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You ain't seen nothing yet regarding how some MAGA politicians are going to harass and attack journalists. This week, it was revealed that Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton (who already has a history of trying to punish speech he dislikes) had issued a subpoena to 404 Media, an independent, journalist-owned-and-run news site that we link [...]

ShotSpotter spent a few years feeling really sure its tech was capable of detecting gunshots. It felt so confident it didn't mind (allegedly) fudging detection data to help cops secure criminal charges against people who might not have been actual criminals. Then it all started falling apart. Lots of cop shops and the cities that [...]

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Here on Techdirt, we write a lot about content moderation and even did a whole big series of content moderation case studies. However, here's an interesting one that involves Techdirt itself from a couple weeks ago. It's also a perfect example of Masnick's Impossibility Theorem in action and a reminder of how the never-ending flood [...]

As we recently noted, the Biden FCC has announced that it is finally taking a look at" broadband usage caps. We've noted for decades how such limits are completely artificial, technically unnecessary constructs that exist specifically soyour local telecom monopoly can rip you off. They don't manage congestion" or anything else; they exist exclusively to [...]

Here we go again. Another cop given a free pass on brutality because established law had yet to inform Deputy Vincent Castoro that body-slamming a 13-year-old weighing less than 120 lbs. to the ground might violate the minor's right to be free of immediate and permanent injuries simply because he didn't immediately comply with an [...]

Of all the kinds of stupid that exist out there, certainly it's the predictable stupid that is the most frustrating. And of all the kinds of predictable stupid that exist, one of the most predictable forms of stupid is how video games are linked to mass shootings and murders on a clockwork-like cadence. As I've [...]

NSO Group may be on the ropes but its flagship product continues to satisfy its customers - customers that include some of the worst human rights abusers in the world. Sure, recent developments have managed to land the company on US blacklists and forced the Israeli government to limit who the home team can sell [...]

As part of our final push to get our Kickstarter campaign for our new card game over the line, we've added a new limited tier for backers who want to show their support while getting more involved. We're inviting 5 superbackers to work with us to co-design new cards that will be included in the [...]

On Tuesday, Trump announced Andrew Ferguson as the next chair of the Federal Trade Commission, elevating him from his current commissioner role. Ferguson's plans for the agency, laid out in a leaked one-page memo, make clear that he intends to use antitrust and consumer protection authority not to protect competition and consumers, but to punish [...]

Way back during the battle during net neutrality, you might recall all the sleazy shit telecom giants did to tip the scales in their favor. Like making up dead and fake people to stuff regulatory websites with phony support for telecom giants. Or creating fake consumer groups to oppose net neutrality. Or hiring dodgy companies [...]

It was almost exactly a year ago that we discussed a trademark dispute in the UK between Oatly, the sometimes IP bully and maker of oat-based milk products, and Dairy UK, a British trade association for dairy farmers. At issue was the trademark application of Oatly's for its Post Milk Generation" slogan. In its opposition [...]

The Memphis (TN) police department is the latest law enforcement agency to be the subject of DOJ civil rights investigation. Prompted by the brutal killing of Tyre Nichols by five SCORPION" (Street Crimes Operations to Restore Peace in Our Neighborhoods, and no I am not making that up) unit members in early 2023, the DOJ [...]

While AI" (language learning models) certainly couldhelpjournalism, the fail upward brunchlords in charge of most modern media outlets instead see the technology as a way to cut corners, undermine labor, badly automate low-quality, ultra-low effort, SEO-chasing clickbait, and rush undercooked solutions to nonexistent problems to market under the pretense of progress. For example, The Washington [...]

Thanks to government-mandated backdoors in US telecom/broadband services, the FBI - at least in the form of an official who refused to identify themself - has had to recommend (albeit extremely half-heartedly) that encrypted communications are perhaps the only thing keeping phone owners from being actively surveilled by Chinese hackers. The news of a massive [...]

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Over at MSNBC, I have a new piece debunking the false claims from many that Donald Trump's pick to run the National Institutes of Health, Jay Bhattacharya, is somehow taking over the government agency that he believes coordinated censorship" of his views on social media. Bhattacharya and his supporters have been making that claim for [...]

