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40 Must-Have Free Open Source Software for 2023 – Tecmint
It is time to share a list of the best free and open-source software I found during the year 2023. Some of these programs may not be new in that they werent released for the first time in 2023, but they are new and have been helpful to me. It is in the spirit of sharing that Im writing this article hoping you find some of these programs useful as well.
To begin, you may want to search for the program using your distributions package manager, like so:
The RHEL-based distribution users can use the yum or dnf package manager:
The Debian-based distribution users can use apt or aptitude package manager:
OpenSUSE and derivatives can use the zypper command:
Arch Linux and derivatives:
If your search returns no results, head over to the website of each tool where you will find the standalone package for download and installation instructions, along with information on dependencies.
You can use Simple Screen Recorder to make audio and video screencasts (entire screen or selected area). It is easy to install and use, but powerful at the same time.
We already covered Simple Screen Recorder in-depth, so just go through it and learn how to use it to capture and record the screen of your Linux computer.
Jaspersoft Studio is a report designer program that allows you to create simple and sophisticated reports as well with charts, tabs, tables (and everything you can expect to see in a world-class report) and export them to a wide variety of formats (with PDF perhaps being the most common).
With Q&A forums and User groups, plus several samples and examples, the community website is a great resource for help to master this versatile program.
Visual Studio Code is a free and open-source code editor developed by Microsoft that has reached a significant level of popularity among web and cloud developers who are also Linux users since it provides a nice programming environment out of the box that supports extensions to add functionality.
If youre like me and music (especially the guitar) is one of your passions, youll love this TuxGuitar program, which will let you edit and play guitar tablatures like a pro.
Jitsi is a free and open-source audio/video conferencing and instant messaging platform for Windows, Linux, macOS, iOS, and Android.
It provides complete encryption with support for protocols such as SIP, XMPP/Jabber, AIM/ICQ, IRC, Windows Live Messenger, Yahoo!, Google Hangouts extensions, as well as OTR, ZRTP, etc.
GCompris is a cross-platform high-quality complete educational software collection for children aged between 2 to 10, and it comes with more than 140 entertaining activities.
That helps little children learn skills such as the identification of letters and numbers, the use of the mouse and keyboard, primary algebra training, reading time on an analog clock, vector drawing, language learning through games, and much more.
GIMP (GNU Image Manipulation Program) is a multi-platform, free, and open-source photo editing software used for image manipulation and image editing, free-form drawing, transcoding between different image file formats, and more specialized tasks.
FreeCAD is a general-purpose 3D Computer-Aided Design program fit for use in engineering and architecture. Given the fact that FreeCAD is FOSS, it is easily customizable and extensible through the use of Python scripts.
Although not a new kid on the block in any way, I chose to include OwnCloud in this review due to its importance. As an alternative to commercial Dropbox, security, and privacy are achieved without much hassle and allow you to easily set up customized cloud storage and file-sharing solution.
We already covered installation about Owncloud in-depth here: Create Personal/Private Cloud Storage Solution in Linux
MediaWiki is a program for creating and managing a Wikipedia-like website (in fact, Wikipedia itself is based on MediaWiki) where a community can add, remove, update, and revert entries, and authors are notified of such changes.
You can think of Bleachbit as the CCleaner for Linux but more powerful. It will not only recover disk space by deleting temporary or otherwise unnecessary filesbut will also improve Firefoxs performance and securely destroy unnecessary files to prevent recovery.
We already covered the installation of Bleachbit in-depth here: Disk Space Cleaner and Privacy Guard for Linux
CodeMirror is a very powerful Javascript-based text editor for the web browser. CodeMirror includes syntax highlighting for over 100 languages and a robust API. If you own a website or blog that provides programming tutorials, you will find CodeMirror to be a very useful tool.
GNU Health is a free, extremely scalable Health and Hospital Information Platform, which is used by health professionals across the world to enhance the lives of the underprivileged, offering a free technique that optimizes health promotion and disease prevention.
Open Computer and Software Inventory Next Generation, or OCS Inventory NG for short, is a lightweight web application that can help network and system administrators to keep track of 1) all the devices connected to the network, and 2) machine configuration and software installed in them.
The projects website (listed below) has a fully functional demo in case you want to check it out before attempting to actually install the program. In addition, OCS Inventory NG relies on well-known technologies like Apache and MySQL / MariaDB, making it a robust program.
