Old Fucking Punk @lwriemen@librem.one

Great news: all Italian-language schools in South Tyrol migrated to free software. Read about the project, the results, and what other schools can learn from the experience of the FUSS Project, when migrating to free software: https://www.gnu.org/education/edu-cases-italy-south-tyrol.html

Thanks to new records spotted by the Boston Institute for Nonprofit Journalism, we now know more about the current generation of cell-site simulators being used by law enforcement. https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2024/06/next-generation-cell-site-simulators-here-heres-what-we-know

A pair of superb blog posts (among many) from my friend Jane on the topics of savouring coffee in other climes and the politics of 'woke'. Most refreshing: https://www.janeshearer.com/coffee-and-cadiz and https://www.janeshearer.com/weaponising-of-woke Her first book, 'Broken is beautiful', is also excellent.

"Many young students have a talent for programming; they are fascinated with computers and eager to learn how their systems work. With proprietary software, this information is a secret so teachers have no way of making it available to their students. But if it's free software, the teacher can explain the basic subject and then hand out the source code for the student to read and learn." https://www.gnu.org/education/edu-why.html

San Francisco Police are “not able to just say ‘we’re collecting data on criminals,’” EFF’s Dave Maass told the San Francisco Chronicle. “They’re collecting data, in fact, on innocent people going about their lives.”
https://www.sfchronicle.com/crime/article/sfpd-arrests-license-plate-readers-19509117.php

PSA on Wildfire preparedness.

"My suggestion: If you live in a rural area prone to wildfires in the western United States… have a week’s worth of supplies, they might shut your power off this Summer."

https://thehotshotwakeup.substack.com/p/they-shut-grandmas-power-off-for

“The thing with Sam Alito is that he doesn’t give a fuck. He is a seventy-something Fox News watcher and religious fundamentalist who happens to find himself in a position of immense and almost incomparable power over all of American society and he’s going to take that power to the limit to advance his own political preferences. He’s not even going to go through the motions of pretending that’s not the case.”

Josh Marshall understands Alito all too well. Gift link:

https://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/resilience-part-2-or-thoughts-on-sam-alitos-dgaf-justicehood/sharetoken/Y8snIS0q4CvM

It is so unfair that some of the most vulnerable members of our society (through no fault of their own) are treated so badly that they can't live reasonable lives despite working really hard to manage life under stressful conditions. All for tax cuts to pay landlords. https://thespinoff.co.nz/society/12-06-2024/what-happens-when-disabled-people-lose-flexible-funding

Anyone into anarchism and tech should mark their calendars for the Montreal Anarchist Tech Convergence!

"The weekend of September 7th and 8th, 2024
In and around Bâtiment 7 Tiohtià:ke (Montreal, Quebec)

Amid the crushing destruction wrought by the sprawling military-industrial complex and the recuperation of the hack by capitalist tech bros, anarchist resistance exists within the cadaverous monster of Leviathan itself.

The Montreal Anarchist Tech Convergence is an opportunity for anarchists to discuss and explore the potential roles of technology in our lives and struggles. Let's learn about security best practices, self-hosted autonomous ways of connecting and finding each other, and media projects that allow us to form international communities of solidarity and how to build stuff out of garbage left behind by capitalism.

Get in touch if you want to know more, or to pitch ideas for workshops, presentation, skillshares, or activities you'd like to contribute:

mtl-atc@riseup.net
https://mtl-atc.org
@MTL_ATC "

In another news... Microsoft pulls Windows 11 24H2 from Insider Release Preview Channel Because of Recall Generating Nothing But Negative Press. Not a single person want this feature, I guess. Lmao. https://www.theregister.com/2024/06/10/microsoft_pulls_windows_24h2_11/ Who wants a fully surveillance-enabled computer that records everything you do, including your password, in an SQL database? This is a wet dream for three-letter agents and threat actors.

Freakshow bigot Martha-Ann Alito, wife of extremist theocrat insurrectionist SCOTUS justice Samuel, is so triggered by rainbow flags that she daydreams about flying "Shame" flags. https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-features/supreme-court-martha-ann-alito-pride-flags-left-media-1235037338

youtube is A/B testing login-walling videos. a *huge* step towards internet lockdown, and they appear to be blocking accounts using their cookies for downloaders.

https://github.com/imputnet/cobalt/issues/551

this is. not good.

Also, shout-out to @letsencrypt for dramatically changing the security landscape of the Web for the better over the years.

Rarely is there an example of a project so effective and so directly improving everyone's lives, while at the same time keeping the original engineering mindset and just Doing Stuff Right™ humbly in the background.

Next November it will have been exactly a decade since LE started. We all owe them a huge 10th birthday party.

Pride is for all ages. Queer art and representation matter - especially to LGBTQ+ children and young adults.

Check out our kid-friendly queer coloring books (along with our non-kid-friendly coloring books) here: https://pmpress.org/index.php?l=product_list&c=162

It occurs to me that a whole lot of people nowadays - thanks to the likes of Yelp - are graded on their performance with a star system. You know who else gets graded with stars? Children. All this ranking of people via gold stars is infantilizing. They are convincing us all to act like we're in kindergarten. "Better do what's expected of you or you won't get a gold star!"

These systems serve two negative purposes: 1st, they provide an easy outlet for the vindictive and petty 1/x

Ok, I'm just going to start muting everybody sharing AI generated "art." It looks shitty if you bother to look at it at all, it's lazy af, and you know the environmental footprint is atrocious. If the most artistic effort you can bring yourself too is typing a silly prompt into a text box, I'm not at all interested in anything you think is "artistic." Sorry not sorry.

You see? This is what they do every time things aren't going their way and they simply cannot bring themselves to accept any responsibility for it. Some of us have been putting up with this bullshit for a long time. Calling out the lies and manipulations of the American Empire? You must love PUTIN!

Remember this while they're begging you for money.

#BREAKING The NZ govt has been secretly using Israeli spyware to search encrypted platforms for audio, video, images & text - collecting info without a person knowing - including family details, financial, health, political & religious information.
#nzpol
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/519051/mbie-ends-contract-with-spyware-company-but-is-looking-for-a-replacement

These fake movies stink less than this summer's real ones. https://brianmcfadden.org/2024/05/31/summer-movie-duds/

It seems like there are a bunch of websites that offer rigged #Blender models, many of which are even free (as in beer), but that all of these sites require logins for use, and I've developed a severe aversion to platforms that require account creation.

Can anyone vouch for Blender model-sharing platforms that have a positive culture and are not predatory?