Bonum Certa Men Certa

Recommendation of The Cyber Show

Andy Farnell and friendsSummary: A new security-centric show was recently started; it deals with ethics, software freedom, and digital rights

I RECENTLY learned about the launch of a new show by Andy Farnell and friends/colleagues. He told me he had quit Solent University on ethical grounds, so a new "Cybershow" has been his focus. "We've got a remarkably productive and talented little team who are all minded towards technology in the public interest," he told me.



"While preference for GNU/Linux and BSD is a given (at least in Farnell's case), it helps to 'rope in' people who are on the fence or the other side of the fence."For those who are longtime readers of Techrights Dr. Farnell needs no introduction. But for those who aren't familiar with his literature and articles, let's just say he's a specialist in tech ethics, not just a lecturer on topic like cyber security and audio. Now he combines his passions and specialty. His "Cyber Show" (or Cyber|Show) is well worth subscribing to.

"Friday was international sysadmins day," he said last week, "so we released a special episode for that. My hope was to contrast a mainly Unix/Linux organisational system with a commercial Microsoft/Apple set up."

"That didn't work out with the interview schedule, so instead we ended up contrasting two ages/career stages - but there will be more in that mini-series and the Linux vs Microsoft one will be surely be fun and of interest to you when we run it."

"Companies or universities which abandon ethics are doomed to fail."While preference for GNU/Linux and BSD is a given (at least in Farnell's case), it helps to 'rope in' people who are on the fence or the other side of the fence.

Then there's investment in the "undecided" or the young.

"We've also started a Cybershow Kids, with loads of amazing stuff in the pipeline for that," he told me.

"And you might like some our "On the Go" and psychoanalytical forays like these ones [1, 2]"

"It seems like the education sector and the private sector (even contractors for the public sector) get a lot worse over time."Everything I've listened to so far is very good and neatly relates to topics we routinely cover. Even before I knew about pension fraud my wife and I left our job. In fact we both left our job on ethical grounds, just like Dr. Farnell did. Sirius 'Open Source' has since then lost about half the remaining staff. Companies or universities which abandon ethics are doomed to fail. They will quickly lose critical staff and resort to desperate measures that cannot live up to past reputation or expectations.

Despite its age, I strongly recommend this episode from one month ago. "A big clue is in this episode when Ed and I talk about how I felt like the flight instructors before 9/11 who were concerned about students who wanted to learn to take off but not landing," Dr. Farnell told me. "For ages I raised serious concerns about the national security problems of us training overseas students in red-team, who didn't want to learn defensive... and admitted they basically were sent by their governments to probe UK cybersecurity and gain the what they could through learning."

"Universities are morally bankrupt and concerned only with taking money from kids. I think they are no longer fit places for teaching and learning. So I quit to build something better. Cybershow is one step along that path."

I worked as a postdoc for a couple of years a decade ago, so I understand universities as staff, not just as an undergraduate and postgraduate student. I left to join Sirius in 2011 and that too was a bummer. It seems like the education sector and the private sector (even contractors for the public sector) get a lot worse over time. It's not just about the money; the working conditions deteriorate. Those who can afford to quit just quit. Health is more important than financial rewards/compensation.

"They're a relatively young show and they want to know their listeners."Having reached out to an older friend, he said that he had similar experiences and recalled "when the administrators tried to give out passing grades to students who had never set foot in the classroom and probably never set foot on the campus."

He also recalled "when the administration tried to force faculty members to fill out their time sheets such that project money was burned on unrelated administrivia."

"These comments are pretty much describing my ex-university," another person recalled. So we all saw more or less the same thing.

If you choose to listen to any of the above episodes, be sure to provide them with some feedback. They're a relatively young show and they want to know their listeners.

Recent Techrights' Posts

Trajectory of The Register: From News Site/s Into "B2B"... and Into Microsoft Salespeople
Something isn't right at The Register
Doing My Share to Tackle Online Slop and SPAM
Trying my best to 'fix' the Web
Slopwatch: Fakes, FUD, Duplicates, and Charlatans Galore
The Web as we once know it is collapsing. Some opportunists try to replace it with low-quality slop.
The Register UK Seems to Have Become American and Management is Changing (Microsofter as Editor in Chief)
The Register 'UK' is now controlled by the Directions on Microsoft guy
 
