Last year we noted how FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr had launched a bad faith effort suggesting that “big tech” gets a “free ride” on the internet, and should be forced to fund broadband expansion. This argument, that tech giants like Google and Netflix somehow get a free ride (they don’t) and should “pay their fair share” to […]
The operative word in the phrase “criminal justice system” isn’t “justice.” As much as we tip our hats to enshrined rights and ideals like “innocent until proven guilty,” the operative word remains “system.” And like any system, the justice system is mostly there to process those accused of crimes, rather than act as a check […]
The United States is already a global leader in traffic-related fatalities, with a thirty-percent jump in the last decade. That’s in contrast to every other developed country, which saw a decline. With that as backdrop, there’s some growing concerns about not just the safety of undercooked autonomous driving, but the extreme weight of larger electric […]
I mean, of course. On Friday Elon Musk terminated his Twitter purchase for the third time. In yet another termination letter sent to Twitter, he claims that Twitter’s severance agreement with Peiter “Mudge” Zatko was a violation of the purchase agreement. Some background: you already know that Musk signed a purchase agreement to buy Twitter. […]
Sooooooo… this was something that happened. Trump, the commander of a fine legal team that has included, over the years, plenty of people facing indictments, sanctions, and lawsuits of their own, sued the Clinton campaign for trying to throw an election he ended up winning. Perhaps Trump was as surprised by his victory as millions […]
Hany Farid is a computer science professor at Berkeley. Here he is insisting that his students should all delete Facebook and YouTube because they often recommend to you things you might like (the horror, the horror): Farid once did something quite useful, in that he helped Microsoft develop PhotoDNA, a tool that has been used […]
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Normally, there wouldn’t be much need to insert yourself into lawsuits involving seriously flawed claims about social media moderation. But these two lawsuits — both losses for plaintiffs claiming the Biden administration conspired to ban their social media accounts — are now in the hands of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, which has delivered […]
To be clear, the shift from traditional cable television to streaming TV has been a very good thing. Consumers had grown irritated with bloated, expensive bundles of channels they never watched, and customer service that was literally ranked some of the worst of any industry in America. Based on recent data, it’s not a trend […]
This week, our first place winner on the insightful side is That Anonymous Coward with a comment about religious rules, regulations, and exemptions: I enjoy how their deeply held beliefs can never ever be questioned, because that would be a burden on them and open a can of worms… Like when Hobby Lobby was screaming […]
Five Years Ago This week in 2017, Apple sort of threw its support behind net neutrality, while the CEOs of large ISPs and tech companies were absent from a round of public hearings, and Senators were blasting the FCC for weakening its definition of broadband. A court found the FBI’s malware deployments to be perfectly […]
And here we are again, with more exclusivity drama coming out of the recent acquisitions Microsoft has undertaken in the video game space. After the announcements of the Zenimax/Bethesda and Activision Blizzard acquisitions, which are still going through review, Microsoft came out with a bunch of conflicting statements on what those buys would mean for […]
One of the more notable announcements at Apple’s event this week was that the iPhone 14 lineup won’t have a physical SIM tray to swap out SIM cards. Instead, the devices will embrace eSIM, a technology that’s supposed to make it easier than ever to switch carriers without consumers needing to buy and install a […]
Alongside death and taxes, one of life’s great certainties is a constant flow of absurd copyright claims. Here’s one from the world of live videogame streaming on the popular Twitch platform, owned by Amazon. A group of Spanish-speaking streamers organized a gaming event featuring “Project Zomboid“, a zombie survival role-playing game. TorrentFreak explains how copyright spoilt their fun: The […]
Chancellor Kathaleen McCormick, who is overseeing the Twitter v. Musk case in the Delaware Chancery Court, has a bit of a reputation as a no-nonsense judge who isn’t one to put up with much crap. And so far, that’s definitely been clear from how she’s handled the case. She isn’t showing favoritism, but every time […]
The Supreme Court may have extended constitutional protection to historical cell site location info, but that’s not going to stop our public servants — and the private companies that serve them — from finding ways to elude the ramifications of the Carpenter decision. Over the past couple of years, court documents and public records have […]
If you’re looking for a tablet that can also double as a laptop, the refurbished Surface Pro 12.3″ 256GB is your best bet. This device weighs just 1.73 pounds and measures just 0.33″ thin, so it’s one of the lightest and smallest laptops available on the market today. The device features a 7th-Gen (Kaby Lake) […]
During the 2020 campaign, there were a few times when candidate Joe Biden insisted he wanted to get rid of Section 230 entirely, though he made it clear he had no idea what Section 230 actually did. When I wrote articles highlighting all of this, I had some Biden supporters (even folks who worked on […]
Today’s the day! We’re hosting an online party to celebrate Techdirt’s 25th Anniversary, and we hope all of you will join us. The event begins at 11am PT / 2pm ET and attendance is free for anyone with an active Crystal Ball, Watercooler, or Behind The Curtain membership from our Insider Shop, or the equivalent […]
New Politico owner and Axel Springer CEO Mathias Döpfner has been craving U.S. press attention, and got more of it than he wanted this week. Döpfner was the focus of a not particularly flattering profile in the Washington Post showing, among other things, that the German billionaire was excited by the prospect of a second […]
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