Bonum Certa Men Certa

Links 24/03/2023: Social Control Media Bans Advancing



  • GNU/Linux

    • Desktop/Laptop

      • Unix MenSwitching To Linux Mint: The Benefits and Drawbacks

        Deciding to spend hundreds of dollars on new hardware – be it a laptop or a desktop component – is always a tough call. You might spend hours considering your options and working out the budget.

        But it’s also natural to think about all the money you spent buying, upgrading, and maintaining your current setup. Your desktop or laptop might not be broken. Rather, it might not be performing as well as you think it should.

        Installing a Linux distro like Mint is an excellent way to give older hardware new life. It’s common for Windows and macOS power users to switch to Linux to get a few more years of reliable use out of their machine.

      • GamingOnLinuxXE Gen 2 Linux Laptop announced by Kubuntu Focus

        Kubuntu Focus have announced their next laptop with the XE Gen 2, here's the details on what's new and improved. The 14 inch laptop sounds like a pretty sweet deal.

      • GamingOnLinuxFramework reveal new laptop with modular graphics, plus an AMD Ryzen model

        Framework Computer Inc have done it again! They've announced multiple big exciting things for their modular laptops today. Here's what's coming.

    • Server

      • UbuntuThe Indico software operator is now available to optimise event management

        Communities naturally need to meet, come together, have conversations, or exchange news. Communities like to see the people behind the work, hear about experiences first hand and meet new contacts. As the world recovers from the COVID-19 pandemic,€  we are seeing a rising number of in-person events coming back.

        However, those who have organised events know it is a lot of work. And if the number of attendees grows beyond a dozen, it is challenging to manage registrations, speakers, the agenda, and web site content just with spreadsheets. Luckily, there are tools that make this easier.€ 

    • Graphics Stack

    • Instructionals/Technical

      • Linux HandbookFixing 'Umount Target is Busy' Error in Linux

        Unmounting disks in the Linux command line is not complicated. All you have to do is to use the umount command...

      • University of TorontoSSD block discard in practice on Linux systems

        I'll put the summary up front. If you have SSD based systems installed with a reasonably modern Linux, it's pretty likely that they are quietly automatically discarding blocks from your SSDs on a regular basis. This is probably true even if you use software RAID mirrors (despite the potential problem RAID has with discarding blocks).

      • Trend OceansHow to Install the Latest VirtualBox 7.0 on Ubuntu 22.04

        It is very simple to install the latest release of Oracle VirtualBox on your Ubuntu Jammy Jellyfish (22.04) by following the instructions below..

    • Games

  • Distributions and Operating Systems

  • Free, Libre, and Open Source Software

    • OpenSource.comOpen source tools for mind mapping

      In today's world and social media, many people don't have the patience to read lengthy textual content. Visuals are a great way to capture your audience's attention span.

      Did you know that research at 3M Corporation concluded that visuals are processed 60,000 times faster than text? Visuals are more impactful than words and enhance creative thinking and memory.

    • OpenSource.comOpen source maps and open data help humanitarian response

      Every day people use "open" to have an impact in their world. The Türkiye and Syria Earthquake Response includes over 9,000 people editing OpenStreetMap (OSM), partners providing open licensed satellite imagery, people generating and using open data, all collaborating across open source tools, like the Tasking Manager. Having the most up-to-date and accurate map data helps humanitarian organizations and civil societies navigate the disaster areas, coordinate response, and conduct damage assessments. The OSM data is shared on the Humanitarian Data Exchange and is used to develop information management (IM) products for decision-makers. Some of the examples of information products are shared on these two open source built platforms: The Deep and the IFRC GO platform. Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team (HOT) and the global OSM community are integral by connecting local communities and humanitarian organizations to urgent information.

      A message sent by Dr Çevik, a Turkish surgeon treating people injured by the earthquake in Turkey, said (translated):

      OpenStreetMap and Organic Maps, a free privacy-focused fork of Maps.Me, were used in conjunction for localized response.

