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Links 19/8/2015: LinuxCon Everywhere



GNOME bluefish

Contents





GNU/Linux



Free Software/Open Source



Leftovers



  • News Corp.'s Amplify education experiment: What went wrong?
    That write-down comes nearly five years after it purchased Wireless Generation for $360 million in 2010 and renamed it Amplify. At the time, News Corp. was going to bet about $500 million on Amplify to dominate the market. Amplify was led by Joel Klein, the former head of the New York City Department of Education.


  • Avoiding Amazon? The 5 best alternatives to the online bookseller giants


  • You probably don't want to work for Amazon
    'Amazon is where overachievers go to feel bad about themselves.'


  • The Missing ‘Leadership Principle’ at Amazon


  • Amazon’s 24/7 Hell Is the Future of Work
    Working at Amazon may be hell, but so is working everywhere else. Or at least it will be soon. The blockbuster New York Times report documenting Amazon’s “bruising” white collar culture is a fine piece of labor reporting, yet its revelations shouldn’t be too surprising. Amazon is revealed to be a more efficient and more unpleasant formulation of the standard modern workplace; one shaped by globalization, digitalization, and increasingly limitless expectations placed on the plugged-in worker.


  • Health/Nutrition



  • Security



    • Security updates for Monday


    • Security advisories for Tuesday


    • DDoS attacks on the rise as Akamai warns that 'mega attacks' are coming
      THIS IS THE DAWN of the mega denial-of-service (DoS) attack, according to security firm Akamai and its second quarter threat report.

      We wait every three months for the Akamai State of the Internet report, and we are never disappointed. Its content is pretty good too, and allows for a summary of the past quarter and a reminder about things like Shellshock and web perennials like Flash, WordPress themes and application attacks.



    • Ransomware goes open source
      Turkish security bod Utku Sen has published what seems to be the first open source ransomware that anyone can download and spread. The 'Hidden Tear' ransomware, available at GitHub, is a working version of the malware the world has come to hate. It uses AES encryption to lock down files and could display a scare warning or ransom message to get users to pay.




  • Transparency Reporting



    • Julian Assange and the Value of WikiLeaks: Subverting Illusions
      Above and beyond Assange’s personal freedom, what’s at stake includes the impunity of the United States and its allies to relegate transparency to a mythical concept, with democracy more rhetoric than reality. From the Vietnam War era to today — from aerial bombing and torture to ecological disasters and financial scams moving billions of dollars into private pockets — the high-up secrecy hiding key realities from the public has done vast damage. No wonder economic and political elites despise WikiLeaks for its disclosures.






  • Finance



    • Richard D. Wolff | Déjà Vu: Germany Tightens Its Economic Power Over Europe
      Germany's leaders herded their European counterparts into imposing harsh austerity on Greece. It was the price, they insisted, that Greece had to pay to receive bailout credits from the European Union, European Central Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF). The Europeans required those bailout credits to be used mostly to pay back loans the Greek government had gotten earlier from private banks (chiefly German, French and Greek). Those credits could not be used to get Greece out of the 2008 crash that afflicted all of Europe.




  • PR/AstroTurf/Lobbying



    • Scott Walker's False Promise of Racial Unity
      When asked about race relations on the first anniversary of Michael Brown's killing at the hands of a white police officer in Ferguson, Missouri, Walker replied:

      “I think in general if anyone focuses on racial discord we’re going to get more," he said. "If we focus on unity we’re going to get more of that."

      In other words, acknowledging systemic problems like the documented wave of police killings of unarmed black men, or the racial wealth gap, or disparities in sentencing and incarceration, creates "discord." During the GOP debate, he similarly dodged a question about the Black Lives Matter movement, which even Fox News anchor Megyn Kelly called "the biggest civil rights issue of our time."


    • 70 Awful Displays Of Sexism On Fox News
      On the 95th anniversary of the ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment, which gave women the right to vote, Media Matters looks back at Fox News' many displays of sexism, ranging from hosts suggesting young women should not exercise civic duties like participating in jury duty because they "don't get it," to Erick Erickson's claim that "the male typically is the dominant role."


    • Who Is Intimidating Who?
      The cheerful cheddarheads who showed up at the Iowa State Fair "Soapbox" to razz Scott Walker got a rude reception. The Soapbox is a Des Moines Register tradition and peaceful protesters have long been a part of this exercise in free speech. But after Walker was punked by two young people with a fake $900 million Koch check weeks ago, Team Walker seems a bit tense. At the Soapbox, Walker supporters ripped a sign out of one protester’s hand which read “WARNING Don’t let him do to America what he did to Wisconsin.” Another protester told CNN ”I got pushed into a disabled woman. I fell on her wheelchair. She started screaming at me."


