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The wireless industry's major trade association (CTIA) just released a new study indicating that Americans consumed more than 100 trillion megabytes of wireless data last year. CTIA's2024 Annual Wireless Industry Surveyfound last year saw the biggest single-year increase in wireless data usage ever recorded: 36% more data consumed than in 2022 - and almost double [...]

This week, our first place winner on the insightful side is Mithras with a comment about the Patriot Reporter" and his claims about his wealth: $5 million a month... But he needs a sideline as a realtor? That's really making me doubt the $5 million a month. In second place, it's That One Guy with [...]

Five Years Ago This week in 2019, an appeals court issued a worrying ruling about handing IP addresses to the FBI, while the DOJ was trying to get Apple and Google to hand over names and phone numbers of 10,000 app users. A better appeals court ruling also arrived, saying that the CFAA can't be [...]

Here we go again. For those of us that view video games as a vital and still emerging form of culture and art, one of the more frustrating aspects of the industry is how music is licensed for game soundtracks and how that licensing complicates games as they age. For instance, we saw this play [...]

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 [...]

Imagine your search terms, key-strokes, private chats and photographs are being monitored every time they are sent. Millions of students across the country don't have to imagine this deep surveillance of their most private communications: it's a reality that comes with their school districts' decision to install AI-powered monitoring software such asGaggleandGoGuardianon students' school-issued machines [...]

It's hardly surprising that someone who makes a living trafficking in things other than facts would have trouble recognizing facts when they're applied to him. That's the case here with Philip Godlewski - a self-proclaimed patriot reporter" and QAnon conspiracy theorist. (h/t Volokh Conspiracy) According to claims made in court, Godlewski is one of the [...]

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. This charger comes with an [...]

I recognize why some parents are worried about screen time and the use of technology in the classroom. But isn't the better idea to teach kids how to use it properly, rather than banning it altogether? Lately, there have been a bunch of stories about banning mobile phones in schools. Both California and New York [...]

It seems like only yesterday that cable TV executives - and the analysts poised to prop up their narratives to boost stock valuations - were busy insisting that the cord cutting" trend was a fiction" that would abate any moment now. It was the kind of thinking that helped justify their inability to adapt to [...]

Of all the ways that content creators use copyright to strike down content, one of the most befuddling is when trailers are the subject of copyright strikes. There is occasionally some logic to these sorts of strikes. Trailers that are unfinished, for instance. But even when trailers leak early in a finished state, copyright holders [...]

When it comes to the Supreme Court-created (and diluted) qualified immunity doctrine, the Ninth Circuit leads the league in rejections. The Fifth Circuit is its polar opposite, more willing to forgive cops than uphold civil rights. This case would have been dead on arrival in the Fifth. But since it landed in the Ninth, the [...]

Can we add a warning label to the First Amendment that says Actually reading this can cause extreme embarrassment to grandstanding politicians"? California Attorney General, Rob Bonta, has just lost two separate cases in the Ninth Circuit regarding social media laws he strongly supported, which the court said violated the First Amendment. You would think [...]

You would think this is a done deal, but it isn't. It just keeps getting stupider. Last year, journalist Ben Camacho filed a public records request for photos of all active Los Angeles PD officers. After a couple of rounds of litigation, the city agreed to release the sought records. Camacho shared these with the [...]

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Two weeks ago, Mark Zuckerberg apologized for something he didn't actually do to appease a bad faith actor demanding he take responsibility for something that didn't happen. This week, he's claiming that he's done falsely apologizing to bad faith actors demanding accountability for things he's not responsible for. Pardon me, but I think I'll wait [...]

The ink is barely dry on Verizon's $20 billion proposed acquisition of Frontier, but industry analysts - ever excited to boost stock valuations via speculation - are already pushing for greater consolidation in the very broken U.S. telecom industry. Telecom industry trade magazines are all frothy at the potential for even more mergers, including a [...]