      Dr. Uçum from KahramanmaraÅŸ talking about how maps from OSM data have helped logistics and operations in the camps.€ The maps were subsequently used by local authorities to support planning and infrastructure in the camp site.€ 

    • Torrent FreakCloudstream Takes Site and Code Offline in Response to Hollywood Complaint [Ed: Microsoft censoring and deplatforming Free software]

      The operator of popular pirate streaming app Cloudstream has voluntarily taken down its code and disabled its website. The developer took action after the Motion Picture Association targeted the open-source Android app in a complaint filed at GitHub. The MPA hasn't contacted the developer directly but the Hollywood group considers Cloudstream a prime enforcement target.

    • The Register UKChatGPT, how did you get here? It was a long journey through open source AI [Ed: Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols is openwashing Microsoft again, plus he gives publicity to a proprietary, overhyped, spying chaffbot that distracts from mass layoffs at Microsoft]
    • Web Browsers/Web Servers

      • Tim KadlecHealth Benefits of Browser Diversity

        There are increasingly loud rumblings that Apple will be allowing other browser engines to be used on iOS, and all I can say is it’s about time.

    • Programming/Development

      • Yoshua WuytsLinearity and Control

        A week ago Niko published a post on linear types, introducing the idea of "must move" types, which he suggested could be implemented through some form of ?Drop bound. It's far from the first time linear types have come up. Five years ago Gankra also published a post on linear types, explaining what they are and why they're hard to get right.

        In this post I want to build on these two posts; expanding on what linear types are, why they're useful, how they would interact with Rust, and share a novel effect-based design — which unlike many previous attempts would preserve our ability to implement and use destructors.

      • Filippo ValsordaPlanning Go 1.21 Cryptography Work

        This is the planning overview for the Go 1.21 release. There is some exciting API work going on, as well as some satisfying follow-ups on stuff that landed in Go 1.20.

        Now is a very good time to provide feedback (and you can do that by just replying to this if you’re reading it in your inbox)! You can also take a look at my public GitHub Projects planning board.

      • Volodymyr GubarkovFascination of AWK

        AWK is a delightful mini-language almost unchanged for decades.

        A bare minimum of features includes strings, numbers, functions, associative arrays, line-by-line I/O and shell invocation. Perhaps, if it had fewer features, it would be impossible to program in it at all.

        There is an opinion that AWK is not suitable for writing serious programs. Even Brian Kernighan (the K in AWK) is convinced that his language is only good for small one-liners. However, this does not prevent enthusiasts from creating rather voluminous programs in AWK: [...]

      • Python

        • Python SpeedSpeeding up text processing in Python (is hard)

          If you’re doing text or string manipulation in Python, what do you do if your code is too slow? Assuming your algorithm is reasonably efficient, the next step is to try faster alternatives to Python: a compiled extension.

          Unfortunately, this is harder than it seems. Some options don’t offer an easy path to optimizations, others are actually slower. To see this limitation in action, we’ll consider some alternatives: [...]

  • Leftovers

    • The NationWillis Reed Was the Best of New York City

      Hall of Fame New York Knicks center Willis Reed died earlier this week at the age of 80. With him, we lost a piece of the city where he became a legend.

    • HackadayOndol: Korean Underfloor Heating

      One of the many aspects of the modern world we often take for granted is the very technology that keeps our accommodation at a habitable temperature. Examples of this include centralized heating systems using hot-water circulation, or blown air ducted to multiple rooms from a central furnace. Certainly in Europe, once the Romans shipped out, and before the industrial revolution, we were pretty cold unless someone lit a fire in the room. Every room. But not in Korea. The Ondol heating principles have been used constantly from about 5000 BC to only a few decades ago, keeping your average Korean countryman nice and toasty.

    • Science

      • SparkFun ElectronicsGladys West and the Global Positioning System

        This is where Gladys West came into the picture. From the mid-1970s through the 1980s, West programmed an IBM 7030 Stretch computer to deliver increasingly precise calculations to model the shape of the Earth; "an ellipsoid with additional undulations, known as the geoid." These models accounted for the Earth's shape being distorted by gravitational, tidal, and other forces. Without these calculations, GPS technology would not be able to provide accurate location information, making it much less useful for navigation and other applications.

        Throughout her career, West was incredibly dedicated to her work. She was tasked with incredibly important and challenging projects, and she is said to have worked long hours optimizing processing algorithms, and cut her team's processing time down by half. She quite literally wrote the guide for the future of radar altimeter satellites by stressing the importance of increasing satellite geodesy's precision with improved technology (check it out to learn more about GEOSAT).

