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● 08.19.14

● Links 19/8/2014: GNU/Linux Raves and Alternative to Proprietary Voice Chat

Posted in News Roundup at 4:27 am by Dr. Roy SchestowitzContentsGNU/LinuxGNU/Linux

=> ↺ European Space Agency are using SUSE Linux

• Actually SUSE Linux began deployment at ESA in 2012 and has been continuing until now, the distro is used by 450 teams in the European Space Operations Centre at ESA, this includes being used by Mission Control Systems who are responsible for simulation and control of aircraft and satellites outside the atmosphere and further still.

=> ↺ Younger generation driving Linux take-up, says Canadian vendor

• A Canadian technology company has started shipping notebooks and laptops loaded with Linux due to demand from the younger generation, the owner of the company says.

• Braden Taylor of Eurocom, a company based in Ontario, said he shipped systems all over the world, including to Australia.

• “We are finding that more and more of the younger generation are moving to Linux for a variety of reasons,” he said, in response to queries.

• “We are getting more and more inquiries about Ubuntu and Mint from the younger generation all over the world. They like that it is a low-cost alternative.”

=> ↺ Loving Linux: Ain’t Nothin’ Like the 1st Time

• “My first real exposure to Linux was at a friend’s house,” said Linux Rants blogger Mike Stone. “He was trying to make a Macintosh he owned into a useful computer, so he’d dual-booted it with a version of Linux called MkLinux. I was absolutely fascinated by it and the FOSS philosophy, and after using his computer for a week or so, I looked into getting Linux [on] my own.”

Desktop

=> ↺ Need a Cheap Chromebook? Here’s How to Pick One

• Instead of running Windows, these lightweight, inexpensive notebooks are based entirely on Google’s Chrome web browser. So while you can’t install traditional programs such as Office and Photoshop, you can use web-based substitutes like the free Office Online and Pixlr. In exchange, you’ll get a computer that boots up quickly, is safe from viruses, doesn’t have any obnoxious bloatware and is optimized for browsing the web.

Server

=> ↺ Xen Virtualization Takes On Automotive

• On Aug. 18 at the Xen Project Developer Summit, the Xen Project unveiled an Embedded and Automotive initiative for its datacenter-focused Xen virtualization technology. The immediate goal is to help auto manufacturers “adopt open source virtualization” to “quickly and cost-effectively develop a flexible, robust, and customizable integrated cockpit — one that keeps drivers safe, while meeting consumers’ connected car expectations,” according to the Xen Project, a Linux Foundation Collaborative Project.

=> ↺ Xen hypervisor targets automotive virtualization role

• The Xen Project’s Embedded and Automotive initiative will bring its hypervisor to a GlobalLogic IVI stack combining a fast-boot Android with Linux or QNX.

• The Xen Project Collaborative Project has launched an Embedded and Automotive initiative to expand its virtualization technology beyond the datacenter and cloud realms. Initially, the subproject will center on a collaboration with GlobalLogic on the company’s Nautilus [PDF] in-vehicle infotainment (IVI) and telematics platform. An embedded version of the open source Xen Project type 1 hypervisor is integrated in Nautilus to enable sandboxed implementations of Android (for IVI) and either QNX or Linux for telematics and other back-end automotive services. The QNX/Android combination appears to be the main focus, however.

=> ↺ IBM Techies Pit Docker, KVM Against Linux Bare Metal

• IBM has only recently caught the KVM bug, and has even gone so far as to create a variant of the KVM hypervisor that runs atop its Power8 systems when they run Linux. But if new performance statistics coming out of IBM Research are any guide, it looks like Big Blue will be porting the new Docker container technology to Power-based systems sometime soon.

=> ↺ Is KVM or Docker Faster for Server Virtualization?

=> ↺ A new report from IBM stacks up Linux container against KVM virtual machine performance.

• In the traditional hypervisor Virtual Machine (VM) approach that is used by VMware’s ESX and open-source options like Xen and KVM, a host operating system runs the hypervisors, which then in turn requires an operating system of its own for VMs. The Docker model is a bit different in that only the host operating system is required and containerized apps then run on top of that OS.

Kernel Space

=> ↺ Systemd: Harbinger of the Linux apocalypse

• Now that Red Hat has released RHEL 7 with systemd in place of the erstwhile SysVinit, it appears that the end of the world is indeed approaching. A schism and war of egos is unfolding within the Linux community right now, and it is drawing blood on both sides. Ultimately, no matter who “wins,” Linux looks to lose this one.

