Good 4th Amendment News

Following the Supreme Court ruling in Chatrie v. United States, which said that a geofence search  required a judicial warrant, a judge has ruled that tower dumps warrants are unconstitutional.

Five weeks after the Supreme Court struck down so-called geofence searches in its landmark Fourth Amendment decision in Chatrie v. United States, the ramifications for other broad law enforcement investigative techniques are coming into focus. On Wednesday, August 5, U.S. District Judge Carlton Reeves reaffirmed a magistrate judge’s ruling quashing federal law enforcement’s ability to obtain “tower dump” warrants.

Judge Reeves’ decision in the Southern District of Mississippi may signal a turning point in the post-Chatrie era against non individualized electronic searches. Both state and federal law enforcement authorities have commonly used tower dumps to pull large amounts of data from cell towers located near crime scenes. The data, which reveals the cell phones connected to a cell tower during a set time block, has historically allowed investigators to examine recurring cell numbers at multiple crime scenes.

Last year, investigators with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives successfully used a tower dump to identify a man accused of a string of gun store robberies in Pennsylvania. This year, investigators asked a federal judge for approval to perform a tower dump while investigating vandalism at a Federal Aviation Administration facility in Vermont.

In the Mississippi case, FBI agents investigating a series of violent crimes committed in the Jackson area submitted four warrants for a magistrate judge’s approval in February 2025. The magistrate judge, however, denied the warrants, citing the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit’s decision in United States v. Smith, pre-dating Chatrie, striking down geofence warrants. In March 2025, the government appealed the magistrate judge’s order to Judge Reeves.

This is the sort of search that the founders specifically opposed.  

These were called, "General Warrants," or, "Writs of Assistance."

Headline of the Day

Trump Phone Has HTC Guts. Tremendous Guts. The Best Guts.

The Register, noting that the Trump Phone is just a reskinned HTC U24 Pro.

Gee, the next thing that you will tell me is that Trump University was a scam. Hoocoodanode?

It won't be making smartphones great again. The long-awaited Trump-branded smartphone has finally arrived, and it appears to be exactly what many suspected: an existing handset in gold drag.

Repair biz iFixit got its hands on the Trump Mobile T1 after the device became available in May, and its teardown found the model is essentially an HTC U24 Pro with cosmetic tweaks and a Trump-friendly gold finish.

It was almost exactly a year ago that the Trump Organization unveiled the Trump Mobile cellular service and heralded the coming of the T1 Phone, described as "a sleek, gold smartphone engineered for performance and proudly designed and built in the United States."

………

In other words, it's a fairly unremarkable smartphone, sprayed gold and marketed to Trump fans for a promotional price of $499. To be fair, as iFixit makes clear, this is not a bad price for a device like this, so aureate wannabes are not being overcharged here. 

Headline of the Day

America’s Self-Proclaimed Free Speech Warrior, Brendan Carr, Gets a Letter Documenting His First Amendment Violations

—Techdirt, noting that a group of actual 1st Amendment scholars are calling bullsh%$ on his actions.

Carr has been actively threatening media outlets with retribution for free speech that he disagrees with, and that is wrong.

It's probably a crime.

Send him to Gitmo. 

………

Well, congratulations to everyone who wanted to reanimate that corpse. FCC Chairman Brendan Carr is doing something remarkably similar — except he’s only using it in one direction (the other problem with the Fairness Doctrine, it depends entirely on the enforcers), to punish outlets that report things the Trump administration doesn’t like, while conveniently leaving alone outlets that parrot the administration’s preferred narratives.

We’ve been covering Carr’s censorial ambitions for a while now. When Trump picked Carr to chair the FCC, we noted that despite all the “free speech warrior” branding from the administration and the credulous political press that repeated it, Carr had made it abundantly clear he wanted to be America’s top censor. And he’s delivered on that promise with remarkable enthusiasm — going after CBS over “60 Minutes”, threatening ABC over Jimmy Kimmel’s jokes, and most recently threatening to revoke broadcast licenses of outlets that accurately report on the disastrous war in Iran.

