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Links 30/03/2023: LibreOffice 7.5.2 and Linux 6.2.9

  • GNU/Linux

    • Server

      • Kubernetes BlogKubernetes Validating Admission Policies: A Practical Example

        Admission control is an important part of the Kubernetes control plane, with several internal features depending on the ability to approve or change an API object as it is submitted to the server. It is also useful for an administrator to be able to define business logic, or policies, regarding what objects can be admitted into a cluster. To better support that use case, Kubernetes introduced external admission control in v1.7.

        In addition to countless custom, internal implementations, many open source projects and commercial solutions implement admission controllers with user-specified policy, including Kyverno and Open Policy Agent’s Gatekeeper.

        While admission controllers for policy have seen adoption, there are blockers for their widespread use. Webhook infrastructure must be maintained as a production service, with all that entails. The failure case of an admission control webhook must either be closed, reducing the availability of the cluster; or open, negating the use of the feature for policy enforcement. The network hop and evaluation time makes admission control a notable component of latency when dealing with, for example, pods being spun up to respond to a network request in a "serverless" environment.

    • Audiocasts/Shows

      • Linux in the Ham ShackLHS Episode #502: Blown Away

        Welcome to the 502nd episode of Linux in the Ham Shack. In this short-topics episode, the hosts take on a variety of topics including: ham radio during tornado season, operators...

    • Kernel Space

      • LWNLinux 6.2.9
        I'm announcing the release of the 6.2.9 kernel.
        
        

        All users of the 6.2 kernel series must upgrade.

        The updated 6.2.y git tree can be found at: git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/stable/linux-stable.git linux-6.2.y and can be browsed at the normal kernel.org git web browser: https://git.kernel.org/?p=linux/kernel/git/stable/linux-s...

        thanks,

        greg k-h

      • LWN6.1.22
      • LWNLinux 5.15.105
      • LWNLinux 5.4.239
    • Applications

      • GamingOnLinuxBlender 3.5 is out now with fancy new hair

        Continuing to show how great open source is, the Blender team have released Blender 3.5 with some really fancy new features. Blender is used across many different industries from games to films and more.

      • GamingOnLinuxOBS Studio 29.1 Beta 1 brings AV1 / HEVC over RTMP

        The team working on the free and open source video recording and livestreaming software OBS Studio, have released the first Beta for version 29.1 with a big new feature.

    • Instructionals/Technical

      • How to Install and Configure GlusterFS on AlmaLinux

        GlusterFS is a distributed file system that provides scalable and highly available network storage solutions. It aggregates disk storage resources from multiple servers into a single global namespace. GlusterFS allows you to easily create a virtual pool of storage that you can use for various applications.

      • It's FOSSLinux Terminal Basics #7: Copy Files and Directories in Linux

        Learn how to copy files and directories in Linux using the command line in this part of the Terminal Basics series.

      • Make Tech EasierHow to Move Your Home Folder to Another Partition in Linux

        If you have accepted the default option of using the entire disk while installing Ubuntu, or if your computer came with Ubuntu preinstalled, you are likely to have a Home folder in the same partition as all of your system files. Under any normal circumstances, this would be fine.

      • Nikhil MaratheRemote Dbus Notifications over SSH

        notify-send uses the Desktop Notification spec that relies on DBus to propagate a request to show a notification. This is a widely supported standard in the Linux ecosystem powering all notifications, regardless of which desktop environment you use.

        However my simple approach doesn’t work as soon as I’m logged into a remote machine. At my current job, I’m nearly always logged into a remote machine.

        Fortunately, because of how DBus is implemented, it turns out to be trivial to have a remote notify-send execution show a local desktop notification! Here is how.

      • DJ AdamsLearning from community solutions on Exercism

        There's a relatively new jq track on Exercism, and I've been working through some of the exercises. There are at least a couple of features that appeal to me; one is the ability to easily write and submit solutions from the command line (see Working Locally) and the other is the community solutions that are available to you after you submit your own first solution.

        As well as the direct benefit of practice, I've learned and been reminded of aspects of jq while looking through the community solutions. So I thought I'd write some of them up here, because writing will also help me remember.

        I'll start with some simple observations.

      • University of TorontoThe case of the very wrong email Content-Transfer-Encoding

        The MIME Content-Transfer-Encoding header is supposed to tell you the encoding of the MIME part in question, including the implicit top level part of the email. Typical values are things like '7bit', '8bit', 'quoted-printable', or 'base64'. Needless to say, this email's C-T-E is complete garbage, and a picky email client would say that it couldn't decode the message because it doesn't understand the 'amazonses.com' encoding.

      • SequoiaPGPPretty graphics for the Web of Trust

        Many software projects sign their prebuilt software or source code. These signatures can be verified to establish the authenticity of the work. This can happen in the form of detached signatures for files or signatures on version control objects, such as signed git commits and tags and establishes a verifiable link between a certificate and a public artifact. To rely on the signatures, we need to also authenticate the certificates that made them. A WoT makes it easier to verify these certificates.

        A notable similar application (and inspiration) to what is described in this article is wotmate which provides visual graphs for the Linux Kernel’s pgpkeys project.

    • Games

    • Desktop Environments/WMs

      • K Desktop Environment/KDE SC/Qt

        • My work in KDE for March 2023

          Another month in the year, another collection of bugfixes and features I contributed to KDE!

          Documentation Improvements
  • Distributions and Operating Systems

  • Free, Libre, and Open Source Software

    • [Old] Sébastien WilmetSébastien Wilmet: gedit on the Microsoft Store [Ed: Wasting one's time on Microsoft DRM and surveillance]
    • EarthlyNix Turns 20. What the Hell Is It?

