𝕿𝖊𝖈𝖍𝖗𝖎𝖌𝖍𝖙𝖘 Bulletin for Friday, September 08, 2023 ┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅ Generated Sat 9 Sep 02:52:04 BST 2023 Created by Dr. Roy Schestowitz (𝚛𝚘𝚢 (at) 𝚜𝚌𝚑𝚎𝚜𝚝𝚘𝚠𝚒𝚝𝚣 (dot) 𝚌𝚘𝚖) Full hyperlinks for navigation omitted but are fully available in the originals The corresponding HTML versions are at 𝒕𝒆𝒄𝒉𝒓𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕𝒔.𝒐𝒓𝒈 Latest in 𝒉𝒕𝒕𝒑://𝒕𝒆𝒄𝒉𝒓𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕𝒔.𝒐𝒓𝒈/𝒕𝒙𝒕 and older bulletins can be found at 𝒉𝒕𝒕𝒑://𝒕𝒆𝒄𝒉𝒓𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕𝒔.𝒐𝒓𝒈/𝒕𝒙𝒕-𝒂𝒓𝒄𝒉𝒊𝒗𝒆𝒔 Full IPFS index in 𝒉𝒕𝒕𝒑://𝒕𝒆𝒄𝒉𝒓𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕𝒔.𝒐𝒓𝒈/𝒊𝒑𝒇𝒔 and as plain text in 𝒉𝒕𝒕𝒑://𝒕𝒆𝒄𝒉𝒓𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕𝒔.𝒐𝒓𝒈/𝒊𝒑𝒇𝒔/𝒕𝒙𝒕 Gemini index for the day: gemini://gemini.techrights.org/2023/09/08/ ╒═══════════════════ 𝐑𝐄𝐂𝐄𝐍𝐓 𝐁𝐔𝐋𝐋𝐄𝐓𝐈𝐍𝐒 ════════════════════════════════════╕ Previous bulletins in IPFS (past 21 days, in chronological order): QmbqCQ6R4NusTRm9E3YjVzj9c1FxCfEvrfqShjAZLaCyQS QmeZFBVX9fk1V5VBuSsZpDpx2dnJBatXxASzUtAm4wrZ26 QmR8687kGyLT5rdVV9a5wwcd599wytXYh8CbSBUtHMqNx6 QmVL6ny5v6haHeg8eGHJrcSY343AUa4deXjfvCw1ZDmDz6 QmWKPms4oLgJhFJZPgySVW8kBSCBHkHuEbpSJ9Hu8w899a QmYRNEXfEKgCkNrxSJTkmHBQSawGzsT7jTG9zeGBgLZpYW QmXuNJQvwQEw7vxCEMaH6S2XP6CJWxyQPwQ5XwEnWrbwNY QmU8r9irxybJVwzTWsCaejmJ4dDWJ8vAHAHHAKEkyeufpQ QmeryNavwPZxt2XqRC8WzQsxzm8Q2aJpPrHDJjt4MVx7j9 QmV1aDkYP6Y7Yv8Eg5mojpfKfRqGkjzLoJiut9uECHzXbF QmNRJcNP3MBmn7dGr91i3qjc8AouAjwSZWUmroRDLJDj2W QmR3skFpi5NU2DwodXGtVWF1yWK1pJNg7U4BHJZ26DXmJr QmNyZCmQoHYnCZYzsD7hZtwEa43PmCo6mPJQSvxSE2bjMR QmbHjgPAAcGNUG9Sej4vSKhK8DfUYokfFkXLdKwr1JtGJG QmdLsuRLzrwb58dZaSmJah6oCmNNZ6cW4ick4chqJmHjmY QmTNR3uqcbMYjPAbbHjBqyNJb3ib8kytQvdFnATzkBFVvo QmfCHrqMLfMsHXYnQeAvVuNYt91Zw2AmMJ5mx4RqsrWy3b QmR2rr1yXDANjQBEz2oGtd2UMgy9U37FHdjpUhPfAk7h5z QmWE6ucdKk9Q1pi6ce3ko9xPWd9Y4BjpLij3W7tJ5TMjG3 QmaoEDiALTYYZdaq3SQ86aQpMwUji1nqCeLbXAoszFRYvJ QmSTkZUY74BcgbgqS6JKwwNbVnbzY5uqwpgWtYonGJua8s ╒═══════════════════ 𝐈𝐍𝐃𝐄𝐗 ═══════════════════════════════════════════════════╕ ⦿ Record Traffic and 6 Months of Uptime for Our Gemini Capsule | Techrights ⦿ Why You Should Not Use Microsoft Office 365 | Techrights ⦿ IBM Gaslighting While Breaking the GNU/Linux Desktop Experience | Techrights ⦿ IRC Proceedings: Thursday, September 07, 2023 | Techrights ⦿ OpenAI and Microsoft Can Die Together | Techrights ⦿ Google Chrome Enables More Spyware; Calls It “Ad Privacy Feature” | Techrights ䷼ Bulletin articles (as HTML) to comment on (requires login): http://techrights.org/2023/09/08/an-agate-milestone/#comments http://techrights.org/2023/09/08/do-not-use-microsoft-office-365/#comments http://techrights.org/2023/09/08/ibm-breaking-things/#comments http://techrights.org/2023/09/08/irc-log-070923/#comments http://techrights.org/2023/09/08/openai-and-microsoft-fate/#comments http://techrights.org/2023/09/08/spyware-as-privacy-feature/#comments ䷞ Followed by Daily Links (assorted news picks curated and categorised): http://techrights.org/2023/09/08/akademy-2024-plans/#comments http://techrights.org/2023/09/08/circuitpython-8-2-5/#comments http://techrights.org/2023/09/08/francis-1-0/#comments http://techrights.org/2023/09/08/migrating-to-neovim/#comments http://techrights.org/2023/09/08/war-on-encryption/#comments ䷩ 𝚕𝚒𝚗𝚎 66 ╒═══════════════════ 𝐀𝐑𝐓𝐈𝐂𝐋𝐄 ═════════════════════════════════════════════════╕ (ℹ) Images, hyperlinks and comments at http://techrights.org/2023/09/08/an-agate-milestone/#comments Gemini version at gemini://gemini.techrights.org/2023/09/08/an-agate-milestone/ ⠀⌧ █▇▆▅▄▃▂▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁ 09.08.23⠀▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▂▃▄▅▆▇█ ⌧ Gemini_version_available_♊︎ ✐ Record_Traffic_and_6_Months_of_Uptime_for_Our_Gemini_Capsule⠀✐ Posted in Protocol, Site_News at 12:31 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz Video_download_link | md5sum 073a3c6bcc8d795848b9133fac5d3e8d 6 Months of Gemini Uptime Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivative Works 4.0 http://techrights.org/videos/gemini-and-agate-milestone.webm Summary: Our Gemini capsule has just broken another record and today’s video explains what makes us proud of the way it evolved in less than 3 years (Techrights as a whole turns 17 soon) THIS month has started very strongly for us. In HTTP/S we’re looking at 5.5 hits/second, on average, and in Gemini about 25,000 page requests per day. One noteworthy milestone is that for the first time (ever) our Gemini server, agate, exceeded 6 months in uptime (today it’s exactly 6 months) and some time this month or next month we expect to have 50,000 pages in Gemini. “In many ways, the Web controls users, the users do not control the Web. Or the real users are advertisers, spies etc.”As a side note or addendum to the above video, I presented this_IPFS_index_page exactly when the list was being refreshed (around 4AM every night) and that alone is the reason it was incomplete. There are many reasons to prefer for our readers to use Gemini, especially seeing the bad direction the World Wide Web has taken in recent years. It does not exist to serve users but to serve advertisers and today’s Web browsers, not just Web sites, help companies control people. In many ways, the Web controls users, the users do not control the Web. Or the real users are advertisers, spies etc. There’s no simple fix because very few companies control the Web and its future_direction. “Everything that makes the Web browser “better” is something that takes away from the Web platform something that the Web browser allowed it to do to begin with,” Ryan notes in IRC this morning. “Ad blockers, JavaScript blockers, Brave putting in “random garbage” in an API readout so the site can’t follow you around everywhere. Overriding cookie and local storage handling…” “In the 90s, they called it the “World Wide Wait”, because it was over a phone line and you had to wait minutes sometimes for a site to load. And now it’s because you go to read the news and they want to pull in 600 MB of data, and part of that is a video you didn’t want to see. Pretty much the only thing you can do with the Web is turn a bunch of crap off and use it in a partially- working state. Otherwise there’s just going to be too much junk loading.” “Gemini pods [sic] aren’t like Web sites because they don’t have a way to FORCE the user to do anything, even load an image if they don’t want to. This Fediverse thing is sort of a lie. Because ideally there wouldn’t be a way to run a server for tons of users. Every user would be in a Peer-to-Peer system. There would be no way to block a user at a server level, only on a user-to-user basis. Then it would be up to the users to decide who they want to see. The Fediverse is federated between clusters of users on someone else’s server. So it’s like “FEDRA Colonies” from The Last of Us. Maybe it would be humorous to call it the FEDRAverse. Small groups of people living under the control of a local tyranny. In the game/TV show, pockets of the former United States government, forcing starving people to “earn their keep” incinerating plague victims and digging latrines. “The Fediverse lie is that because it’s a lot of tyrants in control of a small cluster, that’s better somehow than one great big tyrant running Twitter. You run into more interesting stuff on Mastodon by looking at the public list of servers that the administrator decided to ban. A lot of times they don’t even give a reason. It’s just that nobody using his server can see that other server because the administrator didn’t like it and won’t tell you why.” █ ䷩ 𝚕𝚒𝚗𝚎 156 ╒═══════════════════ 𝐀𝐑𝐓𝐈𝐂𝐋𝐄 ═════════════════════════════════════════════════╕ (ℹ) Images, hyperlinks and comments at http://techrights.org/2023/09/08/do-not-use-microsoft-office-365/#comments Gemini version at gemini://gemini.techrights.org/2023/09/08/do-not-use-microsoft-office-365/ ⠀⌧ █▇▆▅▄▃▂▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁ 09.08.23⠀▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▂▃▄▅▆▇█ ⌧ Gemini_version_available_♊︎ ✐ Why_You_Should_Not_Use_Microsoft_Office_365⠀✐ Posted in America, Microsoft, Office_Suites, Wikipedia at 1:31 am by Guest Editorial Team Reprinted with permission from Ryan_Farmer. Quoting Wikipedia to Explain Why You Should Not Use Microsoft Office 365. Microsoft 365, or Office 365 has a terrible record on security, which is one of the reasons you should not use it. Another reason is that if your “subscription” expires, even the desktop versions will go into “read-only” modeand prevent you from editing or creating any new documents until you’re paying Microsoft for a subscription again. Even the older licensing model required a “Product Activation” server, but it was only to check if you paid the licensing fee, one time, whereas the licensing fees for Microsoft 365 never stop unless you want the programs to turn into document viewers that can’t do anything else. Let’s just look at what Wikipedia says about “Security” and directly quote it (note that this is the September 7th, 2023 edit, and it may change later. Microsoft even pays PR firms to vandalize Wikipedia and downplay and edit out embarrassing information. In spite of claiming to comply with European data protection standards, and in spite of existing Safe_Harbor agreements, Microsoft has admitted that it will not refrain from handing over data stored on its European servers to US authorities under the Patriot_Act.[88] In Finland, FICORA has warned Office 365 users of phishing incidents and break-ins that have caused losses of millions of euros.[89][90] In July 2019, the German state of Hesse outlawed the use of Office 365 in educational institutions, citing privacy risks.[92] In December 2020, the US_Department_of_Commerce_was_breached via Office 365. The attackers were able to access staff emails for several months.[93][94] –Wikipedia So, Microsoft will turn over your documents to US authorities under a rubber- stamp procedure under the USA PATRIOT ACT, no matter where it claims to store them, and in violation of your own country’s privacy laws. Many of these procedures don’t even require the government to ask a judge in an American court. They can just get the files. (National Security Letters work this way, and they couldn’t tell you they handed the files over even if they wanted to, because they come with a gag order. The point of this is you won’t know there’s an investigation until they’ve arrested you and have already built the case.) Microsoft “online services” are notorious for break-ins, so Finland’s warning shouldn’t be a surprise. When they break into the server, criminals can take your documents and files too. They can use them to steal trade secrets or blackmail you. The United States government has been breached at least once, and for several months, and there’s no telling where the Department of Commerce’s mail ended up (Russians? Chinese? Even the US government gets no security when they use Microsoft products.) Microsoft 365 is banned for use in classrooms in at least one German state, which has deemed it too insecure to even use at all. Also, this is the stuff that survived Microsoft’s PR firm “pruning” things from Wikipedia. None of this things can happen to you if you use LibreOffice, and store your documents on your own computer. Also, LibreOffice never goes into “read-only” mode if you stop paying a monthly fee. There is no fee. People working with/for online trolling firms (like IBM, who now promotes MS Office to Linux users via a Web browser) or who have been brainwashed by them like to paint people who insist on real software as some sort of aging hipster or a crank, but it’s all part of the rub. “Web Apps” that do something that you could do with locally executed computer software almost always have few or no real advantages for you, but they do give someone power to steal and leak your data, and force you to constantly pay them more money under threat of losing access to the program entirely. When I was a teenager, I railed against “Product Activators” for locally installed software too. I see that a lot of software uses those now, but I decline to use anything that makes you submit to a Web server to continue executing the program. There may be some sort of “illegal crack”, which is what paying customers would always eventually have to do to keep their binaries working when the activation server no longer exists. So you can pay and THEN still be forced to make the decision between committing a crime or not, later on, after you use and need the software. So far, Microsoft has hidden this facet by keeping the activation servers for, I think, even Windows and Office XP running, but they won’t do that forever. (I do not support piracy of Microsoft software. Piracy of Microsoft software is always a terrible thing, and should never be done, because then there are more copies of the software. Also, they can come with viruses, but the Microsoft software itself is usually at least as bad as the virus that comes with it.) If I can still use WordStar in DOS, why can’t a person who bought Office XP have binaries that will always work if they want to use them in 2050 somehow? One point of subscription models is forcing users to update even when the program changes in ways that make it difficult for them to adjust to, or remove features they needed. So add all of this to the list_of_reasons_not_to_use_Microsoft_365_or_any “Clown_Office”. █ ䷩ 𝚕𝚒𝚗𝚎 317 ╒═══════════════════ 𝐀𝐑𝐓𝐈𝐂𝐋𝐄 ═════════════════════════════════════════════════╕ (ℹ) Images, hyperlinks and comments at http://techrights.org/2023/09/08/ibm-breaking-things/#comments Gemini version at gemini://gemini.techrights.org/2023/09/08/ibm-breaking-things/ ⠀⌧ █▇▆▅▄▃▂▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁ 09.08.23⠀▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▂▃▄▅▆▇█ ⌧ Gemini_version_available_♊︎ ✐ IBM_Gaslighting_While_Breaking_the_GNU/Linux_Desktop_Experience⠀✐ Posted in Free/Libre_Software, GNOME, GNU/Linux, IBM, KDE, Red_Hat at 12:18 am by Guest Editorial Team Reprinted with permission from Ryan_Farmer. IBM Gaslighting: “The New Linux Technologies Work Fine. It’s Just You!” Wayland is Not Robust. I got a heckler a while back who seems to do work involving administering IBM Red Hat systems, and he tried to tell me that Wayland works fine and it’s just me or my distribution. I’ve searched the Web for “plasma_crash_wayland” and variations, and found users on recent releases of Ubuntu, Arch, and openSUSE (Leap and Tumbleweed) complaining about it and of course there’s me, with Debian 12.1 and I ran screaming to X11 when Wayland was causing issues here too after I had previously experienced all sorts of issues trying to run KDE on Wayland in openSUSE Leap 15.5. I can’t believe Debian made this pile of crap the default. I’m far from the only person having lots of issues with KWin and Plasma Desktop on Wayland, and the issues just disappear for everyone when you go back to X11 (which is the default for openSUSE KDE on Leap). IBM is just replacing all of these mature and stable interfaces, to the Linux kernel (with inferior and buggy systemd units/code), they’ve replaced Pulseaudio with Pipewire, leading_to_audio_corruption_issues of the sort Pulseaudio had 15 years ago which have been fixed since forever. Oh, you want to smack it so it’ll stop sounding like a crackling tin can? Restart Fedora and wait until a few hours later when it does that again. And they’ve done Wayland to “replace X11”, and now there’s no reliable way to run KDE on itand even in GNOME, you run XWayland for Wine and it causes Windows programs to flake out and crash when you do something like drop files on them from Nautilus (the file manager). As long as X11 remains an option I’m going to use it. KDE themselves has a list of “Wayland_Showstoppers”. Some are fixed upstream in Qt6, but Long Term Stable distributions are shipping Plasma Desktop 5.27.5, which is based on Qt5. Of course, many issues are still unresolved regardless, and don’t even have a proposed patch on the bug tracker. IBM doesn’t care what sort of damage they cause to non-GNOME desktops on Linux. Their answer to KDE was to throw it out of RHEL. In Fedora, it’s maintained largely by Windows and Mac users (as revealed by Element, the Web app for Matrix.org.) Since KDE has a traditional desktop, it’s what most PC users would really want to use. If they sat down to two identical PCs, one running GNOME and the other using KDE, most would pick KDE. In over 10 years of using GNOME 3 and 4x, I couldn’t get past expecting there to be a desktop there, with a system tray, and a taskbar, like every normal desktop environment has. IBM doesn’t even ship GNOME looking like it does in Fedora. Ubuntu doesn’t either. Neither does System76. They all hack it to death with shell extensions to try to beat it into some kind of shape. As much as I dislike Ubuntu in general (mainly because of Snaps and cozying up to Microsoft), I think they’ve gone to the most effort of restoring some kind of sane and usable desktop experience to GNOME. It’s really a shame that there’s so much backing of GNOME, which is just inferior in every way, especially this Windows 8-like “Let’s see how much we can torture them and force our branding everywhere.” mentality to the GUI. It’s more of a shame that the people behind GNOME (largely IBM, through Red Hat) feel like they have to “shoot out the tires” of the competition with broken garbage like Wayland instead of a little competition for who can write better programs. There’s really few arguments in Wayland’s favor. The worst thing about defaulting Debian KDE to Wayland is that Debian promotes IBM’s vandalism and helping them make Linux appear to be “broken” if a user does not know to turn off Wayland at the log-in screen and choose “Plasma on X11” instead. This whole Wayland farce has been going on for long enough without any real results. The more you look, the more people_who_got_blindsided_by_this_idiotic_default look for a way back to X. One user in Reddit says that if you use Nvidia cards, the log-in screen immediately returns to the log-in screen in Debian KDE on Wayland and it’s not even clear to the user why. In 2023, more than 10 years later, remote desktop software still won’t work in Wayland. Why? More bogus “Something something SECURITY!”. This_guy_here says KWin on Wayland makes his brightness controls go from “15% to 100%”. I mean, you can go on endlessly. People are clearly having problems with Wayland and the consensus is “just wait longer” and hopefully some of the issues will start disappearing. What does the user get in exchange for using Wayland? Nothing. Only bugs that don’t happen on X11. It would be completely different if they found a way to make Wayland draw things to your display 40% faster or something, but….it doesn’t even do that. I’ve been around Linux since 1998. It was far from perfect then, but by 2010 or so it had been cleaned up and was really easy to install and use without any serious problems. IBM has brought us full circle and vomited out the biggest mess onto desktop users I’ve seen in over two and a half decades. Almost everyone is having some trouble out of Wayland if they’ve tried using it for a while or for enough NORMAL desktop tasks. But IBM only considers running GNOME so you can open Firefox and load_Microsoft Office as the sole purpose of desktop PCs now, and Wayland can handle that, so “stable”. Apparently, enough time has gone by that the Old Guard of IBM who at least remember how badly Microsoft screwed them over on OS/2 are all gone. Now they’re a satellite state. I like to say Wayland is “Negative work.” not only because it just replaces X11 with inferior beta software-quality interfaces, sometimes missing entirely, where everyone has to rewrite the same function from scratch, but because it requires work that doesn’t involve actually improving the desktop and window management for the users. A lot of work has been poured into get KDE to do things it already did on X11, and with code that is new and unstable, and incomplete. “Negative work” was also a direct quote from IBM. They accused Microsoft of “negative work” when Microsoft was rewriting OS/ 2 modules that had already been written by IBM, and Microsoft said they were optimizing it. But what was really going on was they were adding bugs and breaking OS/2 software and causing IBM’s customers to get mad at IBM. This Wayland thing is just “rewriting modules that worked” and “breaking programs” in the process, forcing other software developers to write bad Wayland code and get negative feedback on it from users. “Negative work.” In IBM’s case, they could care less what happens when I drag files onto a Windows program, or one using XWayland. None of the IBM execs are using desktop Linux. But I care. I do not consider X11 programs, the majority of programs, to be some “optional legacy code”, due to office politics at IBM, coming down from managers who don’t even run Linux. Community distributions like Debian have an excellent opportunity they’re not taking. Drop GNOME. Hell, it’s easier than ever. Its applications (and GTK ones) are in Flatpak or AppImage or something, where the GNOME people can containerize the mess so it’s not spewing GTK nonsense out everywhere. Set KDE back to X11. GNOME applications are no great loss anyway. Most of them are trash. Remember, the people paying to develop it it don’t even use it. When I needed to file PDF documents with the US federal government and had Fedora with GNOME, I quickly found GNOME’s PDF application to be unusable, and had to bring in Okular, a KDE program, to do the job of…..fillable forms. █ ䷩ 𝚕𝚒𝚗𝚎 569 ╒═══════════════════ 𝐀𝐑𝐓𝐈𝐂𝐋𝐄 ═════════════════════════════════════════════════╕ (ℹ) Images, hyperlinks and comments at http://techrights.org/2023/09/08/irc-log-070923/#comments Gemini version at gemini://gemini.techrights.org/2023/09/08/irc-log-070923/ ⠀⌧ █▇▆▅▄▃▂▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁ 09.08.23⠀▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▂▃▄▅▆▇█ ⌧ Gemini_version_available_♊︎ ✐ IRC_Proceedings:_Thursday,_September_07,_2023⠀✐ Posted in IRC_Logs at 5:31 am by Needs Sunlight Also available via the Gemini protocol at: * gemini://gemini.techrights.org/irc-gmi/irc-log-techrights-070923.gmi * gemini://gemini.techrights.org/irc-gmi/irc-log-070923.gmi * gemini://gemini.techrights.org/irc-gmi/irc-log-social-070923.gmi * gemini://gemini.techrights.org/irc-gmi/irc-log-techbytes-070923.gmi Over HTTP: 🄸🄼🄰🄶🄴_🄳🄴🅂🄲🅁🄸🄿🅃🄸🄾🄽_⦇H 🄸🄼🄰🄶🄴_🄳🄴🅂🄲🅁🄸🄿🅃🄸🄾🄽_⦇HTML5_logs⦈_ #techrights_log_as_HTML5 #boycottnovell_log_as_HTML5 🄸🄼🄰🄶🄴_🄳🄴🅂🄲🅁🄸🄿🅃🄸🄾🄽_⦇H 🄸🄼🄰🄶🄴_🄳🄴🅂🄲🅁🄸🄿🅃🄸🄾🄽_⦇HTML5_logs⦈_ #boycottnovell-social_log_as_HTML5 #techbytes_log_as_HTML5 🄸🄼🄰🄶🄴_🄳🄴🅂🄲🅁🄸🄿🅃🄸🄾🄽_⦇t 🄸🄼🄰🄶🄴_🄳🄴🅂🄲🅁🄸🄿🅃🄸🄾🄽_⦇text_logs⦈_ #techrights_log_as_text #boycottnovell_log_as_text 🄸🄼🄰🄶🄴_🄳🄴🅂🄲🅁🄸🄿🅃🄸🄾🄽_⦇t 🄸🄼🄰🄶🄴_🄳🄴🅂🄲🅁🄸🄿🅃🄸🄾🄽_⦇text_logs⦈_ #boycottnovell-social_log_as_text #techbytes_log_as_text Enter_the_IRC_channels_now =============================================================================== § IPFS Mirrors⠀➾ CID Description Object type IRC log for  Qmf8dsR72FLsYENsvEiwEXJZdkCmsJwzF645X3cnVAvW9o #boycottnovell 🄸🄼🄰🄶🄴 🄳🄴🅂🄲🅁🄸🄿🅃🄸🄾🄽 ⦇HTML5 logs⦈ (full IRC log as HTML) IRC log for #boycottnovell  QmQgdkXkq17PQAEnNBB4Ui3Y4pmJyV7NwwCAC53mrtnPH2 (full IRC log 🄸🄼🄰🄶🄴 🄳🄴🅂🄲🅁🄸🄿🅃🄸🄾🄽 ⦇text logs⦈ as plain/ASCII text) IRC log for #boycottnovell-  QmWtBaU3jeKrHDbRMiwNeNynZ953X7fmD69wyvZuX8i9tK social 🄸🄼🄰🄶🄴 🄳🄴🅂🄲🅁🄸🄿🅃🄸🄾🄽 ⦇HTML5 logs⦈ (full IRC log as HTML) IRC log for #boycottnovell-  Qmbgu9YSWqSperX22RuN9VzLnLUeuQUtKL6v96QW38tHHV social 🄸🄼🄰🄶🄴 🄳🄴🅂🄲🅁🄸🄿🅃🄸🄾🄽 ⦇text logs⦈ (full IRC log as plain/ASCII text) IRC log for  QmaLughhMXp4iZXwPJ3G27mYqfoS2MpTNfThQP9NnB7k5Q #techbytes 🄸🄼🄰🄶🄴 🄳🄴🅂🄲🅁🄸🄿🅃🄸🄾🄽 ⦇HTML5 logs⦈ (full IRC log as HTML) IRC log for #techbytes  QmSHRbRscQmzT1j2BraV82FPaDgpGt3VLFCGraEj2UMJwB (full IRC log 🄸🄼🄰🄶🄴 🄳🄴🅂🄲🅁🄸🄿🅃🄸🄾🄽 ⦇text logs⦈ as plain/ASCII text) IRC log for  QmUYjyndGpFCEb6FuzQEnTwWNymnKd9ch9ajp9V41CAnum #techrights 🄸🄼🄰🄶🄴 🄳🄴🅂🄲🅁🄸🄿🅃🄸🄾🄽 ⦇HTML5 logs⦈ (full IRC log as HTML) IRC log for #techrights  QmXYSuufEhjGTnttFSXBhTBw4e64WNVih3cyPZhtWKuZQd (full IRC log 🄸🄼🄰🄶🄴 🄳🄴🅂🄲🅁🄸🄿🅃🄸🄾🄽 ⦇text logs⦈ as plain/ASCII text) 🄸🄼🄰🄶🄴 🄳🄴🅂🄲🅁🄸🄿🅃🄸🄾🄽 ⦇IPFS logo⦈ § Bulletin for Yesterday⠀➾ Local_copy | CID (IPFS): QmSTkZUY74BcgbgqS6JKwwNbVnbzY5uqwpgWtYonGJua8s ䷩ 𝚕𝚒𝚗𝚎 696 ╒═══════════════════ 𝐀𝐑𝐓𝐈𝐂𝐋𝐄 ═════════════════════════════════════════════════╕ (ℹ) Images, hyperlinks and comments at http://techrights.org/2023/09/08/openai-and-microsoft-fate/#comments Gemini version at gemini://gemini.techrights.org/2023/09/08/openai-and-microsoft-fate/ ⠀⌧ █▇▆▅▄▃▂▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁ 09.08.23⠀▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▂▃▄▅▆▇█ ⌧ Gemini_version_available_♊︎ ✐ OpenAI_and_Microsoft_Can_Die_Together⠀✐ Posted in Deception, Finance, Microsoft at 2:34 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz Video_download_link | md5sum Controlled Media Hype Waves and End of OpenAI Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivative Works 4.0 http://techrights.org/videos/openai-bubble-imploding.webm Summary: Merely starting and/or running some business does not mean that this business is a success and actually makes money (most businesses never make money and the vast majority will collapse in the first few years); if Microsoft officially buys “Open”AI (which is misleading; the money typically goes to the investor/s tolerating the losses — not to ordinary staff — and staff is considered a likely casualty, lucky to survive an acquisition, from which there’s no direct gain) it will be a major financial liability whose only potential upside is an over-hyped and computationally-overzealous gimmick (“Open”AI is a one-trick_pony) which distracts from Microsoft’s ongoing destruction across many sectors WE extensively covered loads_of_layoffs back in July, as expected since last year (based_on_leaks) and we had repeatedly said that all the “HEY HI” (“AI”) hype was intended to help distract from it. Microsoft probably shed off 20,000- 30,000 employees so far this year, not counting (perma)temps and contractors. It's_a_bloodbath. In Bellevue alone Microsoft went down from ~9,300 employees to only 4,400 (that’s less than half). “It seems reasonable to predict “Open”AI’s bankruptcy and it won’t even take very long to happen.”The video above discusses yesterday's_post about the demise_of_"Open"AI (it’s neither Open nor “AI”; Alex Oliva called_them "Stochastic_Parrot" and Richard Stallman said something to the_same_effect). It seems reasonable to predict “Open”AI’s bankruptcy and it won’t even take very long to happen. As I note in the video, maybe they will use the misnomer “exit” as they sell the remaining “assets” (staff) to some other company and mislabel the company’s failure as “successful acquisition”. █ 🄸🄼🄰🄶🄴_🄳🄴🅂🄲🅁🄸🄿🅃🄸🄾🄽_⦇ChatGPT_Creator_OpenAI_Could_Go_Bankrupt_by_202:_With declining_users_and_competitors_on_the_rise,_could_the_creator_of_ChatGPT really_be_on_the_way_to_bankruptcy?