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11.12.16

Links 12/11/2016: Core Infrastructure Initiative Supports Reproducible Builds, Temer’s Assault on FOSS

Posted in News Roundup at 11:22 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz

GNOME bluefish

Contents

GNU/Linux

Free Software/Open Source

  • Open Source Project Imixs-Workflow 4.0 released!

    Imixs-Workflow is an Open Source Workflow Engine for Human-Centric BPM. Human-centric business process management supports human skills and activities by a task orientated workflow-engine.

    The new release includes a number of improvements concerning performance and stability. Version 4.0. is now based on Java 8 and can be run with any Java EE 7 application server. In addition to a long list of improvements, the Lucene search engine technology is now fully integrated into the Imixs-Workflow engine. Thus, the open source framework provides much more flexibility in data access and allows a faster integration into existing business solutions.

  • The digital revolution’s hidden secret: Open-source cloud software

    Buried deep within the heart of the digital revolution is a hidden secret. This secret is open-source software. Open-source software has been key to the transformation of business because it is low-cost, often free, and easy for a young company to modify and deploy. Because of these strong points, open-source software has produced powerful technologies for modern enterprise computing. To guide this explosive community, foundations have appeared, forming an alliance of businesses, startups and developers.

    To gain some insight into one such foundation, John Furrier (@furrier), co-host of theCUBE*, from the SiliconANGLE Media team, visited the KubeCon 2016 conference in Seattle, WA. There, he sat down with Dan Kohn, executive director of the Cloud Native Computing Foundation.

  • Can an on-prem-cloud hybrid service solve companies’ open-source quandary?

    Companies wanting to stay on tech’s bleeding edge face a bit of a quandary these days: Most agree that the latest, greatest software is happening in open source; however, the job of curating and operating it is too messy for the IT teams at most businesses. We spoke with one startup co-founder who believes they’ve found a way to serve open-source innovation to customers without choking them with complexity.

    Bich Le, chief architect and co-founder of Platform9, started the company with some fellow VMware alumni. “The opportunity that we saw was open-source software was getting amazing and ruling the world, especially in the infrastructure space for running compute, storage, networking — but what’s defining this software is it’s very complex to operate,” Le told John Furrier (@furrier), host of theCUBE*, from the SiliconANGLE Media team, during KubeCon 2016.

  • Radisys Propels 5G, Contributes Virtual EPC to Open Source Group

    Radisys contributed its evolved packet core (EPC) framework to the open source CORD project to create a virtual EPC (vEPC).

  • Kubernetes and the open-source, cloud-native evolution

    As the movement to further the education and advancement of Docker, Kubernetes and Cloud-Native architectures continues to grow, the Cloud Native Computing Foundation hosted KubeCon 2016 in Seattle, WA, this week to gather leading Kubernetes technologists from multiple open-source cloud-native communities.

    During the event, Jim Walker, VP of Marketing at CoreOS Inc., and Joseph Jacks, senior director of Product Management at Apprenda Inc., spoke to John Furrier (@furrier), co-host of theCUBE*, from the SiliconANGLE Media team. KubeCon is a biannual community conference dedicated to Kubernetes, the open-source container cluster management software project by Google.

    Walker and Jacks spoke to Furrier about what’s going on at KubeCon, as well as in cloud-native and open source as it evolves.

  • Google Announces Code-In 2016 To Encourage Open Source
  • Google Code-in is Coming, Focused on Open Source

    We’re almost done with 2016, and this time of year is when Google announces its annual Code-in contest, which it has just done. Code-in is an an online contest hosted by Google for pre-university students aged 13 to 17. The contest encourages open source and exposes young people to open source.

  • Events

  • Web Browsers

    • Chrome

      • Anatomy of a Chrome for Android bug: the mixed-up world of mobile browsers

        Security researchers at Kaspersky recently wrote about various Android attacks featuring malware known as Svpeng.

        Svpeng is a whole family of data-stealing and banking-related threats, so this is more than just what Google might glibly try to label Potentially Harmful Software: it’s malware, and you definitely don’t want it near your phone.

      • There are 2 Billion active Chrome browsers across mobile and desktop

        Chrome is installed by default on all Android devices that come from Google’s partners as well as all Chromebook computers. That probably accounts to a lot of devices, without taking into consideration all the Chrome browsers that users choose to install on their PCs and Macs. So it’s not hard to see how the browser could now be running on billions of phones and desktops and actively used on most of them.

  • SaaS/Back End

    • The battle for Apache Cassandra highlights major problem with open source projects

      Developers prefer Apache-licensed software, but the companies involved in Apache Software Foundation (ASF) projects should tread carefully. While it’s great to be associated with the the Apache brand, the ASF can seem like “Conan the Barbarian” to project leads who don’t abide by its rules. That’s one lesson to take from the fracas between the ASF and DataStax, the principal developer of the popular Cassandra database.

  • Pseudo-Open Source (Openwashing)

  • Public Services/Government

    • US Government Opens Access to Federal Source Code with Code.gov

      So far, the government is emphasizing the release of at least 20 percent of its custom code as open source. That may not be enough from the perspective of an open source community, but Pittenger argues that “20 percent is a good start. We need to balance the benefits from open sourcing code with the risks associated with vulnerabilities. Keep in mind that outsourced code may have been written by the lowest-cost bidder. For example, we don’t know if any secure development practices were followed, such as threat modeling, security design reviews, or static analysis. We also don’t know whether the contractors building the software closely tracked the open source they used in the code for known vulnerabilities. My advice would be to risk-rank the applications covered by these policies, and start by open sourcing the least critical. I would argue strongly against releasing code that manages sensitive taxpayer information or code for defense and intelligence agencies.”

      Read more

    • Brazil to Replace Open Source Software with Microsoft Products [Ed: After the banksters overthrew Brazil’s government and installed Temer et al Microsoft continues its long assault on the country’s digital sovereignty [1, 2, 3, 4]]

      “The Brazilian government is reportedly pondering an en masse transition from open source software to Microsoft products, including here Windows 10 and the Office productivity suite.”

    • Brazilian government plans largest Microsoft procurement to date
    • Brazil Replacing Open Source Software With Microsoft’s Windows 10 And Office

  • Openness/Sharing/Collaboration

  • Programming/Development

    • After a decade, open source Java is still controversial

      Ten years later, the open-sourcing of Java remains a point of contention, with many in the community extolling the importance of an open Java, while others remain critical of its handling, including the belief that Sun Microsystems didn’t go far enough.

      Sun Microsystems officially open-sourced Java on Nov. 13, 2006—a move long pined for by the industry at large. Java’s code had already been accessible prior to that date—a strategy that helped boost the platform from its earliest days, notes Java founder James Gosling.

    • Programming: Windows and Linux Lose Developers to Mac OS

      Both GNU/Linux and Windows have been slowly losing ground among developers. The Linux desktop hasn’t changed much in years and remains a clunky alternative. Windows 10 has made progress, but increasingly developers are choosing to use Macs. The number of developers using a Windows platform for development is expected to drop below 50 percent over the next year.

    • GitHub Enterprise 2.8 adds new workflow options

      The big changes rolled out for GitHub Enterprise 2.8 may seem familiar, but don’t say GitHub is running out of ideas. Instead, the company is adding tools to GitHub Enterprise that enterprises may already know, rather than expand functionality exclusive to GitHub.

      Some new pieces, like the Reviews or Projects functions, will likely draw users because of their tight integration with the product or because they provide the equivalent of a third-party option. But others, like Jupyter support, appeal because they open up GitHub Enterprise to use cases that didn’t exist before or would have been difficult to implement.

    • Tumblr Is The Latest Company Boasting About PHP7 Performance

      We’ve talked a lot on Phoronix about PHP 7 due to the mighty impressive performance improvements found in this major update that was released at the end of last year. Many companies have blogged about their positive performance experiences in upgrading to PHP7, many of which we’ve shared on Phoronix, and Tumblr is now the latest company to boast about their migration from PHP5 to PHP7.

Leftovers

  • The Tech Industry Waits to See Trump’s Tech Policies

    U.S. President-elect Donald Trump isn’t even in office yet, but technology industry associations are already sounding off about what his presidency will mean for tech. Trump laid out a detailed tech policy agenda in advance of the Nov. 8 election, but there are still a lot of questions swirling about his stance toward key tech sectors such as telecom, and there are questions about whether his administration will be as much of a champion for open source technologies as Obama’s was.

    Here are some soundbytes from the discussion.

    BSA | The Software Alliance, which represents companies such as IBM and Microsoft, along with tech advocacy groups such as the Information Technology & Innovation Foundation (ITIF) and TechFreedom, have had mostly optimistic things to say, and their leaders are hoping to help mold Trump’s tech policies.

    “There will be a lot of issues the Trump administration will have to confront and deal with, and we hope to play a constructive role in helping them think through those issues,” Robert Atkinson, ITIF’s founder and president, told Bloomberg BNA.

  • Security

  • Transparency/Investigative Reporting

    • Morning Spin: WikiLeaks emails show Emanuel involvement in Bush-Obama meeting

      Much of the political universe was centered on President-elect Donald Trump’s initial visit and meeting with President Barack Obama at the White House on Thursday.

      Eight years ago, the same type of meeting unfolded between then-President-elect Barack Obama and then-President George W. Bush. Heavily involved was Rahm Emanuel, who had been picked to serve as Obama’s White House chief of staff, though it had not yet been announced publicly.

      Hacked emails from John Podesta, who co-chaired Obama’s transition team and served as Hillary Clinton’s 2016 campaign chairman, show Emanuel’s behind-the-scenes maneuvering on the Obama-Bush meeting. In one of the emails, posted in recent weeks by WikiLeaks, Emanuel complains about a draft of the press statement Obama’s transition team was prepared to release about the meeting.

      “I don’t see how this carries us very far,” Emanuel wrote about the brief statement acknowledging the meeting took place and little more. “It is so devoid of detail and will lead to a lot of freelancing by the press. That’s the danger.”

  • Environment/Energy/Wildlife/Nature

    • Norway caught in pipeline uproar
    • Kids Win the Right to Sue the US Government Over Climate Change

      A bright speck of climate news was quickly overshadowed by the presidential election this week—America’s children have officially won the right to sue their government over global warming.

      Yesterday, a lawsuit filed by 21 youth plaintiffs was ruled valid by US District Judge Ann Aiken in Eugene, Oregon. A group of citizens, whose ages range from nine to 20, charged President Obama, the fossil fuel industry, and other federal agencies with violating their constitutional rights by declining to take action against climate change.

    • For 12 years, plants bought us extra time on climate change

      Plants are our best friends in the fight against climate change, and a new study shows just how important they are. From 2002 to 2014, plants sucked up so much carbon dioxide that they slowed the buildup of CO2 in the atmosphere, even as human-made CO2 emissions were increasing.

      The findings, published this week in the journal Nature Communications, show how important ecosystems are in regulating the carbon cycle, and also how little we know about the processes contributing to climate change. This information can help scientists and policymakers come up with solutions to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions.

  • Finance

    • Sterling records best fortnight in 8 years after Trump boost

      Sterling hit a five-week high against the dollar on Friday and recorded its best fortnight on a trade-weighted basis in almost eight years, with investors’ focus having turned away from Brexit and towards political risks elsewhere.

      Since Donald Trump’s shock victory in the U.S. presidential election on Tuesday, the pound has been the best performer of any major currency, outshining even the dollar, which itself is on track to record its best week in a year against a basket of currencies.

      Sterling rose above $1.26 for the first time since Oct. 6, the day before it plunged as much as 10 percent in a matter of minutes in a “flash crash”, and advanced as high as $1.2673 in European trade. By 1704 GMT it was around $1.2607, up 0.4 percent on the day.

    • Pound sterling value rise: How has it gone from the worst to best performing major currency?

      Traders might be looking at the prospect of destabilising victories for populists in European elections and are upgrading their view of the relative prospects for sterling in that light

    • European Parliament planning to vote in the dark on CETA – Carthy

      Sinn Féin MEP for the Midlands North West, Matt Carthy has harshly criticised the European Commission’s insistence to push ahead with the timeline of their trade deal with Canada, CETA, despite crucial elements of the agreement being reserved for so-called ‘retrofitting’.

      Matt Carthy said:

      “When Minister Mary Mitchell O’Connor went to Brussels to sign CETA last month, many assumed that the case was closed. This week, however the European Commission confirmed that crucial elements of the agreement have yet to be agreed in the controversial Chapter on Investment Protection.

    • TPP seen as doomed after Trump victory

      The Trans-Pacific Partnership deal – that would have created the world’s largest free-trade zone – is all but dead, now that the Obama administration has given up hope of a last-ditch effort to ratify it amid a rising tide of protectionism.

      A former senior adviser to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is calling on Canada to shift focus and try to negotiate free-trade deals with Japan and other Asian countries.

    • Obama Administration Gives Up on Pacific Trade Deal

      A sweeping Pacific trade pact meant to bind the U.S.and Asia effectively died Friday, as Republican and Democratic leaders in Congress told the White House they won’t advance it in the election’s aftermath, and Obama administration officials acknowledged it has no way forward now.

      The failure to pass the 12-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership—by far the biggest trade agreement in more than a decade—is a bitter defeat for President Barack Obama, whose belated but fervent support for freer trade divided his party and complicated the campaign of Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton.

    • Recoverability of third party funding costs in arbitration

      A significant appeal decision has recently emerged dealing with the recoverability between the parties of third party funding (“TPF”) costs in arbitral proceedings – Essar Oilfield Services Limited v Norscot Rig Management Pvt Limited.

      Essar concerns a long-running ICC arbitration where the successful party, Norscot, further succeeded in an application to recover its costs of litigation funding.
      The case is being hailed as a landmark judgment in some quarters and is expected to encourage more parties to engage in arbitration, especially if they have TPF. The equal and opposite is also true.

    • Middle and low earners pay bulk of taxes in Finland

      Nearly a third of all Finnish income taxes were paid by those earning between 35,000 and 54,999 euros last year. That group pays some 29 percent of all income taxes collected in Finland.

    • Can Trump make ‘trickle-down’ economics work?

      The theory: Lowering taxes for businesses and wealthy individuals leaves more cash in their pockets, spurring more investment and hiring, and the faster growth generates enough new tax income to pay for the cuts. The top tax rate under Reagan was slashed to 28% from 70%, and business deductions became more generous. About 16 million jobs were created during his two terms, and the economy grew as much as 7.3% in 1984.

      Trump proposes chopping the top individual marginal rate to 33% from 40% — as well as more modest cuts for those with low and moderate incomes — and the corporate rate to 15% from 35%. The many small-business owners taxed at the individual rate also would pay 15%.

    • No, Trump Didn’t Kill the TPP — Progressives Did

      If you read the headlines, Donald Trump’s election has killed the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP). The headlines have it wrong.

      Donald Trump didn’t kill the TPP. Assuming we see the fight through to the bitter end, it’s the cross-border, cross-sector, progressive “movement of movements” that will have defeated the TPP.

  • AstroTurf/Lobbying/Politics

    • Bernie Sanders would have easily beaten Donald Trump according to new pre-election poll

      Bernie Sanders would have crushed Donald Trump according to new pre-election poll.

      In the wake of the shocking election results, many have wondered what would have happened were the Democratic socialist chosen as the nominee.

      The poll, reported by the Huffington Post, found that the Vermont senator would have likely earned 56 per cent of the vote, while Mr Trump would have only received 44 per cent.

    • Historian who predicted Trump’s win says he’ll be impeached

      A political historian and professor who predicted that Donald Trump would win the presidency has a new bet: Trump will be impeached.

      “I’m going to make another prediction,” Allan Lichtman told The Washington Post Friday. “This one is not based on a system; it’s just my gut. They don’t want Trump as president, because they can’t control him. He’s unpredictable. They’d love to have Pence — an absolutely down-the-line, conservative, controllable Republican. And I’m quite certain Trump will give someone grounds for impeachment, either by doing something that endangers national security or because it helps his pocketbook.”

      Lichtman isn’t the first to predict that Trump could be impeached. University of Utah Law Professor Christopher Lewis Peterson wrote a 23-page article explaining the legal reasons Congress should impeach Trump. And on Friday, documentary filmmaker Michael Moore told MSNBC reporters he predicts Trump will either be impeached or resign before his term is up.

    • “Hitler’s only kidding about the antisemitism” New York Times, 1922

      “Several reliable, well-informed sources confirmed the idea that Hitler’s anti-Semitism was not so genuine or violent as it sounded, and that he was merely using anti-Semitic propaganda as a bait to catch masses of followers and keep them aroused, enthusiastic, and in line for the time when his organization is perfected and sufficiently powerful to be employed effectively for political purposes.”

      “You can’t expect the masses to understand or appreciate your finer real aims. You must feed the masses with cruder morsels and ideas like anti-Semitism. It would be politically all wrong to tell them the truth about where you really are leading them.”

    • My Nightmare Trump Prediction Came True—Now What?

      A little over a year ago, I wrote a piece for Vanity Fair outlining what seemed at the time like an improbably absurd argument—how Donald Trump, then a lunatic-fringe candidate with no political credibility, could somehow win the White House. His path to victory, I suggested, ran through traditionally Democratic strongholds such as Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, and Michigan, where I detected a unique hunger for an outsider. For months, I made a similar argument to my so-called “elite” friends who work in politics, the media, and the financial-services industry. And for months, they all laughed me off. Then, on Tuesday evening, Trump rode a path through the Rust Belt all the way to the White House.

      In retrospect, this elite ignorance was one of the factors powering Trump’s success. Ever since May, the “smartest” people in America, from both parties, seemed to believe that a Trump victory was more or less unthinkable. In fact, Republicans believed this so steadfastly that, as recently as last month, they were protesting for Trump to withdraw from the ticket. Did this result in a certain complacency among the Hillary Clinton campaign and her supporters (perhaps roused belatedly by James Comey’s provocation)? It’s hard to say for sure, but it likely played a role in depressing voter turnout.

    • Electoral college should change its mind and make Hillary Clinton president, say millions of signatories to petition

      There’s only one group of people who can – very theoretically – stop the result of the Presidential election. And millions of people are calling on them to do so.

      A petition arguing that the result of the election should be overturned has been signed by nearly 2.5 million people, all of whom are asking that Hillary Clinton becomes president.

      Those behind the petition are arguing that since Ms Clinton is easily winning the popular vote – by as many as millions of ballots – she should be elected president. It also argues that Donald Trump is not fit to be the president and so shouldn’t be allowed to take his position.

    • Donald Trump could still theoretically not be president because of ‘faithless electors’ and the electoral college

      It’s still theoretically possible for Donald Trump not to become president. But the near-impossibility all depends on the electoral college and the strange US system.

      Donald Trump might have won the election by getting more of the votes in the electoral college than Hillary Clinton did. But strictly and legally, it’s not the election that just happened that matters: it’s the one where the members of the electoral college go and represent their voters and pick their candidate.

      That’s due to happen on 12 December, at meetings in each state where all Republican or Democrat representatives – depending on how each state voted – will cast their vote. And it will almost certainly go one way, with most of the electors casting their ballots for Donald Trump and making him President.

    • Exclusive: Riding Trump wave, Breitbart News plans U.S., European expansion

      The right-wing Breitbart News Network is expanding its U.S. operations and launching sites in Germany and France, its U.S. editor-in-chief told Reuters, as it seeks to monetize the anger and anti-immigrant sentiment unleashed by Donald Trump’s successful presidential campaign.

      The planned expansion is one sign of how the right-wing media landscape is shifting in the wake of Trump’s campaign to provide a platform for the more radical views that helped fuel the Republican candidate’s shock election victory on Tuesday.

    • Why we need a new Democratic Party

      As a first step, I believe it necessary for the members and leadership of the Democratic National Committee to step down and be replaced by people who are determined to create a party that represents America – including all those who feel powerless and disenfranchised, and who have been left out of our politics and left behind in our economy.

      The Democratic Party as it is now constituted has become a giant fundraising machine, too often reflecting the goals and values of the moneyed interests. This must change. The election of 2016 has repudiated it. We need a people’s party – a party capable of organizing and mobilizing Americans in opposition to Donald Trump’s Republican party, which is about to take over all three branches of the U.S. government. We need a New Democratic Party that will fight against intolerance and widening inequality.

      What happened in America Tuesday should not be seen as a victory for hatefulness over decency. It is more accurately understood as a repudiation of the American power structure.

    • Spoiled Americans now want to flee what they created

      The reactions of many Americans to the Trump victory is a symptom of their political immaturity.

    • Trump’s victory over Clinton was sealed 40 years ago

      In the afterglow of Donald Trump’s historic presidential victory, the Democratic firing squad is already out, looking for someone to blame.

      It’s time to look in the mirror.

      Despite being a historically weak candidate, Hillary Clinton’s demise wasn’t just about Hillary Clinton.

      Clinton was the final lifeline to a neoliberal bubble built by the Clintons and many others—that finally popped on November 8th, 2016.

    • The U.S. presidential election of 1876: votes, cannabis and intellectual property

      Let’s step back from the supercharged atmosphere of this week’s electoral events and focus on a curious side-show. First, perhaps for the sixth
      time in U.S. electoral history, the winner of the electoral vote did not win the popular vote. Second, several American states were simultaneously holding various ballot initiatives on the legalization of cannabis. This Kat began to wonder: has there ever been a juxtapose between the two in connection with any previous presidential election? Mirabile dictu—the answer is “yes”, the election of 1876. And in this lies a unique tale about Samuel J. Tilden, Tilden’s Extract, and the world of intellectual property during that period.

    • Trump election: Juncker warns president may upset US ties with Europe

      Donald Trump’s election risks upsetting EU ties with the US “fundamentally and structurally”, EU Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker has warned.

      “We will need to teach the president-elect what Europe is and how it works,” Mr Juncker told students in Luxembourg.

      The Commission chief predicted that two years would be wasted while Mr Trump “tours a world he doesn’t know”.

      His remarks contrasted with other EU leaders’ more muted reaction to the Tuesday’s shock election result.

    • Donald Trump blocks press access, in defiance of long standing practices

      Donald Trump is keeping Americans in the dark about his earliest conversations and decisions as president-elect, bucking a long-standing practice intended to ensure the public has a watchful eye on its new leader.

      Mr Trump on Thursday refused to allow journalists to travel with him to Washington for his historic first meetings with President Barack Obama and congressional leaders. The Republican’s top advisers rebuffed news organisations’ requests for a small “pool” of journalists to trail him as he attended the meetings.

    • Trump fills the swamp with more lobbyists

      In the final weeks of Donald Trump’s presidential campaign, he pledged to “drain the swamp” in Washington, D.C. by, among other things, introducing tough new restrictions on lobbying.

      “I am proposing a package of ethics reforms to make our government honest once again,” Trump said during the October 17 appearance in Green Bay, Wisconsin where he first used the “drain the swamp” line.

    • The bad news the Government released during the week of the US election

      As the bitter and often fraught presidential battle across the Atlantic – and to the surprise of many, the election of Donald Trump, a billionaire businessman with little experience of the political machinery of Washington – came to a conclusion this week, many of the front pages in the UK and the commentary focused on the drama unfolding in the States.

      But here The Independent looks at some of the news and reports released by the UK Government this week that appear to have slipped under the radar.

      According to Tim Farron, leader of the Liberal Democrats, ministers have slipped out a deluge of embarrassing announcements because Parliament is in recess. He added: “The Tories might think they can take things for granted while the world looks away, aghast at the election of Donald Trump but my party will be keeping a total focus on them and the damaging policies they are pushing through”.

    • Donald Trump presidency: Memo from an old friend of the US
    • Mark Zuckerberg: Facebook fake news didn’t sway election

      Mark Zuckerberg addressed growing criticism of Facebook’s ascendant power to sway public opinion, saying the “small amount” of fake news that spread on the social network during the election did not influence the outcome.

      “To think it influenced the election in any way is a pretty crazy idea,” Zuckerberg said Thursday evening during the Techonomy conference in Half Moon Bay, Calif.

      Zuckerberg said people underestimated support for president-elect Donald Trump. “I do think there is a certain profound lack of empathy in asserting that the only reason someone could have voted the way they did is they saw some fake news,” Zuckerberg said. “If you believe that, then I don’t think you have internalized the message the Trump supporters are trying to send in this election.”

      His remarks came as Trump’s presidential win prompted Silicon Valley soul searching, with some wondering whether the tools created here had run amok.

  • Censorship/Free Speech

    • The Spanish Government The Latest To Try To Ban Memes

      It would be sort of fun to watch the more authoritarian governments of the world attempt to combat internet memes with censorship if it weren’t both so damaging to the free speech ideals I hold so dear and if recent, ahem, events weren’t making these stories hit a little closer to home than they would have but a few months ago. Countries like Russia and Indonesia have both taken steps to attempt to make illegal the time-honored tradition of putting up a famous person’s picture and then typing words across it. Despite both governments’ insisting that these legislative attempts are all to do with protecting people’s honor and/or quelling false information about the subjects of these memes, the truth is that the aims behind them are more to do with clamping down on dissident speech and protecting those in power from criticism. That, indeed, is why these laws tend to be worded so vaguely. Vague enough, in fact, that it’s quite clear that they can be used to criminalize pretty much any speech that the ruling government doesn’t like.

    • Angola: Blocking rap concert is state censorship

      Ahead of the planned livestream of a concert this evening in Luanda by Luaty Beirão – also known as Ikonoklasta – and MCK, two well-known rappers and critics of the Angolan government, Tjiurimo Hengari, Amnesty International’s Deputy Regional Director for Southern Africa said:

      “Angolan authorities must ensure that the rappers’ concert takes place without any further interference by the police, who blocked it over the weekend.”

