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Links 25/10/2020: GNU Taler's IETF Milestone, RISC OS 5.28 and New Ubuntu Community Council



  • GNU/Linux

    • Desktop/Laptop

      • Chrome OS finally has a dark mode, and you can try it right now

        While Windows and macOS users have been enjoying their flavors of dark mode for quite some time now, Chrome OS users have sadly been missing out on the fun. However, thanks to a recent sighting by Android Police on the Chrome OS Canary channel, it looks like Chrome OS users can now join in on the dark mode hype train.

        We reported back in September that Google has been internally working on proper dark and light themes for Chrome OS. The system-wide feature is still in its early development stages and is not officially ready to come to the Stable channel yet, but if you have a Chromebook and are itching to start using the upcoming feature today, you can do just that by going into the Flags menu on Chrome.

    • Audiocasts/Shows

      • Putting open values into management practice

        Allison has a unique perspective on the practice of managing with open values because she was familiar with working in an open organization before becoming a manager, and therefore needed to learn how to practice the values differently as she transitioned to a manager role at Red Hat. That was “easier said than done,” as she put it during our discussion, because of a manager's responsibilities for helping and coaching individuals on their team, specifically regarding performance and development.

        Allison manages a team focused on internal communications, where associates have a variety of unique responsibilities and work on different tasks rather than collaborate on a single deliverable. This makes both the sharing of knowledge and the use of knowledge toward an innovative goal of primary importance. Because of that, she feels she is not a "boss"—not someone who directs work— but rather "just another member of the team" who "sets the context in which works take place."

        She feels she is not a "boss"—not someone who directs work— but rather "just another member of the team" who "sets the context in which works take place."

    • Kernel Space

      • KVM For Linux 5.10 Brings New "TDP" MMU To Help VMs With Hundreds Of vCPUs, TBs of RAM - Phoronix

        The Kernel-based Virtual Machine (KVM) is seeing plenty of improvements with the Linux 5.10 kernel.

      • Slashdot Asks: How Do You Feel About Btrfs? - Slashdot
      • Linux 5.10 Adds "nosymfollow" Mount Option Security Defense - Phoronix

        FreeBSD has long supported a "nosymfollow" mount option to prevent following of symlinks on mounted file-systems while now the mainline Linux kernel is adding a similar security defense.

        Driven along by Google's kernel engineers as their work on Chrome OS, they have upstreamed their nosymfollow implementation to the mainline kernel with Linux 5.10. The premise of this feature is to not follow symlinks when resolving paths within the kernel. Symlinks can still be created on the mounted file-system and readlink() will still function, thus not breaking user-space usage of symlinks, but this generic mount option is intended as a kernel defense.

      • Graphics Stack

        • Zink OpenGL-Over-Vulkan At ~97% Piglit Testing Conformance

          Not only is the Zink Gallium3D code for OpenGL accelerated by Vulkan up to around 69% the speed of Intel's OpenGL driver but it's at around a 97% passing test rate for Mesa's Piglit testing.

          Piglit as the massive collection of OpenGL test cases for Mesa is up to seeing around 97% of them pass when running on Zink. This 97.1% current pass rate for Zink is over 40.1k tests passing of some 41.4k test cases, the pass rate is up by several percent this week alone thanks to the continued work by Mike Blumenkrantz on this GL-atop-Vulkan driver.

        • It's Time To Admit It: The X.Org Server Is Abandonware

          The last major release of the X.Org Server was in May 2018 but don't expect the long-awaited X.Org Server 1.21 to actually be released anytime soon.

          This should hardly be surprising but a prominent Intel open-source developer has conceded that the X.Org Server is pretty much "abandonware" with Wayland being the future. This comes as X.Org Server development hits a nearly two decade low, the X.Org Server is well off its six month release regiment in not seeing a major release in over two years, and no one is stepping up to manage the 1.21 release.

          A year ago was a proposal to see new releases driven via continuous integration testing but even that didn't take flight and as we roll into 2021 there isn't any motivation for releasing new versions of the X.Org Server by those capable of doing so.

    • Applications

      • 9 Best Free and Open Source Linux Archive Managers

        A file archiver is computer software which brings together a group of files into a single archive file. An archive file is therefore a collection of files and directories that are stored in one file. There are many advantages of storing multiple files this way. For example, an archive is a great way to store backup data, transfer files to another directory, or to a different computer. Archive files are often compressed to save disk space and reduce transfer times.

        This type of utility lets users compress, decompress, and archive files and directories. Most archivers also store additional metadata such as user and group permissions, timestamps, and directory structures. Other features often found in archive managers include support for multiple volumes, encryption, Unicode names, password protection, and integration into the shell.

