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● 05.12.22

Gemini version available ♊︎

● Links 11/05/2022: KDE Gear 22.04.1 and EuroLinux 8.6

Posted in News Roundup at 8:42 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz

GNU/Linux

=> ↺ Linux New Media Launches Open Source JobHub – IT World Canada

• Linux New Media USA has launched a new website for jobs in open-source technology called Open Source JobHub, which will help people find their place in the global open-source ecosystem.

• Linux New Media is an open-source publisher behind Linux Magazine and FOSSlife.

• Given that 92% of managers have difficulty finding enough talent, and many of them have difficulty retaining existing high-level open-source employees, the new platform will therefore help solve a crucial problem of linking employers with potential workers.

Desktop/Laptop

=> ↺ Docker Launches Docker Extensions and Docker Desktop for Linux

• At DockerCon 2022, Docker announced a way for developers to tap into Docker Desktop and extend its functionality using a new Extension SDK. Additionally, Docker Desktop is finally landing on Linux, providing the same experience available on macOS and Windows.

• Packaged as containers, extensions aim to allow developers to integrate 3rd party tools in Docker Desktop and simplify their workflows. A number of extensions are already available in a newly launched marketplace which aims to highlight notable extensions. For example, RedHat developed an extension to deploy Docker images to OpenShift. Another extension, developed by VMware, makes it possible deploy to a VMware Tanzu Community Edition based Kubernetes cluster.

Server

=> ↺ Jonathan Dowland: Scalable Computing seminar

• Last week I delivered a seminar for the research group I belong to, Scalable Computing. This was a slightly-expanded version of the presentation I gave at uksystems21.

Audiocasts/Shows

=> ↺ Nvidia Open Sources Drivers, FOSS Is Winning! (Despite The Haters) – Invidious

• It has finally happened. Nvidia has realized the error of their proprietary ways and will now publish their Linux GPU modules as open source. This is a clear sign that Linux is winning, and that Free and Open Source software is winning! But we still have some battles ahead.

=> ↺ BSD Now 454: Compiling 50% faster

• OpenBSD 7.1 is out, Building Your Own FreeBSD-based NAS with ZFS Part 2, Let’s try V on OpenBSD, Waiting for Randot, Compiling an OpenBSD kernel 50% faster, A Salute for 10+ years of service, and more

=> ↺ Sudo Show May 12, 2022: Giving What We Can

• Brandon discusses his point of view on the subject of open source sustainability and proposes we “give what we can” to open source projects we use and get value from, and advocates for enterprise technology leaders to change their take on Open Source software.

=> ↺ mintCast 381.5 – Raspberry Swing

• In our Innards section we talk about Raspberry Pis and other single-board computers.

Kernel Space

=> ↺ Printbuf rebuffed for now [LWN.net]

• There is a long and growing list of options for getting information out of the kernel but, in the real world, print statements still tend to be the tool of choice. The kernel’s printk() function often comes up short, despite the fact that it provides a set of kernel-specific features, so there has, for some time, been interest in better APIs for textual output from the kernel. The “printbuf” proposal from Kent Overstreet is one step in that direction, but will need some changes to make it work well with features the kernel already has.

• A call to printk() works well when kernel code needs to output a simple line of text. It is not as convenient when there is a need for complex formatting or when multiple lines of output must be generated. It is possible to use multiple printk() calls for even a single line of text, just as it is with printf() in user space, but there is a problem: the kernel is a highly concurrent environment, and anything can happen between successive printk() calls, including printk() calls from other contexts. That results in intermixed output, often described with technical terms like “garbled”, that can be painful to make sense of.

=> ↺ The BPF allocator runs into trouble [LWN.net]

• One of the changes merged for the 5.18 kernel was a specialized memory allocator for BPF programs that have been loaded into the kernel. Since then, though, this feature has run into a fair amount of turbulence and will almost certainly be disabled in the final 5.18 release. This outcome is partly a result of bugs in the allocator itself, but this work also had the bad luck to trip some older and deeper bugs within the kernel’s memory-management subsystem.

• In current kernels, memory space for BPF programs (after JIT translation) is allocated using the same code that allocates space for loadable kernel modules; this would seem to make sense since, in either case, that space will be used for executable code that runs within the kernel. But there is a key difference between those two use cases. Kernel modules are relatively static; they are almost never removed once they have been loaded. BPF programs, instead, can come and go frequently; there can be thousands of loading and unloading events over the life of the system.

• That difference turns out to be important. Memory for executable code must, unsurprisingly, have execute permissions set and thus, must also be read-only. That requires this memory to have its own mapping in the page tables, meaning that it must be split out of the kernel’s (huge-page) direct mapping. That breaks up the direct map into smaller pages. Over time, this has the effect of fragmenting the direct map, which can affect performance measurably. The main goal for the BPF allocator was to segregate these allocations into a set of dedicated, huge pages and avoid this fragmentation.

• Shortly after this code was merged, though, the regression reports, along with more general expressions of concern, started to roll in. That drew the attention of Linus Torvalds and other developers, and revealed a series of problems. While some of those problems were in the BPF allocator itself, the most disruptive issue come down to an older change made in an entirely different subsystem: the vmalloc() allocator.

=> ↺ NUMA rebalancing on tiered-memory systems [LWN.net]

• The classic NUMA architecture is built around nodes, each of which contains a set of CPUs and some local memory; all nodes are more-or-less equal. Recently, though, “tiered-memory” NUMA systems have begun to appear; these include CPU-less nodes that contain persistent memory rather than (faster, but more expensive) DRAM. One possible use for that memory is to hold less-frequently-used pages rather than forcing them out to a backing-store device. There is an interesting problem that emerges from this use case, though: how does the kernel manage the movement of pages between faster and slower memory? Several recent patch sets have taken differing approaches to the problem of rebalancing memory on these systems.

=> ↺ The 2022 Linux Storage, Filesystem, Memory-Management, and BPF Summit [LWN.net]

• The Linux Storage, Filesystem, Memory-Management, and BPF Summit (LSFMM) has long been one of the key events for many core kernel developers. The last LSFMM event, though, was held in the innocent, pre-pandemic days of early 2019. After three years, it finally was possible to hold an in-person gathering at beginning of May 2022 in Palm Springs, California, USA. As usual, LWN was there.

=> ↺ A memory-folio update [LWN.net]

• The folio project is not yet two years old, but it has already resulted in significant changes to the kernel’s memory-management and filesystem layers. While much work has been done, quite a bit remains. In the opening plenary session at the 2022 Linux Storage, Filesystem, Memory-management and BPF Summit, Matthew Wilcox provided an update on the folio transition and led a discussion on the work that remains to be done.

• Wilcox began with an overview of the folio work, a more complete description of which can be found in the above-linked article. In short, a folio is a way of representing a set of physically contiguous base pages. It is a response to a longstanding confusion in the memory-management subsystem, wherein a “page” can refer either to a base page or a larger compound page. Adding a new term disambiguates the term “page” and simplifies many memory-management interfaces.

• Beyond terminology, there is another motivation for the folio work. The kernel really needs to manage memory in larger chunks than 4KB base pages. There are millions of those pages even on a typical laptop; that is a lot of pages to manage and a pain to deal with in general, causing the waste of a lot of time and energy. Better interfaces are needed to facilitate management of larger units, though; folios are meant to be that better interface.

NVIDIA

=> ↺ NVIDIA releases open source Linux GPU kernel modules, Beta Driver 515.43.04 out

• In a nice big win for open source, NVIDIA has today officially revealed that they’ve released open source Linux GPU kernel modules. Additionally, driver version 515.43.04 is out. This is a huge step and hopefully the sign of more to come from NVIDIA.

=> ↺ Nvidia Open Sources the GPU Kernel Modules

• Nvidia Corporation open sourced the Linux GPU Kernel modules and now available on GitHub.

=> ↺ Nvidia releases open-source Linux kernel GPU driver modules • The Register

• Nvidia on Wednesday published the R515 driver release of its Linux GPU kernel modules under an open source, dual GPL/MIT license.

• The chip biz has made the source code available via the Nvidia Open GPU Kernel Modules repo on GitHub, a move that suggests the need to respond to AMD’s long-standing open-source driver initiative.

• “This release is a significant step toward improving the experience of using Nvidia GPUs in Linux, for tighter integration with the OS and for developers to debug, integrate, and contribute back,” claimed Ram Cherukuri, senior product manager, Shirish Baskaran, senior system software manager, Andy Ritger, Linux OpenGL driver engineer, and Fred Oh, senior product marketing manager, in a blog post. “For Linux distribution providers, the open-source modules increase ease of use.”

=> ↺ Intel’s Habana unit reveals two new A100-beating chips • The Register

• Intel is ramping up its efforts to take on GPU giant Nvidia in the accelerated computing space with a strategy that focuses on a diverse portfolio of silicon built for different purposes.

• More than two years after acquiring AI chip startup Habana Labs for $2 billion, Intel’s deep learning unit is revealing two new chips, Gaudi2 for training and Greco for inference. The x86 giant claims the former can leapfrog Nvidia’s two-year-old A100 GPU in performance, at least based on their own benchmarking.

=> ↺ NVIDIA GPUs Go Open-Source With Its Linux Graphics Drivers

• NVIDIA has officially gone open-source with its latest Linux graphics drivers which it states will improve the experience on Linux OS significantly.

=> ↺ NVIDIA Transitioning To Official, Open-Source Linux GPU Kernel Driver (Phoronix) [LWN.net]

• The user-space code remains proprietary, though, which could inhibit the eventual merging of this code into the mainline kernel.

=> ↺ NVIDIA Unexpectedly Announces Open-Source GPU Kernel Modules – OMG! Ubuntu!

• Anyone off to hell this evening may want to pack warmer clothes: NVIDIA is finally embracing open source — properly.

• In a post on its blog NVIDIA announced the immediate release of open source GPU kernel modules for a crop of its current hardware. The move, it says, is the first step in a broader open source by the company aimed at “improving the experience of using NVIDIA GPUs in Linux”.

• And about time too, right?

• Canonical, backers of Ubuntu, plan to ‘package the open kernel modules’ for use in the recent Ubuntu 22.04 LTS release in short order with other Linux distro vendors set to follow suit.

=> ↺ In an Unexpected Move, NVIDIA Open-Sources GPU Linux Driver

• Beginning with the R515 driver release, NVIDIA provides Linux GPU kernel modules open-source under a dual GPL/MIT license.

• Today can be one of the most memorable days in Linux history. Something unprecedented happened, which the Linux community has been feverishly requesting for years but has never occurred – the Nvidia GPU driver to be open source so that it can be developed and deployed in the Linux kernel reliably and qualitatively.

=> ↺ Nvidia finally releases open source GPU kernel modules for Linux

• It would be useful for someone to do a temperature check of Hell because after years of queries and requests, Nvidia has released on GitHub the source code for its GPU kernel modules.

• Long suffering Nvidia desktop users wishing to ditch the binary driver should temper their excitement though, with Turing and Ampere data centre GPUs being the first architecture deemed production-ready and supporting features such as multiple displays, G-SYNC, and RTX ray tracing in Vulkan, and OptiX.

• Nvidia said that desktop support was alpha quality, and users could opt in if they wanted to.

• The driver package released by Nvidia will have both the binary and open source driver, with the decision on which to use made during driver installation.

Applications

=> ↺ The 16 Best and Free Linux Apps To Have for 2022 – DekiSoft

• People usually assume that Linux is something quite difficult and confusing especially those who wish to shift towards it and are newbies. But, the story is quite different as like others you can enjoy the freedom of using the best Linux software which comes in free. Follow through to know about 16 different apps that are highly useful, open source and also work as great alternatives to major paid versions!