      “The unexplained police intervention has potentially far-reaching consequences for freedom of assembly and artistic expression in the country, and smacks of state censorship of Luaty Beirão and MCK for their criticism of Angola’s government.”

    • Censorship: High School Makes 18-Year-Old Girl Remove ‘Hillary for Prison’ T-Shirt

      Boca Raton High School in Palm Beach County, Florida, trampled an 18-year-old girl’s free speech rights: the school forced her to change out of a T-shirt that bore the political message “Hillary for Prison.”

      The provocative T-shirt drew the ire of student Maxine Yeakle’s classmates, who said they considered all supporters of Donald Trump to be racist, according to The Sun Sentinel. Their criticisms became disruptive, and as a result, Yeakle was sent to the principal’s office. The disrupters were not punished: only the girl whose political advocacy inspired the others to misbehave was punished.

    • Hey UN: leave the media censorship to North Korea

      The United Nations isn’t all that into me.

      While hundreds of journalists have been planning their arrival in Morocco for months to attend its ​fancy-pants ​climate change conference this week, I’ve only just recently been given “permission” to attend because the global organization doesn’t like what I might have to say. It worries I’m advocate, not a journalist, and that maybe my reporting won’t be “helpful” in its fight.

    • The Daily Fix: Censorship should not become the new normal

      On Monday, Information and Broadcasting Minister Venkaiah Naidu decided to put on hold the order requiring NDTV India to go off air for a day on November 9 as a penalty for allegedly revealing strategically sensitive information during its broadcast about the militant attack on the Pathankot airbase in January.

      The decision was taken after the NDTV management asked for the order to be reviewed, Naidu said. He added somewhat belligerently that the decision to take the channel off air for a day was just and proper and dismissed criticism that the government was muzzling those who were critical of it.

    • China’s internet censorship is throttling software development

      If you’ve ever been to mainland China, chances are you’re familiar with the Great Firewall, the country’s all-encompassing internet censorship apparatus. You know the despair of not being able to open Facebook, the pain of going mute on Twitter. But with a good VPN, you can magic many of these inconveniences away – at least temporarily.

      For software developers based in China, however, it’s not that simple. You’re not just censored from certain websites. Basic building blocks that you use for product development are suddenly beyond your reach.

    • China Responds to U.S. Election With Heavy Censorship, Light Schadenfreude

      As news of Donald Trump’s shocking presidential win was reverberating around the world Wednesday, media coverage in China was oddly scant — and not by accident.

      China’s censors had issued advance orders to media outlets to restrict coverage of the U.S. democratic contest. All websites, news outlets and TV networks were told not to provide any live coverage or broadcasts of the election and to avoid “excessive” reporting of the story, a source who was briefed on the official instructions told the South China Morning Post.

      In response, coverage of Trump’s upset was carried only as a secondary story across the Chinese media landscape, with most outlets highlighting a meeting between Chinese Premier Li Keqiang and Vladimir Putin instead.

    • UBC Free Speech Club don red “MAGA” hats to challenge censorship on campus

      Yesterday also marked a coming out party for the Free Speech Club at the University of British Columbia. To mark the occasion, members of the club set up a table outside the student commons and proudly wore the now infamous red hats reading Make America Great Again and Make Canada Great Again.

    • Debate on digital age censorship

      “Censorship has been a topic of debate since it was introduced in 1916 – and never more so than it is now. Never before has the public had so much access to audiovisual material via so many channels,” says panel facilitator Diane Pivac of Ngā Taonga Sound & Vision.

      “We’ve invited a panel that brings a whole range of viewpoints to the discussion. We’re asking how do new technologies change and challenge censorship? And how equipped are our regulators to meet these challenges?” says Diane.

      “The Government is moving ahead with classification of online entertainment content, but is censorship still relevant?

      “And how do we balance the public’s right to freedom of expression against concern over young people’s ease of access to potentially harmful material?”

      [...]

      The panel debate is part of CENSORED – 100 Years of Film Censorship in NZ – a two-week programme featuring films that were once banned by New Zealand censors, documentaries, censors’ offcuts and discussion.

    • Could The U.S. Soon Be Making Movies To ‘Serve Socialism’ In China?

      China’s new film law may have an impact on the American movie business, which is increasingly influenced by China.

      The Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress, China’s top legislative body, passed new laws to govern the world’s second largest film market Monday, reports Xinhua News Agency.

    • Azerbaijan reveals conditions for possible military censorship on media

      Azerbaijan can apply military censorship on media upon the declaration of martial law in the country.

      This is according to Article 1.0.3 of the revised Law “On martial law”, the parliament told APA on Thursday.

      Military censorship includes pre-coordination of mass media information by military and state authorities, control on correspondences for the purpose of preventing illegal dissemination of state secrets, on TV and radio broadcast as well as phone and radio talks.

    • Angry Saudi intellectuals brand closure of cafe and cultural space as ‘censorship’

      Students and book lovers in Riyadh have expressed their dismay that a popular artistic spot in the city has been shut down and all its books removed pending an investigation by the Saudi authorities.

      Rawi Cafe located on the campus of South Imam University posted pictures of its previously dark, wooden, library-like interior stripped of all its books to social media last week, alerting customers that the business had been shut down by the Ministry for Culture and Information.

      Rawi had previously been popular with students, researchers, and others in Riyadh’s intellectual community.

    • Top media bodies condemn NDTV India ban, term it arbitrary
    • Dear NDTV, Have You Learnt Your Lesson Now?

  • Privacy/Surveillance

    • Users flock to encrypted email service after Trump win

      Donald Trump’s surprise win has been good news for end-to-end encrypted services. The Swiss company Protonmail announced today that weekly sign-ups had doubled after Donald Trump’s surprise win on Tuesday, although the company did not disclose raw numbers for the jump. “Regardless of which side of the political spectrum you are on, Trump’s control over the NSA is now an indisputable fact, and we think it is worth taking a closer look at what this means,” CEO Andy Yen wrote in an accompanying post.

    • Peter Thiel is joining Donald Trump’s transition team

      In addition to Thiel, Vice President-elect Mike Pence will act as chairman for the transition team, according to the statement. Three of Trump’s children — Ivanka Trump, Donald Trump Jr., and Eric Trump — will serve alongside Thiel on the committee. Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi also made the list, as well as RNC Chairman Reince Priebus.

    • Peter Thiel Said to Join Trump’s Presidential Transition Team

      Thiel, who was one of the few tech industry executives who supported the Republican candidate, will play a role in vetting presidential appointments and selecting which of Trump’s campaign promises will become the policies of America’s 45th president, according to people familiar with the discussions. Thiel’s title and precise role are still being determined, the people said. The Huffington Post earlier reported that Thiel would lead the transition team.

      Speaking for Trump as a delegate at the Republican National Convention this summer and again a week before the election, Thiel echoed what had become a popular refrain among Trump’s electorate: government is broken and outsiders are the only ones who can fix it.

    • Donald Trump Will Have His Eye on You

      Edward Snowden warned us about the abuses of our national security state. Now look who’s in charge of it.

    • Trump and mass surveillance: You were warned

      The danger of all of this one day falling into the »wrong« hands ought to have been obvious from the very beginning.

      It’s naive to claim that Big Brotherism is a problem in just some cases, used by some political forces, with some specific justifications. Mass surveillance is a problem by its very nature and to its core – regardless who is in power. Always.

    • Feds Can Unlock Most Devices They Need To Get Into, FBI Admits

      The FBI is able to unlock or access data on most of the phones and computers it encounters during its investigations, as well as those of local and state cops, according to the bureau’s General Counsel Jim Baker.

      So far in the fiscal year 2016 (from Oct. 1, 2015 until Sept. 30, 2016), the FBI has encountered passwords or passcodes—that is locked phones or laptops—in 2,095 out of 6,814 (31 percent) mobile devices analyzed by its forensic labs, Baker said according to attendants at a public meeting on encryption and the challenges it poses to law enforcement, celebrated in Washington D.C. on Friday.

      And even for those 2,095 devices that were locked, the fed’s investigators were able to break in in 1,210 cases, and couldn’t unlock around 880 devices, Baker reportedly said. In other words, in the vast majority of cases (87%), the FBI was able to access the data it needed.

    • Facebook Bug Tells Users They Are Dead

      It’s a fitting end to a strange week. When many Facebook users logged on to their accounts on Friday afternoon, they discovered the social network had declared them to be deceased.

      The lethal online epidemic is causing Facebook FB to display a small memorial message above users’ regular homepage profile. In the case of my editor, Rachel King, Fortune tech writers who visited her page discovered a “Remembering Rachel King” message, and a wish to remember to remember and celebrate her life.

    • Facebook Is Utterly Dominating America’s Social Media Use

      Social media is playing an increasingly influential role in our lives. Even if given the benefit of the doubt—believing that they are “tech” companies and not “media” companies—people are using Facebook and Twitter to gather news and information about world events, not just to find and follow friends.

    • The RCMP Used Police Databases and Social Media to Track Aboriginal Protestors

      The Royal Canadian Mounted Police used law enforcement databases and social media to identify indigenous protesters and then made their identities known to front-line officers, new documents show.

      “The year 2013 saw an increase across Canada in Aboriginal protests,” an RCMP document from 2015, obtained through an information request by Carleton University professor Jeffrey Monaghan and researcher Andy Crosby, states.

      In March of 2014, according to the document, the RCMP put a call out to its divisions across Canada and local police departments to hand over any information in their databases that might help the RCMP identify and track aboriginal protesters.

      This initiative was known as Project SITKA, and with this data from police and social media, the RCMP identified 313 activists across the country who attended protests “opposing natural resource development, particularly pipeline and shale gas expansion.” Those who attended anti-capitalist protests, and protests regarding missing and murdered indigenous women, were also targeted.

    • People in tech are freaking out about Donald Trump being given control of the NSA

      Last month, Wired published a story with the headline “Imagine if Donald Trump controlled the NSA.” Now there’s no need to imagine.

      Trump overcame all odds on Wednesday when he became the 45th president-elect of the United States. As a result, he’s about to gain control of the US intelligence agencies, including the NSA (National Security Agency).

      Tech workers and security campaigners have been quick to express concerns about handing control of the NSA to Trump.

    • MalwareMustDie closes blog in NSA/CIA spy protest

      MalwareMustDie, the white-hat security research group, has closed its blog in protest of alleged American espionage against friendly countries.

      MMD believes that US spy agencies have been installing backdoors on the servers of universities and other public institutions outside the United States.

      Shadow Brokers, which famously hacked the National Security Agency in the US and released supposed NSA hacking tools for anyone to use, recently published files containing the IP addresses of 49 countries they claim have been hacked by the NSA.

      According to the website SecurityAffairs.co, these hack attacks have been linked back to Equation Group, an NSA espionage group.

    • Trump’s election stokes fears of future NSA surveillance abuses

      They say you reap what you sow. The US is just weeks away from handing over massive surveillance powers to a man who has expressed enthusiasm for the idea of spying on those he sees as adversaries.

      It’s common knowledge that the US collects massive amounts of data on phone and internet communications involving both its own citizens and people abroad. The National Security Agency (NSA) can read text messages, track social media activity and hack into your computer’s webcam. Since Edward Snowden’s revelations on spying in 2013, US president Barack Obama has been criticised by privacy activists for not doing enough to curb such programmes.

      Now, his failure to act threatens to turn into a cautionary tale with a dark moral: don’t build a surveillance state, because you don’t know who will end up in charge of it.

      During his campaign, president-elect Donald Trump railed against Apple when the tech giant resisted unlocking the iPhone of one of the perpetrators of the mass shooting in San Bernadino, California. In July, he invited Russia to hack Hillary Clinton and publish her deleted emails.

      He has also spoken in favour of allowing the surveillance of mosques in the US, as New York City did after the 9/11 attacks, and of asking Muslims to register in a federal database and authorising the NSA to collect metadata. “I tend to err on the side of security,” he said last year.

      When Trump takes office in January, how will he decide to wield the government’s surveillance powers? He could try to roll back the reforms that Obama has put in place, such as limitations on when the agency can collect people’s data and how it can be stored. He can decide which countries the US spies on. He might choose to push much harder against companies that decline to build government “back doors” to their technology.

      Trump has also promised to exact revenge on personal enemies, such as the women who accused him of sexual assault. Back when details of the NSA’s warrantless wiretapping came to light, analysts were caught snooping on their partners and love interests. Could Trump take similar advantages?

    • Home Monitoring Will Soon Monitor You

      I worry. About my family. My house. My dumb possessions, and my treasured ones. Doesn’t everyone? “Happiness,” Don Draper opines in Mad Men’s pilot, “is the freedom from fear.” Companies sell people solutions to those fears—even if they are contrived ones. Listerine, invented to cure a made-up condition called halitosis. Nike, whose kicks are used for sloth more than athleticism. Apple, whose modernist, glass-and-aluminum shields hide compulsion.

    • Privacy experts fear Donald Trump running global surveillance network

      Privacy activists, human rights campaigners and former US security officials have expressed fears over the prospect of Donald Trump controlling the vast global US and UK surveillance network.

      They criticised Barack Obama’s administration for being too complacent after the 2013 revelations by the NSA whistleblower, Edward Snowden, and making only modest concessions to privacy concerns rather than carrying out major legislative changes.

      The concern comes after Snowden dismissed fears for his safety if Trump, who called him “a spy who has caused great damage in the US”, was to strike a deal with Vladimir Putin to have him extradited.

  • Civil Rights/Policing

    • Donald Trump May Select an Architect of Bush’s Torture Program to Run CIA

      Donald Trump may select Jose Rodriguez, one of the primary architects of the George W. Bush torture program, to run the Central Intelligence Agency, according to a law firm with close ties to Trump.

      Rodriguez, the former director of the National Clandestine Service, helped developed the CIA black sites, secret prisons operated in foreign countries where interrogators used a range of torture tactics, including the use of “waterboarding,” the simulated drowning technique once used by the Khmer Rouge and Nazi agents to glean information from detainees.

    • Glenn Greenwald: Trump will have vast powers. He can thank Democrats for them.

      Liberals are understandably panicked about what Donald Trump can carry out. “We have a president-elect with authoritarian tendencies assuming a presidency that has never been more powerful ,” Franklin Foer wrote this past week in Slate. Trump will command not only a massive nuclear arsenal and the most robust military in history, but also the ability to wage numerous wars in secret and without congressional authorization; a ubiquitous system of electronic surveillance that can reach most forms of human communication and activity; and countless methods for shielding himself from judicial accountability, congressional oversight and the rule of law — exactly what the Constitution was created to prevent. Trump assumes the presidency “at the peak of its imperial powers,” as Foer put it.

      Sen. Barack Obama certainly saw it that way when he first ran for president in 2008. Limiting executive-power abuses and protecting civil liberties were central themes of his campaign. The former law professor repeatedly railed against the Bush-Cheney template of vesting the president with unchecked authorities in the name of fighting terrorism or achieving other policy objectives. “This administration also puts forward a false choice between the liberties we cherish and the security we provide,” he said in 2007. Listing an array of controversial Bush-Cheney policies, from warrantless domestic surveillance to due-process-free investigations and imprisonment, he vowed: “We will again set an example for the world that the law is not subject to the whims of stubborn rulers.”

    • The Democratic Party deserves so much of the blame for electing Donald Trump

      Election Day 2016 was a miserable failure for the Democratic Party. When all the votes are counted, it appears that Donald Trump will have won 30 states and at least 300 Electoral College votes. After months of tough talk, Democrats not only lost the presidency, but lost the Senate and continued to lose the House. It was a thorough drubbing. Calling it anything other than that is a damn lie.

      But I must linger there for a while. The Democratic Party has mastered lying to itself and its core constituencies. It claims a progressive identity, but is as moderate and lukewarm as it has ever been on so many issues that matter to everyday people. It claims to be tough on Wall Street, financial corruption and white collar crime, but is awash in donations from lobbyists and executives in the industry. Democrats claim to be the party of working people, but so often seem to be deeply out of touch with their problems and needs.

    • The idea that America ‘doesn’t talk about’ racism is absurd

      As we confront our nation’s election of a man who dwells blithely in stereotype and caricature, many of us are wondering what we are to do as responsible citizens faced with what many of us regard as a political and moral catastrophe. One thing someone opposed to Donald Trump’s unenlightened, “mean boy” perspective on women, nonwhites, the disabled, Muslims, and others might consider doing is to avoid imitating him.

      It may seem perhaps the least likely thing an anti-Trumpian would do, but there’s a word we might consider tempering our usage of in the coming years, given that the way we use it opens us to certain charges involving kettles and the color black. I refer to the word “racist.”

      The Martian anthropologist would recognize no difference between the way those accused of being witches were treated in 17th-century Salem, Mass., and the way many innocent people are being accused of “racism” today. Those appalled by the way people were tarred with the Communist label in the 1940s and 1950s must recognize that America has blundered into the same censorious mob mentality in assailing as “racists,” just recently, people such as Ellen DeGeneres — for Photoshopping herself riding on Jamaican gold medal sprinter Usain Bolt’s back in celebration of his win — and Hillary Clinton — for referring to the black men terrorizing poor black neighborhoods as “superpredators” in describing plans for protecting people in those neighborhoods from such crime.

    • ‘You voted Trump!’: Elderly motorist beaten in street by gang of youths as girl screams abuse

      This shocking footage shows an elderly motorist being beaten in the street by youths as a girl can be heard screaming “you voted Trump!”

      The man is repeatedly punched and kicked in the face by the youngsters in what has been described online as an alleged race attack.

      The incident took place in the middle of the day in Chicago following Donald Trump’s shock victory in the US presidential election.

      The driver struggles to his feet at one point as fists rain down on him and shouts at one of the gang to get out of his car.

    • Woman fabricated story of being attacked and robbed of hijab at Louisiana college by man wearing Donald Trump hat

      A Louisana college student admitted she made up reports of being attacked by two men, one she said was wearing a Donald Trump hat.

      The Lafayette Police department say they are no longer investigating her claims. The University of Louisiana would not disclose whether they were taking disciplinary action against the student, citing federal law prohibition.

      Authorities said the University of Louisiana student reported the alleged robbery Wednesday morning, and claimed one of the apparent attackers wore a white Donald Trump cap, according to The Advertiser.

      Her claim drew on fears of anti-Muslim backlash in the wake of Mr Trump’s election to the US presidency. His campaign stoked fears of Muslim immigration to the US that appealed to much of his predominantly white, nationalistic supporters. Multiple reports of hate crimes against Muslims, Latinos, black people, and the LGBTQ community have already surfaced.

  • Internet Policy/Net Neutrality

    • AT&T Will Offer a Lower-Quality Video Option But Without a Discount

      After T-Mobile and Sprint introduced lower-cost wireless plans in return for customers accepting lower quality video streaming, AT&T is following suit. Sort of.

      The second-largest wireless carrier said it would introduce a feature starting next year called “Stream Saver” to let customers voluntarily downgrade streaming video from any service—such as YouTube and Netflix—to DVD quality. But AT&T will not lower prices or give a discount to customers activating the lower-quality stream, which would use much less data than watching a typical high-definition video stream. The data used will also still count against a customer’s monthly data allowance.

      AT&T emphasized that the feature, which will be turned on by default, was intended to help customers use less data, essentially stretching their monthly allowance to go further. Customers can opt turn off the feature at any time.

    • Trump and net neutrality: How Republicans can make the rules go away

      The net neutrality rules implemented during Barack Obama’s presidency don’t seem likely to survive Donald Trump’s administration.

      Federal Communications Commission Chairman Tom Wheeler crafted the rules to survive lawsuits filed by Internet service providers, and the strategy worked when a federal appeals court upheld the rules in June of this year. But that doesn’t mean a new presidential administration can’t overturn them.

      The FCC rules say ISPs may not block or throttle lawful Internet traffic or speed up Web services in exchange for payments from online service providers. A similar set of net neutrality rules was previously struck down in court, leading to Wheeler’s decision to reclassify broadband providers as common carriers under Title II of the Communications Act. The commission’s Title II authority was enough to put the rules on solid legal ground.

    • AT&T to limit video quality by default—even on unlimited data plans

      AT&T today said it will begin limiting the quality of mobile video for cellular data customers in early 2017. A new feature called “Stream Saver” will throttle video to DVD resolution of about 480p. Customers will be able to opt out of Stream Saver, but it will be enabled by default—even for customers with unlimited data, AT&T told Ars.

      AT&T will notify customers once Stream Saver has been activated and provide instructions for turning it off and back on, the company’s announcement said. Customers on limited data plans may appreciate the feature, as it could help them stay under their data caps. But AT&T’s decision to enable video throttling by default on unlimited plans that were sold without any mention of such limits has little benefit for customers. It could have some benefit only because AT&T reserves the right to throttle unlimited data plans when customers exceed 22GB a month and connect to a congested cell tower. Using less data for video will help keep “unlimited” customers under 22GB.

  • Intellectual Monopolies

    • Copyrights

      • Pirate Bay Risks “Repeat Offender” Ban From Google

        The Pirate Bay and other pirate sites risk a “repeat offender” ban from Google, but not over copyright infringements. Google has updated its safe browsing service, used by modern browsers such as Chrome, Firefox, and Safari, which will now block websites for a minimum of thirty days after being repeatedly marked as harmful.

      • University Bans BitTorrent to Stop Flood of Infringement Notices

        A university in Canada has taken sweeping action in an effort to stem the tide of piracy notices. The University of Calgary says that after banning BitTorrent usage on several networks, infringement notices immediately dropped by 90%. People wanting access to the protocol will now need to apply for an exemption.

      • EU Copyright Directive – privatised censorship and filtering of free speech

        The European Commission’s proposal on copyright attempts something very ambitious – two different measures that would restrict free speech, squeezed into a single article of a legislative proposal.

      • A joint dataset for the EU copyright consultation responses

        In March of 2016, the European Commission asked for your input on two specific issues of copyright reform: Freedom of panorama (the ability to freely share your photos of public places) and extra copyright for publishers.

11.11.16

Links 11/11/2016: Mutter 3.22.2, Slackware Live Edition 1.1.4

Posted in News Roundup at 8:39 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz

GNOME bluefish

Contents

GNU/Linux

  • From Windows to Linux: yes, that is still a thing

    A request from a bank to look at a switch from Windows to Linux has led to UK-based IT specialist Patrick Fitzgerald and his colleagues at British firm i-Layer developing a detailed method for an institution to make the transition.

    Fitzgerald, who gave a talk about it at SUSECon 2016, has been in the IT business for a long time. He and his colleagues only came up with the detailed plan when he had to tackle the task set for him by the Allied Irish Bank.

    “The bank has 900 branches and 7500 teller workstations,” Fitzgerald said. “After the move, just two people are needed to manage the lot.” He added that the smallest branch had just two users, one teller and ran on bandwidth of 128k.

    The bank initially called him in for advice and help when it experienced a shortage of trained staff.

  • A Loopy Non-Interview With Linux Advocate Marcel Gagné

    This week, Roblimo again takes a virtual trip up to the Great White North, that would be Canada for the benefit of the NSA and those of you taking notes at home, and has way too much fun hanging out with Linux advocate Marcel Gagné.

  • Server

    • ​When to use NGINX instead of Apache

      They’re both popular open-source web servers but, according to NGINX CEO Gus Robertson, they have different use cases. And Microsoft? Its web server has dropped below 10 percent of all active websites for the first time in 20 years.

    • Enabling the Digital Revolution: SDN and Beyond

      SDN can create far greater manageability by enabling network managers and developers to access network resources at a programmatic level, treating network resources in much the way they treat other computing resources such as central processing units (CPUs) and memory. It can enable networks to become easier to scale up or down, shorten setup time, increase security, and reduce costs. And SDN can take advantage of programmable network hardware, enabling managers to change the behavior of network devices through software upgrades instead of expensive hardware replacements.

    • Re-Imagining the Container Stack to Optimize Space and Speed
    • Keynote: Blurring the Lines: The Continuum Between Containers and VMs

      Graham Whaley, Sr. Software Engineer at Intel, says there is a continuum of features and benefits across the container/VM spectrum, and you should be able to choose which point on that continuum best suits you.

    • Docker and machine learning top the tech trends for ‘17

      With 2017 fast approaching, technology trends that will keep gathering steam in the new year range from augmented and virtual reality to machine intelligence, Docker, and microservices, according to technology consulting firm ThoughtWorks.

    • AWS Gives Customers On-Premises Linux Option

      Amazon Web Services recently expanded its menu of cloud services to give customers the option of using the Amazon Linux AMI on premises. Customers can use the Amazon Container Image on premises for the purpose of developing and testing workloads, AWS Chief Evangelist Jeff Barr explained. The AMI provides a stable, secure and high-performance environment for applications running on the Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud, he said. “It is built from the same source code and packages as the AMI and will give you a smooth path to container adoption.”

  • Kernel Space

    • Linux 4.8.7

      I’m announcing the release of the 4.8.7 kernel.

      All users of the 4.8 kernel series must upgrade.

      The updated 4.8.y git tree can be found at:
      git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/stable/linux-stable.git linux-4.8.y
      and can be browsed at the normal kernel.org git web browser:

      http://git.kernel.org/?p=linux/kernel/git/stable/linux-st…

    • Linux 4.4.31
    • Linux Kernel 4.4.31 LTS Released with Multiple Updated Drivers, Various Fixes

      Immediately after informing the community about the release of Linux kernel 4.8.7, which is now the most advanced kernel you can get for a GNU/Linux distribution, Greg Kroah-Hartman announced the availability of Linux kernel 4.4.31 LTS.

