Contents

• GNU/Linux
  • Distributions
  • Devices/Embedded
• Free Software/Open Source
• Leftovers

GNU/Linux

• Lastpass sold to LogMeIn — should Linux users panic?

  Today, however, Lastpass drops a bombshell, announcing it has been bought by the company LogMeIn. I am not familiar with this new owner, but many people are unhappy — the comment section on the announcement is full of outrage. If you only use Windows, Mac, iOS or Android, there are alternatives, so you can switch if things get bad. Users of Chrome OS, Ubuntu, Fedora and other such operating systems? Not so much. Should we Linux users panic?

• The Best Linux Setup For Older Computers

  A number of the distributions on that list would have been suitable but I was also looking for a distribution that had a 32-bit version.

  From the list I could reasonably have gone for PCLinuxOS, Linux Mint XFCE, Zorin OS Lite or Linux Lite but having recently reviewed Q4OS I decided that this was the best option because it looks a lot like older versions of Windows, it is lightweight, fast and easy to use.

• Desktop

  • PC shipments fall 7.7 percent in third quarter: Gartner

    Research firm Gartner Inc said worldwide shipments of personal computers fell 7.7 percent to 73.7 million units in the third quarter as a stronger dollar made them costlier.

• Server

  • Ubuntu Linux Is Now Supported on IBM’s New Power Systems LC Server Family

  • New IBM Linux Servers Infuse Technology from OpenPOWER Foundation to Run Big Data Workloads at Half the Cost of x86 Based Servers

  • IBM Deepens OpenPOWER partnerships

  • IBM takes on commodity x86 servers with Linux-based Power Systems LC family

  • New IBM Linux Servers Infuse Technology from OpenPOWER Foundation to Run Big Data Workloads at Half the Cost of x86 Based Servers

  • IBM’s New Open Linux Power Servers Take on x86 in HPC

  • IBM takes on commodity x86 servers with Linux-based Power Systems LC family

  • IBM Power Servers Undercut x86 Server Pricing by 50 Percent

  • IBM Launches LC OpenPower Servers

  • IBM “Returns to HPC” with New Linux Server Line Says Gupta

  • IBM introduces new range of Power-based servers

  • IBM releases cheap Linux servers taking on Intel

  • IBM chases Intel with new Power-based Linux servers sold over the Web

  • IBM Back In HPC With Power Systems LC Clusters

  • New IBM Linux Servers Tap OpenPower Technology

    IBM this week launched a new “LC” line of servers that infuse technologies from members of the OpenPower Foundation and are part of IBM’s Power Systems portfolio of servers.

    The new Power Systems LC servers were designed based on technologies and development efforts contributed by OpenPower Foundation partners—including Canonical, Mellanox, Nvidia, Tyan and Wistron.

  • HP Announces OpenSwitch, a Linux-Based Open Source Network Operating System

  • Big Switch, Facebook and NTT Join Up on Tools to Run a Networking Switch

• Kernel Space

  • Respect and the Linux Kernel Mailing Lists

  • James Bottomley: The Linux Kernel Mailing List Behavior Isn’t All That Bad

    Bottomley, maintainer of the kernel’s SCSI subsystem and other code, argues that things on the Linux kernel mailing list aren’t all that it’s talked up to be.

  • Linux kernel development suffering from the “internet of hate”

    Another Linux kernel developer has left, citing a toxic environment. Jack Wallen proposes the type of motivation used by the kernel devs could unmake a very precious commodity.

  • On Norbert Preining, Sarah Sharp, and Debian

  • Linux: Sarah Sharp defines what makes a good community

  • Linux Discussion Continues, Fedora Welcomes Chromium

    Folks are still discussing the resignation of Sarah Sharp and Matthew Garrett from Linux kernel development. Jack Wallen said Sharp (and Garrett) are cases of more developers being “turned away, simply because developers had no patience for personal respect.” He said Linux rules with a “sharp and iron tongue” with “foul and abusive language.” He agreed with Dr. Roy Schestowitz in that all this is a “PR nightmare” threatening the “flagship of the open-source movement.” He placed part of the blame on what he calls the “Internet of hate” and said if Linux is to compete with Microsoft and Apple its developers need to “start treating the legions of programmers, who are working tirelessly to deliver, as well as they treat the code itself. Open source is about community. A community with a toxic foundation will eventually crumble.”

  • Linus Torvalds needs to fix the communication bug that is hurting his project

  • Thick Skin (within Free/Open Source communities)

    The definition of “thick-skinned” in different dictionaries ranges from “not easily offended” to “largely unaffected by the needs and feelings of other people; insensitive”, going through “able to ignore personal criticism”, “ability to withstand criticism and show no signs of any criticism you may receive getting to you”, “an insensitive nature” or “impervious to criticism”. It essentially describes an emotionally detached attitude regarding one’s social environment, the capacity or ignoring or minimizing the effects of others’ criticism and the priorization of the protection of one’s current state over the capacity of empathizing and taking into account what others may say that don’t conform to one’s current way of thinking. It is essentially setting up barriers against whatever others may do that might provoke any kind of crisis or change in you.

  • ​Matthew Garrett is not forking Linux

    When Matthew Garrett, well-known Linux kernel developer and ‎CoreOS principal security engineer, announced he was releasing a [Linux] kernel tree with patches that implement a BSD-style securelevel interface, I predicted people would say Garrett was forking Linux. I was right. They have. But, that’s not what Garrett is doing.

  • Video: Recent public talk with Linus Torvalds

    Linux Foundation head Jim Zemlin interviewed Linus Torvalds on stage at LinuxCon North America 2015. I thought it was worth sharing.

  • Linux Foundation Wants to Standardize Common Best Practices for Open Software Compliance

    During the LinuxCon Europe and Embedded Linux Conference Europe events that took place earlier this week in Dublin, Ireland, between October 5 and 7, the non-profit organization The Linux Foundation announced the standardization of the future of the Software Supply Chain by creating the OpenChain Workgroup.

  • The Linux Foundation to Host FOSSology, the Open Source License Compliance Tool

    During the LinuxCon Europe event that took place in Dublin, Ireland, between October 5 and 7, 2015, The Linux Foundation non-profit organization announced that they would host FOSSology, the open source license compliance system and toolkit.

  • Linux Foundation: Security Challenges Threaten ‘Golden Age’ Of Open Source

    The discovery of several high profile zero-day vulnerabilities in popular open source technologies last year served not only to show the importance of open source to the Internet and IT world, but also how woefully under-resourced so many projects were

  • KDBUS Continues Maturing, But Will We See It For Linux 4.4?

    New KDBUS patches continue being published for this in-kernel IPC mechanism based on D-Bus, but it hasn’t been communicated yet whether Linux 4.4 is the next target for hoping to mainline this controversial code.

    Just yesterday was a set of 44 patches in attempting to cleanup the KDBUS code further. There’s also been an assortment of other KDBUS patches floating around the kernel mailing list.

  • Systemd 227 Released: “Lots Of New Awesomeness”

    Lennart Poettering released systemd 227 a few minutes ago with what he describes as “lot’s of new awesomeness, and many bugfixes!”

  • Graphics Stack

    • AMD Makes Open-Source “Iceland” GPU Support Experimental In Linux 4.3

      AMD sent in a batch of fixes for the AMDGPU kernel driver today for Linux 4.3. One notable change with this AMDGPU DRM driver update is that it marks the Iceland/Topaz graphics processor support as experimental so it’s no longer enabled by default until the support has been better vetted.

    • Beignet 1.1.1 Released, Still No Signs Of Intel Linux OpenCL 2.0 Nearing Reality

    • Mir Continues Cleaning Up Their OpenGL Code, To Support Vulkan In Future

      Since this summer we’ve known that Canonical developers have been looking at Vulkan in regards to supporting this forthcoming graphics API by Unity 8 and Mir. Since then we’ve seen work done in Mir to support renderers other than OpenGL with this Ubuntu display server. As another sign of working towards Vulkan, more of Mir’s OpenGL code continues to be re-factored.

  • Benchmarks

    • Running Some Fresh BSD vs. Linux Benchmarks

      Given the recent releases of FreeBSD 10.2 and NetBSD 7.0, plus the H2’2015 Linux distribution updates rolling around, I’ve just started work on a new BSD vs. Linux operating system performance comparison.

      First up are the BSD distributions for testing… The test system being used for this comparison is an Intel Xeon E5-2687W v3 Haswell-E plus AMD FirePro system. Given the new release of NetBSD 7.0, I decided to try that out first.

• Applications

  • MyPaint Fills a Graphics Void on Linux

    When you think of Linux and graphic art tools, you probably consider Gimp or Blender to be the only available software. With that thought, you’d be very wrong. Yes, Gimp and Blender are the de facto standard tools for either image manipulation (Gimp) or Blender (3D graphics and animation), but what if you need a tool to create images from scratch?

  • Fotoxx 15.10 Has Been Just Released

    Fotoxx is an open source photo editing program, working on Linux. It has support for the most important image formats, including JPEG, BMP, PNG, TIFF and RAW. Fotoxx is mostly used for cropping, resizing or retouching photos, without using layers, like Photoshop.

  • Fotoxx 15.10 Free Image Manipulation Software Adds Support for Batch Scripts

    We have been informed by kornelix, the developers of the open-source and free Fotoxx image manipulation software, about the immediate availability for download of Fotoxx 15.10.

  • Proprietary

    • Opera 34 Is Now Based on Chromium 47, Adds MSE Audio Support, Share Button on Mac

      On October 8, Opera Software announced the release and immediate availability for download and testing of a new version of their Opera 34 web browser, which is currently in the Developer channel.

  • Instructionals/Technical

    • Create Multiple IP Addresses to One Single Network Interface

    • Install CakePHP 3.0 on a CentOS VPS

    • Doing a Cloud Migration? Don’t Miss These Essential Resources

    • Free Educational Resources for Essential Big Data Tools

    • 3 easy steps to a security certificate

    • Fun experiments with laptop battery

    • How to easily save pictures from texts on Android

    • Learning The Linux File System

    • Configuring OpenStack to use jumbo frames (MTU 9000)

    • USB Per Port Power Switching

    • What is Disaster Recovery?

  • Games

    • Vendetta Online 1.8.354 3D Space Combat Game Gets Multi-Threaded Physics Engine

      Guild Software has had the pleasure of announcing a new maintenance release of their popular Vendetta Online 3D space combat massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) for all supported platforms, including Microsoft Windows, GNU/Linux, Mac OS X, Android, and iOS.

    • Beyond Earth – Rising Tide Arrives on Linux Today

      Beyond Earth – Rising Tide, the first expansion for the latest game in the Civilization series, is launching today on Linux and other platforms, and it set to greatly expand the gameplay of the original Beyond Earth.

    • Haque: Retro Roguelike RPG Requires Riches

      $15 will grant you a DRM-free Linux copy of the game (plus your name in the credits), or add $10 more to it to also get the soundtrack.

    • Epistory – Typing Chronicles Will Come To Linux

      Epistory – Typing Chronicles is a rather unique looking atmospheric action/adventure game, and the developers have confirmed a Linux version is coming.

    • Saints Row: Gat Out Of Hell Looks Like It Will Also Come To Linux

      It’s a very popular series of games, and having all but the original on Linux is going to be a really amazing thing. Deep Silver do seem to be really rather quickly building up their Linux/SteamOS list of games.

    • Be A Space Marine In Templar Battleforce On Linux

    • Ubuntu Phone Game Falldown Ported to Sailfish OS, It Now Supports Themes

      We have just been informed by Riccardo Padovani, the creator of the Falldown face-paced and addictive game for Ubuntu Phone, that he and his team release a major update.

    • Overlord & Overlord 2 Coming To Linux, Two More Virtual Programming Titles

    • Saints Row 2 & 3 Are Being Ported By Virtual Programming

    • Storm United, The Great Looking UE4 FPS Is Finally Getting An Update

      This weekend Storm United should finally have a new update, and the developers have told us it will include Linux too.