      I tend to describe it as a build system that pretends to be a package manager or the other way around. If you take Make, the grandfather of all build systems, Make has this nice interface where you just describe everything that you want to be built. You describe your dependencies, and then you build that…and it’s nice; it’s declarative.

    • Web Browsers/Web Servers

      • Mozilla

        • OpenSource.com6 steps to reduce the carbon footprint of your website

          According to Mozilla, Information Communications Technology (ICT) is expected to emit more carbon by 2025 than any single country besides China, India, and the United States. We tend not to think of the physical scale of the internet, but it is a massive machine. It is critical that we consider the energy that is consumed to both run the internet and allow for its exponential growth.

          It is estimated that today digital technology uses between 5-9% of global electricity. This estimate is particularly concerning as only a quarter of our electricity comes from renewable resources. There is an increasing demand for electrical infrastructure as fossil fuels transition out of consumer and industrial uses.

          There are also carbon implications for building and disposing of digital devices. Electronics are not generally designed for longevity, repair, or recycling. Digital tools consume rare minerals and water, and e-waste is a growing problem.

          I will explore these aspects of web sustainability and others in this article. While my focus is on Drupal, these general principles apply to most of the web, particularly open source tools and ways to leverage the work of these communities. Likewise, I will also provide practical steps that people can take to reduce the environmental footprint of their sites.

    • Productivity Software/LibreOffice/Calligra

      • LibreOffice 7.5.2 Community available for download

        LibreOffice 7.5.2 Community, the second minor release of the LibreOffice 7.5 line, the volunteer-supported free office suite for desktop productivity, is available from from our download page for Windows (Intel/AMD and ARM processors), macOS (Apple Silicon and Intel processors), and Linux.

      • 9to5LinuxLibreOffice 7.5.2 Open-Source Office Suite Is Out with 96 Bug Fixes, Download Now

        The LibreOffice 7.5.2 point release is here almost a month after the LibreOffice 7.5.1 point release to address a total of 96 bugs that have been reported by users or discovered by the LibreOffice developers in the LibreOffice 7.5 series.

        LibreOffice 7.5.2 is available for download right from the official website as binary installers for DEB or RPM-based GNU/Linux distributions, as well as a source tarball for system integrators and those who want to compile it from sources.

    • FSF

    • Programming/Development

      • Volodymyr GubarkovAWK technical notes

        In the previous article Fascination with AWK we discussed why AWK is great for prototyping and is often the best alternative to the shell and Python. In this article I want to show you some interesting technical facts I learned about AWK.

      • Vice Media GroupThe Open Letter to Stop 'Dangerous' AI Race Is a Huge Mess

        More than 30,000 people—including Tesla’s Elon Musk, Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak, politician Andrew Yang, and a few leading AI researchers—have signed an open letter calling for a six-month pause on training AI systems more powerful than GPT-4.

        The letter immediately caused a furor as signatories walked back their positions, some notable signatories turned out to be fake, and many more AI researchers and experts vocally disagreed with the letter’s proposal and approach.

      • Computer WorldTech big wigs: Hit the brakes on AI rollouts

        The missive also warns of political disruptions “especially to democracy” from AI: chatbots acting as humans could flood social media and other networks with propaganda and untruths. And it warned that AI could “automate away all the jobs, including the fulfilling ones.”

        The letter called on civic leaders — not the technology community — to take charge of decisions around the breadth of AI deployments.

      • LLVM ProjectAdding a new target/object backend to LLVM JITLink

        Our code often relies on external dependencies. For example, even a simple hello-world program written in C depends on the C stdlib for the printf function. These external dependencies are expressed as symbolic references, which I will henceforth refer to as just symbols. Symbols are names of data or functions that have unknown addresses and are resolved or fixed up during the linking process.

      • QtQt Creator 10 released
  • Leftovers

    • The NationTheodora Smiley Lacey, Civil Rights Activist
    • The NationChristianity’s Place in the Left and the Right

      The purpose of David Hollinger’s new book, Christianity’s American Fate, is twofold. Hollinger, the Preston Hotchkis Professor of History emeritus at UC Berkeley, first seeks to explain how Christianity in the United States became synonymous, in large measure, with conservative white evangelicalism. He then seeks to offer explanations for the decline of mainline liberal Protestantism’s influence on American culture and society.

    • The NationA Portrait of Leonard Cohen as a Young Artist

      One legend about Leonard Cohen goes like this: It’s the early 1970s, and the Canadian musician and poet is performing in Jerusalem. As was his custom at the time, he and his band are on a tremendous amount of mescaline. He feels self-conscious and fears the music isn’t reaching its full potential. Standing before the microphone, he confesses his doubts to the audience and offers a refund. “You know, some nights one is raised off the ground,” he says, “and some nights you just can’t get off the ground.” He takes a break backstage, where he is struck by a sudden impulse: He needs a shave. Standing before the mirror, he takes a razor to his face and begins the process with irrepressible joy, then performs the rest of the set, rejuvenated and with a slight razor burn. (This scene was caught on tape by Tony Palmer for his 1974 documentary, Bird on a Wire.)

    • Silicon AngleHygraph raises $30M for its content federation platform
      Hygraph GmbH, a startup helping companies manage content assets such as product listings and marketing copy, today announced that it has raised $30 million in funding. The Series B round was led by One Peak. Berlin-based Hygraph said that it will use the capital to speed up product development initiatives.

