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Links 19/8/2015: LinuxCon Everywhere



GNOME bluefish

Contents





GNU/Linux



Free Software/Open Source



Leftovers



  • News Corp.'s Amplify education experiment: What went wrong?
    That write-down comes nearly five years after it purchased Wireless Generation for $360 million in 2010 and renamed it Amplify. At the time, News Corp. was going to bet about $500 million on Amplify to dominate the market. Amplify was led by Joel Klein, the former head of the New York City Department of Education.


  • Avoiding Amazon? The 5 best alternatives to the online bookseller giants


  • You probably don't want to work for Amazon
    'Amazon is where overachievers go to feel bad about themselves.'


  • The Missing ‘Leadership Principle’ at Amazon


  • Amazon’s 24/7 Hell Is the Future of Work
    Working at Amazon may be hell, but so is working everywhere else. Or at least it will be soon. The blockbuster New York Times report documenting Amazon’s “bruising” white collar culture is a fine piece of labor reporting, yet its revelations shouldn’t be too surprising. Amazon is revealed to be a more efficient and more unpleasant formulation of the standard modern workplace; one shaped by globalization, digitalization, and increasingly limitless expectations placed on the plugged-in worker.


  • Health/Nutrition



  • Security



    • Security updates for Monday


    • Security advisories for Tuesday


    • DDoS attacks on the rise as Akamai warns that 'mega attacks' are coming
      THIS IS THE DAWN of the mega denial-of-service (DoS) attack, according to security firm Akamai and its second quarter threat report.

      We wait every three months for the Akamai State of the Internet report, and we are never disappointed. Its content is pretty good too, and allows for a summary of the past quarter and a reminder about things like Shellshock and web perennials like Flash, WordPress themes and application attacks.



    • Ransomware goes open source
      Turkish security bod Utku Sen has published what seems to be the first open source ransomware that anyone can download and spread. The 'Hidden Tear' ransomware, available at GitHub, is a working version of the malware the world has come to hate. It uses AES encryption to lock down files and could display a scare warning or ransom message to get users to pay.




  • Transparency Reporting



    • Julian Assange and the Value of WikiLeaks: Subverting Illusions
      Above and beyond Assange’s personal freedom, what’s at stake includes the impunity of the United States and its allies to relegate transparency to a mythical concept, with democracy more rhetoric than reality. From the Vietnam War era to today — from aerial bombing and torture to ecological disasters and financial scams moving billions of dollars into private pockets — the high-up secrecy hiding key realities from the public has done vast damage. No wonder economic and political elites despise WikiLeaks for its disclosures.






  • Finance



    • Richard D. Wolff | Déjà Vu: Germany Tightens Its Economic Power Over Europe
      Germany's leaders herded their European counterparts into imposing harsh austerity on Greece. It was the price, they insisted, that Greece had to pay to receive bailout credits from the European Union, European Central Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF). The Europeans required those bailout credits to be used mostly to pay back loans the Greek government had gotten earlier from private banks (chiefly German, French and Greek). Those credits could not be used to get Greece out of the 2008 crash that afflicted all of Europe.




  • PR/AstroTurf/Lobbying



    • Scott Walker's False Promise of Racial Unity
      When asked about race relations on the first anniversary of Michael Brown's killing at the hands of a white police officer in Ferguson, Missouri, Walker replied:

      “I think in general if anyone focuses on racial discord we’re going to get more," he said. "If we focus on unity we’re going to get more of that."

      In other words, acknowledging systemic problems like the documented wave of police killings of unarmed black men, or the racial wealth gap, or disparities in sentencing and incarceration, creates "discord." During the GOP debate, he similarly dodged a question about the Black Lives Matter movement, which even Fox News anchor Megyn Kelly called "the biggest civil rights issue of our time."


    • 70 Awful Displays Of Sexism On Fox News
      On the 95th anniversary of the ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment, which gave women the right to vote, Media Matters looks back at Fox News' many displays of sexism, ranging from hosts suggesting young women should not exercise civic duties like participating in jury duty because they "don't get it," to Erick Erickson's claim that "the male typically is the dominant role."


    • Who Is Intimidating Who?
      The cheerful cheddarheads who showed up at the Iowa State Fair "Soapbox" to razz Scott Walker got a rude reception. The Soapbox is a Des Moines Register tradition and peaceful protesters have long been a part of this exercise in free speech. But after Walker was punked by two young people with a fake $900 million Koch check weeks ago, Team Walker seems a bit tense. At the Soapbox, Walker supporters ripped a sign out of one protester’s hand which read “WARNING Don’t let him do to America what he did to Wisconsin.” Another protester told CNN ”I got pushed into a disabled woman. I fell on her wheelchair. She started screaming at me."


