Techdirt publisher

The apocryphal quote supposedly from Mark Twain is one of my favorites: “History does not repeat, but it does often rhyme.” Now, there is no evidence that Twain ever actually authored these words, but it’s incredible how true they tend to be regardless. And when it comes to the current measles outbreak that is ravaging […]

The Metric Is Not the Mission is a ten-part examination of how Big Tech moved from building and expanding the open internet to increasingly shaping it around its own metrics, incentives and assumptions. Across the series, the argument follows the evolution of the platform economy—from the optimism of the early internet to the growing tensions around […]

In 2023, Mozilla released a report noting that modern U.S. cars had the worst security and privacy standards of any major technology industry the organization tracks. That was followed by a major NYT report in 2024 showing how automakers routinely hoover up oodles of consumer driving and phone info, then sell access to that data […]

Remember when Elon Musk told advertisers to go fuck themselves… and then sued them (unsuccessfully) for not advertising on his personal propaganda and manipulation site? Well, it appears that Donald Trump is trying a government-backed variation on that abusive power play: claiming that news networks choosing not to cover him after he announced he was […]

The Complete CompTIA and IT Exam Training Bundle offers access to multi-platform IT training courses, practice exam simulators, and hands-on labs such as CramWise, LinuxPath, DojoLab, CodeDirect, and ExamsDigest. These help prepare you for exams like CompTIA A+, Network+, Security+, Cloud+, Server+, and PenTest+, alongside cloud and networking credentials. It’s on sale for $40. Note: […]

In today’s episode of “wtf,” we have a jury deciding a local blogger is a criminal because a local politician didn’t appreciate being sent a Shrek bereft of clothes to his cell phone. Morgan Trau of the Ohio Capital Journal has the (pathetic) details on this particular miscarriage of justice. An Ohio political blogger let […]

Last week, the DNC sued the Trump administration for using $20 million in taxpayer money on strange and ineffective midterm ads. The use of taxpayer money technically violates multiple laws (remember those?), including the Hatch Act and Federal Appropriations Laws restricting taxpayer-funded propaganda. Trump’s now been ordered to stop airing the ads entirely courtesy of […]

This week, our first place winner on the insightful side is Thad replying to a comment about Mark Zuckerberg’s past projects: I’d say the first thing he did was bring back the AOL silo paradigm. In second place, it’s MrWilson with a comment about the fifth measles-related death in Pennsylvania: My bingo card has the […]

This Week in 2016 This Week in 2011 This Week in 2006

In my many, many posts about RFK Jr. and his disastrous tenure as Secretary of HHS, there are two themes that have hopefully broken through all the noise. The first is that Kennedy is a miserable communicator, in a way that is totally purposeful. He talks out of both sides of his mouth all the […]

Here comes the latest in ho-hum dystopia. And by that, I mean surveillance creep has become such a regular occurrence that it takes something truly Overton Window-breaking to gain traction with the general public. But that’s no reason to let this slide by without pointing it out. The government (at all levels) has a lot […]

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. To get extended episodes with additional coverage, support us on […]

The big Meta multi-state settlement got most of the headlines, and there’s been plenty of discussion about how it’s a bad deal for kids and pretty clearly anti-competitive. That’s thanks to a very strange clause that encourages Meta to make its own required feature changes the “industry standard” by convincing other platforms to cut similar […]

The Essential MATLAB and LabVIEW Mega Bundle has 9 courses to help you improve your skills in programming and visualization. You’ll learn the basics of each and then go through hands-on courses building apps, learning about data analysis and visualization, and more. It’s on sale for $30. Note: The Techdirt Deals Store is powered and […]

There is plenty of coverage everywhere you look about how Pete Hegseth and the Pentagon have announced plans to livestream the firing squad execution of Nidal Hasan, the Army officer who shot up Fort Hood, killing 13 people and wounding dozens more. There is plenty of debate about the moral atrocity that is a firing […]

I’ve explored how Trump FCC Boss Brendan Carr has been working tirelessly to illegally destroy what’s left of already shaky U.S. media consolidation limits. He’s particularly interested in helping Trump-friendly local broadcasters like Sinclair, Tegna, and Nexstar merge and dominate what’s left of broadcast TV “news,” as a very obvious reward for their loyalty to […]

