Links 17/10/2023: Stack Overflow Laying Off 28% of Staff, Microsoft Has Mass Layoffs Too
Contents
- Standards/Consortia
- Leftovers
- Science
- Hardware
- Health/Nutrition/Agriculture
- Security
- Defence/Aggression
- Transparency/Investigative Reporting
- Environment
- Finance
- AstroTurf/Lobbying/Politics
- Censorship/Free Speech
- Freedom of Information / Freedom of the Press
- Civil Rights/Policing
- Internet Policy/Net Neutrality
- Digital Restrictions (DRM)
- Monopolies
- Gemini* and Gopher
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Standards/Consortia
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Adriaan Roselli ☛ 2.4.11: Adversarial Conformance
I made a demo for WCAG 2.2 Success Criterion 2.4.11 Focus Not Obscured (Minimum). I built it strictly to capture screenshots, so while it is not a good demo as a standalone (which is why it is not embedded here) it is handy to demonstrate something.
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Leftovers
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Ruben Schade ☛ Rearranging spaces for more… space!
Clara and I spent Sunday rearranging the apartment to try out a new position for our computer desks. It’s still a work-in-progress, but I’m already amazed how much bigger the space feels. It seems logically ridiculous; it’s the same tables, the same stuff, in the same confined space. How could this make any meaningful difference whatsoever?
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New York Times ☛ Suzanne Somers, Star of ‘Three’s Company,’ Is Dead at 76
She became famous for playing, as she put it, “one of the best dumb blondes that’s ever been done,” then became a sex-positive health and diet mogul.
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Daniel Miessler ☛ Extracted Wisdom: Marc Andreessen's Techno-Optimism Manifesto
The content is a manifesto of Techno-Optimism by Marc Andreessen. It discusses the transformative power of technology in human progress, arguing that it is a tool for liberation, abundance, and the fulfillment of human potential. Andreessen also addresses criticisms of technology, advocating for a positive and ambitious approach towards technological advancement.
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Connor Tumbleson ☛ The Weaponized Process
Time and time again in Ingress every new pattern was abused and it becomes a toxic pool of thinking. You either join in the abuse in a form of revenge or take the high road and hope people just play the game.
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Chris Coyier ☛ Questions for Conversation
A friend has a go-to question for a conversation starter, particularly among business colleagues:
"What’s a business you admire?"
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Science
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Chris ☛ The Hypothesis of the Fair Coin
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Science Alert ☛ Runestone Revelation Hints The Most Famous Viking Was a Woman
An analysis of two groups of runestones, dedicated to the first known queen of Denmark, hints at the possibility that Thyra may have once been even more beloved than Bluetooth or her husband, 'Gorm the Old', whose name only features on a single stone.
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Hardware
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CNX Software ☛ Nordic nRF54L15 Cortex-M33 wireless MCU halves Rx power consumption over nRF52 chips
Nordic Semiconductor has recently unveiled the 128 MHz nRF54L15 Cortex-M33 multi-protocol wireless microcontroller, the first from the nRF54L Series, and the second from the wider nRF54 family after the more powerful 320 MHz nRF54H20 dual-core Cortex-M33 MCU was introduced last Spring. While the nRF54H20 was designed to enable new types of IoT devices with a leap in performance and lots of resources with up to 2 MB flash and 1MB SRAM, the new nRF54L15 aims to be an upgrade to the nRF52 series with twice the performance and much better power efficiency, with for instance, half the Rx power consumption over its predecessor.
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Tom's Hardware ☛ Morris Chang Asserts Intel Foundry Will Remain in TSMC's Shadow
Morris Chang emphasizes TSMC's strategical importance for numerous countries.
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Health/Nutrition/Agriculture
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RFA ☛ Southeast Asia’s mounting food insecurity
Net rice importers and net exporters alike are wrestling with a surge in prices of the staple.
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New York Times ☛ Rite Aid Files for Bankruptcy, Facing Slumping Sales and Opioid Suits
The pharmacy chain, one of the country’s largest, faces more than a thousand lawsuits that say it filled illegal prescriptions for painkillers.
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The Kent Stater ☛ Tobacco Cessation program aims to curb student smoking
Kent State of Well Being’s Tobacco Cessation program, “Freedom from Smoking,” returned in April 2022, allowing students to work towards a smoke-free lifestyle.
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The Straits Times ☛ Malaysian doctors are severely overworked, bullied and burned out: Survey
Malaysian doctors could be leaving the industry as they are severely overworked, bullied and burned out.
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The Straits Times ☛ Over 1,300 rescue workers still traumatised by Itaewon Halloween crowd crush
They are receiving treatment for various side effects relating to the deadly incident.
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Science Alert ☛ Alzheimer's Is Linked to Stress And Depression, And We May Know Why
The evidence so far.
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New York Times ☛ Scientists Offer a New Explanation for Long Covid
In some patients, remnants of the coronavirus in the gut may stifle production of serotonin, an important neurotransmitter, researchers suggest.
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Mexico News Daily ☛ National COVID-19 and influenza vaccination campaign launches [Ed: Do not mix experimental vaccines that barely work (COVID-19) with flu vaccines, which not only work but are proven safe]
Which vaccines will be used in Mexico? Who is eligible? Where will the vaccines be administered? We tell you what you need to know.
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IT Pro Today ☛ American Work-From-Home Rates Drop to Lowest Since the Pandemic
The push by employers to get American workers back into the office appears to be working.
Fewer than 26% of US households still have someone working remotely at least one day a week, a sharp decline from the early-2021 peak of 37%, according to the two latest Census Bureau Household Pulse Surveys. Only seven states plus Washington, DC, have a remote-work rate above 33%, the data shows, down from 31 states and DC mid-pandemic.
