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Tell HN: GitHub deleted anti-censorship activist repositories
Github just deleted ValdikSS [1] account and all of his repositories.
Including GoodbyeDPI, bypassing some DPI-based censorship, and Super-UEFIinSecureBoot-Disk, allowing to boot things when secure boot is enabled. The interesting thing is that he recently published some work [2] breaking UEFI secure boot (not on github, but on zeronet), basically undermining Microsoft, current owner of Github and big pusher of UEFI.
His twitter account confirming that: twitter.com/ValdikSS
[1] https://github.com/ValdikSS
[2] https://habr.com/en/post/446238/
- deleted 8y ago[deleted]
- shevegen 8y agoIt has a good side though - now everyone can see Microsoft's real side.
- rolph 8y agoThe underlying theory is still about [1] There is some code of use get it quick [2] I also found an MS blurb about UEFI [3] This apparently requires a Kaspersky rescue GRUB " Red Hat GRUB Secure Boot repository[2], the only problem—PE header parser is missing. GRUB gets parsed header from shim, in a response to a function call via a special protocol. This could be easily fixed by porting the appropriate code from the shim or PreLoader to GRUB." [1] https://habr.com/en/post/446238/ https://habr.com/en/post/446238/ [2] https://github.com/rhboot/grub2/tree/grub-2.02-sb https://github.com/rhboot/grub2/tree/grub-2.02-sb [3] https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/Windows-Hardware-Certification/Microsoft-UEFI-CA-Signing-policy-updates/ba-p/364828?advanced=false&collapse_discussion=true&q=uefi&search_type=thread https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/Windows-Hardware-Cert...
- sproketboy 8y agoSee what happens when M$ takes over?
- aaomidi 8y agoThis person has PERSONALLY helped millions of Iranians to get out of the internet censorship there. So much love and respect for you, ValdikSS.
- dejaime 8y agoI'll just leave this here https://web.archive.org/web/20190412171819/https:/twitter.com/ValdikSS/status/1116066219281592320 https://web.archive.org/web/20190412171819/https:/twitter.co... https://web.archive.org/web/*/https://github.com/ValdikSS https://web.archive.org/web/*/https://github.com/ValdikSS
- tracker1 8y agoHoping (s)he reposts to Gitlab, or sets up a self-hosted instance, it's a shame this he is being blocked, though without the weight of github itself, it's unlikely to get past a lot of the nation state firewalls originally done so with.
- aasasd 8y agoApparently the account is not deleted but shadowbanned, according to his Twitter: the guy can still create issues and repos, only they're invisible.
- xvilka 8y agoWell, this kind of behavior was predicted the very moment GitHub announced acquisition by Microsoft. No way they make something good for the humanity.
- techntoke 8y agoUnfortunately we live in a time where there is no money in doing the right thing. If you want to work on replacing these monopolies, save up your money and try to budget the best you can. It's sad that a decentralized GitHub doesn't exist yet backed by IPFS. It's unfortunate the direction browser companies is more invasive web technologies that enable sites to track your every move. You are competing against billions, if not trillions, of dollars when you want to challenge the status quo. These companies know that eventually you'll need money and they'll buy you and all your friends up to stop making things better and to join them in their mission.
- TimJRobinson 8y agoThere is a decentralized GitHub: https://github.com/noffle/git-ssb-intro https://github.com/noffle/git-ssb-intro
- anderspitman 8y agoNow that's a beautiful bit of irony.
- techntoke 8y agoIt isn't even open source and appears to have very little active development. Very poor quality overall. No one would switch away for something like this.
- zobzu 8y agothats true, and im surprised every single day webarchive is still up. it will eventually be removed/censored/etc.
- aivisol 8y agoIts already starting: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19627885 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19627885
- phkahler 8y ago>> It's unfortunate the direction browser companies is more invasive web technologies that enable sites to track your every move. It's ironic that browser makers talk about sandboxes and isolation these days. They started out mostly that way, but then had to provide ways for web sites to gain progressively more access to your computer.
- deleted 8y ago[deleted]
- clucas 8y agoOne of the most terrifying parts of 1984 (the Orwell novel, not the year) for me was the memory hole - a physical hole in every office where paper containing illegal ideas or "wrong" information was dumped to be immediately incinerated. So much of what we know about the past and who we are today comes from the written record and interpretations thereof - it was basically erasing history as it happened. For a long time, we didn't really have to worry about this sort of thing, because the physical infrastructure required for such a system didn't exist, would be prohibitively expensive to create, and would likely lead to massive protests if someone tried to create it. But now we are in the digital age, and we have slowly been creating our own memory hole infrastructure, bit by bit, in the form of centralized cloud services. This deletion is an example. Now, these service providers should be (have to be) allowed to remove whatever they want from their platform, but the fact that they can do so should be front and center in everyone's mind when they post content to them, be it code or text or video. We should be patronizing alternatives to github, youtube, facebook, and all other large centralized data stores as much as possible.
- yters 8y agoWe also have an accidental memory hold once we've lost the reading method for previous digital records.