⦈_ ⣿⣿⡏⡛⠛⡟⣛⢛⣻⡿⣛⡿⣛⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿ ⣿⣿⣷⣷⣷⣷⣷⣾⣿⣿⣾⣶⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿ ⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿ ⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿ ⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿ ⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿ ⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿ ⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿ ⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿ ⣿⡿⢿⢿⣿⣿⣿⣿⠿⡿⠿⡿⠿⣿⠿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⡿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⡿⢿⢿⣿⠿⣿⣿⣿⣿⢿⡿⣿⡿⢿⣿⣿⡿⢿⣿⣿⣿⡿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⢿⣿⣿⣿⠿⣿⢿⡿⢿⡿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿ ⣿⣸⣻⣰⣙⣎⣇⣆⣇⣇⣥⣿⣸⣯⣻⣂⣿⣠⣟⣎⣖⣇⣪⣰⣿⣸⣸⢰⣉⣮⣇⣼⣓⣸⣸⣇⣗⣏⣎⣹⣸⣈⣆⣿⣸⣸⣱⣹⣇⣅⣳⣹⣰⣁⣕⣇⣇⣇⣏⣸⣰⣿⣰⣡⢳⣷⣣⣇⣇⣗⣽⣵⣹⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿ ⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣾⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣷⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿ ⣿⠿⣿⣿⣿⣿⢿⣿⡿⢿⡿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⡿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⢿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⢿⡿⣿⣿⣿⡿⣿⡿⣿⣿⣿⣿⢿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿ ⣿⣶⣽⣿⣦⣿⣤⣦⣤⣤⣤⣴⣜⣧⣵⣥⣧⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣤⣴⣾⣿⣤⣼⣿⣾⣿⣿⣿⣯⣾⣧⣮⣴⣿⣤⣤⣤⣤⣼⣼⣿⣿⣿⣿⣴⣥⣼⣿⣿⣧⣼⣼⣿⣿⣿⣼⣿⣿⣿⣦⣯⣿⣔⣾⣤⣴⣧⣤⣼ ⣿⢻⣿⣿⡿⠿⣿⣿⢻⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⠻⢻⣿⣛⢿⣽⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿ ⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣾⣿⣿⣾⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿ ⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿ ⣿⡏⢉⣭⢹⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿ ⣿⣇⣲⣳⣾⣯⣯⣭⣯⣽⣭⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣭⣭⣿⣿⣽⣯⣽⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿ ䷩ 𝚕𝚒𝚗𝚎 781 ╒═══════════════════ 𝐀𝐑𝐓𝐈𝐂𝐋𝐄 ═════════════════════════════════════════════════╕ (ℹ) Images, hyperlinks and comments at http://techrights.org/2023/09/08/spyware-as-privacy-feature/#comments Gemini version at gemini://gemini.techrights.org/2023/09/08/spyware-as-privacy-feature/ ⠀⌧ █▇▆▅▄▃▂▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁ 09.08.23⠀▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▂▃▄▅▆▇█ ⌧ Gemini_version_available_♊︎ ✐ Google_Chrome_Enables_More_Spyware;_Calls_It_“Ad_Privacy_Feature”⠀✐ Posted in Deception, Google at 8:06 pm by Guest Editorial Team Reprinted with permission from Ryan_Farmer. Google Chrome Enables More Spyware; Calls_It_“Ad_Privacy_Feature”. Google Chrome has enabled Federated Learning of Cohorts, or FLoC. As Ars Technica describes it, Google implemented this “ad topics” feature as a “solution” to third-party tracking cookies. But Apple Safari, and Mozilla Firefox, have blocked these cookies for years. It’s only Chrome that isn’t blocking them now. Google hasn’t even turned off third-party cookies and says they won’t for at least another year. Might be a good idea to mention that Brave (which uses the Chromium rendering engine) doesn’t have FLoC or third-party cookies, and is one of the few browsers that actually has an ad and tracking blocker (a real one) built-in. This is really just the latest reason to leave Google Chrome. There’s really no special rendering capabilities that it has that Brave doesn’t. It just has a lot of spyware in it. Google has been doing a lot of sketchy things, at the browser level, in Chrome, to circle the wagons around its ad and tracking business. Brendan Eich, CEO of Brave, correctly said that they are not just a skin for Chromium, they are a fork and always have been, and that they “disable lots of junk already”, and that includes FLoC. Their “Shields” mean that Google’s ManifestV3 neutering of privacy-based extensions matters less to Brave because it has full support for uBlock-Origin style content blocking lists anyway, built-in, at a level where Google is powerless to stop you. Mozilla-based browsing engines have other implementations than Firefox that do a lot more for the user’s privacy, such as LibreWolf and GNU IceCat. There’s nothing preventing people from grabbing IceCat and turning off the extensions like LibreJS and the others if they don’t want them. What makes Brave, LibreWolf, IceCat, or the SeaMonkey Internet Suite possible is that with open source software, if the upstream “Goes bad.” then anyone is free to take the code and alter it to remove that malicious feature and create an alternative version which doesn’t do that. Fundamentally, Google FLoC is just another way that Chromium has “gone bad” and has been fixed by the forks. Users deserve privacy, which turning off third- party tracking cookies helps with. What they do not need is some “Google alternative” which preserves the worst aspects and makes third-party tracking even more powerful than it already was. With third-party cookies, only the server that set them could read them back and figure out who you were and which domains you’d been on that this server had loaded resources into. That alone was bad enough, but with Google FLoC, the browser itself tracks which ads you“might be interested in”, and this fundamentally creates a huge “fingerprint” that is not quite unique, but is broadly available to any site that asks for your FLoC data, and can be mixed in with other data that your browser is leaking to create a strong fingerprinting vector. In other words, in isolation it’s not globally unique, to you, in the world, but when sites start logging FLoC plus your time zone, language preferences, features your browser exposes, Canvas readout data, etc., suddenly all this data is unique to one person in the entire world. Plus, for at least one year, they have third-party cookies as well. Google has continued making your online privacy worse than it has ever been, basically every year. Sometimes more than once a year. They didn’t even wait for Europe to decide if FLoC is even legal there under the GDPR and other laws. They just put it in. Google is not a solution. They are a disease. Brave and LibreWolf are already fighting fingerprinting vectors to make you less identifiable while keeping the Web platform working. We do not need Google rowing us towards the waterfall. What about Microsoft Edge? LOL! Oh wait, well, I guess this merits explaining. Microsoft has a “tracking protection” feature, but it’s a lie. Theirs is basically designed to screw up everyone’s ad and tracking servers but Microsoft’s, and when I tried Microsoft Edge on Windows, I found that Microsoft (at least with the EdgeHTML version) was neutering uBlock-Origin for Edge so that it couldn’t block any ads on Bing even if you installed an ad blocker. This sort of “exempt yourself” thing is exactly what Google is trying to achieve by abusing the fact that they have an ad network, and a browser. Same shit, different assholes. Except that Microsoft Edge is even more rapacious than Google Chrome. Hard to believe anything could be even more of a privacy invasion than Chrome, I know. Google is at least subtle about their abuses. Microsoft Edge is very in your face about it. You can barely open a new tab without it screaming about some online shopping thing or demanding you get Microsoft_Office_365. Fleeing Windows, which hectors its users to come back to Edge or demands that they change the search engine in their other browsers to Bing, and ignores the default browser, only to install it on Linux, where it can act this bad, but only when you have Edge open, is a lot like successfully escaping state prison so that you can break into a cell in the country jail. But on a strictly “privacy” level, Edge is worse than Chrome. It’s another step in the wrong direction. Nevertheless, Flathub “claims” it’s been downloaded over a million times. Who uses this nonsense on Linux? Really? The number one feature Windows users wish for is an uninstaller program for it. Personally, I think that even having a Linux version of Microsoft Edge that almost_nobody_uses (even counting Windows and Mac users, they can only get to 3.37% of Web browser market share) is sort of like the North Korean propaganda village that nobody lives in, in the demilitarized zone. The entire point of the thing is they plant a really big flag and have a huge bullhorn blaring propaganda at the other side, and the officials claim it’s a modern city with people living in it, but then you look through the binoculars and all you see are empty concrete slabs, and a few caretakers walking around at night to flip the lights on and off. People need to be mindful that the Web is only getting worse. Yesterday, in Techrights IRC, I said, “Everything that makes the Web browser “better” is something that takes away from the Web platform something that the Web browser allowed it to do to begin with,”. “Ad blockers, JavaScript blockers, Brave putting in “random garbage” in an API readout so the site can’t follow you around everywhere. Overriding cookie and local storage handling…” “In the 90s, they called it the “World Wide Wait”, because it was over a phone line and you had to wait minutes sometimes for a site to load. And now it’s because you go to read the news and they want to pull in 600 MB of data, and part of that is a video you didn’t want to see. Pretty much the only thing you can do with the Web is turn a bunch of crap off and use it in a partially-working state. Otherwise there’s just going to be too much junk loading.” “Gemini pods [sic] aren’t like Web sites because they don’t have a way to FORCE the user to do anything, even load an image if they don’t want to. This Fediverse thing is sort of a lie. Because ideally there wouldn’t be a way to run a server for tons of users. Every user would be in a Peer-to-Peer system. There would be no way to block a user at a server level, only on a user-to-user basis. Then it would be up to the users to decide who they want to see. The Fediverse is federated between clusters of users on someone else’s server. So it’s like “FEDRA Colonies” from The Last of Us. Maybe it would be humorous to call it the FEDRAverse. Small groups of people living under the control of a local tyranny. In the game/TV show, pockets of the former United States government, forcing starving people to “earn their keep” incinerating plague victims and digging latrines. “The Fediverse lie is that because it’s a lot of tyrants [each] in control of a small cluster, that’s better somehow than one great big tyrant running Twitter. You run into more interesting stuff on Mastodon by looking at the public list of servers that the administrator decided to ban. A lot of times they don’t even give a reason. It’s just that nobody using his server can see that other server because the administrator didn’t like it and won’t tell you why.” –Me_on_Techrights The Open Web is basically dead. The one where people sat down and wrote documents for you to read is dead. This one is just, grrrrrrr. I’ll finish by giving you an example of the liberties that modern Web sites take. I was looking in my Brave browser on my phone this morning, and I visited Ace Hardware’s Web site once months ago, and it left 97 MB of Local Storage data in my browser. 97 MB for Ace Hardware while I was looking for a tool a couple of months ago. They all think they can just dump an unlimited amount of crap on your phone and walk away, and in a way they’re right. Nobody making a browser will put in a feature that lets you stop them. (Unless you only browse in Private Mode.) The Mobile version of Brave appears to have had less effort put into it than the desktop version, which is sadly still true on Mobile Web browsers in general, although it is better than Chrome. █ ䷩ 𝚕𝚒𝚗𝚎 1039 ╒═══════════════════ 𝐃𝐀𝐈𝐋𝐘 𝐋𝐈𝐍𝐊𝐒 ═════════════════════════════════════════════╕ ⠀⌧ █▇▆▅▄▃▂▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁ 09.08.23⠀▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▂▃▄▅▆▇█ ⌧ Gemini_version_available_♊︎ ✐ Links_07/09/2023:_DebConf23_and_Akademy_2024_Plans⠀✐ Posted in News_Roundup at 3:13 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz 🄸🄼🄰🄶🄴 🄳🄴🅂🄲🅁🄸🄿🅃🄸🄾🄽 ⦇GNOME bluefish⦈ § Contents⠀➾ * GNU/Linux o Kernel_Space o Applications o Instructionals/Technical o Games o Desktop_Environments/WMs # K_Desktop_Environment/KDE_SC/Qt * Distributions_and_Operating_Systems o New_Releases o Fedora_Family_/_IBM o Debian_Family o Devices/Embedded o Mobile_Systems/Mobile_Applications * Free,_Libre,_and_Open_Source_Software o Productivity_Software/LibreOffice/Calligra o GNU_Projects o Programming/Development # Python * Leftovers o Education o Health/Nutrition/Agriculture o Proprietary/Artificial_Intelligence_(AI) o Security # Integrity/Availability/Authenticity # Privacy/Surveillance o Defence/Aggression o Finance o Censorship/Free_Speech o Civil_Rights/Policing o Monopolies # Trademarks # Copyrights * § GNU/Linux⠀➾ o § Kernel Space⠀➾ # ⚓ LWN ☛ A_more_dynamic_software_I/O_TLB⠀⇛ The kernel’s software I/O translation lookaside buffer (“swiotlb”) is an obscure corner of the DMA- support layer. The swiotlb was initially introduced to enable DMA for devices with special challenges, and one might have expected it to fade away as newer peripherals came along. Instead, though, the swiotlb has turned out to be useful in places outside of its original use cases. This patch set from Petr Tesarik now aims to update the swiotlb with an eye toward its continuing use indefinitely into the future. One of the fundamental features of any reasonably capable I/O device is its ability to perform DMA — accessing data directly in main memory without the need to go through the CPU. Without DMA, I/ O performance will be severely limited. But some devices are better at DMA than others. Older devices for PC-class hardware, reflecting the history of that architecture, were often limited to 24 bits of address space for DMA transfers, meaning that they could only access the lower 16MB of memory. That was plenty in the early days, but quickly became limiting as memory sizes grew. Another common problem is a 32-bit limitation, restricting access to the lower 4GB of memory. # ⚓ LWN ☛ Development_statistics_for_the_6.5_kernel⠀⇛ The 6.5 kernel was released on August 27 after a nine-week development cycle. By that time, some 13,561 non-merge changesets had found their way into the mainline repository, the lowest number seen since the 5.15 release (12,377 changesets) in late 2021. Nonetheless, quite a bit of significant work was done in this cycle; read on for a look at where that work came from. 1,921 Developers contributed to 6.5, a slightly lower number than usual; 271 of those developers made their first kernel contribution for this release. o § Applications⠀➾ # ⚓ PC World ☛ The_best_Linux_backup_tools:_Don’t_put_it_off any_longer_|_PCWorld⠀⇛ What you should back up depends on how you use your PC. As a rule, a regular backup of the home directories is sufficient. This protects against data loss—for example, if an important file is accidentally deleted. With a suitable tool, you can automate the process. If many programs and perhaps server services are installed, a complete backup of the hard disk is recommended from time to time. We present tools with which an image of the drive can be created and, if necessary, also restored on a new hard disk. o § Instructionals/Technical⠀➾ # ⚓ Make Use Of ☛ How_to_Check_the_Status_of_an_Apache_Server on_Linux⠀⇛ Apache is one of the most widely used web server software applications in the world. A W3Techs survey estimates that just over 31 percent of all known web servers use a version of Apache. It’s highly customizable, responsive, and completely open-source. Apache is an excellent and well-established option for running a website. It’s vital to know how to do essential maintenance when running an Apache web server. Here are five different ways to check your Apache server status on Linux. # ⚓ How_To_Install_Moodle™_On_Amazon,_Part_One⠀⇛ The sky is the limit for educational technologies today. The forecast is more and more closed. The explosion of “Platform as a Service” (PaaS) solutions is increasing the rate of innovation in digital products, enabling them to scale instantly without compromising reliability, and at a lower cost. Leading the PaaS charge is Amazon Web Services (AWS), its reign anything but secure. It only makes sense to consider the potential of Moodle™, the largest, open source Learning Management System today, on the AWS. The setup can be tricky, but Roy Plomantes, CTO of Nephila Web Technology, has decades of experience making anyone capable to build things they didn’t think they would on the cloud, maybe even struck by its vast potential. # ⚓ HowTo Geek ☛ 5_Ways_to_Count_Files_in_a_Directory_on Linux⠀⇛ Working with operating systems like Linux, managing files is one of the fundamental tasks. If you are a Linux admin, imagine the file count you have to deal with. And if your files consume a lot of disk space, then it will be a tough nut to crack. Let’s discuss some ways to count these files, including the pesky hidden files. # ⚓ LWN ☛ Mastering_Emacs⠀⇛ A series of rabbit holes, some of which led to unshaved yaks, recently landed me on a book called Mastering Emacs. Given that I have been using Emacs “professionally” for more than 16 years—and first looked into it a good ways into the previous century—I should probably be pretty well-versed in that editor-cum-operating-system. Sadly, for a variety of reasons, that is not really true, but the book and some concerted effort have been helping me down a path toward Emacs-ian enlightenment. Mastering Emacs may also help others who are struggling in the frothy sea that makes up Emacs documentation. The backstory of how I got here is kind of goofy—some days rabbit holes look like so much fun … and they definitely can be, but the lost “productivity” may be problematic. In any case, a Hacker News item on “Elixir for cynical curmudgeons” caught my eye a few weeks back since I certainly qualify. After reading that and poking at Elixir (and Erlang) documentation some, I remembered that I always wanted to understand Lisp macros better—or at all, in truth. That led me back to a project that I started (and promptly drifted away from) after a talk at linux.conf.au about the history of Lisp that I really enjoyed. o § Games⠀➾ # ⚓ XDA ☛ 5_reasons_why_Linux_is_good_for_gaming_in_2023⠀⇛ Linux has gotten a lot better for playing video games over the past few years, making it more friendly for gamers in 2023. Windows has long been hailed as the best operating system for gaming, easily beating Linux and macOS when it comes to running the latest graphically- intensive games. But it’s not quite as cut and dry these days. Linux gaming has come a long way since the early 2010s when most Windows-based 3D games used to run at drastically reduced framerates on the open-source operating system. In fact, Linux is now a viable platform for gaming, so maybe it’s time to give it a shot. o § Desktop Environments/WMs⠀➾ # § K Desktop Environment/KDE SC/Qt⠀➾ # ⚓ OpenSUSE ☛ KDE_Gear,_FreeRDP_update_in_Tumbleweed⠀⇛ This week’s openSUSE Tumbleweed snapshots varied from large to small and there was also an updated arm Tumbleweed snapshot released. Packages to arrive so far this month have touched several portions of the rolling release. Snapshot 20230904 had security fixes for two packages. The XML parsing package libxml2 addresses CVE-2023-39615, which pertains to a crafted XML that could potentially lead to a global buffer overflow, and libxml2-python mitigates this vulnerability with a patch. # ⚓ KDE Official ☛ Akademy_2024_Call_for_Hosts⠀⇛ One of the biggest things you can do for KDE (that does not involve coding) is helping us organize Akademy. Now is your chance to become KDE champions and help make Akademy 2024 happen! We are looking to host Akademy 2024 during the months of June, July, August, and September. Download the Call_for_Hosts guide, and submit a proposal to host Akademy in your city to akademy-proposals@kde.org by October 1, 2023. Do not hesitate to send us your questions and concerns! We are here to help you organize a successful event and you can reach out at any time for advice, guidance, or any assistance you may need. We will support you and help you make Akademy 2024 an event to remember. * § Distributions and Operating Systems⠀➾ o ⚓ [elementaryOS]_One_Last_Bug_Fix_Update_Before_The_Big_One⠀⇛ It turns out we have one more updates blog before OS 7.1 and it brings a number of fixes and a few small features. We’re hard at work resolving your reported issues to make this release as smooth and shiny as it possibly can be! So read ahead and find out what was new last month. § Feedback The Feedback app has been ported to GTK 4 and it now features search! This should make it much speedier to send feedback when something unexpected happens. The Feedback app now features search The feedback app is our way to stay connected with you and address any issues you come across, so please make sure to make use of it. The issues that we send fixes for every month come directly from folks who make use of this app. § Videos We’ve been hard at work getting Videos ready for GTK 4 and one of the steps along the way was getting rid of Clutter—big “C”—which has lead to a massive rework of the app’s internals. The code base is much cleaner and clearer and should be more reliable and performant. This release still uses GTK 3, but look forward to GTK 4 in the next release. o § New Releases⠀➾ # ⚓ DebugPoint ☛ MX_Linux_Unveils_New_Tool:_MX_Service Manager⠀⇛ If you enjoy the simplicity and stability of the popular lightweight systemd-free distribution MX Linux, then a piece of exciting news for you. MX Linux team has just announced a new addition to its toolkit – the MX Service Manager. This new mx- tool promises to make managing services and daemons on your Linux system like a cakewalk, giving you more control over what starts at boot time. # ⚓ DebugPoint ☛ Linux_Lite_6.6_Released_with_22_Languages Support⠀⇛ The Linux Lite team has just unveiled their latest and most exciting release to date: Linux Lite 6.6. In this release, they’ve added a whopping 22 new languages to their already impressive arsenal of features, making it one of the most comprehensive updates since the project’s inception back in 2012. o § Fedora Family / IBM⠀➾ # ⚓ insideHPC ☛ The_Rocky_Linux_Ecosystem’s_United_Front against_Cyber_Threats:_Building_Trust_within_a_Zero_Trust Environment⠀⇛ In the permanent war against cybersecurity threats to the HPC software supply chain, you can’t fight it alone. You need allies, information exchanges and best practice sharing. You need to be part of a group effort that keeps you current with the ever- changing threat landscape. Cybersecurity means cyber vigilance across many fronts, and it takes a community. # ⚓ Hacker Noon ☛ The_Noonification:_Micro-DevOps_With_Systemd: Supercharge_Any_Ordinary_Linux_Server_(9/6/2023)⠀⇛ o § Debian Family⠀➾ # ⚓ Debian ☛ Bits_from_Debian:_Siemens_welcomed_as_a_Platinum Sponsor_of_DebConf23!⠀⇛ We are pleased to announce that Siemens has committed to sponsor DebConf23 as Platinum Sponsor. # ⚓ Jonathan_McDowell:_DebConf_23_Key_Signing_+_setting_up_a new_key⠀⇛ I’ve just finalised the OpenPGP key list for the DebConf_23_Keysigning_party. This will follow the “new style” approach of being a continuous keysigning throughout the course of the conference, with an introduction session up front to confirm no one’s fingerprint is corrupted and that we all calculated the same hash of the file. Participants will then verify each other’s identities over the conference week, hopefully being able to build up a better level of verification than a one shot key signing session. o § Devices/Embedded⠀➾ # ⚓ CNX Software ☛ Gateworks_GW7400_networking_SBC_features_6 Gigabit_Ethernet_ports,_M.2_&_mini_PCIe_sockets_for_wireless connectivity⠀⇛ Gateworks provides an Ubuntu Linux BSP for their Venice boards which includes the GSC (Gateworks System Controller) Firmware, Arm Trusted Firmware, DDR controller Firmware, U-Boot bootloader, the Linux 5.6 kernel, and a rootfs. It’s also possible to use mainline Linux, and although some features such as the hantro-h11 jpeg video encoder are missing in mainline, Gateworks does usually have separate drivers for those. More technical details about the hardware and software, as well as a getting started guide can be found in the wiki. # ⚓ LWN ☛ The_OpenSprinkler_controller_[LWN.net]⠀⇛ The more one pays attention to the Internet of Things (IoT), the more one learns to appreciate simple, unconnected devices. Your editor long ago acquired an aversion to products that advertise themselves as “smart” or “WiFi-enabled”. There can be advantages, though, to devices that contain microprocessors, are Internet connected, and are remotely accessible, if they are implemented well. The OpenSprinkler sprinkler timer would appear to be a case in point. This article is being written in a part of the world with limited rainfall — a near-desert environment. That notwithstanding, the local humans have reached the conclusion that it would be a good idea to surround their homes with lush, green vegetation that evolved to thrive in a rather more humid environment, and which requires fairly intensive life support — and water pumped from the other side of the continental divide — to survive here. Western civilization, it seems, depends on us continuing to do this; otherwise we would surely not continue to put so many resources into it. Providing life support to vegetation by dragging a hose around quickly loses any charm it may have once had, so the installation of automated sprinkler systems is common in these parts. The control system takes the form of a timer that, traditionally, has been programmed through a painful combination of dial turns and button pushes; anybody who has tried to figure out how to configure a bicycle computer (speedometer) will understand. More recently, of course, we have seen the advent of smart controllers that are said to make this process easier and to enable control of the system while vacationing in a distant location. The allure of being able to soak a Colorado front yard while lounging on a South-Pacific beach is, seemingly, irresistible. # ⚓ CNX Software ☛ Haxophone_–_A_Raspberry_Pi-based_electronic saxophone_with_mechanical_keys_(Crowdfunding)⠀⇛ The Haxophone is an unusual Raspberry Pi expansion board that transforms the popular SBC into a travel saxophone using mechanical keys. The hackable musical instrument is open-source hardware and OSHWA certified and comes with mechanical keys which makes it easily repairable, customizable by changing keycaps or the firmware, and at a price point cheaper than commercial digital saxophones with custom molded keys. # ⚓ Hackster ☛ Peter_Wasilewski’s_STMViewer_Offers_Overhead- Free_STM32_Data_Visualization_on_Linux_and_Windows⠀⇛ Self-described embedded systems enthusiast Peter Wasilewski has put together a tool designed to make it easier to see what’s going on inside an STMicroelectronics STM32 — offering a live and historical visual overview of variable values. “STMViewer is a software tool that can be used to visualize variables values in real-time using only [an] ST-LINK programmer and a STM32 target,” Wasilewski explains of his software. “You might be familiar with STMStudio or CubeMonitor, tools from ST that serve a similar purpose. If there are at least two similar tools, why bother to create my own? Simply because STMStudio is deprecated and works only on Windows, and Cube monitor takes forever to setup with even the simplest graphs.” o § Mobile Systems/Mobile Applications⠀➾ # ⚓ Make Use Of ☛ How_to_Enable_or_Disable_Call_Announcements on_Android⠀⇛ # ⚓ The Sun ☛ People_are_just_realizing_little-known_Android setting_finds_your_lost_phone_even_on_silent_mode_|_The_US Sun⠀⇛ # ⚓ Android Police ☛ Add_Android_Auto_to_any_car_for_just_$105 with_this_wireless_display_deal⠀⇛ # ⚓ Android Central ☛ Android_Auto_vs._Apple_CarPlay:_Which_is best_for_you?