Often used in conjunction with OCS Inventory NG, GLPI is a multilingual, free IT asset management software that not only provides the tools to build up a database with an inventory of your network devices but also includes a job tracking system with mail notifications.
Other distinguishing features include, but are not limited to:
We already covered the installation of the GLPI IT Asset Management tool in-depth here: Install GLPI IT and Asset Management Tool in Linux
With Ampache, you can set up your own home media center or online audio and video streaming application and access it from anywhere with an Internet connection.
Although it is designed as a personal application, Ampache allows for public registration if an administrator chooses to enable that feature.
Master PDF Editor is an easy-to-use pdf editing tool for working with PDF documents that comes with powerful multi-purpose functionality.
It helps you to easily add text, create and modify pdf, add images, and encrypt files. Master PDF also allows you to merge files into one or split documents into multiple files.
LibreOffice Draw is an application that is inbuilt into the LibreOffice suite that enables you to create anything from an easy sketch to a complex one and provides you the means to communicate with graphics and diagrams. With Draw, you can easily open and edit basic PDF files.
If you own a small or medium business you will undoubtedly need a Point Of Sale program. As such, uniCenta oPOS may be a lifesaver for you. It uses a MySQL / MariaDB database for data storage, and thus a single database can be used with multiple active terminals at the same time.
On top of all that, uniCenta oPOS also includes a search panel, a price-checker utility, and a tool to create printed reports.
OpenShot is a FOSS video editor for Linux that can help you create the film you have always dreamed of (in the words of its developers) with your home videos, pictures, and music files.
It also allows you to add subtitles, and transition effects, and export the resulting video file to DVD and many other common formats.
LAN Messenger is a multilingual (a language pack is needed) and cross-platform (works in Linux, Windows, and Mac) IM program for communication over a LAN. It provides file transfers, message logging, and event notifications all without the need to set up a server!
Cherrytree is a free and open-source hierarchical note-taking program that comes with rich text formatting, syntax highlighting, and advanced customization options. Its advanced search feature enables you to search files across the file tree irrespective of their path.
It comes with keyboard shortcuts, importing and exporting notes, syncing with cloud platforms like Dropbox, and password security to keep your notes secure.
FlightGear is an awesome open-source flight simulator tool, that is used to create a knowledgeable and open flight simulator system for use in experiments or academic environments, pilot training, an industrial engineering program, for DIY-ers to chase their chosen exciting flight simulation design, and last but surely not least as a fun, practical, and demanding desktop flight simulator for Linux.
MuseScore is an open-source and free professional music notation application that is used to create, play and print beautiful sheet music using easy to use, yet powerful interface.
Tmux is an open-source Linux terminal multiplexer that allows you to run multiple terminal sessions in a single window.
It is useful for running several programs in one terminal, detaching them (they keep running in the background), and reattaching them to a different terminal.
qBittorrent is a free and open-source BitTorrent client that helps users to download and share files over the network in a decentralized manner.
It allows users to connect to peers and seeders to download and upload files efficiently by connecting to a swarm of other users who are sharing the same file. It uses the BitTorrent protocol, which breaks files into smaller parts and allows users to download those parts from multiple sources simultaneously.
Described as a safe home for all your data, NextCloud was started as a separate project by one of its ownClouds first collaborators.
Although it raised a few sparks between him and the ownCloud community, NextCloud seems to be here to stay and compete with ownCloud as a private cloud solution to access and share your files, calendars, contacts, and office documents.
Using dozens of third-party apps available on the official App Store, you can equip your Nexcloud instance with new features and turn it into a powerful collaborative environment that cares with respect to your personal data.
Because even system administrators and developers need a little distraction, you can use Celestia (a free 3D astronomy program) to navigate the universe.
Celestia serves as a 3D planetarium that seamlessly simulates various celestial objects whose position and movement are calculated accurately in real-time. It also comes with a large database of stars, galaxies, planets, asteroids, comets, and other celestial bodies.
As opposed to other planetarium software, Celestia allows you to travel throughout the solar system and the galaxy, not just the surface of the Earth. To infinity and beyond!
If your system administration tasks include managing Windows servers via Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP), FreeRDP is a tool that you will want to try out.
It is described by its developers as an RDP client for Windows Terminal Services. The project is hosted on GitHub and released under the Apache license, so you are welcome to collaborate with it if you wish.
