Bonum Certa Men Certa

Links 20/10/2016: Linux 4.10 Preview, ONF and ON.Labs to Merge





GNOME bluefish

Contents





GNU/Linux



  • Desktop



    • ‘Why Use Linux?’ Answered In 3 Short Words
      This post is not a typical post. I’m not going to change your life, or teach you a new trick. Instead I’m going to drag you down the rabbit hole…

      I had to Google a rather dry grammatical enquiry from my sister earlier. See, she’s in the process of going back to college to study nursing and has become fastidious about punctuation in the process.

      She turned to me because her iPhone did not, in her words, ‘give the correct answer’.


    • How does Linux need to change to achieve the 'year of the Linux desktop?'
      The year of the Linux desktop has long been the unicorn of the open source movement. People have looked for it for quite a long time, but nobody’s ever seen it. But hope springs eternal, and for some the quest for the year of the Linux desktop goes on.






  • Kernel Space

    • Linux kernel bugs: we add them in and then take years to get them out
      Kees Cook is a Google techie and security researcher whose interests include the Linux Kernel Self Protection Project.

      The idea of “self-protection” doesn’t mean giving up on trying to create secure code in the first place, of course.

      It may sound like an irony, but I’m happy to accept that writing secure code requires that you simultaneously write code that is predicated on insecurity.


    • storaged - next evolution step of udisks2


      What do you think about the above goals? Do you think GNU/Linux distributions should and will adopt storaged as a replacement for *udisks2"? Would you like your favorite distribution to do so? Or do you see a really bumpy road ahead? Please tell us what you think in the comments and if you know about somebody who should read this post and participate in the broader discussion, don't forget to let them know and send them the link!


    • Ten Years of KVM
      We recently celebrated 25 years of Linux on the 25th anniversary of the famous email Linus sent to announce the start of the Linux project. Going by the same yardstick, today marks the 10th anniversary of the KVM project — Avi Kivity first announced the project on the 19th Oct, 2006 by this posting on LKML...


    • Linux Foundation Certified Engineer: Karthikeyan Ramaswamy
      Linux was part of my academics. I was introduced to Linux at the Anna University Bioinformatics Lab by my Professor Gautam Pennathur. After that introduction, I became truly interested in Linux and open source when I was doing my final year project with Professor Nagasuma Chandra in the bioinformatics department, Indian Institute of Science. It was an incredible journey with the different flavors of Linux as well as the scripting and programming languages. After learning about the history of Linux and open source software movement, I become an Individual supporter of The Linux Foundation and an Annual Associate Member of the Free Software Foundation.


    • Linux 4.9 Is Showing Some Performance Improvements On A Core i7 6800K
      Now that Linux 4.9-rc1 is out, it's onward to testing this new Linux kernel on the dozens of test systems at Phoronix. With some early testing on a Core i7 6800K Broadwell-E box, there are some promising improvements.


    • Linux 4.10 To Expose EFI Framebuffer Configuration
      While Linux 4.9-rc1 was only released this past weekend, the EFI subsystem changes are already being staged for the next kernel cycle.

      One of the EFI changes catching my attention for Linux 4.10 is that the EFI frame-buffer configuration will be exposed. This will allow for localized status strings during firmware updates.


    • Features You Won't Find In The Linux 4.9 Mainline Kernel
      While there are many new features in Linux 4.9, there is some functionality we've been looking forward to that sadly isn't yet in the mainline kernel tree.


    • Blockchain technology can help save the lives of millions of refugees by giving them a verified identity
      What if you had no proof of who you are? What would you do when the bank manager asked for ID when you tried to open an account or when the hospital asked for your documentation?

      You wouldn’t be able to function, at least not easily. Billions face this problem internationally, but now blockchain technology is helping those with no paper proof of existence get the same services as those with “official” identification.


    • Open Networking Foundation and ON.Lab Merge
      As Software Defined Networking (SDN) has matured from just being a theoretical concept to a production reality, consolidation is now happening in SDN advocacy efforts as well. Today the Open Networking Foundation (ONF) and ON.Lab announced that they would be merging, bringing the two groups' SDN efforts under one umbrella organization.

      [...]

      There is also a connection between ONF and the Linux Foundation, with the ONOS and CORD projects led by ON.Lab. Parulkar said that with the ONF merger, the ONOS and CORD boards and governance will continue unchanged and they will continue to be Linux Foundation Collaborative projects.


    • ONF to Merge With On.Lab
      The Open Networking Foundation (ONF) is merging with On.Lab, creating one entity that will curate standards such as OpenFlow while developing software projects such as ONOS and the Central Office Re-Imagined as a Datacenter (CORD).


    • SDN groups shack-up to promote standards, open software development


    • ON.Lab and ONF to combine open source SDN efforts


    • SDN Champions ONF & ON.Lab Tie the Knot


    • ONF, ON.Labs to Merge


    • ONF will merge with ON.Lab to advance SDN adoption


    • Linux Kernel 3.12.65 LTS Released with Updated Wireless Drivers, PowerPC Fixes


      It's been only two weeks since the release of the Linux 3.12.64 LTS kernel maintenance version, and today's Linux kernel 3.12.65 LTS update attempts to add various improvements, updated drivers, as well as patch some of the bugs reported by users. According to the appended shortlog and diff from Linux kernel 3.12.64 LTS, a total of 80 files were changed, with 516 insertions and 283 deletions in Linux kernel 3.12.65 LTS.

      "I'm announcing the release of the 3.12.65 kernel. All users of the 3.12 kernel series must upgrade," said Jiri Slaby. "The updated 3.12.y git tree can be found at: git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/stable/linux-stable.git linux-3.12.y and can be browsed at the normal kernel.org git web browser: http://git.kernel.org/?p=linux/kernel/git/stable/linux-stable.git;a=summary."


    • Systemd – Progress Through Complexity
      A play on the Audi slogan: Vorsprung Durch Technik. Except we’re going to talk about something that is clearly not progress. Systemd. Roughly 6 years ago, Systemd came to life as the new, event-based init mechanism, designed to replicate the old serialized System V thingie. Today, it is the reality in most distributions, for better or worse. Mostly the latter.

