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Elizabeth Nolan Brown

@enbrown.bsky.social
21K followers 673 following 1.2K posts

sex, speech, tech, justice, parenting, politics, & panic ✨ senior editor @reason.com‬, journalism instructor at University of Cincinnati, Midwestern mom

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Reposted by Elizabeth Nolan Brown
andy jabbour @andyjabbour.bsky.social · 08/10/2026
'The court's scathing and beautiful takedown of warrantless Flock searches is something to behold,' writes @enbrown.bsky.social. '"...we do not expect people we know...to randomly approach us to say: 'here is a detailed log of every place your vehicle has been...'"' reason.com/2026/10/07/j...
reason.com
Judge says warrantless Flock search violated driver's Fourth Amendment rights
This is the second federal court decision in a little over a week to suggest that driver surveillance systems can go too far.
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Elizabeth Nolan Brown @enbrown.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
Flock = "indiscriminate mass surveillance" says a federal court reason.com/2026/10/07/j...
reason.com
Judge says warrantless Flock search violated driver's Fourth Amendment rights
This is the second federal court decision in a little over a week to suggest that driver surveillance systems can go too far.
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Elizabeth Nolan Brown @enbrown.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
Same! Waking them seems like the right thing to do but our doctor also told us that it's not
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Elizabeth Nolan Brown @enbrown.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
"when governments can force platforms to search their systems for evidence of wrongdoing, like through the threat of liability, then the evidence the platforms discover, warrantlessly, will be inadmissible against those users who put it there" www.techdirt.com/2026/10/05/s...
techdirt.com
States Prosecuting Platforms For Being Platforms? Section 230 Is Supposed To Avoid This Mess, We Reminded A Court
The other day the Copia Institute filed an amicus brief at the Fourth Circuit in a case involving West Virginia attempting to punish Apple for not filtering CSAM the way it thinks it should. The issue raised in the appeal was in some respects a narrow one: could Apple cause the case West Virginia brought...
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Reposted by Elizabeth Nolan Brown
Mike Stabile @mikestabile.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
Just discovered that Utah has a tax on escort agencies. In other words, the state demands its cut of the profits for sex work. If only there was a word for that.
59-27-103. Tax imposed on a sexually explicit business -- Tax imposed on an escort service.
(1) A tax is imposed on a sexually explicit business equal to 10% of amounts paid to or charged by the sexually explicit business for the following transactions:
(a) an admission fee;
(b) a user fee;
(c) a retail sale of tangible personal property made within the state;
(d) a sale of:
i) food and food ingredients as defined in Section 59-12-102; or il) prepared food as defined in Section 59-12-102;
(e) a sale of a beverage; and
(f) any service.
(2) (a) Except as provided in Subsection (2)(b), a tax is imposed on an escort service equal to 10% of amounts paid or charged by the escort service for any transaction that involves providing an escort to another individual.
(b) Notwithstanding Subsection (2)(a), the tax imposed by Subsection (2)(a) does not apply to a transaction that is subject to the tax imposed in Subsection (1).
(3) The tax imposed by this section:
(a) may not be imposed on any sales and use tax collected or paid under Chapter 12, Sales and Use Tax Act; and
(b) is subject to an agreement sales and use tax under Chapter 12, Sales and Use Tax Act.
(4) The commission shall administer this chapter in accordance with Chapter 12, Part 1, Tax Collection.
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Elizabeth Nolan Brown @enbrown.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
Anyone else out there have a kid with night terrors? Really makes you understand how people once believed in witches' curses and demonic possession
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Elizabeth Nolan Brown @enbrown.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
😂
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Elizabeth Nolan Brown @enbrown.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
There’s a small sliver of late Gen X/ old millennial that sometimes gets referred to as the Oregon Trail generation or Xennials and it should really just be called the Livejournal generation
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Elizabeth Nolan Brown @enbrown.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
Here's my companion piece to this post, from @reason.com's print edition, on how the millennial internet is dead and (shocker, coming from a libertarian publication, I know 😏) it's largely the government's fault reason.com/2026/10/04/w...
reason.com
The millennial internet is dead, and politicians killed it.