Again, I may be a little biased on this one. If you are searching for a bug-tracking and project management solution, dont look any further Flyspray, a web-based tool powered by Apachehas exactly what you need. And dont just take my word for it: even ArchLinux uses Flyspray for bug-tracking.
Flyspray is a lightweight bug-tracking system written in PHP that runs on any OS and focuses on a very intuitive design allowing you to handle multiple projects at once.
It supports MySQL or PostgreSQL as database servers and provides voting functionality, email notifications (requires a separate mail server to be installed and configured), and optional Single-Sign-On (SSO) using a Facebook or Google account.
If you have been using a spreadsheet to keep track of your personal, family, or business finances, it may be time to try a more suitable solution such as GNUCash.
This FOSS accounting software allows you to keep an eye on your bank accounts, expenses, and income and to create custom, complete reports with this data. Its user-friendly interface is a plus to the solid accounting principles GNUCash uses under the hood.
The official website includes an exhaustive FAQ section, the application Manual, and a Tutorial guide. With these materials, learning how to use GNUCash will be a play in the park. On top of that, you can subscribe to the mailing lists in case you need help or run into any problems with GNUCash.
Like many other open-source projects, GnuCash is entirely developed, maintained, and translated entirely by volunteers and enthusiasts.
Both available as Enterprise (paid) and Community editions, LogicalDOC is an award-winning, web-based Document Management System (DMS). As such, it aims to provide a high-quality method for sharing business documents and records in a low-cost and secure way.
Additionally, LogicalDOC allows you to control access to these resources via security roles, and to easily track changes through version control. LogicalDOC can be installed both on a single computer in standalone mode, on a dedicated server as a shared service, or as a Software as a Service (SaaS) solution.
LogicalDOC comes with features for content processing and information management that are more suitable for enterprises and businesses but its also great for personal use.
If you are into game development, video editing, or 3D modeling, I am sure you must have already heard about this tool. If you are considering any of these activities either as a hobby or a career change and havent heard about Blender, it is definitely time to check it out.
As a FOSS solution, it does not come short when compared to commercial tools. On top of it, Blender is cross-platform which means you can not only run it on Linux but also on macOS and Windows.
Among the standard Blender features, you can find rendering, 3D modeling, digital sculpting, video editing, and simulation tools.
DVDStyler is a cross-platform, FOSS DVD authoring tool that allows you to create nice-looking and professional DVDs with your video and image files.
As such, DVDStyler allows you to create your own interactive menus or choose from the built-in ones, add subtitle and audio files, and use video files in different formats. Additionally, you can create photo slideshows and place graphic objects like buttons, text, images, and so on.
In addition, this awesome tool integrates with your DVD burner to burn the disk from within the same application.
As its name suggests, OSQuery provides access to real-time system information in the form of tables and events that can be queried using SQL-like syntax via an interactive query console.
With osquery, you can explore your system to perform intrusion detection, diagnose a problem, or just produce a report of its operation all at your fingertips using a single tool.
If you have at least a basic understanding of SQL, getting details about the operating system using the built-in tables in OSQuery will be a piece of cake.
OSQuery runs flawlessly on Windows, macOS, CentOS, and all other Linux OS released since 2011 and requires no dependencies.
Need yet another reason to convince you to give OSQuery a try? It was developed and maintained by the folks at Facebook.
I have to deal with so many programs, websites, and services that I often forget my passwords. There is no doubt that this also happens to other Linux users, so here is the solution KeePass. Its a free open-source password manager that allows you to manage and keep your passwords in a secure way.
KeePass stores all of your passwords in a single database locked with a master key. Thats why you need to remember one single master key to access the database.
All passwords are encrypted using the most secure encryption algorithms. In fact, KeePass is compatible with the Advanced Encryption Standard (AES, Rijndael) and the Twofish algorithm.
Alternatively, KeePass allows you to use key files instead of master keys. You just need to always have the key file with you. For example, you can carry it on a floppy disk or USB stick.
I dont often edit PDF files but when I do, I usually use PDF Mix Tool, which is a simple and lightweight open-source program that makes it possible to perform common PDF editing operations, such as file merging and page rotation.
Apart from that, you can also use PDF Mix Tool to generate booklets, delete and add pages to a PDF file, extract pages and even edit the PDF document information.
This tool is good for basic editing operations. If you need a more complex and powerful program, take a look at the best pdf editors for Linux.
