Bonum Certa Men Certa

First I Came

Why Did Amazon Web Services Shut Down WikiLeaks?
Why Did Amazon Web Services Shut Down WikiLeaks? Because Amazon doesn't care about Wikileaks, and moreover it does not wish to help expose the crimes of the rich



Summary: Time after time people will be reminded -- or learn the hard way -- that self reliance and avoidance of disappointment typically requires self-hosting, proper standards, free software, and simplicity, not outsourcing, large frameworks, and other kinds of unnecessary complexity

First I came to ActiveX But Microsoft lost the Web wars, so my Web site stopped working

Then I came to Flash But it was a security dumpster fire and total catastrophe, so it's abandonware now

Then I came to AMP But it didn't accomplish anything useful, except spying by Google

Then I came to ClownFlare But my Web site became unavailable at times, due to their systems, not mine

Then I came to Twitter But my account got banned, for mentioning where Elvis Presley died

Then I created a YouTube channel But it turned out my subscribers could no longer see my videos

Then I joined a large IRC network But my channel was taken over by its true masters

Then I hosted on Amazon But it turned out I was just a transient tenant to them

Then I created a GitHub account But it turned out that Microsoft could take it down without notice or due process

Then I joined Google+ But I didn't know I'd soon lose all my "friends"

Then I joined the Fediverse But it only worked OK until the site shut down

Then I got a Chromebook But everything I bought it for became unavailable after 24 months of system updates

Then I bought some music But it stopped working when they shut down the DRM servers

Then I wrote in Blogspot But the interface suddenly changed, without first consulting me

Then I donated to the Open Source Initiative But later I realised they were sending my money to Microsoft

Then I bought a fitness tracker But instead of improving my health it sold my data

Then I decided to read e-books But Bezos decided to remotely delete some of them

Then I bought a printer to print my e-books But HP remotely controlled my printer to curtail 'unauthorised' ink

Then I downloaded Chrome But it turned out Chrome was downloading and uploading my data

Then I bought a car But later it turned out it came with listening devices I was unable to remove or disconnect

And then I bought a smartphone But it turned out the only intelligent thing about it is the intelligence agencies

Then I downloaded GNU/Linux But my ISP sent me threats for that

Recent Techrights' Posts

The Slop Presumption Rule
Tainting oneself can take one day
August 2026 Microsoft Layoffs Are "Secret Layoffs" or "Silent Layoffs"
It's all about secrecy, isn't it?
Newer Not Better: Treadmill Updates Cause Problems
after 2 years the un-updated machines still fine
SLAPP Censorship - Part 136 Out of 200: Lawyers That Get Paid to Mess About
They were already outnumbered and understaffed
 
Why Techrights Will Still be Active a Decade From Now
Techrights will carry on for many years to come
We Are Witnessing the End of IBM
IBM cannot find growth by moving downwards, by lowering standards
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Saturday, August 01, 2026
IRC logs for Saturday, August 01, 2026
Gemini Links 02/08/2026: Older Books, Esperanto Music History, and Slop Making Things Worse
Links for the day
Sharing and Empathy
Be more like Stallman, not Linus
Fedora 'Community' Became 100% IBM Staff, Drawing Up Policies Like CoC and CoI (Where the IBM is Excepted From Conflict of Interest Policies)
IBM has in effect killed Fedora
Gemini Links 01/08/2026: Planner Season is Upon Us, Slop "Apocalypse", and USENET
Links for the day
Cuts at IBM, Allegedly More Shutdowns to Come, CEO Visits Complicit Media to Promote Lies and Products That Will Never Exist (Misleading Shareholders)
IBM is collapsing
Links 01/08/2026: GAFAM Falling Deep Into Trillion in (Secret) Debt to Keep the Slop Bubble From Popping Already, Anger Over "FIFA’s World Cup Privatisation Plan"
Links for the day
The Cyber Show on the Slop Bubble
new article about the implosion of the slop bubble
Links 01/08/2026: New York Times Trying to Inflate the Slop Pyramid Scheme (at Cost to Its Own Reputation) and "Iran Appears to Be Blasting Amazon Data Centers Off the Map"
Links for the day
Positive Political Momentum
Daniel Pocock is taken seriously by many people who contact us privately
Google "AI" is Plagiarism, the Case of Richard Stallman (RMS)
Why would anyone choose LLM slop over the originals, curated and fact-checked by domain experts?
Explaining That Software Patents Are Neither Legal Nor Desirable
Many of our readers work in the legal sector
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Friday, July 31, 2026
IRC logs for Friday, July 31, 2026
Gemini Links 01/08/2026: Retirement, Bike Trips, Quake Stuff, Usenet Reborn
Links for the day
Links 31/07/2026: Microsoft Now Says Slop is Bad (LinkedIn Cracks Down on It), LinkedIn Narrows Down Size (No Expansion)
Links for the day
European Patent Office (EPO) Series: From Alicante to Munich: Another Smooth Ride
Campinos is intent on transforming what was originally envisaged as a temporary public office into his own permanent personal feather-bed
Daniel Pocock and the Important Observation About Threats of Cult-Like Behaviours (No Rationality, No Reason, Just "Mob Rule")
It's a threat to Europe's sovereignty
The "PIP Parade" of IBM's Lousy Management, Which Said "Blockchain" Was the Future
In a healthy company such a CEO would be punished for utterly wrong visions and predictions. Not at IBM...
SLAPP Censorship - Part 135 Out of 200: Limited Liability Partnership (LLP) That Does Not Disclose Financial Activities Before August
It certainly looks like they keep losing the remaining women that still exist in the firm
Links 31/07/2026: "Climate Cover-Up Continues" and Pesticides "Cook the Planet"
Links for the day
Datacentre 'Boom' Sceptics Aren't Luddites, They Recognise a Threat to Human Survival (Not Limited to Climate Change)
Archaeologists very well know that no species will survive forever
Microsoft's Claims Are Based on a Big Lie
the bubble is coming to its hard limits
Don't Lose Sight of the Impact of "End of 10" (Vista 10)
GNU/Linux has taken off fast
Microsoft's Debt Continues to Steadily Increase, Not Counting Hundreds of Billions in Secret/Hidden Debt
The mass layoffs will carry on, maybe labelled LITE
IBM is Circling Down the Drain, the 'Growth' Comes From Beancounting Tricks and Salary Cuts
IBM was down 2.17% yesterday
Microsoft's "Headcount" Distracts From How Big a Cull It Had This Month
It also speaks of numbers "[a]s of June 30" though the "buyouts" were effective July 1 and since then well over 10,000 workers have vanished
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Thursday, July 30, 2026
IRC logs for Thursday, July 30, 2026
Gemini Links 31/07/2026: Music, Journaling, and Longing
Links for the day