Leftovers

• Deutsche Welle ☛ 2025-07-25 [Older] Delayed delivery: German postal services come under attack

• Ana Marie Cox ☛ Substack Did Not See That Coming

  Let’s set Substack’s “Nazi problem” aside for a moment. What if the bigger issue is being stranded on a collapsing platform... with a bunch of Nazis? Substack's content woes are bound up with its shaky business model in ways that are bad for all of us.

• Science

  • Science Alert ☛ Cosmic Rays Could Help Aliens Thrive in The Barren Wastelands of Space

    "Life might be able to survive in more places than we ever imagined.”

  • Science Alert ☛ Scientists Found a Mysterious Barrier in The Ocean That Jellyfish Won't Cross

    Why don't they cross?

  • Science Alert ☛ Scientists Just Admitted Nobody Really Gets Quantum Physics

    Confirmed!

  • Science Alert ☛ First Quantum Bit Made of Antimatter Captured in Physics Breakthrough

    Profound discoveries await.

  • Science Alert ☛ Something Massive Could Still Be Hiding in The Shadows of Our Solar System

    The hunt for Planet 9 continues.

  • Futurism ☛ Google Has Quietly Been Detecting Earthquakes by Sensing Rumbling in Android Phones For Years

    In a new paper published in the journal Science, researchers from the search giant described how they used motion sensors from its two billion-strong network of phones running Android between the years 2021 and 2024 to detect and alert quakes to users in almost 100 countries around the world.

    Known as "Android Earthquake Alerts" (AEA), this early warning system has uses the smartphones' accelerometers to detect telltale vibrations as they happen and inform residents of quakes in their areas. With its two-tiered severity levels — the weaker "be aware alert" for lower-magnitude quakes that sends typical push notifications, and the more pressing "take action alert" for moderate or extreme shakes that issues a loud beeping alarm that overrides "Do Not Disturb" settings — Google boasts that it has warned of more than 11,000 quakes.

  • ARRL ☛ The ARRL Solar Report

    We are most likely still in the period of the maximum of 11-year solar activity cycle No. 25. Its peak was preliminarily recorded in the fall of 2024, but this year's course was very unusual, while its response in the ionosphere was unexpected, especially in May and June. Solar activity should continue to decline slowly this year, with a more rapid decline expected starting in 2026. Therefore, there is still hope for favorable shortwave propagation conditions this fall, especially in the shorter part of the range (say, at frequencies above 20 MHz).

• Career/Education

  • Juha-Matti Santala ☛ "You can't pause an online game" — how childhood gaming formed my work preferences

    In the context of work life, the “you can’t pause an online game” for me means that I don’t like to be interrupted and dragged into something on a moment’s notice. It annoys me very much.

    Instead, I prefer the type of communication and collaboration where needs and meetings are communicated and scheduled as much in advance as possible. That gives me the ability to control my schedule and to prepare better. (Yeah, I’m of the weird sort that likes to prepare for meetings.)

  • Becky Spratford ☛ RA for All: Comic-Con San Diego 2025 Recap with Graphic Novel Resources for All Year Long

    Comic-Con happened last weekend and the reports from the show coming out. You can use the links below to catch up on what happened: [...]

• Hardware

  • Russell Coker ☛ Russell Coker: Server CPU Sockets

    I am always looking for ways of increasing the compute power I have at a reasonable price. I am very happy with my HP z840 dual CPU workstation [1] that I’m using as a server and my HP z640 single CPU workstation [2]. Both of them were available second hand at quite reasonable prices and could be cheaply upgraded to faster CPUs. But if I can get something a lot faster for a reasonable price then I’ll definitely get it.

  • CubicleNate ☛ 35-Key Bluetooth Number Pad and Cover

    The author discusses their preference for a compact laptop and the necessity of a number pad for tasks like light accounting while traveling. They highlight the benefits of a specific number pad that complements their Framework Laptop 13, emphasizing its Bluetooth functionality, compact design, and the creation of a protective cover to safeguard it during transport.

• Health/Nutrition/Agriculture

  • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2025-07-25 [Older] Late-life depression: Learn to spot the signs early

  • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2025-07-26 [Older] Hazardous 'forever chemicals' in period products

  • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2025-07-27 [Older] Sunscreens and staying safe in summer

  • Barry Hess ☛ Experimental August

    In August, while in my home, I am going to attempt to only eat nutritious, non-junk foods. What does this mean for me?

