Leftovers

• The Register UK ☛ DoomPDF dev stuffs a Linux system into a PDF

  First came Tetris, then Doom – and now a bare-bones Linux instance that boots inside a PDF.

  Yes, the humble PDF – thanks to its ability to run limited JavaScript – has been coaxed into booting a stripped-down 32-bit RISC-V Linux buildroot environment in a suitable PDF viewer. This is made possible by compiling the C-based TinyEMU emulator into JavaScript, and then embedding that into a PDF so that it is executed by the document viewer, and it in turn runs the included small Linux distribution.

• MJ Fransen ☛ Blog Questions Challenge: Technology Edition

  I built my first electronics project when I was twelve years old. This was a crystal radio. It required very few components, but I still needed to save money for a while before I could afford the purchase.

  For the antenna I used a very long wire, probably 10 meter or longer. The reception was of course terrible, but it felt like an adventure, listening secretly under the blankets during the night to the stations that it was able to receive.

• Amit Gawande ☛ Blogroll Conundrum

  I haven't yet created a blogroll. They are simple, but somehow, I am caught in a conundrum: What's the purpose?

• Standards/Consortia

  • Smithsonian Magazine ☛ Dial Up the Story of the First 911 Call, Which Was Placed on This Day in 1968

    For proponents of 911, this “first” was a huge milestone. But it would take several more decades for most of the country to gain access to the service. In 1976, the emergency number served just 17 percent of the population. Even by 1987, that figure had only risen to 50 percent.

• Science

  • New York Times ☛ As Convicted Felon Targets Research, Scientists Share Grief and Resolve to Fight

    At a conference in Boston, the nation’s scientists commiserated and strategized as funding cuts and federal layoffs throw their world into turmoil.

  • Wired ☛ This New Algorithm for Sorting Books or Files Is Close to Perfection

    This problem was introduced in a 1981 paper, and it goes beyond simply providing librarians with organizational guidance. That’s because the problem also applies to the arrangement of files on hard drives and in databases, where the items to be arranged could number in the billions. An inefficient system means significant wait times and major computational expense. Researchers have invented some efficient methods for storing items, but they’ve long wanted to determine the best possible way.

    Last year, in a study that was presented at the Foundations of Computer Science conference in Chicago, a team of seven researchers described a way to organize items that comes tantalizingly close to the theoretical ideal. The new approach combines a little knowledge of the bookshelf’s past contents with the surprising power of randomness.

  • NYPost ☛ Researchers took a whiff of Egyptian mummies for science — they ‘were surprised by the pleasantness of them’

    At first whiff, it sounds repulsive: sniff the essence of an ancient corpse.

  • The Conversation ☛ 2025-02-14 [Older] ‘Myrrh, conifer oil and … breakfast tea’: my sniffer team’s surprise findings on what mummified bodies smell like

  • The Conversation ☛ 2025-02-12 [Older] How our team spotted the most energetic neutrino detected to date

  • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-02-12 [Older] High-Energy Cosmic Neutrino Detected Under Mediterranean Sea

• Career/Education

  • Kansas Reflector ☛ USAID shutdown would halt research grants to state universities

    For decades, USAID has turned to experts at state colleges and universities to help it improve agriculture, education and public health in foreign countries — and in the process build goodwill toward the United States.

  • Crooked Timber ☛ Small is beautiful – and other thoughts about university governance

    If one had to choose one reason for why things are not going well in academic life, the managerial, top-down style of governance that reigns in many universities would be a top candidate (with budget cuts as a close competitor). But what is a better way of running universities? For me, this is a question in which theoretical and practical-professional interests intersect.* I’ve long been a defender of workplace democracy, and since 2023, I’m on the board of a small faculty – so the question became: What does it mean for a faculty to be a democratic workplace? Especially if the official rules do not allow for, say, an election of the faculty board by the faculty members…

• Hardware

  • The Conversation ☛ 2025-02-12 [Older] Sofas that self-assemble when you heat them up? How 4D printing could transform manufacturing

  • PC World ☛ 8 mistakes that will kill your SSD early

    SSDs are finely tuned, blazing-fast storage devices that can take more advantage of the high bandwidth of PCIe 5.0 than even the fastest graphics cards. But like all instruments of performance, you can’t treat them poorly and expect them to last forever.

• Health/Nutrition/Agriculture

  • The Conversation ☛ 2025-02-10 [Older] How the brain can miraculously switch off pain

  • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-02-09 [Older] Some US Health Clinics Grapple With Federal Funding Squeeze

  • Simone Silvestroni ☛ Outside the Wall

    I call, I message, I write emails, sometimes I meet them in person and have real discussions without taking my phone out of any pocket or bag.

  • The Straits Times ☛ Covid-19, influenza vaccination mandatory for high-risk Malaysian haj pilgrims

    Eligible haj pilgrims can obtain the Covid-19 vaccine for free at 247 selected health clinics.

  • New York Times ☛ On a Mission to Heal Gila Monsters

    After years in Big Pharma, a chemist pivoted to help save the species that made Ozempic possible.

  • New York Times ☛ Medicare Doesn’t Pay for Everything: How to Bridge the Cost Gap

    Older Americans have ways to protect against high out-of-pocket health care costs, but it’s important to understand the trade-offs.

  • New York Times ☛ She’s Trying to Stay Ahead of Alzheimer’s, in a Race to the Death

    In the Netherlands, doctors and dementia patients must negotiate a fine line: Assisted death for those without capacity is legal, but doctors won’t do it.

  • Federal News Network ☛ HHS is losing thousands of workers under Convicted Felon administration probationary job cuts

    Department of Health and Human Services officials expected most of the agency’s roughly 5,200 probationary employees to be fired. That’s according to a recording of a staff meeting shared with The Associated Press. Included in that tally are nearly 1,300 employees at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The moves are part of the Convicted Felon administration’s bid to get rid of nearly all probationary employees.

