● 06.06.23

Gemini version available ♊︎

● Links 06/06/2023: IceWM 3.4.0 and Liveslak 1.7.0

Posted in News Roundup at 3:26 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz

GNU/Linux

Kernel Space

Instructionals/Technical

• This is the first article in a series that covers the end-to-end process of creating an Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2) instance on Amazon Web Services (AWS) using Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform. This tutorial demonstrates the steps required to set up the necessary resources to create an EC2 instance using the AWS module in Ansible Automation Platform.

• Follow our 3-part series:

• Part 1: How to create an EC2 instance in AWS using Ansible CLI

• On linux mint, there is an option that lets you create archives on your computer. You have to right click over the folder or file that you want to add to the archive, and it would archive these files into a archive format such as : 7z, zip, rar etc.

• OBS is an open source streaming software that you can use to stream online. It’s one of the most popular software when it comes to streaming.

• In this tutorial, you will learn how to fix the error “failed to connect to server” on OBS.

• In this post, you will learn how to install DokuWiki on Ubuntu 22.04 DokuWiki is a user-friendly and flexible wiki software that is coded in PHP. It is a free and open-source software and does not use a database software like MariaDB or etc but instead saves data in a simple file format.

• Grub Customizer is a handy graphical tool that allows you to configure and customize the GRUB bootloader in Ubuntu. With Grub Customizer, you can modify the boot menu entries, change the default operating system, rearrange menu entries, set timeout values, and more.

• BlueJ is a popular integrated development environment (IDE) specifically designed for introductory Java programming. It provides a simple and intuitive interface, making it an ideal choice for beginners learning Java programming on Ubuntu. This article will guide you through the process of installing BlueJ IDE on Ubuntu.

• Ubuntu releases (including LTS) and Linux Mint usually ships stable mainline Linux Kernel, whichever is available before the change freeze during the development phase. Ubuntu short-term releases feature almost the latest Kernel. The long-term version of Ubuntu and Linux Mint offers the mainline LTS Kernel. The LTS Kernel usually is pretty old and doesn’t support the latest fixes and hardware support.

• Hence, you may want to take advantage of the latest mainline Kernel without hampering your current Ubuntu or Linux Mint installation.

• But installing the latest Kernel by replacing the current distro-provided one is risky. If you are sure what you are doing, then you can follow the below steps.

Desktop Environments/WMs

• The latest released version is 3.4.0 (2023-06-04).

GNOME Desktop/GTK

• Manjaro users will be made-up to hear that GNOME 44 is now available to install.

• Icon theme packs and theme sets are the easiest way to adapt the look and feel of your operating system to your taste.

• As I mentioned in my last post, Builder has switched to GJS as it’s dynamic language for plugins. We already support a number of compiled languages including C, C++, Rust, and Vala.

• Previously we had used PyGObject. Do to the lack of GTypeInstance support in PyGObject, that isn’t an option currently. I already ported all of Builder’s plugins written in Python to C over the course of a week last summer. That ended up making things both more stable and allow us to ship the GTK 4 port on time.

Distributions and Operating Systems

PCLinuxOS/Mageia/Mandriva/OpenMandriva Family

• LibreWolf is designed to minimize data collection and telemetry as much as possible. This is achieved through hundreds of privacy/security/performance settings and patches. Intrusive integrated addons including updater, crashreporter, and pocket are removed too. LibreWolf is NOT associated with Mozilla or its products.

SUSE/OpenSUSE

• Adding Python 3.11 to Leap 15.4 and newer Leap as a default Python interpreter that’s “too old”. In Leap, python3 is Python 3.6 that reached upstream end of life at the end of 2021.

• In our increasingly digital age, digital trust is the new gold standard.

Slackware Family

• Liveslak has a slow release cycle these days. It’s ten months since the 1.6.0 release which added full Ventoy support. There were a few minor releases but the last one of those was already half a year ago.

Open Hardware/Modding

• There are few feelings more satisfying than building your own home office or gaming setup from scratch. Sitting at your workstation knowing that everything is made just the way you like it, in exactly the way you imagined — it’s pretty neat.