    • Linux Kernel 4.8.7 Updates Intel and Radeon Drivers, Improves Wireless Support

      Today, November 10, 2016, Linux kernel maintainer Greg Kroah-Hartman announced the release of the seventh maintenance update to the Linux 4.8 kernel series, along with the Linux kernel 4.4.31 LTS long-term support version.

      Finally, the release cycle of Linux kernel 4.8 has settled in and it looks like more and more GNU/Linux distributions are adopting it, including the upcoming openSUSE Leap 42.2 and Fedora 25, due for release next week. Rolling release users of Solus, Arch Linux, and openSUSE Tumbleweed are already enjoying the latest Linux kernel 4.8 updates, and soon they’ll receive a new one, Linux kernel 4.8.7, which comes ten days after Linux kernel 4.8.6.

    • The Code To Intel’s New Linux Wireless Daemon Is Now Public

      During this year’s systemd conference there was talk of A New Wireless Daemon Is In Development To Potentially Replace wpa_supplicant. At that time the code wasn’t yet public to this new open-source WiFi daemon developed by Intel, but since then the code has now opened up.

    • Hyperledger’s Next Act: A Blockchain Bridge to China

      Immutable, shared ledgers of transactions and goods could come to serve as a reminder that everything we grow, build, buy and sell comes from the same tiny planet.

      But this future is far from guaranteed, and the various blockchain developer groups competing to bring it to life have so far struggled to involve talent from all over the world in this global vision.

      Blockchain consortium Hyperledger, for example, was initially founded with support from companies in almost exclusively Western nations. Yet, the consortium has grown this year to include more than 20 members headquartered in China and 10 from Japan and South Korea, with a spattering of members from other nations represented as well.

    • Graphics Stack

  • Applications

  • Desktop Environments/WMs

    • Many Xfce Package Updates Bring Stable GTK3 Support, Notifyd Gets Do-Not-Disturb

      While it’s likely a long time before Xfce 4.14 gets released with full GTK3 tool-kit integration, there are some new Xfce4 package updates available this week.

      Xfce4-settings 4.13 is out and is a development release for the 4.13 series. This initial release marks Xfce Settings being fully-ported to GTK+ 3.x. That’s the main change with this release is the port from GTK2 to GTK3 but some bugs do remain. There are some screenshots via this blog post.

    • K Desktop Environment/KDE SC/Qt

      • Krita 3.1: third beta released

        Here is the third Krita 3.1 beta! From the Krita 3.1 on, Krita will officially support OSX. All OSX users are urged to use this version instead of earlier “stable” versions for OSX.

      • Qt on the NVIDIA Jetson TX1 – Device Creation Style

        NVIDIA’s Jetson line of development platforms is not new to Qt; a while ago we already talked about how to utilize OpenGL and CUDA in Qt applications on the Jetson TK1. Since then, most of Qt’s focus has been on the bigger brothers, namely the automotive-oriented DRIVE CX and PX systems. However, this does not mean that the more affordable and publicly available Jetson TX1 devkits are left behind. In this post we are going to take a look how to get started with the latest Qt versions in a proper embedded device creation manner, using cross-compilation and remote deployment for both Qt itself and applications.

      • Cutelyst 1.0.0 with stable API/ABI is out!

        Cutelyst the Qt web framework just reached it’s first stable release, it’s been 3 years since the first commit and I can say it finally got to a shape where I think I’m able to keep it’s API/ABI stable. The idea is to have any break into a 2.0 release by the end of next year although I don’t expect many changes as the I’m quite happy with it’s current state.

      • Cutelyst 1.0 Qt Web Framework Released

        Announced today is Cutelyst 1.0 with it reaching a state where the API/ABI can be maintained until Cutelyst 2.0, which will likely come at the end of 2017. Read that announcement if you are interested in this framework and yet another interesting deployment around the Qt tool-kit.

      • Kwave is in kdereview
      • After 18 Years, KWave Sound Editor Is Working Its Way Into KDE Multimedia

        KWave is a graphical sound editor that’s been in development since 1998 and is finally working its way into KDE Multimedia for becoming a proper part of KDE.

        A Phoronix reader pointed out today that KWave is finally working to become formally part of KDE rather than a separate project. KWave is currently in the KDE review process to be a component of KDE Multimedia, as outlined last month via this KDE-core-devel message.

      • KDE Applications 16.08.3 Is the Last in the Series, 16.12 Lands December 15

        Today, November 10, 2016, the KDE Project announced the release and general availability of the third and last scheduled maintenance update of the KDE Applications 16.08 software suite for KDE Plasma 5 desktops.

        That’s right, we’re talking about KDE Applications 16.08.3, which lands almost a month after the previous update, namely KDE Applications 16.08.2, bringing the long-term support version of KDE Development Platform 4.14.26 along for the ride. KDE Applications 16.08.3 is here to address over 20 bugs reported by users since then.

    • GNOME Desktop/GTK

      • An Everyday Linux User Guide To The Nautilus File Manager

        Nautilus is a very popular file manager so if it isn’t installed for your particular distribution you should be able to find it in the graphical package manager.

        Nautilus is the default file manager within Ubuntu Linux.

      • Mutter 3.22.2
      • GNOME’s Mutter 3.22.2 Ships With Many Wayland Fixes

        Normally GNOME point releases aren’t too worth mentioning over here, but with this morning’s release of GNOME Mutter 3.22.2 it’s a bit of a different story.

        GNOME Mutter 3.22.2 is a worthwhile upgrade particularly if you are running on Wayland. Mutter 3.22.2 has several Wayland crash fixes (two separate bug reports_ plus has at least four bugs fixed around placement issues of windows/elements when running on Wayland. There is also a fix for popup grabs blocking the screen lock on Wayland. There is also a fix for two finger and edge scrolling under Wayland.

      • GNOME Shell and Mutter Get Wayland and Wi-Fi Improvements for GNOME 3.22.2

        As part of the soon-to-be-released second and last scheduled point release of the GNOME 3.22 desktop environment for GNU/Linux distributions, the GNOME Shell and Mutter components have received new versions earlier today, November 10, 2016.

        GNOME Shell 3.22.2 and Mutter 3.22.2 are now available for download, and it looks like they bring various improvements to make your GNOME 3.22 desktop experience better, especially of you’re using the next-generation Wayland display server.

        For example, the Mutter 3.22.2 window and composite manager release fixes various placement issues and several crashes on Wayland, and also repairs the functionality that allowed users to switch between edge and two-finger-scrolling on the Wayland session.

  • Distributions

    • Solus Project to No Longer Support openSUSE & Fedora Repos for Budgie 11 Desktop

      While many of us, Solus users, are preparing for the winter holidays, the team lead by renowned developer Ikey Doherty is currently working hard on bringing what might just be the biggest Budgie desktop release so far.

      We can all agree that the current Budgie desktop environment is pretty cool with its GNOME 2-like vibe, and you can even enjoy it on Ubuntu Budgie, Arch Linux, Debian GNU/Linux, SparkyLinux (Debian based), and Manjaro (Arch Linux based). You can also enjoy Budgie on RPM-based distros like openSUSE and Fedora, which currently lies on the Solus Project’s OBS (Open Build Service) repositories.

    • Reviews

      • elementary OS 0.4 Loki

        elementary OS is a Linux desktop distribution that’s based on Ubuntu. The project’s goal is crafting a “fast and open replacement for Windows and macOS”.

        The latest, stable edition, with a core that’s based on Ubuntu 16.04, is elementary OS 0.4, code-named Loki.

        This article provides a walk-through of the distribution’s most important features.

        The distribution’s login screen. By default, a guest account is enabled.

    • New Releases

    • OpenSUSE/SUSE

      • SUSE: A look inside the new SUSE Linux Enterprise 12 Service Pack 2

        While out in the streets of DC there was alternately depression and elation, gnashing of teeth and celebration, at SUSECon yesterday, SUSE announced SUSE Linux Enterprise (SLE) 12 Service Pack 2 designed to power physical, virtual and cloud-based mission-critical environments. The goal with this release is to help SLE users accelerate innovation, improve system reliability, meet ever more challenging security requirements and adapt to the accelerating pace of new technologies. SUSE expressed great pride in the fact that 2/3 of the Fortune Global 100 are currently using SLE.

      • Red Hat ‘spy’ makes appearance at SUSECon

        The attendees at SUSECon 2016, the annual conference of the Germany-based SUSE Linux being held in Washington DC this week, fall into the usual well-known categories: employee, media, analyst, speaker etc.

      • openSUSE Tumbleweed Users Get Latest Linux Kernel, Mesa, and KDE Plasma Updates

        Today, November 10, 2016, openSUSE Project’s Douglas DeMaio reports on the latest updates brought by a total of four snapshots for the openSUSE Tumbleweed rolling release Linux-based operating system.

      • OpenSUSE Tumbleweed Lands Mesa 13.0
      • openSUSE News: Mesa 13 Arrives in Tumbleweed with New Kernel

        This week has been a bit hectic with dramatic change affecting people around the world, but openSUSE Tumbleweed users who are use to change can find some clarity in the chaos with five snapshots that were released this week.

        These snapshots brought not only a new major version of Mesa but a new kernel and Plasma 5.8.3.

        The newest snapshot 20161108 updated yast2 to version 3.2.3 and added a patch to fix a crash from upstream for Wayland. Lightweight web browser epiphany, which updated to version 3.22.2 in the snapshot, added fixes for adblocker and improved the password form for autofill handling.

      • Highlights of YaST development sprint 27

        This week, during SUSECon 2016, SUSE announced an exciting upcoming new product. SUSE CASP – a Kubernetes based Container As a Service Platform.

        That has, of course, some implications for the installer, like the need of some products (like CASP) to specify a fixed configuration for some subsystems. For example, an established selection of packages. The user should not be allowed to change those fixed configurations during installation.

        We have implemented a possibility to mark some modules in the installation proposal as read-only. These read-only modules then cannot be started from the installer and therefore their configuration is kept at the default initial state.

      • openSUSE Leap Goes Gold, Fedora 25 Delayed a Week

        Today in Linux news openSUSE 42.2 Leap has gone Gold Master in time for next Wednesday’s release. On the other side of town Fedora 25 has been delayed a week, pushing its release to November 22, 2016. Sam Varghese and John Grogan reported on the latest from SUSECon 2016, with one covering a Red Hat spy in attendance. Eric Hameleers released his latest liveslak and ISOs. The Hectic Geek compared Ubuntu 16.10 flavors and Carla Schroder examined Ubuntu’s enterprise chops.

      • SUSE plans container as a service platform

        Germany-based SUSE Linux has announced a container as a service platform that it hopes to release as a public beta in April next year, before the first customer version comes out in July the same year.

        Three of the developers involved — Federica Teodori, project manager for container and orchestration, Andreas Jaeger, senior product manager, and Simona Arsene, product manager — spoke to iTWire about the technology on the sidelines of SUSECon 2016, the company’s annual conference that is being held in Washington DC this week.

        Jaeger said the idea was to have a software-defined infrastructure where containers handled the workloads. The advantage was that containers, which include an application and its dependencies, could be moved around and could run from more than one location.

      • SUSE Deal Includes Ceph Storage Project
      • SUSE Growing Linux Biz Revenue at 18 percent in 2016

        According to Brauckmann, the fastest-growing route to market for SUSE now is the public cloud.

    • Slackware Family

      • More Flash fixes in November
      • Q4 2016 fixes for Java 8 (openjdk)
      • LibreOffice 5.2.3 for Slackware-current

        I wanted the latest LibreOffice in the upcoming Slackware Live Edition 1.1.4 (PLASMA 5 variant) so I have built and uploaded a set of packages for LibreOffice 5.2.3. They are for Slackware-current only.

      • Slackware Live Edition 1.1.4 – based on slackware-current of 4 Nov 2016

        Today I conclude my packaging frenzy with a new release of ‘liveslak‘. Version 1.1.4 is ready with only some minor tweaks. Users of the “iso2usb.sh” script on non-Slackware distros should be happy that the script finds all the required programs now.
        I made a set of ISO images for several variants of the 64bit version of Slackware Live Edition based on liveslak 1.1.4 and using Slackware-current dated “Fri Nov 4 03:31:38 UTC 2016”. These ISO images have been uploaded and are available on the primary server ‘bear‘. You will find ISO images for a full Slackware, Plasma5 and MATE variants and the 700MB small XFCE variant.

    • Red Hat Family

    • Debian Family

      • Derivatives

        • Canonical/Ubuntu

          • Enterprise Linux Showdown: Ubuntu Linux

            Canonical’s Ubuntu Linux is the newcomer in the enterprise Linux space. Its first release was in 2004; the other two enterprise Linux distributions in this series, SUSE and Red Hat, were born in 1992 and 1993. In its short life Ubuntu has generated considerable controversy, supporters, detractors, excitement, and given the Linux world a much-needed injection of energy.

            One of the primary differentiators between Ubuntu, RHEL, and SUSE is Ubuntu unashamedly and boldly promotes their desktop version. RHEL and SUSE soft-pedal their desktop editions. Not Canonical. Desktop Ubuntu has been front and center from the beginning.

          • Flavours and Variants

            • Ubuntu 16.10 Flavors Comparison: Ubuntu vs Ubuntu GNOME vs Kubuntu vs Xubuntu

              As promised in my earlier Ubuntu 16.10 review, I have come up with an Ubuntu 16.10 flavors comparison as well, although, I was planning on coming up with this comparison much sooner (but hey, it’s here!)

              Unlike in my Ubuntu 16.04 LTS flavors comparison which only included two main Ubuntu flavors (Ubuntu GNOME & Kubuntu), this time, I’ve also added Xubuntu 16.10 to the comparison because it was requested by a couple of my readers. The ISO disc image sizes are as follows: Ubuntu 16.10 (1.6 GB), Ubuntu GNOME 16.10 (1.5 GB), Kubuntu 16.10 (1.6 GB) & Xubuntu 16.10 (1.3 GB). And also, I only chose the 64-bit versions of the disc images for the flavors review as well.

              And in this comparison, I’ll only be comparing the performance related data, the stability and hardware recognition of each flavor. I’ll skip new features and whatnot, because you can find information about those features elsewhere, quite easily.

  • Devices/Embedded

    • Phones

      • Android

        • Google responds in EU antitrust case: “Android hasn’t hurt competition” [Ed: This is Microsoft pulling EU strings]

          Google—as expected—has dismissed the European Commission’s charge that the ad giant abused Android’s dominance to block its competitors in the market.

          The company is accused of using Android’s position as the dominant smartphone operating system in Europe to force manufacturers to pre-install Google services while locking out competitors.

Free Software/Open Source

  • GitLab, Consumer Driven Contracts, Helm and Kubernetes

    This article will focus on building a workflow driven by Continuous Integration and Continuous Delivery for deploying the services on Kubernetes.

    We’ll develop and deliver an Application with two different services that communicate with each other. One service is internal and the other will be accessible from the outside world via Traefik. We’ll want to develop, deploy and evolve each service independently of the rest.

  • Web Browsers

    • Mozilla

      • Announcing Rust 1.13

        The Rust team is happy to announce the latest version of Rust, 1.13.0. Rust is a systems programming language focused on safety, speed, and concurrency.

        As always, you can install Rust 1.13.0 from the appropriate page on our website, and check out the detailed release notes for 1.13.0 on GitHub. 1448 patches were landed in this release.

        It’s been a busy season in Rust. We enjoyed three Rust conferences, RustConf, RustFest, and Rust Belt Rust, in short succession. It was great to see so many Rustaceans in person, some for the first time! We’ve been thinking a lot about the future, developing a roadmap for 2017, and building the tools our users tell us they need.

      • Rust 1.13 Brings ? Operator, Better Performance

        Rust 1.13 is now available as the latest implementation of this popular and growing programming language.

  • SaaS/Back End

    • How OpenStack Uses Nodepool

      OpenStack is an open-source cloud platform at its core, but it’s also much more. In order to build OpenStack itself, the OpenStack Foundation has needed to build out all kinds of infrastructure management tooling, including an effort known as nodepool.

    • Survey Shows Spark Spreading Out, Heading to the Cloud

      New survey data from nearly 7,000 respondents in the Big Data space are in, conducted by The Taneja Group for Cloudera, which focuses on Hadoop/Spark-based data-centric tools. The new “Apache Spark Market Survey” shows that Spark is set to break from the Hadoop ecosystem and function more and more as an independent data processing tool. It may move from on-premises installations to the cloud in many instances.

  • Oracle/Java/LibreOffice

    • LibreOffice 5 – Free Office Suite Keeps Getting Better

      LibreOffice is the best office software available, or at least on Linux. LibreOffice is a powerful office suite that comes with a clean interface and feature-rich tools that seeks to make your productive and creative. LibreOffice includes several applications including Writer for word processing, Calc for spreadsheets, Impress for presentations, Draw for vector graphics and flowcharts, Base for databases, and Math for formula editing.

  • Pseudo-Open Source (Openwashing)

  • FSF/FSFE/GNU/SFLC

  • Programming/Development

    • What is hackathon culture?

      That’s the type of culture codeRIT and BrickHack are about. Race, gender, and how much you know about coding software doesn’t matter; what matters is that you want to learn, and you want to better yourself and the world.

Leftovers

  • Microsoft lays out its hopes for a Trump presidency

    As America wraps its head around the result of Tuesday’s election, the tech world is taking stock of what’s about to happen to it, both in the short and long term. We’ve heard how Silicon Valley has reacted with disappointment and uncertainty over what President Donald Trump means for tech-related policy. Microsoft on the other hand has gone into a little more detail about the relationship it wants with the president-elect.

    In a blog post published the day after the election, Brad Smith, Microsoft’s president and chief legal officer, offered his congratulations to Trump while making it clear that there was a great deal of work ahead for both sides.

  • Health/Nutrition

    • WTO Members Discuss UN High-Level Report On Medicines Access That WHO Declined To Discuss

      The World Trade Organization intellectual property committee this week discussed the report of United Nations Secretary General’s High-Level Panel on access to medicines which offered recommendations regarding the use of intellectual property in international trade. Developing countries taking the floor accentuated the use of flexibilities under trade rules, and the World Health Organization gave an overview of how its activities follow the panel’s recommendations, and its future projects. Civil society meanwhile criticised the WHO’s decision to dismiss a request by some developing countries to include discussions on the UN report at the next Executive Board Meeting. WHO then used this WTO meeting to make a statement about the UN report.

    • American Women Are Preparing for a War on Reproductive Rights Under President Trump

      Benoit told The Intercept that more than two dozen women reached out to her for advice about the IUD, a small device inserted into the uterus that, depending on the type, works for three to 12 years. “I recommend the IUD right now especially because it’s long term, which with 20 million+ Americans potentially losing their health insurance and potentially right to an abortion, is important,” she said.

    • India Patent Office denies patent for prostate cancer drug sold under brand name Xtandi, generic name enzalutamide

      According to this story, the India Patent Office has denied a patent for the prostate cancer drug sold under the brand name Xtandi (generic name Enzalutamide). Opponents of the patent claimed it was a new form of a known substance, and not eligible in India under Section 3(d) of its patent act.

      According to the Times of India, the Astellas price for 112 pills (a 28 day supply) of Xtandi was 335,000 rupees, or about $5014.60 US Dollars. This is $179 per day or $44.77 per pill, much higher than the $26 per pill price Astellas sells the drug for in Japan.

      According to the World Bank, the 2015 per capita income in India was $1,590 per year, or $4.36 per day.

    • Six Candidates For WHO Director General Lay Out Their Views

      Funding, universal health, multisectoral work and access to medicines were among the issues addressed at the recent candidates’ forum of the World Health Organization in Geneva as part of the process to choose the next director general of the UN health agency. Candidates spoke on how to fund the organisation in its quest for universal health care and response to emergencies.

    • Two Generics Companies Apply For First WHO Prequalification Of Novel Antiretroviral

      Today, the Medicines Patent Pool announced that two generic drug companies applied for the World Health Organization prequalification of an innovative antiretroviral.

  • Security

    • The Future of IoT: Containers Aim to Solve Security Crisis

      Despite growing security threats, the Internet of Things hype shows no sign of abating. Feeling the FoMo, companies are busily rearranging their roadmaps for IoT. The transition to IoT runs even deeper and broader than the mobile revolution. Everything gets swallowed in the IoT maw, including smartphones, which are often our windows on the IoT world, and sometimes our hubs or sensor endpoints.

      New IoT focused processors and embedded boards continue to reshape the tech landscape. Since our Linux and Open Source Hardware for IoT story in September, we’ve seen Intel Atom E3900 “Apollo Lake” SoCs aimed at IoT gateways, as well as new Samsung Artik modules, including a Linux-driven, 64-bit Artik7 COM for gateways and an RTOS-ready, Cortex-M4 Artik0. ARM announced Cortex-M23 and Cortex-M33 cores for IoT endpoints featuring ARMv8-M and TrustZone security.

    • GCHQ encourages ISPs to rewrite their software to stop DDoS attacks

      The head of the GCHQ believes that if ISPs were to rewrite their software that they could potentially stop DDoS attacks from affecting their networks.

    • GCHQ thinks ISPs can solve DDoS by taking a good look at themselves

      THE BOSS OF UK SPOOK AGENCY GCHQ reckons that he has the solution to the global problem of distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks that blight online services: a standard rewrite of the software and code on which ISPs run.

      Ian Levy, technical director of GCHQ’s National Cyber Security Centre, told The Sunday Telegraph that the organisation is already planning talks with ISPs like BT about this silver bullet, and he is hopeful that it won’t turn out to be silver-plated bullshit.

    • OpenSSL Security Advisory [10 Nov 2016]

  • Transparency/Investigative Reporting

    • Is Disclosure of Podesta’s Emails a Step Too Far? A Conversation With Naomi Klein

      There’s an amazing irony here in some sense because I’ve been defending the news value of the WikiLeaks archives over the past several months, not just the Podesta but also the DNC archive. And I’ve defended WikiLeaks in the past, long prior to the Snowden archive. There are a couple of really fascinating nuances that I think set the stage for the kinds of distinctions that you’re urging be drawn.

      When I first started defending WikiLeaks back in 2010, one of my primary arguments was that WikiLeaks, contrary to the way they were being depicted by the U.S. intelligence community and their friends, was not some reckless rogue agent running around sociopathically dumping information on the internet without concern about who might be endangered. And in fact, if you look at how the biggest WikiLeaks releases were handled early on — the Iraq and Afghanistan war logs, as well as the State Department cables — not only did they redact huge numbers of documents on the grounds that doing so was necessary to protect the welfare of innocent people, they actually requested that the State Department meet with them to help them figure out what kind of information should be withheld on the grounds that it could endanger innocent people.

      So they were very much an ardent and enthusiastic proponent of that model — that when you get tons of information that belongs in the public eye, you have the corresponding responsibility to protect not only people’s physical security but also their privacy. I used to defend them on that all the time.

      Somewhere along the way, WikiLeaks and Julian decided, and they’ve said this explicitly, that they changed their mind on that question — they no longer believe in redactions or withholding documents of any kind.

    • Reddit users take WikiLeaks to task over email dumps, Russia

      Among the highlights of the AMA, was WikiLeaks revealing it decides to publish information according to its “promise to sources for maximum impact.” WikiLeaks also denied colluding with Trump’s campaign and Russia, and defended the information it dumped and its timing.

    • We are the WikiLeaks staff. Despite our editor Julian Assange’s increasingly precarious situation WikiLeaks continues publishing

  • Environment/Energy/Wildlife/Nature

    • Marrakech climate talks: giving the fossil fuel lobby a seat at the table

      As the world gathers in Morocco for the historic first meeting under the Paris agreement – called “COP22” but now also “CMA1” – it does so with the unprecedented involvement of corporate interests who have fought climate action around the world, funded climate change denial and whose fundamental interest is in extracting and burning as much fossil fuel as possible.

      Earlier this year, desperate moves from countries representing the majority of the world’s population to examine how the UN might identify and minimise conflicts of interest were swept under the carpet by rich countries – especially the US, EU and Australia – who argued they wanted to be as “inclusive” as possible and that the concept of “conflict of interest” was too hard to define.

    • Myron Ebell: 5 Fast Facts You Need to Know

      Donald Trump is rumored to appoint Myron Ebell, a climate change denier, as head of the Environmental Protection Agency.

      Ebell serves as the director of the Center for Energy and Environment at the Competitive Enterprise Institute, and he’s currently heading President-Elect Trump’s Environmental Protection Agency transition process. Politico reports that Ebell himself will likely become the new head of the EPA. While nothing official has been announced by the Trump campaign, the appointment of Ebell would represent a dramatic shift in the United States’ environmental policies.

      Here’s what you need to know about Myron Ebell, the possible next head of the Environmental Protection Agency.

    • Team Trump is already filled with Washington insiders

      To shape his administration, President-elect Donald Trump is drawing squarely from the “swamp” he has pledged to drain.
      Trump’s transition team is staffed with long-time Washington experts and lobbyists from K Street, think tanks and political offices.

      It’s a far cry from Trump’s campaign, which ended only Tuesday night, and message that he would “drain the swamp” in Washington. He has advocated congressional term limits and proposed a “five-point plan for ethics reform” that included strengthening restrictions on lobbying, including five-year bans for members and staff of the executive branch and Congress from lobbying, and expanding the definition of lobbyist to prevent more revolving door activity.
      But he has so far fully embraced lobbyists within his transition, and all signs point to a heavy influence from longtime Washington Republican circles on his transition. And with Trump mostly skipping detailed policy proposals during his campaign, these they can have a powerful impact on his agenda.

    • Trump Picks Top Climate Skeptic to Lead EPA Transition

      Donald Trump has selected one of the best-known climate skeptics to lead his U.S. EPA transition team, according to two sources close to the campaign.

