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Links 4/4/2016: Linux 4.6 RC2, Wine-Staging Release 1.9.7





GNOME bluefish

Contents





GNU/Linux



Free Software/Open Source



  • 1btn: A Powerful, Open Source, And Hackable Button For The Internet


  • 11 Excellent Open Source Solutions for Home Automation
    Home Automation software is software that lets you control and monitor common home and office appliances using a computer. Home automation used to be confined to turning on and off lights and appliances. But the possibilities are much wider letting users build a wireless network, automate TV and hi-fi, monitor pets when you are away, set up an answering system, create a weather station - integrating an abundance of different home automation technologies into one.

    Many home automation systems use proprietary networking protocols. The protocols used will be specific to the company that developed the system. The software company may favor such an approach as it ties the customer to their products only. However, this can only be detriment to the user of the home automation system. It is therefore important to evaluate a home automation system to ensure that it is built on open protocols. All of these solutions are released under an open source license.

    Do not think home automation is just for geeks. It is now mainstream and a burgeoning industry. Become an home automation expert and try out these finest open source software for home automation. There are some real gems here. Many users flock to Domoticz and openHAB, but one of the others listed here may be a better fit for your requirements.


  • eBay Joins FIDO, Contributes Open-Source Authentication Server


    The FIDO Alliance, which is working to deliver stronger forms of authentication for online access, expands such efforts with eBay's help. The FIDO (Fast Identity Online) Alliance is gaining momentum, with eBay joining the effort and contributing a new open-source Universal Authentication Framework compliant server.

    FIDO is a multistakeholder initiative whose aim is to enable stronger forms of authentication for online access. The big milestone event for FIDO occurred in December 2014 when the group announced the Universal Second Factor (U2F) and UAF 1.0 specifications.


  • Education



    • Studying the relationship between remixing & learning
      With more than 10 million users, the Scratch online community is the largest online community where kids learn to program. Since it was created, a central goal of the community has been to promote “remixing” — the reworking and recombination of existing creative artifacts. As the video above shows, remixing programming projects in the current web-based version of Scratch is as easy is as clicking on the “see inside” button in a project web-page, and then clicking on the “remix” button in the web-based code editor. Today, close to 30% of projects on Scratch are remixes.




  • BSD



  • Public Services/Government



    • The French Revolution Is In Doubt In 2016
      The basic concepts of FLOSS are now in the public eye. The public has been using FLOSS browsers and operating systems for a decade or longer and they know it. Will they be fooled? Will they be afraid? I don’t think so. Further, any politician who thinks this is a non-issue is about to receive an education.






Leftovers



  • Science



    • A Space Archaeologist May Have Found a Second Viking Settlement In Canada [iophk: free Vinland from the yoke of Canadian oppression]
      A thousand years before East Coast hosers went for the first rip in history, vikings may have walked the same land in Newfoundland.

      This discovery comes courtesy of “space archaeologist” Sarah Parcak, who used satellite imagery taken from space to pick out possible man-made shapes in Newfoundland, south of L’Anse aux Meadows. Parcak’s team, which includes Canadians, did some digging and found evidence of iron-working, which suggests that vikings might have made it all the way to the land of the donair.

      It’s not a sure thing, but if it’s true, then the Newfoundland site will be the second confirmed viking settlement in Canada, and in all of North America.


    • [Older] The man who studies the spread of ignorance
      In 1979, a secret memo from the tobacco industry was revealed to the public. Called the Smoking and Health Proposal, and written a decade earlier by the Brown & Williamson tobacco company, it revealed many of the tactics employed by big tobacco to counter “anti-cigarette forces”.

      In one of the paper’s most revealing sections, it looks at how to market cigarettes to the mass public: “Doubt is our product since it is the best means of competing with the ‘body of fact’ that exists in the mind of the general public. It is also the means of establishing a controversy.”




  • Security



    • My first DSA


    • Linux Ransomware and why everyone could be affected [Ed: Bitdefender ad as ‘article’]


    • Kaiten targets Linux routers, gateways, access points and now IoT
      Change default passwords on network equipment even if it is not reachable from the Internet.


