As promised, here is an interview with @ryanleesipes from #Thunderbird, on the whole #Mozilla and #Firefox terms of use situation.
We talk about why this had to happen, how Thunderbird will handle their own Terms of Use, what's happening at Mozilla, and what's changing.
youtube.com/watch?v=ctg5QzSt5t…
Clarifying what's happening at Mozilla: an Interview with Ryan Sipes from Thunderbird
Use a secure, encrypted, and fast VPN with Proton VPN: https://protonvpn.com/TheLinuxEXPGrab a brand new laptop or desktop running Linux: https://www.tuxedoc...YouTube
Overcoming barriers to Open Source procurement in the European Union
The EU has just started a review of European public procurement rules, and have asked for input on potential changes to the rules.Open Source Initiative
Over 110,000 Medieval Manuscripts May Have Been Copied by Women - Medievalists.net
A new study reveals medieval women copied over 110,000 manuscripts—far more than once believed.Medievalists.net
theonion.com/only-good-looking…
Only Good-Looking Person In Office Mingles With Hideous Coworkers Like Missionary Among Lepers
CHICAGO—Showing a graciousness and magnanimity that the rest of the world has denied these pariahs and rejects, Jordan Hall, the only good-looking person in the office, was reportedly mingling Wednesday with his hideous coworkers like a missionary am…The Onion Staff (The Onion)
It is now time to Rocq out with the Coq out
mathstodon.xyz/@gadmm/11414960…
Guillaume Munch-Maccagnoni (@gadmm@mathstodon.xyz)
https://rocq-prover.org/releases/9.0 "Rocq 9.0 This page describes Rocq version 9.0, released on March 12th, 2025. Go here for a list of all releases. This is the first release of Rocq, version 9.Mathstodon
Rylands BlogVotes For Women! Making Light Of The Fight
The first blog in our series for International Women’s Day.Rylands Blog
The 200+ Sites an ICE Surveillance Contractor is Monitoring
404 Media has obtained the list of sites and services that ICE contractor ShadowDragon pulls data from. ShadowDragon sources data from all over the web and lets government analysts easily search it and draw connections between people.Joseph Cox (404 Media)
Check this out..
@mirlo is killing it right now, and working hard to do the important (but un-shiny) work of making a site for #Musicians that anyone can host **inexpensively**
This is the endgame for the #Fediverse - thousands of indie sites, not mega instances - but it’ll take this kind of work to pull it off.
Good job, guys. I’m super jealous of you rn.
reshared this
Two different projects, but yes. I believe #Mirlo is working on Federation: github.com/funmusicplace/mirlo…
Today, we celebrate Mirlo 🎉
My project, #Bandwagon federates with ActivityPub, but is still missing other important features that Mirlo supports (like paid album sales)
The good thing is that we’re all converging on a similar point, and that will be a huge win for indie artists and labels everywhere.
Integrate ActivityPub · Issue #146 · funmusicplace/mirlo
I wonder if this would be the way to do activity-pub-express at the easiest level, though it seems to be primarily based around a mongo database.GitHub
It's amazing what both #Mirlo and #Bandwagon have achieved in the last few months. Big up yourselves! ❤️
(Not to forget #TheIndieBeat of course)
Bluesky To Sell Your Content To AI Data Miners
So it begins. Hidden in Jay Graber's recent charm offensive is this innocuously framed initiative: Bluesky is weighing a proposal that gives users consent over how their data is used for AI (techcrunch.com/2025/03/10/blue…)
Not so fast.
1) Shows they are planning on doing content deals with AI companies.
2) Seems like it is Opt-out vs. Opt-in (see below).
3) It is just a voluntary robots.txt file
h/t @Lydie tech.lgbt/@Lydie/1141490233448…
more...
Bluesky is weighing a proposal that gives users consent over how their data is used for AI | TechCrunch
Speaking at the SXSW conference in Austin on Monday, Bluesky CEO Jay Graber said the social network has been working on a framework for user consent overSarah Perez (TechCrunch)
Paul Cantrell reshared this.
“The goal is to cast vaccines into the shadows. That has deadly consequences.”