• The software however is subjective and dependent upon the needs of the user.

=> ↺ Get started with Bareos, an open source client-server backup solution

• Bareos (Backup Archiving Recovery Open Sourced) is a distributed open source backup solution (licensed under AGPLv3) that preserves, archives, and recovers data from all major operating systems.

• Bareos has been around since 2010 and is (mainly) developed by the company Bareos GmbH & Co. KG, based in Cologne, Germany. The vendor not only provides further development as open source software but also offers subscriptions, professional support, development, and consulting. This article introduces Bareos, its services, and basic backup concepts. It also describes where to get ready-built packages and how to join the Bareos community.

Instructionals/Technical

=> ↺ Animate Your Robot In Blender

• You’ve built a robot crammed full of servos and now you settle down for the fun part, programming your new dancing animatronic bear! The pain in your life is just beginning. Imagine that you decide the dancing bear should raise it’s arm. If you simply set a servo position, the motor will slew into place as fast as it can. What you need is an animation, and preferably with smooth acceleration.

=> ↺ How To Install XFCE Desktop on Fedora 35 – idroot

• In this tutorial, we will show you how to install XFCE Desktop on Fedora 35. For those of you who didn’t know, XFCE is a free and open-source desktop environment for Linux and Unix-like operating systems. It aims to be fast and low on system resources, while still being visually appealing and user friendly.

• This article assumes you have at least basic knowledge of Linux, know how to use the shell, and most importantly, you host your site on your own VPS. The installation is quite simple and assumes you are running in the root account, if not you may need to add ‘sudo‘ to the commands to get root privileges. I will show you the step-by-step installation of the XFCE desktop environment on a Fedora 35.

=> ↺ How to Encrypt a Large File with OpenSSL in Linux

• File encryption relates to the provision of security to user/system files residing on a media device like a hard drive or USB drive. For such files to be encrypted, they need to be in a stored state such that no process or program is actively accessing/working on them. Encrypted files are stored locally and therefore discouraged from being sent over a network.

• When a file is encrypted, and data needs to be added to it, it is temporarily decrypted until the said user/program finishes writing and/or reading data and afterward encrypted again. The sole purpose of encrypting files is to prevent unauthorized reading, writing, copying, and/or deletion of the targeted files.

• OpenSSL is a software library that provides secure communication between applications over a configured network. Most HTTPS websites and internet servers make use of this software library to prevent eavesdropping and also to identify the parties they are communicating with on the other side of the network.

=> ↺ How to manage tuning profiles in Linux | Enable Sysadmin

• Tuned is a Linux feature that monitors a system and optimizes its performance under certain workloads. Tuned uses profiles to do this. A profile is a set of rules that defines certain system parameters such as disk settings, kernel parameters, network optimization settings, and many other aspects of the system.

=> ↺ 5 reasons to use sudo on Linux | Opensource.com

• Here are five security reasons to switch to the Linux sudo command. Download our sudo cheat sheet for more tips.

=> ↺ Setting up a secure shared development environment with LXD | Ubuntu

• The past month has been exciting, with both LXD 5.0 LTS and Ubuntu 22.04 LTS being launched. Both of these have brought a number of great new features for developers and enthusiasts of the Ubuntu ecosystem. One such interesting new feature is the multi-user setup in LXD, significantly improving the development experience and security when using a shared development environment or workstation.

=> ↺ How To Install GCC on Ubuntu 22.04 LTS – idroot

• In this tutorial, we will show you how to install GCC on Ubuntu 22.04 LTS. For those of you who didn’t know, GCC, better known as The GNU Compiler Collection, is a set of compilers and development tools. It is a standard compiler used in most projects related to GNU and Linux, for example, the Linux kernel. These days, various projects are compiled using GCC so it is always better to install GNU compiler collection or GCC

=> ↺ How to install Opera on CentOS 9 Stream

• Hello, friends. In this post, you will learn how to install Opera on CentOS 9 Stream.

• Opera is a proprietary web browser created by the Norwegian company Opera Software. It is a free application and a very efficient browser because it is fast, secure, and has excellent support for browsing standards.

• Another important thing to keep in mind is that Opera is constantly introducing changes and new features such as integration with WhatsApp and Instagram that make it very modern and functional. In addition to this, it continues to support many plugins so that you don’t miss anything in the browser.

=> ↺ Install WordPress with Docker Nginx Reverse Proxy to Apache with SSL

• Install WordPress with Docker, Nginx, Apache with SSL . In this guide you are going to learn how to make a best performance setup with Docker, Docker Compose, Nginx, Apache, PHP 8.1, MariaDB and Let’s Encrypt to run WordPress on Ubuntu 22.04.

• We will also create volumes so the changes or updates will be preserved while container restarting.

• This setup is tested on Google cloud with an instance running Ubuntu 22.04 OS. You can also make this setup in any cloud services like AWS or Azure or DigitalOcean or any dedicated or VPS servers.

=> ↺ How to Install Spotify on Ubuntu 22.04?

• Spotify is a media service provider which is mainly used for music streaming. It offers you access to millions of songs from a plethora of singers. The application has something for everyone as its collection contains songs of every genre ranging from old classics to modern hip-hop.

• The Spotify application can also be used to stream podcasts and other video or audio-based content. The basic functions of the Spotify application are free; however, you can also upgrade the account to premium to take benefit from extra features. This application is available across different platforms and devices.

• This write-up will take you through two different ways of installing Spotify on Ubuntu 22.04.

Games

=> ↺ Godot Engine – Dev snapshot: Godot 4.0 alpha 8

• Another fortnight, another alpha snapshot of the development branch, this time with 4.0 alpha 8! It includes notably Text-to-Speech support on all platforms (as a feature for games/applications, the Godot editor itself doesn’t make use of it for now), and a refactoring of the module/extension initialization levels to allow more flexibility for third-party code.

• See past alpha releases for details (alpha 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7).

• Be aware that during the alpha stage the engine is still not feature-complete or stable. There will likely be breaking changes between this release and the first beta release. Only the beta will mark the so-called “feature freeze”.

• As such, we do not recommend porting existing projects to this and other upcoming alpha releases unless you are prepared to do it again to fix future incompatibilities. However, if you can port some existing projects and demos to the new version, that may provide a lot of useful information about critical issues still left to fix.

• Most importantly: Make backups before opening any existing project in Godot 4.0 alpha builds. There is no easy way back once a project has been (partially) converted.

=> ↺ Steam Deck gets per-app performance profiles, hardware survey and loads more

• Another absolutely huge update for the Steam Deck just landed, with Valve clearly taking on lots of feedback to make it the best handheld gaming device around.

=> ↺ Humble put up a ‘Handheld PC Power Bundle’ of games ready for Steam Deck

• Got a Steam Deck or another handheld PC? Well, this latest one is just for you. Humble have put up a Handheld PC Power Bundle of games.

=> ↺ XIVLauncher now on Linux, gets FINAL FANTASY XIV Online running on Steam Deck

• While the newer official launcher for FINAL FANTASY XIV Online is incredibly problematic with Steam Play Proton, a third-party launcher has recently come to Linux to help with that.

=> ↺ Little Inferno gets a newer Linux port, and improved Steam Deck compatibility

• Little Inferno, a 2012 classic from Tomorrow Corporation recently put up a fresh upgrade to keep it looking good. One of the early Linux ports, it seems it’s had a bit of extra love lately. A popular game back when it originally released and it has an Overwhelmingly Positive user rating on Steam.

=> ↺ Retro Commander is a free-ish new RTS that brings on the nostalgia

• Retro Commander from developer Noble Master is a free to play RTS that just landed on Steam in Early Access, and so far it seems to be pretty great and fills me up with nostalgia. Growing up with the likes of Dune 2, Total Annihilation, Red Alert I’m always on the lookout for new classic-styled base-building strategy games like this. So far, it seems like Retro Commander might hit the mark.

=> ↺ CurseForge modding client comes to Linux in Alpha, only supports WoW for now

• CurseForge, the popular game modding client, has now officially released an early Alpha version for Linux. Since it’s early, and they’re starting slow, for now it only supports mods / addons for World of Warcraft (Wine) although they do have plans to continue expanding it. A bit of an odd one to start with though don’t you think?

=> ↺ Wolfire versus Valve antitrust lawsuit to continue

• After it seeming like Valve might have won in the lawsuit from Wolfire Game, the story appears to be far from over.

=> ↺ 10 Fun Free and Open Source Racing Games

• If you like your blood pumping extra fast, you’ll probably enjoy the arcade-style racing games the most. Alternatively, if you want to open your mind to the real world feel of automobiles you’ll probably prefer simulation racing games.

• Whatever type of racing game you’re keen to play, there’s something here for you. There’s a real eclectic mix here. We even include a few games that run in your web browser, but all are great fun to play.

Desktop Environments/WMs

K Desktop Environment/KDE SC/Qt

=> ↺ KDE Gear 22.04.1

• 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…

=> ↺ KDE Gear 22.04.1 Adds More Than 110 Changes to Your Favorite KDE Apps

• KDE Gear 22.04.1 comes three weeks after the release of KDE Gear 22.04, a major update that introduced numerous new features and enhancements, promising to add a layer of more than 110 changes to many of the included KDE applications and related libraries.

Distributions

=> ↺ JWMDesk and PupControl PETs bumped

• Easy has PupControl 3.4.0.2, based on 3.4 with some small tweaks for EasyOS. Today I found a bug, clicked on “Desktop -> Desktop Wallpaper” and nothing happened.

• I created /usr/local/PupControl/defaultapps/wallpaper, to run ‘qwallpaper’. That did the trick. It looks like scripts under that ‘defaultapps’ folder get automatically created; however, pre-creating one of them seems OK.

• PupControl is now version 3.4.0.3.

IBM/Red Hat/Fedora

=> ↺ Hands-On with Fedora Media Writer 5.0: New Qt6 UI, Fedora Kinoite Support, and More

• Written entirely in Qt 6, the Fedora Media Writer 5.0 utility, which ships pre-installed with the Fedora Linux 36 release, comes with a completely revamped UI that makes it a lot easier for users to try the different Fedora Linux editions, as well as to write your favorite Fedora Linux spin a lot faster on a USB stick.

• The new UI comes with support for libadwaita to offer users a modern interface with support for dark styles on Linux systems, as well as support for native styles on macOS and Windows systems.

=> ↺ Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9 released

• On May 10, Red Hat announced the release of Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9 (RHEL 9). Not surprisingly, the announcement is rather buzzword-heavy and full of marketing, though there are some technical details scattered in it. The release notes for the RHEL 9 beta are available, which have a lot more information. “The platform will be generally available in the coming weeks.”

=> ↺ Rocky Linux sponsor CIQ secures $26m funding for CentOS successor

• CIQ, founding sponsor and services partner of Rocky Linux – a community build of Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) – is to receive a $26m injection of private funding led by Two Bear Capital.

• The announcement comes after Red Hat finally announced RHEL 9 this week, with general availability in the “coming weeks.” The milestone is significant since Rocky Linux emerged in the wake of Red Hat’s confirmation that it was dropping CentOS in favour of CentOS Stream as 2020 drew to a close.

• As we highlighted at the time, CentOS Stream is free community distribution but it is a development build that is only just slightly ahead of the production release of RHEL, which renders it unsuitable for live production usage.

=> ↺ EuroLinux 8.6 Release Notes

• Since EuroLinux 8.6 was first minor release with a full-fledged beta available before the General Availability of the upstream version (RHEL 8.6), the Beta version allowed us to release EuroLinux 8.6 faster.

