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● 10.16.14

● Links 16/10/2014: New Android, SSL 3.0 Flaw

Posted in News Roundup at 3:57 pm by Dr. Roy SchestowitzContentsGNU/LinuxGNU/Linux

=> ↺ Do-It-Yourself Linux Machine

• What ARC does have is Linux support. In fact, Synopsys’s brand new ARC HS38 processor supports both “standard” single-core and SMP multicore implementations of Linux, something a bit new and unusual in the DIY processor arena. So just because you’ve rolled your own processor hardware doesn’t mean you have to give up on familiar operating systems.

=> ↺ Linux is on the right side of history, says open source figurehead

• JIM ZEMLIN is excited. We’ve caught up with him backstage at LinuxCon in Dusseldorf where, as executive director of The Linux Foundation, he has just given a keynote. But it’s not that which is exciting him right now. It’s the fact that he’s in the home of Kraftwerk.

• “The other people with me in the room hadn’t heard of this band, but did you know that Kraftwerk are from Dusseldorf? One of the original German electronica bands! I told you guys!” he beams.

=> ↺ Diverse points of view and passion make Linux stronger

• I remember when I launched my Desktop Linux Reviews blog years ago and someone asked me about another blog being a competitor. Was it something I should worry about? I responded that I thought there was plenty of room for more blogs to review Linux distributions, and that the more voices there were the better it would be for Linux users.

=> ↺ Integrating Trac, Jenkins and Cobbler—Customizing Linux Operating Systems for Organizational Needs

• Organizations supporting Linux operating systems commonly have a need to build customized software to add or replace packages on production systems. This need comes from timing and policy differences between customers and the upstream distribution maintainers. In practice, bugs and security concerns reported by customers will be prioritized to appropriate levels for the distribution maintainers who are trying to support all their customers. This means that customers often need to support patches to fill the gap, especially for unique needs, until distribution maintainers resolve the bugs.

=> ↺ How my uncle became a Linux user

• Albert insisted that we should install GNU/Linux, but we didn’t have a recent version of a distro at that time. Either way, Albert was so frustrated with Windows that he was willing to throw it all down the drain, along with his files.

Server

=> ↺ SocketPlane Aims to Bring SDN to Docker

• SocketPlane officially emerged from stealth today, announcing its intentions and direction on Docker-enabled Software Defined Networking (SDN) technology, which will be based in open source. SocketPlane is backed by venture capital firm LightSpeed Ventures, though John Willis, VP of Customer Enablement at SocketPlane, told Enterprise Networking Planet that the funding amount is not being publicly disclosed.

Audiocasts/Shows

=> ↺ openHAB

Kernel Space

=> ↺ Cost of Windows, Bit by POODLE, and Torvalds on Torvalds

• The big story today is POODLE, a web vulnerability bug that could affect Linux users. Mageia 5 Beta 1 is delayed again and Linux Mint gets an improved update manager. GNOME 3.14.1 and KDE 5.1 updates were released. Libby Clark has the best quotes from Linus at LinuxCon and Zorin OS 9 “Lite” is “one of the best LXDE spins of 2014.”

=> ↺ How my uncle became a Linux user

• A few days ago I wrote an article about how the ChromeOS developers decided to remove support for the ext file systems (ext2, ext3 and ext4) from the ChromeOS file browsers. I made it pretty clear in that article that I felt this was a colossal mistake that could potentially alienate huge groups of Google and ChromeOS’s most vocal supporters – Linux users.

Graphics Stack

=> ↺ Wayland Support Starts Coming Together For VLC Media Player

• Users of the VLC multimedia player will be happy to know that the Wayland support is coming along for those wanting to abandon their X.Org Server.

Benchmarks

=> ↺ AMD Radeon R9 285 Linux GPU Scaling Performance

• For those wondering about the maximum resolution they can run given OpenGL workloads at with the AMD Radeon R9 285 “Tonga”, a new ~$250 USD graphics card, here’s some Linux GPU scaling benchmarks with the Catalyst driver.

=> ↺ AMD Catalyst AI Performance With “Tonga” On Ubuntu Linux

• Along with today’s R9 285 GPU scaling tests from Ubuntu, other Linux graphics tests I ran from the AMD Radeon R9 285 GCN 1.2 graphics card is a check whether to see Catalyst AI is doing much on Linux.

Applications

=> ↺ mancala: Ten days of games

=> ↺ dopewars: The classic, in all its sinful glory

=> ↺ Debian-goodies: A must-have Set of Utilities For Debian/Ubuntu Administrators

• Are you a Debian/Ubuntu Administrator or a regular user, then you may use the dpkg and APT commands often. These commands are used to install, remove, update or upgrade a package or the whole system. Mostly, we use the above two tools only for our day to day operations, But believe me, there are many useful commands are exist that most users aware of.

=> ↺ Plex Media Server 0.9.11.1 Brings Important Crash Fix for Linux

• Plex Media Server is an application that allows users to play media content, like movies for instance, on their TV by streaming it from the PC. A new version has been released now and it has a very important Linux fix.

