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Internet Society

Safety Over Bans: Internet Society Challenges App Store Age Verification

Imagine having to provide a government ID before downloading an app to clock in at work, submit homework, check the weather, or access your bank account. Under a new Texas law, that could become a reality for millions of people.

9to5Linux

KDE Frameworks 6.28 Released with Support for New KRunner Conversion Units

The monthly KDE Frameworks releases continue, and KDE Frameworks 6.28 adds support for converting between watt-hours, kilowatt-hours, and other similar energy units in KRunner-powered search fields, and improves the alignment of thumbnail previews in open/save dialogs across KDE apps.

Ubuntu 25.10 Reached End of Life, It’s Time to Upgrade to Ubuntu 26.04 LTS

Ubuntu 25.10 was released on October 9th, 2025, and, since it’s not an Ubuntu LTS (Long Term Support) release, it only received support for nine months, until July 2026. Ubuntu 25.10 was powered by the Linux 6.17 kernel series and featured the GNOME 49 desktop environment series with a Wayland-only session.

PipeWire 1.6.8 Improves JACK/MIDI Support for Ardour, SOFA Filter, and More

Coming three weeks after PipeWire 1.6.7, the PipeWire 1.6.8 release fixes a data race in JACK’s jack_port_get_buffer() function that could cause lost MIDI events in the Ardour DAW (Digital Audio Workstation) when called from concurrent threads, and adds normalize and latency options to the SOFA filter.

Wireshark 4.6.7 Released with Updated Protocol Support, Bug and Security Fixes

Coming a month and a half after Wireshark 4.6.6, the Wireshark 4.6.7 release updates support for the ALC, BACapp, C2P, Catapult DCT2000, COTP, CSN.1, DCERPC, DCERPC MAPI, DCERPC NSPI, DNS, DVB-S2-TABLE, eDonkey, EPL, FC ELS, FMP/NOTIFY, H.265, HiPerConTracer, IEEE 802.11, LLS, MEGACO, MIH, MPEG DSM-CC, MS-WSP, RELOAD, SGP.32, SSH, STANAG 4607, UMTS FP, WOWW, and Z39.50 protocols.

GStreamer 1.28.5 Multimedia Framework Adds Support for H.266/VVC Decoding

Coming about a month after GStreamer 1.28.4, the GStreamer 1.28.5 release is here to add support for H.266/VVC decoding to the gopbuffer element, fix subtitle green flickering with VA decoders on AMD GPUs, improve HEVC with alpha decoding in the H.265 decoder, and add ts-clocksync to the threadshare element.

news

Today in Techrights

posted by Roy Schestowitz on Dec 18, 2025

Sea spray flies off a wave heading towards a huge rock covered with black birds

Updated This Past Day

  1. It Won't be Long Before Microsoft Shuts Down LinkedIn (Already Subjected to Many Waves of Mass Layoffs, Offices Shut Down)
    It's measured as having lost a lot of "traffic" lately, despite all the chatbots and clickbots
  2. IBM (and Therefore Red Hat) Rapidly Imploding
    How long has it got left?
  3. LinuxSecurity Founder Dave Wreski Quit Participating in the Slopfarm 10 Months Ago
    They throw in the towel, sooner or later
  4. Still Not Enough for "Slopwatch"
    just something to keep abreast of
  5. Step One: Scan All Uploaded Files; Step Two: Compel People to Upload Everything Automatically; Step Three: Scan All Offline Files
    society gets more combative
  6. We've All Had Managers and Colleagues Like These, But This is How it Works at IBM
    Competent people scare the failing ones; so they get ousted, they're perceived to be "rivals"