Social media use is declining, and what's left has shifted from conversation to passive scrolling.
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Elizabeth Nolan Brown @enbrown.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
There's been a fair amount of commentary on how social media has become less fun, less interesting, etc. And there's a ton on how it's become more passive—"everything is TV". But I haven't seen much on these things tie together? And I think they clearly do. reason.com/2026/10/05/t...
reason.com
The end of social media
Algorithms and short-form video drove engagement. They also made it easier to quit.
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Elizabeth Nolan Brown @enbrown.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
An innocent Tennessee grandma spent six months in jail after being identified by facial recognition technology as a potential lead in a bank fraud case. But technology didn’t put this woman in jail, writes Autumn Billings @reason.com “Bad policing did.” reason.com/2026/09/29/a...
reason.com
AI facial recognition didn't put this Tennessee grandma in jail for 6 months. Bad policing did.
Angela Lipps spent five and a half months in jail after a detective allegedly relied on a false AI match despite evidence she was innocent.
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Reposted by Elizabeth Nolan Brown
andy jabbour @andyjabbour.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
In absolutely (not) shocking news, @washingtonpost.com reports, 'officers are among at least 100...employees accused of abusing their access to license-plate readers...' www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2... @enbrown.bsky.social @maggiemcneill.bsky.social @timcushing.bsky.social #Flock #FuckFlock
washingtonpost.com
Five Indianapolis officers charged following The Post’s reporting on Flock misuse
The officers are among at least 100 police department employees accused of abusing their access to license-plate readers, prompting calls for greater oversight.
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Elizabeth Nolan Brown @enbrown.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Tennessee can't stop people from telling teens how to get abortions in other states, says the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit reason.com/2026/09/28/y...
reason.com
You can ‘recruit’ a minor for an abortion in Tennessee
A federal appeals court has permanently blocked the recruitment provision of Tennessee's "abortion trafficking" law.
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Elizabeth Nolan Brown @enbrown.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Drug scheduling decisions at the DEA "follow a mostly made-up procedure" "DEA does not have any policies or procedures regarding how its staff are to conduct evaluations or schedule substances," the Government Accountability Office says reason.com/2026/09/29/t...
reason.com
The way the FDA and DEA ban drugs is unaccountable and arbitrary
A new report reveals that federal regulators rely heavily on personal judgment when making decisions about scheduling and banning drugs.
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Elizabeth Nolan Brown @enbrown.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
“a spokesperson for Customs and Border Protection (CBP) didn't deny that the agency was using facial recognition to identify sex workers” reason.com/2026/09/19/c...
reason.com
Customs and Border Protection doesn't deny using facial recognition to target foreign OnlyFans models
The immigration system has a confusing and opaque approach to foreigners who have done sex work.
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Reposted by Elizabeth Nolan Brown
Maggie McNeill @maggiemcneill.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
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Elizabeth Nolan Brown @enbrown.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
Flock "database queries are not searches within the meaning of the Fourth Amendment” and “no suspicion is required before the government searches a traveler's cellphone at the border," federal courts say 🤪😫 reason.com/2026/09/21/n...
reason.com
No warrant, no suspicion, no problem: Flock and border cellphone searches excluded from 4th Amendment rules
Cops keep carving out tech exceptions to the Fourth Amendment—and courts are giving them their blessing.
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SWOP Behind Bars @swopbehindbars.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
This case was so appalling and why we talk about stigma so often. He raped and robbed sex workers and his lawyer argued in court the victims couldn't be trusted because "They are prostitutes. They are liars." This is why we combat dehumanizing language.