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Nico Cartron ☛ Cure to "Twitter interruptions"
During the day, I would regularly check my Twitter feed and notifications, when I was not being interrupted by a notification about someone reacting to one of my tweets.
Some would argue that's pretty much the goal of Twitter - allow you to interact quickly with folks, but I decided to cut all the distractions I had during the day, so that I can stay focused.
And clearly, Twitter was one of those distractions.
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Epidemiologist Harvey Risch promotes the false narrative of “turbo cancer”
Over the last month or two, I noticed that an antivax claim about COVID-19 vaccines from last year had made a reappearance on social media in a big way. I’m referring to the false claim that COVID-19 vaccines cause what antivaxxers last year termed “turbo cancer“. It’s a term that antivaxxers have never really defined other than vaguely, but it is scary sounding. It seems to mean cancers that are either far more aggressive than the average cancer of the same type being seen in younger people than usual. Alternatively, it means the rapid recurrence of a successfully treated cancer previously in remission. Whatever antivaxxers mean by “turbo cancer,” they know it’s bad, and they “know” that COVID-19 vaccines are causing it. The claim that COVID-19 vaccines cause cancer appeared very soon after the vaccines rolled out, starting with the misrepresentation of old in vitro studies and of a Department of Defense database, and then later progressed to doing incredible contortions of science and reason, in essence twisting them into pretzels, to blame SV40 promoter sequences in “DNA contamination” of the mRNA vaccines, an echo of very old antivax claims that SV40 virus in polio vaccines in the early 1960s had led to a wave of cancer decades later.
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Security
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Privacy/Surveillance
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Reason ☛ The PCLOB Report on 702—We Interview Both Sides
Bonus episode 476 of the Cyberlaw Podcast
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MIT Technology Review ☛ The fight over the future of encryption, explained
In my prep work before the panel, and then in our conversation, I learned about some new cryptographic technologies that might allow for some content moderation, as well as increased enforcement of platform policies and laws, all without breaking encryption. These are sort-of fringe technologies right now, mainly still in the research phase. Though they are being developed in several different flavors, most of these technologies ostensibly enable algorithms to evaluate messages or patterns in their metadata to flag problematic material without having to break encryption or reveal the content of the messages.
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Papers Please ☛ The TSA wants to put a government tracking app on your smartphone
Today the Identity Project submitted our comments to the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) on the TSA’s proposed rules for “mobile driver’s licenses”.
The term “mobile driver’s license” is highly misleading. The model Electronic Credential Act drafted by the American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators (AAMVA) to authorize the issuance of these digital credentials and installation (“provisioning”) of government-provided identification and tracking apps on individual’s smartphones provides that, “The Electronic Credential Holder shall be required to have their Physical Credential on their person while operating a motor vehicle.”
So the purpose of “mobile driver’s licenses” isn’t actually licensing of motor vehicle operators, as one might naively assume from the name. Rather, the purpose of the “mobile drivers license” scheme is to create a national digital ID, according to standards controlled by the TSA, AAMVA, and other private parties, to be issued by state motor vehicle agencies but intended for use as an all-purpose government identifier linked to a smartphone and used for purposes unrelated to motor vehicles.
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EFF ☛ Colorado Supreme Court Upholds Keyword Search Warrant
The case is People v. Seymour, which involved a tragic home arson that killed several people. Police didn’t have a suspect, so they used a keyword warrant to ask Google for identifying information on anyone and everyone who searched for variations on the home’s street address in the two weeks prior to the arson.
Like geofence warrants, keyword warrants cast a dragnet that require a provider to search its entire reserve of user data—in this case, queries by one billion Google users. Police generally have no identified suspects; instead, the sole basis for the warrant is the officer’s hunch that the suspect might have searched for something in some way related to the crime.
Keyword warrants rely on the fact that it is virtually impossible to navigate the modern Internet without entering search queries into a search engine. By some accounts, there are over 1.15 billion websites, and tens of billions of webpages. Google Search processes as many as 100,000 queries every second. Many users have come to rely on search engines to such a degree that they routinely search for the answers to sensitive or unflattering questions that they might never feel comfortable asking a human confidant, even friends, family members, doctors, or clergy. Over the course of months and years, there is little about a user’s life that will not be reflected in their search keywords, from the mundane to the most intimate. The result is a vast record of some of users’ most private and personal thoughts, opinions, and associations.
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Techdirt ☛ ACLU Calls Out School Surveillance Programs In Latest Report
Minors attending public schools may find their rights are limited, due to a variety of factors: school safety, access to learning, etc. But they’re not nonexistent. This much courts have made clear, including the top court in the land.
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Defence/Aggression
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France24 ☛ Inside the arsenal: Iranian-sourced weapons used in Hamas's assault on Israel
Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad movement launched an incursion into Israel on October 7, attacking by air and ground. While the range of weapons they’ve employed has garnered international attention, none of these armaments comes as a revelation. Both Hamas's armed wing, the Al Qassam Brigades, and Islamic Jihad's Al Quds Brigades have previously showcased these weapons in propaganda materials and military parades as well as using them against Israeli targets. The majority of these weapons have origins in Iran, and those produced within Gaza are also believed to have been developed by the Islamic Republic, with a small fraction originating from North Korea and Syria.
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The Straits Times ☛ Philippines denounces China for 'dangerous and offensive' actions in South China Sea
The Philippine military has called out China to stop \"unsafe actions\" in the South China Sea, after a Chinese navy ship shadowed and attempted to cut off a Philippine navy vessel conducting a resupply mission late last week.
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The Straits Times ☛ Fearing China, South Korea targets contractors on Taiwan navy submarines
Beijing said in 2021 that countries involved in Taiwan's project were 'playing with fire'.
