Bonum Certa Men Certa

Links 17/06/2023: Daniel Ellsberg Dies, SparkyLinux 7.0 is Out



  • GNU/Linux

  • Distributions and Operating Systems

    • BSD

      • FreeBSDCelebrating 30 Years of FreeBSD – FreeBSD Journal Special Edition

        We’re so excited to announce that the online version of the FreeBSD 30th Anniversary special edition of the FreeBSD Journal will be available on Monday, Jun 19, 2023 ... Just in time to celebrate FreeBSD’s 30th Anniversary! The content for the issue is exceptional. The editorial board definitely outdid themselves.

      • FreeBSDCelebrating 30 years of FreeBSD – FreeBSD Timeline

        This week, we're celebrating 30 years of FreeBSD! The Foundation took a look back through the Project's history and, with the collaboration of the FreeBSD Journal team, created a new FreeBSD timeline.

      • FreeBSDCelebrating 30 years of FreeBSD – 30th Anniversary Merchandise

        Want to celebrate 30 years of FreeBSD in style? Check out some of the anniversary merchandise on our brand new Shopify store. We unveiled our 30th Anniversary design at the recent BSDCan 2023, but if you weren't able to make it, you can now order them online.

      • FreeBSDJune 2023 Fundraising Update

        It’s June and for many of us in North America, we’re starting to see a glimmer of summer peaking around the corner. I cherish all the seasons, even the cold of winter, but summer is by far my favorite season of the year.

      • FreeBSDFreeBSD Day – Celebrating 30 Years of FreeBSD

        30 Years! Can you believe it? June 19, 2023 marks 30 years since the FreeBSD operating system got its name. As you may know, the anniversary of FreeBSD has been named FreeBSD Day.

    • Fedora Family / IBM

    • Debian Family

      • OMG! LinuxCrunchBang++ 12.0 Released, Based on Debian 12 (Still Supports 32-bit)

        CrunchBang++ 12.0 sees the Linux distro rebase atop the recent Debian 12 release. This sees the distro inherit all of the underlying benefits that the release brings, including, notably, Linux kernel 6.1 LTS, newer graphics drivers, and an updated package set.

      • Daniel PocockDemoted in Death: Debian cabal's final insult to Frans Pop

        Yet when Frans Pop died in August 2010, the now infamous Debian Day Volunteer Suicide, they only dedicated one component of the release to him, the Debian installer, but only the beta version. He is missing from the full release announcement. He is missing from the subsequent announcements about the Installer.

        This feels like a snub. People actively discussed it on the debian-private leaked gossip emails. Some of their emails are copied below as evidence. Nonetheless, when everybody else was getting a system upgrade, Frans Pop received a downgrade.

      • Sparky GNU/LinuxSparky 7.0 Orion Belt
      • Beta NewsDownload Debian 12 Bookworm-based Sparky 7.0 'Orion Belt' Linux distro now

        If you are a fan of the Sparky Linux distribution, I have some exciting news-- version 7.0 is finally available for download. This release is based on -- and fully compatible with -- the Debian 12 "Bookworm" operating system. For users with ancient hardware, Sparky 7.0 still provides support for x86 (32-bit) machines. But seriously, folks, just buy a 64-bit PC already...

        By leveraging the stability and reliability of Debian, Sparky 7.0 inherits a rock-solid base that ensures a smooth and secure user experience. This compatibility allows users to seamlessly access the extensive Debian software repositories, opening up a world of possibilities for software installations and updates.

        Keeping up with the latest developments in the Linux ecosystem, Sparky 7.0 incorporates updated packages from both the Debian "Bookworm" and Sparky "Orion Belt" repositories as of June 15, 2023. This commitment to package updates guarantees that users have access to the most recent software versions, bug fixes, and security patches, providing a secure and up-to-date computing environment.

        Sparky 7.0 comes equipped with the Linux kernel 6.1.27 LTS as the default option, ensuring compatibility with a wide range of hardware configurations. For users seeking bleeding-edge features, kernel versions 6.3.8 and 5.15.117 LTS are available in the Sparky unstable repositories. This flexibility allows users to choose the kernel that best suits their specific needs.

      • Thomas Lange: 20.000 customized images created by the FAI.me build service

        The counter of the FAI.me build service has reached 20.000. This counter was added shortly after the service was started in November 2017. Since then, this service has built more than 21.000 installation images and more than 1300 cloud disk images. In the last few month we had averaged 100 requests per week.

    • Canonical/Ubuntu Family

      • UbuntuSecurity maintenance vs support: what’s the difference?

        One of the most frequent questions we get during conversations with our customers is “What’s the difference between security maintenance and support?” The word “support” has a wide range of meanings and can be interpreted in different ways depending on where it is used.

        Especially in the open source landscape, the terms “security maintenance” and “support” are often used interchangeably, even if they represent distinct aspects of protecting an organisation’s assets.

        In this blog post, we will delve into the differences and the synergy between security maintenance and support, highlighting their unique roles and importance in safeguarding our digital environments.

      • UbuntuUbuntu Blog: Snapcraft 8.0 and the respectable end of core18

        ‘E’s not pinin’! ‘E’s passed on! This base is no more! He has ceased to be! ‘E’s expired and gone to meet ‘is maker! ‘E’s a stiff! Bereft of life, ‘e rests in peace! If you hadn’t nailed ‘im to the perch ‘e’d be pushing up the daisies! ‘Is software processes are now ‘istory! ‘E’s off the twig! ‘E’s kicked the bucket (not S3), ‘e’s shuffled off ‘is mortal coil, run down the curtain and joined the bleedin’ choir invisible!! THIS IS AN EX-BASE!!

        Every few years, five to be more precise, an LTS release of Ubuntu goes out of the main support and into the extended support. Effectively, what this means for developers using Snapcraft is that snaps built using an older base may now be in a delicate state. Core18 is a base aligned to Ubuntu 18.04 LTS, which has just recently met its Parrot Sketch demise. In this blog post, we’d like to tell more about what happens now.

      • UbuntuSimplifying software-defined vehicles (SDVs) with EB corbos Linux – built on Ubuntu

        Carmakers are facing numerous challenges on the path towards software-defined vehicles (SDVs), such as legacy vendor dependence, which is leading to a lack of scalability, and high maintenance costs. Adopting a software-centric approach should reduce complexity and costs, accelerate time to market, improve product quality, increase flexibility, and provide more robust cybersecurity.

        Carmakers need to fundamentally transform their processes and organisational structures, focusing on software development and services. Collaboration between different departments, as well as external entities, will be key in delivering exceptional products and experiences to customers. This is what highly competitive brands should be aiming for.

