Leftovers

• Computing UK ☛ Torvalds calls out ‘random turd files’ in Linux

  Linus Torvalds has shared his disgust at the code slowing down the latest Linux kernel release.

  Torvalds was scathing in his latest comments about a Linux 6.15-rc1 pull request - first spotted by Phoronix - which merged a big set of open source graphics driver updates.

• Science

  • Bartosz Milewski ☛ Subfunctor Classifier

    In category theory, objects are devoid of internal structure. We’ve seen however that in certain categories we can define relationships between objects that mimic the set-theoretic idea of one set being the subset of another. We do this using the subobject classifier.

    We would like to define a subobject classifier in the category of presheaves, so we could easily characterize subfunctors of a given presheaf. This will help us work with sieves, which are subfunctors of the hom-functor C(-, a); and coverages, which are special kinds of sieves.

  • [Old] PlanetPlanet ☛ Real-life Sci-Fi world 11: Kalgash, a planet in permanent daytime (from Asimov’s Nightfall)

    To be stable, star systems must be organized in a hierarchical setup. This means that the spacing of orbits follow a 1, 10, 100 pattern rather than 1, 2, 3.

    Kalgash’s central star is just like the Sun. The binary pair at 10 Astronomical Units must be close to as luminous as the Sun, since its apparent brightness drops by a factor of 100 (since they are 10 times farther from the planet), and we need each star to be at least ~1% as bright as the Sun.

• Career/Education

  • Neil Selwyn ☛ Teachers’ perceptions of GenAI – some recurring observations – Critical Studies of EDUCATION & TECHNOLOGY

    Over the past six months, our research fieldwork across five Swedish secondary schools has involved having long conversations with teachers who are using GenAI for their work. Here are a few things that we are regularly hearing: [...]

• Hardware

  • Dan Langille ☛ What drive did I just remove from the system?

    I’m writing this up because now is no time for confusion. I’ve got to get this right.

    The drive I pulled has label HGST_8CJVT8YE: I used that during the dd command above.

    The drive I pulled has a serial number of ZHZ16KEX, which does not match that label.

  • Terence Eden ☛ Gadget Review: 6-Colour ePaper Name Badge

    The good folks at SmartDisplayer Technology Co have sent me a six colour eInk badge to play about with.

  • HowTo Geek ☛ How I Avoided an Expensive NAS Upgrade

    Not everything in your homelab has to be new.

• Health/Nutrition/Agriculture

  • Tech Central (South Africa) ☛ The world has hit 'peak booze'

    Humanity has passed a remarkable milestone: alcohol consumption has gone into possibly permanent decline.

  • Task And Purpose ☛ Army fitness test will be ‘sex neutral’ for combat jobs

    For soldiers in non-combat MOSes, there will continue to be separate minimum scores for men and women.

  • Military.com ☛ New Army Fitness Test: No More Ball Yeet, Higher Standards for Combat Arms | Military.com

    The Army is set to make sweeping changes to its fitness test, according to an internal memo obtained by Military.com. The overhaul includes a rebranding of the test, the elimination of its most criticized event, and the introduction of new performance standards for soldiers in combat roles.

    First, the test will no longer be the "Army Combat Fitness Test," and will simply be the "Army Fitness Test, " or AFT. It was unclear why the service moved to take out the word "combat."

  • Science Alert ☛ Ancient Killer Is Rapidly Becoming Resistant to Antibiotics, Study Warns

    "The speed at which highly-resistant strains of S Typhi have emerged and spread in recent years is a real cause for concern, and highlights the need to urgently expand prevention measures, particularly in countries at greatest risk," said infectious disease specialist Jason Andrews from Stanford University at the time the results were published.

• Proprietary

  • US News And World Report ☛ FTC Sues Uber, Alleging It Signed up Uber One Subscribers Without Their Permission

    The U.S. Federal Trade Commission filed a lawsuit against Uber on Monday, alleging that it enrolled consumers in its Uber One subscription program without their consent and made it too difficult for them to cancel the service.