_|_Android_Central⠀⇛ # ⚓ 9to5Google ☛ Xiaomi_Mi_Box_S_unexpectedly_getting_Android TV_12_update⠀⇛ # ⚓ 9to5Google ☛ Xiaomi_gives_five_years_of_updates_to_latest Android_phone⠀⇛ # ⚓ Gadgets Now ☛ You_may_soon_see_Android_phones_with_RAM_more than_a_high-end_laptop⠀⇛ * § Free, Libre, and Open Source Software⠀➾ o § Productivity Software/LibreOffice/Calligra⠀➾ # ⚓ The_Document_Foundation_releases_LibreOffice_7.5.6 Community⠀⇛ LibreOffice 7.5.6 Community, the sixth minor release of the LibreOffice 7.5 line, the volunteer- supported free office suite for desktop productivity, is available from our download page for Windows (Intel/AMD and ARM processors), macOS (Apple Silicon and Intel processors), and Linux [1]. Products based on LibreOffice Technology are available for major desktop operating systems (Windows, macOS, Linux and Chrome OS), for mobile platforms (Android and iOS), and for the cloud. For enterprise-class deployments, TDF strongly recommends the LibreOffice Enterprise family of applications from ecosystem partners – for desktop, mobile and cloud – with a large number of dedicated value-added features and other benefits such as SLA (Service Level Agreements). # ⚓ DebugPoint ☛ LibreOffice_Plans_for_Calendar-Based Versioning:_Next_Release_Set_as_“24.2″⠀⇛ In a move that’s set to simplify versioning and enhance user experience, the LibreOffice team has planned a significant shift in their versioning strategy. Say goodbye to the traditional major and minor version numbers, and prepare for a more intuitive and user-friendly approach. Starting with the next release, LibreOffice will adopt a year.month-based versioning system and the upcoming iteration will bear the version number 24.2. o § GNU Projects⠀➾ # ⚓ Unicorn Media ☛ GNU’s_Having_a_40th_Birthday_Party_and You’re_Invited ⠀⇛ Wowie zowie! The Gnu System is turning 40, and its parents — the folks at Free Software Foundation — are throwing it a party to celebrate, and y’all are invited! Gnus eating cake Officially they’re not calling it a party, it’s a hack day, but since they make it clear that no hacking is required (and go out of their way to make it known that there will be cake) I’m calling it a birthday party under the “if it walks like a duck” rule. Here’s what Miriam Bastion, the program manager at FSF, had to say about it when she announced the event a few weeks back… o § Programming/Development⠀➾ # § Python⠀➾ # ⚓ LWN ☛ Python_is_(mostly)_made_of_syntactic_sugar⠀⇛ “Sugar” is, to a certain extent, in the eye of the beholder—at least when it comes to syntax. Programming languages are often made up of a (mostly) irreducible core, with lots of sugary constructs sprinkled on top—the syntactic sugar. No one wants to be forced to do without the extra syntax—at least not for their favorite pieces—but it is worth looking at how a language’s constructs can be built from the core. That is just what Brett Cannon has been doing for Python, on his blog and in talks, including a talk at PyCon back in April (YouTube video). * § Leftovers⠀➾ o § Education⠀➾ # ⚓ ACLU ☛ Why_Access_to_Education_is_Key_to_Systemic Equality⠀⇛ All students have a right to an equal education, but students of color — particularly Black and Brown students and students with disabilities, have historically been marginalized and criminalized by the public school system. The ACLU has been working to challenge unconstitutional disciplinary policies in schools, combat classroom censorship efforts that disproportionately impact marginalized students, and support race conscious admission policies to increase access to higher education. o § Health/Nutrition/Agriculture⠀➾ # ⚓ Wired ☛ Pinterest’s_New_Algorithms_Want_You_to_See_Every Body_Type⠀⇛ When fashion influencer Natalie Craig recently searched Pinterest for skorts and cargo pants, she noticed something different from her past explorations on the service: Women who looked like her were sprinkled among the results—and without adding qualifiers like “plus size” to her query. “I’m 5’2″ and a size 20, so I have to say, ‘short- size back-to-school outfit inspiration,’” Craig says of her usual challenge to find relevant fashion content online. “Now, I don’t have to take on that mental gymnastics.” # ⚓ The Straits Times ☛ Vietnam_to_sign_5-year_rice_trade_pact with_the_Philippines_to_ensure_food_security⠀⇛ The Philippines is looking at importing 300,000 to 500,000 tonnes of rice from Vietnam at discounted prices. o § Proprietary/Artificial Intelligence (AI)⠀➾ # ⚓ Nasdaq_stumbled_on_growing_US-China_tech_war;_USD_surged⠀⇛ On Wednesday, Nasdaq-100 lost almost –0.93 % as Apple tumbled after reports that China had ordered officials at central government agencies to not use iPhones and other foreign-branded devices for work. Also, the European Commission designated Amazon, Apple, Alphabet, Meta, Microsoft, and China’s ByteDance as “gatekeepers” under its new Digital Markets Act. # ⚓ CNBC ☛ Apple_shares_fall_after_reports_of_China_government iPhone_ban⠀⇛ The reported restrictions, which have not been publicly announced by Beijing, raise concerns that Apple’s products could get caught up in global tensions. # ⚓ EDRI ☛ EU_legislators_must_close_dangerous_loophole_and protect_human_rights_in_the_AI_Act⠀⇛ Over 115 civil society organisations are calling on EU legislators to remove a major loophole in the high-risk classification process of the Artificial Intelligence (AI) Act and maintain a high level of protection for people’s rights in the legislation. o § Security⠀➾ # ⚓ Help Net Security ☛ How_Chinese_hackers_got_their_hands_on Microsoft’s_token_signing_key_–_Help_Net_Security⠀⇛ The mystery of how Chinese hackers managed to steal a crucial Microsoft signing key has been explained. # ⚓ Dark Reading ☛ AtlasVPN_Linux_Zero-Day_Disconnects_Users, Reveals_IP_Addresses⠀⇛ A security researcher has published exploit code for AtlasVPN for Linux, which could enable anybody to disconnect a user and reveal their IP address simply by luring them to a website. AtlasVPN is a “freemium” virtual private network (VPN) service owned by NordVPN. Despite being just 4 years old, according to its website, it’s used by more than 6 million people worldwide. On Sept. 1, after receiving no response from the vendor, an unidentified researcher (referred to by their Full Disclosure mailing list username, “icudar”) posted exploit code for AtlasVPN Linux to the Full Disclosure mailing list and Reddit. By simply copying and pasting this code to their own site, any odd hacker could disconnect any AtlasVPN user from their private network, and reveal their IP address in the process. “Since the entire purpose of the VPN is to mask this information, this is a pretty significant problem for users,” says Shawn Surber, senior director of technical account management at Tanium. # ⚓ LWN ☛ Security_updates_for_Thursday_[LWN.net]⠀⇛ Security updates have been issued by Fedora (erofs- utils, htmltest, indent, libeconf, netconsd, php- phpmailer6, tinyexr, and vim), Red Hat (firefox), and Ubuntu (linux-aws, linux-aws-5.15, linux-ibm- 5.15, linux-oracle, linux-oracle-5.15, linux-azure, linux-azure-fde-5.15, linux-gke, linux-gkeop, linux-intel-iotg-5.15, linux-raspi, linux-oem-6.1, linux-raspi, linux-raspi-5.4, shiro, and sox). # ⚓ LWN ☛ Ubuntu_to_add_TPM-backed_full-disk_encryption⠀⇛ The Ubuntu blog has a detailed article on plans to add full-disk encryption, with the key stored in the system’s trusted platform module (TPM), to the desktop distribution. # ⚓ Data Breaches ☛ FTC_Finalizes_Order_with_1Health.io_Over Charges_it_Failed_to_Protect_Privacy_and_Security_of_DNA_Data and_Unfairly_Changed_its_Privacy_Policy ⠀⇛ The Federal Trade Commission finalized an order with 1Health.io that settles charges that the genetic testing firm left sensitive genetic and health data unsecured, deceived consumers about their ability to get their data deleted, and changed its privacy policy retroactively without adequately notifying consumers and obtaining their consent. # ⚓ Data Breaches ☛ Beverly_Hills_Plastic_Surgery_notification —_and_what_it_doesn’t_tell_the_patients.⠀⇛ On July 17, DataBreaches reported that BlackCat had added the Beverly Hills Plastic Surgery (BHPS) to their dark web leak site. The June listing was updated to include photos that appeared to be proof of claims about their access to the clinic’s files. # ⚓ Defence_Housing_Australia_investigates_third-party_data breach_–_Cyber_Security_Connect⠀⇛ An investigation by Defence Housing Australia (DHA) is currently underway after it was notified that one of its third-party service providers had been hit by a cyber attack. The organisation, which provides housing and accommodation for military personnel and their families on and off base, has stressed that while there has been no impact or breach of DHA or Defence ICT systems, an investigation to determine if any data belonging to Defence Force members and their families had been compromised has been launched. “DHA has notified the Australian Cyber Security Centre, the Department of Home Affairs’ cyber security response unit, and the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner,” the DHA said in a notice released on its site. “Defence personnel affected by this incident will be advised as soon as practicable.” The Department of Veterans’ Affairs (DVA) also issued a notice regarding the breach; however, it said that its systems remain secure. # ⚓ The Record ☛ Minneapolis_school_district_says_data_breach affected_more_than_100,000_people⠀⇛ Minneapolis Public Schools has begun notifying more than 100,000 people that their personal information may have been leaked after a cyberattack early this year. The school system started sending letters late last week, according to local media reports, and on Tuesday a notice posted on Maine’s data breach notification site said that 105,617 people were affected. # ⚓ Data Breaches ☛ Ragnar_Locker_leaks_data_from_Israeli Medical_Center⠀⇛ Mayanei Hayeshua Medical Center in Bnei Brak was hit by a cyberattack on August 7. Patient care was not disrupted for some things, but the ministry instructed that the center’s outpatient clinics and imaging centers not accept patients and that the public not go to its emergency room until further notice. A week later, the hospital disclosed it had received a ransom demand. It was pretty much an open secret that the attackers were the Ragnar_Locker group, but the hospital never named them. # ⚓ Hacker News ☛ Ukraine’s_CERT_Thwarts_APT28’s_Cyberattack_on Critical_Energy_Infrastructure [Ed: Microsoft Windows TCO, causing more deaths in Ukraine.]⠀⇛ The Computer Emergency Response Team of Ukraine (CERT-UA) on Tuesday said it thwarted a cyber attack against an unnamed critical energy infrastructure facility in the country. The intrusion, per the agency, started with a phishing email containing a link to a malicious ZIP archive that activates the infection chain. “Visiting the link will download a ZIP archive containing three JPG images (decoys) and a BAT file ‘weblinks.cmd’ to the victim’s computer,” CERT-UA said, attributing it to the Russian threat actor known as APT28 (aka BlueDelta, Fancy Bear, Forest Blizzard, or FROZENLAKE). # ⚓ Data Breaches ☛ Coffee_Meets_Bagel_Meets_Hacker?⠀⇛ This is not the first cyberattack CMB has experienced. In February 2019, DataBreaches reported that user data from 6.1 million users was up for sale on DreamMarket by gnosticplayers. # ⚓ 3,20,000+_Patient_Records_From_Ayush_Jharkhand_Gov._In Shared_On_Dark_Web_Hacking_Forums⠀⇛ # ⚓ Data Breaches ☛ Do_IT_Consultants_victim_of_attack_by Ragnar_Locker⠀⇛ When DataBreaches started to look into this listing, we discovered that Do IT Consultants’ website is no longer online and the last time it was archived by archive.org was in early 2022. # ⚓ Data Breaches ☛ United_States_and_United_Kingdom_Sanction Additional_Members_of_the_Russia-Based_Trickbot_Cybercrime Gang⠀⇛ Today, the United States, in coordination with the United Kingdom, sanctioned eleven individuals who are part of the Russia-based Trickbot cybercrime group. Russia has long been a safe haven for cybercriminals, including the Trickbot group. Today’s action was taken by the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC). The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) is concurrently unsealing indictments against nine individuals in connection with the Trickbot malware and Conti ransomware schemes, including seven of the individuals designated today. # ⚓ Data Breaches ☛ “i_know_it_hurts_your_little_dick_seeing_a true_hacker_like_me_in_a_crowd_full_of_skids_and_sheep,”_said a_man_with_no_knowledge_of_anatomy⠀⇛ After the arrest of Breached.vc’s owner “Pompompurin” in March, Breached.vc was taken offline by an administrator because it seemed likely the server had been compromised by law enforcement. Months later, the domain was seized by law enforcement. # ⚓ The_Government_Isn’t_Sure_How_to_Get_Small_Hospitals_to Take_Cybersecurity_Seriously⠀⇛ The U.S. government is struggling to convince hospitals that they need to spend time and money fighting hackers and provide useful advice to them, a problem that could have lethal consequences as the country’s ransomware crisis rages on. “I don’t think we’ve figured out how to talk to the small and medium-sized organizations in a way that actually reaches them, and I don’t think we’ve come up with a convincing story” about why cybersecurity matters, Jessica Wilkerson, a senior cyber policy adviser at the Food and Drug Administration, said Wednesday at the Billington Cyber Summit in Washington. # ⚓ Data Breaches ☛ Bienville_Orthopaedic_Specialists_notifies 243,000_patients_of_cyberattack⠀⇛ On April 1, DataBreaches reached out to Bienville Orthopaedic Specialists (BOS) in Mississippi to ask about a claim by Abyss threat actors that they had compromised BOS. BOS never replied. But now, five months later, BOS submitted a breach notification to the Maine Attorney General’s Office. The notification indicates that 242,986 people were affected by a “data security event” that occurred between February 3 and March 5. # ⚓ Insights_From_The_IBM_2023_Cost_of_a_Data_Breach_Report⠀⇛ The annual Cost of a Data Breach Report (Report) published by IBM is reliably full of helpful cybersecurity data. This year is no different. After reviewing the Report, we pulled out some interesting data points. Of course, the Report as a whole is well worth the read, but if you don’t have the time to get through its 78 pages, this post may be helpful. # ⚓ Cybernews ☛ IBM:_Janssen_health_database_breached_in_cyber incident⠀⇛ IBM announced Wednesday that an unauthorized party breached the patient healthcare database it manages for the Johnson & Johnson-owned Janssen CarePath platform. Many of the patients are or have been treated for serious diseases, such as cancer. The tech giant says it has begun to notify patients whose information may have been compromised in the breach, discovered on August 2nd. The IBM-run database is used by Janssen CarePath, a free patient support platform that offers savings on advanced prescription medicines and other patient resources. # ⚓ SANS ☛ Security_Relevant_DNS_Records,_(Wed,_Sep_6th)⠀⇛ DNS has a big security impact. DNS is partly responsible for your traffic reaching the correct host on the internet. But there is more to DNS than name resolution. I am going to mention a few security-relevant record types here, in no particular order: # ⚓ Security Week ☛ Password-Stealing_Chrome_Extension Demonstrates_New_Vulnerabilities⠀⇛ Academic researchers design a Chrome extension to steal passwords from input fields and publish it to the Chrome webstore. # ⚓ Silicon Angle ☛ Well-known_security_consultant_‘Mudge’_is once_again_on_the_move⠀⇛ The former hacker known as Mudge is once again on the move. Mudge, the alias for Peiter Zatko (pictured, center), was the former head of security back when X Corp. was known as Twitter. He is now a consultant for the U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, the Washington Post reported yesterday. # ⚓ Pen Test Partners ☛ Information_disclosure_through_insecure design⠀⇛ Introduction Insecure design can lead to many issues. The Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC) should contain steps to evaluate and consider security throughout the process. # ⚓ The_Insider_website_hit_by_DDoS_attack_after_publishing investigation_into_“patriotic”_hacker_group_Killnet⠀⇛ The Insider’s website was hit by a 24-hour DDoS attack after the publication of an investigation into the Killnet group, which calls itself the “Russian cyber army.” The attack began the day after the investigative report was released online, starting at 13:00 Moscow time and peaking at a rate of 20,000 requests per second. The Insider’s website and its mirrors went offline briefly on September 6, hit by a flood of requests from close to 400,000 different IP addresses. # ⚓ Security Week ☛ Crash_Dump_Error:_How_a_Chinese_Espionage Group_Exploited_Microsoft’s_Mistakes [Ed: It is Microsoft’s fault, not China. Microsoft kept covering up, do not paint it as a victim. Microsoft is the worst possible "supply chain".]⠀⇛ Microsoft reveals how a crash dump from 2021 inadvertently exposed a key that Chinese cyberspies later leveraged to hack US government emails. # ⚓ Scoop News Group ☛ Mystery_solved?_Microsoft_thinks_it knows_how_Chinese_hackers_stole_its_signing_key [Ed: Deflection. Microsoft failed, stop blaming "China".]⠀⇛ A “crash dump” file containing a highly sensitive signing key is believed to have been at the center of an explosive Chinese hacking campaign. # ⚓ Silicon Angle ☛ W3LL_‘Phishing_Empire’_targets_Microsoft 365_accounts [Ed: Do not use Microsoft. Use software that you control and runs locally.]⠀⇛ A new report from cybersecurity services company Group-IB Global Pvt. Ltd. warns of a largely unknown threat actor that is running a “phishing empire” targeting Microsoft 365 accounts. # ⚓ Scoop News Group ☛ Researchers_identify_high-grade_phishing kits_attacking_nearly_60,000_Microsoft_365_accounts [Ed: Do not outsource to Microsoft. use Free software like LibreOffice.]⠀⇛ Hackers compromised roughly 8,000 of those accounts with tools that a cybercrime group known as W3LL sold through its underground marketplace. # ⚓ Security Week ☛ Cash-Strapped_IronNet_Faces_Bankruptcy Options⠀⇛ It appears to be the end of the road for IronNet, the once-promising network security play founded by former NSA director General Keith Alexander. # ⚓ Security Week ☛ Investors_Betting_Big_on_Upwind_for_CNAPP Tech⠀⇛ Upwind raises a total of $80 million in just 10 months as investors pour cash into startups in the cloud and data security categories. # ⚓ Security Week ☛ Thousands_of_Popular_Websites_Leaking Secrets⠀⇛ Truffle Security has discovered thousands of popular websites leaking their secrets, including .git directories and AWS and GitHub keys. # ⚓ Security Week ☛ Dozens_of_Unpatched_Flaws_Expose_Security Cameras_Made_by_Defunct_Company_Zavio⠀⇛ Dozens of vulnerabilities have been found in widely used security cameras made by defunct Chinese company Zavio.  # § Integrity/Availability/Authenticity⠀➾ # ⚓ Tom’s Hardware ☛ Toyota_Shut_Down_14_Factories_Due_to ‘Insufficient_Disk_Space’⠀⇛ Toyota’s shutdown of 14 factories in late August was due to an error that occurred because of “insufficient disk space” on its servers. # § Privacy/Surveillance⠀➾ # ⚓ Scoop News Group ☛ Intelligence_community_to_meet with_civil_liberties_groups_on_controversial surveillance_tool⠀⇛ The clock is running down on reauthorization of Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act set to sunset later this year. o § Defence/Aggression⠀➾ # ⚓ France24 ☛ US_imposes_sanctions_on_Sudanese_paramilitary commander_over_Darfur_violations⠀⇛ The United States imposed sanctions Wednesday on Sudanese paramilitary commander Abdel-Rahim Hamdan Dagalo for acts of violence and human rights abuses committed by his troops in their monthslong conflict with Sudan’s army. # ⚓ Atlantic Council ☛ Alternative_security_futures_in_the_High North⠀⇛ Climate change, combined with increasing geopolitical competition and hostilities, has focused renewed attention on national security interests in the Arctic. By 2035, how will those variables combine to influence the High North? # ⚓ Atlantic Council ☛ Atlantic_Council_announces_2023 Fellowship_selection_of_Veterans_in_Energy⠀⇛ WASHINGTON, D.C. – September 6, 2023 – The Atlantic Council Global Energy Center’s (GEC) Veterans Advanced Energy Project (VAEP) announced the twenty highly distinguished military veterans of the 2023- 2024 VAEP Fellowship Program. This one-year fellowship offers veterans an immersive experience in the field of advanced energy, culminating in a policy proposal capstone that exemplifies VAEP’s motto, “energy security is national security.” # ⚓ Atlantic Council ☛ Global_Development_Initiative_and_Global Security_Initiative:_China’s_Blueprint_for_the_New_World Order⠀⇛ Tuvia Gering and Michael Schuman shed light on the Chinese Communist Party’s approach and practical implementation tactics of Beijing’s global development initiatives. # ⚓ Defence Web ☛ Global_Terrorism_Index_finds_attacks_down, but_becoming_more_lethal⠀⇛ The Institute for Economics & Peace’s (IEP) latest Global Terrorism Index (GTI) has found that last year, terrorism resulted in 6 701 deaths – 38% lower than at their peak in 2015 – but the lethality of attacks increased dramatically. # ⚓ teleSUR ☛ Islamist_Party_Leaders_Arrested_by_Tunisian Security⠀⇛ The report was released a few hours after the arrest of Mondher Ounissi, the party’s interim head, and the release of Hamadi Jebali, the party’s former secretary-general and former prime minister # ⚓ The Straits Times ☛ Main_Pakistan-Afghan_border_crossing closed_for_second_day_after_clashes⠀⇛ September 07, 2023 2:33 PM PESHAWAR, Pakistan – Pakistan’s main border crossing with Afghanistan was closed for a second day on Thursday, leading to a build-up of trucks laden with goods, after clashes between security forces from the two countries. # ⚓ Atlantic Council ☛ Sleight_of_hand:_How_China_weaponizes software_vulnerabilities⠀⇛ China’s new vulnerability management system mandates reporting to MIIT within 48 hours, restricting pre-patch publication and POC code. This centralized approach contrasts with the US voluntary system, potentially aiding Chinese intelligence. MIIT shares data with the MSS, affecting voluntary databases as well. MSS also fund firms to provide vulnerabilities for their offensive potential. # ⚓ Federal News Network ☛ In_Southeast_Asia,_Harris_says_‘we have_to_see_the_future’⠀⇛ Vice President Kamala Harris traveled for more than a day to reach this year’s summit of Southeast Asian nations, where she was tasked with strengthening ties in a region that’s crucial to U.S. interests. Harris said in an interview with The Associated Press that Washington must “pay attention to 10, 20, 30 years down the line, and what we are developing now that will be to the benefit of our country then.” This was her third trip to Southeast Asia since taking office. She’s at the center of the White House’s efforts to foster partnerships that can serve as a counterbalance to China’s influence. o § Finance⠀➾ # ⚓ GeekWire ☛ Slalom_Consulting_lays_off_7%_of_workforce;_CEO cites_‘significant_shifts_within_our_industry’⠀⇛ Seattle-based business and technology firm Slalom Consulting laid off about 900 employees in a workforce reduction. # ⚓ Roku_cutting_10%_of_staff,_third_mass_layoff_in_months⠀⇛ In a recent filing to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the streaming software company announced that it’s laying off approximately 10 per cent of its workforce as it continues to look for ways to “bring down its year- over-year operating expense growth rate.” # ⚓ Federal News Network ☛ Stock_market_today:_Asian_shares fall_as_China_reports_weaker_global_demand_hit_its_trade_in August⠀⇛ Shares have fallen in Asia as China reported weaker global demand hit its trade in August, adding to pressures on its economy. Oil prices and U.S. futures also fell. Hong Kong’s benchmark gave up more than 1% and most other major regional markets also declined. China said its exports fell 8.8% in August from a year earlier, while imports were down 7.3%. On Wednesday, the S&P 500 shed 0.7% and the Dow industrials fell 0.6%. The Nasdaq composite handed back 1.1% as declines in several big technology stocks, including Apple, weighed on the market. Treasury yields rose following data showing the U.S. services sector remains strong. # ⚓ YLE ☛ Survey:_Over_40%_of_workers_in_Finland_want_to_retire early⠀⇛ A survey published on Thursday has found that 43 percent of employees in Finland want to leave active working life well ahead of time. Those surveyed who would like to retire early wanted, on average, to get out of the workforce 6.4 years before retirement age. The poll was commissioned by Mehiläinen, a private provider of social and healthcare services. Mehiläinen’s chief occupational health psychologist Suvi Suortamo considers the results to be a sign that working life is perceived as increasingly stressful and burdensome. # ⚓ BBC ☛ Brits_most_likely_to_say_‘we_don’t_live_to_work’_– BBC_News⠀⇛ There’s a steady drift towards getting a good work- life balance, a new survey suggests. # ⚓ The Strategist ☛ India’s_quiet_rise⠀⇛ China’s sharp economic slowdown has raised alarm bells around the world. But it has also thrown into relief the rise of another demographic powerhouse next door. o § Censorship/Free Speech⠀➾ # ⚓ Reason ☛ Brickbat:_The_King_and_I⠀⇛ A court in Saudi Arabia has sentenced Muhammad al- Ghamdi to death after finding him guilty of “describing the King or the Crown Prince in a way that undermines religion or justice,” “supporting a terrorist ideology,” “communication with a terrorist entity,” and publishing false news “with the intention of executing a terrorist crime.” o § Civil Rights/Policing⠀➾ # ⚓ RFA ☛ Photojournalist_in_Myanmar_sentenced_to_20_years_of hard_labor⠀⇛ Sai Zaw Thaik was documenting Cyclone Mocha’s damage when he was arrested. o § Monopolies⠀➾ # ⚓ Yahoo News ☛ FTC_Should_Look_at_Microsoft_Teams_Bundle After_EU_Investigation,_Zoom_CEO_Says⠀⇛ Zoom Video Communications Inc. Chief Executive Officer Eric Yuan said the US Federal Trade Commission should look into Microsoft Corp.’s bundling of its video-conferencing software, Teams… # ⚓ Silicon Angle ☛ Google_tentatively_settles_antitrust lawsuit_over_Play_Store_practices⠀⇛ Google LLC has agreed to settle a lawsuit that accused it of breaching antitrust rules with the Play Store. Reuters reported the development today, citing a court document that was filed on Tuesday. # ⚓ TwinCities Pioneer Press ☛ Google_reaches_tentative settlement_with_all_50_states_over_alleged_app_store monopoly⠀⇛ All 50 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico have reached an agreement in principle with Google to settle a lawsuit filed in 2021 over the tech giant’s alleged monopolistic control of the distribution of apps for the software that runs most of the world’s cellphones. The agreement was cited in a court filing late Tuesday by both sides. Terms were not disclosed. Google still faces several major antitrust lawsuits filed by the Department of Justice and other agencies across the U.S. focused on alleged search-related and advertising market monopolistic behavior. In November, it settled with 40 states over the tracking of user location, paying $391 million. # ⚓ [Repeat] New York Times ☛ In_Its_First_Monopoly_Trial_of Modern_Internet_Era,_U.S._Sets_Sights_on_Google⠀⇛ The 10-week trial, set to begin Tuesday, amps up efforts to rein in Big Tech by targeting the core search business that turned Google into a $1.7 trillion behemoth. # § Trademarks⠀➾ # ⚓ TTAB Blog ☛ Precedential_No._24:_Claim_for_Violation of_Section_10_“Anti-Assignment”_Provision_Is_Time- Barred_by_Section_14⠀⇛ In this proceeding for cancellation of a registration for the mark SUBSCRIBE & THRIVE for “online ordering” featuring skin care products, supplements, and assorted other products, Respondent Nature’s Sunshine counterclaimed for cancellation of one of Petitioner’s pleaded registrations for the mark THRIVE on two grounds: fraud and violation of the “anti-assignment” provision of Section 10(a)(1) of the Lanham Act. The Board dismissed the fraud claims due to the insufficiency of the pleading, and it dismissed the Section 10 claim as barred by the time limitation of Section 14(3). Thrive Natural Care Inc. v. Nature’s Sunshine Products, Inc., 2 023 USPQ2d 953 (TTAB 2023) [precedential]. # § Copyrights⠀➾ # ⚓ Public Domain Review ☛ The_“Madame_B_Album”_(ca. 1870s)⠀⇛ A leatherbound volume of some hundred photocollages, featuring elaborate, fantastical watercolour settings for photographic portraits of friends, family, and pets. ䷩ 𝚕𝚒𝚗𝚎 2606 ╒═══════════════════ 𝐃𝐀𝐈𝐋𝐘 𝐋𝐈𝐍𝐊𝐒 ═════════════════════════════════════════════╕ ⠀⌧ █▇▆▅▄▃▂▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁ 09.08.23⠀▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▂▃▄▅▆▇█ ⌧ Gemini_version_available_♊︎ ✐ Links_08/09/2023:_CircuitPython_8.2.5_and_PowerDNS_Authoritative_Server 4.8.2⠀✐ Posted in News_Roundup at 11:44 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz 🄸🄼🄰🄶🄴 🄳🄴🅂🄲🅁🄸🄿🅃🄸🄾🄽 ⦇GNOME bluefish⦈ § Contents⠀➾ * GNU/Linux o Applications o Instructionals/Technical o Games o Desktop_Environments/WMs # K_Desktop_Environment/KDE_SC/Qt * Distributions_and_Operating_Systems o BSD o Debian_Family o Canonical/Ubuntu_Family o Devices/Embedded o Open_Hardware/Modding o Mobile_Systems/Mobile_Applications * Free,_Libre,_and_Open_Source_Software o Productivity_Software/LibreOffice/Calligra o Education o Licensing_/_Legal o Programming/Development * § GNU/Linux⠀➾ o § Applications⠀➾ # ⚓ Linux Links ☛ 9_Best_Free_and_Open_Source_Linux_Usenet Tools⠀⇛ Unlike web forums, Usenet does not have a central server or a dedicated administrator. Instead, Usenet is distributed among a conglomeration of servers that store