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● 06.01.23

Gemini version available ♊︎

● Links 01/06/2023: Spleen 2.0.0 Released and Team UPC Celebrates Its Own Corruption

Posted in News Roundup at 5:28 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz

GNU/Linux

Audiocasts/Shows

=> ↺ Krita ☛ Surprise New Video by Ramon: Gradient Brushes

• Because you asked for it, here a surprise video by Ramon Miranda introducing gradient brushes: [...]

=> ↺ mintCast Podcast ☛ mintCast 413 – Flying Wigs

• First up in the news, Arch migrates Git, Ubuntu changes PPAs, Fedora Onyx is approved, Google to remove old accounts, Debian re-imposes a moratorium, Proton goes Family, Red Hat unveils a new Desktop, Fedora plans to drop X11, Thunderbird gets a new logo

• In security and privacy, Google’s 2FA isn’t private enough

• Then in our Wanderings, Majid is off to University, Joe is manacled to his office, Moss kicks the tires on the new Bodhi, and Bill migrates

• Download

=> ↺ Bryan Lunduke ☛ Ubuntu going 100% Snappy in 2024?

• According to one Canonical developer: Ubuntu is going all Snap & fully immutable in 24.04.

Kernel Space

=> ↺ The Register UK ☛ XFS bug in Linux kernel 6.3.3 coincides with SGI code comeback

• This issue is fixed in today’s kernel 6.3.5 – meaning that the kernel developers have reinstated the deleted line. XFS users should settle for nothing earlier, in the 6.3 series at least.

Instructionals/Technical

=> ↺ Major Hayden ☛ Major Hayden: Launch a watchtower container via podman quadlets

• Podman’s new quadlet feature lets you specify container launch configuration via

• simple systemd-like unit files. 📦

=> ↺ University of Toronto ☛ System administration’s long slow march to configuration automation

• So my more nuanced view is that we’ve wound up in a situation where the appeal of automating system setup and operation is obvious and widely accepted, but the implementation of it still isn’t. And where the implementation is widely accepted it’s partly because people are using larger scale systems that don’t give them a choice, like more or less immutable containers that must be built by automation and deployed through systems.

=> ↺ University of Toronto ☛ DNSSEC failures are how you get people to disable DNSSEC

• Some people are required to operating DNSSEC validating resolvers, and others are strongly committed to it (and are so far willing to pay the costs of doing so in staff time, people’s complaints, and so on). But other people are not so committed and so the more big DNSSEC failures there are, the more of them are going to solve the problem once and for all by dropping out. And then DNSSEC becomes that much harder to adopt widely even if you think it’s a good idea.

=> ↺ TecMint ☛ How to Fix SSH Client_loop: send disconnect: Broken pipe Error

• SSH, an acronym for Secure Shell, is a remote network protocol that is used to securely connect to remote devices such as servers and network devices over a TCP/IP network.

• It is a cryptographic network protocol that provides strong encryption technologies and hashing to secure communication between two devices on a network.

=> ↺ TecMint ☛ How to Lock and Unlock User After Failed SSH Logins

• SSH security is a top priority when setting up your server. The default SSH settings are usually not robust enough to safeguard your server from external attacks.

• Therefore, additional tweaks are needed to provide a decent amount of security from brute-force attacks. One of these is implementing fail2ban to keep off unauthorized users after a certain number of incorrect log attempts. Similarly, you can leverage the pam_faillock module to implement an account lockout policy.

=> ↺ Linux Handbook ☛ Delete All Files of a Directory in Linux

• At times you’ll need to delete all the files of a directory. Not the directory itself but the contents of the directory. You could do it to clean up a project, free up space or for any other purpose.

=> ↺ OSTechNix ☛ How To Safely Remove Linux From Dual Boot Windows

• Are you looking to uninstall Linux from your dual-boot Windows system? If you no longer require Linux on your computer and want to remove it from your dual-boot setup, you’ve come to the right place. In this article, we will guide you through the step-by-step process to remove Linux from a dual boot configuration on your Windows computer. Whether you’re a beginner or an experienced user, we’ll provide you with easy-to-follow instructions to ensure a smooth uninstallation process.

=> ↺ HowTo Forge ☛ How to Install TYPO3 CMS on Rocky Linux 9

• TYPO3 is a free and open-source Enterprise-grade content management system. In this guide, you will install TYPO3 CMS – Enterprise-grade Content Management System – on Rocky Linux 9 server.

=> ↺ Cloudbooklet ☛ How to Setup SSH Keys on Ubuntu 20.04

• SSH keys provide a secure way for logging to a server with private and public key-based authentications.

=> ↺ The Atlantic ☛ How to Prepare for a Hot Summer

• Experts are predicting a warmer-than-usual summer for many Americans.

=> ↺ LinuxConfig ☛ How to kill process by port

=> ↺ LinuxConfig ☛ How to ZIP file with password on Linux

=> ↺ LinuxConfig ☛ How to show software/package installation date

=> ↺ LinuxConfig ☛ How to say YES to ALL with rm command

=> ↺ Use Samsung Odin on Linux via Windows VM [Tutorial]

• Odin is the official tool by Samsung to flash its Galaxy line of smartphones and tablets. Unfortunately, the tool is available for Windows only. However, you can still flash your Samsung phone on Linux using Odin on Windows VM via a virtual machine named VirtualBox.

=> ↺ ID Root ☛ How To Install Fail2ban on Fedora 38

• In this tutorial, we will show you how to install Fail2ban on Fedora 38. For those of you who didn’t know, Fail2ban is a log-parsing application that scans log files for specific patterns and bans IP addresses that exhibit suspicious behavior.

=> ↺ Trend Oceans ☛ How to Install and Start an SSH Server in Fedora 38 and Later

• There is no need to install an SSH server on Fedora 38, and later you just need to enable and start the service by following the steps below.

=> ↺ Trend Oceans ☛ Completely Uninstall Mysql Server in 3 Simple Steps

• Having problems while installing mysql-server? Check this guide to completely uninstall mysql-server and reinstall MySQL on Ubuntu. It’s quite common for developers to get some problems while installing MySQL, and it’s a wise thought to reinstall MySQL, but the problem is that MySQL doesn’t get removed very easily from the system.

=> ↺ Own HowTo ☛ Convert text to ASCII art on Linux Terminal

• In this tutorial, you will learn how to convert normal tex to ASCII art on your terminal on Linux.

• There are many apps on Linux that use ASCII art to display the app name on the terminal, or some other type of information, I think displaying the name of the

=> ↺ Linux Hint ☛ Is there a TRY CATCH command in Bash?

• Bash does not have the try-catch command. A few alternatives like checking exit code, the trap command, and tracing output, can be applied to locate the errors instead.

=> ↺ LinuxConfig ☛ Linux shutdown commands explained

=> ↺ ID Root ☛ How To Install Wallabag on Rocky Linux 9

• In this tutorial, we will show you how to install Wallabag on Rocky Linux 9. Are you tired of losing track of all the articles, news, and blog posts you want to read? Do you find yourself bookmarking endless pages and then forgetting about them?

=> ↺ Own HowTo ☛ How to install xfce on Manjaro Linux

• In this tutorial, you will learn how to install xfce desktop environment on Manjaro Linux. If you have downloaded manjaro with another desktop environment installed, there’s no need to worry, as xfce can be easy downloaded and installed.

=> ↺ Trend Oceans ☛ How to Fix Missing Linux Header Error for VMware Workstation Pro

• If you are also getting the kernel header X.X.X-X-amd64 was not found, then read this guide to resolve the error with simple steps. I tried to run VMware Workstation to install a secondary operating system to test functionality, but it flagged me an error: “VMware Kernel Module Updater: Kernel header X.X.X-X-amd64 were not found.”

Games

=> ↺ GamingOnLinux ☛ Physics be damned, go build some crazy stuff in Poly Bridge 3

• Dry Cactus have now released Poly Bridge 3, the latest in their multi-million selling physics-based bridge-building puzzle game series and it looks to be the wildest yet. As before, it comes with full Native Linux support.

=> ↺ GamingOnLinux ☛ New Stars is a slimmed down quicker Stellaris-like strategy sim

• Need your 4x space fix but find the likes of Stellaris just a bit too long? Perhaps keep an eye on the upcoming release of New Stars. It will have full Native Linux support at release.

=> ↺ GamingOnLinux ☛ The OmniCase 2 from JSAUX is a quality USB-C hub worth grabbing

• A while ago hardware accessory maker JSAUX sent over the OmniCase 2 Pro, and it’s a great USB-C hub worth grabbing if you need some extra ports for a Steam Deck, a desktop, laptop or anything in between.