Legislators are bent on dismantling our vaccine safety net even as this deadly disease sees a frightening resurgence in our state. texasobserver.org/measles-outb…
#politics #USpol #Texas #measles #antivax #vaccines #health #healthcare #news #TXlege #Republicans
Amid Texas Measles Outbreak, Conservatives Double Down on Anti-Vax Crusade
Spread of the virus is due to low immunization rates in certain communities. Meanwhile, some legislators are cheering for more “medical freedom.”Joelle DiPaolo (The Texas Observer)
Is Your Printer Producing Gibberish? A Windows 11 Update May Be to Blame
After installing a Windows 11 preview update, some USB printers are churning out random, programming-related text. Microsoft is working on a fix, but there is an interim workaround, too.Michael Kan (PCMag)
Faster clapping yields lower-frequency sounds, as does cupping one's hands while clapping.
arstechnica.com/science/2025/0…
How one’s hand configuration affects the sound of clapping
Faster clapping yields lower-frequency sounds, as does cupping one’s hands while clapping.Jennifer Ouellette (Ars Technica)
Right at the end is the scary part:
"It might even be possible one day to identify someone based on their distinctive claps and use it as a kind of acoustic login for electronic devices."
More surveillance - AI to be used to review footage of every concert, theatrical performance etc. ever, and produce a massive database linking you to the sounds of your hand claps.
Then you can be tracked by the sound you make whenever your flat hand contacts something 🤯😱
@cdwilson
All my shack/office photos are carefully angled and tightly cropped.
I just backed up & shot a pano, as it's presently (just pre-spring) in the worst condition it's been in months.
Toying with posting for comedy.
LEAH HOUGHTALING | Woodworking on Instagram: "When I was in Atlanta two weeks ago @heartwood410 brought me crepe Myrtle. It’s stunning, and full of figure, and chatoyancy. It’ll need a few months to dry before I’m able to use it. Thank you, Jonathan! ❤️❤️
1,036 likes, 49 comments - leahhoughtalingwoodworking on March 12, 2025: "When I was in Atlanta two weeks ago @heartwood410 brought me crepe Myrtle. It’s stunning, and full of figure, and chatoyancy.Instagram
12 March 1903 | A Slovenian, Josef Sitter, was born in Šentjakob. A car mechanic.
In #Auschwitz from 28 September 1941.
No. 21141
He perished in the camp on 24 February 1942.
amazon.com/dp/B08VN7W1JR?ref=t…
Today's threads (a thread)
Inside: Firing the refs doesn't end the game; and more!
Archived at: pluralistic.net/2025/03/12/epi…
1/
Let me tell you how I became a proud science denier, and how it saved my life.
--
If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this thread to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:
pluralistic.net/2025/03/12/epi…
1/
I don't think this science denial. A big part of science is rigorous debate of the evidence. If you have evidence to the contrary, whether it's "anecdotal" lived experience or published data, then not blindly trusting established narrative *is* science. Dissenting views and contradictions are more valuable to the scientific process than confirmations* because it's evidence of some misunderstanding that can be used to push science as a whole forward.
*Of course you need some confirmations, and the replication crisis is a whole separate issue that leads to mistrust in science
In case you weren’t paying attention, most of the people that understand economics told you that Trump was going to be a disaster. Only those that were part of the cult told you otherwise. So now you are going to act surprised because you voted for a felon, a bigot, a con man, and a dolt.
fastcompany.com/91294460/trump…
WOW 😳 🤯
The Trump administration and GOP, they are admitting this!!!
theonion.com/tesla-dealerships…
Tesla Dealerships Attacked With Molotov Cocktails
Tesla car dealerships across the U.S. have been attacked with guns and Molotov cocktails in recent days over what protesters believe is Elon Musk’s overreach in government. What do you think?The Onion Staff (The Onion)
A true story: at one point Microsoft was selling four entirely unrelated products all pronounced "link". Microsoft Link, Linq, Lynq and Lync.
You'd think whoever let that happen would have lost their job, but years later as we were struggling to fix a Teams interop problem in Firefox, we discovered that the real problem was that MS had _two unrelated products called Microsoft Teams_ who never talked to each other.
Well good news everyone, that guy got promoted:
theverge.com/news/627483/micro…
Microsoft is replacing Remote Desktop with its new Windows app
Microsoft is replacing its Remote Desktop app with the new Windows app. The transition will take place on May 27th.Tom Warren (The Verge)
Not to take away from the amusement but LINQ wasn't "sold" nor was it a product, it was a technology included in .NET.
Microsoft really do have a naming problem though. I used to work at Xbox and I couldn't tell you how all the Xbox console names relate to each other. Unlike PlayStation where any Joe can understand that.
Anchorage Police Department: AI-Generated Police Reports Don’t Save Time
The Anchorage Police Department (APD) has concluded its three-month trial of Axon’s Draft One, an AI system that uses audio from body-worn cameras to write narrative police reports for officers—and has decided not to retain the technology.Electronic Frontier Foundation
Protect Net Plurality! 🦾
Broad brush duties under the UK Online Safety Act threaten any website with possible penalties.
