Bonum Certa Men Certa

Speaking Out for the Many (Against the Few Who Control Most of the Mass Media)

Mass media
Mass media



Summary: A look back at (almost) 15 years of Techrights and the function it has been serving since its genesis in 2006

THE Web site Techrights will have turned 15 later in 2021 (when Tux Machines turned 15 we threw a little party). We've actually made it that long/far. Not many sites remain active and also stay online for that long. The site is vast and we're soon migrating to a new container-based setup (today we enhanced speed/performance). Days ago we moved to a different datecentre due to a death of someone 4 years my junior (tragic car accident). In IPFS and WWW we have lots of information (originating in Techrights IRC and other sources), but sometimes it's intentionally unclear who said what, especially when it comes to EPO articles. Techrights is not authored by a single person; there are also leakers and whistleblowers. It's important to ensure the site stays online; Groklaw perished (offline for good apparently) this past October, along with lots of valuable information and important articles/comments/timelines (history of UNIX for instance). History will be distorted if honest sites perish, only to be replaced by PR campaigns of the 'victors' (oppressors such as Benoît Battistelli and António Campinos).



At the moment, many authors rely on the site to highlight things not addressed/exposed anywhere else. We're a bit of a 'censorship resistance machine'. People come to us with suppressed information or information that, if published, puts them at risk.

"At the moment, many authors rely on the site to highlight things not addressed/exposed anywhere else. We're a bit of a 'censorship resistance machine'."It's the information that's important (even if crudely put at times). We'll publish a lot more EPO leaks some time soon. The site is widely respected among EPO workers, who still recall speeches Richard Stallman (RMS) gave at their protests and strikes. Some EPO insiders tell me that they learn about Free software in Techrights and agree on almost everything... though they read the site for the EPO articles (at least originally). Until a year or two ago we focused on patents. Focus shifted because of the slow-progressing coup (Linux Foundation, OSI, FSF and more), accelerated a great deal at the FSF/GNOME/SFC after the August 2019 'Gates-gate' at MIT (which I had warned Stallman about, privately, even BEFORE the aggressive push to resign; in hindsight I was correct). Many people lost sight of the original scandals, including Bill Gates crimes; I know a thing or two about how PR agencies think and methods for shifting public attention (EPO management does this a lot and it's so shallow that EPO workers can see it; the EPO autocrats flooded the media before the December 15th strike, organised by SUEPO, their staff union).

What unifies many people who follow Techrights is interest in the human rights aspects of technology and science. Mainstream media doesn't cover that often enough. It boils down mostly to ideology and philosophy, I suspect way beyond technology itself (as technology relates to many other things in life/the world). The 'hacker culture' has some political and scientific roots to it. I think equivalents existed before Enlightenment (Dark Ages restricted practice and thinking). But I digress...

Techrights is a multi-author site. Not everything in there is endorsed by either myself or the site (unless my name is shown on the right, in which case I wrote it myself). Shockingly enough the site was being portrayed as the very opposite of what it is. I say "shockingly", but actually I often joke with people (I've joked about this for years now!) and explain that whatever I say can be totally twisted. M. Garrett (now at Google; Torvalds hates his guts for his coup attempts) has been 'parking' in our IRC channels for months now, having publicly described the site as pro-rape or something ludicrous like that (Microsoft propagandists "liked" those tweets of his). I guess it's unsurprising; such distortions should be expected. Anyone who defends the views of RMS (never mind RMS himself) is a target. We have seen a certain someone from Salesforce saying so more explicitly. The 'coup' won't be complete until the message/ideas die...

"What unifies many people who follow Techrights is interest in the human rights aspects of technology and science."And no... it's not about women. It's about the perceptions which have been spreading online about monopolies, proprietary software etc. (think of #RMSWasRight and foresight along those lines)

About 15 years ago I think I read about CompTIA attacking RMS over his views (something he had said about proprietary software being malicious). We know who sponsors CompTIA. These attacks from CompTIA were counterproductive as they only caused me to pay closer attention to the message they were attacking.