    • Security is really about Risk vs Reward
      Every now and then the conversation erupts about what is security really? There's the old saying that the only secure computer is one that's off (or fill in your favorite quote here, there are hundreds). But the thing is, security isn't the binary concept: you can be secure, or insecure. That's not how anything works. Everything is a sliding scale, you are never secure, you are never insecure. You're somewhere in the middle. Rather than bumble around about your risk though, you need to understand what's going on and plan for the risk.




  • Environment/Energy/Wildlife/Nature



    • Greenpeace reveals Indonesia's forests at risk as multiple companies claim rights to same land​
      Compiled over almost a decade by Greenpeace using data from provincial governments, resource companies and others, the interactive maps highlight the vast scale of the concession overlap. Across more than 7m hectares – an area equivalent to the Republic of Ireland – licences for the same concessions have been allocated to as many as four palm, pulpwood, logging or coal mining companies at a time.

      With no central land registry in Indonesia, campaigners say the result is a mess of competing claims. Companies may end up thinking they have the right to clear land that another company or government body has pledged to protect from deforestation.

      The federal ministry of environment and forestry grants the rights to develop land for pulpwood and selective logging, whereas coal mining and palm oil concessions are granted by local and provincial officials.


    • Lost in Nicaragua, a Chinese Tycoon’s Canal Project
      There are also concerns about the seismic activity in the area, or the many volcanos. Some analysts point to China’s poor record on environmental matters and Mr. Wang’s inexperience in building anything, let alone a $50 billion (some say $80 billion) canal carving through miles of protected areas that are home to many endangered species, including the jaguar, and legally recognized indigenous lands. The little-known Mr. Wang made his fortune in telecommunications, not in construction.


    • Future for Oil As World Shifts to Combat Climate Change
      Carbon Tracker Initiative advisor Paul Spedding discusses why this oil price drop is different with Alix Steel on "Bloomberg Markets."






  • Finance



    • Panama Papers: Ex-MPs, Lords And David Cameron's Father 'Named In Offshore Finance Leak'


      Former Conservative MPs, peers and David Cameron's late father are among scores of people and politicians whose financial affairs have been exposed by a massive leak of data about offshore investments.

      The leak of more than 11 million documents from the Panamanian law firm, Mossack Fonseca, casts an unprecedented light on the way the rich and powerful are able to use tax havens to shield their wealth.

      Ian Cameron, the prime minister's father who died in 2010, is reportedly named as a client of the firm. Six members of the House of Lords, three former Conservative MPs and "dozens" of donors to UK political parties who have been shown to have had offshore assets – although none have so far been named.
    • Iceland’s prime minister walks out of interview over tax haven question – video
      Sigmundur Davíð Gunnlaugsson, the prime minister of Iceland, walks out of an interview with Swedish television company SVT. Gunnlaugsson is asked about a company called Wintris, which he says has been fully declared to the Icelandic tax authority. Gunnlaugsson says he is not prepared to answer such questions and decides to discontinue the interview, saying: ‘What are you trying to make up here? This is totally inappropriate’


    • The Panama Papers: what you need to know
      It is a Panama-based law firm whose services include incorporating companies in offshore jurisdictions such as the British Virgin Islands. It administers offshore firms for a yearly fee. Other services include wealth management.


    • US companies holding $2.1 trillion offshore profits
      There's enough cash sitting in offshore bank accounts to wipe out the federal deficit — if only it was subject to U.S. taxes.

      That's because U.S. companies are saving some $620 billion by parking profits outside the country, according to the latest accounting from Citizens for Tax Justice and U.S. PIRG Education Fund.

      At least 358 large U.S. companies collectively maintain 7,622 separate overseas subsidiaries holding $2.1 trillion in profits, the group said in a report Tuesday. (The estimated tax bill comes from corporate regulatory filings.)