=> ↺ Boiling Steam ☛ New Steam Games with Native Linux Clients with Poly Bridge 3, Generally 2 and Summer Trip Cruise – 2023-05-31 Edition

• Between 2023-05-24 and 2023-05-31 there were 33 New Steam games released with Native Linux clients.

=> ↺ GamingOnLinux ☛ Heroic Games Launcher 2.8.0 adds a DLC manager for Epic Games, side-loading browser apps

• Heroic Games Launcher, my favourite way to get Epic Games and GOG on Steam Deck and desktop Linux released v2.8.0 with some great new features – here’s a run over what’s new and improved.

=> ↺ GamingOnLinux ☛ Get Battle.net, EA, Epic Games and more on Steam Deck the easy way

• There’s many different ways to get third-party launchers onto Steam Deck like Battle.net, EA, Epic Games and many others. Here’s one way that does most of the work for you.

Distributions and Operating Systems

=> ↺ 9to5Linux ☛ NixOS 23.05 Released with GNOME 44, KDE Plasma 5.27 LTS, and Linux 6.1 LTS

• Dubbed “Stoat”, NixOS 23.05 is here exactly six months after NixOS 22.11 and it’s powered by the long-term supported Linux 6.1 LTS kernel series. The previous release was using the Linux 5.15 LTS kernel series, so you should see improved hardware support the next time you install NixOS or even for existing installations.

• Also new in NixOS 23.05 is support for the latest GNOME 44 and KDE Plasma 5.27 LTS desktop environment series, which are used by default for the flagship editions of NixOS in live environments so you can try them before you install them. In addition, the Cinnamon 5.6 desktop environment is now available for installation.

BSD

=> ↺ Frederic Cambus ☛ Spleen 2.0.0 released with full CP437 support

• On top on that, Spleen is now also available in libansilove since version 1.4.0 and in Ansilove since version 4.2.0, making it possible to render ANSI art using a modern font.

SUSE/OpenSUSE

=> ↺ OpenSUSE ☛ MicroOS Desktop has new names!

• As seen in Richard Brown’s presentation at openSUSE Conference 2023 Why you should be running the MicroOS Desktop, we are pleased to announce a name change for both MicroOS Desktop GNOME and MicroOS Desktop Plasma.

• MicroOS Desktop GNOME is now: openSUSE Aeon

Fedora Family / IBM

=> ↺ CentOS ☛ CentOS Newsletter, May 2023

• May 2023 Newsletter The next CentOS Connect will be colocated at Flock on August 2. Watch the website or social media for CFP and registration details. The CentOS project has started a podcast called Connections, where we talk to interesting people doing interesting things across the CentOS ecosystem.

=> ↺ Silicon Angle ☛ AI, automation, and the future of cloud: Insights from DXC Technology and Red Hat [Ed: The "rhsummit" in the URL means it's Red Hat-sponsored SPAM about Red Hat with some buzzwords chaff ("AI") to spice up the SPAM]

Canonical/Ubuntu Family

=> ↺ DebugPoint ☛ Canonical Unveils Plans for Immutable Ubuntu Desktop Empowered by Snap

• Canonical, the company behind the popular Ubuntu operating system, is charting a new course for its upcoming release, Ubuntu 24.04 LTS

• In a bid to provide users with enhanced reliability, security, and manageability, Canonical is planning to introduce an alternative to the traditional Ubuntu Desktop image- an “Ubuntu Core”-based immutable desktop OS flavour. This move signifies a shift in focus for Ubuntu Core, which has traditionally catered to the IoT market and specialized areas.

=> ↺ Ubuntu ☛ Ubuntu Blog: Ubuntu Core as an immutable Linux Desktop base

• Canonical began the development of Ubuntu Core in 2014, to create a fully-containerised platform for IoT. In Ubuntu Core, we use the same kernel container technology that Docker and LXC are built on, to put every component of the system into a secure sandbox, with well-defined upgrade and rollback. We did this to enable autonomous connected Internet of Things  devices to receive updates which they could apply without human intervention, to address security and business needs at the edge. Ubuntu Core’s minimal footprint lends itself to enabling a secure, resilient, evergreen operating system that can be relied upon in the most challenging environments.

Devices/Embedded

=> ↺ Linux Gizmos ☛ Compulab presents low-cost NXP i.MX93 embedded platform

• Compulab introduced today a low-cost embedded device built around a dual-core ARM Cortex-A55 and the Arm Ethos U-65 microNPU. The company has also launched a compatible carrier board with mainline Linux support and RTOS.

Open Hardware/Modding

=> ↺ Purism ☛ Librem 5 Battery Life Improved by 100%!

• Just like a great wine, the Librem 5 is getting better with age and it may well be the only smartphone to do so. That is because we don’t invest in obsolescence. In the opposite, our wonderful dev team is never giving up on their effort to optimize the software. After each major update, the Librem 5 gets faster and lighter on it’s hardware resources.

• With the latest PureOS update, the “Suspend” feature has become reliable and when enabled, it can greatly improve the battery life of the Librem 5. As a reference, the phone’s battery could last around 10h in Idle mode and it can now last around 20h in Suspend mode. With Suspend enabled, I am now able to detach my phone from the charger in the morning, have a normal usage (with a few phone calls, using a few apps) all day long and it still has battery when I charge it at night.

=> ↺ Old VCR ☛ Refurb weekend: Commodore 128DCR

• No question: the Commodore 128D is the finest Commodore 8-bit ever made. On this I tolerate no dissent, and that’s not just because I sometimes hang out with Bil Herd. It’s a 128, so it’s got VDC graphics, 128K and 2MHz operation, but because it’s a 128 it’s also a 64. It’s also an upgraded 128 with the fixed ROMs, (in this North American 128DCR) 8568 VDC and 64K of VDC memory, it’s got a built-in 1571 (Commodore’s finest 5.25″ disk drive), and it doesn’t have an external power brick. Plus, even though it has the desktop footprint of a 128, the detachable keyboard means you can just put a monitor on top of it (and the steel-cased North American 128DCR handles that very well) just like you can’t with a flat 128, and you either get an actual cooling fan with the plastic 128D or the solder points to put one in a steel 128DCR. My only complaint is that the consolidated DCR motherboard is nearly devoid of socketed ICs, making it a little tough to do component level repair on. I like spares, so I have four DCRs, all of which completely or mostly work (and two spare keyboards, one rather yellow but fully functional and one even more yellow and useful just for parts).

=> ↺ Jack Franklin ☛ Things I’ve learned about building computers

• Recently a computer upgrade went from one graphics card to a new case, new fans and a new graphics card. Along the way I learned a bunch and I’m writing this blog post for future reference when I next perform a PC upgrade.

=> ↺ Arduino ☛ This beautiful lamp shows the moon’s phases from your nightstand

• At first glance, this looks like the kind of moon lamp that has been very popular in recent years. Such lamps are common 3D printing projects, because it is possible to use real topographic data to create a 3D lithophane that makes the terrain visible. A lithophane is a piece of artwork made using a thin, translucent sheet of varying thickness. When backlit, the thicker areas look darker and the thinner areas look lighter. Like the popular moon lamps, this project starts with a 3D-printed lithophane of the moon. With a light source inside, it looks like an accurate lunar model.

=> ↺ Olimex ☛ ZX-ESPectrum emulator tested with ESP32-SBC-FabGL, The Mensch computer with W65C256 got VGA display and Keyboard

• At first it didn’t build but after Twitter consultation the problem appear with PlatformIO which was searching for obsolete version of ESP32 tools, after adding one line in platformio.ini

=> ↺ Raspberry Pi ☛ Dragonfly Spectral Line Mapper

• The design is based on the Dragonfly Telephoto Array, which was developed to find clues to the distribution and nature of dark matter in the universe by imaging faint and spread-out objects in the sky. The original Dragonfly is a telescope made up of a mosaic of Canon telephoto lenses on two mounts. The lenses all point to the same target in the sky: adding together all the images from the mosaic of lenses makes Dragonfly the equivalent of a one-metre telescope. One of those would usually have a starting price of around $500,000.

=> ↺ Arduino ☛ Reliving elementary school with a robotic recorder

• The recorder is a type of flute that is very popular in elementary schools because the instrument is so simple and inexpensive.