• This version’s code name is Kyiv – the capital city of Ukraine.

=> ↺ Rocky Linux developer lands $26m funding for enterprise open-source push

• CIQ has landed $26 million in funding to support its plans to expand the use of Rocky Linux in the enterprise space.

• Last year, Red Hat decided to stop supporting CentOS 8 and shifted focus to CentOS Stream. CentOS had some huge enterprise users, among them Disney, GoDaddy, RackSpace, Toyota, and Verizon.

• In response, Greg Kurtzer, one of CentOS’s founders, kicked off Rocky Linux in December 2020. Seven months later, the Rocky Enterprise Software Foundation (RESF) released the first stable release of Rocky Linux 8.4.

=> ↺ Red Hat makes OpenShift a key part of its edge initiative

• Red Hat is targeting edge deployments with fresh features across a portfolio based around containerized software deployments that build on its Enterprise Linux and OpenShift application platform.

• The push is aimed at helping customers adapt to the complexity of edge computing and speed deployments, the company said. Red Hat is now extending this with capabilities to help manage systems across the network, from the datacenter to the edge.

• With OpenShift a key part of its edge initiative, Red Hat announced at its Summit this week that it has made available zero-touch provisioning for Red Hat OpenShift 4.10, the recently released version of its application platform based around containers and Kubernetes.

Canonical/Ubuntu Family

=> ↺ Ubuntu 22.10 (Kinetic Kudu) Daily Build ISOs Are Now Available for Download

• Dubbed Kinetic Kudu, Ubuntu 22.10 is slated for release later this year, on October 20th, 2022, and Canonical’s Brian Murray was the one to announce in late April that Ubuntu 22.10 is officially open for development.

• And now, Canonical published the very first daily build ISO images for Ubuntu 22.10 (Kinetic Kudu), inviting early adopters and application developers interested in test driving the upcoming release to find and report bugs.

=> ↺ New Ubuntu Linux Kernel Security Updates Patch 17 Vulnerabilities

• Following the recent major kernel security update for Debian GNU/Linux 11 systems, now Canonical released kernel updates for Ubuntu 21.10 (Impish Indri), Ubuntu 20.04 LTS (Focal Fossa), Ubuntu 18.04 LTS (Bionic Beaver), as well as Ubuntu 16.04 and 14.04 ESM releases to address a total of 17 vulnerabilities.

Devices/Embedded

=> ↺ Lanner’s Falcon H8 AI accelerator card powered by Hailo 8 AI processors

• Hailo and Lanner Electronics launched a cost efficient PCIe accelerator card called the Falcon H8. The device is designed to enable legacy devices such as NVRs, Edge AI boxes, Industrial PCs to efficiently run intensive workloads related to manufacturing, smart cities, retail, etc. 

• The Falcon H8 is capable of accommodating 4, 5 and 6 Hailo-8 AI processors to customize performance and cost effectiveness. Each Hailo-8 edge AI processor is capable of running 26 tera-operations per second (TOPS). Additionally, the Falcon H8 accelerator cards are available in commercial grade and industrial grade variations (-40 – 85C). 

=> ↺ Get kids coding and learning electronics with Raspberry Pi Pico

• Since the release of the Raspberry Pi Pico microcontroller in 2021, we have seen people all over the world come up with creative Pico-based inventions.

Open Hardware/Modding

=> ↺ NanoPi R5S router SBC/gateway with 2x 2.5GbE, 1x Gigabit Ethernet, M.2 NVMe storage coming soon – CNX Software

• FriendlyELEC’s family of NanoPi router SBCs and gateways will soon be extended with the NanoPi R5S board equipped with a Rockchip RK3568 quad-core Cortex-A55 processor, and providing three Ethernet ports (2x 2.5Gbps, 1x 1 Gbps), plus support for M.2 NVMe SSD storage.

• The company has not published any information publicly, but a post on Weibo social network reveals additional details with the single board computer being equipped with 2GB LPDDR4X, 8GB eMMC flash, two USB 3.0 ports, HDMI video output, and more.

=> ↺ You can hack Apple CarPlay into a Tesla using — what else — Android

• While Tesla’s operating system is known for having tons of built-in features (including the ability to play AAA video games), there’s one capability that’s notably missing: support for Apple CarPlay or Android Auto. Michał Gapiński, however, has figured out a way to hack support for both into Teslas, using a web browser, two Raspberry Pis, a handful of add-ons and cables, and Android.

=> ↺ There’s a hack to add CarPlay support to a Tesla

• That video feed is supplied by a collection of hardware carried inside the vehicle, which is used to run Android. The assembly includes a pair of Raspberry Pi units, with one used for Android and the other using Linux and handling video and connectivity duties.

Mobile Systems/Mobile Applications

=> ↺ Mekotronics R58 is a cost-optimized Rockchip RK3588 SBC going for $169 and up – CNX Software

=> ↺ The Play Store is making it easier for Android developers to showcase their apps | Android Central

=> ↺ A 200MP Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra is the rocket the Android phone market needs | T3

=> ↺ Motorola Android 12 update and bugs tracker (cont.updated)

=> ↺ Motorola Moto One 5G Ace owners say they are stuck on Android 10

=> ↺ Android and Chrome Users Can Soon Generate Virtual Credit Cards to Protect Real Ones

=> ↺ The Nothing Launcher is now available to install on most Android smartphones – NotebookCheck.net News

=> ↺ Google’s biggest announcements at I/O 2022

• Google has wrapped up its two-hour-long I/O keynote, which was absolutely packed with news. We heard about AI, Android, and, of course, a plethora of Pixel hardware. Here are the biggest announcements we saw on Wednesday.

=> ↺ After roasting Apple about headphone jacks, Google quietly dumps it from Pixel 6A

• Google just revealed the Pixel 6A at Google I/O on Wednesday, and while it has a number of impressive specs for a midrange device, it’s missing one that the company has celebrated on its A-series line for years: a 3.5mm headphone jack.

Free, Libre, and Open Source Software

SaaS/Back End/Databases

=> ↺ Nokia launches SaaS services for network efficiency, home devices management

• Meanwhile, the Nokia AVA (Analytics Virtualization and Automation) for Energy SaaS uses artificial intelligence (AI) and closely monitors traffic patterns to reduce connectivity resources during low usage periods. Nokia boasts that this tool can help realize over five-fold energy savings as compared to non-AI systems.

• The service will further help telecom operators spot anomalies and benchmark the energy efficiency of passive infrastructure, such as batteries, power supplies, and air conditioning units that can account for up to 50% of overall energy consumption.

Education

=> ↺ European Commission and United Nations launch a first joint hackathon ‘Get plugged into education!’ with Moodle on 16 May

• The European Commission Directorate General for Informatics (DIGIT) and the United Nations Office of Information and Communications Technology (OICT) have launched a joint initiative consisting of a series of hackathons aiming to improve and contribute to open source projects that have an impact on the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDG)

Programming/Development

=> ↺ The Random Reward

• Arcade games and mobile games did not solve this problem in identical fashion. Arcades have one advantage that mobile games don’t: the player is required to pay a fee before every round. Imagine being required to pay a dollar or more upfront before every round of Candy Crush! The game certainly wouldn’t have been a commercial success with a business model like that.

=> ↺ How to do the Base64 Encoding and Decoding in Golang?

• The Go programming language, also known as Golang, is a statically typed and compiled language. This language was developed by Google back in 2007. Since it is a compiled programming language, the code written in this language is already so close to the one that your processor can easily understand. It means that the programs written in this programming language take very less time to execute. In this guide, we will learn to do the Base64 encoding and decoding in the Go programming language.

=> ↺ How to do Base64 Encoding and Decoding in PHP?

• PHP is known to be the most widely used general-purpose programming language. It is basically a scripting language that is mainly used for web development. The reason for the popularity of this language is due to the fact that its syntax is extremely concise and simple. It means that it is capable of shrinking a lengthy code written in some other programming language into a few lines of code. As far as today’s article is concerned, then we will try to learn the concept of Base64 encoding and decoding using the PHP programming language.

Perl/Raku

=> ↺ Perl Split() Function

• The split() function is used to divide any string based on any particular delimiter and if no delimiter is provided the space is used as the default delimiter. The delimiter can be a character, a list of characters, a regular expression pattern, the hash value, and an undefined value. This function can be used in different ways by Perl script. Different uses of the split() function in Perl have been shown in this tutorial by using multiple examples.

Python

=> ↺ An overview of structural pattern matching for Python [LWN.net]

• Python’s match statement, which provides a long-sought C-like switch statement—though it is far more than that—has now been part of the language for more than six months. One of the authors of the series of Python Enhancement Proposals (PEPs) that described the feature, Brandt Bucher, came to PyCon 2022 in Salt Lake City, Utah to talk about the feature. He gave an overview of its history, some of its many-faceted abilities, a bit about how it was implemented, and some thoughts on its future, in a presentation on April 29, which was the first day of talks for the conference.

• Bucher said that he was studying computer engineering when he encountered Python, which made him realize that he liked developing software a lot more than he liked designing hardware. He got involved in Python core development during that time and has been a core developer for the language for nearly two years at this point. He is now working for Microsoft on the Faster CPython team, though his biggest project to date has been the work on shepherding and implementing structural pattern matching (i.e. match), much of which was done while he was working for Research Affiliates.

=> ↺ Modern Python performance considerations [LWN.net]

• There is a lot of work going on right now on speeding up Python; Kevin Modzelewski gave a presentation at PyCon 2022 on some of that work. Much of it has implications for Python programmers in terms of how to best take advantage of these optimizations in their code. He gave an overview of some of the projects, the kinds of optimizations being worked on, and provided some benchmarks to give a general idea of how much faster various Python implementations are getting—and which operations are most affected.

• Modzelewski works at Anaconda on the Pyston “optimized Python interpreter”. He wanted to focus on “modern Python” in the talk; there are lots of tips about how to speed up Python code available, but many of those are “not quite as useful anymore”. There are some new tips, however, that can be used with these up and coming optimized implementations, which he wanted to talk about.

=> ↺ Geometric Mean Pandas

• Working with the python programming language makes everything simple and easier. The python programming language was designed to make the developer’s life easier, which is why even novice and beginner python developers fall in love with programming and development. It is one of the best programming languages for data analysis. Moreover, the python programming language provides libraries that can perform mathematical and statistical computation.

• Geometric means is one of the python pandas functions that is used to calculate the geometric mean of a given set of numbers, list, or DataFrame. This article is designed to demonstrate how to find the geometric mean using pandas in Python.

=> ↺ Pandas to LaTeX

• If you are new to the Python programming language, you may not be familiar with the user-friendly behavior of the language. Python is not just user-friendly but extremely popular and can be used for many general purposes. However, the python programming language has not been developed for statistical analysis or graphic designing; with time, it has immensely been used in analyzing data and experimenting and computing statistics. Hence it offers various types of libraries for almost every use case.

• Pandas is one of python’s most popular and general-purpose libraries that is used as a manipulation tool and data analysis. Using Pandas, we can perform various functions and can export, load, or save different formats, which include, LaTeX, Excel, CSV, etc. In this article, we will discuss how to get the DataFrame in the form of a latex document.

=> ↺ Python Print Numpy Array with Precision

• Numpy is a Python package that is used to do scientific computations. It offers high-performance multidimensional arrays as well as the tools needed to work with them. A NumPy array is a tuple of positive integers that indexes a grid of values (of the same type). Numpy arrays are quick and simple to grasp, and they allow users to do calculations across vast arrays.

