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<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?><rss version="2.0" xmlns:content="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/content/" xmlns:wfw="http://wellformedweb.org/CommentAPI/" xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/" xmlns:atom="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom" xmlns:sy="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/syndication/" xmlns:slash="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/slash/" > <channel> <title>Techdirt</title> <atom:link href="https://www.techdirt.com/feed/" rel="self" type="application/rss+xml" /> <link>https://www.techdirt.com</link> <description></description> <lastBuildDate>Thu, 03 Jul 2025 23:06:52 +0000</lastBuildDate> <language>en-US</language> <sy:updatePeriod> hourly </sy:updatePeriod> <sy:updateFrequency> 1 </sy:updateFrequency> <image> <url>https://i0.wp.com/www.techdirt.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/cropped-techdirt-square-512x512-1.png?fit=32%2C32&ssl=1</url> <title>Techdirt</title> <link>https://www.techdirt.com</link> <width>32</width> <height>32</height></image> <site xmlns="com-wordpress:feed-additions:1">169489720</site> <item> <title>Ctrl-Alt-Speech: Don’t Believe What This Podcast Says About Misinformation</title> <link>https://www.techdirt.com/2025/07/03/ctrl-alt-speech-dont-believe-what-this-podcast-says-about-misinformation/</link> <comments>https://www.techdirt.com/2025/07/03/ctrl-alt-speech-dont-believe-what-this-podcast-says-about-misinformation/#respond</comments> <dc:creator><![CDATA[Mike Masnick]]></dc:creator> <pubDate>Thu, 03 Jul 2025 23:06:51 +0000</pubDate> <category><![CDATA[1]]></category> <category><![CDATA[meta]]></category> <category><![CDATA[twitter]]></category> <category><![CDATA[x]]></category> <category><![CDATA[ai]]></category> <category><![CDATA[artificial intelligence]]></category> <category><![CDATA[brazil]]></category> <category><![CDATA[community notes]]></category> <category><![CDATA[content moderation]]></category> <category><![CDATA[labor rights]]></category> <category><![CDATA[misinformation]]></category> <guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.techdirt.com/?p=506308&preview=true&preview_id=506308</guid> <description><![CDATA[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.]]></description> <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><strong><a href="https://ctrlaltspeech.com/">Ctrl-Alt-Speech</a> is a weekly podcast about the latest news in online speech, from Mike Masnick and <a href="https://www.everythinginmoderation.co/">Everything in Moderation</a>‘s Ben Whitelaw. </strong></p><p><strong>Subscribe now on <a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/ctrl-alt-speech/id1734530193">Apple Podcasts</a>, <a href="https://overcast.fm/itunes1734530193">Overcast</a>, <a href="https://open.spotify.com/show/1N3tvLxUTCR7oTdUgUCQvc">Spotify</a>, <a href="https://pca.st/zulnarbw">Pocket Casts</a>, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLcky6_VTbejGkZ7aHqqc3ZjufeEw2AS7Z">YouTube</a>, or your podcast app of choice — or go straight to <a href="https://feeds.buzzsprout.com/2315966.rss">the RSS feed</a>.</strong></p><p><iframe src="https://www.buzzsprout.com/2315966/episodes/17446755-don-t-believe-what-this-podcast-says-about-misinformation?client_source=small_player&iframe=true" loading="lazy" width="100%" height="200" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title='Ctrl-Alt-Speech, Don't Believe What This Podcast Says About Misinformation'></iframe></p><p>In this week’s round-up of the latest news in online speech, content moderation and internet regulation, Mike and Ben cover:</p><ul class="wp-block-list"><li><a href="https://www.cato.org/policy-analysis/misleading-panic-over-misinformation">The Misleading Panic over Misinformation</a> (Cato Institute) </li><li><a href="https://bylinetimes.com/2025/06/30/misinformation-cato-institute/">Claims that Online Misinformation Fears Are Overblown ‘Radically Understates’ the Scale of the Threat</a> (Byline Times)</li><li><a href="https://www.techpolicy.press/eu-disinformation-code-takes-effect-amid-censorship-claims-and-trade-tensions/">EU Disinformation Code Takes Effect Amid Censorship Claims and Trade Tensions</a> (Tech Policy Press)</li><li><a href="https://lawliberty.org/content-moderation-is-not-censorship/">Content Moderation Is Not Censorship</a> (Law & Liberty)</li><li><a href="https://www.thejournal.ie/meta-workers-ireland-6745653-Jul2025/">Asked to think like a paedophile or act suicidal: Workers training Meta’s AI in Ireland speak out</a> (The Journal)</li><li><a href="https://jacobin.com/2025/06/ai-moderation-ndas-trauma-labor">The Hidden Human Cost of AI Moderation</a> (Jacobin)</li><li><a href="https://restofworld.org/2025/brazil-social-media-content-ruling/">Brazil rules that social media platforms are responsible for users’ posts</a> (Rest of World)</li><li><a href="https://www.theverge.com/news/696210/x-community-notes-ai-note-writers">X opens up to Community Notes written by AI bots</a> (The Verge)</li></ul><p>This episode is brought to you with financial support from the Future of Online Trust & Safety Fund.</p>]]></content:encoded> <wfw:commentRss>https://www.techdirt.com/2025/07/03/ctrl-alt-speech-dont-believe-what-this-podcast-says-about-misinformation/comments/feed/</wfw:commentRss> <slash:comments>0</slash:comments> <post-id xmlns="com-wordpress:feed-additions:1">506308</post-id> </item> <item> <title>Supreme Court Rejects Jason ‘Pee King Of Facebook’ Fyk’s ‘But Muh Pee Videos’ Appeal</title> <link>https://www.techdirt.com/2025/07/03/supreme-court-rejects-jason-pee-king-of-facebook-fyks-but-muh-pee-videos-appeal/</link> <comments>https://www.techdirt.com/2025/07/03/supreme-court-rejects-jason-pee-king-of-facebook-fyks-but-muh-pee-videos-appeal/#comments</comments> <dc:creator><![CDATA[Tim Cushing]]></dc:creator> <pubDate>Thu, 03 Jul 2025 20:32:31 +0000</pubDate> <category><![CDATA[facebook]]></category> <category><![CDATA[meta]]></category> <category><![CDATA[wtfnews]]></category> <category><![CDATA[content moderation]]></category> <category><![CDATA[frivolous lawsuit]]></category> <category><![CDATA[jason fyk]]></category> <category><![CDATA[lolsuit]]></category> <category><![CDATA[section 230]]></category> <guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.techdirt.com/?p=505849&preview=true&preview_id=505849</guid> <description><![CDATA[All hail Jason Fyk, one of the most aggrieved “failure to monetize piss videos” dudes ever. In fact, he might be the only person angered about his inability to turn pee into cash with third-party content featuring people urinating. Anything that gives me a chance to embed this video (which also served as the ultimate […]]]></description> <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>All hail <a href="https://www.techdirt.com/tag/jason-fyk/" data-type="link" data-id="https://www.techdirt.com/tag/jason-fyk/">Jason Fyk</a>, one of the most aggrieved “failure to monetize piss videos” dudes ever. In fact, he might be the <em>only</em> person angered about his inability to turn pee into cash with third-party content featuring people urinating. </p><p>Anything that gives me a chance to embed this video (which also served as the <a href="https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/9464-shine-on/" data-type="link" data-id="https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/9464-shine-on/">ultimate piss take review of a Jet album</a> by snarky music criticism overlords, Pitchfork) is welcomed, no matter how incremental the incident: </p><figure class="wp-block-embed aligncenter is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-4-3 wp-has-aspect-ratio"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper"><iframe title="Funny monkey peeing in his own mouth EPIC" width="500" height="375" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/SvZmRv6U_s0?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe></div></figure><p>First, this is an ape, not a monkey. Second, while there’s definitely a market for videos of people urinating, it’s not on Facebook. It’s on any site that makes room for that particular kink, which means any porn site still in operation will host the content without complaint, even if it limits your monetization options.</p><p>Jason Fyk’s misplaced anger and long string of court losses stems from his unwillingness/inability to comprehend why <em>any</em> social media site might have a problem with this particular get [slightly] rich[er] scheme. </p><p>Fyk was already making plenty of money with his Facebook pages, if his own legal complaints are to be believed. Let’s check in with the author of this post, who has <a href="https://www.techdirt.com/2024/12/16/self-made-millionaire-fails-yet-again-to-talk-a-court-into-defending-his-right-to-post-videos-of-people-peeing-on-facebook/" data-type="link" data-id="https://www.techdirt.com/2024/12/16/self-made-millionaire-fails-yet-again-to-talk-a-court-into-defending-his-right-to-post-videos-of-people-peeing-on-facebook/">previously covered this extremely particular subject</a>: </p><blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow"><p><em>[T]hings were going good for Jason Fyk, at least as of a decade ago. He had 40 Facebook pages, 28 million “likes” and a potential audience of 260 million. Then it (allegedly)(partially) came crashing down. Fyk created a page Facebook didn’t like. Facebook took it down. That left Fyk with at least 39 other money-making pages but he still felt slighted to the extent he decided to start suing.