Mobile Systems/Mobile Applications

Free, Libre, and Open Source Software

Web Browsers/Web Servers

Mozilla

• You know the deal: the world spins, a month passes, and a new version of Mozilla Firefox is released for Windows, macOS, and Linux. Firefox 114 arrives on schedule, with a few notable enhancements, a large dose of bug fixes, and additional web features that developers can take advantage of of. The “big ticket” item in this version? A new UI to manage the DNS over HTTPS exception list.

Productivity Software/LibreOffice/Calligra

• At the start of May, we began a new Month of LibreOffice, celebrating community contributions all across the project. We do these every six months – so how many people got sticker packs this time?

Licensing / Legal

• This list collects twenty popular free software applications and libraries released under Apache License. This is a continuation to our previous list with GNU GPL that unexpectedly became very popular. We hope this helps everybody who studies free/libre open source software to know deeper. Let’s read on!

• The web server (software) everyone in computing knows, Apache, is the best example of software licensed under Apache License.

Leftovers

Science

Hardware

• Digilent Analog Discovery 3 is a USB oscilloscope with a sample rate of up to 125 MS/s, that can also be used as a waveform generator, logic analyzer, and/or a variable power supply up to 5V. Several other features are also enabled through its software and the USB-C oscilloscope can also act as a spectrum analyzer, a network analyzer, an impedance analyzer, a protocol analyzer, a data logger, a voltmeter, and supports in-app scripting.

Health/Nutrition/Agriculture

• European Commission Press release Brussels, 05 Jun 2023 Today, the European Commission and the World Health Organization (WHO) have announced the launch of a landmark digital health partnership.

Proprietary

Pseudo-Open Source

Openwashing

• Long-time Slashdot reader theodp writes: On the AWS News Blog, AWS Chief Evangelist Jeff Barr has published a kind of obituary for AWS Documentation on GitHub (RIP, 2018-2023). From the blog post: “About five years ago I announced that AWS Documentation is Now Open Source and on GitHub.” [...]

Security

• Security updates have been issued by Debian (chromium, cpio, mariadb-10.3, nbconvert, sofia-sip, and wireshark), Fedora (ImageMagick, mingw-python-requests, openssl, python3.6, texlive-base, and webkitgtk), Red Hat (apr-util, git, gnutls, kernel, kernel-rt, and kpatch-patch), Slackware (cups and ntp), and Ubuntu (linux-azure-fde, linux-azure-fde-5.15 and perl).

• In early May, a new group of threat actors known as Nokoyawa added Canopy Children’s Solutions in Mississippi to their leak site. On June 2, Mississippi Children’s Home Society, CARES Center, Inc., Mississippi Children’s Home Services, Inc., d.b.a. Canopy Children’s Solutions (“Canopy”) a press release acknowledging that on April 4, they experienced an attack that encrypted some of their files.

• Canopy hasn’t yet notified any individuals. They state they are in the process of “conducting a comprehensive and thorough review to identify any personal information contained therein, and to whom that information relates. Once the review is complete, Canopy will move as quickly as possible to mail letters to individuals whose information may be affected and provide detail about the types of information at issue for each individual.”

• South Jersey Behavioral Health Resources has disclosed that they were hit with a ransomware attack on April 3. They do not indicate what group attacked them, or what any ransom demand may have been, and DataBreaches has not seen this incident on any leak site to date.

• According to their notification, “The investigation remains ongoing, and at this time, SJBHR is unaware if any data related to individuals was subject to unauthorized access and/or acquisition.” They say they are notifying in — wait for it: “an abundance of caution.” The types of personal information that SJBHR maintains on its systems that could potentially be involved include an individual’s name and contact information, Social Security number, date of birth, medical record number, treating/referring physician, health insurance information, subscriber number, medical history information, diagnosis/treatment information.

• When RAIDForums was seized by law enforcement in 2022, one of the forum users, Pompompurin, stepped up and opened BreachForums based on the RAIDForums design and policies. And when BreachForums was taken down by an administrator after Pompompurin was arrested and databases were seized, forum users waited for the administrator, “Baphomet,” to create a new and secure forum for them. But more than two months later, there has been no replacement forum for BreachForums, although there have been some attempts, like the short-lived Vice Forums that went up quickly in March but was taken down after one hour due to security issues. It never came back as a real forum.