      • HackadayGrow Your Own Brain Electrodes

        Bioelectronics has been making great strides in recent years, but interfacing rigid electrical components with biological systems that are anything but can prove tricky. Researchers at the Laboratory for Organic Electronics (LOE) have found a way to bridge the gap with conductive gels. (via Linköping University)

    • Education

    • Hardware

      • HackadayCNC Intaglio-Esque Engraving

        Intaglio is an ancient carving technique for adding details to a workpiece, by manually removing material from a surface with only basic hand tools. If enough material depth is removed, the resulting piece can be used as a stamp, as was the case with rings, used to stamp the wax seals of verified letters. [Nicolas Tranchant] works in the jewelry industry, and wondered if they could press a CNC engraving machine into service to engrave gemstones in a more time-efficient manner than the manual carving methods of old.

      • HackadayEnormous Metal Sculpture Becomes An Antenna

        Those who have worked with high voltage know well enough that anything can be a conductor at high enough voltages. Similarly, amateur radio operators will jump at any chance to turn a random object into an antenna. Flag poles, gutters, and even streams of water can be turned into radiating elements for a transmitter, but the members of this amateur radio club were thinking a little bit bigger when they hooked up their transmitter to this giant sculpture.

      • HackadayPCIe For Hackers: Link Anatomy

        Last time, we looked over diffpairs, their basics, routing rules and the notorious tolerances of PCIe when it comes to diffpairs. Now, let’s take a look at the exact signals that make PCIe tick, as well as give you an overview of which sockets you can get PCIe on.

      • HackadayA Little Chess With Your Timepiece

        Some things remain classics, even after centuries, and chess and watches have certainly stood the test of time. [W&M Levsha] decided to combine them both in this “Chess Club” watch containing a miniature chess game frozen in time.

      • TalospaceNow your LLaMa is playing with POWER

        Now that the invasion of the large language models has occurred and we will all bow to our GPT overlords, I just generated a pull request to add additional POWER9-specific optimizations to llama.cpp, what all the cool kids are using for LLMs who aren't down with OpenAI. This repo moves quick but it's where the magic is happening if this is what you're into. It will work with both Alpaca and LLaMa models.

    • Health/Nutrition/Agriculture

      • Vice Media GroupThe Radioactive Legacy of Depleted Uranium Ammunition Comes to Ukraine

        Battlefields all over the world are rife with toxins, even near civilian locations. In Iraq, birth defects spike near U.S. military bases. There’s a lot of lead on the ground and the U.S. burned all its garbage in open air pits. People, both civilian and military personnel, who have lived and worked in these areas often have health problems.

        According to Weir, DU gets a lot of attention because people have a strong negative reaction to the idea of firing radioactive munitions. “Historically it has received more attention than other toxics because most people's reaction to the idea that we fire uranium darts around—without any obligations to clear them up—is WTF? And because of that intrinsic and common sense WTF, militaries who use it have to work hard on the PR—‘DU is weakly radioactive,’ ‘there's no evidence of civilian harm,’ etc.”

      • Silicon AngleUtah governor signs bill to make it difficult for teenagers to get on social media

        The regulations will mean that if minors do get consent, social media companies will be banned from running ads on their accounts. These services will also be off-limits to youngsters between 10:30 p.m. and 6:30 a.m. It will also mean that parents will have access to their children’s accounts – everything they post and message and respond to.

        Utah is the first state to take such action, although other U.S. states have mulled similar laws that will make social media less accessible for minors. Michael K. McKell, a Republican senator in Utah, in a press release said the state is worried about teens’ mental health. He cited statistics on depression, anxiety and suicidal ideation among the young, saying these things have “drastically increased.”

      • Common DreamsCancer Patients Challenge Biden Admin's Refusal to Lower Price of Lifesaving Drug

        Two days after President Joe Biden's administration rejected a petition asking federal regulators to use their authority to lower the astronomical price of a lifesaving prostate cancer drug developed entirely with public funds, petitioners on Thursday filed an administrative appeal.

      • Common DreamsCalls to 'Fight Back' Grow as Medicaid Cliff and GOP Attacks Threaten Coverage for Millions

        The rapidly approaching end of pandemic-related Medicaid coverage protections and growing GOP attacks on the program at the state and federal levels have left millions of vulnerable people worried about being thrown off their insurance—and potentially losing access to lifesaving care.

