𝕿𝖊𝖈𝖍𝖗𝖎𝖌𝖍𝖙𝖘 Bulletin for Thursday, September 14, 2023 ┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅ Generated Fri 15 Sep 02:56:02 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/2023/09/14/ ╒═══════════════════ 𝐑𝐄𝐂𝐄𝐍𝐓 𝐁𝐔𝐋𝐋𝐄𝐓𝐈𝐍𝐒 ════════════════════════════════════╕ Previous bulletins in IPFS (past 21 days, in chronological order): QmXuNJQvwQEw7vxCEMaH6S2XP6CJWxyQPwQ5XwEnWrbwNY QmU8r9irxybJVwzTWsCaejmJ4dDWJ8vAHAHHAKEkyeufpQ QmeryNavwPZxt2XqRC8WzQsxzm8Q2aJpPrHDJjt4MVx7j9 QmV1aDkYP6Y7Yv8Eg5mojpfKfRqGkjzLoJiut9uECHzXbF QmNRJcNP3MBmn7dGr91i3qjc8AouAjwSZWUmroRDLJDj2W QmR3skFpi5NU2DwodXGtVWF1yWK1pJNg7U4BHJZ26DXmJr QmNyZCmQoHYnCZYzsD7hZtwEa43PmCo6mPJQSvxSE2bjMR QmbHjgPAAcGNUG9Sej4vSKhK8DfUYokfFkXLdKwr1JtGJG QmdLsuRLzrwb58dZaSmJah6oCmNNZ6cW4ick4chqJmHjmY QmTNR3uqcbMYjPAbbHjBqyNJb3ib8kytQvdFnATzkBFVvo QmfCHrqMLfMsHXYnQeAvVuNYt91Zw2AmMJ5mx4RqsrWy3b QmR2rr1yXDANjQBEz2oGtd2UMgy9U37FHdjpUhPfAk7h5z QmWE6ucdKk9Q1pi6ce3ko9xPWd9Y4BjpLij3W7tJ5TMjG3 QmaoEDiALTYYZdaq3SQ86aQpMwUji1nqCeLbXAoszFRYvJ QmSTkZUY74BcgbgqS6JKwwNbVnbzY5uqwpgWtYonGJua8s QmXZcp3rXLYa24pYd7jUu6sPDrhziRCNCok875WLJTLysP QmUE7nd24kx2soZFbSYKDsb1ik1wpirFTRTBhDTj6w9sjh QmdKeWBhfnjgQLYU48wto7DdStpXsB5mE1yEEnWcxQ53vu QmfSnnTnjcAe3YvtRsVgAwUJfpcEk1dM5J5yjJLyv7MxqM QmQ16CkpxBbMzPZ6wZcuKBUcxH1RZ8uAEhcvdBsPRpVZe9 QmT3gTQRv33wEDtJveL8DiqiacGeRaxEbRFDUyVSJEAvDL ╒═══════════════════ 𝐈𝐍𝐃𝐄𝐗 ═══════════════════════════════════════════════════╕ ⦿ Apple Re-Releasing the Same Products Every Year | Techrights ⦿ Judge in Google Case Doesn’t Know if Firefox is a Browser or Search Engine | Techrights ⦿ Clown Computing is a Joke and Guess Who Has the Last Laugh | Techrights ⦿ IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, September 13, 2023 | Techrights ⦿ Microsoft is Stacking a Closed Door Panel in Washington (Commissioned by a Microsoft-Sponsored Senator), Pushing Its Products Using Buzzwords and Getting More Bailouts From the US Government, i.e. From Taxpayers | Techrights ⦿ Mozilla is GAFAM, Just Look at Who Runs the Company | Techrights ⦿ The Web Browser We Lost (Not Just the Web We Lost) | Techrights ䷼ Bulletin articles (as HTML) to comment on (requires login): http://techrights.org/2023/09/14/apple-churning-hype/#comments http://techrights.org/2023/09/14/browser-or-search-engine/#comments http://techrights.org/2023/09/14/clown-computing-is-a-joke/#comments http://techrights.org/2023/09/14/irc-log-130923/#comments http://techrights.org/2023/09/14/microsoft-is-stacking-panels/#comments http://techrights.org/2023/09/14/mozilla-is-gafam/#comments http://techrights.org/2023/09/14/the-web-browser-we-lost/#comments ䷞ Followed by Daily Links (assorted news picks curated and categorised): http://techrights.org/2023/09/14/distrohopping-to-fedora-silverblue/#comments http://techrights.org/2023/09/14/kde-gear-23-08-1/#comments http://techrights.org/2023/09/14/sparky-7-1-and-curl-8-3-0/#comments http://techrights.org/2023/09/14/using-slackware/#comments http://techrights.org/2023/09/14/why-not-to-use-mobile-phones/#comments ䷩ 𝚕𝚒𝚗𝚎 69 ╒═══════════════════ 𝐀𝐑𝐓𝐈𝐂𝐋𝐄 ═════════════════════════════════════════════════╕ (ℹ) Images, hyperlinks and comments at http://techrights.org/2023/09/14/apple-churning-hype/#comments Gemini version at gemini://gemini.techrights.org/2023/09/14/apple-churning-hype/ ⠀⌧ █▇▆▅▄▃▂▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁ 09.14.23⠀▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▂▃▄▅▆▇█ ⌧ Gemini_version_available_♊︎ ✐ Apple_Re-Releasing_the_Same_Products_Every_Year⠀✐ Posted in Apple, Deception at 8:54 pm by Guest Editorial Team Reprinted with permission from Ryan_Farmer. Even some Apple users are beginning to catch on to the_fact_that_Apple_doesn’t innovate. Every year for several years, there’s been almost no changes to the iPhone, and Apple unveils another one with an incremented number as if they were making a major release. The thing is basically a “done product” where there are no real features to add. The first rule of Capitalism is to make a spectacle out of everything, no matter how trivial, as if it’s a product they’ll wonder how they’ve ever lived without. Apple has it down to, almost a science. To keep sales moving, they run spectacles where they unveil a new phone as if Jesus Christ came down from the Heavens. This year, many people finally noticed when the only real difference in the iPhone 15 was about an ounce of weight and a very slightly better camera. Naturally, people paying extra so they can trade in their iPhone every year have been had, and some of them are starting to realize it. Especially in this era of high inflation and lots of layoff and reduced work hours. They throw_away_valuable_Capital, that cost them hours of work, every month, only so they can get a very marginally better product. Since “There’s no such thing as a free lunch.”, it’s better, fiscally, to own the phone until the carrier throws you off because the modem is too old. If the battery dies, replace the battery. This is like most goods. Apple fought right-to-repair, tooth and nail, with the same money people (over)paid them for their products. I usually wear a pair of shoes for several years. If they get uncomfortable, I replace the insoles for $10. If the laces shred or break, I buy new laces for a few dollars. Over that ~6 years I wear the same pair of shoes, I spend maybe $13 servicing them vs. $180 replacing them a couple of times. If they get dirty, wash them. There’s a concept. We don’t make a ton of money, but due to not making lots and lots of unnecessary purchases, we are seldom faced with a situation where something that is actually important comes up and are pressured to go into lots of debt to handle it, so we can have the “iPhone for Life” plan. Recently, one of my cats had major surgery to remove some tumors. I value my cat more than having some damned stupid iPhone, obviously. She is family, a phone is a lifeless object and a constant annoyance. The one I have is usually turned off so that people can’t bother me with it while I live my life. If it’s important, I’ll return their voicemail. When the vet told me the bill would be $834, I said, “Well, that’s bad, but not a disaster.”, then she went into some speech about “Care Credit”, a medical credit card they throw at people in America who can’t afford to pay a dental bill or to help their sick pet. 27% compounding interest. You’ll never be able to pay it back. But since we had savings, I put it on a rewards credit card, and got $40 in points, and then I will pay it back immediately. Apple products are good at crowding out your money, and the important things you could use said money for, so you can go into debt somewhere else down the road, and be pressured to do more work to earn more money than it would cost, if you had money instead of the Apple products. Android phones continue to have new applications for years after the system updates stop. You may, at least, continue using it for as long as it physically works, with new Web browsers and such. iPhones just pop up a message saying there’s no new apps and even the ones you already have are no longer allowed to run. It happened to my mother with her old iPhone and I laughed because there were people running Android Gingerbread for so long that it turned into the Windows XP of Android. You just don’t get a lot for your money with Apple devices, which is no great secret, but increasingly they foist these “barely even an upgrade” devices on you, not by merit, but by dirty tricks. Mac OS works like this too. There is a hard cut off date, where Apple forces Mac OS to stop being allowed to upgrade over the last one on your existing computer, even though nothing about the OS has changed to make it incompatible. Of course, the cynical (but realistic) take is that there’s a business strategy behind dropping software support for older devices. If Apple cuts off macOS support for your Mac, you’re much more likely to consider buying a new one than you would if you could enjoy the latest features and changes. This is definitely starting to change, as more and more people realize that their old tech is still good enough to hold onto, but that won’t help you if your Mac is already unsupported. ~Lifehacker There_is_a_project_to_trick_later_versions_of_Mac_OS_to_run_on_unsupported Macs, which is actually important since Apple very quickly drops support for building new software for old releases, so that developers can’t even support you if they wanted to. The compatibility matrix shows that you can run new Mac OS versions on surprisingly old hardware. Eventually, something important will not work quite right, but it’s better than having no support at all, and your browser complaining that it’s 48 releases behind, like what happened to my spouse’s 2008 Macbook. By tricking it into installing a newer version of Mac OS, I was able to bring Chrome up to the then-current version until like 2021 when they finally released a version of the OS that was incompatible with the laptop. But they cut off the laptop from OS upgrades, officially, in 2014, so another 7 years is how long it should have lasted, and the only reason to do this is to force e-waste into the landfills so that people are back in the Apple store buying new junk. Many Apple users buy these things because they’re just not very handy with computers. By having so many obsolete versions with the browser screaming that it hasn’t had an update in years, which users like my spouse just keep clicking OK on and browsing with anyway, Apple is setting up its customers for a huge security disaster. I also bought him a $129 Chromebook with 4 GB of RAM and a Celeron that ran rings around the Macbook, so as far as a replacement computer, we did NOT need another $2,000 Apple product that isn’t even going to be around 6 years later. Chrome OS is not the OS I would have preferred, but my spouse is not a computer expert and the options were essentially trying to answer everything in that big brain of mine about Linux, dumping Windows on him and getting to deal with it whenever Microsoft ruined it with a broken update or he installed malware and brought it to me, unload thousands of dollars on another Mac so Apple could pull this shit again, or give him a Chromebook and sort of let him figure out Linux applications in a controlled environment. At the very least, I was able to get him a serviceable and cost-effective computer that doesn’t put his security in danger. It’s dangerous to run a currently-supported OS with a current Web browser, especially if you don’t do what I do and neuter Web sites with uBlock-Origin and NoScript and lots of custom settings to take away things like WASM, WebRTC, and WebGL. The more junk you don’t use that you can take away from the Web, the less of a weapons depot random potentially malicious Web sites have to hurt you with. Apple products don’t get repeat business due to excellent advancements in computing, they get lots of repeat business because they’re not ruggedly built, they cut off software to prod you, and they bloat things up. They’re not better than Microsoft. Just bad in somewhat different ways. █ ䷩ 𝚕𝚒𝚗𝚎 273 ╒═══════════════════ 𝐀𝐑𝐓𝐈𝐂𝐋𝐄 ═════════════════════════════════════════════════╕ (ℹ) Images, hyperlinks and comments at http://techrights.org/2023/09/14/browser-or-search-engine/#comments Gemini version at gemini://gemini.techrights.org/2023/09/14/browser-or-search-engine/ ⠀⌧ █▇▆▅▄▃▂▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁ 09.14.23⠀▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▂▃▄▅▆▇█ ⌧ Gemini_version_available_♊︎ ✐ Judge_in_Google_Case_Doesn’t_Know_if_Firefox_is_a_Browser_or_Search_Engine⠀✐ Posted in Antitrust, Free/Libre_Software, GNU/Linux, Google, Search at 6:57 pm by Guest Editorial Team Reprinted with permission from Ryan_Farmer. 🄸🄼🄰🄶🄴_🄳🄴🅂🄲🅁🄸🄿🅃🄸🄾🄽_⦇Meme:_Fry_Firefox⦈_ No Anti-Trust Case in the United States Has Ended Well for Consumers. Judge in Google Case Doesn’t_Know_if_Firefox_is_a_Browser_or_Search_Engine. The United States Government does not have a good track record for responding to anti-trust problems in time, or resolving the cases to any meaningful effect when it finally does respond at all. In the case of Standard Oil or AT&T, the monopolies pretty much just re- assembled themselves again. In the AT&T case, the government split them into over 50 different phone companies, called “Baby Bells”, which would each service its own US State or territory, ~40 years in and we’re back to only 3 real phone companies in the entire country. AT&T is one of them and simply bought the fragments of itself except Verizon, which bought other fragments of AT&T. The Crooked Trump Administration allowed T-Mobile to buy Sprint and raise our phone bills, and ignored the problem of having less choice in the marketplace, after T-Mobile rented $250,000 of empty hotel rooms at Trump’s failing D.C. hotel. In the case of Standard Oil in the early 20th Century, the competing oil companies got back together and began operating as a cartel instead of a monopoly, so the effects on the market are essentially almost as if Standard Oil were still here. (They “compete” only in the sense that there are minor deviations in their detergency formulations for gasoline and oil. General Motors dexos 1 gen3 has made a uniform standard for motor oil which is actually quite good. Anyone who licenses has to meet the same benchmarks but is free to arrive at the results almost anyway it sees fit, although the base oils and detergents are so minimally different that as long as they meet the standard, you’re basically buying the same stuff.) But then they got to Microsoft. They were going to punish the crap out of them and split them into as many as seven different software companies, but in the end they got tapped on the wrist so lightly that the damage to the competition in the Web browser, OS, and office suite markets was done and Microsoft got a bargain, and consumers still didn’t have many real options. The Google case threatens computer users because while Chrome OS is not an ideal choice of OS, it is FAR better than Windows for most users (especially with Linux and Android program compatibility). From the point-of-view that the thing maintains itself and doesn’t get viruses, or stuffed up with bad updates nearly every month, or perform_hideously_on_low end_laptops_like_Windows_does, Chrome OS is an outstanding operating system. The downside to this anti-trust case against Google, for consumers, is that no matter what happens, Microsoft, a far bigger monster, threatens to win, in markets where it has not done well because consumers have a choice and almost nobody chose Microsoft. Microsoft Bing is almost inconsequential because the quality has never been good. Without fundamentally fixing anything, Microsoft has attempted to get users by rebranding it several times, stealing Google’s index by spying on Microsoft browser users and what Google links they clicked on, and using a “branding condom” called DuckDuckGo, which is really just a skin for Bing. (Hosted on Microsoft Azure, almost all results come from Bing, and DuckDuckGo’s anti-tracking products exempt Microsoft’s ad network.) Microsoft has been vexed by Google for over a decade now. Losing millions of Windows users to Chrome OS and Android, and they want it to stop. That’s quite possibly where the impetus for the Google anti-trust case really came from, and in irony, consumers really do have a choice and most of them just don’t bother to switch from Google, which is easy to do. In the case of Bing, anyone could switch to it by changing one setting. It’s probably already in their browser, so they don’t even have to add it. The fact that nobody does speaks for itself. I mean, it’s not like trying to get rid of Windows where there is malicious firmware and “Security Theater Boot” in your way and you have to format a drive and start over with a new OS. Nope. Flip a switch, use Bing (you shouldn’t). And nobody does. The fact that we end up with old judges who are so tech illiterate that they do not even understand as much about computers as my 66 year old mother with an iPhone, who has to ask teenagers at a store about it, who don’t want to help her because she’s not in there buying the latest model, says that this case might not end well either. The government botching anti-trust was the reason why we ended up with crappy Windows operating systems instead of powerful UNIX systems for many years in the first place. AT&T had UNIX, they were just forbidden from selling it directly, so we ended up with toys like DOS and Windows, which someone at Microsoft added “a bad lip reading of some of the things we saw in UNIX” to, but were not great operating systems. The only part of Google’s business that should be at issue here are how they’ve abused users of Chrome, but I doubt that will get much trial time. Chrome used to have better extensions. When they had to kill Firefox, they implemented a decent extensions system. Now that they HAVE killed Firefox, they make (especially privacy extensions) the system weaker, and add DRM and tracking to the core of the browser program. I also doubt we’ll hear about the increasing number of Web sites that aren’t even made with Web technologies anymore, but are rather Chrome_applications that_mainly_exist_to_pop_up_a_QR_code_for_your_phone, like New New Reddit. These are the important issues that the court needs to stop Google from continuing with, but I think we’ll mostly just hear about Search, which is very boring and has lots of choice already. I_use_Searx_Belgium. Privacy_Browser_on_Android defaults to Mojeek. It’s not Google’s fault if people don’t want to educate themselves in a market full of options. █ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⢠⡄⡄⣤⣤⢤⣤⡄⣠⢤⣠⣤⡄⣤⣤⢠⣤⠀⣤⢠⣤⠀⣤⣤⡄⣤⣤⢠⣤⣤⣤⣠⣤⢠⣤⡄⢠⣄⡤⡄⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⢸⣿⡇⣿⣿⠀⣿⠀⣙⢷⣼⣿⡇⣿⣿⢸⡗⠀⣿⢸⡗⠀⣿⢺⡇⣿⣿⢸⡗⣿⡗⣿⣿⢸⣿⡄⢸⣏⡻⣦⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠈⠉⠁⠉⠉⠀⠉⠀⠈⠉⠉⠉⠁⠉⠉⠈⠉⠀⠍⠈⠁⠀⠉⠈⠁⠉⠉⠈⠉⠉⠁⠉⠉⠈⠉⠁⠈⠁⠉⠁⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⢸⣿⡇⣿⣿⢸⣿⡿⣧⣿⣾⠹⣿⣻⣯⣹⣯⡇⢰⡏⣿⣿⣽⠆⠸⣿⣻⣯⣱⣿⡇⣿⣿⣾⠹⢿⣧⣿⠀⣿⡅⣿⣿⣾⣙⣻⡏⣿⣼⢸⣯⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠸⠿⠇⠿⠿⠸⠿⠃⠿⠻⠿⠸⠿⠻⠷⠾⠧⠇⠈⠧⠟⠿⠸⠇⠸⠿⠻⠷⠾⠿⠧⠿⠿⠻⠼⠻⠇⠿⠀⠿⠆⠏⠿⠻⠼⠿⠧⠿⠿⠸⠷⠶⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⢀⣤⣤⣤⣤⣤⣤⣤⣤⣀⡀⢸⣿⣿⣿⣿⣦⠀⢻⣿⣿⣷⡀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⣠⣾⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣷⣾⣿⣿⣿⣷⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠰⣦⣄⣀⢀⣾⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⡇⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⢹⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⡇⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⢀⣠⣴⣾⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣯⡹⣶⣾⣿⣭⣽⣛⣛⡿⠿⢿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⠇⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠉⠛⠿⢿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⠿⠿⢿⣮⡻⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣶⣾⣭⣭⣟⣛⣻⠿⠟⠋⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⣾⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣷⣝⢷⣾⣥⣽⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣄⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⢸⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣧⢻⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣷⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣧⢻⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣷⡹⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣦⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⢿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣇⣿⣿⠾⣟⣻⣭⠭⠉⠿⠭⠭⣥⣭⠿⢶⣶⣂⣰⣶⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠘⢿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⡿⠿⠿⣿⣿⢸⣿⡬⣵⣶⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣗⣬⡻⣿⣿⣿⣿⡟⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠙⢿⣿⣿⣿⣣⡾⡛⡿⣮⢿⢸⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣷⣯⣭⣭⣤⡀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠈⠉⠃⢿⣾⣸⣿⣾⣧⣼⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⠇⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠈⠻⢷⣾⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣭⣿⣿⣶⡀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⢿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣷⣄⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠸⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣷⡀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣟⣿⣿⣿⣿⣟⠛⠛⠛⠋⠉⠉⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⢀⠀⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⠟⠋⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⣤⣤⣤⢤⣤⡤⢩⣿⡍⣭⣭⢭⣩⡍⣭⣭⣩⢿⡝⢫⣶⡄⣤⣤⢤⡤⣤⢤⡀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⣿⠛⣿⢻⣿⣟⣨⣿⡆⣿⣿⣸⣿⡇⡿⣿⢿⣲⡆⢸⣿⡇⣿⣿⢸⣟⣿⢻⡄⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⣀⡀⢀⣀⠀⣀⡀⢀⣉⢀⡈⣈⣉⠉⣁⡩⣵⢍⢉⣉⣊⡥⡥⣉⣊⣉⣁⢂⡉⣁⣈⣉⣈⣉⡉⢈⣁⠀⣀⡀⣀⡀⢀⣀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⢸⣏⣓⣿⣿⢸⣿⡇⣿⣛⢸⡇⣿⠍⢀⡟⡇⣿⣾⠈⣿⢹⣇⣃⢹⡏⣿⢽⣻⡇⣿⠿⣝⢹⣿⠁⣿⢘⣣⡿⡇⠿⣍⣿⡯⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠘⠓⠛⠛⠟⠘⠻⢃⠻⠛⠘⠓⠛⠒⠘⠋⠛⣛⣛⣀⣛⣘⣣⣶⣜⣃⣛⡘⠛⠳⠋⠛⠟⠘⠛⠀⠙⠞⠛⠋⠓⠻⠟⠛⠓⠒⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⢀⣴⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⡇⢸⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⡆⢻⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣷⢸⣿⣿⣿⠀⢷⡀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ䷩ 𝚕𝚒𝚗𝚎 473 ╒═══════════════════ 𝐀𝐑𝐓𝐈𝐂𝐋𝐄 ═════════════════════════════════════════════════╕ (ℹ) Images, hyperlinks and comments at http://techrights.org/2023/09/14/clown-computing-is-a-joke/#comments Gemini version at gemini://gemini.techrights.org/2023/09/14/clown-computing-is-a-joke/ ⠀⌧ █▇▆▅▄▃▂▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁ 09.14.23⠀▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▂▃▄▅▆▇█ ⌧ Gemini_version_available_♊︎ ✐ Clown_Computing_is_a_Joke_and_Guess_Who_Has_the_Last_Laugh⠀✐ Posted in Microsoft, Servers at 8:16 pm by Dr. Roy Schestowitz Video_download_link | md5sum b0d4e92fba64b35ea848618255568716 Outsourced Computing Means Trouble Ahead Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivative Works 4.0 http://techrights.org/videos/lost-in-clown-computing.webm Summary: So-called ‘Cloud Computing’ is a marketing ploy; it is a sick plan to scam people out of their software and out of their own computers; we need to counter this collective stupidity, which is perpetuated by corrupted (sponsored by corporations) media and groupthink that appeals to supposed “novelty” (as if outsourcing is an advancement) THE above video was made in response to many Microsoft downtimes that even Microsoft-connected sites reported on, e.g. [1, 2]. To quote one of the articles: “Microsoft 365 is down again today. That hardly sounds new or surprising to many as it is almost a weekly occurrence.” In Australia it was down for over a day this month! Over a day! “Sadly, many companies (including my last employer) get infiltrated by people who keep promoting this mindset of “outsource everything”…”The latter report, also from a Microsoft booster’s site, says that “Microsoft is investigating an ongoing outage preventing customers from sending or receiving messages using the company’s Microsoft Teams communication platform.” So in 2023 some very basic functionality of IRC (1980s technology) or Jabber is not working? Is this “modern”? Is this robust? Sadly, many companies (including my last employer) get infiltrated by people who keep promoting this mindset of “outsource everything”; some get promoted into decision-making roles and cost the companies a lot of money (tiny Sirius ‘Open_Source’ wasted perhaps 50,000 pounds on AWS despite already having its own physical servers and in-house staff to manage these). The above incidents serve to remind us that “Clown Computing” is for clowns. And if your company chooses it, then expect a circus. It’s only a matter of time. As one reader put it, Microsoft “Teams is a weak, windows-only imitation of other services. It’s a good excuse to bring up BigBlueButton and Jitsi-Meet, especially the latter.” When those things go offline you cannot even access old communications. With some software you have not even access to your files. Is “Office/Microsoft 360″ offline? Then too bad. No files for you. Even if you download LibreOffice, there’s no file to feed into it. “Calligra and LibreOffice are much better options if one can fight the marketing about outsourcing everything imaginable to the detriment of operations and finances,” the reader noted. “You have a lot of experience arguing with outsourcers which can be drawn into an article.” The video above talks about my personal experience with colleagues who push to outsource everything. “The outsourcing encourages hiring of ignorant (or unsuitably trained) staff, which will in turn fail to provide adequate services to clients.”The reader bought up AFS. “There were some downsides,” he recalled, “but overall it was an asset and you could set up collaboration with files with people in the same room, same campus, same region, country, or planet if their institution also used AFS. No concurrent editing though, but that would be on the client end anyway.” “It lasted from the early to mid 1990s through to the middle ofthe 00s as a well-used service. Then the institutions connived to ignore it and then later to neglect it and then yet later to defund it.” “Now there are big names pretending to still be leaders yet pushing Box or Dropbox or other games. insecure non-confidential games. Coda followed but got no traction as Microsoft started to infest the minds of University administrators. Ceph is the latest to try but without any deployments even beginning to approach the scale of AFS.” Either way, companies need to take control of their systems. Enough with the outsourcing. The outsourcing encourages hiring of ignorant (or unsuitably trained) staff, which will in turn fail to provide adequate services to clients. █ ䷩ 𝚕𝚒𝚗𝚎 587 ╒═══════════════════ 𝐀𝐑𝐓𝐈𝐂𝐋𝐄 ═════════════════════════════════════════════════╕ (ℹ) Images, hyperlinks and comments at http://techrights.org/2023/09/14/irc-log-130923/#comments Gemini version at gemini://gemini.techrights.org/2023/09/14/irc-log-130923/ ⠀⌧ █▇▆▅▄▃▂▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁ 09.14.23⠀▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▂▃▄▅▆▇█ ⌧ Gemini_version_available_♊︎ ✐ IRC_Proceedings:_Wednesday,_September_13,_2023⠀✐ Posted in IRC_Logs at 3:45 am by Needs Sunlight Also available via the Gemini protocol at: * gemini://gemini.techrights.org/irc-gmi/irc-log-techrights-130923.gmi * gemini://gemini.techrights.org/irc-gmi/irc-log-130923.gmi * gemini://gemini.techrights.org/irc-gmi/irc-log-social-130923.gmi * gemini://gemini.techrights.org/irc-gmi/irc-log-techbytes-130923.