Techdirt

Over the last few years, we've highlighted study after study after study showing that, contrary to the public narrative, claims by politicians, the media, and plaintiffs in many, many lawsuits, the actual evidence just does not show at all that social media/internet is doing damage to kids. In a recent post we highlighted just a [...]

We've noted many times how the GOP's obsession with TikTok is stupid, performative, and utterly hollow. For example, the party desperately wants to ban TikTok for privacy reasons," yet consistently opposes passing privacy laws, or regulating data brokers that traffic in far more data - at a far greater international scale - than TikTok executives [...]

The thin blue line between cops and cop-friendly tech continues to be erased, mostly by cops. No longer content to underserve the public, law enforcement agencies are welcoming the warm embrace of consumer surveillance products in hopes of adding private tech to their publicly-funded surveillance mesh networks. Ring, Amazon's home surveillance tech acquisition, was one [...]

We've documented in detail how the whole AT&T->Time Warner->Warner Brothers Discovery merger process has been a pointless mess, resulting in no limits of layoffs and damage to the underlying brands. What was supposed to be a gambit by these companies to dominate streaming TV, wound up being a very expensive act of seppuku by over-compensated [...]

If you - like Florida governor Ron DeSantis and his hateful little legislative buddies - want to oppress certain people, you're going to have to do it on your own time. The state isn't allowed to help you be shitty. Florida passed an anti-drag show law earlier this year. Legislators were careful to ensure the [...]

A few weeks back we wrote about a report that the EU Commission, in its push for dangerous client-side scanning mandates, had started buying highly targeted ads to try to influence people to support the policy. The ads, first revealed by Wired, were incredibly misleading. But, also, as we noted, appeared to violate EU's privacy [...]

After years of continuous, unrepentant abuse of surveillance powers, the FBI is facing the real possibility of seeing Section 702 curtailed, if not scuttled entirely. Section 702 allows the NSA to gather foreign communications in bulk. The FBI benefits from this collection by being allowed to perform backdoor" searches of NSA collections to obtain communications [...]

Take your basic knowledge of cybersecurity to a whole new level with the Advanced Cyber Security bundle. This bundle offers you 6 courses on industry-standard certifications on cybersecurity so you can enjoy the wonders of modern tech without compromising your data and privacy. Courses cover CISA, CCSP, CISM, and CISSP certification prep. You'll also get [...]

So, yesterday we covered Elon Musk's ridiculous censorial threat to sue Media Matters the split second the court opens on Monday." Of course, as we noted, you can file lawsuits 24/7. And yet, as the courts opened on Monday, there was nothing. As mentioned in the original post, I was away from internet access for [...]

AI" (or more accurately language learning models nowhere close to sentience or genuine awareness) has plenty of innovative potential. Unfortunately, most of the folks actually in charge of the technology's deployment largely see it as a way to cut corners, attack labor, and double down on all of their very worst impulses. Case in point: [...]

The NYPD has plenty of problems with accountability and transparency. The main problem is this: the public wants some of this and the NYPD wants none of this. So, it does stupid things repeatedly that do little more than remind the public it's not to be trusted. Like any cop shop, it's manned by cops [...]

The copyright system is flawed at many levels, as hundreds of posts on this blog make clear. One particular class of problems concern takedowns. The best known of the notice and takedown' systems, that of the US Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), allows the copyright industry to send takedown notices when they discover infringements on [...]

Holy shit. So, in 2021 there was a car accident in Atwater California that killed a married couple, Pam and Joe Juarez. According to police reports at the time, a 20-year-old Stanford student, King Vanga, struck their car from behind. Here's how ABC 30 reported on the matter: The California Highway Patrol says Pam, 56, [...]

Some city officials in Illinois are now engaged in a round of How Can I Get Sued?" Sounds like fun, but Calumet City officials might do well to remember the only way to win is not to play. That's the upshot of the latest bit of officious nonsense to surface in the Chicago area. Granted, [...]

The Complete Information Security Bundle has 7 courses to help you learn about information security. You'll be introduced to the fundamentals, learn about various tools, and get information on AWS and CCSP certification exams. It's on sale for $32. Note: The Techdirt Deals Store is powered and curated by StackCommerce. A portion of all sales [...]

The fakest free speech absolutist" who ever lived is at it again. As you may recall, earlier this year, Elon Musk sued the Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH) claiming that its report documenting an alleged surge of hateful content" on exTwitter somehow violated contracts (after first threatening to sue for defamation, but not actually [...]