      • Common DreamsMedicare Advantage Industry 'Scare Tactics' and Lobbying Intensify Over Efforts to Curb Fraud

        In the wake of numerous studies and investigations detailing the staggering level of fraud in the privately run Medicare Advantage program, the Biden administration proposed a new rule aimed at cracking down on upcoding—a common industry practice whereby plans describe patients as sicker than they actually are to reap larger payments from the federal government.

      • Michael West MediaPromises, promises: how Labor and the Coalition stack up on election health pledges

        Stretched to breaking point by Covid, NSW’s public healthcare system is struggling to return to acceptable levels of staffing and efficiency. Labor is promising to remove the Coalition’s public services wages cap, while the Coalition promises to pour billions into attracting new healthcare workers. In the latest in his series on NSW election platforms. Callum Foote reports on health as voters go to the polls.

        NSW’s public health system is experiencing a healthcare worker exodus, with 12.6% of public nursing staff leaving in 2021-22 compared to 7% annually over the previous three years.

      • Common DreamsTlaib Revives Bill to Remove Medically Necessary Debt From Credit Reports

        Asserting that "undergoing a medically necessary procedure should never haunt someone financially," Democratic Michigan Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib on Wednesday reintroduced legislation to ban the collection of medical debt for two years and prohibit such indebtedness from appearing on patients' credit reports.

      • Deutsche WelleNigerian politician found guilty in organ harvesting plot

        A jury in London on Thursday delivered guilty verdicts against Nigerian senator Ike Ekweremadu, his wife, and a doctor for conspiring to exploit a young man from Lagos for his kidney.

        The verdict is the first under the UK's modern slavery laws to convict suspects of an organ-harvesting plot.

    • Proprietary

      • India TimesAccenture to lay off 19,000 people, 40% of its 7.38 lakh employees are in India

        Close to 40% of the company’s 7.38 lakh employees are in India. It is not clear yet how the current round of lay-offs will impact jobs in India.

      • Raspberry PiClippy gets smarter with Raspberry Pi and ChatGPT [Ed: On Pi Day, Raspberry Pi is promoting Microsoft spyware and proprietary garbage]

        Maker and companion robot enthusiast David Packman was the special guest star this past Pi Day on the Let’s Get Personal: Computing show, hosted by our friend Jim Bennett. David introduced the world to a ChatGPT-powered Clippy he has made with Raspberry Pi. We’re delighted to meet it.

      • Scoop News GroupDependence on Chinese-made tech threatens grid, experts warn

        The largely unknown amount of Chinese-made equipment within the North American grid is a threat to national security, experts warned during a Thursday congressional hearing that explored cybersecurity vulnerabilities within the electric sector.

        Witnesses from the Department of Energy and private sector testifying during the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee echoed a sentiment increasingly heard in Washington that a longstanding dependence on Chinese technologies and cheap components is now an alarming national security issues for U.S. critical infrastructure.

      • The Register UKMicrosoft admits Azure Resource Manager failed after code change

        "Between 02.41 UTC and 07.10 UTC on 23 Mar (sic) 2023 you may have experienced issues using Azure Resource Manager in West Europe when performing resource management operations. This would have impacted users of Azure Portal, Azure CLI, Azure PowerShell, as well as Azure services which depend upon ARM for their internal resource management operations."

      • Tom's HardwareBug Makes Windows 11 Snipping Tool Images Recoverable After Editing

        However, because the vulnerability existed for five years before it was discovered, cropped/edited images shared within the last five years are potentially at risk, depending on the platform they were shared to.

    • Security

    • Defence/Aggression

    • Transparency/Investigative Reporting

      • Democracy for the Arab World Now'It's Not Something We Can Leave in the Past.' George Packer on the Iraq War's Long Legacy

        Packer is the author of nine other books, including The Unwinding: An Inner History of the New America, which won the 2013 National Book Award for nonfiction; Our Man: Richard Holbrooke and the End of the American Century, which won the 2019 Hitchens Prize and the Los Angeles Times Book Prize and was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize; and, most recently, Last Best Hope: America in Crisis and Renewal. He writes regularly about U.S. foreign policy for The Atlantic, including a devastating, impeccably reported account last year of the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan and the Biden administration's failure to plan for the evacuation of thousands of Afghan allies, titled "The Betrayal."