    • The NationDisability Is Always Someone Else’s Problem

      In the United States, children with severe disabilities, especially intellectual disabilities, face an ignominious juncture around age 20. Aging out of school is referred to as “the cliff,” as students go abruptly from the structure and services provided in school into… nothingness as adults. During our son’s last Individual Education Plan (special needs) meeting, we argued for funding for his Covid makeup year (an additional year offered to some special needs students turning 21 in New York). The Department of Education representative refused, then actually laughed when I described what it was like living at home full-time with Jason, diagnosed with autism and intellectual disability. The representative apologized later, saying only that he was surprised it was “that bad.”1

    • Science

      • GreeceElusive ‘einstein’ solves a long-standing math problem

        In less poetic terms, an einstein is an “aperiodic monotile,” a shape that tiles a plane, or an infinite two-dimensional flat surface, but only in a nonrepeating pattern. (The term “einstein” comes from the German “ein stein,” or “one stone” – more loosely, “one tile” or “one shape.”) Your typical wallpaper or tiled floor is part of an infinite pattern that repeats periodically; when shifted, or “translated,” the pattern can be exactly superimposed on itself. An aperiodic tiling displays no such “translational symmetry,” and mathematicians have long sought a single shape that could tile the plane in such a fashion. This is known as the einstein problem.

      • HackadayBiohybrid Implant Patches Broken Nerves With Stem Cells

        Neural interfaces have made great strides in recent years, but still suffer from poor longevity and resolution. Researchers at the University of Cambridge have developed a biohybrid implant to improve the situation.

      • Vice Media GroupScientists: Stonehenge Is Not a Calendar, It's Something More Mysterious

        A researcher recently claimed to have solved the mystery of Stonehenge's purpose, but new work claims to debunk the explanation that it's a calendar.

    • Education

      • IdiomdrottningZettelkasten

        Searching: I love the saying “A short pencil beats a long memory”, but there’s something that beats even a pencil since it can help you if you forget where you wrote it down. That’s right! Good old Ctrl-F! Their crusty old paper boxes can’t grep this.♥

        First of all, searching can help us do editing and linking more effectively. That’s the key benefit. Searching can also help us find connections that we didn’t even know about. A great index or linking system can make us find specific cards that we have deliberately referenced. Searching can make us find things that we had forgotten about entirely.

      • MeduzaSTEM students protest school’s decision to require Chinese study for graduation — Meduza

        The student council of Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology (“MFTI”) has launched a petition protesting the new requirement that all students must study Chinese to graduate.

      • Robin SchroerActive Onboarding

        Having recently changed jobs, I had the pleasure of onboarding for the first time in four years again, definitely a change of pace. Being quite senior at this point, I have been worrying a bit about how to join a new organisation and perform on my level, not having benefited from working directly on the ground for a long time, thus lacking direct technical experience and also social legitimacy.

    • Hardware

      • HackadayMOSFET Heater Is Its Own Thermostat

        While we might all be quick to grab a microcontroller and an appropriate sensor to solve some problem, gather data about a system, or control another piece of technology, there are some downsides with this method. Software has a lot of failure modes, and relying on it without any backups or redundancy can lead to problems. Often, a much more reliable way to solve a simple problem is with hardware. This heating circuit, for example, uses a MOSFET as a heating element and as its own temperature control.

      • HackadayStripped Clock Wheel Gets A New Set Of Teeth, The Hard Way

        If there’s one thing we’ve learned from [Chris] at Clickspring, it’s that a clockmaker will stop at nothing to make a clock not only work perfectly, but look good doing it. That includes measures as extreme as this complete re-toothing of a wheel from a clock. Is re-toothing even a word?

      • HackadayThe BLE Datalogging Scale Of A Thousand Uses

        Whether you’re making coffee or beer or complex chemicals, weighing your ingredients carefully and tracking them is key to getting good results. [Tech Dregs] decided to build a logging scale that would work seamlessly with his smartphone, and shared the design on YouTube.

      • HackadayGenerating Instead Of Storing Meshes

        The 64kB is a category in the demoscene where the total executable size must be less than 65,536 bytes, and at that size, storing vertexes, edges, and normal maps is a waste of space. [Ctrl-Alt-Test] is a French Demoscene group that has been doing incredible animations for the last 13 years. They’ve written an excellent guide on how they’ve been procedurally generating the meshes in their demos.

      • HackadayCompose Any Song With Twelve Buttons

        Limitations placed on any creative process often paradoxically create an environment in which creativity flourishes. A simple overview of modern pop, rock, or country music illustrates this principle quite readily. A bulk of these songs are built around a very small subset of music theory, often varying no more than the key or the lyrics. Somehow, almost all modern popular music exists within this tiny realm. [DeckerEgo] may have had this idea in mind when he created this tiny MIDI device which allows the creation of complex musical scores using a keyboard with only 12 buttons.

    • Health/Nutrition/Agriculture

      • CNNChildren and teens are more likely to die by guns than anything else

        Firearms accounted for nearly 19% of childhood deaths (ages 1-18) in 2021, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Wonder database. Nearly 3,600 children died in gun-related incidents that year. That’s about five children lost for every 100,000 children in the United States. In no other comparable country are firearms within the top four causes of mortality among children, according to a KFF analysis.

      • New York TimesPope Francis Is in Hospital and Will Stay for Several Days

        The Vatican said the 86-year-old pontiff was taken to a hospital in Rome, where he was being treated for a respiratory infection.

    • Proprietary

      • Data BreachesRansomware crooks are exploiting IBM file exchange bug with a 9.8 severity

        The IBM Aspera Faspex is a centralized file-exchange application that large organizations use to transfer large files or large volumes of files at very high speeds. Rather than relying on TCP-based technologies such as FTP to move files, Aspera uses IBM’s proprietary FASP—short for Fast, Adaptive, and Secure Protocol—to better utilize available network bandwidth. The product also provides fine-grained management that makes it easy for users to send files to a list of recipients in distribution lists or shared inboxes or workgroups, giving transfers a workflow that’s similar to email.

