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Links 23/05/2023: Systemd Free Changes



  • GNU/Linux

    • Desktop/Laptop

      • Notebook Check Lemur Pro: System76 refreshes Linux laptop with Intel Raptor Lake-U series processors

        System76 has refreshed the Lemur Pro, its 14.1-inch laptop that can be configured with Pop!_OS 22.04 LTS or Ubuntu 22.04 LTS. Perhaps expectedly, System76 has moved the Lemur Pro onto Intel Raptor Lake-U processors, having offered the Core i5-1235U and Core i7-1255U since last July. In their place are the Core i5-1335U and Core i7-1355U, which contain higher CPU and GPU clock speeds than their predecessors.

    • Linux Magazine

      • Linux MagazineCompiling coreboot firmware

        Coreboot lets you build your own custom firmware while learning more about Linux.

      • Linux MagazineReverse engineering a BLE clock

        What do you do when all your Bluetooth clocks show slightly different times? With some reverse engineering, you can write a Python program to synchronize your clocks.

      • Linux MagazineGraphical web browsing from the terminal

        This Chromium port can run inside any console, with minimal resources, and is a great tool for making old computers really useful – and learning programming along the way.

      • Linux MagazineEfficiently manage files with nnn

        If you're a Linux lover, you'll know the command line is the slickest and most efficient way to interact with the system. Free yourself from point-and-click with the nnn command-line file manager.

      • Linux MagazineEspanso: Text expander and more

        Espanso is a cross-platform text expander that can do far more than simply replace text modules.

      • Linux MagazineMeet Open Data Institute's Lisa Allen

        The Open Data Institute's Lisa Allen explains why open data matters and what it will take for more widespread adoption.

      • Linux MagazineWho's Driving?

        I happen to be writing this column on a day when the US Senate is conducting hearings on artificial intelligence (AI) and, specifically, whether a need exists for greater regulation.

      • Linux MagazineFOSSPicks

        With the demise of Twitter API access to the beautiful open source client, Harpy, Graham has spent the month on fosstodon.org, hoping Harpy's developer brings their skills to the Fediverse.

      • Linux MagazineOn the DVD

        Xubuntu 23.04 and Fedora Workstation 38

      • Linux MagazinePrying the lid off of government data

        The open data movement extends the ideals of open source to government data and, ultimately, all the world's knowledge.

      • Linux MagazineCreating custom ISO images

        If you are looking to customize your Linux distribution, we show you three graphical front ends for creating bootable ISO images.

      • Linux MagazineCircuit simulation with hardware description languages

        Designing field-programmable gate arrays is only half the job: The hardest part is the simulation, but Linux is the best place to tackle certain challenges.

      • Linux MagazineNews

        In the news: New Release of Br OS Includes ChatGPT Integration, Command-Line Only Peropesis 2.1, TUXEDO Computers Announces InfinityBook Pro 14, Linux Kernel 6.3 Release Includes Interesting Features, Fedora 38 Released with New Features, LXQt 1.3 Released with Bug Fixes, 4MLinux 42.0 Now Ready for Prime Time

      • Linux MagazineLinux Voice

        This month in Linux Voice.

      • Linux MagazineMigrating social media data with the data transfer project

        The Data Transfer Project wants to make it easier to move your data between social media sites.

      • Linux MagazineBuild your own Slackware repository

        If you deploy software packages to several computers, the standard Slackware tools lack efficiency. We show you how to create a custom repository to automatically install and upgrade software for multiple systems.

      • Linux MagazineControl your backup NAS from the desktop

        To be able to power up and shut down his NAS and check the current status without getting out of his chair, Mike Schilli programs a graphical interface that sends a Magic Packet in this month's column.

      • Linux MagazineOne-stop solutions for Linux

        Linux users can now experience what Windows and macOS users have enjoyed for decades: hardware, software, and services bundled together. We look at six of these one-stop solutions for Linux.

      • Linux MagazineConsidering FOSS Databases

        There are many FOSS databases available inexpensively today, and they might serve new projects well.

      • Linux MagazineMake a camera for lenticular photography

        You can take lenticular images with a homemade camera to re-create the "wiggle" pictures of your childhood.

      • Linux MagazineManaging open data with CKAN

        CKAN, a versatile data management system, lets you build a portal to share your open data.

    • Audiocasts/Shows

      • Late Night Linux – Episode 230

        Graphing pings in the terminal, streaming playstation games to your Linux machine, finding secrets and sensitive information in your repos, keeping your FOSS Android apps bang up to date, whether programming students should be using Linux, and loads more.

    • Applications

      • OSTechNixInformant – A Command Line Arch Linux News Reader

        Stay informed and up-to-date with Arch Linux News using Informant utility. Get the latest updates, important announcements, and news items directly in your terminal.

        Informant is an Arch Linux News reader designed to also be used as a pacman hook. When installed and configured as a pacman hook, Informant automatically retrieves the latest news from the Arch Linux website and displays it during system updates or package installations. This ensures that users are informed about any critical information that may affect their system or require specific actions.

      • Net2Best Partition Managers for Linux Users

        Linux partition managers are robust tools that empower users to create, adjust, and oversee various partitions on their Linux-based systems.

      • Linux LinksMusicPod – music, podcast and internet radio player

        MusicPod is an example of a project that's in a very early stage of development. It's a music, radio and podcast player wrapped up in a graphical user interface.

    • Instructionals/Technical

      • TecAdminSetting Up a Port Forwarding Using Uncomplicated Firewall (UFW)

        Uncomplicated Firewall (UFW) is a popular and user-friendly command-line interface designed to facilitate firewall management on Ubuntu and other Linux systems. While UFW is typically used to manage inbound and outbound traffic at the port level, it also supports more complex tasks like setting up port forwarding, also known as port mapping.

      • KifarunixEasy Way to Install Kubernetes Dashboard on Ubuntu 22.04/20.04

        This step-by-step guide provides an easy way to install Kubernetes dashboard on Ubuntu 22.04/20.04. Installing Kubernetes Dashboard on Ubuntu 22.04/20.04 is a simple process that allows you to manage and monitor your Kubernetes clusters efficiently.

      • Dante CatalfamoDynamic Tracing on OpenBSD 7.3

        A couple years ago a new device silently entered the OpenBSD source tree.

        The dt(4) device first appearing in OpenBSD 6.7 with very sparse information. In the releases since, it's gained quite a bit of functionality and now has tools to manipulate it properly.

        The documentation has gotten better over the last couple years, but there isn't much info about how to leverage it to do anything useful.

      • ID RootHow To Install Percona on Ubuntu 22.04 LTS

        In this tutorial, we will show you how to install Percona on Ubuntu 22.04 LTS. Percona Server is a powerful and reliable open-source database management system that provides high performance, scalability, and security for enterprise-level applications.

      • SUSE's Corporate BlogContainer Security – How to Quickly Install NeuVector 5 on OpenShift 4

        NeuVector is a container security platform that provides comprehensive security for containerized applications allowing you to not only prevent attacks but also to actively protect your applications from unknown vulnerabilities by implementing behavioral-based Zero-Trust security policies.

      • Smooth Transitions: Rolling Updates and Autoscaling in Kubernetes

        In today's rapidly evolving software development industry, Kubernetes has emerged as a leading platform for container orchestration. Kubernetes is an open-source system that automates the deployment, scaling, and management of containerized applications. It allows developers to easily manage and deploy their applications across multiple servers in a consistent and reliable manner.

      • Resource Management: Implementing Limits and Quotas in Kubernetes

        The rapid growth of cloud-native applications has revolutionized the way organizations develop and deploy software. Kubernetes, an open-source container orchestration platform, has emerged as a popular choice for managing these applications due to its scalability and flexibility. However, managing resources in Kubernetes can be challenging without proper resource management.

      • Expand Your Horizons: Using Out-of-Tree Volume Plugins with FlexVolume

        As the adoption of containerized environments continues to grow, there is an increasing need for flexible and scalable storage solutions. Kubernetes, a popular container orchestration platform, has come up with a solution to this problem through its FlexVolume driver.

      • Efficient Scaling: Mastering Horizontal Pod Autoscaling in Kubernetes

        As software development becomes more complex and modern applications require greater scalability, container orchestration platforms like Kubernetes have become increasingly popular among developers. Kubernetes provides a powerful platform for automating the deployment, scaling, and management of containerized applications.

      • Unlocking Storage Potential: Understanding the Container Storage Interface

        Why Storage is Critical to Modern Computing In today's digital age, data storage is a critical component of modern computing. From personal computer files to large-scale enterprise data centers, storing, accessing, and managing data is essential to business operations.

      • KifarunixStep-by-Step Guide: How to Install Metrics Server on Kubernetes

        This tutorial provides a step-by-step guide on how to install Metrics server on Kubernetes. Kubernetes Metrics Server plays a vital role in monitoring your Kubernetes cluster by collecting resource utilization data, such as CPU and memory usage, from various components.

      • University of TorontoWhat I see as good options today for encrypted NFS

        The first option is to use IPsec for at least the NFS traffic between NFS servers and NFS clients. IPsec has the advantage that IPsec security policies will generally let you encrypt all NFS traffic and only the NFS traffic, so you don't have to spend CPU cycles encrypting other traffic (if any). You'd most likely want to set up an IKE environment to establish IPsec keys between relevant machines and to authenticate them.

      • Jim NielsenA Well Known URL For Your Personal Avatar

        The idea is: anybody that owns a domain can put their avatar in a well-known location.

      • Dante CatalfamoDynamic Tracing on OpenBSD 7.3

        A couple years ago a new device silently entered the OpenBSD source tree.

        The dt(4) device first appearing in OpenBSD 6.7 with very sparse information. In the releases since, it's gained quite a bit of functionality and now has tools to manipulate it properly.

      • Own HowToHow to check if file exists in bash

        In this tutorial, you will learn how to check if a file exists on your system in a bash function.

        We are going to write a simple function in bash that will check if a file exists, and then display a message, if the file exists or not.

      • UNIX CopHow to find out how much disk space is left using the terminal?

        Hello, friends. Many times we have to ask ourselves how much disk space is left. Well, although a silly question, we can answer it using the terminal, so it becomes essential for many sysadmins.

