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Category: Law Page 11 of 27

American History? Sorry, HBO Owns It

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On January 19, 2009

In Distribution, Law, Society

I didn’t criticize the Presidential Inauguration Commission’s decision to sell HBO exclusive rights to broadcast the We Are One concert because I thought that was a reasonable compromise between free public access and the very high levels of private contributions that would otherwise be required.   But then HBO decided that they were going to use copyright law to make sure that most Americans couldn’t witness this piece of history without their permission.  That absolutely amazing moment on the Mall I posted about, led by Pete Seeger?  Sorry, no longer available to you.  HBO owns it.

Your history, copyright HBO.

Anyone Watching the Pardon Desk Today?

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On January 19, 2009

In Law, Politics

Or do you think we’ll have to wait until Bush is safely back in Texas to find out about them?

Hawai’i Makes the DTV Switch

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On January 17, 2009

In Distribution, Law, Tech

It’s a bit surreal to see the DTV transition come to pass, as I’ve spent much of my legal career dealing with the various factors delaying it.  In any event, it looks like it’s coming.  For real this time:

At noon sharp Thursday in Hawaii, a message appeared on analog TV sets across the islands: “All full-power Hawaii TV stations are now digital.”

The state shut down old-fashioned broadcast signals, more than a month before the rest of the country is set to make the now-contentious switch.

It was, of course, a surprise to people who can’t actually comprehend what’s been flashing across their screens for months (if not years):

“The calls we’re getting now are from those people who are waking up and saying, `Oh my God, what do I do?'” said Lyle Ishida, the FCC’s Hawaii digital TV project manager, just before the switch.

I alternate between having some sympathy and outright mockery.  Maybe the eldery lady down the block simply tunes out whenever see hears the word “digital”.  Her?  I want to help.  But for all these twits who won’t understand why their screens have gone snowy because they couldn’t comprehend the announcements between Judge Judy episodes?  They deserve a break from television.

In any event, it’s here.  It’s coming.  A month from now.  For real this time.  The incoming administration may delay it a short bit (an ultimately pointless exercise, from a consumer’s point of view, I believe), but that television set in the spare bedroom will very soon need a new box to be useful.

(And if that’s the set your grandmother or dad watches?  Maybe you should ask them if you can help.)

Celebrating Virginia Values: Massive Resistance

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On January 15, 2009

In Law, Society, Virginia

Vivian Paige sounds a sad note about the apparent lack of interest in marking the anniversary of the end of Virginia’s abominable strategy of state-sanctioned “massive resistance” to the end of segregation in public schools.  It’s worth reading.

(And compare this to J.R. Hoeft’s call for the end of the celebration of [Robert E.] Lee- [Stonewall] Jackson Day in Virginia, and the incredible backlash his proposal has gotten from his (otherwise erstwhile) allies amongst the Republican VA blogs.)

Did They Say It With a Straight Face?

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On January 15, 2009

In Law

From the Washington Post:

A Justice Department lawyer told a federal judge yesterday that the Bush administration will meet its legal requirement to transfer e-mails to the National Archives after spending more than $10 million to locate 14 million e-mails reported missing four years ago from White House computer files.

[ . . . ]

Her remarks prompted Anne Weisman, the counsel for one of two plaintiffs in the lawsuit, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), to say, “I’ll believe it when I see it.” Weisman said she hoped the administration’s efforts to recover the e-mails can be verified by an independent expert, noting that officials have repeatedly declined to detail the procedures they used. She also said questions persist about whether backup tapes still existed for all of the days for which e-mails were reported missing.

Meredith Fuchs, counsel for the other plaintiff, a historical group known as the National Security Archive, said the Justice Department’s statement was “striking” because the admission that 14 million e-mails had to be recovered showed “the level of mismanagement at the White House” of its historically significant records. She said, “For the past year and a half, they said, ‘Don’t worry, don’t worry, leave us alone.’ Now they say, at the last minute, they have solved it. I want to see the evidence.”

Well done.

GOP: White and Smug

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On January 13, 2009

In Law, Policy, Society

It’s so not fair, that people keep implying that racism lies behind the Bush DOJ’s actions:

In that incident in August 2004, Voting Section Chief John Tanner sent an e-mail to Schlozman asking Schlozman to bring coffee for him to a meeting both were scheduled to attend. Schlozman replied asking Tanner how he liked his coffee. Tanner’s response was, “Mary Frances Berry style – black and bitter.” Berry is an African-American who was the Chairperson of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights from November 1993 until late 2004. Schlozman forwarded the e-mail chain to several Department officials (including Principal DAAG Bradshaw) but not Acosta, with the comment, “Y’all will appreciate Tanner’s response.”

