Tiffany C. Li
@tiffanycli.bsky.social
Law professor and writer. Expert on tech, privacy, AI, and sarcasm.
🐦: https://twitter.com/tiffanycli
🧵: https://www.threads.net/@tiffany.c.li
🐘: https://mastodon.social/@tiffanycli
TiffanyLi.com if you insist
🐦: https://twitter.com/tiffanycli
🧵: https://www.threads.net/@tiffany.c.li
🐘: https://mastodon.social/@tiffanycli
TiffanyLi.com if you insist
The world will progress, with or without the U.S.
Chinese Universities Surge in Global Rankings as U.S. Schools Slip
www.nytimes.com
January 15, 2026 at 4:01 PM
The world will progress, with or without the U.S.
Reposted by Tiffany C. Li
One thing to note in my chart below is that I have Congress in the center, because, as usual, all the powers the President in this arena has are statutorily granted. They could fix it *today* if they wanted to, just like with tariffs, immigration, qualified immunity, etc., etc.
Not sure who needs to hear this, but the Insurrection Act isn’t the same as “martial law.” It authorizes the molitary to engage in civil law enforcement. And not clear that even then, whether they can enforce state criminal laws
January 15, 2026 at 3:28 PM
One thing to note in my chart below is that I have Congress in the center, because, as usual, all the powers the President in this arena has are statutorily granted. They could fix it *today* if they wanted to, just like with tariffs, immigration, qualified immunity, etc., etc.
The world will progress with or without the U.S.
This is huge: For the first time since the early 1970s, coal power generation has fallen in both China & India.
It undercuts claims that decarbonisation is pointless while they expand coal. Renewables are no longer just adding capacity — they’re displacing coal.
www.theguardian.com/business/202...
It undercuts claims that decarbonisation is pointless while they expand coal. Renewables are no longer just adding capacity — they’re displacing coal.
www.theguardian.com/business/202...
Coal power generation falls in China and India for first time since 1970s
‘Historic’ moment in biggest coal-consuming countries could bring decline in global emissions, analysis says
www.theguardian.com
January 15, 2026 at 3:48 PM
The world will progress with or without the U.S.
Reposted by Tiffany C. Li
SCOOP: Internal ICE material and testimony from an official obtained by 404 Media provides the clearest link yet between the technological infrastructure Palantir is building for ICE and the agency’s activities on the ground.
Inside the app called ELITE—what ICE uses to find neighborhoods to raid.
Inside the app called ELITE—what ICE uses to find neighborhoods to raid.
‘ELITE’: The Palantir App ICE Uses to Find Neighborhoods to Raid
Internal ICE material and testimony from an official obtained by 404 Media provides the clearest link yet between the technological infrastructure Palantir is building for ICE and the agency’s activit...
www.404media.co
January 15, 2026 at 2:05 PM
SCOOP: Internal ICE material and testimony from an official obtained by 404 Media provides the clearest link yet between the technological infrastructure Palantir is building for ICE and the agency’s activities on the ground.
Inside the app called ELITE—what ICE uses to find neighborhoods to raid.
Inside the app called ELITE—what ICE uses to find neighborhoods to raid.
Entire international community’s reaction to the USA right now:
January 14, 2026 at 9:19 PM
Entire international community’s reaction to the USA right now:
It’s also good for money laundering and scams!
Bitcoin was invented 16 years ago. If crypto provided any utility beyond buying drugs online, creating a new form of gambling or indulging Libertarian anti-state fantasies, it would have broken into the mainstream by now.
Fed Kashkari still hating on crypto: "It's still basically useless for consumers. I mean, there's, there's nothing you can do with Bitcoin or a stablecoin that you can't already do with Venmo or with your traditional banking products, other than circumventing banking regulation."
January 14, 2026 at 6:12 PM
It’s also good for money laundering and scams!
We’ve got to believe they do, or all is lost
January 14, 2026 at 6:08 PM
We’ve got to believe they do, or all is lost
Reposted by Tiffany C. Li
Minnesota legend Charles M. Schulz knew what made a great citizen. “Sometimes it is the very people who cry out the loudest in favor of getting back to what they call ‘American Virtues’ who lack this faith in our country.”
January 14, 2026 at 7:55 AM
Minnesota legend Charles M. Schulz knew what made a great citizen. “Sometimes it is the very people who cry out the loudest in favor of getting back to what they call ‘American Virtues’ who lack this faith in our country.”
