To be clear up front, AT&T is a predatory telecom monopolist. It works tirelessly to lobby (and sometimes bribe) government for favorable treatment as it works tirelessly to undermine competition and eliminate state and federal oversight. It then miraculously exploits that lack of competition and oversight in the form of shoddy, sluggish, and very expensive […]
The facts are all up there in the headline, so let’s deal with the lies first. Lots of places reported on this incident, but we’ll go to the original source, WESH TV. Body cam footage recovered from Lake County (FL) Sheriff’s Office deputy Tristan Macomber’s body cam showed him driving southbound before hitting a stopped […]
As you may have noticed, the tech world is full of news about TikTok, its ban, its reprieve and possible sale, and whether it represents a security threat to the US and its citizens. Of course, the question of whether TikTok is spying on its users and sending data back to China is broader than […]
It’s a grind. But it’s been worth it. Last week, the court that’s been handling Agron Hasbajrami’s case for nearly a decade finally said what plenty of people have been saving for nearly as long: the FBI’s warrantless searches of NSA collections to target US persons’ communications and data violates the Constitution. Here’s Andrew Crocker […]
In his latest “drain the swamp” move that will actually flood the entire ecosystem, Trump demanded the Democratic members of the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board (PCLOB) resign immediately. This may sound like just more petty partisan BS, but it could have huge unintended consequences, including for Trump’s own companies. Sometimes it helps to […]
The Trump Administration is apparently going to be a law unto itself. There have been plenty of people put up against the wall in recent days, but the weekend concluded with Donald Trump — perhaps illegally — firing at least 15 Inspectors General. This mass firing leaves the Defense Department, State Department, Department of Veterans […]
StackSkills is the premier online learning platform for mastering today’s most in-demand skills. Now, with this exclusive limited-time offer, you’ll gain access to 1000+ StackSkills courses for life! Whether you’re looking to earn a promotion, make a career change, or pick up a side hustle to make some extra cash, StackSkills delivers engaging online courses […]
Disclosure: I’m on the board of Bluesky, so feel free to take as many grains of salt as you want in reading it, though all of it applies equally to other decentralized social media ecosystems. The internet was supposed to liberate us. Instead, it’s left us feeling helpless, waiting for billionaires, governments, and tech giants to save […]
Late last year eight major U.S. telecoms were the victim of a massive intrusion by Chinese hackers who managed to spy on public U.S. officials for months. The “Salt Typhoon” hack was so severe, the intruders spent much of the last year rooting around the ISP networks even after discovery. AT&T and Verizon, two of the compromised […]
This week, both our winners on the insightful side come in response to our post about the meteorologist who was fired for criticizing Elon Muk’s nazi salute. In first place, it’s Maura with a reaction to the whole ridiculous situation: I hate that Elon Musk’s fans are using his autism diagnosis to excuse his behavior. […]
Despite all that has happened (and boy does it seem like too much), the fact is we’re still less than one month into 2025 — and that means there’s still time to enter the latest edition of our public domain game jam, Gaming Like It’s 1929! The jam is open through January 31st, and you […]
And now this whole thing gets even messier. What started off as something of a Streisand Effect post about Justin Baldoni’s decision to amplify the accusations made against him by Blake Lively has now simply ballooned into something much, much larger. Keep in mind that Lively’s accusations can essentially be distilled down to two main […]
Numerous articles on Walled Culture have chronicled the struggles to turn the aspirations of open access to knowledge into reality. The central reason people do not have free digital access to all academic knowledge is that publishers have been successful in subverting attempts to provide it. Publishers are strongly motivated to undermine open access, since its successful […]
The Detroit PD has made this sort of thing its unofficial brand. It has even shelled out at least $300,000 to ensure people most often think of the Detroit PD when discussing false arrests aided and abetted by facial recognition tech. But there are plenty of others in the US law enforcement industrial complex vying […]
After King Trump’s dutiful Supreme Court recently refused to hear the case, a New York State law has taken effect requiring that ISPs provide low-income, state residents affordable $15 broadband. It’s a big win for digital equity activists and consumer groups that have long argued that America’s heavily monopolized (and barely competitive) broadband industry results […]
Back in November, I explained in great detail how Trump’s new FCC chair Brendan Carr was signaling loud and clear that he intended to be Trump’s top censor. This was in contrast to both his and Trump’s declaration that Carr was some sort of “free speech warrior.” Instead, he has given every indication that he’s […]
Project Management is global. This is one of those professions similar to being an accountant, where your skills and talents can be applied to any industry in any place. The 10-course Complete PMP Training Bundle provides a comprehensive training path for all things project management, including the most update to date courses including PMP 6th […]
Well, well, well: let’s get this circuit split started! In completely unexpected news, the DC Court of Appeals has ruled [PDF] that compelling someone to unlock a device using their finger is a violation of Fifth Amendment protections that disallow forcing someone to testify against themselves. (h/t Gabriel Malor on Bluesky) Most courts have ruled […]
We’ve talked repeatedly how one way to boost lagging U.S. broadband competition is the support of “open access” fiber networks that allow numerous ISPs to compete over a centralized fiber network. In ideal implementations, like Ammon, Idaho or in parts of Utah, residents have the option of switching between multiple, competing ISPs, sometimes in a […]
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 round-up of the latest news in online […]
stLouIST