Just the sort of people you want in charge of Justice, no?

Obama’s Instinct Is Wrong

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On January 11, 2009

In Law, Politics, Society

This morning’s This Week contains a clue as to whether Obama is taking seriously the rule of law in the United States.  In response to Stephanopolous raising the appointment of a special prosecutor to independently investigate the crimes of the Bush Administration (e.g., torture and warrantless wiretapping), Obama said:

We have not made final decisions, but my instinct is for us to focus on how do we make sure that moving forward we are doing the right thing. That doesn’t mean that if somebody has blatantly broken the law, that they are above the law. But my orientation’s going to be to move forward.

STEPHANOPOULOS: So, let me just press that one more time. You’re not ruling out prosecution, but will you tell your Justice Department to investigate these cases and follow the evidence wherever it leads?

OBAMA: What I — I think my general view when it comes to my attorney general is he is the people’s lawyer. Eric Holder’s been nominated. His job is to uphold the Constitution and look after the interests of the American people, not to be swayed by my day-to-day politics. So, ultimately, he’s going to be making some calls, but my general belief is that when it comes to national security, what we have to focus on is getting things right in the future, as opposed looking at what we got wrong in the past.

This is simply wrong.  You’re not going to know how to get things right in the future if you don’t know what and how you got it wrong in the past.   I understand that it would be a politically unpopular thing to do.  But Obama wasn’t elected just to do popular things.  He was elected to do a job.  His job, as I noted the other day, is to support and defend the Constitution of the United States.  You don’t do that by ignoring the people who have turned the Federal government into a vehicle for destroying it.  You don’t do that by providing clear evidence that there are no consequences for breaking the law.  You have Cheney out there essentially daring Congress and the incoming administration to do anything about his actions, and this is Obama’s response?

The saddest part?  Is that we’ve seen this happen before.  And following instincts like Obama’s here is a large part of what made the Bush Administration possible.

Lessig on Colbert

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On January 10, 2009

In Law, Policy, Society

Lessig takes his battle for intelligent public policy to the Stephen Colbert Show:

The Colbert ReportMon – Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
Lawrence Lessig

From the interview:

Colbert: You say our copyright laws are turning our kids into criminals, because they’re keeping kids from doing all the remixing they want of pre-existing art and copywritten material, right?

Isn’t that like saying that arson laws are turning our kids into pyromaniacs?? They’re breaking the law! You can’t just throw the law out the window!

Lessig: “Totally failed war.” Is that familiar to you?

Colbert: No. No. You’re saying we need a surge?

GOP Takes On the Tough (Imaginary) Issues

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On January 8, 2009

In Distribution, Law, Policy, Politics

Looks like the Republican rodeo clowns are already starting their show:

Republicans introduced a bill Wednesday that would bar Congress, President-elect Barack Obama and federal media regulators from bringing back the Fairness Doctrine, which they said would all but eliminate the talk-radio industry.

Maybe we can get a bill to bar bringing New Coke back, too?  As Steve Benen notes:

These guys aren’t pushing a bill to get rid of the Fairness Doctrine, because it’s already gone. They’re pushing a bill to prevent anyone from trying to bring it back — despite the fact that there is no meaningful effort to do so. TNR’s Marin Cogan recently wrote a great piece, noting that she couldn’t find anyone on the left who was serious about reinstating the policy. Cogan explained, “The prospect of being in the opposition often brings out the worst in conservatives — paranoia and self-pity.”

The Republican party likes to go on and on about responsibility and self-reliance, but they’ve got this whiny victimhood thing down pat.

Getting Used to Competence

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On January 8, 2009

In Law, Policy

Having a really hard time adjusting out of the past eight years, I’ve discovered, especially when it comes to the appointment of qualified people:

Cass Sunstein, a longtime University of Chicago legal scholar and prominent author, is set to take up a key cause in the Barack Obama administration: regulation.

[ . . . ]

Obama has promised an overhaul to federal regulation, specifically of the U.S. financial markets, and Sunstein’s job description suggests a sweeping agenda.

“This office is in charge of coordinating and overseeing government regulations,” a transition official said Wednesday, “and a smarter approach to regulation is key to making government work better and getting better results in terms of protecting health, the environment, etc.”

Regulatory rulemaking and enforcement is probably one of the least-sexy and most misunderstood functions of our Federal government, yet it provides some of the most tangible benefits (and costs) to citizens.  Given that the rulemaking environments vary drastically from agency to agency, it’ll be interesting to see what Sunstein hopes to – and can – accomplish in this post.

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