Dan Frieth
Dan is interested in political policies around the world and how they impact internet users and creators. [email protected]
Missouri v. Biden Consent Decree: US Government Admits Pressuring Social Media Platforms to Censor Protected Speech
The administration that inherited the lawsuit just signed away its predecessor’s censorship playbook in a binding legal document.
White House AI Framework Pushes Age Verification ID Mandate
Calling age verification requirements “privacy protective,” is a bit like calling a honeypot “security infrastructure.”
EU Admits X’s Open Data Skews Disinformation Findings While Fining Platform for Restricting Researchers
The bloc that fined X for restricting researcher data access then cited X’s comparatively open data as the reason it leads the disinformation statistics.
Afroman Wins Defamation Lawsuit Brought by Adams County Sheriff’s Deputies Over Videos and Songs About 2022 Home Raid
A jury just ruled that making songs about what police did in your own home is exactly the kind of speech the First Amendment was built for.
The FISA Surveillance Tool Is Up for Renewal, and the SAVE Act Is Riding Shotgun
Modest but meaningful surveillance reforms, warrant requirements, parallel construction limits, may die on the vine if they stay hitched to a bill the Senate won’t pass.
Chat Control: EU Parliament Blocked One Form of Mass Surveillance, but Is Pushing for Another
Parliament won the battle over mass scanning, but the version of this law that actually passes could still harm encrypted communication forever.
Florida Gives Tech Platforms Deadline for Age ID Checks
Uthmeier’s April 8 deadline gives platforms one month to build the identity surveillance infrastructure that Florida’s child-protection framing was designed to make you forget about.
House Committee Passes Child “Safety” Bills That Push National Age Verification Surveillance
The bills arrive dressed as child protection but leave behind a mandate to build the largest ID grab in American consumer history.
UAE Threatens Residents With Prison for Sharing Unverified News During Missile Strikes
The law was written before the missiles arrived, but its timing couldn’t be more useful for a government that would prefer its residents experience a war only through official channels.
Replit CEO Sues Rep. Fine Over X Block
A sarcastic joke is now the centerpiece of a First Amendment case that could add to precedent about how members of Congress use their official social media accounts.
A UK Labour Minister Just Resigned Over a Secret Plot to Silence Journalists Using a Spy Agency
Simons was accused of running a thinktank dedicated to fighting “disinformation,” then used a government intelligence body to spread it.
FTC Says Companies Can Collect Kids’ Personal Data, as Long as It’s Called “Age Verification”
The agency charged with enforcing the law that restricts children’s data collection just carved out an exception large enough to swallow the law itself.