      • Own HowToHow to install xfce on Ubuntu 23.04

        In this tutorial, you will learn how to install xfce on Ubuntu 23.04. Xfce is a very lightweight desktop environment that you can use on any low end computer or server.

        Because of its 'lightweightness' xfce is a great choice when it comes to choosing a desktop

      • LinuxiacHow to Install Alpine Linux and Set up a Desktop Environment

        Ready for a lightweight and customizable Linux experience? Dive into our guide on installing Alpine Linux and setting up a desktop environment.

      • Own HowToHow to redirect www to non www traffic on Cloudflare

        In this tutorial you will learn how to redirect www traffic to non www with Cloudflare page rules. By using this method you can redirect www traffic to non www traffic without changing anything on your web server.

      • Own HowToHow to Setup Live Server on Visual Studio Code [Ed: Microsoft proprietary spyware (Visual Studio Code) is the wrong tool to work with. Try KATE instead.]

        In this tutorial you will learn how to create a local server on your computer to view HTML changes in real time, just like you would see if you uploaded the HTML file on a normal server. If you are into web development and work with HTML, CSS and Javascript

      • Linux CapableHow to Install Microsoft Edge on Pop!_OS [Ed: This is Microsoft malware that steals all the passwords of users without their consent. It seems inane to help GNU/Linux user install such malware.]

        Microsoft Edge is a dynamic, innovative, and efficient web browser that is continually evolving. Initially released for Windows, Edge is now available on a wide range of platforms, including Linux.

      • FOSSLinuxCreating a bootable Windows 10/11 USB on Linux

        Whether you're setting up a dual-boot system or installing Windows on another machine, you might find yourself needing to create a bootable Windows USB stick using your Linux system. Though it might sound complex, the process is straightforward if you have the right tools and guidance.

      • Ubuntu HandbookHow to Enable/Re-enable ‘Tab’ Key Auto-Completion in Ubuntu 22.04

        This feature is quite useful and available out-of-the-box for every user with home directory.

    • Games

      • HackadayWhat’s Black, White, And Red On 20 Sides?

        You won’t need to pack a full set of dice for your next game with this DIY Multifunctional Eink Gadget. [Sasa Karanović] brings us a fun device that combines a few essential aspects of tabletop gaming, D6, D12, and D20 dice rolling and a hero dashboard. While they have grand plans for a BLE networked future application, we admire the restraint to complete a V1 project before allowing scope-creep to run amok. Well played!

      • GamingOnLinuxVKD3D-Proton v2.9 out now with multiple performance improvements

        Just before the weekend hit VKD3D-Proton v2.9 was release, giving some big improvements to the Direct3D 12 to Vulkan translation layer used in Proton on Steam Deck and desktop Linux.

      • GamingOnLinuxErra: Exordium is a 2D action adventure blending mythology and Dieselpunk

        Sumerian-Akkadian mythology blended together with Dieselpunk, certainly quite a unique setting in Erra: Exordium which released with Linux support recently. Along with Native Linux support, they said they're also working to ensure it gets Steam Deck Verified.

      • GamingOnLinuxOdencat announced surreal adventure Dream Channel Zero

        Odencat (Meg's Monster, Bear's Restaurant, Fishing Paradiso) and Fuming have announced Dream Channel Zero, a rather surreal sounding adventure about a boy who gets sucked into the world of a mysterious video game.

      • GamingOnLinuxD-Corp, the couch multiplayer game with cute robots gets a new versus mode

        Remember the couch multiplayer game D-Corp? On the top of its co-op campaign mode it now features a full-fledged versus mode called Arena.

      • GamingOnLinuxInspired by Japanese folklore, Bo: Path of the Teal Lotus looks gorgeous

        An upcoming 2.5D action platformer with some gorgeous visuals inspired by Japanese folklore? Sign me up, this sounds great but it's a little while away yet.

      • GamingOnLinuxPortal Reloaded team announced The Cooperative Update

        Currently available in Beta on Steam for you to test out, the Cooperative Update for Portal Reloaded sounds like a lot of fun. For those who haven't played before: it's a€ free, community made modification for Portal 2. Building on the original concepts in the game by giving you a third portal allowing you to travel between different timelines.

    • Desktop Environments/WMs

      • GNOME Desktop/GTK

        • Make Tech EasierTop 12 GNOME Shell Extensions to Improve Your Desktop

          The GNOME Shell Extensions platform offers a simple and easy way to extend GNOME through simple applets. These are JavaScript programs that use the GNOME API to manipulate and add new features to the desktop. This article highlights some of the best shell extensions that you can install.

        • OMG! LinuxGNOME Makes it Easier to Show Seconds, Weekday in Clock

          It'll soon be less effort to customize the clock applet in GNOME Shell. No, no — don't close this post yet!

  • Distributions and Operating Systems

    • Systemd FreeVenom Linux no systemd or elogind from scratch

      On our strict list "sysdfree strict list of distros without any part of systemd" there are complete distros that can run without systemd or elogind (Obarun, joborun, antiX), and by complete we mean thousands of packages to choose from, and are some minimal base systems that you will have to build yourself software...

    • Systemd FreeNew discussion board since wordpress comments limit us

      I propose that once an argument, idea, proposal has been made public it is not private property of the person/group that presented it. It belongs to all of us. Some who see it reasonable can further support it with rational arguments, some who see it as wrong can equally explain why. Not because it came from the person that brought it, but for its content alone.

    • Barry KaulerMultiple Sound Card Wizard improved text

      It seems that some people are not using the Multiple Sound Card Wizard (MSCW) as intended. It is essential to test the sound, as this sets levels and unmutes for both pulseaudio and alsa. If you skip this step, sound may not work. Hence, there is now more explanation on the window:

      ...just a little change, but likely very helpful to newcomers.

      Sometimes, although "Test Sound" attempts to set levels, for some audio hardware it doesn't work, and you have to go into "Configure..." and there is probably an extra level that can be brought up. So, "Test Sound" needs to produce an actual sound before you select it as the default device.€ 

  • Free, Libre, and Open Source Software

    • Productivity Software/LibreOffice/Calligra

      • Success story: Fixing a limitation in LibreOffice Calc

        Ever heard the term “scratching your own itch”? Wiktionary describes it as “doing something out of motivation to solve a personal problem”. In the world of free and open source software development, this happens a lot! Anyone can contribute to FOSS projects like LibreOffice, and help to improve them.

        And that’s exactly what Rafael Lima did, with a long-standing limitation in LibreOffice. He rolled up his sleeves, got to work, and fixed it. Here’s what he had to say...

    • Openness/Sharing/Collaboration

      • Open Access/Content

        • Creative CommonsIvan Martinez — Open Culture VOICES, Season 2 Episode 8

          “Open Access… is an amplification of the work that these institutions do” Ivan says in this episode. He also shares what unique challenges are faced by cultural heritage institutions in Mexico which has one of the longest copyright terms in the world: 100 years plus the lifetime of the creator or author...

    • Programming/Development

      • LatviaLast day for Hack CodeX hackathon registration

        May 22 is the last day to apply for the upcoming HackCodeX hackathon, which will take place June 3-5 and is being run by Helve.

      • RlangUpdate to {TidyDensity}

        To effectively extract insights and communicate findings, you need powerful tools that simplify the process and present data in an engaging manner.

      • RlanggetSymbols Rebooted

        quantmod and getSymbols() have been a core part of the R/Finance ecosystem for over 15 years. We want to change some things, but they would break existing code. We can make these changes in the new ‘rfimport’ package instead.

      • Maira Canal: May Update: Finishing my Second Igalia CE

        After finishing up my first Igalia Coding Experience in January, I got the amazing opportunity to keep working in the DRI community by extending my Igalia CE to a second round. Huge thanks to Igalia for providing me with this opportunity!

        Another four months passed by and here I am completing another milestone with Igalia. Previously, in the last final reports, I described GSoC as “an experience to get a better understanding of what open source is” and the first round of the Igalia CE as “an opportunity for me to mature my knowledge of technical concepts”. My second round of the Igalia CE was a period for broadening my horizons.

      • HackadayNetwork Programming

        If you want a book on network programming, there are a few classic choices. [Comer’s] TCP/IP books are a great reference but sometimes is too low level. “Unix Networking Programming” by [Stevens] is the usual choice, but it is getting a little long in the tooth, as well. Now we have “Beej’s Guide to Network Programming Using Internet Sockets.” While the title doesn’t exactly roll off the tongue, the content is right on and fresh. Best part? You can read it now in your browser or in PDF format.

      • HackadayBringing The PIO To The FPGA

        We’ve seen some pretty incredible hacks using the Raspberry Pi 2040. However, one of the most exciting bits of hardware onboard is the Programmable I/O (PIO). Not content with it just being a part of RP2040-based projects, [Lawrie Griffiths] has been porting the PIO to Verilog so anyone can enjoy it.

      • Perl / Raku

        • Rakulang Raku Programming Language Weekly 2023.21 Maxcinating

          Steve Roe was inspired by a fascinating discussion on the #raku-beginner IRC channel about the concept of the maximum and minimum possible values of empty lists, and why the Raku Programming Language handles them the way they are handled.

    • Standards/Consortia/Disability

  • Leftovers

    • The Straits TimesMissing Malaysian climber’s jacket found on Mount Everest

      They are trying to trace the mobile phone belonging to Mr Hawari who went missing last week after reaching the summit.

    • The Straits TimesSingaporean man among 40 arrested in Malaysia’s online gambling call centre raids

      The suspects have been operating a digital currency exchange and converting them into USDT crypto token.

    • New York TimesFatal Fire at Guyana Dormitory Was ‘Maliciously Set,’ Official Says

      Many of the 19 victims were schoolchildren. The fire service said it was still unclear who had set the building ablaze.

    • New YorkerEd Templeton’s Unsparing Photographic Diary of Skateboarding Life

      Templeton’s images, taken between 1995 and 2012, capture the intimacy and aimlessness of being on tour.

    • YLEFinnish National Gallery to launch digital ticketing service

      The new online system aims to make visits to the museums smoother, and also to alleviate queues for the most popular exhibitions. In some cases, queues for Ateneum exhibitions have stretched around the block on Kaivokatu in downtown Helsinki.