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New Yorker ☛ Rodrigo Duterte’s Deadly Promise
When an outrageous yet charismatic candidate for President promises to kill suspected criminals, the reporter Patricia Evangelista says, we should listen: it may not be just a talking point.
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The Atlantic ☛ Lest Darkness Fall
Democracies overseas are under siege, and some Americans think the United States should stay out of those struggles. But supporting our friends and allies against barbarism is both in our national interest and part of our identity as a people.
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Light Blue Touchpaper ☛ Hacktivism, in Ukraine and Gaza
We have now measured hacktivism in two wars – in Ukraine and Gaza – and found that its effects appear to be minor and transient in both cases.
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Greece ☛ ‘Steeped in hatred from the cradle’
“It’s been 32 years since she made that decision; 12 of them spent in Israel. Yet it has not been long enough to completely decipher the intricate social fabric of this corner of the world. “Everything is incredibly intricate, and the polarization persists. Sometimes I wonder if people here have no choice but to live this way; it’s as if they’ve been steeped in hatred from the cradle. It may sound far-fetched – and certainly doesn’t apply to everyone – but life in the Middle East is an ongoing struggle, often for what we consider self-evident. I’ve noticed that whenever something goes wrong, blame and curses are directed toward the ‘other side.’ In our area, only Arab-Israelis reside; there are no Jews at all. Regardless of what goes awry, even if a tree falls, they will attribute it to the Jews. The demonization of one group by another – or by others – has been ingrained here for centuries. Just when we are on the verge of optimism for peace, something happens, and the flames of conflict reignite. Take the situation with Hamas, a terrorist organization that, in reality, harms the Palestinians with its actions. If Gaza is devastated, they will bear the responsibility. My heart aches for what is happening to this people.”
And the Christians? How are they treated? “The ultra-Orthodox Jews, the Haredim, are the only ones treating us with hostility. You’ll often witness illiterate kids openly spitting at Christians or hurling stones at them in the Old City, because that’s what they’ve learned. As for the Muslims, the most significant crisis was in 2014. Rockets were raining down, and we had nightly skirmishes surrounding the monastery following the 8 o’clock prayer. Yet again, it was youths causing these issues. I empathize with these kids. Islam restricts them from interacting with girls, from publicly consuming alcohol, and they have no creative outlets. Violence through gang activities seems to be their sole outlet. Do you know the extent of bullying I sometimes endure? If I were to document everything in a book, it would likely become a bestseller, and I’d be able to cover all the monastery’s expenses.”
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La Prensa Latina ☛ Brussels on high alert as two Swedes killed in shooting
Shortly after 19:00, local time, an individual opened fire with a military weapon on several people inside a building and a cab, leaving the crime scene on a scooter.
According to security sources, a footage showed how a man claims to be a member of ISIS and to act in revenge representing Islam.
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Federal News Network ☛ Gunman kills two Swedes in Brussels, prompting terror alert and halt of Belgium-Sweden soccer match
“This person claims to be inspired by Islamic State,” Van Duyse said. “The Swedish nationality of the victims was put forward as the probable motive.” Sweden raised its terror alert to the second-highest level in August after a series of public Quran-burnings by an Iraqi refugee living in Sweden resulted in threats from Islamic militant groups.
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Hindustan Times ☛ Two Swedes killed in Brussels shooting; Belgium PM calls it a ‘terror attack’
Two Swedes were killed in a shooting late Monday in central Brussels, police said, and Belgium's Prime Minister Alexander De Croo suggested the attack was linked to “terrorism" and convened an emergency meeting of top Cabinet ministers.
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India Times ☛ EU industry chief warns Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai on tech rules compliance after Hamas attack
EU industry chief Thierry Breton on Friday warned Alphabet Chief Executive Officer Sundar Pichai to adhere to EU tech rules after the spread of disinformation on YouTube following Hamas' attacks in Israel, the latest company to be rebuked.
Breton reminded Pichai in a letter posted on social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter, of the company's obligations set out in the Digital Services Act (DSA) which requires very large online platforms to do more to tackle harmful and illegal content.
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Site36 ☛ Operation “Irini”: EU transfers seized military equipment to third countries
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Techdirt ☛ Judge Is Rightly Skeptical That Montana Can Just Ban TikTok
It seemed pretty blatantly obvious that a state can’t just ban a popular app used for speech, but Montana insisted otherwise earlier this year, and gleefully passed a law banning TikTok. The law was immediately challenged, and there’s been a lot of back and forth on the docket, including a ridiculous amicus brief from Virginia and 17 other states (all with Republican AGs), claiming that obviously states can ban any speech they want.
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teleSUR ☛ Russian President’s Telephone Conversation With Netanyahu
Putin informed Netanyahu of several telephone conversations he held with the leaders of Egypt, Iran and Syria, including with Palestinian National Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas.
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The Straits Times ☛ Russia push for UN Security Council action on Israel, Gaza fails
October 17, 2023 7:49 AM
A Russian-drafted U.N. Security Council resolution that would have called for a humanitarian ceasefire in the war between Israel and Palestinian militants Hamas in Gaza failed to get the minimum nine votes needed in the 15-member body on Monday.
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LRT ☛ To trust or not to trust: Why Europe should support Belarusian exiles
Three years after Belarus’s democratic uprising, Belarusians in Europe are met with increasing suspicion, but now more than ever, European leaders should guarantee enduring support to Belarusian exiles. Pavel Slunkin and Gabrielė Valodskaitė argue for the European Council on Foreign Relations think tank.