      Myron Ebell, director of the Center for Energy and Environment at the conservative Competitive Enterprise Institute, is spearheading Trump’s transition plans for EPA, the sources said.

      The Trump team has also lined up leaders for its Energy Department and Interior Department teams. Republican energy lobbyist Mike McKenna is heading the DOE team; former Interior Department solicitor David Bernhardt is leading the effort for that agency, according to sources close to the campaign.

    • Palm oil industry under fire as Indonesia’s haze drama continues

      In August, haze from Indonesian slash-and-burn agriculture enveloped Singapore and wafted into Malaysia and up to Thailand. It was not as bad as last year, however.

      The usual wave of complaints came from Singapore and the diplomatic spat started again.

      Indonesia’s Minister of Environment and Forestry, Dr Siti Nurbaya Bakar, asked that Singapore focus on its own role in addressing the issue instead of “making so many comments”. She said that Indonesia has stuck to its side of the bargain in trying to avoid the recurrence of forest fires and in strictly enforcing the law. She is right.

      Dr Siti has vowed to bring the culprits to justice – mostly palm oil plantation companies, some headquartered in Singapore.

    • What does a Trump presidency mean for climate change?

      Donald Trump, the 45th president of the United States, has called climate change a “Chinese hoax,” so it’s no wonder climate scientists are freaking out about what will happen to the environment in the years to come.

      Trump has already threatened to pull America out of the landmark Paris climate change accord, eliminate the Environmental Protection Agency, repeal environmental regulations, and cut climate funding. He proposed an incoherent energy plan aimed at reviving the coal industry. It’s difficult to know which of these promises Trump will follow through on, but climate scientists warn that his plan is a disaster that would create lasting harm to everything from global biodiversity to food availability.

    • Climate change may be escalating so fast it could be ‘game over’, scientists warn

      It is a vision of a future so apocalyptic that it is hard to even imagine.

      But, if leading scientists writing in one of the most respected academic journals are right, planet Earth could be on course for global warming of more than seven degrees Celsius within a lifetime.

      And that, according to one of the world’s most renowned climatologists, could be “game over” – particularly given the imminent presence of climate change denier Donald Trump in the White House.

  • Finance

    • Even Fans Admit Chances Of TPP Being Ratified By US Soon — Or Ever — Have Just Slumped

      In the wake of the unexpected win of Donald Trump, people in many fields are starting to re-examine their assumptions about what might happen in the next few years. One of the areas impacted by Trump’s success is trade in general, and trade deals in particular. For perhaps the first time, the 2016 election campaign put trade deals front and center. They may even have contributed to Hillary Clinton’s downfall, since many found her sudden conversion to the anti-TPP movement unconvincing, to say the least.

    • Judge rejects Trump bid to bar campaign statements from fraud trial

      A U.S. judge on Thursday tentatively rejected a bid by Donald Trump to keep a wide range of statements from the presidential campaign out of an upcoming fraud trial over his Trump University venture.

      The ruling came in advance of a pretrial hearing later on Thursday where lawyers for the president-elect will square off against students who claim they were they were lured by false promises to pay up to $35,000 to learn Trump’s real estate investing “secrets” from his “hand-picked” instructors.

      Trump owned 92 percent of Trump University and had control over all major decisions, the students’ court papers say. The president-elect denies the allegations and has argued that he relied on others to manage the business.

    • The Trans-Pacific Partnership is dead, Schumer tells labor leaders

      The Senate’s soon-to-be top Democrat told labor leaders Thursday that the Trans-Pacific Partnership, the trade deal at the center of President Obama’s “pivot” to strengthen ties with key Asian allies, will not be ratified by Congress.

      That remark from Sen. Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.), who is expected to be the incoming Senate minority leader, came as good news to the AFL-CIO Executive Council, which met Thursday in Washington. Schumer relayed statements that Republican congressional leaders had made to him, according to an aide who confirmed the remarks.

    • TiSA: Trade in Services Agreement is Bad News for Workers and Communities

      The report sets out how a TiSA agreement would concentrate more power in the hands of multinational corporations, put a stranglehold on vital government regulation, undo the limited progress which has been made on regulating banks and finance conglomerates, and lead to an “Uberisation” of millions of workers’ jobs.

      Sharan Burrow, ITUC General Secretary, said: “While trade deals like TTIP, TPP and CETA are making headlines, government negotiators working hand in glove with corporate lobbyists are hoping to smuggle TiSA through while attention is focused elsewhere. This must not be allowed to happen.

      From what is known about the secret TiSA deal, it would have a profound and negative impact on financial regulation, protections for workers and consumers alike, and across a whole raft of other areas. Governments have still not learned the lesson that putting corporate interests ahead of the living standards and lives of their own people is not only unjust, it is political stupidity.”

    • Theresa May faces Brexit resistance as MPs threaten to vote against Article 50

      Theresa May has been given a fresh indicator of the difficulties she could face if Parliament is given a vote on article 50, as MPs lined up threatening to vote against triggering Brexit .

      Ministers are challenging a High Court ruling that Parliament must be given a say before the formal two-year process can be started by the Government, but if it comes to a Commons vote a number of MPs have indicated they would oppose the measure unless there are major concessions.

      Liberal Democrat leader Tim Farron said his party would vote against Article 50 unless there was a guarantee that the final Brexit deal with the European Union is put to a fresh referendum.

      He insisted he respected the decision made by voters in favour of leaving the EU but said nobody should have a deal “imposed” upon them.

      Although the Lib Dems only have eight MPs they have more than 100 peers in the Lords, which could spell trouble for the Government if judges rule that a full act of Parliament is required before Article 50 can be triggered, as the legislation would have to clear both Houses.

    • Saudi Arabia owes billions to private firms after collapse in oil revenues

      Saudi Arabia has admiited that it owes billions of dollars to private firms and foreign workers after oil revenues collapsed, the kingdom’s new finance minister said.

      The arrears have left tens of thousands of foreign workers, chiefly in the construction sector, struggling for months while they await back pay.

      “I don’t recall the exact amount now but its billions of dollars,” Mohammed Aljadaan told reporters on Thursday.

    • Your money’s no good: rupee note cancellation plunges India into panic

      Queues of angry, panicked Indians wound around bank buildings in Mumbai, the financial capital, on Thursday morning, two days after the prime minister, Narendra Modi, announced that 500- and 1,000-rupee notes, worth around £6 and £12, would be taken out of circulation.

      In a televised announcement on Tuesday night, Modi had urged Indians not to rush to banks, as they would have until the end of 2016 to deposit cash in their accounts. But with the high-value notes withdrawn from Wednesday in an effort to combat corruption, black-market trade and tax evasion, many were left without cash for day-to-day expenses.

      Banks were closed on Wednesday, and reopened on Thursday morning with a cap on cash withdrawals. ATMs remained closed, so currency was only available from the banks. Newspapers around the country reported long queues at branches, as people scrambled to exchange their high-value banknotes for 100-rupee bills.

    • Trump tapped the viral anger over H-1B use

      President-elect Donald Trump realized early in his campaign that U.S. IT workers were angry over training foreign visa-holding replacements. He knew this anger was volcanic.

      Trump is the first major U.S. presidential candidate in this race — or any previous presidential race — to focus on the use of the H-1B visa to displace IT workers. He asked former Disney IT employees, upset over having to train foreign replacements, to speak at his rallies.

      “The fact is that Americans are losing their jobs to foreigners,” said Dena Moore, a former Disney IT worker at a Trump rally in Alabama in February. “I believe Mr. Trump is for Americans first.”

  • AstroTurf/Lobbying/Politics

    • Donald Trump could be impeached within weeks, claims legal professor

      Donald Trump could be impeached within weeks, according to at least one legal professor.

      There is a strong case for the beginning of legal proceedings that would stop Donald Trump from being president, says law professor Christopher Peterson.

      A paper from Professor Peterson says that there is ample evidence to charge the new President-elect with crimes that would see him potentially being removed from office.

      Professor Peterson’s analysis was written in September, before Mr Trump became president. But the argument makes it applies after the election, too.

    • Facebook’s failure: did fake news and polarized politics get Trump elected?

      It’s a great quote, but he never said it.

      It typifies the kind of fake news and misinformation that has plagued the 2016 election on an unprecedented scale. In the wake of the surprise election of Donald Trump as president of the United States, pressure is growing on Facebook to not only tackle the problem but also to find ways to encourage healthier discourse between people with different political views.

      Rather than connecting people – as Facebook’s euphoric mission statement claims – the bitter polarization of the social network over the last eighteen months suggests Facebook is actually doing more to divide the world.

    • Why Mark Zuckerberg Is Fortune’s Businessperson of the Year
    • President Trump: How America Got It So Wrong

      “Fuck yourself,” he says, thrusting a middle finger in my face. He then turns around and walks a boy of about five away from me down Fifth Avenue, a hand gently tousling his son’s hair.

      This was before Donald Trump’s historic victory. The message afterward no doubt would have been the same. There’s no way to overstate the horror of what just went down. Sure, we’ve had some unstable characters enter the White House. JFK had health problems that led him to take amphetamine shots during the Cuban Missile Crisis. Reagan’s attention span was so short, the CIA had to make mini-movies to brief him on foreign leaders. George W. Bush not only didn’t read the news, he wasn’t interested in it (“What’s in the newspapers worth worrying about?” he once asked, without irony).

      But all of these men were just fronts for one or the other half of the familiar alternating power structure, surrounded by predictable, relatively sober confederates who managed the day-to-day. Trump enters the White House as a lone wrecking ball of conspiratorial ideas, a one-man movement unto himself who owes almost nothing to traditional Republicans and can be expected to be anything but a figurehead. He takes office at a time when the chief executive is vastly more powerful than ever before, with nearly unlimited authority to investigate, surveil, torture and assassinate foreigners and even U.S. citizens – powers that didn’t seem to trouble people much when they were granted to Barack Obama.

    • Elections, the Internet, and the Power of Narrative

      Once again, the struggle over the Power of Narrative has been laid bare – just as it was in the 1530s and countless other times in history. Once again, a colluding establishment had decided to tell a unified story as The Truth, only to be shattered by new communications technology revealing the collusion and a set of alternative, unapproved talking points. This has happened before, and this will happen again, and it is the biggest power shift that can happen in society – far greater than an election.

      Elections are ultimately about violence. Since the Treaty of Westphalia in 1648, far predating modern democracy, states have taken upon themselves to enforce a certain set of rules on their population – with violence, if need be. The territorial governments under the Treaty of Westphalia – loosely what we call “countries” today – therefore have a monopoly on exercising lawful violence against bad people. This mechanism remains with modern voting, which therefore becomes an indirect way of wielding violence against those bad people.

    • How Data Failed Us in Calling an Election

      It was a rough night for number crunchers. And for the faith that people in every field — business, politics, sports and academia — have increasingly placed in the power of data.

      Donald J. Trump’s victory ran counter to almost every major forecast — undercutting the belief that analyzing reams of data can accurately predict events. Voters demonstrated how much predictive analytics, and election forecasting in particular, remains a young science: Some people may have been misled into thinking Hillary Clinton’s win was assured because some of the forecasts lacked context explaining potentially wide margins of error.

      “It’s the overselling of precision,” said Dr. Pradeep Mutalik, a research scientist at the Yale Center for Medical Informatics, who had calculated that some of the vote models could be off by 15 to 20 percent.

      Virtually all the major vote forecasters, including Nate Silver’s FiveThirtyEight site, The New York Times Upshot and the Princeton Election Consortium, put Mrs. Clinton’s chances of winning in the 70 to 99 percent range.

    • Polls etc.

      Two points which have come up at work and may be generally interesting as everyone picks through the wreckage. Research/marketing stuff, be warned. Also remember I was HIDEOUSLY WRONG about Trump not being like Brexit because I was a straw-clutching idiot. So pinch of salt but…

      1) The Polls. They fucked up, and so did the aggregators (in fact worse, as one of the individual polls (IBM/TPP) did rather well). 538, PEC, etc look like post-meteor dinosaurs. But obviously the individual polls are also in trouble if the business is going to come down to “poll all year and then at the end we see who’s turnout assumptions are best”.

      But the problem actually runs deeper than that – the trouble isn’t “shy Trump voters” which you can often detect using other indicators. It’s Trump voters who barely even get the chance to be shy, because years of declining response rates (down from 25% to 5% or so in the last 20 years) have created an entirely skewed survey-taking universe where the set of people who will take surveys at all is very different from the population. Estimating how many might be missing is pure guesswork: yes, an insurgent electorate is more right wing, but by 2 points? 5? 10? There’s no way of knowing. These people are dark matter. PS the exit polls ARE STILL POLLS this still applies.

    • Tech founders want California to secede

      Shervin Pishevar, an early Uber investor and cofounder of Hyperloop, posted a series of tweets Tuesday night announcing his plans to fund “a legitimate campaign for California to become its own nation.”

      And no, he’s not joking.

      “Yes it’s serious,” Pishevar told CNNMoney in an e-mail. “It’s the most patriotic thing I can do. The country is [at] a serious crossroads.”

      Within hours, several other tech founders offered their support for the plan.

      “I was literally just going to tweet this. I’m in and will partner with you on it,” Dave Morin, an investor and founder of private social networking tool Path, tweeted in response to Pishevar.

    • Donna Brazile: I’m sorry only that I got caught cheating with debate questions

      Donna Brazile, the interim chair of the Democratic National Committee, is not only refusing to apologize for giving debate questions to candidate Hillary Clinton. She’s also saying she would do it again if given the opportunity.

      “My conscience — as an activist, a strategist — is very clear,” she said in an interview with talk-radio host Joe Madison that aired on Monday.

      Brazile argued she was simply doing her job as a strategist to know what questions the debate moderators might pose: “You’re doggone right I’m gonna talk to everybody. Joe, I will never go out on TV or go on radio without the facts. I will ask. I will submit things. I will circulate things. And guess what? I also enjoy the exchange that I have with my colleagues.”

    • Everyone Is Sharing Michael Moore’s 5-Point ‘Morning After To-Do List’

      The morning after Donald Trump became the U.S. president-elect felt like something of a hangover for millions of Democrats. With a Republican Senate and House of Representatives to boot, to say nothing of Supreme Court vacancies, many liberals were understandably depressed.

      Maybe that’s why documentary filmmaker Michael Moore’s five-point plan has been shared over 100,000 times since it was posted on Facebook Wednesday morning. It offers a blueprint for how Democrats can get back up and fight for their causes.

    • It’s Still the Same United States

      In the aftermath of Donald Trump’s shocking victory, many liberals woke up Wednesday morning feeling like strangers in their own country, or perhaps, as if they were the familiar ones and it was the country itself that had become the stranger. I heard it in the voices of friends. I read it in texts from family. I found it in newspaper headlines from some of my favorite writers and in tweets and Facebook messages. What kind of a country do I live in? they asked. Something important has changed. This is not the nation I thought I knew.

    • Trump campaign staff redirects, then restores, mention of Muslim ban from website

      President-elect Donald Trump’s campaign staff temporarily redirected the webpage detailing his controversial proposal to temporarily ban Muslim immigration into the United States, one of the most divisive and controversial policy ideas of his campaign, but swiftly sought to restore it after reporter inquiries Thursday.

      The proposal is detailed on a page titled, “Donald J. Trump statement on Preventing Muslim Immigration.” Starting on Election Day, that page redirected to a new page where supporters could donate to the campaign. “Thank you America,” said the banner on the new page. “We showed America the silent majority is no longer silent.”

    • KKK announces North Carolina ‘victory’ parade

      While one report of Ku Klux Klan activity in North Carolina following Donald Trump’s election as president was debunked, the real KKK has announced a rally in the state.

      Trump, a Republican, was officially endorsed by the KKK during his campaign against Hillary Clinton, a Democrat. Trump won North Carolina on his way to winning the presidency, defeating Clinton here by nearly 5 percentage points.

      Details on the rally celebrating Trump’s victory are scarce. It’s being held by The Loyal White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, which is based in Pelham – a small, unincorporated community about 45 minutes north of Burlington, near the Virginia border.

      The group was behind a rally in South Carolina last year protesting the removal of the Confederate flag from the state Capitol building.

    • Trump’s dystopia is coming – but it will destroy itself

      It means that the reactionary forces of the far-right are resurgent. Trump’s victory is the latest in a global trend which was previously manifest in Britain’s Brexit vote, which saw Britons vote to get out of the European Union. That itself follows a growing wave of popularity for right-wing extremists across Europe.

      It’s no surprise that among the first in Europe to congratulate Trump on taking the White House were far-right leaders like France’s Marine Le Pen and the Netherlands’ Geert Wilders.

      That is because, as I’ve documented elsewhere, Trump’s advisory team has close ties to Europe’s fascist political parties.

      His campaign rhetoric has meant that the forces he rode to victory are hardly a secret.

    • Theresa May still awaiting call from Donald Trump

      The UK’s hopes for a continuation of the much-vaunted special relationship with the US under Donald Trump have suffered an early setback after the new president-elect spoke to nine world leaders in the 24 hours after his election win, without Theresa May getting a call.

      Trump has thus far talked to the leaders of Ireland, Mexico, Israel, Egypt, Turkey, India, Japan, Australia and South Korea, according to various reports.

      A Downing Street spokesman said a phone call between May and Trump was “being arranged now”. He said: “They will speak at the earliest possible opportunity.” The spokesman added that May had sent the president-elect a letter.

    • DNC Staffer Screams At Donna Brazile For Helping Elect Donald Trump

      On Thursday, Democratic Party officials held their first staff meeting since Hillary Clinton’s stunning loss to Donald Trump in the presidential race. It didn’t go well.

      Donna Brazile, the interim leader of the Democratic National Committee, was giving what one attendee described as “a rip-roaring speech” to about 150 employees, about the need to have hope for wins going forward, when a staffer identified only as Zach stood up with a question.

      “Why should we trust you as chair to lead us through this?” he asked, according to two people in the room. “You backed a flawed candidate, and your friend [former DNC chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz] plotted through this to support your own gain and yourself.”

      Some DNC staffers started to boo and some told him to sit down. Brazile began to answer, but Zach had more to say.

      “You are part of the problem,” he continued, blaming Brazile for clearing the path for Trump’s victory by siding with Clinton early on. “You and your friends will die of old age and I’m going to die from climate change. You and your friends let this happen, which is going to cut 40 years off my life expectancy.”

    • This Photo Of Sad Obama Staffers Isn’t From Trump’s White House Visit

      The photo was taken by European Press Agency photographer Jim Lo Scalzo and shows White House staff listening as Obama spoke from the Rose Garden Wednesday.

    • Obama To Pardon Hillary To Save Her From Jail

      Obama’s last act as president will be saving Hillary from jail by granting her a pardon, despite spending the last months claiming she has done nothing wrong.

      Washington insiders claim an elaborate pardon is being drawn up to protect Hillary from prosecution and jail time.

      The White House is deflecting questions about President-elect Donald Trump’s intent to appoint a special prosecutor to review Clinton’s case, and steadfastly refusing to rule out a pardon.

  • Censorship/Free Speech

    • Users Around the World Reject Europe’s Upload Filtering Proposal

      Users around the world have been outraged by the European Commission’s proposal to require websites to enter into Shadow Regulation agreements with copyright holders concerning the automatic filtering of user-generated content. This proposal, which some are calling RoboCopyright and others Europe’s #CensorshipMachine, would require many Internet platforms to integrate content scanning software into their websites to alert copyright holders every time it detected their content being uploaded by a user, without any consideration of the context.

      People are right to be mad. This is going to result in the wrongful blocking of non-infringing content, such as the fair use dancing baby video. But that’s only the start of it. The European proposal may also require images and text—not just video—to be automatically blocked on copyright grounds. Because automated scanning technologies are unable to evaluate the applicability of copyright exceptions, such as fair use or quotation, this could mean no more image macros, and no more reposting of song lyrics or excerpts from news articles to social media.

    • In The Rush To Blame Facebook, Come The Calls To Suppress Ideas People Disagree With

      In fact, it’s likely to make things even worse. Remember the mostly made up “controversy” about Facebook suppressing conservative news? Remember the outrage it provoked (or have you already forgotten?). Just imagine what would happen if Facebook now decided that it was only going to let people share “true” news. Whoever gets to decide that kind of thing has tremendous power — and there will be immediately claims of bias and hiding “important” stories — even if they’re bullshit. It will lead many of the people who are already angry about things to argue that their views are being suppressed and hidden and that they are being “censored.” That’s not a good recipe. And it’s an especially terrible recipe if people really want to understand why so many people are so angry at the status quo.

      Telling them that the news needs to be censored to “protect” them isn’t going to magically turn Trump supporters into Hillary supporters. It will just convince them that they’re even more persecuted.

      Other than “censoring” certain content, the only other suggestion I seriously heard was someone suggesting that Facebook should force-feed its users opposing views. Like that’s actually going to change anyone’s mind, rather than get them pissed off again. And, once again, this seems like people failing to take responsibility for their own actions. If you don’t have any friends who supported Trump, don’t lump that on Facebook.

      There are legitimate questions about whether you can better inform a populace. But censorship and force-feeding information is general paternalistic nonsense that totally misunderstands the issue and misdiagnoses the problem. As Clay Shirky noted earlier this year, too many Hillary supporters thought that “bringing fact checkers to a culture war” would win out, when that’s never going to happen. Fighting Facebook’s algorithim is more of the same nonsense. It’s based in the faulty belief that those who voted for “the other” are simply too dumb to understand the truth, and if they just got more truth, they’d buy it. It’s not understanding why they voted the way they did. It’s looking for easy scapegoats.

      Facebook’s algorithm is an easy target, but it’s even less likely to solve a culture war than fact checkers.

    • Less Censorship Could Make Independent Film Productions Suffer

      China passed its first comprehensive law governing the film industry on Monday, a move that some said would simplify the process of approving and censoring films. Others, however, worried that it could put more pressure on filmmakers, particularly independent producers.

    • Number of imported films in China reaches record high

      Chinese moviegoers will be spoilt for choice this month, with over 50 films, some of which are highly anticipated, from home and abroad hitting the cinemas in the month.

      November will see the release of 12 foreign films, including Doctor Strange, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, Allied, Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk, taking the number of imported films in the Chinese market to a record high of 39 this year. The number was 34 last year.

      Some domestic films are also highly anticipated, like I am not Madame Bovary, directed by Feng Xiaogang and starring Fan Bingbing, which has already won awards at Toronto International Film Festival and San Sebastian International Film Festival, and was nominated for many other awards.

      Even though most Chinese audiences are already used to overseas blockbusters flushing into the Chinese market in recent years, the cinematic booty of this month is still quite unprecedented.

    • New claims of Facebook censorship in Norway

      Just two months after Facebook found itself in the centre of an international controversy after censoring posts in Norway, the social media giant has banned another prominent Norwegian for posting a photo that included nudity.
      Artist, writer and Dagbladet columnist Kjetil Rolness was banned from Facebook for three days for having shared an article from online newspaper iTromsø.

      Author Tom Egeland, who was at the centre of the ‘Napalm Girl’ Facebook controversy back in August, was the one to bring the new case to light. He did so, naturally enough, on his Facebook page.

    • Polish minister accuses Facebook of censorship over right-wing symbol
    • Poland’s far-right groups protest Facebook
    • Far-right Polish groups protest Facebook profile blockages
    • Are Mark Cuban’s Reasons For Banning ESPN’s Mavericks Reporters Science Fiction?
    • Mark Cuban turns pro-censorship in latest NBA fit

  • Privacy/Surveillance

    • Should You Spy on Your Kids?

      In the middle of a long bicycle ride several weeks ago, I pulled over for a rest and took out my iPhone to send a text message to my wife. I had a feeling she might be watching me.

      “If you’re checking my location, I’m not dead,” I wrote to her. “I’m getting coffee on Mercer Island.”

      As it happens, she was not keeping tabs on where I was, but she could have — and has in the past — because I have allowed her to do so using the location-tracking capability in my phone. Whenever she’s curious, she can see me represented as an orange dot on a digital map on her phone. An unmoving dot could be a cyclist husband who got a flat tire, grabbed a beer with a friend or was hit by a car (hence the reassuring text).

      Now and again, I, too, check my wife’s location so I know when she leaves work and can time dinner with her arrival. She and I have both tracked the whereabouts of our 13-year-old daughter using her phone to reassure ourselves that she was on her way home from school or a trip to the store.

    • King County using customer grocery store data to target pet owners, send licensing notices

      A King County letter that ended up in the mailboxes of thousands of pet owners is raising concerns over privacy.

      The letter told pet owners to license their pets or face a $250 fine.

      “It feels weird to me, it feels like they’re kind of snooping around in a place where they shouldn’t be,” said dog owner Chris Lee.

      Turns out for the last four years, King County has been using data companies to target specific taxpayers, or in this case pet owners. That means every time customers swipe those rewards cards, they’re gathering data.

    • Government Needs Access To Big Data To Fight, Uh, Terrierism

      Scummy King County, Washington is using customer grocery store data to target pet owners and send them letters threatening them with a $250 fine if they don’t license their pets.

      Good reason to pay in cash, to avoid linking a “loyalty card” to the real you (Just call me “Mrs. Claus, 1010 North Pole Lane), and to vote out the assholes doing this.

    • The phone so secure even the head of the NSA uses it: Boeing’s secret ‘blackphone’ that can SELF DESTRUCT if tampered with begins testing (and no, you can’t buy one)

      Developed by Boeing and the Defense Information Systems Agency, the Boeing Black phone is designed for secure communication between governmental agencies and their contractors.

      The handset can even self destruct if it is tampered with, destroying all the data on it, and is so secure that Boeing will only sell it to ‘approved’ purchasers.