=> ↺ Linux 3.17-rc1 released

• Linus Torvalds has cut short the Linux 3.17 merge window by a day and released Linux 3.17-rc1 because of his travel plans.

=> ↺ Linux Kernel Version 3.17-rc1 has been Released!

• Linux kernel version 3.17-rc1 has been released today, with updates ranging from AMD’s Radeon R9 series improvements, increased audio driver support, and Nouveau updates that dominate this kernel release.

=> ↺ Linux kernel devs made to finger their dongles before contributing code

• Beginning on Monday, the security of the Linux kernel source code has become a little bit tighter with the addition of two-factor authentication for the kernel’s Git code repositories.

• Contributing code changes to the Linux kernel sources at Kernel.org already required more than just a password, even before the change. Developers must use their own unique SSH public keys to login to the Git repositories. But not even this added security layer was truly failsafe – as the software’s maintainers found out in 2011 when their servers were rooted.

=> ↺ Linux Foundation Pushes Two-Factor Authentication For Git

• In particular, the Linux Foundation is pushing for more kernel developers to adopt an additional authentication method beyond just their password / SSH key. The Linux Foundation and Yubico partnered up to offer Yubikeys for kernel developers this week at the Linux events in Chicago to encourage the use of more two-factor authentication for Git repositories.

Graphics Stack

=> ↺ Direct3D 9 Support Stands A Chance Of Being Added To Mesa

• For several months now there’s been a Direct3D 9 state tracker under development for Mesa that’s making some headway and working out for bettering the Wine performance with D3D9 titles rather than using Wine’s translation layer to OpenGL. While no official request for pulling the code has been issued, it looks like it might stand a chance of hitting mainline Mesa.

=> ↺ Wayland 1.6 Is Under Planning For Release

• We haven’t heard much talk lately about Wayland 1.6 but Pekka Paalanen is stepping up and is trying to begin organizing work towards the Wayland/Weston 1.6 release that’s quickly due.

=> ↺ The road to Wayland/Weston 1.6 and 1.5.1

=> ↺ NIR: A New IR Developed For Mesa That’s Better Than GLSL IR

• Connor Abbott, the open-source developer that began contributing to the Lima Linux graphics driver while a high school student, was interning at Intel this summer even before starting college. Over the summer the focus of his Intel Linux internship was focusing on developing a new intermediate representation for Mesa graphics drivers.

Applications

=> ↺ epub.sh: Me and Anders and Esko

=> ↺ e: Like a diamond bullet

=> ↺ XBMC 13.2 “Gotham” Is Out, One of the Last with This Name – Gallery

• The final version of XBMC 13.2 “Gotham,” an open source (GPL) software media player and entertainment hub for digital media that is available for multiple platforms, has been released.

=> ↺ Top Linux Productivity Apps

=> ↺ WebRTC – A viable alternative to Skype

• Skype for Linux 4.3 and upwards requires the use of PulseAudio, which has caused discontent amongst those Linux users who do not use PulseAudio. Although I do use PulseAudio, I recently found out about WebRTC, an API (application programming interface) for browser-based communication offering most of the functions provided by Skype, namely: voice calling, video chat, text chat, file sharing and screen sharing.

Proprietary

=> ↺ Viber 4.2 Finally Released For Linux

• Being released at the end of last week was Viber 4.2 for Linux that replaces the badly outdated version. The Windows version for a while has been up to version 4.2 along with the iOS and Android ports while the Linux client remained very dated. Finally, the Linux client was updated with many bug-fixes and a matching feature set to Viber 4.2 for Windows with this VoIP/chat program.

• Viber for Linux was originally released natively back in 2013. Viber for Linux can be downloaded at Viber.com and the binary blob is officially tested by the company just against Ubuntu Linux.

=> ↺ IDrive Introduces Cloud-based Backup to Linux Systems

• IDrive is looking to bring enterprise-level cloud backup to Linux servers through a new Web-based service designed to target data centers and hosting companies managing multiple Linux systems.

Instructionals/Technical

=> ↺ How to configure Access Control Lists (ACLs) on Linux

=> ↺ Effect on Boards Service in Slots 7&8 When OSN 1500B Configured with TPS Protection Groups

=> ↺ Linux Kernel Git Repositories Add 2-Factor Authentication

=> ↺ Security Hardening with Ansible

=> ↺ How To Sync Files Quickly Between Your Own Computers (Using BTSync)

Games

=> ↺ Last Chance to Get 2D Platformer Mark of the Ninja

• Mark of the Ninja, a 2D action platformer developed by Klei Entertainment and published by Microsoft, can now be purchased on Steam for Linux with an 80% discount.

