Channel Surfing Nostalgia Machine
As any generation of people get older, they tend to look back fondly on their formative years when there was less responsibility and more wonder. Even if things have objectively improved, we often have a fondness for the past. Such is the case for cable television, where even though ads were everywhere and nothing was on-demand, we can see that something was lost from this era in the modern streaming ecosystem. [Ricardo] brought back the good parts of this golden era of cable TV with this small channel surfing television.
The project attempts to keep the good parts of this era while discarding things we certainly don’t miss. The ability to channel surf is still here, with a rotary encoder standing in for an antique television channel selector knob, but dealing with any telecommunications company is out, including those of the Internet variety. Instead it is a fully offline machine with the user able to curate their own channels and programming with a Flask application, and [Ricardo]’s includes his own collection of commercials from Argentina.
The hardware itself is fairly straightforward as well, with a Raspberry Pi doing the heavy lifting, paired with a small screen and enclosed in a retro-themed television case. It’s a clever throwback to a time where we might not know what we wanted to see but there was always something on. Builds like this are gaining popularity right now as well, and we’ve even seen them recreate the cable company’s preview channel as well.
youtube.com/embed/5saGNbtMNfM?…
Verhaltensscanner im Mannheim: Hier wird die Überwachung getestet, die so viele Städte wollen
netzpolitik.org/2025/verhalten…
Free-to-play, non chiamateli giochini gratis: fanno guadagnare miliardi
L'articolo proviene da #StartMag e viene ricondiviso sulla comunità Lemmy @Informatica (Italy e non Italy 😁)
Nata e confinata su smartphone, la formula dei free-to-play se ben implementata nei videogiochi permette agli editori incassi record anche quando i titoli non hanno particolare diffusione. Sarà questo il futuro dell'industria
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A New Way to Make (Almost) Holograms with Lasers
The spectrum of laser technologies available to hackers has gradually widened from basic gas lasers through CO2 tubes, diode lasers, and now fiber lasers. One of the newer entries is the MOPA laser, which combines a laser diode with a fiber-based light amplifier. The diode’s pulse length and repetition rate are easy to control, while the fiber amplifier gives it enough power to do interesting things – including, as [Ben Krasnow] found, etch hologram-like diffraction gratings onto stainless steel.
Stainless steel works because it forms a thin oxide layer when heated, with a thickness determined by the temperature it reaches. The oxide layer creates thin-film interference with incoming light, letting the laser mark parts of a steel sheet with different colors by varying the intensity of heating. [Ben] wrote a script to etch color images onto steel using this method, and noticed in one experiment that one area seemed to produce diffraction patterns. More experimentation revealed that the laser could consistently make diffraction gratings out of parallel patterns of oxide lines. Surprisingly, the oxide layer seemed to grow mostly down into the metal, instead of up from the surface.
The pitch of the grating is perpendicular to the direction of the etched lines, and varying the line spacing changes the angle of diffraction, which should in theory be enough control to print a hologram with the laser. [Ben]’s first experiment in this general direction was to create a script that turned black-and-white photographs into shimmering matrices of diffraction-grating pixels, in which each pixel’s grating orientation was determined by its brightness. To add a parallax depth effect, [Ben] spread out images into a gradient in a diffraction grating, so that it produced different images at different angles. The images were somewhat limited by the minimum size required for the grating pixels, but the effect was quite noticeable.
Unfortunately, since the oxide layers grow down into the metal, [Ben] doubts whether the laser can etch molds for diffraction-grating chocolate. If you’re interested in more diffraction optics, check out these custom diffraction lenses or the workings of normal holograms.
youtube.com/embed/RsGHr7dXLuI?…
DIY Telescope Uses Maker Tools
You’ve got a laser cutter. You’ve got a 3D printer. What do you make? [Ayushmaan45] suggests a telescope. The modest instrument isn’t going to do serious astronomy with only 8X worth of optics, but it would make a fine spyglass for a youngster.
The body is cut from MDF, and there are only a few 3D printed parts. The only other things you need are rubber bands and a pair of lenses. You don’t even need glue. We might have spray painted the inside of the scope black or used some black contact paper to cut down on reflections, although it probably wouldn’t make much difference.
Of course, depending on your lenses, you may have to make some changes. Or find new lenses, for that matter. We like that it doesn’t take any exotic parts. We also appreciate that it is easy for kids to take apart and put back together. It would be interesting to see how a motivated kid might alter the design, as well.
If a kid gets interested, you could move on to a more sophisticated telescope. Or maybe you’d prefer a nice microscope.
Radio Astronomy in the Palm of Your Hand
When you think of a radio telescope, you usually think of a giant dish antenna pointing skyward. But [vhuvanmakes] built Wavy-Scope, a handheld radio telescope that can find the Sun and the Moon, among other things.
The build is relatively straightforward, using a commercial LNB to detect signals in the 10-12 GHz range. The detector is a simple satellite finder, although you could also connect it to a software-defined radio, if you wanted something more sophisticated.
The sci-fi style unit is 3D printed, of course, and made us think of a 1950s-era ray gun. There are several videos of the device in action, including one of it detecting the sun that you can see below.
One of the videos shows the instrument detecting otherwise invisible satellites. Of course, it will also detect anything that emits sufficient RF energy for the LNA to detect. When you aren’t using it to snoop on the sky, it would make a fair addition to your Halloween costume.
We’ve seen small radio telescopes before, but not this small. You probably won’t be tracking down hydrogen lines with this, but it could still be a lot of fun.
youtube.com/embed/IbHRXGjD830?…
This week, we discuss crowdsourced resistance and a big government data dump.#BehindTheBlog
Behind the Blog: Engaging the Public
This is Behind the Blog, where we share our behind-the-scenes thoughts about how a few of our top stories of the week came together. This week, we discuss crowdsourced resistance and a big government data dump.SAM: I don’t want to say it’s rare that we publish positive stories. We post more of those than people probably even realize, because the gnarly stories are the ones that go viral, or are talked about by your friends or aggregated by other news outlets. A “scoop” is almost never a happy story because often they’re predicated on information someone in a position of power didn’t want the world to know. But it’s definitely less common for us to report on things that makes you feel good or hopeful than things that make you go “oh shit” or “Jesus fucking Christ,” I will admit.