      Why would you oppose progress, one may say. To that end, we need to define progress. It is merely the state of something being newer, AKA newer is always better, or the fact it offers superior functionality that was missing in the old technology? After all, System V is 33 years old, so the new stuff ought to be smarter. The topic of my article today is to tell you a story of how I went about fixing a broken Fedora 24 system – powered by systemd of course, and why, at the end of, my conclusion was one of pain and defeat.


    • Graphics Stack





  • Applications



  • Distributions



    • New Releases



    • Red Hat Family



    • Debian Family



      • Open Build Service in Debian needs YOU! ☞


      • Freexian’s report about Debian Long Term Support, September 2016
        Like each month, here comes a report about the work of paid contributors to Debian LTS.


      • Derivatives



        • RaspEX Project Now Lets You Run Ubuntu 16.10 on Raspberry Pi 3 and 2, with LXDE
          Today, October 19, 2016, GNU/Linux developer Arne Exton informed us about the immediate availability of a new build of his RaspEX project, which brings the latest Ubuntu OS to Raspberry Pi users.


        • Why Security Distributions Use Debian
          What do distributions like Qube OS, Subgraph, Tails, and Whonix have in common? Besides an emphasis on security and privacy, all of them are Debian derivatives -- and, probably, this common origin is not accidental.

          At first, this trend seems curious. After all, other distributions ranging from Slackware and Gentoo to Arch Linux all emphasize security and privacy in their selection of tools. In particular, Fedora's SE Linux can be so restrictive that some users would rather disable it than learn how to configure it. By contrast, while Debian carries many standard security and privacy tools, it has seldom emphasized them.

          Similarly, Debian's main branch consists of only free and open source software, its contrib and non-free branches not being official parts of the distribution. With many security experts favoring the announcement of vulnerabilities and exploit code rather than relying on security through obscurity, the way that many pieces of proprietary software do, this transparency has obvious appeal.

          Yet although the advantage of free software to security and privacy is that the code can be examined for backdoors and malware, this advantage is hardly unique to Debian. To one or degree another, it is shared by all Linux distributions.


        • Why Use Linux, Systemd Complications, Debian's Security
          Why do so many security focused distributions choose Debian as their base? Bruce Byfield detailed several reasons beginning with Debian's transparency in dealing with security issues and its free and Open Source commitment. But primarily, "security and privacy are built into Debian policy and procedure." Keeping out intruders is better than trying to expel them he said. And finally, Byfield believes stability trumps "newness" everyday of the week especially since "newer packages are more apt to have vulnerabilities than older."


        • Canonical/Ubuntu



          • Apache on Ubuntu Linux For Beginners: Part 2
            You must set up your Apache web server to use SSL, so that your site URL is https:// and not http://. Sure, there are exceptions, such as test servers and lone LAN servers that only you and your cat use.

            But any Internet-accessible web server absolutely needs SSL; there is no downside to encrypting your server traffic, and it's pretty easy to set up. For LAN servers it may not be as essential; think about who uses it, and how easy it is to sniff LAN traffic.


          • Live kernel patches for Ubuntu
            Kernel live patching enables runtime correction of critical security issues in your kernel without rebooting. It’s the best way to ensure that machines are safe at the kernel level, while guaranteeing uptime, especially for container hosts where a single machine may be running thousands of different workloads.

            We’re very pleased to announce that this new enterprise, commercial service from Canonical will also be available free of charge to the Ubuntu community.

            The Canonical Livepatch Service is an authenticated, encrypted, signed stream of livepatch kernel modules for Ubuntu servers, virtual machines and desktops.


          • Canonical Ltd.'s Ubuntu Core
            Canonical Ltd.'s "Snappy" Ubuntu Core, a stripped-down version of Ubuntu designed for autonomous machines, devices and other internet-connected digital things, has gained significant traction in the chipset/semiconductor market recently.










  • Devices/Embedded





Free Software/Open Source



Leftovers



  • London Zoo escaped gorilla ‘drank five litres of undiluted squash’ during escape
    A gorilla that sparked an emergency after breaking out of its enclosure at London Zoo opened and drank five litres of undiluted blackcurrant squash during his escape, the Zoological Society of London has revealed.

    Members of the public and staff at the zoo were locked into buildings and ordered not to leave certain areas after Kumbuka, an adult silverback gorilla, made his escape on Thursday.


  • Health/Nutrition



  • Security



  • Defence/Aggression



    • Does Hillary Have The Temperment To Have Her Finger On The Nuclear Button?


      If these reports are true, at this time of heightened tensions between Washington and the two other major nuclear powers, it would be extremely dangerous to have in the White House a person susceptible to uncontrollable rage, especially a person who would be staffed with neoconservative warmongers. A vote for Hillary could be a vote for nuclear war and the end of life on earth.




  • Transparency/Investigative Reporting



    • Ecuador Cut Off Assange's Access to the Internet - So This Man Is Reading It to Him
      After WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange's internet service was cut off by the Ecuadorian embassy where he is holed up, one man sought to bring the internet back for the cloistered Queenslander.

      Armed with a bullhorn and a sign that reads "Julian Assange's Personal Internet Service," Canadian comedian Bobby Mair has been standing outside the embassy shouting the news of the day to Assange.


    • Ecuador confirms it cut off Assange's internet over Clinton emails
      The Ecuadorian government confirmed Tuesday that it cut off WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange’s internet connection because of his anti-secrecy platform’s publication of emails allegedly stolen from Hillary Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta.

      “The Government of Ecuador respects the principle of non-intervention in the internal affairs of other states. It does not interfere in external electoral processes, nor does it favor any particular candidate,” Ecuador said in a statement.

      “Accordingly, Ecuador has exercised its sovereign right to temporarily restrict access to some of its private communications network within its Embassy in the United Kingdom.”

      The emails are believed to have been stolen by the Russian government, and their release has been widely seen as a deliberate attempt to meddle in the U.S. election — although some Republicans have lauded their publication.


    • Assange’s Fate
      ​The saga of Julian Assange seems to be drawing to a climax – one that will decide the fate of this historic whistleblower who, for years, has been a giant thorn in the side of governments everywhere.

