What questions should I ask an Office harassment lawyer?
Workplace harassment can affect your confidence, career growth, and emotional well-being. If you are experiencing inappropriate behavior at work, seeking legal guidance is often an important step toward protecting your rights. Speaking with an Office harassment lawyer helps you understand…
What is a contract for a federally regulated employee?
contract for a federally regulated employee A contract for a federally regulated employee is a formal agreement that outlines the terms and conditions of employment between the employer and the worker under federal jurisdiction. In many countries, certain industries such…
Can a wrongful dismissal lawyer recover lost income?
Losing a job unexpectedly can create financial stress and uncertainty. Many employees wonder whether they can recover wages and benefits after being dismissed unfairly. A Wrongful dismissal lawyer helps individuals understand their legal rights and pursue compensation when an employer…
Can severance pay be challenged before a labour inspector?
severance pay be challenged before a labour inspector Employees who believe they have not received appropriate compensation upon termination often wonder about the avenues available to contest their entitlements. One common question in this regard is: Can severance pay be…
Do I need a workplace harassment lawyer or employment lawyer?
Workplace harassment lawyer When facing uncomfortable or abusive behavior at your job, it’s natural to wonder whether you need a workplace harassment lawyer or an employment lawyer. The line between the two can be confusing because both professionals deal with…
“You are evil”: GirlsDoPorn ringleader Michael Pratt sentenced to 27 years
“For almost a decade, the Defendant led the scheme to systematically coerce and defraud women into engaging in filmed sexual activity for profit,” the sentencing recommendation said. “A sentence of 260 months is warranted, given the longevity of the scheme,…
Trump’s attempt to fire FTC Democrat gets a boost from Supreme Court
1935 Supreme Court is key precedent The key precedent in the case is Humphrey’s Executor v. United States, a 1935 ruling in which the Supreme Court unanimously held that the president can only remove FTC commissioners for inefficiency, neglect of…
EchoStar to sell spectrum to SpaceX after FCC threatened to revoke licenses
SpaceX’s complaints to the Federal Communications Commission have helped the satellite company land a $17 billion deal to buy spectrum licenses from EchoStar. The deal consists of up to $8.5 billion in cash and up to $8.5 billion in SpaceX…
Warner Bros. sues Midjourney to stop AI knockoffs of Batman, Scooby-Doo
Midjourney could slow down the cycle and “minimize” these allegedly infringing outputs, if it cannot automatically block them all, WB suggested. But instead, “Midjourney has made a calculated and profit-driven decision to offer zero protection for copyright owners even though…
“First of its kind” AI settlement: Anthropic to pay authors $1.5 billion
Authors revealed today that Anthropic agreed to pay $1.5 billion and destroy all copies of the books the AI company pirated to train its artificial intelligence models. In a press release provided to Ars, the authors confirmed that the settlement…
Delete, Delete, Delete: How FCC Republicans are killing rules faster than ever
The Federal Communications Commission’s Republican chairman is eliminating regulations at breakneck speed by using a process that cuts dozens of rules at a time while giving the public only 10 or 20 days to review each proposal and submit objections….
Harvard beats Trump as judge orders US to restore $2.6 billion in funding
Burroughs’ footnote said that district courts try to follow Supreme Court rulings, but “the Supreme Court’s recent emergency docket rulings regarding grant terminations have not been models of clarity, and have left many issues unresolved.” “This Court understands, of course,…
Court reinstates fired FTC Democrat, says Trump ignored Supreme Court precedent
A Democrat who was fired from the Federal Trade Commission by President Trump was reinstated to her position yesterday in an appeals court ruling. Trump’s firing of Commissioner Rebecca Kelly Slaughter violated Supreme Court precedent, said yesterday’s ruling from the…
FCC chair teams up with Ted Cruz to block Wi-Fi hotspots for schoolkids
Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr is teaming up with Senator Ted Cruz (R-Texas) to block funding for Wi-Fi hotspots for schoolchildren. Cruz convinced the Senate to kill the FCC’s hotspot program in May. While Cruz’s proposal didn’t make it…
Ars Live: Consumer tech firms stuck scrambling ahead of looming chip tariffs
And perhaps the biggest confounding factor for businesses attempting to align supply chain choices with predictable tariff costs is looming chip tariffs. Trump has suggested those could come in August, but nearing the end of the month, there’s still no…
Revolving door: Ex-senator becomes cable industry’s top lobbyist
Rule-cutting and mergers on cable agenda As the NCTA’s new head, Gardner will be representing the interests of Comcast, Charter, and other cable companies. He can be expected to continue the group’s long-term fight against government regulations applied to cable…
CBS caved to Trump—now he’s seeking punishments for ABC and NBC
Fresh off his thorough victory over CBS News, President Trump is taking aim at ABC and NBC. “Why is it that ABC and NBC FAKE NEWS, two of the absolute worst and most biased networks anywhere in the World, aren’t…
Texas suit alleging anti-coal “cartel” of top Wall Street firms could reshape ESG
This article originally appeared on Inside Climate News, a nonprofit, non-partisan news organization that covers climate, energy, and the environment. Sign up for their newsletter here. Since 2022, Republican lawmakers in Congress and state attorneys general have sent letters to…
Ars Live: Consumer tech firms stuck scrambling ahead of looming chip tariffs
And perhaps the biggest confounding factor for businesses attempting to align supply chain choices with predictable tariff costs is looming chip tariffs. Trump has suggested those could come in August, but nearing the end of the month, there’s still no…
FTC claims Gmail filtering Republican emails threatens “American freedoms”
Federal Trade Commission Chairman Andrew Ferguson accused Google of using “partisan” spam filtering in Gmail that sends Republican fundraising emails to the spam folder while delivering Democratic emails to inboxes. Ferguson sent a letter yesterday to Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai,…
FCC chairman helps AT&T cement dominance with $23 billion spectrum deal
The FCC’s threat drew widespread backlash from across the political spectrum. The conservative Free State Foundation told the FCC that the move would create “regulatory uncertainty” for carriers, while consumer advocacy groups warned it would harm competition and wireless users….
