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Blocklist-Update.sh

Blocklist-Update.sh is a script that I wrote to manage blocklists from bluetack etc to be used in conjunction with Transmission torrent downloader in Linux/MacOS. The script can be taylored to work with Qbittorrent as well, but the placement of the blocklists means you'd have to redirect the blocklist to go somewhere locally manageable as Transmission uses its own blocklist directory in .config. I believe there are about 10 lists there now. It works well for my needs. It can be ran weekly using crontab in standard user profile.  To download:  blocklist-update.sh To download the others:  Github
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LINUX KERNEL 4.17 NOW INCLUDES SPECK

Apparently, the newer Linux kernel is now including an NSA encryption tool. The find was recently covered by itsfoss and others. Needless to say, if you’re a Linux user, you’re probably not alone to be unhappy with this move. Someone from Google reworked the code for the tool and placed it inside the Kernel. No one knows for sure if this will last, no one knows if this was intended by Linus Torvalds, but so far, he has yet to comment one way or the other. The module isn’t enabled by default in Ubuntu, however, it does appear to be enabled in Arch-based systems (This is kind of strange as Arch users are the ones making the biggest protest). The reason this is considered such a big deal is not that it has anything to do with opening a door for NSA people to spy on Linux users, this is a big deal because it is the idea of taking untrusted third-party code from someone outside the Linux community and placing it into the Linux kernel, an open source piece of software, without asking the millions of users if they want it in there. Also, as this is new code, it has yet to be audited. As it is cited on itsfoss, Google wanted the code pushed to Linux to allow them to install and promote the use of fscrypt, an encryption tool on Android. It allows weak, yet better encryption to be handled on ARM devices. The module is very light weight which would help in a small raspberry pi or cell phone. I will link the original article below, however, the article goes on into detail about how to use modprobe blacklist file to blacklist the module like you would a faulty or unneccessary driver blob in the kernel. The article states that that method should only be performed by advanced users though.

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