There’s a certain segment of the American population that likes to really bang on about the importance of the First Amendment to our rights to free speech and the freedom of religion… right up until that includes speech and religion they don’t like. This same segment also tends to make a lot of noise about […]

The Metric Is Not the Mission is a ten-part examination of how Big Tech moved from building and expanding the open internet to increasingly shaping it around its own metrics, incentives and assumptions. Across the series, the argument follows the evolution of the platform economy—from the optimism of the early internet to the growing tensions around […]

The Democratic party has announced they’re suing Donald Trump for his recent attempt to flood the midterm airwaves with propaganda he’s falsely claiming are “public service announcements.” The DNC complaint was filed in federal court in Washington, and names the White House, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), and US Department of Homeland Security […]

Hey, this guy is a judge now! Let that seep in for a bit. Emil Bove used to work for the DOJ. Then he went to work for Trump, acting as his personal lawyer starting in 2023. Upon Trump’s return to office, he was brought back to the DOJ to serve as an “associate deputy […]

From exposure to shutter speed and everything in between, this award-winning training walks you through the nuts and bolts behind capturing truly stunning photos. iPhotography is the leading online photography choice of aspiring photographers worldwide, and it’s easy to see why. Each of this course’s 18 modules has been carefully constructed and feature personal mentorship […]

One of the most bizarre things over the last few years is how two guys, Michael Shellenberger and Matt Taibbi, bumbling around cosplaying as “free speech” experts, have done tremendous damage to free speech. After Elon Musk brought them in to report on the so-called “Twitter Files,” the two of them spun up nonsense tales […]

You can set your watch to it. Major media companies insist they simply have to merge to create all manner of amazing new “consolidative synergies.” The debt from the acquisitions then result in brand and company cannibalization as labor and consumers are forced to carry the load. The net result is mass layoffs, higher prices, […]

It’s becoming very apparent that we failed to learn a key lesson from the COVID-19 pandemic: infectious diseases aren’t partisan; they will come for us all. While Donald Trump and RFK Jr. play their little partisan games over the measles outbreak, the disease is spreading. Spinning conspiracy theories, falsely claiming that the government has it […]

Flock is being tossed aside by tons of cities and the trend doesn’t seem to be slowing down. Sure, these cities may ultimately decide to go with another ALPR provider, but hopefully it will be one that’s a bit more serious about preventing abuse. Recent changes by Flock, in response to months of sustained negative […]

For the last couple of years, the copyright world has been grappling with the latest generation of AI, as numerous posts on Walled Culture attest. That’s hardly surprising, since AI is currently delivering the greatest challenge to the foundations of copyright since the arrival of the computer, which was discussed at length in Walled Culture […]

Over the last few years, with Congress completely incompetent and a massive moral panic about tech raging, states have stepped up to try to regulate the internet any way they can. Even after the Supreme Court reminded states that the First Amendment still exists online and their varied attempts to regulate speech faced serious constitutional […]

flowkey is a fun, interactive piano learning platform that helps anyone go from absolute beginner to confident player — at their own pace. It combines step-by-step courses with thousands of songs you know and love, tailored for every skill level, from first-time learners to advanced pianists. The app listens as you play and gives instant […]

On one hand, it’s great to see a ruling like this. On the other hand, it’s not going to set any precedent, not even in its own jurisdiction. But it does push this conversation forward, judicially speaking, which means other cases reliant on ALPR tech have some new reference material to add to challenges of […]

Larry Ellison has succeeded in fusing Paramount and Warner Brothers in a $110 billion merger that will culminate in mass layoffs, higher prices, lower-quality product, and news outlets like CNN becoming even more friendly to corporate power and the U.S. right wing. This enshittification will arrive despite endless promises by the Ellisons that none of […]

There’s looking a gift horse in the mouth, and then there’s deciding to shoot that gift horse in the face repeatedly for no good reason. Famed West Coast burger chain In-N-Out has an equally robust reputation as a trademark bully and bad actor. Whether it’s the trademark tourism the company engages in, in which it […]

I’ve written a few times now about why Meta’s big “settlement” with the states is a bad deal. It’s Meta seeking to control how the rest of the internet is regulated in a way that, as Eric Goldman’s op-ed we republished explains, is anti-competitive. It’s also bad for kids (while everyone is pretending it protects […]