      In a statement, the FNG said the service will be available from late autumn, adding that there will be no additional booking fee for advance ticket buyers.

    • The NationThe Curious Case of the Transcendental Painting Group

      Every generation gets to rehabilitate at least one artistic style that its predecessors dismissed as terminally uncool. And now, with renewed pressure on art museums to consider movements from outside the putative canon (mostly white, mostly male, mostly of the West), the pendulum of public favor has begun to swing even faster. In recent years, prominent tastemakers have reversed their positions on historical scenes once viewed as unserious: The 2020 Whitney Museum blockbuster show “Vida Americana” hoped to elevate Mexican muralism from its provincial status by showing how the muralists influenced abstract painters like Jackson Pollock, who studied under them in Mexico. In 2022, the Metropolitan in New York and the Tate in London extended the same courtesy to Surrealism—which has always been a hit with the public, but considered lowbrow by critics—by refuting the usual Eurocentric narrative with an internationalist one that cast new light on this otherwise cliché-ridden movement. Now the art world has set its sights on the next early-20th-century style to be rescued from the wrong side of good taste: the short-lived and long-forgotten Transcendental Painting Group.

    • The NationJim Brown’s War Within Himself

      The alert came across my phone from The New York Times: “Jim Brown died at 87. An acclaimed football player, actor, and civil rights activist, he was accused of domestic violence.” It was a lot to take in. I had spent four years writing a book about his life called Jim Brown: Last Man Standing, from which much of this article stems. As part of that project, I stayed at Brown’s house in the West Hollywood Hills for a week, and despite his age and health, it was difficult to imagine him ever dying. The Times alert showcased a fool’s errand in its attempt to drill his life down to 20 words. Here he is being called a civil rights activist when he opposed much of the politics and many of the methods and tactics of the civil rights movement. He derided civil rights marches as “parades” in the 1950s and then again in 2016. That was when he engaged in an ugly, public feud with Representative John Lewis, whom Brown condemned for questioning Trump’s legitimacy. By that time, Brown supported Trump, a position that I argued made sense given his politics, which were both consistent and complicated. Brown supported Richard Nixon in 1968 and spoke at Huey Newton’s funeral in 1989. What is not complicated is his treatment of women. Again, to break that down to only “was accused of domestic violence” does both the history and the survivors an injustice. Brown’s life calls for more than genuflection or dismissal; it demands study.

    • Science

    • Education

      • New York TimesBook Removals May Have Violated Students’ Rights, Education Department Says

        The U.S. Department of Education reached a settlement with a Georgia school district after launching an investigation into whether book removals created a hostile environment for students.

      • Federal News NetworkNorth Carolina governor says GOP teacher pay, voucher plans a public education ‘disaster’

        Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper is embarking on a campaign to beat back education and tax legislation from the Republican-controlled General Assembly. If passed, the GOP legislation would greatly expand private-school vouchers, make deeper income tax cuts and offer what he considers paltry teacher raises. Cooper made his case in a video statement released Monday and told The Associated Press he plans to hold public events over the coming days. He likened the pending legislation to a “state of emergency” for public education. With Republicans now holding veto-proof seat majorities in the House and Senate, Cooper is taking to his bully pulpit.

      • RTLEducators to be responsible for fewer children

        Petition 2707, which recently crossed the 4,500 signature threshold, demands that educators working in daycares and nurseries should not be required to look after as many children.

      • Telex (Hungary)78 percent of Fidesz voters would raise teachers' salaries, survey shows

        Teachers, students and parents have been protesting for months to draw attention to the problems of Hungarian public education, to fight for a wage increase for teachers and to express their displeasure with the draft of the so-called status law, which the government proposed in response to the first protests, and which the teachers and students are referring to as "the revenge law". The proposed bill would further curb teachers’ autonomy, and it doesn’t address any of the issues because of which the protests started more than a year ago.

      • Pro PublicaNew York Charter Schools Write Their Own Rules for When to Call 911 on Students Having a Mental Health Crisis

        In a panic, if she floors it, Marilyn Blanco can drive from her job at the Rikers Island jail complex to her son Ian’s school in Harlem in less than 18 minutes.

        Nine times since December, Blanco has made the drive because Ian’s school — Success Academy Harlem 2 — called 911 on her 8-year-old.

    • Hardware

      • QuartzThe UK has unveiled a surprisingly tiny $1.2bn semiconductor plan

        The UK’s new support strategy for its homegrown semiconductor industry has surprised those who had been waiting almost two years with its unambitious nature.

      • New York TimesSilicon Valley Chosen for $4 Billion Chip Research Center

        Anticipating federal subsidies, Applied Materials said it planned to invest up to $4 billion in the semiconductor project in Sunnyvale, Calif.

      • BW Businessworld Media Pvt LtdApple Supplier Wistron To Shut iPhone Assembly In India

        The company is one of three global contract manufacturers to start assembling iPhones in India in 2017. But a leading media house said that Wistron’s struggle with component manufacturing and vendor-managed inventory holding was among the key reasons for the exit.

      • HackadayBuilding Circuits Flexibly

        You think of breadboards as being a flexible way to build things — one can easily add components and wires and also rip them up. But MIT researchers want to introduce an actual flexible breadboard called FlexBoard. The system is like a traditional breadboard, but it is literally flexible. If you want to affix your prototype to a glove or a ball, good luck with a traditional breadboard. FlexBoard makes it easy. You can see a short video below and a second video presentation about the system, also.

      • HackadaySmart Pants Sound Alarm When Your Fly Is Undone

        It’s always embarrassing to be told your fly is down. Even moreso when you realize it’s been that way since you returned from the bathroom an hour ago. [Guy Dupont] has built a device to solve this awkward issue once and for all. (Nitter)

      • HackadayHandheld PC Looks Great

        [Bytewelder] fondly remembers the Palm III and Sharp HC-4500, so taking on the design of Decktility, a custom handheld cyberdeck , was a natural next step. The blog post goes into much detail about the design decisions and challenges throughout the project. The end result, though, looks great.

    • Health/Nutrition/Agriculture

    • Proprietary

      • Bruce SchneierGoogle Is Not Deleting Old YouTube Videos

        Google has backtracked on its plan to delete inactive YouTube videos-at least for now. Of course, it could change its mind anytime it wants.

        It would be nice if this would get people to think about the vulnerabilities inherent in letting a for-profit monopoly decide what of human creativity is worth saving.

      • ZimbabweGmail will be deleting inactive accounts, here’s how you save your account

        I know I’m not the only one with multiple Gmail accounts. I have used these accounts for different things over the years and one in particular has been my go-to for free trial sign-ups on the net. Can’t have my main Gmail flooded with promotional material, drowning out the important stuff.

      • MIT Technology ReviewHow to preserve your digital memories

        I recently published€ a short story€ about new policies recently announced by Google and Twitter that allow the companies to remove inactive accounts.

      • Vice Media GroupAspiring LinkedIn Influencer Praises Hitler As ‘Action Taker,’ Then Apologizes, Deletes Account [Ed: Deloitte staff and respect for Hitler in Microsoft account. Deloitte works closely with Microsoft and Microsoft employs actual nazis.]

        Networking went disastrously wrong for a risk advisor working for Deloitte, the consulting giant, after he fulsomely praised the Nazi leader.

      • India TimesTwitter bug restoring deleted tweets for hundreds of clueless users

        A bug in Twitter is apparently restoring deleted tweets and retweets for hundreds of users who have no clue about it and the micro-blogging platform was yet to admit the issue and issue a fix, the media reported on Monday.

        Users are reporting that tweets they mass-deleted are reappearing on their profiles, reports The Verge.

      • The VergeA Twitter bug is restoring deleted tweets and retweets — including my own

        For me, the issue is trivial. It’s just a few old retweets. But it points to a larger problem. Twitter is still an important tool for activists, whistleblowers, and protestors around the world. There’s a reason Turkey is forcing the company to block certain tweets during its ongoing elections. Twitter still matters. But if you are, say, a political dissenter in an authoritarian country, then the ability to delete your own tweets could be crucial to your freedom. For all Musk’s talk about free speech, the company doesn’t seem to care about this.

      • [Old] The VergeTwitter has been storing your ‘deleted’ DMs for years

        It turns out that despite showing that the message was deleted, Twitter still stores all those DMs dating back years. Folks can access this simply by downloading the archived data on their account from Twitter. Saini confirms that even messages sent to and from deleted or suspended accounts are still accessible.

      • TechdirtApparently Elon Doesn’t Think He Needs To Pay Rent Because SF Is A ‘Shithole’; So Why Should We Pay For Twitter?

        It’s no secret that Twitter isn’t paying many of its bills, including the rent for its headquarters. That was rumored last fall, but became much more clear when the landlords sued the company in January.

      • Microsoft’s healthcare AI subsidiary Nuance undergoing layoffs: Report

        Speech-recognition company Nuance Communications, acquired by Microsoft for $19.7 billion, is undergoing layoffs as it focuses on its healthcare business.

        Nuance CEO Mark Benjamin notified employees about the job cuts in an internal memo, without detailing the number of staffers or departments affected, according to the Boston Globe.

        “We continue to see macroeconomic pressures affect our industries, as well as market shifts that are evolving our customers’ needs,” Benjamin wrote in the email.

    • Pseudo-Open Source

      • Openwashing

        • Silicon AngleMeta AI open-sources tools for self-supervised training of speech recognition models

          Meta Platforms Inc.’s artificial intelligence research team today said it has open-sourced a new project called Massively Multilingual Speech, which aims to overcome the challenges of creating accurate and reliable speech recognition models.

        • MIT Technology ReviewMeta’s new AI models can recognize and produce speech for more than 1,000 languages [Ed: Of course it's outsourced to proprietary software of Microsoft]

          Meta has built AI models that can recognize and produce speech for more than 1,000 languages—a tenfold increase on what’s currently available. It’s a significant step toward preserving languages that are at risk of disappearing, the company says. Meta is releasing its models to the public via the code hosting service GitHub.

