Techdirt

Before you read this post, I want you to try to recall the stupidest thing you've ever heard someone say. Go ahead and hold that memory in the back of your head. Perhaps by now you're tiring of all of these posts on America's measles problem that we've endured for over a year now. This [...]

ICE has been invading U.S. cities, targeting,surveilling,harassing,assaulting,detaining, andtorturingpeople who are undocumented immigrants. They also havetargeted peoplewithwork permits,asylum seekers,permanent residents(people holding green cards"),naturalized citizens, andeven citizens by birth.ICE has spenthundreds of millions of dollars on surveillance technologyto spy on anyone-and potentially everyone-in the United States. It can be hard to imagine how to defend oneself against [...]

You might recall how Republicans (with help from Democrats) suffered a three year embolism over the national security, privacy, and propaganda problems inherent with TikTok - only to turn around and let Trump sell the platform to his technofascist billionaire friends. Who are now already hard at work preparing to do all of the stuff [...]

Unexpected, but in the most delightful sense of the word - the sort of thing we've rarely seen since January 2025. Gregory Bovino has been removed from his role as Border Patrol commander at large" and will return to his former job in El Centro, California, where he is expected to retire soon, according to [...]

Disclosure: I'm on the board of Bluesky, which was inspired by my Protocols, Not Platforms" paper. But this post isn't about Bluesky the app. It's about the underlying protocol and what it enables for anyone who wants to build technology (even competitive to Bluesky) that actually respects users. Last month, I helped release the Resonant [...]

Visual Studio Professional 2022 is a fully featured development environment. Their first 64-bit IDE makes it easier to work with even bigger projects and more complex workloads. Enhance your productivity, write high-quality code, and re-imagine collaboration with an advanced suite of tools and built-in integrations to tackle the most challenging development workflows and deliver innovative [...]

The thing with an invasion is that it makes enemies of everyone being invaded, even those who may nominally support the end goal. Law enforcement officers and officials are no exception, especially when they see the invading force creating problems they shouldn't be expected to solve. Trump has treated multiple American cities like war zones. [...]

For more than fifty yearsthe U.S. right wing has accused academia, journalism or science of having a liberal bias" if it revealsabsolutely anythingthe right wing doesn't like. It's an easy way to quickly discredit any critics of your worldview without having to engage in thinking, introspection, or debate, and it's been on display for longer [...]

In my previous posts about the use of generative AI tools in the video game industry, I have tried to drive home the point that a nuanced conversation is needed here. Predictably, there were many comments of the sort of stratified opinions that I was specifically attempting to avoid, but I always knew they'd be [...]

If you want to understand how little the current administration cares about the First Amendment, look no further than a pre-dawn FBI raid on a journalist's home-conducted in apparent violation of a federal law specifically designed to prevent exactly this kind of thing. Last week, FBI agents showed up at the home of Washington Post [...]

Alex Jeffrey Pretti was an ICU nurse at the Minneapolis VA hospital. He spent his days caring for American veterans-the men and women who served this country and came home broken in body or mind. He wanted to make a difference in this world. That is what his parents said, in a statement released hours [...]

If you're not aware, America's unholy alliance between U.S. corporations and the right wing grifter economy has an elaborate public messaging and manipulation system that continues to demonstrate its influence and power. The latest case in point: K Street policy and lobbying firms appear to have leveraged a bunch of right wing influencers to launch [...]

First, there's the lies: the immediate, reflexive flurry of posts meant to portray anyone federal immigration officers kill as a threat to public safety. When an officer murdered Renee Good, the administration claimed she was a terrorist who was trying to run over the officer that killed her. Recordings proved this was all a lie. [...]

The Pencil Pro Plus is your all-in-one tool for smooth, precise, and natural writing or drawing on any iPad Air, iPad Pro, or iPad mini released from 2018 to 2025. Designed for creators, students, and professionals alike, it features tilt sensitivity for shading, palm rejection for effortless hand placement, and a smart shortcut button for [...]

Two weeks ago, ICE agent Jonathan Ross murdered Renee Nicole Good in cold blood. I said then that we had to abolish ICE and impeach Trump & Noem before they incited another murder. As more details have emerged, it's only looked worse. Multiple angles of video showed Good was trying to avoid hitting anyone. Ross, [...]

Last year the fraud-prone Trump organization announced a half-assed wireless phone company. As we noted at the time, calling this a phone company" is generous; it was just a lazy marketing rebrand of another, half-assed, MAGA-focused, mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) named Patriot Mobile, which itself just resells T-Mobile service. So basically just another lazy [...]

This week, our first place winner on the insightful side is Stephen T. Stone with a comment about the idea from DHS that it's un-American to refuse to house federal officers: Except for the fact that we literally have an amendment in our constitution that says nobody has to house soldiers. These people really are [...]