    • New IBM Platform Brings Watson to IoT

      IBM unveiled today an experimental platform that allows developers to embed Watson functions and cognitive technology into various devices. The platform, dubbed Project Intu, can be accessed through the Watson Developer Cloud, Intu Gateway, and GitHub.

  • Civil Rights/Policing

    • EU citizenship proposal could guarantee rights in Europe after Brexit

      The European parliament is to review a proposal for an associate EU citizenship open to nationals of a country that has left the union but who want to stay part of the European project and retain some of their EU rights.

      The plan, tabled by a liberal MEP from Luxembourg, could mean British citizens who opt for the new status would be able to continue to travel freely and live on the continent – rights that may no longer be automatic after Brexit.

      “It’s clear the UK is divided, and many people want to remain part of Europe,” said Charles Goerens, who proposed amendment 882 to a draft report by the parliament’s constitutional affairs committee on possible changes to “the current institutional set-up” of the European Union.

      “The idea is simply to guarantee those who want it some of the same rights they had as full EU citizens, including the right of residence in the EU, and to be able to vote in European elections and be represented by an MEP.”

    • Reports of racist graffiti, hate crimes in Trump’s America

      Fears of heightened bigotry and hate crimes have turned into reality for some Americans after Donald Trump’s presidential win.
      Racist, pro-Trump graffiti painted inside a high school. A hijab-wearing college student robbed by men talking about Trump and Muslims.
      While Trump has been accused of fostering xenophobia and Islamophobia, some of his supporters have used his words as justification to carry out hateful acts.
      Here’s what some Americans are dealing with across the country.

  • Internet Policy/Net Neutrality

    • Here’s How President Trump Could Destroy Net Neutrality

      Donald Trump’s presidential election victory could have dire consequences for US internet freedom and openness, according to several tech policy experts and public interest advocates surveyed by Motherboard on Wednesday.

      The Republican billionaire will likely seek to roll back hard-won consumer protections safeguarding net neutrality, the principle that all internet content should be equally accessible, as well as a host of other policies designed to protect consumers, ensure internet freedom, and promote broadband access, these experts and advocates said.

      “Everything we’ve accomplished over the last ten years is now in jeopardy,” said Malkia Cyril, co-founder and executive director of the Center for Media Justice, a nonprofit group that advocates for digital freedom and inclusion. “From net neutrality to broadband privacy to prison phone reform and the Lifeline expansion, that’s all at risk now.”

    • Trump’s FCC: Tom Wheeler to be replaced, set-top box reform could be dead

      Tom Wheeler’s time as chairman of the Federal Communications Commission is nearing an end now that Republican Donald Trump has won the presidency. You can expect Wheeler to step down from his chairmanship on or before January 20, when Trump is inaugurated.

      It’s customary for the chair to step down when the White House shifts to the opposing party. All five FCC commissioners are appointed by the president and confirmed by the US Senate, with the president’s party having a one-vote majority. (The president usually appoints minority party commissioners based on recommendations made by minority party lawmakers.)

      Trump can’t force Wheeler, a Democrat, to leave the commission entirely before his term expires, but the president can designate a new chairperson.

  • Intellectual Monopolies

    • Trademarks

      • CJEU rules against Rubik’s Cube shape trade mark

        In the judgment, published today, the five-judge panel said the General Court was wrong in its evaluation of functionality.

        Article 7(1)(e) of the (old) CTM Regulation provides that signs which consist exclusively of the shape of the goods themselves, a shape necessary to obtain a technical result or a shape which gives substantial value are not registrable.

      • CJEU upholds duty to reverse-engineer trade marks in Rubik’s cube decision, but what about the actual v abstract test?

        The role of the graphical representation included in trade mark applications is to let competitors and bodies in charge of the registration know the scope of the requested protection.

        In theory, owners’ exclusive rights are limited to the aesthetic appearance of the sign as represented in the application graphic representation. Thus – according to some – the chance to register a certain sign should be based on the self-contained, easily accessible, and intelligible images that appear in trade mark application.

    • Copyrights

      • Anti-Piracy Group FACT Expands Reach Beyond Hollywood

        The Federation Against Copyright Theft says that it will branch out into new areas of IP enforcement. For decades the anti-piracy group has relied on Hollywood for much of its business but with that work now being carried out by the MPA and others, FACT will offer services to companies outside the audio-visual sector.

      • CJEU says that EU law allows e-lending

        As reported by this blog, this reference arose in the context of proceedings brought by the association of Dutch public libraries which – contrary to the position of Dutch government – holds the view that libraries should be entitled to lend electronic books included in their collections according to the principle “one copy one user”.

        This envisages the possibility for a library user to download an electronic copy of a work included in the collection of a library with the result that – as long as that user “has” the book – it is not possible for other library users to download a copy. Upon expiry of the e-lending period, the electronic copy downloaded by the first user becomes unusable, so that the book in question can be e-borrowed by another user.

      • E-books can be lent by libraries just like normal books, rules EU’s top court

        Public libraries can lend out electronic books, the European Union’s highest court has ruled.

        The judgment confirms the opinion of Maciej Szpunar, advocate general to the the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU), who said back in June that lending out e-books should be permitted in the 28-member-state bloc provided authors are fairly compensated in the same way as for physical books.

11.10.16

Battistelli Must Go, Says Yet Another French Politician, Arguing He is “Extremely Damaging to the Image of France”

Posted in Europe, Patents at 9:12 pm by Dr. Roy Schestowitz

POTUS Operandi: Shoot the messenger, then add insult to injury

Claudine Lepage

Summary: The indefensible attacks on unions at the European Patent Office give growing room for concern, even among French politicians who see the EPO’s President abusing French staff

THE IMAGE above is of Claudine Lepage, whom we mentioned here before in relation to her complaints about Battistelli. Cordery too expressed concerns about what happened at The Hague. French politicians grow truly concerned and in this case Battistelli’s casualty is French too, which makes it somewhat of a unique case.

A Diaspora* user called “accolade” has provided us with a translation of Lepage’s latest writing on the subject and it goes like this:

Mood notes: the President of the EPO has struck again!

Posted on November 8, 2016 by admin

A staff representative, Laurent Prunier, has just been sacked, one more!

His crime? Having taken seriously his role as staff representative.

When is this going to stop? Let’s be clear: probably not before Benoît Battistelli, the current president, leaves.

How a European organism of a recognized quality and efficiency can mistreat its employees without any respect for international law work? In fact, the status of the EPO does not formally submit it to the social laws of the country in which it operates but is EPO an ​​lawlessness area where arbitrariness reigns supreme?

Why doesn’t France use its influence to remind Mr. Battistelli to his basic duties? His behavior and the resulting crisis of governance are extremely damaging to the image of France just at a moment when the EPO is facing strong competition in the field of intellectual property.

Benoît Batistelli must leave so the European Office find a peaceful social climate again!

Someone has meanwhile leaked to us an internal staff document that provides additional information. As we suspected, Mr. Prunier is being punished severely because “he wholeheartedly and consistently opposed the policies and certain decisions of Mr Battistelli and Ms Bergot.”

Here is the document describing what happened, with minor redactions:

9 November 2016
su16125cp – 0.3.2

Dismissal of Laurent Prunier

Munich, Friday 4 November 2016: Mr Battistelli dismisses Laurent Prunier, elected member of the CSC and secretary of SUEPO The Hague.

The tenor of Communiqué 9 that Mr Battistelli published the same day on the Intranet seems only to confirm that “communicating” is not about telling the truth. We wonder how many colleagues – at least among those still reading his Intranet announcements – will be genuinely convinced of the veracity of Mr Battistelli’s incredible story1. It seems that interested circles outside the Office have already taken a very different view on the matter: see for example the latest publications on the EPO of The Register or IPKat.

One thing is sure: Mr Battistelli clearly continues down a path to union suppression. To date, since January 20162:

- he has fired three SUEPO officials: Elizabeth Hardon and Ion Brumme in Munich; now Laurent Prunier in The Hague;

- he has downgraded another one: Malika Weaver in Munich;

- he is targeting at least two other officials in The Hague.

This is absolutely unprecedented in the world of International Organisations. If Mr Battistelli is ever remembered by anyone within IP circles in the next decade for reasons other than the negative impact his policies have on the quality of our patents, then it will surely be for his “union busting” actions.

In March 2016 and after several years of the deepest social crisis ever experienced in the EPO, the Administrative Council (AC) passed unanimously a resolution (CA/26/16) requesting Mr Battistelli not to take any decision in any disciplinary cases pending the submission to the AC of proper reforms on investigations and disciplinary procedures. During the last AC meeting (held on 12 and 13 October), many influential AC delegations told him again that they were expecting him to fully respect the constraints of the AC resolution and suspend all on-going procedures.

Mr Battistelli wilfully did exactly the opposite, publicly ridiculing the AC.

_________
1 A story that Mr Battistelli has been telling many times in the past years, also publicly.
2 We do not forget that before 2016, Mr Battistelli downgraded Aurélien Pétiaud and Michael Lund, our two colleagues appointed by the Staff Committee on the Internal Appeals Committee until 2014; Before that, a dozen of staff representatives and union officials got a Warning in their personal file for sending emails to more than 50 colleagues.

Were this to happen anywhere else other than the EPO, Mr Battistelli and his crew would have already been sent packing by their bosses, something that the AC can3 and should do. Now that Mr Battistelli has dismissed Laurent, will the delegations finally realize that it is their capacity to control the organisation that is now questioned by all, both inside and outside the EPO? Are they going to finally act? Or will they continue to procrastinate, de facto conceding that Mr Battistelli controls them instead of they control him?

Laurent cannot share any of the details of his case without risking being further attacked abusively and sanctioned for breach of confidentiality. However, we trust his defence that he never harassed anyone, even less the alleged victim. Laurent and his counsels have informed us that:

- the accusations were malicious;

- the whole procedure was a farce exhibiting all possible violations of due process and basic defence rights;

- the charges finally laid against him were raised by a top manager and protégé of Mr Battistelli, not by the alleged victim.

Laurent’s real mistake appears to be that he wholeheartedly and consistently opposed the policies and certain decisions of Mr Battistelli and Ms Bergot. He is being made to pay a very high price for having done his job of staff representative and union official so efficiently. Not only has he been sacked, but to add insult to injury, he is now being defamed in front of his 7000 colleagues. The communiqué depicts him as a serial harasser who fully deserves the punishment inflicted upon him whilst at the same time he is deprived the right of reply, i.e. to publically uncover the truth hidden for all the reasons mentioned above.

[...]

Spontaneous, public protests at all sites culminated in Munich where 800 colleagues expressed their solidarity with Laurent by participating in a flash demo on Monday. Other actions and demos will be organised soon to continue to express our full support to Laurent and other SUEPO officials persecuted by Mr Battistelli. We will keep you posted.
______
3 The AC is the appointing authority and disciplinary body for the President of the Office.

Someone from the EPO has meanwhile told us that “Battistelli trying to defend the undefendable?” [sic] This was said in reference to what we published in the afternoon. “I couldn’t agree more with the following statement,” added this person, quoting “It’s like a whole diarrhea of false statements” (including defamation of the accused).

This is typical. Watch how Team Battistelli defamed even a judge. These people are void of any morals or principles. They’re thugs.

We kindly ask readers to remember that in this year’s EPO lies should be assumed in every statement made by the Office. This has become so routine that it damages the reputation of the Office very severely and it had us compare Battistelli to Pinocchio a lot more than once. The man is an embarrassment to France and his management team, which comprises a lot of French people, does no favour to the country’s image (nepotism, busting of unions, deception and so on).

Battistelli: Digging the EPO’s Grave Again (DEGA). █

SUEPO (EPO Staff Union) “Fears Now That the Intention Behind This Blow is “to Destroy” the Union.”

Posted in Europe, Patents at 8:49 pm by Dr. Roy Schestowitz

Summary: Translation of the new article from Heise, revealing some new bits of information about union-busting activity in The Hague

EARLIER today we published a call for translations, after we had gotten a translation from Skarbrand in Diaspora* as it turns out. It’s a translation of the article from Heise and although not perfect (especially not the terminology which was somewhat lost in translation), it does contain some relatively new information.

European parliament fires more union workers

picture text: Again demonstration of employees in front of the European Patent Agency in Munich. (picture: dpa, Frank Leonhardt)

After the heads of the in-house union Suepo in Munich lost their jobs, the leader of the EPA (European Patent Agency) fires the financial secretary of employee-representation in The Hague. Approximately 800 workers demonstrate against it.

Despite multiple intern conferences to brighten the working atmosphere, the struggle in the EPA wont stop. On Monday in-house union Suepo called again on short notice for demonstration. Insiders say around 800 people joined at the agency-seat in Munich. Reason for the action: EPA president Benoît Battistelli fired Suepo financial secretary Laurent Prunier in the Hague last week.

Battistelli against union

Heise Online stated the EPA leaders accused Laurent Prunier, during his written call to protest, of pressuring and harassing an employee-board member in the Netherlands capitol. In contrast the union says that there was never an official complaint. The appropriate international labour-court has already clearly stated, that intern employee differences have to be handled among each other, without interference of the agencies management.

In January during an disciplinary inquiry against three union workers (which seemed to have spied on a special investigation unit) Battistelli imposed strict sanctions: Suepo leader Elizabeth Hardon and her predecessor Ion Brumme were laid off, additionally the treasurer was degraded. Suepo fears now that the intention behind this blow is “to destroy” the union. As foreign institution, German law is not applicable to the EPA.

Unrest in the workforce

Because of unrest in the workforce the European Patent Organisation (EPO), which carries the EPA, called upon Battistelli to “lay low”. The president has to ensure that “the disciplinary enquiry not only has to be fair, it must also be perceived as such” according to the Communique. Possibilities for this are external examination or mediation.

It is stated in the document that the Frenchman has to inform the supervisory board “with appropriate detail” till after the trial and before other disciplinary enquiries. The controllers also demand suggestions to improve trust of the appropriate actions. There should be an agreement with the union “without precondition and the possibility for all topics in future discussions”.

Frenchman Battistelli is no ordinary person. There’s something irregular about him. “Regarding your latest post referring to Battistelli’s increasingly erratic
behaviour,” one source told us, “I heard that he caused something of an éclat at the AIPPI conference back in September, where he gave a speech. It seems that he was adamant that he should sit flanked by his two bodyguards at the banquet’s officials table.”

Our source for this said it is better to treat this as gossip, but either way, it would not be the first time we heard such stories (or worse). Some we cannot even publish as it would jeopardise sources. █

“Not My President“: The Sentiment of European Patent Office Staff Towards Their Fascistic Boss

Posted in Europe, Patents at 12:26 pm by Dr. Roy Schestowitz

Trusting businessmen in suits to run an Office which is centered around science

Pinocchio

Summary: Battistelli hits back at IAM’s dissent with an unprecedented volume of lies, European media catches up with union busting by Battistelli, and staff of the EPO expresses frustration with everything at the Office under Battistelli’s incompetent management

WHAT a gross liar the President of the EPO has become. It’s not even funny, it’s just utterly disgusting. First Chile had a 9/11 (regime change by coup), then came 11/9 in Berlin, then 9/11 in New York and now 11/9 again in the US. Coinciding with 11/9 in the US we now have Liar Supreme Battistelli drooling lies into the pages of IAM — a site he loves so much to cite in support of his lies.

“Coinciding with 11/9 in the US we now have Liar Supreme Battistelli drooling lies into the pages of IAM — a site he loves so much to cite in support of his lies.”Several days ago IAM’s editor in chief seemed to have had enough. He or a colleague said that Battistelli had scored an "own goal" and later wrote an entire article about it. Battistelli with his infamous temper must have blown a fuse at the sight of that and he pressured IAM to print a lot of lies without questioning or fact-checking. This new ‘article’ is the biggest and densest pile of lies I have come across since the buildup for the Iraq invasion (like those horrible articles from Judith Miller or tweets from Donald Trump about climate science). To quote just one fragment from his lies and revisionism:

On another point, I also strongly refute any accusations of “management by intimidation”. To try to base the discussions on facts rather than rumours, we asked a team of renowned, experienced external consultants to analyse the Office’s situation with respect to our financial and social situation, and health and well-being. The results show a strong improvement compared to 2010, with some remarkable achievements and some areas of progress. They were shared with all the stakeholders (staff, managers, staff representatives, trade union and AC delegations) and will continue to be debated with all in order to define our next priorities.

There are too many lies in this response to rebut one by one. It’s like a whole diarrhea of false statements and cleaning it all up with detailed evidence is a monumental (time-consuming) task. We sure hope that Joff Wild believes none of that stuff he had just clicked “Publish” on.

“Looking at IP Kat today, we still find some distressed calls for intervention.”Elsewhere in the media we now have some press coverage from Germany (once again it’s Stefan Krempl, who knows this conflict very well) and a politician’s rant from France (not the first time she speaks of these issues). Can native German and French speakers help us get a decent translation of both articles/columns? We strive to maintain an accurate and complete record of it all. Can anyone please translate these and securely send these to us for publication?

Looking at IP Kat today, we still find some distressed calls for intervention. Things are becoming rather grim at the Office and one person told us today that “Not My President” is an apt description of the sentiment inside the Office. It’s actually the bigoted President who encourages violence and intolerance, not the staff (his victims). “What is really going on, nobody gives a damn,” this one person said, as the management’s abuse just carries on and there’s no sign of it coming to an end any time soon. Here is the full comment:

In December, the AC will let BB do what he wants. They’ll back down, like they’ve always done since they unanimously reelected him. They know what they’re doing. They want him to stay there (as well as his VPs) to introduce the pension reform that he promised to deliver next year and which ALL delegates and their ministers want dearly, especially the “big” member states. When they tell BB to calm down, it’s just for the show, or maybe, for some, because they’re a bit annoyed by the bad press. When they say that they want it to look like there is justice, that’s exactly what they mean: it has to LOOK all right, nothing more. Because when it does not, some ministers get some embarrassing phone calls from journalists and that must stop. What is really going on, nobody gives a damn. If you want to predict what they will do, just ask yourself: what is the easiest thing to do ?

You’re on your own. Close ranks and hang on…

President Battistelli “has an history of simply ignoring the Council requests,” notes the following new comment:

So what happens next? Maybe that is the question that should be asked?

What happens if the Council decides to put some pressure on the President (for example by requesting cooperation under Article 20 ppi as suggested here)? Wouldn’t the President continue business as usual? He has an history of simply ignoring the Council requests, hasn’t he? It is quite naive from Merpel to believe that Article 20 would have any effect. Why would Battistelli care?

What happens if the Council does nothing? Battistelli simply continues till the end of his period and the member States simply stay with their arms crossed doing nothing because of immunity?

I am afraid, the most likely future is that Battistelli will simply carry on for the next 2 years, firing whomever he does not like every other month, continue to give well paid administrative posts to whomever he wants and spend money on buildings and computer system without any real control.

Here is a note about erosion of patent quality — a subject that has intrigued us for as long as it became and remained a public issue (several years ago):

If the EPO re-starts examining applications properly, i.e. to a high standard, including those I prosecute, I may be more supportive of anti-PB sentiment. However, improvements need to be made, whether or not PB is attempting to imprive anythig.

On an individual level, I am fully supportive of protecting people from unfair treatment I get a lot of myself.

Here is one response to this:

Chicken and egg. As long as BB dictates, examiners cannot change their standards back. He is trying and succeeding in spending less on examination while claiming that can be done with improved quality.
Your call. Can it for you?

Here is another message tackling Battistelli’s lies about patent quality:

You know what the Management of the EPO has been publishing.
We improved our quality.
Out union published data saying we feel less confident about our product quality.

If you feel the quality has declined, it is your job to defend your applicant’s rights by complaining to the EPO management that the quality you have received has declined.

There is no need to refer to the actual product, but examples can help.

And do it publicly, preferably not anonymously.

Only then will the public pick up on this problem, and media may gain attention.
And only then will there be a pressure on the AC members to actually change anything.

If you won’t do anything for you, we will not risk our job being proactive for you, as we will get problems when we do anything without being prompted to do so.

“As I see it,” one person added, “applicants who get dodgy patents granted because of the present examination” at the EPO. That’s an important point and here is the entire comment:

As I see it, applicants who get dodgy patents granted because of the present examination process which discourages examiners from raising objections, are unlikely to complain. It is only those who have to defend themselves against dodgy patents in the courts who would complain. It will take some time for these patents to reach the litigation stage, by which M. BB will be long gone. Only a small proportion of patents get litigated anyway.

Don’t expect to get much support from the UK IPO: since the move to Wales, the upper echelons have been increasingly populated by Civil Service generalists rather than ex-examiners who had risen through the ranks and actually understood from personal experience what it is all about. Compared with the 1980′s the status and working conditions of examiners has been much reduced, reflected in the various public consultations which have included proposals to stop examining the description (allegedly following an embryonic EPO proposal) and to move some of the examiners’ work to clerical staff, ostensibly to save money that ought to have resulted in fee reductions but which in practice gets creamed off as special dividends to the BIS.

Some people have chosen humour to describe their frustration and wrote odes like this one:

Eponians, wha hae wi’ Prunier bled,
Eponians, wham SUEPO has aften led,
Welcome tae your gory bed,
Or tae Victorie!

Noo’s the day, and noo’s the hour:
See the front o’ battle lour,
See approach proud Benoît’s power -
Zeljko and Elodie!

Wha will be a traitor knave?
Wha will fill a coward’s grave?
Wha sae base as be a slave?
Laat him turn and flee!

Wha, for Eponia’s rule o’ law,
Freedom’s sword will strangly draw,
Freeman stand, or Freeman fa’,
Laat him on wi’ me!

By Oppression’s woes and pains!
By your staff reps in servile chains!
We will drain our dearest veins,
But they shall be free!

Lay the proud usurpers low!
Tyrants fall in every foe!
Liberty’s in every blow! -
Laat us doe or dee!’

There was another such ode:

Psst.., it’s oh so quiet! says…

Many illegal loop holes remain to be plugged
EPO system is facing criticism and it is wholly bugged
Justice is sold as revealed with emergence of new facts
it is cleverly wrapped in BB’s words with simple tact

Under official ret act, nothing can be made public or revealed
Under the oath of secrecy it is cleverly concealed
Eponians can’t dream for getting immediate relief
Loosing faith and trust as mark of disbelief

Innocents are sometimes punished for nothing
Trial summary drags on for years to prove something
BB and his goons rule the scene
it has been made laughing stock which is never witnessed or seen

Let sacred principles of justice be upheld
Let innocents be not prosecuted and held
It may or can have legitimate delay
This may send the message across and relay

“Good to hear,” one insider told us this morning about our plan to continue covering these matters (we have a lot of material that has not been published yet). “It’s surprising that a critic of the EPO does so much to support its staff, and to save the Office. You would expect the AC to do that. But for political reasons they are (or at least were) against staff.”

“It’s surprising that a critic of the EPO does so much to support its staff, and to save the Office. You would expect the AC to do that. But for political reasons they are (or at least were) against staff.”
      –AnonymousWe were never against patents as a whole and certainly not against the EPO, just against particular elements therein, notably software patents. There’s a saying along the lines of, when people don’t criticise you, then they ceased to care, they no longer try to improve anything and thus it implies/insinuates your failure. I care about the EPO because I care about Europe and a potent patent system — not a production line — is what gives Europe a competitive edge. This weekend we’ll write about SIPO (China) and the USPTO, demonstrating just how attractive a target they’ve made their countries to patent trolls. They’re literally destroying their own country by issuing patents like Wells Fargo opens new bank accounts (“Wells Fargo Opened a Couple Million Fake Accounts” for those who have not heard yet).

At the EPO, based on our years of reporting (soon entering the third year of intensive/extensive reporting), workers worry. They want to do their job properly, but under Battistelli they cannot and many feel as though they’ll lose their job as Battistelli destroys their employer (the Office); The Administrative Council isn’t firing him because he allegedly pays them (or their country) — in its own right a sackable offense in a sane system.

“The situation at the EPO is catastrophic,” wrote one person today, adding some background information and writing to the original author, who has not touched the subject (EPO scandals) since the summer, until a few days ago…

You suggest that the AC members should invite a review and inspection from the national regulatory authorities in the countries in which the main Office sites are located, i.e. the German and Dutch labour ministries.

The idea is good. An honest man would not be afraid of an independent inspection. The problem comes when the man is not really honest and has things to hide.

The situation at the EPO is catastrophic. Far away from human rights, good governance and European standard. The dismissal of staff representatives and the no respect of the rules of law are the tip of the Iceberg.

Battistelli is all but stupid. He knows that an independent investigation at the EPO means the disclosure of a tyranny. The only inspection he will accept are the ones done by friendly auditors paid by himself (with the EPO money) which will repeat his rosy point of view.
The AC members know the situation at the EPO. They are afraid of the scandal that an independent inspection will pop up.
Because immediately questions will rise: Why did they let the situation go so far without control? Why the AC approved regulations that violate human rights and violate the rules of law? Which personal advantages did the AC members received from the EPO president to vote “yes” during years?

It’s rather amazing that in spite of 0% support from staff Battistelli continues to be the boss. The Council should stop sitting on its hands and its Chairman should pay closer attention to the irreparable longterm damage caused by Battistelli instead of skinning chinchillas for profit. █

Benoît Battistelli’s Marching Orders in Spain Through His ‘Pet Chinchilla’ Patricia García-Escudero, Whom He Got Overseeing the Boards of Appeal

Posted in Europe, Patents at 11:23 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz

The following two photos have both just been published by the EPO

Patricia García-Escudero and Benoît Battistelli

Patricia García-Escudero at EPOPIC

Summary: The pet chinchilla in the Boards of Appeal Committee (BoAC) makes a public appearance and even facilitates Battistelli’s awful agenda inside of Spain

THE EPO has become so scandalous (an elaborate mess!) that we need new tools/facilities just to keep track of it all and keep it properly cataloged. The American patent system looks like a saint compared to today’s EPO. There aren’t just technical problems but also human rights issues, nepotism, and possibly criminal elements like fraud. The Office and by extension the entire Organisation is rapidly becoming Europe’s greatest source of shame.

