I will admit, after my last post on Russian game developer Fntastic shutting down operations days after the release of the much-hyped The Day Before, I really thought it would be my last post on the this whole fiasco. But, no, it turns out that the developer has given us more to write about. If […]
We took a few weeks off in our Error 402 series on the history of web monetization, but we’re back. If you’re just catching up, we’ve talked about the earliest monetary transactions online, the rise of e-commerce, the initial failed attempts at paywalls for content, and the rise of internet ads followed quickly by the […]
Well, this was a bit of a surprise. Over the past couple of weeks I wrote about how Senator Josh Hawley was planning to try to hotline his terrible No Section 230 Immunity for AI Act. As we have explained multiple times, the bill is so poorly drafted that it would make a mess of […]
We’ve repeatedly noted how the Republican quest to ban TikTok is both stupid and performative. Stupid, in that banning TikTok doesn’t fix the deeper privacy rot caused by a corrupt Congress’ ongoing refusal to pass a privacy law or regulate data brokers (who do much worse, at much greater scale). Dumb, in that the “ban” […]
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 […]
We just wrote up a story about Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey and his bullshit censorial investigation into Media Matters, and I think we just got a preview of what he should expect. Back in November, Texas’ (still criminally indicted, still waiting for trial) Attorney General Ken Paxton launched a similar investigation to buddy up […]
You might recall that Elon Musk claims to hate taxpayer subsidies. They should all be “deleted.” Except for the subsidies given to his companies (often for doing nothing), of course. Back in 2020, Musk’s satellite broadband venture, Starlink, gamed a Trump-era FCC subsidy program to try and grab $886 million in taxpayer dollars. It was […]
It’s not like cops needed any more help being intolerant. It seems to come with the job. A badge, a gun, and a sense of superiority tends to turn even marginal cops into people who spend their entire careers adding to the “us vs. them” chip on their shoulders. But even cops with the best […]
As the old saying goes, if it walks like a duck and talks like a duck, then it’s probably a scammy game developer you shouldn’t trust. Here at Techdirt, we started paying attention to The Day Before, pitched as an ambitious MMO survival game by Russian developer Fntastic nearly five years ago, when the company […]
There’s plenty of discussion right now about what approach, regulatory or otherwise, could rein in the potential harms of AI systems. This week, we’re joined by professor and researcher Chinmayi Sharma to discuss her brand new article that offers an interesting idea: professionalizing the AI field with engineer licensing and a malpractice standard. Follow the […]
When Epic went after both Apple and Google a few years ago with antitrust claims regarding the need to go through their app stores to get on phones, we noted that it seemed more like negotiation-by-lawsuit. Both Apple and Google have cut some deals with larger companies to lower the 30% cut the companies take […]
Call it “regulatory capture.” Call it “the revolving door.” Just don’t call it acceptable. At best, moves like this give an appearance of impropriety. At best, that’s what they do. At worst, they look like what they almost always are: government officials moving directly to the positions within the industry they just recently regulated, carrying […]
The Ninja Dragon Blade K is equipped with cutting-edge technology that ensures a smooth and stable flight experience. With its 4-way anti-collision system, you can confidently navigate through any obstacle in your path. The optical flow sensor enables precise hovering and accurate positioning, making it easier than ever to capture stunning aerial shots. Designed with […]
Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey is currently engaged in numerous legal battles over speech which can more or less be summarized as “criticism of people Andrew Bailey likes is censorship,” but “criticism of people Andrew Bailey doesn’t like is good and just and important to the marketplace of ideas.” Andrew Bailey is a hypocrite. But […]
We’ve noted for years how the “race to 5G” was largely just hype by telecoms and hardware vendors eager to sell more gear and justify high U.S. mobile data prices. While 5G does provide faster, more resilient, and lower latency networks, it’s more of a modest evolution than a revolution. But that’s not what telecom giants […]
A few years ago, hacktivist group Anonymous liberated a ton of documents from law enforcement agencies all over the world. These were published by transparency activists DDoS (Distributed Denial of Secrets). Journalists and other activists continue to dive into this 269 gigabyte treasure trove, teasing out additional information law enforcement agencies certainly wish was still […]
The estate of Dr. Seuss is obviously no stranger to playing the intellectual property maximalist, having appeared on our pages many times in the past. But more specifically for this post, the estate has also, ironically enough, been more than happy to stomp on the Christmas joy of others in favor of jealously guarding its […]
Over a decade ago, I pointed out that as Google kept trying to worm its way deeper into our lives, a key Achilles’ heel was its basically non-existent customer service and unwillingness to ever engage constructively with users the company fucks over. At the time, I dubbed it Google’s “big, faceless, white monolith” problem, because […]
On August 11, the Marion County PD — with the assistance of the Kansas Department of Revenue, the county sheriff’s office, and (for some fucking reason) the local fire marshal — raided the office of the Marion County Record, along with the home of its co-owner, 98-year-old Joan Meyer. The raid was prompted by the […]
Last week, we wrote about the potential for Senator Josh Hawley to “hotline” the bill that he put together with Senator Richard Blumenthal to remove Section 230 from anything touching artificial intelligence. As we noted at the time, even if you hate both generative AI technology and Section 230, the bill was so poorly drafted […]
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