    • Donald Trump Praises Bill O'Reilly For His Focus On Immigrant "Crime Wave"




  • Censorship



    • MPAA Ducks Censorship Battle With Google, Twitter and Facebook


      The MPAA has dropped its request for a preliminary injunction that would require search engines, ISPs and hosting companies to stop linking or offering services to MovieTube. The decision comes a few days after prominent tech firms including Google, Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr and Yahoo branded the request as a broad censorship attempt.


    • U.S. Government Grabbed Dotcom’s Millions “As a Last Resort”


      The U.S. Government has informed the Court of Appeals that the civil forfeiture case against Megaupload and Kim Dotcom was launched as a last resort. The authorities feared that Dotcom and his colleagues would regain possession of the millions in seized assets and argue that they are properly labeled as "fugitives."




  • Privacy



    • Warrantless airport laptop search dooms Iran arms sales prosecution
      Federal prosecutors asked a federal judge in Washington on Tuesday to dismiss the government's prosecution of a South Korean businessman accused of illegally selling technology used in aircraft and missiles to Iran.

      The move comes three months after a judge ruled that the government unlawfully seized and searched the suspect's computer at Los Angeles International Airport as Jae Shik Kim was to catch a flight home in 2012. The government decided not to appeal and said it was "unable to continue prosecuting this matter."




  • Intellectual Monopolies



    • Copyrights



      • Desperate Rightscorp Burns Through More Piracy Millions


        Piracy monetization company Rightscorp has published its results for Q2 2015 and it's yet another three months of misery for the company. At the same time as paying out just $117K to its copyright holder clients, Rightscorp managed to run up $1.95m in expenses, leaving the company with operating losses in excess of $1.72m.


      • Universal Music and Kim Dotcom Prepared a Deal to Tax Google


        A recording of Kim Dotcom and several Universal Music executives captured two days before the Megaupload raids has revealed the label planning to do a deal with the entrepreneur. Amid discussion of 'taxing' Google by diverting its ad revenue to the label, the execs offered to downgrade Dotcom from "evil" to "neutral" in return for dropping legal action over the "Mega Song".


      • Hollywood Keeps Breaking Box Office Records... While Still Insisting That The Internet Is Killing Movies
        Hollywood is still 100% focused on trying to blame the internet for any of its woes, mostly with bogus attacks on internet companies it doesn't like. And yet... it seems to keep on setting box office records. The latest is that Universal Pictures has broken a new record in bringing in $2 billion in box office revenue faster than any other studio in history, pushed over the top by the successful opening weekend of "Straight Outta Compton" (a movie that seems to have some big fans in Silicon Valley).










Recent Techrights' Posts

IBM HR "Process is Similar to Raising Farm Animals"
IBM "silent layoffs" won't stop
Brett Wilson LLP Has Just Lost a Case of Its Biggest Client "IN THE COURT OF APPEAL (CIVIL DIVISION)"
Is Brett Wilson LLP proud of such clientele?
Gary Smith Says Brett Wilson LLP Engages in SLAPP Against Him Over LinkedIn Post, "This is the Streisand Effect in Real Time"
"Lawyers who front SLAPP‑style threats on behalf of powerful institutions are not “defending reputation”; they are abusing legal process to intimidate and silence legitimate public‑interest scrutiny."
 
