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IRC: #techbytes @ Techrights IRC Network: Thursday, January 05, 2023

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schestowitz>> Re: coercion & deceptionJan 05 03:01
schestowitz>>> There is already some good coverage of people being coerced, e.g. theJan 05 03:01
schestowitz>>> email to Renata and the demotion email that Dr Preining published.Jan 05 03:01
schestowitz>> A demotion in the context of unpaid work is a weird concept.Jan 05 03:01
schestowitz> Yes, but that in itself is not coercionJan 05 03:01
schestowitz> Jan 05 03:01
schestowitz> Demoting somebody secretly and threatening to tell other people about itJan 05 03:01
schestowitz> is coercion.  If the intention of the coercion is for the victim to workJan 05 03:01
schestowitz> without pay then it is modern slavery.Jan 05 03:01
schestowitz> Jan 05 03:01
schestowitz> Jan 05 03:01
schestowitz>>> The analysis of the way the FSFE fellowship worked, with fake membershipJan 05 03:01
schestowitz>>> cards, etc, is a strong example of deception because the members wereJan 05 03:01
schestowitz>>> not recorded on the FSFE e.V. membership roll.Jan 05 03:01
schestowitz>>>Jan 05 03:02
schestowitz>>> Do you have any tag or category for your articles to help identifyJan 05 03:02
schestowitz>>> coercion, in particular, doing work under coercion?Jan 05 03:02
schestowitz>> Not coercion in particular, but:http://techrights.org/category/deception/Jan 05 03:02
-TechBytesBot/#techbytes-techrights.org | Deception | TechrightsJan 05 03:02
schestowitz> There is a lot of deception in tech.  What I'm specifically trying toJan 05 03:02
schestowitz> focus on is deception that is intended to make people work for free.Jan 05 03:02
schestowitz> Jan 05 03:02
schestowitz> Example: lets say the FSFE posts a job vacancy and asks 100 people to doJan 05 03:02
schestowitz> coding tasks but they don't have any intention to employ any of theseJan 05 03:02
schestowitz> people, they are just posting these job vacancies to get people to fixJan 05 03:02
schestowitz> bugs for them.  If a whistleblower in the organization reveals theJan 05 03:02
schestowitz> vacancy was a hoax then there could be a prosecution.Jan 05 03:02
schestowitz> Jan 05 03:02
schestowitz> I already have an example of this from an organization in anotherJan 05 03:02
schestowitz> country.  They tried to get me to add a new feature to a well knownJan 05 03:02
schestowitz> program.  A normal employer would do this task in the probationaryJan 05 03:02
schestowitz> period but this particular employer tried to get me to do it as a test,Jan 05 03:02
schestowitz> despite the fact they can see all my code online anyway.Jan 05 03:02
schestowitz> Jan 05 03:02
schestowitz> Jan 05 03:02
schestowitz>>> Do you have any tag or category for your articles to help identifyJan 05 03:02
schestowitz>>> deception, in particular, doing work under a deceptive relationship?Jan 05 03:02
schestowitz>>>Jan 05 03:02
schestowitz>>> Each of these topics, coercion and deception, can be relevant in aJan 05 03:02
schestowitz>>> modern slavery prosecution.Jan 05 03:02
schestowitz>>>Jan 05 03:02
schestowitz>>> - coercion or deception to contribute codeJan 05 03:02
schestowitz>>>Jan 05 03:02
schestowitz>>> - coercion or deception to change a license to be more permissiveJan 05 03:02
schestowitz>>>Jan 05 03:02
schestowitz>>> - coercion or deception to do sysadmin workJan 05 03:02
schestowitz>>>Jan 05 03:02
schestowitz>>> - coercion or deception to do conference organizationJan 05 03:02
schestowitz>>>Jan 05 03:02
schestowitz>>> - coercion or deception to do IT support, helping usersJan 05 03:02
schestowitz>>>Jan 05 03:02
schestowitz>>> Some of the evidence is about coercion to say or not say something.Jan 05 03:02
schestowitz>>> This may not be modern slavery.  Oversimplifying it, censorship doesn'tJan 05 03:02
schestowitz>>> always relate to doing unpaid work.  But if it intersects with the workJan 05 03:02
schestowitz>>> somebody is doing then there could be an issue.Jan 05 03:02
schestowitz>> Some times this month or next month I will show how my employer tried toJan 05 03:03
schestowitz>> use my job as pretext to offer support to their family friend:Jan 05 03:03
