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Google+Copyright Fight Brewing Over Amazon’s Kindle 2 | Threat Level from Wired.com: “They don’t have the right to read a book out loud,” said Paul Aiken, executive director of the Authors Guild. “That’s an audio right, which is derivative under … Continued
Author Archives: krisnelson
Science, pseudoscience, and the law
Science, pseudoscience, and the law >> Slaw: Following up on Simon’s vaccines post from earlier this week comes the encouraging news that on Thursday (happy 200, Charles Darwin) the U.S. Court of Federal Claims issued decisions in three vaccine-related test … Continued
Reflecting on Darwin
As many are probably aware, the 12th of February was the 200th anniversary of Darwin’s birth. It seems appropriate, then, to reflect on the latest attempts to challenge evolutionary biology through a belief in what is called “intelligent design.” But … Continued
Making Court Archives Available to All
From the New York Times, “An Effort to Upgrade a Court Archive System to Free and Easy“: For those searching for federal court decisions, briefs and other legal papers, there is no Google. Instead, there is Pacer, the government-run Public … Continued
Another Attempt to Repeal Open Access
Peter Suber writes: Yesterday Rep. John Conyers (D-MI) re-introduced the Fair Copyright in Research Works Act. . . . The premise of the bill, urged by the publishing lobby, is that the NIH policy somehow violates copyright law. The premise … Continued
Cooperative Workers May Not be Fired in Retaliation
From the New York Times: Employees fired after cooperating in sexual harassment investigations may sue for retaliation, the Supreme Court ruled Monday in a case concerning the scope of a federal law barring sex discrimination in the workplace. If it … Continued
The Exclusionary Rule at Risk
A longstanding part of U.S. law, known as the exclusionary rule, is getting bruised. The rule requires courts to exclude – or throw out – some evidence seized by law enforcement through illegal searches. But a ruling last month by … Continued
The Long Road to Open Access
An intriguing, far-ranging perspective on scholarly publishing that ties early 3rd century revolutions in scholarly publishing with modern trends towards open access and digital archiving: Instead of using the noble scroll, Origen decided to take advantage of the page structure … Continued
Why Does the U.S. Have an Exclusionary Rule?
In my view, the fact that criminal procedure rules are judge-made led fairly directly to the exclusionary rule. Put simply, the exclusionary remedy is the one remedy that judges can completely control. There are a variety of ways to enforce … Continued
Patent Gridlock Suppresses Innovation
The Founders might have used quill pens, but they would roll their eyes at how, in this supposedly technology-minded era, we’re undermining their intention to encourage innovation. The U.S. is stumbling in the transition from their Industrial Age to our … Continued
Network Tech Locks SF Out of Network
“A disgruntled city computer engineer has virtually commandeered San Francisco’s new multimillion-dollar computer network, altering it to deny access to top administrators even as he sits in jail on $5 million bail, authorities said Monday.” Craziness! See the SF Chronicle … Continued
Evidence Faulted in Detainee Case
Evidence Faulted in Detainee Case – NYTimes.com: With some derision for the Bush administration’s arguments, a three-judge panel said the government contended that its accusations against the detainee should be accepted as true because they had been repeated in at … Continued
Social Science Research Network (SSRN)
Sam Kamin at PrawfsBlawg points out that the New York Times has discovered SSRN. He writes: It’s actually a pretty decent synopsis of the SSRN phenomenon, noting that it takes away the power of gatekeepers, makes scholarship available to the … Continued
"Universities should not be in the social justice business"
This is a quote from Stanley Fish in an editorial in the New York Times, entitled Think Again. I highly recommend the discussion. It’s a well-reasoned and articulate argument for thinking over feeling in the classroom, for compartmentalization and intellectual … Continued
New vs. Old Media
Revision3 CEO: Blackout caused by MediaDefender attack – ars technica: Revision3, the Internet television network behind popular shows like Diggnation, experienced a serious network failure over Memorial Day weekend. CEO Jim Louderback revealed today that the outage was caused by … Continued
Viacom Ups Ante In YouTube Copyright Spat: Google More Than A Mere Enabler
Viacom Ups Ante In YouTube Copyright Spat: Google More Than A Mere Enabler – washingtonpost.com Cynthia Brumfeld noticed that Viacom actually raised the stakes in a recently (.pdf) amended complaint from April. In addition to pointing out that YouTube hosts … Continued