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Hong Kong Free Press ☛ China prepares for Belt and Road summit, overshadowed by Israel-Gaza war
China China began welcoming on Monday representatives of 130 countries for a conference that will be overshadowed by the Israel-Hamas war, as an increasingly assertive Beijing is asked to help de-escalate the violence.
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France24 ☛ 🔴Live: Israel strikes Hezbollah 'terrorist' targets in Lebanon, says army
Israel launched strikes overnight on Hezbollah "terrorist" targets in Lebanon, a statement from the Israeli army said early Tuesday morning. Meanwhile, the UN Security Council are set to meet to vote on rival Russian and Brazilian resolutions that reflect deep divisions over the decades-old Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the latest Hamas’ attacks and Israeli retaliation.
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Russia, Belarus, and War in Ukraine
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Meduza ☛ ‘I’ve lost everything’: Hroza residents mourn the 59 civilians killed in Russia’s missile strike on a soldier’s wake, in photos — Meduza
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Meduza ☛ Three people injured in Ukraine’s Poltava region in overnight Russian attack — Meduza
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AntiWar ☛ You’re Not Allowed To Say That NATO Caused the War, Unless You Are NATO’s Secretary General
There are two competing narratives about the origins of the Ukraine War. According to one narrative, Vladimir Putin is a Hitler-like aggressor. He wants to reestablish the Soviet empire by swallowing Ukraine and threatening the Baltic countries, Poland, and the nations further west. This narrative was created by Washington and Brussels.
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AntiWar ☛ Does Putin Want To Rebuild the Russian Empire?
During his address to the plenary session of the Valdai International Discussion Club, Russian President Vladimir Putin told his audience of scholars and diplomats that “The Ukraine crisis is not a territorial conflict, and I want to make that clear…[W]e have no interest in conquering additional territory.”
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Atlantic Council ☛ The Russia-Ukraine War in 2024
The Russia-Ukraine War in 2024: The current fighting season is still far from over in Ukraine, but it is already clear that the war unleashed by Putin in February 2022 will continue into the coming year, writes Mykola Bielieskov.
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Atlantic Council ☛ What to look for as Putin and Xi meet at the Belt and Road Forum
The two leaders are expected to meet during the October 17-18 forum, which marks ten years since China’s landmark initiative launched.
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Latvia ☛ Hundreds waiting at Latvian-Russian border point Sunday evening
More than 100 people, mostly Ukrainian citizens, were still waiting in line on Sunday by the 'Vientuļi' border crossing point before its closure Monday at midnight, Latvian Television reported Sunday, October 15, evening.
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France24 ☛ Poland’s pro-EU opposition poised for victory over ruling nationalist PiS party
The majority of voters in Poland’s general election supported opposition parties that promised to reverse democratic backsliding and repair the nation’s relationship with allies, including the European Union and Ukraine, near-complete results showed Monday.
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France24 ☛ Qatar mediates return of four Ukrainian children taken to Russia
Four Ukrainian children who were taken to Russia after Moscow's invasion of Ukraine are to be reunited with relatives following the mediation of Qatar, officials said on Monday.
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Light Blue Touchpaper ☛ Hacktivism, in Ukraine and Gaza
People who write about cyber-conflict often talk of hacktivists and other civilian volunteers who contribute in various ways to a cause. Might the tools and techniques of cybercrime enable its practitioners to be effective auxiliaries in a real conflict? Might they fall foul of the laws of war, and become unlawful combatants?
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RFERL ☛ U.S. Special Representative For Reconstruction Of Ukraine Lays Out Goals In Visit To Kyiv
The U.S. special representative for the reconstruction of Ukraine says she has begun working with the Ukrainian government to support the opening of export markets, the mobilization of foreign direct investment, and the acceleration of the country’s economic recovery.
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RFERL ☛ Yellen Says U.S., EU Support Crucial To Ukraine's Fight Against Russia
U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen on October 16 said support for Ukraine remained a "top priority" for the United States and Europe, calling it crucial to underpin Ukraine's military battle against Russia's invasion.
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RFERL ☛ Latvia Closes Two Border Crossings With Russia
Latvia has temporarily closed two border crossings in response to Russia's decision to restrict the entry of Ukrainian citizens to the airport in Moscow and one of its crossings with Latvia, the country's interior minister said.
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RFERL ☛ Former Russian Lawyer Who Defended Activists Added To Russia's Wanted List
The Russian Interior Ministry on October 16 added self-exiled former Russian lawyer Mark Feigin, who has defended noted Russian and Ukrainian activists, to its wanted list on unspecified charges.
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RFERL ☛ Ukraine Reports More Than 50 Frontline Clashes As 600th Day Of War Marked
Russia attacked Ukraine with missiles, drones, air strikes, and artillery early on October 16, the 600th day since Russia launched its all-out invasion.
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Meduza ☛ Russian governor reported to police after saying regional authorities ‘were not prepared’ for war in Ukraine and have ‘no need’ for it — Meduza
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RFERL ☛ Regional Governor Tells Citizens Russia Was Unprepared For A War 'We Don't Need'
A Russian governor has said the country was not prepared for the war with Ukraine and that the invasion was not in Russia's interests, contradicting Kremlin propaganda.
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Vice Media Group ☛ Israeli Tanks Spotted with Anti-Drone ‘Cope Cages’ Used by Russia In Ukraine
So-called “cope cages” reflect the widespread use of munition-dropping hobby drones on modern battlefields.
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YLE ☛ Russia bans Ukrainians from entering via Finland
Russia will only allow Ukrainians to enter the country via a Latvian border crossing or Moscow airport.
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New York Times ☛ Satellite Photos Show How Russia Could Be Shipping Arms From North Korea
An analysis released on Monday said the images showed Moscow may be getting weapons from a North Korean port to an ammunition depot near Ukraine.
