The Ubuntu 23.10 release has been delayed due to a malicious actor hijacking some of the Ukrainian translations.
Quoting from the article:
About 75% of the file is normal but the rest is a barrage of unsubtle, offensive sentences relating to politics, sexuality, and current events. The text is crude, provocative, and highly inflammatory – we’re not talking nuanced, fringe political opinions here.
Anyway, figured I’d pass this news along just incase you’re wondering where the ISO is. Hopefully it won’t be too long before a freshly sanitised version is up on the release servers, ready to download.
In a post on X (formerly Twitter) Ubuntu explains the situation:
"We have identified hate speech from a malicious contributor in some of our translations submitted as part of a third party tool outside of the Ubuntu Archive. The Ubuntu 23.10 image has been taken down and a new version will be available once the correct translations have been restored."
It is commendable of Canonical that they took such swift action. While this is Ubuntu Interim release 23.10 and does not directly affect Zorin OS; it indirectly affects us and all GnuLinux users.
Not long ago, I raised a similar concern in the moderator forum and asked the ZorinGroup directly about the forums stance on these issues.
This is because Zorin OS comes with a Pro version. I am not sure about globally, but here in the United States, the climate on these issues is very tense. Bigotry and prejudiced views have been getting strong support from some very high levels. And I do mean... very high levels.
Within the populace, this has emboldened many who have been harboring such views. They not only threaten to perform boycotts, but also threaten violence and have been acting in violence.
Our Stance on the forum has remained one of being inclusive. Since the changing climate can affect ZorinGroup directly, we needed to clarify if we needed to update our stance in order to protect ZorinGroup from flack from the fringe.
Artyom Zorin addressed this directly and I will summarize as:
"We Stand Our Ground."
That's the right answer.
Anyone and everyone can be different. And hold different views. But what we cannot do is allow those views to harm others.
It is worth reading about this event and the situation that surrounds it. It is worth thinking very hard about what is going on and how this affects us all. It is worth being informed about these trends. It is well worth questioing the motive behind these influences.
It is worth most of all to be willing to question our assumptions and our beliefs if ever they stereotype others based on trivialities.
This isn't politics. This is humanity. This is a reminder to us all to remember our humanity and to treat each other fairly and humanely.
No matter your creed, race, gender, preferences, identity as these things are not hurting anyone else. Nor should you be hurt for it.
And neither we will allow others to do so.
Thank you for reposting @Aravisian, I posted then removed cuz was worried it wasn't welcome and i never saw your message to me til now. So thanks for restoring and i would like to also point out that the hate found was also against trans people and as a trans non binary person myself i feel that needs to be known.
I have not been able to access (And therefor verify) the actual content of the hate-speech.
For this reason, I made no direct statements about what it specifically said.
I agree that it is important to know who was targeted in order to understand the consequences of it.
Well it just looks like attacks on folks for the sake of other agendas that are more far reaching than we may ever realise. I take comfort in this track from mind.in.a.box's latest album, Black and
White
So that is why Rhino is totally crashing in that system - reflecting what is happening there - thanks - thought I had maybe messed things up - but yeah - that makes more sense - considering.
It may be.
There have been rumors that Malicious Code was also injected.
Currently, I have not been able to find verification that is the case.
What is known:
This was submitted directly by an Ubuntu contributor using an existing launchpad template. This was not some outside third-party "hacker".
While that is a bit disturbing, it is also comforting as it means that it was not a security breach.
It was an oversight on translation review. And... let's be fair and honest. It is easy to see how that can happen. I mean... How many people know a bunch of languages that they can check that the translations contributed are accurate?
And... How often has this ever happened before? Like... never?
Who would have thought...
This is why I like Linux - the security reactions are swift - Windows has always been wait a while - it might get better.
My friend Mark is one of the leaders of WF Banks online security and he's told me a few of the more clever attempts of failed hacks - wild stuff - glad their on top of it, Rhino will wait till it's resolved, and then keep chugging. No better teacher of command line than an OS of glass - lol - no biggie - it will get better, or I'll migrate in the end. Zorin stays - even with the minor glitches on my Beelink - none on the Top end Yoga and top end Zenbook. We get to 17 and windows is history.
@Aravisian I am also correcting myself as thus far i have not seen anti trans hate but i have seen anti gay hate so that sad but i just wanted to acknowledge that as i earlier thought was both.