  • Rolling Stone ☛ Donald Trump Is Dismantling the VA to Privatize Veterans’ Health Care

    After intense pressure from veterans’ groups and Congress, the administration was forced to walk back its plan — cutting 30,000 jobs instead. Already, though, the VA has lost thousands of health care staff since January — including 688 physicians and 1,882 registered nurses — while still claiming its services remain unaffected.

    The budget numbers don’t lie — even if Trump and Veterans Affairs Secretary Doug Collins do.

  • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2025-07-26 [Older] Germany sees loneliness epidemic among young people

  • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2025-07-23 [Older] Tattoo tech may help detect drink spiking

• Proprietary

  • The Register UK ☛ China: US spies used Microsoft Exchange 0-day to steal info

    It says one involved exploiting a Microsoft Exchange zero-day to break into an email server belonging to a "major Chinese military enterprise" from July 2022 to July 2023.

    "Investigations revealed that the attackers gained control of the enterprise's domain controller server, using it as a springboard to gain control of over 50 critical devices within the intranet," according to the alert.

  • Numeric Citizen ☛ Bye Bye (Again) Medium

    Goodbye, Medium. It was one of my numerous experiments. I’ll keep my account active but won’t write or share anything further.

  • Artificial Intelligence (AI) / LLM Slop / Plagiarism

    • Court House News ☛ Jury orders Tesla to pay more than $240 million in Autopilot crash case

      The federal jury held that Tesla bore significant responsibility because its technology failed and that not all the blame can be put on a reckless driver, even one who admitted he was distracted by his cellphone before hitting a young couple out gazing at the stars. The decision comes as Musk seeks to convince Americans his cars are safe enough to drive on their own as he plans to roll out a driverless taxi service in several cities in the coming months.

    • New York Times ☛ Jury Says Tesla Was Partly to Blame for Fatal Crash

      The jury found that Tesla bore 33 percent responsibility for the crash, and blamed the driver, George Brian McGee, for the remainder. Mr. McGee had previously settled with the family for an undisclosed sum.

    • Sean Goedecke ☛ Why I don't allow AI-generated content on my blog

      I will never include any AI-generated content on this website. In general I’m a big AI believer, and I use large language models a lot: both in my day job, to help me program, and in this blog, to help me explore ideas and find sources. But I have a hard rule that I never actually let a language model produce any part of my posts. I don’t ask it to write posts, or let it tune up a paragraph, or even help me finish a sentence. Every word on this website is written by my human brain.

    • Doc Searls ☛ Getting Real With AI.

      What I did come to realize, quickly, is that there is no “on” anymore with Google. And there may never be an “on” with AI as it seems to be playing out.

      There is also no “on” in “online.” No “in.”

    • CoryDoctorow ☛ Pluralistic: AI’s pogo-stick grift

      Not only is agentic AI bullshit, but it's a specific kind of bullshit that AI hucksters have busted out in the past, and will bust out in the future, so it's worth spending a minute to unpack this bullshit and catalog its traits so that we don't fall for it. As GW Bush says, "Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, we don't get fooled again."

    • The New Stack ☛ Why Manual Device Management Is Dead in the Age of AI Attacks

      Finally, each of these endpoints counts various operating systems. This means admins need to manage different update cycles, security protocols, and management tools. Worse, the same report finds that one in four devices is too old to upgrade its operating system. This is a red flag in and of itself since outdated systems contain known security flaws that hackers exploit with pre-developed attack tools. Last year, Android had 500 documented vulnerabilities, while iOS had more than 300. Each unpatched vulnerability represents a potential entry point for malicious actors.

      The math simply doesn’t work for manual device processes at enterprise scale. But even if admins could somehow manage this volume, they face an even more fundamental problem: the speed at which threats now evolve.

    • Steve Krouse ☛ Vibe code is legacy code

      We already have a phrase for code that nobody understands: legacy code.

      Legacy code is universally despised, and for good reason. But why? You have the code, right? Can't you figure it out from there?

      Wrong. Code that nobody understands is tech debt. It takes a lot of time to understand unfamiliar code enough to debug it, let alone introduce new features without also introducing bugs.

    • Sean Conner ☛ Keep calm and carry on

      So yes, I haven't been inclined to write much about programming because who XXXXXXX cares when LLMs will do it all for us? But then I have to forcibly remind myself that the Orange Site isn't indicative of the industry as a whole and I should just keep calm and carry on. And follow through on my own advice.

