News & Media
Carlos Miller on Crystal Cox
Color me embarrassed. Carlos Miller is one of my First Amendment heroes. He fights for the rights of photographers everywhere. I’m not talking as some cushy lawyer. He is in there, in the trenches, and gets arrested for it. He wrote about the Crystal Cox extortion case back in December, and I missed the story. He’s done as good a
New York Times chimes in on the Crystal Cox Story
David Carr brings us “Judge Clarifies That Bloggers Can Be Journalists (Just Not One in Particular)” this column on the Crystal Cox “bloggers vs. journalists” story. The first time this story broke, much of the reporting on it was sloppy. Bloggers and “traditional” journalists alike all latched on to the narrative that Judge Hernandez locked bloggers out of the journalism
TSA can't handle the heat of criticism
Ars Technica reports: Bruce Schneier, the security expert who coined the term “security theater” to describe the Transportation Security Agency’s airport screening procedures, was uninvited from speaking on a Monday Congressional panel at the insistence of the TSA. (source)
April Fool's Day
For those of you who did not pick up on it already, yesterday’s post on Section 230 reforms was an April Fool’s Day prank – concocted by Eric Turkewitz. Read his deconstruction of it here.
Section 230 Amendment strips websites of immunity from anonymous commenters
Connecticut Sen. Joe Lieberman, who is not particularly known for his friendliness toward the First Amendment, is at it again. As chairman of the Senate homeland security committee, Lieberman urged Twitter to stop hosting pro-Taliban tweets last fall, in addition to persuading Internet companies to remove blog posts that promote terrorism. It appears he’s now taking the idea one step further
How Crystal Cox is helping to prove the strength of the First Amendment
If you read yesterday’s post, Judge rules, again, that blogger Crystal Cox is not a journalist. You know why? Because she ISN’T a journalist, it likely made you throw up in your mouth a bit. But, in a way, this nutcase is helping to prove why, when confronted with bad speech, the best cure is more speech. When she turned
Judge rules, again, that blogger Crystal Cox is not a journalist. You know why? Because she ISN'T a journalist.
For those of you not familiar with the the Crystal Cox “bloggers are not journalists” case, it was a bit of a blogosphere kerfuffle when U.S. District Judge Marco Hernandez ruled that Cox is not a journalist under the definition of Oregon’s Shield Law. A number of poorly-researched blog posts went up thereafter, with the blogosphere rallying behind her cause.
Massachusetts court strikes down ordinance limiting permits for adult businesses
By Laura Tucker A U.S. District Court in Mendon, Mass., granted summary judgment in favor of Showtime Entertainment, allowing the company a special permit to open a live nude dancing venue and invalidating an ordinance that gave the zoning board too broad of authority to deny permits to similar businesses. In its order, the court reasoned that even if the
Two Wheeled Awesomeness
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=K-nknEIXa84] Disclaimer: I am trademark counsel to Ryca Motors. Super Brag: I am trademark counsel to Ryca Motors.
Economic Diversity by Legalizing Prostitution and Marijuana
KLAS-TV Channel 8 reports on different industries that could help the Nevada economy, including the adult film industry. Attorney Marc Randazza, who represents some adult film companies in Nevada, says about those companies in the story: They’ve filled facilities that are otherwise empty, they’re spending money on rents, they’re spending money buying cars. Read More…
Spam Notes: Randazza
Spam Notes author Venkat Balasubramani recently wrote about attorney Marc Randazza’s progress in the Righthaven litigation. Balasubramani writes: Randazza (and others at the Randazza Legal Group) deserve serious kudos for taking down Righthaven, taking away their domain name, and their intellectual property.
Verrr Nice! NOT!
Kazakh Maria Dmitrienko won the gold medal in a shooting competition in Kuwait. While she stood on the podium, they played the Kazakh National Anthem — except it wasn’t the real one… it was Borat’s version. Apparently, the organizers accidentally downloaded it from the internet. That’s what you get for using BitTorrent to get your music, dumbasses. [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B39cenrIQW0]
The End of Righthaven
KNPR’s State of Nevada program featured Wired Magazine’s David Kravets. The Randazza Legal Group is mentioned starting at 11 a.m. Listen to more….
Will the FAA remove head from ass on electronics?
Doubtful, but this post gives us a glimmer of hope — and some explanation as to why it hasn’t done so thus far.
I hate "hate crimes"
And so does Rogier Van Bakel over at Nobody’s Business. No sense in me writing about them when he covers every single base, here. Being greatly upset does not give you the higher moral ground. It does not earn you automatic respect. It’s exactly the opposite for me: Play the “I’m really upset” card as if it means anything —
Ethics Challenge – Come up with an ethical reason for being a carnivore
Ariel Kaminer, The New York Times’ “Ethicist” throws down the gauntlet at carnivores — challenging us to come up with an ethical argument for eating animals. [Carnivores say] they love meat or that meat is deeply ingrained in our habit or culture or cuisine or that it’s nutritious or that it’s just part of the natural order. Some of the
The Practice: A Lawyer to Emulate — Marc Randazza
Above the Law’s Brian Tannebaum reports on attorney Marc Randazza’s success online and in court–the online success not attributed to SEO techniques, but the admiration other attorneys have for him. Tannebaum write: Marc Randazza isn’t an internet sensation. He’s only got about 275 followers on Twitter (and is therefore clearly on his way out of the profession if you ask
It's un-American to silence Limbaugh
Attorney Marc Randazza wrote a column for CNN defending Rush Limbaugh’s controversial comments about a law student who lobbied for birth control coverage from health insurance. Randazza writes: The First Amendment requires neither tact nor politeness. It requires that we permit all views to set up stalls in the marketplace of ideas, and we let that marketplace decide which ideas
