Bonum Certa Men Certa

Links - New and Old Censorship, Anti-trust, Privacy Violations and Pollution.

Reader's Picks



  • Hardware



  • Health/Nutrition



  • Security



  • Defence/Police/Aggression



  • Environment/Energy/Wildlife





  • Finance





  • Anti-Trust

    • Pay TV piracy hits News
      The actions are documented in an archive of 14,400 emails held by former Metropolitan Police commander Ray Adams who was European chief for Operational Security between 1996 and 2002. The Financial Review is publishing thousands of the emails on its website at URL afr.com.

      The emails show that Murdoch used "piracy" as a competitive weapon, helping people to break the digital handcuffs of rival's pay TV boxes. The loss of face and revenue helped Murdoch to consolidate his media empire.



    • Microsoft all but buys Netscape with AOL patent acqusition

      This Microsoft friendly news source uses gloats over this superposed "end of the browser wars" and uses the term "intellectual property" while glorifying and validating software patents.



  • Censorship

    • The reason I'm helping Chris Hedges' lawsuit against the NDAA
      the Homeland Battlefield Bill has already a chilling effect upon my ability to investigate and document matters of national controversy that would ordinarily be subject to my professional inquiry. It has therefore prevented my readers from receiving the full spectrum of truthful reporting which, in a functioning democracy, they have a right to expect.


    • Iraq’s internet on the brink
      A year since the Arab Spring, the internet in the region is facing significant threats from governments trying to gain more control over it.


    • Media companies & ISPs outline plan to stop piracy

      Not so voluntary censorship is set to roll out on people in the US. Appealing accusations of sharing will cost people $35.



    • World Without Web
      ... we underestimate the alarming degree of contingency lurking behind ‘inevitable’ developments. ... The divergence point for this history is in 1983-1984, when the leadership of DARPA lied through its teeth to Congress about who was being allowed access to the Internet. ... what if DARPA had been caught in that lie, funding for its network research scaled back, and a serious effort made to kick randoms off the early net?


    • CISPA – The Sneaky Son Of SOPA

      A good collection of links about a nasty law against sharing.





  • Civil Rights



  • Privacy



  • Education Watch



  • DRM

    • How Adobe DRM Requires People to Pirate Library Books
      Open standards make sense. What makes no sense is that large companies in the field still do not understand this. ... It turns out that a majority of the 6,495 titles available at my local library were accessible only through a locked .acsm file format. ...you can think of a .acsm file as being very much like a .torrent file. If you use Windows or Mac, you can (theoretically) download and install Adobe Digital Editions (ADE). This software reads the .acsm file and then it will download the actual .epub book, complete with DRM. ... there is no legal way to access the content without breaking the law if you are using free (libre) software.

      Tell your local librarian to never use a system like this!





  • Intellectual Monopolies

    • Another Patent Attack on Google with More Wild $$ Predictions ~pj
      Nokia and Microsoft. Partners at law, so to speak. Is this another Microsoft/Nokia outsourced production? Remember when Barnes & Noble told us that it views Microsoft and Nokia's patent campaign as an antitrust violation, a deliberate campaign to destroy Android and maintain Microsoft's monopoly on the desktop and extend it to smartphones, with Nokia piggybacking with its patents for weapons and MOSAID being brought in to do some of the dirty work? So when you read the scare headlines, remember this: Google is awesome at patent litigation. It tends to prevail. I told you that when Oracle first sued Google


    • Oracle’s Position is Worse Than I Thought


    • USPTO Issues Interim Mayo Guidance ~pj
      "...the claimed product or process amounts to significantly more than a law of nature, a natural phenomenon, or an abstract idea with conventional steps specified at a high level of generality appended thereto." Why *wouldn't* that apply to software?


    • Mayo Decision Impacts Myriad Genetics - Judgment Vacated, Remanded ~pj
      Things are looking up in PatentLand


    • Prometheus bound: An important precedent for the next software patent case
      Plainly, this was not a dispute about software patents, but the Court’s unanimous opinion will guide it and lower courts as they analyze future software patent cases.


    • Copyrights

      • Judge rules file sharing is not a "conspiracy"
        The litigators are trying to get around the fact that judges aren't happy with allowing mass lawsuits, so what they are doing is taking one internet user to court but using that lawsuit as a pretext to subpoena other defendants who had participated in the same BitTorrent swarm. ... James Holderman of the Northern District of Illinois raised his eyebrow in disgust at this trick, saying that it was trying to get around the "stiffening judicial headwind."


      • 5000+ Artists Line Up For a Pirate Bay Promotion
        “We’re one of the worlds top 60 sites in the Internet. This brings us a responsibility to use the site to do something good. When I think about it, it’s insane that all the other top 100 sites only blast ads and self-centered stuff on their front pages. We do this for fun and for the love of culture, so we’re everything the major labels are not.”