    • Security

      • Qubes Canary 035

        We have published Qubes Canary 035. The text of this canary and its accompanying cryptographic signatures are reproduced below. For an explanation of this announcement and instructions for authenticating this canary, please see the end of this announcement.



        [...]

        You can also verify the signatures directly from this announcement in addition to or instead of verifying the files from the qubes-secpack. Simply copy and paste the Qubes Canary 035 text into a plain text file and do the same for both signature files. Then, perform the same authentication steps as listed above, substituting the filenames above with the names of the files you just created.

      • Krebs On SecurityInterview With a Crypto Scam Investment Spammer

        Social networks are constantly battling inauthentic bot accounts that send direct messages to users promoting scam cryptocurrency investment platforms. What follows is an interview with a Russian hacker responsible for a series of aggressive crypto spam campaigns that recently prompted several large Mastodon communities to temporarily halt new registrations. According to the hacker, their spam software has been in private use until the last few weeks, when it was released as open source code.

      • Security WeekGAO Tells Federal Agencies to Fully Implement Key Cloud Security Practices [Ed: Clown security is a mistake and anathema to real security]

        GAO report underlines the need for federal agencies to fully implement key cloud security practices.

      • Security WeekFood Distributor Sysco Says Cyberattack Exposed 126,000 Individuals

        Food distributor Sysco Corporation says the personal information of over 126,000 individuals was compromised in a recent cyberattack.

      • Security WeekDish Ransomware Attack Impacted Nearly 300,000 People

        Satellite TV giant Dish Network says the recent ransomware attack impacted nearly 300,000 people and its notification suggests a ransom has been paid.

      • TechRadarWindows 11 is so broken that even Microsoft can’t fix it

        Microsoft has just made a pretty remarkable admission, essentially conceding that it doesn’t have a solution for some Windows 11 problems.

      • Security WeekSamsung Smartphone Users Warned of Actively Exploited Vulnerability

        Samsung smartphone users warned about CVE-2023-21492, an ASLR bypass vulnerability exploited in the wild, likely by a spyware vendor.

      • SANSProbes for recent ABUS Security Camera Vulnerability: Attackers keep an eye on everything., (Mon, May 22nd)

        ABUS is usually better known for its "old-fashioned" mechanical locks. But as part of its b "Industry Solution" portfolio of products, ABUS is offering some more high-tech solutions, like, for example, network-connected cameras.

      • New YorkerIntroducing Four-Step Authentication

        Two-step authentication is just too much of a security risk.

      • QtSecurity advisory: Qt SVG

        A recent buffer overflow issue in Qt SVG has been reported and has been assigned the CVE id CVE-2023-32763.

      • Integrity/Availability/Authenticity

        • GizmodoMan Scammed by Deepfake Video and Audio Imitating His Friend

          A deepfake scam in China has increased fears that artificial intelligence will allow hackers to easily obtain financial information. Hackers using advanced AI software reportedly convinced a man in northern China to transfer money to his friend, but instead directed it to a fraudulent account.

      • Privacy/Surveillance and Unions

        • TechdirtFBI Used Section 702 Surveillance Powers To Spy On Protesters, Crime Victims, And Political Party Donors

          For as long as the FBI has had access to NSA collections under its Section 702 authority, the FBI has abused this access. Section 702 allows the NSA to collect content and communications via “upstream” channels. It’s a powerful dragnet and one that is supposed to be foreign-facing, so as not to violate the rights of Americans whose communications might be swept up in the data haul.

        • Marcy WheelerA Modest Proposal to Fix FBI’s FISA 702 Woes

          My Modest Proposal to fix the FISA 702 impasse is to require the FBI to obtain probable cause warrants for the target of surveillance -- possibly from the FISA court -- for data they want to search.

        • Pro PublicaProPublica Partner Sues Mississippi County for Blocking Access to Search Warrants

          The Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal has sued Mississippi’s Union County, asking a judge to order that search warrants in its county-level justice court be made open for public inspection.

          The lawsuit comes after an investigation last year by the Daily Journal and ProPublica found that almost two-thirds of Mississippi’s justice courts obstruct access to search warrants and to the affidavits used by police to obtain them.

        • SCMPParents in China told to delete encrypted messaging apps from kids’ phones to prevent inadvertent role in online scams

          Kids fooled into chatting with them may be regarded as assisting internet crimes, the posts say, urging that parents delete such apps

        • WiredThe UK’s Secretive Web Surveillance Program Is Ramping Up

          Particularly controversial was the creation of so-called [Internet] connection records (ICRs). Under the law, [Internet] providers and phone companies can be ordered—with a senior judge approving the decision—to store people’s browsing histories for 12 months.

          An ICR isn’t a list of every page online you visit, but may nonetheless reveal a significant amount of information about your online activities. ICRs can include that you visited Wired.com but not that you read this individual article, for instance. An ICR can also be your IP address, a customer number, the date and time the information was accessed, and the amount of data being transferred. The UK government says an [Internet] connection record could indicate when, for example, the travel app EasyJet is accessed on someone’s phone, but not how the app was used.

        • WiredOur Data, Ourselves

          In the information age, we all have a data shadow. We leave data everywhere we go. It's not just our bank accounts and stock portfolios, or our itemized bills, listing every credit card purchase and telephone call we make. It's automatic road-toll collection systems, supermarket affinity cards, ATMs and so on. It's also our lives. […]

        • Scoop News GroupWhat the record-breaking $1.3 billion Meta fine means for the US-EU clash over spying programs

          European regulators hit Meta with a $1.3 billion fine on Monday, the largest ever brought under the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation law and comes alongside orders that Meta must stop future transatlantic data transfers to the U.S. within five months.

          The order has the potential to radically reshape Facebook’s business in Europe and throws into question the future of billions of data transfers made daily between U.S. companies and European counterparts, potentially leading the global tech industry toward a regime of data localization that closes off global trade and raises new security concerns.

        • Security WeekMeta Fined Record $1.3 Billion and Ordered to Stop Sending European User Data to US

          The European Union slapped Meta with a record $1.3 billion privacy fine and ordered it to stop transferring user data across the Atlantic.

        • Silicon AngleMeta fined €1.2B in the EU for moving users’ data to the US
          Meta Platforms Inc. has been fined €1.2 billion in the European Union for transferring local users’ information to its U.S. data centers. The penalty was issued today by the Irish Data Protection Authority, which oversees Meta’s privacy practices in the EU.

        • QuartzMeta’s new record-setting EU fine is nearly as big as its last six combined
          Ireland’s Data Protection Commission (DPC) has fined Meta €1.2 billion ($1.3 billion) for breaking Europe’s stringent data privacy laws. In its May 22 ruling, the DPC found that Meta had violated the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) by failing to protect European Facebook users’ personal data...

          The latest ruling found that Meta had violated the terms of a court case between Facebook Ireland and the DPC in 2020, which effectively struck down the open transfer of personal data between the EU and the US over documented cases of surveillance by American intelligence services.

          To mitigate that ruling and continue moving data back and forth between servers, Meta has been using standard contractual clauses (SCC), data protection guardrails pre-approved by European regulators.

          However, the DPC found that Meta’s use of SCCs “did not address the risks to the fundamental rights and freedoms” of European Facebook users, cutting off Meta’s last avenue for data-sharing and raising the possibility that the company will be forced to cordon off the data of European Facebook users.

        • NYOBnoyb win: € 1.2 billion fine against Meta over EU-US data transfers

          noyb win: € 1.2 billion fine against Meta over EU-US data transfers

          Facebook must stop further transfers of European personal data to the United States, given that Facebook is subject to US surveillance laws (like FISA 702 and EO 12.333).

        • Digital Music NewsMeta Slapped With ‘Unprecedented’ $1.3 Billion EU Fine Over Data Transfers: ‘Serious Infringements Have Far-Reaching Consequences’

          Ireland’s Data Protection Commission (DPC) has officially slapped Facebook and Instagram parent Meta with a record €1.2 billion€ fine€ ($1.30 billion at the current exchange rate) over allegedly unlawful user-data transfers.

        • France24Meta hit with record €1.2 billion fine for violating EU rules on transferring data

          Facebook owner Meta has been fined a record 1.2 billion euros ($1.3 billion) for transferring EU user data to the United States in breach of a previous court ruling, Ireland's regulator announced on Monday.

        • OpenRightsGroupMeta fine: ORG warns that DPDI Bill could allow laundering of EU citizens’ data

          Open Rights Group has warned that the Data Protection and Digital Information (DPDI) Bill could allow Meta to get around the suspension of data transfers from Europe to the United States, which was imposed by Ireland’s data protector regulator today.

        • New York TimesMeta Fined $1.3 Billion for Violating E.U. Data Privacy Rules
          The Facebook owner said it would appeal an order to stop sending data about European Union users to the United States.

          [...]

          The penalty, announced by Ireland’s Data Protection Commission, is potentially one of the most consequential in the five years since the European Union enacted the landmark data privacy law known as the General Data Protection Regulation. Regulators said the company failed to comply with a 2020 decision by the European Union’s highest court that Facebook data shipped across the Atlantic was not sufficiently protected from American spy agencies.

        • India TimesEU fines Meta $1.3 billion over data transfers to US

          Monday’s decision is the latest round in a long—running saga that eventually saw Facebook and thousands of other companies plunged into a legal vacuum. In 2020, the EU’s top court annulled an EU-US pact regulating transatlantic data flows over fears citizens’ data wasn’t safe once it arrived on US servers.

        • The DissenterUS Labor Agency Rejects Starbucks' Effort To Obtain Records Of Worker Communications With Media
        • ScheerpostUS Labor Agency Rejects Starbucks’ Effort To Obtain Records of Worker Communications With Media

          A judge for the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) determined it was unlawful for Starbucks to request records of communications between unionized workers and news media organizations.

        • The Nation“Salt” the South! Young Socialists Are Needed to Help Organize the Auto Industry.

          In a stunning victory last week, workers at Blue Bird bus manufacturing in Fort Valley, Ga., voted 697 to 435 in favor of forming a union with the United Steelworkers of America.

