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Links 21/4/2017: Qt Creator 4.2.2, ROSA Desktop Fresh R9





GNOME bluefish

Contents





GNU/Linux



Free Software/Open Source



  • 12 ways to maintain your existing community: How you deal with difficult conversations?
    Help us collect community knowledge by blogging about the weekly community management theme. Blog posts are due the following Thursday after each new theme is announced. Next week's challenge is Difficult Conversations.

    Check out ways to recruit new community members in week #1 blogging challenge.


  • Baidu To Open-Source Its Self-Driving Vehicle Platform


  • Baidu launches Apollo, opens self-drive platform


  • Baidu Makes Its Self-Driving Car Technology Available for Free


  • Uber has high hopes for its open source data visualization software
    Any time a representative of car sharing service Uber Technology Inc. shows up at an analytics conference, his or her session is always packed.

    People crowd into the room for two reasons. First, Uber does a lot of interesting things with advanced analytics, and getting a peak under the hood at how it all works can inspire new projects at other enterprises.


  • Web Browsers



    • Mozilla



      • Tor Browser 6.5.2 Features Important Security Updates from Firefox 45.9.0 ESR
        Tor Project announced the release and immediate availability for download of the second and probably the last scheduled point release of the Tor Browser 6.5 stable series of the anonymous web browser based on Mozilla Firefox.

        Tor Browser 6.5.2 is out for all supported platforms, including GNU/Linux, macOS, and Microsoft Windows, and it looks like it incorporates all the important security updates that Mozilla implemented in the Firefox 45.9.0 ESR (Extended Support Release), along with HTTPS-Everywhere 5.2.14 and NoScript 5.0.2.


      • This Simple Tweak Will (Apparently) Make Firefox Faster


      • Firefox 53 Introduces Quantum Compositor, Reducing Browser Crashes
        Mozilla released its Firefox 53 update on April 19, introducing a new browser engine and patching 39 vulnerabilities in the open-source web browser.

        The new browser engine technology in Firefox 53 is known as Project Quantum and is a multipart effort to accelerate and improve the web browsing experience for users. The Project Quantum component included in Firefox 53 is known as the Quantum Compositor; it is designed to help reduce the number of browser crashes due to graphics issues.






  • Databases



    • The new replication features in MySQL 8
      This year at the Percona Live open source database conference, I will present a talk on the latest replication features in MySQL 8.0.

      It was a huge amount of work to get the MySQL Group Replication plugin out with MySQL 5.7.17. Group Replication is a new plugin that gives the user some nice replication properties by resorting to group communication and state machine replication. This makes the system able to protect data against split brain situations, enables fault-tolerance and high availability, and provides coordination between servers committing transactions that change the data.

      In addition to Group Replication, the team has also invested quite a bit on core replication features. Some of these features were already released, and others will be released at some point in time in a MySQL Development Milestone Release (DMR).




  • Pseudo-Open Source (Openwashing)



  • Programming/Development



    • Meet Mark Hinkle, the New Executive Director for the Node.js Foundation
      These days, Node.js is under the hood of everything from the web, the Internet of Things and desktop applications to microservice architectures. Node’s 15 million-plus downloads per month, and more than a billion package downloads per week, render it the world’s biggest open source platform.

      The Node.js Foundation was started in 2015, under the aegis of the Linux Foundation, to support Node’s ongoing growth and evolution. The foundation represents an open governance of the Node ecosystem, with a steadily growing roster of members from every cohort, from Fortune 500 companies to sole proprietor freelancers.


    • Node.js Monitoring/Debugging Tool Now Free for Open Source Projects


    • Announcing Free Node.js Monitoring & Debugging with Trace
      Today, we’re excited to announce that Trace, our Node.js monitoring & debugging tool is now free for open-source projects.


    • veggies: Haskell code generation from scratch
      I wish we had a formally verified compiler for Haskell, or at least for GHC’s intermediate language Core. Now formalizing that part of GHC itself seems to be far out of reach, with the many phases the code goes through (Core to STG to CMM to Assembly or LLVM) and optimizations happening at all of these phases and the many complicated details to the highly tuned GHC runtime (pointer tagging, support for concurrency and garbage collection).