schestowitz>>Jan 05 03:03
schestowitz>> http://techrights.org/wiki/Sirius_Open_SourceJan 05 03:03
-TechBytesBot/#techbytes-techrights.org | Sirius Open Source - TechrightsJan 05 03:03
schestowitz>>Jan 05 03:03
schestowitz>>> Both the Daniel Baumann and Norbert Preining emails are encouraging themJan 05 03:03
schestowitz>>> to continue doing Debian work under a framework of coercion.  This isJan 05 03:03
schestowitz>>> distinct from emails to Renata telling her what to say.Jan 05 03:03
schestowitz>> The above mentions the role of guilt and humiliation to coerce workers.Jan 05 03:03
schestowitz>> One more examples of that will be published tonight. Instructions underJan 05 03:03
schestowitz>> threat.Jan 05 03:03
schestowitz> There is that question of how Dr Preining and I both realized we wereJan 05 03:03
schestowitz> subject to secret shaming experiments and started communicating about it.Jan 05 03:03
schestowitz> Jan 05 03:03
schestowitz> It was me who noticed they were coercing Dr Preining and reached out to him.Jan 05 03:03
schestowitz> Jan 05 03:03
schestowitz> This is the thing they hate about me more than anything else.  AsJan 05 03:03
schestowitz> fellowship representative, I defended Michael Kappes.  It was my role toJan 05 03:03
schestowitz> defend him, even if he had been guilty I still would have felt obligedJan 05 03:03
schestowitz> to speak up as the representative.  That is when FSFE really turned ugly.Jan 05 03:03
schestowitz> Jan 05 03:03
schestowitz> Jan 05 03:03
schestowitz>>>   From time to time I've seen comments from companies who felt pressuredJan 05 03:03
schestowitz>>> to use an open source license.  For example, I feel that the tone ofJan 05 03:03
schestowitz>>> this article was shaming xTuple into changing their license, withoutJan 05 03:03
schestowitz>>> giving any economic reason why xTuple would benefit from changing it:Jan 05 03:03
schestowitz>>>Jan 05 03:03
schestowitz>>> https://web.archive.org/web/20080122022821/http://blogs.cnet.com/8301-13505_1-9749950-16.htmlJan 05 03:03
-TechBytesBot/#techbytes-web.archive.org | OpenMFG transforms into xTuple, but misses the open-source train | The Open Road - The Business and Politics of Open Source by Matt Asay - CNET BlogsJan 05 03:03
schestowitz>>>Jan 05 03:03
schestowitz>> I remember the xTuple debacle very well.Jan 05 03:03
schestowitz>>Jan 05 03:03
schestowitz>>> Agreed, they had been a bit naive when they started using the term openJan 05 03:03
schestowitz>>> source.  But rather than mocking them, I think that the blog could haveJan 05 03:03
schestowitz>>> simply left the reader with the choice, e.g. "xTuple needs to eitherJan 05 03:03
schestowitz>>> adopt an OSI approved license or avoid using the term open source"Jan 05 03:03
schestowitz>> OSI is corrupt, deeply corrupt, it became a front group for MicrosoftJan 05 03:03
schestowitz>> and proprietary GitHub.Jan 05 03:03
schestowitz> Agreed, but the general understanding of what is an open source licenseJan 05 03:03
schestowitz> hasn't diverged too much right now.  Maybe it will in future.  But whatJan 05 03:03
schestowitz> I'm looking for specifically is to index cases where any project hasJan 05 03:03
schestowitz> been bullied, even if they simply bullied somebody to go from GPL to BSD.Jan 05 03:04
schestowitz> Jan 05 03:04
schestowitz> Regards,Jan 05 03:04
schestowitz> Thanks Roy, I forgot about that one. First time I've seen it.Jan 05 03:04
schestowitz> all best,Jan 05 03:04
schestowitzExcellent talk. Covers lots of what we've been speaking about, and beyond...Jan 05 03:04
schestowitzThe Q&A also has some good bits, even is the "Q" is inaudible.Jan 05 03:04
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schestowitz <li>Jan 05 11:40
schestowitz                                    <h5><a href="https://sysdfree.wordpress.com/2023/01/04/365/">2023: Linux rusting away into non-FOSS territory – Build rnote and you will see</a></h5>Jan 05 11:40
-TechBytesBot/#techbytes-sysdfree.wordpress.com | 2023: Linux rusting away into non-FOSS territory – Build rnote and you will see | systemd-free linux communityJan 05 11:40
schestowitz                                    <blockquote>Jan 05 11:40