Now, a broad coalition of more than 80 legal scholars, former FCC officials, and civil society organizations — organized by TechFreedom and signed by groups ranging from the ACLU to EFF to the Knight First Amendment Institute to the Institute for Free Speech — has sent a formal letter to Carr laying out, in meticulous legal detail, exactly how his threats violate the First Amendment. I’m proud to note that our think tank, the Copia Institute, is among the signatories, and this was a very easy decision.

Yes, it's a crime, because he has clearly conspired with staff to violate the 1st Amendment rights of the organizations that he is targeting, and while the former is largely just a civil matter (What do I know, I'm an engneer, not a doctor, dammit!*) the conspiracy to do so is a criminal act, a felony.

^*I love it when I get to go all Dr. McCoy!

Gee, Fascism Much?

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr is threatening to revoke broadcaster licenses because they are insufficiently pro-Iran war.

Rather unsurprisingly, Donald Trump gives his wholehearted approval to this.

Brendan Carr, the chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, threatened on Saturday to revoke broadcasters’ licenses over their coverage of the war with Iran, his latest move in a campaign to stomp out what he sees as liberal bias in broadcasts.

As the war entered its third week, Mr. Carr accused broadcasters of “running hoaxes and news distortions” in a social media post and warned them to “correct course before their license renewals come up.”

“Broadcasters must operate in the public interest, and they will lose their licenses if they do not,” he said.

Mr. Carr shared a Truth Social post by President Trump that criticized the news media for its coverage of the war with Iran. Mr. Trump referred to a story published by The Wall Street Journal that reported five American refueling planes had been struck in Saudi Arabia, claiming its headline was “intentionally misleading.” He accused the news media of wanting the United States to lose the war.

When the worm turns, Carr needs to be prosecuted to the fullest extant of the law.

Hell, they all do. 

If there are Presidential elections in 2028, I will not support anyone in the primaries who does not promise to prosecute Trump and his minions to the fullest extant of the law.

Guck Foogle

So, the Artist former known as Google is selling Google Fiber to a private equity firm, which will doubtlessly enshittify it beyond recognition, because that is what PE firms do.

Google Fiber, now officially called GFiber, is being sold to private equity firm Stonepeak and will be combined with cable-and-fiber firm Astound Broadband to create a larger Internet service provider.

Google owner Alphabet announced Wednesday that it will keep only a minority stake in the fiber ISP that launched with grand ambitions in 2012 but scaled back its expansion plans in 2016. Alphabet and Astound owner Stonepeak announced “an agreement to combine GFiber with Astound Broadband, creating a leading independent fiber provider,” with the merged company to be “majority owned by Stonepeak, an investment firm specializing in infrastructure and real assets.”

………

It’s unclear whether the combined firm will be called GFiber, Astound, or something else. “The combined business will be led by the existing GFiber executive team, utilizing their expertise in high-speed fiber innovation to manage the combined network footprint,” the announcement said. “The combination of GFiber’s high-growth metropolitan networks with Astound’s established infrastructure, team and capabilities creates a highly complementary, national network platform.”

Alphabet President and Chief Investment Officer Ruth Porat said the merger will let GFiber reach more parts of the country “while continuing to provide their award winning customer experience.” The announcement said that Alphabet maintaining a minority stake “reflect[s] its confidence in GFiber’s growth opportunity and leadership.” Stonepeak Senior Managing Director Andrew Thomas said that Stonepeak “look[s] forward to supporting the company with Alphabet as a co-investor.”

Bullsh%$.  Google is selling it so that Stonepeak can loot it to both of their benefits, customer be damned.

It's kind of what PE does. 

I Am Sure that Jeff Bezos Would Want to be Included

You see, the Iranians have declared that Google and Microsoft facilities are legitimate military targets.