  • The Register UK ☛ Eight days from patch to exploitation for Microsoft flaw

    Specifically, the vulnerability can be exploited to leak a victim's Net-NTLMv2 or NTLMv2-SSP hash over the network. According to Check Point, miscreants can "attempt to brute-force the hash offline or perform relay attacks," and impersonate the user to access stuff and perform actions as them.

  • 404 Media ☛ The FBI Can't Find ‘Missing’ Records of Its Hacking Tools

    The FBI bought multiple hacking tools for $250,000. Despite that, the FBI says it can't find any more records about the tools.

  • Artificial Intelligence (AI) / LLM Slop / Plagiarism

    • Sean Goedecke ☛ When you should lie to the language model | sean goedecke

      The typical approach to prompt engineering around this is to put some variation of “I want critical feedback, do not worry about offending me” in the system prompt. But in my experience this doesn’t work very well. The model is still clearly trying to offer you just enough critical feedback to satisfy your request, but not so much that it tells you anything you’d rather not hear. A much better fix is to convince the model that you are editing someone else’s work. I use variations on this prompt: [...]

    • Futurism ☛ Investor Says AI Is Already "Fully Replacing People"

      The venture capitalist doesn't bother to provide receipts for his claim, instead insinuating: I have a lot of money riding in this, trust me. In order to dig into his claim, we'll have to look at examples of AI in law and recruiting today — and boy is it a disaster.

  • Social Control Media

    • Tim Bray ☛ Decentralizing Schemes

      I’m a fan of decentralized social media and that’s partly because I enjoy using it. But mostly because history teaches that decentralization is the best basis for sustainable, resilient online conversation. (Evidence? Email!) For the purpose of this essay, let’s assume that you agree with me. Let’s also assume that our online life is still Web-flavored. I’m going to describe a few unfortunate things that can happen in a decentralized world, then look at a basic built-in feature of the Web that might make the problems go away.

  • Windows TCO / Windows Bot Nets

    • Cyble Inc ☛ Zelenskyy Signs Cybersecurity Bill To Protect Infrastructure

      The newly ratified Law No. 4336-IX, titled “On Amendments to Certain Laws of Ukraine Regarding Information Protection and Cybersecurity of State Information Resources, Critical Information Infrastructure Objects,” introduces broad reforms to Ukraine’s national cyber strategy. It was approved by parliament on March 27 and signed into law last week.

• Pseudo-Open Source

  • Openwashing

    • ZDNet ☛ My two favorite AI apps on Linux - and how I use them to get more done [Ed: Openwashing, NOT "open-source AI tool"]

      Ollama is an open-source AI tool. Its open-source nature is one of the primary reasons I was drawn to it because I know developers around the world can vet its code, and to date, no one has come out to say they've discovered anything untoward in the code.

• Security

  • Privacy/Surveillance

    • EFF ☛ EFF to Congress: Here’s What A Strong Privacy Law Looks Like

      Additionally, we reiterate that any strong privacy law must include these components: [...]

    • Pivot to AI ☛ OpenAI starts verifying corporate customers. Sometimes the ID system works!

      Some countries use electronic identification, and the paperwork OpenAI is demanding doesn’t exist.

      OpenAI also wants your credit card — even if you have credits and you remove your card between top-ups because of OpenAI’s habit of randomly billing card holders.

    • The Register UK ☛ Palantir to build software solution to help US deportation

      "Palantir's systems are already ingesting and processing data from multiple ICE, DHS [Dept of Homeland Security] and external sources," ICE said in its filing. "Palantir is the only source that can provide the required capabilities and prototype … without causing unacceptable delays."

      The new system, ICE Immigration Lifecycle Operating System, or ImmigrationOS, is being built to give the agency two particular capabilities that it said current software systems lack.

    • The Register UK ☛ Being polite to ChatGPT costs OpenAI tens of millions

      OpenAI isn't entirely transparent on how much it costs the org to operate ChatGPT, but it's continuing to accept billions of dollars in investments. Altman admitted early this year that even its $200-a-month Pro product loses money. Altman has apparently fretted in the past about GPU constraints and is reportedly hoping to take matters into his own hands by investing billions into a massive buildout of chip capacity.