We're nearing the end of January, and you know what that means: we're on the home stretch of the latest installment of our annual public domain game jam, Gaming Like It's 1930! We've already gotten some intriguing submissions, and we expect to get plenty more before the deadline of January 31st, but just because time [...]

Every year, a little after New Years, I do a post about the previous year of Techdirt traffic and comments. You may notice that we skipped last year's for 2024. 2025 was so crazy with everything happening, we just didn't get around to it, and I kept saying I would and then I looked up [...]

We are being led by deeply unserious people. Not only that, but people who are manufacturing cruelty upon their very own constituents. That's how bad this has gotten. This week, the DOJ arrested three people in Minnesota for protesting ICE's goonish activity in a local church, where the pastor there also heads up the local [...]

It will be to the everlasting shame of all Americans that impeachment has not yet been accomplished to formally remove Trump from office. Not in his previous term, and not this one, at least not so far. In fact, this term it has hardly even been attempted. If it weren't for Representative Green honoring his [...]

CBS News still exists, despite a president doing all he can to turn it into his own Baghdad Betty. Journalists are still demanding answers from this administration, even while the Baghdadest Betty of all - Bari Weiss - does everything she can to strip mine the long-running news agency for abusable parts. (That refers to [...]

Register here for our Growing the Open Social Web Un-Workshop. For over three years now, since Elon Musk decided to spend $44 billion turning Twitter into his personal playground, we've been watching the open social web slowly, sometimes painfully, come into its own. Bluesky. Mastodon. The broader ATmosphere and fediverse along with a few other [...]

Luminar Mobile is your all-in-one creative companion designed for iOS, Android OS, and Chrome OS. Powered by an intuitive, touch-responsive interface, it lets you enhance photos effortlessly-anytime, anywhere. Whether you're adjusting lighting, perfecting portraits, or adding artistic flair, Luminar Mobile delivers pro-level results in the palm of your hand. It's on sale for $20. Note: [...]

Trump's version of ICE has always assumed that if your skin shade is anything darker than right-wing podcaster translucent, your ass needs to be gone from this country. Obviously, that's not how things are supposed to work here in America, which proudly considered itself to be a melting pot (albeit belatedly and after a lot [...]

The hype and madness surrounding 5G has always been pretty wild to watch. On one hand, wireless carriers spent years implying that 5G was some type ofcancer curing miracle technology(it's not). At the same time, oodles of conspiracy theorists, celebrities, and variousgrifterstried to claim 5G was a rampant health menace (it's not). In reality, 5G'snot [...]

It's been nearly a decade since Mike wrote about the strange trademark approval the New England Patriots received on the term Perfect Season." The story rang as odd for several reasons, not the least of which being that the team applied for the mark in 2008 just before that year's Super Bowl and at a [...]

Ctrl-Alt-Speech is a weekly podcast about the latest news in online speech, from Mike Masnick and Everything in Moderations Ben Whitelaw. Subscribe now on Apple Podcasts, Overcast, Spotify, Pocket Casts, YouTube, or your podcast app of choice - or go straight to the RSS feed. In this week's round-up of the latest news in online [...]

Utah's budding theocracy continues unimpeded as we head into the new year. On top of its other unconstitutional laws (like the oft-challenged social media ban) and legislative proposals, there's its book ban law that has seen it become the first state to actually remove certain books from all public schools across the state. The targeted [...]

Rand Paul is furious. That's because someoneposteda video falsely accusing the Kentucky senator of taking money from Venezuela's Maduro regime. Paul should know that the First Amendment sets a deliberately high bar for defamation of public officials like him. UnderNew York Times v. Sullivan, he must show not just falsity, but that the speaker knew [...]

The thing afforded the highest protections of the Fourth Amendment is a person's home. This isn't even a controversial statement. It has been that way ever since this amendment was ratified. But, under Trump, we're constantly seeing that the administration considers all rights to be privileges - something only granted to people this administration likes. [...]

TheJavaScript DOM Game Developer Bundlehas 8 courses to help you master coding fundamentals. Courses cover JavaScript DOM, Coding, HTML 5 Canvas, and more. You'll learn how to create your own fun, interactive games. It's on sale for $30. Note: The Techdirt Deals Store is powered and curated by StackCommerce. A portion of all sales from [...]

We spent a lot of time last year calling out how dangerous it was that Elon Musk and his inexperienced 4chan-loving DOGE boys were gaining access to some of the most secure government systems. We also highlighted how it seemed likely that they were violating many laws in the process. One specific point of concern [...]

Last week we noted how the Trump FCC, at the direct request of wireless phone giants, destroyed popular rules making it easier and cheaper to switch wireless carriers. The rules, applied via spectrum acquisition and merger conditions, required that Verizon unlock your phone within 60 days after purchase so you could easily switch to competitors. [...]

