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Unity Drops Its Controversial Per-Install Pricing Plan Entirely

4 hours 50 minutes ago
It was almost exactly a year ago to the day that Unity updated its pricing program for its game engine in a way that seemed perfectly designed to piss everyone off. Whereas Unity was once a subscription-based game engine, rather than one which collected royalties, suddenly Unity went in the opposite direction, with per-install fees […]
Dark Helmet

Heritage Foundation Admits KOSA Will Be Useful For Removing Pro-Abortion Content… If Trump Wins

11 hours 35 minutes ago
It’s no secret that Trump-administration-in-waiting at the Heritage Foundation supports KOSA because it thinks it will be useful in achieving some of the most extreme goals of Project 2025, a project Heritage created. Last year they came out and said that they supported KOSA because “keeping trans content away from children is protecting kids.” With […]
Mike Masnick

Australia’s Security Chief Says It’s Time To Start Forcing Companies To Break Chat Room Encryption

13 hours 19 minutes ago
More than a half-decade ago, the Australian government gave itself more powers. These new powers allowed the government to compel decryption — something far easier said than done, especially if existing encryption was expected to still protect everyone else but the government’s targets. Shortly after the law was passed, Australia’s federal law enforcement and national […]
Tim Cushing

Daily Deal: The 2024 Graphic Design for Beginners Bundle

13 hours 24 minutes ago
The 2024 Graphic Design for Beginners Bundle has 4 courses to help you learn about graphic design. Courses cover working with Adobe Illustrator, using your iPhone for filming, and starting your own graphic design business. It’s on sale for $30. Note: The Techdirt Deals Store is powered and curated by StackCommerce. A portion of all […]
Gretchen Heckmann

Americans Consumed 100 Trillion Megabytes Of Wireless Data Last Year (And Paid Too Much For It)

19 hours 2 minutes ago
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’s 2024 Annual Wireless Industry Survey found last year saw the biggest single-year increase in wireless data usage ever recorded: 36% more data consumed than in 2022 — and almost double […]
Karl Bode

Funniest/Most Insightful Comments Of The Week At Techdirt

1 day 12 hours ago
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 […]
Leigh Beadon

This Week In Techdirt History: September 14th – 21st

2 days 12 hours ago
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 […]
Leigh Beadon

Ctrl-Alt-Speech: Blunder From Down Under

3 days 9 hours ago
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, 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 […]
Leigh Beadon

School Monitoring Software Sacrifices Student Privacy For Unproven Promises Of Safety

3 days 11 hours ago
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 as Gaggle and GoGuardian on students’ school-issued machines […]
Mike Masnick

‘Patriot Reporter’ Latest Conspiracy Theorist To Discover It’s Not Libel If It’s The Truth

3 days 13 hours ago
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 […]
Tim Cushing

Daily Deal: 6-in-1 Wireless Charger Stand with Time Clock And Alarm

3 days 13 hours ago
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 […]
Gretchen Heckmann

Cable TV In Free Fall As Industry Loses Another 1.62 Million Viewers

3 days 18 hours ago
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 […]
Karl Bode

Warner Bros. Copyright Striking Reactions To The ‘Minecraft’ Movie Trailer

4 days 3 hours ago
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 […]
Dark Helmet

California Politicians Embarrass Themselves By Calling For ‘Warning Labels’ On Social Media

4 days 11 hours ago
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 […]
Mike Masnick