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Techdirt Podcast Episode 373: Could Engineer Licensing Make AI Safer?

1 year 5 months ago
There’s plenty of discussion right now about what approach, regulatory or otherwise, could rein in the potential harms of AI systems. This week, we’re joined by professor and researcher Chinmayi Sharma to discuss her brand new article that offers an interesting idea: professionalizing the AI field with engineer licensing and a malpractice standard. Follow the […]
Leigh Beadon

Things That Make No Sense: Epic Lost Its Fight Over Apple’s Closed iOS Platform, But Won It Over Google’s More Open Android Platform

1 year 5 months ago
When Epic went after both Apple and Google a few years ago with antitrust claims regarding the need to go through their app stores to get on phones, we noted that it seemed more like negotiation-by-lawsuit. Both Apple and Google have cut some deals with larger companies to lower the 30% cut the companies take […]
Mike Masnick

UK Commissioner Who Pushed Controversial Facewatch Tech Leaves Post To… Work For Facewatch

1 year 5 months ago
Call it “regulatory capture.” Call it “the revolving door.” Just don’t call it acceptable. At best, moves like this give an appearance of impropriety. At best, that’s what they do. At worst, they look like what they almost always are: government officials moving directly to the positions within the industry they just recently regulated, carrying […]
Tim Cushing

Daily Deal: Ninja Dragon Blade K 4K Drone

1 year 5 months ago
The Ninja Dragon Blade K is equipped with cutting-edge technology that ensures a smooth and stable flight experience. With its 4-way anti-collision system, you can confidently navigate through any obstacle in your path. The optical flow sensor enables precise hovering and accurate positioning, making it easier than ever to capture stunning aerial shots. Designed with […]
Gretchen Heckmann

The ‘Race to 5G’ Wound Up Being More Of A Hobbled Waddle To Nowhere

1 year 5 months ago
We’ve noted for years how the “race to 5G” was largely just hype by telecoms and hardware vendors eager to sell more gear and justify high U.S. mobile data prices. While 5G does provide faster, more resilient, and lower latency networks, it’s more of a modest evolution than a revolution. But that’s not what telecom giants […]
Karl Bode

For Some Reason, LA Drug Cops Received Intelligence, Training On ‘Muslim Extremists’ From The Israeli Military

1 year 5 months ago
A few years ago, hacktivist group Anonymous liberated a ton of documents from law enforcement agencies all over the world. These were published by transparency activists DDoS (Distributed Denial of Secrets). Journalists and other activists continue to dive into this 269 gigabyte treasure trove, teasing out additional information law enforcement agencies certainly wish was still […]
Tim Cushing

How the Grinch’s Intellectual Property Stole Christmas

1 year 5 months ago
The estate of Dr. Seuss is obviously no stranger to playing the intellectual property maximalist, having appeared on our pages many times in the past. But more specifically for this post, the estate has also, ironically enough, been more than happy to stomp on the Christmas joy of others in favor of jealously guarding its […]
Dark Helmet

Google Promises Unlimited Cloud Storage; Then Cancels Plan; Then Tells Journalist His Life’s Work Will Be Deleted Without Enough Time To Transfer The Data

1 year 5 months ago
Over a decade ago, I pointed out that as Google kept trying to worm its way deeper into our lives, a key Achilles’ heel was its basically non-existent customer service and unwillingness to ever engage constructively with users the company fucks over. At the time, I dubbed it Google’s “big, faceless, white monolith” problem, because […]
Mike Masnick

Josh Hawley Back To Try To Hotline His Awful AI/Section 230 Bill

1 year 5 months ago
Last week, we wrote about the potential for Senator Josh Hawley to “hotline” the bill that he put together with Senator Richard Blumenthal to remove Section 230 from anything touching artificial intelligence. As we noted at the time, even if you hate both generative AI technology and Section 230, the bill was so poorly drafted […]
Mike Masnick

Daily Deal: TexTalky AI Text-to-Speech

1 year 5 months ago
Turn any text or script into a lifelike natural human voice in easy 3 steps using Textalky, a powerful AI text-to-speech synthesizer. No robotic voices. TexTalky uses the latest cloud-based AI technology powered by Google, IBM, Microsoft, and Amazon. It covers more than 140 international languages and dialects, and over 900 kinds of lifelike human […]
Gretchen Heckmann

The Telecom Industry Is Very Mad Because The FCC MIGHT Examine High Broadband Prices

1 year 5 months ago
We’ve long noted how the FCC (regardless of party) largely ignores how muted competition and monopolization drives up prices for consumers. The agency often talks a good (if ambiguous) game about “bridging the digital divide,” but they don’t collect and share pricing data proving market failure, nor are they capable of admitting monopolies exist and […]
Karl Bode

Letter From Sen. Wyden To The DOJ Says Governments Are Gathering Push Notification Data From Google, Apple

1 year 5 months ago
If nothing else, Senator Ron Wyden is keeping us on top of the surveillance curve. The privacy-focused senator has asked more uncomfortable questions of more federal agencies than anyone since the Church Committee. Sometimes it’s new stuff. Sometimes it’s stuff that’s been around for years, but no one bothered to question it until Wyden. Sometimes […]
Tim Cushing

Apple’s Nonsensical Attack On Beeper For Making Apple’s Own Users Safer

1 year 5 months ago
Apple has spent the past few years pushing the marketing message that it, alone among the big tech companies, is dedicated to your privacy. This has always been something of an exaggeration, but certainly less of Apple’s business is based around making use of your data, and the company has built in some useful encryption […]
Mike Masnick