Tag Archive for: This

This Week In Techdirt History: August 16th – 22nd

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Five Years Ago

This week in 2015, new leaks confirmed what we suspected about AT&T’s cozy relationship with the NSA, which was especially concerning given the company’s long history of fraudulent and abusive behavior, and the fact that the NSA seemed to think telco partners freed it from the constraints of the Fourth Amendment. The leak also revealed that the agency was misleading at best about how many cellphone records it could access.

Ten Years Ago

This week in 2010, Peter Sunde gave a fascinating presentation on the history of The Pirate Bay, while we were emphasizing that record labels can still have a role in music if they embrace the ways that role is changing, and a new comprehensive graphic aptly demonstrated just how insane the music licensing world is. The trend of established musicians and industry folk using apocalyptic language to describe the impact of the internet continued, with rants from U2’s manager and John Mellencamp (who compared the internet to the atomic bomb).

Fifteen Years Ago

This week in 2005, we took a look at how the DMCA was not just a failure but a completely avoidable one with flaws that were obvious from the start, while we were pleased to see one person finally ready to fight back against the RIAA’s lawsuits. The mobile music market was on the rise with Japan blazing the trail (and trying to debunk claims that this was due to a lack of wired connections), but we wondered if the market might be killed by aggressive use of DRM. Mobile games were also on the rise, but the biggest and most important development was one we (like many people) underestimated when it happened: Google bought Android, leading to some speculation that they might be building a mobile OS which we said “seems unlikely”.

Techdirt.

This 18W USB-C wall charger is only $7.49 and it’s compatible with your iPhone, iPad, Switch, Pixel – Chron.com

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This 18W USB-C wall charger is only $ 7.49 and it’s compatible with your iPhone, iPad, Switch, Pixel  Chron.com
“Don’t Plug Your Phone into a Charger You Don’t Own” – read more

This surprise Linux malware warning shows that hackers are changing their targets – ZDNet

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This surprise Linux malware warning shows that hackers are changing their targets  ZDNet
“malware news” – read more

This Week In Techdirt History: August 9th – 15th

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Five Years Ago

This week in 2015, Google was in the news twice — first for their inevitable admission that Google+ was a failure, and then for their surprising announcement of the new corporate structure under the parent company Alphabet. Meanwhile, a CIA FOIA dump provided new information about spying on the Senate, including the accidental release of an apology letter the CIA wrote but never sent. We also saw more DMCA shenanigans as Vimeo complied with bogus mass-takedowns over the word “Pixels” and a convicted fraudster sent a bogus takedown to Techdirt over our coverage of previous bogus takedowns.

Ten Years Ago

This week in 2010, RIM managed to work out a deal with the Saudi Arabian government to prevent a BlackBerry ban, raising the question of just what device security would be like under this new agreement. We saw some… questionable journalism choices as the Washington Post peddled anti-Craigslist ideas by citing one of its own anti-Craigslist advertisers, and the Associated Press was strangely not reporting on the judge denying sanctions in its lawsuit against Shepard Fairey. Meanwhile, we took a look at how the FBI was prioritizing copyright issues, Congress introduced yet another iteration of a disastrous fashion copyright bill, Viacom unsurprisingly appealed the YouTube ruling, and, in a major move to protect free speech, the anti-libel-tourism SPEECH Act became law.

Fifteen Years Ago

This week in 2005, AOL was trying to regain some relevance by moving into the wireless space, while Blockbuster gave up on trying to beat Netflix on price by raising its online DVD rental prices to match. The FCC was subtly but significantly downgrading the concept of internet freedoms, one school was refusing to back down on felony charges against students over some harmless hacking, and an Australian ISP was threatening to sue a forum over public information. We also talked some more about the myth of copy protection as a useful idea, and wondered if some of the companies trying to foist it on people thought buyers were complete idiots.

Techdirt.