Techdirt

The response to the COVID-19 pandemic in America was, at best, inadequate. Many voters who felt subservient to a failed businessman chose to view the pandemic as a conspiracy meant to unseat Donald Trump. Millions died. Many more millions continue to suffer. Schools reacted by offering a variety of learning options to students, including the […]

Fifth-generation wireless (5G) was supposed to change the world. According to carriers, not only was it supposed to bring about the “fourth industrial revolution,” it was supposed to revolutionize everything from smart cities to cancer treatment. Simultaneously, conspiracy theorists and internet imbeciles declared that 5G was responsible for everything from COVID-19 to your migraines. Unfortunately for both […]

There’s an interesting post on the TorrentFreak blog about “fast movies“: These heavily edited copies of mainstream movies aim to summarize key plot lines via voice-over narration in about 10 minutes. While no replacement for the real thing, these edits accumulated millions of views and incurred the wrath of rightsholders, leading to the arrest of […]

Not only have corporate efforts to monopolize repair resulted in a flood of proposed state and federal laws, the Biden Administration’s recent executive order on monopoly power and competition urged the FTC to tighten up its rules on repair monopolization efforts, whether it’s ham-fisted DRM, or making repair manuals, parts, and diagnostics hard to come by. At the […]

Well, this doesn’t sound like a good idea. The company that recently swore in court filings it would cease and desist sales to all private companies in the United States is offering its product to a number of private companies elsewhere in the world. And it’s courting private contractors doing business with government entities in […]

It’s no secret that copyright and libraries are often in conflict with one another. We’ve pointed out repeatedly how modern publishers would never allow libraries to come into existence if they weren’t here already. The publishers have made that clear by trying to sue out of existence all sorts of things that appear to be […]

It feels somewhat strange to write this post today, short though it may be. We now live in the wake of yet another mass shooting, this time at an elementary school in Texas. It was only weeks ago that we were dealing with the aftermath of the racist attack on a Buffalo grocery store. In […]

The Academic Success Master Class Bundle covers 100+ strategies on time management, productivity, studying, and more. These methods are not taught to students in a traditional classroom. This Master Class Bundle will help your student achieve top grades, test scores, and academic performance in school. It is on sale for $49. Note: The Techdirt Deals […]

Back in 2017, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals decided there was nothing wrong with the indefinite gag orders the government slapped on its (extremely plentiful) National Security Letters (NSL). It told Cloudflare, Credo Mobile, and other parties challenging these gag orders that the Constitution remains untroubled by the government’s demands for silence, which could […]

Back when Netflix was a pesky upstart trying to claw subscribers away from entrenched cable providers, the company had a pretty lax approach to users who shared streaming passwords. At one point CEO Reed Hastings went so far as to say he “loved” password sharing, seeing it as akin to free advertising. The idea was that as […]

For the past couple of years, we have been tracking Sony’s long overdue foray into making its first party titles available to the PC gaming market. Sony, famous for walling off these titles and making them Playstation exclusives, began loosening that grip in 2020. MLB: The Show suddenly appeared on other consoles (though not on […]

Exhale. Just a little while ago, the Supreme Court put Texas’s ridiculous content moderation law back on hold. Specifically, it granted NetChoice and CCIA’s emergency application to put the law on hold, following the 5th Circuit’s decision to reinstate the law without any explanation (which came about in response to a district court’s lengthy explanation […]

In discussions about content moderation, it’s easy to get stuck in the mindset that there are only a few simple ways it could possibly work — but in fact there is plenty of room for exploring creative alternatives. One such idea examined in a recent paper by Aviv Ovadya, Technology and Public Purpose Fellow at […]

Two years ago we wrote about how the Wikimedia Foundation was blocked from gaining observer status at the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) after China objected, over some bizarre nonsense because there happens to be a volunteer-led Wikimedia Taiwan chapter. Obviously, it makes sense for Wikimedia to have observer status at WIPO, as excessive copyright can […]

Whenever cops discover a new means or method of tracking people that seems to run afoul of the letter (if not the spirit) of the Fourth Amendment, they’re quick to defend these actions by claiming they’re necessary to hunt down the most dangerous of criminals: terrorists, sexual exploiters of children, kidnappers, homicide suspects, etc. When […]

The 2022 Ultimate Adobe CC Training Bundle has 9 courses to help you become an Adobe power user. You’ll learn about Lightroom, XD, Animate, and After Effects. You’ll get more advanced training on Premier Pro, Photoshop, and Illustrator. The bundle is on sale for $30. Note: The Techdirt Deals Store is powered and curated by StackCommerce. A […]