Amazon, of course, has already been hit during the war, but I'm pretty sure that Jeff is feeling ignored right now.

Iran should send him a gift as an apology, and in true Amazon manner, they can deliver it by drone.

There’s a new target in 21st century warfare: US tech companies.

According to Al Jazeera, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps made the announcement following attacks on the country by US and Israeli military forces. In retaliation to a specific strike on an Iranian bank — which reportedly killed several civilian employees — Iranian military officials declared that they would now count US- and Israeli-linked financial and tech institutions among their targets.

………

In a document viewed by Al Jazeera, the IRGC listed a number of US tech companies as “Iran’s new targets,” including Google, Microsoft, Palantir, IBM, Nvidia, and Oracle, as well as a cloud computing companies in Israel and several Gulf countries. .

………

A sign that Iran’s not bluffing: the announcement comes after its drones inflicted “structural damage” on three Amazon Web Services facilities in the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain. Those strikes are believed to be the first instance of an adversary targeting US corporate tech facilities in an attack — a sign of the strange new battlefield as commercial tech infrastructure is now visibly embedded throughout the US military apparatus.

It should be noted that the strikes on the Amazon facilities took out much telecommunications capabilities in the region for hours.

It should also be noted that this vulnerability is an unavoidable feature of the cloud.

 

Maybe It's Because You Are Evil Assholes?

People cannot wait to to put a boot in Comcast's ass.

It has abused their customers so badly for so long that they have no reservoir of good will to fall back on in the face of the cord cutting trend.

This is a company who made their brand so toxic that their consumer branch had to be changed to Xfinity.

In April 2025, Comcast President Mike Cavanagh bemoaned that the company’s cable broadband division was “not winning in the marketplace” amid increased competition from fiber and fixed wireless Internet service providers.

Cavanagh identified some problems that had been obvious to Comcast customers for many years: Its prices aren’t transparent enough and rise too frequently, and dealing with the company is too difficult. Comcast sought to fix the problems with a five-year price guarantee, one year of free Xfinity Mobile service for home Internet customers, and plans with unlimited data instead of punitive data caps. But the company is still losing broadband customers at a higher-than-expected rate.

In Q4 2025 earnings announced today, Comcast reported a net loss of 181,000 residential and business broadband customers in the US. The loss consists of 178,000 residential Internet customers and 3,000 business customers.

………

Armstrong said that average revenue per user grew 1.1 percent, “consistent with the deceleration that we had previewed reflecting our new go-to-market pricing, including lower everyday pricing and strong adoption of free wireless lines.” Armstrong expects average revenue per user to continue growing slowly “for the next couple of quarters, driven by the absence of a rate increase, the impact from free wireless lines, and the ongoing migration of our base to simplified pricing.”

The only thing that Comcast has is the fact that Charter is just as widely loathed.

I hope that the markets burn both of them to the ground. 

What Do Cats and Women Have in Common?

The belief that men do not listen to them.  (No, this is not a run up to a crude pun)

It turns out that cats meow more and louder when trying to get the attention of men than when trying to get the attention of women.

I'm not particularly surprised.

As he lectured on animal behavior, Kaan Kerman, an instructor in the psychology department at Bilkent University in Turkey, noticed a pattern. Dog owners tend to confidently interpret their pets’ behavior, he said, “but cat owners are always puzzled.” Compared with dogs, cats have been studied less, partly because they prefer to stay at home.

“If you want to bring cats into the lab,” Dr. Kerman said, “good luck.”

When he and his colleagues asked cat owners for permission to film inside their homes, the response was enthusiastic. “As long as you give us some answers about our cats,” was a common reply. What that study found may not be as welcome among men who care for cats.

In a study published this month in the journal Ethology, the researchers reported that cats meow more frequently when greeting male caregivers. The team hypothesized that men “require more explicit vocalizations to notice and respond to the needs of their cats.” In other words, the researchers are suggesting that many cats have concluded that men don’t always listen, and adjusted their behavior accordingly.

