Remember a few weeks ago when Elon Musk misleadingly claimed that George Soros was secretly “buying a propaganda machine to influence how you think”? Can you imagine the kind of shitstorm that would be playing out on ExTwitter and Fox News if George Soros were out there offering $1 million per day to people to […]
What an absolute shocker. What a completely unexpected turn of events. Oh how will we, as Americans, process this latest in a never-ending string of abuses of trust by law enforcement. What a time to be alive. Etc. Cops are always trying to hide the tech they use from criminal defendants, even when plenty of […]
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In a stunning display of technological and regulatory ineptitude, Italy’s ‘Piracy Shield’ law has managed to block access to Google Drive, apparently confusing the popular cloud storage service with a hotbed of illegal activity. Bravo, Italy, bravo. Earlier this year, we wrote about Italy’s new “Piracy Shield” nonsense, in which the country’s telecom regulator, AGCOM, […]
As we recently noted, the FCC has announced that’s finally “taking a look at” broadband usage caps. We’ve noted for decades how such limits are completely artificial, technically unnecessary constructs that exist specifically so your local telecom monopoly can rip you off. They don’t “manage congestion,” they exist exclusively to price gouge captive broadband customers […]
This week, both our winners on the insightful side come in response to our post about the judge who smacked down Florida’s attempt to censor abortion initiative ads. In first place, it’s an anonymous comment about our description of the legislature being “confused” about the first amendment: Make no mistake: They know exactly how it […]
Five Years Ago This week in 2019, states were rushing to protect net neutrality followed by the court ruling that shot down the FCC’s attempt to prevent them. Marc Benioff was being extremely hypocritical about Section 230, the guy who tried to extort YouTubers with bogus DMCA takedowns agreed to a settlement, and a guest […]
I have to admit, the volume of trademark dispute stories in the brewing industry I’ve done over the course of these many years here at Techdirt have surprisingly slowed down the last few years. I’m not sure if this is a function of the slowdown in industry growth in the craft brewing industry, market consolidation […]
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 […]
Professor Eric Goldman continues to be the best at tracking any and all developments regarding internet regulations. He recently covered a series of cases in which the contours of Section 230’s liability immunity is getting chipped away in all sorts of dangerous ways. As it’s unlikely that I would have the time to cover any […]
For many, many years we’ve pointed out that broadband usage caps are hugely profitable bullshit, used by regional telecom monopolies to rip off captive customers. The limits serve no technical purpose outside of price gouging. ISPs like Comcast spent years pretending they were necessary to “manage network congestion,” but after numerous journalists, academics, executives, and […]
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It’s not unheard of for us, or other publications, to paraphrase what a court ruling says at times. This time, however, the quote in the headline is actually 100% a direct quote from Judge Mark Walker, the Chief Judge of the Northern District of Florida federal court in a ruling against the state of Florida. […]
States are poised to receive $42.5 billion in broadband grants thanks to the 2021 infrastructure bill. While a lot of this money will be going to the usual entrenched monopoly incumbents, a lot of it is also going to a growing list of popular cooperatives, municipalities, and city-owned utilities to expand affordable fiber. This Broadband […]
After the ACLU obtained a settlement from the city of Chicago over the PD’s unconstitutional “stop and frisk” program, the Chicago PD decided to take the show on the road. Literally. The number of traffic stops in Chicago surged after the settlement with ACLU Illinois over stop-and-frisk pedestrian stops, while pedestrian stops fell from a […]
We’ve been writing stories about how, when it comes to digital purchases, we typically do not own what we’ve bought. Instead of buying a product, such as the digital version of a video game, what we are instead buying is a non-transferable license to use that product. While readers here will be largely familiar with […]
“Felony murder” laws are still problematic, even if that law has led to a corrupt drug warrior finally being punished for the evil he has committed under the color of law. Gerald Goines headed up a Houston PD drug squad for years and was never one to let facts or a lack of evidence stand […]
We are living under a sea of AI-generated slop, where AI deepfakes and non-consensual intimate content abound. Congress, a self-interested creature, naturally wants to create protections for themselves, their favorite celebrities, and their wealthy donors against online impersonation. But until now, visions of so-called AI protections have been limited. From my lair, I’ve seen how […]
There are few things the government loves less than admitting wrongdoing, especially when the admission might affect multiple levels of government. That’s why nearly every settlement paid out to litigants includes a disavowment of any wrongdoing. And that’s why courts — at multiple levels — are so extremely reluctant to give possibly innocent people an […]
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