    • Humble Weekly Bundle: Nordic Games 3 Features Two Great Linux Games

      The new Humble Weekly Bundle: Nordic Games 3 – Nordic’s Staff Picks has arrived and it’s mostly about Windows-only games, but a couple of Linux-supported games can be found too for whoever is interested.

    • SteamOS 2.0 to Get Major Update Once a Month

      Now that Valve has made SteamOS 2.0 the official branch, the developers have also explained how they plan to upgrade the operating systems and with what frequency.

    • Victor Vran for Linux Arrives on the DRM-Free GOG.com

    • The Future of Divinity: Original Sin 2 Linux Port Is Uncertain

• Desktop Environments/WMs

  • Enlightenment 0.20 Alpha Has Full Wayland Support, Better FreeBSD Support

    Enlightenment DR 0.20 Alpha has been released as the first step towards E20 with one year having passed since E19.

    Enlightenment E20 in its current state has full Wayland support with much better, more featureful support than what’s found in E19. That’s why Wayland support was removed from E19 rather than for any nefarious reasons.

  • Enlightenment 0.20.0 Enters Alpha with Full Wayland Support, New Features

    After reporting the other day on the immediate availability of the Enlightenment 0.19.12 open-source desktop environment, a release that dropped support for the next-generation Wayland display server, today we’re happy to inform you about the development of the next major release of the project.

  • Enlightenment Temporarily Drops Support For Wayland

  • Enlightenment DR 0.19.12 Release

  • K Desktop Environment/KDE SC/Qt

    • KDE Plasma Wayland Port Receives Support for Transient Window Positioning, More

      On October 8, Martin Gräßlin, a KDE Developer working for BlueSystems GmbH, reported on the work done for porting the modern KDE Plasma compositor and window manager to the next-generation Wayland display server.

    • KWin On Wayland Making Progress, Now Has A Virtual Backend

      Martin Gräßlin has shared a monthly status update about the work accomplished in recent weeks for running KDE/KWin atop a native Wayland environment without depending upon any X11 code-paths.

      A month ago KDE on Wayland began running rather properly and now it’s looking even better.

    • Season of KDE 2015 Now Open

      Season of KDE is a community outreach program, much like Google Summer of Code that has been hosted by the KDE community for seven years.

    • KDE Is Hoping To Recruit More Developers This Season

      While this year’s Google Summer of Code has long passed, the KDE development community is now once again starting the Season of KDE 2015 as an initiative to get new developers involved with KDE projects.

    • Release of KDE Frameworks 5.15.0

      KDE Frameworks are 60 addon libraries to Qt which provide a wide variety of commonly needed functionality in mature, peer reviewed and well tested libraries with friendly licensing terms. For an introduction see the Frameworks 5.0 release announcement.

      This release is part of a series of planned monthly releases making improvements available to developers in a quick and predictable manner.

    • Calligra Words 3 Is Now A “Pure” Qt5/KF5 Application

    • Calligra 2.9.8 Released

      The Calligra team announce availability of the Calligra Suite, and Calligra Active 2.9.8. It is recommended update that improves the 2.9 series of the applications and underlying development frameworks.

    • Calligra 2.9.8 Is Now Available, Gets Fixes for CentOS, Lots of Kexi Improvements

    • Qt World Summit + Kate/KDevelop Sprint in Berlin

      This week is really busy, first three days of Qt World Summit and now hacking away at the Kate/KDevelop sprint in Berlin.

    • Qt World Summit 2015

    • KDE Frameworks 5.15.0 Is a Massive Release with Lots of Plasma Framework Goodies

    • KDE Frameworks 5.15 Released

  • GNOME Desktop/GTK

    • MATE-Desktop 1.11 Released, Working Towards MATE 1.12

      MATE developers are currently working towards MATE 1.12. MATE 1.12 is expected to have full support for GTK3, initial support for Wayland, support for GNOME Account Servers, full support for systemd’s logind, xf86-input-libinput driver support, and various other changes. The work-in-progress items can be found via the MATE-Desktop Roadmap.

    • GNOME 3.18.1 newstable tarballs due

      Tarballs are due on 2015-10-12 before 23:59 UTC for the GNOME 3.18.1 newstable release, which will be delivered on Wednesday.

    • MATE-Desktop 1.11 Released, Working Towards MATE 1.12

      The GNOME2-forked MATE-Desktop has tagged version 1.11.0 as their newest milestone.

      MATE developers are currently working towards MATE 1.12. MATE 1.12 is expected to have full support for GTK3, initial support for Wayland, support for GNOME Account Servers, full support for systemd’s logind, xf86-input-libinput driver support, and various other changes. The work-in-progress items can be found via the MATE-Desktop Roadmap.

    • Watch Twitch Without Flash On Your Desktop With GNOME Twitch

      GNOME Twitch is a GNOME 3 application for watching Twitch.tv (a popular live streaming video platform that primarily focuses on video gaming) on your desktop, without Flash or a web browser.

    • Visual Studio status for GTK+ builds

      Following up with Emmanuele’s blog posts about GTK+ being “dead” or “dying” I wanted to point out about the status of the MSVC builds for the GTK+ stack.

• Distributions

  • Bodhi: Detour and Forum Themes now Moksha Compatible

    Today I am happy to announce we have completed work on the first couple of themes we are updating to be compatible with Moksha.

  • New Releases

    • Netrunner Rolling 2015.09 Released With New Plasma 5 And Apps updates

      Netrunner is a Linux distribution that comes into two versions – Main version and Rolling release. Main version is based on Kubuntu and the Rolling release is based on Manjaro Linux. The new Netrunner 2015.09 has been released with a completely different look – KDE4 has been transformed to Plasma 5.2 desktop. Let’s look at the complete changes in the Netrunner 2015.09 release.

    • Tiny Core Linux 6.4.1 Gets Its First Release Candidate Build with Multiple Fixes

      Robert Shingledecker has had the please of informing us about the immediate availability for download and testing of the first Release Candidate (RC) build of the upcoming Tiny Core Linux 6.4.1 operating system.

  • Arch Family

    • Manjaro Linux Fluxbox 15.10 Edition Released with a Completely Redesigned Desktop

      A few minutes ago, October 10, the Manjaro Community Team, through Bernhard Landauer, was proud to announce the release and immediate availability for download of the Manjaro Linux Fluxbox 15.10 operating system.

  • Ballnux/SUSE

    • SUSE Announces SUSE Linux Enterprise Server for SAP Apps on Amazon Web Services

      On October 8, SUSE had the great pleasure of announcing the general availability of the SUSE Linux Enterprise Server (SLES) operating system for SAP Applications on the Amazon Web Services (AWS) cloud-computing platform.

    • openSUSE Tumbleweed Gets New Major Snapshot, Leap 42.1 RC1 Coming Next Week

      On October 9, Douglas DeMaio wrote about the latest major snapshot released for the rolling-release edition of the openSUSE Linux operating system, Tumbleweed, which adds some of the latest software versions.

    • SUSE Is Looking For Another Graphics Driver Developer

      SUSE Labs is looking to hire another Linux graphics developer to be involved with Linux kernel and user-space driver development, including both X.Org and Wayland.

      If you are experienced with Linux graphics driver development and want to work out of the beautiful cities of Nürnberg or Prague, this job listing may be of interest to you.

  • Red Hat Family

    • Red Hat Coverage Initiated at Drexel Hamilton (RHT)

      Stock analysts at Drexel Hamilton started coverage on shares of Red Hat (NYSE:RHT) in a note issued to investors on Friday, MarketBeat.Com reports. The firm set a “buy” rating on the open-source software company’s stock.

    • Red Hat (RHT) is Initiated by Drexel Hamilton to Buy

      Red Hat (RHT) is Initiated by Drexel Hamilton to Buy , according to the research report released to the investors. The shares recommendation by the Brokerage Firm was released on Oct-9-2015.

    • Ratings and Sentiment Update on Red Hat, Inc. (NYSE:RHT) Stock

    • Zacks Short Term Rating on Red Hat, Inc. (NYSE:RHT)

      Red Hat, Inc. (NYSE:RHT) has received a buy rating for the short term, according to the latest rank of 2 from research firm, Zacks. The shares could manage an average rating of 1.47 from 17 analysts. 12 market experts have marked it as a strong buy. 2 analysts recommended buying the shares. 3 analysts have rated the company at hold.

    • Xen Launches For CentOS 7 ARM 64-Bit Servers

      If you’re fortunate enough to have a powerful 64-bit ARM board, Xen virtualization support is now available via CentOS ARM64 packages.

    • Some inclusive discussion about inclusive decisions

    • Fedora

      • Fedora OpenID issues resolved

        It is very likely that you have seen the issues we had with logging in to Fedora Infrastructure services, or other websites that use Fedora OpenID to authenticate you.

      • Batch of new updates [#2/2015]

      • Fedora at LinuxCon Europe 2015

        This week, another edition of LinuxCon Europe took place in Dublin and as always Fedora was there. The Linux Foundation confirmed our booth quite late, just two weeks before the event, so we didn’t have a lot of time for preparation. On the other hand, we got the stand and three passes for free which was big help because the conference is otherwise very expensive (the standard pass was ~$1000). And I’d like to thank the Linux Foundation for the support.

      • Fedora Updates Its Packaging Policy To The Ire Of Some Developers

        Fedora has updated its packaging policy to allow more software to be bundled in the Fedora repository, but not everyone is happy with this change.

      • GLPI version 0.90

  • Debian Family

    • Derivatives

      • GParted Live Gets the Latest Updates from Debian Sid

        GParted Live, a small bootable GNU/Linux distribution for x86-based computers that can be used for creating, reorganizing, and deleting disk partitions, has been upgraded to version 0.23.0-2 and is now available for download.

      • Clonezilla Live 2.4.2-59 Arrives with Updated Debian Base

        Clonezilla Live, a Linux distribution based on DRBL, Partclone, and udpcast, which allows users to do a lot of maintenance and recovery work, is now at version 2.4.2-59 and is available for download and testing.

      • Canonical/Ubuntu

        • Ubuntu Touch to Get Updated Android Drivers and Kernel

          The Ubuntu Touch platform is still using some Android bits and it looks like the developers are preparing to upgrade those components as well in the coming months.

        • Ubuntu Touch OTA-7 Update Is Being Tested, on Track for October Launch

          The Ubuntu Touch OS is getting a new OTA very soon and the developers are putting the final touches on it. The update is still on track for an October 19 launch and it will remain that way if nothing goes wrong.

        • False Rumors About Microsoft Buying Canonical Are Ridiculous

          The rumor that Microsoft is interested in buying Canonical doesn’t seem to go away, despite the fact that there is no real basis to it. We’ve already explained why that is unlikely to happen, but people still don’t listen, so here are some more reasons why the rumor is perfect for April 1.

        • Spice Vulnerabilities Closed in Ubuntu 14.04 LTS and Ubuntu 15.04

          A Spice vulnerability has been found and repaired in the Ubuntu 15.04 and Ubuntu 14.04 LTS operating systems.

          The SPICE protocol client and server library has been patched in the past few months a couple of times, and this is just the latest fix. It’s not a major component, but users should really close any kind of exploit and vulnerability and upgrade their systems frequently.

        • Is Microsoft Wooing Canonical & Important Departures…

          A while back I was fitted for a tinfoil hat by some because I had the audacity — the audacity! — to suggest that it would be a shrewd business move by the now-Linux-loving Microsoft to buy Canonical because a.) Canonical had technology that Microsoft would want and need to advance in mobile (like the Ubuntu Phone technology, which blows Microsoft’s out of the water currently), and b.) by this time, Mark Shuttleworth is beyond tired of flushing millions after millions down the toilet (though, as a half-billionaire, he still has several decades of current spending before his bank account resembles, well, mine), and who can blame him?

