Bonum Certa Men Certa

On Our Publication Strategy and Platform

We're constantly reassessing the way we cover topics

Thoughtful man



Summary: We've made adaptations -- many of them this year alone -- in order to better cover more topics and moreover the right topics (with longstanding importance)

THE Web is rotting away. Web sites become programs, monopolies hoard most of the traffic, DRM is being interjected into packets (for the sole purpose of copyright monopolies, encryption misused), and various sites are taken down, sometimes even Free software projects (many examples lately in GitHub).



"COVID-19 has shown us that there's more to this planet than money-making and we need to collaborate/cooperate for long-term sustainability."It's rather frustrating to see that even among GNU/Linux news sites (we mentioned Linux.com earlier today) there's a weakness; LXer was down for nearly two days, Linux Today has its RSS feeds days behind (and it's barely active regardless), IBM compels Red Hat to just turn GNU/Linux into a 'cash cow' (they don't get what community is), and the number of Mozilla volunteers (the real community) has dropped to about half a dozen based on the latest Firefox report.

There are several aspects here, not to be mistakenly conflated. There's Free software (or GNU/Linux), there's journalism, and there's the Web. All of them perish in different ways and for different reasons.

Building focusOver the past 6.5 years we've dedicated a lot of effort to exposing EPO corruption; we're fortunate to have acquired the trust of those with access to 'crown jewels' and I've devoted entire nights to putting information out there (at great cost to my physical health).

Techrights as a site had a generally good year; we've evolved and mostly adapted to new issues. We're sort of ahead of the times when it comes to covering IBM affairs; a week ago many more people realised we had been correct all along. Belated criticism isn't the same as putting their feet to the fire, to use the metaphor (companies like IBM spent much time and money pretending metaphors are so offensive that we must all change our code to avoid 'insulting' groups -- even groups that never complained about such metaphors in the first place).

FocusIn IRC there's over 70 of us (in the #techrights channel) and we try to focus on the more pressing issues, which is why we adopted alternatives to the World Wide Web this year. It's becoming a censorship and social control medium; we needed something decentralised. The addition of videos this week was partly motivated by the observations that some things are easier to discuss and demonstrate with something on the screen. It takes a lot longer to do it in text only. So far I've not scripted any of these videos and I did them all in one take -- the first time. That might change in the future, knowing that preparation can improve delivery and post-recording edits (which we never do) lead to concision.

Suffice to say, the site is not run only by yours truly; many people are involved, at different levels of capacity and roles. Some people code, some people set up Raspberry Pis to serve the site from multiple locations around the world, some contribute guest articles, and we've nourished a reasonably healthy community -- a real community that fosters fierce debates (disagreements are fine; no progress can be made without some civil feuds).

In terms of what we're about to publish, expect more news analysis and criticism. There's too much junk 'journalism' (in effect Public Relations) out there, sometimes intentionally misleading the public. That's the business model of those who are left in the "business". Thankfully for us, we don't depend on "business"; we don't rely on some revenue stream, so financial strings don't exist. We're 100% motivated by ideology and technical passion. Seeing software patents in Europe, for instance, bothers us deeply not because some "sponsors" ask us to "lobby"; we just know that such patents harm all software developers, and not just those who code the Free/libre way. Programmers everywhere are more interested in technical excellence than in money. Those who are more into the latter (greed) typically get recruited by technology giants which leverage technical domination for nefarious means. Typically, the sizes of their mortgages are inversely proportional to their moral abyss. COVID-19 has shown us that there's more to this planet than money-making and we need to collaborate/cooperate for long-term sustainability.

Recent Techrights' Posts

EPO Staff Representatives Confront the President Who Says 'F--king' in Front of Female Workers Over Measurable Discrimination Against Female Colleagues
Central Staff Committee versus Lukashenko's sponsor
IBM Layoffs in 'RTO' Clothing Reported by Thomas Claburn
This "hey hi" (AI) nonsense is just a go-to excuse that IBM and GAFAM (and many others) use
Still Waiting for the EU to Abolish the Illegal and Unconstitutional Court Linked to EPO Corruption and Lobbyism by the Patent Litigation Industry
Sadly, all the blogs that used to talk about those issues have been infiltrated and then completely hijacked by the very perpetrators of the illegality
[Video] Richard Stallman Questions and Answers Session in Google's YouTube or Invidious
From last night
Slopwatch: Anti-Linux Articles Published by Bots, Dominating Google News
So a lot of the Web is Microsoft chatbot-generated anti-Linux FUD
 
