Bonum Certa Men Certa

Year 16

Techrights Year 16



Summary: And just like that, in the quiet of the night, ends our anniversary; we have a lot in store (coming soon)

Today we did not produce many articles; we rested a bit, as it's both a Sunday and a birthday. Tomorrow, as in about an hour from now, our 16th year commences, and then we'll release Microsoft GitHub Exposé — Part V (part of a long series that will explain some internal affairs -- mostly scandals -- at GitHub). For those who missed the first 4 parts (we estimate about 20 to come, in total):

  1. Microsoft GitHub Exposé — Part I — Inside a Den of Corruption and Misogynists
  2. Microsoft GitHub Exposé — Part II — The Campaign Against GPL Compliance and War on Copyleft Enforcement
  3. Microsoft GitHub Exposé — Part III — A Story of Plagiarism and Likely Securities Fraud
  4. Microsoft GitHub Exposé — Part IV — Mr. MobileCoin: From Mono to Plagiarism... and to Unprecedented GPL Violations at GitHub (Microsoft)


The past year has been exceptionally rewarding. We exposed a lot of EPO corruption and published important revelations about the Free software community. We actually foresaw and foretold some of the Freenode/IRC wars, having become aware of them about a month in advance (we attempted to ameliorate/defuse things). At the end, Libera Chat basically replaced Freenode, but it not growing much after the collapse of Freenode... it got 'stuck' at around 45,000-49,000 users, compared to 80,000-90,000+ in Freenode. Based on the latest figure that we've reproduced below, it's OFTC gaining a bit and hopefully many people have since then moved to self-hosted IRC networks (folks should quit relying on centralised IRC giants -- they themselves are part of the problem!).

IRC top 10

Our writing style has not changed much since 2006. I'm still the principal editor, but there are many of us involved in researching and writing. It's a group effort. Techrights is a real community and it is thriving because people who care about software freedom trust us, based on our track record.

"Over in our Gemini capsule we're archiving important documents, leaks, and books."Now that the CEO of GitHub is leaving we don't expect the main series to yield results in the expulsion/resignation sense. But we still hope it'll illuminate reasons for people to drop GitHub like a hot plate and move somewhere else. At a later stage in the series we plan to name some of the alternatives/replacements, having assessed them for our own use over the past year or so. We ended up rolling out our own with Gemini.

As far as I'm concerned, GitHub is the next CodePlex or the old Freenode. Without the trust, which erodes rapidly, people will flee. The exodus started years ago, but Microsoft presents false/fake numbers that include deleted accounts. We discussed this in IRC the other day (more direct link).

Over in our Gemini capsule we're archiving important documents, leaks, and books. We need to preserve such material for decades to come. We'll have further announcements to that effort in the coming days.

Recent Techrights' Posts

"The AI Bubble is Popping", Now It's Bailout Time
The hype will quietly fizzle, just like "blockchains"
[Meme] Reliable Sources
Sooner or later LLMs swallow up their own lies (that they generated), which means that over time those things will only deteriorate further, exacerbating an already-large misinformation pandemic
 