DOGE accused of copying entire Social Security database to insecure cloud system
“Commissioner [Frank] Bisignano and the Social Security Administration take all whistleblower complaints seriously,” the agency said. “SSA stores all personal data in secure environments that have robust safeguards in place to protect vital information. The data referenced in the complaint…
Intel details everything that could go wrong with US taking a 10% stake
However, the US can vote “as it wishes,” Intel reported, and experts suggested to Reuters that regulations may be needed to “limit government opportunities for abuses such as insider trading.” That could reassure investors somewhat, Rich Weiss, a senior vice…
Judge unhappy with FCC’s “vague and uninformative” response to DOGE lawsuit
We contacted the FCC and will update this article if it provides a response. The plaintiffs’ motion for a preliminary injunction said the FCC, led by Chairman Brendan Carr, “acted favorably on several Starlink initiatives” while Musk and DOGE exerted…
Authors celebrate “historic” settlement coming soon in Anthropic class action
Authors are celebrating a “historic” settlement expected to be reached soon in a class-action lawsuit over Anthropic’s AI training data. On Tuesday, US District Judge William Alsup confirmed that Anthropic and the authors “believe they have a settlement in principle”…
“ChatGPT killed my son”: Parents’ lawsuit describes suicide notes in chat logs
During those chats, “ChatGPT mentioned suicide 1,275 times—six times more often than Adam himself,” the lawsuit noted. Ultimately, OpenAI’s system flagged “377 messages for self-harm content, with 181 scoring over 50 percent confidence and 23 over 90 percent confidence.” Over…
Elon Musk sues Apple and OpenAI, revealing his panic over OpenAI dominance
“There is no telling how long this exclusive arrangement will last,” X said, warning the court that OpenAI’s rivals “suffer harm every moment they are illegally denied access to these prompts.” X suggests that Apple has no valid pro-competitive reason…
Senator castigates federal judiciary for ignoring “basic cybersecurity”
US Senator Ron Wyden accused the federal judiciary of “negligence and incompetence” following a recent hack, reportedly by hackers with ties to the Russian government, that exposed confidential court documents. The breach of the judiciary’s electronic case filing system first…
Bank forced to rehire workers after lying about chatbot productivity, union says
As banks around the world prepare to replace many thousands of workers with AI, Australia’s biggest bank is scrambling to rehire 45 workers after allegedly lying about chatbots besting staff by handling higher call volumes. In a statement Thursday flagged…
Is it illegal to not buy ads on X? Experts explain the FTC’s bizarre ad fight.
After a judge warned that the Federal Trade Commission’s probe into Media Matters for America (MMFA) should alarm “all Americans”—viewing it as a likely government retaliation intended to silence critical reporting from a political foe—the FTC this week appealed a…
4chan refuses to pay UK Online Safety Act fines, asks Trump admin to intervene
4chan’s law firms, Byrne & Storm and Coleman Law, said in a statement on August 15 that “4chan is a United States company, incorporated in Delaware, with no establishment, assets, or operations in the United Kingdom. Any attempt to impose…
Trump says US will take 10% stake in Intel because CEO wants to “keep his job”
Intel has agreed to sell the US a 10 percent stake in the company, Donald Trump announced at a news conference Friday. The US stake is worth $10 billion, Trump said, confirming that the deal was inked following his talks…
Developer gets 4 years for activating network “kill switch” to avenge his firing
“The defendant breached his employer’s trust by using his access and technical knowledge to sabotage company networks, wreaking havoc and causing hundreds of thousands of dollars in losses for a U.S. company,” Galeotti said. Developer loses fight to avoid prison…
Deeply divided Supreme Court lets NIH grant terminations continue
The dissents The primary dissent was written by Chief Justice Roberts, and joined in part by the three Democratic appointees, Jackson, Kagan, and Sotomayor. It is a grand total of one paragraph, and can be distilled down to a single…
Starlink wants billions in grants, but state governments aren’t cooperating
Since reducing costs was one of the Trump administration’s stated goals, and states are complying with that mandate, they have a fighting chance to get their updated plans approved even if they face challenges from SpaceX. The NTIA seems to…
Trump confirms US is seeking 10% stake in Intel. Bernie Sanders approves.
Trump plan salvages CHIPS Act he vowed to kill While chipmakers wait for more clarity, Lutnick has suggested that Trump—who campaigned on killing the CHIPS Act—has found a way to salvage the legislation that Joe Biden viewed as his lasting…
SpaceX says states should dump fiber plans, give all grant money to Starlink
Starlink operator SpaceX is continuing its fight against state plans to expand fiber broadband availability. After saying the Trump administration should deny a Virginia proposal, SpaceX is taking the same approach in a fight against Louisiana. SpaceX made its view…
Trump admin says it convinced UK to drop demand for Apple backdoor
The UK has dropped its demand that Apple create a backdoor for government security officials to access encrypted data, according to US Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard. Gabbard wrote in a post on X last night that she has…
Elon Musk’s “thermonuclear” Media Matters lawsuit may be fizzling out
“Perhaps the Defendants will establish otherwise later in these proceedings,” Sooknanan wrote. “But at this stage, the record certainly supports that inference,” that the FTC was politically motivated to back Musk’s fight. As the FTC mulls a potential appeal, the…
T-Mobile claimed selling location data without consent is legal—judges disagree
Carriers claimed selling data didn’t violate law Instead of denying the allegations, the carriers argued that the FCC overstepped its authority. But the appeals court panel decided that the FCC acted properly: Sprint and T-Mobile (collectively, “the Carriers”) now petition…
Sam Altman finally stood up to Elon Musk after years of X trolling
Musk claimed the request was to “ensure OpenAI was not being taken advantage of or corrupted by Microsoft,” but two weeks later, he appeared on national TV, insinuating that OpenAI’s partnership with Microsoft was “improper,” OpenAI alleged. Eventually, Musk announced…
Meta backtracks on rules letting chatbots be creepy to kids
After what was arguably Meta’s biggest purge of child predators from Facebook and Instagram earlier this summer, the company now faces backlash after its own chatbots appeared to be allowed to creep on kids. After reviewing an internal document that…
US may purchase stake in Intel after Trump attacked CEO
Why Intel may be into Trump’s deal At one point, Intel was the undisputed leader in chip manufacturing, Bloomberg noted, but its value plummeted from $288 billion in 2020 to $104 billion today. The chipmaker has been struggling for a…
Trump admin ranks companies on loyalty while handing out favors to Big Tech
We contacted the White House today and will update the story if it provides any comment. Ending “weaponization” Public Citizen wrote that “President Donald Trump spent much of his 2024 presidential campaign claiming his prosecution by multiple authorities and subsequent…
Starlink tries to block Virginia’s plan to bring fiber Internet to residents
Noting that its “project areas span from mountains and hills to farmland and coastal plains,” the DHCD said its previous experience with grant-funded deployments “revealed that tree canopy, rugged terrain, and slope can complicate installation and/or obstruct line-of-sight.” State officials…
US government agency drops Grok after MechaHitler backlash, report says
xAI apparently lost a government contract after a tweak to Grok’s prompting triggered an antisemitic meltdown where the chatbot praised Hitler and declared itself MechaHitler last month. Despite the scandal, xAI announced that its products would soon be available for…
Trump strikes “wild” deal making US firms pay 15% tax on China chip sales
A former adviser to Joe Biden’s Commerce Department, Alasdair Phillips-Robins, told Reuters that the levy suggests the Trump administration “is trading away national security protections for revenue for the Treasury.” Huawei close to unveiling new AI chip tech The end…
China tells Alibaba, ByteDance to justify purchases of Nvidia AI chips
Beijing is demanding tech companies including Alibaba and ByteDance justify their orders of Nvidia’s H20 artificial intelligence chips, complicating the US chipmaker’s business in China after striking an export arrangement with the Trump administration. The tech companies have been asked…
Musk threatens to sue Apple so Grok can get top App Store ranking
As more recent evidence of allegedly bad-faith conduct, OpenAI noted that Musk signed a letter calling for a moratorium on all AI development in 2023. That six-month pause on all AI development may have bought Musk time to catch up…
YouTube backlash begins: “Why is AI combing through every single video I watch?”