and pass messages to each other. There are several different types of newsreaders. Some newsreaders are intended primarily for discussions, others are better suited for downloading files. Newsreaders that help users to adhere to the netiquette are evaluated by the Good Netkeeping Seal of Approval (GNKSA). There are also tools which are dedicated for downloading files only. The ratings chart below summarizes our verdict. Only free and open source software is eligible for inclusion. o § Instructionals/Technical⠀➾ # § idroot⠀➾ # ⚓ ID Root ☛ How_To_Install_OpenCV_on_Debian_12⠀⇛ In this tutorial, we will show you how to install OpenCV on Debian 12. For those of you who didn’t know, In the world of digital content and SEO optimization, the role of image processing cannot be underestimated. # ⚓ ID Root ☛ How_To_Install_Webmin_on_AlmaLinux_9⠀⇛ In this tutorial, we will show you how to install Webmin on AlmaLinux 9. For those of you who didn’t know, Webmin is a powerful web-based system administration tool that provides a user-friendly interface for managing Linux servers. # § howtoforge⠀➾ # ⚓ HowTo Forge ☛ Update_the_ISPConfig_Perfect_Server from_Debian_11_to_Debian_12⠀⇛ This tutorial will take you through updating a server managed by ISPConfig from Debian 11 (bullseye) to Debian 12 (bookworm). This guide works for both single- and multiserver setups. # ⚓ HowTo Forge ☛ Replacing_Amavisd_with_Rspamd_in ISPConfig_3.1_on_Debian_and_Ubuntu⠀⇛ Rspamd is a modern high-performance spam scan software for Linux servers which delivers very accurate filter results. This tutorial describes the steps to replace amavis (amavisd-new) spam scanning software with Rspamd on an ISPConfig 3.1 server. # ⚓ HowTo Forge ☛ How_to_Upgrade_from_Debian_11_to_Debian 12⠀⇛ This article will show you how to upgrade from Debian 11 (Bullseye) to Debian 12 (Bookworm) in a few easy steps. # ⚓ Net2 ☛ How_to_Install_Google_Chrome_on_Ubuntu_22.04⠀⇛ Google Chrome is a popular web browser that is available for many different devices, including Ubuntu 22.04. In this tutorial, we will cover three methods for installing Google Chrome on Ubuntu 22.04: using a Debian package, using Gui and using the Google repository. # ⚓ Own HowTo ☛ How_to_fix_”_Failed_to_execute_default_terminal emulator”_on_Debian_12⠀⇛ I was using Debian 12 today, and I had the terminal window open installing some stuff on my machine. Once I closed the terminal, # ⚓ RoseHosting ☛ How_to_Install_Elgg_on_Debian_11⠀⇛ Elgg is a free and open-source social networking engine that is easy to install and set up… # ⚓ Ubuntu Handbook ☛ How_to_Make_File_Chooser_Dialog_default to_Current_Working_Directory⠀⇛ This simple tutorial shows how to replace ‘Recent Used‘ with current working directory as default in GTK file chooser in Ubuntu. # ⚓ Rlang ☛ Mastering_Data_Visualization_in_R:_How_to_Plot_a Subset_of_Data⠀⇛ Data visualization is a powerful tool for gaining insights from your data. In R, you have a plethora of libraries and functions at your disposal to create stunning and informative plots. One common task is to plot a subset of your data, which allows you to focus on specific aspects or trends within your dataset. In this blog post, we’ll explore various techniques to plot subsets of data in R, and I’ll explain each step in simple terms. Don’t worry if you’re new to R – by the end of this post, you’ll be equipped to create customized plots with ease! Before we start, make sure you have R and RStudio installed on your computer. If not, you can download them from R’s official website and RStudio’s website. # ⚓ University of Toronto ☛ (Unix)_Directory_traversal_and symbolic_links⠀⇛ If and when you set out to traverse through a Unix directory hierarchy, whether to inventory it or to find something, you have a decision to make. I can put this decision in technical terms, about whether you use stat() or lstat() when identifying subdirectories in your current directory, or put it non-technically, about whether or not you follow symbolic links that happen to point to directories. As you might guess, there are two possible answers here and neither is unambiguously wrong (or right). Which answer programs choose depends on their objectives and their assumptions about their environment. # ⚓ TecMint ☛ LFCS_#6:_How_to_Assemble_Partitions_as_RAID Devices_and_Create_System_Backups⠀⇛ The Linux Foundation launched the LFCS (Linux Foundation Certified Sysadmin) certification, a shiny chance for system administrators everywhere to demonstrate, through a performance-based exam, that they are capable of performing overall operational support on Linux systems: system support, first-level diagnosing and monitoring, plus issue escalation, when required, to other support teams. The series will be titled Preparation for the LFCS (Linux Foundation Certified Sysadmin) Parts 1 through 33 and cover the following topics: # ⚓ OSTechNix ☛ How_To_Configure_SSH_Key-based_Authentication In_Linux⠀⇛ This guide provides an overview of different SSH authentication methods, with a particular focus on SSH key-based authentication. Additionally, this guide will walk you through the steps on how to configure SSH key-based authentication in Linux and Unix-like operating systems. # ⚓ OSTechNix ☛ How_To_Enable_Bucklespring_Keyboard_Sound_In Linux⠀⇛ Have you ever used any good old IBM keyboards? Especially, the IBM Model-M space saver bucklespring keyboards are heavy and loud. If you are a fan of bucklespring keyboards, then Bucklespring utility is a great way to enjoy the sound of these keyboards even if you don’t own one. In this brief tutorial, we will see how to enable Bucklespring keyboard sound in Linux. # ⚓ How_to_Remove_Inserted_Horizontal_Line_in_LibreOffice Writer⠀⇛ Are you get frustrated when horizontal lines are inserted and you face trouble removing them in LibreOffice Writer? These lines can disrupt the flow and appearance of your document. But don’t worry, there are ways to remove them and improve your experience with LibreOffice. This article will guide you through the steps to remove these lines and give you back control over your document’s formatting. o § Games⠀➾ # ⚓ GamingOnLinux ☛ These_custom_Steam_Deck_buttons_look awesome⠀⇛ Want to mod your Steam Deck to make it a little bit more fancy? Deck Buttons from Colored Controllers look awesome but they’re selling out fast. # ⚓ GamingOnLinux ☛ Ratchet_&_Clank:_Rift_Apart_gets_FSR_2.2 and_Ray_Tracing_for_AMD_GPUs_on_Linux⠀⇛ Insomniac Games and Nixxes Software showing how good PC support is done with Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart, with another free upgrade out now. It’s good news for Steam Deck and desktop Linux players too. # ⚓ GamingOnLinux ☛ Titanfall_2_has_a_player_surge_with_a_huge sale,_great_on_Steam_Deck_&_desktop_Linux⠀⇛ Available really cheap until September 18th, Titanfall 2 has one of the best FPS campaigns around and some great multiplayer with the Northstar mod too.  # ⚓ GamingOnLinux ☛ Star_Trek:_Infinite_from_Paradox_releases October_12⠀⇛ Paradox Interactive along with Nimble Giant Entertainment have announced that Star Trek: Infinite will be releasing on October 12th. Unlike titles from their in-house first-party development teams, this one will not have Native Linux support. It’s built on the foundation of Stellaris, and pretty much looks like Star Trek Stellaris. # ⚓ GamingOnLinux ☛ Chaotic_furniture-building_co-op_game KallaX_only_gives_one_player_instructions⠀⇛ KallaX sounds like it could be quite hilarious. With co-op play of between 2-6 players, you will need to build some furniture but the problem is, only one of you has been given the instructions. # ⚓ GamingOnLinux ☛ Tactical_turn-based_stealth_game_Spirited Thief_releases_September_19⠀⇛ Spirited Thief looks pretty sweet. A tactical turn- based stealth game with a twist, where you take your time to scout ahead and plan your heist as your ghostly friend, then use your knowledge to break in and break out with pricey loot. o § Desktop Environments/WMs⠀➾ # ⚓ DaemonFC (Ryan Farmer) ☛ IBM_Gaslighting:_“The_New_Linux Technologies_Work_Fine._It’s_Just_You!”_Wayland_is_Not Robust.⠀⇛ I like to say Wayland is “Negative work.” not only because it just replaces X11 with inferior beta software-quality interfaces, sometimes missing entirely, where everyone has to rewrite the same function from scratch, but because it requires work that doesn’t involve actually improving the desktop and window management for the users. A lot of work has been poured into get KDE to do things it already did on X11, and with code that is new and unstable, and incomplete. “Negative work” was also a direct quote from IBM. # § K Desktop Environment/KDE SC/Qt⠀➾ # ⚓ Linuxiac ☛ KDE_Plasma_6_Roadmap_Unveiled:_When_Can You_Expect_It⠀⇛ The KDE Plasma desktop environment has long been a favorite among countless Linux enthusiasts and open-source advocates, known for its stunning visuals, customizability, and user-friendly design. The current stable release, KDE Plasma 5.27 LTS, is the last in the 5.x series and will receive bugfixes only, but no new features. In this light, in recent months, all developer efforts have been focused on the upcoming Plasma 6 release, which is expected to be a turning point in the evolution of this beloved desktop environment. # ⚓ OMG! Linux ☛ Devs_Announce_KDE_Plasma_6_Release Date⠀⇛ Development on KDE Plasma 6 kicked off (heh) earlier this year. The desktop side is now built using Qt 6 technologies. This unlock support for new features, capabilities (including enhancements to ‘convergence’ implementations), and further future- proofing. Earlier this KDE developers met up in Berlin, Germany to work on the next-generation of the KDE Plasma desktop. A number of interesting details came out of that sprint, including a decision to adopt a slower release cadence. Sadly a release date wasn’t part of that info dump, so it’s great to finally have one. Something to jot down in our calendars to look forward to. * § Distributions and Operating Systems⠀➾ o ⚓ Ciprian Dorin Craciun ☛ [remark]_Linux_becoming_a_Windows_/_OSX clone⠀⇛ A rant about the complexity of modern Linux distributions, which places them on par with the opaqueness of Windows and OSX. o § BSD⠀➾ # ⚓ FreeBSD ☛ Meet_The_Summer_2023_University_of_Waterloo_Co-Op Student:_Naman_Sood⠀⇛ The Foundation has continued our successful partnership with the University of Waterloo Co-Op Program. Since 2017 we’ve had 15 interns, some having returned for more than one internship. We’ve also had two interns become full-fledged committers, and many continue to contribute. We sat down with this year’s Summer Co-Op Student to learn more about them and why they chose to work with FreeBSD. o § Debian Family⠀➾ # ⚓ Ubuntu ☛ Ubuntu_at_DebConf_2023_|_Ubuntu⠀⇛ It is safe to say that there would be no Ubuntu without Debian. Canonical is a long time supporter of Debian, and a Gold sponsor of DebConf this year. On top of the sponsorship, many Ubuntu developers and Canonical engineers are going to speak at DebConf. Till Kamppeter will show us The New Architecture for Printing and Scanning on Debian in a dedicated talk. He is also going to share his experience of running events and inspiring more contributors with his session Opportunity Open Source conference in the IIT Mandi, India: Motivating people to be a part of us! # ⚓ The Register UK ☛ Linux_on_the_Arm-based_Thinkpad_X13S: It’s_getting_there⠀⇛ The latest release of Armbian helps with the non- trivial problem of installing and running an arbitrary Linux distro on Arm computers. The Lenovo Thinkpad X13S Generation 1 which we reviewed back in March is the first mainstream Arm- powered laptop that the Reg FOSS Desk has got to evaluate. There are other Arm-based laptops out there, such as Pine64′s Pinebook Pro and various Arm-powered ChromeBooks, but the X13S is closer to an ordinary X86-based laptop: it has a decent spec, with 16GB of RAM, a 256GB NVMe SSD – plus PC- industry-standard UEFI firmware, which is still relatively unusual on consumer Arm computers. Better still, you can disable Secure Boot, which many Arm-powered devices don’t allow. A decade ago, this was a critical problem with the original Microsoft Surface RT: Windows RT was a flop, and the firmware wouldn’t let you run anything else. o § Canonical/Ubuntu Family⠀➾ # ⚓ It’s FOSS ☛ Ubuntu_23.10_to_Feature_Experimental_TPM-backed Full_Disk_Encryption⠀⇛ Ubuntu 23.10 daily builds keep getting exciting new additions! Earlier we had covered the major PPA changes, and the new Flutter-based store (which also landed with the latest daily builds). Now, we have yet another major change that is set to enhance the security of Ubuntu systems; by changing how users handle the encrypting of their disks (if enabled). The initial support for the feature is set to arrive with Ubuntu 23.10 and will be improved in future Ubuntu releases. # ⚓ Ubuntu ☛ Manage_FIPS-enabled_Linux_machines_at_scale_with Landscape_23.03⠀⇛ You or your organisation are tasked with hardening your workstations and servers, where do you begin? Installing Ubuntu and applying all the security patches is a good place to start, but what else is needed? The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), a cybersecurity agency established in 1988, has published a series of security requirements for cryptographic modules since 1993. Instead of approaching hardening from a blank slate, anyone can benefit from NIST’s ongoing work in under 5 minutes, and have the strongest cryptography and hardening posture, when using Ubuntu. Presented by Canonical’s VP of Public Sector, Chris Huffman, and Product Managers Rajan Patel, Ijlal Loutfi, and Henry Coggill. The webinar covers baselines, standards, and guidelines as they pertain to implementing FIPS with maximum security. o § Devices/Embedded⠀➾ # ⚓ Adafruit ☛ CircuitPython_8.2.5_Released!_@circuitpython⠀⇛ Firmware downloads are available from the downloads page on circuitpython.org. The site makes it easy to select the correct file and language for your board. # ⚓ Linux Gizmos ☛ Rock_Pi_S_Core_SoM_taps_Rockchip_RK3308 CPU⠀⇛ # ⚓ Linux Gizmos ☛ T-Display_S3_Pro_adds_a_2.33”_screen_and phone_OTG_support⠀⇛ o § Open Hardware/Modding⠀➾ # ⚓ Herman Õunapuu ☛ The_IKEA-powered_homelab_on_a_wall⠀⇛ There are some improvements that I might implement to a revision of this board. The USB cables connecting the external SSD-s seem to be just small enough to be routable behind the pegboard. Other cables that are visible can probably be hidden on the other side as well, giving the setup a much cleaner look. # ⚓ Arduino ☛ This_bionic_hand_responds_to_motion_control⠀⇛ This is the newest iteration of a project that Cogley first started a few years ago. It is robotic hand meant to mimic a human hand as much as possible. Human fingers do not contain muscles. Instead, muscles in the forearms and palms pull on tendons to move the fingers. Cogley’s bionic hand works in a similar manner by using servo motors in the forearm to pull on cables that actuate the fingers. An Arduino UNO Rev3 moves the servos according to commands from a PC, but Cogley needed a way to streamline those commands. # ⚓ Purism ☛ PureOS_on_Liberty_Phone_and_Librem_5⠀⇛ With the Librem 5 just hitting shipping parity and Purism holding stock for new purchases, it was time for an updated review of the tremendous progress our team has made with PureOS for the Librem 5 and Liberty Phone with Made in USA Electronics.  Here we will talk about the good, bad, and lasting effects of PureOS on the Liberty Phone and Librem 5. Both the Librem 5 and Liberty Phone were a giant gamble that paid off in a big way. Prior to the Librem 5, nearly every new phone produced used the software stack from Android or iOS, both of which are fundamentally flawed around data protection and proper transparent fully released source code. Instead of using this problematic base and adopting apps that monetize your data, or where the source code is not released, or worse… both of those. We chose the much harder but proper path and built an Operating System, PureOS, using only free software thereby avoiding data collection entirely, advancing fully free software, and bonus we invented true convergence within PureOS which is a non-Android Linux OS. With PureOS, you get a full Linux Desktop on everything from servers to phones. We don’t collect user data nor provide avenues to easily incorporate ads into our ecosystem. Resulting in a pure experience free of nagging apps and unalterable defaults. The Librem 5 and Liberty Phone running PureOS do not spy on you, giving you peace of mind that you are fully protected from the hardware all the way to the apps. On the Liberty phone and Librem 5 the Linux kernel is kept up to date by Purism and its many investments in upstream, it needs a shrinking number of alterations from the main branch because of these advancements. This keeps kernel features up to date and makes it easy to port alternative OSs to the Librem 5 or Liberty Phone. Congratulations are in order for our Linux kernel team. # ⚓ Hackaday ☛ How_Small_Can_The_ESP32_Get?⠀⇛ At its core, the ESP32 chip is not much more than an integrated circuit, a huge mass of transistors sealed inside an epoxy resin package with some leads. Of course, most of us won’t buy discrete ESP32 chips with no support circuitry since it’s typically easier and often not that much more expensive to get them paired with development boards of some type for easy access to things like USB and GPIO. But these tiny chips need little in the way of support to get up and running as [Paul] demonstrates with this tiny ESP32 board. o § Mobile Systems/Mobile Applications⠀➾ # ⚓ Android Police ☛ The_Pixel_Watch_2_won’t_work_on_super_old Android_phones⠀⇛ # ⚓ Giz China ☛ AnTuTu:_Unveiling_the_Most_Powerful_Android Smartphones⠀⇛ # ⚓ The Sun ☛ Millions_of_Android_owners_receive_huge_free ‘text_checker’_upgrade_that_instantly_makes_typing_so_much easier_|_The_US_Sun⠀⇛ # ⚓ Gadget Bridge ☛ 7_easy_ways_to_turn_off_or_restart_an Android_phone_without_using_the_power_button?⠀⇛ # ⚓ Phone Arena ☛ Pixel_Watch_2_will_require_the_Android_phone you_pair_with_to_run_Pie_or_later_–_PhoneArena⠀⇛ * § Free, Libre, and Open Source Software⠀➾ o ⚓ PowerDNS ☛ PowerDNS_Authoritative_Server_4.8.2⠀⇛ In Authoritative Server 4.8, the LMDB backend gains a new Lightning Stream-compatible schema, which requires a data migration (this is automatic, and there is no migration back to the old schema). LMDB backend users should pay extra attention to the Upgrade Notes. o § Productivity Software/LibreOffice/Calligra⠀➾ # ⚓ DaemonFC (Ryan Farmer) ☛ Quoting_Wikipedia_to_Explain_Why You_Should_Not_Use_Microsoft_Office_365.⠀⇛ Microsoft 365 is banned for use in classrooms in at least one German state, which has deemed it too insecure to even use at all. Also, this is the stuff that survived Microsoft’s PR firm “pruning” things from Wikipedia. None of this things can happen to you if you use LibreOffice, and store your documents on your own computer. Also, LibreOffice never goes into “read-only” mode if you stop paying a monthly fee. There is no fee. o § Education⠀➾ # ⚓ Carl Schwan ☛ Freedom_Not_Fear_2023⠀⇛ Last weekend, I went to Freedom Not Fear 2023 in Brussels. Fnf is an unconference for and by European digital activists. It covers various topics, from the latest terrible European law (Chat Control) to discussing how to get more involved in our democracies. I usually attend more technical conferences, and it was refreshing to participate in a conference where ethical and political discussions around digital rights were a central topic. It was an occasion to meet people from different backgrounds, from a Dutch politician (and self-proclaimed student for life), to a member of various organizations (e.g. Edri, NlNet, epicenter.works, Chatons, …) and journalists from Netzpolitik. # ⚓ Carl Svensson ☛ The_Wachowskis_and_the_Hacker_as_a progressive_archetype⠀⇛ To serve the positive connotation, hacker culture needs to be fairly broadly defined. It usually encompasses various in-group markers and qualities that the bad hackers lack – most often a set of morally pure values with a countercultural, often progressive twist. Early real world political markers of hacker culture were distrust of the (deep) state, safeguarding personal privacy, free speech advocacy and an opposition to predatory capitalism – a heritage from the counterculture prevalent at the time and place of its birth, the US in the late 1960:s. This has since been echoed in many a hacker tract, factual as well as fictional. WarGames (1983) pits a mischievous boy next door against the hubris and excess of the military-industrial complex. Sneakers (1992) features a group of aging hippies doing battle with foreign as well as domestic political actors, and The Lone Gunmen (2001, originally from The X-Files) are at constant odds with both megacorps and US intelligence agencies. Through the increased ubiquity of networked computers and the gradual reframing of hackers from criminals to freedom fighters, the connotation of the word hacker itself has gone from largely negative to largely positive. In the word hack’s capacity of describing a clever solution to a problem, it’s even trickled outside the realm of technology and blessed us with life hacks in general and specific ones like kitchen hacks in particular. Hence, new words must be constructed: bad hackers are now instead cyber terrorists or cyber criminals. o § Licensing / Legal⠀➾ # ⚓ The Drone Girl ☛ Drone_remote_ID_rules_apply_as_of September_16._Are_you_ready?⠀⇛ As of September 16, 2023, the drone remote ID rules start applying to drone pilots, too. The final rule for remote ID is a requirement from the Federal Aviation Administration mandating that drones must provide identification and location information, which can then be read by other parties. Consider a sort of electronic licensing plate system for drones, with a built-in layer of location information. The FAA’s drone remote ID rules technically went into effect in September 2022, but the FAA actually gave a year for drone pilots to make sure their aircraft actually is equipped with Remote ID. That point comes on September 16, 2023 at exactly 12:01 a.m. — which isn’t far away. At that point, all drone pilots required to register their UAS (which is most drone operators flying outdoors with drones that weigh 250 grams or more) must operate their aircraft in accordance with the final rule on remote ID. # ⚓ Techdirt ☛ South_Dakota_Looks_Like_It_Might_Be_The_Next State_Asked_To_Explain_Its_Stupid_Vanity_Plate_Laws_To_A Federal_Court⠀⇛ Governments are weird. Maybe “weird” isn’t the right word. The more accurate word may be “opportunistic.” When it comes to speech they don’t like, they move into this mode. If they think they can silence it, they will try to. And they’ll do this while still pretending the speech they’re trying to control is nothing more than their own. o § Programming/Development⠀➾ # ⚓ Rlang ☛ Adding_a_website_next_to_your_Shiny_server⠀⇛ I have been off from the blog lately due to a big load of personal projects. Just lately I got a few days off and found time to work on my personal website, to be ready soon. That made me get more into Nginx configuration, where I consider myself a total rookie. However, I was mainly adding a few domains that are intended for different purposes. That is incredibly easy to do using Nginx even with minimal knowledge, and that’s what I want to show here. Basically I want to have my shiny apps under one domain, and some other sites under different domains, but using only one server. I also decided to add my own customized 404 error page. There are different ways to accomplish that, here are just a couple of them. I hope they can be of use. ䷩ 𝚕𝚒𝚗𝚎 3471 ╒═══════════════════ 𝐃𝐀𝐈𝐋𝐘 𝐋𝐈𝐍𝐊𝐒 ═════════════════════════════════════════════╕ ⠀⌧ █▇▆▅▄▃▂▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁ 09.08.23⠀▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▂▃▄▅▆▇█ ⌧ Gemini_version_available_♊︎ ✐ Links_08/09/2023:_Release_of_Francis_1.0,_EnterpriseDB_Chooses_GNU_General Public_License_v3_for_Component⠀✐ Posted in News_Roundup at 8:42 pm by Dr. Roy Schestowitz 🄸🄼🄰🄶🄴 🄳🄴🅂🄲🅁🄸🄿🅃🄸🄾🄽 ⦇GNOME bluefish⦈ § Contents⠀➾ * GNU/Linux o Server o Kernel_Space o Applications o Instructionals/Technical o WINE_or_Emulation o Desktop_Environments/WMs # K_Desktop_Environment/KDE_SC/Qt * Distributions_and_Operating_Systems o Fedora_Family_/_IBM o Debian_Family o Canonical/Ubuntu_Family o Devices/Embedded o Mobile_Systems/Mobile_Applications * Free,_Libre,_and_Open_Source_Software o SaaS/Back_End/Databases o Programming/Development # Python * Leftovers o Health/Nutrition/Agriculture o Proprietary/Artificial_Intelligence_(AI) o Pseudo-Open_Source # Openwashing o Security # Integrity/Availability/Authenticity # Privacy/Surveillance o Defence/Aggression o Environment # Energy/Transportation o Finance o AstroTurf/Lobbying/Politics o Censorship/Free_Speech o Civil_Rights/Policing o Internet_Policy/Net_Neutrality o Monopolies # Patents # Copyrights * Gemini*_and_Gopher o Politics_and_World_Events o Technology_and_Free_Software * § GNU/Linux⠀➾ o § Server⠀➾ # ⚓ Cloudbooklet ☛ Top_5_Free_Linux_Cloud_Servers_to_Host_Your Website⠀⇛ A free Linux cloud server is a virtual machine that runs Linux and is hosted on a cloud platform for free or with some limitations. o § Kernel Space⠀➾ # ⚓ Collabora ☛ Video_codecs:_Adding_AV1_stateless_video decoder_support_to_Linux⠀⇛ The latest mainline Linux kernel (v6.5) includes 22 patches that enable support for the AV1 uAPI and for two stateless video decoders: one for the Rockchip RK3588 and one for MT8195, a MediaTek SoC. # ⚓ Neowin ☛ Linus_Torvalds_accepts_Microsoft’s_Linux_Hyper- V_upgrades_so_both_Intel_and_AMD_can_benefit [Ed: No, it is so that Microsoft can benefit]⠀⇛ Microsoft is improving Hyper-V support in the upcoming Linux kernel version 6.6 so that both AMD and Intel processors will benefit. The upgrade mainly pertains to improved guest support. o § Applications⠀➾ # ⚓ DebugPoint ☛ Reviving_the_Glory_Days:_NsCDE_Desktop_for UNIX_Buffs⠀⇛ If you’ve been pining for the nostalgia of the Common Desktop Environment (CDE) that graced UNIX systems back in the ’90s, but also yearn for a modern, robust, and highly customizable desktop experience, then NsCDE might just be your answer. In this review, we’ll dive into what NsCDE is all about, why it exists, and who it’s meant for. # ⚓ GNOME ☛ Juan_Pablo_Ugarte:_Cambalache_0.14.0_Released!