Old Fucking Punk @lwriemen@librem.one

Ebook pledge aims to protect libraries and authors from publishers’ growing abuse of #copyright - https://walledculture.org/ebook-pledge-aims-to-protect-libraries-and-authors-from-publishers-growing-abuse-of-copyright/

Awesome, informative article from @luxalptraum about why online ID check laws are bad for the adult industry -- and everyone else, too. https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2023/09/age-verification-laws-and-the-existential-fight-over-porn.html

I’ve signed an agreement to write a book about ActivityPub for O’Reilly Media. ActivityPub is the protocol for connecting social networks across the Web; it’s what currently underpins Mastodon and will be used by Threads.net. The book should be available sometime after summer 2024.

The book will be a developer guide that will help programmers connect existing software to the social web, as well as making brand new social applications. Currently, developers depend on reading the specifications themselves, forum posts, wiki pages, blog posts, and other content spread across the Web. I hope that a single book with practical step-by-step information will make learning about and building with ActivityPub easier.

O’Reilly is the best programming book publisher, hands down. I have a dozen O’Reilly titles on my shelf, all with the famous engraved animal covers, and I use them regularly. I appreciate that the O’Reilly team sees the potential for an ActivityPub book. I have had a great experience with the editors so far.

I’ll update my progress here. I have a pretty tight schedule, but I’ve rearranged some of my commitments like graduate school to accommodate the work. (I’ll be getting credits from Georgia Tech towards my CS degree for doing this book — a nice bonus!) This is the first book I’ve written, and it’s going to require working code for examples, so there will be a lot of learning and work to do. But I’m confident this will be a step forward.

https://evanp.me/2023/09/07/activitypub-book-for-oreilly-media/

When in doubt, just accuse your opponent of doing all the stuff that you're doing.

https://archive.ph/0D9JQ#selection-2231.0-2249.217

If you haven't listened to the Blowback podcast yet, you should. You wanna' understand America and what contemporary imperialist practice looks like? Check these guys out: https://blowback.supportingcast.fm/

How am I only now finding out about this? Looks cool af.

https://www.coopnwj.org/groundwork/arise/

Free software pioneer Richard Stallman is battling cancer - https://www.theregister.com/2023/09/29/richard_stallman_cancer/ poor chap, let's hope his treatment is effective... #RMS

The strain on scientific publishing 📄:

The publishing sector has a problem. Scientists are overwhelmed, editors are overworked, special issue invitations are constant, research paper mills, article retractions, journal delistings… JUST WHAT IS GOING ON!?

Myself, pablo, @paolocrosetto and Dan have spent the last few months investigating just that.
https://arxiv.org/abs/2309.15884

A thread🧵1/n

#AcademicChatter #PublishOrPerish #Elsevier #Springer #MDPI #Wiley #Frontiers #PhDAdvice #PhDChat #SciComm

Looking for a list of online bookshops that sell DRM-free ebooks, digital comics, magazines, and RPGs?

Got you covered!

#DRMfree #ebooks #DigitalComics

https://libreture.com/bookshops/

I can't help but think that the general apathy and concerted lack of action (i.e. tacit acceptance) to counter of our future digital hell-scape mirrors our denial of the physical one that #ClimateChange is wreaking. So I'm desperately sad and frustrated on both real and virtual fronts these days. *big sigh*

Every day, when I interact with people who think that Microsoft+Google+Amazon+Facebook+Apple = computing, I'm reminded of How To Train Your Dragon: "everything we think we know about dragons... is wrong". Except, we substitute "digital existence" for dragons.

One of the things that drives me nuts about the modern Web is that you could write a plain text file, save it as "index.html", and it will display just fine. And everyone seems to have forgotten this.

A new report from the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board shedding light on abuses of Section 702 surveillance make the demands of civil liberties groups for reform even more pressing. The government simply shouldn't be able to access Americans' communications collected under 702 and other intelligence authorities without a warrant. https://www.brennancenter.org/sites/default/files/2023-09/PCLOB%20Section%20702%20report%20coalition%20statement%20928%20final.pdf

We joined 90 organizations led by Defending Rights & Dissent to call for charges against Cop City protesters to be dropped. Prosecutors citing talking to reporters, recording cops and distributing zines to prove supposed RICO violations is especially worrisome when the govt is already weaponizing vague legislation from the Espionage Act to computer fraud laws against journalists and their sources. https://www.rightsanddissent.org/news/90-organizations-tell-ag-carr-drop-cop-city-rico-charges/

Allowing governments to install spyware on journalists’ phones isn’t an issue that needs a “nuanced approach,” no matter what politicians say.

EU law should unconditionally ban governments from using spyware against journalists. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/sep/27/mep-spying-journalists-press-freedom-spyware-european-parliament

A fed judge ruled a Chicago alderman violated the First Amendment by blocking critics from official social media sites. Ald. Jim Gardiner claimed he was immune from suit because he acted in good faith but the judge rightly found it was so obvious that his actions were unconstitutional that he isn’t entitled to the benefit of the doubt. It’s crucial that courts continue rejecting these antics so journalists and others can access officials’ comments on public business. https://blockclubchicago.org/2023/09/26/ald-jim-gardiner-violated-first-amendment-by-blocking-critics-on-social-media-federal-judge-rules/

US may pay 3x more than EU for Moderna’s US-funded COVID shot

Moderna developed its vaccine with the NIH and got $1.7 billion in federal grant money.

https://arstechnica.com/health/2023/09/us-may-pay-3x-more-than-eu-for-modernas-us-funded-covid-shot/?utm_brand=arstechnica&utm_social-type=owned&utm_source=mastodon&utm_medium=social