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Links 23/4/2018: Second RC of Linux 4.17 and First RC of Mesa 18.1





GNOME bluefish

Contents





GNU/Linux



  • Desktop



    • ​What's the most popular Linux of them all?
      Let's cut to the chase. Android is the most popular of all Linux distributions. Period. End of statement. But that's not the entire story.

      Still it must be said, according to StatCounter, Android is the most popular of all operating systems. By a score of 39.49 percent to 36.63 percent, Android beats out Windows for global personal device supremacy. Sorry Windows, you had a nice run, but between your smartphone failures and the PC decline, your day is done.

      But, setting Android aside, what's the most popular Linux? It's impossible to work that out. The website-based analysis tools, such as those used by StatCounter, NetMarketShare, and the Federal government's Digital Analytics Program (DAP), can't tell the difference between Fedora, openSUSE, and Ubuntu.

      DAP does give one insightful measurement the others sites don't give us. While not nearly as popular as Android, Chrome OS is more popular than all the other Linux-based desktops combined by a score, in April 2018, of 1.3 percent to 0.6 percent of end users.


    • Terminal app appears in Chrome OS Dev, hints at future Linux application support
      Back in February, some commits to the Chromium codebase revealed that Chrome OS would soon run Linux applications using a container. While it has been possible for years to run Linux applications on top of Chrome OS using crouton, it's a hacky solution that only works in Developer Mode. Google's solution would presumably work better, and perhaps not require Dev Mode to be enabled.






  • Kernel Space



    • Linux 4.17-rc2


      So rc2 is out, and things look fairly normal.

      The diff looks a bit unusual, with the tools subdirectory dominating, with 30%+ of the whole diff. Mostly perf and test scripts.

      But if you ignore that, the rest looks fairly usual. Arch updates (s390 and x86 dominate) and drivers (networking, gpu, HID, mmc, misc) are the bulk of it, with misc other changes all over (filesystems, core kernel, networking, docs).

      We've still got some known fallout from the merge window, but it shouldn't affect most normal configurations, so go out and test.

      Linus


    • Upstream Linux support for new NXP i.MX8
      The i.MX6 platform has for the past few years enjoyed a large effort to add upstream support to Linux and surrounding projects. Now it is at the point where nothing is really missing any more. Improvements are still being made, to the graphics driver for i.MX 6, but functionally it is complete.


    • Graphics Stack



      • AMDVLK Vulkan Driver Stack Gets Updated With More Extensions, Optimizations & Fixes
        AMD developers maintaining their official Vulkan cross-platform driver code have pushed their end-of-week updates to their external source repositories for those wanting to build the AMDVLK driver on Linux from source.

        This latest AMDVLK push updates not only their PAL (Platform Abstraction Layer) and XGL (Vulkan API Layer) components but it also updates their fork of the LLVM code-base used for their shader compilation.


      • EGLStreams XWayland Code Revised Ahead Of X.Org Server 1.20
        It's still not clear if the EGLStreams XWayland support will be merged for xorg-server 1.20 but at least the patches were revised this week, making it possible to merge them into this next X.Org Server release for allowing the NVIDIA proprietary driver to work with XWayland.


      • Vulkan 1.1.74 Released With Minor Fixes & Clarifications
        Vulkan continues sticking to the "release early, release often" mantra with the availability today of Vulkan 1.1.74.
      • Intel 2018Q1 Graphics Stack Recipe
        Last week Intel's Open-Source Technology Center released their latest quarterly "graphics stack recipe" for the Linux desktop.

        The Intel Graphics Stack Recipe is the company's recommended configuration for an optimal and supported open-source graphics driver experience for their Intel HD/UHD/Iris Graphics found on Intel processors.


      • Mesa 18.1-RC1 Released With The Latest Open-Source 3D Driver Features
        Seemingly flying under our radar is that Mesa 18.1 has already been branched and the first release candidate issued.

        While the Mesa website hasn't yet been updated for the 18.1 details, Dylan Baker appears to be the release manager for the 18.1 series -- the second quarter of 2018 release stream.




    • Benchmarks



      • Ryzen 7 2700X CPUFreq Scaling Governor Benchmarks On Ubuntu Linux
        With this week's Ryzen 5 2600X + Ryzen 7 2700X benchmarks some thought the CPUFreq scaling driver or rather its governors may have been limiting the performance of these Zen+ CPUs, so I ran some additional benchmarks this weekend.

        Those launch-day Ryzen 5 2600X / Ryzen 7 2700X Ubuntu Linux benchmarks were using the "performance" governor, but some have alleged that the performance governor may now actually hurt AMD systems... Ondemand, of course, is the default CPUFreq governor on Ubuntu and most other Linux distributions. Some also have said the "schedutil" governor that makes use of the kernel's scheduler utilization data may do better on AMD. So I ran some extra benchmarks while changing between CPUFreq's ondemand (default), performance (normally the best for performance, and what was used in our CPU tests), schedutil (the newest option), and powersave (if you really just care about conserving power).






  • Applications



  • Desktop Environments/WMs



    • Xfce Settings 4.12.3 / 4.13.2 Released
      Fixes galore! Xfce Settings 4.12.3 and 4.13.2 were released on March 18th with several improvements, feature parity, and translations.


    • Xfce PulseAudio Plugin 0.4.0 (and 0.4.1) Released
      Stable as a rock. Xfce PulseAudio Plugin hit a new stable milestone with the 0.4.0 release. This release wraps up the awesome development cycle we’ve had on this over the last few months and is recommended for all users.


    • Xfce Settings Update Brings Better Multi-Monitor Support
      While still waiting on the long-awaited Xfce 4.14, out this weekend is an Xfce Settings 4.14.2 preview release as well as an Xfce Settings 4.12.3 stable series update.

      Both of these Xfce Settings updates bring better multi-monitor support, including visualization of all display configuration states, visually noting if two displays are mirrored, always drawing the active display last so it's on top, and a number of fixes pertaining to the multi-monitor display handling from this Xfce desktop settings agent.


    • Mugshot 0.4.0 Released
      Mugshot, the simple user configuration utility, has hit a new stable milestone! Release 0.4.0 wraps up the 0.3 development cycle with full camera support for the past several years of GTK+ releases (and a number of other fixes).


    • MenuLibre 2.2.0 Released
      After 2.5 years of on-again/off-again development, a new stable release of MenuLibre is now available! This release includes a vast array of changes since 2.0.7 and is recommended for all users.


    • Xfce Picks Up Better PulseAudio Integration
      In addition to the Xfce Settings update this weekend there is also a new release of the Xfce PluseAudio Plugin providing better support for this sound server on the Xfce desktop.


    • MenuLibre 2.2 Linux Desktop Menu Editor Released With Many Improvements
      MenuLibre is the advanced menu editor that supports most Linux desktop environments including GNOME, KDE Plasma, Budgie, Cinnamon, EDE, LXQt, MATE, and Pantheon. MenuLibre 2.2 is the first major release for the project in over two years.


    • K Desktop Environment/KDE SC/Qt



      • [Slackware] Plasma5 – April 18 edition for Slackware
        The KDE-5_18.04 release of ‘ktown‘ for Slackware-current offers the latest KDE Frameworks (5.45.0), Plasma (5.12.4) and Applications (18.04.0). The Qt5 was upgraded to 5.9.5. Read the README file for more details and for installation/upgrade instructions. Enjoy the latest Plasma 5 desktop environment.


      • Perfect Debugging Experience with QtCreator on Android
        While I was working on a yet-to-be-announced super secret and cool Qt on Android project, I had to do a lot of debugging. This way I found that debugging Qt apps on Android using QtCreator was ok, but it had some issues, which was kinda frustrating.


      • Discover – Easily Install Software on KDE Neon Desktop


        KDE Discover is an Open Source GUI app installer that comes packaged with KDE Neon. It was particularly built from the ground up to be compatible with other modern Linux distros with emphasis on beauty and convenience.

        KDE Discover was also designed to allow for an intuitive User Experience as it features a clean and clear layout with a high readability value which makes it easy to browse, search for, install, and uninstall applications.


