Brendan
@brendan17.bsky.social
A lawyer, not your lawyer. Opinions mine, & RTs ≠ endorsements.
This is one deeply reported, beautifully written (or edited) story, and you should find time this Sunday morning to read every word of it. 1/2 Gift link www.nytimes.com/2026/08/02/u...
How a Top Law Firm Went From Standing Up to Trump to Bending the Knee (Gift Article)
Paul Weiss was a progressive stalwart for decades and led the legal resistance against President Trump in his first term. Then it surrendered without a fight. This is the inside story of its transform...
nytimes.com
This really sums up why we need internet anonymity.
1) Pretextual device searches are possible when there aren't meaningful limits on law enforcement's ability to search devices at the border 2) If we go forward with age-gating/deanonymizing the web, there's going to be much less need for the govt to go after devices
GrapheneOS@grapheneos.org · 2w agoIt's almost like preventing Americans from using a medium for protected expression was a bad idea long-term.
Techdirt@techdirt.com · 2w agoThe Corrupt, Xenophobic Hysteria Behind The ‘TikTok Ban’ Will Soon Be Mirrored Across U.S. AI Policy You might recall how the press and a bipartisan coalition of… https://www.techdirt.com/2026/07/22/the-corrupt-xenophobic-hysteria-behind-the-tiktok-ban-will-soon-be-mirrored-across-u-s-ai-policy/
ACLU of Massachusetts has put out a toolkit for lawyers to help them find out when digital surveillance has been used to build the case against their clients. Love to see it. www.aclum.org/news/digital...
Defendants should know when digital surveillance technology has been used to build the case against them. This toolkit will help their lawyers find out. - ACLU of Massachusetts
Police increasingly use surveillance tech to build cases, and defendants have no way to know. We've built a toolkit to help defense attorneys find out.
aclum.org
While I don't want to discount the internal price one pays for selling their soul—& it's great that we no longer have to suffer the consequences of that—a bit bummed they will never face the public reckoning they deserve.
Giving a lot of thought to what movie should inspire the name of the (overdue) decentralized answer to letterboxd. It's obviously not HAL or skynet.
DiscussingFilm@discussingfilm.net · 4w agoNetflix, Paramount, Sony and Versant have all had early talks about potentially buying Letterboxd. (Source: puck.news/ted-sarandos...)
Our Coders’ Rights Project is always here to help www.eff.org/issues/coders
Coders' Rights Project
EFF's Coders' Rights Project protects programmers and developers engaged in cutting-edge exploration of technology. Security and encryption researchers help build a safer future for all of us using di...
eff.org
Matt Blaze@mattblaze.org · 4w agoIf I got a threatening lawyer letter like this, my first response would be to take a deep breath and not freak out. Then I'd call/email someone with experience dealing with this stuff, like our friends at EFF. In fact, that's exactly what I've done when I've actually gotten threats like this.
Fwiw, the Chatrie opinion strikes me as *really* promising. Granted, hard to be glass half full when Slaughter feels like SCOTUS blindfolding itself before pouring kerosene on a structure fire.
You should be able to criticize your government anonymously. And research medical issues. And discuss your sexuality. Or maybe even talk about an abusive partner or family. People have very good reasons to separate their speech from their identity and owe you no explanation or justification.
The most secure cryptographic protocol in the world will not stop the fed in your group chat from being a fed, or some guy from not putting a passcode on his phone and leaving it at the bar. This is not Signal’s fault and in fact has nothing to do with Signal at all
the spread of youth social media *bans* is a great example of politicians performing an act of regulation that not only is ineffective - it's hardly even 'friction' - but it's a disproportionate attack on the rights of kids that incidentally feeds into the censorship narrative of the right.
1 of (if not the) primary government defenses of 702 is that the people in charge respect Americans' rights & privacy. Even ignoring the history of 702 up until the start of this admin, idk how anyone can make that claim with a straight face, bw other rights abuses & Trump appointing his lackey.
Aaron Rupar@atrupar.com · 2mo agoMike Johnson claims "large sporting events, local communities are in jeopardy right now because the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act is how we monitor terrorists who are plotting and planning dangerous events in our homeland"
The Haim sisters need to be so serious tho they’re LA girls.
Molly Knight@mollyknight.bsky.social · 2mo agoI’ll allow it.
For those who haven’t been following the multi-month saga of the mass surveillance powers that surveillance maximalists are trying to renew for the Trump admin—here’s the latest. It’s a tale of midnight failed votes, 3 temporary extensions, and a shady mortgage broker turned head of intelligence.
The 702 Ultimatum: Warrant Requirement or Bust
For months now, Congress has been kicking the ball down the road—temporarily postponing the expiration of the mass surveillance authority Section 702 of FISA in hopes that some consensus could be reac...
eff.org
doing the Lord's work here 🫡
Rebecca Fordon@thefordon.bsky.social · 2mo agoI made a Firefox add-on that lets you find the federal court opinion/docket mentioned in a news story in one click. Using @free.law's CourtListener and RECAP of course. addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefo... (this is a personal project)
When you're trying to tell people that social media addiction is (1) nowhere near as widespread as media reports suggest & (2) the addiction lawsuits are near-existential for a free & open internet, tech companies putting “Make people addicted" in internal docs is unhelpful
404 Media@404media.co · 2mo agoSCOOP: An internal Microsoft strategy document says that the plan for its just-announced “Scout” personal assistant AI is to “make people addicted” to the tool before rolling out additional functionality, 404 Media has learned.
Our enemies are pooping in their pantaloons seeing this greatness personified.
Got off work & was doing my customary afternoon doomscroll of The Guardian. HOWEVER: during said scrolling I learned that (1) the USWNT has a line nicknamed "Triple Espresso," & (2) they are back after being separated. I think this is great info. Enjoy: www.theguardian.com/football/202...
‘Triple Espresso’ returns: Swanson, Wilson and Rodman reunite for USWNT friendlies against Brazil
The attacking trio, who scored 10 of the USWNT’s 12 goals at the Paris Olympics, are back on the same roster for the first time since 2024 for friendlies at Brazil
theguardian.com
Establishing a legal precedent for "all-time no backsies." Promises made, promises kept.
Jacob T. Levy@jacobtlevy.bsky.social · 3mo agoThe US ... is hereby FOREVER BARRED and PRECLUDED from prosecuting or pursuing, any and all claims, counterclaims, causes of action [etc]... whether presently known or unknown, that... have been or could have been asserted [by the US against Trump, his family, and his companies] out of.. Lawfare 1/
Having no backbone (when that is literally the job) is embarrassing in & of itself. But it's even worse when those that challenge are consistently winning.
Sheryl Weikal says Prosecute ICE@leftistlawyer.com · 3mo agoSeriously, fuck this. I'm so sick of our profession's cowardice. www.reuters.com/legal/govern...
Imo, "one of the most prominent voices in the movement to undermine free speech on the Internet" would be a more accurate description
Larry Glickman@larryglickman.bsky.social · 3mo agoWhat “distressing” ideas? How are they “cocooned”? It’s amazing how much publicity one can get by reinforcing cliches that accord so little with the experiences of so many of us who actually teach college students.
