The Free Press versus Facebook and Google
Are Facebook and Google the new ‘public square’? Or are they publishers swiping content from others?
Read more...Category Archives: Surveillance state
Department of Pre-Crime: Left-Wing Protester Arrested by FBI for Being on a “Path to Radicalization”
In the real world, the one we’re in now, the Department of Pre-Crime will not be this much fun. Nor will the good guys win.
Read more...Criminal Tax Cheat Robert Smith of Private Equity Firm Vista Gets a Pass for Conduct Worse Than Apollo’s Leon Black, Now in Epstein Doghouse
Neil Weinberg and David Voreacos published an in-depth account at Bloomberg of how private equity baron Roger Smith escaped being indicted for criminal tax fraud despite having concealed over $200 million in income. The very short version is that Smith and his allies got to Attorney General William Barr, both through Barr’s former firm Kirkland […]
Read more...Tim Berners-Lee’s Plan to Save the Internet: Give Us Back Control of Our Data
Tim Berners-Lee endorses data sovereignty, to give individuals the power to control their own data, to counter big tech’s overreach.
Read more...Should President Biden Revoke Section 230?
“What to do about tech platforms” has fixated on Section 230, when more should be done.
Read more...Rights Advocates Alarmed by US Spy Agency’s Purchase of Warrantless Phone Location Data
Defense Intelligence Agency skirts constitutional warrant requirements by buying location data from data brokers.
Read more...Cash in the Time of Covid: Down But Not Out
Physical cash should still have an important — albeit diminished — role to play in the economy of the future.
Read more...Critics Warn Repeal of Section 230 ‘Would Be Devastating for Human Rights, Social Movements, and Marginalized People’
No, Section 230 is not about Facebook. It protects you from liabilty if you forward an e-mail, so you should think twice about a repeal.
Read more...Larry Wilkerson: No Evidence of Massive Russian Hack
Col. Lawrence Wilkerson says so far the anti-Russia hysteria about an alleged hack looks like the phony claims about WMD in Iraq.
Read more...Antitrust Spring
Regulators and officials are dusting off antitrust rule books to go after tech monopolists.
Read more...How Do You Combat Information Overreach?
A shaggy dog story, and a request for reader ideas on how to escape unreasonable requests for personal information.
Read more...Ticketmaster’s Reckless, Privacy-Shredding Covid Plan to Get You in Their Seats
Ticketmaster wants to use technology to make events safer. Too bad its ideas are intrusive and medically questionable.
Read more...Bill Would Clamp Down on Cops Collecting DNA From Kids
A proposed New York City bill would halt DNA collection from children in the absence of an arrest or parental consent.
Read more...Daniel Ellsberg on the Assange Extradition and Growing Fascism
Daniel Ellsberg, in an interview with Paul Jay, describes the threat the Assange show trial poses for journalists around the world.
Read more...Michael Olenick: The Surprisingly Short Road from Abolitionism to Credit Bureaus
Abolitionist Lewis Tappan, the inventor of credit bureaus, would be distressed to see how his creation is being put to use.
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