• Proprietary

  • Google, From Layoffs to Voluntary Exits [Ed: So many layoffs that they try to call them something else]

    In a move that has sent ripples across the tech industry, Google recently announced a voluntary exit program for its employees. This initiative, which allows employees to opt for a severance package and leave the company, has sparked a mix of reactions — ranging from curiosity to concern. As an IT professional, I can’t help but wonder what this means for the future of work at Google, the broader tech landscape, and the employees who are now faced with a life-altering decision.

  • Metro UK ☛ Why Xbox will never beat PlayStation with its multiformat plans – Reader’s Feature

    A reader explains why he thinks Microsoft embracing multiformat publishing with Xbox will only make it harder to compete with PlayStation.

  • Josh Betz ☛ Cloudflare as a Free CDN for WordPress Assets

    A Content Delivery Network (CDN) helps speed up a website by caching static assets (like JavaScript and CSS) on servers distributed around the world. This reduces latency and offloads traffic from the origin server, improving load times and user experience.

    Cloudflare has a WordPress plugin that will help you cache everything, including dynamic content, on the Cloudflare edge. I didn’t want to do that, preferring more control over caching HTML content and less complexity around invalidating the Cloudflare cache. However, I still want to take advantage of Cloudflare’s CDN to cache my site’s static assets. I’ve found that you can still get great performance without proxying dynamic content through Cloudflare. (I do cache full HTML pages in Nginx.)

  • Jason Tucker ☛ Here WeGo - Google Maps alternative?

    HERE is a mapping platform with a long history, originally developed by Nokia and now owned by a consortium of major automakers, including BMW, Audi, and Mercedes-Benz. It's widely used in commercial fleets, logistics, and even built into some car navigation systems. I used it way back when the Nokia n95 came out and I was testing it for review.

    Their mapping technology powers navigation systems for major car manufacturers, and their app, HERE WeGo, is designed to offer a robust alternative to Google Maps and Apple Maps.

  • Business Insider ☛ How to avoid being labeled an 'underperformer,' according to the ex-VP of HR at Microsoft

    The lesson from these layoffs is that simply doing your job well isn't enough. You can toil away for decades doing a fine job and still get caught up in these layoffs.

  • Artificial Intelligence (AI)

    • IP Kat ☛ 2025-02-11 [Older] [Guest Post] In too deep? Considering the legal risks when using DeepSeek

    • The Register UK ☛ Zypher's speech model can clone your voice with 5s of audio

      The results are actually two Zonos models: One that uses a fully transformer-based architecture, and the other, a hybrid that combines transformer and Mamba state space model (SSM) architectures. The latter, Zyphra claims, makes it the first TTS model to use this arch. While transformer-based models are without a doubt the most commonly used in generative AI today, alternative architectures like Mamba are gaining traction.

      From a practical standpoint, both models behave similarly to other text-to-speech models. But unlike those developed by ElevenLabs and others, Zyphra has elected to release its model weights on Hugging Face under a permissive [sic] Apache 2.0 license.

    • Unmitigated Risk ☛ The Fallacy of Alignment: Why AI Safety Needs Structure, Not Hope

      This raises a deeper question: If we now view ourselves as the existential threat, can we truly build AI that serves us? Or will our fears—whether of AI or of our own past—undermine the future we once dreamed of?

    • Robin Sloan ☛ Reasons-ing models

      In the warmup to my recent post about the foun­da­tional ques­tion of lan­guage models, I wrote about what the models are doing. I think “mod­eling text” under­sells the mech­a­nism. The sys­tems I tinkered with back in the late 2010s “modeled text”; these new ones, while mechan­i­cally very similar, are qualitatively, viscerally dif­ferent.

    • Idiomdrottning ☛ The Dystopian Hellscape of Apple's 1987 Knowledge Navigator Concept Video

      For his actual work, the lecture, he throws something together in three seconds with the LLM and mooches off a friend, asks her to come do the lecture. Actual thinking: nadita. I’m not denying that an LLM like he has could help him come up with some great insights and ideas, that’s not one of the problems with LLMs, they can be great. But that’s not what he’s doing. He’s just pasting some maps together…

      And he’s tasked to do the remembering part while the LLM does the thinking.

    • Pivot to AI ☛ El Salvador finds the use case for AI: handouts to the government’s pals

      Bukele has recently set himself up as effective President for Life — however long that life might be. But his big problem is that the country is out of money, because he spent it to get re-elected — hence the bitcoin gamble, which was finally abandoned to secure a $1.4 billion loan from the International Monetary Fund.

    • BoingBoing ☛ Fake AI "true crime" documentaries are taking over YouTube

      Part of the way this scam was discovered was that a resident of one of the towns where one of the supposed crimes took place began to investigate. "Why wasn't this on the local news?" they wondered. "Why is nobody talking about this?"

    • 404 Media ☛ A ‘True Crime’ Documentary Series Has Millions of Views. The Murders Are All AI-Generated

      Hernandez called several law enforcement officials and quickly confirmed her suspicions. The murder was fake, and the video was made using generative AI.

      The video was uploaded to a YouTube channel called True Crime Case Files. Before the channel was terminated while I was working on this story in January, it posted more than 150 similar videos over the past year. This one was the most popular.

• Pseudo-Open Source

  • Openwashing

    • The Conversation ☛ 2025-02-12 [Older] DeepSeek: how China’s embrace of open-source AI caused a geopolitical earthquake [Ed: It's not "open-source"]

• Security

  • Privacy/Surveillance

    • International Business Times ☛ 2025-02-14 [Older] UK To Fine £100,000 For Misuse Of Ring Doorbell Camera - Here's What You Should Know

    • India Times ☛ New downloads of DeepSeek suspended in South Korea: Data protection agency

      The service of the app will be resumed once improvements are made in accordance with the country's privacy law, the Personal Information Protection Commission (PIPC) said in a media briefing.

    • The Register UK ☛ YouTube ID exploited to find Gmail deests, says researcher

      It all started when Brutecat was digging through Google's People API and found out that a function that allows blocking a YouTube user relied on an obfuscated “Gaia” ID. Gaia is the ID management system for all Google products. Brutecat pointed out that, per a Google support page, blocking someone on YouTube extends to other Google services, meaning it's their Gaia ID that's blocked, not their YouTube account.