    • #PanamaPapers breaks the Internet with revelations of global corruption


    • Leak boosts Panama's image as money-laundering hub
      A huge data leak from a law firm in Panama suggesting it hid billions of dollars in assets of global politicians, sports stars and entertainers threatened Sunday to dramatically boost the country's reputation as an offshore haven for money laundering.


    • Iceland’s PM faces calls for snap election after offshore revelations
      Iceland’s prime minister is this week expected to face calls in parliament for a snap election after the Panama Papers revealed he is among several leading politicians around the world with links to secretive companies in offshore tax havens.

      The financial affairs of Sigmundur Davíð Gunnlaugsson and his wife have come under scrutiny because of details revealed in documents from a Panamanian law firm that helps clients protect their wealth in secretive offshore tax regimes. The files from Mossack Fonseca form the biggest ever data leak to journalists.


    • Brazil’s former top judge hid price he paid for Miami condo
      When Brazilian news outlets found out then-Supreme Court chief justice Joaquim Barbosa had bought a Brickell condo in 2012, they asked the well-respected jurist how much he paid.

      Barbosa refused to say.

      The problem? In Florida, real-estate sales are public.

      But not Barbosa’s.

      Miami-Dade County property records seemed to suggest the 61-year-old paid a big, fat zero for his one-bedroom condo at Icon Brickell, one of the trendy neighborhood’s best-known condo towers.


    • Enormous document leak exposes offshore accounts of world leaders
      ....40 years of records and information about more than 210,000 companies in 21 offshore jurisdictions.


    • Panama Papers Q&A: How assets are hidden and taxes dodged
      The revelations in the millions of papers leaked from the Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca uncovering a suspected money laundering ring run by close associates of Vladimir Putin may leave readers drowning in a sea of confusing terms and phrases.

      Although there are legitimate ways of using tax havens, most of what has been going on is about hiding the true owners of money, the origin of the money and avoiding paying tax on the money.

      If you are a wealthy business owner in Germany who has decided to evade tax, an international drugs dealer or the head of a brutal regime, the methods are all pretty similar.

      Mossack Fonseca says it has always complied with international protocols to ensure the companies it incorporates are not used for tax evasion, money-laundering, terrorist finance or other illicit purposes.


    • Massive leak reveals money rings of global leaders
      A massive, anonymous leak of financial documents from a Panamanian law firm has revealed an extensive worldwide network of offshore "shell" companies — including ones with ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin — that allow the wealthy to hide their assets from taxes and, in some cases, to launder billions in cash, a German newspaper alleges.

      The documents, combed through in the past year by dozens of journalists worldwide, show links to 72 current or former heads of state, including dictators accused of looting their own countries.


    • Panama Papers: Jurgen Mossack and Ramón Fonseca - the lawyers whose firm is at the centre of global controversy


      John le Carre’s 1996 novel, The Tailor of Panama, tells the story of Harry Pendel, a British tailor who serves the great and good but whose refusal to come clean about his past almost leads to his downfall. In Panama, he believes, discretion is the only way.

      For more than four decades, the law firm Mossack Fonseca - whose twisting saga may even have been beyond the imagination of le Carre - has adopted a similar strategy of discretion and survival.

      If the documents obtained and analysed by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) are to be believed, the firm that has its headquarters not far from those of the fictional Harry Pendel, has had financial dealing with a total of 128 politicians and public officials around the world. The company has denied any wrongdoing.


    • Panama vows to cooperate if legal fallout from 'Panama Papers' leak
      Panama's government vowed Sunday to "vigorously cooperate" with any legal probe that might be launched in the wake of the "Panama Papers" data leak.

      "The Panamanian government will vigorously cooperate with any request or assistance necessary in the event of any legal action occurring," it said in a statement.



    • The Panama Papers: how the world’s rich and famous hide their money offshore
      The hidden wealth of some of the world’s most prominent leaders, politicians and celebrities has been revealed by an unprecedented leak of millions of documents that show the myriad ways in which the rich can exploit secretive offshore tax regimes.