</em></p></blockquote><p>And sue he did! Of course, none of these lawsuits went anywhere. Not that Fyk hasn’t tried. He’s spent most of the last eight years hoping to smuggle a win out of federal court under the full-length dress of Lady Justice. <a href="https://www.courtlistener.com/?type=r&q=fyk%20facebook&type=r&order_by=score%20desc" data-type="link" data-id="https://www.courtlistener.com/?type=r&q=fyk%20facebook&type=r&order_by=score%20desc">Fyk lost and lost and lost</a> and <a href="https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.dcd.242650/gov.uscourts.dcd.242650.1.0_1.pdf" data-type="link" data-id="https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.dcd.242650/gov.uscourts.dcd.242650.1.0_1.pdf">sued the government over Section 230 itself</a> and <a href="https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.dcd.242650/gov.uscourts.dcd.242650.16.0.pdf" data-type="link" data-id="https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.dcd.242650/gov.uscourts.dcd.242650.16.0.pdf">lost and lost and lost</a>.</p><p>Last year’s appellate Hail Mary from the would-be Pee King of Facebook was covered by Eric Goldman, who knows a thing or several about Section 230 and Section 230 lawsuits. Some Fyk fatigue was <a href="https://blog.ericgoldman.org/archives/2024/12/how-many-times-must-the-courts-say-no-to-this-guy-fyk-v-facebook.htm" data-type="link" data-id="https://blog.ericgoldman.org/archives/2024/12/how-many-times-must-the-courts-say-no-to-this-guy-fyk-v-facebook.htm">exhibited in Goldman’s December 2024 headline</a>: </p><blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow"><p><em>How Many Times Must the Courts Say “No” to This Guy?–Fyk v. Facebook</em></p></blockquote><p>Goldman’s post suggested there might be a way to dissuade Fyk from increasing his losing streak:</p><blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow"><p><em>Fyk argued that the law regarding anticompetitive animus had changed during his 6-year-long litigation quest, citing the <a href="https://blog.ericgoldman.org/archives/2019/09/terrible-ninth-circuit-230c2-ruling-will-make-the-internet-more-dangerous-enigma-v-malwarebytes.htm">Enigma v. Malwarebytes</a> and <a href="https://blog.ericgoldman.org/archives/2021/05/the-ninth-circuits-confusing-ruling-over-snapchats-speed-filter-lemmon-v-snap.htm">Lemmon v. Snap</a> decisions. However, the Ninth Circuit previously rejected the implications of Malwarebytes for Fyk’s case in its last ruling, and “Lemmon says nothing about whether Section 230(c)(1) shields social-media providers for content-moderation decisions made with anticompetitive animus.” Without any change in the relevant law, the court easily dismisses the case again. <strong>Remarkably, the court doesn’t impose any sanctions for what some courts might have felt was vexatious relitigation of resolved matters.</strong></em></p></blockquote><p>And that’s what Fyk does best: make arguments that make no sense, cite irrelevant court decisions, and generally waste everyone’s tax dollars and time. Here’s what the Ninth Circuit Appeals Court said to Fyk the last time around: </p><blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow"><p><em>The remaining cases Fyk cites are unpublished, dissenting, out-of-circuit, or district-court opinions, which are not binding in this circuit and therefore do not constitute a change in the law.</em></p></blockquote><p>Fyk is nothing if not persistent. Despite <a href="https://www.supremecourt.gov/search.aspx?filename=/docket/docketfiles/html/public/20-632.html" data-type="link" data-id="https://www.supremecourt.gov/search.aspx?filename=/docket/docketfiles/html/public/20-632.html">being rejected by the Supreme Court</a> in the final year of what was supposed to be Trump’s <em>only</em> presidential term, Fyk decided his latest loss in the Ninth Circuit demanded another swing at Supreme Court certification. </p><p>And despite certain Supreme Court justices <a href="https://www.techdirt.com/2024/07/08/clarence-thomas-learned-nothing-from-the-mess-he-helped-create-regarding-section-230-blogs-ignorantly-about-230-yet-again/" data-type="link" data-id="https://www.techdirt.com/2024/07/08/clarence-thomas-learned-nothing-from-the-mess-he-helped-create-regarding-section-230-blogs-ignorantly-about-230-yet-again/">getting super-weird about content moderation</a> since it’s preventing their buddies from going Nazi on main, Fyk return to the top court in the land ends like his last one: a single line under the heading “Certiorari Denied” in SCOTUS’s most recent <a href="https://www.supremecourt.gov/orders/courtorders/062325zor_d18e.pdf" data-type="link" data-id="https://www.supremecourt.gov/orders/courtorders/062325zor_d18e.pdf">order list release</a>. Even justices sympathetic to bad people who want to be even worse online (so long as they hold certain “<a href="https://www.reddit.com/media?url=https%3A%2F%2Fpreview.redd.it%2Fconservatism-rule-v0-q3dkvhiachkb1.jpg%3Fwidth%3D640%26crop%3Dsmart%26auto%3Dwebp%26s%3D3839283fd6e59a16e7750c20b470498162ad026d" data-type="link" data-id="https://www.reddit.com/media?url=https%3A%2F%2Fpreview.redd.it%2Fconservatism-rule-v0-q3dkvhiachkb1.jpg%3Fwidth%3D640%26crop%3Dsmart%26auto%3Dwebp%26s%3D3839283fd6e59a16e7750c20b470498162ad026d">conservative views</a>“) aren’t willing to die on Fyk’s piss-soaked hill, no matter how much urine of his own he sprays <a href="https://socialmediafreedom.org/section-230-for-dummies/" data-type="link" data-id="https://socialmediafreedom.org/section-230-for-dummies/">while wrongly correcting people about Section 230</a>. His complaint is, once again, as dead as the banned account he’s been suing about for most of the last decade.</p>]]></content:encoded> <wfw:commentRss>https://www.techdirt.com/2025/07/03/supreme-court-rejects-jason-pee-king-of-facebook-fyks-but-muh-pee-videos-appeal/comments/feed/</wfw:commentRss> <slash:comments>1</slash:comments> <post-id xmlns="com-wordpress:feed-additions:1">505849</post-id> </item> <item> <title>SCOTUS Refuses To Hear Anti-Vax Group’s Claim That Meta’s Private Actions Are 1A Violations</title> <link>https://www.techdirt.com/2025/07/03/scotus-refuses-to-hear-anti-vax-groups-claim-that-metas-private-actions-are-1a-violations/</link> <comments>https://www.techdirt.com/2025/07/03/scotus-refuses-to-hear-anti-vax-groups-claim-that-metas-private-actions-are-1a-violations/#comments</comments> <dc:creator><![CDATA[Dark Helmet]]></dc:creator> <pubDate>Thu, 03 Jul 2025 19:11:55 +0000</pubDate> <category><![CDATA[1]]></category> <category><![CDATA[children's health defense]]></category> <category><![CDATA[meta]]></category> <category><![CDATA[content moderation]]></category> <category><![CDATA[free speech]]></category> <category><![CDATA[rfk jr.]]></category> <category><![CDATA[supreme court]]></category> <guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.techdirt.com/?p=506180&preview=true&preview_id=506180</guid> <description><![CDATA[Back in the summer of 2020, RFK Jr. was leading the Children’s Health Defense organization, built on an anti-vaccination platform. The organization sued Facebook/Meta that year, along with several fact-checking organizations, for limiting the reach of, and otherwise fact-checking, its posts due to their inclusion of medical and scientific misinformation. CHD argued, in an incredibly […]]]></description> <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Back in the summer of 2020, RFK Jr. was leading the Children’s Health Defense organization, built on an anti-vaccination platform. The <a href="https://www.techdirt.com/2020/08/27/robert-f-kennedy-jrs-insanely-stupid-lawsuit-against-facebook/">organization sued</a> Facebook/Meta that year, along with several fact-checking organizations, for limiting the reach of, and otherwise fact-checking, its posts due to their inclusion of medical and scientific misinformation. CHD argued, in an incredibly stupid filing, that Meta was acting as an arm of the government due to Democratic lawmakers complaining about misinformation being published on the platform and, idiotically, because Section 230 exists. Mike’s takedown of the lawsuit was thorough and complete and very much worth your time if you’re not familiar with this case.</p><p>The District Court agreed, <a href="https://www.techdirt.com/2021/07/01/robert-f-kennedy-jr-ridiculous-lawsuit-against-facebook-gets-tossed-out-court/">tossing</a> this turd in the waste bin. Its explanation was clear: lawmakers complaining about what appears on Meta does not amount to Meta being a state actor, nor does Section 230 existing, and, finally, Meta is a private actor allowed to moderate its own platform as a function of its own speech rights.</p><p>That should have been the end of it. Instead, CHD appealed the ruling, making essentially the same arguments, many of which it failed to provide legal precedent and/or any evidence of its claims. The Ninth Circuit <a href="https://www.techdirt.com/2024/08/15/court-to-rfk-jr-fact-checking-doesnt-violate-1st-amendment-nor-does-section-230-make-meta-a-state-actor/">ruled against</a> CHD again, and for all the same reasons. </p><p>That should have been the end of it… again. Instead, CHD appealed once more to the Supreme Court. A Supreme Court that is chockablock with conservative justices, a third of them appointed by President Trump. At a time when the GOP holds the majority of all branches of government. And, finally, at a time in which RFK Jr. is the head of HHS, having left CHD to pursue his career in federal government.