Bonum Certa Men Certa

Links 01/07/2023: PostgreSQL 16 Beta 2 and EasyOS 5.4.5



  • GNU/Linux

    • Linux Magazine

      • Linux MagazineEdit landscape photos with RawTherapee 5.9

        The current RawTherapee version finally adds selective image editing, among other long-desired features, to help it compete with king of the hill, darktable.

      • Linux MagazineStarting a podcast with Linux and Audacity

        Audacity is a free, open source, easy-to-use, multitrack audio recording and editing tool perfect for podcasts.

      • Linux MagazineA modern terminal pager

        The most terminal pager offers a feature-rich, better organized alternative to less.

      • Linux MagazineKernel News"

        In kernel news: Rust in Linux; and Compiler and Kernel Frenemies.

      • Linux MagazineAlgorithm-driven team building

        Instead of the coach determining the team lineup, an algorithm selects the players based on their strengths for Mike Schilli's amateur soccer team.

      • Linux MagazineNetwork knowledge at your fingertips with NetBox

        NetBox is a single source of information on your network where you can store all those important details that used to get lost.

      • Linux MagazineBlackouts and Black Ink

        The Reddit blackout is big in the news as I write this column.

      • Linux MagazineDesigning cross-platform GUI apps with Fyne

        The Fyne toolkit offers a simple way to build native apps that work across multiple platforms. We show you how to build a to-do list app to demonstrate Fyne's power.

      • Linux MagazineScoreboards and Video Routing in Python

        We look at a broadcast video system network that uses Python code to control a video router and check out another program that creates a scoreboard.

      • Linux MagazineExploring the TUXEDO InfinityBook 16 Gen7 MK1

        The next-generation laptop from TUXEDO is faster and lighter than previous business models.

      • Linux MagazineNews

        Updates on technologies, trends, and tools

      • Linux MagazineThis Month's DVD

        Linux Mint 21.1 and openSUSE Leap 15.5

      • Linux MagazineDetect duplicates with fdupes

        The command-line fdupes tool helps you find duplicate folders and directories.

      • Linux MagazineNot Intelligent

        Earlier technologies have persisted despite government regulations – so will AI.

      • Linux MagazineAn inside look at creating a podcast

        If you use Linux, you already have most of the tools you need to get in the podcast game. Just plan carefully and take it a step at a time.

      • Linux MagazineMastering and mixing with Ardour

        Once you get your podcast operation up and running, you might decide you want a real mixer and some higher-end software. We'll introduce you to Ardour and get you started with some basic audio hardware.

      • Linux MagazineSparkling gems and new releases from the world of Free and Open Source Software

        This month Graham looks at wallabag, Read It Later, killport, F3D, Tenacity, Cataclysm: Dark Days Ahead, botany, and more!

      • Linux MagazineIntroduction

        This month in Linux Voice and Elvie.

      • Linux MagazineThe veteran of free distros

        Rüben Rúdríguez discusses Trisquel, a free Linux distro that has been in continuous development for the past 16 years.

    • Audiocasts/Shows

    • Applications

    • Instructionals/Technical

      • How to Disable/Enable CPU Cores in Ubuntu

        CPU cores are essential for effectively processing data and carrying out computations in the world of computers.

      • It's FOSSHow to Remove Software Repositories from Ubuntu

        From apt-add-repository to Software & Updates tool, here are several ways to remove software repositories from Ubuntu.

      • Install Windows 11 as KVM Guest in SparkyLinux 7 using virt-manager
      • CloudbookletHow to Create a New systemd Service on Linux: A Step-by-Step Guide

        Learn how to create a new systemd service on Linux with this step-by-step guide.

      • Ubuntu HandbookHow to Install Linux Kernel 6.4 in Ubuntu 22.04 | 23.04

        Linux Kernel 6.4 was released a few days ago. Ubuntu users can now install it from Kernel Mainline PPA.

      • DebugPointHow to Fix No Suitable Archive Manager Found Error

        A simple guide to fix the no suitable archive manager found error in Linux distributions, including Arch Linux. The “No Suitable Archive Manager Found” error can be frustrating when extracting or opening compressed files on your computer.

      • Linux CapableBash read Command with Examples

        Bash, an acronym for Bourne Again SHell, is a command-line interpreter that provides a multi-functional interface for users to interact with operating systems. One of the most versatile built-in commands in Bash is the read command.

      • Linux CapableBash wait Command with Examples

        In the realm of Bash scripting, understanding the built-in commands and their functionalities is crucial. One such command, the wait command, plays a pivotal role in managing process execution. This command pauses the current shell’s execution until specified jobs have completed, and then returns the exit status of the command it was waiting for.>

      • It's FOSSHow to Install Wine in Ubuntu

        Looking to run Windows-only software on Ubuntu? Wine is your friend. Learn to install Wine in Ubuntu Linux.

      • Barry KaulerFlapi fix if fail to register with flathub

        There is discussion of a couple of flatpaks here, and failure to register with flathub.org:

        https://forum.puppylinux.com/viewtopic.php?t=9038

        There is a fault in Flapi; if failed to register with flathub.org, Flapi should not have then been allowed to download and install apps. Federico was getting the failure, then continued to download apps, which then did not work.