    New

  7. Maybe the Future of the Web is Static Site Generators (SSGs) After All
    "Modern" Content Management Systems (CMSs) have become bloated and expensive to run
  8. Microsoft Lunduke: The Problem With [Some Program/Project] is That It's "Gay"
    It sometimes looks like he deliberately pollutes legitimise criticisms of people, institutions, projects etc. by unnecessary adding some political/bigoted overtones, thus stereotyping all critics and thereby discrediting large groups of developers (generalisation tactics)
  9. Firefox Became Irrelevant in the Past Year or Two
    Mozilla is essentially getting paid to "sell out" Firefox users
  10. The "Hey Hi" Ponzi Scheme Promoted Again by The Register MS
    After the bubble pops we must remember The Register MS for its role in it
  11. Links 17/12/2025: "Jimmy Lai’s Conviction Was Years in the Making" and "Pandemic Lockdowns Changed a Songbird’s Beak"
    Links for the day
  12. Gemini Links 17/12/2025: Passion and Creativity, Euronews, Avoiding "Smart" "Phones"
    Links for the day
  13. Links 17/12/2025: Qt 6.8.6 Released and "Is Denmark Really Banning VPNs?"
    Links for the day
  14. IBM Staff Inside Fedora as Pusher of Slop
    Who will clean up the mess?
  15. IBM Apparently Forces Red Hat Employees to Use or Put Slop Instead of Code in Red Hat's Products (or Test Code Using Slop)
    How can we rely on or trust future releases from Red Hat?
  16. TheLayoff.com Deleting Comments About IBM, Even Comments That Do Not Name Individuals and Don't Use Profane Language
    We suppose it's OK to criticise IBM, but not "too much"? Is this "too harsh"?
  17. Horizon Shows the Travesty of Proprietary Software in British Government, No Lessons Learned?
    When it comes to the government, we don't get to choose what systems to use and we also don't get to choose between businesses
  18. WordPress Begs You to Dump It (for SSGs), Just Like Mozilla With Firefox
    Even more worryingly, this does not boil down to some rogue employee or 'bad apple'
  19. Tom Silvagni sentencing: not Xavier College but DPP and social media to blame
    Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
  20. Links 17/12/2025: Operation Bluebird Lawsuit, GoDaddy Made to 'Dox' Clients
    Links for the day
  21. Mental Problems in Free Software
    Nobody seems to be interested in this topic or, at the very least, nobody wants to talk about it; instead, there are efforts to suppress discussion about it
  22. Love and Activism
    Love is fertile soil for positive activism
  23. Windows Has Fallen to All-Time Low of 60% in Laptops and Desktop in Canada
    Maybe next year Windows will fall below 50% there
  24. Debian Misfits Really Do Not Want You to Read This Article
    portions from this article
  25. Gemini Protocol Saw Significant, Measurable Growth in 2025
    Next year (in summer) Gemini Protocol turns 7
  26. The Collapse of Good Development Practices
    Software becoming bloated is not an inevitability
  27. Gemini Links 17/12/2025: Wrongs, "Wokeness", and 3D-Printable Accessible USB Input Device
    Links for the day
  28. "Social Justice Warriors" Make Violent Threats Against Event Organisers, Developers, and Journalists
    As a left-leaning person (I've always been rather strongly on the left), I generally reject people who call themselves "SJWs"
  29. More GAFAM Layoffs in Seattle, Bellevue (Washington)
    Microsoft laid off (by our count) over 30,000 workers this year
  30. Microsoft GitHub is Dying and Bot Activity in GitHub Won't Save It
    Doing what it can to keep it alive, Microsoft only loses more money (it now classifies it as "AI" to justify all the losses)
  31. Linus Torvalds Seems to Have Aged Faster Since the Bullying by the 'CoC Brigade' (Enforced via Linux Foundation, a GAFAM Front Group)
    We previously wrote a lot of articles about the ageing of Torvalds and how stress (from his masters) may have contributed to deterioration of his health
  32. Cuts, Shutdowns, and Layoffs at Microsoft
    It is potentially catastrophic for yet another studio that sold its soul to Microsoft
  33. Over at Tux Machines...
    GNU/Linux news for the past day
  34. IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, December 16, 2025
    IRC logs for Tuesday, December 16, 2025
  35. Firefox and Mozilla Commit Suicide With Slop, Market Share Falls to New Low
    Mozilla just isn't a serious company anymore
  36. "The Register Hot Seat" is Just More Paid-for SPAM Promoting a Pyramid Scheme to Readers of The Register MS
    The main issue is that The Register MS is, as usual, begging for and bagging money to promote a pyramid scheme that will end up very badly and hurt a lot of people
  37. Red Hat Wastes Money on Slop and on Slop Pushers While Laying Off Red Hat Staff
    In order to manipulate the share price IBM is peddling vapourware
  38. Getting Back on Top of Exclusive Articles, Leaks, Whistleblowing
    We still have some material to publish about Microsoft OSI and various other rogue institutions
  39. Links 17/12/2025: User Data Compromised in SoundCloud and Efforts to Release Jimmy Lai for the 'Crime' of Journalism
    Links for the day

    The corresponding text-only bulletin for Wednesday contains all the text.

