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10.06.15

Links 6/10/2015: Linux 4.3 RC4, HP OpenSwitch, Wind River Linux 8

Posted in News Roundup at 11:33 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz

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Contents

GNU/Linux

Free Software/Open Source

Leftovers

  • Spider scare causes bus crash

    A child was transported to a hospital with minor head injuries after a shock from spider caused a crash involving a school bus and a “driverless” car, according to the Kosciusko County Sheriff’s Department.

    Around 4:15 p.m. Friday, deputies, along with Syracuse Police and Fire Units, responded to the area of 5571 E CR 1400 N on reports of a vehicle striking a school bus.

  • Security

    • Security advisories for Monday
    • Adobe Fixes 18 Critical Flaws in Latest Flash Player 19.0.0.185 Release: Update Now

      This is a very tiny application that usually does its thing behind the scenes, without interfering with the normal functioning of a phone, tablet or PC.

    • Incompetence, not Linux, is behind the XOR DDoS botnet

      First, no operating system or program is secure. Some are more secure than others. So sure, Linux is inherently more secure than Windows. But a badly managed Linux server will still be more insecure than a well-administered Windows system.

    • Linux.Wifatch ‘malware’ is actually making routers more secure

      We seem to have a vigilante white hat hacker on our hands, as newly discovered ‘malware’ aimed at Internet of Things devices and certain routers appears to be making these devices more secure. The Linux.Wifatch virus is doing the exact opposite of what most viruses would, rather than stealing user information or holding systems for ransom, it is actually improving security.

    • Linux vigilante fixes your router

      A new form of “malware” appears to have been set up by a Linux vigilante who wants to improve your security.

      Software called Linux.Wifatch compromises routers and other Internet of Things devices and appears to try and improve infected devices’ security.

    • Linux routers under attack — for their own good

      Symantec reports on an unusual “Linux.Wifatch” threat that improves the security of old Linux routers. Meanwhile, a new XOR botnet poses a deadlier threat.

      Linux may still be the most secure general-purpose OS in existence, but as its presence grows in the embedded and Internet of Things (IoT) market, it’s increasingly being targeted by malware. Linux-based routers with outdated firmware (see farther below) and wireless enabled home automaton devices seem particularly vulnerable.

  • Defence/Police/Secrecy/Aggression

    • The US decision to send weapons to Syria repeats a historical mistake

      Why does the US continually send deadly weapons to the Middle East, make things even more chaotic than they were before and expect better results the next time?

      As pretty much everyone who was paying attention predicted, the $500m program to train and arm “moderate” Syrian rebels is an unmitigated, Bay of Pigs-style disaster, with the head of US central command admitting to Congress this week that the year-old program now only has “four or five” rebels fighting inside Syria, with dozens more killed or captured.

      Even more bizarre, the White House is claiming little to do with it. White House spokesman Josh Earnest attempted to distance Obama from the program, claiming that it was actually the president’s “critics” who “were wrong.” The New York Times reported, “In effect, Mr Obama is arguing that he reluctantly went along with those who said it was the way to combat the Islamic State, but that he never wanted to do it and has now has been vindicated in his original judgment.”

    • Russia’s False Hopes — Paul Craig Roberts

      Russia miscalculated that diplomacy could solve the crisis that Washington created in Ukraine and placed its hopes on the Minsk Agreement, which has no Western support whatsoever, neither in Kiev nor in Washington, London, and NATO.

      Russia can end the Ukraine crisis by simply accepting the requests of the former Russian territories to reunite with Russia. Once the breakaway republics are again part of Russia, the crisis is over. Ukraine is not going to attack Russia.

      Russia doesn’t end the crisis, because Russia thinks it would be provocative and upset Europe. Actually, that is what Russia needs to do—upset Europe. Russia needs to make Europe aware that being Washington’s tool against Russia is risky and has costs for Europe.

    • Media Are Blamed as US Bombing of Afghan Hospital Is Covered Up

      A US-led NATO military coalition bombed a hospital run by international humanitarian aid organization Doctors Without Borders (known internationally as Medecins Sans Frontières, MSF) in Afghanistan, killing at least 22 people—12 staff members and 10 patients, including three children—and wounding 37 more.

  • Finance

    • Prof. Wolff on TRNN: 38% of American Workforce Still Jobless.

      Prof. Wolff discusses discusses why labor force participation is the lowest since 1977 and what’s really needed to stimulate the economy.

    • Why Debates Over the Fed’s Interest Rate Miss the Point

      Sometimes public debates focus on important social issues; at other times, debates distract from them. Disputes over whether the Federal Reserve System should raise interest rates illustrate that second sort. Yes, “serious people” take strong positions for or against interest rate hikes. They sharply question one another’s motives to spice up what passes for mainstream media economic news. But it is not the debate we could and should have, not even close.

      Both sides of that debate celebrate capitalism. They differ only on how best to have government serve the reproduction of capitalism: by leaving it alone, by intervening intensely or somewhere in between. These days they hassle over raising, lowering or leaving interest rates unchanged. The possibility that capitalism – rather than the Fed or interest rates – might be the problem troubles none of these folks. It does not occur to them. Nor is that surprising given the monotonous mantra of academic economics departments and the journalists and politicians trained by them.

    • Developing Countries Especially Vulnerable to TPP Deal – Trade Union

      Developing countries are most likely to suffer from the effects of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade deal, Daniel Bertossa, director of policy and governance at the Public Services International (PSI) global trade union, told Sputnik Monday.

      Earlier on Monday, 12 Pacific Rim countries, including the United States, reached a consensus on the wording and subject matter of the TPP free trade agreement.

