 | |
| Country of origin | United States |
|---|---|
| Owner | Floor64, Inc. |
| Created by | Mike Masnick |
| Editor | Mike Masnick |
| URL | techdirt |
| Commercial | Yes |
| Registration | Optional |
| Launched | 1997 |
| Current status | Active |
Techdirt is an American Internet blog that reports on technology's legal challenges and related business and economic policy issues, in context of the digital revolution. It focuses on intellectual property, patent, information privacy and copyright reform in particular. [1]
The website was founded in 1997 by Mike Masnick. It was originally based on the weblog software Slash. Techdirt's content is based on reader submissions as well as the editorial staff's picks. The website makes use of MySQL, Apache, and PHP, and is hosted at ActionWeb. [2] Techdirt is managed by Floor 64, a company located in Redwood City, California, US. [3] As of 2009, Techdirt had eight full-time employees. [4]
There is a guest editor section in Techdirt, called "Favorite Techdirt Posts of the Week", where several high-profile personalities of politics and culture contributed articles over the years; for instance Marietje Schaake, Member of the European Parliament for the Netherlands, [5] Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon [6] or author Glyn Moody. [7]
The popular term the "Streisand effect" was coined on Techdirt by founder Mike Masnick in January 2005. [8] [9] [10]
In 2003, Forbes Magazine selected Techdirt as one of the "Best Tech Blogs". [11] In 2006 Bloomberg Businessweek praised Techdirt for its "sharp, pithy analysis of current tech issues". [12] In 2007, Techdirt was nominated for the Webby Award in the section "Web Blog – Business". [13] Techdirt has been named among the favorite blogs of PC Magazine in 2008. [14] In 2015, Techdirt allowed readers to remove web ads. [15]
In 2009, English singer Lily Allen created a blog critical of music piracy in which she plagiarized an entire post from Techdirt. [16] Following an exchange with Techdirt, debating hypocrisy in the musician's handling of copyright infringement, Allen shut down her blog. [17]
Marvin Ammori, a lawyer who advocates on network neutrality and Internet freedom, praised Techdirt in the 2011 Stop Online Piracy Act controversy, saying: "I'm not sure anyone did more to educate the public about SOPA than Techdirt." [18]
In 2017, American entrepreneur Shiva Ayyadurai filed suit against Techdirt for defamation in response to a series of articles critical of Ayyadurai's claims to have invented email as a teenager in 1978, an assertion which has been dismissed by several experts. [19] [20] Techdirt announced its intention to fight the suit, describing it as a "First Amendment fight for its life". [21] Masnick filed for the suit to be dismissed under California's anti-SLAPP statute. [22] [23] A federal judge dismissed the defamation claims on September 6, 2017. [24] [25] In June 2018, attorneys for Ayyadurai appealed the ruling to the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit. [26] The two parties settled out-of-court in May 2019 with no money changing hands, and Techdirt's articles remaining online with an added link to a rebuttal on Ayyadurai's website. [20] [27]
During the lawsuit, Techdirt accepted funding from multiple sources to expand its reporting on free speech topics, including from the Freedom of the Press Foundation, Automattic, the Charles Koch Foundation, Union Square Ventures, and Craig Newmark. [28]
In 2012, Techdirt published a report on the state of the entertainment industry, arguing that despite the rise of online file sharing, the music industry and broader entertainment industry were still able to make significant money. [29]
In 2018, Techdirt and Diegetic Games ran a Kickstarter campaign to publish a version of a CIA training card game that had been released to the public after a FOIA request. [30] [31]
Masnick and Techdirt run a think tank called Copia, which has received funding from companies such as Google and Yelp. [32] Through this effort, Masnick has worked on multiple policy-focused video games, including Moderator Mayhem , a game focused on content moderation, [33] and a followup titled Trust & Safety Tycoon. [34] [35]
Perfect 10 was a monthly men's magazine, and adult website that featured high resolution topless or nude photographs of women who had not had cosmetic surgery. Perfect 10 also promoted and filmed boxing matches between a number of their models, which were called Perfect 10: Model Boxing on the Showtime and HDNet cable channels. The last print edition of the magazine was published in the summer of 2007, after which it switched to a subscription-based website-only presentation.
Michael Masnick is an American editor and entrepreneur. He is the CEO and founder of Techdirt, a weblog.
Charles Hernan Carreon is an American trial attorney best known for his involvement in a legal dispute between The Oatmeal webcomic and content aggregator FunnyJunk. As of 2012, he represented individuals and companies in matters pertaining to Internet law.
The Streisand effect is an unintended consequence of attempts to hide, remove, or censor information, where the effort instead increases public awareness of the information.
Maria Renske "Marietje" Schaake is a Dutch politician who served as Member of the European Parliament (MEP) from the Netherlands between 2009 and 2019. She is a member of Democrats 66, part of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe Party.
Beck v. Eiland-Hall was a case filed in 2009 before the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), a United Nations agency. It was filed by political commentator Glenn Beck against Isaac Eiland-Hall, concerning the website "GlennBeckRapedAndMurderedAYoungGirlIn1990.com". Eiland-Hall created the site as a parody to express the view that Beck's commentary style challenged his guests to prove a negative. The site's name was based on a joke first used by comedian Gilbert Gottfried at the 2008 Comedy Central Roast of Bob Saget, in which Gottfried jokingly implored listeners to disregard the (non-existent) rumor that Saget had raped and murdered a girl in 1990. Online posters began an Internet meme comparing Gottfried's joke with Beck's style of debate, by requesting Beck disprove he had committed the act in question. Eiland-Hall launched his website on September 1, 2009.
