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● Links 28/07/2023: Happy SysAdmin Day

Posted in News Roundup at 8:48 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz

GNU/Linux

Graphics Stack

=> ↺ GamingOnLinux ☛ Open source NVIDIA Vulkan driver ‘NVK’ gears up for merging into Mesa

• This is exciting as heck! Collabora developer Faith Ekstrand and various contributors have been powering through developing NVK, the open source Vulkan driver for NVIDIA.

=> ↺ WCCF Tech ☛ Intel Arc GPUs Keep On Getting Better, Latest Linux Driver Further Improves Performance

• Intel has been rapidly developing its open-source Vulkan drivers for Linux recently, incorporating technologies like ray tracing & generally improving overall performance for its GPUs like the Arc family. It was said that the driver optimizations were halted due to a lack of support for the ” I915_FORMAT_MOD_4_TILED_DG2_RC_CCS” modifier, but now it has been added due to which the benchmarks were obtained.

=> ↺ WCCF Tech ☛ AMD Releases Next-Gen GPU Patches For Linux, Also Publishes AMDGPU Firmware For Upcoming Radeon GPUs

• For a quick recap, AMD has taken a new approach to releasing drivers on the Linux kernel with the aim of easing device enumeration. The change is adopting important driver changes through IP/hardware blocks rather than huge patches at a time. While this approach takes longer time and dedication, it is advantageous for less hard-coded information within the driver and makes it well-compiled, which comes as a clutch when solving a specific problem.

Applications

=> ↺ Linux Links ☛ 5 Excellent Free and Open Source OCR Systems

• The use of paper has been displaced from some activities. For example, the vast majority of journeys on the London Underground are made using the Oyster card without a paper ticket being issued. We have witnessed talk of a paperless office for more than 40 years. However, the office environment has shown a resistance to remove the mountain of paper generated. Things have changed in the past few years, with a marked shift in the paperless office concept. Paper documents contain a wealth of important management data and information that would be better stored electronically. There is computer software that makes this conversion possible. The benefit of scanning documents is not purely for archival reasons. OCR technology is vital for gaining access to paper-based information, as well as integrating that information in digital workflows.

• OCR software is not mainstream so open source alternatives to proprietary heavyweight software (such as OmniPage, ReadIRIS, CVision pdfcompressor, or the Linux supported ABBYY FineReader) are fairly thin on the ground. Matters are also complicated by the fact that OCR computer software needs very sophisticated algorithms to translate the image of text into accurate actual text. The software also has to cope with images that contain a lot more than text, such as layouts, images, graphics, tables, in single or multi pages.

• Here’s our rating for each OCR system. Only free and open source software is eligible for inclusion.

=> ↺ TecMint ☛ 5 Best Command Line HTTP Clients for Linux

• HTTP clients are utility software that enables you to download files over the Internet. Apart from being able to download files remotely, these command line tools can be used for other tasks such as debugging and interacting with web servers.

• Today, check out our list of the best HTTP clients created for use in the Linux Command Line.

Instructionals/Technical

=> ↺ Make Use Of ☛ How to Create and Manage Workspaces on Ubuntu

• Workspaces or virtual desktops are a group of tasks or programs on a dedicated window on your PC screen. Workspaces are ideal for improved focus, productivity, and clutter-free desktops.

• You can use workspaces to streamline your work by focusing on a set of related tasks at a time. To underline their importance, workspaces are available on all major operating systems: Windows, Linux, and macOS.

• Here’s how you can create and manage workspaces on Ubuntu.

=> ↺ Medium ☛ Your First Bash Script!

• This post follows my previous post ‘Keeping Ubuntu Up-to-Date’. If you haven’t already, check that out.

• We left off the last post by updating Ubuntu and all our other packages. If you remember, just doing a simple update of your packages and OS can be quite involved for the task that it is.

• Enter Bash scripting. Imagine a Bash script as a list of instructions. When we create and run a Bash script, you can tell your machine to run a list of commands in a row. So instead of typing each of the commands from the previous post, every time we login to our Ubuntu box, we can type one command to run our Bash script and all of the commands will be ran.

=> ↺ Security Boulevard ☛ Linux Commands To Check The State Of Firmware

• Whether you are new to Linux or a seasoned Linux systems administrator, knowing the hardware and firmware on your systems is essential. Firmware that is out-of-date can pose security and operational risks. I advise you to keep up with firmware updates before you are impacted by an attacker with a shiny new exploit or some elusive crash of your system. While there are numerous utilities and commands that can provide insight into the state of your firmware, with some being included in your distribution and others available from your favorite package manager, keeping them handy or even scripting them can make your job that much easier. What follows is a fairly comprehensive list, with examples, of commands that allow you to discover the state of various hardware and firmware.

=> ↺ Medium ☛ Managing Your Linux Box from Windows w/ XRDP. [Ed: You do not need Windows to do this. RDP is also notorious not secure.]

=> ↺ TecMint ☛ How to Install PuTTY on Linux

• PuTTY is a free and open-source cross-platform SSH and telnet client that even after being around for over 20 years remains one of the most popular SSH clients being used especially on the Windows platform.

• Linux distros ship with SSH capabilities built into their terminal but in real-world environments, I have seen PuTTY being used instead of the default Linux systems more times than I cared to count.

=> ↺ TecMint ☛ 6 Best Command-Line FTP Clients for Linux Users

• FTP (File Transfer Protocol) is a network protocol used for transferring files between a client and a server on a computer network.

• In the early days, FTP applications were initially designed for the command line, predating the widespread adoption of GUI (Graphical User Interface) Operating Systems.

=> ↺ TecMint ☛ How to Uninstall Recently Installed Packages on Ubuntu

• Ubuntu is a popular Linux distribution known for its ease of use, stability, and user-friendly approach. One of the things that makes Ubuntu so easy to use is its apt package management system, which enables you to easily install, update, and remove software packages on your Ubuntu system.

• In this article, we will show you how to uninstall or remove recently installed software packages on Ubuntu using the graphical user interface (GUI) and the command line.

Games

=> ↺ GTA V Running on Nintendo Switch with Android and Ubuntu Linux

• This impressive feat of running GTA V on a Nintendo Switch is not a hoax or trickery. A tech-tuber from the Geekerwan YouTube channel demonstrates the process of installing Android and Ubuntu Linux on the Nintendo Switch, along with overclocking the system.

• By overclocking the CPU to 2.3 GHz and GPU to 1267 MHz, the Switch becomes capable of running Android. In this mode, it functions like an Android tablet and can even be connected to a keyboard and mouse for productivity purposes. The video showcases the Switch running mobile games such as Genshin Impact and Honkai: Star Rail, with the latter performing better due to its more GPU-focused nature.

=> ↺ GamingOnLinux ☛ Proton Experimental fixes up Final Fantasy XIII, Dark Souls II and more

• Valve has released another upgrade to Proton Experimental for Steam Deck and desktop Linux on July 27th, here’s a run over what’s new and improved for you. ICYMI: Valve recently released Proton 8.0-3.

=> ↺ GamingOnLinux ☛ Persona 5 Strikers fully playable on Steam Deck with this tweak

• Since its release in October 2022, Persona 5 Royal has been one of the perfect Steam Deck games. Persona 5 Royal’s design being very well suited for handheld play; combined with being a very well optimized PC Port overall. It’s sequel / spin-off, Persona 5 Strikers, has not fared so well. Despite launching on Steam in February 2021, well before Persona 5 Royal, Persona 5 Strikers is still listed as Unsupported on Steam Deck.

=> ↺ GamingOnLinux ☛ Homeworld Remastered Collection and Severed Steel are free on Epic Games

• As a space-nerd, I couldn’t miss telling you that you can grab the entire Homeworld Remastered Collection free on Epic Games right now.

=> ↺ GamingOnLinux ☛ Combat-free RPG set in an occult library BOOK OF HOURS launches August 17th

• Releasing on August 17th from developer Weather Factory, BOOK OF HOURS is an “elegant, melancholy, combat-free RPG set in an occult library” and it certainly looks different.

=> ↺ GamingOnLinux ☛ Check out the new demo for Aurora: The Lost Medallion – The Cave

• Aurora: The Lost Medallion – The Cave is an upcoming coming-of-age tale of destiny, friendship, and discovery. From Noema Games and Gamera Games, it’s a hand-painted point and click adventure that will have full Native Linux support.

=> ↺ GamingOnLinux ☛ Heroic Games Launcher gets a critical hotfix in 2.9.1

• Heroic Games Launcher recently had a massive 2.9.0 version bump with some awesome new features like Amazon Games integration. However, it was just a little bit broken.

=> ↺ [Corrected] GamingOnLinux ☛ Baldur’s Gate, Neverwinter Nights, Pathfinder and more in this bundle

• This seems like a game bundle not to be missed if you’re an RPG fan. Humble Bundle has teamed up with Beamdog for the RPG Legends: Baldur’s Gate & Beyond.

Desktop Environments/WMs

GNOME Desktop/GTK

=> ↺ 9to5Linux ☛ GNOME Devs Are Working on a New Window Management System

• Ithink everyone who used GNOME knows how its windowing system works. Each new window is opened on top of an existing window and arranged in a cascading manner. There’s nothing wrong with this traditional windowing system, but if you open too many windows things may get messy.

• With GNOME’s existing windowing systems, when you open more than 8 stacked windows on a Full HD (1920×1080) screen with 100% scaling, newly opened windows will be opened over existing ones, which, of course, will no longer be visible.

Distributions and Operating Systems

New Releases

=> ↺ Linux Magazine ☛ Zorin OS 16.3 is Now Available

• If you’re a fan of Zorin (or of user-friendly, open-source operating systems), you should be excited about the new 16.3 release.

• This latest upgrade includes the highly-anticipated Zorin OS Upgrader, which allows users to easily upgrade between releases and editions of Zorin OS without having to re-install the OS. With the new upgrader, you can even go from, say, Zorin OS 16 Core to Zoron OS 16 Pro or Zorin OS 15 to Zorin OS 16. This feature has been in development for over a year and is now considered stable.

