Old Fucking Punk @lwriemen@librem.one

A *browser* maker adds images to their toot ... but doesn't add alt-text to them. 🤦
Ever heard of the W3C Validator?

If that wasn't bad enough (it is), it's a toot about "AI that's accessible" 🤦 🤦

And if you want to talk with them, join the proprietary discord server?
WTAF?

What does it take before you finally fire your completely incompetent management?

Can't we fork #Firefox and fund it via the EU f.e.? We need an alternative to G👀gle's browser, but @mozilla has completely lost it :-/

GM Floats a Bullshit ‘Safety’ Excuse for Dropping CarPlay
https://daringfireball.net/linked/2023/12/15/gm-bullshit-on-carplay

Wow, tried to join Discord because a #libre software project I like has very unfortunately made that the only place where the developers talk to folks. For some reason, Discord has banned 2 attempts to create an account saying that I'm in Violation of their TOS... I haven't even logged in yet. Suspect they've never encountered browsers with script blockers.

I've grudgingly come around to the notion that there is only one way out of the ransomware problem: Make paying a ransom illegal. This is not very different from laws that make it illegal for US companies to pay bribes to foreign officials.

I really don't see any other way out of this mess. Yes, some victims will unfortunately ignore any laws that say they can't pay, but enforcement probably will not be hard.

What will be difficult are the situations where peoples' lives are at stake in ransomware situations. This sounds callous, but we can't afford to take the short view here anymore, and our other alternatives aren't great either.

I'm quite certain this is an unpopular view, but we have already seen the cost of doing nothing. At least in the interests of congruity for our financial sanctions vs Russia, we should probably make this change sooner rather than later.

https://news.mongabay.com/2023/12/traditional-small-farmers-burned-by-indonesias-war-on-wildfires/

Nothing says transparency like an ICANN video that is unceremoniously deleted from their website after being featured in a story by KrebsOnSecurity.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xI8PdvBAEY8 (don't bother, the video has been removed).

https://krebsonsecurity.com/2023/12/icann-launches-service-to-help-with-whois-lookups/

Read Silvia Federici.

Now's your chance to get 50% off all Federici's books & e-Books with coupon code GIFT until 1/1/24.

See them all at blog.pmpress.org/authors-artists-comrades/silvia-federici/

NEW: A marketing firm owned by telecom giant Cox is advertising a service to companies that claims to *actually* listen to embedded microphones in users' phones, smart TVs, and smart devices:

https://www.404media.co/cmg-cox-media-actually-listening-to-phones-smartspeakers-for-ads-marketing/

The last time Facebook embraced an open federated standard they did it for precisely long enough to saturate server-to-server contacts between an already existing userbase and their stuff, then shut off that federation and told anyone cut off by it to just come to Facebook instead.

This is literally something they did. This is in their playbook.

The people running the stuff behind the scenes were blindsided by it; it was an executive decision. Those people wanted to build the thing in good faith and the Business Plan was to let them until the time was right to strike.

That we're again going "It seems to be done right, let's give them a chance" is a little infuriating considering I was pretty impacted by the fallout of the last time.

Check us out tonight in Baltimore at @redemmas

https://redemmas.org/events/submedia-presents-two-decades-of-subversion-riot-porn-jamboree/

Which email client is better, Claws or Thunderbird, and why?

If there is another client that is better than either, what is it? And why?

The science is clear: to stabilize climate, we have to phase out fossil fuels.

Yet in the latest draft of the #COP28 Global Stocktake, that phrase has been removed. Instead, it calls for "abatement" of coal and "reducing both consumption and production of fossil fuels" -- and that's not enough.

For that reason, I've joined over 2000 CEOs, investors, NGOs, health professionals, scientists, youth, and faith leaders to sign this letter, which calls for:

1. An orderly phase out of all fossil fuels in a just & equitable way

2. A price on carbon and tripling investments for renewable energy

3. A halt and reversal of deforestation, land degradation & other ecosystem loss by 2030; safeguarding the territories of indigenous peoples; ensuring resilient food systems; and a strong global goal on adaptation

Read the letter here: https://bteam.org/our-thinking/news/statement-the-transformation-is-unstoppable

It’s time for world leaders to prove which side of history they are on--because #LaterIsTooLate.

Reason #3 your agency should release its software as open source: Open source is more secure than closed-source software. An authority no less than the Department of Defense calls for publishing government software openly, having found that it's more secure than keeping the source closed. I love the directness of this bit of their FAQ:

Q: Doesn’t hiding source code automatically make software more secure?

A: No. https://dodcio.defense.gov/Open-Source-Software-FAQ/#q-doesnt-hiding-source-code-automatically-make-software-more-secure

@waldoj *cough* I feel that Tax payers money should go to public code. While this is a European campaign by @fsfe #PublicMoneyPulicCode it's something that all governments should do.

https://publiccode.eu/en/

Open Source (FOSS) is an important democratic tool. The public need to be able to verify the code than our democratic systems run on. Otherwise we cannot claim that the systems serve democracy.

Is it required to own an apple or google controlled mobile phone device in order to participate in contemporary society?

98% of the time I don't want generative AI. The 2% of the time that I want generative AI to augment a workflow I have, I want it running on my own machine against my own data and not being used in a way where it's just funneling more money upwards and further commoditizing human creativity. Can those things exist together? It feels like it, to me. AI is statistics. I don't think the answer is "don't use any statistics in programming". But I so often relate to anti-AI sentiment that I see.

More enshitification. DropBox adds to the OpenAI data vacuum all your files unless you opt out. Having the pipe is one thing. Having it be opt out and not even telling users about it makes me furious. Their cover story that it is only being enabled for people in their alpha/beta testing program is BS too. I just double checked and I have "Early Access" turned off. I have no idea if I accidentally triggered a file dump to them with results from a file search because nothing in my UI was indicative of when/if they used AI. Fucking clowns. Time to start looking for another provider... #dropbox #VultureCapitalism #enshitifcation #OpenAI
Dropbox spooks users by sending data to OpenAI for AI search features

So cool that @apereo uses #Libre BigBlueButton (and not Zoom or MS Teams) for its conferences & symposia!

It's a rare, but very heartening, example of an organisation that makes a point of using technologies consistent with its mission.

If you haven't used it, https://bigbluebutton.org is superb. And you can host it yourselves if you want (we do)!

In 1998, Rita Hester, a transgender woman, was murdered in her apartment in Allston, MA.

The case was never solved.

Hester's murder inspired Transgender Day of Remembrance, an annual vigil.

For Hester’s family and LGBTQ+ people in Boston and across the world, her murder also represents the disregard police and media show for Black trans murder victims, the unsolved case casting a long shadow on Boston detectives.

https://youtu.be/MjaKfFUIpQo?si=mWG7WxW4M3LCNpfO @gbhnews

Earlier this year, backlash from media outlets and press freedom advocates killed a Florida bill to help the powerful bankrupt their critics with litigation. It’s time to do it again. https://freedom.press/news/florida-lawmaker-renews-attack-on-the-free-press/