    • Devices/Embedded

      • CNX Softwarei-Pi SMARC 1200 (MediaTek Genio 1200) devkit tested with a Yocto Linux image

        Last weekend I received ADLINK’s i-Pi SMARC 1200 development kit powered by MediaTek Genio 1200 Octa-core Cortex-A78/A55 AIoT processor, checked out the hardware and wanted to install the Yocto Linux image but stopped in my tracks because it looked like I had to install Ubuntu 18.04 first in a Virtual Machine or another computer. But finally, the documentation has been updated to clarify “Ubuntu 18.04 or greater” is required, and I had no problem flashing the image from a Ubuntu 22.04 laptop after installing dependencies and tools as follows

        That’s it for the tools. Eventually, the development kit will support three images: Yocto Linux, Android 13 (July 2023), and Ubuntu 20.04 (Q3 2023). So that means only the Yocto Linux image is available from the download page at this time, and that’s what I’ll be using today. We’ll need to connect the micro USB to USB cable between the host and the board, as well as the 12V power supply, before running the command to flash the image

      • Embedded.comRTOS with standard POSIX pthreads API: a complement to embedded Linux



        PX5 RTOS with a native implementation of the industry standard POSIX pthreads aims at developers working on demanding embedded applications. What makes this new RTOS so attractive – and why is test driven development still the best approach to create high-quality code?

      • Linux GizmosESP32 module comes with Fisheye camera

        The ESP32CAM-PSRAM is a portable development board featuring an ESP32 microcontroller and a 2 Megapixel camera. The new embedded device from M5Stack is capable of supporting image transmission via Wi-Fi and it can be debugged using a USB Type-C port.

      • Linux GizmosStation P2S mini-PC offers support for PoE and 4G LTE

        The Station P2S, a compact and versatile mini PC that runs on the 64-bit RK3568 SoC. Moreover, the new mini PC offers flexible storage options and it supports dual GbE LAN, dual-band Wi-Fi, and 4G LTE network compatibility.

    • Open Hardware/Modding

      • Raspberry PiRaspberry Pi in the natural world

        Because Raspberry Pi is small, affordable, and hackable, we find ourselves popping up in the wildest corners of the planet, monitoring the natural world around us. We’re everywhere from the rainforests of Borneo to the Antarctic home of Adelie penguins. We’ve even been attached to the backs of turtles. Yes, really.

      • ArduinoBuild your own human horse race arcade game using Arduino and Strava

        The game concept is similar to the horse race arcade game, except players run to influence the success of their respective racers. Those racers are little 2D people figures instead of horses. Everyone can run on their own schedule. Then, once everyone completes their run, the game shows the results by moving the figures across the track. This links to Strava, which is an app for tracking runs using popular devices like smartphones and smartwatches. Each player just has to complete a run as part of the group that Underwood set up for this purpose.

      • ArduinoJoin us at Sensors Converge in Santa Clara

        At Arduino’s booth #1346, our experts will be on hand to showcase the Pro line of products with a few notable demonstrations. Our own Guneet Bedi to keynote on the innovation open environments offer to businesses, in addition to two other talks on agtech and the CHIPS Act. We look forward to sharing our business solutions for digital transformation with Arduino’s ease of use and open-source philosophy. We invite you to stop by the booth during the show or join us for one of our networking receptions.

      • OlimexOpenBLT Bootloader allow OLIMEXINO-STM32F3 to update the firmware via UART, USB, CAN and SD-card

        Once the bootloader is programmed on OLIMEXINO-STM32F3 it allows firmware updates via UART, USB, CAN and SD-CARD

      • Boiling SteamJim Keller on How Risc-V Will Change the World

        Jim Keller is an American microprocessor engineer who is best known for his work at AMD and Apple. He is credited with designing some of the most important microprocessors in recent history, including the Athlon K7, AMD K8, AMD K12, the revolutionary AMD Zen architecture, the Apple A4, and Apple A5 used in best-in-class mobile devices at the time. He is also the co-author of the x86-64 instruction set and the HyperTransport interconnect. Currently, he is working as the president at TensTorrent, a company focused on bringing innovative hardware solutions for AI workloads – which most of it based on RISC-V architecture.

        He was recently interviewed by EE Times and he gave many insightful comments that I decided to break down the key quotes into smaller video chunks for convenience. If you can afford to watch the whole interview, it’s even better, but if you want the TLDR, this article will probably cover most of it.

  • Free, Libre, and Open Source Software

    • Events

      • LWNRegistration for LPC 2023 is open

        The registration for this year's Linux Plumbers Conference (LPC) is now open. It will be held November 13-15 in Richmond, Virginia in the US. The attend page has all of the details. Meanwhile, some of the calls for proposals are still open, though the microconferences CFP is closed; this year's proposed microconference topics are listed here. Those who want to attend should note: ""As usual we expect to sell our rather quickly so don't delay your registration for too long!""

      • Business Wire Xen Project to Host Xen Project Developer and Design Summit 2023

        For those attending the Embedded Open Source Summit, Xen Summit registration will be available as an add-on, allowing participants to extend their experience and dive deeper into the latest Xen Project developments. Attendees can expect a range of activities and opportunities to engage with the very active Xen community. This includes face-to-face interactions where developers share updates, discuss architectural designs and tackle community development issues. The event serves as a platform for networking, knowledge sharing and receiving valuable feedback on proposed changes for Xen.

    • Web Browsers/Web Servers

      • University of TorontoCGIs combine well with Apache location-based access control

        One of the things that we do every so often is put together some little 'web application' that has to be under some sort of access control or access restrictions. Even today, CGI scripts remain the easiest way to write and deploy a simple web application; you write a script in the language of your choice and (with the right Apache configuration) put it in an appropriate place with an appropriate filename extension, and you're done. That leaves the access control.

    • Programming/Development

      • EarthlyUsing CMake and GCC to Cross-Compile Binaries

        Cross-compilation is the process of compiling your program on a different host than the target system. This enables developers to build binaries for different architectures without using those specific architectures themselves. For example, with cross-compilation, you can compile a binary for ARM-based devices like a Raspberry Pi on your standard x86-64 development machine.

        When cross-compiling your software, CMake and the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC) can be helpful. CMake is a robust build system generator that uses configuration files to create cross-compiled binaries, and GCC is a toolchain that includes compilers for various programming languages, including C, C++, Objective C, and Fortran.

        In this tutorial, you’ll learn how to build a simple C++ program and then cross-compile it for AArch64 or ARM64-based devices using CMake and GCC.

      • Sam Thursfield: Status update, 16/06/2023

        This blog is about what’s on my mind, and recently I’ve been thinking about aeroplane flights, and limiting how many I take every year.

        I’m not trying to make anyone feel impressed or ashamed here, or create rules that I insist everyone needs to live by. And I am no expert in climate science, but we need to start talking about this stuff more – as you probably spotted, the climate is uncomfortably hot now, caused mainly by all the “greenhouse gases” that we keep producing in our industrious human civilization.

  • Leftovers

    • Chris CoyierGetting Communicated At

      The time comes when I need to communicate back. Ask a question. Schedule an appointment. Request assistance. Offer feedback. In that situation, the quality of communication fell way off. A question goes unanswered, or the answer is lackluster, or you feel shooed away. They communicate to you in 5 different mediums but only accept communication in 1 (and it’s something horrible like the phone). You can tell they aren’t ready and willing to meet you where you are and help you directly however you need to be helped. Maybe they aren’t staffed for it. They didn’t plan for it. They don’t empower people well enough. Whatever the reason, it ends up being a turn-off. It makes those great incoming communication efforts feel like a barb.

