Bonum Certa Men Certa

Links - Copyright Maximalists turn on Libraries, Other Horrors. Will Yang Return to Yahoo?

Reader's Picks



  • Security



    • Another Nugget from M$
      Days ahead of the patch folks all around the world have been able to take over almost any PC on a LAN running that other OS just by placing a malicious .dll on some networked storage device. The mind boggles. I can see SANs intended to share files among the group to be used to own the whole LAN.


    • Google sheds some light on Iran's involvement with the Diginotar cert incident.
      It means that somebody in Iran had gone to great lengths to intercept supposedly secure Internet traffic, including Gmail messages. ... [Iran] remains one of the few nations that would have a need to defraud Western companies in order to conduct such surveillance. Many governments, including countries with a poor reputation for defending freedom of expression or privacy, are able to generate any number of fake digital certificates on their own authority. The current dependence of secure Internet traffic on a few, potentially insecure commercial companies is a profound flaw.

      Richard Stallman notes, "I am sad to report that the Chrome browser that this was done with is nonfree software."



  • Defence/Police/Aggression





  • Finance



  • Anti-Trust



    • Yahoo co-founder urged to help oust chairman
      A major Yahoo Inc. shareholder is recruiting company co-founder Jerry Yang to join a crusade to oust Chairman Roy Bostock amid the upheaval triggered by the recent firing of CEO Carol Bartz. The shareholder, hedge fund manager Daniel Loeb, sought Yang's help in a letter sent Wednesday.


    • MICROSOFT DONATES $8 MILLION GRANT TO THURGOOD MARSHALL COLLEGE FUND[sic]
      Microsoft Corporation has recently announced that it will be renewing its partnership with the Thurgood Marshall College Fund through an additional $8 million software grant. This recent grant brings the total donation amount given by the Microsoft Corporation to $29 million, and will provide software for TMCF’s 47-member network of Historically Black Colleges and Universities. ...

      There may be a hardware component to this dumping/indoctrination, but the value is a tax avoidance fiction and the hardware will be a liability using the software that comes with it.





  • Censorship



    • Child Pornography Bill Makes Privacy Experts Skittish
      The bill requires all Internet service providers to save their customers' IP addresses — or online identity numbers — for a year. The bill's stated purpose is to help police find child pornographers, but critics say that's just an excuse for another step toward Big Brother.




  • Privacy

    • Massachusetts track car location by automatically scanning license plates from police cars.
      Civil libertarians are raising the alarm over the state’s plans to create a Big Brother database that could map drivers’ whereabouts with police cruiser-mounted scanners that capture thousands of license plates per hour.

      I'm not sure why the system would have to be in police cars and could not be operated from other cameras like the red light cameras at every major intersection. People should be concerned about those too.





  • Civil Rights



  • Intellectual Monopolies

    • WIPO Broadcasting Treaty Returns From The Grave
      The current draft Treaty would grant exclusive, 50-year intellectual property rights to distributors of information that apply in parallel with copyright protections, even when transmitters have had no role in creating the content being transmitted.

      The treaty and article use the propaganda term Intellectual Property, and the treaty is more than an extension of copyright.



    • Copyrights



      • PJ Notes a lawsuit to prevent universities from making digital libraries, which objects even to digitization of orphaned works.
        Well, the more they try to assert their Most Holy rights, and the rights of people no one can find, the more certain I am that copyright law will end up reformed. It's like Righthaven. Or patent trolls. When people get disgusted by excessive use of the law, they decide to do something about it. Maybe it's time to go back to the prior copyright system, where you had to register your copyright to have one?

        Guardian source article intentionally not linked.







  • Comments

    Recent Techrights' Posts

    Voluntary' Layoffs and 'Proper' Layoffs at IBM This Year
    When will IBM management confess that 15% of staff is already marked for potential removal?
    The Register MS Has Just Published Slop Spam for NVIDIA and HP, It Says "AI" 43 Times
    As usual, The Register MS ought to be ashamed of itself for participating in it
    The Slop Debt (Trillions of Dollars, Money That Does Not Exist) is Causing the Collapse of GAFAM et al
    This slop hype will end up like "metaverse", except "metaverse" never ended up justifying trillions of dollars in "investment"
    Social Control Media is the Opposite of Information
    That says a lot about social control media
    Lack of Empathy Rampant in the Sector
    Sociopaths are sociopaths. They cannot help themselves
     
