Techdirt

Is Google signaling the end of the open web? That's some of the concern raised by its new embrace of AI. While most of the fears about AI may be overblown, this one could be legit. But it doesn't mean that we need to accept it. These days, there is certainly a lot of hype [...]

In 2023, Mozilla released a report noting that modern cars had the worst security and privacy standards of any major technology industry the organization tracks. That was followed by a NYT report earlier this year showing how automakers routinely hoover up oodles of consumer driving and phone info, then sell access to that data to [...]

The Supreme Court has recognized there's something definitely wrong with asset forfeiture. But, so far, it has yet to attempt to put a full stop to it. A recent case dealt with criminal asset forfeiture. In that case, the nation's top court ruled it was unconstitutional for the government to seize assets worth far more [...]

It should come as no shock to anyone when I say that DC Comics and Marvel both behave in a very aggressive manner when it comes to all things intellectual property. These two companies have engaged in all kinds of draconian behavior when it comes to everything from copyright to trademark. But one thing that [...]

It's been almost an article of faith among many (especially since 2016) that social media has been a leading cause of our collective dumbening and the resulting situation in which a bunch of fascist-adjacent wannabe dictators getting elected all over the place. But, we've always found that argument to feel massively, if not totally overblown. [...]

God forbid any of you peons break a law. It doesn't matter if you only do it once. If you get caught, it's all on you. But if you're a cop, laws are, at best, suggestions. Break them if you can. Ignore them when they're inconvenient. And treat any law or court ruling that reins [...]

StackSkills is the premier online learning platform for mastering today's most in-demand skills. Now, with this exclusive limited-time offer, you'll gain access to 1000+ StackSkills courses for life! Whether you're looking to earn a promotion, make a career change, or pick up a side hustle to make some extra cash, StackSkills delivers engaging online courses [...]

It's no secret that Elon Musk can be petty and vindictive over the dumbest shit. You may have heard that he fired the entire Supercharger team a few weeks ago entirely due to him getting upset at what the woman who led that team told him (he's now scrambling to try to rehire the team [...]

By now we've laid out the case that U.S. broadband is spotty, expensive, and slow due to regional monopolies and the corruption that protects them. Despite this, every time the U.S. decides to spend taxpayer money on broadband, said corruption usually ensures that we throw most of that money into the laps of the same [...]

This week, both our winners on the insightful side come from our post about a facts-free op-ed defending the bipartisan bill to repeal Section 230. In first place, it's Stephen T. Stone reiterating a rule that holds true: Once more, with feeling: No one can oppose Section 230 without lying about it. In second place, [...]

Five Years Ago This week in 2019, the government hit whistleblower David Hale with espionage charges. All four major wireless carriers were hit with lawsuits over sharing location data, while employees of AT&T and Verizon were caught up in a DOJ bust over SIM hijacking. Canada's Prime Minister was threatening to fine social media companies [...]

It's a funny thing what game publishers sometimes try to do when it comes to releasing games early to internet streamers as a way to boost interest in their games. I've heard stories of all kinds of crazy stipulations that streamers have to sign off on contractually in order to get access to the game. [...]

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 [...]

Every cop with a dog swears it can detect all sorts of contraband. Literally swears. In court. On the stand. But are drug dogs miraculous wonders of law enforcement due to their training? Or is it due to the domesticated dog's innate desire to please, especially when it knows it will be rewarded for doing [...]

Give people ways to share images and videos with each other, and people will quickly push the limits. It's what people do. There's been a slightly amusing story making the rounds these past few days: a digital video portal" was set up to allow people in New York and Dublin to communicate with each other. [...]

Sole source contracting is the sort of thing government agencies should seek to avoid. In some cases, it's impossible, but most spending should be open to bidding to help ensure the government isn't spending more than it has to - or worse, hooking up contractor buddies Mob-style. There's a whiff of impropriety in all of [...]

You probably already know the benefits of learning a language, so let's focus on the app. Right off the bat, let's be clear about one thing: When we say app" we don't mean that you're limited to using Babbel on your phone. You can use Babbel on desktop, too, and your progress is synchronized across [...]

You've all heard the reports about how the internet, social media, and phones are apparently destroying everyone's well being and mental health. Hell there's a best selling book and its author making the rounds basically everywhere, insisting that the internet and phones are literally rewiring" kids minds to be depressed. We've pointed out over and [...]