=> ↺ The Witcher 3 Linux Version Is Not Being Worked On

• CD Projekt Red, the developers of the upcoming “The Witcher 3” game, are now saying that a Linux version is not even in the works.

• Everyone got the impression that The Witcher 3 would be getting a Linux release after the company let it slip on Steam, with a banner that was clearly marking SteamOS as a supported platform. The developers even released The Witcher 2 in the meantime, but no one was disputing the fact that the third game in the franchise would be getting a release.

Desktop Environments/WMs

K Desktop Environment/KDE SC/Qt

=> ↺ what is “the desktop”: KDE and laptops

=> ↺ Convergence will not happen, says KDE dev Aaron Seigo

=> ↺ On Plasma5: present and future

• Finally, the artwork presented in 5.0 is only a preview of what is still to come from the Visual Design Group: more icons, more complete widget set, more and more applications will receive a makeover look-wise and most importantly usability-wise.

=> ↺ Google Summer of Code 2014: QML/Javascript language support for KDevelop 4 and 5

• Today is the end of the Google Summer of Code 2014 coding period. This year, I added support for the QML and Javascript languages in KDevelop. Both languages were added at the same time because QML is a superset of Javascript (one can embed JS snippets in QML files).

=> ↺ Choose your Look and Feel experience

• Plasma 5.1 will make way easier to fine-tune their workspace to their needs.While already very powerful, it was not always trivial, so now on one hand it will be possible choose between plasmoids that offer the same feature with a very simple UI. On the other hand, ever wanted to set themes, look and feel of your desktop, but was discouraged by how many places you had to change themes to make the experience as you wanted? being icon theme, widget style, plasma theme, cursors etc… Plasma 5.1 will support the concept of Look and Feel packages (or “mega themes” if you like) Basically an one stop place to set the look and feel of the whole desktop.

Distributions

=> ↺ The GUI & Ease of Use

• “It’s not a big deal. You see an icon, you click an icon and stuff happens.” We are now in a new era where as long as “stuff happens” users don’t care if it is Windows, Apple or Linux. All they care about is reliability. They pretty much adapt to any operating system easily.

New Releases

=> ↺ Revolutionary SymphonyOS 14.1 Distro Makes a Comeback – Gallery

• SymphonyOS 14.1, a Linux distribution based on Ubuntu 14.04 LTS that has been resurrected after a few years of hiatus, has been released.

PCLinuxOS/Mageia/Mandrake/Mandriva Family

=> ↺ [PCLinuxOS] New ISO images released, 08/12/2014

• All official ISO images were updated on 08/12/2014 and are available for direct download or via torrent.

Red Hat Family

=> ↺ Red Hat Is Hiring To Work On Open-Source GPU Drivers

• Those wishing to work for one of the best open-source companies while focusing on improving open-source Linux graphics drivers, Red Hat has an opening.

=> ↺ Want to join the Red Hat Graphics team?

=> ↺ Red Hat CFO Charles E. Peters, Jr. Sells 35,309 Shares (RHT)

• Red Hat (NYSE:RHT) CFO Charles E. Peters, Jr. unloaded 35,309 shares of the stock on the open market in a transaction dated Friday, August 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.00, for a total value of $2,118,540.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 74,652 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,479,120. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link.

Debian Family

=> ↺ Debian Turns 21, KDE Plasma 5 Review, & Munich Reversal

Derivatives

=> ↺ Elive 2.3.5 Beta Is an Interesting Combination of Debian and Enlightenment – Gallery

=> ↺ HandyLinux 1.6 – A sample of what you can achieve using the power of Debian

• HandyLinux was created using the Debian Live Build tools. This distribution shows you a small sample of what can be achieved with Debian.

Canonical/Ubuntu

=> ↺ Canonical Starts to Fix the Bugs and Problems of Ubuntu Touch RTM

=> ↺ Cisco and Canonical Focus on Hadoop as a Cloud Service

• Enterprises and smaller businesses alike are now working with Big Data–sorting and sifting large data sets with new tools in pursuit of surfacing meaningful angles on stored information. Many of them are also leveraging the open source Hadoop platform, and we’ve been covering the growing usage of Hadoop as a service in the cloud.

=> ↺ Ubuntu MATE to Become an Official Ubuntu Flavor Soon

• The Ubuntu MATE project is progressing nicely and the developers have provided a short update about the work that’s been done already and about the things that still need to be improved.

