Jonathan Corbet
Posts
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Jonathan Corbet
corbet
@kkarhan @lwn So if we get one hit on, say, an article written in 2010, do we go through that whole process? How do we know that that isn't the one case of a real human following a link of interest? And how do we send, say, two-million abuse reports without just ending up on the spam blacklists ourselves?
Absolutist solutions like that sound good, but lack practicality.
Absolutist solutions like that sound good, but lack practicality.
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Jonathan Corbet
corbet
@kkarhan @lwn The problem it that it's *all* the ASNs. Probably even yours. These scrapers are built into apps and running on devices without the knowledge of their ostensible owners. Perhaps your phone is one of them.
Have a look at companies like Bright Data or opscloudio.com if you want to see how that sleazy business works.
Have a look at companies like Bright Data or opscloudio.com if you want to see how that sleazy business works.
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Jonathan Corbet
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@StompyRobot @lwn User agent is whatever random fiction they choose to put in there; there is no useful signal there. We really don't want to inflict captchas or cloudflare or any of that onto our readers, so we've had to find other ways to defend the site.
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Jonathan Corbet
corbet
The @lwn web site is currently under the most intense scraper attack I have seen yet. 1.3M unique IP addresses within the last couple of hours, and it's not done yet. The work we have done on defenses appears to be paying off, though; the server is holding up reasonably well — so far.
...just in case anybody wonders why I have a rather dim view of the whole AI industry...
...just in case anybody wonders why I have a rather dim view of the whole AI industry...
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Jonathan Corbet
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@neil @ivor We refitted the house (in northern Colorado) with heat pumps, replacing the old forced-air natural gas. So far, it has taken us through a couple of winters with temperatures down to -18°F (-28°C), driven mostly from the solar panels. No regrets here.
Gas is still used for the stove and hot water; once those are fixed, we'll be able to turn off the fossil-fuel feed entirely...that will be a nice day.
Gas is still used for the stove and hot water; once those are fixed, we'll be able to turn off the fossil-fuel feed entirely...that will be a nice day.
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Jonathan Corbet
corbet
So the Linux Foundation and a wide range of companies have launched "Akrites" to deal with the vulnerability deluge:
https://akrites.org/letter/
I do wonder though ... "confidentiality" is at the core of this whole thing - keeping vulnerabilities secret until fixes are deployed. When you have LLMs discovering the vulnerabilities, though, they are not secret. Trying to treat them as if they were might well just slow down the process of getting fixes out and make things worse. Embargoes and confidentiality seem like an attempt to perpetuate the last decade's approaches beyond their time.
https://akrites.org/letter/
I do wonder though ... "confidentiality" is at the core of this whole thing - keeping vulnerabilities secret until fixes are deployed. When you have LLMs discovering the vulnerabilities, though, they are not secret. Trying to treat them as if they were might well just slow down the process of getting fixes out and make things worse. Embargoes and confidentiality seem like an attempt to perpetuate the last decade's approaches beyond their time.
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Jonathan Corbet
corbet
@dangillmor @Salty The story of the reverse-engineering of the Fisker Ocean firmware is an encouraging point in all of this. The manufacturer disappeared, so the owners took things into their own hands.
https://electrek.co/2026/05/16/fisker-ocean-open-source-ev-story-after-bankruptcy/
https://electrek.co/2026/05/16/fisker-ocean-open-source-ev-story-after-bankruptcy/
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Jonathan Corbet
corbet
Edited 16 days ago
An offer of "free" LLM use made to developers in the GCC and glibc communities, which are full of developers who feel strongly about free software, was never going to be received with universal acclaim...
https://lwn.net/ml/all/aac20a98-a70e-4268-a758-316ac0407a16@redhat.com
It will be an interesting day when, after the inevitable rugpull happens, these tools cease being available for use without charge. Hopefully we will still remember how to write and review code.
https://lwn.net/ml/all/aac20a98-a70e-4268-a758-316ac0407a16@redhat.com
It will be an interesting day when, after the inevitable rugpull happens, these tools cease being available for use without charge. Hopefully we will still remember how to write and review code.
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Wladimir Mufty
wlaatje@social.edu.nlAnd so it begin's....
"You are not a person or entity that is: (a) located in, organized under the laws of, or ordinarily resident in any country or territory that is the target of comprehensive U.S. sanctions; (b) a prohibited or restricted party under U.S. or other applicable sanctions and export control laws and regulations; or (c)...."
#LetsEncrypt #Certificates #Banned #Sanctioned #territory
https://letsencrypt.org/documents/LE-SA-v1.7-June-04-2026-diff.pdf
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Jonathan Corbet
corbet
@mntmn @Hex It's not just those bozos ... some folks at opscloudio.com asked if they could run banners on our site selling the same sort of SDK. We declined...
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Jonathan Corbet
corbet
I've been slowly working my way through _Behave_ by Robert M. Sapolsky, a fascinating book on how our brains work. Just hit this quote:
"This recalls a remarkable finding — stick subjects in a room with a smelly garbage can, and they become more socially conservative. If your insula is gagging from the smell of dead fish, you're more likely to decide that a social practice of an Other that is merely different is, instead, just plain wrong."
Life in this part of the world in the last decade has been like having several reeking dumpsters in the room. Perhaps this is not accidental.
"This recalls a remarkable finding — stick subjects in a room with a smelly garbage can, and they become more socially conservative. If your insula is gagging from the smell of dead fish, you're more likely to decide that a social practice of an Other that is merely different is, instead, just plain wrong."
Life in this part of the world in the last decade has been like having several reeking dumpsters in the room. Perhaps this is not accidental.
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Jonathan Corbet
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Jens Axboe
axboe@fosstodon.org
Edited 28 days ago
Leave Tridge alone. Seriously. Just mind your own business. Various people stirring up drama, with a cohort of seemingly terrible followers. Fork it and do the work yourself, if you can think you can do better. If not, STFU, and let the man cook however he wants.
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Jonathan Corbet
corbet
@monsieuricon The first one of those I had scared the crap out of me...now I just wait until I can read my screen again.
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Jonathan Corbet
corbet
@dirkhh I don't think we have yet (yet!) reached the point where the transfer of an asset like the NCAR supercomputing center would proceed in the presence of an injunction prohibiting it.
One thing we've seen over the last year and a half is that this administration, when it runs into concerted opposition, often just backs down, perhaps declaring victory on the way. Hopefully that will happen here.
One thing we've seen over the last year and a half is that this administration, when it runs into concerted opposition, often just backs down, perhaps declaring victory on the way. Hopefully that will happen here.
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Jonathan Corbet
corbet
US District Court issues an injunction preventing the government from tearing apart the National Center for Atmospheric Research — for now, at least.
https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/72496922/47/university-corporation-for-atmospheric-research-v-national-science/
"The Court finds that UCAR is likely to succeed on its claim that NSF’s decision to divest it of stewardship over the NWSC was “arbitrary, capricious, an abuse of discretion, or otherwise not in accordance with law.”
https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/72496922/47/university-corporation-for-atmospheric-research-v-national-science/
"The Court finds that UCAR is likely to succeed on its claim that NSF’s decision to divest it of stewardship over the NWSC was “arbitrary, capricious, an abuse of discretion, or otherwise not in accordance with law.”
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