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Mike Stabile @mikestabile.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
"Hot2Vote is launching a $100K campaign in Atlanta to ensure people are registered to vote — with the help of adult film stars. The multimedia effort includes more than 100 performers telling people 'always check their status' after the state’s mass cancellation of inactive voter registrations."
politico.com
Shapiro stakes a ’28 position on AI
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The Pains of Being Chocolat @stvnlunsford.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
My 'we are not into bestiality' congressional hearing has people asking a lot of questions already answered by my congressional hearing.
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Elizabeth Nolan Brown @enbrown.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
What about that '90s reversal, when teen well being started to improve for a decade+? In Restoring Childhood, Gray suggests computers, video games, & the internet actually benefited kids' well being in this era! Really interesting read. Here's my full @reason.com review: reason.com/2026/09/15/r...
reason.com
'Restoring Childhood' says it’s not smartphones making teens miserable. It’s school.
Computers, video games, and the internet actually helped "restore childhood" in the 1990s, suggests psychologist Peter Gray in a new book.
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Elizabeth Nolan Brown @enbrown.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
And a lot of teen well-being trends are like this—things got worse, then they got better, then they got worse again. Why? Gray's theories are largely centered on a loss of childhood play, autonomy, etc., combined with turbo-charged achievement pressure & changes to US schools
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Elizabeth Nolan Brown @enbrown.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
Take teen suicide rates: They've dramatically increased, in an unprecedented fashion, since smartphones & social media came along right? Actually, they've been rising since the 1950s. Then this rise reversed in the 1990s & early '00s. The more recent rise is just returning to an earlier peak
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Elizabeth Nolan Brown @enbrown.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
What if everything we think we know about teens, tech, and mental health is wrong? You can't read Peter Gray's new book, Restoring Childhood, without getting that impression ... reason.com/2026/09/15/r...
reason.com
'Restoring Childhood' says it’s not smartphones making teens miserable. It’s school.
Computers, video games, and the internet actually helped "restore childhood" in the 1990s, suggests psychologist Peter Gray in a new book.
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Elizabeth Nolan Brown @enbrown.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
Wow — jury quickly convicted on all 11 counts against this border agent who raped and robbed immigrant sex workers. No one bought his you-know-Chinese-hussies-lie defense reason.com/2026/09/17/b...
reason.com
Border officer convicted of raping and robbing Chinese sex workers
Jurors didn't buy Luis Uribe's defense: that he was targeted by 'hustlers' for being an immigration officer.
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Reposted by Elizabeth Nolan Brown
andy jabbour @andyjabbour.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
static.klipy.com
J Peterman's Wordy Observation
ALT: J Peterman's Wordy Observation
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Elizabeth Nolan Brown @enbrown.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
wanted in Ohio
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Elizabeth Nolan Brown @enbrown.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
Ohio is suing the company from Seinfeld lawsuitsearch.ohioattorneygeneral.gov/Lawsuit/View...
lawsuitsearch.ohioattorneygeneral.gov
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Phoenix Calida @phoenixcalida.latinsky.app · 11/09/2026
And this is what happens when people are fed a stream of lies about human trafficking. Its almost always just a way to enforce racism, classism, or xenophobia. "That’s a white girl and you are a man of color. I believe you are buying or trafficking this child" fox40.com/news/nationa...
fox40.com
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Legal Affairs Canada @lawscribes.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
"Alienation of affection" claims can be brought by a spurned spouse against a third party that they blame for the dissolution of their marriage. To be found liable in North Carolina, a person must be shown to have "maliciously and wrongfully cause[d] alienation of a genuine marital relationship."
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Elizabeth Nolan Brown @enbrown.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
In North Carolina, spurned spouses can sue third parties for breaking up their marriages. It's a practice rooted in patriarchal views of married women as their husband's property. Kyrsten Sinema is facing one such lawsuit, because she texted a married man there reason.com/2026/09/09/k...
reason.com
Kyrsten Sinema headed to home-wrecker court after judge says texts to married lover could leave her liable
A North Carolina judge ruled that Signal messages Sinema sent to a married man in the state are enough for a lawsuit against her to proceed.
