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I am excited to announce that I am joining the board of Bluesky, where I will be providing advice and guidance to the company to help it achieve its vision of a more open, more competitive, more decentralized online world.  In the nearly three decades that I’ve been writing Techdirt I’ve been writing about what […]

We recently noted how the telecom industry, with the help of the recent Chevron ruling, was gearing up to deliver what it hoped would be the killing blow to popular net neutrality protections (read: broadly popular FCC rules designed to prevent telecom monopolies from abusing their market power to screw customers and competitors). AT&T, Comcast, Verizon […]

Here’s yet more anecdotal evidence demonstrating why we’re be better off routing mental health calls to mental health professionals, rather than to people who tend to respond to things they can’t immediately control with violence. The good news is more cities are experimenting with multiple options for 911 response. The better news is that those […]

There’s nothing more self-congratulatory than a government announcing it’s DOING SOMETHING ABOUT SOMETHING. That’s the New York City government at the moment, lauding its efforts to reduce crime in the city’s subways by installing tech even the tech manufacturer has stated isn’t capable of doing what’s being asked of it. In mid-May, Mayor Eric Adams […]

Well, here’s something unexpected. Apparently Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch has a new book coming out this week called “Over Ruled: The Human Toll of Too Much Law.” And, one of the examples in the book is about the ridiculous criminal case against Aaron Swartz and his eventual tragic decision to take his own life […]

It is almost impossible to believe, as the nation stands on the precipice of one of the most important elections in our lifetime, if not the nation’s history, that Democrats would want to stick it to young people, whose enthusiasm and activism they desperately need to prevail in November. But in trying to ram through […]

MagStack is the perfect on-the-go wireless charging station that also transforms into a phone stand for FaceTime or video playback while charging. This 3-in-1 foldable design featuring 3 wireless charging spots, enables charging for up to 3 devices simultaneously, including iPhone, Apple Watch, AirPods Pro, AirPods with Wireless Charging Case, other Qi-compatible Android phones, and […]

If you’re a swing state voter who thought AmericaPAC was helping you register to vote, think again. The Elon Musk-backed SuperPAC seems more interested in your personal info than your civic participation. It appears to be misleading visitors in order to collect all sorts of data, specifically on swing state voters, according to an incredible […]

There’s been significant progress, but many popular consumer electronics brands are still building hardware that’s often impossible to repair despite a flood in new state “right to repair” laws around the country. That’s at least the conclusion of this new report by the US Public Interest Research Group (PIRG). PIRG examined 21 different mainstream tech […]

This week, our first place winner on the insightful side is Thad with a comment on our post about Democrats moving from fact-checking to vibe-checking: I think describing it as “vibes” is reductive. The vibe is certainly part of it, but it’s not just about vibes. It’s about substance, too. When we talk about how […]

Five Years Ago This week in 2019, the New York Times stood up for Section 230 and called out the politicians who were lying about it, like Rep. Gosar who had previously been sued for blocking constituents on social media, while we tried to put an end to the myth that big tech was censoring […]

We’ve mentioned a few times that there are more than $42 billion in broadband subsides about to drop in the laps of state leaders thanks to the 2021 infrastructure bill. Since the bill gives individual states leeway on how this money is spent, a lot of states (like Pennsylvania) are simply throwing the money in […]

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. IIn this week’s round-up of the latest news in online […]

It turns out the internet was one Sam Alito petulant tantrum away from being a total disaster. In two key First Amendment cases, Alito was given the majority opinion to write. And, in both of them, his insistence on obliterating the old boundaries of the First Amendment caused other Justices to switch sides – and […]

The state of New Jersey has been sued twice over its infant DNA program. Like the rest of the nation, New Jersey hospitals collect a blood sample from newborns to test them for 60 different health disorders. That part is normal. But New Jersey is different. Rather than discard the samples after the testing is […]

The Complete IT for Beginners Bundle will gear you up with the core CompTIA skills you need to be an in-demand IT professional. This includes the four most popular IT Fundamentals, A+ Core1, A+ Core2, and Network. As a bonus, it includes three new Microsoft MTA courses. It’s on sale for $50. Note: The Techdirt […]

Remember last month when ExTwitter excitedly “rejoined GARM” (the Global Alliance for Responsible Media, an advertising consortium focused on brand safety)? And then, a week later, after Rep. Jim Jordan released a misleading report about GARM, Elon Musk said he was going to sue GARM and hoped criminal investigations would be opened? Unsurprisingly, Jordan has […]

Broadband providers poised to receive $42 billion in taxpayer broadband subsidies from the infrastructure bill are ramping up complaints about a small requirement affixed to the massive handout: they have to try to make broadband affordable to poor people. Earlier this month we noted that the GOP, in lockstep with the telecom industry, had launched […]

Say what you will about the roster of Trump apologists being hosted by the Volokh Conspiracy (and I will say plenty if given the chance), but at least Eugene Volokh continues to surface truly interesting cases. (Ilya Somin remains worth reading as well.) And this one is one for the record books. Possibly the first […]

One of the arguments sometimes made in defense of copyright is that without it, creators would be unable to compete with the hordes of copycats that would spring up as soon as their works became popular. Copyright is needed, supporters say, to prevent less innovative creators from producing works that are closely based on new, […]