  • Social Control Media

    • Zimbabwe ☛ Tea App Let Women Expose Men, Then Exposed Them Through a Data Leak

      Now imagine building a platform where one side of that break-up gets to post anonymously about the other, without context, without evidence, without pushback.

      What could possibly go wrong?

    • El País ☛ Selfies, 4chan, and a war of the sexes: Lessons from the hacking of Tea

      According to the company, the hack led to 13,000 user selfies being leaked. “If you sent your face and driver’s license to the Tea app, it publicly doxed you!” writes one 4chan user alongside a link to the document, which is no longer available.

      The story of the app, its success, and the resulting leak can teach us several crucial lessons about the advantages and risks of the [Internet] today.

    • International Business Times ☛ 2025-07-25 [Older] Is Blake Lively Targeting a YouTuber Over Her Justin Baldoni Lawsuit? Content Creator Fights Back in Court

    • International Business Times ☛ 2025-07-30 [Older] 'We Are Not Social Media': YouTube Responds To Australia Banning The Platform For Youth Under 16

    • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2025-07-30 [Older] Australia adds YouTube to social media ban for under 16s

    • TechCrunch ☛ 2025-07-30 [Older] YouTube Is Rolling Out an Age-Estimation Algorithm to Identify US Teens

    • TruthOut ☛ 2025-07-26 [Older] ADL-Backed Bill Threatens to Censor Criticism of Israel on Social Media

  • Windows TCO / Windows Bot Nets

    • Tom's Hardware ☛ Leading phone repair and insurance firm collapses after paying crippling ransomware demand — Cutting 100+ employees to just eight wasn’t enough

      A leading mobile device insurance and service network has initiated insolvency proceedings in the wake of a cyberattack. Selling properties and cutting staff numbers wasn't enough to save the business.

• Pseudo-Open Source

  • Openwashing

    • The Register UK ☛ Another one bites the dust as KubeSphere kills open source edition

      KubeSphere has become the latest service to abruptly yank an open source edition of a product, triggering outcry from users.

      An announcement was posted in the project's repository stating: "Effective immediately ... we will suspend the download links for the KubeSphere open source version and cease providing free technical support.

    • Pivot to AI ☛ Proton’s Lumo AI chatbot: not end-to-end encrypted, not open source

      Proton promises your chats with Lumo are “confidential” and “no logs kept and every chat encrypted.” What does that mean in detail?

      Proton says your chats are stored with the same zero-access encryption as your email. That’s great! But their wording is: “end-to-end encryption in your chat history.”

      What are the ends in this scenario? And why not just say “end-to-end encryption in your chat”? Well, obviously, because they can’t say that.

• Security

  • CISA

    • CISA ☛ 2025-07-30 [Older] Eviction Strategies Tool Released

    • CISA ☛ 2025-07-29 [Older] CISA and Partners Release Updated Advisory on Scattered Spider Group

    • CISA ☛ 2025-07-29 [Older] CISA Releases Five Industrial Control Systems Advisories

    • CISA ☛ 2025-07-29 [Older] CISA Releases Part One of Zero Trust Microsegmentation Guidance

    • CISA ☛ 2025-07-29 [Older] CISA Releases Part One of Zero Trust Microsegmentation Guidance

    • CISA ☛ 2025-07-29 [Older] National Instruments LabVIEW

    • CISA ☛ 2025-07-29 [Older] Samsung HVAC DMS

    • CISA ☛ 2025-07-29 [Older] Delta Electronics DTN Soft

    • CISA ☛ 2025-07-28 [Older] CISA Adds Three Known Exploited Vulnerabilities to Catalog

  • Privacy/Surveillance

    • Zimbabwe ☛ Data Verification Laws Aim to Make the Internet Safer, Experts Say They’ll Do the Opposite

      Governments across the world are tired of the chaos online. In the UK, lawmakers believe they’ve found the solution: verify everyone.

    • Futurism ☛ Surveillance-Minded Parents Can Now Hide AirTags In Kids Shoes

      Skechers seems to be aware of how creepy this all sounds, because its carefully worded marketing would have you believe that people want to use $30 AirTags to keep track of shoes that at most cost $60, and definitely not the kids that would be wearing them.