• NumPy has a wide range of methods that can be used in various situations. Set_printoptions() is an example of a numerical range-based function. The set_printoptions() function in Python is used to control how floating-point numbers, arrays, and other NumPy objects are printed. The set_printoptions() method will be discussed in-depth and with examples in this article.

Rust

=> ↺ This Week In Rust: This Week in Rust 442

Leftovers

=> ↺ China’s Grip Further Tightens On Youths: Children Limited In Watching, Supporting Streamers

• China’s longstanding war on the internet, especially relating to children’s use of it, continues. Readers here will be well aware of the plethora of actions taken by China over the years to limit what its residents can see and do with the internet. From the Great Firewall of China to the country’s more targeted approach at limiting how much and when children can play online video games, all of this dovetails nicely with Beijing’s larger goals of tamping down on undesirable content and the erosion of any sign of democracy within its sphere of control. The toll this regulatory destruction has taken on the gaming industry in China is nearly too great to be believed.

=> ↺ Caulking Gun Becomes Useful Press Tool For Fuel Line Fittings

• The simple caulking gun is really useful when you’re working on some bathroom repairs or squirting construction adhesives about the place. However, with a few simple mods, it can become a great help in the mechanic’s workshop too.

=> ↺ When Sticks Fly

• When it comes to hobby rotorcraft, it almost seems like the more rotors, the better. Quadcopters, hexacopters, and octocopters we’ve seen, and there’s probably a dodecacopter buzzing around out there somewhere. But what about going the other way? What about a rotorcraft with the minimum complement of rotors?

=> ↺ The Sane Society?

• On occasion he could be downright vicious in his views of our insane society, positing that if the robot American – you and me – “dared to articulate” a concept of heaven, it would,

• But of course: the American Dream.

=> ↺ Intentions Unfulfilled

• Don’t worry, this year’s Whitney Biennial isn’t as bad as it looks. But it does make a poor first impression, and for a couple of reasons. One is that the works in the show, which is on view through September 5, are displayed indifferently. It requires some effort to bracket out the context into which they’ve been placed if you want to find their salient qualities; that’s because the biennial’s curators, David Breslin and Adrienne Edwards, have outsmarted themselves with a too-blatant installation gambit, which I’ll describe in a moment. But beyond that, many of the works included are what you might call interesting failures—and their failure tends to be more immediately apparent than what’s nonetheless interesting. (The opposite can also be true—an interesting failure can look, at first, better than it really is, exposing its weakness only upon further consideration—but this show mostly avoids that kind of seductive facility.)

=> ↺ Freedom of Choice

=> ↺ owning things

• Maybe it’s an old topic, but since I started a minimalistic life, avoiding consumerism or at least trying to be more responsible, it’s been interesting to me that we are what we own.

Science

=> ↺ Pitch Sequencer Turns Tascam Tape Deck Into Instrument

• The cool thing about magnetic tape is that by varying the speed at which you play it back, you can vary the pitch of the output. [Issac] decided to take advantage of this, executing a fancy digitally-controlled pitch mod on his Tascam Porta 02 tape deck.

=> ↺ Hackaday Prize 2022: Vintagephone Links The Past To The Present (and Future)

• Brrrrrrrring! Movies and TV are one thing, but the siren song of a rotary phone ringing in the same room as you is one of those sounds you carry forever. Not old enough to remember them? Ah, so what? There’s no reason to lose these beauties to the annals of time. In fact, we think more old phones should be repurposed so that present and future generations can experience the finger-hookin’ good time of the rotary dial and the high-voltage peal of those brass bells.

Hardware

=> ↺ 3D Printing A Carburetor Is Easier Than You Probably Think

• We’ve all been there. You see a cool gadget on the Internet to 3D print and you can’t wait to fire up the old printer. Then you realize it will take 8 different prints over a span of 60 hours, chemical post-processing, drilling, exotic hardware, and paint to get the final result. [Peter Holderith’s] carburetor design, however, looks super easy.

=> ↺ Arm set to cut hundreds of positions after deal with NVIDIA crashes, estimated 15% employed could be affected

• Recently, NVIDIA was working to acquire Arm Technologies for upwards of $40 billion. Government officials and other companies voiced their disapproval of the acquisition, and in turn, Softbank and NVIDIA canceled the deal. Now, Arm is planning to utilize budget cuts by removing hundreds of employees from the company’s workforce.

=> ↺ British tech champion Arm to slash hundreds of jobs

• Rene Haas, Arm’s newly-installed chief executive, told staff on Monday that the redundancies would affect 12 to 15pc of its global workforce.

Health/Nutrition/Agriculture

=> ↺ Congress Leaves Those Most Endangered by Covid in the Lurch

• The Covid-19 pandemic continues, but funding for vaccines, tests, ventilation, and treatment does not. The United States has suffered a higher death rate than other high-income countries throughout the pandemic. The toll has also been profoundly unequal—borne disproportionately by people who are low-income, Black, Latinx, or Indigenous. And the current lack of funding from Congress is worsening access to vaccines, tests, and treatments for those who need them most. Congress must step up to ensure that all Americans have the means to protect their own and their families’ health during the pandemic—and to reduce the burden on the hospitals and health care workers we all may need in future surges.

=> ↺ Alito’s Abortion Opinion Highlights America’s Misplaced Priorities

• Make no mistake about it, Alito’s blunder has ignited a wildfire of fully justified anger, not just in the women who see their most personal decision taken away from them, but in the more than 70% of the nation’s population that supports a woman’s right to reproductive choice.

• As citizens are being financially raped by oil and gas megacorporations raking in record profits by falsely blaming the war in Ukraine, our politicians claim they can’t interfere in the so-called “free market.” But they can demand that a woman who has been raped must carry her rapist’s child to term.

=> ↺ Senator Compares Pregnant People to Sea Turtles in Anti-Abortion Statement

=> ↺ Sanders: GOP Ended Filibuster to Pack Court, Dems Must Do So for Abortion Rights

=> ↺ Abortion Would Be a Felony in Michigan If “Roe” Falls, Due to 1931 Law

=> ↺ ‘Beyond Shameful’: Manchin Joins Senate GOP—Again—to Block Abortion Rights

• Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia joined with Senate Republicans Wednesday to block a bill that would affirm abortion rights at the federal level as the U.S. Supreme Court’s right-wing majority is poised to reverse Roe v. Wade in the weeks ahead.

• Though the 51-49 vote on advancing the Women’s Health Protection Act (WHPA) was anticipated, with Manchin confirming his position in advance and the outcome mirroring a February vote, Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito’s draft of a forthcoming opinion has heightened pressure on congressional Democrats to protect and expand reproductive rights nationwide.

=> ↺ Opinion | The GOP Attack on Women Is Funded by Corporate America

• The most aggressive and virulent right-wing attacks on women today involve eliminating women’s reproductive rights. Again and again, we’re seeing small, pious, tightly organized, male-dominated groups in our society insisting that they are the chosen ones, the autocrats ordained to rule over all women on the deeply personal, intrinsically private matter of choosing (for many different and difficult reasons) whether or not to seek an abortion.

=> ↺ Manchin a ‘No’ on Protecting Abortion Rights From GOP Assault

• Right-wing Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia confirmed that he is opposed to the Women’s Health Protection Act just hours before a planned Wednesday vote on the legislation, spoiling his party’s attempt to codify abortion rights into federal law before the U.S. Supreme Court’s right-wing majority has a chance to overturn Roe v. Wade.

• “This is unacceptable,” the hosts of a progressive podcast focused on Appalachia tweeted in response.

=> ↺ It’s Time to Step Outside the Killing Confines of Official Politics

• • Chant heard during a Chicago abortion rights march of thousands (disgustingly reported as “hundreds” by local media) on May 7, 2022

• It’s time. This is not a drill. The time is now to step outside what Rise Up 4 Abortion Rights (RU4AR) calls the “killing confines of ‘official’ politics” – to organize, protest, march, strike, speak up, speak out, and disrupt business and politics as usual beneath and beyond the time-staggered narrow-spectrum major party candidate-centered electoral extravaganzas that are promoted as “politics” – the only politics that matters. Millions must “fill the streets and public squares with fury” to face down the “women haters from the Supreme Court to the State Houses.”

=> ↺ On Abortion Rights, the Athletes Will Not Save Us

• My colleague Will Leitch has a thoughtful article in New York magazine called “Why Athletes Are Ignoring Roe v. Wade,” which looks at the absence of athlete activism or commentary following the leak that showed Supreme Court’s theocratic flank’s efforts to overturn the landmark abortion rights decision. Leitch notes the relative silence from the sports world and wonders if the political intervention by athletes that we saw explode in 2020 after the police murder of George Floyd has slowed. He ponders a number of reasons for this, from the centrality of Black athletes who organically gravitated toward anti-racist, anti-police brutality work to the fact that many athletes are conservative and anti-choice, to being warded off an issue deemed too controversial to touch. He also correctly critiques one male political athlete for basically saying, “The WNBA should handle it,” as if it’s not a responsibility for all of us to stand up to this Supreme Court. (For what it’s worth, the WNBA has in fact released a statement.)

=> ↺ Sanders: GOP Ended Filibuster to Pack Supreme Court, So Dems Must End It to Save Abortion Rights

• On the eve of a key procedural vote on the Women’s Health Protection Act, Sen. Bernie Sanders said in a floor speech Tuesday that the Senate’s Democratic majority must use its power to end the legislative filibuster and codify abortion rights into federal law.

• Sanders (I-Vt.), the chair of the Senate Budget Committee, acknowledged that Senate Democrats don’t currently have the 60 votes needed to overcome the filibuster, an archaic rule that has enabled the Republican minority to stonewall much of the majority party’s agenda over the past year.

=> ↺ How My Fitness Tracker Turned Me Against Myself

• “When people become too focused on the metrics and not on the process of fitness, they can decrease their awareness of how their bodies feel, which is a very important cue in exercise,” she said.

• Phil Reed, a professor of psychology at Swansea University, agrees that obsessive tracking can be detrimental, especially if you’re already somewhat of a perfectionist who doesn’t believe you’re where you should be physically, mentally or in your career. “You are going to be vulnerable to doing things which reduce that perfectionist anxiety,” said Reed, who also writes “Digital World, Real World” for Psychology Today.

• Perfectionism, which is on the rise among younger people, makes those who suffer from it prone to anxiety-driven behaviors. In some cases, like mine, the data can even become an extension of how someone understands themselves and can drive their need to get whatever results they’re seeking. And if that data, the accuracy of which varies by metric and device, doesn’t fit within optimal ranges, it can lead to more negative self-talk and guilt — or worse, overworking oneself past what’s humanly preferable.

=> ↺ Lead poisoning tests plunged during the pandemic. Kids still aren’t getting screened.

• Public health experts are also concerned about the extended time children have spent in lead-contaminated homes during the pandemic, as exposure most frequently happens through breathing in dust from lead paint, ingesting paint chips, playing in contaminated soil or drinking water contaminated by lead pipes. The pandemic has slowed in-home lead removal efforts that are often prompted by a test showing elevated levels of the toxin.

Integrity/Availability

Proprietary

=> ↺ Costa Rica declares emergency after Windows ransomware Conti strike

• The government of Costa Rica has declared a state of emergency after a number of state agencies, including the finance ministry, were hit by the Windows ransomware strain known as Conti.

=> ↺ Email domain for NPM lib with 6m downloads a week grabbed by expert to make a point

• “I just noticed ‘foreach’ on NPM is controlled by a single maintainer,” wrote Vick in a Twitter post on Monday. “I also noticed they let their domain expire, so I bought it before someone else did. I now control ‘foreach’ on npm, and the 36,826 projects that depend on it.”