Academics have spent generations warning about what happens when you let journalism and media consolidate in the hands of rich people and corporations. As this season's election coverage demonstrated, the end result is usually a lazy simulacrum of journalism that looks like real reporting, but tends to reflect ownership interests and (usually) lacks the courage [...]

The war on stream-ripping sites waged by the music industry continues. And, as with any war, there is collateral damage. Now, as we've said for some time, this is an entirely unnecessary war to begin with. There are a host of absolutely legitimate uses for sites like this, none of which would be infringing upon [...]

For a few years now, New Jersey cops have enjoyed additional privacy protections that aren't made available to other residents of the state. The reason is Daniel's Law." This law went into effect in 2021, placing cops, judges, and certain other government employees above the people they serve by forbidding the dissemination of their personal [...]

The following is republished from the excellent Pessimist's Archive, with permission. The Oxford Dictionary just added brainrot" as its newest official word-a cynical, but tongue-in-cheek term for consuming too much short-form social media content. However, the word isn't actually new - in the archives we found examples going back as far as a century and [...]

Kash Patel - Trump's pick to head the FBI - is not the sort of person who should be allowed to head the FBI. While he does have some experience as a federal prosecutor, he's mostly known for helping Republicans thwart the Russian election interference probe that began during Trump's first term and for filling [...]

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The censors are making a big push on the new version of KOSPA," which is the Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA) merged with a problematic privacy bill (hence the P"). Over the weekend, Senator Marsha Blackburn - who directly admitted the point of the bill was to protect minor children from the transgender [sic] in [...]

SpaceX's Starlink service can be an absolute game changer for those completely out of range of broadband access. Getting several hundred megabits per second in the middle of nowhere is adecidedly good thing, assuming you can afford the $120 a monthly subscription, $375 (or more) hardware fee, and occasional $100 congestion surcharges." But contrary to [...]

This week, our first place winner on the insightful side Thad with a comment about the news that the owner of the LA Times will be personally reviewing opinion headlines: If anybody's got some money to spare, consider donating to news sources that aren't owned by billionaires, like PBS, ProPublica, 404 Media, or, you know, [...]

We're past the halfway point of our Kickstarter campaign for One Billion Users, a new competitive card game about building the biggest and best social media network. We're very excited to get this game into people's hands, but we won't be able to do it without your support! If you want to try your hand [...]

Valve's Steam PC gaming storefront appears to be on a bit of a pro-consumer kick as of late and I like it. We recently discussed the platform's update to its purchase process, which now specifically includes explicit language around how the purchase is that of a revokable license to play the game, rather than any [...]

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 [...]

To anyone who listened to the oral arguments in the DC Circuit regarding the TikTok ban bill, it perhaps wasn't a huge surprise that the DC Circuit today ruled to uphold the ban, but the resulting opinion is incredibly troubling. In a stunning and dangerous decision, the court argued that banning TikTok somehow vindicates and [...]

Civil asset forfeiture has never been about dismantling criminal operations. It has always been about immediately enriching those who directly benefit from every dollar seized under the pretense that taking cash away from random people somehow cripples multi-national drug operations that have both the personnel and the cash on hand to survive these small-ish seizures. [...]

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In a disturbing (if unsurprising) trend, Republican FCC and FTC commissioners are deliberately misusing free speech" rhetoric in an Orwellian attempt to justify government intervention to control and suppress online speech. Last week, FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr pushed censorial policies in the name of free speech." This week, GOP FTC Commissioners Melissa Holyoak and Andrew [...]

We've noted for decades how the U.S. broadband sector is a mess thanks to corruption and unchecked monopoly power working tirelessly to undermine U.S. telecom competition. The result is high prices, spotty access, slow speeds, and comically terrible customer service. Another way to put it is market failure. Caused by regulatory capture. In direct response, [...]

It was only a few weeks ago that we discussed Good Old Games' (GOG) return to its roots with the site's GOG Preservation Program". While GOG never stopped selling, you know, good old games, the site also expanded over the years to be a storefront for new releases and AAA games as well. But with [...]