Links 23/01/2025: More Overt Constitutional Violations and "TikTok Executive Order" (White Flag to CCP)
Links for the day
Status of New Year's Resolutions
3 weeks later
[Meme] When the Government of the Netherlands Participates in Your Crimes It Lacks an Incentive to Hold You Accountable for Crimes
the EPO's corrupt management boasted (on television) that it would ignore rulings against it even if issued by the highest Dutch court
Links 23/01/2025: US Constitution Already Besieged (Impeachable Offences Pile Up), Arrest Warrant for Assad
Links for the day
Microsoft's Head of Business Development Quits (Days After Two Large Waves of Mass Layoffs)
We recently learned that people close to the management are very stressed this month
BetaNews Plagiarising Work in the Linux Space
The originals won't even be listed
Gemini Links 23/01/2025: US Politics and DevOps Career
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, January 22, 2025
IRC logs for Wednesday, January 22, 2025
Links 22/01/2025: Jeju Air Blame-Shifting (Talk to the Wall), Copyright Maximalism Rebounds
Links for the day
[Meme] The 'Garbage in, Garbage Out' Patent Office
"law of the buzzword"
Clueless and Nontechnical EPO Management Uses the 'Great Scam' (Hey Hi Hype) to Justify Automation Where It's Both Detrimental and Illegal
The EPC has been practically set aflame; thus, the EPO has no legitimacy or reason to exist anymore
Links 22/01/2025: Democratising Tech Initiative and "Bye Bye Meta"
Links for the day
The Japanese translation of the term "free software"
by Akira Urushibata
Links 22/01/2025: "The AI Bubble Is Bursting" and Microsoft's Scam Altman is Already Looking for De Facto Bailout From the Insurrectionist
Links for the day
Dr. Andy Farnell's Latest Article About Software Freedom and Richard Stallman
why Dr. Stallman is being picked on
Geminispace (Gemini Protocol) Offers an Escape From Social Control Networks Owned by Oligarchs and Governments
Gemini capsules that promote fascism and retreat to feudalism are rare and scarce
The Free Software Foundation (FSF) Has Formally Added an Outreach and Communications Coordinator
Maybe the addition happened last year (we mentioned it in passing), but now it's in the "rota"
Electronic Frontier Foundation: Fighting 'for the Poor and Powerless' While Taking Home $336,000 in Annual Salary
nowadays works for or serves not the interests of the masses
Of Note: The Misguided, Infiltrated, Weakened Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) Now Operating at a Loss of Over a Million Dollars
Worst since the COVID-19 lockdowns
Free Software Foundation's Miriam Bastian: We Surpassed Our Year-end Goal of $400,000 USD Thanks to You!
Miriam Bastian: We surpassed our year-end goal of $400,000 USD!
[Meme] Omit Microsoft When It's a Scandal or a Breach, Whereupon It Becomes Just an 'IT Company'
Microsoft is like a cult. Members of this cult promote the opposite of security, expecting to be financially rewarded for it.
Calling Out Windows (TCO) is Apparently Impermissible in Some News Sites
The online news sites are failing us (and corporate sponsors play a role)
Richard Stallman's Remarks on His Pain
Published two days ago
Focusing on the Issues
we'll do our best to find the news and not talk about "Mr. T"
Only About 3.6% of Web Users in Pakistan Use Vista 11, According to statCounter
It's not hard to see why so far in 2025 Microsoft has already had several waves of mass layoffs - more than any other company
Rumour: In IBM, Impending "25% Reduction in Finance Roles"
25% to be laid off?
[Meme] Fake Articles From linuxsecurity.com (Just Googlebombing "Linux" With LLM Slop)
Google should really just entirely delist that site
RedHat.com Written by Microsoft Staff, Promoting Microsoft' Proprietary Software That Does Not Even Run on Linux!
This is RedHat.com this week...
Links 22/01/2025: Mass Layoffs at Stripe, Microsoft's Illegal Accounting Practices Under Scrutiny
Links for the day
Fake 'Article' by Brittany Day (Guardian Digital, Inc) About Linux Mint 22.1 'Xia'
Apparently they've convinced themselves that this is OK
Red Hat Dumps "Inclusive Language", Puts "Master" In Official Communications and Headlines
Red Hat: you CANNOT say "master" (because it is racist). Also Red Hat: we put in it our headlines.
Red Hat Offers DRM, TPM, and Backed Doored 'Confidential' Containers (CoCo) for Microsoft (Proprietary Spyware)
No kidding!
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, January 21, 2025
IRC logs for Tuesday, January 21, 2025
Gemini Links 21/01/2025: Media Provocations and Nazis Not Tolerated
Links for the day
[Meme] Plagiarism Does Not Eliminate Jobs by Replacing Humans, It Replaces Human Knowledge With False Cruft
We need to boycott sites that fake their output
Slopwatch: BetaNews Plagiarism and LLM Slop by UNIXMen
"state-of-the-art" plagiarism
What Fedora, OpenSUSE, and Debian Elections Teach Us About the State of Weak (or Fake) Communities
They show a total lack of trust in these communities
[Meme] Doing Dog's Job (Not God's Job)
The FSF did not advertise the talk by RMS (its founder), who spoke in France almost exactly 23 hours ago
Links 21/01/2025: Mass Layoffs in "Security" at Microsoft (Despite Microsoft Promising It Would Improve After Many Megabreaches), Skype is Dead (Quietly)
Links for the day
Alternate Version of Daniel Pocock's 2024 Talk, "Technology in European Parliament Election Campaign"
There's loud ovation at the end of the talk
Gemini Links 21/01/2025: London Library, Kobo Sage, and Beyerdynamic DT 48 E
Links for the day
The January 20 Public Talk by Richard Stallman (Around Midday ET), Livestream 'Assassinated' by Google's YouTube
our guess is that the 'cancel mob' sabotaged it, possibly by making a lot of false reports to YouTube
[Meme] Free Software and Socially-Engineered Groupthink (to Serve Big Sponsors Like Google and Microsoft)
They do this to RMS all the time
[Video] Daniel Pocock's Public Talk About Free Software Politics, Social Engineering, Debian Deaths and Suicides, Coercion and Exploitation of Women
took many months to get
BetaNews Cannot Survive If Its Fake Articles Are Just SPAM for Companies Like AOHi and Aren't Even Composed by Humans
This is what domains or former "news" sites do when they die and look very desperately for "another way"
Pocock shot in the face, shot in the back, shot on Hitler's birthday saving France, Belgium and FOSDEM
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Dr Richard Stallman in Montpellier, Robert Edward Ernest Pocock in France
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Monday, January 20, 2025
IRC logs for Monday, January 20, 2025