        He spoke to Democracy in Exile days after the 20th annivesary of the U.S. invasion of Iraq. As he says, "the Iraq War continues to haunt us and to offer lessons for the future."

        The following transcript has been edited lightly for clarity and length.

      • FAIRThe New York Times Still Can’t Face Its Iraq War Shame

        Rubin offered only glimpses of responsibility. Of the George W. Bush administration’s claims of weapons of mass destruction, she simply wrote, “no evidence to back up those accusations was ever found.” Of the power vacuum that Iran stepped into, Rubin wrote, “Abetting and expanding Iran’s influence in Iraq was hardly the intention of American policymakers in 2003.” The power-sharing government system the US installed “is regarded by many as having undermined from the start any hope of good governance,” she explained. “But Mr. Crocker and others said that at the time it seemed the only way to ensure that all sects and ethnicities would have a role in governing.”

    • Environment

      • Energy/Transportation

        • DeSmogBig Oil Firms Touted Algae as Climate Solution. Now All Have Pulled Funding

          By Amy Westervelt, The Guardian. This story originally appeared in The Guardian and is part of Covering Climate Now, a global journalism collaboration strengthening coverage of the climate story.

          One by one, big oil firms have touted their investments in algae biofuels as the future of low-carbon transportation – and one by one, they have all dropped out. Now in the wake of the last remaining algae proponent,€ ExxonMobil, announcing its withdrawal, insiders say they are disappointed but not surprised.

        • Tom's HardwareLinus Tech Tips YouTube Channel Hacked to Promote [Cryptocurrency] Scams

          Major PC tech YouTube channel Linus Tech Tips has been hacked and is unavailable at the time of publishing. From the events that have unfolded, it looks like [crackers] gained access to the YouTube creator dashboard for various LTT channels. After publishing some scam videos and streams, control of the account was regained by the rightful owners, only to fall again to the hackers. Now the channels are all throwing up 404 pages.

        • India TimesUS SEC threatens to sue Coinbase over some [cryptocurrency] products

          The SEC has been ratcheting up efforts to crack down on the [cryptocurrency] industry since the implosion of FTX last year, and staking services such as Coinbase's Earn are under increased scrutiny for not being registered.

          Staking is a process in which cryptocurrency holders volunteer to take part in validating transactions on the blockchain. These products often offer customers eye-popping yields.

        • Common DreamsClimate Advocates Call Out House GOP Push to Fast-Track Mountain Valley Pipeline

          As congressional Democrats launch new clean energy and environmental justice efforts, House Republicans outraged climate campaigners and frontline communities on Thursday with a move to fast-track a long-delayed fracked gas pipeline.

    • Finance

    • AstroTurf/Lobbying/Politics

      • Common DreamsActivists, Progressive US Lawmakers Oppose 'Xenophobic' TikTok Ban [Ed: TikTok is harmful, no matter which nation controls it]

        Civil and digital rights groups this week joined a trio of progressive U.S. lawmakers in opposing bipartisan proposals to ban the social media platform TikTok, arguing that such efforts are rooted in "anti-China" motives and do not adequately address the privacy concerns purportedly behind the legislation.

      • Vice Media GroupBanning TikTok Is Unconstitutional, Ludicrous, and a National Embarrassment [Ed: But China bans American social control media. Arguably for very good reasons.]

        It would also be an act of charity for Facebook, which the government has utterly failed to meaningfully regulate.

      • TruthOutGOP Is Seeking Rich, Self-Funding Candidates as Party Is Outraised by Democrats
      • New York TimesTikTok Stars Go On a D.C. Field Trip

        Ms. Ok, 26, was one of more than 30 TikTok stars who took part in an all-expenses paid trip to speak on behalf of the platform amid rising TikTok tensions as the Biden administration has pushed TikTok’s Chinese ownership to sell the video app or face a possible ban in the United States. TikTok’s Singapore-based chief executive, Shou Chew, testified before the House Energy and Commerce Committee on Thursday.

        ByteDance, the company that owns TikTok, flew the creators (and their plus-ones) first class to Washington and put them up in a high-end hotel for the week. On Tuesday, the group had dinner with Mr. Chew, who appeared in a number of videos posted that night.

