The Death of the Mind

Google says that it will use its remote attestation system (“Web
Environment Integrity”) only in the most oppressive scenario: as DRM.

Making Google drop the rest of the plan is a tactical advance, but it
is not victory. Google still plans to prevent playing “embedded
video” through an application that users can trust. Why could users
trust that application? Precisely because Google could not trust it
to impose Google’s control over the users.

As long as companies have a way to control whether we use applications
that we have modified, we are not safe! Our goal should be to
prohibit the sale or distribution of computer systems that allow
remote servers to do remote attestation of the software you choose to
run on your computer to…

External feed Read More at the Source: https://stallman.org/archives/2023-sep-dec.html#12_November_2023_(Google_remote_attestation_system)

On November 12, 2005, I started a ‘blog’ to share news snippets and information about emerging file-sharing technology. At the time it would’ve been unthinkable that it would still draw visitors in 2023. But here we are.
Running a site like this on your own is impossible, so luckily Andy joined TF in 2006. Without his tireless input, the site wouldn’t be where it is today. I couldn’t have wished for a better partner to work alongside, period.
With two main writers and no other editorial staff we’re just a tiny operation compared to most other news sites. This means that we can’t cover every news story. Instead, we often try to focus on unique angles and perspectives….

External feed Read More at the Source: https://torrentfreak.com/torrentfreak-turns-18-today-hospital-edition-231112/

Hidden deep in Seagate’s financial report released late last month was a brief roadmap update for the company’s heat-assisted magnetic recording (HAMR) technology. As noted in the latest update, Seagate is now planning to begin mass production of its 32 TB HAMR in early 2024, which is a slight delay from what the company announced early this year. Meanwhile, the company expects to start production of 40+ TB HDDs in about two years’ time. “Qualification and revenue ramp plans for our 30-plus terabyte products remain fully on track with high-volume ramp starting early in calendar 2024,” said Dave Mosley, chief executive of Seagate, during conference call with financial analysts and investors. ” These drives deliver capacity…

External feed Read More at the Source: https://www.anandtech.com/show/21125/seagates-hamr-update-32-tb-in-early-2024-40-tb-two-years-later

What the Alpha means
The alpha release primarily focuses on preparing our software for a future release. It involves handling unreleased dependencies, version numbers, co-installation conflicts, and all the relevant bookkeeping work.
This release has been somewhat manic, with issues surfacing up to the last minute. However, that’s precisely what this early release is for: resolving these issues now and gathering feedback on packaging to ensure a smoother transition to the beta phase.
Feature Freezes
The complete feature freeze for Plasma is scheduled for the day of the first beta, which is on November 29th. After that, bug fixing will be the sole focus for a period of three months leading up to the final release.
A soft freeze is set…

External feed Read More at the Source: http://blog.davidedmundson.co.uk/?p=495

We just got done noting how pretty much all of the criticism of the Sprint T-Mobile merger by economists and consumer advocates wound up being true. The deal has resulted in more than 10,000+ eliminated jobs, steady price hikes, annoying new fees, a weaker T-Mobile brand, and a lower quality product overall. It also clearly distracted T-Mobile from competent network security.
T-Mobile’s reddit forums are filled with employees saying the disruptive spirit of the company has been dead since the merger. T-Mobile customers are annoyed by endless new restrictions and price hikes.
But Verizon and AT&T customers are also pissed, and are part of a new lawsuit against T-Mobile arguing that the merger raised prices for everybody…

External feed Read More at the Source: https://www.techdirt.com/2023/11/07/verizon-att-customers-sue-to-reverse-t-mobile-merger-saying-it-raised-everybodys-prices/

Matthew Garrett explains
why ACPI exists and why it is not as bad a thing as some think.

There’s an alternative universe where we decided to teach the kernel about every piece of hardware it should run on. Fortunately (or, well, unfortunately) we’ve seen that in the ARM world. Most device-specific simply never reaches mainline, and most users are stuck running ancient kernels as a result. Imagine every x86 device vendor shipping their own kernel optimised for their hardware, and now imagine how well that works out given the quality of their firmware. Does that really seem better to you?

External feed Read More at the Source: https://lwn.net/Articles/949625/

CVS and Walgreens are making enormous profits, but still trying to increase those profits by understaffing their pharmacies. That puts patients at risk of errors.

External feed Read More at the Source: https://stallman.org/archives/2023-jul-oct.html#23_October_2023_(Pharmacy_strike)

My final Medium column.

Just as important as what a regulation says is who it applies to.
Take financial regulation. A great idea! American could use some. But — as the cryptocurrency world forcibly reminded us — it’s not always easy to figure out when someone is doing something “financial.”
So let’s come up with a test. Here’s one: “If a transaction involves a million dollars or more, financial regulations apply to it.” Not every million-dollar transaction is “financial” but there are few enough of these that filing the “worth a million bucks, but not financial” paperwork for them won’t be a huge deal. Besides, anyone moving a million dollars around can afford professional help in navigating the paperwork.
But…

External feed Read More at the Source: https://pluralistic.net/2023/10/21/the-internets-original-sin/

Suggests bodycam footage should replace paperwork for simple arrests

San Francisco’s mayor, London Breed, has proposed drone surveillance and cameras on public buildings to curb the city’s crime problems.…

External feed Read More at the Source: https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2023/10/19/san_francisco_police_drones/