      • Almost 10 years of Plasma-Desktop
        Last week I was at work and start to listen my boss said: “We need to show this to our director”. So I went to my coworker table to see what was happening. So they were using Gource to make a video about the git history of the project. Gource is a software version control visualization tool. So that triggered in my mind some memories about a friend talking about Python and showing how the project as grow in this past years, but I never discovered about the tool that made that amazing video.

        So well, I started to make some Gource videos, and because my love about KDE Community, why not make one about it?


      • Progress on Plasma Wayland for 5.13
        In February after Plasma 5.12 was released we held a meeting on how we want to improve Wayland support in Plasma 5.13. Since its beta is now less than one month away it is time for a status report on what has been achieved and what we still plan to work on.

        Also today started a week-long Plasma Sprint in Berlin, what will hopefully accelerate the Wayland work for 5.13. So in order to kick-start the sprint this is a good opportunity to sum up where we stand now.


      • 0.1.1 Release of Elisa
        The Elisa team is happy to announce the first bug fix release for the 0.1 version.


      • KDE Plasma 5.13 Is Making Great Improvements On Its Wayland Support
        KDE Plasma 5.13 that is due for release in June will have a great number of improvements to its Wayland support for allowing the KDE Plasma desktop to work much better on this alternative to the X.Org Server.

        KDE developer Roman Gilg has provided a nice summary of some of the Wayland improvements in the queue for the Plasma 5.13.0 release due out towards the middle of June.


      • This week in Usability & Productivity, part 15


        I’ve initiated a big project: overhauling KDE Open & Save dialogs for greater usability and productivity.


      • Latte bug fix release v0.7.5
        Latte Dock v0.7.5 has been released containing important fixes and improvements! Hopefullly this is going to be the last stable version for v0.7.x family. During the next months the next stable branch (v0.8.x) is going to appear.


      • Exploring Contributors Centrality Over Time
        At the end of my previous post we concluded with yet another question. Indeed, on the 2017 KDEPIM contributor network we found out that Christian Mollekopf while being a very consistent committer didn't appear as centrality as we would expect. Yet from the topology he seemed to act as a bridge between the core contributors and contributors with a very low centrality. This time we'll try to look into this and figure out what might be going on.

        My first attempt at this was to try to look into the contributor network on a different time period and see how it goes. If we take two snapshots of the network for the two semesters of 2017, how would it look? Well, easy to do with my current scripts so let's see!




    • GNOME Desktop/GTK



      • Getting Real GNOME Back in Ubuntu 18.04 [Quick Tip]
        Ubuntu 18.04 uses a customized version of GNOME and GNOME users might not like those changes. This tutorial shows you how to install vanilla GNOME on Ubuntu 18.04.

        One of the main new features of Ubuntu 18.04 is the customized GNOME desktop. Ubuntu has done some tweaking on GNOME desktop to make it look similar to its Unity desktop.

        So you get minimize options in the windows control, a Unity like launcher on the left of the screen, app indicator support among some other changes.
      • The Infamous GNOME Shell Memory Leak
        at this point, I think it’s safe to assume that many of you already heard of a memory leak that was plaguing GNOME Shell. Well, as of yesterday, the two GitLab’s MRs that help fixing that issue were merged, and will be available in the next GNOME version. The fixes are being considered for backporting to GNOME 3.28 – after making sure they work as expected and don’t break your computer.
      • The Big GNOME Shell Memory Leak Has Been Plugged, Might Be Backported To 3.28
        The widely talked about "GNOME Shell memory leak" causing excessive memory usage after a while with recent versions of GNOME has now been fully corrected. The changes are currently staged in Git for what will become GNOME 3.30 but might also be backported to 3.28.

        Well known GNOME developer Georges Stavracas has provided an update on the matter and confirmed that the issue stems from GJS - the GNOME JavaScript component - with the garbage collection process not being fired off as it should.


      • 10 Great Linux GTK Themes For 2018
        Customization is a big part of the Linux experience, and your desktop theme is no exception. The world of Linux desktop themes is an ever-evolving one, with new ones replacing old favorites all the time. Of course, the desktop environments and GTK itself are always changing, so that adds another dynamic element to consider. That said, some of the best desktop customization happens on the simplest desktop environments, like XFCE.

        As of now, in early 2018, there are some really excellent GTK themes available. These themes aren’t ranked in any particular order. That comes down to a matter or preference. Any one of them can add a whole new look to your GTK-based desktop.


      • Devhelp news
        For more context, I started to contribute to Devhelp in 2015 to fix some annoying bugs (it’s an application that I use almost every day). Then I got hooked, I contributed more, became a co-maintainer last year, etc. Devhelp is a nice little project, I would like it to be better known and used more outside of GNOME development, for example for the Linux kernel now that they have a good API documentation infrastructure (it’s just a matter of generating *.devhelp2 index files alongside the HTML pages).






  • Distributions



    • Beginner Friendly Gentoo Based Sabayon Linux Has a New Release
      The team behind Sabayon Linux had issued a new release. Let’s take a quick look at what’s involved in this new release.


    • Reviews



      • Review: Chakra GNU/Linux 2017.10


        Chakra is an unusual distribution for a few reasons. It is a rare semi-rolling project, which tries to maintain a fairly stable base system while providing up to date applications. This is an interesting compromise between full rolling and static operating systems. The semi-rolling concept is an idea I like and I was curious to see how well the approach would work dealing with around six months of updates. I was pleased to find Chakra handled the massive upgrade well.

        Chakra was once also considered unusual for being very KDE-focused. There are more KDE distribution these days (KaOS, Kubuntu and KDE neon come readily to mind) and I think Chakra may have lost some of its appeal as more competition has established itself in the KDE-centric arena.

        I found the distribution to be easy to set up and pretty straight forward to use, but there were a few characteristics which bothered me during my trial with Chakra. One was that while updates installed cleanly, once Plasma 5.12 was installed, I experienced slow login times and reduced performance on the desktop. It could be argued that this is a Plasma problem, not a Chakra problem, but the distribution's rolling release nature means any regressions in new versions of software end up in the user's lap.

        Something that tends to bother me about distributions which focus on one desktop toolkit or another is that this approach to selecting software means we are sometimes using less capable tools in the name of toolkit purity. This is not a trade-off I like as I'd rather be using more polished applications over ones which a particular affiliation.

        Finally, Chakra includes a number of command line aliases which got in my way. This seems to be a problem I have been running into more often recently. Developers are trying to be helpful by aliasing common commands, but it means that for some tasks I need to change my habits or undefine the provided aliases and the feature ends up being a nuisance instead of a convenience.

        Chakra seems to be a capable and useful distribution and I am sure there are people who will appreciate the rolling release nature. Many people will likely also like having lots of KDE applications, and I can see the appeal of this combination. However, one thing which makes me hesitate to recommend Chakra is that the distribution does not appear to bring any special features to the ecosystem. It's a useful operating system and, to be completely fair, users can install non-KDE alternatives if they want to use LibreOffice instead of Calligra or GIMP instead of KolourPaint. But I'm not sure Chakra brings anything unique which makes it stand apart from openSUSE's Tumbleweed or KaOS's polished Plasma offering. Chakra used to be special in its semi-rolling, KDE-focused niche, but these days the distribution has a more competition and I'm not sure the project has any special sauce to set it apart from the crowd.





    • New Releases



    • Screenshots/Screencasts



    • Slackware Family



    • Red Hat Family



    • Debian Family



      • moving Qt 4 from Debian testing (aka Buster): some statistics, update II


        We started filing bugs around September 9. That means roughly 32 weeks which gives us around 5.65 packages fixed per week, aka 0.85 packages per day. Obviously not as good as we started (remaining bugs tend to be more complicated), but still quite good.


      • Derivatives



        • Canonical/Ubuntu



          • Ubuntu To Discontinue Opt-In Development Milestones In Favor Of Test Weeks
            The proposal for replacing early Ubuntu derivatives' early alpha/beta releases with "testing weeks" in its place is moving forward with no objections having been raised but flavors like Kubuntu and Xubuntu being in favor of the change.