Free, Libre, and Open Source Software

Productivity Software/LibreOffice/Calligra

=> ↺ REMINDERS: LibreOffice Conference

=> ↺ Development and Quality Assurance: TDF’s Annual Report 2022

• In 2022, 11,769 commits were made to the LibreOffice source code, from 218 authors, in 10 repositories.

=> ↺ Math Guide is Updated to Release 7.5

• The LibreOffice Documentation team is happy to announce the new Math Guide 7.5, the equation editor of the LibreOffice productivity suite. Anyone who wants to learn how to insert formulas and equations using Math will find this 73 pages guide valuable. Formulas can be inserted as objects into Writer, Impress, Draw, and Calc documents.

Education

=> ↺ Amos Wenger ☛ The RustConf Keynote Fiasco, explained

• Recently, RustConf offered ThePhD (aka JeanHeyd Meneide) the keynote speech, then on May 26, suggesting it be downgraded to a “regular talk”, despite the author’s extreme clarity about the exploratory nature of the work being presented.

• This is relevant because, some think the keynote should be representative of the official direction of the Rust project (even though there’s precedent for the exact opposite happening).

Licensing / Legal

=> ↺ Luis Villa: The brief guide to MSCD 5

• My primary goal when trying to improve a contract’s drafting is not “plain english”. The goal is simplicity, clarity, and consistency, because complexity is a source of errors. As a pleasant side-effect, contracts drafted with rigorous attention to consistency and clarity are generally shorter, and almost always much easier to read.

• Ken Adam’s Manual of Style for Contract Drafting has helped me immeasurably in reaching that primary goal, both by teaching me habits of mind and by being a reference for better linguistic structures.

• [...]

• If you are confused about why I recommend the book, read “About this manual”, “Traditional Contract Language is Dysfunctional”, and “Excuses for Sticking With Traditional Contract Language”. Skip or skim the rest.

Programming/Development

=> ↺ Rlang ☛ Static and Dynamic Web Scraping with R

• We’re going to start things off easy with a simple case of scraping content from one static website. Then, we’ll raise the bar a bit and deal with a more advanced case. This involves gathering content from several similar pages, and to make matters more interesting, the links to those pages are displayed with dynamic loading.

Leftovers

=> ↺ Alex Ewerlöf ☛ Why bother with SLI and SLO?

• Since April I’m helping a large org (150+ teams) to set their SLI (service level indicators) and SLO (service level objectives).

Education

=> ↺ Buttondown ☛ Collecting and curating material is good and we should do it more

• Chronicling, plugin systems, and six other disjointed ideas combine in an argument of how to “engineerize” software more

=> ↺ 37signals LLC ☛ Meetings Are Toxic

• I had an intense 12-hour meeting over two consecutive days. We were writing, correcting and estimating stories for a three-month project. Devs were in the room with managers, scrum master and biz owners.

• So at the end of the second day, we finished the last story and we were supposed to groom and task it out next day (a third meeting day, yay). But our manager talked with us the next day and told us that some biz owners were mad about some unclear criteria in the stories, so he said that the (managers and biz) will regroup and this time “correctly rewrite all stories” and that we will have another 12-hour meeting next week.

• That’s the story of how I had 24 hours of meetings in two weeks and NO WORK DONE (we couldn’t start working in the project until we had the second 12-hour meeting).

Hardware

=> ↺ Bunnie Huang ☛ Name that Ware, May 2023

• This is yet another fine ware contributed by jackw01. I suspect this one may be guessed quite quickly, but I’ll leave one hint anyways: there is more than one board in this assembly.

Health/Nutrition/Agriculture

=> ↺ Reason ☛ Senators Want To Declare Fentanyl a National Security Threat

• Plus: SCOTUS won’t hear Reddit sex trafficking case, debt deal would increase spending on SNAP benefits, and more…

=> ↺ Gizmodo ☛ Eating Disorder Helpline Takes Down Chatbot After Its Advice Goes Horribly Wrong

• AI chatbots aren’t much good at offering emotional support being—you know—not a human, and—it can’t be stated enough—not actually intelligent. That didn’t stop The National Eating Disorder Association from trying to foist a chatbot onto folks requesting aid in times of crisis. Things went about as well as you can expect, as an activist claims that instead of helping through emotional distress, the chatbot instead tried to needle her to lose weight and measure herself constantly.

=> ↺ The Register UK ☛ Eating disorder non-profit pulls chatbot for emitting ‘harmful advice’

• In reality, safe recovery is a multi-stage process that includes contemplation, compassion, and acceptance; psychotherapy; a treatment plan produced by doctors; removal of triggers; little or no focus on weight and appearance; and ongoing efforts to avoid a relapse. Counting calories and measuring body fat would appear antithetical to all or most of that.

• “Every single thing Tessa suggested were things that led to the development of my eating disorder,” Maxwell, who describes herself as a fat activist and weight inclusive consultant, said on Instagram. “This robot causes harm.”

=> ↺ MIT Technology Review ☛ Longevity enthusiasts want to create their own independent state. They’re eyeing Rhode Island.

• Humans have been searching for the fountain of youth for thousands of years. But progress has been slow, to say the least. Though plenty of companies are working on ways to slow or reverse the process, it’s incredibly difficult and expensive to run a study to find out whether a treatment has helped people live longer. And health agencies like the World Health Organization don’t even consider aging to be a disease in the first place.

• Now a community of people is working on an alternative setup, including perhaps even establishing an independent state. Aging is “morally bad,” they argue, and it’s a problem that needs to be solved. They see existing regulations as roadblocks to progress and call for a different approach. Less red tape allows for more innovation, they say. People should be encouraged to self-experiment with unproven treatments if they wish. And companies shouldn’t be held back by national laws that limit how they develop and test drugs.

=> ↺ LRT ☛ Lithuania’s top court rules lockdown restrictions on movement were constitutional

• The Lithuanian government’s ban on indoor gatherings of more than two families or households and more than five persons during the Covid-19 lockdown did not go against the constitution, the Constitutional Court ruled on Wednesday.

=> ↺ Hong Kong Free Press ☛ Hong Kong lowers ’emergency’ response level for Covid-19

• Hong Kong has lowered its “emergency” response level for Covid-19 to “alert,” more than three years after the pandemic began. The government said it had considered the advice of World Health Organization (WHO), which said that Covid-19 no longer constituted a public health emergency of international concern, according to the statement issued on Tuesday.

Proprietary

=> ↺ Gizmodo ☛ Critics Thoroughly Unimpressed With AI-Reimagined Mona Lisa

• Critics are speaking out against an AI-generated expansion of Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa painting, among others, which fills the gaps previously left to the imagination. An image of the recreated painting shows an expansive background to the original painting that shows a canvas filled with imagery of Mona Lisa’s backdrop.

=> ↺ Tedium ☛ Social Network Drift

• One thing I’ve noticed with the recent social media diasporas that have emerged in the wake of Twitter’s decline is that the people who make up those diasporas don’t really seem to be pulling in new groups of people so much as giving the types of people that are already addicted to Twitter a new place to go. We are not bringing in new members of the club, for the most part—we are instead doing the social media equivalent of a ’90s revival night at the local hipster dance club. New generations are likely hanging out in other communities, or at least trying to carve out a corner of the internet that hasn’t been taken over by lame people. In a world where social networks abound, what leads people to try to find new places to hide out, instead of sticking with the current one? In today’s Tedium, I talk to the founders of Picnic, an emerging social network, about budding communities and the need for generational “white space.” — Ernie @ Tedium

=> ↺ The Register UK ☛ Twitter now worth just a third of what Musk paid for it

• Twitter’s value continues to decline. Investment firm Fidelity reports that its stake in the bird site has lost value for the third time since Elon Musk took over last October. By Fidelity’s account, the company is now worth just a third of the $44 billion Musk paid for it.

Windows TCO

=> ↺ Data Breaches ☛ Another hospital hit by ransomware: Mission Community Hospital

• From the proof files, it appears that RansomHouse accessed the imaging system and image files as well as employee-related files and some financial reports and files. The only patient references in the proof files were older files in backups. Whether they obtained any current patient information or the EMR system remains to be seen. DataBreaches has reached out to RansomHouse on their Telegram channel but they have not been responsive in the past, so they may not answer this time, either.

Security

=> ↺ Security Week ☛ Chrome 114 Released With 18 Security Fixes

• Chrome 114 stable brings 18 security fixes, including 13 for vulnerabilities reported by external researchers.

=> ↺ Security Week ☛ Organizations Warned of Backdoor Feature in Hundreds of Gigabyte Motherboards

• A backdoor feature found in hundreds of Gigabyte motherboard models can pose a significant supply chain risk to organizations.