      His role in exposing the machinations of the US government over the years earned him the plaudits of liberals – until the Bush era ended, and he started exposing the crimes of the Obama administration and – most pointedly – the hypocrisy and venality of Hillary Clinton and her journalistic camarilla. Now we see right-wing figures like Sean Hannity and – yes! – Donald Trump praising and defending him, while the ostensible liberals take up the cry of the Clinton campaign that he’s a “pawn of the Kremlin” and a “rapist.” Even Glenn Greenwald, formerly a comrade-in-arms, who together with Assange helped Edward Snowden evade the not-so-loving arms of Uncle Sam, has lately sought to distance himself from the founder of WikiLeaks (over the value of “curation”). Nice timing, Glenn!


    • CNN Tells Viewers It's Illegal For Them To Read Wikileaks Document Dumps. CNN Is Wrong
      I cut the cord years ago, so the only time I stumble into cable "news" coverage is usually at the gym or airport. And time and time again I'm struck by how the empty prattle is more in line with dystopian satire than anything resembling actual news reporting or intellectual analysis. Even when these channels feature live breaking news stories, you'd be hard pressed to find a reporter willing to call up a source and confirm details of what's happening, resulting in something that's more akin to industrialized speculation than the polished news product of multi-billion-dollar media empires.


    • A Peculiar Coincidence
      Today, Swedish prosecutors were meant to question Julian Assange in the Ecuadorean Embassy, something for which the Assange legal team has been pressing for years. They believe that once this step has been taken, prosecutors will no longer be able to keep from the scrutiny of Swedish courts the fact that there is no viable evidence whatsoever to back up the ludicrous allegations which have been made.

      Frustratingly, Swedish prosecutors cancelled the interview last week, with no explanation given. Anyone would think they do not wish the investigation to progress… Then this same day Assange’s internet access is cut, WikiLeaks say by a state actor. To add to this string of coincidence, at the same time Russia Today has its bank accounts frozen by the Royal Bank of Scotland, again without explanation

      This series of events are all aimed at those who seek to counter the neo-con narrative pumped out by the state and corporate media. It could be coincidence, but it looks like co-ordinated clampdown to me.


    • ‘Nothing to See Here’ Is Pundit Takeaway on DNC Leaks
      Hillary Clinton’s campaign emails have been trickling in for the past week. The leaks—along with previous DNC emails—provide intimate details about the inner workings of the campaign that may well soon elect the most powerful person on Earth.

      The response from some journalists has been to analyse, dissect and find the most newsworthy bits. For others, the reaction has been to dismiss and downplay, turning the often cynical meatgrinder of American politics into a snooze barely worthy of discussion.


    • How to Really Really Upset the Foreign Office and Security Services


      I left Julian after midnight. He is fit, well, sharp and in good spirits. WikiLeaks never reveals or comments upon its sources, but as I published before a fortnight ago, I can tell you with 100% certainty that it is not any Russian state actor or proxy that gave the Democratic National Committee and Podesta material to WikiLeaks. The claim is nonsense. Journalists are also publishing that these were obtained by “hacking” with no evidence that this was the method used to obtain them.




  • Environment/Energy/Wildlife/Nature



    • High-Selectivity Electrochemical Conversion of CO2 to Ethanol using a Copper Nanoparticle/N-Doped Graphene Electrode
      Though carbon dioxide is a waste product of combustion, it can also be a potential feedstock for the production of fine and commodity organic chemicals provided that an efficient means to convert it to useful organic synthons can be developed. Herein we report a common element, nanostructured catalyst for the direct electrochemical conversion of CO2 to ethanol with high Faradaic efficiency (63 % at −1.2 V vs RHE) and high selectivity (84 %) that operates in water and at ambient temperature and pressure. Lacking noble metals or other rare or expensive materials, the catalyst is comprised of Cu nanoparticles on a highly textured, N-doped carbon nanospike film. Electrochemical analysis and density functional theory (DFT) calculations suggest a preliminary mechanism in which active sites on the Cu nanoparticles and the carbon nanospikes work in tandem to control the electrochemical reduction of carbon monoxide dimer to alcohol.


    • This Could Be Important, A Means To Readily Convert CO2 To Ethanol Electrically


    • October 2016: North Carolina Flooding
      From October 11-16, the National Geodetic Survey (NGS) collected imagery of areas in North Carolina to help assess damage caused by river flooding due to heavy rains from the now-dissipated Matthew. The aerial imagery was collected in specific areas identified by FEMA and the National Weather Service.


    • ‘How Do We Get to a Conversation in This Country About Climate?’
      That a holiday honoring a man responsible for the murder, enslavement and exploitation of indigenous people should be occasion for the arrest of Native Americans acting in defense of water, land and life is not mere symbolism. The celebration of Christopher Columbus in US history books and culture is increasingly denounced, not only because of his devastating cruelty, but because of the way the fable erases the Taino people, legitimizing their oppression with an implicit view of history as the story of the winners.


    • The Debates Are Over, and No One Asked About Climate Change
      From campaign finance reform to gun violence to poverty to education to LGBTQ rights, lots of important subjects were ignored by corporate media debate moderators in the presidential (and vice-presidential) debates. All of these topics are urgent and deserve a spotlight on the national stage. But one topic stands out as a non-factor: climate change.

      Climate change—or, more accurately, climate disruption—is the greatest existential threat of our time. It threatens the economy, national security and health, exacerbates poverty and racism, and threatens to undermine or compound virtually all other issues discussed on the stage tonight.






  • Finance



    • Bradley Birkenfeld on Corporate Crime in the USA
      And it is telling that he invited some of the nation’s top whistleblowers — including John Kiriakou who spent two years in prison — to be his guests.

      One of the ironies that was not lost on anyone in the room is that increasingly, it’s not corporate executives but whistleblowers who are doing jail time.

      Birkenfeld himself blew the whistle on his employer, the giant Swiss bank UBS, where the rich and famous stashed their millions in numbered accounts to evade U.S. tax authorities.

      Guess who went to jail?

      Birkenfeld.


