Matt Panhans @mpanhans@librem.one

The FTC has stayed taking Ls (losses) in recent years. A judge just dismissed the FTC’s attempt to block Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision.

This is what happens when instead of focusing on its mission of protecting consumers, the FTC succumbed to the anti big tech narrative being pushed my media like the NYT.

And now it keeps getting embarrassed by losses in court.

https://www.theverge.com/2023/7/11/23779039/microsoft-activision-blizzard-ftc-trial-win

Whoa. Sophos researchers just announced that they’ve uncovered 133 malicious drivers signed with legitimate digital certificates, and found 100 of of those 133 drivers were signed by Microsoft.

https://news.sophos.com/en-us/2023/07/11/microsoft-revokes-malicious-drivers-in-patch-tuesday-culling/

From the post:

"Today, Microsoft issued Security Advisory ADV230001 as part of their July Windows Update that addresses Sophos’ discovery of more than 100 malicious drivers that had been digitally signed by Microsoft and others, dating as far back as April 2021."

"They also released Knowledge Base article 5029033, which includes new, more detailed information on the technical measures Microsoft has taken to protect against these malicious signed drivers. Sophos has had protection measures in place since 2022 that could detect the presence of, and block the installation of, these drivers."

https://msrc.microsoft.com/update-guide/vulnerability/ADV230001

https://support.microsoft.com/help/5029033

I wrote recently about one of the bigger names in signing malware as a service:

https://krebsonsecurity.com/2023/06/ask-fitis-the-bear-real-crooks-sign-their-malware/

Here we go again.

Tons more malware signed by Microsoft again. Good on Sophos here for telling them.

Microsoft have got to sort this out. Aside from being super embarrassing for them, it’s pretty woeful that they keep trying to sell us on the idea they block malicious drivers when they keep directly signing them. At least flag packed files, MS.
https://news.sophos.com/en-us/2023/07/11/microsoft-revokes-malicious-drivers-in-patch-tuesday-culling/

Why Don’t We Build Skyscrapers Out Of Wood?. This is Ascent Milwaukee. A gorgeous combo luxury apartment and retail space. But if you look closely, you might notice something special about this building… Figured it out yet? It’s made out o... https://undecidedmf.com/why-dont-we-build-skyscrapers-out-of-wood/

I am not open to your ahistorical take on Google Chat and XMPP.

Google didn't do anything wrong by using an open standard.

They didn't do anything wrong by building a good interface that people liked to use.

And they didn't do anything wrong by disconnecting from the network when the spam and harassment outweighed the benefit to their users.

We, the XMPP community, failed to capitalize on success by diversifying the network. It's our own fault not enough nodes were there.

The wheel turns for blogs and social media https://crookedtimber.org/2023/07/08/the-wheel-turns/

Rabbits can swim..

It’s REALLY important that #Vancouver’s Downtown Business Association, who were originally AGAINST downtown bike-lanes, later became one of their most vigourous supporters, because of EVIDENCE that bike-lanes are better for downtown business than any street parking they replace.

#cities #bikes #downtowns #cars #BikeLanes

Fairphone is coming to America

Fairphone teams up with the developer of the /e/ Android fork to enable US sales.

https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2023/07/fairphone-is-coming-to-america/?utm_brand=arstechnica&utm_social-type=owned&utm_source=mastodon&utm_medium=social

Sir Isaac Newton's "Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica" was published #OTD in 1687. Often referred to as just “the Principia,” it presents Newton’s laws of motion and his universal law of gravitation.

336 years old and we still teach its main results!

An important note!

The “publication date” of July 5, 1687 is a convenient starting point for a discussion of Principia. But as @rmathematicus explains in this blog post, it is not a publication date in the sense commonly understood today.

Rather than spoil the punchline, I encourage you to read the post:

https://thonyc.wordpress.com/2014/07/05/published-on/

Here’s my big announcement!

As a human rights lawyer, I’ve spent my career supporting DV survivors, asylum seekers, and demanding economic, social, and climate justice.

I’m running for U.S. Congress in the district I grew up in because these crises are getting worse—and justice can’t wait.

Watch our launch video here: https://youtu.be/qvng-I2KcGQ

Donate Here: https://secure.actblue.com/donate/qasimforcongress-social?refcode=mastodon

I firmly believe that if Ukraine falls, it will embolden autocrats around the world and endanger the faith that citizens of the free world have in democracy.

When I was a kid I would ask adults "when you were little were fireworks in black and white?" That was my go to joke. It always got big laughs. 4th of July was my time to shine.

I’m back

Looking for news?

Follow @w7voa and @fulelo. Both post a variety of news stories throughout the day.

After following, hit the notification button, so that you will not miss their posts. (You can set up a list that will do the same thing. Both notifications and lists set up what is a second feed.)

There are some news organizations to follow:

@gbhnews (Boston)
@TexasObserver (Texas)
@TucsonSentinel (Arizona)
@flatwaterfreepress (Nebraska)
@damemagazine (General)
@ProPublica (General)

All of these individuals and organizations have shown a commitment to the fediverse and Mastodon.

And I edited this post because we can here. 🤣

Reddit has now sufficiently broken their own site that moderators of the Blind subreddit who are themselves blind can no longer access the moderator tools.

This statement by the mod team is worth a read to understand the full extent of the failure.

https://www.reddit.com/r/Blind/comments/14nzwkm/they_finally_did_it_reddit_made_it_impossible_for/

#blind #accessibility #reddit

"Oh wow, you are on fire lately!" 🍿

#krita #MastoArt

A feature I really like about Mastadon is a billionaire hasn’t force fed me content from nutjobs and I can actually see the people I follow.

BlueSky is pausing new accounts due to tech issues. Interestingly, when the main Mastodon server was overwhelmed with new accounts (which obviously can happen to anyone), users could still create new account on other servers, or start their own servers, which demonstrated the advantages of a decentralized social network. #bluesky #mastodon