A bit more on sousveillance here: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sousvei...
I first encountered the concept when reading Simone Browne’s Dark Matters www.dukeupress.edu/dark-matters
I first encountered the concept when reading Simone Browne’s Dark Matters www.dukeupress.edu/dark-matters
Dark Matters: On the Surveillance of Blackness
www.dukeupress.edu
January 14, 2026 at 5:25 PM
A bit more on sousveillance here: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sousvei...
I first encountered the concept when reading Simone Browne’s Dark Matters www.dukeupress.edu/dark-matters
I first encountered the concept when reading Simone Browne’s Dark Matters www.dukeupress.edu/dark-matters
I wish! Read more here: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sousvei...
Sousveillance - Wikipedia
en.wikipedia.org
January 14, 2026 at 5:23 PM
I wish! Read more here: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sousvei...
This is an example of sousveillance, when ordinary people turn the powers of surveillance back onto the powerful
When self-employed software engineer Nick Benson put out the call for dashcams online, he thought he’d get maybe 10 people to donate. More than 500 have shown up on his front porch. Here's how one guy crowdsourced 500+ dashcams for Minneapolis to film ICE www.404media.co/how-one-guy-...
How One Guy Crowdsourced More Than 500 Dashcams for Minneapolis to Film ICE
‘We have to make sure people are watching. We have to make sure we’re keeping track of our community members.’
www.404media.co
January 14, 2026 at 5:14 PM
This is an example of sousveillance, when ordinary people turn the powers of surveillance back onto the powerful
Reposted by Tiffany C. Li
This court victory only addresses a tiny slice of the $8B of IRA funding commitments that Trump/Vought said they were reversing, but the ruling lays out a clear framework for other grant awardees to sue.
January 14, 2026 at 3:08 PM
This court victory only addresses a tiny slice of the $8B of IRA funding commitments that Trump/Vought said they were reversing, but the ruling lays out a clear framework for other grant awardees to sue.
One thing I do miss about Old Twitter is there were more law nerds around to debate, like, nuances of Supreme Court opinions. Or was it that we just were able to do so without the distraction of the current horrors sucking up all the oxygen in the room? Let’s check the news.
January 14, 2026 at 3:25 PM
One thing I do miss about Old Twitter is there were more law nerds around to debate, like, nuances of Supreme Court opinions. Or was it that we just were able to do so without the distraction of the current horrors sucking up all the oxygen in the room? Let’s check the news.
Gorsuch again points to a return to earlier, property-based doctrines of 4th Amendment interpretation, where privacy rights are based on property lines and zones of protection. In some ways, this is easier than the more difficult “reasonability” test but protects a narrower scope of rights.
Gorsuch, concurring, once again says SCOTUS should abandon the Katz "reasonableness" test and return to the common law understanding of the Fourth Amendment. I feel like it's way too late in the day for that, but OK. www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/25p...
January 14, 2026 at 3:22 PM
Gorsuch again points to a return to earlier, property-based doctrines of 4th Amendment interpretation, where privacy rights are based on property lines and zones of protection. In some ways, this is easier than the more difficult “reasonability” test but protects a narrower scope of rights.
Trademark law hypo of the day:
UPDATE: Jack Daniel’s parent co. Brown-Forman tells me it has nothing to do with CBS’ “Whiskey Friday” concept. “Jack Daniel’s is not involved in any such segment, nor do we have any awareness of the segment and any potential partnerships or sponsorships.”
Update — Here is what the new apparent CBS News segment "Whiskey Fridays with Tony Dokoupil" may look like:
January 14, 2026 at 3:13 PM
Trademark law hypo of the day:
Reposted by Tiffany C. Li
For the legal perspective on this phenomenon, I highly recommend this paper by @profdanwalters.bsky.social
papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....
papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....
January 14, 2026 at 1:02 PM
For the legal perspective on this phenomenon, I highly recommend this paper by @profdanwalters.bsky.social
papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....
papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....
Reposted by Tiffany C. Li
As Chinese media publish annual New Year’s messages — a tradition going back decades — the space for truth-telling continues to narrow in Xi Jinping’s China. chinamediaproject.org/2026/01/14/a...