For decades now, U.S. wireless carriers have sold consumers unlimited data" plans that actually have all manner of sometimes hidden throttling, caps, and restrictions. And every few years a regulator comes out with a wrist slap against wireless carriers for misleading consumers, for whatever good it does. Back in 2007, for example, then NY AG [...]

Way back in 2009, we discussed a very impressive fan film called The Hunt for Gollum. While the film was made by dedicated fans of the Lord of the Rings films and was non-commercial in nature, we openly speculated both what the copyright implications of the film and whether there would be any risk of [...]

The Pirate Party has long played an important role in fighting the worst excesses of copyright in the EU. For example, when a major copyright update was being discussed, the Pirate Party MEP Felix Reda wrote an insightful and practical report on what needed changing. Most of his recommendations were ignored in the finalEU Copyright [...]

If you're a fan of chaos, well, the TikTok ban situation is providing plenty of chaos to follow. Ever since the US government made it clear it was seriously going to move forward with the obviously unconstitutional and counterproductive plan to force ByteDance to divest from TikTok or have the app effectively banned from the [...]

Bit of a weird one here. So, there's the assumption made by all cops and most courts that any area visible to passersby does not have an expectation of privacy. That means front yards, open garages, etc. Courts and cops have mostly agreed this expectation of privacy does not suddenly appear no matter how long [...]

PHP is an invaluable tool to help web developers build powerful websites. The beginner-to-advanced Ultimate PHP Training Bundle will teach you all things PHP so you'll be able to build seamless, interactive sites before you know it. It's on sale for $20. Note: The Techdirt Deals Store is powered and curated by StackCommerce. A portion [...]

What do you get when you cross a Kennedy, a brain worm, and a social media giant? Apparently, another ridiculous lawsuit destined to be laughed out of court. In 2020, RFK Jr. sued Meta (then Facebook) claiming that when the company fact-checked and moderated his anti-vax nonsense, it was a state actor. This was, he [...]

Before T-Mobile acquired Sprint, activists, consumer groups, and deal critics (including me) warned repeatedly that the telecom sector megadeal would result in layoffs, less competition, higher prices, and a lower quality product overall. The Trump FCC and DOJ very clearly didn't care; they rubber stamped the deal without even reading deal impact reports. T-Mobile CEO [...]

For years and years we have documented here the trend of cord-cutting from traditional cable television services. And we all know where those previous subscribers have gone: to streaming services, particularly as those services have matured and performed better than they did in the early days. But if cord-cutting was a thing the cable industry [...]

Tired of being underserved and overbilled by shitty regional broadband monopolies, back in 2002 a coalition of local Utah governments formed UTOPIA - (the Utah Telecommunication Open Infrastructure Agency). The inter-local agency collaborative venture then set about building an open access" fiber network that allows any ISP to then come and compete on the shared [...]

Is there any law that Elon Musk actually understands? The latest is that he's lost yet another lawsuit, this time (in part) for not understanding copyright law. There have been a variety of lawsuits regarding data scraping over the past decade, and we've long argued that such scraping should be allowed under the law (though [...]

Oh, man. There's so much going on here. The headline is only part of it. We'll get to it (and through it) as efficiently as possible but expect multiple stops along the way. Georgia Gee's reporting on this for Wired is devastating. There's so much stupidity and wrongness going on here, the article almost reads [...]

MATLAB allows matrix manipulations, plotting of functions and data, implementation of algorithms, creating of user interfaces, and interfacing with programs written in other languages. That's all well and good, but it means nothing if you don't have a firm grasp of the data types used within MATLAB. In this course you'll cover not just data [...]

Who has a stronger case that the TikTok ban is unconstitutional? TikTok itself... or its users? We may find out, as both are trying. Last week, TikTok officially filed a petition to challenge the Constitutionality of the TikTok ban law. I've heard a few people say that they don't believe TikTok has that strong of [...]

Streaming video still provides some meaningful advantages to traditional cable: it's generally cheaper (assuming you don't sign up for every service under the sun); customer satisfaction ratings are generally higher; and users have more power to pick and choose and cancel services at a whim. But the party simply isn't going to last. Thanks to [...]

For all the pissing and moaning I did during the acquisition of Activision Blizzard by Microsoft - principally over the latter's routine desire to talk about non-exclusivity in its games only to make them exclusive - Sony sure does know how to shit the bed when it comes to cross-platform titles and how to treat [...]