Trump has declared any non-white migrants to be garbage people from shithole countries (that’s in his own words, believe it or not) and has acted accordingly. Mass deportation efforts are a daily event, randomly punctuated by court order violations and the occasional murders of US citizens. Trump often wonders why people from Nordic nations aren’t […]

I feel I need to start out posts like this by reminding anyone that nudification apps are bad. They’re almost exclusively used to abuse and harass people, most often women. That said, if you’re going to ban them legally, you can’t just say “nudification apps are illegal.” That’s not how the First Amendment works. And, […]

The Salesforce Certification Exam Training Bundle includes practice exam questions and study guides for various certifications, covering a wide range of roles such as administrators, developers, architects, sales representatives, and marketing cloud professionals. With lifetime access to the resources, professionals can continually update their skills and stay ahead in the evolving Salesforce landscape. Regardless of […]

Yet another one of Trump’s many, many, often blatantly illegal playbooks is on display here. It seems Trump really doesn’t know who’s going to be loyal enough to satisfy him and also able to pass the rudimentary screening we generously call the Senate Confirmation Process. So, what tends to happen is that Trump places someone […]

Meta’s agentic AI product Muse has had a rocky few weeks since launch. The product, which features an animated avatar named Jolly (one presumes to make mass hyper surveillance seem adorable) is supposed to help you offload busywork like making restaurant reservations, paying bills, or ordering groceries. Despite Meta having claimed repeatedly that Muse was […]

The measles outbreaks in America, and specifically in Pennsylvania, are getting worse instead of getting better. And, while RFK Jr. has and will continue to attempt to lay blame for this total failure of federal leadership at the feet of state officials, anyone with a few brain cells to rub together knows that’s bullshit. While […]

The Metric Is Not the Mission is a ten-part examination of how Big Tech moved from building and expanding the open internet to increasingly shaping it around its own metrics, incentives and assumptions. Across the series, the argument follows the evolution of the platform economy—from the optimism of the early internet to the growing tensions around […]

The other day the Copia Institute filed an amicus brief at the Fourth Circuit in a case involving West Virginia attempting to punish Apple for not filtering CSAM the way it thinks it should. The issue raised in the appeal was in some respects a narrow one: could Apple cause the case West Virginia brought […]

Update: About four hours after this article went up, Warner/Chappell backed down and released their ridiculous claim on the video, so it’s now back online. Techdirt has been around for almost 30 years now, and the one internet law issue that never seems to change is the bullshit use of copyright to take down speech. […]

Become a language expert with a Babbel Language Learning subscription. With the app, you can use Babbel on desktop and mobile, and your progress is synchronized across devices. Want to practice where you won’t have Wi-Fi? Download lessons before you head out, and you’ll be good to go. However you choose to access your 10K+ […]

Finally. Now, it doesn’t matter what Trump wants his DOJ minions to do. If he’s going to try to pin a botched repair job on people who just happened to stick a hand into his algae-infested, liner chunk-filled Reflecting Pool/metaphor for his entire presidency, he’s going to have to stick it to someone other than […]

Trump FCC Boss Brendan Carr loves to insist he’s being tough on robocalls, which have increasingly rendered U.S. voice communications networks less and less usable. Except whenever you actually dig into his plans, it usually involves making it easier for big companies and Republicans — who often use the same tactics as outright scammers — […]

This week, our first place winner is danderbandit with a comment about the California ruling against a rogue sheriff who seized 650,000 ballots: So a sheriff broke the law, was confirmed by the state’s top court on two counts. But he is still working as the county sheriff. When is he going to be held […]

This Week in 2016 This Week in 2011 This Week in 2006

I must be getting old, because the concept around most IoT injections into otherwise perfectly usable home devices has me wanting to get all these smart-devices off of my lawn. Call me a luddite if you like, but I just don’t think my toothbrush needs to be connected to the internet. And if you ask […]

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article. In the lead-up to the 2026 midterm elections, how is the U.S. government performing in terms of human rights? Listening to politicians, it can be difficult to know. On one hand, some have pointed to a number of potential human rights abuses committed by the U.S. government […]

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. To get extended episodes with additional coverage, support us on […]

A few days ago I wrote about the anti-SLAPP motion filed by “Reckless” Ben Schneider against Bricks & Minifigs (BAM Franchising) over the ridiculous RICO suit they filed against him for his efforts to get BAM to pay back the money owed to Bryan Mansell. The original suit was based on the laughable claim that […]