          • Ubuntu Linux Replaces Alpha/Beta Release Model With “Testing Weeks”


          • Re-evaluating Ubuntu's Milestones
            Happy Release Week!

            I do not believe there have been any -1s to this proposal from any flavor, nor from the Release Team, so I think it's time to move forward with it.

            In summary, what will now happen from here on out is that opt-in milestones will be discontinued in favor of testing "weeks" (Tuesday through Thursday). I can organize the testing weeks for the 18.10 cycle (so we can get a process going), but from the 19.04 cycle and on, representatives (probably Release Managers) from any active flavor can (and should!) organize these testing weeks.

            Additionally, I will look into the automated testing Steve brought up shortly after the 18.04 release, with the goal being to adopt that sooner rather than later. I'll write a follow-up email to ubuntu-release once I have something to show for that.

            Thanks everyone!


          • First set of Bionic (sort-of) RC images for 18.04.


            Adam Conrad of the Ubuntu Release Team is pleased to announce the first set of Bionic RC images for Ubuntu 18.04 LTS.

            Over the next couple of hours, builds for Bionic Final should be added to the tracker[1] for all flavours. The builds have some intentional omissions, but please do test them anyway.

            Known issues that will be addressed Sunday/Monday: – Volume label still set to Beta – base-files still not the final version – kernel will have (at least) one more revision

            Despite the above, please, please, please test your images. Do not wait for a “final” build to test, as that guarantees your final build will be broken. We need you testing now, iterating uploads to get your bugs fixed, filing bugs and escalating where you need help.

            Again: DO NOT DELAY, TEST NOW, FIX BUGS, FILE BUGS, ESCALATE FOR HELP.

            Happy testing everyone, and here’s hoping we push out another smooth and stress-free release on Thursday.

            … Adam Conrad


          • Bionic (18.04) Release Candidate images ready for testing!
            Initial RC (Release Candidate) images for the Kubuntu Bionic Beaver (18.04) are now available for testing.

            The Kubuntu team will be releasing 18.04 on 26 April. The final Release Candidate milestone is available today, 21 April.

            This is the first spin of a release candiate in preparation for the RC milestone. If major bugs are encountered and fixed, the RC images may be respun.


          • Ubuntu Studio 18.04 Release Candidate


            The Release Candidate for Ubuntu Studio 18.04 is ready for testing.


          • gksu Removed From Ubuntu, Here’s What You Can Use Instead
            gksu is deprecated. It is removed from Debian, Ubuntu 18.04 and other newer Linux distribution version. You can achieve the gksu functionality with gvfs admin backend. Here’s how to do that.

            I am exploring Ubuntu 18.04 these days. And when I was trying to suppress the Ubuntu crash report, I tried to use a command with gksu.










  • Devices/Embedded





Free Software/Open Source



  • Libjpeg-Turbo 2.0 Beta Brings More AVX2 SIMD, Improved CMake Build System
    A Phoronix reader recently pointed out that LibJPEG 2.0 Beta quietly shipped last month as working towards the next big update for this speed-focused JPEG library.

    Libjpeg-Turbo 2.0 beta is available for testing and it brings AVX2 SIMD support for colorspace conversion, chroma downsampling/upsampling, integer quantization and sample conversion, and integer DCT/IDCT algorithms. These AVX2 SIMD accelerated paths are generally bringing gains anywhere from 9% to 36% faster depending upon the operation. This version is also bringing SIMD acceleration for Huffman encoding on SSE2 CPUs and Loongson MMI SIMD implementations for more functions.


  • University students create award-winning open source projects
    In my short time working for Clarkson University, I've realized what a huge impact this small university is making on the open source world. Our 4,300 student-strong science and technology-focused institution, located just south of the Canadian border in Potsdam, New York, hosts the Clarkson Open Source Institute (COSI), dedicated to promoting open source software and providing equipment and support for student projects.

    While many universities offer opportunities for students to get involved in open source projects, it's rare to have an entire institute dedicated to promoting open source development. COSI is part of Clarkson's Applied Computer Science Labs within the computer science department. It, along with the Internet Teaching Lab and the Virtual Reality Lab, is run by students (supported by faculty advisers), allowing them to gain experience in managing both facilities and projects while still undergraduates.


  • When should you open source your software?
    It’s 20 years this this since the term ‘Open Source’ was coined. In that time the movement for free and open software has gone from a niche to a common method of distribution and a normal way of operating for businesses.

    Major technology shifts are now driven by open source technologies: Big Data (Hadoop, Spark), AI (TensorFlow, Caffe), and Containers (Docker, Kubernetes) are all open projects. Massive companies including Google, Facebook, and even Lyft regularly release Open Source tools for the world to use. Microsoft – whose former CEO once described Linux as a cancer – now embraces the concept.


  • Events



    • Pakistan Open Source Summit 2018 concludes [Ed: Not about software]
      A large number of attendees from industry, academia, government, and students participated in the summit. Portuguese Ambassador to Pakistan Dr Joao Sabido Costa was the chief guest at the opening ceremony while former Naval Chief Admiral (r) Asif Sandila graced the occasion as the chief guest at the closing ceremony.


    • ‘Open Summit key to create industry-academy linkages’
      Ambassador of Portugal to Pakistan Dr Joao Sabido Costa has said that events such as the Open Source Summit are excellent for spreading awareness and for creating industry-academia linkages and enhancement of the information technology.

      He stated this while addressing a concluding ceremony of the two-day informative ‘Pakistan Open Source Summit 2018’ attended by large number of people from industry, academia, government and students. Former naval chief Admiral (R) Asif Sandila co-chaired the concluding session.

      Dr Joao Sabido Costa said that the organisations should utilise open source platforms to build their IT infrastructures in future. To build open source culture in Pakistan, he recommended roadmap with future activities and timelines for spreading open source.


    • Madrid GNOME+Rust Hackfest, part 2


      Yesterday we went to the Madrid Rust Meetup, a regular meeting of rustaceans here. Martin talked about WebRender; I talked about refactoring C to port it to Rust, and then Alex talked about Rust's plans for 2018. Fun times.


    • DataworksSummit Berlin - Wednesday morning
      Data strategy - cloud strategy - business strategy: Aligning the three was one of the main themes (initially put forward in his opening keynote by CTO of Hortonworks Scott Gnau) thoughout this weeks Dataworks Summit Berlin kindly organised and hosted by Hortonworks. The event was attended by over 1000 attendees joining from 51 countries.

      The inspiration hat was put forward in the first keynote by Scott was to take a closer look at the data lifecycle - including the fact that a lot of data is being created (and made available) outside the control of those using it: Smart farming users are using a combination of weather data, information on soil conditions gathered through sensors out in the field in order to inform daily decisions. Manufacturing is moving towards closer monitoring of production lines to spot inefficiencies. Cities are starting to deploy systems that allow for better integration of public services. UX is being optimized through extensive automation.


    • A look at Rancher 2.0
      Last December, we announced a Kubernetes Cloud Native Platform in partnership with Rancher Labs. Built on Canonical’s Distribution of Kubernetes and Rancher 2.0, the Cloud Native Platform will simplify enterprise usage of Kubernetes with seamless user management, access control, and cluster administration. Join our webinar to get a tour of the platform!




  • Web Browsers



  • Oracle/Java/LibreOffice



  • Pseudo-Open Source (Openwashing)



  • BSD



    • DragonFlyBSD 5.2, TrueOS 18.03, FreeBSD 11.1, Ubuntu 16.04/18.04 & Clear Linux Tests
      This week I posted some benchmarks looking at the Meltdown mitigation impact on BSD vs. Linux as well as some tests of DragonFly's stabilized HAMMER2 while for your viewing pleasure this weekend are a variety of general BSD vs. Linux benchmarks while using the newly-released DragonFlyBSD 5.2, TrueOS 18.03, FreeBSD 11.1, Ubuntu 16.04 LTS, Ubuntu 18.04, and Intel's Clear Linux.

