Let’s start this post out by noting that a key reason Elon Musk said he was getting rid of the legacy Twitter verification system was that it was arbitrary and unfair and created a “lords and peasants” scenario. Keep that in mind, because you’re going to want to remember that by the end of this […]
We’ve noted a few times how there’s an absolutely historic infusion of more than $60 billion in broadband subsidies on the way thanks to both COVID relief (American Rescue Plan Act) and the recent infrastructure bill (Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act). We also noted how there’s no limit of obstacles that could meaningfully screw up […]
This week, our first place winner on the insightful side is Anathema Device responding to the notion that Elon Musk’s behavior can be explained by his claim that he has Asperger’s Syndrome: Asperger’s is an outdated diagnosis I doubt he’s been anywhere near a psychiatrist or psychologist for a proper assessment since like all narcissists, […]
Five Years Ago This week in 2018, Trump was being weird about the TPP, Apple was not doing so great in its attempts to prevent leaks, and another vendor appeared selling tools to crack iPhones. The MPAA silently shut down its legal movie search engine, the music industry was looking at moving past site-blocking into […]
QuaDream, an NSO-alike with links to Israeli intelligence services, first made international headlines last year. And for the worst reasons. An investigation found QuaDream (much like NSO Group) sold iPhone-targeting malware to human rights violators. These sales were given a layer of plausible deniability, handled by a Cyprus-based company on behalf of QuaDream as it […]
It’s no secret that Nintendo is extremely draconian when it comes to all things intellectual property concerning its assets. You can simply follow that backlink for a list of tons and tons of posts on Nintendo doing Nintendo things, which mostly amount to shutting down any use of its property, no matter how small, no […]
Redaction isn’t terribly difficult to do correctly. And yet, it often seems to be beyond the grasp of government officials who really, really want to withhold information, but just can’t seem to do it. For instance, litigants asked the court to redact information in an FTC suit against Amazon. The court clerk apparently thought utilizing […]
Earlier this year you may have heard that there were a few lawsuits filed over generative AI platforms, with two big cases targeting Stability AI, makers of Stable Diffusion, in particular. I’d been meaning to write about these cases, and why they’re so problematic, but things have been busy and I didn’t get a chance. […]
Germany’s awkward relationship with the internet continues. On one hand, the German government has told the EU government it’s not willing to follow orders that involve criminalizing encryption or mandating client-side scanning. On the other hand, it does things like blacklist Techdirt (this happened in 2012) for supposedly offering up too much porn and violence. […]
The All-in-One American Sign Language Bundle has 13 courses to help you learn ASL. Courses cover the origins of the language, the alphabet and finger-spelling, colors, animals, foods and drinks, family signs, feelings, verbs, and key nouns. It’s on sale for $19.97. Note: The Techdirt Deals Store is powered and curated by StackCommerce. A portion […]
Rep. George Santos remains a fascinating study in how far you can get if you have zero shame about just making shit up constantly. By now you must know his backstory (er… stories) and how basically nothing he seems to say checks out. And now he’s actually trying to get legislation passed. Specifically he’s announced […]
Netflix executives this week announced that they would finally be putting their traditional DVD rental service out to pasture starting on September 25 after 25 years of little, red envelopes. From a blog post by Netflix co-CEO Ted Serandos’ intern: Our goal has always been to provide the best service for our members but as […]
It’s been quite some time since we’ve talked about Denuvo and its once-vaunted anti-piracy DRM for video games. If I’m being totally honest, I had thought that part of the company’s business was simply gone, so poorly did the DRM perform. By the end, cracking groups were getting around Denuvo-protected games in days, sometimes a […]
We just wrote about Substack’s issue with content moderation and the Nazi bar problem. As I highlighted in that piece, any centralized service is going to be defined by their moderation choices. If you cater to terrible, abusive people, you become “the site that caters to terrible abusive people.” That’s not a comment on “free […]
Starting next year, Colorado farmers will have a much easier time repairing their equipment thanks to a new state law protecting their “right to repair.” Colorado’s new bill, the Consumer Right to Repair Agricultural Equipment Act, requires that agricultural equipment giants like John Deere provide consumers and independent repair shops the “parts, embedded software, firmware, […]
Elon Musk seems to take a personal affront to anyone who says “dude, we’re not going to pay your crazy prices for stuff.” For example, he pulled the NY Times “verified” badge weeks before everyone else was set to lose it after they announced they wouldn’t pay. Now, Microsoft has announced that it is dropping […]
A number of stupid lawmakers have attempted to basically outlaw filming cops by proposing imaginative legislation that would prevent all but the most ineffective documentation of public employees performing their public duties. You can’t outlaw filming police. The First Amendment pretty much prevents that, even if case law in judicial circuits is still not completely […]
The benefits of learning to speak a second language (or third) are immeasurable! With its intuitive, immersive training method, Rosetta Stone will have you reading, writing, and speaking new languages like a natural in no time. You’ll start by matching words with images just like when you learned your native language as a child. Then […]
Elon Musk has been on a tear of late, attacking the “mainstream media” at every turn. It’s true that this started about five years ago, when Tesla started getting some negative press (after about a decade of extremely positive press), and Musk seemed to absolutely lose his shit. It kinda comes with the territory, though, […]
We’ve long noted how entrenched broadband providers have historically refused to upgrade areas that don’t deliver immediate, favorable returns (quite often poor, minority, and low income neighborhoods). That, combined with a monopoly assault on competition and regulatory oversight in most markets, has left the U.S. with patchy, substandard broadband networks we’re still struggling to track […]
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