    • FuturismMan Solves Rubik’s Cube in Three Seconds

      In a YouTube video, "speedcuber" Max Park proudly displayed his win at the Pride at Long Beach 2023 World Cube Association Competition last weekend, finishing the puzzle in a lightning-fast 3.13 seconds.

      Park's hands move almost too fast to follow in the video. It's over almost immediately, with an elated Pak slamming his palms on the table to stop the clock.

    • Health/Nutrition/Agriculture

      • Sumana HarihareswaraMy Current Approach To Reducing My COVID Risk

        In this post, I detail those principles as well as my specific protocols (masking, ventilation, self-testing, and so on), including links to examples and product vendors.

      • International Business TimesA reported 57% of school girls experienced 'persistent feelings of sadness or hopelessness'

        The most recent survey carried out by the Centres for Disease Control (CDC) found that nearly one in three teenage girls considered suicide in 2021. The report also showed that a staggering 13 per cent of teenage girls had attempted suicide one or more times in 2021.

        The number of adolescent girls that had contemplated suicide in 2021 had increased by 60 per cent since 2011.

        The CDC's report, which was released in 2023, stated that 57 per cent of high school girls reported experiencing "persistent feelings of sadness or hopelessness in the past year".

      • uni StanfordForest Bathing

        When you do have the opportunity to get in touch with nature, there is a relatively new take on an established concept call Forest Bathing that can literally take you a step further by not taking steps. A Japanese tradition called shinrin-yoku, which means “forest bath”, is not about a destination nor miles afoot on the trail. And even though it implies one needs to be in the forest, all that is required is a step outside your door. One critical ingredient to Forest Bathing, however, is a tree. And the more, the merrier.

      • Gizmodo2023-06-12 [Older] Minecraft YouTuber Dream Says He’s Going Back to Wearing a Mask Because of Online Hate
    • Proprietary

      • ScheerpostWhat Reddit Got Wrong

        After weeks of burning through users’ goodwill, Reddit is facing a moderator strike and an exodus of its most important users. It’s the latest example of a social media site making a critical mistake: users aren’t there for the services, they’re there for the community. Building barriers to access is a war of attrition.

      • FuturismReddit CEO Flies Into a Rage, Threatens Protesting Moderators

        As moderators take their subreddits dark in protest of the social network's plan to charge for access to its API, Reddit CEO Steve Huffman has gone on a media blitz in an apparent effort to save face before the company's upcoming IPO — and, it seems, send a warning to those who've dared defy him.

        In one such interview with NBC News, Huffman bizarrely compared mods to, uh, "landed gentry" before threatening their power.

      • India TimesGannett tiptoes into generative AI, giving humans the last word

        Publisher Gannett plans to include generative artificial intelligence in the system it uses to publish stories as it and other news organizations begin to roll out the popular technology that may help save money and improve efficiency.

        But the largest U.S. newspaper publisher with over 200 daily outlets said it will include humans in the process so that the technology can't be deployed automatically, without oversight. Generative AI is a way to create efficiencies and eliminate some tedious tasks for journalists, Renn Turiano, senior vice president and head of product at Gannett said in a recent interview with Reuters.

      • FortuneWhy we can’t open-source a solution to A.I.’s ethical issues

        Licenses are increasingly heralded as a solution to this problem. However, not only does restricting the use of open-source code with additional licenses contradict the core principle of the open-source community that code should be accessible to everyone, but it could also damage the collaborative environment that’s been fundamental to the open-source community’s ability to speed up technological development.

        There’s also a lot of doubt as to whether ethical licenses will actually reduce the risk of code being used for nefarious purposes. Many countries already have human rights laws, and individuals or organizations violating those laws should be prosecuted accordingly, regardless of the method or technology used to perpetrate the abuse. If such laws do not deter these violators, then it’s unlikely that a licensing agreement would have any impact on the course of their actions.

      • 9to5GoogleGoogle Domains shutting down, assets sold and being migrated to Squarespace

        Google cited “efforts to sharpen our focus” in selling the Google Domains registrar business, which launched in 2014 as a big proponent of HTTPS and top-level domains (TLDs) as of late. The service exited beta in 2022.

      • I CringelyApple’s Vision Pro headset is a hobby. Why won’t Tim Cook say that?

        I’ve been following the press and social media coverage of Apple’s pricey new Vision Pro Augmented Reality headset, which now totals hundreds of stories and thousands of comments and I’ve noticed one idea missing from all of them: what would Steve (Jobs) say? Steve would call the Vision Pro a “hobby,” just as he did with the original Apple TV.

        You know I’m correct about this.

      • New StatesmanLindy Cameron: “You can’t retrofit security into AI – it needs to be built in at the start”

        Better preparation for cyberattacks might include limiting employees’ access to certain devices, apps or software that are deemed risky. For instance, the government recently banned TikTok – the Chinese-owned social media app – from all government devices over concerns around the sharing of sensitive information. It is still permitted for use on personal devices, although the app is blocked if used on parliament wi-fi on any device.

      • Windows TCO

    • Security

      • LWNSecurity updates for Friday [LWN.net]

        Security updates have been issued by Debian (chromium, openjdk-17, and wireshark), Fedora (iniparser, mariadb, mingw-glib2, perl-HTML-StripScripts, php, python3.7, and syncthing), Oracle (.NET 6.0, c-ares, kernel, nodejs, and python3.9), Slackware (libX11), SUSE (amazon-ssm-agent and chromium), and Ubuntu (gsasl, libx11, and sssd).

      • SEC Delays Cybersecurity Rules

        Earlier this week, the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) published an update to its rulemaking agenda indicating that it does not plan to approve two proposed cyber rules until at least October 2023 (the agenda’s timeframe is an estimate). The proposed rules in question address disclosure requirements regarding cybersecurity governance and cybersecurity incidents at publicly traded companies and registered investment advisers and funds.

      • Becker's Hospital ReviewRural hospital cybersecurity protection bill moves forward

        The Rural Hospital Cybersecurity Enhancement Act made it out of committee and will now head to the Senate floor.

        The bipartisan legislation sponsored by Republican Sen. Josh Hawley and Democratic Sens. Josh Ossof and Gary Peters would require the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Agency to develop workforce recruitment and cybersecurity training materials for rural hospitals.

      • Global News CAPRHC reaches $988K proposed settlement for patient privacy breaches in 2011-2012 - Peterborough | Globalnews.ca

        A proposed settlement of $988,550 has been reached in a class-action lawsuit relating to patient health records being wrongfully accessed by former employees at the Peterborough Regional Health Centre more than a decade ago.

        On Thursday the hospital announced the proposed settlement, noting a court hearing is scheduled on Aug. 30 at 8:30 a.m. to determine whether the settlement will be approved.

