Techdirt

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 [...]

Under the pretense of a computer crime investigation, the Marion County PD - led by then-Chief Gideon Cody - raided the offices of the Marion County Record, as well as the home of its 98-year-old co-owner, Joan Meyer. Joan Meyer died one day after the raid, one she strenuously objected to while her home was [...]

Let's just start off by noting that if you're not in the US and you live anywhere with some form of single-payer/universal healthcare, we know. You don't need to tell us. We know. The US healthcare system is a fucking mess. A decade ago I wrote an article about how the US healthcare system wasn't [...]

The most serious opposition to extending Section 702 surveillance authorities since the immediate aftermath of the Snowden leaks came from a perhaps-unexpected source: House Republicans. Of course, this isn't an altruistic effort. This is purely politically motivated, driven by abuses of surveillance authorities by the FBI. The FBI has always done this. It just so [...]

The Apple Watch Wireless Charger Keychain is the perfect accessory for Apple Watch users on-the-go. With a built-in 950mAh lithium-ion battery, it can charge all series of Apple Watch. The technology allows it to be used as a base for a bedside table or table for convenient charging. Its portable, pocket-size design makes it easy [...]

Omegle has been a controversial service. While Chatroulette got all the attention as a service to randomly connect with video to others online, it grew fast and burned out fast. Omegle was basically the same service, but had a slower ramp up, and became quite popular over the last few years. Except that now Omegle [...]

Thanks to industry consolidation and saturated market growth, the streaming industry has started behaving much like the traditional cable giants they once disrupted. As with most industries suffering from enshittification," that generally means steadily worse service at higher prices as it tries to appease Wall Street's demand for improved quarterly returns at any cost (even [...]

We've got another double winner this week, with the same anonymous comment taking first place for insightful and second place for funny. It comes in response to a joke about Republicans in the zombie apocalypse: Republicans will be the zombies because when an outbreak happens, the government will tell people to avoid the zombies, and [...]

Five Years Ago This week in 2018, there was another failed attempt to hold Twitter responsible for terrorism, while we were taking a closer look at the massive influence campaigns and coordinated election interference happening on the platform. AT&T began kicking pirates off the internet, the Supreme Court rejected the telecom industry's calls to hear [...]

One of the longest standing jokes in professional sports is labeling the NFL, or National Football League, the No Fun League, instead. This typically has to do either with the way the league has legislated a lot of what fans love about the game off the field in the name of player safety, which isn't [...]

Last week in our Error 402 series on the history of web monetization, we covered how early paywalls for content almost universally failed. We'll explore a bit more of the why later, but first we need to talk about internet ads. Because they basically sucked up all of the oxygen in the online monetization world. [...]

We've dealt with plenty of outlandish government behavior here at Techdirt over the years. But, every so often, something clears that high bar - something that hits you square in the jaw and makes you take a step back. You'll never know what your government employees feel they're entitled to do until they actually do [...]

Look, I get that Rep. Jim Jordan is going to just keep on Jim Jordaning up the joint, and making statements that are blatantly untrue in an effort to chill speech he doesn't like. But, for fuck's sake, the media doesn't need to repeat it. Of course, in this case, the media" is the NY [...]

As the completely normal parents of two completely normal teen boys, I was sincerely hoping I would never have to write about Fortnite again. This is not to say there's anything particularly wrong with Fortnite, the free-to-play arena shooter/Minecraft that took the online world by storm. Epic Games recognized its new field of cash cows [...]

Charge your device or illuminate your desk with this innovative 6-in-1 Wireless Charger. It's easy to use with its touch buttons and Qi wireless charging for Qi-enabled devices. Beautifully made with a modern look, it can quickly charge your device and is touch-sensitive allowing you to show the digital clock. For your convenience, this charger [...]

This is what I get for praising a move by the FTC earlier this week. It repays me by pushing out a batshit crazy statement regarding AI and copyright. As we've been discussing over the past week, the Copyright Office's request for comments regarding AI and copyright has been leading to some odd comments, including [...]

Amazon is now charging Prime customers an extra $3 a month to avoid ads that didn't used to exist. Netflix is charging password sharers extra for sharing passwords, in addition to yet another looming price hike. Apple just doubled the price of Apple TV on the heels of price hikes by Disney, Hulu, and ESPN. [...]