When it comes to email management, one of my favorite tools is Mailspring, which is an open-source and cross-platform email client that allows you to create a single inbox for all your email accounts.
Mailspring is compatible with all popular email providers, including Gmail, Outlook, iCloud, Office 365, Yahoo!, etc., and supports IMAP/SMTP.
The Mailspring user interface is visually pleasing and there are a few beautiful themes. It also comes with a signature editor that allows you to create custom signatures, even with images and links to social media, which looks great.
If you work on several projects and have a lot of tasks to do at a time, you definitely need to try OpenTodoList, which is a simple note-taking application that allows you to stay organized.
With this tool, your information is organized in libraries. A library can contain to-do lists, notes, and images that are stored locally.
More importantly, you can synchronize your information with NextCloud, ownCloud, other WebDAV services, or any third-party synchronization tool of your choice. OpenTodoList lets you keep track of your tasks and enhance your productivity in a simple way.
Many Linux users have been lacking a decent Microsoft Office alternative for years. From my point of view, one of the best replacements for the MS Office suite is ONLYOFFICE, an open-source project that revolves around office software and productivity tools.
ONLYOFFICE offers a self-hosted office suite called Docs and a free desktop editor for Linux, Windows, and macOS. Both online and desktop editors are based on the same engine and allow you to create and collaborate on documents, presentations, spreadsheets, and fillable forms in real-time.
The ONLYOFFICE suite is fully compatible with DOCX, XLXS, and PPTX files and also makes it possible to open and view PDF and DjVu files. Conversion to DOCX is available, too.
ONLYOFFICE comes with integration apps for the most popular file-sharing and document management platforms, so you can embed the online editors to enable document editing and real-time co-authoring within Nextcloud, ownCloud, Moodle, WordPress, Seafile, etc.
In this article, I have described free and open-source applications that I have found during the year 2023, and hope that it sparks your interest in one or more of them.
Would you like us to cover any of them in greater detail on this site? Have you found another great FOSS application that you would like to share with the rest of the community? Just let us know using the comment form below. Questions, comments, and suggestions are also welcome.
Read the rest here:
40 Must-Have Free Open Source Software for 2023 - Tecmint
First Amendment and Censorship | Advocacy, Legislation & Issues
First Amendment Resources | Statements & Core Documents | Publications & Guidelines
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances. First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution passed by Congress September 25, 1789. Ratified December 15, 1791.
One of the ten amendments of the Bill of Rights, the First Amendment gives everyone residing in the United States the right to hear all sides of every issue and to make their own judgments about those issues without government interference or limitations. The First Amendment allows individuals to speak, publish, read and view what they wish, worship (or not worship) as they wish, associate with whomever they choose, and gather together to ask the government to make changes in the law or to correct the wrongs in society.
The right to speak and the right to publish under the First Amendment has been interpreted widely to protect individuals and society from government attempts to suppress ideas and information, and to forbid government censorship of books, magazines, and newspapers as well as art, film, music and materials on the internet. The Supreme Court and other courts have held conclusively that there is a First Amendment right to receive information as a corollary to the right to speak. Justice William Brennan elaborated on this point in 1965:
The protection of the Bill of Rights goes beyond the specific guarantees to protect from Congressional abridgment those equally fundamental personal rights necessary to make the express guarantees fully meaningful.I think the right to receive publications is such a fundamental right.The dissemination of ideas can accomplish nothing if otherwise willing addressees are not free to receive and consider them. It would be a barren marketplace of ideas that had only sellers and no buyers. Lamont v. Postmaster General, 381 U.S. 301 (1965).
The Supreme Court reaffirmed that the right to receive information is a fundamental right protected under the U.S. Constitution when it considered whether a local school board violated the Constitution by removing books from a school library. In that decision, the Supreme Court held that the right to receive ideas is a necessary predicate to the recipients meaningful exercise of his own rights of speech, press, and political freedom. Board of Education v. Pico, 457 U.S. 853 (1982)
Public schools and public libraries, as public institutions, have been the setting for legal battles about student access to books, the removal or retention of offensive material, regulation of patron behavior, and limitations on public access to the internet. Restrictions and censorship of materials in public institutions are most commonly prompted by public complaints about those materials and implemented by government officials mindful of the importance some of their constituents may place on religious values, moral sensibilities, and the desire to protect children from materials they deem to be offensive or inappropriate. Directly or indirectly, ordinary individuals are the driving force behind the challenges to the freedom to access information and ideas in the library.
