Monthly Archives: January 2010

Sign the Public Domain Manifesto

Posted on January 26, 2010 by Michael Froomkin

I've signed The Public Domain Manifesto.

Shouldn't you?

Posted in Law: Copyright and DMCA | 1 Comment

Bletch

Posted on January 25, 2010 by Michael Froomkin

This is amazingly dumb: Obama Seeks Freeze on Many Domestic Programs

Not surprisingly the blogs are all over it.

Please tell me that this isn't the first dividend of the Citizens United ruling.

Posted in Econ & Money | 1 Comment

Annals of Imports

Posted on January 25, 2010 by Michael Froomkin

I am very much in favor of the free movement of people, and especially of ideas. So I'm very happy to read that State Department Ends Unconstitutional Exclusion Of Blacklisted Scholars From U.S.. Indeed, having once shared a meal with Tariq Ramadan I can testify that he can seem very pleasant and reasonable — which, many think, is why the former administration was so afraid of him.

In general, I'm also mostly in favor of the free movement of goods and services, although there are some exceptions. And, try as I might, I can't bring myself to cheer about the US lifting its ban on this repulsive substance.

Posted in Law: Right to Travel | 1 Comment

Its Got Legs

Posted on January 25, 2010 by Michael Froomkin

Improv Everywhere, No Pants Subway Ride is, after nine years, well on the way to becoming a New York City institution.

Maybe it's partly because I live in a warm place, but the appeal of going pantsless outdoors in the dead of a NYC winter is a little lost on me. I get the épatez les bourgeois aspects, but it seems from the video that the folks most épatez on the subway may be the least bourgeois.

On the other hand, the event seems to about double in size every year, which puts them on track for two million a decade from now. There's a thought.

Posted in Kultcha | 1 Comment

Constitution to Remain Suspended — Official

Posted on January 22, 2010 by Michael Froomkin

Detainees Will Still Be Held, but Not Tried, Official Says. Fifty people to be held without trial.

Note the logic here — the people to be held without trial are those the administration is afraid might be found not guilty in a fair trial. That's why they have to be held without trial, see? We can't convict them!

Some of us still hold to the old-school notion that when the government imprisons people whose guilt it cannot prove, or will not attempt to prove, something as old as the Magna Carta and as fundamental as the rule of law has been violated.

What a shame that the Obama administration is no more willing to hew to this basic principle than its predecessor. Thus does evil become institutionalized.

Posted in Guantanamo | 16 Comments

A Great Way to Save Money

Posted on January 22, 2010 by Michael Froomkin

Apparently, if the law school just set every computer in the building to default to using Garamond as its type face, we'd save a ton of money on toner.

I've always thought Garamond was a pretty good-looking font, too. Not saying it's the best ever, not trying to start a font flame war, but nice.

Posted in Econ & Money | 2 Comments