I am sure that many women who have read this story have thought, "No shit, Sherlock." 

 

This Is a Uncommon Ruling from a Judge

Though the ruling throwing out Trump's $15 billion dollar lawsuit for being full of extraneous bullsh%$ is pretty common among newspaper editors and English teachers.

The filing was 85 pages consisting primarily of over the top compliments and claims of a vast conspiracy against him, which runs counter to the federal rules for lawsuits.

I'm thinking that the judge should have taken out a yard stick and rapped Trump's lawyers' knuckles as well:

On Friday, September 19, a federal district judge in Florida struck President Donald Trump’s complaint in his $15 billion defamation lawsuit against The New York Times, four Times reporters, and Penguin Random House, describing the complaint as “decidedly improper and impermissible.” Under Rule 8 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, a complaint is supposed to include “a short and plain statement” alleging enough facts that, if true, could warrant legal relief. The complaint Trump filed on Monday, by contrast, is 85 pages long and reads more like an anthology of his Truth Social posts, with slightly better punctuation.

Most complaints filed in federal courtrooms do not get tossed under Rule 8, but most complaints filed in federal courtrooms do not spend dozens of pages recounting, as Trump’s does, the plaintiff’s “singular brilliance” and “history-making media appearances” in programs like Fallen Champ: The Untold Story of Mike Tyson. Trump’s complaint is also crowded with boasts about his purported magnificence (for example, “President Trump secured the greatest personal and political achievement in American history”) and snipes about legacy media’s anti-Trump bias (for example, “Defendants baselessly hate President Trump in a deranged way”).

Friday’s order, in turn, is full of the judge’s unmasked exhaustion. “As every lawyer knows (or is presumed to know), a complaint is not a public forum for vituperation and invective,” wrote Steven Merryday, a judge appointed by President George H.W. Bush in 1992. “This complaint stands unmistakably and inexcusably athwart the requirements of Rule 8.” Merryday gave Trump 28 days to amend the complaint and come back with something less ridiculous, and not exceeding forty pages. “This action will begin, will continue, and will end in accord with the rules of procedure and in a professional and dignified manner,” he wrote.

I have on many occasions received similar feedback on what I have written, in large part from my father, who reviewed many of my essays when I was in high school.

My mom did this for me in middle school. (She died in my freshman year of high school)

Their sometimes savage reviews made me a better writer, though as my reader(s) are no doubt aware, it could not make me a good writer.

These guys though, I think that they are beyond help. 

The Revolving Door Approaches Relativistic Speeds

Former US Senator Cory Gardner (R-CO) has been appointed the President and CEO of the National Cable & Telecommunications Association (NCTA).

It seems a bit corrupt, but let's drop a few more names, shall we?

The cable industry's top lobbying group has a new president and CEO. Cory Gardner, a Republican who spent 10 years in Congress, was announced today as the new head of NCTA-The Internet & Television Association.

Gardner represented Colorado in the US senate from 2015 to 2021 and was in the US House of Representatives from 2011 to 2015. He had to leave the Senate after losing a re-election bid and later became chairman of the Senate Leadership Fund, a super PAC devoted to "protecting and expanding the Republican Senate Majority."

Gardner will take over the NCTA's reins on September 22, replacing Michael Powell, who is retiring from the lobby group after nearly 15 years. Before becoming the cable industry's chief lobbyist, Powell was chairman of the Federal Communications Commission from 2001 to 2005. Powell led a Republican majority at the FCC.

The NCTA isn't the only telecom industry lobby group with a history of hiring former government officials. In April, wireless industry lobby group CTIA hired former FCC Chairman Ajit Pai as its president and CEO. Pai replaced Meredith Attwell Baker, a former Republican member of the FCC who led the CTIA from 2014 until this year.

Baker herself replaced Steve Largent, a former Republican member of Congress and NFL player who led the CTIA from 2003 to 2014. Another notable example of the revolving door is Democrat Tom Wheeler, who chaired the FCC during the Obama administration after having led both the NCTA and CTIA.