        The granddaddy of archive managers is the tar utility (together with the ar and cpio tools). Tar was created in the early days of Unix and remains an essential utility for any Linux system. The filename extension .tar is synonymous with file archives. Other types of archive formats include .iso (for optical storage mediums such as CDROM and DVD-ROMs), .shar, .cpio, and .ar.

        Linux has a good range of open source archive managers, both console based (such as tar) or sporting an attractive graphical user interface and integrating with a desktop environment.

        Here’s our recommendations. Hopefully there will be something of interest for anyone who wants to backup their data, create new archives, and decompress files downloaded from the internet.

    • Instructionals/Technical

      • How To Install HPLIP on Ubuntu 20.04 LTS - idroot

        In this tutorial, we will show you how to install HPLIP on Ubuntu 20.04 LTS. For those of you who didn’t know, HPLIP (HP Linux Imaging and Printing Driver) developed by HP for Printing, scanning, and faxing with HP inkjet and laser-based printers in Linux platforms.

        This article assumes you have at least basic knowledge of Linux, know how to use the shell, and most importantly, you host your site on your own VPS. The installation is quite simple and assumes you are running in the root account, if not you may need to add ‘sudo‘ to the commands to get root privileges. I will show you through the step by step installation of HP Linux Image and Printing on Ubuntu 20.04 (Focal Fossa). You can follow the same instructions for Ubuntu 18.04, 16.04, and any other Debian based distribution like Linux Mint.

      • How to Manage Linux system resources in style with Bpytop

        Bpytop is an advanced, terminal-based control center for Linux. With it, users can view and manage their CPU usage, RAM/SWAP usage, network download/upload, and even terminate running programs!

      • What To Do After Installing Ubuntu Groovy Gorilla

        Below is list of useful tips and tricks for new Ubuntu 20.10. If you have purchased a new Ubuntu laptop or installed it by yourself to computer, this article is for you. This list has apps recommendation, fonts and wallpapers stuffs, amusement and also things for your health. Enjoy latest computing technology comfortably on Ubuntu!

      • Install Firefox on Raspberry Pi OS – Linux Hint

        Chromium is the default web browser of Raspberry Pi OS – the official operating system of Raspberry Pi. Chromium is the open-source version of the popular Google Chrome web browser. Chromium performs really well on the Raspberry Pi. But many people like the Firefox web browser. If you’re one of them, you have come to the right place.

        [...]

        In this article, I have shown you how to install the Firefox web browser on your Raspberry Pi OS. I have also shown you how to set the Firefox web browser as the default web browser of Raspberry Pi OS.

      • How to use PHP through command-line – Linux Hint

        PHP is mainly used to develop web applications, but it can also be used for other purposes. One of the useful features of PHP is the support of SAPI (Server Application Programming Interface) type named CLI (Command Line Interface). The CLI SAPI is released in PHP 4.2.0 version for the first time. The –enable-cli option is used to enable this feature, and this option is enabled in the new version of PHP by default. Furthermore, the –disable-cli option is used to disable this feature.

      • Install Oracle Virtualbox 6.1.16 in Ubuntu 20.04 LTS / Linux Mint | askmetutorials

        This tutorial shows how you can install Oracle Virtualbox 6.1.16 On Ubuntu 20.04 LTS, Ubuntu 18.04 LTS, and Linux Mint 20.

        Virtualbox is an Open source application for running operating systems virtually in your base system, with this application, you can create and run multiple Operating systems virtually on your PC.

    • Distributions

      • Distro Flashback: What happened to Cub Linux? | FOSS Linux

        The operating system wasn’t always known as Cub Linux. In actuality, when it first got announced back in 2014, Chromixium OS was what it was called. After a year of its announcement, its first stable version hit the open-source world as a 32-bit live ISO.

        With that being said, this release didn’t go as smoothly as planned. There were several bugs reported by its users, which included slow menu generation and screen tearing. On the bright side, the developers soon got to solving these issues and released a service pack in addition to various updates. However, what really took Chromixium OS to the next level was the release of its 64-bit version in November 2015.

        All of this development hit a roadblock when the owner of Chromium and Chrome OS, Google, sent a request to the operating system’s developers to give up the name ‘Chromixium’ and other related social media presences websites. However, that couldn’t stop the head of this project, RichJack, as they soon addressed this issue and renamed their OS as Cub Linux. These events took place in late 2015 and ended on a positive note, but the project didn’t know what was approaching its way in 2016.

        When 2016 was nearing its end, Cub Linux users started noticing one big thing: the official website had been missing. This turned out to indicate the demise of a project that could have done wonders in the future. Even though their GitHub page is open to this very day, the development had stopped, and there was no point in keeping up with Cub Linux anymore. According to a developer, this project’s sudden end could be attributed to “private life restrictions,” which is as vague as a statement could get.

