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Comment Every company should do this. Fight fire with fire (Score 3, Insightful) 49

If the UK wants to force Apple to backdoor their systems, Apple should shutdown Apple accounts and devices for UK government officials AND their families. Tell them to use Android.

The outcry would get the government to back off SO quickly.

Set a precedent.

Submission + - 'Kill Switch'—Iran Shuts Down Starlink Internet For First Time (forbes.com)

Submitted by schwit1
schwit1 writes: We have not seen this before. Iran’s digital blackout has now deployed military jammers to shut down access to Starlink. This is a game-changer for Plan-B connectivity for protesters and anti-regime activists when domestic internet plugs are pulled.

Simon Migliano, who has just compiled a comprehensive report into recent internet shutdowns, told me “Iran’s current nationwide blackout is a blunt instrument intended to crush dissent," and this comes at a stark cost to the country, underpinning the regime’s desperation. “This 'kill switch’ approach comes at a staggering price, draining $1.56 million from Iran’s economy every single hour the internet is down.”

Overnight, NetBlocks reported that “Iran’s internet blackout is now past the 60 hour mark as national connectivity levels continue to flatline around 1% of ordinary levels."

Submission + - US used powerful mystery weapon that brought Venezuelan soldiers to their knees (nypost.com) 9

Submitted by schwit1
schwit1 writes: The US used a powerful mystery weapon that brought Venezuelan soldiers to their knees, “bleeding through the nose” and vomiting blood during the daring raid to capture dictator Nicolas Maduro, according to a witness account posted Saturday on X by the White House press secretary.

In a jaw-dropping interview, the guard described how American forces wiped out hundreds of fighters without losing a single soldier, using technology unlike anything he has ever seen — or heard.

Submission + - FCC Approves 7,500 More Starlink Gen2 Satellites (broadbandbreakfast.com)

Submitted by schwit1
schwit1 writes:

The Federal Communications Commission on Friday approved SpaceX’s request to launch an additional 7,500 of its Starlink Gen2 satellites, bringing the total allowed Gen2 constellation to 15,000. The agency also granted the company’s request to operate in additional spectrum bands and to operate at higher power in other bands between 10.7-30 GigaHertz (GHz), pending the completion of an existing FCC rulemaking where the question is being considered.

The order also allows SpaceX satellites to use lower orbits, down to 340 kilometers, and provide direct-to-cell service. The company is seeking approval for a separate 15,000-satellite constellation that would provide upgraded direct-to-cell service using spectrum it’s purchasing from EchoStar.

The article notes that under the Trump administration has also revamped the FCC’s grant program, that under Biden canceled an $886 million grant, claiming absurdly that Starlink did not provide service to rural areas. Under the new program “SpaceX is set to serve the most locations of any ISP under the $42.45 billion Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment program after new Trump administration rules that made it easier for satellite providers to compete for funding.”

Submission + - Cory Doctorow explains how legalising reverse engineer would end enshitification (theguardian.com)

Submitted by Bruce66423
Bruce66423 writes: 'Donald Trump’s tariffs have opened up a new possibility for the technology we have become increasingly dependent on. Today, nearly all of our tech comes from US companies, and it arrives as a prix fixe meal. If you want to talk with your friends on a Meta platform, you have to let Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg eavesdrop on your conversations. If you want to have a phone that works, you have to let Apple’s Tim Cook suck 30p out of every pound you spend and give him a veto over which software you can run. If you want to search the web, you have to let Google’s Sundar Pichai know what colour underwear you’ve got on.

'This is a genuinely odd place for digital computers to have got to. Every computer in your life, from your mobile phone to your smart speaker to your laptop to your TV, is theoretically capable of running all programmes, including the ones the manufacturers would really prefer you stay away from. This means that there are no prix fixe menus in technology – everything can be had à la carte. Thanks to the infinite flexibility of computers, every 10-foot fence a US tech boss installs in a digital product you rely on invites a programmer to supply you with a four-metre ladder so you can scamper nimbly over it. However, we adopted laws – at the insistence of the US trade rep – that prohibit programmers from helping you alter the devices you own, in legal ways, if the manufacturer objects. This is one thing that leads to what I refer to as the enshittification of technology.

'There is only one reason the world isn’t bursting with wildly profitable products and projects that disenshittify the US’s defective products: its (former) trading partners were bullied into passing an “anti-circumvention” law that bans the kind of reverse-engineering that is the necessary prelude to modifying an existing product to make it work better for its users (at the expense of its manufacturer). But the Trump tariffs change all that. The old bargain – put your own tech sector in chains, expose your people to our plunder of their data and cash, and in return, the US won’t tariff your exports – is dead'

Comment Re:It's not as busy as it once was (Score 1) 45

by schwit1 (#65913102) Attached to: Craigslist at 30: No Algorithms, No Ads, No Problem

Facebook marketplace is run by aholes.

I tried selling some Pelican cases there. The cases are called rifle cases by Pelican but can be used for many other things such as camera, electronic or fishing gear.

FB marketplace permanently closed my marketplace account. Sent me a form letter email saying I violated the TOS. Appeals generate the same mindless, robotic form letter.

It is a plastic case, but it had the word 'rifle' in its name.