• [...]

• Researchers at firmware and hardware security company Eclypsium discovered that hundreds of motherboard models made by Taiwanese computer components giant Gigabyte include backdoor functionality that could pose a significant risk to organizations.

=> ↺ Tom’s Hardware ☛ Firmware Backdoor Discovered in Gigabyte Motherboards, 250+ Models Affected

• Cybersecurity firm Eclypsium has discovered a backdoor in Gigabyte’s firmware that puts 271 different motherboards at risk. These include models with Intel and AMD chipsets from the last several years, all the way up to today’s Z790 and X670 SKUs. The vulnerability resides in a small updater program that Gigabyte employs to ensure that the motherboard’s firmware is always current. Apparently, it’s doing so via an unsecured implementation.

• Have you ever noticed that after a clean Windows installation, a program pops up offering to download the latest driver or firmware for you? Unfortunately, that little piece of code could provide a backdoor for criminals.

• Upon every system restart, a piece of code inside the firmware launches an updater program that connects to the Internet to check and download the latest firmware for the motherboard. Eclypsium assessed that Gigabyte’s implementation is unsafe and cybercriminals can use the exploit to install malware on the victim’s system. The big problem is that the updater program resides inside the motherboard’s firmware, so consumers can’t easily remove it.

=> ↺ Security Week ☛ Breaking Enterprise Silos and Improving Protection

• When teams have a way to break down enterprise silos and see and understand what is happening, they can improve protection across their increasingly dispersed and diverse environment.

=> ↺ Security Week ☛ Millions of WordPress Sites Patched Against Critical Jetpack Vulnerability

• A decade-old critical vulnerability in Jetpack was force-patched on five million WordPress sites over the past few days.

=> ↺ Bleeping Computer ☛ Kali Linux 2023.2 Released with 13 New Tools, Pre-Built HyperV Image [Ed: Microsofters pushing Microsoft; Hyper-V is proprietary and back doored; there's no reason to choose Hyper-V for anything]

• Kali Linux 2023.2, the second version of 2023, is now available with a pre-built Hyper-V image and thirteen new tools, including the Evilginx framework for stealing credentials and session cookies.

=> ↺ KSOC Shares List of Top Eight Kubernetes Vulnerabilities

• Kubernetes Security Operations Center (KSOC) has published a list of the eight Kubernetes vulnerabilities that are most likely to be exploited. The list is based on an Exploit Prediction Scoring System (EPSS) created by FIRST, a community of cybersecurity professionals that provides members with access to a range of collaboration

=> ↺ Scoop News Group ☛ FTC settles with Amazon Ring over hacking, security incidents

• Thousands of Ring customers have been victims of cyberattacks that the commission alleged were in part due to poor data security practices.

• [...]

• According to a complaint filed on behalf of the FTC in a federal court, approximately 55,000 U.S. customers suffered serious account compromises over a period during which Ring failed to take necessary measures to prevent credential stuffing and brute force attacks. The attacks allowed hackers to try and access consumers’ accounts through a previously breached password or automated, repeated attempts at guessing credentials.

=> ↺ Axios ☛ Amazon to pay over $30 million in FTC settlements over Ring, Alexa privacy violations

• Amazon will pay over $30 million to settle Federal Trade Commission (FTC) allegations that its Ring and Alexa divisions violated the privacy of users.

=> ↺ Wladimir Palant ☛ More malicious extensions in Chrome Web Store

• Two weeks ago I wrote about the PDF Toolbox extension containing obfuscated malicious code. Despite reporting the issue to Google via two different channels, the extension remains online. It even gained a considerable number of users after I published my article.

• A reader tipped me off however that the Zoom Plus extension also makes a request to serasearchtop[.]com. I checked it out and found two other versions of the same malicious code. And I found more extensions in Chrome Web Store which are using it.

• So now we are at 18 malicious extensions with a combined user count of 55 million. The most popular of these extensions are Autoskip for Youtube, Crystal Ad block and Brisk VPN: nine, six and five million users respectively.

=> ↺ Security Week ☛ Spyware Found in Google Play Apps With Over 420 Million Downloads [Ed: They only count the "unofficial" spyware, not GAFAM spyware and malware (which include Android OEM version too)]

• Security researchers have discovered spyware code in 101 Android applications that had over 421 million downloads in Google Play.

=> ↺ Linux Container Security Primer

• In today’s rapidly evolving digital landscape, where agility and scalability are paramount, traditional software deployment methods often fall short. Container technology is a game-changing innovation that has revolutionized how software is deployed, managed, and scaled. It offers many benefits, ensuring that applications run consistently regardless of the hosting environment.

• Safeguarding your digital assets is crucial for protecting sensitive data and preventing unauthorized access. It’s reported that security concerns remain a top concern related to container adoption. The most common container security incidents include vulnerabilities in container images, misconfigurations, unauthorized access, and attacks exploiting container runtime vulnerabilities.

• In this article, we’ll explore the underlying concepts, basic container security considerations, popular containerization platforms, security considerations for businesses, and more useful information on container security. So read on and explore how containerization shatters software deployment barriers.

=> ↺ Security Week ☛ Barracuda Zero-Day Exploited to Deliver Malware for Months Before Discovery

• The recently discovered Barracuda zero-day vulnerability CVE-2023-2868 has been exploited to deliver malware and steal data since at least October 2022.

Integrity/Availability/Authenticity

=> ↺ Gizmodo ☛ URL on Hundreds of Thousands of Maryland License Plates Redirects to an Online Filipino Casino

• Vice reports that in 2012, Maryland released a new license plate to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the War of 1812. That license plate was apparently the default license plate for Maryland cars between 2012 and 2016, and featured a URL at the bottom to www.starspangled200.org. Sometime last year, however, that URL began to redirect to globeinternational.info—the homepage of a Filipino online casino. There, a scantily-clad woman advertises “Phillippines Best Betting Site.”

=> ↺ WhichUK ☛ Microsoft scam: Outlook and Hotmail users are being targeted by fake ‘fraud protection’ emails

• Scammers are trying to steal details via a spoofed Microsoft website

Privacy/Surveillance

=> ↺ Forbes ☛ TikTok Creators’ Financial Info, Social Security Numbers Have Been Stored In China

• TikTok uses various internal tools and databases from its Beijing-based parent ByteDance to manage payments to creators who earn money through the app, including many of its biggest stars in the United States and Europe. The same tools are used to pay outside vendors and small businesses working with TikTok. But a trove of records obtained by Forbes from multiple sources across different parts of the company reveals that highly sensitive financial and personal information about those prized users and third parties has been stored in China. The discovery also raises questions about whether employees who are not authorized to access that data have been able to. It draws on internal communications, audio recordings, videos, screenshots, documents marked “Privileged and Confidential,” and several people familiar with the matter.

=> ↺ The Register UK ☛ Feds, you’ll need a warrant for that cellphone border search

• It is the first US court to do so, to the delight of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, which along with other advocacy groups has been fighting for years to narrow the scope of border searches. Under current law, US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) can search anyone within 100 miles of an American national line, which covers a lot of people.

• “EFF is thrilled about this decision, given that we have been advocating for a warrant for border searches of electronic devices in the courts and Congress for nearly a decade,” said Sophia Cope, senior staff attorney, in a statement Tuesday.

• Cope expressed hope that the US Second Circuit will adopt the lower New York court’s interpretation if the case – United States vs. Smith (1:22-cr-00352-JSR) – is appealed.

=> ↺ [Repeat] OpenRightsGroup ☛ Resist Pre-Crime

• Online content is being mined and used as digital evidence to create gang narratives. In conjunction with extended criminal liability, the weaponisation of content and data is increasingly being used to imprison young Black people and people of colour for offences they have not commited.

=> ↺ EDRI ☛ Sex, religion and race are advertising taboos, except for power-hungry politicians

• It is unacceptable if politicians use our sensitive information, like religion, ethnicity, sexual orientation or health status, to target different parts of the population with different messages. If they say different things to different voters, it allows them to spread misinformation to fire up their supporters and deter people from going to the polls.

• Currently, there are no EU-wide rules governing political advertising, meaning each EU country has its own set of national laws. However, many of these laws are too outdated to keep up with the digital age, which has created a black hole in which high-level transparency requirements and limitations on targeting techniques of political advertisements are largely missing.

=> ↺ EDRI ☛ Will the European Union allow politicians to use your personal data for political advertising?