        With that being said, as far as the future of Cub Linux is concerned, many other developers got interested in this project and wanted to pick it up. Accordingly, the Feren OS developer announced in 2017 that he would give Cub Linux a major overhaul and “bring back Cub” with the name of Phoenix Linux. This might seem like good news to some, but honestly, the future of Phoenix Linux doesn’t seem too bright since the project hasn’t received another update since March 2018. If we’re really hopeful, we’ll get something as soon as 2021, but waiting any longer wouldn’t make much sense.

      • BSD

      • PCLinuxOS/Mageia/Mandriva/OpenMandriva Family

        • Japanese IME on PCLinuxOS 64 KDE5 Magnum 2020 1015

          I recently saw that my install of PCLinuxOS was behaving funny after and update: the effects ceased working and web pages were loading slowly.

          Last time this happened to me, I had to install a new iso because I had been working with a very old one.

          This time, however, I had kept up with all the updates thanks to the convenient Simple Update Notifier, but something was not good.

          Anyway, I decided to install the new PCLinuxOS 64 KDE5 Magnum 2020 1015. The installation went well, but I was worried because I normally install the PCLinuxOS GRUB2 on the distro partition, not on the MBR, but it was not possible for me to do it this time, so I was predicting a mess trying to boot OpenMandriva, Mageia, MX Linux, and Elive.

      • IBM/Red Hat/Fedora

        • Red Hat's Tom Stellard Now Serving As LLVM Release Manager

          After six years serving as the LLVM release manager and taking over the role from LLVM founder Chris Lattner, Google's Hans Wennborg has stepped down from his position and handed it over to Red Hat's Tom Stellard.

          Wennborg announced this week that after six years and twelve major LLVM releases, he is stepping down as LLVM release manager to devote the time to other activities.

        • IBM Hopes to Double Sales at Red Hat in Next Three Years



          International Business Machines Corp. hopes to double sales at its Red Hat open-source software unit in the next three years as Chief Executive Arvind Krishna aims to restore growth at the tech titan.

          Red Hat has been enjoying annualized sales growth of above 15% in recent quarters, Mr. Krishna said at the WSJ Tech Live conference, putting it on a trajectory to achieve a target of doubling revenue from the more than $3 billion it had when IBM made the acquisition, the biggest in its history.

        • About me and my life ...: Fedora 31 : Can be better? part 006.

          I try to use the Selinux MLS with Fedora 31 and I wrote on my last article about Fedora 31 : Can be better? part 005.After relabeling the files and start the environment I get multiple errors and I ask an answer at fedoraproject lists:This is an example of the problem of implementing MLS in Fedora and can be remedied because MLS Selinux is old in implementing Selinux.

      • Canonical/Ubuntu Family

        • Announcing the new Ubuntu Community Council

          Thanks to all the Ubuntu Members that voted in the election, I am proud to announce our new Ubuntu Community Council!

          The full results of the election can be seen here but our winners are:

          Walter Lapchynski Lina Elizabeth Porras Santana Thomas Ward José Antonio Rey Nathan Haines Torsten Franz Erich Eichmeyer

    • Free, Libre, and Open Source Software

      • RISC OS 5.28 now available

        Slightly delayed from our original target in Spring, we’re pleased to announce RISC OS 5.28 is now available for all platforms that met or exceeded our stable release criteria.

        What’s inside?

        The extra few months has allowed us to pack in a fantastic 366 improvements to the ‘HardDisc4’ image and applications, and a similarly impressive 344 improvements to the main operating system.

        Enjoy an overhauled Paint, up-to-date network security, system wide clipboard support, all running faster thanks to our community led bounty schemes.

      • SaaS/Back End/Databases

        • YottaDB Announces Octo 1.0, a YottaDB Plugin for Using SQL to Query Data in YottaDB

          YottaDB, the database for transactional systems where data integrity is paramount, today announced production-grade Octo 1.0, a YottaDB plugin to query YottaDB application data using popular SQL tools. YottaDB excels for transactional systems, where data integrity and application robustness are paramount – applications that effect database state change to provide mission-critical functionality, such as electronic health record systems, core banking systems, library systems, and election systems.

          There is a vast ecosystem of tools using SQL/JDBC for reporting, visualization, analysis, and more. Octo 1.0 makes databases of transactional applications that use YottaDB, accessible to those tools.

        • Introducing Octo

          Octo is a YottaDB plugin for using SQL to query data that is persisted in YottaDB’s key-value tuples (global variables).

          Conforming to YottaDB’s standard for plugins, Octo is installed in the $ydb_dist/plugin sub-directory with no impact on YottaDB or existing applications. In addition to YottaDB itself, Octo requires the YottaDB POSIX plugin. The popularity of SQL has produced a vast ecosystem of tools for reporting, visualization, analysis, and more. Octo opens the door to using these tools with the databases of transactional applications that use YottaDB.