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  QmVAEWufD3Koc6JY6Dw1hq3j63dBxQpXYdmMYXrsEmUJss #boycottnovell 🄸🄼🄰🄶🄴 🄳🄴🅂🄲🅁🄸🄿🅃🄸🄾🄽 ⦇HTML5 logs⦈ (full IRC log as HTML) IRC log for #boycottnovell  QmQYxNic574MvrodDGETJEZwTtRHNQCouBHZdK2iPqAN34 (full IRC log 🄸🄼🄰🄶🄴 🄳🄴🅂🄲🅁🄸🄿🅃🄸🄾🄽 ⦇text logs⦈ as plain/ASCII text) IRC log for #boycottnovell-  QmVD7NTg5MmTuJuegaDovJ1XVYUngroJUpq9WEXPA8fDwB social 🄸🄼🄰🄶🄴 🄳🄴🅂🄲🅁🄸🄿🅃🄸🄾🄽 ⦇HTML5 logs⦈ (full IRC log as HTML) IRC log for #boycottnovell-  QmbVL139CYsJeMZzzkrUiLBzgvKYj5q29ejmJTEvikWfn3 social 🄸🄼🄰🄶🄴 🄳🄴🅂🄲🅁🄸🄿🅃🄸🄾🄽 ⦇text logs⦈ (full IRC log as plain/ASCII text) IRC log for  QmZiLTcwCoLywRVff4Bg4Mbewr7mLQdiFpHcPjhYG6FGj7 #techbytes 🄸🄼🄰🄶🄴 🄳🄴🅂🄲🅁🄸🄿🅃🄸🄾🄽 ⦇HTML5 logs⦈ (full IRC log as HTML) IRC log for #techbytes  QmcNvoF8f8kRaErDp4hc3S36SssqMtV1BwZpvU2CUWkQMm (full IRC log 🄸🄼🄰🄶🄴 🄳🄴🅂🄲🅁🄸🄿🅃🄸🄾🄽 ⦇text logs⦈ as plain/ASCII text) IRC log for  QmRRtd2S5DSZ9326brHfewUyMmUPeQogx91QvQUPm6XsFr #techrights 🄸🄼🄰🄶🄴 🄳🄴🅂🄲🅁🄸🄿🅃🄸🄾🄽 ⦇HTML5 logs⦈ (full IRC log as HTML) IRC log for #techrights  QmNSVEZZjKMtgG2UCPCpFsfnNyupcLoQvHvfCGKJNgpLnv (full IRC log 🄸🄼🄰🄶🄴 🄳🄴🅂🄲🅁🄸🄿🅃🄸🄾🄽 ⦇text logs⦈ as plain/ASCII text) 🄸🄼🄰🄶🄴 🄳🄴🅂🄲🅁🄸🄿🅃🄸🄾🄽 ⦇IPFS logo⦈ § Bulletin for Yesterday⠀➾ Local_copy | CID (IPFS): QmT3gTQRv33wEDtJveL8DiqiacGeRaxEbRFDUyVSJEAvDL ䷩ 𝚕𝚒𝚗𝚎 714 ╒═══════════════════ 𝐀𝐑𝐓𝐈𝐂𝐋𝐄 ═════════════════════════════════════════════════╕ (ℹ) Images, hyperlinks and comments at http://techrights.org/2023/09/14/microsoft-is-stacking-panels/#comments Gemini version at gemini://gemini.techrights.org/2023/09/14/microsoft-is-stacking-panels/ ⠀⌧ █▇▆▅▄▃▂▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁ 09.14.23⠀▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▂▃▄▅▆▇█ ⌧ Gemini_version_available_♊︎ ✐ Microsoft_is_Stacking_a_Closed_Door_Panel_in_Washington_(Commissioned_by_a Microsoft-Sponsored_Senator),_Pushing_Its_Products_Using_Buzzwords_and_Getting More_Bailouts_From_the_US_Government,_i.e._From_Taxpayers⠀✐ Posted in Deception, Finance, Microsoft at 2:38 pm by Dr. Roy Schestowitz Video_download_link | md5sum 1f6a02206b9e8b13aac2a97544fa7203 Microsoft Marketing Panels Behind Closed Doors Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivative Works 4.0 http://techrights.org/videos/biden-schumer--and-microsoft-panels.webm Summary: Microsoft is still running_political_affairs_(or_shapes_policy)_in_the United_States — a multi-stakeholder conundrum — and helping itself to the cookie jar that is the national budget or taxpayers’ money, partly owing to media that takes Microsoft money to create hype and supportive disinformation (like Microsoft being a “market leader” in some falsely-marketed vapourware that can be used to describe almost anything, just like “cloud”, “smart” and so on) DAYS ago we mentioned how Microsoft_was_exploiting_Biden's_diplomacy_in_Vietnam to_sell_"Hey_Hi"_(AI). Microsoft’s share_in_Vietnam_has_fallen_way_below_10%, so this is exploitation of politics for marketing and graft. There’s a trend here. Today we’re seeing a ton of puff pieces of the “he said, she said” kind; some are “Musk says” (e.g. [1, 2, 3]) and some are “Gates says”… How did we get there? Why are they quoted on subjects they do not at all specialise in? The person with the money is the sole person whose voice counts? “The person with the money is the sole person whose voice counts?”We’ve meanwhile noticed something similar at the Linux_Foundation (LF), which now targets “US_Government_and_Industry_Leaders” (almost all of them proprietary companies!) in “Secure Open Source Software Summit 2023″. Those aren’t experts at security or at “Open Source”, but it’s about sponsorship rather than expertise. Linux.com links to the_LF’s_copy_of_the press_release, as usual (that’s all Linux.com does these days), revealing that “Industry: [...] GitHub [...] Microsoft” is “Industry Leaders” in security, according to whoever pays for a seat at the table. As a reminder, Microsoft_is doubling_the_bribes_using_GitHub and buying_more_seats_at_the_LF (Microsoft is the company with the MOST Board of Directors seats at the ‘Linux’ Foundation because these seats are up for sale). “Those aren’t experts at security or at “Open Source”, but it’s about sponsorship rather than expertise.”Now, going back the US government, it is taking instructions from Jeffrey_Epstein’s_enabler_Bill_Gates (apparently no scandal is big enough to get him arrested or at least not invited!) and watch who_else_instructs_this_government. Microsoft “is represented at least three times according to the third paragraph,” one reader told us, citing this_New_York_Times_report, and “probably a lot more not even counting partners. Is there a way to get a full list and check?” To quote the relevant bit: The meeting — also attended by Bill Gates, a founder of Microsoft; Sam Altman of OpenAI; Satya Nadella of Microsoft; and Jensen Huang of Nvidia — was a rare congregation of more than a dozen top tech executives in the same room. It amounted to one of the industry’s most proactive shows of force in the nation’s capital as companies race to be at the forefront of A.I. and to be seen to influence its direction. Panel stacking by Microsoft would be a “meeting — also attended by Bill Gates, a founder of Microsoft; Sam Altman of OpenAI” and several more. In Microsoft’s own words: “A stacked panel, on the other hand, is like a stacked deck: it is packed with people who, on the face of things, should be neutral, but who are in fact strong supporters of our technology. The key to stacking a panel is being able to choose the moderator. Most conference organizers allow the moderator to select die panel, so if you can pick the moderator, you win. Since you can’t expect representatives of our competitors to speak on your behalf, you have to get the moderator to agree to having only “independent ISVs” on the panel. No one from Microsoft or any other formal backer of the competing technologies would be allowed -just ISVs who have to use this stuff in the “real world.” Sounds marvellously independent doesn’t it? In feet, it allows us to stack the panel with ISVs that back our cause. Thus, the “independent” panel ends up telling the audience that our technology beats the others hands down. Get the press to cover this panel, and you’ve got a major win on your hands.” –Microsoft,_internal_document [PDF] Microsoft is represented several times over: “US lawmakers are probing nine tech giants—Microsoft, OpenAI…” So the list here started with Microsoft twice. Who organised this thing and how? “Is this a balanced panel?”To quote the prior report, they had “Bill Gates, a founder of Microsoft; Sam Altman of OpenAI [Microsoft]; Satya Nadella of Microsoft…” Is this a balanced panel? While the media speaks of Google antitrust woes and Google layoffs we’re meant to think that it’s OK for Microsoft to run the government? Partial list of those invited can be found here or here (the latter list is longer but it is only a partial list too). No information is available at the_main_instigator’s_official_site. The meeting was quite secretive and so was the selection criterion/ia for attendees. We’ve already mentioned some Microsoft people who led the event, but “some of the others may have ties to Microsoft, such as Raji and Murguía,” a reader noted. She is a_Microsoft_partner. Tristan Harris might have been at Google and then there’s Chowdhury (formerly_at_Twitter). Clem Delangue is a_Microsoft_partner. Jack Clark, cofounder of Anthropic, co-founded_his_company_with_a_Microsofter (birds-of-a-feather and such). “We’re not sure about Eric Schmidt, formerly of Google, being an expert in Machine Learning. He’s just very rich and well connected.”“Schumer’s office appears not to have even tried to bring in the experts but merely dragged in a bunch of Microsofters and hangers on,” our reader noted. “I notice a nearly complete absence of AI researchers from universities…” Alex Karp is a_Microsoft_partner, Palantir. Arvind Krishna initiated_IBM’s partnership_with_Microsoft. Rivkin works for MPA and it needs to be investigated regarding Microsoft ties, Liz-Shuler_is_a_Microsoft_fan, and more examples remain to be noted. This isn’t an exhaustive list. Weingarten seems she_might_be_an_Microsoft_fan and Maya Wiley seems to have no connection to AI or even ICT. Maybe inclusion for diversity’s sake. We’re not sure about Eric Schmidt, formerly of Google, being an expert in Machine Learning. He’s just very rich and well connected. So why did Schumer invite these people? How were those people selected? Who exactly selected them? Who or what did they represent? Quite likely those paying them the salary to be there… “So why did Schumer invite these people? How were those people selected? Who exactly selected them?”What furthermore raises questions about Schumer’s office and perhaps Schumer himself is that Microsoft has been a major donor. Has it promised him a job upon leaving office? Is it like Eric Holder? “Microsoft is right_there_in_the_top_20_donors_of_Schumer,” our reader pointed out, “along with Cisco which I consider to be some kind of further implication.” (alternate page,_same_data) “The Schumer situation does require some thought,” the reader said, but there are broader implications that can be extrapolated to the whole party. This week we’ve learned about another attempt at Microsoft bailout_by_the_US_government; the Army does not need this_gimmick, it’s just an excuse to throw taxpayers’ money at Bill Gates et al. Will the Biden administration still try to throw 22,000 million dollars (22 billion) of taxpayers’ money at something that the Army’s leaders have repeatedly condemned? Will there instead be some “Hey Hi” (AI) contract? Anything for a bailout? To be clear, Trump did the same thing, e.g. the JEDI contract and attempts to force a takeover of TikTok (in the US) by Microsoft. “What furthermore raises questions about Schumer’s office and perhaps Schumer himself is that Microsoft has been a major donor.”In the quote above we’ve shown a portion of the stacked panel documents from Comes v Microsoft, reminding readers that it would be appropriate to be sceptical of the panel’s composition. It helps in demonstrating what they’re trying to achieve, especially showing that Microsoft has not changed tactics. Throughout the year Microsoft-sponsored publishers kept promoting a phony but much-spammed (by bribed media in particular) narrative of “AI arms race” — whatever that actually is (Machine Learning is not new; it’s very old) — to demand bailout for fake, unprofitable, massively losing “companies” like “open” Hey Hi, based on hype and buzzwords, sometimes under “defence” budget (national security as a pretext). “Note in the news from the other day how much electricity and, especially, water “AI” wastes,” our reader concludes. Is it appropriate to take taxpayers’ money to “invest” in something which diminishes already-scarce water supplies? █ ䷩ 𝚕𝚒𝚗𝚎 930 ╒═══════════════════ 𝐀𝐑𝐓𝐈𝐂𝐋𝐄 ═════════════════════════════════════════════════╕ (ℹ) Images, hyperlinks and comments at http://techrights.org/2023/09/14/mozilla-is-gafam/#comments Gemini version at gemini://gemini.techrights.org/2023/09/14/mozilla-is-gafam/ ⠀⌧ █▇▆▅▄▃▂▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁ 09.14.23⠀▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▂▃▄▅▆▇█ ⌧ Gemini_version_available_♊︎ ✐ Mozilla_is_GAFAM,_Just_Look_at_Who_Runs_the_Company⠀✐ Posted in Deception, Free/Libre_Software at 8:39 pm by Dr. Roy Schestowitz Video_download_link | md5sum 92bcf6c7d0daa9d7c6afe5807492c29d Poaching and Infiltration Tactics Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivative Works 4.0 http://techrights.org/videos/changed-from-within-by-hostile-people.webm Summary: Mozilla is bleeding and its attempts to appeal to GAFAM (Google, Apple, Facebook, Amazon, Microsoft) don’t fool remaining users of Firefox; many Firefox users will leave (in droves), seeing that Mozilla is not what it publicly claims to be It should surprise nobody that Mozilla serves monopolies. The code is outsourced to Microsoft (GitHub), Microsoft is in the Board, Google is by far the biggest paymaster, and as we noted earlier_this_week, Mozilla is now willing to “get its managers directly from_the_C.I.A. [whilst] it keeps hiring many managers from a notorious surveillance company, Facebook; the latest recruit too comes from the Zuckerbergs, so how does Mozilla intend to assure Firefox users that privacy is a priority? These people know nothing about Free software and some are actively_hostile toward the Open Web and Open Source.” “We know the causes and we can guess the motivations.”It’s kind of sad because, for a while (maybe around 2006), Mozilla did some really fantastic stuff! From there on it was mostly a downhill journey with the decline becoming faster over time (steeper curve). We know the causes and we can guess the motivations. A lot of it boils to money, power, and unprincipled staff that sold out. A reader borrowed an analogous situation involving Microsoft. “Was it Borland which Microsoft harassed in the same way?” So said the reader, citing these two old articles: * ⚓ Limos_and_bonuses_lure_staff⠀⇛ In its statement of claim Borland alleges that “the method Microsoft chose to develop its answer to Delphi, as well as Borland C++ and Internet tools, was to hire away the people at Borland who had developed the products”. * ⚓ Borland_sues_Microsoft_over_brain_drain⠀⇛ Saying that he “just wants Microsoft to leave us alone,” Borland International (BORL) CEO Delbert Yocam today filed a lawsuit against Microsoft (MSFT), claiming that the software giant is hiring away Borland’s key employees to put it out of business. Borland claims that in the past 30 months, Microsoft has hired 34 of the ailing software developer’s key employees by offering “large signing bonuses of several millions of dollars and other incentives,” according to the suit. “It’s like we’re in the desert, and Microsoft is stealing our water bottle,” said the executive, clearly frustrated by Microsoft’s recruiting operations. “Microsoft hired away their top developers (31) and just put them out to pasture on salary in order to ensure that Borland had nothing to come to market with,” the reader recalled. “Microsoft even used to send limos to Borland HQ to pick up the quislings for interviews.” “Is that what Zuckerberg is doing to Mozilla? If so, it would be most important to cover what Zuckerberg has to gain by eliminating or controlling Mozilla. Baker has maneuvered Mozilla to become nearly 100% financially dependent on Google’s money. So they are, on purpose, really very weak at the moment.” Zuckerberg isn’t the sole actor here. Mozilla also hired from Twitter (for a top role) and is quickly turning Firefox into social control media (Pocket), essentially looking to “monetise” what remains of the Firefox userbase. The reader closed with: “Is there some collusion for mutual gain between “Meta” and “Alphabet”?” Probably GAFAM more broadly. Mozilla knows where the money is; it’s not in freedom but coercion. █ ䷩ 𝚕𝚒𝚗𝚎 1041 ╒═══════════════════ 𝐀𝐑𝐓𝐈𝐂𝐋𝐄 ═════════════════════════════════════════════════╕ (ℹ) Images, hyperlinks and comments at http://techrights.org/2023/09/14/the-web-browser-we-lost/#comments Gemini version at gemini://gemini.techrights.org/2023/09/14/the-web-browser-we-lost/ ⠀⌧ █▇▆▅▄▃▂▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁ 09.14.23⠀▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▂▃▄▅▆▇█ ⌧ Gemini_version_available_♊︎ ✐ The_Web_Browser_We_Lost_(Not_Just_the_Web_We_Lost)⠀✐ Posted in Standard at 7:43 pm by Dr. Roy Schestowitz Video_download_link | md5sum 1613c097999e32079f7cab7eb64a2679 Before Web Browsers Went Astray Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivative Works 4.0 http://techrights.org/videos/web-and-apps-bad-for-us.webm Summary: Web browsers have “tamed” the Web and turned it into a platform to run “apps” (the Web browsers have become de facto virtual machines); this means we’ve lost much of the appeal which the Web originally had (or the problems it sought to solve) and it’s now facilitated to distance people from the programs they’re using (they not only lost software freedom but also the ability to locally run programs/binaries) SO NCSA Mosaic was recently_celebrating_its_30th_anniversary, but surely you did not hear about this anywhere. What’s left of “the media” conveniently ignored very important history and instead gave_a_platform_to_Microsoft lobbying_for_bailouts. “AdmFubar mentioned this in IRC and this had been brought up by someone else in IRC.”The “birthday” (not celebrated per se) was only noted in Soylent News, which recalled: “Tim Berners-Lee wrote the first text-only WWW browser. Then in 1991 four Finnish college students wrote the first graphical web browser, Erwise, but let it drop and that was the end of that. Two years later, Eric Bina and Marc Andreessen released NCSA Mosaic and, importantly, published it to an FTP site.” AdmFubar mentioned this in IRC and this had been brought up by someone else in IRC. The mainstream media said nothing at all. BillPR (NPR), where were you? “I’m surprised the has been so little press coverage of the 30 year anniversary of Mosaic,” one person told us, “nothing was mentioned anywhere back in January as far as I recall [...] Mosaic 2.0 was released in November of 1993 (I think)” (that’s soon). The video above talks about how the Web transitioned into a platform for “webapps” (really awful trend) and very much like so-called ‘smartphones’ it’s now designed to abuse and spy on people. What we now have is authoritarian Internet censorship and a Web that does not function unless you use a very bloated and user-hostile browser. It’s a good thing that we no longer rely on http:// and https:// (the latter presents additional barriers; Mozilla just supports a_cartel_of_so-called_“trust” while spying on everybody). We use irc:/ /, ipfs, and gemini://. We also have plain text bulletins. We habitually experiment with GNUnet, so we do not depend on the Web anymore. Identica, Diaspora, Fediverse (e.g. Mastodon)? We’ve seen them come and go… they will all vanish, just like Twitter and the Web. In short, the Web isn’t doing well. There’s a convergence with “apps”. If you value freedom, don’t invest much in the Web; do not put all the eggs in that one basket. The Google-dominated Web is, as it turns out again, also a major security headache [1, 2]. Blame Google. As for content on the Web, we’re getting to the point where within years we’ll have a Web not shy of 100% SPAM or CG spew; we may have not even articles, just shopping catalogues disguised as “content”. The Web really went downhill this year and last year. Chatbots (CG text) contribute further to that. On another note, the video above speaks about impact on health, including mental health, and more. It explains that we need countercultures along those lines; we need to resist fake “novelty” to the point where more people end up burying their skinnerboxes (“smartphones”). It seems to be happening already because sales of such devices fall sharply and and social control media is losing control over the outrage cycles. As one reader put it, “there is not really any safe level of exposure to most of the “apps” or really any of the “apps”…” “Propagation of healthy approaches,” he explains, is the way to go. This reader recalls how those “apps” had activists “effectively silenced”. He notes that even the so-called ‘Journal of Record’ has “figured out that even it had been shadowbanned from Twitter / “X”…” See the following articles: 1. ⚓ Looks_Like_Twitter_Shadowbanned_The_New_York_Times⠀⇛ 2. ⚓ X_will_address_shadowbanning_soon,_says_Elon_Musk ⠀⇛ Old ones too: 1. ⚓ What_Is_‘Shadow_Banning’?