      • Data BreachesDetained for DDoS attacks as part of the next edition of the international “Power Off” operation
      • Data BreachesOregon DMV, Louisiana OMV warn residents of MOVEit data breach

        Under Oregon law, some driver information is actually a public record — like an Oregonian’s name, address, phone number, and driver’s record. And under Oregon law, the state can, and actually does, sell that information to certain types of entities. So could criminals set up a fake private investigation service to buy data from the state that could be used in conjunction with the data that has been hacked? Yes, and hopefully the states will be extra diligent about checking the credentials of any entities that apply to purchase public records data, but even without that data, this is a breach where data may be misused.

      • A Russian ransomware gang breaches the Energy Department and other federal agencies

        The Department of Energy and several other federal agencies were compromised in a Russian cyber-extortion gang’s global hack of a file-transfer program popular with corporations and governments, but the impact was not expected to be great, Homeland Security officials said Thursday.

        But for others among what could be hundreds of victims from industry to higher education — including patrons of at least two state motor vehicle agencies — the hack was beginning to show some serious impacts.

        Jen Easterly, director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, told reporters that unlike the meticulous, stealthy SolarWinds hacking campaign attributed to state-backed Russian intelligence agents that was months in the making, this campaign was short, relatively superficial and caught quickly.

      • Privacy/Surveillance

        • RFERLSenior Iranian Official Says President Approves Adding More Surveillance Cameras

          The authorities have intensified efforts to enforce the Islamic dress code as more women flout the law. They have been emboldened by nationwide antiestablishment protests that erupted in September 2022 following the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini soon after she was arrested by the morality police for allegedly violating the hijab law.

          During the demonstrations, women and girls have removed and burned their head scarves, while students, who have also been at the forefront of the demonstrations, have flouted the law on campuses, sparking a crackdown by school security.

        • The Register UKNo-no cop: Illinois bans drones from using facial recognition or weapons

          Illinois Governor JB Pritzker on Friday signed HB 3902, which allows the US state's law enforcement agencies to use drones at some public events – but prohibits equipping them with facial recognition software or weaponry, with some exceptions.

          The new state law, dubbed the Drones as First Responders Act, takes effect immediately. Pitched as a public safety measure, it has the support of the Illinois Association of Police Chiefs and other state public safety officials.

        • FuturismIf You Googled Anything During the Years "30 Rock" Was on TV, You Can Get Free Money Right Now

          The lawsuit, filed just over a decade ago, accused Google of "storing and intentionally, systematically and repeatedly divulging" users' search results and histories to third parties, a violation of privacy laws.

          These queries contained sensitive data, the lawsuit argued, including names, addresses, phone numbers, and even social security numbers, something that "increases the risk of identity theft."

      • Confidentiality

        • Scoop News GroupAre federal agencies’ post-quantum cryptography preparations on track?

          Put simply, quantum computers — with the ability to factor extremely large prime numbers — could one day break into these algorithms, helping adversaries access all sorts of critical information, including personal data about U.S. citizens and critical scientific and military secrets.

          “If we can build large-scale quantum computers that run exactly as physics predicts that they should,” explains Ryan O’Donnell, a computer science professor at Carnegie Mellon, “then they will be able to break most of the cryptography that was in use up until now.”

    • Defence/Aggression

      • Al JazeeraDaniel Ellsberg, Pentagon Papers whistleblower dies at 92

        Daniel Ellsberg, a whistleblower famed for exposing government deception over the United States’s war in Vietnam and an outspoken opponent of nuclear weapons, has died at the age of 92 from pancreatic cancer.

        The Washington Post was the first to report that Ellsberg died on Friday, citing a statement from his family.

      • No green light to Sweden's NATO membership from ErdoÄŸan

        The Permanent Joint Mechanism between Finland, Sweden, Turkey, and NATO established after the NATO bids of the two Nordic countries in 2022 met again in Ankara.

      • NBCChinese spy balloon gathered intelligence from sensitive U.S. military sites, despite U.S. efforts to block it

        China was able to control the balloon so it could make multiple passes over some of the sites (at times flying figure-eight formations) and transmit the information it collected back to Beijing in real time, the three officials said. The intelligence China collected was mostly from electronic signals, which can be picked up from weapons systems or include communications from base personnel, rather than images, the officials said.

        The three officials said China could have gathered much more intelligence from sensitive sites if not for the administration’s efforts to move around potential targets and obscure the balloon’s ability to pick up their electronic signals by stopping them from broadcasting or emitting signals.

      • War in Ukraine

        • Defence WebTest Flying Academy of SA disappointed by US sanctions

          The Test Flying Academy of South Africa (TFASA) has said it is disappointed that the United States has, without consultation, put it on a sanctions list for “activities contrary to the national security or foreign policy interests of the United States” as the TFASA trains Chinese fighter pilots.

    • Transparency/Investigative Reporting

      • Deutsche Welle'Pentagon Papers' whistleblower Daniel Ellsberg dies aged 92

        Ellsberg angered the Nixon White House in 1971 when he handed over documents from a top-secret report about US involvement in Vietnam, from 1945 to 1967, to the press.

        He had worked on the report after being sent to Saigon for the State Department. His Harvard education as well as serving in the Marine Corps and working at the Pentagon made him a top candidate for the job.

        But he had also become disillusioned by the war and realized that the US could not win.

        He began copying pages from the 7,000-page report and eventually leaked it to The New York Times, which published a first installment in 1971. This unleashed the fury of the Nixon administration which tried to block further publication.

        This eventually resulted in a freedom-of-the-press showdown at the Supreme Court that Nixon lost, marking a turning point for the role of the media in US life and politics.

      • El PaísDaniel Ellsberg, who leaked Pentagon Papers exposing Vietnam War secrets, dies at 92

        The Pentagon Papers had been commissioned in 1967 by then-Defense Secretary Robert S. McNamara, a leading public advocate of the war who wanted to leave behind a comprehensive history of the U.S. and Vietnam and to help his successors avoid the kinds of mistakes he would only admit to long after. The papers covered more than 20 years, from France’s failed efforts at colonization in the 1940s and 1950s to the growing involvement of the U.S., including the bombing raids and deployment of hundreds of thousands of ground troops during Lyndon Johnson’s administration. Ellsberg was among those asked to work on the study, focusing on 1961, when the newly-elected President John F. Kennedy began adding advisers and support units.

      • France24Daniel Ellsberg, Pentagon Papers whistleblower who exposed Vietnam War secrets, dies at 92

        Long before Edward Snowden and Wikileaks were revealing government secrets in the name of transparency, Ellsberg let Americans know that their government was capable of misleading and even lying to them. In his later years Ellsberg would become an advocate for whistleblowers and leakers and his "Pentagon Papers" leak was portrayed in the 2017 movie "The Post."

        Ellsberg secretly went to the media in 1971 in hopes of expediting the end of the Vietnam War. It made him the target of a smear campaign by the Nixon White House. Henry Kissinger, who was then the president's national security adviser, referred to him as "the most dangerous man in America who must be stopped at all costs."

        When he went to Saigon for the State Department in the mid-1960s, Ellsberg had an impressive resume. He had earned three degrees from Harvard, served in the Marine Corps and worked at the Pentagon and the RAND Corporation, the influential policy research think tank.