The articles posted here are still relatively diverse (in the opinion sense). If we only ever published things everyone can agree with, we'd be useless. If we suppressed legitimate views -- however controversial (but still true) -- people would accuse me of being somewhat of a tyrant. Even independent newspapers occasionally publish things they neither agree with nor wrote.

"We need to get accustomed to this simple idea that good people who blow the whistle (or simply say the truth about the status quo) will come under attack."Planet Debian Uncensored (and its sister sites) may have a tone different from mine and many Nazi analogies I never wrapped my head around (cannot; I think too many things in this world are being compared to Nazis). Some articles from there I did not repost and in some cases I left out images that were not suitable for our audience. Techrights tries to help combat censorship; all who are longtime contributors to Free software and have facts on their side deserve a voice. Daniel Pocock is a good guy. He was betrayed in a very major way. He has many legitimate grievances and good reasons to be upset. He's very supportive of Free software (more than most posers who only claim to support it, possibly while doing the opposite). A lot of what's said about him is patently false.

We need to get accustomed to this simple idea that good people who blow the whistle (or simply say the truth about the status quo) will come under attack. We need to prepare to reject pointless and baseless attacks on their characters/names.

Recent Techrights' Posts

Our Three Lawsuits Against Microsofters Are About to Become a Lot More Relevant to GNU/Linux
The Master will easily understand why Garrett has been attacking me since 2012
Slop Is Not Intelligence and It Does Not Enhance Productivity
Like voice dictation, which cannot tell the difference between "sheet" and "shit"
 