Submission + - Musk lawsuit over OpenAI for-profit conversion can head to trial, US judge says (reuters.com)

Submitted by schwit1
schwit1 writes: US District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers:
"There is plenty of evidence suggesting OpenAI's leaders made assurances that its original nonprofit structure was going to be maintained."

The backstory:
Elon co-founded OpenAI in 2015 and contributed roughly $38 million, about 60% of its early funding, based on assurances it would remain a nonprofit dedicated to public benefit.

Musk left in 2018. Since then, OpenAI cut multibillion-dollar deals with Microsoft and restructured toward for-profit status.

The accusation:
Elon alleges Sam Altman and Greg Brockman plotted the for-profit switch to enrich themselves, betraying OpenAI's founding mission.

OpenAI's response:
They called Elon "a frustrated commercial competitor seeking to slow down a mission-driven market leader."

The judge disagreed. Now a jury will decide.

Submission + - Google co-founder leaves California amid wealth tax fears (yahoo.com)

Submitted by schwit1
schwit1 writes: Larry Page, the Google co-founder and world’s second-richest person, has reportedly left California amid concerns about a wealth tax on billionaires.

Mr Page has moved the registrations of several entities, including his family office and flying car business from California to Delaware, according to filings with the states.

He has also personally moved out of the state ahead of a potential vote on a 5pc wealth tax, according to Business Insider, which first reported the move.

Mr Page, who founded Google in 1998, is the world’s second-richest person with a net worth of $270bn (£200bn).

The world’s richest person, Elon Musk, left California for Texas in 2020.

Submission + - How Bright Headlights Escaped Regulation — and Blinded Us All (autoblog.com)

Submitted by schwit1
schwit1 writes: Modern LED technology promised safer roads. Instead, it’s creating a blinding menace that regulators refuse to address.

- Headlight brightness has doubled in a decade, with widespread driver complaints and frustration.
- Regulatory loopholes allow manufacturers to increase brightness because of outdated federal standards.
- Regulations capping maximum brightness for LED headlights have still not been formulated.

Submission + - Trump says he will not permit dividends and stock buybacks for defense companies (cnbc.com)

Submitted by schwit1
schwit1 writes: All United State Defense Contractors, and the Defense Industry as a whole, BEWARE: While we make the best Military Equipment in the World (No other Country is even close!), Defense Contractors are currently issuing massive Dividends to their Shareholders and massive Stock Buybacks, at the expense and detriment of investing in Plants and Equipment. This situation will no longer be allowed or tolerated!

Also, Executive Pay Packages in the Defense Industry are exorbitant and unjustifiable given how slowly these Companies are delivering vital Equipment to our Military, and our Allies. Salaries, Stock Options, and every other form of Compensation are far too high for these Executives. Defense Companies are not producing our Great Military Equipment rapidly enough and, once produced, not maintaining it properly or quickly. From this moment forward, these Executives must build NEW and MODERN Production Plants, both for delivering and maintaining this important Equipment, and for building the latest Models of future Military Equipment. Until they do so, no Executive should be allowed to make in excess of $5 Million Dollars which, as high as it sounds, is a mere fraction of what they are making now. Additionally, the maintenance and repair of Equipment, once sold, is far too slow, and must be immediately enhanced. As President, I am demanding that maintenance be “spot on, on time.”

Submission + - NYC Wegmans is storing biometric data on shoppers' eyes, voices and faces (gothamist.com)

Submitted by schwit1
schwit1 writes: Wegmans in New York City has begun collecting biometric data from anyone who enters its supermarkets, according to new signage posted at the chain's Manhattan and Brooklyn locations earlier this month.

Anyone entering the store could have data on their face, eyes and voices collected and stored by the Rochester-headquartered supermarket chain. The information is used to "protect the safety and security of our patrons and employees," according to the signage. The new scanning policy is an expansion of a 2024 pilot.

The chain had initially said that the scanning system was only for a small group of employees and promised to delete any biometric data it collected from shoppers during the pilot rollout. The new notice makes no such assurances.

Wegmans representatives did not reply to questions about how the data would be stored, why it changed its policy or if it would share the data with law enforcement.

Comment UK is jailing people for simply criticizing others (Score 3, Insightful) 53

by schwit1 (#65906205) Attached to: UK Urged To Unplug From US Tech Giants as Digital Sovereignty Fears Grow

https://www.washingtonpost.com...

Start with Britain, where "grossly offensive" communications can be a police matter. In 2023, British police made more than 12,000 arrests under two communications statutes. For comparison, during America’s first Red Scare, from 1919 to 1920, one of the worst crackdowns on speech in the nation’s history, the United States averaged about 2,000 arrests per year, when the U.S. population was more than 50 percent bigger than Britain’s today.

Behind the numbers are stories like that of Elizabeth Kinney, a mother of four who was arrested for having called a man who assaulted her a homophobic slur — not to his face, but in a private message to a friend. After the two fell out, the now former friend sent the messages to law enforcement. Kinney’s attacker wasn’t punished, but she was, under the Malicious Communications Act. Told she potentially faced 10 years in prison, Kinney pleaded guilty. She was sentenced to the British equivalent of probation and community service, and fined the equivalent of nearly $500.

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