Hans-Christoph Steiner @eighthave@librem.one

I'm sad to say that my new #laptop still needs non-free firmware blobs for working WiFi, Bluetooth, audio, and power management. Now #Debian will include those in the installer. Are we losing this #FreeSoftware fight? At least the graphics driver is #free and included in upstream Linux, that is progress. I specifically avoided #nvidia for that purpose.

How are others feeling on the firmware blob fight?

Everything was clearly better in the past, we can't even get #radioactive toothpaste anymore!

One effect of the #UkraineWar is that it gives the #US #UK #NATO #Saudi etc a case to use to rehabilitate the idea they focus on: that military power is a force of good. #AfghanWar #IraqWar #LibyaWar #YemenWar provided a template for #Putin to follow. This is really not discussed enough because people want to support Ukraine in this difficult time, but it must always be part of any discussion of providing military support. Kudos to #politico for running this political cartoon linking these.

@ljacomet I just saw your slides for your talk "Protecting your organization
against attacks via the
build system", a great overview! I'm a #Debian dev who has worked on packaging #Gradle. We'd love to make it as close to your version as possible. There is a proprietary build dependency that blocks that from happening. https://github.com/gradle/gradle/issues/16439

There seems to be a common mode of thinking about #software these days that is something like "updated software is always best". I agree there is some truth to that, but it is unfortunately not that simple. Most vulns were introduced in an update, they were not there from the beginning. "Security is a process, not a product", so how the software is developed changes the relationship between updates and #security, e.g. software that never issues stable updates vs. software with stable releases.

I guess I left out my personal motivation: as the father of two curious boys, I'd love for the #internet to be a place of free exploration again, like I first experienced it in 1994. It is far too easy for an 11 year to find things they can never unsee, or really even understand. And even worse, lots of it is coming from services that are literally trying to hook people and get them addicted.

The real power to control the problems related to porn comes from the payment. If sites can't accept credit cards or build substantial advertising businesses, there will be much less money going to middlemen. For me the open question is how much to be concerned about also making it harder for the performers to get money //

That could then mean that something like pornhub can't really exist, since they make money as middlemen or really they are a kind of pimp. Or what if copyright did not apply to porn, but only something like the part of French "droit d'auteur" copyright law where the "author" has certain inalienable rights over the material. That could be used to maintain control over the images of one's own body. I would like to see something like that since it would make the worst porn much less accessible 4/

My gut instinct is that porn is never really a good thing. But I don't have much knowledge on the subject to say conclusively. Seeing that there are unions for sex workers in the US makes me think that at least some sex workers think it is a good thing. Of course, being abused, forced, tricked, etc. is always bad. So I was wondering if the same general Austrian policies for prostitution might work for porn: considered a job in the eyes of the state, the workers get the money, no pimping, etc 3/

I wonder how effective porn bans in Asia and Africa are? Is it simply a question of making it illegal? Some country's free speech laws would prevent that, like the US 1st Amendment. I think economic regulation would be legal basically everywhere. In Austria, prostitution is legal and highly regulated, and it seems quite successful at harm reduction, at least compared to New York, where it is fully illegal. I'm guessing though, based on what I've seen on the streets, and read in the news. 2/