    • I Won $104 Million for Blowing the Whistle on My Company—But Somehow I Was the Only One Who Went to Jail
      Bradley C. Birkenfeld, 51, blew the whistle on the Swiss bank UBS for helping Americans avoid paying taxes, leading to about $15 billion in recovered tax money, fines and penalties. He spent two and a half years in prison, but he later was awarded $104 million by the I.R.S. for his role in exposing the scheme.


    • The government has finally come up with a plan for Brexit and it's seriously worrying
      Speaking at a trade fair on Tuesday evening, the environment secretary Andrea Leadsom outlined Britain's plans for Brexit.

      Prior to the referendum there was no plan for Brexit.

      Turns out they weren't bluffing.

      Then Brexit meant Brexit.

      [...]

      According to an official press release, the goverment believes there could €£185 million worth of exports to Japan "through demand for classic British products like tea, jam and biscuits and new opportunities for British beef."

      These predictions are 'export wins', meaning exports which would probably not have occurred without government support.

      Leadsom was unveiling her department's 'International Action Plan for Food and Drink', at a fair in Paris, France. Home of jam, and bourbons.


    • After CETA: the EU trade agreements that are in the pipeline
      EU countries are considering signing the free trade agreement with Canada this month, but the Comprehensive Economic Trade Agreement (CETA) is far from the only deal the EU is working on. Various deals are being negotiated all over the globe, but they can only enter into force if the European Parliament approves them. Read on for an overview of negotiations in progress and a discussion of how it works.


    • ISDS Alone Makes TPP Unacceptable


    • What Are The NAFTA and TPP Trump and Clinton Fought About in the Debate?


      The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), which went into force in 1994, and the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), which is still pending ratification in the U.S. and elsewhere, are international trade agreements.

      Trump is unambiguously, totally, absolutely, hugely opposed to both deals and any others in the future. He has held that position from Day One.

      Clinton, less so. NAFTA was pushed through by Bill, and Hillary continues to defend it. As Secretary of State she strongly advocated for the TPP. She continued that advocacy during the first part of her campaign, right up until Bernie Sanders started to score points against her by opposing it. Hillary then shifted to also opposing it. No one knows what her stance will be if she is elected.

      Meanwhile, the Obama administration is still hoping to force TPP through a lame duck Congress following the election. Hillary would then be free to shrug her shoulders come January and claim the TPP is not her responsibility.


    • Halloween Comes Early as Bloomberg Tries to Scare Kids With Debt Monster
      Bloomberg (10/14/16) decided to get into the Halloween spirit by warning our kids about the national debt. The piece is headlined “A Child Born Today Comes Into the World With More Debt Than You.” Bloomberg was going to headline the piece, “Kids Worried That Universe Is Closer to Destruction Than When Parents Were Born,” but they decided it would be too scary.


    • ‘Real Estate Investors Should Be Treated Like Any Other Businessmen’
      In case you somehow managed to miss it, Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump acknowledged in the most recent debate that, for at least some period of time, he paid no federal income tax, explaining, characteristically, “That makes me smart.”

      The statement revealed nothing we didn’t know about Trump, but it did raise a few questions for some folks about taxes—who pays what and why. Richard Phillips is senior policy analyst at Citizens for Tax Justice and the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy. He joins us by phone from Washington, DC.




  • AstroTurf/Lobbying/Politics



    • Jill Stein: Democrats Govern by Fear—That Alone Should Cost Them Your Vote
      Despite running a national campaign with an established political party, you were excluded from the presidential debates this year, but you’re scheduled to appear alongside Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump in a Democracy Now! special debate segment later this week. What do you expect from the candidates?

      Jill Stein: Truthfully, I don’t expect much that is different from the prior two debates. We’ve had a very enthusiastic response to our forcing real issues and real answers into the debate. There’s a dire need for real discussion here, and the events of even the last week underscore that, now that we have been involved in an exchange of missiles with Yemen. The war is getting bigger and still there is no real discussion of this war, certainly not between Donald and Hillary. Their discussion of the war in the last debate amounted to the question of when exactly did Donald Trump take his various positions about Iraq?


    • Jill Stein Rips John Oliver for ‘Disingenuous Attack’ on Student Loan Debt Plan
      Jill Stein is firing back at John Oliver after the “Last Week Tonight” host criticized Stein’s plan to cancel student loan debt.

      “Coming from someone who made a stunt of buying and canceling medical debt on his show, and who claims to want alternatives to the failed two-party system, this disingenuous attack on the idea of cancelling student debt is both puzzling and hypocritical,” Stein’s campaign said in a statement.

      In the segment, Oliver said that Steins’s plan involved the use of a process called quantitative easing, in which more money is printed and put into circulation.


    • Green Party: Don’t Vote for the Lesser of Two Evils
      Ajamu Baraka is running for Vice President alongside Doctor Jill Stein. He made a campaign stop at Wayne State University Tuesday.

      Baraka says now is a critical time for the Green Party to campaign aggressively.

      “When do we draw a line in the sand and build a real alternative to corporate power? When do we oppose the agenda and the interest of the one percent? 2016 is the time to go ahead and make that change,” Baraka says.

      Baraka says polls show that citizens are disgusted with both major party options for president.


    • Green Party VP hopeful in Detroit: Time to "break two-party monopoly"
      It’s time to reject the “politics of fear,” and embrace third-party alternatives in American politics.

      That was the message Ajamu Baraka had for an audience at Detroit’s Wayne State University on Tuesday.

      Baraka, a longtime political activist who founded the U.S. Human Rights Network, is the Green Party candidate for vice president. He and running mate Jill Stein will appear on the ballot in 45 states, including Michigan.

      Baraka says he and Stein represent an opportunity to “break the two-party monopoly” on government.


    • Where the ‘Bernie or Bust’ movement ends up


      When YahNé Ndgo went to the first presidential debate at Hofstra University, on Long Island, she had a lot on her mind. She had to pack for a couple weeks of appearances and travel along the West Coast. She wanted to buy her 19-year-old daughter some groceries, and maybe even cook some dinner. She hoped they’d have some time to spend together in her hometown, Philadelphia, before Ndgo had to leave on an early morning flight to Arizona.

