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Ladybird Web Browser Developer Attacked by Unhinged, Dishonest Activists
Activists concoct wild, meritless accusations of "Transphobia" and "Human Slavery"
July 03, 2024
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Two days ago, the Ladybird Web Browser made quite a bit of news -- with a major investment and the establishment of a new Non-Profit organization to build a "from scratch" web browser.

Positive, non-controversial, non-political, very nerdy news.

Unfortunately, within hours of the spotlight being directed at Ladybird, a group of activists launched an all-out-assault on the open source web browser -- by smearing it as "Transphobic", "Mysoginistic", and (this is absolutely not a joke) suggesting that the Ladybird developers actively support and promote human slavery.

Hundreds of posts repeating such smears (among others) -- with one Tech publication declaring a total boycott of Ladybird because of it.

What vile deed were the developers of Ladybird guilty of, which necessitated such an intense response, you ask?

Well, I'll tell you.

The Ladybird team stated... wait for it...

... that they were a "purely technical project".

Seriously.  That was their crime.  Being "technical".

Here's the details.

No politics in Ladybird

When the Ladybird Browser Initiative was launched, earlier this week, their team included a very small statement on "ideologically motivated changes".

 

Source: GitHub

 

That statement reads, in full, "This is a purely technical project.  As such, it is not an appropriate arena to advertise your personal politics or religious beliefs.  Any changes that appear ideologically motivated will be rejected."

Seems incredibly reasonable for a software engineering project to remain focused on... software endingeering.

However...

A number of activists decided to do a little digging and found a 3 year old suggested documentation change -- in a different, but related, software project -- where the word "he" was suggested to be changed to the word "they".

 

Source: GitHub

 

The person who created this suggested change -- who had never contributed to that project before and was completely unkown to the existing developers -- considered it a "minor nitpick" to change one word that wasn't, in his view, "exactly the best".

The change was rejected with the statement, "This project is not an appropriate arena to advertise your personal politics."

And that was that.  No controversy.  No conflict.  

Until this week... when the news spotlight was directed at Ladybird.

The Attacks Begin

Now, ask yourself, what would be the appropriate response to this?

A denied, 3 year old request -- by one person who did not have any involvement in a project -- to change one word that was a "minor nitpick"?

Well, for the writer of OSNews.com, the only reasonable response would be a complete ban on reporting anything about Ladybird (and deleting exisiting articles).

 

Source: Mastodon

 

And, if you ask a variety of activists on Mastodon, the Ladybird lead developer should be smeared as "Transphobe."

 

Source: Mastodon

 

You'll note that, at no point, has the Ladybird team ever mentioned anything regarding "Trans" issues.  At all.  Not one statement.  The Lunduke Journal looked high and low and found absolutely nothing.

And, yet, the label of "Transphobe" is liberally applied.

As is "Misogynist".  Often accompanied by swear words.

 

Source: Mastodon

 

Attack after attack after attack.

Just to kick it up a notch, some activists even began suggesting that the Ladybird project was -- through their use of software version control systems -- advocating for human slavery.

Not a joke.

 

Source: Mastodon

 

You can't make this stuff up.

At one point, responding to one of the various attacks, the lead developer of Ladybird, Andreas Kling, made a short statement on X.

 

Source: X

 

"I have absolutely nothing against gender neutral language," stated Kling.  "I am however against outsiders doing drive-by [code changes] with ideological motivations.  If a regular contributor [had] made these edits, I wouldn't have thought anything of it."

This statement did not stop the attacks -- which continue to be posted across social media.

The Source of the Hate

Transphobe.  Misogynist.  Slave Owner.  That is just a sampling of the insults, accusations, and hate being hurled at the Ladybird team.

And, as is plainly evident from the evidence above, these attacks are not based in reality.  None of the quoted statements or actions, from the Ladybird developers, could even come close to justifying the accusations being thrown around.

Which begs the question... where, exactly, is this hate coming from?

Well, it turns out... we've seen these tactics before.  And, interestingly, we've seen some of these people before, as well.

The Trans Political Activists

Just 24 hours ago, The Lunduke Journal published a story detailing how a group of Political Activists had conducted a "purge" -- of people whom they believed were not sufficiently "Pro Trans" -- from within the NixOS project.

And some of the individuals who conducted (or supported) that "purge" within NixOS... are also at work here... attacking the Ladybird Web Browser.