          You laughed. Well, sports fans, allow me to hand back your tinfoil hat and ask, who’s laughing now? Linux Journal’s James Darvell outlines this scenario in great detail, quoting a blog item reporting the business deal, and makes an observation worth keeping an eye on: “Microsoft could convert Canonical into a very profitable acquisition by eliminating the unprofitable parts of the company,” he writes. “In fact, it could become the dominant player in the cloud space, and secure the company’s future.”

        • Ubuntu Devs Don’t Want Android Compatibility Layer for the OS

          The Ubuntu Touch OS is home to a lot of apps, but not nearly enough to satisfy the users who are coming from other platforms. Canonical is taking the long way around this problem and wants to have native apps for the OS instead of just working to port the Android ones.

        • Oneplus One with Ubuntu Touch Just Got Cellular Support

          We recently covered the fact that Ubuntu Touch is being ported for the famous and elusive Oneplus 2 phone, even before the port for the Oneplus One was finished. The developer promised back then that he’s working on both ports, and he just delivered.

• Devices/Embedded

  • Real Time Linux becomes a Linux Foundation Collaborative Project

    With this project, the Linux Foundation is getting another fellow: Thomas Gleixner, the long time maintainer of RTLinux, who would join the ranks of Linus Torvalds and Greg KH. Linux Foundation sponsors the work of fellows so they don’t have to worry about finding ‘jobs’ and can keep their focus on their projects.

  • New Collaborative Group to Speed Real-Time Linux

  • Linksys WRT router gains faster SoC, more RAM, OpenWrt

    Linksys has launched a “WRT1900ACS” router that updates the AC version with a faster dual-core, 1.6GHz SoC, twice the RAM (at 512MB), and OpenWrt support.

    In early 2014 when Linksys resurrected the hackable Linksys WRT54G WiFi router in a new WRT1900AC model, the Belkin subsidiary said the the Linux-based router would also support the lightweight, networking-focused OpenWrt Linux distribution. With the new WRT1900ACS, Linksys is making life easier for OpenWrt lovers by providing full, open source OpenWrt support out of the box.

  • Linksys Endorses OpenWrt Linux-Based Open Source OS in Latest Router

    Open source firmware is the headline feature in the newest router from Linksys, the WRT1900ACS, which features vendor-endorsed compatibility with the latest version of the Linux-based OpenWrt router OS.

  • New Renesas SoCs offer 1.5GHz, 1080p, GbE, USB 3.0, PCIe

    The RZ/G updates the Renesas Electronics RZ line of system-on-chips, which includes the Linux-ready RZ/A1 line of single-core, 400MHz Cortex-A9 SoCs, as well as an RZ/T line that runs an RTOS on a Cortex-M4 microcontroller. The new devices are aimed at a wide range of Linux- and Android embedded products including hand-held medical devices, digital signage, and industrial, home appliance, and office equipment devices that use a human-machine interface (HMI), says the Japanese semiconductor firm.

  • Amazon’s AWS IoT platform taps three Linux SBCs

    Amazon’s new “AWS IoT” cloud IoT platform offers Starter Kits built around Linux-ready SBCs like the BeagleBone Green, DragonBoard 410c, and Intel Edison.

    Amazon made its first big Internet of Things play by launching an IoT managed cloud platform for aggregating and processing IoT endpoint data, built around its Amazon Web Services (AWS) platform. Available now in beta form, AWS IoT, is being made available in the form of a series of AWS IoT Starter Kits, which bundle popular hacker boards with the AWS IoT Device SDK, and in some cases other hardware such as Grove sensors. Three of the 10 kits runs Linux, including kits for the DragonBoard 410c, BeagleBone Green, and Intel Edison (see farther below).

  • The FCC must not lock down device firmware!

    I believe there is only one way to avoid a debacle: mandated device upgradeability and mandated open-source licensing for device firmware so that the security and reliability problems can be swarmed over by all the volunteer hands we can recruit. This is an approach proven to work by the Internet ubiquity and high reliability of the Linux operating system.

  • Raspberry Pi KMS Driver Updated

    Eric Anholt has published an updated BCM2835 KMS driver for supporting the Raspberry Pi budget SBCs with this DRM driver.

    This latest Raspberry Pi KMS driver code now supports setting new video modes thanks to having a real clock driver. There’s also been DeviceTree changes with this latest patch series.

  • An Arduino-powered My Little Pony donation box

    CRASH Space is a 501(c)3 non-profit hackerspace in Los Angeles. Throughout the years, we’ve brought our members and our equipment to schools, outreach events, and tech conventions all across California. And at each event, we brought along a little donation jar for people to give to our cause. Despite the often very impressive array of tech available for show at our booth, the donation jar we brought was literally an old Cheezy-Poofs container with a little hole cut into the lid.

  • Real-Time Linux shacks up with the Linux Foundation

    The LF’s new “Real-Time Linux Collaborative Project” offers better funding, more developers, and tighter integration into mainline kernel development.

  • Expandable Panel PCs run Linux on dual-core Bay Trail Atom

    Advantech’s latest 10.1- and 15.6-inch touch-panels run Linux on a dual-core Atom E3827, and offer extended temperature support and iDoor expansion.

    The TPC-51WP and TPC-1551WP continue Advantech’s line of rugged touch-panel PCs, dating back to the circa-2010, Intel Atom-based TPC-651H. The new devices have a more up-to-date Atom processor: the dual-core, 1.75GHz E3827 system-on-chip that includes Intel HD Graphics. Linux and multiple Windows flavors are supported.

  • Phones

    • Tizen

      • Top 20 Apps in the Tizen Store for September 2015

        It’s time to have a look at the top 20 apps of last month, September 2015 in this case, to see what users has downloaded the most. WhatsApp is the number 1 app with the newly released SShare app taking second place. Lots of new apps that month: Memorable photoframes, FFX Jumper, Sniper, WallpaperDecor, Balloon shoot, Cam-FX, Mehndi Designs, Colorlight, and MP3 Player climbing into the Top 20.

    • Android

      • Android 6.0 Marshmallow: Samsung Starts Working On Firmware Update For Multiple Devices

      • Samsung’s Galaxy devices to get Android 6.0 Marshmallow

      • HTC Shooting To Roll Out Android 6.0 Marshmallow For One M8 Google Play

      • Android 6.0 Marshmallow update schedule for Samsung devices – Galaxy S6, Note 5, Note 4

      • New Google CEO Sundar Pichai Makes First Major Executive Picks

      • 5 cool new Android launchers and interface tools (October)

      • ‘Google has lost control of Android’ [Ed: misleading title]

      • Android TV: Is Google’s other living-room platform at a dead end?

        I’ve been enthusiastic about Android TV ever since Google first launched the platform a year ago.

        The idea of Android TV is to take all the features of Google’s Chromecast dongle and add a full TV interface on top. That way, you get a traditional remote control when you want it, along with Google-powered voice search and recommendations. The concept intrigued me enough to buy an Nvidia Shield Android TV last May, and to make it my main living room set-top box even though it was rough around the edges at launch.

      • Sony Xperia Z5 vs Samsung Galaxy S6 comparison: What’s the best Android phone?

        Sony’s Xperia Z5 has just gone on sale in the UK. Before you splash out, we find out how it compares to the current king of the Android phone market, the Samsung Galaxy S6. Read our Z5 vs S6 comparison.

      • The whole ‘Mac vs. PC’ thing is so over, and ‘Android vs iPhone’ is close behind

        People are still crazy protective of the computers and phones they use. When I wrote a piece a little while back lamenting the fact that the iPhone doesn’t play nicely with Windows the way Android can, a reader said I was “cocking stupid,” just as one example.

      • Android 6.0 Marshmallow review

        Android, Google’s mobile operating system, has matured a lot over the past year. It’s running on 1.4 billion devices (up from 1 billion last year) and its most popular app store, Google Play, has more than 1 billion active users. In the last quarter, IDC estimates that Android held 82.8 percent of the global smartphone market. As its newest iteration, 6.0 Marshmallow, rolls out, Android’s going incredibly, undeniably strong.

      • Nvidia Shield Android TV: A powerful do-it-all box that lacks content

        The Nvidia Shield is almost certainly more important to Google than it is to Nvidia. After the failure of Google TV—in part thanks to its lacklustre UI and poor developer support—its follow-up Android TV needed to do better. Unfortunately, that hasn’t quite happened. Sure, Google’s own Nexus Player is fine piece of hardware, and Razer’s Forge TV has its charms, but neither sport the flagship specs, nor the feature set of Nvidia’s sleek black box. There’s no doubt that the Shield is the best Android TV device money can buy, but like all Android TV devices, it comes with a few compromises.

      • Android-powered Priv phone is a make-or-break venture for BlackBerry, CEO says

        Smartphone pioneer BlackBerry Ltd. could leave the physical smartphone business if it fails to turn a profit in a year, to focus solely on selling secure software across mobile platforms, chief executive John Chen suggested Thursday.

      • Review: Android Pay works well, when you can use it

        When it comes to using a smartphone to make purchases in retail stores, Apple Pay has been getting most of the attention.

        But Android users now have a comparable alternative. Launched earlier this month, Android Pay not only sounds like Apple’s payment feature, it works a lot like it.

      • Every Android gadget at risk from new security flaw

      • Fretting about Stagefright on Galaxy S5? CyanogenMod’s stable release has a fix

      • Google Fixes Android Stagefright 2 Vulnerability; Patches now in Android Open Source Project

      • Stagefright Fixes Begin to Roll Out

      • Patch issued for Stagefright Android 2.0

      • Android Marshmallow update hitting budget phones before yours

        Several Android One devices receive their update to Android 6.0 Marshmallow in India, Indonesia, Myanmar, and Nepal. Supposing you have any one of several carrier-infused Android smartphones in your hand right this minute and are waiting for an update to Marshmallow, you may be interested to know that it’s not only Nexus devices that’ll be getting their software before you. This does not mean Google has betrayed you in any way, shape, or form. It means Google is making good on their promise to bring timely updates to devices – and not just the biggest and the best.

      • Android 6.0 Marshmallow now unofficially available for Nexus 4, here’s how to install it

      • Science on Android

        I have covered a lot of different scientific packages that are available under Linux in this space, but the focus has been on Linux running on desktop machines. This has been rather short-sighted, however, as lots of other platforms have Linux available and shouldn’t be neglected. So in this article, I start looking at the type of science you can do on the Android platform. For my next several articles, I plan to include occasional Android applications that you may find useful.

      • Here are the phones and tablets that will get Android 6.0 Marshmallow

        Ever since Google made Android 6.0 Marshmallow official, many users have wondered, “When will my phone get the latest OS update?” Well, that largely depends on the manufacturers and carriers. Thankfully, HTC, Motorola, Samsung, Sony and T-Mobile have already announced their list of devices that will be getting the OS, though most have yet to reveal a set timeline for the update to reach these devices. Here’s what we know so far.

      • Rugged Cat S40 Android Smartphone Launches in U.S.

        The Cat S40 rugged smartphone, built to take abuse in extreme environmental conditions in the workplace or daily life, is now available in the United States.

        The new Android phone, which runs on GSM networks, such as T-Mobile and AT&T Wireless, sells for $399, according to an Oct. 7 announcement by Bullitt Mobile, which licenses the Caterpillar name for the device.

      • Polycom Advances Hardware for New Generation of Collaboration

        In conference rooms and boardrooms around the world for the last 25 years, there has been a common sight: a three-legged Polycom conference phone. Polycom is now updating that phone, as well as their other unified communications services, as part of a new wave of products announced on October 7.

Free Software/Open Source

• Using open source principles to build better engineering teams

  We become better software developers by observing how some of the best software in the world is being written. Open source has changed and will continue to change the way the world builds software, not only by creating high-quality reusable components, but by giving us a model for how to produce better software. Open source gives us complete transparency into that process.

• Examining the KNIME open source data analytics platform

  KNIME is an open source data analytics, reporting and integration platform developed and supported by KNIME.com AG. Through the use of a graphical interface, KNIME enables users to create data flows, execute selected analysis steps and review the results, models and interactive views.