Leftovers



  • Science



    • How Garry Kasparov Learned To Stop Worrying & Love The Machines That Beat Him At His Job
      I am sure that some will dismiss this as a retread of techno-utopianism, but I think it's important for people to be focusing on more broadly understanding these changes. That doesn't mean ignoring or downplaying the disruption for those whose lives it will certainly impact, but so much of the discussion has felt like people throwing up their arms helplessly. There will be opportunities for new types of work, but part of that is having more people thinking through these possibilities and building new companies and services that recognize this future. Even if you can't predict exactly what kinds of new jobs there will be (or even if you're convinced that no new jobs will be coming), it's at the very least a useful thought exercise to start thinking through some possibilities to better reflect where things are going, and Kasparov's essay is a good start.


    • Computer pioneer Harry Huskey dies aged 101
      Engineer Harry Huskey, who helped build many of the first ever computers, has died aged 101.

      Dr Huskey was a key member of the team that built the Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer (Eniac) which first ran in February 1946.

      Eniac is widely considered to be one of the first electronic, general purpose, programmable computers.

      Dr Huskey also helped complete work on the Ace - the Automatic Computing Engine - designed by Alan Turing.


    • Scientists prepare for protest: 'the march should be a starting point'
      The placards are made, the speeches prepared. On Saturday, crowds in their thousands are expected at 500 marches in more than 35 countries to remind the world, and its many politicians, that society cannot thrive without science. It will be the largest show of solidarity for science the globe has ever seen.

      Arranged to coincide with Earth Day, the anniversary of the modern environmental movement, organisers hope that the mobilisation of so many can help restore science to what they consider to be its rightful place. But despite healthy support for the events – more than 100 professional societies and organisations have endorsed them – marches alone will not be enough, according to researchers who study protest movements.




  • Health/Nutrition



    • WHO: Hepatitis Death Toll Rising, Vaccination Works But Access To Tests And Medicines Still Issue [Ed: People die from hepatitis (maybe a million dead over the years) because companies bicker over money.]
      Hepatitis-related mortality is on the rise, despite the existence of an efficient vaccine for hepatitis B and a cure for hepatitis C, according to the World Health Organization hepatitis report 2017 published today. One of the issues is that a majority of people are unaware of their condition due to limited access to affordable hepatitis testing. The price of the hepatitis C medicines has decreased in low-income countries, but still remains a barrier in upper-middle income and high-income countries, the WHO said.


    • Licence For A New Hepatitis Treatment, With An Eye To Affordability
      The Medicines Patent Pool has received a licence to develop ravidasvir, a new treatment for hepatitis C.

      The new licence is in partnership with Pharco Pharmaceuticals in Egypt, and expands upon the licence issued in March 2016 by Presidio, the original developer of ravidasvir, and the Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative (DNDi).




  • Security

    • Security updates for Friday


    • Network Firewalls: How to Protect Your Network from Unauthorized Access


    • The Architecture of the Web Is Unsafe for Today's World
      The Internet is based on protocols that assume content is secure. A new, more realistic model is needed.

      Twenty-eight years ago, British computer scientist Tim Berners-Lee proposed a system to link text documents across a computer network. It changed the way the world communicates and does business. From its humble beginnings, the Internet has become a complex, dynamic, and heterogeneous environment.

      Today, the Internet revolution's main instrument, the Web browser, exposes users to unbounded malicious content and has become unmanageable.

      How did browsers become such a liability? Because they're based on an ancient set of communication rules, protocols that assume connections are secure and content is safe. The openness and utility of the protocols led to enormous innovation. But today, with all its sophistication, the Web is still based on protocols that weren't designed for security or enterprise-class management.


    • In encrypted-messaging market, open source not only key to success [Ed: Overlooked the point that easy-to-use programs whose sources code you cannot study are worse than nothing, just a trap. In this age of government-mandated back doors in programs and protocols the term "proprietary encryption" should be a paradox.]
      A couple months ago, one of the oldest encrypted, ephemeral messaging apps, Wickr, decided to open up its cryptographic code for the world. By allowing hackers and developers to examine their crypto code, it reasoned, it could earn a veritable security merit badge. And the approach had already boosted the appeal of another secure-messaging app, Signal.

      At least on the surface, Wickr’s open-source move appears to be paying off. Scott Stender, vice president of cryptography at NCC Group, a British company that specializes in helping clients manage cybersecurity risks, says it influenced his company’s decision to use Wickr, which incorporates end-to-end encryption, to keep its internal communications private.