      All of these BSD/Linux operating system benchmarks were done using a system with an Intel Xeon E3-1280 v5 Skylake CPU, MSI MS-7998 motherboard, 2 x 8GB DDR4-2133 memory, and a 256GB Toshiba RD-400 NVMe SSD. All of the hardware components were maintained the same throughout the entire testing process.

      For making the systems comparable and testing the operating systems in the manner set by the vendor, each platform was tested "out of the box" using the default settings.


    • DragonFlyBSD Kernel Gets Some SMP Improvements
      It looks like the DragonFlyBSD 5.4 release will be delivering at least a few kernel-level performance improvements.

      It turns out just hours after wrapping up the latest BSD vs. Linux benchmarks, Matthew Dillon pushed a few performance tweaks to the Git tree for DragonFly.




  • FSF/FSFE/GNU/SFLC



  • Openness/Sharing/Collaboration



    • Open Hardware/Modding



      • Best Open Source 3D Printers
        In simplest terms, an open source 3D printer refers to a 3D printer whose hardware and software information are available to the public, typically under a license. The information can be used by anyone to build, modify, or improve the 3D printer.

        If you’re looking for real open source 3D printers, then you’ve come to the right place. In this guide, we introduce you to completely open source 3D printers. The hardware and software information of all the products listed here can be easily found on the internet.






  • Programming/Development



    • What is Open Source Programming? How to Get Involved?
      Open Source Programming simply means writing codes that other people can freely use as well as modify. It is essential for authors to license their code, it enables them to have a copyright for those codes. Therefore, for a code to be declared safe and free for all to use, whether it’s available in the Github or in a public-repo; the author is required to license their own code. This is to avoid cases of individuals being sued by the author for using, modifying or even embedding the code without being granted a license to do that.






Leftovers



  • This week in tech, 20 years ago


  • How I accidentally wrote a Wikipedia page on a layover in Dublin
    A most unusual but wonderful experience happened to me recently on a return trip from Europe to the United States.

    A series of heavy Nor'easters hit the U.S. East Coast over the last couple weeks, one of which coincided with my trip back to Rochester, NY. While we didn’t have flooding, we had a lot of snow. A lot of snow means canceled flights.

    As I made my way through border control in Dublin, Ireland on March 7, I discovered my connection to New York City would likely be canceled. A meander from baggage claim to the check-in desk confirmed this. Fortunately, Aer Lingus had no issue putting me up in a hotel overnight, with dinner and breakfast, so that I could catch the next flight to New York the following day.


  • 17 Ways Your Friends Are Lying To You On Social Media
    Be cynical. Be very, very cynical.


  • Security



  • Defence/Aggression



    • Teen who hacked [sic] top US officials gets two years in prison

      CWA's MO is called "social engineering" -- they'd impersonate their victims and call [I]nternet and phone providers' customer support hotlines in order to get confidential info and to reset their targets' passwords.

    • Wanted: The ‘Butcher of Damascus’ to Return Normalcy to Syria
      Butcher of Damascus. Gasser of children. Baby Killer of Syria. Tool of Moscow. Cruel despot. Monster.

      These are all names the western media and politicians routinely heap on Syria’s president, Bashar al-Assad. He has now become the top Mideast villain, the man we love to hate.

      As a veteran Mideast watcher, I find all this hard to swallow. Compared to other brutal Mideast leaders, Assad is pretty weak tea. The U.S./British propaganda effort to paint Assad in blackest colors is having a difficult time.

      Mideast leaders who toe the U.S. line and make nice to Israel are invariably called ‘statesmen’ or ‘president’ by the American government and its increasingly tame media. Their repression is conveniently downplayed.

      Saudi rulers are reverently treated by despite leading the world in executions. Last year, 44 people were publicly beheaded. In some years, around 150 people have lost their heads in Saudi Arabia, often a quarter of them Pakistani guest workers. Having been arrested by the Saudi religious police, I can tell you that the kingdom is a police state with sand dunes and camels. Saudi vassal states Bahrain and the Emirates are better, but not much.


    • Another Dodgy British Dossier: the Skripal Case
      The British government shared what was supposedly a dossier containing sensitive intelligence to convince allies and EU member states to support its accusation of Russian culpability in the poisoning of Sergei and Yulia Skripal in Salisbury, England on March 4.

      But like the infamous 2003 “dodgy dossier” prepared at the direction of Prime Minister Tony Blair to justify British involvement in the U.S. invasion of Iraq, the intelligence dossier on the Salisbury poisoning turns out to have been based on politically-motivated speculation rather than actual intelligence

      British officials used the hastily assembled “intelligence” briefing to brief the North Atlantic Council on March 15, the European Foreign Affairs Council on March 19 and the European summit meeting in Brussels on March 23.


    • Beware of White Helmets Bearing News
      At the center of the controversy over an alleged chemical attack in the Damascus suburb of Duma on April 7 are the White Helmets, a self-described rescue operation about whom an Oscar-winning documentary was made.

      Reporter and author Max Blumenthal has tracked the role of the White Helmets in the Syrian conflict. He reported that the White Helmets were created in Turkey by James Le Mesurier, a former British MI5 agent. The group has received at least $55 million from the British Foreign Office and $23 million from the U.S. Agency for International Development as well as millions from the Kingdom of Qatar, which has backed a variety of extremist groups in Syria including Al Qaeda.

      Blumenthal writes, “When Defense Secretary James Mattis cited ‘social media’ in place of scientific evidence of a chemical attack in Duma, he was referring to video shot by members of the White Helmets. Similarly, when State Department spokesperson Heather Nauert sought to explain why the US bombed Syria before inspectors from the OPCW could produce a report from the ground, she claimed, ‘We have our own intelligence.’ With little else to offer, she was likely referring to social media material published by members of the White Helmets.”

      The reference to social media as evidence in the most serious decision a leader can make—to engage in an act of war—is part of a disturbing trend. Then Secretary of State John Kerry pointed to “social media” as evidence of the Syrian government’s guilt in a 2013 chemical attack in the same Damascus suburb. But as Robert Parry, the late founder and editor of this site, pointed out in numerous reports, Syrian government guilt was far from a sure thing.


    • Legendary scientist at lab that developed atomic bomb dies at 97
      Scientist Nerses Krik Krikorian, who was born a refugee and later became a legend in the once-secret New Mexico city where the atomic bomb was developed, has died. He was 97.


    • Nude gunman kills four at Tennessee waffle house
      A man who was naked but for a green jacket shot and killed at least four people and wounded at least three others at a Waffle House restaurant near Nashville, Tennessee early Sunday, authorities said.

      The gunman, armed with what was described as an AR-15 style assault rifle, walked into the restaurant in Antioch, in suburban Nashville, shortly before 3:30 a.m. (0830 GMT).


    • America’s #1 Weapons Salesman: Trump Promotes U.S. Arms Manufacturers & Weakens Export Rules
      A new exposé by Reuters reveals how the Trump administration plans to make the U.S. an even larger weapons exporter by loosening restrictions on the sale of equipment ranging from fighter jets and drones to warships and artillery. Reuters reveals that the new initiative will provide guidelines that could allow more countries to be granted faster deal approvals, and will call on Cabinet officials to help close deals between foreign governments and U.S. defense contractors. In one example, Reuters reveals President Trump himself urged the emir of Kuwait, in a telephone call, to finalize a $10 billion fighter jet deal with Boeing, the country’s second-largest defense contractor. The exposé details the role U.S. Cabinet officials may be asked to play in pushing arms exports abroad as part of the new initiative, which will call for a “whole of government” approach—from the president and his Cabinet to military attachés and diplomats—to help draw in billions of dollars more in arms business overseas. The Trump administration is expected to announce the new rules as early as Thursday. We speak to Mike Stone of Reuters and William Hartung, director of the Arms and Security Project at the Center for International Policy.



    • Playing War in Syria
      Donald Trump got “presidential” again and fired about $150 million worth of cruise missiles at Syria, accomplishing God knows what.


    • Trump’s Blank Check for War
      On Monday the Senate Foreign Relations Committee is set to review a bill that would virtually give President Donald J. Trump a blank check to wage –war anywhere in the world any time he pleases.

