Archive for December, 2006

Man sets himself on fire, barely makes a news ripple

Monday, December 4th, 2006

On November 3, Malachi Ritscher set himself on fire near a Chicago expressway in protest of the Iraq war. Police couldn't definitively identify him for days. A friend later got a package in the mail with an explanation, a will, and a key to Ritscher's apartment. The story hit the AP ...

American travelers to get secret “Risk Assessment” scores

Friday, December 1st, 2006

You think the credit scoring system isn't Big Brother enough? Wait until Monday, when the Department of Homeland Security rolls out its "Risk Assessment" scores for travelers. See this EFF link for more on this nefarious plot. Like the "No Fly" list, you'll be unable to see where you stand (does ...

New Site: DMCA Exemption for Educational Use of AV Materials

Friday, December 1st, 2006

Here's a new website for the new DMCA exemption for film & communication professors. Hosted by the Annenberg School and Penn Film Studies professor Peter Decherney, the site links to all the official documents concerning the exemption. If you're reading this blog, the exemption is probably not news to you. Here's ...

Patry: DMCA trumps common law (C) exemptions

Friday, December 1st, 2006

The US, along with the UK, is a common law country, meaning the judicial branch has fairly wide powers to interpret the law. This is actually the basis of exemptions for fair use; long before the 1976 Copyright Act, courts had spent decades insisting that copyright didn't prevent all unauthorized ...

Judge Posner to make Second Life appearance

Friday, December 1st, 2006

First former presidential candidate Mark Warner appeared in the online MMORPG Second Life. Now, Judge Posner will do the same. I'm so wonky that this actually makes me want to join.