      Ndgo wasn’t afraid of getting arrested for protesting the exclusion of Libertarian Party presidential candidate Gary Johnson and Green Party candidate Jill Stein from the debate, but she just didn’t have the time.


    • The Internet’s Best Rebuttals to John Oliver’s Attack On Jill Stein


      If you have at least one outspoken Hillary supporting friend on your Facebook, chances are you saw a video of John Oliver’s latest hit piece on Jill Stein and Gary Johnson (who we don’t specifically cover in this article. However, his scandals are a lot less terrifying than the two “major party” candidates.)


    • WikiLeaks Just Dropped Bombshell About Hillary’s Health… The Truth, REVEALED!
      WikiLeaks has been Hillary Clinton’s worst nightmare for months, but they just dropped the biggest bombshell yet: They have released emails which confirm just how serious Hillary Clinton’s debilitating health issues are.

      First we learned, Hillary Clinton reached out to the NFL Commissioner in 2012 to ask for advice about dealing with her “cracked head” and head injuries.

      But the details are even worse than that. It has been confirmed that the State Department staff, under Hillary Clinton, was told to research new drugs to treat Parkinson’s disease.




  • Censorship/Free Speech



  • Privacy/Surveillance



    • ACLU Wants 23 Secret Surveillance Laws Made Public
    • Trove of Stolen Data Is Said to Include Top-Secret US Hacking Tools
    • NSA official calls for new federal cyber structure
    • Feds need clarity on cyber structures
    • The US Needs One Cyber Defense Agency—Not Three, a Top NSA Official Says
    • NSA: Hackers find an easy path to U.S. systems
    • NSA deputy proposes dedicated U.S. cybersecurity team


    • NSA: No zero days used in last two years
      It is hard to believe that not one single zero-day exploit – or a previously undisclosed vulnerability – has been used against the United States in the last 24 months, and even harder that that fact could be viewed as a negative. But according to Curtis Dukes, deputy national manager for national security systems at the NSA, adversaries did not need to use such exploits, instead taking advantage of poor security and poorly patched systems.
    • Intelligence Contractors Being Paid Millions To Surf The Web, Sext With Teens, Have Affairs With Co-Workers
      There's way too much fraud, misconduct, and criminal activity in these reports to fully cover here. The 264 pages [PDF] released to Leopold and Vice as the result of an FOIA lawsuit detail extramarital affairs involving supervisors and subordinates, unapproved telecommuting by contractors handling sensitive documents, and page after page of attendance fraud.

      Multiple cases are included, most involving hundreds of hours and tens of thousands of dollars of unearned wages. The intelligence community has the big budget and all the manpower it wants, but it apparently doesn't have enough actual work to keep them all busy. Contractors have charged taxpayers for hours they never worked, running personal errands, moonlighting as university instructors, and tending their Farmville crops.

      This is the direct result of the community's "collect it all" attitude. If some is good, more is better, and while budgets and staffing expand exponentially, lots and lots of tax dollars are spent paying contractors who aren't doing anything and plenty of other contractors engaged in IC busywork that contributes nothing to the nation's security and safety.


    • Racial Disparities in Police 'Stingray' Surveillance, Mapped
      Louise Goldsberry, a Florida nurse, was washing dishes when she looked outside her window and saw a man pointing a gun at her face. Goldsberry screamed, dropped to the floor, and crawled to her bedroom to get her revolver. A standoff ensued with the gunman—who turned out to be an agent with the U.S. Marshals’ fugitive division.

      Goldsberry, who had no connection to a suspect that police were looking for, eventually surrendered and was later released. Police claimed that they raided her apartment because they had a “tip” about the apartment complex. But, according to Slate, the reason the “tip” was so broad was because the police had obtained only the approximate location of the suspect’s phone—using a “Stingray” phone tracker, a little-understood surveillance device that has quietly spread from the world of national security into that of domestic law enforcement.
    • Ex-NSA head suggests US also hacks political parties
      Former CIA and NSA Director Michael Hayden on Tuesday implied that the United States, too, has hacked foreign political parties.

      The difference between the U.S.’s actions and Russia in the 2016 presidential election, Hayden said, was that “once they got that information, they weaponized it.”

      But up until they weaponized information, Hayden said their actions were par for the course.

      “I have to admit my definition of what the Russians did [in hacking the Democratic National Committee] is, unfortunately, honorable state espionage," Hayden said during an on-stage interview at the Heritage Foundation.


    • Snowden: the IT analyst turned whistleblower who exposed mass surveillance
      Essentially, this is the tale of an idealistic patriot motivated solely by the common good. He enlists to serve his country and, when the gruelling army regime leads to broken legs and an administrative discharge, he joins the CIA. An unethical field mission in Geneva leads him to resign, only to join the NSA as an infrastructure analyst.


    • NSA's post-Edward Snowden reforms fall short
      When Edward Snowden swiped a trove of classified information from the National Security Agency and released it to journalists, he exposed deep flaws in the way America's intelligence community secures its most sensitive computer data. The NSA and the federal government embarked on reforms meant to never allow a breach as devastating and extensive as Snowden's to happen again.

      Those reforms included overhauling the way Washington conducts background checks on people given access to classified information, a new task force to create and enforce security rules for agencies that handle sensitive data, and cutbacks in the number of employees allowed access to top secret material. Booz Allen Hamilton, the consulting firm that employed Snowden and the recipient of billions of dollars in contracts with the U.S. intelligence community, last year teamed up with Raytheon to create a service that records an employee's activity on his or her computer screen.


    • Yahoo accused of scanning emails for US government


      The American Civil Liberties Union, Edward Snowden and others criticized Yahoo after an unverified report released Tuesday claimed the company scanned all of its users' emails for the National Security Agency.

      [...]

      Amnesty International also dashed off a disapproving statement regarding the company.

      “If true, this news will greatly undermine trust in the internet," said Sherif Elsayed-Ali, head of technology and human rights at the organization.