• Negotiations of the Regulation on transparency and targeting of political advertising are ending and there is no good news. A leak by POLITICO revealed that the European Commission presented three scenarios on how this regulation will impact the processing of special categories of personal data such as sexual orientation, religion or mental health. The Commission’s document creates a misleading dilemma between the use of sensitive data in online political advertisements versus ensuring an open online debate. Based on the Commission both are not possible. This stand aims that political parties may use our sensitive personal data to make political propaganda. Of course, this stands loses the point of the new law: protecting digital rights and the integrity of the political debate.

=> ↺ Scoop News Group ☛ FTC settles with Amazon Ring over hacking, security incidents

=> ↺ EDRI ☛ USA border plan requires “continuous and systematic” transfers of biometric data

• Last year, it was revealed that the USA planned to launch Enhanced Border Security Partnerships (EBSPs) with other states around the world, seemingly targeting the EU, UK and Israel first. These would involve “continuous and systematic” transfers of biometric data to the USA for the purposes of immigration and asylum vetting, says a recent Council of the EU document obtained by Statewatch.

=> ↺ EDRI ☛ Romania: CSA Regulation will make journalistic investigations of child abuse impossible

• The back door to people’s private communications that only the authorities can access is a mythical creature that lives in the imagination of those dismissing the consequences of malware, spyware attacks and software exploits. Experts and affected people have spoken up about the dangers of creating a back door to secure communication even if it is to be accessed only by police and security services. The Child Sexual Abuse (CSA) Regulation has revived the age-old debate.

=> ↺ CoryDoctorow ☛ Pluralistic: To save the news, ban surveillance ads (31 May 2023)

• Big Tech steals from the news, but what it steals isn’t content – it steals money. That matters, because if we create pseudo-copyrights over the facts of the news, or headlines, or snippets to help news companies bargain with tech companies, we make the news partners with the tech companies, rather than watchdogs. How does tech steal money from the news? Lots of ways!

Defence/Aggression

=> ↺ Meduza ☛ Drones used in strikes on Moscow reportedly failed to detonate because they didn’t hit intended targets

• On May 30, multiple residential buildings in Moscow were hit by drones. The Russian news outlet Kommersant reports that the drones failed to detonate because they didn’t hit the correct targets, according to experts who examined the drone wreckage.

• Only one of the three drones exploded. According to preliminary reports, the drone’s explosives either didn’t detonate or didn’t fully detonate. Experts say that a bright flash, which was visible by eyewitnesses and surveillance cameras, was caused by the ignition of gasoline vapor in a broken drone engine. The two other drones didn’t explode at all. According to Kommersant, the drones were loaded with KZ-6, a high-explosive.

=> ↺ The Register UK ☛ Ukraine war blurs lines between cyber-crims and state-sponsored attackers

• But in a report published this week, the researchers wrote that Void Rabisu used RomCom against the Ukraine government and military as well as water, energy, and financial entities in the country.

• Outside of Ukraine, targets included a local government group helping Ukrainian refugees, a defense company in Europe, IT service providers in the US and the EU, and a bank in South America. There also were campaigns against people attending various events including the Masters of Digital and Munich Security conferences.

=> ↺ Axios ☛ House passes bill to raise debt ceiling into 2025

• The House voted Wednesday to pass a bill raising the debt ceiling until 2025 in exchange for measures to cut the budget deficit.

• Why it matters: The bill’s passage puts the U.S. on track to avert a debt default — which Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen projected could happen in a matter of days.

• Driving the news: The bipartisan agreement between President Biden and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) passed 314-117, with 149 Republicans and 165 Democrats voting for it.

=> ↺ RFERL ☛ Four Crimean Tatars Sentenced To Long Prison Terms For Ties To Islamic Group Banned In Russia

• A court in Russia’s southwestern city of Rostov-on-Don has sentenced four Crimean Tatar activists to lengthy prison sentences for organizing and participating in the activities of the Islamic political organization Hizb ut-Tahrir.

=> ↺ CS Monitor ☛ Not partners, but on same page: Russia, West push Armenian-Azeri peace

• Even while starkly divided over the war in Ukraine, Russia and the West show hints of being able to find common ground on other issues of importance, as evidenced by an imminent Armenian-Azeri peace treaty.

=> ↺ YLE ☛ Wednesday’s papers: Russia-Finland diplomatic mission closures, new government ambitions and the healthiest Finns

• Russia announced the end of operations at three Finnish diplomatic missions, mostly in response to Finland joining Nato.

=> ↺ The Strategist ☛ Why China is a national security threat to Australia

• As Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister Richard Marles noted in his statement introducing the 2023 defence strategic review, a stable relationship between Australia and China is in the interests of both countries and the …

=> ↺ New York Times ☛ Germany Closes Four of Its Five Russian Consulates After Moscow Dispute

• Berlin responds to the Kremlin limiting the number of German diplomatic staff allowed in Russia.

=> ↺ New York Times ☛ As Iran Seizes Tankers, UAE Pulls Back From US-Led Maritime Force

• The United Arab Emirates announced it had stopped participating in the security group after Iran seized two tankers in the Persian Gulf recently.

War in Ukraine

=> ↺ European Commission ☛ At GLOBSEC Bratislava Forum, President von der Leyen calls for forging a more United Europe

• European Commission News Bratislava, 31 May 2023 President focused on Ukraine’s resistance to Russia’s aggression and the continued EU support. She also outlined a new 4-pillar plan for the Western Balkans, stressing the EU’s responsibility to bring the countries who aspire to EU membership ‘much closer’ to the Union.

=> ↺ New York Times ☛ Russia Denounces West Over Drone Strike on Moscow

• Kremlin officials said Ukraine’s allies should have condemned the strike, and argued again that its real war was with the West.

=> ↺ New York Times ☛ Russia Strikes Kyiv, Killing 3 in Another Early Morning Attack

• Among the dead were two children, the city’s mayor said. Russia has recently increased the pace and intensity of its strikes on the capital.

=> ↺ New York Times ☛ Washington Approves Another $300 Million in Military Aid to Ukraine

• The package includes more ammunition for air defense systems, long-range artillery and drones. It comes as Moscow has come under drone attacks in recent days, and Ukraine is gearing up for a counteroffensive.

=> ↺ European Commission ☛ Keynote speech by President von der Leyen at the GLOBSEC 2023 Bratislava Forum

• European Commission Speech Bratislava, 31 May 2023 Fellow leaders,

• The war against Ukraine is a pivotal moment for Europe. And we must meet this moment.

=> ↺ AntiWar ☛ When Will US Join Global Call To End Ukraine War?

• When Japan invited the leaders of Brazil, India and Indonesia to attend the G7 summit in Hiroshima, there were glimmers of hope that it might be a forum for these rising economic powers from the Global South to discuss their advocacy for peace in Ukraine…

=> ↺ AntiWar ☛ Is the US Losing Control of Ukraine?

• In the very early days of the war in Ukraine, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky was open to negotiating a peace. The proposed peace could have ended the war, before tens of thousands of Ukrainians had died and Ukraine’s infrastructure was devastated, on terms that satisfied Ukraine’s goals.

=> ↺ France24 ☛ Drone attack draws Moscow closer to Ukraine’s front line

• The brazen drone attack targeting Moscow early on Tuesday, which Russia has blamed on Kyiv, provides the clearest evidence yet that the seat of Russian power is no longer sheltered from the war in Ukraine.

=> ↺ RFERL ☛ White House Announces New Military Aid Package For Ukraine

• The White House on May 31 announced another aid package for Ukraine that includes up to $300 million worth of air-defense systems, ammunition, and other defense equipment.

=> ↺ France24 ☛ Macron says Putin has jolted NATO awake at security summit

• French President Emmanuel Macron said at a security conference in the Slovakian capital on Wednesday that his Russian counterpart President Vladimir Putin had jolted NATO awake by invading Ukraine last year. Macron also called on the West to offer Ukraine “tangible and credible” security guarantees as it battles the Russian invasion.

=> ↺ JURIST ☛ Nuclear energy agency director provides framework to prevent nuclear catastrophe to UN Security Council

• The Director of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) urged Ukraine and Russia to adhere to five principles to prevent nuclear catastrophe during a briefing Tuesday to the UN Security Council regarding the Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP).

=> ↺ RFERL ☛ IAEA Chief Outlines Principles To Prevent Nuclear Catastrophe At Zaporizhzhya

• UN nuclear watchdog chief Rafael Grossi has urged Ukraine and Russia to adhere to five principles to prevent nuclear catastrophe at Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant.