Proprietary

=> ↺ Corel® AfterShot™ Pro 2.1 Brings HDR to Mac and Linux, Adds Support for 17 Cameras

Instructionals/Technical

=> ↺ How to grant rights to users to use Docker in Fedora

=> ↺ How To Install Pale Moon 25.0.0 On Linux And Import Your Firefox Profile To Pale Moon

=> ↺ How To Install Syncthing 0.10.1 On Ubuntu 14.10, Ubuntu 14.04 And Derivative Systems

=> ↺ How to verify the authenticity and integrity of a downloaded file on Linux

=> ↺ Build profiles addon script for kdesrc-build

=> ↺ New open hardware: Raspberry Pi B+

=> ↺ How To Install Kernel 3.13.11.9 On Ubuntu 14.04, Linux Mint 17, Elementary OS 0.3, Pinguy OS 14.04 And Other Ubuntu 14.04 Derivative Systems

=> ↺ How To Install Kernel 3.16.6 On Ubuntu 14.10 Utopic Unicorn, Ubuntu 14.04 Trusty Tahr And Derivatives

=> ↺ How To Install Kernel 3.14.22 On Ubuntu 14.10 Utopic Unicorn, Ubuntu 14.04 Trusty Tahr And Derivative Systems

=> ↺ How To Install Kernel 3.17.1 On Ubuntu 14.10, Ubuntu 14.04 And Derivatives

=> ↺ Setting up a ‘PXE Network Boot Server’ for Multiple Linux Distribution Installations in RHEL/CentOS 7

=> ↺ How to replace LibreOffice with Apache OpenOffice on Fedora 20

Wine or Emulation

=> ↺ CrossOver 14.0 Makes Installing Windows Apps Easier

• CodeWeavers has put out a major new release of their Wine-based CrossOver software.

• CodeWeavers’ CrossOver 14 features improvements to the installation of Windows binaries by using a new automatic configuration feature for detecting/downloading/installing system components needed to run particular Windows applications. CrossOver 14.0 also boasts support for Quicken 2015 and supports a number of new upgrades.

Games

=> ↺ Forget Windows, forget OS X, forget Linux: Humble Bundle is going truly multiplatform

=> ↺ GOG.com now serving more than 100 Linux titles

=> ↺ Game Demos For Linux, Thoughts & A List

• While there used to be more game demos in the past of PC gaming, there aren’t many developers left that do them. The ratio is not great on Windows, 17%, it is lower again on Mac at 11% and it is even worse on Linux at 8% of games and other software available on Steam that actually have a demo version.

=> ↺ LGSO – Organize Your Game Saves

• With the new arrival of Steam games to Linux came the messy Windows-ish file-structures of the games. They get scattered all around your hard drive without you having a clue what is actually going on which we already talked about before.

=> ↺ 0 A. D. Alpha 17 “Quercus” Has Been Released. How To Install 0 A. D. Alpha 17 On Ubuntu 14.10, Ubuntu 14.04, Ubuntu 12.04 And Derivatives

=> ↺ 0 A.D. Alpha 17 – Big Changes, Speed Up [Ubuntu Installation]

• 0 A.D. is a free, open-source real-time strategy game which takes place approximately between 500 B.C. and 500 A.D., with beautiful 3D graphics, 12 different civilizations, and a gamestyle which is very similar to the one of Age of Empires, but also incorporating new elements as well.

=> ↺ Lumino City Confirmed, But Delayed For Linux

• The gorgeous sequel to 2011′s title ‘Lume’ is slated for release next month. With no news on release platforms the last year we reached out to the developer ‘State of Play’ to catch up with the status of the Linux release.

=> ↺ Zeno Clash 2 And Abyss Odyssey Will Come To Linux

• Zeno Clash 2 & Abyss Odyssey (not to be confused with Abe’s Odyssey) have been ported to Linux, but the developer hasn’t had time to put them on Steam yet for us.

=> ↺ Eufloria HD Released On Steam For Linux

• The ambient strategy game originally made its début on Steam in October 2009. Now, 5 years later, it’s finally officially available for Linux with a HD upgrade and added content.

Desktop Environments/WMs

=> ↺ What’s the Best Linux Desktop Environment?

• Your choice of desktop environment isn’t a small one—it can determine how your entire Linux install behaves and how easy it is to use, how many of your favorite features are bundled in, and what add-ons, themes, and custom tools you can and can’t install. Of course, we acknowledge that the best for one person isn’t the best for someone else, but we don’t want to poison the well here. We know there are passions on all sides of this.

K Desktop Environment/KDE SC/Qt

=> ↺ Make the World a Better Place! – KDE End of Year 2014 Fundraising

=> ↺ Make the World a Better Place! – KDE End of Year 2014 Fundraising

• But KDE also has a huge social impact, thanks to KDE there’s schools that can teach touch typing , there’s people out there that can do their accounting, there’s business that can fill their taxes. KDE does provide quality software for all the world to use, making it a better place for all of us.

=> ↺ Release party time!