      • BeebomHow to Install Git on Ubuntu (2023 Guide) | Beebom

        For most project members, it is probably not feasible to download a ZIP file of all the project files every time a new feature gets updated or added. To solve this, Linus Torvalds created Git in 2005. It is a free and open-source version control software that makes collaborating on projects effortless. In this article, we will walk you through the process of installing Git on Ubuntu 22.04 LTS (Jammy Jellyfish) and earlier releases.

      • Make Use OfHow to Create a New systemd Service on Linux

        systemd is the service manager for a lot of well-known Linux distributions. A service is a unit of a program that typically runs in the background. Services, by nature, automatically start up as soon as the system boots up and can run unattended.

        If you need to create an auto-starting task or program that executes every time you boot or reboot your system, you can consider creating a new service. Let's learn how to create a new, custom systemd service on Linux.

      • Linux Host SupportHow to Install Icinga 2 on Ubuntu

        In this tutorial, we are going to explain in step-by-step detail how to install Icinga 2 on Ubuntu 22.04 Icinga is a free and open-source monitoring tool used for sending alerts when failures occur on the servers.

      • Own HowToHow to install CentOS Stream 9

        In this tutorial, you will learn how to install CentOS stream 9 on your machine.

      • Trend OceansHow to Install Linux Mint Cinnamon Desktop in Ubuntu 22.04 or Later

        Instead of hopping to Linux Mint, why not just Install the Linux Mint Cinnamon desktop in Ubuntu and enjoy the best of both worlds?

      • Linux CapableHow to Setup Nginx FastCGI Cache on Ubuntu 22.04-20.04

        In this guide, you will learn how to set up Nginx FastCGI cache on Ubuntu 22.04 Jammy Jellyfish or Ubuntu 20.04 Focal Fossa LTS. The FastCGI cache is an integral component when optimizing your web server’s performance. Nginx, renowned for its efficiency and scalability, can be further bolstered by configuring its FastCGI cache.

      • Linux CapableHow to Install Python 3.9 on Debian Linux

        Python is a versatile and widely-used programming language. This article sheds light on Python 3.9 and guides you through its installation on Debian 12 Bookworm, Debian 11 Bullseye, and Debian 10 Buster by downloading the Python 3.9 archive, as repositories seldom host this version owing to its age.

      • Linux CapableHow to Install Grub Customizer on Linux Mint 21/20

        Grub Customizer, a powerful tool designed for managing and customizing the GRUB (Grand Unified Bootloader) and BURG bootloaders, enables you to take charge of your system’s startup process. >

      • TechRepublicHow to Stop and Remove All Docker Containers with 2 Simple Commands

        In this TechRepublic How to Make Tech Work video, Jack Wallen shows how to stop and remove all Docker containers at once with just two simple commands.

      • TechRepublicHow to Stop and Remove All Docker Containers with 2 Simple Commands

        In this TechRepublic How to Make Tech Work video, Jack Wallen shows how to stop and remove all Docker containers at once with just two simple commands.

    • Desktop Environments/WMs

      • K Desktop Environment/KDE SC/Qt

        • My work in KDE for June 2023

          We’re about halfway through year! This update is a bit smaller than usual, and more focused on applications than Plasma. This isn’t for lack of time or trying, but I tried to deliberately clear out my backlog. That goal didn’t really pan out, but I’ll be trying again next month.

  • Distributions and Operating Systems

  • Free, Libre, and Open Source Software

    • Web Browsers/Web Servers

      • June 2023 Web Server Survey

        In the June 2023 survey we received responses from 1,106,671,903 sites across 255,487,423 domains and 12,106,503 web-facing computers. This reflects a loss of 2.7 million sites, 16.0 million domains, and an increase of 69,309 web-facing computers.

      • Mozilla

        • 9to5LinuxFirefox 115 ESR Is Here with Hardware Video Decoding for Intel GPUs on Linux

          Apart from being the new ESR series, which will slowly replace the Firefox 102 ESR series, Firefox 115 is here to introduce hardware-accelerated video decoding for Intel GPUs on Linux systems using the Video Acceleration API (VA-API) open-source application programming interface that allows apps to use hardware video acceleration capabilities.

          Another cool new feature for Linux users in the Firefox 115 release is the ability to open links or search for text that has been copied on your clipboard by middle-clicking on the New Tab button. This is a productivity feature as you no longer have to open a new tab and paste the copied text or link you want to search/open.

    • SaaS/Back End/Databases

      • PostgreSQLPostgreSQL 16 Beta 2 Released!

        The PostgreSQL Global Development Group announces that the second beta release of PostgreSQL 16 is now available for download. This release contains previews of all features that will be available when PostgreSQL 16 is made generally available, though some details of the release can change during the beta period.

      • OSI BlogOpen Source shaking up document databases, setting new standards

        The founders of FerretDB, an Open Source document database using PostgreSQL as the database backend, is working with different stakeholders on developing a standard for document databases, the same way as SQL was created as a standard for relational databases in the 1980s, with the objective of reducing the risk of vendor lock-in for users.

    • Programming/Development

      • SCM/CI Workflow Versions. Making Larger Changes Less Painful For You.

        Today we’re going to explain the versioning system we’re using to release new features to the SCM/CI integration. Versioning the Workflow Configuration We are introducing the versioning as a way to release new features in the SCM/CI without breaking existing user’s configuration. Those features are going to be released under a MAJOR.MINOR version scheme.