        • EFFNewly Public FISC Opinion is The Best Evidence For Why Congress Must End Section 702

          The opinion recounts how for years the FBI illegally accessed a database containing communications obtained under Section 702 and other FISA authorities more than 278,000 times, including searching for communications of people arrested at protests of police violence and people who donated to a congressional candidate. Section 702 authorizes the surveillance of communications between people overseas. But when a person on U.S. soil is in contact with one of these surveillance targets, that leaves their side of the exchange sitting in a database and vulnerable to these warrantless FBI searches. As the opinion says, “Notwithstanding this foreign directed targeting, the extent to which Section 702 acquisitions involve U.S. persons should be understood to be substantial in the aggregate.”

          The pervasiveness of the FBI’s failure to comply with even the most modest reforms designed to limit the agency’s surveillance powers reveals two problems that Congress must address as it considers the Administration’s request to reauthorize Section 702.

          First, the FBI is incapable of policing itself when it comes to trawling through the communications of Americans without a warrant. “There is a point at which it would be untenable to base findings of sufficiency untenable on long promised, but still unrealized, improvements in how FBI queries Section 702 information,” the court wrote. “That point is now.” The FBI simply cannot help but violate the law.

        • IT WireFacebook parent Meta fined €1.2b for personal data transfers to US

          Last month, the EDPB told the Irish Data Protection Authority to amend its draft decision and impose a fine on Meta IE.

          The statement said: "Given the seriousness of the infringement, the EDPB found that the starting point for calculation of the fine should be between 20% and 100% of the applicable legal maximum.

          "The EDPB also instructed the IE DPA to order Meta IE to bring processing operations into compliance with Chapter V GDPR, by ceasing the unlawful processing, including storage, in the US of personal data of European users transferred in violation of the GDPR, within six months after notification of the IE SA’s final decision."

        • New York TimesMexican Official, Alejandro Encinas, Victim of Pegasus Spyware Attack

          While looking into abuses by the armed forces, the country’s top human rights official was targeted with Pegasus, the world’s most notorious spyware, The Times found.

        • QuartzOf course Meta is building a Twitter competitor

          Elon Musk’s controversial takeover of Twitter in October 2022 has energized a legion of new challengers—and users searching for a replacement app either out of protest against Musk’s tenure or as insurance in case Twitter’s service degrades.

        • Digital Music NewsInstagram Prepping Twitter Clone, Likely Launching This Year

          The uncertainty surrounding the now Musk-owned Twitter has prompted Instagram to begin work on a competitor.€  The new app is expected to launch sometime this year, likely as soon as the summer.

        • Scheerpost10 Years After Snowden: Some Things Are Better, Some We’re Still Fighting For

          Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) On May 20, 2013, a young government contractor with an EFF sticker on his laptop disembarked a plane in Hong Kong carrying with him evidence confirming, among other things...

    • Defence/Aggression

      • Democracy NowHiroshima Survivor Slams G7 Leaders for Embracing War & Rejecting Nuclear Disarmament

        The G7 summit wrapped up Sunday in Hiroshima, where much of the summit focused on the war in Ukraine and China. While in Japan, President Biden and other world leaders paid tribute to the victims of the world’s first nuclear attack — the U.S. bombing of Hiroshima on August 6, 1945 — laying wreaths at the Hiroshima Peace Memorial and planting a tree. But President Biden did not issue an apology for the attack, which killed an estimated 140,000 people and seriously injured another 100,000. For more, we speak with Setsuko Thurlow, who survived the U.S. bombing of Hiroshima in 1945 and devoted her life to nuclear disarmament. In 2017, she was chosen to accept the Nobel Peace Prize on behalf of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons.

      • Defence WebISS: Wheels come off South Africa’s hollow version of non-alignment

        Following United States (US) Ambassador Reuben Brigety’s accusations that South Africa supplied arms to Russia, attention has rightfully focused on the credibility of the allegations and the impact on South Africa’s economy and relations with the US. For a seasoned diplomat like Brigety, these remarks were not likely to have been miscalculated.

      • RFERLCase Of Russian Teen Accused Of Burning Koran To Be Investigated In Chechnya

        The case of a Russian teenager accused of publicly burning a Koran in the southwestern region of Volgograd will be investigated in the Russian region of Chechnya, where most residents are Muslim.

      • New York TimesBiden Sees Coming ‘Thaw’ With China, Even as He Rallies Allies Against Beijing

        During the Group of 7 meeting that just wrapped up, President Biden forged a consensus approach toward China despite tensions between the major powers over their approach.

      • LatviaLatvia, Estonia agree on joint airspace protection

        Latvia and Estonia will jointly purchase anti-air defense systems IRIS-T, creating a new “Livonia Shield” for Latvian and Estonian airspace protection, Latvian Defense Minister Ināra Murniece (National Alliance) and Estonian Defense Minister Hanno Pevkur€ said at a press conference Sunday, May 21.

      • France24Clashes, air strikes reported as Sudan ceasefire officially begins

        Witnesses in the Sudanese capital reported clashes and air strikes minutes after a one-week humanitarian ceasefire took effect Monday night, with the smell of smoke still lingering after gunfire and explosions rocked Khartoum throughout the day.

      • The NationAfter 12 Years, Syria Joins the Arab League

        Washington, D.C.—Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad took part last week in an Arab League summit in Jiddah, Saudi Arabia. This step brought to an end the suspension that the League’s most powerful members had long insisted on, as part of the regime-change campaign that—working closely with Washington—they had pursued against Assad since 2011.

      • France24French territory of Mayotte begins demolition of vast shantytown

        Authorities on the French Indian Ocean island of Mayotte on Monday began demolishing homes in a large slum in an operation against sub-standard housing and illegal migration, AFP journalists saw.

      • RFERLHead Of Successor To Russian Rights Group Memorial Placed In Pretrial Detention

        Aleksandr Chernyshov, the chief of the Memorial human right group's successor entity, the Center of Historic Memory, has been detained in the Russian city of Perm on a charge of "attempted smuggling of cultural artifacts."

      • RFERLNavalny Placed In Russian Solitary For 16th Time In Nine Months

        Imprisoned Russian opposition leader Aleksei Navalny has been placed in a punitive solitary confinement for the 16th time since August 2022.

      • teleSURG7 Becomes Incubator of Destructive Initiatives: Russia

        Not a single member of the G7 can boast a clean reputation in terms of respecting international rights and freedoms, the Russian Foreign Affairs Ministry said.

      • LatviaFormer KGB officer on trial for incitement: LTV's De Facto

        Last week, court proceedings started for Andris Strautmanis, former official of the Soviet-time Committee€ for€ State Security€ (KGB) and Latvian Security Police. He was detained two years ago in the espionage€ case of politician Jānis Ä€damsons, Latvian Television's broadcast De Facto reported on May 22.

      • Federal News NetworkFamily of suicidal Black teen killed by police in Nevada agrees to $2M settlement, more training

        The parents of a suicidal Black teenager who was fatally shot by police in Sparks, Nevada have agreed to a $2 million settlement with the city. The deal also includes more crisis intervention and mental health training for police officers. Miciah Lee, 18, had no criminal history and was not wanted for any crime. But he had a long history of mental illness and drug abuse when a white officer shot him five times while sitting in his car with a handgun between his legs in January 2020. Their lawyer says she's hopeful the new police training will help make sure "a tragedy like this will not occur again.”

      • Federal News NetworkFederal agents, prosecutors going after machine-gun conversion devices in Tennessee

        Federal law enforcement officials say 26 people in Tennessee have been recently convicted or face charges for possessing “switches,” devices that convert semi-automatic firearms into a machine guns. Kevin Ritz is the U.S. attorney in West Tennessee. He said federal investigators and local law enforcement officers in Memphis and Jackson have been trying to slow down the proliferation of switches as they work to stem a growing wave of gun violence. Seven of the 15 people who have been convicted of machine gun possession or other firearms-related crime have already received prison sentences of up to more 8 1/2 years.

      • New York TimesFire Guts Manila’s Historic Post Office Building

        Built in 1926, the structure is one of the Philippine capital’s most recognizable landmarks. The cause of the fire was unclear on Monday.

      • New York TimesSinn Fein Surges in Local Elections, Highlighting Northern Ireland’s Divide

        As the party climbs, its rivals, the Democratic Unionists, are stalled, which means any compromise that could revive its power-sharing national government may remain elusive.

      • New York TimesNashville Parents Ask: Must a Mass Shooter’s Writings Be Made Public?

        The lack of information about what motivated a deadly attack on a Christian school has led to a protracted legal fight over releasing the shooter’s handwritten journals.

      • New York TimesHe Freed an Innocent Man From Prison. It Ruined His Life.

        Jay Salpeter cracked a high-profile case to help exonerate Martin Tankleff. It was a blessing and a curse. For both of them.

      • EFFSFPD Obtained Live Access to Business Camera Network in Anticipation of Tyre Nichols Protest

        On January 27, 2023, an SFPD commander reached out to the USBID with a 12-hour live monitoring request for the 450 cameras in its network, citing “potential civil unrest” in anticipation of the release of body camera footage of Tyre Nichols’ killing by members of the Memphis Police Department. Reporting in the San Francisco Standard suggests that the SFPD may not have ended up engaging in live monitoring, but simply requesting this access before a protest can chill First Amendment activity. This act also indicates the SFPD is interpreting the ordinance too broadly. The policy states: “SFPD is prohibited from accessing, requesting, or monitoring any surveillance camera live feed during First Amendment activities unless there are exigent circumstances or for placement of police personnel due to crowd sizes or other issues creating imminent public safety hazards." But the SFPD has not shown that, when they obtained live access, there were any imminent hazards or exigent circumstances.

        The SFPD was able to seek live monitoring as a result of the controversial September 2022 temporary ordinance that authorized police to receive live access to non-city security cameras for a host of reasons, including to monitor so-called “significant events.” This temporary camera ordinance, which passed as a 15-month pilot, was vigorously opposed by community and civil liberties organizations, including EFF; members of the city’s civilian oversight Police Commission; and four members of the Board of Supervisors. San Francisco’s landmark 2019 privacy law forbade the SFPD from using non-city surveillance cameras, or any other surveillance technology, absent permission from the city’s Board of Supervisors via an ordinance. The department delayed seeking such permission for nearly three years.