    • Canada’s auto industry could lose 20,000 jobs because of TPP trade deal, union says

      The Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal could have major ramifications for Canada’s already struggling auto industry, resulting in cheaper vehicles for consumers, but a more competitive landscape for Canadian manufacturers.

      Unifor, the union that represents Canadian workers at the Detroit Three, said the deal would put an estimated 20,000 auto jobs at risk by eliminating tariffs and significantly reducing content rules for vehicles and auto parts.

      Under the TPP agreement, Canada will phase out its existing 6.1 per cent tariff on imported passenger vehicles over the next five years — a move that is expected to lower the cost of Japanese-made vehicles for Canadian consumers.

  • PR/AstroTurf/Lobbying

    • How Larry Lessig’s one-year presidency platform is winning over Silicon Valley

      He’s the only presidential candidate that’s been called a freedom fighter and a geek guru.

      In Silicon Valley, Harvard professor Larry Lessig’s following goes back almost two decades and is rooted in his devotion to a free and open internet.

      As Lessig struggles to be included in the national presidential polls and win a spot in the upcoming democratic debates, he’s banking on his loyal high-tech followers to step out from behind their computers and rally around his election and campaign finance reform platform.

    • 5 Ways Donald Trump Perfectly Mirrors Hitler’s Rise To Power

      … where I’m joined by my Cracked co-worker Randol Maynard and comic/activist/word doctor Genevieve Mueller. Specifically, we talk about all of the terrifyingly real ways that, no matter how crazy it sounds, Donald Trump is the closest the United States has ever come to producing our very own version of Adolf Hitler. Here are a few reasons why.

  • Censorship

  • Privacy

  • Civil Rights

    • How a Canadian scientist became the voice of the anti-Harper movement

      As protest songs go, it wasn’t exactly Pussy Riot. Harperman is a jaunty folk song with acoustic guitars, an amateur choir, and a chorus politely telling Canada’s prime minister Stephen Harper, “It’s time for you to go.”

      But the five-minute protest song became a viral hit, got its mild-mannered creator suspended from his job at the country’s environment department – and gave voice to the pent-up frustrations of Canada’s public servants who say they have found themselves at the receiving end of Harper’s policies.

    • Social media post leads to 2 arrests, drug bust, seizure of guns

      The Bartholomew County Sheriff’s Office arrested two people Friday after one of the suspects posted video of himself committing a crime to social media, according to the sheriff’s office.

      On Thursday night, the sheriff’s office says road signs were shot on the west end of the bridge on CR 400 N, east of US 31.

    • White kid builds nuclear reactor and Homeland Security offers help

      Wilson, now 21 years old, later won $50,000 at a science fair for an anti-terrorism device he invented that can detect nuclear materials in cargo containers.

    • How Hungary’s Prime Minister Turned From Young Liberal Into Refugee-Bashing Autocrat

      Unshaven, without a tie, the young dissident surveyed the crowd before him. It was June 16, 1989, and 250,000 people had gathered in Heroes’ Square for the reburial of Imre Nagy, the leader of the failed 1956 revolution. Viktor Orban demanded that Soviet troops leave Hungary. Soon afterward, they did.

      “It proved to be the right sentence, because it was true and came from the people’s hearts,” Orban told me a decade later.

    • Hungary: New Border Regime Threatens Asylum Seekers

      Hungary’s new border regime denies access to asylum and exposes vulnerable people to violence and prosecution, Human Rights Watch said today.

    • British State Viciously Abuses Child Fantasist

      The sentencing of a 15 year old Blackburn boy – 14 at the time he committed his thought crimes – to life imprisonment is grossly inhuman. It is not quite as evil as the decision of the appalling Saudi regime to crucify and behead a child dissident, but it is recognisably a product of the same world view. History books will look back on this era as one of astonishing state cruelty.

    • Racism Works In the Tories

      That is why Theresa May is going today to give a bloodcurdling speech attempting to stir up racism against immigrants by saying they are making us poor and making our society less cohesive. She will even pander to the ludicrous notion that an economy is of a fixed size no matter how many people are in it, with a fixed number of jobs, so “they” are taking “our” jobs. Doubtless she will also outline yet more definitions of thought crime and new reasons to lock up young Muslims.

    • Hillary Clinton wants gun firms liable for shootings

      She proposes abolishing legislation that protects gun makers and dealers from being sued by shooting victims.

    • Rush Limbaugh Falsely Claims That 92 Percent Of Mass Shootings Since 2009 Have Occurred In Gun-Free Zones

  • Internet/Net Neutrality

  • Intellectual Monopolies

    • Company hikes price 5,000% for drug that fights complication of AIDS, cancer

      A drug treating a common parasite that attacks people with weakened immune systems increased in cost 5,000% to $750 per pill.

      At a time of heightened attention to the rising cost of prescription drugs, doctors who treat patients with AIDS and cancer are denouncing the new cost to treat a condition that can be life-threatening.

    • Copyrights

      • Greek court says that it doesn’t matter whether the content you link to is lawful or unlawful

        Did you think that the story with hyperlinks and copyright was over?

        Of course it’s not.

        On the one hand, there is a new case currently pending before the Court of Justice of the European Union(CJEU): GS Media v Sanoma, C-160/15). This Dutch reference is seeking clarification as to how linking to content (leaked Playboy photographs in this case) freely accessible online, but which is communicated to the public without the consent of the copyright holder, should be qualified.

      • Intellectual Property? Why Words Matter In The Copyright Debate

        Language matters. Whether we get to keep our liberties or not depends on whether those liberties are generally named in positive words. The same thing goes for the privileges of corporations.

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