      • Paul Wise: FLOSS Activities June 2023
      • Storage APIs: Libblockdev 3.0
        Statistics

        We started working on libblockdev 3.0 nearly four years ago and definitely thought it would be ready way sooner than now. The difference between 3.0 and our legacy 2.x-branch is 997 commits and 205 files changed with 29382 insertions(+) and 17565 deletions(-).

        Many thanks to all contributors that made this release possible.

        And now I guess I should start working on libblockdev 4. See you in a few years.

      • Python

        • Linux HintPython infinity representation

          The “math.inf”, “np.inf”, “float()” function, and “decimal” modules are utilized to represent positive and negative infinity values in Python.

      • Shell/Bash/Zsh/Ksh

        • TecAdminHow to Escape Single Quotes in Bash

          Bash scripting is a crucial skill for developers, system administrators, and anyone else who needs to automate tasks on Unix or Linux systems. Occasionally, you’ll need to use a single quote (‘) within a string in a bash script.

        • Make Tech EasierPowerShell vs. Bash: Key Differences to Know About [Ed: One is controlled by a company that attacks Linux, one is not]
        • TecAdminHow to Escape Special Characters in Bash

          Bash, short for Bourne Again SHell, is the default command-line interpreter for many Linux distributions and MacOS. It provides a way for users to interact with these operating systems by executing commands. However, bash also includes a number of special characters that have unique meanings.

    • Standards/Consortia

  • Leftovers

    • Science

    • Health/Nutrition/Agriculture

      • Undermining the childhood vaccine schedule with EBM fundamentalism

        When last we encountered evidence-based medicine (EBM) maven and critic of oncology clinical trials and FDA licensure of chemotherapeutic agents turned COVID-19 contrarian, antimasker, and anti-COVID vaccine advocate Dr. Vinay Prasad, he was defending longtime antivax activist Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., saying, in essence, that he agrees with most of of RFK Jr.‘s positions, especially about big pharma, regulatory capture, and and corruption other than his peskily embarrassing (to him) belief that childhood vaccines cause autism. (That, and he was also denying yet again that he was antivaccine.) As you might recall, what struck me about Dr. Prasad’s post was how much he bent over backwards to portray RFK Jr. as “reasonable” other than a couple of bizarre ideas—his pesky adherence to the the discredited idea that vaccines cause autism again!—even someone as someone who could be persuaded that, for instance, vaccines don’t cause autism and the birth dose of the hepatitis B vaccine is safe with some well-designed placebo-controlled clinical trials and an expanded vaccine safety monitoring system.

      • JURISTFrance Senate passes legislation requiring age verification for minors on social media

        The French Senate€ approved new legislation on Thursday requiring social media platforms such as TikTok and Instagram to implement mandatory age verification systems and obtain explicit parental consent for users aged 15 and below. The move comes amid a growing international crackdown on the platforms lack of privacy protections for users.

    • Proprietary/Artificial Intelligence (AI)

    • Security

      • LWNSecurity updates for Friday [LWN.net]

        Security updates have been issued by Debian (docker-registry, flask, systemd, and trafficserver), Fedora (moodle, python-reportlab, suricata, and vim), Red Hat (go-toolset and golang, go-toolset-1.19 and go-toolset-1.19-golang, go-toolset:rhel8, open-vm-tools, python27:2.7, and python3), SUSE (buildah, chromium, gifsicle, libjxl, sqlite3, and xonotic), and Ubuntu (linux, linux-allwinner, linux-allwinner-5.19, linux-aws, linux-aws-5.19, linux-azure, linux-gcp, linux-gcp-5.19, linux-hwe-5.19, linux-ibm, linux-kvm, linux-lowlatency, linux-oracle, linux-raspi, linux-starfive, linux-starfive-5.19, linux, linux-aws, linux-aws-5.15, linux-aws-5.4, linux-azure, linux-azure-5.15, linux-azure-5.4, linux-azure-fde-5.15, linux-bluefield, linux-gcp, linux-gcp-5.15, linux-gcp-5.4, linux-gke, linux-gke-5.15, linux-gkeop, linux-gkeop-5.15, linux-hwe-5.15, linux-hwe-5.4, linux-ibm, linux-ibm-5.4, linux-kvm, linux-lowlatency, linux-lowlatency-hwe-5.15, linux-nvidia, linux-oracle, linux-oracle-5.15, linux-oracle-5.4, linux-raspi, linux-raspi-5.4, and linux-oem-6.1).

      • Mountain View Hospital restores clinical functions; culprit behind cyberattack still unknown

        An area hospital has been working for over a month now to resolve a cyberattack and progress is being made.

        Mountain View Hospital has managed to restore clinical functions for itself, Idaho Falls Community Hospital and its partner clinics. The IT team and other cybersecurity experts have now turned their attention to administrative functions.

        Even though much of the hospital’s functions have returned, it’s not clear when all operations will be fully restored following the cyberattack.

      • CNNAt least 100,000 could have had data exposed after US health department was hit by global MOVEit cyberattack [Ed: Windows TCO]



        At least 100,000 people could have had their data compromised by a hack of contractors at the Department of Health and Human Services, a department official said Thursday, making it the latest US government agency to be caught up in a sweeping cyberattack connected to Russian cybercriminals.

        HHS notified Congress of the breach on Tuesday and will update lawmakers as the investigation continues, the official said. Agencies are required to notify Congress of a data breach that involves the compromise of personal information of 100,000 or more people.