      • Digital Music NewsTikTok CEO Tells US Congress — “ByteDance Is Not An Agent of China”

        TikTok says it limits the amount of information it collects when setting up an account, but Chew fails to mention how his company was caught accessing users’ clipboards to view pasted information. He also fails to mention how ByteDance employees were caught accessing U.S. user data through backdoors written into the app as reported by both Forbes and BuzzFeedNews.

      • Cryptography EngineeringRemarks on “Chat Control”

        On March 23 I was invited to participate in a panel discussion at the European Internet Services Providers Association (EuroISPA). The focus of this discussion was on recent legislative proposals, especially the EU Commission’s new “chat control” content scanning proposal, as well as the future of encryption and fundamental rights. These are the introductory remarks I prepared.

      • Scoop News GroupFive brutal hours for TikTok: CEO raked over coals amid privacy, security concerns

        Thursday’s hearing before the House Energy and Commerce Committee represented a landmark moment in TikTok’s attempt to build support for a $1.5 billion plan — known as Project Texas — that relies on tech giant Oracle to operate the app’s American technical infrastructure and build a firewall between U.S. TikTok users and Beijing.

        But in a highly anticipated appearance, Chew won few, if any, allies, and the hearing instead offered a clear view of the bipartisan consensus in Washington that TikTok poses a security and privacy threat.

      • New StatesmanIs the clock ticking for TikTok?

        As the suspected Chinese surveillance balloon floated across the United States last week, it provided a vivid, 200ft-tall illustration of what many Washington policymakers view as the growing national security threat from China. Rolling news coverage across the major television networks mapped the balloon’s position against the location of strategic sites such as the silos of nuclear-armed intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) in Montana. Even before it was shot down by a heat-seeking missile on 4 February, prominent Republicans had linked the balloon to other perceived vulnerabilities to Chinese surveillance, such as the TikTok social media platform.

      • Common DreamsManhattan DA Accuses House GOP of 'Unlawful Incursion' Into Trump Probe

        The office of Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg on Thursday accused House Republicans of an "unlawful incursion" into New York authorities' investigation of former President Donald Trump, who is expected to face criminal charges over a 2016 pre-election hush-money payment to porn star Stormy Daniels.

      • NDTVTikTok CEO Testifies Before US Congress, Calls India's Ban "Hypothetical"

        India imposed a nationwide ban on TikTok and dozens of other Chinese apps, including the messaging app WeChat, in 2020 over privacy and security concerns. The ban came shortly after a clash between Indian and Chinese troops at LAC that killed 20 Indian soldiers and injured dozens. The companies were given a chance to respond to questions on privacy and security requirements but the ban was made permanent in January 2021.

        "You damn well know that you cannot protect the data and security of this committee or the 150 million users of your app because it is an extension of the CCP," Lawmaker Kat Cammack of Florida told Chew after playing a threatening video that was still on the platform more than a month after it had been posted, despite community guidelines barring violence or threats.

      • India TimesWhy TikTok's security risks keep raising fears

        Both the FBI and officials at the Federal Communications Commission have warned that ByteDance could share TikTok user data - such as browsing history, location and biometric identifiers - with China's authoritarian government.

      • India TimesBritish parliament blocks TikTok over security concerns

        The United States, Canada, Belgium and the European Commission have already banned the app from official devices.

        TikTok has come under increasing scrutiny due to fears that user data from the app owned by Beijing-based company ByteDance could end up in the hands of the Chinese government, undermining Western security interests.

      • India TimesTikTok CEO commitments not enough for the parents of America: US lawmaker

        TikTok has said it has spent more than $1.5 billion on what it calls rigorous data security efforts under the name "Project Texas" that currently has nearly 1,500 full-time employees and is contracted with Oracle to store TikTok's U.S. user data. It also says it rigorously screens content that could harm children.

        Congresswoman Diana DeGette at the hearing before the House of Representatives Energy and Commerce Committee asked Chew what TikTok was doing to prevent the spread of misinformation on the platform.

      • India TimesTikTok creators, some US Democratic lawmakers oppose ban on app

        Representatives Jamaal Bowman, Mark Pocan and Robert Garcia and TikTok creators called a press conference in Washington for broad-based privacy legislation that would address all large social media companies.

