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

    Without IBM, Microsoft Would Not Have Taken Off. Both Companies Need to be 'Taken Down'.
    Maybe it's time to boycott IBM as well
    'Former' Red Hat Staff Upset That Techrights Covers IBM Accounting Problems
    Are we touching a sensitive subject at IBM?
    Ubuntu is Controlled by a Youngster From the British Army (Background in Mass Surveillance), So One Can Expect Ubuntu to Not Respect Privacy
    "Canonical is aware of the legislation and is reviewing it internally with legal counsel"
    IBM Hates Computer Freedom. This Means Red Hat Too is an Enemy of Software Freedom.
    A summary of Fedora's position when it comes to "attestation"
    IBM Union Says Many IBM Layoffs in Europe, With Netherlands and Belgium Confirmed, Allegedly Italy Soon (200 Layoffs)
    IBM's demise will harm Red Hat and already harms Red Hat, according to whistleblowers
    Microsoft and Microsoft's 'Open' 'AI' Seeking Bailout From the Pentagon Means Brand Erosion
    Microsoft and its offshoots growing more and more dependent on military ("defence"; "Department of War") budget
    Another EPO Strike a Fortnight From Now, Local Staff Committee Munich (LSCMN) Shares 127-Page Document Explaining How Policies Impact EPO Staff
    The Office is circling down the drain
    Microsofters' SLAPP Censorship - Part 3 Out of 200: A More In-Depth Breakdown
    presents the narrative in a less chronological and more logically coherent fashion
    2026 Seems Like (Potentially) the Last Year of Slop Drowning News Sites
    Sites that do so perish [...] It's getting hard to find slop in news sites which cover "Linux" because many gave up
    Links 05/03/2026: New LexisNexis Data Breach Confirmed, "Goldman Sachs Head During Financial Crisis Says He “Smells” a Similar Crash Coming"
    Links for the day
    "Silent Layoffs" or "Forever Layoffs" at IBM and Red Hat (After Bluewashing)
    Like every day (all day long) we can see people who leave IBM and say something that's based on a 'script'
    Free Software Foundation (FSF) and Others Promoting String of RMS Talks, Starting Tomorrow in Lucerne School of Computer Science and Information Technology
    Well done, FSF!
    Links 05/03/2026: A Bet Against Substack, American Government Openly Hostile Towards Environment
    Links for the day
    Gemini Links 05/03/2026: Greed and Sentiments Shifting Against Slop
    Links for the day
    Over at Tux Machines...
    GNU/Linux news for the past day
    IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, March 04, 2026
    IRC logs for Wednesday, March 04, 2026
    FSF Promoting Richard M. Stallman (RMS) Talk in Switzerland in Just Over a Day From Now
    RMS may have more talks on the way
    Why Slop Will Flop - Part IV - We've Seen the End of It
    Some years ago they insisted blockchains would revolutionise everything
    Android is Proprietary 'Linux' and It Becomes More Malicious Over Time, Google Only Delayed What It Planned All Along
    Google is a proprietary software giant, GSoC is only a distraction and confusion
    Links 04/03/2026: Scam Altman Causes Chatbot Sub Numbers to Plunge, "Stocks Drop as Inflation Risk Emerges"
    Links for the day
    Why Slop Will Flop - Part III - Our Relationship With Slop (and Yours)
    I never - except inadvertently - "used" an LLM-based chatbot
    Why Slop Will Flop - Part II - Devil in the Details
    News sites or social control media sites which tolerate slop are digging their own grave
    Simpler Means Faster
    Do you know your bottlenecks?
    Gemini Links 04/03/2026: About a Missing Symbol and "Good Manners"
    Links for the day
    The Register MS Takes Money From Chinese Surveillance Threat to Promote a Ponzi Scheme
    "Sponsored by Huawei."
