● 06.03.23

Gemini version available ♊︎

● Links 03/06/2023: Apache NetBeans 18 and ArcaOS 5.0.8

Posted in News Roundup at 3:32 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz

GNU/Linux

Kernel Space

• I presented, “Exploiting Concurrency Vulnerabilities in System Call Wrappers,” a paper on the topic of compromising system call interposition-based protection systems, such as COTS virus scanners, OpenBSD and NetBSD’s Systrace, the TIS Generic Software Wrappers Toolkit (GSWTK), and CerbNG. The key insight here is that the historic assumption of “atomicity” of system calls is falacious, and that on both uniprocessor and multiprocessing systems, it is trivial to construct a race between system call wrappers and malicious user processes to bypass protections. I demonstrated sample exploit code against the Sysjail policy on Systrace, and IDwrappers on GSWTK, but the paper includes a more extensive discussion including vulnerabilities in sudo‘s Systrace monitor mode. You can read the paper and see the presentation slides here. All affected vendors received at least six months, and in some cases many years advance notice regarding these vulnerabilities.

Applications

• Apache NetBeans 18 was released on May 30, 2023.

• Apache NetBeans 18 is available for download from your closest Apache mirror.

Instructionals/Technical

• OpenLiteSpeed is a high performance and lightweight HTTP server developed by LiteSpeed Technologies. OpenLiteSpeed is cross-platform (GNU/Linux, FreeBSD, MacOS) and can be integrated with applications developed in PHP, Ruby, Perl and Java.

• I have a problem with my latest laptop, the flSynclient synaptics GUI app does not work. I found that the touchpad does not use the synaptics protocol. Perhaps this is a sign of what to expect in modern laptops.

• Input devices can be configured by the ‘xinput’ CLI utility. There is no decent standalone GUI frontend for ‘xinput’, so for now just implementing one function, a GUI to toggle the touchpad off or on.

• In this tutorial, we will make stepper motor movement in clock and counterclockwise with Arduino Uno. The stepper motor is widely used in the application

• The Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) is a communication protocol used in the internet mail system. SMTP is responsible for sending, receiving, and relaying outbound mail between email senders and receivers.

• Optimize your PHP-FPM Configuration by using the optimum setup options. Expert-recommended methods can help your application run faster and more efficiently. Optimize performance and minimizing resource use.

• In the realm of software development, version control is paramount. Among the various version control systems available, Git has emerged as an industry standard due to its robustness, flexibility, and distributed architecture. In this article, we’ll be focusing on the fundamental steps of a basic Git workflow: Add, Commit, and Push.

• Since adding warnings and other new messages is a breaking API change, all of these packages are now broken in Fedora and by extension any other Linux distribution that packages them, uses GNU Grep 3.8 or later, and hasn’t reverted this change. Some of them are only minorly broken; others, either inspecting their standard error or operating in a context where other programs expect to see and not see some things, are more seriously affected. To repair this breakage, all of these packages need to be changed to use ‘grep -F’ and ‘grep -E’ instead of fgrep and egrep.

• ProxySQL is a high-performance MySQL proxy with a small footprint that can be installed in multiple environments such as VM, K8s, bare-metal, and Docker containers. ProxySQL is an open-source solution that provides high availability for your MySQL Cluster with support of connection multiplexing, provides query Rules to route writes to primaries, and distributes reads across replicas.

Desktop Environments/WMs

K Desktop Environment/KDE SC/Qt

• Plasma 6 porting continues, with stability improving daily and new features and user interface improvements trickling in.

• Okular now lets you choose the default scaling mode when printing PDFs

• Global Themes can now set the window decoration border size

Distributions and Operating Systems

New Releases

• In our continuing commitment to ArcaOS 5.0 (Blue Lion), Arca Noae is pleased to announce the general availability of ArcaOS 5.0.8, the eighth maintenance release of the 5.0 line. It should be noted that ArcaOS 5.1.0, the successor to the 5.0 line, is nearing availability.

• I have fixed three memory leaks. Before, leak_analyser.sh found 75 leaks from simply opening and closing Icon-O-Matic. It now reports only 27.

• I am now planning to implement a new shape type called “reference images”. This implements ticket #2748. As discussed in the ticket, having a reference image in the background greatly assists in vectorizing it. Reference images are just for reference. They will not be exported to the final HVIF file.

BSD

• The Travel Grant Application for EuroBSDCon 2023 is now open. The Foundation can help you attend EuroBSDCon through our travel grant program. Travel grants are available to FreeBSD developers and advocates who need assistance with travel expenses for attending conferences related to FreeBSD development. Applications are due August 2, 2023. Find out more and apply today.