    Top-read articles (excluding bot/crawler visits):

    Span from 2025-12-11 to 2025-12-17
    3122 /about.shtml
    2059 /n/2025/12/12/Valve_s_SteamOS_Microsoft_Canonical_s_Ubuntu_and_Other_Platform.shtml
    1783 /index.shtml
    1286 /n/2025/12/10/Why_So_Many_Software_Projects_Are_Quitting_Microsoft_and_GitHub.shtml
    1276 /n/2025/12/17/Microsoft_GitHub_is_Dying_and_Bot_Activity_in_GitHub_Won_t_Save.shtml
    1128 /irc.shtml
    860 /n/2025/12/10/Almost_a_Thousand_EPO_Workers_Have_Voted_for_Industrial_Action.shtml
    848 /browse/latest.shtml
    814 /n/2025/12/12/New_Paper_Shows_That_EPO_Growth_is_Dictated_From_Above_Not_Earn.shtml
    802 /n/2025/12/11/At_The_Register_MS_Fake_Articles_Sponsored_by_WIntel_Windows_In.shtml
    801 /n/2025/12/10/Links_10_12_2025_McDonald_s_Latest_Slop_Gaffe_After_Dumping_IBM.shtml
    785 /n/2025/12/13/2026_Could_Very_Well_be_Last_Year_of_XBox_Microsoft_Dropped_the.shtml
    714 /n/2025/12/12/EPO_People_Power_Part_X_Together_We_Can_Fix_the_EPO.shtml
    705 /n/2025/03/24/Days_Ago_yewtu_be_Found_a_Workaround_That_Made_Invidious_Work_A.shtml
    689 /n/2025/12/12/IBM_Layoffs_in_Europe_as_Well.shtml
    680 /n/2025/12/14/A_Utopian_and_Very_Dumb_Vision_of_Technology_Based_on_Accountin.shtml
    675 /n/2025/12/13/LLM_Slop_Becoming_Rarer.shtml
    674 /n/2025/12/12/EPO_People_Power_Part_VI_Criticism_Not_Permitted_Media_Subjecte.shtml
    668 /n/2025/05/24/Free_Software_as_a_Culture_of_Resistance.shtml
    661 /n/2025/12/10/EPO_People_Power_Part_I_Identifying_Corruption.shtml
    656 /n/2025/12/10/Keeping_Up_the_Pressure_on_EPO_Management.shtml
    655 /n/2025/12/15/GAFAM_doesn_t_depend_on_any_sort_of_lock_in_humans_just_don_t_w.shtml
    649 /n/2025/12/11/The_Flawed_Notion_of_Criticising_for_Criticism_s_Sake.shtml
    645 /n/2025/12/11/EPO_People_Power_Part_IV_Sexism_Chauvinism_and_Lines_of_Cocaine.shtml
    643 /n/2025/12/14/Links_14_12_2025_The_Slop_of_Things_to_Come_Goldman_Sachs_Nervo.shtml
    639 /n/2025/12/15/Another_AI_Slop_Use_Cases_Turns_Out_to_be_a_Fraud.shtml
    639 /n/2025/12/12/Links_12_12_2025_Oracle_Shares_Collapse_After_Slop_Bubble_Infla.shtml
    638 /n/2025/12/11/Links_11_12_2025_Escalations_Around_Japan_Software_Patents_Foun.shtml
    618 /n/2025/12/11/EPO_People_Power_Part_III_Challenging_Corruption.shtml
    616 /n/2025/12/11/Keep_on_Pushing_EPO_Management_is_in_a_State_of_Panic_This_Week.shtml
    615 /n/2025/12/13/Expecting_Mass_Layoffs_More_Microsoft_Workers_Join_Unions.shtml
    609 /n/2025/12/10/Just_a_Little_Slop_About_Linux.shtml