The First Amendment prevents public institutions from compromising individuals' First Amendment freedoms by establishing a framework that defines critical rights and responsibilities regarding free expression and the freedom of belief. The First Amendment protects the right to exercise those freedoms, and it advocates respect for the right of others to do the same. Rather than engaging in censorship and repression to advance one's values and beliefs, Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis counsels persons living in the United States to resolve their differences in values and belief by resort to "more speech, not enforced silence."
By virtue of the Fourteenth Amendment, the First Amendment's constitutional right of free speech and intellectual freedom also applies to state and local governments. Government agencies and government officials are forbidden from regulating or restricting speech or other expression based on its content or viewpoint. Criticism of the government, political dissatisfaction, and advocacy of unpopular ideas that people may find distasteful or against public policy are nearly always protected by the First Amendment. Only that expression that is shown to belong to a few narrow categories of speech is not protected by the First Amendment. The categories of unprotected speech include obscenity, child pornography, defamatory speech, false advertising, true threats, and fighting words. Deciding what is and is not protected speech is reserved to courts of law.
The First Amendment only prevents government restrictions on speech. It does not prevent restrictions on speech imposed by private individuals or businesses. Facebook and other social media can regulate or restrict speech hosted on their platforms because they are private entities.
Clauses of the First Amendment | The National Constitution Center
First Amendment FAQ | Freedom Forum
Freedom of Religion, Speech, Press, Assembly, and Petition: Common Interpretations and Matters for Debate | National Constitution Center
First Amendment - Religion and Expression | FindLaw
Censorship is the suppression of ideas and information that some individuals, groups, or government officials find objectionable or dangerous. Would-be censors try to use the power of the state to impose their view of what is truthful and appropriate, or offensive and objectionable, on everyone else. Censors pressure public institutions, like libraries, to suppress and remove information they judge inappropriate or dangerous from public access, so that no one else has the chance to read or view the material and make up their own minds about it. The censor wants to prejudge materials for everyone. It is no more complicated than someone saying, Dont let anyone read this book, or buy that magazine, or view that film, because I object to it!
Libraries should challenge censorship in the fulfillment of their responsibility to provide information and enlightenment. Article 3, Library Bill of Rights
Challenged Resources: An Interpretation of the Library Bill of Rights (2019) A challenge is an attempt to remove or restrict materials, based upon the objections of a person or group. A banning is the removal of those materials. Challenges do not simply involve a person expressing a point of view; rather, they are an attempt to remove material from the curriculum or library, thereby restricting the access of others.ALA declares as a matter of firm principle that it is the responsibility of every library to have a clearly defined written policy for collection development that includes a procedure for review of challenged resources.
Labeling Systems: An Interpretation of the Library Bill of Rights (2015) The American Library Association affirms the rights of individuals to form their own opinions about resources they choose to read, view, listen to, or otherwise access. Libraries do not advocate the ideas found in their collections or in resources accessible through the library. The presence of books and other resources in a library does not indicate endorsement of their contents by the library. Likewise, providing access to digital information does not indicate endorsement or approval of that information by the library. Labeling systems present distinct challenges to these intellectual freedom principles.
Rating Systems: An Interpretation of the Library Bill of Rights (2019) Libraries, no matter their size, contain an enormous wealth of viewpoints and are responsible for making those viewpoints available to all. However, libraries do not advocate or endorse the content found in their collections or in resources made accessible through the library. Rating systems appearing in library public access catalogs or resource discovery tools present distinct challenges to these intellectual freedom principles. Q&A on Labeling and Rating Systems
Expurgation of Library Materials: An Interpretation of the Library Bill of Rights (2014) Expurgating library materials is a violation of the Library Bill of Rights. Expurgation as defined by this interpretation includes any deletion, excision, alteration, editing, or obliteration of any part(s) of books or other library resources by the library, its agent, or its parent institution (if any).
Restricted Access to Library Materials: An Interpretation of the Library Bill of Rights (2014) Libraries are a traditional forum for the open exchange of information. Attempts to restrict access to library materials violate the basic tenets of the Library Bill of Rights.