• Plasma 5.1 was released yesterday and it is looking real good. I have been running the ‘next generation’ Linux desktop on my laptop, courtesy of openSUSE packages made out of regular git snapshots. It was surprisingly stable so I have little worries about the stability of the final 5.1 release and I recommend to check it out

=> ↺ KDE Plasma 5.1 Is Available For Ubuntu 14.10 And Ubuntu 14.04, Via PPAs

• KDE Plasma 5 comes with many important apps ported in Qt5, the new Kicker Menu, a new default theme called Breeze and new wallpapers, new monochrome icons, support for hardware acceleration via OpenGL and OpenGL ES, an updated KDM (KDE display manager) and an enhanced lockscreen, among other changes implemented.

GNOME Desktop/GTK

=> ↺ GNOME 3.14.1 Is Out with Improvements for the Shell

• The latest GNOME 3.14 branch was made available a few weeks ago and the developers have managed to quickly push the first update for it. The reception for GNOME 3.14 has been great, but it’s normal for devs to find things to fix and improve. It shows dedication from the makers of this desktop environment and it’s a good sign for the future GNOME releases.

Distributions

Reviews

=> ↺ CAINE 6 “Dark Matter” review

• CAINE 6 is the latest edition of CAINE, a Linux distribution designed for digital forensics. It is based on Ubuntu and this latest edition is based on Ubuntu 14.04. CAINE is an acronym for Computer-Aided INvestigative Environment.

• CAINE 6 uses an installation application called systemback and is the first CAINE installer that I could not use. No matter where I tried to install CAINE 6, systemback failed to start.

Red Hat Family

=> ↺ Sky News Streamlines Content Delivery with Red Hat Enterprise Virtualization and Red Hat Satellite

• Red Hat, Inc. (NYSE: RHT), the world’s leading provider of open source solutions, today announced that Sky News, BSkyB’s 24-hour, multimedia news channel, has increased the scalability and resiliency of their centralized platform operations by deploying Red Hat Enterprise Virtualization and Red Hat Satellite in two data centers.

=> ↺ Fermilab’s Scientific Linux 7.0 Officially Released

• The Linux distribution built by Fermilab and numerous universities from around the world, Scientific Linux, has finally reached the coveted 7.0 stable release. Quite a few development versions have been made available until now, but the devs have managed to get everything sorted out and ready for shipping.

Fedora

=> ↺ Fedora 21 Is Looking & Working Very Well — Best Fedora Release Yet?

• While we’re still likely at least months out from the official release of Fedora 21, I’ve been running it a lot since last month’s F21 Alpha release and it’s been working out very well. Fedora 21 is easily shaping up to be the best Fedora release yet and the stability/saneness of the development packages is also a charming change compared to some of the more notorious Fedora releases of the past.

Debian Family

Derivatives

Canonical/Ubuntu

=> ↺ Do you want an imp under your desk? If it runs Ubuntu?

• This is a preliminary look, based just on the web site and some tweets with the developer, of the imp (all lower case), a small computer somewhere in technology and power, perhaps, between a Raspberry pi (which is mainly a hobbiest toy) and the Intel Nuk (which is sort of a non-Mac Mac Mini). It is called by its makers “The Open Source Computer: Made for consumers.” It is a Linux-installed device, as is your smart phone and, well, the entire Internet. So the technology is well tested at that level.

=> ↺ Why I Think Unity Is the Best Desktop Environment for Productivity

• There is always a question that is gnawing the Linux community, namely “which is the best desktop environment?” That is a very hard question to answer and most of the time it’s all about personal preferences, but it all boils download to one thing, usability.

=> ↺ Experience a Retrospective Future with Ubuntu MATE 14.10 RC

• The first and only Ubuntu MATE 14.10 Release Candidate has been announced by its developers and is now out and ready for testing. The final version of the system is just around the corner, so this is as close to the stable version as possible.

=> ↺ The Ubuntu release cycle and what it means for aging hardware

• Confused about the way in which Ubuntu release their operating system and if they will continue to support 32-bit systems? Jack Wallen breaks it down so you can understand.

Devices/Embedded

=> ↺ SBC runs Linux on Sitara over industrial temperatures

• Forlinx’s open source Linux “OK335xS-II” SBC and soldered-on COM offer a TI Sitara AM3354 Cortex-A8 SoC, dual CAN ports, and industrial temperature support.

Phones

Android

=> ↺ Lollipop Could Make Android Stickier

• Google on Wednesday unwrapped Android 5.0 Lollipop, officially replacing the “Android L” code name by which the latest version of its mobile platform previously had been known.

• “Lollipop is our largest, most ambitious release on Android, with over 5,000 new APIs for developers,” wrote Sundar Pichai, Google’s senior vice president for Android, Chrome & Apps, in a blog post. “Lollipop is designed to be flexible, to work on all your devices and to be customized for you the way you see fit.”

=> ↺ Android 5.0 Lollipop vs iOS 8 comparison preview | Android L vs iOS 8

• Apple and Google have both recently unveiled their upcoming mobile operating system updates, both set to be released this autumn. Google’s offering is Android Lollipop, while Apple’s is iOS 8. Here, we compare the two in our Android Lollipop vs iOS 8 comparison preview, to determine what’s in store for iPhones, iPads, Android smartphones and Android tablets later this year.