Usually when we're talking about a trademark dispute, never mind a lawsuit, there is some level of anger, frustration, or animosity between the two parties. The reason for that is pretty obvious: nothing puts you on negative footing towards another quite like getting sued or getting threatened with a lawsuit. But, and I cannot stress [...]

We've noted many times that there are two major reasons that the U.S. still hasn't passed even a basic privacy law for the internet era or regulated data brokers. One, the U.S. government is corrupt, and has repeatedly buckled to the lobbying of multiple industries that find the current dysfunction very profitable. Two, the government [...]

Revolutionize your driving experience with this 7-inch wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto device. Seamlessly connect via Bluetooth, and take control of navigation, calls, music, and more using the intuitive touchscreen interface. Enjoy wireless AirPlay, improved sound quality, and stereo sound effects. Compatible with most vehicle models, installation is a breeze with the convenient suction [...]

Fucking finally. I've been somewhat critical of the glaring failures of this FTC, which has been something of a mess, seemingly spending more time on questionable academic theories, rather than focusing on all sorts of obvious low-hanging fruit, clearly within its authority to protect consumers. So, it was nice a few months ago to see [...]

Adding to the unearned wins racked up by cops is this decision [PDF] from the Eleventh Circuit Appeals Court. According to the court, figuring out digital stuff is just too complicated. And if it can't handle the nuances, it certainly can't expect cops to follow the constitutional rules. And who can blame it? The guidance [...]

Last week we wrote about our comments submitted to the Copyright Office's request on copyright and AI. We tried to make it clear that copyright had no place in the data that is used to train AI, and that computers simply consuming data shouldn't require any kind of special copyright protection or licensing. It's not [...]

Aging satellite TV provider Dish Network is supposed to be undergoing a major transformation from tired old satellite TV provider to streaming and wireless juggernaut, but it's... not going well. The company's latest earnings report indicates it lost another 284,000 video subscribers during the quarter. That includes a loss of 197,000 satellite TV customers, as [...]

When it comes to the big 3 of the video game industry - Nintendo, Microsoft, and Sony - the circle is now complete when it comes to integrations with ExTwitter. Late last year, Nintendo killed off parts of its own integration not just with then-Twitter, but with Facebook as well. But then ExTwitter abruptly announced [...]

A few months ago, the Marion, Kansas police department made the immediately regrettable decision to raid the office of the local paper, as well as the home of the paper's owner. According to Police Chief Gideon Cody, this was the proper thing to do. The paper's journalists were suspected of breaking state laws pertaining to [...]

We live in strange times. It used to be that you could set your watch to one simple thing: any time any government agency or policymaker had any question about whether or not we needed to expand copyright laws, Hollywood would answer with a resounding YES, ABSOLUTELY!" Over the years, copyright has expanded massively, and [...]

The First Amendment provides broad protections for journalists, not only as to what they publish, but also how they collect information. For instance, publishing leaked government documents is protected, even if the acts that provided journalists with these documents may be subject to criminal proceedings. In recent months, however, a couple of law enforcement agencies [...]

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 the Complete MATLAB Programming Master Class you'll [...]

While I often disagree with Tim Wu, I like and respect him, and always find it interesting to know what he has to say. Wu was also one of the earliest folks to give me feedback on my Protocols not Platforms paper, when he attended a roundtable at Columbia University discussing early drafts of the [...]

We just got done noting how pretty much all of the criticism of the Sprint T-Mobile merger by economists and consumer advocates wound up being true. The deal has resulted in more than 10,000+ eliminated jobs, steady price hikes, annoying new fees, a weaker T-Mobile brand, and a lower quality product overall. It also clearly [...]

It truly is amazing that the video game industry is so heavily divided on the topic of user-made game mods. I truly don't understand it. My take has always been very simple: mods are good for gamers and even better for game makers. Why? Simple, mods serve to extend the useful life of video games [...]

A few weeks ago we had a story from Glyn Moody about how some people were effectively spamming music streaming services like Spotify with functional music," tracks designed to get plays solely for the sake of royalties. Glyn, reasonably, called for an overhaul," in how these systems worked. And apparently some people were thinking similarly? [...]

In the latest chapter of my laziness writing on the crazy escapades of anti-porn Republicans for Techdirt, I wish to introduce you to Ohio state Rep. Steve Demetriou, who represents Bainbridge Township. Rep. Demetriou introduced the Innocence Act, or House Bill (HB) 295, on October 11, 2023. I wrote about the bill over at AVN.comand [...]