Among concerned users fighting to block AI age checks is the petition starter, an anonymous YouTuber who runs a monetized account exploring video game lore called “Gerfdas Gaming” (who, for simplicity’s sake, we’ll refer to as Gerfdas). Gerfdas told Ars…
Reddit blocks Internet Archive to end sneaky AI scraping
“Until they’re able to defend their site and comply with platform policies (e.g., respecting user privacy, re: deleting removed content) we’re limiting some of their access to Reddit data to protect redditors,” Rathschmidt said. A review of social media comments…
Wikipedia loses UK Safety Act challenge, worries it will have to verify user IDs
Wikipedia’s parent organization lost a challenge to the UK Online Safety Act but can bring another case if the government tries to force it to verify the identity of Wikipedia users. The High Court of Justice in London dismissed claims…
President Trump says Intel’s new CEO “must resign immediately”
Intel and the White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Trump’s post. Intel shares dropped 3 percent in pre-market trading in New York. Tan was appointed as Intel CEO in March after the Silicon Valley…
NASA plans to build a nuclear reactor on the Moon—a space lawyer explains why
These sought-after regions are scientifically vital and geopolitically sensitive, as multiple countries want to build bases or conduct research there. Building infrastructure in these areas would cement a country’s ability to access the resources there and potentially exclude others from…
FCC Democrat: Trump admin is declaring “Mission Accomplished” on broadband
The Federal Communications Commission is hamstringing its upcoming review of broadband availability by ignoring the prices consumers must pay for Internet service, FCC Commissioner Anna Gomez said in a statement yesterday. “Some point to existing law to argue that availability…
AI industry horrified to face largest copyright class action ever certified
But it’s never easy, groups said. Consider, for example, how now-defunct publishers might add a wrinkle to ownership questions with some books involved in the litigation. Or how rightsholders might be affected if they only own a portion of a…
Net neutrality advocates won’t appeal loss, say they don’t trust Supreme Court
Court ruled broadband isn’t telecommunications Although the Obama-era FCC won on this point in the District of Columbia Circuit in 2016, a Supreme Court ruling in 2024 gave courts more power to block rules when judges disagree with an agency’s…
Toymaker suddenly drops lawsuit against “Sylvanian Drama” TikToker
A toy company has voluntarily dismissed its lawsuit against a popular TikTok and Instagram account called “Sylvanian Drama.” Epoch Company Ltd., is the US maker of adorable fuzzy dolls called Calico Critters. Those dolls are known as “Sylvanian Families” in…
New executive order puts all grants under political control
On Thursday, the Trump administration issued an executive order asserting political control over grant funding, including all federally supported research. The order requires that any announcement of funding opportunities be reviewed by the head of the agency or someone they…
Trump wanted a US-made iPhone. Apple gave him a gold statue.
Once again, Apple escapes Trump’s iPhone pressure Since Trump took office, analysts have suggested that Cook might be the tech CEO best prepared to navigate Trump’s trade war. During Trump’s last term, Cook launched a charm offensive, wooing Trump with…
Tornado Cash sold crypto “privacy”; the US saw “money laundering.”
Some of Storm’s instant messages that his defense team wanted to use at trial. But Storm fought back. In a trial in Manhattan over the last few weeks, his defense team has introduced text messages showing that Storm was glad…
US executive branch agencies will use ChatGPT Enterprise for just $1 per agency
OpenAI announced an agreement to supply more than 2 million workers for the US federal executive branch access to ChatGPT and related tools at practically no cost: just $1 per agency for one year. The deal was announced just one…
Trump admin warns states: Don’t try to lower broadband prices
The Trump administration is telling states they will be shut out of a $42 billion broadband deployment fund if they set the rates that Internet service providers receiving subsidies are allowed to charge people with low incomes. The latest version…
Analysis: The Trump administration’s assault on climate action
Last week, the EPA made lots of headlines by rejecting the document that establishes its ability to regulate the greenhouse gases that are warming our climate. While the legal assault on regulations grabbed most of the attention, it was paired…
EPA plans to ignore science, stop regulating greenhouse gases
It derives from a 2007 Supreme Court ruling that named greenhouse gases as “air pollutants,” giving the EPA the mandate to regulate them under the Clean Air Act. Critics of the rule say that the Clean Air Act was fashioned…
Tesla awards Musk $29B in attempt to “keep Elon’s energies focused on Tesla”
The Tesla board approved the interim award yesterday, with recusals from Musk and his brother, Kimbal. The Tesla board is still working on “a longer-term CEO compensation strategy, which we plan to put to a shareholder vote at the November…
China claims Nvidia built backdoor into H20 chip designed for Chinese market
The CAC did not specify which experts had found a back door in Nvidia’s products or whether any tests in China had uncovered the same results. Nvidia did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Lawmakers in Washington have…
Trump suspends trade loophole for cheap online retailers globally
But even Amazon may struggle to shift its supply chain as the de minimis exemption is eliminated for all countries. In February, the e-commerce giant “projected lower-than-expected sales and operating income for its first quarter,” which it partly attributed to…
Backpage scandal ends in largest US payout to trafficking victims
Survivors, or their representatives, must submit claims by February 2, 2026. To receive compensation, claims must include at least one document showing they “suffered monetary and/or behavioral health losses,” the claims form specified. Documents can include emails, texts, screenshots, or…
ChatGPT users shocked to learn their chats were in Google search results
Faced with mounting backlash, OpenAI removed a controversial ChatGPT feature that caused some users to unintentionally allow their private—and highly personal—chats to appear in search results. Fast Company exposed the privacy issue on Wednesday, reporting that thousands of ChatGPT conversations…
RIP Corporation for Public Broadcasting: 1967–2026
Despite the protests of millions of Americans, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) announced it will be winding down its operations after the White House deemed NPR and PBS a “grift” and pushed for a Senate vote that eliminated its…
Delta denies using AI to come up with inflated, personalized prices
Delta scandal highlights value of transparency According to Delta, the company has “zero tolerance for discriminatory or predatory pricing” and only feeds its AI system aggregated data “to enhance our existing fare pricing processes.” Rather than basing fare prices on…
YouTube’s selfie collection, AI age checks are concerning, privacy experts say
Privacy experts are demanding transparency after YouTube announced it would test using AI to estimate user ages in the US ahead of a wider rollout of the age check system. Throughout the first half of August, YouTube will begin interpreting…
US moves to ban shady subscription auto-renewals after FTC court loss
Picking up where the FTC left off, lawmakers announced the Click to Cancel Act, which requires companies to “provide a simple, direct mechanism to cancel a subscription and immediately stop charges.” It also requires companies to obtain clear and direct…
Substack’s “Nazi problem” won’t go away after push notification apology
Moxon has switched to Ghost for his independent blog, The Reframe, an open source Substack alternative that woos users by migrating accounts for users and ditching Substack’s fees, which take a 10 percent cut of each Substacker’s transactions. That means…
VPN use soars in UK after age-verification laws go into effect
Also on Friday, the Windscribe VPN service posted a screenshot on X claiming to show a spike in new subscribers. The makers of the AdGuard VPN claimed that they have seen a 2.5X increase in install rates from the UK…
AI in Wyoming may soon use more electricity than state’s human residents
Wyoming’s data center boom Cheyenne is no stranger to data centers, having attracted facilities from Microsoft and Meta since 2012 due to its cool climate and energy access. However, the new project pushes the state into uncharted territory. While Wyoming…
Trump claims Europe won’t make Big Tech pay ISPs; EU says it still might
We asked the White House and European Commission for more details today and will update this article with any new information. If the White House fact sheet’s reference to network usage fees has at least some truth to it, it…
Trump caving on Nvidia H20 export curbs may disrupt his bigger trade war
But experts seem to fear that Trump isn’t paying enough attention to how exports of US technology could threaten to not only supercharge China’s military and AI capabilities but also drain supplies that US firms need to keep the US…
Nude women streamed to office TV derail Oklahoma Board of Education meeting
With Walters blowing off their concerns about what had just happened and why it had happened in the middle of a state education meeting, the two board members took their story to media outlets the next day. NonDoc and The…
California backs down to Trump admin, won’t force ISPs to offer $15 broadband
Boerner said her goal with the bill “was always a basic broadband service” that would be affordable. “There are lots of packages out there in the world that people choose to get because they’re being price-conscious and they choose the…
A power utility is reporting suspected pot growers to cops. EFF says that’s illegal.