      • FSF

        • GNU Projects

          • GNU Taler news: RFC 8905 - "The 'payto' URI Scheme for Payments" published

            We are happy to announce the publication of RFC 8905 by the IETF.

            RFC 8905 defines the 'payto' Uniform Resource Identifier (URI) scheme for designating targets for payments. A unified URI scheme for all payment target types allows applications to offer user interactions with URIs that represent payment targets, simplifying the introduction of new payment systems and applications.

      • Programming/Development

        • BL602 IoT SDK and $5 DT-BL10 WiFi & BLE RISC-V development board

          Go to Doiting_BL/docs/html folder and then open index.html in your browser to access the documentation. The SDK works both in Windows and Linux and relies on either Eclipse & OpenOCD or Freedom Studio & OpenOCD. A graphical software called Dev Cube is used for flashing the board.

          The documentation is made for a specific board Doit.am DT-BL10 development board powered by BL602 WiSoC that sells for $5 plus shipping on Aliexpress or 19.99 RMB on Taobao (about $3). We’re not at ESP8266 board price level ($2+) yet, but still affordable and interesting for evaluation.

        • Javascript Redirect – Linux Hint

          Javascript is a web-oriented programming language. When using the web, you will often need to navigate through pages. When you click on any button, submit a form, or log in to any website, you get redirected to a different new page. Page redirection is an essential part of any website, but it is not only restricted to page navigation on a website.

        • JavaScript Sleep Function – Linux Hint

          Javascript is the language of freedom yet is a function-oriented language at the same time. Unlike other languages, javascript does not provide a built-in sleep() function. You can either build a custom sleep() function using the built-in setTimeout() function, or the latest ECMAScript promises an async-await function. This article shows you how to stop or pause the execution of the sleep function for a desired amount of time using promises or async-await functions.

        • 3 Hour Bash Tutorial – Linux Hint

          In this article, you will learn from printing a simple “Hello World” to using conditional statements such as if statements, case statements to using loops such as while, for until loops to awk, grep, sed, and debugging bash scripts. We will cover the following topics in this article:

        • Dirk Eddelbuettel: digest 0.6.27: Build fix

          Exactly one week after the previous release 0.6.26 of digest, a minor cleanup release 0.6.27 just arrived on CRAN and will go to Debian shortly.

          digest creates hash digests of arbitrary R objects (using the md5, sha-1, sha-256, sha-512, crc32, xxhash32, xxhash64, murmur32, spookyhash, and blake3 algorithms) permitting easy comparison of R language objects. It is a fairly widely-used package (currently listed at one million monthly downloads, 282 direct reverse dependencies and 8068 indirect reverse dependencies, or just under half of CRAN) as many tasks may involve caching of objects for which it provides convenient general-purpose hash key generation.

        • Why I wrote 152 extra lines of code just to do the same thing (and why I’d do it again today)

          Who else remembers printing out code on a dot matrix printer? Ah, those were the days… (Image courtesy Arnold Reinhold.)

        • Python

          • Only Python: Friendly-traceback: work in progress

            It's been almost two months since my last blog post and I feel guilty of not haven't taken the time to write more regularly. I should really tell you about how fantastic Will McGugan's Rich is, and how I have customized it for my projects. I should also tell you how Sylvain Desodt's DidYouMeanPython has been influencing Friendly-traceback latest developments. Also worthy of note is how Alex Hall's FutureCoder project is incorporating so many neat tools that it feels like a real honour that he has incorporated Friendly-traceback in it.

            Alas, while I have been busy making many changes and addition to the code, the documentation is hopelessly behind and no longer gives a correct picture of what Future-traceback is now capable of.

            So much to do, so little time. So, I will just end with a picture, and go back to coding, with a promise of writing more ... soon I hope.

          • Python range() Function – Linux Hint

            Python is a modern, general-purpose, and high-level programming language that comes with powerful features. Python has many built-in modules to support diverse operations. The range() function is a built-in function used to perform specific tasks or actions for a definite number of times. In other words, the range() function is used to perform a task iteratively. This function is used in conjunction with the for loop and the while loop.

          • Python Dictionaries – Linux Hint

            Python is an efficient and versatile programming language. It is one of the most frequently used high-level programming languages to perform data-related tasks due to its many supportive built-in modules and functions. To mention some of its many built-in data structures, it has arrays, lists, tuples, etc.

            Dictionaries are one of the built-in data structures in Python. It holds the data in the form of a key-value pair. The keys are the unique value that acts as a representative of data. The key is also called as “an index value”. Data structures are a very important aspect of any programming language. They are used to store and manipulate the data in a well-organized and efficient way. Therefore, Python dictionaries are more useful when we need to store the data in a form of key-value pair and to access the data faster. The Python dictionaries return the data faster because the key value for every data is unique, therefore the searching time for data is reduced, and we get the result faster. This article explicates the Python dictionaries in detail.

