So, the fact that Microsoft would be taking the next game in the Elder Scrolls series, the 6th game, to Xbox and PC exclusively isn’t the world’s biggest surprise. Xbox chief Phil Spencer made waves back in 2021 (before all the drama surrounding Microsoft’s future acquisition of Activision Blizzard) noting that he saw advantages to […]
As has been noted here before, it’s often the worst people that generate the best case law. People staring down the barrel of several years in prison are extremely motivated to find any reason to have the evidence against them dismissed. People not faced with the same reality rarely find a reason to trouble the […]
We’ve got a slightly unusual (at first glace) crosspost episode for you this week! Recently, Mike joined Dave Cooper, CEO and Founder of brand protection agency IPSecure, on the company’s Owning The Buy Box podcast. As you probably know, we’re pretty skeptical of brand protection companies here at Techdirt, but Dave has a history of […]
So, remember when Elon first announced his plans to buy Twitter, and he claimed that it was “the de facto town square” and his top priority was to eliminate spam and scam bots? “A top priority I would have is eliminating the spam and scam bots and the bot armies that are on Twitter. They […]
Last week Techdirt wrote about an important development in the long-running saga of the UK’s Online Safety Act, which has just become law. The UK government said at that time it would not use controversial powers in the new law to break end-to-end encryption until it was “technically feasible” to do so while preserving users’ […]
Linux is the most fundamental technology required by all real developers. It is required in almost all fields of Software engineering. DevOps, Cloud, Full Stack, and App developers must have a working knowledge of Linux. With five comprehensive modules and over 40 Linux technologies covered, the 2023 Complete Linux Training Bundle offers a detailed program […]
Some good news! Federal Judge Beth Labson Freeman has recognized what some of us have been screaming about for over a year now: California’s Age Appropriate Design Code (AB 2273) is an unconstitutional mess that infringes on the 1st Amendment. We can add this to the pile of terrible moral panic “protect the children!” laws […]
We’ve noted a few times now how the 2021 infrastructure bill includes more than $42.5 billion to shore up broadband access. And while a huge chunk of that money will absolutely be going to giant telecom monopolies with a long history of subsidy fraud, a lot of the funding is genuinely going to help fund […]
The world of the cosmetics industry is no stranger to trademark disputes. Without really diving in, I can think of several reasons why this would be. It is a saturated market in which both very large and much smaller companies play. It’s an industry which produces products that basically beg for descriptive product names and […]
Wayne County, Michigan cops and prosecutors love seizing property. According to law enforcement, seizing cash and cars from people (while often not charging them with crimes) is the best way to break up criminal organizations and disrupt the illegal drug market. What’s left unexplained is how Wayne County’s forfeiture program does anything more than make […]
For many, many years we’ve detailed how big pharma companies, who only care about the monopoly rents they can receive on medicine while under patent, have concocted all sorts of scams and schemes to avoid having to compete with generic versions, even after their patents have expired (or been invalidated). But one of their older […]
You hate to see it. But you know it’s always there. And it’s not even hidden below the surface. It’s right there on top: the disdain expressed by law enforcement officers for the people they’re supposed to be serving. If you believe the people you swore to serve and protect are worth less than the […]
I don’t think I’ve ever had a story sent in to me more than Bill Willingham’s Substack/press release announcing that he was putting the Fables comic book property into the public domain, as part of a dispute he’s having with DC Comics. As of now, 15 September 2023, the comic book property called Fables, including […]
Designed for the world of hybrid work, Windows 11 can help you work more simply and seamlessly from anywhere. Windows 11 Pro also includes a number of productivity-focused features, such as the ability to snap multiple windows together and create custom layouts, improved voice typing, and a new, more powerful search experience. Personal and professional […]
Who among us has not considered shoving a camera into our underwear… but for the greater good… on the public’s dime? No need to raise your hands. We already know where they are. The only thing better than lots of surveillance is even more surveillance. That’s the unofficial tagline of the Intelligence Community, as headed […]
The “cord cutting” trend cable execs spent a decade claiming was a fad just broke another round of new records. According to Leichtman Research, major cable TV providers lost another 1.7 million subscribers last quarter, as users flock to streaming, over the air TV, TikTok, or, you know, books. Roughly 17,700 customers cut the cord […]
This week, our first place winner on the insightful side is James Burkhardt, responding to a commenter who compared Elon Musk’s silly server-destroying adventure to Alexander cutting the Gordian knot, and taking the analogy further: Except after Alexander cut this knot, the ox cart kept dumping goods on the road, because the knot kept the […]
Five Years Ago This week in 2018, ISPs were using new tactics to try to stop California’s net neutrality bill on the home stretch, while California was also eyeing a more questionable bill to fix the internet of broken things, and Ajit Pai was falsely claiming that states are powerless to protect broadband consumers. We […]
Well, this is a bit of a doozy. This case — via the Institute for Justice — involves a possible First Amendment violation but somehow ends with a judicial blessing of cops who make things up after the fact to justify an arrest that has already taken place. That’s literally what happened here. Mason Murphy […]
Back in March we were greatly dismayed by the the ruling in Hachette v. the Internet Archive over the legality of “controlled digital lending” and the Archive’s “Open Library.” It seemed clear that Judge John Koeltl did not understand some of the fundamentals of fair use (it also appeared that he went into their oral […]
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