Fedora Family / IBM

• Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform 4.13 brings key features and enhancements to the developer experience in the Red Hat OpenShift console. Here’s a quick overview of the 4.13 features and improvements based on customer requests: [...]

Canonical/Ubuntu Family

• I know that the Papirus icon pack is hugely popular so I figured I’d ferry word that a new version is available for download The June update is largely composed of symlinks to allow Flathub versions of apps already covered by the set match up to their corresponding icons. This includes icons for Adobe Reader, Godot 3, Jellyfin Server, Proton VPN, Puddletag, Waterfox, and ZSNES.

• Want to rename the audio devices that appear in the Quick Settings menu sound switcher?

Open Hardware/Modding

• Aping the Raspberry Pi 400 form factor, the Orange Pi 800 provides onboard eMMC storage which has just been doubled.

• We prefer to disable the Intel Management Engine wherever possible to reduce the amount of closed firmware running on System76 hardware. We’ve resolved a coreboot bug that allows the Intel ME (Management Engine) to once again be disabled.

• This bug was a buffer overflow which caused coreboot firmware memory to be overwritten by the TPM measurement log, keeping the S3 suspend method from working properly. As a result of this, we had to switch from S3 to S0ix suspend, which required use of the Intel ME in order for OS-level drivers to function.

• By fixing this bug, we were able to move back to S3 and re-disable the Intel ME on most platforms. (However, S3 suspend is not functional in the silicon we received for 11th Gen (Tiger Lake) U-class CPUs.) This fix was submitted upstream to coreboot as well.

• Why is this awesome? For rational people, it isn’t. But for masochistic Mini-ITX builders such as myself, our boards are limited to a single PCI-express slot. Gaining an additional M.2 slot opens up a rare extra possibility for internal expansion that, for once, doesn’t involve using dodgy internal USB connections.

Mobile Systems/Mobile Applications

Free, Libre, and Open Source Software

Web Browsers/Web Servers

Mozilla

SaaS/Back End/Databases

• PgBouncer 1.19.1 has been released. This minor release contains two important bugfixes to avoid rare crashes. These rare crashes were introduced in 1.18.0. It also adds a few files to our release tarball that are required to run our tests.

• See https://www.pgbouncer.org/2023/05/pgbouncer-1-19-1 for more information, the detailed changelog, and download links.

Productivity Software/LibreOffice/Calligra

• Here’s our summary of updates, events and activities in the LibreOffice project in the last four weeks…

• “The tradeoff is that we are pivoting away from work we had been doing on desktop applications and will cease shipping LibreOffice as part of RHEL starting in a future RHEL version,” Clasen adds.

• LibreOffice will remain maintained and supported in all supported versions of RHEL (and Fedora) with security updates as and when needed.

• The LibreOffice Documentation team is happy to announce the new Math Guide 7.5, for the equation editor of the LibreOffice productivity suite. Anyone who wants to learn how to insert formulas and equations using Math will find this 73-page guide valuable. Formulas can be inserted as objects into Writer, Impress, Draw, and Calc documents.

GNU Projects

• Nineteen new GNU releases in the last month (as of May 28, 2023): [...]

• Join the FSF and friends on Friday, June 30, from 12:00

• to 15:00 EDT (16:00 to 19:00 UTC)

• to help improve the Free Software Directory.

• Join the FSF and friends on Friday, June 23, from 12:00

• Join the FSF and friends on Friday, June 16, from 12:00

• Join the FSF and friends on Friday, June 09, from 12:00

• Join the FSF and friends on Friday, June 02, from 12:00

Programming/Development

• Software development has come a long way in the past few decades. With technological advancements, the use of machine learning and artificial intelligence (AI) in software development tools has become increasingly common. AI has the potential to revolutionize the way software is developed, making it faster, more efficient, and less prone to errors. However, as with any new technology, there are important considerations that must be taken into account when using AI in product and software creation. A key consideration is the impact on intellectual property rights (IPR), especially for the ownership and licensing of AI-generated outputs.

Perl / Raku

• Everyone uses git diff. But there’s that odd annoyance that you’ve probably seen before but are so used to that you’ve forgotten about it. The a/ and b/ prefixes…

• Example:

• james@computer:~/code/mgmt (feat/cool-feature)$ git diff diff –git a/lang/funcs/core/os/readfile_func.go b/lang/funcs/core/os/readfile_func.go index 206ba798d..48ac29dc7 100644 — a/lang/funcs/core/os/readfile_func.go +++ b/lang/funcs/core/os/readfile_func.go @@ -228,6 +228,8 @@ func (obj *ReadFileFunc) Stream() error { // Close runs some shutdown code for this function and turns off the stream. func (obj *ReadFileFunc) Close() error { + // TODO: Port to the new ctx-in-Stream close API.

