Bonum Certa Men Certa

Barriers to Reporting Truths

OLPC a good example

Writing for popular publications can be a frustrating experiencing if one wants to speak one's mind out. A journalist often needs to rely on statements made by other journalists, some of whom merely echo shamelessly-promotional press releases. Some PR lies gradually become factual, at least in some people's minds. it's dangerous.



Wealthier companies are able to push their press releases (and more of them) into a broader audience, which pollutes the pool of truth. Moreover, one must also be careful when making direct accusations even where compelling evidence clearly exists.

“Speaking based on personal experience, some editors feel afraid of material about Microsoft.”Examples of an inability to make accusations is the SCO case, where circumstantial evidence that can be found here is considered insufficient. To repeat the SCO strategy, Microsoft may try to 'poison' FOSS projects. Sadly, even the KDE Commit Digest now states: "Start of resurrecting C# support in KDevelop." How can this be countered?

Speaking based on personal experience, some editors feel afraid of material about Microsoft. It can either be watered-down or reprimanded about in advance. Microsoft is a powerful force in trade journals. It's an advertiser. For criticising Microsoft, as oppose to covering mundane topics, people will call the reporter a 'hater'. Of course, denouncing crime is a bad thing in our cautious press and fantasy-chasing society.

Over the past few years, I have been attacked using obscene slander (e.g. as in this recent example) by numerous pseudonymous characters whom I believe are connected to Microsoft (there is evidence to suggest so). There are signs that suggest things may change.

The unmasking of the posters marks a milestone in a rare legal challenge to the norms of online commenting, where arguments live on for years in search-engine results and where reputations can be sullied nearly irreparably by anyone with a grudge, a laptop and a WiFi connection...

Both women tried in vain to persuade the administrators of the AutoAdmit.com site to remove the threads, according to the lawsuit. But then the story of the cyber-harassment hit the front page of The Washington Post, and the law school trolls became fodder for cable news shows. Soon after, the female law students, with help from Stanford and Yale law professors, filed the federal lawsuit in June 2007 seeking hundreds of thousands of dollars in damages.

The Jane Doe plaintiffs contend that the postings about them became etched into the first page of search engine results on their names, costing them prestigious jobs, infecting their relationships with friends and family, and even forcing one to stop going to the gym for fear of stalkers....

A federal judge ruled in January that the attorneys could serve subpoenas on ISPs and webmail providers. Using that power, the lawyers have unmasked some -- though not all -- of the AutoAdmit posters.


This type of process (lawsuits to unmask people) become more routine. Another case was reported yesterday. Could new laws, as opposed to litigation, ever deter and this stop corporate AstroTurfing?

Recent Techrights' Posts

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On behalf of violent men
Pissing Contests and Pissing Off Everyone
people who came from Microsoft are trying to vex and divide the community
Microsoft Repeats the Mistakes Made by the EPO After We Exposed a Major Microsoft/EPO Scandal 10 Years Ago
That scandal was all over the media, not just in English
Turns Out LLMs for Code Don't Save Time and Don't Improve Quality
Neither legal nor useful
 
Asking People to Take Down Articles and Videos Only Makes These More Popular and "Viral"
If you do something bad, one of the worst things you can possibly do it try to silence those who speak about it
Over at Tux Machines...
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IRC Proceedings: Sunday, July 13, 2025
IRC logs for Sunday, July 13, 2025
Two-Thirds Towards FSF Goal, Richard Stallman to Give Talks in Europe
There are 67 left before reaching the target
Gemini Links 14/07/2025: Politicised Tech and "Leaving GitHub"
Links for the day
The Demise of LLMs
We've just checked BetaNews again. They've dropped all the slop and went back to human authors.
Gemini Links 13/07/2025: Sonpo Museum of Art and FCEUX
Links for the day
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Firing Away With Nonsense
Or fighting fire with fire
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This story isn't just about Microsoft. It's also about corruption, there are many women victims, there is abject "abuse of process", and many more scandals to be illuminated in years to come.
Reproducing at the EPO Instead of Producing Monopolies for Foreign Monopolies With Their Price-Fixing Cartels
Does the EPO recognise the need of well-educated Europeans to bear kids?
Valnet Inc. Dominates Real (Not LLM Slop) GNU/Linux Coverage in 2025
And likely in prior years, too
Free Software Foundation (FSF) Fund Raiser Goes on
Later this month we'll expose another OSI scandal
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Even the EPO's own stakeholders (money sources) are openly protesting against what the EPO became
Links 13/07/2025: Partly Assorted News From Deutsche Welle and CBC
Links for the day
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Gemini Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
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IRC logs for Saturday, July 12, 2025
Plunder at the Second-Largest Institution in Europe
cuts, neglect, health problems, even early deaths
Links 12/07/2025: Political Developments, Attack on Opposition, Climate Actions
Links for the day
Gemini Links 12/07/2025: Melodic Musings and Small Web July
Links for the day
Links 12/07/2025: Jail in China for Homoerotica, South Korea Discriminates Against Old Workers
Links for the day
If Only Everything Was Rewritten in Rust, We'd Have No More Security Issues?
Nope.
Links 12/07/2025: Birdwatching and Fake/Misleading Wall Street 'Valuation' Figures
Links for the day
Gemini Links 12/07/2025: How to Avoid Writing, Apps for Android
Links for the day
Using SLAPPs to Cover Up Sexual Abuse and Strangulation
The exact same legal team of the Serial Strangler from Microsoft and Garrett already has a history fighting against "metoo"
EPO Staff Committee on Harassment in the Workplace
slides
Adding the Voice of Writers to UK SLAPP Reform
The journey to repair antiquated (monarchy era) laws will likely be long
EPO Takes More Money From Staff for Speculation (Pensions), Actuarial Study Explains the Impact
"The key change in this year’s Actuarial Study, due to cascading the new “risk appetite” from the financial study, is a significant increase of the total pension contribution rate of 5.7 percentage points, up to a total of 37.8%. This is driven by an unprecedented decrease in the discount rate of 105 bps down to 2.2%."
Over at Tux Machines...
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IRC Proceedings: Friday, July 11, 2025
IRC logs for Friday, July 11, 2025