=> ↺ LRT ☛ Ukrainians will no longer need to pass driving test to change licence in Lithuania

• Ukrainians will no longer be required to pass a driving test when changing their A and B category driver’s licences in Lithuania, the Interior Ministry said on Tuesday.

=> ↺ RFERL ☛ War At ‘Important Moment’ Ahead Of Ukraine’s Expected Military Push, Potential Peace Talks, Macron Says

• Ahead of a looming counteroffensive by Ukrainian forces on the battlefield, French President Emmanuel Macron has called for advancing peace negotiations on the war in Ukraine on Kyiv’s terms.

=> ↺ RFERL ☛ EU Commissioner Urges Extension Of Ukraine Grain Import Ban

• The EU agriculture commissioner says it is necessary to extend Ukraine grain-import restrictions until at least the end of October, despite fierce opposition from Kyiv.

=> ↺ RFERL ☛ Zelenskiy Says 371 Children Deported By Russia Have Been Returned To Ukraine

• Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy says 371 Ukrainian children have been returned to Ukraine after being deported by Russia during the war. Zelenskiy made the announcement as he launched the Center for the Protection of Children’s Rights in Ukraine.

=> ↺ RFERL ☛ U.S. Announces More Military Aid For Ukraine Amid Uptick In Attacks Inside Russia

• The United States on May 31 announced an aid package for Ukraine that includes Patriot air defense batteries, ammunition, and other defense equipment as Ukrainian authorities said attacks by Russian troops killed one person in Ukraine’s Donetsk region and one person in the Kherson region.

=> ↺ RFERL ☛ Former Senior Russian Police Officer Fined For Criticizing War Against Ukraine

• A court in the Russian city of Tomsk has fined a retired police lieutenant colonel 1 million rubles ($12,350) in a case of alleged military “fakes” for anti-war posts he made on social media.

=> ↺ Spiegel ☛ The Pain of War: The Families of Dead Wagner Fighters Speak Out

• Wagner Group founder Yevgeny Prigozhin sent tens of thousands of prisoners to the front lines in Ukraine. Many of them never came back. The aunt and mother of two dead soldiers refuse to remain silent.

=> ↺ teleSUR ☛ Russia Destroys Last Ukrainian Warship

• Although Ukraine has not yet confirmed what happened, it admitted that heavy Russian airstrikes damaged the Odessa port infrastructure on Monday.

=> ↺ Vice Media Group ☛ Russia Bombs Road to Monument of Friendship with Ukraine as It Prepares for Attack

• “The Russians are blowing up the border roads they were using to ‘capture Kyiv in three days.’”

=> ↺ New York Times ☛ U.S. Adds Aid to Ukraine to Deliver Ammunition for Drones and Artillery

• The move to send $300 million in additional support comes as Moscow has come under drone attacks in recent days.

=> ↺ Axios ☛ The war in Ukraine comes to Russia

• Residential areas of Moscow came under attack on Tuesday for the first time since explosions first sounded in Kyiv 460 days earlier — the latest instance of the war in Ukraine coming home to Russia.

• The big picture: Tuesday’s drone attack was the second in Moscow this month after two drones exploded near the roof of the Kremlin on May 3. The Russian capital had previously been largely shielded from the conflict apart from the effects of sanctions.

=> ↺ RFERL ☛ Germany To Shut Down Russian Consulates In Tit-For-Tat Move

• Germany said on May 31 it would shut down four out of five Russian consulates by revoking their licenses, a tit-for-tat move after Moscow’s decision to limit the number of German officials in Russia to 350.

=> ↺ RFERL ☛ Woman Who Accused Biden Of Sexual Harassment Says She’s Moving To Russia

• An American woman who accused U.S. President Joe Biden of sexual harassment when she worked in his Senate office says she is moving to Russia.

=> ↺ teleSUR ☛ Gazprom Sets New All-time Record For Daily Gas Supplies To China

• By the end of 2022, Russia exported 15.5 billion cubic meters of gas to China through the Siberian Power pipeline.

=> ↺ France24 ☛ 🔴 Live: At least five killed in strike on Ukraine’s Luhansk, says Russian administration

• At least five people were killed and 19 wounded in a night bombardment in Ukraine’s Luhansk region, its Russian administrators said, blaming the Ukrainian army for the attack. Follow our live blog for all the latest developments on the war in Ukraine. All times are Paris time (GMT+2).

Transparency/Investigative Reporting

=> ↺ Marcy Wheeler ☛ Lordy, There Are Tapes [of Trump Acknowledging He Had Stolen Classified Documents]!

• All trials are about prosecutors telling stories.

• This incident is a story so good that Trump tried to tell it himself, and in the process got recorded admitting he had stolen classified documents. 

=> ↺ Federal News Network ☛ Reports: Prosecutors have tape of Trump discussing holding onto classified doc after leaving office

• There are media reports that Justice Department prosecutors have obtained an audio recording of former President Donald Trump from after he left office in which he talks about holding onto a classified document related to a potential attack on Iran. CNN first reported that Trump suggested on the recording that he wanted to share with others information from the document but that he knew there were limitations about his ability to declassify records after he left office. The comments on the recording, made in July 2021 at his golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey, would appear to undercut his repeated claims that he declassified the documents he took with him from the White House to Mar-a-Lago, his Florida estate, after leaving office.

Environment

=> ↺ New York Times ☛ Climate Change and Russia Spell Trouble for NATO Up North

• Russia may be having major difficulties in Ukraine, but it remains a vast power in the north and the Arctic, where climate change is opening new sea routes for trade and trouble.

=> ↺ IDA ☛ We have a new name and logo

• For over a year, our board of directors and staff have been working with a brand consultant to refine our brand identity. In 2022 the board elected to change our name from the International Dark-Sky Association to simply DarkSky.

Wildlife/Nature

=> ↺ Axios ☛ Canada wildfire smoke triggers air quality alerts across Northeastern U.S.

• Plumes of smoke from wildfires scorching southeastern Canada’s Nova Scotia province are drifting across the Northeastern U.S. and prompting air quality alerts in several cities through Wednesday.

=> ↺ Mexico News Daily ☛ Greenpeace urges protection of newly discovered reefs in Gulf of Mexico

• The reefs lie near the proposed site of the 715-km Puerta al Sureste gas pipeline which plans to supply energy to the southeast.

Finance

=> ↺ European Commission ☛ EU-US Trade and Technology Council enhances cooperation in emerging technologies, sustainable trade and economic security

• European Commission Press release Luleå, 31 May 2023 Today, the European Union and the United States have held the fourth ministerial meeting of the EU-US Trade and Technology Council (TTC) in Luleå, Sweden.

=> ↺ Market Watch ☛ Global tech layoffs have surpassed 200,000 since the start of 2023 [Ed: Those numbers are bogus because they omit the lion's share of companies (smaller ones) and some large companies like Microsoft keep lying about the numbers. Maybe Microsoft laid off 30,000 staff so far this year. We just know they're lying and spamming the media for cover.]

• More than 200,000 global technology-sector employees have been laid off since the start of 2023, according to data compiled by the website Layoffs.fyi.

=> ↺ Amazon workers walkout Wednesday over return-to-office, climate frustrations

• Hundreds of Amazon employees rallied outside the company’s headquarters Wednesday afternoon to protest the recent return-to-office mandate and demand Amazon do more to cut its carbon footprint.

=> ↺ The Register UK ☛ UK tech industry pushing up salaries – but UI devs out of luck [Ed: Real salaries have in fact decreased by a lot due to high inflation, but the media don't like pointing that out]

• Despite job losses among vendors and high profile companies, those with IT roles in UK companies saw their salaries increase by as much as 30 percent in the past year, a survey has found.

• While other sectors of the country’s economy struggle to achieve above-inflation pay rises, IT roles have remained relatively resilient, according to data from 1,400 candidates in the UK.

=> ↺ EuroGamer ☛ XCOM and Civilization developer Firaxis lays off around 30 employees

• Firaxis Games – the developer behind the likes of XCOM, Civilization 6, and last year’s Marvel’s Midnight Suns – has laid off around 30 developers.

• The layoffs occurred yesterday according to a report by Axios, with a representative for Firaxis publisher 2K Games telling the website the cuts were made due to a “sharpening of focus, enhancements of efficiencies, and an alignment of our talent against our highest priorities”.

=> ↺ Med City News ☛ Healthcare Moves: A Monthly Summary of Hires and Layoffs

• Nuance, which Microsoft acquired last year for nearly $20 billion, recently imposed a round of layoffs. The company did not disclose the number of affected employees.