Leftovers

Science

• In a bold stride towards the cosmos, the concept of settling on Mars is no longer just a flight of fancy. A number of ambitious plans for Martian travel and colonisation are underway, but first, why not simulate the conditions on Earth? NASA’s Mars Mission in the United States has embarked on a unique project, allowing a team of four researchers to experience life as it might be on the Red Planet, all within the confines of Arizona.

• The Starliner capsule was poised to fly people to orbit in July for the first time. But reviews found problems with its parachutes and its wiring.

• Earlier this spring, tiling aficionados thought maybe they’d found the shape of their dreams. Now they’re certain.

• Talking about mysterious sightings in the sky can be a nasty business.

• What would the intellectual powerhouse think about our culture of groupthink and self-righteousness?

• “Far beyond what we could have imagined.”

• Where’s the justice?

• We need to fix this.

• Bad ideas.

• Big changes are coming.

• But we have big questions.

• The truth is surprisingly obvious.

• Elizabeth Holmes, the former CEO of the fraudulent blood-testing startup Theranos, just started her 11-year prison sentence on May 30, a month after she was initially expected to, after enjoying one last beach day with her husband and their two small children: William, two, and Invicta, only months old.

• European Commission Speech Stockholm, 01 Jun 2023 Our society is facing extraordinary challenges.

Education

• In the latest installment of “Dear Boomer,” Helen Hudson writes about making the most of Stanford — and why you shouldn’t be afraid to badger your professors.

• Hong Kong will allow university students to apply for roles in the civil service up to two years before they graduate, a relaxation that comes amid a rise in resignations from government jobs.

• If affirmative action goes, bigger changes are necessary.

Hardware

• I only upgraded my local network to 2.5 Gbps Ethernet last year, but 5 Gbps Ethernet is soon coming to the home as shown by Realtek at COMPUTEX 2023 with demonstrations of their RTL816, RTL8157, and RTL8251B 5GbE chips that were initially unveiled at CES 2022.

Health/Nutrition/Agriculture

• A coalition of French environmental charities on Thursday accused the French state of negligence in regulating the use of pesticides, in a landmark legal case.

• The Transportation Department wants new cars to automatically stop when they detect an accident is likely.

• Northern Australia has enormous potential to expand its role in providing for one of the Indo-Pacific’s most crucial needs—protein-rich foods.

• HMPV can cause upper and lower respiratory disease in people of all ages, especially among young children, older adults, and people with weakened immune systems.

• The surgeon general issued a warning about social media’s impact on teens. What do we know about the research?

• In a time of fentanyl and meth, we need to use law enforcement differently—and more often.

• Three Filipino American chefs are nominated for the James Beard Awards, the culinary equivalent of the Oscars, held next week. These chefs are part of a younger generation giving voice to the Filipino American experience through the language of food.

• The outgoing minister’s comments come as news outlets report the parties aiming to form Finland’s next coalition government have discussed making changes to abortion legislation.

Proprietary

• Chatbots often make stuff up and reproduce human biases.

Privatisation/Privateering

• VR, the Finnish state-owned railway operator, has carried out a pricing revamp in an attempt to steer consumer demand toward less-busy hours and periods.

• The revamp includes a shift from an 8-tier to a 25-tier price system that, in theory, promises savings to passengers booking their trip early and additional costs to passengers buying a ticket at the last minute, according to YLE.

Security

• Two days ago I wrote about the malicious extensions I discovered in Chrome Web Store. At some point this article got noticed by Avast. Once their team confirmed my findings, Google finally reacted and started removing these extensions. Out of the 34 extensions I reported, only 8 extensions remain. These eight were all part of an update where I added 16 extensions to my list, an update that came too late for Avast to notice.

• A recent buffer overflow issue in Qt Network has been reported and has been assigned the CVE id CVE-2023-33285.

• I’m calling time on DNSSEC. Last week, prompted by a change in my DNS hosting setup, I began removing it from the few personal zones I had signed. Then this Monday the .nz ccTLD experienced a multi-day availability incident triggered by the annual DNSSEC key rotation process. This incident broke several of my unsigned zones, which led me to say very unkind things about DNSSEC on Mastodon and now I feel compelled to more completely explain my thinking: [...]

• An international group of experts are working to build the next generation of secure-by-design space systems.

• Although the SSL/TLS suite of protocols has been instrumental in making secure communication over computer networks into the (relatively) straightforward affair it is today, the beginnings of these protocols were far from ideal.

• New firmware to mitigate the recently discovered backdoor in over 250 Gigabyte AMD and Intel motherboard models is now available for download.

• The country has developed a lucrative speciality: cyberattacks for hire.

Privacy/Surveillance

• A Russian intelligence agency said thousands of iPhones were infected in an operation that shows “cooperation” between Apple and the NSA.