</p><p>And with all of those factors in theory lining up <em>in favor</em> of CHD’s lawsuit… even this SCOTUS <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/supreme-court/supreme-court-turns-away-online-censorship-claim-rfk-jrs-anti-vaccine-rcna215932">laughed the appeal out of the room</a>.</p><blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow"><p><em>The <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/supreme-court" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Supreme Court</a> on Monday turned away without comment a claim brought by the group formerly run by Robert F. Kennedy Jr. alleging that its anti-vaccine speech was censored by the social media company Meta Platforms.</em></p><p><em>The justices left in place lower court rulings that tossed out the lawsuit, which claimed that Facebook, starting in 2019, colluded with the federal government to restrict access to its content. The issue came to a head during the Covid-19 pandemic, with Facebook removing the group’s page in 2022.</em></p></blockquote><p>That <em>will be</em> the end of this. And hopefully it serves as a lesson to other, like-minded groups out there that don’t seem to understand that free speech laws apply and protect them from government actions, not privately held platforms that in fact <em>have their own</em> free speech rights. If Meta, or other social media groups, want to fact-check your content, take down your pages, or limit the reach of your posts on <em>their </em>platform… well, they can. It’s theirs.</p><p>Unfortunately, <a href="https://www.techdirt.com/tag/rfk-jr/">Kennedy</a> remains free to do his anti-vax, anti-science damage from the halls of government.</p>]]></content:encoded> <wfw:commentRss>https://www.techdirt.com/2025/07/03/scotus-refuses-to-hear-anti-vax-groups-claim-that-metas-private-actions-are-1a-violations/comments/feed/</wfw:commentRss> <slash:comments>2</slash:comments> <post-id xmlns="com-wordpress:feed-additions:1">506180</post-id> </item> <item> <title>State Dept. Tells Student Visa Applicants To Set Their Social Media Profiles To ‘Public’ If They Want To Come To The US</title> <link>https://www.techdirt.com/2025/07/03/state-dept-tells-student-visa-applicants-to-set-their-social-media-profiles-to-public-if-they-want-to-come-to-the-us/</link> <comments>https://www.techdirt.com/2025/07/03/state-dept-tells-student-visa-applicants-to-set-their-social-media-profiles-to-public-if-they-want-to-come-to-the-us/#comments</comments> <dc:creator><![CDATA[Tim Cushing]]></dc:creator> <pubDate>Thu, 03 Jul 2025 17:36:04 +0000</pubDate> <category><![CDATA[1]]></category> <category><![CDATA[censorship]]></category> <category><![CDATA[free speech]]></category> <category><![CDATA[immigration]]></category> <category><![CDATA[marco rubio]]></category> <category><![CDATA[social media]]></category> <category><![CDATA[state department]]></category> <category><![CDATA[trump administration]]></category> <category><![CDATA[vetting]]></category> <guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.techdirt.com/?p=505806&preview=true&preview_id=505806</guid> <description><![CDATA[Way back in the day of EARLIER THIS YEAR, people could expect to be subjected to warrantless, invasive device searches only at US borders and international airports. Visa applicants, however, just needed to fill out some paperwork and wait for permission to head abroad to find work and/or continue their education. Now, you don’t even […]]]></description> <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Way back in the day of EARLIER THIS YEAR, people could expect to be subjected to warrantless, <a href="https://www.techdirt.com/2022/09/19/device-searches-have-created-a-massive-database-of-american-phone-data-cbp-agents-can-search-at-will/" data-type="link" data-id="https://www.techdirt.com/2022/09/19/device-searches-have-created-a-massive-database-of-american-phone-data-cbp-agents-can-search-at-will/">invasive device searches</a> only at US borders and international airports. Visa applicants, however, just needed to fill out some paperwork and wait for permission to head abroad to find work and/or continue their education.</p><p>Now, you don’t even have to <em>enter</em> the United States to be subjected to rigorous vetting that opens every digital drawer and roots around in your unmentionables/mentions. And pay no mind to Lady Liberty. She’s come a long way, baby. </p><p><a href="https://www.nps.gov/stli/learn/historyculture/colossus.htm" data-type="link" data-id="https://www.nps.gov/stli/learn/historyculture/colossus.htm">November 2, 1883</a>:</p><blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow"><p><em>“Give me your tired, your poor,</em><br><em>Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,</em><br><em>The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.</em><br><em>Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,<br>I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”</em></p></blockquote><p><a href="https://www.state.gov/releases/office-of-the-spokesperson/2025/06/announcement-of-expanded-screening-and-vetting-for-visa-applicants/" data-type="link" data-id="https://www.state.gov/releases/office-of-the-spokesperson/2025/06/announcement-of-expanded-screening-and-vetting-for-visa-applicants/">June 18, 2025</a>:</p><blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow"><p><em>A U.S. visa is a privilege, not a right.</em></p><p><em>[…]</em></p><p><em>Under new guidance, we will conduct a comprehensive and thorough vetting, including online presence, of all student and exchange visitor applicants in the F, M, and J nonimmigrant classifications.</em></p><p><em>To facilitate this vetting, all applicants for F, M, and J nonimmigrant visas will be instructed to adjust the privacy settings on all of their social media profiles to “public.”</em></p></blockquote><p>That’s from Marco Rubio’s State Department, an announcement that makes it clear Trump’s anti-migrant actions aren’t just about ejecting foreigners of the browner-skinned persuasion, but about preventing foreigners <a href="https://www.techdirt.com/2025/06/03/state-dept-says-any-foreigner-seeking-to-visit-harvard-must-be-vetted-for-hostile-attitudes-towards-us-culture/" data-type="link" data-id="https://www.techdirt.com/2025/06/03/state-dept-says-any-foreigner-seeking-to-visit-harvard-must-be-vetted-for-hostile-attitudes-towards-us-culture/">from setting foot in the US</a> for any reason at all.</p><p>F, M, and J visas are all related to seeking higher education and/or learning trade skills. There’s no free riding here. These aren’t people sneaking across the borders and laying low until they secure permanent residence. These are people who are here for a single purpose and willing to pay for the (actual) privilege of accessing educational and trade services. </p><p>But this <a href="https://www.techdirt.com/2025/05/29/rubio-announces-ban-on-foreign-censors-coming-to-the-us-while-simultaneously-having-students-kidnapped-for-their-speech/" data-type="link" data-id="https://www.techdirt.com/2025/05/29/rubio-announces-ban-on-foreign-censors-coming-to-the-us-while-simultaneously-having-students-kidnapped-for-their-speech/">administration’s inherent xenophobia</a> means even people seeking nothing more than temporary stays in the United States must be free from expressed thoughts that aren’t fiercely patriotic for a country they’re only seeking to visit. </p><p>The State Department is now in the business of rooting out wrong think, something it made clear <a href="https://www.techdirt.com/2025/04/08/trumps-state-department-is-scanning-visa-applicants-social-media-accounts-for-anti-us-content/" data-type="link" data-id="https://www.techdirt.com/2025/04/08/trumps-state-department-is-scanning-visa-applicants-social-media-accounts-for-anti-us-content/">a few months ago</a>: </p><blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow"><p><em>The cable… states that applicants can be denied a visa if their behavior or actions show they bear “a hostile attitude toward U.S. citizens or U.S. culture (including government, institutions, or founding principles).”</em></p></blockquote><p>That’s why visa applicants are now “instructed” to set their social media profiles to “public.” “Instructed” is a heavy word. The federal government isn’t asking. This is a mandate. If you want to come to the United States, you have to subject yourself to a thorough vetting of your social media profiles by State Department staff, who will then subjectively decide whether or not you’re pro-America enough to be granted a visa. </p><p>It’s always been true that visas are a privilege and not a right. But it’s only since Trump’s been in office that the State Department has decided to be a hard-ass about it. Generally speaking, if someone meets the requirements, they get a visa. While some vetting does happen, it’s usually been done to prevent actual criminals or terrorists from entering the country. Now, it’s just something more the federal government can do to prevent foreigners from entering the country by treating anything not completely supportive of Trump as a reason to reject a visa application.