    • Businesses cooperate with government mass surveillance at their peril, says Edward Snowden
      Resisting government mass surveillance isn’t just the right thing to do — it’s good for business, whistleblower Edward Snowden told a Toronto cybersecurity conference Tuesday.

      Speaking via video link to the annual Canadian industry event SecTor, Snowden brought up the recent revelation that Yahoo! Inc. had agreed to scan customer’s emails for U.S. intelligence. Yahoo also recently disclosed its email accounts were hacked in 2014 and Verizon Communications Inc. has since announced it is attempting to renegotiate its US$4.8 billion agreement to buy the company.


    • Edward Snowden talks privacy, surveillance at Valley cybersecurity conference
      Some call Edward Snowden a hero, while others call him a traitor.

      The whistleblower and former intelligence officer helped launch a global debate on privacy after revealing the National Security Agency’s mass surveillance programs in 2013.

      Snowden talked with CyberScout employees and customers via Skype at the Scottsdale company’s fourth annual Privacy Xchange Forum Monday afternoon at the Boulders Resort in Carefree.
    • The Echo Chamber: On Snowden


      Without Snowden and others like him, we would be completely unaware as to how our government is spying on us. But was he in the right? Who gets to decide what is leak-worthy? And how much should our government be spying on us and the world around us? These questions are for you to decide. I just hope that you’ve enjoyed some time outside of The Echo Chamber.


    • Imagine if Donald Trump Controlled the NSA
      When Edward Snowden first came forward in 2013 as the leaker of the biggest trove of National Security Agency secrets ever spilled, he ended his first interview by noting that his greatest concern was about the agency’s future. He feared that a less scrupulous commander-in-chief would take charge of the executive branch and with it, the most highly resourced surveillance agency in the world, ready to be exploited in new and troubling ways. “There will be nothing the people can do at that point to oppose it,” Snowden warned. “And it will be turnkey tyranny.”

      Three years later, America has watched Donald Trump praise foreign dictators from Kim Jong Un to Vladimir Putin, vow to appoint a special prosecutor to investigate his opponent, Hillary Clinton, if he’s elected, and call for Russian hackers to dig up Clinton’s emails. “I wish I had that power,” he later said in a campaign speech. “Man, that would be power.” If that statement didn’t sufficiently reveal Trump’s lust for surveillance capabilities, he reportedly listened in on phone calls between staff and guests at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach in the mid-2000s. As Trump and Clinton prepare for their final debate tonight—this time focused on national security—NSA alumni as well as critics are concerned that Trump may be exactly the turnkey tyrant Snowden had in mind.
    • Appeals Court Affirms NSA Surveillance Can Be Used To Investigate Domestic Criminal Suspects
      The Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals confirms what's already known about the NSA's domestic surveillance: it's not just for terrorism.

      The NSA collections -- done in the FBI's name -- are supposed to only gather info related to international terrorism. But that requirement has been phased out. The NSA "tips" a certain amount of data to the FBI for its own use and it has been shown in the past to do the same for the DEA, which it then instructs to obscure the origin of its info.

      An opinion [PDF] just released by the Appeals Court, says basically the same thing: although the NSA's surveillance is supposed to be used to sniff out terrorists, there's nothing in the law that prevents it from using its collections to go after criminals.


    • ACLU takes on Fisa court over secret decisions on surveillance laws
      The American Civil Liberties Union is challenging a secret court to effectively turn its back on deciding the meaning of a broad swath of surveillance and cybersecurity laws without public disclosure.

      A motion the ACLU is filing on Wednesday before the controversial foreign intelligence surveillance (Fisa) court, a panel that operates in secret, argues that the first amendment requires the release of numerous classified decisions between 2001 and 2015 that have established a legal foundation for expanding the government’s surveillance activities.

      Among the Fisa court opinions sought is an interpretation of the seminal Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 that many suspect will shed light on a reported Yahoo program to scan vast amounts of users’ emails.





  • Civil Rights/Policing



    • TSA staffer claims retaliation in do-nothing jobs
      A Transportation Security Administration worker is urging criminal charges against the head of the agency for assigning him do-nothing jobs after he won reinstatement to the job he lost as a whistle-blower.

      TSA Administrator Peter Neffenger told Congress that Robert MacLean, a former air marshal who flew undercover and was armed to thwart terrorists, has received substantive assignments since he was reinstated in the decade-long personnel conflict that reached the Supreme Court.

      MacLean was fired in April 2006 for disclosing years earlier to MSNBC that TSA planned to reduce air marshals on overnight flights. TSA charged that he revealed secret information.

      But MacLean fought the dismissal all the way to the Supreme Court, where justices ruled in January 2015 that his disclosures weren’t “specifically prohibited by law.” TSA reinstated him in May 2015 rather than continue the dispute at the Merit Systems Protection Board.


    • Turkey Becomes Brazil: Orders Victim To Pay For Costs Of Trial After Police Blinded Him
      If George Orwell's "1984" has become a how-to manual for the modern surveillance state, Terry Gilliam's dystopian satire "Brazil," released in 1985, is surely the film of the book (one of the possible titles considered for the film was "1984 €½"). Amongst its many brilliant and disturbing moments, there's the following dialog from an interview of Mr. Helpmann, the Deputy Minister of Information...


    • Kyrgyz tourist wounded in Gezi protests ordered to pay debt to Turkish state
      A Kyrgyz tourist who was wounded during the Gezi Park protests has been ordered to pay a total of 151 Turkish Liras to the Turkish state even though his injuries were caused by state police.

      Shavkatbek Saipov, 30, filed a complaint against the police, claiming that he lost his eye after a gas canister hit his face, but the court rejected his claims and ordered him to pay 151 liras as “the cost of trial.”


    • Documents Show Chicago PD Secretly Using Forfeiture Funds To Buy Surveillance Equipment
      The Chicago Reader has put together a massive, must-read investigation into the Chicago Police Department's secret budget. The Chicago PD has -- for years now -- used the spoils of its asset forfeiture program to obtain surveillance equipment like Stingrays. This discretionary spending is done off the city's books, allowing the CPD to avoid anything that might prevent it from acquiring surveillance tech -- like meddling city legislators… or the public itself.