      The Guardian, working with global partners, will set out details from the first tranche of what are being called “the Panama Papers”. Journalists from more than 80 countries have been reviewing 11.5m files leaked from the database of Mossack Fonseca, the world’s fourth biggest offshore law firm.


    • Who's involved


    • Documents leaked from a Panamanian law firm reveal a global web of corruption
      German authorities had known about the connection between Mossack Fonseca and some criminal elements for at least two years. A whistleblower at the firm had sold information to the authorities, according to the story in the Suddeutsche Zeitung on the history of the Panama Papers’ leak.


    • About the Panama Papers
      Over a year ago, an anonymous source contacted the Süddeutsche Zeitung (SZ) and submitted encrypted internal documents from Mossack Fonseca, a Panamanian law firm that sells anonymous offshore companies around the world. These shell firms enable their owners to cover up their business dealings, no matter how shady.

      In the months that followed, the number of documents continued to grow far beyond the original leak. Ultimately, SZ acquired about 2.6 terabytes of data, making the leak the biggest that journalists had ever worked with. The source wanted neither financial compensation nor anything else in return, apart from a few security measures.


    • A storm is coming
      At the time, the country’s three biggest banks folded within just three days, in part because their senior executives had illegally doctored the stock listings of their own banks. “Market manipulation”, as Hauksson curtly calls it.


    • Corporate Media Gatekeepers Protect Western 1% From Panama Leak
      The Suddeutsche Zeitung, which received the leak, gives a detailed explanation of the methodology the corporate media used to search the files. The main search they have done is for names associated with breaking UN sanctions regimes. The Guardian reports this too and helpfully lists those countries as Zimbabwe, North Korea, Russia and Syria. The filtering of this Mossack Fonseca information by the corporate media follows a direct western governmental agenda. There is no mention at all of use of Mossack Fonseca by massive western corporations or western billionaires – the main customers. And the Guardian is quick to reassure that “much of the leaked material will remain private.”

      What do you expect? The leak is being managed by the grandly but laughably named “International Consortium of Investigative Journalists”, which is funded and organised entirely by the USA’s Center for Public Integrity. Their funders include

      Ford Foundation Carnegie Endowment Rockefeller Family Fund W K Kellogg Foundation Open Society Foundation (Soros)

      among many others. Do not expect a genuine expose of western capitalism. The dirty secrets of western corporations will remain unpublished.


    • Oxfam reaction to Panama Papers tax leak
      “Tax avoidance is a local problem, as well as a global one – and the Australian Government must act now.


    • Mossack Fonseca: The Nazi, CIA And Nevada Connections... And Why It's Now Rothschild's Turn
      These include the Nazis, the CIA, Mexican drug lords, and of course, the U.S.


    • Massive Document Leak Details Offshore Accounts Connected to Putin and Other Leaders


    • Panama Papers: Vladimir Putin associates, Jackie Chan identified in unprecedented leak of offshore financial records
    • 5 things to know about the Panama Papers
      A massive data leak of files from Panama-based law firm Mossack Fonseca went online Sunday, in a collaboration by the German newspaper Suddeutsche Zeitung and the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, exposing how the world’s ultra-rich manage their offshore accounts.
    • What you need to know about the #PanamaPapers investigation
      Eleven million leaked documents published on Sunday reveal how a secretive law firm based in Panama may have helped world leaders such as Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and Egypt’s former president Hosni Mubarak move money.

      The German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung acquired the Panama Papers, of the firm Mossack Fonseca, through an anonymous source and shared it with the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), which distributed them to more than 100 media organizations worldwide.
    • Transparency International calls for immediate action by world leaders to stop secret companies
    • Want to hide your cash? This PanamaPapers game tells you how
      The Panama papers ICIJ website has created a flash game giving players tips to create offshore accounts and evade taxes. Titled ‘StairWay to Tax Heaven,’ it essentially shows three characters which include a soccer player, a politician, and a business executive.

      “Welcome to the secret world of offshore. Your goal is to navigate this parallel universe and hide your cash away. Don’t worry! Lawyers, wealth managers, and bankers are there to help you.

