Italy’s newly-installed Piracy Shield system, put in place by the country’s national telecoms regulator, Autorità per le Garanzie nelle Comunicazioni (Authority for Communications Guarantees, AGCOM), is already failing in significant ways. One issue became evident in February, when the VPN provider AirVPN announced that it would no longer accept users resident in Italy because of the “burdensome” requirements […]
The U.S. is a global leader in traffic-related fatalities, with a thirty-percent jump in the last decade. That’s in contrast to every other developed country, which saw a decline. So, of course, it’s a perfect time to flood American highways with a parade of extremely heavy EVs with unprecedented acceleration. Some of which are extremely pointy and feature half-cooked […]
With strong bipartisan support, the U.S. House voted 352 to 65 to pass HR 7521 last week, a bill that would ban TikTok nationwide if its Chinese owner doesn’t sell the popular video app. The TikTok bill’s future in the U.S. Senate isn’t yet clear, but President Joe Biden has said he would sign it into law if it […]
A lot of police work in the United States is just playing the odds. Roll the dice enough times, and you’re sure to come up a winner now and then. The odds really don’t matter because law enforcement agencies are playing with house money, so being wrong time and time again will never bankrupt them. […]
MagStack is the perfect on-the-go wireless charging station that also transforms into a phone stand for FaceTime or video playback while charging. This 3-in-1 foldable design featuring 3 wireless charging spots, enables charging for up to 3 devices simultaneously, including iPhone, Apple Watch, AirPods Pro, AirPods with Wireless Charging Case, other Qi-compatible Android phones, and […]
We already covered the oral arguments in the Murthy v. Missouri case earlier this week, showing that the Supreme Court appears to be quite skeptical of the arguments by the states regarding the federal government “jawboning” to convince social media to take down certain content. For months now, we’ve been pointing out that the factual […]
Last week the New York Times published a story confirming what everybody assumed was already happening. Automakers collect reams of personal behavior, phone, and other data (without making it clear to consumers) then sell it to a long list of companies. Including insurance companies, who are now jacking up insurance rates if they see behavior […]
Here we go again. Monster Energy is one of the most prolific trademark bullies in the history of trademark bullying. And the really frustrating part of all this is that at times it can feel like Monster makes trademark bullying a chief international export every bit as much as energy drinks. No trademark concern is […]
With the standard caveat that reading too much into oral arguments is dangerous, I will note that I am cautiously optimistic after listening to the oral arguments in the Murthy v. Missouri case at the Supreme Court this morning. There are very real concerns about where the line is between government coercion (not allowed) and […]
Both troubled teens and government agencies are asking, “How thin is thin enough?” The teens are thinking about how thin they want to look, while the government is thinking about what’s too thin to post online. The refrain is always the same: the platforms need to do more—never mind the difficult details. Platforms need to […]
The Freedom of Information Act does its best to free information, but it can only do so much when the same government that’s supposed to follow it figures it shouldn’t abide by a law another branch crafted. Simple refusals are never welcome, but at least they say something: that the government does have these documents. […]
You probably already know the benefits of learning a language, so let’s focus on the app. Right off the bat, let’s be clear about one thing: When we say “app” we don’t mean that you’re limited to using Babbel on your phone. You can use Babbel on desktop, too, and your progress is synchronized across […]
You know that line, “every accusation is a confession?” For no reason at all, that’s coming to mind all of a sudden. No reason. Anyway, a decade ago, Henry Farrell and Martha Finnemore wrote a fantastic piece for Foreign Affairs on “The End of Hypocrisy” (which we also wrote about here at Techdirt). They argued […]
For decades, U.S. broadband providers have struck cozy deals with landlords effectively elbowing out competitors and allowing them to create building-by-building broadband monopolies. That stifled competition results in higher costs, slow speeds, and worse overall service. And while the FCC passed rules in 2007 trying to ban the practice, they were so full of loopholes […]
This week, our first place winner on the insightful side is Pixelation with a comment about banning TikTok: Banning TikTok will open the door to the real threat, government control of communication platforms. I would say it’s a republican wet dream, but it’s also a democrat one as well. In second place, it’s That One […]
It’s time for another entry in our series of spotlight posts looking at the winners of the sixth annual public domain game jam, Gaming Like It’s 1928! We’ve already featured Best Visuals winner Flight from Podunk Station and Best Adaptation winner Mickey Party, and today we’re taking a closer look at the winner of Best […]
We haven’t talked a great deal about SXSW in some time, but they are back in the news and not for good reasons! The conference and festival kicked off in March as planned, but less planned were the protests that organized against the conference as a result of its affiliations with defense contractors and the […]
A gentleman’s agreement with the UK following years of colonialism has given rise to another form of oppression. China took over Hong Kong in 1997, promising to stay out of the day-to-day business of governing Hong Kong for 50 years. Not even halfway through this promised period of relative autonomy, the Chinese government began imposing […]
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, Spotify, Amazon Music, YouTube, or your podcast app of choice. In this week’s round-up of news about online speech, content moderation and internet regulation, Mike and Ben cover: The […]
On Monday, the Supreme Court will be hearing the Murthy v. Missouri case, which we’ve been following for ages. As we’ve pointed out repeatedly, the record on the case is full of blatant falsehoods. If the US government was actually doing everything that the lawsuit (and some judges!) claims it did, I would be in […]
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