Right to repair reform continues to have a moment here in the U.S., with four states (California, Minnesota, New York, and recently Maine) having passed state level protections. The goal: to fight repair monopolies and make it easier and more affordable to repair the technology you own, whether it's your car, game console, cell phone, [...]

This week, our first place winner on the insightful side is Thad with with a comment about Elon Musk citing The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy as the inspiration for his new Grok" AI product, and our point that the titular guide was compiled by humans: Yeah, if you want a real-life equivalent of the [...]

Five Years Ago This week in 2018, the RIAA made a court filing where it warned about overprotection from copyright, Nintendo secured a huge settlement against ROM site (probably just to scare other ROM sites), and the Girl Scouts sued the Boy Scouts over trademark. CNN filed a lawsuit seeking to show that Trump can't [...]

The things said by law enforcement when trying to keep evidence from being tossed all sound the same. There are only a handful of acceptable excuses for performing warrantless searches and, man, do they get used so frequently we can probably all repeat them in our sleep. Exigent circumstances." This one means things were happening [...]

Video game addiction. Sigh. Big sigh, even. Like, the biggest of sighs. We've talked about claims that video game addiction is a documentable affliction in the past, as well as the pushback that claim has received from addiction experts, who have pointed out that much of this is being done to allow doctors to get [...]

We've done this a few times now where people start talking about a social media trend that actually only went viral because of the media coverage of the supposed (but not really) social media trend. And each time there's some outrage moral panic about how social media" is destroying the children or whatever, when it's [...]

There's nothing new about cop shops letting their tech providers write their press releases for them. Law enforcement officers love power but often think nothing of surrendering their autonomy to the providers of the snooping tools. For years, Harris Corporation - the maker of Stingray devices - told cops what they could or couldn't say [...]

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 [...]

At this point you need to assume that organizations still advertising on exTwitter know that they're supporting a new fascist movement... and are okay with it. Yes, many advertisers on exTwitter have pulled the plug on advertising on the site. And even the ones that Linda Yaccarino has been able to coax back appear to [...]

For decades, big ISPs like AT&T have refused to upgrade low income and poor communities to fiber, despite billions in subsidies, regulatory favors, and tax breaks that were supposed to accomplish precisely that. Groups like the National Digital Inclusion Alliance (NDIA) have released studies on cities like Cleveland and Detroit, documenting how this discrimination lines [...]

Three years ago we discussed an interesting trademark battle between McDonald's and Hungry Jack's in Australia. It's interesting for a number of reasons. For starters, Hungry Jack's is a part of Burger King, McDonald's chief rival globally, making this something of a proxy war. Second, this suit was filed on the heels of McDonald's losing [...]

Last week in our Error 402 series on the history of web monetization, we wrote about the earliest forms of web advertising: banner ads. As we noted, this simple" way of making money seemed to derail other forms of monetization, including early attempts at paywalls (which had many other problems and were destined to fail). [...]

The courts in Indiana have made significant moves in recent years to do what the legislature won't: limit asset forfeiture abuse. A case that made its way from Indiana's Supreme Court to the US Supreme Court ended with a declaration that certain forfeitures violated constitutional protections against excessive fines. In that case, Tyson Timbs was [...]

Just a few weeks ago Judge William Orrick massively trimmed back the first big lawsuit that was filed against generative AI companies for training their works on copyright-covered materials. Most of the case was dismissed, and what bits remained may not last much longer. And now, it appears that Judge Vince Chhabria (who has been [...]

Reach new heights (literally) with this 4K Dual-Camera Drone. It's equipped with an HD 4K front camera that supports a remote 90 control angle and a bottom camera with a 120 wide angle. This drone also uses optical flow positioning, allowing the bottom camera to accurately capture the ground or any object, keeping the drone [...]

UK law enforcement seems incapable of recognizing warning signs. Officials seem willing to compete with China in terms of Most Cameras Per Capita. And it's not enough to just have cameras covering every bit of open space. Those cameras must contain questionable tech that is notoriously inaccurate, at least when deployed by UK law enforcement. [...]

The consumer quest to be able to affordably repair your own tech is going well, if you hadn't noticed. Maine just became the fourth state to implement right to repair protections in the wake of laws passed in New York, California, and Minnesota. As that vote (84 percent of Maine voters approved) illustrates, support for [...]

Some will never learn. The Streisand Effect, coined by site-god Mike Masnick two decades ago, is a term that describes when a person or group attempts to disappear content, typically from the internet, which only serves to make that content far more visible and sought out. Because the internet tends to round around censorship and [...]