    • MIT Technology Review ☛ Yahoo will give millions to a settlement fund for Chinese dissidents, decades after exposing user data

      This ends a long fight for accountability stemming from decisions by Yahoo, starting in the early 2000s, to turn over information on Chinese internet users to state security, leading to their imprisonment and torture. After the actions were exposed and the company was publicly chastised, Yahoo created the Yahoo Human Rights Fund (YHRF), endowed with $17.3 million, to support individuals imprisoned for exercising free speech rights online.

    • GDPRhub ☛ The Rise Of Online Driver’s Licenses: Convenience And Efficiency In The Digital Age

      In conclusion, the transition to online driver’s licenses represents a significant leap towards a more efficient, accessible, and user-friendly system. While challenges remain, the benefits clearly illustrate the importance of embracing technology in public service. As states continue to refine and expand their online services, the hope is that all residents will enjoy the seamless experience that modern technology can provide in obtaining and maintaining their driver’s licenses.

    • Techdirt ☛ Microsoft Is Dedicated To Building A Dodgy New Database Of Every Windows 11 User’s Online Behaviors

      But it didn’t take long before privacy advocates understandably began expressing concerns that this not only provides Microsoft with an even more detailed way to monetized consumer privacy, it creates significant new privacy risks should that data be exposed.

      Early criticism revealed that consumer privacy genuinely was nowhere near the forefront of their thinking during Recall development. After some criticism, Microsoft said it would take additional steps to try and address concerns, including making the new service opt-in only, and tethering access to encrypted Recall information to the PIN or biometric login restrictions of Windows Hello Enhanced Sign-in Security.

    • Wired ☛ How to Protect Yourself From Phone Searches at the US Border

      Customs and Border Protection has broad authority to search travelers’ devices when they cross into the United States. Here’s what you can do to protect your digital life while at the US border.

  • Confidentiality

    • Krebs On Security ☛ Whistleblower: DOGE Siphoned NLRB Case Data

      A security architect with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) alleges that employees from Elon Musk‘s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) transferred gigabytes of sensitive data from agency case files in early March, using short-lived accounts configured to leave few traces of network activity. The NLRB whistleblower said the unusual large data outflows coincided with multiple blocked login attempts from an Internet address in Russia that tried to use valid credentials for a newly-created DOGE user account.

• Defence/Aggression

  • [Old] Stiftelsen Fritt Näringsliv/Frivärld ☛ Tracking the Russian Hybrid Warfare - Cases From Nordic-Baltic Countries

    In this report, the Stockholm Free World Forum has gathered experts from all Nordic-Baltic states to showcase examples of Russian hybrid attacks against our countries. Russia employs a broad variety of tools in these coordinated attacks, including disinformation, cyber attacks, pranksters, vandalism, sabotage, twisting historical narratives, and even leveraging the Russian Orthodox Church for malign purposes. By seeking out and mapping weak spots and dividing lines within target countries, Russia aims to manipulate elections, sow societal discord, and undermine democratic institutions. These actions serve to challenge and weaken the Western-dominated, rules-based international order, which the Kremlin perceives as a threat to its great power ambitions.

• Transparency/Investigative Reporting

  • Techdirt ☛ Hegseth Shared Attack Plans In Another Signal Chat… With His Wife, Brother & Lawyer

    There’s a certain predictable pattern when unqualified MAGA political appointees get put in charge of highly technical government operations. First, they demonstrate their complete misunderstanding of the systems they’re supposed to oversee. Then, they make a series of increasingly dangerous mistakes. Finally, they try to distract from those mistakes by focusing on culture war issues.

    For Pete Hegseth, this pattern has revealed itself pretty quickly.

  • Federal News Network ☛ ‘Signal-gate’ shines spotlight on Rubio role as acting Archivist

    The judge in the case has ordered Trump officials to preserve the Signal messages in question.

    American Oversight’s initial complaint highlights how Rubio, as acting head of the National Archives and Records Administration, “reasonably should know” that officials did not act to preserve federal records.

    “However, defendant Rubio has also failed to act consistently with his independent obligation as acting Archivist to initiate an action for recovery or other redress,” the lawsuit alleges.