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"What if I could create Théâtre D’opéra Spatial as if it were physically created by hand? Not actually, of course."#News #AI
Creator of Infamous AI Painting Tells Court He's a Real Artist
In 2022, Jason Allen outraged artists around the world when he won the Colorado State Fair Fine Arts Competition with a piece of AI-generated art. A month later, he tried to copyright the pictures, got denied, and started a fight with the U.S. Copyright Office (USCO) that dragged on for three years. In August, he filed a new brief he hopes will finally give him a copyright over the image Midjourney made for him, called Théâtre D’opéra Spatial. He’s also set to start selling oil-print reproductions of the image.A press release announcing both the filing and the sale claims these prints “[evoke] the unmistakable gravitas of a hand-painted masterwork one might find in a 19th-century oil painting.” The court filing is also defensive of Allen’s work. “It would be impossible to describe the Work as ‘garden variety’—the Work literally won a state art competition,” it said.
playlist.megaphone.fm?p=TBIEA2…
“So many have said I’m not an artist and this isn’t art,” Allen said in a press release announcing both the oil-print sales and the court filing. “Being called an artist or not doesn’t concern me, but the work and my expression of it do. I asked myself, what could make this undeniably art? What if I could create Théâtre D’opéra Spatial as if it were physically created by hand? Not actually, of course, but what if I could achieve that using technology? Surely that would be the answer.”Allen’s 2022 win at the Colorado State Fair was an inflection point. The beta version for the image generation software Midjourney had launched a few months before the competition and AI-generated images were still a novelty. We were years away from the nightmarish tide of slop we all live with today, but the piece was highly controversial and represented one of the first major incursions of AI-generated work into human spaces.
Théâtre D’opéra Spatial was big news at the time. It shook artistic communities and people began to speak out against AI-generated art. Many learned that their works had been fed into the training data for these massive data hungry art generators like Midjourney. About a month after he won the competition and courted controversy, Allen applied for a copyright of the image. The USCO rejected it. He’s been filing appeals ever since and has thus far lost every one.
The oil-prints represent an attempt to will the AI-generated image into a physical form called an “elegraph.” These won’t be hand painted versions of the picture Midjourney made. Instead, they’ll employ a 3D printing technique that uses oil paints to create a reproduction of the image as if a human being made it, complete—Allen claimed—with brushstrokes.
“People said anyone could copy my work online, sell it, and I would have no recourse. They’re not technically wrong,” Allen said in the press release. “If we win my case, copyright will apply retroactively. Regardless, they’ll never reproduce the elegraph. This artifact is singular. It’s real. It’s the answer to the petulant idea that this isn’t art. Long live Art 2.0.”
The elegraph is the work of a company called Arius which is most famous for working with museums to conduct high quality scans of real paintings that capture the individual brushstrokes of masterworks. According to Allen’s press release, Arius’ elegraphs of Théâtre D’opéra Spatial will make the image appear as if it is a hand painted piece of art through “a proprietary technique that translates digital creation into a physical artifact indistinguishable in presence and depth from the great oil paintings of history…its textures, lighting, brushwork, and composition, all recalling the timeless mastery of the European salons.”
Allen and his lawyers filed a request for a summary judgement with the U.S. District Court of Colorado on August 8, 2025. The 44 page legal argument rehashes many of the appeals and arguments Allen and his lawyers have made about the AI-generated image over the past few years.
“He created his image, in part, by providing hundreds of iterative text prompts to an artificial intelligence (“AI”)-based system called Midjourney to help express his intellectual vision,” it said. “Allen produced this artwork using ‘hundreds of iterations’ of prompts, and after he ‘experimented with over 600 prompts,’ he cropped and completed the final Work, touching it up manually and upscaling using additional software.”
Allen’s argument is that prompt engineering is an artistic process and even though a machine made the final image, he says he should be considered the artist because he told the machine what to do. “In the Board’s view, Mr. Allen’s actions as described do not make him the author of the Midjourney Image because his sole contribution to the Midjourney Image was inputting the text prompt that produced it,” a 2023 review of previous rejections by the USCO said.
During its various investigations into the case, the USCO did a lot of research into how Midjourney and other AI-image generators work. “It is the Office’s understanding that, because Midjourney does not treat text prompts as direct instructions, users may need to attempt hundreds of iterations before landing upon an image they find satisfactory. This appears to be the case for Mr. Allen, who experimented with over 600 prompts,” its 2023 review said.
This new filing is an attempt by Allen and his lawyers to get around these previous judgements and appeal to higher courts by accusing the USCO of usurping congressional authority. “The filing argues that by attempting to redefine the term “author” (a power reserved to Congress) the Copyright Office has acted beyond its lawful authority, effectively placing itself above judicial and legislative oversight.”
We’ll see how well that plays in court. In the meantime, Allen is selling oil-prints of the image Midjourney made for him.
AI Slop Is a Brute Force Attack on the Algorithms That Control Reality
Generative AI spammers are brute forcing the internet, and it is working.Jason Koebler (404 Media)
Ministero dell'Istruzione
#NoiSiamoLeScuole questa settimana è dedicato all’ITS Academy Campania Moda. Grazie ai fondi del #PNRR destinati alla realizzazione di laboratori professionalizzanti e all’ampliamento delle attività didattiche degli ITS, l’Istituto ha potuto migliora…Telegram
Post-exploitation framework now also delivered via npm
Incident description
The first version of the AdaptixC2 post-exploitation framework, which can be considered an alternative to the well-known Cobalt Strike, was made publicly available in early 2025. In spring of 2025, the framework was first observed being used for malicious means.
In October 2025, Kaspersky experts found that the npm ecosystem contained a malicious package with a fairly convincing name: https-proxy-utils. It was posing as a utility for using proxies within projects. At the time of this post, the package had already been taken down.
