We’ve long established that U.S. broadband is expansive, patchy, and slow thanks to mindless consolidation, regulatory capture, regional monopolization, and limited competition. That’s resulted in a growing number of towns, cities, cooperatives, and city-owned utilities building their own, locally-owned and operated broadband networks in a bid for better, cheaper, faster broadband. Regional giants like Comcast, […]
Field drug tests often seem to be more a triumph of imagination than a triumph of science. They’re cheap. Some popular tests run less than $3/per. That’s the literal selling point. When in doubt, a cop can get probable cause by grabbing a substance, dumping it into a field test, and deciding whatever results are […]
Big tech companies have long attempted to monopolize repair options to boost their profits, whether we’re talking about tractors, phones, or game consoles. But in recent years companies like Apple and Microsoft appear to have realized that with state and federal lawmakers and regulators cracking down on this behavior, and right to repair seeing widespread, […]
Last month, we wrote about Apple’s nonsensical attack on Beeper, a universal messaging app that exemplifies many of the things we talk about here on Techdirt, like adversarial interoperability and the value of embracing open protocols over walled platforms. This week, Beeper CEO Eric Migicovsky joins us on the podcast to talk about the app, […]
Last week I noted that the improperly named Common Sense Media had submitted a very problematic and dangerous California ballot initiative that aims to hold social media companies liable should any harm that happens to any child be loosely connected to social media. As we noted, the research out there does not support the underlying […]
Most courts recognize prior restraint as a First Amendment violation. Most courts. Not all. And the lower you go on the judicial organization chart, the more likely you are to run into a judge who doesn’t seem to realize the Constitution exists. The problem for people being sued in state and county courts is that […]
Headway is the revolutionary app designed to help you turn personal growth into a habit. With a lifetime subscription, you get unlimited access to a huge number of non-fiction bestsellers, summarized into 15-minute reads. Be it personal development, business strategies, or health insights, Headway has you covered. It’s on sale for $60. Note: The Techdirt […]
If you buy products on Amazon, you’re well aware of the Amazon brand spammers. These tend to be drop shippers or small (often Chinese) operations trying to sell knockoffs of whatever products might sell. But the products need brand names. In early 2020, the NY Times did an article about the phenomenon, “All Your Favorite […]
While the telecom industry did manage to successfully defang U.S. consumer protection regulators for the better part of the last decade, they’re still facing some notable headwinds. Broadband growth has dramatically slowed, cable TV customers are leaving in droves, and while they are getting a ton of new subsidies via the infrastructure bill, a lot of that money is […]
Techdirt has been covering the UK’s awful Online Safety Act for nearly five years now. During that time it has changed name — it was originally called the Online Harms Bill — but the many bad ideas have remained. Some have even become worse. For example, the UK government said that it wouldn’t enforce the […]
We’ve expressed our displeasure with geofence warrants multiple times. I’ve often referred to them as “reverse” warrants, a term that implies how these warrants invert probable cause. Those in the business of protecting rights (ACLU, EFF) aren’t fans of that term, but it is useful shorthand. Rather than show a court probable cause exists to […]
Every year a little after New Years, I do a post about the previous year of Techdirt traffic and comments, looking at what people were interested in, what commenters were highly rated, etc. I know most sites put this out towards the end of the year, but I remain a purist and wait until after […]
Even though the blog is now often given over to “Trump did nothing wrong” posts and suggestions that social media services engage in “censorship” of so-called “conservatives” (and don’t even think about wandering into the comment section), Eugene Volokh’s Volokh Conspiracy still surfaces some very interesting cases. And this one has a lot going on. […]
With more than 2,500 words and phrases to learn in each of our 150+ languages, the uTalk gives you a running start on your journey to language fluency. Simple and easy to use, you have fun as you develop your language skills naturally – just like you did with your first language. Every single word […]
On Monday, Elon Musk tweeted “To fear parody or criticism is a sign of weakness.” If true, then this is Elon admitting to an astounding level of weakness. I mean, we’ve been chronicling for nearly two years now how Elon Musk talks a good game on free speech, but at every opportunity he’s had, he […]
It’s extremely weird that we’ve somehow normalized the fact that scammers, scumbags, debt collectors, and marketers have made the U.S.’ primary voice communication platform largely unusable. There is some good news: according to data from the YouMail Robocall Index, U.S. consumers received just under 3.8 billion robocalls during the month of December, a 16.3% decrease […]
This week, our first place winner on the insightful side is a simple anonymous comment about the dangerous “protect the children” ballot initiative in California: That is not a protect the children law, that is an I hate social media and it must be destroyed law. In second place, it’s Blake Stacey passing on the […]
Five Years Ago This week in 2019, we looked at how Ajit Pai’s FCC often battled FOIA requests for no reason, while the Department of the Interior was trying to rewrite FOIA law to make it easier to reject requests. We saw fresh examples of copyright abuse as a means of silencing criticism of a […]
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has something of a rollercoaster history when it comes to the enforcement of its real, or perceived, intellectual property rights. On the one hand, the church has occasionally been quite lenient when it comes to not trying to battle every use of its name, traditions, or religious […]
Dating can be difficult, but there are certain things you can do to not make things worse on yourself. Don’t be a creep. Be kind. Take no for an answer. Actually listen to the people you date. I mean, that’s kinda the standard stuff. But also, if things go bad and they complain about you […]
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