The courts in Indiana have made significant moves in recent years to do what the legislature won’t: limit asset forfeiture abuse. A case that made its way from Indiana’s Supreme Court to the US Supreme Court ended with a declaration that certain forfeitures violated constitutional protections against excessive fines. In that case, Tyson Timbs was […]
Just a few weeks ago Judge William Orrick massively trimmed back the first big lawsuit that was filed against generative AI companies for training their works on copyright-covered materials. Most of the case was dismissed, and what bits remained may not last much longer. And now, it appears that Judge Vince Chhabria (who has been […]
Reach new heights (literally) with this 4K Dual-Camera Drone. It’s equipped with an HD 4K front camera that supports a remote 90° control angle and a bottom camera with a 120° wide angle. This drone also uses optical flow positioning, allowing the bottom camera to accurately capture the ground or any object, keeping the drone […]
UK law enforcement seems incapable of recognizing warning signs. Officials seem willing to compete with China in terms of Most Cameras Per Capita. And it’s not enough to just have cameras covering every bit of open space. Those cameras must contain questionable tech that is notoriously inaccurate, at least when deployed by UK law enforcement. […]
The consumer quest to be able to affordably repair your own tech is going well, if you hadn’t noticed. Maine just became the fourth state to implement right to repair protections in the wake of laws passed in New York, California, and Minnesota. As that vote (84 percent of Maine voters approved) illustrates, support for […]
Some will never learn. The Streisand Effect, coined by site-god Mike Masnick two decades ago, is a term that describes when a person or group attempts to disappear content, typically from the internet, which only serves to make that content far more visible and sought out. Because the internet tends to round around censorship and […]
Another state lawmaker has introduced an age verification bill looking to block minors’ access to porn websites. This time, Indiana state Sen. Mike Bohacek of the community of Michiana Shores has introduced a preliminary draft that proposes copycat age verification policies similar to other states, including Louisiana, Texas, Utah, and others. The Indiana bill would […]
As you likely know by now, last week, Elon Musk released the initial version of the AI chatbot he created earlier this year via “xAI” which may or may not be part of his many other companies, but definitely uses employees, technology, and resources from those other companies. He named it “Grok,” though also claimed […]
Everyone who wants client-side scanning to be a thing insists it’s a good idea with no potential downsides. The only hangup, they insist, is tech companies’ unwillingness to implement it. And by “implement,” I mean — in far too many cases — introducing deliberate (and exploitable!) weaknesses in end-to-end encryption. End-to-end encryption only works if […]
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 […]
Over the last few weeks, YouTube has been cracking down on YouTube adblockers, blocking users who are using such adblockers (or, in some cases, disabling extensions). There are still some ways around it, but apparently it’s becoming more difficult. Here at Techdirt, we’ve always been pro-adblocker (even though we sometimes have ads on the site, […]
Maine residents have made it very clear: the overwhelming majority of Americans want to be able to easily and affordably repair the stuff they own. 83 percent of Maine voters last week responded yes to “Question 4,” asking whether automakers should be required to provide car owners (and independent repair shops) access to on-board diagnostic […]
Way back in 2018, we discussed how the Ravinia Festival Association, which operates the Ravinia Festival venue north of Chicago, attempted to shut down or force a rename for the then new Ravinia Brewing Company brewery and restaurant in Highland Park. That might all look fairly appropriate at first glance if you’re not from the […]
The EU Copyright Directive is arguably the most important recent legislation in the area of intellectual monopolies. It is also a failure, judged purely on its own terms as an initiative to modernize and unify copyright across the European Union. Instead, it includes many backward-looking features that go against the grain of the digital world, which are […]
There’s generally been two reasons the U.S. government hasn’t tried to regulate data brokers or pass even a baseline privacy law, and it’s not, contrary to conventional wisdom, because it’s too hard. One, there’s an army of industries with near-bottomless lobbying budgets opposed to meaningful privacy protections, because empowered consumers would inevitably cost these companies […]
I’ve noted my skepticism regarding the antitrust attacks on the current Google antitrust trial regarding how it pays to have its search placed as the default on Safari and other browsers/phones. Again, that does not mean I’m skeptical of all antitrust suits against Google, as some of the others (around advertising) appear to have significantly […]
The UK government thinks the 2016 Investigatory Powers Act is due for an overhaul. But it has plenty of opposition. Some of the proposed amendments actually appear to be illegal. And at least one major tech company has threatened to exit the market if the proposed amendments become law. The so-called “Snooper’s Charter” has always […]
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As some folks know, back in 2005, right here on Techdirt, I coined “The Streisand Effect,” as a throwaway line at the end of a post. It was in reference to a story from two years earlier regarding Streisand suing photographer Ken Adelman after he had started the California Coastal Records Project, in which he […]
GOP FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr can routinely be found hyperventilating about TikTok, a company he doesn’t actually regulate. At the same time, Carr routinely turns a blind eye to the endless sleazy behavior in the sector he actually regulates: telecom. He doesn’t much care about predatory pricing, privacy violations, or the way companies like AT&T […]
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