    • Rlang ☛ Burn Notice

      Your Phone and Watch have a lot of data about you. I mean, like, a lot. Someone should really write a book all about the general issues for society that this raises. Yesterday I decided I wanted to take a look specifically at the health data on my iPhone. I’m not a huge user of the iPhone’s or the Apple Watch’s health features. I don’t use or subscribe to Apple Fitness+, for example. I’m not in any studies. But I do have a bathroom scale that records data and I allow the Watch to keep an eye on my activity. This means that, like so many people, I have grown to heartily despise the blandly affirming Californian inside those devices who periodically encourages me to take a walk, or stand up, or be mindful, and so forth.

• Defence/Aggression

  • NYPost ☛ Family gives heartbreaking update on sole survivor of Wyoming mom’s murder-suicide rampage that left 3 sisters dead

    Olivia Blackmer was shot in the head by her mother Tranyelle Harshman at the family home in Byron Wyoming.

  • New Yorker ☛ We Might Have to “Shut Down the Country”

    Anthony Romero, the A.C.L.U.’s executive director, talks about what he thinks could happen if the Convicted Felon Administration defies the authority of the courts.

  • New York Times ☛ The Republican Party’s NPC Problem — and Ours

    What happens when ambition no longer checks ambition?

  • El País ☛ Salman Rushdie: ‘Musk does not defend freedom of expression; he curates the discourse of the extreme right’

    During his conversation with EL PAÍS, Rushdie — who was threatened with death in 1989 for his book The Satanic Verses — points out that, at the time, literary critics forgot to read between the lines of the humor that he sprinkled his books with.

    The recent attack against him took away his desire to go to public events, but he has returned as an act of resistance, with the love of his family in one hand and laughter in the other. He spoke to El PAÍS about the poetry that Netflix lacked while adapting One Hundred Years of Solitude, and about his new relationship with death. He also discussed the ongoing immigration crisis in the United States.

  • CS Monitor ☛ Finland urges rearming Ukraine as U.S. excludes Europe from peace talks

    On the final day of the Munich Security Conference, Mr. Stubb and other European leaders sought to plot how the European Union can move from talk to more action and stay relevant as Washington pushes to stop the fighting. He laid out three phases: “pre-negotiation,” ceasefire, and long-term peace negotiation.

    “The first phase is the pre-negotiation, and this is a moment when we need to rearm Ukraine and put maximum pressure on Russia, which means sanctions, which means frozen assets, so that Ukraine begins these negotiations from a position of strength," he said.

  • The Guardian UK ☛ Europeans are right to be angry with Donald Trump, but they should also be furious with themselves

    The betrayal of Ukraine is a final warning to the UK and its continental allies to put a lot more energy and money into rebuilding their defences

  • New York Times ☛ Knife Attack Suspect in Austria Was Inspired by ISIS, Official Says

    In July, the singer Taylor Swift was forced to cancel three concerts in Vienna, Austria’s capital, after the authorities learned of a plan to attack the venue by two teenagers who had become radicalized Islamists online. Neither was a refugee.

  • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2025-02-15 [Older] Austria: One dead, four injured in knife attack

  • Deutsche Welle ☛ Austria stabbing 'Islamist attack,' interior minister says

    "It is an Islamist attack with IS connections," Karner told reporters, adding that the suspect was radicalized online "in a short space of time."

  • The Record ☛ Estonian spy chief: ‘Hybrid schmybrid, what’s happening is attacks’

    In a late panel discussion on Saturday at the Munich Security Conference, Kaupo Rosin protested the use of the word which has been applied to a range of hostile activities that are deemed to be deniable or below the threshold justifying an armed response.

    “Hybrid schmybrid,” he said. “I think the word ‘hybrid’ is misleading and soft… What’s happening is attacks, cyberattacks, assassination plots, maybe in some parts it’s actually state-sponsored terrorism what is going on.”

  • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-02-09 [Older] 'No Thanks', White South Africans Turn Down Cheeto Mussolini's Immigration Offer

  • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-02-08 [Older] Cheeto Mussolini Says Some White South Africans Are Oppressed, Could Be Resettled in the US. They Say No Thanks

  • TruthOut ☛ 2025-02-10 [Older] Cheeto Mussolini Cuts Off South Africa Aid in Push to Further Interests of White Landowners

  • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-02-11 [Older] Cheeto Mussolini's Accusations Against South Africa Spark 'White Privilege' Self-Mockery

  • Scheerpost ☛ 2025-02-11 [Older] ‘The PayPal Mafia’: Meet the South African Oligarchs Surrounding Cheeto Mussolini, from Elon Musk to Peter Thiel

  • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-02-11 [Older] China Builds Space Alliances in Africa as Cheeto Mussolini Cuts Foreign Aid

  • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-02-08 [Older] African Leaders Call for Direct Talks With Rebels to Resolve Congo Conflict

  • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2025-02-09 [Older] Sam Nujoma battled South Africa and led a freed Namibia

  • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2025-02-09 [Older] Namibia's 'founding father' Sam Nujoma dies at 95

  • The Verge ☛ 2025-02-14 [Older] Apple and Google Both Return TikTok to App Stores, After Letter of ‘Assurance’ From Attorney General Pam Bondi

  • Citizen Lab ☛ 2025-02-10 [Older] The TikTok ban is already dead in the water: Jon Penney writes for the Globe and Mail

  • Make Tech Easier ☛ 2025-02-10 [Older] TikTok Returns to Android, Sort Of

  • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-02-08 [Older] TikTok to Let US Android Users Download App Via Kits on Its Website

  • The Straits Times ☛ Off-limits to humans for 70 years, S. Korea’s border zone becomes sanctuary for rare cranes

    The strip of land has turned the area into a sanctuary for many endangered plants and animals.

  • The Straits Times ☛ Trump’s impending tariffs loom large in South Korea’s ‘steel city’

    South Korea was the fourth-largest exporter of the metal to the US in 2024.

  • The Straits Times ☛ Speculation mounts in South Korea over Yoon Suk Yeol’s resignation

    However, his legal team has denied any notion of the suspended President’s resignation.

