12 August 2022

Techdirt's Over-The-Hump-Day to Finish Off This Week ...Today is another day?

 Today there will be more reports to anticipate

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Elon Musk’s Legal Filings Against Twitter Show How Little He Actually Cares About Free Speech

from the you-have-to-fight-for-free-speech dept

I can’t say for certain how Elon Musk’s thought process works, but his progression in how he talks about free speech over the last few months through this Twitter ordeal certainly provides some hints. When he first announced his intention to buy Twitter, he talked about how important free speech was, and how that was a key reason for why he was looking to take over the company. Here he was talking to TED’s Chris Anderson:

Well, I think it’s really important for there to be an inclusive arena for free speech. Twitter has become the de facto town square, so, it’s really important that people have both the reality and the perception that they’re able to speak freely….

Later in that same conversation, however, as Anderson pushed him a bit on the limits to free speech (including the terrible example of fire and theaters), Musk suggested that countries’ laws should define free speech — or at least the U.S.’s should:

Well, I think, obviously Twitter or any forum is bound by the laws of the country it operates in. So, obviously there are some limitations on free speech in the US. And of course, Twitter would have to abide by those rules.

Which, fair enough, that’s an accurate statement. But it raises questions about when you’re willing to push back against the government for trying to strip free speech rights. And there, Musk got pretty wishy washy, and basically said he’d follow the law anywhere

Consumer Advocates Angry That New Privacy Law Erodes Oversight Of Telecom Monopolies

from the first-do-no-harm dept

We noted the other day how our shiny newly proposed federal privacy bill (as written now) includes a massive gift to US telecom monopolies. It effectively strips away huge swaths of FCC authority over telecom giants, shoveling it over to an FTC that often lacks the resources or expertise to police telecom.

Because “big tech” is all that matters and “big telecom” policy is so very unsexy right now, the press literally couldn’t be bothered to cover this small wrinkle, at all. Well, except for Tonya Riley at Cyberscoop, who spoke to numerous consumer groups who have been raising alarm bells for weeks, noting that the privacy law could actually weaken consumer privacy protection as it pertains to telecom

WhatsApp Again Affirms It Will Not Break Encryption To Appease Government Entities

from the governments-invited-to-go-fuck-themselves dept

The debate over end-to-end encryption continues in the UK. It’s really not much of a debate, though. government officials continue to claim the only way to prevent the spread of child sexual abuse material (CSAM) is by breaking or removing encryption. Companies providing encrypted communications have repeatedly pointed out the obvious: encryption protects all users, even if it makes it more difficult to detect illicit activity by certain users. It’s impossible to break encryption to detect criminal activity without breaking it for every innocent user as well.

Study Shows Anti-Piracy Ads Often Made People Pirate More

from the the-sky-is-not-falling dept

As it turns out, people would download a car.

For decades, Techdirt has highlighted the wide array of incredibly stupid anti-piracy ads the entertainment industry has used to try and steer people away from piracy. Usually these ads were being run at the same time the industry was busy fighting against evolution (providing less expensive, more convenient alternatives piracy) or demonizing new technologies (Home Taping Is Killing Music!).

Would you be shocked to learn that these ads not only didn’t work, they, in some instances, resulted in people pirating content more? That’s the finding of a new paper (hat tip, TorrentFreak and Motherboard) that studied several decades of anti-piracy advertising by the entertainment industry.


Activision Wins Rule 11 Sanctions Over Frivolous ‘COD: Infinite Warfare’ Trial

from the clapback dept

It’s always frustrating when you come across an intellectual property lawsuit that is so laughably frivolous. On the other hand, it’s then quite fun when a court gets things so right that the frivolous filer gets a good wrist-slapping for their trouble. In late 2021, Activision Blizzard was sued by a company called Brooks Entertainment, which argued that the video game Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare contained several instances of trademark and copyright infringement.


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