        This is not the first time that the SFPD has obtained live access to non-city cameras concerning First Amendment-protected activity. EFF and ACLU of Northern California have an ongoing lawsuit against the SFPD, Williams v. City and County of San Francisco, for gaining live access to these same cameras for over a week to surveil protests against the police murder of George Floyd in the summer of 2020. The SFPD’s continued push for live access to business district camera networks creates a dangerous precedent that puts all people participating in peaceful protest at risk of surveillance.€ 

      • EFFEFF to Court: California’s Public Records Law Must Remain a Check on Police Use of Drones

        Every second of every drone video should not be categorically exempt from public records laws as an investigatory record. This is the argument of an amicus letter filed in California state court last week by EFF, the First Amendment Coalition, and the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press.

        The case centers around a journalist who requested drone flight videos created by the Chula Vista Police Department, under the California Public Records Act (CPRA). The department touts its program as one of the first in the country to use drones as first responders to emergency calls for police service, and the city has advocated for other law enforcement to create similar programs. EFF has previously raised alarm that the relative cheapness of deploying drones—compared to helicopters or on-the-ground policing—encourages more surveillance.

        In denying the public records request, the city claimed the videos were categorically exempt from disclosure under the CPRA because they are investigatory records. After the requester sued, the trial court agreed with Chula Vista and ruled that it would be unduly burdensome to require the city to review the video footage and release redacted versions. The requester has asked the California Court of Appeal to reverse the trial court’s decision.

      • ScheerpostIsraeli Extremists Storm al-Aqsa Mosque Complex

        The Israeli newspaper€ Arab 48€ reports that dozens of Israeli squatters, with Minister of National Security Itamar Ben-Gvir at their head, stormed the al-Aqsa Mosque complex early on Sunday morning from the Moroccan Gate.

      • The NationWhen “Suicide Watch” Becomes a Death Sentence

        When Anthony Gay was booked into the Peoria County jail in Illinois in 2022, after a conviction for “possession of a firearm by a felon,” he was placed in a so-called rubber cell, a freezing solitary confinement space with a hole in the floor for a toilet. Being left alone in these conditions triggered feelings of abandonment, a result of his borderline personality disorder and the PTSD he suffers from spending decades in solitary confinement during a previous incarceration.1Support for this article was provided by the Alicia Patterson Foundation.

      • ScheerpostImperial Protectionism: US Foreign Policy for the Middle Class

        What does a “foreign policy for the middle class” of the United States entail?€  President Joe Biden’s national security adviser is rather vague about this.€ 

      • ScheerpostWSJ Worries Debt Limit Fight Could Jeopardize Military Contractors’ Profit

        The Wall Street Journal hand-wrings about the area of the discretionary budget that appears least likely to face cuts.

      • The NationWhat Are Rules For?

        Edward Said once noted that when Napoleon Bonaparte invaded Egypt in 1798, it wasn’t just with warships and cannons. Indeed, Said writes, the “French expedition was accompanied by a whole team of scientists whose job it was to survey Egypt as it had never been surveyed before”—resulting in the production of a 24-volume compendium of diagrams and drawings purporting to represent the entirety of Egyptian history. The critical detail here is that the attempt to rule a society imagined to be in the thrall of disorder required that same society to be turned into an object of “scientific” inquiry capable of being comprehended, surveyed, and ordered according to the categories of Enlightenment thought.

      • The NationHolding G20 Meetings in Kashmir Fuels Ecocide and Advances India’s Occupation

        India’s decision to host a series of G20 summit tourism meetings in the Srinagar district of Indian-administered Kashmir represents yet another attempt to normalize its military occupation of the disputed Himalayan region. The planned agenda, including discussions on energy transition, environment, climate sustainability, and proposals for increased tourism, reeks of hypocrisy. By hosting G20 meetings in the contested territory, India not only legitimizes and advances its occupation but also shamelessly perpetuates the exploitation of the region’s abundant natural resources, putting its delicate ecology in jeopardy.

      • The NationBan Assault Weapons NOW!
      • War in Ukraine

    • Transparency/Investigative Reporting

      • Nicholas Tietz-SokolskyWe deserve to know if something was generated by AI

        LLMs haven't reached their saturation point yet, but there are still a lot of places where you expect to see them. Chat bots on websites? Would not be shocking to have it powered by an LLM. Emails from your sales rep? Probably written by ChatGPT. And recruiter emails? At the best of times they often felt robotic, so why would they be written by humans anymore?

    • Environment

      • Energy/Transportation

        • YLEFinland terminates pipeline contract with Russian state-owned supplier

          Gas imports into Finland via a Russian pipeline was suspended by Russia's Gazprom Export last year following a dispute over the currency used for payments.

        • Federal News NetworkChina’s Sinopec signs agreement to enter retail fuel market in crisis-hit Sri Lanka

          Chinese petroleum giant Sinopec has signed an agreement with Sri Lanka to enter its retail fuel market. Monday's agreement comes as the crisis-stricken Indian Ocean island nation struggles to resolve a worsening energy crisis amid unprecedented economic upheaval. The contract would enable Sinopec to import, store, distribute and sell petroleum products in Sri Lanka, which has been facing a fuel shortage for more than a year. China has been looking to consolidate investments in Sri Lanka’s ports and energy sector. The island nation’s immediate neighbor, India, considers Sri Lanka its strategic backyard and has raised security concerns about the Chinese investment push.

        • New York TimesTo Find Europe’s Best Bike Routes, a Cycling Writer Asked the Crowd

          The longtime sports journalist Claude Droussent discusses his new guidebook to cycling in Europe, which uses data from the fitness app Strava, and the growing role bicycles play in worldwide travel.

        • QuartzIs India's Jet Airways finally dead?

          India’s Jet Airways, grounded for nearly four years now, seems to be at the end of its rope.

        • QuartzBig Oil veteran Exxon wants to become part of Big Shovel

          ExxonMobil, a company feeding the very fossil fuel habit that the world is trying to kick, is now getting into the business of extracting another geological resource: lithium.

        • European CommissionEU Cohesion Policy: Inauguration of the renovated metro line in Budapest

          European Commission Press release Brussels, 22 May 2023 Today, the renovated M3 or ‘blue' metro line in Budapest, Hungary, was inaugurated and opened to passengers.

        • European CommissionFloods: EU mobilises emergency equipment to assist Italian authorities

          European Commission Press release Brussels, 22 May 2023 Following a new request for assistance from Italy, the EU has mobilised offers of pumping equipment from Austria, Bulgaria, Germany, France, Poland, Romania....

        • H2 ViewOvercoming global challenges in making hydrogen happen

          Keeping up with China, reacting to the US Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), and ensuring the UK develops technology and policy to compete with rising competition were just some of the key takeaways...

        • Michael West MediaPower bills to surge despite budget tipping modest rise

          Power bills in at least three states will rise by more than double the amount estimated in the federal budget. In a stoush with Liberal Senator Hollie Hughes over the impending price hikes, Assistant Minister for Energy Jenny McAllister denied the timing was planned to avoid scrutiny of the federal budget by parliament.

        • Michael West Media‘Crunch time’ for integrity of Australian carbon market

          An improved savannah fire management method for earning carbon credits is a priority for federal Labor, along with the release of once-secret data to restore public confidence. “It really is crunch time,” Carbon Market Institute CEO John Connor said, as regulators and project managers met in Cairns for a two-day industry forum.

        • Mexico News DailyGovernment takes over Veracruz sections of Ferrosur railway

          The armed forces have occupied 120 km of tracks operated by Ferrosur since Friday morning, after AMLO decreed them to be of "public utility."

        • New York TimesWorking From Home and Realizing What Matters

          Reduced commuting won’t raise G.D.P. So what?

        • The NationThe Diplomatic Wins at the Heart of China’s Ascendancy

          A photo Beijing released on March 6 of Chinese President Xi Jinping’s foreign minister Wang Yi delivered a seismic shock in Washington. There he stood between Ali Shamkhani, the secretary of Iran’s National Security Council, and Saudi National Security Adviser Musaad bin Mohammed al-Aiban. They were awkwardly shaking hands on an agreement to reestablish mutual diplomatic ties. That picture should have brought to mind a 1993 photo of President Bill Clinton hosting Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and PLO chief Yasser Arafat on the White House lawn as they agreed to the Oslo Accords. And that long-gone moment was itself an after-effect of the halo of invincibility the United States had gained in the wake of the collapse of the Soviet Union and the overwhelming American victory in the 1991 Gulf War.

        • HackadayThe Thousand Year (Radioactive) Diamond Battery

          The Holy Grail of battery technology is a cell which lasts forever, a fit-and-forget device that never needs replacing. It may seem a pipe-dream, but University of Bristol researchers have come pretty close. The catch? Their battery lasts a very long time, but it generates micropower, and it’s radioactive.

      • Wildlife/Nature

      • Overpopulation

        • NPROnce 'paradise,' parched Colorado valley grapples with arsenic in water

          Now decades of climate change-driven drought, combined with the overpumping of aquifers, is making the valley desperately dry — and appears to be intensifying the levels of heavy metals in drinking water.

        • VOA NewsGroup of Western US States Reach Deal to Stave Off Crisis on Drought-Stricken Colorado River

          The 2,334-kilometer river provides water to 40 million people in seven U.S. states, parts of Mexico and more than two dozen Native American tribes. It produces hydropower and supplies water to farms that grow most of the nation's winter vegetables.

          In exchange for temporarily using less water, cities, irrigation districts and Native American tribes in the three states will be paid. The federal government plans to spend $1.2 billion, said Lauren Wodarski, a spokesperson to U.S. Senator Catherine Cortez Masto, a Nevada Democrat.

        • RTLUS states reach agreement to save dwindling Colorado River

          Under the proposal, the river basin's states commit to save three million cubic acre feet (3.7 billion cubic meters) of water through the end of 2026, when new guidelines will be needed.

          "There are 40 million people, seven states, and 30 Tribal Nations who rely on the Colorado River Basin for basic services such as drinking water and electricity," said Interior Secretary Deb Haaland, in a statement lauding the deal that ends decades of squabbling.

          Of the water savings, 2.3 million acre feet would be compensated through funding from a 2022 law called the Inflation Reduction Act.