Complete list of Library Bill of Rights Interpretations
Library Bill of Rights (1939) Adopted by ALA Council, the Articles of the Library Bill of Rights are unambiguous statements of basic principles that should govern the service of all libraries. (printable pamphlets)
Freedom to Read Statement (1953) A collaborative statement by literary, publishing, and censorship organizations declaring the importance of our constitutionally protected right to access information and affirming the need for our professions to oppose censorship.
Libraries: An American Value (1999) Adopted by ALA Council, this brief statement pronounces the distinguished place libraries hold in our society and their core tenets of access to materials and diversity of ideas.
Guidelines for Library Policies (2019) Guidelines for librarians, governing authorities, and other library staff and library users on how constitutional principles apply to libraries in the United States.
Intellectual Freedom and Censorship Q&A (2007)
Social Media Guidelines for Public and Academic Libraries (2018)
These guidelines provide a policy and implementation framework for public and academic libraries engaging in the use of social media.
Intellectual Freedom Manual (2021) Edited by Martin Garnarand Trina Magi with ALAs Office for Intellectual Freedom The 10th edition manual is an indispensable resource for day-to-day guidance on maintaining free and equal access to information for all people
Journal of Intellectual Freedom and Privacy (2016 - present) Edited by Shannon Oltmann with ALA's Office for Intellectual Freedom Published quarterly, JIFP offers articles related to intellectual freedom and privacy, both in libraries and in the wider world.
True Stories of Censorship Battles in America's Libraries (2012) By Valerie Nye and Kathy Barco This book is a collection of accounts from librarians who have dealt with censorship in some form. Divided into seven parts, the book covers intralibrary censorship, child-oriented protectionism, the importance of building strong policies, experiences working with sensitive materials, public debates and controversies, criminal patrons, and library displays.
Beyond Banned Books: Defending Intellectual Freedom throughout Your Library (2019) By Kristin Pekollwith ALAs Office for Intellectual Freedom A level-headed guide that uses specific case studies to offer practical guidance on safeguarding intellectual freedom related to library displays, programming, and other librarian-created content.
Lessons in Censorship: How Schools and Courts Subvert Students' First Amendment Rights (2015) By Catherine J. Ross Lessons in Censorship highlights the troubling and growing tendency of schools to clamp down on off-campus speech such as texting and sexting and reveals how well-intentioned measures to counter verbal bullying and hate speech may impinge on free speech. Throughout, Ross proposes ways to protect free expression without disrupting education.
The staff of the Office for Intellectual Freedom is available to answer questions or provide assistance to librarians, trustees, educators, and the public about the First Amendment and censorship. Areas of assistance include policy development, minors rights, and professional ethics. Inquiries can be directed via email to oif@ala.org or via phone at (312) 280-4226.
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First Amendment and Censorship | Advocacy, Legislation & Issues
What Is Encryption? – Internet Society
Personal security: Encryption backdoors can be opened by anyone who finds them, including cyber criminals who will work overtime to find and exploit them with devastating consequences for the personal security of billions of people, including:
Compromised personal privacy and security: End-to-end encrypted communications protect the identity of journalists, activists, protected witnesses, undercover police, and many others who rely on secure and confidential communications. Vulnerable communications put these people at risk.
Putting vulnerable populations at risk: End-to-end encryption has helped protect vulnerable individuals, including victims of abuse and LGBTQ+ people who use encryption to communicate confidentially and to seek help without fear of retribution. Victim advocates use encryption to confidentially discuss relocation plans with survivors of domestic abuse.
Jeopardizing banking and financial information: By weakening encryption, personal banking information, credit card data, and other sensitive financial information is easier for cyber criminals to access and exploit.
Compromising the private identities of billions of people: Weakening encryption exposes information like health records, personal identification data, and other important data that makes it easier for cyber criminals to steal the identities of billions of people.
National security:Encryption backdoors could create new opportunities for bad actors, including hostile governments, terrorist organizations, and international crime rings, to access and exploit government officials confidential communications, and penetrate and attack confidential computer systems and databases. This could cause wide-scale, systemic disruptions to economies, infrastructure, and national security including:
Compromising government data: Government breaches are frequent, such as the colossal breaches at the United States Office of Personnel Management, the Indian governments Aadhaar database, and the sensitive information of European Union elected officials. Authorities arent able to keep encryption backdoors safe from hackers and criminals, putting confidential data and critical infrastructure like banks and the power grid at risk.