Another state lawmaker has introduced an age verification bill looking to block minors' access to porn websites. This time, Indiana state Sen. Mike Bohacek of the community of Michiana Shores has introduced a preliminary draft that proposes copycat age verification policies similar to other states, including Louisiana, Texas, Utah, and others. The Indiana bill would [...]

As you likely know by now, last week, Elon Musk released the initial version of the AI chatbot he created earlier this year via xAI" which may or may not be part of his many other companies, but definitely uses employees, technology, and resources from those other companies. He named it Grok," though also claimed [...]

Everyone who wants client-side scanning to be a thing insists it's a good idea with no potential downsides. The only hangup, they insist, is tech companies' unwillingness to implement it. And by implement," I mean - in far too many cases - introducing deliberate (and exploitable!) weaknesses in end-to-end encryption. End-to-end encryption only works if [...]

This DevDojo Pro subscription gives you access to a set of tools to help you build your next great idea. Start with the Page Creator, where you'll find Tailwind CSS Page Builder, a tool for crafting beautiful landing pages. Then, move on to Wave SAAS Starter Kit, where you'll learn how to build your Software [...]

Over the last few weeks, YouTube has been cracking down on YouTube adblockers, blocking users who are using such adblockers (or, in some cases, disabling extensions). There are still some ways around it, but apparently it's becoming more difficult. Here at Techdirt, we've always been pro-adblocker (even though we sometimes have ads on the site, [...]

Maine residents have made it very clear: the overwhelming majority of Americans want to be able to easily and affordably repair the stuff they own. 83 percent of Maine voters last week responded yes to Question 4," asking whether automakers should be required to provide car owners (and independent repair shops) access to on-board diagnostic [...]

Way back in 2018, we discussed how the Ravinia Festival Association, which operates the Ravinia Festival venue north of Chicago, attempted to shut down or force a rename for the then new Ravinia Brewing Company brewery and restaurant in Highland Park. That might all look fairly appropriate at first glance if you're not from the [...]

TheEU Copyright Directiveis arguably the most important recent legislation in the area of intellectual monopolies. It is also a failure, judged purely on its own terms as an initiative to modernize and unify copyright across the European Union. Instead, it includes many backward-looking features that go against the grain of the digital world, which are [...]

There's generally been two reasons the U.S. government hasn't tried to regulate data brokers or pass even a baseline privacy law, and it's not, contrary to conventional wisdom, because it's too hard. One, there's an army of industries with near-bottomless lobbying budgets opposed to meaningful privacy protections, because empowered consumers would inevitably cost these companies [...]

I've noted my skepticism regarding the antitrust attacks on the current Google antitrust trial regarding how it pays to have its search placed as the default on Safari and other browsers/phones. Again, that does not mean I'm skeptical of all antitrust suits against Google, as some of the others (around advertising) appear to have significantly [...]

The UK government thinks the 2016 Investigatory Powers Act is due for an overhaul. But it has plenty of opposition. Some of the proposed amendments actually appear to be illegal. And at least one major tech company has threatened to exit the market if the proposed amendments become law. The so-called Snooper's Charter" has always [...]

Embark on the journey of language learning with the Rosetta Stone lifetime subscription for all languages. Trusted by top-tier organizations like NASA, Calvin Klein, and TripAdvisor, Rosetta Stone has been the go-to software for language learning for the past 27 years. With its immersive and intuitive training method, you might be reading, writing, and speaking [...]

As some folks know, back in 2005, right here on Techdirt, I coined The Streisand Effect," as a throwaway line at the end of a post. It was in reference to a story from two years earlier regarding Streisand suing photographer Ken Adelman after he had started the California Coastal Records Project, in which he [...]

GOP FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr can routinely be found hyperventilating about TikTok, a company he doesn't actually regulate. At the same time, Carr routinely turns a blind eye to the endless sleazy behavior in the sector he actually regulates: telecom. He doesn't much care about predatory pricing, privacy violations, or the way companies like AT&T [...]

The copyright industry's war on the Internet and its users has gone through various stages (full details and links to numerous references in Walled Culture the book,free digital versions available). The first was to sue Internet users directly for sharing files. By 2007, the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) had sued at least 30,000 [...]

It's amazing just how much war and conflict can change a country. On October 7th, Hamas blitzed Israel with an attack that was plainly barbaric. Yes, this is a conflict that has been simmering with occasional flashpoints for decades. No, neither side can even begin to claim it has entirely clean hands as a result [...]