  • Russia, Belarus, and War in Ukraine

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-02-15 [Older] Ammunition Initiative for Ukraine to Continue, Czech President Says

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-02-15 [Older] China Calls for All Stakeholders in Ukraine War to Be in Peace Process

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-02-15 [Older] Zelenskyy Calls for 'European Army' as EU Leaders Bristle at New US Policies on Ukraine

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-02-15 [Older] Europe Needs Its Own Plan for Security and Ukraine, Says Poland's Tusk

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-02-15 [Older] France and Allies Discuss Holding Informal Ukraine Summit

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-02-15 [Older] UK's Foreign Minister: US and Ukraine Should Deepen Partnership

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-02-15 [Older] US Asks Europeans for Contributions to Ukraine Guarantees

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-02-15 [Older] Zelenskiy Says Draft US Minerals Deal 'Does Not Protect' Ukraine

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-02-15 [Older] Zelenskiy: Ukraine Won't Accept Deals Reached Behind Our Backs

    • Latvia ☛ 2025-02-14 [Older] Nordics, Baltics say they will stand by Ukraine

    • Counter Punch ☛ 2025-02-14 [Older] Why Cheeto Mussolini Shouldn’t Negotiate With Putin on Ukraine

    • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2025-02-14 [Older] Ukraine: Kyiv's reaction to Cheeto Mussolini's phone call with Putin

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-02-14 [Older] A Drone Strike at Chernobyl Has Raised Ukraine's Nuclear Ghosts. What Are the Dangers?

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-02-14 [Older] Europe Quietly Works on a Plan to Send Troops to Ukraine for Post-War Security

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-02-14 [Older] New Traces of Tear Gas Found on Ukraine Battlefield by Chemical Weapons Watchdog

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-02-14 [Older] Cheeto Mussolini's Apparent Concessions on Ukraine NATO Ties, Territory 'A Mistake', German Defence Minister Says

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-02-14 [Older] UK, US Agree Zelenskiy Must Be Part of Ukraine Peace Talks, Says UK's Lammy

    • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2025-02-13 [Older] At NATO meeting, Europe demands part in Ukraine peace talks

    • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2025-02-13 [Older] Ukraine peace talks: Germany calls for European involvement

    • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2025-02-13 [Older] What is known of Donald Cheeto Mussolini's 'peace plan' for Ukraine?

    • The Age AU ☛ 2025-02-13 [Older] Australia news LIVE: Crossbench rages as electoral reforms pass; Cheeto Mussolini and Putin agree to negotiate end of war in Ukraine

    • The Age AU ☛ 2025-02-13 [Older] Cheeto Mussolini and Putin begin talks to end Ukraine war

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-02-13 [Older] Kyiv, EU Alarmed by Prospect of 'Dirty Deal' After Cheeto Mussolini-Putin Call

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-02-13 [Older] UAE Offers to Host Talks Aimed at Ending Ukraine War, Sources Say

    • NL Times ☛ 2025-02-12 [Older] Dutch Defense Min. calls for calm after U.S. hints at limiting Ukraine support

    • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2025-02-12 [Older] Cheeto Mussolini says Putin agreed to Ukraine war talks 'immediately'

    • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2025-02-12 [Older] US says Ukraine regaining pre-2014 borders 'unrealistic'

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-02-12 [Older] Former Ukraine President Poroshenko Says Sanctions Imposed on Him

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-02-12 [Older] Putin Invited Cheeto Mussolini to Moscow to Discuss Ukraine, Kremlin Says

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-02-12 [Older] Zelenskiy, Cheeto Mussolini Discuss 'Opportunities to Achieve Peace' by Phone

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-02-12 [Older] UK Says It Supports Cheeto Mussolini's Desire to End Ukraine War, Focused on Boosting Kyiv's Position

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-02-12 [Older] Zelenskiy Says Ukraine Will Need US Help to Boost Army if It Can't Join NATO

    • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2025-02-11 [Older] Ukraine: Zelenskyy plans to meet Cheeto Mussolini officials in Germany

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-02-11 [Older] Kremlin Says There Is Nothing New to Report on Discussions Around Ukraine With the US

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-02-11 [Older] U.S. Treasury Secretary Bessent to Visit Ukraine for Talks on Rare Earth Minerals, Source Says

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-02-11 [Older] U.S. Will Not Send Troops to Ukraine, Pentagon Chief Hegseth Says

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-02-10 [Older] Ukraine Imposes Power Supply Restrictions Amid Frosty Weather, Lack of Generation

    • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2025-02-09 [Older] Ukraine's rare earths are key to its bargaining power

    • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2025-02-09 [Older] US updates: Cheeto Mussolini says he's spoken with Putin about Ukraine

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-02-09 [Older] Cheeto Mussolini Says He Has Spoken to Putin About Ending the Ukraine War

    • The Independent UK ☛ 2025-02-15 [Older] The Art of the Deal? Bitcoin fraudster tied to 2016 hacking of Democrats is Russian released in exchange for U.S teacher

    • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2025-02-15 [Older] A year after Navalny's death, Russian opposition demoralized

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-02-15 [Older] Russian Court Orders US Citizen Suspected of Drug Smuggling Held in Custody

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-02-15 [Older] G7 Ministers Link Future Russia Sanctions to Good Faith Talks

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-02-15 [Older] Russian Court Puts US Citizen in Custody Suspected of Drug Smuggling

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-02-15 [Older] Lavrov, Rubio Agree on Contacts to Prepare for Putin-Cheeto Mussolini Meeting, Russia Says

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-02-15 [Older] Cheeto Mussolini Team to Start Russia-Ukraine Peace Talks in Saudi Arabia

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-02-15 [Older] Ukraine Destroys 33 Russian Drones During Overnight Strike: Air Force

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-02-15 [Older] UK Tracks Russian Ships Carrying Ammunition From Syria

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-02-15 [Older] Europe Will Not Be Part of Ukraine Peace Talks, US Envoy Says

    • CBC ☛ 2025-02-14 [Older] Cheeto Mussolini says Russia and Ukraine can reach a peace deal. Will Ukrainians buy what he's selling?

    • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2025-02-14 [Older] Russia detains US traveler with cannabis-laced gummies

    • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2025-02-14 [Older] Why Russia is seeing a rise in demand for second-hand goods

    • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2025-02-14 [Older] Why Russia is seeing a rise in demand for secondhand goods

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-02-14 [Older] The Latest: Zelenskyy Says Cheeto Mussolini Is Key to Ending Russia-Ukraine Conflict

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-02-14 [Older] Italy President's 'Third Reich' Comments on Russia Spark Rome-Moscow Dispute

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-02-14 [Older] Kremlin Says G7 Has Lost a Lot of Relevance After Cheeto Mussolini Calls for Russia to Be Readmitted

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-02-14 [Older] Russia Calls Zelenskiy Accusation Over Chornobyl Plant Stage-Managed 'Nuclear Blackmail'

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-02-14 [Older] Russia Confirms It Has Detained a U.S. Citizen Suspected of Drug Offences, Ifax Reports

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-02-14 [Older] Russian Suspected of Sabotage Against Poland, US, Deported From Bosnia, Tusk Says

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-02-14 [Older] Saudi Arabia Welcomes Idea of U.S. and Russian Presidents Meeting in Kingdom

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-02-14 [Older] Two Russians Jailed in Poland for Espionage and Wagner Membership

    • Latvia ☛ 2025-02-13 [Older] Saeima to look at tourism ban to Russia, Belarus

    • International Business Times ☛ 2025-02-13 [Older] David Beckham's Russia Trademark Sparks Controversy Amidst His Support for Ukraine

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-02-13 [Older] Kremlin Says a Russian Citizen Will Be Returned Within Days From the U.S

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-02-13 [Older] Russia Rejoices at Cheeto Mussolini-Putin Call as Zelenskyy Rejects Talks Without Ukraine Present

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-02-13 [Older] Russia's Sibur Set to Restart Drone-Hit Petchem Plant in March

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-02-13 [Older] Cheeto Mussolini’s Call With Putin Ends U.S. Efforts to Isolate Russia

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-02-13 [Older] Ukraine Drones Hit Russia's Andreapol Oil Pumping Station, Kyiv Source Says

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-02-13 [Older] Ukraine Says It Will Not Accept US-Russia Peace Deal Reached Without Kyiv

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-02-13 [Older] Ukrainians Worry About Cheeto Mussolini Effort to End War With Russia, Though Some Hope for the Best

    • CBC ☛ 2025-02-12 [Older] Cheeto Mussolini confirms Putin call as U.S. defence secretary dismisses prospect of Ukraine NATO membership

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-02-12 [Older] Things to Know About Russia's Release of American Marc Fogel and the Impact on Ending Ukraine War

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-02-12 [Older] Exclusive-Russian-Linked Bots Sow Fear, Distrust Ahead of German Vote, Researchers Find

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-02-12 [Older] Cheeto Mussolini Makes First Big Foray Into Ukraine Diplomacy, Speaking to Putin, Zelenskiy

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-02-12 [Older] UK Defence Minister Healey: Ukraine Should Decide When to Start Russia Negotiations

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-02-12 [Older] Who Is Alexander Vinnik, the Russian Prisoner Being Traded for American Marc Fogel?

    • Vox ☛ 2025-02-12 [Older] Cheeto Mussolini’s peace talks with Putin

    • CPJ ☛ 2025-02-11 [Older] Russia preps to block income of ‘foreign agent’ journalists

    • CPJ ☛ 2025-02-11 [Older] Russia’s repression record

    • Latvia ☛ 2025-02-11 [Older] Real estate purchase ban for Russians, Belarusians being considered in Latvia

    • Ruben Schade ☛ 2025-02-11 [Older] Baltic states disconnect from Russian grid

    • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2025-02-11 [Older] Russia-Ukraine: Indian recruits share 'frightening' ordeal

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-02-11 [Older] Russian Cybercrime Network Targeted for Sanctions Across US, UK and Australia

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-02-11 [Older] UK Sanctions Russia's Zservers Over Cyber Crimes

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-02-11 [Older] Four Russians Arrested in Phobos Ransomware Crackdown, Europol Says

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-02-11 [Older] Russia Offers India Its Most Advanced Su-57 Stealth Fighter Jet

    • CBC ☛ 2025-02-10 [Older] They welcomed Canada's open arms. Now Ukrainians worry about future as Russian invasion's 3rd-year mark nears

    • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2025-02-10 [Older] Germany: Russian on trial after deadly attack on Ukrainian soldiers

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-02-10 [Older] Russia Yet to Receive Satisfactory Proposals to Start Talks on Ukraine, RIA Reports

    • Modern Diplomacy ☛ 2025-02-09 [Older] Determining the Endgame for Russia in Ukraine

    • CBC ☛ 2025-02-09 [Older] Ground drones are the next wave of offence in Ukraine's battle with Russia

    • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2025-02-09 [Older] Ukraine's metals the US, EU and Russia want access to

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-02-09 [Older] Governor Puts Parts of Russia's Sakhalin on High Alert After Cargo Ship Runs Aground

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-02-09 [Older] Russia Says It Sees No Positive Steps From US on Disarmament, RIA Reports

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-02-09 [Older] Russia Awaits Appropriate Signals From US on Contacts, Senior Diplomat Says

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-02-09 [Older] Russia Launches Drone Attacks on Kyiv, Sumy, Ukrainian Officials Say

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-02-09 [Older] Ukraine's Military Says It Shot Down 70 Out of 151 Drones Launched by Russia Overnight

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-02-09 [Older] Cheeto Mussolini Plan to End Ukraine War Must Prevent New Russian Aggression, Zelenskiy Says

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-02-08 [Older] Ukraine Says Russia Launched 139 Drones Overnight

    • France24 ☛ Navalny's widow Navalnaya calls for fight for 'free, peaceful' Russia

      Russian opposition figure Yulia Navalnaya, widow of the late Alexei Navalny, on February 16 urged supporters to fight for a 'free, peaceful' Russia, a year after her husband's prison death.

