A rather strange prosecution of a former Uber executive finally comes to an end. And the first tech company executive to be convicted of criminal acts related to a data breach won’t be going to prison, as Joseph Menn reports for the Washington Post. Former Uber chief security officer Joe Sullivan avoided prison Thursday as […]
Get the most out of your devices with this powerful, compact charging station. This 7-in-1 charging dock has universal compatibility that works with most iPhones, iPads, and many other devices throughout your home. It also features a super-speed 30W Fast PD port and intelligent identification technology to keep the device safe and healthy. With its […]
Over the last few years we’ve covered a number of different very, very questionable civil lawsuits brought against internet companies under FOSTA. We had predicted that there would be these vexatious lawsuits, looking to hold companies liable in a sort of cash grab, where people would just go after the companies with the deeper pockets, […]
During the COVID crisis, the FCC launched the Emergency Broadband Benefit (EBB program), giving lower income Americans a $50 ($75 for those in tribal lands) discount off of their broadband bill. Under the program, the government gave money to ISPs, which then doled out discounts to users if they qualified. But (and I’m sure this […]
Last summer, we discussed a fairly silly trademark suit brought by Harpo Inc., Oprah Winfrey’s production company, against Roulette Productions, responsible for the “Oprahdemics” podcast. While the name of the podcast is obviously a nod to its main subject matter, Oprah, it’s also the case that the podcast is a journalistic endeavor covering the history […]
Analysts had been quietly noting for a while that Starlink satellite broadband service would consistently lack the capacity to be disruptive at any real scale. As it usually pertains to Musk products, that analysis was generally buried under product hype. A few years later, and Starlink users are facing obvious slowdowns and a steady parade of price […]
We’ve been swamped with some big projects lately, and that put a bit of a dent in our podcast schedule. We’ve got a whole bunch of fresh new episodes lined up to record, so you can expect lots of original content soon — but to tide you over until then, this week we’ve got a […]
Content moderation at scale is impossible to do well. And, contrary to what most people believe, a huge part of content moderation is not “we have to suppress this content that scares us,” but just an attempt to “stop people from being jerks to others.” Unfortunately, too many people get confused, and think that “free […]
The UK government still hopes to bend the internet to its will, but it’s constantly finding out it won’t be as easy as just declaring a bunch of stuff illegal. Tech companies from all over the world would be affected by its “Online Safety Bill” (originally more proactively titled the “Online Harms Bill“). Negatively affected. […]
The All-Inclusive Adobe CC Training Bundle has 15 courses to help you become an Adobe power user. You’ll learn about Lightroom, XD, Spark, and After Effects. You’ll also learn Premier Pro, Photoshop, and Illustrator, and more. The bundle is on sale for $50. Note: The Techdirt Deals Store is powered and curated by StackCommerce. A […]
Last week, Utah’s “porn license” age verification law went into effect, and the largest (by far) adult content company on the internet, Mindgeek (which runs Pornhub and a bunch of other sites), had all of its sites go dark for any Utah-based IP address. If someone visited from those sites, they got a video explaining […]
Despite oodles of regulatory favors and millions of dollars in spectrum sales, Sinclair Broadcasting is shuttering what passes for local “news” in another five markets, continuing a wave of layoffs making an already bad problem worse. You might recall that Sinclair’s long been under fire for heavily consolidating a very broken local news sector, often […]
When Putin decided to show the world that his government is so wildly incompetent that it turned what was supposed to be a weeks long takeover of Ukraine into a prolonged conflict in which Russian victory of any kind is very much an open question, he also attempted to keep the truth from reaching Russians. […]
BE THE TERRORISM YOU WANT TO SEE IN THE WORLD. FBI motto (ca. 2001) The FBI’s penchant for self-ownership dates back to its reinvention as a counter-terrorism agency, a move that followed a bunch of power and budget expansions for any federal agencies that might help George W. Bush avenge his father’s loss in the […]
There have been numerous stories about the new generation of AI chatbots lying when asked questions. This is rightly perceived as a big issue for the technology if it is to become routinely used and trusted by members of the public, as some intend. But in China, the problem is not that chatbots lie, but […]
To hear the recording industry tell the story, copyright is the only thing protecting musicians from poverty and despair. Of course, that’s always been a myth. Copyright was designed to benefit the middlemen and gatekeepers, such as the record labels, over the artists themselves. That’s why the labels have a long history of never paying […]
The internet has revolutionized communications, sales, and information distribution, and has enabled historic levels of porn consumption. These are all unequivocally good things. (Fight me.) What it has also done is revolutionize court precedent. Prior to internet ubiquity, courts were sometimes more receptive to plaintiffs attempting to hold third parties responsible for content generated by […]
Companies big and small count on project managers to ensure their initiatives arrive on time and on budget, which is why these professionals routinely earn six figures for their services. From setting up projects in JIRA to streamlining pipelines with Agile and Scrum, the Complete Project Management Bundle boasts 11 courses to get you up […]
It remains kind of shocking just how badly Elon Musk has screwed up Twitter. He drove away somewhere between 40% and 70% of the advertisers on the site before he took over. And the advertisers have been pretty blunt that the problem is that Elon Musk himself is a real liability. He’s made advertising on […]
Microsoft has apparently realized that it’s just good business sense to get itself on the right side of history, and the right side of the growing “right to repair movement.” The company has increasingly been urging lawmakers to support the Washington State Fair Repair Act, which would ensure that consumers and indie repair shops have […]
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