    • Donald Trump Praises Bill O'Reilly For His Focus On Immigrant "Crime Wave"




  • Censorship



    • MPAA Ducks Censorship Battle With Google, Twitter and Facebook


      The MPAA has dropped its request for a preliminary injunction that would require search engines, ISPs and hosting companies to stop linking or offering services to MovieTube. The decision comes a few days after prominent tech firms including Google, Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr and Yahoo branded the request as a broad censorship attempt.


    • U.S. Government Grabbed Dotcom’s Millions “As a Last Resort”


      The U.S. Government has informed the Court of Appeals that the civil forfeiture case against Megaupload and Kim Dotcom was launched as a last resort. The authorities feared that Dotcom and his colleagues would regain possession of the millions in seized assets and argue that they are properly labeled as "fugitives."




  • Privacy



    • Warrantless airport laptop search dooms Iran arms sales prosecution
      Federal prosecutors asked a federal judge in Washington on Tuesday to dismiss the government's prosecution of a South Korean businessman accused of illegally selling technology used in aircraft and missiles to Iran.

      The move comes three months after a judge ruled that the government unlawfully seized and searched the suspect's computer at Los Angeles International Airport as Jae Shik Kim was to catch a flight home in 2012. The government decided not to appeal and said it was "unable to continue prosecuting this matter."




  • Intellectual Monopolies



    • Copyrights



      • Desperate Rightscorp Burns Through More Piracy Millions


        Piracy monetization company Rightscorp has published its results for Q2 2015 and it's yet another three months of misery for the company. At the same time as paying out just $117K to its copyright holder clients, Rightscorp managed to run up $1.95m in expenses, leaving the company with operating losses in excess of $1.72m.


      • Universal Music and Kim Dotcom Prepared a Deal to Tax Google


        A recording of Kim Dotcom and several Universal Music executives captured two days before the Megaupload raids has revealed the label planning to do a deal with the entrepreneur. Amid discussion of 'taxing' Google by diverting its ad revenue to the label, the execs offered to downgrade Dotcom from "evil" to "neutral" in return for dropping legal action over the "Mega Song".


      • Hollywood Keeps Breaking Box Office Records... While Still Insisting That The Internet Is Killing Movies
        Hollywood is still 100% focused on trying to blame the internet for any of its woes, mostly with bogus attacks on internet companies it doesn't like. And yet... it seems to keep on setting box office records. The latest is that Universal Pictures has broken a new record in bringing in $2 billion in box office revenue faster than any other studio in history, pushed over the top by the successful opening weekend of "Straight Outta Compton" (a movie that seems to have some big fans in Silicon Valley).










Recent Techrights' Posts

Father of XBox Says What Microsoft Does Not Want to Hear About XBox (They All Know It's Dead)
Microsoft just worried shareholders will find out Sharma is "just a face" and an undertaker
 