⠀⇛ I am pleased to announce a new Cambalache version. Cambalache is a new RAD tool for Gtk 4 and 3 with a clear MVC design and data model first philosophy. Version 0.14.0 brings two new features one of them not even originally supported by Glade. # ⚓ Sam_Thursfield:_Improvements_to_my_helper_tool_for_VM-based openQA_testing⠀⇛ It’s two years since I started looking into end-to- end testing of GNOME using openQA. While developing the end-to-end tests I find myself running tests locally on my machine a lot, and the experience was fiddly, so I wrote a simple helper tool named ssam_openqa to automate my workflow.Having chosen to write ssam_openqa in Rust, it’s now really fun to hack on, and I somewhat gratuitously gave it an interactive frontend using the indicatif Rust library. # ⚓ Linux Links ☛ 11_Best_Free_and_Open_Source_Linux_e-Learning Tools⠀⇛ Linux has a wide range of e-Learning software available. This article focuses on software which is user friendly for students and instructors. # ⚓ Medevel ☛ 15_Open-source_Free_DSLR_Camera_Software_and Solutions_for_Photographers⠀⇛ In this list we offer you the best usable open- source solutions to control and manage your DSLR cameras. # ⚓ Medevel ☛ 54_Free_Open-source_Web_Spiders,_Crawlers_and Scrapping_Solutions_for_Data_Collection⠀⇛ Web crawling, scraping, and spiders are all related to the process of extracting data from websites. o § Instructionals/Technical⠀➾ # ⚓ Red Hat ☛ How_to_trigger_jobs_manually_in_Packit⠀⇛ Packit is an open source project aiming to ease your project’s integration with Fedora Linux, CentOS_Stream, and other distributions. Packit is mostly used by projects that build RPM packages. We won’t go through the onboarding process that was already described in a previous_article, but we would like to introduce you to new features that were recently promoted into production. § Testing Farm execution From Packit, you can easily trigger the tests on Testing Farm even without building the RPMs. This is very handy for projects that basically don’t build RPMs but want to use these two services for verifying the code. As a good example, we can refer to the Strimzi_project where users consume container images. In such cases, the users want to trigger the tests, verify the code and see some output. This option is available from the beginning. Users can easily define when to execute the tests for every pull request, commit, or release. That sounds pretty cool; however, when you have complex tests (5+ hours per test run) as we have in Strimzi, you probably don’t want to trigger all tests for each commit. So, how can the users achieve that? # ⚓ Podman_Vs._Docker:_Exploring_Key_Differences_and_When_to Make_the_Switch⠀⇛ Podman is an open-source container management tool that provides a way to create, manage, and run containers on your Linux systems. Sounds familiar, right? If you’ve ever used Docker in your life, you can relate their similarities. # ⚓ Tmux_Tutorial:_Mastering_the_Basics⠀⇛ What is tmux? Tmux is a terminal multiplexer that allows you to manage multiple terminal sessions with a single terminal window, and you can easily switch between those multiple terminal sessions. Why use tmux? # ⚓ TecAdmin ☛ Using_if-else_in_Dockerfile⠀⇛ Docker is an essential tool for containerizing applications, making them portable and isolated. The Dockerfile is a key component in the Docker ecosystem, allowing developers to specify how their application should be containerized. Often, there is a need for conditional logic in Dockerfiles, much like you would find in programming scripts. # ⚓ MWL ☛ 60_Seconds_of_WIP,_7_September_2023⠀⇛ Run Your Own Mail Server has finally forced me to write a bit about netcat versus telnet. Netcat is a flexible network tool that, among other things, allows you to connect to arbitrary TCP/IP ports. We’ll use it for testing services. # ⚓ Red Pixels Ventures Ltd ☛ How_to_Take_Screenshots_on_a Laptop_or_Desktop_Using_Windows,_macOS_or_Linux⠀⇛ How to take a screenshot on a laptop is one of the most commonly asked questions by users when they start using a computer running on Windows, macOS, or Linux. There are several ways to take screenshots on your laptop or desktop computer, from using keyboard shortcuts to opening apps designed to crop, rotate, annotate, and print the image you have captured from your screen. However, the fastest way to take a screenshot is through pressing a combination of keys on your keyboard for the screen capture functionality. o § WINE or Emulation⠀➾ # ⚓ ScummVM ☛ Androids_get_a_companion._iOS_port_public testing⠀⇛ The day has come. We are super happy to announce public beta testing for the iOS port of ScummVM in the store. Yes, you read it right! Since Lars Sundström, aka lman, joined our team as the iOS porter, we have made significant progress. Thus, you no longer need to compile ScummVM yourself in order to add it to your iOS or iPadOS device. If you want to help by testing this version, just follow this_Testflight_link and enroll yourself in the test program. This may require installing Apple’s Testflight app. You can find instructions on how to install games and how to play them on our documentation_portal. o § Desktop Environments/WMs⠀➾ # § K Desktop Environment/KDE SC/Qt⠀➾ # ⚓ Carl Schwan ☛ Francis_1.0⠀⇛ Today is my birthday but it’s also the day Francis got its first release. Francis is a pomodoro app, which was originally developed by Felipe Kinoshita. The Pomodoro Technique is a time management method developed by Francesco Cirillo in the late 1980s. It uses a kitchen timer to break work into intervals, typically 25 minutes in length, separated by short breaks. # ⚓ “Bring_Back_[obscure_feature]!”⠀⇛ Did a feature you love disappear from your Free Software project of choice? Before kicking up a fuss on Reddit, read this. # ⚓ KDE_Frameworks_6_/_Plasma_/_Gear_Release_Schedule Plan⠀⇛ The Qt 6 based KDE Frameworks 6 (KF6) development is ongoing since some time. Already many things including Plasma and several applications, like Kate, have working KF6 based development versions. KDE contributors did meet this week online for planning the final release time-frames. * § Distributions and Operating Systems⠀➾ o ⚓ Medium ☛ Top_7_Lesser-Known_Linux_Distributions_You_Need_to Explore⠀⇛ When it comes to Linux distributions, most users are familiar with the likes of Ubuntu, Fedora, Debian, and CentOS. However, the Linux world is a vast ecosystem with a multitude of distributions, each catering to different needs and preferences. In this article, we’ll introduce you to seven lesser-known Linux distributions that you may have never heard of but are definitely worth exploring. o ⚓ The Register UK ☛ Linux_distros_drop_their_feelgood_hits_of_the summer⠀⇛ Taking advantage of the summer lull, there are new versions of a slew of distros: Nitrux, Ubuntu DDE, Linux Lite, Manjaro, and siblings Mageia, OpenMandriva and PCLinuxOS. o ⚓ Barry Kauler ☛ More_fixes_convert_Void_pkg_db_to_Puppy_db format⠀⇛ Previous blog post: https://bkhome.org/news/202309/fix-convert-void-pkg-db- to-puppy-db-format.html I have fixed a couple of bugs in support/void/cvt.sh script: https://github.com/bkauler/woofq/commit/ 107c337089a942b046ec1baa124f1da9b3153279 o § Fedora Family / IBM⠀➾ # ⚓ TechEconomy.ng ☛ CentOS_Linux_is_Coming_to_an_End:_What Does_that_Mean_for_Nigerian_Businesses?⠀⇛ As of June 2023, enterprises in Nigeria have less than a year to plan and execute their migration paths from CentOS Linux 7. Updates for the open source project will end on 30 June, 2024 as it reaches its end of life. The project comprises two Linux variants: CentOS Linux, a platform built for a wide variety of deployments; and CentOS Stream, a delivered distribution that tracks just ahead of Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) development and is positioned as a midstream between Fedora Linux and RHEL. # ⚓ Christiano_Anderson:_Contributing_to_Fedora⠀⇛ Fedora is the Linux distribution that I primarily utilize, as it offers a satisfactory balance between cutting-edge packages and stability. The release schedule is six-monthly, and you can expect the most recent version of the main packages, a level of innovation you can only find in one of the most up-to-date and stable operating systems. Being a data professional, I enjoy trying new software and staying abreast of the newest industry innovation. # ⚓ Fedora_Infrastructure_Status:_Fedora_Copr_is_slow_for ppc64le_build_tasks⠀⇛ This outage impacts performance ppc64le tasks in Fedora_Copr_frontend o § Debian Family⠀➾ # Thorsten Alteholz ☛ Thorsten_Alteholz:_My_Debian_Activities in_August_2023 § FTP master⠀➾ This month I accepted 347 and rejected 39 packages. The overall number of packages that got accepted was 349. This was my hundred-tenth month that I did some work for the Debian LTS initiative, started by Raphael Hertzog at Freexian.  # ⚓ Thomas_Lange:_FAI.me_service_now_support_backports_for Debian_12_(bookworm)⠀⇛ The FAI.me service for creating customized installation and cloud images now supports the backports kernel for the stable release Debian 12 (aka bookworm). If you enable the backports option in the web interface, you currently get kernel 6.4. This will help you if you have newer hardware that is not support by the default kernel 6.1. # ⚓ Valhalla’s_Things:_Banners_and_Signs⠀⇛ Some time ago, I decided to make a small banner with the GL-Como penguin for a friend, because reasons. However, this friend has a big problem, he, well, is from Pisa (no, I’m not from Leghorn, why do you ask?), and I had a screen printing kit, openclipart and no inhibitions. # ⚓ Dirk Eddelbuettel ☛ Dirk_Eddelbuettel:_x13binary_1.1.57- 4_on_CRAN:_Minor_Update⠀⇛ Release 1.1.57-4 of the x13binary package providing the X-13ARIMA-SEATS program by the US Census Bureau arrived earlier on CRAN. # ⚓ Tomeu_Vizoso:_Etnaviv_NPU_update_6:_Almost_there!⠀⇛ And with this we should have all the features we need to run a model such as MobileNet v1 and get some performance numbers to guide the next steps. o § Canonical/Ubuntu Family⠀➾ # ⚓ OMG Ubuntu ☛ Brand_New_‘App_Center’_Lands_in_Ubuntu_23.10⠀⇛ Ubuntu’s new “App Center” app has arrived in Ubuntu 23.10 daily builds – no Snap channel commands required to test it out. The new front-end for installing Snap and Deb package is built using Flutter. Ubuntu made Flutter its ‘default choice’ for app making in 2021. Despite being made with an unconventional toolkit the new store looks perfectly in-keeping with the rest of the Ubuntu desktop. For a closer look at this natty new client, and to learn more about what it can and can’t do, keep reading! [...] Visually, the app is pleasant to look at. The homepage is clean and uncluttered, logically ordered, and uses eye-catching banners to draw interest when scrolling. App listing pages put the install button within easy reach, and relays info on license, download size, confinement, and links to the publisher. # ⚓ Alan Pope ☛ Alan_Pope:_Developer_Tools⠀⇛ I have long said I’m not really a developer. Whenever I used to see news articles in the past quoting me as “Alan Pope, Developer at Canonical”, I would cringe quite a bit. I say to my professional developer friends that I’m not one, and they often roll their eyes at me. o § Devices/Embedded⠀➾ # ⚓ CNX Software ☛ Libre_Computer_AML-S905X-CC-V2_SBC_directly installs_Linux_images_from_the_Internet⠀⇛ Libre Computer AML-S905X-CC-V2 “Sweet Potato” is a “new” Amlogic S905X SBC following the Raspberry Pi 3B form factor and that can directly boot Linux images downloaded from the Internet using the Libre Computer OS Tool (LOST). I wrote “new” in quotes because the single board computer is an update to the Potato board (AML-S905X-CC) introduced in 2017 with just a few hardware changes. But that’s because Libre Computer focuses on the software side and all/most of their boards can now run mainline Linux and have support for features such as LOST. # ⚓ Arduino ☛ Meet_Arduino_Pro_at_PACK_EXPO_2023_in_Las_Vegas⠀⇛ The Arduino Pro team will be exhibiting in Las Vegas next week at PACK EXPO 2023, the largest event for the packaging industry. From Monday, September 11th through to the 13th, meet our team at the Arduino Pro booth #7592 in the upper south hall.  # ⚓ CNX Software ☛ Gateworks_GW7400_networking_SBC_features_6 Gigabit_Ethernet_ports,_M.2_&_mini_PCIe_sockets_for_wireless connectivity⠀⇛ Gateworks Venice GW7400 is a rugged industrial single board computer for networking and gateway applications with six Gigabit Ethernet ports, and one M.2 and three mini PCIe sockets for WiFi, cellular, and other wireless options. We first mentioned the GW7400 board around three years ago, when the company introduced the Venice family powered by NXP i.MX 8M processor. o § Mobile Systems/Mobile Applications⠀➾ # ⚓ 9to5Google ☛ Qi2_has_arrived_–_Where_are_the_Android phones?⠀⇛ # ⚓ 9to5Google ☛ Android_TV_homescreen_gets_Google_TV-like design_for_all⠀⇛ # ⚓ Android Police ☛ How_to_check_your_notification_history_on your_Android_phone⠀⇛ # ⚓ Make Use Of ☛ How_to_Add_Birthday_Reminders_in_Google Contacts_on_Android⠀⇛ # ⚓ HowTo Geek ☛ How_to_Save_Voicemails_on_Your_Android_Phone⠀⇛ # ⚓ Dignited ☛ Original_Xiaomi_Mi_Box_S_4K_upgraded_to_Android TV_12_from_Android_TV_9_–_Dignited⠀⇛ # ⚓ Android Police ☛ Android_14_still_doesn’t_calculate_device storage_utilization_correctly⠀⇛ # ⚓ CNET ☛ Android_14_Beta_5.3_Is_Out._How_to_Download_to_Your Phone_Right_Now_–_CNET⠀⇛ # ⚓ Giz China ☛ AnTuTu:_Unveiling_the_Most_Powerful_Android Smartphones⠀⇛ # ⚓ Medevel ☛ 23_Open-source_Free_Workout_Apps_for_Android, iOS,_and_the_Web⠀⇛ Workout apps are software applications that can be used to track and manage fitness-related activities. They typically offer a range of features, such as tracking workouts, setting goals, providing workout plans, and monitoring progress. * § Free, Libre, and Open Source Software⠀➾ o § SaaS/Back End/Databases⠀➾ # ⚓ Silicon Angle ☛ EnterpriseDB_releases_PostgreSQL_cluster deployment_tool_[as_Free_Software]⠀⇛ EnterpriseDB Corp., which sells a commercial version of the popular open-source PostgreSQL database management system, today said it’s making Trusted Postgres Architect available as open source under the GNU General Public License v3. TPA is a tool for automating the deployment and configuration of high-availability Postgres clusters. o § Programming/Development⠀➾ # ⚓ Ted Unangst ☛ enjargo_–_another_way_to_generate_go_json encoders⠀⇛ Some people, when presented with a data structure, think let’s encode this to json. Now they have two problems. Encoding and decoding. In response to this dilemma, various libraries were created, such as rust serde or go encoding/json, to facilitate drama and debate about which approach is best. Enter enjargo, another approach for go quite different from the standard library, which exists mostly to complete the D triumvirate with a bit of didacticism, and not so much to be a practical option. # § Python⠀➾ # ⚓ Towards_a_new_SymPy:_part_1_–_Outline⠀⇛ The other posts in this series can be found at Towards a new SymPy. Over the last year in particular I have been working as a part of a CZI funded project that has three strands. One of those three strands is for me to work on speeding up SymPy. Now that we come to the end of that year, I want to describe what has been done and spell out a vision for the future. I will be writing this in a series of blog posts. This first post will outline the structure of the foundations of a computer algebra system (CAS) like SymPy, describe some problems SymPy currently has and what can be done to address them. Then subsequent posts will focus in more detail on particular components and the work that has been done and what should be done in the future. I am writing this with the intention that it should be accessible to someone who is not a SymPy developer although other SymPy developers are the intended audience for many of the points that I will make. Many of the things that I will describe here are not well understood even by many SymPy developers though and a major goal of this series of posts is to help to try to change that. # ⚓ Towards_a_new_SymPy:_part_2_–_Polynomials⠀⇛ This post will describe SymPy’s computational algebra system for polynomials and how each of these steps could be applied to speed up SymPy. I will talk a bit about FLINT and python-flint but I will also write a separate post about those because I know that some people will be more interested in using python-flint than SymPy itself and I hope to encourage them to contribute to python-flint. As before I am writing this with the intention that it should be to some extent understandable to non SymPy developers. The primary intended audience though is other SymPy developers because I want them to understand the significance of the work done so far and the changes that I think are needed for the future. # ⚓ LWN ☛ Benjamin:_Towards_a_new_SymPy⠀⇛ In a series of posts on his blog, Oscar Benjamin looks at SymPy, which is a Python- based symbolic-mathematics library. In the first article, he outlines the “”big changes for SymPy with particular focus on speed””. The second covers polynomial handling; subsequent articles will examine other pieces of the puzzle. * § Leftovers⠀➾ o § Health/Nutrition/Agriculture⠀➾ # ⚓ Creating_Apples⠀⇛ Time for another weekend post in the 100_days_to offload effort. A couple of years ago I had an excavator dig up parts of the garden to make room for a new deck. Apparently it took out a bit too much of the roots of my daughters favourite apple tree – the Transparent Blanche. So, yesterday evening we finally got a new one and planted it. o § Proprietary/Artificial Intelligence (AI)⠀➾ # ⚓ Report:_Expedia_Group_laying_off_tech_workers_as_part_of restructuring⠀⇛ Expedia Group is reportedly trimming its headcount as the Seattle-based travel giant restructures its business. According to an internal email that was obtained by GeekWire, the company is laying off an undisclosed number of tech workers. Those impacted include members of Expedia Group’s Traveler Products team. “As we have begun looking to 2024, it is important that we are ready to ‘Build the world’s most loved AI powered travel apps.’ These changes to our [organization] will help us take the next steps to move quickly and stay tightly aligned while simplifying where we can,” Tript Singh Lamba, a senior vice president, said in the email. # ⚓ France24 ☛ Apple_shares_fall_following_reports_of_China iPhone_ban⠀⇛ The shares of several major Apple AAPL.O suppliers fell on Friday, following reports that China had widened curbs on use of iPhones by state employees, fanning fears about sales prospects in one of the US company’s biggest markets. # ⚓ Microsoft_clarifies_one_of_the_most_controversial_findings of_the_FTC_federal_trial⠀⇛ Microsoft’s legal counsel clarifies some of the most compelling and controversial aspects of the recent FTC v Microsoft federal trial. # ⚓ Microsoft_announces_the_end_of_servicing_for_third-party printer_drivers_on_Windows⠀⇛ o § Pseudo-Open Source⠀➾ # § Openwashing⠀➾ # ⚓ Linux Foundation’s Site/Blog ☛ Why_You_Can’t_Miss This_Year’s_Open_Source_Summit_Europe⠀⇛ We’re less than 2 weeks away from the 12th annual Open Source Summit Europe, the premier European conference to showcase the open source community’s expertise and innovation. This year’s event will take place in Bilbao, Spain September 19-21, with co-located events held September 17-18. # ⚓ OSI Blog ☛ The_Approved_Open_Source_Licenses_never looked_better [Ed: But OSI never looked worse. It's doing openwashing and promotions of Microsoft, actively promoting the attacks on Open Source in exchange for some dirty Microsoft/GitHub money,]⠀⇛ The Open Source community needs a resource to confidently and easily identify licenses that have gained OSI approval, and now they have it. This Approval Registry offers a comprehensive and authoritative listing of all licenses so organizations know that the license they choose for their project allows their software to be freely used, modified, shared and monetized in compliance with the Open Source Definition. o § Security⠀➾ # ⚓ LinuxInsider ☛ Atlas_VPN_Linux_Leak_Exposes_Users’_IP Addresses⠀⇛ A Reddit user with the handle ‘Educational-Map- 8145′ published a proof-of-concept exploit last week for a zero-day flaw in the Linux client of Atlas VPN. The exploit code works against the latest version of the client, 1.0.3. # ⚓ Silicon Angle ☛ Apple_security_updates_address vulnerabilities_targeted_by_NSO_Group⠀⇛ Apple Inc. has released urgent security updates for its suite of operating systems after revealing two critical new vulnerabilities that researchers say were exploited by Israeli spyware maker NSO Group Ltd. to install spyware on devices. # ⚓ Scoop News Group ☛ Multiple_nation-state_hackers_infiltrate single_aviation_organization⠀⇛ A single aviation organization was infiltrated by the hackers using vulnerabilities on internet- facing devices. /blockquote> # ⚓ Security Week ☛ ‘Atomic_macOS_Stealer’_Malware_Delivered via_Malvertising_Campaign⠀⇛ A malware named Atomic macOS Stealer (AMOS) has been delivered to users via a malvertising campaign.  # ⚓ SANS ☛ Fleezeware/Scareware_Advertised_via_Facebook_Tags Available_in_Apple_App_Store,_(Thu,_Sep_7th)⠀⇛ # ⚓ SANS ☛ Apple_Releases_iOS/iPadOS_16.6.1,_macOS_13.5.2, watchOS_9.6.2_fixing_two_zeroday_vulnerabilities,_(Thu,_Sep 7th)⠀⇛ # ⚓ Security Week ☛ Apple_Patches_Actively_Exploited_iOS,_macOS Zero-Days⠀⇛ Apple pushes out an urgent point-update to its flagship iOS and macOS platforms to fix a pair of security defects being exploited in the wild. # ⚓ Security Week ☛ See_Tickets_Alerts_300,000_Customers_After Another_Web_Skimmer_Attack⠀⇛ See Tickets is informing 300,000 individuals that their payment card information was stolen in a new web skimmer attack. # ⚓ Security Week ☛ CISA_Releases_Guidance_on_Adopting_DDoS Mitigations⠀⇛ CISA has released new guidance to help federal agencies decide upon and prioritize DDoS mitigations based on mission and reputational impact. # ⚓ Security Week ☛ Cisco_Patches_Critical_Vulnerability_in BroadWorks_Platform⠀⇛ Cisco has released patches for CVE-2023-20238, a critical authentication bypass vulnerability in the BroadWorks Application Delivery Platform. # ⚓ IT Wire ☛ Ransomware_hit_nearly_three-fourths_of_Indian firms_last_year⠀⇛ More than half of these Indian companies — 53% to be exact — had forked out ransoms of up to US$500,000 (A$783,881) to end disruptions which had lasted from a day to weeks, the analyst firm added. It cited figures from the Computer Emergency Response Team of India which showed that 1.4 million incidents had been recorded in 2021, with slightly less (1.39 million) in 2022. # ⚓ Dark Reading ☛ ‘Evil_Telegram’_Spyware_Campaign_Infects 60K+_Mobile_Users⠀⇛ Legitimate-seeming Telegram “mods” available in the official Google Play store for the encrypted messaging app signal the rise of a new enterprise threat. # ⚓ Security Week ☛ Rigged_Software_and_Zero-Days:_North_Korean APT_Caught_Hacking_Security_Researchers⠀⇛ Google again catches a North Korean APT actor targeting security researchers with zero-days and rigged software tools. # ⚓ Google ☛ Unveiling_the_Chrome_Web_Store’s_Redesign [Ed: Only a spying company, Google, gets to decide what you can and cannot run]⠀⇛ In celebration of Chrome’s 15th birthday, we’re thrilled to introduce the redesigned Chrome Web Store. With a user-centric focus, we’ve made it easier for you to search and find fun themes and helpful extensions to stay productive at home or at work. Let’s go behind the scenes and learn more about this redesign from Chrome Product Manager Hafsah Ismail and UX Designer Crystal Wang. # ⚓ CISA ☛ MAR-10454006.r5.v1_SUBMARINE,_SKIPJACK,_SEASPRAY, WHIRLPOOL,_and_SALTWATER_Backdoors⠀⇛ This report is provided “as is” for informational purposes only. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) does not provide any warranties of any kind regarding any information contained herein. The DHS does not endorse any commercial product or service referenced in this bulletin or otherwise. # ⚓ Data Breaches ☛ Quick_note:_Two_more_school_districts_hit by_cyberattacks⠀⇛ Brett Callow of Emsisoft notes that LockBit has added Skokie-Morton Grove School District 69 in Illinois to their leak site. No proof of claim was posted and no description of any data allegedly stolen was provided. # ⚓ Decatur_ISD_hit_by_suspected_cybersecurity_attack⠀⇛ DISD’s main server went down at 5:15 a.m. Tuesday. Since then, district officials have met with various experts to look into the cause of the issue. On Friday, DISD Director of Communications Robyn Jones released a statement indicating the investigation has pointed to a “cybersecurity incident.” # ⚓ Data Breaches ☛ Coca-Cola_FEMSA_victim_of_ransomware_attack and_data_leak⠀⇛ The attack involved both encrypting files and backups and exfiltrating data. TheSnake claims the encryption did not interfere with the firm’s functioning. # ⚓ Data Breaches ☛ Schneck_Medical_Center_settles_Indiana Attorney_General’s_lawsuit_over_2021_data_breach⠀⇛ On June 6, the state also sued Schneck, alleging violations of HIPAA, the Indiana Disclosure of Security Breach Act, and the Indiana Deceptive Consumer Sales Act. # ⚓ Data Breaches ☛ Rite_Aid,_one_of_many_victims_in_MOVEit breach,_sued_for_negligence⠀⇛ Rite Aid was one of numerous entities affected by the massive MOVEit breach. In July, they disclosed that 24,400 patients’ pharmacy information including medication names and dates of fill, prescriber information and limited insurance information was involved. They were notified by their vendor of the breach on May 31. # ⚓ Dymocks_warns_shoppers_of_possible_dark_web_data_breach⠀⇛ Bookstore chain Dymocks has warned customers of a possible data breach that could lead to their personal information being leaked on the dark web. In an email sent to members on Friday, the bookseller’s managing director, Mark Newman, said a potential hack was detected two days earlier. # ⚓ Dallas News ☛ Dallas_delays_release_of_report_that_reviews ransomware_response⠀⇛ An internal report reviewing Dallas’ response to a ransomware attack that was planned to be published Wednesday could now have its public release delayed up to two weeks, city officials say. The hold up could mean further delaying clarity to the public on how the cyberattack happened and what steps the city took to safeguard residents’ personal information since then. A full after-action report was scheduled to be released to the public after a briefing on the review’s findings by information technology officials to the City Council on Wednesday, but the briefing was postponed because it was past 8 p.m. by the time the presentation was set to be heard. The City Council meeting started around 9:30 a.m., and the bulk of it was spent discussing amendments to the upcoming budget. # ⚓ Data Breaches ☛ More_than_a_year_later,_Lifeline_Health Systems_notifies_75,000_people_of_a_data_breach⠀⇛ What conditions existed that should excuse Lifeline Health Systems from its obligation under the HIPAA Breach Notification Rule to notify HHS and those affected no later than 60 days from discovery? Is this another case where maybe HHS should take enforcement action and start handing out fines and corrective action plans to make sure entities comply with the timely notification rule? # ⚓ Data Breaches ☛ The_Blackbaud_data_breach_—_SuspectFile’s final_chapter⠀⇛ While SuspectFile closes its data collection and provides its final figures, we note that litigation against Blackbaud is ongoing. There are still multiple cases open against them stemming from the incident. # ⚓ Blackbaud_Data_Breach_(2020-2023),_the_final_chapter⠀⇛ With this article on the Blackbaud Data Breach, we conclude the final chapter of a story that SuspectFile has been following for three years, but not before updating our table with the number of people involved in the data breach at the University of Birmingham – UK (464,395), a figure that was only recently provided to us by the university. # ⚓ LWN ☛ Security_updates_for_Friday⠀⇛ Security updates have been issued by Debian (chromium, libssh2, memcached, and python-django), Fedora (netconsd), Oracle (firefox and thunderbird), Scientific Linux (firefox), SUSE (open-vm-tools), and Ubuntu (grub2-signed, grub2- unsigned, shim, and shim-signed, plib, and python2.7, python3.5). # ⚓ TechCrunch ☛ Polish_Senate_says_use_of_government_spyware is_illegal_in_the_country_|_TechCrunch⠀⇛ A Polish Senate commission concluded that Poland government’s use of spyware made by NSO Group was illegal and influenced the 2019 elections. # § Integrity/Availability/Authenticity⠀➾ # ⚓ Digital Music News ☛ Concert_Ticket_Scams_Are Absolutely_Soaring_in_2023,_Latest_Data_Reveals⠀⇛ Concert ticket scams are soaring in 2023. Here’s a peek at some of the latest data. Banking group Santander says customer reports of ticketing scams have more than doubled in the UK within the last year. # § Privacy/Surveillance⠀➾ # ⚓ Ars Technica ☛ Google_gets_its_way,_bakes_a_user- tracking_ad_platform_directly_into_Chrome⠀⇛ Don’t let Chrome’s big redesign distract you from the fact that Chrome’s invasive new ad platform, ridiculously branded the “Privacy Sandbox,” is also getting a widespread rollout in Chrome today. If you haven’t been following this, this feature will track the web pages you visit and generate a list of advertising topics that it will share with web pages whenever they ask, and it’s built directly into the Chrome browser. It’s been in the news previously as “FLoC” and then the “Topics API,” and despite widespread opposition from just about every non- advertiser in the world, Google owns Chrome and is one of the world’s biggest advertising companies, so this is being railroaded into the production builds. # ⚓ LWN ☛ Google_bakes_a_user-tracking_ad_platform directly_into_Chrome_(ars_technica)⠀⇛ For those who use Chrome anyway, there are instructions on how to disable this functionality. o § Defence/Aggression⠀➾ # ⚓ Ministry_acknowledges_event_involving_‘torture,_killing’_of refugees_on_Turkey-Syria_border⠀⇛ “Criminal proceedings were initiated against two soldiers. Four contract personnel were dismissed, and proceedings are underway regarding one reserve officer. It is clear that torture has been acknowledged and cannot be denied,” MP Gergerlioğlu said based on the response he received to his parliamentary question. # ⚓ Federal News Network ☛ Biden_to_use_G20_summit_and_Vietnam visit_to_highlight_US_as_trustworthy_alternative_to_China⠀⇛ President Joe Biden hopes to demonstrate at the upcoming Group of 20 summit in India and a visit to Vietnam that the United States and like-minded allies can be more trustworthy partners than China on economic and security issues. White House officials say Biden, at the summit, will spotlight a U.S. plan to increase by $200 billion the lending power of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund. That’s an attempt to offer an alternative to China’s massive Belt and Road infrastructure initiative, which the U.S. views as a Trojan horse for Chinese military expansion. In Vietnam, Biden is expected to announce plans to tighten economic cooperation between the countries. # ⚓ The Strategist ☛ Leadership_change_creates_new opportunities_for_Vanuatu–Australia_security_relationship⠀⇛ On Monday, Sato Kilman was voted in as prime minister of Vanuatu for the fifth time, after the country’s Supreme Court upheld a vote of no confidence against former PM Ishmael Kalsakau. # § Russia, Belarus, and War in Ukraine⠀➾ # ⚓ Ukrainian_boy’s_anti-war_painting_set_to_fetch hundreds_to_help_fight_Russia⠀⇛ A 9-year-old Ukrainian boy’s poignant anti- war painting of a tank with a twisted cannon is set to fetch hundreds of pounds at auction. o § Environment⠀➾ # ⚓ University of Michigan ☛ Planting_trees_and_picking politicians:_How_to_survive_the_new_era_of_global_boiling⠀⇛ In July 2023, Earth broke its “hottest day ever” twice in a row, reaching the highest temperatures in over 100,000 years. # ⚓ Hong Kong Free Press ☛ In_Pictures:_Hong_Kong_hit_by widespread_flooding,_landslides_as_record-breaking_rain paralyses_city⠀⇛ Torrential rain has brought severe flooding and landslides to parts of Hong Kong after the city’s Observatory recorded the highest one-hour rainfall since records began in 1884, with public transport and public services affected as the Observatory raised its highest rainstorm signal. # ⚓ The Straits Times ☛ Hong_Kong,_Shenzhen_deluged_by_heaviest rain_on_record;_83_people_hurt⠀⇛ The torrential rain was brought by Haikui, a typhoon that made landfall in the Chinese province of Fujian. # ⚓ New York Times ☛ Rain_and_Flooding_in_Greece_Traps Residents_and_Submerges_Villages⠀⇛ Greek military forces were called in to assist the rescue efforts. At least six people in Greece and at least nine in neighboring Turkey have died this week amid torrential rains and flooding. # ⚓ University of Michigan ☛ Local_Citizens’_Climate_Lobby chapter_event_promotes_in-home_energy_efficiency⠀⇛ More than 50 Ann Arbor residents and community members gathered in Venue by 4M Thursday evening to learn about home energy efficiency and how to utilize federal incentives such as the Inflation Reduction Act to reduce their home carbon footprint. # § Energy/Transportation⠀➾ # ⚓ Reason ☛ Politicians_Say_They_Want_To_Fight_Climate Change._So_Why_Are_They_Fighting_China_on_Electric Vehicles?