Communick News

Andy Yen's values are incompatible with Proton's mission. He advocates for poor security practices, supports fascists, and he verbally abuses his subordinates. As such, I can no longer in good conscience continue to financially support a company with such terrible leadership.

Unfortunately for me, my subscription just renewed last month on a multi year plan, but it does give me time to browse for and experiment with alternatives.

If you're able, I encourage you to do the same and cite Andy Yen as the driving factor for your decision. We can't let these tech bro fascists destroy what little semblance of privacy we have left.

• Pan-Arctic Cable: The EU will support secure, resilient submarine cable connectivity linking Greenland directly to Europe, with potential future extensions towards Canada and Japan. This project builds on existing EU investments and international digital partnerships.

• IRIS² Arctic Connectivity: Developed by the EU, IRIS² will provide secure satellite connectivity for government communications, with additional satellites planned to expand coverage across the Arctic in cooperation with EU countries and partners.

• EU Polar Research Hub : A new EU Polar Research Hub will strengthen the link between science and policy. By reinforcing the European Polar Coordination Office, it will better connect research, observation and scientific infrastructure, improve access to research resources and strengthen coordination including with Indigenous Peoples.

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Archived

This is what class solidarity looks like.

cross-posted from: https://scribe.disroot.org/post/12180534

International law foundation Global Rights Compliance has released a new report (pdf) exposing how Russian businesses are exploiting North Korean workers in a state-sponsored forced labour programme which is funding North Korea’s ballistic missile programme and bolstering Russia’s war economy.

...

• Report reveals North Korean workers advertised online to fuel state-sponsored forced labour programme in Russia
• Undercover investigation exposes first-hand admission from inside a Russian broker network
• North Korean workers are sent to Russia under the guise of students to evade UN sanctions
• Broker networks charge a commission of 100,000 to 150,000 rubbles per North Korean worker
• Programme funds North Korea’s expanding ballistic missile programme
• Overseas forced labour currently generates between $450m – $800m for the DPRK
• North Korean workers forced to work up to 18 hours per day, six to seven times a week, forfeiting 90% of their income to the North Korean regime
• Russia’s need to boost workforce intensified from economic pressures and demands of Ukraine war
• Workers are used in facilities essential to Russia’s war economy
• Investigation exposes some of the first images of North Korean workers in Russia
• Over 50,000 North Korean labourers estimated to be in Russia

...

Archived

cross-posted from: https://scribe.disroot.org/post/12181017

• Pan-Arctic Cable: The EU will support secure, resilient submarine cable connectivity linking Greenland directly to Europe, with potential future extensions towards Canada and Japan. This project builds on existing EU investments and international digital partnerships.

• IRIS² Arctic Connectivity: Developed by the EU, IRIS² will provide secure satellite connectivity for government communications, with additional satellites planned to expand coverage across the Arctic in cooperation with EU countries and partners.

• EU Polar Research Hub : A new EU Polar Research Hub will strengthen the link between science and policy. By reinforcing the European Polar Coordination Office, it will better connect research, observation and scientific infrastructure, improve access to research resources and strengthen coordination including with Indigenous Peoples.

...

Archived

Made myself some Earl grey (my first time drinking tea) and watched Generations (my favorite TNG film, and second favorite Trek film) as well as “The Inner Light”.

Edit: also, my Linux User’s Group is having a Halloween rice competition, so I last minute updated mine accordingly.

In my last post about frame deliveries we could still see a glacial pace of about 150 units per day at https://steamframeout.com/

It wasn't much, but at least it was consistent.

Only days later that rate dropped off sharply to this:

It's not worth doing any more calculations at this rate.

Obviously this is self reported data and thus not entirely reliable, but I think it paints a good enough picture to infer the situation: There is no significant stock left and combined with the reservation queue extending into an unspecified date in 2027 there is no expectation of new Frames this year.

The devices are sold out and nobody knows when new supply will arrive. I guess we're done with this for the foreseeable future. Congratulations to everyone who got one.

First things first, I don't doubt it is a bad thing, considering who supports it and who doesn't.

But my question is what exactly is the issue and what is the current and proposed voting process when it comes to IDs?

Here in my EU country, you have to show some version of a government ID, be it an ID card, drivers license or passport. And we don't have to pre-register to vote.

cross-posted from: https://scribe.disroot.org/post/12180534

International law foundation Global Rights Compliance has released a new report (pdf) exposing how Russian businesses are exploiting North Korean workers in a state-sponsored forced labour programme which is funding North Korea’s ballistic missile programme and bolstering Russia’s war economy.

