Hacker News
1Our investigation into the suspicious pressure on Archive.today
- AdGuard DNS received suspicious demands from a recently-registered French organization called Web Abuse Association Defense to block Archive.is, claiming illegal content hosting. Investigation revealed the organization appears fake, using hidden identities and potentially impersonating real lawyers. Archive.is promptly removed flagged content and denied receiving prior complaints. AdGuard plans to file criminal complaints with French police, suspecting coordinated harassment amid ongoing FBI investigation of Archive.is.
Suspicious organization behind takedown requests
Users discovered that the "Web Abuse Defense Association" (WAAD) appears to be a hastily created shell organization with a website made from a free template, registered in January 2025. The organization lacks proper identity and may be conducting false flag operations using CSAM allegations.False flag attacks using CSAM
Discussion reveals a pattern where attackers upload illegal content to sites, then report those same sites to authorities. This technique has been used against various platforms including forums, DNS providers, and now archive sites to force takedowns without legitimate legal grounds.Censorship concerns and DNS blocking
Users worry about the slippery slope of pressuring DNS providers to block websites, potentially extending to browsers, certificate authorities, and other infrastructure. Some see this as part of broader efforts to control historical records and information access.
2Lawmakers want to ban VPNs
- Wisconsin lawmakers are proposing legislation that would ban VPN usage to access certain content, following age verification laws. The bill broadly defines "harmful to minors" content and requires websites to block VPN users, which is technically impossible since websites can't determine a VPN user's actual location. This would force websites to either stop operating in Wisconsin or block all VPN users globally. The legislation threatens businesses, students, journalists, abuse survivors, and privacy-seeking individuals who legitimately use VPNs. Critics argue these laws won't work, can be easily circumvented, and represent government overreach that destroys digital privacy while failing to protect children.
Effectiveness of VPN bans and government control
Discussion centers on whether VPN bans actually work, with examples from Russia and China. Some argue they're partially effective at deterring general population, while others note many still use VPNs successfully. Debate includes technical workarounds and selective enforcement.Real motivation behind "protecting children" laws
Users argue these laws aren't genuinely about child protection but about information control and surveillance. The "think of the children" rhetoric is seen as cover for authoritarian overreach and mass data collection efforts.Technical workarounds and enforcement challenges
Discussion of various technical methods to bypass restrictions (SSH tunnels, self-hosted VPNs, protocol obfuscation) and the practical difficulties of enforcing VPN bans without complete internet control or whitelisting.
3Bitchat for Gaza – messaging without internet
Gaza conflict and internet infrastructure
Discussion centers on Israel's bombing of the Watan Tower building housing Gaza's ISPs and media outlets, with debates about internet blackouts, infrastructure destruction, and comparisons to other conflict zones like Ukraine.Bitchat technical implementation and alternatives
Users discuss Bitchat's Bluetooth mesh networking alongside alternatives like Meshtastic and Briar, examining security concerns, distribution challenges, and technical limitations of off-grid messaging systems.Coding in war zones and harsh environments
Conversation about the difficulty of software development in conflict areas, with personal experiences from Afghanistan and Ukraine, and the practical challenges of maintaining technology in destroyed infrastructure.
4'No One Lives Forever' turns 25 and you still can't buy it legitimately
- The classic spy-shooter game No One Lives Forever turned 25 but remains unplayable through legal means due to tangled IP rights between Warner Bros., Activision, and 20th Century Fox. None of these companies can locate the original contracts that would clarify ownership, yet they've all threatened legal action against Nightdive Studios' remaster attempts. This has created an abandonware situation where the only way to play the beloved game is through unofficial downloads, highlighting broken copyright systems that prevent access to cultural works when companies won't sell them but also won't allow others to preserve them.
Copyright reform proposals
Users discuss various solutions to copyright issues including shorter terms (10-20 years), "defend or lose it" requirements, mandatory taxes on copyright holders, and automatic public domain transfer for abandoned works to prevent IP hoarding.Legal complexities of IP ownership
Discussion centers on why companies can't easily license old games due to unclear ownership chains, legal costs, risk aversion, and corporate bureaucracy making it unprofitable to research and clear rights for older titles.Technical preservation efforts
Community shares information about NOLF's source availability, modernization projects by developers like haekb, speedrunning community contributions, and ongoing efforts to keep classic games playable on modern hardware.
5Show HN: Epstein Files Organized and Searchable
- Someone created a throwaway account to share that they organized the Epstein files to improve transparency and make research easier. They mention needing to refine the data on organizations and people but hope their current work helps with ongoing research efforts.
Slow drip release strategy
Discussion about whether releasing documents gradually is deliberate "brain hacking" to normalize scandals vs. keeping pressure on perpetrators. Some argue it prevents quick news cycle forgetfulness, while others see it as helping avoid substantial responses.Technical implementation and usability
Users critique the searchability and organization of the document archive, comparing it to pre-Google web search. Suggestions include better formatting, AI scoring for document importance, and semantic search capabilities.Document content discoveries
Users share findings from browsing the files, including chat logs with Steve Bannon, questionable document inclusions like an AI book, and discussion of poor redaction techniques that fail to hide identities.