• That’s not quite the full story – he probably could have taken control but didn’t. Vick acquired the lapsed domain that had been used by the maintainer to create an NPM account and is associated with the “foreach” package on NPM. But he said he didn’t follow through with resetting the password on the email account tied to the “foreach” package, which is fetched nearly six million times a week.

=> ↺ Apple loses position as most valuable firm amid tech sell-off

• That meant it lost its position as the most valuable company in the world to oil and gas producer Aramco, which was valued at $2.42tn.

=> ↺ Federal agencies issue warning to third-party security firms

• The advisory provided several steps that organizations can take to minimize the risks of falling victim to malicious cyber activity. The recommendations include securing remote access applications, enforcing multifactor authentication, and developing and exercising incident response and recovery plans.

Security

=> ↺ Microsoft Patch Tuesday, May 2022 Edition

• Microsoft today released updates to fix at least 74 separate security problems in its Windows operating systems and related software. This month’s patch batch includes fixes for seven “critical” flaws, as well as a zero-day vulnerability that affects all supported versions of Windows.

=> ↺ Interview With Benedict Jones – Traced

• Benedict Jones: With a longstanding passion for cybersecurity, I would often burn the midnight oil while researching novel and emerging threats. Through this obsession for research, Matt Boddy, Traced CTO and Co-Founder, and I observed a significant rise in both sophistication and quantity of mobile-borne cyber threats like phishing, malware, and network attacks. While there were some solutions designed to protect businesses against them, they were being rejected in the market due to three main reasons:

Privacy/Surveillance

=> ↺ Maryland Lawmakers Pass Bill That Mandates ‘Stalkerware’ Training For Law Enforcement

• Some (mostly) good news has arrived, courtesy of Hayley Tsukayama and Eva Galperin of the EFF. The Maryland legislature has passed a bill that would require law enforcement officers to be trained to better spot stalkerware deployment and give them a better understanding of applicable laws related to electronic surveillance and tracking.

=> ↺ The Next Level of Surveillance: Real-Time AI Detection of Emotions in Video Streams

• The most common advancement in AI involves algorithmic, automated management — which includes analysis of working patterns, semi-automated decision making, and employee behavior monitoring. Another more recent development is the move to using AI to monitor emotions to optimize business outcomes — for example, closing a sale. 

=> ↺ How to Disable Ad ID Tracking on iOS and Android, and Why You Should Do It Now

• This post explains the history of device ad identifiers and how they have enabled persistent tracking, identification, and other privacy invasions. 

• But first things first. Here’s how to revoke tracker access to your ad ID right now:

• Open the Settings app, and navigate to Privacy >Ads. Tap “Delete advertising ID,” then tap it again on the next page to confirm. This will prevent any app on your phone from accessing it in the future.  

=> ↺ Easy Network Config For IoT Devices With RGBeacon

• When you’re hooking up hardware to a network, it can sometimes be a pain to figure out what IP address the device has ended up with. [Bas Pijls] often saw this problem occurring in the classroom, and set about creating a simple method for small devices to communicate their IP address and other data with a minimum of fuss.

=> ↺ The EU Commission’s New Proposal Would Undermine Encryption And Scan Our Messages

• The Commission’s new demands would require regular plain-text access to users’ private messages, from email to texting to social media. Private companies would be tasked not just with finding and stopping distribution of known child abuse images, but could also be required to take action to prevent “grooming,” or suspected future child abuse. This would be a massive new surveillance system, because it would require the infrastructure for detailed analysis of user messages.

• The new proposal is overbroad, not proportionate, and hurts everyone’s privacy and safety. By damaging encryption, it could actually make the problem of child safety worse, not better, for some minors. Abused minors, as much as anyone, need private channels to report what is happening to them. The scanning requirements are subject to safeguards, but they aren’t strong enough to prevent the privacy-intrusive actions that platforms will be required to undertake. 

• Unfortunately, this new attempt to mandate a backdoor into encrypted communications is part of a global pattern. In 2018, the Five Eyes—an alliance of the intelligence services of Canada, New Zealand, Australia, the United Kingdom, and the United States—warned that they will “pursue technological, enforcement, legislative or other measures to achieve lawful access solutions” if the companies didn’t voluntarily provide access to encrypted messages. With the urging of the Department of Justice, U.S. Congress tried to create backdoors to encryption through the EARN IT Act, in 2020 and again earlier this year. Last fall, government agencies pressured Apple to propose a system of software scanners on every device, constantly checking for child abuse images and reporting back to authorities. Fortunately, the Apple program appears to have been shelved for now, and EARN IT is still not law in the U.S. 

=> ↺ Better Website

• Still the same Google Analytics hawking, tracking, completely-misses-the-point bull.

• People look at this and go “oh wow yeah this looks so clean & stripped down from all the bloated pages out there” but that’s not what this is. This is a tear down of browser defaults. This is a screed against minimalism, a “you coulda done at least this much, ya primitive screwheads”. (And “at least this much” includes track & spy apparently.)

• And it’s wrong.

• Not everyone wants a line height so gaping you could drive a 70s trucker movie through.

Defence/Aggression

=> ↺ Opinion | There Will Be No Victory Day

• Imagine an Olympic final in basketball, not unlike the one last summer between the United States and France. The score is tied in the final minutes, and tension is mounting among the flag-waving partisans in the stands.

=> ↺ Opinion | Ukraine Needs a Negotiated Peace Because Everyone Will Lose This War of Attrition

• Wars often erupt and persist because of the two sides’ miscalculations regarding their relative power. In the case of Ukraine, Russia blundered badly by underestimating the resolve of Ukrainians to fight and the effectiveness of NATO-supplied weaponry. Yet Ukraine and NATO are also overestimating their capacity to defeat Russia on the battlefield. The result is a war of attrition that each side believes it will win, but that both sides will lose. Ukraine should intensify the search for a negotiated peace of the type that was on the table in late March, but which it then abandoned following evidence of Russian atrocities in Bucha—and perhaps owing to changing perceptions of its military prospects.

=> ↺ I led talks on Donbas and Crimea in the 90s. Here’s How the War Should End.

• After the USSR’s breakup, the OSCE knew that the large number of Russian speakers in Ukraine would become an issue.

=> ↺ Imperial Nostalgia and its Perils

• The Russian empire provides a striking illustration of this phenomenon. Traditionally referred to as the “prison of nations,” Russia, in its Czarist and Soviet phases, controlled a vast Eurasian land mass of subject peoples. But the implosion of the empire in 1991 left Russian leaders adrift, uncertain whether to steer their nation toward a more modest role in the world or to revive what they considered their country’s past imperial glory. Ultimately, under the leadership of Vladimir Putin, they decided on the latter, employing Russian military power to attack neighboring Georgia, win a civil war in Syria, annex Crimea, and instigate a separatist revolt in Ukraine’s Donbas region. This February, Putin launched a military invasion of Ukraine, with horrendous consequences.

• Imperial nostalgia has long pervaded Putin’s thinking. As early as 2005, he told the Russian parliament that the collapse of the Soviet empire was “the greatest geopolitical catastrophe of the century” and “a genuine tragedy” for “the Russian people.” In July 2021, he published a long historical article (“On the Historical Unity of Russians and Ukrainians”) contending that there had never been a Ukraine independent of Russia. During a televised address on February 21, 2022, Putin again invoked the past, claiming that Ukraine was “historically Russian land.” In fact, of course, a Ukrainian nation, with its own language and culture, had existed for many centuries and had been ruled by a variety of nations during that period.

=> ↺ Why Latin America Needs a New World Order

• Even if negotiations take place and the war ends, an actual peaceful solution will not likely be possible. Nothing leads us to believe that geopolitical tensions will decrease, since behind the conflict around Ukraine is an attempt by the West to halt the development of China, to break its links with Russia, and to end China’s strategic partnerships with the Global South.

• In March, commanders of the U.S. Africa Command (General Stephen J. Townsend) and Southern Command (General Laura Richardson) warned the U.S. Senate about the perceived dangers of increased Chinese and Russian influence in Africa as well as Latin America and the Caribbean. The generals recommended that the United States weaken the influence of Moscow and Beijing in these regions. This policy is part of the 2018 national security doctrine of the United States, which frames China and Russia as its “central challenges.”

=> ↺ Five Reasons Why Washington Can’t Break Its War Addiction

• In 1985, when I first went on active duty in the U.S. Air Force, a conflict between the Soviet Union and Ukraine would, of course, have been treated as a civil war between Soviet republics. In the context of the Cold War, the U.S. certainly wouldn’t have risked openly sending billions of dollars in weaponry directly to Ukraine to “weaken” Russia. Back then, such obvious interference in a conflict between the USSR and Ukraine would have simply been an act of war. (Of course, even more ominously, back then, Ukraine also had nuclear weapons on its soil.)

• With the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, everything changed. The Soviet sphere of influence gradually became the U.S. and NATO sphere of influence. Nobody asked Russia whether it truly cared, since that country was in serious decline. Soon enough, even former Soviet republics on its doorstep became America’s to meddle in and sell arms to, no matter the Russian warnings about “red lines” vis-à-vis inviting Ukraine to join NATO. And yet here we are, with an awful war in Ukraine on our hands, as this country leads the world in sending weapons to Ukraine, including Javelin and Stinger missiles and artillery, while promoting some form of future victory, however costly, for Ukrainians.

=> ↺ Russia supporters in Riga staged a protest after officials bulldozed flowers left at a WWII monument Protesters sang Soviet songs and used pro-Russian symbols the day after Latvia officially commemorated the victims in Ukraine

• On May 10, a spontaneous protest broke out in Riga’s Victory Park after city officials used a bulldozer to remove the flowers left at the park’s Monument to the Liberators of Riga. Residents who were upset by the authorities’ actions started bringing new flowers to the monument, and a crowd formed. The impromptu gathering, which included a lot of Russian symbolism and Soviet songs, spurred outrage among other residents — and the country’s leaders.

=> ↺ Civic Engagement In an Age of Perpetual War

• Shortly after Phil Klay returned home from Iraq in 2008, the US Marine Corps veteran enrolled in the MFA program at Hunter College in New York and put pen to paper to make sense of his wartime experiences. He has since published a National Book Award–winning collection of short stories, Redeployment, and later a novel, Missionaries. “It’s about bringing the reader in close to an experience that forces you to reevaluate your sense of the world,” he says of his fiction.1

=> ↺ Endless War in Ukraine Hurts National and Global Security

• What are the United States’ goals in the Ukraine war? Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin recently announced that the United States wants “Russia weakened to the degree that it can’t do the kinds of things that it has done in invading Ukraine.” The US commitment toward that end has been substantial. Congress passed the Ukraine Democracy Defense Lend-Lease Act by near-unanimous vote, invoking the “arsenal of democracy” we provided to Britain during World War II. President Biden is seeking $33 billion in additional aid. When the defense ministers of some 40 countries gathered at Ramstein Air Base in Germany last month, the focus was not a peace settlement but outright Ukrainian victory or at least the “permanent weakening” of Russia’s military power.

=> ↺ Iran detains 2 Europeans; EU envoy in Tehran about nuke deal

• The Intelligence Ministry gave scant details about the detained Europeans, saying only that they shared the same nationality, which was not identified, and sought to “take advantage” of the protests springing up in several Iranian provinces as laborers and teachers press for better wages.