=> ↺ Android users get ready to taste the sweetest lollipop of all

• Android users have been waiting patiently for the next version of their favorite mobile operating system and today Google announced the final release of Android 5.0 Lollipop. Android 5.0 will appear on new Nexus devices such as the Nexus 6, Nexus 9, and Nexus Player console. It will also be available in the next few weeks for Nexus 4, 5, 7 and 10.

=> ↺ Google Android 5.0 Lollipop released

• The moment Android fans have been eagerly awaiting for months finally arrived on Wednesday as Google finally announced release details for Android 5.0 Lollipop. Android L’s most obvious new feature is the inclusion of Material Design, a new design interface that is notable for its flatter icons and its physics-based animations that will give both Android apps and the platform itself a smoother and more consistent user experience.

=> ↺ Sony Z1 and Z2 added to Xperia open-source project with unified kernels

• The Xperia Z1 and Xperia Z2 are now a part of Sony’s open source efforts, and unifies them with a common kernel based on the Qualcomm MSM8974 platform. This won’t mean much for everyday users, since applying the software to either device means you won’t be able to take pictures or make phone calls, but it will make life easier for folks who tinker with custom ROMs.

• The kernel unification means developers will be able to cook something up for both devices at once, rather than needing separate ROMs for each. This is a great start, but there are plenty of Z variant models that could benefit from this AOSP treatment as well.

=> ↺ Android 5.0 debuts on phone, tablet, and Nexus Player

• Google unveiled a Motorola-made Nexus 6 phone, an HTC-built Nexus 9 tablet, and an Asus-made $99 “Nexus Player” Android TV device, all with Android 5.0.

=> ↺ Google’s big Android Lollipop challenge: Make Material Design stick

• Google can design pure Android all it wants but the reality is that managing a consistent user experience is a lot like herding cats given hardware partners all have their own overlays.

Free Software/Open Source

=> ↺ New platform for open source in SA

• A new organisation wants to promote the use of open-source software in South Africa’s public and private sectors.

• “Not using this software in South Africa is detrimental to our economy and skills development,” says Open Source Software for South Africa (OSSSA) founder Charl Botha.

• Open-source software is software that does not conform to traditional software licence models and can be used and distributed freely.

Web Browsers

Mozilla

=> ↺ Firefox 33 Has Been Added To The Default Repositories Of Ubuntu 14.04, Ubuntu 12.04 And Derivatives

• And it has been already added to the default repositories of Ubuntu 14.04 Trusty Tahr, Ubuntu 12.04 Precise Pangolin, being available for both the two systems and their derivatives: Linux Mint 17 Qiana, Linux Mint 13 Maya, Pinguy OS 14.04, Elementary OS 0.3 Freya, Elementary OS 0.2 Luna, Deepin 2014, Peppermint Five, LXLE 14.04, Linux Lite 2.0 and others.

=> ↺ Mozilla to Disable SSL 3.0 in Firefox, Heralds “the End of SSL 3.0″

• “Another day, another vulnerability found in a critical piece of Internet infrastructure,” reported Jon Buys here on OStatic this week, as news arrived that Google has found that SSL 3.0 is vulnerable to a man-in-the-middle attack, which means someone could possibly snoop on secure communications between browsers and servers. The report detailing the POODLE vulnerability was published by Google last month, but is making headlines this week.

SaaS/Big Data

=> ↺ OpenStack Juno Brings Big Data to the Cloud

• The 10th milestone release of the open-source cloud platform debuts with 310 new features and 3,200 bug fixes.

=> ↺ A cultural shift towards dynamic cloud environments

• Mark Hinkle is on the forefront of all things open source and cloud. He is currently responsible for Citrix efforts around Apache CloudStack, Open Daylight, Xen Project, and XenServer. At the All Things Open Conference, Mark’s Crash Course In Cloud Computing will teach how to pragmatically adopt cloud practices and gain cloud value.

=> ↺ Hortonworks Data Platform 2.2 Sharpens Focus on Enterprise Needs

• As the Strata Conference kicked off this week, Hortonworks announced its HDP 2.2 platform with general availability next month. HDP version 2.2 lets organizations adopt a modern data architecture with Hadoop YARN at the core.

Databases

=> ↺ Open source or bust – developer engagement, MongoDB style

• MongoDB knows a thing or two about developer engagement. But has a thriving developer community helped their customers? Mongo DB’s Matt Asay sits in the diginomica hot seat and gives answers.

Oracle/Java/LibreOffice

=> ↺ New OpenJDK 7: Update 71 with lots of fixes

• Oracle’s patch & release cycle culminated in two updates of their Java (runtime and development kit) since the last release of OpenJDK for which I provided packages. Today, we can enjoy a new IcedTea and therefore an updated OpenJDK which synchronizes to Oracle’s October security patch release (which offers Java 7 Update 71).

BSD

=> ↺ Linux-Turned-FreeBSD Distro Comes Up With A New Software License

• While the likes of SprezzOS as the “most beautiful and performant” Linux and OSu as the ultimate operating system have disappeared at the end of the day and are no longer providing comic relief or interesting ambitious debates to Linux users, that other distribution based on Ubuntu and then turned into a FreeBSD distribution is still standing. They’re out with an update today and have introduced their own open-source license.