It's all back-loaded bribery.  You do the industry's bidding, and when you leave politics, you get a cushy sinecure.

Until we start addressing systemic corruption in our society, we'll continue to get more Donald Trumps. 

F%$# the Incumbent Carriers

In this case, it is T-Mobile, who just lost their appeal of $92,000,000.00 for selling customer location data without consent.

Their appeal was basically, "It's legal, because wer're T-Mobile."

The judges were less than receptive to this argument: 

A federal appeals court rejected T-Mobile's attempt to overturn $92 million in fines for selling customer location information to third-party firms.

The Federal Communications Commission last year fined T-Mobile, AT&T, and Verizon, saying the carriers illegally shared access to customers' location information without consent and did not take reasonable measures to protect that sensitive data against unauthorized disclosure. The fines relate to sharing of real-time location data that was revealed in 2018, but it took years for the FCC to finalize the penalties.

The three carriers appealed the rulings in three different courts, and the first major decision was handed down Friday. A three-judge panel at the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit ruled unanimously against T-Mobile and its subsidiary Sprint.

………

Until 2019, T-Mobile and Sprint sold customer location information (CLI) to location information aggregators LocationSmart and Zumigo. The carriers did not verify whether buyers obtained customer consent, the ruling said. "Several bad actors abused Sprint and T-Mobile's programs to illicitly access CLI without the customers' knowledge, let alone consent. And even after Sprint and T-Mobile became aware of those abuses, they continued to sell CLI for some time without adopting new safeguards," judges wrote.

……… 

Instead of denying the allegations, the carriers argued that the FCC overstepped its authority. But the appeals court panel decided that the FCC acted properly: 

Needless to say, I expect Trump's FCC is already looking for a way to let your cell phone provider spy on you again. 

Parasite

The Apartheid Era Emerald Heir Pedo Guy™ is trying to kill Virginia's program to bring fiber optic connectivity to residents of the commonwealth, because they want to sell their (overpriced and under-performing) service to these same people.

Just so you know, based on Starlkink's own data, you start getting significant performance degradation at 6.66 subscribers per square mile.  That's about 96 acres (39.2 hectare)per subscriber.

Starlink operator SpaceX is fighting Virginia's plan to deploy fiber Internet service to residents, claiming that federal grant money should be given to Starlink instead. SpaceX is already in line to win over $3 million in grant money in the state but is seeking $60 million.

Starlink is poised to benefit from the Trump administration rewriting rules for the $42 billion Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) grant program. While the Biden administration decided that states should prioritize fiber in order to build more future-proof networks, the Trump administration ordered states to revise their plans with a "tech-neutral approach" and lower the average cost of serving each location.

With the Trump administration backing its attempt to obtain more federal funding for Starlink, SpaceX is likely to object to state plans that still include significant fiber builds. That's what happened yesterday when SpaceX filed comments on Virginia's final proposal, which will be reviewed by the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA).

 Elon Musk is the biggest welfare leech in the world.

I Agree with the Human Bowling Jacket

Ontario mayor Rob Ford has terminated the deal with Starlink to provide remote communications systems.

Rob is the Ford brother who wasn't caught smoking crack.

Ontario has officially cancelled its $100-million contract with Starlink, but the province refuses to say how much it cost taxpayers to get out of the deal.

Energy and Mines Minister Stephen Lecce did not answer numerous questions Wednesday about the kill fee the province will have to pay Elon Musk’s SpaceX.

It should not cost anything.  Just refuse to pay, like Elon Musk and Donald Trump do.

“I can confirm we’ve cancelled the contract at this point, and we look forward to bringing forth alternatives to the people of Ontario so we can get people connected,” Lecce said at an unrelated press conference.

………

Ontario Premier Doug Ford threatened to kill the deal in February if U.S. tariffs on Canadian goods were imposed, and he ultimately pulled the deal in March when U.S. President Donald Trump implemented those tariffs.