    607 /n/2025/12/12/2026_Guaranteed_to_Give_Us_Compromised_Media_Funded_by_AI_Boost.shtml
    589 /n/2025/12/13/Links_13_12_2025_Social_Control_Media_Bans_and_Could_Finland_be.shtml
    584 /n/2025/12/15/EPO_People_Power_Part_XIII_If_the_EPO_s_Chief_Propagandist_Bere.shtml
    583 /n/2025/12/13/Links_13_12_2025_Jimmy_Lai_and_Media_Freedom_on_Trial_OpenAI_Re.shtml
    583 /n/2025/12/11/If_You_Want_Freedom_Follow_Richard_M_Stallman_RMS.shtml
    582 /n/2025/12/14/Over_at_Tux_Machines.shtml
    582 /n/2025/12/12/LLM_Slop_About_Linux_Still_Seems_Scarce.shtml
    582 /n/2025/12/17/Tom_Silvagni_sentencing_not_Xavier_College_but_DPP_and_social_m.shtml
    581 /n/2025/12/15/Due_to_Secure_Boot_An_Anti_Security_Measure_a_Kill_Switch_Compu.shtml
    567 /n/2025/12/11/We_Need_Your_EPO_Insider_Stories.shtml
    565 /n/2025/12/11/Those_of_Us_Who_Grew_Up_Playing_Doom_Must_Remember_What_Microso.shtml
    563 /n/2025/12/13/Gemini_Links_13_12_2025_Extensive_Catchup_With_Gopherholes.shtml
    561 /n/2025/12/12/Courage_is_not_the_absence_of_fear.shtml
    560 /n/2025/12/13/Over_at_Tux_Machines.shtml
    558 /n/2025/12/15/EPO_People_Power_Part_XII_The_Mobbing_Got_So_Bad_People_Were_Un.shtml
    558 /n/2025/12/15/Over_at_Tux_Machines.shtml
    557 /n/2025/12/15/The_Register_MS_Has_Just_Been_Paid_to_Promote_the_Ponzi_Scheme_.shtml
    554 /n/2025/12/12/EPO_People_Power_Part_IX_Insiders_Say_the_EPO_s_Chief_Propagand.shtml
    552 /n/2025/12/11/In_Addition_to_National_Delegates_Contact_the_French_or_Portugu.shtml
    547 /n/2025/12/11/Over_at_Tux_Machines.shtml
    544 /n/2025/12/12/Techrights_Site_Search_Was_a_Success_After_All.shtml
    538 /n/2025/12/15/Links_15_12_2025_Chromebooks_as_Work_Machines_Americans_Who_Mov.shtml
    535 /n/2025/12/12/To_Linus_Torvalds_the_Microsoft_Linux_Foundation_is_Increasingl.shtml
    531 /n/2025/12/12/Smart_or_Intelligent_Agents_and_Vice_Coding_Deletes_Everything_.shtml
    531 /n/2025/12/12/EPO_People_Power_Part_VIII_The_Chipmunk_on_Cocaine_Now_Deleting.shtml
    531 /n/2025/12/10/Moving_Away_From_Content_Management_Systems_CMSs_and_Flocking_t.shtml
    529 /n/2025/12/11/A_Lot_More_Than_Techrights.shtml
    529 /n/2025/12/12/Life_Began_at_40.shtml
    527 /n/2025/12/15/They_Say_Rules_Are_Made_to_be_Broken_at_Microsoft_That_Became_a.shtml
    526 /n/2025/12/12/EPO_People_Power_Part_V_The_European_Media_is_Practically_Dead_.shtml
    523 /n/2025/12/12/Links_12_12_2025_GAFAM_Now_Trying_to_Settle_With_Remaining_News.shtml
    517 /n/2025/12/13/EPO_People_Power_Part_XI_The_Media_in_Europe_is_Ill_and_Complic.shtml

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