• Russian cyber security firm Kaspersky has revealed it has been hit by an attack that injects spyware into iPhones used by its employees, an attack that has been going on since 2019 and has been named Operation Triangulation.

• Krogers and Walmart are both expanding various IoT devices to more of their stores as part of a larger shift in how connectivity and intelligence will change how we shop.

• The District of Columbia accused the company of sharing user data in deceptive ways. A Superior Court decision said Meta had made its policies clear.

• The Rīga City Council on Wednesday adopted binding rules on the procedures for the placement of advertisements, signboards, and other information materials in Rīga, LETA reported May 31.

• Amazon will pay over $30 million in fines resulting from Federal Trade Commission claims that it illegally kept data – including that of children – collected by its products. Amazon disputes the claims but says the settlements “put these matters behind us.”

Confidentiality

• A technology company which holds data on 180,000 borrowers was found to have breached privacy laws after a user reported that eight moneylending companies had reviewed his credit data without his consent, according to the city’s privacy watchdog.

Defence/Aggression

• The United Nations Security Council adopted a resolution to renew arms embargo measures, targeted sanctions of the travel ban and asset freeze against individuals and entities.

• A US State Department ambassador told senators during a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing Wednesday that the Department of Defense (DOD) continues to block the US’s cooperation in the International Criminal Court’s (ICC) case against Russian President Vladimir Putin.

• Pakistani Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah called Tuesday for former Prime Minister Imran Khan to be tried in a military court following the outbreak of nationwide protests over his May 9 arrest.

• The president of former Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan’s party was arrested on June 1 in the eastern city of Lahore on charges of corruption, a government official said.

• Once convicted of “corruption of minors,” Ousmane Sonko will not be able to participate in the 2024 presidential elections.

• Washington is interested in the weapons but worries they’ll end up in the ‘valley of death’ if the Pentagon isn’t careful.

• Noeleen Heyzer departs less than a year after opposition and civil society groups called for her termination.

• Arrests follow discovery of house producing weapons for rebels fighting junta across border

• Locals warn that those displaced are in urgent need of food and shelter.

• It was unclear why Myanmar’s junta made the request to switch off the electricity to Shwe Kokko and Lay Kay Kaw.

• The last couple of weeks saw much talk about possible health issues suffered by Belarus’ strongman president Alexander Lukashenko. Exiled opposition members started speaking about “a window of opportunity for democracy”. However, observers interviewed by LRT.lt believe that even Lukashenko’s departure will not mean the end of repressions – or Russia’s ambitions to pull the strings in Minsk.

• The Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation (the Hawks) are investigating four cases of fraud and corruption in the Department of Defence (DoD) involving almost R170 million. Hawks boss Lieutenant-General Godfrey Lebeya gave an update on these active cases to the Portfolio Committee on Defence and Military Veterans on 31 May.

• The United States will open its northernmost diplomatic station in the Norwegian Arctic town of Tromsoe, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on June 1.

• Kyrgyzstan’s State Committee of National Security said on June 1 that a group allegedly involved in organizing illegal travel to European countries via Kyrgyzstan by using forged Schengen visas has been uncovered.

• The UN International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals (IRMCT) on Wednesday expanded the convictions and increased the sentences of two individuals who helped to murder and deport non-Serbs during the Balkan wars. The two, Jovica Stanišić and Franko Simatović, are former Serbian security officials.

• A regular Operation Atalanta maritime security patrol off the coast of Oman was rewarded with a two-ton haul of hashish, the European Union naval force reports. La Fayette Class frigate FS Surcouf (F711) of the French Navy captured more than two tons of narcotics.

• Nine people died in clashes that erupted after Senegalese opposition figure Ousmane Sonko was sentenced to two years behind bars, Interior Minister Antoine Diome said Friday.

• Victoria Cross recipient Ben Roberts-Smith committed a slew of war crimes in Afghanistan, murdering unarmed prisoners, a Federal Court judge has found. Mr Roberts-Smith suffered a massive court loss, ending an almost five-year defamation battle between the former-SAS corporal and three media outlets.

• Nonresident Senior Fellow Ilva Tare speaks to Jovana Radosavljevic, a Kosovo Serb who resides in the north of Kosovo and the Executive Director of the New Social Initiative, and to Agon Maliqi, an analyst from Kosovo.

• A judge ruled for newspapers that had been accused of defaming the soldier by reporting that he had committed war crimes in Afghanistan.

• One of Australia’s most decorated soldiers lost a landmark defamation case Thursday after a bruising trial filled with accusations of murder, domestic violence, witness intimidation and war crimes.

• Tensions are escalating between Tehran and Kabul, and the Taliban has a lot of Western equipment ready for the fight.