• It isn’t news that the overwhelming majority of ad blockers in Chrome Web Store is either outright malicious or waiting to accumulate users before turning malicious. So it wasn’t a surprise that the very first ad blocker I chose semi-randomly (Adblock Web with 700,000 users) turned out malicious. Starting from it, I found another malicious extension (Ad-Blocker, 700,000 users) and two more that have been removed from Chrome Web Store a year ago (BitSafe Adblocker and Adblocker Unlimited).

• Security firm Fortra recently published an analysis of the zero-day vulnerability that impacted its GoAnywhere MFT customers earlier this year and committed itself to “continuous improvement.” Meanwhile, an analysis shows that dozens of organizations continue to run unpatched and exposed versions of GoAnywhere months after the flaw was discovered and patches became available.

• Fortra (formerly HelpSystems) first became aware of the remote code injection exploit vulnerability in its GoAnywhere managed file transfer (MFT) product on January 30, as we previously reported, and quietly alerted customers on February 1.

• Data theft using a zero-day in the secure managed file transfer software MOVEit Transfer has been claimed to be carried out by the Cl0p ransomware group, with the incidents starting on 27 May.

• The vulnerability was announced by the company that makes the software, Progress Software Corporation on 31 May, according to a post from the Google-owned Mandiant security firm.

• For the first time ever, researchers will be able to test the security of a satellite on-orbit at this year’s Hack-A-Sat contest at DEF CON.

Privacy/Surveillance

• Microsoft will pay $20 million to settle U.S. Federal Trade Commission charges that the tech company illegally collected personal information from children without their parents’ consent, the FTC said on Monday. The company had been charged with violating the U.S. Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) by collecting personal information from children who signed up to its Xbox gaming system without notifying their parents or obtaining their parents’ consent, and by retaining children’s personal information, the FTC said in a statement.

• After the recent round of layoffs and even closing down its China app, InCareer, Microsoft’s employment-focused social network platform, is back in the headlines again. Last week, Microsoft revealed that it might incur a $425 million fine over alleged privacy violations by LinkedIn.

• In 2018, the Irish Data Protection Commission (IDPC) initiated an investigation to determine whether LinkedIn has been violating European data protection law regarding its targeted advertising practices.

• Today, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Office for Civil Rights (OCR) announces a settlement with Manasa Health Center, LLC, a health care provider in New Jersey that provides adult and child psychiatric services. The settlement resolves a complaint received by OCR in April 2020, alleging that Manasa Health Center impermissibly disclosed the protected health information of a patient when the entity posted a response to the patient’s negative online review. Following an OCR investigation, potential violations of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) Privacy Rule include impermissible disclosures of patient protected health information in response to negative online reviews, and failure to implement policies and procedures with respect to protected health information. Manasa Health Center paid $30,000 to OCR and agreed to implement a corrective action plan to resolve these potential violations.

• “OCR continues to receive complaints about health care providers disclosing their patients’ protected health information on social media or on the internet in response to negative reviews. Simply put, this is not allowed,” said OCR Director Melanie Fontes Rainer. “The HIPAA Privacy Rule expressly protects patients from this type of activity, which is a clear violation of both patient trust and the law. OCR will investigate and take action when we learn of such impermissible disclosures, no matter how large or small the organization.”

• Also, the FBI arrested an accused swatter, Russia said the U.S. is hacking iPhones, and the FTC wants Ring to pay a fine.

• The state court of appeals held previously that unconstitutionally collected evidence could still be used for civil enforcement.

• European Commission Speech Geneva, 05 Jun 2023 Dr Tedros, ladies and gentlemen,

• I would like to start by thanking you for inviting me to Geneva today.

Defence/Aggression

• Senegal experts have called on the government to instill calm after days of the country’s deadliest violence in years and concerns it could have lasting consequences. Days of clashes between security forces and supporters of opposition leader Ousmane Sonko killed at least 16 people and injured hundreds. Police have arrested 500 people during the violence. Rights groups, analysts and locals said Monday that the clashes in Senegal are the worst political crisis it’s seen in decades.