    • France24 ☛ Navalny supporters mark first anniversary of his death as Russian opposition falters

      Supporters of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny marked the first anniversary of his death on Saturday, risking retaliation from President Vladimir Putin. The opposition has been badly weakened since Navalny’s death as many members have fled into exile while those who remain face fines or imprisonment.

    • France24 ☛ US cuts Europe from Ukraine peace talks: It 'has caused extreme alarm'

      Dictator shocked European allies this week by calling Russian President Vladimir Putin without consulting them or Kyiv beforehand and declaring an immediate start to peace talks. 'The idea the Europe is going to be excluded from talks to reach an agreement has caused extreme alarm in European capitals', France 24's Nick Holdworth reports.

    • RFERL ☛ U.S. Officials Heading to Saudi Arabia For Russia-Ukraine Peace Talks

      Amid a flurry of dramatic diplomatic discussions, U.S. President The Insurrectionist is sending a senior team to Saudi Arabia to begin negotiations with Russia and Ukraine with an eye on ending the nearly 3-year-old war, U.S. officials told multiple media outlets.

    • New York Times ☛ Ukraine Won’t Accept a Deal It Didn’t Help Negotiate, Zelensky Says

      Volodymyr Zelensky, the president of Ukraine, told NBC News that he’d warned President Convicted Felon that Russia’s president, Vladimir Putin, is a “liar.”

    • New York Times ☛ Putin Has Long Wanted More Power in Europe. Convicted Felon Could Grant It.

      Remarks by Vice President JD Vance and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth are fueling concerns that the U.S. will move away from Europe and align with Moscow.

    • France24 ☛ Vance-Zelensky: 'This meeting was more successful than we expected'

      US Vice President JD Vance held a meeting in Munich with Ukraine's leader Volodymyr Zelensky to discuss The Insurrectionist's push for a deal with Moscow. Olena Prokopenko, senior fellow at the German Marshall Fund of the United States, was our guest. 'I would say that this meeting was more successful than we expected,' she said.

    • France24 ☛ French President Emmanuel Macron to host European leaders' meeting on Ukraine

      French President Emmanuel Macron will host a meeting of European leaders on February 17 to discuss the situation in Ukraine. What can we expect to come out of this meeting? France/Europe correspondent for the Swiss daily Blick Richard Werly tells us more.

    • France24 ☛ Former PM of Ukraine Arseniy Yatsenyuk: 'No talks about Ukraine without Ukraine'

      Europe won't have a seat at the table for Ukraine peace talks, The Insurrectionist's Ukraine envoy said on February 15, after Washington sent a questionnaire to European capitals asking what they could contribute to security guarantees for Kyiv.

      Former Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk was our guest. 'In order to achieve peace, we need to craft and hammer out a strong, bold, joint action plan, agreed upon by the United States, the European Union, and Ukraine. No talks about Ukraine without Ukraine,' he said.

    • France24 ☛ Europe will not be part of Ukraine peace talks, US envoy says

      Europe won't have a seat at the table for Ukraine peace talks, The Insurrectionist's Ukraine envoy said on February 15, after Washington sent a questionnaire to European capitals to ask what they could contribute to security guarantees for Kyiv.

    • RFERL ☛ Ukraine Not Invited To U.S.-Russia Talks In Saudi Arabia, Zelenskyy Says

      Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Kyiv has not been invited to attend U.S.-Russia talks in Saudi Arabia over ending Moscow's war on Ukraine.

    • CS Monitor ☛ Finland urges leaders to rearm Ukraine as U.S. hints Europe excluded from peace talks

      At Munich Security Conference, Finland's president says Europe should put "maximum pressure on Russia" as U.S. prepares to negotiate deal without them.

    • The Straits Times ☛ White House envoy, national security advisor head to Saudi Arabia for Russia talks

      White House Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff on Sunday said he would travel to Saudi Arabia later in the day with National Security Advisor Mike Waltz for talks on how to end Russia's war on Ukraine.

    • The Straits Times ☛ Four killed in Ukrainian drone attacks in Russia's Belgorod region, governor says

      Ukrainian drone attacks killed four people in two incidents in Russia's Belgorod border region on Sunday, the regional governor said.

    • New York Times ☛ Left Out of Ukraine Talks, Europe Races to Organize a Response

      The Convicted Felon administration’s push for direct negotiations with Russia without Ukraine’s involvement leaves the European allies with no clear role.

    • New York Times ☛ Zelensky Rejects Convicted Felon Administration Demand for Half of Ukraine’s Mineral Resources

      President Volodymyr Zelensky publicly faulted the American proposal because it did not include security guarantees.

    • New York Times ☛ A Pro-Ukraine Activist Is Accused by Slovakia’s Leader of Trying to Topple Him

      A woman who runs a pro-Ukraine group has been accused by Prime Minister Robert Fico of Slovakia of plotting to topple him as part of his campaign against organizations he says are funded from abroad.

    • RFERL ☛ U.S. Officials In Rare Belarus Visit Seeking Deal On Political Prisoners, Sanctions

      Three senior U.S. officials traveled to Belarus to negotiate the possible release of a large number of political prisoners in return for an easing of sanctions, The New York Times reported, following the release of three detainees earlier in the week

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-02-14 [Older] EU's Kallas: Listening to Vance Speech Felt Like United States Was Trying to Pick Fight With Us

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-02-14 [Older] In Munich, Vance Accuses European Politicians of Censoring Free Speech

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-02-15 [Older] Germany's Scholz Rebukes Vance, Defends Europe's Stance on Hate Speech and Far Right

• Transparency/Investigative Reporting

  • The Telegraph UK ☛ Letby hospital forced whistleblower out of her job, tribunal rules

    She claimed she was “harassed and intimidated” by Mr Haythornthwaite, whom she accused of putting the financial security of the hospital before patient care.

    She later “blew the whistle” about her concerns about him and was suspended before she eventually resigned from her job in 2022.

    Now her claim of unfair dismissal has been upheld. Judge Dawn Shotter, who chaired the tribunal, ruled that Mr Haythornthwaite and three other senior figures at the hospital worked together to remove Dr Gilby from her post.