      The Constitution places the power to declare war exclusively in the hands of the Congress. However, for the past 75 years, Congress has allowed that power to drift toward the executive branch.

      The new bill, should it pass, would effectively make the transfer of the war power from Congress to the president complete. It is hard to imagine a worse time in American history for this to happen.


    • Missiles Over Damascus


      On 13 April 2018 President Donald Trump ordered the bombing of selective targets in the Syrian capital, Damascus. He did so because he was emotionally upset by Syrian President Bashar al- Assad’s alleged use of chemical weapons against civilians in the town of Douma – the last rebel (ISIS-style) stronghold adjacent to the capital.

      Just prior to Trump’s actualizing his emotions by throwing missiles into Damascus, he had expressed his opinion (and keep in mind that there is no difference between fact and opinion for Mr.Trump) that President Assad is a “monster” as well as an “animal.” At least in part because the Syrian President stooped to “killing his own people.” The problem with all this is (1) Trump has no hard evidence that Assad was behind the alleged gas attack and (2) killing your own people is, unfortunately, what civil wars are all about.

      Alas, the world has always been, and still is, full of “monsters” and “animals.” And, since we are throwing around such epithets, we might as well give a couple of close-to-home examples of those qualifying behaviors.




  • Transparency/Investigative Reporting



    • Australian workers and youth denounce persecution of Julian Assange
      Over the weekend, Socialist Equality Party (SEP) campaigners spoke to a broad range of workers, students and young people about upcoming SEP meetings opposing the stepped-up persecution of Julian Assange, and the censorship of the Internet by governments around the world in league with the “tech” monopolies.

      Workers and youth denounced the decision of the Ecuadorian government last month to cut off Assange’s Internet access and right to receive visitors at its London embassy, where he sought asylum more than five years ago. The move, taken under pressure from the US, Britain and the other major powers, was aimed at silencing WikiLeaks’ exposures of the drive to war, and intimidating other opponents of escalating militarism.

      The sentiments of ordinary people stand in stark contrast to the actions of the Australian political establishment. All of the parliamentary parties, along with the corporate press, liberal pundits, and the pseudo-left, have maintained a deafening silence over the latest attacks on Assange. This is in line with the support extended in 2010 by the Greens-backed Labor government of Julia Gillard, and every government since, for the US-led persecution of Assange.




  • Environment/Energy/Wildlife/Nature



    • Earth Day, April 22


    • On Earth Day: Environmental Activism is Spreading
      Tree-sits are growing in West Virginia where people are putting their bodies on the line to stop the destruction of the natural habitat that would result from building the Mountain Valley pipeline for fracked gas. In Virginia, Red Terry started a tree-sit on Easter weekend to protect her land from destruction. She remains, despite the company with law enforcement support denying her food and water — something illegal against prisoners or during war. As trees are felled she remains, as do protesters in Pennsylvania.

      In Louisiana, a water protector locked herself into a cement-filled barrel placed in the trench of a horizontal directional drill to block construction of the Bayou Bridge Pipeline. Eleanor Goldfield reports this is part of the Battle of the Bayou, a coalition of groups and individuals standing against the destruction of a fragile environment, facing arrest and creating a future together.

      Last November, Washington State activists defeated the largest oil-train terminal in the nation.






  • Finance



    • 5 Things You Learn Pretending To Be A Businessman In China
      Chinese companies will hire random white people to attend meetings, banquets, etc. to create the (false) impression that they have connections in the U.S.
    • No appetite for a deregulatory post-Brexit Britain: new findings on public attitudes
      Five years later, Prime Minister Theresa May gave a rather different speech in London as the UK prepared for EU withdrawal. Rather than expounding the single market’s advantages, she argued that the UK would have to leave it, because to do otherwise would mean continued free movement. Rather than calling for deeper links in services, she acknowledged that trade post-Brexit would be less free. And rather than embracing deregulation, she said that UK and EU regulatory standards would remain “substantially similar” in future.

      This lays bare the bizarre reversal of the political economy of Brexit. A movement that began in essence as a means of casting off EU regulations while retaining economic links has morphed into a government agenda resolved to cutting trade ties while keeping – even strengthening – those very regulations that Eurosceptics once so derided.

      The reasons for this about-turn are complex. On one level, the Eurosceptics’ original plan for delivering Brexit was never a plausible one: it is not possible to retain the advantages of the “common market” while at the same time jettisoning the rules and regulations that bind it together.

      For the other member states, the EU’s employment, environmental and consumer legislation are not superfluous appendages to the single market but core pillars that allow member states to compete on a level playing field. This perspective could therefore never have survived collision with the reality of the Brexit negotiations.
    • Brexit’s offshore secrets
      In 2015, Arron Banks’s insurance business was bailed out. Where the rescue money came from is unclear—but as the Electoral Commission probes the sources of the Leave donor’s campaign contributions, a group of accountants who specialise in offshore “wealth preservation” may hold the key.
    • Theresa May 'could quit' next month if government loses key Brexit vote
      Theresa May is reportedly set to quit if she loses a key Brexit vote next month, it was reported this morning.

      Number 10 is considering a vote on the customs union a 'matter of confidence' in Mrs May's government, the BBC report.

      While it wouldn't be legally binding, it would be a signal to her own MPs that she's ready to stake her job on Britain leaving any kind of customs union.





  • AstroTurf/Lobbying/Politics



    • Remembering Barbara Bush
      Barbara Bush, mother of war criminal George W. Bush, died on April 17, 2018. Geraldine Comley, my mother, died April 17, 2011.

      [...]

      Yesterday, April 17, I was preoccupied with Gigi images. My younger son H and his wife V had been here on Sunday, working on a project for me. They were exhausted. He wanted to go home and return the next evening to finish the task. She wanted to stay the extra two hours required to complete it. I began a question I knew would make them laugh but got only partially through it before bursting into laughter. Just like my mother. Exactly what Gigi did. This was an exquisite little reverie to have amid thoughts of those days in April of 2011 when the Sisterhood, Laura, Erma, and I, were at her bedside during the days of her dying.

      George W. Bush visited his mother in the hospital during her last days. According to this Peter Baker tribute, Mrs. Bush said to her doctor: “You want to know why George W. is the way he is? Because I drank and smoked when I was pregnant with him.” When I read this, I recalled my mother’s statement that George W. Bush was stupid. Yet Barbara Bush’s drinking and smoking don’t support that “way he is”, that way he really is—an imperialist/capitalist former president. More sinister influences than alcohol and tobacco shaped the mass murderer.


    • Trump Times Two


      Mr. Trump, likes to brag about the high numbers of admirers that he appears to see during various events he puts on. He almost certainly attributed the large number of viewers Ms. Daniels attracted to her 60 Minutes interview, to the fact that he was the subject she was addressing. His unseen presence, he almost certainly believes, is what made it interesting. He would have been doubly pleased with the fact that her interview about HIM attracted more viewers than any other program put on by CBS’s 60 Minutes since an interview in 2008 where the subjects were the much disliked, by him, Barrack Obama, who had just been elected president, and his wife, Michelle.


    • Coinbase Rejects WikiLeaks, WikiLeaks Calls for Boycott of Coinbase
    • Wikileaks Claims Coinbase Has Shut Down Its Online Store's Bitcoin Account
    • The Wikileaks Shop says that Coinbase has suspended its account
    • Largest Bitcoin Brokerage Coinbase Blocks WikiLeaks Purchases
    • Coinbase Suspends WikiLeaks Shop for Terms of Service Violation
    • Coinbase Reportedly Shuts Down Wikileaks Store, Assange Calls for Boycott in Response
    • Coinbase blocks WikiLeaks shop without notice – starts a riot on social media
    • Wikileaks Shop Banned from Coinbase, Non-Profit Says
    • Coinbase Shutters the Account of WikiLeaks, WikiLeaks Bites Back
    • WikiLeaks loses access to a key cryptocurrency account
    • Wikileaks Calls for Global Blockade of Coinbase After Its Shop Was Blocked


    • DNC's Lawsuit Against Russia, Trump And WikiLeaks
    • The DNC's lawsuit against the Russian government, Trump campaign and WikiLeaks
    • The DNC's lawsuit against Trump, Russia and Wikileaks is making the parallels with Watergate hard to ignore


      The Democratic Party’s abrupt dropping of a multi-million-dollar lawsuit into the simmering cauldron that is the Trump-Russia affair took some folk by surprise.