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New York Times ☛ 4 Ukrainian Children Return From Russia After Intervention by Qatar
Kyiv has said that thousands of children have been separated from their families and taken to Russia, in one of the most painful issues for Ukraine since the start of the war.
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New York Times ☛ Yellen Assures Europe That U.S. Will Provide More Funds for Ukraine
The Treasury secretary reassured allies that the Biden administration was not backing away from Ukraine despite opposition in Congress.
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Latvia ☛ State Security Service suspects material support to Russian army
The State Security Service (VDD) has conducted several searches related to a company on suspicion of providing resources to the Russian armed forces, the service reported on October 16.
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Latvia ☛ Two Latvian-Russian border points closed successfully
The closure of Vientuļi and Pededze border points on the Latvian-Russian border has been successful, but the number of people deterred from crossing the border illegally is increasing again on the Latvian-Belarusian border, Interior Minister Rihards Kozlovskis (New Unity) told Latvian Radio on October 16.
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RFERL ☛ Navalny Attorney Goes Incommunicado After Three Other Lawyers For Imprisoned Kremlin Critic Arrested
Aleksandr Fedulov, a lawyer of imprisoned Russian opposition politician Aleksei Navalny, has gone incommunicado after three other lawyers who defended the Kremlin critic were arrested last week.
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RFERL ☛ Bashkortostan Prosecutors Appeal Court Decision On Financial Compensation For Man's Wrongful Imprisonment
Prosecutors in Russia's Bashkortostan region have appealed a court decision in September that said the state must pay almost 32 million rubles ($327,400) to an 86-year-old man who served 13 years in prison after being wrongfully convicted of murder and attempted murder in 1959.
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RFERL ☛ Sandu Says Diversification Means Russia Can't Blackmail Moldova Over Gas
Moldovan President Maia Sandu says steps taken by her country -- one of Europe's poorest -- to diversify its gas supplies means Russia can no longer "blackmail" Chisinau "as it used to."
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RFERL ☛ Dozens Of Tatar Activists Commemorate Victims Of Kazan's Fall In 1552
Dozens of activists in Kazan, the capital of Russia's Tatarstan region, have commemorated the Tatars killed during the city's siege by Russian troops in 1552, despite the refusal by authorities to officially allow a mass gathering to mark the 451st anniversary of the Kazan Khanate's fall.
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New Yorker ☛ A Russian Journalist’s Pained Love for Her Country
In a new book, Elena Kostyuchenko attempts to work through how she missed—or, rather, failed to adequately react to—Russia’s descent into fascism.
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Transparency/Investigative Reporting
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The Nation ☛ We Must Not Let the Truth Become a Casualty of This War
All of the above facts are verifiably true and important. But as the war enters its second bloody week, many false or unsubstantiated claims are circulating as well. As the conflict escalates, it will be critical that journalists, academics, and observers of all kinds work overtime to make sure that we are talking, thinking, and writing about events on the basis of things we fully know to be true.
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Environment
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Common Dreams ☛ Energy Department’s Embrace Of Fossil Fuel Powered Hydrogen Hubs A Win For Manchin, Loss For Climate
“Any hope that the Department of Energy was going to send a clear, strong signal that hydrogen needs to be produced by renewable energy in order to be ‘clean’ was thoroughly extinguished on Friday,” said Revolving Door Project Senior Researcher Hannah Story Brown. “A majority of the selected projects intend to produce hydrogen from fossil fuels and rely on unproven carbon capture and storage technology to clean up the carbon dioxide generated as the main byproduct of the chemical process that yields hydrogen from natural gas. The Energy Department has already poured more than a billion federal dollars into failed carbon capture initiatives which made no discernible dent in the nation’s massive emissions. Why should we expect this latest contrivance to lead to real success where all of its predecessors have failed?”
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Breach Media ☛ Suncor CEO to MPs: We’re not taking responsibility for climate crisis
When questioned at a House of Commons committee appearance on Monday, Suncor CEO Rich Kruger said the oil industry isn’t any more responsible for the climate crisis than other parts of society and “plans to be around a long time.”
“It’s October and Canada is still burning out of control,” NDP MP Charlie Angus said. “How much responsibility is your industry willing to take for the destabilized climate and for the climate crisis that forced 200,000 people out of their homes this summer?”
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Science Alert ☛ Space Junk Is Invisibly Polluting Earth, And We Only Just Found Out
Even the space junk designed with disposal in mind is a polluting presence around Earth, a new study has found. Those chunks of rocket and space station and dead satellites that burn up on atmospheric reentry leave miniscule traces of metal lingering in our planet's atmosphere.
At this time, it's not known what the impact of those traces might be. But with the growing rate of launching things into space, the amount of metal vapor in the stratosphere is only predicted to increase.
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Energy/Transportation
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Lusaka ZM ☛ Unlocking Zambia’s Energy Potential: Rooftop Solar and Net Metering Hold the Key
Zambia has ample year-round sunshine for the generation of solar power as shown in the map below. So why are rooftop solar systems not being actively encouraged in Zambia?
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New Statesman ☛ Why decentralising is key to a resilient energy system
The UK’s energy mix, long dominated by fossil fuels, is undergoing a rapid transition. In 1991, just 2 per cent of its electricity was generated using renewables. Today, the proportion stands at nearly half, with a record 47.8 per cent of the energy mix derived from low-carbon sources in the first quarter of 2023. It’s an encouraging trajectory, though we’re still a long way from net zero. The government has said it aims to shift all electricity generation to clean sources by 2035.
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India Times ☛ Australia outlines plan to regulate [cryptocurrency] exchanges
About one in four Australians own some cryptocurrency, it said.
