The Tornado Cash Crackdown Is an Attack on Speech and Privacy
For the first time ever, the Treasury Department has sanctioned not a person or a group but a digital tool and all who would use it.
Science & Technology
Zach Weissmueller: Why Cryptocurrency Privacy Software Restrictions Violate Free Speech Rights
Senior Producer Zach Weissmueller explores how the crackdown on cryptocurrency tools has implications for free speech and financial privacy.
Michael Shermer: 'Women Are Not Just Tits and Ass. There's More to It Than That, a Lot More.'
The best-selling author of Why People Believe Weird Things sees a fundamental clash between wokeness and scientific inquiry.
Michael Shermer: How Scientific American Got Woke
The science writer and journalist talks identity politics, wokeness, trans athletes, and why his goal is to find out what is true rather than to "be right."
Will Bitcoin Demonetize Gold?
Monetary Metals CEO Keith Weiner defends the future of gold against bitcoin podcaster Pierre Rochard.
Concerned About Abortion Surveillance and Law Enforcement? Time To Treat Encryption Seriously
A mother-daughter arrest in Nebraska was fueled in part by unencrypted Facebook messages police accessed through a warrant.
U.K.'s Online Censorship Bill Causes Far More Harm Than It Attempts To Prevent
The innocuously-titled Online Safety Bill threatens citizens' rights to privacy and to speak freely.
Does the Government Really Need To Help Parents Spy on Their Kids?
A robust market of monitoring technology already exists. There's no need to boost it further by government fiat.
America Needs More Foreign STEM Talent To Produce Semiconductors. The CHIPS Act Won't Fix That.
The U.S. is missing out on necessary high-skilled workers by faltering on immigration reform.
Gold vs. Bitcoin: A Soho Forum Debate
Monetary Metals CEO Keith Weiner defends the future of gold against bitcoin podcaster Pierre Rochard.
The Missing Cryptoqueen Details the Rise and Fall of Ruja Ignatova's OneCoin Con
Jamie Bartlett's gripping look at the schematics and psychology of a scam
George Dawes Green: Why the Past—and Storytelling—Is Never Dead
The creator of The Moth talks about why the past is never dead, especially in his new novel The Kingdoms of Savannah.
Researchers Create Artificial Eggs, Chimeric Sperm, and Synthetic Embryos
All of these advances are in mice for now, but maybe these breakthroughs can one day be adapted as human therapies.
Immortality in the Metaverse
The metaverse platform Somnium Space plans to let its users' personas live on.
The Easy Way To Avoid Federal Income Tax: Move to Puerto Rico
Wherever markets are free, new wealth gets created. Then almost everyone wins.
U.K. Rapper Zuby: 'When I'm in the U.S., My Mind Is Blown by the Opportunities Here'
The rapper, podcaster, and author talks about "freedom, liberty, and all of that good stuff."
Facebook, Instagram Posts Flagged as False for Rejecting Biden's Recession Wordplay
"The fact-checking industry has become a partisan arbiter of political disputes," notes Phil Magness.
Big Tech's Ban on Alex Jones Fans the Flames of His Conspiracy Theories
Deplatforming controversial content is perfectly legal—and often counterproductive.
Meta Can't Buy V.R. Fitness Company, Must Make Its Own Competing App, Says FTC
Plus: A rebranded "Build Back Better," the two-party system creates "a disconnect between elites and non-elites," and more...
The CHIPS Act Is Corporate Welfare Disguised as Industrial Policy
If you believe that moving most of our chip production onshore is good for national security, you should labor for regulatory reforms rather than subsidies.
No, Amazon Isn't Coming for Your Medical Data
One Medical and Amazon are going to provide a much-needed alternative to consumers who are already frustrated by the health care system.
Don't Give U.S. Chipmakers a $76 Billion Government Handout
Making the U.S. semiconductor industry dependent on subsidies is not the way to stick it to China.
Poll: Tech Regulation Should Focus on Privacy and Security—Not Breaking Up Big Tech Companies
Plus: Arizona prisons censor The Nation, Facebook's feed changes, and more...
Anthony Fauci Says If We Could Do It Again, COVID-19 Restrictions Would Be 'Much, Much More Stringent'
The White House's coronavirus adviser answered questions about mask mandates, gain of function research, and more.
Republicans and Democrats Battle To Control What Google Shows People Seeking Pregnancy Help
It's none of their business.
Both Democrats and Republicans Want To Break Up Big Tech. Consumers Would Pay the Price.
Government often proves to be biased against large, successful companies that legislators don't understand well but customers love.
Viral Video Shows Protester Tased For A 'Fuck Bad Cops' Sign
For the officer's excessive force, the protester was later awarded a $175,000 settlement over the 2016 incident.
Glenn Greenwald: Tucker Carlson, Left-Wing Authoritarians, Identity Politics, and Free Speech
''The kind of values I've always embraced are heard more on Fox than on CNN and MSNBC," says the Pulitzer Prize–winning progressive journalist.
Bitcoin Can Become Untraceable.
Bitcoin's creator designed it to be radically transparent, but the tools exist to make it as hard to trace as cash.
Elena Kagan's Valid Critique of the Supreme Court's 'Shadow Docket'
“Without full briefing and argument,” Kagan objects, the Court is quietly resolving major disputes.
Is It TikTok's Fault When Children Die Making Dangerous Videos?
A lawsuit alleges that the social media giant "tries to conceal the dangerous and addictive nature of its product, lulling users and parents into a false sense of security."
Homeland Security Agrees That the Disinformation Board Was a Bad Idea
The feds now admit there was "no need" for such a thing.
Homeland Security Is Buying Its Way Around the Fourth Amendment
Plus: The Respect for Marriage Act, the Farm Workforce Modernization Act, and more...
A California Bill Wants To Punish Social Media Companies for 'Addicting' Children
The bill makes little note of parents' ability to control their own children's social media access.
New Japanese Law Makes 'Online Insults' a Jailable Offense
Dedication to free speech is in short supply around the world, with Britain and Canada previously considering similar bills.
Liz Wolfe: How San Francisco's Failures Could Help Austin and Miami
Associate Editor Liz Wolfe discusses the political and economic fortunes of both Austin and Miami, plus potential reasons these pastures might not always be greener.
India Wants Twitter To Participate in Government Censorship
Social media platforms may marginally support free speech. Government censors are trying to stop that.
Updating Coronavirus Vaccines Is Good, But a Universal Coronavirus Vaccine Would Be Better
Time for a new Operation Warp Speed?
Criticizing Lack of Grocery Stores in the South Bronx Means the Twitter Mob Will Try To Get You Fired
A recent college grad from the Midwest landed in the Bronx and was confused by bodega culture. This led to a social media mob, a digging up of old videos, and a firing.
The Case for Drinking
Alcohol facilitates human cooperation and creativity on a grand scale, says Edward Slingerland, a philosophy professor at the University of British Columbia.
January 6 Hearings Reveal More Trump Misconduct, but Was It Incitement?
Plus: Facebook censors information on abortion pills, TikTok provokes the ire of the FCC, and more...
Conservatives Embrace Anti-Discrimination Principles
Anti-discrimination law was pioneered by the political left. But, in recent years, conservatives have increasingly tried to use it for their own purposes.
California's Competitors
Miami and Austin lured people away from California. But the new tech hubs could end up repeating San Francisco’s mistakes.
Abortion Bans Bring First Amendment Battles, Too
Looking back at how abortion advertising bans played out last century may give us some idea what the future holds for speech about abortion.