• The full list of cases of male violence, femicide, violence against children, attempted murder, harassment, sexual violence, rape, and injury that were reflected in the press.

• U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken on June 5 reiterated the U.S. administration’s firm stance that Iran is Israel’s top threat and will never be allowed to obtain a nuclear weapon.

• Iran has not sufficiently implemented commitments to more transparency regarding its nuclear program, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Rafael Grossi, said in Vienna on June 5.

• Arab countries re-establishing diplomatic ties with Syria are making repatriation of Syrian refugees a top priority. “Even if they shoot me, I won’t go back,” a refugee in Lebanon said.

• A wave of public demonstrations has swept across Iran on the anniversary of the death of Ruhollah Khomeini, the founder of the Islamic republic, with Iranians dancing in the streets in a display of defiance of authority amid a crackdown on unrest that has swept the country.

• “…20 foreign flights per day are making use the national airfields…”

• US Secretary of State Antony Blinken called Monday for the normalization of relations between Saudi Arabia and Israel on the eve of his visit to the Arab power.

• U.S. Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken will travel to Saudi Arabia to discuss the idea at a time when the politics in the three countries may make normalization difficult.

• The meeting takes place on the occasion of an official working visit led by Venezuela’s President Nicolás Maduro.

• “Before this incident, armed people who identified themselves as affiliated with the Taliban had been seen in the district,” Kolbarnews reported.

• Penpa Tsering’s appearance in Canberra will go ahead as planned on June 20.

• Irene Khan, UN special rapporteur on freedom of opinion and expression, expressed concerns over the rise in hate speech in Serbia following two mass-killing incidents in the Balkan nation.

• Nigeria’s new president, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, has promised to make security a top priority of his administration. In his inaugural speech he promised, among other things, to provide security personnel with better training, equipment, pay and firepower. The new president has read the mood in the country well.

• A South African law enforcement task team was on the receiving end of thanks from the United Nations (UN) following the arrest of Fulgence Kayishema, said by the world body to be one of the world’s most wanted genocide fugitives.

• American, Chinese and Russian warships are joining the Komodo Exercise in the Makassar Strait.

• The judicial investigation into the Russian cargo vessel Lady R and her clandestine stop at Naval Base (NB) Simon’s Town is seen as a security issue and the panel’s report will not be publicly available.

• The 79-year-old Hanssen was arrested in 2001 and pleaded guilty to selling highly classified material to the Soviet Union and then Russia.

• Despite Belarusian and Russian athletes being banned from sports in Lithuania, a family linked to an oligarch in Vladimir Putin’s inner circle has been living on the Baltic coast, as well as sponsoring and taking part in equestrian events. LRT Investigation Team reports.

• The United States has sanctioned seven leading members of a Russian influence group with links to intelligence services for their role in Moscow’s campaign to destabilize Moldova and instigate an insurrection.

• Robert Hanssen, the notorious FBI double agent who secretly fed Russia some of America’s deepest secrets in the 1980s and 1990s, died in a top-security prison Monday, prison officials said.

• Russian fittings might have been installed during the construction of the strategically important Gas Interconnection Poland–Lithuania (GIPL) launched in May 2022, according to an investigation by the 15min.lt news website and investigative journalism centres in Poland, Latvia and Romania.

• Andrei Vereshchak, the jailed former warden of Correctional Colony No. 15 in the Siberian city of Angarsk, was handed an additional 10 years in prison on charges of abuse of office and bribe-taking,

• In a sign of rising tensions between Russia’s Wagner mercenary group and the country’s official armed forces, the private company led by Yevgeny Prigozhin has released a video of a captured Russian officer where he “confesses” to ordering an attack on the mercenaries.