    • Self Driving Taxis Are Going To Be A Nightmare To Secure, Warns Ex-Uber Security Researcher [Ed: Trams, trains, subways etc. go on rails; flights managed by programs nowadays. But there's a reason a pilot/driver is still crucial. Same for cars. Unless your driver/pilot is a suicidal maniac (which happens), the negative impact of accident on her/him helps secure the passengers.]
      So over the last few years you probably remember seeing white hat hackers demonstrate how easily most modern smart cars can be hacked, often with frightening results. Cybersecurity researchers Charlie Miller and Chris Valasek have made consistent headlines in particular by highlighting how they were able to manipulate and disable a Jeep Cherokee running Fiat Chrysler's UConnect platform. Initially, the duo documented how they were able to control the vehicle's internal systems -- or kill it's engine entirely -- from an IP address up to 10 miles away.




  • Transparency/Investigative Reporting



  • Environment/Energy/Wildlife/Nature



    • New York Times defends hiring extreme climate denier: ‘millions agree with him’
      Amidst backlash and subscription cancellations for hiring extreme climate science denier, Bret Stephens, the New York Times offered a stunning defense: There are “millions of people who agree with him.”

      With that ‘logic’, the Times could hire as a columnist former Imperial Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan David Duke — or a flat earther or someone who thinks vaccines pose a health hazard. After all, millions agree with them.




  • Censorship/Free Speech



  • Privacy/Surveillance



    • VIDEO: iPhones Are iSpies – Wikileaks “Vault 7” Revelations Continue To Terrify
      Most of us carry smartphones and watch web-enabled TVs without much thought. But the revelations found in Wikileaks’ “Vault 7” release warn that we should consider the sinister capabilities that such devices could lend to those who might abuse them.


    • In Secret Court Hearing, Lawyer Objected to FBI Sifting Through NSA Data Like It Was Google
      In her first appearance representing the American public before the top-secret Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court in 2015, Amy Jeffress argued that the FBI is violating the Fourth Amendment by giving agents “virtually unrestricted” access to data from one of the NSA’s largest surveillance programs, which includes an untold amount of communications involving innocent Americans.

      The NSA harvests data from major Internet companies like Facebook, Google and Apple without a warrant, because it is ostensibly “targeting” only foreigners. But the surveillance program sweeps up a large number of Americans’ communications as well. Then vast amounts of data from the program, including the Americans’ communications, are entered into a master database that a Justice Department lawyer at the 2015 hearing described as the “FBI’s ‘Google’ of its lawfully acquired information.”


    • In Time for the Reform Debate, New Documents Shed Light on the Government’s Surveillance of Americans
      The ACLU today released more than a dozen new documents concerning the government’s warrantless surveillance of millions of Americans. They were obtained from several intelligence agencies in an ongoing Freedom of Information Act lawsuit and relate to Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, the law that the government relies on to conduct its PRISM and Upstream spying programs.


    • Frms make sweet 8K 360 cameras using Facebook Surround’s open source [Ed: Facebook is openwashing a truly spooky and villainous surveillance apparatus; remember what Zuckerberg said]


    • Weeping Angel
      Today, April 21st 2017, WikiLeaks publishes the User Guide for CIA's "Weeping Angel" tool - an implant designed for Samsung F Series Smart Televisions. Based on the "Extending" tool from MI5/BTSS, the implant is designed to record audio from the built-in microphone and egress or store the data.

      The classification marks of the User Guide document hint that is was originally written by the MI5/BTSS and later shared with the CIA. Both agencies collaborated on the further development of the malware and coordinated their work in Joint Development Workshops.




  • Intellectual Monopolies



    • Copyrights



      • Copyright & Censorship on Instagram: How Marie Claire Stole My Photo
        I soon discovered that my photo had been picked up by a few other Instagram accounts before Marie Claire, the main one being Bumble and bumble, a company owned by Estée Lauder. The other accounts, including Bumble and bumble, at least had the decency and respect to credit me as well as the hair stylist when reusing my photo. Sadly the model wasn’t credited, which upset me quite a bit.