More than a decade ago, the NYPD was sued successfully over its stop-and-frisk program. A federal court found the program routinely violated rights and disproportionately targeted minorities. Judge Shira Sheindlin ordered a number of reforms to the program and it was placed under federal oversight. Since then, the NYPD hasn't changed much about how it [...]

Last month, we discussed the internet's reaction to Donald Trump, well, Donald Trumping all over social media. He shared several images on social media, some of which were real, some of which were parody, and some of which were AI generated images, all of which appeared to suggest that Taylor Swift had endorsed him. In [...]

If you think qualified immunity is awarded far too frequently during far too many cases involving obvious rights violations, brace yourself for the harrowing insanity that is the wreckage that has been made of Supreme Court's Bivens decision. That case involved rights violations by federal officers against Webster Bivens. The Supreme Court found in favor [...]

In the last month, I wrote about two of Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s bullshit crazy lawsuits over him being very, very mad that social media companies keep moderating or limiting the spread of his dangerous bullshit anti-vax nonsense. In one, the Ninth Circuit had to explain (not for the first time) to RFK and his [...]

The Fraternal Order of Police isn't here to protect cops from anything but accountability. It doesn't actually care about the rank-and-file, not when it can leverage its power to secure even more power. It doesn't care about law and order, despite being the definitive figurehead of that ideal. No, the FOP is - and has [...]

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 [...]

Over the last few years, politicians in Utah have been itching to pass terrible internet legislation. Some of you may forget that in the earlier part of the century, Utah became somewhat famous for passing absolutely terrible internet laws that the courts then had to clean up. In the last few years, it's felt like [...]

Over the next six months, states are poised to receive more than $42.5 billion in taxpayer subsidies to help fund broadband rollouts around the country. A lot of this money is getting dumped into the laps of big telecom monopolies with a lousy track record of follow through. But a lot of it is also [...]

Performers and ordinary humans are increasingly concerned that they may be replaced or defamed by AI-generated imitations. We're seeing a host of bills designed to address that concern - but every one just generates new problems. Case in point: the NO FAKES Act. We flagged numerous flaws in a discussion draft"back in April, to no [...]

Earlier this year, we wrote about how Judge Kevin Newsom, on the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals, had explored how ChatGPT might actually be useful for a particularly narrow use in a court. Specifically, in judging whether or not the ordinary meaning" of a phrase matched with what a party in the court argued was [...]

Well, here's even more ugliness from America's penis. The state of Florida - currently presided over by a bootlicker wearing boot lifts - has decided the best way to protect its war on women is to harass and intimidate residents who support reproductive rights. Florida is reportedly sending police officers to the homes of people [...]

The Cybersecurity Projects Bundle offers a hands-on program featuring five real-world cybersecurity projects, totaling 35 tasks. Participants start with an introductory video for each project, detailing objectives and requirements, followed by task completion that mirrors real cybersecurity challenges. Support from industry professionals ensures personalized feedback and guidance. Upon completing the program, participants gain practical experience, [...]

Over the last few years, it's felt like the age verification debate has gotten progressively stupider. People keep insisting that it must be necessary, and when others point out that there are serious privacy and security concerns that will likely make things worse, not better, we're told that we have to do it anyway. Let's [...]

The most powerful entity in New York City isn't the Mayor. Or City Hall. It has always been the NYPD, which has never been overseen by anyone who could remotely be considered capable, much less willing, to hold the department accountable, at least not in my lifetime. The chain of succession at City Hall over [...]

Well, well, well. Is the Fifth Circuit finally going to start redeeming itself? Just recently, the Fifth Circuit Appeals Court bucked the appellate trend (well, what there was of it...) by declaring geofence warrants unconstitutional. That ran counter to the expectations of this court, which has often chosen to treat the Constitution as a set [...]

Regular readers here will know we are no strangers to talking about Dungeons & Dragons or moral panics. Those two topics are often interrelated, given the moral panic history of the tabletop game itself, as well as how it should inform us in our reaction to more modern moral panics. After all, where once some [...]