=> ↺ Linuxiac ☛ Zorin OS 16.3: Visually Pleasing but Stuck to an Aging System Base

• In the vast and diverse world of operating systems, Zorin OS, an Ubuntu-based distribution, stands out as a user-friendly and aesthetically pleasing choice for newcomers to the Linux ecosystem.

• Its sleek and modern interface, reminiscent of other popular operating systems, ensures a smooth transition for those looking to embrace the open-source world without sacrificing usability.

• The just released Zorin OS 16.3 was eagerly awaited but, unfortunately, rather disappointing. Here’s why.

=> ↺ OMG Ubuntu ☛ Zorin OS 16.3 Released with Upgrade Tool, LibreOffice 7.5

• Zorin OS 16.3 introduces a number of refinements that, its developers say, help “elevate your computing experience even further”.

• On paper, the inclusion of the new Zorin OS Upgrader app is Zorin OS 16.3’s tentpole feature.

• This tool has been in a year in development. It allows users to upgrade from one version of Zorin OS to another, be it a new version (e.g., a point release like this one) or a different edition (such as going from Zorin OS Lite to Zorin OS Pro).

=> ↺ Real Linux User ☛ Zorin OS 16.3 is available now

• Zorin OS seems to be getting more and more popular. Linux-related websites, blogs, YouTube channels, forums, there is a lot of talk about Zorin OS. That is not that surprising, because Zorin OS offers a very nice out-of-the-box experience. Within most other Linux distros, it is possible to customize it exactly to your own liking with themes, plugins, and apps, but if you are not a tweaker and you just want to be productive immediately after installation, then Zorin OS is a very nice choice, with the built-in Zorin Appearance, built-in support for almost all known package formats, built-in support for running Windows applications, built-in database to familiarize you with alternative software, and built-in support for connecting to your mobile phone, to name a few strengths. And now there is Zorin OS 16.3 that strengthens a good foundation a bit further. Let’s see what Zorin OS 16.3 has to offer.

=> ↺ Beta News ☛ Zorin OS 16.3 Linux distribution is here, and you should switch from Microsoft Windows 11 immediately

• In a world of tech monopolies, the pursuit of superior alternatives is always a refreshing endeavor. Zorin OS, a Linux-based operating system, has been making waves as an effective and free substitute to Windows, offering a more secure, user-friendly, and flexible experience. With over 5.3 million downloads in less than two years for Zorin OS 16, it’s clear that users are seeking a fresh perspective in personal computing, a realm dominated by the antiquated and often frustrating Windows environment.

• The latest release, Zorin OS 16.3, comes packed with cutting-edge enhancements designed to elevate user experience. A stand-out feature of this release is the Zorin OS Upgrader, a long-awaited functionality that enables seamless upgrades between releases and editions of Zorin OS. This innovative feature eradicates the cumbersome process of reinstalling the operating system during upgrades, a headache many Windows users are unfortunately all too familiar with.

=> ↺ It’s FOSS ☛ Zorin OS 16.3 Release Features a New Upgrade App and Other Changes

• We can confidently say that Zorin OS is one of the most beautiful Linux distributions. Based on Ubuntu’s LTS releases, it offers a nice blend of looks and functionality.

• When we looked at the previous version last year, it was all about providing useful refinements across the board.

• And this time round, the case is quite similar. Zorin OS 16.3 is now available for download, with many improvements.

• Allow me to take you through this release.

SUSE/OpenSUSE

=> ↺ OpenSUSE ☛ openSUSE Wishes You a Happy SysAdmin Day

• System administrators (sysadmins) are the unsung heroes of technology, and the openSUSE Project is thankful for all the openSUSE heroes that help our project to function.

• Sysadmins are responsible for maintaining the backbone of our technology. They work behind the scenes to maintain infrastructure, security, and overall functionality of computer systems.

Canonical/Ubuntu Family

=> ↺ Ubuntu ☛ University of Alabama at Birmingham accelerates research with Canonical and Dell

• UAB is committed to empowering its researchers with all of the tools and technologies they need to work as efficiently and effectively as possible. With the rise of containerisation, the university saw an opportunity to further accelerate research by transforming its approach to compute and storage resource management through Kubernetes.

=> ↺ Ubuntu ☛ Ubuntu ☛ Ubuntu AI podcast | Ubuntu

• A podcast on open source, machine learning and levelling the playing field for data-driven innovation.

• In a world where generative AI and large language models (LLMs) are the new hot topics, having conversations about machine learning, MLOps or open source is a real need. This is what we had in mind when we first thought of Ubuntu AI, a podcast where we meet and have conversations about artificial intelligence, open source tooling, machine learning operations and the future of innovation. Ubuntu AI is a podcast that seeks to drive change in this vibrant community.

Open Hardware/Modding

=> ↺ Arduino ☛ New backscatter technology promises cost-effective reliability

• Backscatter communication works by reflecting a signal emitted by the receiver. But in order for that reflected signal to carry information, the reflector (the backscatter “tag”) needs to be able to introduce some form of modulation. That might information might be as simple as a static identifier, but it can be dynamic as well. A self-driving car could, for example, read backscatter tags on road signs with information as simple as a speed limit or something more complex like the state of a traffic light.

=> ↺ Arduino ☛ SnapBeat is a DIY lo-fi sampler that anyone can learn to use

• SnapBeat was designed by Hiro Akihabara to be as simple as possible to use. It is therefore fairly limited in capability. But SnapBeat still provides enough functionality to be useful and fun. It is a bit like an advanced Talkboy (the fictional Home Alone 2 device that became a real toy), because it lets users record short clips and then play them back. It can record and store eight different clips at any given time through a line-in jack or the built-in microphone, then can play those back when the user pushes the corresponding key. A sound edit mode allows the user to cut and trim recorded clips. A metronome and “rhythm edit mode” help to make playback more musical.

=> ↺ Jeff Geerling ☛ Time Card mini adds Pi, GPS, and OCXO to your PC

• This build centers around the Time Card mini. Typically you’d install this PCI Express card inside another computer, but in my case, I just wanted to power the board in a semi-portable way, and so I plugged it into a CM4 IO Board.

• The Time Card mini is a PCIe-based carrier board for the Raspberry Pi Compute Module 4, and by itself, it allows you to install a CM4 into a PC, and access the CM4′s serial console via PCIe.

=> ↺ Raspberry Pi ☛ The four elements of our focus on impact

• Like all our values, our focus on impact infuses all our work. There are four ways we put this value into practice in pursuit of our mission.

=> ↺ Data Swamp ☛ Turning a 15 years old laptop into a children proof retrogaming station

• This article explains a setup I made for our family vacation place, I wanted to turn an old laptop (a Dell Vostro 1500 from 2008) into a retrogaming station. That’s actually easy to do, but I wanted to make it “childproof” so it will always work even if we let children alone with the laptop for a moment, that part was way harder.

• This is not a tutorial explaining everything from A to Z, but mostly what worked / didn’t work from my experimentation.

=> ↺ SparkFun Electronics ☛ Open Sauce Recap

• Two weeks ago, we saw the introduction of Open Sauce, a two-day celebration of Makers and Creators at San Francisco’s Pier 35. This inaugural event promises to be the first of many, as its success already has people asking about tickets for next year’s event.

=> ↺ Hackaday ☛ ESP32 Freezer Alarm Keeps Tabs On Tricky Door

• Leaving your freezer door open accidentally is a great way to make a huge mess in the kitchen. [Guy Dupont] had a freezer that would regularly fail to close properly, and was sick of the regular meltdown events. Thus, he whipped up a very digital solution.

Free, Libre, and Open Source Software

FSF

=> ↺ FSF ☛ From pro-democracy activists to minorities: Why people use Tor and encrypted chats

• Here’s your chance to discover the stories of people who protect their privacy with free software. We dug deep to reveal some of their stories, which is not easy because many people who care deeply about privacy choose to stay anonymous. Some of the stories are taken from research the Tor Project conducted to show who is using their browser and why. For that reason, they are reported here with special thanks to Tor. But the biggest thanks goes to all the people who dare to tell their stories in the first place.

• With our article “We have nothing to hide, only everything to protect,” we started a series of posts on privacy. And in the previous installment, we reported ongoing legislation that threatens end-to-end encryption and called you to take action. This third installment will introduce you to people who live in countries that disregard their rights, but who nevertheless fight for their rights by using free software to protect their privacy. We all deserve privacy, and, as you will see, it is vital for people living in a country that lacks legal certainty.

=> ↺ FSF ☛ Working together for free software: Meet Ali “Miracle” Abdulghani

• My name is Ali Abdulghani. However, people call me alimiracle, which has been my nickname ever since the time I used Solaris. I’m a programmer, sysadmin, free software activist, and poet. I live in Iraq, and I graduated from college at the end of 2015 from the Department of English Literature, and not computer science. This is because I was not allowed to get a certificate of computer science in Iraq. I am blind, and the law here does not allow blind people to obtain a certificate of computer science, nor one from any other scientific field such as mathematics or physics.

• As for my blindness, I don’t know what was its exact cause. But I do remember that my father once told me I became blind a year after my birth. Later, when I asked the doctors how this happened, they said my blindness was caused by pollution due to wars.

• I still remember the beginning of my life with computers. A lot of people told me that the computer industry is not for blind people. They said that I couldn’t use a computer, that I shouldn’t even try. And, now, a lot of those people probably have no idea what I’ve been able to do with computers. I still have memories from when I was a child: no one wanted to play with me; they would tell me things like, “You’re blind. You’re different from me. Go and look for [another] blind person to play with.”

Licensing / Legal

=> ↺ TechCrunch ☛ Twitter, now X, took over the @x handle without warning or compensating its owner

• The owner of the @x Twitter handle confirmed that the company, now known as X, took over his account without warning or financial compensation, telling him the handle is property of X. The handle had previously belonged to Gene X Hwang of the corporate photography and videography studio Orange Photography. In a letter, the company formerly known as Twitter thanked Hwang for his loyalty and offered him a selection of X merchandise and a tour of X’s HQ, as a “reflection of our appreciation.”