• Events

  • What to expect from PentahoWorld 2015

    This time last year the Computer Weekly Open Source Insider blog reported on the inaugural PentahoWorld 2014 conference and exhibition.

  • Day 1 of PyCon India 2015

    Day one is the first day of main event. I was late to wake up, but somehow managed to reach the venue around 8:30am. Had a quick breakfast, and then moved into the Red Hat booth. Sankarshan, Alfred, Soni were already there. I don’t know the exact reason, but the booth managed to grab the attention of all the people in the venue. It was over crowded While the students were much more interested in stickers, and other goodies, many came forward to ask about internship options, and future job opportunities. Alfred did an excellent job in explaining the details to the participants. The crowd was in booth even though the keynote of day one had started. I missed most of keynote as many people kept coming in the booth, and they had various questions.

• Web Browsers

  • Subresource Integrity Support Ready For Firefox 43, Chrome 45

    With the upcoming releases of the Mozilla Firefox and Google Chrome web-browsers is support for the W3C Subresource Integrity (SRI) specification.

    The Subresource Integrity feature allows web developers to ensure that externally-loaded scripts/assets from third-party sources (e.g. a CDN) haven’t been altered. The SRI specification adds a new “integrity” HTML attribute when loading such assets where you can specify a hash of the file source expected — the loaded resource must then match the hash for it to be loaded.

  • Windows 10: Microsoft’s new browser is a FAILURE – find out why

    Microsoft tried to move users from its infamous Internet Explorer browser to a minimalist new web browser dubbed Edge following the launch of Windows 10.

    But new data has revealed that Windows 10 users are reluctant to make the transition.

  • Chrome

    • Google open source project aims to speed up web

    • Google Seeks to Speed Up Mobile Web Browsing

      Google has announced a new project that could make a difference for mobile browsing. The company has launched the Accelerated Mobile Pages project (AMP), a fully open source initiative, with the underlying code available on GitHub.

    • Google wants to speed up the mobile web with AMP project

      Google has a plan to speed up mobile Web browsing. The recently unveiled AMP—Accelerated Mobile Pages—project is an open source initiative that restricts certain elements of HTML, CSS, and JavaScript to produce leaner Web pages “that are optimised to load instantly on mobile devices.” How much quicker is “instantly”? According to Google, early testing with with a simulated 3G connection and a simulated Nexus 5 showed improvements of between 15 to 85 percent.

  • Mozilla

    • Mozilla Continues Moving Away From NPAPI Plugins

      Firefox continues making progress on loosening web developers’ and users’ dependence on NPAPI plug-ins with a goal still in place to remove support for most NPAPI plugins by the end of 2016.

• SaaS/Big Data

  • At the Heart of OpenStack Evolution

    As it matures, OpenStack’s parallel to Linux is clearer. Linux emerged 20 years ago as a somewhat exotic challenger to proprietary operating systems. Today, it is one of the most popular and widely used OSes. However, Linux still exists in a market of mixed use. It’s likely that OpenStack will be subject to the same effect, becoming a viable option among a number of cloud infrastructures.

• CMS

  • What’s New This October in Open Source CMS

    A little love, please, for Miami-based dotCMS, maker of Java open source content management system (CMS) software. Just yesterday, it was chosen as one of the 20 Most Promising Open Source Software Solution Providers by CIO Review.

• Business

  • Semi-Open Source/Openwashing

    • EMC, Mesosphere Collaborate on Datacenter Storage

    • Mesosphere and EMC Team Up to Expand DCOS Storage

    • EMC teams with Mesosphere in open-source storage push

      Only a few weeks after entering an agreement to help Microsoft Corp. bring its namesake data center orchestration framework to Windows, Mesosphere Inc. is announcing a partnership with another major vendor hoping to secure a seat at the software-defined table. EMC Corp. sees the same promise in the startup’s technology as Redmond.

• BSD

  • FreeNAS 10 Enters Alpha, Brings Lots of New Technologies, Based on FreeBSD 10.2

    FreeNAS’ Jordan Hubbard was proud to announce the other day, October 8, the release and immediate availability for download of the first Alpha build of the upcoming FreeNAS open source Network Attached Storage (NAS) solution.

  • Deweloperzy NetBSD-7.0: Leonardo Taccari

    In the series of questions and answers from the NetBSD-7.0 developers, we will meet Leoardo Taccari, a recent NetBSD committer, who works with this system on his desktop and maintains in this field pkgsrc packages.

  • NetBSD 7.0 Operating System Brings Raspberry Pi 2 and Multiprocessor ARM Support

    The developers of the open source, BSD-based NetBSD operating system have had the great pleasure of announcing the release and immediate availability of the project’s fifteenth major release.

• FSF/FSFE/GNU/SFLC

  • GnuCash 2.6.9 Free Accounting Software Patches Serious Bug on Windows OSes

    The GnuCash Project has announced the immediate availability for download of the ninth point release for all supported operating systems, including GNU/Linux, Mac OS X, and Microsoft Windows.

  • CC BY-SA 4.0 now one-way compatible with GPLv3

    Put simply this means you now have permission to adapt another licensor’s work under CC BY-SA 4.0 and release your contributions to the adaptation under GPLv3 (while the adaptation relies on both licenses, a reuser of the combined and remixed work need only look to the conditions of GPLv3 to satisfy the attribution and ShareAlike conditions of BY-SA 4.0).

  • The party is over… but the fight for freedom is ready for another thirty years

    Last Saturday, we celebrated the Free Software Foundation’s thirtieth birthday with a party to remember.

  • FSF’s Nerdy 30

  • VimSpellcheckery

    While I was mass editing the transcripts I used to create the FSF30 wordclouds, I realized I was doing too much manual movery to get to the next misspelled word. In a moment of clarity, I was like “hey, I bet vim has a way to properly do this!” And of course it did!

  • Creative Commons BY-SA 4.0 declared one-way compatible with GNU GPL version 3

    Compatibility means that a person can now take a work they received under the terms of CC BY-SA 4.0 and then distribute adaptations of that work under the terms of GPLv3.

  • Guix-Tox talk at PyConFR, October 17th

    Guix-Tox is a young variant of the Tox “virtualenv” management tool for Python that uses guix environment as its back-end. In essence, while Tox restricts itself to building pure Python environments, Guix-Tox takes advantages of Guix to build complete environments, including dependencies that are outside Tox’s control, thereby improving environment reproducibility. Cyril will demonstrate practical use cases with OpenStack.

• Project Releases

  • New Version Of JPEG-Turbo Quietly Released

    While the Internet has been buzzing recently about the new FLIF image format, libjpeg-turbo developers released a new version of their JPEG library.

    Libjpeg-turbo 1.4.2 is the new release and it quietly made it out at the end of September. Libjpeg-Turbo 1.4.2 features at least five known bug fixes resulting in crashes and other problems.

• Public Services/Government

  • U.S. report highlights positive elements of government open source adoption

    The report released by DHS is definitely worth a read. While focused on real problems and challenges facing use of OSS by the USG, it has very useful insights for governments around the world. It confirms my growing view, as I’ve written previously, that we are past some of the old debates about OSS. Instead, many governments are today increasingly focused on the “how tos” of open source choices; not “whether” to use it.

• Openness/Sharing

  • Open Data

    • Open data Incubator: ODINE selected its first round of start-ups

      Seven start-ups from UK, Italy, France, Estonia and Austria were selected to be part of the first round of companies benefiting from the Open Data Incubator for Europe (ODINE). This two-year programme awarded EUR 650 000 in total to the companies, which can receive up to EUR 100 000 each.

  • Open Hardware

    • Eleven Open Source 3D Printer Hits Kickstarter (video)

      ISG3D has taken to Kickstarter this month to raise $11,000 to help take their open source 3D printer design into production.

      The Eleven 3D printer has been specifically designed to provide users with an affordable machine but offers an impressive 22 x 40 x 40 cm build area and is completely open source allowing for modifications and enhancements to be created.

• Programming

  • Perl 6 is coming soon: What it will bring

    Perl 6, a long-awaited upgrade to the well-known scripting language, has gone into beta, with the general release planned for Christmastime.

    The upgrade went to beta late last month, Perl designer Larry Wall told InfoWorld on Wednesday, and the October monthly release will feature the first of two beta releases of the Rakudo Perl 6 compiler. There been having monthly compiler releases for years, but the language definition has now stabilized. Wall added, “At this point we’re optimizing, fixing bugs, and documenting, and I feel comfortable saying we can take a snapshot of whatever we have in December and call it the first production release.”

  • PEAR 1.10 Released With PHP 7 Support

  • Couchbase Server 4.0 introduces SQL-based query language N1QL (Nickel)

    Couchbase Server 4.0 is designed to give software application development pros a route to building more apps on Couchbase.

Leftovers

• Science

  • Epigenetic Marks Tied to Homosexuality

    By examining just a handful of sites along the genome and determining whether they are methylated, scientists can peg sexual orientation with nearly 70 percent accuracy. That’s according to data presented today (October 8) at the American Society of Human Genetics meeting.

  • Elon Musk Says Apple Engineers Are Tesla Rejects

    According to Tesla Motors co-founder and CEO Elon Musk, engineers who can’t make the cut at Tesla end up at Apple, or the “Tesla graveyard,” as he calls the company in an interview with German newspaper Handelsblatt, published Friday.

    “They have hired people we’ve fired,” the CEO tells Handelsblatt. “We always jokingly call Apple the ‘Tesla graveyard.’ If you don’t make it at Tesla, you go work at Apple. I’m not kidding.”

• Hardware

  • Dell in talks to buy data storage company EMC: source

    Dell Inc [DI.UL], the world’s third largest personal computer maker, is in talks to buy data storage company EMC Corp (EMC.N), a person familiar with the matter said, in what could be one of the biggest technology deals ever.

    A deal could be an option for EMC, under pressure from activist investor Elliott Management Corp to spin off majority-owned VMware Inc (VMW.N).

• Health/Nutrition

  • MP high court orders release of 5 held for ‘possessing beef’

    The order issued by the Jabalpur bench of the high court directed authorities in Raisen district to immediately release the five people, including three teenagers, who were arrested on July 25 on the orders of the district magistrate.

• Security

  • Tor browser co-creator: Experian breach shows encryption may not be security panacea

    The Experian/T-Mobile hack may be more worrisome than Experian’s carefully worded description of it suggests, some security experts said Friday.

    One is the co-creator of the Tor secure browser, David Goldschlag, (now SVP of strategy at Pulse Secure). Goldschlag previously was head of mobile at McAfee, and also once worked at the NSA.

    I asked Goldschlag a simple question: “After the Office of Personnel Management and Experian hacks, is there reason to fear that hackers now have the means to steal actual financial information (credit card numbers, etc.) from banks or insurers?”

  • AV-TEST tests Linux security solutions against Linux and Windows threats

    To do so, it is often sufficient to copy files from a Linux environment to Windows.” it further adds. The most obvious mode of attack involves luring victims to install software or updates via third-party package sources. The team conducted test by running 16 different Anti-virus solutions and splitting test session into three distinct phases,

    The detection of Windows malware
    The detection of Linux malware and
    The test for false positives.

    Out of 16 antivirus solutions 8 detected between 95-99% of the 12,000 Windows threat used in the test: The Anti-virus solutions that helped in detection include Bitdefender, ESET, Avast, F-Secure, eScan, G Data, Sophos and Kaspersky Lab (server version).

  • Outlook.com had classic security blunder in authentication engine

    The cross-site request forgery vulnerability means that any user visiting a malicious page can have their accounts hijacked without further interaction.

    The since-patched hole existed in Microsoft Live.com and could have been spun into a dangerous worm, Wineberg says.

  • Meet the White Team, Makers of the Linux.Wifatch Viligante Malware

    However, Softpedia News noted that the Linux.Wifatch source code has not been released in its entirety. That’s likely because the White Team is worried that traditional cybercriminals would exploit the malware for more nefarious purposes. It also explains why it was a clandestine operation in which router owners weren’t aware their systems had been infected, even if it was only to defend them against black-hat attackers.

