Chatrie and the Court’s Pretzel Logic: The Fourth Amendment Gets Twisted
The Supreme Court just told police they cannot turn your phone into a witness against you merely because you walked through the wrong patch of pavement. That is the good news. The less comforting news is that the Court reached that result by dragging some badly aging Fourth Amendment doctrine along for the ride. In ... Chatrie and the Court’s Pretzel Logic: The Fourth Amendment Gets Twisted
Texas Wants to Check Your App Store Papers
Smartphones are no longer just phones. For kids, they are libraries, newspapers, classrooms, cameras, maps, town squares, and, yes, bottomless distraction machines. Texas Senate Bill 2420 treats access to all of it as something that should first pass through a state-mandated checkpoint. Also known as the App Store Accountability Act, SB 2420 is currently facing ... Texas Wants to Check Your App Store Papers
Government by Raised Eyebrow: The JAWBONE Act and the Problem of Censorship by Proxy
The easiest way for the government to censor speech is not always to ban it. Sometimes, it is to find someone else with a hand on the switch. That is the problem at the center of the current debate over free speech in the digital age. For years, the public argument focused on whether private ... Government by Raised Eyebrow: The JAWBONE Act and the Problem of Censorship by Proxy
No Free Lunch at Linney’s Pizza
A pizza shop wants lower debit-card fees. Fair enough. But if it wins, the tab may not land where diners expect. It could reshape administrative law, narrow the Federal Reserve’s discretion, and make ordinary checking accounts more expensive. That is what is at stake in Linney’s Pizza, LLC v. Board of Governors of the Federal ... No Free Lunch at Linney’s Pizza
The FCC Wants Final Cut
The government does not need to burn books when it can threaten licenses. Why bother with an inquisitor’s bonfire when a regulator’s raised eyebrow can do the trick? That is the modern First Amendment problem. Censorship no longer arrives only as an outright ban. More often, it comes dressed as “oversight,” “public interest,” or “compliance”—all ... The FCC Wants Final Cut
Addicted to Vagueness: Lawmakers Can’t Regulate Social Media by Vibes
A lawsuit over infinite scroll sounds, at first blush, like a fight over product design. Make the app less sticky. Stop nudging teens to keep scrolling. Turn down the algorithmic dopamine machine. But the harder constitutional question is whether courts can do all that through broad, after-the-fact liability standards without telling platforms what the law ... Addicted to Vagueness: Lawmakers Can’t Regulate Social Media by Vibes
Decorative Safe Harbors: The Judicial Hollowing-Out of Intermediary Accountability
The U.S. Supreme Court just made it much harder to hold at least some internet intermediaries liable for what their users do. And in the process, it may have made key statutory safe harbors largely irrelevant. The Court’s unanimous reversal of the billion-dollar copyright verdict against Cox Communications has drawn predictable headlines. Some commentators cast ... Decorative Safe Harbors: The Judicial Hollowing-Out of Intermediary Accountability
Treating Speech as a Bug, Not a Feature
A pair of jury verdicts last week, along with a quiet settlement, may mark a turning point for the American internet—and not one that favors free expression. For years, digital platforms have relied on two core protections: the First Amendment and Section 230. Together, they let companies host, organize, and moderate speech without facing crushing ... Treating Speech as a Bug, Not a Feature
Social Media Bans and the Problem of One-Size-Fits-All Policy
The push to restrict teens’ access to social media is accelerating worldwide, even as the underlying evidence remains uncertain. In recent years, policymakers across various jurisdictions have proposed restricting or banning minors’ access to social media platforms. Governments across a growing number of jurisdictions are considering age-based restrictions, mandatory parental-consent requirements, or outright bans for ... Social Media Bans and the Problem of One-Size-Fits-All Policy
The FCC’s Sleeping Power Over the Press
The Trump administration says it wants to end federal censorship. Its recent statements suggest something else. In the executive order “Restoring Freedom of Speech and Ending Federal Censorship,” the White House asserted: The First Amendment to the United States Constitution, an amendment essential to the success of our Republic, enshrines the right of the American ... The FCC’s Sleeping Power Over the Press
The 65-Year-Old Law That Still Shapes How You Watch Sports
Earlier this month, Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Brendan Carr asked a pointed question: what happens to local broadcasting if live sports keep migrating to streaming platforms? In a public notice, the FCC seeks comment on sports-broadcasting practices and market developments. The agency focuses on the growing shift of live sports from national broadcast networks ... The 65-Year-Old Law That Still Shapes How You Watch Sports
COPPA, Age Verification, and the FTC’s Enforcement End Run
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has a new plan to “protect children online.” It starts by relaxing enforcement of the very privacy law designed to protect them. In a new enforcement policy statement on the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA), the FTC signals that it will decline to pursue enforcement actions against companies that ... COPPA, Age Verification, and the FTC’s Enforcement End Run