        • NBCThree states agree to reduce water usage so the Colorado River doesn’t go dry

          Three states — Arizona, California and Nevada — have agreed on a plan to conserve at least 3 million acre-feet of water by 2026 — roughly the equivalent to the amount of water it would take to fill 6 million Olympic-sized swimming pools.

          The Biden administration, which helped broker the agreement, announced the consensus deal Monday in a news release.

        • USDOIBiden-Harris Administration Announces Historic Consensus System Conservation Proposal to Protect the Colorado River Basin

          “There are 40 million people, seven states, and 30 Tribal Nations who rely on the Colorado River Basin for basic services such as drinking water and electricity. Today’s announcement is a testament to the Biden-Harris administration’s commitment to working with states, Tribes and communities throughout the West to find consensus solutions in the face of climate change and sustained drought,” said Secretary Deb Haaland. “In particular I want to thank Deputy Secretary Tommy Beaudreau and Reclamation Commissioner Camille Calimlim Touton, who have led the discussions with Basin state commissioners, Tribes, irrigators, local communities, and valued stakeholders to reach this critical moment.”

    • Finance

    • AstroTurf/Lobbying/Politics

    • Censorship/Free Speech

    • Freedom of Information / Freedom of the Press

    • Civil Rights/Policing

      • QuartzUber suspended its DEI chief after she hosted events titled “Don’t Call Me Karen” [Ed: Truly evil, evil corporations -- doing illegal things on occasions -- hiding behind the veil of "DEI" (the EPO does this too)]

        Bo Young Lee, Uber’s chief of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI), has been suspended after hosting an event about “the spectrum of the American white woman’s experience.”

      • RFERLAustria Beefs Up Border Security, Demands Explanations From Hungary After People Smugglers' Release

        Austria's government on May 22 asked Hungary for explanations as it stepped up security along the countries’ shared border following Budapest’s decision to grant early release to convicted people smugglers.

      • Telex (Hungary)We let the smugglers go because Brussels won't give us money – Rétvári

        Hungary had to make the decision to release several individuals convicted of smuggling migrants because Brussels isn't contributing to the costs of border protection, but punishes Hungary when our prisons are overcrowded, Bence Rétvári told MTI (the Hungarian State News Agency).

      • Telex (Hungary)Filing complaint for challenging that father is male and mother is female not possible after all

        Parliament has approved Katalin Novák's veto, removing the part of the law on complaints that allowed the lodging of a complaint against anyone "challenging the constitutionally recognised role of marriage and the family". On Tuesday morning, the Parliament re-adopted the law without the part in question, with 147 votes in favour and 6 against.

      • New York TimesGoogle’s Photo App Still Can’t Find Gorillas. And Neither Can Apple’s.

        Eight years after a controversy over Black people being mislabeled as gorillas by image analysis software — and despite big advances in computer vision — tech giants still fear repeating the mistake.

      • RFERLMahsa Amini's Family Accuses Iran's Security Forces Of Vandalizing Her Grave

        The family of Mahsa Amini have blamed Iran's security forces for vandalizing the grave of the young woman whose death while in police custody in September 2022 ignited nationwide protests.

      • Vice Media Group‘Pay Your Writers:’ Students Heckle Warner Bros. CEO During Commencement Speech

        Students at Boston University’s graduation ceremony told David Zaslav to “shut up” and turned their backs on him during his speech.

      • RFERLTajikistan Repatriates Dozens Of Women, Children From Syria

        Tajik authorities have repatriated 109 women and children, including five citizens of Kazakhstan, from Syria, where they had moved along with their husbands who joined the Islamic State (IS) extremist group in recent years.

      • US News And World ReportNew Mexico Supreme Court Issues Opinion to Provides Guidance About Pretrial Detention

        The New Mexico Supreme Court has issued an opinion providing guidance to district courts in deciding pretrial detention requests from prosecutors

      • LRTLithuanian police use drones to catch children smoking

        In response to teenagers using drugs and dangerous liquid in e-cigarettes, police in Kaunas, Lithuania's second-largest city, have started using drones in schools to spot the smokers.

      • Federal News Network9th Circuit rules US deportation law that fueled family separations is ‘neutral as to race’

        A federal appeals court has ruled that a U.S. deportation law that fueled family separations at the southern border is “neutral as to race,” striking down an unprecedented Nevada ruling that had determined it was racist and unconstitutional. Section 1326 of the Immigration and Nationality Act makes it a crime to return to the U.S. after deportation, removal or denied admission. The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals' decision is a blow for advocates who hoped to see major changes to the nation’s immigration system after U.S. Judge Miranda Du in 2021 dismissed an illegal reentry chargeagainst a Mexican immigrant. Du said Section 1326 violated the man's constitutional rights and is discriminatory against Latinos. The Justice Department quickly appealed.

      • TechdirtDC PD’s Head Of Homeland Security Intelligence Allegedly Warned Proud Boys Leader Cops Were Looking For Him

        Cops keep letting us know who they really are. They can’t seem to help themselves.

      • TechdirtLA Sheriff’s Department Watchdog Orders Dozens Of Deputies To Answer Questions About Gang Affiliation

        For years, the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department has had a gang problem. And for just as many years, sheriff after elected sheriff have refused to address this problem. It’s not simply a matter of taking a hands-off approach to discipline. It’s been a matter of flat-out denial from sheriffs that deputies are forming gangs seemingly solely for the purpose of abusing rights of Los Angeles County residents.

      • The Washington PostAmazon employees plan to walk off the job as tech worker tension rises [Ed: Bezos-owned site]

        On Monday, some Amazon workers at the company’s Seattle headquarters announced internally their plans to walk off the job.

        In messages sent out via Slack and email, employee organizers urged their colleagues to walk out on May 31 — one week after the company’s annual shareholder meeting — in response to frustration over layoffs and the return-to-office mandate, as well as concerns about Amazon’s climate commitments.

      • Meta Efficiency Layoffs: Where Next for Big Tech in 2023?

        The downsizing of Meta comes as part of the company’s ‘year of efficiency’, a plan which aims to tackle declining value and an uncertain economic climate. However, a new research report from Trachet, highlights the very real cost that layoffs can have on a workforce with a staggering third (33%) of respondents stating they have seen their workplace’s headcount decrease and their workload increase in the last 12 months – seemingly causing a mass strain within the sector.

      • CS MonitorJim Brown stood for those who stood against the establishment

        Jim Brown was the paragon of football running backs. But he saw himself as a man fighting for the freedom of those around him – including himself.

      • QuartzThe NAACP says Florida is unsafe for Black and LGBTQ Americans

        America’s leading civil rights organization says Florida is a dangerous place for Black and LGBTQ people. The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), which had been considering issuing a travel advisory for the state since March, finally did so on May 20.

      • JURISTMinnesota Senate passes bill ensuring minimum wage and benefits for rideshare drivers

        The Minnesota Senate passed a bill mandating rideshare companies to provide their drivers a minimum wage and other benefits on Sunday in a narrow vote of 35-32. The bill requires that all drivers be compensated $1.45 per mile within the Minneapolis-St. Paul metropolitan area and $0.34 per minute while transporting a rider.

      • France24Spain has 'problem' with racism, says football federation chief after Vinicius abuse scandal

        Spanish prosecutors on Monday opened an investigation over racist chants aimed at Real Madrid's Brazilian forward Vinicius Junior during a weekend match, according to a judicial source. The probe came as the head of Spain's football federation admitted that the country has a "problem" with racism.

      • Digital Music NewsAdidas Begins Unloading $1 Billion+ in Leftover Yeezy Shoes

        Adidas has resumed selling its unsold Yeezy shoes stock, with plans to dump the rest throughout May 2023.€  The Germany sportswear company says it will sell the collection exclusively through the Adidas Yeezy website. “A significant amount will be donated to selected organizations working to combat discrimination and hate, including racism and antisemitism.

      • Helsinki TimesRikosseuraamuslaitos introduces virtual reality-assisted rehabilitation for prisoners to practice everyday situations

        The Finnish Criminal Sanctions Agency (Rikosseuraamuslaitos) has been utilizing virtual reality (VR) programs as part of prisoner rehabilitation since 2019. Now, in collaboration with Virtual Dawn, the agency is launching virtual reality-assisted prisoner rehabilitation. These programs allow prisoners to practice situations they will encounter upon their release from prison.

        Previously, VR programs developed by the University of Tampere and the Helsinki and Uusimaa Hospital District (HUS) have been used.

      • ACLUHonoring the Past, Paving the Future: Enhancing Voter Registration

        Last week marks the 30th anniversary of the National Voter Registration Act (NVRA), a landmark piece of legislation that has expanded access to the ballot for millions of Americans.

        Signed by President Bill Clinton in 1993, the voting rights law strengthened American democracy. From enabling eligible voters to simultaneously register to vote when they apply for or renew a driver’s license, to offering voter registration opportunities via mail-in application opportunities, the NVRA helps make the promise of democracy real. The NVRA has been an amazing success. As of 2020, 160,000 million Americans have applied to get on the voter rolls through registration services the NVRA requires at departments of motor vehicles, disability offices, and public agencies across the country.

        Although we’ve made great progress in expanding access to voter registration, it is important to remember we still have so much work to do to expand voter registration access. In 2021, President Biden issued an executive order to increase access to voting, encouraging federal agencies to utilize an untapped provision of the NVRA that contemplates federal agencies providing voter registration services. Since this announcement, several federal agencies have made public commitments to increase access to voting information and expand voter registration opportunities.

      • Democracy NowAs Gov. DeSantis Preps White House Run, PEN America Sues Florida School District over Book Ban

        With Ron DeSantis expected to formally announce his run for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination this week, we look at his controversial record as governor of Florida, which has been marked by attacks on LGBTQ rights, immigrants, public education, antiracism initiatives and more. The NAACP recently issued a travel advisory for Florida, deeming the state to be “openly hostile” to Black Americans and other minority groups. Meanwhile, PEN America, the book publishing company Penguin Random House and several authors and parents are suing the Pensacola, Florida, school board for banning books on race and LGBTQ issues from school libraries for violating the First Amendment. The censorship “runs counter to the very role and purpose of public schools in a democracy,” says Suzanne Nossel, CEO of PEN America. We also speak with Kellie Carter Jackson, an associate professor of Africana studies at Wellesley College, who recently participated in a Florida teach-in to push back against DeSantis’s censorship. “We can’t discuss major events, major turning points, without talking about Black people, without talking about women, without talking about LGBTQ people,” she says.

