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Meet the Big Tech Critic Behind Hey, Basecamp's Radical New Email Platform
by Peter Reutemann 16 Jun '20

16 Jun '20

'The Basecamp cofounder and creator of web application framework Ruby on Rails David Heinemeier Hansson has become increasingly outspoken about Big Tech's privacy violations and monopolistic tendencies. Now he's inviting you to join the cause -- by switching your email provider. From a report: Two years ago, he and fellow Basecamp cofounder and CEO Jason Fried decided to do something about it. The culmination of that work is a paid, $99-per-year email service called Hey, which launches today. Along with protecting users from the types of invasive surveillance tactics that have become de rigueur online, Hey also contains some radical ideas about the way that modern correspondence should work. Silicon Valley will be watching the product closely: Consumers like to say they value their privacy, but are they finally willing to pay for it? [...] Most people haven't tried a new email service since Gmail launched 16 years ago, if not earlier. A handful of startups have played around with email interfaces in the years since, trying to make the experience cleaner and mobile-friendly, but no one has touched concepts as foundational as the inbox itself. Hansson and Fried argue that now is the time to do just that. They have made several radical changes to the inbox, the most glaring of which is that you, the email recipient, have control over who is allowed to appear there. That means you screen all first-time senders. They've also separated out what they call the "The Feed" and the "Paper Trail," so that there are distinct places for emails like newsletters and shipping confirmation notices. Because The Feed requires opt-in confirmation, it's much more pleasant to browse than Gmail's cluttered Promotions tab. It's also more private: Hey strips incoming messages of the tracking tools known as spy pixels that have become common practice in many emails. (The service indicates any emails that originally had tracking capabilities by displaying a small binoculars icon next to them.)' -- source: https://yro.slashdot.org/story/20/06/15/2034209 Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann Dept. of Computer Science University of Waikato, NZ +64 (7) 858-5174 http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ http://www.data-mining.co.nz/

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Chrome Criticized Over 'Senseless Attack on the URL Bar'
by Peter Reutemann 16 Jun '20

16 Jun '20

'The site Android Police is calling out new feature flags in Chrome's early-release Dev and Canary channels (V85) "which modify the appearance and behavior of web addresses in the address bar." The main flag is called "Omnibox UI Hide Steady-State URL Path, Query, and Ref" which hides everything in the current web address except the domain name... There are two additional flags that modify this behavior. One reveals the full address once you hover over the address bar (instead of having to click it), while the other only hides the address bar once you interact with the page... There's no public explanation yet for why Google is pressing ahead with these changes, but the company has said in the past that it believes showing the full address can make it harder to tell if the current site is legitimate. "Showing the full URL may detract from the parts of the URL that are more important to making a security decision on a webpage," Chromium software engineer Livvie Lin said in a design document earlier this year. However, it's also worth considering that making the web address less important, as this feature does, benefits Google as a company. Google's goal with Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP) and similar technologies is to keep users on Google-hosted content as much as possible, and Chrome for Android already modifies the address bar on AMP pages to hide that the pages are hosted by Google. Modifying addresses on the desktop is another step towards making them irrelevant, which hurts the decentralized nature of the internet as a whol' -- source: https://tech.slashdot.org/story/20/06/14/192227 Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann Dept. of Computer Science University of Waikato, NZ +64 (7) 858-5174 http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ http://www.data-mining.co.nz/

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regular meetings starting July
by Peter Reutemann 15 Jun '20

15 Jun '20

Hi everyone This morning I received confirmation that the university will be allowing evening meetings again on campus (assuming that the COVID19 situation doesn't change for the worse). The start date is Monday, July 13th, which is the start date of B trimester. In theory, regular WLUG and Python meetings would start up again in July. Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann Dept. of Computer Science University of Waikato, NZ +64 (7) 858-5174 http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ http://www.data-mining.co.nz/

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Does the Internet Need a New Architecture that Puts Users First?
by Peter Reutemann 15 Jun '20

