Elon Musk’s ExTwitter just set a new speed record: from enthusiastic joiner of an advertising coalition to potential plaintiff against the same organization in just over a week. Sometimes, timing is everything. This week has been a travel week for me, so on Tuesday evening, I wrote up a short article on last week’s news […]
Like a growing number of states, the FTC under Lina Khan continues to show it’s somewhat serious about protecting consumers’ rights to repair their own tech. In 2021 the agency issued a useful report busting a lot of lobbying myths about repairability, and over the last few years has been cracking down on companies that […]
Here we are again, with yet another example of how buying digital products, or buying products that have a digital component to them, doesn’t mean you have any actual ownership and control of those products. We have seen a bunch of examples of this recently, from Oral-B removing Alexa-based features from one of its toothbrush […]
The famous line is “Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.” But what do you call it when Elon Musk fools advertisers over and over again into believing that ExTwitter will protect their brand safety, despite making it clear that he has no interest in doing so? At this point, […]
One of the common themes here at Techdirt over the last 20 years is how in the digital and internet-connected era, the very meaning of “ownership” and “property” has changed — often for the worse. It simply takes a merger or an ill-timed firmware update to render something you thought you owned — completely obsolete. […]
I’m not going to go through all the background on this story, because we just did that yesterday. If you missed that post, it will help to go read it before reading this one. I concluded that post by noting that, thanks to district court Judge Terry Doughty petulantly claiming he can’t stay an obviously […]
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It’s a problem that likely dates back to the department’s inception, but in 2015, the New York City Inspector General released a report that explained why residents were forced to shell out millions every year to foot the bill for police misconduct: Historically, NYPD has frequently failed to discipline officers who use force without justification. […]
Back in April the Biden FCC once again voted along party lines to restore net neutrality rules stripped away by the Trump FCC in a flurry of sleazy industry behavior that included using fake and dead people to create the illusion of public support. The Trump FCC was also caught making up a DDOS attack to explain away public outrage […]
Most people would respond to a possible drug overdose by seeking immediate medical attention and following up with medical professionals to see how the victim is faring. I mean, that’s what the EMTs who responded to a drug overdose call did. They took Corban Elmore’s son to the emergency room and, from there, medical professionals […]
On any given Sunday there’s simply no shortage of U.S. antitrust violations, where some giant predatory corporation leverages its consolidated power to derail price competition and harm consumers. But because U.S. antitrust enforcement is a feckless and inconsistent mess, in most instances (see: telecom), a company can engage in these kinds of practices for decades […]
There’s a stunning degree of fear mongering and lack of humility about what California AI bill SB 942 can or can’t do. Honest conversation about this bill’s limitations are essential to ensuring we don’t pass this ineffective law. But its proponents have obstructed reasoned policy development by injecting panic into that conversation and pretending it […]
RFK Jr. seems to believe that being a Kennedy and spouting anti-vax nonsense qualifies him to be President. Now, he’s taking his delusions to a whole new level by arguing that the Supreme Court’s Murthy decision means the government can’t even talk to social media companies anymore. Buckle up, folks, this is going to be […]
The Complete 2024 Penetration Testing & Ethical Hacking Training Bundle has 9 courses to help you learn to fight back against cyber threats. Courses include hands-on lessons on penetration testing for AWS, IoT, and web apps, along with hacking basics and a few certificate exam prep courses. It’s on sale for $50. Note: The Techdirt […]
An ex-big city cop who blew into a small town under suspicious circumstances to become police chief. A business owner seeking a liquor license who spent a lot of time driving around with a suspended license due to DUI violations. A small town paper that dug into all of these stories and more to the […]
We’ve illustrated repeatedly how as streaming subscriber growth has slowed, streaming giants have had to pivot to some bad industry habits to ensure Wall Street gets those sweet improved quarterly returns. That’s included everything from utterly pointless layoff-creating mergers and price hikes, to annoying new restrictions and a steady increase in ads (that you have […]
As all DOJ investigations of law enforcement agencies are, the one targeting the Phoenix, Arizona Police Department was scathing in its assessment of the department’s officers and tactics. It led off with this, before providing graphic details covering everything from routine abuse of force to unchecked biased policing that led the DOJ to conclude “PhxPD […]
Last month we noted how the brunchlords in charge of Paramount (CBS) decided to eliminate decades of MTV News journalism history as part of their ongoing “cost saving” efforts. It was just the latest casualty in an ever-consolidating and very broken U.S. media business routinely run by some of the least competent people imaginable. We’ve […]
It was over six years ago when we last had Renée DiResta on the podcast for a detailed discussion about misinformation and disinformation on social media. Since then, she’s not only led extensive research on the subject, she’s also become a central figure in the fever-dream conspiracy theories of online disinformation peddlers. Her new book […]
Remember that SLAPP suit, financed by Elon Musk, that actor Gina Carano filed against Disney after they chose not to renew her contract for the Mandalorian? That’s the one where Carano seems to be insisting that failing to renew her contract after she made some controversial political comments is somehow a violation of her First […]
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