Andy Sellars

Love to see my JP neighbors sing about protecting my JP neighbors

I understand the goal and the spirit, but right now I would not be creating databases of ICE encounters that (1) require submitters to send over their contact information and ask for sensitive stories; and (2) are obviously subject to public records law and civil/criminal/administrative discovery.

Grammarly Is Facing a Class Action Lawsuit Over Its AI ‘Expert Review’ Feature The feature, which Grammarly shut down Wednesday, presented editing suggestions as if they came from established authors and academics—without their consent.

I'm suing Grammarly over its paid AI feature that presented editing suggestions as if they came from me - and many other writers and journalists - without consent.

State law requires consent before someone's name can be used for commercial purposes.

www.wired.com/story/gramma...

I hear the folks talking about whether Judge Young's writing makes these cases vulnerable, but also, what's a more fitting summary of practicing in 2026 than "with every passing day the kaleidoscopic cacophony of unfolding events drives all but the legal issues into the long past history"?

Mike Johnson refuses to condemn anti-Muslim comments by Republican lawmakers Andy Ogles said Muslims do not belong in the US and Randy Fine made a comparison of Muslims to dogs

It's not just that he refused to condemn Ogles and Fine; he endorsed the substance of their vile messages, taking issue only with their "tone," and he introduced a new line of bigotry-fueled conspiracy theory about Muslims wanting to impose sharia law. www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...

Planet Records Presents THE 7" SINGLES FUN WAGON! YouTube video by zzy49

I have been informed that today marks the 15th anniversary of this video I shot for my alma mater Planet Records in Harvard Square! The store has since moved, but I believe the Fun Wagon is still in use.

That Dem consultants told Gov. Walz to stop calling them “weird” still has me miffed.

At ~$1 billion/day, the US has spent as much on the war in Iran in ten days as the entire FY25 budget for the National Science Foundation ($10 billion).

Trump's FY26 budget request for the agency declined to $3.9 billion, due to a "realignment of resources in a constrained fiscal environment."

This is a vitally important issue for the future of global Internet research—really, for all research. Delighted to see @knightcolumbia.org, @protectdemocracy.org, and @thecoalition.bsky.social taking on this fight.

100% And those big institutions that had the $ and power to resist and chose to comply in advance ... they should never live it down.

We are hiring a Head of Global Advocacy and Internet Policy at the Internet Society! This is a rare opportunity to join our team and shape the future of the Internet during one of its most challenging eras. 1/5

I'm really glad that 404 Media correctly called out the "Proton did not provide any information to the FBI" line as disingenuous. It's not a good sign when a provider is more interested in playing semantic games than realistically explaining their threat model.

Big tech is hungry for consumer data. Mass. needs privacy legislation now The heart of the privacy bill that the Massachusetts legislature is now considering is a simple but firm rule that companies should collect and use only the personal information that they need to prov...

EPIC Advisory Board members @hartzog.bsky.social and Neil Richards make a strong case for the Massachusetts Legislature to pass the Massachusetts Consumer Data Privacy Act in WBUR's Cognoscenti today. www.wbur.org/cognoscenti/...

‘They don’t even pretend to comply’: Mass. agencies, cities, and towns openly flout open record law - The Boston Globe When requests are fought or ignored by agencies, enforcement of Massachusetts' public records law often falls to those who requested the documents.

In Massachusetts, the state law’s deadlines for fulfilling records requests can be ignored, workers can conspire to overestimate costs, elected officials can spend years fighting requests in court, or not bother releasing records at all. @bostonglobe.com

We've freed Cookie's Bustle from copyright hell. Here's how. | Video Game History Foundation We've stopped a persistent copyright troll who was trying to impede our work. Here's everything we learned—and how we beat them.

BREAKING: We've freed Cookie.

Following an investigation by VGHF, Ukie and Web Capio have suspended DMCA takedowns for Cookie's Bustle on behalf of Graceware, SL.

More info:

Some AUSA desperately typing in "Does FRAP rule 42 have a takesies-backsies provision" into LexisAI right now.

Michael S. Schmidt • @nytmike x.com NEW and BREAKING: In a major reversal, the Trump admin is NOW trying to walk back its decision to walk away from defending the law firm executive orders in court. DOJ just notified the four fighting law firms that it now intends to continue defending the legality of the orders in court. A day ago, DOJ had a very different position.

You gotta be kidding me

This is fucked up and also an interesting question about right of publicity.

OFFS. When Iran tried to interefere in 2020, researchers caught them and called them out. Then the Benz-Weiss-Taibbi-Musk-Jordan-Trump axis labeled those researchers "censors" ... and set about defunding them and dismantling their organizations.

congress sounds cool i wish it was real

I think if I'd gotten away with attempting a coup, suffered no consequences for it, then won an election four years later, got away with executing citizens in the streets and foreigners in boats, and successfully abducted a head of state, I too might think I could just bomb my way to regime change

MuckRock joins press freedom coalition urging court to block FTC’s use of probes to silence critics MuckRock has joined an amicus brief led by The Intercept’s Press Freedom Defense Fund urging the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit to prevent the Federal Trade Commission from conducting a re...

MuckRock joins press freedom coalition urging court to block FTC’s use of probes to silence critics www.muckrock.com/news/archive...

Pete Hegseth went to Princeton and Harvard. Let me go dig up my old thread about how they don’t actually hate universities they just hate ordinary people that aren’t themselves going to them

In a statement to The Crimson, Summers wrote that the decision to leave was “difficult” and that he remained “grateful to the thousands of students and colleagues I have been privileged to teach and work with since coming to Harvard as a graduate student 50 years ago.” “Free of formal responsibility, as President Emeritus and a retired professor, I look forward in time to engaging in research, analysis, and commentary on a range of global economic issues,” he added.

When academia's stars mistreat people, they're "punished" with relief from teaching, mentoring, and service responsibilities. This frees them to spend more time on the more valued work of research. And dumps less valued responsibilities onto colleagues, making it harder for them to become stars.

MuckRock MuckRock is a collaborative news site that gives you the tools to hold the government accountable.

MuckRock is hiring! We’re looking for an operations manager to join our transparency team. Fully remote! Full healthcare! And most importantly you get the exclusive blue staff hoodie www.muckrock.com/jobs/operati...

Trump has embraced a disturbing strategy to silence free speech | David Bralow The Federal Trade Commission is investigating Media Matters over critical coverage. It’s just one example of the administration’s approach

Here's @theintercept.com's counsel David Bralow with more on the Media Matters case, our amicus brief, and the broader retaliation-by-investigation trend we're seeing from the administration. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

#136 in Federal Trade Commission v. Kochava, Inc. (D. Idaho, 2:22-cv-00377) – CourtListener.com NOTICE by Federal Trade Commission and Defendants of Proposed Settlement (Rimm, Jennifer)

Some breaking news in a big FTC location privacy case, FTC v. Kochava Inc. – the parties report that they have reached a settlement subject to final Commission approval.

I definitely did not, nor do I remember anyone doing so. I had forgotten about that provision completely until you mentioned it. (And hi! Hope all’s good!)

Justice Department Sues University of California Over Antisemitism

Well, the DOJ has done it: they have filed a lawsuit against the University of California over antisemitism.

The complaint contains some falsehoods. But as someone who teaches and writes about Title VII, I'm equally struck by what the complaint doesn't say.

A few thoughts— 🧵

full statehood for DC on demand without apology