      • Data BreachesBreach of the Protection Obligation by Fullerton Healthcare and Agape CP Holdings

        Details of the 2021 breach that resulted in data being sold on a marketplace are included in the regulator’s decision. It reports that the breach involved Agape’s Online Drive and not FHG’s system. The personal data of 156,900 FHG customers (133,866 direct patients and 23,034 employees of FHG’s corporate clients) was accessed without authorization in the Incident, although the exact volume of exfiltrated personal data was unknown.

      • Wells Notice Against SolarWinds CISO Could Be First of Its Kind

        SolarWinds Corporation, which suffered a major breach of its Orion software platform in December 2020, submitted a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filing on June 23rd, saying the enforcement staff of the SEC provided the company with a Wells Notice related to its investigation into the cyber incident.

        A Wells Notice is a letter the SEC generally issues to organizations or individuals when it is planning to take action against them.

      • Data BreachesI had been chatting with a blackhat. They had been working with a whitehat. We were both dealing with the same person.

        On April 18, DataBreaches reported that more details had emerged on the arrest of three men by Dutch police in January. The three were suspected of hacking and extorting victims in the Netherlands and elsewhere, obtaining and selling data online, and money laundering. A fourth person linked to the suspects known as “DataBox” had previously been arrested in November 2022 and had been detained with restrictions until the arrest of the other three in January. DataBox, whose real name is Erkan Sezgin, has subsequently been sentenced in a separate case, and may be facing other charges in connection with alleged crimes by the others.

      • MJH Life SciencesPaying the ransom: Hospitals face hard choices in cyberattacks | Special Report

        It’s the gut-wrenching question many hospital leaders have faced as healthcare systems have endured scores of ransomware attacks in recent years.

        Large health systems, including CommonSpirit Health, have encountered ransomware attacks, but experts say smaller hospitals and systems are increasingly at risk.

      • VLC DoS, Remote Code Execution Vulns Fixed

        Multiple remotely exploitable denial of service (DoS) and code execution vulnerabilities have been found in the VLC multimedia player and streamer. These bugs have been classified as ''high-severity'' by the National Vulnerability Database due to their high confidentiality, integrity and availability impact.

      • CVE-2023-36617: ReDoS vulnerability in URI

        We have released the uri gem version 0.12.2, 0.10.3 that has a security fix for a ReDoS vulnerability.

        This vulnerability has been assigned the CVE identifier CVE-2023-36617.

      • Hacker NewsCritical SQL Injection Flaws Expose Gentoo Soko to Remote Code Execution

        Multiple SQL injection vulnerabilities have been disclosed in Gentoo Soko that could lead to remote code execution (RCE) on vulnerable systems. "These SQL injections happened despite the use of an Object-Relational Mapping (ORM) library and prepared statements," SonarSource researcher Thomas Chauchefoin said , adding they could result in RCE on Soko because of a "misconfiguration of the database."

      • TechRadarThere's Now a Linux Version of This Dangerous VMware Ransomware [Ed: Microsoft-connected clickbait and FUD sites trying to blame "Linux" for proprietary VMware issues]

        A ransomware operation known as Akira has been seen encrypting VMware ESXi virtual machines using a Linux encryptor after a couple of months of targeting Windows systems.

      • Scoop News GroupCISA election security lead Kim Wyman to leave agency

        Wyman, who previously served as Washington state's top election official, will step down as CISA's top election security adviser.

      • Scoop News GroupRussian telecom confirms hack after group backing Wagner boasted about an attack

        A Dozor-Teleport CJSC executive told ComNews that the company has been the victim of a cyberattack affecting its cloud infrastructure.

      • Security Week200,000 WordPress Sites Exposed to Attacks Exploiting Flaw in ‘Ultimate Member’ Plugin

        Attackers exploit critical vulnerability in the Ultimate Member plugin to create administrative accounts on WordPress websites.

      • Security WeekProton Launches Open Source Password Manager

        Proton makes its open source Proton Pass password manager globally available for major browsers and mobile devices.

      • SANSSandfly Security, (Sat, Jul 1st)

        Agentless Linux security with unmatched speed and reliability

      • Security WeekSamsung Phone Flaws Added to CISA ‘Must Patch’ List Likely Exploited by Spyware Vendor

        CISA adds 6 Samsung mobile device flaws to its known exploited vulnerabilities catalog and they have likely been exploited by a spyware vendor.

      • Privacy/Surveillance

        • Bruce SchneierThe US Is Spying on the UN Secretary General

          The Washington Post is reporting that the US is spying on the UN Secretary General.

          The reports on Guterres appear to contain the secretary general’s personal conversations with aides regarding diplomatic encounters. They indicate that the United States relied on spying powers granted under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) to gather the intercepts.

          Lots of details about different conversations in the article, which are based on classified documents leaked on Discord by Jack Teixeira.

        • ACLUThe ACLU is Committed to Protecting Your Personal Information

          Privacy laws serve as vital guardrails against the potential abuse of personal information in an increasingly interconnected world. As a nationwide organization dedicated to defending civil liberties, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) recognizes the paramount importance of privacy in today’s digital age, and we firmly believe that transparency and accountability are necessary to protect all of our rights to privacy.