• The @x handle mishandling was only one of the many haphazard steps involved in the rebranding of Twitter to X, owner Elon Musk’s favorite letter. According to reports, Twitter didn’t secure the intellectual [sic] property [sic] rights [sic] to the “X” brand, as Microsoft, Meta and others have claims to various “X” trademarks. It also didn’t get permission from the city to remove the Twitter signage on the building, forcing police to stop the work. It didn’t fully update its website and app, which though now sporting an “X” still implored users to “search Twitter” or push a button to “Tweet.”

Programming/Development

=> ↺ Daniel Lemire ☛ Decoding base16 sequences quickly

• In Parsing short hexadecimal strings efficiently, I examined the problem of decoding short sequences (e.g., 4 characters). A conventional parser can be based on table lookups, where unexpected characters are mapped to a special value (e.g., -1) but where the characters 0 to 9 are mapped to 0 to 9, and A to F are mapped to 10 to 15. A conventional decoder can rely on a simple routine such as… [...]

=> ↺ Rlang ☛ Unleashing the Power of Cumulative Mean in R: A Step-by-Step Guide

• The cumulative mean, also known as the running mean or moving average, provides us with a dynamic view of how the average value of a dataset changes as new observations are added incrementally. It is an invaluable tool in time-series analysis, trend identification, and smoothing noisy data.

• Imagine you have a series of numeric values, and you want to find the average of the first observation, then the average of the first two observations, followed by the average of the first three, and so on. This iterative process generates the cumulative mean, painting a picture of how the data behaves over time.

=> ↺ Silicon Angle ☛ Rust Foundation leads security enhancement drive in programming ecosystem

• Launched in September, the Rust Foundation’s Security Initiative was designed to bolster the security state within the Rust programming environment. The initiative received initial backing from Open Source Security Foundation’s Alpha-Omega project and Amazon Web Services Inc., allowing for the assembly of a technology team in the first quarter of this year. Armed with security and software engineering skills, the team received additional in-kind support from Rust Foundation members JFrog Ltd. and Google LLC, while infrastructure backing came from Wiz Inc.

Python

=> ↺ Andrew Healey ☛ Running Untrusted Python Code

• When the API receives some code, it spins up a new Python process. When the process starts, it has regular permissions and no resource limits. It then applies limits to itself (which can’t be revoked) and then calls the guest code with exec. After this last step, the process isn’t trusted.

• The input is source code and the output is stdout/stderr.

• I have side-stepped the common mistake of building a sandbox in application land e.g. by removing access to parts of of the runtime.

Shell/Bash/Zsh/Ksh

=> ↺ Linux Handbook ☛ Use While Loop in Bash

• While running bash scripts, you’ll come across times when you want to run tasks repeatedly such as printing the value of a variable in a specific pattern multiple times.

Standards/Consortia

=> ↺ European Commission ☛ Standard forms for the publication of notices in the field of public procurement (eForms) – Amendment

• The eForms may need to be adapted or amended in the light of the developments in Member States’ needs and technologies in the area of procurement data. Regular adjustments should be made to Regulation (EC) No 2019/1780 in its Annexes considering that public authorities are the principal buyers in many sectors such as energy, transport, waste management, social protection and provision of health or education services; the public sector can use procurement to boost jobs, growth and investment.

• [...]

• Committee: C16300

Leftovers

=> ↺ The Verge ☛ The little search engine that couldn’t

• In a way, the brief flicker of Neeva’s existence tells everything you need to know about the last 20 years of search-engine supremacy. Building a search engine is hard. Building one better than Google is even harder. But if you want to beat Google, a better search engine is only the very beginning. And it only gets harder from there.

=> ↺ Hackaday ☛ A Wigglegram Lens With Variable Aperture

• Wigglegrams are those weird animated pictures you’ve seen that seem to generate a 3D-like effect. [scealux] had built lenses to take such pictures before, but wanted to take things to the next level. Enter the Wigglegram Lens, version 2.

=> ↺ Hackaday ☛ Denim Epoxy Table Is A Work Of Art

• Epoxy has become a hugely popular material in the woodworking and furniture worlds. Who doesn’t love glossy, translucent finishes, after all? [Cam] recently spotted some neat combinations of epoxy with denim, and decided to see if he could replicate the technique to create a very unique desk. We’d say he succeeded.

Science

=> ↺ Hackaday ☛ Exploring Tropical Rainforest Stratification Using Space-Based LiDAR

• Even though it may seem like we have already explored every single square centimeter of the Earth, there are still many areas that are practically unmapped. These areas include the bottom of the Earth’s oceans, but also the canopy of the planet’s rainforests. Rather having herds of explorers clamber around in the upper reaches of these forests to take measurements, researchers decided to use LiDAR to create a 3D map of these forests (press release).

Hardware

=> ↺ Hackaday ☛ A Simple One-Handed Solder Feeder

• Soldering can get frustrating when you’re working fast. It often feels like you don’t have enough hands, particularly on jobs where you need to keep feeding solder in a hurry. To solve that issue, [mulcmu] developed a simple one-handed solder feeder.

Health/Nutrition/Agriculture

=> ↺ CS Monitor ☛ Mexican heirloom corn poised for a renaissance in American cuisine

• Corn is the most fundamental ingredient of Mexican cuisine, and it’s never far from the national conversation. Amid President Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s move to ban the importation of genetically modified corn and his imposition of a 50% tariff on imported white corn, some scientists, chefs, and others are advocating for the value of the old varieties in an increasingly drought-stricken world.

• Heirloom varieties make up far less than 1% of total domestic corn production in Mexico. But for the first time in years, Mr. Vargas and others are hopeful about the crop. Some in the academic and public sectors hope to increase their production.

=> ↺ Quartz ☛ Ticks are causing a red meat allergy in a growing number of Americans

• According to new federal health data, 110,000 Americans have developed the novel allergy since 2010, caused by a disease known as Alpha-gal syndrome. However, a new report suggests that that true number could be as high as 450,000, and the CDC estimates that the number of annual cases is growing by about 15,000 each year.

=> ↺ Pro Publica ☛ Why It’s Hard to Track Maternal Deaths Under Abortion Bans

• Since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade last year, doctors have warned that limiting abortion care will make pregnancy more dangerous in a country that already has the highest maternal mortality rate among industrialized nations.

• The case of Mylissa Farmer, a Missouri woman, is one example. Last August, her water broke less than 18 weeks into her pregnancy, when her fetus was not viable. She was at risk for developing a life-threatening infection if she continued the pregnancy. Yet during three separate visits to emergency rooms, she was denied abortion care because her fetus still had a heartbeat. Doctors specifically cited the state’s new abortion law in her medical records and said they could not intervene until her condition worsened. She eventually traveled to Illinois for care.

Proprietary/Artificial Intelligence (AI)

=> ↺ Microsoft cuts 1,000+ more jobs

• Hot off the heels of their stock soaring due to their advancements in artificial intelligence, and then dipping after not advancing AI fast enough, Microsoft has cut 1,000 more jobs. The most recent layoffs affected the deals and client administration divisions, as well as marketing and engineering project managers.

• With the layoffs, Microsoft eliminated its “Digital Sales and Success group,” which was aimed at sales and customer service. Microsoft also got rid of the customer solutions manager role. While the customer service department was largely affected, some employees were moved to customer success account management, Times of India shared. An additional report shared the tech giant cut 276 employees in their home offices in Washington. Sixty-six of those employees were virtual only, GeekWire shared.

• “Organizational and workforce adjustments are a necessary and regular part of managing our business. We will continue to prioritize and invest in strategic growth areas for our future and in support of our customers and partners,” a spokesperson for Microsoft said in a statement.

• These layoffs are separate from the 10,000 jobs that Microsoft cut earlier this year, and it is unclear why they are still laying off people in droves. Last week, Amazon laid off employees in their pharmacy division, creating uncertainty in their healthcare division.

=> ↺ Bruce Schneier ☛ Fooling an AI Article Writer

• World of Warcraft players wrote about a fictional game element, “Glorbo,” on a subreddit for the game, trying to entice an AI bot to write an article about it. It worked: [...]

=> ↺ Large language models, explained with a minimum of math and jargon

• If you know anything about this subject, you’ve probably heard that LLMs are trained to “predict the next word,” and that they require huge amounts of text to do this. But that tends to be where the explanation stops. The details of how they predict the next word is often treated as a deep mystery.

• [...]

• To understand how language models work, you first need to understand how they represent words. Human beings represent English words with a sequence of letters, like C-A-T for cat. Language models use a long list of numbers called a word vector. For example, here’s one way to represent cat as a vector: [...]

=> ↺ Scoop News Group ☛ FAA says it does not use ChatGPT in any systems

• The clarification comes after the Department of Transportation earlier listed ChatGPT in a catalog of current AI use cases published on the department’s website. In that reference, the agency said the FAA — and in particular, the agency’s air traffic organization (ATO) — was using “ChatGPT in code writing assistance.”

• The file noted that the ChatGPT use case had been in production for less than a year and that ATO had not used agency training in its described work with the chatbot.

=> ↺ India Times ☛ WhatsApp announces instant video messaging feature for users

• Meta Platforms-owned instant messaging app WhatsApp on Thursday announced a new feature through which users can record and send short video messages in chats.

=> ↺ Hackaday ☛ Did TETRA Have A Backdoor Hidden In Encrypted Police And Military Radios?

• Encrypted communications are considered vital for many organizations, from military users to law enforcement officers. Meanwhile, the ability to listen in on those communications is of great value to groups like intelligence agencies and criminal operators. Thus exists the constant arms race between those developing encryption and those desperately eager to break it.

Windows TCO

=> ↺ Security Week ☛ US Senator Wyden Accuses Microsoft of ‘Cybersecurity Negligence’

• When Microsoft acknowledged the [breach] and the stolen MSA key, the software giant said Outlook.com and Exchange Online were the only applications known to have been affected via the token-forging technique but new research shows that the stolen key gave Chinese [crackers] access to data beyond Exchange Online and Outlook.com.