America is broken and it seems like nobody is bothering to try to repair it. That's a general statement, to be sure, so if you need some marking point to serve as a specific example of our national malfunction, the return of measles to our country can fit the bill. It's not quite as flashy [...]

Lawmakers in Washington are once again focusing on kids, screens, and mental health. But according to Congress, Big Tech is somehow both the problemandthe solution. The Senate Commerce Committee recently held ahearing on examining the effect of technology on America's youth." Witnesses warned about addictive" online content, mental health, and kids spending too much time [...]

Support us on Patreon Last month, we dedicated an episode of the podcast to discussing our recently announced project to push for a better internet, The Resonant Computing Manifesto. This week, we've got a cross-post episode that serves as a followup to that discussion. Mike recently joined Charlie Warzel's Galaxy Brain podcast along with manifesto [...]

For years now, we've been repeatedly pointing out that the social media is destroying kids" narrative, popularized by Jonathan Haidt and others, has been built on a foundation of shaky, often contradictory research. We've noted that the actual data is far more nuanced than the moral panic suggests, and that policy responses built on that [...]

Do you still want to cling to this pretense, Trump supporters? Do you still want to pretend ICE efforts are targeting the worst of the worst?" Are you just going to sit there and mumble some incomprehensible stuff about respecting the laws?" Go ahead. Do it, you cowards. This is exactly what you voted for, [...]

Dive into the world of robotics, programming, and electronics with the PiCar-X, an engaging and versatile smart car designed for learners from elementary school to advanced hobbyists. Combining powerful features, exceptional quality, and a cool design, this robot car kit delivers an engaging learning experience in robotics, AI, and programming. Beyond being an educational tool, [...]

Just a year and a half ago, Senator Rand Paul sponsored a bill that would make it illegal for federal government employees to ask internet companies to remove any speech. Now, in a NY Post op-ed, Paul proudly announces that he did exactly that-formally contacting Google executives to demand they remove a video he didn't [...]

By now, it's pretty clear that right wing billionaire and Trump ally Larry Ellison bought CBS to convert what was left of the news division intolazy agitprop that blows smoke up the ass of wealth and power. Leading the charge is CBS News boss Bari Weiss, an unqualified contrarian Substack troll hired to do things [...]

This story wasoriginally publishedby ProPublica.Republished under aCC BY-NC-ND 3.0license. There are additional (exceptional!) imagery in the original. When SpaceX CEO Elon Musk chose a remote Texas outpost on the Gulf Coast to develop his company's ambitious Starship, he put the 400-foot rocket on a collision course with the commercial airline industry. Each time SpaceX did [...]

The Trump administration's penchant for announcing or celebrating its various dumbass policies via pop culture video game memes marches on, it seems. We talked about this sort of thing previously when the administration built an ICE recruitment video to mimic the intro to the Pokemon cartoon show (gotta catch 'em all... get it?), as well [...]

The FTC remains politicized. One commissioner is leading the way-when it suits him. The Federal Trade Commission under Lina Khan was not a well-run institution. I wrote about this at the time, often and at length, and I regret nothing. But wow-wow-would you be forgiven for thinking that the goal of new management is to [...]

You really can't make this stuff up. On Friday, the State Department's Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs posted to Twitter/X condemning Nicaragua's government for-and I quote-"detaining Nicaraguans for liking posts online," calling it evidence of how paranoid the illegitimate Murillo and Ortega regime is." The Bureau demanded the unconditional release of all political prisoners" and [...]

LOL this government thought actual murder would shut Minneapolis down. You absolute idiots. Whatever kills us makes us stronger. And I say that as only a part-time Minnesotan. I've split time between there and South Dakota over the past couple of decades. And Minneapolis never fails to impress. The administration went all in on Minneapolis [...]

Linux and UNIX operating systems have become increasingly popular in commercial computing environments. Due to their rapid growth in today's businesses, Linux/UNIX administrators have also become very much in demand. This hands-on Linux/UNIX Certification Training Bundle will help you prepare for the CompTIA Linux+ and the Novell Certified Linux Professional certification exams. It's on sale [...]

Look, I know we've all gotten somewhat numb to the constant stream of unhinged pronouncements from the White House. At some point, the brain develops defense mechanisms. But every now and then, something comes along that is so transparently, obviously, undeniably insane that it demands we stop and actually process what is happening. This weekend [...]

Ted Cruz last week chaired a Senate hearing dubbed Plugged Out: Examining the Impact of Technology on America's Youth." The hearing spent a lot of time doubling down on the scary-sounding, often-baseless stories lawmakers tell themselves as they push terrible laws like KOSMA to protect the children" from a completely unproven link between social media [...]