Let’s start from the basics here: if you tax something, you will get less of it. That’s how taxes work. If you want less of something, you add a tax to it. In Canada, some very, very clueless politicians (pushed by the news media) passed a tax on Facebook and Google linking to news. Both […]
For thirty-plus years, giant telecom monopolies have worked tirelessly to crush all broadband competition. At the same time, they’ve lobbied state and federal governments so extensively, that the vast majority of politicians are feckless cardboard cutouts with little real interest in market or consumer health. The result has been fairly obvious: Americans pay some of […]
In our Moderator Mayhem mobile browser game that we released back in May, there are a couple of rounds where some AI is introduced to the process, as an attempt to “help” the moderators. Of course, in the game, the AI starts making the kinds of mistakes that AI makes. That said, there’s obviously a […]
One of the common tests for whether something is trademark infringement is whether or not the public will be confused as to association between the infringer and another trademark owner. This typically comes down to several factors, such as the similarity within the uses and, importantly, whether the two entities compete in the same marketplace. […]
A few weeks ago, the NY Times published a very nice profile piece about me, which starts off with the story of how I recently got pulled into a group chat with a bunch of Hollywood writers, directors, and actors, who were trying to understand how to deal with the rise of generative AI tools. […]
Does watching porn threaten your masculinity? Science says it doesn’t. Is porn addictive? No, it’s not. Is sexual expression that is consenting legally protected by the First Amendment? Yes, it is. So, why do Republicans fight to restrict or outlaw pornography across the United States? There are several reasons. First, religious conservatives have long argued […]
Last week, cops in a small Kansas town decided they’d just toss aside the First Amendment and raid a local newspaper. There were competing narratives. The first was that the paper was in possession of information related to the drunk driving arrest of local business owner Kari Newell, who had allegedly been convicted of DUI […]
The 2023 Complete Python Boot Camp Bundle has 12 courses to help you strengthen your Python coding skills. Python is a high-level, general-purpose language with an emphasis on readability and extensibility. Its versatility provides developers with a robust skill-set that can be adapted to numerous projects, making it a highly desirable language to pursue. Whether […]
Elon Musk hired Linda Yaccarino to be “CEO” of exTwitter (despite saying he doesn’t believe in the role of a CEO) because he desperately needed someone who worked well with advertisers to try to lure back some of the many, many, many advertisers who had fled the platform in disgust at what Elon has done […]
The 2021 infrastructure bill did some very good things for broadband. Not only did it include a massive, $42 billion investment in broadband deployment and require better mapping, it demanded that the FCC impose a new “nutrition label for broadband,” requiring that ISPs be transparent about all of the weird restrictions, caps, fees, and limitations […]
Let me do a bit of throat-clearing at the top of this post. As a reminder, the general purpose of trademark laws around the world is to serve as a source-identifier for the public in those markets. In other words, allowing someone to trademark a unique identifier as to a source of a good or […]
I don’t think this is a surprise to anyone, but the SEC and the CFTC combined to issue fines on a bunch of Wall Street firms for execs communicating across encrypted messaging in a manner that wasn’t recorded and preserved as required. Being in a regulated industry means having to deal with all sorts of […]
Late last month, a report was released showing Connecticut State troopers were routinely faking stop data to avoid further scrutiny over biased policing efforts. According to the state governor’s own statements, it appeared clear “hundreds” of troopers faked “tens of thousands” of traffic stops in order to make it look like they weren’t just targeting […]
Similar to the “Age Appropriate Design Code” (AADC) legislation that became law last year, California’s latest effort to regulate online speech comes in the form of SB 680, a bill by Sen. Nancy Skinner targeting the designs, algorithms, and features of online services that host user-created content, with a specific focus on preventing harm or addiction risks […]
Equipped with a 1.2mm fine tip, Digi Pen has better durability, higher sensitivity, and pixel precision. No lagging, no skips, no scratches. Perfect for drawing, sketching, painting, and writing. It features Palm Rejection technology and a magnetic design so you can use it directly without wearing gloves and write on the screen as if you’re […]
Welp, here we go again. Last month I wrote about how Techdirt had been deleted from both Bing and DuckDuckGo. Over on the discussion at HackerNews, DDG’s CEO and founder, Gabriel Weinberg, jumped in to the conversation to note that this wasn’t intentional (which we never suspected it was). The resulting conversation on HackerNews is […]
For a long while now, we’ve pointed out how the privacy hyperventilation over singular threats like TikTok are a huge distraction from the fact Congress is simply too corrupt to pass even a baseline privacy law for the internet era. Or regulate the massive number of dodgy data brokers that buy, sell, and trade in […]
More and more, as the video game industry matures, we find ourselves talking about game preservation and the disappearing culture of some older games as the original publishers abandon them. Often times leaving the public with no actual legit method for purchasing these old games, copyright law conspires with the situation to also prevent the […]
Elon Musk’s commitment to free speech and the free exchange of ideas has always been been a joke. Despite his repeated claims to being a “free speech absolutist,” and promising that his critics and rivals alike would be encouraged to remain on exTwitter, he has consistently shown that he has a ridiculously thin skin, and […]
If you didn’t know who Gigi Sohn was before her stalled-out FCC nomination and the ridiculous smear campaign that came with it, you surely do by now. And if you read Techdirt, you know she’s one of the most experienced and passionate experts around when it comes to broadband. This week, she returns to the […]
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