Society

hint: it's not about your pants

The sweetest thing about the Forest Charter is honey for the free man (chapter 13), and the most human thing is the abolition of the death penalty for forest offences (chapter 10).  It is true that there are arcane words but these are quite understandable once we understand that this is not a neo-liberal document of private property and commodity exchange but one recognizing a commons mode of production and reproduction wherein subsistence belongs to a far more equitable gender regime.

The Magna Carta, the Great Charter, or the Big Letter, signed by King John on June 15, 1215, at Runnymede, a meadow by the River Thames, to make peace with rebel barons, is perhaps the most well-kn…

There is a significant parallel between China of today and the US a century ago. The parallel is this: Both US and China were/are formed and propelled by the Great Immigrant Experience. The US’s great rise in modernity was energized by … Continue reading →

Lawyers, scholars, and activists, including EFF, often highlight Section 512 of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act and Section 230 (originally of the Communications Decency Act) as the legal foundations of the internet. But there’s another, much older, doctrine that’s at least as important: Fair use, which dates back many decades and it codified in law as Section 107 of the Copyright Act. Fair use is, in essence, the right of the public to use a copyrighted work in a variety of circumstances, without the rightsholder’s permission. It’s why a reviewer can quote from the book they’re reviewing, a parody video can include excerpts from a movie, and security researchers can copy a software program in order to test it for malware.

The Internet Copyright Wars are in their third decade, and despite the billions of dollars and trillions of phosphors spilled on its battlegrounds around the world, precious little progress has been made. A quarter of a century after Napster’s founding, we’re still haunted by the same false binaries that have deadlocked us since the era of 56k modem

The long read: Not long ago, Saudi Arabia’s crown prince, Mohammed bin Nayef, was all set to assume power. But his ambitious young cousin had a ruthless plan to seize control for himself

In a state with about a hundred billionaires, Washington should have enough for our public schools, affordable housing, and great public transit

I hate to devote more of my and your time to Twitter but alas, I have to because once again there has been another unthinkable action this…

Three months, thousands of layoffs, one ego

Join Sasha Sagan, author of For Small Creatures Such as We, for Strange Customs, a podcast about how weird we Earthlings can be.

The National Archives is selling the storied "tape" — actually woven cotton — once used to bind government documents.

Well-known ghostwriter, J.R. Moehringer reportedly received a $1 million advance to pen the prince's book

Delta State University should do right by the “Queen of Basketball.”

The author of Debt and The Dawn of Everything left behind countless admirers and an abiding belief that society could be changed for the better.

Around the world, economic optimism has cratered thanks to rising inflation in the wake of the pandemic.

It's time to recognize all kinds of Black excellence on a much bigger scale.

The hidden story of a 180 year old union-busting spy agency.

Today on TAP: The coverage overstates the problem, feeding the narrative of a necessary recession.

The new policy starts on January 16th.

Devotees of the legendary role-playing game could end up on the losing side of the next big intellectual property war.

There there are things that make us happy. There are things where we find meaning in the everyday. What are the things that give us both?