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UK’s Online Safety Bill Will Actually Just Harm Everyone, Encrypted Service Provider Warns

1 year 8 months ago
Over the past couple of years, we’ve covered the UK’s “Online Safety Bill” extensively. And for good reason, seeing as it has the potential to effectively outlaw end-to-end encryption, and create an unworkable mess for any service (and it’s pretty much all of them) engaging in content moderation. The bill was originally called the “Online […]
Tim Cushing

Daily Deal: AppMySite Mobile App Builder Pro Plan

1 year 8 months ago
Uncomplicate app development with the world’s easiest app builder. AppMySite offers an intuitive app development environment that makes building and managing apps effortless. Enjoy building personalized mobile app designs or upload your own artwork to create the perfect mobile app. AppMySite gives you access to an extensive image library and easy customization. With next-gen app […]
Gretchen Heckmann

Gizmodo Found 28,000 Apps Sending TikTok User Data

1 year 8 months ago
Under the dull roar of our great TikTok moral panic I’ve been trying to make the semi-nuanced point that while TikTok does present some legitimate privacy issues, a ban won’t fix the actual problem. Largely because U.S. policymakers and businesses don’t want to fix the actual problem. They don’t even want to acknowledge what the […]
Karl Bode

The Microsoft, Sony Fight Over The Activision Purchase Is Getting Ugly

1 year 8 months ago
This took a bit longer than I expected, but the dirty tactics are starting to come out between Microsoft and Sony over the former’s desire to purchase Activision Blizzard. While we’ve been talking about the $69 billion mega-deal for some time, the conversation more recently has focused on three regulatory bodies that have expressed varying […]
Dark Helmet

Another Casualty If Section 230 Gets Repealed: Food Safety Data

1 year 8 months ago
I’m a latecomer to the whole “podcasts” phenomenon. I didn’t start listening to them until 2020, when the pandemic suddenly gave me the free time and the incentive to get out of my small apartment and go on long walks. That’s my excuse for only recently discovering “Maintenance Phase,” a terrific podcast that “debunks and […]
Mike Masnick

Copyright Has Been One Of Life’s Certainties: But Will It Always Be?

1 year 8 months ago
Copyright seems to be a fixture of our legal, economic and social systems. For 300 years, it has formed the backbone of the structures used to incentivize and remunerate creators. During that time, copyright has been extended repeatedly in length and breadth. The original term of the 1710 Statute of Anne â€“ 14 years’ monopoly protection with […]
Mike Masnick

Daily Deal: The Unlimited Lifetime Learning Subscription Bundle ft. Rosetta Stone

1 year 8 months ago
The Unlimited Lifetime Learning Subscription Bundle gives you access to Rosetta Stone and StackSkills online courses. With its intuitive, immersive training method, Rosetta Stone will have you reading, writing, and speaking new languages like a natural in no time. StackSkills is the premier online learning platform for mastering today’s most in-demand skills. The bundle is on […]
Gretchen Heckmann

So Much For The 4th: Ring Allows Cops To Acquire Recordings Of Non-Suspect’s Home And Business

1 year 8 months ago
Amazon’s doorbell surveillance acquisition, Ring, has spent most of its time, money, and energy courting cops. If law enforcement agencies are willing to forgo a little dignity and autonomy, the company will given them cameras free of charge, allowing cops to expand their surveillance capabilities by outfitting homes with recording devices. The free cameras come […]
Tim Cushing

Leaks Suggest EU Set To Approve Microsoft, Activision Acquisition

1 year 8 months ago
For months and months now, we have been talking about Microsoft’s proposed acquisition of Activision Blizzard. The $68 billion mega-deal had drawn narrow glares from several regulatory bodies, including in America, the UK, and the EU. While the FTC in the States and CMA in the UK have thus far not come off some very […]
Dark Helmet

Gigi Sohn’s Full Statement On Withdrawing Her FCC Nomination

1 year 8 months ago
Yesterday, Karl wrote about the absolutely ridiculous situation in which the person perhaps most qualified to be an FCC commissioner, Gigi Sohn, had to withdraw her nomination, which had languished over nearly two years, mostly due to a bunch of absolute ridiculous bullshit lies from telecom and media giants who hated the idea of her […]
Mike Masnick

Devin Nunes Loses Yet Another Of His Frivolous SLAPP Suits Against CNN

1 year 8 months ago
At some point, you have to wonder if judges are going to start slapping sanctions on former Representative Devin Nunes and his SLAPP-happy vexatious litigator, Steven Biss. We’ve covered their many escapades in filing highly questionable defamation cases against basically any major media organization that so much as lightly criticizes Nunes (and also… a satirical […]
Mike Masnick

Another German Court Says The DNS Service Quad9 Is Implicated In Any Copyright Infringement At The Domains It Resolves

1 year 8 months ago
Back in September 2021 Techdirt covered an outrageous legal attack by Sony Music on Quad9, a free, recursive, anycast DNS platform. Quad9 is part of the Internet’s plumbing: it converts domain names to numerical IP addresses. It is operated by the Quad9 Foundation, a Swiss public-benefit, not-for-profit organization. Sony Music says that Quad9 is implicated […]
Glyn Moody

Daily Deal: Nibble — Educational DIY Game Console for Ages 9+

1 year 8 months ago
Nibble is an educational tool disguised in the shape of a retro game console. It’s a new and improved version of MAKERbuino that makes learning about electronics and programming fun! With a build guide, assembling the kit will be easy peasy. This DIY console comes preloaded with 4 retro games inspired by cult classics — […]
Gretchen Heckmann

Amazon Annoys Ring Owners Further By Making Very Basic Features Subscription Based

1 year 8 months ago
The relentless push to make every last feature in every tech device you own part of a subscription service shows no sign of slowing down. Fitness companies like Fitbit have increasingly shoveled basic health monitoring features into their subscription plan. Companies like BMW have increasingly tried to make basic concepts like heated seats a subscription-only […]
Karl Bode