One activist ("cafkafk") seen below, within the GitHub repository for the developer being attacked, celebrating the fact that other activists -- organized on "The Fediverse" -- had arrived to harass the Ladybird developer.

 

Source: GitHub

 

That same activist ("cafkafk") had spent time within the NixOS project -- both leading up to and during the "purge" of political undesirables -- pushing for bans of people who were deemed insufficiently "pro-Trans".

 

Source: SerenityOS GitHub & NixOS GitHub

 

In fact, multiple key players in the "NixOS Purge" have been actively posting and sharing the anti-Ladybird attacks.

Attacks Across Open Source

Time after time.  We see many of the same tactics -- with many of the same people involved.

So many projects:

SUSE & openSUSEHyprlandAsahi LinuxElementary OSNixOS.

And, most of the time, with a consistent pattern.

  1. People who are not actively, vocally supportive of Trans activities... are attacked.  Smeared.  Vilified.  Typically with dishonest, libelous statements.
  2. No matter what sort of apology, justification, or attempt at appeasement is made -- by those being attacked -- the attacks continue.  Always.
  3. Eventually (typically quickly) the attacks escalate into calls for people to "step down" or be "banned" in some way.

While there are some minor variations, from case to case, the overall patterns remain strikingly similar.  And, seemingly, escalating in frequency -- with three significant attacks in the last few months.

In fact, if recent history is any indication, we're likely to see additional attacks involving Open Source Software projects and companies -- by the Trans Political Activists -- in the near future.

As long as their tactics continue to have even the smallest amount of success...

As long as those being attacked fail to fight back...

The Trans Political Activists will not stop.  They will continue to attack and hurt people.

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It's a fascinatingly annoying cycle. And there's only one viable way out of it.

Looking for the Podcast RSS feed or other links? Check here:
https://lunduke.locals.com/post/4619051/lunduke-journal-link-central-tm

Give the gift of The Lunduke Journal:
https://lunduke.locals.com/post/4898317/give-the-gift-of-the-lunduke-journal

The futility of Ad-Blockers
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openSUSE says "No Lunduke allowed!"

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Well, that settles that, then! Guess I won't be contributing to openSUSE! 🤣

Looking for the Podcast RSS feed or other links?
https://lunduke.locals.com/post/4619051/lunduke-journal-link-central-tm

Give the gift of The Lunduke Journal:
https://lunduke.locals.com/post/4898317/give-the-gift-of-the-lunduke-journal

openSUSE says "No Lunduke allowed!"
September 13, 2023
"Andreas Kling creator of Serenity OS & Ladybird Web Browser" - Lunduke’s Big Tech Show - September 13th, 2023 - Ep 044

This episode is free for all to enjoy and share.

Be sure to subscribe here at Lunduke.Locals.com to get all shows & articles (including interviews with other amazing nerds).

"Andreas Kling creator of Serenity OS & Ladybird Web Browser" - Lunduke’s Big Tech Show - September 13th, 2023 - Ep 044

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Stories which have had a real, measurable impact on the world of Tech and Computing. (And, of course, we’ve had a little nerdy fun along the way.)

If those organizations had their way, The Lunduke Journal would be wiped off the face of the Earth.

But, luckily, they don’t have that power. Thanks to you.

To every one of you who grabs a new subscription this week — and those who have already subscribed — I owe you a high five.

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I have to be able to tweak the different server parts like ftp, etc. Again it's amazing how many of the popular ones don't!!
I must be able to log in the server from...

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Open Source “Political Protest Forks” Thriving
Many called XLibre & Redot nothing more than “political protests” that would quickly die and be forgotten. Boy were those naysayers wrong.

Over the last year, we’ve seen a couple of high profile forks, of large Open Source projects, which were inspired — in part — by a desire to move away from the political discrimination and Leftist Extremism within the original projects.

At the time, when each of these forked projects were started, many predicted that they would go nowhere. That they were nothing more than “political protest forks” — and they would die out quickly.

Let’s check in on both of those project to see if that has happened.

XLibre - The Xorg Fork

Since officially launching, at the end of June (last month), the XLibre project has published a handful of official releases (now up to version 25.0.0.5)… with a significant number of changes and fixes.