In May 2020, Sacramento, California, resident Alfonso Nguyen was alarmed to find two Sacramento County Sheriff’s deputies at his door, accusing him of illegally growing cannabis and demanding entry into his home. When Nguyen refused the search and denied the…
Conduct rules are coming for Google and Apple in the UK
“The targeted and proportionate actions we have set out today would enable UK app developers to remain at the forefront of global innovation while ensuring UK consumers receive a world-class experience,” Cardell said. “Time is of the essence: as competition…
White House unveils sweeping plan to “win” global AI race through deregulation
Trump’s plan was not welcomed by everyone. J.B. Branch, Big Tech accountability advocate for Public Citizen, in a statement provided to Ars, criticized Trump as giving “sweetheart deals” to tech companies that would cause “electricity bills to rise to subsidize…
Skydance deal allows Trump’s FCC to “censor speech” and “silence dissent” on CBS
Warning that the “Paramount payout” and “reckless” acquisition approval together mark a “dark chapter” for US press freedom, Gomez suggested the FCC’s approval will embolden “those who believe the government can—and should—abuse its power to extract financial and ideological concessions,…
Delta’s AI spying to “jack up” prices must be banned, lawmakers say
“There is no fare product Delta has ever used, is testing or plans to use that targets customers with individualized offers based on personal information or otherwise,” Delta said. “A variety of market forces drive the dynamic pricing model that’s…
Trump’s order to make chatbots anti-woke is unconstitutional, senator says
Earlier this summer, Grok shocked the world after Musk announced he would be updating the bot to eliminate a supposed liberal bias. The unhinged chatbot began spouting offensive outputs, including antisemitic posts that praised Hitler as well as proclaiming itself…
Trump, who promised to save TikTok, threatens to shut down TikTok
Donald Trump vowed to save TikTok before taking office, claiming only he could make a deal to keep the app operational in the US despite national security concerns. But then, he put Vice President JD Vance in charge of the…
Whistleblower scientists outline Trump’s plan to politicize and dismantle NSF
Nearly 150 employees of the National Science Foundation (NSF) sent an urgent letter of dissent to Congress on Tuesday, warning that the Trump administration’s recent “politically motivated and legally questionable” actions threaten to dismantle the independent “world-renowned scientific agency.” Most…
Ukrainians arrest alleged admin of major crime forum XSS
Yesterday, Ukrainian authorities arrested the suspected administrator of a notorious Russian-language crime forum, XSS.is. In an X post, the Paris Prosecutor’s Office announced that Ukrainian authorities detained the suspect after an investigation conducted with French authorities’ and Europol’s help that…
Toy company may regret coming for “Sylvanian Drama” TikToker, experts say
A popular account on TikTok and Instagram stopped posting suddenly at the end of last year, hit by a lawsuit after garnering millions of views on funny videos using adorable Calico Critter dolls made for preschoolers to act out dark,…
xAI workers balked over training request to help “give Grok a face,” docs show
For the more than 200 employees who did not opt out, xAI asked that they record 15- to 30-minute conversations, where one employee posed as the potential Grok user and the other posed as the “host.” xAI was specifically looking…
Researcher threatens X with lawsuit after falsely linking him to French probe
X claimed that David Chavalarias, “who spearheads the ‘Escape X’ campaign”—which is “dedicated to encouraging X users to leave the platform”—was chosen to assess the data with one of his prior research collaborators, Maziyar Panahi. “The involvement of these individuals…
FCC to eliminate gigabit speed goal and scrap analysis of broadband prices
“As part of our return to following the plain language of section 706, we propose to abolish without replacement the long-term goal of 1,000/500Mbps established in the 2024 Report,” Carr’s plan said. “Not only is a long-term goal not mentioned…
Two guys hated using Comcast, so they built their own fiber ISP
Now, Herman is paying $80 a month to his own company for symmetrical gigabit service. Prime-One also offers 500Mbps for $75, 2Gbps for $95, and 5Gbps for $110. The first 30 days are free, and all plans have unlimited data…
GOP’s pro-industry crypto bills could financially ruin millions, lawmaker warns
It’s “Crypto Week” in Congress, and experts continue to warn that legislation Donald Trump wants passed quickly could give the president ample opportunities to grift while leaving Americans more vulnerable to scams and financial ruin. Perhaps most controversial of the…
EU presses pause on probe of X as US trade talks heat up
While Trump and Musk have fallen out this year after developing a political alliance on the 2024 election, the US president has directly attacked EU penalties on US companies calling them a “form of taxation” and comparing fines on tech…
Will AI end cheap flights? Critics attack Delta’s “predatory” AI pricing.