    • FBI, CBP Join Forces To Turn Airports Into Informant Recruiting Centers
      The FBI and CBP have been using the nation's borders as recruiting stations for informants. This phrasing makes it sound a lot more voluntary than it actually is. The Intercept has obtained documents showing how these two agencies work together to pressure foreign visitors into basically becoming spies for the United States.


    • Revealed: The FBI’s Secret Methods for Recruiting Informants at the Border
      Think about arriving at the airport from a foreign country. You are tired from a long flight, anxious about your baggage, and thinking about meeting your family in the arrivals area. You may not have seen them in years. Perhaps it is your first time in the United States. Perhaps you do not speak English well. Perhaps you plan to ask for asylum. Perhaps you are coming from a country where interactions with people in uniform generally involve bribery, intimidation, or worse.

      The FBI and U.S. Customs and Border Protection work closely together to turn these vulnerabilities into opportunities for gathering intelligence, according to government documents obtained by The Intercept. CBP assists the FBI in its efforts to target travelers entering the country as potential informants, feeding the bureau passenger lists and pulling people aside for lengthy interrogations in order to gather intelligence from them on the FBI’s behalf, the documents show. In one briefing, CBP bills itself as the “GO TO agency in the Law Enforcement world when it comes to identifying individuals of either source or lead potential.”

      When the FBI wants to find informants that fit a certain profile — say, men of Pakistani origin between the ages of 18 and 35 — it has at its fingertips a wealth of data from government agencies like CBP.


    • Highland Clearances


      Deporting children who have only ever known Scotland is ludicrous. Fairly well the entire community of Laggan has written in support of the Zielsdorfs. Both Jason and Christy have Scottish ancestry.
    • The Ugliest Face of Unionism
      Cohen’s fury that a member of his neo-con clique should be denigrated, leads him to deny the existence of the most extreme misogyny imaginable. It also leads him to make the laughable assertion that the SNP control the media in Scotland. In Scotland the BBC, STV and 80% of the newspapers are viciously anti-SNP. Plainly that is not enough for Cohen. He hates the SNP for providing an alternative to unionism, he hates Corbyn for providing an alternative to neo-liberalism, and he hates the idea of anybody criticising the neo-con cheerleaders. His pathology is simple enough. But why does the Spectator pay him for it?


    • Charges Dropped Against Amy Goodman–No Thanks to Corporate Media


      Few corporate media journalists took note of a fellow reporter being charged with trespass for doing her job (FAIR.0rg, 9/15/16). When the prosecutor upped the ante by trying to build a criminal charge based on his perception of a reporter’s point of view, this still did not provoke much attention—let alone outcry—from outlets whose lucrative commercial enterprises are dependent on the protection of the First Amendment.
    • North Dakota’s War on 1st Amendment Goes From Bad to Worse


      Both sets of charges relate to Goodman’s coverage of protests against the Dakota Access Pipeline project, which is opposed by a Native American–led coalition that is concerned about its threat to sacred and historic sites, North Dakota’s water resources and the planet’s climate. While accusing a journalist of trespassing for covering a breaking story of vital public interest is a clear threat to freedom of the press (FAIR.org, 9/15/16), a riot charge would be even worse, because it would attempt to criminalize Goodman’s point of view as a reporter.


    • Dutch woman raped on vacation receives ‘lenient’ suspended sentence from Qatari court for ‘adultery’
      A Dutch woman who reported being drugged and raped while on vacation in Doha was sentenced to a one-year suspended jail term by a Qatari court for having “illicit sex.” She had been held in custody since March.

      On Monday, a Qatari court sentenced a 22-year-old Dutch woman, known as Laura, to a one-year suspended sentence and fined her 3,000 riyals ($824) for having “extramarital sex.” The woman will be deported once she pays the fine, according to the court’s decision.

      While on vacation in Qatar in March, Laura went out for drinks at an upmarket nightclub in Doha before being taken to an unknown place where she said she was sexually assaulted.




  • Internet Policy/Net Neutrality

    • Comcast Sued For Misleading Fees It Claims Are Just Its Way Of Being 'Transparent'
      In addition to vanilla price hikes and usage caps and overage penalties, ISPs have spent the last few years borrowing a tactic from the banking industry to covertly jack up the advertised price of broadband service: the completely nonsensical hidden fee. From CenturyLink's $2 per month "Internet Cost Recovery Fee" to Fairpoint's $3 per month "Broadband Cost Recovery Fee," such fees usually just hide some of the cost of doing business below the line, letting an ISP advertise one price, then charge something quite different at the end of the month.


    • Vox Joins Growing Chorus Of Outlets Weirdly Crapping On Cord Cutting
      For a few years now there's been a lazy trend among reporters analyzing "cord cutting," or the practice of leaving legacy cable TV for streaming alternatives. Usually the narrative goes something like this "cord cutting is (stupid/failing/irrelevant/on the ropes) because users need to subscribe to multiple streaming video services to get the same amount of content they used to get with cable." Despite these stories popping up pretty much constantly these reports miss a few key points, the biggest being that nobody wants to duplicate the 300 channels of bullshit that comprises the traditional cable bundle.




  • Intellectual Monopolies



    • Trademarks



      • International report - Supreme Court to review exclusion of disparaging marks from federal trademark registration
        On September 29 2016 the Supreme Court granted certiorari in Lee v Tam. In so doing, the Supreme Court agreed to review a decision of the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit which held that the statutory prohibition on disparaging marks from federal trademark registration was unconstitutional.

        The trademark application at issue in Lee was for the mark THE SLANTS. The applicant was Simon Shiao Tam, a member of Asian American rock band The Slants. The mark was refused registration under Section 2(a) of the Lanham Act, which prohibits the registration of a mark that consists of “immoral, deceptive, or scandalous matter; or matter which may disparage or falsely suggest a connection with persons, living or dead, institutions, beliefs, or national symbols, or bring them into contempt or disrepute”. The mark was alleged to be likely to be disparaging to persons of Asian descent. After the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board affirmed the examiner’s rejection of the mark, the applicant appealed to the Federal Circuit. On rehearing en banc, the issue before the Federal Circuit was whether the Lanham Act’s prohibition of disparaging marks burdens private speech in violation of the First Amendment of the Constitution.




