And, most importantly, it’s about so much more than just the banners. For example:

(1) A new GDPR loophole via “pseudonyms” or “IDs”. The Commission proposes to significantly narrow the definition of “personal data” – which would result in the GDPR not applying to many companies in various sectors. For example, sectors that currently operate via “pseudonyms” or random ID numbers, such as data brokers or the advertising industry, would not be (fully) covered anymore. This would done by adding a “subjective approach” in the text of the GDPR.

Instead of having an objective definition of personal data (e.g. data that is linked to a directly or indirectly identifiable person), a subjective definition would mean that if a specific company claims that it cannot (yet) or does not aim to (currently) identify a person, the GDPR ceases to apply. Such a case-by-case decision is inherently more complex and everything but a “simplification”. It also means that data may be “personal” or not depending on the internal thinking of a company, or given the circumstances that they have at a current point. This can also make cooperation between companies more complex as some would fall under the GDPR and others not.

(2) Pulling personal data from your device? So far, Article 5(3) ePrivacy has protected users against remote access of data stored on “terminal equipment”, such as PCs or smartphones. This is based on the right to protection of communications under Article 7 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the EU and made sure that companies cannot “remotely search” devices.

The Commission now adds “white listed” processing operations for the access to terminal equipment, that would include “aggregated statistics” and “security purposes”. While the general direction of changes is understandable, the wording is extremely permissive and would also allow excessive “searches” on user devices for (tiny) security purposes.

(3) AI Training of Meta or Google with EU’s Personal Data? When Meta or LinkedIn started using social media data, it was widely unpopular. In a recent study for example only 7% of Germans say that they want Meta to use their personal data to train AI. Nevertheless, the Commission now wants to allow the use of highly personal data (like the content of 15+ years of a social media profile) for AI training by Big Tech.

“We’re getting rid of the cookie banners” and “removing overly rigid regulation” is apparently how this massive proposal is being framed now, but what it chiefly does is—of course—benefit giant corporations, do little if anything for smaller companies, and fuck over people’s privacy.

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Most certainly yet another attempt to intimidate the peaceful protestors and Serbia’s society at large.

Relevant Doctorow post: The enshittification of tech jobs (27 Apr 2025)

That’s a really good idea, I will from now on inspect disused garments for parts that one can use for patches

Anyone know some good offers for nice (nerdy) patches? There are nice embroidered patches on Etsy, but at 7 USD per patch they’re a bit expensive for everyday repairing (let alone extensive projects like a GNU/Linux-themed biker’s vest).

If you don’t yet have a USB adapter for using NVMe SSDs over USB-3 ports, I’d suggest to buy such a thing first, since they not just make for a simple yet (decently) fast storage expansion solution, but are very useful in all sorts of situations.

Let’s say, hypothetically, that there was a way to access this article without paywall

What hardware do you currently use and what software do you intend to run on the new machine? And what’s your budget situation?

In any case, I would always recommend to buy used or refurbished hardware. Even if it’s not necessary financially, it’s better for the environment.

There’s a provision that says the trust structure can be changed without everyone’s consent if the intended change is in the interest of all trustees. Rupert, Lachlan and their team want to exploit this by arguing that the ongoing financial success of the media empire is dependent on it retaining its staunchly conservative editorial line, so that it is in fact (from a financial point of view) in the interest of the three non-conservative children if they don’t get to have any influence. The first judge wasn’t buying it; let’s hope that the others will rule the same way. (One argument in their favor is that the $787 million settlement that Fox News has to pay to Dominion Voting System due to a defamation lawsuit was a consequence of Rupert’s or Lachlan’s die-hard conservative messaging.)

What’s less good: I remember dimly that, should Rupert live long enough (past theö year 2030?), he can change the trust at will again.

Thank you, that’s interesting and good to know. At least it’s probably a good idea to not increment/decrement properties in very small steps (like 2% at a time) on a regular basis. I suspect the 5% steps I’m using for brightness should be fine, but I’ll implement some shortcuts that go in bigger steps just to be sure.

The Atlantic article that I linked in the post description talks at length about the spicy shit (especially about the family relations and only comparatively little about the legal aspects).

I’m curious about both things you mention. Do you have the name of the kernel module at hand? And can you point me to a source on the monitor flash memory (as I couldn’t find anything on that)?

I feel you basically. I have given up trying to control the RGB on my RAM (even though it’s probably decently documented somewhere).

Your comment has now motivated me to add a Windows section :)

I know nothing about this, but can OpenRGB (Linux tool) talk to your device in any way?

Rather than running a Tor relay, running a simple Tor bridge (e.g. via the browser add-on Snowflake as suggested by @ryokimball@infosec.pub) is probably the best thing to do with one’s home hardware.

Actual relays must suffice certain requirements, according to the Tor project:

Requirements for Tor relays depend on the type of relay and the bandwidth they provide. ==== Bandwidth and Connections ====

A non-exit relay should be able to handle at least 7000 concurrent connections. This can overwhelm consumer-level routers. If you run the Tor relay from a server (virtual or dedicated) in a data center you will be fine. If you run it behind a consumer-level router at home you will have to try and see if your home router can handle it or if it starts failing. Fast exit relays (>=100 Mbit/s) usually have to handle a lot more concurrent connections (>100k).

It is recommended that a relay have at least 16 Mbit/s (Mbps) upload bandwidth and 16 Mbit/s (Mbps) download bandwidth available for Tor. More is better. The minimum requirements for a relay are 10 Mbit/s (Mbps). If you have less than 10 Mbit/s but at least 1 Mbit/s we recommend you run a [/wiki/doc/PluggableTransports/obfs4proxy bridge with obfs4 support]. If you do not know your bandwidth you can use http://beta.speedtest.net/ to measure it.

As for exit relays aka exit nodes, the obligatory advice is of course to not run them at all unless you know exactly what you are doing both legally and technically, and probably only if you’re a foundation or something.

Four minutes in and the analysis is just as what one would expect from a video with such a clickbaity title. Hardly worth anyone’s time in my opinion.

Bertelsmann is the empire in question