The Supreme Court has taken two swings at this issue: whether or not artistic expression can also be evidence of criminal activity. Two cases with obviously serious First Amendment implications and yet the nation’s top court felt there was no need for it to establish a bright line that might deter future prosecutions based on […]

We’ve noted more than a few times how net neutrality rules were just some stopgap rules to prevent telecom monopolies from being assholes in the absence of real competition. They were modest protections (by international standards) attempting to protect consumers and competitors from giant unchecked monopolies we’ve let run amok for the better part of […]

This week, both our winners on the insightful side are anonymous responses to commenters trotting out the same old, boring, easily dismissed arguments about content moderation on our post about how very little content moderation has anything to do with politics. In first place, it’s a response to someone basically just saying “nuh-uh, of course […]

Five Years Ago This week in 2017, the FCC was still working hard to ignore support for net neutrality and also ignore how fake much of the opposition was, while Apple and Verizon were joining forces to lobby against the right to repair. We learned more about how little it takes to be branded a […]

This report, by Aaron Gordon for Motherboard, looks like a hypothetical dreamed up by a particularly cruel constitutional law professor: For the last five years, driverless car companies have been testing their vehicles on public roads. These vehicles constantly roam neighborhoods while laden with a variety of sensors including video cameras capturing everything going on […]

There are lots of ways content makers can respond to copyright infringement. From going fully legal and suing, to attempting to threaten to sue to scare the hell out of the “pirates”, to seeking government intervention that would negatively impact all kinds of innocent folks, to trying (and failing) to curb piracy using DRM, none […]

It’s 2022 and yet we still haven’t received a nationwide blessing from the country’s top court that recognizes a First Amendment right to record public officials carrying out their public duties. In most cases, this involves cops, whose public activities are far more public than those of most other public servants. For whatever reason, the […]

The recent mass murders in Buffalo and Uvalde are sickening, horrifying, and extraordinarily frustrating. And part of that is because, as The Onion keeps having to point out, we live in a world where the underlying message is: ‘No Way To Prevent This,’ Says Only Nation Where This Regularly Happens. And that is the most […]

It’s not just the private sector leaking data at alarming rates! Well, it is still the private sector, but it’s leaking data on behalf of the government! So… somewhat different. But still alarming. According to this report from Caroline Haskins for Business Insider, an ICE contractor harvesting facial recognition and GPS data on behalf of […]

The GameCreators Mega Maker Pack Bundle will help you develop your own dream video game, and publish it on multiple platforms with thousands of royalty-free, 2D and 3D assets. You get AppGameKit Studio, a fully featured game development toolset with two asset packs. The bundle also has GameGuru, a non-technical and fun game maker that offers an […]

Look: there are very real issues with the state of the internet today, including the amount of power a few companies have. But that doesn’t mean any solution is a good solution. Unfortunately, Senator Amy Klobuchar, whenever given the option, seems to put forth the worst possible plan. It’s mind boggling. For a while now, […]

While a lot of the scandals surrounding “big tech” have been overblown, one that hasn’t been discussed enough is Silicon Valley companies’ abuse of user two-factor authentication data. If you’ve been napping, two-factor authentication (preferably of the email variety) helps protect your accounts from being compromised by hackers. But when both Facebook and Twitter implemented […]

The last time we discussed Zara, the clothing retailer based out of Spain, it was to witness the company tripping all over itself to apologize to mainland China for denoting Taiwan and Hong Kong as countries on its website. Well, now the company is back, this time for engaging in a somewhat silly trademark opposition […]

While Space X’s Starlink is a promising broadband option if you’re out of range of traditional options (and can afford it), many users who’ve pre-ordered aren’t having a great time. Some say they’ve been waiting for service more than a year, during which time Starlink has often refused to answer basic emails or issue refunds, […]

We’ve gone into detail as to why it makes no sense at all, legally or conceptually, to call a website a common carrier. We’ve also explained how conservatives — bizarrely the ones pushing for this, despite decades of claiming that common carrier designations were an affront to all that is good and holy — aren’t […]

Crime rates are increasing. And too many government officials are deciding it must be something other than the most obvious explanation. That’s prompting actions that will give residents of certain states and cities less liberty, while doing very little for their safety. Virginia in July will eliminate its prohibition on local police use of facial […]

Want to generate more leads, collect feedback instantly or automate customer support? Wish you could automate multiple processes within your business so you can focus on growth? Now, you can! Introducing Landbot: a no-code chatbot platform that allows you to automate conversational experiences on the web and WhatsApp, using an intuitive drag and drop builder, […]