A Tradition in Retreat - China Media Project
As Chinese media publish annual New Year's messages, the space for truth-telling continues to narrow in Xi Jinping's China.
chinamediaproject.org
January 14, 2026 at 6:17 AM
As Chinese media publish annual New Year’s messages — a tradition going back decades — the space for truth-telling continues to narrow in Xi Jinping’s China. chinamediaproject.org/2026/01/14/a...
Reposted by Tiffany C. Li
I wrote a piece about translation earlier in the year, talking about how a good translation isn't, and can't be, just matching words one-for-one:
whatever.scalzi.com/2025/02/03/h...
whatever.scalzi.com/2025/02/03/h...
How Translation Works, Book Title Edition
As any translator will tell you, translating a piece of fiction isn’t about simply transcribing words one-to-one from one language to another. It’s about capturing a vibe — making…
whatever.scalzi.com
December 18, 2025 at 10:15 PM
I wrote a piece about translation earlier in the year, talking about how a good translation isn't, and can't be, just matching words one-for-one:
whatever.scalzi.com/2025/02/03/h...
whatever.scalzi.com/2025/02/03/h...
Reposted by Tiffany C. Li
Authors, remember that you CAN insist on human translation for your foreign-language editions and have it written into your contracts. You can no longer just assume you're going to get a human to work on the book whose every word you wrote with intent.
December 18, 2025 at 10:10 PM
Authors, remember that you CAN insist on human translation for your foreign-language editions and have it written into your contracts. You can no longer just assume you're going to get a human to work on the book whose every word you wrote with intent.
Reposted by Tiffany C. Li
Good thing to remember when signing book contracts. Esp. since for most academic presses this doesn’t directly affect their bottom line at all so they’re likely to say yes w/o much pushback. (They make their money by selling off the rights to a foreign publisher who is commissioning the translation)
Authors, remember that you CAN insist on human translation for your foreign-language editions and have it written into your contracts. You can no longer just assume you're going to get a human to work on the book whose every word you wrote with intent.
January 14, 2026 at 6:21 AM
Good thing to remember when signing book contracts. Esp. since for most academic presses this doesn’t directly affect their bottom line at all so they’re likely to say yes w/o much pushback. (They make their money by selling off the rights to a foreign publisher who is commissioning the translation)
Reposted by Tiffany C. Li
I don’t tend to be highly judgey about parenting, but I maintain that putting AI slop content in front of infants and toddlers all day long is a form of neglect www.afr.com/technology/y...
YouTube creators have found a new consumer for AI slop: Babies
As younger children spend more time on YouTube Kids, concern is growing that their brains are being shaped by AI-generated videos purporting to be educational.
www.afr.com
January 14, 2026 at 4:23 AM
I don’t tend to be highly judgey about parenting, but I maintain that putting AI slop content in front of infants and toddlers all day long is a form of neglect www.afr.com/technology/y...
Reposted by Tiffany C. Li
I started worrying about this exact thing last March when I heard reports of different anti-Asian policies and I hate that my hunch was right
A St. Paul resident says federal officers knocked on her door and asked her to identify Hmong and Asian households in her North End neighborhood last week.
ICE in St. Paul: Man roughly detained at gas station, Border Patrol chief jeered in Midway Target
Videos and photos show a prevalence of federal agents in St. Paul recently.
trib.al
January 14, 2026 at 2:51 AM
I started worrying about this exact thing last March when I heard reports of different anti-Asian policies and I hate that my hunch was right
Reposted by Tiffany C. Li
Happy to share new resource, The Rule of Law Teaching Project w/videos by constitutional law professors from Harvard, Yale, Stanford, NYU & more, RuleofLaw101.org. @leahlitman.bsky.social @profmmurray.bsky.social @jmchacon.bsky.social @richardre.bsky.social Trailer here: youtu.be/ILpR3UMlwOM?...
Meet the Law Professors in the Rule of Law Teaching Project
YouTube video by Rule of Law 101
youtu.be
January 13, 2026 at 5:20 PM
Happy to share new resource, The Rule of Law Teaching Project w/videos by constitutional law professors from Harvard, Yale, Stanford, NYU & more, RuleofLaw101.org. @leahlitman.bsky.social @profmmurray.bsky.social @jmchacon.bsky.social @richardre.bsky.social Trailer here: youtu.be/ILpR3UMlwOM?...
Those were the days!
January 14, 2026 at 12:47 AM
Those were the days!