• President Joe Biden’s offer to have Australia counted as a ‘domestic’ economy under the US Defense Production Act may give a badly needed boost to the flagging economic relationship between the two countries.

• Planet A The United States and Papua New Guinea have signed a new defence and maritime cooperation agreement to combat illegal fishing, illegal logging and drug smuggling in PNG waters.

• With the evacuation of foreigners from Sudan nearly complete, expectations are that an Egyptian military invasion of Sudan is imminent.

• The court has annulled a provision authorizing guards to take measures to prevent demonstrations until the police arrive.

• Flashing a NES Zapper in his pants, the man stole $300 from a cashier before being caught nearby with the fake gun.

• Progress roundup: From Uzbekistan to Cook Islands, evolving views on behavior and relationships yield legal protection for battered partners and gay men.

War in Ukraine

• Lithuanian Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis insists Turkey should relent on its opposition to Sweden’s NATO membership, since it is a matter of security for the Baltic countries, one of the most vulnerable regions of the alliance.

• Nyet place like home.

• On Wednesday, May 31, 152 of the 158 alarm sirens tested worked without interruption, the State Fire and Rescue Service (VUGD) reported.

• Lithuania will reinforce control of the Schengen area borders with Latvia and Poland during the NATO Vilnius Summit, Latvian Television reported on June 1.

Transparency/Investigative Reporting

• The reported existence of a tape says something important about how the former president operates.

• Trump’s fear of damaging press was so much greater than his fear of criminal accountability that he ended up making an incriminating recording.

• Trump may be unpopular nationally, but within his own party, the devotion has not subsided.

Environment

• Climate change-fueled heatwaves are shattering records worldwide, and scientists expect them to worsen. Urgent action is needed, they say, to mitigate risks to health, food security, water management, and the environment.

• Years after the Ninth Circuit ordered the case dismissed, it is brought back to life with a surprising trial court order.

• Hoang Thi Minh Hong has received international recognition for her environmental activism.

• There is a strong opportunity for meaningful NATO-EU cooperation by using the Group of Seven as a convening platform for climate change-related discussions.

• The latest Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report warns, once again, that climate-change impacts—hazards such as bushfires, drought and flooding—are becoming more frequent and more intense, damaging nature, people and infrastructure. Yet measures to reduce …

• A weakened Tropical Storm Mawar is bringing heavy rains to Japan’s main southern islands after passing the Okinawan archipelago early Friday. Strong winds continued on Okinawa and dozens of local flights were canceled for the day. Formerly a super typhoon, Mawar had winds blowing up to 56 mph as it moved east over the Pacific Ocean. The Japan Meteorological Agency predicted a foot of rain might fall in places through Saturday morning. The agency issued flood and mudslide warnings in parts of southwestern Japan. It urged residents near rivers and hillsides to use caution.

• Similar weather patterns have caused flooding and landslides in the past.

• A massive mudslide killed three people, including two children, in the village of Qushai in eastern Tajikistan in the early hours of June 1.

• The system will be short-lived and could weaken in less than 24 hours.

• Few plastics are recycled, and instead particles are increasingly ubiquitous in the environment. Our charts give context as nations seek a treaty.

• An engine problem led to the vessel drifting near Seurasaari in the archipelago before being towed to safety by rescue services.

Energy/Transportation

• Ireland and Germany have signed a joint declaration to cooperate on green hydrogen.

• You’re 2,200 times more likely to die when traveling by car as opposed to by airplane.

• BalticSeaH2 will build the ‘first significant’ cross-border hydrogen valley in Europe between Finland and Estonia.

• Environmental hype has crowded out any concern for people outside the vehicle.

• Small size, big temperatures.

• The International Energy Agency projects global renewable power will rise by a third this year.

• India released its five-year energy plan May 31, 2023, which bars the country from building any new coal power plants and promotes renewable energy development. India is the world’s third largest emitter but aims to be carbon neutral by 2070.

• A recent comparison conducted by Omakotiliitto, the Finnish Homeowners’ Association, has revealed significant variations in pricing for district heating services. The study examined the basic fee and energy costs of district heating in 97 areas and 73 companies. The analysis focused on a small residential property with a water flow rate of 0.2 m3/h and a power capacity of 10 kW. The findings highlight disparities in pricing among different district heating providers.

• Some foreigners have been using cryptocurrencies for payments after sanctions were imposed on their country.

Wildlife/Nature

• We are DarkSky. After 30+ years the International Dark-Sky Association gets an easier-to-say name.

• It’s swarming season in Britain, with honeybee colonies splitting in half in search of new homes. This year, beekeepers say they are getting an unusually high number of swarm sightings.

• In sea areas blooms of algae in the spring consume nitrogen, while leaving phosphorus-based nutrients for the blue-green algae that appear in the summer. Warm and calm weather can lead to powerful blooms of blue-green algae.