Walled Culture has been warning about thefinancializationandsecuritizationof music for two years now. Those obscure but important developments mean that the owners of copyrights are increasingly detached from the creative production process. They regard music as just another asset, like gold, petroleum or property, to be exploited to the maximum. A Guest Essay in the New [...]

There's no shortage of prognostication about the future of generative AI, including plenty of predictions that it won't actually be around forever for various reasons. A lot of these takes are a little too speculative or just not very interesting, but one that stands out comes from law professor and returning podcast guest Eric Goldman, [...]

You may recall last month's hilarious story of lawyer Mike Dunford's response to a vexatious angry demand letter from IMG, representing the LAPD Foundation, claiming that a t-shirt with the following Fuck the LAPD" logo violated its IP rights: The response was as simple as it was direct: Lol, no. As we highlighted in our [...]

Flock Safety wants in on the law enforcement surveillance action. It began making inroads by appealing to the next best fascists: homeowners associations. Pitching its ALPRs (automatic license plate readers) to gated communities, Flock promises a crime-free future its pseudo-research can't back up. Not that any of that mattered to any of these suburban authoritarians. [...]

Headway Premium is the revolutionary app designed to help you turn personal growth into a habit. With a lifetime subscription, you get unlimited access to a huge number of non-fiction bestsellers, summarized into 15-minute reads. Be it personal development, business strategies, or health insights, Headway has you covered. It's on sale for $60. Note: The [...]

Former FCC Chair Ajit Pai seems to have forgotten the First Amendment in his rush to support the TikTok ban. In a recent Fox Business interview, Pai stumbled through a series of perplexing statements, leaving us wondering if he's ever actually read the bill he's defending. And look, we've criticized Pai a lot here on [...]

One of the primary reasons U.S. consumers pay some of the highest prices in the developed world for mobile data is because U.S. regulators - from both parties - routinely sign off on growth for growth's sake" mergers that reduce competition, lower product quality, raise prices, and trigger waves upon waves of layoffs. Usually under [...]

We may not have Supreme Court precedent (yet!), but a number of cases handled by appellate circuits all over the nation have made it resoundingly clear: there's a First Amendment right to film police officers. Of course, lawmakers caping for cops have done their best to make this act more difficult. Multiple attempts have been [...]

Unless you've been living under a rock somewhere, you've likely caught wind of a rap beef that has taken the internet by storm. I won't pretend to be enough of a pop culture expert to have any idea why both Drake and Kendrick Lamar have been lobbing frequent shots at each other in the form [...]

There was a bit of news in the world of decentralized social media over the past few weeks. It kicked off with the announcement that Jack Dorsey had left the board of Bluesky. This was followed by an interview Jack gave to Mike Solana where he explained his thinking on all of this. There was [...]

There was more contention than usual prior to the most recent reauthorization of Section 702 surveillance powers. The blame for the multiple fights leading up to a clean renewal lies entirely at the feet of the FBI, which has constantly abused its access to NSA collections to perform warrantless searches targeting US persons' communications. Normally, [...]

The Complete 2024 Penetration Testing & Ethical Hacking Training Bundle has 9 courses to help you learn to fight back against cyber threats. Courses include hands-on lessons on penetration testing for AWS, IoT, and web apps, along with hacking basics and a few certificate exam prep courses. It's on sale for $50. Note: The Techdirt [...]

Section 230, the legal backbone of the internet, is under attack again. This time, it is from a bipartisan pair of legislators who seem to fundamentally misunderstand how the law works and what the consequences of repealing it would be. We've talked about plenty of attempts to reform Section 230, and why all of them [...]

Long before TikTok histrionics took root, you might recall that numerous members of Congress spent numerous years freaking about another Chinese company: Chinese telecom equipment maker Huawei. The argument, made without much in the way of public evidence, was that Huawei was systematically using its network gear to spy on Americans at a massive scale. [...]

This week, our first place winner on the insightful side is MrWilson, with a comment on our post about ChatGPT and privacy rights in Europe, specifically in response to someone who raised the issue of false light" torts: False light is a privacy tort in the US. We're talking about Europe. But also, false light [...]

Five Years Ago This week in 2019, there was a legal fight over whether it's protected speech to flash your headlights to warn of hidden cops. We looked at how little the FCC had done to police wireless location data scandals, and how it was doubling down on bogus claims about broadband availability, as well [...]