    • AppleInsider ☛ Sketchers lets parents hide an AirTag in kids shoes

      Even Apple doesn't market the AirTags as a way to track people, and it's even gone out of the way to include anti-stalking measures to prevent that from happening. However, it's less of an issue in this case.

    • The Register UK ☛ US Army awards Palantir $10 billion enterprise purchase deal

      It doesn't appear that the Army is awarding Palantir any new contracts based on the press release or a procurement notice published about the contract in May. According to that document, the Army had figured out that it's doing so much business with Palantir over so many separate procurement actions that it's wasting a lot of time and money.

    • The Register UK ☛ Microsoft Recall can still nab credit cards, passwords, info

      Microsoft Recall, the AI app that takes screenshots of what you do on your PC so you can search for it later, has a filter that's supposed to prevent it from screenshotting sensitive info like credit card numbers. But a The Register test shows that it still fails in many cases, creating a potential treasure trove for thieves.

    • Android Police ☛ Pros and cons of using a video doorbell for home security

      However, this convenience comes with some trade-offs. I'll explain how a video doorbell can make life easier and where it might complicate things, so you can decide if it's the right fit for your home.

    • 9to5Google ☛ Google starts rolling out ML-powered age estimation in the US

      Google is looking at a “variety of signals already associated with a user’s account” to determine their age, regardless of the user-provided birthday. This includes the “types of information a user has searched for or the categories of videos they’ve watched on YouTube.” Another signal is the longevity of the account.

      If the machine learning-powered model estimates a user is under 18, existing protections will be enabled across various Google apps and services: [...]

  • Confidentiality

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-07-26 [Older] Women's Dating App Tea Reports 72,000 Images Stolen in Security Breach

• Defence/Aggression

  • New York Times ☛ U.S. Victims of Hamas and Hezbollah Attacks Sue UNRWA

    Victims and relatives of people killed or injured in attacks by Hamas and Hezbollah have sued the United Nations agency dedicated to Palestinians, accusing it of aiding the armed groups and fueling terrorism.

    The lawsuit was filed on Thursday in federal court in the District of Columbia by American citizens living in Israel and the United States and their family members. A similar case has been playing out since last year in federal court in Manhattan.

  • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2025-07-26 [Older] Tunisians call for the fall of 'authoritarian regime'

  • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2025-07-26 [Older] What has changed in Niger two years after the coup?

  • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2025-07-26 [Older] Leading Pakistan rights group decries government crackdown

  • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2025-07-26 [Older] Iran: At least 9 killed in attack on courthouse

  • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2025-07-25 [Older] Will Thailand-Cambodia border clash spiral into all-out war?

  • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2025-07-25 [Older] Thailand declares martial law in 8 Cambodia border regions

  • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2025-07-25 [Older] Nigeria: Gunmen kill 14 returning from weekly market

  • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2025-07-25 [Older] Germany urged to reverse Yazidi family's removal to Iraq

  • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2025-07-25 [Older] India: Did temple officials cover up a mass murder?

  • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2025-07-25 [Older] German politician steps down over swastika on ballot

  • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2025-07-29 [Older] How recent Syrian communal violence is impacting Germany

  • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2025-07-26 [Older] Are Syria's Kurds next at risk of sectarian violence?

  • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2025-07-27 [Older] India: 6 dead in Haridwar temple stampede

  • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2025-07-27 [Older] Iran executes two members of exiled militant group

  • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2025-07-27 [Older] Protest against Israeli cruise ship sparks debate in Greece

  • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2025-07-27 [Older] Sudan: RSF forms rival government, deepening fissure

  • Russia, Belarus, and War in Ukraine

    • RFERL ☛ Dihydroxyacetone Man Orders Nuclear Submarines Near Russia After Medvedev's Doomsday Threats, Says 'We're Totally Prepared'

      US President The Insurrectionist said he is moving two nuclear submarines to regions near Russia following doomsday threats related to the war in Ukraine from former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev.

    • RFERL ☛ Kherson Farmers Battle Drones And Flames To Revive Iconic Watermelon Harvest

      In Ukraine's Kherson region, north of Crimea, farmers have had to run from cover as Russian drones patrol the skies over their fields.

    • RFERL ☛ Ukrainian Drones Strike Targets Across Russia As Convicted Felon Orders US Nuclear Subs To Region

      Explosions and fires were reported across several Russian regions following a wave of Ukrainian drone attacks as US President The Insurrectionist said he was deploying nuclear submarines "closer to Russia" days ahead of a deadline he gave Moscow to make a peace deal.