- thaumasiotes 8y agoThat's nothing new. We've been forgetting how to read old records since at least 1200 BC (when the Greeks forgot how to read and write). Interestingly, while Greek history from that period is lost, Mesopotamian/Assyrian/Persian/etc. records continue with cultural continuity from ~3000 BC right up to the Arab conquests, at which point they forgot how to read their old records too. This strongly suggests that that loss was intentional.
- aasasd 8y agoThe most recent example in relation to written records is probably the switch of Germany, under the Nazi rule, from the traditional blackletter Fraktur script and its cursives Kurrentschrift and Sütterlin to the ‘Latin’ script. Soon enough, people didn't know how to read their grandparents' handwriting. Try for yourself: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sütterlin https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sütterlin But it seems that Hitler's rationalization of “if we're to trade with the rest of Europe, those nations must understand German writing” came to be fulfilled.
- swayvil 8y agoRemember when Microsoft bought Github? Remember when lots of people said it was perfectly ok and nothing shady would happen as a result? For every act of evil that we see Microsoft commit there are 20 that we don't see. Remember that.
- pbalau 8y agohttps://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19647524 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19647524
- malvosenior 8y agoGithub censored repos before Microsoft bought them.
- penagwin 8y agoBefore you start blaming Microsoft for this just get some popcorn and read the current threads. Sidenote: Github had these same rules and did ban people long before Microsoft was in the picture. I wouldn't be too quick to conclude Microsoft made the difference here.
- chirau 8y agoHe was shadowbanned, not deleted. Also, not as righteous as everyone makes him out to be. The dude was hosting torrents on things like Christchurch shootings in his repos. His content probably violated some terms of service.
- jimmy1 8y agoEventually, those terms of service will cover not-so-outrageous things. If it happens in media and corporate comms, it's only a matter of time before it trickles down into software. As more and more, cueing my inner George Carlin here, self-indignant, self-righteous SJW pricks (that is, distinguishing between real social justice inclined folk, not those who are mad their college micro-triggered them by having a Westboro baptist guy on campus, or Ben Shapiro) make it into these companies, you will see more draconian measures being taken to police thought. It's not a slippery slope if it is actually happening. My personal opinion we do ourselves a huge disservice by filtering out these things. You should display its grotesqueness. Display the horrors of humanity. Teach people life isn't snowflakes and rainbows and that there actually are terrible, evil people out there, not a sea of undiscovered victims. Evil exists as a virtue in of it self, if not to simply show you what the opposite of evil is. Maybe you don't know what good is, but know that it isn't "that"
- dwild 8y ago> Eventually, >It's not a slippery slope if it is actually happening. How can you start a comment with eventually and then end with, it's not a slippery slope it is actually happening? There's a line to trace somewhere between what is acceptable to host and what isn't. You may disagree with WHERE the line is, sure, but there's a line to trace. It can be barely where it's legal in the country hosting that content (which is still open to interpretation, or else we wouldn't have court systems). Now are you disagreeing with a line that include Christchurch shootings content? Then say that, or else, sure it will be someone else that will decide where to trace that line.
- deleted 8y ago[deleted]
- chris_mc 8y agoSo everyone start putting the content of that repo (I am sure someone forked it) in every one of your repos, especially ones other people use, and see how GitHub reacts.
- deleted 8y ago[deleted]
- aldoushuxley001 8y agoDidn't think Microsoft would move so quickly to censor Github, but alas... this is why I moved to gitlab.
- shmageggy 8y agoWould some of these tools fall under the DCMA by virtue of "circumventing access-control measures" [1]? If so some of the hate being directed at Microsoft might be better directed at US lawmakers. [1] http://www.dmlp.org/legal-guide/circumventing-copyright-controls http://www.dmlp.org/legal-guide/circumventing-copyright-cont...
- deleted 8y ago[deleted]
- ValdikSS 8y agoNo, Github DID NOT delete my account. My account is hidden from public (shadowban). No, this is likely not because of GoodbyeDPI or Super UEFIinSecureBoot Disk. Most probably it's because of someone has been spamming from my ISP's /24 IP range. >His twitter account confirming that: twitter.com/ValdikSS No, learn to read.
- owlninja 8y agoThanks for the input. So much hyperbole being thrown around in these comments.
- Wowfunhappy 8y agoI want to upvote you because you're the original author and thus your comment is super relevent, but I think the last sentence of your post violates this site's guidelines. What in your tweet was misinterpreted?
- gjs278 8y agooh no not the guidelines! just press the arrow up. I did for you.
- perennate 8y agoI think he's understandably upset that his own Twitter account is cited as a source for something that he does not agree with and did not suggest. It seems like all that his Twitter feed confirms is that his page shows as 404, but nothing more than that. He did not mention any association between the ban and his work, instead on Twitter he's just saying self-hosting is more reliable. The latest tweet implies the shadow ban ("invisible issues, invisible commits, invisible code comments!").
- zzzcpan 8y ago> It seems like all that his Twitter feed confirms is that his page shows as 404 That's pretty much what I implied. But added twitter so that people can see his perspective.
- deleted 8y ago[deleted]
- ilyaigpetrov 8y ago> [flagged] Tell HN: GitHub deleted anti-censorship activist repositories Why was this thread flagged? A misleading thread title?