• The [breach], which led to the theft of email from approximately 25 organizations, turned into a bigger embarrassment for Microsoft when customers complained they had zero visibility to investigate because they were not paying for the high-tier E5/G5 license. After intense public pressure, the company announced it would expand logging defaults for lower-tier M365 customers.

• According to Senator Wyden, Microsoft never took responsibility for its role in the SolarWinds [breach] campaign and instead blamed federal agencies and customers while using the incident to promote its Azure AD product.

=> ↺ The Register UK ☛ Crooks pwned your servers? You’ve got four days to tell us, SEC tells public companies

• The SEC proposed the changes last March, and on Wednesday the financial watchdog voted to adopt the requirements [PDF]. The rules, which take effect 30 days after being signed into the Federal Register later this year, will require publicly traded firms to openly disclose in a new section (Item 1.05) of Form 8-K any cybersecurity incident that has a material impact on their business.

• Companies must make this determination “without reasonable delay,” according to the new rules. If they decide a security breach is material, then they have four days to submit an Item 1.05 Form 8-K report detailing the material impact of the incident’s “nature, scope, and timing,” plus any impact or likely impact on the business. Those 8-K forms are made public by the SEC.

Security

=> ↺ Bleeping Computer ☛ Almost 40% of Ubuntu users vulnerable to new privilege elevation flaws [Ed: Some Linux badmouthing by Microsofter-connected media. Microsofters neglect to say that here, unlike with Windows, a patch exists already.]

• Two Linux vulnerabilities introduced recently into the Ubuntu kernel create the potential for unprivileged local users to gain elevated privileges on a massive number of devices.

• Ubuntu is one of the most widely used Linux distributions, especially popular in the U.S., having an approximate user base of over 40 million.

• Two recent flaws tracked as CVE-2023-32629 and CVE-2023-2640 discovered by Wiz’s researchers S. Tzadik and S. Tamari were recently introduced into the operating system, impacting roughly 40% of Ubuntu’s userbase.

• CVE-2023-2640 is a high-severity (CVSS v3 score: 7.8) vulnerability in the Ubuntu Linux kernel caused by inadequate permission checks allowing a local attacker to gain elevated privileges.

• CVE-2023-32629 is a medium-severity (CVSS v3 score: 5.4) flaw in the Linux kernel memory management subsystem, where a race condition when accessing VMAs may lead to use-after-free, allowing a local attacker to perform arbitrary code execution.

=> ↺ Two flaws in Linux Ubuntu affect 40% of Ubuntu users [Ed: Microsofers are now reading from the same anti-Linux script/screen while Azure is on fire and everything is compromised there]

• Wiz Research discovered two privilege escalation vulnerabilities, tracked as CVE-2023-2640 and CVE-2023-32629, in the OverlayFS module in the Linux distro Ubuntu. According to the researchers, the flaws impact 40% of the users of the popular Linux distribution. The researchers pointed out that impacted Ubuntu versions are prevalent in the cloud because they are the default operating systems for multiple CSPs.

• OverlayFS is a popular Linux filesystem that allows the deployment of dynamic filesystems based on pre-built images.

• Several changes to the OverlayFS module were introduced by Ubuntu in 2018. Wiz researchers noticed that modifications to the module introduced by the Linux kernel project in 2019 and 2022 conflicted with Ubuntu’s earlier changes.

=> ↺ CXO Today ☛ Kaspersky launches specialized solution for Linux-based embedded devices [Ed: Letting proprietary software linked to the Kremlin manage "security" in Linux is worse than insane/inane]

=> ↺ LWN ☛ Security updates for Thursday [LWN.net]

• Security updates have been issued by Debian (curl), Fedora (kitty, mingw-qt5-qtbase, and mingw-qt6-qtbase), Mageia (cri-o, kernel, kernel-linus, mediawiki, and microcode), SUSE (chromium, conmon, go1.20-openssl, iperf, java-11-openjdk, kernel-firmware, and mariadb), and Ubuntu (libvirt, linux, linux-aws, linux-aws-5.4, linux-azure, linux-azure-5.4, linux-gcp, linux-gcp-5.4, linux-gke, linux-gkeop, linux-hwe-5.4, linux-ibm, linux-ibm-5.4, linux-kvm, linux-oracle, linux-oracle-5.4, linux-raspi, linux-raspi-5.4, linux-xilinx-zynqmp, linux, linux-aws, linux-aws-hwe, linux-azure, linux-azure-4.15, linux-dell300x, linux-gcp, linux-gcp-4.15, linux-hwe, linux-kvm, linux-oracle, linux-snapdragon, linux, linux-aws, linux-kvm, linux-lts-xenial, linux-aws-5.19, linux-gcp-5.19, linux-hwe-5.19, linux-intel-iotg-5.15, linux-iot, llvm-toolchain-13, llvm-toolchain-14, llvm-toolchain-15, open-iscsi, open-vm-tools, and xorg-server-hwe-16.04).

=> ↺ The Register UK ☛ Crooks pwned your servers? You’ve got four days to tell us, SEC tells public companies

• Public companies that suffer a computer crime likely to cause a “material” hit to an investor will soon face a four-day time limit to disclose the incident, according to rules approved today by the US Securities and Exchange Commission.

• The SEC proposed the changes last March, and on Wednesday the financial watchdog voted to adopt the requirements [PDF]. The rules, which take effect 30 days after being signed into the Federal Register later this year, will require publicly traded firms to openly disclose in a new section (Item 1.05) of Form 8-K any cybersecurity incident that has a material impact on their business.

=> ↺ TechCrunch ☛ CardioComm, a provider of ECG monitoring devices, confirms cyberattack downed its services

• CardioComm Solutions, a Canadian provider of consumer and professional-grade heart monitoring technologies, has been downed by an ongoing cybersecurity incident.

• The Toronto-based organization said on Tuesday that its business operations will be “impacted for several days and potentially longer” following a “cybersecurity incident on the Company’s servers.” At the time of writing, CardioComm’s website is unavailable and displaying a text-based message advising customers that the company is “experiencing down time [sic] to our services.”

=> ↺ Data Breaches ☛ Recent NYS audits of K-12 school districts’ infosecurity

=> ↺ Pakistan ☛ Leaking Someone’s Personal Data Will Cost You Up to $2 Million in Pakistan

• A fine which may extend to $2 million or an equivalent amount in Pakistani rupees would be levied on those who process or cause to be processed, disseminate, or disclose personal data in violation of any of the provisions of the “Personal Data Protection Bill, 2023”.

• The Ministry of Information, Technology and Telecommunication had submitted the “Personal Data Protection Bill, 2023”, to Federal Cabinet which was approved on Wednesday.

=> ↺ IT Pro ☛ Deloitte denies Cl0p data breach claims in wake of MOVEit attack

• Deloitte has refuted claims that the Cl0p ransomware gang has breached its systems and stolen company data amid speculation online.

• The accountancy firm was cited as a victim on Cl0p’s breach disclosure blog, sparking concerns that clients at the consultancy could be at risk.

• In its disclosure, Cl0p claimed “the company doesn’t care about its customers” and that it “ignored their security”.

Integrity/Availability/Authenticity

=> ↺ 2023-07-02 — 2023-07-03 Tarsnap outage post-mortem

• I promised a post-mortem three weeks ago after I brought the Tarsnap service back online. It took me an unforgivably long time to get around to writing this, but here it is.

• At approximately 2023-07-02 13:07:58 UTC, the central Tarsnap server (hosted in Amazon’s EC2 us-east-1 region) went offline suffering a “failed system status check”. As a virtual machine, this could mean many things, including a power outage, a hardware failure on the physical server, or an outage in EC2′s network; all I can say is that since I haven’t seen reports of any widespread EC2 issues at the same time, it was most likely just an isolated hardware fault.

Privacy/Surveillance

=> ↺ Truthdig ☛ How Companies Collect Private Data About Reproductive Health

• Today, the business models of most technology or [Internet]-based companies are deeply connected to the large market for data. Most of these institutions aim to extract as much personal data from users and potential users as possible, from anywhere, by any means possible. Different actors then either sell or share this data or aggregate it and sell access to user profiles or insights into this data. This system also enables governments to gain access to people’s private information. State institutions policing people’s reproductive or other rights can either request access to people’s private information from companies, require them by law to submit information through a subpoena, or even buy data sets on the market. Therefore, a wider focus on how companies collect data and monetize it needs to be part of the analysis.

=> ↺ Society for Scholarly Publshing ☛ Are We Finally Thread(s) Up with Social Media?

• Other social media options such as Mastodon, Bluesky, Post, or Spoutible all seem to have a niche but not robust following with Mastodon perhaps making the strongest showing among academics, researchers, and journalists. All of these have their own issues with, well, not being Twitter. As Elon Musk announces or promotes more degradation of his site (a rebranding as X is apparently not a joke) will we all eventually have to move off – or is the strength of Twitter for communication such that it will withstand another round of competition?

=> ↺ Futurism ☛ I Let Sam Altman’s Worldcoin Scan My Eyeballs With a Orb, and They Didn’t Even Pay Me [Cryptocurrency]

• The project has also already run into numerous reality problems. During its beta, reporters found that the company had been scanning people’s eyes in the developing world without providing much in the way of informed consent, and that many people who had been scanned felt that they’d been cheated by the exchange. Another inconvenient detail that the company has refused to comment on: one of its earlier backers was the now-disgraced Sam Bankman-Fried, whose [cryptocurrency] exchange FTX exploded in spectacular fashion late last year.

• Even elder statesmen of [cryptoccurrency] seem skeptical; Vitalik Buterin, the founder of the Ethereum blockchain on which Worldcoin is based, criticized the project this week for what he characterized as issues around privacy, accessibility and security.