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Evan Greer @evangreer.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
Age verification makes everyone less safe. Age verification makes everyone less safe. Age verification makes everyone less safe. Age verification makes everyone less safe. Age verification makes everyone less safe. Age verification makes everyone less safe.
techdirt.com
Hackers Had A Live Feed Of Every ID This Verification Company Scanned. For Over A Year.
From the very beginning of this recent obsession with identifying everyone online (yes, they like to call it "age" verification, but it always ends up as identity verification), we've been pointing out that it was a huge privacy nightmare waiting to happen. Or maybe it wasn't waiting. Maybe it was already happening. This week a...
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Elizabeth Nolan Brown @enbrown.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
Oral arguments in Backpage appeals coming up in November 👀
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SWOP Behind Bars @swopbehindbars.bsky.social · 06/09/2026
Rest in peace, Gloria. You fought hard. You were right about a lot. But you were wrong about us. www.swopbehindbars.org/post/she-wor...
swopbehindbars.org
She Wore the Costume for a Month. We Wear It for Life.
A memorial for Gloria Steinem, 1934–2026Gloria Steinem died on September 2 at her home in New York City. She was 92.We are not going to pretend that she was nothing to us. We are not going to pretend ...
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SWOP Behind Bars @swopbehindbars.bsky.social · 06/09/2026
There were two lessons available from the Playboy Club. One: sexualized labor is labor, and the people who do it deserve wages, safety, and the right to organize Two: the sex industry is degrading, and women in it are victims who cannot describe their own experience. Steinem chose the second one.
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SWOP Behind Bars @swopbehindbars.bsky.social · 06/09/2026
A memorial for Gloria Steinem In 1963, Gloria Steinem put on a fake name, a fake age, a satin corset, and took a job as a Playboy Bunny. Then she took the ears off, went home, and spent the next sixty years telling the world what it means to work in the sex industry.
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Alex Ip 葉清霖 @alexip718.com · 07/09/2026
Jesus Christ: after a recent ruling by the Eighth Circuit that allowed Act 372 to take effect, an Arkansas county has banned all children from checking out any books in the adult section, bringing home any DVDs, or using the self-checkout kiosk in its public libraries.
More recently in Craighead County — symbolically, at least, Ground Zero for the state’s attack on libraries, thanks to Sen. Dan Sullivan (R-Jonesboro) — the library announced several changes to circulation as it relates to minors. In a Facebook post, the library listed a number of changes to library policies, including:

Minors are prohibited from using the self-checkout kiosks;
Children under 13 years old may only check out materials from the designated children’s collection, while minors age 13-17 can only check out from the children or teen sections;
Minors may not check out DVDs at all; and  
Minors are prohibited from entering or purchasing anything from the Friends of the Library Bookstore.
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Elizabeth Nolan Brown @enbrown.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
it's still so weird to me to hear conservatives talking about nutritional yeast and gut microbiomes, or teaching people to make arugula salads and to replace the tuna in tuna salad with chickpeas reason.com/2026/09/07/r...
reason.com
RFK Jr.'s MAHA cooking show is government propaganda. I kind of love it?
I think it's cool that conservatives are trying to make it cool to care about nutrition. But this isn't the government's place.
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Elizabeth Nolan Brown @enbrown.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
the authors expected people "who aligned more strongly with the demanding, child-centered, extracurricular rich model of parenthood would be more likely to forgo, delay, or limit childrearing. In fact, they found essentially the opposite" stephaniehmurray.substack.com/p/intensive-...
stephaniehmurray.substack.com
“Intensive Parents” Are Propping Up The Birth Rate, and Other Interesting New Research
How Fathers’ Work Hours Shape The Motherhood Penalty; Mapping Out America’s Hodgepodge of a Safety Net For Moms; The Predictability of American Poverty + more.