          Right now, Americans risk being tracked and surveilled without any notice every time we open an app, walk into a store carrying a phone, or do an online search. As Congress works to draft a comprehensive privacy law, states are trying to fill that critical gap by passing their own privacy legislation. In response to this evolving landscape of privacy laws, including the new Colorado Privacy Act that goes into effect on July 1, the ACLU has developed an updated and comprehensive privacy policy to adhere to the values we hold dear.

        • AxiosFuturistic airports are coming: AI facial recognition, biometric scanners

          Airports are slated to become more seamless and efficient, a new report finds, even as they get busier and larger to meet growing demand.

    • Defence/Aggression

    • Environment

      • Energy/Transportation

        • Michael West MediaHow to blast rocks and negativity into prosperity

          The mining industry’s angst about community resistance, sustainability and the need for automation to save workers’ lives are discussions the chemicals sector was having decades ago.

          Sanjeev Gandhi, CEO of chemicals and explosives giant Orica, says artificial intelligence (AI) may be new but the chemicals industry is far advanced.

        • DeSmogPR Agency Catering to Oil Interests Led UK Climate Forum’s Communications

          The UK’s Climate Innovation Forum named global PR agency Weber Shandwick as its “official communications partner,” despite the agency recently holding or continuing to hold contracts with at least eight oil and gas companies, an oil financier, and an industry lobby group.

          On Wednesday, June 28, the climate conference convened in London as part of London Climate Action Week, hosted by the UK-based global event organizer Climate Action in partnership with the UK Department for Energy Security and Net Zero. The Climate Innovation Forum describes the UK’s net-zero transition as an “urgent existential imperative and a significant commercial opportunity.” Climate Action did not respond to a request for comment.

      • Wildlife/Nature

    • Finance

    • AstroTurf/Lobbying/Politics

    • Censorship/Free Speech

    • Freedom of Information / Freedom of the Press

    • Civil Rights/Policing

      • AxiosOnline hate and harassment continues to rise

        More than half of Americans say they have experienced hate or harassment online, according to a new survey from the Anti-Defamation League, with a dramatic rise in incidents over the last 12 months, especially among teens.

        Why it matters: Experts say what happens online is causing significant real-world harm and also keeping large numbers of people from fully participating in an increasingly digital society.

      • Two prisoners continue hunger strike in Erbil prison

        Two individuals, imprisoned for their alleged involvement in an attack on Turkey’s consulate in Erbil, have been on a hunger strike for 44 days, demanding an end to "torture and ill-treatment."

      • France24China approves sweeping expansion of anti-espionage law

        A revised law dramatically expanding China's definition of espionage came into force on Saturday, giving Beijing more power than ever to punish what it deems threats to national security.

      • ScheerpostAs Movements Like Stop Cop City Gain Power, Police Treat Free Speech as a Crime

        This playbook has been used and reused, depending on the political winds of the time.

      • The NationIs “Bidenomics” Enough to Win Working Voters?

        This Wednesday, President Joe Biden showcased what’s sure to be a central theme in his reelection campaign with a speech in downtown Chicago hailing the signal achievements of his economic agenda and firmly repudiating the legacies of trickle-down economics. Speaking before a crowd of local and statewide political and business leaders at the city’s Old Post Office building, Biden announced his determination to ensure that the US economy grow “from the middle out and the bottom up rather than just top down”—an approach that marks “a fundamental break from the economic theory that’s failed America’s middle class for decades now.”

      • AxiosTrump plots Twitter return

        It may take a while, but former President Trump has entertained the idea of returning to his happy place on Twitter, where he's been absent for nearly 2 1/2 years, sources tell Axios.

        Why it matters: Trump still has nearly 87 million followers on Twitter, but hasn't posted there since he was banned after the Jan. 6 riot in 2021. Now a growing number of Trump allies — and some close to his campaign — are expecting him to tweet again.

      • EFFEFF Urges Supreme Court to Make Clear That Government Officials Have First Amendment Obligations When They Use Their Social Media Accounts for Governmental Purposes

        The resident sued, alleging violations of his First Amendment rights. A federal district court ruled against him, a decision that was upheld by the 6th Circuit, which said that no law required the manager to operate a Facebook page and no government employees maintained it.In the second case, O’Connor-Ratcliff v. Garnier, two school district trustees continued to use the same Facebook and Twitter accounts they created to promote their campaigns after they were elected. They used the accounts to solicit public input about school board decisions and to communicate with parents about school safety.

      • TechdirtEU And Elon Battle Over The New Internet Regulations That Elon Himself Endorsed Last Year

        You don’t need to be some fortune teller to predict some of this stuff. A year ago, after he had announced his plans to buy Twitter (but before he tried to back out, and then was eventually forced to complete the purchase), we were horrified to see Elon Musk meet with the top EU’s Commissioner for the Internal Market, Thierry Breton, and give a full embrace of the EU’s Digital Services Act. As we noted at the time, there are some serious concerns about the free speech implications of the DSA, and someone who was actually committed to free speech would be calling those out, rather than claiming “it’s exactly aligned with my thinking.”

      • Hong Kong Free PressChina censors prominent journalist who raised concerns about economy

        A prominent Chinese financial journalist who has compared the country’s economic problems to the Great Depression has been banned from social media.

      • The AtlanticThe End of Optimism in China

        Young people should learn to “eat bitterness,” says Xi Jinping.

