HIV-Positive Muppets? - "A day after PBS executives announced they would develop the as-yet-unnamed character for audiences in AIDS-ravaged South Africa, five members of the House committee on energy and commerce said the Muppet would be unwelcome on American TV." [Story Link] via [Findlaw]
I knew that the House Committee on Energy & Commerce was dealing with the Enron and Worldcom crises. I didn't know that they were responsible for TV programming as well. Even so, I would've figured the accounting crises would keep their plate full, but I guess not.
4:39:56 PM
Users Must Beware of Legal Trends - so writes Dan Gillmor. Actually, he is referring to Larry Lessig's view that software code can have the effect of law. So true! I've been meaning to write about this, and my thoughts are not fully formed, but here's the gist of it.
Laws, have over the course of several millenia, served several functions. One role is to proscribe conduct that is supposedly harmful to the community (i.e. murder, and other actions that incite conflict). Another role is to encourage behavior of a certain type (i.e. Roman emperor wants to encourage marriage amongst certain classes of people and creates incentives, or US government uses tax laws to shape behavior). But in a capitalist system we generally don't have a lot of restrictions on property rights. And most of the restrictions are in the "let's all get along" category (i.e. zoning, and other stuff that you can't do on your property because it diminishes your neighbor's use of his property). Lessig points out that most property rights are "rivalrous" in the sense that it's a zero sum game. If I own this land and live on it, then you can't because it interferes with my use.
In the area of intellectual property rights tend to be less rivalrous. And yet the laws tend to treat these claims as though they are, in fact, rivalrous. For example, if I create a song then you singing it doesn't deprive me of any ability to sing my song or otherwise use it as much as I want. The rivalrousness is over how to distribute money from the song being sung, or recorded. So what does this have to do with software code becoming law?
Well, here's my take (which may or may not be similar to Lessig's view). Increasingly, the people who want to control the revenue derived from intellectual property are acquiring the ability to do so through things such as Digital Rights Management software. And that begs an important question: what effect, if any, will copyright law have in limiting the duration of a monopoly right if technology gives the holder of intellectual property the ability to lock down rights for an even longer period of time?
The law generally takes the position that people can agree to define rights between themselves (i.e. contract law). So what if Microsoft says, via a license agreement (which is a contract), that you must agree that they will own the rights indefinitely? If they have the code that lets them do that, and if you agree to it, then maybe their code is a more powerful law than copyright law. And, of course, "Fair Use" and the "Public Domain" would become meaningless concepts.
1:43:11 PM
American Taliban Update - John Walker Lindh pleaded guilty today. Two charges, ten years maximum each. Consecutive sentences. According to Pete Williams on MSNBC and CNN, Lindh has agreed to a 20 year sentence. At a defense press conference the chief defense lawyer said the plea cleared him on any involvement in the murder of CIA Agent Spann, and that he pleaded guilty to being foot soldier in the Taliban. via [Talk Left]
11:54:54 AM
Bringing Fire From the Gods - Greg Meffert was a successful dot.com businessman, but he decided to take a job in city government with a new administration that was dedicated to using technology. He has the total support of the Mayor. So how's it going? Oh, you know the usual stuff.
Quadriplegic Sues Strip Club - Edward Law, of Orlando, sued the Wildside Adult Sports Cabaret last month after visiting the West Palm Beach club and finding that the lap dance room had no wheelchair access. This is not his first suit against a strip club. [Story Link] via [FARK].
9:31:30 AM
Immigration Law - The Snakehead Lawyers - an article about the lawyers who represent illegal immigrants, and the smugglers who pay their fees. Via [National Law Journal]
