Techdirt

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, Amazon Music, YouTube, or your podcast app of choice - or go straight to the RSS feed. In this week's online speech, content moderation and internet regulation [...]

They called themselves the Goon Squad." Six Mississippi deputies bestowed this name upon themselves, perhaps hoping to invoke the more violent era of the National Hockey League - an era overseen by enforcers" fueled by cocaine and testosterone who gave the home crowd what they wanted: blood on the ice in return for any perceived [...]

In January 2022, 77-year-old Ruby Johnson's house was raided by the Denver Police Department. Supposedly seeking a stolen vehicle and several guns, the SWAT team descended on Johnson's house. The officers ordered anyone inside to come out of the house. Johnson complied, but that didn't stop the SWAT team from attempting to destroy her house [...]

The Python and Django Web Development Bundle has 7 courses to help you learn how to build your own sites and apps. Courses cover the basics of Django and Python and then build upon those skills by having you create your own to do list app and user authentication app, and more. It's on sale [...]

Can you imagine what kind of world we'd live in if you could blame random media companies for tangential relationships they had with anyone who ever did anything bad? What would happen if we could blame newspapers for inspiring crime? Or television shows for inspiring terrorism? The world would be a much duller place. We've [...]

For decades, U.S. cable and broadband giants have advertised one price, then socked consumers with a much higher price once the bill actually arrives. This is usually accomplished via a bevy of bullshit below the line fees specifically built for the purpose. Like regulatory recovery fees," which ambiguously blame government for prices hikes due to [...]

The Devil, as they say, is in the details. It's a lesson that Warner Bros. apparently just recently had to learn after it poked the Australian Football League over its latest addition to the league, from the isle of Tasmania. You have probably already guessed where this is going. The AFL announced recently that the [...]

This took way too long, but it appears that Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts and the Judicial Conference have finally decided to crack down on the serious problem of judicial shopping in the federal courts. They've set a new policy that will hopefully result in a more random allocation of cases to judges. Jurisdiction [...]

With KOSA passed, the information i can access as a minor will be limited and censored, under the guise of protecting me", which is the responsibility of my parents, NOT the government. I have learned so much about the world and about myself through social media, and without the diverse world i have seen, i [...]

The UK government spent months trying to pass a bill named the Online Harms Act." As opposition mounted - mainly over the many ways the bill would undermine encryption - the UK government decided to rebrand the bill as the kinder sounding Online Safety Act." Who could be against Safety"? It seemed a bit too [...]

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 [...]

I wrote a long post on Monday about the oral arguments in the Murthy v. Missouri case. I highlighted how skeptical most of the Justices seemed regarding the arguments from the states, especially given the extensive problems in the record, which multiple Justices picked up on. Most other legal expert commentators came to a similar [...]

Right to repair" reform (making it easier and more affordable to repair things you buy) is extremely popular among consumers across both sides of the aisle. It's obviously less popular among automakers, tractor builders, tech companies, and other corporations looking to monopolize repair and boost revenues by crushing independent repair shops under their bootheel. Said [...]

The war on video game mods that involve Pokemon continues! I can't say for sure that the Pokemon Company's renewed focus on taking down anything relating to these mods for 3rd party video games was kickstarted by the release of Palworld, sometimes pitched as Pokemon with guns", and a mod for the game that put [...]

The laziest court in the land has again decided it's not worth its time to undo another horrible decision issued by an appellate court that far too often feels the Fifth (Circuit) is superior to the First (Amendment). The nation's top court seems more motivated to take cases if it can curtail long-held rights. When [...]

Remember Richard Liebowitz? The lawyer who was not very good at his job but really dove deep into the world of copyright trolling? He was suspended from practicing law a few years ago, but now he's finally been officially disbarred. There are many, many Liebowitz stories out there. It's hard to beat the time he [...]

US Private Vaults is a private company, in multiple senses of the word. Despite the use of the acronym US," US Private Vaults is not a government entity. The service it offers aligns roughly with storage services federally insured banks offer: a secure place to hold valuables that is only accessible by those who have [...]

The Complete Cisco Training Bundle has 6 courses to help you get ready to become certified. Courses cover al you need to know as a CCNA, CCEA, and more. It's on sale for $40. Note: The Techdirt Deals Store is powered and curated by StackCommerce. A portion of all sales from Techdirt Deals helps support [...]

