Last week the Internet Archive announced a new project: “Democracy’s Library.” This hits on a bunch of important topics for us here at Techdirt. First, it’s a travesty that government-funded research and publications are often hidden away, locked up and impossible to access, despite the fact that they were paid for by us, the public. […]
Clearview hasn’t won many friends since its inception. Scraping the web of any relevant content to compile a few billion records for facial recognition matches is no way to run a respectable business, and Clearview has been anything but respectable. Early access was granted to anyone who was interested, including private companies, government agencies, and […]
Okay, let’s get this out of the way first: Republican politicians send a shit-ton of spam. And, no, it’s not just standard political messaging. It’s spam. And it’s often full of absolute scams. Erick Erickson, an extremely rightwing/GOP-supporting commentator, recently wrote a whole post calling out his team for spamming everyone and then blaming others […]
Tell me if any of this sounds familiar: UK telecom regulator Ofcom is proposing that the country scale back popular net neutrality rules under the claim that the rules are harming innovation. The UK had adopted net neutrality as part of its membership in the EU. With that membership discarded, Ofcom is now claiming the […]
The LOGiiX VIBRANCE Connect is a braided 1.5m ( ~5 feet) long cable featuring dual sync and charge functionality. The stress-relieving reinforced connectors prevent fraying and breaking while adding a splash of color to your tech. The VIBRANCE Connect can be used with both Macs and PC and allows you to charge your device up […]
It seems quite likely that Elon Musk will own Twitter in a few days. One thing that has remained very much up in the air through all of this is how Musk views Bluesky. As you’ll recall, Bluesky was a project kicked off by Jack Dorsey back in late 2019, partially influenced by my paper […]
Undaunted by criticism that its plan is little more than a Comcast-esque cash grab, Netflix executives say they’re moving full speed ahead with a plan to begin cracking down on password sharing, a practice executives spent years previously encouraging. In a letter to shareholders, Netflix said it would be bringing its password sharing crackdown to […]
This week, both our winners on the insightful side come in response to New York’s plan to destroy free speech online in response to the Buffalo shooting. In fist place, it’s an anonymous comment about the idea that online platforms sit at the root of white supremacy: Remind me again, when was the K.K.K. formed? […]
Five Years Ago This week in 2017, the push was on for encryption backdoors, with the DOJ rolling out some new and even worse arguments at the hands of the new Deputy Attorney General, while the White House’s cybersecurity boss was employing the tactic of calling for backdoors while refusing to actually use the word. […]
The Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in southern Ukraine is the largest in Europe, and one of the ten largest in the world. It’s of particular concern at the moment because it sits close to the front line between the Ukrainian and Russian armies, and has been subject to bombardment and loss of backup power. The […]
No-knock warrants remain under fire as they continue to needlessly increase the death toll of residents who often have no idea who’s violently entering their home and, therefore, respond in unpredictable ways. Supposedly obtained to increase officer safety, these warrants often seem like a handy way to put officers in “fear for your safety” mode, […]
The Fifth Circuit is often the worst circuit when it comes to protecting constitutional rights. Every so often, it will make the right call, but most often it’s willing to let the government expand its power at the expense of the citizens it’s supposed to be serving. It does this often enough even the Supreme […]
Honestly, the only thing one can say about the whole Elon Musk buying Twitter situation is that you should expect the unexpected to happen. Nothing about this deal has been normal, even though some moves (like Musk coming up with laughably ridiculous pretextual excuses to try to get out of the deal) were telegraphed way […]
Jamaicans are being asked to fund futility with their tax dollars. Radio still exists, but it’s nowhere near as powerful or relevant as it was three or four decades ago. A ban like this doesn’t make sense for several reasons, but the most obvious reason is that it will only “protect” people who listen to […]
The Complete 2022 Microsoft Office Master Class Bundle has 14 courses to help you learn all you need to know about MS Office products to help boost your productivity. Courses cover SharePoint, Word, Excel, Access, Outlook, Teams, and more. The bundle is on sale for $75. Note: The Techdirt Deals Store is powered and curated by StackCommerce. […]
Elon Musk’s deal to buy Twitter is likely to close within a week. The deadline before the Court of Chancery wakes back up is October 28th, which is rapidly approaching. I’ve discussed in the past ways in which I think Musk could actually be good for Twitter, but it requires having a pretty basic understanding […]
While the last decade hasn’t been what you’d call great for consumer rights in the U.S. (especially in sectors like telecom), one bright spot has been the mainstreaming of “right to repair” standards. What began as some nerdy fringe policy activism among those eager to repair their own tractors, has very quickly become a mainstream […]
Decentralized Autonomous Organizations (DAOs) are one of the most fascinating things to emerge from the crypto space. While everyone was going crazy over NFTs, almost all of the more interesting things were happening in the DAO space. DAOs are something of an experiment in being able to form new kinds of organizations quickly in non-traditional […]
Once again, we need good anti-SLAPP laws in every state and a strong federal anti-SLAPP law. It’s the best defense against vexatious, censorial lawsuits. Reveal News from the Center for Investigative Reporting does some really good reporting, with a focus on big, important issues. Reveal wrote a series of articles about the non-profit Planet Aid. […]
It’s that time of the year again. Time for cops to start up their periodic whining about not being liked as much as they thought they were — something that happens any time stats show a crime spike. The FBI has released its admittedly incomplete national compilation of 2021 crime statistics. “Admittedly incomplete,” because the […]
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