      • Singapore Court Tosses Copyright Troll Cases Because IP Addresses Aren't Good Enough Evidence
        We've been saying this for years, but IP addresses are not good enough evidence on which to base copyright infringement lawsuits. At some level, everyone already knows this to be true. You can tell that's the case because the typical pretenders stating otherwise are the copyright trolls with a business model that relies on gathering large numbers of supposedly infringing IP addresses, mailing out settlement demands to the supposed pirates that own the accounts of those IP addresses, and then collecting very real money from some percentage of the recipients. On top of that, even these trolls will often claim that the onus is on the account holder of an internet connection to police their own pipe, which is a delightful end-around to the common concept of punishing true infringers as opposed to innocent third parties.

        There are places with legal systems that have had enough of this practice and we can now add Singapore's to the list. The High Court in Singapore recently threw out requests from several copyright trolls made to ISPs there to produce account information for IP addresses they claim were used to infringe on two movies, Fathers & Daughters and Queen Of The Desert.








Recent Techrights' Posts

Better Outcomes When Facing the Discomfort of Conflict
Don't take the easy way out when the "hard way" is the right way and it can result in positive revelations
Leaving the United States 3 Years Ago Was the Best Decision We Made
A lot of stuff is being consolidated
BillBC (BBC) Covered Up Pedophilia, Now It's Covering Up for Its Sponsor Bill Gates by Reprinting His Lies, Which His Own Wife Disputes
Is Bill Gates having orgies (group sex)?
How to Identify Demonisation or Dehumanisation Tactics Against Interesting Figures or Luminaries in Free Software
Rather than in general or generally in technology
We Should Learn From Bulgaria
Why can't European companies and government recognise and react to a threat (when they see one)?
 