The name of the package closely resembles popular legitimate packages: http-proxy-agent, which has approximately 70 million weekly downloads, and https-proxy-agent with 90 million downloads respectively. Furthermore, the advertised proxy-related functionality was cloned from another popular legitimate package proxy-from-env, which boasts 50 million weekly downloads. However, the threat actor injected a post-install script into https-proxy-utils, which downloads and executes a payload containing the AdaptixC2 agent.
Metadata for the malicious (left) and legitimate (right) packages
OS-specific adaptation
The script includes various payload delivery methods for different operating systems. The package includes loading mechanisms for Windows, Linux, and macOS. In each OS, it uses specific techniques involving system or user directories to load and launch the implant.
In Windows, the AdaptixC2 agent is dropped as a DLL file into the system directory C:\Windows\Tasks. It is then executed via DLL sideloading. The JS script copies the legitimate msdtc.exe file to the same directory and executes it, thus loading the malicious DLL.
Deobfuscated Windows-specific code for loading AdaptixC2
In macOS, the script downloads the payload as an executable file into the user’s autorun directory: Library/LaunchAgents. The postinstall.js script also drops a plist autorun configuration file into this directory. Before downloading AdaptixC2, the script checks the target architecture (x64 or ARM) and fetches the appropriate payload variant.
Deobfuscated macOS-specific code for loading AdaptixC2
In Linux, the framework’s agent is downloaded into the temporary directory /tmp/.fonts-unix. The script delivers a binary file tailored to the specific architecture (x64 or ARM) and then assigns it execute permissions.
Deobfuscated Linux-specific code for loading AdaptixC2
Once the AdaptixC2 framework agent is deployed on the victim’s device, the attacker gains capabilities for remote access, command execution, file and process management, and various methods for achieving persistence. This both allows the attacker to maintain consistent access and enables them to conduct network reconnaissance and deploy subsequent stages of the attack.
Conclusion
This is not the first attack targeting the npm registry in recent memory. A month ago, similar infection methods utilizing a post-install script were employed in the high-profile incident involving the Shai-Hulud worm, which infected more than 500 packages. The AdaptixC2 incident clearly demonstrates the growing trend of abusing open-source software ecosystems, like npm, as an attack vector. Threat actors are increasingly exploiting the trusted open-source supply chain to distribute post-exploitation framework agents and other forms of malware. Users and organizations involved in development or using open-source software from ecosystems like npm in their products are susceptible to this threat type.
To stay safe, be vigilant when installing open-source modules: verify the exact name of the package you are downloading, and more thoroughly vet unpopular and new repositories. When using popular modules, it is critical to monitor frequently updated feeds on compromised packages and libraries.
Indicators of compromise
Package name
https-proxy-utils
Hashes
DFBC0606E16A89D980C9B674385B448E – package hash
B8E27A88730B124868C1390F3BC42709
669BDBEF9E92C3526302CA37DC48D21F
EDAC632C9B9FF2A2DA0EACAAB63627F4
764C9E6B6F38DF11DC752CB071AE26F9
04931B7DFD123E6026B460D87D842897
Network indicators
cloudcenter[.]top/sys/update
cloudcenter[.]top/macos_update_arm
cloudcenter[.]top/macos_update_x64
cloudcenter[.]top/macosUpdate[.]plist
cloudcenter[.]top/linux_update_x64
cloudcenter[.]top/linux_update_arm
How press can survive interactions with police on the skirmish line
As protesters paint signs for another round of “No Kings” demonstrations this Saturday, journalists are getting ready in their own way: Charging camera batteries, notifying emergency contacts, and rinsing old tear gas off their shatter-resistant goggles.
At similar events since June, well over a hundred journalists have been injured, detained, or arrested by police. Now two cities — Los Angeles, California, and Chicago, Illinois — are expecting their largest protests since federal judges issued multiple rulings exempting the press from general dispersal orders and restricting law enforcement use of “less lethal” munitions.
Those are big wins on paper, but only if you know how to use them.
The law exists in two separate but unequal places: the court and the street. And you’ll never win a philosophical argument on a skirmish line.
Sure, you’re probably right. You’re armed with the First Amendment. But the average police officer is armed with a baton, handcuffs, body armor, tear gas, and at least a couple of guns. They may also be tired, overwhelmed, hungry, and see you standing between them and a bathroom break.
As they’ve been known to say, “You can beat the rap, but you can’t beat the ride.”
It’s no longer “Listen to me,” it’s ideally “Here’s a signed order from your boss.”
Covering a protest, an immigration raid, or an immigration hearing is no place to give up your rights. Instead, you can learn to invoke them more effectively.
The press is one of two professions (alongside religious practitioners) distinguished by its constitutionally guaranteed freedoms. Policing is the opposite, marked by rigid command structure and a sworn duty to enforce very specific codes and regulations.
But cops are supposed to be trained and held accountable by their department. They shouldn’t need reminding of the law they’re supposed to uphold. And it’s not the job of journalists to train them.
As professional communicators, journalists may find it more productive to translate conversations into the language of law enforcement.
For example, in California, it won’t get you very far to tell an officer you’re exempt from dispersal orders thanks to “Senate Bill 98.” You might be talking to a kid fresh out of the police academy or a detective pulled off desk duty to earn overtime. They have no idea what passed the statehouse four years ago. At best, they’re trained to speak in terms of “penal code.” Mentioning “Penal Code 409.7,” the statute established by that bill, might be your better ticket out of handcuffs. (This state law only applies to local law enforcement, not to federal operations like Immigration or Customs Enforcement or other Department of Homeland Security agencies.)
For journalists in the Chicago and Los Angeles areas, recent court rulings, including one for the LA Press Club in which I’m a plaintiff, have made things much clearer. Ideally you don’t need to print out 80 pages of preliminary injunctions. An officer will likely ignore that anyway, figuring it’s up to department lawyers to interpret. Instead, try to print the version of orders their boss(’s boss’s boss) was required to issue. The following list of PDFs are being updated as those materials are released by each agency, so use your judgment and print what might be applicable to your situation.