</p><p>The United States was once proud of its melting pot status. Now, we’ve got more in common with the Confederacy than the Union that defeated it two decades before the Statue of Liberty was erected as a beacon of hope directed at the entire world.</p>]]></content:encoded> <wfw:commentRss>https://www.techdirt.com/2025/07/03/state-dept-tells-student-visa-applicants-to-set-their-social-media-profiles-to-public-if-they-want-to-come-to-the-us/comments/feed/</wfw:commentRss> <slash:comments>27</slash:comments> <post-id xmlns="com-wordpress:feed-additions:1">505806</post-id> </item> <item> <title>Daily Deal: The Microsoft Essential Tools Training Bundle</title> <link>https://www.techdirt.com/2025/07/03/daily-deal-the-microsoft-essential-tools-training-bundle/</link> <comments>https://www.techdirt.com/2025/07/03/daily-deal-the-microsoft-essential-tools-training-bundle/#respond</comments> <dc:creator><![CDATA[Daily Deal]]></dc:creator> <pubDate>Thu, 03 Jul 2025 17:31:00 +0000</pubDate> <category><![CDATA[1]]></category> <category><![CDATA[daily deal]]></category> <guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.techdirt.com/?p=506268&preview=true&preview_id=506268</guid> <description><![CDATA[The Microsoft Essential Tools Training Bundle has 4 courses to help you become a Microsoft expert in no time. Courses cover Microsoft 365, Excel, Word for beginners, and Word advanced. It’s on sale for $30. Note: The Techdirt Deals Store is powered and curated by StackCommerce. A portion of all sales from Techdirt Deals helps […]]]></description> <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>The <a href="https://deals.techdirt.com/sales/the-2024-microsoft-tools-essentials-bundle?utm_campaign=affiliaterundown">Microsoft Essential Tools Training Bundle</a> has 4 courses to help you become a Microsoft expert in no time. Courses cover Microsoft 365, Excel, Word for beginners, and Word advanced. It’s on sale for $30.</p><div class="wp-block-image"><figure class="aligncenter size-large"><a href="https://deals.techdirt.com/sales/the-2024-microsoft-tools-essentials-bundle?utm_campaign=affiliaterundown"><img data-recalc-dims="1" decoding="async" src="https://i0.wp.com/cdnp3.stackassets.com/25dd07a42f71d26738ce3b74dbdd740ee2442476/store/ff96eb883cc03c3389224ae81f705e106879a37dd7c2f7552f91e8148aa6/product_344301_product_shot_wide.jpg?ssl=1" alt=""/></a></figure></div><p><em>Note: The Techdirt Deals Store is powered and curated by StackCommerce. A portion of all sales from Techdirt Deals helps support Techdirt. The products featured do not reflect endorsements by our editorial team.</em></p>]]></content:encoded> <wfw:commentRss>https://www.techdirt.com/2025/07/03/daily-deal-the-microsoft-essential-tools-training-bundle/comments/feed/</wfw:commentRss> <slash:comments>0</slash:comments> <post-id xmlns="com-wordpress:feed-additions:1">506268</post-id> </item> <item> <title>Kilmar Abrego Garcia Details How CECOT Is A Torture Camp</title> <link>https://www.techdirt.com/2025/07/03/kilmar-abrego-garcia-details-how-cecot-is-a-torture-camp/</link> <comments>https://www.techdirt.com/2025/07/03/kilmar-abrego-garcia-details-how-cecot-is-a-torture-camp/#comments</comments> <dc:creator><![CDATA[Mike Masnick]]></dc:creator> <pubDate>Thu, 03 Jul 2025 16:24:04 +0000</pubDate> <category><![CDATA[1]]></category> <category><![CDATA[abrego garcia]]></category> <category><![CDATA[cecot]]></category> <category><![CDATA[concentration camp]]></category> <category><![CDATA[el salvador]]></category> <category><![CDATA[kilmar abrego garcia]]></category> <category><![CDATA[torture]]></category> <guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.techdirt.com/?p=506218</guid> <description><![CDATA[People have referred to CECOT, the Salvadoran gulag, as “The Prison that Nobody Leaves.” That’s one reason (of many) that it was so concerning that the Trump regime was renditioning people there with no due process. Indeed, most had no criminal record at all. This is why there were concerns that it would, in fact, […]]]></description> <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>People have referred to CECOT, the Salvadoran gulag, as “<a href="https://www.connectas.org/inside-cecot-the-prison-that-nobody-leaves-el-salvador/">The Prison that Nobody Leaves</a>.” That’s one reason (of many) that it was so concerning that the Trump regime was renditioning people there with no due process. Indeed, most had <a href="https://www.techdirt.com/2025/06/06/trump-administration-knew-vast-majority-of-venezuelans-sent-to-salvadoran-prison-had-not-been-convicted-of-u-s-crimes/">no criminal record at all</a>. This is why there were concerns that it would, in fact, be impossible to ever get Kilmar Abrego Garcia (who goes by Kilmar Abrego) back: because El Salvador’s dictator, Nayib Bukele, would never let anyone out to say what they had seen.</p><p>Indeed it was surprising enough, when Senator Chris Van Hollen was <a href="https://www.techdirt.com/2025/04/18/this-should-be-shocking-conservative-judge-blasts-white-house-as-senator-finally-accesses-abrego-garcia/">finally able to meet with</a> Abrego, that he was told that once the controversy over his detainment got enough attention, he had been moved to a different prison. It was even more surprising that the <a href="https://www.techdirt.com/2025/06/06/doj-discovers-it-can-actually-bring-abrego-garcia-back-to-face-sketchy-trumped-up-criminal-charges/">US did actually bring him back</a> to the country, even though it was to face what appeared to be <a href="https://www.techdirt.com/2025/06/23/judge-shreds-dojs-manufactured-case-against-abrego-garcia-evidence-defies-common-sense/">completely fabricated</a> criminal charges.</p><p>Because, bringing him back—even to fight criminal charges—would allow him to do something like tell the world (and the courts) <a href="https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.mdd.578815/gov.uscourts.mdd.578815.211.3.pdf">about the hellscape that is CECOT</a>.</p><blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow"><p><em>Plaintiff Abrego Garcia reports that he was subjected to severe mistreatment upon arrival at CECOT, including but not limited to severe beatings, severe sleep deprivation, inadequate nutrition, and psychological torture.</em></p></blockquote><p>The handoff from US to Salvadoran custody was seamless—and brutal:</p><blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow"><p><em>Plaintiff Abrego Garcia was pushed toward a bus, forcibly seated, and fitted with a second set of chains and handcuffs. He was repeatedly struck by officers when he attempted to raise his head. He observed an ICE agent on the bus communicating with Salvadoran officials to confirm the identities of the Salvadoran nationals on board before the bus departed.</em></p></blockquote><p>But the real horror began upon arrival:</p><blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow"><p><em>Upon arrival at CECOT, the detainees were greeted by a prison official who stated, “Welcome to CECOT. Whoever enters here doesn’t leave.” Plaintiff Abrego Garcia was then forced to strip, issued prison clothing, and subjected to physical abuse including being kicked in the legs with boots and struck on his head and arms to make him change clothes faster. His head was shaved with a zero razor, and he was frog-marched to cell 15, being struck with wooden batons along the way. By the following day, Plaintiff Abrego Garcia had visible bruises and lumps all over his body.</em></p></blockquote><p>The psychological torture was as systematic as the physical:</p><blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow"><p><em>In Cell 15, Plaintiff Abrego Garcia and 20 other Salvadorans were forced to kneel from approximately 9:00 PM to 6:00 AM, with guards striking anyone who fell from exhaustion. During this time, Plaintiff Abrego Garcia was denied bathroom access and soiled himself. The detainees were confined to metal bunks with no mattresses in an overcrowded cell with no windows, bright lights that remained on 24 hours a day, and minimal access to sanitation.</em></p></blockquote><p>Guards weaponized the prison’s gang population as a tool of terror:</p><blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow"><p><em>While at CECOT, prison officials repeatedly told Plaintiff Abrego Garcia that they would transfer him to the cells containing gang members who, they assured him, would “tear” him apart.</em></p></blockquote><p>These weren’t idle threats:</p><blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow"><p><em>Indeed, Plaintiff Abrego Garcia repeatedly observed prisoners in nearby cells who he understood to be gang members violently harm each other with no intervention from guards or personnel. Screams from nearby cells would similarly ring out throughout the night without any response from prison guards on personnel.</em></p></blockquote><p>The physical toll was severe and immediate:</p><blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow"><p><em>During his first two weeks at CECOT, Plaintiff Abrego Garcia suffered a significant deterioration in his physical condition and lost approximately 31 pounds (dropping from approximately 215 pounds to 184 pounds).</em></p></blockquote><p>The complaint reveals that officials weren’t just torturing Abrego—they were actively trying to hide the evidence. This included staging photos to create a false narrative and, once the controversy grew, moving him to a different facility where he could be hidden from oversight.