      • NDTVJack Dorsey Loses $526 Million Net Worth Hours After Hindenburg Report

        Hindenburg released a report Thursday claiming Block had inflated user metrics, and that the stock has downside of 65% to 75% "on a purely fundamental basis." The company denied the allegations and said it plans to explore legal action against the short-seller.

        Block fell as much as 22% on Thursday, before closing down 15%.

      • Hindustan TimesBye-bye blue tick for ‘legacy’ Twitter verified users in April: What it means

        Twitter's blue check-mark verification regime will soon be a history. The social media giant on Friday announced that from April 1, it will begin removing legacy verified program and legacy verified checkmarks from user accounts. It will allow only paid subscribers and members of approved organisations to have the respective status.

      • India TimesTwitter to remove legacy verified badges from April 1

        Elon Musk on Friday said that Twitter will remove all legacy Blue verified checkmarks for both individual users and organisations from April 1. Twitter Blue in India will cost Rs 9,400 a year for individual users.

        Twitter Blue is now available globally and the users can get Blue Verified for $7 a month if they sign up via web browser, Musk announced.

      • The NationWomen Are Waiting to Cheer the Misogynist’s Indictment

        On Monday night, supposedly “Arrestmas” Eve (Donald Trump claimed, falsely as usual, that he’d be “arrested” Tuesday), I dreamed about him. I was being held captive by Trump at Mar-a-Lago with a lot of other women. He was more deranged than usual, as he apparently is right now as he awaits arrest. It was terrifying. But somehow I escaped. I didn’t know what would happen next.

      • Insight HungaryOrban's chief of staff: Putin would not be arrested in Hungary

        On Monday, Bloomberg reported that€ Hungary blocked European Union member states from issuing a joint statement about an ICC (International Criminal Court) arrest warrant against Russian President Vladimir Putin. EU diplomat Josep Borrell released a statement saying." “The EU sees the decision by the ICC as a beginning of the process of accountability and holding Russian leaders to account for the crimes and atrocities they are ordering, enabling or committing in Ukraine”. € 

        Mate Paczolay, a spokesman for the Hungarian Foreign ministry later called the report a "lie". € "Hungary has taken note of the ICC decision and does not wish to comment on it in any way. However, if the High Representative or any member state wishes to issue a statement, Hungary will not object to it," Paczolay said.€ 

      • Telex (Hungary)Hungary not invited to Biden's Democracy Summit this year either
      • Telex (Hungary)Amnesty International Hungary not allowed to attend conference on judicial independence, citing lack of space
      • Misinformation/Disinformation/Propaganda

        • Jacobin MagazineQAnon Will Not Be Leaving Us Anytime Soon

          QAnon is one of the strangest developments in the Trump era: a pastiche conspiracy theory involving Satanic rituals, child abuse, the US military, Hollywood, the Democratic Party, and the former host of The Apprentice. In many ways, QAnon should have died in 2021 when, contrary to the eponymous “Q”’s various prophecies, Donald Trump departed the White House and Joe Biden was sworn in as president. Instead, it was supercharged by the global pandemic and exported to countries as far afield as Germany, France, and Japan.

          Investigative journalist Will Sommer has been following QAnon since it first emerged in 2017. His new book Trust the Plan: The Rise of QAnon and the Conspiracy That Unhinged America is an extended interrogation of the theory’s genesis and roots. Sommer joined Jacobin’s Luke Savage to discuss the book, the state of QAnon, and what has enabled the movement to endure and grow despite its many failed prophecies.

        • NPRIt takes a few dollars and 8 minutes to create a deepfake. And that's only the start

          Concerns about deepfakes have been around for years. What's different now is technology has advanced and become accessible to anybody with a smartphone or computer.

          People are having fun using them for jokes and memes, like a viral TikTok trend of videos using synthetic audio to spoof Presidents Donald Trump, Barack Obama and Joe Biden playing video games.

          But deepfakes are already being used for political ends.

        • Deutsche WelleFact check: No, Putin did not kneel before Xi Jinping

          A strange image has gone viral. Did Vladimir Putin really get down on one knee and kiss the hand of Xi Jinping? No. The picture, which was allegedly taken during the Chinese leader's recent trip to Russia, is fake.