Undermining financial and economic security: By making personal information and bank data less secure, encryption backdoors could unintentionally facilitate identity theft and financial fraud with devastating consequences for individuals, businesses, and the nations economic stability.
Jeopardizing life-sustaining infrastructure: Introducing vulnerabilities into critical infrastructure systems like electrical power grids via the secure communications systems used by its operators could allow bad actors to hijack the grid and deny power to thousands, leading to widespread public fear, economic harm, physical injury, and even deaths. Other critical public services that rely on encryption to keep citizens safe include elections, hospitals, and transportation.
Compromising military operations: Encryption supports important government entities that rely on encryption to safeguard nation states.
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What Is Encryption? - Internet Society
Cryptography | NIST – National Institute of Standards and Technology
Cryptography uses mathematical techniques to transform data and prevent it from being read or tampered with by unauthorized parties. That enables exchanging secure messages even in the presence of adversaries. Cryptography is a continually evolving field that drives research and innovation. The Data Encryption Standard (DES), published by NIST in 1977 as aFederal Information Processing Standard(FIPS), was groundbreaking for its time but would fall far short of the levels of protection needed today.
As our electronic networks grow increasingly open and interconnected, it is crucial to have strong, trusted cryptographic standards and guidelines, algorithms and encryption methods that provide a foundation for e-commerce transactions, mobile device conversations and other exchanges of data. NIST has fostered the development of cryptographic techniques and technology for 50 years through an open process which brings together industry, government, and academia to develop workable approaches to cryptographic protection that enable practical security.
Our work in cryptography has continually evolved to meet the needs of the changing IT landscape. Today, NIST cryptographic solutions are used in commercial applications from tablets and cellphones to ATMs, to secure global eCommcerce, to protect US federal information and even in securingtop-secret federal data. NIST looks to the future to make sure we have the right cryptographic tools ready as new technologies are brought from research into operation. For example, NIST is now working on a process to develop new kinds of cryptography to protect our data when quantum computing becomes a reality. At the other end of the spectrum, we are advancing so-called lightweight cryptography to balance security needs for circuits smaller than were dreamed of just a few years ago.
In addition to standardizing and testing cryptographic algorithms used to create virtual locks and keys, NIST also assists in their use. NISTs validation of strong algorithms and implementations builds confidence in cryptographyincreasing its use to protect the privacy and well-being of individuals and businesses.
NIST continues to lead public collaborations for developing modern cryptography, including:
NIST also promotes the use of validatedcryptographic modules and provides Federal agencies with a security metric to use in procuringequipment containing validated cryptographic modules through other efforts including: FIPS 140, Cryptographic Programs and Laboratory AccreditationCryptographic Module Validation Program (CMVP), Cryptographic Algorithm Validation Program (CAVP), and Applied Cryptography at NIST's National Cybersecurity Center of Excellence (NCCoE).
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Cryptography | NIST - National Institute of Standards and Technology
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Warren Buffett Revealed To Be Quietly Making Bank From Bitcoin And Crypto Amid Price Swings – Forbes
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Does ‘deplatforming’ work to curb hate speech and calls for …
In the wake of the assault on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, Twitter permanently suspended Donald Trumps personal account, and Google, Apple and Amazon shunned Parler, which at least temporarily shut down the social media platform favored by the far right.
Dubbed deplatforming, these actions restrict the ability of individuals and communities to communicate with each other and the public. Deplatforming raises ethical and legal questions, but foremost is the question of whether its an effective strategy to reduce hate speech and calls for violence on social media.
The Conversation U.S. asked three experts in online communications whether deplatforming works and what happens when technology companies attempt it.
Jeremy Blackburn, assistant professor of computer science, Binghamton University
The question of how effective deplatforming is can be looked at from two different angles: Does it work from a technical standpoint, and does it have an effect on worrisome communities themselves?
Does deplatforming work from a technical perspective?
Gab was the first major platform subject to deplatforming efforts, first with removal from app stores and, after the Tree of Life shooting, the withdrawal of cloud infrastructure providers, domain name providers and other Web-related services. Before the shooting, my colleagues and I showed in a study that Gab was an alt-right echo chamber with worrisome trends of hateful content. Although Gab was deplatformed, it managed to survive by shifting to decentralized technologies and has shown a degree of innovation for example, developing the moderation-circumventing Dissenter browser.