A Lot of Slopfarms Died, Google News Feeds the Few Which Survived and Still Target "Linux"
Many just simply died
Links 25/02/2026: Fifth Year of War in Ukraine, Dihydroxyacetone Man Looking to Start More Wars
Links for the day
Gemini Links 25/02/2026: Retired a Year, Illness, Losing a Lung, and "Back to Gemini"
Links for the day
The Register MS Published a Ponzi Scheme-Boosting Fake Article This Morning. It Mentions "AI" 30 Times.
Will credibility be left after the bubble pops entirely?
They Try to Ruin Linux, Too ("Attestation" in GNU/Linux)
In the context of Web browsers, this isn't unprecedented and we wrote a lot about it
Mozzarella Company: All Our Cheese Comes With Mold Now, But You Can Ask the Seller to Remove the Mold
If you reject and oppose slop, do not download/use Firefox
Stallman Was Right About Back Doors
I had some conversations with Dr. Stallman about security and back doors
Australian Signals Directorate ex-employee sold back doors to Russia
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
IBM Debt-Loading and Liability (Toxic Asset) Offloading
One can hope that IBM will be subjected to the same attention Kyndryl received, but this boils down to politics
Links 25/02/2026: 'Hybrid Warfare' and "Boycott the State of the Union"
Links for the day
IBM (and Red Hat) Can Disappear in the Coming Years, Along With Kyndryl (Debt Twice as Big as Its 'Worth')
No wonder Red Hat workers tell us they hate IBM
Software Freedom is Science, But It Also Sustains Life
In some sense, Software Freedom can be explained in the context of nourishing people
“Xbox, like a lot of businesses that aren’t the core AI business, is being sunsetted."
There has been a lot of narrative control lately, including at 9PM on a Friday
3,300 Capsules Known to Lupa and Currently Accessible
Gemini Protocol turns 7 this summer
When it Comes to Firmware, the FSF and Its Founder RMS Won the Argument (But Not the Fight, Yet)
The "whataboutism" tactics are physiological manipulation means of discouraging those who move in the correct direction
Austria Tackles Digital Weapon Disguised as "Social" and/or "Media"
Are we seeing the end days of Social Control Media?
Nothing Over the Horizon for XBox
XBox is not even being sold in many places anymore
Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) Contradicting Itself: You Can Use Slop to Cheat Clients, But You Can Also Face Disciplinary Actions Over Slop
Where does the SRA stand on the matter?
In Praise of Eben Moglen
Hopefully Professor Moglen will be with us for many decades to come and become an active speaker on issues such as Software Freedom
Sunsetting IBM (for the Benefit of Few Corrupt Officials and Wall Street Speculators)
IBM will not (and cannot) survive for much longer [...] The issue is bad leadership, not any particular nationality/race
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, February 24, 2026
IRC logs for Tuesday, February 24, 2026
Gemini Links 25/02/2026: Rise of Solar in 2025 and Smallnet Protocols
Links for the day
HR Blunder at IBM or IBM Struggling With Money?
Weird for such an allegedly rich company to be so stingy
Gemini Links 24/02/2026: x86 Computer In-Browser and Administration
Links for the day
Envy is the #1 Enemy of Richard Stallman
Whenever you see someone mocking Richard Stallman, ask yourself: does this person have a reason to be jealous of Richard Stallman?
Life is Sweeter When Less Means More
People need to think "small", not "big" (as in capital)
Championing a Cause
Probably over 100 million GNU/Linux users on laptops/desktops
Balmoral rape cult & Debian suicide cluster indifference, community
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Can Much Longer Can the Financial 'Press' (Pump-n-Dump Megaphone) Cheer for IBM's Accounting Enigma?
IBM has fallen almost 25%
France Needs to Focus on Software Freedom, Not Flags
We need more SIP advocacy!
Combatting Censorship in the "Civilised World": The Media Blackout Surrounding EPO Strikes and Other Large-Scale Actions
We - collectively speaking - cannot afford to keep the Office in the hands of a "Mafia"
Religious or Not, Consider Quitting Social Control Networks (All of Them) This Season
Lent is a good time to quit addiction such as social control media
EPO Strike Actions and Other Industrial Actions Are Effective When Management Fears the Staff and Staff No Longer Fears Any Managers
'António the unready' should get ready to be ousted
Liberating the Self From the Invisible Prison of Plutocrats-Controlled Media and Social Control Media
Can you always see the full picture or does something (someone powerful) obstruct it?
Links 24/02/2026: Drug Cartel Decapitated, Jeffrey Epstein-Connected 'Linux' Foundation Promotes Slop and Buzzwords at MWC Barcelona 2026
Links for the day
2023: Layoffs Are Because of "AI". 2024: Shares Up Owing to "AI". 2025: Shares Recently Fell Due to "AI". 2026 Forbes (Paid by IBM): Shares Falling is Good!
"AI" is smoke and mirrors
Bitcoin: Code of Conduct stifled open source concerns
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Slop Boosters and 'Hype Agents' Render Themselves Irrelevant and the General Public Becomes Incredulous Due to "Bros Who Cry Wolf!"
It won't age well
"Half-baked Vibe Code Shipped Full of Errors"
Seems timely after our latest article
IBM Did Not Fall Because of COBOL Vapourware, IBM Still Collapses Because It's Worthless, Way Overvalued, and Very Likely Cooks the Books
language-to-language conversion (in the context of programming) is nothing new
Links 24/02/2026: Copyright Litigation Over Anne Frank’s Diary, "Arrogance of Developers"
Links for the day
Another New Low for Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA): Authorising Slop Disguised as "Legal Advice"