V. A. Shiva Ayyadurai is an Indian-American engineer, entrepreneur, and anti-vaccine activist. He has become known for promoting conspiracy theories, pseudoscience, and unfounded medical claims. Ayyadurai holds four degrees from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), including a PhD in biological engineering, and is a Fulbright grant recipient.
A legal dispute between webcomic The Oatmeal and content aggregator website FunnyJunk began in 2011. The Oatmeal creator Matthew Inman alleged in 2011 that FunnyJunk users repeatedly infringed copyright of The Oatmeal's original content. In June 2012, FunnyJunk's lawyer, Charles Carreon, sent Inman a letter demanding US$20,000 in damages from him, alleging the claims he made were defamatory. Inman responded by publishing the letter on his site, along with a response and announcement that he would be organizing a charity fundraiser through Indiegogo, donating the amount demanded by Carreon to the American Cancer Society and the National Wildlife Federation.
Palmer v. Kleargear.com, no. 13-cv-00175, is a 2013 US federal lawsuit in which an internet retailer was sued by two of its customers after it billed the customers for $3,500 following a negative review. The retailer, Kleargear.com, specializes in nerd apparel, geek toys, gadgets and office toys; it is owned by Paris-based Descoteaux Boutiques. The plaintiffs charged the company with violating the Fair Credit Reporting Act, defamation and intentional infliction of emotional distress. In March 2014, the district court entered a default judgment for the plaintiffs, and in June 2014 awarded damages of $306,750. As of 2015, the Palmers continue to attempt to collect the judgment.
Between 2011 and 2018, a series of disputes took place about the copyright status of selfies taken by Celebes crested macaques using equipment belonging to the British wildlife photographer David J. Slater. The disputes involved Wikimedia Commons and the blog Techdirt, which have hosted the images following their publication in newspapers in July 2011 over Slater's objections that he holds the copyright, and People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), who have argued that the copyright should be assigned to the macaque.
Keeper Security, Inc. (Keeper) is a global cybersecurity company founded in 2009 and headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. Keeper provides zero-knowledge security and encryption software covering functions such as password and passkey management, secrets management, privileged access management, secure remote access and encrypted messaging.
The YubiKey is a hardware authentication device manufactured by Yubico to protect access to computers, networks, and online services that supports one-time passwords (OTP), public-key cryptography, authentication, and the Universal 2nd Factor (U2F) and FIDO2 protocols developed by the FIDO Alliance. It allows users to securely log into their accounts by emitting one-time passwords or using a FIDO-based public/private key pair generated by the device. YubiKey also allows storing static passwords for use at sites that do not support one-time passwords. Google, Amazon, Microsoft, Twitter, and Facebook use YubiKey devices to secure employee accounts as well as end-user accounts. Some password managers support YubiKey. Yubico also manufactures the Security Key, a similar lower-cost device with only FIDO2/WebAuthn and FIDO/U2F support.
Andrew Norton is a British roboticist, politician and researcher. He is a former Coordinator of Pirate Parties International, a previous Chairman of the United States Pirate Party and a previous Chairman of the Board for Pirate Party UK.
Network Investigative Technique (NIT) is a form of malware employed by the FBI since at least 2002. It is a drive-by download computer program designed to provide access to a computer.
The use of stingrays by United States law enforcement is an investigative technique used by both federal and local law enforcement in the United States to obtain information from cell phones by mimicking a cell phone tower. The devices which accomplish this are generically known as IMSI-catchers, but are commonly called stingrays, a brand sold by the Harris Corporation.
The Internet of Garbage is a 2015 non-fiction book by journalist and lawyer Sarah Jeong. It discusses online harassment as a threat to the useful functions of the internet and argues for new approaches to managing the issue. The book was reissued in 2018 with a new preface by Jeong.
Filecoin (⨎) is a cryptocurrency intended to be a blockchain-based cooperative digital storage and data retrieval method. It was developed by Protocol Labs and shares some ideas from InterPlanetary File System allowing users to rent unused hard drive space. Filecoin is an open protocol and uses a blockchain to record participation in the network. Transactions are made using the blockchain's currency, FIL. The blockchain is based on both proof of-replication and proof of space-time.
Richard Liebowitz is an American entrepreneur, Broadway producer, former lawyer and photographer specializing in copyright law. While a lawyer, he was known for filing a high number of lawsuits against media organizations on behalf of photographers who assert that their images have been used without permission, and for receiving multiple disciplinary sanctions culminating in his suspension from practicing law in New York and ultimately in his disbarment.
The Privacy Sandbox is an initiative led by Google to create web standards for websites to access user information without compromising privacy. Its core purpose is to facilitate online advertising by sharing a subset of user private information without the use of third-party cookies. The initiative includes a number of proposals, many of these proposals have bird-themed names which are changed once the corresponding feature reaches general availability. The technology include Topics API, Protected Audience, Attribution Reporting, Private Aggregation, Shared Storage and Fenced Frames as well as other proposed technologies. The project was announced in August 2019.
Appin was an Indian cyberespionage company started in 2003 and run by brothers Rajat and Anuj Khare. Although it initially started as a cybersecurity training firm, by 2010 the company had begun providing hacking services for governments and corporate clients. In 2013, a report by Shadowserver Foundation pointed to evidence linking Appin to several hacks of high-profile organizations.
TechDirt highlights research showing that extending copyrights increases prices and limits dissemination of knowledge, while also pointing out that people who believe patents cause innovation are simply confusing correlation with causation. If anything, patents inhibit innovation.
The episode is the latest example of a phenomenon known as the "Streisand Effect." Robert Siegel talks with Mike Masnick, CEO of Techdirt Inc., who coined the term.
How long is it going to take before lawyers realize that the simple act of trying to repress something they don't like online is likely to make it so that [...] is now seen by many more people? Let's call it the Streisand Effect.