      • 3 Major Publishers Sue Open-Education Textbook Start-Up

        See also this excllent summary

        To gain access to the digital alternatives, students select the traditional books assigned in their classes, and Boundless pulls content from an array of open-education sources to knit together a text that the company claims is as good as the designated book. The company calls this mapping of printed book to open material “alignment”—a tactic the complaint said creates a finished product that violates the publishers’ copyrights.


      • DRM is crushing indie booksellers online


      • MPAA Lines Up With Porn Studio in Steamy Copyright Dispute

        A video site that published movies as urls is surprised that people would download those movies. They also found a judge that agrees enough to shut down a website where users share the urls, sometimes as embedded movies.







  • Recent Techrights' Posts

    Teaser: The Next Series About the SRA, Which Would be Just as Effective as It Is Right Now If It Had Zero Employees
    the lapdog (of the "litigation industry") that is meant to be perceived as a watchdog
    Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) Inaction and Incompetence - Part I - Introduction
    The SRA is a sham. Many people know this already, but we want to document our own experiences with it.
    Live Simply, Live Better
    Life isn't about "collecting" possessions; it's about doing things that matter and accumulating knowledge so as to make better choices
    Now That XBox is Pretty Much Dead and There Are Mass Layoffs at Microsoft
    This means our predictions about Microsoft (and XBox) are "falling into place"
    The term FUD (fear, uncertainty, doubt) was created to describe IBM's tactics and IBM is doing it again
    Rob Thomas or "RT"
    Slop is Distraction
    LibreWolf will never include any of this slop nonsense, no matter if toggled on or off
    Cult inquiry: Parliament of Victoria, last chance to have your say
    Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
    Still Lots of IBM Departures
    It's not that we lack evidence of IBM layoffs. It's just that we have ample evidence of the press not doing its job (or barely existing anymore).
    The Register MS Standards: Promote a Ponzi Scheme in Exchange of Money
    Once upon a time it was a serious publisher. Months ago it was taken over by a Microsoft person.
     
