After Microsoft’s deal to acquire Activision Blizzard was announced, alongside its deal to acquire Zenimax/Bethesda, we’ve had a series of posts pointing out that this consolidation of the gaming industry has featured vague statements from Microsoft leaving everyone wondering about the exclusivity of major gaming franchises. One of those major franchises would be Activision’s Call […]
There are big internet regulatory changes coming in the EU, with the Digital Services Act and the Digital Markets Act. Each is a huge bundle of new rules that could drastically change the future of the entire internet, and today we’re focusing on the DSA, which is set to come into force in 2024. Emma […]
I think, by this point, I’ve made my overall views on the hype around “cancel culture” pretty clear. To me it seems to be just as much of a moral panic about free speech as most other moral panics, though couched in language that pretends it’s about supporting free speech. As with most moral panics, […]
There’s a drug panic underway and the DEA is to blame. Ever since the appearance of multi-colored fentanyl pills on the scene, the DEA has somehow managed to surpass its normal ridiculous hyperbole in public statements, making all sorts of absurd claims about this new threat to the youth of America. Couple this hysteria with […]
The Ultimate Excel VBA Certification Bundle has 13 courses to help you learn how to better work with Excel. Courses cover web automation, user forms, ActiveX, workbook-level events, and more. The bundle also includes one license for Microsoft Office Professional 2021. It’s on sale for $40. Note: The Techdirt Deals Store is powered and curated […]
Earlier this year, the mother of child who died of asphyxiation while participating in the so-called “Blackout Challenge” sued TikTok, alleging the company was directly responsible for her 10-year-old daughter’s death. The lawsuit claimed this wasn’t about third-party content, even though the content that the child allegedly emulated was posted on TikTok. Instead, the lawsuit […]
We’ve noted for several years how the “race to 5G” was largely just hype by telecoms and hardware vendors eager to sell more gear and justify high U.S. mobile data prices. While 5G does provide faster, more resilient, and lower latency networks, it’s more of an evolution than a revolution. But that’s not what telecom giants […]
In December 2014, the US Supreme Court extended its blessing of pretextual stops to cover imaginary moving violations. Ignorance of the law is the best excuse, cops were told in the Court’s Heien decision. All cops needed to do was make a “reasonable” error when interpreting the laws they enforce and that mistake could be […]
Back in 2013, Techdirt wrote about “the monster lurking inside free trade agreements”. Formally, the monster is known as Investor-State Dispute Settlement (ISDS), but here on Techdirt we call it “corporate sovereignty“, because that is what it is: a system of secret courts that effectively places companies above a government, by allowing them to sue […]
The regional monopolization of U.S. broadband (and the widespread corruption that protects it) comes with all manner of nasty side effects. The lack of competition at the heart of the country’s telecom economy contributes to high prices, comically bad customer service, slow speeds, spotty coverage, annoying fees, and privacy and net neutrality violations (since there’s often no […]
One interpretation of the First Amendment has been found by the federal courts (both levels) to be far more interesting than meritorious. But the plaintiffs have at least made the court (and the city of Everett, Washington) admit that an ordinance expanded solely for the purpose of preventing baristas from wearing bikinis while serving, treats […]
The 2022 Ultimate Adobe CC Beginner to Advanced Training Bundle has 9 courses to help you master all things Adobe. Courses cover Premier Pro, Photoshop, After Effects, Illustrator, Animate, XD, and more. It’s on sale for $20. Note: The Techdirt Deals Store is powered and curated by StackCommerce. A portion of all sales from Techdirt […]
You may recall that, back in April, Elon Musk announced that one of his plans was to “authenticate all real humans” on Twitter. This was his plan to somehow magically get rid of spam. As we noted at the time, doing so would create some pretty serious questions regarding freedom of speech on the platform […]
I’ve got some bad news for those of you who were frustrated or bored by decades of net neutrality bickering: it’s about to kick off all over again. And this time it’s even more global. In the UK, US, EU, and South Korea, telecom lobbyists have been making successful inroads on plans that would force […]
This week, our first place winner on the insightful side is a simple anonymous comment about the attacks on libraries from big publishers: It’s depressing to know libraries could not exist if they were invented today because of greedy publishers. In second place, it’s Strawb responding to a commenter complaining about our praise of Vijaya […]
Five Years Ago This week in 2017, it was looking like the FCC would use the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday to hide its unpopular plan to kill net neutrality, while a Verizon-funded group was claiming that killing the rules would really help Puerto Rico. The DOJ subpoenaed Twitter about Popehat and others over a smiley emoji […]
There must be something about being an energy drink company that turns you into a trademark bully turd sandwich. The stories about Monster Energy, for instance, are absolutely legendary and legion. Meanwhile, Red Bull, the other large player in the energy drink space, has far fewer chiding posts from us, but there are still a […]
Nilay Patel over at The Verge has written a fantastic article, Welcome to Hell, Elon, highlighting the many, many ways in which Elon Musk is likely going to be regretting the fact that he now owns Twitter. I will note that many of the links in the article are to some of my stories here […]
Thanks to our corruption-fueled failure to pass even a basic privacy law for the internet era, the US has seen a steady parade of privacy scandals, hacks, and data breaches. More often than not involving companies with pathetic privacy and security standards, which are dinged repeatedly with pathetic wrist slap fines that are just absorbed […]
To date, Elon Musk has shown very little inclination to actually understand Twitter and why it has been such a useful platform to many. His understanding of free speech and content moderation hasn’t just been generally lacking, but ridiculous. And that’s not even getting into his apparently purposely obtuse misunderstanding of spam/mDAU issues. And, so, […]
stLouIST