- Chicago-area Temporary Restraining Order (Northern District of Illinois)
- As each DHS subsidiary agency provided their own cover sheet to personnel, it may be useful to print each of the following.
- Federal Protective Service Cover Sheet
- Immigration and Customs Enforcement Cover Sheet
- Customs and Border Patrol Cover Sheet
- Department of Justice Cover Sheet
- Los Angeles Police Department’s “Chief’s Notice” to all personnel
- This is an earlier version based on an initial TRO. It will be updated with a newer version based on a more recent preliminary injunction, which is even more favorable to press.
- LA-area Preliminary Injunction (Central District of California)
- DHS has not shared details on how this order was distributed. As a longer document, you may wish to only print the cover page along with pages 43 to 45, which contain the injunction itself.
This puts things in law enforcement terms — from the top of their command structure. It’s no longer “Listen to me,” it’s ideally “Here’s a signed order from your boss.”
You want a printed copy, since your phone could run out of battery, be lost, or shatter. And it’s never a good idea to hand your unlocked phone to police. Also, if you need to pull out these orders (or a press pass), state clearly what you’re reaching for before placing your hand in a pocket or bag. Officers don’t love those sorts of unannounced movements.
A piece of paper isn’t much of a shield from a raging officer swinging a baton and screaming, “Leave the area.” But if you can engage with them, you want to ensure the precious few words that they hear will resonate. And it bears repeating: Everyone has a boss.
Protests involve a lot of turnover on the front line, so you may never see the same officer twice. If possible, communicate early and often. Ask to meet a supervisor or public information officer during a calm moment, and get their name so you can ask for them if you have trouble later on.
Unfortunately, even a signed order from the chief isn’t always a “get out of jail free” card. After a temporary restraining order was issued against the LAPD this summer, officers still put several journalists in zip ties during a protest. Two lawyers who had won the TRO showed up with a copy of official paperwork instructing officers to leave press alone. After they handed it to the incident commander, police still drove two photojournalists away in the back of a squad car.
The LAPD later suggested those photographers were ”pretending to be media.” The pair’s credits include The Atlantic, The New Yorker, Business Insider, The Washington Post, New York Magazine, Rolling Stone, Mother Jones, and even a cover for Time magazine.
A federal judge later wrote of the LAPD, “The Court expresses no approval for this conduct. To the contrary, the evidence presented is disturbing and, at the very least, shows that Defendants violated the spirit if not the letter of the Court’s initial restraining order.”
Of course, the photojournalists beat the rap. But they didn’t beat the ride.
Attending a protest outside of LA or Chicago? You still have First Amendment rights, even if you don’t have a court order. The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker has been investigating and documenting serious violations in cities from New York to Portland, Oregon. If you experience or witness law enforcement violating press rights anywhere in the country, please send us tips and any available evidence to tips@pressfreedomtracker.us.
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When the law’s on your side but ICE isn’t
Dear Friend of Press Freedom,
It’s been two weeks since Atlanta journalist Mario Guevara was deported and 207 days since Rümeysa Öztürk was arrested for co-writing an op-ed. Read on for more about this weekend’s planned protests, actions you can take to protect journalists, and events you can catch us at this month.
When the law’s on your side but ICE doesn’t care
As protesters paint signs for another round of “No Kings” demonstrations this Saturday, journalists are getting ready in their own way: charging camera batteries, notifying emergency contacts, and rinsing old tear gas residue off their shatter-resistant goggles.
Two cities — Los Angeles, California, and Chicago, Illinois — are expecting their largest protests since federal judges issued multiple rulings exempting the press from general dispersal orders and restricting law enforcement’s use of “less lethal” munitions.
Those are big wins for journalists, but only if they know how to use them. Our new deputy director of advocacy at Freedom of the Press Foundation (FPF), Adam Rose, wrote about how journalists can prepare for the weekend. Read more here.
Administration ignores flotilla abuses
Three U.S. journalists have been abducted from aid flotillas bound for Gaza and detained by Israel. All three reported experiencing or witnessing abuse and even torture.
Photojournalist Noa Avishag Schnall recalled, “I was hung from the metal shackles on my wrists and ankles and beaten in the stomach, back, face, ear and skull by a group of men and women guards, one of whom sat on my neck and face, blocking my airways … Our cell was awoken with threats of rape.”
Jewish Currents reporter Emily Wilder said she “announced … ‘I’m a journalist, I’m press.’ The woman to my left hissed, ‘We don’t give a fuck,’ and the other dug her nails into my scalp and pulled me by my hair across the port.”
In normal times, this would be a major scandal. We joined Defending Rights & Dissent and others in a letter to Secretary of State Marco Rubio explaining what should be obvious — the U.S. shouldn’t sit silently as its ally assaults its journalists. Read it here.
First rule of Qatari jets? Don’t talk about Qatari jets
We sued the Trump administration for refusing to share its legal rationale for approving the president’s acceptance of a $400 million jet from the Qatari government, despite the Constitution saying he can’t do that. Now the administration wants to strike our complaint, claiming the background discussion of the gifted jet is “impertinent” and “scandalous.”
That’s rich, especially weeks after the president’s frivolous defamation lawsuit against The New York Times got dismissed for rambling on about how he was once on WrestleMania and “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air” (he’s since filed an amended complaint).
Public records expert: ‘We can do better’
If fewer newspapers exist to request public records, does the government become less transparent? That’s the question at the heart of “Dark Deserts,” a new research paper by David Cuillier of the Freedom of Information Project at the Brechner Center for Advancement of the First Amendment and law student Brett Posner-Ferdman.
Cuillier told us about what he and Posner-Ferdman found and what it means for the public’s right to know. Read the interview here.
Standing with student journalists
Last week we told you about the lawsuit filed by The Stanford Daily to stop the Trump administration’s unconstitutional and appalling push to deport foreign students who say or write things it doesn’t like.
This week we joined the American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California, the First Amendment Coalition, and others in a legal brief in support of that important lawsuit.