=> ↺ Techdirt ☛ Congress Pretends It’s Fixed All The Problems With KOSA; It Hasn’t

• On Wednesday, the Senate revealed an amended version of the Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA) for today’s hearing over the bill. One would hope with so much public pushback over the bill, they might do something crazy like trying to fix the bill.

=> ↺ EFF ☛ Deja Vu: The FBI Proves Again it Can’t be Trusted with Section 702

• How many times will the FBI get caught with their hand in the cookie jar of our constitutionally protected private communications without losing these invasive and unconstitutional powers?

• The latest exhibit in this is in yet another newly declassified opinion of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC). This opinion further reiterates what we already know, that the Federal Bureau of Investigation simply cannot be trusted with conducting foreign intelligence queries on American persons.  Regardless of the rules, or consistent FISC disapprovals, the FBI continues to act in a way that shows no regard for privacy and civil liberties.

• According to the declassified FISC ruling, despite paper reforms which the FBI has touted that it put into place to respond to the last time it was caught violating U.S. law, the Bureau conducted four queries for the communications of a state senator and a U.S. senator.  And they did so without even meeting their own  already-inadequate standards for these kinds of searches.

=> ↺ EFF ☛ Maryland Supreme Court: Police Can’t Search Digital Data When Users Revoke Consent

• Under the Fourth Amendment, police can search your home, your computer, and other private spaces without a warrant or even probable cause if you freely and voluntarily consent to the search. But even when someone consents to a search, they should be able to change their mind. Say, for example, if a lawyer gives them better advice. But as a recent case from the Maryland Supreme Court demonstrates, searches of digital data stored on electronic devices raise unique questions about consent. If you consent to a search of your computer and police make a copy of the data on the computer, can they still examine that copy if you withdraw that consent? In State v. McDonnell, the Maryland Supreme Court sensibly answered no.

• In June 2019, police officers visited Mr. McDonnell’s home and requested to search his home, computer, and phone as part of their investigation into the distribution of child pornography . Mr. McDonnell originally declined the search, but later signed a consent form allowing the agents to search his home and seize his phone and computer. The form included a clause stating that “I understand that I may withdraw my consent at any time.” After Mr. McDonnell’s electronics had been seized and their contents copied, but before the contents had been examined, Mr. McDonnell’s lawyer sent an email withdrawing consent to “the seizure of [Mr. McDonnell’s] laptop, or examination of its contents.” But agents searched the contents of the computer anyway. McDonnell moved to suppress the evidence that came from the search of his computer after he had revoked his consent.

• It is incorrect to claim that a person lacks a reasonable expectation of privacy for the copy of computer data after they have revoked their consent

=> ↺ Michael West Media ☛ Meta’s Reels revenue narrows in on rival TikTok

• Reels, Meta Platforms’ answer to viral short-form video app TikTok, elicited eyerolls when it launched in 2020 and was regarded as yet another example of Meta copying a popular rival.

• But Meta has revealed numbers that show Reels videos are growing rapidly among both users and advertisers and are quickly catching up to the ByteDance-owned TikTok app that is beloved by young users and has reshaped the social media landscape.

Defence/Aggression

=> ↺ Meduza ☛ Helicopter crash in Altai kills six — Meduza

• TASS reports, citing the region’s emergency services, that six people have been killed and seven others injured in the crash of an Mi-8 helicopter in the Altai Republic.

=> ↺ El País ☛ Millions of American whites prefer a dictatorship

• Polls show that Joe Biden and Donald Trump are tied in the presidential race, even though the latter has said he would suspend parts of the Constitution and construct an all-powerful executive branch with him as the head

=> ↺ Deutsche Welle ☛ Niger: The Sahel’s last bastion of stability at risk

• But now, even the semblance of stability in Niger is gone. Members of the Presidential Guard arrested the head of state, Mohamed Bazoum. A military spokesman on state TV declared the president deposed and the institutions of the Republic dissolved.

=> ↺ New York Times ☛ What’s Behind the Coup Attempt in Niger?

• Col. Amadou Abdramane, a spokesman for those attempting the coup, read out a printed statement justifying their actions as a response to “the deteriorating security situation and bad social and economic governance.” Niger faces several Islamist insurgencies in its southern region, and people across the country have been feeling the strain from the rising cost of living.

=> ↺ India Times ☛ Donald Trump accused of asking staffer to delete camera footage in Florida classified documents case

• The indictment includes new counts of obstruction and willful retention of national defense information, compounding Trump’s legal jeopardy even as he braces for a possible additional indictment in Washington over his efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election. The additional counts underscore the extent of the yearlong investigation into Trump that first produced charges last month in the form of a 38-count indictment against Trump and his valet, Walt Nauta.

=> ↺ Axios ☛ Trump charged with retaining classified document he bragged about on tape

• The big picture: Trump, his aide Walt Nauta and a new defendant, Mar-a-Lago maintenance worker Carlos de Oliveira, were also charged in Thursday’s superseding indictment with two new counts of obstruction of justice.

=> ↺ Hong Kong Free Press ☛ Hong Kong 47: ‘Destruction’ of Basic Law, if courts believe calls for democracy are subversive, ex-journalist tells trial

• Ho, who was called to the witness stand for the eighth day on Wednesday, testified previously that she had predicted that her public opposition to the national security law would cause her to be disqualified.

=> ↺ International Business Times ☛ TikTok set to sell Chinese products in the US soon

• According to the reports, the widely popular short-form video hosting app will launch an e-commerce platform in the US to sell made-in-China goods. This strategic step could help TikTok compete with other leading shopping platforms.

=> ↺ The Atlantic ☛ TikTok Is Doing Something Very Un-TikTok

• TikTok has seemingly become a shopping app. The platform now allows approved retailers to list their products for sale directly on TikTok, where creators like Wagner can promote them and earn a small fee from each purchase. (TikTok, of course, also takes a portion of each sale.) The feature, called TikTok Shop, is still technically in testing mode in the United States, but videos mentioning products you can buy already seem to be sliding into user feeds right next to videos of dogs doing something silly or clips from old movies. Meanwhile, the app’s livestreams have become QVC-like places where sellers are nonstop pitching products to live audiences.

=> ↺ Scoop News Group ☛ USAID delivers drones to Ukraine for war crime documentation

• The agency has been a part of joint war crimes documentation visits with Ukraine’s Office of the Ombudsman for Human Rights and supported two Ukrainian human rights coalitions that “have documented more than 40,000 incidents of Russia’s war crimes since February 24, 2022,” the USAID said.

=> ↺ Michael West Media ☛ US Republicans urge funding for local subs amid AUKUS

• Twenty-five US Republican lawmakers have urged President Joe Biden to increase funding for the country’s submarine fleet, citing the AUKUS project to supply Australia with nuclear-powered submarines and concern about China’s increasing military might.

• “We support the vision of the Australia-United Kingdom-United States (AUKUS) partnership and its potential to change the strategic landscape in the Indo-Pacific,” the lawmakers said in a letter.

=> ↺ Site36 ☛ German anti-terrorism exercise: Police and military practice together in Bavaria

=> ↺ The Gray Zone ☛ Is British intelligence pushing a new war in Kosovo?

War in Ukraine

=> ↺ Meduza ☛ Moscow mayor reports ‘attempted attack by enemy drone’ — Meduza

• According to Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin, an attack by an “enemy drone” was prevented in Moscow on the night of July 28.

=> ↺ Meduza ☛ Ukraine’s Armed Forces announce liberation of Staromaiorske in Donetsk region — Meduza

• Ukraine’s military says they have taken the village of Staromaiorske in one of the main directions of the offensive in the south of the country. President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky posted video footage of Ukrainian service members’ announcement on his Telegram channel.

=> ↺ Meduza ☛ FSB reports arrest of Russian naval officer ‘recruited by Ukrainian intelligence,’ allegedly preparing attack on Black Sea Fleet — Meduza

• According to Interfax, the Federal Security Service (FSB) said that it had foiled an attempt by Ukrainian intelligence to commit a terrorist attack on one of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet ships “carrying high-precision missiles.”

=> ↺ Meduza ☛ Access to Arabat Spit, which connects the eastern part of annexed Crimea to Kherson region, to be closed — Meduza

• Interfax reports that the operational headquarters of annexed Crimea has banned civilian passage to the Arabat arrow — a spit connecting the eastern part of the peninsula with the Kherson region.

Transparency/Investigative Reporting

=> ↺ Techdirt ☛ Journalist Tells FBI To Give Back Devices Seized During Extremely Questionable Investigation Into Leaked Fox News Footage

• The DOJ promised it wouldn’t target journalists and their sources during leak investigations. It also said wouldn’t engage in questionable CFAA prosecutions that appeared to involve nothing more than unapproved (or unexpected) access to data. Both of those self-imposed restrictions seem to have been ignored in a case involving former Deadspin contributor Tim Burke and some recordings Fox News clearly didn’t want made public.

=> ↺ Michael West Media ☛ Assange supporters call for release ahead of US talks

• Supporters of imprisoned WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange have urged Australian ministers to push for his release when they meet with their US counterparts.

• Defence Minister Richard Marles and Foreign Minister Penny Wong will told talks with Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin in Brisbane on Friday as part of the annual AUSMIN meetings, with Prime Minister Anthony Albanese also attending.

Environment

=> ↺ Omicron Limited ☛ Oceans are growing hotter, triggering global weather disasters

• Hot oceans are amplifying weather-driven catastrophes that are claiming lives and inflicting massive economic damages—a cost that could rise to $1 trillion per year in the coming decades, according to marine scientist Deborah Brosnan. They’re also accelerating climate change. As water temperatures rise, oceans lose their ability to serve a vital function: absorb the world’s excess heat.

=> ↺ teleSUR ☛ Canada Wildfire Carbon Emissions Exceed 1 Bln Tonnes

• Greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide emitted by the wildfires in Canada have a noticeable impact on global warming and the wildfires have evolved into a global environmental event, said Liu.

• According to the Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Center (CIFFC), as of July 26, there were 4,774 fires across the country, and the cumulative fire area has exceeded 121,000 square kilometers.