_–_The_New_York_Times⠀⇛ 2. ⚓ Twitter’s_shadow_bans_are_why_the_public_turned_against_‘experts’⠀⇛ 3. ⚓ Instagram_Will_Now_Tell_You_if_You’ve_Been_Shadow-Banned_and_Why_– CNET⠀⇛ This is why we call it social control media. This is what a lot of the Web has become: surveillance, censorship, and propaganda. Toxic! █ ䷩ 𝚕𝚒𝚗𝚎 1168 ╒═══════════════════ 𝐃𝐀𝐈𝐋𝐘 𝐋𝐈𝐍𝐊𝐒 ═════════════════════════════════════════════╕ ⠀⌧ █▇▆▅▄▃▂▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁ 09.14.23⠀▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▂▃▄▅▆▇█ ⌧ Gemini_version_available_♊︎ ✐ Gemini_Links_14/09/2023:_Distrohopping_to_Fedora_Silverblue_and_When_GemText Can_Become_Worse_Than_Plain_Text⠀✐ Posted in News_Roundup at 4:48 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz 🄸🄼🄰🄶🄴 🄳🄴🅂🄲🅁🄸🄿🅃🄸🄾🄽 ⦇GNOME bluefish⦈ § Contents⠀➾ * Gemini*_and_Gopher o Personal/Opinions o Politics_and_World_Events o Technology_and_Free_Software # Internet/Gemini * § Gemini* and Gopher⠀➾ o § Personal/Opinions⠀➾ # ⚓ Another_response_regarding_pinyin⠀⇛ Yes, the difficulty of experimenting with innovative or otherwise different teaching methods within a conservative environment is difficult, and we’ve talked about this before. I’m very lucky that my teachers were willing to engage in different ways of teaching us, unlike some other classes i have heard about. The lack of resources for pinyin- first teaching, and the difficulty in splitting classes more finely based on skill than one class per general level make this likely not to change for some time. # ⚓ Stone_Skipping⠀⇛ In our high school days, my friends and I went on walks almost every day. It didn’t matter where: the corner gas station was just as viable a trip as a hill five miles away overlooking the city. A favorite route of mine took us to a nearby park with a trail running through it. The trail followed a small creek that cut through the dense forestry and meandered behind immaculate suburban lawns. We’d often stop along the creek wherever we could find a straight stretch, and we’d skip stones together. # ⚓ 🔤SpellBinding:_DEWILNH_Wordo:_HUNKY⠀⇛ o § Politics and World Events⠀➾ # ⚓ RE:_Human_Rights⠀⇛ The well-being of a civilization’s individuals should be their right, according to the abilities and resources of the civilization. I believe that. Therefore the (or at least a) goal of a civilization should be the well-being of its individuals. Alas, the purpose of civilization is not well-being but survival. If not of the individual, then of the group. And there’s no lower limit to the shit scale… as long as survival is ensured. o § Technology and Free Software⠀➾ # ⚓ Global_tabs_in_window_managers⠀⇛ Tabs should be a part of the window manager, not the application. This is a hill i have been on for a long time (before i changed the direction of celeste, it was one of the things that was around for the longest). There is no reason why all things shouldn’t be able to be tabbed together rather than segregated by application. There are a few instances of this around. Haiku gets mentioned a lot, but partly i think due to the design happening before tabs were really a big thing, the implementation isn’t great due to a lack of quality of life features, like being easy to use. # ⚓ Distrohopping_to_Fedora_Silverblue⠀⇛ The way I’ve been using my computer, the laptop that got me all the way through school, has changed a lot since I graduated. Between classes and homework sessions I’d often have downtime, and I used to fill this with things like tweaking my setups, random internet browsing, watching videos, you get the idea. Managing my Arch system was something I kind of enjoyed doing, and it was different enough from my school assignments that I’d still have energy to do it even when I didn’t have energy for other things I wanted to do like personal programming projects. The past couple weeks though I’ve started to notice I really only take out my computer when I have something specific I want to accomplish, like writing a post or working on a project idea. And in this case Arch was starting to feel like a hassle. Updating every couple of weeks was annoying even when it went smoothly, which it didn’t always. I also was running Hyprland and the pace of development on it is still really fast with the developers not being afraid to make breaking changes between updates. I just didn’t have the patience to keep up anymore, which isn’t to say anything bad about the project but rather that my computer usage has changed. # ⚓ Are_You_a_Terminal_Emulator_Hipster?⠀⇛ GNOME Terminal, Alacritty, Kitty, XTERM, Terminator, Guake Terminal, Tilix, Hyper, Tilda, eDEX-UI, Konsole, Yakuake, and many more. I hadn’t even heard of many of these before searching for terminal emulators to add to this list. Which terminal emulators have you used and why? I’m the kind of person who doesn’t like spending a lot of time with configurations. I don’t have a dot files repo. I don’t even have a personal vimrc file. I tend to just use whatever comes with my Linux installation. This is a lie these days, actually, because I just realised that I copy over my home directory to the new computer. And I always install tmux. # § Internet/Gemini⠀➾ # ⚓ Gemtext_can_be_worse_than_plaintext⠀⇛ Recently I was thinking about the limitations of gemtext, and how to work around those. For inspiration, I started thinking about how those issues were handled in other limited formats. I thought back to what’s often considered the most limited format: plaintext files. Plaintext is limiting because it has no formatting at all. There are no semantic elements. That’s also part of it’s strength, allowing it the most universal support. # ⚓ Gemtext_Whitespace_Comparison:_Amphora_vs_Lagrange⠀⇛ This is a test that emerges from @Zelena’s [frustration] with whitespace handling in Gemtext, and her [request] that browsers “Do not strip whitespace.” Her claim that “Gemtext can be worse than plaintext” is worth considering. It is also an experiment that feeds into my essay “Between Two Chairs: The Problem With Gemtext”. If you don’t like a lot of blah-blah, consider this post to be the Cliff’s Notes version of that essay. # ⚓ Oracle_Cloud_might_screw_me_over⠀⇛ =============================================================================== * Gemini_(Primer) links can be opened using Gemini_software. It’s like the World Wide Web but a lot lighter. ䷩ 𝚕𝚒𝚗𝚎 1381 ╒═══════════════════ 𝐃𝐀𝐈𝐋𝐘 𝐋𝐈𝐍𝐊𝐒 ═════════════════════════════════════════════╕ ⠀⌧ █▇▆▅▄▃▂▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁ 09.14.23⠀▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▂▃▄▅▆▇█ ⌧ Gemini_version_available_♊︎ ✐ Links_14/09/2023:_KDE_Gear_23.08.1,_pg_ivm_1.7,_and_EasyOS_5.5.1⠀✐ Posted in News_Roundup at 10:06 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz 🄸🄼🄰🄶🄴 🄳🄴🅂🄲🅁🄸🄿🅃🄸🄾🄽 ⦇GNOME bluefish⦈ § Contents⠀➾ * GNU/Linux o Audiocasts/Shows 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 PCLinuxOS/Mageia/Mandriva/OpenMandriva_Family o Fedora_Family_/_IBM o Canonical/Ubuntu_Family o Devices/Embedded o Open_Hardware/Modding o Mobile_Systems/Mobile_Applications * Free,_Libre,_and_Open_Source_Software o SaaS/Back_End/Databases o FSF o Programming/Development # Python # Rust * Leftovers o Education o Hardware o Health/Nutrition/Agriculture o Pseudo-Open_Source # Openwashing o Security # Privacy/Surveillance o Defence/Aggression o Environment # Energy/Transportation # Wildlife/Nature # Overpopulation o Finance o AstroTurf/Lobbying/Politics o Censorship/Free_Speech o Civil_Rights/Policing o Internet_Policy/Net_Neutrality o Digital_Restrictions_(DRM) o Monopolies # Patents # Software_Patents # Copyrights * Gemini*_and_Gopher o Personal/Opinions * § GNU/Linux⠀➾ o § Audiocasts/Shows⠀➾ # ⚓ mintCast Podcast ☛ mintCast_420.5_–_“I_Don’t_Inhale”⠀⇛ In our Innards section, we talk about Linux on mobile devices In “Check This Out” We discuss a CNN article about Ukraine’s drone training. Download . # ⚓ Tux Digital ☛ Linux_Out_Loud_73:_Not_for_Matt⠀⇛ This week, Linux Out Loud chats about all the things Matt doesn’t like. Welcome to episode 73 of Linux Out Loud. We fired up our mics, connected those headphones as we searched the community for themes to expound upon. # ⚓ MakuluLinux_LinDoz_2023_–_First_Teaser⠀⇛ MakuluLinux LinDoz 2023 – First Teaser # ⚓ Thunderbird ☛ Mozilla_Thunderbird:_ThunderCast_Podcast_#4: Will_The_Real_Mozilla_Please_Stand_Up?⠀⇛ The Thunderbird team is back from Mozilla’s All- Hands event, and we’re overwhelmed in the most positive way. In addition to the happy and positive vibes we’re feeling from meeting our colleagues in person for the first time, we have a lot of thoughts and impressions to share. Ryan, Jason, and Alex talk about how Mozilla is building AI tools for the good of humanity, and how our perception of AI has changed dramatically. Plus, the problem with the “hey Mozilla, just build a browser” argument. Today’s episode is light on actual Thunderbird talk, and more focused on Mozilla as an organization and the future of AI. We hope you enjoy it as much as we enjoyed discussing it! o § Applications⠀➾ # ⚓ Collabora ☛ WhisperSpeech:_Exploring_New_Horizons_in_Text- to-Speech_Technology⠀⇛ Text-to-speech (TTS) models are playing a transformative role, from enriching audiobooks to enhancing podcasts and even improving interactions with chatbots. We’re introducing a new player in this field – WhisperSpeech, an Open Source text-to- speech model developed by Collabora. o § Instructionals/Technical⠀➾ # ⚓ ZDNet ☛ How_to_save_your_Linux_desktop_settings_in_case something_goes_wrong⠀⇛ Have you ever either reinstalled Linux or made a number of changes to your desktop and wished you could quickly regain those previous settings? With this handy app, you can. # ⚓ How_to_Install_and_Use_Pipx_on_Linux⠀⇛ In Python, ensuring package isolation is crucial to prevent conflicts with one another, and to achieve this goal, there are several tools available, including virtualenv, pipenv, and pipx (our topic for today). # ⚓ Install_Cockpit_Flatpak_Client_on_F39_WKS_(NIghtly_build 09/12/23)⠀⇛ # ⚓ Red Hat ☛ How_to_configure_RHEL_as_a_workstation_during installation⠀⇛ Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) is a powerful and widely-used Linux distribution known for its stability, security features, and enterprise-grade support. When installing RHEL, you have the opportunity to configure it as a workstation to optimize performance and usability for your specific needs. In this article, we will guide you through the steps to configure RHEL as a workstation during the installation process. § What is RHEL Workstation? The organization needs high-end workstations that can support developers and power users, such as artists, physicians, scientists, and engineers, so they can concentrate on what they do best. Designed for advanced Linux users and day-to-day usage with powerful hardware, Red_Hat_Enterprise_Linux_for Workstations (RHEL Workstation) is optimized for high-performance graphics, animation, and scientific applications. It includes all the capabilities and applications that workstation users need, plus development tools for provisioning and administration. # ⚓ Linux Handbook ☛ LHB_Linux_Digest_#23.14:_Clustering_and HA,_Generative_Models_on_K8,_Finger_Command_and_More⠀⇛ This edition of LHB Linux Digest features the beginning of AI tutorials and the end of Proxmox series. # ⚓ It’s FOSS ☛ Change_Configuration_of_Existing_VirtualBox Virtual_Machines⠀⇛ From CPU and RAM to disk size, VirtualBox allows you to tweak several configurations in a virtual machine even after creating it. # ⚓ It’s FOSS ☛ How_to_Check_VLC_Log_Files⠀⇛ Troubleshooting a video playback issue in VLC? Here’s how you can check the VLC log files. # ⚓ IT Pro Today ☛ How_To_Remotely_Manage_Linux_Users_and Groups⠀⇛ This guide provides detailed explanations, practical tips, and recommended tools and practices for the remote management of Linux users and groups. # ⚓ Make Tech Easier ☛ How_to_Get_the_Latest_Intel_Graphics Drivers_for_Linux⠀⇛ One of the problems with an open-source operating system like Linux is the lack of official hardware support from device makers. Although a plethora of drivers exist for a large variety of devices, many of these drivers are reverse-engineered and aren’t provided by the equipment manufacturers. Fortunately, over the last few years, the attitude of hardware vendors has started to change and many manufacturers now provide official drivers for their products. One such company is Intel. # ⚓ Linux Journal ☛ Navigating_the_Landscape_of_Linux_File System_Types⠀⇛ In the Linux environment, the file system acts as a backbone, orchestrating the systematic storage and retrieval of data. It is a hierarchical structure that outlines how data is organized, stored, and accessed on a storage device. Understanding the different Linux file system types can profoundly aid both developers and administrators in optimizing system performance and ensuring data security. This article delves deep into the intricate world of Linux file system types, tracing their evolutionary history and dissecting their features to provide a roadmap for selecting the appropriate file system for your needs. # ⚓ It’s FOSS ☛ Supercharge_Grammar_Checking_in_LibreOffice With_LanguageTool⠀⇛ The open source LanguageTool can also be integrated with LibreOffice Writer to provide a better grammatically accurate writing experience. # ⚓ Barry Kauler ☛ Fix_circular_symlinks_when_update_pre-usr- merge⠀⇛ I posted about a circular symlink getting created when update Easy 5.4.10 to 5.5, and the .session folder got converted to usr-merge folder hierarchy: [...] # ⚓ Major Hayden ☛ Major_Hayden:_Mounting_the_AWS_Elastic_File Store_on_Fedora⠀⇛ Fedora now has the AWS Elastic File Store (EFS) mount helper available for Fedora 38 and newer releases! It chooses optimized NFS mount options for you and makes mounting and unmounting a breeze. # ⚓ Trend Oceans ☛ How_to_Fix_No_Audio/Playback_Issue_in Firefox_Fedora_38⠀⇛ When you are trying to play video on Firefox but it’s not playing, read this guide to find a workaround to resolve this issue. The chances are quite high that you will face this kind of problem when the system is missing an important codec that is required for playback. # ⚓ Own HowTo ☛ How_to_install_httpie_on_Linux⠀⇛ httpie is a command line app that allows you to send http requests. With httpie you can create http or https requests, submit forms, pull data from API and much more, all this can be done directly from your terminal. # ⚓ Net2 ☛ How_to_Access_Recovery_Mode_in_Ubuntu_Linux_22.04⠀⇛ If you are using Ubuntu 22.04 (or prior versions), you might encounter some issues that prevent your system from working properly. For example, you might have a corrupted file system, a broken package, a misconfigured driver, or a forgotten password. # ⚓ It’s FOSS ☛ What_is_a_Virtual_Machine?⠀⇛ All you need to know about a virtual machine as an end user, how it works and why you need it. o § Games⠀➾ # ⚓ Games,_consoles_and_the_Meta_mystery⠀⇛ For the past few days I was at the seaside. As my better half had some work that she needed to take with her, I also took my new laptop and when she was doing her thing, I tweaked a few small things here and there. Nothing major though, as we were still on vacation. # ⚓ The_death_of_unity⠀⇛ Unity was once heralded as the savior of the video game industry. Now I would not recommend that anyone use it for anything. o § Desktop Environments/WMs⠀➾ # § K Desktop Environment/KDE SC/Qt⠀➾ # ⚓ 9to5Linux ☛ KDE_Gear_23.08.1_Improves_Dolphin, Gwenview,_Kdenlive,_and_Other_KDE_Apps⠀⇛ KDE Gear 23.08.1 comes only three weeks after KDE Gear 23.08 and fixes various issues in several KDE apps, including the Dolphin file manager which now exports the copy location path with native separators on copy operations, and the Gwenview image viewer whose navigation works better with side mouse buttons. The Kdenlive video editor received quite some attention in this release with fixes for a possible crash in the audiolevel widget, broken audio channel setting when opening an existing project file, incorrect saving of default audio channels for a project, a crash on subclip transcoding, and extracting of audio multi-stream clips. # ⚓ KDE ☛ KDE_Gear_23.08.1⠀⇛ Over 120 individual programs plus dozens of programmer libraries and feature plugins are released simultaneously as part of KDE Gear. Today they all get new bugfix source releases with updated translations, including… * § Distributions and Operating Systems⠀➾ o § New Releases⠀➾ # ⚓ Barry Kauler ☛ EasyOS_Kirkstone-series_version_5.5.1 released⠀⇛ This is a quick fix for 5.5, duplicate icons getting created on the desktop. o § PCLinuxOS/Mageia/Mandriva/OpenMandriva Family⠀➾ # ⚓ PCLOS Official ☛ Support_the_future_of_PCLinuxOS⠀⇛ PCLinuxOS is made possible thanks to the donation of people like you o § Fedora Family / IBM⠀➾ # ⚓ Fedora Project ☛ Fedora_Community_Blog:_CPE_Weekly_update_– Week_36_2023⠀⇛ This is a weekly report from the CPE (Community Platform Engineering) Team. If you have any questions or feedback, please respond to this report or contact us on #redhat-cpe channel on libera.chat. # ⚓ Red Hat ☛ Introducing_Ansible_Molecule_with_Ansible Automation_Platform⠀⇛ Ansible Molecule is a tool designed to aid in developing and testing Ansible playbooks, roles, and collections. It provides support for functional testing of Ansible content across multiple instances, operating systems and distributions, virtualization providers, test frameworks, and testing scenarios. Molecule helps Ansible content creators (automation specialists) consistently deliver automation content that is scalable, repeatable, and compatible with the latest Ansible versions. Ansible Molecule 6 is now available as a developer preview with Red_Hat_Ansible_Automation_Platform. This version will refocus and redefine the project as a tool for testing Ansible content with Ansible Automation Platform. o § Canonical/Ubuntu Family⠀➾ # ⚓ Linux Magazine ☛ Real-Time_Ubuntu_Available_in_AWS Marketplace⠀⇛ Anyone looking for a Linux distribution for real- time processing could do a whole lot worse than Real-Time Ubuntu. # ⚓ Stéphane_Graber:_Initial_daily_packages_for_Incus⠀⇛ § Introduction Ever since announcing Incus, one of the most asked questions was when would we have packages available. And that’s even before we have our first stable release out! This week I finally dedicated some time to getting us automated daily builds which will now be available moving forward for Debian 11, Debian 12, Ubuntu 20.04 LTS and Ubuntu 22.04 LTS. Similar to my kernel and ZFS builds, those will be built for both x86_64 and aarch64. Once we do have a stable release of Incus out, a separate repository for stable builds will also be added. For now, this is only daily builds which are put out there without any testing, so here by dragons! o § Devices/Embedded⠀➾ # ⚓ [Repeat] Linux Gizmos ☛ Waveshare_presents_low-cost_RP2040 Pi-Zero_board⠀⇛ Waveshare recently featured a development board with a similar form-factor as the Raspberry Pi Zero, except that it’s powered by the dual-core RP2040 processor. This new Waveshare includes a battery connector, a MicroSD card and a DVI port for displays. # ⚓ CNX Software ☛ Rockchip_RK3588_AIoT_gateway_supports_WiFi 6,_5G,_RS232,_RS485,_LoRaWAN,_BLE,_and_Ethernet⠀⇛ The Dusun DSGW-380 also supports DIN Rail or wall mounting. On the software side, Ubuntu/Debian Linux and ROS are supported, the 6 TOPS AI accelerator is compatible with TensorFlow, MXNet, PyTorch, and Caffe, and the SDK supports the YOLO v3 algorithm. More details about the hardware can be found on the product specifications page, and the support page provides download links to the Debian SDK, firmware, getting started documentation, flashing tools, and third-party software such as Node-Red, Docker, BLE2MQTT, etc… Everything is oddly shared through Google Drive links… Technical support is offered through a community forum. o § Open Hardware/Modding⠀➾ # ⚓ CNX Software ☛ Pico_QwiicReset_board_adds_Reset_button_and Qwiic_connector_to_Raspberry_Pi_Pico⠀⇛ Pico QwiicReset is a tiny add-on board for the Raspberry Pi Pico that adds a Reset button as well as the Qwicc connector to more easily connect I2C modules to the popular MCU board. The lack of a Reset button on the Raspberry Pi Pico has always been an issue since the reset pin is used to flash the firmware, so people have tried various ways to add a Reset button to the Pi Pico board. The Pico QwiicReset is like an extension of the Pimoroni “Captain Resetti” button with an extra Qwiic connector. # ⚓ Tom’s Hardware ☛ Raspberry_Pi_Tombstone_Built_with Adafruit’s_Prop_Maker_RP2040⠀⇛ The Ruiz brothers have created a Raspberry Pi tombstone project for Adafruit that’s totally spooky and fun to make. # ⚓ Arduino ☛ Growing_real-world_cyborg_devices⠀⇛ Cyborgs have long been a staple of sci-fi, but we see few real-world examples of this concept outside of a handful of biomedical devices and prostheses. But bionics — engineered systems that integrate biological structures — is an adjacent field with interesting possibilities. # ⚓ Arduino ☛ Let’s_connect_at_The_Things_Conference_2023⠀⇛ It’s time to catch up on all things LoRaWAN® and low-power IoT! Our team is looking forward to returning to The Things Conference this year, joining all LoRa® key players in Amsterdam on September 21st-22nd. o § Mobile Systems/Mobile Applications⠀➾ # ⚓ TechRadar ☛ Android_Auto_now_lets_drivers_take_Zoom_and WebEx_calls_on_the_road_|_TechRadar⠀⇛ # ⚓ The Sun ☛ Millions_of_Android_owners_receive_free_phone upgrade_that’s_essential_for_hidden_photos_|_The_US_Sun⠀⇛ # ⚓ Notebook Check ☛ Blackview_unveils_A96_MediaTek_Helio_G99- powered_Android_13_smartphone_–_NotebookCheck.net_News⠀⇛ # ⚓ Digital Trends ☛ Motorola_just_launched_3_new_Android phones,_and_they_look_incredible_|_Digital_Trends⠀⇛ * § Free, Libre, and Open Source Software⠀➾ o ⚓ It’s FOSS ☛ FOSS_Weekly_#23.37:_Unique_Browsers,_LibreOffice Tricks,_Linux_Malware_and_More⠀⇛ More VirtualBox tutorials along with an updated list of LibreOffice tips in this edition of FOSS Weekly. o § SaaS/Back End/Databases⠀➾ # ⚓ PostgreSQL ☛ pg_ivm_1.7_released⠀⇛ IVM Development Group is pleased to announce the release of pg_ivm_1.7. Changes since the v1.6 release include: Add support for PostgreSQL 16 (Yugo Nagata) Now you can build and use pg_ivm with PostgreSQL 13, 14, 15, and 16. o § FSF⠀➾ # ⚓ FSF ☛ FSF_Blogs:_GNU40_–_Celebration_in_the_US⠀⇛ The GNU System is turning forty. o § Programming/Development⠀➾ # ⚓ Remy Van Elst ☛ A_docker_image_for_Qt_5.15_LTS_for_Android, including_OpenSSL_and_the_KDE_patch_collection⠀⇛ Recently I got an email from Google regarding the API level of [Leaf Node Monitoring](https:// leafnode.nl), my open source monitoring app for Windows, Linux and Android. The Play Store version must be updated to target API level 33. # ⚓ Rlang ☛ How_to_Plot_Multiple_Plots_on_the_Same_Graph_in_R⠀⇛ Data visualization is a crucial aspect of data analysis. In R, the flexibility and power of its plotting capabilities allow you to create compelling visualizations. # ⚓ Ted Unangst ☛ on_building_jpeg-xl_for_wasm⠀⇛ I was planning on working on a redesign of a photo site, and wanted to use JPEG-XL as the preferred image format for storage. The only implementation I know of is the libjxl_reference_implementation written in C++. Alas, it hasn’t been a good week for JPEG successors, and I would much prefer not to run this code on my server. While looking at libjxl a short while ago, I did notice that the build system supports compiling to WASM. Seems like this could be the needed solution to my safety concerns. Hook this into my go server with something like wazero, and I’d feel a lot more comfortable connecting this to the internet. I didn’t investigate too thoroughly at the time, but it seemed quite straightforward. # ⚓ Ruby_3.3.0-preview2_Released⠀⇛ We are pleased to announce the release of Ruby 3.3.0-preview2. Ruby 3.3 adds a new pure-Ruby JIT compiler named RJIT, uses Lrama as a parser generator, and many performance improvements especially YJIT. # ⚓ Rlang ☛ State_of_Shiny_2023_–_Download_Report⠀⇛ Introducing the State of Shiny 2023 report – your comprehensive guide to the latest trends and insights in the dynamic world of Shiny. # § Python⠀➾ # ⚓ Linux Links ☛ 9_Best_Free_and_Open_Source_Python_Web Frameworks⠀⇛ One of the types of software that’s important for a web developer is the web framework. A framework “is a code library that makes a developer’s life easier when building reliable, scalable, and maintainable web applications” by providing reusable code or extensions for common operations. By saving development time, developers can concentrate on application logic rather than mundane elements. There are a respectable number of open source Python web frameworks available to download. Django receives the most coverage, but our other recommendations may be better suited for your requirements. Here’s our verdict captured in a legendary LinuxLinks-style ratings chart. # § Rust⠀➾ # ⚓ Silicon Angle ☛ JetBrains_now_offers_a_dedicated integrated_development_environment_for_Rust⠀⇛ Professional software development tools company JetBrains s.r.o today announced the launch of RustRover, an integrated development environment or IDE dedicated to the Rust programming language. Rust, which emphasizes performance, type safety and concurrency, has seen extensive adoption and increasing popularity in recent years because it offers advantages for software engineers, business leaders and governments. * § Leftovers⠀➾ o § Education⠀➾ # ⚓ University of Michigan ☛ How_to_get_out_of_a_reading slump⠀⇛ If you’re an avid reader, you have likely experienced a reading slump at least once. In fact, whether you read a lot or a little, you have probably found yourself at a loss for what to read next. # ⚓ ACLU ☛ How_Our_Affiliates_are_Fighting_for_Education Equity⠀⇛ Across the 50 states, our affiliates are working towards education equity for all by challenging unconstitutional disciplinary policies in schools and combating classroom censorship efforts that disproportionately impact marginalized students. Achieving education equity means all students have equal access to a high quality education, safe learning environment, and a diverse student body that enriches the educational experiences of all students. o § Hardware⠀➾ # ⚓ Ruben Schade ☛ Fake_486_cache_chips⠀⇛ Have you ever heard a phrase that hit your nostalgia centre with such devastating force that you had to pause the video or conversation just to get your bearings again? This often comes in the form of an advertising jingle from my childhood, embarrasingly enough for me. It happened again recently. It would shock you to know I was watching a video about a 486 motherboard restoration, when the host expressed relief that it had “real cache memory, not those fake chips”. The words sent me back to Sailor Moon, iMacs, and Seinfeld. I hadn’t thought of this issue for years, and likely would have forgotten completely. # ⚓ Alan Pope ☛ Alan_Pope:_Small_phone_is_best_phone⠀⇛ I’ve owned plenty of mobile phones over the years. My current daily driver is iPhone_13_Mini, sporting a bright, funky, and cheap OIIAEE_Silicone_Case. Look at it. It’s gorgeous (ignore the notification badge count, please). # ⚓ IT Jungle ☛ IBM_and_Fujitsu_Unveil_150_TB_Tape_Drive⠀⇛ Organizations will be able to store up to 150 TB of compressed data on a single cartridge when they select the new TS1170 IBM tape drive and 3592 JF tape cartridge developed by Fujifilm. The unveiling of the world’s most voluminous tape storage system two weeks ago shows that tape has a lot of life as a medium for mass data storage. # ⚓ The Next Platform ☛ Other_Than_Nvidia,_Who_Will_Use_Arm’s Neoverse_V2_Core?