    • Pseudo-Open Source

      • Openwashing

        • OpenSource.comThe open source way of raising a family

          As a rebellious teenager in the 80s, "because I said so" was a phrase I heard all too often at home. I wasn't really a rebel. I just wanted to be heard and seen as a person starting to articulate their thoughts and emotions.

          The feeling I had of not being heard or listened to led me to believe that it's important to raise kids who are not afraid to speak up, but who can also learn to adapt. Listening to them and collaborating with kids can also help them be creative and, eventually, allow them to be part of a successful organization.

    • Security

      • India TimesMisconfigurations are the most common modus operandi for hacks, says study

        Misconfigurations are the most common modus operandi for hacks, says study "As we analyze the hacking landscape from 2019 to 2022, it's evident that the most prevalent forms of cyber attacks were misconfigurations and data breaches. Additionally, Ransomware remains a persistent threat, leveraging weak credentials to gain access to valuable data which can then be held for ransom. Other types of hacks, such as Social Engineering, Cyber Espionage, Insider Threats, Supply Chain Attacks, and Spear Phishing, pose significant risks to organizations and must be taken into consideration as part of a comprehensive security strategy," adds Tyagi.

      • OSI BlogWhy the European Commission must consult the Open Source communities
      • X.Org Security Advisory: CVE-2023-1393: X.Org Server Overlay Window Use-After-Free
        X.Org Security Advisory: March 29, 2023
        
        

        X.Org Server Overlay Window Use-After-Free ==========================================

        This issue can lead to local privileges elevation on systems where the X server is running privileged and remote code execution for ssh X forwarding sessions.

        ZDI-CAN-19866/CVE-2023-1393: X.Org Server Overlay Window Use-After-Free Local Privilege Escalation Vulnerability

        If a client explicitly destroys the compositor overlay window (aka COW), the Xserver would leave a dangling pointer to that window in the CompScreen structure, which will trigger a use-after-free later.

        Patches ------- Patch for this issue have been committed to the xorg server git repository. xorg-server 21.1.8 will be released shortly and will include this patch.

        - commit 26ef545b3 - composite: Fix use-after-free of the COW (https://gitlab.freedesktop.org/xorg/xserver/-/commit/26ef545b3)

        ZDI-CAN-19866/CVE-2023-1393

        If a client explicitly destroys the compositor overlay window (aka COW), we would leave a dangling pointer to that window in the CompScreen structure, which will trigger a use-after-free later.

        Make sure to clear the CompScreen pointer to the COW when the latter gets destroyed explicitly by the client.
      • Integrity/Availability/Authenticity

      • Privacy/Surveillance

        • Site36EU data hamsters: Atos manager moves to client after trouble with biometric flagship

          Agnès Diallo now oversees biometric databases sold to the EU by her former employer. Interesting to see how she deals with claims for compensation against Atos.



          [...]

          Last week, Agnès Diallo took office as the new director of the Tallinn-based Agency for the Operational Management of Large-Scale IT Systems (eu-LISA). The EU has thus once again given an important post to a highly-paid employee of the French software giant Atos: in 2019, Commission President Ursula von der Leyen had already appointed the then Atos CEO Thierry Breton as Commissioner for Industry and Internal Market.

          At Atos, Diallo held various management positions, most recently for the executive board. There she was responsible, among other things, for „improving the sales processes“ of the group of companies. In this context, she already worked together with eu-LISA, the agency confirmed in response to a question from „nd“.

        • Silicon AngleDespite backlash, US police are still using Clearview AI face recognition software
          The majority of Americans have always been somewhat uncomfortable about their police forces tracking their faces, but today the BBC reported that one of the most well-known firms in this regard is going stronger than ever. In what seems like a surprising admission given the controversy surrounding face recognition technology, Clearview AI Inc.

        • [Repeat] Silicon AngleAmazon opens developer access to its Sidewalk wireless network

          The network, which Amazon says covers more than 90% of the U.S. population, provides internet access for connected devices. Currently, only a relatively limited number of devices can use Sidewalk. Amazon now hopes to change by making the network more widely accessible to developers and hardware makers.

        • Vice Media GroupThe DEA Bought Customer Data from Rogue Employees Instead of Getting a Warrant

          For years the DEA has used paid informants inside airline, bus, and parcel companies to bypass needing to get a warrant. A pair of bipartisan Senators now want the DOJ to put an end to it.

        • OpenRightsGroupVictory for migrants as judge rules immigration exemption is incompatible with GDPR

          A High Court judge has agreed with Open Rights Group and the3million that the immigration exemption in the UK Data Protection Act 2018 is incompatible with General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

        • CS MonitorCan public trust endure in India amid high surveillance?

          In India, the increased digitization of services has led to greater government surveillance and false arrests, activists say. The authorities say the surveillance is needed to curb rising crime.

    • Defence/Aggression

    • Environment

      • Energy/Transportation

        • TruthOutAOC Says GOP Energy Bill May as Well Have Been Written Entirely by Big Oil
        • JURISTEU adopts legislation to phase out new carbon-emitting cars by 2035

          EU ministers Tuesday adopted legislation to phase out sales of new carbon-emitting cars and vans by 2035. The approved law amends Regulation 2019/631 and sets higher standards for reducing carbon emissions.

        • LRTLithuania welcomes limits on Russian gas

          Lithuania welcomes the decision to allow EU’s member states to limit imports of natural gas from Russia, said Deputy Energy Minister Albinas Zananavičius.