It remains ridiculous how many politicians, across the political spectrum, resort to nonsense populism and grandstanding, rather than actually being willing to confront actual challenges. Now, I’ll be the first to admit that there are certain societal level issues that politicians simply cannot solve, and given the nature of a democracy based on first-past-the-post voting, […]

Earlier in May, Motherboard showcased how it was relatively trivial to buy the location data of cellphone users that had visited abortion clinics across the U.S. As states criminalize getting abortions (and helping people get abortions), there’s valid concern that our rampant failure to secure user location data will be abused in new and exceptionally […]

We’ve talked a great deal about the public’s right to repair the tech they own and how right to repair has finally started to shift in favor of the consumer as of late. In tech in general, and specifically in the video gaming hardware space, manufacturers have long fought to make it impossible for the […]

Cops lie. Cops lie so often it’s hardly even news at this point. The only people left to be shocked by these revelations are the increasingly small segment of the population who’ve actually considered, at some point in their lives, the purchase of a fainting couch. Cops lie because cops can almost always get away […]

There’s a story in the Daily Mail that underlines why it is important for people to make copies. It concerns the re-surfacing of rare recordings of the Beatles: In the summer of 1963, the BBC began a radio series called Pop Go The Beatles which went out at 5pm on Tuesdays on the Light Programme. Each […]

Hertz has dug its own hole. And it insists it hasn’t hit the bottom yet. The shovels will continue to be deployed until the litigation ends. This isn’t going to work out well for Hertz, but the company seems to have retreated deep into denial following lawsuits over its bogus theft allegations. Hertz is facing […]

It’s truly amazing how focused people are, in discussions on content moderation, on the claims that “content moderation is censorship” and that it’s primarily “suppressing” political speech. That’s not how it works at all. Honestly, the origins of most content moderation efforts were around two major things: (1) spam prevention and (2) copyright infringement. Over […]

The Fast Mag Wireless iPhone Charger is a chic, modern wireless charger for your iPhone. It features a built-in magnet and metal plate, which sticks securely to your phone to prevent it from sliding off. Fast Mag features built-in safeguards against overcharge The addition of Fast Charge technology enables your phone to rapidly charge from […]

Two political figures determined to play to the base no matter what it costs them have filed lawsuits against book retailer Barnes & Noble, claiming (one specific Virginia Beach store, along with a Virginia Beach school) the company is marketing “obscene” books to kids. It’s all incredibly stupid. Here’s Kelly Jensen with the details for […]

If you hadn’t noticed, the U.S. doesn’t give much of a shit about this whole privacy thing. Our privacy regulators are comically and intentionally understaffed and underfunded, we still have no meaningful privacy law for the Internet era, and when regulators do act, it’s generally months after the fact with penalties that are easily laughed […]

Following the murder of unarmed black man George Floyd by Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin, the streets of the city erupted in protest. Police responded accordingly. Which is to say indifferently. Rather than rein in the violence that had triggered the protests, many officers felt they needed to make protesters pay for their ungrateful response […]

Online platforms often give access to digital material that is under copyright. If any of that content is infringing, then potentially the platform would be liable as well as the person who uploaded it. Online companies naturally want to be immune to the consequences of any copyright infringement committed by their users. However, companies in […]

The problems with copyright have been a subject of coverage here at Techdirt since the beginning, and for most of that time it has been largely a non-partisan subject. At the moment, however, that isn’t so much the case thanks to Josh Hawley’s war with Disney, which has created a situation where some copyright reform […]

Have politicians all gone mad? On the Republican side, we have Texas and Florida trying to stop websites from moderating content, while on the Democratic side, we have New York and elsewhere trying to blame them for not moderating content. And then we have… California. Back in March we had warned about AB 2408, ostensibly […]

“You can remember it for us wholesale.” – the government of India, probably. The Indian government has been working for years to ensure it has complete control of constituents’ use of the internet. It has been steadily increasing its stake in internet use for years, ensuring its interests (especially those of Narendra Modi, who has […]

Take a deep dive into Machine Learning and Data Analysis across 7 courses for only $39 for a limited time. The A to Z Data Science and Machine Learning Bundle will introduce you to Python, NumPy, and Keras. You’ll learn the basics of the Matplotlib library, statistics techniques, how to build and share data applications using […]

I’ve been trying to explain this in all sorts of ways: Elon Musk’s understanding of free speech does not have anything to do with actual free speech. And, for the most part, it seemed that people who understand this stuff got that. But I remain surprised at how many otherwise intelligent people seem to be […]