• Environment

  • Counter Punch ☛ 2025-02-14 [Older] Climate Upheaval, Mild or Severe, Who Really Cares?

  • Counter Punch ☛ 2025-02-14 [Older] Two Books on Climate Change and Beyond

  • Vox ☛ 2025-02-14 [Older] Why the US is freezing as the planet reaches record warmth

  • Modern Diplomacy ☛ 2025-02-13 [Older] The Vatican’s Path on Fiji’s Climate Change Policy

  • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2025-02-13 [Older] What's next for Germany's climate movement?

  • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-02-13 [Older] EPA Chief Seeks to Claw Back $20 Billion in Climate Funding

  • TruthOut ☛ 2025-02-12 [Older] Cheeto Mussolini’s Climate Funding Freeze Leaves Tribes and Community Groups in Limbo

  • Jacobin Magazine ☛ 2025-02-11 [Older] Colombia’s Receding Coastline

  • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2025-02-11 [Older] Climate versus economy: Does Germany need to choose?

  • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2025-02-11 [Older] Transparency International: Corruption is a climate issue

  • HRW ☛ 2025-02-11 [Older] Panama Needs to Expedite Efforts Toward Climate Relocation Policy

  • New Yorker ☛ 2025-02-11 [Older] The Second Cheeto Mussolini Administration Takes Aim at the Climate

  • International Business Times ☛ 2025-02-10 [Older] Jeff Bezos' £8B Fund Cuts Funding to Climate Group As Amazon Secures £670K Military Contract In Britain

  • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-02-10 [Older] Most Countries Miss UN Deadline for New Climate Targets

  • Modern Diplomacy ☛ 2025-02-08 [Older] U.S Withdrawal and Politics of Paris Climate Agreement

  • TruthOut ☛ 2025-02-08 [Older] DOGE Ransacks NOAA, Raising Fears About Privatization of Climate Data

  • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2025-02-12 [Older] Extreme weather has killed almost 800,000 people in 30 years, says report

  • Energy/Transportation

    • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2025-02-13 [Older] Germany: Porsche set to slash jobs by 2029

    • New York Times ☛ Prominent Cryptocurrency Investor Faces Senate Tax Inquiry

      A Senate committee is investigating whether a prominent cryptocurrency investor violated federal tax law to save hundreds of millions of dollars after he moved to Puerto Rico, a popular offshore tax haven, according to a letter reviewed by The New York Times.

    • Modern Diplomacy ☛ 2025-02-14 [Older] South Africa’s G20 Presidency for 2025: A Catalyst for Energy Investment in Africa

    • Truthdig ☛ 2025-02-13 [Older] Mayors Across U.S. Urge Congress Not To Repeal Clean Energy Tax Credits

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-02-12 [Older] Democratic US Lawmakers Ask Energy Department About Any DOGE Access to Nuclear Data

    • Vox ☛ 2025-02-10 [Older] The tiny lizard that will test Cheeto Mussolini’s “drill, baby, drill” agenda

  • Wildlife/Nature

    • The Conversation ☛ 2025-02-11 [Older] Most animals have their own version of tree rings – here’s how we biologists use them to help species thrive

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-02-12 [Older] Brazil's Lula to Meet With Agency on Petrobras' Bid to Drill Near Mouth of Amazon River

    • TwinCities Pioneer Press ☛ Business People: Joy King named CEO of Animal Humane Society

      NONPROFITS Animal Humane Society, Golden Valley, announced it has named Joy King as CEO. King previously served as chief advancement officer of NMDP, formerly Be The Match, a national bone marrow donation registry, and executive director of the NMDP Foundation.

    • NYPost ☛ Doctor reveals the truth about nondairy milk options — and if any of them are healthier than cow’s milk

      Is plant-based milk really better than good old cow’s milk? Is it all hype? Or are people onto something?

• Finance

  • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2025-02-13 [Older] Commerzbank plans job cuts, new goals to fend off UniCredit

  • The Age AU ☛ 2025-02-11 [Older] Banks told to ignore student debt when weighing up home loans

  • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-02-10 [Older] Sanctions on Syrian Banks Choke Recovery Hopes, Investment Chief Says

  • Jacobin Magazine ☛ 2025-02-13 [Older] Cheeto Mussolini’s New Consumer Finance Regulator Loves Pleasing Banks

  • Counter Punch ☛ 2025-02-14 [Older] Funding the Revolution, Beating the Banks

  • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2025-02-14 [Older] Nigeria approves $200M to offset shortfall from US aid cuts

  • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2025-02-14 [Older] German parties consider taking on more debt

  • Digital Camera World ☛ What Monty Python taught me about the art of haggling over a price of a camera

    In order to successfully haggle, you’ll want to decide what’s a fair price for the tech gear you want to buy. So, research the cost of that product and use it to determine what you’re willing to pay. A helpful tip is to print out or take screen shots of website pages. You might also get quotes from competitors (but make sure they’re in writing and print those out, too). Once you do that, contact the store to confirm that it will match the lowest price you’ve found. If you can’t get a better price, you could try asking them about free shipping or delivery.

• AstroTurf/Lobbying/Politics

  • Silicon Angle ☛ Why Intel must stay independent, spin out its foundry and rebuild its iconic brand

    Today, Intel finds itself in a precarious position. Its once-vaunted manufacturing machine has fallen behind Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp., which dominates advanced process nodes. Meanwhile, Intel’s core central processing unit design business — a substantial, if bruised, revenue engine — remains overshadowed by the mounting losses and capital burn in its foundry operations.

  • Misinformation/Disinformation/Propaganda

    • Hong Kong Free Press ☛ Chinese animated blockbuster breaks records, prompts patriotism

      Some fans have speculated that the film also contains hidden geopolitical symbolism, suggesting the villain’s palace is a reference to the US Pentagon or White House, though the filmmakers haven’t commented on these rumours.