Patricia García-Escudero is a symptom of what goes on inside the EPO under Battistelli’s reign. We wrote several articles about this last month [1, 2] (see these for background/details).

Here is the pet chinchilla of Battistelli (Patricia García-Escudero), as boasted in Twitter this week. “On the #EPOPIC stage,” the EPO wrote, “now is Patricia García-Escudero, Director General of @OEPM_es pic.twitter.com/wXJTH6VMOA”

“Is Europe harbouring a banana republic right at the very heart of Bavaria?”“Buenos días from the 26th edition of #EPOPIC in Madrid,” it said separately. “Who’s joining us? pic.twitter.com/iY25LA4n2V”

Well, Patricia García-Escudero is joining you guys pretty soon. More specifically, she’ll serve almost like Battistelli’s ‘mole’ inside the BoAC. How can anyone not see that there is a ‘mole’ in the supposedly ‘independent’ Boards of Appeal? This was foreseen and it is increasingly being confirmed. Watch the photo in this new EPO “news” item (epo.org link). Scroll down and focus on the picture of “Ms Patricia García-Escudero, Director General of the Spanish Patent and Trademark Office and President Benoît Battistelli” under “Bilateral co-operation plan signed with Spain” (guess who signed it).

Remember Spain's opposition to the UPC. Is Battistelli using connections through a Vice-President from Spain? The EPO said this yesterday: “The EPO President used the occasion of the Madrid conference to meet with representatives of Spanish government, industry, media and the IP profession. After meeting with José María Jover, Under-Secretary of Industry, Energy and Tourism and President of the Spanish Patent and Trademark Office, a new bilateral co-operation plan in the field of patents was signed with Ms Patricia García-Escudero, Director General of the Spanish Patent and Trademark Office. Covering the period 2016-2018, the new bilateral cooperation plan also includes projects in the field of Patent Information and Awareness and Patent related IT services and tools. Spain has been a member of the European Patent Organisation since 1 October 1986. Last year the EPO received more than 1 500 patent applications from Spain, an increase of 3.8% over the previous year.”

The main issue here is that with growing proximity to Battistelli and his ilk it’s almost guaranteed that Patricia García-Escudero has new loyalties and she’ll be a force for Battistelli — not a force for good/justice — inside the BoAC. How can the AC (Administrative Council) be so blind to this? Is Europe harbouring a banana republic right at the very heart of Bavaria? █

Links 10/11/2016: Latest Microsoft Attacks on GNU/Linux (by Proxy), F2FS Growing Up

Posted in News Roundup at 10:26 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz

GNOME bluefish

Contents

GNU/Linux

Free Software/Open Source

  • 5 open source dashboard tools for visualizing data

    I’ve always been fascinated by finding new and interesting ways to bring meaning to data with interactive visualization tools. While I’m definitely a geek for numbers, the human mind is simply much better at interpreting trends visually than it is just picking them out a spreadsheet. And even when your main interest in a dataset is the raw numbers themselves, a dashboard can help to bring meaning by highlighting which values matter most, and what the context of those numbers is.

    Figuring out how to best visualize your data can be challenging. Maybe you started out by creating a few graphs in a spreadsheet and are trying to find a way to tie them all together. Or maybe you’re working with an existing analytics tool and want to find a way to make your data more accessible to a wider audience. Or perhaps you’ve go several real-time sources and are trying to find a way to tie them all together.

    Fortunately, there are a number of great open source dashboard tools out there that make the job much easier. On one end of the spectrum are open source business intelligence tools, like BIRT or Pentaho. But for a smaller project, tools like these could be overkill, and in some cases, you might be able to find a dashboard tool that is already designed to work with the kind of data you are dealing with.

  • Events

    • NetBSD machines at Open Source Conference 2016 Tokyo/Fall
    • My First International FOSS Event: FUDCon Cambodia

      It was a privilege to be a speaker at FUDCon, Cambodia 2016. This being my first international FOSS event was ever more exciting. Right from the day I received the invitation from Sirko, I felt extremely privileged. On reaching the place I found that the event was much bigger than what I had expected it to be. There was a bar camp being organised by the university with over 5000 participants. Simply speaking it was a grand and huge occasion.

    • Endace Sponsors Open Source Suricata Conference

      Endace, a world leader in high-speed network monitoring and recording technology, is a sponsor of Suricon, which kicks off on Wednesday November 9th at the Hamilton Crowne Plaza in Washington D.C. Suricon, which draws attendees from around the world (including Suricata project contributors, developers and users), is the annual conference for the community behind the popular open-source intrusion detection (IDS) application, Suricata.

    • Message parsing and community building: All Things Open 2016

      Last week I visited All Things Open, one of the largest open source conferences of the US East Coast. The venue was the monumental building of the Raleigh Convention Center, just two blocks from Red Hat’s headquarters. I was presenting syslog-ng in the Operations track of the conference, but luckily I had a chance to stay for the full two days of the event.

      There were over 2400 visitors at the conference, so registration and check-in already started the day before. Those who leveraged this opportunity could not just avoid the crowd next morning, but also receive a nice t-shirt together with the conference badge:

  • SaaS/Back End

  • Oracle/Java/LibreOffice

    • LibreOffice 5 – Free Office Suite Keeps Getting Better

      LibreOffice is the best office software available, or at least on Linux. LibreOffice is a powerful office suite that comes with a clean interface and feature-rich tools that seeks to make your productive and creative. LibreOffice includes several applications including Writer for word processing, Calc for spreadsheets, Impress for presentations, Draw for vector graphics and flowcharts, Base for databases, and Math for formula editing.

  • Pseudo-Open Source (Openwashing)

  • BSD

    • TrueOS Succeeds PC-BSD Desktop-Friendly Unix OS

      The FreeBSD Unix operating system is one of the earliest open-source operating system projects, and it continues to be actively developed. The most recent update is the FreeBSD 11 release, which debuted Oct. 10. While FreeBSD is a robust operating system, it is not a desktop focused platform, which is where the PC-BSD operating system, based on FreeBSD used to fit in. On Sept. 1, PC-BSD was re-branded as TrueOS, providing FreeBSD users with an easy-to-use desktop as well as a new release cadence. In the past, PC-BSD releases followed FreeBSD milestones, providing users with code that had already been included in a generally available release. With TrueOS, the release model is now moving to what is known as a rolling release, with packages constantly being updated as they become available. As such, TrueOS is not based on the recently released FreeBSD 11; instead, it is based on the FreeBSD “current” branch that is the leading edge of the operating system development. In this slide show, eWEEK takes a look at the new TrueOS operating system and what it offers desktop users.

  • Openness/Sharing/Collaboration

    • Can America’s two-party system evolve to crowdocracy?

      Since I’ve studied civics and governments, I’ve never thought a two-party system of elected officials in our executive and legislative branches was the best form of democracy. It worked for a time, but now it’s time for change. In the United States, our representative democracy has become polarized and plagued with raising money for re-elections instead of focusing on the issues—issues that are largely influenced by lobbyist and corporate interests.

    • Open Data

      • Who is leading Open Data in Europe? Walking the Open Data talk

        Capgemini Consulting’s Wendy Carrara, project manager for the European Data Portal, discusses the UK’s open data readiness, including ways it could learn from its neighbours and even improve on its open data policy

        Open data – that is, publicly available data that’s free for all to use – is set to have a monumental impact on societies in the next five years. Whether it’s information regarding public transportation, citypolicy or city infrastructures, open data enables public sector bodies, business and citizens alike to make more informed decisions about the things that really matter. While it may sound like a popular buzzword from years gone by, governments across the globe are now developing policies that encourage the release of open government data. However, having policy in place is a far cry from actually getting it done.

Leftovers

  • Health/Nutrition

    • Nestlé Just Granted Permit to Double Water Extraction 120 Miles from Flint, MI

      Nestlé is at it again. Recently publicly condemned for pumping 36 million gallons of water from Strawberry Creek in the San Bernardino National Forest, paying a meager $524 annually for a permit that expired long ago, the multi-national company is now planning to milk the citizens of Flint, Michigan, to keep their water privatization plan afloat.

      Nestlé was just given a permit to almost double the groundwater they extract from the Michigan area amidst the recent Flint water crisis. This means the company will be taking more than 210 million gallons annually while many Flint residents are still suffering from the long-term effects of lead exposure.

      Nestlé is not even based in the U.S., but the Swiss transnational is taking water from hundreds of local water supplies. The U.S. represents its largest bottled water market. Nestlé also controls more than 70 of the world’s bottled water brands, among them Perrier, San Pellegrino, Ice Mountain, Pure Life, and Vittel.

  • Security

  • Defence/Aggression

    • Pentagon Again Dramatically Under-Reports Civilians Killed in Airstrikes

      Previous reports from Centcom were a dramatic under-count, and that trend continued with this new report, which carefully omitted some of the biggest and most well-documented incidents, which apparently fell into the category of strikes that the Pentagon decided not to investigate at all.

      The most conspicuously absent figures are from mid-July, when a flurry of US airstrikes against the city of Manbij and the surrounding area killed an estimated 200 civilians. At least 56 civilians were killed in one single incident, which at the time the US claimed they “mistook for ISIS.”

      Despite the Pentagon feeling the need to come up with excuses for the Manbij strikes at the time, they not only didn’t include them in the final death toll, but didn’t even hazard an attempt to mention the well-documented incidents in the document.

  • Environment/Energy/Wildlife/Nature

    • Now that Trump has won, TransCanada wants to give Keystone XL pipeline another try

      TransCanada said it hopes to persuade a new Trump administration to revive the controversial Keystone XL crude oil pipeline that President Obama rejected on Nov. 6, 2015.

      Taking advantage of President-elect Trump’s vow to launch a series of major infrastructure programs, Calgary-based TransCanada said it was “evaluating ways to convince the new administration on the benefits, the jobs and the tax revenues this project brings to the table.”

      “TransCanada remains fully committed to building Keystone XL,” the company said.

    • Construction of Dakota Access Pipeline set to begin its final, most contested stretch

      The company behind the Dakota Access Pipeline is preparing to tunnel under Lake Oahe, the body of water at the heart of the protests against the crude oil pipeline. This last phase of construction would join the two already-completed sections of the pipeline, Reuters reports.

      The company, Energy Transfer Partners, announced today that drilling underneath the lake will start in two weeks despite government agencies’ requests to wait, according to The Guardian. The pipeline is expected to be completed by the end of 2016, the company says.

      Protesters, including the local Standing Rock Sioux tribe, have been fighting the the $3.7 billion pipeline since April. They argue that the pipeline, which is intended to carry crude oil from North Dakota to a refinery in Illinois, could pollute water supplies and destroy culturally important land. In September, the US Justice and Interior Departments and the Army Corps of Engineer requested that Energy Transfer Partners voluntarily stop construction underneath the lake.

    • America’s Brief Role as a Climate Leader Is Probably Over

      While America was watching Donald Trump sweep the polls, climate representatives from over 200 countries saw America’s commitments to international climate goals blow away. This week, climate negotiators—along with NGOs, journalists, and other observers—are gathered in Marrakesh, Morroco to flesh out the details of the Paris agreement, newly ratified and enacted by the United Nations to address climate change. And though Trump hasn’t described his climate and energy policies in detail, he has made it clear that he will not honor promises the Obama administration made to combat the intensifying global warming catastrophe.

      The Clean Power Plan. Tax breaks for renewable energy. Cabinet appointees and a Supreme Court seat. Trump has the power to drastically change US environmental policy—and as the soon-to-be-leader of the world’s largest economy and second-largest greenhouse gas emitter, his decisions will change the math for other nations previously committed to climate regulations. Some will follow the US, and dial back (or abandon) their goals. Others will stay the course. And still others might double down on climate goals, potentially gaining global clout as a result. However the 45th president of the US proceeds, his decisions on climate will affect everyone on Earth.

  • Finance

    • Shock as India scraps 500 and 1,000 rupee bank notes

      Indian Finance Minister Arun Jaitley says “honest people” have no need to worry about a decision to scrap 1,000 and 500 rupee notes.

      Mr Jaitley said the move would flush out tax evaders, adding that all old notes deposited in banks would be subjected to tax laws.

      The surprise move, announced on Tuesday evening, is part of a crackdown on corruption and illegal cash holdings.

    • Robots Will Take Two-Thirds of All Jobs In the Developing World, UN Says

      It’s a common belief that low-wage workers will be hit the hardest by advanced robots in the workplace. When we take a global perspective on this, the people that will be most affected by widespread automation won’t be workers in North America, according to a new United Nations report—it’ll be people in developing countries.

      Automation stands to reduce opportunities for low-wage workers in North America, the report from the UN Conference on Trade and Development states. But the types of jobs most likely to be eliminated entirely are more prevalent in developing nations. That’s because those same jobs, in sectors like farming and manufacturing, have already mostly dried up in wealthier nations as corporations have moved their operations abroad, in search of higher profits through lower wage costs.

    • Feeling the oil crunch: Saudi Arabia cancels $266bn in projects

      Saudi Arabia’s governing economic body called the Council of Economic and Development Affairs (CEDA) has cancelled $266.7 billion in projects, the Saudi Press Agency said, and announced it would be settling much-delayed private-sector payments by year end.

      The projects that have been canceled are the ones that are not expected to accelerate the kingdom’s growth or improve the living standards for its people.

      The cancellations were first considered in September, but at the time, it was noted that only $20 billion in projects would be considered to put on the chopping block.

      The size of the delayed payments—mainly due to severe hits to the kingdom’s oil revenue—remains undisclosed, but it includes delayed payments to construction firms, medical establishments, and foreign consultants. One analyst, according to Reuters, estimated that the amount still owing just to construction firms was US$21 billion.

    • Engineer sold as slave in Saudi Arabia, family wants him back

      An automobile engineer, who went to Saudi Arabia for better job opportunities, has allegedly been “sold” to a Saudi national as a slave to work in his camel farm. The family members of Jayanta Biswas have approached the Ministry of External Affairs for help in bringing him back from Saudi Arabia.

      However, they are yet to receive a word from the ministry. “We appeal to the Indian government to initiate action in order to bring my brother back. We are at our wit’s end,” Gouri Biswas, elder sister of Jayanta, said.

  • AstroTurf/Lobbying/Politics

    • The Huffington Post ending editor’s note that called Donald Trump ‘racist’

      The Huffington Post’s editor’s note calling Donald Trump as a “racist” and “xenophobe” is no more, a source in the newsroom tells POLITICO.

      For months, every story on the Huffington Post about Trump came with the following note at the bottom of the article.

    • Vigils and protests swell across U.S. in wake of Trump victory

      Vigils and protests continued into the early hours Thursday as opponents of President-elect Donald Trump expressed dismay with the election results, underscoring the difficult task he faces in uniting a fractured country.

      Despite Hillary Clinton and President Obama urging their backers to accept Trump’s victory and support his transition into power, thousands of demonstrators marched through the streets decrying his crude comments about women and attacks on immigrants.

      Protests were reported in cities across the nation, from major metropolitan centers like New York, Chicago and Los Angeles, to smaller cities, such as Richmond and Portland, Ore. Dozens of demonstrators were arrested.

      Even cities in red states, such as Atlanta, Dallas and Kansas City, Mo., saw demonstrations.

      At least two police officers in Oakland, Calif., were injured as protesters took to the streets and chanted slogans against Trump, a police spokeswoman said. A few protesters threw objects at police dressed in riot gear, set off fireworks and started small trash fires.

    • Donald Trump and the Art of the Political Deal

      If you have a quick look at President-Elect Donald Trump’s approach – as a businessperson – to legal obligations, you may see something interesting about his approach to politics.

      Trump sees himself as a master of the “art of the deal”.

      And he certainly has an interesting and artful approach to contract law.

      By way of background, classical contract law is about the sanctity of the agreement: the bargain.

      All parties to a contract agree in advance what to do throughout the period of the contract regarding foreseeable risks. This means that there is a lot of “front-end” thought put into a contract: more time working things out in advance, the fewer problems later.

    • The US Election

      But my main point is the European establishment’s response to the Trump presidential victory. And let us not deceive ourselves here – this was an emphatic victory. The American people wanted a candidate for change, for a push-back against the perceived Washington political elite.

      Perhaps the election could have swung in another direction towards another candidate for change – if Bernie Sanders had been the Democrat nominee. Alas, as we know from the DNC files leaked to and published by Wikileaks, his campaign was undermined by his own party in favour of Hillary Clinton, while promoting Trump as the Republican candidate that Clinton could beat.

    • Canadian immigration site crashes after Trump leads in election

      As the US presidential elections move along, Canada’s informational website for immigration has unexpectedly crashed as Donald Trump currently leads in votes.

    • RNC model showed Trump losing

      The RNC’s sophisticated predictive modeling had Trump losing in the campaign’s last stretch, all the way until the Friday afternoon before the election, according to an embargoed briefing the RNC delivered to reporters at the party’s Capitol Hill headquarters on Friday afternoon.

      At the time of the briefing, the RNC’s model showed Trump finishing 30 electoral votes short of the tally needed to clinch the White House, while losing by various margins to Hillary Clinton in the battleground states of Florida, Iowa, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.

      Trump won all those states, and the Associated Press declared him the winner at 2:31 a.m. on Wednesday — a shocking upset victory that most pollsters struggled to explain.

      [...]

      The briefing was called ostensibly to highlight the RNC’s advances in voter modeling and its heavy investment in the party’s ground game. But it also seemed at least partly intended to prove that the Republican Party gave Trump — and all of its 2016 candidates — the tools to succeed in 2016.

      The suggestion was unmistakable: if Trump loses, the blame should fall on the rookie candidate and his overmatched campaign — and not the party or its chairman Reince Priebus.

      The briefing was conducted by the RNC’s top staff, who asked reporters to agree not to divulge details — or even the existence of the briefing — before the election was called.

      The RNC’s model included 9.8 billion rows of data collected from 26 million phone calls that allowed the RNC to assign scores between 0 and 100 on all manner of issues.

    • [Old] How Half Of America Lost Its F**king Mind

      I was born and raised in Trump country. My family are Trump people. If I hadn’t moved away and gotten this ridiculous job, I’d be voting for him. I know I would.

    • How Does the Electoral College Work?

      The Electoral College is a group of people that elects the president and the vice president of the United States. (The word “college” in this case simply refers to an organized body of people engaged in a common task.)

      As voters head to the polls on Tuesday, they will not vote for the presidential candidates directly, in a popular vote. Instead, they will vote to elect specific people, known as “electors” to the college. Each state gets a certain number of electoral votes based on its population.

    • Trump won – now what?

      In some sort of a reaction against the political elite, a corrupt system, and political correctness – the US has elected Donald Trump as president.

      On the one hand, it is more or less impossible to foresee the president elects politics on IT, mass surveillance, and civil rights. (OK, he has opened up for torture of suspected terrorists – but I’m not sure that he himself will remember or stand by that.)

    • Why TV News Couldn’t Quit Donald Trump

      Donald Trump’s relationship with the news media during his successful run for the presidency was, put politely, complex. A better word might be codependent. Trump lashed out regularly at those whose coverage of his campaign he found unfavorable — tweeting insults, banning and unbanning news organizations, promising to strengthen libel and defamation laws. But free media coverage, particularly from TV news outlets, was also the fuel that powered the Trump machine.

      What television news outlets received in return were outsize ratings. For the four weeks of Oct. 10-Nov. 6, CNN, Fox News and MSNBC averaged 84% more primetime viewers than they did over the same period a year ago. The increased numbers — and accompanying ad dollars — rolled in as the networks handed large swathes of airtime over to live feeds of Trump campaign events. Those same networks were caught by surprise Tuesday night by Trump’s victory. Now they must decide whether the trade-off was worth it.

      “I think they have to examine the amount of unfiltered airtime they gave to the President-elect,” said Katz Television Group’s Bill Carroll. “If you were going to look at any of the cable networks for the last year, often the key phrase would be, ‘And now we go to a rally for Donald Trump.’”

    • The Day After

      So: we wake up the morning after the US election to discover … what?

      Here’s my short term prediction, followed by my long term prediction. (And if you are American, I’m very, very, sorry.)

      Next couple of months: Obama exits. People will feel a strange sad fondness for the utopian era of good governance. (In time, the past 8 years will seem surrounded by a rosy glow, as of Camelot during the days of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table; they will even come to think kindly of George W. Bush.)

    • Industry, party figures mix with Trump loyalists for cabinet picks

      The US government’s science efforts are split across a variety of agencies. Some are obvious, like the EPA, the Department of Energy, and the Department of the Interior, which oversees the national parks and Endangered Species Act. But others are less so. For example, the Commerce Department includes the NOAA, or the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, while the National Institutes of Health falls within the Department of Health and Human Services.

      The people who run these agencies will have major say over the US’ research priorities for the next four years, and they’ll determine what role science plays in making policy decisions. So, as the Trump transition team begins the work of vetting potential candidates, the rumored names may say a lot about what we can expect.

      A lot of these rumors are preliminary enough that they essentially tell us nothing. For example, possible candidates floated for Commerce Secretary include everyone from the Republican National Committee finance chair (Lew Eisenberg), to two different business executives, to several of Trump’s former primary opponents like Chris Christie, Mike Huckabee, and Rick Perry. The NOAA keeps one of the US’ two temperature records used for climate monitoring (NASA keeps the other), and it tracks the ocean’s health. (It may also get all of NASA’s earth sciences research.) But it’s hard to guess whether any of these figures would pay much attention to these activities, much less make major revisions in them.

    • WikiLeaks not letting up on Clinton, Podesta

      WikiLeaks on Wednesday published a 36th batch of emails from Hillary Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta, just hours after the presidential election concluded with Donald Trump’s victory over Clinton.

      The release, which includes 225 emails obtained from Podesta’s personal Gmail account, brings the total released by WikiLeaks to 58,660. The organization began releasing the messages in early October, and claimed at the time to have around 50,000 on hand. It isn’t clear how many more the website holds, or how long the releases will continue, but they seemed timed to hurt Clinton’s chances of becoming the next president.

  • Censorship/Free Speech

    • China’s vast Internet prison

      CHINA’S INTERNET is a universe of contradictions. It has brought hundreds of millions of people online and has become a vast marketplace for digital commerce, yet it is also heavily policed by censors to snuff out any challenge to the ruling Communist Party. Under President Xi Jinping, the censors are working overtime to keep 721 million Internet users under control.

    • China’s new cybersecurity laws could have chilling effect on Tibet

      The Chinese government is to further restrict Internet use by adopting a new law that may have serious consequences for Tibetans who try to communicate with the outside world.

      The regressive measure named the Cybersecurity Law was passed by China’s Parliament on 7 November in order to combat what Beijing said is a growing threat of hacking and terrorism, but it has drawn criticism from the international community, business groups and human rights groups.

      The law aims to strengthen the country’s already restrictive internet controls by forcing companies to censor information the government declares “prohibited” and to support state surveillance requests. This includes requiring them to monitor network activity and provide investigative assistance to security agencies.

    • Far-right Polish groups protest Facebook profile blockages

      Several far-right Polish groups have protested outside Facebook’s office in Warsaw after the social networking site temporarily blocked their profiles.

      About 120 people demonstrated in the Polish capital Saturday afternoon, denouncing what they said was “censorship.”

      Facebook recently blocked the profiles of far-right nationalist groups ahead of nationalist demonstrations on Independence Day next Friday, Nov. 11. In recent years, extremist groups have clashed violently with police on the annual holiday. Facebook has since unblocked the profiles.

    • When the screen goes blank

      The Information and Broadcasting Ministry’s 24-hour ban on the television channel NDTV India over its Pathankot coverage is being seen as an attempt to muzzle inconvenient live reportage. And worse, a case of selective vendetta. The Ministry has invoked the Cable Television Networks (Amendment) Rules, 2015, on the ground that the channel broadcast “crucial information” which compromised national security. These rules prohibit “live coverage of any anti-terrorist operation by security forces” and restrict media coverage to “periodic briefing” by a designated officer “till such operation concludes”. It is not clear if the channel’s impugned broadcast was ‘live coverage’ or just ‘reportage’.

    • Censorship and ‘censorship’

      AT&T, the communications conglomerate which owns Direct TV, was hauled into the court of public opinion Friday, charged with censorship for pulling the plug on Fox News.

      Irate customers of the satellite television subscriber service took to the internet to voice their suspicions, tar and feathers at the ready.

  • Privacy/Surveillance

    • A madman has been given the keys to the surveillance state

      When the USA PATRIOT Act was signed into law on October 26, 2001, it erased many of the vital checks and balances that stood between the American people and their government. As Bush supporters cheered the unprecedented power that their people in Washington now held, the civil liberties world warned them: “Your president has just fashioned a weapon that will be wielded by all who come after him.”

    • Facebook built another Snapchat clone specifically for emerging markets [Ed: Facebook comes up with new ways to spy on people people, hoarding more secrets that can be sold]

      We’ve seen this play out before. Twice, in fact. In both instances — first with Poke, then with Slingshot — Facebook’s attempt to create a legitimate Snapchat competitor flopped.

    • Google’s Android Phones Threaten Democracy, ACLU Technologist Warns

      The editors at Businessweek like that approach. In a Halloween post on Bloomberg View, the editors argued privacy would be better served if internet service providers gave consumers the option to pay for it rather than for the FCC to require—as it recently has—that consumers must opt in to corporate surveillance. The editors wrote, “So-called pay-for-privacy policies, in which companies charge users more in exchange for not tracking them, is one promising approach.”