From a technical perspective, deplatforming just makes things a bit harder. Amazons cloud services make it easy to manage computing infrastructure but are ultimately built on open source technologies available to anyone. A deplatformed company or people sympathetic to it could build their own hosting infrastructure. The research community has also built censorship-resistant tools that, if all else fails, harmful online communities can use to persist.
Does deplatforming have an effect on worrisome communities themselves?
Whether or not deplatforming has a social effect is a nuanced question just now beginning to be addressed by the research community. There is evidence that a platform banning communities and content for example, QAnon or certain politicians can have a positive effect. Platform banning can reduce growth of new users over time, and there is less content produced overall. On the other hand, migrations do happen, and this is often a response to real world events for example, a deplatformed personality who migrates to a new platform can trigger an influx of new users.
Another consequence of deplatforming can be users in the migrated community showing signs of becoming more radicalized over time. While Reddit or Twitter might improve with the loss of problematic users, deplatforming can have unintended consequences that can accelerate the problematic behavior that led to deplatforming in the first place.
Ultimately, its unlikely that deplatforming, while certainly easy to implement and effective to some extent, will be a long-term solution in and of itself. Moving forward, effective approaches will need to take into account the complicated technological and social consequences of addressing the root problem of extremist and violent Web communities.
Ugochukwu Etudo, assistant professor of operations and information management, University of Connecticut
Does the deplatforming of prominent figures and movement leaders who command large followings online work? That depends on the criteria for the success of the policy intervention. If it means punishing the target of the deplatforming so they pay some price, then without a doubt it works. For example, right-wing provocateur Milo Yiannopoulos was banned from Twitter in 2016 and Facebook in 2019, and subsequently complained about financial hardship.
If it means dampening the odds of undesirable social outcomes and unrest, then in the short term, yes. But it is not at all certain in the long term. In the short term, deplatforming serves as a shock or disorienting perturbation to a network of people who are being influenced by the target of the deplatforming. This disorientation can weaken the movement, at least initially.
However, there is a risk that deplatforming can delegitimize authoritative sources of information in the eyes of a movements followers, and remaining adherents can become even more ardent. Movement leaders can reframe deplatforming as censorship and further proof of a mainstream bias.
There is reason to be concerned about the possibility that driving people who engage in harmful online behavior into the shadows further entrenches them in online environments that affirm their biases. Far-right groups and personalities have established a considerable presence on privacy-focused online platforms, including the messaging platform Telegram. This migration is concerning because researchers have known for some time that complete online anonymity is associated with increased harmful behavior online.
In deplatforming policymaking, among other considerations, there should be an emphasis on justice, harm reduction and rehabilitation. Policy objectives should be defined transparently and with reasonable expectations in order to avoid some of these negative unintended consequences.
Robert Gehl, associate professor of communication and media studies, Louisiana Tech University
Deplatforming not only works, I believe it needs to be built into the system. Social media should have mechanisms by which racist, fascist, misogynist or transphobic speakers are removed, where misinformation is removed, and where there is no way to pay to have your messages amplified. And the decision to deplatform someone should be decided as close to democratically as is possible, rather than in some closed boardroom or opaque content moderation committee like Facebooks Supreme Court.
In other words, the answer is alternative social media like Mastodon. As a federated system, Mastodon is specifically designed to give users and administrators the ability to mute, block or even remove not just misbehaving users but entire parts of the network.
For example, despite fears that the alt-right network Gab would somehow take over the Mastodon federation, Mastodon administrators quickly marginalized Gab. The same thing is happening as I write with new racist and misogynistic networks forming to fill the potential void left by Parler. And Mastodon nodes have also prevented spam and advertising from spreading across the network.
Moreover, the decision to block parts of the network arent made in secret. Theyre done by local administrators, who announce their decisions publicly and are answerable to the members of their node in the network. Im on scholar.social, an academic-oriented Mastodon node, and if I dont like a decision the local administrator makes, I can contact the administrator directly and discuss it. There are other distributed social media system, as well, including Diaspora and Twister.
The danger of mainstream, corporate social media is that it was built to do exactly the opposite of what alternatives like Mastodon do: grow at all costs, including the cost of harming democratic deliberation. Its not just cute cats that draw attention but conspiracy theories, misinformation and the stoking of bigotry. Corporate social media tolerates these things as long as theyre profitable and, it turns out, that tolerance has lasted far too long.
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Does 'deplatforming' work to curb hate speech and calls for ...