    Nicaragua's GNU/Linux Usage Measured at Over 8% by statCounter
    Nicaragua is a poor country, but it also has rich culture
    Why Slop Will Flop - Part I - Slop Fatigue Prevalent
    See, sooner or later people (audiences of colleagues) find out and as soon as they find out you are slopping, they will lose interest
    Microsofters' SLAPP Censorship - Part 2 Out of 200: Detailed Timeline From 2012 (Attack on Reporters That Question Restricted Boot) to 2024 (Lawsuit Against Reporter and His Wife in Another Continent)
    we reproduce a document produced 2 years ago to give people more context and more facts
    Links 04/03/2026: "The EU moves to kill infinite scrolling" and a call to "Nationalize Amazon"
    Links for the day
    Coming Soon: Evidence of Abuse in Our IRC Network
    IRC's freedom can sometimes be its 'weakness' if not properly guarded
    High GNU/Linux Adoption in Brunei Darussalam
    It's worth noting (or at least noticing) that Microsoft loses ground in some of the countries where the government contracts paid the most
    Media Blackout Reducing or Preventing Press Coverage of Microsoft Layoffs in 2026
    Worse yet, there will be gaslighting and deceit
    GNU/Linux in Laptops/Desktops Still Matters, It's Likely the Only Way to Achieve Software Freedom
    Software Freedom requires all sorts of things at the "OS level"
    Gemini Links 04/03/2026: The Garnet Star, The Hunt, The SYN Attacks
    Links for the day
    The EPO's General Consultative Committee (GCC) Discussion Illuminates How Much Worse Things Have Gotten ("on Strike and Participated in the 'Meeting'")
    a videoconference - not a physical meeting - discussed EPO policies
    Free Software Foundation Supports Its Founder, Advertises His Talks in Switzerland
    When you suppress voices, assuming the reasons for suppression are bunk, it is always bound to backfire very badly
    Over at Tux Machines...
    GNU/Linux news for the past day
    IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, March 03, 2026
    IRC logs for Tuesday, March 03, 2026
    Over 1,500 EPO Workers Went on Strike Last Week
    a new publication which celebrates some accomplishments of industrial actions and calls for further actions
    Madame Streisand Wanted to Censor The Web, Instead She 'Created' a New Term, "Streisand Effect"
    It is basically an own goal
    Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) Failed to Detect Fraud in Law Firms... Until It Was Too Late
    Earlier today we contacted some more politicians about this and received mail from them as well
    Our EPO and IBM Coverage Bears Fruit
    In case insiders want to get in touch with us, please ensure or at least try doing so securely
    Defending Women Isn't a Crime, Everybody Can Agree on That
    Their culture is unlike ours
    EPO "Cocaine Communication Manager" - Part VI - Influx of Spaniards and Portuguese Workers (+77%) at Europe's Second-Largest Institution, Led by the 'Alicante Mafia'
    There is now data supporting this assertion, new and complete data in fact
    Links 03/03/2026: "Scam Altman in Damage Control" and Oil Traffic Disrupted
    Links for the day
    Gemini Links 03/03/2026: Phones, LLMs, and Changes on the Web
    Links for the day
    Richard Stallman Confirms Talk in Bern Next Week
    Dr. Stallman has just formally confirmed his third talk this month in Switzerland
    Nobody is Safe at IBM (or Red Hat)
    There is no job security at IBM
    GNU/Linux at All-Time High in Guam
    there are many computers in that island
    Bad faith: Hugo Roy knew FSFE impersonating FSF before French tribunal, colleagues deceived
    Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
    Microsofters' SLAPP Censorship - Part 1 Out of 200: Claim No. KB-2024-001270 in a Nutshell
    abuse of process by a law firm working for an American who was arrested for strangling women and another American whose own spouse calls a "rapist"
    When EPO Team Managers (TMs) Are Harassing People Who Strictly Apply the European Patent Convention (EPC) in Patent Examination
    There are two strikes planned for this month
    Confirmed: Using Slop Gets You Fired
    Let the story of Benj Edwards be a cautionary tale
    Links 03/03/2026: "No one wants to read your AI slop" and "chatbots in the kill chain"
    Links for the day
    EPO and "Equivalent to More Than 100 Days of Strike"
    The industrial actions continue and already have a positive effect
    Streisand Effect, the Microsoft Way
    Microsoft has once again proven the Streisand Effect
    Keeping Track of IBM Layoffs in March 2026
    IBM depends on bribery
    GNU/Linux Measured at 7% in Yemen
    Windows is too hostile and dangerous
    Links 03/03/2026: Security Breaches, Iceland Wants EU Membership, and "Wall Street–Backed Lawmakers Want to Help Banks Gouge You"
    Links for the day
    Queensland Health Payroll System: IBM billion-dollar-blowout inquiry
    Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
    Over at Tux Machines...
    GNU/Linux news for the past day
    IRC Proceedings: Monday, March 02, 2026
    IRC logs for Monday, March 02, 2026
    Gemini Links 03/03/2026: GrapheneOS and Keyboard Shortcuts
    Links for the day