A key role universities play in society is providing knowledge that can guide public action. Moreover, public universities have a legal duty to serve the public. We expect researchers in universities to produce and disseminate knowledge that can ultimately advance human flourishing and meet the informational needs of lawmakers, civil society, and the public generally. […]
Kevin Frazier, Juliana Schroeder, Brian Frye, Nathanael Fast, and Rob Greer
Here’s something ICE pretends has happened: ICE alleged in a statement that “Parra-Hernandez ran in front of an ICE vehicle and was struck.” ABC13 reached out to an ICE spokesperson, who said agents were attempting to arrest Jose Mendoza-Cervantes, who was their intended target. ICE alleges Mendoza-Cervantes entered the United States illegally from Mexico five […]
This is not a unique or new observation, but so many MAGA attacks on others are projection, claiming that Democrats were doing the very things that MAGA always knew they would do if they were in charge. We’ve certainly spent plenty of time talking about Donald Trump’s myriad and non-stop attacks on free speech, and […]
The Academy of Game Art Bundle teaches you the basics of how to create video game art. You’ll learn how to use Inkscape to create logos, 2D backgrounds, pre-defined modules, UI designs, and characters. A course on using DragonBones will teach you how to animate your characters as well. The bundle is on sale for […]
More evidence is piling up that contradicts the almost-but-not-quite denials given by administration officials in response to allegations about the DHS compiling a database to keep tabs on protesters. Just a few months ago, “Immigration Czar” Todd Lyons was trying to turn credible accusations into a nothingburger by deploying a few vague and trite statements […]
Remember how the Trump administration — and folks like Brendan Carr — spent four straight years fear-mongering about China’s purported control over TikTok and its owner, ByteDance? And remember how the Trump administration (with incompetent Democratic lawmaker help) “fixed” the problem by offloading Tiktok to Trump’s billionaire buddies while still maintaining co-ownership with the Chinese? […]
The apocryphal quote supposedly from Mark Twain is one of my favorites: “History does not repeat, but it does often rhyme.” Now, there is no evidence that Twain ever actually authored these words, but it’s incredible how true they tend to be regardless. And when it comes to the current measles outbreak that is ravaging […]
The Metric Is Not the Mission is a ten-part examination of how Big Tech moved from building and expanding the open internet to increasingly shaping it around its own metrics, incentives and assumptions. Across the series, the argument follows the evolution of the platform economy—from the optimism of the early internet to the growing tensions around […]
In 2023, Mozilla released a report noting that modern U.S. cars had the worst security and privacy standards of any major technology industry the organization tracks. That was followed by a major NYT report in 2024 showing how automakers routinely hoover up oodles of consumer driving and phone info, then sell access to that data […]
Remember when Elon Musk told advertisers to go fuck themselves… and then sued them (unsuccessfully) for not advertising on his personal propaganda and manipulation site? Well, it appears that Donald Trump is trying a government-backed variation on that abusive power play: claiming that news networks choosing not to cover him after he announced he was […]
The Complete CompTIA and IT Exam Training Bundle offers access to multi-platform IT training courses, practice exam simulators, and hands-on labs such as CramWise, LinuxPath, DojoLab, CodeDirect, and ExamsDigest. These help prepare you for exams like CompTIA A+, Network+, Security+, Cloud+, Server+, and PenTest+, alongside cloud and networking credentials. It’s on sale for $40. Note: […]
In today’s episode of “wtf,” we have a jury deciding a local blogger is a criminal because a local politician didn’t appreciate being sent a Shrek bereft of clothes to his cell phone. Morgan Trau of the Ohio Capital Journal has the (pathetic) details on this particular miscarriage of justice. An Ohio political blogger let […]
Last week, the DNC sued the Trump administration for using $20 million in taxpayer money on strange and ineffective midterm ads. The use of taxpayer money technically violates multiple laws (remember those?), including the Hatch Act and Federal Appropriations Laws restricting taxpayer-funded propaganda. Trump’s now been ordered to stop airing the ads entirely courtesy of […]
This week, our first place winner on the insightful side is Thad replying to a comment about Mark Zuckerberg’s past projects: I’d say the first thing he did was bring back the AOL silo paradigm. In second place, it’s MrWilson with a comment about the fifth measles-related death in Pennsylvania: My bingo card has the […]
In my many, many posts about RFK Jr. and his disastrous tenure as Secretary of HHS, there are two themes that have hopefully broken through all the noise. The first is that Kennedy is a miserable communicator, in a way that is totally purposeful. He talks out of both sides of his mouth all the […]
Here comes the latest in ho-hum dystopia. And by that, I mean surveillance creep has become such a regular occurrence that it takes something truly Overton Window-breaking to gain traction with the general public. But that’s no reason to let this slide by without pointing it out. The government (at all levels) has a lot […]
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. To get extended episodes with additional coverage, support us on […]
The big Meta multi-state settlement got most of the headlines, and there’s been plenty of discussion about how it’s a bad deal for kids and pretty clearly anti-competitive. That’s thanks to a very strange clause that encourages Meta to make its own required feature changes the “industry standard” by convincing other platforms to cut similar […]
The Essential MATLAB and LabVIEW Mega Bundle has 9 courses to help you improve your skills in programming and visualization. You’ll learn the basics of each and then go through hands-on courses building apps, learning about data analysis and visualization, and more. It’s on sale for $30. Note: The Techdirt Deals Store is powered and […]
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