    • JURIST ☛ Ukraine parliament restores anti-corruption agency independence following mass protests

      Ukraine’s parliament on Thursday overwhelmingly passed legislation restoring the independence of the country’s leading anti-corruption agencies, reversing a controversial law enacted last week that placed them under the prosecutor general’s control. The new law was adopted by Ukraine’s parliament, the Verkhovna Rada, with 331 votes in favor and none opposed. The law reestablishes the autonomy […]

      The post Ukraine parliament restores anti-corruption agency independence following mass protests appeared first on JURIST - News.

    • France24 ☛ At least three killed in Ukrainian drone strikes in Russia

      Ukrainian drone strikes overnight in western Russia killed at least three people and wounded two more, according to regional governors on Saturday, with a woman and an elderly man among the dead. Ukrainian security services said the attacks had been launched against military targets.

    • France24 ☛ Ukraine anti-corruption agencies uncover major drone procurement graft scheme

      A Ukrainian lawmaker and a pair of local officials, as well as an unspecified number of National Guard personnel, have been caught in a major graft scheme that involved using state funds to buy drones and other military hardware at deliberately inflated prices in return for bribes, the country's anti-corruption agencies said Saturday. Four people have been arrested.

    • France24 ☛ Ukraine: War is 'the price they have to bear to live in an independent sovereign state'

      US President The Insurrectionist ordered the deployment of two nuclear submarines in an extraordinary escalation of what had been an online war of words with former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev, currently Russia's Deputy Chairman of the Security Council of Russia. Meanwhile, Ukraine and Russia are engaging in reciprocal drone strikes following a day of mourning in the Ukrainian capital Kyiv. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said only Putin could end the war and renewed his call for a meeting between the two leaders. For in-depth analysis and a deeper perspective, FRANCE 24's Catherine Viette welcomes Peter Zalmayev, Director of the Eurasian Democracy Initiative.

    • France24 ☛ War in Ukraine: Russian forces advance for fourth month in a row

      Russia's military advance in Ukraine accelerated for a fourth straight month in July. Moscow claims to control nearly 80 percent of the Donetsk region.

• Environment

  • Project Censored ☛ 2025-07-25 [Older] Big Tech Data Centers Deplete Water From Scarce Sources Around the World

  • The Conversation ☛ 2025-07-30 [Older] As climate change hits, what might the British garden of the future look like?

  • Counter Punch ☛ 2025-07-30 [Older] How Hot Might It Get? Uncertainty and Certainty in Climate Models

  • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-07-30 [Older] EPA Moves to Cancel Key Climate Regulations That Limit Pollution

  • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-07-30 [Older] India Launches NASA-ISRO Satellite to Track Climate Threats From Space

  • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-07-30 [Older] EU Climate Goals at Risk as Ailing Forests Absorb Less CO2, Scientists Say

  • Vox ☛ 2025-07-30 [Older] The EPA gives up on climate change

  • Counter Punch ☛ 2025-07-29 [Older] The Hidden Cost of AI: How Energy-Hungry Algorithms Are Fueling the Climate Crisis

  • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2025-07-29 [Older] How can Germany's railways become more climate resilient?

  • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2025-07-29 [Older] How not to sell a climate policy

  • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-07-29 [Older] Cheeto Mussolini Environmental Protection Agency Moves to Repeal Finding That Allows Climate Regulation

  • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-07-29 [Older] The Latest: Cheeto Mussolini’s EPA Moves to Repeal Finding That Underpins US Climate Regulation

  • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-07-29 [Older] Analysis-World Court Climate Opinion Turns up the Legal Heat on Governments

  • TruthOut ☛ Arctic Ecosystems Are Falling Apart Under Strain of Warming Climate

    Making matters worse, as temperatures rise in the far north, more moisture enters the atmosphere. For one, warmer seawater evaporates more readily, adding water vapor to the air. And two, a warmer atmosphere can hold more moisture. This leads to the formation of more low-level clouds, which trap heat like blankets — especially in the dark Arctic winter — amplifying the warming. That, combined with the loss of sea ice, is why the Arctic is warming up to four times as fast as the rest of the planet, with Svalbard warming even faster than that.

  • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2025-07-27 [Older] Why climate change causes more dangerous sinkholes

  • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-07-27 [Older] To Host UN Climate Talks, Brazil Chose One of Its Poorer Cities. That's No Accident

  • ANF News ☛ 2025-07-25 [Older] Climate change and flawed policies deepen wheat shortage in Turkey

  • TruthOut ☛ 2025-07-24 [Older] Vanuatu Minister After ICJ Climate Ruling: There’s a “Duty to Repair Harm Done”

  • HRW ☛ 2025-07-24 [Older] World Court Rules Tackling Climate Crisis is an International Legal Obligation

  • Energy/Transportation

    • International Business Times ☛ Expert warns Bitcoin could plummet to £47,000 as ETF inflows wane and market volatility rises

      In 2025, Bitcoin surged past the £78,000 ($100,000) mark and briefly reached record territory close to £96,000 ($123,000). Despite this, several analysts now warn the rally may be overextended, particularly if Bitcoin fails to breach its previous highs. The cryptocurrency's price movements have grown increasingly erratic, signalling possible exhaustion in the current bull run.

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-07-28 [Older] New State Law Adds ‘Insult to Injury’ for Maine Solar, Clean Energy

    • Bridge Michigan ☛ 2025-07-25 [Older] Opinion | Don’t let Consumers Energy sell out Michigan rivers and communities

    • CBC ☛ 2025-07-25 [Older] LG Energy Solution warns of slowing EV battery demand due to U.S. tariffs, policy headwinds

    • Mexico News Daily ☛ 2025-07-24 [Older] Spanish energy giant Iberdrola to sell US $5B in assets, exit Mexico

• Finance

  • TruthOut ☛ 2025-07-25 [Older] Cheeto Mussolini’s “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” Is Speeding Up Social Security Insolvency

  • Project Censored ☛ 2025-07-25 [Older] Nobel Economists Urge Minimum Tax on World’s 3,000 Billionaires

  • Project Censored ☛ 2025-07-29 [Older] CEO Salaries Skyrocket While Workers’ Wages Stagnate

  • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2025-07-25 [Older] Cum-Ex: Why Germany's biggest tax fraud scheme continues unabated

• AstroTurf/Lobbying/Politics

  • Counter Punch ☛ 2025-07-29 [Older] How to Win Over the Working Class: Economic Populism

  • Truthdig ☛ 2025-07-29 [Older] How To Infiltrate Your Local Democratic Headquarters

  • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2025-07-26 [Older] Bulgaria's arrest of liberal, pro-EU mayor sparks protests

  • EFF ☛ No, the UK’s Online Safety Act Doesn’t Make Children Safer Online

    Young people should be able to access information, speak to each other and to the world, play games, and express themselves online without the government making decisions about what speech is permissible. But in one of the latest misguided attempts to protect children online, [Internet] users of all ages in the UK are being forced to prove their age before they can access millions of websites under the country’s Online Safety Act (OSA).

  • US Navy Times ☛ Senate confims new top Navy leader, vice chief for Space Force

    Adm. Daryl Caudle, who has been the commander of U.S. Fleet Forces Command since 2021, was approved as the next chief of naval operations, ending a nearly six-month vacancy in that role.

  • The Atlantic ☛ Not With a Bang, but With a Truth Social Post

    Medvedev is a man with little actual power in Russia, but he has become Russia’s top [Internet] troll, regularly threatening America and its allies. No one takes him seriously, even in his own country. He and Trump have been trading public insults on social media for months, with Trump telling Medvedev to “watch his words” and Medvedev—nicknamed “Little Dima” in Russia due to his diminutive stature—warning Trump to remember Russia’s “Dead Hand,” a supposed doomsday system that could launch all of Russia’s nuclear weapons even if Moscow were destroyed and the Kremlin leadership killed.

  • New York Times ☛ A.I. Researchers Are Negotiating $250 Million Pay Packages. Just Like NBA Stars.

    A.I. technologists are approaching the job market as if they were Steph Curry or LeBron James, seeking advice from their entourages and playing hardball with the highest bidders.

  • Pete Brown ☛ It’s less important what tech *could* do than what it is likely to do

    It doesn’t matter what this new thing could do. What matters is how its implementation and use will be directed and constrained by the context in which it operates. That’s how we ought to be judging any of this stuff.

  • Misinformation/Disinformation/Propaganda

    • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2025-07-24 [Older] Fact check: Did 'The Simpsons' predict Coldplay kiss cam?