We've been covering many stories about a potential TikTok ban, including how unconstitutional it clearly is, how pointless it clearly is, and how even those who back it don't seem to have a good explanation of why, beyond some vague handwaving about China." But, there's one thing that hasn't received nearly as much attention: people [...]

For decades, the FCC has maintained an arguably pathetic definition of broadband," allowing the telecom industry to under-deliver substandard access. After some industry lobbying to ensure it wasn't too stringent, the agency is finally getting around to an update, and has announced that they'll soon classify broadband" as anything faster than 100 Mbps downstream, 20 [...]

Officers who handle drug dogs like to claim they're so highly skilled at animal handling they can recognize otherwise imperceptible moves by their animals as the dog alerting," giving them (and, more literally) their animals free rein to perform warrantless searches of vehicles. But when these arguments fail, and it's apparent a K-9 cop just [...]

Italy's newly-installedPiracy Shieldsystem, put in place by the country's national telecoms regulator, Autorita per le Garanzie nelle Comunicazioni (Authority for Communications Guarantees, AGCOM), is already failing in significant ways. One issuebecame evident in February, when the VPN provider AirVPN announced that it would no longer accept users resident in Italy because of the burdensome" requirements [...]

The U.S. is a global leader in traffic-related fatalities, with athirty-percent jump in the last decade. That's in contrast toevery other developed country, which saw a decline. So, of course, it's a perfect time to flood American highways with a parade of extremely heavy EVs with unprecedented acceleration. Some of which areextremely pointyand feature half-cooked [...]

With strong bipartisan support, the U.S. Housevoted 352 to 65to pass HR 7521 last week, a bill that wouldban TikTok nationwideif its Chinese owner doesn't sell the popular video app. The TikTok bill's future in the U.S. Senate isn't yet clear, but President Joe Biden has said he would sign it into law if it [...]

A lot of police work in the United States is just playing the odds. Roll the dice enough times, and you're sure to come up a winner now and then. The odds really don't matter because law enforcement agencies are playing with house money, so being wrong time and time again will never bankrupt them. [...]

MagStack is the perfect on-the-go wireless charging station that also transforms into a phone stand for FaceTime or video playback while charging. This 3-in-1 foldable design featuring 3 wireless charging spots, enables charging for up to 3 devices simultaneously, including iPhone, Apple Watch, AirPods Pro, AirPods with Wireless Charging Case, other Qi-compatible Android phones, and [...]

We already covered the oral arguments in the Murthy v. Missouri case earlier this week, showing that the Supreme Court appears to be quite skeptical of the arguments by the states regarding the federal government jawboning" to convince social media to take down certain content. For months now, we've been pointing out that the factual [...]

Last week the New York Times published a story confirming what everybody assumed was already happening. Automakers collect reams of personal behavior, phone, and other data (without making it clear to consumers) then sell it to a long list of companies. Including insurance companies, who are now jacking up insurance rates if they see behavior [...]

Here we go again. Monster Energy is one of the most prolific trademark bullies in the history of trademark bullying. And the really frustrating part of all this is that at times it can feel like Monster makes trademark bullying a chief international export every bit as much as energy drinks. No trademark concern is [...]

With the standard caveat that reading too much into oral arguments is dangerous, I will note that I am cautiously optimistic after listening to the oral arguments in the Murthy v. Missouri case at the Supreme Court this morning. There are very real concerns about where the line is between government coercion (not allowed) and [...]

Both troubled teens and government agencies are asking, How thin is thin enough?" The teens are thinking about how thin they want to look, while the government is thinking about what's too thin to post online. The refrain is always the same: the platforms need to do more-never mind the difficult details. Platforms need to [...]

The Freedom of Information Act does its best to free information, but it can only do so much when the same government that's supposed to follow it figures it shouldn't abide by a law another branch crafted. Simple refusals are never welcome, but at least they say something: that the government does have these documents. [...]

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 know that line, every accusation is a confession?" For no reason at all, that's coming to mind all of a sudden. No reason. Anyway, a decade ago, Henry Farrell and Martha Finnemore wrote a fantastic piece for Foreign Affairs on The End of Hypocrisy" (which we also wrote about here at Techdirt). They argued [...]