The Free Software Foundation (FSF) Has a New Slogan for Its 40th Anniversary
The freedoms are what's most important
Microsoft is Trying to "Pull a Nokia" on GNU/Linux as Desktop/Laptop Platform
We all remember that rather well, don't we?
LLM Slopfarms gbhackers.com, "Cyber Press" and CyberSecurityNews Are Drowning Google News (and Shame on Google for Feeding and Facilitating Them)
All are run by the same people
Links 23/07/2025: Droplets GUI Patent Monopoly Challenge, Nokia Leverages Illegal Patent Court Against Rivals
Links for the day
Gemini Links 23/07/2025: Community in Geminispace and Challenges With Old Computers
Links for the day
Links 23/07/2025: Slop Patents Tackled, Slop Copyright Misuses Tackled by Politicians
Links for the day
Links 23/07/2025: Retreating From Transparency on Jeffrey Epstein, We No Longer Have Press Freedom
Links for the day
Gemini Links 23/07/2025: Piano and Food
Links for the day
New and Old
On Ageism in Tech
EPO Crimes Are Spreading to the British Court System
Society is now paying the price for failing to tackle crimes at the EPO
It's Time to Dump SharePoint and Here's What to Use Instead
Nextcloud, ownCloud, Bookstack, MediaWiki, and MediaGoblin
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, July 22, 2025
IRC logs for Tuesday, July 22, 2025
Brett Wilson LLP Has Gone Silent
Sometimes silence says more than nothing at all
Slopwatch: LinuxSecurity, Planet Ubuntu, and LinuxTechLab
some slopfarms show no remorse and they don't value their reputation at all
Links 23/07/2025: Book Bans, Storms, and Kangaroo Court for Patents Commits More Unlawful Acts of Overreach
Links for the day
Gemini Links 22/07/2025: Thinkpad and Pinephone
Links for the day
Links 22/07/2025: "Blog Restart" and Microsoft Clobbered by “ToolShell"
Links for the day
Global Warming and Global GAFAM Energy-Wasting
Burn more money (borrowed, loans), then hope the waste will somehow translate into profit?
No Compliance With the European Patent Convention (EPC) at the European Patent Office (EPO)
It's about preventing competition against this autocracy
Blue-Collar Trolls vs White-Collar Trolls
Examples of white-collar trolls
Apple Vision Pro Failed So Badly That Its Sales Are About 2,000 Times Smaller Than iPhone Sales
What's left for Apple to offer other than hype?
To Millions of People "Year of the Linux Desktop" Was Some Time in the 1990s (Bootable GNU/Linux as a Complete Operating System is Over 33 in Age)
In some sense, "year of the Linux desktop" was 33 years ago
Make No Assumptions (or Demands) About the Screen Resolution Used by Other People
There are usability aspects, aside from accessibility aspects
Why Wayland (and XWayland) Won't Solve the Key Problem It Proclaims to be Tackling (the Same Is True for Rust)
The problem isn't Wayland per se but the false promises and efforts to force everybody to move to it whilst insulting or demonising everyone who won't play along
They Don't Tell Us that 'Digitalisation' (Now Sold as "Hey Hi") Just Means Customers Become Unpaid Staff and Are Made Accountable
People are being conditioned to associate technology with something undesirable, at times even unbearable
Diplomatic Immunity Should Not Exist for Anybody
The EPO in its current form gradually 'normalises' the end of European democracy
Brett Wilson LLP Stopped Sending Me Papers When I Showed It had Sent Me Over 5 Kilograms of Legal Papers
A week ago we lodged our third lawsuit
Microsoft Mass Layoffs and Shutdowns Became the New Normal at Microsoft
Microsoft mass layoffs became a topic of everyday media coverage since May
Amazon Web Services (AWS) Has Layoffs and Microsoft Gaming/Entertainment Division Has an Uncertain Future
it's good to see all those horrible things crashing and burning
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Monday, July 21, 2025
IRC logs for Monday, July 21, 2025
FSF "Raised Almost $139,000 During This Summer Campaign"
"Thank you for making a stand against dystopia!"
Gemini Links 22/07/2025: VPS Exploited and Fear of View
Links for the day
LLM Bots vs Techrights
Slows things down a bit
New Publication Sheds Lights on Abuse of Workers at the European Patent Office (EPO)
Put in simple terms, they're killing the Office, harming remaining staff, try to hire rubber-stampers
Links 21/07/2025: Hardware, Health, and Imperialism
Links for the day
Gemini Links 21/07/2025: "When Buying Isn't Owning" and "CMS Special Edition"
Links for the day
Links 21/07/2025: Indie Web and Toxic Politics
Links for the day
[Meme] Microsoft Lawyers Throwing Stones in Glass Houses
threatened me with bankruptcy
Google "AI Overview" is Not AI and Not Overview
do not be misled; what Google does isn't smart, it's just ripping off the sites it already crawled for as long as 27 years
Making the Case to Dump Microsoft and GAFAM for National and Digital Sovereignty
"Sovereignty is difficult"
The Tactics of the Opposition (Microsoft Lunduke): Associate With K00ks, Throw in Vaccines to Muddy the Water
Who stands to gain from this?
Europe's Second-Largest Institution (EPO) and Largest Patent Monopoly Office Needs More Transparency, Not Less Transparency
In the EPO, what good are elections when one candidate literally bribes all the voters?
How Not to Report News About Microsoft
This pattern of misreporting is so widespread that it's hard to believe it's not intentional
Computer Science is Under Attack, They Want Everyone to be a Consumer
If people can no longer acquire Computer Science education and real Computer Science experience, they will not know how to control their own digital destiny or emancipate the very same universities that now control the syllabus and instead of teaching Computer Science encourage the outsourcing of systems
The Best Tools Are the Simplest Tools
There's a hidden message here about the merits of sticking with X
Ofcom Online Safety Group Speaks of Protecting Women Online, Will Brett Wilson LLP Ever Listen?
They've essentially became like the Taliban's "burka police"
Social Control Media Relies on Advertisers, So It'll Always Be Hostile Towards Free Software
Sales, sales, sales
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Sunday, July 20, 2025
IRC logs for Sunday, July 20, 2025
Fragmentation of Data
Life is too short to "hoard" data
In Defence of "Spinning Rust"
Just because something is "old" (or older) doesn't mean it ought to become extinct
Using Free Software to Prepare Legal Documents
LibreOffice is openly complaining about OOXML as an obstacle
Tech and Technology Are Not the Same Anymore
"Are you into tech, Sir?"
Our Articles About SLAPPs Receive Recognition and Interest
This week we shall continue writing about the 3 lawsuits we filed