=> ↺ That’s show business Russia spends $1.4 million on ‘marathon’ of pro-war concerts

• The Russian government’s recent “marathon” of pro-war concerts cost the federal budget 95.3 million rubles ($1.4 million), BBC News Russian reported on Wednesday, May 11. The concert series, meant to drum up support for Moscow’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine, marks the largest state contract ever concluded in Russia for such an event (as per public procurement records). 

=> ↺ ‘We dug up an old woman in а diaper’ Igor Sereda buries the dead for living. Now he’s exhuming the bodies of civilians killed outside Kyiv during Russian occupation.

• More than a thousand civilians have died in the Kyiv region since the onset of war. Most of these people died in areas that the Russian military temporarily occupied. Igor Sereda, 24, heads a mortuary service in one of these settlements — a town called Nemishaieve. Since February 24, Sereda had to bury the deceased from nearby villages under Russian fire. When the suburbs of Kyiv were finally liberated, he began working in Bucha, exhuming the mass graves and temporary burial sites. Meduza special correspondent Lilya Yapparova spoke to Sereda about wartime funerals, and what he learned about Russian soldiers during the occupation.

=> ↺ ‘We want to die for the motherland too!’ A dispatch from a Buryatian village where one percent of residents have joined the war in Ukraine

• Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine began, 23 men from Selenduma, a village in Buryatia, have joined the war; that’s about one percent of the village’s population. In late March, the village buried Andrey Dandarov, the first resident to return from the war in a body bag. A week later, residents held a patriotic motor rally, lining up their cars to form the Z symbol. In early May, the local magazine Lyudi Baikala (LB; “People of the Baikal”) published a report about how young men from Selenduma have been dying in Russia’s wars for four decades now — in Chechnya, Afghanistan, and Ukraine — and how residents nonetheless continue to support the ongoing “special military operation.” With their permission, Meduza has translated the article in full.

=> ↺ ‘Traitors of the people’: How Natalya Indukaeva ended up on trial and without a job or friends by scribbling antiwar, anti-Putin graffiti outside the rec center of her small hometown

• In early March 2022, Natalya Indukaeva, a pensioner from the town of Kolpashevo in Russia’s Tomsk region, painted an anti-war slogan on the wall of the local community center. Within a day, she was accused of “discrediting” the Russian army. Later, she was charged with vandalism, as well. Alena Istomina, a journalist from Novosibirsk, traveled to Kolpashevo to see what life is like when you’re labeled a traitor in your hometown.

Transparency/Investigative Reporting

=> ↺ The Pentagon Papers leaker explains why the Supreme Court draft leak is a good thing

• Now, watching the fallout of the leak of a Supreme Court draft opinion that suggests overturning Roe v. Wade, Ellsberg acknowledges the extraordinary nature of the recent breach, which seems to have ruptured the trust between the highest court and the public.

• “It’s obvious why they want to keep it secret, ” he said. “No organization really wants to show how the sausage is made or legislation is made, and they prefer to be the only voice on policy to the public.”

Environment

=> ↺ The Southwest’s Drought and Fires Are a Window to Our Climate Change Future

• The concentration of carbon dioxide in Earth’s atmosphere has reached its highest level in recorded human history. Again.

• In April, the level of CO2 was 27% higher than it was 50 years ago, according to the latest data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the Scripps Institution of Oceanography. (Methane, a gas with about 85 times the near-term warming effect of CO2, has risen more than 16% since 1984, the first full year that NOAA collected data.)

=> ↺ A Neglected Way to Help Slow Global Warming

=> ↺ Exxon Doubles Down on “Advanced Recycling” Claims That Yield Few Results

• This story is part of “Climate Crimes,” a special series by The Guardian and Covering Climate Now focused on investigating how the fossil fuel industry contributed to the climate crisis and lied to the American public.

=> ↺ Chomsky: To Tackle Climate, Our Morality Must Catch Up With Our Intelligence

=> ↺ Analysis Exposes Big Oil’s Plot to Unleash Climate-Killing ‘Carbon Bombs’ Worldwide

• A new investigation published Wednesday reveals that some of the largest fossil fuel corporations in the world—from Exxon in the U.S. to Gazprom in Russia to Aramco in Saudi Arabia—are planning or currently operating nearly 200 “carbon bombs,” massive oil and gas projects that could unleash 646 billion tonnes of CO2 emissions and doom efforts to rein in planetary warming.

• “They are destroying your future. They are doing it deliberately. They have been doing that for decades.”

Energy

=> ↺ Amid Record Pump Prices, Oil Giants Enjoy ‘Sky-High’ $41 Billion Q1 Profits: Report

• Amid record gas prices and fossil fuel industry profits, Big Oil is “trying to squeeze even more cash out of American consumers,” according to a report published Wednesday by the watchdog group Accountable.US.

• “Unfortunately for consumers, good news for Big Oil’s bottom line never seems to be good news for them.”

=> ↺ “They Don’t Know What They’re Doing”: The Plan to Dump Radioactive Water From the Pilgrim Nuclear Plant Into Cape Cod Bay

• The Senate hearing invited a number of witnesses to testify on “Issues Facing Communities with Decommissioning Nuclear Plants”, with this session specifically focused on the nearby Pilgrim nuclear reactor, which closed in 2019.

• As part of the decommissioning process, Holtec International, the company that purchased the Pilgrim nuclear reactor in Massachusetts from previous owner, Entergy, is preparing to dump a million gallons of radioactive water from the site into Cape Cod Bay as part of its decommissioning activities.

=> ↺ Coinbase loses half its value in a week as [cryptocurrency] slumps

• Cryptocurrency trading platform Coinbase has lost half its value in the past week, including its biggest one-day drop 5o date on Wednesday as the famously volatile crypto market weathers yet another slump.

• Coinbase reported a $430 million net loss in the first quarter, or $1.98 per share, on declining sales and active users. Analysts were expecting profit of 8 cents per share. Revenue was down as trading volumes fell, and active monthly users declined 19% from the fourth quarter.

Wildlife/Nature

=> ↺ ‘Lab Meat’ Industry is Big Ag in Disguise

• The group’s report (“Lab Meat Won’t End Factory Farms — But Could Entrench Them”) shows that the plant-based meat sector is dominated by just four companies, including Kellogg and  Conagra. Kellogg alone accounts for nearly half of all sales of plant-based meat alternatives, thanks to its acquisition of Morningstar Farms.

• The industry is also seeing substantial investments from meat giants such as JBS, Smithfield and Tyson. This is not surprising; U.S. sales of plant-based meat rose 37 percent between 2017 and 2019, and plant-based dairy has seen even more impressive growth.

=> ↺ Why One-in-Five Reptiles Face Extinction

• Many of these fascinating creatures are feared by humans and inhabit hard-to-traverse places such as swamps. Compared with birds, amphibians and mammals, there is little data available on the distribution, population size and extinction risk of reptiles. This has meant that wildlife conservationists have largely helped reptiles indirectly in the past by meeting the needs of other animals (for food and habitat for example) living in similar places.

• Now, a first-of-its-kind global assessment of more than 10,000 species of reptiles (around 90% of the known total) has revealed that 21% need urgent support to prevent them going extinct. But since reptiles are so diverse, ranging from lizards and snakes to turtles and crocodiles, the threats to the survival of each species are likely to be equally varied.

=> ↺ What a New Jersey Creek Taught Us About How Animals Respond to Pollution

Finance

=> ↺ As Covid Aid Languishes, Congress Moves Ahead With Massive Corporate Subsidies

• On a bipartisan basis, Congress is moving ahead with legislation packed with tens of billions of dollars in subsidies for profitable U.S. tech corporations while a smaller but desperately needed coronavirus aid measure languishes, potentially compromising the Biden administration’s ability to purchase next-generation vaccines and hampering the global pandemic fight.

• Last week, the Senate voted on a range of nonbinding motions related to the United States Innovation and Competition Act (USICA), which has been billed as an effort to boost U.S. manufacturing and technological development to compete with China.

=> ↺ Experts Say Long War of Attrition in Ukraine Is a Dangerous Path

• While the United States lavishes Ukraine with tens of billions of dollars in military aid as part of a stated goal of not only defending an ally against Russian invasion but also of weakening Russia itself, peace-minded voices this week warned against the existential dangers of pursuing such policy.

• “The longer the war, the worse the damage to Ukraine and the greater the risk of escalation.”

=> ↺ The Gilded Glamour Met Gala Was a Fantasia of Inequality

=> ↺ The Extraordinary Supremacy of the Hyperwealthy

• Your engrossing issue on megabillionaires—their road to riches and influence—devoted little attention to billionaire CEOs directly running their giant corporations. For example, how did CEO Tim Cook of Apple get his board to pay him $50,000 an hour or $850 a minute, while Apple store workers are making under $20 per hour? Apple’s wealth draws from a million serf laborers in China making iPhones and computers they cannot afford to buy.

=> ↺ ‘What if We Use Public Money to Transform What Local Media Looks Like?’

=> ↺ A Monetarist’s Advert for UBI

• We have a lot of humanitarian reasons to support UBI, but I hear too little of the selfish reasons businesses might have to support it.

AstroTurf/Lobbying/Politics

=> ↺ Florida Judge Strikes Down Part of ‘Unconstitutional’ Map Rigged by GOP Gov. DeSantis

• A state judge on Wednesday invalidated part of Florida’s new congressional map—drawn by right-wing Gov. Ron DeSantis’ office and approved last month by the Republican-controlled Legislature—siding with plaintiffs who accused the GOP of violating the state constitution through racial gerrymandering.

• Judge Layne Smith of the 2nd Circuit Court said that “the enacted map is unconstitutional because it diminishes African Americans’ ability to elect candidates of their choice.”

=> ↺ Opinion | Republicans Don’t Believe in Freedom—Only Power

• Republicans love to claim they’re the party of freedom. Bulls**t.

=> ↺ Opinion | How About Crucifixion? On the Recent Tribulations of Death Penalty Enthusiasts

• The nation’s execution community experienced another setback recently when Tennessee’s governor called off an execution with only an hour to go, postponing it and four others until at least until 2023. Once again, an execution had to be halted due to the drug problem has dogged America’s executioners for some time. Like a lot of other unfortunates, they’re just having a helluva time getting their hands on the drugs they need to get the job done – or at least getting their hands on the drugs legally. We might well view this as something of a shot-in-the-arm for the capital punishment movement’s anti-drug faction, were it not for the judicial postponement of an April firing squad date – for a South Carolina prisoner who had chosen that option rather than the electric chair, after that state too experienced a drug problem.

=> ↺ Tories Plunge in UK Mid-Term Elections, But Labour has a Mountain to Climb

• In a nutshell, the election results showed the following:

• • The crisis-ridden Tories, beset by scandal, imploded, losing 490 seats in the process;

• [...]

• BoJo’s supporters in parliament and the pro-Tory tabloid rags then went to town with the Beergate story, in a desperate attempt to establish an “equivalence” between Starmer’s one-off indoor drinking episode and BoJo’s repeated partying at his official residence.

=> ↺ Sleepy Joe’s $33 Billion Abomination

• Trump Derangement Syndrome still lives on in America’s political debate as virulent as ever.

=> ↺ Greenwald: Biden Wanted $33B More For Ukraine. Congress Quickly Raised it to $40B. Who Benefits?

• Tens of billions, soon to be much more, are flying out of U.S. coffers to Ukraine as Americans suffer, showing who runs the U.S. Government, and for whose benefit.