  • Electrek ☛ Tesla whistleblower says Musk wanted to deport her team for raising brake issue

    But in 2014, she brought up what she considered a safety issue directly with Elon Musk. She thought that the Model S’ floor mats could cause a brake safety issue, similar to a situation that Toyota had recently gone through (though that also led to a media firestorm that blew the issue out of proportion). She said that Tesla had chosen suppliers based on friendships, not quality.

    And she brought it up directly to Musk because… he told her to. Famously, in 2013, Musk sent out an email to the entire company stating: [...]

  • Deutsche Welle ☛ Hegseth shared Yemen war plans in second Signal chat: media

    Last month, it was revealed that in a separate Signal chat, Hegseth shared operational information regarding an attack on Houthis in Yemen in a group that had mistakenly included The Atlantic magazine's editor-in-chief. That chat was created by national security adviser Mike Waltz.

    The incident prompted investigations into US President Donald Trump's top security officials, causing much embarrassment for his administration.

  • CBC ☛ Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth shared sensitive Yemen war plans in second Signal chat: source

    The revelations of a second Signal chat raise more questions about Hegseth's use of an unclassified messaging system to share highly sensitive security details and come at a particularly delicate moment for him, with senior officials ousted from the Pentagon last week as part of an internal leak investigation.

  • Sightline Media Group ☛ Hegseth had second Signal chat with details of Yemen strike: Report

    The New York Times reported that the group included Hegseth’s wife, Jennifer, who is a former Fox News producer, and his brother Phil Hegseth, who was hired at the Pentagon as a Department of Homeland Security liaison and senior adviser. Both have traveled with the defense secretary and attended high-level meetings.

  • Los Angeles Times ☛ Hegseth had a second Signal chat detailing Yemen strike, report says

    The second chat on Signal — a commercially available app not authorized to be used to communicate sensitive or classified national defense information — included 13 people, the person said. They also confirmed the chat was dubbed “Defense Team Huddle.”

• Environment

  • RFA ☛ US opens Pacific Ocean sanctuary to commercial fishing – Radio Free Asia

    A Trump proclamation last week allows U.S.-flagged vessels to fish 50-200 nautical miles from land inside the protected area. The sanctuary encompasses waters around several islands, atolls and reefs that scientists say harbor among the most diverse marine life on the planet.

  • PLOS ☛ Breaking the climate silence: Predictors of discussing global warming with family and friends

    Climate change is a pressing issue that requires action across multiple levels, from individual behavior to international cooperation. On the individual level, one of the easiest and most important actions people can take is to talk about climate change. However, relatively few Americans engage in climate change discussions with family and friends, creating what has been referred to as “climate silence”. Here we investigate factors that predict how often people have these discussions. Using data from three recent waves of a nationally representative survey of American adults, we find that worry, perceived risk, perceived social norms (descriptive and injunctive), perceived scientific consensus, and exposure to media coverage of global warming all significantly predict discussion of global warming with family and friends. We conclude with suggestions that can stimulate climate conversations.

  • The Revelator ☛ Yes, Your Friends and Neighbors Want to Talk to You About Climate Change

    Here’s the reality: According to multiple surveys and scientific studies, between 80-89% of people want the world’s governments to take stronger action against climate change. At the same time, the people who want action don’t realize they’re in the majority because not enough people are talking about it — especially in the media.

    One new study, published April 17 in PLOS Climate, found that this lack of media coverage contributes to a negative feedback loop that perpetuates “climate silence.”

  • Michigan News ☛ Dig into Earth Day at The Neighb: Garden event plants seeds of unity in Saginaw

    The event, to take place from 3 to 6:30 p.m. at The Neighb, 3145 Russell St. in Saginaw, invites residents of all ages to dig in—literally—to a local effort promoting health, sustainability and unity through urban gardening.

  • Omicron Limited ☛ What if Mother Earth could sue for mistreatment? Experts discuss Ecuador's success

    Scientists at the Institute for Agroecology at the University of Vermont, along with international co-authors, have published a paper outlining Ecuador's successes in legally championing the Rights of Nature. The paper, titled "Frogs, Coalitions, and Mining: Transformative Insights for Planetary Health and Earth System Law from Ecuador's Struggle to Enforce Nature's Rights," appears in Earth System Governance's special issue on "Locating the 'Global South' in Earth System Governance."