      Pick a character and don’t get caught,” reads the page.

      Each character you select puts you in a hypothetical situation where you’re asked to pick up an option. Depending on what you click, you’ll be given a final option which will determine whether you made the right move or is it game over for you.
    • Failing to provide the resources HMRC needs to tackle tax abuse is in itself a form of corruption
      Let’s be clear that corruption takes many forms. Failing to provide the resources needed to tackle corruption is, in itself and in my opinion, a form of corruption. The turning of the blind eye that it both implies and even endorses helps these corrupt practices take place with, at most, limited risk. That has to be a corrupt practice.


    • Panama tax leak reaction


    • Panama Papers: Huge leak alleges elites hiding money
      Several major media outlets have published the results of an investigation into the financial dealings of the rich and powerful, based on a vast trove of documents handed over by an anonymous source.

      The International Consortium of Investigative Journalism (ICIJ), a nonprofit group in the US, said the cache of 11.5 million records detailed the offshore holdings of a dozen current and former world leaders, as well as businessmen, criminals, celebrities and sports stars.


    • Jobs Report Blues
      In short, corporations maximized short-run profits by ruining their domestic consumer market along with the personal income and sales tax base for government. It is unclear that this extraordinary mistake can be unwound.


  • AstroTurf/Lobbying/Politics



    • How Israeli Propaganda Succeeds
      The United States is one gentile culture where the Zionist narrative dominates. Key to this is control of language, controlling thought. U.S. pollster Frank Luntz was commissioned to maintain this, producing a “dictionary” of language to use — a playbook for shading domination as defense.




  • Censorship/Free Speech



  • Privacy/Surveillance



    • Oculus Rift has some shady stuff in their terms & privacy policy
      Shocker, the Facebook owned Oculus Rift VR device has some pretty concerning stuff in its terms and conditions.

      Starting note: I'm really not surprised by any of this since Facebook own it, but it's still not good.


    • We've streamlined the fight against Big Brother!
      You'll now receive private StartPage search results on Ixquick.com. We've merged our two search engines so we can focus on fighting Big Brother, rather than maintaining two different brands.

      StartPage by Ixquick gives you actual Google search results with the full privacy guarantees of Ixquick. Google never sees you - and, of course, neither do we.
    • Who, What, Where, and Why: The FBI/NSA Mass Surveillance Collaboration
      Dragnet surveillance: Need to make a bust? Doesn’t matter for what. Just listen in!

      That pretty much sums up what could soon become the status quo for law enforcement in America.

      Executive action by the Obama administration is expected to authorize direct sharing of information collected by the NSA with the FBI. In other words, the FBI will be able to directly access unfiltered streams of NSA data. It will basically allow the NSA to spy for local cops.


    • Senator: let’s fix “third-party doctrine” that enabled NSA mass snooping
      This past week hundreds of lawyers, technologists, journalists, activists, and others from around the globe descended upon a university conference center to try to figure out the state of digital rights in 2016. The conference, appropriately dubbed "RightsCon," featured many notable speakers, including Edward Snowden via video-conference, but relatively few from those inside government.
    • Rise of Ad Blocking Is the Ad Industry's Fault, Says Outgoing FTC Commissioner
      A commissioner at the US Federal Trade Commission who is leaving the agency after six years of working on consumer privacy issues has some critical words for the ad industry.

      Speaking with Ad Age, departing FTC commissioner Julie Brill lamented the current state of consumer tracking and data collection on the web, linking the rampant rise of ad blockers with the ad industry's foot-dragging and non-cooperation in the commission's efforts to create privacy systems based on user consent.

      "We've seen an incredible rise in consumers taking matters into their own hands, which is precisely what I said would happen back then," said Brill, who has tackled a host of consumer privacy issues during her tenure at the FTC.


    • FBI fights back against court order demanding Tor exploit source code
      The FBI is dragging its heels on a court order which requires the agency to reveal how an exploit was used against the Tor network to find a suspected child pornography viewer and their true IP address.