⠀⇛ Rather than posing a national security threat, the growth of China’s E.V. industry is an opportunity for global innovation. o § Finance⠀➾ # ⚓ University of Michigan ☛ Op-Ed:_The_rent_is_too_damn_high⠀⇛ The views expressed here are not the official views of the Ann Arbor Renters Commission I speak to a lot of renters and they tell me a lot of things: horror stories galore of insect infestations, collapsing ceilings and even outright theft of rental deposits. # ⚓ Hong Kong Free Press ☛ China_exports,_imports_fall_again_in August_as_economy_struggles,_but_pace_slows⠀⇛ By Peter Catterall China’s exports and imports sank again in August, data showed Thursday, adding to growing pressure on authorities to introduce fresh stimulus for the world’s number two economy even as the figures showed some sign of improvement. # ⚓ Mexico News Daily ☛ Inflation_declined_for_7th_consecutive month_in_August_to_4.64%⠀⇛ Inflation was driven by the cost of food, services and housing, although it did see a decline from July, analysts say. # ⚓ Walmart_Cutting_Starting_Pay_And_No_Raises_In_It_Is_A Double_Edged_Sword,_Complacency_In_Apple⠀⇛ # ⚓ TechCrunch ☛ Market_intelligence_firm_Sensor_Tower_conducts layoffs,_several_execs_out⠀⇛ Sensor Tower, a prominent market intelligence firm for the app economy, this week laid off a notable portion of its workforce, estimated at around 40 people out of the 270+ at the company, according to LinkedIn’s headcount. The layoffs included C-suite executives, TechCrunch has learned from multiple sources, including the CMO, CFO and chief product officer. Other teams impacted include finance and nearly all of marketing, we’re hearing. o § AstroTurf/Lobbying/Politics⠀➾ # ⚓ The Straits Times ☛ Taiwan_tycoon_Terry_Gou’s_entry_heats up_presidential_race,_may_force_opposition_candidates_to strike_deal⠀⇛ The Foxconn founder has access to Chinese and US leaders, and believes he can balance Taiwan’s ties with both sides. # ⚓ RFA ☛ South_Korea,_China_grapple_with_different_priorities amid_regional_tensions⠀⇛ Seoul seeks cooperation in regional security; Beijing wants to focus on economic ties. # ⚓ teleSUR ☛ Sudan:_East_African_Bloc_Calls_Inclusive_Talks_to End_Conflict⠀⇛ The leaders warned that the Sudan conflict is becoming increasingly complex and risks taking on a regional dimension with the entry and participation of other armed movements, in addition to the rapid proliferation of small arms and light weapons posing severe security, humanitarian and political risks for Sudan and the broader region. # ⚓ The Straits Times ☛ PM_Lee_to_attend_G-20_Summit_in_India⠀⇛ The summit will discuss world issues such as sustainable development, climate change and food security. # ⚓ The Straits Times ☛ White_House:_Still_work_to_do_on Israel-Saudi_normalisation⠀⇛ White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan said on Thursday that U.S., Israeli and Saudi leaders have put many of the elements of a pathway to normalization on the table but there is still much work to do. # ⚓ teleSUR ☛ Fearab_Congress_Condemns_Blockade_Imposed_on Syria_and_Cuba⠀⇛ The participants urged respect for international laws and human rights, and called to abandon policies of use of violence, blockades, and theft of natural resources. # ⚓ New York Times ☛ 2_Senators_Propose_Bipartisan_Framework for_A.I._Laws⠀⇛ The effort by Senators Richard Blumenthal and Josh Hawley is the latest move by lawmakers to catch up with the rapidly evolving technology. # ⚓ Mint Press News ☛ Transparency_International’s_Covert Agenda:_A_Pawn_in_Western_Intelligence’s_Game⠀⇛ Founded by World Bank apparatchiks in 1993, Transparency International has relentlessly exposed public sector corruption in the Global South while leaving government-enabled criminality in rich nations unexamined. o § Censorship/Free Speech⠀➾ # ⚓ ACLU ☛ What_the_Fight_Against_Classroom_Censorship_is Really_About⠀⇛ The ACLU is leading the fight to end classroom censorship and protect our right to learn. We filed the first case in the country to challenge a law that censored instruction about systemic sexism and racism in Oklahoma, survived a motion to dismiss in New_Hampshire, and obtained an injunction to block the State of Florida from enforcing the higher education provisions of the Stop_W.O.K.E._Act. o § Civil Rights/Policing⠀➾ # ⚓ RFA ☛ Political_prisoner_stages_hunger_strike_to_protect Vietnam’s_constitution⠀⇛ Le Trong Hung says corrupt officials have gone unpunished. # ⚓ New York Times ☛ Spain’s_Female_Soccer_Players_Strike_Over Wage_Dispute⠀⇛ The season was scheduled to begin on Friday, but the players refused to play after talks with the league brought no agreement. The dispute comes amid a debate over sexism and soccer in Spain. o § Internet Policy/Net Neutrality⠀➾ # ⚓ Chris ☛ Response_Time_Is_the_System_Talking⠀⇛ # ⚓ Zimbabwe ☛ NetOne_is_the_biggest_loser_of_subscribers_and Telecel_loses_56.5%_of_its_mobile_internet_traffic⠀⇛ Mobile subscriptions as a whole dropped in Q2, a trend that has been consistent since Q3 2022. This time around NetOne lost the largest chunk of subscribers at 5.2% (193,126 subscribers). An interesting stat is the number of subscribers NetOne lost in Q2 of 2023 is equivalent to 63% of Telecel’s subscribers (307,534). o § Monopolies⠀➾ # § Patents⠀➾ # ⚓ Unified Patents ☛ GW_Law_to_host_PTAB_Roundtable Discussion,_September_28⠀⇛ GW Law is pleased to invite you to our in- person annual PTAB roundtable. Please join us on Thursday, September 28, 2023, for a dynamic discussion on recent PTAB and IPR developments. Join patent leaders for a half- day program discussing the post-grant practice at the PTAB, recent developments, proposed rules and legislation, trends, policy considerations, and more. A casual lunch will be provided before the program and a reception will follow afterwards. The event is complimentary. # ⚓ Dennis Crouch/Patently-O ☛ The_Federal_Circuit’s_New Reluctance_to_Limit_Claims⠀⇛ Federal Circuit’s decision in Dali Wireless parallels the issues that I recently discussed in an analysis of the court’s September 1 decision in Sisvel International v. Sierra Wireless. Both cases grapple with claim construction and the tension between construing claims broadly versus importing limitations from the specification. In Sisvel, the Federal Circuit affirmed the PTAB’s broad construction of “connection rejection message” over the mobile-network patentee’s arguments that the term should be limited to GSM/UMTS networks. Although the disclosed embodiments all focused on GSM/UMTS networks, the claims were drafted broadly without a clear disclaimer or redefinition. # § Copyrights⠀➾ # ⚓ Digital Music News ☛ Spotify_Keeps_Snubbing_Oliver Anthony_Music_—_But_This_Success_Story_Is_Being_Driven By_Users,_Not_Playlist_Editors⠀⇛ Oliver Anthony’s music continues to move up on the streaming charts—no thanks to Spotify’s most popular country playlists. Just last week, Digital Music News wrote a piece highlighting how the upstart singer has been slow to gain traction with both radio airplay and streaming music playlists. # ⚓ Public Domain Review ☛ The_Works_of_Mars_(1671)⠀⇛ Manesson’s book encompasses theories of fortifications from their origins in designs developed in the sixteenth century by Michelangelo. * § Gemini* and Gopher⠀➾ o § Politics and World Events⠀➾ # ⚓ How_to_increase_Bible_engagement⠀⇛ As someone who spent my adolescent and young adult years in some form of Evangelical Protestantism (Christian Reformed to JW to Independent Fundamental Baptist to Charismatic/Pentecostal), and as someone who majored in biblical studies as an undergrad for a couple of years, I thought I knew the Bible from the cover to cover. So it was quite a shock for me earlier this year to find out how little I knew about it, while I was taking Bible survey classes at CLI. According to the American Bible Society’s “State of the Bible” survey in 2022, there was an “unprecedented drop” in Bible engagement during the early part of last year. This is when the survey’s definition of Bible engagement is “reading the Bible outside church settings at least three or four times a year.” Even under this shallow bar, the engagement dropped by 11 percent between 2021 and 2022. o § Technology and Free Software⠀➾ # ⚓ The_Middle⠀⇛ I enjoy playing video games, but I don’t consider myself a “gamer” in any substantive fashion. I mostly play the same set of old games from my childhood, and when I do buy new consoles, I often make the purchase years after the consoles were first released–sometimes even waiting until the next generation to save some money. I also very rarely buy games on release. My wife, on the other hand, often pre-orders games, and sometimes she has to twist my arm to get me to play games with her. [...] This behavior contrasts with people who play video games casually: those who try out a game at a friend’s house, or maybe get introduced to a game via a coworker, a Facebook friend, or even their children. They may play video games or only half an hour or an hour at a time, and if they find they don’t like it, they’ll likely never touch the console again, let alone that particular game. Even if they find that they like it, they may only play socially, or when they have some empty time between other hobbies or interests. Such people rarely play games for more than a dozen or so hours a year. # ⚓ stream_3⠀⇛ my phone is in black and white. it goes into sleep mode when the time comes. the time comes always at 8 30 pm now. the baby is here because she makes me wake up early so I go to bed earlier so my phone is black and white and gray. it is mostly gray. the gray takes and takes and takes and sucks and it sucks. songs that suck suck. songs that suck rock suck rocks go into the day with another life behind you. the only way to live is to remember. the only thing you can do is live. so you must remember. =============================================================================== * Gemini_(Primer) links can be opened using Gemini_software. It’s like the World Wide Web but a lot lighter. ䷩ 𝚕𝚒𝚗𝚎 5179 ╒═══════════════════ 𝐃𝐀𝐈𝐋𝐘 𝐋𝐈𝐍𝐊𝐒 ═════════════════════════════════════════════╕ ⠀⌧ █▇▆▅▄▃▂▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁ 09.08.23⠀▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▂▃▄▅▆▇█ ⌧ Gemini_version_available_♊︎ ✐ Gemini_Links_08/09/2023:_Apple_Stuff_and_Migrating_to_Neovim⠀✐ Posted in News_Roundup at 3:01 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz 🄸🄼🄰🄶🄴 🄳🄴🅂🄲🅁🄸🄿🅃🄸🄾🄽 ⦇GNOME bluefish⦈ § Contents⠀➾ * Gemini*_and_Gopher o Personal/Opinions o Technology_and_Free_Software # Programming * § Gemini* and Gopher⠀➾ o § Personal/Opinions⠀➾ # ⚓ Good_evening⠀⇛ Hello. I’ve come across this place while walking through Nightfall City several times, but only last month did I decide to enter. I got my pass this week. # ⚓ A_rice_portion_size_is_eighty_grams⠀⇛ Because i always forget how much to weigh out. Different resources of course say different amounts, but it tends to be in the range of seventy-five grams to a hundred grams. I’m choosing eighty grams because that’s the same as what one portion of five a day is measured as, so it’s easy to remember. # ⚓ Eating_cheap_and_healthy⠀⇛ My approximate current shopping list for eating pretty well as pretty cheaply. It could be cheaper in some places but i have chosen some things for taste as well. o § Technology and Free Software⠀➾ # ⚓ The_worst_things_about_iPad_OS⠀⇛ In September 2021, after 22 years using only FOSS except for driver firmware and video games, I got an iPad. Here are the three worst things about its OS. (The sustainability issue of the difficult-to- repair hardware is a topic for another day.) # ⚓ iMac_G5_WiFi⠀⇛ In the past I tried several times to get the AirPort cart for my iMac G5 (1st generation machine with 17″ screen). I was never successful – every time I bought one on-line (no matter where) the seller always wrote to me that the offered product no longer works. So I gave up. # ⚓ Macintosh_Classic_II_Repair_—_Part_2⠀⇛ the keyboard & mouse arrived first, followed by the Wombat, with the capacitors dilly dallying until Wednesday (the 6th). I was surprised they bothered shipping the Wombat over labor day weekend, but they did so it arrived in typical USPS punctual fashion. Turns out that UPS, that Mouser uses to ship, don’t work over labor day “to clarify, I’m not upset about that” so it didn’t get sorted or go out for delivery until Wednesday. Luckily I had all afternoon free and they arrived early-ish, so I had plenty of time to work before needing to drop everything for while—time which it unexpectedly turned out I needed. # ⚓ Migrating_to_Neovim⠀⇛ I remember my first time using vi, using sudoedit because I was blindly following a guide online for who knows what. I remember struggling to figure out which mode I was in, though exiting never was as hard as the memes made it out to be. I started using it more and more, I never much cared for nano and so once I knew vim worked basically like a regular text editor when in insert mode, I used it, if I was already in the terminal. With my use of tiling window managers the hjkl keys got to be fairly familiar and so more and more often in my journey using Linux I jumped to vim when I needed a text editor. For the first 4 or so years of using it, I ran on the stock config, I didn’t even have a separate .vimrc. Then a couple years ago I got sick of needing to go back and replace tabs with spaces in python and so I made a .vimrc consisting of a few lines, enabling relative numbers and fixing the aforementioned tabbing issues. When I first heard of neovim I checked it out, but realized it was really not all that different from regular vim, so I had no reason to jump ship, and anyway nobody likes a splitter. With the recent passing of Bram Moolenaar, it pushed me to consider neovim again due to him being the largest contributor to vim. I can’t imagine there will be many more major updates to the original project, though his name will live on in our hearts. # ⚓ Rogue_Mapgen⠀⇛ The map generation in rogue (1980) is primitive by today’s standards, though if you run Moore’s Law in reverse for a few decades you may see why. Nor was there much in the way of prior games to borrow from. Even with the simple map generation there are emergent features, notably where passages (represented by the “#” in the screenshots below) cross or loop back on themselves. # ⚓ Magic’s_sieges_are_weird⠀⇛ Magic introduced a new card subtype, “siege”, on a card type that itself was also new, “battle”. You can attack battles and try to defeat them. Sieges are special in that you play them on the opponent’s side of the table so you’re attacking your own sieges. # § Programming⠀➾ # ⚓ Little_languages⠀⇛ =============================================================================== * Gemini_(Primer) links can be opened using Gemini_software. It’s like the World Wide Web but a lot lighter. ䷩ 𝚕𝚒𝚗𝚎 5355 ╒═══════════════════ 𝐃𝐀𝐈𝐋𝐘 𝐋𝐈𝐍𝐊𝐒 ═════════════════════════════════════════════╕ ⠀⌧ █▇▆▅▄▃▂▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁ 09.08.23⠀▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▂▃▄▅▆▇█ ⌧ Gemini_version_available_♊︎ ✐ Leftover_Links_08/09/2023:_Security_and_War_on_Encryption⠀✐ Posted in News_Roundup at 11:58 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz 🄸🄼🄰🄶🄴 🄳🄴🅂🄲🅁🄸🄿🅃🄸🄾🄽 ⦇GNOME bluefish⦈ § Contents⠀➾ * Leftovers o Science o Hardware o Health/Nutrition/Agriculture o Proprietary/Artificial_Intelligence_(AI) o Security # Privacy/Surveillance o Defence/Aggression o Environment # Energy/Transportation # Overpopulation o AstroTurf/Lobbying/Politics o Censorship/Free_Speech o Freedom_of_Information_/_Freedom_of_the_Press o Civil_Rights/Policing o Internet_Policy/Net_Neutrality o Monopolies # Trademarks # Copyrights * Gemini*_and_Gopher o Personal/Opinions o Technology_and_Free_Software # Internet/Gemini * § Leftovers⠀➾ o ⚓ The History of the Web ☛ Remembering_Molly,_one_of_the_greats⠀⇛ So thank you Molly. For pushing for web standards and the open web and a better web. For writing your books and sharing what you know. For facing off against anybody who needed a push (even when that person was Bill Gates). For being the loudest in the room when no one was listening to what everyday people needed. o § Science⠀➾ # ⚓ Gizmodo ☛ Norwegian_Man_With_Metal_Detector_Hit_the Frickin’_Jackpot⠀⇛ Associate Professor Håkon Reiersen with the University of Stavanger’s Museum of Archaeology, which received the gold, described the gold pendants as bracteates which are thin, flat, single-sided gold medals, saying in the press release that the gold pearls and pendants were part of “a very showy necklace.” The necklace, he said, was worn by powerful individuals in society, adding that “in Norway, no similar discovery has been made since the 19th century, and it is also a very unusual discovery in a Scandinavian context.” o § Hardware⠀➾ # ⚓ Ruben Schade ☛ What_colour_is_the_Commodore_64?⠀⇛ This post is dedicated to the lovely Paul Traylor, whom I amuse when I dive into retrocomputing topics :). This discovery has shaken me up in ways I didn’t expect. While we all remember what colour the Apple II+ was, and the IBM 5150, and the Atari ST, I’m not not sure all C64 fans do… myself included. There are a couple of reasons for this. The legendary machine came in so many permutations over its long production run, and even machines within the same generation had cosmetic and technical differences. It was Commodore’s way! # ⚓ Hackaday ☛ Share_Your_Feelings_Like_A_Spy⠀⇛ While hackers can deftly navigate their way through circuit diagrams or technical documentation, for many of us, simple social interactions can be challenge. [Simone Giertz] decided to help us all out here by making a device to help us share our feelings. # ⚓ Hackaday ☛ [Thomas_Sanladerer]’s_YouTube_Channel_Goes_In The_Toilet⠀⇛ We like [Thomas Sanladerer], so when we say his channel has gone in the toilet, we mean that quite literally. He had a broken toilet and wanted to compare options for effecting a 3D printed repair. The mechanism is a wall-mounted flush mechanism with a small broken plastic part. Luckily, he had another identical unit that provided a part that wasn’t broken. # ⚓ Hackaday ☛ Transistor_Radio_Repair,_More_Complex_Than_It Seems⠀⇛ The humble transistor radio is one of those consumer devices that stubbornly refuses to go away, but it’s fair to say that it’s not the mover and shaker in the world of electronics it might once have been. Thus it’s also not a staple of the repair bench anymore, where fixing a pocket radio might have been all in a day’s work decades ago now they’re a rare sight. [David Tipton] has a Philips radio from we’re guessing the later half of the 1960s which didn’t work, and we’re along for the ride as he takes us through its repair. # ⚓ Hackaday ☛ 2023_Cyberdeck_Challenge:_The_Best_Decks_On_The Net⠀⇛ It was an easy decision to run a Cyberdeck Challenge in 2023 — after all, it was far and away one of our most popular contests from last year. But what was much harder was sorting out the incredible array of bespoke computers that readers have been sending in for the last few months. o § Health/Nutrition/Agriculture⠀➾ # ⚓ Truthdig ☛ Fossil_Fuels_Make_Every_Breath_People_Take_in Asia_Deadly⠀⇛ New data last week from University of Chicago researchers showed that across South Asia, air pollution—mostly from burning fossil fuels—is robbing people of five years of life on average. Five years! If you live in Delhi, the most polluted big city on the planet, that number is an unimaginable 11.9 years. If you would have lived to 70, you died at 58. Thank about that. Across the region, “particulate pollution levels are currently more than 50% higher than at the start of the century and now overshadow” other health risks. Every breath that people take is killing them, every hour of every day. # ⚓ Science Alert ☛ The_Secret_to_Avoiding_The_Next_Pandemic Might_Be_Found_in_Bat_Biology⠀⇛ A lesson in tolerance. # ⚓ WhichUK ☛ Covid_and_flu_vaccines_2023:_can_you_get_free jabs? [Ed: Mixing a vaccine that works with experimental but heavily patented junk]⠀⇛ NHS autumn vaccinations moved forward due to rise of new Covid variant. Here’s who’s eligible # ⚓ MIT Technology Review ☛ What_to_know_about_this_autumn’s covid_vaccines [Ed: Better than placebo? By how much?]⠀⇛ # ⚓ Hong Kong Free Press ☛ Top_Hong_Kong_court_says_it_refused to_hear_democrats’_appeal_since_Covid_rules_no_longer_issue of_‘general_importance’⠀⇛ Hong Kong’s top court said it refused to allow four democrats to launch a final appeal against convictions for breaching social distancing regulations during a Labour Day protest three years ago, because the now-scrapped Covid curbs were no longer an issue “of any general importance.” # ⚓ Latvia ☛ Slight_upturn_in_Covid_illness_in_Latvia_as_autumn approaches⠀⇛ The Covid-19 virus was never gone and there is a slight increase in the number of cases at the moment, Jurijs Perevoščikovs, director of the Department of Risk Analysis and Prevention at the Disease Prevention and Control Center (SPKC), told the agency LETA on September 8. # ⚓ New York Times ☛ His_World_Shrank_in_the_Pandemic._So_He Shrank_His_World.⠀⇛ Danny Cortes was at a low — divorced, unemployed, on parole — when Covid hit. Then a craft hobby to stay sane during lockdown blew up on social media — and in auction houses. # ⚓ Interesting Engineering ☛ Cruise_AVs_allegedly_disrupt medical_care_in_San_Francisco⠀⇛ Cruise and Waymo currently have a combined fleet of 500 autonomous vehicles in the San Francisco area. The firms plan to expand significantly to cater to the growing demand for such services after the CPUC approval. Currently, Cruise services are restricted to 35 miles per hour (56 kph) and not allowed to operate when the weather conditions are not ideal, while Waymo can operate up to speeds of 65 miles per hour (104 kph). # ⚓ Digital First Media ☛ Why_planes_are_extremely_gross_right now⠀⇛ But even though it’s not new or impacting the majority of flights, Nelson does believe we’re seeing more cases of gross. She credits the uptick to more people flying, as travel volume this summer exceeded 2019 levels. Nelson also believes the pandemic kept more sick people at home, and that sick people may be more inclined to travel these days. It doesn’t help that airlines have struggled with cleanliness with labor shortages and pandemic- cleaning procedures dropping. “Planes are not getting any kind of deep clean in the day unless there is a specific action to pull the plane out of service — and we frankly rarely see that.” # ⚓ Raspberry Pi ☛ Track_your_run_to_the_Moon_with_a_Raspberry Pi-powered_ladder⠀⇛ Maker Lorraine wanted to motivate her family to up that step count, so she set them the goal of running the distance to the Moon. Totally do-able. She created a Raspberry Pi Pico W-powered motivational tool to let them see their progress and drag them through those last tough hundred thousand miles. # ⚓ Techdirt ☛ Yet_Another_Study_Debunks_The_‘YouTube’s Algorithm_Drives_People_To_Extremism’_Argument⠀⇛ A few weeks ago, we had director Alex Winter on the podcast to talk about his latest documentary, The YouTube Effect. In that film he spoke with a young man who talked about getting “radicalized” on YouTube and going down the “alt-right rabbit hole.” One thing that Alex talked about in the podcast, but was not in the documentary, was that, at one point, he asked the guy to go to YouTube and see if it would take him down that path again, and he couldn’t even get it to recommend sketchy videos no matter how hard he tried. # ⚓ DeSmog ☛ Toxins_from_Marathon_Refinery_Fire_Leaked_15_Hours Before_Evacuation_Called⠀⇛ When St. John the Baptist Parish residents woke up on Friday, August 25, they saw a plume of black smoke above the Marathon Petroleum refinery between Reserve and Garyville, Louisiana. Marathon told residents and parish officials that the fire started that morning around two tanks storing naphtha — a type of partially refined petroleum used as an ingredient in gasoline. But the naphtha leak actually began at 6:50 p.m. Thursday, August 24, 15 hours before residents in the area were evacuated, according to a report to the National Response Center, the federal point of contact for reporting all oil and chemical spills. The Louisiana State Police were notified about half an hour later.  o § Proprietary/Artificial Intelligence (AI)⠀➾ # ⚓ India Times ☛ X_officially_changes_tweets_as_posts_in upcoming_term_of_service⠀⇛ Elon Musk-run X has formerly renamed tweets as “post” and retweets as “reposts” in its new term of service that will go into effect on September 29. # ⚓ Citizen Lab ☛ NSO_Group_iPhone_Zero-Click,_Zero-Day_Exploit Captured_in_the_Wild⠀⇛ The exploit involved PassKit attachments containing malicious images sent from an attacker iMessage account to the victim. We expect to publish a more detailed discussion of the exploit chain in the future. # ⚓ Vox ☛ What_if_AI_treats_humans_the_way_we_treat_animals?