</p><p>The desperation to silence Abrego explains why the Trump administration is <a href="https://www.techdirt.com/2025/07/02/trumps-immigration-enforcement-free-the-criminals-jail-the-innocent/">freeing actual criminals</a> in exchange for their testimony against him—a remarkable admission that they’d rather have dangerous felons on the streets than let this witness speak freely.</p><p>Abrego’s testimony represents the first unfiltered account of conditions inside CECOT—and it’s damning. But this isn’t just about one man’s suffering. It’s about a deliberate policy of sending people, most without any criminal record, to a facility that operates as a torture chamber.</p><p>The Trump administration knew exactly what CECOT was when they started using it as a foreign rendition site. They knew people wouldn’t come back to tell their stories. They counted on the silence.</p><p>That silence has now been broken. The question is whether anyone will be held accountable for turning torture into immigration policy.</p>]]></content:encoded> <wfw:commentRss>https://www.techdirt.com/2025/07/03/kilmar-abrego-garcia-details-how-cecot-is-a-torture-camp/comments/feed/</wfw:commentRss> <slash:comments>11</slash:comments> <post-id xmlns="com-wordpress:feed-additions:1">506218</post-id> </item> <item> <title>Institutional Failure: CBS Wimps Out, Pays Trump $16 Million Bribe To Settle Baseless Lawsuit</title> <link>https://www.techdirt.com/2025/07/03/institutional-failure-cbs-wimps-out-pays-trump-16-million-bribe-to-settle-baseless-lawsuit/</link> <comments>https://www.techdirt.com/2025/07/03/institutional-failure-cbs-wimps-out-pays-trump-16-million-bribe-to-settle-baseless-lawsuit/#comments</comments> <dc:creator><![CDATA[Karl Bode]]></dc:creator> <pubDate>Thu, 03 Jul 2025 12:24:04 +0000</pubDate> <category><![CDATA[1]]></category> <category><![CDATA[cbs]]></category> <category><![CDATA[paramount]]></category> <category><![CDATA[skydance]]></category> <category><![CDATA[bribe]]></category> <category><![CDATA[bullying]]></category> <category><![CDATA[donald trump]]></category> <category><![CDATA[extortion]]></category> <category><![CDATA[journalism]]></category> <category><![CDATA[media]]></category> <category><![CDATA[ron wyden]]></category> <category><![CDATA[settlement]]></category> <category><![CDATA[shari redstone]]></category> <guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.techdirt.com/?p=506153&preview=true&preview_id=506153</guid> <description><![CDATA[As predicted, CBS execs have folded like damp cardboard and decided to pay Donald Trump $16 million in an incredible and historic act of cowardice. CBS, seeking FCC regulatory approval for its $8 billion merger with Skydance, wanted to settle a completely baseless Trump lawsuit falsely alleging that 60 Minutes misleadingly edited an election season […]]]></description> <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>As predicted, CBS execs have folded like damp cardboard and decided to <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/07/02/business/media/paramount-trump-60-minutes-lawsuit.html">pay Donald Trump $16 million in an incredible and historic act of cowardice</a>. CBS, seeking FCC regulatory approval for its $8 billion merger with Skydance, wanted to settle a <a href="https://www.techdirt.com/2025/04/30/cbs-folds-like-a-moist-flushable-towelette-in-response-to-baseless-trump-threats/">completely baseless Trump lawsuit</a> falsely alleging that <em>60 Minutes</em> misleadingly edited an election season interview with Kamala Harris.</p><p>Again, this lawsuit had <a href="https://www.techdirt.com/2024/11/04/trumps-latest-lawsuit-against-cbs-proves-hes-no-free-speech-champion/">absolutely no basis in truth</a>. CBS executives could have fought the lawsuit and found an unlimited supply of public and financial support. Talented lawyers country wide would have been happy to help with the case pro bono in order to shut up an authoritarian bully. </p><p>Instead, CBS ownership, keen to head to the exits and transfer ownership of the company to Skydance executives (who look to be <a href="https://finance.yahoo.com/news/paramount-suitor-david-ellison-spotted-063722432.html">even bigger Trump ass kissers</a>), folded to a blatant attempt by our mad king to bully and extort a major media company away from doing basic journalism. </p><p>CBS owners like Shari Redstone have effectively put up a giant neon sign advertising they <em>don’t care about integrity or journalism</em>, and <a href="https://www.techdirt.com/2025/04/23/60-minutes-producer-quits-after-trump-fcc-harassment-saying-show-can-no-longer-do-independent-journalism/">most of the people who still work at CBS know it</a>. </p><p>The settlement comes after months of negotiations between the two sides, and had been sped along by concerns of discovery and a looming shakeup on the CBS/Paramount board of directors:</p><blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow"><p><em>“After weeks of negotiations with a mediator, lawyers for Paramount and Mr. Trump worked through the weekend to reach a deal ahead of a court deadline that would have required both sides to begin producing internal documents for discovery, according to two people familiar with the negotiations. Another deadline loomed: Paramount was planning to make changes to its board of directors this week that could have complicated the settlement negotiations.”</em></p></blockquote><p>It’s worth noting that it takes the New York Times <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/07/02/business/media/paramount-trump-60-minutes-lawsuit.html">until the fifth paragraph</a> to make it clear Trump’s lawsuit was baseless. Unsurprisingly, Trump’s legal team tries to frame this unconstitutional extortion racket as some kind of big win for the American public:</p><blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow"><p><em>“A spokesman for Mr. Trump’s legal team said in a statement that the settlement was “another win for the American people” delivered by the president, who was holding “the fake news media accountable.”</em></p><p><em>“CBS and Paramount Global realized the strength of this historic case and had no choice but to settle,” the spokesman said.”</em></p></blockquote><p>The great irony is that CBS executives had already spent years responding to surging U.S. authoritarianism by <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/cbs-news-exec-says-hiring-more-republicans-expect-midterm-win-2022-3">hiring more Republicans</a> and shifting their editorial Overton window rightward to please Republicans. It’s part of a broader (and not at all subtle) U.S. media industry effort to <a href="https://www.damemagazine.com/2025/01/02/americas-right-wing-propaganda-problem-might-be-terminal/">appease increasingly radical right wing ideology in order to protect their financial interests and access</a>. </p><p>The CBS settlement comes despite <a href="https://www.semafor.com/article/05/30/2025/california-opens-inquiry-into-paramount-and-trump">hints from California lawmakers</a> that they’d be investigating any settlement as a potential bribe under California law. CBS execs<a href="https://www.techdirt.com/2025/06/24/cbs-execs-have-second-thoughts-about-paying-trump-bribe-money-after-california-threatens-bribery-inquiry/"> initially showed some hesitation</a> in the light of the inquiries, but ultimately likely concluded that any financial penalties (after years of inquiries and litigation) were worth the approval for their $8 billion megamerger.</p><p>Over on Bluesky, Senator Ron Wyden promised he’d hold CBS executives accountable, and urged state lawmakers to follow through on their bribery inquiries:</p><figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-bluesky-social wp-block-embed-bluesky-social"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper"><blockquote class="bluesky-embed" data-bluesky-uri="at://did:plc:ydtsvzzsl6nlfkmnuooeqcmc/app.bsky.feed.post/3lsyea6d6hc2t" data-bluesky-cid="bafyreifq65qtdhmsrlk55csh2eka6czdnry5debre2fqv6a3vyklpxfxly"><p lang="en">Paramount just paid Trump a bribe for merger approval. When Democrats retake power, I’ll be first in line calling for federal charges. In the meantime, state prosecutors should make the corporate execs who sold out our democracy answer in court, today.</p><p>— <a href="https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:ydtsvzzsl6nlfkmnuooeqcmc?ref_src=embed">Senator Ron Wyden (@wyden.senate.gov)</a> <a href="https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:ydtsvzzsl6nlfkmnuooeqcmc/post/3lsyea6d6hc2t?ref_src=embed">2025-07-02T13:50:46.810Z</a></p></blockquote><p><script async src="https://embed.bsky.app/static/embed.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div></figure><p>It’s important to view this as an extension of a very successful, fifty-plus year mission by Republicans to bully U.S. journalism and discredit factual criticism of often extremely unpopular right wing ideology (destroying social service programs and rural medical care to fund giant tax breaks for rich assholes, as a random example plucked out of a hat):</p><figure class="wp-block-embed aligncenter is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-4-3 wp-has-aspect-ratio"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper"><iframe title="Firing Line: The News Twisters, September 1, 1971" width="500" height="375" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/zzMDEEQCYcE?