=> ↺ The National Interest Whitewashes Saudi Aggression in Yemen

• With his second sentence, Al-Maimouni, a retired Saudi major general, forfeits his right to be taken seriously: “It is imperative for Saudi Arabia to preserve peace in Yemen….”  What peace?  Yemen has been at war since 2015 and the reason is the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.  In 2015, an Arab coalition led by Saudi Arabia attacked Yemen without provocation.  Since then, 150,000 Yemenis have died, most of them at the hands of the Saudi coalition.

• General al-Maimouni serves up another whopper in his very next sentence: “It is a war of necessity, not a war of choice for the Saudis.”

=> ↺ Nobel Peace Laureate Maria Ressa on Return of the Marcos Dynasty & Social Media Disinformation

• We go to Manila to speak with Filipina Nobel Peace Prize winner Maria Ressa about Monday’s presidential election in the Philippines, where Ferdinand Marcos Jr. — the only son of the late Filipino dictator Ferdinand Marcos — appears to have won in a landslide alongside his running mate, the daughter of current President Rodrigo Duterte. Ressa says the Marcos campaign used social media to cover up the historical memory of the family’s brutal policies and the uprising in 1986 that ultimately ended Marcos’s two-decade dictatorship. “These elections are emblematic of the impact of concerted information operations of disinformation where it literally changed history in front of our eyes,” says Ressa. Her forthcoming book is titled “How to Stand Up to a Dictator: The Fight for Our Future.”

=> ↺ Ukrainian refugees aren’t too eager to stay in Hungary, and the state isn’t too keen on encouraging them to do so

• According to the UN, around 570 thousand Ukrainian refugees have arrived in Hungary since the beginning of the war. Although this is already a big figure, the Hungarian government has previously spoken about an even higher one. Moreover, for a while now, the police have also been publishing the number of those entering the country from Romania, and based on these numbers, Hungary has received more than one million Ukrainian refugees total. In spite of this, only 20 thousand (which is an extremely small number) have requested the so-called “sheltered status” in Hungary, which guarantees financial support and medical care. The fact that most of the refugees do not wish to wait out the war’s end in Hungary is no explanation for it. According to the Hungarian Helsinki Committee, the refugees are not aware that they are entitled to any assistance because the Hungarian authorities do not provide adequate information about this. Added to this is the fact that a recent regulation has made it even more difficult for them to actually receive financial assistance.

=> ↺ Croatia has summoned Hungary’s ambassador to Zagreb over Orbán’s statement

=> ↺ Steve Schmidt Is Right: The Degeneration of the GOP Began Long Before Trump

• John McCain labeled his 2008 presidential campaign the “Straight Talk Express.” But that was just a slogan. In reality, McCain’s campaign was a desperately disingenuous project that saw the candidate and a cabal of corrupt aides lie to reporters and the American people, foster false impressions of their rivals, give Sarah Palin a national platform, and set the stage for the degeneration of the Republican Party into the antidemocratic confederacy it has since become.

=> ↺ Biden Must End Racist, Detention-First Immigration Policies

• Dig deeply into the moral foundations of the United States’ immigration policy and you’ll unearth its nasty undergirding of racial capitalism, a concept civil rights and constitutional rights law professor Nancy Leong defined in her 2013 Harvard Law Review article as “the process of deriving social and economic value from the racial identity of another person.” Racial capitalism saturates our collective American subconscious. On the surface, we’re taught that good people work hard and bad folks are freeloaders who deserve to be punished. It’s baked into our raced-based social hierarchy. White people are on the top and Black people are on the bottom—economically, socially, and morally. Therefore, those closest to the bottom are more likely to be judged, sentenced, and punished by default.

=> ↺ BoJo and Senator Paul

• As far as Boris is concerned his problems are of his own making and may, if not properly addressed, threaten his ability to retain his premiership.  And some in the United States are concerned that his attempts may place the United States in peril.  It has all come about because of Boris’ fondness for a good time and his willingness to attend a Downing Street Garden party during the pandemic when such gatherings were forbidden. Pictures of the gathering were distributed  on the internet at a time when Boris’ subjects were themselves subject to a prohibition against such gatherings.

• The result of the episode is that now, many months later, Boris finds himself in a position where he may lose the position that enables him to live at 10 Downing Street and, indeed, members of the opposition hope that the party will lead to Mr. Johnson’s downfall.  It is not, however, a given.  There are ways he may be able to retain his position.

=> ↺ Saudi Aramco becomes world’s most valuable company

• Saudi Aramco on Wednesday dethroned Apple as the world’s most valuable company as surging oil prices drove up shares and tech stocks slumped.

• The Saudi Arabian national petroleum and natural gas company, billed as the largest oil producing company in the world, was valued at $2.42 trillion based on the price of its shares at close of market.

=> ↺ UK government sets out plans to tackle big tech dominance

• The Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) has outlined its plans for a newly formed Digital Markets Unit (DMU) regulatory body, with a remit to protect small businesses from dominant competitive practices and provide consumers more control over their personal data.

• The DMU will aim to stop technology companies from unfairly promoting their own services and provide individuals with more decision-making power over how their data is used and handled by tech firms, such as opting out of targeted personalised adverts.

=> ↺ Indian government reverses its stance, calls out Twitter, Facebook for ‘censorship’

• These rules, according to tech corporations, infringe their users’ freedom of expression and privacy and amount to censorship. Proponents of free speech caution that such rules are prone to politicization and could be used to target government critics.

• However, India, with a population of over 1.4 billion people, is one of the most important marketplaces for tech companies. The country’s hundreds of millions of internet users present a golden opportunity for companies like Twitter and Facebook, especially because they are not permitted to operate in China.

• And the Indian government, like many others throughout the world, is well aware of this.

=> ↺ Facebook and Instagram Turn Off AR Filters In Texas and Illinois

• Meta has turned off augmented reality filters for Facebook and Instagram in Texas and Illinois due to facial recognition and privacy laws in those states.

=> ↺ Twitter buyout: Larry Ellison bursts into Elon’s office, slaps $1b down on the desk

• Elon Musk has bagged $7.14 billion in funding from Oracle billionaire co-founder Larry Ellison, cryptocurrency exchange Binance, and Qatar’s sovereign wealth fund, as well as top VC firm Sequioa and others, in his quest to acquire Twitter.

=> ↺ Feds investigating Musk’s late disclosure of Twitter stake: report

• The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is reportedly investigating Elon Musk’s delayed reporting after he acquired a sizable stake in Twitter.

=> ↺ Facebook oversight board ‘disappointed’ by company pulling Ukraine guidance request

• An oversight board for Facebook and Instagram parent Meta said it was “disappointed” after the social media company withdrew a request for policy guidance on content moderation related to the war in Ukraine.

• In a series of tweets, the Oversight Board, which is independent from Meta and made up of about 40 members from around the world with varying backgrounds, said Meta’s withdrawal for guidance on posts involving the war in Ukraine “raises important issues.”

Misinformation/Disinformation

=> ↺ John Kiriakou: Biden’s Orwellian ‘Disinformation Governance Board’ and Other Assaults on Free Press

• From the announcement of the Biden Administration’s new “Disinformation Governance Board” to NewsGuard’s “Disinformation Fingerprints” project, free speech is under attack in the U.S.

Censorship/Free Speech

=> ↺ Elon Musk Has Got Content Moderation All Figured Out: Delete The “Wrong” And “Bad” Content, But Leave The Rest (And Reinstate Trump)

• Look, we’ve tried to explain over and over again that Elon Musk doesn’t understand free speech or content moderation. He also seems entirely clueless about the incredible lengths that Twitter has gone to in order to actually protect free speech online (including fighting in court over it) and what it has done to deal with the impossible complexities of running an online platform. Every time he opens his mouth on the subject, he seems to make things worse, or further demonstrate his ridiculous, embarrassing levels of ignorance on the topic — such as endorsing the EU’s approach to platform regulation (something that Twitter has been fighting back against, because of its negative impact on speech).

=> ↺ Librarians, Teachers Form Coalition to Fight GOP’s Book-Banning Frenzy

• The American Library Association, the American Federation of Teachers, and more than two dozen other organizations on Tuesday formed a coalition to fight the far-right’s record-breaking censorship barrage—wherein nearly 1,600 books were targeted for removal from public shelves and schools across the United States in 2021.

• The goal of Unite Against Book Bans—which also includes the Authors Guild and prominent publishers such as Penguin Random House and Simon & Schuster—is “to empower individuals and communities to fight censorship and protect the freedom to read,” according to the ALA.

=> ↺ What does Musk’s “free speech” look like for the rest of us? – Access Now

• The world’s richest man is portraying himself as a “free speech absolutist” out to rescue “the de facto town square” from censorship and content moderation ailments. However, Musk’s simplistic views of freedom of expression could catapult the platform from a toxic space to a worse one — especially for those of us tweeting from the margins, ruled by oppressive regimes eager to monitor and censor what we say and do online.

Freedom of Information/Freedom of the Press

=> ↺ Protest To Priti Patel May 17th

• Julian Assange’s defence is providing it’s final arguments to Priti Patel on May 17th. Anytime after this date up to May 31st she has to make a decision whether or not to extradite Julian Assange to the United States.

=> ↺ Israeli Forces Shot and Killed Palestinian American Journalist Shireen Abu Akleh

=> ↺ Al-Jazeera Reporter Killed During Israeli Raid in West Bank

• An Al-Jazeera journalist was shot and killed while covering an Israeli raid in the occupied West Bank town of Jenin early Wednesday, the Palestinian health ministry said.

=> ↺ Israeli troops ‘shoot dead’ Al Jazeera journalist in occupied West Bank

• Shireen Abu Akleh was “assassinated” on Wednesday by Israeli forces while reporting on a raid in the city of Jenin, which has seen intensified army raids in recent weeks as violence has surged, a Palestinian official said.

=> ↺ ‘Blatant Murder’: Al Jazeera Accuses Israel of Killing Journalist Shireen Abu Akleh

• The media outlet Al Jazeera accused Israeli forces of “deliberately targeting and killing our colleague” on Wednesday after Palestinian journalist Shireen Abu Akleh was shot in the face while covering a raid on the Jenin refugee camp in the occupied West Bank.

• In a statement, the Al Jazeera Media Network said that Abu Akleh—who worked as the publication’s Palestine correspondent—was wearing a press jacket that clearly identified her as a journalist when Israeli forces shot her “with live fire.”

=> ↺ Palestinian American Reporter Shireen Abu Akleh Killed in Israeli Raid in Jenin, “Brave” Truth Teller

• Israeli forces have shot and killed Shireen Abu Akleh, a veteran Palestinian American journalist working for Al Jazeera, as she covered an Israeli army raid on the Jenin refugee camp early Wednesday morning. Video released by Al Jazeera shows Abu Akleh was wearing a press uniform when she was shot in the head by what the network says was a single round fired by an Israeli sniper. “She gave voice to the struggles of Palestinians over a career spanning nearly three decades,” says journalist Dalia Hatuqa, remembering her friend and colleague. “Her killing is not an isolated incident. This has been happening for a long time: Israeli attacks against media workers, especially Palestinians, and the relative impunity under which they operate.”

=> ↺ US Groups Demand Full Probe After Israeli Forces Kill Journalist Shireen Abu Akleh

• Human rights advocates on Wednesday called for a thorough and transparent investigation after Al Jazeera and witnesses said Israeli forces shot and killed one of the network’s reporters while she was at work.

• “Throughout this year, the Israeli apartheid government has been launching increasingly violent attacks on reporters, worshippers, paramedics, and protesters.”