SRA is a lapdog - not a watchdog - of the "litigation industry"
EPO "Cocaine Communication Manager" - Part IV - "Many Jobs Were Given to Spanish Employees for No Related Skills At All"
The EPO's fate might be similar to that of the XBox
Gemini Links 24/02/2026: Hardware Tinkering and Slop Bots Attacking the "Small Web"
Links for the day
Quitting Reddit (Social Control Media Controlled by Conde Nast)
There is a new post in Reddit
IBM is the World Champion at Layoffs and There Are Reportedly More Layoffs in IBM This Month (EU)
IBM fired 60,000 in 1993
Free Software is for Everyone
Young and old, rich and poor etc.
Gemini Links 24/02/2026: Voltage Divider on Slide Rule and Many Raspberry Pi Projects
Links for the day
Links 24/02/2026: Telephone Turns 150, Political News Catchup, and Rearmament
Links for the day
Asha Sharma "a Palliative Care Doctor Who Slides Xbox Gently Into the Night"
2026 will probably be the last year of XBox
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Monday, February 23, 2026
IRC logs for Monday, February 23, 2026
Probably IBM's Worst Day in Wall Street in Well Over a Decade
They try to blame some Anthropic slop, but that's just a distraction from IBM having nothing to offer
The Monday After the 9PM-on-Friday Prepared Puff Pieces-Under-Embargo Microsoft Strategy for XBox Collapse
There are more layoffs ahead at Microsoft's XBox
Kyndryl Also in a Freefall Today, James Kavanaugh's Accounting Skills Seem to be Based on Pumping and Dumping
What is the real value of Kyndryl when its debt is about twice its alleged "worth"?
Not Much Left to "Pump" in This Slop Bubble
let's hope that by the end of the year the whole bubble fully implodes
IBM Common Stock Crashes Hard (Almost $100 Below the Levels of February's Beginning)
Another Kyndryl?
Links 23/02/2026: Withdrawal From Slop and Ukraine Invasion Enters Fifth Year
Links for the day
Gemini Links 23/02/2026: Moving to Gentoo, Wake-on-LAN Script
Links for the day
Kyndryl Fell by About 50% in One Day, IBM Fell 23% in 20 Days
the IBM Titanic
Security and blobs, by Alex Oliva (GNU Linux-Libre)
Reprinted with permission from Alex Oliva
Trusting the Evil Maids
Don't listen to liars and frauds
Aaron Swartz Has Already Explained What Reddit/Conde Nast Meant to Him and Why We Should All Avoid Reddit If We Value Software Freedom
Aaron Swartz did not start Reddit
Valnet's Good Legacy of GNU/Linux Advocacy in Journalism Form
Let's hope they carry on like this
Techrights Thanks Every Single EPO Worker Who Went on Strike Today
We have so much in common
Coders and Thinkers
I used to be a hyper-productive coder; these days I do more thinking and writing
Slop (So-called 'genAI') is Not a Skill, Slop Gets You Suspended or Even Sacked, It Can Eventually End Your Career
Benj Edwards, a so-called 'Senior' so-called 'AI' so-called 'Reporter'
There is No Such Thing as "AI Skills", "AI Competency", "AI Fluency" Etc.
Slop does not give anybody an advantage
EPO Staff Union: The Strike Actions and Other Industrial Actions "Have Already Delivered Measurable Gains."
SUEPO Munich has just issued a statement to staff
Links 23/02/2026: "What Boston Will Cost Me" and Women as Hostages
Links for the day
IRC Usage Levels Seem to be Rebounding This Year
it looks like the total count (tally) of users increased a lot lately
Microsoft Tricked the Media Into Lying About Microsoft Layoffs in January. Now It Does the Same (in February).
Microsoft has got the media by the wallet (or balls)
Free Software Projects Become Slow Due to Slop
It does not improve efficiency or productivity, it reduces both
EPO Strike Has Begun (or Resumed)
The EPO status quo is untenable
Links 23/02/2026: US Surrenders to Climate Change (to Benefit Oil Companies and Slop), UK Court of Appeal to Hear Mazur
Links for the day
GAFAM Jobs No Longer Lucrative
Those days are long gone
Based on Insider Leaks, Asha Sharma's Job is to Kill XBox While Talking About "AI"
They cite SneakerSO
Germans Recognise the Contagion is Digital, Not Racial
How to dismantle or neutralise those weapons? Turn them off
Free Software (or Software Freedom) Ain't No Religion
It's hardly surprising that some of the loudest opponents of Software Freedom and its luminaries also disregard or bend facts
Dr. Andy Farnell Explains Why the Slop Industry is Like Trespassers and Thieves
interesting new article about robots.txt files
The Demise of the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) and Profession Based Around Bullying With SLAPPs and Empty Threats
For press to survive and thrive in the UK we need the hired gun to be submerged
Linux Kernel 7.0 Release Candidate Comes Out, Stallman Turns 73 in Three Weeks
It predates Microsoft and Apple
In Greenland, Firefox's Gecko and KHTML (KDE, But Bastardised by Apple) Bigger Than Chrome
Are those Danes recognising the risk of monoculture?
Gemini Links 23/02/2026: Imperfect Journal, Evil, and "Progress Goes Boing!"
Links for the day
“Power is a Thing of Perception. They Don't Need to be Able to Kill You. They Just Need You to Think They are Able to Kill You” ― Julian Assange
When leadership becomes corrupt enough to lose a sense of authority its days are numbered; it'll be replaced
IBM Has Already Admitted 2026 Mass Layoffs (in 4Q Earnings Call)
We showed this earlier this month, but some people bring that up again
Reasons to Go on Strike in the European Patent Office (EPO)
If you live in Europe and don't work for the EPO, you can still help
First speech of Chanellor Hitler, Andreas Tille & Debian denounce Branden Robinson
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Sunday, February 22, 2026
IRC logs for Sunday, February 22, 2026