=> ↺ PPA Updates: Atraci 0.6.0, Atom 0.123.0, Brackets 0.42, GPaste 3.10.3 And 3.12.2, Minitube 2.2, Oracle JDK 7u67 And More

=> ↺ Canonical Fixes serf Vulnerability in All Ubuntu-Supported OSes

=> ↺ Ubuntu 14.04 LTS (Trusty Tahr) Gets New Linux Kernel Update

• A couple of Linux kernel vulnerabilities have been found in the Linux kernel of Ubuntu 14.04 LTS (Trusty Tahr) operating system and they have been corrected by Canonical.

=> ↺ Ubuntu MATE On Track To Become An Official Spin

• Ubuntu MATE is making progress as becoming an official Ubuntu derivative using the GNOME2-forked desktop environment.

• Ubuntu MATE is reaching its first beta stage as being an official flavor of Ubuntu Linux. The Ubuntu MATE team has been working with the Ubuntu Technical Board to achieve an official status this cycle and the involved developers are currently working on new artwork and other MATE-themed integration.

=> ↺ We interview Michael Hall, Ubuntu app development liason

• Michael: I had been an Ubuntu user for nearly a year before I learned about the community and LoCo teams. It was through my LoCo team that I got involved in community activity, met Canonical employees, and ultimately got involved in the LoCo Team Portal (http://launchpad.net/loco-team-portal) development, and from there the Summit project. In fact, when I interviewed for a web developer position at Canonical, being able to show my work on those projects was probably a big contributing factor to my getting hired.

Devices/Embedded

=> ↺ Raspbian explained

• That’s a little bit mind-boggling but I think I understand. So if Raspbian is a version of Debian, is there ‘pure’ Debian on Raspberry Pi?

=> ↺ Raspberry Pi was created to solve talent crisis at Cambridge: Eben Upton [Interview]

• Raspberry Pi needs no introduction. It is one of the most popular credit card sized single board computers which has become a revolution in its own right. The $25 (and $35 for B model) hardware is being used in so many fields that it’s hard to keep a tab on it.

=> ↺ Kids Are Learning to Code With a Slice of Raspberry Pi

• Raspberry Pi is a credit card-size computer that can function like a basic PC when plugged into a monitor and keyboard. It can record videos and power drones, but developer Eben Upton says his goal was to teach basic programming skills to students as young as 8.

• The small computer, sold by the nonprofit Raspberry Pi Foundation, is a small green board covered in metal ports. It’s light, delicate, and fits in the palm of your hand. Once it’s plugged into a keyboard and monitor, a user can write and tweak code as with any PC. The latest model, B+, has 10 operating systems to choose from, with varying learning curves.

Phones

Ballnux

=> ↺ Tizen Samsung NX30 awarded European Connected Camera 2014-2015

• The Samsung NX30 is a special bit of kit, with its excellent sharing smart camera features, quick focus of 0.3 seconds, but its now been confirmed again with the the Korean manufacturer being awarded European Connected Camera 2014-2015 by the European Imaging and Sound Association. See the Press Release Clip for further details.

Android

=> ↺ Is fragmentation a thing of the past for Android?

• I’m inclined to agree with the spirit of the article. Yes, fragmentation has been a significant problem in the past for Android. But there’s no denying that Google is working hard to move the platform past the fragmentation issues that have plagued it over the years.

• So I see fragmentation as a problem that is slowly but surely sunsetting on the Android platform. No, it’s not going to just vanish immediately but it will continue to decline as time goes by and more and more of Google’s efforts bear fruit. Google Play Services and Android Silver should both help cut down on the problem of fragmentation in Android.

=> ↺ Sharp to launch thinnest and lowest-bezel smartphone ever

• Sharp (yes folks you heard right) have announced they are launching two new handsets in Japan and there is rumors circulating one of them will eventually hit stateside. Of the two handsets the Aquos Crystal is the handset that very well make it to the US market.

Sub-notebooks/Tablets

=> ↺ Windows, iOS or Android: Who will win the business tablets battle?

• Android in the enterprise may be a far longer term project, but just wait for all those kids coming out of school used to nothing but Chromebooks.

Free Software/Open Source

=> ↺ Look inside building an open source map app

• Imagine yourself walking down the middle of a crowded street in a complex city like Cairo. Suddenly a protest builds ahead. A mass of people, cutting off the road. You try to evade, but then violence breaks out in mere seconds. You need help. Someone else, a car to get you out. A phone call might suffice, but wouldn’t it be easier to notify all your friends that this place is dangerous and that you need their assistance? This is where a map-based social network could come into play.