  • MIT Technology Review ☛ $8 billion of US climate tech projects have been canceled so far in 2025

    This year has been rough for climate technology: Companies have canceled, downsized, or shut down at least 16 large-scale projects worth $8 billion in total in the first quarter of 2025, according to a new report.

    That’s far more cancellations than have typically occurred in recent years, according to a new report from E2, a nonpartisan policy group. The trend is due to a variety of reasons, including drastically revised federal policies.

  • Dutch News ☛ Don't eat eggs from your back garden, health institute warns

    The RIVM research echoes findings by broadcaster NOS last year, which said PFAS in eggs had been found in more places than Dordrecht, where concerns were first raised.

    Chemicals company Chemours, which uses PFAS in its production processes, was initially thought to be the source of the contamination, but this was later found not to be the case.

  • Energy/Transportation

    • Renewable Energy World ☛ Roll away the stone! Sunpower rises from the dead

      That moniker should sound familiar to veterans of the photovoltaics space; founded in 1985, SunPower grew into a billion-dollar kingpin of rooftop solar before a series of mistakes and misfortunes doomed the company to file Chapter 11 bankruptcy in August of last year. Complete Solaria emerged as the Stalking Horse Buyer (the first to make an offer on the assets of a company filing for bankruptcy) for the stuff associated with SunPower’s Blue Raven solar business, new homes business, and non-installing dealer network. Under the terms of the asset purchase agreement (APA), Complete Solaria agreed to acquire the assets and assume certain related liabilities for $45 million in cash.

  • Overpopulation

    • Freedom From Religion Foundation ☛ FFRF runs provocative Earth Day message in New York Times  — Freedom From Religion Foundation

      The message points out that in the past century, the number of humans on the planet has more than quadrupled, and that by 2025, there will be 9.7 billion of us. “The Earth has been replenished, and then some!” maintains FFRF.

      FFRF criticizes the Vatican and many Christian fundamentalist sects for continuing to deny women control of their fertility, even amid this explosive population growth.

    • Common Dreams ☛ Sierra Club Statement on Passing of Pope Francis

      “Pope Francis used his role to advance not only the tenets of social and economic justice, but also climate justice. Pope Francis spoke plainly and with clarity about the climate crisis, correctly naming that the burning of fossil fuels only further exacerbates our peril and that the United States has a moral obligation to lead by example as the world’s leading historical emitter. His passing as the world prepares to recognize Earth Day tomorrow leaves us with a fitting reminder of the ways we can best serve our fellow humans—by doing everything in our power to ensure a livable planet for all people.”

• Censorship/Free Speech

  • Harvard University ☛ Harvard Sues Trump Administration Over $2.2 Billion Funding Freeze

    “The tradeoff put to Harvard and other universities is clear: Allow the Government to micromanage your academic institution or jeopardize the institution’s ability to pursue medical breakthroughs, scientific discoveries, and innovative solutions,” Harvard’s lawyers wrote in the Monday filing.

    The 51-page complaint, filed in a United States district court, asks for the court to halt and declare unlawful the $2.2 billion freeze, as well as any freezes made in connection with “unconstitutional conditions” in the Trump administration’s April 3 and April 11 letters outlining demands to Harvard.

  • Harvard University ☛ Read Harvard’s Complaint Against the Trump Administration.

    Harvard sued nine federal agencies on April 21 over the Trump administration’s order to freeze $2.2 billion in research funding to Harvard. Read the University’s full complaint below.

  • France24 ☛ Harvard sues Trump administration over threats to cut more than $2 billion in funding

    Harvard sued US President Donald Trump's administration Monday in a sharp escalation of the fight between the prestigious university and the Republican, who has threatened its funding and sought to impose outside political supervision.

  • Deutsche Welle ☛ Harvard University sues Trump administration

    The Massachusetts-based Harvard is suing the Trump administration to halt the freeze of over $2 billion (almost €1.75 billion) in federal grants. Trump freezes over $2 billion in Harvard University funds

    "The tradeoff put to Harvard and other universities is clear: Allow the Government to micromanage your academic institution or jeopardize the institution's ability to pursue medical breakthroughs, scientific discoveries, and innovative solutions," university attorneys wrote in the suit, as per The Harvard Crimson.