          • Python Classes – Linux Hint

            Python is one of the multiuse high-level programming languages. It is an object-oriented programming language. The main difference between the procedural and object-oriented programming languages is that we cannot create the classes in procedural programming languages. The main focus of procedural languages is on creating functions, and variables for performing the task whereas, in object-oriented programming languages, our main concern is to create objects and use them for performing our tasks. A class is simply a blueprint that contains functions and variables. A class is like a real-life classroom of any institute. It contains some chairs, tables, desks, a projector, walls, etc. base on all these components; we build a classroom. All these components are the variables and functions in a class, and a classroom is an object. The Python classes and objects are explained in this article.

          • FreeBSD process environ and resource limits

            New psutil 5.7.3 is out. This release adds support for 2 functionalities which were not available on BSD platforms: the ability to get the process environment (all BSD) and to get or set process resource limits (FreeBSD only), similarly to what can be done on Linux.

          • Datacamp Review - CodersLegacy

            Datacamp is a very well known online learning platform for programmers. It aims to teach a variety of different languages and topics through the use of videos, text and exercises.

            In this review we’ll be attempting to cover everything about Datacamp, from it’s format to it’s user complaints to it’s good points. Whether Datacamp is worth the time and money, will be clear to you by the end of this review.

    • Standards/Consortia

      • [Old] 25 years of Help Tech and Me

        And what can I say? It was love on first touch, so to speak! The Braille display that stood in front of me was a model called "Braille Window Modular 84". Unlike all the other displays I had looked at, it had no flat, but cells that were curved inwards, with an upward tilt towards the user. These felt very gentle under my fingertips. The hand automatically fell into a slightly curved posture, similar to what is ideal for pianists to play the most relaxed. The dot caps were pleasantly round, and the fingers glided over the displayed information effortlessly in this natural hand posture.

  • Leftovers

    • With the Debates Over, Biden Assails Trump’s Coronavirus Response

      A lawyer for Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner threatened Friday to take legal action against the Lincoln Project, a group of anti-Trump conservatives, unless the group removes a pair of large billboards from Times Square in Manhattan.

      One of the billboards shows a smiling Ms. Trump, the president’s eldest daughter, gesturing toward national and statewide tallies of coronavirus deaths.

      Another features a smiling picture of her husband, Mr. Kushner, alongside a quote saying that New Yorkers “are going to suffer and that’s their problem.” Below the quote is a series of body bags.

    • Industry Execs Discuss Innovating Technological Landscape With Remote Production

      Presented by Western Digital, Variety hosted the Innovators in Media Technology Management, a panel with leading executives as part of the Variety Streaming Room series. The conversation, moderated by Variety’s New York digital editor Todd Spangler, featured panelists Bill Baggelaar, executive vice president and chief technology officer of tech development at Sony Pictures Entertainment and executive vice president and general manager at Sony Innovation Studios; Annie Chang, vice president of creative technologies at Universal Pictures; Rathi Murthy, chief technology officer at Verizon Media; and Matthew Klapman, senior director of professional products and product security at Western Digital.

      The conversation also explored solutions for content management across platforms when conducting remote production. While navigating certain capabilities, such as HDR and 4K, is difficult due to expensive equipment, the panelists were hopeful of adapting to the industry’s trends.

    • Culture

      • Jack London’s€ Martin Eden: On the Screen Again

        London would not be surprised by the continued interest in his work on the part of contemporary movie makers, but he would be surprised and probably alarmed at what Marcello and Braucci have done to his book. Indeed, moving the setting from the San Francisco Bay Area, to Naples and the time period from near the start of the twentieth-century to sometime in the mid-to-late twentieth-century (the period is intentionally ambiguous) wrenches the plot and the characters from the particular time and place that give London’s novel much of its force.

        Martin Eden, the fictional character, is thoroughly American. He has American drive and American ambition. An American sailor and an American nobody, he becomes an American success story and then chooses to reject it all. He’s also very much a Californian, and a product of San Francisco and Oakland. In one of the most vivid scenes in the novel, working class Eden gives a massage to his girlfriend, Ruth, a daughter of the Bay Area bourgeoisie

      • Ballroom Blitz: Rationale and Mechanics of the Great Reset of Cultural Hegemony Global

        For what going down in the World as tragically being ‘Globalized’ early 21st C. not sane as any rational derivation of ontology could intimate; it a graduality of Eros and Democracy being destroyed as ‘soft kill’/ resource transfer occurring under mere program or scheme – and is, alas, yet another mere meisterspin hegemonic in which the concept of Thanatos and Fascism plays a leading role such the bagatelle- and in which ‘surplus population’ figures large context of warfare and the rape it represents?

        Plus ça change -but this time around there more efficient and effective technology at disposal of Thanatos?