⠀⇛ We are still plowing through the many, many presentions from the Hot Interconnects, Hot Chips, Google Cloud Next, and Meta Networking @ Scale conferences that all happened recently and at essentially the same time. o § Health/Nutrition/Agriculture⠀➾ # ⚓ The Kent Stater ☛ Students_can_now_learn_how_to_combat suicide_through_university’s_prevention_course⠀⇛ The university’s newest course prepares students to save lives. In 2021, suicide was the second leading cause of death for Ohioans ages 10-34, according to the Ohio Department of Health. # ⚓ Tedium ☛ Something_To_Sneeze_At⠀⇛ The FDA may have just cancelled a whole category of over-the-counter drugs. Has anything like this ever happened before? # ⚓ IT Wire ☛ France_demands_Apple_pull_iPhone_12_over_radio- frequency_emissions⠀⇛ “The ANFR expects Apple to deploy all available means to put an end to the non-compliance,” it said. “Failure to act will result in the recall of equipment that has already been made available to consumers.” The statement said the agency had, in its role as market surveillance authority for radio equipment and being responsible for controlling public exposure to electromagnetic fields, tested 141 devices for compliance with set values. # ⚓ Silicon Angle ☛ As_France_warns_Apple_it_might_have_to recall_the_iPhone_12,_Apple_tries_to_dampen_radiation_fears⠀⇛ The French watchdog Agence Nationale des Fréquences told Apple Inc. Tuesday that it has to halt sales of its iPhone 12 in France over fears the device emits dangerous levels of radiation. # ⚓ TwinCities Pioneer Press ☛ The_iPhone_12_emits_too_much radiation_and_Apple_must_take_it_off_the_market,_French agency_says⠀⇛ The company disputed the findings and said the device complies with regulations. # ⚓ France24 ☛ Sardines_blamed_for_deadly_botulism_outbreak_at Bordeaux_restaurant⠀⇛ A woman has died from botulism after eating sardines at a Bordeaux restaurant and 12 other people, mostly foreigners, are being treated for the rare condition, French health officials said Wednesday. # ⚓ New York Times ☛ 1_Dead_in_Botulism_Outbreak_Traced_to_Bar in_France⠀⇛ At least a dozen people became ill after eating at a popular organic wine bar in Bordeaux. Health officials blamed contaminated homemade preserves. # ⚓ LRT ☛ Medical_university_in_Kaunas_installs_Europe’s_first 3D_drug_printer⠀⇛ The Lithuanian University of Health Sciences (LSMU) in Kaunas is presenting a pharmaceutical 3D printer on Thursday. # ⚓ teleSUR ☛ Health_Alert_Issued_for_Flood-Stricken_Central Greece⠀⇛ Authorities warned the population to avoid contact with contaminated water and dead animals. o § Pseudo-Open Source⠀➾ # § Openwashing⠀➾ # ⚓ Silicon Angle ☛ Howso_launches_fully_auditable_and explainable_open-source_AI_engine [Ed: Openwashing and misuse of the Open Source brand... with a dash]⠀⇛ # ⚓ Silicon Angle ☛ New_Coder_2.0_aims_to_elevate onboarding_and_productivity_in_the_cloud_era [Ed: Just more openwashing]⠀⇛ o § Security⠀➾ # ⚓ LinuxSecurity ☛ Critical_OpenDMARC_DoS_Bug_Fixed⠀⇛ A critical vulnerability was found in the OpenDMARC open-source implementation of the DMARC specification. It was discovered that OpenDMARC through 1.3.2 and 1.4.x through 1.4.0-Beta1 incorrectly handled certain inputs, resulting in remote memory corruption in certain situations ( CVE-2020-12460 ). This vulnerability has received a National Vulnerability Database base score of 9.8 out of 10 (”Critical” severity). # ⚓ It’s FOSS ☛ Linux_Malware!_Read_This_If_You_Use_Free Download_Manager⠀⇛ We do not often talk about Linux malware because it is often quickly patched up and not exploited much in the wild compared to Windows/macOS. However, there has been a concern regarding the Free Download Manager (a decently popular cross-platform download manager). # ⚓ Linux Foundation’s Site/Blog ☛ OpenSSF_Gathers_US Government_and_Industry_Leaders_at_Secure_Open_Source Software_Summit_2023 [Ed: “Industry: [...] GitHub [...] Microsoft” is “Industry Leaders” in security, according to ‘Linux’ Foundation; Microsoft is doubling_the_bribes using GitHub and buying_more_seats]⠀⇛ # ⚓ Bruce Schneier ☛ Zero-Click_Exploit_in_iPhones⠀⇛ Make sure you update_your_iPhones: Citizen Lab says two zero-days fixed by Apple today in emergency security updates were actively abused as part of a zero- click exploit chain (dubbed BLASTPASS) to deploy NSO Group’s Pegasus commercial spyware onto fully patched iPhones. # ⚓ Security Week ☛ macOS_Info-Stealer_Malware_‘MetaStealer’ Targeting_Businesses⠀⇛ The MetaStealer macOS information stealer has been targeting businesses to exfiltrate keychain and other valuable information. # ⚓ Security Week ☛ CISA_Releases_Open_Source_Software_Security Roadmap⠀⇛ CISA details its plan to support the open source software ecosystem and secure the use of open source software within the federal government. # ⚓ Mozilla ☛ Mozilla_Security_Blog:_Version_2.9_of_the_Mozilla Root_Store_Policy⠀⇛ Online security is constantly evolving, and thus we are excited to announce the publication of MRSP version 2.9, demonstrating that we are committed to keep up with the advancement of the web and further our commitment to a secure and trustworthy internet. # ⚓ Ten Four Fox ☛ Cameron_Kaiser:_WebP_chemspill_patch_on Github⠀⇛ A fix is in the TenFourFox tree for MFSA 2023-40, a/k/a CVE-2023-4863, which is a heap overflow in the WebP image decoder. # ⚓ Silicon Angle ☛ Chrome,_Firefox_and_other_browsers_affected by_critical_WebP_vulnerability⠀⇛ Google LLC, the Mozilla Foundation and other browser makers have released patches to fix a zero- day vulnerability affecting the WebP image format. It’s believed that hackers are actively exploiting the flaw to launch cyberattacks. # ⚓ SANS ☛ DShield_and_qemu_Sitting_in_a_Tree:_L-O-G-G-I-N-G,_ (Thu,_Sep_14th)⠀⇛ This is a Guest Diary by Allen Ingle, an ISC intern as part of the SANS.edu BACS program # ⚓ New York Times ☛ China_Denies_Banning_iPhones,_but_Cites Unspecified_Security_Concerns⠀⇛ The comments marked Beijing’s first public response to reports that some government agencies have told employees not to use iPhones for work. # ⚓ Security Week ☛ China_Says_No_Law_Banning_iPhone_Use_in Govt_Agencies⠀⇛ China said it was following media reports about suspected security issues with iPhones but insisted there was no ban on its officials using the devices # ⚓ Security Week ☛ How_Next-Gen_Threats_Are_Taking_a_Page_From APTs⠀⇛ Cybercriminals are increasingly trying to find ways to get around security, detection, intelligence and controls as APTs start to merge with conventional cybercrime. # ⚓ Security Week ☛ Airbus_Launches_Investigation_After_Hacker Leaks_Data⠀⇛ Airbus has launched an investigation after a hacker claimed to have breached the company’s systems and leaked some business documents. # ⚓ RFA ☛ China_sets_AI_sights_on_democracies_–_reports [Ed: Microsoft allowed China to take over E-mails of the US government, so Microsoft needs some distraction from its own misconduct in relation tom China]⠀⇛ Microsoft and RAND Corp both warn of the potential of manipulation to swing votes. # ⚓ Neowin ☛ It’s_another_Microsoft_365_outage_again_as_Teams fails_to_send_and_receive_messages⠀⇛ Microsoft 365 is down again today. That hardly sounds new or surprising to many as it is almost a weekly occurrence. # ⚓ Bleeping Computer ☛ Microsoft_September_2023_Patch_Tuesday fixes_2_zero-days,_59_flaws⠀⇛ Today is Microsoft’s September 2023 Patch Tuesday, with security updates for 59 flaws, including two actively exploited zero-day vulnerabilities. # § Privacy/Surveillance⠀➾ # ⚓ NYOB ☛ How_mobile_apps_illegally_share_your_personal data⠀⇛ How mobile apps illegally share your personal data Some mobile apps share your personal data immediately after they’re opened. This isn’t compliant with EU privacy laws # ⚓ AntiWar ☛ How_the_Government_Weaponizes_Surveillance To_Silence_Its_Critics⠀⇛ “Once a government is committed to the principle of silencing the voice of opposition, it has only one way to go, and that is down the path of increasingly repressive measures, until it becomes a source of terror to all its citizens and creates a country where everyone lives in fear.” ~ President Harry S. Truman o § Defence/Aggression⠀➾ # ⚓ JURIST ☛ US_to_unfreeze_$6B_Iran_assets_in_exchange_for prisoner_release⠀⇛ The US State Department informed Congress on Monday that it would be waiving sanctions and unfreezing $6 billion in Iranian assets at banking institutions to be used for “humanitarian aid” in exchange for five US citizens held as prisoners in Iran. # ⚓ RFA ☛ Junta_requires_workers_abroad_to_send_money_home_via approved_banks⠀⇛ The move comes as the cash-strapped regime tries to shore up foreign currency. # ⚓ The Strategist ☛ Avoiding_a_bidding_war_in_developing Pacific_island_militaries⠀⇛ Strategic competition in the region has provided Pacific island leaders with both an opportunity and motivation to build their security capabilities. For some, that could include standing up a military for the first time. # ⚓ Atlantic Council ☛ Bahrain’s_new_strategic_pact_with_the_US is_just_the_beginning_for_the_Gulf⠀⇛ The newly signed security and economic pact between the United States and Bahrain will have far- reaching consequences for the Gulf and beyond. # ⚓ The Straits Times ☛ U.S.,_Bahrain_sign_strategic_security and_economic_agreement⠀⇛ The United States and Bahrain on Wednesday signed a strategic security and economic agreement, which U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said would expand defense and intelligence collaboration between the two countries. # ⚓ New York Times ☛ U.S._Deepens_Security_Pledge_to_Bahrain, an_Adversary_of_Iran⠀⇛ The promise to defend Bahrain could serve as a template for other Gulf countries like Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, which are also pressing for stronger American security commitments. # ⚓ Defence Web ☛ Royal_Navy_Warship_HMS_Trent_strengthens maritime_security_partnership_with_Nigeria⠀⇛ The Royal Navy’s offshore patrol vessel HMS Trent is once again visiting, Nigeria, reiterating its dedication to enhancing maritime security in West Africa. # ⚓ France24 ☛ Repression_in_Iran:_‘Whoever_targeted_my_eye knew_exactly_who_I_was’⠀⇛ Saman, a 31-year-old export consultant, fled from a Tehran hospital when Iranian security officers came to arrest him in October. His left eye was seriously wounded when he was shot at point-blank range with a rubber bullet during protests that erupted after the death of Mahsa Amini. Saman now lives in Germany, where he is still being treated for his injuries. # ⚓ France24 ☛ Death_of_Mahsa_Amini:_‘The_silent_crowd_came_to life_and_began_shouting’⠀⇛ Diako Alavi, a high-school teacher from Mahsa Amini’s hometown of Saqqez, witnessed the first protests following Amini’s death in police custody after she was arrested for improperly wearing the veil. Alavi, who knew Amini’s family, took part in the demonstrations alongside his students before he was also arrested by the Iranian authorities. # ⚓ France24 ☛ UK_government_spy_scandals_fuel_calls_for tougher_stance_on_China⠀⇛ Britain’s MI5 security service warned the UK Conservative party that two would-be MPs could be Chinese spies, a minister said Wednesday, after news reports on Sunday revealed a parliamentary researcher was arrested in March on suspicion of spying for Beijing. # ⚓ Hong Kong Free Press ☛ UK’s_ruling_Conservatives_warned candidates_might_be_Chinese_spies⠀⇛ Britain’s MI5 security service warned the ruling Conservative party that two would-be MPs could be Chinese spies, a minister said Wednesday. Details of the advice, given in 2021 and 2022, comes days after it emerged a parliamentary researcher was arrested in March on suspicion of spying for Beijing. # ⚓ JURIST ☛ Syria_security_forces_reportedly_fire_live_rounds at_protestors,_wounding_3⠀⇛ Security forces in Syria fired at anti-government protestors Wednesday in Sweida, a Druze city in the southwest of the country, according to a correspondent from news outlet Suwayda 24. # ⚓ The Straits Times ☛ Australia_toughens_ban_on_training ‘certain_foreign_militaries’_after_pilot_case⠀⇛ September 14, 2023 1:15 PM It aims to stop Australians from giving military training to nations seen as national security risk. # ⚓ The Straits Times ☛ US,_Philippines_plan_upgrades_in airport,_navy_base_near_Taiwan⠀⇛ Manila and Washington have been bolstering their longstanding security alliance. # ⚓ The Straits Times ☛ South_Korea_to_hold_massive_military parade_for_first_time_in_decade⠀⇛ This year’s event will proceed under the theme of “a strong military, strong security and peace through strength”. # ⚓ Hong Kong Free Press ☛ Taiwan_says_68_Chinese_warplanes,_10 vessels_detected_near_island⠀⇛ Taiwan said Thursday China had flown 68 warplanes and deployed 10 navy vessels into areas around the self-ruled island in one day. Beijing, which views Taiwan as its own territory to be seized one day, has stepped up military and political pressure on the island in recent years as relations deteriorate. # ⚓ RFA ☛ China_ratchets_up_‘carrot_and_stick’_pressure_on Taiwan⠀⇛ New ‘blueprint’ for integration announced as warships threaten from the east. # ⚓ RFERL ☛ China_Becomes_First_To_Name_New_Afghan_Ambassador Under_Taliban⠀⇛ China has become the first country to formally name a new ambassador to Afghanistan since the Taliban takeover, after its envoy presented credentials at a ceremony in Kabul. # ⚓ The Straits Times ☛ China_to_formulate_‘special’_measures to_widen_Taiwan’s_access_to_Fujian⠀⇛ China will take a number of \”special\” policy measures to widen access for Taiwanese enterprises to Fujian province across the Taiwan Strait, said the Chinese state planner on Thursday, under a long-term cross-strait integrated development plan. # ⚓ The Straits Times ☛ Taiwan_blasts_Elon_Musk_over_latest China_comments⠀⇛ Musk has asserted Taiwan is an integral part of China, like Hawaii with the US. # ⚓ New York Times ☛ Schumer_to_Lead_Senate_Delegation_to_China Amid_Tensions⠀⇛ The Senate majority leader, a longtime China hawk, plans to visit Beijing in the fall in another high- level visit as the Biden administration tries to improve diplomatic ties. # ⚓ The Straits Times ☛ South_Korea’s_Yoon_heading_to_New_York next_week_for_UN_General_Assembly⠀⇛ South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol will visit New York next week to attend the United Nations General Assembly, Yoon’s office said on Thursday. # ⚓ The Straits Times ☛ US_approves_$6.8b_sale_of_F-35_jets_to South_Korea⠀⇛ South Korea has operated F-35s since 2018. # ⚓ New York Times ☛ China_Conducts_Major_Military_Exercises_in Western_Pacific⠀⇛ The drills, which appear to simulate a blockade of Taiwan, are believed to be in response to recent military drills between the United States and allies. # ⚓ Federal News Network ☛ Top_prosecutors_back_compensation for_those_sickened_by_US_nuclear_weapons_testing⠀⇛ New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez and 13 other top prosecutors from around the U.S. are uniting in support of efforts to compensate people sickened by exposure to radiation during nuclear weapons testing. # ⚓ France24 ☛ Air_strikes_kill_dozens_in_Darfur_as_UN’s_Sudan chief_resigns⠀⇛ An air raid on Sudan’s war-ravaged Darfur region killed at least 40 civilians Wednesday, according to a medical source, as the head of the UN mission to the country resigned. # ⚓ RFERL ☛ Iranian_Activist_Ends_Hunger_Strike_To_Mark Anniversary_Of_Amini’s_Arrest⠀⇛ Prominent Iranian political prisoner Bahareh Hedayat has announced the end of her hunger strike in protest against the escalating repression by the Islamic government at the request of the families of Mahsa Amini and Javad Rouhi to mark the first anniversary of Amini’s arrest by morality police over an alleged head-scarf infraction. Three days later, Amini died in custody. # ⚓ The Straits Times ☛ South_Korea_rail_workers_launch_first strike_in_four_years⠀⇛ Some 13,000 unionised rail workers launched a four- day strike on Thursday. # ⚓ The Straits Times ☛ Two_Syrian_soldiers_killed,_6_wounded in_Israeli_air_strike_over_Tartous_–_Syrian_state_media⠀⇛ Two Syrian soldiers were killed and six others were wounded in an Israeli air strike over Tartous, Syrian state media reported on Wednesday. # § Russia, Belarus, and War in Ukraine⠀➾ # ⚓ New York Times ☛ Putin_and_Kim_Deepen_Ties,_Spurred by_War_in_Ukraine⠀⇛ The two leaders trumpeted their ties in a summit that signaled a new era in their relationship, amid speculation that North Korea would send more weapons to Moscow for its war in Ukraine. # ⚓ CS Monitor ☛ Putin_meets_Kim_Jong_Un,_looking_for arms_–_and_friends⠀⇛ Vladimir Putin is often accused of trying to restore the old Soviet Union. But his meeting with Kim Jong Un suggests he might be focusing on restoring ties with like-minded former Soviet allies instead. # ⚓ The Straits Times ☛ Russia’s_Putin_accepts_Kim’s invite_to_visit_North_Korea⠀⇛ Putin gave numerous hints that military cooperation was discussed during their meeting in Russia. # ⚓ RFA ☛ Putin_may_visit_North_Korea,_as_Kim_boasts_of ‘unbreakable’_bilateral_ties⠀⇛ ‘Russian army and people will be victorious against the evils,’ Kim says. # ⚓ France24 ☛ Kim_promises_Putin_North_Korea’s_full support_for_Russia’s_‘sacred_fight’⠀⇛ North Korean leader Kim Jong Un told Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday that his country offers its “full and unconditional support” for Russia’s “sacred fight” to defend its security interests, in an apparent reference to the war in Ukraine, and said Pyongyang will always stand with Moscow on the “anti-imperialist” front. # ⚓ Atlantic Council ☛ What_the_Putin-Kim_authoritarian get-together_means_for_Russia’s_war_and_North_Korea’s capabilities⠀⇛ Experts react to Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un meeting at the Vostochny Cosmodrome in Russia. # ⚓ France24 ☛ 🔴_Live:_Kim_invites_Putin_to_visit_North Korea⠀⇛ Russian President Vladimir Putin has accepted an invitation to visit North Korea, Pyongyang state media said Thursday, as he and Kim Jong Un toasted “cooperation and friendship ” during a meeting in Russia. Kim is on a visit to Russia’s far east, as Putin seeks to bolster alliances with other leaders ostracised by Western countries. # ⚓ The Straits Times ☛ Russia_tells_the_United_States: don’t_lecture_us_over_ties_with_North_Korea⠀⇛ Russia on Thursday said the United States was hypocritical to criticise President Vladimir Putin’s summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un because Washington had sown chaos and sent weapons to allies across the world. # ⚓ teleSUR ☛ Russia_and_North_Korea_to_Promote_Regional Peace:_Putin⠀⇛ “We are committed to strengthening our ties of camaraderie and good neighborliness,” ther Russian president said. # ⚓ RFERL ☛ Kim_Tells_Putin_That_Russia_Has_North_Korea’s ‘Full_And_Unconditional_Support’⠀⇛ Russian President Vladimir Putin held talks on September 13 with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, who offered his country’s “full and unconditional support” to defend what he said was Russia’s security interests, in an apparent reference to Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. # ⚓ TwinCities Pioneer Press ☛ North_Korea’s_Kim_vows full_support_for_Moscow_at_a_summit_with_Putin_in Russia⠀⇛ The two leaders held a summit that the U.S. warns could lead to a deal for North Korea to supply Russia with ammunition for its war in Ukraine. o § Environment⠀➾ # § Energy/Transportation⠀➾ # ⚓ JURIST ☛ EU_dispatch:_Berlin_rave_protests_highway expansion_in_dance⠀⇛ Mykyta Vorobiov is a political science student at Bard College, Berlin. He previously studied at Ukrainian Catholic University in Lviv, Ukraine, the National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy, the University of Tartu, and the University of Zagreb.  # ⚓ MIT Technology Review ☛ How_China_hopes_to_secure_its supply_chain_for_critical_minerals⠀⇛ This story first appeared in China Report, MIT Technology Review’s newsletter about technology developments in China. Sign up to receive it in your inbox every Tuesday. # § Wildlife/Nature⠀➾ # ⚓ Science Alert ☛ Photographer_Captures_Rare_Pic_of_a Monkey_Taking_a_Deer_For_a_Joyride⠀⇛ Yee-haw! # ⚓ The Straits Times ☛ South_Korea’s_ruling_party supports_‘Kim_Keon-hee_Law’_as_it_pursues_ban_on_dog meat_consumption⠀⇛ The bill gained momentum after First Lady Kim Keon-hee said she would strive to end the practice within her term. # ⚓ Helsinki Times ☛ Finnish_fur_farms_with_bird-flu infections_ordered_to_cull_all_animals⠀⇛ THE FINNISH FOOD AUTHORITY has ordered fur farms with confirmed avian influenza infections to cull all their foxes and common raccoon dogs over public health concerns arising from the infections. The order applies to around 109,000 foxes and 6,000 common raccoon dogs, bringing the total number of fur-bearing animals to be culled to 250,000. # § Overpopulation⠀➾ # ⚓ Helsinki Times ☛ River_water_quality_declining worldwide_as_a_result_of_climate_change⠀⇛ Climate change is taking a significant toll on the quality of river water worldwide, posing threats to ecosystem health and human access to clean water, according to a recent study published in Nature Reviews Earth & Environment. The study, led by Dr. Michelle van Vliet of Utrecht University, sheds light on the impact of climate change-induced extreme weather events on river water quality. o § Finance⠀➾ # ⚓ Forbes ☛ 2023_Layoff_Tracker:_Google_Reportedly_Cuts ‘Hundreds’_Of_Recruiters_As_Binance.US_Axes_One-Third_Of_Its Workforce⠀⇛ Google conducted a round of layoffs on Wednesday eliminating “hundreds” of recruiting positions, multiple outlets reported—marking its second round of cuts this year and the latest major U.S. head count reduction following cryptocurrency giant Binance.US, which let go of roughly 100 employees this week, as employers continue to restructure their teams amid lingering recession fears (see Forbes’ layoff tracker from the first quarter here). # ⚓ Reuters ☛ Alphabet_lays_off_hundreds_from_global recruitment_team⠀⇛ The company’s decision to let go of a few hundred employees is not part of a wide-scale layoff and will retain a significant majority of the team for hiring critical roles. It will also help the workers search for roles within the company and elsewhere. # ⚓ Latvia ☛ Profits_double_in_Latvian_banking_sector⠀⇛ In the first half of this year, the Latvian banking sector made a profit of 350.312 million euros, which is 2.6 times more than in the corresponding period of 2022, according to data published by the Bank of Latvia. # ⚓ Reason ☛ Gas_and_Rent_Drive_Inflation_Higher_for_the_Second Straight_Month⠀⇛ Overall inflation rose 0.6 percent in August leading to an annualized rate of 3.7 percent. # ⚓ RFA ☛ Property_market_glut?_Weak_Chinese_economy?_Sell homes_to_Taiwanese!⠀⇛ The Chinese plan is billed as part of ‘peaceful unification,’ but Taiwanese lawmakers say it’s a poisoned chalice. # ⚓ RFA ☛ China’s_‘Lipstick_King’_offers_tearful_apology⠀⇛ Austin Li’s tone-deaf remark about price of eyebrow pencil amid economic slump arouses online wrath. # ⚓ RFA ☛ $56M_in_London_property_tied_to_alleged_China_crime ring⠀⇛ Investor with Cambodian passport was among 10 arrested in $1B Singapore sting in August. o § AstroTurf/Lobbying/Politics⠀➾ # ⚓ University of Michigan ☛ A_summer_with_an_eX:_How_to salvage_the_ruins_of_your_social_media_company⠀⇛ Before I delve into some of the major changes that happened to the social media platform formerly known as Twitter this summer, I want to first take some time to do a little mind experiment. I’m going to list three companies, and you’re going to think about the logo associated with each one: Apple, McDonald’s [...] # ⚓ Federal News Network ☛ Texas_Attorney_General_Ken_Paxton’s defense_attorneys_ask_senators_to_end_impeachment_trial⠀⇛ A woman who was expected to testify about an extramarital affair with Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton made a sudden appearance Wednesday at his impeachment trial but never took the stand. Prosecutors then rested their case against the Republican and his defense sought to end the proceedings due to a lack of evidence. The affair is central to the historic proceedings and accusations that Paxton misused his power to help an Austin real estate developer who was under FBI investigation and employed the woman. Defense attorneys have filed a motion that seeks to end the impeachment trial. # ⚓ teleSUR ☛ G77_+_China,_a_Look_Into_the_Past⠀⇛ G77 + China is currently composed of 134 nations representing Latin America, Africa and South Asia. China joined in 1992 and participates and collaborates externally. # ⚓ The Straits Times ☛ China’s_Premier_Li_will_attend_China- ASEAN_expo⠀⇛ China’s Premier Li Qiang will attend the China- ASEAN expo in Nanning City, Guangxi on Sept. 17, the foreign ministry said on Thursday. # ⚓ The Straits Times ☛ Malaysia_says_Asean_is_a_winner_from shifting_supply_chains⠀⇛ As the geopolitical divide between the US and China grow, Malaysia is positioning itself as a neutral base. # ⚓ The Straits Times ☛ Japan_will_continue_seeking_responsible actions_from_China,_says_new_foreign_minister⠀⇛ Ms Yoko Kamikawa said Japan will maintain dialogues with China to resolve common issues together. # § Misinformation/Disinformation/Propaganda⠀➾ # ⚓ Security Week ☛ US_Agencies_Publish_Cybersecurity Report_on_Deepfake_Threats⠀⇛ CISA, FBI and NSA have published a cybersecurity report on deepfakes and recommendations for identifying and responding to such threats. o § Censorship/Free Speech⠀➾ # ⚓ RFERL ☛ Independent_Kloop_Website_Blocked_In_Kyrgyzstan Amid_Government_Pressure⠀⇛ The independent Kloop website has been blocked in Kyrgyzstan amid ongoing pressure on the website’s owner, the Kloop Media Public Foundation, further raising fears that officials are curbing rights to free speech and an independent media. # ⚓ MIT Technology Review ☛ Google_has_a_new_tool_to_outsmart authoritarian_internet_censorship⠀⇛ Google is launching new anti-censorship technology created in response to actions by Iran’s government during the 2022 protests there, hoping that it will increase access for internet users living under authoritarian regimes all over the world. Jigsaw, a unit of Google that operates sort of like an internet freedom think tank and that creates related… # ⚓ Hong Kong Free Press ☛ Independent_Hong_Kong_bookstore Mount_Zero_accused_of_illegally_occupying_part_of_pavement⠀⇛ An independent Hong Kong bookstore has been accused of illegally occupying a space outside the shop, and have until the end of the month to stop using the area. # ⚓ RFA ☛ Hong_Kong_police_charge_man_over_‘seditious’ children’s_books⠀⇛ The man is accused of inciting ‘violence’ and ‘hatred of the government’ after buying the books from the UK. o § Civil Rights/Policing⠀➾ # ⚓ Federal News Network ☛ UAW_chief_says_offers_from_Detroit companies_are_inadequate,_says_union_is_ready_to_go_on strike⠀⇛ With just over 24 hours left before a strike deadline, United Auto Workers President Shawn Fain says offers from Detroit automakers aren’t enough and the union is getting ready to strike. In an online address to members Wednesday, Fain said General Motors, Ford and Stellantis have raised their initial wage offers, but have rejected some of the union’s other demands. # ⚓ YLE ☛ Labour_leader_warns_of_strikes_over_economic_policy⠀⇛ The head of Finland’s largest trade union confederation says wage earners feel that they will soon have no choice but to start protests or strikes. # ⚓ New York Times ☛ U.A.W._Prepares_for_Limited_Strike_Against Detroit_Automakers_on_Friday⠀⇛ The union’s president, Shawn Fain, said negotiators were nowhere near an agreement and ruled out a contract extension while talks continued. # ⚓ New York Times ☛ What_to_Know_About_the_Potential Autoworkers_Strike⠀⇛ The union and the carmakers remain far apart on wages. # ⚓ Federal News Network ☛ After_catching_escaped_murderer, officers_took_a_photo_with_him._Experts_say_that_was inappropriate⠀⇛ A group of two dozen officers posed for a photo with escaped murderer Danelo Cavalcante, minutes after his capture. The photo has drawn criticism from policing reform advocates and some members of the public, who say it was inappropriate. The moment was captured by a KYW-TV news helicopter Wednesday. It shows the officers and federal agents gathered around the handcuffed escapee for a photo before loading him into an armed vehicle. A Pennsylvania State Police leader said he was “not bothered” by the photo. Experts say departments have inconsistent conduct directives that sometimes limit what officers can post to personal social media pages or share from on-duty or in-uniform events. # ⚓ New York Times ☛ Police_Posed_With_Cavalcante_After_His Capture⠀⇛ The moment was captured on video by a news helicopter, and criticism swiftly followed on social media. # ⚓ Closure_case_for_We_Will_Stop_Femicide_Platform_association rejected⠀⇛ The lawsuit to close the We Will Stop Femicide Platform association was rejected, and women in the courtroom chanted slogans of “We will stop femicide” following the decision. # ⚓ The Straits Times ☛ Aung_San_Suu_Kyi_party_says_Myanmar junta_depriving_her_of_medical_care⠀⇛ September 14, 2023 3:50 PM A junta spokesman has said reports of Ms Suu Kyi’s ill health were “rumours”. # ⚓ YLE ☛ More_Finnish_workers_facing_burnout,_study_finds⠀⇛ Hybrid working arrangements are the best way to prevent employee fatigue, according to the occupational health institute. # ⚓ New York Times ☛ UAW_Standoff_Poses_Risk_for_Biden’s Electric_Vehicle_Commitment⠀⇛ A looming auto industry strike could test the president’s commitment to making electric vehicles a source of well-paying union jobs. # ⚓ RFA ☛ North_Korean_prison_break:_5_escape_and_3_remain_at large⠀⇛ The inmates escaped while working on a roof; recaptured prisoner said they were hoping to flee to China. o § Internet Policy/Net Neutrality⠀➾ # ⚓ APNIC ☛ APNIC_fees_to_increase_from_2025⠀⇛ APNIC fees will increase for all account holders from 2025, following resolutions made by the Executive Council in Kyoto. # ⚓ The Strategist ☛ Keeping_Taiwan_connected⠀⇛ Internet connectivity is a lifeline—albeit a fragile one—for Taiwan. o § Digital Restrictions (DRM)⠀➾ # ⚓ Alan Pope ☛ Alan_Pope:_Happy_Birthday_Steam⠀⇛ Steam – the video game distribution and launching platform from Valve, is twenty years old today. Steam has become quite a fixture of PC gaming life in those two decades. # ⚓ Matthew Garrett ☛ Reconstructing_an_invalid_TPM_event_log [Ed: Whether or not Microsoft gives him a salary, he's still working for Microsoft]⠀⇛ # ⚓ Apple_thinks_modularity_hinders_device_longevity._We don’t.⠀⇛ In a recent interview, Apple’s new head of hardware, John Ternus, was asked whether it would be conceivable to make iPhones even more modular and make them as easy to repair as a Fairphone.  # ⚓ Right to Repair ☛ Unpacking_California’s_SB_244⠀⇛ This law is mostly grounded in the principle that when you buy something – its yours to use, fix, or resell as you like. The legislature made political choices along the way about which kinds of equipment should be covered by this law – and its no surprise that the business interests of Silicon Valley were considered. Some of the details are less robust than in Minnesota, other details are more comprehensive than New York. Whole categories of equipment were exempted in order to fight only a few 800-lb gorillas at a time. o § Monopolies⠀➾ # § Patents⠀➾ # ⚓ JUVE ☛ Pinsent_Masons_consolidates_Dublin_presence with_hire_from_Novartis [Ed: JUVE is still publishing pure spam under the guise of journalism. JUVE spent years promoting crimes like the UPC (it was bribed to do this) and now it's posting marketing SPAM for the same firms that paid. One person joining a firm isn't news.]⠀⇛ Life sciences transactional lawyer Michael Stewart has joined the Dublin office of Pinsent Masons from an in-house position at innovator drug company Novartis, as part of the firm’s move to consolidate its life sciences expertise across the UK, Europe and now Ireland. # ⚓ Unified Patents ☛ Acacia_entity,_Monarch,_networking patent_challenged⠀⇛ On September 8, 2023, Unified Patents filed an ex parte reexamination proceeding against U.S._Patent_8,451,845, owned and asserted by Monarch Networking Solutions, LLC, an Acacia Research_Corp. entity.  The ‘845 patent relates to converting data packets between the IPv4 and IPv6 domains. # ⚓ Unified Patents ☛ MDSP_Technologies_navigation_patent challenged⠀⇛ On September 11, 2023, Unified Patents filed an ex parte reexamination proceeding against U.S._Patent_9,239,376, owned and asserted by MDSP Technologies LLC.  The ‘376 patent relates to determining the position and acceleration of a mobile device using doppler aided inertial navigation. # § Software Patents⠀➾ # ⚓ Blow_to_Computer-Implemented_Inventions:_Canadian Court_of_Appeal_Strikes_Down_the_Subject-Matter Eligibility_Test [Ed: Canada versus software patents]⠀⇛ The Canadian Federal Court of Appeal (FCA), in Attorney General of Canada v. Benjamin Moore & Co. [2023 FCA 168], a 3-0 decision, recently set aside the test on subject matter eligibility of computer-implemented inventions laid down by the Federal Court [2022 FC 923] last year. Acclaimed by patent professionals as a “favorable decision for Canadian applicants who have computer- implemented inventions,” the test had, for the first time, presented a declaratory relief and guidance for examining subject- matter eligibility, particularly for computer-implemented inventions. # § Copyrights⠀➾ # ⚓ Public Domain Review ☛ Liquid_Bewitchment:_Gin Drinking_in_England,_1700–1850⠀⇛ The introduction of gin to England was a delirious and deleterious affair, as tipplers reported a range of effects: loss of reason, frenzy, madness, joy, and death. With the help of prints by George Cruikshank, William Hogarth, and others, James Brown enters the architecture of intoxication — dram shops, gin halls, barbershops — exploring the spaces that catered to pleasure or evil, depending who you asked. * § Gemini* and Gopher⠀➾ o § Personal/Opinions⠀➾ # ⚓ It’s_still_Summer⠀⇛ t’s still hot and sticky in the morning, and hot like summer through most of the day. It does cool off somewhat in the evenings, and the sunsets are now different. Maybe it’ll be Autumn in a few more weeks. I was browsing the news when I saw that the iPhone 15 debuted. As soon as I saw titanium it *immediately* made me think of the titanium PowerBooks of the early 2000s, or Safari 1.0 and iPhoto’s UI. =============================================================================== * Gemini_(Primer) links can be opened using Gemini_software. It’s like the World Wide Web but a lot lighter. ䷩ 𝚕𝚒𝚗𝚎 3567 ╒═══════════════════ 𝐃𝐀𝐈𝐋𝐘 𝐋𝐈𝐍𝐊𝐒 ═════════════════════════════════════════════╕ ⠀⌧ █▇▆▅▄▃▂▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁ 09.14.23⠀▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▂▃▄▅▆▇█ ⌧ Gemini_version_available_♊︎ ✐ Links_14/09/2023:_Sparky_7.1_and_Curl_8.3.0⠀✐ Posted in News_Roundup at 5:32 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz 🄸🄼🄰🄶🄴 🄳🄴🅂🄲🅁🄸🄿🅃🄸🄾🄽 ⦇GNOME bluefish⦈ § Contents⠀➾ * GNU/Linux o Applications o Instructionals/Technical o Games * Distributions_and_Operating_Systems o Fedora_Family_/_IBM 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 Web_Browsers/Web_Servers o Productivity_Software/LibreOffice/Calligra o Education o Openness/Sharing/Collaboration # Open_Data o Programming/Development # Python # Rust o Standards/Consortia * § GNU/Linux⠀➾ o § Applications⠀➾ # ⚓ TecMint ☛ 11_Best_Screen_Recorders_For_Linux_in_2023⠀⇛ Recording your desktop session is a common and good practice for a variety of purposes, such as playing a hard level of a game, creating a video tutorial, or writing a how-to article. Screen recording software can help you accomplish all of these tasks. In this review guide, we shall cover some of the best screen recording and live video streaming software that you can find for your Linux desktop. # ⚓ TecMint ☛ 6_Best_Email_Clients_for_Linux_Systems⠀⇛ Email, an enduring method of communication, remains a fundamental way to share information; however, the preference has shifted from web applications to email clients over the years An email client is software that allows users to manage their inbox, send, receive, and organize messages directly from a desktop or mobile phone. o § Instructionals/Technical⠀➾ # ⚓ University of Toronto ☛ A_user_program_doing_intense_IO_can manifest_as_high_system_CPU_time⠀⇛ Recently, our IMAP server had unusually high CPU usage and was increasingly close to saturating its CPU. When I investigated with ‘top’ it was easy to see the culprit processes, but when I checked what they were doing with the strace command, they were all busy madly doing IO, in fact processing recursive IMAP LIST commands by walking around in the filesystem. Processes that intensely do IO like this normally wind up in “iowait”, not in active CPU usage (whether user or system CPU usage). Except here these processes were, using huge amounts of system CPU time. # ⚓ David Buchanan ☛ s32_Unix_Clock⠀⇛ It’s pretty simple. The clock face has 256 “ticks” (annotated in hexadecimal), and four dials, each moving exactly 256 times slower than the previous. The longest and fastest moving dial moves at one tick per second, which means it takes very approximately 4 minutes to do a full revolution (4: 16, actually). The next hand takes roughly 18 hours, the next roughly 6 months, and the smallest hand takes ~136 years – or exactly 2^32 seconds. # ⚓ Jan Piet Mens ☛ On_the_importance_of_logging⠀⇛ In spite of configuring debug logging and log forwarding from AWX, I couldn’t figure out what was wrong. My assumption was the body of the post was missing something. I looked at the source code of the api view controller and still didn’t figure it out and basically gave up after an hour. Actual webhooks posted from Gitea worked (when configured in AWX as Github), but my simple curl invocation wouldn’t. (Remind me to rave about how I like Gitea and Forgejo.) # § idroot⠀➾ # ⚓ ID Root ☛ How_To_Install_Apache_Maven_on_Debian_12⠀⇛ In this tutorial, we will show you how to install Apache Maven on Debian 12. Apache Maven is an essential tool for Java developers, providing a robust and efficient way to manage project dependencies, build, and deploy applications. # ⚓ ID Root ☛ How_To_Install_PlayOnLinux_on_Debian_12⠀⇛ In this tutorial, we will show you how to install PlayOnLinux on Debian 12. PlayOnLinux is a remarkable graphical front-end for Wine, a compatibility layer that allows you to run Windows applications on Linux systems. # ⚓ ID Root ☛ How_To_Install_WezTerm_on_Ubuntu_22.04 LTS⠀⇛ In this tutorial, we will show you how to install WezTerm on Ubuntu 22.04 LTS. In the world of Linux, having a powerful and versatile terminal emulator can greatly enhance your workflow and productivity. One such standout terminal emulator is WezTerm. It offers a modern and feature-rich environment for your command-line tasks. # ⚓ ID Root ☛ What_is_a_Maven_Repository?⠀⇛ In the dynamic realm of software development, effective project management and streamlined dependency management are crucial for successful outcomes. This comprehensive guide aims to unravel the intricate world of Maven Repositories, a fundamental component in modern software development. # ⚓ HowTo Forge ☛ How_to_Install_BookWyrm_on_a_Debian_12 server⠀⇛ BookWyrm is an open-source federated social network for book readers. It acts as an ad-free Goodreads alternative. In this tutorial, you will learn how to install BookWyrm on a Debian 12 server. o § Games⠀➾ # ⚓ GamingOnLinux ☛ Heroic_Games_Launcher_2.9.2_Hotfix_#2_is live⠀⇛ It’s time again to upgrade your install of the Heroic Games Launcher which helps you install games from Epic, GOG, Amazon and more on Steam Deck and desktop Linux. # ⚓ GamingOnLinux ☛ Here’s_some_alternatives_to_the_Unity_game engine⠀⇛ In the wake of Unity setting everything on fire with their new revenue model for developers, here’s a reminder on what other game engines and tech is out there for developers to look into. # ⚓ GamingOnLinux ☛ Steam_Deck_not_picking_up_your_SD_Card? Check_for_the_latest_update⠀⇛ After Valve recently launched a stable Steam Client update for desktop and Steam Deck, along with the recent SteamOS 3.4.10 release – SD Cards became a bit problematic. # ⚓ GamingOnLinux ☛ Fanatical’s_Killer_Bundle_27_has_20_great games_included⠀⇛ Another chance for you to fill up your Steam library ensuring there’s never a dull moment – Fanatical launched the Killer Bundle 27 with 20 games included. This is not a build it yourself bundle either, all games are included in it for one purchase. # ⚓ GamingOnLinux ☛ VKDoom_is_a_ZDoom-based_source_port_with_a focus_on_Vulkan⠀⇛ Well this is pretty fun to see! The ZDoom / GZDoom family is expanding with VKDoom, a new source-port that has a focus on expanded Vulkan support and modern rendering. Now it’s worth noting that GZDoom already supports Vulkan, but VKDoom has a focus on making the Vulkan support much more modern with advanced rendering features for modern GPUs. # ⚓ GamingOnLinux ☛ Humble_Bundle_has_a_big_Cities:_Skylines bundle⠀⇛ Fancy city-building but don’t want to pay a big sum for all the extra content? Humble Bundle have a new Cities: Skylines Bundle live now with the base game and major expansions. This game has Native Linux support and is rated Steam Deck Playable. # ⚓ GamingOnLinux ☛ GOG_has_a_big_Indie_Festival_Sale_on⠀⇛ Stock up on some fantastic indie games, as GOG have launched their Indie Festival which is live now until September 25th, 10 PM UTC. While there’s been numerous big releases over the last year, don’t forget about all the really great indie games that often do things the bigger lot won’t. * § Distributions and Operating Systems⠀➾ o ⚓ [Repeat] HaikuOS ☛ Haiku_Activity_&_Contract_Report,_August 2023⠀⇛ This report covers hrev57184 through hrev57256. It’s worth noting: the main Haiku CI is currently offline as the developer who was hosting the build machine moved to a location with much slower internet. A new build machine and home for the CI has already been selected, but isn’t fully online yet, so the nightly builds are a bit behind at the moment. o ⚓ Daniel Xu ☛ AppImage_explosions⠀⇛ To the user, an appimage is a binary that looks and feels like a statically linked binary. In fact, you’d have a hard time discovering a binary is an appimage at all. At its core, an appimage is a squashfs image that contains an application and all of its dependencies. Prepended to the binary is a statically linked runtime that: [...] o § Fedora Family / IBM⠀➾ # ⚓ DebugPoint ☛ Fedora_39:_Best_New_Features_and_Updates⠀⇛ Fedora 39, the latest version of the upcoming Fedora Linux is almost ready for the beta release. With tons of new updates and features, this release is sure to make your Linux experience even better. In this article, we’ll cover all the important feature highlights of Fedora 39 so you can get the most out of it. Let’s dive in! o § Debian Family⠀➾ # ⚓ [Repeat] Linux Mint ☛ LMDE_6_“Faye”_–_BETA_Release⠀⇛ LMDE is a Linux Mint project which stands for “Linux Mint Debian Edition”. Its goal is to ensure Linux Mint would be able to continue to deliver the same user experience, and how much work would be involved, if Ubuntu was ever to disappear. LMDE is also one of our development targets, to guarantee the software we develop is compatible outside of Ubuntu. LMDE aims to be as similar as possible to Linux Mint, but without using Ubuntu. The package base is provided by Debian instead. # ⚓ Linuxiac ☛ Sparky_Linux_7.1_Released,_Here’s_What’s_New⠀⇛ Sparky is a Debian-based Linux distribution designed to be lightweight, fast, and user- friendly. It aims to provide a reliable, easy-to- use desktop environment while offering various software packages. Almost two months after the previous 7.0 release, the dev team announced the general availability of the latest stable Sparky 7.1, the