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 […]
This DevDojo Pro subscription gives you access to a set of tools to help you build your next great idea. Start with the Page Creator, where you’ll find Tailwind CSS Page Builder, a tool for crafting beautiful landing pages. Then, move on to Wave SAAS Starter Kit, where you’ll learn how to build your Software […]
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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It has been rumored for a while that Elon wants to remove the official “block” functionality on ExTwitter, but now it’s official. The company has announced that it will soon start rolling out a new version of “block” that no longer blocks content, only interactions. That’s ExTwitter’s engineering team saying: Soon we’ll be launching a […]
While FTC boss Lina Khan certainly has had some growing pains, she’s fought for consumer protection and antitrust reform in a way that U.S. regulators haven’t seen for the better part of a generation. Whether it’s taking on automaker privacy abuses, supporting right to repair reforms, or taking aim at Amazon’s attempt to dominate the […]
It can be easy for people to dislike the secondary market if they aren’t the ones selling into it. Commonly referred to as “scalpers”, the fact is that the secondary market is a very important part of the economy. It’s how goods retain some of their value, for instance. And when goods are sold several […]
There is simply too much going on here to pretend there’s a way to succinctly sum up what’s led us to this point in our coverage. A small Kansas newspaper’s offices, the home of its 98-year-old owner (who died shortly after the raid), and the home of Marion vice mayor Ruth Herbel were all raided […]
Over the summer we noted how the brunchlords in charge of Paramount (CBS) decided to eliminate decades of MTV News journalism and Comedy Central history as part of their ongoing and utterly mindless “cost saving” efforts. It was just the latest casualties in an ever-consolidating and very broken U.S. media business routinely run by some of the least competent […]
Of course, Elon Musk had to take Twitter private. If he had to answer to shareholders, he would have been ousted months ago for his systematic, single-minded destruction of the company’s value. Pretty much every move he’s made has been some level of bad, ranging from confusing to annoying to infuriating to catastrophic. Alienating long-term […]
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