    Whether or not anyone appreciates the White Team’s form of vigilante security tactics, they may believe the work should serve as a warning to those who don’t follow basic data protection procedures, Hacked said. For example, there are still untold numbers of home routers that use default passwords and leave admin access wide open to malware and other threats.

  • Practical SHA-1 Collision Months, Not Years, Away

  • Search engine can find the VPN that NUCLEAR PLANT boss DIDN’T KNOW was there – report

    The nuclear industry is ignorant of its cybersecurity shortcomings, claimed a report released today, and despite understanding the consequences of an interruption to power generation and the related issues, cyber efforts to prevent such incidents are lacking.

    The report adds that search engines can “readily identify critical infrastructure components with” VPNs, some of which are power plants. It also adds that facility operators are “sometimes unaware of” them.

    Nuclear plants don’t understand their cyber vulnerability, stated the Chatham House report, which found industrial, cultural and technical challenges affecting facilities worldwide. It specifically pointed to a “lack of executive-level awareness”.

  • Security advisories for Thursday

  • SHA1 algorithm securing e-commerce and software could break by year’s end

  • The Palau Experiment

    It just dawned on me. The extravagant market-share shown for GNU/Linux in Palau is a real “experiment”. With GNU/Linux being part of a botnet that spoofs Palau, we can see the huge boost That Other OS must get with its multiple botnets and high percentage of infected hosts

  • How Xen Manages Security Disclosure

    When security vulnerabilities are found in any piece of software, the ideal way to fix them is before the general public or attackers are made aware of bugs. Kurth explained that the traditional wisdom in security is to keep any type of predisclosure list for security as small as possible. In Xen’s case, the project went through multiple iterations of its security disclosure process, in an attempt to keep things fair for both large and small vendors.

• Defence/Police/Secrecy/Aggression

  • Murderer was beaten up in revenge attack in jail because of his Army service, court is told

    A convicted murderer was beaten up in a revenge attack in Wakefield Jail by Muslim prisoners because of his army service in Afghanistan, a jury was told.

    Jeremy Green was a former army lieutenant whose history, and sentencing on April 7 last year for murder and attempted murder, was widely reported, said Tony Kelbrick prosecuting.

  • The Mystery of ISIS’ Toyota Army Solved

    Just last year it was reported that the US State Department had been sending in fleets of specifically Toyota-brand trucks into Syria to whom they claimed was the “Free Syrian Army.”

  • NATO: Crazed and Dangerous

    Precisely why Russian action against Saudi Arabia’s proxy militias of fanatics is against western interests is something which nobody in the western elite seems to believe it is necessary to explain. That Russia is bad and evil and must be opposed is another one of those axiomatic beliefs of the governing elite, which they can’t bring themselves to believe the public do not wholeheartedly share. Equally they cannot quite understand why we the people do not see the necessity of backing the Saudi regime.

• Transparency Reporting

  • The Turnbull files

    In 1987, three years after the National Times story, the Labor government’s treasurer, Paul Keating, introduced a system which restricted how many newspapers and television stations any one person could own in Australia. Known as the cross-media ownership rules, it allowed media proprietors to make a choice between either controlling a TV station or a newspaper in any given geographical market.

• Finance/TPP

  • Memo to progressives: Hillary Clinton is lying to you

    Nothing says “election season” quite like politicians dumping their long-held policy stances overboard in a desperate gambit to gain votes, but you have to hand it to Hillary Clinton. With her recently-announced opposition to the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal, she’s making one of the more brazen flip-flops in recent political memory.

    What’s so amazing about Clinton’s newfound opposition to the highly controversial deal is the jaw-dropping transparency of the move. It’s such an open ploy to counter both the rise of staunch TPP critic Bernie Sanders and the possible entry of TPP supporter Joe Biden that it’s almost refreshing in its shamelessness.

    [...]

    here is absolutely nothing in either her political background or her political history to suggest that she has any real substantive problems with the deal.

  • What We Know So Far About Digital Rights in the Still Secret Final TPP Text

    Trade negotiators announced their agreement over the terms of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) on Monday, and yet the exact terms of the deal remain as secret as ever. For more than five years, we have been given a series of dubious justifications for keeping the text under close wraps. Now that it’s done, there is absolutely no reason they should not release it immediately.

  • Silicon Valley’s Big T.P.P. Win

    When we talk about trade, we often think about material goods. News articles on the subject are illustrated with images of ships weighed down with big, corrugated containers, presumed to be filled with shoes, tires, cell phones, apples. And much of the discussion of the Trans-Pacific Partnership, the trade deal announced earlier this week between the U.S., Australia, Canada, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, Peru, Vietnam, Chile, Brunei, Singapore, and New Zealand, has focussed on the movement of such goods across borders. But on Monday, after the deal was announced, some in the tech industry were fixated on a more of-the-moment aspect of the deal: its regulation of the movement of digital information—the substance of our music streams, financial payments, online communications, and just about everything else we do on the Internet.

  • Internet Providers Would Be Forced to Block Filesharing Sites Under TPP

    Digital rights advocates’ worst fears were confirmed on Friday morning after the finalized intellectual property chapter of the massive Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal was leaked by Wikileaks, just days after talks concluded in Atlanta.

    Under the agreement, it appears that internet service providers could be forced to block websites hosting content that infringes copyright.

    The leaked copyright chapter of the TPP is just a portion of the text that all 12 negotiating nations agreed upon; the rest of the agreement will remain a closely-guarded secret until the full text is released in the coming months.

  • Stephen Hawking Says Capitalism Is Way Scarier Than the Robot Takeover

    Superstar theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking just took a strong stance on income inequality, political lobbying and the redistribution of wealth. During a curated Reddit “Ask Me Anything” session July 27, Hawking was asked whether he saw technological unemployment — robots and computers taking human jobs — as a threat.

  • China launch of renminbi payments system reflects Swift spying concerns

    China launched a cross-border renminbi payments system on Thursday, a big step in its drive to boost international use of the Chinese currency and protect itself from US spy agencies with access to the Swift system.

    Chinese leaders want the renminbi to rival the US dollar as a global currency for trade and investment. The “redback” is now the fourth most-used currency for global payments but its share by value remains low at just 2.8 per cent in August, according to Swift.

  • Irish Government Said to Drop Threat of Bank Levy Increase

    Ireland’s government is poised to drop a threat to increase a 150 million-euro ($170 million) annual levy on the nation’s banks, according to a person with knowledge of the matter.

    In delivering the budget on Tuesday in Dublin, Finance Minister Michael Noonan is set to signal the charge will remain in force after 2016, extending its original three-year lifespan, should the ruling coalition win re-election, said the person, who asked not to be named as the final decision hasn’t been made.

• PR/AstroTurf/Lobbying

  • VIDEO: Glenn Greenwald On Battling ‘Establishment Media’

    In this video acTVism Munich asks Glenn Greenwald at a Press Conference in Munich his opinion on the Mainstream Corporate Media and their reaction towards the NSA disclosures brought to light by whistleblower, Edward Snowden. Furthermore, Greenwald talks about the signficance of the preparations that he undertook with Laura Poitras and Edward Snowden before they decided to go public with the highly-classifed NSA documents. The next two parts of this press conference with Greenwald will be released soon.

  • Democrats Depend on Affluent Voters? That’s Rich

    Well, no—because elections aren’t won by getting a lot of votes, but by getting more votes than your opponents. If Obama got many more votes than Romney among lower-income voters, as he surely did, and fewer votes than Romney among upper-income voters, then lower-income voters were, in fact, more important to his coalition.

    Now, it’s true, as Edsall says, that the Democratic Party is dependent on affluent donors—and his column has some interesting things to say about how, because of this dependence, “the Democratic Party has in many respects become the party of deregulated markets.”

  • Michael Reagan Attacks Donald Trump While Taking His Advertising Money

  • Donald Trump Says America Would Have “Common Sense” If Far-Right Host Michael Savage Headed NIH

    Donald Trump told right-wing radio host Michael Savage there would be “common sense” if Trump appointed him head of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) as president. Savage has called autism “a fraud, a racket,” said PTSD and depression sufferers are “losers,” advised people not to get flu shots because you can’t trust the government, theorized liberals have been driven insane because of seltzer bubbles, claimed President Obama was intentionally trying “to infect the nation with Ebola,” and once told a caller he was a “sodomite” who should “get AIDS and die.”

  • ACTION ALERT: Why Do Conservatives Get to Question Candidates–but Not Progressives?

    At the CNN-sponsored Republican Party debate last month at the Reagan Library, one of the three panelists CNN selected to question the candidates was conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt, affiliated with the proudly right-wing Salem Radio Network.

    But at Tuesday’s upcoming Democratic Party debate, CNN is not planning to include a single progressive advocate among its panel of four questioners.

    It’s clear that who gets to pose questions has impact on the tenor of the debate. For example, Hewitt used September’s Republican debate to declare that President Obama’s “knees buckled” over Syria and that every Republican candidate was “more qualified than” Hillary Clinton. Hewitt pressed Jeb Bush from the right over his comment about making sure guns are not in the hands of the mentally ill: “Where does it go from what you said last week, how far into people’s lives to take guns away from them?” (Hewitt’s appearance on the CNN panel is reportedly part of an agreement by which CNN and the right-wing Salem Media company are teaming up on three GOP presidential debates.)

    At CNN‘s Republican debate last month, along with Hewitt, the panel was composed of two journalists CNN presents as neutral or objective: CNN anchor Jake Tapper and CNN correspondent Dana Bash.

• Censorship

  • Are These Slides Classified?

    You cannot watch Barton Gellman’s conference presentation about the National Security Agency and Edward Snowden. Purdue University deleted the video.

    Gellman gave the keynote presentation at the university’s “Dawn or Doom” colloquium in September. He was promised a link to video of the presentation afterward, but was subsequently told that, on the advice of its lawyers, Purdue was unable to publish the video at all.

    What happened? In a blog post for the Century Foundation, Gellman explains: three of the slides he used during his 90-minute talk contained classified information. It’s leaked information that lives on the Internet and has been viewed by millions of people, but it is classified nonetheless.

  • Classified material in the public domain: what’s a university to do?

    I have not heard back from Purdue today about recovery of the video. It is not clear to me how recovery is even possible, if Purdue followed Pentagon guidelines for secure destruction. Moreover, although the university seems to suggest it could have posted most of the video, it does not promise to do so now. Most importantly, the best that I can hope for here is that my remarks and slides will be made available in redacted form — with classified images removed, and some of my central points therefore missing. There would be one version of the talk for the few hundred people who were in the room on Sept. 24, and for however many watched the live stream, and another version left as the only record.

    For our purposes here, the most notable questions have to do with academic freedom in the context of national security. How did a university come to “sanitize” a public lecture it had solicited, on the subject of NSA surveillance, from an author known to possess the Snowden documents? How could it profess to be shocked to find that spillage is going on at such a talk? The beginning of an answer came, I now see, in the question and answer period after my Purdue remarks. A post-doctoral research engineer stood up to ask whether the documents I had put on display were unclassified. “No,” I replied. “They’re classified still.” Eugene Spafford, a professor of computer science there, later attributed that concern to “junior security rangers” on the faculty and staff. But the display of Top Secret material, he said, “once noted, … is something that cannot be unnoted.”

  • I showed leaked NSA slides at Purdue, so feds demanded the video be destroyed

  • Edward Snowden criticizes Purdue over removal of speech

  • Classified information becomes subject of debate at Purdue

  • Purdue erases Pulitzer Prize winner’s keynote

  • Purdue deletes video of author’s academic talk on NSA after federal order

  • How the TPP Could Lead to Worldwide Internet Censorship

• Privacy

  • New in Geoclue: Location sharing & convenience library

    This is useful since GPS-based location from android is almost always going to be more accurate than WiFi-based one (assuming neighbouring WiFi networks are covered by Mozilla Location Service). This is especially useful for desktop machines since they typically do not have even WiFi hardware on them and have until now been limited to GeoIP, which at best gives city-level accurate location.

