Well, that was quick. We had just been discussing the encouraging news that Rockstar had scooped up Cfx.re, a community dedicated to roleplaying within GTA and Red Dead Redemption games, as well as several mods made within that community. The only thing that made this newsworthy at all is that Rockstar has had an awful […]
If you’ve never watched it, Kirby Ferguson’s “Everything is a Remix” series (which was recently updated from the original version that came out years ago) is an excellent look at how stupid our copyright laws are, and how they have really warped our view of creativity. As the series makes clear, creativity is all about […]
It’s been clearly acknowledged by a majority of courts (but not the Supreme Court, alas) that filming cops while they perform their duties is protected by the First Amendment. Most legislators know this. But some legislators still yearn to protect cops from accountability. So, they push bills that install “time and place” restrictions in hopes […]
You might have heard late last week or over the weekend, that Elon was getting rid of the “block” feature on exTwitter. Elon had tweeted on Friday claiming “Block is going to be deleted as a “feature”, except for DMs.” But, uh, he had said basically the same thing back in June. I know this […]
Customer service matters. Suing patients unhappy with your work just ain’t it. That’s what Texas cosmetic surgeon Dr. Wilbur Hah has just learned, after being handed a loss in four concurrent opinions dealing with four anti-SLAPP motions filed by unhappy patients the (allegedly not-so-good) doctor sued for daring to besmirch his reputation with social media […]
Noiselab is an online community dedicated to Ableton producers and electronic musicians. With a team of experienced instructors, including Ableton Certified Trainers and industry-recognized producers, Noiselab offers high-quality Ableton tutorials, sample packs, loops, and an extensive sound library. Joining the Noiselab community gives you unlimited access to over 500 lessons and resources to enhance your […]
A few days Elon Musk tweeted that “X as humanity’s collective consciousness” and then pinned that meaningless platitude that would only sound profound to a stoned high schooler. Anyway, if you’re going to be “humanity’s collective consciousness” you should maybe try to to avoid making years worth of images inaccessible. But that’s what Musk did […]
When it comes to obnoxious DRM and bizarre, greedy restrictions, nobody does it better than printer manufacturers. The industry has long waged a not-so-subtle war on its own customers, routinely rolling out firmware updates or DRM preventing them from using more affordable, competitor printer cartridges. A few years ago, printer manufacturers took this tactic one […]
This week, we’ve got a double winner on the insightful side with Stephen T. Stone taking both top spots. In first place, it’s a comment about how, whatever you might think about old Twitter, its moderation practices were sure better than they are now: Maybe I didn’t hear about it, but I don’t recall any […]
Five Years Ago This week in 2018, we looked forward to the Senate oversight committee hearing that would force Ajit Pai to explain why the FCC made up a DDoS attack, but were disappointed (if not at all surprised) when it utterly failed to hold him accountable. Pai was also busy opposing the effort to […]
As a writer of opinion pieces, sometimes you go hard in the paint and the result isn’t precisely what you expected. Almost exactly two years ago, I wrote about Netflix’s announced decision to dip its toe into the video game market. At that point, word had gotten out about it all, though that word can […]
XKCD has multiple comics about how hacking isn’t quite the way they make it out to be in movies: And: Both of these demonstrate how actual hacking is often a lot less sophisticated than people make it out to be. And, indeed, for years we’ve pointed out that social engineering is generally more effective than […]
Just fucking weird. Seems illegal. How do we get away with this in a constitutional republic? Rights exist. And et cetera. Those are the responses that tend to be generated by anyone attempting to explain civil asset forfeiture to normal people who just assume the government needs to prove something, anything before taking money (or […]
We’ve covered the many problems of the Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA) for years now (this is the second Congress it has been introduced in), and it appears that more and more people are realizing the myriad problems with the bill which, ridiculously, has broad bipartisan support, with an astoundingly disappointing 43 cosponsors in the […]
Jordan will never be mistaken for a human rights haven. The State Department’s assessment of the kingdom of Jordan’s human rights environment is, at best, extremely dismal. Significant human rights issues included credible reports of: torture and other cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment or punishment by government authorities; arbitrary arrest and detention; political prisoners or […]
The Complete Adobe Mastery Bundle has 11 courses designed to help you get the most out of Adobe’s offerings. You’ll learn about Photoshop, After Effects, Premier Pro, and Lightroom. The bundle is on sale for $40. Note: The Techdirt Deals Store is powered and curated by StackCommerce. A portion of all sales from Techdirt Deals […]
Let’s start from the basics here: if you tax something, you will get less of it. That’s how taxes work. If you want less of something, you add a tax to it. In Canada, some very, very clueless politicians (pushed by the news media) passed a tax on Facebook and Google linking to news. Both […]
For thirty-plus years, giant telecom monopolies have worked tirelessly to crush all broadband competition. At the same time, they’ve lobbied state and federal governments so extensively, that the vast majority of politicians are feckless cardboard cutouts with little real interest in market or consumer health. The result has been fairly obvious: Americans pay some of […]
In our Moderator Mayhem mobile browser game that we released back in May, there are a couple of rounds where some AI is introduced to the process, as an attempt to “help” the moderators. Of course, in the game, the AI starts making the kinds of mistakes that AI makes. That said, there’s obviously a […]
One of the common tests for whether something is trademark infringement is whether or not the public will be confused as to association between the infringer and another trademark owner. This typically comes down to several factors, such as the similarity within the uses and, importantly, whether the two entities compete in the same marketplace. […]
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