  • CBC ☛ Harvard sues Trump administration over $2.2B US grant freeze

    In its lawsuit, Harvard said the funding freeze violated its First Amendment rights and the statutory provisions of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act. The freeze, according to the lawsuit, was also "arbitrary and capricious and in violation of the Administrative Procedure Act."

    The lawsuit follows one filed earlier this month by the American Association of University Professors demanding that a federal judge declare unlawful and put aside a pending review and investigation of Harvard's funding.

  • RTL ☛ Oversight row: Harvard sues Trump over US federal funding cuts

    "The Government's actions flout not just the First Amendment, but also federal laws and regulations," said the complaint, which called Trump's actions "arbitrary and capricious."

    Trump is furious at Harvard for rejecting government supervision of its admissions, hiring practices and political slant and last week ordered the freezing of $2.2 billion in federal funding to the storied institution.

    The lawsuit calls for the freezing of funds and conditions imposed on federal grants to be declared unlawful, as well as for the Trump administration to pay Harvard's costs.

  • Axios ☛ Harvard sues Trump administration over funding freeze

    Driving the news: Harvard President Alan Garber said in a message to the campus community Monday that the "consequences of the government's overreach will be severe and long-lasting" and accused the administration of trying to impose "unprecedented and improper control."

  • Court House News ☛ Harvard sues White House over multibillion-dollar cuts to research funding

    In a 51-page complaint filed in Massachusetts federal court, the prestigious Ivy League college accused the federal government of using the withholding of federal funding as “leverage to gain control of academic decisionmaking at Harvard.”

    “Defendants’ actions threaten Harvard’s academic independence and place at risk critical lifesaving and pathbreaking research that occurs on its campus. And they are part of a broader effort by the government to punish Harvard for protecting its constitutional rights,” the university says in the lawsuit.

  • BIA Net ☛ Astrologist released after two months in detention over social media post on Bahçeli’s health

    Saraç was detained on Feb 6 and formally arrested three days later after allegedly insulting Bahçeli and President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.

  • The Moscow Times ☛ Putin Signs Law Expanding Criteria for ‘Foreign Agent’ Designations

    Authorities use the “foreign agent” label, which carries Soviet-era connotations, to target individuals and organizations they view as enemies of the state. Those hit with the designation are required to submit rigorous financial reports to the Justice Ministry, as well as display “foreign agent” disclaimers in publications and social media posts.

  • Meduza ☛ Russia slaps Telegram with another multi-million-ruble fine for refusing to take down ‘prohibited content’

• Freedom of Information / Freedom of the Press

  • ANF News ☛ Kurdish journalists in Europe form new media collective

    Over 70 Kurdish media workers from various European countries gathered in the city of Aalst, Belgium, in response to a joint call to build a structure that could meet the needs of a new phase. As a result of the discussions, they decided to establish the Collective of Kurdistan Press Workers in Europe (Kolektifa Medyakarên Kurdistan li Ewropayê).

  • The Zambian Observer ☛ Media Fraternity Says No To Zambia Institute Of Journalism Bill And Statutory Media Regulation

    As stakeholders in the media industry, we have not been aware of any process to draft the Zambia Institue of Journalism Bill and we would like to register our regret and strongest opposition to the proposed media regulation Bill.

    This is the second Bill attempting to regulate the media after the ZAMEC Bill was halted by the Government some two years ago following a similar protest from several media stakeholders.

  • Court House News ☛ ‘Devastating to read’: Sarah Palin takes witness stand in NY Times libel retrial

    Palin sued the Times and former editorial page editor James Bennet after her name appeared in a 2017 opinion piece by the Times editorial board, titled “America’s Lethal Politics,” on the day gunfire broke out at a congressional baseball practice.

    The editorial, a version of which appeared in print on June 15, blamed overheated political rhetoric for inciting gun violence, focusing in particular on a map that a political action committee for Palin had released featuring the stylized crosshairs of a gun over several election districts controlled by Democrats.