=> ↺ DeSmog ☛ Sizing up Big Food’s Appetite for Change

• “Eating less meat is like taking 8 [million] cars off road”. Last week’s BBC headline is the kind that’s guaranteed to strike fear into the heart of food corporations, which are increasingly under pressure to cut pollution, just like the fossil fuel industry.

• The evidence against big agriculture’s role in driving the climate crisis is growing. A March study found that without decisive action, emissions from the food system alone will push the planet over 1.5C of global warming.

=> ↺ Scheerpost ☛ ‘Concrete Coffins’: Surviving Extreme Heat Behind Bars

• Record temperatures in much of the U.S. threatening more people in prisons.

=> ↺ Scheerpost ☛ A Piss-Poor Argument

• “A Piss-Poor Argument,” a new original cartoon by the inimitable Mr. Fish, explores the high hilarity of human extinction.

=> ↺ Michael West Media ☛ Report claims super funds are lying to their members on climate risk

• A 2022 climate report from one Aussie super fund caused controversy with its estimate that a 4.3℃ temperature rise presented an “acceptable” risk to the fund’s portfolio. A new report claims that such numbers come from climate-risk consultants who’ve been peddling dodgy advice to funds for years. Zacharias Szumer reports.

• Late last year, a climate report from Aussie pension fund UniSuper caused a stir. Buried somewhere in the latter pages of Climate Risks and Our Investments: Investing in a Bright Future, was an assessment that, even under a “worst case” scenario of a 4.3℃ temperature rise, “the overall risk to [UniSuper’s] portfolio is acceptable”. 

Energy/Transportation

=> ↺ H2 View ☛ Ballard to supply 3.6MW of fuel cells for Canadian Pacific hydrogen locomotive programme

• The order covering 18 200kW fuel cell engines, adds to previous orders of 20 fuel cell engines at a combined 4MW of power, that have been used in three different locomotives which in 2022 and early 2023 have undergone field tests.

• CPKC has said its prototype hydrogen-powered locomotive in 2022 racked up over 1,000 miles of testing in revenue service.

=> ↺ Jacobin Magazine ☛ Landlords Are Threatening to Evict Tenants for Using Air Conditioning in British Columbia

• A struggle over air conditioning in British Columbia is highlighting the need to protect tenants as temperatures soar around the world. Last week, landlords in the province warned renters that installing air conditioning units could get them kicked out of their homes and discouraged tenants from installing equipment. Some landlords argue electrical systems in older buildings can’t handle the demand, and others worry about damage leaking window units might cause to buildings. Tenants worry about suffering, even dying, during sweltering heat. It is the tenants’ worries that should take precedence here — AC ought to be universally accessible, and it ought to be illegal to prevent anyone from using it in their homes.

=> ↺ India Times ☛ US congressional committee fails to reach deal on stablecoin bill, chair says

• The top Republican and Democrat on the U.S. House Financial Services committee on Thursday said they had failed to come to an agreement on a bill to establish a federal regulatory framework for stablecoins, a type of cryptocurrency typically pegged to a traditional asset, often the U.S. dollar.

• The bill would have the U.S. Federal Reserve write requirements for issuing stablecoins while preserving the authority of state regulators, and was previously modified to address concerns from some Democrats that stablecoin issuers could evade stricter oversight by opting to be regulated under a state regime.

=> ↺ Deutsche Welle ☛ Car-carrying ship off Dutch coast still burning

• The coast guard said the cause of the fire was unknown. The ship’s Japanese owner said there was a “good chance that the fire started with electric cars,” but added that the cause still needs to be investigated.

=> ↺ DeSmog ☛ Why Polluters’ Greenwashing Works and How to Fight It

• A young man goes up a mountain to study the terrain and collect data on his laptop, while epic, orchestral violins play in the background. He’s an ExxonMobil scientist in a company ad that also shows other scientists in a high-tech lab working to develop “low-carbon technologies.” The tagline reads “Advancing Climate Solutions.” 

• The ad uses natural landscapes, futuristic-looking environments, and emotional music to evoke a positive feeling in viewers and to promote the idea that ExxonMobil is not only associated with sustainable business choices but also supporting climate solutions, rather than producing polluting fossil fuels and investing in high-carbon activities that cause climate change. To top it all off, the claim in the tagline promotes the perception that ExxonMobil, and fossil fuel companies more generally, are “part of the solution.” 

Finance

=> ↺ Nikkei ☛ Indonesia startups hit by layoffs but workers still harbor hopes

• Pandji Putranda was laid off twice by startups during the pandemic: in November 2021, when a creative content marketing provider axed staffers, and a year later, when a financial services platform did the same.

• “In a five-to-10-minute town hall, the company announced that the office would cut 18 staff in the marketing division,” Putranda, currently a freelance marketing specialist and strategist, told Nikkei Asia about the second experience.

=> ↺ Yahoo News ☛ Canaccord Cuts 6% of US Staff as Deal Slowdown Hits Revenue

• Canadian investment bank Canaccord Genuity Group Inc. cut about 25 people in its US capital markets unit in response to a slowdown in dealmaking and new equity issues.

=> ↺ CEO of royal banker Coutts resigns amid furor over closure of politician Nigel Farage’s account

• The chief executive of Coutts Bank, long known as the bankers for Britain’s royal family and nobility, has stepped down amid the furor surrounding populist politician Nigel Farage’s complaints that his account was closed because of his political views.

• CEO Peter Flavel’s resignation came just a day after Coutts owner NatWest Group parted ways with its CEO, Alison Rose, the first woman to head one of Britain’s four big banks. Rose left after acknowledging that she had discussed Farage’s personal details with a journalist.

=> ↺ Michael West Media ☛ Retail trade dips as early sales snare bargain hunters

• Retail trade has sunk 0.8 per cent in latest figures after shoppers spent less than usual during end of year sales.

• The pullback in June followed a 0.8 per cent lift in May and a minor 0.1 per cent fall in April.

=> ↺ Michael West Media ☛ Health workers divided as NSW pay fights heat up

• About 70,000 NSW health workers are due to receive a $3500 pay boost despite significant opposition among union members.

• The Health Services Union on Friday said the offer had passed with 54 per cent support of its members after being negotiated in lieu of a percentage increase.

AstroTurf/Lobbying/Politics

=> ↺ Common Dreams ☛ No Mercy: We Have Stepped Over A Line Into the Inhumane

• Zealously following the GOP dictate to inflict mindless, bloody cruelty on vulnerable people, Texas’ Greg Abbott has created a hellhole state that tortures migrants – razor wire “death traps” in the Rio Grande, troops pushing children back in the water, no drinks in extreme heat, bussed out of sight. It’s also killing workers and inmates, stripping health care and boosting harrowing, nonviable births, all in the name of “preventing (imaginary) bad things from happening.” To the ghoul in charge: They already are.

=> ↺ India Times ☛ Alarmed by AI’s potential, US Senate to summon experts

• US senators, alarmed by the malevolent potential of artificial intelligence, will summon developers, executives and experts for hearings later this year on possible legislative safeguards, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said on Thursday.

• There is “real bipartisan interest in AI, which will be necessary if we want to make progress on what really is an imperative for this country – putting together AI legislation that encourages innovation but has the safeguards to prevent the liabilities that AI could present,” Schumer said.

• Speaking on the Senate floor, Schumer, the chamber’s leading Democrat, said the Senate would convene what he called “the first-ever AI Insight Forums” to hear what experts had to say.

=> ↺ Terence Eden ☛ Big Numbers Are Difficult To Contextualise

• Big numbers are hard for us to get our heads around. I remember being told that the reason Civil Service offices didn’t have free tea and coffee (a standard perk in most British offices) is that the total cost was just too big. A tuppence per tea-bag is small, but multiplied by half-a-million employees drinking 3 cups per day over a working year – and suddenly there are headlines about how tax-payers are being fleeced for millions of pounds.

=> ↺ International Business Times ☛ YouTube to introduce ‘three-strike’ policy for viewers who use ad blockers

• Moreover, the folks at Android Authority confirmed that the platform is testing a three-strike policy for ad blocking. The statement given to the website sheds more light on YouTube’s decision to block video players for users who watch three consecutive videos with the ad blocker enabled.

=> ↺ El País ☛ ‘Right-wing bias’: A macro study confirms that Facebook disinformation is consumed by conservatives

• Facebook is a network dominated by conservative news and its right-wing users are the ones who overwhelmingly consume information labeled as false. The data confirming these two hypotheses comes from academic research that had unprecedented access to internal Facebook data provided by Meta. These findings are based on the aggregated activity of 208 million U.S. users over several months around the 2020 US elections. The study, led by Spanish researcher Sandra González-Bailón of the University of Pennsylvania, is part of a series of four papers analyzing Meta social media’s impact on increasing political polarization, which were published Thursday in the journals Science and Nature.

=> ↺ AAAS ☛ Asymmetric ideological segregation in exposure to political news on Facebook

• Does Facebook enable ideological segregation in political news consumption? We analyzed exposure to news during the US 2020 election using aggregated data for 208 million US Facebook users. We compared the inventory of all political news that users could have seen in their feeds with the information that they saw (after algorithmic curation) and the information with which they engaged. We show that (i) ideological segregation is high and increases as we shift from potential exposure to actual exposure to engagement; (ii) there is an asymmetry between conservative and liberal audiences, with a substantial corner of the news ecosystem consumed exclusively by conservatives; and (iii) most misinformation, as identified by Meta’s Third-Party Fact-Checking Program, exists within this homogeneously conservative corner, which has no equivalent on the liberal side. Sources favored by conservative audiences were more prevalent on Facebook’s news ecosystem than those favored by liberals.

=> ↺ Silicon Angle ☛ Senators propose creating new agency for regulating big tech

• Senators Elizabeth Warren and Lindsey Graham are sponsoring a bill that would establish a new agency for regulating big tech companies.