=> ↺ Changes Coming For OpenBSD 5.6

• OpenBSD 5.6 is expected to be released at the start of November and with this release will come a large number of changes.

=> ↺ Quick look: PC-BSD 10.0.3

• PC-BSD 10.0.3 is based on FreeBSD 10. This release of PC-BSD includes Cinnamon 2.2.14, Chromium 37.0.2062.94, Nvidia driver 340.24, bug fixes for the AppCafe UI, support for full disk encryption, and a number of other bug fixes and improvements. You can read a full list of changes in the PC-BSD 10.0.3 release notes.

=> ↺ FreeBSD 10.1 RC2 Moves the Project Closer to Stable Release

• A new Release Candidate for FreeBSD 10.1, an operating system for x86, ARM, IA-64, PowerPC, PC-98, and UltraSPARC architectures, is now out and ready for testing. The developers are getting really close to the final versions, which should land very soon.

FSF/FSFE/GNU/SFLC

=> ↺ Registration is now open for LibrePlanet 2015: “Free Software Everywhere,” March 21-22, 2015 in Cambridge, MA.

• LibrePlanet is an annual conference for free software enthusiasts. The conference brings together software developers, policy experts, activists, and computer users to learn skills, share accomplishments, and face challenges to software freedom. Newcomers are always welcome, and LibrePlanet 2015 will feature programming for all ages and experience levels.

=> ↺ GNU Autoconf Archive – News: Noteworthy changes in release 2014.10.15

• A brand-new Github mirror of the Archive’s Git repository is available at https://github.com/peti/autoconf-archive. That project allows developers to submit patches as Pull Requests instead of having to go through Savannah’s patch tracker.

Project Releases

=> ↺ man-pages-3.75 is released

• I’ve released man-pages-3.75. The release tarball is available on kernel.org. The browsable online pages can be found on man7.org. The Git repository for man-pages is available on kernel.org.

Public Services/Government

=> ↺ Fallout From Munich

=> ↺ Munich sticks with Free Software

• On Tuesday, Munich’s first mayor finally reacted to an inquiry by the Green Party (in German) related to rumours regarding a possible switch back to a Windows-based desktop environment. The answer to the inquiry shows that there is no factual basis for the claims made by first mayor and second mayor. An evaluation of the IT infrastructure and -processes is underway. FSFE calls on the city council to include vendor independence as well as interoperability as factors in the investigation, since they were central reasons for Munich to switch to Free Software in the first place.

• [...]

• In this manner, the employee-survey “Great Place to Work” from late 2013, used by Reiter and Schmid in their criticisms towards the Free Software used in the city, included various facets of the IT structure not related to software, ranging from hardware to support and telecommuting. It does not, however, offer any information on a possible relation of the employees’ problems with Free Software. This information is currently unavailable, as Reiter says within the answer.

=> ↺ Munich Mayor Still Wants to Find Out If Linux Is Economical

• Munich finished the transition to Linux from Windows and everything seemed to work just fine, at least until the current Mayor made a few comments about the possibility of returning to proprietary software. He has detailed some of his opinions and he appears to be a lot more moderate towards this issue.

Openness/Sharing

=> ↺ Why Hardware Wallets are the Future (And Why They Have to Be Open Source)

• Your computer isn’t secure. Those of you reading this from your fortified Plan 9 Tor Box can stop reading here, but for the rest of you, it’s simply true. Your computer is riddled with security vulnerabilities, and so is your phone. If an attacker wants access to your machine, or if you download even one piece of software that either is or is carrying malware (see: any download from cnet.com or its ilk), you’re in an enormous amount of trouble.

=> ↺ The value of an open source dividend

• James Love, one of Managing IP’s 2014 most influential people in IP, explains why paying innovators to share knowledge, data and technology makes sense for business and society

Standards/Consortia

=> ↺ Khronos Adds GLUS 2.0 To The OpenGL SDK

• GLUS is short for the Graphic Library UtilitieS and is a cross-platform, cross-graphic utility library. The open-source GLUS C library provides hardware and operating system abstractions plus other functionality. GLUS isn’t limited to OpenGL but also targets the OpenGL ES and OpenVG APIs too.

Leftovers

Security

=> ↺ POODLE – Another SSL Vulnerability

=> ↺ Thursday’s security updates

• Red Hat has updated flash-plugin (RHEL5, RHEL6: multiple vulnerabilities) and thunderbird (RHEL5, RHEL6: multiple vulnerabilities).

Defence/Police/Secrecy/Aggression

=> ↺ Fox’s The Five Distorts History On Bush Administration WMD Claims

• The hosts of Fox News’ The Five distorted the history behind the rationale for the U.S. war in Iraq by reshaping an investigative report by the New York Times.

=> ↺ Drone Strikes in Afghanistan Are Killing Civilians: They Must Not Remain Secret

• After exhaustive research and interviewing more than 50 sources Unama found 11 civilians were killed in a drone strike. Despite this compelling evidence, Isaf data shows only three civilians died.

