Legal news, some illegal. All of it interesting
1. We just can’t quit you Sirius so NY’S suing
Breaking up is hard to do –apparently too hard – for SiriusXM subscribers. But New York’s attorney general says it’s them, not you. A new lawsuit claims that customers trying to cancel subscriptions must first chat online or over the phone with agents who bombard them with questions and offers for up to 30 minutes. The AG says intentional bad break-ups are illegal. She’s seeking damages for consumers and a $5K penalty for every violation. Despite the tears, blame, and mental exhaustion, people are ending it. SiriusXM reported that to 336K subscribers in 2023, they’re just a satellite radio service that they used to know. Company execs call the lawsuit baseless.
2. Why police scanner fans got the megahurts
You win some and UHF lose some. Police scanners have long provided entertainment to amateur radio enthusiasts. Law enforcement saw value in allowing hobbyists in their mothers’ basements and journalists in newsrooms to listen. Enter true-crime podcasts, apps that make listening possible with no equipment, and social media, and the number of scanner listeners has skyrocketed. Suddenly, unfettered access to names, addresses and phone numbers of domestic violence or crime victims– seems like a shortwave to exploitation. Indianapolis is the latest of several cities to encrypt 911 radio signals. But it has stirred a hardwired debate among press freedom groups who say encryption blocks much-needed transparency and privacy advocates.
3. Lawmakers says More Bots, Less Politicians
A Brazilian city council member pulled a fast one on his colleagues. He got the country’s first law written entirely by ChatGPT passed. What would have normally taken several weeks for six staff members to research, draft and cross check with the constitution, took the bot 15 seconds. Council members passed it unanimously but cried foul when informed a chatbot wrote it. The lawmaker says this wasn’t a prank. Brazil spends more than 13% of its gross domestic product on public servants’ salaries and pensions. He says AI could replace many of those jobs. His constituents loved the demonstration, saying they’d choose artificial intelligence over politicians’ intelligence any day. Ouch.
4. Cod case file: Fish stolen from sporting goods store
Here’s a fish tale that’s good for the sole, but bad for a tarpon. A Florida man entered a Bass Pro Shops with a net, scooped a 50-pound live one out of the store’s pond, and fled. The crime was captured on another customer’s cell phone and immediately shared on social media. Offishials are looking for him but patrawlers haven’t landed the thief. Meanwhile, we don’t know who needs to hear this, but tarpon are not good to eat. They stink and have flesh filled with tiny, hard to clean bones. One can only hope that bodes well for the filched fish.
All about the Bass (Pro Shops) here…
5. Who did the orangutango? Ask Maury Povich
Everybody has their lane and for former tabloid talk show host, Maury Povich – the paternity test reveal was and still is his. Let Oprah give away the cars, Maury’s got dibs on DNA. The Denver Zoo ended up with a baby orangutan and no clear daddy O. It was either 16-year-old Jaya or 30-year-old Berani. Only a paternity test would tell which primate did the orangutango with the mother. But when it was time to reveal the results, they called Maury, natch, who although he ended his show in 2022 after 31 years, was only too happy to offer one more shocking reveal. “Berani,” he said, “you ARE the father.”