        • LatviaFunding available for electric school buses in Latvia

          The Central Finance and Contracting Agency (CFLA) has launched an additional call€ for municipalities€ to use the financing of the Recovery Fund€ for the purchase of electric cars for school transport. The fund still has €3.7 million available for this purpose, the CFLA said March 29.

        • CS MonitorLooping China into the anti-corruption fight

          A U.S. charge that an American crypto-currency leader bribed Chinese officials might bring China into the global campaign against transnational corruption.

        • Common DreamsThe Republican State AGs Doing the Dirty Work for Big Oil

          According to the nonpartisan National Association of Attorneys General, a state attorney general’s job is to represent the public interest—not private, special interests—by, among other things, “enforcing federal and state environmental laws.” Attorneys general (AGs) in the five states most vulnerable to climate change, however, are doing the exact opposite: Instead of defending their constituents, they are defending the fossil fuel industry.

        • Michael West MediaDrowning or Waving? Will Beetaloo gas frackers survive Greens, Labor Safeguard deal?

          Monday’s emissions pact struck by Chris Bowen and Adam Bandt has hit shares in Beetaloo Basin gas frackers Empire and Tamboran. Yet confusion reigns. Bandt says the deal has “derailed” the Beetaloo and Barossa gas projects. The frackers say it’s business as usual. Callum Foote€ reports.

          Just a week after Treasurer Jim Chalmers announced moves to reform Australia’s monopoly share market operator, ASX, and improve the integrity of financial markets, a classic case of market integrity arose.

        • Vice Media GroupFlying Is Worse Than Ever After Massive Airline Bailout, Consumer Watchdog Says

          The report by the U.S. Public Interest Research Group analyzed Department of Transportation data on consumer complaints about airline travel and airline performance. The report found consumer complaints have quadrupled from 2019 to 2022, which was the worst year since 2001 (not including 2020 data). This doesn’t include data from December, when Southwest Airlines melted down and canceled a quarter of its flights during the Christmas travel period, because DOT received so many complaints that month it hasn’t been able to review and process the data yet.

          “In a nutshell, just about everything negative got worse in 2022: complaints, cancellations, delays, involuntary bumping and baggage handling,” the study’s author, Teresa Murray, wrote on PIRG’s website, “all while the number of air travelers for the full year of 2022 was below 2019 levels.”

        • Interesting EngineeringEuropean Union nations decide to ban ICE car sales as of 2035

          A historic regulation that will ensure that all new automobiles sold starting in 2035 must have zero emissions has been passed by member states of the European Union (EU), according to Reuters.

          Italy, Bulgaria, and Romania voted no, and Poland abstained.

        • Common DreamsThe Last Winter of Gas in Europe

          While hundreds of activists blockade the European Gas Conference in Vienna to stop further climate chaos and poverty, we call on all movements and organizations to push back against the power of the fossil fuels industry. To end the cost of living crisis and avert climate chaos, we need to guarantee the rapid phase-out of fossil gas in Europe, and to build a new energy system for people and planet. Next winter needs to be the Last Winter of Gas in Europe.

        • The NationFossil Fuel Companies Are Donating Millions to Skew University Research

          In March, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change released its sixth assessment report, summarizing the current knowledge of the impacts and risks of climate change. “Climate change is a threat to human well-being and planetary health. There is a rapidly closing window of opportunity to secure a livable and sustainable future for all,” reads the 2023 report. “The choices and actions implemented in this decade will have impacts now and for thousands of years.”

        • Telex (Hungary)Hungarian company to build biggest solar power plant in Bosnia-Herzegovina
      • Wildlife/Nature

    • Finance

      • LatviaE-commerce growth slows down in Latvia, say experts

        Although the volume of e-commerce in Latvia has been growing rapidly in the last three years, the pace has started to slow slightly in the last three months. Was the breakthrough in e-commerce a temporary boom during the Covid-19 pandemic time, or is Internet shopping to stay? Latvian Radio spoke to industry representatives on March 29.

      • Michael West MediaACTU pushing for 7 pct rise to minimum and award wages

        The annual minimum wage for Australia’s low paid workers should rise by seven per cent, the ACTU says. The union body made the recommendation in a submission to the Fair Work Commission’s national minimum wage review ahead of a decision in June this year.

      • TruthOutVermont Dairy Workers Battle Corporate Greed and Demand “Milk With Dignity”
      • TruthOutCredit Suisse Helped Ultra Rich Americans Hide Over $700 Million From IRS
      • Common DreamsCredit Suisse Complicit in 'Massive' Conspiracy to Help Rich Americans Dodge Taxes: Senate Report

        The Senate Finance Committee on Thursday published the results of a two-year investigation showing that the scandal-plagued Swiss bank Credit Suisse has been complicit in a "massive, ongoing conspiracy" to help wealthy U.S. citizens dodge taxes.

      • Democracy Now“Bootstrapped”: Alissa Quart on Liberating Ourselves from the Myth of the American Dream

        We speak with journalist Alissa Quart, executive director of the Economic Hardship Reporting Project, about her new book, Bootstrapped: Liberating Ourselves from the American Dream, which examines myths about individualism and self-reliance that underpin the U.S. economy and the inequality it fosters. She says a focus on succeeding through hard work obscures the degree to which many rich and powerful people have benefited from social support, resulting in a cycle of “shame and blame” for those who fall short.

      • MarginaliaMarginalia Search: 2 years, big news

        This grant is essentially the best-case scenario for funding this project. It'll be able to remain independent, open-source, and non-profit.

        I won't start in earnest for a few months as I've got loose ends to tie up before I can devote that sort of time. More details to come, but I'll say as much as the first step is a tidying up of the sources and a move off my self-hosted git instance to an external git host yet to be decided.

