Technology

Human rights groups warned on Friday that it effectively forces member states to create a broad electronic surveillance dragnet that would include crimes that have nothing to do with technology. 

Many expressed concern that the convention will be abused by dictatorships and rogue governments who will deploy it against critics or protesters — even those outside of a regime’s jurisdiction. 

Oh how unfortunate, im sure that was not part of the plan from the beginning... /s

The International Criminal Court (ICC) will switch its internal work environment away from Microsoft Office to Open Desk, a European open source alternative, the institution confirmed to Euractiv.

German newspaper Handelsblatt first reported on the plans. The switch comes amid rising concerns about public bodies being reliant on US tech companies to run their services, which have stepped up sharply since the start of US President Donald Trump’s second administration.

For the ICC, such concerns are not abstract: Trump has repeatedly lashed out at the court and slapped sanctions on its chief prosecutor, Karim Khan.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ml/post/38267171

RISC-V is an industry standard, like USB or Wi-Fi. The specifications are publicly available under the Creative Commons license and every engineer, wherever they are in the world, can use them to design their products locally, while engaging with the global RISC-V ecosystem.

This standard is defined by RISC-V International and its members. Decisions are voted upon collectively, ensuring every member is heard. It’s a model that has worked for us for many years, ensuring any updates to the RISC-V ISA happen transparently, without breaking existing designs, and always in service of the broader ecosystem.

The RISC-V ISA is already an industry standard and the next step is impartial recognition from a trusted international organization.

Today, I’m excited to announce that we have taken that first step. RISC-V International has been approved as a recognized PAS (that’s publicly available specification) Submitter by the ISO/IEC Joint Technical Committee (JTC 1).

This means we’re able to submit draft international papers, starting with the The RISC-V Instruction Set Manual, for consideration as true, international standards.

When Google and Amazon negotiated a major $1.2bn cloud-computing deal in 2021, their customer – the Israeli government – had an unusual demand: agree to use a secret code as part of an arrangement that would become known as the “winking mechanism”.

The demand, which would require Google and Amazon to effectively sidestep legal obligations in countries around the world, was born out of Israel’s concerns that data it moves into the global corporations’ cloud platforms could end up in the hands of foreign law enforcement authorities.

For Israel, losing control of its data to authorities overseas was a significant concern. So to deal with the threat, officials created a secret warning system: the companies must send signals hidden in payments to the Israeli government, tipping it off when it has disclosed Israeli data to foreign courts or investigators.

To clinch the lucrative contract, Google and Amazon agreed to the so-called winking mechanism. The strict controls include measures that prohibit the US companies from restricting how an array of Israeli government agencies, security services and military units use their cloud services. According to the deal’s terms, the companies cannot suspend or withdraw Israel’s access to its technology, even if it’s found to have violated their terms of service.

Microsoft is facing mounting criticism over its controversial complicity in "Israel’s" genocide in Gaza, with charges that its technologies have enabled surveillance, targeted assassinations, and repression of Palestinians. Critics say the company has played a central role in what some are calling the world’s first AI-driven genocide.

To make america great again, I think.