=> ↺ Mesosphere and Google Team Up on Containers and Clusters

• Recently, I covered the news that Google had released Kubernetes under an open-source license, which is essentially a version of Borg, used to harness computing power from data centers into a powerful virtual machine. It can make a difference for many cloud computing deployments, and optimizes usage of container technology. You can find the source code for Kubernetes on GitHub.

=> ↺ Coreboot Now Works On The Older MacBook 1,1 Too

=> ↺ Open Source Archive Manager PeaZip 5.4.1 Has New GUI Design

• Open source file and archive manager PeaZip 5.4.1, which can be used to extract, create, and convert multiple archives at once, has just been released.

=> ↺ ClusterHQ Flocker Aims to Simplify Data Migration for Docker Cloud

• The Docker open source containerized virtualization ecosystem has taken another important step forward with the introduction of Flocker from ClusterHQ, a platform that promises to make data as portable as applications by including databases and key-value stores inside Docker containers.

Events

=> ↺ LinuxCon and CloudOpen This Week in Chicago

• The Linux Foundation’s largest event of the year takes place this week in Chicago, starting with the co-located Linux Security Summit, Linux Kernel Summit and Xen Developer Summit today and tomorrow.

• Then on Wednesday LinuxCon and CloudOpen North America start in full force with Executive Director Jim Zemlin’s “State of Linux” keynote at 9 a.m. Central, to be followed by a panel discussion of Linux kernel developers that includes Linux Creator Linus Torvalds.

=> ↺ LinuxCon Is This Week In Chicago

• Along with the Linux Kernel Developers Summit and other Linux Foundation events, LinuxCon NA is the primary event taking place later this week at the Sheraton Hotel in Chicago, Illinois.

=> ↺ Nexenta Holds Annual Executive Summit on Open Source and Software-Defined Everything

=> ↺ Embedded Linux Conference and LinuxCon Europe schedules posted

• The Linux Foundation announced the schedule for LinuxCon + CloudOpen + Embedded Linux Conference Europe, to be held Oct. 13-15 in Düsseldorf, Germany.

SaaS/Big Data

=> ↺ Mesosphere Comes To The Google Cloud Platform, Integrates Google’s Open Source Kubernetes Project

• Google and Mesosphere today announced a partnership that brings support for Mesos clusters to Google’s Compute Engine platform. While the Mesos project and Mesosphere aren’t quite household names yet, they are quickly becoming important tools for companies that want to be able to easily scale their applications, no matter whether that’s in their own data centers, in a public cloud service, or as a hybrid deployment.

=> ↺ Rackspace Adds Redis Open Source Data Store Support to ObjectRocket

• In a move that should help further expand Rackspace’s (RAX) appeal to next-generation app developers for the cloud, the company has integrated Redis, the open source in-memory key-value data server, into ObjectRocket, the DBaaS platform Rackspace acquired in 2013.

Databases

=> ↺ MongoDB tosses support lifeline to open source downloaders

• Open source NoSQL database vendor MongoDB has added a new support option for customers who want to run the Community Edition of its software in production environments.

• “Our Production Support offering is now available as a standalone service – separate from our MongoDB Enterprise software,” MongoDB marketing director Meghan Gill wrote in a blog post on Monday. “This means that Community Edition users now have access to our world-class team of support engineers.”

=> ↺ As DBMS wars continue, PostgreSQL shows most momentum

• It’s hard to tell which database management systems (DBMB)s are the most popular. DB-Engines gives it a try every month. And, by its count, Oracle is still the top DBMS, followed closed by Oracle’s open-source DBMS MySQL, which is just noses ahead of Microsoft SQL Server.

FSF/FSFE/GNU/SFLC

=> ↺ The two sides of freedom

• Throughout history, the word “freedom” has been used to mean many different things. It has been the central word for revolutions, for declarations of independence, for human rights movements, for philosophers, for theologians, for the Free Software movement. It is used in marketing slogans for phone companies, for KDE, for both cigarettes and non-smoking initiatives. The word has also been used to justify military occupations, torture and mass surveillance.