      Why risk complicating the life of special counsel Robert Mueller just when he may be getting to the endgame of his own investigation into all these allegations? Where did such a crazy idea come from anyway?
    • The 'deep state' is real. But are its leaks against Trump justified?
      America doesn’t have coups or tanks in the street. But a deep state of sorts exists here and it includes national security bureaucrats who use secretly collected information to shape or curb the actions of elected officials.

      Some see these American bureaucrats as a vital check on the law-breaking or authoritarian or otherwise illegitimate tendencies of democratically elected officials.

      Others decry them as a self-serving authoritarian cabal that illegally and illegitimately undermines democratically elected officials and the policies they were elected to implement.
    • The vetting files: How the BBC kept out ‘subversives’
      For decades the BBC denied that job applicants were subject to political vetting by MI5. But in fact vetting began in the early days of the BBC and continued until the 1990s. Paul Reynolds, the first journalist to see all the BBC's vetting files, tells the story of the long relationship between the corporation and the Security Service.

      "Policy: keep head down and stonewall all questions." So wrote a senior BBC official in early 1985, not long before the Observer exposed so many details of the work done in Room 105 Broadcasting House that there was no point continuing to hide it.

      By that stage, a policy of flatly denying the existence of political vetting - not just stonewalling, but if necessary lying - had been in place for five decades.
    • DNC chairman defends lawsuit against Russia, Trump campaign, WikiLeaks
      The chairman of the Democratic National Committee on Sunday defended a new multimillion-dollar lawsuit against the Russian government, the Trump campaign and WikiLeaks, with talk show hosts asking whether it was distracting from efforts to rebuild the Democratic Party.
    • Tom Perez defends DNC lawsuit against Trump campaign, Russia, Assange
      Democratic National Committee Chair Tom Perez on Sunday defended a new lawsuit alleging a wide-reaching conspiracy by the Trump campaign, Russia, WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange and others to interfere in the 2016 election to the detriment of the Democratic Party. Asked why the Democrats didn't wait for special counsel Robert Mueller's Justice Department probe into election interference to end, Perez said on NBC's "Meet the Press" that the DNC needed to file "in a timely manner under the statute of limitations."

      [...]

      The suit has garnered criticism from Missouri Democratic Sen. Claire McCaskill, California Democratic Rep. Jackie Speier, and former Obama White House adviser and CNN commentator David Axelrod.

      The lawsuit and other "sideshows," such as the publication of former FBI Director James Comey's explosive new book that portrays President Donald Trump in a negative light, "seem spectacularly ill-timed and abet@POTUS strategy of portraying a sober and essential probe as a partisan vendetta. Everyone should chill out and let Mueller do his job," Axelrod tweeted Friday.

      On Friday and Saturday, Trump mocked Democrats for their lawsuit, suggesting Republicans could use it to their advantage and dredging up allegations against the committee's former chair, Debbie Wasserman Schultz.




  • Censorship/Free Speech



    • A season of self-censorship — confessions of an Editor-at-large
      Once again, Pakistan’s media is under fire. Unlike the past, there are no formal advisories or strictures but a combination of subliminal messages and self-censorship. That this happens on the verge of a third transition of power is deeply worrying and ominous.

      Hundreds of journalists and editors have issued a collective statement protesting the ongoing curbs on freedom of expression in the country. The missive reads: “Beginning with a crackdown against select media groups and banning the broadcast of various channels, there now is enhanced pressure on all media houses to refrain from covering certain rights based movements. Media house managements under pressure are dropping regular op-ed columns and removing online editions of published articles. One media house even asked its anchors to stop live shows.”
    • Lecturer talks on the end of censorship
      Assistant professor of computer science Max Schuchard gave a lecture about defeating internet censorship Friday afternoon during the UT Science Forum.

      Schuchard opened his lecture discussing the trivial uses for the internet such as watching humorous videos yet also the critical role it plays in sharing important information about other countries and providing people with the access to knowledge.

      Schuchard compared the internet to a tool that sparks changes and revolutions in different ways to more violent measures such as a weapon that incites change

      Schuchard focused on the censorship of the internet in other countries, territories and regions to control the influx of information to populations. To emphasize his point, Schuchard presented a map of the world displaying regions that have limited access to the internet because of either control by a governing people or destruction of resources to access internet such as the natural disaster in Puerto Rico.
    • Natalie Portman addresses snub of ‘Jewish Nobel,’ backlash


      Israel faces some international criticism over its use of lethal force in response to mass protests along the Gaza border led by the Islamic militant group that rules the territory.

      One Israeli lawmaker warned that Portman’s decision is a sign of eroding support for Israel among young American Jews.

      The Jerusalem-born Portman is a dual Israeli-American citizen. The Oscar-winning actress moved to the United States as a young girl, evolving from a child actress into a widely acclaimed A-list star. Portman received the 2011 best actress Academy Award for “Black Swan,” and, in 2015, she directed and starred in “Tale of Love and Darkness,” a Hebrew-language film set in Israel based on an Amos Oz novel. Her success is a great source of pride for many Israelis.

      The Genesis Prize Foundation said Thursday that it had been informed by Portman’s representative that “recent events in Israel have been extremely distressing” to Portman, though it did not refer to specific events.

      [...]

      Oren Hazan, a legislator in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s right-wing Likud Party, called on the government to revoke Portman’s Israeli citizenship.
    • Russia raises the stakes with wide-reaching and blunt internet clampdown


      Russia has long sought to emulate the way its neighbour China regulates its citizens’ online activities. The Kremlin isn’t ready to do it just yet – but that doesn’t mean they won’t break the internet trying


    • Pakistani journalists denounce blatant censorship
      Yesterday, after this exceptionally bad week for free speech in Pakistan, more than 50 journalists launched a petition condemning the latest cases of censorship. In particular, they criticized several media outlets for refusing to cover subjects that the military does not want addressed.

      The latest subject to be placed off limits is the Pashtun Tahafuz Movement (PTM), which has been organizing protests in defence of Pakistan's Pashtun minority and denouncing human rights violations by the military targeting Pashtuns.

      For the first time in ten years, the management of The News, Pakistan's biggest English-language daily, has censored three of its contributors for editorial pages. It refused to publish an editorial by Mosharraf Zaidi, who wanted to start a debate about the PTM. Then it refused to published an article on the same subject by the columnist Babar Sattar.


    • Aurora library display prompts both hate and censorship claims


      A poem that was part of a display at the Aurora Public Library prompted such a flurry of comments throughout town Saturday that it was removed before the library opened on Sunday.

      Residents, patrons, organizations and Aurora Mayor Richard Irvin weighed in through discussion with library staff and social media, calling the poem an example of hate speech against Muslims and particularly Muslim women, and demanding that it be taken down.

      Other comments called the move censorship of what was promoted by library officials as a satirical statement on racial hatred.


    • Thumbs down: Facebook’s hate speech and censorship policies no easy fix
      Under more scrutiny than ever, Facebook finds itself caught in a no-man’s land between activists who say it needs to adopt much stricter definitions governing hate speech and critics on the right who feel the social media giant is censoring conservative voices.

      The company’s policy now largely depends on humans reviewing content flagged by others as offensive — a system Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg told Congress he hopes to change within 10 years by integrating artificial intelligence that can identify questionable content immediately.

      [...]

      Issues arise, of course, because what some consider to be offensive, racially tinged attacks are seen by others as political statements. Rhetoric surrounding illegal immigration, for example, often falls into that category.


    • Fearing political censorship, groups urge Hong Kong gov’t to clarify textbook review mechanism
      The phrases found to be problematic included: “Hong Kong is located south of China,” “the Chinese Communist Party’s one-party rule” and “China insisted on taking back Hong Kong’s sovereignty.”