      • Jerry Jeff Walker, Texas singer and songwriter, dies at 78

        Jerry Jeff Walker, a Texas country singer and songwriter who wrote the pop song “Mr. Bojangles,” has died at age 78.

        Walker died Friday of cancer, family spokesman John T. Davis told The Associated Press.

        “He had battled throat cancer for many years, and some other health issues,” Davis said Saturday.

    • Health/Nutrition

    • Integrity/Availability

      • Proprietary

        • Russians Who Pose Election Threat Have Hacked Nuclear Plants and Power Grid

          Officials at San Francisco International Airport discovered Russia’s state [attackers] had breached the online system that airport employees and travelers used to gain access to the airport’s Wi-Fi. The [attackers] injected code into two Wi-Fi portals that stole visitors’ user names, cracked their passwords and infected their laptops.

        • Psychotherapy centre data breach victims receive extortion emails [iophk: Windows TCO

          ]As well as their personal data, the extortionist told them that records of their discussions with therapists would be published.

          It is not known whether the extortionist is the same individual or group that [cracked] the data in the first place.

          Individual emails were sent on Saturday evening, with [YLE] receiving messages from 8pm onwards. All the victims described receiving the same message.

          The extortionist wrote that recipients must pay 200 euros within 24 hours, or if they don't meet that deadline, 500 euros within 48 hours.

        • Pseudo-Open Source

          • Entrapment (Microsoft GitHub)

            • RIAA Takes Down Popular Open Source YouTube-DL Software

              GitHub has removed the open-source YouTube-DL repository as well as several forks. The developer platform took action following a takedown request from the RIAA. The music group argues that the code is primarily used to download copyrighted content and also violates the DMCA's anti-circumvention provisions.

            • Microsoft Disables GitHub Repository of Open Source Project youtube-dl

              Recording Industry Association of America, Inc. (RIAA) sent a notice to GitHub for hosting youtube-dl source code. Microsoft’s GitHub took immediate action to disable the repositories. But was it the right thing to do?

            • Microsoft's GitHub bows to RIAA, takes down YouTube video downloader

              The Microsoft-owned source code repository GitHub has taken down the repository for youtube-dl, a popular command-line script that can be used to download videos from YouTube and many other videos from the Internet, following a DMCA takedown letter sent by the Recording Industry Association of America.

        • Security

          • Privacy/Surveillance

            • Facebook asks academics to stop using tool in micro-targeting ad research

              The plug-in, called “Ad Observer,” enables researchers to analyze the advertisements that are sent to specific volunteers and how advertisers use data gathered by Facebook to profile citizens “and send them misinformation about candidates and policies that are designed to influence or even suppress their vote,” Damon McCoy, an NYU professor involved in the project, said in a statement to the AP.

              Facebook sends user information to advertisers so they may tailor ads to specific groups based on race, age, gender, political affiliation and several other characterizations.

            • Facebook demands academics disable ad-targeting data tool

              Academics, journalists and First Amendment lawyers are rallying behind New York University researchers in a showdown with Facebook over its demand that they halt the collection of data showing who is being micro-targeted by political ads on the world’s dominant social media platform.

              The researchers say the disputed tool is vital to understanding how Facebook has been used as a conduit for disinformation and manipulation.

    • Defence/Aggression

      • Texas member of Boogaloo Bois charged with opening fire on Minneapolis police precinct during protests over George Floyd

        A confidential informant told police that Hunter planned to “go down shooting” if authorities closed in. He didn’t. They arrested him without incident in San Antonio, Texas, this week, and he made his first court appearance Thursday.

        Hunter is the third member of the Boogaloo Bois, a loose-knit group intent on igniting a second American civil war, to be charged in Minneapolis as a result of the unrest that followed Floyd’s death.

      • Ah, la belle France

        Muslim parents and Imams escalated indignation on the internet and on the street outside the school. The 18 year old Chechen brought the knife, yelling “Allahu Akhbar” as he savagely sliced away at Paty’s head.

        What does a be-heading mean? It is an act meant to terrorize, paralyze, and silence onlookers. It is certainly meant to silence the victim, to literally cut off his identity, separate his consciousness from his body. It is a way of protesting what he may be thinking, or punishing him for “insulting Islam” or for being different in any way, for being an infidel, a Jew, a dissident, a secularist, an apostate, a homosexual, a feminist.

        Like acid attacks, which also disfigure one’s identity and which are so common in south east and central Asia, be-headings are also a signature forms of Islamic murder.

      • Yes, The Problem Lies Within Islam Itself

        On October 2, French President Emmanuel Macron recently stated: “Islam is a religion that is in crisis all over the world today; we are not just seeing this in our country.” These words were in reaction to the dilemma of what he called an “Islamic separatism” in France, i.e., a counter-state based on sharia law — an amorphous body of legal rulings, judgments and opinions, assembled over the course of many centuries after the Prophet Muhammad’s death.