• The risk of extensive blooms of blue-green algae in Finnish sea areas still exists, as the nutrient level in the Baltic Sea continues to favour the appearance of blue-green algae.

• “As part of the process, we have initiated the national integrated maritime strategy…”

Overpopulation

• In what could be a glimpse of the future as climate change batters the West, officials ruled there’s not enough groundwater for projects already approved.

• For many years, Turkey has been unable to achieve yield increases in its key agricultural products, placing the country significantly behind its global competitors in this regard.

Finance

• European Commission Speech Brussels, 01 Jun 2023 Good morning. Good to be here.

• Thank you, Wim.

• The U.S. Senate on Thursday passed bipartisan legislation backed by President Joe Biden that lifts the government’s $31.4 trillion debt ceiling, averting what would have been a historic, first-ever default.

• The U.S. Supreme Court unanimously found Thursday in Slack Technologies v. Pirani that federal securities law requires plaintiffs to prove their shares are directly traceable to misleading information in a registration statement in order to sue. Fiyyaz Pirani, an individual investor, sued Slack Technologies, an instant messaging app, after the stock price dropped.

• Erdoğan’s declaration of property has been published in the Official Gazette together with the final results of the presidential elections. Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and his wife, Emine Erdoğan owe 5.39 million lira.

• President Biden both won and lost the debt-ceiling negotiation.

• The U.S. hit its US$31.4-trillion debt limit in January and could have defaulted on its debt obligations by June 5 without raising or suspending the limit.

• The bipartisan debt deal was a win for both Biden and McCarthy, but it might not have been the breakthrough Washington was waiting for.

• One secret ingredient: Republicans don’t care about policy

• Fending off a U.S. default, the Senate has given final approval to a debt ceiling and budget cuts package. It’s now on its way to President Joe Biden’s desk to become law before a fast-approaching deadline. The Senate ground through late-night voting Thursday to wrap up work on the hard-fought deal. The compromise package negotiated between Biden and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy leaves neither Republicans nor Democrats fully pleased with the outcome. But the result cuts spending for two years and suspends the debt limit until 2025 after the next presidential election. Biden says he will sign it into law as soon as possible.

• The construction industry is experiencing significant changes in job availability, with certain professionals in high demand while others face a decline in opportunities. Although the overall number of job postings has decreased due to the economic slowdown, long-term data indicates that the demand for construction workers remains high. This analysis is based on data from Duunitori, a leading job portal in Finland.

• STATISTICS FINLAND has revised down its estimate of economic growth in the first quarter of the year.

• Statistics Finland on Wednesday published preliminary data indicating that the gross domestic product grew by 0.2 per cent from the previous quarter between January and March, a noticeable downgrade from the 1.1 per cent suggested by a flash estimate published in mid-May.

• “…The Office of Trade Negotiations of Taiwan released a statement…”

• “People are scared. I’ve never seen them so scared as they are right now, even in 2008 and 2009. Many ask, ‘Can we take money out of our 401(k) plans? Is it not safe there now?’”

• You tell yourself that it will all be worth it for the registry. You drink. You dance. At some point, you pass out.

AstroTurf/Lobbying/Politics

• “In fact, Kılıçdaroğlu has won the elections. However, election frauds, the votes cast abroad, and the votes of those who were made citizens recently; all added up, Erdoğan has won this historical election. What we lived through has nothing to do with an election, democracy, or the people’s will being reflected; not even close to it. All of what has happened was an operation,” said the imprisoned politician.

• A conversation in which the former president is said to have acknowledged that he could not declassify a sensitive document could undercut a defense he has offered.

• France’s President Emmanuel Macron and Germany’s Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Thursday urged Kosovo to allow new elections in four northern municipalities, amid renewed tensions with the area’s Serbian population.

• French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz suggested holding new elections to ease recent clashes in the region.

• The results will of published in the Official Gazzette, a day after the publication of the parliamentary vote.

• Over the past few weeks, a series of operations has been carried out targeting not only political parties but also legal and media organizations with a Kurdish focus.

• The president of Kosovo confirmed that France and Germany have suggested holding new elections in four municipalities in northern Kosovo as a means of defusing tensions over the forced installation of ethnic-Albanian mayors.

• Several commemorative events were held around Taksim, where the massive anti-government protests started in 2013.

• President Joe Biden tripped and fell after handing out the last diploma at a graduation ceremony at the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado on Thursday, but got up quickly and walked back to his seat.

• Biden had been greeting the graduates in Colorado Springs, Colorado, at the front of the stage with salutes and handshakes, and turned to jog back toward his seat when he fell.