Small, safe sites can't shoulder this burden. We'll see the lights going out on blogs, Fedi instances and forums from 17 March with a devastating impact for online communities.
The Fediverse is under attack!
We must #SaveOurSites 🌐
openrightsgroup.org/blog/save-…
#netplurality #onlinesafety #onlinesafetyact #ukpolitics #ukpol #mastodon #fediverse #activitypub
Save our Sites: Deadline 17 March
Incredible as it may seem, thanks to the Online Safety Act, dozens of harmless, safe, small websites are closing down by 17 March, rather than face threats of fines that could lose their operators their homes.Open Rights Group
reshared this
I live in the UK and I'm in the process of building a website about vintage buses, a harmless subject, you'd think. But what if my opinions, or comments made by my readers fall foul of these unclear rules? The UK's freedom of speech is being quickly (not slowly) eroded.
I think I'll just build my website offline for now and just post on Mastodon, until Mastodon faces the same issues as been suggested regarding content by UK users.
Let's hope that it never comes to that.
Online speech went the moment the law was passed. Mastodon is the least safe from the law too, as there's no big lobbyist to help us. I'm starting to think if they're going to make us criminals just for talking to each other (the law talks about groupchats and email too), we might be better off just accepting it and talking via Tor anyway, sadly...
@openrightsgroup
Step-by-step guide to reading the leaked militia chats yourself
Welcome to the second installment of my series on the Paramilitary Leaks! In case you missed it, the first installment is here: Exploring the Paramilitary Leaks. Since I published that, several people reached out offering to help.Micah Lee (micahflee)
Blaise (@Beerbruin@makersocial.online)
756 Posts, 430 Following, 178 Followers · Engineer, Dad, Maker, Artist, Ballroom Dancer, Entrepreneur, Axe-flinger...Maker Social
reshared this
buff.ly/5IQacBx
US-Ukraine deal highlights Ukraine’s wealth of critical minerals, but extracting them isn’t so simple
Critical minerals are in demand around the world for military, technology and other uses. A geoscientist shares what’s known about Ukraine’s reserves, which could help the country recover from war.The Conversation
Jiří Eischmann
in reply to Nick @ The Linux Experiment • • •Great video! I just feel the whole thing has been very poorly communicated. What @ryanleesipes is doing here Mozilla should have been doing from the very beginning. We're a fairly big Firefox redistributor and there has been no communication towards us. And it does make people nervous here.
BTW is there any particular reason why the video is only 720p on PeerTube and 1080p on YouTube?
auser
in reply to Jiří Eischmann • • •Jiří Eischmann
in reply to auser • • •Nick @ The Linux Experiment
in reply to Jiří Eischmann • • •Jiří Eischmann
in reply to Nick @ The Linux Experiment • • •@ryanleesipes
Nick @ The Linux Experiment
in reply to Jiří Eischmann • • •sebulon
in reply to Nick @ The Linux Experiment • • •@sesivany It's awesome of you to upload to PeerTube, I love that! ❤️
If it's not too much to ask, could you also post PeerTube links in your posts going forward? Because I didn't even know you did that.
Nick @ The Linux Experiment
in reply to sebulon • • •sebulon
in reply to Nick @ The Linux Experiment • • •Amy
in reply to Nick @ The Linux Experiment • • •argv minus one
in reply to Nick @ The Linux Experiment • • •“Why this had to happen”? Well, that's certainly ominous and gaslight-y (because no, it didn't have to happen).
Will #Mozilla next be asserting the right to scrape and sell the contents of our emails as well?
#Thunderbird
Nick @ The Linux Experiment
in reply to argv minus one • • •argv minus one
in reply to Nick @ The Linux Experiment • • •Quoth the ToU announcement:
> the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) defines “sale” as the “selling, renting, releasing, disclosing, disseminating, making available, transferring, or otherwise communicating orally, in writing, or by electronic or other means, a consumer’s personal information by [a] business to another business or a third party” in exchange for “monetary” or “other valuable consideration.”
Mozilla is not supposed to be doing any of that!
@ryanleesipes
John
in reply to Nick @ The Linux Experiment • • •@argv_minus_one FWIW, these changes make Firefox not really a viable option anymore in the current political environment, independent of whether the changes "had to happen."
Such a big change should merit reconsideration of the contract with google rather than the drastic widening of TOS on behalf of all users (esp considering one of the first things I do is disable google as the default search engine).
Darohan
in reply to Nick @ The Linux Experiment • • •James
in reply to Nick @ The Linux Experiment • • •Kevin
in reply to Nick @ The Linux Experiment • • •Louis
in reply to Nick @ The Linux Experiment • • •I love Firefox and Thunderbird even more, I would be sad to have to switch!