      • David RosenthalTwo Great Reads

        This post is to flag two great posts by authors always worth reading, both related to the sad state of the venture capital industry upon which I have pontificated several times:

        Molly White's The venture capitalist's dilemma.

        Fais Khan's Zero Knowledge Influencer: Are ZKPs Worth the Hype?.

        Each will reward your time. Below the fold I comment on both of them.

      • Robert ReichThis One Thing Would Increase Wages By $300 Billion
      • New York TimesDebt Talks Are Frozen as House Republicans Splinter Over a Fiscal Plan

        The struggles among Republicans to put forth a budget reflect€ the perilous path ahead for lawmakers who must broker a debt deal by the summer to avert a catastrophic default.

    • AstroTurf/Lobbying/Politics

      • Telex (Hungary)US Ambassador: The Hungarian government has been bypassing parliament for 2,547 days, citing various emergencies
      • New YorkerIf Alvin Bragg Indicts Donald Trump, What Will the Case Look Like?

        The trial could hinge on the “catch and kill” practices at the National Enquirer.

      • Mint Press NewsChris Hedges: The Donald Trump Problem

        Donald Trump is not being targeted for the misdemeanors and serious felonies he appears to have committed but for discrediting and undermining the entrenched power of the ruling duopoly.

      • Marcy WheelerDonald Trump’s Dumbass Russia Binder

        If you're going to expose yourself and your assistants to Espionage Act prosecution, the binder full of Crossfire Hurricane documents that Trump has obsessed about ever since is one dumbass document to do so over.

      • Common DreamsBowman, Sanders Lead Push for Biden to Probe Israel's Use of US Arms Against Palestinians

        Rep. Jamaal Bowman and Sen. Bernie Sanders are circulating a letter this week urging the Biden administration to "undertake a shift in U.S. policy in recognition of the worsening violence, further annexation of land, and denial of Palestinian rights" by Israel.

      • The NationIsraeli Protesters Say They’re Defending Freedom. Palestinians Know Better.

        Following immense pressure, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has delayed his government’s plan to weaken the Israeli Supreme Court. The self-proclaimed pro-“democracy” camp, which was protesting the plan so that the court could be saved from the grips of the pro-government camp for whom the judiciary is laughably “too leftist,” has, for the moment, declared victory. But the pro-government camp also has reason to cheer; in exchange for his acquiescence to the delay, National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir was granted a long-sought “national guard,” which would function as his own private militia.€ 

      • New York TimesIsraeli Crisis Shows How Protests Can, and Can’t, Force Change

        What does it take for a mass movement to translate public anger into political results? Leverage.

      • Pro PublicaThe Legal and Medical Impact of Recent Abortion Restrictions

        Nine months after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, ending nearly 50 years of federal protection of abortion rights, the impact of the landmark ruling known as Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization continues to ripple across the nation.

      • Telex (Hungary)Ukrainian politician about Hungary's maverick politics: there must be some Russian blackmail behind it
      • Telex (Hungary)1956 Hungarian refugee chemist awarded one of the highest American science honours
      • The NationGen Z and Baby Boomers Need to Work Together

        Following the 2022 midterm elections, Gen Z were largely credited by Democratic politicians and pundits for stopping the red wave. “Young voters cancel out every single vote of those over 65. Under 30 and under 40 were the only age group to go to the Democrats and they went overwhelmingly to the Democrats,” said the student chair of the Harvard Public Opinion Project, Alan Zhang, in an interview with ABC News. “Without the youth vote, there was no firewall that stopped the red wave from taking over.” According to data from the Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement at Tufts University, about 27 percent of voters who cast a ballot during the 2022 midterm elections were under 30, making it the second-highest youth voter turnout in about 30 years.

      • Common DreamsIdaho Set to Become First State to Criminalize Minors Who Travel to Get Abortion Care

        Reproductive rights advocates and Democratic state lawmakers in Idaho on Wednesday condemned a Republican proposal to create a new crime in the state using the invented term "abortion trafficking," which would criminalize people who help minors to obtain out-of-state abortion care.

      • TruthOutIdaho Poised to Pass First€ Bill Banning Interstate Travel for Abortion
      • Common DreamsBiden Veto Expected After 4 Senate Dems, Sinema Help GOP Gut Water Protections

        U.S. President Joe Biden's vow to veto a Republican-led resolution that would gut his administration's water protections did not stop four Democratic senators and one ex-Democrat from helping the GOP send the measure to his desk on Wednesday.

      • Mullvad VPNThe European Commission Does Not Understand What Is Written In Its Own Chat Control Bill

        Ylva Johansson is the EU Commissioner in charge of the Chat Control Bill. In recent days she has taken part in several interviews in Swedish media and also spoken in front of EU parliament members.

        It’s obvious during the interviews that Ylva Johansson does not understand her own bill and what consequences it would have. She constantly repeats misleading and incorrect arguments. Above all, she continues to claim that it’s possible to scan end-to-end encrypted communication without breaking the encryption. It’s remarkable that the responsible EU Commissioner gets away with this, without tremendous criticism from media and members of the EU Parliament (we know, there are some speaking up, but it’s not enough).

        Here are some of her statements during the last week and our comments.

      • Democracy NowBanning TikTok Won’t Keep Us Safe: Julia Angwin Critiques Bipartisan Attack on Chinese Firm

        A bipartisan group of senators has introduced the RESTRICT Act, which would allow the federal government to potentially ban technology from countries the U.S. considers to be adversaries, including China. Last Thursday, congressmembers grilled TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew during a five-hour hearing on the app’s ties to the Chinese government, its data practices and its effects on children’s mental health. Critics say this China-focused scrutiny largely ignores similar privacy concerns over the use of U.S.-owned apps and social media platforms. We hear more from Julia Angwin, an investigative journalist and contributing opinion writer at The New York Times, whose latest guest essay is titled “How to Fix the TikTok Problem.”