• President Joe Biden fell onstage at the U.S. Air Force Academy graduation on Thursday. The White House says Biden is “fine” after he tripped over a sandbag. Biden had been greeting the graduates in Colorado Springs, Colorado, at the front of the stage with salutes and handshakes. Biden turned to jog back toward his seat when he fell. He was helped up by an Air Force officer as well as two members of his U.S. Secret Service detail. He then returned to his seat to view the end of the ceremony. White House communications director Ben LaBolt tweeted, “He’s fine,” and Biden later joked that he had gotten “sandbagged.”

• A White House official said President Biden was feeling “totally fine.” He was helped up and walked back to his seat after stumbling.

• “…there have been a minimum of 80 fatalities in the ongoing ethnic altercations…”

• European Council President Charles Michel said he will have a “very important meeting” on June 1 with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian on the sidelines of the European Political Community summit in Moldova.

• President Biden said cooperation with allies had helped the United States confront challenges to stability around the world.

• EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said at the start of the European Political Community summit on June 1 in Moldova that Chisinau has a clear journey to joining the European Union and “must work toward reforms to fulfill the path to integration.”

• The upper house Senate of France’s parliament was Thursday due to pass a law that will better regulate social media influencers by limiting and regulating their ability to endorse products and encourage betting.

• The next summit will be held on July 4 under the chairmanship of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

• Taken together, the documents the AP obtained Thursday provide the most complete accounting to date of Epstein’s detention and death, and its chaotic aftermath.

• Twitter head of trust and safety Ella Irwin resigned Thursday evening, per multiple sources, after owner Elon Musk publicly rebuked his own staff over a content moderation decision.

• French President Emmanuel Macron chose Bratislava, Slovakia, to deliver a speech aimed at reassuring Central and Eastern European partners of France’s reliability.

• Mr. Trump has been indicted in Manhattan, and federal and state prosecutors elsewhere have opened a number of investigations.

Censorship/Free Speech

• A Hong Kong court has adjourned the verdict in the first trial relating to insulting the Chinese national anthem, after a magistrate cleared doubts over a police sergeant’s expert testimony.

• A court in Belarus’s western city of Baranavichy has sentenced activist Ihar Shumilau to 4 1/2 years in prison for posting online caricatures of several officials, including the country’s authoritarian ruler, Alyaksandr Lukashenka.

• Lawmakers in Kazakhstan are poised to scrap an article in the Criminal Code that envisions prosecution for insulting former President Nursultan Nazarbaev as President Qasym-Zhomart Toqaev continues to distance himself from his predecessor.

• A majority for the US Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit ruled Wednesday that Virginia Tech’s bias reporting policies do not violate free speech principles protected by the First Amendment, upholding a lower court’s decision to deny a preliminary injunction.

• Today’s decision in Gilliam v. Gerregano (Tenn. Ct. App.) so holds (in an opinion by Judge Kristi Davis, joined by Judges Frank Clement and Neal McBrayer).

• European Commission Speech Brussels, 01 Jun 2023

• Good morning everyone.

• Meta shareholders voted against a proposal from fellow shareholders calling for an inquiry into allegations of spreading hate speech and content moderation failures in India.

• Hong Kong government-funded broadcaster RTHK has removed from its newsroom a letter of gratitude for its reporters’ coverage of the Tiananmen crackdown, ahead of the anniversary of the 1989 incident, the RTHK Program Staff Union told HKFP.

• A Hong Kong cinema has cancelled a private screening of a documentary scheduled for Sunday after being reminded by an industry representative that the date – the anniversary of the Tiananmen crackdown – was “sensitive,” according to the organiser of the screening.

Freedom of Information / Freedom of the Press

• Wired’s Gideon Lichfield and Quartz’s Zach Seward are both leaving.

• The News Xchange’s Mark Rowland writes on the frontlines the conference hopes to survey.

• My Local hopes to fix some of the biggest commercial and editorial woes afflicting local news.

Civil Rights/Policing

• As with other cases in recent months, Georgia law enforcement has used specious classifications to charge nonviolent protesters with domestic terrorism.

• The golden visa could be a “game-changer” to attract more investments, said a minister.

• Much of Israel’s L.G.B.T.Q. community feels threatened by the right-wing government and its judicial overhaul plan — even with a gay speaker of Parliament.

• It’s not an adequate substitute for race-based programs.

• Initial findings in an internal investigation suggest the child was not provided with proper care. The acting head of the agency said changes to procedures had been made.

• The Federal Criminal Court of Switzerland on Thursday upheld former Liberian warlord Alieu Kosiah’s 20-year prison sentence for war crimes and convicted him of crimes against humanity, the first such conviction in Switzerland. Kosiah was initially convicted and sentenced for war crimes by the Trial Chamber of First Instance in 2021.