      US law enforcement says that revealing the source code of the Tor exploit, used to infiltrate the surveillance-thwarting network, is not necessary to the case, while the judge behind the order, Robert Bryan, considers it a "fair question" to ask how the defendant was caught.

      Jay Michaud, a school administrator from Vancouver, Washington, is the focus of the criminal case. Michaud was arrested on charges of downloading child pornography in July, 2015.




  • Civil Rights/Policing

    • How many H-1B workers are female? U.S. won’t say
      When the U.S. begins accepting applications for new H-1B skilled-worker visas today, we can be certain that tech workers from India will make up a large portion of the requests.

      What we probably won't know, though, is how many of those applicants are female.

      While program data shows which job categories, countries and companies are awarded the most visas, the federal government says it is not tracking applicants' gender -- although the question is asked on the visa application form. The U.S. begins accepting H-1B visa applications on April 1 for the fiscal year that begins Oct. 1.

      The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS) will not release the gender data. It has rejected a Senate request for the information, as well as public records requests from the IEEE-USA and Computerworld.


    • Fordham 2016: Without disclosure mechanisms or criminal sanctions is the EU Trade Secrets Directive a poor cousin to US trade secrets law?
      On the first, the draft DTSA included language taken directly from the Uniform Trade Secrets Act, allowing judges to issue injunctions against “threatened” misappropriation. Opponents expressed concern that this might be used by federal courts to apply the so-called “inevitable disclosure doctrine” to prevent employees from moving to a competitive job simply because they knew too much. The ultimate solution to this concern was specific and narrow: in concluding the existence of a “threat,” courts had to have evidence of untrustworthy behavior and could not rely simply on what someone knows. The DTSA whistleblower provision is similarly specific and narrow, providing immunity to individuals who reveal confidential information about wrongdoing, but only for communication in confidence to law enforcement officials. The EU Trade Secrets Directive is of course a step forward in European harmonization of definitions and remedies, but it mostly re-states the language and standards already required by TRIPs. It does add provisions covering confidentiality of information in judicial proceedings, but there is a requirement that at least one party representative always be given access, so the common U.S. practice of “attorneys eyes only” protective orders appears to be unavailable under the EU Trade Secrets Directive. In addition, the Directive does not require countries to provide criminal remedies, and it fails to address the fundamental challenge of every trade secret case: how can the trade secret owner get access to information to prove the misappropriation? This probably reflects the tension between common law and civil law systems, but the need is real. James is even more concerned about the broad and undefined “exceptions” of the Directive, allowing the use or disclosure of information for “exercising the right to freedom of expression” or “for the purpose of protecting a legitimate interest recognized by Union or national law.” As for whistleblowers, the exception broadly applies to any disclosure to anyone, so long as this is done “for the purpose of protecting the general public interest.” What James concludes from all of this is that the U.S. remains the leading jurisdiction in meeting customer needs and expectations for the protection of trade secrets. With the EU Trade Secrets Directive, we will need to wait for rulings from the CJEU to see whether the exceptions will present serious problems for trade secret owners.


    • Saudi Arabia executions reach record high as beheadings set to double this year
      Saudi Arabia has already executed 82 people this year and is on course to behead twice as many prisoners as it did in 2015, according to new statistics compiled by a leading human rights organisation likely to raise fresh concerns about the UK’s close ties to the Kingdom.

      The British Government has been urged to do more to put pressure on its Gulf allies to halt the bloodshed in light of the figures, which would see the total death toll in Saudi Arabia reach a record high of more than 320 by the end of the year if the current rate is maintained.




  • Internet Policy/Net Neutrality

    • Reclaiming the Web
      Self hosting does not mean getting webspace with a provider. This is not enough. There are at least two serious options available to us that will allow us to be self-hosting we require. Running a Raspberry Pi plugged into your home router or hiring a droplet from Digitial Ocean. Both these offer a chance to both serve out your pages and also run software to pull in other content.