      • BBCDaniel Ellsberg: Pentagon Papers whistleblower dies aged 92

        But espionage charges against Ellsberg were ultimately dismissed. "Daniel was a seeker of truth and a patriotic truth-teller, an anti-war activist, a beloved husband, father, grandfather, and great-grandfather, a dear friend to many, and an inspiration to countless more. He will be dearly missed by all of us," Ellsberg's family said in a statement obtained by NPR.

        For decades, Ellsberg was a tireless critic of government overreach and military interventions.

      • NDTVWho Was Daniel Ellsberg, The "Most Dangerous Man In America"

        Here are five facts about Daniel Ellsberg: [...]

      • Jacobin MagazineDaniel Ellsberg, American Hero

        Few people can say their actions helped to strengthen press freedom, end a war, and bring down a presidency. Daniel Ellsberg, who died today at the age of ninety-two, did just that.

        Ellsberg came to public prominence in 1971 when he photocopied a secret history of US involvement in the Vietnam War, what became known as the “Pentagon Papers,” and gave a copy to the New York Times. The New York Times’ decision to publish the papers set off a landmark press freedom battle that went all the way to the Supreme Court.

        Ellsberg became the first whistleblower indicted under the Espionage Act. In addition to seeking an indictment, Richard Nixon also set up a “White House Plumbers” unit to gather dirt on Ellsberg. This unit would later be at the heart of the Watergate scandal that resulted in Nixon’s downfall.

      • ReasonRIP Daniel Ellsberg, Who Told the World the Truth About the Vietnam War

        "The only thing that I could personally hope to achieve by my own efforts was to make these documents available to the American public for them to read and to learn from," Ellsberg told Reason. But he had a "very important secondary objective": halting what he saw as a dangerous trend of "executive secrecy" that had allowed successive presidents to "steal away so much power from the Congress and the public and to free itself from the kinds of checks and balances that were intended in the Constitution."

        By giving those 7,000 pages to The New York Times two years earlier, Ellsberg changed the course of a war and shifted the American public's view of the presidency. He may not have succeeded in the larger project of containing executive power, but he earned a place in the whistleblower hall of fame: one of a select few who, when entrusted with damning secrets, recognized that his patriotic duty was to tell the American people a difficult truth their leaders would rather have kept hidden.

      • ScheerpostActivist Video Archive: Daniel Ellsberg
      • ScheerpostRemembering The Legend: Indispensable Truth Seeker Daniel Ellsberg

        It is with great sadness that ScheerPost has learned of the death of legendary American figure Daniel Ellsberg. His work as a whistleblower, activist and advocate for government transparency is irreplaceable and without him, the country would be missing a crucial part of its history. His courage, conviction and commitment to challenging government secrecy and ensuring accountability ushered in a lasting dialogue in American politics that led to the revelations of people like Julian Assange and Edward Snowden. We send our condolences and best wishes to Daniel’s family and friends.

      • [Old] ScheerpostDaniel Ellsberg: Confessions of a Nuclear War Planner

        The former military analyst talks about why he leaked the Pentagon Papers and why there aren’t more whistleblowers today.

      • The NationDaniel Ellsberg’s Heroism Began With Listening to the Anti-War Left

        It’s tempting to view Ellsberg’s life, now that he has passed away, as a glide path to the actions he took. But the power of his memoir lies in its recognition of how contingent his decisions were. Ellsberg easily could have let others sacrifice to end the war, convincing himself that he was more valuable as an internal wrench in the war machine. Enjoying continued respectability, bureaucratic power, and technocratic prestige, Ellsberg could have reconciled his opposition to Vietnam with the broader thrust of US foreign policy, making it his mission to temper the excesses of the Cold War. After the Cold War, he might have made his peace with American primacy, as did so many liberals of Ellsberg’s generation, and reaped the luxuries that go with graybeard status.

      • New York TimesDaniel Ellsberg, Who Leaked the Pentagon Papers, Is Dead at 92

        The disclosure of the Pentagon Papers — 7,000 government pages of damning revelations about deceptions by successive presidents who exceeded their authority, bypassed Congress and misled the American people — plunged a nation that was already wounded and divided by the war deeper into angry controversy.

        It led to illegal countermeasures by the White House to discredit Mr. Ellsberg, halt leaks of government information and attack perceived political enemies, forming a constellation of crimes known as the Watergate scandal that led to the disgrace and resignation of President Richard M. Nixon.

        And it set up a First Amendment confrontation between the Nixon administration and The New York Times, whose publication of the papers was denounced by the government as an act of espionage that jeopardized national security. The U.S. Supreme Court upheld the freedom of the press.

      • US News And World ReportLike Daniel Ellsberg, Others Who Leaked US Government Secrets Have Been Seen as Traitors and Heroes

        That’s been true of others who released top-secret information that they felt was evidence of official wrongdoing. While Ellsberg, who died Friday, will be remembered in a largely positive light, the reputations of more recent figures are still contested.

    • Environment

      • Energy/Transportation

        • Data BreachesNY Attorney General James Recovers $1.7 Million from Cryptocurrency Platform for Operating Illegally

          New York Attorney General Letitia James today recovered more than $1.7 million from COINEX (CoinEx) for failing to register as a securities and commodities broker-dealer and for falsely representing itself as a crypto exchange. Today’s agreement resolves Attorney General James’ lawsuit against CoinEx and requires the company to refund thousands of New York investors more than $1.1 million and pay more than $600,000 in penalties to the state. As part of today’s consent order, CoinEx is banned from offering, selling, or purchasing securities and commodities in New York and is prohibited from making its platform available in the state. In response to Attorney General James’ lawsuit, CoinEx publicly announced that it would withdraw its platform and services from the United States. Attorney General James has worked to increase oversight and regulation of cryptocurrency companies to protect New York investors, and has recovered more than $500 million from the cryptocurrency industry.

        • New York TimesCanada Highway Crash: At Least 15 Killed in Manitoba Collision

          A bus and a semitruck collided on a rural stretch of the Trans-Canada Highway in Manitoba on Thursday, the police said.

      • Wildlife/Nature

    • Finance

      • The StrategistCollective consistency is the answer to Beijing’s trade coercion

        Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s empowerment of his foreign and defence ministers, and the balancing of constructive diplomacy with military deterrence policy, have helped the government deliver a highly effective first year in international security [...]

      • The StrategistThe threat spectrum

        Planet A Bangladesh has secured US$500 million from the World Bank to strengthen climate-resilient agricultural practices and enhance food security.

      • RFACanada freezes ties with China development bank

        Communication chief accuses Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank of being run by Communist Party ‘hacks’.

      • HT Digital Streams LtdRemittances to India fall in 2023 on US tech layoffs

        The ramifications of the tech sector layoffs extend to remittance flows, considering that 36% of India’s remittances can be attributed to highly skilled migrants primarily in three high-income destinations: the US, UK, and Singapore

      • The Register UKTech vendors have been hiking prices by up to 24% amid inflation

        Research from The ITAM Review – an independent global community for worldwide IT asset management, software asset management, and licensing professionals – has found the ongoing effects of COVID-19, rising inflation, soaring energy costs, and geopolitical instability have fueled price increases from software publishers across on-premises and SaaS product lines during the 2022/2023 financial year.