6Go's Sweet 16
- Go celebrated its 16th anniversary with releases 1.24 and 1.25, introducing testing improvements, container-aware scheduling, enhanced security features including FIPS certification, performance upgrades like redesigned maps and Green Tea garbage collector, and AI integration support through MCP SDK and ADK frameworks.
Language simplicity and ease of learning
Developers praise Go's small language spec and quick learning curve. Many report picking it up faster than other languages, with some claiming to understand "all of it" in reasonable time, leading to productive development and readable code.Go vs other languages comparison
Mixed views on Go's design choices. Critics point to missing features like proper enums, iterators, and verbose error handling. Supporters counter that Go gets "80% of Rust with 20% of the effort" and offers practical benefits over complex alternatives.Practical development benefits
Developers highlight Go's strengths in real-world usage: excellent monorepo support, fast compilation, portable binaries, consistent tooling like gofmt, and strong concurrency features that make building CLI tools and microservices straightforward.
7TCP, the workhorse of the internet
- The article explains how TCP (Transmission Control Protocol) makes internet communication reliable despite the underlying network being unreliable, with packets getting lost, corrupted, or reordered. TCP handles flow control, congestion control, and error recovery automatically, allowing developers to build applications like websites and email systems without worrying about these low-level networking issues. The author provides C code examples showing how to create simple TCP servers and explains the basic socket programming functions like bind, listen, accept, and send that make reliable network communication possible.
TCP protocol design and limitations
Discussion covers TCP's fundamental design as the optimal solution for reliable streams over datagrams, its historical limitations (window size, packet handling), and newer alternatives like SCTP and QUIC that address multiple stream blocking issues.Alternative protocols and implementation challenges
Participants discuss SCTP's advantages for multi-streaming and message-oriented communication, but note practical deployment challenges including limited router/OS support and NAT traversal issues that favor UDP-based solutions.Custom IP protocols and network traversal
Technical discussion about creating custom IP protocols beyond TCP/UDP, covering protocol numbers, NAT limitations, and how middleboxes restrict non-standard protocols in modern networks.
8All praise to the lunch ladies
- The article explores school food service through the lens of the author's grandmother, Beulah Culpepper, who worked as a lunch lady at Blue Ridge Elementary School from 1950 to the early 1980s. Despite having only a third-grade education, she became known for her scratch cooking and compassionate approach to feeding children, often sneaking extra food to hungry students. The piece connects her legacy to modern school nutrition workers who continue facing challenges around funding, politics, and the balance between healthy meals and budget constraints, while maintaining the same commitment to ensuring no child goes hungry.
School lunch quality and funding
Users discuss the decline in school lunch quality from scratch-made meals to processed food, criticizing Michelle Obama's "Let's Move" program for unpalatable whole wheat options with no salt. Many argue schools need more funding for nutrition.Free school meals debate
Discussion centers on California's universal free lunch program and whether school meals should be free for all students regardless of income, with comparisons to other free school services like transportation and books.Economic inequality and shame
Users share personal experiences of being singled out and humiliated for receiving free/reduced-price meals, highlighting systemic cruelty toward poor children and praising lunch ladies who showed kindness despite regulations.
9Winamp clone in Swift for macOS
Winamp clones and alternatives
Users discuss various Winamp alternatives including Re:AMP for macOS, Foobar2000, and VLC. There's debate about which best recreates the original Winamp experience, with some noting that Re:AMP hasn't been updated in 5 years but others arguing it's already perfect.Nostalgia for music visualizers
Discussion centers on fond memories of Winamp's visualizers like Geiss, Milkdrop, and Project M, particularly when combined with downloaded music and recreational activities. Users lament the decline of music visualizers in modern streaming apps.Technical feedback and improvements
Users provide specific bug reports and feature requests for the Swift Winamp clone, including crashes with FLAC files, missing detachable windows, lack of library functionality, and the need for spacebar play/pause support.
10AMD GPUs Go Brrr
- The team developed HipKittens, a programming framework to unlock the performance potential of AMD GPUs for AI workloads. AMD GPUs offer competitive speeds but lack mature software support compared to NVIDIA. HipKittens provides optimized programming primitives including register tiles, kernel patterns, and cache reuse strategies tailored to AMD's chiplet architecture and hardware differences.
AMD's software strategy problems
Discussion centers on AMD's failure to invest adequately in software development despite having competitive hardware. Many argue AMD should fix their software stack internally rather than relying on academia or open source, with comparisons to NVIDIA's decade-long software investment that led to their current dominance.Hardware vs software company philosophy
Debate about whether hardware companies should focus solely on hardware or invest heavily in software. Some prefer pure hardware companies accepting performance hits, while others argue modern complex silicon requires manufacturer-developed software for optimal performance.AMD GPU driver and developer experience
Mixed experiences with AMD GPU usage, particularly for ML/AI workloads. Some report positive experiences with ROCm on Linux, while others cite driver crashes, poor developer support, and inferior performance compared to older NVIDIA cards for inference and experimentation.