• Four people died when a storm sank a boat in northern Italy. Then it emerged that 21 of those aboard had worked for Israeli or Italian intelligence, igniting a speculative frenzy.

• Two New York lawyers, husband and wife Arthur Arcadian and Ilona Dzhamgarova, have been sentenced to six months and two years in prison, respectively, for assisting asylum seekers, mostly from the former Soviet Union, to prepare false affidavits and coaching their clients to lie under oath.

• The US Supreme Court held Thursday that a local union must litigate a property damage dispute in state court, as opposed to appearing before the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB).

• Plus: The Rolling Stones revisited

• In a new ruling, the Court sided with a company that sued its union for property damage because it went on strike. That sets a precedent that if a union strikes, it has to ensure the company won’t lose any money.

• At 14, Marie C. Bolden became the champion of what is believed to be the first national spelling competition in the United States. Her victory prompted a backlash.

Internet Policy/Net Neutrality

• Building and operating a network service that provides a reference time source.

• We know there is a lot of excitement around Starlink. We already knew that Starlink had indicated that they would be coming to Zimbabwe this year, 2023. It’s already June and we were starting to wonder when that would happen. We now have an answer. Starlink intends to come to Zimbabwe in Q4 2023.

• Investigating the EU’s Gigabit Connectivity initiative.

Digital Restrictions (DRM)

• Amid a continued push for regulatory action against the App Store in both the United States and Europe, Spotify dropped nearly $1 million on EU lobbying efforts last year, according to recently released data.

Monopolies

Patents

• On May 25, 2023, Unified Patents filed an ex parte reexamination proceeding against U.S. Patent 8,762,498, owned by DataCloud Technologies, LLC, an NPE and an IP Investments Group entity. The ‘498 patent generally relates to communicating to a network through a virtual domain. It has been asserted in over 25 district court litigations, including against 8×8, A10 Networks, Squarespace, Box, Arista Networks, Extreme Networks, and others.

• Unified is pleased to announce PATROLL crowdsourcing contest winner, Mani Manikandan, who was awarded a cash award of $2,000 for his prior art submissions on U.S. Patent 10,771,302, owned by Neo Wireless, LLC, an NPE and SoftBank entity. The ‘302 patent generally relates to a broadband wireless communication system, a spread spectrum signal is intentionally overlapped with an OFDM signal, in a time domain, a frequency domain, or both. The patent has been asserted against several automotive companies such as Mercedes-Benz, FCA US, Toyota, Nissan, GM, Tesla, and others.

• EPO highlights power of patents in driving sustainable development

Trademarks

• The Board upheld the USPTO’s refusals to register the two proposed marks shown below, for “hotel services; provision of conference, exhibition, and meeting facilities,” finding that the building designs are not inherently distinctive and lack secondary meaning. The proposed marks comprise the three-dimensional configuration of the front and back of a hotel building. Unlike in the Seminole Tribe decision, wherein the Board deemed a hotel building configuration to be neither product design nor trade dress packaging but rather “tertium quid,” here the Board panel found the designs to be “akin to the packaging of what is being rendered and sold inside, namely, hotel services.” In re Palacio Del Rio, Inc., Serial Nos. 88412764 and 88437801 (May 25, 2023) [precedential] (Opinion by Judge Jonathan Hudis).

Copyrights

• Unearthed at the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, Evenings at the Village Gate, showcasing the brief musical partnership between John Coltrane and Eric Dolphy is available to order now on Impulse! Records.

• Major labels are celebrating a court order blocking BitTorrent trackers in Bulgaria. Here’s the latest. The International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) represents the recorded music industry worldwide, alongside the Bulgarian Association of Music Producers (BAMP) have managed a successful blocking action against BitTorrent trackers in the country.

Gemini* and Gopher

Technical

Programming/Protocols

• Improved protocol efficiency can be a negative: if the pipe is “too cheap to meter” that means the pipe can be filled with too much stuff, something that was impossible before technological change lifted some pipe-bearing boats. The modem wasn’t very good in the 90s after it had been raining, for example, and not very quick at getting articles from usenet. Something even less efficient might have been better–provided that large media (books, OS installs) could be obtained in some other way. On the other hand, mobile data caps might make uncompressed content problematic, so there are trade-offs here.

• Ruin from improved efficiency might fall under “Jevons paradox”, originally applied to coal, where they improved the efficiency, the cost fell, demand went up, and thus The Great Smog of London. Whoops, externalities. A similar effect might be observed in the size of web pages: fast computers, big bandwidth, and now the pages often are choked with useless crap. Because they can be! And someone probably wants to keep those ad and engagement numbers up, and isn’t being paid to put the pages on a diet. Besides forest monks and lesser eccentrics (hi!) most consumers want a big pipe and a fast computer for videos and games—the demand is there.

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