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Wildlife/Nature
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Science Alert ☛ The Grim Legacy of Whaling Is Encoded in Abandoned Bones
A huge loss.
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The Kent Stater ☛ Student traps and rehomes cats, saving over 180 cats so far
Senior integrative studies major Raleigh Flanagan longed for direction and making a difference during the start of the pandemic, so she began humanely trapping and rehoming stray cats around towns including Kent, Akron and Ravenna. Since Flanagan began trapping and rehoming cats, she has helped around 180 cats.
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Overpopulation
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RFA ☛ Global water crisis imperils $58 trillion & food security
The groupIt said the continuous degradation of rivers, lakes, wetlands, and aquifers threatens their economic value and irreplaceable role in sustaining human and planetary health while jeopardizing climate resilience in the 21st century.
More than two-thirds of the world’s large rivers are no longer free-flowing, and one-third of wetlands have been lost since 1970, according to a 2021 report by the Secretariat of the Convention on Wetlands.
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WWF ☛ High Cost Of Cheap Water: The True Value Of Water And Freshwater Ecosystems To People And Planet [PDF]
[...] Growing populations, economies and urbanisation are putting additional pressure on water supplies and freshwater ecosystems – as climate change drastically disrupts the world’s hydrological system. Combatting water blindness by understanding and valuing all the benefits that healthy freshwater ecosystems bring – including their role in food and water security, adaptation to a changing climate, biodiversity, and cultural and spiritual significance to communities across the globe – is critical to inform decision-making and sustainable water governance.
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Finance
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CoryDoctorow ☛ One of America's most corporate-crime-friendly bankruptcy judges forced to recuse himself
"I’ll believe corporations are people when Texas executes one." The now-famous quip from Robert Reich cuts to the bone of corporate personhood. Corporations are people with speech rights. They are heat-shields that absorb liability on behalf of their owners and managers.
But the membrane separating corporations from people is selectively permeable. A corporation is separate from its owners, who are not liable for its deeds – but it can also be "closely held," and so inseparable from those owners that their religious beliefs can excuse their companies from obeying laws they don't like: [...]
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Hindustan Times ☛ Stop the schadenfreude over bloated tech layoffs | Gaming News
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AstroTurf/Lobbying/Politics
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Federal News Network ☛ Daniel Noboa, heir to banana fortune, seems likely winner in Ecuador’s presidential runoff election
An inexperienced politician and an heir to a fortune built on the banana trade seems headed to victory in Ecuador’s presidential runoff election. With 93% of the votes counted, electoral officials say Daniel Noboa holds a 4 1/2-point lead over Luisa González, a leftist lawyer and ally of exiled former President Rafael Correa. González conceded defeat during a speech before supporters Sunday night. Ecuadorians have a universal demand for the next president — safety. The new president will govern only through May 2025. That is what remains of the tenure of President Guillermo Lasso. He cut his term short when he dissolved the National Assembly in May amid impeachment proceedings against him.
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JURIST ☛ Madagascar court postpones presidential election after candidates injured in protests
The High Constitutional Court of Madagascar ordered a one-week postponement of the presidential elections on Thursday, in light of protests that led to the injury of two presidential candidates.
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The Strategist ☛ Intelligence chiefs’ international visits highlight a useful tool of Australian statecraft
You didn’t read about it in the Australian media, but back in August the directors-general of the Office of National Intelligence, Andrew Shearer, and the Australian Secret Intelligence Service, Kerri Hartland, met Timor-Leste Prime Minister [...]
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Meduza ☛ Constitutional Court of Georgia greenlights proceedings to impeach President Salome Zourabichvili — Meduza
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US News And World Report ☛ Sweden Says Killing of Two Swedes in Brussels Is Terrible News
Sweden in August raised its terrorist alert to the second highest level, warning of an increase in threats against Swedish interests also abroad, after Koran burnings and other acts in Sweden against Islam's holiest text outraged Muslims and triggered threats from jihadists.
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The Nation ☛ In West Virginia, Can the Left Win Back “Trump Country”?
It seems to have been forgotten in the mainstream media, but West Virginia’s Democratic Party dominated the state’s politics and held majorities on both houses of the legislature from the 1930s until 2014. Despite that recent history, it’s typically pigeonholed as a “red state.” As the Democrats’ fortunes fell, the party fell into disarray and the media fell back on stereotypes.
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Censorship/Free Speech
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uni Stanford ☛ UGS responds to free speech concerns on campus
UGS spoke with an ACLU member about the lack of clarity regarding university policies on freedom of speech, as well as with two R&DE members about the return of 9-inch plates, a new special location at Gerhard dining and a Boba cafe.
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Freedom of Information / Freedom of the Press
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Press Gazette ☛ Israel-Gaza war: Reuters journalist among 12 killed in first week of fighting
The conflict is the deadliest for journalists since the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
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Democracy Now ☛ Remembering Issam Abdallah, Reuters Journalist Killed Covering Israeli Missile Strikes in Lebanon
On Friday, an Israeli shell reportedly landed among a group of international journalists covering clashes on Lebanon’s border with Israel, killing Reuters videographer Issam Abdallah and injuring six others. We speak to Abdallah’s close friend Lama Al-Arian, an international producer for Vice News in Beirut, who says colleagues believe that Abdallah’s death was the result of a “targeted attack.” Abdallah, whose hometown of Khiam had been occupied by Israel during the 15-year occupation of southern Lebanon, became a journalist “to tell stories from this region that he cared about so much, that he thinks is very misunderstood by Western media.” Remembers Al-Arian, “He always wanted to show the humanity of people suffering.”