  • Los Angeles Times ☛ Belarus crackdown has sent dozens of journalists to harsh prisons

    Lutskina was one of dozens of journalists imprisoned in Belarus, where many endure beatings and poor medical care and are prohibited from contacting lawyers or relatives, according to activists and former inmates. She compared the prisons to those from the Soviet era.

  • [Old] Newsweek ☛ Steve Bannon's 'Flood the Zone' Strategy Explained Amid Trump Policy Blitz - Newsweek

    The "flood the zone" strategy seemingly being used by the Trump administration, which has resulted in a relentless onslaught of new directives and policy announcements, is drawing renewed scrutiny during the beginning of his second term.

    The term was reportedly coined by former Trump White House chief strategist Steve Bannon in 2018 when he said the best way to deal with media was to "flood the zone."

  • [Old] CNN ☛ This infamous Steve Bannon quote is key to understanding America’s crazy politics

    While watching the news coverage of Steve Bannon’s initial appearance in federal court on Monday, I kept thinking about his 2018 confession to the acclaimed writer Michael Lewis. His quote is like a compass that orients this crazy era of American politics. “The Democrats don’t matter,” Bannon told Lewis. “The real opposition is the media. And the way to deal with them is to flood the zone with shit.”

    That’s the Bannon business model: Flood the zone. Stink up the joint. As Jonathan Rauch once said, citing Bannon’s infamous quote, “This is not about persuasion: This is about disorientation.”

• Civil Rights/Policing

  • CBC ☛ An Uber drove away with her kid. Then Uber wouldn't connect her or police with the driver

    Julia called 911, and police arrived within a few minutes. An officer called Uber to get contact information for the driver but Julia says a representative for the ride-sharing company refused to provide it — stating the police needed to fill out a form.

  • Advance Local Media LLC ☛ Trump administration makes major cuts to Native American boarding school research projects

    The cuts are just a fraction of the grants canceled by the National Endowment for the Humanities in recent weeks as part of the Trump administration’s deep cost-cutting effort across the federal government. But coming on the heels of a major federal boarding school investigation by the previous administration and an apology by then-President Joe Biden, they illustrate a seismic shift.

  • International Business Times ☛ Shocking Reason Why German Teens Were Jailed, Strip Searched and Deported from Hawaii

    According to reports, the two women were accused of intending to work illegally and were held in custody overnight. They were allegedly strip searched, subjected to full-body scans, dressed in green prison uniforms, and forced to sleep on mouldy mattresses in a deportation holding centre. The pair later requested to be deported to Japan rather than return immediately to Germany.

  • Hamilton Nolan ☛ Corporate Lawlessness Comes Next

    Ronald Reagan, who launched the modern American age of inequality, and Donald Trump, who is riding its consequences into an ominous new era, have something in common: They were both union members, in the Screen Actors Guild. Reagan served six yearlong terms as the union’s president, beginning in 1947. He leaned on these credentials during his more important career as union buster. At the infamous 1981 press conference where he vowed to fire the striking air traffic controllers of PATCO, Reagan cast himself as the reasonable one by noting, “as president of my own union, I led the first strike ever called by that union.”

    By 2021, SAG-AFTRA had learned its lesson. After the events of January 6 the union moved to kick Trump out. He decided to resign, prompting an official statement from the union’s leadership that read, in full, “Thank you.” A fun little moment for the labor movement to look back on. Unfortunately, the other lesson that we can draw from the Reagan era is that the awful things that the federal government has already done to unions in Trump’s second term are only the prelude to a much broader attack on worker power that we should gird ourselves for right now.

  • Hawaii ☛ Why These Hawaii Travelers Were Jailed And Deported

    After hours of questioning at Honolulu Airport, they said they were placed in handcuffs, loaded into a transport vehicle, and brought to what they later learned was a deportation detention facility.

    There, they reported being subjected to full-body scans, strip searches, and issued green prison uniforms. They were placed in a holding cell overnight alongside long-term detainees, including individuals accused of serious crimes.