        “The problem,” Macron said “is an ideology which claims its own laws should be superior to those of the [French] republic.”

      • Black woman shot by officer seeks justice from hospital bed

        A Black woman who was shot and wounded inside a vehicle by a police officer who also fatally shot her 19-year-old boyfriend on Satuday told about 200 people gathered at an emotional rally in suburban Chicago that she's fighting “to be strong" for her son.

        The protest in Waukegan, about 40 miles (64 kilometers) north of Chicago, was organized by Clyde McLemore, the founder of the Lake County chapter of Black Lives Matter. It took place less than a day after Police Chief Wayne Walles announced the firing of the officer who fatally shot Marcellis Stinnette, a Black man, and wounded Tafara Williams, 20. Walles added in a brief statement that the male officer had committed “multiple policy and procedure violations.”

    • Transparency/Investigative Reporting

      • Alexey Navalny Has the Proof of His Poisoning

        My case is unusual because, thanks to a series of happy accidents—the pilot who decided to make an emergency landing, the ambulance staff who acted on the assumption I’d overdosed and tried to revive me, and the fact that some traces of Novichok remained even after forty-eight hours—they actually found Novichok. We got evidence. And the thing about Novichok is you can’t just go and use it. If I give you some Novichok and tell you to go kill someone with it, you are going to kill yourself and the people around you and probably not the person you are targeting. You have to be trained to use it. This definitively changes our picture of what happens inside the Kremlin, and now we have proof.

    • Environment

      • Affordable Housing Developers Set their Sights on Former Toxic Oil Fields in LA

        On a busy corner in Vista Hermosa, a neighborhood just west of downtown Los Angeles, early signs of construction have begun on a 7-story, 64-unit apartment building called Firmin Court. The project’s developer, the Decro Group, has pledged that the new building, which is one of six active multi-family developments under construction in a five-block radius, will provide supportive and affordable housing for “chronically homeless individuals, persons at risk of becoming homeless, and low-income€ families.”

      • Energy

        • Pumped up - What Donald Trump did for hydrocarbons | United States

          Rising American output does not mean the country is independent —in 2019 it imported 9.1m barrels a day of foreign petroleum. Nor is America immune from swings in the global market. Last year crude prices spiked after an attack on oil facilities in Saudi Arabia. Because America’s oil industry has grown, says Jason Bordoff of Columbia University, “we are more vulnerable to the economic harm that comes from an oil price collapse.” When Mr Trump faced sinking prices this year, he had to ask Riyadh and Moscow to cut output. “The consequence,” Mr Bordoff argues, “was to strengthen the relationship between Saudi Arabia and Russia.”

      • Wildlife/Nature

        • Waves of wildfire evacuations strain hotels, volunteers, evacuees

          When Doug Bair and Cindy Meyer left Grand Lake Wednesday, the flames of the East Troublesome fire were 200 to 300 feet tall in the trees behind their house and they could feel the heat.

          "It was so hot, the flames were white," Bair said.

          They grabbed their medicines, clothes and important documents and got out.

          The two were among thousands forced to flee Wednesday and Thursday from the East Troublesome fire that blazed through thousands of acres, much of it beetle-killed forest. The fire had reached 188,079 as of Friday.

          Hundreds of evacuees fled to Red Cross evacuation centers where volunteers worked to book them rooms in hotels, a practice adopted to help prevent the spread of the virus, said Thea Wasche, sheltering director for the state.

    • Finance

    • AstroTurf/Lobbying/Politics

    • Censorship/Free Speech

      • Why Islam Needs a Reformation Now

        She fled Holland after receiving death threats for working on the film Submission with Theo Van Gogh, who was shot eight times and murdered by a 26-year-old Dutch Moroccan Islamist terrorist.

        In Heretic, Hirsi Ali makes several uncompromising statements about Islam. She writes that violence is inherent in Islam, and that Islam is not a religion of peace. She submits that this does not mean that Islamic belief makes Muslims naturally violent. Rather, the call to violence and the justification for it are explicitly stated in the sacred texts of Islam. Hirsi Ali argues that this theologically sanctioned violence is there to be activated by a number of offenses including but not limited to apostasy, adultery, blasphemy and threats to the honor of family and Islam itself.

        A dignified human being with a rarefied mind, and possessed of an almost preternatural calmness, Ayaan Hirsi Ali, while preparing for the publication of her new book Prey, granted me the pleasure of this interview.

    • Civil Rights/Policing

      • The Squad Calls for UN Inquiry Into Alleged Human Rights Abuses at Trump's DHS

        The four first-term progressive congresswomen collectively called the Squad led a letter Friday calling for independent international investigation of “recent, ongoing, and credible allegations of egregious human rights abuses by the United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS), its components, and its private contractors.”