      • The NationMen Overboard

        “The destruction of men in the West is the great story of the last 40 years,” declared conservative author and podcaster Ben Shapiro, during a recent appearance on Piers Morgan Uncensored. Shapiro was holding forth before a sympathetic audience, so he laid into the lead talking points of the cult of aggrieved maleness: resisting on pseudo-biological principles the notion that trans women are women, and decrying the sorry state of masculinity in mainstream discourse in the wake of the twin disasters of the sexual revolution and modern feminism. “The patriarchy was so clever that they somehow convinced women that sexual liberation was the most wonderful thing for women,” Shapiro said, “But as it turns out, it actually backfired and it ended up destroying men.”

      • The AtlanticHow to Lose a Century of Progress

        Americans have been too quick to condemn the field of public health, overlooking its massive achievements in the 1900s and, yes, during the recent pandemic, too.

      • EFFDigital Rights Updates with EFFector 35.8

        Learn more about the latest happenings by reading the full newsletter here, or you can listen to the audio version below!

        Listen on YouTube

        EFFector 35.8 | This Pride, Support LGBTQ+ Rights Both Online and offline

    • Internet Policy/Net Neutrality

    • Monopolies

      • Digital Music NewsGoogle Denies Ad Fraud Claims After Damning Research Report

        Google denies ad-fraud claims after a damning research report suggests it inflated video ad views, potentially misleading advertisers.

      • FTC vs Microsoft judge’s son works for the company, watchdog seeks recusal

        The son of the judge presiding over the FTC vs Microsoft case works at Microsoft, posing a conflict of interest, according to an industry watchdog group.

        The Revolving Door Project, part of the Center for Economic and Policy Research, claims the employment of U.S. District Judge Jacqueline Scott Corley’s son sets up a “clear risk of retaliation” from the company should Corley rule against it in the case. Corley oversaw arguments this week and is set to determine whether to grant the FTC’s request to pause Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard.

        [...]

        The watchdog sent a letter to Corley on Thursday, obtained by The Washington Post, that says Corley’s son’s employment may violate multiple rules laid out in the Code of Conduct U.S. judges follow. That includes a rule that judges should “avoid impropriety and the appearance of impropriety in all activities.” The Revolving Door Project warns that the conflict risks influencing the judge’s objectivity and could potentially reduce public trust in courts.

  • Gemini* and Gopher

    • Personal/Opinions

      • The Rainy Season

        The weather was just ... gross, this morning. I woke up to it being cloudy and threating rain. The news last night warned of heavy rain and thunder, but when I left home in the AM it wasn't really coming down. In my infinite wisdom I only took a small umbrella, and when I got out of the subway at my destination the rain had really started.

      • malahide swimming

        my work has been taking me to near Dublin on and off over the last few months. i have managed to get some swims in between shifts or on days off. i am trying to get back to more regular running and swimming.

        on previous trips i swam at Portmarnock but this trip i went only a very little further north to Malahide; or rather High Rock. i prefer changing on rocks or pebbles.

      • nb

        The 'nb' mention got me interested, and I immediately installed it. I've been looking for an easy note-taking solution, and this looks like a pretty good one!

        Apparently, it is 25K lines of bash... As long as it's not Python I am in! (The only things that break on Linux are written in Python, if you haven't noticed).

      • Mineral Water Saturday

        Been drinking a lot of mineral water today. By god it's so hot out. I think they should turn the Sun off for just a couple of days. We could really use a break from it. If I could sleep until Fall I would be very pleased

      • Got a new job

        Got a new job as a baker in a bakery I am under an apprenticeship for 5 years The pay is good but the work is hard Working till 5am every night 10+ hours

    • Politics and World Events

      • re: The Supreme Court and other fools

        I despise Capitalism and most other -isms (political systems that prefer A over B). But I believe that people are generally good, or if they are not, it is still wrong to opress them using violence or threats thereof.

    • Technology and Free Software

      • Making Games

        Today, one of my Mastodon mutuals boosted a blog post by software developer Evan Todd. It's a long and thoughtful piece about what we think we want, and the ways in which we deceive ourselves. For Todd, what he thought he wanted was a career in indie game development, and in a very particular, 2010s sort of way. This was after the point where people like Jonathan Blow, Ed McMillen, and others were able to get famous, quickly, by releasing small-studio games in an environment where there was (relatively) little competition. The years after "Indie Game: the Movie", after certain game developers became, in certain circles, actual celebrities, and after a whole industry spun up around The Things You Were Supposed To Do (YouTube trailer, Early Access, twitch, social media, funding via Kickstarter). I know this because I was, in a very small way, adjacent to this sort of scene. I'm a game developer in maybe the loosest sense of the term. I don't do it for a living. I never could. But I've written a little terminal-based puzzle game in C++ - that took me a couple of weeks - and I've written, and continue to write, a huge, sprawling, frustratingly incomplete game on my own time.