 

In fact, considering the significant new features (such as XNamespace Extensions), the first release of XLibre is larger (in every way I can think to measure) than any Xorg release in the last decade. With the number of contributors growing.

How about Operating System support? Many predicted that XLibre would be ignored by every Linux distribution on the planet. That it would go nowhere and nobody would use it.

According to the “Are we XLibre yet?” wiki, a number of systems have already (officially) adopted XLibre. Including: Devuan, Artix, GhostBSD, and (my personal favorite) OpenMandriva.

 

This is important to note: All of that support has occurred even though XLibre has only existed for one month. Several systems already officially supporting it is nothing short of “crazy impressive”. Borderline unprecedented.

In addition, a number of systems have 3rd party repositories which allow users to install and use XLibre. Including: Arch, FreeBSD, Gentoo, NixOS, Slackware, and (seriously) macOS.

 

In short: Growing group of developers. Rapidly growing platform support. New releases which put the original project (Xorg) to shame.

Redot - The Godot Game Engine Fork

The Redot project — which forked off of Godot back in October of 2024 — had a stable release (4.3.1) back in June, and just had a new test release (4.4 Alpha 2). Both with both new features and fixes.

 

In fact, Redot has had 13 releases since the project started late last year.

With an absolutely massive number of commits since then.

 

In short: Steady, new releases. New features and bug fixes. Both stable and testing releases.

These Projects are Thriving

It’s hard to look at either of these projects and come to any conclusion other than they are absolutely thriving.

At this point, it’s looking like those who predicted rapid failure for these “Political Forks” were not only wrong… but wildly, obscenely wrong.

There’s a lesson in there.

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Groupthink & Tech Journalism
Why The Lunduke Journal uses the “10th Man Rule” to counter groupthink in the Tech Industry.

If my audience always agrees with me — 100% of the time — I’m probably doing something wrong.

That’s core to the ethos of The Lunduke Journal.

Any Brand X Tech Journalist can publish articles and shows filled with ideas, and facts, which their audience is known to already approve of. It’s easy to play it safe. To tell people — and corporations — what they want to hear. To pander.

We have enough Tech Journalists who do exactly that. Heck, we’re lousy with ‘em.

Put another way: The Lunduke Journal is not here to make friends. Not here to win some “Tech Reporter Popularity Contest”(tm).

Why The Lunduke Journal Exists

The Lunduke Journal exists to tell the truth about the Tech Industry (and world of Computing) — as I see it — no matter what. To tell the stories the other Tech Journalists are terrified of touching, for fear of losing that afore mentioned popularity contest.

The Lunduke Journal publishes leaks from major corporations — royally ticking off all of Big Tech in the process.

The Lunduke Journal shines a light on the discriminatory, DEI, & woke practices of Tech — causing nearly every Tech Industry person, with a Left-leaning political stance, to label me enemy number one (often attacking me, with wildly vulgar statements, in a desperate attempt to discredit me).

The Lunduke Journal investigates the shady business practices of Open Source Foundations and organizations — resulting in nearly every leader within the Free and Open Source world to either fear or despise me (often both).

In fact, The Lunduke Journal publishes stories — ranging from investigative pieces to pure opinion and analysis — which will, undoubtedly, infuriate (or at least annoy) every single nerd on this green Earth of ours.

Prefer Linux, Windows, or Mac? Left, Center, or Right politically? Pro or Anti-Government control over Tech? Star Wars or Star Trek?

Never fear. There will surely be a Lunduke Journal story which you will strongly disagree with. Just give it a little time.

Let me tell you why.

The Tenth Man Principle

Groupthink can be a very dangerous thing. Especially when you already agree with the consensus of the group.

There is a concept where, if 9 men all agree on something — an idea, a fact, a strategy — it is the duty of the 10th man to take a different approach. To pursue a contrary idea or strategy.

In some ways this is a variation on “Playing Devil’s Advocate”, but I prefer the “10th Man Principle” — it is more focused on challenging an entrenched consensus.

Which is where The Lunduke Journal comes in.

When I sit down and read Tech News — and listen to Tech Podcasts or Videos — and 90% of the coverage is all repeating the same position… whenever an extreme consensus has been reached… a red flag is raised. The 10th Man Principle is triggered.

My job is then to take whatever that topic is — a piece of breaking Tech news, a historical fact, an opinion on how Tech should be governed, etc. — and spin it around. Look at it from a completely different angle — and pursue that new line of thinking.