Congressional secrecy bill advances
The Senate passed Sens. Ted Cruz and Amy Klobuchar’s bill to protect themselves — but not you — from data broker abuses and otherwise allow federal lawmakers to censor the internet.
FPF’s Caitlin Vogus wrote for The Dallas Morning News about how the bill threatens journalism — for example, by stifling reporting on its co-sponsor vacationing while his constituents endure natural disasters. Read more here.
Tell the House to kill the bill.
What we’re reading
Pentagon reporters have now turned in their badges – but plan to keep reporting (The Guardian). Journalists told The Guardian, “the restrictions won’t stop the work, with some even saying they plan to take a more aggressive tack.” Good. The policy is highly unconstitutional, but it’s an opportunity to omit Pentagon lies and spin from reporting.
LAPD wants judge to lift an order restricting use of force against the press (LAist). Rose, who is also press rights chair for the LA Press Club, said that “Instead of holding the department accountable, the city is spending even more money to hire an outside law firm so they can effectively beg a judge for permission to keep assaulting journalists for just doing their job.”
Facebook suspends popular Chicago ICE-sightings group at Trump administration’s request (Chicago Sun-Times). So much for Facebook’s renewed commitment to free speech. And so much for this administration’s condemnation of social media censorship.
Victory: Federal court halts Texas’ ‘no First Amendment after dark’ campus speech ban (FIRE). A federal court blocked a ridiculous law that banned almost all speech on public college campuses in Texas at night, including student journalism. As we explained in the Houston Chronicle, free speech does not have a curfew.
Upcoming FPF events
Oct. 22: Join FPF’s Adam Rose and others on Oct. 22 at 3 p.m. EDT for an online conversation hosted by the American Constitution Society about the impact of federal law enforcement violence on your First Amendment rights. Register here.
Oct. 24: If you’re in Chicago and fortunate enough to not have to hide from ICE invaders, come to Northwestern for a panel on Oct. 24 at 10 a.m. CT featuring FPF Advocacy Director Seth Stern. We’ll discuss the numerous digital and physical challenges journalists are facing. Register here.
Oct. 29: FPF’s Caitlin Vogus will join an online panel of experts to break down how the Federal Communications Commission and Federal Trade Commission are targeting journalists and the First Amendment and how to fight back. Register here for the Center for Democracy and Technology’s Future of Speech 2025, “Working the Refs” panel on Oct. 29 at 12:10 p.m. EDT.
That same day, join us for a conversation about making public records-based reporting free, featuring Vogus as well as our Chair on Government Secrecy Lauren Harper, in conversation with leadership at Wired and 404 Media, including Wired global editorial director and FPF board member Katie Drummond. The event starts at 2 p.m. EDT; RSVP on Zoom here.
Oct. 30: Join an online discussion on Oct. 30 at 1 p.m. EDT about digital safety and legal rights for journalists reporting on immigration in the U.S., featuring FPF Director of Digital Security Harlo Holmes and several other experts from the U.S. Journalist Assistance Network. Register here.
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Bundestagsdebatte: Was ist bei der Chatkontrolle unter „anlassbezogen“ zu verstehen?
netzpolitik.org/2025/bundestag…
Social Media ab 16: EU-Abgeordnete fordern strengere Regeln für Jugendschutz
netzpolitik.org/2025/social-me…
Il “dopo Gaza”: laboratorio per una nuova democrazia funzionalistica e tecnocratica?
@Giornalismo e disordine informativo
articolo21.org/2025/10/il-dopo…
Dopo i giorni della svolta a Gaza, col giusto sollievo per la liberazione degli ultimi ostaggi e per la auspicabile cessazione
Aggiungiamo altri blog e newsletter italiani basati su #Ghost alla lista di quelli che già ricondividiamo
Salutiamo i nuovi ingressi @Diario Di Un Analista | Data Science, ML & Analytics @Sottocoperta (Matteo Petrani) @Cronache Digitali @Letter to a gamer @La cantina dell'appartamento al terzo piano (senza ascensore) @Ricette da un altro pianeta @razionalista.it @Il Blog di Vita da Host @Focus America @AISent @Analogic.me - Stile di vita analogico, guide e consigli @Mondo Pesca @Piattaforma sulla post-crescita @The Street Rover @Culture Wars. La newsletter @Morning Tech @Techpertutti @TERAFLOP @Zone di Transizione
Dopo tanto lavoro, Ghost ha finalmente attivato la federazione Activitypub (e non solo). Ma quali sono le newsletter e i blog italiani basati su #Ghost?
@Discussioni sul Fediverso italiano
Al momento questi sono quelli che abbiamo censito e che ricondividiamo per tutti gli interessati:
1) oradecima by Martino Wong: @oradecima by Martino Wong
2) Dungeonauta: @Dungeonauta
3) Monryse: @MonRyse
4) Mindthechart Intelligence: @MindTheChart Intelligence
5) Restworld: @Restworld Blog
6) Il Blog di Davide Benesso: @Davide Benesso: curiosità e automiglioramento
7) Gaming Review: @GamingReview.it
8) WPC Tech: @WPC Tech
9) The Submarine: @The Submarine
10) Manolo Macchetta: @Manolo Macchetta
11) Flavio Pintarelli: @Flavio Pintarelli | Writer & Strategist
12) Giovanni Bertagna: @Giovanni Bertagna - BlogCONOSCI ALTRI BLOG E NEWSLETTER BASATI SU GHOST? ALLORA SEGNALACELI!
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INCENERITORE ROMA: IL SITO È CONTAMINATO
“Il sito comprato da Ama per realizzare l’inceneritore alla cifra astronomica di sette milioni e mezzo di euro è oggetto di indagini della Procura di Roma e della Corte dei conti è contaminato” è quanto dichiara in una nota l’Unione dei Comitati contro l’inceneritore.
“A metterlo nero su bianco – precisa la nota dell’Unione dei Comitati - sono le indagini di caratterizzazione ambientale del suolo svolte nel primo semestre del 2024 da Acea Infrastrutture che hanno evidenziato molteplici superamenti delle CSC per idrocarburi pesanti e degli IPA.