“It’s done, it’s gone,” Ford said at the time. “We won’t award contracts to people who enable and encourage economic attacks on our province … and our country.”

This is the, "And find out," part of the whole, "F%$# around and find out," process.

It should be noted that the Apartheid Era Emerald Heir Pedo Guy™ at one point said that Canada was not a, "Real Country."

Well, I guess that they are not a real former customer. 

Competition Helps Consumers

Hence the decision by Comcast to drop data caps in areas where community fiber and 5G wireless.

Gee who could have imagined that?

I dunno, every single student taking Economics 101 everywhere in the world?

Techdirt has always made it very clear that broadband usage caps on fixed-line broadband are bullsh%$t. [%$# mine]

The costly and confusing restrictions serve no legitimate technical function. They don’t help your ISP “manage congestion.” They exist simply as a way for giant companies like Comcast to nickel-and-dime captive customers in uncompetitive broadband markets. Market failure created by their own tireless efforts to kill competition and government oversight.

But there’s been a small wrinkle over the last few years. Trying to gain market share, wireless giants have been offering home 5G wireless connection for lower prices. We’ve also been seeing a rise in community-owned broadband networks and cooperatives offering cheaper gigabit fiber. The combination has resulted in Comcast losing a growing number of broadband subscribers in some markets.

So Comcast is trying something new. They’re retreating from broadband caps on the new service tiers being offered new customers. According to a press release, they’re offering to eliminate usage caps for new users who sign up for four new tiers of service: 

“Following the successful launch and positive consumer reaction to Xfinity’s new 5-year guarantee, the nation’s largest Internet Service Provider (ISP) has launched its everyday pricing (EDP) structure with four simple national Internet tiers that include unlimited data and the advanced Xfinity WiFi Gateway for one low monthly price.”

There are caveats that make this walk-back less than it seems of course, because if they weren't f%$#ing with their customers, the would not be Comcast.

If the FBI Can Use It, so Can the Sinaloa Cartel

Various law enforcement agencies love them some data bought from third party data brokers to cast a wide dragnet that would otherwise not be allowed by law.

They love insecure phone systems and communications providers who sell user data for the same reason.

It turns out that Mexican drug cartels like these things for all the same reasons, except, of course they are not constrained by things like due process:

The Sinaloa drug cartel in Mexico hacked the phone of an FBI official investigating kingpin Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán as part of a surveillance campaign “to intimidate and/or kill potential sources or cooperating witnesses,” according to a recently published report by the Justice Department.

The report, which cited an “individual connected to the cartel,” said a hacker hired by its top brass “offered a menu of services related to exploiting mobile phones and other electronic devices.” The hired hacker observed “'people of interest' for the cartel, including the FBI Assistant Legal Attache, and then was able to use the [attache's] mobile phone number to obtain calls made and received, as well as geolocation data, associated with the [attache's] phone."

“According to the FBI, the hacker also used Mexico City's camera system to follow the [attache] through the city and identify people the [attache] met with,” the heavily redacted report stated. “According to the case agent, the cartel used that information to intimidate and, in some instances, kill potential sources or cooperating witnesses.”

What happened here is a direct response of law enforcement, both in the US and worldwide, leaning on communications providers to leave back doors open.

To paraphrase E.E. "Doc" Smith, any technology that can be devised by law enforcement can also be deployed by criminal entities. 

As Anna Russel Would Say, “I’m Not Making This Up, You Know.”

Tacky Little Candy Bar
(That's what she said)The new "Trump Phone" is made in China.

It's just a rebadged T-Mobile REVVL 7 Pro 5G.

This exceeds my capability for mockery, even that of mockery of the most juvenile sort.  

The Trump Organization has launched Trump Mobile and plans to release the T1, a smartphone that it says is "made in USA" at the same time that the iPhone 17 will launch. The problem is, the phone was made in China. 