War in UkraineEuropean Commission ☛ EU extends trade benefits for UkraineEuropean Commission Press release Brussels, 05 Jun 2023 The suspension of import duties, quotas and trade defence measures on Ukrainian exports to the European Union – known as the Autonomous Trade Measures (ATMs) – are in place for another year.AntiWar ☛ Reflections on Russia and Crimea: The Hate Goes One WayThis is the third part of a three-part series on our recent trip to Russia. Read part one and part two. We spent nearly 20 days in Russia, including 5 days in Crimea.France24 ☛ 🔴 Live: Ukrainian forces conducting ‘offensive actions’ at the front, says KyivKyiv on Monday said Ukrainian forces were conducting “offensive actions” on the front line as the country faces pressure from the West to announce the launch of a long-awaited counteroffensive. Russia meanwhile said that its forces had thwarted a major offensive at five points along the front in the southern Ukrainian region of Donetsk and killed hundreds of pro-Kyiv troops.France24 ☛ At French Open, Ukraine war shatters myth of sport as an apolitical bubbleFrom the war raging in Ukraine to the unrest in Kosovo, geopolitical crises have cast a pall over the Grand Slam tournament in Paris, challenging conventions and shattering the notion that sport and politics can be kept apart.LRT ☛ Latvia sends cars seized from drunk drivers to UkraineThe Latvian government continues to send to Ukraine cars seized from drunk drivers. So far, a total of 66 vehicles have been handed over to Kyiv, according to the Delfi news website.LRT ☛ NATO may agree on Kyiv’s pathway to membership at Vilnius summit, says French officialFrance hopes Ukraine will receive a pathway to NATO membership at the Vilnius summit in July, according to Valerie Rabault, First Vice-President of the French National Assembly.RFERL ☛ Biden Praises Denmark For ‘Standing Up’ For Ukraine In War with RussiaU.S. President Joe Biden thanked Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen on June 5 for Denmark’s role in a Western alliance “standing up” for Ukraine as it tries to fend off Russia’s 15-month-old invasion.RFERL ☛ Zelenskiy Meets With British Foreign Secretary in Kyiv, Thanks Britain For SupportUkrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy met with British Foreign Secretary James Cleverly to discuss the upcoming NATO summit, Ukraine’s formula for peace, and the scheduled London conference on reconstruction of the war-torn country.RFERL ☛ Russian Prosecutors Seek 18 Years In Prison For Ukrainian Activist From CrimeaRussian prosecutors asked a court in Rostov-on-Don to sentence Ukrainian activist Bohdan Zyza from Russian-annexed Crimea to 18 years in prison.RFERL ☛ U.S. Presidential Candidate Nikki Haley Says Supporting Ukraine In U.S. National InterestNikki Haley, former South Carolina governor and 2024 Republican presidential candidate, said helping Ukraine defend itself from Russian aggression is in the U.S. national interest.TwinCities Pioneer Press ☛ Joe Biden praises Denmark for ‘standing up’ for Ukraine in war with RussiaBiden is welcoming Denmark and Britain’s prime ministers this week.RFERL ☛ Kremlin Says Putin Mobilization Announcement Broadcast On Radio Stations Was ‘Fake’The Kremlin says a radio address supposedly given by President Vladimir Putin about imposing martial law in Russia’s three regions bordering Ukraine and announcement of “a full-scale mobilization” that was broadcast on several radio stations earlier in the day was “fake.”YLE ☛ Finnish child services take Ukrainian kids into care while mother shops, Russia cites case in anti-Western propagandaRussian media have claimed the case is part of a wider phenomenon where European countries are using child protection laws to abduct Ukrainian children.New York Times ☛ Biden Administration Shrugs Off Ukraine’s Attacks in RussiaFor months, U.S. officials said cross-border operations risked a dangerous escalation. But those fears have ebbed.New York Times ☛ Biden Invites Allies to Washington as Fighting Intensifies in UkrainePresident Biden hosted Mette Frederiksen, the prime minister of Denmark, at the White House on Monday, and much of the discussion revolved around providing support to Kyiv.New York Times ☛ Nazi Symbols on Ukraine’s Front Lines Highlight Thorny Issues of HistoryTroops’ use of patches bearing Nazi emblems risks fueling Russian propaganda and spreading imagery that the West has spent a half-century trying to eliminate.New York Times ☛ The Eyes of the World Are Upon UkraineThe moral equivalent of D-Day is happening right now.New York Times ☛ Has Ukraine’s Counteroffensive Begun?Here’s the latest at the end of Monday.New York Times ☛ Your Tuesday Briefing: Is Ukraine’s Counteroffensive Here?Also, train service resumes near India’s crash site.uni Michigan ☛ Ukrainian expatriate helping war-torn homelandJuliya Wicklund, an America Reads program manager with the Edward Ginsberg Center, helped launch the Ukraine TrustChain, a nonprofit aimed at helping the war-torn country of Ukraine.RFERL ☛ British Army Completes Training Of Ukrainian Military ChaplainsUkrainian military chaplains on June 5 completed training with the British Army before heading back to the war-ravaged country to give frontline troops a “spiritual umbrella.”New York Times ☛ In New Ukrainian Attacks, U.S. Officials See Signs of a CounteroffensiveKyiv has not formally announced the start of operations. But Russia said that major Ukrainian attacks had begun in the Donetsk region and that it had repelled the assaults and inflicted casualties.RFERL ☛ Russia Says It Sees ‘No Prospects’ For Further Grain Deal RenewalRussia’s Foreign Ministry on June 5 said it saw no prospects for extending the Black Sea grain export deal, which is set to expire in mid-July, Russian news agencies reported.New York Times ☛ Russia says it repelled a large-scale Ukrainian assault.YLE ☛ Russia starts naval exercise in Baltic Sea one day after Nato drills beginFinland is participating in the annual Nato naval exercises for the first time as a member of the alliance.New York Times ☛ This Famous ‘Spy’ Whale Likes People. That Could Be a Problem.A beluga whale named Hvaldimir was first spotted in 2019 wearing what looked like a camera harness. He has recently been moving toward busier waters, prompting fears for his safety.New York Times ☛ Fighting is raging at several points on the front line, Russian and U.S. officials say.