schestowitz                                        <p>Linux 6.2-rc2 kernel is out as the last commit in kernel.org at the start of the 2023 year. RUST is here, the initial code-base is included in the kernel. At least Arch seems to be disabling it for now, at the beta level at least, we shall see.</p>Jan 05 11:40
schestowitz                                        <p>Rust is not just a language, as people commonly think, it is much more. It is a building environment, system, and a mode change of the philosophy of building packages from source. Rust incorporates its own git system in pulling code in from 2nd and 3rd parties. So if you have never gotten into the real FOSS practice of auditing code before you build, try and audit this stuff. If building in C you thought Jan 05 11:40
schestowitzwas a practice similar to building sand castles, by comparison, this is like building sand castles with quick-sand ON QUICK SAND.</p>Jan 05 11:40
schestowitz                                    </blockquote>Jan 05 11:40
schestowitz                                </li>Jan 05 11:40
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schestowitz <li>Jan 05 11:57
schestowitz                            <h5><a href="https://guix.gnu.org/blog/2023/dissecting-guix-part-1-derivations/">Dissecting Guix, Part 1: Derivations</a></h5>Jan 05 11:57
-TechBytesBot/#techbytes-guix.gnu.org | Dissecting Guix, Part 1: Derivations — 2023 — Blog — GNU GuixJan 05 11:57
schestowitz                            <blockquote>Jan 05 11:57
schestowitz                                <p>To a new user, Guix's functional architecture can seem quite alien, and possibly offputting. With a combination of extensive #guix-querying, determined manual-reading, and plenty of source-perusing, they may eventually figure out how everything fits together by themselves, but this can be frustrating and often takes a fairly long time.</p>Jan 05 11:57
schestowitz                                <p>However, once you peel back the layers, the "Nix way" is actually rather elegant, if perhaps not as simple as the mutable, imperative style implemented by the likes of dpkg and pacman. This series of blog posts will cover basic Guix concepts, taking a "ground-up" approach by dealing with lower-level concepts first, and hopefully make those months of information-gathering unnecessary.</p>Jan 05 11:57
schestowitz                            </blockquote>Jan 05 11:57
schestowitz                        </li>Jan 05 11:57
schestowitz <li>Jan 05 11:57
schestowitz                                    <h5><a href="https://www.bunniestudios.com/blog/?p=6656">Non-Destructive Silicon Imaging (and Winner of Name that Ware December 2022)</a></h5>Jan 05 11:57
schestowitz                                    <blockquote>Jan 05 11:57
-TechBytesBot/#techbytes-www.bunniestudios.com | Non-Destructive Silicon Imaging (and Winner of Name that Ware December 2022) « bunnie's blogJan 05 11:57
schestowitz                                        <p>The ware for December 2022 is an AMD Radeon RX540 chip, part number 216-0905018. Congrats to SAM for guessing the ware; email me for your prize. The image is from Fritzchen Fritz’s Flickr feed; I recommend checking out his photos (or you can follow him on twitter). Even if you aren’t into photos of chips, he elevates it to an art. Even more amazingly, all of his work is public domain; hats off to him Jan 05 11:57
schestowitzfor contributing these photos to the commons with such a generous license, because it is not easy to prepare the material and take images of this quality. If any of my readers happens to know him and are willing to make an introduction, I’d appreciate that. I only discovered his work by chance while doing some background research.</p>Jan 05 11:57
schestowitz                                    </blockquote>Jan 05 11:57
schestowitz                                </li>Jan 05 11:57
schestowitz  <li>Jan 05 12:26
schestowitz                                            <h5><a href="https://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2023/01/decarbonizing-cryptocurrencies-through-taxation.html">Decarbonizing Cryptocurrencies through Taxation</a></h5>Jan 05 12:26
-TechBytesBot/#techbytes-Decarbonizing Cryptocurrencies through Taxation - Schneier on SecurityJan 05 12:26
