Bonum Certa Men Certa

2019 Was a Strong Year for Techrights

The President of FFII has helped activism against software patents in Europe. He speaks at CCC in two hours.

FFII activism



Summary: Alliances with sites and a relationship of trust with various sources have helped us produce important stories throughout this year

THE Web site Techrights bears a motto/byline inspired or suggested by Richard Stallman almost a decade ago. "Free Software Sentry – watching and reporting maneuvers of those threatened by software freedom" it says. Stallman was inspired by a publication of Jehovah's Witnesses if I still remember this correctly (the term "Sentry" in particular). Techrights basically watches and reports on threats to software freedom and if that freedom is under attack, then it's only likely that interest will grow. Techrights is of course cheering for freedom (and for rights; it's even in the site's name), but when things go awry we try to be objective about it. We remain honest and totally upfront. We don't 'perfume' things. There's no point if this reduces trust, which is our core asset other than independence (nobody can phone us and successfully threaten us into censoring a story).



"In the earlier days of this site the articles were put together a lot more quickly and they lacked depth."The number of people involved in Techrights -- both publicly and behind the scenes -- is much greater than it has ever been. People contribute not only stories but also code and other input. We generally do investigations and we carefully conduct research that can take many hours. We break (as in exclusively cover) many stories and we try to give a voice to unique angles; that’s the priority right now; it's about quality and accuracy, not quantity. In the earlier days of this site the articles were put together a lot more quickly and they lacked depth. But we're improving over time. Sources increase in number; not only European Patent Office (EPO) sources but also Microsoft sources. Without their leaks and tips we'd have not much to report that's actually new and unique.

"Without their leaks and tips we'd have not much to report that's actually new and unique."Our IRC channels are growing and improving. Around Christmastime we improved their public presentation (as in published logs) and we're still working on that. We're tweaking things with the aim of making our operations easier to watch, follow, and participate in. We're as welcoming as ever, we're still boasting a 100% source protection record, and we're well connected to sites with shared goals, broadening our reach and the ability to produce stories, campaigns etc. In a few hours from now the President of FFII will give a CCC talk about UPC and software patents.

We're very conscious of the dangers (or risk) associated with smear/whisper campaigns, including ridiculous ad hominem attacks that go something along the lines of, "I ignore what this site says because I dislike the font or the colours or [enter something about Russia!]"

"In a few hours from now the President of FFII will give a CCC talk about UPC and software patents."People who are dismissive of things we publish need to put together an argument of substance, not personal insults. Thankfully, we barely ever see complaints of substance about things we publish. The most ludicrous and outlandish smears we saw this year insinuated that we're somehow "like Trump" -- a claim so easily refuted by anything we publish every single day.

A couple of days ago we set up our self-hosted Git server, which we might very soon make public.

Recent Techrights' Posts

Representing and Speaking for Animals
If I ever choose to take this matter to tribunal with animals-centric NGOs on my side, it'll get some press coverage for sure
Slopwatch: Fake Articles About "Linux", Slop Images in VentureBeat, Linux Foundation Spam Made With LLM Slop and Slop Images
The only relief or upside - if any exists - is that the pace of slop was down a bit this week
Richard Stallman (RMS) Talk in Ethereum Cypherpunk Congress Will be Remote
This past week RMS received lots of accolades online
 
Links 29/08/2025: Lisa Cook Sues Convicted Felon and Backdoor Mandate in UK Resisted
Links for the day
Links 29/08/2025: Arti 1.5.0, War on Public Health (CDC), and Slop 'Bros' Made to Pay for Their Mass Plagiarism
Links for the day
No, 4Chan is Not Fighting for You by Lawyering Up Against Ofcom (UK)
Don't mistake proto-fascists for people who "fight for you". They don't.
Downlplaying the Impact of "UEFI 9/11" is a Losing Strategy
we won't publish much whilst on holiday
In Many Places in the World Vista 11 "Market Share" is Going Down, Not Up
In some countries Windows is already down to third place or lower
More Microsoft-Connected Layoffs, at Least Third Time This Month! (Also Another Death on Campus)
Microsoft as a "gaming" company is where studios, projects, games, and even developers come to die
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Thursday, August 28, 2025
IRC logs for Thursday, August 28, 2025
Gemini Links 29/08/2025: Poems, Games, and Java 25 Performance
Links for the day
Links 28/08/2025: Greenland 'Interferences' by US and Skinnerboxes to Get Banned in Korean Schools
Links for the day
The Register MS (Run by Microsoft Operatives): Free Software is Putin, Hence Evil and Dangerous
The current editor in chief is an American Microsofter, the previous one went to work for Google (US)
Links 28/08/2025: Chatbots Distorting/Fabricating History and Also Driving Suicide
Links for the day
Gemini Links 28/08/2025: Back in Japan and Why "Hacker News" Sucks
Links for the day
A Much-Needed Wake-up Call to Users of Wordpress.com, Blogspot, Substack and All Those Other Outsourced (and Centralised) Platforms
There are several lessons in there
The UEFI 9/11 - Part II - Campaign of Censorship and Defamation Against Critics
In dictatorships, humour serves an important role. It's tragic.
Open Source Initiative (OSI) Resists Software Freedom, Even by Attacking Its Own
The OSI is compromised
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, August 27, 2025
IRC logs for Wednesday, August 27, 2025
Slopwatch: linuxsecurity.com, Slopfarms in Google News, and More
Some readers of ours end up sending us links that are from slopfarms, not realising those are slopfarms
Gemini Links 27/08/2025: Katrina Memories and Google Versus Software Freedom
Links for the day
Links 27/08/2025: Police Against Media Freedom in the UK, Energy-Hungry Countries Targeted by China
Links for the day
Microsoft Windows Fell to All-Time Lows in Egypt This Summer, Vista 11 Adoption Decreases While GNU/Linux Increases
Vista 11 is going down rather than up
Links 27/08/2025: Microsoft Demoralises Staff With Slop Demands, Leaving Mastodon Explained
Links for the day
12 Hours Ago The Register MS Published a Fake (Paid-for) Article, But This One for a Change Did Not Promote a Ponzi Scheme
There are also Free software alternatives, but they don't pay The Register MS for "synthetic" so-called 'journalism'
More People Need to Call Out and Put a Stop to Serial Sloppers
Unless slopfarms are stopped, people will read and share Microsoft propaganda made by chatbots
Gemini Links 27/08/2025: Headphones and Tartarus
Links for the day
Morale at Microsoft is Terrible (Proprietary Plagiarism Machines Have No Future, LLM Slop is a Bubble)
The slop sceptics/critics are going to have lots of "told you so" moments
GNOME "governance issues, staff reduction, etc." amidst Albanian whistleblowing and women trafficking
Notice the connection to Software Freedom Conservancy (SFC) and GNOME
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, August 26, 2025
IRC logs for Tuesday, August 26, 2025