For decades, U.S. broadband providers have struck cozy deals with landlords effectively elbowing out competitors and allowing them to create building-by-building broadband monopolies. That stifled competition results in higher costs, slow speeds, and worse overall service. And while the FCC passed rules in 2007 trying to ban the practice, they were so full of loopholes [...]

This week, our first place winner on the insightful side is Pixelation with a comment about banning TikTok: Banning TikTok will open the door to the real threat, government control of communication platforms. I would say it's a republican wet dream, but it's also a democrat one as well. In second place, it's That One [...]

It's time for another entry in our series of spotlight posts looking at the winners of the sixth annual public domain game jam, Gaming Like It's 1928! We've already featured Best Visuals winner Flight from Podunk Station and Best Adaptation winner Mickey Party, and today we're taking a closer look at the winner of Best [...]

We haven't talked a great deal about SXSW in some time, but they are back in the news and not for good reasons! The conference and festival kicked off in March as planned, but less planned were the protests that organized against the conference as a result of its affiliations with defense contractors and the [...]

A gentleman's agreement with the UK following years of colonialism has given rise to another form of oppression. China took over Hong Kong in 1997, promising to stay out of the day-to-day business of governing Hong Kong for 50 years. Not even halfway through this promised period of relative autonomy, the Chinese government began imposing [...]

Ctrl-Alt-Speech is a weekly podcast about the latest news in online speech, from Mike Masnick and Everything in Moderation's Ben Whitelaw. Subscribe now on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, YouTube, or your podcast app of choice. In this week's round-up of news about online speech, content moderation and internet regulation, Mike and Ben cover: The [...]

On Monday, the Supreme Court will be hearing the Murthy v. Missouri case, which we've been following for ages. As we've pointed out repeatedly, the record on the case is full of blatant falsehoods. If the US government was actually doing everything that the lawsuit (and some judges!) claims it did, I would be in [...]

What a day. Texas is now the most populated U.S. state to be geo-blocked by Aylo, the parent company of the popular adult tube site Pornhub.com. With a population of barely over 29.5 million people, residents of the Lone Star State must use a VPN to view porn on Aylo's network of free and premium [...]

The Complete Python Programmer Bundle has nine courses to help you learn more about programming. This bundle starts with fundamental Python functionality such as arithmetic, conditional statements, and working with basic data structures. It then expands upon your working knowledge of data structures to work with full-blown datasets in the Pandas package. You'll learn all [...]

Last month, we wrote about Nevada's Attorney General filing an absolutely preposterous, but extremely dangerous, legal filing, demanding that a court bar Meta from offering end-to-end encryption for its messaging apps. Almost everything about this request was crazy. First, Nevada sued Meta, with vague, unsubstantiated claims of harm to children," and then it filed a [...]

As you probably noticed, the House just passed the controversial ban on TikTok, with 352 Representatives in favor, and 65 opposed. The bill is now likely to be slow-walked to the Senate where its chance of passing is murky, but possible. Biden (which has been using the purportedly dangerous national security threat" to campaign with) [...]

It's been a long and incredibly frustrating road to get here, but the IRS' free Direct File pilot program is now live this tax season in 12 states. We have had a list of posts we have done on the topic of tax filings, most of which revolve around Intuit and some other tax-prep organizations' [...]

While countless lawmakers looking to get on cable TV spent much of the last few years freaking out about TikTok privacy issues, none of those same folks seem bothered by the parade of nasty vulnerabilities in the nation's telecom networks. Hackers are still happily exploiting the SS7 flaw that lets governments and bad actorsspy on [...]

Last year, we wrote about a very silly lawsuit that some big music publishers had filed against ExTwitter, making some silly claims about how copyright law works. It basically ignored the existence of the DMCA, which was designed to prevent lawsuits like this one, where there is some infringement happening on the platform, but no [...]

As the debate over Section 702 continues, more weird stuff keeps happening. For once, there's serious opposition to a clean renewal, and it's coming from both sides of the legislature. Then there are things like this, which is one of the stranger incidents to accompany a surveillance fight, as reported by Dell Cameron for Wired. [...]

The Ultimate Python and Artificial Intelligence Bundle has 9 courses to help you take your Python and AI knowledge to the next level. You'll learn about data pre-processing and visualization, artificial neural networks, how to use the Keras framework, and more. It's on sale for $40. Note: The Techdirt Deals Store is powered and curated [...]