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



Recent Techrights' Posts

Getting the European Court of Justice to Annul the Illegal and Unconstitutional Unified Patent Kangaroo Court (UPC)
We're still working on it
They Tell Us Slop Replaces Workers, But the Reality Is, US Debt Has Surged 2,300 Billion Dollars in Six Months (the Economy is Collapsing)
Oligarchy already entertains the option of running away to (or colonising) some other planet without pitchforks and "unwashed masses"
 
Expensive errors: Forbes Gold price, $44 billion Bitcoin given away by Bithumb, South Korea
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Links 08/02/2026: Microsoft OSI (Openwashing Lobby) in Europe, Raised Against Social Control Media Provocateurs in EU
Links for the day
The Open Source Initiative (OSI) Lobbies for Microsoft in the EU, Promoting Proprietary Lock-in
OSI pushing and selling Microsoft and GitHub. OSI is Microsoft front group.
Finland's Dependence on GAFAM (US) Needs to be Lessened, EU Must Follow This Path
It's unwise to make one's entire national infrastructure (computer systems) dependent on a regime which compares its black citizens to monkeys and assassinates nonviolent dissenters
Links 08/02/2026: Microsoft GitHub as Burden on Developers and "The Chomsky Epstein Files"
Links for the day
Gemini Links 08/02/2026: "Doing Not Much Tweaking" and "Reclaiming Digital Agency"
Links for the day
Forbes: BitCoin, Cryptocurrency pages removed from investment database, links stop working
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Bitcoin warning followed immediately by network outage
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Money Funneled to Protection of Software Freedom, But Nothing Really Lost
Crossposted from personal site
Mozilla Firefox Sinks to Just 1.5% in the United States
According to analytics.usa.gov
We're Still Fast
The site is even faster than the BBC's despite being on shoestring budget with only a small technical team
Gemini Protocol is Not a Waste of Time of Effort
We see more and more GNU/Linux- or BSD-focused bloggers turning to Gemini
Our Gemini Protocol Support Turns 5 Today
today is a rare anniversary for us
In Today's World, One Must be Tough and Principled to Get Ahead Morally
But not financially (sellouts)
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Saturday, February 07, 2026
IRC logs for Saturday, February 07, 2026
The Right Wing in the United States Does Not Support Free Speech, It Supports Its Own Speech
Free speech is often opposed by those who also oppose Free software
IRC is a Lot Better Than Social Control Media (They're Not the Same at All)
A good social analogy for IRC is, there are many buildings with a party in each building
Microsoft 'Open' 'AI' is 'Dead Meat'
Or 0xDEADBEEF as some geeks might call it
When Identifying "Low Performers" and "PIPs" Aren't About Improving Performance But Reinforcing a Clique in Your Company/Organisation
It's very troubling to see once-respectable brands like IBM and institutions like the EPO resorting to this
Slop and Flop (IBM), Slopfarms and Hybrids (Linuxiac)
Did Bobby Borisov assume he would never get caught?
Crowdfunding vs Bitcoins: donations are better investment than digital tulip mania
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Links 07/02/2026: Misinformation by Slop, Overrated Slop Causes Stock Market Panic
Links for the day
Gemini Links 07/02/2026: Diode Function Generators and Panic Over Buzzwords and Slop
Links for the day
A Can of WORMS - Part III - Envying the Influence and Accomplishments of RMS, Socially Deleterious Attacks on Popular Movements
the actions are deliberate and coordinated, not some 'organic' or grassroots behaviour
Crisis teams assembled as financial regulators anticipate Bitcoin implosion
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Reddit as a Hive of Trolls, Social Control Media Curated (Many Voices Censored and Banned) by Marketing Firm of GAFAM
Typical Reddit
The Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) Delusion - Part III - Women Failing Women to Help Violent Americans From Microsoft
Summed up, SRA will gladly prioritise the "legal industry" over women strangled, raped etc
The World Gets Smaller, as Does Its Real Economy ('Human Resources') and So-called 'Natural Resources' (What Humans Call the Planet)
Don't talk about "AI"
Converting FOSDEM Talk on Software Patents in Europe Into Formats That Work for "FOS" and Don't Have Software Patent Traps
transcoded version of the video
Links 07/02/2026: More White House Racism, "Europe Accuses TikTok of Addictive Design"
Links for the day
Silent Mass Layoffs: It's Not the Revolution, It's the Loophole and the Hack ("Low Performers" or "Underperformers")
Layoffs by another approach
Mark Shuttleworth (MS) Pays Salaries to Microsoft (MS) Employees
Canonical selling Microsoft
Links 07/02/2026: Windows TCO Rising, Lousy Patents Invalided
Links for the day
Microsoft Leadership: Stop Taxing Us, Tax Only Poor People
Does Microsoft create jobs?
Biggest "AI Companies" (Meta, Alphabet, Microsoft) Borrowed (Additional Debt) About $100,000,000,000 in a Year
Who will be held accountable for all this?
In Case You've Missed It (ICYMI), Google's Debt More Than Doubled in a Year
Wait till it "monetises" billions of GMail users with slop
In 2009 Microsoft Was Valued at ~150 Billion Dollars, Now They Tell Us Microsoft Lost ~1,000 Billion Dollars in Value. Does That Make Sense?
Or Microsoft lost 700 billion dollars in "value" in less than two weeks
PIPs and Silent Layoffs at IBM (and Red Hat) Still Going on, It's "Forever Layoffs" (to Skirt the WARN Act)
American workers out
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Friday, February 06, 2026