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe></div></figure><p>The myth that U.S. journalism suffers from a systemic “liberal bias” is one of the greatest lies ever foisted upon U.S. public discourse. In reality, most U.S. journalism is <a href="https://www.damemagazine.com/2023/02/21/legacy-media-tilts-two-ways-center-right-and-far-right/">comprised of center-right corporatists primarily reflecting the financial interests of affluent, white male Conservative ownership</a>. That CBS folded in this way wouldn’t be a surprise to <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amusing_Ourselves_to_Death">prominent and long-deceased media studies academics</a>. </p><p>CBS’ reward for this feckless appeasement was utterly bogus lawsuits, baseless FCC “<a href="https://www.techdirt.com/2025/03/25/even-traditional-gop-allies-are-urging-the-fcc-to-end-its-baseless-attack-on-cbs-60-minutes/">investigations</a>,” and getting relentlessly attacked in the right wing media as some sort of leftist rag (when again, CBS, if anything, had spent much of the last decade pandering to the U.S. right). There’s simply no winning when it comes to folding to authoritarian bullshit. </p><p>The “new CBS” under Skydance will be owned by David Ellison, the son of Larry Ellison, the right wing tech billionaire who has backed Trump. It seems very likely they’ll either spin off and discard CBS’ news division, or increasingly turn “CBS reporting” into the <a href="https://www.damemagazine.com/2025/01/02/americas-right-wing-propaganda-problem-might-be-terminal/">sort of flimsy infotainment and propaganda artifice that’s slowly devouring the lion’s share of what remains of mainstream U.S. journalism</a>.</p><p>Just an immense, historic act of cowardice for a U.S. media industry increasingly comprised of flimsy artifice. The era of Walter Cronkite and Edward R. Murrow it sure as hell isn’t.</p></p>]]></content:encoded> <wfw:commentRss>https://www.techdirt.com/2025/07/03/institutional-failure-cbs-wimps-out-pays-trump-16-million-bribe-to-settle-baseless-lawsuit/comments/feed/</wfw:commentRss> <slash:comments>10</slash:comments> <post-id xmlns="com-wordpress:feed-additions:1">506153</post-id> </item> <item> <title>TN Govt. Saves School Children From Smut Like Magic Tree House, Calvin & Hobbes, & A Light In The Attic</title> <link>https://www.techdirt.com/2025/07/02/tn-govt-saves-school-children-from-smut-like-magic-tree-house-calvin-hobbes-a-light-in-the-attic/</link> <comments>https://www.techdirt.com/2025/07/02/tn-govt-saves-school-children-from-smut-like-magic-tree-house-calvin-hobbes-a-light-in-the-attic/#comments</comments> <dc:creator><![CDATA[Dark Helmet]]></dc:creator> <pubDate>Thu, 03 Jul 2025 02:43:00 +0000</pubDate> <category><![CDATA[1]]></category> <category><![CDATA[pen america]]></category> <category><![CDATA[book banning]]></category> <category><![CDATA[calvin and hobbes]]></category> <category><![CDATA[censorship]]></category> <category><![CDATA[magic tree house]]></category> <category><![CDATA[tennessee]]></category> <guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.techdirt.com/?p=505479&preview=true&preview_id=505479</guid> <description><![CDATA[Book bans are all the rage these days, as you likely well know. Far too many people, and folks in government more importantly, seem to have read Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451 not as a lesson in the dangers of new media, but as some sort of instruction manual for how to treat literature. But the […]]]></description> <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><a href="https://www.techdirt.com/tag/book-bans/">Book bans</a> are all the rage these days, as you likely well know. Far too many people, and folks in government more importantly, seem to have read Ray Bradbury’s <em>Fahrenheit 451</em> not as a lesson in the dangers of new media, but as some sort of instruction manual for how to treat literature. But the real story here is that a bunch of cowardly state and federal politicians are placating the desires largely of the religious right, who are seeking to tightly control the books that children have access to in public, secular schools. And if you can’t manage to understand how plainly that is the antithesis of our form of government, then you’re beyond help.</p><p>But because authoritarianism makes a fool of itself as a habit, and religiously-based authoritarianism all the moreso, then end result of these attempts at censorship always eventually reveal themselves as absurd. And if you need an example of that, you need <a href="https://pen.org/magic-tree-house-author-calvin-and-hobbes-among-hundreds-of-tennessee-book-bans/">only look at the state of Tennessee</a>.</p><blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow"><p><em>Magic Tree House author <strong>Mary Pope Osborne</strong>, children’s poet <strong>Shel Silverstein</strong> and Calvin and Hobbes cartoonist <strong>Bill Watterson </strong>have joined <strong>Judy Blume, Sarah J. Maas, Eric Carle</strong> and <strong>Kurt Vonnegut</strong> on a mind-boggling list of hundreds of books purged from some Tennessee school libraries.</em></p><p><em>The removals are the result of a <a href="https://pen.org/report/beyond-the-shelves/">growing political movement</a> to control information through book banning. In 2024, the state legislature <a href="https://www.wbir.com/article/news/education/tennessee-book-ban-sexual-imagery-explicit-content/51-5a5ba0f6-38c7-4aa9-99e1-ea4a55e41577">amended</a> the “Age-Appropriate Materials Act of 2022” to specify that any materials that “in whole or in part” contain any “nudity, or descriptions or depictions of sexual excitement, sexual conduct, excess violence, or sadomasochistic abuse” are inappropriate for all students and do not belong in a school library. This change means books are not evaluated as a whole, and excerpts can be considered without context, if they have any content that is deemed to cross these lines. This leaves no room for educators and librarians to curate collections that reflect the real world and serve the educational needs of today’s students.</em></p></blockquote><p>And because you have groups of far-right activists marching around looking for any scintilla of material over which they can manufacture faux outrage, you get these examples of books being banned for their terrible, awful, smutty content. Such as a <em>Magic Tree House</em>, book that was banned because it had this pornographical image on its cover:</p><div class="wp-block-image"><figure class="aligncenter size-full"><img data-recalc-dims="1" fetchpriority="high" decoding="async" width="259" height="364" src="https://i0.wp.com/www.techdirt.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/image-8.png?resize=259%2C364&ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-505484" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/www.techdirt.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/image-8.png?w=259&ssl=1 259w, https://i0.wp.com/www.techdirt.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/image-8.png?resize=213%2C300&ssl=1 213w" sizes="(max-width: 259px) 100vw, 259px" /></figure></div><p>Special thanks to Mike Masnick for briefly allowing me to post porn images on Techdirt. And for all of you whose naughty bits are currently twitching due to that book cover, I offer you my sincerest apologies.</p><p>But if you thought <em>that</em> was bad, check out this panel image from a <em>Calvin & Hobbes</em> book that got it banned. Here we have the nude image of a child on full display.</p><div class="wp-block-image"><figure class="aligncenter size-full"><img data-recalc-dims="1" loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="555" height="359" src="https://i0.wp.com/www.techdirt.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/image-9.png?resize=555%2C359&ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-505485" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/www.techdirt.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/image-9.png?w=555&ssl=1 555w, https://i0.wp.com/www.techdirt.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/image-9.png?resize=300%2C194&ssl=1 300w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 555px) 100vw, 555px" /></figure></div><p>Now, I sure hope everyone realizes that the above is a dalliance into sarcasm, because I was laying it on quite thick. I grew up on <em>Calvin & Hobbes</em>, not to mention Shel Silverstein’s <em>A Light in the Attic</em>, which was also banned. Why? More butts, that’s why. And, because the universe is not without a sense of irony, one school even had to ban a book authored by an alumnus.</p><blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow"><p><em>Oak Ridge Schools, where a significant number of the bans target art history books, even removed Richard Jolley: Sculptor of Glass, a collection of works by the artist, who graduated from Oak Ridge High School.</em></p><p><em>“Regarding the book written by Mr. Jolley, we were thrilled to feature a book written by an ORHS alumni on our shelves and were equally disappointed to have to remove it,” Molly Gallagher Smith, an Oak Ridge Schools spokeswoman, <a href="https://www.wbir.com/article/news/local/oak-ridge-anderson/books-removed-from-shelves-in-oak-ridge-schools-libraries-after-changes-to-state-law/51-db8f413d-d363-44e9-8910-79dff10e8072">told WBIR</a>. “Unfortunately, as an artist, Mr. Jolley’s book features depictions of the human body that are in direct violation of the law.”