15 Jun '20

'Two VoIP pioneers argue in a Wired opinion piece that "Treating the internet like a public utility only bolsters the platform giants," adding "A more secure model starts with control by the people." As we rely on the internet more and more for work, social connections, and basic needs, it is time to talk about the future of meaningful online experiences, and the need for a new internet architecture. We need a user-focused, localized internet. This competitive architecture would deliver an experience that values real-time connectivity over one-way advertising and puts control with the user, not with big tech platforms. This paradigm would flip the model on its head, letting people start with complete privacy and security, and from there allow them to open their channels depending on trust level. It inverts the terms of service, where instead of any platform imposing them on users, users impose theirs terms on the platform. A new architecture that competes with the "public" internet is completely possible, and it begins with a policy approach that fosters the necessary innovation and investment, while allowing for flexibility and experimentation. Fixing the internet is not rooted in treating it like a public utility; it is not to be found in micromanagement by government. In fact, those very backward-looking policies only fuel more harm by protecting the status quo, which is likely why big tech platforms have been so fervently pushing for them... As we argued in challenges to the 2015 Federal Communications Commission's public-utility-based Net Neutrality rules, this also kills investment, startups, and new innovation... [T]he public internet we experience today created the trillion-dollar tech platforms, but it allows for a few entities in Silicon Valley to colonize the entire planet and kill consumer choice. Six companies control 43 percent of all internet traffic. Of those six, three — Google, Facebook, and Amazon — receive 70 percent of all digital ad revenue in the U.S... Exposing everyone to the equivalent of homelessness online for the purposes of selling advertising already exceeds the tolerance of most of us. There exist more valuable uses of connectivity in support of human productivity than conjuring ever expanding modes of performance and creepy surveillance to drive advertising revenue' -- source: https://tech.slashdot.org/story/20/06/14/049230 Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann Dept. of Computer Science University of Waikato, NZ +64 (7) 858-5174 http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ http://www.data-mining.co.nz/

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GitHub, Android, Python, Go: More Software Adopts Race-Neutral Terminology
by Peter Reutemann 15 Jun '20

15 Jun '20

'The terms 'allowlist' and 'blocklist' describe their purpose, while the other words use metaphors to describe their purpose," reads a change description on the source code for Android -- from over a year ago. 9to5Mac calls it "a shortened version of Google's (internal-only) explanation" for terminology changes which are now becoming more widespread. And Thursday GitHub's CEO said they were also "already working on" renaming the default branches of code from "master" to a more neutral term like "main," reports ZDNet: GitHub lending its backing to this movement effectively ensures the term will be removed across millions of projects, and effectively legitimizes the effort to clean up software terminology that started this month. But, in reality, these efforts started years ago, in 2014, when the Drupal project first moved in to replace "master/slave" terminology with "primary/replica." Drupal's move was followed by the Python programming language, Chromium (the open source browser project at the base of Chrome), Microsoft's Roslyn .NET compiler, and the PostgreSQL and Redis database systems... The PHPUnit library and the Curl file download utility have stated their intention to replace blacklist/whitelist with neutral alternatives. Similarly, the OpenZFS file storage manager has also replaced its master/slave terms used for describing relations between storage environments with suitable replacements. Gabriel Csapo, a software engineer at LinkedIn, said on Twitter this week that he's also in the process of filing requests to update many of Microsoft's internal libraries. A recent change description for the Go programming language says "There's been plenty of discussion on the usage of these terms in tech. I'm not trying to have yet another debate." It's clear that there are people who are hurt by them and who are made to feel unwelcome by their use due not to technical reasons but to their historical and social context. That's simply enough reason to replace them. Anyway, allowlist and blocklist are more self-explanatory than whitelist and blacklist, so this change has negative cost. That change was merged on June 9th -- but 9to5Mac reports it's just one of many places these changes are happening. "The Chrome team is beginning to eliminate even subtle forms of racism by moving away from terms like 'blacklist' and 'whitelist.' Google's Android team is now implementing a similar effort to replace the words 'blacklist' and 'whitelist.'" And ZDNet reports more open source projects are working on changing the name of their default Git repo from "master" to alternatives like main, default, primary, root, or another, including the OpenSSL encryption software library, automation software Ansible, Microsoft's PowerShell scripting language, the P5.js JavaScript library, and many others.' -- source: https://developers.slashdot.org/story/20/06/14/1722223 Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann Dept. of Computer Science University of Waikato, NZ +64 (7) 858-5174 http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ http://www.data-mining.co.nz/

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Bypassing DRM On Your Fridge
by Lawrence D'Oliveiro 14 Jun '20

14 Jun '20

Certain refrigerators made by General Electric in the US <https://www.theregister.com/2020/06/13/ge_refrigerator_drm_keeps_turning/> have an RFID chip in their water filters to ensure that you only replace them with genuine GE parts. People have figured out how to hack this so cheaper third-party replacement filters will work, and now there is a website explaining the procedure. Quote: The GE website suggests that a water filter is a good idea to avoid exposure to unfiltered water and sediment, inadvertently offering a sad commentary on public water infrastructure and government funding priorities. I wonder how the lead levels are in the Flint, Michigan water supply these days ...