      • The AtlanticWhy It Matters Who Caused Inflation

        Trying to understand the factors that fueled inflation is important, because whom we blame for inflation also shapes what we do about it. If inflation is caused primarily by overheated consumer demand, then it makes sense for the Fed to quell spending by hiking interest rates. But if corporations, rather than consumers, are driving inflation by raising their prices, then other tools may make more sense.

    • AstroTurf/Lobbying/Politics

      • Hong Kong Free PressAsian Infrastructure Investment Bank serves China’s Communist Party, says Canadian ex-exec. as bank says claims ‘baseless’

        China’s ruling Communist Party dominates the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank and uses it to further its interests, a former executive has alleged in claims that prompted Canada to suspend participation in the institution.

      • Press GazetteBoris Johnson joins Daily Mail as weekly columnist

        The Mail says there is no evidence Boris Johnson lied to parliament.

      • Michael GeistThe Bill C-11 Fallout Continues: Disney+ Pauses Original Commissions in Canada

        The fallout from Bill C-11 has been the subject of several posts this week, including the demands from a wide range of services for exceptions to the law and warnings from streaming services such as PBS and AMC that they may block the Canadian market due to the regulatory burden imposed by the law. While those stories focus on the availability of services and content in Canada, a new Variety report points to another negative impact from the bill: less film and television production in Canada, at least in the short term. Throughout the Bill C-11 debate, there were concerns that the large streamers might pause their productions in Canada given the uncertainty over whether they would “count” for the purposes of new CRTC imposed contribution requirements. In other words, the bill could initially lead to less investment in Canada.

      • Computer WorldEU Parliament approves AI Act, moving it closer to becoming law

        The European Parliament has approved a draft of the EU's AI Act, taking a major step toward what could be the first comprehensive set of regulations for AI in the West.

        However, the legislation did not pass unanimously, with the final vote at 499 in favor, 28 against, and 93 abstentions. While today’s vote marks a huge step forward in the regulation of AI technology, the draft legislation is still subject to change, with each EU country needing to agree on the bill before it becomes law.

      • QuartzElon Musk is starting to face the consequences of not paying Twitter's bills

        Ever since Elon Musk took over last October, the company has been skipping various payments, from real estate rents to vendor bills. It now looks like the company is starting to face the consequences of its unfulfilled obligation.

      • CoryDoctorowConservatives are fringe outliers – and leftists could learn from them

        There's an important lesson there for Dems, whose establishment is volubly proud of its independence from its voters. The Biden administration is a weirdly perfect illustration of this "independence." The Biden admin is a kind of referee, doling out policies and appointments to its competing wings, without any coherence or consistency.

      • Atlantic CouncilThe world’s regulatory superpower is taking on a regulatory nightmare: artificial intelligence

        The humans are still in charge—for now. The European Parliament, the legislative branch of the European Union (EU), passed a draft law on Wednesday intended to restrict and add transparency requirements to the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in the twenty-seven-member bloc. In the AI Act, lawmakers zeroed in on concerns about biometric surveillance and disclosures for generative AI such as ChatGPT. The legislation is not final. But it could have far-reaching implications since the EU’s large size and single market can affect business decisions for companies based elsewhere—a phenomenon known as “the Brussels effect.”

        Below, Atlantic Council experts share their genuine intelligence by answering the pressing questions about what’s in the legislation and what’s next. [...]

      • Misinformation/Disinformation/Propaganda

        • The HillGoogle hosts, profits from fake abortion clinic ads: report

          The report from the Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH), a nonprofit that aims to counter online misinformation, found that Google earned an estimated $10.2 million from ads for fake abortion clinics in the past two years.

        • Marcy WheelerJohn Durham’s Disinformation Problem

          The only person whose ties to the creator of the dossier that led the FBI to adopt false claims against Trump aides that Durham didn’t pursue was the guy, on whose behalf, Trump’s campaign regularly sent out internal polling data starting in May 2016, the guy, on whose behalf, Trump’s campaign manager briefed Russian agent Konstantin Kilimnik on the campaign’s plan to win swing states. The 2021 Treasury filing that stated, as fact, that Kilimnik is a, “known Russian Intelligence Services agent implementing influence operations on their behalf,” also stated, as fact, that in 2016, “Kilimnik provided the Russian Intelligence Services with sensitive information on polling and campaign strategy,” the very same polling data and campaign strategy he obtained from Trump’s campaign manager on Oleg Deripaska’s behalf. As I’ve laid out, John Durham never mentioned Kilimnik in his report, not once, to say nothing of how Kilimnik obtained internal polling data and a campaign strategy briefing and delivered it to Russian spies.

        • Vice Media GroupSpotify Has Stopped Even Sort of Trying to Stem Joe Rogan’s Vaccine Misinformation

          A broad swath of the anti-vaccine universe celebrated Thursday, when Joe Rogan, the biggest podcaster in the country, hosted a three-hour conversation with Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the anti-vax luminary turned presidential candidate. The conversation was an orgy of unchecked vaccine misinformation, some conspiracy-mongering about 5G technology and wifi, and, of course, Rogan once again praising ivermectin, an ineffective faux COVID treatment. As RFK began his campaign by downplaying his anti-vaccine activism, the conversation represented a bit of a return to form. But the episode also conclusively demonstrates that Spotify, the platform that reportedly paid more than $200 million to host Rogan’s show, has completely given up on addressing his relentless torrent of medical misinformation, except in the most pallid and surface-level ways.

    • Censorship/Free Speech

      • DaemonFC (Ryan Farmer)Matthew Garrett Says San Francisco People “Get it.” With the City in Court Attacking Homeless Americans. Also Blasts US Constitution.

        Matthew Garrett told me the other day on TechRights IRC that it’s unfortunate that American citizens can’t be arrested for talking about things he doesn’t agree with.

        [...]

        The United States can’t do much about people who blast the Freedom of Speech because they have the right to Freedom of Speech here.

        And yes, that is the same Freedom of Speech that allowed the Nazis to march in Skokie, but 40+ years later the Nazis are not well liked and don’t have a single member in the State or local governments in Illinois, even though they won their court case and were able to march in Skokie.

        Letting them march is the lesser evil. It reminds people that they’re there and they need to be vigilant to make sure they don’t come to power.

        Of course there are repercussions in the United States for being a Nazi, even though there is no law against it. If you openly admit it, you’re going to have a very hard time professionally. Nobody is going to elect you to anything.

        In Germany, where there’s no strong freedom of speech, they outlawed Nazi symbols, and parties, and ideologies, outlawed it, and there are Nazis in their legislature that just don’t wear swastikas and call themselves that. So big difference. They’re in the legislature introducing bills and voting on things, where they can actually do a lot of harm, as long as they don’t use symbols.

        This is my opinion of Matt, but I can’t figure out what else to call it when you say you support the Constitution and then go down the line saying that foundational pieces of it shouldn’t exist.

