As it seems inevitable that the UK will extradite Julian Assange to the US to face espionage charges, a rally to support the Wikileaks' editor is planned to take place in Boston on Friday.
Posts published in “Politics”
The proposed legislation, which would regulate "gatekeeper" platforms in the EU, doesn't go far enough, according to the FSFE.
The state parliament of Schleswig-Holstein in Northern Germany has already produced plans to make the state government almost 100% open source by the end of 2026.
With Stallman's recent exit from the FSF, has the time come to put ideological correctness aside and just let Linux be Linux?
The Electronic Frontier Foundation wants to protect you from warrantless searches by computer repair people and they’re looking for your help.
Roblimo’s Hideaway
Warrant? Hah! Did John Wayne ever get a warrant? Fourth Amendment, you say? We don’t need no stinking amendments around here. We’re Geek Squad and we’re on the side of THE LAW, so if we find anything illegal on your computer and hand it to the FBI, you have no right to complain, pilgrim, and we deserve a reward!
Robin “Roblimo” Miller is a freelance writer and former editor-in-chief at Open Source Technology Group, the company that owned SourceForge, freshmeat, Linux.com, NewsForge, ThinkGeek and Slashdot, and until recently served as a video editor at Slashdot. Now he’s mostly retired, but still works part-time as an editorial consultant for Grid Dynamics, and (obviously) writes for FOSS Force.
Open data is an important concept at Code for America, which addresses the widening gap between the public and private sectors in their effective use of technology and design.
The Screening Room
For the past 10 years, Phil has been working at a public library in the Washington D.C.-area, helping youth and adults use the 28 public Linux stations the library offers seven days a week. He also writes for MAKE magazine, Opensource.com and TechSoup Libraries. Suggest videos by contacting Phil on Twitter or at pshapiro@his.com.
One of the things we can expect to see after Trump takes office in January is the demise of Net Neutrality, which some say will signal the end of a free Internet.
Op-ed
News organizations that like to have obituaries written and ready to go to bed well before a death actually occurs might want to go ahead and assign someone the task of writing an obit for Net Neutrality. Without a doubt, one thing that’s sure to happen when Trump begins his weekly commute to the Oval Office is an end to the legal principle that Internet service providers should treat all Internet traffic equally.
Christine Hall has been a journalist since 1971. In 2001, she began writing a weekly consumer computer column and started covering Linux and FOSS in 2002 after making the switch to GNU/Linux. Follow her on Twitter: @BrideOfLinux
Also included: FBI hacks 8,000 with single warrant, new Cinnamon desktop release, “government-backed attackers” after journalists, and FOSS Force adds beef to newsfeed.
FOSS Week in Review
Okay, Thanksgiving is over. Let the sales begin. Which reminds me, I have to buy a new cheap Wi-Fi router — cheap being the operative word. Any suggestions?
Otherwise, it’s back to FOSS news…
Christine Hall has been a journalist since 1971. In 2001, she began writing a weekly consumer computer column and started covering Linux and FOSS in 2002 after making the switch to GNU/Linux. Follow her on Twitter: @BrideOfLinux
Linux and open source has a friend in the “Great White North,” and we don’t mean one of the McKenzie brothers. As an MP, this…
A member of the Libreboot development team has painted a picture of a lead developer who is out-of-control.
It will probably not come as a surprise to anyone who’s been following the news about Libreboot’s sudden withdrawal from the GNU Project that not everyone connected with the Libreboot project is in agreement with project lead Leah Rowe’s recent actions.
If you need catching up, the story began on Friday when Rowe posted a notice to the GNU mailing list removing Libreboot — a project that produces free, open source and blob-free software to replace proprietary BIOS firmware — as a GNU project, which it had been since May. The reason, she said, was that an unnamed friend employed by the Free Software Foundation had been dismissed on the basis of her trangendered status.
Christine Hall has been a journalist since 1971. In 2001, she began writing a weekly consumer computer column and started covering Linux and FOSS in 2002 after making the switch to GNU/Linux. Follow her on Twitter: @BrideOfLinux
Also included: Libreboot leaves GNU, municipal broadband law proposed, Linux’s second 25th birthday, a new distro release, Vim and Emacs both get upgrades, Google’s hack challenge and Oracle can’t catch a break.
FOSS Week in Review
Yesterday I got a look at some decidedly old tech: Rope beds, pewter being made by hand, ceramic wood burning stoves, a bit of blacksmithing — all at Bethabara, which is a preserved 18th century village that had been established by German Moravians, who were the first settlers around these parts. Fascinating. The event was the annual Apple Fest, with plenty of local orchards offering every variety of apple imaginable, as well as about any kind of food prepared with apples.
Christine Hall has been a journalist since 1971. In 2001, she began writing a weekly consumer computer column and started covering Linux and FOSS in 2002 after making the switch to GNU/Linux. Follow her on Twitter: @BrideOfLinux