  • Judge acknowledges his own constitutional concerns about NSA phone snooping

    A federal judge in the District of Columbia hearing arguments Thursday on a revived motion to block NSA phone snooping acknowledged his own concern that the program is continuing to violate millions of Americans’ constitutional rights.

    But U.S. District Judge Richard Leon has not decided whether to issue a second preliminary injunction to block the collection of phone metadata in the final weeks of activity as part of the National Security Agency program.

    “It’s important to get this ruling out as fast as possible,” Judge Leon said at the end of the latest hearing in conservative lawyer Larry Klayman’s challenge.

  • Battle against NSA spying in Courtroom 18

  • Hearing looming for judge to put brakes on NSA

  • Path cleared for judge to block NSA phone surveillance program

  • A Federal Judge Could Halt the NSA’s Phone Data Collection Program This Week

    A federal judge who already ruled once against the administration of President Barack Obama and the National Security Agency in a lawsuit over the spy agency’s phone record collection program is set to make another decision about the case on Thursday.

    The lawsuit, brought by activist Larry Klayman in 2013, challenges the constitutionality of the NSA’s phone record gathering practices. The case quickly resulted in a preliminary injunction to stop the practice by US District Court Judge Richard Leon, who said it was likely unconstitutional.

  • Carly Fiorina may have disclosed classified info when revealing she aided NSA as HP chief – report

  • Carly Fiorina May Have Revealed State Secrets by Bragging About Helping the NSA

    Last week, Republican presidential candidate Carly Fiorina bragged about providing truckloads of HP servers to the NSA after 9/11, at the urgent request of then-NSA-chief Michael Hayden.

    In an interview with Yahoo News, she boasted about receiving a call from Hayden, after which she swiftly redirected an order of HP servers to Fort Meade. “Carly, I need stuff and I need it now,” he reportedly told her. The NSA needed the machines to implement its warrantless wiretapping program codenamed “STELLARWIND.”

  • Revealed, how Italy’s ‘Lady Jihad’ convinced entire white Catholic family to convert and join ISIS in Syria: Fanatical daughter guaranteed mother that terrorists would give her a washing machine… but said she had to leave pet kitten behind

    Police wiretaps of their Skype conversations revealed…

  • “Weev” threatens prosecutors with info from Ashley Madison leaks [Updated]

    Andrew “Weev” Auernheimer, the hacker who was once sent to prison for sharing 114,000 e-mail addresses of iPad users, says he has plotted a new revenge.

    Weev’s conviction and three-year prison term was overturned on jurisdictional grounds last year. But in an “open letter” sent today to two federal prosecutors by e-mail and posted on Twitter, Auernheimer says he will reveal private information about Department of Justice prosecutors who have attempted to cheat on their wives.

    “The statements of prosecutors should be inviolate, and yet all around the country you have continually spewed nothing but lies in federal criminal cases,” writes Auernheimer. “Even the most sacred personal oath that a man can take is a rotten joke to people like you: a promise of commitment to one’s wife. We have located a number of US Attorneys within the Ashley Madison dataset using the resources of the taxpayer (offices, computers, paid time, and Internet connections) to attempt to cheat on their wives.”

  • Phil Zimmerman: Britain needs to be less culturally accepting of surveillance

    Zimmermann, who created Pretty Good Privacy, one of the world’s most popular email encryption systems, said at IP Expo 2015 in London on Thursday that surveillance is getting “easier and easier” in the UK.

    The country needs technologies such as phone and email encryption, but it also needs “cultural tools” that prompt citizens to change their expectations and demands and to “push back” at surveillance, he said.

  • The Coming Collision Between EU Privacy Regulation And American Free Speech

    Earlier this week, we wrote about the EU Court of Justice’s decision that the NSA’s surveillance of the internet meant that the EU-US data protection safe harbor was invalid. As we noted, there’s a lot of mess in all of this, but losing that safe harbor would be tremendously problematic for the internet. And the impact could be that the NSA basically screwed things up royally for American internet companies by spying on European users. But, the issue actually goes much deeper. As that ruling recognized, the crux of the matter was dependent on the EU’s Data Protection Directive. And that Data Protection Directive is about to be updated.

  • Pilots Can’t Stop Cockpit Video Forever

    Usually, investigators from the National Transportation Safety Board have to guess what went wrong in such situations. But when they examined the chopper’s charred wreckage, they found a treasure in the ashes: a cockpit video recorder. The footage, from a camera mounted on the ceiling behind pilot Mel Nading, ruled out mechanical problems or ice as factors in the crash. Rather, investigators could see that Nading was confused. He allowed the helicopter to slow and start rocking back and forth, then reached out and reset the device that should show whether the craft is flying level—a decision that sealed his fate, making it “very unlikely that he would regain control of the helicopter,” the NTSB said in its report. In the dark, without an accurate reading, Nading had no way of knowing which way was up. “It really gave us the insight that this pilot was spatially disoriented,” says John DeLisi, the NTSB’s chief aviation investigator. “Without that video, we would have been looking at a pile of burned-up wreckage, trying to figure out what caused the erratic flight path that led to this crash.”

  • The Snowden effect: new privacy wins await after data transfer ruling

    The recent European Court of Justice ruling, and the coming court cases over the next year or two, promise a second wave of post-Snowden privacy wins

  • Top EU Court Rules Data-Sharing Pact with U.S. Invalid

  • Biz Break: Facebook falls as EU data-sharing pact scrapped

  • European Court Strikes Major Blow To Silicon Valley

  • US spies weigh in on EU case targeting Silicon Valley

  • This 20-something has brought tech companies to their knees in Europe

    He got Europe’s top court to strike down the decades-old Safe Harbour agreement between the E.U. and the U.S., an outcome that had been described as a “Doomsday scenario” by a business group talking to Fortune.

  • European data sharing pact with US ruled invalid

  • With E.U. striking down data-sharing pact, U.S. healthcare firms face challenges

  • EU Strikes Back Over Snowden Leaks, But Blow Hits US Startups

  • The harbour’s no longer safe: personal data flow must find another way to go

    Finally, the Court observed that Commission Communications 846/2013 and 847/2013 showed that the processing of EU personal data in the US by US authorities went beyond what was strictly necessary and proportionate for the protection of national security. At the same time, concerned individuals had no means of redress to access, rectify and eventually erase their data. Finally, the Court observed that those same Commission Communications showed that the processing of EU personal data in the US on the part of US authorities went beyond what was strictly necessary and proportionate for the protection of national security: concerned individuals had no means of redress to access, rectify and eventually erase their data. The Court thus found that there was no equivalent level of protection f for the fundamental rights and freedoms guaranteed in the EU, by which the right to privacy under EU law can be derogated by the collection, storage and processing of personal data only when strictly necessary.

  • No Safe Harbor: How NSA Spying Undermined U.S. Tech and Europeans’ Privacy

  • EU declares ‘safe harbor’ agreement invalid thanks to NSA spying

    When the Snowden leaks first became public knowledge, we predicted that there could be long-term ramifications as a result. The intervening period has done little to quell fears. Under the auspices of General Alexander and with ample support from sealed court cases and secret White House decisions, the NSA began hoovering up data from every conceivable source. Even in situations where the NSA had the right to order companies to turn over private records, it opted for yet more spying. Now, after 2.5 years, some of the country’s we’ve spied upon are beginning to push back.

  • Opinion: With pervasive government surveillance, there are no safe harbors

    The Court of Justice of the European Union decision to strike down the transatlantic Safe Harbor agreement gives EU officials and their American counterparts a chance to start over on data protection.

    The two sides should take this opportunity to hammer out a deal that fixes the inherent problems with the original arrangement in order to offer meaningful data protection that respects the rights of everyone.

    But for any real movement to improve on the Safe Harbor agreement will require meaningful political reform to curb the digital eavesdropping practices at the National Security Agency as well as at spy agencies across Europe.

  • Intel chairs slam ‘knee-jerk’ opposition to cyber sharing bill

    Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Richard Burr (R-N.C.) and ranking member Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) are taking on critics of a cybersecurity information-sharing bill.

    The sponsors of the Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act (CISA) hit back at opponents who have likened the measure to a “surveillance bill” on Friday.

  • Out NSA-ing the NSA

    Worse, the NSA has been spying on us for 50 years, not merely since 9/11, as its defenders often imply to excuse the agency’s evisceration of privacy. But even that revelation failed to faze us.

  • Edward Snowden interview: ‘Smartphones can be taken over’

  • Can Edward Snowden and the United States cut a deal

  • GCHQ can turn mobile phones on and off, claims Edward Snowden

  • Monday’s best TV: Edward Snowden: Spies, Terrorists and the Law; The Celts: Blood, Iron, and Sacrifice; and Sex Diaries: Gigolos

  • Snowden Accuses Intelligence Agencies Of Hacking Smartphones With One Text Message

  • Edward Snowden claims government can hack smartphones

  • Snowden says GCHQ in the UK can Obtain Total Control Over Smartphones: UK and Terrorist Ratlines

  • Edward Snowden Wants to Return Home to Face Trial But Still Waits for US Reply

  • With a simple text message, UK spies can hack smartphones, says Snowden

  • Edward Snowden: “Nosey Smurf was hacking codename”

  • GCHQ has technology to hack smartphones – Snowden

  • US hasn’t offered plea deal: Edward Snowden

  • Snowden Says GCHQ Has Power To Hack Into Phones

  • Snowden: I’m Willing to Serve Prison Time

  • Snowden says he’s waiting to hear back on plea deal

  • Edward Snowden Willing to Go to US Jail

  • UK spies can hack smartphones: Snowden

  • Edward Snowden Explains What It’d Take for Him to Return to America

  • OWN A SMARTPHONE? Then understand that any spook in the world can own you right now

  • Snowden Offers to Go to Prison

  • Snowden broke a nondisclosure EULA in order to uphold his Constitutional oath

  • British spies can hack your phone and use it without your knowledge: Edward Snowden

  • Snowden Says He Offered to Go to Prison to Return to US

  • Edward Snowden: Smartphones can be hacked into with just one text message and then used to spy on their owners

  • Edward Snowden on life as ‘a marked man’

  • Edward Snowden Offered to Serve Prison Time in Plea Offer

  • Snowden: intelligence agencies can hijack phones

  • Edward Snowden Willing to Serve Prison Time Under Plea Deal

  • Edward Snowden: I would go to prison to return to US

  • Edward Snowden Claims Smartphones Can Be Hacked with One Text Message

  • Smurfs vs phones: GCHQ’s smartphone malware can take pics, listen in even when phone is off

  • Edward Snowden: “Nosey Smurf was hacking codename”

  • Edward Snowden claims GCHQ ‘Smurf’ tools can take control of your smartphone

  • Edward Snowden claims he volunteered to go to prison in exchange for return to the US – but his offer went unanswered

  • Edward Snowden says he’d accept jail in US. Coming home?

  • Edward Snowden: Smartphone users can do ‘very little’ to stop security services getting control of devices

  • Snowden talks about secret smartphone spying Smurfs, coming home to go to prison

  • Snowden Willing to Serve Jail Time in US

  • Snowden: US, UK spies ‘want to own your phone’

  • Snowden smartphone allegations – security world unimpressed

  • Edward Snowden Says He’s Willing To Go To Prison In Order To Return To US

  • Snowden: I’m Willing To Go To Jail

  • Edward Snowden denies making a deal with the Russian secret service

  • Edward Snowden denies making a deal with the Russian secret service

  • Will go to prison to return to US: Edward Snowden

  • Edward Snowden: Spies and the Law

  • Smartphone Shock: Snowden Says US, UK Building New Snoop Tools

  • Edward Snowden claims GCHQ ‘Smurfs’ can access your device

  • GCHQ spies can hack your smartphone and secretly take compromising pictures, Edward Snowden claims

  • Edward Snowden: DoJ Hasn’t Offered Me a Plea Deal Yet

  • Smartphones can be taken over with just one text message: Snowden

  • Snowden: U.S. won’t respond to offers to serve prison time

  • NSA leaker Snowden wants to come home to U.S.