      • Murkowski's nod gives Barrett extra boost for Supreme Court

        Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett won crucial backing when one of the last Republican holdouts against filling the seat during an election season announced support for President Donald Trump's pick ahead of a confirmation vote expected Monday.

        Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, declared her support Saturday during a rare weekend Senate session as Republicans race to confirm Barrett before Election Day. Senators are set Sunday to push ahead, despite Democratic objections that the winner of the White House on Nov. 3 should make the choice to fill the seat of the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

      • California appeals court says Uber, Lyft drivers are employees, not contractors.

        A California appeals court on Thursday upheld a state order requiring Uber and Lyft to treat their California drivers as employees instead of independent contractors. The ruling comes less than two weeks before California voters will be asked to exempt the ride-hailing giants from the state's ground-breaking gig economy law.

        The decision won't have any immediate impact because it doesn't take effect for at least 30 days, well after the November 3 vote on Proposition 22.

        Uber and Lyft had appealed an August preliminary injunction by a San Francisco judge. But the appellate ruling found "no legal error" and allowed it to stand.

      • It’s a Ballot Fight for Survival for Gig Companies Like Uber

        Though Uber and Lyft, for example, are publicly traded companies with a combined worth of $70.5 billion, they have never been profitable. They lose billions of dollars each year, and the pandemic has made turning a profit even more difficult. DoorDash, which has filed to go public, has also struggled. Analysts estimate that complying with California’s gig-worker law could cost Uber, which lost $1.8 billion in its most recent quarter, as much as $500 million a year.

      • Christians targeted in Nigeria: why the world should care - opinion

        While the perpetrators of violence in the Middle Belt are almost exclusively Fulani, the vast majority of Fulani are not perpetrators. Indeed, many Fulani Muslims have spoken out against them. And other Fulani have also been killed by Islamist terrorists throughout the country, including during a terrible attack on a mosque in the northeast in 2018, and another brazen attack that targeted three emirs from the northeast, killing one in 2014.

        Therefore, observers and activists must be cautious about automatically drawing an ideological line between the number of Fulanis in Buhari’s administration, including Buhari himself, and the government’s inaction against the perpetrators of mayhem and violence. Minus explicit evidence, other Nigerians simply cannot draw such conclusions without fanning the flames of xenophobia.

        Though, the Nigerian government has serious challenges it can no longer ignore. For instance, what is their response to the charges laid by a former defense minister in a 2018 lecture?

        “The armed forces are not neutral. They collude. They collude with the armed bandits that kill people, kill Nigerians. They facilitate their movement, they cover them. If you are depending on the armed forces to stop the killings, you will die, one by one. The ethnic cleansing must stop . . . otherwise, Somalia will be child’s play.”

      • Nigeria's Police Order Massive Mobilization After Unrest

        Some dismayed Nigerians then criticized President Muhammadu Buhari for not mentioning the killings and instead warning citizens against "undermining national security." The government has insisted that the protests, while well-intentioned, were hijacked by thugs who looted and burned vehicles and businesses in the two days after the soldiers opened fire.

        Buhari has said 51 civilians were killed, along with 11 police officers and seven soldiers.

        The scenes in Nigeria have struck a chord with the Black Lives Matter movement in the United States, and the shootings by soldiers sparked immediate international condemnation.

    • Monopolies

      • ACCC report finds Google, Facebook increasing take of online ad spend

        The first six-monthly interim report from the Australian Competition and Consumer Commissions Digital Platform Services inquiry shows that the share of online advertising spend of Google and Facebook is increasing, with $53 of every $100 going to Google and $28 to Facebook.

      • Patents

        • Software Patents

          • Quibi Enlists LionTree to Handle Sale of Assets

            Quibi’s asset-sale process may result in the transfer of its rights [sic] to some originals to new distributors. But any dealmaking will be a bit complicated: Quibi has licensed dozens of programs for its service, but doesn’t actually own any of the. Under its agreements with the content owners, Quibi had secured seven-year licenses, with the producers of the shows retaining the right to assemble the shows and distribute them elsewhere two years after they premiered on the streamer.

            Meanwhile, a sale of Quibi’s technology will likely come with a legal string attached: Eko, the interactive-video company that filed a lawsuit against Quibi alleging patent infringement and trade-secret theft over Quibi’s Turnstyle feature, said this week it will continue to pursue the legal action. Quibi has called Eko’s claims baseless.

      • Copyrights

        • Deezer Knows People Are Pirating Its Service But Says It Won't Stop Them

          Despite both Spotify and Deezer having a free-tier for listeners on a budget, some users prefer to use unofficial clients that allow them to obtain the premium service for free. Spotify has dealt with these users by threatening to ban accounts but Deezer is taking an altogether softer approach.



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