=> ↺ on gnu and on hackers

• There are many reasons for this, of course. Some people like to focus on what’s called the “pipeline problem” — that there aren’t as many women coming out of computer science programs as men. While true, the proportion of women CS graduates is much higher than the proportion of women at GHM events, so something must be happening in between. And indeed, the attrition rates of women in the tech industry are higher than that of men — often because we men make it a needlessly unpleasant place for women to be. Sometimes it’s even dangerous. The incidence of sexual harassment and assault in tech, especially at events, is something terrible. Scroll down in that linked page to June, July, and August 2014, and ask yourself whether that’s OK. (Hint: hell no.)

Public Services/Government

=> ↺ India is a net taker from the open source movement – Professor DB Phatak, IIT Bombay

• Introducing Professor Deepak Phatak, IIT Bombay to Indian audience is akin to introducing Sachin Tendulkar to Indians, a sacrilege one would hazard at one’s own peril. Suffice it to remind that Professor Deepak Phatak, IIT Bombay is a recipient of the Padma Shri for his contribution to Science and Technology.

• In an interview with Prabhakar Deshpande, Professor DB Phatak shares his perspective on the role of open source and how technology can transform healthcare and education.

=> ↺ 18F publishes guidelines for open source contribution

• As the General Services Administration’s 18F continues to promote open source federal IT development, the organization last week published a contributor’s guide to help those reusing and sharing its code.

• Tracing the basics along with other key topics like how users can enhance code, 18F’s Dr. Robert Read explains in his post on 18F’s tumblr the best ways anyone — federal worker or not — can take part in the team’s development process and why they should. Read uses the FBOpen.com project as a real-time example of how contributors can leverage 18F code and even offer improvements, which he argues “improves the rapidity of our coding and the quality and security of the code.”

Openness/Sharing

=> ↺ Improve your online relationships with a dose of empathy

• Humans have always formed communities. They are necessary for support both physically and, according to psychologists, emotionally as well. Until recently, though, the development of communities was constrained by geography. If you wanted to raise a barn or have a quilting circle, for example, only the folks nearby could participate. The Internet, though, has allowed communities to grow in ways that are not bounded by geography.

=> ↺ Shifting a mindset, why OpenStack is written in Python, and more

Open Hardware

=> ↺ 3D-printed AirEnergy3D takes open source approach to wind turbines

• The AirEnergy3D is an open source, 3D-printed, portable wind turbine prototype whose creators claim will be able to generate up to 300 W of power. Designed to be easily assembled and disassembled without tools, the device is intended to be compact enough to be transported in a backpack, allowing it to be taken camping or anywhere else that there is a breeze and no access to the electricity grid.

Programming

=> ↺ PHP 5.3 Hits End-of-Life

• I first wrote about PHP 5.3 back in 2009 when it first debuted. Five years later PHP 5.3 is now at its End of Life, dead and abandoned as newer versions have replaced it.

Leftovers

Health/Nutrition

=> ↺ Row as horsemeat file shelved

• The official report into the causes of the horsemeat scandal has been shelved until at least the autumn, prompting criticism that the government is not doing enough on food safety.

• The inquiry by Chris Elliott, professor of food safety at Queen’s University Belfast, was announced by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs 16 months ago and was to have been completed by the spring. It is expected to highlight the impact of spending cuts on frontline enforcement and inspection in the food industry.

Security

=> ↺ Monday’s security updates

=> ↺ We still believe in Linus’ law after Heartbleed bug, says Elie Auvray of Jahia

• Jahia was incepted in 2002 in Switzerland – the name comes from the contraction of Java (our core language) and Bahia (which means “bay” in Brazil). To support the international growth of the project, Jahia Solutions Group was later formed (in 2005) with offices throughout Europe and Jahia Inc. (the US subsidiary) was created in 2008. Jahia has now offices in Geneva, Paris, Toronto, Chicago, Washington, DC, Dusseldorf and Klagenfurt – and outsourced support centers in Australia and Nicaragua.

Transparency Reporting

=> ↺ Assange to ‘soon’ leave Ecuadorian Embassy

• Julian Assange recently held a press conference at the Ecuadorian Embassy in London. He says he has plans to leave the Embassy soon where he has been trapped for the past two years, but gave no details on why he’d be released.

• According to Assange the UN human rights states that prisoners must have a minimum of one hours outside a day however Assange’s only access to the outside is the balcony from which he spoke from to supporters a few years ago.

• He said that he understood Wikileaks spokesman Kristinn Hrafnsson had said “that he can confirm i am leaving the embassy soon” however Hrafnsson later responded saying Assange could leave the embassy when the UK government “calls of the siege”.