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Democracy Now ☛ 12 Journalists, Mostly Palestinians in Gaza, Killed in “Deadliest Time for Journalists”
At least 12 journalists, mostly Palestinians, have been killed over the past 10 days of conflict in and around the Gaza Strip. Sherif Mansour of the Committee to Protect Journalists says it is one of the highest death tolls for journalists covering the conflict since 1992 and calls today it the “deadliest time for journalists in Gaza.” He joins Democracy Now! to discuss the role of journalism in combating misinformation during times of violence and the threat of widespread censorship by Israel and other state actors.
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The Scotsman ☛ Passions: Why student journalism must be protected at all costs
It has for decades published news holding the powers at the university to account, pushing those associated to do better despite Covid and the decline of print resulting in significant challenges and ever declining resources.
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Civil Rights/Policing
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France24 ☛ Robert Doisneau, the wartime years: Paris show hails photographer’s ‘spirit of resistance’
French photographer Robert Doisneau is celebrated for his portrayal of Parisian street scenes and pioneering photojournalism. A new exhibition looks at his lesser-known career forging documents in Nazi-occupied Paris, his photographs of wartime France, and his series on the underground printers who played such a vital role in the French Resistance.
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India Times ☛ Ola, Uber drivers go on strike demanding better pay in Tamil Nadu
A large number of cab drivers of ride-hailing platforms Ola and Uber on Monday went on a strike in Tamil Nadu, demanding better remuneration and a ban on bike taxi services, which according to them, is eating up their revenue.
The cab drivers are also demanding strict action on certain toll booths operating beyond their contract period.
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International Business Times ☛ Elon Musk Illegally Fired Worker For Challenging Return To Office Policy At X: Report
The allegations have been made by the National Labour Relations Board in its first formal complaint against the company. The labour board has alleged that the company fired software engineer Yao Yue for trying to organise workers against the policy, per Bloomberg.
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Meduza ☛ ‘A child in the system cannot have a child’: The covert problem of teen pregnancy in Russia’s orphanages — Meduza
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Meduza ☛ Navalny’s lawyers charged with ‘extremism’ for ‘passing information’ to his associates and posting anti-war videos — Meduza
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Meduza ☛ Navalny lawyer Alexander Fedulov, previously reported to be missing, announces he has left Russia — Meduza
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Meduza ☛ Russian lawyers call for strike to protest authorities’ obstruction of their work — Meduza
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Meduza ☛ Navalny lawyer fails to attend hearing and stops answering phone days after arrests of politician’s other attorneys — Meduza
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Project Censored ☛ Challenging Narratives: Unmasking Zionism, Media Bias, and the 'EARN IT' Act
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EFF ☛ EFF and 45 Organizations Tell UN: Reverse Decision to Host IGF in Saudi Arabia
Civil society organizations attending the 2023 IGF in Kyoto, Japan this past week were shocked to learn that Saudi Arabia had been chosen to serve as the next host. The Gulf country has a long history of human rights violations, including the persecution of human and women’s rights defenders, journalists, and online activists.
In recent years, the Saudi government has spied on its own citizens on social media and through the use of spyware; imprisoned Wikipedia volunteers for their contributions to access to information on the platform; sentenced a PhD student and mother of two to 34 years in prison and a subsequent travel ban of the same length; and sentenced a teacher to death for his posts on social media.
In addition to these individual violations of human rights, Saudi Arabia boasts a draconian cybercrime law and a widespread censorship regime both online and off, posing threats to its own citizens as well as the safety of members of civil society who might consider attending an event there.
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Pro Publica ☛ Foster Care Interventions See Birth Parents Competing for Custody
Alicia Johansen spent her childhood moving with her drug-addicted mom from one place to the next, trying to brace herself for the moment when the water and the electricity would get cut off. So at 22, when she had a chance to run Dolittle’s pool hall in the ranching town of Akron, Colorado, she was intent on making some money. She kept the bar open deep into the night, after the older guys who bet on horse races departed, and the truckers and the younger crowd, with the meth, drifted in. Meth, she soon discovered, helped her work longer hours.
An occasional customer was Fred Thornton, a former high school baseball star in his early 30s. Fred was sometimes a roofer and at other times unemployed and homeless. They began dating casually and using together, and he told her of his own complicated childhood: placed in foster care as a toddler, after allegations of neglect, and later adopted.
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Techdirt ☛ The Casual Cruelty Of Cops: Inventory Search Edition
This case contains multitudes.
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EFF ☛ CCTV Cambridge: Nurturing Community with Tools for Speech and Civic Engagement
Can you share how CCTV Cambridge got started?
Cambridge Community Television is a nonprofit community media organization that formed through the origination of cable television in Cambridge in 1988. CCTV’s mission has evolved over time from providing resources to residents, businesses, and organizations in Cambridge through telecommunication tools and services, to our current mission of nurturing a strong, equitable and diverse community by providing tools and training to foster free speech, civic engagement, and creative expression.
What have been some of the issues you've concentrated on and what were some of your early successes?
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EFF ☛ Digital Rights Updates with EFFector 35.13
Learn more about all of the latest news by reading the full newsletter here, or you can even listen to an audio version of the newsletter below!
Listen on YouTube
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Techdirt ☛ Clarence Thomas Thinks Supreme Court Orders Lists Are His Personal Blog Where He Can Fantasize About Enabling His Rich & Powerful Friends To Sue Their Critics
Way back in 2016, Ken White posted a “lawsplainer” about “opening up our libel laws,’“ as Donald Trump had promised on the campaign trail. In it, he noted that unlike (for example…) Roe v. Wade, there was no decades-long effort by the Federalist Society to undermine 1st Amendment principles, such as those established by the seminal NY Times v. Sullivan case.
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Internet Policy/Net Neutrality
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APNIC ☛ APRICOT 2024 Call for Papers open now
Guest Post: If you have an interesting presentation to share on Internet operations, submit a paper for APRICOT 2024.
