A federal appeals court has agreed to halt the reinstatement of net neutrality rules until August 5th, while the court considers whether more permanent action is justified. It's the latest setback in a long back and forth on net neutrality -- the principle that internet service providers (ISPs) should not be able to block or throttle internet traffic in a discriminatory manner. The Federal Communications Commission has sought to achieve this by reclassifying ISPs under Title II of the Communications Act, which gives the agency greater regulatory oversight. The Democratic-led agency enacted net neutrality rules under the Obama administration, only for those rules to be repealed under former President Donald Trump's FCC. The current FCC, which has three Democratic and two Republican commissioners, voted in April to bring back net neutrality. The 3-2 vote was divided along party lines.

Broadband providers have since challenged the FCC's action, which is potentially more vulnerable after the Supreme Court's recent decision to strike down Chevron deference -- a legal doctrine that instructed courts to defer to an agency's expert decisions except in a very narrow range of circumstances. Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Matt Schettenhelm said in a report prior to the court's ruling that he doesn't expect the FCC to prevail in court, in large part due to the demise of Chevron. A panel of judges for the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals said in an order that a temporary "administrative stay is warranted" while it considers the merits of the broadband providers' request for a permanent stay. The administrative stay will be in place until August 5th. In the meantime, the court requested the parties provide additional briefs about the application of National Cable & Telecommunications Association v. Brand X Internet Services to this lawsuit.

US rapper Wiz Khalifa was escorted off stage by police after he seemingly consumed cannabis while performing at the "Beach Please" festival in eastern Romania.

Dozens of record labels under the RIAA have filed a massive lawsuit against Verizon due to its failure to address subscribers' online piracy.

Case file: https://torrentfreak.com/images/1-24-cv-05285-UMG-v-Verizon-complaint-240712.pdf

U.S. District Judge Rita Lin has permanently enjoined the California Bureau of Security and Investigative Services from enforcing its private-investigator licensing requirement against anti-spam entrepreneur Jay Fink. The order declares that forcing Jay to get a license to run his business is so irrational that it violates the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment...

Jay's business stems from California's anti-spam act, which allows individuals to sue spammers. But to sue, they have to first compile evidence. To do that, recipients often have to wade through thousands of emails. For more than a decade, Jay has offered a solution: he and his team will scour a client's junk folder and catalog the messages that likely violate the law. But last summer, Jay's job — and Californians' ability to bring spammers to justice — came to a screeching halt when the state told him he was a criminal. A regulator told Jay he needed a license to read through emails that might be used as evidence in a lawsuit. And because Jay didn't have a private investigator license, the state shut him down.

The state of California has since "agreed to jointly petition the court for an order that forever prohibits it from enforcing its licensure law against Jay," according to the article.

The inflight worker alleges she was harassed for five months from the Fall of last year to the Winter of this year.

There is no reasonable expectation of privacy in one’s Google location data. It’s willingly shared with Google. United States v. Chatrie, 2024 U.S. App. LEXIS 16692 (4th Cir. July 9, 2024) (2-1)

Case file: https://www.ca4.uscourts.gov/opinions/224489.P.pdf

New Mexico judge agrees charges should be dropped after lawyers said state ‘buried’ evidence about live ammunition

During the Trump administration, ICE came up with the highly questionable scheme of setting up a completely fake college solely for the reason of setting up immigrants on H-1B visas for failure. The DHS and ICE created a faux university in Michigan (the “University of Farmington”), complete with a (fake) social media presence. Then it “opened” its doors to students on H-1B visas, which allowed foreign students to remain in the United States as long as they continued their education.

Case file: https://s3.documentcloud.org/documents/24793659/fifth-fake-college.pdf

Ruling clears way for two Georgia election workers to try and recover nearly $150m Giuliani was ordered to pay them

Authorities in Argentina have launched a criminal investigation into a major pirate sports streaming operation and blocked over 50 domains.

Rapper is one of several Dutch The Voice stars accused of sexual misconduct, in high-profile case that gripped the country

The grad student, a Chinese national, was arrested in January.

The alleged assault occurred in the Argentinian city of Mendoza. If found guilty, the accused, who remain in custody while investigations continue, face between eight and 20 years in prison.

The 2023 murder of Ecuador's presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio made him one of the most prominent victims of the country’s spiraling violence.

Supporters of former Pakistan PM, who is serving seven years in prison, hope acquittal paves way for release

Popular pirate library search engine Anna's Archive faces monetary damages and a permanent injunction at a U.S. court.

After a judge in Argentina approved their extradition to the U.S., two alleged Z-Library operators escaped from house arrest and disappeared.

Inmates at New York City’s Rikers Island are suing the city claiming they were trapped in their cells during a jailhouse fire that injured 20 people last year.

A Kenyan court ruled that the police had used lethal force by killing the journalist. Arshad Sharif had escaped Pakistan after his interview with a politician stirred controversy.

Defense lawyers say jury was deadlocked on manslaughter count before judge abruptly declared mistrial