• The bill, which is known as the Digital Consumer Protection Commission Act of 2023, was detailed today. If passed, it would establish an agency called the Digital Consumer Protection Commission. The agency would be tasked with regulating big tech firms’ activities across several different areas.

=> ↺ Press Gazette ☛ Charted: Google and Meta’s growing advertising spend in the UK

• Google and Meta spent a record amount on advertising in the UK last year as the tech giants came under greater regulatory pressure in Westminster.

• According to Nielsen, estimates shared with Press Gazette show Google’s ad spend in the UK in 2022 was £195m, up 16% from 2021.

=> ↺ Futurism ☛ OpenAI and Google Form New Group to Self-Regulate Their AI

• “Companies creating AI technology have a responsibility to ensure that it is safe, secure, and remains under human control,” Microsoft president Brad Smith said in the statement. “This initiative is a vital step to bring the tech sector together in advancing AI responsibly and tackling the challenges so that it benefits all of humanity.”

• In other words, it’s a stab at AI industry self-regulation. But while it is good to see major industry players join forces to establish some best practices for responsible AI development, self-regulation has some serious limitations. After all, with no ability for the government to actually enforce any of the Frontier Model Forum’s rules through actions like sanctions, fines, or criminal proceedings, the body, at least for now, is mostly symbolic. Extracurricular group activity energy.

=> ↺ Scheerpost ☛ Donald Trump May Face 4 Indictments by Election Day. Here’s the Breakdown.

• A federal indictment stemming from the January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol is expected this week.

Misinformation/Disinformation/Propaganda

=> ↺ Deutsche Welle ☛ Fact check: Russia’s influence on Africa

• At the last UN General Assembly in February, countries such as Botswana, Zambia and Tunisia voted for “just and lasting” peace in Ukraine, while Mali and Eritrea voted against it, and 15 other African countries abstained during the vote.

• Russia’s influence on African countries might play a role in this. But how exactly does Russia strengthen pro-Russian and anti-Western narratives? Here are some of the most important questions and answers.

=> ↺ NPR ☛ Meta’s Threads needs a policy for election disinformation, voting groups say

• The voting rights groups say they have cause for concern. During the past few elections, disinformation involving voter registration, polling places and political candidates was rampant on social media. In 2018, the Cambridge Analytica scandal exposed how that company used Facebook to target and manipulate swing voters. And in 2020, mentions of “stolen election” and “voter fraud” skyrocketed after President Joe Biden won the presidency.

• “Misinformation, like social media itself, has gotten considerably more sophisticated,” said Bond Benton, communications associate professor who studies misinformation at Montclair State University. “There are ways that you can manipulate and game the system to get misinformation seen by a lot of people very rapidly. And if you’re not investing to prevent and curtail that, it’s going to find its way through.”

=> ↺ New York Times ☛ Facebook’s Algorithm Is ‘Influential’ but Doesn’t Necessarily Change Beliefs, Researchers Say

• At the same time, the consumption of political news on Facebook and Instagram was highly segregated by ideology, according to another study. More than 97 percent of the links to news stories rated as false by fact checkers on the apps during the 2020 election drew more conservative readers than liberal readers, the research found.

• The studies, which were published in the journals Science and Nature, provide a contradictory and nuanced picture of how Americans have been using — and have been affected by — two of the world’s biggest social platforms. The conflicting results suggested that understanding social media’s role in shaping discourse may take years to unwind.

=> ↺ Meduza ☛ ‘Nazi satanists are entrenched in the holy Russian city of Kyiv’ : The Kremlin’s guide for covering an upcoming religious holiday instructs propagandists to push territorial claims to Ukraine and Poland

• Meduza has obtained a copy of the Putin administration’s latest instructions for state-owned and pro-government news outlets. The document outlines exactly what the Kremlin wants its propaganda media to tell Russians about the upcoming anniversary of the “Baptism of Rus,” referring to the conversion of Kyivan Rus ruler Volodymyr the Great to Christianity in 988, which the country celebrates on July 28.

• The guide tells journalists to refer to the event as a “key turning point in Russian history” and the “point of formation of Russia’s statehood.” It also instructs them to emphasize that having a “common faith” is what allowed the “East Slavic tribes” to become a “unified people.”

=> ↺ RFERL ☛ ‘Information War’: Russian Actors Identified In Purported German Video Against Ukraine Aid

• At the end, the 1-minute film reports that Germany has provided 22 billion euros ($24.2 billion) of assistance to Ukraine since 2022, before concluding with the officers confiscating the boy’s toy stuffed leopard, a reference to the advanced Leopard battle tanks Germany has sent to Kyiv in recent months to fight off Russia’s massive invasion. “If you are at home in NATO, learn to expect NATO in your home,” the clip cautions.

• Although there is no information in the video about who produced it, some of the Russian social-media channels distributing it claimed it was made by the far-right German political party Alternative for Deutschland (AfD).

Censorship/Free Speech

=> ↺ Techdirt ☛ Techdirt Has Been Deleted From Bing And DuckDuckGo

• A few months ago, Jack Yan pointed out to me that if they did a search for Techdirt on DuckDuckGo, it showed only one single link which was (bizarrely) to a random story from like eight years ago. There were literally no other results for Techdirt. I replicated it, but was travelling, and by the time I went back to write about it a few days later, everything seemed back to normal (in the interim there were a few days where it just found a couple hundred Techdirt posts). Jack wrote a short blog post on his own site about it.

=> ↺ Techdirt ☛ Copyright Self Censorship Denies Us Another Updated Version Of An Abandoned Game

• And here we go again. We have been talking about both the concept of video game preservation being lost to the copyright gods, as well as how copyright often prevents fan-made creations and content around game franchises, for years and years now. Both topics are quite frustrating and both serve as examples of how copyright law and its modern application appear to be getting in the way of its stated purpose: the proliferation of content and culture.

=> ↺ Meduza ☛ ‘If I stay silent, my heart will burst’ : How a Russian surgeon went from believing Kremlin propaganda to risking her freedom to oppose the war

• Olga Avdeyeva is a surgeon and mother of five from Izhevsk, the capital of Russia’s Republic of Udmurtia. In August 2022, she left an anti-war message beneath a large Z symbol on the side of the local theater that she passed every day on her way to work. Almost a year later, Olga was charged with “discrediting” the Russian Armed Forces. She’s now facing a fine of up to 300,000 rubles ($3,330) or up to five years in prison, but she insists she has no regrets. The independent outlet 7×7 recently told Avdeyeva’s story. Meduza retells it in English.

=> ↺ Futurism ☛ Indonesia Blocks Twitter, Thinking the “X” Was a Porn Thing

• In other words, Musk’s eleventh-hour rebrand is ruffling all kinds of feathers — which doesn’t bode well, considering he promised investors last year that “Twitter 2.0″ will have 1 billion users by 2024.

=> ↺ Deutsche Welle ☛ Sweden: Quran burning protests leave PM ‘very concerned’

• Von Essen said Sweden had become a “priority” target among Islamists after recent Quran desecrations in the country and in neighboring Denmark provoked widespread anger among Muslims globally.

=> ↺ BIA Net ☛ Journalism group condemns fines on streaming services over ‘family values’

• The Turkish Journalists Association (TGC) has expressed its disapproval of the fines imposed by the Radio and Television Supreme Council (RTÜK) on streaming platforms including Netflix, Disney+, Amazon Prime Video, MUBI, Bein, and Blu TV.

=> ↺ Reason ☛ A Professor Criticized a Public Official. Then Her University Suspended Her.

• By the end of the day, Alonzo was placed on paid leave by Texas A&M, and the school had opened an investigation into her comments. It took two weeks for the university to clear her of wrongdoing.

=> ↺ Techdirt ☛ Elon’s ‘Zero Tolerance’ Policy On CSAM Apparently Does Not Apply To Conspiracy Theorist Accounts He Likes

• You may recall that early on in Elon’s ownership of Twitter, he insisted that “removing child exploitation is priority #1” while exhorting his supporters to “reply in the comments” if they saw any.

=> ↺ Techdirt ☛ To Foster Competition In Social Media, Invest In Open Source Trust And Safety Tools

• Over the last decade, a small handful of large platforms have become de facto arbiters of how people communicate and share information with one another. As concerns about that concentrated power and those platforms’ decisions have piled up, so too have calls for greater competition and choice in social media and other services for communication and sharing. While some of the debate has focused on making it easier for people to leave behind large, incumbent services, it’s also turned to how to ensure people have somewhere to go – that is, a vibrant ecosystem of alternative services that can reflect different and distinct community norms and practices. The growth of decentralized services like Bluesky and Mastodon is one manifestation of this trend.

Freedom of Information / Freedom of the Press

=> ↺ CPJ ☛ Russian authorities in Crimea detain 2 journalists; Kulamet Ibraimov remains in custody

• The journalists work with the human rights group Crimean Solidarity. Zudiyeva is also a correspondent for the Ukrainian media project Graty and Ibraimov is a correspondent for independent Russian news website Grani, according to the National Union of Journalists of Ukraine, reports by Graty and Crimean Solidarity, and Graty editor Anton Naumlyuk, who spoke to CPJ via messaging app.

Civil Rights/Policing

=> ↺ Truthdig ☛ LA Landlords Are Renting Low-Cost Housing to Tourists

• After we published our initial story, the mayor’s office asked the Housing Department to account for how some residential hotels had apparently turned into tourist lodging and how it could prevent these transformations from happening in the future. The Housing Department said that it would report back by the end of August.

=> ↺ Futurism ☛ Sam Altman Says Sorry, AI Is Definitely Destroying Jobs

• While it would be a stretch to say that Altman doesn’t care about people’s livelihoods — his other project, Worldcoin, is underpinned by a desire for a crypto-based universal basic income — it’s not exactly a great feeling to be told by a tech leader with a net worth estimated between $250 and $500 million that his technology is going to result in job loss.

