Category: Legal
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Chevron vs. Donziger…. (continued)
TX blogger Robert Nagle reports on the latest for the house arrest of attorney Steven Donziger
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Charleston Town Center Mall abuses private citizens!
A few days ago an internationally known award-winning photographer was arrested for innocuous taking of photos (and allegedly resisting arrest). Gary Harki writes a great story of the incident. As it happens, this photographer was arrested once before – for taking photos of Bill Gates wedding from a public place. The photographer sued the major…
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We need to compensate the Uighurs for ruining their lives
My comment on the NYT about the imprisonment of the Uighurs. William Glaberson and Margot Williams have written a news report about the problem, and the NYT contains a discussion about possible solutions. Why does the US government feel absolutely no sense of urgency in solving this problem? It’s hard for me to understand why…
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Ascension Parish DA Screws up a Child Abuse Case..and a 13 year old girl dies
Last week, I made a post about the 13 year old girl named Megan Leigh Crouch who committed suicide. Here is the video that the mother made about her: Apparently Megan Crouch’s mother has made a website about the injustice surrounding Megan’s case. Apparently, Megan was abused sexually at an early age by her stepdad.…
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Creative Commons, photos and flickr
Here’s a reason not to use a liberal license on your photos. You might be sued. Lesson learned: merely because you have the right to use the photo doesn’t mean the model release has been signed. Or that you have publicity rights.
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Deferring to the Rule of Law
Robert Jackson on the Nuremberg Trials: “The wrongs which we seek to condemn and punish have been so calculated, so malignant, and so devastating, that civilization cannot tolerate their being ignored, because it cannot survive their being repeated. That four great nations, flushed with victory and stung with injury stay the hand of vengeance and…
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When is public lewdness not lewd? Answer: when it’s police entrapment
I don’t normally care about sex scandals with US Senators, but the Larry Craig incident reminded me of an incident that happened to a friend. Larry Craig, for those of you who don’t know or care, was a Republican Senator who was trapped by an undercover policeman in a airport bathroom. His crime was tapping…
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Fair Use and Superbowls
Is posting a 30 second clip from the Super Bowl on youtube to illustrate the NFL’s copyrighted terms of service announcement an example of fair use? Probably.
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Gun Control vs. the 2nd Amendment?
George Will notices that a court case striking down Washington D.C.’s strict gun control law may finally be the test case that the NRA needs. Fascinating! (And it reopens a matter I thought had long been settled). Ultimately, Will makes a faulty comparison between the gun control debate and the political speech/campaign finance reform debate:…
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Creative Commons licenses: a discussion
If you’ve reading this site for the last month or two, you know you gaga I’ve been going over the Jamendo music site. Here’s an enlightening discussion (with contribution from me) about the sticky question of Creative Commons licenses). My favorite remark: Giving artists the freedom to restrict music is like the freedom in giving…
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EULAS, etc.
Slashdot discussion of Cory’s denunication of shrinkwrap licenses. I’ve blogged about this a lot of times before. (see also www.reasonableagreement.org). Most original slashdot comment: ask a minor to click all your EULA agreements so none of them are legally binding. One pointed out the main motive for onerous EULA’s was not awarding of more rights…
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Not Blogging, But Writing–Dammit!
I probably won’t be blogging here much for the next 2 weeks. The reason? I’ll be writing like crazy! Also, I’m working on a series for teleread about works intended for the public domain that never quite made it.
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Being a Homeowner in Texas: Travails
Randall Patterson wrote a great expose in 2005 of how Texas homebuilders use “mandatory arbitration” contracts to avoid responsibility for badly built houses: Jordan still remembers her pleasant illusions of arbitration—how much “more civilized and nice” it sounded than just suing someone, “like a mom who sits down with her children and says, ‘Now, this…
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How does Youtube do it?
Surely you’ve wondered how Youtube a)makes money and b)avoids copyright infringement disputes. I’ve finally figured out what’s going on thanks to Fred Von Lohmann’s editorial: YouTube and its users may have a number of good copyright defenses. In my opinion, most of this video-sharing should qualify as fair use — after all, this is noncommercial…
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Not Against the Law, Against the Law
George Saunders reviews the reasons why publicly identifying contact information on the web is NOT against the law, even if it’s for reasons having to do with intimidation or protest. In the meantime, a judge overturns the Cleanfix “fair use” case, which allowed Christian moralists to sell DVD players which made it easier to censor…
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Hideous Lawfirm Baker & McKenzie Pisses off Firefox Users.
After laughing at the ridiculous warning letter from the hideous lawfirm Baker & McKenzie LLP , I noticed something strange on their home page. If you are using Firefox, you will notice an icon on the tab for IE explorer. In other words, some idiot copied the IE icon graphic and served it on every…