Last year's EU Copyright Directive will require online services to install upload filters similar to Youtube's Content ID system, a $100m, voluntary tool that allows rightsholders to claim video and… Read the rest of the article: Youtube's Content ID has become the tool of choice for grifty copyfraudsters who steal from artists
The Base is a white nationalist terror group that made the news when three of its members were arrested and accused of planning to start a civil war at this… Read the rest of the article: The Guardian has outed the true identity of the mysterious founder of the Base, a white nationalist terror group
One of the best work trips I ever took was the overnight train from London King's Cross to Edinburgh: I had a comfortable berth, went from city centre to city… Read the rest of the article: The case for replacing air travel with high-speed sleeper trains
The idea of paid protesters is a favorite of the right, though as always, the thing you accuse your opponents of inevitably turns out to be the thing you're doing… Read the rest of the article: Canadian "protesters" at Huawei extradition hearing say they were tricked, thought they were in a music video
In 2018, London's Metropolitan Police Force announced trials of a facial recognition system that could be married to the city's legendarily invasive CCTV thicket; the tests failed 98% of the… Read the rest of the article: London cops announce citywide facial recognition cameras
The Homeowners' Association in Val Vista Lakes — a private community in Gilbert, Arizona — has threatened at least 11 residents with fines of $250 each if they do not… Read the rest of the article: Arizona HOA threatens residents with fines for posting critical comments about its board
House Antitrust chairman David Cicilline's interview with The Verge's Nilay Patel reveals the exciting shifts in how Congress thinks about Big Tech's monopolies.
The US health insurance industry resents being on the receiving end of surprise bills and price-gouging, so Blue Cross/Blue Shield are spending $55m to have the nonprofit Civica Rx tool… Read the rest of the article: US insurers, sick of being gouged by Big Pharma, will develop cheap generics
@ShaneMorris: "My fridge has an RFID chip in the water filter, which means the generic water filter I ordered for $19 doesn't work. My fridge will literally not dispense ice,… Read the rest of the article: Unauthorized Charcoal: GE fridges won't dispense ice or water unless your filter authenticates as an official ($55!) component
Jason Klamm from the Comedy on Vinyl podcast (previously) writes, "In late 2018, I uncovered the true identity of comic Dick Davy. Since starting his archive, I've come across some… Read the rest of the article: Uncovering two lost comedy albums from cult comic Dick Davy, who once championed civil rights and antiracism
@radmint tweeted a photo from her Microsoft New Employee orientation in which she is posed with a "celebrity Clippy"; the eagle-eyed Kristen Seversky noted that the forearm of the actor… Read the rest of the article: Microsoft employs a giant plush Clippy whose performer has a large Clippy tattoo
One of the two very controversial proposals in last year's EU Copyright Directive fight was the "link tax," which would require licenses for links to news-sites that contained even a… Read the rest of the article: German proposal to control links to news stories: headlines, 3s of video, 128 pixel thumbnails
Kratom (previously) is a plant that grows wild in Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, Myanmar, and Papua New Guinea, and is a relative of the coffee plant. For centuries, people have chewed… Read the rest of the article: A sober look at kratom, a psychoactive plant that has many claimed benefits, and has also inspired a moral panic
Motherboard has obtained and published a copy of the forensics report that suggests that Jeff Bezos's phone was hacked by Prince Mohammad Bin Salman Al Saud, possibly in a scheme… Read the rest of the article: You can read the forensics report that suggests Prince Mohammad Bin Salman Al Saud hacked Jeff Bezos's phone
From the bail hearings of three men arrested on gun charges, whom police claim were members of the white nationalist group The Base: the men planned on using the gun… Read the rest of the article: White nationalists planned to murder cops and pro-gun protesters in Virginia
Copyright rules are made with the needs of the entertainment industry in mind, designed to provide the legal framework for creators, investors, distributors, production houses, and other parts of the… Read the rest of the article: In serving big company interests, copyright is in crisis
The latest installment of the always-delightful McMansion Hell (previously) departs from the usual format of mercilessly skewering the tasteless custom homes of the contemporary super-rich and instead delves into their… Read the rest of the article: The 1970s called and they want their proto-McMansions back!
The disgraceful, shady plan to sell control over the .ORG domains to a private equity fund controlled by Republican billionaires is on the ropes, with tens of thousands of people… Read the rest of the article: Angelenos! Come to ICANN this Friday to Save Dot ORG!
My 2019 book Radicalized has been named one of the five finalists for Canada Reads, the CBC's annual book prize — Canada's leading national book award, alongside of the Governor… Read the rest of the article: Radicalized is a Canada Reads finalist, will be a graphic novel, and is eligible for the Hugo Award!
In 1975, Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge seized power in Cambodia after expelling a US puppet regime, surviving a brutal US bombing campaign despite the massive asymmetry between the Cambodian forces and the US military. Tian Veasna was born three days after the Khmer Rouge took power, and spent his formative years in forced labor camps as his family were beaten, starved, tortured and murdered. Today, Veasna is a comics creator living in France, and in Year of the Rabbit, Veasna creates a coherent story out of his family's narratives, giving us a ground-level view of the horrors of the Pol Pot regime, whose campaign of genocide led to the deaths of more than a million people.