Although Delta’s AI pricing could increase competition in the airline industry, Slover expects that companies using such pricing schemes are “all too likely” to be incentivized “to skew in the direction of higher prices” because of the AI pricing’s lack…
Trump to sign stablecoin bill that may make it easier to bribe the president
Some Democrats supported the GENIUS Act, arguing that some regulation is better than none as cryptocurrency activity increases globally and the technology has the potential to revolutionize the US financial system. But Hand told Ars that “we’ve already seen what…
Court rules Trump broke US law when he fired Democratic FTC commissioner
“Without removal protections, that independence would be jeopardized… Accordingly, the Court held that the FTC Act’s for-cause removal protections were constitutional,” wrote AliKhan, who was appointed to the District Court by President Biden in 2023. Judge: Facts almost identical to…
Cocky cop jailed for stealing bitcoins had log of his crypto theft in his office
A former cop in the United Kingdom was sentenced to five and a half years in prison Wednesday after pleading guilty to covering up his theft of 50 bitcoins seized during an investigation into the now-defunct illicit dark web marketplace…
Senate votes to kill entire public broadcasting budget in blow to NPR and PBS
CPB expenses in fiscal year 2025 are $545 million, of which 66.9 percent goes to TV programming. Another 22.3 percent goes to radio programming, while the rest is for administration and support. The CPB distributes over 70 percent of its…
Trump sues Corporation for Public Broadcasting directors who refused to be fired
When contacted by Ars today, the CPB did not offer any comment on the Trump administration’s lawsuit but referred us to its June 8 statement on Moss’s ruling. “We are very pleased that the Court recognized CPB is an independent,…
Permit for xAI’s data center blatantly violates Clean Air Act, NAACP says
In an SELC press release, LaTricea Adams, CEO and President of Young, Gifted and Green, called the SCHD’s decisions on xAI’s permit “reckless.” “As a Black woman born and raised in Memphis, I know firsthand how industry harms Black communities…
Chinese firms rush for Nvidia chips as US prepares to lift ban
Chinese firms have begun rushing to order Nvidia’s H20 AI chips as the company plans to resume sales to mainland China, Reuters reports. The chip giant expects to receive US government licenses soon so that it can restart shipments of…
Grok’s “MechaHitler” meltdown didn’t stop xAI from winning $200M military deal
Grok checked Musk’s posts, called itself “MechaHitler” xAI has been checking Elon Musk’s posts before providing answers on some topics, such as the Israeli/Palestinian conflict. xAI acknowledged this in an update today that addressed two problems with Grok. One problem…
Reddit’s UK users must now prove they’re 18 to view adult content
“Society has long protected youngsters from products that aren’t suitable for them, from alcohol to smoking or gambling,” Ofcom said. “Now, children will be better protected from online material that’s not appropriate for them, while adults’ rights to access legal…
Why Gov. Greg Abbott won’t release his emails with Elon Musk
The language Abbott’s office used appears to be fairly boilerplate. Paxton’s office, in an explanation of the common-law privacy exception on its website, mentions that “personal financial information” that doesn’t deal with government transactions “is generally highly intimate or embarrassing…
Mike Lindell lost defamation case, and his lawyers were fined for AI hallucinations
Lawyers representing MyPillow and its CEO Mike Lindell were fined $6,000 after using artificial intelligence in a brief that was riddled with misquotes and citations to fictional cases. Attorney Christopher Kachouroff and the law firm of McSweeney Cynkar & Kachouroff…
Court nullifies “click-to-cancel” rule that required easy methods of cancellation
FTC arguments rejected Summarizing the FTC’s arguments, judges said the agency contended that US law “did not require the Commission to conduct the preliminary regulatory analysis later in the rulemaking process,” and that “any alleged error was harmless because the…
Verizon’s request to lock phones supported by police, opposed by users
With Verizon seeking permission to lock phones to its network for six months or longer instead of the current 60 days, a coalition of advocacy groups yesterday urged the Federal Communications Commission to reject the cellular carrier’s petition. “Phone locking…
T-Mobile follows orders from Trump FCC, ends DEI to get two mergers approved
Update: Shortly after this article was published, the Department of Justice announced that it has closed its investigation into the T-Mobile/US Cellular deal and will not try to stop the merger. The FCC had not yet announced its own approval…
Trump’s DOJ seems annoyed about having to approve T-Mobile’s latest merger
DOJ approval “reads like a complaint” The DOJ’s unusual statement about the wireless industry oligopoly shows that the Justice Department staff and antitrust chief “clearly did not want to approve this,” stated Harold Feld, senior VP of consumer advocacy group…
Cops’ favorite AI tool automatically deletes evidence of when AI was used
The AI tool could also possibly be “overstepping in its interpretation of the audio,” possibly misinterpreting slang or adding context that never happened. A “major concern,” the EFF said, is that the AI reports can give cops a “smokescreen,” perhaps…
Everything tech giants will hate about the EU’s new AI rules
The code also details expectations for AI companies to respect paywalls, as well as robots.txt instructions restricting crawling, which could help confront a growing problem of AI crawlers hammering websites. It “encourages” online search giants to embrace a solution that…
Cloudflare wants Google to change its AI search crawling. Google likely won’t.
Ars could not immediately find any legislation that seemed to match Prince’s description, and Cloudflare did not respond to Ars’ request to comment. Passing tech laws is notoriously hard, though, partly because technology keeps advancing as policy debates drag on,…
Linda Yaccarino quits X without saying why, one day after Grok praised Hitler
And “the best is yet to come as X enters a new chapter” with xAI, Yaccarino said. Grok cites “growing tensions” between Musk and CEO It’s unclear how Yaccarino’s departure could influence X advertisers who may have had more confidence…
Grok praises Hitler, gives credit to Musk for removing “woke filters”
X is facing backlash after Grok spewed antisemitic outputs after Elon Musk announced his “politically incorrect” chatbot had been “significantly” “improved” last Friday to remove a supposed liberal bias. Following Musk’s announcement, X users began prompting Grok to see if…
As California faces court battles, states scramble to save their climate goals
Where trucks congregate There’s also a policy tool called indirect source rules, or ISR. The rules are called “indirect” because they don’t regulate the vehicles themselves, but the facilities that attract emissions-heavy traffic, like large warehouses, ports, or rail yards….
US may get its own glitchy version of TikTok if Trump’s deal works out
“Even if Beijing would choose to overlook the recent tariff hikes and ratcheting up of US export controls on chip technologies, they still wouldn’t grant export licenses for the algorithms,” Capri said. US version of TikTok may be buggy Trump…
Is a severance pay lawyer Toronto necessary for executive employees?