    Gemini Links 01/03/2026: Simpler Software and Announcing OFFLFIRSOCH (OFFLine-FIRst SOftware CHallenge) 2026
    Links for the day
    EPO "Cocaine Communication Manager" - Part V - Jobs at the EPO for Those Connected to Cocaine Addicts (Skills Not Required)
    EPO management is trying to shoot the messenger
    Booz Allen Hamilton, the Former Employer of Edward Snowden (NSA Contractor), is Drowning in Debt
    Can Supreme Leader Cheeto bail it out like he does slop companies?
    On the Concept of "Protected Class" (or Race) at IBM
    It's self-harming as in practice it imperils the company and harms the reputation/brand
    The Mass Layoffs at Microsoft That Nobody in the "News Industry" Wants to Talk About (and TheLayoff.com Censored, Then It Censored the Evidence of the Censorship)
    They basically cover up how they censored the news about Microsoft layoffs
    Richard Stallman to Give at Least Three Talks in Switzerland, Starting This Week
    No mention (yet) of the Bern talk
    On Who 'Speaks for' Techrights
    typically a case of misrepresenting the site
    'FSFE' an Imposter in Europe, Paid by GAFAM to Represent GAFAM Interests
    The Microsoft-sponsored 'FSFE', which violates the terms of use of its name, is causing confusion [...] formally-recognised institutions got tricked into thinking that the Microsoft-sponsored 'FSFE' is the FSF
    Lots of Lies From the Slop Industry
    The slop industry relies on fake news to give a notion or fake demand
    Links 01/03/2026: American Plutocrats Buy American Media While American Constitution Shredded
    Links for the day
    Gemini Links 01/03/2026: "In the Spirit of OFFLFIRSOCH" and "Delete Patreon"
    Links for the day
    ACM Lowers Its Standards for Age of Autocracy
    IBM is more than happy to work with autocracies
    Over at Tux Machines...
    GNU/Linux news for the past day
    IRC Proceedings: Saturday, February 28, 2026
    IRC logs for Saturday, February 28, 2026
    Internet Relay Chat (IRC) Turns 37.5
    Can IRC reach age 75?
    Gemini Links 28/02/2026: Loadbars 0.13.0, IME (Input Method Editor), and ColorColumn in Vim
    Links for the day
    Two EPO Strikes in March (Maybe More)
    As per the SUEPO diary [...] We still have an ongoing series about the EPO, with several more series to start later
    Why We Are Concerned About the SRA's Failure and What That Means to the Profession of Lawyers in the UK
    Unregulated industries will lose their credibility as there is a threat of growing perception that they operate outside the law rather than practice law
    Over 10,000 Pages/Articles Per Year?
    Probably my most productive month, ever
    Keeping Techrights Online 99.99% of the Time
    Some time later this year we'll tell a very long story about how extremists attacked our webhosts
    Richard Stallman, Founder of the Free Software Movement, Will be Giving Public Talk in Bern (Switzerland) in Less Than 12 Days
    We are still doing a series about him and his talks
    Slopfarms' Demise Looks Like the Beginning of the End (Lowered Demand for Slop)
    Slop about "Linux" has gotten hard to find this past week
    Dr. Andy Farnell: Time to Pull the Plug?
    insightful, as usual
    Links 28/02/2026: "Tehran’s Two-Tiered Internet", "Internet Under Fire"
    Links for the day
    When an Entire News Site is About One Topic (and One Topic Only)
    Tomorrow we start a new series for the new month
    Links 28/02/2026: Bill Epsteingate Admits Sex With Young Girls, "Epstein Files Are the Horror That Keeps on Giving"
    Links for the day
    IBM: Where Companies Come to Perish
    thelayoff.com is censoring stories
    Tech Layoffs Are Not Because of Slop, They're an Effect of a Rotting Economy and Tech Giants Being Too Deep in Debt
    Block is rapidly sinking in debt
    The Slopfarms' Business Case (or Business Model) Never Existed and Nowadays, in 2026, They've Mostly Collapsed
    Hopefully by year's end many slop suppliers will be offline and slopfarms that rely on them throw in the towel
    March in London Today Against Slop's Harms to Society (and the Environment), Starting at 12:00 GMT at the Microsoft OpenAI Office
    Today there is a protest in London (UK)
    Microsoft Mass Layoffs Have Officially Resumed, Microsoft's Waggener Edstrom/Frank Shaw Lied
    "The former employees say this was a mass layoff"
    Over at Tux Machines...
    GNU/Linux news for the past day
    IRC Proceedings: Friday, February 27, 2026
    IRC logs for Friday, February 27, 2026
    Links 27/02/2026: Block Cuts 40% of Its Workforce While Blaming Ponzi Scheme, Netflix Backs Out of Bid for Warner Bros.
    Links for the day
    IBM CEO and CFO Make It Hotter in the Kitchen
    Who's gonna leave the kitchen while they cook the books?
    Gemini Links 27/02/2026: Unlearning Literacy (Slop) and Firefox as Slop-ware
    Links for the day
    It Looks Like Linux Chief Linus Torvalds Made a Good Call Regarding Kent 'Slop' Overstreet
    Having never met or even chatted to Overstreet, I'm not in a position to judge him
    Links 27/02/2026: Slop Incompatible With Nuclear Codes, Chinese Slop "Chatbots Censor Themselves"
    Links for the day
    Please Report the European Patent Office (EPO) to Europol for Cocaine Abuse and Tampering With Witnesses and Media to Hide This Cocaine Abuse
    there are already police reports connected to the matter
    Like a Mafia: Kris De Neef and Nellie Simon, Who Help Campinos Cover Up Cocainegate at the EPO (Substance Abuse at the Highest Office), Are Bullying EPO Whistleblowers
    They're all in this together [...] At this point, undoubtedly, the EPO is run like an organised crime operation. Nothing more, nothing less.
    pulltheplug.uk Says the Internet Harms Us, Will March in London Tomorrow
    Maybe the site is down due to high access demand
    EPO Management Trying to Hide Cocainegate, Silence/Discredit Whistleblowers, and Probably in a Panic Due to the Strikes
    At the moment, Johannes' mates are receiving over 100,000 euros as a reward for doing illegal drugs
    Jim Zemlin's 'Linux' Foundation is the Real Link Between Linux and Pedophilia
    It's about the deeds, not the words
    The GNU Manifesto Turns 41 in March (Next Week)
    And RMS turns 73 next month
    The Sister Site is Still Improving the Static Site Generator (SSG) We Use in Techrights
    We have a common mission and every week we make measurable advancements
    Techrights is 100% Disconnected From Cheeto's America, the Problem is Hired Guns in London Helping Violent Americans Attack Us Domestically
    Not a new problem, not limited to us
    Greenland Needs to Disconnect From United States Tech to Protect Its Independence
    The more Greenland protects itself from Social Control Media, the more robust or resilient it'll be to regime change
    Open Source Endowment (OSE) Looking to Raise Money for Free Software, But It's Hard to Know who Runs the Open Source Endowment Foundation
    Their Web site does not (easily) show who the Board of Directors includes
    Apple Doesn't Want Anybody to Ask What Happened to Vision Pro
    They lost a lot of money
    Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) on Slop and Breach of Confidentiality
    They should absolutely not ignore this
    If You Want More Verifiable (Auditable) Security, Use GNU Linux-Libre
    GNU/Linux will never be 100% secure
    Microsoft XBox Can't Stop Talking About Slop
    Will we see more "prepared" (under embargo) Microsoft propaganda released simultaneously at 9PM tonight?
    Rust Will Not Inherit the Earth, It Barely Deserves a Place on the Planet
    Rust - like Haskell and many other short-lived fetishes - will come and go
    Truth Versus Fiction: IBM's Collapse Due to Money Crunch, Not Slop Disguised as Code
    core issue is financial
    Almost 5,000 Known Gemini Capsules
    It is now just 98 short of 5k
    Priceless leaks found in crowdfunding campaign
    Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
    Over at Tux Machines...
    GNU/Linux news for the past day
    IRC Proceedings: Thursday, February 26, 2026
    IRC logs for Thursday, February 26, 2026