It’s been a bad run of weeks lately for the company behind game engine Unity, stemming from a ham-fisted plan to drastically alter its pricing model for developers. When that plan was announced, which involved previously free tiers of the engine going away or being changed, per-install fees to developers that could essentially bankrupt a […]
There’s a whole chapter of Walled Culture the book (free digital versions available) devoted to the serious attack on libraries and their traditional functions that is being carried out by major publishers. The latter are using digital copyright law to take advantage of the shift to eBooks by moving from one-off sales to a recurrent licensing […]
I realized recently that I had now passed 30 years on the internet, having obtained my first internet access in August of 1993 — the same year that many consider to be the year that the internet became commercial. That was back when you had to obtain access to the internet, rather than just… having […]
Last week, we highlighted how it appears that exTwitter’s ad revenue remains in freefall. We noted that exTwitter CEO-in-name-only Linda Yaccarino had just gone on stage at the Code Conference to try to dismiss the idea that the ad revenue was in trouble, claiming that reports of a 60% decline were “months and months old” […]
As was always going to be the case with tech that can more reliably identify white middle-aged males than anyone else, another minority has been nabbed because of a facial recognition fuck up. The only good news pertains to the city of Detroit and its law enforcement agencies, which are finally not the perpetrators in […]
The Internet is extremely important in modern life today and this reliance is only predicted to continue with the growth of the Internet of Things (IoT) in the next few years. The Cisco CCNA 200-301 Exam Complete Course will teach you how networks actually work and how you are able to connect to websites like […]
Some of us have been warning about the dangers of the Digital Services Act (DSA) in the EU for quite some time, and pointed out that Elon Musk was effectively endorsing censorship in May of 2022 (after announcing his plans to purchase then-Twitter) by meeting with the EU’s Thierry Breton and saying that the DSA […]
AT&T spent $200 billion to acquire Time Warner and DirecTV, believing this would turn the dodgy old phone company into an innovative new media juggernaut. But despite $42 billion in tax breaks and oodles of regulatory favors from the Trump administration (like killing net neutrality), AT&T simply couldn’t overcome its own nature as a bumbling, government-pampered telecom monopoly. As […]
There is so much nuance to trademark law that it’s not surprising when some in the public don’t understand how it all works. This leads to all kinds of mistakes in terms of people thinking trademark law works in ways it does not. But the worst of these aren’t mistakes, but instead when opportunists think […]
There’s no reason to make fascist small talk a reality, but sometimes folks just do what they do. Six weeks ago, a small town police department raided a small town newspaper in a vicious demonstration of boots-on-a-human-face-forever thuggery. The supposed crime? Digging up public records showing a local business owner in search of a liquor […]
Last week I found myself assigned to speak on a “streaming piracy” panel that had gotten bolted onto an event otherwise focused on trademark counterfeiting, despite the latter being a completely separate legal issue connected with a completely separate legal doctrine. It was all part of the USPTO’s roundtable on “future strategies in anti-counterfeiting and […]
The DOJ — following a period of questionable leadership under Donald Trump — said it has little interest in prosecuting journalists. It has also made it clear it will not abuse the CFAA to punish people who did nothing more than access sites in ways not intended by the sites’ creators. Why? Because there are […]
From very early on in Elon Musk’s ownership of exTwitter a few things became clear regarding his understanding of the FTC. First, he clearly had no idea that the company has a consent decree with the FTC (the kind of thing you learn about during due diligence, which he waived in the purchasing process) and […]
The Apple Watch Wireless Charger Keychain is the perfect accessory for Apple Watch users on-the-go. With a built-in 950mAh lithium-ion battery, it can charge all series of Apple Watch. The technology allows it to be used as a base for a bedside table or table for convenient charging. Its portable, pocket-size design makes it easy […]
Two years ago we wrote about Rep. Jerry Nadler’s SHOP SAFE Act, which we noted would basically cement into place Amazon’s position as a dominant online marketplace, because no one else would be able to afford the associated liability. The bill is based on the massively exaggerated claims that online marketplaces are full of “counterfeit” […]
Generally, when you talk about disinformation or propaganda, “big tech” companies like Facebook, or media giants like Fox News get the lion’s share of the attention. But as I’ve often noted, local news outlets in the U.S. were hollowed out years ago by mindless consolidation, and were ultimately replaced with something that looks like news, but is […]
This week, Stephen T. Stone takes both top spots on the insightful side. In first place, it’s a comment about Yelp asking the court to stop the Texas AG from suing them because they warn users about Crisis Pregnancy Centers, in response to a (snarky) question about what the issue is: Sincere answer to what […]
Five Years Ago This week in 2018, the DOJ filed a new net neutrality lawsuit against California that was a giant middle finger to consumers and competition, while the entire broadband soon followed suit with its own lawsuit. On another front, the DOJ failed at another attempt to obtain an encryption-breaking precedent in federal court. […]
We tend to talk a lot around here about advertising, given how closely intertwined tech and digital industries tend to be with ads and the like. And frankly, given how often we’ve beat the drum that advertising is content and content is advertising, it’s become all the more clear in these modern times that good […]
Although copyright is mainly thought of as concerning books, music and films, it applies to other kinds of creativity in a fixed form. That includes apparently trivial material such as early commercial television programs. These are important cultural artefacts, but unlike books, music or films, there are very few formal schemes for collecting and conserving […]
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