You Know Microsoft's "Value" is 100% Fictional When in One Single "Trading" Day in Wall Street It Loses THREE TIMES More in "Value" Than It Was 'Worth' in 2009
Microsoft does not behave like a company riding trillions but like a company that struggles with payroll
Gemini Links 04/02/2026: Humanity and Animality, systemd (Controlled by Amutable, a Proxy of Microsoft) Moves on to "Extinguish" Phase
Links for the day
Certificate Authority Let's Encrypt Used to be Widely Used in Geminispace, Now It's Down to Just 0.2% of the Whole
Let's Encrypt is not your friend
What IBM Does Is Clearly Illegal in the US: Tying Severance Packages to NDAs (Non-Disparagement Agreement/Clause)
The NDAs make things worse; they keep people isolated and silent
Microsoft's Giant Snowball of Layoffs and PIPs (in 2026)
They would delay until March or April if they wanted to, but then we can expect numbers exceeding 10,000 layoffs (Microsoft always low-balls the real figure/s)
Mozilla Turned Firefox Into Shovelware, Adding 'Kill Switch' for Slop Still Means Mozilla is Participating in a Pyramid Scheme, Plagiarism, Grifting
Mozilla is still a slop pusher
Links 04/02/2026: "Laws of Succession" and Microsoft's VS Code as Code-Stealing Malware
Links for the day
Phoronix Swims With the Real Trolls, People Who Fancy Proprietary Software and Back Doors
If Larabel begins to actively participate in provocation with the "Microsoft GitHub fans club", what does this tell us about Phoronix?
They Know Microsoft Layoffs Are About to Hit Them Hard
The gaming division at Microsoft is a complete catastrophe, lots of money (debt) down the drain [...] Buying Activision was all about misleading shareholders or hiding the deep trouble/problems XBox was having
Red Hat is Not a Linux Company, It's IBM's Ponzi Scheme Enabler
Had we still been stuck in 2021, perhaps IBM would plaster "NFT" or "metaverse" all over RedHat.com
Keep Grinding
"Don't let the bastards grind you down"
Mobbing at the European Patent Office (EPO) - Part III - Who's Going to Pay for the EPO's Corruption? (Aside From European Citizens)
Some people inside the EPO reached out to us
"Investors Are Concerned About an AI Bubble" (That GAFAM and IBM Ride)
A few decades from now IBM will only be remembered in the same sense many so-called 'AI' companies will be remembered
EPO Staff Union: "Very High Strike Participation on Friday 30 January", Another Strike Starts 19 Days From Now
EPO management in a bit of a panic
Censorship/Free Speech and Social Control Media
It's important to have a grasp of how contemporary censorship works and how to tackle it
Google News as Slop Booster
this is what Google links to
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, February 03, 2026
IRC logs for Tuesday, February 03, 2026
Gemini Links 04/02/2026: "Raspberry Pi Relaxes the Rules for Its RP2040 Hacking Challenge" and "Long Web Society"
Links for the day
IBM Falls by Over 10%
a recipe for disasters like accounting fraud
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Links for the day
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Links for the day
Dr. Andy Farnell on Why and How European Authorities Can Adopt Free Software, Parenting in the Age of Digital Abundance
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Canonical: Ubuntu is GAFAM (US), We're Resellers of American Proprietary Software
They want people to pay for a licence
Seems Like IBM Trolls Use Chatbots to Vandalise Platform That Discusses IBM's Secret Layoffs, Forever Layoffs
Not for the first time either
You Know Your Company is Dead or Basically a Pyramid Scheme When Jim Cramer Keeps Promoting Its Stock
How much does IBM pay for "puff pieces" or "fluff" about QC?
Red Hat (Under IBM) Works for Microsoft (Proprietary Software) and Slop
Yesterday Red Hat's official site, redhat.com, published exactly 5 new blog posts
IBM is Dying (More Layoffs), Red Hat Will Continue to Suffer From the Acquisition
Financial engineering
Colombia Adopting GNU/Linux Even Faster (at Microsoft's and Apple's Expense)
Do politics play any role in this?
An Effort to Tackle Slavery in 'Open Source' Clothing
"a civil rights lawsuit to examine the concerns of censored developers in the free, open source software ecosystem"
$15 billion lawsuit: Ubuntu, Google & Debian crowdfunding campaign launch
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
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SRA is neither effective nor regulated
Links 03/02/2026: "Distraction is a Sin" and Fake "Encryption" (Surveillance With Good Marketing)
Links for the day
400-Page US Federal Court Against Abuses by Google, Microsoft and Front Groups That Abuse Volunteers for American Corporations
There are 386 pages in total (in the US claim)
Corporate Influence Never Impacted Us
There's no reason to assume we'll ever "sell out"
Growth of GNU/Linux in Cuba
Right now a lot of the world drafts or already implements a GAFAM exit plan
A Day After EPO Strikes an Escalation to Heads of Delegations to the Administrative Council
They rely on the European media playing along, helping them to hide major blunders, even crimes
Over at Tux Machines...
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IRC Proceedings: Monday, February 02, 2026
IRC logs for Monday, February 02, 2026
Gemini Links 03/02/2026: Stargazing, Development Boards, and Tcl/Tk Slop
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Microsoft is hiding what's really happening while mocking critics
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"goodwill" will be inflated despite IBM staff getting sick of IBM
Americans Move to GNU/Linux
some of the biggest American populations
I Still Like Drawing and Various Other Arts (They Help My Activism and Journalism), Slop is an Enemy of Creative People
Recognise that slop isn't intelligence; it's a generational excuse for plagiarism and privatisation of not only the Commons but also proprietary knowledge (without authorisation)
Carmen-Lisandrette Maris (Mission:Libre) Explains to Adolescents and Young Adults How Free Software Improves Privacy
Based on what we've seen and read, Mission:Libre has a solid grasp of Software Freedom
Chatbots Didn't Do Any Good for Microsoft
Google "AI" = search + copypasta
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Links for the day
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growing adoption of GNU/Linux in Russia
Gemini Links 02/02/2026: Stages of Age, Workflows, and Counting Capsules
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The apologists of social control media, including press that got "addicted" to such fake "media", are helping dictators and oligarchs grab the public attention away from the real press
IBM Misleads and Gaslights Investors With Slop Sold as "AI" (the Business is Waning, Mass Layoffs Continue)
People who do this are dishonest. They should not be put in charge.
Links 02/02/2026: 'Melania' a Horror Movie "Will They Inherit Our Blogs?"
Links for the day
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When you hire people illegally, to work for cocaine users and keep quite about the cocaine use, what will be the impact on the reputation of an institution?
A Can of WORMS - Part II - Darkening the Name of RMS, Associating It With Crime
Beware projection tactics
Submit Your Suggestions for EU's Embrace of Software Freedom by Tomorrow
Time to leave GAFAM (US) hegemony behind
Slopless Weekend
This is not sustainable
Over at Tux Machines...
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IRC Proceedings: Sunday, February 01, 2026
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