    • The Atlantic ☛ This Is the News From TikTok

      Parnas wasn’t adding elaborate detail or original reporting. What he had to offer was speed—plus a deep understanding of how to reach people on TikTok, which may not seem an obvious or trustworthy source of news [sic]: The platform is owned by a Chinese company, ByteDance, which lawmakers in Washington, D.C., fear could be manipulated to promote Beijing’s interests. TikTok’s algorithm offers each user a personalized feed of short, grabby videos—an arrangement that seems unlikely to serve up holistic coverage of current events.

    • Marcy Wheeler ☛ FBI Thwarted an Investigation into How Russians Injected Disinformation in the Steele Dossier

      The bulk of what Durham included from this analyst pertained to how, in fall 2018, after she found evidence that Steele’s subsources had been identified before the first report in 2016, senior officials at FBI told her to stop documenting her work. She escalated the problem, ultimately to David Bowdich. Durham doesn’t discuss what happened then, even though his investigation continued past the time Bowdich departed.

      We’ve never heard the results of that — except, perhaps, in questions by DOJ IG why the FBI didn’t unpack the possibility that Oleg Deripaska had injected disinformation in the dossier.

      Which is why Durham’s own disinformation problem (well, one of them) is so interesting.

    • Marcy Wheeler ☛ Days After the FBI Announced an Investigation, Russian Spies Deliberately "Put More Oil into the Fire"

      Durham doesn’t quote what Benardo said directly. It may well have been more colorful than that he wouldn’t have used that term. Benardo has lived in Moscow and other parts of the former Soviet Union, and so he surely recognizes the phrase not only is not one most Americans would use — they would say, “pour fuel on the fire” or “add fuel to the fire.” They definitely wouldn’t use “oil.”

      But he would recognize it as a Russian idiom.

• Censorship/Free Speech

  • The Record ☛ Russia’s mobile [Internet] shutdowns hit record high amid Ukrainian drone attacks

    The disruptions have taken a toll on daily life, with the [Internet] watchdog estimating economic losses at nearly 26 billion rubles ($290 million) in July alone. Customers of banks, taxi services, delivery platforms, and online stores have struggled to access services. In rural areas, some residents have had to travel to neighboring towns just to withdraw cash or access navigation tools.

    The shutdowns intensified after Ukraine launched Operation Spiderweb in early June — a long-range drone campaign targeting strategic Russian airfields, researchers said.

  • YLE ☛ Moomin character removed from Brooklyn library exhibition after racism concern

    "It seems sudden and, frankly, absurd," she told Yle.

    Happonen said the critique appears to be based on Stinky's appearance and "first impression." She argued the character is far from racist and that the decision likely reflects a lack of familiarity with the Moomin stories.

    "If someone sees Stinky as racist, they haven't really read the comics. I doubt the critic even knows the Moomin stories," she said.

  • Mike Kaganski ☛ Microsoft, anybody home?

    This Monday, I decided to send something to LibreOffice dev mailing list. Something I do from time to time, you know. Not too fascinating, right?

  • Neowin ☛ Microsoft bans LibreOffice developer's account without warning, rejects appeal

    According to Mike, this happened last Monday when he tried to send a technical email to the LibreOffice dev mailing list, which is a normal part of his routine, but Thunderbird returned an error saying the message couldn't be sent. His account was blocked upon retry, and he found himself completely logged out of his Microsoft account.

• Freedom of Information / Freedom of the Press

  • CPJ ☛ 2025-07-30 [Older] Syrian photojournalist killed while covering clashes in Sweida

  • The Moscow Times ☛ ‘The Godfather of the Media Business’: Russian Journalists Remember Derk Sauer, Pioneering Media Entrepreneur

    Sauer, who moved to Moscow during the twilight of the Soviet Union, was responsible for founding Vedomosti, the first Western-style business daily in Russia, founding The Moscow Times and launching the Russian versions of publications like Cosmopolitan, Esquire, Harper’s Bazaar and Playboy.

    After the news of his death was announced, tributes from independent Russian media and other journalists began pouring in, recounting the impact Sauer had on their careers and on Russian media as a whole.

  • Maine Morning Star ☛ Maine Public ‘will still be here,’ says president, despite federal funding loss

    Maine Public will “still be here for you tomorrow,” said the organization’s president and CEO, Rick Schneider, after news broke Friday that the Corporation for Public Broadcasting would be shuttering its doors due to a lack of federal funding.