When Silence Says So Much
Garrett, a 'secure' boot pusher, will need to defend himself in the UK High Court
The Register in Trouble
There is not much that can be done at this point
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Saturday, July 26, 2025
IRC logs for Saturday, July 26, 2025
Misinformation in Social Control Media
Social control media passes around all sorts of tropes
Slopwatch: Fake Linux 'Articles' and Slopfarms With "Linux" in Their Names/Domains
throwing bots at "Linux" to make some fake articles
Links 26/07/2025: Amazon Shutdown in China, Russian Economy Slows
Links for the day
Gemini Links 26/07/2025: History of Time (1988) and Gemini Games
Links for the day
Links 26/07/2025: 50 Percent Tariffs in Amazon, Dying Intel Offloads Network and Edge Group (NEX)
Links for the day
Blaming Programming Languages for Users' and Developers' Bad Practices
That's like blaming cars for drivers who crash into things
Many People Still Read Techrights Because It Says the Truth, Produces Evidence, and Does Not Self-Censor
Unlike so many other sites
The Register is Desperate for Money, According to The Register
I decided to check how they're doing as a business
Microsoft Finally Finds a Use Case for Slop?
Create low-quality chaff to shift the media's attention?
Microsoft Windows Lost 400 Million Users in a Few Years, Why Does The Register Double Down on Windows With New US Editor?
days ago they hired a new US editor
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Friday, July 25, 2025
IRC logs for Friday, July 25, 2025
For Libel Reform One Must First Bring (or Raise) Awareness to the Issues and Their Magnitude
I myself know, from personal experience
Links 26/07/2025: Rationed Meals in the US and TikTok Repels Investments (Too Toxic)
Links for the day
Gemini Links 26/07/2025: "Bloody Google" and New People in Geminispace
Links for the day
Response to Solderpunk (Father of Gemini Protocol) About the Gemini Community
Solderpunk responds to non-sequitur
HTML and the Web Used to be Something a Child Could Learn, "Modern" Web is a Puzzle of Frameworks, Bloat, and Worse
When the Web was more like Gemini Protocol
New US Editor in The Register is 84% Microsoft/Windows Booster
It'll be worrying if it carries on like this
Links 25/07/2025: Slop Blunders and China Has Code of Conduct for Lawmakers in HK
Links for the day
Gemini Links 25/07/2025: Some Books and Babies and Capital
Links for the day
Links 25/07/2025: NOAA Cuts Endanger Lives, "Europe's Self Inflicted Cloud Crisis"
Links for the day
They Try to Lecture Us on Ethics
They even removed "master" from Microsoft GitHub
The Future of the Web is One Rendering Engine or 'Flavours' of Chrome
The future of the Web does not look bright at all
Best Sites Are Not Optimised for Any Browser, They Work Equally Well With All of Them
Red Hat (IBM) is making rubbish sites
YouTube is a Spamfarm, Slopfarm, and Clickfarm (a Lot of Numbers There Are Fake)
Those who don't fake look unpopular and unimportant
We Don't Do JavaScript and Pages Are Small
Thankfully Gemini Protocol has nothing like JavaScript
'Tech' is Not Technology
Some people use terms like 'Old Tech'
IBM's Debt Rose by Almost 10 Billion Dollars in the Past 6 Months Alone
The "hey hi" circus is coming to an end
Yes, Master
Gaslighting by actual racists
Microsoft Bribes and Buys Politicians to Tell Europe What to Do About Free Software (Which It's Attacking)
Microsoft: we speak for the thing that we are attacking! Follow the money...
Making Backups Quickly and Reliably
Backups are imperative, more so in an age of uncertainty, unpredictable weather, and worsening standards (quality of products going down while prices go up)
Techrights Investigation: Estimating the Point in Time LinuxIac Turned Into LLM Slop (Part of the Time)
Bobby Borisov got lazy
10th Month, Ten Weeks From Now, at Ten AM
In Wentworth Institute of Technology in Boston
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Thursday, July 24, 2025
IRC logs for Thursday, July 24, 2025
A Nadella Memo Distracts From Microsoft's Cheapening Of the Workforce
Right now the "MSM" (mainstream media) is flooded/overwhelmed by garbage pieces that relay lies for Nadella
Vanishing Faces of GNU/Linux
Free software projects do not depend on any one person or company to still exist
Microsoft Says It Lost 400 Million Windows Users, Now It's Waiting for GNU/Linux to Stop Booting on 'Old' PCs
When it comes to Windows, Microsoft is fully aware of the issue and statements it made earlier this summer suggest it lost 400 million Windows users
Slopwatch: LinuxTechLab, linuxsecurity.com, LinuxIac, and More
Also: The Register's Microsoft agenda (new editor)
Gemini Links 25/07/2025: Gemtext Aware Titan Editor and Gemini Protocol Comeback
Links for the day