Appaiono particolarmente gravi – incalzano dall’Unione dei Comitati - le omissioni di Ama e dell’Amministrazione capitolina. La municipalizzata ha omesso di avviare le procedure obbligatorie attuando le misure di prevenzione stabilite dall'articolo 242 del codice dell’ambiente mentre l’amministrazione capitolina guidata da Gualtieri ha proseguito l’iter che ha portato alla validazione del progetto in un sito contaminato. L’amministrazione capitolina ha pertanto ignorato il principio di precauzione di derivazione europea stabilito che avrebbe imposto di indagare, origine, estensione e profondità della contaminazione la cui origine antropica in relazione agli idrocarburi pesanti e agli IPA è fuori discussione.
“Nell’ambito delle osservazioni alla VIA e sulla base del principio di precauzione stabilito dall’ articolo 191 del Trattato sul funzionamento dell’Unione europea – concludono dall’Unione – abbiamo pertanto chiesto di sospendere la VIA e il PAUR fin quando non fosse completato l’espletamento dell’insieme delle procedure obbligatorie necessarie alla caratterizzazione del sito. Infine, abbiamo sollecitato un intervento in autotutela finalizzato al previo espletamento delle procedure di caratterizzazione del sito accompagnato dalla sospensione della VIA e del PAUR evitando il danno erariale legato ai maggiori costi da sostenere per la bonifica per l’avvio in fasi successive”.
USA, Israele e i paesi arabi rafforzano la collaborazione militare
@Notizie dall'Italia e dal mondo
Secondo un'inchiesta, cinque paesi arabi hanno creato in segreto con Israele una struttura per la sicurezza regionale coordinata dagli Stati Uniti e diretta contro l'Iran
L'articolo USA, pagineesteri.it/2025/10/17/med…
Razionalizzazione e modernizzazione. Ecco il piano Mattei per la difesa
@Notizie dall'Italia e dal mondo
La riforma del giugno 2024 ha segnato un punto di svolta nella struttura del ministero della Difesa, separando per la prima volta la figura del segretario generale da quella del direttore nazionale degli armamenti. Una scelta che mira a garantire efficienza e chiarezza di
L’evoluzione dell’intelligence? Non è tutto scontato con l’IA. L’analisi di Teti e Manenti
@Notizie dall'Italia e dal mondo
La trasformazione digitale, quindi l’IA, come metro per capire dove e come le attività di intelligence stanno cambiando passo e strumenti. E al contempo la capacità dei decisori, da un lato di comprendere rapidamente e fino in fondo strategie e
Scattered LAPSUS$ Hunters—one of the latest amalgamations of typically young, reckless, and English-speaking hackers—posted the apparent phone numbers and addresses of hundreds of government officials, including nearly 700 from DHS.#News
Hackers Dox Hundreds of DHS, ICE, FBI, and DOJ Officials
A group of hackers from the Com, a loose-knit community behind some of the most significant data breaches in recent years, have posted the names and personal information of hundreds of government officials, including people working for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).“I want my MONEY MEXICO,” a user of the Scattered LAPSUS$ Hunters Telegram channel, which is a combination of a series of other hacking group names associated with the Com, posted on Thursday. The message was referencing a claim from the DHS that Mexican cartels have begun offering thousands of dollars for doxing agents. The U.S. government has not provided any evidence for this claim.
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Do you know anything else about this data dump? Do you work for any of the agencies impacted? I would love to hear from you. Using a non-work device, you can message me securely on Signal at joseph.404 or send me an email at joseph@404media.co.This post is for subscribers only
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“With fewer visits to Wikipedia, fewer volunteers may grow and enrich the content, and fewer individual donors may support this work.”#News
Wikipedia Says AI Is Causing a Dangerous Decline in Human Visitors
The Wikimedia Foundation, the nonprofit organization that hosts Wikipedia, says that it’s seeing a significant decline in human traffic to the online encyclopedia because more people are getting the information that’s on Wikipedia via generative AI chatbots that were trained on its articles and search engines that summarize them without actually clicking through to the site.The Wikimedia Foundation said that this poses a risk to the long term sustainability of Wikipedia.
“We welcome new ways for people to gain knowledge. However, AI chatbots, search engines, and social platforms that use Wikipedia content must encourage more visitors to Wikipedia, so that the free knowledge that so many people and platforms depend on can continue to flow
Sustainably,” the Foundation’s Senior Director of Product Marshall Miller said in a blog post. “With fewer visits to Wikipedia, fewer volunteers may grow and enrich the content, and fewer individual donors may support this work.”
Ironically, while generative AI and search engines are causing a decline in direct traffic to Wikipedia, its data is more valuable to them than ever. Wikipedia articles are some of the most common training data for AI models, and Google and other platforms have for years mined Wikipedia articles to power its Snippets and Knowledge Panels, which siphon traffic away from Wikipedia itself.
“Almost all large language models train on Wikipedia datasets, and search engines and social media platforms prioritize its information to respond to questions from their users,” Miller said. That means that people are reading the knowledge created by Wikimedia volunteers all over the internet, even if they don’t visit wikipedia.org— this human-created knowledge has become even more important to the spread of reliable information online.”
Miller said that in May 2025 Wikipedia noticed unusually high amounts of apparently human traffic originating mostly from Brazil. He didn’t go into details, but explained this caused the Foundation to update its bot detections systems.
“After making this revision, we are seeing declines in human pageviews on Wikipedia over the past few months, amounting to a decrease of roughly 8% as compared to the same months in 2024,” he said. “We believe that these declines reflect the impact of generative AI and social media on how people seek information, especially with search engines providing answers directly to searchers, often based on Wikipedia content.”
Miller told me in an email that Wikipedia has policies for third-party bots that crawl its content, such as specifying identifying information and following its robots.txt, and limits on request rate and concurrent requests.