first refresh in the 7.x “Orion Belt” series based on Debian’s stable branch. # ⚓ Sparky GNU/Linux ☛ Sparky_7.1⠀⇛ o § Canonical/Ubuntu Family⠀➾ # ⚓ It’s FOSS ☛ Ubuntu_23.10_Brings_Back_ZFS_Support_to_the Installer⠀⇛ The implementation of ZFS on Linux has been a highly contentious affair over the years. You see, ZFS support is not included in the Linux kernel owing to licensing conflicts, and in the past, even Linus Torvalds himself has mentioned not to use ZFS on Linux. However, distributions based on Linux are free to include ZFS support if they wish to, and many of them do. o § Devices/Embedded⠀➾ # ⚓ Linux Gizmos ☛ HMI-Board_incorporates_Renesas_RA6M3_MCU⠀⇛ o § Open Hardware/Modding⠀➾ # ⚓ HowTo Geek ☛ Purism_Librem_11_Gives_You_Full_Desktop_Linux in_a_Tablet⠀⇛ Tablets with “desktop” operating systems aren’t too common these days, outside the occasional Microsoft Surface. There are 2-in-1 laptops which can be used like tablets, which has all but eliminated the need of cramming desktop operating systems into a tablet-only form factor. Most tablets either are iPads or run Android, and come equipped with ARM- based chipsets just like smartphones. If you want something a little different, however, this Linux tablet might fit the bill. # ⚓ Arduino ☛ This_kinetic_sculpture_is_incredibly mesmerizing⠀⇛ Brandal started this project as an excuse to experiment with his new CNC router. Cutting gears seemed like a good way to do so, but he didn’t have a need for any mechanism that utilized them. That led him to the concept of a kinetic sculpture and Intermittent Luminal Phase is the result. It spins endlessly, making noise and blinking lights. But it is almost hypnotizing to see in action. # ⚓ Purism ☛ The_Path_to_the_Liberty_Phone⠀⇛ The Liberty Phone enhances the Librem 5 hardware specs and utilizes the software stack of PureOS. Here is a montage of videos documenting our path in creating the Liberty Phone. # ⚓ Hackaday ☛ FPGA_Runs_IBM_5151_MDA_Display⠀⇛ When it comes to driving a display, you can do all kinds of fancy tricks with microcontrollers to get an image up. Really, though, FPGAs are the weapon of choice for playing with these kinds of signals. [Ted Fried] put one to great work driving an ancient IBM 5151 MDA display, and shared his results on Hackaday.io. o § Mobile Systems/Mobile Applications⠀➾ # ⚓ Android Police ☛ Proof-of-concept_video_shows_a_very specific_Android_credit_card_vulnerability⠀⇛ # ⚓ Beta News ☛ Google_updates_Android_Auto_with_support_for WebEx_by_Cisco,_Zoom,_Prime_Video_and_more⠀⇛ # ⚓ Notebook Check ☛ Polestar_EVs_get_Prime_Video_streaming while_digital_car_key_expands_to_Hyundai_Group_thanks_to Android_Auto_and_Google_built-in_feature_dump_update_– NotebookCheck.net_News⠀⇛ # ⚓ Android Central ☛ OnePlus_OxygenOS_14_(Android_14)_hands- on:_Same_difference_|_Android_Central⠀⇛ # ⚓ Android Police ☛ Leave_the_Android_14_beta_now_to_avoid getting_the_QPR1_build⠀⇛ # ⚓ Pixel_Phones_Get_a_Big_New_Android_14_Beta_Update_Next Week⠀⇛ * § Free, Libre, and Open Source Software⠀➾ o § Web Browsers/Web Servers⠀➾ # ⚓ University of Toronto ☛ My_(new)_simple_system_to_open_URLs on_my_desktop_from_remote_Linux_machines⠀⇛ I have a long standing setup where I read my email on one of our Linux login servers, instead of on my desktop. Email can include URLs that I want to open, so I need some way of opening these URLs in my desktop browser. For a long time this has been through one of two options; either I forwarded X over SSH and used Firefox’s X-based remote control, or I was operating purely with text and selected the URLs in the terminal to use with my tools to open URLs in various browsers. # ⚓ Daniel Stenberg ☛ curl_8.3.0⠀⇛ The number of security fixes is adjusted due to the recently rejected CVE-2023-32001 o § Productivity Software/LibreOffice/Calligra⠀➾ # ⚓ Linux Links ☛ 4_Best_Free_and_Open_Source_Office_Suites⠀⇛ Microsoft Office still dominates market share of office suites. Businesses have often rejected free Office alternatives. However, things are changing. With the cost of a price subscription plan for Microsoft Office, the average home user or small business will welcome a free alternative. Fortunately, there are some truly excellent open source alternatives available for Linux (and other operating systems). Our recommendations are captured in our legendary LinuxLinks-style ratings chart. Only free and open source software is eligible for inclusion. o § Education⠀➾ # ⚓ Cendyne Naga ☛ Software_Security_Fur_All⠀⇛ The security industry is not too accessible. It focuses on common details, rather than fundamental problems and solutions. We can do better by building communities with free knowledge and compassion, rather than exclude newcomers with paywalled content and competitive hazing. Fundamentals like separating code and data must be top of mind as new technologies like large language models get deployed. Bad cryptography is everywhere and we hope to make cryptographic knowledge more accessible. This talk summary is part of my DEF CON 31 series. The talks this year have sufficient depth to be shared independently and are separated for easier consumption. o § Openness/Sharing/Collaboration⠀➾ # § Open Data⠀➾ # ⚓ Rlang ☛ Utilizing_R_for_Reproducible_Open_Science Research_in_Tucson,_Arizona⠀⇛ In this meetup, we will replicate open science research. This meetup is the second event of the Reproducing Open Research Series. We chose the paper “Learning, Inside and Out: Prior Linguistic Knowledge and Learning Environment Impact Word Learning in Bilingual Individuals” within the linguistics domain and features experimental data. o § Programming/Development⠀➾ # ⚓ Raspberry Pi ☛ Colour-based_object_tracking_with_Raspberry Pi⠀⇛ She worked with Shafat Insha and Midhat Munira to develop a smart colour-based object tracking system, using OpenCV and Raspberry Pi 3. The autonomous Smart Object Tracking Robot can detect and track objects of a specific colour in real time. # ⚓ Daniel Lemire ☛ Transcoding_Unicode_strings_at_crazy_speeds with_AVX-512⠀⇛ In software, we store strings of text as arrays of bytes in memory using one of the Unicode Transformation Formats (UTF), the most popular being UTF-8 and UTF-16. Windows, Java, C# and other systems common languages and systems default on UTF-16, whereas other systems and most of the web relies on UTF-8. There are benefits to both formats and we are not going to adopt one over the other any time soon. It means that we must constantly convert our strings from UTF-8 to UTF-16 and back. # ⚓ Buttondown ☛ If_you_work_on_a_big_language,_I’d_like_to talk⠀⇛ Directed graphs are ubiquitous, so it’s incredibly weird to me that not a single mainstream programming language has a built-in directed graph type. And it’s even weirder that not a single mainstream programming language has them in the standard library. # ⚓ Juha-Matti Santala ☛ Pull_requests_are_great⠀⇛ I have recently been seeing an increasing amount of chatter about and against pull requests. These especially often come from the crowd that advocates for pair or mob/ensemble programming. I saw a great one in Mastodon the other week but failed to save it so I can’t reference it. In essence, that toot asked: What legit benefit is there for pull requests for teams that trust each other? And I’ve seen this sentiment quite often: some people consider that pull requests’ main or even only function is to prevent malicious or bad code from entering a codebase from untrusted sources. And in many distributed open source projects that is one of its functions. However, I’d argue that focusing solely on the trust issue and then dismissing pull requests for teams that trust each other, is short-sighted. # ⚓ Matt Rickard ☛ The_New_Economics_of_Generating_Code⠀⇛ “The next is replace — replace feature after feature after feature of the older Cerner system with a new Cerner system, new Millennium, which we are not coding in Java like we usually do. The new Cerner system is being generated — as you know, generative AI generates code. We have an application generator called APEX. And we are not writing code for the new Cerner; we are generating that code in APEX, and it’s going extremely well.” This is a quote from Larry Ellison in Oracle’s latest earnings call. It should be taken with a grain of salt — Ellison is a master of narrative, and he’s addressing an audience of investors. Whether APEX works as well as he claims or if developers are simply using GitHub Copilot, the fact remains: this is the future of a good chunk of software development. # § Python⠀➾ # ⚓ Seth Michael Larson ☛ Security_Developer_in_Residence Weekly_Report_#10⠀⇛ The past few weeks I’ve been finishing slides, recording my video, and collaborating with my co-presenter 🚀 # § Rust⠀➾ # ⚓ Rust Weekly Updates ☛ This_Week_In_Rust:_This_Week_in Rust_512⠀⇛ Hello and welcome to another issue of This Week in Rust! o § Standards/Consortia⠀➾ # ⚓ New York Times ☛ How_to_Navigate_Apple’s_Shift_From Lightning_to_USB-C⠀⇛ Allow me to unpack that. To comply with recent European regulations, the iPhone 15, unveiled Tuesday, will abandon the Lightning connector that has been the method for charging iPhones for 11 years. In its place will be a different oval-shaped connector: USB-C. ䷩ 𝚕𝚒𝚗𝚎 4261 ╒═══════════════════ 𝐃𝐀𝐈𝐋𝐘 𝐋𝐈𝐍𝐊𝐒 ═════════════════════════════════════════════╕ ⠀⌧ █▇▆▅▄▃▂▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁ 09.14.23⠀▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▂▃▄▅▆▇█ ⌧ Gemini_version_available_♊︎ ✐ Gemini_Links_14/09/2023:_Learning_LaTeX_and_Using_Slackware⠀✐ Posted in News_Roundup at 6:33 pm by Dr. Roy Schestowitz 🄸🄼🄰🄶🄴 🄳🄴🅂🄲🅁🄸🄿🅃🄸🄾🄽 ⦇GNOME bluefish⦈ § Contents⠀➾ * Gemini*_and_Gopher o Personal/Opinions o Technology_and_Free_Software # Internet/Gemini * § Gemini* and Gopher⠀➾ o § Personal/Opinions⠀➾ # ⚓ teaching_kids⠀⇛ after 2 months of resting from 4 years of studying in college, i got a job. now i am a teacher of computer science. in the school where i studied. everyone here were inviting me for about half a year, including some highschoolers i knew. the first week i questioned my experience (still do, im not a teacher, i just write english words in nvim and they get colored differently). but the kids are kind to me. i talk about different topics with them. yesterday a lot of girls tried to make me watch their favorite anime series. also i got a… love letter? there are a lot of hearts. perhaps they are trying to brown-nose, knowing that I am not such a mean or experienced person. but i will not give good grades just because of pretty eyes. # ⚓ Expanding_the_concept_of_Rules_for_Life⠀⇛ Our initial reaction to any rule is to reject it, since we have free will, even if it is good for us. We tend to think that rules restrict and oppress us when, in fact, the opposite is true. Without rules, we quickly become slaves to our passions; without rules that give us clear guidance on what to do or not, we end up declining more and more. Therefore, rules are not restrictive but liberating. If we take all possible models of life from Greek literature, we will see that there is a limit that cannot be exceeded. # ⚓ Fall_Scenery_(publ._2023-09-14)⠀⇛ These are some photos I took along the Tanana River (Fairbanks, AK, USA) last Friday (Sept 8). After visiting my parents a few days ago, who have a much slower Internet connection, I decided to start uploading lower resolution photos along with the original 4MB files. o § Technology and Free Software⠀➾ # ⚓ termemu⠀⇛ xterm, because it comes with OpenBSD. xterm is bloated, but finding (or writing) something more suitable would be a pain. Rarely urxvt if a silly game needs it; urxvt buffers better; you can see a flicker in xterm if the code is bad and sprays escape sequences, a lot. Otherwise not urxvt as there are a few annoyances I’d have to figure out how to fix, and there’s no tuits there, especially given that xterm is mostly good enough. # ⚓ My_email_setup⠀⇛ On the server side, it’s pretty vanilla. Postfix, Dovecot, SpamAssassin, WKD. On the client side, I use mbsync and notmuch and I have a ton of automatic filters via nmsync. Everything that those filters label with feed I read in a feedreader instead of an email app thanks to nmatom. I can check in on those newsletters once per day. No stress. And they’re not getting tangled up in my personal business, they don’t trigger notifications, they don’t require responses, they show up when I have time to read ‘em etc. Pretty great. I also have the opposite, thanks to rss2email; I have one RSS feed (janitorial type news from inside my building) that are so urgent that I get them in my email client. # ⚓ Learning,_Loving,_LaTeX⠀⇛ I first used LaTeX last year for a final assignment for one of my computer science classes. It involved needing to put a long series of images (more than 30) in a specific order, in a document and after struggling immensely with the first five, I decided to reassess my approach. LibreOffice is both an excellent and poor example of free software. It serves as a great one to one competitor to the Microsoft Office suite, albeit not as polished or feature rich, but enabling you to at the very least view files from the rest of society. That being said it also comes with all the same upsides and downsides as Word and, to a somewhat lesser extent, Google Docs. Graphical word processors are great for less-than tech savvy people, because it gives you the “What you see is what you get” experience, which works great for easy-to-format text. Now try to insert an image and watch your document rip itself to shreds. This is the position I was in, trying to put four images on a page, with them all being equally sized and occupying the four quadrants of the page, unable to get it working for the life of me in either LibreOffice or Google Docs. Then I remembered hearing about LaTeX and how easy it made formatting documents. I had never tried it and so I watched a few video guides on how to use it. It seemed simple enough and so I gave it a shot and just about instantly fell in love. I was able to do the whole assignment in vim (and GIMP for creating the images) and properly insert the images the way I wanted in a matter of minutes! # ⚓ Using_slackware⠀⇛ I recently started to use slackware for my desktop, I tried it a few time in the past and didn’t take the time to create a setup. # § Internet/Gemini⠀➾ # ⚓ AuraGem_Music_Relaunch⠀⇛ I am announcing the relaunch of AuraGem Music. AuraGem Music was a project I originally announced on 2022-07-15 that allowed people to upload their private collections of music with Titan and stream their private collection with Gemini. Unfortunately, the service was slow at that time, for various reasons, but this situation has been improved; although, it’s still not perfect since the AuraGem server is still on a home network, but for 320 kbps mp3 files, it should still be fine. Streaming on AuraGem Music should support any Gemini browsers that allow for streaming (by not timing out on long streams). Uploading music will require a client that supports Titan. Lagrange is an example of a client that supports both Titan and Gemini. =============================================================================== * Gemini_(Primer) links can be opened using Gemini_software. It’s like the World Wide Web but a lot lighter. ䷩ 𝚕𝚒𝚗𝚎 4466 ╒═══════════════════ 𝐃𝐀𝐈𝐋𝐘 𝐋𝐈𝐍𝐊𝐒 ═════════════════════════════════════════════╕ ⠀⌧ █▇▆▅▄▃▂▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁ 09.14.23⠀▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▂▃▄▅▆▇█ ⌧ Gemini_version_available_♊︎ ✐ Leftover_Links_14/09/2023:_Galina_Timchenko_Learns_Why_Not_to_Use_Mobile Phones⠀✐ Posted in News_Roundup at 5:36 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 # Confidentiality o Defence/Aggression o Environment # Energy/Transportation # Wildlife/Nature o Finance 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 * § Leftovers⠀➾ o ⚓ The Atlantic ☛ A_Warning_From_Another_Time⠀⇛ “At a sentence level,” Charlie explained, “these words, strung together in this order and seemingly without irony, are hilarious. From the standpoint of being a human, the Musk-Zuck cage match is an offensive waste of time—the result of a broken media system that allows those with influence and shamelessness to commandeer our collective attention at will.” o ⚓ The Nation ☛ What_Can_True_Crime_Offer_Us?⠀⇛ Billed as a literary exploration of the true-crime phenomenon, Rebecca Makkai’s I Have Some Questions for You centers on Bodie Kane, an adjunct film professor and middle-aged podcaster. In 2018, Bodie returns to teach at her alma mater, an elite New Hampshire boarding school called Granby. And she comes back with a lot of baggage—she was an unpopular and poor Midwestern transplant in the land of ski chalets and crew teams. She’s also returning to a school that was, in her time there, marred by the murder of the beautiful, talented 17-year-old Thalia Keith, Bodie’s brief acquaintance and former roommate. o ⚓ The Nation ☛ Working_Hard_for_the_American_Dream⠀⇛ o ⚓ Hackaday ☛ You’ve_Got_Mail:_Automatic_For_The_People⠀⇛ When we last left the post office, I told you all about various kinds of machinery the USPS uses to move mail around. Today I’m going to tell you about the time they thought they could automate nearly every function inside the standard post office — and no, it wasn’t anytime recently. o ⚓ Hackaday ☛ It’s_Time_You_Built_A_Smart_Pocket_Watch⠀⇛ There’s just something about a pocket watch that screams class compared to the barbaric act of bending your arm, or the no-fun way of looking at your phone. o § Science⠀➾ # ⚓ Science Alert ☛ Mathematicians_Solve_A_Key_Möbius_Strip Problem,_After_Almost_50_Years_of_Searching⠀⇛ In their paper, Halpern and Weaver pose a limit for Möbius strips based on the familiar geometry of folded bits of solid paper – that the ratio between the length and width of the paper must be greater than √3, or around 1.73. For example, a Möbius strip one centimeter in length would need to be wider than √3 or 1.73 centimeters. # ⚓ Society for Scholarly Publshing ☛ Having_the_Courage_to Explain_Research_in_Plain_Language⠀⇛ I think the Curse of Knowledge I see most commonly doesn’t arise from overestimating our own ability to convey information, or even from overestimating our audience’s existing knowledge on the topic. It’s more nuanced than that. To some extent, it’s a function of an urge to respect others, not to patronize them and talk down to them. In an age of microaggressions, academics know they must be careful not to treat non-academics as “lesser mortals”. The challenge is particularly acute not on the outer edges of the circle — we are happy to class children as being on the “boundary of ignorance” and thus use plain language when speaking to them. It’s when communicating with the people in the inner zones that we struggle to let ourselves speak in plain language. People in what I am grandiosely calling the Zone of Comprehension and Realm of Familiarity, in particular, fall under the shadow of our “cone of concern”. (I know, I missed my calling as a sociological nomenclator). # ⚓ Hackaday ☛ Mistranslation_Of_Newton’s_First_Law_Discovered After_Nearly_300_Years⠀⇛ For hundreds of years, we have been told what Newton’s First Law of Motion supposedly says, but recently a paper published in Philosophy of Science (preprint) by [Daniel Hoek] argues that it is based on a mistranslation of the original Latin text. As noted by [Stephanie Pappas] in Scientific American, this would seem to be a rather academic matter as Newton’s Laws of Motion have been superseded by General Relativity and other theories developed over the intervening centuries. Yet even today Newton’s theories are highly relevant, as they provide very accessible approximations for predicting phenomena on Earth. o § Hardware⠀➾ # ⚓ DaemonFC (Ryan Farmer) ☛ HP_Stream_Laptops_at_Walmart._How Much_Computer_Do_You_Need_in_2023?⠀⇛ You can barely use Linux productively with 4 these days. Much less Windows. With Windows 11 and 4 GB, you can barely even boot the computer and load one program. These things don’t age well because they can barely handle a single use case that people are going to take them home for. # ⚓ Hackaday ☛ Paper_Punching_Machine_Looks_Like_Cute_Piece_Of Computer_History_Past⠀⇛ Computing used to run on punch cards. Great stacks of cards would run middling programs, with data output onto more punched cards in turn. [Nii] has built a machine in this vein, capable of punching binary into paper tape.  # ⚓ Hackaday ☛ 3D_Printed_RC_Car_Is_Geared_For_Speed⠀⇛ You can always go out and buy an RC car off the shelf. However, it’s readily achievable to print your own design that has many of the features of off-the-shelf models, as demonstrated by [Jinan]. o § Health/Nutrition/Agriculture⠀➾ # ⚓ University of Michigan ☛ My_pal_Prozac⠀⇛ I started seeing a therapist the summer before my freshman year of high school. After several months of cognitive behavioral therapy — a form of therapy which focuses on changing negative thoughts and behaviors while instilling healthy coping mechanisms — I didn’t feel much better. # ⚓ New York Times ☛ My_Sister’s_Mental_Health_Crisis_Became_My Crisis⠀⇛ Two siblings learn to balance love and self- preservation. # ⚓ New York Times ☛ Decongestant_in_Cold_Medicines_Doesn’t Work,_Panel_Says⠀⇛ The agency now must decide whether products containing the ingredient, like some Sudafed and NyQuil products, should no longer be sold or perhaps give companies lead time to substitute other ingredients. # ⚓ The Kent Stater ☛ Overdose_Awareness_Day_highlights_efforts to_raise_overdose_awareness_with_events_in_downtown_Kent⠀⇛ In efforts to raise overdose awareness worldwide, several organizations in the community took part in Overdose Awareness Day in downtown Kent Thursday evening. # ⚓ The Nation ☛ It’s_Now_Clearer_Than_Ever:_The_US_Is_Choosing to_Impoverish_Children⠀⇛ “The Census data make it painfully clear: poverty—in particular, child poverty—is a policy choice,” explains the Friends Committee on National Legislation, the Washington-based Quaker peace and justice lobby that has long monitored poverty rates with an eye toward developing and advancing policy interventions. “When lawmakers expanded the child tax credit in 2021, fewer kids lived in poverty. When they failed to do so in 2022, child poverty more than doubled.” # ⚓ Jacobin Magazine ☛ Boys_and_Men_in_the_United_States_Are Struggling._The_Left_Should_Talk_About_It.⠀⇛ Statistics show that men and boys in the United States today disproportionately suffer from a number of serious problems. Since the 1970s, they’ve seen their wages stagnate and are now far less likely than women to attend or graduate from college. Even more seriously, men are much more likely than women to be afflicted by “deaths of despair”: deaths due to suicide or alcohol or drug abuse. These trends are affecting boys and men across racial groups, and especially working-class boys and men. # ⚓ Techdirt ☛ College_Kids_Are_Easily_Bypassing_Stupid University_TikTok_Bans⠀⇛ We’ve noted a few times how the political push to ban TikTok is a dumb performance largely designed to distract people from our failure to pass even a basic internet privacy law or regulate data brokers. We’ve also noted how college bans of TikTok are a dumb extension of that dumb performance, and don’t accomplish anything of meaningful significance. # ⚓ The_antimask_antivax_Brownstone_Institute_is_still_ranting about_COVID-19_“censorship”⠀⇛ One of the most consistent narratives from science deniers, be they quacks, antivaxxers, COVID-19 minimizers, or even 9/11 Truthers or moon landing hoaxers is that of “censorship,” in which “They”—generally the government, press, scientific/ medical establishment, and corporations (e.g., big pharma)—are somehow “suppressing” The Truth that the deniers are spreading to the masses. In these days of social media, when some of the most notorious science deniers have Twitter—excuse, me, X—accounts with hundreds of thousands of followers and Substacks with many thousands of subscribers making up to over a million dollars a year from paid subscriptions, I’ve always found the cries of “censorship!” to be far more performative than reflecting reality. The bottom line is that all too many of these cranks have no difficulty whatsoever spreading their misinformation and disinformation. # ⚓ Reason ☛ The_Return_of_COVID_Mandates?