  • RFA ☛ Tibetan Buddhist leader secretly cremated in Vietnam, sources say – Radio Free Asia

    Global Tibetan rights groups on Monday condemned the cremation and called on governments to pressure Vietnam and China to clarify the circumstances of Tulku Hungkar Dorje’s death.

• Internet Policy/Net Neutrality

  • Inside Towers ☛ FCC Suspends Seven Convicted of E-Rate Fraud

    The FCC suspended seven individuals who have been convicted of fraud related to their participation in the E-Rate program. E-Rate helps schools and libraries to obtain affordable broadband.

    Corporations controlled by these individuals sought over $35 million in E-Rate funds and received over $14 million from around 2010 to 2016, but did not provide much of the equipment for which they billed the federal government, according to the Commission. The FCC Enforcement Bureau suspended each entity from further participation in E-Rate and began proceedings to ban them from taking part in the future.

• Digital Restrictions (DRM)

  • Doc Searls ☛ An Inadequate AI Solution

    That’s why it will not be supplied by APIs, or by anything that requires that we have an account. We need to be independent and self-sovereign: first parties who speak for themselves in first-person voices.

    I’ll say more about all that in my next post and others to follow.

Monopolies/Monopsonies

• EFF ☛ Why the FTC v. Meta Trial Matters: Competition Gaps and Civil Liberties Opportunities

  Take FTC v Meta: The FTC argues that Meta’s control over Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram – the latter two being companies Facebook acquired in order to neutralize them as competitors— gives it unfair monopoly power in personal social media, i.e. communications with friends and family. Meta disputes that, of course, but even if you take Meta at their word, there’s no denying that this case is directly concerned with online expression. If the FTC succeeds, Meta could be broken up and forced to compete. More important than competition for its own sake is what competition can deliver: openings in the canopy that allow green shoots to sprout – new systems for talking with one another and forming communities under different and more transparent moderation policies, a break from the content moderation monoculture that serves no one well (except for corporate shareholders).

• The Washington Post ☛ Justice Dept. asks judge to ‘thaw’ Google search monopoly by forcing Chrome sale

  The Justice Department on Monday argued before a federal judge in Washington that Google should be forced to divest its Chrome web browser — and make other major changes to its business — to break up what a court last year found was Google’s monopoly on [Internet] search.

• CoryDoctorow ☛ Pluralistic: Trump’s FTC opens the floodgates for tariff profiteering

  But never let it be said that monopolists can't innovate. Thanks to the total failure of Congress to pass consumer privacy legislation since 1988, the humble price-fixing data-broker has transformed into the "surveillance pricing" industry:

  https://pluralistic.net/2024/06/05/your-price-named/#privacy-first-again

  With surveillance pricing, sellers buy your financial data from the unregulated data-broker industry and use it to set a different price for every customer. For example, McDonald's has invested in a company called "Plexure" that can tell when someone at the drive-through has just been paid, so that the seller can add a dollar to the price of their daily breakfast sandwich. And surveillance pricing isn't limited to buyers – sellers can get surveillance-priced, too. Take nurses, whose staffing agencies have been replaced by a cartel of three apps that buy nurses' credit data before offering them a shift, so that they can offer a lower wage to nurses carrying high credit-card debts (indebted, desperate workers will sell their labor for less): [...]

• The Washington Post ☛ A judge could force Google to sell Chrome. What you need to know.

  Google is also facing other antitrust challenges. In 2023, a jury decided that its app store was an illegal monopoly. And last week, a different federal judge ruled that it had an illegal monopoly when it came to advertising technology tools it sells to web publishers. Other Big Tech companies are under the microscope, too, with Meta defending itself at a trial that began last week in which the Federal Trade Commission contends the Facebook owner has a monopoly in social media and messaging.

  Forcing Google to divest Chrome could set a precedent for courts to potentially break up other tech giants.

• Copyrights

  • The Scotsman ☛ Protecting copyright in television is no game

    One significant ruling in Banner Universal Motion Pictures Ltd v. Endemol Shine Group Ltd confirmed that TV formats can be protected under copyright, but only if they meet strict criteria. A format must be clearly identifiable and have a structured framework consistently applied across episodes. This sets a high bar for creatives seeking legal rights over their concepts and formats.