February 2009

Crimes of Opportunity Need Banks of Opportunity

February 5th 2009

When Ponzi goes broke, sue his banker. Bank of America is being sued because one of its customers ran an Internet Ponzi scheme, which bilked hundreds of millions of dollars from innocent, though greedy, investors. The case alleges that BofA would have been in a position to prevent this fraud from spreading, if only they […]

Are 1 in 5 Teens Child Pornographers?

February 4th 2009

A teenage girl snaps a photo of herself with some or all of her clothing removed and sends it to a teenage boy. How many, if any, crimes have been committed? This is known as “sexting” among teens who text, and in Greensburg, Pennsylvania, both sender and recipient would be charged with serious child pornography […]

First They Came for the Political Bloggers

February 3rd 2009

Two weeks ago, the Senate considered a lobbying reform bill which would reportedly have required bloggers who communicate to more than 500 members of the public on public policy matters to register and report quarterly to Congress, in much the same way as K Street lobbyists. The blog Wonkette reports that this over-reaching requirement was […]

The NFL’s Copyright Claims Enter US Folklore in Tampa

February 1st 2009

The NFL is the champion of claiming copyrights that have no legal reality.  Their copyright statement actually requires anyone describing one of their games to get permission.  Do you believe I can’t do that?  Of course not, but the NFL’s broad claim of rights persists. The NFL threatened law professor Wendy Seltzer for posting their […]