data breach that exposed login credentials from Apple, Google, Facebook has made record as one of the largest data breaches in history.

Cybernews reports that records from over 30 databases have been stolen, with each containing up to 3.5 billion passwords from social media and VPN logins to corporate platforms and developer platforms.

The recent data breach contains a massive amount of information that can affect billions of online account, as cybercriminals now have access to a mass amount of login credentials. This puts users at risk of further malicious behavior from phishing attacks, social engineering and identity theft.

Here are the latest updates on what we know about the data breach, how to find out if you're affected and how to stay safe.

What's exposed?

Currently, nearly all major platforms have been affected by the breach, including Apple accounts (formerly Apple IDs), Gmail, Facebook accounts and GitHub as well as instant messaging platforms like Telegram and both commercial and government platform portals.

The data appears to contain URLs, usernames and passwords. However, with the unfathomable size of the data that's been exposed, there's no way to tell how many accounts are currently under threat.

The stolen data appears to come from several infostealers, and while the datasets are new, the sheer amount of info could also be from a mix of different datasets from previous breaches, including a database containing 184 million records discovered in May this year.

How to stay safe

With the 16 billion login credentials now being exposed, it's important to check if your account has been exposed and to stay safe.

First, the best way to keep your account secure is to enable two-factor authentication (2FA). This will stop threat actors from easily accessing your online accounts, as a second form of authentication through an app, phone, passcode or a physical USB key will need to be approved by you. If you haven't already, find out how to enable 2FA right now.

Second, to find out if your login credentials have been affected, use Have I Been Pwned and check if your email is in the clear. If you are at risk, immediately change your password, delete unused accounts and consider using one of the best password managers to secure your online accounts.

Source:tomsguide

Anticompetitive Practices

The FTC takes action to stop and prevent unfair business practices that are likely to reduce competition and lead to higher prices, reduced quality or levels of service, or less innovation. Anticompetitive practices include activities like price fixing, group boycotts, and exclusionary exclusive dealing contracts or trade association rules, and are generally grouped into two types:

• agreements between competitors, also referred to as horizontal conduct
• monopolization, also referred to as single firm conduct

The FTC generally pursues anticompetitive conduct as violations of Section 5 of the Federal Trade Commission Act, which bans “unfair methods of competition” and “unfair or deceptive acts or practices.”

Search Cases

Use our Advanced Search page to find a specific antitrust case. To see all antitrust cases, select “Competition” in the mission field. To see a specific type of competition case, select from the list of available topics in the competition topics field.

Competition Statutes

The primary statutes governing the FTC’s competition mission include:

•     FTC Act

•     Sherman Act
• Section 1
• Section 2

•     Clayton Act

Guidelines

    Antitrust Guidelines for Collaborations Among Competitors

    Statements of Antitrust Enforcement Policy in Health Care

    Antitrust Guidelines for the Licensing of Intellectual Property

    Guides for Advertising Allowances and other Merchandising Payments and Services – “Fred Meyer Guides”

Competition Advisory Opinions

The FTC provides guidance concerning proposed conduct in the form of advisory opinions. The process starts with a request for advice from the party proposing the conduct. Many advisory opinions are rendered by Bureau of Competition staff, and often involve issues in the health care field.  Commission advisory opinions are voted on by the Commission and are intended to address substantial or novel questions of fact or law, or subjects of significant interest.

FTC staff provides practical guidance for those who may want to request an advisory opinion. You also can review all previous advisory opinions, and filter them using the “Antitrust/Competition” tag.

Source: Federal Trade Commission

With Android 16 upgrade Google should be sued under anti-competative law!

Google is again engaging in anti-competative or in the United States, antitrust behaviour, which is against the law.

With this new action Google is getting rid of ALL competitors, where Android phones must run through Google (it's about 'forcing' the licencing of GMS (Google Mobile Services)), where they are not able to function under AOSP (Android Open Source Project), such as Lingeage OS and GraphenOS.

AOSP is a baseline operating system of Android which manufacturers (e.g Samsung, Motorola, Huawei, etc) use before they load up their hardware with their spyware bloated version of Android.

Lingeage and Graphene, are among a few custom open source Android operating systems called ROMs, that do not have highly invasive 'spyware' that Google and other phone manufaturers (e.g. Samsung) install on their phones, which can be a danger to people's lives where they require privacy or anonimity as a result of their job or for other reasons.

The tech and legal communites MUST take action against Google's latest 'illegal' practice.

Whether they will, is another story that time will tell.

See a Comparison of Android-based Operating Systems:

Source: https://eylenburg.github.io/android_comparison.htm

Most of these ROMs are privacy (and security) focused, where Google's actions are an attack on user's privacy and therefore security.

Google is deliberately killing off AOSP.

At the end of the day it's all about data collection by the giants Google and Apple, where the latest actions by Google are part of the global 'Nanny State' agenda where only duopoly powerhouses exist.

If you truly value your privacy, then Google products are not the ones that you will achieve privacy with.