IRC logs for Friday, February 06, 2026
Stressful Times for Team Campinos ("Alicante Mafia") at Europe's Second-Largest Institution
Keep pushing
Growing Discrimination in the European Patent Office (EPO)
it's a race to the bottom, basically
Google News Drowning in (or Actively Promoting) Slopfarms Again
LLM slop is a nuisance
Microsoft Stock Crashed When Alleged Vista 11 Numbers Disclosed
And last summer Microsoft indicated that it had lost 400 million Windows users
Gemini Links 07/02/2026: "Choosing a License for Literary Work" and "Social Media Is Not Social Networking (Anymore)"
Links for the day
Gemini Links 06/02/2026: Git and Email Patches; MNT Pocket Reform
Links for the day
Geminispace Net Growth in 2026 About a Capsule a Day
A pace like this means net gain of ~300 per year, i.e. about the same as last year
It's Not About Speed, It's About the Message (or Its Depth)
Better to write news than to just link to news if there's commentary that the news may merit
Benjamin Henrion Warned About the Illegal and Unconstitutional Unified Patent Court (UPC) in FOSDEM 2026
Listen to Benjamin Henrion
Economies Crashing Not Because of Slop Improving 'Efficiency' (That's a False Excuse) and 'Expensive' (Read: Qualified) Workers Discarded in Race to the Bottom
Actual cocaine addicts are pushing out moral people
IBM's CEO Speaks of Layoffs, Resorts to Mythical (False) Excuses
This has nothing to do with slop
Links 06/02/2026: Voter Intimidation and Press Shutdowns in US, Web Traffic Warped by LLM Sludge
Links for the day
Does Linux Torvalds Regret Having Dinners With Bill 'Russian Girls' Gates?
See, the rules that govern the Linux Foundation and its big sponsors aren't the same rules that apply to all of us
IBM: Cheapening Code, Cheapening Staff, Cheapening Everything
IBM's management runs IBM like it's a local branch of McDonald's. IBM is a junk company with morbid innards.
GNU/Linux Measured at 6% in One of the World's Largest Nations
Democratic Republic Of The Congo
Linux Foundation Operative Says We and Our Software All "Owe an Enormous Debt of Gratitude" to a Software Patents Reinforcer
The only true solution is to entirely get rid of all software patents
Mobbing at the European Patent Office (EPO) - Part IV - EPO Can Get Away With Murders, Suicide Clusters, and Systematic and Prolonged Bullying by 'Team Campinos' ("Alicante Mafia" as Insiders Call It)
Nobody in the Council or the EU/EC/EP gives a damn as long as laws are broken to fabricate 'growth'
Jeff Bezos Isn't Just Killing the Washington Post, He's Killing Thousands of News Sites/Newsrooms (in Dozens of Languages) That Rely on It for Many Decades Already
Not just slopfarms; even the Ukraine-based reporters are culled by Bezos, who's looking to please the dictators of the world
Central Staff Committee Confronted António Campinos for Giving His Cocaine-Addicted Friend Over 100,000 Euros to Do Nothing, Just Pretend to be Ill, While Cutting the Salaries of Everybody Else
"On the agenda: Amicale framework & Financial assistance for courses"
How to Win Lawsuits in 5 Simple Steps
Keep issuing threats every week and send 60 kilograms of legal papers to the target
More Than 99% of "AI" Companies Aren't AI, They're Pure BS
We need to discard those stupid debates about "AI" and reject media that gets paid to participate in such overt narrative control (manipulation like The Register MS)
AI Used to Save Lives, Now "AI" is a Grifting Scheme That Burns the Planet and Will Crash the Economy
What the media calls "AI" (it gets paid to call it that) is the same stuff that could instead be dubbed "algorithms"
Living in Freedom When 'False Flag Operations' Like EFF Get Captured by Billionaires to Take Freedom Away
There are many ways to think of Software Freedom
Amutable is a Microsoft Siege Against Freedom in GNU/Linux, Just Like the People Who Brought You 'Secure Boot' Controlled by Microsoft
Do whatever is possible to avoid Amutable and its "products"
Growing Focus on Publication
Over the past ~10 days we always served more than a million Web hits per day
"Going to be a large number of Microsoft layoffs announced soon"
Everybody knows a giant wave of layoffs is coming Microsoft's way
End of the 'GPU Bubble' and NVIDIA Finally Admits It Won't Bail Out Microsoft OpenAI Anymore
circular financing (financial/accounting fraud)
Corrupt Media Won't Hold Accountable Rich People for Role in Pedophilia
Journalistic misconduct or malpractice is a real thing
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Thursday, February 05, 2026
IRC logs for Thursday, February 05, 2026
EPO Management ("Alicante Mafia") Not Properly Sharing Information on Scale of Strikes by EPO Staff
disproportionate (double) deductions in salaries against people who participate in strikes, which are protected by law
Gemini Links 06/02/2026: Slop/Microslop, Home Assistant, and Valid Ex Commands
Links for the day
Blackmail evidence: Debian social engineering exposed in ClueCon 2024 talk on politics
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Bitcoin crash: opportunity or the end game?
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Changes at the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA)
SRA is basically a waste of money
Claims That IBM Will Lay Off 20% (or 15%) of Its Workforce This Year Unless It Finds a Way to Push Them All Out by Threats, Shame, Guilt
Where are the articles about IBM layoffs?
IBM Isn't a Serious Company Anymore, It's a Ponzi Scheme Operated by a Clique and It Misuses Companies It Acquires to Prop Up or Legitimise the Scheme
IBM seems like it's nothing but a "Scheme"
Google News Drowning in Slop About "Linux" (Slopfarms Galore)
Google should know better than to link to any of these slopfarms, but today's Google is itself a pusher of slop