Karl Bode

1 day ago | techdirt.com | Karl Bode

For decades, major wireless carriers AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile collected vast troves of sensitive user location and movement data, then sold access to any random nitwit with two nickels to rub together. The result was a parade of scandals wherein everybody from stalkers , law enforcement (or people pretending to be law enforcement), car companies, governments, and right wing extremists all happily abused the data in myriad, dangerous ways never made clear to the end user.

2 days ago | techdirt.com | Karl Bode

For decades, telecom giants like Verizon reacted hysterically every single time the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) tried to do anything to protect consumers or hold telecom giants accountable. I spent decades covering it as a telecom policy reporter.

2 days ago | broadbandbreakfast.com | Karl Bode

Vermont’s Communications Union Districts (CUDs), which were the subject of a recently released ILSR report, continue to make steady inroads in delivering high-quality broadband access to long-neglected rural Vermont residents. In 2021 the Vermont legislature passed Act 71, ensuring CUDs would play a key role in expanding fiber access in the Green Mountain state.

3 days ago | techdirt.com | Karl Bode

Last year Microsoft announced that it was bringing a new feature to its under-performing Windows 11 OS dubbed “Recall.” According to Microsoft’s explanation of Recall, the “AI” powered technology was supposed to take screenshots of your activity every five seconds, giving you an “explorable timeline of your PC’s past,” that Microsoft’s AI-powered assistant, Copilot, can then help you peruse.

6 days ago | techdirt.com | Karl Bode

Authoritarians don’t much like journalism, education, or informed consensus for what should be obvious reasons. But the far right has long had a particular animosity for publicly-funded broadcasting. In part, because when done right, public broadcasting is free of the kind of perverse financial incentives that results in the kind of feckless, truth-averse, “both sides” journalism we all saw last election season. Of course in the U.S. we don’t really do public broadcasting particularly well.