Gemini Links 13/02/2025: gwit and Restart
Links for the day
Links 13/02/2025: Algorithm Bots and 'Teleport' Breakthrough
Links for the day
Social Engineering of the Free Software Movement is a Corporate Takeover With Code of Conduct (CoC) to Drive Out or Expel Dissent
Richard Stallman (RMS) covered "cancel culture"
Links 13/02/2025: Mass Layoffs at Google (Disguised as "Buyouts"), Telecoms Price Hikes as Collusion/Price-Fixing
Links for the day
Gemini Links 13/02/2025: Broken Watches and Naming Types
Links for the day
Corrupt Bill Gates Worming His Way Into Richard Stallman Videos in Google's YouTube
Reputation laundering riding other people's names?
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, February 12, 2025
IRC logs for Wednesday, February 12, 2025
Links 12/02/2025: Crytek Layoffs, Security Holes, and Giving Ukraine to Russia
Links for the day
Relaying GAFAM Talking Points and Lies Using GAFAM LLMs, or Slop Pasted in by Brittany Day
linuxsecurity.com is relaying slop, i.e. misinformation
Photos From This Evening's Talk by Dr. Richard Stallman in Torino, Maybe a Video Soon
The talk that Dr. Richard Stallman gave today (a few hours ago) was recorded and streamed
IlSoftware.it Covers Richard Stallman's Visit to Give Talks in Italy
The publication is in Italian, the talk was in English
Macho Patent Office
At the EPO there's always room for women in top roles
Gemini Links 12/02/2025: "Bream Gives Me Hiccups", Making Chinese Tea, and More
Links for the day
This is Why Codeberg Issues an Apology Today
This response was clear and relatively swift
The Register Studies (to Affirm) Reports of IBM Layoffs "at the Finance and Operations business unit"
something about that specific unit
Links 12/02/2025: SSL FUD, DEI Phase-out, Felonies Committed by MElon (Data Breaches)
Links for the day
Italian Media Covers Richard Stallman's English Talk Ahead of Tonight's Public Appearance
article in La Stampa
Destruction and Distortion of Information, Including Facts About Linux (Bonus: This is Destroying the Planet)
All that LLMs have going for them is hype, and moreover media that intentionally misrepresents them and their supposed capabilities
Google Seems to Have Just Killed All Instances of Invidious
YouTube is rapidly becoming just "another Neflix"
Microsoft Skype in a Freefall: About 20% Decrease in Site Traffic in 3 Months (Amid Microsoft Phasing Out Credits)
Microsoft axing more services/features may mean that now they scrape the bottom of the barrel and Skype will simply die, discontinuing service (like ICQ) in a matter of years
Gemini Links 12/02/2025: Depression, Gabbro, WikiTok, and More
Links for the day
Links 12/02/2025: Health, Security, and Monopolies
Links for the day
Gemini Protocol is Increasingly Important to the Net
Gemini Protocol will turn 6 this summer
Former EPO Manager Warns That the Illegal 'Court' for "Unitary Patents" Enables “Law Shopping”
Daniel X. Thomas opposed the very existence of the UPC, which any honest person could recognise was both illegal and unconstitutional
Like GAFAM, the EPO is Passing the Financial Pains to Staff
the EPO is operating illegally at this point
Morale at Microsoft Ruined by the Company Labelling Thousands of Workers 'Low Performers', Sacking Them on the Spot and Denying Them Basic Benefits
people laid off as "low performers" go to social control media to bemoan the label
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, February 11, 2025
IRC logs for Tuesday, February 11, 2025
Links 11/02/2025: Current state of the Internet and Smallnet Information Services (SIS)
Links for the day
Conservative Estimate: Over 10,000 IBM Workers to Be Laid Off in the Next Two Waves
The morale is low and layoffs are expected soon, with mass layoffs likely happening next month and then again later
Links 11/02/2025: Trade Wars and "Crisis for American Universities"
Links for the day
Parasitic LLM Slop Sites Destroy the Ability to Find "Linux" News in Google News
Remember that Google News laid off lots of its workers
Richard Stallman's English Talk in Italy Less Than 24 Hours Away (Torino) and Then Another Talk in Italy Scheduled (University of Bozen-Bolzano)
He's active and he travels a lot in spite of his medical condition
IBM Layoff Rumours, Large-Scale Implementations Weeks Ahead (in March 2025)
There are some people corroborating
Links 11/02/2025: Nutritional Poverty, Closure of USAID, More Fictional 'Valuations' Around Buzzwords
Links for the day
Perl Programming Leftovers
recently in perl.org
Microsoft in Africa: From 98% to Less Than 10% in Just 16 Years
Microsoft being on less than 1 in 10 Web-connected devices in Africa is a very big deal
Almost as If MElon Reads Techrights
The joke we started appears to be spreading
Microsoft Blasted for Adding Insult to Injury: Workers Laid Off Without Prior Notice, Without Severance Payment and Basic Coverage (Like Health), Then Stigmatised as Bad Performers So They Cannot Find a Job Elsewhere
Such stereotypes end entire careers
Gemini Links 11/02/2025: NeoVim and Deploying Other People's Code
Links for the day
BetaNews is Still Publishing LLM Slop/SPAM About "Linux"
Assuming it is indeed LLM slop, it seems clear BetaNews has no intention of improving or is simply unable/unwilling to improve
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Monday, February 10, 2025
IRC logs for Monday, February 10, 2025