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Phoenix Calida @phoenixcalida.latinsky.app · 03/09/2026
What really stands out to me about all the cops abusing flock cameras is the frequency. They never just look at someone 3 or 4 times. They use the cameras hundreds if not thousands of times. That make it so much creepier.
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𝔸𝕞𝕓𝕖𝕣 𝔻𝕒𝕨𝕟 @amberdawn1116.bsky.social · 02/09/2026
I don’t generally approve of graffiti, but…
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Jenny DeMilo @jennydemilo.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
Us OG Hos will never forget what the did to Lacey and Larken… and to us. They did it to us too.
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Elizabeth Nolan Brown @enbrown.bsky.social · 02/09/2026
New Mexico taking kids away from human classmates & teachers to plunk them down for 30+ min each week in front of an AI avatar is especially bonkers considering it was (allegedly) so worked up about kids & screen time that it just sued Meta over kids using social media reason.com/2026/09/02/i...
reason.com
Invasion of the robot teachers
New Mexico required schools to use an AI system despite concerns about voice recordings, inaccurate scores, and a lack of evidence.
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Elizabeth Nolan Brown @enbrown.bsky.social · 02/09/2026
I've gotta admit, my gut reaction to letting AI teach kindergartners to read is: not good! Maybe I'm wrong there. But it's clear New Mexico's rollout of a Amira — an AI tutor & testing system that was mandatory in K-2 classrooms — has been astoundingly bad reason.com/2026/09/02/i...
reason.com
Invasion of the robot teachers
New Mexico required schools to use an AI system despite concerns about voice recordings, inaccurate scores, and a lack of evidence.
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Elizabeth Nolan Brown @enbrown.bsky.social · 31/08/2026
... looking at the Meta settlement through the lens of what happened to Larkin, Lacey, and Backpage vs what happened to Craigslist, and why, makes it seem a lot more understandable.
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Elizabeth Nolan Brown @enbrown.bsky.social · 31/08/2026
"If the government decides to point its finger at you, there's really no question that they're going to try to ruin you," said the late James Larkin, founder of Backpage + bunches of alt-weeklies reason.com/2026/08/31/w...
reason.com
What Craigslist and Backpage can tell us about the Meta settlement
It doesn't matter if you're right. If you don't cave, the government might stop at nothing to destroy you.
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Kendra, spooky version @kendrawcandraw.bsky.social · 26/08/2026
Tim Curry and Dolly Parton have taught us not only that you should be bigger, weirder, gayer, and freakier, but also that those qualities are what people will love about you. The things that make you strange and amazing are the things that will resonate with other strange and amazing people
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derek guy @dieworkwear.bsky.social · 26/08/2026
I appreciate that Dolly Parton refused to participate in "dress respectability" and, by her own account, modeled her aesthetic after a town "tramp," who she thought was beautiful. She separated aesthetics from character and understood "classiness" to be about how you treat people, not how you dress.
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Elizabeth Nolan Brown @enbrown.bsky.social · 26/08/2026
Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick doesn't just think teens are too young to read about sex, he thinks his female colleagues need to be shielded too It's rare that men in power make explicit how much they view women like children, but here we are! reason.com/2026/08/26/t...
reason.com
Texas moves to protect kids—and women—from 'demonic' sex education book
Dan Patrick's campaign against “filthy” school library books targets sex education, LGBTQ titles, and literary classics.
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Steve CarlSon of Celluloid @lcosgrove.bsky.social · 20/08/2026
You learn something new every day!
According to Donovan, songwriter and performer of the hit 1960s song, "Mellow Yellow", the Coca-Cola Company contacted him to discuss directly basing the soda's name on his song, which itself was named after a dildo called the "Mellow Yellow." This makes Mello Yello the only mass-produced soda whose name is known to derive from a dildo.
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