• Censorship/Free Speech

  • EFF ☛ 2025-02-13 [Older] First Cheeto Mussolini DOJ Assembled “Tiger Team” To Rewrite Key Law Protecting Online Speech

  • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2025-02-13 [Older] Nepal's social media bill raises free speech concerns

  • ANF News ☛ Iranian Writers' Association calls for annulment of death sentences for Warisha, Pakshan and Sharifa

    The Iranian Writers' Association has called for the death sentences of Warisha Moradi, Pakshan Azizi and Sharifa Mohammadi to be annulled.

    The Iranian Writers' Association pointed out that the Iranian regime has been burying the bodies of executed individuals in unmarked graves for years, adding: “This horrible punishment is still continuing.”

  • YLE ☛ Helsinki proposes Navalny memorial site near Russian Embassy

    Confirming the news, Jussi Luomanen, the city's head of urban space and landscape planning, said the memorial was proposed by Russian activists opposing Vladimir Putin's policies from an organisation called the Initiative for Resistance and Dialogues.

    "This group wants to honour the memory of Aleksei Navalny by installing a memorial bench. Helsinki is granting permission for the bench to be placed in a public park," Luomanen said in an email.

  • Meduza ☛ ‘History is not written only by the victors’ International readers of Alexey Navalny’s memoir reflect on the late politician’s life and legacy

    Patriot was translated into over 20 languages, including ones spoken in countries where Alexey Navalny is far from a household name. Meduza found several people from around the world who read the book and published their own reviews online, and invited them to share their impressions of the memoir and their thoughts on Navalny himself.

  • The Moscow Times ☛ One Year After His Death, Allies and Supporters Remember Navalny in Berlin Memorial

    In a wide-ranging 90-minute conversation, Navalny’s widow Yulia shared memories of her husband, discussed life without him and called on Russians abroad to protest the regime “for those in Russia who can’t.”

  • VOA News ☛ Navalny supporters risk reprisals with memorial events a year after death

    Remembrance events will take place as Russia's opposition movement -- driven into exile by unprecedented repression -- has been plagued by infighting and badly weakened since the loss of its figurehead.

    Exiled in various countries, its leading members have tried to revive the fight against Vladimir Putin's long reign, including in Russia where criticism of authorities is severely punished.

  • JURIST ☛ Committee to Protect Journalists urges Taliban to lift broadcast ban on political and economic content

    The ban reflects a trend of heightened media censorship under Taliban control, which has greatly restricted press and expression freedoms in Afghanistan. The UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan has noted a significant decline in media freedoms since the Taliban takeover in 2021. Human Rights Watch has documented several incidents where journalists were harassed, detained, and physically abused for attempting to cover sensitive issues. Amnesty International has also detailed the Taliban’s arbitrary detention of journalists and the closure of media outlets as part of a broader crackdown on freedom of expression.

• Freedom of Information / Freedom of the Press

  • TruthOut ☛ 2025-02-12 [Older] White House Revoked Access to AP for Refusing to Comply With Censorship

• Civil Rights/Policing

  • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2025-02-12 [Older] Google Calendar removes Black History Month and Pride Month

  • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-02-10 [Older] Amazon Faces Union Vote at North Carolina Warehouse

  • TruthOut ☛ 2025-02-11 [Older] Workers Resist Amazon’s Attempts to Divide Them by Race Ahead of NC Union Vote

  • Scheerpost ☛ 2025-02-15 [Older] Amazon Stokes Racial Divides in Lead-Up to North Carolina Union Vote

  • Jacobin Magazine ☛ 2025-02-15 [Older] Ahead of Workers’ Union Vote, “Amazon Mobilized an Army”

  • Project Censored ☛ 2025-02-10 [Older] Is This the Best We Can Do? Hope and Limitations in International Law

  • [Old] EFF ☛ Van Buren is a Victory Against Overbroad Interpretations of the CFAA, and Protects Security Researchers

    The decision is a victory for all Internet users, as it affirmed that online services cannot use the CFAA’s criminal provisions to enforce limitations on how or why you use their service, including for purposes such as collecting evidence of discrimination or identifying security vulnerabilities. It also rejected the use of troubling physical-world analogies and legal theories to interpret the law, which in the past have resulted in some of its most dangerous abuses.

    The Van Buren decision is especially good news for security researchers, whose work discovering security vulnerabilities is vital to the public interest but often requires accessing computers in ways that contravene terms of service. Under the Department of Justice’s reading of the law, the CFAA allowed criminal charges against individuals for any website terms of service violation. But a majority of the Supreme Court rejected the DOJ’s interpretation. And although the high court did not narrow the CFAA as much as EFF would have liked, leaving open the question of whether the law requires circumvention of a technological access barrier, it provided good language that should help protect researchers, investigative journalists, and others.

  • [Old] Los Angeles Times ☛ Opinion: Violating a website’s terms of service is not a federal crime

    At any rate, Barrett’s opinion should help contain the CFAA within its intended boundaries. She was joined in the ruling by two other textualists on the court — Justices Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh — and the court’s three liberals, but not by three of their fellow conservatives: Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. and Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel A. Alito Jr.

    The two sides disagreed on what the law meant by “exceeds authorized access.” Writing for the dissenters, Thomas argued that “Van Buren never had a ‘right’ to use the computer to obtain the specific license plate information.” But that’s just another way of saying that the law governs what computer users do with the information they are authorized to access on a site, which eradicates the act’s boundaries. The majority rightly held that the law prohibits people from getting into computers or files that the computer owner hasn’t opened to them, not those who violate the terms the computer owner has imposed.

Internet Policy/Net Neutrality

• Deutsche Welle ☛ 2025-02-13 [Older] YouTube: From failed dating site to pop culture juggernaut

• Tom's Hardware ☛ Meta plans 50,000 km undersea cable to connect the U.S., Brazil, Africa, India, and Australia

  Meta just announced an ambitious new undersea internet cable project that spans over 50,000 km to connect North and South America, Africa, Asia, and Australia. The Facebook parent company is part-owner of several undersea communications cables, but this new plan, called Project Waterworth, will apparently be the first that it will solely own and operate. Meta says it will be the longest cable deployed so far and will likely cost the company over $10 billion.