  • Snowden says GCHQ’s Smurf programs can tap, hack, and control any smartphone

  • Snowden renews offer to go to prison in order to return to US

  • Edward Snowden interview: ‘Smartphones can be taken over’

  • Edward Snowden: I’m not a traitor

  • US Whistleblower Joins Twitter, Follows only NSA

  • GCHQ can turn mobile phones on and off, claims Edward Snowden

  • Snowden: GCHQ Can Secretly Take ‘Total Control’ Over Your Smartphone

  • Edward Snowden: US has not offered me plea deal

  • CGHQ has had its nose in Pak’s communication data: Snowden

  • Snowden: UK Spied On Pakistan By Hacking Cisco Routers

  • UK hacked routers in Pakistan to identify terrorists, claims Edward Snowden

  • Edward Snowden to DOJ: Call Me Maybe?

  • Edward Snowden would be willing to go to jail… if the US government would speak to him

  • GCHQ ‘smurfs’ can remotely control people’s phones

  • Edward Snowden Is Warning About a Scary New Privacy Threat No One’s Heard Of Yet

  • Edward Snowden Claims ‘GCHQ Wants To Own Your Phone Instead Of You’

  • Edward Snowden claims British spooks are spying on YOUR phone and can even switch it on and off remotely as part of a training programme codenamed ‘Smurfs’

  • Edward Snowden explains how U.K. spies can secretly hijack your phone

  • Edward Snowden reveals how Government can hack into YOUR smartphone and see EVERYTHING

  • Edward Snowden: Man at the eye of a storm

  • Edward Snowden: No smartphone is safe from GCHQ spying

  • Edward Snowden BBC Interview Highlights

    The Smurf Suite is comprised of apps: the Dreamy Smurf, the Nosey Smurf, the Tracking Smurf and the Paranoid Smurf. The Dreamy Smurf allows intelligence agency to turn the phones on and off. The Nosey Smurf is a microphone that can be turned on if government wants to listen to everything the owner is saying, even if the smartphone is off. The Tracker Smurf follows an individual with a greater precision than the typical triangulation of cellphone towers. The Paranoid Smurf cloaked all manifestations made by the government if something wrong happened to the phone and the user had it fixed.

  • Snowden: I’m still waiting to hear from US on plea deal

  • Edward Snowden’s ready to go to prison, waiting on answer from U.S.

  • Edward Snowden: Spies and the Law

  • Is Snowden ready to come home?

  • Edward Snowden’s latest revelation… his favourite Pokemon

  • Edward Snowden Says He’d Go to Prison to Come Home

  • Former NSA Chief: I ‘Would Not Support’ Encryption Backdoors

  • The former head of the NSA openly disagrees with the FBI’s position on encryption

  • Former NSA chief undercuts FBI’s desire for encryption backdoors

  • Drone Flies Over NSA Complex in Germany, Dropping Leaflets

  • Activists love-bomb NSA with ‘quit spying’ drone

  • Activists Fly Drone, Drop Leaflets Over NSA Complex, Urging Employees to Quit

  • Targeted strike: Drone drops anti-spying leaflets over NSA complex in Germany (VIDEO)

  • Targeted strike: Drone drops anti-spying leaflets over NSA complex in Germany (VIDEO)

  • Watch an RC Plane Drop Whistleblowing Fliers Over NSA’s Dagger Complex

  • Activists Send Drone to Drop Leaflets Over NSA Complex in Germany

  • NSA Germany Drone: Drones Being Used By Activists To Drop Leaflets Over NSA Complex In Germany

  • Anti-surveillance activists send a drone to pamphlet-bomb an NSA complex in Germany

  • Activists Target NSA Facility in Germany With Drones

  • Drone Activists Fly By NSA Complex In Germany

  • Germany: Activists Use Drone to Drop Fliers Over NSA Complex

  • Drone leaflet drop urges agents to quit

  • Carjacking suspect hid overnight in storm drain at Fort Meade NSA campus

  • Signed into Law: Two California Bills to Protect Privacy Against Warrantless Surveillance

  • 37 Whistleblowers You Can Follow On Twitter

    Edward Snowden joined Twitter on September 29 and already has 1.37 million followers and counting. Just seven tweets by the famed NSA whistleblower almost immediately prompted George Pataki to call for Twitter to ban the account, though Twitter does not appear to be taking the bait. It’s worth noting, however, that Snowden isn’t the only whistleblower on Twitter. Here’s a rundown of 36 others.

  • 5 things about Edward Snowden joining Twitter

    At the time, that dormant account had a small number of followers, covered national security, and was named “Jay Snowden”.

  • EFF Shows How AT&T’s Network is Fused to the NSA

    For years it has been abundantly clear that the line between AT&T and the US intelligence services is blurry at best. AT&T whistleblower Mark Klein showed us how the telco effectively uses fiber splits to clone and potentially deliver every shred of data that touches the AT&T network to the NSA. Subsequent reports have indicated that the AT&T has volunteered its employees to work as intelligent analysts, even giving the government advice on how best to skirt around privacy and wiretap laws.

  • The NSA and EFF Agree on One Thing: How the NSA’s Internet Spying Works

    Much has changed in the nearly ten years since we launched our first lawsuit challenging the NSA’s illegal surveillance of millions of Americans’ Internet communications. Over time, the defendants in the cases have changed; the legal “authority” the government has invoked to justify the program has changed; and the public’s knowledge and understanding of the programs has increased remarkably.

    But, nearly a decade in, one thing has stayed remarkably constant: the relevant facts. The NSA, with the help of the nation’s largest telecommunications firms, like AT&T, has tapped the nation’s Internet backbone, searching and sifting through vast amounts of innocent Americans’ Internet communications.

  • Single Gateway – NBTC describes setting up a Thai GCHQ or NSA

    Suppose for one minute that Thailand’s military government is indeed hell-bent on getting their single gateway internet and ignoring all the yes-men and politicians who deny its existence and seem to be scrambling to protect the Dear Leader from any criticism whatsoever. Undoubtedly the best description of the gateway is the interview by NBTC commissioner Colonel Setthapong Malisuwan with the BBC.

  • WSW: What’s Wrong With the NSA’s Massive Data Collection?

    Rubel says people’s lives have been turned upside down because their communication was being monitored. He says that includes innocent people who were not involved in criminal activity. Rubel says some groups have also been monitored for no obvious reason other than their political activism.

  • Check out these weird love notes the NSA sent out

    Of course, the all-seeing, all-knowing National Security Agency was aware. And, perhaps in light of the bad publicity the NSA has garnered since the Edward Snowden revelations, the agency decided to lighten up a bit and share some love notes of its own on its website.

  • The NSA and our Allies

    Given the realities of the internet age and the potential danger posed by terrorism, there will almost certainly be some trade-off between our desire for intelligence and respecting our allies’ privacy. But if our government is going to persist in its panopticon-inspired attitudes regarding electronic communications, we should expect continued resistance from those whose trade, trust, and assistance we need.

  • PGP Zimmermann: ‘You want privacy? Well privacy costs MONEY’

    Delivering a keynote in London today, the famous inventor of PGP complained that consumers want privacy for free, forcing his company Silent Circle to focus on selling secure telephony to enterprises – while he would like to see it more widely employed.

    Silent Circle, the cryptographic communications firm at which Zimmermann is co-founder and Chief Scientist, has been is business for three years, and has recently launched its Blackphone 2 model – a “reasonably secure” Android-powered smartphone.

    Zimmermann, the creator of encryption program Pretty Good Privacy (PGP), said he had always felt that “secure telephony is a lot more fun than secure email.”

  • Snowden: NSA Wants To Own Your Phone

    Former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden on Monday told the BBC about efforts by intelligence agencies in the U.S. and the UK to take control of mobile devices using malware – and explained there “is very little” that smartphone users can do to stop them. Once they have access to the smartphone, agents or hackers can hijack a smartphone’s camera and microphone to take photos, video, and audio without a user’s knowledge.

  • Liberal Party Says They Will Not Expand Powers for Canada’s NSA

    The Liberal Party of Canada clarified its platform on Tuesday saying that they don’t intend to give the Communication Security Establishment (CSE) any new powers to surveil Canadians.

    In the Liberals’ platform, released Monday, the party committed to “limit Communications Security Establishment’s powers by requiring a warrant to engage in the surveillance of Canadians.”

  • Where Canada’s Three Political Parties Stand on Cybersecurity and Surveillance

  • Judge-less warrants for phone records (and money in the bank for lawyers)

    An award-winning investigative journalist at The Washington Post, Carol Leonnig, broke the story about what can be described as a Secret Service “plot” to leak confidential documents in an attempt to embarrass Congressman Jason Chaffetz, an outspoken critic of the Service. Over a dozen officials at the Secret Service knew about the plot but failed to report this illegal activity.

    Instead of focusing on the unlawful leak intended to humiliate Chaffetz, government officials issued judge-less warrants for the telephone records of the “good cop” who spoke with Leonnig when his colleagues failed to follow the law.

  • As if the NSA wasn’t bad enough…

    Without your consent, and likely without your knowledge, the state of Utah has been collecting data on your children in their schools since 2010. Yea you read that right. Without you having been told or warned in any way, shape, or form, your kids have been turned in to pencil pushing statistics for the state government to pull data and information on whenever they feel like it. Thank you former governor Huntsman for doing so all in exchange for part of the stimulus package slush fund.

  • Hortonworks dismisses reports of Hadoop droop

    At the end of August Hortonworks acquired technology startup Onyara, whose secure connection software was originally created by the NSA before the outfit was spun out.

    Along with the technology, Hortonworks has also acquired a number of ex-NSA staff from the 10-man outfit. Cunitz said more acquisitions are on the cards.

  • Life in Berlin: Secrets From The Stasi Archives

    On a late summer afternoon at the Goethe Institut in Washington DC, visual artist Simon Menner begins to address a small group of people. Behind him, two grainy, black and white photographs of a busy street are being projected onto a screen.

    “My name is Simon Menner. I’m a visual artist. My work pretty much focuses on the nature of images, how images are used and utilized – very often against us.”

    It’s the latest in a long string of exhibit openings and lectures he’s given about his research in the photographic archives of the former East German secret police, or the Stasi.

    Menner’s initial interest in the photographs didn’t come from historical curiosity, he says, but rather the renewed dialogue about surveillance brought on by the recent NSA revelations.

  • Critical Infrastructure Security In Information Age: Present Issues And Future Opportunities – Analysis

    The United States has an extensively complicated history with hacking, vulnerability analysis and disclosure. Some of the laws passed by them recently in regards to whistle blowing seem to directly affect how security researchers do their jobs and conduct research50 51 52.

  • Trevor Paglen to Lead Exclusive Art-Themed Scuba Dive During Art Basel in Miami Beach

    But at the giant fair this December, artist Trevor Paglen will lead a small group on a scuba-diving expedition to the site of underwater Internet cables that have been tapped by the National Security Administration (NSA). His gallery, New York’s Metro Pictures, is organizing the trip.

  • Obama Encryption Policy Rejects Laws Mandating Backdoors, But Leaves the Door Open for Informal Deals

    Obama’s position on encryption is now public, as reported by the Washington Post. According to Ellen Nakashima and Andrea Peterson of the Post, Obama “will not —for now—call for legislation requiring companies to decode messages for law enforcement.”

    Instead, the Post reports, the “administration will continue trying to persuade companies that have moved to encrypt their customers’ data to create a way for the government to still peer into people’s data when needed for criminal or terrorism investigations.”