It's Not the Layoffs, It's the Debt
PIPs and/or "silent layoffs" are about the companies flouting obligations to staff, reducing or eliminating the compensation packages
European Patent Office (EPO) Series: Cutting Ribbons in Sintra While the EPO Burns
Like the Roman Emperor Nero, Campinos fiddles in Sintra while the EPO burns
In Spain, GNU/Linux Now Measured at 5.5%
Microsoft and Windows are generally shrinking
North America: GNU/Linux Leaps to 8% "Market Share"
the trend is clear
statCounter: GNU/Linux Has Risen to All-Time High of 6% Worldwide (July 2026)
GNU/Linux has massive gains
Not Tolerating Death Threats
Death threads are a serious matter
Silent Layoffs, 'Happy' Layoffs, and 'Buyouts' (Pretending to Voluntarily Retire)
We've been seeing lots of that at IBM and Microsoft
SLAPP Censorship - Part 125 Out of 200: Litigants in Person (LIPs) Handling American Lawfare Funded by Third Parties (About a Million Pounds for 100 Kilograms of Legal Papers)
An appeal to the Court of Appeal can be justified at one point
Attacks on the Sites
These are clearly censorship attempts
Links 02/07/2026: Microsoft May be Shutting Down 5+ Studios, Slop Got Too Expensive, "RAMpocalypse" Discussed
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, July 01, 2026
IRC logs for Wednesday, July 01, 2026
Gemini Links 02/07/2026: Kondo, Theological Thought, and X4
Links for the day
Links 01/07/2026: Apple and Microsoft Price Hikes, Political Catchup
Links for the day
Parroting the Script of RAs and PIPs, "Buyouts" and Layoffs by Any Other Name
Over time people will find out just how many people "leave" IBM
Slop Gives No Real Edge, It's Just Falsely Marketed That Way (FOMO)
Plagiarism in some measurable form is always bad, irrespective of what we call it
The Microsoft-Owned Media Shows What Spin Microsoft Will Use Amid Mass Layoffs
Microsoft says goodbye to over 10,000 workers this month
The Media is Shooting Its Own Foot by Peddling Slop and Spam
Nobody wishes to read slop; as soon as people realise "the news" (or "news site") is LLM trash, they will walk away
Gemini Links 01/07/2026: Wild Flowers, Slop, and Waystone Tools
Links for the day
Links 01/07/2026: Bending Spoons Makes an 'Exit' ("Going Public"), US Supreme Court Rules on Many Issues
Links for the day
Misattributing Blame, the Core Issue is Slop
that issue has nothing to do with Bash
Microsoft: Layoffs Are an Investment
Sales of the console will take another plunge and debt will skyrocket
Links 01/07/2026: MElon (Elon Musk) "Confronted With List of People He Has Killed", Microsoft Ignores Union, Chooses "Bloodbath"
Links for the day
The Register MS: Paid-For SPAM Advocating Chinese Colonialism in Africa, Not Even a Disclosure (as Before)
Does The Register MS recognise what this piece is promoting and who for?
Techrights Never Defended Rapists
In the past, I and others got falsely accused of "defend[ing] a rapist"
"Regular Silent Layoffs and PIPs" at Microsoft, According to Microsoft Insider
Many people leave without a fuss, only a signed NDA
Gaming Companies Help Promote Rootkits ('Anticheat') and Help Microsoft Take Control of People's PCs
The industry in its current form acts a bit more like a cabal of power-hungry companies that actively try to back-door everything and smear people who oppose that
IRC (Internet Relay Chat) Turns 38 Next Month
IRC did well because over 300k users are on significant networks (simultaneous, also counting bots and cross-network overlaps)
opensourceforu.com is a Slopfarm, It's Not "Open Source" and It's Not "For U"
Slop "For U"
DRM and Ownership
We now even have PCs that "expire"
GNU/Linux Reaches 6% in North America
Tomorrow around 10AM we'll see what preliminary data they get for July
IBM Layoffs Still Happening in 2026, They're Just Not Being Reported
The demise of IBM accompanies the demise of the media
SLAPP Censorship - Part 124 Out of 200: The Court Deems My Wife Connected to the Case of the Serial Strangler From Microsoft, Invites Her to the Hearing Last Week
Brett Wilson LLP does not play by the rules
Paying Severance to Staff Laid Off by Microsoft Too Expensive for Microsoft Now?
When companies earn such a bad reputation (not paying severance to people they discard) it lowers morale even further
Microsoft Mass Layoffs Due to Money Problems (Debt, Lack of Money to Complete Payroll), Not "Hey Hi"
If Microsoft later comes up with some "Hey Hi" narrative, then immediately reject it
Stop Conflating Free Software With Slop Plagiarism and Time-wasting
Even decades ago people could use "compute" for lots of fuzzing, then file away false or unaudited reports using bots
What Security Means
Security does not mean asking Microsoft for permission
Microsoft May be Losing 10,000+ Workers This Month
Here's the quick math
BSN Senior School Leidschenveen is Shutting Down and What That Means to the European Patent Office (EPO)