      It turns out that privacy already has a price, and one can roughly find it in a straightforward way, according to Christopher Soghoian, a technologist at the American Civil Liberties Union. It runs about $400. That’s the price of the cheapest new iPhone available on the market today.

      In a recently released TED talk, Soghoian said there’s a “digital security divide” between wealthier iPhone users and generally low-income buyers of devices running on Google’s Android operating system. This threatens democracy, he argues, because today’s new civil rights movements run on mobile technology, but most of these new leaders’ followers will receive marching orders on phones that don’t protect them.

    • A Trumped America makes for bad UK surveillance, warns Open Rights Group

      THE OPEN RIGHTS GROUP (ORG) has been quick to express concerns that the new American president, a known reactionary blowhard, now runs the US National Security Agency (NSA) and will therefore work closely with GCHQ.

    • Trump’s torture support could mean the end of GCHQ-NSA relationship
    • Obama has handed a surveillance state and war machine to a maniac

      In a little over two months, Donald Trump – after his shocking victory last night – will control a vast, unaccountable national security and military apparatus unparalleled in world history. The nightmare that civil libertarians have warned of for years has now tragically come true: instead of dismantling the surveillance state and war machine, the Obama administration and Democrats institutionalised it – and it will soon be in the hands of a maniac.

      It will go down in history as perhaps President Obama’s most catastrophic mistake.

      The Obama administration could have prosecuted torturers and war criminals in the Bush administration and sent an unmistakable message to the world: torture is illegal and unconscionable. Instead the president said they would “look forward, not backward”, basically turning a clear felony into a policy dispute. Trump has bragged that he will bring back torture – waterboarding and “much worse”. He has talked about killing the innocent family members of terrorists, openly telling the world he will commit war crimes.

    • President Obama Should Shut Down the NSA’s Mass Spying Before It’s Too Late

      Modern surveillance programs would be a disaster under President Trump

      President Obama has just 71 days until Donald Trump is inaugurated as our next commander-in-chief. That means he has a matter of weeks to do one thing that could help prevent the United States from veering into fascism: declassifying and dismantling as much of the federal government’s unaccountable, secretive, mass surveillance state as he can — before Trump is the one running it.

    • Scared About Trump Wielding FBI And NSA Cyber Power? You Should Be
    • People in tech are freaking out about Donald Trump being given control of the NSA

      Last month, Wired published a story with the headline “Imagine if Donald Trump controlled the NSA.” Now there’s no need to imagine.

      Trump overcame all odds on Wednesday when he became the 45th president-elect of the United States. As a result, he’s about to gain control of the US intelligence agencies, including the NSA (National Security Agency).

    • Could President Trump Really Turn the NSA Into a Personal Spy Machine?

      It’s the nightmare scenario that many worried about: the US elects a president who uses the country’s nearly omnipotent surveillance powers for his or her own gain. Edward Snowden has described the NSA’s spying capabilities as the “architecture of oppression,” with the fear being that it could be deployed by a malicious commander in chief.

      But what could President Trump, a man who has incited hate speech against minorities and threatened to jail his political rivals, actually do with the NSA? Could he turn the NSA into his own personal spying army?

  • Civil Rights/Policing

    • Girls as young as 12 married off overseas, dropped off at school by 30-year-old husbands

      A Sydney woman, who attended Islamic colleges in Sydney’s west, says girls as young as 12 would be married off overseas and some were dropped off at school by husbands aged in their 30s.

      Iraqi-born Bee al-Darraj, now 24, said she tried to report multiple counts of child marriage among her friends and relatives to the Australian Federal Police (AFP) without success.

    • Erdogan: Don’t heed what Europe says, listen to what Allah says

      Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Tuesday called on his supporters not to heed what “Europe says and care about what Allah says,” on the latest developments in his country which the European Union described as “extremely worrying.”

      Addressing a public gathering in the capital Ankara, Erdogan slammed the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) leaders and lawmakers, 10 of whom Turkish authorities imprisoned since Friday.

      “Those who lean on terrorists will continue paying the price,” said Erdogan referring to a speech by the now jailed HDP co-chair Figen Yuksekdag.

      The HDP co-chair had earlier praised the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) and Women’s Protection Units (YPJ) fight against the Islamic State (IS) in Syria.

      “We lean on the YPG, YPJ, and Rojava,” Yuksekdag had declared in a July 2015 speech to a crowd in the Suruc district of Urfa Province right across the border with the town of Kobani in Syrian Kurdistan.

      Kobani was notably saved from a complete IS takeover earlier in the year by the US-backed Kurdish forces.

  • Internet Policy/Net Neutrality

    • Net neutrality is suddenly on the chopping block

      The release of the FCC’s net neutrality rules in 2015 heralded one of the most important progressive changes to the internet in memory. The rules, which barred data throttling and paid fast lanes, were celebrated as a central tenet of Obama-era government regulation. At the time, Obama said the “decision will protect innovation and create a level playing field for the next generation of entrepreneurs.”

      Now it seems possible that next generation won’t see net neutrality in action. Although telecom policy was hardly a central pillar of Trump’s candidacy, he has gone on record against it. “Obama’s attack on the internet is another top down power grab,” Trump tweeted in 2014. “Net neutrality is the Fairness Doctrine. Will target conservative media.” (It’s unclear what Trump means with comparisons to the FCC’s long-eliminated Fairness Doctrine, which required broadcasters to provide airtime for opposing views. Conservative media was also not “targeted” by net neutrality in any tangible way.)

  • Intellectual Monopolies

    • Copyrights

      • Copyright Troll Backs Down When Faced With Exposure

        Companies that make money from threatening alleged file-sharers are known for their bullying tactics but those who are prepared to fight back can enjoy success. A letter sent by a defense lawyer to the copyright trolls behind the movie London Has Fallen provides an excellent and highly entertaining example.

11.09.16

Links 9/11/2016: Xen 4.6.4 and 4.7.1, Tor 0.2.9.5 Alpha

Posted in News Roundup at 9:21 pm by Dr. Roy Schestowitz

GNOME bluefish

Contents

GNU/Linux

  • Kernel Space

    • Get Trained and Certified on Kubernetes with The Linux Foundation and CNCF

      Companies in diverse industries are increasingly building applications designed to run in the cloud at a massive, distributed scale. That means they are also seeking talent with experience deploying and managing such cloud native applications using containers in microservices architectures.

    • Kernel Summit + Linux Plumbers 2016

      Last week was the annual kernel summit and Linux Plumbers Conference in Santa Fe, NM. Like other conferences, this involved a bunch of scheduled talks and lots of hallway track (and plenty of Mexican food).

    • Cloud Native Computing Foundation Adds New Project, Grows Membership

      With Kubernetes momentum building, the Cloud Native Computing Foundation adds a fourth project, announces new members and starts a certification program.
      The Cloud Native Computing Foundation, which got its start in July 2015 as a vendor-neutral home for the open-source Kubernetes container orchestration platform, is now a broader effort. On Nov. 8, the CNCF announced new members, certification, training and a new project at the inaugural Cloud Native Con, which is co-located with KubeCon in Seattle.

    • Canonical and Others Join Cloud Native Computing Foundation

      When The Linux Foundation announced the Cloud Native Computing Foundation last year, its members already represented some of the most powerful technology and open source leaders around. Right out of the gate, members included AT&T, Box, Cisco, Cloud Foundry Foundation, CoreOS, Cycle Computing, Docker, eBay, Goldman Sachs, Google, Huawei, IBM, Intel, Joyent, Kismatic, Mesosphere, Red Hat, Switch SUPERNAP, Twitter, Univa, VMware and Weaveworks.

    • Thunderbolt Networking Support For Linux Revised Once More

      Back during the summer we last wrote about Thunderbolt networking support for Linux being worked on. Back then the patches were up to its v3 revision while coming out today is the ninth version of these patches, but at least the end might finally be in sight.

    • Graphics Stack

      • HiZ Improvement For Intel Mesa Driver Has Possible Small Performance Gains

        Mesa Git continues to be an exciting place to live for open-source GPU driver fans.

        Landing Tuesday in Mesa Git was a HiZ auxiliary buffer support for Skylake “Gen 9″ hardware and that was followed by support for sampling with HiZ, again something for Skylake and newer.

        With this HiZ-based sampling, performance improvements can be expected in some cases. The Git commit notes of gains between 0.4~2.2% for some OpenGL tests. While their Vulkan driver has taken much focus lately along with completing OpenGL 4.5 compliance, great to see the Intel Mesa driver continuing to receive performance optimizations.

    • Benchmarks

  • Applications

  • Desktop Environments/WMs

  • Distributions

    • New Releases

      • Q4OS 1.8 “Orion” GNU/Linux Distro Ships with Brand New Trinity 14.0.4 Desktop

        Today, November 9, 2016, the developers of the Q4OS GNU/Linux distribution were pleased to inform Softpedia about the release and immediate availability of the Q4OS 1.8 “Orion” release.

      • Alpine Linux 3.4.6 released

        The Alpine Linux project is pleased to announce the immediate availability of version 3.4.6 of its Alpine Linux operating system.

        This is a bugfix release of the v3.4 musl based branch, based on linux-4.4.30 kernels and it contains important security fixes for the kernel.

      • IPFire 2.19 – Core Update 107 released

        This is the official release announcement for IPFire 2.19 – Core Update 107. It mainly comes with a fix for the Dirty COW vulnerability in the Linux kernel and fixes various issues with the latest DNS proxy update in Core Update version 106.

      • Announcing Rockstor 3.8.15

        I am thrilled to announce the release of Rockstor 3.8.15. It’s been a long release cycle and It’s our 30th release, woohoo! We have entered a new phase of Rockstor community growth with steady patches from dedicated contributors. A total of 43 issues were closed making this a substantial update. Several enhancements were made to the UI, prominently to the dashboard. I’d like to also highlight the big(design and implementation) refactoring of our backend disk management. Last but not least, numerous improvements and bugfixes were committed throughout the stack. Please see the list below for detailed log of all patches that went in.

    • OpenSUSE/SUSE

    • Red Hat Family

      • Now Available: Red Hat Certificate System 9.1 & Red Hat Directory Server 10.1

        Today we are pleased to announce the release of Red Hat Certificate System 9.1 and Red Hat Directory Server 10.1, both supported on Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.3.

        Red Hat Certificate System, based on the open source PKI capabilities of the Dogtag Certificate System, is designed to provide Certificate Life Cycle Management (i.e. to issue, renew, suspend, revoke, archive/recover, and manage the single and dual-key X.509v3 certificates needed to handle strong authentication, single sign-on, and secure communications).

      • Red Hat Named a Leader in Gartner’s 2016 Magic Quadrant for Full Life Cycle API Management
      • Is Red Hat’s channel strategy paying off in Australia?

        Red Hat’s Australian operation is aiming to see a 50/50 split between direct and indirect revenues by the end of the company’s current financial year.

        If the company’s local business does, indeed, reach this equilibrium between channel and non-channel sales, it will have been helped along by the local team’s ongoing efforts to invest time and money into the Australian IT channel.

        “The channel business has been growing consistently now,” Red Hat Australia’s sales and channel director, Colin Garro, told ARN. “From a go-to-market perspective, we’ve deliberately set out to grow our channel business.”

        When Garro began working at Red Hat Australia in 2012, a large part of the open source software vendor’s local revenue was from direct sales, rather than channel-based activities.

      • Fedora

        • Your Last Chance To Test Out Fedora 25

          Fedora 25 is currently scheduled for release next week on 15 November. The Go/No-Go meeting for it is tomorrow so there’s still the chance it could be delayed but a (hopefully) final release candidate is now available for last minute testing.

        • Factory 2.0, Sprint 3 Report

          This was our first full sprint with the new team! Welcome, Jan Kaluza, Courtney Pacheco, Vera Karas, and Stanislav Ochotnicky. We’re glad to have Filip Valder join us in sprint 4 starting today.

          Our top priority in sprint 3 was making sure that the base runtime team isn’t blocked. They have a big job ahead of themselves to curate and build a collection of base modules at the core of the distro, and they need to use our prototype build tooling to do it. Anytime they’re blocked, the Factory 2.0 team is trying to chase down the solution — fixing tracebacks and developing new features. Cheers to Matt Prahl and Jan Kaluza for staying on top of this.

          Meanwhile, we’re continuing apace with the Dependency Chain and Deserialization epics that we originally scheduled for work this quarter. Mike Bonnet has been chasing down difficult technical pre-requisites for the later (message bus enablement), Matt Prahl demoed his dependency chain web UI, and Courtney Pacheco is giving shape to our metrics project (so we can have some confidence that future pipeline changes we make actually improve the state of affairs).

    • Debian Family

      • A few impressions of DebConf 16 in Cape Town

        Firstly, thanks to everyone who came out and added their own uniqueness and expertise to the pool. The feedback received so far has been very positive and I feel that the few problems we did experience was dealt with very efficiently. Having a DebConf in your hometown is a great experience, consider a bid for hosting a DebConf in your city!

      • Derivatives

        • Univention Corporate Server 4.1-4 Simplifies the Migration to Dockerize Apps

          Softpedia was informed today, November 8, 2016, by Univention’s Maren Abatielos about the release and general availability of the fourth point release of Univention Corporate Server (UCS) 4.1.

          Shipping with the latest security updates from the Debian Stable (Jessie) software repositories, Univention Corporate Server (UCS) 4.1-4 adds a bunch of interesting improvements and new features to the Linux-based, server-oriented operating system from Univention. Among these, we can mention the implementation of Samba 4.5.1 for better Active Directory compatibility and DRS replication.

        • Canonical/Ubuntu

          • Embedded PC runs Ubuntu on Tegra TX1

            Connect Tech’s “Rudi” mini-PC runs Ubuntu on an Nvidia Jetson TX1 COM with 4GB LPDDR4, eMMC and mSATA, 5x USB, 2x GbE, mini-PCIe, and -20 to 80°C support.

            Like many recent embedded computers. Connect Tech’s 135 x 105 x 50mm Rudi Embedded System fudges the line between mini-PC and a full-fledged industrial PC. Aimed at “deployable computer vision and deep learning applications,” the system ships with a Linux For Tegra R24.2 distribution based on 64-bit Ubuntu 16.04 pre-installed on 16GB of eMMC. Like Connect Tech’s Rosie embedded computer, the Rudi runs Nvidia’s quad-core, 64-bit Tegra TX1 SoC on Nvidia’s Jetson TX1 computer-on-module.

          • Ubuntu Budgie Is Now an Official Ubuntu Flavor

            Just a few moments ago, Softpedia was informed by budgie-remix developers David Mohammed and Udara Madubhashana that their GNU/Linux distribution built around the Budgie desktop environment is now an official Ubuntu flavor.

          • Ubuntu Budgie Becomes An Official Flavor

          • Flavours and Variants

            • Lubuntu 16.10 – enjoyable motley lightness

              Lubuntu is one flavour of the Ubuntu operating system that Linux notes from DarkDuck ignored for quite some time. The blog exists for 6 years now, but the first review of Lubuntu 16.04 was only written in September 2016, 2 months ago.

              Lubuntu 16.10 was released since then, so let’s have a look on this new release now. I have also written a review of Kubuntu 16.10 recently, so I will compare Lubuntu and Kubuntu here and there as we go.

  • Devices/Embedded

    • Linux-driven COM/carrier offers mid-range Zynq

      MYIR has launched a COM that runs Linux on a Zynq-7015 ARM/FPGA SoC, and mounts on a carrier with USB, GbE, HDMI, PMOD, and FMC I/O.

      MYIR’s MYC-C7Z015 computer-on-module and MYD-C7Z015 development board are variations on the MYC-C7Z010/20 COM with accompanying MYD-C7Z010/20 baseboard. Instead of offering a Xilinx Zynq-7010 or -7020 SoC, the MYC-C7Z015 provides the Zynq-7015, which has the same dual 667MHz to 866MHz Cortex-A9 subsystem, but offers an Artik 7 FPGA variant that falls in between the -7010 and -7020. The Zynq-7015 features 74k logic cells, 160 DSP slices, 380KB block RAM, and four 6.25Gbps transceivers.

    • First 3.5-inch Apollo Lake single board computers appear

      Aaeon and Avalue each unveiled 3.5-inch SBCs using Intel’s Apollo Lake processors, providing triple display support, wide-range power, and up to 8GB of RAM.

      Aaeon’s GENE-APL5 and Avalue’s ECM-APL are the first 3.5-inch (146 x 101mm) form factor single board computers we’ve seen that support Intel’s 14nm-fabricated “Apollo Lake” Atom E3900 SoCs. The Avalue model is the only one with optional industrial temperature support.

    • Orange Pi PC 2 Is A Cheap Quad Core Linux Computer For $20 That Runs Ubuntu

      A new addition to the community of single board computers is the Orange Pi PC 2. It is a Linux computer which packs a 64-bit quad-core CPU. It can run various Linux distributions like Ubuntu, Debian, Raspbian, and Android. The tiny computer is available for $20.

    • Phones

Free Software/Open Source

  • Top 3 questions job seekers ask in open source

    As a recruiter working in the open source world, I love that I interact every day with some of the smartest people around. I get to hear about the cool projects they’re working on and what they think about the industry, and when they are ready for a new challenge. I get to connect them to companies that are quietly changing the world.

    But one thing I enjoy most about working with them is their curiosity: they ask questions, and in my conversations, I hear a lot of inquiries about the job search and application process. That makes sense; it’s often opaque, never the same for any two people, and we are bombarded daily with new advice on every platform. So I asked my colleague at Greythorn, Mary Kypreos, to help me determine which questions we get the most often. With her assistance, I’ve answered the three most common questions we get.

  • Open source FIWARE platform creates new IoT business opportunities

    The European-funded IoT open source platform FIWARE has matured significantly in the past two years according to developers, and is now being used in industrial production cases, pilot smart city, and utilities projects. Two projects using the FIWARE platform include a city water quality pilot and an early warning system to identify and prevent pest risks to agricultural crops.

    To further support industry uptake, FIWARE has recently formalized a foundation to lead community efforts. The Foundation is expected to see a new wave of community participation in the open source platform, which already has significant links with other open source projects. For example, FIWARE’s testbed environment—FIWARE Labs—uses a multi-region cloud environment built on OpenStack.

  • Open source needs to deliver diversity

    Tech’s gender gap is no secret. It has been widely discussed for a decade, yet little progress has been made. In the five years between 2010 and 2015, the percentage of women in tech jobs in the UK increased from 17% to just 18%. This figure is underwhelming to say the least, but there is one critical area of technology where the gender gap is even wider.

    Analysis conducted last year by the co-founder of freelance software developer network Toptal found that just 5.4% of GitHub users with over 10 contributions from their sample were female. This indicates that open source software development teams are even less diverse than typical corporate software development teams.

  • Google unveils ‘Code-in 2016′ open source mentor organizations

    Open source software and ideology is critical to the future of technology. As more and more people demand transparency in the programs and applications they use, companies will have to take notice.

    To keep the open source movement going, it must be handed down to incoming developers. In other words, the children are our future, and education is key. Google’s “Code-In” contest is a great program that invites teen students to directly contribute to quality open source projects. Now, the search giant finally announces the projects that will be participating as “mentors”.

  • 4 open source initiatives that need your help

    What makes open source projects special isn’t the software or even the licensing, it’s the pooling of talents and the spirit of free giving around these projects.

    But not all open source initiatives become the object of corporate sponsorship or widespread devotion. And some that get such support don’t always keep it.

  • Another Old Intel Motherboard Gets Picked Up By Coreboot

    If you still are running Intel i945 era hardware, you may be happy to know another motherboard from this time is now supported by mainline Coreboot.

    The newest motherboard supported by Coreboot is the Gigabyte GA-945GCM-S2L. This micro-ATX i945 motherboard from the Core 2 Extreme / Core 2 Duo days has DDR2-667 support, Intel GMA 950 graphics, SATA 2.0, Gigabit LAN, and Intel HD Audio.

  • Events

  • Healthcare

    • Two Regenstrief innovators win AMIA’s Lindberg Award for open source EHR work in developing countries

      Burke Mamlin, MD, and Paul Biondich, MD, of the Regenstrief Institute and Indiana University School of Medicine, will receive the 2016 Donald A.B. Lindberg Award for Innovation in Informatics from the American Medical Informatics Association for their work on open source software.

      AMIA’s Lindberg award recognizes individuals for technological, research, or educational contribution that advances biomedical informatics.

      Mamlin, an internist, and Biondich, a pediatrician, are pioneers in the development, testing, and use of open source software to support the delivery of healthcare in developing countries.

  • Openness/Sharing/Collaboration

    • Why keep Open States going?

      After the closure of Sunlight Labs, the Open States project is heading in a new direction.

    • Open Data

      • “500,000 data scientists needed in European open research data”

        There is an alarming shortage of data experts both globally and in the European Union. This is partly based on an archaic reward and funding system for science and innovation, sustaining the article culture and preventing effective data publishing and re-use. A lack of core intermediary expertise has created a chasm between e-infrastructure providers and scientific domain specialists.

  • Programming/Development

    • GStreamer and Synchronisation Made Easy

      A lesser known, but particularly powerful feature of GStreamer is our ability to play media synchronised across devices with fairly good accuracy.

      The way things stand right now, though, achieving this requires some amount of fiddling and a reasonably thorough knowledge of how GStreamer’s synchronisation mechanisms work. While we have had some excellent talks about these at previous GStreamer conferences, getting things to work is still a fair amount of effort for someone not well-versed with GStreamer.

Leftovers

  • BSA settles Australian software piracy cases

    Software industry advocacy group, the BSA|The Software Alliance, has settled three court cases in Australia, awarded a total of $58,000 in damages following the unlicensed use of software programmes owned by its members – Adobe, Autodesk and Microsoft – in breach of copyright law.

    The first case, Meldan (Vic) Pty Ltd, trading as Granvue Homes, a project home builder, paid $35,000 in damages for the use of unlicensed software, following an audit which revealed use of unlicensed product keys for Adobe Acrobat, Autodesk, AutoCAD and and Microsoft Office software.

    BSA says the Victorian settlement is the first for the state in 2016, following a record number of settlements for Victoria in 2014 and 2015 above any other state, “indicating an increase in Victorian business accountability in 2016 for software compliance”.

    In another case, Sosan Pty Ltd, an architectural model maker in Brisbane, was found to be using Autodesk Building Design Suite in excess of their license entitlements. In addition to paying damages of $18,000, Sosan has purchased the necessary licenses to legalise ongoing software deployments.

  • Croydon tram overturns: ‘Some loss of life’ and two trapped

    There has been “some loss of life” and dozens of people have been injured after a tram overturned in south London, police have said.

    British Transport Police said it was “too early to confirm numbers” following the derailment in Croydon just after 06:00 GMT.

    A number of people were freed but it is believed two people remain trapped.

    The cause of the crash is unclear, with investigators from the Rail Accident Investigation Branch on the way.

  • Science

    • Gus Grissom taught NASA a hard lesson: “You can hurt yourself in the ocean”

      Gus Grissom had just entered the history books. A mere 10 weeks after Alan Shepard made America’s first human flight into space, Grissom followed with the second one, a 15-minute suborbital hop that took him to an altitude of 189km above the blue planet. After the small Mercury capsule’s parachutes deployed, Grissom splashed down in the Atlantic Ocean, seemingly bringing a flawless mission to a close.

      Only it wasn’t flawless, nor was it closed. At that moment, Gus Grissom almost drowned.

  • Security

    • Security, Cyber, and Elections (part 1)

      The US election cycle has been quite heavily dominated by cyber security issues. A number of cyber security experts have even stepped forward to offer their solutions to how to keep safe. Everyone has problems with their proposals, that fundamentally they all stem from not understanding the actual threat.

      Achieving security is possible using counterintelligence principles, but it requires knowing what you want to protect, who you want to protect it from, and then implementing that plan. I expect this post to be deeply unpopular with everyone, but I’ll explain my position anyway.

    • DDoS attack halts heating in Finland amidst winter

      A Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attack halted heating distribution at least in two properties in the city of Lappeenranta, located in eastern finland. In both of the events the attacks disabled the computers that were controlling heating in the buildings.

      Both of the buildings where managed by Valtia. The company who is in charge of managing the buildings overall operation and maintenance. According to Valtia CEO, Simo Rounela, in both cases the systems that controlled the central heating and warm water circulation were temporarily disabled.

      In the city of Lappeenranta, there were at least two buildings whose systems were knocked down by the network attack. In a DDoS attack the network is overloaded by traffic from multiple locations with the aim of causing the system to fail.

    • Communications watchdog: Criminals behind home automation system cyber attack

      The Finnish communications regulator Ficora said it suspects criminal entities of coordinating a web attack that disrupted home automation systems in the southeastern city of Lappeenranta. However the agency said that the real target of the attack may not have been in Finland.

      “According to our information, the systems in question are not the intended targets in this case, but they were compromised in a cyber attack that focused on European entities. In other words, it seems that there was some criminal group behind it,” said Jarkko Saarimäki, head of Ficora’s cyber security centre.

      Officials said that the event bore the hallmark of a denial of service (DoS) strike, which floods a service which so much web traffic that it is unable to provide services normally.

    • Researchers hack Philips Hue smart bulbs from the sky

      Security researchers in Canada and Israel have discovered a way to take over the Internet of Things (IoT) from the sky.

      Okay, that’s a little dramatic, but the researchers were able to take control of some Philips Hue lights using a drone. Based on an exploit for the ZigBee Light Link Touchlink system, white hat hackers were able to remotely control the Hue lights via drone and cause them to blink S-O-S in Morse code.