=> ↺ RTE ☛ Zendesk announces 8% cut to global workforce

• Tech company Zendesk is to cut 8% of its global workforce.

• It is not yet known how the move will impact Irish-based staff at the customer support software company.

• More than 500 people are employed at Zendesk’s European headquarters in Dublin.

=> ↺ Latvia ☛ Rīga Airport reports profits for 2022

• Although the aviation sector was significantly affected by Russia’s war in Ukraine last year following the global pandemic, the Rīga International Airport ended 2022 with a turnover of €58 million, 5.4 million passengers, 55 thousand service flights, and 286 thousand euros in profits, the airport spokeswoman Ilze Salna said May 31.

=> ↺ Atlantic Council ☛ Will the debt ceiling deal mean less for homeland security?

• Congress needs to ensure that the Department of Homeland Security has the resources it needs to defend the nation against nonmilitary threats.

=> ↺ New York Times ☛ China Remains a Formidable Economic Foe

• The country’s economic prospects are being underestimated.

=> ↺ Yahoo News ☛ Binance Says ‘Reevaluating’ Roles After Report of Layoffs

• Binance, the world’s largest crypto exchange by trading volume, said it needs to “focus on talent density across its organization,” as it responded Wednesday morning to a report of job cuts.

• “This is not a case of rightsizing, but rather, reevaluating whether we have the right talent and expertise in critical roles, and therefore we will still be seeking to fill hundreds of open roles,” a spokesperson told CoinDesk on Wednesday.

=> ↺ Nasdaq ☛ Goldman Sachs (GS) to Slash Jobs in IB Division Amid Slump

• As the sluggish market for deal-making continues, The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. GS is considering another round of job cuts in the upcoming weeks,per people familiar with the matter.

• In its latest round of layoff, the investment banking (IB) giant GS is likely to cut fewer than 250 jobs across seniority levels, and include partners and managing directors. This comes after Goldman trimmed its headcount by about 3,200 in the first quarter in its biggest round of layoffs since the 2008 financial crisis. Last year, the company cut about 500 jobs.

AstroTurf/Lobbying/Politics

=> ↺ Scoop News Group ☛ DHS likely needs more funding for IT modernization, says watchdog official

• The Department of Homeland Security is likely to need additional funding for technology and IT modernization efforts despite the current pushback against federal government spending by Republicans in Congress, according to a top IT and cybersecurity watchdog official.

• As Congress on Wednesday gets close to suspending the United States’ debt ceiling and limit spending, including rescinding some funds appropriated for federal government IT spending, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) says more money will likely be needed for the IT modernization in the near future despite the ongoing battles to restrict spending.

=> ↺ teleSUR ☛ Erdogan’s Win Thwarts US Attempt at Geopolitical Shift

• Türkiye’s balance strategy between Russia and the U.S. upsets Washington. The Ankara-Moscow cooperation seems to be increasing in different dimensions.

=> ↺ teleSUR ☛ Germany To Close Russian Consulates In The Country

• The German embassy in Moscow and the consulate in St. Petersburg will continue to operate.

=> ↺ New York Times ☛ Prosecutors in Trump Documents Case Scrutinize Handling of Security Footage

• Investigators are trying to determine if there was any attempt to obstruct them from getting access to footage from a security camera near the room where classified material was stored.

=> ↺ CS Monitor ☛ AI in China: Xi aims for balance between progress and protection

• China calls for heightened national security measures for artificial intelligence. A meeting chaired by President Xi Jinping emphasized the need to safeguard political security and improve security governance of internet data and artificial intelligence.

=> ↺ Sentence to politician for misrepresenting Kurdish lawyer as attacker in İstiklal bombing

• The court gave the verdict in the first hearing of the case for insulting and disseminating private information unlawfully. No accusations were made for “publicly disseminating information misleading the people,” the so-called disinformation offense.

=> ↺ Police erect barricades around İstanbul’s Gezi Park on 10th anniversary of massive protests

• Today marks the 10th anniversary of the protests against a construction project in Gezi Park, which transformed into countrywide demonstrations against the Erdoğan government.

=> ↺ MHP invites prosecutors to start criminal cases against Kılıçdaroğlu

• İstanbul MP of the Nationalist Movement Party invited the prosecutors to prepare indictments for the investigation reports kept waiting at the parliament for Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, reminding that his immunity will be lifted now as he is not elected an MP.

=> ↺ Pro-government columnist claims appeals court upheld İstanbul mayor’s political ban

• Mayor İmamoğlu’s lawyer has denied the claim, saying that the appeals court has yet to give a judgment regarding the mayor’s appeal.

Misinformation/Disinformation/Propaganda

=> ↺ Off Guardian ☛ BBC Verify?

• Apparently, it “really matters” that the BBC acts as the UK government’s official arbiter of truth because, according to Spring, “mistruths” can “cause really serious harm to society.” Marianna has yet to define “harm,” but that doesn’t really matter. The government hasn’t either, despite the fact that it has placed its vague concept of “harm” at the centre of its equally ambiguous Online Safety Bill. Which is proposed state censorship legislation that Marianna is very keen to promote.

=> ↺ Meduza ☛ Russian propaganda attempts a YouTube reboot

• A new Russian propaganda show debuted a few days ago on YouTube, which has blocked numerous channels connected to the Russian state, including Russia Today, the “LDNR” People’s Republics, Vladimir Solovyov, and others. Parent company Google started purging this content well before the February 2022 invasion of Ukraine on the grounds that it violates YouTube’s community rules. Now one project is trying to claw back that audience with a program called “Z-Girlfriends,” whose creators say their main goal is to support Russian troops as they fight in Ukraine.

=> ↺ Breach Media ☛ The Breach barred from weapons show for ‘critical anti-war journalism’

• A major weapons trade convention in Ottawa, the largest annual gathering of arms and surveillance manufacturers in North America, barred The Breach from attending because of it’s “critical anti-war journalism.”

• The CANSEC conference, put on by the Canadian Association of Defence and Security Industries (CADSI), has long been protested by community groups in Ottawa for welcoming authoritarian governments and weapons companies implicated in

=> ↺ India Times ☛ Twitter Could Face Europe Ban After Failure To Comply With EU’s Disinformation Rules

• Twitter could face a ban in Europe if it doesn’t comply with the European Union’s code. Recently, Twitter withdrew from a voluntary rulebook that’s called the “EU voluntary Code of Practice against disinformation.” During an interview with France Info, France’s Digital Minister Jean-Noël Barrot threatened that Twitter could face a ban in Europe if the social media company doesn’t comply with the disinformation rule.

• “Disinformation is one of the gravest threats weighing on our democracies,” Barrot said. “Twitter, if it repeatedly doesn’t follow our rules, will be banned from the EU.”

Censorship/Free Speech

=> ↺ NYPost ☛ ‘Boycott Target’ song over retailer’s LGBTQ ‘agenda’ tops iTunes — but rapper still claims he’s ‘shadow-banned’

• The track has hit No. 1 on iTunes’ most popular chart across all genres, and sits above songs by Taylor Swift and Luke Combs that are in the No. 2 and No. 3 spots, respectively.

• Blow, however, told Fox he’s still facing censorship.

• “It’s shadow-banned all over the world right now,” Blow said.

=> ↺ Meduza ☛ Navalny to stand trial in prison, not in Moscow court

• Alexey Navalny’s trial for “extremism” will take place not in a court in Moscow, but in the penal colony in the Vladimir region where the politician is currently serving his sentence. Navalny spokesperson Kira Yarmysh posted the news on Twitter.

=> ↺ HRW ☛ No Joking Allowed in Vietnam

• The minister’s men were quick to retaliate. Police harassed and threatened Bui Tuan Lam, 39, placed him under intrusive surveillance, summoned, and interrogated him, and pressured him to close his sidewalk noodle soup shop. In September 2022, the long-time rights activist was arrested on bogus charges of “propaganda against the state.”

Freedom of Information / Freedom of the Press

=> ↺ Imprisoned Kurdish journalist forced to speak Turkish at hospital

• Zeynel Bulut, one of the 15 Kurdish journalists arrested on “terror” charges last year, was hospitalized due to his illness.

=> ↺ Michael Geist ☛ Globe Publisher Calls Bill C-18 a “Threat to the Independence of Media” As Government Senate Representative Smears Bill Critics

• The Senate hearings on Bill C-18, the Online News Act, resumed yesterday with two blockbuster panels that included the Globe and Mail, News Media Canada, La Presse, Le Devoir, Canadaland, The Line, and Village Media. The unmistakable takeaway was the enormous risks the bill creates to the independence of the press, to the future of digital media, and to the bottom lines of Canadian news outlets across the country. Further, it is increasingly apparent that the government has no real answers to these risks other than sabre rattling with tech companies and questioning the motives of critics of the legislation.

