Hans-Christoph Steiner @eighthave@librem.one

In #Afghanistan, "...as internal U.S. government documents show, the United States enabled a kleptocratic state rife with corruption." https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2019/investigations/afghanistan-papers/afghanistan-war-corruption-government/

Anyone whose paid attention to #Afghanistan over two decades knew the gov would collapse like a house of cards, it is corrupt from top to bottom. Kudos to #Biden for finally ending the charade. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/aug/15/a-tale-of-two-armies-why-afghan-forces-proved-no-match-for-the-taliban

Even if you think the #Taliban is bad does not mean that the war in #Afghanistan makes any sense. We are finally now seeing the truth: that 20 year long war was built on willful fiction https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/aug/14/afghanistan-taliban-us-troops

https://www.tbray.org/ongoing/When/202x/2021/08/07/Apps-Get-Worse is worth reading, though its a bit ranty. The core idea he's talking about is one that it is rarely taught yet is really valuable to learn: sometimes the best choice is to not change something.

#helloSystem sounds like it is taking the right approach on building a coherent operating system. Consistency, interaction, and minimalism means the OS gets out of the way of the user https://www.theregister.com/2021/06/16/hellosystem_maclike_freebsd_project_05/

Building a bunch of wind and solar is not proven to cool the #climate, it could backfire. Reducing consumption is proven: Eat a lot less meat! Get rid of your cars! Yes, also electric cars. Ride the train! Take mass transit! https://www.sciencenews.org/article/how-wind-power-could-contribute-warming-climate

"Es ist nicht lustig, wenn plötzlich Maskierte mit Sturmgewehren in den Kinderzimmern stehen" - 9 von 60 Hausdurchsuchungen sind rechtswidrig. https://www.derstandard.at/story/2000128650481/gericht-erklaert-razzien-gegen-muslimbrueder-teilweise-fuer-rechtswidrig

It is exciting to see #Amazon's #Drone delivery program collapsing, I hope this is the end of this idea. It would really have a horrible impact on so many aspects of daily life. https://www.wired.co.uk/article/amazon-drone-delivery-prime-air

Hosting code with automated publishing into well known namespaces is looking more and more like a broken model. A better approach is human verification of package names like in #Debian, @fdroidorg, #MavenCentral. Then other pieces can be safely automated https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/critical-cloudflare-cdn-flaw-allowed-compromise-of-12-percent-of-all-sites/

I'd love to see data on what verified boot actually stops. The ideal malware implants itself at the lowest level possible. Is there good public data on these kinds of exploits on #Android #Debian #Windows #iOS etc? Does standard spyware do that? Writing to /system requires a root exploit, lots of malware never gets root. How often there are vulns in #VerifiedBoot itself. Here's a real world full #exploit of verified boot:
https://threatpost.com/multiple-vulnerabilities-found-in-nvidia-qualcomm-huawei-bootloaders/127833/

#Debian created an ecosystem where the software available there is reviewed and trusted, so the system can prioritize flexibility over security. In #Google Play, there are many apps we feel forced to use, despite knowing they are unethical or are tracking us. Google responds by locking down #Android to reduce data leaks, which also reduces the system's flexibility. #FreeSoftware puts the user in control so we can build user-friendly systems without being forced into bad decisions.

Does anyone know how to query the system for information about Trichrome Libraries https://chromium.googlesource.com/chromium/src.git/+/refs/heads/main/docs/android_native_libraries.md#Trichrome? They seem to be installed as APKs, but the regular way of querying for app metadata does not work. For example, is there a separate concept of "Version Code" for Trichrome libraries?

"It is in our power to wipe out poverty. It simply isn’t among our priorities." #BasicIncome https://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/13/opinion/stimulus-unemployment-republicans-poverty.html

#SiliconValley is demonstrating yet again how out of touch with society it is with yet another plaything for the rich that screws everyone else: the #FlyingCar. Cars are already the dominant source of #NoisePollution, flying drastically increases that, so the promo videos all play music instead of actual audio. Here is one small glimpse of what just one actually sounds like https://yewtu.be/watch?v=E9t154HL1V0 Now imagine how loud flying car traffic would be?