techdirt.com

Other article on same topic with some additional info: https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2026/07/google-wont-give-up-odd-war-against-ai-web-scraping-despite-court-loss/

from the the-censorship-police-are-getting-bolder dept

Just a few years ago, lawmakers supporting age-gating laws insisted their efforts were narrowly targeted at limiting young people’s access to adult content. At the time, we warned that they would not stop there: once the government established the authority and built the infrastructure to collect and “verify” massive troves of user data, it would inevitably sweep broader and broader categories of lawful speech into this mass surveillance and censorship system. 

We’ve been pointing out for years that the supposedly “free speech absolutist” Elon Musk is one of the most aggressive abusers of state power to create chilling effects against his critics. So it should come as little surprise to anyone paying attention, that he’s at it again: threatening to sue Rep. Ro Khanna for Khanna’s comments regarding Musk’s time running (though pretending not to run) DOGE, where Elon took great joy in killing USAID, despite having no congressional mandate to do so.

In a voice vote last week, the House of Representatives passed H.R. 6028, the “Legislative Branch Agencies Clarification Act.” The legislation is presented as a technical reorganization of some government agencies, but it’s much more than that.

Indeed, the evidence has long suggested that these kinds of bans actually can make things worse by isolating kids who are at most at risk and who need support. At a time when fear mongering and moral panics have cut off basically everywhere that kids can be kids with each other and without adults hovering over them at every moment, social media became that kind of digital third space. Social media didn’t become the default digital third space because it’s uniquely ‘addictive’ — it became the default because adults have spent decades overreacting and shutting down every other place kids could gather and communicate without supervision.

Indeed, the evidence has long suggested that these kinds of bans actually can make things worse by isolating kids who are at most at risk and who need support. At a time when fear mongering and moral panics have cut off basically everywhere that kids can be kids with each other and without adults hovering over them at every moment, social media became that kind of digital third space. Social media didn’t become the default digital third space because it’s uniquely ‘addictive’ — it became the default because adults have spent decades overreacting and shutting down every other place kids could gather and communicate without supervision.

As promised, this story just keeps getting stupider.

ICE never needed officers to disguise themselves with masks and strip themselves of identification before Trump took office for the second time. What ICE is doing now isn’t what ICE was doing during Trump’s first term, even though it’s the same hateful bigot sitting behind the Resolute Desk he thinks should be covered in gold leaf.

Before the current wave of laws banning mobile phones in schools, we had published a piece from some researchers who had looked at how similar bans had worked in Australia, with the conclusion that… they didn’t. At best, the research showed the evidence on school phone bans to be “weak and inconclusive.” Those authors suggested that rather than doing outright bans, politicians should leave the issue to the schools themselves to determine what’s best.

Before the current wave of laws banning mobile phones in schools, we had published a piece from some researchers who had looked at how similar bans had worked in Australia, with the conclusion that… they didn’t. At best, the research showed the evidence on school phone bans to be “weak and inconclusive.” Those authors suggested that rather than doing outright bans, politicians should leave the issue to the schools themselves to determine what’s best.

In the months leading up to the implementation of Australia’s social media ban in December 2025, there was much discussion about the possible negative consequences.

In the months leading up to the implementation of Australia’s social media ban in December 2025, there was much discussion about the possible negative consequences.

We’ve talked a lot about how Americans have somehow accepted the fact that our voice networks are now saturated with scammers, fraudsters, and robocallers (no, that’s not something that happens in well run, functionally regulated countries). I’ve also explained for years how the U.S. government solutions to the problems are usually ineffective because they’re endlessly…

Section 702 surveillance powers are still limping along, mostly unimpeded, despite on-again/off-again objections by federal politicians. More active recently have been several GOP politicians. These representatives are newly opposed to clean reauthorization of Section 702 powers. This isn’t because they’ve come to realize the threat to Americans’ rights that warrantless access by the FBI (and…

We’ve talked a lot about how Americans have somehow accepted the fact that our voice networks are now saturated with scammers, fraudsters, and robocallers (no, that’s not something that happens in well run, functionally regulated countries). I’ve also explained for years how the U.S. government solutions to the problems are usually ineffective because they’re endlessly…

Section 702 surveillance powers are still limping along, mostly unimpeded, despite on-again/off-again objections by federal politicians. More active recently have been several GOP politicians. These representatives are newly opposed to clean reauthorization of Section 702 powers. This isn’t because they’ve come to realize the threat to Americans’ rights that warrantless access by the FBI (and…

Behold this utter bullshit, uttered by the Trump administration’s “border czar” Tom Homan: White House border czar Tom Homan said Thursday he’s “sure” Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers have detained U.S. citizens, “but we don’t deport them.”

The recent “internet addiction” verdicts against Apple, Meta, and YouTube drew applause from those eager to see big tech take a hit. But look behind the headlines and the result is something else entirely. These cases won’t help children. They will fuel a litigation plague that raises costs, chills innovation and hits smaller companies the…

Last December, Justice Alito told Texans they had to vote under an unconstitutional gerrymander because changing maps in December would deprive them of “certainty” before the 2026 midterms. Yesterday, with voting already underway in Louisiana, he rushed the certified copy of the Calais ruling out the door so Southern states can hurry up and redistrict before that very same election.