      Secretary for Education Kevin Yeung said in response last week that China has always had sovereignty over Hong Kong, thus school textbooks should not describe the handover as a taking back of sovereignty. He also said that the phrase “Hong Kong is located south of China” does not clarify whether the city is within or outside of China’s borders.

      Demosisto said on Saturday that a Hong Kong general studies textbook was found to have been changed so that the 2017 edition no longer states that the media monitors the government or exposes problems in society, as it did in the 2013 textbook.

      The pro-democracy party said the incident shows that political censorship was not limited to one instance, and that it could involve more than one publisher as well as other textbooks across primary and secondary levels.




  • Privacy/Surveillance



    • A more privacy-friendy blog
      When I started this blog, I embraced some free services, like Disqus or Google Analytics. These services are quite invasive for users’ privacy. Over the years, I have tried to correct this to reach a point where I do not rely on any “privacy-hostile” services.


    • Aleksandr Kogan: The link between Cambridge Analytica and Facebook
      Facebook and its CEO Mark Zuckerberg are in a whale of trouble and not just because the company has lost tens of billions of dollars in market value in recent weeks.

      We now know that during years of essentially policing itself, Facebook allowed Russian trolls to buy U.S. election ads, advertisers to discriminate by race, hate groups to spread fake news and, because facebook shirked privacy concerns, a company called Cambridge Analytica was able to surreptitiously gain access to personal data mined from as many as 87 million Facebook users.
    • Cambridge Analytica Researcher Denies Stealing Data; Says Facebook’s Policies Were Flawed
      Aleksandr Kogan, who is responsible for creating data harvesting apps, has finally broken his silence over the Facebook CA scandal saying that he did not steal the data, rather Facebook opened its doors for developers to access that data.

      In an interview with CBS News, Kogan said, “The idea that we stole the data, I think, is technically incorrect.” But he admitted of being aware that the data was going to be for elections and as a political consulting firm, he allowed Cambridge Analytica to create campaigns by analyzing voters and targeted them with ads.


    • Fighting for migrants’ data protection rights in the UK
      Since 2014, the United Kingdom (UK) government has steadily rolled out policies to make the country a “hostile environment” for migrants, in the words of Prime Minister Theresa May.
    • The world is no longer willing to tolerate the plague of bullshit "agreements"

      The self-replicating plague of bullshit "agreements" is finally getting a reckoning, as users wake up to the fact that companies were actually serious when they said that they expected hold us to these absurd legal documents. What's more, the looming spectre of the EU General Data Protection Regulation, with its mandate for plain language agreements that users have to understand, is calling into question whether it's possible to even have a business that can only exist if users agree to terms that put the US tax-code to shame.



    • Facebook Set Lobbying Record Amid Cambridge Analytica Furor

      The company spent $3.3 million, according to disclosures filed with the government Friday, up from the $3.21 million it spent in the same period a year earlier, which represented the company’s prior high.



    • Facebook privacy audit by auditors finds everything is awesome!
      The US Federal Trade Commission has released an audit of Facebook's privacy practices and it turns out there's nothing to worry about, at least as far as accounting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) is concerned.

      Clearly, there's nothing to worry about. Go back to your homes, people.

      PwC, retained to check on how Facebook has been complying with its 2011 FTC consent decree for deceiving consumers, believes the social ad network – the same one recently pilloried by US lawmakers for allowing profile data to be spirited away to data firm Cambridge Analytica – has been doing a bang-up job.


    • NOTHING Wrong With Facebook’s Privacy Practices — Facebook Audit Concluded
      The “Big Four” accounting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) had been assigned the job of auditing Facebook’s privacy practices every two years by the US Federal Trade Commission. This was done to make sure that Facebook didn’t break the 2011 FTC consent decree and deceive customers.

      According to a heavily redacted copy of the latest audit published on FTC’s website, there seemed to be nothing wrong with Facebook’s privacy measures when the audit was conducted.


    • Palantir Knows Everything

      Civil rights advocates say the compilation of a digital dossier of someone’s life, absent a court warrant, is an unlawful intrusion under the U.S. Constitution. Law enforcement officials say that’s not the case. For now, the question is unsettled, and that may be no accident. Civil liberties lawyers are seeking a case to challenge the constitutionality of Palantir’s use, but prosecutors and immigration agents have been careful not to cite the software in evidentiary documents, says Paromita Shah, associate director of the National Lawyers Guild’s National Immigration Project. “Palantir lives on that secrecy,” she says.

    • Palantir has figured out how to make money by using algorithms to ascribe guilt to people, now they're looking for new customers




  • Civil Rights/Policing

    • Florida detectives attempted to use a dead suspect’s fingerprint to unlock his phone

      Victoria Armstrong, Phillip’s fiancé told the Times that she “felt so disrespected and violated,” but Largo police spokesman Lt. Randall Chaney says that the detectives didn’t need a search warrant, an assessment backed up by several legal experts, who said that it was “ghoulish,” but that constitutional protections against searches don’t apply to the deceased.



    • How the C.I.A. Is Waging an Influence Campaign to Get Its Next Director Confirmed


    • Brexit and the Windrush Britons
      The inhuman treatment of the “Windrush” immigrants contrasts starkly with the position of EU nationals under the Brexit transition agreement – and shines a light on how so-called “free movement” has operated to discriminate against British people (whether of Commonwealth origin or not).

      Ever since Britain accepted the EU concept of free movement, EU nationals have been able to bring in children, spouses, and the children of spouses, from anywhere in the world without having to jump through the hoops required of UK citizens.

      Now, with the transition agreement, EU nationals have further rights. In particular (Article 10), EU nationals resident in Britain before the end of the transition period will retain the right of permanent residence even if they have been absent from Britain for a period of more than five years.

      Yet the Windrush Britons have been told that any absence from the UK since 1988 lasting more than two years will disqualify them from residence. One, Junior Green, was told in 2009 by the Home Office that to update his passport he had to prove he had lived here for each of the previous 10 years.

      EU nationals seeking permanent residence in Britain are guaranteed a form that is “short, simple, user friendly”. The NTL (No Time Limit) form required of Windrush Britons is 21 pages long, with an additional 7 pages of guidance.

      For EU nationals, the transition agreement says that the UK “shall ensure that administrative procedures for applications are smooth, transparent and simple and that any unnecessary administrative burdens are avoided”. Contrast that with the obstacle course placed in the path of the Windrush Britons.

      And then there’s the cost. The NTL application costs €£229 for a single person and €£229 for each dependent. Plus a Biometric Resident Permit fee of €£19.20 per person. An EU national applying for settled status will pay “no more than the cost charged to British citizens for a UK passport” – €£85.

      What’s wrong about all this? Just about everything. The casual disregard for basic humanity shown by successive governments – Labour, Coalition and Conservative – is a disgrace.


    • World Bank recommends fewer regulations protecting workers

      The World Bank is proposing lower minimum wages and greater hiring and firing powers for employers as part of a wide-ranging deregulation of labour markets deemed necessary to prepare countries for the changing nature of work.

    • CIA Operative Gina Haspel Who Tortured, Ordered CIA Torture Tapes Destroyed, and Now Wants To Lead CIA Did Nothing Wrong, Says CIA


    • Southern Poverty Law Center Quietly Deleted List of ‘Anti-Muslim’ Extremists After Legal Threat
      The Southern Poverty Law Center has removed the “Field Guide to Anti-Muslim Extremists” from their website after attorneys for Maajid Nawaz, a practicing Muslim and prominent Islamic reformer, threatened legal action over his inclusion on the list.

      The report, which had been active on the SPLC’s website since it was published in December 2016, was intended to serve as a resource for journalists to identify promoters of hateful propaganda; but it included a number of liberal reformers such as Nawaz, a former Islamic extremist who has since dedicated his life to combating the hateful ideology.


    • Texas Charter School Asked Students to List 'Positive Aspects' of Slavery


      An enraged father was in disbelief when he saw his eighth grader's homework assignment. The student was given a paper with two columns to fill out by listing the "positive aspects" and the "negative aspects" of life as a slave.