Marking ten years after the launch of President Donald Trump's original presidential campaign, the Trump Organization has decided to launch its own mobile phone network. Dubbed Trump Mobile, it is a network that is being promoted as an All-American service," and heavily leaning on the Trump brand.

Trump Mobile frames itself as a "next-generation wireless provider," with mentions of it delivering "top-tier connectivity" and "unbeatable value." All with a "customer-first" approach and an "all-American service." 

………

In a post to X by analyst Max Weinbach, it seems that the T1 closely resembles the T-Mobile REVVL 7 Pro 5G. The specifications of the display and the odd camera resolutions match up with the T-Mobile device, along with other details.

 Seriously, I got nothing here.

Today in FAFO

🧐 https://t.co/8fUHfVNFWm

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) January 23, 2025

Calling a business partner mob connected?
Not a good look

It appears that theApartheid Era Emerald Heir Pedo Guy™  got his bigotry on recently and shared a post on Ecch (Twitter) that accused Mexican telecom billionauire Carlos Slim of being controlled by the various drug cartels.

Slim canceled a $7 billion deal that was in the works in response. 

It's been clear for at least a few months that Slim was not enamored of placing his eggs for communications expansion in Latin America in Musk's basket, we've had reports that he was hedging his bets because he did not trust Musk to deliver.

Muks's inability not to be a racist just cost him somewhere between $7 and &22 billion in revenue, and a market opening in 20 some odd countries:

President Donald Trump’s negative comments on Mexico, endorsed by Elon Musk, seems to have upset Carlos Slim, one of the richest people in the world and who heads up Mexico’s América Móvil telco. Slim has reportedly decided to cancel his collaboration with Musk’s Starlink.

Slim’s company, América Móvil, had previously announced plans to invest $22 billion (€21.2bn) over the next three years to enhance its telecommunications infrastructure, but had mentioned both Starlink and AST SpaceMobile as potential partners.

Local reports say that the fallout between Slim and Musk was further exacerbated by a controversial tweet from Musk, which implied connections between Slim and organised crime. This unproven accusation added fuel to the already strained relationship between the two business tycoons.

However, within an hour or two of the allegations made against him from Musk, Slim announced that he would transfer his projects for the next five years – initially with Starlink, say reports – and representing an investment of $22 billion, to AST SpaceMobile as well as companies in China and Europe.

While Mr. Slim may be pissed off, I do not think that this is why he canceled the contract.

I think that he realized that Elon Musk was incapable of being a reliable business partner. (and a f%$#ing moron as well)

Being a ketamine addled racist is just not good for business.

This is My Shocked Face

So after months of accusations, the various European and American intelligence agencies are saying that the damage to communications cables in the Baltic are the result of accidents.

Gee, who could have seen that coming!

Ruptures of undersea cables that have rattled European security officials in recent months were likely the result of maritime accidents rather than Russian sabotage, according to several U.S. and European intelligence officials.

The determination reflects an emerging consensus among U.S. and European security services, according to senior officials from three countries involved in ongoing investigations of a string of incidents in which critical seabed energy and communications lines have been severed.

The cases raised suspicion that Russia was targeting undersea infrastructure as part of a broader campaign of hybrid attacks across Europe, and prompted stepped-up security measures including an announcement last week that NATO would launch new patrol and surveillance operations in the Baltic Sea.

But so far, officials said, investigations involving the United States and a half-dozen European security services have turned up no indication that commercial ships suspected of dragging anchors across seabed systems did so intentionally or at the direction of Moscow.

So, the problem seems to be the greedy and negligent ship owners, like the ones who knocked over a bridge in my town, aren't Russian moles?

They are just corrupt capitalists?

The problem is deeper than Russian rat-fuckery.  It's that shipping is dedicated to socializing the negative consequences of their ineptitude and malice while privatizing the profits that result.

Maybe if we started arrested shipping executives whose chronically under maintained ships and chronically under trained crews do this, we would see a change in behavior.

