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Earlier this year we discussed a trademark fight between rapper Eminem and two stars of The Real Houswives of Potomac, Gizelle Bryant and Robyn Dixon. At issue was the trademark application for Bryant and Dixon’s podcast, which is entitled “Reasonably Shady.” Em’s legal team opposed that application, arguing essentially that all things “shady” belong to […]

As you likely know, a few weeks back former Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor passed away. There have been lots of discussions about her rulings and her legacy, but the one that caught my eye was from the Disruptive Competition Project, which has a post by Jonathan Band exploring her immense impact on copyright […]

The attacks on generative AI started out claiming that it was all about protecting the creators whose works were being “stolen” in some mysterious way by virtue of software analyzing them. In some cases, that high-minded stance has already degenerated into yet another scheme to pay collecting societies even more for doing next to nothing. But beyond all this […]

One of the big, usually misleading, complaints about content moderation is that it’s done out of personal animus or whims, rather than a focus on actually making it so people stop being jackasses on platforms. Indeed over and over again you hear stories about some content moderation decision that people assert way too much thought […]

There’s been plenty of courtroom discussion about Fifth Amendment rights surrounding compelled decryption in recent years. Encryption is on by default on most devices these days. Law enforcement seems to believe all it needs is a warrant to compel decryption. Courts aren’t so sure. A lot of judicial discussion revolves around the “foregone conclusion” doctrine. […]

Listening to your favorite tunes coming out of a mini Gramophone style Bluetooth speaker is fun and this speaker is small enough to have on your desk while you do your work or as a part of the décor in your den while you are enjoying Sunday brunch and lounge around the house! Enjoy Olden […]

Given just how many terrible state social media laws we keep seeing, it’s nice to finally see one that, conceptually, I agree with, though practically still worry about. NY state senator Brad Holyman-Sigal has introduced a bill to require social media websites to provide an openly accessible API for others to build on top of. […]

Hackers have managed to obtain the personal data of 36 million Comcast customers. In a notice sent to customers on Monday, Comcast announced that hackers had exploited the “CitrixBleed” vulnerability in Citrix networking devices that’s been a problem since at least August. Hackers gained access to a significant portion of Comcast systems between October 16 […]

As Walled Culture has often noted, the process of framing new copyright laws is tilted against the public in multiple ways. And on the rare occasions when a government makes some mild concession to anyone outside the copyright industry, the latter invariably rolls out its highly-effective lobbying machine to fight against such measures. It’s happening again in […]

To paraphrase Voltaire, I disagree with what you say but I will defend to the death the government’s right to prosecute you for what you say. That’s apparently the thought process in Olyphant Borough, Pennsylvania. Marine veteran Dave Bliler lives in this town. He’s also not thrilled with any level of government, at least according […]

Many of you might know Andrew “K’Tetch” Norton as a Techdirt commenter, or from his work at TorrentFreak or for the Pirate Party, and some of you might know that he also runs his own podcast, Tetch Talk. Recently, Andrew asked Mike and I to join him on the podcast for a discussion about our […]

Oh boy. We’ve already written a few times about Elon Musk’s “Grok” AI from his company xAI, which may or may not be a part of ExTwitter or possibly Tesla, but no one really knows because all of Elon’s companies blend together in a mishmash of hell for anyone who believes in good, normal corporate […]

The man who decided he was the real glue holding New York City together following the 9/11 attacks is now nothing more than a man whose stupid, obsequious mouth has written checks he can’t cash. And all to stroke the ego of a lame duck president who thought what the nation really needed was a […]

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This one is from a couple months ago, but I’m clearing out some older stories that I didn’t have the time to write up when they were new. For years, we’ve highlighted how the DMCA is regularly abused for a variety of purposes. Often it’s abused to try to take down content someone doesn’t like, […]

Back in 2017 the FCC tried to pass some very basic privacy protections for broadband access. The rules simply demanded transparency as to what kind of data your ISP collects and sells. They also mandated that the trafficking of sensitive financial data by telecoms require the opt in consent of consumers. Telecom giants like AT&T […]

Warrants that are short on things required by the Fourth Amendment — probable cause, specificity, the correct address, solid affidavits — are often given a free pass because law enforcement has plenty of options when it comes to sneaking around the edges of the Constitution. In some cases, the excuses are pretty much just this: […]

The folks behind the Grand Theft Auto franchise are certainly no strangers to lawsuits and complaints over publicity rights issues. GTA5 famously found the publishers of the game in court defending itself against the likes of Lindsay Lohan and Karen Gravano, ultimately winning both cases. Anyone familiar with the GTA franchise will have a sense […]

Back in May, Walled Culture wrote about an important case before the EU’s top court, the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU). It involved the “High Authority for the dissemination of works and the protection of rights on the Internet” (Haute Autorité pour la diffusion des œuvres et la protection des droits sur […]

A few weeks ago, publishing giant Penguin Random House (and, yes, I’m still confused why they didn’t call it Random Penguin House after the merger) announced that it was filing a lawsuit (along with many others) against the state of Iowa for its attempt to ban books in school libraries. In its announcement, Penguin Random […]