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.
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
resonate.coop looks like a really cool alternative to bandcamp, but there is no mention of open source.
#HalfASolution
This morning on Mastodon, I've seen that Microsoft software is still unsecured, proprietary software (Google this time) takes too long to fix exploits, the rich aren't paying their fair share, Trump is a liar and con-artist, indigenous people are being disadvantaged, ACAB, and capitalism is killing people.
#BusinessAsUsual
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!
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*
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/
Malicious advertisements are now being injected into Microsoft's AI-powered Bing Chat responses, promoting fake download sites that distribute malware. Be very careful opening ads in Bing Chat or Windows Copilot!
http://windowscopilot.news/2023/09/29/bing-chat-responses-infiltrated-by-ads-pushing-malware/
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.
Who wants to convert Bandcamp to a co-op?
“Epic will also sell Bandcamp, a music distribution platform Epic acquired in March 2022, Sweeney wrote.”
https://www.newsobserver.com/news/business/article279874624.html
#N8VoicesBack Sioux Falls Action This Saturday, Sept. 30
September 28, 2023
"Immediate action against ethnocide is needed this week on Saturday, September 30, in the Oceti Sakowin Oyate homelands!
This week at The Great Plains History Conference in Sioux Falls, SD, conference organizers knowingly centered ethnic fraud Dr. Kent Blansett as keynote speaker and headliner."
A panel of actual Native elders and scholars are slotted to follow Blansett. #Pretendianism
#ShlaerMellor, #FunctionPointAnalysis, #punk, #environmentalist, #unionAdvocate, #anarchosocialist
"with a big old lie and a flag and a pie and a mom and a bible most folks are just liable to buy any line, any place, any time" - Frank Zappa