severance pay lawyer Toronto Executive employees facing termination often deal with more complex severance agreements than those offered to non-executive staff. These agreements typically involve larger compensation packages, stock options, bonuses, confidentiality clauses, and post-employment restrictions. Given this complexity, many…
Trump and Congress finalize law that could hurt your Wi-Fi
The 1,200 MHz between 5.925 and 7.125 GHz was allocated to Wi-Fi in April 2020 under then-FCC Chairman Ajit Pai. The Pai-led FCC rejected the mobile industry’s requests to use the band for cellular networks, saying that making the entire…
Trump’s tariff threat pushes Canada to scrap digital services tax
In a sudden reversal, Canada has caved and will remove its digital services tax after trade talks with the US suddenly fell apart this weekend. Blocked just hours before taking effect, the controversial digital services tax (DST) would have charged…
Supreme Court to decide whether ISPs must disconnect users accused of piracy
The Supreme Court has agreed to hear a case that could determine whether Internet service providers must terminate users who are accused of copyright infringement. In a list of orders released today, the court granted a petition filed by cable…
Pay up or stop scraping: Cloudflare program charges bots for each crawl
AI companies must buy in For Cloudflare’s plan to work, AI companies must sign up, too. However, while some AI companies may not see the incentive, Cloudflare has confirmed that it has partnered with AI companies on the initiative, which…
GOP budget bill poised to crush renewable energy in the US
An early evaluation shows the administration’s planned energy policies would result in the drilling of 50,000 new oil wells every year for the next few years, he said, adding that it “ensures the continuation of land devastation… the poisoning of…
Nudify app’s plan to dominate deepfake porn hinges on Reddit, 4chan, and Telegram, docs show
Meanwhile, Clothoff continues to evolve, recently marketing a feature that Clothoff claims attracted more than a million users eager to make explicit videos out of a single picture. Clothoff denies it plans to use influencers Der Spiegel’s efforts to unmask…
Paramount accused of bribery as it settles Trump lawsuit for $16 million
Payout to future presidential library Paramount told us that the settlement terms were proposed by a mediator and that it will pay $16 million, including plaintiffs’ fees and costs. That amount, minus the fees and costs, will be allocated to…
xAI data center gets air permit to run 15 turbines, but imaging shows 24 on site
Before xAI got the permit, residents were stuck relying on infrequent thermal imaging to determine how many turbines appeared to be running without BACT. Now that xAI has secured the permit, the company will be required to “record the date,…
Judge: You can’t ban DEI grants without bothering to define DEI
Separately, Trump v. Casa blocked the use of a national injunction against illegal activity. So, while the government’s actions have been determined to be illegal, Young can only protect the people who were parties to this suit. Anyone who lost…
Everything that could go wrong with X’s new AI-written community notes
If AI note writers “generate initial drafts that represent a wider range of perspectives than a single human writer typically could, the quality of community deliberation is improved from the start,” the paper said. Future of AI notes Researchers imagine…
NYT to start searching deleted ChatGPT logs after beating OpenAI in court
News orgs will soon start searching ChatGPT logs The clock is ticking, and so far, OpenAI has not provided any official updates since a June 5 blog post detailing which ChatGPT users will be affected. While it’s clear that OpenAI…
FCC chair decides inmates and their families must keep paying high phone prices
Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr has decided to let prisons and jails keep charging high prices for calling services until at least 2027, delaying implementation of rate caps approved last year when the FCC had a Democratic majority. Carr’s…
Ted Cruz plan to punish states that regulate AI shot down in 99-1 vote
Cruz blamed “outside interests” After the compromise fell apart, the Senate voted 99-1 for Blackburn’s amendment to remove the AI provision from the budget bill. Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) cast the only vote against the amendment. “Cruz ultimately got behind…
Senate GOP budget bill has little-noticed provision that could hurt your Wi-Fi
Michael Calabrese of New America’s Open Technology Institute told Ars that 6 GHz and CBRS “are the most vulnerable non-federal bands for reallocation and auction.” While the spectrum for auctions is to come from frequencies between 1.3 and 10.5 GHz, much…
Meta, TikTok can’t toss wrongful death suit from mom of “subway surfing” teen
Section 230 has so far failed to shield Meta and TikTok owner ByteDance from a lawsuit raised by a mother who alleged that her son’s wrongful death followed a flood of “subway surfing” videos platforms intentionally targeted to teens in…
Anthropic destroyed millions of print books to build its AI models
But if you’re not intimately familiar with the AI industry and copyright, you might wonder: Why would a company spend millions of dollars on books to destroy them? Behind these odd legal maneuvers lies a more fundamental driver: the AI…
Book authors made the wrong arguments in Meta AI training case, judge says
An interesting wrinkle that may have stopped authors from invoking market dilution as a threat in the Meta case is that Chhabria noted that Meta had argued that “market dilution does not count under the fourth factor.” But Chhabria clarified…
Supreme Court upholds Texas porn law that caused Pornhub to leave the state
Justice Elena Kagan filed a dissenting opinion that was joined by Sonia Sotomayor and Ketanji Brown Jackson. Kagan said that in similar cases, the court applied strict scrutiny, “a highly rigorous but not fatal form of constitutional review, to laws…
In a wild time for copyright law, the US Copyright Office has no leader
In the meantime, the Copyright Office is in the odd position of attempting to carry on as though it wasn’t missing its head. Immediately after Perlmutter’s dismissal, the Copyright Office paused issuing registration certificates “out of an abundance of caution,”…
Supreme Court overturns 5th Circuit ruling that upended Universal Service Fund
Finally, the Consumers’ Research position produces absurd results, divorced from any reasonable understanding of constitutional values. Under its view, a revenue-raising statute containing non-numeric, qualitative standards can never pass muster, no matter how tight the constraints they impose. But a…
Stung by customer losses, Comcast says all its new plans have unlimited data
With Comcast trying to figure out how to stop losing broadband customers, the cable firm yesterday announced new plans that are available nationwide and do not have data caps. Comcast said it is offering “four simple national Internet tiers that…
Judge: Pirate libraries may have profited from Meta torrenting 80TB of books
It could certainly look worse for Meta if authors manage to present evidence supporting the second way that torrenting could be relevant to the case, Chhabaria suggested. “Meta downloading copyrighted material from shadow libraries” would also be relevant to the…
Is DOGE doomed to fail? Some experts are ready to call it.
