You ain’t seen nothing yet regarding how some MAGA politicians are going to harass and attack journalists. This week, it was revealed that Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton (who already has a history of trying to punish speech he dislikes) had issued a subpoena to 404 Media, an independent, journalist-owned-and-run news site that we link […]
ShotSpotter spent a few years feeling really sure its tech was capable of detecting gunshots. It felt so confident it didn’t mind (allegedly) fudging detection data to help cops secure criminal charges against people who might not have been actual criminals. Then it all started falling apart. Lots of cop shops and the cities that […]
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Here on Techdirt, we write a lot about content moderation and even did a whole big series of content moderation case studies. However, here’s an interesting one that involves Techdirt itself from a couple weeks ago. It’s also a perfect example of Masnick’s Impossibility Theorem in action and a reminder of how the never-ending flood […]
As we recently noted, the Biden FCC has announced that it is finally “taking a look at” broadband usage caps. We’ve noted for decades how such limits are completely artificial, technically unnecessary constructs that exist specifically so your local telecom monopoly can rip you off. They don’t “manage congestion” or anything else; they exist exclusively to […]
Here we go again. Another cop given a free pass on brutality because established law had yet to inform Deputy Vincent Castoro that body-slamming a 13-year-old weighing less than 120 lbs. to the ground might violate the minor’s right to be free of immediate and permanent injuries simply because he didn’t immediately comply with an […]
Of all the kinds of stupid that exist out there, certainly it’s the predictable stupid that is the most frustrating. And of all the kinds of predictable stupid that exist, one of the most predictable forms of stupid is how video games are linked to mass shootings and murders on a clockwork-like cadence. As I’ve […]
NSO Group may be on the ropes but its flagship product continues to satisfy its customers — customers that include some of the worst human rights abusers in the world. Sure, recent developments have managed to land the company on US blacklists and forced the Israeli government to limit who the home team can sell […]
As part of our final push to get our Kickstarter campaign for our new card game over the line, we’ve added a new limited tier for backers who want to show their support while getting more involved. We’re inviting 5 superbackers to work with us to co-design new cards that will be included in the […]
On Tuesday, Trump announced Andrew Ferguson as the next chair of the Federal Trade Commission, elevating him from his current commissioner role. Ferguson’s plans for the agency, laid out in a leaked one-page memo, make clear that he intends to use antitrust and consumer protection authority not to protect competition and consumers, but to punish […]
Way back during the battle during net neutrality, you might recall all the sleazy shit telecom giants did to tip the scales in their favor. Like making up dead and fake people to stuff regulatory websites with phony support for telecom giants. Or creating fake consumer groups to oppose net neutrality. Or hiring dodgy companies […]
It was almost exactly a year ago that we discussed a trademark dispute in the UK between Oatly, the sometimes IP bully and maker of oat-based milk products, and Dairy UK, a British trade association for dairy farmers. At issue was the trademark application of Oatly’s for its “Post Milk Generation” slogan. In its opposition […]
The Memphis (TN) police department is the latest law enforcement agency to be the subject of DOJ civil rights investigation. Prompted by the brutal killing of Tyre Nichols by five “SCORPION” (Street Crimes Operations to Restore Peace in Our Neighborhoods, and no I am not making that up) unit members in early 2023, the DOJ […]
While “AI” (language learning models) certainly could help journalism, the fail upward brunchlords in charge of most modern media outlets instead see the technology as a way to cut corners, undermine labor, badly automate low-quality, ultra-low effort, SEO-chasing clickbait, and rush undercooked solutions to nonexistent problems to market under the pretense of progress. For example, The Washington […]
Thanks to government-mandated backdoors in US telecom/broadband services, the FBI — at least in the form of an official who refused to identify themself — has had to recommend (albeit extremely half-heartedly) that encrypted communications are perhaps the only thing keeping phone owners from being actively surveilled by Chinese hackers. The news of a massive […]
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Over at MSNBC, I have a new piece debunking the false claims from many that Donald Trump’s pick to run the National Institutes of Health, Jay Bhattacharya, is somehow taking over the government agency that he believes coordinated “censorship” of his views on social media. Bhattacharya and his supporters have been making that claim for […]
Academics have spent generations warning about what happens when you let journalism and media consolidate in the hands of rich people and corporations. As this season’s election coverage demonstrated, the end result is usually a lazy simulacrum of journalism that looks like real reporting, but tends to reflect ownership interests and (usually) lacks the courage […]
The war on stream-ripping sites waged by the music industry continues. And, as with any war, there is collateral damage. Now, as we’ve said for some time, this is an entirely unnecessary war to begin with. There are a host of absolutely legitimate uses for sites like this, none of which would be infringing upon […]
For a few years now, New Jersey cops have enjoyed additional privacy protections that aren’t made available to other residents of the state. The reason is “Daniel’s Law.” This law went into effect in 2021, placing cops, judges, and certain other government employees above the people they serve by forbidding the dissemination of their personal […]
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