This isn’t about simply being contrarian for the sake of being contrarian.

I must investigate that topic rigorously. Focus on known, verifiable facts. Challenge any assumptions made (by myself or others) in whatever that consensus is. Dig deep. Dig where others have not. See where that investigation leads.

Sometimes that investigation leads to nothing overly interesting or worth publishing. Other times… the results are illuminating and profoundly valuable.

If you’ve followed The Lunduke Journal for any length of time, you’ve seen the results of this ethos. Over and over again.

And I Love It

There are, obviously, some challenges with this approach. To put it mildly.

Corporate sponsorship is — for reasons I clearly do not need to explain — impossible.

Luckily, The Lunduke Journal has an amazing (and generous) audience which keeps the lights on, making corporate sponsorship completely unnecessary. So Big Tech can kiss my tuchus.

On that note, getting employees of any Corporation or Foundation to talk “on the record” is simply not going to happen. In fact, many organizations have firm (and, often, stated) policies of “Don’t talk to Lunduke… ever”.

But, you know what? The brave whistleblowers within those companies have proven far more enlightening than any official statement from an executive could hope to be.

Oh, and that “Tech Journalism Popularity Contest”(tm)? Pshht. Forget about it. Not a chance. Not as long as I continue with the “10th Man Principle”.

If I’m doing my job right, the list of people who consider me an enemy of whatever entrenched, consensus position they hold… will continue to grow.

While, at the same time, the rag-tag group of Lunduke Journal supporters — those amazing nerds who see the need for this work (even though, on occasion, I publish something which challenges one of their deeply held convictions… or, perhaps, because of it) — will also continue to grow.

You know what? I wouldn’t have it any other way.

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The Tea App Breach - 60GB of Personal Info
Selfies, Drivers Licenses, & Locations. All made publicly available by the developer.

The “Tea App” — an online dating app marketed as a dating tool that “protects women” — has been hacked. And a lot of data has been exposed. An extreme amount.

Not the first major breach this year. And it certainly won’t be the last.

 

First published over on 4Chan (of course), the “hack” of Tea App wasn’t even really much of a “hack”. The developers of Tea App apparently simply left the user data open for the world to download at their leisure.

And Tea App was becoming pretty popular — which means roughly 60 GB of user data was made available before the developers finally thought about locking things down.

 

What kind of data was made publicly available — because, presumably, the developers simply didn’t think about “security” much — by this Tea App Hack?

Selfies. Drivers licenses. All manner of private information which will, no doubt, be exploited by unscrupulous types over the days to come.

 

Even worse — meta data appears to have been preserved on uploaded photos. Meaning that many of the user selfies included location data (in addition to the address on the drivers license). Which said unscrupulous types have already begun using to create maps of Tea App users.

 

The developers of Tea App have put out a statement which says 59,000 images used for “account verification” were made available (read: Government ID). Which would already be catastrophic… however a quick look at details of the data (including the file size alone) would suggest that number could be much, much larger.

Here is the full statement from the developer:

 

Which brings us to an important lesson which we — as humans — never seem to learn:

If user data is stored, it will get hacked.

It’s simply a matter of time.

There are currently close to 15 Billion (with a B) accounts listed on Have I Been Pwned. And those are simply from hacks and breaches which were reported to that one website.

 

The reality is, the vast majority of hacks and data breaches are never made publicly known. Either by the people doing the hacking, or by the company / government which got hacked.

As systems continue to grow ever more complex and interconnected — and more systems become AI-developed (aka “Vibe Coded”) — these hacks and breaches become easier to pull off.

Combine that with the ever-expanding quantity of data — and the growing number of services storing it — and we are quickly reaching a point where everyone will have at least some of their data breached at some point. For some people it will happen regularly. Repeatedly.

And those will just be the breaches we find out about.

The only way to minimize the damage of such hacks & breaches is to minimize the amount and type of data stored, long term, by a service.

  • Need pictures of government ID for age verification? Delete that picture immediately after verification.

  • Need payment and shipping information? Delete all of it immediately after payment is processed and shipment is verified.

  • Need location data (GPS, IP, etc.)? Delete it immediately once done with it.

You get the point. Unless a piece of personal data is absolutely 100% necessary, delete it.

It’s hard for a hacker to obtain files… that aren’t there.

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