⠀⇛ Join Reason on YouTube and Facebook at 1 p.m. Eastern this Thursday for a discussion with Aaron Kheriaty, author of The New Abnormal about the persistent COVID mandates for K-12 schools, college campuses and health care settings. # ⚓ LRT ☛ Lithuania_to_offer_free_shots_of_updated_Covid vaccine [Ed: How many clinical trials predate this? Also, it's not free, it is pre-paid. Citizens pay whether they want this or not.]⠀⇛ Free Covid-19 vaccinations will be available this season to all Lithuanian residents, the Health Ministry said on Wednesday. # ⚓ Helsinki Times ☛ Finns’_well-being_at_work_stuck_at_the level_undermined_by_COVID-19⠀⇛ The well-being of workers in Finland has yet to fully recover to pre-pandemic levels, according to a study by the Finnish Institute of Occupational Health. The report, titled “How is Finland doing?” reveals that people experienced lower work ability and engagement in the summer of 2023 compared to late 2019. Although well-being no longer appears to be declining for those under 36, none of the measured aspects of well-being at work have improved. Occupational burnout and loneliness have both increased, posing significant societal challenges. # ⚓ Helsinki Times ☛ Over_9,000_patient_injury_reports_filed annually_in_Finland⠀⇛ Every year in Finland, over 9,000 patient injury reports are filed by individuals who suspect they’ve suffered harm during medical treatment. The number of injury reports has stabilized at this level following the COVID-19 pandemic. From January to June 2023, 4,618 new injury reports were submitted, roughly similar to the figures for the same period in 2022 (4,594). # ⚓ The Straits Times ☛ Driver_shortage_prompts_Japan_taxi firms_to_recruit_new_graduates⠀⇛ The shortage worsened after more than 10,000 drivers left the industry during the Covid-19 pandemic. # ⚓ Hong Kong Free Press ☛ Hong_Kong_welcomed_4.1_million visitors_in_Aug,_but_arrivals_still_below_pre-pandemic figures⠀⇛ Hong Kong welcomed 4.07 million visitors in August, up 14 per cent from the previous month, according to provisional data from the Hong Kong Tourism Board (HKTB). However, the figure remained below average pre-pandemic levels. In August 2018, the city saw nearly 6 million visitors. o § Proprietary/Artificial Intelligence (AI)⠀➾ # ⚓ EDRI ☛ Council_of_Europe_must_not_water_down_their_human rights_standards_in_convention_on_AI⠀⇛ The CAI negotiations are now intensifying: a Consolidated Working Draft of the Convention is expected to be imminently published on the CAI’s website. That’s why on July 4, 2023, the undersigned CSOs participating in the CAI sent a letter to the CAI Chair and Secretariat. In the letter, civil society underscore the urgency of this Convention as the challenges arising from the design, development and deployment of AI systems increase. We deeply regret that the negotiating States have chosen to exclude both civil society observers and Council of Europe member participants from the drafting group of the Convention and call on the drafting group to ensure, among other priorities: [...] # ⚓ The Register UK ☛ Friends_don’t_let_friends_use_AI_to chat⠀⇛ Liu said that people “feel less satisfied” if their friends turned to AI to send them messages, and that they were more likely to “feel more uncertain about where they stand” in their relationships. # ⚓ Vice Media Group ☛ Your_Friends_Will_Hate_You_If_You_Use_AI to_Write_Texts,_Science_Confirms⠀⇛ According to a new paper from researchers at Ohio State University, using AI generators to write personal correspondence like letters and text messages actually results in profoundly negative reactions from friends and colleagues who receive them. In the study, 208 adults were presented with one of three scenarios involving a fictional “good friend” named “Taylor.” The participants were instructed to reach out to Taylor about their situation—needing emotional support, a conflict with a colleague, or an upcoming birthday—and then rate how they felt about Taylor’s reply. # ⚓ Scoop News Group ☛ Bolstering_web_application_security⠀⇛ Invicti Security’s Chief Technology Officer, Frank Catucci, emphasizes the need for a comprehensive understanding of potential attack scenarios, especially in dealing with legacy systems. Rigorous testing is essential to identifying vulnerabilities accurately as more applications move online and become exposed to threats. # ⚓ Tom’s Hardware ☛ AI_Lie:_Machines_Don’t_Learn_Like_Humans_ (And_Don’t_Have_the_Right_To)⠀⇛ There’s nothing wrong with LLMs as a technology. We’re testing a chatbot on Tom’s Hardware right now that draws training data directly from our original articles; it uses that content to answer reader questions based exclusively on our expertise. Unfortunately, many people believe that AI bots should be allowed to grab, ingest and repurpose any data that’s available on the public Internet whether they own it or not, because they are “just learning like a human would.” Once a person reads an article, they can use the ideas they just absorbed in their speech or even their drawings for free. So obviously LLMs, whose ingestion practice we conveniently call “machine learning,” should be able to do the same thing. # ⚓ Hackaday ☛ How_Three_Letters_Brought_Down_UK_Air_Traffic Control⠀⇛ The UK bank holiday weekend at the end of August is a national holiday in which it sometimes seems the entire country ups sticks and makes for somewhere with a beach. This year though, many of them couldn’t, because the country’s NATS air traffic system went down and stranded many to grumble in the heat of a crowded terminal. At the time it was blamed on faulty flight data, but news now emerges that the data which brought down an entire country’s air traffic control may have not been faulty at all. # § Windows TCO⠀➾ # ⚓ The Record ☛ Sri_Lankan_government_loses_months_of data_following_ransomware_attack⠀⇛ The attack, which started at the end of August, affected nearly 5,000 email addresses using the gov.lk email domain. The victims include Sri Lanka’s council of ministers which forms the central government of the country. # ⚓ The Register UK ☛ Ransomware_attack_hits_Sri_Lanka government,_causing_data_loss⠀⇛ The attackers likely gained access to government systems using phishing schemes targeting civil servants, and took advantage of the use of outdated software. The government was using Microsoft Exchange 2013, for which its maker stopped support on April 11 this year. # ⚓ Silicon Angle ☛ New_‘3AM’_ransomware_strain_used_in place_of_failed_LockBit_attack⠀⇛ Detailed today by researchers from the Symantec Threat Hunting team, 3AM is written in the Rust programming language and is believed to be a completely new malware family. The ransomware attempts to stop multiple services on the infected computer before it begins encrypting files. Once encryption is complete, it attempts to delete Volume Shadow copies. o § Security⠀➾ # ⚓ Krebs On Security ☛ FBI_Hacker_Dropped_Stolen_Airbus_Data on_9/11⠀⇛ In December 2022, KrebsOnSecurity broke the news that a cybercriminal using the handle “USDoD” had infiltrated the FBI‘s vetted information sharing network InfraGard, and was selling the contact information for all 80,000 members. The FBI responded by reverifying InfraGard members and by seizing the cybercrime forum where the data was being sold. But on Sept. 11, 2023, USDoD resurfaced after a lengthy absence to leak sensitive employee data stolen from the aerospace giant Airbus, while promising to visit the same treatment on top U.S. defense contractors. # ⚓ EFF ☛ UN_Cybercrime_Treaty_Talks_End_Without_Consensus_on Scope_And_Deep_Divides_About_Surveillance_Powers⠀⇛ “Imagine a scenario where a particular national residing in another country continues to use the influence of social media to spread propaganda and hateful messages and incite violence that leads to fatal clashes with security forces,” Sierra Leone said. # § Privacy/Surveillance⠀➾ # ⚓ The Atlantic ☛ You_Should_Worry_About_the_Data Retailers_Collect_About_You⠀⇛ The reality is, unfortunately, worse. Retail companies do collect massive volumes of terrifically sensitive data: demographic information, geographic location, websites you’ve visited, brick-and-mortar stores you have patronized, products you own, products you’ve browsed, products you’ve searched for, even products they think you might have looked at but passed over in the store. They do this not only to predict your future behavior, but to influence it. # ⚓ Patrick Breyer ☛ Breyer:_Von_der_Leyen_has_simply_not understood_the_digital_age⠀⇛ “On the one hand, Ms. von der Leyen keeps official text messages with the head of Pfizer about billion-dollar deals secret bypassing all rules, but on the other hand she wants to have our private messages indiscriminatly scanned by unreliable suspicion machines via #ChatControl and destroy the digital secrecy of correspondence. She is the conservative commission president whose appointment we Pirates have rejected from the start. „Ms. von der Leyen is remembered by many young Germans as ‘Zensursula’. With an emotional fear campaign, she tried years ago to push through an ineffective and harmful Internet censorship law, ignoring mass protests and criticism from academia. In 2015, she voted in the Bundestag to reintroduce blanket data retention, even though the European Court of Justice had ruled it disproportionate. Nothing at all comes from her on curbing lobbying, more transparency and genuine citizen participation. The Pirate Party demands for all these reasons that she finally leave next year.” # ⚓ Terence Eden ☛ I_think_“Law_3.0″_is_OK,_actually⠀⇛ We should embrace new ways of organising ourselves. And we should embrace technological limitations which protect the majority. And those limitations must be safeguarded. # ⚓ EDRI ☛ The_Stop_Scanning_Me_movement_organised_a_mass protest_in_Berlin_against_dangerous_surveillance_law⠀⇛ The brute force of this action is a symbol of what the European Commission is planning to do with its surveillance law on chat control (CSAR): breaking the digital privacy of letters for everyone. # ⚓ EDRI ☛ Open_letter:_EU_countries_should_say_no_to_the CSAR_mass_surveillance_proposal⠀⇛ The Council of EU Member States are close to finalising their position on the controversial CSA Regulation. Yet the latest slew of Council amendments – just like the European Commission’s original – endorse measures which amount to mass surveillance and which would fundamentally undermine end- to-end encryption. Legal experts advising EU governments have warned that in its current form, the CSA Regulation would likely violate the rights of hundreds of millions of people in Europe, without any suspicion that they have done something wrong. It could also force everyone to undergo ID checks in order to access the internet, threatening digital exclusion for those without the ‘right’ documents. # ⚓ Axios ☛ DOJ:_Musk_“may_have_jeopardized_data_privacy and_security”_at_X⠀⇛ Elon Musk may have violated a 2022 Federal Trade Commission order on privacy and security practices at Twitter, now known as X, the Department of Justice said in a new court filing on behalf of the FTC. # ⚓ EFF ☛ Apple_and_Google_Are_Introducing_New_Ways_to Defeat_Cell_Site_Simulators,_But_Is_it_Enough?⠀⇛ In 2021, Google released an optional feature for Android to turn off the ability to connect to 2G cell sites. We applauded this feature at the time. But we also suggested that other companies could do more to protect against cell-site simulators, especially Apple and Samsung, who had not made similar changes. This year more improvements are being made.  Google’s Efforts to Prevent CSS Attacks  Earlier this year Google announced another new mobile security setting for Android. This new setting allows users to prevent their phone from using a “null cipher” when making a connection with a cell tower. In a well- configured network, every connection with a cell tower is authenticated and encrypted using a symmetric cipher, with a cryptographic key generated by the phone’s sim card and the tower it is connecting to. However, when the null cipher is used, communications are instead sent in the clear and not encrypted. Null ciphers are useful for tasks like network testing, where an engineer might need to see the content of the packets going over the wire. Null ciphers are also critical for emergency calls where connectivity is the number one priority, even if someone doesn’t have a SIM card installed. Unfortunately fake base stations can also take advantage of null ciphers to intercept traffic from phones, like SMS messages, calls, and non-encrypted internet traffic.  # ⚓ Techdirt ☛ UK_Government_Pauses_Demands_For_Broken Encryption_In_Its_Online_Safety_Bill⠀⇛ The UK government is still pushing a bill that would give it more direct control of the internet, but it has, at least for the time being, decided against mandating broken encryption. # ⚓ EFF ☛ EFF_to_Michigan_Court:_Governments_Shouldn’t_Be Allowed_to_Use_a_Drone_to_Spy_on_You_Without_a Warrant⠀⇛  In this case, Long Lake Township hired private operators to repeatedly fly drones over Todd and Heather Maxon’s home to take aerial photos and videos of their property in a zoning investigation. The Township did this without a warrant and then sought to use this documentation in a court case against them. In our brief, we argue that the township’s conduct was governed by and violated the Fourth Amendment and the equivalent section of the Michigan Constitution.  The Township argued that the Maxons had no reasonable expectation of privacy based on a series of cases from the U.S. Supreme Court in the 1980s. In those cases, law enforcement used helicopters or small planes to photograph and observe private backyards that were thought to be growing cannabis. The Court found there was no reasonable expectation of privacy—and therefore no Fourth Amendment issue—from aerial surveillance conducted by manned aircraft.   But, as we pointed out in our brief, drones are fundamentally different from helicopters or airplanes. Drones can silently and unobtrusively gather an immense amount of data at only a tiny fraction of the cost of traditional aircraft. In other words, the government can buy thousands of drones for the price of one helicopter and its hired pilot. Drones are also smaller and easier to operate. They can fly at much lower altitudes, and they can get into spaces—such as under eaves or between buildings—that planes and helicopters can never enter. And the noise created by manned airplanes and helicopters functions as notice to those who are being watched—it’s unlikely you’ll miss a helicopter circling overhead when you’re sunbathing in your yard, but you may not notice a drone.   # § Confidentiality⠀➾ # ⚓ [Old] GnuPG ☛ Large_keys⠀⇛ Koch showed examples of digital signatures of comparable security, one made with RSA-4096 and one with Ed25519 [..] HSM timing data showed that RSA is about 60 times slower than Ed25519 for signing. o § Defence/Aggression⠀➾ # ⚓ Site36 ☛ Great_Britain_wants_to_return_to_Frontex:_Official request_at_EU_summit_in_early_October⠀⇛ # § Russia, Belarus, and War in Ukraine⠀➾ # ⚓ Meduza ☛ Sky_News:_Ukraine_used_British_Storm_Shadow missiles_in_Sevastopol_shipyard_attack_—_Meduza⠀⇛ # ⚓ Meduza ☛ ‘A_covert_smear_campaign’:_Vladimir_Osechkin made_his_name_exposing_abuses_in_Russia’s_penal_system. A_new_report_alleges_he_exploited_those_who_sought_his help._—_Meduza⠀⇛ # ⚓ Meduza ☛ Bucharest_to_summon_Russian_ambassador_in response_to_third_apparent_Russian_drone_crash_on Romanian_territory_—_Meduza⠀⇛ # ⚓ Meduza ☛ Moscow_authorities_open_criminal_case against_volunteer_guard_at_Boris_Nemtsov_memorial_for alleged_participation_in_pro-Ukraine_Freedom_of_Russia Legion_—_Meduza⠀⇛ # ⚓ Meduza ☛ Armenian_prime_minister_confirms_Yerevan will_fully_ratify_Rome_Statute,_recognizing jurisdiction_of_ICC_—_Meduza⠀⇛ # ⚓ Meduza ☛ Russia_launches_drone_attack_on_Odesa region,_injuring_seven_people_—_Meduza⠀⇛ # ⚓ Meduza ☛ Ukraine_carries_out_missile_attack_on shipyard_in_annexed_Crimea_More_than_20_people_injured and_two_vessels_damaged_—_Meduza⠀⇛ # ⚓ The Nation ☛ The_West_Needs_a_Russia—Not_a Putin—Policy⠀⇛ Even before the latest phase of the war in Ukraine, the narrative surrounding Western policy toward Moscow has focused on Russian President Vladimir Putin. Such an approach ignores the reality that Putin acts rather as the adjudicator, and ultimate stabilizer, of the country’s fractious political elite. Nevertheless, recent reporting on Russia has remained fixated on Putin, effectively dismissing the rest of society and institutions as inept and insignificant. # ⚓ Meduza ☛ ‘Voters_are_interested_in_everyday_matters’: Why_the_war_was_a_non-issue_in_Russia’s_regional elections_—_Meduza⠀⇛ # ⚓ Meduza ☛ Even_in_Europe,_we_are_not_safe_A_statement from_Meduza_editor-in-chief_Ivan_Kolpakov_—_Meduza⠀⇛ # ⚓ Meduza ☛ Estonia_third_Baltic_country_to_ban_entry_of vehicles_with_Russian_license_plates_—_Meduza⠀⇛ # ⚓ New York Times ☛ Kim-Putin_Summit_Highlights_How Ukraine_War_Drives_Russian_Foreign_Policy⠀⇛ The backdrop of the war has made North Korea more relevant than in years past for Russia, despite the North’s history as an impoverished, sometimes troublesome partner. # ⚓ AntiWar ☛ Why_We_Don’t_Negotiate⠀⇛ The signature of Joe Biden’s State Department has been the abdication of diplomacy. Its head, Antony Blinken, the chief U.S. diplomat, has abdicated the role of diplomat. # ⚓ AntiWar ☛ Depleted_Uranium_Added_to_Toxic_Mess_in Ukraine⠀⇛ Following on from its decision to donate widely banned cluster munitions to Ukraine the US is sending armor-piercing depleted uranium (DU) munitions to fight Russia. Indifferent to the poisonous effect of these weapons, the Justin Trudeau government has remained mum on Washington’s escalatory move. De # ⚓ Atlantic Council ☛ Now_is_the_time_for_businesses_to look_at_Ukraine⠀⇛ Ukraine’s reconstruction promises to be the largest national recovery project in Europe since World War II and will create unique business opportunities, writes AmCham Ukraine’s Andy Hunder. # ⚓ France24 ☛ Poland_threatens_to_extend_Ukrainian_grain import_ban_after_embargo_date_expires⠀⇛ A temporary EU ban on Ukrainian grain imports, introduced after Poland and four other eastern EU countries complained about cheap Ukrainian produce flooding the market, is set to expire on September 15. Warsaw now not only wants to extend the ban but expand it and include honey too, angering many in Brussels. FRANCE 24′s Magdalena Chodownik and Gulliver Cragg report. # ⚓ France24 ☛ US_says_Russia-North_Korea_cooperation ‘troubling’,_threatens_sanctions⠀⇛ The United States “won’t hesitate” to impose more sanctions on Russia and North Korea if they conclude any new arms deals, the US State Department warned on Wednesday after the two countries’ leaders met for talks in Vladivostok. Earlier, Ukraine’s military said its forces had struck naval targets and port infrastructure in Crimea’s Sevastopol, in what appeared to be the biggest attack yet on the home of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet. Read our live blog to see how all the day’s events unfolded. All times are Paris time (GMT+2). # ⚓ LRT ☛ The_fear_of_Belarusian_laying_claim_to Lithuanian_history⠀⇛ An identity clash between European-facing Belarusians and Lithuanians has echoed across social media, as well as from the lips of politicians eyeing next year’s elections. At the core is Litvinism, a strand of Belarusian nationalism questioning the Vilnius-centric legacy of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, the mediaeval state stretching from the Baltics to the Black Sea and incorporating parts of present-day Belarus, Russia, and Ukraine. # ⚓ RFERL ☛ Child_Killed_In_Russian_Shelling_In_Ukraine As_Another_Aerial_Attack_Targets_Occupied_Crimea⠀⇛ Explosions were reported in Russian-occupied Crimea early on September 14 as Russia’s Defense Ministry claimed it had thwarted another Ukrainian drone attack, a day after two Russian military vessels docked on the peninsula were seriously damaged in a similar strike. # ⚓ RFERL ☛ Bulgaria_Signals_Possible_Track_To_Lift_Ban On_Ukrainian_Grain_Import⠀⇛ The Bulgarian government on September 13 said it favors lifting the ban on Ukrainian grain imports in return for additional compensation for its farmers, but Hungary, Poland, Romania, and Slovakia insist that the current ban be extended by the European Commission and threatened to unilaterally take action if their demands are not met. # ⚓ RFERL ☛ Calvin_Klein,_Tommy_Hilfiger_Leave_Russian Market⠀⇛ The U.S.-based company that owns clothing brands Calvin Klein and Tommy Hilfiger has become the latest Western business to exit the Russian market amid Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. # ⚓ RFERL ☛ Romania_Finds_Possible_Drone_Fragments_After Russian_Attack_Hits_Ukrainian_Ports⠀⇛ Romania’s Defense Ministry said elements of what could be a drone were identified on the NATO member’s territory following a Russian drone attack early on September 13 on Izmayil in southern Ukraine, just across the border. # ⚓ RFERL ☛ Ukraine_Making_‘Great_Strides’_But_More_Hard Work_Before_Accession,_EU_Says⠀⇛ Ukraine has made “great strides” to join the European Union since being granted candidate status in 2022, but full accession is a merit-based process and hard work lies ahead, the head of the bloc’s executive said in her annual speech. # ⚓ RFERL ☛ Ukraine_‘Ready_For_Winter_Loads’_After Repairs_To_Energy_System⠀⇛ Ukraine has nearly completed repairs to its power systems following Russian air strikes on energy infrastructure last winter, and is ready for the coming winter, a senior energy official said. # ⚓ New Yorker ☛ “Liturgy_of_Anti-Tank_Obstacles”_Shows the_Transformations_of_Life_in_Ukraine⠀⇛ A documentary short by the Ukrainian filmmaker Dmytro Sukholytkyy-Sobchuk shows sculptors of religious statues using their tools and training for war. # ⚓ New York Times ☛ Russia-Ukraine_War:_Ukraine_Strikes Headquarters_of_Russia’s_Black_Sea_Fleet⠀⇛ The pre-dawn attack damaged two ships and triggered a large blaze at a naval shipyard in Crimea that plays a critical role in Russia’s war effort. # ⚓ New York Times ☛ Russia_Overcomes_Sanctions_to_Expand Missile_Production,_Officials_Say⠀⇛ Moscow’s missile production now exceeds prewar levels, officials say, leaving Ukraine especially vulnerable this coming winter. # ⚓ New York Times ☛ Now_the_Koreas_Are_the_Ones Supplying_Weapons⠀⇛ Desperate for munitions for the war in Ukraine, the U.S. and Russia have turned to their allies in South and North Korea, which kept stockpiling arms for decades after their own conflict. # ⚓ New York Times ☛ Thursday_Briefing:_Ukraine_Strikes Russia’s_Black_Sea_Fleet⠀⇛ Plus a road trip in Mongolia. # ⚓ New York Times ☛ Top_EU_Official_Calls_for_Expanding Bloc_to_Include_Ukraine_and_Other_Nations⠀⇛ In an address, Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the European Commission, expressed support for Ukraine and several other nations joining the bloc over the next few years. # ⚓ New York Times ☛ Ukraine_Strikes_the_Headquarters_of Russia’s_Black_Sea_Fleet_in_Crimea⠀⇛ The Russian Ministry of Defense said that it had shot down seven of 10 cruise missiles that Ukraine fired at the facility in the city of Sevastopol. The area hosts naval operations key to Moscow’s war efforts in Ukraine. # ⚓ Latvia ☛ Saeima_committee_discusses_dropping_treaty agreement_with_‘immoral’_Russia⠀⇛ A meeting of the Saeima’s influential Foreign Affairs Committee on September 13 discussed proposals to cancel treaty agreements with Russia on legal assistance and legal relations in civil, family and criminal matters. # ⚓ Reason ☛ Kevin_McCarthy’s_Impeachment_Inquiry Provokes_Predictably_Polarized_Reactions⠀⇛ Plus: The Stations of the Cross isn’t a zoning violation, inflation is making people poorer, and Russian mercenaries win hearts and minds with their own branded beer. # ⚓ LRT ☛ Russians_allowed_to_bring_personal_items_not posing_‘sanctions_evasion_risk’,_says_EC clarification⠀⇛ Russians are allowed to bring only items that pose no risk of sanctions evasion into the European Union, according to a further clarification issued by the European Commission on Wednesday. # ⚓ LRT ☛ Sixth_Leonidas_Donskis_memorial_conference_in Vilnius_asks:_Will_Russia_survive_2024?