Scientists say that low earth orbit (LEO) satellite constellations being built by Amazon, Starlink, and AT&T pose a dire threat to astronomy and scientific research, and that too little is being done to address the issue. Back in 2022, scientists declared Starlink satellite constellations an “existential threat for astronomy,” noting that the reflection and light pollution (Musk […]
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. In this week’s round-up of the latest news in online […]
PEN America published recent data on book bans and removals just in time for Banned Books Week. Key findings indicate that most books challenged by censorship advocates this past year focus on LGBTQ+ subject matter. Additionally, Iowa and Florida are currently the two worst states for book bans amid Republican-backed content restriction laws. The PEN […]
This would seem like a truly extraneous nail in the coffin of ShotSpotter deployment in Chicago, but there are far too many city council members still willing to prop up under-performing tech with faith-based arguments. And there’s the company itself, which has shifted narratives (along with redoing the company letterhead) over the past several months […]
This 2-in-1 Keychain Wireless Charger with 2,500mAh battery will charge your Apple Watch 3-5 times on a full charge. Its magnetic design ensures perfect alignment and it works seamlessly with all Apple Watch series. It features Type-C port for versatile charging options for other devices. It’s on sale for $19. Note: The Techdirt Deals Store […]
It’s been all of [checks calendar] one freaking day since we wrote about Elon Musk’s hypocrisy on free speech compared to the old Twitter regime, and he has to go and make another example. Twitter, under old management: Briefly limits sharing of (at the time) unverified Hunter Biden laptop story. Elon: “Outrageous censorship!” and possibly […]
Telecom lobbyists have been working overtime in both the US and EU, trying to get policymakers to force internet companies to pay them billions of extra dollars for no coherent reason. These efforts, routinely dressed up as serious adult policy, usually involve false claims that tech companies are getting a “free ride” on the Internet, and should therefore […]
The Gates Foundation is one of the most influential funding bodies in the world. According to one ranking, it is the second largest charitable foundation, and as of 31 December 2023 had an endowment of around $75.2 billion. That makes a shift in its publishing policy hugely important. An article in Chemical & Engineering News explains that hitherto the Gates […]
Here’s a phrase I have to use but hate doing so: let’s go back to the 2020 presidential campaign. During what was essentially a multi-year advertisement for just how absolutely petty, stupid, and disingenuous a political system could possibly be, the 2020 American presidential election also featured a video sent out by the Trump campaign […]
Remember “DoNotPay”? They were the company, run by Joshua Browder, claiming to be the “world’s first robot lawyer.” There were all sorts of sketchy things going on, some of which dated back to “DoNotPay’s” earliest days. But things really came to a head last year when legal investigator extraordinaire, Kathryn Tewson, started digging in and […]
One of the most horrific acts of police brutality has now resulted in two DOJ investigations. The first concerned the torture of Michael Jenkins and Eddie Parker by six white deputies who referred to themselves as the “Goon Squad” for their willingness to break rules and violate rights. The first investigation involved the incident itself […]
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Among the key reasons Elon Musk insisted he had to buy Twitter were (1) that it was too political in how it was managed and how content moderation was done, (2) the company was not as transparent as it should be, and (3) it was too quick to censor. Since taking over, Elon has been […]
Two years ago, Techdirt’s Copia Institute released a report discussing how open access fiber networks were a potential path toward boosting fiber competition in the United States. Such networks, sometimes community owned, involve collaboratively building a centralized fiber infrastructure that multiple competitors can come in and compete over. In instances where this has been successfully […]
We’ve talked a great deal about the trademark adventurism of famed burger chain In-N-Out. While In-N-Out has shown itself to be a happy trademark bully in several ways, most of our posts on the company have to do with the trademark tourism it engages in. This is the process by which the company puts up […]
Efforts in Congress to ban the use of AI in political ads have largely stalled. So, naturally, the White House is attempting an end-around through the Federal Communications Commission. While not an outright ban, the FCC’s proposal to regulate the use of artificial intelligence in political ads is an example of Washington bureaucrats not understanding […]
This is pretty harrowing all the way through. No one’s getting away with anything, so there’s that small comfort. But what motivates a well-liked sheriff of a small county in Kentucky to cross every possible line and kill a judge in his own chambers? The facts, as they were first presented by numerous sources, did […]
One of the reasons that today’s copyright is such a bad fit for the modern digital world is that its roots lie deep in 18th-century law and analogue objects like books. This fact has created a kind of legislative drag that means copyright is always decades behind the latest technological developments. A case in point […]
In my time covering internet speech issues, I’ve seen some truly ridiculous arguments regarding Section 230. I even created my ever-handy “Hello! You’ve Been Referred Here Because You’re Wrong About Section 230 Of The Communications Decency Act” article four years ago, which still gets a ton of traffic to this day. But I’m not sure […]
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