      • ScheerpostDonald Trump and Ron DeSantis

        Two Peas in a (White Nationalist) Pod

      • The NationHow to Fight the Right’s Moral Panic Over Parental Rights

        Karin Cevasco was keeping a wary eye on the voting returns. For months ahead of this spring’s election, the school board of the southern New Hampshire town of Milford had been the site of intense acrimony. Conservative parents pushed to remove a gay-themed memoir from school libraries and demanded that bathrooms and locker rooms be segregated by sex, not gender identity, all in the name of parental rights. After the school board, dominated by conservatives, banned some students in the town’s middle and high schools from using urinals or shared spaces in locker rooms, more than 100 students walked out in protest.

      • VoxFlorida is too dangerous to visit, civil rights groups warn

        It’s unclear whether the organizations’ advisories will have any real impact on tourism, which is one of Florida’s biggest industries. According to Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis’s office, a record 37.9 million travelers visited Florida in the first quarter of 2023, up 6.7 percent from a year ago and mostly driven by people coming from other US states. Overseas travel has not yet recovered to pre-pandemic levels, but lawmakers hoping to change that are pouring $80 million into tourism campaigns next fiscal year, an increase of $30 million over this year.

      • ABCPlans to demolish Robb Elementary, hold cops accountable are moving forward: Officials

        The leaders of the small Texas community also said they're close to finalizing an agreement that would allow city investigators access to police records to determine whether or not any law enforcement officers should be fired or disciplined for the failed response to the shooting on May 24, 2022, at Robb Elementary.

      • New York TimesSupreme Court Criticism

        Democrats used to criticize the Supreme Court respectfully. Increasingly, they see the court as irredeemable.

      • New York TimesE.U. Asks Greece to Investigate Video of Migrants Left at Sea

        Citing a report by The Times, a top E.U. official said the Greek authorities had been urged to investigate after footage showed the Greek Coast Guard leaving asylum seekers at sea.

      • New York TimesMadeleine McCann Case: Portugal to Renew Search for Long-Missing British Girl

        The case of 3-year-old Madeleine McCann, who disappeared while vacationing with her family in Portugal, has drawn international attention for years.

      • New York TimesYou Cannot Hear These 13 Women’s Stories and Believe the Anti-Abortion Narrative

        If this isn’t what anti-abortion groups want, why won’t they fix it?

      • New York TimesAndrew Tate Finds Romania Less Lawless Than He Hoped

        The online influencer, popular with young men, is facing charges of human trafficking and rape, after seeking out a place where “corruption is accessible to everybody.”

      • New York TimesA Movement to Make Workplaces ‘Menopause Friendly’

        What is a menopause-friendly workplace? Women in cities like New York may soon find out, as U.S. companies adopt practices that were already spreading in Britain.

      • Site36Bosnian refugee camp Lipa: Dispute over „Austrian Guantanamo“
      • ScheerpostMissing Links in Textbook History: Ethnic Studies

        This is the sixth in a series of columns exposing “Missing Links” in high school history textbooks. Previous columns have focused on Indigenous peoples, the Cold War, the Vietnam War and the role of women in history. All I want is equality€ For my sister my brother my people […]

    • Internet Policy/Net Neutrality/Regulator

      • Public KnowledgePublic Knowledge Welcomes Nomination of Anna Gomez as FCC Commissioner

        Today, President Joe Biden nominated Anna Gomez for Commissioner at the Federal Communications Commission. Ms. Gomez has spent the bulk of her career serving the public interest at the FCC and at the National Telecommunications and Information Administration.

      • Broadband BreakfastBiden Announces Anna Gomez as Nominee for Fifth FCC Commissioner

        President Joe Biden announced Monday his intention to nominate experienced telecommunications attorney Anna Gomez as commissioner of the Federal Communications Commission.

        Democrat Gomez currently serves as a senior advisor for international information and communications policy in the State Department’s Bureau of Cyberspace and Digital Policy. She served as the National Telecommunications and Information Administration Deputy Administrator from 2009 to 2013 and spent over a decade in various positions at the FCC.

      • Vice Media GroupRIP Gfycat, the First Site To Make Gifs Look Good (UPDATED)

        After months of issues, Gfycat appeared to be dead, with its TLS security certificate expired for days.

      • APNICNetwork design: Dual ISP, DMZ, and the network edge — Part 1

        Guest Post: A detailed network design series about the network edge, dual ISPs, and BGP.

      • EFFFrom Past Lessons to Future Protections: EFF's Advice to the EU Commission on Extended Reality Governance

        The term "metaverse" is elusive, and open to many interpretations. It has evolved into an umbrella term encompassing numerous concepts, often influenced by the perspectives of those utilizing it. Given this broad and vague scope that can even extend beyond Extended Reality (XR), our submission neither endorses nor critiques the EU Commission's initiative.

        However, EFF strongly urges the EU Commission to consider historical digital rights lessons learned. People need principles that safeguard them from undue state and corporate overreach, which should be the focus of any measures introduced by the EU Commission about the metaverse.

        The metaverse does not need to be a single platform, nor does any metaverse need to be owned or controlled by a single entity. Instead, it is more beneficial to consider the metaverse as a generic term for a vast and interoperable network of different VR, AR, and "other services."

      • TechdirtU.S. Cable TV Subscriptions Fall To Lowest Total Since 1992

        Despite years of cable industry executives claiming that cord cutting (ditching traditional cable TV) was either a fiction or a fad, that wound up being… not true. Executive claims that cord cutting was finally slowing down and would soon effectively stop? Also, surprisingly, not true.

    • Digital Restrictions (DRM)

      • LatviaLatvian musicians break their way into streaming services

        As summer begins, the active concert season also begins for musicians, with€ town celebrations and€ festivals underways. Concerts€ remain€ Latvian musicians' main source of income, but in recent years they also derive additional income from music listeners that use streaming services such as Spotify, Apple Music, Youtube, Tidal, and others, Latvian Radio reported May 22.

      • Bryan LundukeWhy an iPhone makes a terrible general purpose computer

        (when Android makes a pretty good one)

      • TechdirtLobbyists Descend On California To Scuttle Right To Repair Efforts

        While U.S. consumer protection is generally a hot mess, one promising bright spot continues to be the bipartisan traction seen on right to repair issues. For decades, tech giants across numerous sectors have attempted to monopolize repair, making it harder and more expensive to repair things you own due to repair center consolidation, annoying DRM, and hard to find manuals and tools.

      • Democracy Now“African Queens: Njinga”: Kellie Carter Jackson on Netflix Series & Teaching Black History

        As we speak with Professor Kellie Carter Jackson, who teaches Africana studies at Wellesley College and joined a teach-in in Florida over the weekend, we ask about the new Netflix documentary series African Queens: Njinga, which she is featured in and tells the story of the 17th century warrior queen who fought the Portuguese slave traders. The series is executive produced and narrated by Jada Pinkett Smith. Jackson calls it a “major contribution to understanding slavery and the slave trade” and notes it is “readily available” online “if students cannot get this in Florida in their classroom.”

    • Monopolies

      • Patents

      • Trademarks

      • Copyrights

        • Digital Music NewsNetEase Cloud Music Announces Dolby Atmos Support, Touts Itself As the Leading Music Platform ‘Among China’s Vibrant Generation Z Community’

          As competition between China’s foremost streaming players continues to heat up, NetEase Cloud Music has announced support for Dolby Atmos “across its vast music library.”

        • US News And World ReportMarvel, Artist's Estate Ask for Pre-Trial Wins in Superhero Copyright Fight
        • Torrent FreakGoogle Bans 'Downloader' App: TV Outfits Claim Browser Violates Injunction

          After almost seven years online and more than 50 million installs, Android app 'Downloader' has been removed from Google Play. A complaint filed by several TV companies claims that when a pirate site's URL is entered into Downloader's basic web browser, the pirate site appears, violating an injunction. The same companies won an injunction in 2022 that required every ISP in the U.S. to block the very same site - until Google and other tech giants prevented that happening.

        • Torrent Freak'More Than 600,000 Students and Teachers Use Z-Library'

          Pirate eBook repository Z-Library has shared some interesting data concluding that more than 600,000 students and scholars use the site. This is likely an underestimation, as the findings are based on email addresses. The United States is excluded from the analysis, Z-Library notes, due to the criminal prosecution of two alleged operators of the site

        • Torrent FreakCertified Anti-Piracy Coach Helps Piracy Addicts Go Legal

          With only a rapid heart rate, cold sweats, and acute anxiety for company, the cravings of acute piracy addiction leave a stark choice; call a therapist and beg for support, or gorge on pirated movies and TV shows, hurting the creators. A new campaign launched at the Cannes Film Festival aims to cure addicts using a certified anti-piracy coach offering legal content replacement therapy.

        • Creative CommonsA look at CC’s Open Culture Roundtable in Lisbon

          Over the past decade, the open movement has made incredible strides in the cultural sector — take a look at some of the pioneers — yet it is still facing major barriers and challenges. But challenges are opportunities in disguise. In September last year, UNESCO declared culture a global public good at Mondiacult 2022. With the successes of the 2019 UNESCO Recommendation on Open Educational Resources and 2021 Recommendation on Open Science, the world looks to UNESCO’s leadership to create the necessary international framework that would unlock the possibilities of equitable, ethical, and respectful sharing of cultural heritage in the digital age: a UNESCO Recommendation on Open Culture. For an explanation of useful terms related to open culture, take a look at the glossary developed by the CC open culture platform.

        • The NationWorkers of the Music World Are Uniting—and Winning

          In 2017, America’s most exciting punk band was scraping by. Downtown Boys, a Providence, R.I.-based act, had a cult following, a Coachella performance under their belt, and glowing reviews in every major music outlet.



Recent Techrights' Posts

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
 
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."
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