I often say that I don't like committees because, in my experience, committees are where good ideas go when they are ready to die (or perhaps before they are ready). But, reading the article about the ABA's Committee on New Information & Technologies (and the committee report), I realized that committees are also where bad ideas, and completely asinine reports, are born.
The Committee Report supposedly examines the legal effects of 802.11 wireless, mostly with an eye to its "harmful effect" on the rights of copyright holders. Cory Doctorow and Glenn Fleishman, who actually know a lot about wireless technology, have already skewered the report. Nevertheless, I have a small example of how off-base the article is. Here's a statement from the top of page 6 in the report:
"802.11a is approximately 5 times faster than 802.11b, and hence is sometimes referred to as "Wi-Fi5."
I don't know as much as others who deal with 802.11, but I've never heard of 802.11a referred to as "Wi-Fi5." Not once. Not on TechTV, not by Glenn Fleishmann or Alan Reiter, or anyone. But, if someone were to refer to it that way, my uninformed assumption would be that the reason to call it "Wi-Fi5" is not because it is "5 times faster," but because it operates in the 5 ghz range, as opposed to the 2.4 ghz range of 802.11b.
Geez. At least in the Mafia they teach you how to hide the bodies.
"In the interest of furthering [the] important debate [about law firm websites], I submit Russell & Tate. On this day six years ago, the best law firm web site on the Internet went live. ...And if you had any doubt that the web can generate business for your law firm, check this out: exactly two years later, Russell & Tate represented Visa in the 'deal of the century.' I have it on good authority that the firm's web site was instrumental in landing this plum client."
Rick is the co-author of The Lawyers' Guide to Marketing on the Internet (2nd ed.), which I cannot recommend highly enough. I don't remember what he says about using humor, but my guess is that he believes it's acceptable.