        If you didn’t agree to live under it, then I don’t believe for a minute that you should have filed an N-400.

      • Hindustan TimesSpidey stuck in censorship web. Here's why 'Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse' is blocked from release in the UAE

        Scheduled to debut on June 22, just in time for the upcoming Eid al-Adha holiday, the film's release has been thwarted due to its failure to comply with the country's strict censorship guidelines. One of the reasons cited for the ban is a blink-and-you-miss-it poster in the background of one frame, highlighting the importance of protecting trans lives. It seems this brief depiction clashed with the "local customs and values" that content in the region must adhere to, especially when targeted at younger audiences, as most animated films are.

      • CPJBangladeshi journalist Golam Rabbani Nadim beaten to death after reporting on local politician

        Nadim’s family believes he was targeted in retaliation for his May 2023 series of reports for Banglanews24 about Mahmudul Alam Babu, chair of a local government unit and member of the ruling Awami League party, according to those reports. Babu denied any involvement in the attack.

      • Torrent FreakGitHub Takes Down Cloudstream APK Code Repo Following MPA Complaint

        The Motion Picture Association sees the open-source Android app Cloudstream as a gateway to pirated streams. This week, the anti-piracy group successfully removed two 'infringing' code repositories from GitHub but a stripped-down version of the application remains unscathed.

    • Freedom of Information / Freedom of the Press

      • CPJPakistani journalists abroad face terrorism investigations at home

        The allegations were brought against the accused in relation to unspecified social media posts and videos by the journalists, according to copies of the first information reports, which cite sections of the penal code including criminal conspiracy and abetting mutiny, and the Anti-Terrorism Act, 1997, which carries a maximum punishment of death or life imprisonment.

      • VOA NewsEU Urges Release of Jailed Hong Kong Newspaper Founder Lai

        Hong Kong authorities have targeted the pro-democracy advocate and China critic since 2020 — partially in retaliation for the newspaper's criticism of the Chinese government. Lai, 75, has been detained in a maximum-security prison since December 2020.

        His son Sebastien Lai said the resolution "sends a powerful message to Hong Kong that the targeting and imprisonment of my father and other prominent pro-democracy figures, in an attempt to silence them, is not going unnoticed by the international community."

      • VOA NewsIranian Journalist Says Newspaper Fired Her After She Alleged Special Forces Officer Misconduct

        An Iranian journalist who was jailed last year for conducting an interview with Mahsa Amini's father said Thursday that she has been "terminated" from her position at the newspaper where she had just started working.

        Nazila Maroufian said the move came days after she shared on her public Twitter account allegations that a Special Forces officer made derogatory comments about her when she refused to comply with the mandatory hijab requirement.

      • ScheerpostJoe Lauria: Assange’s Most Critical Moment

        A London High Court judge rejected Wikileaks editor Julian Assange’s appeal against his extradition to the United States. He now faces up to 175 years in prison — despite public opinion around the world and in his home country, Australia. The UN has declared his detention “arbitrary,” which usually results in the release of the detainee, but not so far. The fate of the man who revealed so many of the hidden crimes of the US empire hangs in the balance. Brian Becker is joined by Joe Lauria, editor in chief of Consortium News.

    • Civil Rights/Policing

      • Hong Kong Free PressWoman accused by Hong Kong national security police€ of perverting justice denied bail

        A 64-year old woman accused by Hong Kong national security police€ of perverting the course of justice has appeared in court and been denied bail.

      • Jacobin MagazineOne Tech Subcontractor’s Road to Unionization

        But from the first day on the job, Gwin began to realize that he had made a mistake. HCL falls under Google’s Temp, Vendor, Contractor (TVC) umbrella; TVCs make up more than half of Google’s workforce, and the arrangement means that the tech giant is not legally responsible for either Gwin’s compensation or his working conditions.

        Nancy, the operations manager and team lead of Catalogs, the team Gwin was joining, rattles off a list of rules. Don’t tell anyone you work for Google — you work for HCL. Don’t eat the dinner offered to workers too often, and if you do, don’t eat too much. Aside from four hours of annual online training, you can’t work from home under any circumstances. Don’t ask your Google program manager for anything. Don’t ever talk to your Google supervisors. Don’t talk to Google employees. Don’t walk too fast past Googlers. Don’t talk too loud near Googlers.

    • Monopolies

      • Computer WorldUS judge temporarily blocks Microsoft's Activision deal at request of FTC

        An evidentiary hearing will be held on June 22 for the judge to hear oral arguments about whether the injunction should remain in force until the FTC's antitrust case is resolved. The ruling on the FTC's request for an injunction comes six months after the FTC filed its initial antitrust case against the acquisition, arguing that if the deal were to go ahead, Microsoft would have an “increased incentive to withhold or degrade Activision’s content in ways that substantially lessen competition — including competition on product quality, price, and innovation.”

  • Gemini* and Gopher

    • Personal/Opinions

    • Technology and Free Software

      • Internet/Gemini

        • Re: degrowth and its discontents

          Gemini is similar to the way the web was, around 1993. Gemini feels to him as though it is "devoid of human contact". In this connection he mentions measures such as IndieAuth, feed aggregators and ActivityPub, which complement the basic web stack, and which afford some means of connection with other users.


* Gemini (Primer) links can be opened using Gemini software. It's like the World Wide Web but a lot lighter.



Recent Techrights' Posts

Saving What's Left of Decent and Independent Journalism on the Web
We increasingly (over time) try to make local copies (hosted on our server) of important documents; it's hard to rely on third parties
Brian Fagioli's Latest "Linux" Article Appears to be Fake
Another form of plagiarism/ripoff using bots?
 