NSO Group used to have everything going for it. It had plenty of customers and plenty of leeway to sell to some of the worst governments in the world. Then everything changed. A leaked list of malware targets made it clear most of NSO's customers weren't trying to secure nations or solve horrible crimes. Instead, [...]

Luminar Neo Lite is an easy-to-use photo editing software with the fundamental tools you need to elevate your photography, such as tone enhancement, color & light correction, as well as several other creative AI-based tools for landscapes and portraits. You'll get the basic tools and features to remove unwanted objects, add creative enhancements, and more. [...]

A few years ago, we wrote about Joe Bernstein's absolutely fantastic long read on how we're probably all looking at the concept of disinformation wrong. As our title said, most information on disinformation is misinformation." The underlying thesis is that tons of people seem to believe that disinformation is this all powerful force that drives [...]

We've noted repeatedly how early attempts to integrate AI" into journalism have proven to be a comical mess, resulting in no shortage of shoddy product, dangerous falsehoods, and plagiarism. It's thanks in large part to the incompetent executives at many large media companies, who see AI primarily as a way to cut corners, assault unionized [...]

This week, our top comments on the insightful side both come in response to Elon Musk's plans to turn X into a financial app, and the question of whether you'd trust him with your money. In first place, it's an anonymous comment: Given how well that Elon complies with consent decrees, I suspect his compliance [...]

Five Years Ago This week in 2018, we wrote about a session of our election simulation game, Machine Learning President, that we played in Chicago. The EFF sued cops in California for refusing to hand over stingray documents, a Florida appeals court said handing over passwords is protected by the fifth amendment, and Senator Wyden [...]

This is not a fun case. It's instructional, but it involves some pretty noxious criminal behavior. And that's how these things work, usually. People who aren't facing criminal charges rarely need to challenge warrants. They never need to challenge the evidence used against them because, well, no one's using any evidence against them. (h/t FourthAmendment.com) [...]

After being discussed for years and years, the Online Safety Act in the UK is now law, after receiving royal assent" last week. Hilariously, the UK's announcement declared that children and adults will now be safer online, as if that's absolutely true. It's not, though. The law includes many provisions that will make both children [...]

These days everyone seems to be talking about AI, and the Copyright Office is no exception, although it may make sense for it to speak here because people keep trying to invoke copyright as a concept implicated by various aspects of AI, including, and perhaps especially, with regard to training" AI systems. So the Copyright [...]

The EU is currently updating eIDAS (electronic IDentification, Authentication and trust Services), an EU regulation on electronic identification and trust services for electronic transactions in the European Single Market. That's clearly a crucial piece of legislation in the digital age, and updating it is sensible given the fast pace of development in the sector. But [...]

The Chinese government has spent years placing its hands around the collective neck of its Uighur minority. For some reason, the massive government fears a small minority of Muslims and has subjected it to constant surveillance and outright oppression. The Chinese government has been assisted in these efforts by Huawei, a tech company that realizes [...]

The Complete Big Data Master Class Bundle has 9 courses to help you learn about big data. You'll start with an introduction to Python and move on to learn about Hadoop, Seaborn, Plotly, Pandas, and more. It's on sale for $30. Note: The Techdirt Deals Store is powered and curated by StackCommerce. A portion of [...]

Somehow I missed this (and I'm surprised it didn't get much attention) but last month was the 25th anniversary of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) being signed into law. I only spotted it because The Register just had an article looking back at 25 years of the DMCA. Given how central to various internet [...]

We've well established that theAT&T->Time Warner-> Warner Brothers Discovery mergers were some of the dumbest, most pointless business" exercises ever conceived, resulting in more than 50,000 layoffs, the death of popular properties like Mad Magazine, and an overall erosion of brands like HBO and CNN. Very much on brand, HBO's CEO and chairman Casey Bloys [...]

Cord-cutting, referred to as some sort of myth for many years, is now an obvious trend. And as I have personally claimed for years now, the last thread that is keeping the cable business in a state that's anything remotely like its heyday is live sports broadcasts. In the past several years, however, more and [...]

Over the past few weeks of our Error 402 series on the history of web monetization, we talked about the rise of the commercialized internet, and how it enabled transactions online, leading to the original dot com bubble around e-commerce. But, as we noted, nearly all of that was based on using the internet as [...]