I've been doing this for more than 10 years and I can assure I have yet to read a DOJ civil rights investigation report that has concluded everything looks pretty OK at this cop shop. Every - and I mean every - DOJ investigation is followed by a report that can be accurately described as [...]

The Federal Trade Commission is once again taking action against a data broker for illegally collecting and selling the sensitive data of Americans, including information on people's trips to doctors offices, abortion clinics, and places of worship. This time the FTC is taking aim at Gravy Analytics and its subsidiary Venntel, which the FTC announcement [...]

Billionaire media owners are getting bolder in their attempts to suppress opinions they dislike. The latest example comes from LA Times owner Patrick Soon-Shiong, who reportedly plans to personally review all opinion headlines to ensure they don't offend Elon Musk or others that Soon-Shiong is trying to impress. Considering the billionaire class keeps pretending that [...]

Microsoft 2019 Professional Plus is one of the most popular business suites globally. This new version of Office 2019 has been redesigned with more powerful features and improved cloud connectivity, allowing you to do more in less time. Office 2019 has a lot to offer in terms of features and functionality. It provides users with [...]

There's little that's more impermeable than the US border. I mean, people flow across it all the time, often without being vetted, but courts seem to agree the only thing that really matters is what border agencies are trying (and failing) to accomplish. Whatever rights need to be abridged, paused, or outright discarded are just [...]

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) is proposing a new rule limiting data brokers' ability to sell Americans' sensitive personal and financial information... assuming it survives the looming corruption-fueled assault on corporate oversight under the pretense of efficiency." According to an agency press release, the agency is looking to update the Fair Credit Reporting Act [...]

Cops just seem to love killing people's pets. While this act is often justified" by (often ridiculous) claims of officer safety," a whole lot of killing of people's dogs seems to happen just because law enforcement officers have the means and the opportunity to carry this act out. Nothing involving the killing of people's dogs [...]

We've talked plenty about the ways that the DMCA process specifically is wide open for fraud and abuse. There are plenty of forms this sort of thing can take, of course, but one of the more troubling among them is the use of the DMCA process specifically to disappear critical commentary that a copyright holder [...]

Support us on Patreon We've written about the many signs that Trump FCC pick Brendan Carr is eager to be America's top censor. Recently, Mike once again joined Andy Levy on The New Abnormal podcast for a discussion about how much of a threat Carr represents to free speech and the First Amendment, and you [...]

This is probably the correct conclusion to arrive at, at least at this point in extremely limited jurisprudence, but it still raises some questions courts will likely have to confront in the future. Is manhandling a phone to make it responsive to a search itself a search, or does the Fourth Amendment not kick in [...]

In May 2022 Thierry Breton, at the time a prominent European Commissioner, went to Texas and dropped in on Elon Musk, who was then on his way to buying Twitter. During his visit, Breton did something remarkable: he showed that Elon, whatever his other accomplishments, is a sucker's sucker. In a video posted on social [...]

The 2021 infrastructure bill is poised to deliver$42.5billionin broadband subsidies to the states under a program called Broadband Equity, Access, And Deployment (BEAD). This program has been slow sledding, because America's broadband maps were absolute garbage, requiring that states work overtime to fix our broadband maps and ensure the money is spent semi-wisely. Republicans and [...]

One of the most important shifts in computing over the last few decades has been the increasing use of open source software on nearly every platform, from cloud computing to smartphones (well, I would say that). For the distributed development methodology pioneered by Linus Torvalds with Linux to work, modularity is key. It allows coders [...]

This may not mean much in the grand scheme of things but it's good to see these objections on the record. It's incremental, but in these times, every increment helps, especially when the Supreme Court seems actively disinterested in discussing cases in which government officials might be found to be in the wrong. Cert has [...]

If you're not of a certain age, you may not be entirely familiar with the story of Enron, the once-vaunted energy and bandwidth trading company that went down in one of the most public bankruptcy and financial scandals of all time. It all ended in 2001, with several Enron executives being charged with accounting fraud [...]