Environment

• The upcoming United Nations climate summit in Dubai will be aimed at closing the gap between Paris Agreement’s climate goals and global emissions commitments, according to COP28 director-general Majid al-Suwaidi.

Energy/Transportation

• Saudi Arabia is slashing its July output of oil to boost falling prices.

• Saudi Arabia also announced a further cut of oil production by 1 million bpd, which will start in July for a month that can be extended.

• The pandemic, with lockdowns the norm, resulted in a steep decline in oil and gas consumption and the loss of one in six jobs in the industry. Even so, a Reuters analysis of stock-based pay granted to CEOs at 20 U.S. oil and gas companies in 2020 more than doubled by 2023 when shares vested. That steep increase highlights a system that can richly reward executives amid mass layoffs, refinery closures and slashed capital spending.

Finance

• Terry Smith has cut Amazon from his giant fund after just a year and a half, losing around a fifth of his investors’ money on the position.

• Nothing is going right in this country. Our apartment building was just bought out by some software company CEO. He paid way too much money for it and for a while not even the trash was getting removed. We may have to move at some point anyway because of this and so I don’t even rightly know if I should tell my spouse to go ahead and transfer to a Walmart in a less fucked up part of the state or something. Once you do it you’re stuck at the new store for 12 months.

• Walmart bet big and bet wrong on Chicago and it turned into a money pit. Now the stores there are gone and they’re ripping out their losses from their remaining workers’ asses. Instead of just calling it after several years of not making any money in Chicago, they continued doubling down on a horrible business decision and then one week they announced “store closing on Sunday” at four locations. No reason. Certainly not “It’s the ghetto and well, looting.” CNN would never say that either (despite an eight page article), but it’s why.

• Finland’s net immigration reached a record high of almost 35,000 last year.

AstroTurf/Lobbying/Politics

• The first day on the job is always a challenge—get to know the people you’ll be working with, make a good impression, and, if you’re new Twitter CEO Linda Yaccarino, put out a growing cluster of fires that threaten to burn the place down.

• Lawyers tried to use the independent-state-legislature theory to sway the outcomes of the 2000 and 2020 elections. What if it were to become the law of the land?

• The bipartisan deal showed that the government is still capable of avoiding a self-inflicted disaster, but a credit-ratings agency warns it is suffering from slow rot.

