Arrakis. Dune. Desert planet… Welcome to Blawg Review #256! In 1965, the best selling science fiction book of all time, Frank Herbert’s Dune, was first published. Parts of it had been published in serial form in a magazine in 1964, but as near as I have been able to determine the first publication was in…
Why I’m thankful for Section 230
It’s recent events like the Italian trial of the Google employees which makes me quite thankful that in the United States we have an established principle like Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act. Still, even that may not protect the employees from criminal liability like what occurred in the Google matter. Briefly, Section 230(c)(1)…
Oh Lord, it’s hard to be humble…
But I am! My sincere thanks and appreciation to all for voting my Blawg Review #213 as “Blawg Review of the Year.” My undying gratitude to the Sherpas and to Ed for helping make Blawg Review what it is. And, to emeritus Sherpa Colin Samuels for being Colin Samuels.
Recent @cyberlaw posts on Twitter
I’ve been much more active lately on Twitter than here on the blog, for a variety of reasons. Most of them are work related, it’s nice to be busy! With the limited time I’ve had, it’s been much easier to post quick links to interesting articles on Twitter. For those of you who don’t follow…
Will Facebook username squatting be a problem?
On June 13th, at Midnight eastern time, the social networking site Facebook will allow users, and administrators of fan pages with more than 1000 fans, to register vanity URLS. Here are links to the announcement and to the FAQ for page administrators about the process. Trademark owners with registrations can register their trademarks with Facebook…
Slides from DMCA presentation – and Thanks!
I’ve been meaning to put these up for a while, here are the slides from the presentation I gave to the Chicago Bar Association’s seminar on website operator liability on May 15, 2009. My presentation focused on the DMCA and discussed four recent cases. thompson-presentation-2009-05-15-10-years-of-the-dmca I’d also like to thank those who submitted pictures for…
Blawg Review #213
(Photo credit to Markbult under a Creative Commons license.) Welcome to the Towel Day edition of Blawg Review! Towel Day began in 2001 as a tribute to Douglas Adams. Some of you may recall that my Blawg Review #42 was also a tribute to Douglas. The first Towel Day was held on May 25, 2001,…
T-1 day to Towel Day edition of Blawg Review – So what’s a hoopy frood?
Tomorrow, the Blawg Review we’ve been leading up to will be published, on Towel Day. Those who have sent me pictures with their towels will be rewarded with links and praise. They are also hoopy froods, since they obviously know where their towels are. Where does that line come from? Well, here’s the line from…
T-2 Days to Towel Day Edition of Blawg Review – the Multimedia nature of Hitchhikers
We’re coming down the home stretch folks, just two more days to the Towel Day edition of Blawg Review. There’s still a small bit of time, law bloggers and twitterers, to send me your pictures with your towels. Send them to kthompson@cyberlawcentral.com, and I’ll do my best to include them in the review with a…
T-3 days to Towel Day edition of Blawg Review – Time for a drink
May 25, 2009 is Towel Day, so Blawg Review 213 will have a Towel Day theme! Towel Day is held every May 25th to celebrate the life of Douglas Adams, who wrote the Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy series. Some of you may recall that my first Blawg Review #42 was in honor of Douglas…