      The worksheet was titled: "The Life of Slaves: A Balanced View."


    • Index on Disgrace
      The second half of my life has been a continual process of disillusionment with the institutions I used to respect. I suppose it started with the FCO, where I went from being Britain’s youngest ambassador to being sacked for opposing the use of intelligence from torture, at the same time having an insider view of the knowing lies about Iraqi WMD being used as a pretext for invasion and resource grab.




  • Internet Policy/Net Neutrality



    • Net neutrality repeal prompts Calif., other states to pursue their own laws

      The long-time hot-button issue — essentially about whether your Internet service provider should be able to block or slow legal traffic, or charge for faster delivery of some content — won't likely recede any time soon, even though a milestone nears in the national tussle about the topic.



    • Mapping the whole [I]nternet with Hilbert curves [iophk: "ipv4"]

      The problem with displaying IP addresses, is that they are a single dimensional, they only move up and down, however humans are not good at looking at a large amount of single dimensional points. So there has to be a way to fill a 2 dimensional space that can also help the structure of the graph stay in shape.



    • AT&T, Verizon Face U.S. Probe Over Mobile Technology

      Apple Inc., a pioneer in the eSIM technology that makes switching easier, was joined by other equipment makers in complaining to the government about the carriers’ practices, two other people with knowledge of the matter said. The department issued demands to the companies and the GSMA, a mobile industry standards group, for information on possible collusion, said the people, who asked not to be named because the matter isn’t public.





  • Intellectual Monopolies



    • Copyrights



      • Fearless Girl to be moved due to ... viability concerns
        A little over a year ago The IPKat reported that Italian-born sculptor Arturo Di Modica, ie the author of the well-known Charging Bull in Manhattan's Financial District, intended to file a formal complaint with the Office of the New York City Mayor over the decision of the latter to allow the positioning (and stay for a few months) of Kristen Visbal's Fearless Girl right just opposite the famous bull.

        Initially an advertisement for an index fund which comprises gender diverse companies that have a higher percentage of women among their senior leadership, Fearless Girl has become a popular sight in Manhattan.

        The reason why Di Modica was unhappy about the positioning of Fearless Girl is explained in his complaint to the Mayor.

        His sculpture was meant to symbolize, initially, the 'strength and power of the American people and, then (after it was moved to its current location), the 'hope of the American people for the future'.

        The meaning has arguably changed since the arrival of Fearless Girl. According to Di Modica, contrasted with the soft, altruistic characteristics of the bronze girl, Charging Bull now appears menacing and aggressive.


      • Steam Censors MEGA.nz Links in Chats and Forum Posts

        Steam is actively preventing users from sharing links to the cloud-hosting service MEGA. The URLs are automatically stripped from forum posts and even private chats are censored. According to Valve, Mega links are potentially malicious, something the New Zealand company actively disputes.



      • Russia Blacklists 250 Pirate Sites For Displaying Gambling Ads

        Russia has found a creative way of taking down pirates by using old legislation. Online gambling is forbidden in the country so sites carrying such advertising are breaking the law. Around 250 pirate sites were spotted carrying gambling ads by tax authorities who ordered telecoms watchdog Rozcomnadzor to have them all blocked at the ISP level.









Recent Techrights' Posts

Comparing U.E.F.I. to B.I.O.S. (Bloat and Insecurity to K.I.S.S.)
By Sami Tikkanen
New 'Slides' From Stallman Support (stallmansupport.org) Site
"In celebration of RMS's birthday, we've been playing a bit. We extracted some quotes from the various articles, comments, letters, writings, etc. and put them in the form of a slideshow in the home page."
Thailand: GNU/Linux Up to 6% of Desktops/Laptops, According to statCounter
Desktop Operating System Market Share Thailand
António Campinos is Still 'The Fucking President' (in His Own Words) After a Fake 'Election' in 2022 (He Bribed All the Voters to Keep His Seat)
António Campinos and the Administrative Council, whose delegates he clearly bribed with EPO budget in exchange for votes
Adrian von Bidder, homeworking & Debian unexplained deaths
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
 
GNOME GUADEC 2022 & Debian Albanian women trafficked to Mexico?
Reprinted with permission from the Free Software Fellowship
Sainsbury's: It Takes Us Up to Two Days to Respond to Customers Upon Escalation (and Sometimes Even More Than Two Days)
It not only does groceries but also many other things, even banking
People Don't Just Kill Themselves (Same for Other Animals)
And recent reports about Boeing whistleblower John Barnett
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Monday, March 18, 2024
IRC logs for Monday, March 18, 2024
Suicide Cluster Cover-up tactics & Debian exposed
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Gemini Links 19/03/2024: A Society That Lost Focus and Abandoning Social Control Media
Links for the day
Matthias Kirschner, FSFE: Plagiarism & Child labour in YH4F
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Linux Foundation Boasting About Being Connected to Bill Gates
Examples of boasting about the association
Alexandre Oliva's Article on Monstering Cults
"I'm told an earlier draft version of this post got published elsewhere. Please consider this IMHO improved version instead."
[Meme] 'Russian' Elections in Munich (Bavaria, Germany)
fake elections
Sainsbury's to Techrights: Yes, Our Web Site Broke Down, But We Cannot Say Which Part or Why
Windows TCO?
Plagiarism: Axel Beckert (ETH Zurich) & Debian Developer list hacking
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Links 18/03/2024: Putin Cements Power
Links for the day
Flashback 2003: Debian has always had a toxic culture
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Sainsbury’s Epic Downtime Seems to be Microsoft's Fault and Might Even Constitute a Data Breach (Legal Liability)
one of Britain's largest groceries (and beyond) chains
[Meme] You Know You're Winning the Argument When...
EPO management starts cursing at everybody (which is what's happening)
Catspaw With Attitude
The posts "they" complain about merely point out the facts about this harassment and doxing
'Clown Computing' Businesses Are Waning and the Same Will Happen to 'G.A.I.' Businesses (the 'Hey Hi' Fame)
decrease in "HEY HI" (AI) hype
Free Software Needs Watchdogs, Too
Gentle lapdogs prevent self-regulation and transparency
Matthias Kirschner, FSFE analogous to identity fraud
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Gemini Links 18/03/2024: LLM Inference and Can We Survive Technology?
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Sunday, March 17, 2024
IRC logs for Sunday, March 17, 2024
Links 17/03/2024: Microsoft Windows Shoves Ads Into Third-Party Software, More Countries Explore TikTok Ban
Links for the day
Molly Russell suicide & Debian Frans Pop, Lucy Wayland, social media deaths
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Our Plans for Spring
Later this year we turn 18 and a few months from now our IRC community turns 16
Open Invention Network (OIN) Fails to Explain If Linux is Safe From Microsoft's Software Patent Royalties (Charges)
Keith Bergelt has not replied to queries on this very important matter
RedHat.com, Brought to You by Microsoft Staff
This is totally normal, right?
USPTO Corruption: People Who Don't Use Microsoft Will Be Penalised ~$400 for Each Patent Filing
Not joking!
The Hobbyists of Mozilla, Where the CEO is a Bigger Liability Than All Liabilities Combined
the hobbyist in chief earns much more than colleagues, to say the least; the number quadrupled in a matter of years
Jim Zemlin Says Linux Foundation Should Combat Fraud Together With the Gates Foundation. Maybe They Should Start With Jim's Wife.
There's a class action lawsuit for securities fraud
Not About Linux at All!
nobody bothers with the site anymore; it's marketing, and now even Linux
Links 17/03/2024: Abuses Against Human Rights, Tesla Settlement (and Crash)
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Saturday, March 16, 2024
IRC logs for Saturday, March 16, 2024
Under Taliban, GNU/Linux Share Nearly Doubled in Afghanistan, Windows Sank From About 90% to 68.5%
Suffice to say, we're not meaning to imply Taliban is "good"
Debian aggression: woman asked about her profession
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Gemini Links 17/03/2024: Winter Can't Hurt Us Anymore and Playstation Plus
Links for the day