=> ↺ Use has risen dramatically since 9/11

• In their book, Hill and Rogers dramatically recount a March 2011 drone attack in Pakistan which killed 42 people and injured 14. Though later claimed by U.S. officials to be a meeting of terrorists, what had been targeted was in fact a jirga – a consensual decision-making meeting in which the local community had gathered to discuss a dispute over a local mine.

=> ↺ Shenstone: Act of Witness against drones

• As part of the International Week of Action Against Drones, members of Pax Christi and Friends of Sabeel UK joined with staff and students from Queen’s Theological College, Birmingham, and members of Birmingham churches in an ‘Act of Witness’ outside UAV Engines, the Elbit Factory at Shenstone, near Lichfield. The Israeli owned factory manufactures the engines for Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (drones) which are used for military purposes. The group regularly meet there to protest against the use of these military drones to kill innocent people. They were also used in Israel’s recent war on Gaza, where the loss of life and devastation have shocked many throughout the world.

=> ↺ ‘Drones shouldn’t decide who lives or dies’

• University of Johannesburg law Professor Hennie Strydom on Wednesday advised against the use of programmed drones and robots during conflicts.

• “The concern is that the critical functional use of force is controlled by a computer,” he told reporters in Johannesburg.

=> ↺ SA professor warns against drone, robot attacks

• University of Johannesburg law Professor Hennie Strydom on Wednesday advised against the use of programmed drones and robots during conflicts

=> ↺ John Oliver, Ben Affleck and the Game of Drones: Part II

• As a talk show host and stand-up comedian, Bill Maher pushes the envelope to stay topical, relevant and interesting. He never issued a blanket fatwa on all Muslims, but correctly pointed out that some-if not most-of the major conflicts in the world are rooted in Islam.

=> ↺ Another Attempt to Prostitute Religion in the Service of American Hegemony

• Rather than joining this governmental initiative—which conveniently serves to blur cause-and-effect—America’s clergy and their laity should be forming a nationwide interfaith justice movement to confront the “intolerance, division, and hate” sown by our government in our name. It is our government’s violent imperialistic policies that have sown “hate” and bred militant groups like the Islamic State and blowback violence. The need for such a clergy and laity movement is painfully clear, and long overdue.

=> ↺ Comment: If drone strikes continue in Afghanistan, the lack of transparency must not

• Afghanistan is the most drone bombed country in the world. The US has been using its Predator and Reaper drones to kill people in Afghanistan since November 2001.

=> ↺ US citizen shot dead in Riyadh

• A gunman has opened fire on two American employees of a US defence contractor, killing one and wounding the other at a petrol station in Saudi Arabia’s capital.

=> ↺ War without end: 12 years of US drone strikes in Yemen

• The “Yemen model” is one of perpetual violence. The limits of what can be done in the name of “counterterrorist” action often appear boundless.

=> ↺ Yemeni sues Germany over US drone strikes

• A relative of two men killed by a US drone strike in Yemen has brought a court case against the German government, alleging it was complicit in the attack by allowing a US air base on German soil.

=> ↺ Yemeni sues German government over US drone strike

=> ↺ Drone victims sue German government for facilitating strikes in Yemen

• A Yemeni man, whose nephew and brother-in-law were killed in a 2012 drone strike, has travelled to Germany to sue the government for facilitating drone strikes of the sort in which his relatives died.

=> ↺ Yemeni man sues Germany over U.S. drone strikes

=> ↺ Yemeni man sues German gov’t over US drone strikes

=> ↺ Yemeni man sues German government over base used for US drone strikes that killed 2 relatives

=> ↺ Yemeni man sues Germany over deadly drone strike

• A Yemeni man has filed a lawsuit against Berlin for facilitating deadly assassination drone strikes carried out in his country by Washington.

• The lawsuit was filed on Wednesday by Faisal bin Ali Jaber, who claims his brother-in-law, Salim bin Ahmed Ali Jaber, and nephew, Waleed, were killed in a U.S. assassination drone strike in a Yemeni village in August 2012.

=> ↺ UK To Fly Reaper Drones Over Iraq To Battle IS

• The drone is being deployed outside Afghanistan for the first time, as the Kurds call for support in the Syrian town of Kobani.

=> ↺ Qualifying Child Labour

• Children should be in schools learning to be fit to face the big bad world when they become adults. When they are not studying, they should be playing and discovering that life can be fun too. Extreme poverty however still deprives a great many children from these privileges and pleasures of life, and no effort can be nobler than to try and end this miserable predicament. Two cheers then for the Nobel committee for bringing the focus back to fighting child labour. The last cheer we will hold back for the committee`™s unwarranted political bias in choosing to condemn only the atrocities against children by the Talibans, and not show equal concern or condemnation at the killing, maiming and terrorising of numerous other unnamed children in these same battlefields by Drone raids by the armies of the West fighting the Talibans. Malala richly deserves the award, but we also wish in commending the girl for her bravery in her fight against the savagery of the Talibans, the Nobel committee also had at least a word of condemnation against the Drone raids which have killed and terrorised indiscriminately.

