I guess this is going to become a theme for who knows how long. For reasons I cannot begin to understand, the Trump administration’s distaste for any criticism of itself, as well as any politics it does not agree with, is resulting in many in corporate America folding into alignment with those desires. Whether it’s […]
The second episode of Otherwise Objectionable, my new podcast series all about Section 230, is now out: The Dawn of the Internet. This week, I talk to a bunch of folks (including one of the first friends I ever met online) about what the internet was actually like in the early days, before Section 230, […]
Donald Trump has proudly shown off his new spoil of war—the Declaration of Independence. A document, which to me, has so much meaning and importance. Well, I’m quite upset about it. Not because I believe such a document should never leave the National Archives. Historical artifacts can and sometimes should travel for legitimate purposes. But what unsettles […]
One of the darker threads of Walled Culture the book (free digital versions available) is how complex copyright enforcement systems can be abused, for example by sending Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) takedown requests for material that is perfectly legal. A recent post on the Public Citizen blog offers an extreme example of this blight. Here’s the summary […]
Shooting the messenger is still the preferred tactic for short-sighted entities that have been embarrassed on main by having their own carelessness publicly exposed. Two articles on Databreaches.net (run by “Dissent Doe“) covered the discovery and eventual consequences of a ransomware attack on HCRG Care Group, a UK-based private healthcare provider. The ransom demanded by […]
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In an unprecedented move that flatly violates federal law, Donald Trump on Tuesday fired both Democratic commissioners from the Federal Trade Commission — Rebecca Kelly Slaughter and Alvaro Bedoya. The illegal purge represents a direct assault on the independence of the consumer protection agency. While presidents have always wielded influence over independent agencies through their […]
It’s best to view Elon Musk’s DOGE as an attack. While right wing propaganda (and gullible media outlets and politicians) frame DOGE as a “cost saving” effort at “improving government efficiency,” that’s just flimsy-ass cover for its real purpose: the dismantling of corporate oversight, environmental guard rails, consumer protection, civil rights, and the social safety […]
The enshittification of Roku’s streaming service, by which the company seeks the exact pinpoint at which it can extract the most amount of money from its customers without fostering a mass exodus of those same customers, continues. While Roku is not alone in the world of streaming services descending into this muck, it has been […]
California legislators have begun debating a bill (A.B. 412) that would require AI developers to track and disclose every registered copyrighted work used in AI training. At first glance, this might sound like a reasonable step toward transparency. But it’s an impossible standard that could crush small AI startups and developers while giving big tech […]
Support us on Patreon » We recently announced the launch of Otherwise Objectionable, a brand new documentary podcast hosted by Mike in partnership with the Competitive Enterprise Institute, covering the history — and the vital importance — of Section 230. This week, we’re featuring the entire debut episode right here on the Techdirt Podcast. Check it […]
When faced with a difficult technology policy challenge, policymakers can respond in one of two ways: with careful analysis of what’s technically possible, or by demanding Silicon Valley simply wave a magic wand and make all problems disappear. Romania has chosen… the latter. The backstory here is pretty straightforward: A Russian-supporting candidate leveraged TikTok to […]
I honestly don’t understand this compunction to break things that are already working fine. Axon makes body cameras (and Tasers!), but it simply wasn’t enough to equip cops with cameras and cop shops with expensive service contracts. No, the company insisted the way forward was dropping AI into existing tech so robots could start doing […]
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It took exactly three days for Trump to prove that Judge Beryl Howell’s “Alice in Wonderland” comparison wasn’t just apt, but prescient. After the judge blocked his executive order attempting to destroy Perkins Coie for representing his political opponents, Trump has now issued an almost identical order targeting another major law firm, Paul Weiss. Because […]
There are more than $42.5 billion in broadband grants headed to the states courtesy of the 2021 infrastructure bill. The GOP voted against the bill, but have repeatedly turned around and taken credit for its looming benefits among our broadly misinformed electorate. And, as we long predicted, they’re now redrafting key components of the program to the direct benefit of […]
While the number of trademark dispute stories in the alcohol industry has slowed down compared to where it was five years ago, they certainly haven’t gone away entirely. While many past stories were a matter of brewery on brewery trademark violence, owing largely to the creative manner in which craft breweries name and trade dress […]
Late last month, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced a request for public comment on so-called “tech censorship.” America has a vibrant and successful market-driven system for content moderation, enabled by Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, which allows platforms to set their own rules, while users decide where to engage. That’s why conversation on […]
The DHS and its main anti-immigration component, ICE, have always been big fans of social media surveillance. This has been part of the so-called “enhanced screening” protocols for several years now, deployed against foreign residents upon arrival in this nation, whether at border crossings or international airports where they’re just flying in for a short-term […]
It’s no secret that Russia has taken advantage of the Internet’s global reach and low distribution costs to flood the online world with huge quantities of propaganda (as have other nations): Techdirt has been writing about Putin’s troll army for a decade now. Russian organizations like the Internet Research Agency have been paying large numbers […]
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