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OpenZFS Removed Offensive Terminology From Its Code
by Peter Reutemann 13 Jun '20

13 Jun '20

'On Wednesday evening, ZFS founding developer Matthew Ahrens submitted what should have been a simple, non-controversial pull request to the OpenZFS project: wherever possible without causing technical issues, the patch removed references to "slaves" and replaced them with "dependents." This patch in question doesn't change the way the code functions -- it simply changes variable names in a way that brings them in conformance with Linux upstream device-mapper terminology, in 48 total lines of code (42 removed and 48 added; with one comment block expanded slightly to be more descriptive). But this being the Internet, unfortunately, outraged naysayers descended on the pull request, and the comments were quickly closed to non-contributors. I first became aware of this as the moderator of the r/zfs subreddit where the overflow spilled once comments on the PR itself were no longer possible. "The horrible effects of human slavery continue to impact society," writes Ahrens in his pull request. "The casual use of the term 'slave' in computer software is an unnecessary reference to a painful human experience." Ahrens' pull request has been reviewed by fellow lead developers Brian Behlendorf and Ryan Moeller and merged into the OpenZFS project repository.' -- source: https://developers.slashdot.org/story/20/06/12/0543254 Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann Dept. of Computer Science University of Waikato, NZ +64 (7) 858-5174 http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ http://www.data-mining.co.nz/

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Internet Archive Kills Its Free Digital Library Over Copyright Concerns
by Peter Reutemann 13 Jun '20

13 Jun '20

'The Internet Archive's National Emergency Library is finished. The non-profit repository for digital preservation, which began offering millions of e-books for free to address the closure of libraries during the pandemic, buckled under a joint lawsuit filed by major publishers including Penguin Random House and HarperCollins. From a report: Publishers said lending out books without compensation was "mass copyright infringement." The digital library will close next week. The archive of books was initially invite-only and only allowed a given file to be downloaded a limited number of times at once, with each rental limited to 14 days. But then the pandemic hit and libraries closed, so the Internet Archive responded by making all the books accessible to everyone, with no limits.' -- source: https://news.slashdot.org/story/20/06/12/1411237 Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann Dept. of Computer Science University of Waikato, NZ +64 (7) 858-5174 http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ http://www.data-mining.co.nz/

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New FreeBSD Code of Conduct
by Peter Reutemann 13 Jun '20

13 Jun '20

'FreeBSD has has adopted a new LLVM-derived code of conduct. The code of conduct requires users to: be friendly and patient, be welcoming, be considerate, be respectful, be careful in the words that you choose and be kind to others, when we disagree, try to understand why. This isn't an exhaustive list of things that you can't do. Rather, take it in the spirit in which it's intended - a guide to make it easier to communicate and participate in the community. This code of conduct applies to all spaces managed by the FreeBSD project. This includes online chat, mailing lists, bug trackers, FreeBSD events such as the developer meetings and socials, and any other forums created by the project that the community uses for communication. It applies to all of your communication and conduct in these spaces, including emails, chats, things you say, slides, videos, posters, signs, or even t-shirts you display in these spaces. In addition, violations of this code outside these spaces may, in rare cases, affect a person's ability to participate within them, when the conduct amounts to an egregious violation of this code.' -- source: https://developers.slashdot.org/story/20/06/12/1430203 Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann Dept. of Computer Science University of Waikato, NZ +64 (7) 858-5174 http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ http://www.data-mining.co.nz/

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Canonical Releases Important Ubuntu Kernel Security Updates, Patch Now
by Peter Reutemann 12 Jun '20

12 Jun '20

'Canonical already released the other day a new version of the intel-microcode firmware to mitigate the latest Intel vulnerabilities, but now it also published new versions of the Linux kernel for all supported Ubuntu releases, including Ubuntu 20.04 LTS, Ubuntu 19.10, Ubuntu 18.04 LTS, and Ubuntu 16.04 LTS. Apart from mitigating the Intel SRBDS/CrossTalk vulnerability (CVE-2020-0543), the new Linux kernel security updates fix race conditions (CVE-2020-12114) discovered by Piotr Krysiuk in the file system implementation, which lets a local attacker cause a denial of service (system crash).' -- source: https://www.linuxtoday.com/security/canonical-releases-important-ubuntu-ker… Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann Dept. of Computer Science University of Waikato, NZ +64 (7) 858-5174 http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ http://www.data-mining.co.nz/

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