Finance

=> ↺ A third of people have nothing saved for retirement

• A third of people (36%) in the U.S. have nothing saved for retirement, a new survey shows.

• In fact, 14% of people ages 65 and older have no retirement savings; 26% of those 50 to 64; 33%, 30 to 49; and 69%,18 to 29, according to the survey of 1,003 adults, conducted for Bankrate.com, a personal finance website.

=> ↺ More Than One-Third of Americans Have No Savings

• More than one-third of Americans haven’t started putting away money for retirement, but those who do are making the move a bit earlier than past generations.

Privacy

=> ↺ Boston Police Used Facial Recognition Software To Grab Photos Of Every Person Attending Local Music Festivals

• Once again, the government is experimenting on the public with new surveillance technology and not bothering to inform them until forced to do so. Boston’s police department apparently performed a dry run of its facial recognition software on attendees of a local music festival.

=> ↺ BOSTON TROLLING (PART I): YOU PARTIED HARD AT BOSTON CALLING AND THERE’S FACIAL RECOGNITION DATA TO PROVE IT

• Nobody at either day of last year’s debut Boston Calling partied with much expectation of privacy. With an army of media photographers, selfie takers, and videographers recording every angle of the massive concert on Government Center, it was inherently clear that music fans were in the middle of a massive photo opp.

=> ↺ How Various Law Enforcement Agencies Could Hack Your Computer Via YouTube Videos

• When we recently wrote about Google starting to make use of SSL for search rankings, one of our commenters noted that not every site really “needs” HTTPS. While I used to agree, I’ve been increasingly leaning in the other direction, and I may have been pushed over the edge entirely by a new research report from the Citizen Lab by Morgan Marquis-Boire (perhaps better known as Morgan Mayhem), entitled Schrodinger’s Cat Video and the Death of Clear-Text. He’s also written about it at the Intercept (where he now works), explaining how watching a cat video on YouTube could get you hacked (though not any more).

=> ↺ Ron Wyden: It’s Time To Kill The Third Party Doctrine And Go Back To Respecting Privacy

• For years, we’ve written about the third party doctrine and its troubling implications for the 4th Amendment and your privacy — especially in the digital era. If you’re unfamiliar with it, the third party doctrine is the concept used by law enforcement (and, tragically, the courts) to say that you have no expectation of privacy or 4th Amendment rights in information you’ve given to a third party. The origins of this argument are not completely crazy, because there is a legitimate claim to the idea that if I entrust you with some private information, and you decide to disclose it, that my 4th Amendment rights haven’t been violated. But that assumes a very different world. In today’s digital world — especially with cloud computing — we “entrust” all sorts of information to third parties even though we still think of and treat that information like it’s our own personal effects. These aren’t cases in which I’m handing over a collection of journals to my neighbor to hold onto. Online services are treated as our own content — which we can access, update and modify at any time from any device.

=> ↺ From The Unsealed ‘Jewel v. NSA’ Transcript: The DOJ Has Nothing But Contempt For American Citizens

• Not that it ultimately mattered. The NSA just kept destroying relevant evidence, claiming the system was too complex to do anything with but allow to run its course. Evidence would be destroyed at the 5-year limit, no matter what preservation orders were issued. The NSA, of course, has a vested interest in destroying evidence that its 215 and 702 programs collect the data and communications of Americans. Thanks to Snowden’s leaks, it can no longer pretend it doesn’t. But despite this, the DOJ still claims Section 702 targets only foreigners and American suspects located outside of the US.

• The mock concern about compliance with court orders was a hustle. The DOJ wants as much evidence that might be useful to plaintiffs gone as swiftly as possible. Thanks to the unsealing of Jewel court documents, the EFF can now relate that the DOJ’s efforts went much further than simply letting aged-off collections expire. It also actively tried to change the historical record of the Jewel case, as Mike covered here recently.

=> ↺ NativeWrap for Android turns websites into apps to improve your privacy

• If you want to access a website or service like Facebook, Twitter or Google on your mobile device you have two options. You can either open a mobile browser and point it to the service, or install an app that provides you with access.

• Both options have privacy and security implications. With apps, it is all about permissions that you grant the app to have. While the permissions are often justified, they are not all the time so that additional information can be retrieved even though that’s not needed for the apps’ functionality.

Civil Rights

=> ↺ Fox’s Pinkerton Baselessly Speculates Michael Brown Could Have Been “High On Some Drug, Angel Dust Or PCP”

=> ↺ Lawmaker drafting bill to demilitarize local police

• A Democratic congressman from Georgia is drafting legislation to limit a Pentagon program that provides surplus military equipment to local law enforcement.