Whether Trump’s appointees can manage DOGE without Musk’s help or his appointees remains to be seen, as DOGE continues to seek new hires. While Musk’s appointed DOGE staff was heavily criticized from day one, Kamarck noted that at least Musk’s…
After a week, Trump Mobile drops claim that Trump phone is “made in the USA”
The Trump phone was announced last week with a claim that the device would be made entirely in America, and people were rightly skeptical. Trump Mobile’s $500 T1 Phone “is a sleek, gold smartphone engineered for performance and proudly designed…
Trump’s FTC announces merger condition that prohibits advertising boycotts
The proposed consent order, which is subject to a 30-day public comment period, would resolve an administrative complaint filed by the FTC against Omnicom and Interpublic. The FTC complaint alleges that the merger would violate US antitrust law and Section…
Key fair use ruling clarifies when books can be used for AI training
“This order doubts that any accused infringer could ever meet its burden of explaining why downloading source copies from pirate sites that it could have purchased or otherwise accessed lawfully was itself reasonably necessary to any subsequent fair use,” Alsup…
UK looking to loosen Google’s control of its search engine
Other conduct rules that the CMA is considering include requirements in how it ranks its search results and for Google’s distribution partners such as Apple to offer “choice screens” to help consumers switch more easily between search providers. The CMA…
Ted Cruz can’t get all Republicans to back his fight against state AI laws
Blackburn said she agreed with Cantwell that the AI regulation proposal “is not the type of thing that we put into reconciliation bills.” Blackburn added that lawmakers “are working to move forward with legislation at the federal level, but we…
Judge denies creating “mass surveillance program” harming all ChatGPT users
Hunt’s fears are not unfounded, Corynne McSherry, legal director for the digital rights group the Electronic Frontier Foundation, told Ars. “The discovery order poses genuine risks to user privacy in itself and as a precedent for the many other lawsuits…
Trump fires commissioner of preeminent nuclear safety institution
Critics warn that the United States may soon be taking on more nuclear safety risks after Donald Trump fired one of five members of an independent commission that monitors the country’s nuclear reactors. In a statement Monday, Christopher Hanson confirmed…
Toy-maker Mattel accused of planning “reckless” AI social experiment on kids
Most obviously, AI models are still prone to hallucination, Kaur noted. And while Mattel’s AI toys are “unlikely to cause physical harm,” toys giving “inappropriate or bizarre responses” could “be confusing or even unsettling for a child,” he said. For…
To avoid admitting ignorance, Meta AI says man’s number is a company helpline
Although that statement may provide comfort to those who have kept their WhatsApp numbers off the Internet, it doesn’t resolve the issue of WhatsApp’s AI helper potentially randomly generating a real person’s private number that may be a few digits…
X sues to block copycat NY content moderation law after California win
“It is our sincere belief that the current social media landscape makes it far too easy for bad actors to promote false claims, hatred and dangerous conspiracies online, and some large social media companies are not able or willing to…
xAI faces legal threat over alleged Colossus data center pollution in Memphis
“For instance, if all the 35 turbines operated by xAI were using” add-on air pollution control technology “to achieve a NOx emission rate of 2 ppm”—as xAI’s consultant agreed it would—”they would emit about 177 tons of NOx per year,…
Senate passes GENIUS Act—criticized as gifting Trump ample opportunity to grift
“Why—beyond the obvious benefit of gaining favor, directly or indirectly, with the Trump administration—did you select USD1, a newly launched, untested cryptocurrency with no track record?” the senators asked. Responding, World Liberty Financial’s lawyers claimed MGX was simply investing in…
Trump suggests he needs China to sign off on TikTok sale, delays deal again
For many Americans, losing TikTok would be disruptive. TikTok has warned that US businesses could lose $1 billion in one month if TikTok shuts down. As these businesses wait in limbo for a resolution to the situation, it’s getting harder…
Cybersecurity takes a big hit in new Trump executive order
The departments of Commerce, Treasury, Homeland Security and the National Institutes of Health were all compromised. A large roster of private companies—among them Microsoft, Intel, Cisco, Deloitte, FireEye, and CrowdStrike—were also breached. In response, a Biden EO required the Cybersecurity…
“Have we no shame?”: Trump’s NIH grant cuts appallingly illegal, judge rules
“Where’s the support for that?” Young asked. “I see no evidence of that.” Meanwhile, a lawyer representing one of the plaintiffs suing to block the grants, Kenneth Parreno, seemingly successfully argued that canceling grants related to race or transgender health…
Worst hiding spot ever: /NSFW/Nope/Don’t open/You were Warned/
Last Friday, a Michigan man named David Bartels was sentenced to five years in federal prison for “Possession of Child Pornography by a Person Employed by the Armed Forces Outside of the United States.” The unusual nature of the charge…
Trump Mobile launches, hyping $499 US-made phone amid Apple threats
Donald Trump’s image will soon be used to sell smartphones, the Trump Organization confirmed after unveiling a new wireless service, Trump Mobile, on Monday. According to the press release, Trump Mobile’s “flagship” wireless plan will be “The 47 Plan,” which…
Biofuels policy has been a failure for the climate, new report claims
The new report concludes that not only will the expansion of ethanol increase greenhouse gas emissions, but it has also failed to provide the social and financial benefits to Midwestern communities that lawmakers and the industry say it has. (The…
Trump’s FTC may impose merger condition that forbids advertising boycotts
FTC chair alleged “serious risk” from ad boycotts After Musk’s purchase of Twitter, the social network lost advertisers for various reasons, including changes to content moderation and an incident in which Musk posted a favorable response to an antisemitic tweet…
How to draft a will to avoid becoming an AI ghost—it’s not easy
“This could also invoke issues with contract, property and intellectual property rights, and right of publicity as well if AI replicas (image, voice, text, etc.) are being used without authorization,” Sheehan said. And there are likely more protections for celebrities…
“Two years of work in two months”: States cope with Trump broadband overhaul
Butcher said Lutnick is exercising “authority as a central government over the rights and expertise of a state body, which I guess I don’t understand how the party’s values work anymore, but that to me feels like a pretty strange…
Musk’s threat to sue firms that don’t buy ads on X seems to have paid off
Elon Musk’s strategy of suing or threatening to sue companies that don’t buy advertising on X has reportedly paid off in at least a few cases. A Wall Street Journal report yesterday said that Verizon and other companies started advertising…
Hollywood studios target AI image generator in copyright lawsuit
The legal action follows similar moves in other creative industries, with more than a dozen major news companies suing AI company Cohere in February over copyright concerns. In 2023, a group of visual artists sued Midjourney for similar reasons. Studios…
Trade war truce between US and China is back on
Both countries agreed in Geneva last month to slash their respective tariffs by 115 percentage points and provided a 90-day window to resolve the trade war. But the ceasefire came under pressure after Washington accused Beijing of reneging on an…
FCC threat to revoke EchoStar spectrum licenses draws widespread backlash
Incompas, a communications industry trade group, said that revoking the deadline extension “would undermine regulatory certainty and threaten to disrupt ongoing investments in advanced network infrastructure, including EchoStar’s important work to integrate Open RAN and satellite capabilities.” EchoStar, SpaceX, and…
Ex-FCC Chair Ajit Pai is now a wireless lobbyist—and enemy of cable companies
“DoD is concerned about the high possibility that non-Federal users will not adhere to the established coordination conditions at all times; the impacts related to airborne systems, due to their range and speed; and required upgrades to multiple classes of…
DOGE wins at Supreme Court; conservative majority ends limits on data access
Jackson said the ruling “sends a troubling message” that the court will depart from its usual legal standards “for certain litigants.” While other litigants seeking a stay “must point to more than the annoyance of compliance with lower court orders…
NIH scientists publish “Bethesda Declaration” rebuking Trump admin
Backlash to the idea was quick, with the World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus immediately calling it “unethical.” “Allowing a dangerous virus that we don’t fully understand to run free is simply unethical. It’s not an option,” Tedros said…
Lawsuit: DOGE, HHS used “hopelessly error-ridden” data to fire 10,000 workers
When plaintiff Catherine Jackson received her termination notice, she “was surprised to see recent performance ratings that were flatly incorrect,” the lawsuit said. Jackson worked in the Office of Child Care “supporting the state of Alaska and American Indian tribes…
OpenAI slams court order to save all ChatGPT logs, including deleted chats
“The court nevertheless required OpenAI to continue preserving API Conversation Data as well,” OpenAI argued, in support of lifting the order on the API chat logs. Users who found out about the preservation order panicked, OpenAI noted. In court filings,…
DOGE used flawed AI tool to “munch” Veterans Affairs contracts
According to a post on his blog, this was done with the approval of Musk before he left DOGE. “When he asked the room about improving DOGE’s public perception, I asked if I could open-source the code I’d been writing,”…
Estate of woman who died in 2021 heat dome sues Big Oil for wrongful death
There were at least 100 heat-related deaths in the state from June 26 to July 2, 2021, according to the Washington State Department of Health. That unprecedented stretch of scorching high temperatures was the deadliest weather-related event in Washington’s history….