</em></p></blockquote><p>There are more and the bans hit all the notes you would expect: LGBTQ+ material, books about the Holocaust, books about African American contributions to government and science, and, because of course, <em>Fahrenheit 451</em> itself.</p><p>Now, this is indeed all absurd, but it isn’t remotely funny. There is a ton of literature, hundreds of books, that are being banned under this Tennessee law. Many of them reportedly without going through any review process.</p><blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow"><p><em>And many of the bans are coming without any review or discussion. The Tennessee Association of School Libraries <a href="https://www.tasltn.org/assets/docs/advocacy/TASL%20Survey%20October%202024.pdf">found in a survey</a> of its members that in 20% of school districts, books were removed from the shelves at the command of district leaders without any sort of review process. “Librarians and educators are concerned that we will end up pulling a massive amount of books without looking at the books as a whole,” one member said in the survey. “It’s a slippery slope,” said another, “and I’m fearful of the next topic that will be regulated.”</em></p></blockquote><p>Open up book bans to the frothy-mouthed mob. What could possibly go wrong, other than keeping valuable literature out of the hands of our children?</p>]]></content:encoded> <wfw:commentRss>https://www.techdirt.com/2025/07/02/tn-govt-saves-school-children-from-smut-like-magic-tree-house-calvin-hobbes-a-light-in-the-attic/comments/feed/</wfw:commentRss> <slash:comments>28</slash:comments> <post-id xmlns="com-wordpress:feed-additions:1">505479</post-id> </item> <item> <title>The NO FAKES Act Has Changed – And It’s So Much Worse</title> <link>https://www.techdirt.com/2025/07/02/the-no-fakes-act-has-changed-and-its-so-much-worse/</link> <comments>https://www.techdirt.com/2025/07/02/the-no-fakes-act-has-changed-and-its-so-much-worse/#comments</comments> <dc:creator><![CDATA[katharine.trendacosta]]></dc:creator> <pubDate>Wed, 02 Jul 2025 22:43:00 +0000</pubDate> <category><![CDATA[1]]></category> <category><![CDATA[censorship]]></category> <category><![CDATA[filters]]></category> <category><![CDATA[generative ai]]></category> <category><![CDATA[no fakes act]]></category> <category><![CDATA[replicas]]></category> <category><![CDATA[take downs]]></category> <guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.techdirt.com/?p=506087</guid> <description><![CDATA[A bill purporting to target the issue of misinformation and defamation caused by generative AI has mutated into something that could change the internet forever, harming speech and innovation from here on out. The Nurture Originals, Foster Art and Keep Entertainment Safe (NO FAKES) Act aims to address understandable concerns about generative AI-created “replicas” by […]]]></description> <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>A bill purporting to target the issue of misinformation and defamation caused by generative AI has mutated into something that could change the internet forever, harming speech and innovation from here on out.</p><p>The Nurture Originals, Foster Art and Keep Entertainment Safe (NO FAKES) Act aims to address understandable concerns about generative AI-created “replicas” by creating a broad new intellectual property right. That approach was <a href="https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2024/04/congress-should-just-say-no-no-fakes">the first mistake</a>: rather than giving people targeted tools to protect against harmful misrepresentations—balanced against the need to protect legitimate speech such as parodies and satires—the original NO FAKES just federalized an image-licensing system.</p><p>The updated bill doubles down on that initial mistaken approach by mandating a whole new censorship infrastructure for that system, encompassing not just images but the products and services used to create them, with few safeguards against abuse.</p><p>The new version of NO FAKES requires almost every internet gatekeeper to create a system that will a) take down speech upon receipt of a notice; b) keep down any recurring instance—meaning, adopt inevitably overbroad replica filters on top of the already deeply flawed copyright filters; c) take down and filter tools that might have been used to make the image; and d) unmask the user who uploaded the material based on nothing more than the say so of person who was allegedly “replicated.”</p><p>This bill would be a disaster for internet speech and innovation.</p><h4 class="wp-block-heading"><strong>Targeting Tools</strong></h4><p>The first version of NO FAKES focused on digital replicas. The new version goes further, targeting tools that can be used to produce images that aren’t authorized by the individual, anyone who owns the rights in that individual’s image, or the law. Anyone who makes, markets, or hosts such tools is on the hook. There are some limits—the tools must be primarily designed for, or have only limited commercial uses other than making unauthorized images—but those limits will offer cold comfort to developers given that they can be targeted based on nothing more than a bare allegation. These provisions effectively give rights-holders the veto power on innovation they’ve long sought in the copyright wars, based on the same tech panics. </p><h4 class="wp-block-heading"><strong>Takedown Notices and Filter Mandate</strong></h4><p>The first version of NO FAKES set up a notice and takedown system patterned on the DMCA, with even fewer safeguards. NO FAKES expands it to cover more service providers and require those providers to not only take down targeted materials (or tools) but keep them from being uploaded in the future. In other words, adopt broad filters or lose the safe harbor.</p><p>Filters are already a huge problem <a href="https://www.eff.org/wp/unfiltered-how-youtubes-content-id-discourages-fair-use-and-dictates-what-we-see-online">when it comes to copyright</a>, and at least in that instance all it <em>should </em>be doing is flagging for human review if an upload appears to be a whole copy of a work. The reality is that these systems often flag things that are <em>similar </em>but not the same (like two different people playing the same piece of <a href="https://www.eff.org/takedowns/sony-finally-admits-it-doesnt-own-bach-and-it-only-took-public-pressure">public domain music</a>). They also flag things for infringement based on <a href="https://www.eff.org/takedowns/mistake-so-bad-even-youtube-says-its-copyright-bot-really-blew-it">mere seconds of a match</a>, and they frequently do not take into account <a href="https://www.eff.org/takedowns">context that would make the use authorized by law</a>.</p><p>But copyright filters are not yet required by law. NO FAKES would create a legal mandate that will inevitably lead to hecklers’ vetoes and other forms of over-censorship.</p><p>The bill does contain carve outs for parody, satire, and commentary, but those will also be cold comfort for those who cannot afford to litigate the question.</p><h4 class="wp-block-heading"><strong>Threats to Anonymous Speech</strong></h4><p>As currently written, NO FAKES also allows anyone to get a subpoena from a court clerk—not a judge, and without any form of proof—forcing a service to hand over identifying information about a user.</p><p>We’ve already seen abuse of a similar system in action. In copyright cases, those unhappy with the criticisms being made against them get such subpoenas to silence critics. Often that the criticism includes the complainant’s own words as proof of the criticism, an ur-example of fair use. But the subpoena is issued anyway and, unless the service is incredibly on the ball, the user can be unmasked.</p><p>Not only does this chill further speech, the unmasking itself can cause harm to users. Either reputationally or in their personal life.</p><h4 class="wp-block-heading"><strong>Threats to Innovation</strong></h4><p>Most of us are very unhappy with the state of Big Tech. It seems like not only are we increasingly forced to use the tech giants, but that the quality of their services is actively degrading. By increasing the sheer amount of infrastructure a new service would need to comply with the law, NO FAKES makes it harder for any new service to challenge Big Tech. It is probably not a coincidence that some of these very giants are okay with this new version of NO FAKES.</p><p>Requiring removal of tools, apps, and services could likewise stymie innovation. For one, it would harm people using such services for otherwise lawful creativity. For another, it would discourage innovators from developing new tools. Who wants to invest in a tool or service that can be forced offline by nothing more than an allegation?</p><p>This bill is a solution in search of a problem. Just a few months ago, Congress passed Take It Down, which targeted images involving intimate or sexual content. That deeply flawed bill pressures platforms to actively monitor online speech, including speech that is presently encrypted. But if Congress is really worried about privacy harms, it should at least wait to see the effects of the last piece of internet regulation before going further into a new one. Its failure to do so makes clear that this is not about protecting victims of harmful digital replicas.</p><p>NO FAKES is designed to consolidate control over the commercial exploitation of digital images, not prevent it. Along the way, it will cause collateral damage to all of us.