=> ↺ Malala Yousafzai, Kailash Satyarthi, and the four Nobel truths

=> ↺ In Malala’s hometown not everyone likes her fame

• Ahmed Hayat Yousafzai, a Birmingham-based Pakistani lawyer hailing from Swat, says that Malala’s story appears to be eyewash. “By championing the case of Malala, the West has tried to cover many of its human rights abuses, like killing and maiming scores of children and women in drone attacks in the tribal regions,” he said.

• So far, Yousafzai argues, neither the western powers nor Malala and her advisor father have spoken about hundreds of kids being killed in drone strikes.

• “What to talk of drone victims, they did not even speak about the 15-year old Aitzaz who had saved lives of hundreds of students by stopping a suicide bomber from attacking his school,” he added. Knowing about the prevailing resentment against Malala in Swat, her family members and school management feel uneasy to talk on her behalf. “It really hurts to hear people talking so critical of her.

=> ↺ Pakistan, U.S. appear once again to be cooperating on drone strikes

• A series of CIA drone strikes launched last week against Taliban insurgents in Pakistan’s northwest tribal areas provide the clearest demonstration yet that the U.S. intelligence agency and Pakistani security forces are once again cooperating on defeating the insurgents.

=> ↺ Bureau project wins bronze at Lovie awards

• Bureau project Where The Drones Strike has won bronze in the ‘Best News Website’ category at the fourth annual Lovie awards.

Environment/Energy/Wildlife

=> ↺ Swedish energy giant reveals reward wish

• UPDATED: Sweden’s state-owned energy company Vattenfall says it wants 43 billion kronor in compensation from Germany, after nuclear power provided by the firm was phased out by Angela Merkel’s government.

Finance

=> ↺ Governments are souring on treaties to protect foreign investors

• IF YOU wanted to convince the public that international trade agreements are a way to let multinational companies get rich at the expense of ordinary people, this is what you would do: give foreign firms a special right to apply to a secretive tribunal of highly paid corporate lawyers for compensation whenever a government passes a law to, say, discourage smoking, protect the environment or prevent a nuclear catastrophe. Yet that is precisely what thousands of trade and investment treaties over the past half century have done, through a process known as “investor-state dispute settlement”, or ISDS.

=> ↺ International trade ISDS provisions make a mockery of nation’s laws

• One of the public policy paradoxes of the past quarter-century is why the centre-left governments of advanced economies have supported trade policies that undermine the very environmental and labor protections they fight for at home. Foremost among these self-subverting policies have been the Investor-State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) provisions included in every significant trade deal the United States has signed since Ronald Reagan’s presidency. Under ISDS, foreign investors can sue a nation with which their own country has such treaty arrangements over any rules, regulations or changes in policy that they say harm their financial interests.

PR/AstroTurf/Lobbying

=> ↺ Fabrication in BBC Panorama’s ‘Saving Syria’s Children’

• On further viewings, however, this scene in particular is strikingly odd. The young men are quiet and mostly static until spotting the camera upon them, at which point the central figure (Mohammed Asi) raises his arm and the group instantly becomes animated and begins groaning in unison.

• Mohammed Asi begins to sway and lurch, the boy in the black vest suddenly pitches onto his side, the boy in red raises his head and peers quizzically around, while the boy in the white shirt rises effortlessly to his feet. As the camera pulls back a boy in a yellow ‘Super 9′ t-shirt rises from the floor, flailing his head and torso and rolling his eyes as a team of medics sweeps dramatically in.

=> ↺ BBC Propaganda

• Please read and consider very carefully this brilliant dissection of the BBC’s propaganda blitz on Syria, at the time when the security establishment were trying to propel us into war against Assad, before they decided it was just as profitable to have a war against Assad’s enemies. For the security establishment and arms industry, any dream will do.

=> ↺ Chuck Todd Disqualifies a Senate Candidate

• Bad campaign journalism can be bad in a lot of different ways. It can tell us, based on this or that poll, that there are “top tier” candidates deserving our attention. It can focus on “gaffes” and advertising instead of the issues. It almost always refuses to acknowledge the existence of candidates not affiliated with the two major parties.

=> ↺ Fox Attack On Obama Administration For Not Saying “Jihad” Ignores Similar Bush Policy

• Fox News’ Megyn Kelly dishonestly criticized the Obama administration for allegedly endorsing an anti-terror handbook which advises against referring to terrorists as “jihadis,” as it “emboldens them,” failing to mention that the Bush administration made a decision to stop using the word “jihadist” to describe terrorists in 2008.

Privacy

=> ↺ Tor Weekly News — October 15th, 2014

=> ↺ Anonymous Browsing: Open Source Tor Project Router Wins Kickstarter, Now Give One to Every American

• Anonabox is an open source networking device that you plug in to your router or modem that will anonymize all your network traffic through the Tor Project anonymity network. The Kickstarter for Anonnabox has 8,490 backers as of Wed., with $552,620 pledged against a $7,500 goal. It seems people want this product.