Civil Rights/Policing

=> ↺ HRW ☛ https://www.hrw.org/news/2023/06/01/china-acknowledge-tiananmen-massacre

• Chinese authorities are increasing efforts to erase memories of the June 4, 1989, Tiananmen Square Massacre in Beijing while people across the globe commemorate the event, Human Rights Watch said today.

• The Chinese government should acknowledge responsibility for the mass killing of pro-democracy demonstrators and provide redress for victims and family members.

=> ↺ Scoop News Group ☛ Iranian dissidents’ claim of presidential [breach] likely legitimate, experts say

• A trove of documents, images and videos from the offices of Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi posted online Monday appear to be authentic, cybersecurity experts familiar with the matter told CyberScoop on Wednesday.

• The materials posted to a Telegram channel Monday by a group called “GhyamSarnegouni” (“Rise to Overthrow”) include alleged diplomatic correspondence, floor plans for the offices and sleeping quarters of the Iranian president and other top government offices, detailed network topologies for sensitive Iranian government networks and more.

=> ↺ ACLU ☛ Broken Promises: Trump-era Travel Bans Keep Thousands Trapped in Limbo

• The Diversity Immigrant Visa Program provides a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for immigrants seeking to build a future in the United States. Established in 1990, the program aims to “diversify” immigration to the U.S. by providing opportunities for people from countries with low immigration rates who meet certain criteria, such as education and work experience. Each year, about 11 million people apply, and only 55 thousand people are lucky enough to be randomly selected. Applicants have a 1 percent chance of winning.

• While in office, Trump implemented a number of policies that upended the lives of tens of thousands of people who had beaten the odds and won the Diversity Visa lottery. The widely-criticized Muslim Ban is one of those policies, and its effects have been well documented. But Trump also implemented and extended lesser-known policies, known as Presidential Proclamations 10014 and 10052, under the guise of protecting the U.S. labor market after Covid-19 broke out, that dealt a devastating blow to winners of the 2020 and 2021 lottery.

• Although President Biden has since revoked Trump’s bans, he has not restarted visa processing for those who were shut out because of it. As a result, tens of thousands of people still remain in limbo. These are the stories of four people who are still waiting for justice.

Internet Policy/Net Neutrality

=> ↺ APNIC ☛ Community consultation on increasing availability of critical APNIC services

• Share your feedback by 21 June on the availability of critical APNIC services.

=> ↺ APNIC ☛ On synchronicity (and the desirability of not having it, sometimes)

• There is synchronicity in the Internet. Is that a good thing?

Monopolies

Patents

=> ↺ Kluwer Patent Blog ☛ Fanaticism and legalism at the dawn of the UPC: how UPC fanaticism has left the UPC devoid of privileges and immunities [Ed: UPC is illegal and it'll have no privileges when a high court rules that it must be revoked]

=> ↺ Dennis Crouch/Patently-O ☛ Guest Post: Jillian Grennan, Charting New Paths in Innovation: Reflections from Harvard’s Innovation Economics Conference [Ed: Conflating patents with innovation, now with a gendered slant to distract from how harmful monopolies]

• Recently, I had the privilege of being part of the Junior Innovation Economics Conference at Harvard Business School. This diverse gathering of scholars from fields as varied as management, technology, economics, finance, and public policy delved headlong into the intricate dynamics of invention and innovation policy. Several researchers spoke about issues relevant for better understanding diversity and inclusion in the inventive process and how to improve it. These included: documenting gender disparities in attribution for innovative output, understanding how “opt-in” organizational processes can unlock the innovative potential of engineers from underrepresented groups, and measuring how broader representation can help bring more valuable innovations to market.

=> ↺ Kluwer Patent Blog ☛ 1 June 2023: Birth of the Unitary Patent and the Unified Patent Court [Ed: Unified Patent Court is illegal and it will explode on the EU]

=> ↺ 17th Annual Meeting with Member States [Ed: Criminals meet their facilitators (institutional corruption)]

• The 17th Annual Meeting for the European Patent Network took place in Lisbon from 26 to 27 May, marking the first face-to-face gathering since the shift to digital meetings in 2020.

=> ↺ JUVE ☛ Powell Gilbert opens new Ireland office on eve of UPC [Ed: Paid-for spam by propaganda site of Team UPC, not news]

=> ↺ JUVE ☛ Leading UPC figures: Who helped shape Europe’s new patent court? [Ed: And yet more paid-for spam by propaganda site of Team UPC, not news; JUVE has been lobbying for criminals because those criminals paid JUVE. JUVE's editor found out there's more money in crime than in truth or reporting. Later on JUVE will help them shame courts and pressurising judges to allow a crime to go unpunished because doing justice would "embarrass the EU" or "admonish the kangaroo court" (see what Microsoft did in the UK after the CMA decision on Activision). When press becomes an active facilitator of crime one might wonder if they too are subjected to stricter regulation, especially in light of the bribes.]

=> ↺ How to correct SPC data for a patent opted out of the UPC [Ed: UPC is illegal and firms that promoted this illegal system by lying through bribed media and gullible politicians are now selling illegal services]

Trademarks

=> ↺ TTAB Blog ☛ TTAB Posts June 2023 Hearing Schedule

• The Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (Tee-Tee-Ā-Bee) has scheduled nine (9) oral hearings for the month of June 2023. All of the hearings will be held via video conference. Briefs and other papers for each case may be found at TTABVUE via the links provided.

Copyrights

=> ↺ Walled Culture ☛ Warhol understood what transformative art looked like, the US Supreme Court doesn’t

• This goes to the heart of these arguments about fair use. They require judges to exercise what is essentially an artistic rather than legalistic judgement. Even tiny changes to the original can be transformative and create a new creative work. Warhol is one of the best examples of this, since many of his works take existing images – sometimes completely mundane ones like soup can labels – and turn them into something that is genuinely new and creative.

=> ↺ Torrent Freak ☛ Court Orders ISPs to Block “Spider-Man” Piracy… Before it Happens

• The Delhi High Court has handed down a broad blocking order that aims to stop piracy before it happens. Following an application by Sony Pictures, more than 100 pirate sites will be preemptively blocked by Indian ISPs to prevent ‘Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse’ piracy. The blocking order also applies to domain names that have yet to be registered.

=> ↺ Torrent Freak ☛ Iconic Torrent Site RARBG Shuts Down, All Content Releases Stop

• RARBG, one of the world’s largest torrent sites, has said “farewell” to millions of users. The site, which was a prominent and stable source of new movie and TV show releases, cited a variety of reasons behind its decision to cease operations. The surprise shutdown marks the end of an era.

=> ↺ Torrent Freak ☛ RARBG: Over 267,000 Movie & TV Show Magnet Links Appear Online

• A few hours ago the team behind veteran torrent site RARBG announced that after 15 years online, the curtain had come down for the final time. The effect on the public torrent site scene will become apparent in the coming days but for those more interested in historical record keeping, all is not lost. A few hours ago an archive of RARBG magnet links, spanning over 267,000 movie and TV show releases, suddenly appeared online.

=> ↺ Vice Media Group ☛ Legendary Torrent Site RARBG Shuts Down Due to War, COVID, Inflation

• “We are sorry :(” the administrators wrote as a final message on the long-running piracy website.

Gemini* and Gopher

Personal

=> ↺ Hospitalist Inspirations

• I’ve decided to document some reflections on my work as a hospitalist. Plenty of things to talk about! I work regular medicine floors, as well as our step-down unit. We have a nice collection of problems with different organ systems here…

Technical

=> ↺ Computing and the Environment

• Computing has often been seen in the past as more environmentally friendly than using lots of paper, but that is not necessarily the case.

=> ↺ brain dump of hackvr related things

• texture support might be fun to get PS1/N64/etc-like graphics instead of forcing the more 80s-like style my version of hackvr has.

Science

=> ↺ A Tangential Remark on Procrustean Epistemologies

• It is a discussion about the problem with computer system whose data model does not fit the mental model of domain experts, and which forces those experts’ to distort their data to fit the form demanded by the computer system and – by doing so – introducing inaccuracies to the data itself. It is well worth a read on its own, but it reminded me of something that recently happened to me, which was admittedly not that but shared the same cause of entry of some information into an ill-fitting data model.

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