Andy Sellars

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

Considering the Federal Trade Commission’s Double Standard on Media Bias The FTC's regulatory and policy assault on media bias is itself clearly rife with bias, writes Philip M. Napoli.

The Federal Trade Commission's assault on media bias is itself clearly rife with bias, writes Duke's Philip M. Napoli. But more important — and more concerning — are the ways in which these actions are exploring a range of regulatory rationales to circumvent the First Amendment, he says.

cant.stop.laughing

Nonprofit Coalition Asks Courts to Prevent Coercive Federal Investigation Tactics Seventeen organizations filed an amicus brief calling out pretextual federal investigations and arguing for judicial oversight.

@freepress.bsky.social opposes this administration's retaliatory investigation into @mmfa.bsky.social.

Today we joined an amicus brief to the DC Circuit opposing this chilling intimidation tactic, that threatens not just Media Matters, but free speech itself.

theintercept.com/2026/02/23/p...

“[A]ll investigative techniques are subject to abuse and can conceivably be used to oppress citizens and groups, rather than further proper law enforcement goals.” Reporters Comm. for Freedom of the Press v. AT&T, 593 F.2d 1030, 1064(D.C. Cir. 1978). If such abuse seemed speculative when this Court wrote thosewords, it is no longer. This is the experience of Media Matters. Before this action, theFederal Trade Commission (FTC) had been conspicuously silent on “what, if any, law Media Matters was being investigated for possibly violating, or what conduct of Media Matters is under investigation.” Media Matters for Am. v. FTC, No. 25-5302,2025 WL 2988966 at *10 (D.C. Cir. Oct. 23, 2025) (per curiam) [hereinafter StayOrder]. Instead, the Commission opened an investigation, kept it open, and argues that Media Matters should have no opportunity for judicial oversight unless the FTC itself goes to court. See Media Matters for Am. v. FTC, 805 F. Supp. 3d 105, 112(D.D.C. 2025) (“According to the FTC, a recipient of a CID that violates the First Amendment may only challenge the CID if the FTC chooses to bring suit itself.”);App’t Br. at 15. Under such a rule, the FTC could hang a Subpoena of Damocles over any organization. Forever.

I love this brief opening, written by @sellars.bsky.social.

(From our amicus brief filed today in the Media Matters case - you can read the full thing here - www.documentcloud.org/documents/27...)

It was a true pleasure to work with this coalition of nonprofit media, research, and advocacy organizations to file this brief. Read more below, brief is here: www.documentcloud.org/documents/27...

/ GET COZY
/ MAKE THAT BLIZZARD COFFEE
/ & REPENT 2 UR WEATHER LORDS

Notice (Other) – #42 in Ahmed v. Rubio (S.D.N.Y., 1:25-cv-10705) – CourtListener.com NOTICE of of Filing of Administrative Record. Document filed by Judith Almodovar, Pamela Bondi, Todd M. Lyons, Kristi Noem, Sarah B. Rogers, Marco Rubio..(Marryshow, Danielle) (Entered: 02/06/2026)

Over Christmas, the Trump administration announced that Imran Ahmen, a lawful permanent resident of the United States, should be deported for his advocacy.

Ahmen sued. Here's why the US government thinks he should be "deportable."

storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...

Yes, I will sign on to this letter to the editor in today's Boston Globe.

23 Cited in the order for support were the following decisions: see, e.g., J.O.P. v. U.S. Dep’t of Homeland Sec., 2025 WL 1431263, at *10 (4th Cir. May 19, 2025) (Gregory, J., concurring) (“As is becoming far too common, we are confronted again with the efforts of the Executive Branch to set aside the rule of law in pursuit of its goals. It is the duty of courts to stand as a bulwark against the political tides that seek to override constitutional protections and fundamental principles of law, even in the name of noble ends like public safety.”); President & Fellows of Harvard Coll. v. U.S. Dep’t of Homeland Sec., 788 F. Supp. 3d 182, 205 (D. Mass. 2025) (“[T]he Court will not apply any presumption of regularity to conduct that is so unusual and therefore irregular on its face.”), appeal docketed, No. 25-1627 (1st Cir. July 1, 2025); In re Search of One Device and Two Individuals under Rule 41, 784 F. Supp. 3d 234, 244 n.10 (D.D.C. 2025) (“Blind deference to the government? That is no longer a thing. Trust that had been earned over generations has been lost in weeks. Numerous career prosecutors have had to resign instead of taking actions that they believe violated their oath of office, or worse, were fired for upholding that oath.”); Washington v. Trump, No. 25-0127 (JCC), ECF No. 53 at 13:13-15 (W.D. Wash. Jan. 24, 2025) (“I’ve been on the bench for over four decades. I can’t remember another case where the question presented was as clear as this one is. This is a blatantly unconstitutional order.”); N.H Indonesian Cmty. Support v. Trump, 765 F. Supp. 3d 102, 109 (D.N.H. 2025) (“[T]he Executive Order contradicts the text of the Fourteenth Amendment and the century-old untouched precedent that interprets it.”); Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale & Dorr LLP v. Exec. Off. of the President, 774 F. Supp. 3d 86, 88 (D.D.C. 2025) (“The retaliatory nature of the Executive Order at issue here is clear from its face . . . .”); Pacito v. Trump, 2025 WL 1295660, at *7 (W.D. Wa. May…

Holy shit.

Abbe Lowell's argument that DOJ is not entitled to presumption of regularity in Don Lemon case consists of:

1) A page on irregularity in this case.
2) A page on irregularity in MN.
3) Other adverse rulings in MN.
4) One page plus TWO PAGE footnote on similar rulings nationally.

So uh Ars Technica ran an article that had a bunch of fake quotes in it and now seems to have taken it down rather than issue a correction? web.archive.org/web/20260213...

Page is now down: arstechnica.com/ai/2026/02/a...

I can assure Meta that we will find time to stop this.