...

• Report reveals North Korean workers advertised online to fuel state-sponsored forced labour programme in Russia
• Undercover investigation exposes first-hand admission from inside a Russian broker network
• North Korean workers are sent to Russia under the guise of students to evade UN sanctions
• Broker networks charge a commission of 100,000 to 150,000 rubbles per North Korean worker
• Programme funds North Korea’s expanding ballistic missile programme
• Overseas forced labour currently generates between $450m – $800m for the DPRK
• North Korean workers forced to work up to 18 hours per day, six to seven times a week, forfeiting 90% of their income to the North Korean regime
• Russia’s need to boost workforce intensified from economic pressures and demands of Ukraine war
• Workers are used in facilities essential to Russia’s war economy
• Investigation exposes some of the first images of North Korean workers in Russia
• Over 50,000 North Korean labourers estimated to be in Russia

...

Archived

The theater chain also unveiled a Sandworm Thumper design with a working thumper. Cue the memes.

Are they just trolling us at this point?

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.sdf.org/post/61132717

Damage to an undersea cable could severely disrupt internet routes between the United States and Taiwan, Japan or the Philippines and force traffic onto slower detours, according to a new report.

Archived

Researchers at the China Strategic Risks Institute published a recent report (opens pdf) for the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission warning that Beijing is building the means to sabotage trans-Pacific cables without tipping into open conflict. The commission released the report in September after a string of cable incidents around Taiwan that included a Chinese work barge suspected of damaging a line to the Matsu Islands in March.

The report's vulnerability index scores cables higher if they land in Taiwan or cross waters Beijing claims. Shallow, crowded shipping lanes can add risk too, since a dragged anchor there can pass for an accident.

Four of the 10 highest-scoring cables are still under construction, including Google's TPU and Meta's ORCA. The authors of the report said Chinese-free ownership leaves Beijing with little reason to spare the cables in the event of a targeted attack.

[...]

A geopolitical conflict over Taiwan that severed all four cables running directly between the U.S. and Taiwan could leave the broader trans-Pacific network with as little as 2% spare capacity at peak demand (see: China Could Coerce Taiwan by Hacking Comms, Think Tank Warns).

Losing only two cables, JUNO between Japan and the U.S. and the Pacific Light Cable Network, could push peak demand as much as 70% past the capacity operators have switched on.

[...]

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/53762819

I've written a little article about Gary Riches' James Pond 2: Codename RoboCod Recompiled, an kinda interesting project that takes the original 1991 Amiga game and recompiles its code to run natively on modern hardware, including things like the Steam Deck, Android retro handhelds and even the (recently jailbroken!) PS5.

It brings things like proper widescreen support, smoother scrolling, save states and quite a few other improvements. One aspect that's proved pretty divisive is that Riches made extensive use of Claude during development, something he's been completely open about.

I know AI-assisted development is a contentious subject in retro gaming, and I understand why people have strong feelings about it. My own approach to writing about these projects, though, is to cover what's happening in the scene, regardless of whether AI was involved, and make sure that involvement is clearly disclosed. I'd rather give readers the information and let them decide whether something interests them than avoid reporting on certain developments altogether. There's some fascinating technical work here, alongside a rather unfortunate reaction from parts of the Amiga community. I enjoyed digging into this one!

I am very much not that knowledgeable about Amiga games, so the last few weeks I've been reading up on the history and the recent projects on those old games. And I've been having fun doing so!

As with the last few articles, this might be a niche-within-a-niche here, but I hope some of you like it!

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ca/post/73113357

Set in a future in which there are basically two types of governments: the Eastern countries have formed into a brutal autocracy called “The Federation,” which is ruled by a president who gets copied into a new body when the old one fails, and the Western countries have each turned to AI Prime Ministers, programmed to make the most beneficial decisions without human influence, with less than utopian results. We follow the stories of dissidents of the former, and cabinet members of the latter, as the world is fundamentally changed. I enjoyed the book for its exploration of how technology might be used by different sorts of governments (especially to keep the powerful in power), and for the way it captures the way people keep finding hope, even when they feel they've lost it all. It's definitely a cautionary tale for our times.

The internet isn’t what we think. It is physical, subject to the vagaries of nature and time, just as our bodies are. Like us, it will flicker and fade. The internet’s fragility crops up everywhere: in the sudden disappearance of a relied-­upon website, and in the endless thrum of posts, images, and videos.