Cops will charge someone with assault, whether or not they’ve been actually assaulted. It’s a charge often added on top of resisting arrest and can be triggered by any movement or action that results in physical contact with an officer. Throwing a snowball in the direction of a cop can be considered assault, depending on […]
Earlier this year, we discussed a frustrating story regarding one company in the UK, Cornices Centre, threatening a cyclist over a YouTube video showing what purports to be a near miss by a truck with the company’s name and logo on it. Those threats centered on a very confused understanding of trademark law, such that […]
Things remain troubling in Los Angeles. The city is still trying to somehow punish investigative journalist Ben Camacho and activist group Stop LAPD Spying Coalition for a mistake its own police department made. Camacho made a public records request for LAPD officers’ photos. After some litigation, the LAPD finally complied. Camacho — who writes for […]
There are a number of people, both those who agree with me and those who disagree with me, who seem to think I have some sort of personal dislike of Elon Musk. That’s not true. I find it amazing that he gets away with some of the stuff he gets away with, and I am […]
Facial recognition may be helping law enforcement catch bad guys, but inherent flaws in these systems ensure it’s only a matter of time before the AI coughs up yet another unforced error. That sort of error rate might be acceptable when the AI is doing nothing more than pitching in to refine Google search results […]
This handy, pocket-sized recording device fits in your wallet, bag, and purse. It comes with a high-capacity battery that can be charged in under two hours and stores up to 750 hours of audio. With a super-clear audio quality, this recorder offers 24-hour battery life and is equipped with digital noise reduction technology that is […]
Amidst all of the attention paid to last week’s Senate hearing on child safety online, it remains stunning just how little time was actually spent on how to help children online. Instead, we saw pure theatrical nonsense, with Senators insisting (falsely) that these five tech CEOs could magically stop bad things from happening to kids, […]
For decades now, airlines, hotels, cable companies, banks and a long list of other companies have bilked U.S. consumers out of billions of dollars annually via bullshit fees that unfairly jack up the advertised price of service. More interesting perhaps is the fact that it it took until 2023 for a U.S. federal regulator to […]
This week, our first place winner on the insightful side is also our second place winner on the funny side. It’s from That One Guy in response to our refusal to take down our posts about Appin: Someone didn’t do their homework… If only there had been some way for Rajat Khare and Appin to […]
As you likely know, at the beginning of January we launched the latest edition of our public domain game jam, Gaming Like It’s 1928! We invited designers of all stripes to make analog and digital games using the material that entered the public domain this year (including the big one, Mickey Mouse). Now, the jam […]
In January, after a lot of back and forth with TikTok, Universal Music Group announced it would not be renewing its license with the platform for its catalog of music that users could use in their videos. UMG’s claimed reasoning for this was three-fold: TikTok wasn’t doing enough to combat deepfakes of the artists it […]
As our Error 402 series continues, I swear that eventually we’re going to get to some of the more promising models and stuff that actually has been working in some cases shortly, but we’re still covering some of the stuff that hasn’t fully panned out (or, has only panned out in limited setups). For this […]
We’ve well documented how giant telecom companies have taken billions of dollars in tax breaks, subsidies, and regulatory favors in exchange for fiber networks they only half deploy. We’ve also noted that when those big ISPs do finally deploy service, they tend to prioritize white, affluent neighborhoods — which generally see faster, cheaper, service than […]
We’ve covered a few stories this week related to the Senate hearing on “kids safety” and there’s going to be a lot more in the coming weeks as those same Senators grandstand and yell about “protect the children!” and generally make fools of themselves. I think Casey Newton’s summary of the spectacle is about right: […]
A half-decade ago, Amazon was an emerging player on the facial recognition scene. Its proprietary blend was called “Rekognition.” At the outset, Amazon was definitely interested in getting it in the hands of as many cops as possible. Documents obtained by the ACLU showed the company was courting law enforcement agencies, seeking to sell them […]
MagStack is the perfect on-the-go wireless charging station that also transforms into a floating stand for smartphone 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, […]
For years now we’ve been covering the big ongoing fights between the US and the EU regarding the transfer of user data across the Atlantic. The main issue was that due to somewhat different data protection/privacy laws between the EU and the US, the two keep trying to work out a “deal” that allows (mostly) […]
Early last year new journalism outlet named “The Messenger” launched to great fanfare. The brainchild of former The Hill owner Jimmy Finkelstein, the outlet launched with $50 million in backing and a lot of chatter about how it was going to revolutionize U.S. journalism. Finkelstein claimed he wanted to build “an alternative to a national news media” […]
Well, this is certainly moving fast. We had begun talking about the recently released PC game Palworld as a great example of the idea/expression dichotomy in copyright law, specifically as the game has both been described as “Pokémon, but with guns” while also not containing any specific Pokémon copyrighted expression within it. While the Pokémon […]
A pair of conservative Republican lawmakers in the Utah state legislature have introduced legislation that would require porn filtering on all mobile devices sold within the state. Technically, the bill would require retailers and manufacturers to enable parental controls on phones and tablets sold in the Beehive State in a bid to protect minors from adult […]
stLouIST