</p><p><em>Originally posted to the <a href="https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2025/06/no-fakes-act-has-changed-and-its-so-much-worse">EFF’s Deeplinks blog</a>, with a link to EFF’s <a href="https://act.eff.org/action/tell-congress-throw-out-the-no-fakes-act-and-start-over">Take Action page</a> on the NO FAKES bill, which helps you tell your elected officials not to support this bill.</em></p>]]></content:encoded> <wfw:commentRss>https://www.techdirt.com/2025/07/02/the-no-fakes-act-has-changed-and-its-so-much-worse/comments/feed/</wfw:commentRss> <slash:comments>10</slash:comments> <post-id xmlns="com-wordpress:feed-additions:1">506087</post-id> </item> <item> <title>Our National Robocall Nightmare Is Getting Worse Under Donald Trump</title> <link>https://www.techdirt.com/2025/07/02/our-national-robocall-nightmare-is-getting-worse-under-donald-trump/</link> <comments>https://www.techdirt.com/2025/07/02/our-national-robocall-nightmare-is-getting-worse-under-donald-trump/#comments</comments> <dc:creator><![CDATA[Karl Bode]]></dc:creator> <pubDate>Wed, 02 Jul 2025 20:40:00 +0000</pubDate> <category><![CDATA[1]]></category> <category><![CDATA[automation]]></category> <category><![CDATA[corruption]]></category> <category><![CDATA[cramming]]></category> <category><![CDATA[fraud]]></category> <category><![CDATA[phone calls]]></category> <category><![CDATA[robocalls]]></category> <category><![CDATA[scam]]></category> <category><![CDATA[scammers]]></category> <category><![CDATA[telecom]]></category> <guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.techdirt.com/?p=504465&preview=true&preview_id=504465</guid> <description><![CDATA[According to the latest data on robocalls from the YouMail Robocall Index, the scale of the U.S. robocall problem has grown by another eleven percent year over year. U.S. consumers received just over 4.8 billion robocalls in May. We’ve normalized ceding our primary voice communications platforms to corporations, debt collectors, and scammers, and there’s every […]]]></description> <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>According to the latest data on robocalls from the <a href="https://robocallindex.com/">YouMail Robocall Index</a>, the scale of the U.S. robocall problem has grown by <em>another eleven percent year over year</em>. U.S. consumers received just over <strong>4.8 billion robocalls in May</strong>. We’ve normalized ceding our primary voice communications platforms to corporations, debt collectors, and scammers, and there’s every indication it’s going to get worse under Donald Trump.</p><div class="wp-block-image"><figure class="aligncenter size-large"><img data-recalc-dims="1" loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="554" src="https://i0.wp.com/www.techdirt.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/Screenshot-2025-06-17-062311.png?resize=1024%2C554&ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-504469" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/www.techdirt.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/Screenshot-2025-06-17-062311.png?resize=1024%2C554&ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/www.techdirt.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/Screenshot-2025-06-17-062311.png?resize=300%2C162&ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/www.techdirt.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/Screenshot-2025-06-17-062311.png?resize=768%2C415&ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/www.techdirt.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/Screenshot-2025-06-17-062311.png?resize=1536%2C831&ssl=1 1536w, https://i0.wp.com/www.techdirt.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/Screenshot-2025-06-17-062311.png?resize=600%2C324&ssl=1 600w, https://i0.wp.com/www.techdirt.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/Screenshot-2025-06-17-062311.png?w=1916&ssl=1 1916w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px" /></figure></div><p><br>While the federal government had been making some progress in getting wireless companies to belatedly adopt anti-spoofing technology, the Trump administration’s decision <a href="https://www.techdirt.com/2025/04/07/federal-consumer-protection-is-dead-the-fate-of-net-neutrality-warned-you-it-was-coming/">to lobotomize whatever was left of U.S. regulatory independence and consumer protection</a> will indisputably leave regulators flat-footed in the ongoing battle to reclaim U.S. voice networks from scumbags. </p><p>The FCC still technically exists, but under Trump it’s become a weird and pointless grievance machine run by <a href="https://www.techdirt.com/2025/06/09/unqualified-right-wing-zealot-gavin-wax-poised-to-be-nominated-to-trumps-fcc/">zealots</a>. Its primary function during Trump’s term so far has been to <a href="https://www.techdirt.com/2025/03/04/fcc-boss-brendan-carr-investigating-verizon-for-not-being-racist-enough/">harass companies for not being sexist or racist enough</a>, or <a href="https://www.techdirt.com/2025/03/25/even-traditional-gop-allies-are-urging-the-fcc-to-end-its-baseless-attack-on-cbs-60-minutes/">threaten media companies that dare do journalism critical of King Dingus</a>. </p><p>Consumer groups like the National Consumer Law Center <a href="https://www.techdirt.com/2023/10/30/fcc-robocall-enforcement-a-feckless-mess-experts-once-again-tell-congress/">have repeatedly warned Congress</a> that the <strong>key</strong> reason our robocall problem never gets fixed is because Congress and regulators routinely fixate on scammers and not on the “legit” companies like debt collectors that <a href="https://www.techdirt.com/2023/09/26/its-beyond-stupid-that-robocallers-and-lobbyists-have-made-our-voice-networks-almost-unusable/">use the same tactics and routinely undermine reform and enforcement efforts</a>. </p><p>YouGov’s latest study found that “just” 14 percent of May’s robocall total was from “scammers.” </p><p>Even before Trump, a corrupted court system had consistently limited the FCC’s authority to combat robocalls. Corrupt lawmakers and regulators, cowed into blind obedience by a massive, generational, cross-industry-lobbying campaign, like to keep the focus on <strong>scammers</strong>, when many “legit” companies, again, leverage the <a href="https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2023/10/many-robocallers-dont-pay-fines-as-fcc-still-lacks-legal-power-to-collect/">exact same tactics as scammers</a>.</p><p>As a result, federal regulators refuse to hold large phone companies accountable for their lagging efforts to combat fraud and spam. Case in point: <a href="https://publicinterestnetwork.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/US-SpamScam-Report_2024_0307.pdf">Truecaller’s U.S. Spam and Scam Report</a> found that half of all major U.S. phone companies earned a D or F in their efforts to combat annoying robocalls and scams. Functional, developed countries (even many less developed ones) don’t have these problems.</p><p>So while the FCC is supposed to enforce robocall offenses and levy fines, terrible court rulings mean they aren’t allowed to <strong>collect</strong> fines. That’s left to the DOJ, which routinely just… doesn’t bother. As a result a comically small volume of the overall fines levied <a href="https://www.techdirt.com/2023/08/08/fcc-hits-robocall-scammers-with-300-million-fine-that-still-somehow-means-nothing/">are ever actually collected</a>. For example between 2015 and 2019 the FCC issued $208.4 million in robocall fines, but collected just <strong>$6,790</strong>.</p><p>And again, this is all <strong>before</strong> Trump 2.0. And before largely unregulated AI.</p><p>Trump FCC boss Brendan Carr has been promising to take a hatchet to whatever is left of U.S. corporate oversight as part of his “delete, delete, delete” deregulatory initiative. Big telecoms and robocallers have been making it very clear <a href="https://www.techdirt.com/2025/04/17/big-telecom-robocallers-love-brendan-carrs-plan-to-lobotomize-the-fcc/">they’re very excited about it</a>. Debt collectors in particular are <a href="https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2025/04/isps-and-robocallers-love-the-fcc-plan-to-delete-as-many-rules-as-possible/">very eager to roll back already flimsy rules</a> governing how badly they can harass people they already know can’t pay. </p><p>Like so many systemic U.S. problems, the robocall menace isn’t something that gets fixed without first embracing much broader corruption, campaign finance, lobbying, and legal reforms. That is, obviously and indisputably, not something that’s happening under Trump and his <a href="https://www.techdirt.com/2025/04/17/big-telecom-robocallers-love-brendan-carrs-plan-to-lobotomize-the-fcc/">sycophantic regulators</a> and <a href="https://www.techdirt.com/2025/04/23/5th-circuit-obediently-lets-att-off-the-hook-for-major-location-data-privacy-violations/">telecom industry-coddling</a> courts.</p>]]></content:encoded> <wfw:commentRss>https://www.techdirt.com/2025/07/02/our-national-robocall-nightmare-is-getting-worse-under-donald-trump/comments/feed/</wfw:commentRss> <slash:comments>7</slash:comments> <post-id xmlns="com-wordpress:feed-additions:1">504465</post-id> </item> </channel></rss>If you would like to create a banner that links to this page (i.e. this validation result), do the following:
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