      • US CongressS.686 - RESTRICT Act 118th Congress (2023-2024)

        (6) software designed or used primarily for connecting with and communicating via the internet that is in use by greater than 1,000,000 persons in the United States at any point during the year period preceding the date on which the covered transaction is referred to the Secretary for review or the Secretary initiates review of the covered transaction, including— [...]

      • US SenateSenators Introduce Bipartisan Bill to Tackle National Security Threats from Foreign Tech

        In addition to Sens. Warner and Thune, the legislation is co-sponsored by Sens. Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), Deb Fischer (R-NE), Joe Manchin (D-WV), Jerry Moran (R-KS), Michael Bennet (D-CO), Dan Sullivan (R-AK), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), Susan Collins (R-ME), Martin Heinrich (D-NM), and Mitt Romney (R-UT).

      • The Guardian UKWhite House ‘very in favor’ of bill thought to target TikTok

        Also known as the Restrict Act, the measure would authorize the White House – through the commerce department – to review technologies which arrive from abroad. The commerce department could then move to ban those technologies or seek to force their sale, depending on any review’s findings.

      • Vice Media GroupThe 'Insanely Broad' RESTRICT Act Could Ban Much More Than Just TikTok

        The bill could have implications not just for social networks, but potentially security tools such as virtual private networks (VPNs) that consumers use to encrypt and route their traffic, one said. Although the intention of the bill is to target apps or services that pose a threat to national security, these critics worry it may have much wider implications for the First Amendment.

      • Washington ExaminerRand Paul hits the brakes on Hawley push to ban TikTok

        Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA) has partnered with Senate Minority Whip John Thune (R-SD) on the RESTRICT Act, a White House-endorsed bill to address those concerns that has so far garnered 21 co-sponsors, 10 Democrats and 11 Republicans.

      • TechdirtAs The Social Media Moral Panic Continues, People Keep Highlighting How Much Value It Actually Provides

        I know we’re deep, deep, deep into the moral panic about social media being uniquely awful, especially for kids. It’s driving all sorts of nonsense, including the false idea that we’re in a uniquely excessive period of depression, or that it’s been “proven” that social media makes kids feel bad. But… that’s not what the data actually show.

      • Common Dreams'I Don't Like Censorship': Omar Slams Proposed TikTok Ban as Hawley Aims to Fast-Track Passage

        Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar on Tuesday joined the ranks of progressive lawmakers and advocacy groups voicing opposition to proposals to ban TikTok as Republican Sen. Josh Hawley plans to force a vote on his bill sometime this week.

      • TruthOutChina-Focused TikTok Scrutiny Ignores Similar Privacy Concerns in US-Owned Apps
      • NDTVAll Techies Fired As Microsoft's GitHub Sacks 142 India Staffers: Report

        Microsoft acquired GitHub for USD 7.5 billion in a stock deal on June 2, 2018.

      • Hollywood ReporterElectronic Arts to Lay Off 6 Percent of Workforce in Restructuring

        These actions are expected to be completed by Sept. 30, 2023.

      • Hollywood ReporterWarner Music to Cut 270 Jobs Amid Push to “New Tech Initiatives”

        On Wednesday, newly-installed CEO Robert Kyncl told staff via an internal memo that “we’re reallocating resources towards new skills for artist and songwriter development and new tech initiatives.” About 6,200 employees worked at Warner Music as of last September, per its annual report.

      • NDTVBurger King Closes 26 Outlets In Michigan, Leaving Over 400 Employees Jobless

        Burger King fans in Michigan will soon have to find a new spot to satisfy their burger cravings. The fast-food chain is closing 26 restaurants across the state after EYM King, the Burger King franchisee in Michigan, failed to renew its deal with the company. As per Fox Business, the announcement was made recently, and The Daily Mail reports that the store closure began on March 17, 2023, and will continue throughout the next month of April. The franchisee cites "unforeseen business circumstances" for the closure and expects to shut down all 26 locations by April 15, 2023.

      • New York TimesTrump Says the Justice System Has Been Weaponized. He Would Know.

        The former president is attempting to cast the investigations into his actions as politically motivated uses of the justice system. In office, he regularly sought to use government powers against his foes.

      • VarietyElectronic Arts to Lay Off 800 Employees, 6% of Workforce

        The video game company, whose popular titles include “Madden NFL,” “EA Sports FIFA 23,” “Apex Legends” and “The Sims,” is restructuring to focus on “strategic priorities,” CEO Andrew Wilson said in a memo distributed to employees Wednesday. As part of the cost-cutting moves, EA will wind down certain projects, according to Wilson, although he didn’t specify which titles are getting axed.

      • The EconomistWhere have all the sacked tech workers gone?

        So far techies themselves have been mostly spared, observes Tim Herbert of the Computing Technology Industry Association (CompTIA), a trade body. Instead, the axe has fallen mainly on business functions like sales and recruitment. These had grown steadily as a share of tech-industry employment in recent years, a telltale sign of bloat (see chart 2). Between the depths of the pandemic in the spring of 2020 and peak employment at the start of 2023, the tech sector added around 1m workers. Simply hiring such numbers required hiring plenty of recruiters; as a headhunting rule of thumb, one recruiter can hire 25 new employees a year. Many of those recruiters may now be surplus to requirements.

      • The NationMike Pence Is Running Against Mike Pence

        “Hang Mike Pence! Hang Mike Pence!”

      • TruthOutFederal Judge Says Mike Pence Must Testify in January 6 Probe
      • New York TimesThe Liberal Maverick Fighting Race-Based Affirmative Action

        For decades, Richard Kahlenberg has pushed for a class-conscious approach to college admissions. He may finally get his wish, but it comes at a personal cost.