        • YLEFriday's papers: Hungary's Nato promise, train traffic resumes and TikTok's election influence

          Among the survey's findings was that young people's votes are more influenced by how party candidates discuss their policies rather than what those policies are. The survey also found that the left-right divide no longer felt relevant to 15-29-year-olds.

    • Censorship/Free Speech

    • Freedom of Information / Freedom of the Press

    • Civil Rights/Policing

    • Digital Restrictions (DRM)

      • HackadayISA Over TPM To Your PC

        Sometimes you really want to use your legacy SoundBlaster instead of emulating it for classic games. While modern PCs don’t have ISA slots, [TheRasteri] is fixing this shortcoming with his dISAppointment board. (via Adafruit)

      • MeduzaRussian streaming services lose up to half of Hollywood-produced content — Meduza

        The number of Hollywood-produced films and TV series offered by Russia’s streaming services has been slashed by 40–50 percent, an RBC-commissioned study shows.€ 

    • Monopolies

      • Vice Media GroupCYBER: Scalpers Are Selling Whole Ticketmaster Accounts Now

        This week on Cyber, Joseph Cox and Motherboard Motherboard editor-in-chief Jason Koebler take us into the world of the ticket scalper, where whole Ticketmaster accounts are being sold in bulk and a “verified fan” is just someone the algorithm approves of.

      • Common DreamsNLRB Says Amazon Illegally Union-Busted by Limiting Worker Access to Warehouses

        The Amazon Labor Union celebrated Wednesday as a lawyer for the National Labor Relations Board in Brooklyn determined that Amazon acted illegally when it adopted a rule barring warehouse workers from being present at their workplace when they were not scheduled to work—a transparent effort, the board said, to limit union activity.

      • India TimesMicrosoft must do more to resolve antitrust issues, say European rivals

        Resolving the complaints with the companies could help Microsoft stave off a possible EU antitrust investigation that could lead to a fine as much as 10% of its global turnover.

        Nextcloud took its grievance to the European Commission in 2021, alleging that Microsoft abuses its dominance by bundling its OneDrive cloud storage service with its Windows 10 and 11 operating system.

      • TechdirtLeaked Doc From Microsoft To UK’s CMA Says ’10 Years Enough For Sony To Make Its Own CoD’

        Well, well. The fight between Sony and Microsoft over the latter’s proposed acquisition of Activision Blizzard continues to get more and more interesting. As three regulatory bodies have been poking at the deal — the European Commission for the EU, the Competition and Market Authority (CMA) in the UK, and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) in the States — Microsoft’s featured attempt to appease the concerns over Call of Duty suddenly going exclusive has been its inking of 10 year deals to keep the series multi-platform. This seems to have placated the EU thus far, though its impact on the CMA and FTC remains to be seen. The idea, though, is that it is a demonstration of Microsoft’s commitment to keep CoD multiplatform generally. As I have pointed out in repeated posts, that doesn’t necessarily make sense. After all, Microsoft could be playing the long game, inking these deals to get the purchase done with plans to yank the series back to an exclusive after the ten year deals expire.

      • TechdirtBig Four Networks Push FCC To Further Erode Media Consolidation Limits

        If you recall, the Trump FCC under Ajit Pai spent several years stripping away popular media consolidation limits established over decades with bipartisan approval. The push was ironically to directly help aid Sinclair broadcasting’s steady consolidation of local broadcast news, which resulted in a homogenized soup of well-funded propaganda and the erosion of real, local reporting.

      • Copyrights

        • Creative CommonsThe Complex World of Style, Copyright, and Generative AI

          The issue in a nutshell: Artists have raised legal claims against particular users who prompt a GAI and generate an output that copies from their original expressions. However, style is not generally protected by copyright, and that’s a good thing; if one artist were given a monopoly over anime, grunge music, or other styles, that would frustrate copyright’s core purpose of supporting creativity. What’s more, GAI tools provide myriad legitimate uses, and creators of those tools generally don’t directly control the actions of their users or financially benefit from uses that may infringe on pre-existing works. As such, they generally should not be held liable when actions of their user cross over the line into infringement.

        • Walled CultureThe EU has brought back opt-in copyright for text and data mining: let’s build on that foundation - Walled Culture

* Gemini (Primer) links can be opened using Gemini software. It's like the World Wide Web but a lot lighter.



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
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
Matthias Kirschner, FSFE analogous to identity fraud
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
 
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
[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
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