Tag: Humor
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Lawrence Lessig, Unmasked
We’re watching this week’s episode of West Wing. On the TV screen, Professor Lawrence Lessig starts talking. “I know that voice,” exclaims my wife. “It’s The Hacker!” On West Wing, Lessig was played not by Himself but by the actor Christopher Lloyd. One of Lloyd’s other roles is on Cyberchase, an animated PBS Kids show,…
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The Big-Head Principle
Over the next few days, Americans will be asking themselves which candidate has what it takes to be president, or at least which one has what it takes to win the election. To answer this question, we must first determine exactly what it does take. Based on personal observation, I think I may know. Bill…
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Apple Threatens Real
Pay attention now, ’cause this story gets kinda complicated. See, Apple had this product called iPod that lets you listen to music. That sounds like a good idea. But Apple thought it would be better if the iPod could do less. So their engineers pulled a bunch of all-nighters to make sure that the iPod…
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The Landsburg Amendment
Can this be a coincidence? This week, Congress prepares to vote on the Pirate Act, which would impose severe penalties for online copyright infringers and redirect the Department of Justice toward copyright enforcement and away from any other insignificant law enforcement problems facing the U.S. In the same week, Steven Landsburg advocates the death penalty…
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In the News Today
Avi Rubin Joins Diebold (via Avi Rubin) RIAA Sues Google; Internet Doomed (via James Grimmelmann) Valenti Condemns Avian P2P (via me) EFF buys Department of Justice (also note: Valenti To Join EFF Board) (via EFF) Omniscience Protocol Specification Published (via Scott Bradner) Duke Buys the Public Domain (via ibiblio) Google Staffing Lunar Office (via Google)…
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Testimony of Jack Valenti
Testimony of Jack Valenti Motion Picture Association of America Before the Senate Commerce Committee April 1, 2004 Mister Chairman, Last year I appeared before this committee to urge your support for the broadcast flag, a harmless technical standard necessary to stem the gruesome tide of piracy that is sapping the very lifeblood of America’s most…
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Paris Hilton: Auteur
Some day a great book will be written, dissecting the current copyright mania. And the page-three example, showing just how ridiculous things got, will be this: a legal dispute over whether Paris Hilton can claim authorship of the infamous video. [Link credit: James Grimmelmann at LawMeme.]
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Can Ownership Be Owned?
Julian Dibbell, at TerraNova, points out an issued U.S. Patent that seems to cover digital property systems of the type used by many multiplayer online games: How naive must one be, in this day and age, to spend months debating the question of virtual property without once wondering whether the question itself (or at any…
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Panel on Copyright and Free Speech
Lawrence Solum reports on a panel discussion at the American Association of Law Schools conference. It’s an interesting discussion, and everybody seems to agree that there are significant and increasing conflicts between copyright and free speech. In her presentation, Jessica Litman used my experience as an example of the chilling effect of the DMCA. Somehow…
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How To Annoy Your Mother-in-Law
Look up her age here. Then send her an email informing her that anyone on the Net can do the same. UPDATE (9:00 PM): How to run up your mother-in-law’s AOL bill: tell her she can look up her friends’ ages.