⠀⇛ A conference dedicated to the late Lithuanian philosopher and politician will focus on possible and desirable future transformation of Russia. # ⚓ LRT ☛ Latvia,_Estonia_follow_Lithuania_in_banning Russian_cars_from_entering⠀⇛ A ban on vehicles with Russian licence plates entering the EU via the external border has come into force in Estonia and Latvia. # ⚓ LRT ☛ Lithuania_stops_19_Russian_cars_overnight_under new_EC_sanctions_guidelines⠀⇛ After the European Commission issued a clarification on how to apply sanctions on Russian vehicles, customs officers refused to allow 19 cars with Russian plates to enter Lithuania from Tuesday morning until Wednesday morning. # ⚓ LRT ☛ Ice_dancer_Drobiazko_defends_herself_in_open letter_as_commission_looks_to_revoke_her_Lithuanian citizenship⠀⇛ The ice dancer Margarita Drobiazko, who risks losing her Lithuanian citizenship due to performances in Russia, says she is not involved in Moscow’s propaganda and claims that she is spreading “the light of culture and kindness”. # ⚓ RFERL ☛ U.S._Ambassador_To_Russia_Visits_Whelan_In Notorious_Penal_Colony,_Demands_His_Release⠀⇛ The U.S. ambassador to Russia, Lynne Tracy, visited Paul Whelan, a former U.S. Marine jailed in Russia over what the United States calls bogus espionage charges, for the first time in four months, as Washington again demanded his immediate release. # ⚓ RFERL ☛ Moldova_Expels_Director_Of_Russia’s_Sputnik State_News_Agency⠀⇛ Moldovan authorities have expelled the director of Russia’s Sputnik state news agency in Moldova, Vitaly Denisov, saying he poses a national security threat. # ⚓ New York Times ☛ More_Suspected_Russian_Drone_Debris Found_in_Romania⠀⇛ The NATO member said it was the third such discovery in less than two weeks. # ⚓ RFERL ☛ ‘Merchant_Of_Death’_Viktor_Bout_Wins_Seat_In Local_Russian_Legislature⠀⇛ Viktor Bout, the convicted gun runner who spent nearly a decade in a U.S. prison before being sent back to Russia in a prisoner swap, has won a seat in a regional legislature, officials said. o § Environment⠀➾ # ⚓ France24 ☛ Libya’s_deadly_dam_collapse_was_decades_in_the making⠀⇛ “It is too early to determine whether the failure of the dam was caused by a lack of maintenance or whether it was not designed to be resilient to the exceptional amount of rainfall that fell,” she said. “Monitoring of the condition of the dam could have perhaps supported early warning of potential failure, and precautionary evacuations of the people in harm’s way.” # ⚓ Axios ☛ Climate_change_made_U.S._summer_hotter_for_almost everyone⠀⇛ Symbol map of the U.S. showing where climate change most affected daily summer temperatures in 2023. Far more places in the south had a Climate Shift Index of 3 or higher, meaning human-caused climate change made the average daily temperature at least three times more likely. In Victoria, Texas, 76 out of 91 summer days were strongly affected. In contrast, summer temperatures in the midwest and northeast were largely unaffected by climate change. # ⚓ RFA ☛ Kim_Jong_Un_blasts_premier_for_typhoon_lack_of preparedness⠀⇛ Harsh criticism generates buzz among the public, and some sympathy. # ⚓ Democracy Now ☛ “A_Calamity_of_Epic_Proportions”:_Death Toll_from_Libyan_Floods_Tops_6,000_in_Latest_Climate Disaster⠀⇛ We get an update from Libya, where at least 6,000 are feared dead after a catastrophic cyclone hit the eastern city of Derna, causing two dams to burst and flooding whole sections of the city. Storm victims are being buried in mass graves as hope is dwindling for those who have been unable to locate friends and family members. Libya’s infrastructure has crumbled over years of civil war, NATO intervention and political instability; Derna’s dams have not been maintained since 2002. Ahead of the storm, the government did not declare an emergency or carry out evacuations. “It’s obviously our government’s fault,” says Libyan youth climate activist Nissa Bek in Tripoli. She notes Libya’s lack of investment in risk mitigation or climate adaptation means the scale of the disaster was not a surprise. “I’m hoping that this tragedy could be the turning point for all of this, and for them to actually take the climate crisis more seriously,” adds Bek. # § Energy/Transportation⠀➾ # ⚓ University of Michigan ☛ University_of_Michigan Transportation_rolls_out_four_new_electric_buses⠀⇛ The buses were manufactured by automotive company New Flyer and can drive about 250 miles on a single charge. The arrival of the buses on campus was initially delayed due to supply chain delays and safety recalls, in an effort to prevent battery leaks. # ⚓ Gizmodo ☛ Apple’s_New_CO2_Neutral_Products_Are_Cool, But_Don’t_Let_Them_Distract_You_From_the_Big_Picture⠀⇛ But it turns out that having an entirely carbon-neutral product depends on the combination of items purchased. “Select case and band combinations of Apple Watch Series 9, Apple Watch Ultra™ 2, and Apple Watch SE® are Apple’s first-ever carbon neutral products,” a press release about the products explained. It’s great that a multinational business is working on lowering its emissions, but major corporations need to be held to higher standards that go beyond buying the right combination of things. Apple’s large target is carbon neutrality by 2030—that should be the most important metric that we judge the company by. # ⚓ Interesting Engineering ☛ Swiss_students_have_broken the_1-second_EV_acceleration_mark⠀⇛ On September 1, 2023, a group of speed freak students from ETH Zurich and Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts in Switzerland demolished the electrical vehicle acceleration world record in style. Spending every spare minute building and refining their racing car, called “Mythen,” they managed to get from zero to 62.15 mph (100 kph) in 0.965 seconds over a distance of 40.3 feet (12.3 meters). # ⚓ Futurism ☛ Tesla_Engineers_Hated_the_Cybertruck_So Much_They_Started_Secretly_Designing_an_Alternative⠀⇛ If you thought Tesla’s Cybertruck looks weird and ungainly, you’re not the only one. Apparently, some Tesla staff thought the same of the electric pickup — with its sharp angles, futuristic silhouette, and absurdly large windshield wiper — according to a new excerpt from Walter Isaacson’s blockbuster just-dropped biography on Tesla CEO Elon Musk. # ⚓ DeSmog ☛ American_PR_Firm_Edelman_Enabled_Oil_Baron Al_Jaber’s_Ascension_to_Lead_COP28_Climate_Conference⠀⇛ With three months to go until the COP28 United Nations climate talks begin in Dubai, critics have stepped up their condemnation of the decision to put Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber, the head of Abu Dhabi’s state oil company ADNOC, in charge of the conference.  What few may realize, however, is that Al Jaber’s ascent to the highest levels of climate diplomacy began 16 years ago, and Edelman, the largest public relations firm in the world, played a crucial role. # § Wildlife/Nature⠀➾ # ⚓ The Straits Times ☛ China’s_flood-hit_city_hunts_for crocodiles_on_the_loose⠀⇛ Over 70 crocodiles escaped from a farm after a lake overflowed in Maoming city in Guangdong province. o § Finance⠀➾ # ⚓ Pro Publica ☛ Wall_Street_Bet_Big_on_Used-Car_Loans_for Years._Now_a_Crisis_May_Be_Looming.⠀⇛ Wall Street could always bank on used cars. In fact, for years, investors bought bonds backed by auto loans because they reliably produced handsome returns, even amid rocky markets and downturns in the economy. But now, for the first time in decades, that winning streak appears to be coming to an end, with a half dozen prominent used-auto lenders facing either an avalanche of failed loans — or growing regulatory scrutiny. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is currently suing two of those lenders over potentially predatory practices. # ⚓ BBC ☛ Cash_payments_rise_for_first_time_in_10_years_–_BBC News⠀⇛ Payments made with notes and coins rose as the cost of living started to bite, but debit card use was higher. o § AstroTurf/Lobbying/Politics⠀➾ # ⚓ RFA ☛ 3_ASEAN_nations_to_boycott_defense_meeting_hosted_by Myanmar_junta⠀⇛ Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines to avoid Air Chiefs Conference. # ⚓ RFERL ☛ Tehran_Names_Five_Iranians_For_Looming_Prisoner Swap_With_U.S.,Says_Americans_‘In_Full_Health’⠀⇛ Iranian officials have identified five individuals in U.S. custody whom Tehran would like handed over as part of a possible 10-person, $6 billion prisoner swap initially said to have been mapped out last month between the longtime foes. # ⚓ The Straits Times ☛ Malaysian_police_wow_with_flawless rendition_of_Hong_Kong_rock_band_Beyond’s_hit_song⠀⇛ The all-Malay band sang Hai Kuo Tian Kong in flawless Cantonese. # ⚓ New York Times ☛ In_Show_of_Force,_Silicon_Valley_Titans Pledge_‘Getting_This_Right’_With_A.I.⠀⇛ The meeting — also attended by Bill Gates, a founder of Microsoft; Sam Altman of OpenAI; Satya Nadella of Microsoft; and Jensen Huang of Nvidia — was a rare congregation of more than a dozen top tech executives in the same room. It amounted to one of the industry’s most proactive shows of force in the nation’s capital as companies race to be at the forefront of A.I. and to be seen to influence its direction. # ⚓ Quartz ☛ Microsoft,_Google,_and_OpenAI_are_getting questioned_about_their_AI_“data_labelers”⠀⇛ US lawmakers are probing nine tech giants—Microsoft, OpenAI, Anthropic, Meta, Alphabet, Amazon, Inflection AI, Scale AI, and IBM—on the working conditions of data labelers. Data labelers are human workers tasked with labeling training data and rating chatbot responses to make sure that AI systems are safe and reliable. # ⚓ The Drone Girl ☛ 11_of_the_most_influential_women_in_drones not_just_this_year_—_but_all_time⠀⇛ These women weren’t just crucial to propelling the drone industry forward over the past year — they’ve been doing it for years (and sometimes decades). The 11 influential women in drones listed below stem from an announcement made today by female leadership organization Women and Drones, which today listed their second crop of inductees into its “Women in Emerging Aviation Technologies Hall of Fame.” # ⚓ Gizmodo ☛ X_(Twitter)_Failed_to_Take_Action_on_86%_of_Hate Speech_Posts,_Researchers_Say⠀⇛ Many of these posts, which Gizmodo independently reviewed, weren’t borderline or confusing cases. One of the violating posts labeled Hitler as a “hero” for white children while another encouraged users to “stop race mixing.” Another post showed a black and white photo of a family enjoying a picnic with the caption “Just admit it, white America was better.” # ⚓ [Repeat] New York Times ☛ Google_Sheds_Hundreds_of Recruiters_in_Another_Round_of_Layoffs⠀⇛ Google’s recruiting group, which at one point had more than 3,000 employees, has already been hit hard by layoffs this year. # § Misinformation/Disinformation/Propaganda⠀➾ # ⚓ Quartz ☛ New_York_and_Oregon_pension_funds_are_far from_the_first_to_sue_Fox_for_fake_news⠀⇛ Pension funds in New York City and Oregon are suing Fox Corporation, the parent company of Fox News, for the media company’s role in spreading fake news during the 2020 election cycle. Fox’s board, including the media mogul Rupert Murdoch and his son and Fox’s CEO-chairman Lachlan Murdoch, “knew that Fox News’s promotion of political narratives without regard for whether the underlying factual assertions were true created significant exposure to defamation charges,” according to the complaint filed in Delaware Chancery Court yesterday (Sep. 12). The lawsuit will remain sealed for five days to allow time for redactions. o § Censorship/Free Speech⠀➾ # ⚓ Kansas Reflector ☛ U.S._Senate_hearing_on_book_bans_probes censorship_attempts_in_local_libraries⠀⇛ The Senate Judiciary Committee heard testimony about book bans, focusing on how censorship limits liberty and literature. The hearing occurred amid an increase in book challenges across the nation. # ⚓ Techdirt ☛ You_Can’t_Wish_Away_The_1st_Amendment_To_Mandate Age_Verification⠀⇛ So, we’ve been talking a lot about age verification of late, as governments around the world have all (with the exception of Australia?!?) seemed to settle on that as a solution to “the problem” of the internet (exactly what that problem is they cannot quite identify, but they’re pretty sure there is one). Of course, as we’ve explained time and time again, age verification creates all sorts of problems, including undermining both privacy and speech rights. # ⚓ Techdirt ☛ A_Trio_Of_Failed_Lawsuits_Trying_To_Sue_Websites For_Moderating_Content⠀⇛ Why do people still file these lawsuits? For years now, we see lawsuits filed against websites over their content moderation decisions, despite Section 230 barring them (and the 1st Amendment rights of the platform backing that up). These lawsuits always fail. o § Freedom of Information / Freedom of the Press⠀➾ # ⚓ CPJ ☛ Investigation_finds_Russian_journalist_Galina Timchenko_targeted_by_Pegasus_spyware⠀⇛ Timchenko’s phone was infected by Pegasus, a spyware produced by the Israeli company NSO Group, while she was in Berlin on or around February 10, 2023, according to a Meduza report and a joint- investigation by rights groups Access Now and research organization Citizen Lab. The investigation found that the infection took place shortly after Russia’s Prosecutor General designated Meduza as an “undesirable” organization – a measure that banned the outlet from operating on Russian territory – and likely lasted several days or weeks. # ⚓ Meduza ☛ The_million-dollar_reporter:_How_attackers hijacked_the_phone_of_Meduza_co-founder_Galina_Timchenko, making_her_the_first_Russian_journalist_to_be_infected_with Pegasus_spyware_—_Meduza⠀⇛ # ⚓ Citizen Lab ☛ Pegasus_Infection_of_Galina_Timchenko,_exiled Russian_Journalist_and_Publisher⠀⇛ In an investigative collaboration with Access Now, the Citizen Lab has analyzed forensic artifacts from the iPhone of award-winning exiled Russian investigative journalist Galina Timchenko and found with high confidence that on or around February 10th, 2023 it was infected with NSO Group’s Pegasus spyware. o § Civil Rights/Policing⠀➾ # ⚓ Atlantic Council ☛ Letters_from_women_protesters_inside Iran:_One_year_after_#MahsaAmini’s_death⠀⇛ “Break the pen that writes,” commanded the founder of the Islamic Republic, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, a few months after the 1979 Islamic Revolution. He heralded an age of silence in Iran, which his successor, Ali Khamenei, has struggled to maintain. But the people in Iran have refused to be silenced, particularly one year after twenty-two- year-old Kurdish-Iranian Mahsa Jina Amini died at the hands of the so-called morality police for allegedly violating mandatory hijab. Since her death, Iranians continue to call for the Islamic Republic’s demise. Here are three open letters from women in Iran who have risked arrest, torture, and even jail to share their vision of a better future for their motherland. Their first names have been changed out of consideration for their safety. # ⚓ RFERL ☛ UN_Fact-Finding_Mission_On_Deadly_Iran_Protest Crackdown_Met_With_Silence_By_Tehran⠀⇛ Ali described the mission’s exhaustive efforts to uncover and verify cases of abuse, including arbitrary detentions and enforced disappearances as well as torture and other ill-treatment. She also explained the laborious and often futile process of appealing to the Iranian government to provide information about specific cases regarding Iran’s crackdown against the protests, which broke out following Masha Amini’s death in police custody on September 16, 2022. # ⚓ Techdirt ☛ NYPD’s_Stop_And_Frisk_Program_Still_Limping Along,_More_Biased_Than_Ever⠀⇛ It’s been a decade since a federal court declared the New York Police Department’s stop-and-frisk program (mostly) illegal. Judge Shira Scheindlin, in a 195-page decision, pointed out everything that was wrong with the program, which ignored the “Terry stop” parameters defined by the Supreme Court in its 1968 decision to engage in stops of anyone at any time, often accompanied by a “frisk” of the person in hopes of feeling up contraband. # ⚓ Democracy Now ☛ “Complicit”:_Columbia_U._Shielded_Predator OB-GYN_Robert_Hadden_for_Decades_as_He_Assaulted_Hundreds⠀⇛ We look at how Columbia University ignored women, undermined prosecutors and protected obstetrician Robert Hadden while he preyed on hundreds of his patients for more than two decades, as detailed in a new investigation from ProPublica and New York magazine. Hadden was sentenced in July to 20 years in federal prison for sexually abusing his patients, but survivors say no one has been held accountable at Columbia, and are still demanding justice. We speak with a survivor who reported Hadden to police after he assaulted her during a supposedly routine pregnancy exam in 2012, leading to his arrest, but Columbia allowed him to go back to work, and he assaulted more women. We are also joined by Laura Beil and Bianca Fortis, who co- wrote the new report. Beil also hosts the podcast Exposed: Cover-Up at Columbia University. # ⚓ DeSmog ☛ Nearly_200_Environmentalists_Were_Murdered_for Their_Work_in_2022⠀⇛ In early June of last year, Indigenous rights expert Bruno Pereira and Guardian journalist Dom Phillips set off together on a riverboat journey through Brazil’s Javari Valley Indigenous territory, to meet and speak with residents working to protect the area. They would not make it back alive. Pereira and Phillips were two of at least 177 environmental and Indigenous land rights advocates killed last year, according to the non-profit organization Global Witness in its latest annual report on risks to environmental activists, while many more were threatened with violence or attacked. The researchers also found that the criminalization of environmental activists, which sometimes precedes violent attacks or murder, is on the rise. # ⚓ Reason ☛ Students_for_Fair_Admissions_and_the_End_of_Racial Classification_as_We_Know_It⠀⇛ My article, Students for Fair Admissions and the End of Racial Classification as We Know It, will be published in the new Cato Supreme Court Review on Monday. o § Internet Policy/Net Neutrality⠀➾ # ⚓ Techdirt ☛ Disney,_Spectrum_End_Cable_Blackout,_Nothing Meaningfully_Changes⠀⇛ Last week we discussed how a contract dispute between Charter (Spectrum) and Disney resulted in 15 million Charter customers losing access to more than 20 ABC and ESPN channels they pay for. We also noted how despite a lot of weird claims this standoff would somehow dramatically reshape television, that nothing would actually change and the only real outcome would be higher rates for consumers. o § Monopolies⠀➾ # ⚓ [Old] Computer World ☛ Limos_and_bonuses_lure_staff⠀⇛ In its statement of claim Borland alleges that “the method Microsoft chose to develop its answer to Delphi, as well as Borland C++ and Internet tools, was to hire away the people at Borland who had developed the products”. # ⚓ [Old] CNET ☛ Borland_sues_Microsoft_over_brain_drain⠀⇛ Saying that he “just wants Microsoft to leave us alone,” Borland International (BORL) CEO Delbert Yocam today filed a lawsuit against Microsoft (MSFT), claiming that the software giant is hiring away Borland’s key employees to put it out of business. Borland claims that in the past 30 months, Microsoft has hired 34 of the ailing software developer’s key employees by offering “large signing bonuses of several millions of dollars and other incentives,” according to the suit. “It’s like we’re in the desert, and Microsoft is stealing our water bottle,” said the executive, clearly frustrated by Microsoft’s recruiting operations. # ⚓ New York Times ☛ In_Antitrust_Trial,_Former_Google_Employee Details_History_of_Search_Deals⠀⇛ Chris Barton, a former Google employee who testified on Wednesday, said the company had been willing to pay mobile companies mainly to become their exclusive default search engine. “That’s the kind of primary goal of the partnership,” he said of the agreements. # § Trademarks⠀➾ # ⚓ TTAB Blog ☛ Precedential_No._25:_TTAB_Deems_Grace Period_Petition_for_Cancellation_Moot_When_Registrant Failed_to_Renew⠀⇛ The Board dismissed a petition for cancellation (of a registration for the mark ROD & CUSTOM for “magazines about automobiles”) that was filed during the six- month grace period for (second) renewal of the challenged registration. When the registrant did not file its renewal application, the registration automatically expired as of its twentieth anniversary date, and so the later-filed petition for cancellation was deemed moot. Thomas_C_Taylor v._Motor_Trend_Group,_LLC, Cancellation No. 92081731 (September 8, 2023) [precedential]. # § Copyrights⠀➾ # ⚓ Torrent Freak ☛ Bungie’s_Copyright_Infringement_Claim Against_AimJunkies_Fails_to_Convince_Court⠀⇛ Game developer Bungie has failed to convince the court that cheat seller AimJunkies infringed its “Destiny 2″ copyrights and trademarks. Judge Thomas Zilly denied the motions for summary judgment, which means that the issues are now ripe for trial, if the case gets that far. According to AimJunkies’ lawyer, the day of reckoning is near. # ⚓ Techdirt ☛ Bungie_Fails_To_Get_Summary_Judgement_On Aimjunkies_For_Cheat-Selling…_Again⠀⇛ I must admit that before even beginning to write this story up about Bungie losing in court in the summary judgement phase on copyright and trademark infringement claims against cheat-seller Aimjunkies, I had to check the dates on the TorrentFreak post several times. That’s because we already talked about this a year ago, when Bungie had its initial suit against Aimjunkies dismissed after Judge Thomas Zilly rejected the claims on the grounds that Bungie had failed to offer any evidence of copyright infringement. That dismissal did leave room for Bungie to re-file, though, which Bungie did, this time promising it had solid evidence to bring before the court. Judge Zilly once again fielded Bungie’s request for summary judgment. And, once again, Judge Zilly has handed Bungie a loss, denying summary judgment, due to a lack of evidence. ╘══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╛ ¶ Lines in total: 6351 ➮ Generation completed at 02:57, i.e. 92 seconds to (re)generate ⟲