⠀⇛ The obvious problem with this, though, is that humans aren’t special in this way. Non-human animals share many of our capacities for intelligence and perception, yet we’ve refused to extend the generosity we might expect from AI. We rationalize unmitigated cruelty toward animals — caging, commodifying, mutilating, and killing them to suit our whims — on the basis of our purportedly superior intellect. “If there were gods, they would surely be laughing their heads off at the inconsistency of our logic,” O’Gieblyn continues. “We spent centuries denying consciousness in animals precisely because [we thought] they lacked reason or higher thought.” Why should we hope that AI, particularly if it’s built on our own values, treats us any differently? We might struggle to justify to a future artificial “superintelligence,” if such a thing could ever exist, why we’re deserving of mercy when we’ve failed spectacularly at offering our fellow animals the same. And, worse still, the dehumanizing philosophy of AI’s prophets is among the worst possible starting points to defend the value of our fleshy, living selves. # ⚓ CoryDoctorow ☛ How_plausible_sentence_generators_are changing_the_bullshit_wars⠀⇛ In my latest Locus Magazine column, “Plausible Sentence Generators,” I describe how I unwittingly came to use – and even be impressed by – an AI chatbot – and what this means for a specialized, highly salient form of writing, namely, “bullshit”: [...] # ⚓ Jon Udell ☛ How_LLMs_teach_you_things_you_didn’t_know_you didn’t_know⠀⇛ As I mentioned on Mastodon, I know we are in a hype cycle, and I’m trying to report these findings in a quiet and matter-of-fact way. But when Greg Lloyd played this quote back to me, I got excited all over again. ” This is the kind of tacit knowledge transfer that can happen when you work with another person, you don’t explicitly ask a question, and your partner doesn’t explicitly answer it. The knowledge just surfaces organically, and transfers by osmosis. “ # ⚓ [Repeat] Scoop News Group ☛ Researchers_identify_high-grade phishing_kits_attacking_nearly_60,000_Microsoft_365 accounts⠀⇛ The previously undocumented group that Group-IB identified as “W3LL” has been active since 2017 and has “created their own private ecosystem of highly effective phishing tools for compromising corporate email accounts,” the researchers said in a sprawling report. It appears that [crackers] successfully compromised roughly 8,000 of the corporate Microsoft email accounts using the phishing kits, the researchers found. Group-IB notified all relevant law enforcement agencies of its findings, the company said. o § Security⠀➾ # ⚓ Security Week ☛ Wealthy_Russian_With_Kremlin_Ties_Gets_9 Years_in_Prison_for_Hacking_and_Insider_Trading_Scheme⠀⇛ Vladislav Klyushin was sentenced to nine years in prison for his role in a nearly $100M stock market cheating scheme that relied on information stolen by hacking. # ⚓ Scoop News Group ☛ US,_UK_take_action_against_members_of the_Russian-linked_Trickbot_hacker_syndicate⠀⇛ The DOJ also unsealed indictments against some of the sanctioned individuals for alleged roles in ransomware and other cybercrime activity. # ⚓ RFERL ☛ U.S.,_U.K._Impose_New_Sanctions_Against_Russian Hacking_Group⠀⇛ The United States and Britain have expanded sanctions on members of a Russian hacking gang known as Trickbot, targeting people involved in management and procurement for the group. # ⚓ Vice Media Group ☛ Who_Pulled_Off_a_$41M_Online_Casino Heist?_North_Korea,_FBI_Says⠀⇛ North Korea’s state-sponsored hackers have executed another major online theft as Kim Jong-un is expected to discuss supplying weapons to Russia. # § Privacy/Surveillance⠀➾ # ⚓ OpenRightsGroup ☛ Omnishambles_over_encrypted messages_continues⠀⇛ At the eleventh hour of the Online Safety Bill’s passage through Parliament, the Government has found itself claiming to have both conceded that it won’t do anything stupid and that it may well press ahead if it wants to. # ⚓ teleSUR ☛ Norway:_Oslo_Court_Upholds_Data_Regulator’s Fine_on_Meta⠀⇛ On Wednesday, the Oslo District Court sided with Datatilsynet, the country’s data protection authority, affirming the legality of a daily fine imposed on Meta Platforms for invasive behavior-based marketing on Facebook and Instagram. The court fully endorsed Datatilsynet’s action, dismissing Meta’s plea for a temporary injunction to halt the fine and stating that there was no cause to undermine the regulator’s judgment. # ⚓ The Register UK ☛ UK_drops_‘spy_clause’_for_scanning encrypted_chat,_admits_it’s_not_‘feasible’⠀⇛ The statements have been widely interpreted as a victory for technology firms, many of which had threatened to exit the UK over the requirement that it must be possible for even strongly end-to-end encrypted messages to be scanned for illegal content. However, it could also be argued that the changes only represent the bare minimum needed to get the bill across the line. The controversial clauses remain largely in place, with the buck passed to future administrations, or to when reading the messages becomes “technically feasible.” # ⚓ Interesting Engineering ☛ Your_car_may_be_listening, watching_and_collecting_your_data⠀⇛ The organization reviewed 25 car brands and their data collection policies and found that all of these brands are collecting more personal information about whoever sits in the car than is required. Moreover, 84 percent of these brands say they can share your personal data with service providers, data brokers, and other businesses. But shockingly, 19 of these brands (76 percent) say they can also sell your personal data. # ⚓ JURIST ☛ Norway_court_upholds_ban_on_Meta_Platforms’ behavioral_marketing⠀⇛ The case revolves around a request for a provisional injunction against Datatilsynet’s directive to prohibit Meta Ireland and Facebook Norway from processing personal data for behavioral marketing based on GDPR Art. 6 (1)(b) and (f) in connection with their services Facebook and Instagram. Behavioral marketing is ads and marketing targeted to an audience based on actions taken on a website, rather than demographic information. # ⚓ Patrick Breyer ☛ Breyer’s_lawsuit_forces_EU_to publish_secret_AI_surveillance_research⠀⇛ The European Court of Justice today issued important clarifications on the transparency of EU-funded development of surveillance technology in response to a transparency lawsuit by MEP Dr Patrick Breyer (Pirate Party) (Case T-158/19). Under the iBorderCtrl project, the EU had tested the use of controversial AI-based “video lie detector” technology on travelers. Breyer’s lawsuit had already forced the EU in the first instance to release a large number of documents about the project in full or partially redacted, which Breyer published today on his homepage. # ⚓ 404 Media ☛ The_Secret_Weapon_Hackers_Can_Use_to_Dox Nearly_Anyone_in_America_for_$15⠀⇛ On the messaging app Telegram, I entered a tiny amount of information about my target into the dark blue text box—their name and the state I believed they lived in—and pressed enter. A short while later, the bot spat out a file containing every address that person had ever lived at in the U.S., all the way back to their college dorm more than a decade earlier. The file included the names and birth years of their relatives. It listed the target’s mobile phone numbers and provider, as well as personal email addresses. Finally, the file contained information from their drivers’ license, including its unique identification number. All of that data cost $15 in Bitcoin. The bot sometimes offers the Social Security number too for $20. This is the result of a secret weapon criminals are selling access to online that appears to tap into an especially powerful set of data: the target’s credit header. This is personal information that the credit bureaus Experian, Equifax, and TransUnion have on most adults in America via their credit cards. Through a complex web of agreements and purchases, that data trickles down from the credit bureaus to other companies who offer it to debt collectors, insurance companies, and law enforcement. # ⚓ Bruce Schneier ☛ The_Hacker_Tool_to_Get_Personal_Data from_Credit_Bureaus⠀⇛ The new site 404 Media has a good_article on how hackers are cheaply getting personal information from credit bureaus: This is the result of a secret weapon criminals are selling access to online that appears to tap into an especially powerful set of data: the target’s credit header. This is personal information that the credit bureaus Experian, Equifax, and TransUnion have on most adults in America via their credit cards. Through a complex web of agreements and purchases, that data trickles down from the credit bureaus to other companies who offer it to debt collectors, insurance companies, and law enforcement… # ⚓ Techdirt ☛ As_EU_Commission_Moves_Forward_With_‘Chat Control’_Proposal,_EU_Nations_Continue_To_Push_Back⠀⇛ Do not go gentle into that mass surveillance night, as the phrase goes. The EU Commission is sure something needs to be done about the sharing of child sexual abuse material (CSAM). And it’s not wrong! Things need to be done. # ⚓ Techdirt ☛ Mozilla:_Modern_Cars_Are_A_Privacy Shitshow⠀⇛ Mozilla’s latest *Privacy Not Included report isn’t subtle when it comes to calling out the shortcomings of modern, internet-connected vehicles: o § Defence/Aggression⠀➾ # ⚓ International Business Times ☛ Man_who_took_selfies_while bringing_migrants_to_the_UK_jailed⠀⇛ A man who had his phone seized after driving a small boat that carried 50 migrants to the UK has been jailed under the Adapted Illegal Migration Act. [...] “Putting lives at risk by steering men, women and children across the Channel in flimsy dinghies will not be tolerated and we will continue to work relentlessly to stop these completely unnecessary crossings and ensure those responsible are put behind bars,” noted Immigration Minister Robert Jenrick. # ⚓ NPR ☛ After_grand_jurors_were_doxed,_Georgia_prosecutors want_Trump_trial_jurors_shielded⠀⇛ In an attached affidavit, Atlanta Police Chief Darin Schierbaum wrote that the grand jurors were subject to harassment and threats after their home addresses, phone numbers and vehicle information were posted on a website operated by a Russian company. # ⚓ WABE Radio ☛ Why_Georgia_grand_jurors’_names_are_made public_and_what_else_to_know_as_Trump_investigation_comes_to a_head⠀⇛ Wait, what’s the difference between a grand jury and a special grand jury? Last year, Willis asked the Fulton County Superior Court to empanel a special grand jury to investigate attempts to interfere with the 2020 election result. The special grand jury is an investigative tool where the jurors look into one case for up to a year. The special grand jury heard from 75 witnesses, some under subpoena, over eight months and compiled a final report. The special grand jury recommended multiple indictments. # ⚓ JURIST ☛ Colorado_voters_sue_to_remove_Trump_from_state ballot_over_insurrection_allegations⠀⇛ The 100-page complaint alleges that the former president led a “broad-based effort to pressure, coerce, and intimidate state and local officials to unlawfully overturn the 2020 election results.” In support of this claim, the complaint details the events of January 6, 2021, saying Trump called more than 10,000 protesters to Washington D.C. to “stop the steal” of the 2020 presidential election. # ⚓ New York Times ☛ Islamists_Kill_Dozens_of_Civilians_and Soldiers_in_Two_Attacks_in_Mali⠀⇛ Islamist militants staged separate attacks on a passenger ferry and a military camp in northern Mali on Thursday, the government said, killing dozens of civilians and soldiers in a region of the West African nation that is increasingly controlled by armed groups. # ⚓ CNN ☛ CNN_Exclusive:_‘How_am_I_in_this_war?’:_New_Musk biography_offers_fresh_details_about_the_billionaire’s Ukraine_dilemma⠀⇛ Elon Musk secretly ordered his engineers to turn off his company’s Starlink satellite communications network near the Crimean coast last year to disrupt a Ukrainian sneak attack on the Russian naval fleet, according to an excerpt adapted from Walter Isaacson’s new biography of the eccentric billionaire titled “Elon Musk.” As Ukrainian submarine drones strapped with explosives approached the Russian fleet, they “lost connectivity and washed ashore harmlessly,” Isaacson writes. # ⚓ Pro Publica ☛ 8_Key_Facts_About_the_Navy’s_Failed_Littoral Combat_Ship_Program⠀⇛ Here are eight takeaways from ProPublica’s report on the Navy’s littoral combat ship program, which has cost taxpayers billions but failed to deliver on its promise. 1. Navy officials vastly underestimated the costs to build the ship in estimates provided to Congress. The original price tag more than doubled. # ⚓ Democracy Now ☛ Ukrainian_&_Russian_Activists_on_How Putin’s_War_Emboldens_“Authoritarian_Forces”_Around_the World⠀⇛ On the same day U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken visited Kyiv to announce $1 billion in new U.S. aid to Ukraine, 17 Ukrainians were killed in a Russian missile attack on a Donetsk market. “It’s very painful for me to see all the streets and cities that I spent my childhood in to be completely destroyed by the ongoing war,” says Hanna Perekhoda, Ukrainian historian from the Donetsk region on a speaking tour of the U.S. calling for an end to the war by driving out Putin’s occupation. “If we let Russian authoritarians win, it will mean that the authoritarian forces also in our countries, in the U.S., for example, will grow stronger.” Perekhoda is joined on the speaking tour by Russian historian Ilya Budraitskis, who agrees that this war is about Putin’s regime maintaining its power. “This criminal war is not just a war against Ukraine. It’s a war of the Russian regime against its own society,” says Budraitskis. # ⚓ Democracy Now ☛ Democratic_Republic_of_Congo_Faces_“Worst Hunger_Catastrophe”_as_Mineral_Extraction_Enriches_the_Few⠀⇛ The Democratic Republic of the Congo is seeing a dramatic deterioration of infrastructure and displacement of citizens as a result of armed violence, flooding and the world’s largest hunger crisis. In recent months, rampant violence of armed groups has forced more than half a million people to flee their homes, while the United Nations says some 3,000 families also lost their homes after recent intense flooding and mudslides in the eastern part of the country. Twenty-five million people are facing starvation as displaced citizens are unable to access their land to grow their own food, and the humanitarian response has so far failed to address the crisis. “The crisis is beyond belief,” says Secretary General of the Norwegian Refugee Council Jan Egeland, who just visited the DRC and reports that the international community still looks for the country’s resources while ignoring its plight. “The Congo is not ignored by those who want to extract the riches of that place. It’s ignored by the rest of the world who would want to come to the relief of the children and families of the Congo.” # ⚓ Federal News Network ☛ A_man_charged_with_aiding_Michigan Gov._Whitmer_kidnap_plot_says_the_scheme_didn’t_seem serious⠀⇛ One of three men accused of assisting a plot to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer is testifying in his own defense. Eric Molitor told jurors that he was scared when he joined a daytime ride to see Whitmer’s vacation home in northern Michigan in 2020. He says he didn’t initially know it was Whitmer’s property. Molitor and two other men are charged with providing material support for terrorist acts. They’re accused of aiding the leaders of a kidnapping scheme. Social media posts and text messages show the group was outraged over COVID-19 restrictions. Evidence has also revealed strident anti-government views and calls for a civil war. Nine men have been convicted. # ⚓ India Times ☛ SpaceX_refused_govt_request_to_activate Starlink_to_sink_Russian_fleet:_Elon_Musk⠀⇛ Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk on Friday revealed that he did not budge to an emergency request from the government authorities to switch on space internet service Starlink up to Sevastopol in Crimea, which is a major port on the Black Sea, to target Russian ships. # ⚓ New York Times ☛ Top_French_Court_Upholds_Abaya_Ban_in Schools⠀⇛ Until last week, it was up to individual principals to decide whether the 2004 rules applied. The government said that the nationwide ban was merely an update to the existing rules that was needed to stop a ballooning number of disputes in its secular school system. # ⚓ The Register UK ☛ China_reportedly_bans_iPhones_from_more government_offices⠀⇛ The paper put the bans in the context of geopolitical tensions, China’s desire for technological independence, and hinted the ban is perhaps therefore Beijing’s latest move in the game of 4D diplomatic chess. The Journal noted that Apple shares tumbled 3.6 percent on the day of its story. # ⚓ Gizmodo ☛ Chinese_Government_Officials_Banned_From_Using iPhones_at_Work⠀⇛ The country’s shift to ban iPhones comes only one week before an Apple event where the company will announce the launch of its next line of iPhones. The ban also comes after Apple CEO Tim Cook visited the country in March to meet with China’s Minister of Commerce, Wang Wentao, where they reportedly discussed stabilizing Apple’s local industrial and supply chain. # ⚓ The Register UK ☛ Bombshell_biography_claim:_Fearing nuclear_war,_Musk_switched_off_Starlink_to_stymie_Ukraine attack_on_Russia⠀⇛ An excerpt from the forthcoming tome by Walter Isaacson, titled Elon Musk and shared with CNN, revealed that in 2022 Ukraine planned an attack against Russian naval ships near Crimea. But as Ukraine’s explosive-laden submarine drones approached Russia’s warships, they “lost connectivity and washed ashore harmlessly,” the book claimed. SpaceX CEO Musk was the reason for the lost signal: he cut off the Starlink connectivity the drones were relying upon because he feared a “mini-Pearl Harbor” would take place, according to Isaacson in his book. # ⚓ RFERL ☛ Kyrgyz_Ministry,_TikTok_In_Talks_To_Halt_Move_To Ban_Social_Media_Network⠀⇛ [...] “We laid out a condition that the age limit and the adaptation of social network rules to Kyrgyz legislation should be done. They said that it is technically difficult. Talks are ongoing, [...] # ⚓ Defence Web ☛ The_Sahel_is_the_world’s_terrorism epicentre⠀⇛ The report, compiled by the Institute for Economics & Peace (IEP), reveals that the Sahel has witnessed a steady rise in conflict-related fatalities since 2011, with a pronounced spike from 2017 onwards. This troubling trend can be attributed to the emergence and intensification of conflicts in countries such as Nigeria, Mali, Chad, Niger, Cameroon, and Burkina Faso. The Sahel has witnessed 22 074 fatalities in 6 408 terror attacks between 2007 and 2022. # § Russia, Belarus, and War in Ukraine⠀➾ # ⚓ Meduza ☛ Russian_missile_strike_on_Kryvyi_Rih_leaves at_least_one_dead_and_44_injured_—_Meduza⠀⇛ # ⚓ Meduza ☛ Russian_army_commander_responsible_for Moscow’s_air_defenses_arrested_on_bribery_charges_— Meduza⠀⇛ # ⚓ Meduza ☛ Russian_authorities_report_first_attempted drone_attack_in_Volgograd_region_—_Meduza⠀⇛ # ⚓ Meduza ☛ ‘Women_don’t_get_a_life_sentence’:_Two Moscow_theater_artists,_charged_with_‘justifying terrorism’_for_producing_a_documentary_play,_describe learning_to_cope_with_the_absurdity_of_Russia’s_justice system_—_Meduza⠀⇛ # ⚓ Meduza ☛ Oryol_court_arrests_U.S._citizen_for allegedly_donating_money_to_Alexey_Navalny’s_Anti- Corruption_Foundation_—_Meduza⠀⇛ # ⚓ Meduza ☛ Russia’s_public_services_website_launches portal_called_‘I’m_in_Russia’_for_residents_of_occupied territories_—_Meduza⠀⇛ # ⚓ Meduza ☛ Two_drones_hit_Rostov-on-Don,_four_drones shot_down_in_Bryansk_and_Moscow_regions_—_Meduza⠀⇛ # ⚓ Meduza ☛ Russia’s_FSB_claims_having_uncovered trafficking_scheme_to_supply_Russian_combat_aircraft parts_to_Europe_and_Ukraine_—_Meduza⠀⇛ # ⚓ Meduza ☛ Veteran_reporter_Elena_Milashina_to_travel to_Grozny_again,_two_months_after_violent_attack_in Chechnya_left_her_with_multiple_injuries_—_Meduza⠀⇛ # ⚓ Meduza ☛ An_experienced_negotiator_and_a_proud Crimean_Tatar_What_the_appointment_of_Ukraine’s_new defense_minister_says_about_Kyiv’s_evolving_war strategy_—_Meduza⠀⇛ # ⚓ Meduza ☛ Shut_your_mouth,_Dad:_A_man_outside Khabarovsk_faces_years_in_prison_for_‘discrediting’ Russia’s_army_after_his_son_was_killed_fighting_in Ukraine_—_Meduza⠀⇛ # ⚓ Latvia ☛ Latvian_businesses_explain_why_they continued_exports_to_Russia⠀⇛ Latvian Radio’s investigative broadcast ‘Atvērtie Faili’ (‘Open Files’) reported September 7 on why some Latvian companies are choosing to continue their exports to Russia despite that country’s brutal attack on Ukraine. # ⚓ Latvia ☛ Latvian_nurse_gets_Ukrainian_state_award⠀⇛ September marks one year since Latvian nurse Sarmīte Cīrule has been helping the wounded on the Ukrainian front day and night. She has received several awards recently, including the Order of the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense, after she herself was wounded in an attack, Latvian Television reported September 7. # ⚓ Latvia ☛ ‘Nordic-Baltic_8′_Foreign_Ministers reiterate_support_for_Ukraine⠀⇛ Foreign Ministers of the so-called ‘Nordic- Baltic Eight’ (NB8) countries (Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Sweden, Norway, Finland, Denmark and Iceland) have been meeting in Latvia September 6 and 7. # ⚓ Latvia ☛ Latvia_helps_with_reconstruction_of Chernihiv,_Ukraine⠀⇛ On September 7 in Chernihiv, Ukraine the Ambassador of Latvia to Ukraine, Ilgvars Kļava, acting on behalf of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the Deputy Resident Representative the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) in Ukraine, Christophoros Politis, signed an agreement on the reconstruction of infrastructure facilities in the Chernihiv Oblast. # ⚓ Atlantic Council ☛ Russian_War_Report:_A_new recruitment_push_for_fighters_from_Russia_to_Hungary⠀⇛ The Russian National Guard and a private Hungarian foreign legion have launched campaigns to recruit soldiers to fight in Ukraine. # ⚓ France24 ☛ 🔴_Live:_Ukraine_condemns_Russia’s_‘sham’ elections_in_occupied_regions⠀⇛ Ukraine on Friday condemned the “sham” elections Russia is currently holding in four occupied Ukrainian territories, and called on international partners to denounce them and not recognise the results. Several people were also killed, and dozens injured, in multiple Russian air strikes on eastern Ukrainian towns and villages, Ukrainian officials said. # ⚓ France24 ☛ Ukraine_‘gradually_gaining_ground’_in counteroffensive,_says_NATO_chief_Stoltenberg⠀⇛ Ukrainian forces have been able to break through Russian defences and are “gradually” making progress in their counteroffensive against Moscow’s troops despite “heavy, difficult fighting”, NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg said Thursday. Russia earlier on Thursday described the US decision to supply depleted uranium anti-tank rounds to Ukraine to aid its counteroffensive as “a criminal act”. Read our live blog to see how all the day’s events unfolded. All times are Paris time (GMT+2). # ⚓ Latvia ☛ Saeima_moves_ahead_law_giving_Russians_more time_for_exams⠀⇛ On Thursday, September 7, the Saeima supported amendments to the Immigration Law in the first reading, which provides for the possibility for Russian citizens living in Latvia to extend the time period for the Latvian language exam for the receipt of a permanent residence permit by two years. This would apply to those Russian citizens who have already tried to pass the test. # ⚓ JURIST ☛ EU_dispatch:_Latvia_immigration_law_may force_thousands_of_Russian_residents_who_failed language_exam_to_leave⠀⇛ Oksana Bidnenko is a staff correspondent for JURIST. She is a Ukrainian law student at the Riga Graduate School of Law in Riga, Latvia. On Tuesday, September 5, the situation in Latvia regarding the new Latvian Immigration Law took a significant turn. # ⚓ LRT ☛ Pollution_and_stress_for_refugees:_Fireworks festival_not_granted_permission_in_Vilnius⠀⇛ The Vilnius City Municipality Administration has decided not to issue a permit for the fireworks festival Vilnius Fejerija, citing air and noise pollution, as well as the emotional health of Ukrainian refugees. # ⚓ RFERL ☛ EU’s_Michel_Says_Russian_Blockade_Of_Ukraine Ports_‘Must_Stop’⠀⇛ European Council President Charles Michel said Russia “must stop” its blockade of Ukrainian seaports. # ⚓ RFERL ☛ G20_Members_Struggle_For_Consensus_On_Ukraine As_India_Gears_Up_For_Summit⠀⇛ Leaders of the Group of 20 began arriving in New Delhi on September 8 for their annual gathering as negotiators struggled to bridge differences over the war in Ukraine, seeking to build consensus for a successful summit. # ⚓ RFERL ☛ NATO:_No_Sign_Drone_Debris_In_Romania_Was Result_Of_‘Intentional_Attack_By_Russia’⠀⇛ NATO has no information that the drone debris found on the territory of alliance member Romania was caused by a deliberate Russian attack, NATO’s secretary-general has said. # ⚓ RFERL ☛ Romania_To_Upgrade_Black_Sea_Port Infrastructure_To_Bring_In_More_Ukrainian_Grain⠀⇛ Romania’s government will approve on September 8 a plan to upgrade road infrastructure in the Black Sea port of Constanta, part of wider investments in the port that could help more Ukrainian grain to transit. # ⚓ RFERL ☛ Russia_Forces_Shell_Several_Ukrainian Regions;_Kyiv_Claims_Successes_Near_Bakhmut⠀⇛ Russian forces launched fresh attacks on several Ukrainian regions early on September 8, killing at least one person, local authorities said, as Kyiv claimed “partial success” near Bakhmut. # ⚓ RFERL ☛ Russia’s_Elections_In_Occupied_Ukrainian Regions_Dismissed_As_‘Sham’⠀⇛ Russian authorities are holding local elections this weekend in occupied parts of Ukraine in an effort to tighten their grip on territories Moscow illegally annexed a year ago and still does not fully control. # ⚓ RFERL ☛ Musk_Says_He_Blocked_Ukraine_Attack_On Russia’s_Black_Sea_Fleet⠀⇛ Elon Musk secretly ordered his engineers to turn off his company’s Starlink satellite communications network to disrupt a Ukrainian sneak attack last year on the Russian fleet, according to a new biography of Musk due out next week. # ⚓ RFERL ☛ Ukraine’s_New_Defense_Minister_‘Well-Known And_Respected’_In_U.S.,_Former_Envoy_Says⠀⇛ Newly appointed Ukrainian Defense Minister Rustem Umerov is well-known and respected in the United States, former U.S. special envoy Kurt Volker said on September 7 in Kyiv. # ⚓ RFERL ☛ Ukrainian_Tycoon_Kolomoyskiy_Named_A_Suspect In_Second_Criminal_Case⠀⇛ Ukraine’s anti-corruption agency is treating tycoon Ihor Kolomoyskiy as a suspect in a criminal investigation into the embezzlement of funds from Privatbank. # ⚓ RFERL ☛ Serbian_President’s_Wife_Meets_Zelenskiy During_Summit_In_Kyiv⠀⇛ Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic’s wife, Tamara, met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy on September 7 in Kyiv, where she was participating in a summit organized by the Ukrainian first lady Olena Zelenska. # ⚓ teleSUR ☛ The_US_Announces_1_Billion_in_New_Aid_for Ukraine⠀⇛ Washington also provided a US$203-million funding for support to transparency and accountability of institutions. # ⚓ The Straits Times ☛ G20_members_struggle_for consensus_on_Ukraine_as_India_gears_up_for_summit⠀⇛ Leaders of the Group of 20 major economies began arriving in New Delhi on Friday for their annual gathering as negotiators struggled to bridge differences over the war in Ukraine, seeking to build consensus for a successful summit host India wants. # ⚓ CS Monitor ☛ Can_Ukraine_avoid_a_‘forever_war’ against_Russia_without_talks?