We’ve gone into detail as to why it makes no sense at all, legally or conceptually, to call a website a common carrier. We’ve also explained how conservatives — bizarrely the ones pushing for this, despite decades of claiming that common carrier designations were an affront to all that is good and holy — aren’t […]
Crime rates are increasing. And too many government officials are deciding it must be something other than the most obvious explanation. That’s prompting actions that will give residents of certain states and cities less liberty, while doing very little for their safety. Virginia in July will eliminate its prohibition on local police use of facial […]
Want to generate more leads, collect feedback instantly or automate customer support? Wish you could automate multiple processes within your business so you can focus on growth? Now, you can! Introducing Landbot: a no-code chatbot platform that allows you to automate conversational experiences on the web and WhatsApp, using an intuitive drag and drop builder, […]
It remains ridiculous how many politicians, across the political spectrum, resort to nonsense populism and grandstanding, rather than actually being willing to confront actual challenges. Now, I’ll be the first to admit that there are certain societal level issues that politicians simply cannot solve, and given the nature of a democracy based on first-past-the-post voting, […]
Earlier in May, Motherboard showcased how it was relatively trivial to buy the location data of cellphone users that had visited abortion clinics across the U.S. As states criminalize getting abortions (and helping people get abortions), there’s valid concern that our rampant failure to secure user location data will be abused in new and exceptionally […]
We’ve talked a great deal about the public’s right to repair the tech they own and how right to repair has finally started to shift in favor of the consumer as of late. In tech in general, and specifically in the video gaming hardware space, manufacturers have long fought to make it impossible for the […]
Cops lie. Cops lie so often it’s hardly even news at this point. The only people left to be shocked by these revelations are the increasingly small segment of the population who’ve actually considered, at some point in their lives, the purchase of a fainting couch. Cops lie because cops can almost always get away […]
There’s a story in the Daily Mail that underlines why it is important for people to make copies. It concerns the re-surfacing of rare recordings of the Beatles: In the summer of 1963, the BBC began a radio series called Pop Go The Beatles which went out at 5pm on Tuesdays on the Light Programme. Each […]
Hertz has dug its own hole. And it insists it hasn’t hit the bottom yet. The shovels will continue to be deployed until the litigation ends. This isn’t going to work out well for Hertz, but the company seems to have retreated deep into denial following lawsuits over its bogus theft allegations. Hertz is facing […]
It’s truly amazing how focused people are, in discussions on content moderation, on the claims that “content moderation is censorship” and that it’s primarily “suppressing” political speech. That’s not how it works at all. Honestly, the origins of most content moderation efforts were around two major things: (1) spam prevention and (2) copyright infringement. Over […]
The Fast Mag Wireless iPhone Charger is a chic, modern wireless charger for your iPhone. It features a built-in magnet and metal plate, which sticks securely to your phone to prevent it from sliding off. Fast Mag features built-in safeguards against overcharge The addition of Fast Charge technology enables your phone to rapidly charge from […]
Two political figures determined to play to the base no matter what it costs them have filed lawsuits against book retailer Barnes & Noble, claiming (one specific Virginia Beach store, along with a Virginia Beach school) the company is marketing “obscene” books to kids. It’s all incredibly stupid. Here’s Kelly Jensen with the details for […]
If you hadn’t noticed, the U.S. doesn’t give much of a shit about this whole privacy thing. Our privacy regulators are comically and intentionally understaffed and underfunded, we still have no meaningful privacy law for the Internet era, and when regulators do act, it’s generally months after the fact with penalties that are easily laughed […]
Following the murder of unarmed black man George Floyd by Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin, the streets of the city erupted in protest. Police responded accordingly. Which is to say indifferently. Rather than rein in the violence that had triggered the protests, many officers felt they needed to make protesters pay for their ungrateful response […]
Online platforms often give access to digital material that is under copyright. If any of that content is infringing, then potentially the platform would be liable as well as the person who uploaded it. Online companies naturally want to be immune to the consequences of any copyright infringement committed by their users. However, companies in […]
The problems with copyright have been a subject of coverage here at Techdirt since the beginning, and for most of that time it has been largely a non-partisan subject. At the moment, however, that isn’t so much the case thanks to Josh Hawley’s war with Disney, which has created a situation where some copyright reform […]
Have politicians all gone mad? On the Republican side, we have Texas and Florida trying to stop websites from moderating content, while on the Democratic side, we have New York and elsewhere trying to blame them for not moderating content. And then we have… California. Back in March we had warned about AB 2408, ostensibly […]
“You can remember it for us wholesale.” – the government of India, probably. The Indian government has been working for years to ensure it has complete control of constituents’ use of the internet. It has been steadily increasing its stake in internet use for years, ensuring its interests (especially those of Narendra Modi, who has […]
Take a deep dive into Machine Learning and Data Analysis across 7 courses for only $39 for a limited time. The A to Z Data Science and Machine Learning Bundle will introduce you to Python, NumPy, and Keras. You’ll learn the basics of the Matplotlib library, statistics techniques, how to build and share data applications using […]
I’ve been trying to explain this in all sorts of ways: Elon Musk’s understanding of free speech does not have anything to do with actual free speech. And, for the most part, it seemed that people who understand this stuff got that. But I remain surprised at how many otherwise intelligent people seem to be […]
stLouIST