Civil Rights/Policing

=> ↺ China Finalizes Hong Kong Police State By Installing Man Who Led Crackdown On Protests As Its Next Leader

• The country that promised to allow Hong Kong to choose its own leadership until at least 2047 is putting the finishing touches on its ahead-of-schedule oppression. Pro-democracy protests greeted China’s incursion into the area, alerting the world to the fact the ultra-profitable region was being invaded by forces indistinguishable from those that had turned China into a quasi-socialist nation by murdering millions of people who disagreed with the government’s means and methods.

=> ↺ Extinction Rebellion Vows to Fill the Streets in Response to UK’s New Protest Limits

• The climate movement Extinction Rebellion on Wednesday revealed plans to bring millions of people into the United Kingdom’s streets on September 10 in response to the government’s latest efforts to enact new limits on protest.

• “Our organizations were set up to break the law to drive positive change. Your actions show that we are winning.”

=> ↺ In Historic Vote, Congressional Staffers Win Right to Unionize

=> ↺ “They Just Fired Me”: Meet the 2 Terminated Amazon Warehouse Workers Fighting Attempt to Crush Union

• Amazon has fired two workers who helped organize the first successful U.S. union at Amazon’s Staten Island JFK8 warehouse. This comes as the National Labor Relations Board on Monday upheld a complaint that Amazon violated labor law in the Staten Island union vote by holding mandatory worker meetings to dissuade employees from voting to unionize. We speak with the fired workers, Tristan “Lion” Dutchin and Mat Cusick, who say they need the support of the NLRB and pro-worker legislation to protect them against retaliation by Amazon.

=> ↺ “On Our Side”: NLRB Sues Starbucks to Reinstate “Memphis 7” Workers Illegally Fired for Union Drive

• In a major development, the National Labor Relations Board announced Tuesday night it is suing Starbucks to immediately rehire seven Memphis Starbucks workers who were illegally fired in retaliation for their union efforts. This comes as the NLRB issued a complaint against Starbucks for 29 unfair labor practice charges, including over 200 violations of federal workers’ protections, stemming from retaliation claims made by members of the Starbucks Workers United in Buffalo, New York, where Starbucks workers’ union organizing effort began in August. “Starbucks is willing to fight tooth and nail to protect the image that they have built over the years,” says one of the Memphis workers, Beto Sanchez. “They love to put up this facade of being a progressive company, of being woke, of being the first in leading areas. But like I’ve seen, they are willing to retaliate and fire workers for airing out their dirty laundry. They are just as bad as any other Fortune 500 company that’s out there.”

=> ↺ Labor Board: Starbucks Must Reinstate 7 Workers the Company Fired in Memphis

=> ↺ ‘Historic Moment’: House Passes Bill Allowing Congressional Workers to Unionize

• The U.S. House of Representatives on Tuesday passed a measure recognizing congressional workers’ right to form a union.

• House Resolution 915 was adopted after a 217-202 vote along party lines, with no Republicans voting in favor.

=> ↺ Texas Governor Intensifies Cruel Rampage Against Undocumented Immigrants

=> ↺ How Border Deployment Led to Union Organizing in Texas

• With little notice, their employer changed work schedules and transferred employees to a new job location. Some of those adversely affected applied for hardship waivers, based on family life disruption, but many requests were denied. Meanwhile, access to a major job benefit—tuition assistance —was sharply curtailed. Even paychecks were no longer arriving promptly or at the right address. When a few brave souls called attention to these problems, management labeled them “union agitators” who were trying to “mislead” their co-workers.

• Operating outside the national media spotlight on recent labor recruitment in the private sector, key activists were not deterred. In mid-April, members of the Texas State Guard, Army and Air Force National Guard declared themselves to be the “Military Caucus” of the Texas State Employees Union (TSEU), an affiliate of the Communications Workers of America. Taking direct aim at Republican Governor Greg Abbott, who has ordered thousands of them to police the U.S.-Mexico border, these TSEU supporters called for greater legislative oversight of such open-ended missions so that Guard members are called up only to “provide genuine service to the public good, not posturing for political gain.”

=> ↺ No Absolute Immunity For Sheriff, Prosecutor Who Created False Testimony That Locked Up An Innocent Man For 16 Years

• The thing about absolute immunity is it tends to be absolute. Except when it isn’t. This immunity — one that protects prosecutors, judges, and certain politicians — can be stripped, but it happens so rarely it’s little more than a rounding error in the totality of civil rights lawsuits. (Perhaps unsurprisingly, another case involving stripped absolute immunity also deals with Louisiana law enforcement.)

=> ↺ Protest Song Of The Week: ‘GDP’ By Bob Vylan

=> ↺ Under Biden, the Border Wall Is More Powerful Than Ever

• First, it was the Customs and Border Protection (CBP) vehicles speeding along on the road in front of our campsite. Then it was the Border Patrol’s all-terrain vehicles moving swiftly on a ridge above us. I was about 10 miles north of the border with Mexico, near Peña Blanca Lake in southern Arizona, camping with my 6-year-old son and some other families. Like fire trucks racing to a blaze, the Border Patrol mobilization around me was growing so large I could only imagine an emergency situation developing.

=> ↺ Help Us Investigate Racial Disparities in Arizona’s Child Welfare System

• Reporters at ProPublica and NBC News are conducting research on Arizona’s child protective services agency (the Department of Child Safety, or DCS) and how it investigates Black families in the Phoenix area at a higher rate than white families. We would like to hear directly from people who have been affected by this issue.

• We’re especially interested in speaking with Black families who have had any interaction with DCS, which used to be called Child Protective Services, or CPS. We’d also like to hear from others who know about this topic, such as educators and community organizers.

=> ↺ Southern Illinois Lawmakers Call for DCFS Reforms

• Two Southern Illinois lawmakers are calling on Gov. J.B. Pritzker to improve access to mental health and substance abuse treatment and other services to ensure that families repeatedly investigated by the state’s child welfare agency can access the help they need.

• “It’s time for the governor to be a leader and figure out how to solve this problem in Southern Illinois,” said State Sen. Terri Bryant, a Murphysboro Republican who sits on a subcommittee focused on family and child welfare issues.

=> ↺ Believe Women

• “Believe Women”, and its implied unconditionality in the court of law or the court of public opinion, is a statement that often is jarring to a lot of guys.

Internet Policy/Net Neutrality

=> ↺ Why are links blue and purple?

• In the 90s, due to a misunderstanding of how indexed color displays worked, it was popular to prefer colors with hex triplets with their digits duplicated (i.e. #03F is a shorthand for #0033FF) in steps of three (0 3 6 9 C F), or, expressed as factors of 256: 0, 0.2, 0.4, 0.6, 0.8, 1.

• These colors weren’t really any safer since they’d be double-quantized on different palettes. Thankfully this dumb “web safe colors” myth died when 24-bit displays became affordable.

Digital Restrictions (DRM)

=> ↺ The Netflix Nickel-And-Diming Is Probably Only Just Getting Started

• As we recently noted, Netflix is preparing for a big crackdown on users who share account passwords with folks outside of their home. When Netflix was a pesky upstart it declared password sharing a good thing and a form of free advertising. Now that it’s facing Wall Street pressure to keep quarterly earnings up in the face of more competition, the push is on to start nickel-and-diming the userbase.

=> ↺ Netflix May Launch Cheaper Ad-Supported Plan in Q4 2022

• The company has evidently accelerated that timeline: Netflix informed employees of a Q4 target date for the ad-supported tier in a recent memo, the New York Times reported, citing two anonymous sources. A Netflix rep declined to comment.

=> ↺ Netflix Considers An Ad-Tier Option At A Lower Price As A Future Plan

• “And allowing consumers who like to have a lower price, and are advertising tolerant, get what they want makes a lot of sense,” he added.

=> ↺ Netflix Tells Employees Ads May Come by the End of 2022

• In the note, Netflix executives said they were aiming to introduce the ad tier in the final three months of the year, said two people who shared details of the communication on the condition of anonymity to describe internal company discussions. The note also said Netflix planned to begin cracking down on password sharing among its subscriber base around the same time, the people said.

=> ↺ Netflix with ads reportedly could come by the end of the year

• Netflix CEO Reed Hastings said in April the company was open to adding commercials to the service, shocking the media and advertising industry. Hastings for years refused to put commercials on the platform.

• “Those who have followed Netflix know that I’ve been against the complexity of advertising and a big fan of the simplicity of subscription. But as much as I’m a fan of that, I’m a bigger fan of consumer choice,” Hastings said on the post-earnings call last month. “And allowing consumers who like to have a lower price, and are advertising tolerant, get what they want makes a lot of sense.”

=> ↺ Netflix is exploring lower-priced, ad-supported plans after years of resisting

• Netflix cited growing competition from recent streaming launches by traditional entertainment companies, as well as rampant password sharing, inflation and the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine for the recent stall in paid subscriptions.

Monopolies

Copyrights

=> ↺ Kim Dotcom Could Seek New Zealand Trial After Co-Defendants Strike Deal

• This week former Megaupload operators Mathias Ortmann and Bram van der Kolk revealed that instead of being extradited to the United States to face copyright-related charges, their case will now be handled in New Zealand. As Kim Dotcom vows to keep fighting extradition, he says that he too should be given the same right. Of course, nothing is straightforward.

=> ↺ U.S. Senator Targets Disney With Bill Limiting Copyright Protection Term

• Republican Senator Josh Hawley just introduced a bill that proposes to shorten the copyright term to 56 years. This will apply retroactively to major movie studios with Disney being a prime target. The plan appears to be an indirect attempt to punish Disney for its politics, including the opposition to Florida’s “Don’t Say Gay” law.

=> ↺ Josh Hawley Introduces Laughably Stupid Copyright Term Reduction Bill

• Apparently, I never should have wished on that old monkey’s paw for copyright term reduction. One of the very reasons why Techdirt exists in the first place, and why it was started nearly 25 years ago, was to fight back against over expansive copyright laws, and, as such, we’ve spent many years and many posts arguing about the problems of excessive copyright terms. Indeed, there are few things I’ve hoped for more in these two and a half decades than for Congress to realize the dangers of excessive copyright and to move to shorten copyright terms back towards their actual constitutional underpinnings.

=> ↺ EFF to Court: Fair Use is a Right Congress Cannot Cast Aside

• This has harmed independent filmmakers when they try to include clips from other works in their own. It’s harmed people with visual disabilities who need to run text-to-speech software on their e-books in order to enjoy them, and people with hearing disabilities who rely on captioning to enjoy videos they purchase. It’s prevented educators from teaching media literacy and it’s prevented security and safety researchers from understanding electronic devices to keep us all safer. It keeps people from reading the code in the things they buy, from cars to tractors to home appliances, preventing us from understanding how these devices work and harming the market for independent repair and follow-on innovation.

• Fair users can get sometimes get temporary and partial relief through the rulemaking process run by the Copyright Office, but that only underscores the fundamental problem: Section 1201(a) of the DMCA turned the right to make fair uses into a contingent privilege that you have to beg for in advance – with no binding legal standards to protect your right to speak.

• That’s why we sued the government on behalf of security researcher Matthew Green and technologist bunnie Huang, working with law firm Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati. The case is now on appeal, and we’ve just concluded the briefing, with amicus support from law professors, disability rights advocates, filmmakers, and more.

=> ↺ Malibu Media Finally Paid Wrongfully Accused Six Figures…Via Collections Agency

• Malibu Media. Okay, I’ll wait while your eyes finish rolling all the way. Anyway, the makers of porn under the banner of X-Art have also attempted to build a business in the far stickier industry of copyright trolling. Malibu has a long history of using potentially fake witnesses, failing to serve defendants properly, and running away from any case in which it gets pushback from the accused.

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