Old Fucking Punk @lwriemen@librem.one

Revealed: #Microsoft deepened ties with Israeli military to provide tech support during #Gaza war - https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/jan/23/israeli-military-gaza-war-microsoft well, course, money, innit?

Big oil spent $445m in last election cycle to influence #Trump and Congress, report says - https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/jan/23/big-oil-445m-trump-congress "Investments ‘likely to pay dividends’, analysis says, as Trump unleashes dozens of pro-fossil fuel executive actions" #dirtyoil

Big Journalism is undergoing a moral and ethical collapse. Money and cowardice are in charge. https://washingtonmonthly.com/2025/01/23/three-disturbing-signs-of-fourth-estate-failure/

US Coast Guard and Florida start using Gulf of America for Gulf of Mexico - https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/jan/22/gulf-america-florida-coast-guard this is utterly childish; rest of the world should ignore

#Trump executive orders threaten #healthcare of millions of Americans - https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/jan/22/trump-executive-orders-healthcare those face-eating leopards are a-coming...

European Commission Fined For Violating Its Own Data Protection Rules; Also Found To Have Used Privacy-Violating Ads - https://www.techdirt.com/2025/01/22/european-commission-fined-for-violating-its-own-data-protection-rules-also-found-to-have-used-privacy-violating-ads/ bad @EUCommission #gdpr

#CreativeCommons Launches its 2025-2028 Strategic Plan - https://creativecommons.org/2025/01/22/cc-launches-its-2025-2028-strategic-plan/ "ensuring a strong and resilient open infrastructure of sharing, and enabling a healthy and thriving creative commons powered by reciprocity and community in the public interest." #cc

We're hiring a software engineer in my team at the Wikimedia Foundation!

We work on wikitext support for Mediawiki & associated services for the Wikimedia projects, and it's a great team to be in :)

Oh, and it's a full remote (many countries) position.

https://grnh.se/4b15b3581us

#Wikimedia #hiring

I just unsubscribed from #TheContrarian (https://contrarian.substack.com/), #JenniferRubin and #NormEisen's new anti-Trump endeavor, after subscribing the day it launched.
I gave it long enough to be certain that it's neoliberal garbage through and through. Just a bunch of status-quoniks who aspire for things to be how they were before Trump. As if that will solve anything. Clueless idiots, the lot of them. Or maybe just clickbait grifters. (Why not both?)
#journalism #neoliberalism

Someone sent me a nice online "greeting card" and now I'm being relentlessly spammed by the company that provides the cards. Trying to unsubscribe but I'm not sure it's working...

Trump and his cult don't really know how to deal with demonstrations of courage in defiance of their malicious ways. Example:

https://newrepublic.com/post/190529/donald-trump-bishop-prayer-midnight-rant

We're hiring a Senior Software Engineer on the @securedrop team at @freedomofpress.

SecureDrop is open source whistleblowing software. The project is at a critical inflection point as we get ready to build the next-gen version based on a modern cryptographic protocol.

100% remote, full-time, $110-$120K base salary with comprehensive benefits for US-based employees. (If you're not in the US, we can discuss consultancy models.)

Hmu for questions.

https://grnh.se/813b998c5us

#GetFediHired

Repurposing old government information posters for my own ends.

So you suddenly feel the need to "do something" about the fascism?

Step 1: Shut the fuck up. Don't get specific or even "vaguepost-y" / overly suggestive about your intention to do anything.

Step 2: Learn about security culture because you're more effective if you don't go to prison, and you need to not get caught before you do your thing.

An ordered reading list:

"What is Security Culture? A Guide to Staying Safe"
A short basic introduction to the topics of security culture. This is a good primer for all subsequent discussions.
https://www.sproutdistro.com/catalog/zines/security/what-is-security-culture-a-guide-to-staying-safe/

"Confidence. Courage. Connection. Trust."
The best current text on security culture, one that takes an approach that tries to balance openness against much of security's paranoia.
https://www.sproutdistro.com/catalog/zines/security/confidence-courage/

"Mobile Phone Security."
One of the fastest ways to get caught is with the snitch in your pocket. Learn how to be safe with your phone and why these steps are important.
https://opsec.riotmedicine.net/downloads#mobile-phone-security

