Bonum Certa Men Certa

Links - Copyright Maximalists turn on Libraries, Other Horrors. Will Yang Return to Yahoo?

Reader's Picks



  • Security



    • Another Nugget from M$
      Days ahead of the patch folks all around the world have been able to take over almost any PC on a LAN running that other OS just by placing a malicious .dll on some networked storage device. The mind boggles. I can see SANs intended to share files among the group to be used to own the whole LAN.


    • Google sheds some light on Iran's involvement with the Diginotar cert incident.
      It means that somebody in Iran had gone to great lengths to intercept supposedly secure Internet traffic, including Gmail messages. ... [Iran] remains one of the few nations that would have a need to defraud Western companies in order to conduct such surveillance. Many governments, including countries with a poor reputation for defending freedom of expression or privacy, are able to generate any number of fake digital certificates on their own authority. The current dependence of secure Internet traffic on a few, potentially insecure commercial companies is a profound flaw.

      Richard Stallman notes, "I am sad to report that the Chrome browser that this was done with is nonfree software."



  • Defence/Police/Aggression





  • Finance



  • Anti-Trust



    • Yahoo co-founder urged to help oust chairman
      A major Yahoo Inc. shareholder is recruiting company co-founder Jerry Yang to join a crusade to oust Chairman Roy Bostock amid the upheaval triggered by the recent firing of CEO Carol Bartz. The shareholder, hedge fund manager Daniel Loeb, sought Yang's help in a letter sent Wednesday.


    • MICROSOFT DONATES $8 MILLION GRANT TO THURGOOD MARSHALL COLLEGE FUND[sic]
      Microsoft Corporation has recently announced that it will be renewing its partnership with the Thurgood Marshall College Fund through an additional $8 million software grant. This recent grant brings the total donation amount given by the Microsoft Corporation to $29 million, and will provide software for TMCF’s 47-member network of Historically Black Colleges and Universities. ...

      There may be a hardware component to this dumping/indoctrination, but the value is a tax avoidance fiction and the hardware will be a liability using the software that comes with it.





  • Censorship



    • Child Pornography Bill Makes Privacy Experts Skittish
      The bill requires all Internet service providers to save their customers' IP addresses — or online identity numbers — for a year. The bill's stated purpose is to help police find child pornographers, but critics say that's just an excuse for another step toward Big Brother.




  • Privacy

    • Massachusetts track car location by automatically scanning license plates from police cars.
      Civil libertarians are raising the alarm over the state’s plans to create a Big Brother database that could map drivers’ whereabouts with police cruiser-mounted scanners that capture thousands of license plates per hour.

      I'm not sure why the system would have to be in police cars and could not be operated from other cameras like the red light cameras at every major intersection. People should be concerned about those too.





  • Civil Rights



  • Intellectual Monopolies

    • WIPO Broadcasting Treaty Returns From The Grave
      The current draft Treaty would grant exclusive, 50-year intellectual property rights to distributors of information that apply in parallel with copyright protections, even when transmitters have had no role in creating the content being transmitted.

      The treaty and article use the propaganda term Intellectual Property, and the treaty is more than an extension of copyright.



    • Copyrights



      • PJ Notes a lawsuit to prevent universities from making digital libraries, which objects even to digitization of orphaned works.
        Well, the more they try to assert their Most Holy rights, and the rights of people no one can find, the more certain I am that copyright law will end up reformed. It's like Righthaven. Or patent trolls. When people get disgusted by excessive use of the law, they decide to do something about it. Maybe it's time to go back to the prior copyright system, where you had to register your copyright to have one?

        Guardian source article intentionally not linked.