• Mithat Sancar and Pervin Buldan revealed their intention to resign at an upcoming congress after their party’s underwhelming performance in recent polls.

• Following his re-election, Erdoğan has undergone a significant cabinet reshuffle in preparation for his third term.

Misinformation/Disinformation/Propaganda

• Putin appeared on TV and the radio and urged citizens to flee deeper into Russia.

• The Kremlin said it was investigating what it called a “hack” after a bogus speech aired on some radio and television networks.

Censorship/Free Speech

• Elon Musk has sat down for an interview where he discusses overall censorship and if new laws should be introduced to protect users from private companies.

• OVD-Info, a Russian human and media rights group on Sunday claimed police arrested at least 109 people during demonstrations supporting imprisoned opposition leader, Alexey Navalny. The group stated two journalists are known to be among those detained. The demonstrations in 23 Russian cities was organized by the Anti-Corruption Foundation (AFD) and coincided with Navalny’s birthday.

• Online platforms should resist binding us all to the rules of censorship-happy jurisdictions.

• Well, it was touch and go there for a while, but it appears “free speech” has been saved again! That’s right, as I’m sure you’ve heard by now, all hell broke loose at Musk Cult HQ (also known by Musk Cultists as “Musktown”).

• Due to officers intervening at the March protest, the offence was filed as attempted defamation rather than defamation, which would be punishable.

Freedom of Information / Freedom of the Press

• A spokesman for the Kremlin Dmitri Peskov announced on Sunday that journalists from ‘unfriendly countries’ were banned from covering St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF) which is scheduled for mid June.

Civil Rights/Policing

• ADDITIONAL RESOURCES for processing work-based residence permit applications are required to avoid major difficulties with work-based immigration from outside the EU, argue the Finnish Immigration Service (Migri) and Ministry for Foreign Affairs, according to Helsingin Sanomat.

• Eight independent labor organizations in Iran have called for the expulsion of the country from the International Labor Organization (ILO) and its session in Switzerland that starts on June 5.

• Students and staff members at two schools in northern Afghanistan fell ill with respiratory and neurological symptoms.

• Clandestine classes are keeping learning alive for girls whom the ruling Taliban have banned from school amid growing restrictions on women.

• According to Article 83 of the Constitution, Can Atalay, implicated in the contentious Gezi trial, must be freed from imprisonment to fulfill his duties.

Internet Policy/Net Neutrality

• Guest Post: Unitel is aiming to expand its IPv6 coverage to 80% by year’s end.

• The next two APRICOT events will be held in Bangkok and Dhaka.

Digital Restrictions (DRM)

• Microsoft is making SMB signing a default requirement in Windows 11 Enterprise editions, starting with insider preview build 25381.

• The right to repair would seem like a political no-brainer: a policy designed to extend the life of devices and equipment and the ability to innovate for the benefit of consumers and the environment. Yet somehow copyright law has emerged as a barrier on that right, limiting access to repair guides and restricting the ability for everyone from farmers to video gamers to tinker with their systems. The government has pledged to address the issue and Bill C-244, a private members bill making its way through the House of Commons, would appear to be the way it plans to live up to that promise.

• Spotify is cutting 200 employees from its podcasting unit, which represents 2% of its workforce.

• The streaming company’s head of podcast business, Sahar Elhabashi, announced “the difficult but necessary decision to make a strategic realignment” Monday in a newsroom statement. She also noted the employees involved will get “generous severance packages,” extended health care coverage and immediate access to outplacement support.

• It’s the second time this year the company has announced layoffs. In January, it cut 600 jobs, joining multiple other tech companies like Google, Amazon and Microsoft in layoffs that month.

• Spotify is cutting 200 employees from its podcasting unit, which represents 2% of its workforce.

• The streaming company’s head of podcast business, Sahar Elhabashi, announced “the difficult but necessary decision to make a strategic realignment” Monday in a newsroom statement. She also noted the employees involved will get “generous severance packages,” extended health care coverage and immediate access to outplacement support.

Monopolies

Patents

• Four winning schools receive funding for their initiatives to help raise children’s awareness of innovation and sustainability.

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