Ted Cruz bill: States that regulate AI will be cut out of $42B broadband fund
BEAD changes: No fiber preference, no low-cost mandate The BEAD program is separately undergoing an overhaul because Republicans don’t like how it was administered by Democrats. The Biden administration spent about three years developing rules and procedures for BEAD and…
OpenAI confronts user panic over court-ordered retention of ChatGPT logs
In the copyright fight, Magistrate Judge Ona Wang granted the order within one day of the NYT’s request. She agreed with news plaintiffs that it seemed likely that ChatGPT users may be spooked by the lawsuit and possibly set their…
Reddit sues Anthropic over AI scraping that retained users’ deleted posts
Notably, Reddit pointed out that Anthropic’s Claude models will help power Amazon’s revamped Alexa, following about $8 billion in Amazon investments in the AI company since 2023. “By commercially licensing Claude for use in several of Amazon’s commercial offerings, Anthropic…
“In 10 years, all bets are off”—Anthropic CEO opposes decadelong freeze on state AI laws
On Thursday, Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei argued against a proposed 10-year moratorium on state AI regulation in a New York Times opinion piece, calling the measure shortsighted and overbroad as Congress considers including it in President Trump’s tax policy bill….
FCC Republican resigns, leaving agency with just two commissioners
Two commissioners of the Federal Communications Commission are resigning at the end of this week. For at least a little while, the FCC will have just two members: Chairman Brendan Carr, a Republican chosen by Trump to lead the agency,…
Trump is forcing states to funnel grant money to Starlink, Senate Democrats say
Lutnick’s announcement of the BEAD overhaul also criticized what he called the program’s “woke mandates” and “burdensome regulations.” Republicans like Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) have criticized a requirement for ISPs that accept subsidies to offer low-cost Internet plans to people…
Florida ban on kids using social media likely unconstitutional, judge rules
A federal judge ruled today that Florida cannot enforce a law that requires social media platforms to block kids from using their platforms. The state law “is likely unconstitutional,” US Judge Mark Walker of the Northern District of Florida ruled…
ISP settles with record labels that demanded mass termination of Internet users
The Trump administration weighed in on Cox’s side, arguing that ISPs should not be held “liable for contributory copyright infringement for failing to terminate subscribers after receiving notices of infringement.” The Trump admin’s Department of Justice said that making ISPs…
Unlicensed law clerk fired after ChatGPT hallucinations found in filing
College students who have reportedly grown too dependent on ChatGPT are starting to face consequences after graduating and joining the workforce for placing too much trust in chatbots. Last month, a recent law school graduate lost his job after using…
Trump admin tells SCOTUS: ISPs shouldn’t be forced to boot alleged pirates
Enhanced damages can be $150,000 per work, instead of the usual cap of $30,000. The jury in the case “was instructed that it could find Cox’s violations willful if Cox knew that its subscribers had committed infringement,” Sauer wrote. “That…
Elon Musk to exit government, upset that Trump bill undermines DOGE’s work
Last week, Musk posted that he was “back to spending 24/7 at work and sleeping in conference/server/factory rooms.” Lawsuits against Musk, DOGE continue Musk and the Trump administration are facing numerous lawsuits over the authority wielded by DOGE and the…
Trump allies expect he’ll double down on tariffs after sweeping court block
Trump quickly appeals Trump has immediately appealed the ruling and is expected to take the case to the Supreme Court. He’s arguing that the court cannot define what constitutes a “national emergency,” which is a political question he believes only…
Google Maps can’t explain why it falsely labeled German autobahns as closed
Ars contacted Google to see if the glitch’s cause has been uncovered. A spokesperson remained vague, only reiterating prior statements that Google “investigated a technical issue that temporarily showed inaccurate road closures on the map” and has “since removed them.”…
After Supreme Court loss, ISPs ask Trump admin to block state affordability laws
A California bill would require $15 plans with download speeds of 100Mbps and upload speeds of 20Mbps. The broadband lobby groups’ filing said ISPs are also worried about “unnecessary anticompetitive regulations” proposed in Connecticut, Hawaii, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Pennsylvania,…
Texas AG loses appeal to seize evidence for Elon Musk’s ad boycott fight
If MMFA is made to endure Paxton’s probe, the media company could face civil penalties of up to $10,000 per violation of Texas’ unfair trade law, a fine or confinement if requested evidence was deleted, or other penalties for resisting…
Elon Musk counts the cost of his four-month blitz through US government
Musk, so used to getting his way at his businesses, struggled for control. At various points in his tenure he took on Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Transport Secretary Sean Duffy, and trade tsar Peter Navarro,…
Man who stole 1,000 DVDs from employer strikes plea deal over movie leaks
An accused movie pirate who stole more than 1,000 Blu-ray discs and DVDs while working for a DVD manufacturing company struck a plea deal this week to lower his sentence after the FBI claimed the man’s piracy cost movie studios…
Trump bans sales of chip design software to China
Johnson, who heads China Strategies Group, a risk consultancy, said that China had successfully leveraged its stranglehold on rare earths to bring the US to the negotiating table in Geneva, which “left the Trump administration’s China hawks eager to demonstrate…
It’s too expensive to fight every AI copyright battle, Getty CEO says
According to Clegg, the only viable solution to the tension between artists and AI companies would be to give artists ways to opt out of training, which Stability AI notably started doing in 2022. “Quite a lot of voices say,…
Meta confident monopoly trial will end with win; experts aren’t so sure
“Meta is a proud American success story, and we look forward to continuing to innovate and serve the people and businesses who love our services,” Meta’s spokesperson said. Experts aren’t so sure Meta has clinched it Boasberg has said that…
Trump signs executive orders meant to resurrect US nuclear power
A large number of startups have proposed designs that should be far less prone to failure. Many of these are SMRs, or small modular reactors, which promise economies of scale by building the reactor at a central facility and then…
New Orleans called out for sketchiest use of facial recognition yet in the US
According to police records submitted to the city council, the network “only proved useful in a single case.” Investigating the tension between these claims, the Post suggested we may never know how many suspects were misidentified or what steps police…
FCC Chair Brendan Carr is letting ISPs merge—as long as they end DEI programs
Verizon’s letter said that because of the “changing landscape,” the firm “has been evaluating its DEI-related programs, HR processes, supplier programs, training programs and materials, and other initiatives.” Among other changes, Verizon said it “will no longer have a team…
Trump to sign law forcing platforms to remove revenge porn in 48 hours
Likely wearisome for victims, the law won’t be widely enforced for about a year, while any revenge porn already online continues spreading. Perhaps most frustrating, once the law kicks in, victims will still need to police their own revenge porn…