  • Comments

    Recent Techrights' Posts

    The "Alicante Mafia" - Part XIII - Is EPO Vice-President Steve Rowan in Cahoots With the "Alicante Mafia"?
    that deserves much media attention, political intervention, and condemnation
    “Wikilaundering” Explained
    "London PR firm rewrites Wikipedia for governments and billionaires"
    Some Slopfarms and Some Real News Sites Cover Richard Stallman’s (RMS) Talk
    If his message about Software Freedom spreads, then we're all better off
     
    It's Not About What You Know, It's About Who You Know (and Stay Quiet About the Cocaine)
    This is not an organisation that exists to ensure laws are followed
    FOSDEM 2026: democracy panel: FSFE uses women as stooges, gerrymander
    Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
    Must Use Proprietary JavaScript to Submit Feedback to the European Commission About Moving From GAFAM to Free Software
    Nevertheless, go tell them why Software Freedom would benefit Europe's defence and economy
    Distortion of the Facts About Mass Layoffs at IBM
    more layoffs are ahead
    Gemini Links 27/01/2026: "Waiting Isn't a Waste", Posting from Lynx, and Bookmarks
    Links for the day
    Links 27/01/2026: "Oracle Debt and TikTok Transition Troubles Vex the Ellison Media Empire", Richard Stallman Quoted on Copyrights
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    Steven Field (Red Hat) Speaks of "Recent Layoff" (RA/Wave) in Red Hat
    IBM really doesn't like it when people talk about "RAs"
    A Week Ago We Contacted the EPO's Stephen (Steve) Rowan About Cocainegate
    Tomorrow we'll write some more about Rowan
    IBM Reports 'Results' Tomorrow, Expect More "RAs" (Mass Layoffs)
    they use words like "efficiency", "optimisation", "AI", "pivot", "modernisation" and so on
    Earlier This Month Microsoft Lunduke Said in Public It Was Good That Renee Good Was Murdered, Now He Mocks or Demonises People for Saying the US is Unsafe
    Don't be easily conned by demagogues
    Google News and "Linux" Slop
    Why won't Google be interested in tackling this issue? Instead Google has been trying to participate in this issue.
    IBM Kills Red Hat in the Darkness
    What IBM does to Red Hat is malicious
    IBM Red Hat's Goal Is Not Real Security (It Probably Never Was)
    Spies and trolls are very malicious people and sometimes they're the same thing
    With Absurd Lies About Slop, Which Lacks Intelligence or Financial Potential, GAFAM and IBM Will Twist Mass Layoffs as 'Efficiency Drive' or 'AI Pivot'
    More layoffs are on the way
    Animal Advocacy Works
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    EPO Strike This Week
    What has happened to Europe?
    Over at Tux Machines...
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    IRC Proceedings: Monday, January 26, 2026
    IRC logs for Monday, January 26, 2026
    For the EPO to Survive, António Campinos and the "Alicante Mafia" Must Fall on Their Sword
    There are EPO insiders who are convinced Campinos too is (or was) a cocaine addict
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    4 Hours Ago The Register MS Published Paid-for Spam About "AI" (Slop, Buzzwords)
    "AI" mentioned 13 times in the page
    IBM 'Results' Due Wednesday Evening, Expect Clues About Mass Layoffs
    Don't expect IBM to say anything about "layoffs" or "RAs"
    The Fall of the EPO (or the "Alicante Mafia" at EPO) Will be Due to This Reckless Lawyer Who Does Cocaine in Public While Speaking for the EPO
    The longer European politicians (and media) turn a blind eye to this corruption, the worse it'll get
    Why RMS is Scary to GAFAM 'Engineers' and the GAFAM Apologists (or Addicts)
    especially because of his ideas and his way of life
    Firefox 'Market Share' Down to All-Time Low in 2026, Adding to It User-Hostile 'Features' Only Worsens Things
    What is the goal of Mozilla at this point?
    Links 26/01/2026: Windows Back Doors, American Winter Storm, and Report Says Iran's "Protest Death Toll May Exceed 30,000"
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    Life Got Simpler and Therefore Also Healthier and Happier
    Some people envy not wealth but happiness (which they're unable to attain, even with hoarding and accumulation)