"Why Misogynists Make Great Informants"
Like the title says, people's shitty behavior is indicative that you shouldn't organize with them. A large number of snitches, informants, and infiltrators are misogynistic or otherwise problematic. Don't ignore it!
https://www.sproutdistro.com/catalog/zines/security/misogynists-make-great-informants/

"Threat Modeling Fundamentals"
You need to be able to reason about threats you face and do more than just wear a mask. How/what you do requires concert though, and this is a guide on how to do that reasoning.
https://opsec.riotmedicine.net/downloads#threat-modeling-fundamentals

"PRISMA: Primer on Radical Information for Secure Militant Actions"
You want to do some shit? You want a specific guide on how you might do that shit? Read no further.
https://ntpfiles.noblogs.org/prisma-primer-on-radical-information-for-secure-militant-actions/

Want to read even more? Download (yes download) PDFs and get ready to get spicy.

https://www.sproutdistro.com/catalog/zines/security/

https://www.notrace.how/resources/

May your winter days be filled with good books.

Remember, Donald Trump desperately wants to be in the news every single day. Every single day, there are going to be news stories about what terrible thing he just did or said. These things are meant to provoke outrage, and they will. The media delivers the message; they are his puppet. Clicks -> ads -> money.

Go for a walk. Build something. Call a friend. Volunteer. Spend time with people you actually like. Support local entertainment.

Avoid doomscrolling.

#uspol

having succeeded in purchasing positions of influence inside the White House, the billionaires and tech VCs have now set their sights back on Wikipedia

In the violin world when people ask questions like “how do I maintain motivation to keep practicing?” the answer is: habits are better than motivation. Instead of relying on motivation or inspiration to hit, you should make a plan, have a routine, build the habit of practicing day in day out. Politics are the same. When folks ask "how do we get people to care?" the answer is: culture and ideology are better than individual feelings. Instead of hoping people feel moved to act on a specific topic we need to build norms, and yes, habits.

Part of the power of unions is inculcating that culture and identity of “we are union people, which means we show up in solidarity when shit goes down.” Part of the power of anarchism is that you have a ready ideological framework for understanding power and don't have to reanalyze every new situation from scratch. You know what side you're on. You know what to do. You’ve practiced this with your friends.

In the link/reshare below, @Scott M. Stolz mentions having to ban users from some U.S. states based on age verification laws and the (IMO appropriate) lack of such technology for Hubzilla and other fedi platforms.  I find this quite alarming and am interested to hear other perspectives on how fedi admins are handling increasingly messy international laws on age restrictions and related issues.

(boosts welcome)

#^https://loves.tech/display/b8a8cddc-9649-4f5b-bd04-1de79f93f597
Scott M. Stolz wrote the following post Wed, 22 Jan 2025 12:52:54 +0100 @Der Pepe (Hubzilla) ⁂ ⚝

No Fediverse service offers that as it should be (except for reporting, which we hopefully will have soon). This would mean the complete end of Fediverse in the UK if it is really meant seriously.

I am already having to ban users from several U.S. states because of their age verification laws. So I am pretty sure we have to ban U.K. users too.

https://forums.cafe/page/community/rules said:

If your local law requires us to get parental consent for you to participate because you are under a certain age, you are not allowed to participate on this server. If your local law requires us to collect personally identifying information, such as your birthday, or requires us to verify your age, you are not allowed to participate in this server.

Der Pepe (Hubzilla) ⁂ ⚝ wrote the following post Wed, 22 Jan 2025 11:43:54 +0100 @Scott M. Stolz

Hubzilla does not have approved age assurance methods, files scanning for CSAM, or the ability to report posts by users, (and perhaps other things required under the law), and is, therefore, not compliant for a U.K. audience unless you run your own server as mentioned in #1 above.

No Fediverse service offers that as it should be (except for reporting, which we hopefully will have soon). This would mean the complete end of Fediverse in the UK if it is really meant seriously.

@Jupiter Rowland

That is, it could be some leftover residue from the app having been removed from the repository ages ago.

I don't remember this functionality. But it may well be that it existed at some point.

Congratulations to the ACLU, EFF and everyone else involved in this significant win for the Fourth Amendment.

https://www.aclu.org/press-releases/court-rules-warrantless-section-702-searches-violated-the-fourth-amendment