Bonum Certa Men Certa

Techrights and figosdev

Summary: Reminder that figosdev is a real person and if anonymity is a problem to some people, then maybe the real (underlying) issue one has is the message, not the messenger

THE previous article by figosdev struck a nerve because over a decade ago I became aware that I too was likely under very personal surveillance. This was mentioned in passing a few time over the years. Last night Ariadne suggested that we move to a datacentre somewhere in Europe; she is working on a similar migration herself. We might also be moving away from x86 and into ARM servers. Yesterday she said she had "signed the contract for new colo" with ARM.



Why does this matter?

"Site maintenance is a big overhead for us."Quite frankly, it's improbable that we're under no surveillance (either state or corporate) because of some of the articles we publish. Tomorrow we plan to experiment with containerising the site, one piece at a time, then adding SSL/TLS to everything. It's a slow process because, as we explained here earlier this month, a lot of testing must follow. We have over 28,000 blog posts along with many multimedia files and documents. We moreover have custom-made software for IRC, for Daily Links and various other operations that evolve over time. Site maintenance is a big overhead for us. It's not like running some Blogspot (Google) blog with ~100 posts (mostly text, not many links).

A week ago figosdev told me that he sensed he was likely under surveillance. To repeat my editorial comment from his post, I've seen similar things before (somebody else) and have solid reasons to believe I too was targeted; the presumed spy admitted to know Mark Kennedy, shown at the top of the aforementioned article, and later admitted to me that he had been infiltrating groups. That was "The Met" (London and sometimes beyond). It's a whole family of cops. Of course I might be wrong and maybe it was all just a coincidence, but I confronted the person to get some answers and confessions (like personally knowing Mark Kennedy).

"Having followed Wikileaks closely since the site was very young, I generally know typical tricks employed/attempted against whistle-blowing sites."I know where figosdev is based, but I do not know his name or even his age. His work, which has been around the Internet for quite some time, is all I need to know about figosdev. The vast majority of EPO sources I also don't know (not name, not even gender) and what matters is the substance of the leaks. That's usually enough to indicate benign intentions, no foul play or entrapment. Having followed Wikileaks closely since the site was very young, I generally know typical tricks employed/attempted against whistle-blowing sites. The only people with full access to everything in our site I've known for about a decade and a half. The degree of trust is very high. Almost like kinship (including Christmas gifts and cards).

I've seen a number of people personally attacking figosdev while expressing frustration because they know too little about him; as if they cannot respond based on facts, so they're desperately pursing ad hominem angles instead (people still do this to me). figosdev's style is very different from mine and his temper is also rather different. Two days ago he sent me this meme:

CoC images/memes by figosdev

CoC images/memes by figosdev - second part

That's figosdev in a nutshell -- a lot more blunt than yours truly. But I don't oppose strong language; in fact I never alter his strong words (even the "F" word) when he sends me articles to publish. Free speech means no censorship and resistance to censorship means willingness to listen also to what's less comfortable/agreeable. Sometimes to even give that a platform, assuming it's sincerity rather than marketing/PR (indistinguishable from spam and hardly any more noble).

To be clear, I don't think any Code of Conduct is entirely bad and it doesn't sound bad on the surface. It depends on its substance and its motivations. I dread the consequences of what I see in the Linux Foundation and especially the enforcers; just look at them! Do we want companies that attack poor charities in charge of a project as important as Linux, with the power to blacklist developers based on something like politically-correct language or political views?

"If it bothers some people that they can't put an actual name on him (only his dev name, which is a consistent pseudonym alluding to the Fig OS project), that says more about those people than it says about figosdev."The Linux Foundation is totally happy to lie for Facebook, as it did over the past few days in exchange for payments to the Linux Foundation (basically spam for money), but at the same time it bans and reprimands people for having perfectly legal views that those Linux Foundation sponsors (de facto spammers) dislike.

The bottom line is, figosdev is a genuine individual, legitimate critic, real character and technical person. Sometimes he and I speak about personal matters. If it bothers some people that they can't put an actual name on him (only his dev name, which is a consistent pseudonym alluding to the Fig OS project), that says more about those people than it says about figosdev.

Recent Techrights' Posts

One Person's Take on Jef Spaleta, the New Fedora Project Leader
"With a little searching, I wonder what else may be found regarding Microsoft."
LLM Slop Has Virtually Killed unixmen.com and Many Other Sites
There's no longer any incentive to write real articles in there
Taking a Moral Stand Against Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation (SLAPPs) and the Worst Offenders/Facilitators
Any other stance would sidle with moral depravity or moral hazard
France: Apple and Microsoft Down, GNU/Linux Up to New Record Levels
How will tariffs against France impact things in the coming months?
 