⠀⇛ Ukraine needs battlefield success to give it dominance in any negotiations with Moscow that Kyiv’s allies might propose to avoid a “forever war.” # ⚓ New York Times ☛ Russia-Ukraine_War:_One_Person_Is Killed_in_Missile_Strike_in_Central_Ukraine,_Officials Say⠀⇛ A deadly strike in Kryvyi Rih, about 45 miles from the front lines, is the latest in a city that has been pummeled repeatedly by Russian attacks. # ⚓ New York Times ☛ Cuba_Arrests_17_People_It_Accuses_of Recruiting_for_Russia’s_War_in_Ukraine⠀⇛ Cuba’s government says it is taking action against a “human trafficking network” that was trying to bring Cuban citizens into the Russian military. # ⚓ New York Times ☛ Rostov-on-Don,_Russia,_Home_to_Key Military_Base,_Is_Rocked_by_Drone_Strikes⠀⇛ Ukraine never acknowledges strikes on Russian soil, but the incursions are happening with increasing frequency. # ⚓ LRT ☛ Delay_in_processing_Karach’s_Lithuanian_asylum claim_violated_her_rights,_court_rules⠀⇛ Lithuania’s authorities took too much time to process Belarusian activist Olga Karach’s asylum request, thus violating her rights, the Vilnius Regional Administrative Court ruled on Wednesday. # ⚓ RFERL ☛ Belarus_Condemned_By_U.S.,_EU_For_Depriving Citizens_Abroad_Of_Fundamental_Right⠀⇛ The United States and European Union have condemned a decree signed by authoritarian Belarusian leader Alyaksandr Lukashenka prohibiting the renewal of passports by Belarusians living abroad. # ⚓ New York Times ☛ What_$50_Million_Can_Buy:_Inside_the Sleek_New_White_House_Situation_Room⠀⇛ The ultrasecure facility, which was last upgraded in 2006, is returning to use after officials closed it for a year to modernize it in an era of high-tech sparring with China and Russia. # ⚓ Atlantic Council ☛ Ukraine’s_partners_cannot_remove Putin_but_they_can_stop_legitimizing_him⠀⇛ As long as Vladimir Putin is in power, Russia will remain a rogue state. Western policies that legitimize him through fear of a potential post-Putin Russia are perverse, writes Richard Cashman. # ⚓ JURIST ☛ European_Court_of_Justice_dismisses_Putin ally’s_appeal_against_sanctions⠀⇛ The EU’s top court Wednesday refused an appeal by Russian billionaire and staunch Putin ally Gennady Timchenko. The oligarch was placed on the EU sanction list following the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine. # ⚓ New York Times ☛ At_G20,_Biden_Looks_to_Fill_a_Hole Left_by_Putin_and_Xi⠀⇛ With the Russian and Chinese leaders absent, the president hopes to get others to align with him on a variety of matters, including Ukraine and curbing Beijing’s assertiveness in the Indo-Pacific. o § Environment⠀➾ # ⚓ NPR ☛ Climate_activists_protested_at_Burning_Man._Then_the climate_itself_crashed_the_party⠀⇛ The second, in a twist of extreme I-told-you-so irony, was caused by attendees trying to escape the pop-up city after an unrelenting bout of intense rainfall that experts say is increasingly typical in warming climate. One could argue that the protesters, whose efforts ahead of the festival were met with ridicule and ire by their fellow partiers, were right. And Patrick Donnelly, does. # ⚓ Science Alert ☛ 40_Years_Ago_The_EPA_Made_a_Grim Prediction._It_Came_True.⠀⇛ The EPA’s report concluded banning coal and oil was the most effective way to prevent the oncoming disasters, which also remains true. If we’d successfully weaned ourselves off fossil fuels by the year 2000, warming by 2100 would have halved from 5 °C to 2.5 °C, they estimated. The report accurately predicted why this would not be politically or economically feasible, including corporate greed and lack of cooperation between nations. Despite this missed opportunity it’s still not too late to reduce future impacts, as every fraction of a degree will save lives. # ⚓ NPR ☛ ‘One_player_is_gonna_die’:_Star_sounds_dire_warning as_the_U.S._Open_heats_up⠀⇛ Who are we talking about? The dozens of athletes competing in the U.S. Open in New York City, who are suffering through muggy temps that are cracking the 90s. # ⚓ International Business Times ☛ US_Open:_‘A_player_is_going to_die’_warns_Medvedev⠀⇛ The quarter-final clash between the two Russian stars was played under a partially closed roof at the Arthur Ashe Stadium. Both players looked miserable in the stifling heat, and Medvedev admitted that at one point his vision was so blurred that he could hardly see the ball. Meanwhile, he also noticed that Rublev was already struggling to run and return his shots. Even though Medvedev won in straight sets, the match still stretched over a span of two hours and 48 minutes. After the match, Medvedev said that the only consolation he felt was that at least both players have to endure the same conditions. # ⚓ Hong Kong Free Press ☛ 60%_of_Hong_Kong_outdoor_workers suffer_heatstroke_symptoms_despite_new_warning_system,_survey finds⠀⇛ A non-mandatory three-tier warning system designed to help protect Hong Kong workers from heatstroke went into effect on May 15. The system consists of amber, red and black warnings, indicating three levels of heat stress, and suggests different rest arrangements for people working outdoors or in indoor environments without air conditioning. However, employers have no obligation to offer the recommended rest periods as the guidelines are not legally binding. # ⚓ The Straits Times ☛ Climate_gridlock_feared_at_G-20 summit⠀⇛ With Russia and China skipping the talks, chances of the group delivering robust climate pledges are slim. # § Energy/Transportation⠀➾ # ⚓ Interesting Engineering ☛ ZF’s_magnet-free_EV_motor is_more_efficient_and_sustainable⠀⇛ The German firm, which specializes in making automotive components, has achieved this by integrating its inductive transmitter into the rotor itself. The design promises to offer performance on par with permanent- magnet synchronous machines (PSMs). According to ZF, its I2SM’s (In-Rotor Inductive-Excited Synchronous Motor) magnet- free design also requires fewer rare earth elements, increasing supply security and sustainability. # ⚓ The Register UK ☛ Texas_cryptomining_outfit_earns more_from_idling_rigs_than_digging_Bitcoin⠀⇛ Bitcoin mining outfit Riot Platforms earned $31.7 million from Texas power authorities last month for curtailing operations – far more than the value of the Bitcoin it mined in the same period. In a press release yesterday, Riot said it produced 333 Bitcoin at its mining operations in Rockdale, Texas, which would have been worth just shy of $9 million on August 31. All the cash earned from those energy credits, on the other hand, equates to around 1,136 Bitcoin, Riot CEO Jason Les said in the company’s monthly update. # ⚓ Hackaday ☛ Triso_Fuel_And_The_Rolls_Royce_Of_Nuclear Reactors⠀⇛ Bangor University scientists think that the way to go big with nuclear power is to, in fact, go small. Their tiny nuclear fuel pellets called triso fuel are said to be the size of poppy seeds and are meant to power a reactor by Rolls Royce the size of a “small car.” We aren’t sure if that’s a small Rolls Royce or a small normal car. # § Overpopulation⠀➾ # ⚓ Bridge Michigan ☛ Chicago_suburbs,_running_out_of water,_will_tap_Lake_Michigan⠀⇛ For a century Joliet and its Will County neighbors mined their sandstone aquifer. In less than a decade the easy water will be gone for these communities in Chicago’s southwest suburbs. They can’t drill their way out; deeper layers of the aquifer are too salty and shallower units are vulnerable to contamination from road salts. Illinois’s third largest city and five neighboring communities instead are banding together to secure an alternate source of supply. Their plan: tap Lake Michigan. o § AstroTurf/Lobbying/Politics⠀➾ # ⚓ Quartz ☛ Former_FTX_[cryptocurrency]_executive_pleads guilty_to_making_millions_in_illegal_campaign_contributions⠀⇛ Under a deal with prosecutors, he agreed to forfeit up to $1.55 billion in assets. He could also be called as a witness to testify at the trial of FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried, who was arrested last year in the Bahamas and extradited to the U.S. to face charges that he committed a host of crimes while running the popular digital currency trading platform. Salame, 30, entered his plea before a judge in Manhattan, admitting to the court that he illegally used millions of dollars from a hedge fund controlled by Bankman-Fried to make political contributions in 2020 and 2021 to both Democrats and Republicans. # ⚓ New York Times ☛ Fourth_Top_FTX_Executive_Pleads_Guilty Ahead_of_Sam_Bankman-Fried_Trial⠀⇛ Mr. Salame said he had made millions in political contributions at the direction of Mr. Bankman- Fried. The contributions were labeled loans from FTX’s sister company, the [cryptocurrency] hedge fund Alameda Research. # ⚓ The Nation ☛ Sheeptown⠀⇛ # ⚓ The Nation ☛ The_War_Party_Is_Back⠀⇛ President Joe Biden recently appointed Victoria Nuland, Dick Cheney’s point person on Iraq, acting deputy secretary of state, the department’s number- two official. He named Eliot Abrams, convicted perjurer and grim apologist for Central American torturers under Ronald Reagan, to his Advisory Commission on Public Diplomacy. Bill Kristol, perfervid lobbyist for the Iraq War, cadged $2 million to pay for TV ads urging Republicans to stay the course in Ukraine. War may or may not be the health of the state, but it surely is a tonic for neoconservative armchair warriors. An adapted version of this column was posted at the Responsible Statecraft website. # ⚓ The Nation ☛ The_Biden_Panic_Stops_Now!⠀⇛ The Summer of Joe Biden Panic is almost behind us. It was worse than Shark Panic, Wildfire Panic, Burning Man Panic, and I-can’t-get-TSwift-tickets panic. I have here in my hand, well, my laptop, some very good intel, and very good advice. The fact that many of you will dismiss the one of the bearers of this good news—Jim Messina, Obama 2012 campaign manager—as a former Barack Obama/Harry Reid shill is fine. So did I when I read it.1 # ⚓ Common Dreams ☛ Completely_Without_Merit,_Every_Time,_On Every_Level⠀⇛ If you no longer have the fortitude to follow the vagaries, felonies and idiocies daily dispatched by the awful former guy, we have good news: The bad news keeps coming in his manifold legal battles, because courts evidently deal in facts, not lies, feints, boasts or fantastical bunkum. Just this week, the losingest loser lost against Jean Carroll and Letitia James, in Georgia and D.C., even against t-shirts declaring, “TRUMP TOO SMALL,” which couldn’t have happened to a smaller guy. # ⚓ New York Times ☛ ‘The_Devil_They_Know’:_McConnell’s_Health Issues_Worry_Democrats⠀⇛ The legislative stances of the G.O.P. leader and his usual opponents are aligned on Ukraine, spending and impeachment as he faces mounting health scrutiny. # ⚓ France24 ☛ Indonesia’s_leader_calls_for_peaceful_solutions to_conflicts_at_ASEAN_summit⠀⇛ Indonesia’s president issued a stark warning Thursday after wrapping up a summit of Southeast Asian countries that was joined by China, the United States and Russia, saying “we will be destroyed” unless conflicts are resolved. # ⚓ France24 ☛ Macron_says_Russian_flags_‘cannot_be’_at_Paris Olympic_Games_due_to_war_crimes⠀⇛ French President Emmanuel Macron insisted Wednesday that “the Russian flag cannot be at the Paris Olympic Games… at a time when Russia is committing war crimes”. # ⚓ New York Times ☛ After_Prigozhin’s_Death,_a_High-Stakes Scramble_for_His_Empire⠀⇛ A shadowy fight is playing out on three continents for control of Yevgeny Prigozhin’s sprawling interests as head of the Wagner mercenary group. The biggest prize: His lucrative operations in Africa. # ⚓ RFERL ☛ Germany_Will_Keep_Russian_Oil_Giant_Rosneft Subsidiaries_Under_Its_Control⠀⇛ The German government said on September 8 it will keep two subsidiaries of Russian oil giant Rosneft under the control of German authorities for another six months. # ⚓ RFERL ☛ Russian_Sentenced_To_Nine_Years_In_Hacking_Scheme Involving_Securities_Fraud⠀⇛ A wealthy Russian businessman with ties to the Kremlin was sentenced on September 7 to nine years in prison for his role in a nearly $100 million stock-market cheating scheme. # § Misinformation/Disinformation/Propaganda⠀➾ # ⚓ Meduza ☛ ‘I_won’t_let_them_turn_into_pawns_for_the military’_Meduza’s_Russian_readers_on_how_they’re protecting_their_children_from_pro-war_propaganda_in schools⠀⇛ The upcoming school year is expected to bring a surge of propaganda in Russia’s educational institutions, surpassing any previous period in modern history. Events, lectures, and ceremonies in support of the war are set to be combined with new, state-approved curricula, including a new “unified” history textbook for high schoolers that has a chapter on the invasion of Ukraine. Meduza reached out to readers in Russia who sent their kids back to school on September 1 and asked them to share their strategies for safeguarding their children against propaganda. We’re publishing some of the most interesting responses below. # ⚓ VOA News ☛ Meeting_Erdogan,_Putin_Lies_(Again)_About Why_Russia_Quit_the_Black_Sea_Grain_Deal⠀⇛ That is false. There is no evidence Ukraine has ever launched strikes from the grain corridor or used the designated humanitarian sea route for any military purpose. Russia’s Black Sea fleet, on the other hand, has systematically fired cruise missiles at civilian targets in Ukraine. The grain corridor charted a very specific path and cannot be conflated with the entire Black Sea. # ⚓ Digital Music News ☛ How_Does_the_YouTube_Shorts Algorithm_Work?⠀⇛ Recently Todd Sherman took the time to speak with Creator Insider about the impact of YouTube Shorts and how the short-form video feed differs compared to traditional long- form content on YouTube. Creators may not realize that a different approach entirely is needed to effectively engage with an audience on YouTube Shorts. o § Censorship/Free Speech⠀➾ # ⚓ RFA ☛ ‘Hurting_the_feelings_of_the_Chinese_people’_could_be punished_by_jail_time⠀⇛ It’s a stock phrase frequently used by Chinese officials and state media to criticize speech or actions by outsiders that Beijing disapproves of. But now it could be turned against the Chinese people themselves. Under a proposed amendment to the Public Security Administration Law, wearing the wrong T-shirt or complaining about China online could lead to a fine of up to 5,000 yuan (US$680) or 15 days in jail. # ⚓ [Repeat] Tedium ☛ The_Barenaked_Truth⠀⇛ “We’re in a very strange time where everyone holds the nuclear codes,” Ed Robertson says in the clip, adding: “I just want to play music and entertain people and not live in fear of one joke I made 25 years ago bringing our career to a halt.” And then he talked about it from the perspective of being an on-stage performer: “It’s a difficult time to be creative, to try to be funny. And I try to do that every night we’re on stage, and it feels like there’s more and more land mines placed around you every day.” This is the kind of complaint usually heard from comedians that make a habit of performing blue—the Dave Chappelles of the world—not bands that dabble in clean comedy in their shows. (Page, on the other hand, has gotten more explicitly political in his solo work.) # ⚓ Meduza ☛ ‘I_must_figure_out_the_fate_of_my_cats’_Human rights_campaigner_Gregory_Winter,_now_on_trial_in_Russia,_has diabetes_and_doesn’t_expect_to_survive_if_he_goes_to_prison. He_is_trying_to_find_new_owners_for_the_animals_he_rescued.⠀⇛ In September 2022, Winter became a criminal suspect once again, this time for a social-media comment about the Russian army’s atrocities in Ukraine. After some time in custody, Winter was put under house arrest. He is certain, however, that this will only last for a couple of months — until the next court hearing, to be precise. His lawyers think his chance of getting a prison sentence very high. # ⚓ Meduza ☛ Russian_authorities_blocked_more_than_885,000 websites_in_first_half_of_2023_—_Meduza⠀⇛ # ⚓ Meduza ☛ Russian_authorities_‘postpone’_two_local_elections near_Ukrainian_border_—_Meduza⠀⇛ o § Freedom of Information / Freedom of the Press⠀➾ # ⚓ BIA Net ☛ Journalists_handed_international_travel_ban_over report_on_controversial_top_court_appointment⠀⇛ Faruk Eren, the head of legal affairs at the Gerçek Gündem news portal and the president of the DİSK Basın-İş Union, and editor Furkan Karabay, were indicted on charge of “targeting counterterrorism officials for terrorist organizations” due to the report in question. The Ankara 22nd Heavy Penal Court, imposed a travel ban on the two journalists due to “strong suspicion of a crime” as per article 109/3 of the Code of Criminal Procedure. o § Civil Rights/Policing⠀➾ # ⚓ EFF ☛ EFF_Award_Winner:_Alexandra_Asanova_Elbakyan⠀⇛ All are invited to attend the EFF Awards! Whether you are an activist, an EFF supporter, a student interested in cyberlaw or public interest technology, or someone who wants to eat good food and drink with other cool individuals, anyone can have a fun time at the ceremony. The celebration will begin at 6:30 pm. PT, Thursday, September 14 at The Regency Lodge, 1290 Van Ness Ave. in San Francisco. Register today to attend the event! We even have discounted tickets for EFF members and students. # ⚓ Site36 ☛ Double_surveillance_of_climate_activist_by_German Federal_Police_was_unlawful,_court_says⠀⇛ Accompanied by a solidarity rally, environmental and climbing activist Cécile Lecomte won two lawsuits against the German Federal Police on Wednesday. Lecomte had challenged two surveillance measures before the Hanover Administrative Court: a covert observation lasting several weeks on the occasion of the transport of nuclear waste to Biblis in 2020 and a two-year tender for police surveillance that began the same year. Both measures were unlawful, the court ruled. # ⚓ RFERL ☛ Rights_Groups_Say_Iranian_Security_Forces_Killed, Tortured_Protesters_In_Kurdish_City⠀⇛ A joint report by the Iranian rights groups Kurdistan Human Rights Network and the Human Rights Campaign, released on September 6 to mark the upcoming anniversary of the nationwide “Woman, life, freedom,” protests sparked by Amini’s death on September 16, showed the families of those killed, injured, and arrested have been pressured by the authorities to keep silent over what took place. # ⚓ Atlantic Council ☛ The_protests_in_Iran_are_not_a revolution—yet._These_events_must_occur_first.⠀⇛ The protestors, in contrast, claim to be expressing the authentic will and voice of the Iranian people, who are tired of the unfair repression of women, the intrusive and petty “morality police,” and the strained, warped economy driven by hostility to the West, with only the military, clerical leaders, and their cronies benefiting. The question is whether a new round of protests could, this time, prove a real threat to the regime, leading to a revolution and regime change, as happened in Tunisia in 2010 and Egypt in 2011. It’s unlikely, given the asymmetry in organization and clear leadership between the government and the protestors. However, events and actions by both sides could still lead to a revolutionary outcome. # ⚓ RFERL ☛ U.S.,_U.K._Call_For_Kremlin_Critic’s_Release_As_He Spends_Second_Birthday_Behind_Bars⠀⇛ The United States and United Kingdom have strongly condemned the “politically motivated” case against Kremlin critic Vladimir Kara-Murza as he spent a second birthday in detention after being moved to a new prison that has not been disclosed. # ⚓ Off Guardian ☛ Meet_the_New_Normal,_Same_as_the_Old_Normal: You_Are_Still_the_Enemy_Within⠀⇛ Today, we are witnessing the nudging (manipulation) of the population to accept a ‘new normal’ based on a climate emergency narrative, restrictions on movement and travel, programmable digital money, ‘pandemic preparedness’ courtesy of the World Health Organization’s tyrannical pandemic treaty, unaccountable AI and synthetic ‘food’. o § Internet Policy/Net Neutrality⠀➾ # ⚓ APNIC ☛ Address_policy_formulation_and_its_methods_in Japan⠀⇛ Many readers of this blog will already be subscribed to the SIG-policy mailing list on Orbit or have participated in the APNIC Open Policy Meeting (APNIC OPM). However, how many are aware that an organization with similar activities exists in Japan? This article will explain the origins, structure, activities, achievements, and challenges of this organization known as the Japan Open Policy Forum (JPOPF). # ⚓ Techdirt ☛ After_Years_Of_Stupid_Games,_The_Senate_Finally Gives_The_Biden_FCC_A_Voting_Majority._Now_What?⠀⇛ You might recall that Biden’s first nominee to the FCC, Gigi Sohn, found her nomination torn apart after an industry-funded smear campaign successfully derailed the nomination. Sohn is an extremely competent and popular reformer, but a homophobic lobbying campaign by media and telecom giants (Comcast, News Corp.) falsely framed Sohn as a radical extremist, eroding her support in a corrupt Senate. o § Monopolies⠀➾ # ⚓ Techdirt ☛ The_EU_Designates_The_Six_Companies_You_Already Expected_As_‘Gatekeepers’_Under_The_Digital_Markets_Act⠀⇛ The two big EU attempts to overly regulate the internet are starting to go into effect. The Digital Services Act (DSA), along with all its associated problems, is about six months ahead of the Digital Markets Act (DMA) and all of its associated problems. Six months ago, the EU designated 17 sites as “Very Large Online Platforms” under the DSA (though a few of those sites are protesting the designation, including Zalando, which is the only company on the list mainly targeting EU users). # ⚓ Techdirt ☛ Forget_About_Platform_Exclusives;_Here_Comes_The PC_GPU_Exclusives!⠀⇛ Of all the things in the gaming industry that annoy me, exclusivity deals have to rank near the very top. The idea that any title, but in particular third-party titles, could be exclusive to certain platforms, such as Xbox or PlayStation, is anathema to how art and culture distribution is meant to work. I understand why they’re a thing, I just think they shouldn’t be. And exclusivity deals tend to taint many other aspects of the industry. You need only look at the all of the convoluted fights Microsoft engaged in with regulators after gobbling up a bunch of large game studios to see the vascular reach exclusivity has in the industry. # § Trademarks⠀➾ # ⚓ Techdirt ☛ UFC_Opposes_Trademark_App_For_Pillow Fighting_Championship_League_Over_Logo⠀⇛ The Ultimate Fighting Championship people are certainly no strangers to readers here at Techdirt. The league that puts on both mixed martial arts events and, incredibly, events where participants take turns slapping the shit out of each other has been one of the most aggressive pushers of greater and greater IP enforcement programs in professional sports. From the desire for instant takedown enforcement foisted on ISPs to pushing for reforming the DMCA to “notice and stay down” practices, the UFC makes no apologies for wanting as much control and enforcement of its IP as possible. # ⚓ TTAB Blog ☛ Recommended_Reading:_The_Trademark Reporter,_July-August_2023_Issue⠀⇛ The July-August 2023 (Vol. 113 No. 4) issue of The Trademark Reporter(TMR) has hit the newsstands. [pdf here]. Willard Knox, Editor- in-Chief, summarizes the contents as follows (and below): This issue offers our readers a comprehensive article examining the impact of delay in seeking preliminary injunctive relief in trademark infringement actions in the United States federal courts, a commentary by J. Thomas McCarthy inspired by the fiftieth anniversary of the publication of his treatise McCarthy on Trademarks and Unfair Competition, and a review of a book exploring the both complementary and conflicting relationship between artificial intelligence and intellectual property law. # § Copyrights⠀➾ # ⚓ Torrent Freak ☛ DAZN’s_Early_Piracy_Targets_May Include_U.S._Govt._Domain_Seizure_Survivors⠀⇛ As sports rightsholders scramble to launch their new site-blocking system in Italy, after missing the start of the local football season, telecoms regulator AGCOM has announced the successful blocking of 45 pirate sports streaming sites following requests filed by DAZN. Two of the sites may be survivors of a U.S. law enforcement domain seizure campaign carried out last year. # ⚓ Torrent Freak ☛ Hollywood’s_Latest_Pirate_Site Blocking_Injunction_Covers_‘Future_Content’⠀⇛ The Delhi High Court in India has approved a new type of pirate site-blocking order, requested by Netflix, Disney, Warner Bros, and other Hollywood studios. The novel ‘Dynamic+ injunction’ requires Internet providers to block access to ‘hydra-headed’ pirate sites, and covers copyrighted content that doesn’t yet exist. # ⚓ Walled Culture ☛ After_publishers,_now_recording companies_want_to_stop_the_Internet_Archive_from sharing_culture⠀⇛ The details of the lawsuit hinge on a slightly obscure aspect of US copyright law. Over on Techdirt, Mike Masnick provides a good explanation of the recording companies’ argument. The key point is that the Great 78 Project is preserving culture that is at risk of being lost because of the fragile nature of 78 rpm records. It is not trying to produce perfect copies for casual listening – the digital versions include all the pops and hisses that are typical of old shellac records. As Brewster Kahle, who set up the Internet Archive (and whose Kahle/Austin Foundation supports this blog) is quoted as saying: [...] # ⚓ The Register UK ☛ Microsoft_to_shield_paid-up_Copilot customers_from_any_AI_copyright_brawls_it_starts⠀⇛ Microsoft promised to shield customers, and pay the costs of damages or settlements from such lawsuits, but only if plaintiffs “used the guardrails and content filters we have built into our products,” and only if they are using the paid versions of the company’s tools. Those that are only using the free version of Bing or GitHub Copilot will not be protected, for instance. # ⚓ India Times ☛ Microsoft_to_defend_customers_on_AI copyright_challenges⠀⇛ Microsoft will assume responsibility for the potential legal risks arising out of any claims raised by third parties so long as the company’s customers use “the guardrails and content filters” built into its products, the company said. It offers funcionality meant to reduce the likelihood that the AI returns infringing content. # ⚓ Creative Commons ☛ An_Open_Letter_from_Artists_Using Generative_AI⠀⇛ Today, we’re publishing an open letter from over 70 artists who use generative AI. It grew from conversations with an initial cohort of the full signatory list, and we hope it can help foster inclusive, informed discussions. # ⚓ Hackaday ☛ Programming_A_Poker_Game_With_GPT_Help [Ed: Well, programming with plagiarism by Microsoft]⠀⇛ Although ChatGPT generated a huge amount of hype around replacing white collar workers completely when it was first released to the public, the general consensus now is that it won’t outright replace anyone yet, but rather people who know how to use it as a tool will replace those who don’t. Getting started with it is not too hard, either, but you’ll of course need a project to work on to familiarize yourself with the tool. [Volos Projects] gave himself the challenge of writing a poker game using ChatGPT not as the opposing player, but as a co-designer in order to learn more about it as an assistant. # ⚓ Digital Music News ☛ Sam_Smith_‘Dancing_With_a Stranger’_Copyright_Suit_Dismissed_With_Prejudice_After 18_Months⠀⇛ A federal judge has officially dismissed with prejudice a copyright infringement lawsuit filed against Sam Smith, Normani, and others over “Dancing with a Stranger.” Judge Wesley L. Hsu just recently ordered the copyright complaint “dismissed on the merits with prejudice,” after Sam Smith, Normani, and their legal team took initial steps last summer… * § Gemini* and Gopher⠀➾ o § Personal/Opinions⠀➾ # ⚓ 🔤SpellBinding:_ACHWNTM_Wordo:_BORNE⠀⇛ # ⚓ I_shot_the_moon⠀⇛ 5:00 AM Awake in bed 5:05 AM Let’s get up 5:06 AM Noticing the clear night sky 5:07 AM Getting my telescope out! # ⚓ What_you_cannot_hear⠀⇛ ~bartender, a whiskey please. Maybe some Red Breast? Today, I called my girlfriend at work, as she was running late. Not because she was late for dinner, or because our daughter was asking about her. We’re goofballs both of us; distracted, forgetful, always drawn by the things we love. I knew I’d be cooking and bringing the baby home, probably beginning the meal without her. In fact, this is why I usually cook; I can’t stand the hunger, and neither can our girl. o § Technology and Free Software⠀➾ # § Internet/Gemini⠀➾ # ⚓ Usenet_had_to_die⠀⇛ Usenet was sorta like Reddit or other threaded forum sites but decentralized. The word for “sub”, “forum”, “community” on Usenet was called a “newsgroup” or just a “group”. Each server decided which group it should carry. News servers were mostly ran by ISPs. Back then, ISPs would have email service, you might get a home page on the web, and you’d get Usenet access via one server. You could only post to groups that your own server carried. =============================================================================== * Gemini_(Primer) links can be opened using Gemini_software. It’s like the World Wide Web but a lot lighter. ╘══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╛ ¶ Lines in total: 7659 ➮ Generation completed at 02:53, i.e. 91 seconds to (re)generate ⟲