Big Tech, Voting Rights, and Weed
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Technology
Elizabeth Warren Wants To Break Up Amazon So It's 'Not Powerful Enough To Heckle Senators With Snotty Tweets'
She said the quiet part out loud.
Congress Grilling Tech Companies on COVID-19 Misinformation Is a Bit Rich
What about the federal government's own health experts?
Perhaps Facebook Supports Section 230 Reform Because It Could Make Big Tech Even More Powerful
Even minor tweaks to the law could shore up Mark Zuckerberg's dominance.
New Bill Would Empower Trolls, Make It Easier for States To Sue Tech Companies
Plus: Atlanta shooter blames "sex addiction," Maryland wants new occupational licensing requirements, and more...
Stewart Brand: We Are (Still) As Gods
The former Merry Prankster and Whole Earth Catalog founder talks about psychedelics, computers, bringing back woolly mammoths, and his new documentary.
A New 'War on Terror' Would Be Just as Disastrous as the Original
"We don't need to use a faulty model and apply it to the very real terrorism problem that we have at home," says terrorism expert Max Abrahms.
The Texas Bill That Prohibits Social Media Censorship Is a Mess
The whole thing is arguably voided by Section 230.
These Big Tech Bills Are Unconstitutional. State Lawmakers Don't Care.
Plus: Problems with the PRO Act, what libertarian feminism isn't, and more...
Twitter Sues Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, Accusing Him of Retaliating Against the Company for Banning Donald Trump
Plus: Iowa limits early voting, a prominent sex trafficking "rescue" group relies on psychics, and more...
Some Jobs Are More Equal Than Others
All professions deserve the same constitutional protections that speech-heavy industries get.
Josh Hawley's Toxic Populism
Is the senator's authoritarian grandstanding the dark future of the GOP?
Government, Not Big Tech, Is the Biggest Threat to Free Speech
One bill would require lengthy disclaimers on all online political ads.
Democrats Demand Social Media Users Talking Politics Disclose Certain Foreign Connections
Plus: The era of sovereign influencers, a new experiment in universal basic income, and more...
Facebook Restores News Links in Australia After Getting Some Concessions
Big outlets get subsidies. The government still gets to pick winners and losers.
We Should Keep Expanding Telehealth, Even After the Pandemic
Senators and state officials are proposing ways to sweep aside nonsensical regulations that place geographic limits on telehealth.
The Best Way for Florida to 'Take on Big Tech' Is to Keep Welcoming the Crypto Community
Platform censorship results from centralized design. Cryptocurrency techies are building decentralized alternatives.
The Fairness Doctrine Was the Most Deserving Target of Rush Limbaugh's Rage
He was no libertarian, but he absorbed an important lesson about regulating speech.
TikTok After Trump
TikTok may have outlasted the Trump administration, but whether it will find another enemy in Biden is unclear.
'That System Is Being Used Against You': Edward Snowden Makes the Case for Internet Privacy. Is He Right?
Online companies might not be as nefarious as you think.
FBI Arrests Activist Daniel Baker Over Posts About Police Abuse and Self Defense
Plus: The aftermath of the New York Times' anti-Pornhub crusade, and more...
What The New York Times' Hit Piece on Slate Star Codex Says About Media Gatekeeping
"Silicon Valley's Safe Space" has misinformed readers.
Maryland's Legislature Just Imposed a New Tax on Digital Advertising by Overriding Gov. Larry Hogan's Veto
The first-in-the-nation tax is an expensive and regressive policy that's also possibly unconstitutional.
This Gun Shop Says It Won't Do Business With Biden Voters
Tech companies should have the same freedom to choose their customers.
Journalists Worried About People Having Conversations on Clubhouse
A person you know might be having an online conversation without a transcriptionist and a fact-checker right now, and we have to stop it.
Substack
The paid online newsletter service allows writers the opportunity to keep more of the fruits of their labors.
New York Never Built a Good System for Scheduling Vaccine Appointments, so a Random Software Engineer Did It in His Spare Time
Why didn't Cuomo and De Blasio build a decent, user-friendly website?
Is America Too Bound by Red Tape to Support Space Entrepreneurs?
Regulators haven't kept up with the times when it comes to the changing nature of ventures into space.
Why WallStreetBets and Bitcoiners Got So Excited About GameStop
Some of them like the stock, but all of them think our financial system is broken.
Tech Companies Could Form Their Own Governments Under a New Nevada Proposal
Plus: Replacing cops with health care workers saves lives, tech policy advice for President Biden, and more...
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis Wants $100,000 Fines for Social Media Companies That Deplatform Politicians
It’s a terrible idea that violates Section 230, but is it actually unconstitutional? Don’t be so sure.
Newsmax Censors My Pillow CEO Mike Lindell During Segment About Twitter's Censorship of Mike Lindell
You want more censorship? Go ahead, repeal Section 230.
'See Something, Say Something Online Act' Punishes Big Tech for Not Snitching
Plus: Oregon decriminalizes hard drugs, Kroger closes stores over hazard pay rule, and more...
Americans Abandoning Free Speech Better Brace for the Consequences
Government will happily suppress misinformation in favor of misinformation of its own.
The Supreme Court's Next Big Free Speech Showdown
May public schools punish students for off-campus social media posts?
What Tech Policies Should We Expect from the Biden Administration?
Some trends to look for over the next four years
Twitter Unveils 'Birdwatch,' a New Platform Where Users Fact-Check Tweets
An interesting science experiment.
Instacart Fires 10 Workers Who Voted To Unionize and Around 1,990 Others
Plus: How the U.S. covered up the murder of Jamal Khashoggi, a Washington school district is suing to force its teachers back to the classroom, and more...
My USA Today Op Ed on Josh Hawley, Freedom of Speech, and Threats to Liberty From Left and Right
Both Hawley's "national conservatism" and similar ideas prevalent in many quarters on the left threaten free speech and liberty more generally.
Is the Great Deplatforming of 2021 an Assault on Free Speech?
No, says Techdirt's Mike Masnick, but it is cause for expanding Section 230 and building a more decentralized internet.
Mike Masnick: In Defense of Section 230 and a Decentralized Internet
Techdirt's founder wants to give end users, not politicians and tech giants, more control over what we can say and see online.
Why Purging Social Media of Extremist Speech Might Not Make Us Safer
Law enforcement will have an easier time arresting and prosecuting criminals on Parler than on Telegram.
How To Respond to the Great Deplatforming of 2021
We need an open digital commons, where individuals maintain ownership of their own identities and where speech is highly resistant to political pressure.
Millions of Users Are Flooding Encrypted Apps After Social Media Purges
Plus: Supreme Court declines more election challenges, Lisa Montgomery gets temporary stay of execution, and more...
Ron Paul Says He's Been Locked Out of His Account, but Facebook Says It Was a Mistake
No one has a right to a Facebook platform, but purges can and should be criticized.
A Silicon Curtain Descends
Trump escalated America's war against Huawei and China. Biden should beware burgeoning technonationalism.
FCC Won't Fulfill Trump Order for 'Regulations to Clarify' Section 230
Plus: Trump concedes on reinstated Twitter account, Cabinet resignations keep coming, and more...
