Skip to content

Monthly Archives: January 2010

And Yet Again

Sunday, January 31, 2010

In 2007 RIAA v Jammie Thomas-Rasset (she was just Jammie Thomas then) resulted in a jury verdict and damages of $222,000 in favor of the RIAA.  A few months later the trial judge had second thoughts about his instructions to the jury and ordered a new trial.  In 2009 RIAA v Jammie Thomas-Rasset II:  Oops [...]

Filed in Copyright Law | Tagged , | Comments (3)

Look Me In the i

Sunday, January 31, 2010

Starting this summer, when our clickstream data and demographic profile trigger delivery of online ads, the ad will contain a little blue <i> icon, perhaps words such as “Why did I get this ad?,” and a link to a site explaining how the advertiser uses the collected data.  Advertisers agreed to the new policy hoping [...]

Filed in Consumer Protection, Privacy, eCommerce | Tagged , | Comments (0)

Duty to Rescue

Sunday, January 31, 2010

Having discussed the bystander rule in the first week of Introduction to Law and with tort law coming up this week, this chart “of state statutes that impose a duty to rescue crime victims, or report crimes” from The Volokh Conspiracy is timely.  The chart covers only ten statutes that apply to the general public, [...]

Filed in Torts | Tagged , , , , | Comments (3)

Why There Will Always Be Plumbers

Sunday, January 31, 2010

When I woke at 6 am the temperature outside was 15 degrees.  That inside was 57 degrees.  The moment I left the bedroom I knew the boiler was off.  A trip to the basement confirmed the boiler was stone-cold.  I switched off its power, waited 30 seconds, and switched the power on.  Nothing.  The pilot [...]

Filed in Personal | Tagged , | Comments (1)

The Scope of NYT v Sullivan

Saturday, January 30, 2010

Slate–the online magazine, not the trendy New York Manhattan dry-cleaning company started by a former student–ran an article by Dahlia Lithwick about Justice Scalia’s statement that he would vote to reverse New York Times v Sullivan if given the chance. This 1964 Supreme Court decision imposed the requirement that public officials who sue for [...]

Filed in Privacy, Speech | Tagged , , , | Comments (0)

Newsworthiness and Privacy

Saturday, January 30, 2010

I’m having great fun doing a directed study this semester on privacy law.  Today the student emailed, saying she was torn between two deeply-held principles:  the First Amendment protects our right to receive all the information we need to make informed choices, without screening or censoring, and our natural right to privacy and human dignity [...]

Filed in Constitutional Law, Privacy, Speech | Tagged | Comments (0)

This Angle I Missed

Friday, January 29, 2010

And then there’s this take on the iPad name.

Sphere: Related ContentShare/Save

Filed in Pop Culture | Tagged , | Comments (0)