Now that streaming subscriber growth has slowed, we’ve noted repeatedly how the streaming TV sector is falling into all of the bad habits that ultimately doomed traditional cable TV. That has involved chasing pointless “growth of growth’s sake” megamergers and imposing bottomless price hikes and new annoying restrictions — all while simultaneously cutting corners on […]
You know what kind of person kills animals on the regular? Psychopaths, at least according to a casual survey of pop culture references. You know who else? Cops. But I repeat myself. Laurel Matthews, a supervisory program specialist with the Department of Justice’s Community Oriented Policing Services (DOJ COPS) office, says it’s an awful lot. […]
“All animals are equal, but some are more equal than others.” I’m sure you’ll recall specifically which type of animal on George Orwell’s Animal Farm made that proclamation. In other words, we’re back to Orwellian lawmaking in this country. And not the usual kind. The 9/11 attacks in 2001 led to one sort of Orwellian […]
Correction & Retraction: The original BBC article implied that the NY Times was threatening Worldle and demanding it change its name. That now appears to be incorrect, and it simply opposed letting Worldle register its own trademark, noting that it was too close to its own Wordle. Which… is not a crazy interpretation. While the […]
Editor’s note: We’ve written a few times about NY’s “SAFE for Kids Act” and it’s many problems. There’s a decent chance that bill gets voted into law this week. Samuel Johnson posted a wonderfully detailed letter about why he, as a parent, opposes the law, and sent it to his elected officials. He also posted […]
The Complete ChatGPT Artificial Intelligence OpenAI Training Bundle has 4 beginner-friendly courses to help you become more comfortable with the capabilities of OpenAI and ChatGPT. You’ll learn how to write effective prompts to get the best results, how to create blog posts and sales copy, and how to create your own chatbots. It’s on sale […]
EU internet regulations and courts never fail to stupefy. The entire concept of “shadowbanning” has gotten distorted and changed over time. Originally, shadowbanning was a tool for dealing with trolls in certain forums. The shadowbanned trolls would see their own posts in the forums, but no one else could see them. The trolls would think […]
Back in April the Biden FCC finally got around to restoring both net neutrality rules, and the agency’s Title II authority over telecom providers. The modest rules, as we’ve covered extensively, prevent big telecom giants from abusing their monopoly and gatekeeper power to harm competitors or consumers. They also require that ISPs be transparent about […]
We recently discussed Spotify’s decision to completely brick the Car Thing products it sold to customers up until very recently. While this was a very niche product without a ton of adoption, Spotify’s decision caught my attention for two reasons. First, the company could have updated the devices it didn’t want to support any longer […]
Minnesota is the latest state to eliminate a pointless state ban on community owned and operated broadband networks ghost written by the telecom lobby. New legislation, just signed into law by Gov. Tim Walz, eliminates two statutes that sought to protect large monopoly telecommunications providers from community-based competition. Minnesota is one of 17 (now 16) […]
In the last year, the Canadian rap artist Drake has embroiled himself in several high profile controversies involving AI-generated music. The ongoing saga underscores how existing laws apply to artificial intelligence, dispelling the myth that AI, including AI music, is unregulated. In April 2023, TikTok user ghostwriter977 released “Heart on My Sleeve,” featuring AI-generated vocals […]
This is an interesting case with some very serious implications. For the most part, anything discarded by a suspect fleeing from law enforcement officers can be searched or seized without a warrant. For years, this wasn’t necessarily a problem. The stuff discarded ranged from bags containing “substances” to wallets to the occasional backpack. The intrusion […]
When I posted my defense of the Supreme Court’s 303 Creative decision, a common criticism was that the principle the decision vindicated was likely to only be upheld in situations where discriminatory social values were being advanced and not situations where it was inclusive ones. While I don’t think that’s a reason to criticize the […]
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 […]
It’s a running joke here at Techdirt that many elected officials in charge of copyright policy seem wholly ignorant of the subject. But sometimes, it’s still shocking when people who should definitely know better brazenly parade their cluelessness. Enter Jerry Nadler, the highest-ranking Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, and a man who has been […]
Fifth-generation wireless (5G) was supposed to change the world. According to wireless carriers and gear makers, not only was it supposed to bring about the “fourth industrial revolution,” it was supposed to usher forth amazing new smart cities and help with cancer treatment. Wireless giants routinely portrayed a world full of 5G powered robots giving tattoos or […]
The Wild West we all imagine contains two forms of law: the brave people who’ve decided to be sheriffs. And the vigilantes who perform frontier justice when not cashing in bounties while ignoring the enshrined civil rights (the Constitution came out ahead of the Wild West, non-American folks) of the people they beat, tortured, threatened, […]
Depending on just how often you use Google News, you may have noticed that Google News was down recently. Down hard. No, it wasn’t just you; Google News suffered a pretty sizable outage this morning, impacting the service on desktop and mobile. Impacted users took to Downdetector and social media to note the issues and that no stories were […]
At the latest committee hearing about its repeal bill, Congress finally deigned to bring in one witness who spoke in defense of Section 230. Engine Executive Director Kate Tummarello got a little bit of time to explain how Section 230 isn’t about protecting big tech, it’s about protecting the hosts and users of all kinds […]
This was entirely predictable, but it’s still worth calling out. Donald Trump, who started the whole “we should ban TikTok” idea before changing his mind as soon as Joe Biden decided it was a good idea (and a billionaire Trump backer who also was heavily invested in TikTok gave Trump a call), is now joining […]
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