It’s amazing just how many of the trademark disputes we cover here are only disputes because the USPTO granted a trademark that it shouldn’t have. The examples of this sort of thing are legion, but they typically revolve around trademarks that are either generic, descriptive, or both. Which brings us to Chickie’s and Pete’s, a […]
Thierry Breton has finally taken the next logical step in his role as the EU’s censor: he’s talked himself out of his job. Over the last few years, Thierry Breton, the former CEO of France Telecom, has spent the last few years as the Commissioner for the Internal Market in the EU, where he has […]
If you’re a Techdirt reader (or any tech news reader) you’ve already heard a lot of stories about the chaos of Elon Musk’s takeover of Twitter, but no matter how much you know, there’s a lot to learn in a new book that hits the shelves today. Character Limit: How Elon Musk Destroyed Twitter, by […]
Just when you thought it was safe to go back on the internet, KOSA rears its ugly head once again. The rumors of KOSA’s demise in Congress may have been overstated. Following a big push by supporters of the bill, including Senator Marsha “we need this to protect kids from the transgender in our culture” […]
It’s been a whirlwind few months for NYPD Commissioner Edward Caban, at least in terms of press coverage. None of it has been positive, though. A few months ago, reporting from ProPublica exposed Commissioner Caban’s efforts to make the NYPD even less accountable than it always has been. Public records and other information obtained by […]
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Today, the new book by NY Times reporters Kate Conger and Ryan Mac, Character Limit: How Elon Musk Destroyed Twitter, comes out. If you’re at all interested in what went down, I can’t recommend it enough. It’s a well-written, deeply researched book with all sorts of details about the lead-up to the acquisition, the acquisition […]
AT&T’s $86 billion merger with Time Warner resulted in an ocean of chaos, layoffs, and quality control problems. That was followed up with T-Mobile’s $26 billion merger with Sprint, which resulted in thousands of layoffs and an immediate end to wireless price competition in the U.S. Not to be outdone, struggling satellite TV providers Dish Network (owned […]
It was almost exactly a year ago to the day that Unity updated its pricing program for its game engine in a way that seemed perfectly designed to piss everyone off. Whereas Unity was once a subscription-based game engine, rather than one which collected royalties, suddenly Unity went in the opposite direction, with per-install fees […]
Some of you may have heard about this. It made all the papers (at least in the United States). Tyreek Hill, wide receiver for the Miami Dolphins, was pulled over about a block away from the stadium by Miami-Dade police officers. What started as a simple situation involving a speeding/seat belt ticket escalated quickly when […]
It’s no secret that Trump-administration-in-waiting at the Heritage Foundation supports KOSA because it thinks it will be useful in achieving some of the most extreme goals of Project 2025, a project Heritage created. Last year they came out and said that they supported KOSA because “keeping trans content away from children is protecting kids.” With […]
More than a half-decade ago, the Australian government gave itself more powers. These new powers allowed the government to compel decryption — something far easier said than done, especially if existing encryption was expected to still protect everyone else but the government’s targets. Shortly after the law was passed, Australia’s federal law enforcement and national […]
The 2024 Graphic Design for Beginners Bundle has 4 courses to help you learn about graphic design. Courses cover working with Adobe Illustrator, using your iPhone for filming, and starting your own graphic design business. It’s on sale for $30. Note: The Techdirt Deals Store is powered and curated by StackCommerce. A portion of all […]
In the bizarro world of MAGA politics, up is down, black is white, and apparently, fact-checking is now a form of election interference. It is no secret that people across the political spectrum have a very warped view of what free speech or the First Amendment means. But I am particularly perplexed by the view […]
The wireless industry’s major trade association (CTIA) just released a new study indicating that Americans consumed more than 100 trillion megabytes of wireless data last year. CTIA’s 2024 Annual Wireless Industry Survey found last year saw the biggest single-year increase in wireless data usage ever recorded: 36% more data consumed than in 2022 — and almost double […]
This week, our first place winner on the insightful side is Mithras with a comment about the “Patriot Reporter” and his claims about his wealth: $5 million a month… But he needs a sideline as a realtor? That’s really making me doubt the $5 million a month. In second place, it’s That One Guy with […]
Five Years Ago This week in 2019, an appeals court issued a worrying ruling about handing IP addresses to the FBI, while the DOJ was trying to get Apple and Google to hand over names and phone numbers of 10,000 app users. A better appeals court ruling also arrived, saying that the CFAA can’t be […]
Here we go again. For those of us that view video games as a vital and still emerging form of culture and art, one of the more frustrating aspects of the industry is how music is licensed for game soundtracks and how that licensing complicates games as they age. For instance, we saw this play […]
Ctrl-Alt-Speech is a weekly podcast about the latest news in online speech, from Mike Masnick and Everything in Moderation‘s Ben Whitelaw. Subscribe now on Apple Podcasts, Overcast, Spotify, Pocket Casts, YouTube, or your podcast app of choice — or go straight to the RSS feed. In this week’s round-up of the latest news in online […]
Imagine your search terms, key-strokes, private chats and photographs are being monitored every time they are sent. Millions of students across the country don’t have to imagine this deep surveillance of their most private communications: it’s a reality that comes with their school districts’ decision to install AI-powered monitoring software such as Gaggle and GoGuardian on students’ school-issued machines […]
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