FSF Has Made It Halfway to Its Target (Funding Goal) a Week Before Christmas Day
$400,000 definitely seems reachable now, especially if they extend the "deadline"
[Meme] The Master Churnalist
Speaking of press releases being passed off as "journalism"
Spamnil's TFiR: Still Pretending Press Releases Are 'Articles' (TFiR 'Originals' as Plagiarism or Fluff)
Same as last year
Links 18/12/2024: Zakir Hussain Dies, TuneIn Layoffs
Links for the day
Links 18/12/2024: Karate Love and Advent of Code
Links for the day
Windows (or Microsoft) Has Become the "One Percent" (Market Share) in Chad
How long before it falls below 1%?
Arvind Krishna, IBM's CEO, Will Eventually Suck Up to Donald Trump Like His Predecessor Did or the Watson Family Did With Adolf Hitler
Literally Hitler
Being a Geek Need Not Mean Being Sedentary
"In the past 18 months," Berkholz writes, "I’ve lost 75 pounds and gone from completely sedentary to fit, while minimizing the effort to do so (but needing a whole lot of persistence and grit)."
GAFAM Kissing the Ring of the Mafia Don
"resistance" to dictatorship and defenders of democracy?
Slop Spaghetti From the Chef, Second Time Today
Fresh slop ready out the oven!
IBM - Like Microsoft - Lies About the Number of People It's Laying Off (Several Tens of Thousands, Not Counting R.T.O. "Silent" Layoffs and Contractors/Perma-Temps)
How many waves of silent layoffs have we seen so far at IBM this year?
Links 18/12/2024: EU Launches Probe Into TikTok (At Last!)
Links for the day
Links 18/12/2024: Doha/Qatar Trafficking, Bloat Comfort Zone, and Advent of Code 2024
Links for the day
[Meme] Microsoft's Latest Marketing Pitch
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In South Africa, a Very Large Nation, Web Developers Can Already Ignore Microsoft Browsers (Edge Measured Below 3% in 55 Nations)
The dumb assumption you must naively test with Microsoft browsers is no longer applicable in a lot of places
Open Source Initiative (OSI) is the Voice of Bill Gates and Satya Nadella
Not hard to see what they've done with the money
Microsoft Boasts That Its (Microsoft-Sponsored) "Open Source AI" Propaganda Got Cited in Media (That's Just What the Money Did)
This is a grotesque openwashing campaign
In Many Places Around the World, Perhaps as Expected, Yandex is Nearly Bigger Than Microsoft (Like in Several African Countries)
Microsoft may soon fall to "third place" in search
Keeping Productive This Christmas
We've (pre)paid for hosting till almost January 2026 and fully back on the saddle
IBM and Canonical Leave Money on the Table Because Microsoft Pays Them Not to Compete and Instead Market Windows, WSL, Microsoft 'Clown Computing', and TPMs
Where are the regulators?
Other Editors Who Agree "Hey Hi" (AI) is Just Hype But Won't Say So Publicly as It Might Upset Key Sponsors
Some media would gladly participate in a scam to make money
IBM (and Red Hat) is a Patent Troll, Still Leveraging Software Patents to Extract Money Out of Other Companies by Suing Them
Basically, when it comes to patents, IBM is demonstrably part of the problem, not the solution
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, December 17, 2024
IRC logs for Tuesday, December 17, 2024
[Meme] When the People Who Falsely Accuse You of Pedophilia Turn Out to be Projecting
When you attack something or someone using falsehoods, as happens a lot to Richard Stallman (RMS), there's risk that the attacks will backfire, badly
In Some Countries, Such as Greece, Almost 80% of Windows Users Are on Vista 10 and About 85% Need to Move to GNU/Linux for Security Patches
Vista 11 was a failure
[Meme] They Don't Want the Public to Know What "Responsible Encryption" Really Means
They also blame "China" for their own back doors (because China learned how to exploit those)
The Linux Foundation's Certificate Authority (CA) Significantly and Suspiciously Raises the Number of Certificates It Issues (Quantity Increase/Inflation) by Lessening Their Lifetime in the Name of 'Security' (That Barely Makes Sense!)
LE made 3 months the "standard" for most, soon to become just 6 days instead of 6 months?
Why I Continue to Believe That at the End Software Freedom Will Win
a short and incomplete list of factors which I believe contribute to the sentiment that we can - and will - win the battles over hearts and minds in the "Tech" realm
Links 17/12/2024: More China Sanctions, GOP Scheming to Prop Up Fentanylware (TikTok)
Links for the day
Gemini Links 17/12/2024: The Streisand Effect and Productivity-systems Desiderata
Links for the day
Technology: rights or responsibilities? - Part X
By Dr. Andy Farnell
Links 17/12/2024: More "Tesla Autopilot" and "Hey Hi" (AI) Blunders
Links for the day
Instead of Promoting GNU/Linux (or Ubuntu) Ahead of Vista 10's EoL Canonical is Marketing Microsoft's Proprietary Software
It's like Canonical employs people who work for Microsoft, not for Canonical
Links 17/12/2024: Many Abuses by Microsoft and War Updates From Ukraine
Links for the day
Content Management Systems (CMS) Bloat/ Static Site Generators (SSG) Trouble
some Web site management stories
DEI Room at fedoraproject.org Pretty Much Dead
We're not against diversity but against its weaponisation by greedy people who do not value diversity at all
The "Latest Technology News" at BetaNews is Slop About Slop
This is at the very top of the "news" (front page) at the moment
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Monday, December 16, 2024
IRC logs for Monday, December 16, 2024
Gemini Links 16/12/2024: Invisibles and 20 Years of GNU/Linux on the Desktop
Links for the day
Microsoft's Windows Fell From 98% to Less Than 15% (in 15 Years in Africa)
Operating System Market Share Africa
Swaziland: GNU/Linux Leaps to 7.24%, Based on statCounter
Remember that Microsoft had many layoffs this year in Africa
A Birthday Wish
My birthday is a few hours away
[Meme] Definitely Not Your Role Models
Hypocrite Neckbeard Meme
Changes or Variation of Logo at the FSF as 40th Anniversary is Near (Months Away)
Next year the FSF turns 40
Mobile Usage Nearly 90% in Maharlika (Philippines)?
Microsoft has become just a footnote
Push Back and Become More Vocal for LLM Abuse and Misuse to Stop
We hope that more people out there (sites too) will call out the people who saturate particular topics on the Web with machine-generated junk
The Media Failed to Hold GAFAM Accountable (and Now It Suffers From It and For It)
This recognition of the problem emboldens us to carry on
Botswana: New Highs for GNU/Linux, All-Time Lows for Microsoft
No wonder Microsoft has so many layoffs in Africa this year
Links 16/12/2024: Skinnerboxes ("Smart" "Phones") and Control Social Media Blamed for Fights
Links for the day
Reminder: The Microsoft Person Who Used OpenAI for En Masse GPL Violations Told the Whistleblower to Kill Herself
The evidence (real message)
Links 16/12/2024: emacs, Drawabox, “You Should Have Your Own Website”
Links for the day
In Some Parts of the World, Like Central America and South America, Microsoft is Irrelevant on the Web
Nadella has bet the farm on a Ponzi scheme
[Meme] Microsoft is Not a Country
Reporting crimes is essential for democracy
There's Not Much Time Left for President Biden to Pardon Julian Assange and Signal to Journalists That Exposing States' Crimes or Rich People's Misbehaviour is Lawful
Apathy towards this is part of the problem
Image Fusion is Not 'AI' (LLMs Aren't Either)
Such fakes can (and always could) be done by a digital artist, it's just a little more expensive and time-consuming
GNU/Linux at New Highs in Bosnia And Herzegovina
Quite a few Balkan nations show high adoption rates for GNU/Linux
From Scientists to Pigeons: The EPO Has Turned Patent Examination Into a Process Made by Computers and Improperly Trained Staff Which Doesn't Meet the Requirements of the European Patent Convention (EPC)
Might as well abolish this entire system if this is the current trajectory
Razik Menidjel Will No Longer be Chief Operating Officer Operations at the EPO
What does the EPC say about slop and should it be updated to deal with trouble such as slop?
Underpaid and Inexperienced Workers Overwhelm the EPO, Granting Many Invalid Patents and Placing Pressure on Veteran Examiners
So-called "production" (giving monopolies) pressure is "compromising the quality of our products" [sic] according to a new report
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Sunday, December 15, 2024
IRC logs for Sunday, December 15, 2024