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Techdirt ☛ NTIA Urges FCC To Adopt Rules Banning Race, Class Discrimination In Broadband Deployment
Groups like the National Digital Inclusion Alliance have consistently released studies showing that telecom giants like AT&T, despite billions in subsidies and tax breaks, routinely avoid upgrading minority and low income neighborhoods to fiber. Not only that, the group has documented how users in those neighborhoods even struggle to have their existing (older and slower) DSL lines repaired.
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Digital Restrictions (DRM)
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India Times ☛ Netflix may tap price hikes after success of password-sharing crackdown
Netflix's crackdown on password-sharing likely boosted subscribers by about 6 million in the third quarter and the streaming pioneer is expected to set the stage for price increases when it reports earnings on Wednesday.
The only profitable major streamer, Netflix has resisted joining rivals like Walt Disney in hiking ad-free prices this year and instead curbed password-sharing outside households to tap the more than 100 million viewers who use its service without subscribing.
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Monopolies
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International Business Times ☛ Microsoft Acquires Call of Duty Creator Activision Blizzard for $69 Billion
The Competition and Markets Authority's approval was much anticipated after it gave the preliminary approval last month to a revamped Microsoft proposal which was meant to address the concerns regarding the potential deal that could harm the competition, creating a monopoly and hurt gamer sentiments.
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Patents
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Techdirt ☛ Is Landmark Technology’s Two-Decade Patent Assault On E-Commerce Finally Over?
Landmark Technology’s U.S. Patent No. 7,010,508, and its predecessor, are very likely two of the most-abused patents in U.S. history. These patents, under two different owners, have been used to threaten thousands of small businesses since 2001.
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Copyrights
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Michael Geist ☛ The Law Bytes Podcast, Episode 180: Victoria Owen Sets the Record Straight on the State of Canadian Copyright Law and Content Licensing By Libraries and Educational Institutions
Since the Canadian copyright law reforms in 2012, education and libraries have increased spending on licensing and a non-partisan House of Commons study found no need to create new restriction on education and library copying rights.
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Torrent Freak ☛ Police Raid Pirate IPTV Provider Offering Sky TV, Seized Material "Identifies Users"
A man suspected of operating a pirate IPTV service in Italy faces the dubious honor of becoming a prosecution and sentencing guinea pig under the country's new anti-piracy law. Police shut down the provider following an investigation into piracy of Sky TV channels. Referencing material seized during the raid, police say "it will be possible to identify the names of end users."
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Torrent Freak ☛ Private Torrent Tracker FileList to Shut Down After 16 Years
One of the world's largest private BitTorrent trackers, Filelist, has announced it will shut down soon. The site has been in operation for sixteen years and enjoys millions of monthly visits, mostly from Romania. Site admin EboLLa has chosen to devote time to other parts of life and without a trusted successor, it's best to close the doors.
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Gemini* and Gopher
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Personal/Opinions
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🔤SpellBinding: EHIOSTW Wordo: DOGMA
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Some quandaries
Optimism is good, but time and time again, I find the world falls far short of it.
I am blessed to live in a country, despite all its shortcomings and chronic problems, that is relatively peaceful and enjoys political and economic stability. Even though the news cycles are dominated by ad-nauseam reports of "crime waves," for the most part, I do not have to fear for my life every day.
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stream 7
got me wondering if blue light on the eyes is bad there's a place on the river for the baby
baby seems okay she has turned her face away into my chest and arm and where they meet early on a Monday morning I hope my wife can sleep and I hope she sleeps better sooner rather than later skater
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Current little exercise routine
The rules of this were that it is easy and fun and short enough that i can do it every day (except sunday).
It's split into two parts, skipping and circuits. The skipping acts as a bit of a warm up. I just skip until i fail, which at the moment is somewhere between fifty and a hundred skips. I think as i get better i will start cutting off at a hundred.
The next part is circuits, i just repeat the circuits until i feel too exhausted to keep going, or until the half hour time period is up. Usually these are about the same time so that's helpful.
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Technology and Free Software
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OpenBSD 7.4
If anything is broken, it's probably due to the upgrade to 7.4. Exciting as always. Clever people would make packages for all their custom softwares and rebuild those for a new release; a perhaps less ideal method involves running across core files until the custom softwares can all be rebuilt.
On an unrelated note, bifcau (wind lack) has nothing to do with bifce (wasp) despite "bif" looking like it might belong to bifce. Rafsi may or may not be related to the associated gismu.
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Internet/Gemini
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TLS Client Hello Mirror
I wrote a server which shows you your browser's TLS Client Hello message, emphasizing aspects of it that are detrimental to privacy
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I am profoundly grateful for lftp
My hobby computing life has been made so much more pleasant by lftp.
Most of these projects involve writing markup or code that is compiled and then shipped to a server somewhere.
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Streaming music sucks
A few months ago we updated our phones. Of course there was nothing wrong with our current phones, we were just switching carries (which could easily be the subject of a completely different rant) and cell carriers enjoy a ridiculous level of vendor lock-in here in the US. Looking at my options, I decided against anything from Samsung or most of the other brands as I'm always unhappy with the bloatware that gets forced upon you. Instead I opted for a Pixel, allowing me access to plain Jane vanilla android for the first time ever.
Now, I hate Google as much as the next guy. I've taken a bunch of steps with this beast to slow down the flood of personal data that I'm sure I will never be able to eliminate leaking from my device back to mother G. But I'm a pragmatist, and consider my phone a much lower priority than my laptop, for instance.
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* Gemini (Primer) links can be opened using Gemini software. It's like the World Wide Web but a lot lighter.