=> ↺ Atlantic Council ☛ Russia’s mass abduction of Ukrainian children may qualify as genocide

• Russian efforts to justify the deportations on humanitarian grounds are undermined by widespread evidence of indoctrination programs designed to pressure children into abandoning their Ukrainian identity and adopting Russian nationality. If Ukrainian children are being taken to Russia purely for their own safety, why is it necessary to brainwash them with Kremlin propaganda and turn them into Russian citizens?

• The available evidence indicates that Russian efforts to indoctrinate abducted Ukrainian children are both systematic and extensive. A February 2023 report published by the Yale School of Public Health identified a large-scale Russian initiative to re-educate thousands of abducted Ukrainian children via a network of more than 40 camps and facilities stretching from Russian-occupied Crimea to Siberia. “This is not one rogue camp, this is not one rogue mayor or governor,” said Yale Humanitarian Research Lab executive director Nathaniel Raymond. “This is a massive logistical undertaking that does not happen by accident.”

=> ↺ Axios ☛ Low-wage earners are 14 times more likely to lose jobs to AI, report finds

• By the numbers: 11.8 million workers in these occupations may need to find a new kind of job by 2030, the report says.

=> ↺ Quartz ☛ Women are 1.5 times more likely than men to lose their jobs to AI

• The report, released this week by the McKinsey Global Institute, projects that nearly a third of hours worked in the US could be automated by the end of the decade. Thanks to automation and AI, 12 million people will need to change jobs—and women will be 1.5 times more likely to have to find new roles.

• That’s because women make up more of the workforce in lower-paying industries, like office work and customer service, which the report projects will shrink more significantly thanks to automation and AI. People in lower-wage jobs, it adds, could be up to 14 times more likely to need to shift occupations than those that pay the highest.

=> ↺ Reason ☛ A SWAT Team Destroyed an Innocent Man’s Shop. Then the City Left Him With the Bill.

• In early August of last year, after a fugitive violently thrust Pena from his shop and barricaded himself inside, a SWAT team from the City of Los Angeles fired more than 30 rounds of tear gas canisters over the course of 13 hours. When the government entered the building, the officers found their target had escaped. Left inside was a shop that was a shell of itself, with Pena’s inventory ruined and the bulk of his equipment unusable.

• Pena didn’t fault the city for attempting to subdue an allegedly dangerous person. But he objected to what came next: The government refused his requests for compensation, strapping him with expenses that exceed $60,000 and a situation that has cost him tens of thousands of dollars in revenue, as he has been resigned to working at a much-reduced capacity out of his garage, according to a lawsuit he filed this month in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California.

• “Apprehending a dangerous fugitive is in the public interest,” the suit notes. “The cost of apprehending such fugitives should be borne by the public, and not by an unlucky and entirely innocent property owner.”

=> ↺ Pro Publica ☛ Mississippi Is an Outlier in Jailing People During Civil Commitment

• If you or someone you know needs help:

• Nearly 40 years ago, a federal appeals court ruled that Alabama officials could not jail people in mental health crisis who were sent to the state for help. Jailing people going through the state’s civil commitment process, the court decided, amounted to punishment. And about 30 years ago, after Kentucky was labeled the worst state in the nation for jailing mentally ill people without charges, legislators there banned it.

=> ↺ Pro Publica ☛ They Needed Treatment. Mississippi Threw Them in Jail Without Charges.

• When sheriff’s department staff in Mississippi’s Benton County took Jimmy Sons into custody several years ago, they followed their standard protocol for people charged with a crime: They took his mug shot, fingerprinted him, had him change into an orange jumpsuit and locked him up.

=> ↺ Meduza ☛ Chechen authorities denying passports to residents under 30 if older relatives are not present — Meduza

• Chechnya’s Interior Ministry has begun refusing to issue foreign passports to residents younger than 30 if the applicants are not accompanied by older relatives. The agency said in response to a complaint by lawyer Alexander Nemov that the policy is intended to ensure that “the goals of a trip are not contrary to the interests of the Russian Federation,” according to the crisis group SK SOS.

=> ↺ Democracy Now ☛ Racism Unleashed: Attack Dogs Maul, Bite & Terrorize Prisoners Across United States

• A shocking new investigation by Insider reveals patrol dogs in U.S. prisons have attacked at least 295 people since 2017, with Virginia setting dogs on prisoners more than any other state. These attacks can leave people with grievous physical and psychological scars, sometimes permanently disabling and disfiguring them. The report also finds ties between procedures in U.S. prisons and the abuses committed by U.S. troops at Abu Ghraib, where soldiers used attack dogs to terrify Iraqi detainees along with other forms of torture and humiliation. For more, we speak with journalist Hannah Beckler, an investigations editor at Insider, and Xavia Goodwyn, who says prison guards hurled racial slurs at him during a dog attack at Virginia’s Red Onion State Prison in 2015. “Everything just went mayhem,” Goodwyn recalls.

=> ↺ Democracy Now ☛ Brutal Ohio Police Dog Attack on Black Truck Driver Highlights Pattern, Echoes Violence of Slavery

• An Ohio police officer filmed unleashing a police dog on an unarmed Black truck driver during a July 4 traffic stop has been fired. We speak with legal scholar Madalyn Wasilczuk, who has helped represent teenagers in Louisiana attacked by police dogs and who says that dogs do not receive the proper amount of scrutiny when used in policing. “They’re seen as these valorized K-9 cop heroes, and we don’t focus so much on the real violence that they do,” says Wasilczuk. “Videos like this really highlight the problems.” Wasilczuk explains that the use of police dogs in apprehension is part of a widespread pattern of racialized violence by police that dates back to slavery.

=> ↺ Democracy Now ☛ Judge Puts Hunter Biden Plea Deal on Hold as Republicans Ramp Up Attacks on President & Son

• On Wednesday, a federal judge in Delaware halted a plea deal reached between Hunter Biden and federal prosecutors in which the president’s son would avoid facing prosecution on a separate gun charge by pleading guilty to two misdemeanor tax charges. Trump-appointed Judge Maryellen Noreika said the deal lacked legal precedent, and identified several sections of the agreement that were interpreted differently by the prosecution and defense. A new plea deal could be reached within the next six weeks. This comes as Republicans have been intensifying their attacks on the Biden family in the lead-up to the 2024 presidential election. “They’re very much trying to move beyond Hunter Biden, which they understand they’ve beaten that issue to death, and trying to move to Joe Biden,” says Ryan Grim, Washington bureau chief for The Intercept.

=> ↺ Site36 ☛ Parliament blocks EU Asylum Package: Crisis Regulation for now off the table

=> ↺ Scheerpost ☛ The Chris Hedges Report: Remembering Staughton Lynd’s Life of Defiance

• Alice Lynd and Luke Stewart recall the life of historian, lawyer, and activist Staughton Lynd, whose writings and speeches on the Vietnam War were recently published in a collection called ‘My Coun…

Digital Restrictions (DRM)

=> ↺ Futurism ☛ Netflix, Intent on Using AI to Own BackGround Actors’ Faces in Perpetuity Without Pay, Will Pay You $900k If You Tell Them How to Cash in on AI

• Streaming giant Netflix, which is one of many studios currently fighting with the striking SAG Union over, among other things, whether they should be allowed to pay background actors one single day’s rate for the right to deepfake an actor’s visage into any future content they may wish, has the perfect place to put all of that money it apparently doesn’t have for writers and actors: according to a job posting, it wants to pay someone anywhere between $300,000 and $900,000 to tell them exactly how it can cash in on AI tech.

• First caught by Gizmodo, the posting is specifically looking for a machine learning product manager, and is comically vague about what this very well-compensated manager might actually do. As Giz points out, Netflix does employ AI in places like its recommendation algorithms and thumbnails, but based on the description and salary, this seems less like a background engineering role and much more like an overall strategy-slash-brainstorming position.

=> ↺ Techdirt ☛ Automakers Try To Bullshit Their Way Past ‘Right To Repair’ Standoff In Massachusetts

• Giant automakers continue to try and scuttle a popular Massachusetts law aimed at making repairing your own cars easier and more affordable. And they’re once again using some familiar, misleading tactics to do it.

Monopolies

=> ↺ Silicon Angle ☛ EU launches antitrust investigation into Microsoft Teams after Slack complaint

• The European Commission today disclosed that it’s investigating Microsoft Corp. over the way it distributes Teams to customers.

• Microsoft ships Teams with Microsoft 365, a product bundle that includes the Office productivity suite. The videoconferencing and messaging service was previously a part of Office 365, a predecessor to Microsoft 365 that included many of the same products. European Union antitrust officials believe that this product bundling may amount to a breach of the bloc’s competition laws.

• In its announcement of the antitrust probe, the European Commission highlighted two specific areas of concern.

=> ↺ Deutsche Welle ☛ EU opens antitrust probe into Microsoft over Teams packaging

• European Union regulators Thursday opened an antitrust investigation into concerns that Microsoft’s bundling of its Teams app with other Office products was giving it an unfair advantage.

• Teams is the company’s popular communication and collaborative tool used by thousands of businesses worldwide. The company includes Teams with other popular suites for businesses Office 365 and Microsoft 365.

• The European Commission, the European Union’s top competition enforcer, said bundling them may constitute anti-competitive behavior. It said it would carry out an investigation as “matter of priority.”

Copyrights

=> ↺ Torrent Freak ☛ Sky Targets Sky Go & Now TV Decryption Key Software as Piracy Wars Continue

• Early this week, an anti-piracy company working for Sky TV spotted two pieces of software being made available online and immediately rushed to take them down. Targeting streaming services Sky Go and Now TV, the tools allow users to log in to the platforms via a terminal window, browse the available content, then extract decryption keys for both live TV channels and VOD titles.

=> ↺ Torrent Freak ☛ YouTube Rippers’ Appeal of RIAA’s $83 Million Piracy Win Moves Forward

• Two years ago, the RIAA secured a multi-million dollar victory in its piracy lawsuit against YouTube-rippers FLVTO.biz and 2conv.com. It was a big win for the music group but the case is not completely over. A notice of appeal filed by the platforms’ operator has just been docketed at the Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit. Whether this legal battle will be fought to the end is unclear.

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