  • Intellectual Monopolies



    • Copyrights



      • Perpetual image rights for the good: the proposed Dutch Cruyff provision
        As UK-based readers will know, in the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 there is a peculiar provision [s301] that provides the trustees of London pediatric Great Ormond Street Hospital with a (perpetual) right to a royalty in respect of the public performance, commercial publication or communication to the public of Sir James Matthew Barrie's Peter Pan, as well as any adaptation thereof, notwithstanding that - technically speaking - copyright in that work expired a while ago (31 December 1987).

        Now something similar to the Peter Pan provision under UK law is being advanced in The Netherlands, though the proposal has to do with image rights (or portrait right) rather than copyright.
      • Digital Rights Groups: DMCA Reform Should Target Takedown Abuse, Errors
        Advocacy groups supporting digital rights and access online joined rights holders and artists in calling for reform to the United States law intended to balance copyright protection with the free flow of information on the internet. But the advocacy groups say the problem may be rights holders’ improper takedowns of online content and errors in the system.

        At issue is the US Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), which is being reviewed for reforms. Stakeholders submitted comments on the reform (focused on DMCA Section 512) by the 1 April deadline.

        Rights holders, artists and managers called for the DMCA protections to be made stronger as the “notice-and-takedown procedure is not working (IPW, North American Policy, 1 April 2016).
      • Rightscorp Plans to Hijack Pirates’ Browsers Until a Fine is Paid


        Anti-piracy outfit Rightscorp says that it's working on a new method to extract cash settlements from suspected Internet pirates. The company says new technology will lock users' browsers and prevent Internet access until they pay a fine. To encourage ISPs to play along, Rightscorp says the system could help to limit their copyright liability.
      • Copyright Troll Partner Threatens to Report Blogger to the Police


        A company assisting US-based copyright troll outfit TCYK LLC has just threatened to report a blogger to the police. Joe Hickster, an anti-troll activist who has helped dozens of wrongfully accused individuals avoid paying settlement fees, was threatened after describing troll services company Hatton and Berkeley as being involved in a smoke-and-mirrors operation.