“For obvious reasons, we can’t share details publicly about how exactly we block and detect bots,” he said. “In the case of the adjustment we made to data over the past few months, we observed a substantial increase over the level of traffic we expected, centering on a particular region, and there wasn’t a clear reason for it. When our engineers and analysts investigated the data, they discovered a new pattern of bot behavior, designed to appear human. We then adjusted our detection systems and re-applied them to the past several months of data. Because our bot detection has evolved over time, we can’t make exact comparisons – but this adjustment is showing the decline in human pageviews.”
The Foundation’s findings align with other research we’ve seen recently. In July, the Pew Research Center found that only 1 percent of Google searches resulted in the users clicking on the link in the AI summary, which takes them to the page Google is summarizing. In April, the Foundation previously reported that it was getting hammered by AI scrapers, a problem that has also plagued libraries, archives, and museums. Wikipedia editors are also acutely aware of the risk generative AI poses to the reliability of Wikipedia articles if its use is not moderated effectively.
Human pageviews to all language versions of Wikipedia since September 2021, with revised pageviews since April 2025 Image: Wikimedia Foundation.
“These declines are not unexpected. Search engines are increasingly using generative AI to provide answers directly to searchers rather than linking to sites like ours,” Miller said. “And younger generations are seeking information on social video platforms rather than the open web. This gradual shift is not unique to Wikipedia. Many other publishers and content platforms are reporting similar shifts as users spend more time on search engines, AI chatbots, and social media to find information. They are also experiencing the strain that these companies are putting on their infrastructure.”Miller said that the Foundation is “enforcing policies, developing a framework for attribution, and developing new technical capabilities” in order to ensure third-parties responsibly access and reuse Wikipedia content, and continues to "strengthen" its partnerships with search engines and other large “re-users.” The Foundation, he said, is also working on bringing Wikipedia content to younger audiences via YouTube, TikTok, Roblox, and Instagram.
However, Miller also called on users to “choose online behaviors that support content integrity and content creation.”
“When you search for information online, look for citations and click through to the original source material,” he said. “Talk with the people you know about the importance of trusted, human curated knowledge, and help them understand that the content underlying generative AI was created by real people who deserve their support.”
AI Scraping Bots Are Breaking Open Libraries, Archives, and Museums
"This is a moment where that community feels collectively under threat and isn't sure what the process is for solving the problem.”Emanuel Maiberg (404 Media)
OPSON XIV. 631 persone denunciate alle autorità giudiziarie, 11.566 tonnellate di cibo e 1,4 milioni di litri di bevande ritirate dal mercato
#Europol, #OLAF, #DGSANTE e 31 paesi in tutta Europa e oltre, insieme ai produttori di alimenti e bevande del settore privato, hanno unito le forze nella quattordicesima edizione dell'operazione OPSON.
Questo sforzo annuale si rivolge ai criminali dietro alimenti e bevande contraffatti e scadenti.
Le forze dell'ordine, le dogane e le agenzie di regolamentazione alimentare hanno sequestrato 259.012 pacchi, 1.416.168 litri di bevande e 11.566.958 chilogrammi di cibo, compresi carne e frutti di mare.
Nel complesso, l'operazione OPSON XIV ha conseguito questi risultati:
- 631 persone denunciate all'autorità giudiziaria;
- 101 mandati di arresto emessi;
- 13 gruppi criminali organizzati interrotti;
- sequestrati beni per un valore di circa 95 milioni di euro;
- 31.165 controlli e ispezioni effettuati.
Beni in scadenza reinseriti nella catena di fornitura
Una delle principali tendenze identificate quest’anno sono stati i gruppi criminali organizzati che si sono infiltrati nelle aziende di smaltimento dei rifiuti con l’intento di ottenere l’accesso al cibo scaduto in attesa di distruzione. I criminali rimuovono quindi il "meglio prima" (best before) originale o le date di scadenza utilizzando solventi e stampano nuove date falsificate sui pacchi. Questi prodotti rietichettati vengono poi reintrodotti nella catena di fornitura. In termini di qualità, potrebbero non solo essere scadenti ma spesso rappresentare anche un rischio per la salute, come si è visto nei casi che coinvolgono pesce in scatola. In quanto modus operandi criminale, la pratica di rietichettare il cibo scaduto non è del tutto nuova, ma la sua portata attuale non ha precedenti.
Tuttavia, la gamma di frodi nel settore alimentare e delle bevande non si limita solo alla ristampa di date di scadenza false. La contraffazione di alimenti e bevande e l'abuso di indicazioni geografiche sono tra le tattiche fraudolente più comuni. Per quanto riguarda gli alimenti contraffatti e erroneamente designati, l'olio d'oliva e i vini a denominazione di origine protetta restano tipi di prodotti fortemente colpiti.
Inoltre, le autorità hanno riscontrato diversi casi di carne o prodotti a base di carne venduti a ristoranti o consumatori nonostante fossero stati immagazzinati in condizioni scadenti o con i macellatori che non rispettavano gli standard igienici legali e necessari. Modi operandi simili sono stati visti con i frutti di mare (ad esempio, molluschi bivalvi), che non erano più adatti al consumo di consumo ma comunque venduti.
Controlli dalla materia prima al prodotto finale
Le frodi nel settore alimentare e delle bevande costituiscono un settore criminale grave e significativo che necessita di essere affrontato a livello nazionale e internazionale. L’operazione #OPSON è stata istituita con l’obiettivo di proteggere la salute e la sicurezza pubblica in tutta l’UE.
L'elenco degli articoli alimentari e delle bevande ritirati dal mercato abbraccia un'ampia gamma. Le autorità hanno sequestrato beni di prima necessità come frutta, verdura, pollame, carne, prodotti a base di carne e frutti di mare. L'elenco dei prodotti alimentari comprende anche dolciumi, grassi e oli, con particolare attenzione all'olio d'oliva. Inoltre, nel corso dell'OPSON XIV sono stati trattati integratori alimentari e additivi.