=> ↺ ‘Hostile to privacy’: Snowden urges internet users to get rid of Dropbox

• Edward Snowden has hit out at Dropbox and other services he says are “hostile to privacy,” urging web users to abandon unencrypted communication and adjust privacy settings to prevent governments from spying on them in increasingly intrusive ways.

• “We are no longer citizens, we no longer have leaders. We’re subjects, and we have rulers,” Snowden told The New Yorker magazine in a comprehensive hour-long interview.

=> ↺ UN Report Finds Mass Surveillance Violates International Treaties and Privacy Rights

• The United Nations’ top official for counter-terrorism and human rights (known as the “Special Rapporteur”) issued a formal report to the U.N. General Assembly today that condemns mass electronic surveillance as a clear violation of core privacy rights guaranteed by multiple treaties and conventions. “The hard truth is that the use of mass surveillance technology effectively does away with the right to privacy of communications on the Internet altogether,” the report concluded.

=> ↺ Australia’s defence intelligence agency conducted secret programs to help NSA

• Australia’s defence intelligence agency has conducted secretive programs to help the US National Security Agency hack and exploit computer networks, according to documents published by the Intercept.

=> ↺ Cognitive Dissonance about the FBI and NSA at 60 Minutes

• 60 Minutes, which has been harshly criticized for running puff pieces for the NSA and FBI recently, is at it again. Last night, they ran two unrelated yet completely conflicting segments—one focusing on FBI Director Jim Comey, and the other on New York Times reporter James Risen—and the cognitive dissonance displayed in the back-to-back interviews was remarkable.

=> ↺ Here are Snowden’s first emails about the NSA leaks

• Six months before the world knew the National Security Agency’s most prolific leaker of secrets as Edward Joseph Snowden, Laura Poitras knew him as Citizenfour. For months, Poitras communicated with an unknown “senior government employee” under that pseudonym via encrypted emails, as he prepared her to receive an unprecedented leak of classified documents that he would ask her to expose to the world.

=> ↺ These Are the Emails Snowden Sent to First Introduce His Epic NSA Leaks

=> ↺ GCHQ more dangerous to privacy than NSA – Snowden

• Edward Snowden has warned that Britain’s GCHQ spy agency is a bigger threat to privacy than the NSA, as it uses illegally collected information in criminal prosecutions and, unlike in the US, has relatively few constitutional checks on its activities.

• Speaking by Skype video linkup to a London festival, Snowden also emphasized why it shouldn’t be up to the citizen to justify why they need a right to privacy – something that forms the core of his beliefs and decision to go against the law.

=> ↺ NSA Documents Suggest a Close Working Relationship Between NSA, U.S. Companies

=> ↺ FBI Director: Encryption Will Lead to a ‘Very Dark Place’

• FBI Director James Comey says the spread of encryption, aided by Apple and Google’s new security measures, will lead to “a very dark place” where police might not be able to stop criminals.

• To avoid that, tech companies need to cooperate and build surveillance-friendly systems when police comes knocking at their door, Comey said on Thursday during a speech in Washington, his first major speech since becoming director last year.

=> ↺ New Zealand Cops Raided Home of Reporter Working on Snowden Documents

• Agents from New Zealand’s national police force ransacked the home of a prominent independent journalist earlier this month who was collaborating with The Intercept on stories from the NSA archive furnished by Edward Snowden. The stated purpose of the 10-hour police raid was to identify the source for allegations that the reporter, Nicky Hager, recently published in a book that caused a major political firestorm and led to the resignation of a top government minister.

• But in seizing all the paper files and electronic devices in Hager’s home, the authorities may have also taken source material concerning other unrelated stories that Hager was pursuing. Recognizing the severity of the threat posed to press freedoms from this raid, the Freedom of the Press Foundation today announced a global campaign to raise funds for Hager’s legal defense.

=> ↺ Revealed: how Whisper app tracks ‘anonymous’ users

• The company behind Whisper, the social media app that promises users anonymity and claims to be the “the safest place on the internet”, is tracking the location of its users, including some who have specifically asked not to be followed.

• The practice of monitoring the whereabouts of Whisper users – including those who have expressly opted out of geolocation services – will alarm users, who are encouraged to disclose intimate details about their private and professional lives.

=> ↺ Banks harvest callers’ voiceprints to fight fraud

• You hear it every time you phone your bank about a lost credit card or an unexpected charge. You may realize your bank is recording you, but did you know it could be taking your biometric data, too?

Internet/Net Neutrality

=> ↺ 2015 will be the year you can buy HBO content without a TV subscription

• HBO CEO Richard Plepler told investors attending a Time Warner meeting today that the company will begin offering an online-only subscription for its content in 2015. Unlike the HBO Go service that the company currently offers, a TV subscription wouldn’t be required to access shows under the new plan.

Intellectual Monopolies

Copyrights

=> ↺ Pirates Become Biggest Political Party in Local Czech Election

• The Czech Pirate Party has booked several surprise wins in the local elections. The party gathered 5.3% of the total vote in the capital city of Prague and became the biggest political party in Mariánské lázně, with 21%. As a result, there is a good chance that the city may soon have a Pirate mayor.

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