A central theme of Walled Culture the book (free digital versions available) and this blog is that the copyright industry is never satisfied. Now matter how long the term of copyright, publishers and recording companies want more. No matter how harsh the punishments for infringement, the copyright intermediaries want them to be even more severe. Another […]
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As much as I write about cops, you’d think I’d rarely be surprised by them or their thought processes. But, every so often, they surprise even me. Let’s take a ride back to early 1989, when the Broward County (FL) Sheriff’s Office was actually bragging about this sort of thing: A chemist with the Broward […]
U.S. automakers have long tried to monopolize repair, in a bid to cash in on captive customers. But they also want to cash in on user behavior, driving, and phone data without much in the way of oversight, transparency, or consumer privacy. That’s why they’ve historically been so opposed to “right to repair” reforms that […]
I have to thread the needle a bit on this one. On the one hand, I have very much evangelized how much sports video games has done to educate lots of people on some of the finer points of professional and college sports, myself included. Even though, at times, I like to poke fun about […]
In an era where digital devices are everywhere, the term “screen time” has become a buzz phrase in discussions about technology’s impact on people’s lives. Parents are concerned about their children’s screen habits. But what if this entire approach to screen time is fundamentally flawed? While researchers have made advances in measuring screen use, a detailed […]
Few things have been more enjoyable than watching the collapse of New York City mayor Eric Adams’ personal, cop-focused empire. Granted, if you’re a NYC resident, your mileage will vary because violently disintegrating governments rarely later resolve as fully functional enterprises. But there’s still something incredibly satisfying as watching a law-and-order mayor bind himself to […]
Walled Culture has been following the sorry saga of Italy’s automated blocking system Piracy Shield for a year now. Blocklists are drawn up by copyright companies, without any review, or the possibility of any objections, and those blocks must be enforced within 30 minutes. Needless to say, such a ham-fisted and biased approach to copyright infringement is […]
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Few things seem to push government officials to become officious faster than the mild irritation of people making a slight mockery of government machinery. In the grand scheme of things, the scofflawishness is almost imperceptible. But it’s the scoffing part that bothers these officious entities the most. And that is almost always greeted with a […]
I’ve noted for years how the U.S. is simply too corrupt to pass a modern internet-era privacy law or regulate dodgy data brokers. So we are subjected to a parade of privacy and security scandals thanks to numerous industries that over-collect your data, fail to properly secure it, then sell access to any random asshole […]
Funny enough, it was only a few weeks back that we last discussed Dr. Keith Bell and the slew of lawsuits he has filed over depictions and/or retweets on social media of a passage he wrote, referred to as “The Winning Isn’t Normal” passage. These suits, which largely are over retweets of the passage, are […]
Copyright is built on a lie that most people seem to accept: artists can make a decent living from the current system of rewards that copyright provides. As Walled Culture the book (free digital versions available) explores, all the data about artist remuneration shows that isn’t true. Alongside such dry statistics, it’s good to hear […]
There’s usually only one reason government officials use personal email accounts: to dodge FOIA requests. The excuses offered by those caught doing it are never credible. And those who do opt for personal email — especially at the federal level — are putting themselves in peril. There are also practical security reasons for using government […]
While Congress still can’t get its act together to pass an anti-SLAPP law, the Ohio legislature has stepped up and done so in the Buckeye state. Most of the reporting on this has noted that it passed unanimously, and the expectation was that Governor Mike DeWine would sign it, though his big list of bills […]
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WhatsApp has scored a limited win in its lawsuit against NSO Group. The allegations were that NSO used WhatsApp’s servers — located in California — to deliver its malware to targeted devices. NSO argued several things and failed in almost every case, including the deployment of diametrically-opposed assertions. First, it argued it couldn’t be held […]
During peak COVID in 2021, when everybody was freaking out about how shitty and expensive U.S. broadband was for telecommuting and home education, NY state officials had an idea: what if we pass a law demanding that ISPs try to provide cheap broadband (a piddly 25 Mbps for $15) to low income families. Some particulars […]
This week, our first place winner on the insightful side That One Guy with a comment about Congress ignoring bills to protect the press: Gee, I wonder why they’d fear honest reporting so much… When the head of your party is a convicted felon and a core pillar of said party is that any criticism […]
Five Years Ago This week in 2019, the biggest copyright trolls were facing some issues in court and trying new strategies, while the Sons of Confederate Veterans were sued over a bogus DMCA takedown and we analyzed the choice of venue. We also saw some particularly insane copyright damages against Cox. Avast was downplaying its […]
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