Follow-up meeting with Site Manager VP1 on school matters
Gemini Links 01/07/2026: Keeping (Relatively) Cool plus Adventures in Solar, Camp Snap Cameras and XTEINK X4 Ereader Reviews
Links for the day
European Patent Office (EPO) Series: Different Strokes For Different Folks
Organisation operating in two parallel universes
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, June 30, 2026
IRC logs for Tuesday, June 30, 2026
GNU/Linux Measured at 4.4% by statCounter, Even More by analytics.usa.gov
GNU/Linux has fared well
Getting Skyped: Closure of Studios Microsoft Bought
wait till July and the mass layoffs outside XBox
Several Waves of Red Hat Layoffs This Year, Is This Still Going on Under IBM?
The PIPs and NDAs hard to get a clear picture
Sabine Hossenfelder Versus IBM Scamming Shareholders
IBM has become a garage of BS
Some XBox Layoffs Underway, At Least Five Studios to be Shut Down
Insiders are in a state of panic
Gemini Links 30/06/2026: Music Theory, Addiction, Clown Computing
Links for the day
Links 30/06/2026: France Recorded 1,000 Excess Deaths During Heat Wave, Slop Replaced by Human Staff
Links for the day
WordPress Becoming What We Feared It Would Become
WordPress and other such bloatware (WordPress used to be fast and light) are moving in the same trajectory that GAFAM leads
People Given the Totally Wrong Idea That "Secure Boot" is About Security (It's the Opposite, It's About Handing Control Over to NSA/Microsoft)
"Secure Boot" with capital "B" is conflating compromise with security.
Today The Register MS is Publishing Fake Articles About "AI", 100% of All "Content"
Maybe the media is dying because it is selling its soul [...] The Register MS has no standard
America Has Cost Europe Too Much
Countries ought to be controlling all their own systems
GAFAM Debt Will Surge, in July We'll Know by How Much
Do not fall for slop or sloppy narratives
Call for European Patent Office (EPO) Whistleblowers
The European Patent Organisation (EPO) might not reform the Office
400-Page US Federal Court Against Abuses by Google, Microsoft and Front Groups That Abuse Volunteers for American Corporations
There are 386 pages in total (in the US claim)
Projection Tactics - Part IV: SLAPP by Americans Against Techrights (UK) to Hide Serious Abuses Against American Women
"PRs need to stop being complicit in suppression of information via SLAPPs"
Five Years Ago, After We Broke the Story About Richard Stallman Rejoining the FSF's Board, All Hell Broke Loose (for Me and My Family)
They generally seem to target anyone who thinks Richard Stallman (RMS) should be in charge or thinks alike about computing
Projection Tactics - Part II: Causing "Serious Harm" to Many People (Even Animals)
Narcissists and sociopaths are like that
Too Many "Marketers on the Payroll" at IBM, Selling Impossible Products That Cannot be Delivered or Will Never Deliver
IBM is rotting away
Media Says Microsoft's (XBox) Layoffs May be Record-Breaking
think somewhere in the range of ~5000 for gaming/XBox alone
Sirius Open Source's Latest Report: Fake (False) Number of Staff, Almost No Money in the Bank, Overdraft, and Growing Debt (About £100,000 More Borrowed)
massive (and still growing) debt
Links 30/06/2026: What's Wrong With EU Age Verification, RSA Keys with Many Zeros
Links for the day
This is Not a Security, This is a Circus
Security does not mean "asked Microsoft for permission"
Communities Need Strong Leadership, Not Dictators Like IBM
Leadership in Free software is not ownership [...] Fedora will only last as long as IBM can somehow make some money out of it or leverage it to attract sharecropping
Patents Are Not "Cash Cows"
People who deliberately don't understand patents (or believe lies about them) will fail to understand how the world works (or does not work)
Sad Lives of People Who Think Women Are Just Sexual Toys (All They Have is Money)
money is still a man-made concept and life is finite
SLAPP Censorship - Part 123 Out of 200: Why Violence Against Animals Matters
Starting tomorrow (Wednesday) we'll begin telling stories about what happened last week
EPO Staff Union's (SUEPO) The Hague Committee, With Help of Lawyer, Challenges Lack of Rewards for Hard Work
The EPO is not about granting valid patents anymore. The horse-trading corrupt officials just see the EPO as some thing that "prints money"
Massive EPO Demonstration Today
It'll start in about 6 hours
More Layoffs in Microsoft's PR Department, Even Ahead of 'D-Day'
Notice they are not even waiting for the official date (nor week)
European Patent Office (EPO) Series: Photo-Ops Galore and Suspicions of Influence-Peddling
coverage of the EPO's Croatian junket
Gemini Links 30/06/2026: Music and Broken Hearts
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Monday, June 29, 2026
IRC logs for Monday, June 29, 2026