    • IoTSeeker Scanner Finds Smart Devices With Dumb Credentials

      The IoTSeeker tool from Rapid7 is designed to comb through users’ networks and identify common IoT devices with default usernames and passwords enabled. Those are the devices upon which botnets such as Mirai feed, especially those with telnet exposed on default ports. Mirai searches for devices with telnet enabled and using default credentials and then compromises them and begins scanning again.

    • DDoS Attack and Resiliency Measures

      Recently DDoS has come into the news because of recent attack (by IoT devices) on Twitter. Although DDoS is not a new kind of attack, because of the advent of IoT, the “smart” devices are new victims for web-based attacks, and as per the predictions it is more likely to grow. What makes this situation even more perilous is the rapid growth of IoT devices out there on the market. As per the estimate, there would be around 50 billion connected devices by the year 2020.

      The DDoS attacks cannot be mitigated completely but by taking some measures the effect can be minimized. This is the theme of this article. Let’s first understand…

    • Donald Trump’s campaign website ‘hacked’ by little poop emoji

      For a few hours the banner of Donald Trump’s website contained a familar face. The poop emoji.

      Perhaps foreshadowing the state in which we’re in, the little character appeared in the banner of donaldjtrump.com on Tuesday afternoon.

      This was a bug rather than a hack, and it allowed users to write in whatever they wished by adding it into the URL.

  • Defence/Aggression

    • 1 dead, multiple people shot near Azusa polling station as heavily armed man opens fire

      One person was killed and at least three others were wounded Tuesday in an active shooting near a polling place in Azusa.

      Authorities said police were dealing with at least one female suspect who was heavily armed. But several witnesses interviewed by The Times said the shooter was a man.

      “This is an active situation,” said Azusa Police Chief Steve Hunt, adding it’s too early to determine whether the violence was in any way related to the election.

  • Transparency/Investigative Reporting

    • WikiLeaks published 300 more emails from Clinton’s campaign chief

      Although the US presidential election is over, WikiLeaks is continuing to publish the emails of Hillary Clinton’s campaign chair John Podesta, who remains a major player in Washington. This is the 36th batch of emails, released in a constant drip over the past month.

  • Environment/Energy/Wildlife/Nature

    • Environmentalists Target Bankers Behind Pipeline

      In early August, just as protesters from across the country descended on North Dakota to rally against an oil pipeline near the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation, some of the world’s biggest banks signed off on a $2.5 billion loan to help complete the sprawling project.

      Now, those banks — which include Citigroup and Wells Fargo of the United States, TD Bank of Canada and Mizuho of Japan — have come under fire for their role in bankrolling the pipeline. In an open letter on Monday, 26 environmental groups urged those banks to halt further loan payments to the project, which the Sioux say threatens their sacred lands and water supply.

      In campaigning to reduce the world’s carbon emissions, environmentalists have increasingly focused on the financiers behind the fossil fuel industry — highlighting their role in financing coal, oil and gas projects. It is an expansion of traditional protest efforts, and it has met with some early success.

      Environmental groups have also criticized the Dakota Access pipeline as outdated infrastructure with no place in a world racing to stave off the worst effects of climate change. The 1,172-mile pipeline is expected to carry nearly half a million barrels of crude oil daily out of the Bakken fields of North Dakota, according to the company building the pipeline, Energy Transfer Partners.

    • Ecological Impact Assessments Aren’t Protecting Bats from Wind Farms

      Nothing is free in nature and this includes wind power. A particular concern with wind turbines is their effects on bats, which may often be found darting among treetops en masse while on the hunt for bugs to eat. When those treetops turn out to be spinning turbine blades, bad things happen: a bat might be hit directly, or it might wind up with bleeding lungs courtesy of abrupt changes in air pressure around turbines. Dozens of bats may be killed in a single night, only to be found the next morning littered underneath 30-foot turbine blades spinning at up to 80 miles per hour.

      The global standard for predicting such impacts from wind farms—and impacts from energy projects, generally—is the ecological impact assessment (EIA). In North America and Europe, bats are protected species (by the Endangered Species Act and EUROBATS, respectively), which means that such assessments are taken very seriously and are prepared at often great cost to wind farm developers. And, given this cost, we would hope that wind farm EIAs are actually doing something to protect bat populations. Alas, this does not seem to be the case, according to a study published Monday in Current Biology from the University of Exeter in the UK. Simply, the perception of risk revealed in the EIA process was not enough to predict actual bat casualties following construction of wind turbines. Bats are just too random.

    • Iran is back: Total signs $2 billion gas deal

      Foreign oil firms are returning to Iran for the first time since sanctions were eased early this year.

      France’s Total signed an agreement in principle on Tuesday to help Iran develop its giant South Pars gas field, together with Chinese state oil company CNPC.

      “Following Total’s successful development of phases 2 and 3 of South Pars in the 2000s, the group is back to Iran to develop and produce another phase of this giant gas field,” said Total CEO Patrick Pouyanné in a statement.

      Total (TOT) will operate the South Pars project with a stake of 50.1%. CNPC will own 30% and Iran’s Petropars 19.9%.

      The first phase will consist of 30 wells and two platforms connected to existing onshore treatment facilities by two pipelines at a cost of about $2 billion.

  • Finance

    • Taxpayers are still bailing out Wall Street, eight years later

      Eight-years after taxpayers rescued the U.S. financial system, some of the country’s largest banks, including JPMorgan Chase and Wells Fargo, continue to receive billions in bailout money, according to government data.

      Wells Fargo is eligible for up to $1.5 billion in bailout funds over the next seven years. JPMorgan and Bank of America could receive $1.1 billion and $964 million respectively.

      The continuous flow of funds is a remnant of the $700 billion bailout effort, known as the Troubled Asset Relief Program or TARP, put in place during the financial crisis. Some of that money, about $28 billion, was carved out to help distressed homeowners by paying banks to lower their interest rates and monthly payments.

      The program, the Home Affordable Modification Program, has undergone several revamps over the last few years and fallen short of helping the 3 million to 4 million homeowners the Obama administration initially hoped. But it continues to operate — HAMP will accept its last homeowner application at the end of this year — and big banks continue to be paid based on how many homeowners they help.

    • TPP ratification down to the wire in waning Obama White House

      No matter who prevails in Tuesday’s presidential election, the U.S. ambassador to Canada says President Barack Obama is determined to win an uphill fight to get congressional approval of the controversial Trans-Pacific Partnership deal during the lame-duck session.

      Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton and Republican challenger Donald Trump are opposed to the 12-country global trade deal, which includes Canada but excludes countries such as China and India. Both candidates have criticized the TPP for not being strong enough to provide more jobs to the U.S. economy.

      The intensely debated trade pact goes to a congressional vote at the end of the 2016 session. Congress has granted Mr. Obama “fast-track” authority over the deal, which allows lawmakers only to either reject or ratify it.

    • Obama will push for TPP trade deal in last days of term: ambassador

      President Barack Obama will use every remaining day of his term to win congressional approval for the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade agreement, says the U.S. ambassador to Canada.

      Envoy Bruce Heyman says that remains the position of the current administration as Americans head to the polls today to select a new president from two protectionist candidates.

      Democrat Hillary Clinton and Republican Donald Trump both oppose the 12-country Pacific Rim trade deal that would encompass 40 per cent of the world’s economy.

      Heyman had no comment on the two candidates’ positions on trade, but he made it clear in an interview that Obama will use the remaining time he has left in office to push the pact through Congress.

      There has been much speculation that Obama would use the period between the Nov. 8 election and the Jan. 20 inauguration of his successor to finalize the deal.

  • AstroTurf/Lobbying/Politics

    • Hillary concedes in purple, color of pain, suffering, Last Rites, royalty

      Defeated Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton conceded Wednesday while dressed in purple, the liturgical color of pain, suffering, royalty and even death.

      Her black and purple suit matched the tie wore by her husband, former President Bill Clinton, and others on the New York hotel stage including running mate Sen. Tim Kaine, his wife Anne Holton, and daughter Chelsea.

      During her much applauded address, Clinton talked about the pain she felt, quoted scripture, and encouraged her younger supporters to carry on her fight.

    • WikiLeaks not letting up on Clinton, Podesta

      WikiLeaks on Wednesday published a 36th batch of emails from Hillary Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta, just hours after the presidential election concluded with Donald Trump’s victory over Clinton.

      The release, which includes 225 emails obtained from Podesta’s personal Gmail account, brings the total released by WikiLeaks to 58,660. The organization began releasing the messages in early October, and claimed at the time to have around 50,000 on hand. It isn’t clear how many more the website holds, or how long the releases will continue, but they seemed timed to hurt Clinton’s chances of becoming the next president.

    • WikiLeaks mocks Dems after election loss

      “By biasing its internal electoral market the DNC selected the less competitive candidate defeating the purpose of running a primary,” the official account tweeted near midnight.

    • White House doesn’t take potential Clinton pardon off the table

      The White House on Wednesday refused to say whether President Barack Obama would consider pardoning Hillary Clinton for her email scandal, but appeared to issue a warning to President-elect Donald Trump, saying powerful people should not exploit the criminal justice system for “political revenge.”

      As the Republican nominee, Trump has repeatedly suggested that Clinton could be thrown in jail during his presidency for mishandling classified materials through the private email server she used as secretary of state. Now that Trump is president-elect, Obama faces the delicate question of whether to issue a pardon to protect his preferred successor.

    • White House open to a Clinton pardon

      The White House isn’t ruling out the possibility of Hillary Clinton receiving a last-minute pardon from President Obama — even though she hasn’t been charged with a crime.

      Asked at Wednesday’s press briefing whether Obama had considered utilizing his unique executive power, press secretary Josh Earnest was cryptic.

      “The president has offered clemency to a substantial number of Americans who were previously serving time in federal prisons,” Earnest said.

      “And we didn’t talk in advance about the president’s plans to offer clemency to any of those individuals and that’s because we don’t talk about the president’s thinking, particularly with respect to any specific cases that may apply to pardons or commutations,” he added.

    • Jill Stein Files Complaint with FEC over Trump & Clinton Super PAC Coordination

      In more election news, Green Party presidential nominee Dr. Jill Stein has filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission in Washington, D.C., against Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump, alleging illegal coordination with their super PACs. These so-called dark money groups are allowed to raise unlimited amounts of funds for candidates, but they are not allowed to coordinate directly with the campaigns. In the complaint, however, Stein argues both Clinton and Trump have illegally coordinated with a handful of their super PACs.

    • Intelligence community is already feeling a sense of dread about Trump

      A palpable sense of dread settled on the intelligence community on Wednesday as Hillary Clinton, the candidate many expected to win, conceded the race to a GOP upstart who has dismissed U.S. spy agencies’ views on Russia and Syria, and even threatened to order the CIA to resume the use of interrogation methods condemned as torture.

    • What does a Donald Trump win mean for UK politics?

      It is 20 January 2017 and a cold wind is blowing across Washington’s Capitol as Donald John Trump raises his right hand and proclaims that he will faithfully execute the office of president of the United States.

      As he looks the chief justice in the eye, hundreds of millions of people around the world are wondering what his four-year term will bring.

      Among them are UK civil servants and politicians, pondering – with negotiations for leaving the European Union also soon to begin – what all this means for their country.

      So, how well prepared is the UK for dealing with Mr Trump, who has never previously held elected office, and how is the future looking?

    • WikiLeaks founder Assange writes: ‘The real victor is the US public’

      WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange defended the decision to publish electronic messages showing “what the Clinton campaign says about itself to itself,” saying his anti-secrecy group was not trying to influence the outcome of the election.

      The hacked emails, he said, were a matter of public interest.

      “The right to receive and impart true information is the guiding principle of WikiLeaks,” Assange said in a statement, adding: “Our organization defends the public’s right to be informed.”

      Regardless of who wins the presidential election, he said, “the real victor is the US public which is better informed as a result of our work.”

      WikiLeaks published a trove of emails that revealed embarrassing and sometimes damaging information from within the Clinton campaign. The emails showed that Clinton’s aides struggled to get past the controversy over her use of a private email server and expressed frustration at their candidate.

    • Greg Palast in Ohio on GOP Effort to Remove African Americans from Voter Rolls in Battleground State

      In an on-the-ground report from the battleground state of Ohio, investigative reporter Greg Palast has uncovered the latest in vote suppression tactics led by Republicans that could threaten the integrity of the vote in Ohio and North Carolina. On some polling machines, audit protection functions have been shut off, and African Americans and Hispanics are being scrubbed from the voter rolls through a system called Crosscheck. “It’s a brand-new Jim Crow,” Palast says. “Today, on Election Day, they’re not going to use white sheets to keep way black voters. Today, they’re using spreadsheets.”

    • Revealed: Bill Clinton says Jeremy Corbyn is ‘the maddest person in the room’ in private speech

      Bill Clinton described Jeremy Corbyn as the “maddest person in the room” in a private speech revealed by Wikileaks.

      The former US president, who could be returning to the White House as the husband of the next president, reportedly discussed the appointment of the Labour leader in a private speech at a Hillary for America fundraiser in Maryland in October 2015.

    • “Don’t boo, vote”: This election could be democracy’s last stop

      When I grow up, I want to be Charlie Pierce, who covers politics for Esquire and has toiled in our scrivener’s trade, as far as I can tell, since the late 1970s.

      I know, technically, he’s a couple of years younger than I am, but he writes with the fierce wit and well-aimed anger to which I aspire, and as this wheezing milk train of a presidential campaign clanks into the final station, few have been as perceptive when it comes to trying to figure out just what the hell has happened to America this year.

      Charlie Pierce has done so with great style throughout, but now, thanks to Donald Trump and just before Election Day, he has come to the end of his watchdog rope. He wrote on Saturday that Trump — to whom he refers as El Caudillo del Mar-A-Lago — had “managed to exceed even my admittedly expansive limits for political obscenity.”

    • 4chan may have brought down pro-Clinton phone lines the day before the election

      Yesterday, as groups across the country hit the final stretch of their get-out-the-vote campaigns, workers at NextGen Climate noticed some problems with their automated dialer program. As the team started its morning hours, the program used to initiate and monitor voter calls was suddenly clunky, and cut out entirely for crucial hours in the afternoon.

      “It was slower in the morning, and then went down for hours at a time,” says NextGen’s Suzanne Henkels. The tool suffered intermittent downtime throughout the rest of the day. The campaign still made calls throughout the weekend, and was able to switch to backup methods of calling and texting to reach the remaining voters. Still, the attack caused significant trouble for the operation on the eve of Election Day.

      The downtime wasn’t a coincidence. Just after midnight on Sunday night, a post on 4chan’s /pol/ board announced an impending denial-of-service attack on any tools used by the Clinton campaign, employing the same Mirai botnet code that blocked access to Twitter and Spotify last month. One of those targets was TCN, the Utah-based call center company that runs NextGen’s dialer. According to the post’s author, the company was also providing phone services to Hillary Clinton’s offices in Nevada.

    • Understanding what lies behind Trump and Brexit

      As the US elections finish, many people are scratching their heads wondering what it all means. For example, is Trump serious about the things he has been saying, or is he simply saying whatever was most likely to make a whole bunch of really stupid people crawl out from under their rocks to vote for him? Was he serious about winning at all, or was it just the ultimate reality TV experiment? Will he show up for work in 2017, or like Australia’s billionaire Clive Palmer, will he set a new absence record for an elected official? Ironically, Palmer and Trump have both been dogged by questions over their business dealings, will Palmer’s descent towards bankruptcy be replicated in the ongoing fraud trial against Trump University and similar scandals?

      While the answer to those questions may not be clear for some time, some interesting observations can be made at this point.

      The world has been going racist. In the UK, for example, authorities have started putting up anti-Muslim posters with an eery resemblance to Hitler’s anti-Jew propaganda. It makes you wonder if the Brexit result was really the “will of the people”, or were the people deliberately whipped up into a state of irrational fear by a bunch of thugs seeking political power?

    • Trump’s tech plan: tariffs on electronics, ban on skilled tech migrants, cyber-weapons

      The United States Presidential Election has been run and at the time of writing looks almost certainly to have been won by Donald Trump.

      Which means we now have a decent idea of what’s in store for the global technology industry in the next four years. And it looks like a wild ride: Trump’s policies include a clamp down on H-1B visas, which will make it hard for US-based businesses to bring in skilled tech talent from abroad. H-1B critics argue the visas are a way to keep wages low by bringing in foreigners who work for less than American citizens. Supporters say the technology industries have a shortage of workers and therefore need foreigners to both fill seats and keep innovation humming along.

      Trump has also promised tariffs on imported products, especially from China, as part of a plan to ensure more companies manufacture in the USA. Apple shareholders beware: Trump once singled out the company as he feels it should “start building their damn computers and things in this country, instead of in other countries.”

    • It’s Full-Bore Ahead For FBI’s Clinton Foundation Probe

      FBI agents across the country are continuing to actively pursue a broad political corruption investigation of the Clinton Foundation, a probe that is consuming the resources in the FBI’s Little Rock, Ark., field office where every agent assigned to public corruption matters now is working on the case, The Daily Caller News Foundation’s Investigative Group has learned.

      “Everybody’s working the foundation in Little Rock,” a former senior FBI official told TheDCNF. There at least 10 agents involved, but it’s possible the Little Rock field office is “pulling bodies from other programs.”

    • Canada’s immigration website just crashed

      The Government of Canada’s immigration website crashed on Tuesday night as the US election results were rolling in.

      The site went down about 10:30 p.m. ET on Tuesday, and there was intermittent accessibility after that.

  • Censorship/Free Speech

    • Turks Are Flocking to Tor After Government Orders Block of Anti-Censorship Tools

      Turkish internet users are flocking to Tor, the anonymizing and censorship-circumvention tool, after Turkey’s government blocked Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube.

      Usage of Tor inside of Turkey went up from around 18,000 users to 25,000 users on Friday, when the government started blocking the popular social media networks, according to Tor’s official metrics. To prevent Turks from doing exactly that and connecting to the blocked sites through censorship-circumvention tools such as Tor and Virtual Private Networks (VPNs), the government took a step further and ordered internet providers to block those too.

  • Privacy/Surveillance

    • China adopts cyber security law in face of overseas opposition

      China adopted a controversial cyber security law on Monday to counter what Beijing says are growing threats such as hacking and terrorism, but the law triggered concerns among foreign business and rights groups.

      The legislation, passed by China’s largely rubber-stamp parliament and set to take effect in June 2017, is an “objective need” of China as a major internet power, a parliament official said.

      Overseas critics of the law say it threatens to shut foreign technology companies out of various sectors deemed “critical”, and includes contentious requirements for security reviews and for data to be stored on servers in China.

      Rights advocates also say the law will enhance restrictions on China’s Internet, already subject to the world’s most sophisticated online censorship mechanism, known outside China as the Great Firewall.

    • Tim Berners-Lee warns of danger of chaos in unprotected public data

      Hackers could use open data such as the information that powers transport apps to create chaos, Sir Tim Berners-Lee, the inventor of the world wide web, has said.

      “If you disrupted traffic data for example, to tell everybody that all the roads south of the river are closed, so everybody would go north of the river, that would gridlock you [and] disable the city,” he said.

    • “DRM is Used to Lock in, Control and Spy on Users”

      In a scathing critique, the Free Software Foundation is urging the U.S. Government to drop the DMCA’s anti-circumvention provisions which protect DRM. The foundation argues that DRM is a violation of users’ rights, which under the guise of copyright protection is used to harm, control and spy on people.

    • Tor 0.2.9.5-alpha is released

      Hi, all! There is a new alpha release of the Tor source code, with numerous bugfixes. We’re getting closer to stable, but we still need testing!

      You can download the source from the usual place on the website. Packages should be up within a few days.

      Please remember to check the signature. Please also note that the signature may be with a key you aren’t familiar with. That’s because my PGP key changed a couple of months ago: see https://people.torproject.org/~nickm/key-transition-statement-2.txt.asc for more information.

    • Spyware routinely installed by UK schools to snoop on kids’ Web habits

      Over two-thirds of schools installed special software on school computers to spy on their pupils, responses to Freedom of Information requests have revealed.

      According to a report by Big Brother Watch, “classroom management software” is running on over 800,000 computers, laptops, and mobile phones found in 1,000 secondary schools across England and Wales. A whopping £2.5 million has been spent on the programs.

    • Spain publishes two guides on data protection in re-use of government information

      The Spanish Agency for Data Protection (Agencia Española de Protección de Dato, AEPD) has published two guides that should help Spanish institutions to publish public sector information (PSI) as open data.

  • Civil Rights/Policing

    • A Liberal Mother of Six Jailed for Challenging Saudi Taboos

      When Souad al-Shammary posted a series of tweets about the thick beards worn by Saudi clerics, she never imagined she would land in jail.

      She put up images of several men with beards: An Orthodox Jew, a hipster, a communist, an Ottoman Caliph, a Sikh, and a Muslim. She wrote that having a beard was not what made a man holy or a Muslim. And she pointed out that one of Islam’s staunchest critics during the time of Prophet Muhammad had an even longer beard than him.

      The frank comments are typical of this twice-divorced mother of six and graduate of Islamic law, who is in many ways a walking challenge to taboos in deeply conservative Saudi Arabia. Raised a devout girl in a large tribe where she tended sheep, al-Shammary is now a 42-year-old liberal feminist who roots her arguments in Islam, taking on Saudi Arabia’s powerful religious establishment.

      She has paid a price for her opinions. She spent three months in prison without charge for “agitating public opinion.” She has been barred by the government from traveling abroad. Her co-founder of the online forum Free Saudi Liberals Network, blogger Raif Badawi, is serving a 10-year prison sentence and was publicly lashed 50 times. Her father disowned her in public.

    • Russia orders inquiry into claims of FGM in Dagestan

      Russia has launched an investigation into claims that tens of thousands of girls in remote mountain areas, some as young as three months’ old, have been forced to undergo female genital mutilation.

      The general prosecutor’s office has acted following allegations that the life-threatening practice has been taking place “unchecked by the authorities” in the republic of Dagestan, Russia’s state-run news agency Tass reported.

    • Islamist ‘Morality Police’ Lurk in Troubled Swedish Suburbs

      Islamic “morality police” have become more active in vulnerable suburban areas across Sweden, which are in effect ghettoes where real police are hardly welcome. Girls’ rights have become heavily restricted when it comes to sporting activities, hanging out with guys or choosing partners, associations working against “honor crimes” stated.

    • These anti-terrorism posters echo Nazi propaganda

      My daily commute takes me through London’s Liverpool Street station. Most days I walk by a tiny touching statue, a bronze of two small children with a suitcase. A sign reads: “Für Das Kind”, meaning for the children. The statue commemorates the Kindertransport that rescued 10,000 child refugees and brought them by train to safety in Britain, escaping the persecution of Jews in Nazi Europe. Few of those children ever saw their families again. Most who could not leave were exterminated.

      Last week, just yards away from the statue, appeared a poster that fills me with horror. A looming, dark, hook-nosed figure dominates the foreground. This man is an object of suspicion, watched apprehensively by a pretty, pale-skinned young woman. This man is instantly identifiable – at least to anyone who knows world war two history – as the caricature Jew of Nazi propaganda posters.

      However inadvertently, the designers have used a horribly familiar antisemitic image. The impact goes far beyond these associations, serious as those are. A friend who was unaware of Nazi iconography revealingly said that she saw on the poster an “evil-looking dark-skinned man”. The image plays on people’s fears of “the other”, and creates anxiety about a suspicious “they” who may be hiding something, in the words of the poster.

  • Internet Policy/Net Neutrality

    • China’s Internet Controls Will Get Stricter, to Dismay of Foreign Business

      In August, business groups around the world petitioned China to rethink a proposed cybersecurity law that they said would hurt foreign companies and further separate the country from the internet.

      On Monday, China passed that law — a sign that when it comes to the internet, China will go its own way.

      The new rules, which were approved by the country’s rubber-stamp Parliament and will go into effect next summer, are part of a broader effort to better define how the internet is managed inside China’s borders.

      Officials say the rules will help stop cyberattacks and help prevent acts of terrorism, while critics say they will further erode internet freedom. Business groups worry that parts of the law — such as required security checks on companies in industries like finance and communications, and mandatory in-country data storage — will make foreign operations more expensive or lock them out altogether. Individual users will have to register their real names to use messaging services in China.

  • Intellectual Monopolies

    • Trademarks

    • Copyrights

      • Bulk block of pirate streaming sites ordered by Italian court

        A court in Rome has ordered that 152 sites involved in the unauthorised streaming of sporting events and films should be blocked by Italian ISPs.

        The request was made by the Guardia di Finanza, the country’s financial police force that has become increasingly involved in tackling online piracy.

      • CBC threatens podcast app makers, argues that RSS readers violate copyright

        The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation publishes several excellent podcasts, notably the As It Happens feed; like every podcast in the world, these podcasts are available via any podcast app in the same way that all web pages can be fetched with all web browsers — this being the entire point of podcasts.

        In a move of breathtaking, lawless ignorance, the CBC has begun to send legal threats to podcast app-makers, arguing that making an app that pulls down public RSS feeds is a “commercial use” and a violation of the public broadcaster’s copyrights.

        This is a revival of an old, dark era in the web’s history, when linking policies prevailed, through which publishes argued that they had the right to control who could make a link to their sites — that is, who could state the public, true fact that “a page exists at this address.”

        But the CBC is going one worse here: their argument is that making a tool that allows someone to load a public URL without permission is violating copyright law — it’s the same thing as saying, “Because Google is a for-profit corporation, any time a Chrome user loads a CBC page in the Chrome browser without the CBC’s permission, Google is violating CBC’s copyright.”

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