  • Maine Morning Star ☛ Corporation for Public Broadcasting to close its doors after loss of funding

    CPB, which Congress authorized in 1967, provides funds for National Public Radio, the Public Broadcasting Service and hundreds of local stations across the United States. President Donald Trump and fellow Republicans have criticized NPR and PBS of left-leaning bias, an accusation the public media organizations have rejected.

  • The Dissenter ☛ CPB Shutdown: A Grim End For Publicly Funded Media

    The end of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) is a major victory for Republicans in their decades-long campaign to defund public media, particularly the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) and National Public Radio (NPR). Yet American conservatives did not achieve this moment on their own.

  • Ben Werdmuller ☛ Did Craigslist decimate newspapers?

    For years, Craig Newmark has been one of the fall guys for the decline of the newspaper business. Instead, the blame should absolutely lie with the news leaders who failed to adapt to changing platforms.

• Civil Rights/Policing

  • Futurism ☛ CEOs Are Publicly Boasting About Reducing Their Workforces With AI

    Put simply, firing human workers has turned into a perverse point of pride among the C-suite class, a worrying new reality as executives continue to lay off thousands of workers while simultaneously making deep investments in AI tech.

  • TruthOut ☛ US Universities Are Deepening Their Ties With ICE and Border Patrol

    Agents wait at schools, courthouses, hospitals, and churches, searching for immigrants to detain. They point guns at passersby who take photos of their license plates and tackle people into the ground as they attempt to flee. They conduct surprise checkpoints miles from U.S. borders, confiscate phones, and question people about their political beliefs when they arrive in the U.S.

• Digital Restrictions (DRM)

  • Techdirt ☛ Smart Home Device Maker Renders Devices Dumb Unless A New Subscription Is Paid For

    This isn’t going to stop happening unless governments finally get involved to do their most basic job: protect their citizens. This habit among digital and tech companies of selling a thing only to claw back some of the function of that thing after the purchase is both rampant and, frankly, getting ridiculous. It’s bad enough when a company goes fully kablooey, has to shut down all their backend servers and gear, and renders their products useless. That sucks, there are ways around it, and it shouldn’t be allowed, but it’s quite different than perfectly healthy companies selling a product that has features and capabilities out of the box, only to claw back those capabilities and either shut them down or stick them behind some subscription paywall.

Monopolies/Monopsonies

• India Times ☛ CCI orders probe into Google’s practices in online display ad market

  The Competition Commission of India (CCI) has ordered an investigation into the alleged breach of antitrust rules by Google in the online display advertising services market through Google AdTech Stack.

• India Times ☛ Google asks court to halt app store overhaul as it mounts new appeal

  The injunction, which was paused while the 9th Circuit considered the case, required Google to restore competition by allowing users to download rival app stores within its Play store and by making Play's app catalog available to those competitors, among other reforms.

• Copyrights

  • IP Kat ☛ 2025-07-28 [Older] [Guest post] Dutch court grants pan-European copyright injunction against Tripp Trapp chair look-a-like

  • Digital Music News ☛ ‘Dazed and Confused’ Copyright Dispute Finally Settled

    But Holmes sued Page again in May with allegations the rock star violated his rights in that earlier agreement. The new case centered on the recently unearthed Yardbirds recordings and the documentary Becoming Led Zeppelin—which led to Sony Pictures’ involvement.

    “By falsely claiming that the Holmes composition is the Page composition, […] Page [and others] have willfully infringed the Holmes composition,” wrote lawyers for Holmes. “Defendants […] have ignored Plaintiff’s cease and desist demand and continue to infringe.”

  • Torrent Freak ☛ Pirate IPTV Operator Destroys Evidence Then Agrees to Pay Sky €580,000

    A man described by Sky as a "top level" pirate has agreed to pay the broadcaster €480,000 in damages. Sky's investigation of David Dunbar reportedly began on social media last November, but soon benefited from a timely anonymous tip from another country. In May 2025, Sky obtained a court order to secure evidence from Dunbar's home, but that didn't go according to plan. After being denied access to the premises, evidence was destroyed and funds were "dissipated".

  • IP Kat ☛ 2025-07-29 [Older] Copyright exceptions and fair use defences for AI training done for “research” and “learning”: A new academic study