schestowitz                                            <blockquote>Jan 05 12:26
schestowitz                                                <p>Maintaining bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies causes about 0.3 percent of global CO2 emissions. That may not sound like a lot, but it’s more than the emissions of Switzerland, Croatia, and Norway combined. As many cryptocurrencies crash and the FTX bankruptcy moves into the litigation stage, regulators are likely to scrutinize the cryptocurrency world more than ever before. This presents a Jan 05 12:26
schestowitzperfect opportunity to curb their environmental damage.</p>Jan 05 12:26
schestowitz                                            </blockquote>Jan 05 12:26
schestowitz                                        </li>Jan 05 12:26
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schestowitz <li>Jan 05 12:41
schestowitz                                            <h5><a href="https://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2023/01/breaking-rsa-with-a-quantum-computer.html">Breaking RSA with a Quantum Computer</a></h5>Jan 05 12:41
-TechBytesBot/#techbytes-Breaking RSA with a Quantum Computer - Schneier on SecurityJan 05 12:41
schestowitz                                            <blockquote>Jan 05 12:41
schestowitz                                                <p>The Chinese group didn’t have that large a quantum computer to work with. They were able to factor 48-bit numbers using a 10-qbit quantum computer. And while there are always potential problems when scaling something like this up by a factor of 50, there are no obvious barriers.</p>Jan 05 12:41
schestowitz                                                <p>Honestly, most of the paper is over my head—both the lattice-reduction math and the quantum physics. And there’s the nagging question of why the Chinese government didn’t classify this research. But…wow…maybe…and yikes! Or not.</p>Jan 05 12:41
schestowitz                                            </blockquote>Jan 05 12:42
schestowitz                                        </li>Jan 05 12:42
schestowitz>> The Q&A also has some good bits, even is the "Q" is inaudible.Jan 05 13:25
schestowitz> They were a potentially tough crowd. It was an "AI" conference andJan 05 13:26
schestowitz> every single one an MSc or postdoc researcher who finished aJan 05 13:26
schestowitz> project. Many of the projects were of dubious utility and morality -Jan 05 13:26
schestowitz> typical academic fare of "let's do buzzword project because we can!"Jan 05 13:26
schestowitz> So I hoped for some probing questions. What I got were reallyJan 05 13:26
schestowitz> stock internet memes. So I was a bit disappointed they didn't feelJan 05 13:26
schestowitz> able to challenge even on home ground. Or perhaps they thought myJan 05 13:26
schestowitz> critique was irrelevant/beneath response.Jan 05 13:26
schestowitz> Jan 05 13:26
schestowitz> These days detailed Q and A works well as interview/podcast whereJan 05 13:26
schestowitz> there's more time and the pace can be regained by edits later.Jan 05 13:26
schestowitz> Jan 05 13:26
schestowitz> Tfanks for posting it anyway.Jan 05 13:26
schestowitz> Jan 05 13:26
schestowitz> best,Jan 05 13:26
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schestowitzhttps://www.fosslife.org/network-problems-slow-remote-workforce-productivityJan 05 16:33
-TechBytesBot/#techbytes-www.fosslife.org | Network Problems Slow Remote Workforce ProductivityJan 05 16:33
schestowitz"Jan 05 16:33
schestowitzMany organizations are still struggling to deliver seamless digital experiences for remote workers, reports Nathan Eddy.Jan 05 16:33
schestowitzEddy cites an Exoprise Systems report, which says that “90 percent of knowledge workers face consistent technical and remote network problems, which are hampering remote workforce productivity.”Jan 05 16:33
schestowitzIssues include “slow network response time and unpredictable application performance, exemplified by dropped Zoom calls, slow page loading, application crashes, and unresponsive endpoint devices,” Eddy says.Jan 05 16:33
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