We live in a world where there are often both analog and digital versions of a product. For example, we can buy books or ebooks, and choose to listen to music on vinyl or via streaming services. The fact that digital goods can be copied endlessly and perfectly, while analog ones can't, has led some [...]

Link taxes are bad, m'kay? They harm the public. They harm the open internet. And they harm the news orgs themselves. There is no reason to support them at all. But, many (thankfully not all!) media organizations and politicians love them. Media orgs like them because they think it will bring them free money (though, [...]

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 [...]

The Chinese government wants the money that flows through Hong Kong. It has no desire to put up with the freedom and democracy Hong Kong has enjoyed since being freed of its colonialist overlords. The UK government exited Hong Kong only to see the Chinese government replace it as the new colonialists. The Chinese government [...]

We've noted for years how you no longer really own the things you buy. Whether it's smart home hardware that becomesuseless paperweightswhen the manufacturer implodes, or post-purchase firmware updates that activelymake your device less useful, you simply never know if the product you bought yesterday will be the same product tomorrow. Now a coalition of [...]

This week, both our winning comments on the insightful side come in response to the Second Circuit's ruling against the Internet Archive. In first place, it's MrWilson with some thoughts on libraries: The vast majority of authors face an issue with obscurity in the vast sea of available works that is the book market. Libraries [...]

Five Years Ago This week in 2019, Apple bowed to some pressure from the right to repair movement, while Sony was continuing to battle with Vita tinkerers despite the device being discontinued. The EU copyright industry was continuing to demonize internet companies while we looked at how Section 230 enabled Pinterest's content moderation efforts, and [...]

I absolutely hate it when I have to write yet another trademark bullying works" post. For the better part of a decade now, we have been writing about disputes between the Ravinia Festival Association, which operates the large outdoor concert venue and eatery north of Chicago, and Ravinia Brewing, a brewery based out of the [...]

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 [...]

Elon Musk's Twitter takeover was supposed to be a slam dunk. It was famously revealed during his legal fight to get out of the deal that Elon was getting overwhelmed with people texting him, willing to casually offer hundreds of millions, or even billions of dollars, in support of his takeover. But some of them [...]

The FBI keeps telling anyone who will listen that it wants more responsibilities. Despite having failed to end organized crime or to even slightly diminish the power of international drug cartels, the FBI is always asking for more to do, especially if it means more funding and surveillance powers. It set itself up to be [...]

The Six Sigma Green and Yellow Belt Training Bundle has 2 courses to help you learn the ins and outs of Six Sigma. Six Sigma is a detail-orientated crafted set of tools and techniques that help improve processes within an organization. You will receive an introduction to the tools and methods that are necessary to [...]

Everything's bigger in Texas, including the legislature's willingness to pass laws that clearly violate the First Amendment rights of websites. In the last three years, this is now the third law directed at website moderation practices to be thrown out by a district court as an unconstitutional violation of the First Amendment. You'd think maybe [...]

Tell me if you've heard this one before: a major U.S. regional telecom monopoly is looking to buy another major U.S. regional telecom monopoly in a massive transaction that both companies insist holds vast benefits for American consumers. This time it's Verizon stating it intends to purchase Frontier in a massive $20 billion deal that [...]

As we've covered the era of cord-cutting from traditional cable television packages and the rise of streaming platforms, one of the areas I have focused on is the world of live sports. And in the world of sports, the NFL is king. If you were to look up the most viewed broadcasts on any given [...]

Over the past year, two dozen AI-related lawsuits and their myriad infringement claims have been winding their way through the court system. None have yet reached a jury trial. While we all anxiously await court rulings that can inform our future interaction with generative AI models, in the past few weeks we have suddenly been [...]

You might recall how Gannett, which owns USAToday (and probably the half-assed remains of whatever's left of your town's local newspaper), spent much of last year mired in a major AI" scandal. Company executives apparently thought it would be a good idea to use half-cooked automation to create fake journalists and lazy clickbait without telling [...]