      • CS MonitorBiden’s democracy summit 2.0: Ukraine war spurs globalized format

        Two years into President Biden’s signature initiative, successful democracies from around the world are co-hosting a second democracy summit. What lessons can they provide?

      • Misinformation/Disinformation/Propaganda

        • New York TimesTrump’s Return to Fox News Gets a Cool Reception … on Fox News

          The network used to be a safe space for the former president. But Brian Kilmeade, Jason Chaffetz and others had tough words for his appearance on “Hannity,” his first Fox interview in months.

        • Sébastien WilmetSébastien Wilmet: Links to Harmful internet use articles

          I wanted to share the following two links. I've read some sections that interested me, and indeed it was very interesting and I learned new things.

          Harmful internet use - Part I: Internet addiction and problematic use Harmful internet use - Part II: Impact on culture and society

          Some notes
          It explains why I more or less refused a job related to developing video games (it was about adding some kind of addictive features to old/legacy video games). Some people are addicted to (stupid) video games where you need to connect daily to collect "presents" or points, I definitely didn't want to "play this game". It also explains well the reasons why I'm on no social networks. I totally deleted my Facebook account several years ago, which is a daunting task: very difficult to find where to delete the account, the need to confirm a ~dozen times by clicking on the small links (not the green or blue button), and then waiting a month without logging in again! Completely crazy.
    • Censorship/Free Speech

    • Freedom of Information

      • JURISTBurkina Faso suspends broadcasts from France 24 over Al Qaeda interview

        Burkina Faso Monday announced that it will suspend broadcasts from France 24, a French international news network, after the network aired an interview with the head of Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM). The interview effectively classifies France 24 as a “communications agency for these terrorists,” according to Minister of Communication Jean-Emmanuel Ouedraogo.

      • The NationDon’t Let the Texas Observer Shut Down

        Lewis Lapham once said of the late Molly Ivins, “She reminds us that dissent is what rescues democracy from a quiet death behind closed doors.”

    • Civil Rights/Policing

    • Internet Policy/Net Neutrality

      • TechdirtBiden FCC Makes Some Empty Noise About Cracking Down On Bullshit Cable & Broadband Fees

        The broadband and cable industry has long perfected the use of bullshit fees to jack up subscriber bills. Countless cable and broadband companies tack on a myriad of€ completely bogus fees€ below the line, letting them advertise one rate — then sock you with a higher rate once your bill actually arrives. They’ll then pretend they haven’t actually raised rates because the advertised rate remains inaccurately low.

    • Monopolies

      • Digital Music NewsThe British Government May Force Google & Amazon Smart Speakers to Offer UK Radio Stations for Free

        Under draft legislation published today, the biggest broadcasters in the UK will receive additional privileges, like ensuring their on-demand services are easy to discover to encourage competition with global streaming giants. The draft Media Bill will enable new reforms to guarantee access to UK radio on smart speakers and require streaming services to provide subtitles, audio description, and signing to support those with disabilities.

        The new legislation will enable public service broadcasters (PSBs) like the BBC, ITV, Channel 4, and Channel 5, “to unleash their potential to grow, produce more top-quality British content and invest in new technologies to keep viewers tuning in amid fierce competition from subscription-based online platforms.”

      • Patents

        • How Litigation Finance Busts the Bank of Legal Trust

          The American legal system gives lawyers vast powers over private citizens. In the United States, there are no “loser pays” rules, no limits on lawyers’ ability to file complaints, and a summons requires a defendant to respond, or suffer a default judgment.

        • Kluwer Patent BlogPlausibility in G2/21: has the elephant left the room?

          The concept of plausibility has caused great controversy in European patent law in recent years. It was hoped that the decision of the Enlarged Board of Appeal (EBA) of the EPO in G 2/21 would bring clarity.

      • Trademarks

        • JURISTAdidas withdraws trademark claim against Black Lives Matter

          Shoe manufacturer Adidas Wednesday reversed course and withdrew its claim against Black Lives Matter (BLM) alleging that the group’s logo violates Adidas’ trademark. Adidas filed the initial claim with the US Trademark Office on Monday.

      • Copyrights

        • TechdirtWinnie The Pooh Escapes Copyright Hell, Grabs Some Weapons, And Immediately Gets Kicked Out Of Hong Kong

          The life-plus-seventy-years sentence imposed on Winnie the Pooh by Cher’s ex-husband is finally over. Petitions for an early release went unheeded, forcing the butt naked childhood icon to perform tricks for the heirs of its creator’s estate until it was finally allowed to roam free — nearly 40 years after the bear’s sentence should have been commuted.

        • Torrent FreakZ-Library Raises Tens of Thousands of Dollars to Keep its Pirate Library Running

          Pirate ebook repository Z-Library is still recovering from U.S. Government cracked carried out late last year. Two suspects were apprehended but the site itself remains online. According to its current operators, the enforcement action caused substantial damage so users are being asked to donate. They're reportedly doing so en masse.

        • Torrent FreakMeta's Anti-Piracy Deal: How Facebook & Broadcasters Kill Live Pirate Streams

          Meta and Italian broadcaster RTI have just announced a multi-year partnership to prevent the TV company's content from being pirated on platforms such as Facebook. The deal will see RTI and Meta collaborate on the implementation of systems to protect RTI content, including live TV broadcasts. Here's how that's likely to work.

  • Gemini* and Gopher


* Gemini (Primer) links can be opened using Gemini software. It's like the World Wide Web but a lot lighter.



Recent Techrights' Posts

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follow us via RSS feeds
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