For a little while, it looked as though Section 702 surveillance might finally be curtailed, if not substantially reformed. Lots of House Republicans were irritated that some of Trump’s inner circle had been (inappropriately) targeted by FBI investigators taking advantage of the agency’s backdoor access to US persons’ communications collected by a foreign-facing collection program. […]
Not every bad mistake is evil. Not every poor decision is deliberate. Especially in these more automated times. Sometimes, machines just make mistakes, and it’s about time we came to terms with that simple fact. Last week, we wrote about how, while Meta may be a horrible awful company that you should not trust, there […]
Twelve years ago, internet users spoke up with one voice to reject a law that would build censorship into the internet at a fundamental level. This week, the Motion Picture Association (MPA), a group that represents six giant movie and TV studios, announced that it hoped we’d all forgotten how dangerous this idea was. The MPA is […]
It’s enough to make you want to shoot yourself in the face in embarrassment. It’s enough to make you want to dress as a mime when visiting Europe because at least you won’t be mistaken for an American. It’s enough to make you wonder how the Land of the Free became the Land of the […]
MATLAB allows matrix manipulations, plotting of functions and data, implementation of algorithms, creating of user interfaces, and interfacing with programs written in other languages. That’s all well and good, but it means nothing if you don’t have a firm grasp of the data types used within MATLAB. In this course you’ll cover not just data […]
Elon Musk does not seem to like it much when reports point out that ExTwitter appears to have a neo-Nazi issue. Of course, he could respond to these reports by noting that, as a “free speech absolutist,” that includes those who support Nazism, as distasteful as that is, but he stands by that horrific speech […]
The FCC’s Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP), part of the 2021 infrastructure bill, currently provides 23+ million low-income Americans a $30 broadband discount every month. But those 23 million Americans are poised to soon lose the discount because key Republicans — who routinely dole out billions of dollars on far dumber fare — refuse to fund a $4-$7 billion extension. As […]
We’ve written about Bell Canada plenty over the years and not typically for good reasons. This is a company that wanted to ban VPNs to combat people getting around geo-blocked content, has a habit of acting petulant when it comes to regulators, and has engaged in other consumer-unfriendly practices. So, not the best reputation when […]
When last we checked in with our friends at Roku, they had made the unpopular decision to effectively “brick” user streaming hardware and television sets if users didn’t agree to a typically draconian end user agreement that effectively bans your legal right to sue the company. Eroding your legal rights using fine print isn’t new; […]
Last week, the House Energy and Commerce Committee had a hearing all about Section 230, in which they didn’t even attempt to find a witness pointing out its benefits. Among the many organizations that could have provided that vital perspective is the Wikimedia Foundation (as seen in three excellent posts on Medium), and this week […]
Various states and the federal government are proposing and passing a wide variety of “kid safety” laws. Almost all of them pretend that they’re about conduct of social media sites and not about the content on them, but when you boil down what the underlying concerns are, they all end up actually being about the […]
It looks like we’re headed to several more years of the same old abuse. The House vote on Section 702 reauthorization — something postponed several times since EOY2023 due to infighting and out-fighting — has indicated that whatever concerns people might have about warrantless access to US persons’ communications can be handled the next time […]
Luminar Neo is an easy-to-use photo editing software that empowers photography lovers to express the beauty they imagined using innovative AI-driven tools. Luminar Neo was built from the ground up to be different from previous Luminar editors. It keeps your favorite LuminarAI tools and expands your arsenal with more state-of-the-art technologies and important changes at […]
That thing is happening again, where politicians are pushing a bad law that will benefit Rupert Murdoch, while harming the public. Rather than blaming Murdoch or the politicians pushing the law, they’re blaming “big tech” for actually responding to the law accordingly. Because that’s easier. But it’s wrong. In this case, it’s California’s terrible attempt […]
The 2021 infrastructure bill is throwing more than $42 billion at America’s mediocre broadband networks. And while a lot of that money will be put to good use shoring up fiber, a lot of it is being dumped in the laps of regional monopolies with a long, long history of taking subsidies in exchange for […]
Here we go again. There seems to be a thing happening among a select few big name video game publishers that have decided for some reason that they want to go to war with their own modding communities. The reasons for doing so vary, but they all amount to wanting to strictly control the experience […]
Here come more bad laws, courtesy of the Florida legislature — a government body that hasn’t met a right it isn’t willing to violate to further its bigoted agenda. These laws won’t necessarily violate rights right out of the gate, but the potential is definitely there. Here’s Douglas Sole of the Tallahassee Democrat (it’s a […]
Apparently, the forced bluechecking will continue until the culture on ExTwitter improves. Providing a bit more confirmation to the theory that Elon’s recent decision to give free “Premium” accounts to basically anyone with a half-decent follower base was about his realization that only the absolute worst people were willing to pay for Twitter Blue, Twitter […]
It took the FBI carelessly, stupidly, and unlawfully targeting members of Trump’s inner circle to make Section 702 program reform a thing that might actually happen. It’s kind of astounding, considering the Snowden leaks provided a much better argument for reform, as well as the FBI’s long-documented history of abusing its access to Section 702 […]
You probably already know the benefits of learning a language, so let’s focus on the app. Right off the bat, let’s be clear about one thing: When we say “app” we don’t mean that you’re limited to using Babbel on your phone. You can use Babbel on desktop, too, and your progress is synchronized across […]
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