U.S. regulatory enforcement and punishment for companies that rip consumers off with sneaky fees is not what you’d call… consistent. For example, the telecom and cable industries have long exploited a wide array of bullshit fees to jack up advertised prices with only fleeting penalties. The same can be said for the banking, airline, hotel, […]
This week, both our winners on the insightful side come from our post about the cops who killed a drunk driver as he told them at least a dozen times that he couldn’t breathe. In first place, it’s Stephen T. Stone with a response to a commenter who tried to wipe away the entire incident […]
So far, in our series of posts about the winners of the fourth annual public domain game jam, Gaming Like It’s 1926, we’ve looked at Best Adaptation The Wall Across The River and Best Deep Cut The Obstruction Method. Today, it’s time for the winner of the Best Remix category: Dreaming The Cave by David […]
Once again, here comes the video game industry to do good in the world. Despite being the easy villain for many, including grandstanding politicians, video games and their communities can often be seen doing good for the world. A couple of weeks back, we discussed how one itch.io game bundle was offering thousands of dollars […]
Let’s start this off by noting that I actually think that Elon Musk sometimes receives both too much criticism from some circles and too much praise from others. I think he deserves tremendous praise for taking visions that, at the time, seemed nearly impossible, and then making them real. From electric vehicles with Tesla, to […]
ICE has never really cared about the people it detains and processes for removal. It cared even less when President Trump made it clear he believed anyone less white and privileged than he is deserved to be excluded from the “American dream.” Trump claimed he wanted the “worst of the worst” removed to make America […]
It’s pretty much understood that filming police is protected by the First Amendment. Even in jurisdictions where the highest courts have yet to hand down a definitive decision, police departments have made it clear to officers that filming cops isn’t a crime. This has followed years of jurisprudence and laws being repealed/rewritten to reflect this […]
Very serious laughably ridiculous buffoon stunt journalists, Project Veritas, had its account banned from Twitter a year ago, a couple months before its founder James O’Keefe also had his own account banned as well. O’Keefe vowed to sue CNN and Twitter over the bans, and these plans seem to be going about as well as […]
The Complete 2022 CompTIA Cyber Security and PenTest Super Bundle has 6 courses to help you prepare for the CompTIA Security, PenTest, CySA, and CASP exams. You’ll learn how to implement security across network, cloud, mobile, & hybrid environments, how to plan and scope penetration tests, how to test devices in a variety of environments, and […]
Cops and obscenities don’t mix. Don’t get me wrong. Cops love swear words. They’re a huge part of law enforcement’s arsenal when attempting to achieve “control” of a “scene.” This act usually involves contradictory shouted instructions peppered by F-bombs delivered as frequently and quickly as possible. Swearing at people is completely acceptable. But swearing at […]
So we’ve already noted how OAN was booted off of the DirecTV lineup, severing a massive mainstream distribution avenue for the conspiracy and fantasy channel. DirecTV, recently spun off by AT&T, made the decision because the channel, despite all the attention, really wasn’t being watched very much. Angry that a major source of GOP propaganda […]
When someone asks me what DRM is, my answer is very simple: it’s anti-piracy software that generally doesn’t stop pirates at all, and, instead, mostly only annoys legitimate buyers. Well, then why do software and video game companies use it at all? Couldn’t tell you. Businesses really want to annoy their own customers? Apparently, yes. […]
“I can’t breathe.“ Those are words universally recognized as an expression of respiratory distress. Unless you’re a cop. Then they’re perceived as, at best, non-compliance. At worst, they’re perceived as active resistance. “I can’t breathe,” many people have told the officers currently choking the life out of them. In most documented cases, these people have […]
The European Union is working on a number of important new digital laws. These includes the Digital Services Act, the Digital Markets Act, and the Data Act. A new press release about the last of these contains the following section: the Data Act reviews certain aspects of the Database Directive, which was created in the 1990s to protect investments in […]
We just wrote about Senators Leahy and Tillis and their “SMART Copyright Act” and its dangerously problematic setup, that would enable Hollywood to petition the Copyright Office to get what it has long desired: mandatory upload filters for websites hosting 3rd party content. Professor Eric Goldman has explained how this bill is “a thinly veiled […]
Round Two is happening right now. Go vote! Well, our inaugural Techdirt Legal Misunderstanding March Madness is off to quite a start. Round one ended with most of the matchups getting thousands of votes, so now we’re on to round two. You can still see the official bracket to see how it matches up with […]
The 2022 Complete Raspberry Pi and Arduino Developer Bundle has 9 courses to teach you everything you need to know to start creating your own projects. Courses cover Linux, C++, Python 3, ROS, and more. You’ll learn through a combination of lectures and hands-on projects. The bundle is on sale for $40. Note: The Techdirt Deals Store […]
Formed less than a month after the 9/11 attacks in 2001, the TSA has yet to get a firm grip on “transportation security,” the thing that makes up two-thirds of its acronym. Audit after audit has found TSA screeners are incapable of finding explosives and other dangerous contraband. If auditors can rack up a 90-95% […]
For literally more than a decade researchers have been warning that global satellite telecommunications networks were vulnerable to all manner of attacks. These attacks vary in nature but allow an intruder miles away to both intercept and disrupt satellite communications. In 2020 hackers again clearly demonstrated how these perpetually unresolved vulnerabilities were putting millions of […]
We’ve been making the point for years that the way copyright is currently enforced in online platforms is wide open for abuse and error. Between all the collateral damage created by automated copyright bots and all of the chicanery used to silence critics or to baselessly collect revenue on the work of others, there is […]
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