Uber has only been around for 15 years, but its underlying business model of on-demand labor, organized online, has been applied widely around the world in many industries. That’s despite concerns that gig workers get a raw deal, since they do the same work as employees, but without the protections and benefits the latter enjoy. […]
The Supreme Court moves at a glacial pace. Sure, it’s got a bit more to do now with the Trump Administration creating new constitutional crises on a daily basis, but for the most part, it’s willing to sit back and let cases pile up until the conservative majority can undermine rights by issuing an 82-page […]
We really should have two major parties committed to upholding the Constitution. But at the moment we seem to have none. Because not only have the Republicans been captured by the corrupt fascism of Trump but, instead of standing against the grotesque assault on our democracy Trump has been perpetrating non-stop since January 20, Democrats […]
MagStack Foldable 3-in-1 is the perfect on-the-go wireless charging station that also transforms into a floating stand for smartphone FaceTime or video playback while charging. This portable design featuring 3 wireless charging spots, enables charging for up to 3 devices simultaneously, including iPhone, Apple Watch, AirPods Pro, AirPods with Wireless Charging Case, other Qi-compatible Android […]
The Fifth Circuit’s unlikely decision to side with a constitutional right that wasn’t the Second Amendment is starting to trickle down to the lower levels of the federal court system. Last August, the Fifth Circuit bucked its own cop-friendly trend by ruling that geofence warrants — warrants that demand massive amounts of geolocation data when […]
Last year Trumplicans killed a popular program that provided poor people with $30 off of their monthly broadband bill. The FCC’s Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP) was unsurprisingly very popular, with more than 23 million Americans benefitting at its peak. At the time, the GOP claimed they were simply looking to save money. The real reason, […]
Ctrl-Alt-Speech is a weekly podcast about the latest news in online speech, from Mike Masnick and Everything in Moderation‘s Ben Whitelaw. Subscribe now on Apple Podcasts, Overcast, Spotify, Pocket Casts, YouTube, or your podcast app of choice — or go straight to the RSS feed. In this week’s roundup of the latest news in online […]
In our recent discussion about Valve releasing the source code for Team Fortress 2, you should have noticed that that post was headlined as a “Part 1.” This post is Part 2 and is arguably way more impressive and important for a couple of reasons we’ll get into. But as a reminder, the entire reason […]
The city of Detroit finally revamped the rules for police department use of facial recognition tech last July. We’ll have to wait and see whether adding guardrails will result in fewer false arrests, but what may end up being too little definitely arrived too late for a Detroit woman who was falsely arrested by the […]
Here’s a puzzle: When does a Supreme Court justice believe courts can review executive branch decisions? The answer, at least for Justice Alito, appears to be “whenever a Democrat is president, but only then.” There is plenty of commentary making the rounds regarding yesterday’s 5-4 Supreme Court decision confirming that of course a judge can […]
The hate and stupidity continues. Emboldened by Trump’s first presidential term and his subsequent, extremely destructive return to the Oval Office, legislators with an unacknowledged preference for fascism are pushing further and further, comfortable in the uncomfortable fact that the only thing capable of stopping them is their own shame. And since they don’t have […]
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During his address to Congress this week, Donald Trump endorsed the Take It Down Act while openly declaring his plans to abuse it: “And I’m going to use that bill for myself too, if you don’t mind, because nobody gets treated worse than I do online, nobody.” (You might think a former president openly declaring […]
After some initial waffling, Ontario Premier Doug Ford has finally shredded his Province’s $100 million contract with Elon Musk’s Starlink satellite broadband service. Like many politicians (and shitty c-tier comedians turned podcasters), Ford was apparently tricked into thinking that the expensive, capacity-constrained broadband service was a sort of magic bullet for rural broadband access. But […]
One of the more frustrating aspects of any conversation we have around the preservation of video games, something that is simply not being done for the most part today for the vast majority of titles created, is how easy and simple the ultimate fix is. It isn’t a secret. It’s not an arduous process. It […]
Last October, Donald Trump sued CBS claiming (falsely) that a “60 Minutes” interview of Kamala Harris had been “deceitfully edited” to her benefit (they simply shortened some of her answers for brevity, as news outlets often do). As Mike explored, the lawsuit tramples the First Amendment and editorial discretion. At the same time, Trump FCC boss Brendan Carr […]
My project thus far has been to educate you, to help you renormalize history from a common ethical center. To show you what should be abundantly clear: that simple truths, all around us, reveal things that are blatantly obvious. That we are now ruled by liars, cheaters, and men with an unbounded appetite for power. […]
It is almost difficult to believe this is a real thing that happened with the President of the United States, but here’s what actually happened on Tuesday. In the morning, Donald Trump threatened to imprison protesters and defund any university that allows certain protests. Then, that same evening, he stood before Congress and declared — […]
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I don’t know if Trump believes this is what will finally score him a Nobel Peace Prize for him to wave around as proof of his impeccable deal-making skills, but while we wait for the world to get even worse, things are going to get a little less secure here in the United States. Here’s […]
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