Punti salienti operativi di OPSON XIV
Europol ha coordinato OPSON XIV e ha sostenuto molti casi individuali inviando esperti con un ufficio mobile alle giornate di azione. Durante questi controlli e raid, gli esperti sul posto potrebbero fornire supporto analitico e di intelligence alle autorità nazionali. Inoltre, Europol ha organizzato riunioni operative per i casi spin-off. Con centinaia di indagini e controlli individuali eseguiti da polizia, dogane e autorità nazionali di regolamentazione alimentare in collaborazione con partner del settore privato, più di alcuni si sono distinti come esempi da evidenziare in dettaglio.
Italia
Un'inchiesta del Nucleo Carabinieri Antisofisticazioni e Sanità Pubblica (Nuclei Antisofisticazione e Sanità dell'Arma dei Carabinieri, #NAS) ha portato all'emissione di un mandato di cattura per sette allevatori di cavalli e camionisti. Facevano parte di un'organizzazione criminale operante in Umbria e Puglia, che macellava clandestinamente cavalli trattati con prodotti farmaceutici, ponendo un significativo rischio per la salute pubblica. Inoltre, le autorità hanno scoperto e sequestrato un impianto di macellazione clandestino in una fattoria, insieme a un camion contenente parti di animali macellati illegalmente.
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Carta di Roma: grave atto criminale
@Giornalismo e disordine informativo
articolo21.org/2025/10/carta-d…
L’associazione Carta di Roma invia la sua solidarietà a Sigfrido Ranucci, alla sua famiglia e a tutta la redazione di Report dopo i fatti gravissimi accaduti nella scorsa notte. Un ordigno é stato posto sotto l’auto dell’autore e conduttore di Report e fatto esplodere.
Convocazione del Consiglio di Istituto per mercoledì 22 ottobre dalle 15:30 alle 16:30
Come riportato nella circolare n.100 reperibile sulla sezione "Albo online" del sito web dell'Istituto, è stato convocato un Consiglio di Istituto per mercoledì 22 ottobre dalle 15:30 alle 16:30 .
Chiunque desiderasse assistere come uditore alla seduta, potrà inviare una richiesta all'indirizzo email della scuola avente come oggetto:
Richiesta di partecipazione in qualità di uditore al Consiglio di Istituto del 22 ottobre
Qui un canovaccio del testo:
Alla cortese attenzione della dirigenza dell'IstitutoCon preghiera di diffusione alla presidenza del Consiglio di Istituto,
Buongiorno,come genitore dell'alunn__ _______________ ___________, desidero assistere in qualità di uditore al consiglio di istituto che si terrà il giorno 22 ottobre.
A tal fine chiedo la possibilità di disporre dei parametri di accesso che mi consentano di accedere alla sessione di videoconferenza in modalità ascoltatore.
Cordiali saluti,NOME COGNOME
La scuola potrà quindi inviare il link di accesso come spettatore della videoconferenza, cui potrebbe essere necessario accedere con l'account google del proprio figlio.
Questo è l'ordine del giorno provvisorio del Consiglio di Istituto:
- Lettura e approvazione Verbale precedente
- Resoconto occupazione
- Adesione ACCORDO DI RETE TRA SCUOLE PER LO SVOLGIMENTO, IN VIA AGGREGATA, DI UNA PROCEDURA PER L'AFFIDAMENTO DEL SERVIZIO DI CASSA con Liceo Tasso di Roma
- Proposta chiusura uffici amministrativi nei giorni prefestivi
- Date Open day e progetto Eureka
- Proposta di accoglienza di un gruppo di studenti e professori da Bratislava per visita alla scuola con partecipazione ad attività scolastiche presumibilmente dal 26 al 29 novembre 2025 (Erasmus)
- Proposta di apertura canale social (instagram) ufficiale della scuola
- Tetto di spesa massimo per viaggi d’istruzione per alunno
- Proposte di iniziative didattiche da parte degli studenti sulla situazione internazionale e in Palestina
- Concessione triennale distributori bevande e generi alimentari
- Variazioni e radiazioni P.A. 2025
- Modalità operative e funzionamento per prossime elezioni Organi Collegiali
Coro di solidarietà dalla Campania, che conta sei giornalisti sotto scorta
@Giornalismo e disordine informativo
articolo21.org/2025/10/coro-di…
Anche dalla Campania si alza un coro di solidarietà nei confronti di Sigfrido Ranucci dopo l’attentato subìto a Pomezia. “Abbiamo ricordato, da poco, il
Mattarella esprime solidarietà a Ranucci e condanna il grave gesto di intimidazione
@Giornalismo e disordine informativo
articolo21.org/2025/10/mattare…
Il Presidente della Repubblica, Sergio Mattarella, ha fatto pervenire a Sigfrido Ranucci la sua solidarietà, esprimendo
Subito in piazza per Sigfrido Ranucci e per difendere l’articolo 21 della Costituzione
@Giornalismo e disordine informativo
articolo21.org/2025/10/subito-…
Dei mandanti e degli esecutori dell’attentato se ne occuperanno gli inquirenti, ma il clima creato contro Report
West Bank: Israeli soldiers kill 11-year-old boy playing football with friends
middleeasteye.net/live-blog/li…
"La Russia sta vincendo, i Tomahawk non ci spaventano": cosa ha detto Putin a Trump
e allora di cosa stiamo a discutere? dateli all'ucraina. zellensky è contento e a putin non importa. va benissimo. a noi una russia che stravince a questo modo va ancora più bene. 100 di queste vittorie. un augurio di infinite vittorie come questa.
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macfranc
in reply to Ghost: blog e newsletter italiane • • •W #Ghost e #DeleteSubstack!
@blog @index@matteopetrani.com @index@marcogovoni.it @index@letter-to-a-gamer.com @ed @index@ricettario.theia.fit @index@razionalista.it @index@blog.vitadahost.it @info @index@blog.aisent.io @index@analogic.me @index@mondopesca.it @index@postcrescita.it @index@thestreetrover.it @social @index@morningtech.it @index@techpertutti.com @index@teraflop.it @index@blog.tmpmix.dev
The Street Rover
in reply to Ghost: blog e newsletter italiane • • •Ghost: blog e newsletter italiane likes this.
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