See the following article by androidpolice.com of the following headline:

Google’s latest AOSP move spells doom for custom ROMs on Pixel phones

In March of this year, Google revealed it is changing its Android development process and will no longer make real-time code commits to public AOSP branches. The change barely had any public or development impact. But now, with the release of Android 16, Google is making a bigger change to AOSP that will affect the development of custom ROMs for Pixels.

For years, Google used its Pixel phones as reference devices for AOSP development. As part of this, the company also published the device trees and driver binaries, ensuring that developers could compile a fully working AOSP build of Android for Pixels. Custom ROM developers also relied on the same device trees and driver binaries to ensure core features worked properly in their ROMs.

This won't be the case going forward, though. While Google has already published the Android 16 source code, it won't be releasing the device trees and driver binaries for compatible Pixel phones. The Graphene OS team initially claimed that Google made this change as it planned to discontinue AOSP entirely.

However, Seang Chau, VP and GM of Android Platform, refuted such rumors and provided a clearer picture (via Android Authority). He made it clear that Google is not doing away with AOSP. But going forward, AOSP will use a reference target device "that is flexible, configurable, and affordable — independent of any particular hardware, including those from Google." And so, Google is switching from Pixels to Cuttlefish — a virtual Android device— as the reference AOSP device. Since it's a virtual platform, developers can run Cuttlefish remotely or locally.

Custom ROM development for Pixel phones just got a lot more difficult                

This move from Google will change the custom ROM development scene for Pixel phones forever.

 Unlike other Android devices, device trees and binaries made it relatively easier for developers to build ROMs for Pixel devices.

Without them, they would have to reverse-engineer prebuilt binaries to find out the changes that Google made — a challenging and time-consuming process. The lack of kernel source code commit history from Google only adds to the complexity.

Think of these device trees and binaries as the Android equivalent of drivers on a Windows PC — they ensure the operating system can properly communicate with the device's hardware.

Google's latest changes to AOSP will have a major impact if you run LineageOS or another custom ROM on your Pixel. That's a dwindling number, though, as custom ROMs are no longer as popular as they once were. Still, it's a major setback for leading custom ROM projects, like LineageOS and GrapheneOS.

See other related articles:

Privacy-Focused GrapheneOS Warns Google Is Locking Down Android

Comments from the above link:

Android’s open future questioned after Google withholds Pixel code

Android’s Impossible Deadline—3 Weeks To Update Or Stop Using Phones

A tricky dilemma for Android users this week, as both Google and Samsung release this month’s Pixel and Galaxy security updates with critical missing fixes. And with a June 24 deadline to secure phones or power them down, something needs to give. There are 30-plus important fixes that have been released, but not the ones that matter most.

The fixes are long-awaited patches from Qualcomm, which warns Android users that “there are indications from Google Threat Analysis Group that CVE-2025-21479, CVE-2025-21480, CVE-2025-27038 may be under limited, targeted exploitation.” The flaw affects Adreno Graphics Processing Unit (GPU) drivers.

It is assumed but not known that exploitation would have been used in commercial spyware software, similar to the well publicized attacks outed by Amnesty International. Qualcomm says patches “have been made available to OEMs in May together with a strong recommendation to deploy the update on affected devices as soon as possible.”

The deadline which comes courtesy of America’s cyber defense agency is mandatory for federal staff and recommended for everyone else. CISA warns “multiple Qualcomm chipsets contain” these vulnerabilities, which it describes as follows:

• CVE-2025-27038: “A use-after-free vulnerability. This vulnerability allows for memory corruption while rendering graphics using Adreno GPU drivers in Chrome.”
• CVE-2025-21480: “An incorrect authorization vulnerability. This vulnerability allows for memory corruption due to unauthorized command execution in GPU micronode while executing specific sequence of commands.”
• CVE-2025-21479: “An incorrect authorization vulnerability. This vulnerability allows for memory corruption due to unauthorized command execution in GPU micronode while executing specific sequence of commands.”

CISA has slapped a 21-day mandatory deadline on federal agency employees to update phones by June 24 “or discontinue use of the product if mitigations are unavailable.” Right now, the window for June’s security updates has been missed, which means absent an out-of-band update that deadline will also be missed.

In the past, we have seen such updates make their way to Pixel faster than Galaxy, with Samsung phones lagging. The company warns patches from chipset vendors “may not be included in the security update package of the month. They will be included in upcoming security update packages as soon as the patches are ready to deliver.”

This plays into the challenge for Samsung in working around an OS and ecosystem it dominates but doesn’t control. In that regard, the more pressing issue for its users will be the speed with which Android 16 via One UI 8 reaches their phones. With a Pixel timeline expected any day now, the gap between the two phones will be critical.

While CISA’s deadline is only mandatory for federal staff, its remit is to operate “for the benefit of the cybersecurity community and network defenders — and to help every organization better manage vulnerabilities and keep pace with threat activity.” As such all users are urged to install these Qualcomm updates as soon as they’re available.

Source:Forbes