In Iraq, Windows 3.1 (Percent)
There's also zero
Links 06/04/2025: Flood, Cool Gemini Capsule, and Long Form
Links for the day
Links 06/04/2025: Science, Politics, and Pricier Goods
Links for the day
Sharp Declines for Microsoft Windows in Bangladesh (Pop. ~175,000,000), Big Gains for GNU/Linux
Microsoft Windows has been having a really hard time in poor countries
Links 06/04/2025: Fake Reviews, Privatisation Heists, and "AI" as Smokescreen for Impoverishing Humans
Links for the day
Links 06/04/2025: Many New Acts of Repression and Elements of Financial Depression
Links for the day
In Qatar GNU/Linux Rose From Under 1% to Over 4% in Two Years (or Over 5% If Counting ChromeOS)
It's a big improvement compared to what we saw last year
LLM Scrapers Are a Nuisance, But They're Also a Reminder It's Time to Make Your Site Static
Perhaps the best protection is the ability to endure surges
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Saturday, April 05, 2025
IRC logs for Saturday, April 05, 2025
Links 06/04/2025: Attacks on Education, Fake Patents, and Fake (Illegal) Patent Courts
Links for the day
Open Source Initiative (OSI) Privacy Fiasco in Detail: What Was Reported to the California Privacy Protection Agency (CPPA)
We hope to finish this whole lot within a week, then move on to election, lobbying etc.
Links 05/04/2025: Tariffs Backfiring, YouTuber Arrested, X/Twitter Set to be Fined
Links for the day
Gemini Links 05/04/2025: Offline is For Everyone, Copyright Colonialism, and More
Links for the day
Links 05/04/2025: TikTok Unsold (Still), Royal Society is Dead
Links for the day
Techrights Will Spend the Next Few Years Writing a Lot About Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation (SLAPPs)
It's a growing problem
The State of EPO Staff's Health in Rijswijk or The Hague
We're going to cover the EPO some more later in the month
NVIDIA Corp Lost 36% of Its "Value" Since Cheeto Inauguration, But "Gen Hey Hi" (GenAI) is Totally Not a Bubble
Selling loads of unneeded hardware based on hysterical hype; like selling shovels during a Gold Rush
GNU/Linux Growing in East Asia, Windows by Default No More?
GNU/Linux is now on the shelf
Slopwatch: Anti-Linux 'Articles' From Linux-Hostile LLMs
It is almost always negative things and nobody can be held responsible for it except the charlatans prompting the LLMs
Links 05/04/2025: Fentanylware (TikTok) "Sale Looks Highly Imminent" (US), Stock Market Drowning in Panic
Links for the day
Gemini Links 05/04/2025: Moving Plants, No to Smartwatches, RAID Hygiene
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Friday, April 04, 2025
IRC logs for Friday, April 04, 2025
Techrights Has Dealt With More Potent SLAPPs Than Violent Microsofters Begging to Hide What They Did to Women
I became accustomed to SLAPPs
Links 04/04/2025: Fury in South Korea, Flight MH370 Remains Mystery
Links for the day
Gemini Links 04/04/2025: Anger and Raspberry Pi CM4
Links for the day
Links 04/04/2025: LLM Slop Bubble Bursting and Korea Music Copyright Association Bans Slop 'Music'
Links for the day
Traf-O-Data, the Company That Jeffrey Epstein's BFF (Bill Gates) (Co)Founded 53 Years and Went Out of Business Due to Heavy Losses
Who will die first, Bill or Microsoft?
Why Microsoft's Shares Sank Almost 20% in Recent Months (the Bubble is Imploding)
verified press reports from the past 24 hours
A Note on SimilarWeb
Or why SimilarWeb is meaningless for more than 99% of the sites on the Web
GNU/Linux Rises to Almost 5% in Algeria While Windows Sinks to All-Time Low
GNU/Linux grew tenfold
Where to Get More Gags
A valued reader recommended that to us
Links 04/04/2025: Tech Stock (Inc. GAFAM) Fall, Google Pretends to Do End-to-End Encrypted Emails (With Google in Control)
Links for the day
IBM Said to be Shutting Down Offices or Sites in the United States
the press can no longer avoid admitting that IBM moves many jobs to India
To Participate in Fedora Diversity You Must Use Proprietary Software
Not for the first time either
LLM Slop as Attack Vector on the Reputation of Linux
The attacks on Linux have escalated to information warfare
Yandex About to Be Three Times Bigger Than Microsoft (Bing) in Asia
That's about 60% of the world's population
Gemini Links 04/04/2025: Decoupling Updates, Elaho as Gemini Client
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Thursday, April 03, 2025
IRC logs for Thursday, April 03, 2025