Headline of the Day

Streaming’s Slow Enshittification Continues As Netflix Kicks Users Off Cheapest Ad-Free Tiers

—Techdirt

Yeah,this pretty much nails it.

This raises a linguistic issue, before Cory Doctorow coined the term, there was very little discussion, much less any awareness, of how companies, particularly tech firms, were going out of their way to screw their clientele over time.

Now that we have a word, we all know.

Eric Arthur Blair (aka George Orwell) described this phenomenon in his description of Newspeak.

We’ve illustrated repeatedly how as streaming subscriber growth has slowed, streaming giants have had to pivot to some bad industry habits to ensure Wall Street gets those sweet improved quarterly returns. That’s included everything from utterly pointless layoff-creating mergers and price hikes, to annoying new restrictions and a steady increase in ads (that you have to pay more to avoid).

Streaming giants want to drive users to advertising because there’s greater profit potential in charging more for ad placement and collecting user behavioral ad data than there is in subscriptions. So that’s the direction the industry is headed, whether consumers like it or not. Some people don’t mind the ads; personally they just remind me that I’m living in a shallow dystopia.

Last year, Netflix stopped selling its cheapest $11.99 ad-free tier in the U.S. and UK. Last week, it started warning customers still on that plan in the UK and Canada (and soon the U.S.) that the plan will soon be shut down. There is a $7 per month ad-based plan, but you’ll need to pay extra if you want to do anything with it (multiple concurrent streams, 4K, share your password).

………

But the price of that introductory ad-based will also rise endlessly, disproportionate to product quality, feature restrictions, and shrinking device support. The need for improved quarterly returns (at any costs) creates a consumer “pricing funnel” that forces consumers to pay more and more money for a product that’s often getting worse (the traditional cable and broadband industries perfected this thanks to monopolization) with a steady uptick in monetizable restrictions.

………

To be clear, consumers still find value in streaming services like Netflix, and it remains an improvement over traditional cable because of cost and the ease of cancellation. But with “subscriber churn,” becoming an issue as cost-conscious users binge watch a service catalog then cancel, I can absolutely guarantee that these companies will find creative new ways to make cancelling annoying and difficult.

………

You’re also going to see a growing number of harmful sector mergers as executives (who have run completely out of ideas) try to boost stock valuations and grab tax cuts via purposeless consolidation. Consolidation whose only result historically has been more debt, higher prices, worse quality products, and layoffs.

And as more and more subscribers get annoyed and head to the exits (and alternatives like piracy), executives will blame absolutely everything (VPNs! China! Regulation! the wokes!) for their inevitable downfall, having learned absolutely nothing in the process.

Of course they will have learned nothing.  To quote Upton Sinclair, "It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends on his not understanding it."

Elections Have Consequences

The FCC will be issuing a rule that cell phone network providers must unlock phones from their network within 60 days of activation.

There are already any number of rules and industry standards that theoretically require the telcos unlock phones, but they are complex and confusing enough that they can delay unlocking the phone forever.

To be fair, it was a 5-0 vote, but it would never have come up with a 'Phant FCC chair:

With a unanimous 5-0 vote, the FCC says it is moving forward with plans that should make unlocking your mobile phone easier than ever. According to a new FCC announcement, the agency say it will begin crafting new rules that will require that wireless carriers unlock customers’ mobile phones within 60 days of activation.

At various times unlocking your phone was deemed downright illegal under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). Things have eased some over the years; very often it’s now possible to unlock your device and change carriers if your phone is paid off and you’re no longer under contract.

But the FCC noted that the current guidelines surrounding unlocking are a mish mash of voluntary industry standards and more stringent unlocking requirements usually affixed to either merger conditions or the use of certain spectrum. The new rules should create some uniformity, and the FCC is contemplating whether they should even apply to users still under contract with their wireless carrier.

Why stuff like this is not being aggressively showcased to the voter as a reason to support Democrats is beyond me.

It's good policy and good politics.