Monthly Archives: June 2007

UK Update

Posted on June 9, 2007 by Michael Froomkin

I got my luggage. Clean clothes — nice.

The big news, in the Guardian at least, for the last few days, has been the role of the British government in what appear to be a series of giant quarterly payments, more than $2 billion in total (yes, two billion) to Prince Bandar bin Sultan of Saudi Arabia. The payments have both domestic and international ramifications. Domestically, here in the UK there are issues about who lied to whom to coverup what. There may not be domestic Saudi legal issues if, as Bandar claims, the money flows were blessed by the Saudi defense ministry … conveniently run by his dad. (Here's the Guardian version and the NYT version).

Internationally, there are issues about why the UK is paying off Saudis (aren't they the ones with the money?) — although we know the reason is to get arms sales. And what it meant for the man who was for a time thought to have been GW Bush's prime adviser on foreign affairs (during his first Presidential campaign, and early in the first term) to have been on the UK take. How this ties into the decision to invade Iraq, I'm not quite sure, but it wouldn't surprise me.

Posted in UK | Comments Off on UK Update

More Travel

Posted on June 7, 2007 by Michael Froomkin

After that trip to the great identity conference in Italy, I spent a pleasant weekend at my 25th (!) college reunion. Then home for a couple of days, and now I am vacationing in the UK. Without luggage, which is still in Boston.

We used frequent flyer miles for this trip, which means we could add a second stop at no cost, so in about a week the family will go to Istanbul, which is a place I've always wanted to visit. Using the miles meant we had to take the flights available, and when you are a party of four, there are not many. So we are only staying five days, and then it will take us two days to get home.

Once I recover from jet lag, I hope to blog about my experiences with the passport office…

I will have some connectivity here in the UK, so I expect to post now and then. While I'm in Turkey, the site will be in the hands of a wonderful guest blogger, about whom more soon.

Posted in Personal | Comments Off on More Travel

I Predicted This Years Ago

Posted on June 6, 2007 by Michael Froomkin

Inside Bay Area – Lawyers dig into FasTrak data reports that civil and divorce lawyers are using commuter records to make their cases,

As the number of cash-free bridge commuters rises, so do the ranks of divorce lawyers and other civil attorneys who have subpoenaed, and received, personal driving records from the agency that oversees the regional e-toll system.

Subpoenas that MediaNews obtained under the state Public Records Act turned up several cases over the last two years in which the Metropolitan Transportation Commission released FasTrak subscriber records in civil disputes.

The records include logs of the date, exact time and bridge where a car using FasTrak rolls through a toll plaza at any of the eight Bay Area spans.

“Part of the reason Fred has not had success … is that he takes too much time off,” claimed a woman who sought her husband's toll activity in one divorce case. “His transponder records … will show how little he works.”

I predicted this a long time ago when I wrote about technology and privacy, notably in The Death of Privacy?, 52 Stan L. Rev. 1461 (2000).

Continue reading →

Posted in Law: Privacy | 5 Comments

Anti-DRM T-Shirts

Posted on June 5, 2007 by Michael Froomkin

Here's a chance to vote for your favorite Anti-DRM T-Shirt Design.

Posted in Law: Copyright and DMCA | 2 Comments

Wyoming Law on Appointment of Senators

Posted on June 5, 2007 by Michael Froomkin

Recently re-elected Senator Craig Thomas has died.

Here, for the ghoulishly curious, is the relevant part W.S. § 22-18-111, the relevant Wyoming law on how a vacant Senate seat gets filled:

(i) If a vacancy occurs in the office of United States senator or in any state office other than the office of justice of the supreme court and the office of district court judge, the governor shall immediately notify in writing the chairman of the state central committee of the political party which the last incumbent represented at the time of his election under W.S. 22-6-120(a)(vii), or at the time of his appointment if not elected to office. The chairman shall call a meeting of the state central committee to be held not later than fifteen (15) days after he receives notice of the vacancy. At the meeting the state central committee shall select and transmit to the governor the names of three (3) persons qualified to fill the vacancy. Within five (5) days after receiving these three (3) names, the governor shall fill the vacancy by temporary appointment of one (1) of the three (3) to hold the office.

So the state GOP proposes three names, the (Democratic) Governor picks one.

However, if I read the following correctly, the appointed Senator serves only until a special election (held at the next general election) to determine who will fill out the rest of the term:

Any vacancy in any other elective office in the state except representative in congress or the board of trustees of a school or community college district, shall be filled by the governing body, or as otherwise provided in this section, by appointment of a temporary successor to serve until a successor for the remainder of the unexpired term is elected at the next general election and takes office on the first Monday of the following January.

Congressional representatives have their own statute. I presume the next general election is November 2008, but invite correction if there is one earlier.

Posted in Law: Everything Else | 2 Comments

Super-Snark

Posted on June 4, 2007 by Michael Froomkin

FDL indulges in some super-snark regarding the WSJ sale at Blue Monday at the WSJ:

meeting with Rupert Murdoch to discuss journalistic integrity strikes me as kind of like meeting with the polio virus to talk about Dr. Salk

Posted in The Media | Comments Off on Super-Snark