    15% of IBM Marked for Potential Termination, PIPs are the "New Layoffs" (or RAs) at IBM
    IBM is a dying company, but it does not want the press to say this or for people to understand that
    Links 13/08/2026: "The Rise of the Measles-Industrial Complex" and Spotify Curbs Slop
    Links for the day
    Daniel Pocock on Australia's 9News (Nine Entertainment)
    This gives visibility to software and technology issues
    Over at Tux Machines...
    GNU/Linux news for the past day
    IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, August 12, 2026
    IRC logs for Wednesday, August 12, 2026
    Gemini Links 12/08/2026: Losing a Child, "The OpenWeb Needs Diversity", and Gmail Woes
    Links for the day
    Links 12/08/2026: Trouble in Proprietary Chaffbot Company 'Open' 'AI' and Slop "Investors Are Suddenly Quaking in Their Boots"
    Links for the day
    Daniel Pocock in National News in Australia the Day of the Election
    "Posted 20m ago" (Thursday in Australia), it's timed nicely to help illuminate Pocock and give him last-minute exposure
    Simpler Means More Reliable
    The simple old way of local storage and local backups is still the best
    Clownflare and statCounter See GNU/Linux at ~8% in Norway
    Norway has long championed GNU/Linux compared to the rest of Europe
    Clacton manifesto: Reform UK hacking, leaks, raw sewage & 8GB Swiss Archive
    Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
    statCounter Today: ChromeOS + GNU/Linux Measured at 10.98% Globally (Desktops and Laptops)
    Clownflare does not quite refute this
    The Register MS Has Just Published Fake Article About Replacing Linux With Proprietary Google System, "Sponsored by ASUS."
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    Links 12/08/2026: "X’s Advertising Business Continues to Tank", "Stop Feeding the Billionaires"
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    Before the "Big Tech" (That Almost Everybody is Forced to Use) Was Controlled by Men Who Hate Women
    Such rejection and even hatred of women qualifies/enshrines oneself as an "incel"- a dangerous and violent online cult
    In Defence of Hoarding CDs, More So When Digital Restrictions (DRM) Come to More 'Content' and Even Offline/Physical Media Won't Work When Some Remote Server Says "No" (or Goes Offline)
    made to serve and entertain owners, not to allow companies like Sony and Microsoft subjugate owners
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    It's not just in Finland where we see such trends
    More Mass Layoffs Due to Monumental Debt Excused as "Investment" (in Slop)
    They're maxing up the private debt and their country is already insolvent
    METRO Interviews Daniel Pocock a Day Before Election
    The article is behind a wall that blocks people who block ads
    Enshittification More Than a Century Ago
    Is enshittification more than a century old?
    GNU in 1991 (35 Years Ago): Compiler and Lots More Ready, Linux Now Becoming 'Vibe Heap' (Slop Replaces Real Code)
    Without curbs in place, many Linux developers will flee
    Company-Wide 'Reorg' ('Redundancies') at IBM, Mark October 1st 2026 in the Calendar
    Is Oct 1 the new Apr 1?
    SLAPP Censorship - Part 147 Out of 200: The SLAPP Series is 'Slow' Because Timing Matters
    It is important to stress that after this series is finished there will be many more series, with some of them showing raw evidence of what we've been illuminating and telling
    Even ZDNet Accepts That "Market Share" of GNU/Linux May Have Doubled on Desktops and Laptops
    GNU/Linux is definitely growing, and quite quickly in fact
    Over at Tux Machines...
    GNU/Linux news for the past day
    IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, August 11, 2026
    IRC logs for Tuesday, August 11, 2026
    Microsoft Layoffs and Shutdowns Continue This August, Morale Low, Employees Set Up Giant Inflatable Rat to Protest Against CEO
    nothing demonstrates their anger better than what they did to the CEO
    Gemini Links 12/08/2026: Sophomore Slump, Mandatory Phone Addiction, and Vintage Web Game Gallery
    Links for the day
    Summer Layoffs and 'Redundancies' (Cost-Cutting) at Microsoft and IBM
    IBM is merely buying its revenue - an unsustainable strategy that aims to hide the company's rapid decline
    Links 11/08/2026: Tensions South of China and Stingy "YouTube Doubles the Eligibility Requirements" (to Get Paid)
    Links for the day
    The Independent (UK) Today: "Independent candidate Daniel Pocock is concerned about media issues."
    Let's see what results say around Friday
    Gemini Links 11/08/2026: Stargate, Stargazer, Air-gapped Environments, and SystemVerilog Simulator
    Links for the day
    The Slop ('Linux') Foundation Celebrates 35 'Linux' Years a Week After GNU/Linux Turns 43
    they'll keep on trying to change history
    Keumars Afifi-Sabet Produces Useful, Informative Coverage Regarding Privacy
    And it's good for Richard Stallman
    Confirmed: Microsoft Layoffs in August 2026, Entire Operations Shut Down Too
    Microsoft is just bleeding
    Paying With Cash in 2026
    Cash isn't going away. Not any time soon.
    Blocking Tor Is Not a Solution, It's Paranoia
    Tor is not a crime
    Oligarchs and Their Footsoldiers Are Most Enthusiastically Loud About the Things They're Attacking
    Like "Microsoft loves Linux"
    FOSSY (SFC) Platforming GAFAM, Sells Endorsement
    Houston, we have a problem here
    Not Allowing Misogyny and Misogynists to Run the World
    We stand with (and for) equality, justice, and freedom
    "SPONSORED EXPLAINER" at The Register MS is Just More SPAM "Sponsored by HPE."
    This is a great example of crap 'journalism'
    IBM Won't Hire (or Hardly Hire) This Year
    IBM is bluffing with buzzwords while shrinking out of existence and reducing salaries
    SLAPP Censorship - Part 146 Out of 200: An Industry of Plagiarism, 'Normalised'
    they pursue personal enrichment by stealing from Free software developers
    Over at Tux Machines...
    GNU/Linux news for the past day
    IRC Proceedings: Monday, August 10, 2026
    IRC logs for Monday, August 10, 2026
    5.1k Capsules Known to Lupa, Gemini Protocol Crawler
    If no limits (e.g. 10k max per capsule) were imposed on crawling, there would likely be millions of pages in the database
    Gemini Links 11/08/2026: Waking Up Earlier, Whining About LLMs as Destructive Plagiarism
    Links for the day
    Links 11/08/2026: "The Enemy Is the Platform" and 'Vibe' 'Coding' Shown to be Little But Plagiarism
    Links for the day