    Richard Stallman's Experiences With 'Cancel Brigades' Ought to Educate Linus Torvalds
    Now they talk about "if Linus dies" scenarios
    Links 26/01/2026: Financial Stress in German Farms and Germany Wants to Take Its Gold Reserves Out of the US
    Links for the day
    Gemini Links 26/01/2026: "Lack of Meaningful Things" and Getting Back to Programming
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    Strong Correlation Between the Slop Ponzi Scheme (or Bubble) and Major Disasters
    BitCoin ruins the planet; so does slop
    We Will Never Allow the "Alicante Mafia" to Hide "Cocainegate"
    transparency typically scares malicious actors
    Fewer Involuntary Interruptions This Year
    This year we're doing much better
    Prisons Are for Dangerous People Who Pose a Threat to the Public, Not People Who Inform the Public
    At the end of the week EPO workers go on strike
    Microsoft Loses Grip on Indian Ocean
    Many countries, including in older allies of the US (such as Canada and the US), look for ways to get out of Microsoft dependence urgently
    XBox Consoles Nearly Dead by Now, the 'XBox' (ex-Box) Brand Now Stands for Something Full of Slop, Spam, Filler, and Chaff
    We're seeing the last day (maybe year) of "XBox"
    The Great "AI" CON Explained by Dr. Andy Farnell
    LLMs are basically advertisers of sorts
    Links 26/01/2026: "Journalists Detained", in Germany "Unjustly Jailed Man Gets €1.3 Million Compensation"
    Links for the day
    Red Hat Quietly Going Extinct After Bluewashing in 2026
    At this point it would be rather foolish to assume that IBM will let Red Hat just "do its own thing" or maintain its corporate culture, identity, projects etc.
    The "Alicante Mafia" - Part XII - Kris De Neef and Roberta Romano-Götsch, Who Stepped in for the Cokehead, Have No Comment on His Cocaine Usage (and the EPO's Cover-up)
    Sh-t floats to the top.
    Over at Tux Machines...
    GNU/Linux news for the past day
    IRC Proceedings: Sunday, January 25, 2026
    IRC logs for Sunday, January 25, 2026
    Gemini Links 26/01/2026: Cold Perception, Software Patches in NixOS, and Sunk Cost Fallacy
    Links for the day
    Fake IBM Retirements (IBM Gives Older Workers Ultimatums, Deadlines, and Carrots on Sticks)
    As they point out, IBM is desperate to lower costs
    Linuxiac is Basically a Fake News Site, But It's Being Fed by Google News
    Because Google News is run by Google, a slop pusher
    Links 25/01/2026: Slop "Tribalism", Nike Apparently Cracked
    Links for the day
    Claims That PIPs Are Abused for Silent Mass Layoffs at IBM (Without Severance) or Forced Retirements
    Performance Improvement Plans (PIPs) "clearly bogus as everyone on my team who has been on one has been fired"
    WebM Version of Richard Stallman's Latest Talk (Georgia Tech Talk)
    The file size is smaller
    After Half a Decade Vista 11 is Still a Giant Failure
    Don't expect Microsoft to gain a foothold
    Details on IBM Layoffs in the EU Last Week, Same Allegedly Coming to the US Shortly
    "Around 50 people affected in Belgium."
    Technology Trends Driven by DRM Giants, Planned Obsolescence, Not the Needs of the Buyers
    The "pushers" think of customers as "users"; and they encourage passivity, Stockholm Syndrome
    Links 25/01/2026: Microsoft BitLocker Backdoored for Decades Already, Microsoft-Backed ICE Still Murders Civilians
    Links for the day
    Gemini Links 25/01/2026: "Expert in a Dying Field" and Global Commands
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    Over at Tux Machines...
    GNU/Linux news for the past day
    IRC Proceedings: Saturday, January 24, 2026
    IRC logs for Saturday, January 24, 2026
    After the Slop Bubble
    At the end, looking back, we'll all generally understand that the net effort of slop was environmental destruction
    IBM CEO Says IBM is Just Reliant on Buzzwords That Are Overhyped
    IBM has nothing to show anymore and telling fairytales to shareholders is a temporary 'fix'
    The "Alicante Mafia" - Part XI - No Comment From Steve Rowan, Niloofar Simon, and Christoph Ernst About Cocaine Inside EPO
    What kind of patent office is this?