• Rep. Hank Johnson is pushing the legislation amid the situation in Ferguson, Mo., where an armed police presence has taken to the streets after mass protests over a police shooting.

• “Our main streets should be a place for business, families, and relaxation, not tanks and M16s,” Johnson wrote in a Dear Colleague letter sent Thursday to other members of Congress.

=> ↺ Seven pieces of military equipment the Pentagon is giving to local police

=> ↺ Seattle police chief during WTO unrest appalled by Ferguson violence

• The first thing Norm Stamper thought when he saw images of the protests in Ferguson, Mo., following the police shooting of an unarmed black man was straight out of a folk song — “When will we ever learn?”

• “My reaction was, ‘Please learn from my mistakes, from what I did and did not do during the week of WTO,’ ” said the former Seattle police chief, who presided over a law enforcement response to widespread demonstrations in 1999 that was vilified around the globe for its heavy handedness.

=> ↺ Police In Ferguson Sign Court Agreement Promising Not To Interfere With Media… Then Go Threaten And Arrest Media

• Note that the agreement was signed by Hussein and parties representing St. Louis County, the City of Ferguson and the Missouri Highway Patrol… on Friday the 15th. The threat to Hussein came on Sunday… the 17th.

=> ↺ Ferguson Cops Once Beat an Innocent Man and Then Charged Him With BLEEDING ON THEIR UNIFORMS

• As Michael Daly reports at The Daily Beast, the address where the defendant was said to have so wantonly damaged these officers’ uniforms is in fact the address of the Ferguson Police Department, which recently took over from the colon-searchers in Deming, New Mexico, as America’s favorite. Did the above-named defendant go down there voluntarily and throw blood upon their uniforms? No he did not.

• The above-named defendant was 52-year-old Henry Davis, who was a Henry Davis but not the Henry Davis they were looking for. This Henry Davis had the bad luck to be caught in a driving rainstorm on the highway, reportedly missing the exit for St. Charles and ending up in Ferguson. Having pulled over to wait out the rain, he became the prey of an officer who ran his plate and found an outstanding warrant for “Henry Davis.”

=> ↺ NYT Would Call It Torture–If It Covered Torture

• But what if the paper decides that well-documented evidence of US torture is not fit to print?

• On August 11, Amnesty International released a lengthy report about abuses in Afghanistan committed by US forces and others, including Afghan security. The report includes serious allegations about US Special Forces torturing Afghan civilians.

=> ↺ Action Alert: NYT Skips First Big Test of New Torture Policy

• FAIR’s new Action Alert (8/18/14) calls out the New York Times for not covering a major Amnesty International report on US torture–shortly after the paper announced a new policy of calling torture by its right name.

Internet/Net Neutrality

=> ↺ Study: Many tribal libraries lack broadband

• At least two-fifths of Native American libraries don’t have broadband Internet access, according to a study released this month, though the actual number could be as high as 89 percent.

• Additionally, just 42 percent of libraries surveyed for the Association of Tribal Archives, Libraries and Museums’ annual study provided technology training, compared to 90 percent of all public libraries. Just 34 percent of the tribal libraries had a website.

DRM

=> ↺ Kill switches might let the government brick your smartphone

• Smartphone kill switch laws have been touted in the media a lot lately as a way to protect your phone from theft. But are they actually a good idea? If Google or Apple can brick your smartphone then what is to stop the government from ordering them to do so when it wants to stop you from using your phone? Foss Force takes a look at some of the chilling and disturbing consequences of smartphone kill switches.

Intellectual Monopolies

Copyrights

=> ↺ U.S. Court Grants Order to Wipe Pirate Sites from the Internet

• A U.S. federal court in Oregon has granted a broad injunction against several streaming sites that offer pirated content. Among other things, the copyright holder may order hosting companies to shut down the sites’ servers, ask registrars to take away domain names, and have all search results removed from Google and other search engines.

=> ↺ Hollywood Desperate To Blame Bad Opening Box Office Of Expendables 3 On Piracy Rather Than The Fact That It Sucked

• It’s been kind of crazy to watch movie studio Lionsgate go absolutely crazy over the fact that The Expendables 3 leaked online a few weeks ago. Within a few days, Lionsgate had filed a massive lawsuit, been granted a restraining order and followed it up with thousands of takedown notices, combined with targeting everyone from hosting providers to domain registrars, in a quixotic attempt to make the leaked files disappear.

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