    • Copyrights



      • International report - Illegal hyperlinks: the final decision
        Is posting a hyperlink to a work which is protected by copyright allowed? The European Court of Justice (ECJ) has now said yes – and no.

        Since 2012 Sanoma and shockblog GeenStijl.nl have faced each other in court. GeenStijl had posted links on its website to unpublished photos from Playboy, a Sanoma publication. Sanoma claimed that GeenStijl violated its copyright. With the ECJ's ruling, this long-running case is now approaching a final decision.








Recent Techrights' Posts

Protecting People From So-called 'Social Media' is Not Censorship (No More Than Banning or Restricting Access to Cigarettes is 'Censorship')
it's not censorship when the thing you are censoring [sic] is itself a censorship powerhouse operated by a foreign and hostile nation (or oligarchs of Musk's nature)
[Meme] Solving Real Problems With So-called 'Social Media'?
Feeding and medically treating animals helps, unlike "likes"
EPO is Corrupt Like Always, What Changed is the Lack of Media Coverage (No Transparency Means No Democracy)
We need to revive online media and encourage dissent
[Meme] How NOT to Do Activism Online
So many self-professed liberals continue participating and driving traffic (ads) in X
Number of Libera.Chat Users (Simultaneously Online) Falls to Lowest Figure in Over 3 Years
Notice the downward trend/curve in recent months
Shedding Light on How the EPO Sheds Off Staff in Order to Grant Loads of Invalid (Fake) Patents in Europe
The people who decide on these policies lack a background in science
 
Google Has Only Solidified Its Search Monopoly in Africa Since Microsoft's Chatbot/LLM Hype Started
Africa is basically a "Failed Market" to Microsoft
[Teaser] EPO is Running Out of Brains
EPO has been in the business of offering fake patents
South Korea Has Its Own Alternative to IBM's Proprietary RHEL
Owing to the Open Enterprise Linux Association (OpenELA)
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, December 11, 2024
IRC logs for Wednesday, December 11, 2024
Fresh Rumour of Wave of IBM Layoffs Less Than a Fortnight Before Xmas Day
Unverified and anonymous
Links 11/12/2024: Additional Surveillance Ambitions and Cyberattacks on Sudanese Media
Links for the day
Links 11/12/2024: More Google Layoffs Rumoured for January, 'Linux' Foundation Colonises India
Links for the day
Mozilla's Firefox is Floundering, in the United Kingdom Its Share Fell to 2% This Month
HTTPS is becoming little but a transport layer for Chrome-like browsers, i.e. proprietary things with DRM and perhaps attestation (which means you cannot modify them; you'd get blocked for trying)
Links 11/12/2024: Climate Warming, 'People Can Fly' Layoffs
Links for the day
Gemini Links 11/12/2024: LLMs as Plagiarism, Advent of Code 2024 Momentum
Links for the day
In United Arab Emirates (UAE), Microsoft Now on One in 8 Internet-Connected Devices?
Web-connected clients are becoming scarce that run Microsoft operating systems (Windows)
IBM and Microsoft Hats at Linux Foundation
"Fedora Project Leader Matthew Miller: A change of hats!"
IBM's Latest Fedora Divestment Speaks for Itself
Microsoft must be very pleased with what IBM is doing
Why is UK Press Gazette Jingoistic About Plagiarists and LLM Slop Disguised as Journalism?
Press Gazette appears to be participating in the attack on honest journalism
In Central Africa, Which is Bigger Than Europe, Windows is About 5% in Terms of "Market Share"
they apparently got so fed up with colonialism
Communicating Outside of Skinnerboxes and Social Control Media
Tackling collective isolation and miscommunication (or communications being controlled by middlemen)
[Meme] Social Control Media is NOT Free Speech
It's time to discard that stupid argument that banning an abusive censor is "censorship"
Banning Not Only TikTok... if Not for FOMOC (Fear of Missing on Constituents)
It's a sort of addiction by peer pressure
Montenegro's Share of GNU/Linux Reaches All-Time High
We don't really know why, but that's just what the data from statCounter suggests
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, December 10, 2024
IRC logs for Tuesday, December 10, 2024
Yes, Of Course the Linux Foundation's OpenSSF Rejects Open Source and GNU/Linux (New Report)
longstanding tradition
Links 10/12/2024: Nvidia's Regulatory Woes, Trust Issues in LLMs (and Similar Recent Hype)
Links for the day
Gemini Links 10/12/2024: Lagrange 1.18.4 Released, New RNG
Links for the day
More Chatbot 'Articles' About Chatbots
Look what's happening to the Web...
Microsoft Falls to All-Time Lows in Cameroon
Windows down to just 4.6%
Brittany Day Still Uses Bots to 'Write' Articles (But Not All the Time)
it leads to a presumption of plagiarism
Links 10/12/2024: Trying "Hey Hi" With New Hype and Buzzwords, TikTok Bans Imminent
Links for the day
Google's CEO: LLMs' ‘Low-Hanging Fruit’ Now Exhausted
They basically tell shareholders not to expect returns on this hype
Microsoft Windows Falls to 11% in Senegal, an All-Time Low
In neighbouring countries (to the east of Senegal) the "market share" of Windows is even lower
The EPO's Corrupt Dealings With Microsoft Never Addressed, Only Worsened
it helps Microsoft spy on the competition and manipulate examiners dealing with its files
The Catching of Luigi Mangione Shows We Need Not Have More Surveillance (Than We Already Have; It's Excessive Anyway)
instead of saying surveillance is insufficient and thus we need more of it, now they can claim they have enough of it
[Teaser] Fate of Formalities Officers (FOs) at the EPO
Coming soon
Libre Liberia: Windows Down to 8% in Liberia
In Liberia, only about 1 in 12 Web requests seems to originate from Windows
Links 10/12/2024: Health, Politics, Economics, and More
Links for the day
Gemini Links 10/12/2024: LLM Plagiarism and "Flow" Review
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Monday, December 09, 2024
IRC logs for Monday, December 09, 2024