ForgottenFlux

ForgottenFlux, 57 minutes ago

ICYMI: FTC judge rules Intuit broke law, must stop advertising TurboTax as “free”

According to Chappell’s 242-page ruling, “the evidence proves that Intuit engaged in deceptive advertising in violation of Section 5 of the FTC Act.” Intuit “advertised to consumers that they could file their taxes online for free using TurboTax, when in truth, for approximately two-thirds of taxpayers, the advertised claim was false,” he wrote.

ForgottenFlux, 3 hours ago (edited 3 hours ago)

At a committee hearing, opponents of the new law argued that it would endanger the security and reliability of devices by opening up the market to independent shops of dubious quality and making documentation and tools more widely available.

“The marketplace already provides a wide range of consumer choices for repair with varying levels of quality, price and convenience without the mandates imposed by this legislation. The marketplace continues to evolve and manufacturers will continue to make changes to address consumer demand while offering consumers safe and reliable repair options,” said Michael Blank, director of state legislative affairs for CTIA, the trade association for the wireless communications industry.

At the hearing, Katz argued the change was necessary because companies were using technology to take more control of the market and block people from making reasonable repairs.

“When you limit choice and you limit freedom to fix the stuff that you own, then that can lead to higher costs. It can also lead to more people deciding it’s just not worth it and buying a whole new thing and … that can have a huge impact on our society from an environmental perspective as well,” he said.

ForgottenFlux, 3 hours ago

About Samsung (from Techopedia):

Not every manufacturer has wholly embraced the idea. iFixit recently dropped its Samsung partnership over allegations the Galaxy phone maker wasn’t much interested in do-it-yourself repairs. 404 Media learned that Samsung required independent repair shops to not only report customers who fix devices with unofficial parts, but to “disassemble” those devices. While right to repair laws don’t necessarily address that behavior, they along with existing warranty law could mandate policy changes.

About Apple (from The Register):

The fact that a strong parts pairing prohibition was included in the bill indicates that the practice continues to fall out of favor as more and more localities take action to ban it. Even Apple, which has relied heavily on parts pairing to maintain control of its devices while speaking out of the other side of its mouth about support for right to repair, recently caved to the parts-pairing pressure by announcing it would allow used parts to be installed in some devices.

However, as iFixit pointed out, Apple’s declaration of allowing some used parts to be used for repairs doesn’t comply with Colorado’s prohibition on parts pairing, nor the version included in a recently passed right to repair bill in Oregon.

“Apple has made no promises to enable previously blocked functionality for third-party parts, which are also key to independent and DIY repair,” iFixit said. “To be clear, nobody expects Apple to make parts work when they don’t meet the necessary specifications — but currently, Apple blocks functionality of many third-party parts preemptively.”

In other words, Colorado is another win, but it’s hardly the end of the war.

ForgottenFlux, 1 day ago

Summary:

• Internet Archive, including its Wayback Machine, has been facing sustained DDoS attacks for several days
• The attacks began on Sunday and have been intermittent, but disruptive to the organization’s services
• Internet Archive says the attacks have been "sustained, impactful, targeted, adaptive, and mean"
• Despite the attacks, the organization’s collections are safe, though access has been inconsistent
• This comes as Internet Archive is also embroiled in a legal battle with US book publishers over its Controlled Digital Lending program
• The non-profit is working to harden its defenses to offer more reliable access to its digital library
• Cyberattacks have been increasingly targeting libraries and other knowledge institutions recently

ForgottenFlux, 1 day ago

Internet Archive is also being sued by the US book publishing and US recording industries associations, which are claiming copyright infringement and demanding combined damages of hundreds of millions of dollars and diminished services from all libraries.

“If our patrons around the globe think this latest situation is upsetting, then they should be very worried about what the publishing and recording industries have in mind,” added Kahle. “I think they are trying to destroy this library entirely and hobble all libraries everywhere. But just as we’re resisting the DDoS attack, we appreciate all the support in pushing back on this unjust litigation against our library and others.”

ForgottenFlux, 1 day ago

As stated in the Internet Archive Blog post:

The source of the attack is unknown.

ForgottenFlux, 1 day ago (edited 1 day ago)

• Donate:

For more than two and a half decades, we have collected, preserved, and shared our digital cultural artifacts. Thanks to the generosity of our patrons, the Internet Archive has grown from a small preservation project into a vast library that serves millions of people each year. Our work has impacted the lives of so many of our users who value free and open access to information.

From the beginning, it was important for the Internet Archive to be a nonprofit, because it was working for the people. Its motives had to be transparent; it had to last a long time. That’s why we don’t charge for access, sell user data, or run ads, even while we offer free resources to citizens everywhere. We rely on the generosity of individuals like you to pay for servers, staff, and preservation projects.

If you can’t imagine a future without the Internet Archive, please consider supporting our work. We promise to put your donation to good use as we continue to store over 99 petabytes of data, including 625 billion webpages, 38 million books and texts, and 14 million audio recordings.

• Volunteer Positions:
  • Volunteer as an Open Library Developer (Learn how to contribute, find easy tasks, look at our roadmap, and ask to join our community slack chat!)
    • Getting Started with our Github
    • Good First Issues
    • Join the Open Library Slack Channel
  • Volunteering as an Open Librarian (Want to make sure Open Library’s data is pristine?)
    • Learn about our standards
    • https://github.com/internetarchive/openlibrary-client

ForgottenFlux, 2 days ago

• Donate
• Volunteer Positions:
  • Volunteer as an Open Library Developer (Learn how to contribute, find easy tasks, look at our roadmap, and ask to join our community slack chat!)
    • Getting Started with our Github
    • Good First Issues
    • Join the Open Library Slack Channel
  • Volunteering as an Open Librarian (Want to make sure Open Library’s data is pristine?)
    • Learn about our standards
    • https://github.com/internetarchive/openlibrary-client

ForgottenFlux, 3 days ago

Summary:

• This means that when a Steam user passes away, their entire game library and account cannot be bequeathed or transferred to their loved ones.
• The gaming community has expressed frustration over this policy, with some suggesting workarounds like sharing login credentials, but these may only be temporary solutions.
• This issue highlights the broader problem with digital purchases, as users do not truly “own” the content they buy, but rather have a license to access it.