    While eschewing attempts to legislatively mandate that tech companies build backdoors into their services, the president is continuing the status quo – that is, informally pressuring companies to give the government access to unencrypted data.

  • FBI: ‘Dozens’ of Terror Suspects Have Used Encryption to Hide from Law Enforcement [Ed: associates #encryption only with terrorism]

  • White House won’t ask for encryption backdoor law – may seek ‘back window’ later

  • Obama administration will not push for legislation requiring mandatory encryption

  • Obama opts for “good cop” approach with encryption backdoors

  • Obama administration won’t call for weakening encryption yet

  • Warrantless Surveillance under Section 702 of the FISA Amendments Act: Myths and Facts

  • Snowden hitting theaters in May 2016

    The dawn of Snowden has been set (again). The Oliver Stone-directed thriller will open in theaters May 13, 2016.

  • ESU computer security program’s top-level accreditation renewed

    The East Stroudsburg University computer security degree program has been notified by the National Security Agency (NSA) and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) of the renewal of its designation as an NSA Center of Academic Excellence (CAE). ESU is one of only five institutions in the Commonwealth to hold this esteemed accreditation.

  • Television Tackles Invasive Behavior—Both Digital and Romantic

  • Fault Lines – Collect It All: America’s Surveillance State – Full Episode

    Fault Lines investigates the fallout over the NSA’s mass data collection programs in the US and abroad

  • Electronic Privacy? Verizon is More Interested in Selling You Stuff

    Though few noticed it, wireless network provider Verizon recently announced its intent to reintroduce its highly contentious user data tracking program. Sometimes colloquially dubbed as Verizon’s “supercookie” ad network, the “Relevant Mobile Advertising” program works by injecting a hidden tracking code into user’s mobile data, allowing the wireless giant to essentially trace their customers. While traditional cookies gather basic information about web users, such as where they are generally located, how long they read or use a page and what other sites are visited — Verizon’s supercookie is substantially more intrusive.

  • Massachusetts Bill Takes on Warrantless Collection of Electronic Data

    A privacy bill that would prohibit collection of electronic data from communication service providers without a warrant in most cases, and that would effectively block an NSA data sharing program, continues to work its way through the Massachusetts legislature.

    Last spring, a bipartisan coalition of 36 legislators introduced Senate Bill 903 (S903). The legislation would prohibit any Massachusetts government agency, including law enforcement, from obtaining personal electronic records from a third party provider without either a judicially issued warrant or subpoena, with only a few exceptions. This would effectively block what NSA former Chief Technical Director William Binney called the country’s “greatest threat since the Civil War.”

  • Government Likens Ending Bulk Surveillance to Opening Prison Gates

    A Justice Department prosecutor said Thursday that ordering the immediate end of bulk surveillance of millions of Americans’ phone records would be as hasty as suddenly letting criminals out of prison.

  • People are freaking out about terrorists using a popular secure messaging app — here’s why it’s not a big deal

    On Tuesday, the BBC published an article laying out how ISIS has been using Telegram, a secure messaging app, to distribute propaganda online.

    The militant Islamist organisation has been using a new feature in the app — the ability to make public “channels,” akin to a Facebook page — to spread its message to more than 4,500 subscribers (and counting). The Yemeni branch of Al-Qaeda also apparently has a Telegram channel, as do some other terrorist organisations.

  • Pentagon, Military Block Use of Chinese Telecom Gear

    The Pentagon and U.S. Cyber Command have blocked the use of telecommunications equipment produced by the global Chinese company Huawei Technologies over cyber spying fears, according to congressional testimony last week.

    Deputy Defense Secretary Robert Work was asked if the Pentagon employs Huawei equipment during an appearance before the House Armed Services Committee.

• Civil Rights

  • Ex-CIA officer wanted in Italy waits to learn fate after detention in Portugal

  • Ex-CIA agent convicted in Italy fights to stay in Portugal

  • Ex-CIA Agent Detained in Portugal Over 2009 Kidnapping Conviction in Italy

  • Former CIA operative detained in Portugal over kidnapping of cleric

  • US university sues CIA for information on El Salvador massacre

  • US University Sues the CIA Over War Crimes in El Salvador

  • CIA suspected Pinochet in 1976 assassination: US files

  • C.I.A. Believed Pinochet Ordered 1976 Assassination in U.S., Memo Reveals

  • The CIA in Guatemala: A Chilling Account of Dirty Secrets & Covert Operations

  • CIA ‘covered up JFK assassination’ as secret report ‘reveals spy boss withheld “incendiary” information’

  • CIA director ‘covered up’ details of John F Kennedy’s assassination, report reveals

  • CIA Director ‘Covered Up’ Truth About JFK’S Assassination

  • Former CIA director ‘was part of cover-up over JKF’s assassination’

  • Report: CIA withheld damning Cuba evidence in JFK assassination investigation

  • JFK assassination details ‘covered-up’ by CIA, alleges official report

    Top CIA officials may have covered up details of JFK’s assassination, according to a recently-declassified report.

    The revelation comes from a once-secret document now published online at the George Washington University National Security Archive, 52 years after John F Kennedy was shot dead in Dallas.

    CIA historian David Robarge alleges that CIA director John McCone was involved in a “cover-up” which concealed “incendiary” information from the official investigation into JFK’s death by the Warren Commission.

  • German president calls on US to win back lost trust

    It’s been nearly 20 years since a German president was received in the White House. Joachim Gauck, a dissident who organized opposition to the East German state, is calling on the US to practice the values it preaches.

  • German president wants greater US commitment on refugee crisis

    German President Joachim Gauck called for a greater US commitment to easing the refugee crisis engulfing Europe, during a visit to the White House on Wednesday.

  • Mouth Wide Shut

    Barack Obama was, in 2008, the anti-torture candidate.

    It’s a sad comment on the state of U.S. democracy that such a thing ever existed. After all, it would be startling to hear appeals from a pro-oxygen or an anti-apocalypse candidate (though, of course, if the Republicans field a climate-change denier who uses the Book of Revelations as a policy guide, such a future scenario is not entirely beyond the realm of possibility).

    Still, it was refreshing in 2008, after eight years on the “dark side,” to hear a presidential aspirant make a clear moral statement. “We need a commander in chief who has never wavered on whether or not it is acceptable for America to torture, because it is never acceptable,” Obama said in a back-and-forth with Hillary Clinton during the primary” said in a back-and-forth with Hillary Clinton during the primary.

    Obama also promised to end extraordinary rendition (sending suspects to countries that specialize in torture), close the Guantanamo detention facility, and rebuild America’s international reputation.

  • SHU to host New York Times writer Scott Shane

    Shane reports on the United States intelligence community. Prior to his work at The Times, he wrote for the Baltimore Sun from 1983-2004, and his book Dismantling Utopia: How Information Ended the Soviet Union reflects his work as the Sun’s Moscow correspondent from 1988-91. He is also the co-writer of a six-part explanatory series on the NSA (the first major investigation of the NSA since 1982) and the subject of his own New York Times series about his relationship with former CIA officer John Kiriakou and the reporter’s role in stories involving national security.

  • The IC Hits the Trail

    This is the man who boldly testified to a Congressional Committee that not a single civilian had been killed by drone strikes in Pakistan. This is the man who told the press, the morning after Osama bin-Laden’s assassination was announced, that OBL had shot it out with the SEALS while holding his youngest wife as a shield – all a total fabrication. This is the man who tells Americans that there is no blanket electronic surveillance of their communications. This is the man who denied ordering the hacking of the Senate Intelligence Committee’s computers. When refuted, this is the man who claims that the Agency was simply retrieving its property “stolen” by the Committee’s staffers.

  • Senior Judge Blasts German Gov’t Plans to Gag Spy Whistleblowers

    A judge in Germany has said the country’s justice minister Heiko Maas is attempting to quietly push through legislation that would criminalize whistleblowing and “would be an attack on democracy and freedom of the press”.

    Ulf Buermeyer, a judge at the Regional Court of Berlin and former research assistant at the Federal Constitutional Court, says Maas is attempting to push through a clause in the German criminal code that makes it an offence to receive stolen data.

  • Sudan: Alkarama Condemns Generalised Practice of Torture, Unfair Trials and Other Violations in View of Sudan’s Second UPr

    On 21 September 2015, Alkarama transmitted its submission to the Stakeholder’s Summary in view of the Sudan’s second Universal Periodic Review (UPR) by the United Nations Human Rights Council (HRC) which is expected to be held during its 25th Session in April-May 2016. In its submission, Alkarama stressed that despite the adoption of a National Action Plan for the protection of human rights for the period 2013-2023, the situation since Sudan’s first UPR review in 2011 had not changed and that torture, unfair and military trials and violations of the rights to freedom of expression and of association were still prevailing in the country.

  • Donald Trump wants to engineer a civil war

    The system hates the police and the military. The problem is the entire rotten system, not an individual. The system is rotten. It’s so important to have people who oppose torture, because supporting torture will go all the way down the chain of command and to the police. We need fewer police and more Second Amendment and no torture.

    Trump’s formula is a joke. He doesn’t really support a Second Amendment. He wants to watch a civil war. I don’t want to see a civil war. I hope it can be avoided. Donald Trump wants to close down the borders, but then he also says he supports the Second Amendment, while simultaneously wanting to repeal the Fifth Amendment, and wants more police with more powers. So when I saw the news story about Donald Trump telling us which way the wind is blowing with ISIS and talking about the Second Amendment, I saw somebody who actually wants to watch a civil war take place. Like he gets some kind of sadistic pleasure over being able to engineer one.

• Internet/Net Neutrality

  • ICANN: Just give us the keys to the internet – or the web will disintegrate

    Domain system overseer ICANN has embarked on a campaign of fear and fuzzy logic in its latest bid to seize control of the internet from the US government without agreeing to limits on its power.

    The handover of the critical IANA functions from Uncle Sam to ICANN was due to happen last week, but has been set back a year to October 1, 2016 following procedural delays and extensive negotiations.

    Now, ICANN warns, unless the internet community makes concessions on the controls that it wants to place on the organization’s Board, the process could take even longer – and that could lead to the end of ICANN itself, as well as the United Nations taking over the internet.

  • Full Speed Ahead with HTTP/2 on Google Cloud Platform

    Performance is a feature. For many Google applications it is the feature that makes everything else possible—instant text and voice search, directions, translations, and more. The platforms and infrastructure teams at Google are always on the leading edge of development and deployment of new performance best practices. These best practices, in turn, benefit your applications running on Google Cloud Platform.

• Intellectual Monopolies

  • Trademarks

    • No, Making Fun Of Donald Trump’s Stupid Red Hat Isn’t Trademark Infringement

      No, actually, he absolutely did not violate trademark law by making fun of Trump’s hat with his own hat. There are any number of reasons why this is the case. Essentially, all de Blasio would have to do is shout “Parody!” at anyone discussing this and the conversation is over, as parody is protected under Fair Use. But even beyond that, Trump would have to demonstrate before a court that not only is de Blasio’s hat not protected as parody, but that de Blasio is using his hat in commerce in competition with Trump’s hat, that the two slogans aren’t distinct enough to be easily separated in the mind of a moron in a hurry, and that anyone might be confused into thinking that Trump was behind the “fair” hat. None of those are the case. And, again, parody.

  • Copyrights

    • Large Movie Distributor Grabs Popcorn Time Trademark

      Dutch Filmworks, a large movie distributor based in the Netherlands, has successfully registered the logo and word trademarks for Popcorn Time. The company used Popcorn Time’s official logo for the application. Dutch Filmworks’ doesn’t plan to actively enforce the trademarks, but says they may play a role in future anti-piracy efforts.

    • Megaupload Defendants Don’t Need Expert Witnesses, U.S. Argues

      Kim Dotcom and his Megaupload co-defendants don’t need to hire expert witnesses in the United States, the U.S. government argued today. Refuting claims that around $500,000 is needed to mount a proper extradition defense, the Crown prosecutor argued that incriminating admissions could not be trumped by technical know-how.