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Windows Not Even a 'Thing' Anymore... in North America (Where It Originally Came From)?
StatCounter shows Windows isn't even listed as a leading platform in any country in North America
Links 02/12/2024: Obesity Crisis to Worsen, Syrian Coups Rebound
Links for the day
Months After Mass Layoffs at Microsoft Nigeria Windows "Market Share" Collapses (Now Measured at 5%)
Of course the winner is Android (new all-time high of 77.3%)
Windows Measured at 5.7% 'Market Share' in Philippines, GNU/Linux Rose to 5%
It was 3.62% last month
South America Has Made It (Android Majority Everywhere) and in North America New Records for GNU/Linux Usage
Windows monopoly rents cannot be salvaged
Windows Down to Only One in Six Internet- or Web-Connected Devices in Asia
it's not looking good for Microsoft
Microsoft Windows Market Share in the United Kingdom Has Fallen to About 20%
Microsoft knows the true numbers, but it would rather not tell
statCounter: GNU/Linux Up to 4.6%, Windows Down Sharply This Month (Almost 22% Worldwide)
Let's see it the figures stay stable throughout the month
Figures of Note: Tesla's Debt Has More Than Doubled in Two Years and It's a Symptom of a Fake Economic Order
Cash infusions by taxpayers can create "billionaires" who aren't "job creators" (see what happened to Twitter) and bring no benefits to these taxpayers, only poverty
Linux Foundation Let Linux.com Rot for Two Months and Now It Posts Ridiculous Spam
Mindless shopping site
Links 02/12/2024: Journalists Arrested, Tesla Factories Destroying the Planet and Public Health
Links for the day
Gemini Links 02/12/2024: Adventures With Bevy, Google Very Evil, Jumping Into Gemini
Links for the day
BetaNews is Still a Shrine of Microsoft, and Casually Also an LLM Slop Factory
Fake articles, anti-Linux FUD, and Microsoft propaganda make a sound "business model"?
[Meme] Cyber Monday is Not a Thing; There's No Such Thing (It's a Corporate SPAM Campaign Plaguing the Web)
Enough with these fake 'holidays' that billionaires (business oligarchs) keep inventing to make more money at other people's expense (debt)
Software Freedom Conservancy (SFC) and Linux Foundation: Same Mentality of Revisionism and Plunder
Lie about history and then 'cash in'
[Meme] Software Freedom Conservancy (SFC) Begs You for Donations
How does one even spend 20,000 dollars per month???
Why Software Freedom Conservancy Does Not Deserve Money (Karen Sandler is Already a Millionaire and Her Organisation Attacks Free Software Leaders)
These people speak for "Big Money" interests, not for freedom
On the internet [sic] (Lowercase), They Spread Misinformation About the Internet
Hugh Grant remembers what happened before he was born
Richard Stallman Was Getting Honorary Doctorates Almost Every Year Until 'Cancel Culture' Stepped in, Distracting From Jeffrey Epstein's Ties to Bill Gates
This finally ended... earlier this year (October)
Self-Deprecating Attacks on RMS
Drew DeVault seems to have deleted all of his social control media accounts
When Bills Are Rising, Whereas the Demand Isn't (OpenAI is Insolvent)
Latest month on record shows traffic fell about 3 times lower than earlier this year
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Sunday, December 01, 2024
IRC logs for Sunday, December 01, 2024
Links 02/12/2024: Climate, Sportwashing, and Software Patents
Links for the day
Gemini Links 02/12/2024: Words and Apologies, Being Rude, and Geminauts 0.1.0 Release
Links for the day
today's howtos
some older leftovers
The Microsoft OSI: All the Latest Blog Posts Are Written by Microsoft Operative Salaried by Microsoft
OSI is truly occupied. Microsoft more or less 'bought' the OSI...
Links 01/12/2024: Russian Police Raiding Gay Bars, Zelensky Wants NATO Membership
Links for the day
Gemini Links 01/12/2024: Recycling and Interest in Computers
Links for the day
Links 01/12/2024: 23andMe's DNA Bubble Imploded, Web Server Survey Shows Microsoft Nosediving
Links for the day
Vulture funds war-gaming Ireland loss of corporation tax revenue, Donald Trump
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Gerry Hutch & Debian: suicide by Monk?
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Gerry 'The Monk' Hutch: criminals vs geeks, multinationals vs Ireland
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
"Microsoft suffered the next largest loss, down by 634,406 sites (-3.24%)"
Microsoft is now in only 2 of the 5 tables; over time Microsoft slips out of visibility in more categories
The Post Offices Have Turned Into Trash. They Swallow Packages and Only Spit Them Out If You Get Lucky.
Nom nom nom
Four Years of Videos (Self-Hosted, Not Social Control Multimedia)
Seeing how the "hey hi" (AI) hype spreads to GulagTube and ruins GulagTube, we're glad we need not worry about Google (Gulag) policing our "content" via supposedly 'free' (not really) platforms, such as GulagTube, the social control (multi)media "market leader"
[Meme] Hiding From Bullies Not the Solution
‘The only thing necessary for the triumph [of evil] is for good men to do nothing.’
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Saturday, November 30, 2024
IRC logs for Saturday, November 30, 2024
If You Support Free - is in Freedom/Libre - Software, Then Support the Free Software Foundation (FSF)
2024 was the most productive year so far
CNN's Front Page is About 250 Times Heavier Than Techrights' (Also Far Slower)
Those who value performance and users' experience will give bloat the boot
[Meme] What 'Social Justice Warrior' Has Come to Mean by 2024
People who have long called themselves "SJW" aren't exactly any of those things
We Already Know What Makes Techrights So Attractive to Online Abuse and Cybercrimes
Techrights helps explain how to dismantle the 'cancel culture' against Free software (it also names the key perpetrators)
Microsoft Controlling Apache by Proxy/ies
This is a broader attack on what "Open Source" actually means